The Profit of Godliness, Sermon 12
Serm. 12. Preached January 29. 1661.
CHAP. XII.
IN this Verse you hear what a sad complaint the Lord made of the unfruitfulness of his figg-tree, in which are these things observable.
I. The owner or Master complaining, is God, who after the manner of men is brought in complaining.
II. The person to whom this complaint is made; to the dresser of this Vineyard; by him is meant Christ, because he is appointed by God to be Custos & cultor Vineae, the keeper and dresser of his Church: he is the Head of the Church, the whole government of the Church is on his shoulders, because Christ hath all judgment committed to him; it is he that hath power to condemn, to destroy, to cut down: he hath the axe of vengeance in his hand to fell unfruitful trees, and to cast them into hell fire. True it is, Ministers are subordinate Vine-dressers; they are labourers sent by Christ to dress his Vineyard: they are to plant, to water, to prune, to lop, to digg about it, and to dung the trees by the Preaching of the word; but it is not meant of them, because they have not power to cut down.
III. The thing complained of: he came for three years together seeking fruit, and found none: here we have two considerable particulars.
1. Gods wondering at this trees unfruitfulness; he speaks after the manner of men. Behold, Is it not a strange thing that a tree of my planting in my own Vineyard should bring forth no fruit?
2. The space of time how long God had waited, expecting it to bring forth fruit — these three years; hence Divines gather, that if men do not bring forth fruits of grace after they have enjoyed the means of grace for a certain space of time, it is very improbable that ever they will bring forth fruit. By these years we are to understand a certain space of time which God gives men to repent; this certain number is put for an uncertain; for some have a longer space given them; o hers have a shorter, as I shall further shew.
IV. A terrible sentence passed upon this Figg-tree: Cut it down: it is fit for nothing but to be fuel for the fire: those men whom no means can make good, are worthy to be cast into hell: graceless men are fit companions for graceless Devils.
V Here we have a reason of this severe threatning: Why cumbreth it the ground? it is not only an unfruitful tree, but it is also a pernitious tree to the ground; it makes the ground about it barren, it spoileth other trees: Wicked men are not only injurious to their own souls, but to the souls of others: they hinder others from Conversion; they are a very burden to the Church.
CHAP. XIII.
THis Text affordeth many Doctrines, but I will handle but three from them.
Obser. 1 The Lord reckons the dayes, the times, the years of Grace which pass over us, and will put them upon the account of every unfruitful person. He reckons every Sabbath day that passeth over your heads, whether you prophane or sanctifie them, and how you spend them; and will bring every man to a strict account of his misspending Sabbaths, which are the principal times of Grace, the Market-dayes of Grace and Salvation: One Sabbath-day is better than a thousand dayes of labour: he reckons every Sermon men have heard, and shall hear, and calls men to a strict account for them: so many hundred Sermons thou hast heard, yet thou repentedst not: he reckons how many years you have lived under the means of Grace: these three years; these ten years; these twenty years; these forty years you have enjoyed the word of Grace, the Ministry of Reconciliation; and men shall give an account for so many: How often would I have gathered you under my wings, and ye would not! (1.) I would oftentimes have gathered you; as often as Christ hath spread out the wings of his Gospel; as often as Christ by his Ministers hath exhorted, warned and commanded us to repent; so often Christ would have gathered us under his wings, but men will not. All the day long have I stretched forth my hands to a gainsaying and disobedient people, from morning to evening; from the first day men have heard the Gospel, to the last; from the morning of the day of Grace, to the evening thereof.
You may find how the Prophets do reckon the time of their Ministry among a people, Isa. 1.1. The Vision of Isaiah the Son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the dayes of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah Kings of Judah: It is as if he had said; During the reign of these four Kings, I have from God preached to you; I have invited you to repent, exhorted you to repent; I have from God commanded you to repent; I have in Gods stead offered Grace and Mercy to you; I have laboured the salvation of your souls: it is computed that he preached to them for the space of seventy years. The like doth Jeremiah, chap. 25.3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah, even to this day, the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken to you, rising early, and speaking, but ye have not hearkened. (1.) God for that space of time had spoken to them diligently, seasonably, and continually, but they obeyed not the Word of God: all the Prophets pains and diligence could not make that people bring forth fruit. Now, why are these years set down, but to note that God reckons how long Ministers preach to you Repen…ance and Faith! how long this Minister and that Minister: and how long you have sate under the Ministry of the Word; and men shall give a strict account of their not profiting under this and that mans Ministry.
Let us look upon Gods reckoning with the Israelites in the wilderness: these forty years have I been grieved with this Generation, and said, It is a people that do er…e in their hearts, and they have not known my wayes, Psal. 95.10. God had for the space of forty years taught them his wayes, and they knew them not. May not God reckon, so many years have passed over the heads of many of us, these forty years have I been grieved with this man, with that man; still they erre in their hearts and lives, and though my wayes have been made known to them, yet they are sottishly ignorant, or wilfully ignorant, and do not, or will not know my wayes. Christ exercised his Ministry three years among the Jews, and wrought his wonderful Miracles before them; never had any people such a Minister as they had, and saw such stupendous and so many Miracles as they did yet were they fruitless: now those interpreters on my Text, that take These three years for Christs Ministry among them, do give this sence, that Christ reckons those three years, and will reckon with that generation concerning them.
CHAP. XIV.
SECT. 1.
IN the prosecution of this truth, I will first lay down some propositions, which are Doctrines plainly implyed in my Text.
Prop. 1 I might, but I shall not insist on this: God hath assigned to every Nation under Heaven a day, a time, a year of grace and salvation before the judgement day shall come, Matth. 28.19. Go and teach all Nations. Matth. 16.15. Go ye into all the world, and Preach the Gospel to every creature; which is to be understood successively, and not at once: every Nation hath had, or shall have the golden Scepter of Grace held forth to them; all shall have their invitation to come to Christ: hence the Gospel is compared to the Sun, which circleth the world, and illigh…eneth it successively, and begins in the East, and sets in the West. Many Nations have had their three years of Grace and Salvation: the Jews had their three years; the Asian Churches had theirs: England hath her three years yet continuing. And as Provinces and Nations, so Cities and Towns have their years of Grace: Jerusalem had her day: Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, had their three years: you of this place have your three years yet continued to you: oh that the Lord Christ may not weep and lament over you, as once he did over Jerusalem, Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace! but seeing Nations and Congregations are better compared to Vineyards than Trees, the similitude suiteth better to persons, I will speak no more of this.
Prop. 2 God assigneth to every person a space to bring forth fruits of repentance. Nemo est cui non fit hora sua, Every man in the Church hath his hour, his three years alloted to him to work out his Salvation, Rev. 2.21. I gave her space to repent, but she repented not: there is not one man standing in Gods Vineyard, but hath a space given him to repent; every one of us have a space to repent given us; this very day is a further space given us: the wish of my soul is, that it may not be said of any one that heareth me this day, He repented not: and that Christ may never complain of any of us, as he did of Jerusalem, Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes, thou art never like to see them more.
Prop. 3 Although every man hath his day, his years, and certain space; yet there is an inequality of continuance of this day in respect of persons:foreign, &c. as we see the natural dayes are not of equal length, some are longer, some are shorter; so is the day of particular mens grace: some have a longer, some have a shorter day; hence it is called sometimes an hour, in Scripture, Rom. 13.11. now it is high time to awake out of sleep; in the Greek it is, now is the hour. Sometimes it is called a day, 2 Cor. 6.2. Now is the day of Salvation. Sometimes a year, Three years, as in my Text. One man hath but an hour in comparison of others, another hath a day in comparison of others; another hath a year, another three years: the old World had an hundred and twenty years alloted to repent; the Jews had forty years alloted to repent; the Ninivites had but forty dayes allotted them to repent; the Figg-tree had three years. As it is Gods prerogative to assign a time, so also to assign how long every mans particular day of grace shall continue.
Prop. 4 The longest day of grace is but short, and hath its night: as in natural dayes the longest day hath its night; and being compared to other spaces of time, a day is but a short space: it is as true of grace: the longest space hath its period; the night cometh, saith our Saviour, when no man can work: and the longest day of grace is but a short space: a man may out-live the day of grace and Salvation: Jerusalem did survive the day of her gracious visitation: it is therefore in Scripture called an hour, a day, to note the shortness of it.
SECT. 2.
Quest. HEre it may be demanded, How long may a mans day of grace and salvation last?
Resp. 1 Neither men nor Angels can positively determine the time how long: it is one of the secrets which belong to God, to know times and seasons: as he hath hidden the day of death which puts an end to our lives from our knowledge, that we should live every day as if every day were our last; so hath he hidden the knowledge of the setting of the day of grace from our eyes, that we should improve the present time; To day while it is called to day: Delayes are full of danger; men may lose their souls for ever through delay; it is every mans duty to improve the present time.
2. Ministers are to hope that each mans day of grace is as long as the day of his life; and so every particular man ought to hope that his day of grace is as long as his life. What though a man hath lived for many years unfruitfully under the means of grace! yet his day may not be past and gone: See it in this figg-tree; God came three years seeking fruit, and found none, yea threatned to cut him down; yet his day was not past, for you see another year was added, and more means of conversion were to be used to make him fruitfull.
3. As long as God continues the means of grace, there is hope: as long as the Vine-dresser used digging and dunging there was hope, and the day of grace was not gone; Yea, let me lay down this rule, As long as the word cometh in any power to thy heart; as long as the spirit of grace doth in any measure strive with thy heart, yet thou hast some motions and excitements, some convictions, some good purposes, thy day of grace, thy three years are not expired: but oh tis very sad with that man when the word is powerless, and the spirit of grace hath ceased to strive with him: it is sad when a mans heart is no more affected with the word of God Preached in power, then a dead man is affected with Thunder roaring in the ayr. I shall speak more to this in the following points,
CHAP. XV.
THese propositions being spoken of by way of explication, I shall now confirm my Doctrine with Reasons, that God will reckon with us for all the years of grace which pass over our heads.
Reas. 1 Because they are Talents committed to us to improve to our Masters advantage: every Master calls his servants to account how they have improved what they gave them to improve: God will call all men to account for every Talent they have in their hands, what they have done for the glory of God, for Christ, for their souls. All our Talents are written down; our using, our abusing them; our improving, our hiding them; our spending, our misspending them: all the times of Gods patience, goodness and long sufferance are written down: all the mercies we have received, all the ordinances of God, all the Sermons we have heard, are written down in the book of Gods remembrance, and in the book of our consciences; we shall all be called to give an account, Mat. 25.15, 16, 17, 18, 19. under the Parable of Talents Christ shews us how each man shall render an account of all his Talents. To some he gave five, to some two, to others but one: after a long time the Lord of the servants cometh and reckoneth with them, saith the Text. So likewise under the Parable of the unjust steward, Christ sheweth how God will reckon with every man, Luk. 16.1.2. Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou maist be no longer steward: here Christ calls all to give an account of their time, for they shall have time no more to employ: to give an account of their riches and mercies, for they shall enjoy them no more; to give an account of the means and seasons of grace, for they shall enjoy them no more. Oh consider, that there are no such Talents, as the time and means of grace are: these are mostly to be improved; the mispending of these are most dangerous: men shall give an account, how they have mispent their riches, their honours: Magistrates shall give an account, Ministers shall give an account, and Masters, all shall give an account for their Talents; every one shall come to a strict account for the times and means of grace enjoyed, of Sabbaths, of Ordinances, of Sermons, because these are the best Talents, and the poor as well as the rich have them to bring glory to God, Talents pertaining to the salvation of their souls.
Reas. 2 For the greater and cleerer conviction of men; how God will stop every mans mouth, and all wicked men shall be foreign, self-judges, self-condemners, laying all the fault of their condemnation on themselves, acknowledging themselves worthy to become the fuell of hell fire: when the great God shall say to us, What could I have done more for your conversion and salvation then I have done? I gave you a space to repent, and you repented not; I gave you a day of grace, and you received my grace in vain; I gave you all means of grace, you had all mine ordinances: and all means prevailed not with you to look after Holiness; I gave you a day of Salvation, and you would not work out your Salvation, but all the day long did you work out your own damnation: How many Sabbaths did I give you, but you profaned them, you were weary of them? some of them you played away, some you drank away, some you walkt away, some you slept away: you neglected to keep them, you would stay away from mine ordinances upon any slight occasion. How many Ministers did I send to you to warn you to repent, and you made light of them and their warning; yea, instead of receiving them as my Messengers, you mocked them, despised and misused them! How many of those pretious Sermons that have been Preached to you, have been passed away like tales that are told! you have forgotten how many Sermons you have heard, but you shall find them all written on your consciences, and shall remember them all; for God will bring all to your remembrance, that at such a Sermon this sin was sharply reproved, at such a Sermon that sin was reproved, my pride, my drunkenness, &c. but I reformed not, repented not, that will be the answer of thy Conscience in that day.— How many good motions, good purposes, good resolutions did my Spirit stir up in your souls, will the Lord say, but you soon stifled them, quenched and resisted them! God will not forget, but all shall be objected against you, and you shall remember, how at such a time, in such a place of such a Sermon, you found the spirit of God striving with you, coming powerfully on your hearts; but then wilt thou cry out, ah! woe is me, all was in vain: when this day of reckoning shall come, God will so fully, so clearly convince them, that all condemned malefactors shall cry out to the glory of Gods righteous judgement, that they themselves are the causes of their own eternal perdition: then shall we every one say; ah! woe unto me, I have damned my self to these intolerable flames.
Reas. 3 Because God will have Angels and Saints who shall come with him to judge the world, to see that his judgements are righteous, that he doth no iniquity to any soul whom he damns to hell; and all shall then approve of his judgement of condemnation of them: then All shall see what a gracious God he was to them: see how much he tendred their salvation, in giving them such a time, such means of conversion and repentance; how often he would have gathered them under his wings, but they would not: Then God will say to his chosen people; Oh my Saints! These men had the same Sabbaths, the same means of grace and conversion that you had; they had as long a day of grace as you had; what I did for you, I did for them in an external way, and yet they repented not: therefore be ye judges O my dear Children, whether their destruction be not from themselves.
CHAP. XVI.
SECT. 1.
Ʋse 1 WIll God reckon with us for all the dayes and years of grace and salvation we have had? oh then let us all be exhorted to deferr and put off repentance no longer, but to day, while it is called to day, humble your selves under the mighty means of grace, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance; lift up the doors of your hearts, that the King of glorious state may come in, bringing salvation. Whiles God offereth Salvation, receive it; Gods time of offering, is our time of receiving: while God warns you to repent, see that you do repent, delayes are dangerous; it hardens you more and more, and shuts you up in greater impenitency; take Gods counsel, despise not his reproofs; let every one of us press our backward hearts with these following considerations.
1. Consider how long we have stood in the Vineyard of the Lord barren and fruitless: he hath come for many years (perhaps these ten, twenty, thirty, forty years) seeking fruit, and he hath found none; say to thy self, tis time now for me to bring forth fruit: now it is high time for me to repen….
2. Consider what a shameful thing it is to …and in Gods Vineyard so long as many of you have been, and to have done God no better service then you have done: say ye …ow to your selves, ah! I have lived …ese twenty or forty years and more, and …ave grieved my God, serving my base …sts, and have done no service for God! …all not I now serve him? Shall not I …ow live to him, and bring forth fruits un…o him? Is not God a better Master than …sts and Devils are? Can they reward me …ith Heaven as God can?
3. We all resolve to bring forth fruit …me time or other: there is not a man …t is resolved to repent some time or …ther: you all resolve to seek God, to …ek for mercy: some time must be set part for it: Then do it now, to day while … is called to day: There is no time yours …t the present: the time past is irrecove…bly gone: the time to come is uncertain: …o can tell what to morrow will bring …rth? perhaps death, damnation: only …e time present is your time: this hour …thine: let this very Sermon, this very Exhortation move thee to bring forth fruits to day.
4. Consider that every thing is on the wing; grace is on the wing, mercy is on the wing, the Gospel is on the wing, thy time is on the wing; and if once they fly away, they like the Raven will never return more into your Ark; we do not know how suddenly they will take their wings and fly away; our times are in Gods hand, and when he lifts up his hand, and saith, Time shall be no more, then the time of grace, of mercy, of repentance shall be no more; then you m…y begg, call, cry, weep, wring your hands, and be ready to offer a thousand rivers of oyl, and the cattle on a thousand hills to redeem these times, but then you cannot, you shall not have them.
5. Consider that account must be given; but oh it is impossible for any man to give up his account with joy, that shall let it go without doing God service, and bringing forth fruit to his glory, and the salvation of his own soul. Shame, confusion and horrour will fall in such abundance on thee, O negligent soul, when thou shalt be brought to an account; then will thy mouth be stopped, when God shall put thy soul to this question: How hast thou spent the three years of grace and salvation which I gave thee to bring forth fruit? no profane person can speak one word in excuse of himself.
6. Nothwithstanding your unfruitfulness to this day, yet if you will now bring forth fruit unto God, and glorifie him by your repenting and believing, the Lord will never upbraid you with all your former unfruitfulness, but pardon all, embrace you, love and reward you, as if you had been fruitful from the first day of your being planted in his Vineyard to this hour. You know the Parable of the labourers in Gods Vineyard; those that came in and laboured in his Vineyard about the eleventh hour of the day, received equal reward with them that came in the third hour, and laboured all the day besides in it.
Ʋse 2 This may be an use of terrour to all those who willingly and wilfully mispend their dayes and years of grace, and still please themselves in bringing forth wild grapes, to live in the customary pract ce of known sins; what ailes you that ye thus madly fit your selves for fuell for hell? What have ye no desires of Salvation? have ye no care of your souls? What do you scorn Heaven and happiness! What! is sin better then grace, that you will bring forth the unfruitful works of darkness? What is damnation better then salvation? are lusts better then God that you neglect him? if ever any shall call to rocks and mountains to cover them from the presence of Christ to whom they shall render an account, these are the men: these are the dry trees which shall burn in Hell most fiercely.
SECT. 2.
Ʋse 3 I Shall conclude with this Use of Instruction to you, that there are four times which God reckons upon, and will reckon with us for them.
1. His Sabbaths: the one day of every seven of our lives, the day which he hath commanded every one to keep …y, a day sanctified and blessed for the carrying on the work of salvation: Be ye assured O prophane Sabbath-breakers, that God will bring every man to give answer for the breach of it, for the neglect of it: a natural conscience cannot deny, but God will call him to an account for murder, theft, adultery, because they are the violations of his commands: Is not the Sabbaths sanctifying, his Commandment as well as the rest of the Commandments?
2. Every opportunity put into our hands of hearing the word of grace and salvation must be reckoned for; because then God holds forth the golden Scepter of grace; if Ministers are to preach in season and out of season, you must then hear them: Every opportunity of hearing a Sermon is a time wherein God may be found, wherein he calleth us to him: when soever God is calling from heaven, be thou swift to hear: when God holdeth forth his hand, do not thou (as sluggards) fold thine arms in thy bosome.
3. Those dayes and times wherein you experimentally feel the word and spirit of God: then it is an high time to improve, when the word of God cometh to thee in power and demonstration of the Spirit, then is a time for thee to demonstrate thy repentance: we may say of such a time as Jacob of his dream, Surely the Lord was in this place, in this Sermon; but woe is me, I was not aware of it! God will reckon with men for neglecting such great opportunities of salvation.
4. Those times when thou findest thy heart in a melting, purposing, and yielding frame: Oh strike while thy Iron heart is thus made hot! such a moment and time is better then a thousand other dayes wherein thou hearest the word, but thy heart is not moved; the wisdom of Christians lies in observing and improving these opportunities: the not observing them brings oftentimes destruction on mens souls: it is for a lamentation, that men make no use of such seasons of salvation, Eccles. 9.12. For man knoweth not his time; as the fishes that are taken in a net, and as Birds caught in a snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
LUKE 13.7.
Behold these three years, &c.