And if any man say unto you, Why do 3 ye this? say ye that the LORD hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.

"Thus did our LORD, in assuming His meek sovereignty, shew that the hearts of men were in His Hand; and though He submitted to indignity from others, yet in such hearts would He establish His Kingdom, and reign in meekness. For the preparations of the heart are from Him; and as, when He needed a room for the Passover, He foresaw who would afford it, and where he was to be found"; so, now also, did He know who was worthy of this honour, and willing to grant what He needede." See the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 18.

And they went their way, and found the 4 colt tied by the door without, in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And 5 certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And 6 they said unto them even as JESUS had commanded: and they let them go.

Rather, They let them take them.' How does the minuteness of this account, (which is peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel,) confirm the suggestion already thrown out that St. Peter was one of the two Disciples whom our LORD sent on the present errand! Divinely constrained, doubtless, we may

d St. Mark xiv. 12 to 16.

e Williams.

conceive these men to have been, to acquiesce in the validity of the plea thus urged by the messengers of CHRIST. The whole transaction was clearly miraculous; or rather, it was a collection of miracles.

7 And they brought the colt to JESUS, and cast their garments on him; and He sat upon him.

This was a mark of Royal honour. Take notice that it was thus that the captains treated Jehu, as recorded in the second Book of Kings'.

8 And many spread their garments in the way and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.

This was done after the manner of the nations of the East, when receiving a great King or Conqueror. The Daughter of Sion testified thereby, that what Zechariah (quoted by St. Matthew xxi. 5) had foretold, was actually come to pass: 'Behold, thy King cometh.'

St. Luke says that our SAVIOUR" was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives ;" whereupon "the whole multitude of the Disciples began to rejoice, and praise GOD with a loud voice, for all the mighty works which they had seen"."

9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna: blessed is

2 Kings ix. 13.

8 Zech. ix. 9.

b St. Luke xix. 37.

He that cometh in the Name of the LORD: blessed be the Kingdom of our Father David, 10 that cometh in the Name of the LORD: HO

sanna in the highest.

'Hosanna' signifies, in Hebrew, 'Save now.' The multitude therefore are here quoting the words of the cxviiith Psalm,-"Save now, I beseech Thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the LORD!" From St. Matthew's Gospel, we learn that they added-Hosanna to the Son of David' by which appellation, and the phrase 'who cometh in the Name of the LORD,' the people openly declared the lowly Stranger to be their long-expected MESSIAH: and indeed, to MESSIAH, this Psalm was admitted by the learned Jews to refer. We shall presently hear our SAVIOUR CHRIST quoting from the same Psalm, and applying that quotation to Himself1.

And JESUS entered into Jerusalem, and 11 into the Temple :

Our countryman Bede, (deriving the hint doubtless from some older writer,) remarks on this," By His going to the Temple on first entering the City, He shews us beforehand a pattern which we are to follow; that if by chance we enter a place where there is a House of Prayer, we should first turn aside into it." Such remarks have at least this St. Matth. xxi. 9.

i Ps. cxviii. 25, 26.

1 See below, the note on St. Mark xii. 10, 11.

12

value, that they remind us of the spirit in which Holy Scripture is to be read; namely, with a living desire to profit by its every word,-to derive a lesson from every turn of thought or expression. We cannot overlook their value; even while we are deeply conscious that the present visit of MESSIAH to His Temple was an act of unusual solemnity, -of exceeding dignity, meaning, and moment.

and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, He went out unto Bethany with the Twelve.

Such a verse of Scripture ought not to be read carelessly, as if it contained little. How much seems implied in the statement that 'He looked round about upon all things!' The LORD of the Temple, casting His searching glance round about, surveys all things in it; and then departs, at evening, followed by His twelve Disciples.

The event which follows belongs to the ensuing morning. "We may well suppose," (remarks an excellent writer,) "that the thoughts which must have filled our LORD's mind on this morning, while proceeding to Jerusalem and the Temple, must have been such as nothing could explain to His Disciples, no human language could give utterance tom." He therefore wrought symbolically in their presence, but spake no words.

And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, He was hungry :

m Williams.