Just before this, the Lord came down the side of the Mount of Olives, and in turning a corner of the steep path a sight of the beautiful city of Jerusalem burst upon their view. It says in the Gospel of Luke— "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes." Jesus wept for all the sorrow that was coming on the beloved city, and because the Jews would not have Him as their Saviour. This was indeed like the fig tree, which had leaves, but no fruit. The Jews ought to have known from their own Scriptures of the Old Testament, which they read every Sabbath, that on this very day it was foretold in the Book of Nehemiah, and also in Daniel and Zechariah, that the Messiah was to enter Jerusalem as King, meek and lowly, and riding on an ass's colt. They were proud of their knowledge, and of their possession of God's Temple, and His Scriptures; but they had not fruit under the leaves of their pride and unbelief. They had even been plotting to kill Him. They had rejected Him in their hearts, and in a few days' time they were going to crucify Him! The next day Jesus and His disciples passed by that fig tree again, and it had begun to wither and dry up; and the disciples said, "How soon is the fig tree withered!" And the answer of our Lord must have astonished them. "Have faith in God!" He said. Now, like the teacher with the blackboard, I want to gather up the lesson I have learned from this story— Do not let our dear Lord, Who died for us, come and look into our hearts and find no fruit, but only leaves! How He must long to have us all we should be! Do not let us be like the cracked and useless cup! But let us go to the great Healer and Mender and Cleanser of our poor characters, and ask Him to make us what He would like to see us. The only way to get "mended" and to bear fruit instead of only leaves, is to go to Him Who died on the Cross to save us, and to find in Him forgiveness, strength, and peace. XXXII. The Parable of the Talents "What is a Talent?" perhaps some one asks. A Talent in our Lord's time was a piece of money of great value, of about £342, and in the story which Jesus told the disciples, a Talent was described as something precious which was given to the servants of a great lord, to trade with, while he was on a long journey. To one servant this lord gave ten Talents to trade with; to another, five; to another, two; according to their several ability; and to another, one. And what do you think the servant who had only one did with his Talent? He went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money! Then the lord of those servants took his journey. At length the time came for his return, and he called his servants and reckoned with them.