of Faith in new obedience as testimonies of thy sincere thankfulness love being best seen in keeping the Commandments Thirdly to be ready for Christ you must 1. be Justified 2. Sanctified 3. Exert and exercise that Faith by which thy person is Justified and thy Nature sanctified in watching for and preparing against Christ coming The two former may be called our Habitual readiness such as the Wise Virgins had even whilst they slumbered and slept The third our actuals Readiness such as theirs was when they awaked and trimmed their Lamps The two first put us into a safe Estate of Readiness for Christ coming the third into a comfortable present disposition to meet him at his coming The first gives us a Title to Heaven The second a fit qualification for Heaven the third an immediate and proximate disposition for Heaven and confident hope of our admittance into it The two former concern our dying without danger the third our dying without fear of danger willingly joyfully triumphantly Singing with old Simeon nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace And St. Pauls Cupio dissolvi I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And St. Johns veni domine Jesu Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly A word of every of them First to be ready for Christ thou must be Justified to give thee Right and Title to Heaven For we are all by Nature Children of wrath Eph. ii 3. And can claim no Inheritance but Hell as our due And we are hold under an unalterable Covenant Do this and live Rom x. 5. Which exacts and will abate nothing of perfect personal Obedience which God knows and our selves must acknowledg we are far from having performed or any ability to perform and an inexorable Law which denounceth a curse against all that continue not in all that is written Gal. iii. 10. And an inflexible Justice which can neither be bribed nor forc'd Not bribed because 't is Justice not forc'd because 't is Gods And all these keep the passage to Heaven more strictly than the Cherubim with the Flaming Sword did that of the Tree of Life and there 's no hope or possibility of getting in till these be satisfied which in and of our selves we can never do 'T is an eternal and immutable Truth who ever is once a sinner can never come to Heaven till his sin be pardoned and done away and his person Justified in the sight of God If there were no other Texts in all the Bible tho there are abundance more of like import that must be erazed and cancelled before an unpardoned sinner as such can have any hope Rom. iii. 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Being justified freely by his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins c. Now whether Justification be wholly comprehended in forgiveness of sin as many great Divines do hold or besides Pardon it include somewhat which must render us Righteous in the sight of God As neither fewer for number nor less for name and note have taught I list not to Dispute Polemical Divinity fits not the Pulpit and is never less seasonable than at a Funeral Dust cast on fighting Bees soon ends the fray This dust of Death sprinkled amongst us should mind us of our Work or Hives And wherein soever the strict notion of Justification doth consist this I may say is without Controversie that we must be pardoned and accepted as Righteous before we can stand in Gods sight and both these we must have by Faith in Christ His Blood and Obedience purchase both and our Faith must receive them and apply them that we may be Justified First Pardon Eph. i. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts xiii 38 39. And 1 John i. 7. The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins Chap. ii 1 2. And in the Institution of his Holy Supper he gives this Reason for the drinking of the Cup. Matth. xxvi 27 28. Drink ye all of it For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins And in Gal. iii. from the 5. to the 15. too long to be transcribed God's Justifying the Heathen by Faith and the Just's living by Faith are argued from Christs being made a Curse for us Secondly Righteousness He is the Lord our Righteousness Jer. xxiii 6. He was made sin for us 1. A sin offering That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. v. 21. As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to Justification of life For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous Rom. v. 18 19. Read the whole Chapter not to say the whole Epistle the chief Scope of which tends this way 1 Cor. i. 30 Christ is made unto us of God Righteousness which made St. Paul so earnestly desire to be found in him not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ The Righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. iii. 9. Secondly We must be Sanctified by his Spirit as well as Justified by his Merit This must qualifie and make us fit for Heaven The pure in heart shall see God Mat. v. 8. And without Holiness none can see the Lord Heb. xii 14. For into the New Jerusalem shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth neither what soever worketh abomination or maketh a lye Rev. xxi 27. Without being Sanctified no man is fit 1. For the Place 2. For the Company 3. For the Work of Heaven First Not for the place 'T is his Holy Heaven Psalm xx 6. All the Types of it were Holy Paradice the Tabernacle the Temple yea the Hill on which it stood even a temporary and transient manifestation of Gods Presence or Glory Consecrates the place how much more Holy then is that place which is the Habitation of Gods Holiness and Glory as Heaven is called Isay lxiii 15. That part of the Temple where the Ark stood under the Wings of the Cherubims the type of Gods constant residence for the Mercy Seat was his Throne and he dwelt betwixt the Cherubims was called the most Holy the Holy of Holies the Holiest of all
to be gracious and stretches out his Hand all the Day long to invite to plead with Sinners and to beseech them to accept His Grace and Favour But if they despise His Goodness and will not be perswaded to come in He will cast off for ever and be favourable no more He will even forget to be Gracious and in Anger shut up His tender Mercies For so I find the Psalmist expressing his Fear of this Doom Psal 77.79 Secondly The Gate of Mercy Mercy is that Attribute of God by which His tender Compassions are stirred up to pitty His Creatures in their Misery and as it were to sympathize with them to be afflicted in all their Afflictions This Gate stands also open all the Day and it even grieves Him to His Heart to see the Misery Men hasten towards by their Sin and Folly And He warns and calls them most pathetically Turn ye turn ye Why will ye Dye Ezek. 33.11 And is in a Merciful Contest with Himself as you may read Hos 11.8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim My Heart is turned within Me My Repentings are kindled together And resolves that as yet He will not execute the Fierceness of His Anger nor as yet Return to Destroy them because He is God and not Man But if all His Weeping over them will not make them Mourn if all His Relenting Compassions will not melt them Their Hardyness will harden Him because His Softness did not soften them and His Mercy will be turn'd into Fury and in the Spring-Tyde of their Misery his Mercy will be in the Lowest Ebb. And instead of weeping any more over them He will Laugh at their Calamity and Mock when their Fear cometh Prov. 1.26 And His Mercy will be clean gone for evermore And though this Gate stood open to them till they Dyed yet He will not shew these Wonders of Mercy to the Dead the Dead shall not arise to have and praise him for them His loving Kindness shall not be declared in the Grave nor His Faithfulness in Destruction His Wonders shall not be known in the Dark nor His Compassions in the Land of Forgetfulness Psal 88.10 11 12. Oh therefore follow not after Lying Vanities to the forsaking of your own Mercies But while this Gate stands open fly into it as the Man-slayer would into the City of Refuge before God shut it up and shut out you as certainly He will when Night is come and you be left to the Cruel Mercies of that Avenger of Blood that Eternal Misery which presses after you so fast so close so hard Thirdly The Gate of Hope This stands open all the Day While Men live and enjoy the Means of Grace there remains Hope that they may obtain God's Favour and escape His Wrath. The Common Proverb is true in this Sence That while there 's Life there 's Hope as Sâ—lomon tells us To him that is joyned to all the Living there is Hope Eccles 9.4 We meet with this Expression in Hos 2.15 I will give her the Valley of Achor for a Door of Hope Which may admit these Interpretations amongst others Either that the Possession of this Valley being part of the Promis'd Land was as an Earnest and an Argument to hope they should possess the Whole Or that Achan being now stoned and the accursed Thing removed there was Hope that God would again be with them and drive out their Enemies before them So the Continuance of Day is a Door of Hope that He who hath given the Means of Grace will also give His Grace yea and Glory at the last and that He who spares our Lives after they have been forfeited may remit the Forfeiture that we may not Dye eternally And indeed it is the right Use of This that upholds God's People in all their Streights and Fears In their Affliction and Misery while they feed on Gall and Wormwood they recall to mind that God's Compassions fail not And because through the Lord's Mercyes they are not Consumed therefore have they Hope Lam. 3.20 21 22. And 't is the Abuse of this which holds up Wicked Men against the Gripes the Nippings and Warnings of their own Hearts those secret unseen Lashes and Wounds of their own Consciences are so frequently inflicting They know God is Merciful and Christ dyed for Sinners and they hope they may yet Repent and be Happy and partake of all this And this keeps their Hearts from breaking with Horror and succumbing under a Load which is truly insupportable But when Night comes this Door shall be shut so close no Beam of Hope will dart in so much as at the Key-hole But all their Hope will vanish and perish and be as the Spider's Webb and giving up the Ghost Their Hope shall be cut off for ever and the dreadful Terrors of Everlasting Despair shall seize upon them and multiply their Sorrows their Condition being as hopeless and helpless in their own Apprehensions and Misery shall come upon them in its Perfection because no Hope remains of ever escaping And this is the most invenom'd Sting of the never-dying Worm and that which makes the Pit of Hell to be what it is so truly called Bottomless Fourthly The Gate of Glory That stands open too till Night That is the Kingdom of Heaven in the highest Sense The Place in which God most fully and openly Communicates Himself to Saints and Angels and bestows the Compleatest Happiness the Reasonable Nature can be capable of into which who ever come shall never sin nor sorrow more but be made perfect in Holiness and Happiness by the clearest Vision and most intimate Fruition of God Blessed for ever But at Night a Door shall be shut to keep all those for ever out who were not ready to go in with the Bridegroom into the Marriage Matth. 25.10 In David's Language They shall never see Light they shall never Inhabit God's Holy Hill In St. Paul's They shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God In St. Peter's They shall have no Entrance administred into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ nor attain the Salvation of their Souls In St. John's They shall in no wise enter into the New-Jerusalem In our Saviour's They shall never see the Face of God in Heaven nor be with Him to Behold His Glory nor Follow the Lamb upon Mount Zion nor Drink of the Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right Hand Nor be fill'd with those Joyes which are at His Right Hand for evermore Hasten therefore while these Gates are open And as Men who are Journeying to a City where at Even the Bridge is drawn and the Gates are shut and the Keys are carryed to the Governour will be sure to come before that Hour lest they be exposed to the Enemy or to the Coldness and Darkness of the Night without either safe Shelter or convenient Lodging
how Superlatively Holy then must that place be of which this was but a figure What ever God Sanctifies by his presence must not be defiled by the approach or touch of any unclean thing When God appears to Moses in the Bush or Joshuah in the Vale both must put off their shooes from their feet because the ground was holy on which they stood Paradice could bear our first Parents no longer when they had sinned away their Innocence Nay the Angels fell from Heaven when they fell from the Holiness in which they were created And Possession which you call Eleven Points could not secure their stay And thinkest thou with an unsanctified heart which bears Satans Image to be admitted into that place from which that very Image cast them out 'T is said some Vessels are so delicate and pure that they will hold no Poyson but crush and break in pieces to be rid on 't Should one sinner get into Heaven with his unchanged his invenomed Nature Heaven would cleave under him as the Earth did under Korah Dathan and Abiram rather than not discharge it self of him Yea when he saw his own loathsomness in that pure place he would save and prevent their labour who would cast him out and partly for shame to be so unlike the rest and partly for the unagreeableness of the place to his expectations and desires he would leap down headlong rather than tarry there As Vzziah when the Leprosie arose in his Forehead the Priests thrust him out of the Temple yea he himself hasted to go out 2 Chron. xxvi 20. And the expression is remarkable concerning the Angels which kept not their first State they left their own Habitation Jud. verse 6. for though Michael and his Angels fought and cast them out Rev. xii 7 8 9. Yet they were soon weary of Heaven and of their Holy Habitation and ready enough to leave it of their own accord when they had made themselves so unlike to it And what ever they think who look upon Heaven as a reserve when they can stay no longer in this world to be chosen rather than the place of Torment and phansie it like a Tuâ—kish Paradice a place of ease and sloath to eat and drink and gratifie their sensualities from an absurd misunderstanding of some allusive and Figurative expressions yet if an unsanctified man with his heart full of his present Antipathies against the Holiness of that place should step in thither it would certainly be the most irksom and disagreeable place he ever came in and more like a Purgatory than a Paradice and never was he so uneasie as he would be there nor was ever creature so much out of its Element as such a man would be And how strange or surprizing soever this may seem its easie to convince you of its Truth by Principles of Reason For likeness is the cause of liking and Satisfaction ariseth from the sutableness of the Object to the Subject that receives it Many things have an intrinsick Excellency in themselves and are very desirable to those to whose capacities and dispositions they are suited which are not so at all to others Hony is very sweet to an Healthful Pallate but bitter to the Tongue which is dryed and scortched with a Feaver Meat and drink are very pleasant to an hungry Stomach but their sight or smell will make him Sick who is troubled with a nausea or loathing Musick and Songs greatly delight a chearful airy spirit but to him that is of an Heavy heart are like the taking away a Garment in cold weather Prov. xxv 20. And to him that 's tyr'd out for want of rest one hours Sleep would be more welcome than the best Melody of Voice or Instrument We are never well but when we are where we would be and we would never be out of our own Element The Worm in the Earth the Bird in the Air the Fish in the water not only live but each in his Place doth grow and sing and play But change their Element and presently they languish and dye Sin and this World are a sinners Element and put him into Heaven whilst he continues such and his Heart would dye within him as soon as he found where he was The Air of that purer Region that Holy Climate would be to him as Ireland is said to be to Spiders Toads and Vipers His Conversation must be in Heaven whilst he lives Phil. iii. 20. to whom Heaven would be Heaven indeed that is a place of Bliss and satisfaction when he dyes Secondly The Company And this makes an unsanctified person more unfit for Heaven and would render his being there yet more uneasie to him Can two walk together except they be agreed Amos iii. 3. And there is just such agreement betwixt a wicked unsanctified sinner and all the Company in Heaven as there is betwixt Light and Darkness Christ and Belial the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent You may find what Company there is in Heaven by that short yet full Muster-Rowl of that Heavenly Host Heb. xii 22 23 24. The sum of which is this that in the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem there are God the Judg of all Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant an innumerable company of Holy Angels the General Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect Now if amongst all these a more narrow search be made then was amongst all the creatures for an help for Adam The return must be made us then non est inventus There was not found for Adam a meet help Gen. ii 20. So amongst all these will not be found a meet Companion for an unsanctified sinner Not God for he hath been used to say to him Depart from me I desire not the knowledg of thy ways What is the Almighty that I should serve him Job xxi 20. And God will take him at his word they 'l never come together nor will he now be served or injoyed by him Not Christ for of him he said this man shall not reign over me Luke xix 14. What therefore should he do in his Kingdom Or how can he have Fellowship with him who trampled his blood under his Feet Not the Holy Spirit whom he always resisted grieved vexed fretted and did despight unto whilst he was striving with him to render him a meet Habitation for God Not the Holy Angels for he never caused their Joy in Heaven by his Repentance and they can not be glad to see him there Not the Spirits of just men made perfect for the beginnings of that perfection in the first lineaments of Christs Image on their hearts and lives and the initial participation of the Divine Nature made them the Objects of his scorn and hatred Whom tho his Brethren by Nature he loved just as Cain did Abel and for the same reason 1 John iii. 12. Or as Ishmael
chiefly to this Great Work And this will be yet more evident if we consider it in the several Parts All the Scripture may be reduced to these Seven Heads The Doctrines the Precepts the Exhortations the Promises the Threatnings the Examples and the Prayers therein Recorded And I shall give an Instance or two how every one of these is chiefly designed to be Subservient to this End This is the Total Sum plac't at the Foot of the Account when the Wisest of Men had Cast it up exactly Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the Whole of Man For God shall bring every Work to Judgment with every Secret Thing whether it be Good or whether it be Evil Eccles 12.13 14. As if he had said When we have said all that can all that may be said this is in one word the Sum and Substance of the Whole All the several Lines from how different Points soever they are drawn terminate and end in this as their Centre Be Diligent in God's Work What doth the Doctrine teach us but To deny Vngodlyness and Worldly Lusts and to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saâ—iour Jesus Christ That there is a God Infinitely Glorious in all Perfections who hath made all Things for His Glory and Man especially to pay Him that Tribute of Glory which is due to Him from all His Works That Man hath an Immortal Soul more worth than all the World And that there is an Eternal Estate after this Life an Heaven and an Hell And that Man 's great Business is to attain the One and escape the Other That there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Vnjust That God will bring every Work to Judgment and render to every Man according to their Works That They who have done Good shall go into Eternal Life and They who have done Evil into Everlasting Punishment That the Good and Faithful Servant who was Diligent in God's Works shall receive his Master's Euge and be Advanced But the Wicked and Sloathful Sâ—rvant shall be bound Hand and Foot and cast into Vtter Darkness for his Neglecting it What do the Precepts enjoyn us but To Love the Lord with all our Heart and Soul with all our Strength and all our Might To Serve Him with a Perfect Heart and with a Willing Mind To Glorify Him in our Spirits and our Bodies To Work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling To Seek for Immortality and Eternal Life by patient Continuance in Well-doing To Strive to Enter the Streight-Gate To Give all Diligence to be admitted into Christ's Kingdom In a word The Sum of them is to Command us to Honour God and be Wise to Salvation And Thou hast Commanded us to keep these Precepts diligently Psal 119.3 As to the Hortatory Swasory Argumentative Part of the Scriptures 't is chiefly imploy'd to allure us to this Work To draw us by the Cords of a Man or to fright us out of our Negligence and drive us as with Whip-Cords To Convince us by the Clearest Light To Advise us by the Wisest Reasons To Beseech us by the Sweetest Mercies To Warn us by the Sorest Dangers To Perswade us by most Cogent Arguments To Oblige us by most Indispensible Engagements In a word To Prevail upon us by what-ever the Frame and Constitution of our Nature is capable of being moved by to mind our Work in Earnest or to leave us for ever inexcusable if we slight it or trifle at it As to the Promises 'T is said in general That Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And these Promises are for Number many Some who have reckoned them up affirm them no fewer than Six Hundred For Naâ—ure Great and Precious For Certainâ—y Immutable being bottom'd on the Truth of Him who cannot Lye He is Faithful that hath Promised And the Sum of them all is to give the strongest Assurance that God will Reward them that Diligently seek Him and that with exceeding great Rewards A Crown of Glory an Eternal Kingdom an Incorruptible Inheritance Fulness of Joy and Everlasting Life And the Threatnings which are as Terrible as the Promises are Comfortable the severest Wrath of God being Reveal'd from Heaven in them are all Levell'd against those who prefer the Devil's Work before God's or are Remiss and Careless in it How shall we Escape Great Damnation if we neglect so Great Salvation Vpon the Wicked He shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an Horrible Tempest this shall be the Portion of their Cup. A Cup of Trembling indeed a Cup of Bitter and Poysonous Mixture and yet the very Dregs of it shall be wrung out to them and they must suck them up What hot and burning Thunder-bolts are such Sentences as these charg'd with Cursed be the Man that doth the Work of God deceitfully He that Believeth not shall be Damned Vnless ye Repent ye shall all Perish The Ax is laid to the Root of the Tree every Tree therefore which bringeth not forth Good Fruit shall be Cut down and cast into the Fire unquenchable If any Man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha The Lord Jesus shall be Revealed from Heaven with His Mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be destroyed with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and the Glory of His Power And Hundreds more which sound and signify as dreadfully as these Thou canst not hear such Sentences pronounc't without Affrightment unless thy Heart be like Leviathans hard as the Nether-Mill-stone And How wilt thou bear the Execution when thou comest to feel it The Histories and Examples to which I Reduce the Parables which are seigned Histories the Scope of all these is to shew God's Care of good Men and the Pleasure He takes in those who delight and love to do His Work with Diligence Such as Abel Enoch and the Holy Patriarchs Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Joshua Caleb and after David Jehosophat Hezechias Josiah c. with the Holy Apostles and Saints Recorded in the New-Testament Or His Wrath against Wicked Men and the Vengeance He inflicts upon Ungodly and Unfaithful Ones such as Cain and Cham and the Ten Spyes who brought up an Evil Report on the Good Land and discouraged their Brethrens Hearts from seeking it such as Nadab an Abihu who offered Strange Fire and were paid in their kind with as Strange a Fire which devoured them Such as Hophni and Phineas those Sons of Belial who polluted their Priesthood and caused Men to Abhor Oh horrible Wickedness the Lord's Service Such as Judas Ananias and Saphira Demas the Foolish Virgins Dives and the Slothful Servant and abundance more all
And 't is one part of our Prayer that God would vouchsafe to restore you and afford you more time to perfect your Knowledg your Faith your Repentance and what ever else may make you more fit to dye with safety and with comfort Now if God be pleased to hear our Prayers and to spare you and restore you doth not this lay as great an obligation upon us Ministers as may be to apply our selves to you when you are so recovered to put you in mind of the promises you made whilst you conceived your selves in danger of death And as great an engagement upon you to expect from us and accept at our hands willingly and thankfully our bâ—st endeavours to assist you and provoke you to be such as you wish you had been when you thought you should have dyed If the Vine-Dresser here promise that if God will spare the barren-tree one year more after he had threatned to Cut it down he will on his part do all that Art and Industry can do to make it Fruitful applying his care to it particularly besides the general Husbandry he bestows upon the whole Vineyard I think no inference can be drawn more clearly than that when God hath threatned to cut you down by death and the Prayers of your Minister and others have prevailed with God to defer the Sentence and spare you a little longer it is incumbent on you both to desire and accept his help and on him to offer and afford it you and to do alâ— his Christian Charity and Minâ—sterial-Offâ—ce can help him to do that those ends may be attained for which God spared you If he spared you in his Mercy And you should be as willing to send for your Ministers when you are recovered and they as ready to attend you as when you were in danger how much this is practised I know not but how necessary it is that it should be I appeal both to your Consciences and to this Text. And therefore exhort with earnestness it may But I must give the meaning of this place or expression till I shall dig about it and dung it more particularly because much of the Application I design will have dependance upon it Donec ablaqueavero stercoravero It is an allusion to what is most usual and most useful to be done to barren trees 1. Open the Roots remove the clung Earth and the hungry Loam the cold and binding Clay from about them lay them open to the Weather let in the Sun and Rain and expose them to the influence of Heaven the nourishing Dew and refreshing Air cut the stunted and starved and bark-bound Roots that they may sprout afresh put out young Fibres shoot out new Suckers and draw nourishment to feed them and lay good Mendment mellow Dung some richer Soyl and Earth that 's tender well prepared to warm and nourish them that the Roots may have fit nourishment and may be made fit to attract it and receive it And if any thing can this will make the Tree bear Fruit 't is all that Art and Industry can do and it is capable of What could have been more Isa v. 4. So a Minister that interceeds for a people or person that they may be spared must add to his Prayers all that Spiritual wisdom can teach him and Holy industry can assist him in to make them better that they may bring forth the desired Fruits of Righteousness But to be more particular I find much said concerning both these expressions but I confess nothing which gives me satisfaction I shall therefore passing by all others confine my self to one Interpretation which appears to me most proper and pertinent of any I meet with in others or occurred to my own thoughts But before I name it I must premise one Caveat to prevent an indecency and to preserve a decorum that you may not take offence at the comparison I am about to make as unseemly or rude the word Dung is even of a noysom sound as being in itself a loathsome stinking and defiling thing but it is not to be look'd on under that notion in this place but in a more benign acceptation drawn from its usefulness which is to warm to mellow and communicate a prolifick vertue to the Earth and the Plants to make them Fat and flourishing and exuberant in bearing Fruit. And tho Dung on your Cloaths or Bodies in your Houses or your Walks would be loathsome and a foul annoyance yet in your Fields and Orchards it looks well and smells not ill but is desirable and even comely because 't is necessary and very useful And suppose yet to prevent indecency and harshness to the Interpretation I am about to give we mollifie the very word till I may manure it and lay mendment to it for in the scope of this Parable not the bad but the good quality of the Dung is to be considered not how it marrs by its foulness but how it mends by its fatness This premised to prevent prejudice I now tell you that by Digging and Dunging I conceive may most properly be meant applying the Law and the Gospel the Threatnings and the Promises Gods Judgments and Mercies and the most earnest terrifying sinners impenitent bold and daring sinners by the first to bring them to repentance towards God and the alluring wooing and persuading broken-hearted awakened trembling sinners by the other to Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ First Digging breaks the Ground the Spade of the Law the Plough of the Law breaks up the fallow Ground of the Heart as the Prophets phrase is Gods wrath revealed from Heaven against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men in his terrible threatnings and awakning Judgments startles the obdurate sinner rends the rock he is planted on tears in pieces his hardned security and bold presumption turns up the tough the cold and clungy Soyl in which the very roots of his Heart are shut up and fastned and which chill and stunt his growth that he cannot thrive or bear Fruit. And then the Dew and Rain then the kind and benign influence of the Sun may reach and cherish him then the good Soyl the fresh mendment the prolifick Manure and the mellow tender Mould may be applyed and come near Even the tender Mercies of God and the warm blood of Jesus Christ and the pretious promises of Pardon Life and Grace by which these are offered and applyed 'T is observed and practised that to apply blood to the Root of a Tree a Vine especially is the best and most proper means to make it fruitful And Historians tell us that the Vallies and Gardens about Jerusalem were rendered Fertile beyond expression almost to a Miracle by the abundance of blood which flowed down by the Vaults made on purpose to conveigh it away under the Temple from the multitude of the Sacrifices which were offered there And I am sure there is nothing comparable to the blood of the great Sacrifice of our Lord
which are apt to kindle and are fit fuel for those corruptions God will leave yon to your own choice Isa 66.3 4. They have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations therefore I also will chuse their delusions and will bring their fears upon them because when I called none did answer when I spake they would not hear but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not There is scarce one passage in all the Bible repeated so often over in terminis as that dreadful Sentence first denounced from the mouth of God by the Ministry of the Prophet Isaiah chap. 6.10 and to which he was prepared with so great and awful Solemnity By a Vision of the Divine Majesty upon the Throne of his Glory and an Angel touching his Lips with a coal from the Altar and with a special Commission to send him on this Errand Go and tell this people hear ye indeed hat understand not see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed Which we find repeated as the Margin of your Bibles will shew Matth. 13 14 15. Mark 4.12 Luke 8.10 John 12.40 in all which places our Lord himself applies it and with such variety as would afford us very useful remarks but I leave them to be made by your own Observation then Acts 28.26 S. Paul improves it very fully and having rehearsed the words at large draws a sad inference from them verse 28. Be it known therefore to you that the Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and they will hear it Than which nothing could have been spoken more cutting to the Jews who so despised and hated the Gentiles and implies that God's Salvation that is his Word Truth the true Religion should now be taken from them for hitherto Salvation was of the Jews John 4.22 for their obstinate unfruitfulness and given to the Gentiles who would receive it and is but the interpretation and confirmation of our Saviours own words before touch'd The kingdom of heaven shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And we find it again Rom. 11.8 they were blinded according as it is written God hath given them a spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see c. Nothing can be more terrible and affrighting than this threat to any man who will consider and weigh it and the inforcing it so oft may awaken even them that are asleep in the deepest security if this doom be not already executed against them and it hath actually seized upon them And I might refer you to many more of the like dreadful import in both Testaments but I 'll content my self with one in each Ezek. 24.12 13 14. She hath wearied her self with lyes and her great scum went not forth out of her In thy filthiness is lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I the Lord have spoken it it shall come to pass and I will do it I will not go back I will not spare neither will I repent according to thy ways and according unto thy doings shall they judge thee saith the Lord God Words so exaggerated so keen so pungent they will pierce your hearts and move you if they be not harder than the nether Mill-stone yea may penetrate the heart that is so hard if the head if the mind of the man in whom it is will dwell a little upon the meditation the consideration of them The place in the New Testament I would refer you to is that pathetick word of our Saviour recorded in the end of the Chapter where my Text is O Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as an hen gathereth her brood under her wings and ye would not Behold your house is left unto yon desolate I have met with as improper Allusions and Paraphrases tho I will not avow such an one as it would be should I gloss upon these words thus O sinners sinners who have killed your Ministers with their study pains and travel to bring you to repentance and yet you would not rerepent who have broken the hearts of them whom I sent to you by the stonyness of your hearts how often how fain would I have gathered you to my self have turn'd you from your sinful courses and ye would not therefore I 'll now trouble my self no more with you I 'll give you up to your own hearts lusts fill up the measure of your iniquities that wrath may come upon you without measure even to the utmost Lastly To add no more God will sharpen the edge and envenom the point of his Sword of vengeance by joyning contempt to his wrath and scornful derision to the soreness of his fiery indignation laughing at your destruction and mocking when your fear comes upon you And a great mind can bear smart better than reproach and pain more easie than derision Reproach will break those hearts with vexing sorrow which all the words of God could not break with Godly Sorrow He that sits in heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision Psal ii 4. The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming Psal xxxvii 13. And there is nothing more astonishingly sad than Gods laughing when with a just insulting he cryes Ah ha I will ease me of my adversaries I will avenge me of my enemies Isa i. 24. These are some few of those many Righteous Comminations of those affrighting menaces by which the Spade of the Law is steeled to dig about your Roots and remove the cold and hungry Earth from them which causes your barrenness in Gods Vineyard These are the Share and Coulter of that Plough by which we must breaks up the Fallow-ground of your Hearts to kill the Thorns and Weeds which choak the good Seed of the Word Any one of them might and should suffice to do the work yet that they may profit you jointly which have not done it singly Take them in one view it may bean whole volly may strike down that security which would not fall before a single shot I exhort you I beseech you I adjure you therefore by all these put together and by what ever else God's Holy Spirit may suggest to your own Consciences of greater force and cogency Repent and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance speedily readily faithfully under those abundant helps God affords you by the Gospel and his Patience which you have almost tired out yet continues a little longer to you For I assure you in his name 1. God will do no more
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
Sun in the Firmament as Joshuah did Nâ— bring it back as it was by Isaiahs Pray in Hezekiahs case which was an Emblem of the adding more years to his life as well as a sign that God would do it Thou mayest turn thy Glass sideling and hinder its running but canst not withhold thy Pulse from beating all whose stroaks are numbred by that God which made it and which number it shall not exceed Death tarries not but is riding Post upon the Pale Horse he never draws Bitt He neither Baits not stays till he hath reached his journies end and done his errand which is to Arrest thee and take thee up behind him and carry thee to him who sent him for thee Once more Judgment and Damnation tarry not There 's swift destruction hasting towards them who hasten not to be ready for Christ And 't is spoken very Emphatically 2 Pet. ii 3. Whose Judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their Damnation slumbereth not There are but two impediments of speed as one observes upon this place either lazying in Bed with the sluggard a little more slumbring a little more folding of the Arms to sleep before he rise or loytring with the sloathful when he is up but both these are expresly denyed neither slumbers in Bed nor lingers when risen therefore all impediments to speed are taken away O therefore rouse up thy self flee tarry not What meanest thou ô sleeper Arise there 's a storm upon thee call upon God in good earnest and hasten thy escape from this stormy wind and tempest One word the Philistins are upon the Sampson rous'd that drowsie sinner tho he slept on an inchanted Pillow the knees of his Dalilah O that a greater and more frightful word might waken thee Hell and Damnation the Devil and his Legions are upon thee leap out of Dalilahs lap and with repentance for sleeping there so long flee to the Arms of Christ Make thy self ready for Abrahams bosome Is it not high time to fly to the City of refuge when the Avenger of blood is at our very heels and wants but one step to reach us with the fatal thrust therefore as Jonathan cryed after the Lad but meant it as a warning to David to escape the wrath of Saul So I to you Make speed hast stay not 1 Sam. xx 38. Lastly This tempting to Delay is the Divels last and worst stratagem against thy soul 'T is true he will if he can keep thee in ignorance sensuality prophaness formality without once suffering thee to think of God or Heaven of Death or Judgment of thy soul and its concernments But if thou get out of this Dungeon and begin to see the light and by some startling Providence or rousing Sermon beest put in mind of these matters and so resolvest to look better to them and to turn to God and prepare in earnest for death and for the coming of Christ because thou seest the indispensible necessity of all this Then will Satan disguise himself into an Angel of Light and not only allow but applaud all those thy purposes that he may be less suspected as the Author of the last suggestion with which as his Master-piece he intends to assault thee to thy utter ruin and therefore hee 'l whisper to thy heart to this or the like purpose Repent and turn to God! Ay God forbid thou shouldest not save thy soul and get to Heaven Yes what shouldest thou do else Who but a fool or a mad-man would neglect it Who would who can dwell with everlasting burnings Thou deservest to be damn'd and damn'd again if thou wouldest not resolve to be sav'd and go to Heaven But let me mind thee yet of one thing thou knowest 't is an old saying and a true fair and softly goes far no more hast than good speed 't is all in good time for these matters yet the work is not so hard as some would make thee believe God is merciful and Christ dyed for sinners and God hath sworn he desires not their death and said that At what time soever they repent he will receive them And besides thou art young and strong and hast many businesses to mind and men must not neglect their Callings and providing for their Families and after these are done then mayest thou mind Religion with less distraction having settled and dispatcht thy other necessary Affairs first and tho thou beest pritty old such and such as thou knowest are ten or twenty years older and pretty lusty still and thou mayest live as long as they And suppose the worst come that can that thou shouldest be taken sick 't is time enough then to repent and cry God mercy and thou mayest send for thy Minister to comfort thee and get good people to Pray for thee and 't is but repenting and that thou mayest do then for True Repentance you have often heard is never too late and therefore why shouldest thou divert thy self from thy business and put thy self into a way thou wilt not like so well when thou knowest it better as perhaps thou thinkest thou shalt For I must tell thee tho Religion have its use yea and sweetness yet no Rose grows without its prickles thou mayest find some thing in it which thou'lt like better on a death Bed then at present and here hee 'l besprinkle it with some sly and sinister reflections And farther 't was very well this thing was in thy heart God knows thy purposes and good meanings and he approves them and wiâ—l accept them tho thou shouldest never perform them at least not at present These and such as these are the suggestions wherewith the Devil will assault thee to intangle thee in farther delay and if by this guilding he can make the swallow this poysoned Pill 't is ten to one thou art lost for ever he knows well this is the most critical juncture in thy whole life and thy being a Saint or a sinner for ever almost wholly depends upon it If when thou art enlightned convinced resolved to turn to God in earnest and to hear his voice to day while 't is called to day and dost say and hold And deferrest not to pay what thou hast vowed my life for thine thou art safe But it the Devil play this last Engine so cunningly as to demolish the Fort of thy resolutions abate thy present Fervours cool thy warmed Affections turn thee from thy purposes especially if he have done it twice or thrice before I will not say thy case is desperate but I should be unfaithful and false to thy soul if I should not tell thee it is very dangerous See Heb. vi 4 5 6. and 2 Pet. ii 20 21 22. I beseech you therefore by the Mercies of God by the Blood of Christ which he shed to Justifie you and by the love of the Spirit which he first purchased and then sent to sanctifie you That you Watch be strong and acquit your selves like men and take
may be spar'd or will prove useless and must be lost But if it appear very Hard and Difficult but yet Hopeful and Possible to be attained and withal most Necessary and very Excellent and Advantageous This will Excite and Raise that Soul that hath any Principles of Prudence Generosity or Care of its own Good First Account not this Work so Easy as 't is most evident too many do who under fullest Convictions and profess'd Acknowledgments that there is such an Heaven and Hell as the Bible describes and that it so infinitely concerns them to obtain the One and escape the Other as is there declared yet Live so securely and negligently that they proclaim to all the World they think it next to Impossible to miscarry and swear by their Hopes of Salvation as the most Sacred Asseveration while they are running headlong in the Broad-way that leads to Destruction Surely these must think God's Work very Easy who flatter themselves that they can carry it on sufficiently while they are serving the Devil and their Lusts with both Hands greedily It may not be impertinent to mind such Men of the Romish Fryar's Lenten Sermon which before many Cardinals and Great Men of that Court he began abruptly thus St. Peter was a Fool and St. Paul was a Fool and all the Primitive Christians were meer Fools who took such a deal of Care and Pains to please God and save their Souls and thought the Way to Heaven was by Self-Denyal and Mortification Prayers and Fasting by Severities and denying the Pomps of this Wicked World And You at Rome indulge your selves in Ease and Sloth live in your Lusts and Luxury and spend your Time in Pomp and Pleasure and yet account your selves very good Christians and doubt not but you shall be saved But at last You 'll be found the Fools and They the Wise Men. For 't is the part of Wisdom to proportion the Means to the End and 't is great Folly to waste Time and Strength and make a great Stir and Bustle about that which may be done as you say with a wet Finger and 't is so also to act coldly and faintly in that which cannot be accomplish't without great Industry I beseech you therefore beware of such an Opinion as will greatly tempt you to be Remiss in the Work of God and remember who bid Strive to enter in at the Streight-Gate withal telling you That many of those who strive shall not be able to get in What then shall become of them who strive not The Violent take the Kingdom of Heaven As he that Asks faintly bespeaks a Denyal so he that Acts faintly will be surely Disappointed Besides what was said before it were easie to add many Evidences to prove this Work to be Hard and that 't is very Reasonable it should be so The Way is Steep and Slippery 't is hard to climb it the Enemies are Many and Mighty that Oppose thee thy Skill and Strength is small Nature will recoyl and draw back and single Nature is hardly overcome and Custom of Sinning is a Second Nature and doubtless the Difficulty and no Discipline is so hard as for him to learn to do Well who hath been accustomed to do Evil. Self is a bold Competitor with God and must be used Roughly or it will be serv'd before Him and set up above Him And for thy own Dear Sake thou wilt be prone to cry as David for his Darling Absolom Deal gently with it for my Sake And by a strange Fondness thou wilt spare the Traytor which watches to destroy thee Though Christ Rejected the Temptation Favour thy self with a Get thee behind Me Satan yet when such Sugar'd Words are offer'd thee thou 'lt hardly discern the Poyson that 's mixt with them And there are many Reasons why God hath made his own Work hard that those who Wear the Crown may Win it first For a Man is not Crown'd unless he strive Lawfully That he may appear Impartial in Rejecting Loyterers and Rewarding Labourers That his Servants may have Opportunity to exercise those Graces which else there would be no occasion for That Rest may be sweeter after Labour And that God's Grace may be Magnifyed in assisting their Weakness and Satan may be more Confounded in the Disappointment of all his Stratagems Believe therefore thy Work to be hard that thou betray not thy self to Sloth and Remissness to thy own Eternal Ruin Secondly Yet run not into the other Extream while thou avoydest this and dash not against Scylla while thou avoydest Charybdis Conclude not 't is Impossible to finish it by Labour because it is so to accomplish it without Labour Despair of Success kills all Industry and a supposed Impossibility of Attainment naturally produces Despair When once we say There is no Hope the next word will be Why should I wait any longer Why should I strive any more But Be not Sloathful but Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Faith and Patience will do that which Sloth and the want of them can never do And watch carefully against that Snare Satan layes in the way of so many If I be not Elected all my Labour will be in vain I cannot alter God's Decrees Vain Creature What hast thou to do with God's Decrees Who made thee of His Council Mind thou what is written in the Word Which is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart Not what is written in the Secret Records of Heaven Read Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God But those things which are Revealed belong to Vs and to our Children for ever that we may do all the Words of this Law And Deut. 30.11 12 14. This Commandment which I command thee this Day is not hidden from thee neither is it far off It is not in Heaven that thou shouldst say Who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it But the Word is niâ—h unto thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou may'st do it See I have set before you this Day Life and Good Death and Evil Compare Rom. 10.6 9. This is the Word of Faith which we Preach If thou Confess with thy Mouth and believe in thine Heart thou shalt be saved Not if thou be Elected thou shalt be Saved whether thou believest whether thou workest out thy Salvation or no This is to begin at the wrong End as if a Man would begin to Build a House at the Roof and Build downwards Build the Roof in the Air before any thing were laid on Earth to bear it up St. Peter teaches another Method 2 Pet. 1.5 Giving all Diligence add to your Faith Vertue c. For if these Things be in you and abound they make you that you shall be neither Barren nor Vnfruitful c. And Vers 10. Giving Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure First Calling then Election and
Vines Deut. xxii 9. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with divers seeds And also to plant Trees of another kind partly to support their Vines which are a weak and tender Plant and partly to make the better improvement of their Ground and none more commonly than Fig trees Which makes it so frequent to name them together sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree The planting this Fig-tree in the Vineyard signifies the calling any Nation to the knowledg and profession of the Gospel and making them a Church as a part of the Universal Church or it is the receiving a man or woman into the Church by Baptism See the expression in the very Letter Rom. vi 3 4 5. Know ye not that as many of us as were Baptised into Jesus Christ were Baptised into his death and if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death c. So that he useth the Phrases of being Baptised and Planted as signifying the same or explaining one the other So that every one of you who have been Baptised are thereby Planted in Gods Vineyard admitted to partake of the Ordinances and Priviledges of the Gospel-Church and thereby obliged to the Duties Consequent upon those Priviledges As a Tree which stands in the Orchard is bound as I may say to bear part of that Fruit which the Master and Owner of the Orchard looks for His coming to look for Fruit is a most obvious Allusion to the custom amongst men to go into their Gardens and Orchards to fee what Fruit the Trees bear or whether they bear any which they have caused to be set in them Cant. vii 12. Let us go early into the Vineyards let us see if the Vine flourish whether the tender Grapes appear and the Pomegranates put forth And is the same with Isa v. 2. where God saith He lookt for Grapes which verse 7. he interprets He lookt for judgment and righteousness and which he speaks in plain words without any Parable Psal xiv 2. The Lord lookt down from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God and is equivalent to what is exprest by another sence viz. of hearing Jer. viii 6. I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented of the evil of his doings saying what have I done and might were it needful be illustrated by many other Scriptures In a word it is as much as if it were said God comes to look after every man whether they fulfil their Covenant of Christianity which they made with him when they were Baptised and planted in his Church Lastly His finding no Fruit is Gods disappointment as to what he greatly desires looks for yea even longs for No true Repentance no sound Faith no sincere Obedience no Reformation of Life no hearty turning unto God no Holiness and Righteousness no serious care nor vigorous Zeal to glorifie God and save their own souls or as it is Hos iv 1. No truth no mercy no knowledg of God in the land but swearing lying killing stealing committing adultery and breaking out till blood toucheth blood and no man reproveth one another for these evils but are ready to strive with the Priest if he reprove them for them verse 2 4. Such rotten and vile Figs are all the Fruit they bear or at best a few leaves of empty Profession and some cheap formal duties and lip labour and drawing near to God with the body while their hearts are left behind and are far from God being set upon other objects and God hath no true nor real love or fear or acceptable service And in that 't is said a Fig-tree in the singular number it implies that every particular Church every individual and particular person shall be strictly lookt after they shall not be hid in the thickness of the Trees not lost in the croud nor escape or remain less discovered then Adam and his Wife who in vain attempted to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the Trees of the Garden Gen. iii. 8. Which I only point to by way of Allusion Every Tree every person shall be particularly inquired after and sought out if there be but one unfruitful Tree it shall be discovered the Lord of the Vineyard will certainly find it out and so will he every one that is so one by one be they never so many that are such You have heard what the Lord and owner of the Vineyard did Planted a Tree a Fig-tree which is naturally capable of bearing Fruit in his Vineyard a good soyl apt to nourish it and as 't was just he should came and sought Fruit but was unjustly disappointed Hear now what he saith Then said he to the dresser of the Vineyard behold these three years I come seeking Fruit on this Tree and find none cut it down why cumbreth it the ground I shall explain these words with the like brevity and then sum up the improvement of them together And here four particulars must be explained First Who is to be understood by the Dresser of the Vineyard and why he is told of the Fig-trees unfruitfulness Secondly What is meant by the three years in which he came seeking Fruit of it Thirdly What is meant by the Sentence to Cut it down and why the Execution of it is injoyned to the Dresser of the Vineyard Fourthly What is meant by the Cumbring of the Ground which contains the reason to justifie the severity of the Sentence of cutting down First who is to be understood by the Dresser of the Vineyard the most general opinion is that it is the Minister or in complex consideration the Ministers of the Gospel Coetus Apostolorum as a good Expositor expresseth it But I meet with other Opinions of which I shall name four First 'T is Jesus Christ In various Parables God and Christ sustain various persons as St. John xv 1. God himself is the Vine-dresser Christ the Vine and particular Believers the Branches I am the true vine my Father is the husband-man ye are the branches But here Christ is the Dresser of the Vineyard to whom God hath committed the care of his Church To be sure 't is he who is the great and prevailing Intercessour and by reason of the Intercession that the Dresser here makes Lord let it alone this year Some Interpreters refer it to him as St. Ambrose bonus cultor in quo ecclesiae fundamentum c. And Theophilact This Dresser is Christ who would water them with his Doctrine and his Passion who had been fruitless under the Law and Prophets Secondly The Civil Magistrate in a Christian State who is to be the keeper of both Tables to see to the maintenance of the true Religion towards God as well as civil honesty amongst men Who are promised to be Nursing-Fathers to the Church Isa xlix 23. and therefore must look to the Children of it One principal branch of a Fathers
lose nothing by conferring it upon us Our Hearts would sink and fail within us and our Hands our Faith could not be strong if God were to lose by what we hope to gain if the receiving us to glory must be by the eclipsing of his own glory For he will never diminish that for the advancement of which all things were made by him and for the sake of which he doth all that he doth or ever will do that therefore his Mercy may be thus magnified safely he hath provided how his Justice may be satisfied fully and all his other Attributes retain their lustre and their brightness He hath therefore raised up for us a mighty salvation in the house of his servant David as he spake by the mouth of all his Holy Prophets since the world began And to give us the clear knowledge of salvation by the remission of our sins through the tender mercies of our God the day spring from on high hath visited us He hath devised means to bring home his banished that they should not for ever be expelled from himself that we may be delivered from going down to the pit He hath found a ransom He hath laid help upon one that is mighty able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him He spared not his own Son but gave him to be a ransom for us made him to be sin that is a sin offering for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him yea made him a curse for us bear that curse of the Law which we had deserved that we might be delivered from it God hath set forth his Son Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood And he is gone into Heaven to appear in the presence of God for us so that if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is a propitiation for our sin and therefore If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin And he hath revealed him to us and publisht these glad tidings to us in his Gospel which takes its name its denomination hence because in it and by it is made known to us those glad tidings of great joy that the Son of God is become the Son of man is now Emanuel God with us to be a Saviour to us Fifthly He makes us the most free kind pathetick invitations to come to him to look unto him and be saved He bids us to a Feast of fat things which he hath slain and prepared and of choice Wine Wine upon the lees well refined You shall scarce any where amongst men tho the dearest to one another and most delighted in each others conversation meet with so passionate so restless an importunity as is exprest to bring in Guests to the Wedding Feast Matth. xxii and Luk. xiv First a previous invitation before hand then a liberal and sumptuous preparation which might allure any man to partake of it Then a sending forth servants to call them who were before bidden then a sending forth other servants to inform them what an extraordinary entertainment was provided and again to let them know the meat was on the Table and their Lord staid for them and would not sit down till they were come and then other servants are posted away some into the Streets and Lanes of the City to search the very Lanes and by Allies where none but persons of the meanest rank dwell or converse others into the Country into the Highways where may be met Passengers of all degrees and qualities and to the Hedges where the Beggers lye basking or the Robbers lye sculking to hide themselves or look and wait to catch their prey and not only tell them they may come if they please and shall be very welcome but invite them heartily press them earnestly to come along wich them immediately and if they be indifferent whether they come or no urge them and persuade them till you have made them willing and if they continue still unwilling even constrain and compel them to come in and if when all this is done some of them make such excuses that nothing will prevail with them find out others in their room and give not over till the House be full and the Table be furnished as plentifully with Guests as 't is nobly stored and even loaden with provisions Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat come and buy wine and milk without mony and without price Isa lv 1. Come unto me all ye that are weary and hâ—â—vy laden and I will refresh you and you shall find rest Matth. xi 28. And the whole Bible is as it were concluded and shut up with that large and free and earnest invitation which is so proclaimed that the whole world is made to ring of it He that hears first as being nearest to the first sound having charge to tell it unto others and call to them that are remote and out of hearing of the first publishers of it The Spirit and the bride God from Heaven the Church on Earth say come And let him that heareth say come And let him that is a thirst come And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Rev. xxii 17. And lest any should enlarge what God hath streitned or streiten what God hath enlarged and take off from the encouragement which this invitation gives so universally to all sinners to repent and turn and come in to God the words next following may seem to have a peculiar aspect on what is immediately before declared in this 17. verse now set down tho I would not confine them to that only verse 18. For I testifie to every one that heareth the words of the prophesie of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book that is if any man shall add to the conditions of this invitation which assures acceptance to them who thirst and so thirsting come to God by Faith and Repentance if I may inoffensively subjoyn such a gloss as if it were so free as even to exempt sinners from these terms as necessary for their peace and safety God will plague that man then vers 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the Book of life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book that is if any man shall deny any one to be capable of the benefit offered in this so large and free and universal an invitation who doth thirst after these waters of life and so thirsting shall come to them repenting and believing and willing and desirous to drink of them He himself shall have no part
in in them Sixthly He that is the Amen the true and faithful one the God that cannot lie gives you many great and precious promises which are founded upon his word that is more firm than the mountains than the foundations of the Earth than the Ordinances of Heaven than the course of day and night in their Seasons That he will abundantly pardon that he will heal your back-slidings and love you freely that he will blot out your iniquities as a thick cloud that he will cast all your Traâ—sgressions into the depth of the Sea even that Ocean of Mercy which hath neither shore nor bottom that whosoever comes to him he will in no wise cast him out And hundreds more of the like endearing and sweetest signification Seventhly As if it were not enough on his part to give us leave to be happy he hath made it our duty to be so and obliged us by the strictest commands to that which will infallibly render us so He commands all men every where to repent Act. 17.30 This is his commandment that we believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 3.23 and that believing we might have life by his Name John 20 31. And who dare question his sincerity as if he did not heartily desire what he so earnestly injoyns Eighthly He steps down from the Throne of the Imperative Mood to the humble Foot-stool of the Optative 'T is a sign of weakness to fall to wishing and an argument of impotence to cry O si O si to sigh out our Options And yet the Omnipotent God disdains not to appear to us thus to shew and express the pathos of his blessed mind the vehemency with which he desires our good and wellfare Oh that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 Oh that they were wise Deut 32.29 Oh that my people had hearkened unto we Psal 81.13 Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments Isa 48.18 Whose heart would it not break with shame and sorrow to hear an holy God breathing out the longing desires of his heart in this wise that we may he assured of his hearty readiness in accepting us when we perform what he wishes with such assumed passions that we would perform Ninthly He stoops yet lower and does what is infinitely indecent I will not say for him to do but I must say for us to occasion him to do and more to suffer him to continue to do but most of all to suffer him to do in vain that is to intreat us pray us woe us beseech us to accept his mercy to pity our selves to be reconciled to him and to accept his pardon which he offers ready sealed and to touch that Golden Scepter which he reaches out from Heaven to us Abraham sent but once to take a wife for his Son Isaac from amongst his Kindred and a short woing by a servant serv'd the turn when they saw the Bracelets and the Jewels and the Ear-rings and heard the rest reported how soon do they yield and send away Rebeckah Gen. 24. Yet God sends one Embassador one Paranymph and Spokes-man after another to woe to court us to be Brides to the true Isaac the Heir of all things who is become our Kinsman and hath all the right imaginable to claim us to himself and offers more Dower than we can ask to joyncture us in the whole Land of Promise to settle upon us the inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away reserved in Heaven to give us an eternal Kingdom yea the eternal King himself to be our everlasting Portion and is it possible to doubt his willingness to conclude the Match after all this Tenthly But to make all sure beyond all possibility of any rational ground to remain to stick and scruple at his heartiest reality in designing our happiness he adds to all the rest his Oath which puts an end to Controversies God being willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirm'd it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation Heb. 6.17 18. Two things that is his Promise and his Oath upon his promise or two things the two by which he swears his life his holiness as if he had said as true as I am a living God as true as I am an holy God I will pardon you I will yet spare you if yet at last you bring forth good fruit let me never be esteemed a living God never accounted an holy God more if I do not or two things I use this only allusively I urge it not as the proper meaning of the place God swears by the two Sacraments for a Sacrament is an Oath As truly as this water which I now touch and lay my hand upon will wash what is foul and make it clean soak what is hard and make it soft quench what is kindled and put out its burning refresh what is scorched and make it fruitful and slack his thirst who drinks it and chear and revive his spirits so shall the Blood and Spirit of my Son which I will pour out upon all who thirst for it and are willing to receive it do for them proportionably in their Souls cleanse soften quench satisfie and make them fruitful and as truly as this Bread will nourish them who eat it and become the staff of their lives and as truly as this Wine will chear the hearts of them that drink it so truly so certainly shall the Body and Blood of my Son which I here freely and heartily offer to you nourish and cherish you unto eternal life if you will indeed by faith receive it and feed upon it Eleventhly He will make your Estate as happy as if you had come sooner provided you come now in earnest without more delay They received every one a penny and there are last who shall be first Twelfthly He 'll not twit you or upbraid you with your coming late He giveth liberally and uphraideth not Nay he will himself be thy Apologist and against them who reproach thee for labouring but one hour he will plead thy Cause Friend I do thee no wrong is thy eye evil because I am good Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own I will give to this last as unto thee Matth. 20.14 This is a little of the much that might be said upon this Argument a little of that mellow prolifick earth to be laid to your Roots God Almighty set it home by the hand of his own Spirit and in his name I do assure you if either this digging or this dunging these threatnings or those promises either singly or both joyntly prevail to make you yet fruitful God will assuredly spare you and repeal his sentence given out against you But then you must do it quickly Agree with thy Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him Look