The Blasted Fig-Tree

One aweful 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. But could a tree the Lord offend, To make him show his anger thus? He surely had a farther end, To be a warning word to us. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.