Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/468

 II. Our Lord  met  the  corpse,  not  by  chance,  but  by design,  and  offered,  of  His  own  accord,  to  raise  the  dead man. Oh, how  frequently  has  He  offered  His  assistance, to  raise  you  from  the  death  of  sin,  and  you  have refused. Beware lest  you  wilfully  resist  and  contemn the grace  which  He  offers  you,  for  fear  He  may  utter  the dreadful sentence  against  you:  "  I  will  laugh  in  your  destruction." (Prov. i.  24.)

III. Christ, moved  with  compassion  for  the  forlorn widow, said  to  her,  "  Weep  not,"  for  you  shall  soon  be comforted. In the  same  manner,  do  not  you  weep  or  be overcome  with  temporal  losses  which  will  soon  be  remedied; but  rather  reserve  your  tears  for  the  everlasting evils that  are  the  results  of  your  own  and  others'  sins. Of such  as  these  it  is  said,  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn, for  they  shall  be  comforted." (Matt. v.  5.)

I. "And  He  came  near  and  touched  the  bier,  (and  they that  carried  it  stood  still,)  and  He  said,  Young  man,  I say  to  thee  arise." (Luke vii.  14.)  He  speaks  in  the most imperious  manner,  to  show  that  He  is  the  Lord  of all  things,  "  that  hath  power  of  life  and  death,  and  leadeth down  to  the  gates  of  death,  and  bringeth  back  again." (Wis. xvi.  13.)  Sin  is  the  death  of  the  soul,  and  hell  its grave, "  For  the  rich  man  died,  and  he  was  buried  in hell." (Luke xvi.  22.)  The  bier  on  which  the  sinful soul is  conducted  to  hell  is  the  body,  and  the  bearers  are our vicious  habits;  and  as  the  bier  of  a  dead  man  is often  ornamented  with  silk  and  gold  whilst  the  corpse