" The apostle, therefore, in comiiaring the Romans to the wild olive-tree grafted on a cultivated stock, made use of language which was most intelligible, and referred to a practice with which they must have been perfect!}- familiar" (Kitto). It is to be noticed, however, that in tlie comparison of Paul, the wild branch is grafted on the garden tree in order to partake of its sap and life ; while in the actual cultivation of the olive no such
grafting took place; the wild graft being really inserted in the tree as it became exhausted, in order to commu- nicate its new vigor to the trunk. Still the grafting of which Paid speaks is not only not inconceivable in nat- ure, but is really that which God has employed in his spiritual dealings with his people. " It must, moreover, occur to any one that the natural process of grafting is here inverted, the custom being to graft a good branch upon a bad stock. It has, indeed, been contended (see above) that in the case of the olive-tree the inverse proc- ess is sometimes practiced, a wild twig being ingrafted to strengthen the cultivated olive. Thus Mr. Ewbank {Comm. on Romans, ii, 112) quotes from Palladius :
'Fecundat sterilis pingues oleaster olivas, Et quffi nou novit muuera ferre docet.'
But whatever the fact may be, it is unnecessary to have recourse to this supposition ; and indeed it confuses the allegory. Nor is it likely that Paul would hold him- self tied by horticultural laws in using such an image as this. Perhaps the very stress of the allegory is in this, that the grafting is conti-ary to nature {irapd (pvaiv tveKevTpiaBi]g, v, 24)" (Smith). See Gkaft.
OLIVE-YARD (rCT, za'yith, Exod. xxiii, 11 ; Josh. xxiv, 13; 1 Sam. viii, 14; 2 Kings v, 26: Neh. v, 11; ix, 25, an olive, as elsewhere rendered), an orchard or grove of olive-trees, tended for the sake of the fruit. The olive " grows freely almost everywhere on the shores of the Mediterranean ; but it was peculiarlj^ abundant in Palestine. (See Deut. vi, 11; viii, 8; xxviii, 40.) Olive-yards are a matter of course in descriptions of the country, like vineyards and corn-fields (Judg. xv, 6; 1 Sam. viii, 14). The kings had very extensive ones (1 Chron. xxvii, 28). Even now the tree is very abundant in the country. Almost every village has its olive-grove. Certain districts may be specified where at various times this tree has been very luxuriant. Of Asher, on the skirts of the Lebanon, it was prophesied that he should 'dip his foot in oil' (Deut. xxxiii, 24)" (Smith). The immediate neighborhood of Jerusalem is thus mentioned under Olivet. See also Gaza. We may refer to Van de Velde's Syria (i, 386) for the extent and beauty of the olive -groves in the vale of Shechem. The abundance of these trees near Akka is thus spoken of by a modern traveller: "We turned out of the road, and entered an extensive olive- grove. Picturesque groups of men, women, and chil- dren, in bright-colored garments, were busy among the trees, or hastening along the road. I had always seen the olive-plantations so silent and deserted that it was quite a surprise to me. Saleh explained that it was the beginning of the olive harvest (October 19), and all of these people had been hired to gather the fruit. The men beat the trees with long sticks, and the women and children pick up the berries" (Rogers, Domestic Life in Palestine, p. 140). See Olive.
Olive, Pierre Jean, a French theologian, noted as one of the Roman Catholics who favored reform in the Church, was born at Serignan in 1247. At the age of twelve he entered the convent at Beziers, and was sent thence to Paris, where he passed bachelor of theology. Full of fervor, he wrote vigorously against the rapidly- increasing relaxation of monastic discipline, which raised many voices against him, and he was even accused of holding heretical views. Jerome Ascoli, general of the Franciscans (afterwards pope under the name of Nicholas IV), condemned in 1278 a book in which Olive deified the Virgin Mary, and Olive, in obedience to his orders, burned the book with his own hands. This did not prevent his being again accused in a chapter held in 1282 at Strasburg. Olive's views, which were exten- sively held among the Franciscans, were condemned, and general Bonagratia went himself to Avignon, where they had numerous i)artisans, in order to oppose them. Olive appeared before him, and defended himself so well that he received only a slight reproof. Arhjfto de Prato, who succeeded Bonagratia in 1285, obliged
OLIVER
352
OLIVERS
Olive to go to Paris: but there also he defended him- self successfully. Finally, in 1290, Nicholas IV gave or- ders to general IJaymond Gaufridi to proceed against the followers of Olive ; it does not, however, appear that the latter was personally (irosccuted. He took part in the general chapter held at Paris in 1292, and there gave explanations which all declared satisfactory. He died at Narbonne March 16, 1298. Before his death he declared his attachment to Scripture, and his obe- dience to the decisions of the Church of Kome. He also declared his regret at seeing the Minorite monks seeking to increase their worldly riches, and said that the begging orders should be satisfied with the nec- essaries of life, and never expect or aim to lead as comfortable a life as the canons regular. After his death his enemies still attacked his memory, and it was condemned by John de Mur in 1297; twelve theolo- gians accused him of heresy; his body was dug up and burned ; his doctrines were solemnly condemned by the Council of Vieinia in 1312, and again by pope John XXn in 1320; and all the historians of the Middle Ages give him the reputation of a heretic. Yet he had only aimed to secure reforms which might have pre- vented, or at least postponed, the breaking out of the Reformation. At the close of the 14th century Barthel- emy of I'isa vindicated the opinions of Olive ; St. An- tonin praised him, and pope Sixtus lY rehabilitated his memory. His works are over forty in number, consist- ing of commentaries on various parts of the Bible, of the treatise attributed to Denis the Arcopagite concern- ing the heavenly hierarchy, on the Master of Sentences, of a work on the rule of St. Francis, several controver- sial works, a panegyric of the Virgin JNIarj-, treatises on vice and virtue, the sacraments, usury, the authority of the pope and that of councils, etc. His onlj' printed works known are, Expositio in refjidam Sancti Francisci (Venice, 1513, fol.) -.^Quodlibeta (ibid. 1509, fob). See Hist. Litter, de la /'rawce, xxi, 41-55; Wadding, »?c?-i/)- tores ord. Alinonim ; Diet, flist. des A uteurs Eccles. vol. iii ; Dom. de Gubernatis, Orhis setapkicus, vol. i. — Hoe- fer, Xouv. Biog. Generale, xxxviii, 024. (J. N. P.)