In the Miis.iiin (if tlio Vatican there is a little glass relic,
taken frniii ;',,r(':ii,' nhs ; it was made as an ornament to be
worn rouiiil I 1h rn < k oi ;i woman, and was found in her grave ; it reprt^sriris <:iiri^l hru\'Xu\'^ again the frviit of the Tree of Life.* TliaL rcUu sinuiiiarizes the Divine nspects of the ques- tion of fruit as it is presented in the Gospels. It is Christ who loves fruit, and who desires to find it in us ; and it is He who, in the inspiration and creation of the fruit, virtually gives Himself to us.
But, as in agriculture and horticulture the farmer and the gardener are co-operators with God in the production of the fruits of the earth and the fruit of the trees, so, in many ways, the Gospels lay upon us the injunctions of our duty.
(1) We are the ground which brings forth fruit, according as we receive the Word (Mt 13''-"'', Mk 4'5f-, Lk S'-f-). If our hearts be like the wayside, trampled over and hardened by the interests and engagements of the world, or if they be readily afl'ectJed by the opinions of men, or if they be choked by the cares of this life and tlip di^oeitful- ness of riclies, tliere can be no fniilfuhirss. It is our duty to prepare the ground \>\ ilicm-jlil, ami prayer and a regulated life for Ihi; i(ii|ili(iii of God's truth. The harvest will correspond witli the tillage.
(2) We are the branches which bear fruit accord- ing as we abide in tlie Vine (.Jn 15). Just as the gardener prunes and purges a tree so that it may bring forth more fruit, so there are afflictions in this life which are only God's way of increasing our fruitfulness. The branches which draw most sustenance from the vine are the most productive, so the soul which keeps most faithfully the Lord's commandments abides the most in tfis love and is most fruitful.
(3) We are the grain of wheat which comes to fruit, if it dies (Jn 12-^' -^). In the first place, the Master alludes to His o\m. death. But the second
phorism (of Jn 122-5), jn which the '■^y may be said t-o be summed up, is
.wv', wliosL' yelf-rnntradiction is not
to be reJ,^^l■dL'fl too clriHely ; as yet undeveloped, expn nature of spirit. The triif to live,"— is, that the indi\
' ' !"■ maxim— "Die 111 isolated life,— i.e. a lite for and in himself, a lit. m niii, [i id, immediate satis- faction of desire as his desire is an end in itself,— in order that he may live the spiritual life, the universal life which really belongs to him as a spiritual or self-conscious being ' (Edward Caitd, Ilcgd, p. 213).
■ See Hex Hegitm by Sir Wyke liayl:
(4) We .are the husliandinen, who are expected to tend the \'iiH yai.l 1 1.1^ l'H), and to make it fruitful, and to yield n|i :i |.ic.|..ii lioii of the fruit at right- ful times to II. !• I.uni,,! tlir vineyard. The original appIi.-.-Ui,,,! ,.1 ||„. ,.,,al.l.' i„, d.,nl.ll,.ss, to the
srnbes :uiil llir clili'f prii'^ls \\\,n l, ■ j, ■,! , ■( I .le.SUS,
l.uLit isc,|u;,llv .■.|.|ilirul.l.' |..,-i„v ul„, il,i„k they
.•iin,loaslli,-y |,l,-as,; witi ii' lite an. I i.unore all
obligations to the Giver and Lord.
(5j We are the trees which are known by their fruit (Mt 7'"). Men do not gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. A tree which is true to its nature and to its destiny brings forth its appropriate fruit. Man, who is by nature a child of God and by destiny an heir of Heaven, should produce the fruit of I'lu- .Spirit of Cod.
Literature.— For 1 and 2 s. . ll,,iii j, /)/;;ii.il l-m-,,,-. Bibl. art. 'Fruit.' For 3, E.ri.' I , ; i , i\. [1898]
211Sf. ; A'a-.'»s''"rn. vii. |1- 1 ■ > /' ..i Holies,
168-189; Hull, ,S'ermoH,s, i. :. I II, , v .im m -, . .1 . , i, ,„ Christ, 30 fl., 14011. ; llacmillan, Bit,;L' ;.ur;,,„./.. ,„ .\,(/i,,,, 1741f.
H. IIekbekt Snell.
FULFILMENT.— The primary meaning of the English word ' fulfil ' is simply to _fjll — by a pleonasm, to fill (until) full. We find this use in literature —
' Is not thy brain's rich hive Fulfilled with honey 1 ' (Donne). Sometimes it is imitated even in modern English, though only by a deliberate archaism. For with us ' fulfil ' is specialized to mean not literal material filling, but the carrying out into act of some word — some promise, threat, hope, com- mand, etc. When the AV was made, ' fulfil,' according to the great Oxford Dictionary, meant ' fill,' and herjan to be it.scd by the translators in its remoter sense on the p.itterii of the Vulgate, which wrote (unclassirallyi (;,///// and adim- plere for Heb. xfe. Thus l\\r iiaiisiii.m fiom one sense to the other, or the met.iplior i<i Jilting_ for fulfillini), is Hebrew. But in tJreek, too, it is po.ssible that the same metaphor sprang up inde- pendently of Hebrew influence ; cf. clas-sical refer- ences (under wXypodv) in Cremer, also in Liddell and Scott (ttXtj/joOv, ii. 5). In OT the usage is not very common. Possibly the earliest instance, chrono- logically, is Jer 44'-^ What the Jews in Egypt h.i,ve -trnd, they do. Their threat to practise iildlatry is not left an cmjriij word ; it is tilled out, or HII.mI u|), in action. At Ps 20'' we liave the word used of answers to prayer: '.lehovtili fulfil all thy petitions'; the empty vessel, as it were, standing to receive the Divine su[iplies. For 'ful- filling law' or 'fulfilling a coniTLi.and' there is no proper authority in OT, though EV at times intro- duces the term (Ps 148'; literally, the forces of nature ' do ' God's word). In 1 K 2=' 8'"- ■" we have the most important usage of all, the ' fulfilling' of the prophetic word or prediction. The passages referred to are marked by modern scholarship as Deuteronomic. We may therefore [irobably con- clude that the theological conception of ' fulfilling ' is part of the religious language of that great forward movement in OT history, the Deutero- nomic reform. Along with these theological appli- cations N^a may mean ' fill ' anyw here in the OT. And so in NT (7rX»jpoi> ehieliy ) : in the jiarable of the Drag-net(Mt 13«}, the net i's 'lilled' "illi all kinds offish; Mt23'-, 'Fill ye up (Ii.'ti Hi.' ua'.isure of your fathers.' More generally, lio\ve\ei, tlie word bears its derivative sense, and has a theological application. Though rare in OT, the usage is quite common in NT, very noticeably, of fulfilled pro- phecy, in the First Gospel. A beginning of differ- entiation or specification is made in the NT in this respect, that while ir'Kyfpodi' may mean 'fill,' the simpler but kindred form wi/i-n-Mmi [others assume ■ir\ri8ui as root form] never means ' fulfil.'