A30122:368
The barren fig tree, or, The doom and downfall of the fruitless professor showing…The barren fig tree, or, The doom and downfall of the fruitless professor shewing…
The barren fig tree, or, The doom and downfall of the fruitless professor showing that the day of grace may be past with him long before his life is ended : the signs also by which such miserable mortals may be known / by John Bunyan ; to which is added his Exhortation to peace and unity among all that fear God.The barren fig tree, or, The doom and downfall of the fruitless professor shewing that the day of grace may be past with him long before his life is ended : the signs also by which such miserable mortals may be known / by John Bunyan ; to which is added his Exhortation to peace and unity among all that fear God.
London: printed for J. Robinson, 1688
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Divisions of Christians (as a Learned Man observes) are a Scandal to the Jews, an Opprobrium to the Gentiles, and an Inlet to Atheism and Infidelity. Insomuch that our Controversies about Religion (especially as they have been of late managed) have made Religion it self become a Controversy. ⟨p. 34⟩O then, how good and pleasant a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in Unity! The Peace and Unity that was among the Primitive Christians, drew others to them: What hinders the Conversion of the Jews, but the Divisions of Christians? Must I be a Christian, says the Jew; what Christian must I be, of what Sect must I be of? The Jews (as one observes) glossing upon that Text in Isa. 11. 6. where it is prophesied, That the Lion and the Lamb shall lie down together, and that there shall be none left to hurt nor destroy in all God's Holy Mountain; they interpreting these Sayings, to signify the Concord and Peace that shall be among the People that shall own the Messiah, do from hence conclude, that the Messiah is not yet come, because of the Contentions and Divisions that are among those that profess him. And the Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 14. 23. That if an Unbeliever should see their Disorders, he would say they were mad; but where Unity and Peace is, there the Churches are multiplied; we read, Acts 9. that when the Churches had rest, they multiplied. ⟨p. 35⟩And, Act •2. 46, 47. when the Church was serving God with one accord, the Lord• added to them daily such as should be saved.
The Divisions of Christians (as a Learned Man observes) are a Scandal to the Jews, an Opprobrium to the Gentiles, and an Inlet to Atheism and Infidelity. Insomuch that our Controversies about Religion (especially as they have been of late managed) have made Religion it self become a Controversy. ⟨p. 34⟩O then, how good and pleasant a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in Unity! The Peace and Unity that was among the Primitive Christians, drew others to them: What hinders the Conversion of the Jews, but the Divisions of Christians? Must I be a Christian, says the Jew; what Christian must I be, of what Sect must I be of? The Jews (as one observes) glossing upon that Text in