V and especially by Persons invested with Authority, he never once conceals his Divine Nature and Commiffion. When the Jews came round him in Solomon's Porch, and faid unto him, how long doft thou make us doubt? If thou be the Chrift, tell us plain; his Answer is express, I told you, and ye believed not, the Works that I do in my Father's Name, they bear Witnefs of me, for I and my Father are one. When he ftood before the JudgmentSeat, and the High Prieft demanded of him; w I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us, whether thou be the Chrift, the Son of God; his anfwer is, thou haft faid, or as St. Mark expreffes it, × I am; and ye fball fee the Son of Man fitting on the Right-hand of Power, and coming in the Clouds of Heaven. Nay, there are fome Inftances, wherein, of his own accord, and without any demand of this kind, he freely discovers who he was: For, having cured the Man, that was born Blind, and afterwards meeting him accidentally, doft thou believe on the Son of God? fays he ; whereupon the Man asking, Who is the Son of God, that I may believe on him? Our Saviour replies, Thou haft both feen him, and it is be, that talketh with thee. John x. 24, &c. "Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. And Why he ed him And therefore we need lefs wonder, difcover that, when this Samaritan Woman had firft of all confeffed him to be a Prophet, this Wo- and (as her Words feem to imply) was felf to man. a little dubious, whether he was not the Meffiah, our Saviour should prevent her Enquiry, and tell her voluntarily, that he was especially confidering, that fuch a Declaration might be a Means to prepare her, and the reft of the Samaritans, whenever his Apoftles fhould come and preach the Gospel unto them, to receive their Teftimony. And fo we proceed to his Miracle upon the barren Fig-Tree. The Ob-❝ jection. « AAAAAAAXAXX SECT. XVI. Of his curfing the FIG-TREE. BUT, of all the Miracles of Jesus, commend me, fays the Unbeliever, “ to his curfing the Fig-Tree for not "bearing Fruit out of Seafon; which, at "the firft naming it, appears to be fuch an abfurd and ridiculous, if not "malicious and ill-natur'd A&, as can hardly be equalled in any Inftance "of 35 Whitby in Locum. "of the Life of a reputed wife Man. "The Evangelifts have reprefented the "Matter in these Words. Jefus be«ing hungry, and feeing a Fig-Tree a far off, having Leaves, he came, if "haply he might find any thing thereon; "and when he came to it, he found no"thing but Leaves, for the time of Figs "was not yet. And he faid unto it, let "no Fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever, and prefently the Fig-Tree wi"ther'd away. Now how inconfiftent " is it with the Character of Jesus, a "worker of Miracles, and who had Angels to minifter to him when he "pleased, that he should be driven to "fuch an Extremity of Hunger, as to "make him Paffionate, and out of Hu"mour? How inconfiftent with his "Omniscience, that when he saw this "Fig-Tree at a Diftance, he should not know, that it had no Fruit on it, "and fo fave himself the Trouble of "going to it? But above all, how in"confiftent with common Prudence, to "expect Fruit at an unfeasonable Time, "and then refent an unavoidable Disap"pointment at fo violent and outragi"ous a Rate? But, put the Cafe, that, "coming up to the Fig-Tree he had "haply found Fruit thereon; yet, ftill Matt. xxi. 19, &c. Mark xi. 13. WC “ we may be allowed to ask, what le"gal Right he had to it, and how could ❝he in Confcience, without asking leave "of the Proprietors, have pulled and "eaten it? And much more then may we ask, what Right and Authority "he had to curfe it, and where his "Wisdom, or Juftice, or Honefty lay, in "deftroying, by this Act of Execration, "another Man's harmlefs and inoffen"five Tree? There is fome Reason, "however, to fuppofe, that this Act of "Execration did not do the Work a"lone, but that, being minded to put (( a Trick upon his Disciples and Fol"lowers he might take an Opportuni(6 ty to flip from them, and give it fuch “ a private and imperceptible cut, as "would make it wither away. But be "that as it will, the Miracle is certain"ly repugnant to what our Divines "would have us believe of Jefus, and "the beneficent Nature of his Perform"ances. Inftead of curfing this Tree, "had he made a dead and withered "one immediately bud, and flourish, " and revive, this had been fuch an "Inftance of his Power, as must have "pass'd for an indifputable Miracle; "fuch an Inftance, as (like his Mi"racles of healing Diseases) carried "Goodness along with it; and from "the "the one with the other, we might "have juftly inferr'd, that both were "the Operations of a good God: but "this one Inftance of his curfing the Fig-Tree, in fuch a rafh extrava<< gant Manner, fpoils the Credit, and "fullies the Glory of all his other "Works. and Condition of It cannot be denied indeed, but that TheState our Lord Jefus Chrift, who, tho' he was rich (as the Apoftle expreffes it) by Na- Chrift's ture, as being Lord and Heir of all Life. Things, yet for our fakes, became poor, that we through his Poverty might become rich, was frequently deftitute of the Conveniencies of Life, and fubject, at all times, to the innocent Infirmities of human Nature; yet we do not find that they gave any Perturbation to his Mind. b Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the Air have nefts, but the Son of Man hath not, of his own, where to lay his Head, is the Description he makes of his own Circumftances; but what he wanted of this kind was occafionally fupplied by feveral of his more wealthy Followers, who are recorded, as making Provifion for him, out of their own Substance, and entertaining him from time to time at their Houses. And tho', upon any eS 2 mergent C I Cor. viii. 9. ⚫ Matth. viii. 20 Bp. Smill broke's Vind. p. 430. |