perish. Christ delivers the parable of the barren fig-tree. SECT. cxvi. 9 ye shall all likewise except you repent, you shall all perish thus; you shall be pressed under the insupportable load of the Divine vengeance, and be destroyed under the ruins of that holy city in which you XIII. 5. 6 He spake also this in his vineyard; and Rone. three years I come trust. And, in order to awaken them more effectually 6 parable: A certain man to such deep and serious repentance, he spake had a fiz-tree planted this parable to them; There was a certain man he came and sought who had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and fruit thereon, and found he came, for several successive seasons, searching 7 Then said he unto for fruit upon it, but he found none. And at 7 the dresser of his vine- length, despairing of any better success, he said yard, Behold, these to the keeper of the vineyard, Behold, these three seeking fruit on this years together I have come to look for fruit upon fg-tree, and find none: this fig-tree, and still I find none; cut it down cut it down, why cum- therefore immediately, as a barren tree: for why bcreth it the ground? does it thus cumber the ground, filling up the place of more profitable plants with its useless bulk, and drawing away nourishment from those that grow round it? But such was the concern 8 of the vine-dresser for its preservation, that he said to him in reply, Sir, I desire thou wouldst dig about it, and dung let it alone this year also, till I shall dig up the ground about it, and lay dung to the root of it: 9 And if it bear And then perhaps it may bear fruit, and if so, 9 fruit, well: and if not, it is well, and thou preservest thy tree; but if not, after this thou shalt, if thou pleasest, cut it down, and I will say nothing farther to prevent 8 And he, answer inz, said unto him, year also, till I shall Lord, let it alone this then after that thou shalt cut it down. it. By which parable our Lord did plainly re- These three years.] Many have supposed that these words allude to the time Christ's personal ministry, which, as most have computed the chronology of the New Testament, had now lasted three years: but it is certain the patience of God bore with them much longer than another year. Grothus therefore thinks it more probable, it may refer to the nature of a fig-tree, which, it it bear at all, generally begins to do it within three years after it is planted; but might to be sure be looked upon as barren, the if it had disappointed the expectation of the e Perhaps it may bear fruit: x'av per f Undet Luke 10 Reflections on the guilt and danger of unfruitfulness. SECT. the proposal of the gospel in its full extent and cxvi. evidence, they must expect nothing but speedy, irresistible and irrecoverable ruin. Luke XIII. 9. IMPROVEMENT. 8 Ver. WHICH of us may not learn a lessen for himself from this in6 structive parable of the fig-tree? Have we not long been planted in God's vineyard, and favoured with the cultivation of his ordinances, yea, with the dews of his grace too; and yet how little fruit have we borne in proportion to those advantages? How long has he come seeking it in vain, while we have frustrated the most reasonable expectations, perhaps not only for three, but several of us for more than thirty years? Wonderful is it, that the dreadful sentence has not long since gone forth against us, Cut s them down, why cumber they the ground? We owe it to the intercession of our blessed Redeemer, the Great Keeper of the garden of God, that this has not long since been our case. Let us not be high minded, but fear! (Rom. xi. 20.) Let barren sinners reflect, 9 that this may be the last year, perhaps indeed the last month, or last day of their trial; for even now also is the ax laid to the root of the tree! (Mat. iii. 10.) And let them remember, that though there be hope of a tree, when it is cut down, that it may sprout again, (Job xiv. 7), yet, when the doom is executed on them, their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will go up like dust (Isa. v. 24); and every tree which brings not forth good fruit, will be hewn down, and cast into the fire. 2 Let such therefore meditate terror, when the judgments of God are abroad in the earth; and, when others are overwhelmed in ruin, let them not harshly censure the sufferers, as if they were 3,5 greater sinners than any others; but let them apply that salutary, though awful admonition to their own souls, repeating it again and again, till they are pricked to the heart by it, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 1 Terrible indeed was the case of those, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and of those who were dashed to pieces in a 4 moment by the fall of Siloam's tower: but infinitely more dreadful will be the condition of them, that fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. x. 31), especially of those deceivers, who, having surrounded his altars with the hypocritical forms of devotion, shall themselves be made the victims of his justice, and be crushed by the resistless weight of his almighty vengeance. f Under the additional cultivation, &c.] The extraordinary means used to bring them to repentance after the resurrection of Christ, by the effusion of his Spirit, and the preach SECT. ing of the apostles, might, with great propriety, be expressed by digging round the barren tree, and applying warm compost, or dung, to its roots. a Had Christ cures a crooked woman in the synagogue. SECT. CXVII. Christ cures a crooked woman in the synagogue, and vindicates his doing it on the sabbath day; and afterwards repeats the parables of the grain of mustard-seed, and of the leaven. Luke XIII. 10-22. LUKE XIII. 10. AND he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. there was a woman LUKE XIII, 10. THUS our Lord went on in his journey SECT 11 cxvii. through Galilee for a considerable time; and as he was teaching in one of the synagogues on Luke 11 And, behold, the sabbath-day, Behold there was present a XIII.11. which had a spirit of in- poor disabled woman, who (as the Jews used commonly to express it, and was now actually the case) had been afflicted by a spirit of weaknessa no less than eighteen years, and was bowed together in so sad a manner that, from the time it first seized her, she was utterly unabletoraise herself upright, or to stand straight. firmity eighteen years, and was bowed toge ther, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And Jesus seeing her, and intimately knowing 12 all the sad circumstances of her affliction, and the difficulty with which she was then come to attend the solemnities of Divine worship there, called her to him, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed from that afdiction, which thou hast long been under by reason of thy weakness and 13 And he laid his malady. And, as he was speaking these words, 13 her: and he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she immediately she was made straight, and was strengthened, and made straight; so that she glorified God. stood before them all in an erect posture, and moved with as much ease and freedom as if she had never been disabled: and, as was most reasonable, she in a very affectionate manner glorified God before the whole assembly; praising him for so signal and unexpected a favour, hands on a Had been afflicted by a spirit of weakness.] It is very evident the Jews apprehended that all remarkable disorders of body proceeded from the operation of some malignant demon. Perhaps they might draw an argument from what is said of Satan's agency in the affliction of Job (chap. i. and ii.) and from Psal. xci. 6. (compare Septuag.) and 1 Sam. xvi. 14. They also considered Satan as having the power of Death, Heb. ii. 14.-And that, in some maladies, this was indeed the case, is intimated by our Lord's reply here, ver. 16. and by St. Paul's words, 1 Cor. v. 5. where he speaks of delivering an offender to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.VOL. VII. B and The topic is very judiciously handled by b Utterly unable to raise herself upright.] THE WORKS OF THE REV. P. DODDRIDGE, D. D. VOLUME VII. THE FAMILY EXPOSITOR, CONTAINING THE LATTER PART OF THE HISTORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AS RECORDED BY THE FOUR EVANGELISTS, DISPOSED IN THE ORDER OF AN HARMONY. AND ALSO A PARAPHRASE ON THE FORMER PART OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Ει δε τις υπο τελων μη πάσχη των λόγων, υπο μόνων αν των εν αδε δικαςηρίων υπευθυνθείη. SIMPLIC. in EPICTET, Proem. LEEDS: PRINTED BY EDWARD BAINES, FOR THE EDITORS; CONDER, BUCKLERSBURY; BUTTON, PATERNOSTER-ROW; |