to dwell among men upon earth; so that her voice was now heard in the land. It was heard from the Scriptures, in which holy men of God spake as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST; whose voice was before unknown to the Gentiles. By the Jews it was heard in a manner to which they were almost entirely unaccustomed, that is, in the spiritual interpretation given by the Apostles of Christ, who were made able ministers-not of the letter, but of the Spirit; not of the voice of words, which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more; but of the still small voice of the gospel, a sound of peace and comfort, like the note of a turtle-dove; which as soon as the Gentiles heard, they besought that the same words might be preached unto them the next Sabbath.

The voice of the turtle was again heard from the mouths of all true christians, who shewed out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdom; having exchanged the spirit of strife and envying, with which all men are by nature possessed, for the wisdom that is from above, and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without

par

partiality and without hypocrisy; answering in every respect to the temper and voice of a turtle-dove; the most inoffensive and undesigning of birds, as the lamb is of beasts; whence they are the fittest emblems in all nature, the one to represent Christ, the other the Holy Ghost.

XVII. We must now consider another circumstance common to the spring of nature and of Christianity. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs. By the fig-tree is signified repentance: Its green-figs signify the first-fruits it brought forth upon the preaching of the Gospel; which preaching treated generally of these two subjects-Repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.-When Adam discovered his nakedness and repented of his sin, he chose for the sign of his repentance the leaves of a fig-tree, which are rough and grating to the flesh, and composed a garment suitable to his disobedience. The fig-tree is filled with a milky juice extremely rough and bitter to the taste; but its fruit is of all others the sweetest. is the fruit of repentance sweet and acceptable to God. But the word of life, which makes us fruitful to produce it, is at first very bitter, and contrary to the depraved appetites

So

of

of human nature, which hates the holy discipline God prescribes to it, and desires not the knowledge of his ways.

We suppose it is for these qualities, that the fig-tree is made a type of the church, whose first duty it is to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. A certain man, says our blessed Lord, had a fig-tree, meaning the Jewish people, planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. And he said to the dresser of his vineyard, behold these three years, (such was the time of Christ's ministry among the Jews) I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none. At another time, when he was in the way to Jerusalem, he saw a fig-tree; and when he came to it, he found nothing thereon but leaves only; and said, let no fruit grow on thee henceforwards for ever: and presently the fig-tree withered away. Such was the state, and such the punishment of the Jews: they were covered with leaves-with outward appearances of holiness; but there was no fruit upon them: they were deceivers and hypocrites with God; ever ready to say, I go, Sir; but went not. The Jewish fig-tree bringing no fruit, the doctrine of repentance. from dead works was preached to the Gen

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tiles,

tiles, and a fresh tree planted in the field of the world: that the old fruitless tree, might at a proper season be cut down and suffered to cumber the ground no longer. This accordingly came to pass: for when the Gentiles had received the word with gladness, and the new tree began to put forth its leaves, then every thing foretold by our blessed Saviour was fulfilled upon Jerusalem. With a view to which, he instructed his disciples in the signs of that time, bidding them learn a parable of the fig-tree: for, said he, When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is now nigh at hand: so likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand-nigh to the Gentiles; among whom the kingdom should be set up, when it was taken from the Jews, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it. This is the fig-tree, whose green figs being put forth, were another infallible sign added to the foregoing, that the spring of the gospel was come upon mankind.

XVIII. To make the description complete, there remains yet one more image, and that the highest and most important of all, expressing the union of christians with Christ

Jesus,

Jesus, their head and root, from whom they derive all their spiritual growth and nourishment-The vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell. I am the vine, says Christ; ye are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. As the branch must have sap derived to it from the root; so must the christian have virtue from Christ, whose word is to abide in him; as sap must abide in the branch of a vine, before it can bear grapes. As the sap is, such will the fruit be. If the word be defiled by any impure mixtures of tradition, deism or heathen philosophy, it produces sour grapes: if the word be gone, and a man turned infidel, the branch is dried up, and its end is, to be burned. As there is no true vine but Christ, let a man be out of Christ, and he is another kind of plant-a thorn or thistle, such as the soil of human nature produces of its own accord : and men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Nothing but the vine, with life in it from Christ, can bear the fruits of righteousness; nothing but the fig-tree, with the virtue of the divine word in it, can bear the fruits of repentance. The church, as

made up of Christ's members, is to be