Church, it must be the Catholic Church. Behind her lies a history, which no purely human organization could have. To her belong the martyrs and the saints; she has lived through crises where naught that was not divine could stand. She is as strong to-day as ever, and she is the same. She is hated, despised and persecuted, and by that fact fulfills the prophecy of her divine Founder. She is a city on a hill, where all may see her; she opens the sources of her doctrine to all men; and yet men are so blinded by hate that they will acept any absurdity rather than believe in the truth.

The Lord next employs a parable to warn men to prepare for the judgment, while there is yet time. This same parable occurs in Matthew V. 25, 26, and has been explained in the Second Volume of our Commentary. Here, howerer, the application is different, and it is evident that the Lord employed the same method of illustration to illustrate different truths. In the present instance, it is clear that the object of the parable is to exhort men to employ the time of life in such manner that when they appear before the Judge who is God, no accusation may stand against them. It was another appeal to the false Pharisees to turn from their evil way, and to do penance while there was yet time.

LUKE XIII. 1-9

I. Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

2. And he answered and said unto them: Think ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they have suffered these things?

3. I tell you: Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner perish.

4. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them, think ye that

I. Παρῆσαν δέ τινες ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ ἀπαγγέλλοντες αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν Γαλιλαίων, ὧν τὸ αἷμα Πιλάτος ἔμιξεν μετὰ τῶν θυσιών αὐτῶν.

2. Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς: Δοκεῖτε ὅτι οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι οὗτοι ἁμαρτωλοὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς Γα λalous λιλαίους ἐγένοντο, ὅτι ταῦτα πεπόνθασιν;

3. Ουχί, λέγω ὑμῖν: ἀλλ ̓ ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήτε, πάντες ὁμοίως ἀπολεῖσθε.

4. "H ἐκεῖνοι oi δεκαοκτώ, ἐφ ̓ οὓς ἔπεσεν ὁ πύργος ἐν τῷ Σιλωάμ, καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτοὺς, δου

they were offenders above all the men that dwell in Jerusalem?

5. I tell you: Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

6. And he spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none.

7. And he said unto the vinedresser: Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground?

8. And he answering saith unto him: Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:

9. And if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.

There is a close connection between this passage and the preceding one. Jesus continues to exhort men to repentance.

The character of the first event here recorded seems to have been as follows: While certain Galileans were sacrificing victims in the temple, the Roman governor Pilate sent the Roman soldiers upon them, so that the blood of the slain Jews commingled with the blood of the slaughtered victims. The mingling of the blood of the men and of the beasts is spoken of to show forth the peculiar atrocity of the deed. It was a dreadful sight to see the blood of men flowing down and mingling with the blood of the animals slain for sacrifice, even in the temple of God. Of course, Pilate did not aim at accomplishing this particular feature of the slaughter; his aim was to quell some sedition; but in the execution of his bloody command this horrible detail was verified. No mention of this slaughter is found in Josephus, but that is not strange. In

(22) Gosp. III.

those calamitous days, it was a frequent occurrence for the Roman soldiery to slay some Jews. During the celebration of the feasts in the temple, the Jews were most prone to tumults, and therefore the great tower Antonia was built close to the temple. From this tower to the temple there was a subterraneous passage, so that soldiers might be suddenly sent into the temple to quell any sedition.

The tenor of the account clearly reveals that the event which these men relate to Christ was something recent, something which filled the Jews' mind with horror and indignation. Christ does not approve the deed, but he drew from it a moral illustration. He makes it an example of the terrible punishment that awaits the unrepenting sinner. Certain it was that this dreadful event was a part of Israel's punishment, which she had brought on herself by her sins. Had they been faithful, God would never have allowed them to become the slaves of the nations of the earth.

Christ does not speak hypothetically; he declares that the body of the people are as much sinners as those who perished, and that, unless they repent, a like terrible punishment awaits them.

The use of ouoíws does not imply that the punishment must fall in some manner similar to that event in the temple. The similarity consists solely in the fact that they will be punished. The fulfilment of Jesus' words is mainly accomplished by the eternal punishment, of which the event in the temple is taken as an illustration.

Some believe that Jesus aimed this teaching against the error that believed that all sufferings were a direct punishment for sin. It is certain that at other times he did refute this error; but it seems here that he wishes rather to draw the event personally close to his hearers, that they might feel that, though only a few fell in the slaughter, the anger of God was upon all.

To the same intent, Jesus also cites the fall of the tower in Siloam.

In the valley south of Jerusalem is the Fountain of Siloam. Its waters are sweet and abundant, and it has always been one

of the chief sources of water for Jerusalem. See A Diary of My Life in the Holy Land.

The event to which Jesus here refers is not found elsewhere

in the records of men. A thousand years hence men will not find in the records the accounts of the accidents which daily happen. The fact was that a tower built near this fountain. fell, and killed eighteen men. The Lord draws the same moral lesson from this event as from the foregoing. Even on the way to Calvary, when the women wept at his sufferings, he made use of these dreadful sufferings to warn men of the punishments reserved for sin.

Finally he closes the discourse with a beautiful parable to illustrate God's patience in waiting for the conversion of the sinner.

So

The parable has two applications. In its first application it relates to the Jews. They were a fig-tree planted by God in the rich vineyard of Palestine. In the natural order of things, a fig-tree which for three consecutive years bore no fruit, would be considered worthless, and an encumbrance to the earth. The term of three years is taken to show that the lord of the vineyard had waited as long as any hope might reasonably be entertained that the tree would bear fruit. Yahveh had been very patient with Israel. The records of the Old Testament are a series of Israel's sin, and of God's patience. And yet what was the result? Let Jeremiah give the judgment of his people: "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad place thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly that seeketh truth; and I will pardon her."—V. 1.

The intervention of the vinedresser is simply introduced to show that one last great effort was made to save this tree. It is folly to seek in the moral application for a being represented by the vinedresser. In every parable there are elements demanded by the natural event which must be omitted in the moral application. We believe that all that is intended here is graphically to portray the great final act of mercy towards this unprofitable tree. That great act of mercy was the salvation offered to Israel by the Messiah. It was the clearest call of all their history. It was greater than all that had been

man.

done before. It was the absolute perfection of God's mercy to But it was also final; God could do no more. After this God could with perfect justice say: "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?"-Is. V. 4. But this final great grace was rejected, and then God turned away from that unfaithful people, whose subsequent history is one of the strange enigmas of history. A hardening has befallen them which St. Paul (Rom. XI. 25) calls a mystery. Wherever they are found, that sad mystery seems to hang over them. As a race they are the saddest people on the face of the earth. I have seen them weeping over the ruined walls of Jerusalem, and the sight was one to haunt the memory during lifetime.

Whatever has been said here of God's relations to Israel can be truthfully applied to every human soul. Every human soul is an Israel, for whom God has done much, and for whom Christ has died. Every human soul owes to the Master the fruit of good works. He comes seeking these good works. He waits patiently for these good works; he exhausts the resources of divine mercy, and then the blow falls.

It is a deadly error to abuse this patience of God, as so many sinners do. "Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"-Rom. II. 4.

When by long use the ways of sin have grown to be almost a second nature, it is very easy to fall into a state of spiritual stupor. The mind of such a man has no delight in anything spiritual. It becomes a blank, as far as regards the supernatural. It is so easy to go on in the natural way, and so hard to lift one's self into the supernatural. The way of sin ceases to shock, because it has become a habit. Conscience is in large part slumbering. A peculiar hardness and spiritual insensibility comes over the man. He hears warnings, stern as were those of the prophets of old, but he is unmoved. The sun shines as brightly upon him, as upon the just; perhaps he is prosperous and well. The thought of the judgment rarely enters his mind: it is a far-off thing. And, so many go on abusing the long-suffering of God, and treasuring up for themselves wrath in the day of judgment.