Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-02-15
Readimgtur the Sabbath*
CONDUCTED BY
REV, ROBERT LATHAM.
[Original.l
THE BARREN FIG TREE.
Matthew, q Is, 70; Mark, 1l:12-14.

Matthew, q LIS, ~; Marx, ll:lZ-4.
The Bible is a wonderful book. Every
time it is read over new facts and new
principles are discovered. Any other
book may be studied until everything that
it contains has been learned and AS thor
oughly understood as it was by the author.
A school boy may take up any work on
any OF the natural sciences, ana IN the
course of a comparatively short time,
know, not only all that is contained in the
book, but.even more. This is not the case
with the student Of the Bible 1t is mex
haustible. Every time it is read over
some new thought is %quickened into life,
some principle never before discovered is
revealed. The Bible is a wonderful book,
MOI only because of the actual statements
of facts and principles which it contains,
but because of what the statements it con-
tains suggest. Near the close of our Sa-
viour's ministry here on earth, he entered
the city of Jerusalem in triumph. A null
titude of all classes in society accompanied
him into the city. BY his command, an
ass and her colt were brought to him as he
came near Bethphage. Some of the null
titude stripped off their outer garments,
and having put these On the ass and her
colt, Jesus was set on the young ass and the
old ass was led before him. Some of the
multitude went before spreading their gar
ments in the way, while others streWed
the road with palm leaves. Both those
going before and those following after
shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David ;
Blessed is he that cometh in the name OF
the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest"
In the afternoon of the day on which he
had entered Jerusalem in triumph, our
Saviour went to Bethany, little town on
the southeastern slope of the Mount OF
Olives, about one and-a-half miles distant
from Jerusalem. Here, most probably, he
spent the night with the family of Mary,
and Martha and Lazarus. The decease OF
the Saviour, Of which he and Moses and
Elias talked on the Mount of Trans1gura-
ton, was rapidly approaching. In a few
days the just is to die for the unjust.
These few days Jesus spent in Jerusalem,
but the nights he spent in Bethany, prob
ably, in the house of Mary and Martha
and Lazarus.
O%nreturning from Bethany to Jerusalem
on the next day after his triumphal en-
trance, she hungered or was hungry.
And when he saw a fig tree in the way, ne
came to it and found nothing thereon, but
leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit
grow on thee henceforward forever And
the fig tree withered away" Such is
Matthew's account. That Of Mark is, in
the main, the same, only somewhat more
minute. For example, Mark states that
Jesus saw the fig tree afar off, and that it
had leaves on it. He further states that
she came" that is, he went to it, "lf hap
ly he might find anything thereon"
Mark also states that the time of figs was
not yet"
By this miracle of our Saviour we are
taught two things with regard to himself,
and one thing with regard to a large class
of the human family.
The first thing that we are taught with
regard to our Saviour is that he is human.
This is plainly stated when it is said by
the inspired historians that che hunger
ed" It was soon in the morning, proba-
bly, before sunrise. The Jews did not eat
breakfast until about nine o'clock, or the
middle of the forenoon. 1t is highly prob
able that our Saviour had supped sparingly
on the evening before. The walk up the
steep side of the Mount of Olives in the
early morning had produced hunger. His
body required food and rest, just as the
bodies of other men need food and rest.
The fact that he was verify man is plain
ly stated in the Bible. He was born.
He lay in the cradle as other babes live in
the cradle. He grew as other babes grow.
He was boy and man. His humanity
never was called in question by his enc
mics and has ever been asserted by the
eighteen centuries.
There is q curious statementin the above
quotation from Mark. tits the following:
And seeing a fig tree afar off, having
leaves, he came" (or went to it) "if haply
he might find anything thereon" The
divinity of Jesus is proven by the fact
that so soon as he said to the fig tree, mo
man shall eat fruit of thee hereafter for
ever" it withered away, Matthew states ;
and Mark says, that the next morning, as
the disciples "passed by, they saw the fig
tree dried up from the roots" Prior to
this Jesus had given his disciples many
proofs of his omniscience. How then, did
it come to pass that he did not know that
there were no ripe figs on the tree which
he saw afar off. The explanation given
by some is that he only feigned hunger
and that he really did not expect to find
ripe figs on the tree. Such an explanation
seems to be nothing else than tritling with
the language of the Scriptures. 1t is posi-
lively said, "he hungered," and that he
went to the tree and found nothing on it
but leaves.
The only reasonable explanation is that
for wise and holy purposes, our Saviour
determined, by means of this fig tree, to
give his followers a proof, both of his hui
manity and of his divinity. AS man he
did not know whether there were figs ripe
and edible on the tree or not. From a dis
lance he, as the man Jesus Christ, saw that
the tree was covered with leaves, and al
though Mark says the time of figs was not
yet, the general appearance of this tree,
viewed from a human stand point, was
that it did have ripe figs IN it. AS God,
Jesus Christ knew that the tree had no
man he saw it afar off, but the time to
manifest his divinity in this particular
case had not yet arrived. 1t did arrive
ing on it but leaves.
Both the humanity and divinity of our
Saviour were manifested. His humanity
was manifested in that he was hungry and
sought food from a barren tree and was
thus, in a particular sense, disappointed.
His divinity was manifested in that by
the wCrd of his mouth he dried up the fig
tree from the roots.
There is something very suggestive in
this miracle of the fig tree. So faras is re-
membered, with one other exception, all
the miracles of u Saviour are beneficent
in their character. He fed the hungry, he
healed the sick, he opened the eyes of the
blind, he %unstopped the ears of the deaf,
and he raised the dead. He had an arm
that was full of power, but his heart was
full of pity. So far as is now remembered,
there is nothing punitive in any of his
miracles except in cursing the barren fig
tree and permitting the devils which he
cast out of two persons in Gadara, to enter
into a herd of swine, which resulted inthe
total destruction of the. swine. In the
great, the overwhelming majority of his
miracles, he showed mercy, but in these
tMn-thn nnrcinu the harrnn fr tree and