That the Day of GRACE may be past with him AND The Signs also by which such miserable Mortals By JOHN BUNYAN. and now also the Axe is laid unto the Root of the Trees; LONDON: Printed and Sold by J. BALLEY, 116, Chancery Lane, Price Nineponce, «‹ TO THE READER. COURTEOUS READER, I HAVE written to thee now, about the barren fig-tree, or how it will fare with the fruitless Professor, that standeth in the Vineyard of God. Of what complexion thou art I cannot certainly divine, but the Parable tells thee, that the Cumber-ground must be cut down. A Cumber-ground Professor is not only a provocation to God, a stumbling-block to the World, and a blemish to Religion, but a snare to his own soul also. Though his excellency mount up to the Heavens, and his head reach unto the Clouds, yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung; they that have seen him shall say, Where is he? Job xx. 6,7. Now they count, it pleasure to riot in the daytime, but what will they do when the Axe is fetched out, 2 Pet. ii. 13, 14. The tree whose fruit withereth, is reckoned a tree without fruit, a tree twice dead, Jude 12, one that must be plucked up by the roots. O thou Cumber-ground, God expects fruit; God will come seeking fruit shortly. My exhortation, therefore, is, to Professors, that they look to it, that they take heed. The barren fig-tree in the Vineyard, and the bramble in the wood, are both prepared for the fire. LAD |