Jesus sat upon the colt. The Lord of life and glory sits upon a poor despicable ass; meek and lowly, and yet having the power of salvation for all flesh! What can bring down our proud hearts if this does not? He who had all nature at his command, would not show himself in the stately manner of an earthly prince. His kingdom was not of this world; his aim in all he did was to make us spiritual, and show us the way to heaven; and he here teaches us most divinely, that the only way to it is through humility.

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

As the Jews, and other nations used to do on occasions of great rejoicing. But where was Christ going, through all this solemnity? To be crucified. It was his joy and triumph to think he was going to deliver us from hell, and put it in our power to rejoice with him for ever. Let not his love be lost upon you; let it take hold of your hearts, that you may prepare yourselves to enter with him into his joy.

9. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

This! O this! should be the cry of our hearts; this is spiritual life now we are blessed men and women indeed! when we say, and say truly from a sense of our undone state,- -a sense of our want of Christ, and the mercy of God to us in him, Hosanna, that is, save us, O Lord, we beseech thee; from guilt, sin, and death, to pardon, holiness, and the gift of eternal life. Is not this the Saviour whom we all

want?

10. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord :

The kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, of salvation by Jesus Christ, promised to David,-what he saw and longed for, and preached in so many of his psalms. The kingdom of David cometh in

the name of the Lord, in whose name only it does come; none else having a power to forgive sins, or give us a right to heaven; and make us fit for it. Christ's kingdom is a complete one, every way suited to our case, and worthy of all men to be received, as coming from him.

10. Hosanna in the highest.

Praise to God from the blessed angels for joy of our deliverance. O poor soul! thou art dead indeed, if thou canst not join with them.

11. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

Who knows what Jesus felt within himself, when he considered the holiness of the temple, the spirituality and end of the service performed in it,—the blindness and hypocrisy of the Jews, and the destruction which was about to fall upon it, and themselves! Who knows how near we Britons are to destruction for what things he sees in us! He is always looking round about upon all things, and chiefly viewing them in their moral aspect. What does he now see in us, and in the temples of our bodies?

Ver. 1-11. When we read these verses, we should think with ourselves, what can it signify to us that Christ came into the world, to be the Saviour of it,—that he wrought his miracles upon the bodies of men,—that he made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, as the king of the Jews, and together with them of all nations, if he does not enter into our hearts, if we do not gladly receive him as our Saviour, if we do not put ourselves into his hands to be cured of the deadly plague of sin which cleaves to our nature, if we do not take him for our Lord and king to reign over us? This is the right knowledge of scripture, this is putting aside the veil, and discovering the spiritual meaning of the Bible;—this is the way to have our hearts burn at the reading of it. If we read it barely as a history,

and go no farther than the letter of it, it can do us no good. It must come home to us, it must be applied to our own case, it must lay us open to ourselves, and put all in motion within us. The scripture, indeed, has not that life in itself that we want, but it sends us to Christ for it, and to him we must go; and till then, whatever we pretend, we have no faith in him. The same Spirit which gave it, must work with it, and lay every one of us dead at Christ's feet, that he may raise us up again to a new life of faith in him, and obedience to his commandments. And the Bible then does its office in us, when it brings us to him, with his prayer of the blind man, "Lord, that I might receive my sight."

SECTION XXXVI.

Chap. xi. ver. 12-20.

THE BARREN FIG-TREE CURSED; THE TEMPLE CLEANSED.

12. And on the morrow when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

13. And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

14. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

We must not for one moment suppose that Christ blasted the fig-tree, or cursed it, from any passionate feeling, as men in anger imprecate curses on objects of inanimate nature: it was with love to us, and with divine sweetness in his heart. In all God's curses upon things inanimate, there is nothing but grace and goodness to man. They are intended to make us tremble at our unfruitful

ness, and to know our doom if we die in it. As sure as the fig-tree withered away, so surely shall we die eternally, if we are not alive unto God, and in a fruit-bearing state, by being joined to Christ: God will not be put off with leaves only.

15. And they come to Jerusalem and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

16. And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

Christ, in this act of seeming severity, showed a becoming regard to the place of God's worship, and he teaches us to do the same. The Jews were guilty of a sad profanation of the temple; let not us be guilty of a like disregard to the places in which we assemble to worship God, and partake of Christ's sacraments, by bringing our worldly thoughts into them.

17. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

When you go to church, thus think with yourselves, this is the house of prayer. I am now about to appear solemnly before God, to acknowledge my dependence upon him, and lay open all my wants before him, spiritual and temporal. See that you make it a house of prayer to yourselves, by coming to it whenever you are able. Make opportunities. Think it a duty so to do. Think what your state is, if your heart does not draw you to the house of God, and to his worship.

18. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

They could not bear to have that done by him, which they knew in their consciences they should have done for themselves; and this cut them to the heart because they

saw that by so conducting themselves, they were lowered in the estimation of the people.

19. And when even was come, he went out of the city.

20. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

Dead for ever, as we shall one day appear to ourselves to be, when the breath goes out of our bodies, if we do not accept of life from Christ.

SECTION XXXVII.

Chap. xi. ver. 21-33.

PRAYER-JOHN THE BAPTIST.

21. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

Do you who profess yourselves to be Christians, believe steadfastly, that he will do everything for you, of which you stand in need, and trust in nothing else, but in the

Lord.

23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

He shall attain to that which is so utterly impossible to man. The sight of our impure hearts, and defiled nature, is enough to daunt us. But consider it is God's work; and he both can, and will cleanse them, and renew them for himself. This mountain stands between God and us, and must be removed.

24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire