When  the  Son  of  God  entered  Jerusalem,  where  should  he  go  but
to  his  Father's  house  ?  He  went  to  the  temple.  In  what  a  state  did
he  find  that  sacred  place  !  It  shone  bright  in  earthly  splendor — it  was
undefiled  by  images  of  wood  or  stone — it  was  frequented  by  crowds
of  worshippers ;  but  yet  it  was  a  den  of  thieves.  In  its  outermost
court,  called  the  court  of  the  Gentiles,  there  were  men  engaged  in
buying  and  selling  beasts  and  birds  for  sacrifices,  and  others  in  changing
money,  brought  from  distant  places,  into  the  coin  of  the  country,  and
in  supplying  half-shekels  for  the  yearly  tribute.  This  court  had  been
assigned  by  God  to  the  Gentiles,  that  all  nations  might  worship  him  ;
according  to  the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "  Mine  house  shall  be
called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people."     (Isa.  vi.  7v)

^he  priests  alone  were  admitted  into  the  temple  itself ;  Jews  only
into  the  court  that  enclosed  it ;  women  of  the  Jewish  nation  were  per-
mitted to  enter  the  next  court ;  and  Gentiles  into  the  outermost — that
is,  those  Gentiles  who  worshipped  the  God  of  Israel.  No  such  dis-
tinctions now  exist;  for  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  Jew  nor
Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  nor  female,  but  all  are  one  in  him.  (Gal.
iii.  28.)  Christ  by  his  death  has  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of  par-
tition that  separated  Jew  from  Gentile,  and  has  made  both  one.  (Eph.
ii.  14.)

But  it  was  not  the  animals  that  defiled  the  court  of  the  Gentiles  so
much  as  the  men  who  sold  and  bought  them,  for  they  were  thieves.
