1 E. L. Hull.
4o6 THE IMPENITENT CITY
wind and the storm, it is more often heard in the quiet whisper, speaking lovingly to the conscience.
Where are thy moments ? Dost thou let them run Unheeded through time's glass ? Is thy work done ? Hast thou no duties unfulfilled ? Not one
That needs completion ? Thou would'st not cast thy money to the ground; Or, if thou did'st, perchance it might be found By one who, schooled in poverty's harsh round,
Knew not repletion.
But thy time lost, is lost to all and thee ;
Swiftly 'tis added to eternity,
And for it answerable thou must be;
So have a care. Gather thy moments, lest they swell to hours; Stir up thy youthful and still dormant powers; Now only canst thou plant Heaven's fadeless flowers,
Therefore, beware.
III.
The Tears of Jesus.
" He saw the city and wept over it." He wept — wept aloud (there had been only silent tears at Bethany, for the two Greek words imply this distinction) — He wept aloud as the city of Jerusalem burst on His sight. The spot has been identified by modern travellers, where a turn in the path brings into view the whole city. " There stood before Him the City of ten thousand memories, with the morning sunlight blazing on the marble pinnacles and gilded roofs of the Temple buildings " ; and as He gazed, all the pity within Him over-mastered His human spirit, and He broke into a passion of lamentation, at the sight of the city, which it was too late for Him — the Deliverer — to save ; at the thought of the ruin of the nation, which He — the King — had come to rule. "If thou hadst known — Oh ! that thou hadst known — the things that belong unto thy peace ! " As if He had said, " Thou art called Jerusalem, which means ' They shall see peace.' Oh that thou wert Jerusalem in truth and hadst known
ST. LUKE XIX. 41, 42 407
the things that make for thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes."
The Son of God in tears
The Angels wondering see: East thou no wonder, 0 my soul?
He shed those tears for thee !
He wept that we might weep, Might weep our sin and shame,
He wept to shew His love for us, And bid us love the same.
Then tender be our hearts,
Our eyes in sorrow dim, Till every tear from every eye
Is wiped away by Him ! ^
^ There is no more moving sight than a strong man in tears. Only the strong can truly weep. Tears are then the overflow of the heart. They come when words are powerless; they go where deeds cannot follow. They are the speech of souls past speaking.^
1. It was not for Himself that He wept. The Saviour quite forgot Himself. Conscious as He was, perfectly conscious, of the terrible suiBfering and shame which awaited Him, He thought not of it ; His whole soul was taken up with the city which lay before Him, glittering in the brilliant light of early morning. The tide of sorrow and regret which that sight set a-flowing submerged all other feelings for the moment. It is proper to man that only one very strong emotion can find room within his breast at the same moment ; and our Lord was man, true man, made like unto us in all points, sin alone excepted. So He forgot for the moment all about Himself ; His heart went out to the city which lay before Him, and He wept over it.
He measured the worth, or rather He estimated the worthless- ness, of those greetings which greeted Him now. He knew that all this joy, this jubilant burst, as it seemed, of a people's gladness, was but as fire among straw, which blazes up for an instant, and then as quickly expires, leaving nothing but a handful of black » H. F. Lyte, Poems, 82. =« R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 52.
40* THE IMPENITENT CITY
ashes behind it. He knew that of this giddy thoughtless multitude, many who now cried, "Hosanna ; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," would, before one short week was ended, join their voices with the voices of them who exclaimed, " Crucify him, crucify him ; we have no king but Caesar " ; and He wept, not for Himself, but for them, for the doom which they were preparing for their city, for their children, for themselves.
^ The contrast was, indeed, terrible between the Jerusalem that rose before Christ in all its beauty, glory, and security, and the Jerusalem which He saw in vision dimly rising on the sky, with the camp of the enemy round about it on every side, hugging it closer and closer in deadly embrace, and the very " stockade " which the Eoman Legions raised around it ; then, another scene in the shifting panorama, and the city laid with the ground, and the gory bodies of her children among her ruins ; and yet another scene : the silence and desolateness of death by the Hand of God— not one stone left upon another ! We know only too well how literally this vision has become reality; and yet, though uttered as prophecy by Christ, and its reason so clearly stated, Israel to this day knows not the things which belong unto its peace, and the upturned scattered stones of its dispersion are crying out in testimony against it. But to this day, also, do the tears of Chris* plead with the Church on Israel's behalf, and His words bear within them precious seed of promise.^