at the last day. "The hour cometh in the which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." (John v. 28, 29.) When the trumpet sounds and Christ commands, there can be no refusal or escape. All must appear before His bar in their bodies. And all shall be judged according to their works.

Let us see, furthermore, in this mighty miracle, a lively emblem of Christ's power to quicken the dead in sins. In Him is life. He quickeneth whom He will. (John v. 21.) He can raise to a new life souls that now seem dead in worldliness and sin. He can say to hearts that now appear corrupt and lifeless, "Arise to repentance, and live to the service of God." Let us never despair of any soul. Let us pray for our children, and faint not. Our young men and our young women may long seem travelling on the way to ruin. But let us pray on. Who can tell but He that met the funeral in the gates of Nain may yet meet our unconverted children, and say with almighty power, "Young man, arise." With Christ nothing is impossible.

Let us leave the passage with a solemn recollection of those things which are yet to happen at the last day. We read that "there came a fear on all," at Nain, when the young man was raised. What then shall be the feelings of mankind when all the dead are raised at once? The unconverted man may well fear that day. He is not prepared to meet God.-But the true Christian has nothing to fear. He may lay him down and sleep peacefully in his grave. In Christ He is complete and

safe, and when he rises again he shall see God's face in peace.

NOTES. LUKE VII. 11-17.

11.-[The day after.] It would appear from this expression, that the miracle recorded in these verses, was the first instance of our Lord raising a dead person to life. The daughter of Jairus was the second instance, and Lazarus the third. This order of the three miracles is disputed by some. But the internal evidence in favour of it, seems too strong to be put aside. Remembering this, we may understand the sensation that the miracle would create among all Jews who heard of it. No person had been raised from the dead, since the days of Elisha, a period of nine hundred years.

[A city called Nain.] This place is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible. It is a small town on the northern slope of the lesser Mount Hermon, of which the ruins and the name remain to the present day. Mr. Burgon says, that an ancient burying place is even now distinguishable at the lower part of the hill, not far from the ruins.

12.-[A dead man carried out.] Let us note that the place of burial was outside the city. It is curious to observe how strongly almost all commentators dwell on this point, and urge the impropriety of the practice of burying the dead in church yards, and among the living.

[Much people...was with her.] This expression should not be overlooked. It shows the publicity of the great miracle here recorded. It was wrought before many witnesses.

13.-[When the Lord saw her He had compassion.] Poole's re marks on this expression are worth reading: "None moved our Lord on behalf of the widow, neither do we read that she herself spake to Him. But our Saviour's bowels were moved at the sight of her sorrows, and consideration of her loss. It is observable that our Saviour wrought His healing miracles, 1, sometimes at the motion and desire of the parties to be healed; 2, sometimes at the desire of others on their behalf; 3, sometimes of His own free motion, neither themselves nor others soliciting Him for any such mercies toward them."-The leper was healed (Luke v. 12,) in reply to his own personal application;-the centurion's servant, (Luke vii. 1,) in reply to the prayer of his master,-and the widow's son was raised without any one interceding on his behalf.

14.—[The bier.] The Greek word so translated, is only found here in the New Testament. It would not have been correct to translate it" coffin." The practice of burying in coffins was apparently unknown among the Jews. In the case before us, the young

man's body probably laid on a sort of couch. In Bonar's travels in Palestine, he describes a funeral which he saw, and says that the bier was like "a large cradle."

[I say unto thee arise.] We should carefully note the wide difference between our Lord's manner of working miracles, and the manner in which they were worked by His prophets and apostles. There is an authority and divine power about the miracles recorded in the Gospels, which we do not see in the history of the other miracles in the Bible. Euthymius remarks, "Of old time indeed the prophet Elijah raised again the son of the widow of Sarepta, but by humbling himself before God, and supplication to Him. (1 Kings xvii. 20, 21.) So also the prophet Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman, but only after having stretched himself out upon his body. (2 Kings iv. 34, 35.) But Jesus only touching and commanding, at once raised the dead person."

Burkitt remarks, "The Socinians here own that Christ raised this young man by a divine power, which God had communicated to Him, yet deny Him at the same time to be essentially God. But let them prove, if they can, that a divine power which is proper to God alone, ever was, or ever can, be communicated to a creature, without the communication of the divine nature. True, we find Peter commanding Tabitha to arise, (Acts ix. 40,) but we find all he did was by faith in Christ, and by prayer unto Christ. But Christ here raised the widow's son without prayer, purely by His own power; which undeniably proves Him to be God."

15.-[Began to speak.] This fact is mentioned, in order to place it beyond doubt, that the young man was really restored to life. Where there is speech, there must be life.

Let it be observed, that we have no record given to us of anything that was ever said or thought by those who were miraculously raised from the dead. Their experience and knowledge are wisely withheld from us.

16.—[There came a fear.] This expression, and the rest of the verse, as well as the verse following, appear to furnish strong proof that this was the first instance of a dead person being restored to life by our Lord, during His ministry on earth.

[God hath visited His people.] This expression should be compared with Luke i. 68, and Luke i. 78, and with many places in the Old Testament-such as Ruth i. 6, 1 Sam. ii. 21, Job

XXXV. 15, Jerem. vi. 6. It appears to signify any remarkable divine interposition, either in the way of mercy or of judgment, and does not necessarily signify, in this place, a personal visitation. That "God was manifest in the flesh," when Christ became man for us, is an undeniable truth of Scripture. But it cannot be proved that it is taught in this text.

17.-[This rumour of Him went forth, &c.] Poole remarks, "The people here saw His divine power manifestly exerted; for the keys of the clouds, the womb, and the grave, are those keys which their teachers had taught them were kept in God's hand alone."

LUKE VII. 18-23.

18 And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.

19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?

20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come ? or look we for another?

many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.

22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached.

23 And blessed is he, whosoever 21 And in the same hour he cured shall not be offended in me.

THE message which John the Baptist sent to our Lord, in these verses, is peculiarly instructing, when we consider the circumstances under which it was sent. John the Baptist was now a prisoner in the hands of Herod. "He heard in the prison the works of Christ." (Matt. xi. 2.) His life was drawing to a close. His opportunities of active usefulness were ended. A long imprisonment, or a violent death, were the only prospects before him. Yet even in these dark days, we see this holy man maintaining his old ground, as a witness to Christ. He is the same man that he was when he cried, "Behold the Lamb of God." To testify of Christ, was his continual work as a preacher at liberty. To send men to Christ, was one of his last works as a prisoner in chains.

We should mark, in these verses, the wise fore-thought which John exhibited about his disciples, before he left the world. He sent some of them to Jesus, with a message

of inquiry,—"Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ?" He doubtless calculated that they would receive such an answer as would make an indelible impression on their minds. And he was right. They got an answer in deeds, as well as words,-an answer which probably produced a deeper effect than any arguments which they could have heard from their master's lips.

We can easily imagine that John the Baptist must have felt much anxiety about the future course of his disciples. He knew their ignorance and weakness in the faith. He knew how natural it was for them to regard the disciples of Jesus with feelings of jealousy and envy. He knew how likely it was that petty party-spirit would creep in among them, and make them keep aloof from Christ when their own master was dead and gone. Against this unhappy state of things he makes provision, as far as possible, while he is yet alive. He sends some of them to Jesus, that they may see for themselves what kind of teacher He is, and not reject Him unseen and unheard. He takes care to supply them with the strongest evidence that our Lord was indeed the Messiah. Like his divine Master, having loved his disciples, he loved them to the end. And now, perceiving that he must soon leave them, he strives to leave them in the best of hands. He does his best to make them acquainted with Christ.

What an instructive lesson we have here for ministers, and parents, and heads of families,-for all, in short, who have anything to do with the souls of others! We should endeavour, like John the Baptist, to provide for the future spiritual welfare of those we leave behind, when