THE REDEEMER'S TEARS. 201 have been done in the world (but oh, how seldom of latter days!)—so God hath wrought with men to save them from going down to the pit, having found a ransom for them. And why may He not yet be expected to do so? He hath smitten rocks ere now, and made the waters gush out; nor is His hand shortened, nor His ear heavy. Thy danger is not, sinner, that He will be inexorable, but lest thou shouldst. He will be entreated, if thou wouldst be prevailed with to entreat His favour with thy whole heart. And that thou mayst, and not throw away thy soul, and so great a hope, through mere sloth, aud loathness to be at some pains for thy life; let the text, which hath been thy directory about the things that belong to thy peace, be also thy motive, as it gives thee to behold the Son of God weeping over such as would not know those things. Shall not the Redeemer's tears move thee? O hard heart, consider what these tears import to this purpose. 1. They signify the real depth and greatness of the misery into which thou art falling. They drop from an intellectual and most comprehensive eye, that sees far, and pierces deep into things, hath a wide and large prospect; takes the compass of that forlorn state into which unreconcileable sinners are hastening, in all the horror of it. The Son of God did not weep vain and causeless tears, or for a light matter; nor did He for Himself either spend His own, or desire the profusion of others' tears. Weep not for me, O daughters of Jerusalem, &c. He knows the value of souls, the weight of guilt, and how low it will press and sink them; the severity of God's justice, and the power of His anger, and what the fearful effects of them will be, when they finally fall. If thou understandest not these things thyself, believe Him that did—at least believe His tears. 2. They signify the sincerity of His love and pity, the truth and tenderness of His compassion. Canst thou think His deceitful tears? His, who never knew guile? was this like the rest of His course? And remember that He who shed tears, did, from the same fountain of love and mercy, shed blood too! Was that also done to deceive? Thou makest thyself some very considerable thing indeed, if thou thinkest the Son of God counted it worth His while to weep, and bleed, and die, to deceive thee into a false esteem of Him and His love. But if it be the greatest madness imaginable to entertain any such thought, but that His tears were sincere and inartificial, the natural genuine expressions of undissembled benignity and pity, thou art then to consider what love and compassion thou art now sinning against; what bowels thou spurnest; and that if thou perishest, 'tis under such guilt as the devils themselves are not liable to, who never had a Redeemer bleeding for them, nor, that we ever find, weeping over them. 3. They shew the remedilessness of thy case, if thou persist in impenitency and unbelief till the things of thy peace be quite hid from thine eyes. These tears will then be the last issues of (even defeated) love, of love that is frustrated of its kind design. Thou mayst perceive in these tears the steady unalterable laws of heaven, the inflexibleness of the Divine justice, that holds thee in adamantine bonds, and hath sealed thee up, if thou prove incurably obstinate and impenitent, into perdition; so that even the Redeemer himself, He that is mighty to save, cannot at length save thee, but only weep over thee, drop tears into thy flame, which assuage it not; but (though they have another design, even to express true compassion) do yet unavoidably heighten and increase the fervour of it, and will do so to all eternity. He even tells thee, sinner, "Thou hast despised My blood, thou shalt yet have My tears." That would have saved thee-these do only lament thee lost. But the tears wept over others, as lost and past hope, why should they not yet melt thee, while as yet there is hope in A SAVIOUR'S COMPASSION. 203 case? If thou be effectually melted in thy very soul, and looking to Him whom thou hast pierced, dost truly mourn over Him, thou mayst assure thyself the prospect His weeping eye had of lost souls, did not include thee. His weeping over thee would argue thy case forlorn and hopeless; thy mourning over Him will make it safe and happy. That it may be So, consider further, that, 4. They signify how very intent He is to save souls, and how gladly He would save thine, if yet thou wilt accept of mercy while it may be had. For if He weep over them that will not be saved, from the same love that is the spring of these tears would saving mercies proceed to those that are become willing to receive them. And that love that wept over them that were lost, how will it glory in them that are saved? There His love is disappointed and vexed, crossed in its gracious intendment; but here having compassed it, how will He joy over thee with singing, and rest in His love! And thou also, instead of being involved in a like ruin with the unreconciled sinners of the old Jerusalem, shalt be enrolled among the glorious citizens of the new, and triumph together with them in eternal glory. EDWARD POLHILL, ESQ. OF BURWASH. FOR the contributions to religious authorship by Christian laymen, we acknowledge a special affection. In such contributions no period has more abounded than our living day, producing, as it has done, the "Internal Evidence" of Mr Erskine; "Truths" and "Errors regarding Religion," by Mr Douglas of Cavers; Mr Sheppard's "Christian Encouragement and Consolation;" Isaac Taylor's "Natural History of Enthusiasm;" the Hymns of James Montgomery, and the little practical treatises of Dr Abercrombie. Not to mention that the disinterested and unsuspected testimony of spontaneous witnesses may influence minds, which regard as mere professional advocacy the reasonings and exhortations of ministers, we believe that no readers profit more than ministers themselves by the writings of pious and accomplished laymen. They are hints to the pulpit from the pew, and often direct attention to lines of thought and topics of inquiry which were in danger of being overlooked in the routine of conventional sermonising. Nor is it a small advantage to have a fresh eye and a freer pencil set to work on subjects which have grown trite under the treatment handed down by tradition from our reverend and right-reverend fathers. Even when writing for the press, theologians are apt to wear the gown and cassock, and it is ten to one that the anonymous review or biographical sketch will betray the homily. From this failing the nonclerical author is exempt. Even should he become prolix and prosy, he does not preach; and in point of directness, vivacity, and literary grace, the advantage is usually on the layman's side. In the century which boasts of laymen like Selden, and Sir THE GREAT SACRIFICE. 205 Matthew Hale, and Sir Harry Vane, and John Milton, and the Honourable Robert Boyle, we are disposed to award the meed of merit as a theologian to Edward Polhill. His "Speculum Theologiæ," his treatise on "Precious Faith," and his "Mystical Union betwixt Christ and Believers," are noble productions, replete with sound divinity, rich in experimental piety, and written in a lofty strain of thought and feeling. It is much to be regretted that our information regarding the author is so scanty. He was proprietor of Burwash, a parish in Sussex; a county magistrate; a friend and protector of the persecuted non-conformists; and his widow appears to have been a member of Dr Owen's church in London. But beyond these meagre facts, and the five or six masterly volumes which bear his name, it would seem as if his memorial had perished.* Our first extract is from his "Speculum Theologiæ in Christo: or, A View of some Divine Truths which are exemplified in Jesus Christ." The second is from "Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day." The Great Sacrifice. The truth of all the types and shadows was set forth in our Saviour, who was the body and substance of them all. There was in Him somewhat that did symbolise with them, and somewhat that did infinitely transcend them. Manna came down from heaven, and so did Christ; but He came from the highest heaven, the place of God's glorious presence, to give not a temporal life, but a spiritual, an eternal onenot to one nation only, but to a world. The rock smitten by Moses' rod supplied the Israelites; and Christ, smitten by the curse of the law, supplies the Church, not with earthly water, but with heavenly—with rivers of living graces and comforts * Even the dredge of “Notes and Queries,” (vol. vi. 461), has failed to fish up any additional information. |