presence of Je~. R~g ohar&oter in their act, "seeing their faith," Jesus gave the sufferer a higher blessing than they sought, but included with it what they asked. I. IMPORTUNITY REVEALS WILL. Many of the gravest troubles of life have their real caus? in ''. weakn?"s of_ ~11." Men cannot decide. If they decide, they cannot do anythmg wit-h their declSlons. No doubt many sufferers lost Christ's healing because they were too weak of will to eeek him or cry to him, The man •,11ho can keep on is the man who has made a firm resolve; who means something; who ha~ an ~n~ before him. '.('his "wea_knees of ~11-po~er " may be a natural infirmity ; but It 1s largely remediable by skilful educational mfiuences; and yet to this precise work, "strengthening the will-power," how few parents, and how few teachers, bend careful attention I The world yields its treasures to those who show they have wills, by keeping on, fixing firm hold; and refusing to let go. Illustrate Jacob, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." II. I:r.i:PORTID.TJTY REVEALS FAITH. Thie leads in the more familiar way of treating 1mch incidents as this of the text. What Jesus noticed in such cases was "faith." If these men had not believed that he could heal them, and if their fllith had not blended with hope that he would heal them, they would have been repressed by the rebukers, and would have ceased to cry. The man in earnest is the IDaD of faith, who is open to receive.-R. T.
EXPOSITION. oiple1. Their name, are not given, and it is CHA.PTER XXI. 'llSeless to conjecture who they were, though Vel'll.1-11.-Triumphal mtry into Jerv.- probably Peter was one of them. Altor<J, aalem.. (Mark xL 1-11; Luke xiL 29-H: suggests that the triumphal entry in Mark John xii. 12-19.) xi. is rela.ted e. day too soon, and that our Lord me.de two entries into Jeruaalem-the Ver. 1.-We have come to the last week first e. private one (Mark xi. 11), and the of our Lord's earthly life, when he made his second, public, on the morrow But there is appearance in J em.se.lem as Messiah, and no sufficient reason to discredit the common suffered the penalty of death. If, as iB be- tradition, and St. Mark's language can be lieved, his crucifirion took place on the four- otherwise explained. The deliberate pre- teenth day of the month Nise.n, the trium- paration for the procession, and the inten- pbe.l entry must be assigned to the ninth, tional publicity, so contrary to Ohrist's usual which dav was reckoned to commence at habits, are very remarkable, and can be ex- one snnsei and to continue till the follow- pla.ined only by the fact that he ~as now ing evening. This iB regarded as the first assuming the character and claims of Mes- day of the Holy Week, and iB called by siah, and putting himself forward in his true Christians from very early times Palm Sun- dignity and office as" King of the Jews." day (see on ver. 10). He ha.d probably gone By this display be me.de manifest that in straight from Jericho to Bethany, and spent him prophecy was fulfilled, and that the the se.bbe.tb there with his friends (eh. xxvi. seeing eye and the believing heart might 6; John xii. 1). Bethphage. The name now find all that righteous men he.d long means House of fig•, and was appropriate to and wearily desired. This was the great e. locality wliere such trees grew lnxnrie.ntly. opportunity which his mercy offered to J eru- The village has not been identified with salem, if only she would accept it and tum certainty, though it is considered with great it to account. In fact, she acknowledged probability to be represented by Kefr-d-Tur, him e.s King one day, and then rejected and on e. summit of Olivet, within the bounds crucified him. of Jerusalem, i.e. two thousand cubits' dis- Ver. 2.-The village over against you. tance from the city walls. Bethany iB below Bethphage, to which he points as he speaks. the snmmit, in a nook on the western slope He gives their commission to the two dis• and somewhat further from the city. The ciples, mentioning even some minute details, Mount of Olives iB separated from Jerusalem Btraightway. " As soon as ye be entered by the valley of the Kedron, and has three into it" (Mark). Ye shall 11.nd an a11(a 1he- summits, the centre one being the highest; ass) tied, and a colt with her. St, Matthew but though it iB of no great elevation in it- alone mentions the ass, the mother of the self, it stands nearly four thousand feet above foal This doubtless he does with exact the Dead Sea, from which it is distant some reference to the prophecy, which, writing thirLecn miles, Then ■eit l esu two clil- for Jews, he e.ftorwe.rds cites (ver. 4). St. Cln, :i.n.1-48.) TiiE GOSPEL A.O'JORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 313