9. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, faying, Hofanna to the Son of David, Bleed is be that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hofanna in the bigbeft.

9. In this folemn Proceffion they conducted him to the City, fhouting forth Acclamations, and Prayers to God for

the Profperity of this long expected King, this promised Seed of David. And thefe they uttered in the Prophetick Words of David himself, who many Ages ago forefaw this Kingdom, and whofe Expreffions were fo understood to belong to it, as frequently to be inferted into the folemn Devotions of those ancient Jews, who believed and longed for it.

( 10. And when he was come into Jerufalem, all the gity was moved, faying, Who is this?

10. This Proceeding. filled all the Inhabitants of Jerufalem with wonder. To whom the Multitudes juftified themselves, by acknowledging openly, that they paid thefe Honours to that eminent Prophet, Jefus. The Pharifees alfo, moved with Envy and Indignation at fuch publick Respects, would have had Jesus put a stop to them. But he returned fuch an answer, as intimated the People to have been governed by a Divine Impulse; and then,

11. And the multitude faid, This is Jefus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

12. And Jefus went into the Temple of God, and caft out all them that fold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the feats of them that fold doves.

12. Having fuffered his Kingdom and Divine Authority to be thus proclaimed by Others, he proceeds to exert it Himfelf. For he now purged the Temple (a fecond time, as he had done at another Paffover three years before) of thofe, who kept a publick Mart there, in the Court of the Gentiles. This they did for the Convenience of felling Birds and Beafts for Sacrifice, and returning Money for fuch as came from diftant parts of the Country up to this Festival.

13. And said unto them, It is written, My bouse shall be called an boufe of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

13. These he rebuked, by reminding them of the Prophet's Words, and fo expofing their Abuse of that Holy Place. A Place defigned for the Publick Worship, but converted by Them into an open Market. Nor was it polluted by their Traffick only, but by the Injustice of the Gains they made there. Well therefore might they be accufed on this Occafion of making God's Houfe a Den of Thieves; fince the Profit extorted by Fraud and Oppreffion is no better than downright Robbery, and the Exercife of fuch Trades in a confecrated Place, was fo far from its primitive Institution, that it made their Injuftice to become Sacrilege,

COMMENT.

TH

HE Gofpel for this Day relates Two very remarkable Actions of our Bleffed Saviour.

1. The First, his folemn Entry into Jerufalem. 2. The Other, His Behaviour in the Temple there. The Latter of these I referve for that Account given of it by St. Luke, which will offer it felf to our Confideration hereafter; and at prefent will confine my Difcourfe to the Former only. And here again there would arise several Reflections, which I must be content to recommend to the Improvement of my Reader's private Meditation. Such as these that follow.

Gospel for x
Sunday after
Trinity.

Ver. 2.

1. The Divine Knowledge and Power of our Bleffed Lord. The Former, in foretelling where, and in what Manner, his Difciples fhould find the Beasts proper for his purpose upon this Occafion. The Latter, in inclining the Hearts of Perfons at a distance, to fo ready a Compliance with his Demands.

Ver. 3.

2. His Meeknefs and Condefcenfion; In giving the Owners Satisfaction, and afking their Confent; that fo no Man's Property might fo much as feem to be invaded by any Order of his; though at the fame time he were, in the ftricteft Senfe, what he ftiles himself, the Lord, and had a Right antecedent and fuperior to, thofe very Poffeffors, of whom he fent to borrow. 3. The Chearful Obedience of these Disciples to a Command, which carnal Reasoning might have started many Objections againft; and which nothing less than a stedfaft Perfuafion, that He, who fent the Meffage, would be fure to give Succefs to it, could have prevailed upon them to execute, as they did, without any demur or delay.

Ver. 3.

Mar. xi. 5, 6.

Luke xix. 33,

34.

Luke xix. 30.

4. The Mystical Importance of these Beasts; The One an Afsinured to Burthens and Labour; The Other a Coltunbroken on which never Man Serm. 140. p.83 had fat. By which we may understand, with Some, The Jews long accustomed

*Chryf Tom. 5.

Ed. Eton

to

to the Mofaical Yoke; and the Gentiles, who had hitherto walked in the Imaginations of their own Hearts, and (as St. Paul expreffes it) lived without God in the World. Or elfe we may, Others, apply the Paffage to the Ratio- in Tryph nal, and the Senfible, Principle in every

* with

Fphef. ii. 12. *Justin Mart.

page 272.
Ed. Paris 1636.

Man's Breaft. For Either way the Parallel will hold: That even the rudeft and wildeft Heathens, even the moft ftubborn and unruly Paffions, are made teachable and tame, when they submit themselves to Chrift. And, as His Delign was to unite all Nations in his Body fo when his Grace and Doctrine are our Guides, when He fits Supreme and rules in all the Faculties of our Souls, then do our most Carnal Appetites move aright, and we march triumphantly, under his Direction, into the Heavenly Jerufalem.

Catech. ad

Paroch.

There is yet another Improvement, made by Some, of thefe Difciples loofing the Afs and the Colt: who take Occafion from hence to treat of abfolving Sinners. But This, and fome other Inferences upon the Place, are fo remote from what the Literal Senfe fuggeft, that I can hardly think them worth the mentioning. And even those already mentioned, ought to give Place to the Three following Particulars, which I fhall make the Subject of -my prefent Difcourfe. Now they are,

1. First, The Time of this folemn Entry into JeruJalem.

II. Secondly, The Circumftances and Ceremonies peculiar to it. And,

III. Thirdly, The Significance of it, and the Ends ferved by it.

John xii. 1, 2,

I. The Time of this folemn Entry is very punctually fixed by St. John. He acquaints us, that Six Days before the Paffover our Lord came to Bethany, and was there entertained at Supper; that Lazarus, whom he had

12, 13.

lately raised

from

Exod. xii. 3, &c.

See Ainfw. in
Exod. xii.

from the Dead, dwelt there; and that he fat at Meat with him: and afterwards he says, that on the next Day (the fifth before the Paffover inclufive) much People came forth to meet him, and took Branches of Palm-trees, and cried Hofanna; So conducting him into the Holy City, with all those Demonftrations of Joy and Respect, described at large in the Gospel for this Day. Now herein we may discover a very remarkable Mystery, by comparing this Action with the Old Law relating to the Jewish Paffover. The firft Circumstance whereof is, That, on the Tenth Day of the First Month, the Pafchal Lamb fhould be drawn out from the reft of the Flock, in order to be flain the Fourteenth of the fame Month. Our Lord's Approach then to Jerufalem in this unufual Manner answers, in point of Time, to the Separation of the Lamb, defigned for the Pafchal Sacrifice. The Gaiety and Pomp of this Approach agrees exactly with the Garlands, and Proceffions, and Shouts, and other Marks of Joy, ufual (we are told) with the Jewish, and almost all People, in leading their Victims to the Altar. So then, it was not without particular good Reason, that our Lord admitted thefe fignificant Ceremonies, at fo critical a Juncture. For to Any, who obferve things nicely, they will appear exceeding seasonable and proper, for accomplishing thofe Figures and Types under the Levitical Difpenfation, of which he was the intended End and Substance. This was the True, the Universal, the Only effectual, Paffover, which turned away the I Cor. v. 8. Wrath of God and his deftroying Angel; which preferves his People from the dire effects of Sin and Vengeance, and works a perfect Reconciliation, by his precious Blood, for as many as are sprinkled with and washed in it. This Lamb of God did therefore, on the Day appointed by Moses, come forth from Bethphage, (a * Village

Adricom. Theatr. Terr. Sanctæ.

belon

John x. 18.

belonging to the Priests, from whence the Beasts referved for Sacrifice were drawn out, for the Service of the Temple) He came forth, a moft Holy and Unblemifhed Sacrifice, with all the chearful Pomp cuftomary upon fuch Occafions, with all the Marks of Triumph, which became fo Willing, fo Beneficial, fo Victorious a Death. A Death which alone fulfilled what Others of this nature could but faintly reprefent; And at once fubdued, those hitherto invincible Destroyers of Mankind, Guilt, and Hell, and Death. This Lamb might be truly faid, from all these Demonftrations of Gladness, not fo properly to be Led, as to Offer himself to the Slaughter. He had formerly declared, No Man taketh my Life from me, but I lay it down of myfelf. And, by these first Steps towards his Suffering, he fhewed, with what Refolution he advanced to his laft Conflict; with what Readinefs and Chearfulness of Mind he suffered. It is also observed by a Learned Author of our own Nation, that the High Prieft, fome Days before the Solemnity of the Yearly Atonement, did feparate himself from his Family and all civil Converfation, the better to prepare for the Sacred Offices of that Seafon; And, that he was then conducted from his own House to the Temple, with great Pomp: To this our Lord's triumphant Entry into the Holy City might likewise allude; who, five Days before his Paffion, was thus attended to the Temple, before his offering that Great Sacrifice of Himself, which expiated the Sins of the whole World.

See Selden L. iii.

de Synedr. c.

II. p. 7.

Levit. xvi. 3

Bp. Patrick on

3.

My Second Obfervation regards the Circumftances and Ceremonies peculiar to this Action. In which we fhall find fomewhat very diftinguishing, both as To the Perfons who contributed to the Pomp of it, and as To the Manner of the Thing it felf.

1. The Perfons are defcribed to have been a mixed Multitude, confifting of Disciples

D

Luke xix.

and