(2) Jn 11^5 'Jesus wept.' The word here is iSaKpvaev, ' shed tears.' This was at the grave of Lazarus when He was about to raise him from the dead. There is something here to sur- prise us, though much that was very natural in the tears of the Saviour. To the widow of Nain who was following the bier of her only son He said, •Weep not' (Lk 7^^), as He had said to those who lamented the daughter of Jairus, ' Why make ye this ado, and weep?' (Mk 5^*- ^^). He was about to dry their tears and silence their wails by restor- ing their dead to life. Yet here (Jn ipa-ss^ \^ ^g recorded that He Himself groaned in spirit, and wept as He joined the company of those who were weeping with the bereaved sisters. The tears of Jesus on this occasion have been a source of much consolation to those who mourn their dead. One is reminded of the lines of Erasmus Darwin —
' No radiant pearl which crested Fortune wears. No gem that, twinkling, hangs from Beauty's ears, Not the bright stars which Night's blue arch adorn, Nor rising stars that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows Down Virtue's manly cheek for others' woes.'
They prove to us the perfect humanity of the Redeemer. He who with Divine authority was about to call the dead to life yet had the human weakness to shed tears. ' The possession of a body enabled Him to weary ; the possession of a soul enabled Him to weep' (F. W. Robertson). They also show His thorough sympathy with those who have to endure grief, especially bereavement, how in all their afHictions He is afflicted. Perhaps they may also be evidence of the anguish He felt at the woe which was caused in the world by that sin in the train of which misery and death came into the world. Further, the tears may have been drawn forth as He thought of the anguish that would be caused to His mother and His friends when He Himself should be laid within such a sepulchre as that before His eyes. And no doubt while on this occasion in Bethany He was about to turn sorrow to joy and heaviness to mirth, yet He was aware that there were multitudes who would have to sorrow without hope, and bewailed that he who had the power of death must claim so many victims ei'e he was himself destroyed.
(3) He S'- ^. In this interesting passage, which, while it does not occur in the Gospels, refers to Christ, we are reminded how, in the days of His flesh. He oflt'ered up prayers with strong crying and tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death. The allusion is chiefly to the agony of Gethsemane, though possibly to other occasions of Christ praying to the Father. It is hardly within the scope of this article to discuss the question of what it was for which our Lord then prayed. It can hardly have been merely such a prayer as that of Hezekiah when he turned his face to the wall and wept sore on being told that his sickness was
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mortal (2 K 20i-='), or that of the Psalmist who, as he mingled his drink with weeping, said : ' O my God, take me not away in tlie midst of my days ' (Ps 102''--^). For a discussion of the subject see West- cott, Hebrews ; Schauffler in Sunday School Times, of America, 1895 ; Expository Times, vi. 1894- 95, pp. 433, 522. It is evident that the writer's thought is to a large extent linked with the media- torial office of Christ in the perfect obedience of His humanity which was learned througli suffer- ing. Deatlx to Him, as Avell as to all Cliristians, had an awful meaning ; and however willing tlie spirit of Christ might be to meet it, yet the flesh was weak, and tears might well gush forth in prospect of its bitterness. Here, again, from the tears of the Saviour, we learn the thorouj^h sympathy of Christ with men, even the identification of the Son of Man with those for whom He was to die.
Literature. — Lives of Christ and Commentaries on Gospels and on Hebrews ; numerous published sermons, among which there stand out as noteworthy : Doime (vol. i.) ; Henry Melvill, 'Fifty Sermons '; F. W. Robertson, 'The Human Race."
Arthur Pollok Sym. TEMPERANCE.— In the Sermon on the Mount Christ dwells on the restraint under which not only our actions and our words must be held, but also our thoughts. He sees in the angry thought the germ of murder, in the impure thought the germ of adultery, and so He goes to the root of the matter. It is of no use to try to cleanse the stream at a certain point in its course, if the fountain from whicii it flows is impure ; if the stream is to be kept pure the fountain must be kept pure ; and if the words and actions are to be under control, the thoughts of the heart must be under control. It is from within, out of the heart, that all kinds of irregularities proceed, therefore ' keep thy heart with all diligence,' or, as in the marginal note, ' above all that thou guardest, for out of it are the issues of life' (Pr