February. Now Solomon in Cantic. ii. 13. among other marks of the Winter's being ended, and confequently of the Spring's being begun in Judæa, defcribes This to be one: The Fig-tree putteth forth her green Figs; or rather, The Fig-tree hath given a Sweetness, or Ripeness, to the Unripe Fig; for the (b) Original words are thus to be tranflated: If therefore in the middle of our January, or (if you will) February, the Figs were so forward in Judea, as Then to have a Sweetnefs and to be Ripening, is it Unreasonable to conclude, that in fo Warm and Fruitful a Climate, as that Country was, there might be Ripe Figs, and fit for Eating, in the latter end of our March, or before the latter end of our April; which was the time, when our Saviour fought for them on this Fig-tree?

TO what has been faid may be added, that Jofephus describing the Fruitfulness of the Country of Gennefareth, which was a part of Judæa, fays that it (c) afforded Figs and Grapes ten

(b) Paggiah, render'd Green Figs, is a word no where found in the Old Teftament except in this place: but it is a common word among the Arabians, and fignifies crudum, immaturum, as a learned Friend informs me; who finds Aben-Ezra too explaining it by Fruit before it is Ripe or Mellow.

Kanat, render'd putteth forth, fignifies condivit aromatibus in Gen. 1. 2, 3, and 26. the only places where it is used: from thence by a Metaphor it is apply'd to Fruits, and fignifies (as the abovemention'd Gentleman affures me) in the Arabick Tongue, rubuit, maturuit: So that the Sense of the Paffage will be this; The Fig-tree bath begun to make her Figs Ripe, which were before Unripe, or Sweet which were before Sowr. L. Capellus's Note upon the Place agrees with this; propriè (fays he) MATURAT feu DULCORAT, dulces facit; nam kanat eft aromatibus condire; unde, ad fructus tranflatum, eft acerbum & auferum eorum faporem veluti condire, hoc eft, maturando dulciorem reddere.

(c) De Bello Jud. lib. 3. 9. σαφυλήν τε καὶ σύκον δέκα μησὶν ἀδιαλείπτως χορηγεί, τὸς ἢ λοιπὲς καρπὸς δὲ ἔτος (al. δια θέρες) ὅλο περιγηράσκουλας αλοῖς (al. ἑαυτοῖς): Where fofephus mut mean that the Grapes and Figs were growing during thofe ten Months; not meerly, that dried Grapes and Figs might be preferved there fo long; for in lefs Favourable Climates they will last all the Year round: Julian in his Epift. to Serapion carries this matter farther, and fays of Fig-trees in general, that they, and they only, bear Figs all the Year round, the Young ones beginning to grow as foon as the Old ones were gather'd; and then adds, se, onoiv i "Openers ov ̓Αλκινόα κήπῳ, τις καρπές ἀλλήλοις επιγηράσκειν : alluding to Homer's Odyff. lib. 7.

Γχνη ἐπ' Γχνη γηράσκει, μῆλον δ' ἐπὶ μήλῳ, Αὐτὰρ ἐπὶ σαφυλή σαφυλή, σύκον δ ̓ ἐπὶ σύκῳ. From whence I fufpect that Jofephus, in this Paffage before us, wrote mynegoulas aulois, and borrow'd his Expreffion, as Julian did, from what Homer had faid concerning Alcinous's Garden.

Months

Months in the Year without Intermission; and tho' fome allowance is to be made for the Extraordinary Growth in that Territory, yet the other Parts of Judaa must be supposed to have afforded thefe Fruits for feveral Months in the Year, especially That where the Fig-tree grew; it being between Jerufalem and Bethany, i. e. in the Lot of the Tribe of Benjamin, which (as the fame (d) Author tells us) was fecond to no part of Canaan `in Fruitfulness.

UPON fuch Authorities as thefe, we know what to make of the Firft-ripe Figs fo often mention'd by the Prophets of the Old Teftament. For God fays in Hof. ix. 10. 1 faw your Fathers as the first-ripe in the Fig-tree, at her time: and these Early Figs feem to have been much efteem'd among the Jews, for Jerem. xxiv. 2. fpeaks of a Basket, that had very good Figs, even like the Figs that are firft-ripe: and (to mention no other Paffages) the Greediness, with which the Jews used to gather this Pleasant Fruit, is thus emphatically defcribed by Ifa. xxviii. 4. As the bafty Fruit (i. e. (e) the firft-ripe Fig) before the Summer; which, when he that looketh upon it, feeth it, while it is yet (f) on its bough, he eateth it up; i. e. he, that fpieth it out, is ready to devour it, before he can gather it; fo very fond are men of this fort of Figs: And that we may not mistake the Season, when these coveted Figs were pluck'd for Eating, Isaiah here tells us, that it was before the Summer, which must have begun in Judea (at least) as early as the Paffover, because the Harvest began then.

FROM all which it may (I think) be fairly concluded, that the Figs in Judæa were commonly fo Ripe, as to be fit for Eating at the time when our Saviour went up to this Fig-tree; and that this first Crop of Figs was of fo good a kind, or was fo Welcome, because it was the Earliest, that Travellers among the Jews were defirous of gathering them, when they met with them; and laftly, that Jefus feeing this Fig-tree to have Leaves upon it, (which in Fig-trees always come later than the Fruit) had good reafon to go up to it (as it is faid he did), expecting to find Fruit thereon.

(d) Antiq. Jud. Lib. 5. c. 1.

(ε) LXX. ως πρόδρομο σύκο.

(f) The Original word becappo fignifies on its bough, and should be fo render'd here, not as in our Bible in his band: for the LXX had plainly that first sense in view, when they render'd the place thus, πρὶν εἰς τὴν χώρα αυτό λαβῶν αυτὸ, before he takes it into bis hand, i. . while it is yet on its bough. R. Kimchi upon the place fays, My honoured Father, whofe Memory be blessed, expounds becappo by on its bough, (agreeably to that of Job xv. 32, and his branch kippatho fhall not be green): As much as to fay, As foon as ever be fees it on the bough, he devours it, out of the great fondness which be has for it. And fo the Plural kappoth fignifies branches or boughs in Levit. xxiii. 40.

WHAT

WHAT remains then to be proved is This; that the Words of St. Mark, 8" naιeds ounav, may be fo interpreted as to be confiftent with what has been already fhewn.

AND Mr. W. himself has furnish'd us with (g) an Interpretation of the words which will ferve the purpose; for he has fallen in with some of the Modern Commentators, and has recommended the reading of St. Mark's words by way of Interrogation, for was it not the time of Figs? Admitting this small change, and putting a part of the Sentence into a Parenthesis, the whole Verfe will run thus; And feeing a Fig-tree afar off having Leaves, he came if haply he might find any thing thereon (and when he came to it, he found nothing but Leaves); for was it not the time of Figs? By the help of the Parenthesis the laft words are a good reafon for what went immediately before the Parenthefis, i. e. for Jefus's expecting to find Fruit upon the Tree: And this way of writing might be shewn to be very common in all Authors, especially the Sacred ones.

UPON this Interpretation of the words Mr. W. fays that all the Difficulty vanishes; but this he fays, after he had made the moft of this Difficulty, and expos'd St. Mark's account with all the Raillery and Ill-will that he could fhew, for (b) a page or two together. Where then is the Candor, where the Honefty of fuch a Behaviour? What? ridicule the Evangelift as guilty of an Abfurdity, and yet have a Solution of that Abfurdity ready at hand? A plain Mark that it is not Truth which this Author aims at! but this is only one Mark out of many.

AND yet I can help Mr. W. to another Solution of this Difficulty, where there is no Change of the Point, and which I prefer to His, as more Natural, and anfwering the purpose with the fame effect: Suppofe then, that by the words, for the time of Figs was not yet, may be meant, that the time of gathering Figs was not yet come; and thus, keeping the Parenthesis, as before plac'd in the middle of the Sentence, we may understand the words as a reafon given why Jefus came if haply he might find any thing on the Fig-tree. The Fig-harvest (if I may fo call the Gathering-time) was not yet arrived: On the fecond day of Unleaven❜d Bread, which was about five or fix days after This, the First-Fruits of all, that was then Ripe, were folemnly offer'd in the Temple, and till Then the Owners of the Fig-trees were not allow'd to gather in their Fruit; fo that till Then they were oblig'd to let their Figs (tho' Ripe) hang on the Trees, and confequently five or fix days before That Day (i. e. when Jefus went up to this Tree) any Traveller might expect to find Fruit upon the Fig-trees which he met with in his Journey.

THAT by the time of Figs, may be here meant the time of gathering them, is no new Opinion of mine; It has been main

(g) p. 28.

(b) p. 7, 8.

tained

ga

tained by (i) Dr. Lucas and (k) Bifhop Lloyd; and I find Dr. Whitby mentioning it as the Ingenious Expofition of a Reverend and Learned Bifhop, whom he does not name, but who (I think) is Bifhop Kidder; and tho' he does not agree with him, yet he declares that he fhould acquiefce in this Interpretation, if he could find it prov'd that any Figs were fit to be thered at the Paffover. This (I think) I have prov'd with fuch a degree of Evidence as Dr. Whitby would have admitted. And that the time of Figs may fignify the time of gathering them, there is good Authority from the Writings of the facred Penmen. This feems to be the Sense of the word rates, time or feafon, in Pfal. i. 4. (according to the LXX.) (1) which shall give its Fruit in its Seafon, i. e. at the time of gathering it: And this (I think) is the Senfe of the word in St. Mark xii. 2. but particularly in St. Matt. xxi. 34. who fays, that when the Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable fent his Servants to the Husbandmen, that they might receive the Fruits of it, it was when the time of the Fruit drew near, ὅτε ἤγισεν ὁ καιρὸς τ καρπῶν, i. e. when the time of gathering them was at hand; for, it being moft natural to fuppofe, that the Servants were not fent more early than was needful, the time of ripe Grapes was probably then actually come, and only the time of gathering them drew near.

BUT let Mr. W. choose which Solution he will, (his Own, if he pleases), he muft acknowledge, that there is a fufficient anfwer given to the fuppos'd Unreasonableness of Jesus's expecting to find Fruit out of Seafon.

HAVING dwelt pretty long on this head, because it contain'd the most material part of his Discourse, I fhall now proceed briefly to the second Objection.

2 §. WHAT Legal Right had Jefus to the Fruit, if he had found any on the Tree?

TO which I anfwer, that he had a Right, and a Legal one too, tho' he was neither Landlord nor Tenant, (as Mr. W. expreffes it) nor had any Houfe or Land of his own by Law. And what I fay, will be proved thus. There is a Law given by God to the Jews in Deut. xxiii. 24, 25. to this purpose, When thou comeft into thy Neighbour's Vineyard, then thou mayeft eat grapes to thy fill, at thine own pleafure; but thou shalt not put any in thy Veffel: And when thou comeft into the standing Corn of thy Neighbours, then thou mayeft pluck the Ears with thine hand, but thou fhall not move a Sickle unto thy Neighbour's ftanding Corn.

(i) See his Sermons, Vol. 3. Serm. 1. p. 10.

(k) See his Hiftory of the laft Paffover of Chrift (printed, but never published) in St. Martin's Library.

(1) Ο * καρπὸν αυτᾶ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αυτό. And thus the time of Corn is the time of reaping it, as in Job v. 26. LXX. Wowep σῖτος ώριμος κατὰ καιρὸν θεριζόμενα.

BISHOP

BISHOP Patrick in his Commentary on this place fays, that the Jewish Doctors extended this Law (and indeed the Reafon of the Law extended it) not only to Grapes and Corn, the two mention'd Particulars; but to Olives, Figs, Dates, and all common eatable Fruits: And (m) Jofephus confirms this by applying the Law to ripe Fruits of this kind in general, and adding that the benefit of this Indulgence reached not only to Jews, but to all Travellers (whether Natives or not) on the high-way in Judæa; who had a Right by virtue of this Law, to eat of any ripe Fruits that they met with, as freely as if they were their own Property. This then being a Part of the Common Law of the Country, and no man having fuch a Property in his Fruit-trees, as to exclude Travellers and Paffengers from this Benefit, Jefus would have done no Injury to the Owner of this Fig-tree, if he had found Figs upon it, and gathered them; because he would only have done what he had a Right to do, and what all his Countrymen lawfully did on the like occafion. What then must we fay of this Author, who infinuates, that Jefus would have been a Rob-Orchard, if he had had an Opportunity? Vile infinuation! and no lefs Weak than Vile, fince it is founded on an Ignorance of this Jewish Law, which was fo eafy to be known! I come then to the

3 §. And laft Objection, which is this, What Right had Jefus to fmite this Tree with a Curfe, when it was none of his Property?

AND to this feveral fufficient answers have been frequently given; for brevity's fake I fhall content myself with giving One at present:

ACCORDING to the Chriftian Scheme, which fuppofes Jefus to be (what I have prov'd him in my firft Part to be) a Prophet fent from God, and acting by the Spirit of God, there is no Difficulty in juftifying this his behaviour: For God muft be allowed to have a fuperior Right over all things, and a Property in them of a higher Nature than any that a Human Owner of them has. Not only all the Beasts of the Foreft are his (as God himself declares by the Pfalmift, 1. 10.) but fo are the Cattle upon a thoufand Hills and it is in virtue of this Right that God is often found in the Old Testament threatning the Jews by his Prophets, that he would lay their Land wafte, and deftroy all the Trees with their Fruits for the Punishment of their Sins: And thus we find in our Saviour's days, that the Jews had (n) filled up the measure of their Iniquities, and were at this very time, when Jefus fmote the Fig-tree with a Curfe, devoted with their Country to Ruin and Destruction: The things which belong'd to

(m) Antig. Jud. L. 4. c. 8. Μηδὲ ὁπώρας ἀκμαζέσης κωλύειν πλεος της ὁδῷ βαδίζοντας, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ οικείων αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν ἐμπίπλας, και εγχώριοι τυγχάνεσι καν ξένοι.

(n) Mat. xxiii. 32.

their