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
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
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