Let not any one say, " This mercy may be shewn to others, but not to me ;" for God is sovereign in the distribution of his gifts ; and, if he has already given us a desire to serve him, he will infallibly recompense our services in a better world. The widow of Sarepta was a Gentile : yet, as our Lord told the Jews, was Elijah sent to her, whilst all the widows that were in Israel were passed by^. En like manner may God send his blessings to us, however far we are off from him ; yea he may send them to us in preference to those who appear more likely to obtain them. This to a proud Pharisee is an offensive truth ^: but to a humble penitent it is replete with comfort. Let us only attend to his word, and it shall be well with us : " Beheve in the Lord, so shall ye be established ; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper^."]
e 2 Cor. ix. 6. f Luke iv. 25, 26.
g Luke iv. 28, 29. ^ 2 Chron. xx. 20.
THE widow's son RAISED BY ELIJAH.
1 Kings xvii. 22, 23. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah ; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he re- vived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down
out of the chamher into the house, and delivered him unto his mother : and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
THOUGH God was pleased to separate for him- self a peculiar people, to whom alone he commu- nicated the knowledge of his will, he gave frequent intimations to them, that his mercy should in due time be extended unto the Gentiles also. The his- tory of the Sidonian widow was particularly noticed in that view by our Lord himself. In his first ser- mon at Nazareth, he warned the Jews, that they must not rest in their outward privileges, since, if they walked unworthy of them, God would again, as he had frequently done before, transfer to the Gen- tiles those blessings to which they foolishly supposed themselves exclusively entitled \ The peculiar mercy referred to by him is that which we have already considered, the feeding of her by miracle during the years of famine, whilst no such mercy was vouch- safed to any widow in Israel. But in our text we are informed of another mercy which she received, and which was the first of the kind that was ever vouchsafed to any child of man, namely, the restoring of her son to life. In bringing this part of her his- tory before you, we shall distinctly notice,
I. Her trouble —
She had lost her son, her only son. This was a very heavy affliction to her : it would be so to any parent ; but it was more especially so to her, because she had previously been reduced to widowhood, and therefore had none to be the support and comfort of her declining years. In him all her affections were centered, and with him all her hopes were destroyed. But the affliction was the heavier, because,
1. It was unexpected —
[Two years before, when she thought her child near to death, she spoke of it with the most perfect composure ^ : but now her distress and sorrow were exceeding great: on the former occasion she saw her little provision gradually con- suming, and death advancing vnth rapid strides ; and therefore
^ Luke iv. 25 — 27. ^ ver. 12.
343.] THE widow's son RAISED BY ELIJAH. 395
her mind was prepared for the event : but here the event was so sudden that she had not time even to go to the prophet, and desire his intercessions m her behalf: hence the stroke was ahnost insupportable ; and made her even reflect upon the prophet, as though he had occasioned her calamity.]
2. It was singular —
[Had the calamity been general, she had found some con- solation m the thought that she suffered nothing but what was common to those around her. We doubt not but that this consideration rendered the famine more supportable to each individual than it would have been if the calamity had been pecuHar to himself. In like manner, if she had found many other widows despoiled of their children hke herself, her sym- pathy with others would have lessened her grief on her own accoimt. But no such consolatory thought was left for her : she seemed to be singled out to bear her burthen alone.]