TRIUMPHANT WELCOME.

167

"Who is this?

out of his mouth, had collected to him. But nigh to the gate the ranks open, and what do they see to justify this tumult of zeal? Not the stately air of an earthly king or conqueror, nor his splendid array. "Behold, O daughter of Zion, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass." Well might the city be moved, and all cry out, Who is this, in appearance so unassuming, riding upon the humblest of animals, attended by poor fishermen of Galilee, and yet thousands are shouting his praise?" They hail him Son of David, and exhibit joy at his coming, such as David never saw, when returning most triumphant from his enemies. To the demand of simple, honest curiosity, and the question of scornful priestly pride, they answer alike, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. The two blind men whom he has just healed, press forward, and say, This is he who had compassion on us, and touched our eyes, and immediately our eyes received sight. Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, proclaim him the conqueror of death and the grave. The sick restored to health, the lame man leaping as an hart, the deaf, whose ears are unstopped, the dumb, whose tongue is loosed, all eagerly and gratefully recount the wonderful deliverances wrought by him. Numbers, too, who had listened to his doctrine, cry out, "Never man spake like this man!" Once

168

GATE FOR THE PRINCE.

more the shout is renewed, till the surrounding hills, to their very foundations, ring again, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

The Prophet, Priest, and King, thus heralded by heaven-taught acclamations, proceeds at once to the temple. Behold it there, upon that beautiful and extensive platform, where now the Mosque of Omar stands! Alas! we cannot enter the sacred precincts, but at a distance we may walk around and mark the bounds thereof. And on the wall, facing the Mount of Olives, is a gateway, through which tradition says our Lord entered the outer court of the Holy Temple. It is now closed up with solid masonry, through an ancient and prevailing superstition of the Turks, that some king, an enemy to their faith, may pass through it, and take possession of the city. "Can this," it has been asked, "be the gate alluded to in Ezekiel ?" (xliv. 1, 2, 3). "Then he brought me back by the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the East; and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the Prince; the Prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way

THE MONEY-CHANGERS.

169

of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same."

If, then, through this gate the Lord entered, he found the court of the Gentiles, a portion of this wide area, filled with tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves. His power over the multitude was then unlimited, and at once he raised his arm, and purified his Father's house from this unseemly traffic. The fame of him had spread abroad, and the blind and the lame come to him in the temple to be healed. The little children now catch the enthusiasm, have learned and can shout the words, Hosanna to the Son of David! But, amidst all this triumph, the holy subject of it felt no exultation. His soul was troubled by the thought of agonies so near, the human nature was almost staggered; and for a moment he doubted in his prayer: "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name." Suddenly an awful sound is heard; the people imagine it to be, some, the muttering thunder, some the voice of an angel. But to him it speaks comfort, for it was a voice from heaven in answer to his prayer, "Saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." It was now eventide; but the Lord accepted no abiding-place for the night within the city's walls. He sought the repose of Bethany, and, crossing the Kedron,

170

THE FIG-TREE CURSED.

before his toilsome walk over Olivet, rested for a while at its foot, in the garden to which "he ofttimes resorted with his disciples."

Monday. In the morning he early left his resting-place, and, passing by the cave from which the dead had so recently answered to his call, "Lazarus, come forth!" He ascended the rising ground behind Bethany, taking this direction towards the city over the Mount of Olives. On his way, being an hungered, he sees at a distance a fig-tree, in full foliage, giving the promise of fruit; but on drawing near, he finds it barren, and pronounces, in the hearing of his followers, a curse upon it, that the moral lesson might strike their hearts, and, perhaps, forewarn and save the traitor Judas. The tree had exhausted itself in outer show, it bare no fruit: "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever," saith the Lord: "And he departed, when presently the fig-tree withered away!" So with the hypocrite; notwithstanding his fair but deceitful promise, Christ shall leave him, and his hope shall surely perish.

When they were come to Jerusalem, going immediately to the temple, he finds that his admonition of yesterday has been forgotten, if not despised, and the money tables and the exchangers have again thrust themselves into the holy place. How pertinacious in their calling are the votaries of Mammon With what difficulty are they expelled

THE TEMPLE PURIFIED.

171

from their places of resort, even in the spiritual temple of the heart! But the Lord again drives these traffickers away. They had never dared to enter the inner court, which the Jews held specially sacred, and would not suffer to be thus defiled; but they were permitted to occupy the court of the Gentiles, to the exclusion, or at least to the great hindrance, of those who, from Pagan nations, had become converts to the unity of God, and who desired to worship near his holy temple. These privileges, he who was to break down the partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, now vindicated on two successive days, saying, "Is it not written, house shall be called of all nations, the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves."

my

After thus purifying the temple, Jesus continues his instructions; for we are told that he taught daily in the temple, and the people were very attentive to hear him. But this so much the more excited the indignation of the chief priests and Pharisees, and prompted them to seek how they might destroy him. He was still, however, in such favour with the people, that they dared attempt nothing openly, and suffered him peaceably to retire again to Bethany. In his return, a different road was taken from that by which he went to the city in the morning, because no observation is made upon the withered fig-tree, which could not have been passed without attracting notice. He, there