did Isaac or Esaw Jacob or as a Wolfe doth love a Sheep The Righteous is abomination to the Wicked Prov. xxix 27. And what a kind of Heaven would it be for an unsanctified man to be shut up with such Company as he hates with the worst of Antipathies and vilifies with the bitterest censures and most despightful scorn Nor could the Company of Heaven like him better than he likes them For God is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with him Psal v. 4 5. Christ saith to them depart from me ye that work iniquity Matth. vii 23. The Holy Spirit will not entertain him who would never open the door to him knockt he never so earnestly and long but all ways shut him out of his heart 'T is the Offices of the blessed Angels to gather out of the Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity and to cast them into a furnace of fire Matth. xiii 41 42. And they will do their Office impartially As for the Saints as they could give them no Oyl to help them in Matth. xxv 9. So would they give them no countenance should they get in without it Moses accuses them John v. 45. The souls under the Altar cryed against them whilst they lived Revel vi 9. And shall judg them when they dye 1 Cor. vi 2. The whole Herd makes head against a blown Deer Those Loyal Subjects will not harbour such Traitors against their Lord and King Then shall be the great Excommunication and the Church of the first born will put from amongst them every wicked person as 1 Cor. v. 13. injoyns Therefore Oh unsanctified sinner bethink thy self in time To which of the Saints wilt thou turn Job v. 1. Thirdly The Work of Heaven which he hath neither skill to perform nor time nor heart to learn renders an unsanctified man as uncapable of Heaven as either of the former For the Work of Heaven is to serve the Lord incessantly And his servants shall serve him Rev. xxii 3. To do his Will so perfectly that 't is fet as a pattern how to do it on Earth Thy will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven Mat. vi To love the Lord with perpetual extastes and ravishments of Soul to Worship him that sits upon the Throne and give him glory throwing down their Crowns at his feet and saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power to sound forth Eternal Hallelujahs and not to cease either day or night from crying Holy Holy Holy to him which was and is and is to come Rev. iv To sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb who redeemed them from the Earth and made them to his Father Kings and Priests to offer up the pure incense of Eternal Praises And such as this being the incessant endless imployment of Heaven I beseech you give me leave with freedom to Appeal to your Consciences who either never Pray nor Praise or slubber over a few formal Devotions for custom sake and to stop the Mouth of Conscience with the greatest weariness as the most irksome task and druggery of your lives and are so tyr'd at a Prayer or Sermon that nothing tries your patience like it or seems so tedious and so much the more as the service is more spiritual and searching what would you do in Heaven what corner would you find to sleep in How many wearyed and longing Eyes would you cast upon that Glass of Eternity which will never be run out How tedious would that everlasting Sabbath seem when you so often ask of these below when will they be gone Amos viii 5. I intreat you therefore be convinced of the indispensible necessity of Sanctification to make you fit to go to Heaven with Christ For either God must change the Nature of Heaven to fit it to thy Phansie which he will never do or thy heart must be made like it even Holy and Heavenly to savour and delight in the things of God or else Heaven it self would be no Heaven to thee In a word without Justification thou canst not go to Heaven as a state of happiness tho thou wouldst and without Sanctification thou wouldst not go to Heaven as a state of Holiness tho thou mightst See Col. i. 12. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Mark 'T is an Inheritance thou must be made a Son to have a Title to Inherit there 's Justification But 't is an inheritance of the Saints in light and thou must be made a Saint and Child of Light to be meet to enter into the possession of it There 's Sanctification 1 Cor vi 9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fernicators nor Idolaters c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you how then came they to be capable But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Here you have them both expresly St. Paul again tells you Rom. viii 30. Whom he justified them he also glorified In which place also we have both these the first explicitely you must be justified before you can be glorified the second implicitely for therefore glorified signifies perfectly sanctified Grace is glory in the Bud and Blosom Glory is Grace in the full blown Flower and ripe Fruit Now as no ripe Fruit without a Blosom no full blown Rose without a Bud so no Glory without Grace preceeding From glory to glory 1 Cor. iii. ult That is from Glory inchoate in Grace on Earth to Glory consummate in Bliss in Heaven As child-hood is before man-hood and he that never was a child shall never be a man So he in whose heart Christ was never formed by the immortal seed Who never was born of the Spirit Who never as a new born Babe desired the sincere Milk of the Word to grow thereby shall never arrive at the Stature of the fulness of Christ shall never attain to that perfect Image of the Son of God to which all his are Predestinated to be Conformable shall never be a perfect man in Christ nor appear before him perfect in Zion to follow the Lamb upon that Holy Mountain The Conceptions which the best men have of Heaven are very low obscure and imperfect but certainly those which ignorant and prophane men have of it are strangely absurd and brutish or it were impossible they should ever hope to get thither till their sins be both pardoned and subdued for 't is next to a contradiction to think they can reign with Christ in whose mortal Bodies or immortal Souls sin is allowed and continues to reign For least of all in this sence can corruption inherit incorruption Thirdly Tho the two things we last insisted on are the main to constitute us
denying and abstaining from all known sin and applying himself to perform all known Duties with a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men To be heartily Religious Just and Sober Crucifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts Walking before God with respect to all his Commandments in a word to be Christs true and faithful servant For the Scripture is express and plain that God will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts Psal cxxv 4. That he will give eternal life to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Immortality Rom. ii 7. and Christ himself hath told us that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Matth. vii 21. and St. Paul If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. viii 13. And again Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life eve lasting Gal. vi 7 8. And the terms upon which St. Peter assures you of entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are that ye abound in Faith Vertue Knowledg Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. i. And David in Psalm xv gives the description of a Citizen of Sion who shall dwell in Gods Holy Hill by the same measures And in Gods name saith Psalm l. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God And lastly 't is Christs promise Where I am there shall also my servants be John xii 26. And indeed it is the Scope and import of the whole Scripture both Old Testament and New to shew that wicked and bad men shall go to Hell and only Righteous and good men shall go to Heaven Psalm iv 3. Know that God hath set apart him that is Godly for himself But Psalm ix 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell Ezech. xviii 20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him John v. 29. They that have done good shall come forth to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation For we must all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. And I beseech you neither to censure nor misinterpret this method of proceeding by beginning to declare in such general terms wherein Readiness for Christ consists But consider the wisdom of God leads me in it for tho the Scriptures do treat of these things some times more accurately and distinctly yet for the most part they speak of them in these general expressions And that for Wise and Holy Reasons For the Scriptures were written not only for the Wise and Learned but for the unwise and Ignorant for Babes in Christ and beginners as well as for grown men and Proficients For the Lamb to waid in as well as for the Elephant to swim in Now for the sake of the first sort who are not able to discern critical differences of things nor to comprehend the more mysterious and intricate expressions nor to understand Artificial and Figurative words in which some times the Truths of the Gospel are wrapt up and veiled It seems very agreeable to the goodness of God to condescend to the weakness and capacities of those to whom he speaks And to propound the way of Life and Death to Heaven and Hell in such general and easie terms as all may understand And such as are suited to affect a Natural Conscience and to be an initial and leading way to the receiving what the Gospel speaks more distincly and accurately to those who are awakened to be inquisitive and rendered capable of what is more high and difficult by the use of general words and easie to be understood Such as these are with which I have begun To be ready for Christ is to be a good man for none but such shall go to Heaven Secondly To be ready for Christ is to be a good Christian And what that implies we shall best understand by our Baptismal Covenant in which we enter upon the profession of Christianity Now as in that God promiseth to accept us as Members of his Son to own us for his Children and make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven so we on our parts engage and promise three things first to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil Secondly to believe all the Articles of the Christian Religion viz. with an Applicatory Faith Thirdly to keep Gods Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our life and he that keeps this Covenant is a good Christian and as a Child of God shall inherit his Kingdom and is ready to go to it when ever Christ comes Now these three answer the three great Graces which are the condition of the New Covenant Repentance Faith and new Obedience And tho the last is included in and be reduceable to the first because no man truely repents of past disobedience who resolves not and who endeavours not to yield unreserved obedience for the future and therefore the two former are oft put alone for the full and whole condition of the Gospel Covenant The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent and believe the Gospel Yet I hope we may inoffensively reckon them all three distinctly especially considering that tho they all have a general respect to the whole Holy Trinity yet they may not improperly be said to have a peculiar reference to the distinct Persons to whose name we are expresly Consecrated in our Baptism The Father Son and Holy Ghost Repentance towards God that is the Father Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ So St. Paul expresly speaks Acts xx 21. New Obedience towards the Holy Ghost who is the immediate Author of Sanctification and to walk in newness of life is to walk in the spirit Gal. v. 25. And to be led by the spirit Rom. viii 14. If therefore thou wouldest be a good Christian and as such ready for Christ First With Holy shame and Godly sorrow turn from sin and creatures in which thou hast too long sought satisfaction to God as thy all-sufficient portion and happiness Secondly Come to him by Christ the great and only Mediator who hath made our peace with him and wrought that reconciliation by which alone thou art capable of injoying him Thirdly yield up thy self to the conduct of the Holy Ghost as thy Sanctifier to inable thee both to believe and to bring forth the Fruits
ever And Psal 118.8 9. It is better to Trust in the Lord than to put Confidence in Man than to put Confidence in the Greatest or the Best of Men. And if Men will be so Diligent to please a Landlord a Justice a Master or a Father How much more Careful should we be to please the Great God of Heaven And the Apostle argues Heb. 12.9 We have had Fathers of our Flesh and we gave them Reverence Shall we not much rather be in Subjection to the Father of Spirits and live And God himself Mal. 1.6 And so for the Things of the World No Study or Contrivance of the Head no Labour nor Travel of the Hands or Feet is thought too much How did Jacob Serve for Rachel See how he describes his Diligence Gen. 31.40 In the Day the Drought consumed me and the Frost by Night and my Sleep departed from mine-Eyes And 't is easier to find an Hundred following him in this than Two or Three in his Wrestling with God and not letting Him go till they obtain the Blessing Most Men being serious about Trifles and only trifling and dallying about this Serious Work The One Thing necessary Spending their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which satisfies not Isa 55.2 Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters and hewing out broken Cisterns that will hold no Water Jer. 2.13 Being wise to do Evil but void of Knowledge to do Good Compare thy Self with other Men How many Younger than thy Self have got more Knowledge How many Poorer than thy Self can spare more Time to Read and Meditate and Pray How many of weaker Parts and under smaller Helps and intrusted with fewer Talents yet have far out-stript thee in your common Master's Work And thou wilt say 'T is like 't is well done of them And thy Judgment approves and praises them For shame then Practise thy Self what thou canst not but applaud in Others Yea let Shame to find thy Self out-stript by so Many that were once behind thee and are so still in many Respects quicken thee to double thy Diligence till thou recover and over-take them yea get again before them Again Compare thy Self with GOD if thou be not afraid to entertain a Thought of so unequal a Comparison Lord What is Man a Worm a Clod a Bubble a Shadow Yea Man in Honour is like the Beast that perisheth and in his best Estate is altogether Vanity And yet as Mean and Inconsiderable a Thing as thou art thou standest upon it thou wilt have it thus and thus and thy Will must be done with Diligence and thy Work with Care and with Exactness and art presently upbraiding those about thee for the least Neglect with What do I keep you for And wilt rid thy self of such unprofitable Incumbrances and wilt not retain an Idle Faithless Servant in thy Family a Jade in thy Stable a Barren or Unthristy Creature amongst thy Caâ—ttle or a Fruitless Tree in thy Orchard And How darest thou be such towards the Great King of all the Earth as thou wilt not suffer any of thy Fellow-Creatures to be towards thy self who art so far below Him so Inconsiderable a Nothing in comparison of Him Once more Compare the Sweet and Easie Indulgence the Gospel hath provided for thee in the Work of God with the Hard Service imposed and exacted under the Law and the Gracious Assistance offer'd and communicated under this Dispensation with the little Help afforded then How Chargeable and Costly were the Sacrifices How Long and Tyring the Journey 's up to Jerusalem How Insupportable the Yoke of those Observances And How small the Aids afforded What would'st thou have done then if thou stickest if thou grudgest if thou repine at what is now expected and shall be accepted As Naaman's Servants said wisely to their Master My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great Thing Wouldst thou not have done it How much more when he saith unto thee Wash and be Clean 2 King 5.13 If God if Christ had bid thee do some Harder Work Wouldst thou not do it to save thy Soul for ever How much more when he hath made the Way more Easie than of Old and offer'd and assur'd greater Help than then to enable thee to do it Lastly Compare thy Work for the True God with what Idolaters and Hypocrites perform to False Ones or to the True One Falsly That you may be moved to Jealousie with those which are not a People and provoked by a Foolish Nation Deut. 32.21 How do the Worshippers of Baal cry whole Dayes and Cut themselves with Knives and Lances till the Blood gushes out How do the Profelytes of Rome Whip themselves pour out their Money to their wily Priests which make Merchandize of them for Masses Indulgences c. How do they Lavish out Gold and Impoverish themselves and Families to inrich the Shrines of Dead and Dumb Idols and undergo hard Penances and tedious Pilgrimages And all in vain led only by a False Opinion of Meriting by what God will despise And How Profuse will Hypocrites be Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl Yea what is Dearer still The First-Born of their Bodies for the Sin of their Souls Mich. 6. How Shall not only the Queen of the South but the Great Whore of the West Rise up against you and Condemn your Sloath Fifthly We are under many Great and Indispensible Engagements to Diligence in this Work We are bound in Conscience and 't is our Duty that we must We are bound in Gratitude upon receiving so many Talents and Opportunities by which we may We are bound in point of Interest our own Safety and Happiness depends upon it and 't is our Wisdom if we will thus work A word of every one of these may serve First 'T is our Duty and we are bound by His Authority who is our Lord. He hath commanded us to keep His Precepts diligently The First and Great Command is To Love the Lord our God which is the very Soul and Life of this Work with all our Heart and all our Soul with all our Might and all our Strength Every Step in this Way must be trodden heedfully See that ye Walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise Not at Peradventure Keep thy Heart with all Diligence Prov. 4.24 Joshua's Words are very pressing Chap. 22.5 Take diligent heed to do the Commandment and the Law which Moses the Servant of the Lord charged you to Love the Lord your God and to Walk in all His Wayes and to Keep His Commandments and to Cleave to Him and to Serve Him with all your Heart and all your Soul As we must agree quickly with our Adversary so we must give Diligence to be delivered from him We must not only Work at but Work out our own Salvation As we must Receive the Word with all readiness so we must take most Diligent heed to the Things we have heard lest at any time we
pains but will do all that Art and Industry can perform he will dig about it and dung it do the best and the most he can to make it fruitful First The express Prayer for the barren Tree Lord let it alone this year also c. In which the first branch is for more time The second for leave to bestow more cost and pains upon it Note hence 1. 'T is the duty of Gods Ministers to Pray for the people yea even for the unfruitful and impenitent amongst them Isa lxii 6 7. I have set watch-men upon thy Walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth 2. They must not excuse their faults tho they may and must beg pardon for them that would rob God of the Glory of his Mercy and harden them in security against repentance and amendment He tacitely acknowledges the culpableness of their past unfruitfulness and confesseth Gods goodness in suffering them to stand so long while he Prays it may be let alone this year also it was meer Mercy to let it stand so long and it will be more Mercy to let it alone a little longer therefore O Lord Let it alone this year also even for thy Mercies sake 3. He asks not three years more but one year after three years barrenness and disappointment they must ask modestly who would prevail one years forbearance more is a great Mercy to them who have sinned away many already Every day every hour should be pretious to a Reprieved man to sue out his Pardon and make his Peace He is now upon his good Behaviour this is his last tryal if he continue and persist in his old wont Execution proceeds as against one of whom there is no hope of proving better The Second Branch of his Prayer is for leave to bestow more cost and pains upon it Till I dig about it there 's labour and pains the Ministerial Office when truly and faithfully discharged is really very laborious We beseech you brethren know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly for their Works sake 1. Thes v. 12 13. Those who labour in the Word and Doctrine 1. Tim. v. 17. Tho the Ministry be a great dignity yet it takes denomination from duty and service We Preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Jesus sake 2 Cor. iv 5. And our Lord himself gives his Apostles both a rule against exercising Lordship and sets himself as an example of it Lu. xxii 26 27. It shall not be so with you but he that is greatest among you shall be as the youngest and the chief as he that serveth For I am among you as he that serveth 'T is well known the word so often used in the new Testament for the Ministry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the most painful labour Such as of those who sweat and by their speed in their Travel raise the dust and digging is one of the hardest kinds of labour such as the unfaithful Steward openly confesses too hard for him I cannot dig Luke xvi But tho Ministers should labour where-ever they are they may not labour where they please Paul and his Companions in labour were forbidden of the Holy Ghos◠to Preach the Word in Asia And when they assayed to go into Bithynia the spirit suffered them not Act. xvi 6 7. They are Labourers but 't is together with God 1 Cor. iii. 9. And must have their station assigned by him And as the Lord of the Harvest must be prayed To send forth Labourers into his Harvest St. Matth. ix 38. So his leave must be obtained to continue and bestow more labour in what field soever he assigns them to work in and when his Vineyard hath provoked him by disappointing his expectation and not answering past labour and charge bestowed on it He passes this Sentence against it it shall not be pruned nor digged And I 'l command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isa v. 6. As 't is not a small Mercy to have faithful and painful Ministers so 't is one of the greatest Judgments to have them removed and to be put under such as are described Zech. xi 16. and therefore God should be sought by earnest Prayer to vouchsafe the Mercy and avert the Judgment Next he asks to bestow cost as well as pains there must be dunging as well as digging 't is chargeable mending barren Land yet we must not stick at this See 2 Cor. xii 14 15. Parents must lay up and lay out too for their children I will gladly spend and be spent for you Secondly these words imply a promise on his own behalf as well as contain an express Prayer on behalf of the people Lord if thou wilt be intreated to let it alone this year I will dig about it and dung it I will do all that Art and Industry can do I will not be wanting on my part to perform the most the best All that I can to make it Fruitful Note first in general they who would prevail with God must add endeavours to their Prayers 't is but a tempting and mocking God to do otherwise Ora Labora and 't is a good direction the Adage gives Manus ad Stivam oculus ad Coelum The Hand on the Plough and the Eye lift up to Heaven is the Emblem of the thriving Husbandman And Soloman hath both these passages in one Chapter Prov. x. 4 and 22. The hand of the diligent maketh rich and The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich He tempts God who only Prays and labours not He despiseth God who only labours and Prays not But he honours and pleases him and shall be blessed of him who joyns both together Remember how Moses concludes the nintieth Psalm Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it The Prayer for blessing on their work shews the concurrence of their Works and Prayer The hard Heart and the soft Hand are both hateful to the Lord but the soft Heart and the hard Hand are his delight my meaning is an Heart that melts in Prayer and an Hand that is grown callous and brawny with industrious Constancy in diligent Labour Let me close this with what I judg a very necessary and seasonable advice When your Ministers visit you in time of sickness to exhort you and comfort you and pray with you 't is usually one part of our exhortation that if God spare you and restore you to health you would shew forth the truth of the repentance you profess when you are like to dye by bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance if God restore you and suffer you to live
pray for Grace To do God's Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven we either ask we know not what or we do but mock God if we endeavour not to Serve Him with the same Diligence as near as we can attain it where with the Host of Heaven serve Him constantly Lastly The Example of God Himself Blessed for ever whom we are so oft required to imitate Be ye Holy for I am Holy Be ye Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect This beyond all should constrain us to shew forth our utmost Diligence Shall God be so Sollicitous to promote our Salvation and Shall we sleight and despise it as if it were not worth Regarding God the Father imploy'd His Blessed Thoughts about it from all Eternity devising Means to bring home His Banished that they should not be Expelled from Himself to Reconcile His Mercy and His Justice to Punish the Sin and Spare the Sinner and made all his Glory pass before Him in the Accomplishment of it display'd all His Attributes in their brightest Lustre and in a word gave His Son the Dearly Beloved of His Soul in whom He took Infinite and Everlasting pleasure to be made a Man and then to be made a Curse And God the Son came down from Heaven for us Men and for our Salvation And having done so spent His time in the World according to the Ends for which He came into it which was to Glorify His Father do His Will and do Good to the Souls and Bodies of Men and He did it all with a Zeal that even Consumed and Eat Him up and made the Foolish World say He was Mad or Besides Himself as they are ready to do of all that follow Him And at last after a Life spent in preaching whole Dayes and praying whole Nights and Working mighty Miracles He Finish't all with a Willing Obedience to the most painful shameful and accursed Death and even now He is in Heaven He is as Diligent as ever making Intercession without Intermission and watching and ordering all things for the Good of those who shall be Heirs of Salvation And the most Holy and most Blessed Spirit is as busie and sedulous as either of the Former knocking calling striving warning wooing Sinners to return to God to be so Wise as to be contented to be Happy upon God's Terms which in one word are That you Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling and improve your Seasons with meet Diligence while you have them Working while 't is Day before that Night over-take you in which no Man can Work Which that we all do The Good Lord vouchsafe us that Grace and Wisdom which may Assist us and Direct us to do accordingly Amen FINIS A DISCOURSE SHEWING The sinfulness and danger of unfruitfulness under the Gospel containing the substance of some Sermons Preached upon St. Luke xiii 6 7 8 9. A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his Vineyard and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none cut it down why cumbereth it the ground And he answering said unto him Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear fruit well and if not then after that thou shalt cut it down AS time is measured out to us by the revolution of days and months and years so is Gods patience magnified towards us by multiplying the returns of them And as his Patience is magnified so is our Account increased and Impenitency aggravated according to the number of the portions of time which pass over us and the more we have wasted and sent home empty to him that expected fruit from us in them all the more we have cause to expect and fear that every next and new one should be our last for God will not always bear the disappointment of his expectation but tho he bear long will not forbear always but will at length curse to a with'ring or cut down for burning the barren Tree which bears either none or no good Fruit year after year This consideration hath induced mee in the beginning of another year to chuse this Parable to discourse of to press you with all the earnestness I can after so many years of provoking unfruitfulness to tempt Gods long-suffering no longer by impenitency and barrenness under the Gospel lest if being let alone this year also you continue only incumbrances of Gods Vineyard He continue no longer to spare you nor Christ to interceed for you that you may be spared nor good men be able to prevail for you nor your own Consciences have any plea left but that ye be cut off without pitty on Gods part without remedy on mans and without excuse on you own There is not a place in all the Holy Scriptures wherein Repentance and that both sound and speedy is more vehemently urged and more emphatically enforced than the beginning of this Chapter For as those who heard our Lord urge the similitude of the Creditor and Debtor laid down in the two last verses of the preceeding Chapter against procrastination may seem to have taken occasion thence to tell him the story of the Galileans Whose blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacirfices so our Lord takes occasion further to improve that his Doctrine against neglect and deferring Repentance by applying that story now told him and another of eighteen men on whom the Tower of Siloam had fallen and destroyed them which were both true and real Stories of things which had actually and lately hapned and were fresh in all mens memories and mouths Now these being very awakning examples and startling instances of sudden and surprizing Judgments Our Saviour according to his great wisdom and faithfulness will not let slip so fair an opportunity to press his hearers from them to speedy and sincere Repentance As if he had said these were not greater not more flagitious sinners than their Neighbours no nor then your selves and yet these things you hear and know hapned unto them and as bad or worse may happen unto you nay will unless you Repent and now especially since God hath given them to be such warnings to awaken you If you do not now repent ye shall all likewise perish Your impenitency aggravated by slighting such an alarum as their fall gives you will provoke God to meet with you some way or other and if in any case he cut you off before you have Repented truly you perish unavoidably and that for ever Little did the Galileans think when they went to offer Sacrifice they should themselves be made a Sacrifice Little did the Eighteen men who were in or nigh the Tower of Siloam well and safe and secure from fear think to be crusht to death in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye and yet these things befel them both And so may it be
had said I have waited long and come often looking for Fruit and hitherto my expectation hath been disappointed therefore I am weary of forbearing and will suffer the abuse of my patience no longer Cut it down that is execute against it the deserved Judgment And as this is injoyned to his Ministers to be performed by them it implyes 1. That the Fruitless Tree is worthy to be Cut down and is actually under the Sentence of Condemnation tho the Execution may be defer'd by way of Reprieve Every unfruitful sinner under the Gospel is in a state of actual condemnation there is only a small respiting for a while and a short reprieve allowed to afford him time to sue out his pardon according to that from our Saviours own mouth St. John iii. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already So he that repenteth not is condemned already 2. He bids his Ministers Cut them down that is cut them off by sharp reproof and cutting rebukes and Church Censures cast them out of my Vineyard my Church from my Ordinances that they may be ashamed that they may be afraid that they may be awakened 3. To shew the unavoidable certainty of it if they continue impenitent let them know what will certainly be their end Jer. xv 1. Cast them out of my sight declare they shall be cast out and Jer. i. 10. I have set thee over the Nations to root out to pull down to destroy to throw down that is to declare who shall be so dealt with and I will make it good what is bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven Say to the wicked it shall be ill with him thou also shall be cut off as before the Text you shall all likewise perish that is unless you repent 4. Why cumbreth it the Ground This contains the reason of the Righteous Sentence of cutting down and intimates that God never proceeds to severity without cause And ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it saith the Lord God Eze. xiv 23. 'T is a reproachful upbraiding the Fruitless-tree the word is rend'red variously it signifies to make unprofitable why takes it up a room to no purpose and keeps out a better and robs others both of nourishment and influence by drawing the fatness of the soil and casting a malignant shade And teacheth us that a man who continues in the Church impenitent 1. Robs God of the Glory which would redound to him if he brought forth the Fruits of Righteousness which he ought for Christ saith his Father is glorified when his Disciples bring forth much fruit John xv 8. and commands that our Light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father in Heaven And St. Paul tells us that the fruits of Righteousness are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God Phil. i. 11. which Glory God loseth by every Tree which stands on his ground and bears no Fruit. 2. Such a man does abundance of mischief by his bad example imboldens others to be and continue as bad as himself and hinders and discourages them from being better 3. Disparages the Soyl causes the way of truth to be evil spoken of Gods Ordinances to be vilified and his name to be Blasphemed and his faithful Ministers to be reproacht as if they were the causes of all that wickedness which they mourn over and endeavour to reform with all their might As we say of servants or beasts that thrive not look ill are in bad plight they shame their keeper as if he starved them or allowed them not what is sufficient So when you who have been Baptized lead bad lives and go on in impenitency you give great scandal cause much offence and put an excuse into the mouths of those who prophanely neglect and slight Christs Institutions and when they are exhorted to frequent them or reproved for neglecting them they have this answer ready why so much ado about these matters we see those who use them most are never the better but as bad or worse than those who seldom or never meddle with them what a shame is it to be thus reproached and to be so ill furnisht to refute it 'T is a great offence that 's given by this means but wo to the man by whom the offence cometh it had been better for him to have been plunged in the Sea then Planted in the Vineyard For God will severely avenge these many evils which are the Consequences of their unfruitfulness unless speedy and sincere Repentance and amendment prevent the Execution of the denounced Sentence And this may suffice for the meaning of the two first verses of the Text which concern the Lord and Owner of the Vineyard both as to what he did and what he said And may be summed up in this short recapitulation The Great God hath in much mercy admitted you into his Church by Baptism and hath often come to see whether you do and long expected that you should make good that solemn Covenant you then made with him by bringing forth the Fruits of sincere Repentance sound Faith and Universal unreserved new Obedience but hitherto hath not found them but the quite contrary And therefore bids his Ministers and you by them with attention and admiration take notice of his past goodness and that he takes severe notice of your continuing badness and provoking disappointment of his expectation and patience and therefore pronounces Sentence against you to cut you off from his Church by his Spiritual Sword and that he will cut you off from the Land of the Living for your robbing him of his Glory for your hindring others by your bad example to be better or imboldning them to be as bad as your selves and causing his Holy Institutions to be evil thought of and evil spoken of as if they were useless and of no efficacy and his Holy name to be blasphemed I now proceed to the other two which concern the Dresser of the Vineyard the former of which contains his Intercession that it may be spared a little longer and tryed one more if yet it may amend The latter his concession that if it do not then the denounced Sentence take place and be put in execution there remaining no shaddow of pretence for farther arrest of Judgment I shall endeavour the Explication of these with the greatest clearness plainness and brevity I can in order to the Application of them which I again tell you I chiefly intend In the former His Intercession are two particulars First an express Prayer in behalf of the barren tree in which are included two requests one for respiting the Sentence and allowing it more time Lord let it alone this year also The other for leave to bestow more pains and cost about it digging and dunging Secondly An implied promise on his own behalf that if his Lord will give him leave and spare the Tree he will spare neither cost nor