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
his Candle Not with an Enemy but wilt Heap coals of fire on his head to melt him or oblige him with preventing kindness not with a Beast but if it Low for Food wilt serve it or if it fall into a ditch be it an Ox or Ass wilt straightways pull it out tho on the Sabbath day Luke xiv 5. Nay you will not make the Devil dance attendance at the rate you trifle with Almighty God if he but whistle to you you know his meaning and obey it a nod a beckon of his finger is enough you are dry Tinder to the first spark of Temptation he cast on you and you are quickly in a flame But to Gods Holy motions tho they be hot as coals of Juniper you are like green wood no blowing will suffice to dry or make you kindle Nay would I could say that too many were not too quick and nimble for the Devil himself save him the charge and trouble of a temptation run to his work before he bids them like high mettled Horses start before the sign can be given and run full speed without either Switch or Spur. And yet mean-while quite foundred and down right lame in the ways of God that neither Spur nor Whip can mend their pace God hath not left himself without witness that he might leave thee without excuse his grads are in thy sides his hand hath fixed them in thy very soul for as he hath planted punitive affections in thee to be his rods to whip thee for thy past offences such as shame and grief So hath he quickning affections to excite thee to thy duty such as hope and fear and yet thou wilt kick against these pricks be it never so hazardous never so hard to do so How often hast thou felt these stings strike to thy very heart and yet like a restive Horse thou wilt rather winch or kick or run backward or fall down than go forward as thou oughtest When sickness hath assaulted thee and grim Death hath stared thee in the face with its gastly visage how have thy knees smote against each other like Belshazers Thy Countenance wax'd pale and trembling seized thy joynts and anguish and horror surprized thy Conscience Like Cain apprehending that Every thing that met thee would kill thee and what killed would damn thee Yet after all this thou returnest to thy old security yea like heated water thou becomest more cold or softned Iron more hard than e're before Ninteenthly If there be any spark of Ingenuity left in thee let 's try to blow up that Christ went not thus lingringly about the work He undertook for thy sake But he left the Mansions of Glory and came down from Heaven more willingly than thou canst be persuaded to go thither Lo I come to do thy will O my God In the volume of thy look it is written of me He came leaping over the hills skipping over the mountains Conquering all difficulties in the way With desire he desired to eat that Passover he knew was to be his last and himself immediately to succeed it I have a Baptism to be Baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished And when his hour was come he delays not one hour longer but went to Jerusalem where he was to dye When they sought to take him he called the Traytor friend which kist him into their hands yea offered himself to them of his own accord whom seek ye I am he and when that word had struck them down he let them rise and bind and carry him away tho he had more than twelve legions of Angels ready for his Rescue 'T were endless to reckon up those many Arguments you meet with in History to shew how readily he went about that dreadful work and how active he was in his Bloody Passion Read Believe Consider these things well and for shame make more hast to be ready to attain that blessedness with him for the procuring which he was so ready to be made a curse for thee Twentiethly This thy delay wounds God in his tenderest part his Eye his Heart his Bowels A wound is troublesome where ere 't is fixt but neither so painful nor so mortal in an Arm or Leg as in some vital part To wound God in the Foot of his Providence the Arm of his Power or Hand of his Justice is a provocation but not like wounding him in the Eye of his Pitty Heart of his Grace and Mercy and the Bowels of his tender Compassions All the most amiable and endearing Attributes of God shine most resplendently in this work of God to give his Son for sinners and for sinners to refuse this Gift despise this Love make light of it as not worth receiving or preparing to receive it what can be more provoking But set aside at present the consideration of all the rest and think what the abuse of his patience alone amounts to Rev. ii 21. I gave her space to repent and she repented not was the most killing Article in Christs charge against Jesabel Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance Rom. ii 4. This is the sin by which men Treasure up wrath against the day of wrath For as Gods long suffering should be Salvation to us the abuse of it becomes the surest and the sorest Damnation Laesa patientia fit furor abused patience turns into fury And God swears in his wrath at last They shall never enter into his rest who had grieved him by refusing the tenders of it forty years together Twenty firstly This delay turns thy light into darkness thy very Prayers into sin for either thou canst not Pray as thou oughtest for the coming of Christ to Judgment come Lord Jesus come quickly or thou Prayest against thy own life and so against thy own heart and dost but mock God and wouldst not have hiâ— take thee at thy word as St. Augustinâ— bewaylingly confest when he Prayed foâ— Continence before his Conversion Anâ— domine sed non modo Lord hear me buâ— not yet because he was afraid to lose hâ— pleasing Lusts So when thou sayest Thâ— Kingdom come either thou considerest noâ— what thou sayest or only sayest it in câ—stom and formality for neither would thou have the Kingdom of his Grace come which thou willfully opposest nor thâ— Kingdom of his Glory for which thou râ—fusest obstinately to be ready and not hiâ— would afright thee more than pregnaâ—â— symptoms of its near approach and speâ—dy coming and wouldst as in a by worâ— men say Witches do say thy Prayers bacâ—ward let not thy Kingdom come bâ— stay I pray thee till I be ready for it Twenty secondly Tho thou delay and loyterest yet other things do no Time tarrys not that 's in perpetual Flâ— and sliding on thou mayest take off tâ— Weights of thy Clock and stop its Motioâ— but thou canst not stop the Course of tâ—
thy self up out of a Deep Well because thou canst Throw thy self down into the Bottom of it Doth not this depend immediately upon his Help whose Gift Repentance is Must not God give thee both Space to Repent in and Grace to Repent with if ever thou Repent in truth And though he hath often promis'd Pardon to Repentance he hath never promis'd Repentance to Presumptuous Sinners but contrarily To wound the Head and Hairy Scalp of them who go on in their Iniquities This Course hardens thy Heart against God that it cannot Repent and may justly harden His Heart against thee never to give thee Repentance it being but a Peradventure in the most favourable Case 2 Tim. 2.25 26. If God Peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may Recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are led Captive of him at his Will Though all Sin is dangerous yet none sin so desperately as those who sin upon Presumption of Repentance As to that of the Eleventh Hour Take heed of stretching Parables too far However remark the Words in Matth. 20.7 When he went out at the Eleventh Hour and said Why stand ye here Idle all the Day long They answered roundly Because no Man hath Hired us This is a fair Excuse They come soon enough who come at the First Call and they go to work in due time who go as soon as they are sent or their Work is set them But What is this to you who have been call'd a Hundred times yea commanded to your Work a Thousand He that being often Reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Prov. 29.1 how well soever he may speed who obeyes the First Warning God gives him As to that of the Thief on the Cross who went on a Sinner and came off a Saint As the Cross of Christ was a scandal to many at the First so the Cross of this Happy Thief is an Unhappy Occasion of stumbling and falling to not a few to this very Day But many have been the Answers which have been given to remove it out of the way that no more may stumble at it There were Two Thieves Crucifyed at that time and but One Repented and thou mayst prove the Impenitent One and What will thy Case then be But that 's the very least that can be said There is but this One Example in all the Bible and this One is Recorded that none might Despair and but this One that none may Presume And this being a single Instance we say One Swallow makes no Summer thou may'st as well Spur thy Ass till thou make him speak because thou readest Balaam's Ass once spake with Man's Voyce as Holy Mr. Greenham smartly upbraids such Men's Folly as promise thy self the like But consider the Time it was when our Lord was Crucifyed in greatest Ignominy and He thought good to shew His Royalty and an extraordinary Munificence to counterballance the Infamy of His Dying on the Accursed Tree and it was a thing becoming His Wisdom and Goodness to give a Signal Instance and Early Proof of the Efficacy of His Death and His Father's Acceptance of His Obedience And 't is a great Word one speaks upon it You may as well expect Christ to be Crucifyed again as expect such another Instance of such unusual Mercy Kings may on their Coronation-Day open the Prisons and let loose Offenders such as they will not Pardon afterwards in all their Reign The Conduits may then flow with Wine though they run Common Water alwayes after And the Thief 's Case was Extraordinary which might in some Measure entitle him to Extraordinary Favour He Pleaded Christ's Cause openly Rebuked his Fellow-Sufferer Own'd a Rejected Saviour when the Priests and Elders not only Condemned Him but Mocked and Blasphemed Him and when His own Followers fled and forsook Him and were either afraid or asham'd to Own Him And was as one calls him The Apostle of the Apostles aptly supplying Judas's Room For whom he who was a Thief Joh. 12.6 had Betray'd to the Cross this Good Thief Preached whil'st he was upon it More Objections might have been Started and as easily Answered and more have been said to These but I hope this may suffice I beseech you therefore All especially you Young Ones into whose Hands this may fall up and be doing Defer not a Day not an Hour longer e're you set upon this Great Work Grieve not the Blessed Spirit when He knocks when He calls at the Door of thy Heart Say not to Him as Faelix did to Paul Go thy way now when I have a Convenient Time I will send for thee lest that Time never come or He despise thy sending for Him who hast rejected Him so often when He came of His own Accord But take heed you be not Discouraged at the Beginnings of a New Work First On-sets are most Difficult 'T is the Neck unaccustomed to the Yoke that winches and complains of it A little Wearing it will make it Easy He that hath begun well hath half Finished As 't is safest to Resist Evil in the Beginning so 't is the wisest Course to begin quickly and resolvedly what is Good and must be done The Engine which is hardly set a-going is easily continued to move when 't is once in Motion It hath been observed most are Converted Young that are ever Converted truly O ye Young Ones Confirm that Observation by your Speedy Turning unto God! But then resolve to proceed in your Work with Diligence which is the Last Thing to be spoken to I might in this place add more Motives to quicken your Speed But I shall rather refer you back at present to those in the preceding Discourse and subjoyn here those Considerations which may provoke your Diligence Amongst which a Place will be found to touch this String again conveniently Now in this Exhortation to Diligence Three Things will be requisite to render it more effectual 1. To Caution you against the Hinderances which Obstruct it 2. To Direct you to the Helps which Promote it 3. To Lay down the Motives which Provoke to it First That you may proceed with Diligence in the Work of God beware of the Hinderances which would Obstruct it Which are of Two sorts The First we may call Doctrinal or in Opinion The Second Real or in Practice I shall briefly point at Three of either sort 1. Take heed of esteeming it so Easy that it needs it not 2. That on the contrary Extream you judge it not so Difficult and even Impossible that no Diligence can effect it 3. That you think not so Meanly and Basely of it that it doth not deserve it When a Business is propounded to be done if it appear under any of these Notions no Wise Man will attempt it with any Vigour For Why should he bestow a great deal of Pains and Labour when he plainly fore-sees it is either needless and
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