issue make us tremble both for ourselves and others; -tremble, "lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it 1;”—tremble, lest, in the accepted time wherein He hath heard us, in the day of salvation wherein He hath succoured us;-we should have received "the grace of God in vain 2?" O, my brethren, this is not a fear which mistrusts the heavenly promises, or which keeps us back from "the love of God," and from "the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." this is not a fear which robs us of any of the blessed fruits of the Spirit, of love, or joy, or peace, or long-suffering, or gentleness, or goodness, or faith;—but it is that holy and humble reverence which causes us to feel most acutely our weaknesses, and dangers, and responsibilities, even at the very moment when we are upheld by the arms of Divine compassion; which constrains us to weep with Israel, as we hear the words of the Law; and yet with Israel to remember the encouraging assurance,—" mourn not, nor weep, for this day is holy unto the Lord your God." Be ye therefore holy, even as He is holy. "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time 4."

1 Heb. iv. 1.
3 Jude 21.

2 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2.

4 1 Pet. v. 6.

SERMON X.

JESUS WEEPING.

JOHN xi. 35.

Jesus wept.

It is a remark which has often forced itself

upon the attention of those who are occupied in the exposition of the Inspired Volume, that, whilst the division of its Books into chapters and verses, has greatly facilitated the means of reference to particular passages, it has been found, nevertheless, in many instances, to break the continuity of narrative or of argument contained in the passages themselves; and thereby has a tendency to leave upon the memory only partial and disjointed impressions of that which ought to be regarded in immediate connexion with the context. The fragments of the building are thus collected and carefully treasured up; whilst their relation to each other and to the whole, to

gether with that exact coherence of the several portions, which gives grace and stability to the perfect structure, is forgotten. The truth of this remark must certainly be admitted; and the evil to which it adverts must be regarded as one of the many imperfections which attach, more or less, to every human invention and contrivance. But yet, I am disposed to think, that, in the instance now before us, the arrangement in question may have been found productive of great advantage, by helping to arrest the attention, and thereby quickening the affections of many who are led to peruse the present portion of the Gospel history. To meet, in the course of that history, with a verse which comprizes but two words,—and those words descriptive of a fact so memorable as that of the Redeemer of mankind shedding the tears of human sympathy,— is sufficient, I am persuaded, to make the most careless and superficial reader pause and reflect upon the touching interest of the scene. Should he only have given a cursory glance at the preceding narrative, he would now look to it again with renewed and with fixed attention; he would retraverse the ground which before he had passed over hastily; and mark with earnest care each step that he made in the progress of it. Every incident, would now be clothed with fresh interest, and every word of the blessed narrative felt to be more full of consolation than ever, for they would be linked, in his associa

tion, with the fact recorded in the text, that "Jesus wept."

A similar impression to this will also be produced, I think, upon our minds, whensoever we hear the contents of this single verse recited, in the public assemblies of the Lord's people, as a subject fitted for our contemplation. So simple in expression, and yet so comprehensive in meaning; so easy to be retained in the memory, and yet so impossible to be embraced, in all its actual fulness of reality, by the imagination; the mere utterance of this brief sentence is enough to spread a feeling of more than ordinary reverence and solemnity, upon the hearts both of the people who hear, and of the minister who essays to speak concerning it. Ye, who are acquainted with the context, will at once picture to yourselves the scene which is there described,— the grave of Lazarus with the stone blocking up its entrance, his sisters weeping, as they lead the Redeemer to the spot,-the Jews, who followed them, weeping also, and exclaiming, as they see the tears of Jesus, “Behold, how He loved him ;”—all this, I say, will be present to your mental vision, as you listen to the text, and furnish you with ample materials to engage and fix your attention. And ye, to whom the recollection of these circumstances is not familiar,-if indeed ignorance of so remarkable a portion of the history of Christ can be supposed to exist among any who are called by His Name,-must

feel desirous, the moment you hear the words which I have just read, to know more of the cause which led to that marvellous exhibition of the Redeemer's sympathy, and of the result which followed it1.

''Whoever divided the chapters of the New Testament into verses,' (says Dr. Donne, in his Sermon on this passage) ' seems to have stopped in an amazement in this text; and, by making an entire verse of these two words, Jesus wept, and no more, to intimate that there needs no more for the exalting of our devotion to a competent height, than to consider, how, and where, and when, and why Jesus wept. There is not a shorter verse in the Bible, nor a larger text.' Again, he says, 'We take knowledge that our Lord wept thrice. He wept here, when he mourned with them that mourned for Lazarus; He wept again, when He drew near to Jerusalem, and looked upon that city; and He wept a third time in His Passion. There is but one Evangelist but this, St. John, that tells us of these first tears; the rest say nothing of them. There is but one Evangelist, St. Luke, that tells us of His second tears; the rest speak not of those. There is no Evangelist, but there is an Apostle that tells us of His third tears; St. Paul says, "That in the days of His flesh, He offered up prayers with strong cries and tears." (Heb. v. 7.) And those tears, expositors of all sides refer to His Passion; though some to His Agony in the Garden, some to His Passion on the Cross and these, in my opinion, most fitly; because those words of St. Paul belong to the declaration of the Priesthood, and of the Sacrifice of Christ: and from that function of His, the Cross was the Altar; and therefore to the Cross we fix those third tears. The first were Human tears; the second were Prophetical; the third were Pontifical, appertaining to the Sacrifice. The first were shed in a condolency of a human and natural calamity fallen upon one family; Lazarus was dead. The second