"For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation" that time when the Son of God came to His own—" came to visit them in great humility."

In these deeply solemn words, spoken through tears, how well may we read what God is! Perfect Love-yet perfect Righteousness-mourning over the obdurate sinner, yet not shunning to inflict the well-earned doom.

"And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, 'Who is this?" And the multitude said, 'This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.'" We may well imagine that the enemies of our Lord were greatly annoyed by the excitement visible amongst the people; and, accordingly, we find that, "when the Chief Priests and Scribes heard the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David,' they were sore displeased, and said unto Him, 'Hearest Thou what these say?'" Dost Thou think it proper that they should address Thee in this manner? "And Jesus saith unto them, 'Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?" "-intimating that the present case was an illustration of that psalm, since these children had given Him the honour which was His due. To another request that He "would rebuke His disciples" for their ascriptions of praise

to Him, "He answered, 'I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out'”—in very shame, as it were, at the apathy of man. "The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?"-your attempts to check and put down His popularity have proved all in vain-" behold the world is gone after Him."

St. Matthew relates, in connexion with our Lord's entrance into the temple, that He drove out the traders and money-changers, as in the early days of His ministry, and that the blind and lame came to Him and received healing. St. Mark sums up the whole in a few words: "And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the even-tide was come, He went out unto Bethany with the twelve."

"A

SECTION XLV.

THE BLIGHTED FIG TREE.

MARK Xi. 12-14, 19—24; Matthew xxi. 18—22.

ND on the morrow, when they were come from

Bethany, He was hungry; and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find anything thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet."

Our Lord seems to have left the house where He had passed the night, (most likely the house of

Martha and Mary,) very early in the morning of Monday, probably spending some time in prayer at His accustomed resort on the Mount of Olives. He was now, without having taken any refreshment, proceeding to Jerusalem, in company with the disciples, who it may be, had only joined Him after taking their morning meal. He who had all the natural needs of the human body-began to feel the want of food, and seeing in the distance a fig-tree in full leaf, He went to it hoping, although it was not yet the full season for figs, that this tree which was so forward, might afford some early fruit. There was nothing unreasonable or extraordinary in this. We know ourselves that there are often instances of shrubs and trees which, from some peculiarity of soil and circumstances, do come out in fruit or flower considerably in advance of the rest of their kind. Do we not constantly read of such instances in the papers, quoted as proofs of the "extraordinary mildness" of the season? This fig-tree being so precocious in its foliage, raised an expectation that it might be precocious also in its fruit-bearing. But it was not sothere was a fine show of leaves, but nothing else. "And Jesus answered, and said unto it, 'No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever." " Thou hast raised expectations only to disappoint them-" thou shalt deceive no one any more."

The point and significance of this symbolic action lies in this-that the tree was a deceiver. It attracted notice by an appearance of unusual fertility, and did not fulfil the promise which its appearance gave. The curse of blight which our Lord pronounced upon it,

was a solemn protest against great professions not borne out by facts. The Jewish nation appeared at a distance to be eminently religious, knowing more of God than the rest of mankind. The Pharisees appeared the most religious of this religious nation. From the Jews, then, and especially from the priests and rulers, the most enlightened and devout men of their time, apparently, God might have reasonably expected fruit, and especially that fruit which was most called for, a hearty and believing reception of Him whom He had sent. But their religion was all hollow, a mere form of disease-nothing but leaves. Therefore the doom went forth-" No man eat fruit of thee henceforth." Cease to be" a guide of the blind, a light to them that sit in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes ;"* perish that which thou hast; dwindle, and wither, and die!

So amongst ourselves. We may see families, congregations, classes of people who have a great reputation for religion-very zealous for the Gospel, sharp in detecting anything unsound in view, or suspicious in practice. In such circles it is but fair to expect the realities of Christian virtue. We may

look to see a hearty brotherly welcome given to all goodness; persons valued not according to what they have, or with whom they are connected, but according to what they are in character; we may fairly expect a just and generous treatment of all dependents, and a delicate consideration for the feelings

* See Rom. ii. 19.

of inferiors-in short, some faint embodiment of St. Paul's idea of charity. But when we come up close to these people know them intimately-what do we too often find? Is there not in many cases as much exclusiveness, as great coolness towards worth if not recommended by wealth and social position, as much meanness, harshness, and proud neglect of the feelings of those dependent on them, as one could meet with in worldly and utterly thoughtless people? As much? Nay, often more, for spiritual pride and self-complacency have contributed another coating to ordinary selfishness.

Then, again, to speak of individuals. We occasionally meet with persons who make great demands on our notice. They utter very fine and noble sentiments. They profess great disinterestedness, devotedness, self-sacrifice. And yet what does it all come to ? Call upon them for some self-denying service, some real sacrifice of ease, advantage, credit -and they immediately draw back-there is always some plausible excuse why they cannot respond to just this particular claim.

Now, how ought we to apply this lesson? Not certainly by taking the liberty to sneer at and suspect all apparent eminence in religion. Our Lord did not pass by the fig-tree, saying, "Ah, that tree is covered with leaves, no fruit will be found there"on the contrary He went to it" lest haply He might find figs thereon." The obvious course is to give people credit for what they say, to "hope all things." The safest habit is not suspicion of others,