The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-01
THE PULPIT.
SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. ALLAN D. CARLIlE.
Theme: The Tears Of Jesus.

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Sunday morning on "The Tears OF
Jesus" The text was from John
1885. In the course of his sermon
DR.. Oarlile said:
There never vas a manlier man
than Jesus. When His masculine
traits are assembled, He towers
| among men supreme for courage, will
mower, fxity of purpose and persever-
ance in the face of obstacles. 1t is
true Jesus embodied human nature
and therefore we see in Him, as in
no other strong man, the distinctive
feminine traits of sympathy, gentle
ness and love. But these did not pre-
dominate. Jesus is unique in that in
His character both the masculine and
feminine virtues blended harmon
iously. He is always gentle al
ways strong. So that our text repre-
sents Him not only with the tender
ness of the woman who weeps easily,
but also in the awful agony of the
strong Man in tears. And when we
draw near to our Sayiour's sorrow
and study the occasion for 1t, we get
an insight into His character not 9TH
erwise disclosed. Three times He is
represented thus to us. Let us rev.
erently behold His sorrow and ask
Him why He weeps.
/. We come first to the occasion
referred to in Luke 1874, where He
weeps over the city. Read the text
and catch the pathoI of it. There are
two elements in Christ's sorrow here,
a lesser and a greater. He mourned
the destruction of that city, and Tor
what that destruction typified. There
/ are lessons for US in both. The first
indicates Jesus love of place. 1t may
seem a little thing, but I like to recall
the fact that Jesus was and ever will
be associated with places on this
earth. He loved Jerusalem. Some
people scott at the idea of holy
places" The poet Montgomery asks,
sc%ornfully:
whats holy ground? Has Earth a
It's Maker meant should not be trod
BY Man, the image Of his God, erect
and free?"
Perhaps not, but that Is nothing
against holy places. 1t is natural to
love our birthplace; to hold in sacred
reverence the sanctuary where we
first found Christ and the field where
lies the dust of loved ones. And Jesus
loved the Holy City. He had peculiar
reasons for doing so. Had it not been
the trysting place of God and His
people for ages? Besides that, Jeru-
salem was and is unique. Like Mel
chisedek himself, its history has no
beginning, and it has always been and
always will be a holy city. Its first
king was a priest of the most high
| God. It is"to this day the object OF
the pilgrimages of the three greatest
religions-Jewish, Mohammedan and
Christian-and in prophetic pictures
it is destined to be again the most
sacred city of the world, when Israel
shall be brought back with JOY and
singing and the glory Of God once
! more fill His sanctuary.
The wise men tell us that this
world will be destroyed; that it will
be blown to fragments by its internal
fires, or wrecked in collision with
some other world, or be frozen dead
by It's own cooling. In some way or
other they are sure it will be de-
stroyed. But 1 doubt it. Jesus abides
unchanged, and in His regard for and
relation to this little world is just
what He was. When Peter and John
healed the lame mar at the temple
gate they invoked the name of Jesus
Of Nazareth" That is His name in
heaven. Destroy the world and we
will forget howEHe got His title. He
who wept over the city, how would
He weep over the world He came to
save! I do not believe anything in
the universe is going to be destroyed
For it is written, 1.-THE creation itself
shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty
of the children of God" The uni
verse Is waiting for the redemption
of our body" Matter, mind and soul
are to be redeemed, not destroyed.
But Jesus love of place is not SUI.
fcient to explain these tears. There
was agony infinitely deeper than that
in the thought of what the city's
downfall meant to the people fol
whose salvation God had done sc
much. Not that the work of God
would fail. He was able of the stones
to raise up children unto Abraham
The door should be thrown wide oper
and the Gentiles would come in. But
Gods love is not tickle, and the
thought of Israel, whom He loved and
still loves, children of the covenant
heirs of the promises, doomed by
their own soul-blipdness to be scat
tered among the nations, a people
without a home, like Abraham
strangers and pilgrims" on the
earth, for centuries to be made to
suffer what they had made Him, their
greatest Prophet, suffer, who "was
despised and rejected of men!"-this
was what agonized the Saviour. Here
His tears were for the ancient people
of God.
2. The second instance shows His
sympathy for men in the ordinary
sorrows of life. 1t happened at the
tomb of Lazarus, and it is from that
story that our text is taken. Under.
stand, this is a case of pure sympathy,
He was not weeping for the death OF
Lazarus. Such an Interpretation does
violence to the account as we have it,
Read the whole chapter. He knew
that Lazarus was to die. He knew
that it was that "the Son of Man
might be glorifed thereby" He
stayed away from Bethany that he
might have time to die. And He
knew that He would raise him from
the dead. So far as regards Lazarus,
there must have been in Jesus heart
great and solemn JOY as He stood be.
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