N00458:439
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.
4. Hence, all that is done to the barren tree, is thrown away upon it. All the digging and ⟨p. 187⟩mending, all the showers and dews which fall upon i•, all the warm sun, beams that influence it turn to no account, because it is barren still: for if it bears no fruit it doth nothing to answer the end for which it was there planted. And thus it is in respect of such as bring forth no spiritual fruit in the Church of God: not only do they themselves miss of their end and Gods just expectation, but all that is done for them doth, for the present, prove frustrate also: That God will be no loser in the and by them, is no thank to them, they do all that in them lies to defeat him; and did not his Infinite Wisdom know how to make his pennyworths out of them, he should never get any thing by them. But however, the direct and next end of all means being their serving God, and doing good works, this is altogether frustrated by them▪ all the Sabbaths they enjoy, and Ordinances they partake in are lost, all the dews of Heaven that fall upon them are dried up, and no good comes of them; all the mercies & afflictions that are expended on them make them worse. the Stone wall, & Wine-press and Tower are kept up and repaired in vain as to them: and, in as much as they belong to the Vineyard, that is also damnified hereby.
4. Hence, all that is done to the barren tree, is thrown away upon it. All the digging and ⟨p. 187⟩mending, all the showers and dews which fall upon i•, all the warm sun, beams that influence it turn to no account, because it is barren still: for if it bears no fruit it doth nothing to answer the end for which it was there planted. And thus it is in respect of such as bring forth no spiritual fruit in the Church of God: not only do they themselves miss of their end and Gods just expectation, but all that is done for them doth, for the present, prove frustrate also: That God will be no loser in the and by them, is no thank to them, they do all that in them lies to defeat him; and did not his Infinite Wisdom know how to make his penniworths out of them, he should never get any thing by them. But however, the direct and next end of all means being their serving God, and doing good works, this is altogether frustrated by them all the Sabbaths they enjoy, and Ordinances they partake in are lost, all the dews of Heaven that fall upon them are dried up, and no good comes of them; all the mercies & afflictions that are expended on them make them worse. the Stone wall, & Wine-press and Tower are kept up and repaired in vain as to them: and, in as much as they belong to the Vineyard, that is also damnified hereby.