the man's bosom, and see bruised affections, a bleeding heart, disappointed hopes, bitter disappointments, you would see in that poor man, when driven to some dread crime, much that would make you pity and pray for him, while there is and may be only what would make others justly condemn him. And when I think, above all, of that blessed Lord, whose example I am now quoting, that he had compassion for others, but none for himself-Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children" when I remember that mercy was the great feeling that consumed him, and that in compassion to our souls, and to us as transgressors, he bowed the heavens, and bare the cross, and despised the shame, I am sure that I show most of his spirit, when I feel far less indignation and far more compassion toward the guiltiest and the worst of mankind. Depend upon it, if we were more ready to compassionate, and less ready to be indignant, we should succeed far more speedily in elevating and improving mankind. I need not bid you be indignant at criminals that you will be, quickly enough--but the high Christian feeling which we need more and more to entertain and exercise, is that of pity and compassion.

We read that our Lord was surrounded by men-those men whom he thus pitied and was grieved at for the hardness of their hearts-who no sooner saw the miracle than they conspired (the Herodians, or the parties in alliance with Rome, with the Pharisees, or the parties who detested Rome, and longed to be emancipated from its yoke) to destroy Jesus, as they did in condemning him in the last moment of his life: teaching us that all forms of error will co-operate when the truth is to be put down; that internal antagonisms between conflicting systems of error will all be merged and buried in one current, when

God's great truth is to be resisted and banished from the earth.

Let us pray that our views of the Sabbath may be those enlightened ones which Jesus taught that our feeling toward the criminal may be less indignation and more compassion, such as Jesus showed; and bless God that Christ, who left us a propitiation for the sins of all that believe, has left us also an example, that we may follow in his steps.

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LECTURE XX.

ELOQUENT NATURE.

And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig-tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig-tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.-MATT. xxi. 17-22.

IN the Gospel which contains an account exactly parallel to this, there is one clause added which makes in some degree a distinction, without a real difference, between the two narratives. It is stated in the Gospel by St. Mark, that when Jesus saw the tree, "and came if haply he might find any thing thereon," "he found nothing but leaves;" and it is added, "for the time of figs was not yet." This is the only addition given by Mark.

This is the last of the miracles performed by our blessed Lord which I have endeavoured to explain in successive lectures. It differs from the rest in its tone and in its character; it is also beset with some difficulties which lie upon the surface, not however insurmountable; for when we look beneath, we shall find the elements of easy reconciliation, and that the apparent discords are only portions of latent and of real harmony.

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The question has been asked-which contains one difficulty in the narrative- How could Jesus, being omniscient as God, expect to find figs upon a fig-tree which he must have known contained none? The answer is, that we are not to expect in what is partly a parable, (for such this is, as well as a miracle,) that the mere outward facts are historically true, but that they are probably true. In all probability no such history actually occurred as that of the sower who went forth to sow: it was merely an outward probable narrative, that might be true, that occurs every year in every land, and which every one can accept as true, and justly consecrated to be the outward covering of an inner, glorious, and spiritual truth. The historical statement is the scaffolding or the pedestal for sustaining, and making more clear and vivid by the contrast, the great moral and spiritual truth which it was intended to convey. Now, Jesus coming and expecting fruit, and finding none, is so natural, and what we might so truly expect of any man approaching the tree in similar circumstances, that speaking as a man, and acting throughout as the perfect man, he might have expected fruit-it ought to have been; he was hungry-he found nothing to satisfy his hunger: and so it is stated in the narrative before us. We find in parallel passages difficulties as great. It is said that God came down from heaven to see if there were any that did good. Now, it cannot be true that God was ignorant of what was the state of the earth; it cannot mean that God actually changed his locality-omnipresence is everywhere; but it is what can be predicated of a man whose nature is thus ascribed to that God who took upon him our nature, -sin, falsehood, imperfection of character alone excepted. Throughout the Bible we hear God speaking, repenting, promising, beseeching; and thus addressing Jerusalem as if it were impregnable to grace-How often would I have

gathered you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!" All this is divine thought audible in the language of man, great eternal truths clothed with the imperfect drapery of human speech-the accommodation, as it were, of what would be infinite and inconceivable to the finite and imperfect apprehension and comprehension of man. The great idea here meant to be conveyed is, that just as Christ looked for fruit on that figtree, and found none, he comes down to earth still, and looks for practical fruits, such as those enumerated in Gal. v. 22, in the conduct of every believer, and there finds them, or finds them not.

The other difficulty that has been adduced as peculiar to this miracle is, that there seems to be expressed an unnatural and almost unnecessary revenge in blasting by a curse the fig-tree, because it had no fruit to satisfy the hunger of Jesus. But this objection originates in a feeling that there is something inconsistent with what we should expect in the character of Jesus when he displayed any thing like anger, or what might bear the likeness of resentment. But in truth it arises from a feeling that nothing like judgment should occur in the dispensations of God— from a secret persuasion that we entertain in the depths of our hearts, that there is nothing in the creature to necessitate punishment, but every thing to draw down approbation, affection, and love. But we do read of Jesus being angry; we read of the love of Christ, we read also of the wrath of the Lamb. In one word, Jesus was man. But we shall see that historically and morally there was a reason for the peculiar manifestation of divine displeasure which is embodied in this miracle. Every miracle that we have before examined has been expressive of unmingled beneficence; now it docs seem that there was needed some divine manifestation of justice and of judgment also. Amid so