N00458:290
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.
PROPOSITION II.
That in this day of Patience, God takes a great deal of pains with sinners, to engage ⟨p. 116⟩them unto fruitfulness. The Owner did not only tarry three years, but he was all this while coming, i. e. upon all occasions; and he comes to seek fruit. Gods coming to sinners under the Gospel, doth not intend a mere observation, but also the endeavours that he useth with them for their good, in the application of means to them in such a way as to invite and encourage them; and this will be evident if we consider, when God may properly be said to come? Gods coming is not to be understood only in respect of his Omnipresence, for that all Beings are equally sharers in, but it intends his application of himself to them for the persuading of them to Repentance. There is therefore an outward, and an inward coming here to be taken notice of.
That in this day of Patience, God takes a great deal of pains with sinners, to engage ⟨p. 116⟩them unto fruitfulness. The Owner did not only tarry three years, but he was all this while coming, i. e. upon all occasions; and he comes to seek fruit. Gods coming to sinners under the Gospel, doth not intend a meer observation, but also the endeavours that he useth with them for their good, in the application of means to them in such a way as to invite and encourage them; and this will be evident if we consider, when God may properly be said to come? Gods coming is not to be understood only in respect of his Omnipresence, for that all Beings are equally sharers in, but it intends his application of himself to them for the perswading of them to Repentance. There is therefore an outward, and an inward coming here to be taken notice of.