N00458:181
The barren fig trees doom. Or, A brief discourse wherein is set forth the…
The barren fig trees doom. Or, A brief discourse wherein is set forth the woeful danger of all who abide unfruitful under Gospel privileges, and Gods husbandry. Being the substance of sixteen sermons preached on Christ's parable of the fig-tree. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Four lines from Matthew]The barren fig trees doom. Or, A brief discourse wherein is set forth the woful danger of all who abide unfruitful under Gospel priviledges, and Gods husbandry. Being the substance of sixteen sermons preached on Christ's parable of the fig-tree. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Four lines from Matthew]
Boston: printed by Benjamin Harris, 1691
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.
3. The Church consists of individuals, and consequently the honour which God hath by his Church, is by the individuals in it. The Church is an aggregate body, it is made up of particular persons; and the duty of bearing fruit lies upon every one of them: what therefore God expects of his Church is personally expressed, as well as jointly; a Vineyard consists of particular plants; by the bearing of these, the fruitfulness of the Vineyard is known? and the way for the Owner to know whether it answers its ends, Is to go from tree to tree, and see how they bear; and in no other way is he acquainted with the state of the whole. If every one in the Church be faithful to God, that is a faithful Church indeed: so many as there are belonging to it that are otherwise, do make It to come so far short, and to be unto such a degree barren; God therefore observes each, because he will know the state of his Vineyard.
3. The Church consists of individuals, and consequently the honour which God hath by his Church, is by the individuals in it. The Church is an aggregate body, it is made up of particular persons; and the duty of bearing fruit lies upon every one of them: what therefore God expec•s of his Church is personally expressed, as well as joyn•ly; a Vineyard consists of particular plants; by the bearing of these, the fruitfulness of the Vineyard is known? and the way for the Owner to know whether it answers its ends, Is to go from tree to tree, and see how they bear; and in no other way is he acquainted with the state of the whole. If every one in the Church be faithful to God, that is a faithful Church indeed: so many as there are belonging to it that are otherwise, do make It to come so far short, and to be unto such a degree barren; God therefore observes each, because he will know the state of his Vineyard.
4. These individuals are there planted by his special Providence; men are ready to think that all these things are casual, and merely eventual, and do not see an higher hand in them; but gracious Souls acknowledge ⟨p. 66⟩