EPC Australia

An ordinary mind would have been engrossed and elated by the actions and acclamations of the multitude, who cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way, and spread their garments on the ground for him to ride upon, and filled the air with Hosannas, crying, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. But he wept, wept at the sight of Jerusalem, whose visitation was now closing and whose judgment was hastening on, saying, "O that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! but now are they hid from thine eyes."

Surely these tears teach us that there is nothing degrading in sensibility. Indeed, all true greatness is tender and sympathetic. Jonathan and David, the heroes of the age, one of whom had slain a whole garrison, and the other Goliath, both wept, till each exceeded. Homer, that exquisite painter of Nature, considers Ulysses as excelling all men in wisdom, yet represents him as weeping three times in six lines. He describes Achilles, too, so extraordinary in courage, as weeping often and plentifully. Let not, therefore, the unfeeling pride themselves as superior in fortitude and philosophy. Feeling is the noblest distinction and ornament of humanity, and in proportion as we lose it, we cease to be men. There is a moral ossification of the heart, as well as a physical, and the one is as pitiable as the other. He who was fairer than the children of men, was often known to weep.

As these tears were honourable, so they are exemplary. For whom did he shed them? The inhabitants of Jerusalem, who, after every kind of insult, were going to put him to death. At the grave of Lazarus he wept for friends, here, for adversaries. And does he not, by this, tell us to be tender-hearted; to weep with them that weep? that we should bewail the miseries of others, and not confine our compassion to our own connexions, but love our enemies, bless them that curse us, and do good to them that persecute us? And does he not enforce this, not only by precept, but example? And can we be his disciples, unless we follow him? "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself so to walk even as he walked." "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

These tears are encouraging. Tears are generally considered proofs of concern. Human tears, indeed, it will be allowed, are not infallible tokens; but the tears of Christ may be safely trusted. They show his compassion; the sincerity, the greatness of his compassion. They tell us, that his love passeth knowledge and therefore they call upon us to repair to him, assured that he is not willing that any should perish, and that he has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.

Finally, they are awful and foreboding; admonishing us of the dreadfulness of their doom on whose behalf they are shed. It is affecting to see a man weep, and especially a great man. You would naturally suppose that something vast and momentous was necessary, to move to tears such mighty minds as those of a Bacon or a Newton. And could a trifle move the Son of God to weep? And if the temporal calamities coming on the Jews affected him, how much more would their eternal perdition? What were the Roman eagles, compared with the wrath to come? Oh, these tears say, plain enough, "There is something divinely, infinitely pitiable in the loss of a soul. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . Who knoweth the power of his anger?"

May we not fairly infer from hence, what his feeling is in the recovery of a sinner? If he weeps over those who are ready to perish, surely he will rejoice over those that are saved. "He will rejoice over them with joy; he will rest in his love; he will rejoice over them with singing."

Morning Exercises For Everyday In The Year
By Rev. William Jay