The Barren Fig Tree, Section 32 – Section 33
Signs of being past Grace.
But a little distinctly to particularize in four or five Particulars:
First Sign. The Day of Grace is like to be past, when a Professor hath withstood, abused, and worn out God's Patience, then he is in danger, this is a provocation, then God cries, Cut it down. There are some Men that steal into a Profession, no body knows how; even as the Fig-tree was brought into the Vineyard by other hands than God's; and th… they abide liveless, graceless, careles… and without any good Conscience to God … all. Perhaps they came in for the Loave… for a Trade, for Credit, for a Blind; … it may be to stifle and choak the Check and grinding Pangs of an awakened and disquieted Conscience. Now having obtain'd their purpose, like the Sinners … Sion, they are at ease, and secure; Sa… ing, like Agag, 1 Sam. 15. 32. Surely … bitterness of Death is past; I am we… shall be saved, and go to Heaven: Th… in these vain conceits it spends a Year, two or three; not remembring that at every Season of Grace, and at every opportunity of the Gospel, the Lord come… seeking Fruit. Well, Sinner, well barre… Fig-tree, this is but a course beginning; God comes for Fruit. What have I here, saith God,: what a Fig-tree is this that hath stood this Year in my Vineyard, and brought me forth no Fruit▪ I will cry unto him, Professor! Barre… Fig-tree, be fruitful! I look for Fruit, I expect Fruit, I must have Fruit, therefore bethink thy self. At these the Professor pauses; but these are words, not blows, therefore off goes this Consideration from the Heart: When God comes the next Year, he finds him still as he was, a barren, fruitless cumber-ground. And now again he complains, here are two Years gone, and no Fruit appears; Well, I will defer mine anger for my Namesake. Isa. 48. 9. I will defer mine Anger for my Praise, I will refrain from thee, that I cut thee not off (as yet.) I will wait, I will yet wait to be Gracious. But this helps not, this hath not the least influence upon the barren Fig-tree, Tush, saith he, here is no Threatning: God is merciful, he will defer his anger, Isa. 30. 18. He waits to be gracious: I am not yet afraid. O how ungodly Men, that are at unawares crept into the Vineyard, how do they turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness! Well, he comes the third Year for Fruit, as he did before, but still he finds but a barren Fig-tree; No Fruit: now he cries out again, O thou Dresser of my Vineyard, come hither, here's a Fig-tree hath stood these three Years in my Vineyard, and hath at every season disappointed my expectation, for I have looked for Fruit in vain; Cut it down, my patience is worn out, I sha… wait on this Fig-tree no longer.
2. And now he begins to shake the Fig-tree with his threatnings; fetch out th… Ax. Now the Ax is Death, Death ther… fore is called for; Death, come, smi… me this Fig-tree. And withal the Lor… shakes this Sinner, and whirls him upon Sick-bed, saying, Take him Death, … hath abused my Patience and Forb… rance, not remembring that it shou… have led him to Repentance, and to th… Fruits thereof. Death, fetch away th… Fig-tree to the fire, fetch this barren Professor to Hell. At this, Death com… with Grim looks into the Chamber, ye… and Hell follows with him to the Bed-sid… and both stare this Professor in the fac… yea, begin to lay Hands upon him; o… smiting him with pains in his Body, with Head-ach, Heart-ach, Back-ach, Shortness of Breath, Fainting Qualms, Trembling of Joints, Stopping at the Chef… and almost all the Symptomes of a Man pa… all recovery. Now while Death is th… tormenting the Body, Hell is doing with the Mind and Conscience, striking the… with its Pains, casting sparks of Fire i… thither, wounding with sorrows an… Fears of everlasting damnation, the Spirit of this poor creature: And now he begins to bethink himself, and to cry to God for Mercy; Lord, spare me, Lord, spare me. Nay, saith God, you have been a Provocation to me these three Years. How many times have you disappointed me? How many seasons have you spent in vain? How many Sermons and other Mercies did I of my Patience afford you? but to no purpose at all, Take him Death. O good Lord, saith the Sinner, Spare me but this once; Raise me but this once. Indeed I have been a barren Professor, and have stood to no purpose at all in thy Vineyard: But spare! O spare this one time, I beseech thee, and I will be better. Away, away, you will not. I have tried you these three Tears already, you are nought; If I should recover you again, you would be us bad as you was before (and all this talk is while Death stands by.) The Sinner cries again, Good Lord, try me this once, let me get up again this once, and see if I do not mend. But will you promise me to mend? Yes indeed, Lord, and vow it too; I will never be so bad again, I will be better. Well, saith God, Death, let this Professor alone for this time. I will try him a while longer, he hath promised, he hath vowed that he will amend his ways. It may be he will mind to keep his Promises. Vows are solemn things, it may be he may fear to break his Vows: Arise from off thy Bed; and now God laies down his Ax. At this the poor Creature is very thankful, praises God, and fawns upon him, shews as if he did it heartily, and calls to others to thank him too. He therefore riseth as one would think, to be a new-creature indeed. But by that he hath put on his clothes, is come down from his bed, and ventured into the Yard, or Shop, and there sees how all things are gone to Sixes and Sevens, he begins to have second thoughts: and says to his folks, What have you all been doing? How are all things out of order? I am I cannot tell what behind-hand; one may see if a Man be but a little a to-side, that you have neither Wisdom, nor Prudence to order things: And now, instead of seeking to spend the rest of his time to God, he doubleth his Diligence after this World. Alas, all must not be lost, we must have provident Care: and thus quite forgetting the Sorrows of Death, the pains of Hell, the Promises and Vows which he made to God to be better: Because Judgment was not (now) speedily executed, therefore the Heart of this poor Creature is fully set in him to do Evil.
These things proving ineffectual, God takes hold of his Ax again, sends Death to a Wife, to a Child, to his Cattel, (your young Men have I slain, and taken away your horses, Amos 4. 9, 10.) I will blast him, cross him, disappoint him, and cast him down, and will set my self against him, in all that he putteth his Hand unto. At this the poor Barren Professor cries out again, Lord, I have sinned, spare me once more, I beseech thee. O take not away the desire of mine Eyes, spare my Children, bless me in my labours, and I will mend and be better. No, saith God, you lyed to me last time, I will trust you in this no longer, and withal he tumbleth the Wife, the Child, the Estate, into a grave.
And then returns to his place, till this Professor more unfeignedly acknowlegeth his offence, Hos. 5. 14, 15.
At this the poor creature is afflicted and distressed, Rents his Cloaths, and begins to call the breaking of his Promise and Vows to mind, he mourns and Prays, and like Ahab, a while walks softly, at the remembrance of the justness of the hand of God upon him. And now he renews his Promises; Lord, try me this one time more, take off thy hand and see; They go far that never turn. Well, God spareth him again, sets down his Ax again; Many times He did deliver them, but they provoked him with their Counsels, and were brought low for their Iniquities, Psal. 106. 43. Now they seem to be thankful again, and are as if they were resolved to be Godly indeed. Now they Read, they Pray, they go to Meetings, and seem to be serious a pretty while, but at last they forget. Their Lusts prick them, suitable Temptations present themselves: wherefore they turn to their own crooked ways again. Psal. 78. 34, 36. When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned early after God, nevertheless they did flatter him with mouth, and lyed unto him with their tongue.
4. Yet again, The Lord will not leave this Professor, but will take up his Ax again, and will put him under a more heart-searching Ministry, a Ministry that shall search him, and turn him over and over; a Ministry that shall meet with him, as Elijah met with Ahab, in all his acts of Wickedness (and Now the Ax is laid to the Roots of the Trees.) Besides, this Minstry doth not only search the Heart, but presenteth the Sinner with the Golden rays of the glorious Gospel; Now is Christ Jesus set forth evidently, now is Grace displayed sweetly; Now, now are the Promises broken like Boxes of Ointment to the perfuming of the whole room. But a as, there is yet no Fruit on this Fig-tree. While his Heart is searching, he wrangles; while the glorious Grace of the Gospel is unvailing, this Professor wags and is wanton, gathers up some scraps thereof, Tastes the good Word of God, and the Powers of the World to come, Jude 4. Drinketh in the Rain that comes oft upon him, Heb. 6. 3— 7, 8. But bringeth not forth Fruit meet for him, whose Gospel it is; takes no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his Heart, 2 Kin. 10. 31. but counteth that the Glory of the Gospel consisteth in talk and shew, and that our Obedience thereto, is a matter of Speculation; that good Works lie in good Words, and if they can finely talk, they think they bravely, please God. They think the Kingdom of God consisteth only in Word, not in Power: and thus proveth ineffectual this Fourth Means also.
5. Well, Now the Ax begins to be heaved higher, for now indeed God is ready to smite the Sinner, yet before he will strike the stroak, he will try one Way more at the last, and if that misseth, down goes the Fig-tree. Now this last way is to tug and strive with this Professor by his Spirit. Wherefore the Spirit of the Lord is now come to him: But not always to strive with Man, Gen. 6. 8. yet a while he will strive with him, he will awaken, he will convince, he will call to remembrance former Sins, former Judgments, the breach of former Vows and Promises, the mispending of former Days; he will also present perswasive Arguments, encouraging Promises, dreadful Judgments, the shortness of time to repent in; and that there is hope if he come. Further, he will shew him the certainty of Death, and of the Judgment to come; yea, He will pull and strive with this Sinner. But, behold, the mischief now lies here, here is tugging and striving on both sides. The Spirit convinces, the Man turns a deaf Ear to God; the Spirit saith, Receive my Instruction and live; but the Man pulls away his Shoulder; the Spirit shews him whither he is going, but the Man closeth his Eyes against it; the Spirit offereth violence, the Man strives and resists, They have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace, Heb. 10. 29. The Spirit parlieth a second time, and urgeth Reasons of a new nature; But the Sinner answereth, No, I have loved strangers, and after them I will go, Amos 4. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11. At this God's Fury comes up into his Face, now he comes out of his holy Place, and is terrible: now He sweareth in his Wrath, they shall never enter into his Rest, Ezek. 24. 13. I exercised towards you my Patience, yet you have not turned unto me, saith Lord. I smote you in your Person, in your Relations, in your Estate, yet you have not returned …nto me, saith the Lord. 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 cause my Fury to rest npon thee. Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?
The Second Sign, That such a Professor is almost (if not quite) past Grace, is, When God hath given him over, or lets him alone, and suffers him to do any thing, and that without controul, helpeth him not either in Works of Holiness, or in Straits and Difficulties. Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone, Hos. 4. 17. W… be to them when I depart from them. I will laugh at their Calamities, and will mock when their Fear cometh, Prov. 1. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Barren Fig-tree, thou hast heretofore been digged about, and dunged, God's Mattock hath heretofore been at thy Roots, Gospel-dung hath heretofore been applied to thee; thou hast heretofore been strove with, convinced, awakened, made to taste and see, and crie, O the Blessedness! Thou hast heretofore been met with under the Word; thy Heart hath melted, thy Spirit hath fallen, thy Soul hath trembled, and thou hast felt something of the Power of the Gospel. But thou hast sinned, thou hast provoked the Eyes of his Glory, thy Iniquity is found to be hateful, and now perhaps God hath left thee, given thee up, and lets thee alone.
Heretofore thou wast tender, thy Conscience startled at the temptation to Wickedness, for thou wert taken off from the pollutions of the World, through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 2. 20, 21, 22. but that very Vomit that once thou wert turned from, now thou lappest up (with the Dog in the Proverb) again, and that very Mire that once thou seemest to lie washed from, in that very Mire thou now art tumbling afresh. But to particularize, there are three Signs of a Man's being given over of God.
1. When he is let alone in Sinning, when the reins of his Lusts are loosed, and he given up to them. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledg, God gave them over to a reprobate Mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, Rom. 1. 28, 29. Seest thou a Man that heretofore had the knowledg of God, and that had some awe of Majesty upon him; I say, seest thou such an one, sporting himself in his own Deceivings, Rom. 1. 30, 31. turning the Grace of our God into Lasciviousness, and walking after his own ungodly Lusts; his Judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and his Damnation slumbereth not, 2 Pet. 2. 13. Dost thou hear, barren Professor? It is astonishing to see, how those that once seemed Sons of the Morning, and were making Preparations for Eternal Life, now at last, for the rottenness of their Hearts, by the just Judgment of God, to be permitted, being past feeling, to give themselves over unto Lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, Eph. 4. 18, 19. A great number of such were in the first Gospel-days; against whom Peter, and Jude, and John pronounceth the heavy Judgment of God. Peter and Jude couple them with the fallen Angels, 2 Pet. 2. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and John forbids that prayer be made for them, because that is happened unto them, that hath happened to the Angels that fell, Jude 5, 6, 7, 8. Who for forsaking their first State, and for leaving their own Habitation, are reserved in Chains under everlasting Darkness, unto the Judgment of the great Day. Barren Fig-tree, dost thou hear?
First, These are beyond all Mercy.
Secondly, These are beyond all Promises.
Thirdly, These are beyond all hopes of Repentance.
Fourthly, These have no Intercessor, nor any more share in a Sacrifice for Sin.
Fifthly, For these there remains nothing but a fearful looking for of Judgment.
Sixthly, Wherefore these are the true Fugitives and Vagabonds, that being left of God, of Christ, of Grace, and of the Promise, and being beyond all hope, wander and straggle to and fro, even as the Devil, their Associate, until their time shall come to die, or until they descend in Battel, and perish.
2. Wherefore they are let alone in hearing. If these at any time come under the Word, there is for them no God, no savour of the means of Grace, no stirrings of Heart, no pity for themselves, no love to their own Salvation. Let them look on this hand or that, there they see such effects of the Word in others, as produceth Signs of Repentance, and Love to God and his Christ, These Men only have their Backs bowed down alway, Rom. 11. 10. These Men only, have the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear to this very day, Eccl. 8. 10. Wherefore as they go to the place of the Holy; So they came from the place of the Holy, and soon are forgotten in the places where they so did. Only they reap this dammage, They treasure up Wrath against the day of Wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Rom. 2. 3, 4, 5. Look to it, barren Professor.
3. If he be visited after the common way of Mankind, either with Sickness, Distress, or any kind of Calamity, still no God appeareth, no sanctifying Hand of God, no special Mercy is mixed with the Affliction. But he falls sick, and grows well, like the Beast; or is under distress, as Saul, who when he was engaged by the Philistines, was forsaken and left of God. 1 Sam. 28. 4, 5, 6. And the Philistins gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and thy pitched to Gilboa: And when Saul saw the Host of the Philistins, he was afraid, and his Heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him no more, neither by Dreams, nor by Urim, nor by Prophets. The Lord answered him no more, He had done with him, cast him off, and rejected him, and left him to stand and fall with his Sins by himself. But of this more in the Conclusion, therefore I here forbear.
4. These Men may go whither they will, do what they will, they may range from Opinion to Opinion, from Notion to Notion, from Sect to Sect, but are stedfast no where, they are left to their own Uncertainties: they have not Grace to establish their Hearts, and though some of them have boasted themselves of this Liberty, yet Jude calls them wandering Stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever, Jude 13. They are left, as I told you before, to be Fugitives and Vagabonds in the Earth, to wander every where, but to abide no where, until they shall descend to their own place, (Acts 1. 5.) with Cain and Judas, Men of the same fate with themselves.
A Third Sign that such a Professor is quite past Grace, is, When his heart is grown so hard, so stony and impenetrable, that nothing will pierce it. Barren Fig-tree, dost thou consider? A hard and impenitent Heart is the Curse of God. A Heart that cannot repent, is instead of all Plagues at once; And hence it is that God said of Pharaoh, Exod. 9. 14. when he spake of delivering him up in the greatness of his Anger, I will at this time, saith he, send all my Plagues upon thy Heart.
To some Men that have grievously sinned under a Profession of the Gospel, God giveth this Token of his Displeasure, they are denied the Power of Repentance, their Heart is bound, they cannot repent: It is impossible that they should ever repent should they live a thousand Years, It is impossible for those Fall-a-ways to be renewed again unto Repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, aed put him to open shame, Heb. 6. 4, 5, 6. Now to have the Heart so hardened, so judicially hardened, this is as a bar put in by the Lord God against the Salvation of this Sinner. This was the burden of Spira's Complaint, I cannot do it: O now I cannot do it.
This Man sees what he hath done, what should help him, and what will become of him, yet he cannot repent; he pulled away his Shouldier before, he stopped his Ears before, he shut up his Eyes before, and in that very posture God left him, and so he stands to this very Day. I have had a fancy, that Lot's Wife, when she was turned into a Pillar of Salt, (Gen. 19. 26.) stood yet looking over her Shoulder, or else with her Face towards Sodom; as the Judgment caught her, so it bound her, and left her a Monument of God's Anger to after-Generations.
We read of some that are seared with an hot Iron, and that are past feeling, for so seared Persons, in seared Parts are. Their Conscience is seared, 1 Tim. 4. 2. The Conscience is the thing that must be touched with …eeling fear and remorse, if ever any good be done with the Sinner. How then can any good be done to those whose Conscience is worse than that, that is fast asleep in sin, Eph. 4. 19. For that Conscience that is fast asleep, may yet be effectually awakened and saved; but that Conscience that is seared, dried, as it were, into a Cinder, can never have sense, feeling, or the least regret in this World. Barren Fig-tree, hearken, judicial hardening is dreadful. There is a difference betwixt that hardness of Heart that is incident to all Men, and that which comes upon some as a signal or special Judgment of God: and although all kind of hardness of Heart, in some sense, may be called a Judgment, yet to be hardened with this second kind, is a Judgment peculiar only to them that perish; an hardness that is sent as a punishment, for the abuse of Light received, for a reward of Apostacy.
This Judicial hardness is discovered from that which is incident to all Men, in these Particulars:
1. It is an hardness that comes after some great Light received; Because of some great Sin committed against that Light, and the Grace that gave it. Such hardness as Pharaoh had, after the Lord had wrought wonderously before him: Such hardness as the Gentiles had, a hardness which darkened the Heart, a hardness which made their Minds reprobate. This hard…ess is also the same with that the Hebrews are cautioned to beware of, (Heb. 3. 7, &c.) an hardness that is caused by Unbelief, and a departing from the Living God; and hardness compleated thro the deceitfulness of Sin: Such as that in the Provocation, of whom God sware, that they should not enter into his Rest. 'Twas this kind of hardness also that both Cain, and Ishmael, and Esau were hardened with, after they had committed their great Transgressions.
2. It is the greatest kind of Hardness, and hence they are said to be Harder than a Rock, Jer. 5. 3. or than an Adamant, Zec. 7. 13. that is, harder than Flint. So hard that nothing can enter.
3. It is an Hardness given in much anger, and that to bind the Soul up in an impossibility of Repentance.
4. It is an Hardness therefore which is incurable, of which a Man must die and be damned. Barren Professor, hearken to this.
A Fourth Sign that such a Professor is quite past Grace, is, when he fortifies his hard Heart against the tenour of God's Word, Job 9. 4, &c. This is called hardening themselves against God, and turning of the Spirit against him. As thus, When after a Profession of Faith in the Lord Jesus, and of the Doctrine that is according to Godliness, they shall embolden themselves in courses of Sin, by promising themselves that they shall have Life and Salvation notwithstanding. Barren Professor, hearken to this. This Man is called, (Deut. 29. 18.) A Root that beareth Gall and Wormwood, or a poisonful Herb, such an one as is abominated of God; yea the abhorred of his Soul. For this Man saith, v. 19, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination or stubbornness of my Heart, to add drunkeness to thirst; an opinion flat against the whole Word of God, yea against the very Nature of God himself. Wherefore he adds, Deut. 19. 20. Then the Anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoak against that Man; and all the Curses that are written in God's Book shall lie upon him, and God shall blot out his Name from under Heaven.
Yea, that Man shall not fail to be effectually destroyed, saith the Text, 21. vers. The Lord shall separate that Man unto evil, out of all the Tribes of Israel, according to all the Curses of the Covenant.
He shall separate him unto Evil; He shall give him up, he shall leave him to his Heart; he shall separate him to that, or those that will assuredly be too hard for him.
Now this Judgment is much effected, when God hath given a Man up unto Satan, and hath given Satan leave, without fail, to compleat his destruction. I say, When God hath given Satan leave effectually to compleat his destruction: For all that are delivered up unto Satan, have not, nor do not come to this End. But that is the Man, whom God shall separate to Evil, and shall leave in the Hands of Satan, to compleat, without fall, his Destruction.
Thus he served Ahab, a Man, that fold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, 1 Kin. 21. 25. And the Lord said, Who shall perswade Ahab, that he may go up, and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And on said on this manner, and another said on that manner: And there came forth a Spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will perswade him. 1 Kin. 22. 20, 21, 22. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets. And he said, Thou shalt perswade him, and prevail also, go forth, and do so. Thou shalt perswade him and prevail, do thy Will, I leave him in thy Hand, Go forth, and do so.
Wherefore in these Judgments, the Lord doth much concern himself for the management thereof, because of the Provocation wherewith they have provoked him. This is the Man, whose Ruine contriveth, and bringeth to pass by his own contrivance. I will chuse their delusions for them; I will bring their fears upon them, Isa. 66. 4. I will chuse their Devices, or the Wickednesses that their Hearts are contriving of. I even I, will cause them to be accepted of, and delightful to them. But who are they that must thus be feared? Why, those among Professors, that have chosen their own Ways, those whose Soul delighteth in their Abominations.
Because they received not the Love of the Truth, that they might be saved; for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions, that they should believe a Lye, that they all might be damned, who believed not the Truth, but had pleasure in Vnrighteousness.
God shall send them.] It is a great word; Yea, God shall send them strong Delusions; Delusions that shall do, that shall make them believe a Lye. Why so? That they all might be damned, every one of them, who believe not the Truth, but had pleasure in Vnrighteousness. 2 Thess. 5, 10, 11, 12.
There is nothing more provoking to the Lord, than for a Man to promise, when God threatneth; for a Man to be light of conceit, that he shall be safe; and yet to be more wicked than in former days: This Man's Soul abhorreth the Truth of God, no marvel therefore if God's Soul abhorreth him: he hath invented a way contrary to God, to bring about his own Salvation; no marvel, therefore, if God invent a way to bring about this Man's Damnation: And seeing that these Rebels are at this point, We shall have peace; God will see whose Word shall stand, His or theirs.
A Fifth Sign of a Man being past Grace, is, When he shall at this, scoff, and inwardly grin, and fret against the Lord, secretly purposing to continue his course, and put all to the venture, despising the Messengers of the Lord. He that despised Moses's Law, died without Mercy; of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath troden under foot the Son of God, &c. Heb. 10. 28.
Wherefore, against these Despisers God hath set himself, and foretold, that they shall not believe, but perish. Behold ye Despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, which ye shall in no wise believe, though a Man declare it unto you. Acts 13. 41.
After that thou shalt out it down.]
Thus far we have treated of the Barren Fig-tree, or fruitless Professor, with some Signs to know him by; whereto is added also some Signs of one who neither will or can, by any means, be fruitful, but they must miserably perish. Now being come to the time of Execution, I shall speak a word to that also, After that thou shalt cut it down.] Christ at last turns the Barren Fig-tree over to the Justice of God, shakes his hands of him, And gives him up to the fire for his unprofitableness.