N00458:488
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.
2. Wherein it appears acceptable to God, and advantageous to barren souls, that these are thus earnest with God for them?
A. This will be evident by the Consideration of these things;
1. That God hath by his Holy Spirit put such desires into his Servants. They are the product of his Grace in them; and therefore we shall find that such as have been most eminent for Holiness, and most acquainted with God, have been most fervently engaged thus: Abraham Gods friend, Moses, who was in the Mount with God, Paul, that had been in the Third Heaven, and seen glorious things there: and that which is the fruit of Gods grace in us must needs be acceptable to him; whether be intends to do the thing or no, yet it pleaseth him that his Servants should request it of him; for that may be our duty to ask, which it is not Gods Sovereign Pleasure to grant; for the command, which is revealed, and not the decree, which is secret, is the rule in prayer. The Prophets therefore interposed most earnestly when God threatened most sharply.
1. That God hath by his Holy Spirit put such desires into his Servants. They are the product of his Grace in them; and therefore we shall find that such as have been most eminent for Holiness, and most acquainted with God, have been most fervently engaged thus: Abraham Gods friend, Moses, who was in the Mount with God, Paul, that had been in the Third Heaven, and seen glorious things there: and that which is the fruit of Gods grace in us must needs be acceptable to him; whether be intends to do the thing or no, yet it pleaseth him that his Servants should request it of him; for that may be our duty to ask, which it is not Gods Soveraign Pleasure to grant; for the command, which is revealed, and not the decree, which is secret, is the rule in prayer. The Prophets therefore interposed most earnestly when God threatned most sharply.