At this the poor
barren professor cries out again, Lord, I have sinned; spare me once
more, I beseech thee. O take not away the desire of mine eyes; spare
my children, bless me in my labors, and I will mend and be better.
No, saith God, you lied to me last time, I will trust you in this no
longer; and withal he tumbleth the wife, the child, the estate, into
a grave.
At this the poor creature is afflicted and distressed, rends his
clothes, and begins to call the breaking of his promise and vows to
mind; he mourns and prays, and like Ahab, a while walks softly at
the remembrance of the justness of the hand of God upon him. And now
he renews his promises: Lord, try me this one time more, take off
thy hand and see; they go far that never turn. Well, God spareth him
again, sets down his axe again: "Many times he did deliver them, but
they provoked him with their counsels, and were brought low for
their iniquities." Now they seem to be thankful again, and are as if
they resolved to be godly indeed. Now they read, they pray, they go
to meetings, and seem to be serious for a while; but at last they
forget. Their lusts prick them, suitable temptations present
themselves; wherefore, they return to their own crooked ways again.
Yet again, the Lord will not leave this barren professor, Luke 13:
6-9, but will take up his axe again, and will put him under a more
heart-searching ministry, a ministry that shall search him and turn
him over and over--a ministry that shall meet with him, as Elijah
met with Ahab, in all his acts of wickedness: and now the axe is
laid to the roots of the tree.
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