The Second Corollary

Hence it follows, that spiritual barrenness is a great reproach and shame to Christians. Shall God's husbandry, which is so planted, watered, fenced, filled with favors and mercies, be like the barren heath in the desert? Surely it should be said of every soul that grows here, as the historian says of Spain, that there is nihil infructuosum, nihil sterile; nothing barren or unfruitful in it. God's vineyard is planted in a very fruitful hill (Isaiah 5:1). And surely they that are planted in the house of the Lord, should flourish in the court of our God; they should bring forth fruit, even in old age, to show that God is upright (Psalm 92:13-14). They are created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has ordained they should walk in (Ephesians 2:10). They are married to Christ, that they might bring forth fruit to God (Romans 7:4). An empty branch is a dishonor to the root that bears it, a barren field to the husbandman that owns it; God cannot endure that in his fields, which he suffers in the wilderness.