The Sanctuary :: :: University of Virginia Library

Tears on the eyelids of the Son of God!—
Almighty Weeper! let such grief-drops fall
Full on meek Hearts, who, where Thy feet have trod,
In faith can wander, and by prayer recall
The hallowing spells which haunt that sacred time
When Jesu wept, and tears became sublime.

Thrice did He weep; and from such threefold-source
A soothing charm the Church delights to draw,
As on she travels her presdestined course
In suff'ring meekness, or, in sainted awe,—
Bearing His Cross; and, where The Master went,
In calmness following, and with grief content.

Whether, thine olive-shaded bowers of gloom
Gethsemanè! adoring pilgrims seek,
Where the dark preludes of His coming doom
Convulsed The Saviour, till, with anguish weak,—
He drew Love's angel from a throne of light
By dread attraction, to endure that sight

Of weeping blood-drops! and sustain his Lord:
Or, if to Salem's guilty towers we hie,
To hear the cadence of each knell-like word
And mark the pathos of His pleading eye—
Still, in fond unity of flesh we find
One with our lot,—the Brother of mankind!

But, if on earth more eloquent than all,
A spot there be, where Man's sepulchral grief,
Hush'd into prayer, may pensively recall
A Balm celestial, which can bring relief—

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It is, when mourners in their meekness pray
Beside that vision'd tomb, where Laz'rus lay.

There, wept The God-Man! and with tears how true!
Intensely-human, from the deeps of soul
Wrung by compassion, and reveal'd to view,
For Earth to know,—that not by false control,
A christian Stoic in some iron hour
Need stifle grief, by superhuman power.

Oh, precious Tears!—significant of more
Than quiet Mary, or quick Martha thought,
Which flowed from Jesus, when His heart ran o'er
In tides of feeling, with emotion fraught,—
For ever and for ever, will dejected Awe
Bend o'er that scene my weeping Saviour saw!

Why wept He there, whose world-embracing mind
Encircled Life, and Death, and Destiny, and Man?
Far down, in sightless depths, all undivined,
Dreader than faith can search, or reason scan—
Perchance, His fountains of emotion lay
When tears said more than lenient words could say?

Was it, that forfeit-Eden's blighted doom,
The sinning Adam, and the curse divine,
Corruption, pain, the ever-yawning tomb,
With all that guilt and anguish may combine,—
Mirror'd by Christ, before His mental eye
Pass'd in array, and thrill'd His heart, thereby?

Or, did the crime of Judah's unbelief
Weigh on His soul, prophetically sad,
And summon visions, whose unworded grief
No speaking vent but tear-born utt'rance, had?
Or, some dread Future of our fallen race
Then did the inward Eye of Jesu trace?

No answer greets us!—men, nor Angels give
Reply to what our yearning bosoms feel,
When voiceless Aspirations stir and live
And shadows of Hereafter round them steal,

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Who ponder o'er the infinite To-Come,
And make eternity their spirit's home.

Yet, Lord of souls! may Thy dejection teach
Some hidden lore of heavenliness and love;
And Thy sad brow, with sympathising reach,
Bend o'er the hearts which most life's burden prove,
And need the language of almighty tears
To whisper, peace! and calm unchristian fears.