N00458:451
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.
USE. II.
For Information in two particulars.
1. This tells us how admirable Gods for bearance is towards unregenerate sinners under the Gospel. That he should wait so long from one year to another, and see how they neglect his grace, and dishonour his name, and yet still he holds his hand back, and not fall upon them in his fury, pluck them up and cast them out of his vineyard: are they such a cumber, do they do no good and withal do such a world of harm to others? It must needs be a matter of astonishment to think that God should not long ago have bin weary with waiting upon them, that he hath not rid himself of Creatures so burdensome to him: Nay it should commend the grace of God to his own Children, who ⟨p. 197⟩consider how little th•• bear, how short they come of answering Gods just expectation, yea and how much their little fruitfulness doth bring of dishonour to God, and offer of scandal to the Gospel.
1. This tells us how admirable Gods for bearance is towards unregenerate sinners under the Gospel. That he should wait so longfrom one year to another, and see how they neglect his grace, and dishonour his name, and yet still he holds his hand back, and not fall upon them in his sury, pluck them up and cast them out of his vineyard: are they such a cumber, do they do no good and withall do such a world of harm to others? It must needs be a matter of astonishment to think that God should not long ago have bin weary with waiting upon them, that he hath not rid himself of Creatures so burdensom to him: Nay it should commend the grace of God to his own Children, who