6 And if thou make thy temple shine,
Yet, self-abased, will I adore ;
The gold and silver are not mine,
I give thee what was thine before.
97.
The Blasted Fig-tree.—Mark, xi, 20.
1 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.
2 But could a tree the Lord offend,
To make him show his anger thus i
He surely had, a further end-
To be a warning word to us.
3 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.
4 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
5 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.
6 Without the fruit the Lord expects
Knowledge will make our state the wors
The barren trees he still rejects
And soon will blast them with his <
7 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.
