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
Lord of Hosts But then again 2. Besides this God strictly required a peculiar regard to be had unto the Fatherless and Widows in their solemn feasts every year Deut. 16. So it is expressed in the sacred Text for the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost verse 10. Thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks unto the Lord thy God with a Tribute or sufficiency as the margin reads it of a free-will offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee and thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God thou and thy Son and thy Daughter and thy Man-Servant and thy Maid-Servant and then immediately next to these Domesticks it follows the Levite that is within thy Gates and the Stranger and the Fatherless and the Widow that are among you So likewise for the feast of Tabernacles verse 14. And thou shall rejoyce in thy Feast thou and thy Son and thy Daughter and thy Man-Servant and thy Maid-Servant and the Levite and the Stranger and the Fatherless and the Widow that are within thy Gates And it is plainly signified that they were to rejoyce in so doing and not to part with their contributions hereunto grudgingly as well knowing that it was the way of God's own appointment in order to the securing unto themselves a greater blessing ver 15. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn Feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase and in all the works of thine hands Therefore shalt thou rejoyce And though it is not so distinctly mention'd in what is said of the Pass-over or Feast of unleavened Bread yet that also is not only to be inferr'd by way of just consequence it being the Principal and leading Feast but manifestly included in the generall clause which follows and names them all together ver 16 17. Three times a year shall all thy Males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse in the Feast of Unleavened Bread and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord empty Every man shall give as he is able according to the Blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee And according to this Law of theirs three solemn anniversaries the days of Purim also were afterwards ordained to be kept yearly As days of Feasting and Joy sending portions to one another and gifts to the Poor among whom we may be sure the Fatherless and Widow were not forgotten Esther 9.22 And indeed such are the most proper Guests for true and religious Feasting whose entertainment God himself stands engaged to see abundantly paid for and recompenced St. Luk. 14.13 14. These least deserve the name of Feasts of Charity St. Jud. 12. But then 3. Over and above this two there were three or four things in their yearly Harvest allotted to the Poor and among them chiefly to the Fatherless and Widow viz. A nook or corner of the Field the forgotton sheaf the Gleanings and single or fallen Grapes and ungathered Olives Levit. 19.9 10. When ye reap the Harvest of your Land thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy Field neither shall thou gather the Gleanings of thy Harvest And thou shalt not glean thy Vineyard neither shalt thou gather every Grape of thy Vineyard thou shalt leave them for the Poor and Stranger I am the Lord your God Which place we may compare with Deut. 24.17 c. Thou shalt not pervert the Judgment of the Stranger nor of the Fatherless nor take a Widows Garment to pledge but thou shalt remember that thou wast a Bondman in Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence therefore I command thee to doe this thing When thou cuttest down thine Harvest in the Field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the Field thou shalt not go again to fetch it it shall be for the Stranger and for the Fatherless and for the Widow that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands When thou beatest thine Olive Tree thou shalt not go over the boughs again It shall be for the Stranger for the Fatherless and for the Widow When thou gatherest the Grapes of thy Vineyard thou shalt not glean it afterwards It shall be for the Stranger for the Fatherless and for the Widow And thou shalt remember that thou wast a Bondman in the Land of Egypt therefore I command thee to doe this thing We cannot but note here what a stress God Almighty lays upon it and how all along he disciplin'd the Jews as in a School of continual Charity especially towards the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow Fourthly Let us next observe how he hath thought good sometimes to go out of the common road of his Providence and work sundry Miracles on purpose to testifie and confirm the mercifull respects he bears to such 1. I know not well whether I should place the instances of Naomi and Ruth under this Head of Discourse or rather have allotted them one by themselves Sure I am they were vertuous and religious Widows and left in a desolate distressed and poor condition and yet by a wonderful conduct of Divine Providence most seasonably relieved provided for and advanced as may be read at large in the Book of Ruth made up wholly of this argument and which next to the clearing of our blessed Saviour's Genealogie may seem to have been written and preserved among the sacred Records chiefly for the encouragement of others in all succeeding Ages to become followers of their Piety Faith and Patience and as a Book I may say of Peculiar comfort unto Widows in their Afflictions The abstract of it is this Elimelech a Man of some note in Bethlehem-Judah with his Wife Naomi and their two Sons Mahlon and Chilon is forced at first by a sore Famine in the time of the Judges to quit his Habitation and with what moneys he could gather up to travel and provide sustinence for himself and Family in the Country of Moab a strange and heathenish Country And there now not long after he dies and leaves Naomi a sorrowfull Widow among strangers And there also after this to the increase of her sorrows she Buried her two Sons the only remaining supports of her Widowhood who during there abode there had married two Moabitish Women now also made disconsolate Widows Orpah and Ruth Orpah upon a little entreaty betakes her self to her own Friends for maintenance and we hear no more of her But Ruth resolves to abide by her Mother-in-Law whatever became of it out of love to her and her Religion These two Widows therefore having spent all they had return together unto Bethlehem entertaining each other with dolesome complaints of their mutual losses as they go and God's good Providence was all the way over them in that hazardous
journey of theirs till they came safe to the desired place But upon their coming thither all the City saith the Text was moved about them Ch. 1.19 and they said Is this Naomi That is so soon as they had heard the mournfull story and seen her great Affliction and what necessities she was reduced unto How that going out from them in a wealthy estate accompanied with her Husband and two Sons grown up to manhood she was now return'd in so calamitous and destitute a condition without Husband or Children or Goods and only a young distressed Widow hanging on her They were all astonished the Women especially who had formerly known her in her latter days of Prosperity and they could scarce believe their senses that this miserable object they now behold was the same Matron Is this Naomi say they And she hereupon takes the occasion offer'd her as passion is often quick and witty in venting of it self to shew the sense she lay under of her own sad condition Well may you ask Is this Naomi Call me not Naomi saith she ver 20 21. reflecting upon the signification of that name that is pleasant or delectable but call me Marah that is Bitter For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home empty That is depriv'd of all those comforts and means to subsist on which I formerly had and expos'd as you see to want and penury Why then call you me Naomi seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me But all this while she thought not of God's more gracious design in thus humbling of her that in due time he might raise and exalt her Hither his good Providence brought them at the beginning of Barly Harvest ver 22. And so the young Widow bestirs her self immediately to glean for the present relief both of her self and Mother in this pinch of their necessity And the hand of Heaven directs her a perfect stranger in the Countrey unto a wealthy Kinsman's Field whose name was Boaz and inclin'd his heart also to be very kind and compassionate towards her not only to permit her quietly to gather after his Reapers but to speak friendly to her and give special charge to all his Servants about her that none should doe her wrong or Reproach Nay that they should let some handfulls fall on purpose for her and call her to eat and drink with them And to make short at last upon farther knowledge and consideration had of his Relation to her and her own Vertues Chap. 4. according to the Jewish Law and Custome he charitably fulfills the right of a nearest Kinsman and redeems the Land which was left and takes her for his Wife before the Elders in the Gate where all the people accompanied their Marriage with joyful acclamations and pious good wishes ver 11 12. And God himself blessed it by giving him soon after by her a Son named Obed the Father of Jesse and Grand-Father of King David of whose Seed the Messias was to come and to be born too in that City of Bethlehem Saint Matth. 2.5 6. So that by this means the Pilgrim Moabitish Widow became not only a Proselite to the true Religion but a Glorious Mother in Israel And Aged Naomi also is both comforted and exalted with and by her made a joyful Nurse to dandle that on her knees which she was past bearing in her Womb sees her Name and Family revived after the loss of her Husband and Children and her poor Daughter in Law who loved her entirely better unto her in the Issue than seven Sons And so the Women who at her first arrival lamented and wondred at her fall and unhappiness did now earnestly congratulate the Blessed change and alteration of her Fortune as we call it but if we speak religiously of God's providence towards her Saying Vpon the birth of the Child Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a Kinsman or Redeemer that his name may be famous in Israel And he shall be unto thee a Restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age For thy Daughter-in-Law which loveth thee which is better to thee than seven Sons hath born him You perceive by this time how deservedly I call'd this History of Naomi and Ruth the Widows Book of Consolation I will now pass on to some more miraculous instances of God's especial favour and goodness towards them 2. Upon this errand principally it was that he sent Elijah the Prophet unto Zarephath or Sarrepta Luke 4.26 to seek relief of the indigent Widow there because he purposed to requite her kindness with a marvellous blessing upon her own head 1 Kings 17.9 c. Arise saith God unto him get thee to Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon and dwell there Behold I have commanded a Widow Woman there to sustain thee And here indeed was the Fountain head of all her sufficiency So he arose and went to Zarephath and when he was come to the gate of the City behold the Widow Woman was there gathering of Sticks And he called to her and said fetch me I pray thee a little Water in a Vessel that I may drink And as she was going to fetch it he called to her and said bring me I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand Whereunto when she had mournfully replied As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a Cake but an handfull of Meal in a Barrel and a little Oil in a Cruse and behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my Son that we may eat it and die He presently answered her Fear not go and doe as thou hast said But make me a little Cake thereof first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy Son Doe me this office of Charity and trust in God that thou shalt be no looser by it For thus saith the Lord God of Isreal the Barrel of Meal shall not waste neither shall the Cruse of Oil fail untill the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the Earth viz to make it bring forth Corn and Oil in abundance Now observe the event She went and did according to the saying of Elijah And She and He and her House which seems to intimate that She had more in Family than her Son only though Nature put her upon providing for him before them did eat it many days the Margin reads it a full year and others conjecture three years at least from what is mention'd Ch. 18.1 of the third year of the Prophet's being there * The Famine is said to continue three years and six months Luk. 4 25. Jam. 5.17 And the Barrel of Meal saith the Text wasted not neither did the Cruse of Oil fail according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah Such was the reward of this poor Widows Faith and Charity