Jerusalem, lived Lazarus and his two sisters, to whom Jesus made frequent visits for their instruction. Now, it is said, Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus; but such expressions of the Saviour's kindness are by no means designed to secure any person from the common evils of life, nor from the stroke of death. Lazarus is taken seriously ill, and a messenger was sent to Jesus at Jerusalem, saying, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick. Christ delayed his visit, not for the want of affection, but with a design to express his greater regard, and to show forth his glory. Lazarus died, and had laid in his grave four days.

Jesus arrived

at Bethany, and after some very interesting conversation with the family, he inquires the place of interment, and he was invited to visit the grave. At this Jesus wept; and being accompanied by the surviving sisters and many of the Jews, he arrived at the spot. At his orders the stone which lay at the mouth of the cave was removed, Jesus lifted up his eyes and prayed to his Father, and then with a loud voice cried, Lazarus, come forth, and instantly the dead man sprang to life!

It has with great propriety been said, that there is an expressive language in tears, for they speak as they flow. Let us, therefore, listen to the voice of those tears which Jesus shed at the grave of Lazarus, for their language must have been divinely expressive. Certainly they give us a fine expression of his condolence, and the sympathy of his heart for a family bereaved of an affectionate and valuable

brother; and enforces that humane admonition, Weep with those that weep. We are at no loss to say, that they were the tears of friendship, for when the Jews beheld him weeping, they exclaimed, Behold how he loved him! Jesus, now standing in the midst of the grave yard, beheld the monuments of the dead, and the hillocks of the graves, his heart could not but feel for the demerit of sin, the slaughter of death, and the degradation of mortals; all which drew tears from his eyes. Notwithstanding the great piety of the bereaved Martha, Jesus wept on hearing the expressions of her doubts, and limiting his power to save; for our doubts are great sins, and require the compassion and forgiveness of the Saviour. Nor can we forbear saying, that they were the tears of extreme sorrow, for it is twice said in this affecting narrative, that Jesus groaned in himself, for not a tear did he shed that did not cost his heart a groan! The tears of Jesus, therefore, demonstrate that he was truly man, subject to the same impressions as ourselves, yet without the alloy of sin. But the close of the scene proclaims him to be the Son of God, with power; his tears were the harbingers of a display of his Godhead; his accents aroused Lazarus from the sleep of death, and he once more joined the society of his friends, and walked in the light of the living. From the display of the Saviour's compassion and power, well might many of the Jews who accompanied Mary believe on him, and well may we rejoice in the tenderness of his heart.

The eye of Jesus wept,

It dropt a holy tear,
When Mary's brother slept

A friend to Jesus dear:

Delightful thought! That blessed eye
Still beams with kindness in the sky.

The other occasion on which Jesus shed his tears, was on his public and last enterance into Jerusalem; the circumstances of which, Luke, in his nineteenth chapter, has minutely recorded. Jerusalem was the ancient city, the metropolis of the Hebrew nation, the seat of its kings, and especially the place of worship to which all the tribes of Israel were enjoined to repair. To this people successive prophets had been sent in the name of the Lord, and in this temple sacrifices were offered upon their altars. But the hypocrisy of the priests, the corruption of their ordinances, their perversions of the Old Testament writings, the profligacy of their manners, and their rejection of the Messiah, brought down the displeasure of God upon them. At this time the Jews were in bondage to the Romans, and many of their civil privileges were forfeited. Jesus, according to the flesh, was of this nation, and subjected himself to the ceremonial laws of its temple, preached to them the things of the kingdom of God, explained to them the writings of their prophets, and forewarned them of the impending awful judgments of God upon them. Jesus now riding into Jerusalem, accompanied by many of his disciples, a large concourse of people, when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, and made the most pathetic exclamation on the hardness of

their hearts, the loss of their privileges, and the inevitable destruction which should ensue. Thus the compassionate Jesus, as a man and a prophet, wept over this criminally devoted city, whose destruction was inevitable. As the Messiah, he knew that through the ignorance and misrepresentation of their priests and elders, they had subverted the design of the Old Testament prophecies, and were taught to look for a temporal deliverer, instead of the Holy One of Israel, who was to bear our iniquities, make his soul an offering for sin, and thus fulfil the purposes of God in the salvation of his people. For the hardness of their hearts Jesus wept over them; for, by their unbelief the Jews closed the door of hope against themselves. The event verified the just cause of the Saviour's tears, for about forty years afterwards the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem was left as a plowed field, and the Jews have remained in dispersion to this day. I will venture to make one other reflection on Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. The Saviour knew that although the Jews should be scattered in wrath, yet in the fulness of time they should be gathered in mercy. The veil shall be taken from their eyes, the Gospel shall be received, and that ancient remnant turn unto the Lord, whom their forefathers had crucified and slain. Jesus now wept, foreseeing their destruction. His tears fell on Israel's ground. May we not say that they prepare the land of Palestine to receive the good seed of his kingdom, and that eventually the Jews shall be converted, and according to the prophetic prayer, the Holy One of

Israel will establish and make Jerusalem a prqise in the whole earth. Isaiah lxii. 7.

Who now but must perceive the strong contrast between the weeping Saviour and the thoughtless sinner! Jesus weeps for the guilt and miseries of man, while the careless sinner, like the hardened inhabitants of Jerusalem, sheds not one tear for his sins, nor the apprehension of a lost soul. Reader, is it so with you? Let the humble penitent know that the tears which Jesus shed while upon earth, were as so many beautiful mirrors of that compassion and grace which he now possesses in heaven to save the chief of sinners. Go then, humble sinner, go to the throne of mercy, for the language of every tear, and every drop of blood is, Look unto me, and be ye saved.-The afflicted Christian, who walks this vale of tears, should learn, by meditation, to mingle his tears with those of his Saviour's, for this will, my suffering friend, sweeten the bitterest cup of your sorrow. But you, my aged reader, who are often bowed beneath the weight of years, the infirmities of decaying nature, and more so by the increasing debility of the mind, and the greater evils of the heart, often dropping the melancholy tear in prospect of the grave, think, O think, of the tears of your compassionate Saviour! Forget not him who wept at the grave of Lazarus, and who can amply support your depressed mind, and console your spirit, in prospect of your own. So sure as Jesus wept on earth, and is now enthroned in glory, so sure will he guide you through the vale of death,