The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-03-21
PALM sunday.

straight and upright 70 the nelRnt OF nunoreo
feet, enduring through period OF two centuries.
and bringing forth fruit In abundance In its old
age, was among the ancients emblemstic Of vic.
tory and of lasting prosperity. The diligent ma
tives, says Mr.. 6ibbon, celebrated In verse or
prose the three hundred and sixty uses to which
the trunk, the branches, the leaves and fruit were
skilfully applied. The extensive importance OF
the date tree, says DR.. Clarke, is one Of the most
curious subjects to which traveller can direct bis
attention. A considerable part Of the inhabitants
of Egypt, of Arabia and Persia subsist almost en-
tirely on it's fruits They boast also Its medicinal
virtues. The camel feeds upon the date-stone.
From the leaves they makef couches, baskets,
bags, mats and brushes; from the branches,
cages for their poultry and fences for their gar
deps: from the ibres of the boughs, thread, ropes
and rigging ; from the sap IL prepared spiritu'
GUS liquor, and the body Of the tree furnishes
fuel II is even said that from one variety Of the
palm tree the ''phenix fsrinifers" meal has been
extracted, which is found among the fbres Of the
trunk, and has been used for food.
Both believers and idolaters used palm branches
% emblems of triumph. Plutarch and Aulus Gel
Illus ascribe this to the nature Of the wood, which
90 powerfully resists incumbent pressure, but,
doubtless, believers meant in bearing palms after
q victory to acknowledge the iSupreme Author OF
their success and to carry on their thoughts to an
ultimate triumph over sin and death. As for sin-
stance in Revelations vii, 8, we read: "After
this beheld and 10 q great multitude which no
man could number of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues, stood before the throne and
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes. and
palms in their hands,"
The tree was formerly Of great value and
esteem among the Israelites, and 30 very much
cultivated in Judea that in after times it became
the emblem of that country, as may be seen in a
medal of the Emperor Vespssian upon the con-
quest Of Judea. rfrtl r1
1t was customary with the Jews at the Feast
of Tsbernaclee to carry about branches Of palms
and other trees in their hands and to sing "Ho-
sanna." (Ssve now, beseech thee, oh Lord; oh
Lord, send now prosperity. Psalms cxviii, 25).
And thus il was that st. John nsrrstes in his Cos
pei the manner of our Savior's approach to Jeru.
salem:
II. On the next day much people that were
come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem,
IL. Took bran ches Of palm trees aud went forth
to meet him and cried Hosanna. Blessed is the
King of Israel that cometh in the name OF the
Lord.
IA. And Jesus when he had found young ass,
sat thereon, as it is written.
Is. Fear not. daughter OF Sion, behold thy King
cometh sitting on an ASS colt. John xii, l2-l5.
In this event, doubtless, originated the obser-
vance of Palm Sunday, the brief favor which
our Lord met with upon his last entry into Jeru.
salem having been commemorated from an early
period in the history of the church on the Sunday
preceding Easter Day. Six days before the Pass
over, says st. John, Jesus had come to Bethany,
and the resort of the Jews thither from Jerusalem
was. doubtless, produced by the news of the ar-
rival having reached them. Creswell, in Vol. ILL.,,
Diss. SO, argues that the day when our Savior
reached Bethany was Saturday, the S0th Of the
Julian March, and, strictly speaking, the evening
of the ninth of the Jewish Nissan. From this point
of time then, he says, we must begin and deduce
the train of proceedings subsequently until the
morning of the Resurrection and 1t is strong
argument of the truth of these conclusions that
the duration of what was literally the period of
our Lords suffering becomes, upon this princi-
pie, agreeaby to its name of Passion week. neither
more nor less than one week. The news of our
Lords intention to visit Jerusalem was probably
carried thither by some of the many visitors to
Bethany, and the consequent procession, which
set out from the city of its own accord to meet
him, probably first joined him at Bethphsge, q
village situated upon the slope of Mt. Olivet, on
the direct route between the points of departure
and destination. On the same slope was another
village, to which were dispatched from Bethphsge
the two disciples (probsbly Peter and Paul) to
procure the ass and the colt upon which Jesus
designed to enter Jerusalem. The presence Of
both animals may be accounted for By supposing
either that the colt was young and followed the
dam, or that the female or mother ass being men
toned in the prophecy was also concerned in the
fulfllment.
At the base of Mount Olives. five or six stddid
(ess than mile) from the city, the Hossnnss
were first begun by our Lords attendants. 1t is
in the nature of enthusiastic emotions to be rapidly
propsgated among large bodies. and the acclsma-
tons of the disciples, therefore, were soon caught
and reechoed by the multitudes who went before
and followed after. Subsequently, probably while
our Savior was still on the Mount of Olives, with
the city and the Temple to the westward in view
before his eyes,) occurred the affecting scene
described by St. Luke, xix, 4-44):
"And when he was come near ne beheld the
city and wept over it.
. Saving, If thou hsdst known, even thou hadss
known, even thou, at least in this thy cay, the
things which belong unto thy peace but now they
"For the days shall come upon thee that thine
enemies shall cast trench about thee, and COM
pass thee in on every side.
I" And shall lay thee even with the ground, and
thy children within thee; and they shall moi
leave in thee one stone upon another; because
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation"
Yet did not this dsmpen the ardor Of the spec
'tators, nor could 1t have been rightly compre.
hended by them at the time, for the same JOY
and exultation which had attended Jesus to Jeru'
salem accompanied him also into it. The multi.
tude, increasing each moment In number, sur
rounded our Savior as He slowly moved toward
the city, crying "Hosanna," aud strewing palm
branches in the road. and many of them climbing
into the trees by the wayside to look down upon
Him as he passed on toward that agony and
bloody sweat, that cross and passion, that pre-.
cious death and burial, and that glorious resurrec
ss.n and Ascension which the - - .-is 80
son commentaries in its services and IN the
hearts of its members.
And so, in outward commemoration of that day
when, meek and riding on an ASS colt, yet all
glorious in His mission of redemption, the Son OF
God saw his path to the cross green with the
boughs of triumph, of the victory of countless