Friend who is All-sufficient evermore with them who knows what is really best and most profitable for them and wanteth not for Wisdom or Power or Goodness to relieve them Isa 9.6.63.16 an everlasting Father and Husband infinitely beyond all others And they have as many Brethren and Sisters to sympathize with them as there are Good men and Christians to whom their Case is made known Let them take notice of that eminent Title of Grace whereby God is peculiarly acknowledged and address'd unto under the New Testament The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named Eph. 3.14 15. That is in short the Father of Christ and all Christians as he said before his Ascention Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God St. John 20.17 The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by a natural and ineffable generation who is therefore call'd his own his Onely-begotten his Dearly-beloved Son born before all the Creation And he that spar'd not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Or what good thing will he now deny us which we ask in the prevailing name and for the sake and merits of this Son of his Love who died for us and ever lives to make intercession on our behalf And then through him our Father also of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named See Dr. Hammond on Ephes 3.15 that is the whole World Gentiles as well as Jews are now acknowledged for his Children by special Adoption and Grace his select and peculiar Houshold who are never from under his Eye and Care whom as he hath commanded others Galat. 16.10 so he will much more himself especially upon all opportunities doe good unto the Houshold of Faith I will conclude with the good and seasonable Advice First of our Blessed Lord and Saviour and then of his Apostles The Lesson from our Blessed Saviour is that of his Sermon on the Mount as it is called St. Matth. 6.25 c. ' Take no thought for your Life that is no unbelieving anxious corroding disquieting or disturbing Thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your Body what ye shall put on 1. Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Raiment that is Have you not in hand a pledge of what is greater than that you are apt to be sollicitous for He that gave and continues your Life cannot he as easily give you Meat And he that made and maintains your Body cannot he also as easily cloath it 2. Touching Food Behold the Fowls of the Air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into Barns yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them Are ye not much better than they may you not therefore much rather rest secure of his Blessing upon your ordinary prudence and industry 3. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubite to his Stature And is it not then a manifest point of Folly to trouble and molest your selves with that which is no ways beneficial and advantageous but many ways are hurtfull to you 4. And why take ye thought for Raiment Consider the Lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his Glory was not array'd like one of these The greatest Art falls short of Nature's work and the best of humane skill and cunning is infinitely below the meanest instances of Divine Power and Wisdom Wherefore if God so cloath the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven and there is an end of it shall he not much more cloath you being of an Higher form a far more considerable rank and made for immortality O ye of little Faith Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithall shall we be cloathed For 5. after all these things do the Gentiles seek The Heathens who want your Light of Knowledge whose Portion and Hopes are confined to this life only and who live without a Sense of God and his Providence in the World make these the Object of their continual Sollicitude For 6. your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things you have a Father and so of goodness an Heavenly Father and so of Power sufficient to relieve you and none of your wants or necessities are hid from him He knows what you stand most in need of and what supply is most fitting for you and when is the most seasonable time for it Nay and you have his promise if you be not wanting to that great and principal business he hath given you in charge to mind 7. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Take but care of your Christian Duty and God will provide for the Rest Faithfull is he that hath promised and you may relie upon him for it Thus you are not to disquiet and trouble your selves for your present provision much less to enlarge your cares and concerns for a long while to come So he proceeds Take no thought therefore for the morrow for 1 the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self You are not sure of the morrow or what shall befall you on it you know not what a day may bring forth 'T is time enough to look after that when it comes 2 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof You need not anticipate Labour and Affliction every day brings enough with it to Exercise both your Patience and Diligence to watch against the Evils of Temptation that assault you and to bear the evils of calamity and affliction that may light upon you This you see is an incomparable discourse and full of most powerfull Arguments and Considerations to ease and quiet our Minds if we attend as we ought unto them And hereunto I would have you add his Farewell Sermon as it may be styled to his drooping Disciples when he was about to take his leave of them in the 14.15 and 16 Chapt. of St. John too long for me in this place to write over or gloss upon I will but touch here and there Let not your heart be troubled Ch. 14.1 Verse 2.3 ye believe in God believe also in me I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and propare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am ye may be also Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name Verse 13. that will I doe that the Father may be glorified in the Son Verse 15. Verse 16. If ye love me keep my Commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he
may abide with you for ever Verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless or Orphans as the margin reads it I will come to you If a man love me Verse 23. he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him How can they be solitary whom each of the three Persons engage thus graciously to visit and dwell with Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Let not your heardbe troubled neither let it be affraid These things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you Remember the word that I said unto you The Servant is not greater than the Lord. Ye shall be sorrowfull but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy And your joy no man taketh away from you These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace in the World ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World After all which he betakes himself to Prayer Chap. 17. To teach us what we should doe also And unto this now Saint Paul directs us as the most effectuall cure of all our griefs and troubles Philip. 4 6 7. Be carefull for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication let your requests be made known to God And the Peace of God which passeth all our understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus To which I will only subjoyn St. Peter's Counsel 1. Eph. 5 6 7. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you To whom now be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen The Distressed Widows Prayer MOST Gracious God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named who knowest what things we stand in need of before we ask and art able to doe exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think and hast promised to hear the Prayers of thy Children and Servants in their distresses Upon this encouragement I do now prostrate my self before the Throne of thy Grace that I may obtain Mercy and find Grace for my seasonable help in this time of need I humble my Soul with all the submission I can under the sense of thy mighty Hand which hath reduced me to this afflicted condition Thou Lord hast given and thou hast taken away for ever Blessed be thy Name Good and Righteous art thou in all thy disposals and hast a Sovereign unquestionable Power to doe with thine own Creatures as it pleaseth thee Not what I would but what thou wilt not as I would but as thou wilt Not my sinfull and foolish Will but thy All-wise and Holy Will be done Yea I will bear thy indignation O Lord because I have sinned against thee It is of thy Mercies that I am not consumed Wherefore should the living complain and that for the punishment of their Sins who are always punished less than their iniquities deserve Sanctifie I beseech thee all the dealings of thy Providence towards me that it may be good for me in the Issue to have been afflicted and however grievous my loss and sufferings are unto me for the present they may bring forth the peaceable fruits of Righteousness when I shall have during thy pleasure been exercised with them In the mean while I pray thee support and strengthen me by thy Holy Spirit with all might in the inward man unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness Raise me up a supply of Friends to pity and compassionate my forlorn and destitute estate and do thou reward all their kindnesses Provide for me and mine as it shall seem best unto thee the Food which is convenient for us our daily Bread and give us Contentment with and Thankfulness for thy Allowances whatsoever they are Lord I believe help thou my unbelief and increase my Faith in thy All-sufficiency who art every where with me a Refuge unto which I may always resort a strong Tower into which I may run to be safe Protect and defend me from all evil Temptations and grant that I may doe nothing at any time to offend or displease Thee or forseit that Blessed Privilege which thou givest me in thy Holy Word of applying to and resting on thee in my present circumstances under that most comfortable Title of the Patron of Widows and Father of the Fatherless Make me a follower of Holy and Godly Matrons and those Widows indeed whom thou puttest Honour upon who trust in thee and serve thee continuing in Prayers and Supplications night and day Hear the voice of my Sighs and Tears Let my cry come unto thee O Thou that hearest Prayer and art a present help in the day of trouble and deal with thine Handmaid according to the multitude of thy tender mercies for the merit sake of thy dearly Beloved Son Jesus Christ the Righteous the Propitiation for our Sins and our Advocate at thy right Hand To whom with thee O Blessed Father and thy Holy Spirit of Grace and Comfort be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God For I shall yet praise him who is the health of my contenance and my God O God my Soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee I will say unto God my Rock why hast thou forgotten me c. Why art thou cast down O my Soul And why art thou disquieted within me c. Psal 42.5 6 9 11. 43.5 FINIS
And here we have an example how God can lengthen out a little and that our life is supported by his word of Blessing only * Deut. 8.3 Mat. 4.4 After this the Widow's Son sickens and dies ver 7. and she passionately resents it as a stroke of God's anger saying to Elijah Oh thou Man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my Son He therefore in pity to her case upon a Divine instinct undertakes the restoring of him again How his affections were moved you may perceive by his Prayer ver 20. He cried unto the Lord and said O Lord my God hast thou brought evil upon the Widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her Son And then it follows He stretched himself upon the Child three times and cried unto the. Lord and said O Lord my God I pray thee let this Child's Soul come into him again And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the Soul of the Child came into him again and he revived And Elijah took the Child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and deliver'd him to his Mother and Elijah said See thy Son liveth And this is the first we read of in Holy Scripture that was raised up from the dead The first instance is the Son of a poor Widow 3. This Prophet afterwards was taken up into Heaven and Elisha succeeded him in a participation of the same Spirit and he also was a comforter of the Widows To this purpose we read How strangely he multiplyed the distressed Widows oil for the discharge of her Husbands Debts and the Ransome of her Sons and her and their future maintenance 2 Kings 4.1 There cried a certain Woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets that is who had been Wife to one of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha who was now Head of their College Saying Thy Servant my Husband is dead and thou knowest that thy Servant did fear the Lord He was it seems a very good and Religious man and known to the Prophet for such the greater was her loss of him But this was not all he left her in debt And the creditor is come saith she to take unto him my two Sons to be Bondmen This deplorable case now moves the Prophet to say unto her What shall I doe for thee Tell me what hast thou in the house And she said thine Handmaid hath not any thing in the house viz. of that nature as to raise money from save a pot of Oil. A poor stock but enough for that power to work upon which can create out of nothing Then he said go borrow thee Vessels of all thy neighbours even empty Vessels borrow not a few or scant not And when thou art come in thou shalt shut the door upon thee and thy Sons and thou shalt pour out into all these Vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full And now let us note the success So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her Sons who brought the Vessels to her and she poured out and it came to pass when the Vessels were full that she said unto her Son one of her Sons then next her bring me yet a Vessel and he said unto her there is not a Vessel more And the oil stayed viz. That there might be no waste having run freely as long as there was any thing to receive it in Then she came and told the man of God Gratefully acknowledging the miracle wrought for her And he said go sell the Oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy Children on the rest Such was the bounty of God by Elisha to this Prophet's Widow exceeding her first request She was sollicitous only for the redemption of her Children from the creditors Arrest But she receives wherewithall both to discharge the debt her Husband left her in and provide a competency for her self and her children to subsist a while upon 4. Unto these instances now I will annex that Miracle of our Blessed Lord and Saviour the great Prophet whom Elijah and Elisha were but Types of recorded in the New Testament St. Luk. 7.11 12 c. It came to pass that he went into a City called Naim and many of his Disciples went with him and much People Now when he came nigh to the gates of the City behold there was a dead man carried out the onely Son of his Mother and she was a Widow This was the compassionableness of the case A desolate Widow following the Corpse of her Son her onely Son the stay of her Age the comfort of her Widow-hood to the grave And it was matter of general Lamentation among her neighbours also for much People of the City was with her And when the Lord saw her saith the Evangelist his Bowels too were moved he had Compassion on her and said unto her weep not But alas Good words alone were not able to chear up one in her condition and therefore unto those he forthwith adds a miracle of Beneficience and indeed most of his miraculous Works were of this nature so many Evidences of his divine Power in shewing mercy and doing good And he came and touched the bier or Cossin and they that bare him stood still and he said young man I say unto thee arise thus he commanded his Soul into his Body again and he that was dead sate up and he began to speak and he deliver'd him to his Mother Whereby he did not only stay her Tears but turn'd her mourning into Joy and Gladness And now this instance prompts me to observe in the fifth place That God hath planted soft and tender Hearts or natural Bowels in the generality of men who have not out-sinn'd their Humanity to resent the sad Circumstances of the Widows and Fatherless but these in good men are in a more eminent manner renew'd and improv'd who are required to put on as the Elect of God Bowels of Mercy and Kindness Colos 3.12 What Rhetorick there is in the naked Representation of so destitute an estate is visible in that parable which the wise Woman of Tekoah artificially used to move King David to recall Absolom 2 Sam. 14.4 c. She fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance and said Help O King And the King said unto her what aileth thee And she answered and said I am indeed a Widow woman and mine Husband is dead and thine Handmaid had two Sons and they two strove together in the field and there was none to part them but the one smote the other and slew him And behold the whole Family is risen against thine Handmaid and they said deliver him that smote his Brother that we may kill him for the Life of his Brother whom he slew and we will destroy the Heir also and so they shall quench my Coal which is left and shall not leave to my Husband neither name nor remainder
upon the Earth And the King said to the Woman go to thine house and I will give charge concerning thee There needed not any farther request than what the case it self made for her But then a Widow's Importunity is capable of adding much hereunto To which purpose we are instructed from our Saviour's Parable of the Importunate Widow who wearied out a careless and unjust judge who neither feared God nor regarded man by her continual sollicitations to take pity on her St. Luke 18. Upon which the Evangelist gives us also our Blessed Saviour's Remark And the Lord said hear what the unjust judge saith And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry day and night to him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily But we will turn from him to a much better man a man that hath the Testimony from God himself of being perfect and upright fearing God and eschewing Evil Job 1.1 'T is the expression he describes the utmost stretch of wickedness and oppression by Job 24.3 4. They drive away the Ass of the Fatherless they take the Widow's Ox for a Pledge they turn the Needy out of the way the Poor of the Earth hide themselves together And again verse 21 He doth not good to the Widow And Eliphaz indeed had charged him with this horrid guilt as the cause of his present Calamities Chap. 22.9 10. Thou hast sent Widows away empty saith he and the Arms of the Fatherless have been broken Therefore snares are round about thee and sudden fear troubleth thee But the good man was of quite another Character and Practice and therefore had just occasion upon this injurious Charge to make mention of it for his own Apology Chap. 29.12 c. I deliver'd the Poor that cried saith he the Fatherless and him that had none to help him the Blessing of him which was ready to perish came upon me and I caus'd the Widow's Heart to sing for joy Yea and he appeals to God for his witness in this matter and denounceth a most heavy Imprecation against himself should he have been found to have done otherwise Chap. 31.16 c. If I have with held the Poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the Widow to fail or have eaten my morsel my self alone and the Fatherless have not eaten thereof for from my Youth he was brought up with me and I have guided her that is the Widow from my Mother's Womb if I have seen any perish for want of Clothing or any Poor without Covering if his Loins have not blessed me and if he were not warmed with the Fleece of my Sheep if I have lift up my hands against the Fatherless when I saw my help in the gate then let mine Arm fall from my Shoulder-blade and mine Arm be broken from the Bone i. e. as I am falsly traduced to have served the Fatherless Chap. 22.9 No I had a greater dread upon me of the Divine Vengeance than to dare to venture on such a piece of insolence For destruction from God was a Terror to me and by reason of his Highness I could not endure This alone would have restrain'd him had nothing else but it was moreover clean contrary to the biass of his Temper and Inclination who looked upon the meanest of his Servants as his Fellow-Brethren and Sisters and therefore reckon'd with himself that he could never answer it to their common Father should he wrong or abuse any one of them as he had said just before verse 13 c. If I did despise the Cause of my Man-Servant or of my Maid-Servant when they contended with me what then shall I doe when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Did not he that made me in the womb make him And did not one fashion us in the Womb that is plainly have we not all one Father Are we not all the same Flesh and Bloud But now if there be found so much goodness and compassion in Men who at best have their Defects and Imperfections how much more is there in God T is the way of arguing which our Blessed Saviour hath taught us for our great encouragement St. Matth. 7.11 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him This goodness of Nature is but a Beam from his Sun or a drop from his Fountain And this is yet farther advanced in the World by the Principles of Christianity which urge us to the perfection of Charity and there cannot certainly be a fitter Object of it than the distressed Widow and Fatherless Such a charity was Tabitha or Dorcas a Disciple of our Saviour's at Joppa famous for Acts 9.36 This woman was full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did who therefore sickening and dying the Disciples there upon so great a loss sent presently for St. Peter to come to them and when he was come he found all the Widows standing by weeping and shewing the Coats and Garments which Dorcas made while she was with them And this proved an effectual motive to the miracle of her Resuscitation the restoring of so serviceable a Member to the Church And this now is made by St. James the Proof and Tryal of the Purity of our Religion Chap. 1.27 Pure Religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this saith he to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction that as we have experienced the goodness Eras Par. and great Mercy and Beneficence of God towards our selves so we also shew the same in all the instances we can towards those who are most necessitous and from whom we can expect the least requital Lastly I will close these Scripture Observations with a brief reflexion upon the special regard both of Christ and his Apostles unto these As to our Blessed Saviour I have already instanced in his Compassion to the Widow of Naim in raising up her onely Son But you may note farther with me 1. That he honoured a Widow with the manifestation of himself in the Temple when according to the prediction of the Prophets he made his first appearance there St. Luke 2.36 c. 2. That he admired and commended the poor Widow's mites of Charity above all the richer one 's Oblations St. Mark 12.41 c. And Jesus sat over against the Treasury and beheld how the People cast money into the Treasury And there came a certain poor Widow and she threw in two Mites which make a Farthing And he called unto him his Disciples and saith unto them Verily I say unto you that this poor Widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the Treasury for all they did cast in of their aboundance but she of her want did cast in all that she had even all her Living And this I the rather note because a
A Consolatory Discourse For the support of Distressed WIDOWS AND ORPHANS Of General use to all Christians who either are or may be left in such Circumstances Psalm XL. 17. As for me I am poor and needy But the Lord thinketh upon or careth for me Psalm CXIX 49.50 Remember the Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me Psalm XCIV 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul Lament III. 21. This I recall to my mind therefore have I hope It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not They are new every morning Great is thy Faithfulness The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul Therefore will I hope in him Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for John Newton at the three Pigeons over against the Inner Temple-Gate in Fleet-street 1690. THE PREFACE Christian Reader I Have only to pre-admonish that this small Treatise is designed for the Consolation of the Religious and Vertuous they are the persons who have the security of God Almighty's peculiar Providence over and most Gracious promises to them He is nigh unto the righteous his eyes are upon them and his ears are open unto their cry to deliver them out of all their Troubles and none of them shall be desolate Ps 34.15 c. All things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 To them he will be better than a Father and Mother and Husband 2 Cor. 6.18 Ps 123.13 Isa 66.13 Isa 49.15 54.4 c. They are the Poor and Broken-hearted whom he sendeth good tidings to They the mourners whom he will have comforted Isa 61.1 2 3. Comfort ye comfort ye my People saith your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem Ch. 40.1 As for others though they partake of the scatterings of his Common Bounty who maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Vnjust St. Mat. 5.45 and are accordingly the Objects of our general charity also in their extreme necessities who as we have opportunity must follow that pattern of doing good to all yet they fall not under that more special regard which God himself beareth and hath commanded us in like manner to express to the Houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 The truth is as they are not capable of these divine Consolations so they as little mind or relish them and the Apostle speaking of that sort of Widows saith they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5.6 And now there will not need an Apologie I hope for committing of these Papers to the Press any more than for contributing towards a publick Benefit and putting it into the hands of many to gratifie their afflicted Friends at a very small expence with what may prove a Cordial to their Spirits beyond any other at least will add considerably to those other supplies they are able to afford for their relief This I will say for their greater encouragement that nothing is here offer'd which affects the Differences and Disputes among several societies of Christians as now they stand unhappily divided but only what is agreeable to their common Sentiments and that good Profession wherein they all agree together and I know not of any such entire Collection upon the Subject as is to be found in the ensuing Pages Which that they may obtain the end whereunto they are intended is the earnest desire of the Compiler and Publisher who is an hearty Lover of all sincere Christians and zealously concern'd for the Widows and Fatherless among them from whose Prayers and Blessings he expects an abundant retribution B. Camfield Scripture Consolations FOR DISTRESSED WIDOWS AND ORPHANS HAVING had occasion lately with a more than ordinary sense and compassion to reflect upon the disconsolate estate of poor distressed Widows and their Fatherless Children Three Families of my Relations and those of the Clergy too being fallen in less than the space of a year under that heavy affliction I have for their sakes chiefly and those that may be reduced to the like calamity on purpose collected such Scripture comforts as relate more especially to their sad and mournful condition and do now most heartily recommend the same unto their frequent perusal and serious meditations That they may learn In Patience to possess their Souls and through comfort of the Scriptures to have hope St. Luke 21.19 Rom. 15.4 For which care also I bow my knees to the Father of all Mercies and compassions that his Grace and Blessing may accompany these well meant endeavours to their hearts and That he would grant them according to the riches of his Glory Ephes 3.16 Colos 1.11 to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inward man unto all long-suffering with joyfulness Were not Divine Providence particularly concerned in taking care for such Objects of Charity the World it self could hardly subsist in any tolerable state abounding with so many instances of them in every Age and Place But then the assurance of this good Providence is no where to be had with like advantage both of certainty and fulness as from that Book of Books that inexhaustible Fountain and Treasure of choicest Consolations the Holy word of God From whence therefore First I observe That God is pleased to represent himself as delighting in the Title of their peculiar Friend and Patron and desirous to be known and glorified by it He proclaimed this by Moses of old to the Israelites Deut. 10.17 c. The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a Great God and a Mighty and a Terrible who regardeth not Persons nor taketh reward He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and Widow and loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment and the sense of this is often repeated in the Psalms and elsewhere Psalm 10.14 The Poor committeth himself unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherless or Friendless And again ver 17.18 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble or Poor Thou wilt prepare or establish their heart Thou wilt cause thine Ear to hear To judge or help the Fatherless and oppressed to their right that the Men of the Earth be no more exalted against them Psal 68. A Psalm in imitation of that of Moses at the setting forward of the Ark Numb 10.35 and formed by King David probably on like occasion at the bringing up the same from the house of Obed. Idem ver 4. and 5. Extoll him that rideth upon the Heavens by his name Jah and rejoyce before him A Father of the Fatherless and a Judge of the Widows is God in his holy Habitation His name Jah a contract of Jehovah signifies his necessary Existence and as certainly as he is he will shew himself also a Father of the Fatherless and a Judge of the Widows to hear and
defend their Cause And though he inhabits the highest Heaven yet he is pleased here below to exhibit himself in a peculiar manner the Protector and Patron of such distressed ones Psalm 72.12 13 14. He shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the Poor also and him that hath no helper He shall spare the Poor and Needy and shall save the Souls of the needy He shall redeem their Soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their bloud be in his sight It is spoken of God our Saviour the Messias See Dr. Hammond in Loc. whose Kingdom is there resembled to the Government of a just and mercifull Prince that is ready to relieve all that are oppressed and wronged A Prince of bowels and compassions to them that are in any kind of distress to defend and deliver them out of it to rescue them from the hands of the injurious and Oppressor and preserve their lives from all that invade them as persons that are much valued and highly esteemed by him Psal 146. Having represented the variety of depending upon the best of mortal Men who at death must needs fail and all their projects with them He goes on to proclaim their happiness who have the Eternal God of Heaven and Earth for their Helper of whom he farther adds for their encouragement ver 7 c. Who executeth Judgment for the oppressed who giveth food to the hungry The Lord looseth the Prisoners The Lord openeth the Eyes of the blind The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down The Lord loveth the righteous or careth for the righteous The Lord preserveth the Strangers he releiveth or defendeth the Fatherless and Widow But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down The sense of all which is that it is Godâ—s peculiar property to interpose his Aid most seasonably when our Distresses are the greatest To undertake the defence and patronage of those who are most unjustly oppress'd To work even Miracles of mercy for them that stand in most need of them signally to express his favour to pious and charitable minded Men in all their necessities and under all their restraints and afflictions and if there be any more destitute than other more shut out from all sorts of humane superstition as those that have neither House nor Parent nor Husband to relieve and comfort them the Stranger the Fatherless the Widow These are the first Objects of his Grace and Compassion of whom he will have a peculiar care if in the absence of worldly aids they sincerely apply themselves and constantly adhere to his Obedience he will never leave or forsake them When my Father and Mother forsake me the Lord will take me up saith the Psalmist in another place Psal 27.10 And again I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging bread Ps 37.25 I will close this with that significant expression of the Prophet Hosea 14.3 In thee the Fatherless findeth mercy So then by this gracious Style and Title which God assumes to himself he saith plainly to his Servants and Worshippers what the Prophet Jeremiah relates as spoken of or unto Edom it may be in some different sense Jer. 49.11 Leave thy Fatherless Children I will preserve them alive and let thy Widows trust in me He will establish the border of the Widow saith Solomon Prov. 15.25 And again Enter not into the Fields of the Fatherless for their Redeemer is mighty he will plead their cause with thee Chap. 23.10 11. to which effect also he had said before Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the Gate for the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the Soul of those that spoiled them Chap. 22.22 23. And here I call to mind a memorable passage of Tertullian in a Book written to his own Wife Ad uxorem L. 1. C. 8. where having quoted that of the Prophet Isaiah Ch. 1. Judge the Fatherless Plead for the Widow come now and let us reason together as a sufficient instance of the honour and esteem God hath for Widows He adds that these two names viz. the Fatherless and Widows are no less open to the Divine mercy than they are exposed to humane contempt and that the Father of all hath undertaken the Tuition of them See saith he how favourably he is look'd upon who hath done the Widows a good turn But then how considerable is the Widow her self whose right the Lord will assert and whose Cause he will plead and manage Secondly This now leads me to observe how God hath displaid and made good this most gracious Title of his by those special Commands which he hath given forth about them Isa 1.17 Such was that I just now quoted wherein he calls upon the Rulers of Israel as ever they look'd for mercy at his hand to Relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless and plead for the Widow And so the charge to all earthly Judges runs Ps 82.3 Defend the Poor and Fatherless doe justice to the afflicted and needy And the Transgression of this Law of Righteousness whoever they be that are found guilty of it is severely threatned Exod. 22.22 c. Ye shall not afflict any Widow or Fatherless Child If thou afflict them in any wise and they cry at all unto me I will surely hear their cry and my wrath shall wax hot and I will kill you with the Sword and your wives shall be Widows and your children Fatherless i.e. I will in the same kind meet with and requite you And the words are all along Emphatical on the behalf of every Widow and Orphan If thou afflict them in any wise and if they cry at all unto me I will hear I will surely hear and be Wrath upon it yea my Wrath shall wax hot and I will retaliate it upon you I will kill you with the sword c. It was one of the solemn Curses denounced from mount Ebal to the Equity of which all the people subscribed Deut. 27.9 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow And all the people shall say Amen And accordingly it is taken notice of in the Prophets as matter of the highest Provocation and the ominous fore-runner of God's heaviest Judgments So Isa 1.23 They judge not the Fatherless neither doth the Cause of the Widow come unto them upon which therefore it follows immediately Therefore saith the Lord of Hosts the mighty are of Israel Ah! I will ease me of mine Adversaries and avenge me of mine Enemies So also Jerem. 5.28 They overpass the Deeds of the wicked they judge not the Cause the Cause of the Fatherless yet they prosper and the Right of the needy do they not judge upon which therefore it immediately follows Shall not I visit for these things Shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this And Chap. 21.12 O house of David thus saith the Lord