WEDNESDAY.
Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem.— II.
I. In the midst of His triumph, as He approached the city, Christ shed tears over it. By this act He convinces us that He was not, and therefore that we ought not to be, transported with the honors which we may receive. " If riches" or honors " abound, set not your heart upon them." (Ps. lxi. n.) His charity prompted His tears to flow for the blind stubbornness of the Jews, which He foreknew would prove their ruin. He gave us an example, too, of weeping in this vale of tears. We read of Him that He wept several times; but the Scripture nowhere says that He laughed. " Blessed are those who mourn." (Matt. v. 5.)
II. Consider the words of Christ addressed to the city: "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are for thy peace" (Luke xix. 42), then thou also wouldst weep: "For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench round about thee." Consider these words as addressed to yourself. If you knew the things that are for your peace, if you foresaw what temptations would assail you, what crimes you would commit, and into what misery and misfortunes you would afterwards fall, you also would shed tears, and spend the present time more profitably. Begin to do so, therefore, and fortify yourself in such a manner that you may not afterwards be overcome by your spiritual enemies.
III. Christ assigns this to be the cause of the city's ruin: "Because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation." (Luke xix. 44.) Of how great importance is it that you should know when Christ visits you by
