with _Victor Antiochenus_, an Apostatical Writer of the fifth Century,[163] _that when we read this Passage of Scripture concerning the Figtree_, Jesus _cursed, we ought not curiously to enquire whether it was wisely or justly done of_ Jesus, _or not; but we ought to contemplate and admire this Miracle, as well as that of_ Jesus'_s drowning the Swine, notwithstanding some think it void of the Face of Justice_. Ay, ay, our _Divines_ must allegorise all _Jesus_'s Miracles, or betake themselves to this Opinion of _Victor_; which this _Free-thinking_ Age will hardly let them quietly rest in. So, supposing our _Divines_ to be, what they generally are, still Ministers of the Absurdity of the Letter, I pass to the Consideration of the Authority of the Fathers, and to see, whether we can't learn of them this Parable of the Figtree. Who or what is meant by the Figtree seems not to be agreed among the Fathers; or, more properly speaking, they are not agreed, all of them to apply it always to one and the same Thing. Some, as[164] _Gregory_ the _Great_, say Human Nature or Mankind is typified by the Figtree. Others, as[165] St. _Hilary_, say the _Jewish_ Church or State is meant by it. Others, as[166] _Origen_ say, it is a Type of the Church of Christ. So do the Fathers seem to be divided in their Opinions; but it is without any Difference or Inconsistency with each other. For as there is, according to the Fathers, Mystery upon Mystery in all the Actions of _Jesus_; so I believe the Figtree here, as a Type, may be properly enough apply'd to the foresaid three Purposes. And if the Fathers had been ask'd their Opinion in this Case, I dare say, they would have said so too. This is certain that _Origen_[167] understands it as applicable to the _Jewish_ as well as the _Christian_ Church. And St. _Augustin_, as Occasion offers itself, takes it in the foresaid three Senses. When they understand it as a Type of all Mankind, they say that the _three Years_ of its Unfruitfulness are to be interpreted of the[168] _three grand Periods_ of the World; the _one_ before the Law of _Moses_; _another_ under the Law; and the _third_ under the Gospel; at the Conclusion of which _third_ Period, as it was an ancient and common Opinion, _Jesus_ in Spirit would come to his Figtree of Mankind, and animadvert on them for their Unfruitfulness, not by any Destruction of human Nature, but by a Cessation of its Unfruitful State, which then will wither away, and be turn'd into a fruitful one against the grand Sabbath, or acceptable Year, which is the Year signified in the Parable, _that it is to be let alone to bring forth Fruit in_. They that understand the Figtree as a Type of the _Jewish_ State, mean by the _three Years Jesus_ came to it, the _three Years_ of his preaching among the _Jews_; at the End of which, after _Christ_'s Passion and Resurrection, the _Jewish_ State, like the Figtree, withered away, and, for its Unfruitfulness, was rooted up.