A Scripture-Map of the Wilderness of Sin, Treatise · Part 1 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Containeth the two last conſiderations ſhewing the diſmalneſs of wilderneſs-ſin, becauſe both are wayleſs, waste and husbandleſs: As alſo the application of the firſt conſideration: Exhortation, Labor to finde Christ to thy ſoul a Gardiner to make thee fruitful.
FIfthly, The wilderneſs (as it thus proviſionleſs,The wilderneſs is wayleſs upon which account there is no encouragement to abide in it) ſo alſo is it wayleſs, there is no way to get out of it: This, vain Poets could conclude as the moſt diſmal travelling in the world, viz. when they were to go per avia, that is, wayleſs places; and this indeed the holy Ghoſt imports as alike diſmal to the people and princes of the earth, whom God thus puniſheth, Job 12.24. He cauſeth them to wander in a wilderneſs where there is no way: And thus it is with ſin; you are not to think that there are no ways in the wilderneſs; there is (as you read) the track to the Lions den and Leopards mountain, there are ways further into the wilderneſs, but there is no good way, no right way, no way out again, no peaceable and ſecure way, &c. Thus there are many, too many ways of ſin and into ſin, but there is not one good way amongſt them all: Sin acquaints ſinners with ten thouſand ways, and yet amongſt them all, the way of peace have they not known, Rom. 3.17. The ways of ſin are ways to the Lions den, &c. Prov. 7.27. Her houſe is the way to hell, and Prov. 5.5. Her feet go down to death, her ſteps take hold on hell: Leaſt thou ſhouldſt ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable; ſhe hath ways great ſtore, but not ſo much as one good living way, as one foot-path of life amongſt them all; therefore (as we are to ſhew afterwards) though ſin hath as many ways as the wilderneſs, yet may we in the ſame ſenſe that the holy Ghoſt calls the wilderneſs without way, conclude ſin wayleſs: If you will have it, the ways of ſin are wayleſs ways; ſo that as one ſaith of the way to the Lions den:
—veſtigia terrent
Omnia te adverſum ſpectantia, nulla retorſum:
So ſaith the holy Ghoſt of ſin (many beaſts went to the Lions den, but none return back again) Prov. 2.19. None that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the pathes of life.
The wilderneſs is waſte and husbandleſs.Laſtly, 'Tis diſmal, becauſe waſte and husbandleſs, and ſo is the whole region of ſin; you have the wilderneſs and waſte places as importing one and the ſame thing, Iſa. 51.3. The Lord will comfort all her waste places, and make her wilderneſs like Eden; yea, you have waſte the character of the wilderneſs, Deut. 32.10. In a deſert land, and in the waſte howling wilderneſs: and ſurely it muſt needs be ſo, if that be true which we have heard Scriptures already ſpeak, In the wilderneſs there is no man, Job 38.26. no man to plant, no man to pluck up, no man to plough, no man to ſowe, how ſhould it be but waſte?
In this as in the reſt is ſin a diſmal wilderneſs, there are no proviſions there, as you have heard, for it is deſolate; there are none like to be, for it is waſte and deſert: The plain Engliſh of the word deſert is what God expounds it, Iſa. 27.10. The habitation forſaken and left like a wilderneſs; Therefore when any ſoul through ſin is a wilderneſs, you may write upon that ſoul deſert, the Lord hath forſaken it. This is a ſad conſideration when the ſoul goes on a long time in ſin, and then God comes with a judicial act, and doth (as it were) bind it in its ſins; The ſoul ſaith, I am willing to be as a wilderneſs unto God, unfruitful to him, &c. and God ſaith, If thou wilt be a wilderneſs, thou ſhalt alſo be a deſert, I will forſake thee: Thus God threatens for ſin to ſet Jeruſalem, and make her as a wilderneſs, Hoſea 2.2. Now this is moſt ſadly true, when the ſoul hath been under the pains and charges of the Lord; as you ſay, this piece of ground I have fallowed, plough'd, ſown thus often, tryed thus long; and it hath brought me forth nothing anſwerable to mine expectations; I have loſt, ſay you, my time, toil and coſt about it, and now you caſt it up,So the barren Fig tree: Mat. 21.19. (as God gave them up: Pſalm 81.12.) Let what will become of it, you will never look after it more. Now is this ground left DESERT.
Thus the Lord telleth, Iſai 5. what husbandry he had beſtowed upon Iſrael, his Vineyard, v. 7. which yet brought forth none but wilderneſs-fruit, viz. wilde Grapes, v. 4. Ile tell you, ſaith God, v. 5. what I will do with it: I will take away the Hedg, and it ſhall be eaten up, and break down the Wall, and it ſhall be trodden down; I will lay it waſte, it ſhall not be pruned, nor digged; but there ſhall come up Briars and Thorns, and I will command the Clouds that they rain no rain upon it, v. 6. And O, what a diſmal Wilderneſs muſt the ſoul needs be, when the Lord ſhall thus forſake it! There is none to plant, prune, or protect it; no word or ſpirit to water it; it muſt needs follow, that it ſhall be laid waſte, and eaten up, and trodden down, and nothing but Briars and Thorns ſhall grow there. How ſad inſtances hereof have we in ſome that have lived long under Goſpel-means, But are not thereby become as a Garden! Are they not as a Wilderneſs? Yea, of all others the moſt ſharp and thorny: and no wonder, ſince they are left of the Lord, and deſert.
Is it ſo then that the Wilderneſs of Sin is ſo diſmal, becauſe fruitleſs, moiſtureleſs, companionleſs, Ʋſe. proviſionleſs, wayleſs, waſte and husbandleſs? I ſhall onelyonly improve this ſad Conſideration unto a double word of Exhortation, reſpect being had unto the ſeveral particulars.
Firſt, Are we, by ſin, become barren as a Wilderneſs; Exhortation. Labour to finde Chriſt as a Gard'ner to thy barren ſoul to make it fruitfull.it is onelyonly by grace that we can be made like Eden; Iſai 51.3. CHRIST is the Gard'ner that can both furniſh us with fruit, and make us bear fruit; for this end he chooſeth the grounds he gard'neth. John 15.16. Of our ſelves we neither have fruit for our ſelves, nor bring forth fruit to the Lord: but CHRIST gives fruit, and makes fruitfull: He is the Apple-tree, Cant. 2.3. He is the true Vine, John 15.1. And yet the Dreſſer of the Vineyard, Luke 13.7. Our Wilderneſs comes to nothing till it becomes his Husbandry. 1 Cor. 3.9. Our ſouls are not comforted with Apples till we taſte of his fruit. Cant. 2.3, 5. When we were in Paradiſe, we were as a Paradiſe; it was fruitfull to us, and we to God. Now we are in the Wilderneſs, we are as a Wilderneſs; ſin is fruitleſs to us, and we to the Lord. The Tree of Life made Eden a Paradiſe; the River made it a fruitfull Paradiſe. We loſt both when we loſt our ſelves. There is now no Tree of Life with us, to bear us fruit; nor Water of Life, to make us bear fruit. But yet both are with Chriſt, Rev. 22.1, 2. And who ſo do his Commandments have right thereunto, v. 14. Chriſt can ſet us with ſlips of Paradiſe: [Alas! who would (as they Iſai 17.10. be ſetting their hearts with ſtrange ſlips?] thy people ſhall be all righteous, the branch of my planting, the work of mine hand, Iſai 60.21. Yea, and that they may be called Trees of righteouſneſs, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified; As the Garden cauſeth the things that are ſown in it to ſpring forth, ſo the Lord will cauſe righteouſneſs, and praiſe to ſpring forth before them. Iſai 61.3, 11. Again, Chriſt can repleniſh us with fruits of Paradiſe: [Alas! why ſhould we ſavour thoſe fruits unto death? Rom. 7 5.] from me (ſaith the Lord) is thy fruit found. Hoſ. 14.8. Even the twelve manner of fruits of the Tree of Life, (enough for all the Tribes) and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the Nations. Rev. 22.1, 2.*Compare Ezek. 47 8.12. with Rev 22.1, 2. Here's food and phyſick, life and healing, for Jew and for Gentile; ſurely the Wilderneſs and the ſolitary place ſhall be glad for them. Iſai 35.1. When thoſe waters, Ezek. 47.8. Go down into the Deſart. But what is the wilderneſs the better that there are gardens in the world? Or we, that ſome ſtrangers have ſuch rare plants, or choice fruits in remote countreys? Chriſt hath born, and doth bear fruits various and precious, old and new, ſuch as wiſdom, righteouſneſs, ſanctification and redemption, with fruits of joy and peace in believing. Yea, his mediation, and the counſel of peace between him and his Father; fruit as old as Eternity: his interceſſion, and tendring himſelf a ſacrifice for ſin, as ſoon as we had faln, as a Lamb ſlain from the begining of the world; fruit as old as the world: his incarnation, birth, circumciſion, temptations, ſorrows, ſufferings, death, burial, reſurrection and aſcenſion, fruits above ſixteen hundred years old: his word, his ſpirit, his daily interceſſion and gracious dispenſations, fruits as new as every day: Theſe, theſe are the fruits that Chriſt hath brought forth, and unto which they have right that obey his call, his command. Come with me from Lebanon, my Spouſe [is his call] Cant. 4 8. Eat O friends [is his command] Cant. 5.1.
Now be not thou unmannerly modeſt or diſobediently humble: take what is given, & come when thou art called. Thou wilt be little the better though Chriſt be a tree of life to others, unleſs thou come to Chriſt and feed upon him: Oh! therefore be encouraged poor barren ſoul, to leave the deſolate wilderneſs, and to haſten thence ere thou periſheſt therein; why ſhould unbelief detain thee any longer from everlaſting bleſſedneſs? for, Bleſſed are they that do his Commandments, for theſe have right to the tree of life; and then will Chriſts fruit be ſweet unto thy taſte, as the Spouſe aſſerteth, Cant. 2.3. and then, and never till then wilt thou be able to ſay, My Lord and my God, my Savior and my redeemer; for they onelyonly can truly call the Lord our Righteouſneſs, our Advocate, our Peace-maker, who can look upon all that Chriſt did as done for themſelves in particular.
Oh! what pleaſant fruit is here laid up for the poor ſoul, that was barren and fruitleſs as a wilderneſs even until now!