The Blasted Fig-Tree

I

One awful word which Jesus spoke
Against the tree which bore no fruit,
More piercing than the lightning’s stroke,
Blasted and dried it to the root.

II

But could a tree the Lord offend,
To make him show his anger thus!
He surely had, a further end⁠—
To be a warning word to us.

III

The fig-tree by its leaves was known;
But having not a fig to show,
It brought a heavy sentence down⁠—
“Let none hereafter on thee grow.”

IV

Too many, who the gospel hear,
Whom Satan blinds and sin deceives
We to this fig-tree may compare,
They yield no fruit, but only leaves

V

Knowledge and zeal and gifts and talk.
Unless combined with faith and love,
And witnessed by a gospel-walk,
Will not a true profession prove.

VI

Without the fruit the Lord expects,
Knowledge will make our state the worse;
The barren trees he still rejects,
And soon will blast them with his curse.

VII

O Lord, unite our hearts in prayer!
On each of us thy Spirit send,
That we the fruits of grace may bear,
And find acceptance in the end.