17.

294 They cry Hofannah to the Son Sect. 146. rus out of his Grave, and by that Almighty Voice raifed him from the Dead, among whom he had John XII. lain Part of four Days, teftified [it] to the 'Strangers who were come up out of the Country, and told them what a glorious Miracle they had been 18 Eye-witneffes to. [And] for this Cause, among others, and indeed with a peculiar Regard to this, the People alfo met him in the Manner which has been defcribed above; because they heard that he had done this aftonishing Miracle, which, in fome Circumstances, exceeded any which he had wrought before.

Luke XIX.

37.

And the whole Multitude of the Disciples that had attended him from Bethany, both they that went before him, and they that followed after, in his triumphant Proceffion, began greatly to rejoice, and to praife GOD with a loud Voice, for all the mighty Works and glorious Miracles, which they had feen performed by him on a great Variety of Occafions, and which they now particularly 38 called to Mind. [And] as they now were met by a vaft Concourfe of People from Jerufalem, they joined together in their Triumphs and Congratulations, and cried with all their Might, faying, "Hofannah to the great illuftrious Son of David, who now vouchfafes to make his pub-. "lick Appearance among us; bleffed be He, [even] "the long expected King and Sovereign of God's "People, who now comes to us in the Name of "the Lord! May the most exalted Honours be "paid him! May continued Profperity attend him! "Let there be Peace in Heaven, and a rich Variety "of Divine Favours be difpenfed from thence; and "in Return for them, let Glory be given to Go D "in the most exalted Strains, and let all the highest MarkXI.10." Orders of Angels join in his Praises!

of David;
called Lazarus out of his
Grave, and raised him from

the Dead, bare Record.

18 For this Caufe the

People alfo met him, for that they heard that he had

done this Miracle.

19-295

LUKEXIX. -37. [And] the whole Multitude of the Difciples [that went before, and that followed,] began to rejoice and praife GOD with a loud Voice, for all had feen: (MAT.XXI. 9.the mighty Works that they MARK XI. 9.—]

38 [And cried ] faying, [Hofanna to the Son of David; bleffed [is he, even] the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord: Peace in Heaven, and Glory in the Higheft. [MAT. XXI.

-9.- MARK XI.-9.]

MARK XI. 10. Bleffed be the Kingdom of our Fa

the

Blessed "and profperous be the facred Kingdom of our ther David, that cometh in "Father David! May it fpeedily be eftablished, "and may it long flourish; even that Kingdom, "which is not gained by the Alarms of War, and "Garments rolled in Blood, but which comes in

"the

therefore, (and it is very material to obferve it,) that [therefore,] is sometimes used in a loofer Senfe, fo as to anfwer to [and] or [new] in our Language.

and are defended from the Cenfure of the Pharifees.

the Name of the Lord: Hofanna in the Highest. [MAT. XXI.-9.]

295

"the Name of the Lord, and renders itself, by Sect. 146.
"that powerful Influence on Men's Spirits which Mark XI,
we now feel, victorious over whatsoever would 10.
oppofe it! Hofannah therefore in the highest
"Strains! Repeat again, and again, your Songs,
"and your Congratulations." Thus they expreffed
their joyful and rapturous Expectations of his
affuming the Royal Dignity, and vindicating Ifrael
from the Roman Oppreffion; and emboldened by
the Display of his Power in the Resurrection of
Lazarus, they feared not the Refentment of their
prefent Mafters, for declaring themselves thus
openly in his Favour.

And fome of the proud and envious Pharifees, Luke XIX.
who were among the Multitude as Spies rather than 39.
Friends, were much offended at the high Ho-
nours that were paid to Jefus, and maliciously
faid to him, with an Intent to embarrass and ex-
pofe him, Mafter, canft thou be pleafed with all
this Noife? or can it be confiftent with thy great
Humility to fuffer it? Why doft thou not rebuke
thy Difciples for fuch dangerous Acclamations as
these? Doft thou intend to give Encouragement
to fuch feditious Speeches, and to stand by the
Confequences which may follow them?

And Jefus, who was now determined to lay 40
afide that Referve, which for wife Reasons be had
formerly used, anfwered and faid unto them, I tell
you, that the Reafon for thefe Acclamations is fo
plain, and the Evidences of it fo ftrong, that it
must be great Stupidity not to fee, and great Ob-
ftinacy not to own it: So that if thefe should be
filent, one might almost expect that the very Stones
fhould immediately cry out, to proclaim my King-
dom: Yea, GOD would even animate the Stones
on fuch an Occafion, rather than he would fuffer
me to want this Triumph, fo evidently marked:
out by his Prophets.

The Pharifees then turning from him, with John XII.
Envy and Rage, faid to each other, Perceive ye 19.
not, that you gain no Manner of Advantage by
all your Confultations, and the Decrees of your
Sanhedrim? Behold, the whole World is gone af-
ter him, till he has now thrown off the Mask,

and

296

Reflections on CHRIST's riding in Triumph to Jerufalem.

Sect. 146. and declares his Pretences; which, if the People. thus fall in with them, muft neceffarily end in.

John XII.

19.

our Ruin, and perhaps in that of the whole
Nation.

John xii. 14.

L

IMPROVEMENT.

ET us behold this meek Triumph of the Great Redeemer with Pleafure! He entered the Capital of his Kingdom, riding upon an Afs: A Circumftance, in which he made, tho' by no means a ridiculous, yet to be fure, a very humble Figure: Yea, he appeared exactly as the ProMat. xxi. phet defcribed him, upon a Colt, the Foal of an Afs, not yet grown up to its beft Form, nor adorned with any fumptuous or elegant Furniture, but only covered with the Mantles of his poor Attendants, and perhaps with nothing better for a Bridle than a Cord, which might have tied the Foal at the Door.

4, 5. Mark xi. 4, 7.

Let us imagine, that we faw the Son of GOD, and the King of Ifrael, John xii. 13. thus proceeding towards Jerufalem, and the People meeting him, and furrounding him with their Acclamations: Hofannah! Bleed be be that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Do not our Hearts fpring at the Sound? Do we not, as it were in Spirit, go forth with them, and join in their fublime, tho' fimple Song? Thus let us welcome him into our Hearts! Mark xi. 10. Let us echo it back! Bleffed be be that cometh in the Name of the Lord, with Divine Authority, and Divine Bleffings in his Hands! And blessed be the Kingdom he hath erected! May perpetual Profperity attend it! May the North give up a Swarm of Subjects to it; and may not the South keep back her fwarthy Sons! May Nations be born at once, and Thousands together made willing in the Day of his Power! Surely if these are not our affectionate Wishes, the warm and zealous Sentiments of our very Hearts, Luke xix.40. it may almost be expected, that the very Stones fhould cry out, to accuse and condemn our ungrateful Stupidity.

Unhappy Pharifees, who looked on these Triumphs with Envy and John xii. 19. Rage, and grieved that the World was gone after him! Yet lefs unhappy, had they not renewed their Attempts against him, those fatal Attempts, which ended in their Ruin! But who, that had feen the Proceffion, and heard the Shouts of the transported Multitude, could have imagined or believed, that before the End of the Week they should have turned their Voices against him, and instead of Hofannah, fhould have cried out, Crucify kim? Yet fo it was; and Chrift knew it would be fo. Such is the Uncertainty of popular Applaufe! Who would then purchase it at the Expence of his Confcience, or even of his Eafe?

Thefe Tranfports were raised by the Hopes of a Temporal Kingdom; and when those Hopes were disappointed, these Transports were turned

JESUS weeps over Jerufalem.

297

into Rage. Oh that there may be none, under all the Engagements of a Sect. 146. Chriftian, and even of a Minifterial Profeffion, who proclaim Chrift with great Appearances of Zeal, only that they may exalt themselves; and wish Prosperity to his Kingdom, only as it may promote their own Intereft in a World, from which it was the great Defign of his Death, to redeem his Servants!

SE C T. CXLVII.

CHRIST having wept over Jerufalem, enters into it, and
vindicates the Temple a fecond Time, from the Propha-
nation of the Traders. Mat. XXI. 10,--16.
11.- Luke XIX. 41,

ΑΝ

II.

LUKE XIX. 41.

ND when he was come near, he beheld the City, and wept over it,

42 Saying, If thou hadft known, even thou, at least in this thy Day, the Things which belong unto thy Peace! but

T

to the End.

LUKE XIX. 41.

Mark XI.

Luke XIX.

4I.

HUS our Lord went on, in his triumphant Sect. 147. Progress toward Jerufalem; and when he was come near it, and had now the View of it before him, (the Place where he was commanding an extensive Profpect of it,) beholding the City in all its prefent Beauty and Glory, and confidering the Calamities which would shortly be its Ruin, he tenderly wept over it, Saying, Ob 42 that thou hadst known (a), even thou unhappy City, which art now on the very Point of being devoted to final Destruction! oh that at length, tho' with the greatest Obftinacy thou haft despised the Meffages of all thy Prophets, thou hadft but known and seriously regarded, at least in this thy latest Day and Opportunity of Grace, the important Things which belong to thy Peace, and on

which

(a) Ob that thou hadst known.] It is certain, as we have obferved elsewhere, (Note (a) on Luke xii. 50. pag. 125.) that the Particle e is fometimes used to exprefs an ardent Wish; (compare Numb. xxii. 29. and Joh. vii. 7. Septuag.) and the Connection here will very well bear it.If our Tranflation be retained, it must be acknowledged, that the broken Manner of Speaking is very emphatical: Our Lord will then feem to paufe, in a filent Reflection on the happy Confequences, that would have attended their obedient Regard to his Invitations and Addreffes.But to add the Words, [it had been well,] which fome have propofed, would rather enervate, than help the Senfe; as I think it would do in most of the Paffages, which learned Criticks have produced from the Greek Writers, as Inftances of a like Figure of Speech. See Mr. Hailet, on Script. Vol. i. pag. 11. Pp

VOL. II.

(b) Shall

Luke XIX. 42.

43

43 For the Days fhall come upon thee, that thine about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every Side,

Enemies fhall caft a Trench

298 He enters the City, and goes to the Temple, Sect. 147. which thy final Happiness depends! But now, but now they are hid from thine Eyes. alas, they are hid from thine Eyes, and GOD will leave thee in his righteous Judgment to this affected Ignorance and obftinate Perverfenefs, till it end in thine utter Ruin. For the Time haftens on, and in a little while the Days fhall come upon thee, when thou shalt fuffer all the Hardfhips of the closest Siege, and thine Enemies fhall draw a Trench about thee, and compass thee round, and press thee in on every Side, fo that thou neither shalt be able to refift, nor to escape them: 44 And they fhall level thee with the Ground on which thou ftandeft, and crush thy Children within thee under thy Ruins; and fhall not leave fo much as one Stone upon another in thee (b) of all thy fplendid and facred Structures: And all these terrible Calamities fhall overwhelm thee, because thou didst not know and confider the appointed Seafon of thy merciful Vifitation, nor attend to those Overtures of Grace, which I have come in Perfon fo frequently to make, and have ftill urged with fo much Serioufnefs and Tenderness.

Mat. XXI. 10.

44 And fhall lay thee even with the Ground, and thy Children within thee; and they fhall not leave in thee one Stone upon another: because thou kneweft tation. not the Time of thy Vifie

MAT. XXI. 1o. [And Jefus entred into Jerufa+ lem] and when he was come, all the City was moved, faying, Who is this?

And Jefus entered into Jerufalem with great
Solemnity, amidst the joyful Acclamations of the
People; and as he made his Entrance in fuch a
publick and remarkable Way, the whole City was
in a great Commotion at fo uncommon an Appear-[MARK XI. 11.—]
ance, faying, Who is this, that comes in all this
Pomp, and is attended with these high Congra-
II tulations? And the Multitude that came with
him faid, This is Jefus the great Prophet, who is of
Nazareth in Galilee, even He that is fo celebrated
all over the Country, for the Fame of his Doc-
trine and Miracles.

II And the Multitude

faid, This is Jefus, the Prophet, of Nazareth of Galilee.

12 And Jefus went into

the Temple of GOD, and [when he had looked round

about

(b) Shall not leave one Stone upon another in thee.] Jofephus has fo particularly and affec tionately recorded the Accomplishment of every Part of this Prediction, especially in the Sixth Book of his Jewish War, that I cannot but recommend the Perufal of it to every Chriftian, who has an Opportunity of reading it.

...(c) When