hes, give it an
expression of gentleness. His disciples sometimes surrounded him with
a kind of rustic pomp, at the expense of their garments, which they
used as carpets. They placed them on the mule which carried him, or
extended them on the earth in his path.[1] His entering a house was
considered a joy and a blessing. He stopped in the villages and the
large farms, where he received an eager hospitality. In the East, the
house into which a stranger enters becomes at once a public place. All
the village assembles there, the children invade it, and though
dispersed by the servants, always return. Jesus could not permit these
simple auditors to be treated harshly; he caused them to be brought to
him and embraced them.[2] The mothers, encouraged by such a reception,
brought him their children in order that he might touch them.[3] Women
came to pour oil upon his head, and perfume on his feet. His disciples
sometimes repulsed them as troublesome; but Jesus, who loved the
ancient usages, and all that indicated simplicity of heart, repaired
the ill done by his too zealous friends. He protected those who wished
to honor him.[4] Thus children and women adored him. The reproach of
alienating from their families these gentle creatures, always easily
misled, was one of the most frequent charges of his enemies.[5]

[Footnote 1: Matt. xxi. 7, 8.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 13, and following; Mark ix. 35, x. 13, and
following; Luke xviii. 15, 16.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 7, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and following;
Luke vii. 37, and following.]

[Footnote 5: Gospel of Marcion, addition to ver. 2 of chap. xxiii. of
Luke (Epiph., _Adv. Haer._, xlii. 11). If the suppressions of Marcion
are without critical value, such is not the case with his additions,
when they proceed, not from a special view, but from the condition of
the manuscripts which he used.]

The new religion was thus in many respects a movement of women and
children. The latter were like a young guard around Jesus for the
inauguration of his innocent royalty, and gave him little ovations
which much pleased him, calling him "son of David," crying
_Hosanna_,[1] and bearing palms around him. Jesus, like Savonarola,
perhaps made them serve as instruments for pious missions; he was
very glad to see these young apostles, who did not compromise him,
rush into the front and give him titles which he dared not take
himself. He let them speak, and when h