These tears of Jesus are encouraging and consoling tears. The sweet undertone that comes from them is, that He cares for us. They preach of His profound regard for our welfare, of His deep anxiety to have us improve by His merciful visitations, and of His unspeakable sorrow for those who reject His saving grace.

There be many hypocritical tears; but Christ's were not of that character. He is truth itself. They bespeak the genuine feeling of His heart. They tell of love that passeth knowledge, and on which we can safely trust. They assure us that there is ample provision for our eternal peace, if only we are willing to take and receive it. They prove to us that if we perish, it is a thing of great pain and sorrow to His heart, and that the fault of it is not in Him. They say to us that there is a beautiful and blessed life which He is infinitely desirous that we should have, which He freely offers, and from which nothing but our persistent and stubborn unbelief can ever separate us. These are comforting and consolatory truths. They are the very essence of the Gospel. And they are all the more clearly certified to us by these tears.

But they are solemnly admonitory tears. They tell of a day of gracious visitation, privilege, and opportunity; but likewise of a limit to that day. The substance of this tearful lament was, that these people had had a day which brought to them everything belonging to their peace; that they did not appreciate it; and that they now had

reached a point when there was no more hope for their city nor for their souls. How solemnly therefore do these tears admonish us to beware, lest we presume too far, or indulge our indifference and resistance to the calls and offers of mercy too long! There is a line over which grace will not follow the transgressor and beyond which there is no more salvation. This sore lament of Jesus tells us so, and that these Jews as a nation had crossed that line. There is no mark by which any one can tell just where that line is. Death indeed marks it; for there is no repentance in the grave nor pardon offered to the dead; but no one knows when he is to die; and the whole matter is often settled and unalterably fixed this side of death. There is such a thing as hardening one's self against light and truth, and a resistance of the Spirit, until there is no power of feeling left, and a condition of judicial blindness sets in which seals the sinner's doom. There is a sin unto death, when prayers no longer avail. There is an obstinacy against the truth, which lands one beyond all hope of pardon. God is very long-suffering and patient, not willing that any should perish; but there is a point at which He will no longer keep silence; and all who refuse and abuse His merciful compassion are in danger of bringing upon themselves irremediable condemnation. The time came when there was no more salvation for rebellious Jerusalem; and Christ's tears over the sad fact should move and admonish us not to risk such a fate.

Furthermore, these were awfully foreboding tears. Men of great minds do not weep for trifles; and the great and glorious Christ would not have been so deeply moved but for something transcendently sad and painful. Was it the temporal calamities that were to come upon His country that so affected Him? Then how much more reason for distress over the eternal perdition of these doomed people! What were the devastations wrought by the Roman armies compared with the wrath to come! There is something infinitely pitiable in the loss of a soul. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Nor is there anything that more touchingly tells the story than these tears of Jesus over these people who were about to shut the doors of hope and mercy against themselves.

Men may ridicule the doctrine of an eternal hell for the wicked and unbelieving; but what could thus move the feelings and draw the tears of the Son of God is not a thing to be laughed at or disposed of by a shrug of incredulity. Laying aside all idea of unquenchable fire, there is quite enough in these tears of our Lord to tell us that it iş a deep, dark, and unspeakable calamity to be forever shut out from the divine favor. People in their folly, ignorance, and unbelief may make light of it; but the contemplation of it made the very Lord of glory weep.

And yet again, these tears of Jesus were exemplary tears. They evinced a tenderness of heart which we should cultivate, -a deep and loving

concern for the good and happiness of all creatures, especially for the salvation of souls. If Jesus wept over the dread consequences of abusing and rejecting the divine mercies, have we no cause for sorrow that we ourselves have so much to answer for in this respect?

· Dear friends, let us try to enter into the mind and spirit of our Saviour, that His mind and spirit may also live in us. Let us learn to regard the things that make for our peace as He regards them. Let us learn to grieve and lament over the misimprovement of our gracious privileges as He sorrows over those who fail to profit by His mercies. Let us learn to think and feel over the loss of the soul as He thinks and feels. And as we would have peace and gladden the Saviour's heart, let us not neglect the opportunities of our day lest its sun should go down and leave us unhelped in that blackness of darkness which moved the Son of God to tears.

The Preciousness of Life.

Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity.

For a living dog is better than a dead lion.-ECCLES. 9: 4.

FIND in this text a homely proverb illustrating the value and importance of life. In sundry places the author of this book

speaks disparagingly of earthly life. He characterizes it, over and over, as empty, vexatious, and vain,-even as vanity itself. But here he seems to take a somewhat deeper view, and finds, after all, that life is a thing of moment, and that even a dog living is better than a lion dead.

Nearly all creatures have an instinctive love of life; and most people would give up anything rather than life. Yet few estimate it as they should. Poets particularly have shown great aptness to speak lightly of it as a gay, flattering, fickle, transient thing,-a bursting bubble,—a meteor,—a dream. The Scriptures also speak of it as "but a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. And there are aspects of it which amply justify these presentations. No one can survey life without feeling that it is a scene of brief lights and deep shadows-a theatre of mingled smiles and tears, joys and sorrows,