been done, and done by the Apostles. The tree is the Jewish nation, but I say again, that part
of it which was reprobate, not that which was called; that tree which we have spoken of is
the Jewish nation. The mountain, as the prophetic testimony hath taught us, is the Lord
Himself. The withered tree is the Jewish nation reft of the honour of Christ; the sea is this
world with all the nations. Now see the Apostles speaking to this tree which was about to
be withered away, and casting the mountain into the sea. In the Acts of the Apostles they
speak to the Jews who gainsay and resist the word of truth, that is, who have leaves and have
no fruit, and they say to them, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been
spoken to you: but seeing ye have put it from you” (for ye use the words of the Prophets,
yet do not acknowledge Him whom the Prophets foretold, that is, ye have leaves only), “lo,
we turn to the Gentiles.” For this also was foretold by the Prophets; “Behold, I have given
Thee for a light of the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the
earth.”2962 See then, the tree hath withered away; and Christ hath been removed unto the
Gentiles, the mountain into the sea. For how should not the tree wither away which is planted
in that vineyard, of which it was said, “I will command my clouds that they rain no rain
upon it”?2963
3. Now that in order to convey this truth the Lord acted prophetically, I mean that, as
concerning this tree, it was not His will merely to exhibit a miracle, but that by the miracle
He conveyed the intimation of something to come, there are many things which teach and
persuade us, yea even against our wills force us to believe. In the first place, what fault in
the tree was it that it had no fruit, when even if it had no fruit at the proper season, that is,
the season of its fruit, it would not assuredly be any fault in the tree; for the tree as being
without sense and reason could not be to blame. But to this is added, that as we read it in
the narrative of the other Evangelist who expressly mentions this, “it was not the time for
that fruit.”2964 For that was the time when the fig-tree shoots forth its tender leaves, which
come, we know, before the fruit; and this we prove, because the day of the Lord’s Passion
was at hand, and we know at what time He suffered; and if we did not know it, we ought of
course to give credit to the Evangelist who says, “The time of figs was not yet.” So then if it
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was only a miracle that was to have been set forth, and not something to be prophetically
figured, it would have been much more worthy of the clemency and mercy of the Lord, to
have made green again any tree He might find withered; as He healed the sick, as He cleansed
the lepers, as He raised the dead. But then contrariwise, as though against the ordinary rule
of His clemency, He found a green tree, not yet bearing fruit out of its proper season, but
still not refusing the hope of fruit to its dresser, and He withered it away; as though He
2962 Acts xiii. 46, etc.; Isa. xlix. 6.
2963 Isa. v. 6.
2964 Mark xi. 13.
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On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xxi. 19, where Jesus dried up the fig-tree;…