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Hermon, and as that which descended upon the mountains of Zion. And of the anointed Saviour it is said, All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces. And when the beauty and glory of the church is described, it is said, Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? As the Lord smelt a sweet savour in Noah's sacrifice, so he delights in and graciously accepts the offerings and prayers of his saints. It is the exercise of grace that makes every part of religion sweet to us, as well as wellpleasing to God. Prayer, reading, hearing, when they savour of faith and love are sweet, and shed a rich perfume; but otherwise they are neither pleasing to God nor man.

2. Though the exercise of grace in holy duties is pleasing to God, yet they are accepted only through the sacrifice of Christ. The numerous services and sacrifices under the law were acceptable only as they referred to him, and were typical of his atoning blood; and our services under the gospel are only so as they are performed by faith in him, and are perfumed with his merits and intercession. Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour; and now at the golden altar he offers his much incense with the prayers of the saints. This it is that takes away the iniquity of our holy things, and becomes the only ground of acceptance. First he is accepted, and then we in him. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; but it is in him only that God can be pleased with us. Duties from us send forth an ill savour, but receive a sweet smell from Christ. But for the savour of his sacrifice, the most elevated strains of devotion would be an abomination to the Lord. It is this which makes the saints and their services like what Isaac said of Jacob-as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.

(1.) How dreadful then is the state of the unregenerale! However numerous and decent in the eyes of men their services may be, yet as they neitheir savour of grace nor of the Saviour's sacrifice, they will be utterly rejected, and themselves cast out. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering and an oblution, I will not accept them. Jer. xiv. 12.

(2.) How happy for the people of God to find grace in his sight, and what encouragement to abound in holy duties! I will accept you with your sweel savour. The good will of him that dwelt in the bush will more than counterbalance all the ill will of creatures: and if he accepts us, no matter of whom we are rejected. His approbation will be a rich reward for all our services, and will be the crowning blessing another day.

(3.) Let acceptance with God be the great object aimed at in all our religious duties, and let us rest in nothing short of it. This it was that Paul sought after in all he did: Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Let us then go to the King with ointment, and encrease our perfumes; let us go with grace in our hearts, and Christ in our arms; and he will accept us with our sweet savour. 2 Cor. v. 9. Isai. Ivii. 9.

"How shall the sons of men appear,
Great God, before thine awful bar;
How may the guilty hope to find
Acceptance with th' eternal Mind?

Thy blood, dear Jesus, thine alone,
Hath sovereign virtue to atone :
Here we will rest our only plea,
When we approach, great God, to thee."

Christ weeping over Jerusalem.

SERMON III.

LUKE xix. 41, 42.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong untó thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.

OUR blessed Lord generally travelled on foot; but when he went up to Jerusalem to suffer, he rode, not only to shew his readiness to endure the cross, but that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled. Behold thy King cometh unto thee! He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. He came near the city, as he had often done before, and had paid many a gracious visit to its ungrateful inhabitants. There he had preached the gospel, wrought many miracles, and testified, saying, Be ye sure that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. And now, when he was proba bably descending from the Mount of Olives, from whence he had a full view of the city, it is said, He beheld it not indeed with complacency, as God beheld Ephraim; nor with power, as Christ looked on Zaccheus and Peter; but with pity and compassion. The word here used signifies not merely to look, but to look earnestly, and consider an object thoroughly. How happy would it have been for the inhabitants of

this city, if they had returned look for look, and had their eyes fixed upon the Saviour as his were upon them! Perhaps the rest of the company beheld Jerusalem with wonder, admiring its lofty domes, its stately structures, and magnificent temple ; and might be ready to say, what city is like unto this great city? But Christ was differently affected: he feels for its miseries, and pours out a lamentation.-Let us now consider more particularly what he did, and what he said on this affecting occasion.

I. What our Lord did: He beheld the city, and wept over it.

row.

They were the tears of an affectionate father over his rebellious children, or of a compassionate judge pronouncing sentence upon a criminal. He was not elated by the plaudits of the multitude, who cried, Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He knew what was in . man, and that those who praised him to-day would be as ready to accuse and condemn him on the morHe was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and now we see his tears, and the sorrows of his heart enlarged. Once indeed he rejoiced in spirit; but more than once he wept. Jerusalem was bid to rejoice; but he sees occasion to mourn, and now mingles the triumphs with his tears. Such tears from such eyes could not be without a cause. He who never spake a word without sufficient reason could never weep in vain. His tears were those of the sincerest and deepest sorrow: for he who now weeps over sinners could afterwards shed his blood for them. Like Jacob, he often wept and made supplication when we do not hear of it; and like David, rivers of tears ran down his eyes, because of the people who kept not his law; and no wonder then that his countenance was more marred than that of any man.

He wept at the grave of Lazarus, and his soul was grieved for the affliction of Martha and Mary. As the Head of the church he is still touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and in all our afflictions he himself is afflicted.

"In sorrow drowned, but not in sorrow lost."

Now he weeps over Jerusalem, and his sorrow is deep and pungent. In weeping for Lazarus he mourned a departed friend, one whom he loved, and who was saved from the sorrows of this world; but here he weeps over dead sinners, who were exposed to the sufferings of the next. We do not find that Jonah wept over Nineveh, though there were more than six-score thousand persons that could not discern between the right hand and the left; yea, he was rather displeased that God's threatenings were not executed upon it. But how different from the temper of the servant was that of the Master! Jonah made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. But when Jesus was come near to Jerusalem, He beheld the city and wept over it. He wept for those who wept not for themselves, and because they did not weep for themselves; not for any disappointment respecting them, for things were as he knew they would be; but for their obstinacy and approaching ruin. More particularly,

1. He wept for the sins they had committed, and the evil treatment which he himself should receive at their hands. He had no sin of his own to grieve or to die for. He knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; but as he bled, so he also wept for the sins of others. To weep for sin is in us, an evidence of grace; and in him it was a sign of the tenderest compassion. The Jews, his own people, had lost all sense of true religion, and made it void by their traditions; they had killed the prophets, rejected the gospel, and would shortly destroy the Prince of life:

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