In short, the fig-tree in question is the image and representative of all, and each of us. From all of us, God has a right to look for the fruit of good works,—love, prayer, obedience, thankfulness. To each of us, He, year by year, and day by day, returns to seek His harvest; and it is for the conscience of each of us to answer seriously, whether, or not, He has found the fruits which He sought for. If to this question we can answer, yes; blessed are we of the Lord; and blessed shall we be still more, when we shall be transplanted by His care into a better garden, than that of the present world,-even that Paradise from which our parent-stock was cast forth, as a branch abominable, and defiled. Blessed shall we be, when we have taken root in the soil of Eden; and when, by the side of the river of life, we shall bring forth in due season our fruits of joy and gratitude. But great is our danger, if our hearts are forced to reply, that the lord of the vineyard, on visiting his fig-tree, has sought fruit on it, in vain. And still more, if we are also conscious, that the blessed Friend of man, the Dresser of His Father's vineyard, has already interfered repeatedly between ourselves and the Divine anger, digged about our roots with His warnings, and manured us with His grace. Verily, I say unto you, the axe is already laid to the root of such as these; and they shall be found, in the Great Day of harvest, abominable

and useless plants, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, whose end is only to be burned.

We may learn, then, from the parable of the fig-tree, first, the mercy which God has shewn to sinners, and to ourselves among the number, by calling us from the wilderness of the natural world; and by admitting us to the great and glorious privileges enjoyed by all those who are planted in the Christian Church, His vineyard.

There was a time, when the light of the Gospel had not, as yet, been brought to these countries when our forefathers were corrupt and ignorant, when, instead of worshipping the True and Only GoD, they bowed down their heads, and cut their bodies with knives and stones, in honor of senseless idols, of oak trees, and branches of the misletoe - vanities, which could not help them; or in honor of devils, whose only pleasure was to afflict or destroy them. It is a shame to speak of the bloodshed and abominations, which those false religions not only allowed, but commanded ;-that men should have their wives in common; that they should drink out of the skulls of their slaughtered enemies; that they should offer human sacrifices; burying alive and burning their own sons and daughters, to their false gods, and in atonement for their sins.

The wisest man in Britain did not then know the folly and wickedness of these things, which

us.

are now plain to the worst-taught child among How great, and glorious is the change, which has taken place in these respects; now that the fountain of salvation is opened in our land- that we have weekly opportunities of hearing the word of God, and frequent invitations (invitations, alas! how often despised), to receive fresh supplies of grace, and strength, and comfort, in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

What portion of Christ's Church is there in the world, where the means of salvation (I speak it with thankfulness), where the means of salvation are more abundantly furnished, than in our own? And shall God reap no fruit from this His favored vineyard? And shall the Son of God have labored for our fruitfulness, in vain? God forbid !

Secondly, we learn, what are the marks of thankfulness, which God requires at our hands, for these advantages, which we have already received; and for the far greater mercies, which He has in store for us. He comes to seek fruit on His fig-tree! Alas! how many are there, from whom He has long sought it, in vain. Some there are, who are covered with a goodly shew of leaves; who make a fair profession and outward parade of Christianity; -who can talk well, and wisely, of the power of Grace, the weakness of man, the sinfulness of sin, and the necessity

of conversion ;-who, at a distance, and at first sight, seem the most flourishing trees in the orchard ; —but, when we come nearer, do we find any fruit to repay the master's bounty, and the toil of the dresser of the vineyard?

Remember all ye, who have a form of godliness, while your secret actions deny its power, remember, that it is fruit, not leaves, which the Lord seeks on his fig-tree. And remember the curse, which that Lord, while on earth, pronounced on that fig-tree, which He found with leaves only.

But what shall I say of those who have neither fruit nor leaves? who neither are good, nor seem so? who openly dishonor the name of the Lord, by whom they are called — disfiguring his garden, and cumbering the ground in which better plants might grow? What of those, who, while I am now speaking, having once borne fruit, are suffering the moss of idleness, the canker of envy, the ivy of pleasure to creep round their bark, spoil their growth, and destroy their hopes of abundance? What, but to beware in time, lest the last dressing may have been even now laid to their roots; and, unless they reward the care of the divine gardener, His intercession may be exerted in their favor no

more.

For this is the third doctrine, which may be drawn from the present parable; namely, that

Christ, out of his mercy, is accustomed (before the sentence of destruction is past, against a sinner,) to give repeated warning of the danger to call him repeatedly by His word - the voice of His ministers-the influences of His Holy Spirit the accidents the deliverances — the afflictions the mercies - which befall a man's neighbour, and himself, to be turned in time from the error of his ways-to flee from the wrath to come; and to bring forth fruit, meet for repentance.

Sometimes, He sends a sickness, or a heavy disappointment, to loosen those worldly engagements and expectations, which, like the hard and clinging earth, round the roots of a plant, check the progress of the sap, and render it barren to holiness.

Sometimes, his blessings come down, as it were rain, to refresh the thirsty soul. Sometimes, His word and sacraments have power to give us inward strength; like manure at the roots; and to change our wild and stubborn natures to the reason of men, and the submission of Christians. There are none among us, (I will venture to say) who have not had some such visitations, as I have described, from the heavenly gardener; but how few among us have duly recollected the object, for which these visitations were sent; and that, if these do not succeed, in causing us to bring forth fruit, the