1 One awful word, which Jesus spoke,
Against the tree which bore no fruit,
More piercing than the light'ning's stroke,
Blasted and dried it to the root.
2 But could a tree the Lord offend,
To make him shew his anger thus?
He surely had a farther 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 combin'd with faith and love,
And witness'd by a gospel walk,
Will not a true profession prove.
6 Without the fruit the Lord expects,
Knowledge will make our state the worse;
The barren tree he still rejects,
And soon will blast them with his curse.
7 O Lord, unite our hearts in pray'r,
On each of us thy spirit send,
That we the fruits of grace may bear,
And find acceptance in the end.
Source: Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians #39
John Newton (b. London, England, 1725; d. London, 1807) was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide… Go to person page >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files