He enters the city, and goes to the temple. dren within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another: because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 163 SECT. cxlvii. Luke ground, and thy chil- under thy ruins; and shall not leave so much as one stone upon another in thee of all thy splendid and sacred structures: and all these terrible calamities shall overwhelm thee, because thou XIX. 44 didst not know and consider the appointed season of thy merciful visitation, nor attend to those overtures of grace which I have so often made in person to thee, and have still urged with so much seriousness and tenderness. MAT. XXI. 10. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem with great Mat. into Jerusalem:] and solemnity, amidst the joyful acclamations of the XXI. 10, when he was come, people; and as he made his entrance in such a all the city was moved, public and remarkable way, the whole city was saying, Who is this? in a great commotion at so uncommon an appear[MARK XI. 11.] ance, saying, Who is this that comes in all this pomp, and is attended with these high congraAnd the multitude that came with 11 him said, This is Jesus the great Prophet, who is of Nazareth in Galilee, even he that is so celebrated all over the country for the fame of his doctrine and miracles. 11 And the multi- tulations? tude said, This is Jesus the Prophet, of Nazareth of Galilee. 12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, ed round about upon and [when he had look And Jesus having come into the city by the 12 eastern gate, alighted from the colt, and went directly into the temple of God, whither the peoall things,] [LUK, ple followed him: and when he had looked round began to cast out all about, and made his observation upon all things them that sold, and (LUKE, there, as he perceived those profanations were again renewed which he had formerly so so- When he had looked round about upon all things.] It is plain from this expression of St. Mark, that Jesus, when he went into the temple on the day of his public entry, took particular notice of all things there; which it is hardly probable that he would do without reforming the abuses with which the Jews so shamefully profaned it; and Matthew so expressly joins his driving out the traders with the transactions of this day, that howsoever it appears from several instances that the evangelists are not always exact in observing the order of time, it is highly reasonable to suppose that Jesus purged the temple on this day. Yet it appears so evident from Mark's account (ver. 12-17.) that the traders were driven out on the next day, when Christ returned from Bethany to the temple, after he had cursed the fig-tree, that I cannot but suppose with Mr. Whiston (in his View of the Harmony, p. 150, 131.) that this occurrence VOL. VII. sold happened twice: and therefore I have only d As he had done three years before.] X A den 164 cxlvii. Mat. He drives out them that bought and sold there. bought in the temple, of them that sold doves: [MARK XI. 11.-LUKE XIX. 45.] 13 And said unto SECT. sold and bought in the outer-court of the temple, [LUKE, them that] which was appointed for the Gentile proselytes and overthrew the ta to worship in, but was made use of by the Jews bles of the moneyXXI. 12. as if it were a common market-place; and with changers, and the seats an irresistible authority he overthrew the tables of the exchangers of foreign money into the current coin, which those that came from distant parts might want to offer for the service of the sanctuary (see Exod. xxx. 13, 14.) and likewise overturned the seats of them that sold doves for 13 sacrifices. And he said to them as he turned them out, Such practices as these profane the them, It is written, My house [is, and] house of God, and shamefully pervert the use shall be called the for which it was designed; for it is written (Isa. house of prayer; but Ivi. 7.) My house shall be called an house of prayer ye have made it a den of thieves. [LUKE for all people, to which they shall resort for the XIX. 46] performance of religious worship: but you have turned it into an house of merchandise, and made it (as the prophet speaks, Jer. vii. 11.) a den of robbers, a place where traffic is carried on by persons of the most infamous character, who live by deceit and oppression, and practise the vilest extortion, even in the house of the righteous and blessed God. (Compare John ii. 14-16, sect. xxi. and Mark xi. 15, 17, sect. cl.) 14 15 And there were many of the blind and lame, who had no sooner heard of his arrival in the city but they immediately desired to be led to the place where he was; and they came to him in the temple, and he graciously healed them in the presence of all the people. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 And when the saw the wonderful But when the chief priests and scribes beheld the wonders he performed, and observed how the chief priests and scribes very children were crying out in the temple, and things that he did, and continued the song which the multitude had the children crying in begun, saying, "Hosannah to the Son of David! the temple, and saying, with joyful acclamations we congratulate his David; they were sore coming, and bid him welcome into the city displeased, of his royal father!" instead of being open to e A den of robbers.] Bishop Smallbrooke well observes (in his Answer to Woolston, Vol. I. p. 168.) that our Lord in this expression seems to allude to the custom which robbers in those parts had of sheltering themselves in dens and caves in the wilderness, where great multitudes of them often joined in sharing their plunder. f The blind and lame.] Many such would, no doubt, be waiting in the seve conviction, Hosanna to the Son of ral avenues of the temple, to ask alms at He vindicates the children in their hosannahs. him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 165 conviction, they were filled with indignation and SECT. 16 And said unto resentment, And they said to him, Dost thou cxlvii. hear what these children say? and judge it pro- Mat. per to encourage these unthinking creatures in XXI. 16. such language as this? And Jesus says unto them, Yes, I am sensible enough of what they say, nor thou hast perfected is it needful or fit that I should reprove them for praise? it. Are you unacquainted with the scriptures; you that would have the people to regard you as the great teachers of the law? or have you never read what David says, (Psal. viii. 2.) Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained that strength whereby thou hast perfected thine own praise, by the weakness of the instruments made use of in thy service?"? You cannot but have read it, and I assure you, that as God in many instances has used, and in a little while will eminently use, some of the weakest and meanest of mankind to accomplish his great and glorious purposes; so this event is a most signal illustration of those words; and it is by a secret influence of God on the minds of these little ones that they are led, as it were, to upbraid your silence and insensibility by so remarkable and suitable an exclamation. And thus he was till the time of the passover, Out of the mouth of babes, &c.] To ordain strength, which is the phrase the Psalmist uses in the passage here referred to, was in effect (as the seventy render it) to perfect praise; so that there is no need to be solicitous about that little variation in the quotation.-This general observation of David was greatly illustrated by the Hosannahs of these children; and yet much more by the triumph of the apostles, weak as in many respects they were, over all the opposition of Jews and Gentiles. Luke XIX. 47. But 48 sure, h Celebrated within five days after this.] This was the first day of the week, or our Lord's-day; in commemoration of which Palm-sunday was long ago denominated, and as ceremonies increased was particularly observed. The passover was celebrated by Christ on the Thursday night following, and he was crucified on Friday. Some transactions of each intervening day are marked in the following history. i They 166 Reflections on Christ's weeping over Jerusalem, &c. multuously rise in his defence, if they offered Luke XIX. 41. IMPROVEMENT. NEXT to the sight of a bleeding and dying Redeemer there can surely be none in the whole world more affecting than this which is here represented; even the Son of God weeping over perishing sinners; yea, over the sinners of Jerusalem. We might, perhaps, have been ready to think that, foreseeing so circumstantially, as we know he did, all the ungrateful and inhuman treatment he was to meet with in this nest of murderers, with the scene of his sufferings, and the very house of Caiaphas in his full view *, be should rather have taken up a proverb against it, and have anticipated the triumphs of that awful day when God would plead his cause with irresistible terror, and avenge the quarrel of his sacred blood. But behold, he seems to forget himself, and all his wrongs, great and cruel as they were; and in the midst of a procession intended for his honour, he melts into tears, as if it were for the calamity of a friend, or a brother; and says in the most genuine 42 language of undissembled grief, Oh that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! Behold, O our souls, with wonder and with awe, at once the goodness and severity of God: (Rom. xi. 22.) The sinners of 43, 44 Jerusalem wept over, and yet abandoned to ruin! We have our part 42 in all this: the tidings of the gospel are the things which belong to our peace, the things on which our everlasting happiness depends. Let us remember that the time will come in which, if we do not attend to them, they will be hid from our eyes. There is a limited day of mercy and grace; and therefore to-day, while it is called to-day, let us hear his voice, and not harden our hearts (Heb. iii. 15.) lest slighted mercy at length retire, and vengeance take i They hung as it were on his lips while he spake.] This is the literal import of εξεκρεμαλα αυτα ακέων. To render it, (as in a late version) The populace were strongly attached to his doctrine, is far from expressing the full sense. House of Caiaphas in his full view.] If we may credit the best accounts of Jerusalem which remain, this was exactly the case.-I cannot forbear referring my reader to Mr. Howe's excellent treatise, entitled, The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls; in which, as in most of his practical works, there are such sublime and pathetic strokes of true, manly, and Christian eloquence, as do a great honour to the language and age in which they were written. a Some The passover kept at Jerusalem. 167 cxlvii. take its turn; a vengeance which will fall the heavier, and pierce SECT. the deeper, in proportion to all the long-suffering and goodness which have been exercised towards us in vain. Let all, and espe cially the ministers of Christ, learn compassion to souls by such an example; and when the strongest efforts of love prove ineffectual for their recovery, let us at least be mourning for them before the Lord, and weeping over the ruin which we cannot prevent. Though Christ had cleared the temple from the profanations of Mat. these traders at the beginning of his ministry, he found the same XXI. 12. pollutions returned at the close of it. And, alas, how often do we find it thus with respect to our hearts! How soon do those weeds spring up again which we had been endeavouring with a resolute hand to root up; and how often are efforts for reformation forgotten, even when the attempt appeared at first to be most necessary! Let us learn of Christ not to be weary of well-doing, but with continued zeal renew our endeavours again and again. The scribes and Pharisees envied Christ; but the children sur-15 round him with their Hosannahs; and he graciously accepts their feeble accents of praise, as ordained by God out of the mouth of 16 babes and sucklings. Nor will he now despise the day of small things. Oh that we might have the pleasure to see little children pronouncing the name of Christ with reverence and love! And surely we who are parents must add, with a peculiar accent, Oh that our own may join in the choir! May they learn the song from our lips; and may our whole lives be one continued visible proof of the devotion and affection with which we present it! Amen. SECT. CXLVIII. Some Greeks that came to celebrate the passover at Jerusalem are introduced to Christ, who enters on an excellent discourse particularly suited to their circumstances; and retires in the evening to Bethany. John XII. 20-36. Mat. XXI. 17.-Mark XI.—11. JOHN XII. 20. AND there were certain Greeks among them that came up to JOHN XII. 20. John AND among those that came up to Jerusalem SECT. from different countries to worship at the cxlviii. worship at the feast: feast, there were some Greeks, or persons who were descended from Grecian parents, and XII. 20. used that language, but had forsaken the idolatry of their ancestors, and devoted themselves 21 The same came to the God of Israel. These therefore came to 21 there Philip, a Some Greeks-who had devoted them- and Salmasius should imagine these wor selves to the God of Israel.] It is strange that such learned critics as Isaac Vossius shippers to have been idolatrous Gentiles. writers, |