Secondly, This son was not carried from the cradle to the coffin, nor stripped out of its swathing, to be wrapped in its winding-cloth. Had he died in his infancy, before he had engaged affection, or rais- ed expectation, the affliction had not been so pungent, and cutting as now it was : death smote the son in the flower and prime of his time. He was a man, (saith the evangelist) ver. 1 2. « young man, (as Christ calls him) ver. 14. he was now arrived at that age which made him capable of yielding his mother all that comfort which had been the expectation and hope of many year.s, and the reward and fruit of many cares and labours : yet then, when the endearments were greatest, and her hopes highest, even in the flower of his age he is cut of]'.
Thus Basil bewailed the death of his son '. X'l once had a son,
* (pi\trt<; [J^zytcoi di(f/J,c; znai rr/.y^yj yovai, i. e. To be parents to cliildrcn is the firmest tie of aflection. Grerc Com.
f He died in his youth, and was therefore the more to be lamented, because he was «ut oft" in the flower of his age, unto which he was conducted from a child, by the great care and labour of his parents. Diitn. Cat. on the j^lac.e.
t Films mihi ercit, ciflolrxcens, solus vita; auccessor^ snlativrn senecli/'.i'', aloria generis, fos ^equaliumyj'ulerum dornns, a'talcm :^ratiosissfma7n agebat ; hie ra]dus ]>eriit, rjui ]>ai(l(j ante Jucundam vocem ed.ebat, ct jucundissimum sjKctaculum parentis oculis eral.
A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS. 609
* who was a young man, my only successor, the solace of my age,
* the glory of his kind, the prop of my family, arrived to the endear-
* ing age ; then was he snatched away from me by death, whose lovely
* voice but a little before I heard, who lately was a pleasent spec-
* tacle to his parent.'
Reader, if this hath been thine own condition, as it hath been his that writes it, I need say no more to convince thee that it was a sor- rowful state indeed, Christ met this tender mother in.
Thirdly-, And which is yet more, he was not only a son, but an only son: so you find, in ver. 12. "He was the only son of his *' mother ;" * one in whom all her hopes and comforts, of that kind, were bound up. For, Omnis in Ascanio^ stat chari cur a parentis^ Vir- gil. All her affections were contracted into this one object. If we have never so many children, we know not which of them to spare; if they stand like olive plants about our tables, it would grieve us to see the least twig amongst them broken down. But surely the death of one out of many is much more tolerable than all in one -)-.
Hence it is noted in scripture as the greatest of earthly sorrows, Jer. vi. 26. " O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, " and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an only " son, most bitter lamentation." Yea, so deep and penetrating is this grief, that the Holy Ghost borrows it to express the deepest spiritual troubles by it, Zech. xii. 10. " They shall mourn for him, (namely " Christ,) whom they have pierced as one mourneth for an only son.'' Fourthly^ And yet, to heighten the affliction, it is superadded, ver. 1 2. " And she was a widow." So that the staff of her age, on which she leaned, was broken: \ she had now none left to comfort or assist hei% in her helpless, comfortless state of widowhood ; which is a condition not only void of comfort, but exposed to oppression, and contempt.
Yea, and being a widow, the whole burthen lay upon her alone ; she had not an husband to comfort her, as Elkanah did Hannah, in 1 Sam. i. 8. " Why weepest thou, and why is thy heart grieved ? " Am not I better to thee than ten sons .?" This would have been a great relief; but her husband was dead, as well as her son, both gone, and she only surviving, to lament the loss of those comforts that once she had. Her calamities came not single, but one after another, and this reviving, and aggravating the former. This was her case, and condition, when the Lord met her.
Secondly^ Let us consider the counsel which Christ gave her, with
* She would liave borne liis death more patiently, bad he not been an only son ; or if she had had but another left behind him, to mitigate her sorrow. Ambrose.
f As if there is nothing dearer than an only son, so that grief upon the account of his death, must be the greatest af all. Carth. on the place.
\ He was most dear to her on a twofold account, both because he was her only son, and that he was the comfo:*t and support of her widowhood. P/'icator wn tkt place.
010 A TOKEK FOR MOURKERS.
respect to this, her sad, and sorrowful case : " And when the Lord ** saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep " not." Relieving and supporting words ; wherein we shstll con- sider,
3. The counsel itself.
1. The occasion of it, and that was his seeing of her. This meet- ing at the gate of the cit}^, how accidental, and occasional soever it seems, yet without doubt, it was providentially suited to the work in- tended to be wrought : The eye of his omniscience foresaw her, and this meeting was by him designed as an occasion of that famous miracle which he wrought upon the young man. Christ hath a quick €ye to discern poor, mourning, and disconsolate creatures : And though he be now in heaven, and stands out of our sight, so that ^ve see him not ; yet he sees us, and his eye (which is upon all our troubles) still affects his heart, and moves his bowels for us.
2. The motive stirring him up to give this relieving, and comfort- able counsel to her, was his own compassion : She neither expected, nor desired it from him ; but so full of tender pity was the Lord to- wards her, that he prevents her w^th unexpected consolation : Her heart was nothing so full of compassion for her son, as Christ was for her ; he bore our infirmities, even natural, as well as moral ones, in the days of his flesh ; and though he be now exalted to the highest glory, yet still he continues as merciful as ever, and as apt to be touched with the sense of our miseries, Heb. iv. 15.
Lastly, The counsel itself, Weep not ; herein fulfilling the office of a comforter to them that mourn, whereunto he was anointed, Isa. Ixi. 1, 2, i5. Yet the words are not an absolute prohibition of tears, and sorrow ; he doth not condemn all mourning as sinful, or all ex- pressions of grief for dead relations as uncomely; no, Christ would not have his people stupid, and insensate ; he only prohibits the excesses, and extravagancies of our sorrows for the dead, that it should not be such a mourning for the dead as is found among the lieathen, who sorrow M'ithout measure, because without hope, being ignorant of that grand relief, which the gospel reveals.
The resurrection of her son from the dead, is the ground upon which Christ builds her consolation, and relief; well might he sa}^, Weej] not, when he intended quickly to remove the cause of her tears, by restoring him again to life.