W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
The Barren Fig-Tree
Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (18091870)Y
Thy mercy spares us, and thy might sustains.
Sometimes we feel the chastening of thy rod,
Sometimes thy love with gentle voice complains.
By turns thy sun hath smiled, thy storms have frowned,
No worthy fruit is ours, vain cumberers of the ground.
Before thy justice in its dreadful hour?
Who could endure the thunders of thy hand,
What human might arrest thy sovereign power?
Spare us, O God, thy mercy we implore!
Grant to the barren tree space for one trial more.
O God of justice! who shall longer stay
Thine arm? Behold the axe is at the root.
O let Repentance prune our faults away.
Thy grace, O Lord! in plenteous showers descend,
And bid the rescued boughs with clustering honors bend.