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CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM.

BY THE REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER.

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.---John i. 11.

WHAT a sublime and gladdening sight! The glorious city of God throws open her magnificent gates to the Saviour and the King of men! Multitudes pour forth to meet and welcome Him, and multitudes go with Him as He passes onward; and though His personal state is that of deep humility, and He, a man, poor in spirit, meek and lowly, and riding upon an ass; yet His path is strewed with festal branches and outspread garments, and countless voices fill the air with loud Hosanuas, hailing Him as King of Kings! Does not such a triumph befit the King of God's chosen people, the long-looked-for and adored Emmanuel?

Look closer into this fair show of triumph. Behold, as he advances, there are sneers and glances of a deadly malice cast on the meek and innocent countenance of the lowly Jesus, and other sounds are heard between the pauses of those loud exulting Hosannas; the curses of the envious Pharisees.

"And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitudes of the

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disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master! Rebuke thy disciples. And He answered and said unto them, I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."

But mark what follows. "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it." He came into the city of His enemies, permitting, and for once encouraging, the triumphal shouts of His disciples: He came amid a joyful train, but He came to weep. While joy was lighting up the faces of those around Him, the tears of deep and heavy grief fell trickling down His own. When the echoes of the rocks gave back their loud glad voices, He spoke in melancholy tones, bewailing the blindness and the sinfulness of His beloved Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."

A very great multitude made up the glad procession by which Jesus was attended as He entered into Jerusalem. Not only His own disciples, and the common people, who "were very attentive to hear Him, and heard Him gladly," but "much people that were come to the feast." These spread their garments in the

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