should they not go up to Jerusalem? or why should their attention be so called to the fact, that they were going up to the joy of the whole earth; to the place where were set the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David m? To go up to Jerusalem was a thing to be desired at all times; then why were the disciples "afraid?" It was a matter of duty at that time; then why were they "amazed?" "They were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid."

Strange repugnance to the notion of shame and suffering as connected with the going up of Messiah to Jerusalem! Far other were their thoughts! St. Peter indeed had been rebuked, yet the thought of the hearts of them all still was, "This be far from Thee, Lord!" Not for this, not for this, do we go up to Jerusalem; but to "restore again the kingdom unto Israel";" to "sit on twelve thrones, judging the

m Psalm exxii. 5.

n Acts i. 6.

twelve tribes of Israel";" to set the King upon His "holy hill of Zion";" to receive "the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession:" for this do we go up to Jerusalem. Yet how shall it be?

Where is the pomp, the power, the observation, that should attend this setting up anew of the throne of David?

Was it not, probably, this contrast between carnal expectations and the means He announced for their fulfilment that caused the Disciples to follow in amazement and fear?

But, for all their misconceptions, for all their amazement, for all their fears, that of which they misconceived was about to be brought to pass in very truth; that at which they were amazed was about to work out a greater marvel; that which they so feared was about to bring about their joy. Their misconception of a visible carnal kingdom was about to have its refutation in the erection of a spiritual king

• Matt. xix. 28. P Psalm ii. 6. 9 Psalm ii. 8.

dom, visible and invisible. Their amazement at the lack of means was to be surpassed by the greater wonder which should attend the achievement of what then seemed an improbability and an impossibility; their fear was to be extinguished in triumph; their earthly thoughts of Him Who went "before them in the way going up unto Jerusalem" were to be exchanged for worship of Him Who, ascending up on high to sit at the right hand of the Father, thereby opened the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven, to all true believers.

"Of course," we may say: we, who have been brought up as Christians; we, whom the Spirit has prevented from before the dawnings of infant consciousness; we, to whom the Apostles' Creed has been as household words from the time we could first frame words; we, to whom the Te Deum has been a daily song; we, to whom the Hymn of St. Athanasius has been a monthly Catechism: we may say, Of course. To this very thing "bear all the Prophets witness, that Christ must needs suffer, and

be buried, and rise again the third day," and after that "enter into glory." But the Disciples, even the chosen Apostles, had grown up in different expectations, with different notions from these, and they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken,” but they followed in amazement and fear.

We see, then, herein, first, the power with which a wrong prepossession works against the admission of religious truth; and, secondly, the blessing of a right prepossession. The former blinds the soul to right doctrine; the latter then may be, ought to be, as eyes to the blind. May be, ought to be. Would that one might say that it always is so! But, such is the perverseness of our nature, that, though our minds be prepossessed and imbued ever so easily with this or that true doctrine, the habituation to it, and the familiarity with it, make us neglect to improve it and apply it. Hence it is that our religious notions become almost an historical

record, instead of being living principles influencing our thoughts and conduct. So, though we be neither amazed nor afraid when we hear the account of our Lord's going up as He did to Jerusalem, we overlook how the example applies to ourselves; and, if the Disciples, who did not understand, followed wondering and trembling, only, at last, to forsake their Master and flee; we, though we say that we do understand Him, we do not so much as follow Him. The admitted doctrine, that Christ entered not into His rest until He had suffered, that He was perfected through suffering, that His Kingdom at its first establishment came without pomp or observation, that He went up to Jerusalem in a manner which, at the time, was a mystery and perplexity to His followers; the practical application of all this is, but too often, hid from our eyes, neither do we understand it. Which practical application is in brief this, that, if it behoved Christ thus to suffer, in order to be perfected ere He entered into His rest, it