Luke 11:27-28 And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said to him… These be the parts of my text; and of these in order. I. "Blessed is the womb that bare thee," &c., saith the woman. 1. And that which occasioned and moved her thus to lift up her voice was the power of Christ's works and words. Be not deceived — every good lesson should be unto you as a miracle to move you to give sentence for Christ against the Pharisees and all the enemies He hath; against the pride that despiseth Him, the luxury that defileth Him, the disobedience that trampleth Him under foot. Every good motion (for therein Christ speaketh to us) should beget a resolution; every resolution, a good work; every good work, a love of goodness; and the love of goodness should root and stablish and build us in the faith. 2. And so I pass from the motive and occasion to the person, who from what she saw and heard gave this free attestation. Truth doth not fail, though a Pharisee oppose it, but is of strength sufficient to make the weakest of its champions conqueror. For "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). Neither number nor sex hath so much power upon truth as to alter its complexion. And as it was no prejudice to the truth that she was but one, no more was it that she was a woman. For why might not a woman, whose eye was clear and single, see more in Christ than the proudest Pharisee who wore his phylactery the broadest? All is, not in the miracle, but in the eye, in the mind, which, being goggle or mis-set, or dimmed with malice or prejudice, be-holdeth not things as they are, but, through false mediums, putteth upon them what shape it pleaseth, receiveth not the true and natural species they present, but vieweth them at home in itself as in a false glass, which returneth back by a deceitful reflection. And this is the reason why not only miracles, but doctrinal precepts also, find so different entertainment. Every man layeth hold on them and wresteth them to his own purpose, worketh them on his own anvil, and shapeth them to his own fancy and affections; as out of the same mass Phidias could make a goddess, and Lysippus a satyr. Prejudice will make a man persuade himself that is false which he cannot but know is most true. That which to a clear eye is a gross sin, and appeareth horror, to a corrupted mind may be as the beauty of holiness. The Pharisees saw it and the woman saw it: the one saw nothing but that which could not be seen, one devil casting out another; the other saw the finger and mighty power of God, and when she saw it, "she lifted up her voice, and said unto Him, "Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps that Thou hast sucked." 3. And so we descend to that which we proposed in the third place, the vehemency and heat of her affection, which could not contain itself in her heart, but brake forth at her mouth. And hereto" we shall consider — (1) That she spake. (2) What she spake. "She lifted up her voice, and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou has sucked."(a) "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," saith our Saviour (Matthew 12:34). "It evaporateth itself into the outward habit, breaks forth into voice, opens her shop and wares, that she may behold her own provision and riches abroad." The love of the truth tuneth the heart, and the heart the tongue. And this is the advantage that love hath of knowledge. Knowledge may be idle and unactive, but love is a restless thing, and will call up and employ every part of the body and every faculty of the soul to compass its end. Love is active, and will pace it on where knowledge doth but stand and gaze. Knowledge doth not always command our tongue; nay, many times we speak and act against our knowledge; but who speaks against that which he doth love? (b) Now, in the next place, what was it that begat her love but the admiration of Christ's person, His power, and His wisdom? She had heard of Moses and his miracles; but beholds a greater than Moses here. Application — 1. And, first, let us learn from this woman here to have Christ's wonderful works in remembrance, to look upon them with a steadfast and a fixed eye, that they may appear unto us in their full glory, and fill us with admiration. For admiration is a kind of voice of the soul. Behold, these are the wonderful things of Christ — to unite God and man, to tie them together by a new covenant, to raise dust and ashes to heaven: this is a great miracle indeed! 2. By her lifting up her voice, and blessing the womb that bare Christ, which was a kind of adoration (for admiration had not so shut up her devotion and love but that it was vocal and reverent), we are taught to magnify our Saviour with the tongue, and hand, and knee, and every member we have, as David speaketh. But I do but beat the air, and labour in vain. For now it is religion not to express it; and he is most devout who doth least show it. O when will this dumb devil be cast out? A strange thing it is that everything else, even our vices, should be loud and vocal, and religion should be the only thing that should want a tongue I that devotion should lie hid, and lurk and withdraw itself into the inward man! 3. Last of all: This woman's voice is yet lifted up, and calls upon us to lift up ours, even before the Pharisees. If our fear were not greater than our love, amongst these we should "lift up our voice like a trumpet," and put these monsters to shame, strike off their visor with noise, and bring in truth to tear off the veil of their hypocrisy. For, what I shall we not lift up our voice for truth but when she hath most voices on her side? Must truth be never published but in the times of peace? or must a song of praise be never chanted out but in a choir of angels? A Pharisee before us is a temptation, difficulty and danger are nothing else but a temptation, which is therefore laid in our way, to try if anything can sever us from the love of Christ and His truth. If we start back in silence, we have betrayed the truth to our fears, and left it to be trodden under foot by a Pharisee. He that can trifle with his God will at last blaspheme Him to His face. We have already handled the circumstantial parts of the text; we are now to treat of the substantial — the woman's speech and our Saviour's. 4. We begin with the woman's, "Blessed is the womb that bare Thee," etc. And that the mother of Christ was blessed we need not doubt. For we have not only the voice of this woman to prove it, but the voice of an angel, "Blessed art thou among women." "All generations shall call her blessed" (Luke 1:48). (1) Blessed, as the occasion of so much good. For when we see a clear and silver stream, we bless the fountain; and, for the glory and quickening power of the beams, some have made a god of the sun. Whatsoever presents itself unto us in beauty or excellency, doth not only take and delight us, but, in the midst of wonder, forceth our thoughts to look back to the coasts from whence it came. (2) Again: if it be a kind of curse to beget a wicked son, or, as Solomon did, "the foolishness of the people" (Ecclus. 47:23). The historian observes that many famous men amongst the Romans either died childless, or left such children behind them that it had been better their name had quite been blotted out, and they had left no posterity. And speaking of Tully, who had a drunken and a sottish son, he adds, "It had been better for him to have had no child at all, than such an one." II. We come, next, to our Saviour's gentle corrective, "Yea rather." And this "Yea rather" comes in seasonably. For the eye is ready to be dazzled with a lesser good, if it be not diverted to a greater; as he will wonder at a star that never saw the sun. We stay many times and dwell with delight upon those truths which are of lesser alloy, and make not any approach towards that which is saving and necessary. 1. The philosopher will tell us that he that will compare two things together, must know them both. What a brightness hath honour to blind him that hath not tasted of the favour of God! What a paradise is carnal pleasure to him that a good conscience never feasted! What a substance is a ceremony to him that makes the precepts of the law but shadows! Therefore it is the method of wisdom itself to present them both unto us in their just and proper weight; not to deny what is true, but to take off our thoughts, and direct them to something better; that we may not dote so long on the one as to neglect and cast off the other. In my text the woman had discovered Christ's excellency; and Christ discovers to her His will, His Father's will, the doing of which will will unite her unto Him whom she thus admired, and make her one with Him, as He and His Father is one. "Blessed parents! yea, rather, Blessed thou, if thou hear My word and keep it." This is a timely grace, to lead her yet nearer to the kingdom of heaven; the lifting up of her voice was too weak to lift up those everlasting gates. This was a seasonable — "reprehension" shall I call it, or "direction"? 2. And now if we look into the Church, we shall find that most men stand in need of a "Yea rather"; who will magnify Christ and His mother too, but not do His will; will do what they ought to do, but leave that undone for which that which they do was ordained. "Blessed sacrament of the Lord's supper!" It is true; but, "Yea rather, Blessed are they that dwell in Christ." "Blessed profession of Christianity!" "Yea rather, Blessed are they that are Christ's." "Blessed cross!" The fathers call it so. "Yea rather, Blessed are they that have ' crucified their flesh with the affections and lusts.'" "Blessed church!" "Yea rather, Blessed are they who are members of Christ." "Blessed Reformation!" "Yea rather, Blessed are they that reform themselves." 3. This resolve of wisdom itself, as it doth cool and moderate our affections towards the outward and temporal favours and blessings of God, towards those of his light hand, and those of His left, so it doth intend and quicken them towards that which is blessedness indeed. It sets us up a glass, that "royal law" (James 2:8), "that perfect law of liberty," which if we "look into, and continue in it, being not forgetful hearers, but doers of the work, we shall be blessed in it" (James 1:25). "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God," reacheth not home; and therefore there is a conjunction copulative to draw it closer, and link it with obedience, "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." For, first, God hath fitted us hereunto. For, can we imagine that He should thus build us up, and stamp His own image upon us, that we should be an habitation for owls and satyrs, for wild and brutish imaginations? that He did give us understandings to find out an art of pleasure, a method and craft of enjoying that which is but for a season? Was the soul made immortal for that which passeth away as a shadow, and is no more? Indeed, faith, in respect of the remoteness of the object, and its elevation above the ken of nature, may seem a hard lesson, yet in the soul there is a capacity to receive it; and if the other condition, of obedience and doing God's will, did not lie heavy upon the flesh, the more brutish part, we should be readier scholars in our creed than we are. Secondly. As the precepts of Christ are proportioned to the soul, so being embraced they fill it with light and joy, and give it a taste of the world to come. For as Christ's "yoke is easy," but not till it is put on; so His precepts are not delightful till they are kept. Aristotle's happiness in his books is but an idea, and heaven itself is no more to us till we enjoy it. The precepts of Christ in the letter may please the understanding part, which is always well-affected and inclinable to that which is apparently true; but till the will have set the feet and hands at liberty, even that which we approve we distaste, and that which we call "honey" is to us as bitter as gall. Contemplation may delight us for a time and bring some content, but the perverseness of our will breeds that worm which will soon eat it up. It is but a poor happiness to think and speak well of happiness, as from a mount to behold that Canaan which we cannot enjoy. A thought hath not strength and wing enough to carry us to bliss. But when the will is subdued and made obedient to the truth, then God's precepts, which are "from heaven, heavenly," fill the soul with a joy of the same nature, not gross and earthy, but refined and spiritual; a joy that is the pledge and the earnest, as the apostle calls it, of that which is to come. (A. Farindon, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. |
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