The Barren Fig Trees Doom, Sermon 4
SERMON IV.
DOCTRINE II. God doth particularly and curiously look after every one that lives under the means of grace, to see whether they bear fruit accordingly.
HE not only looks after the places in general where his Gospel is enjoyed, and he hath a visible Church, with a more critical eye than he doth other places; but this Observation, and exact inspection of his extends to every individual there: he so looks after every one, as if there were but that one and no more to set his observation upon. God is here compared to a curious and provident Husbandman, who, having a vineyard, is often in it, and walks from tree to tree at every season, and takes a full view of each, to see how it sprouts, buds, blossoms, sets for fruit, &c. not omitting of one.
Here three things may be enquired after,
1. What is this curious observation of God?
2. How it appears that he doth this by every individual?
3. Why he so doth?
1. What is this curious observation which God makes?
A. We may come at something of this in the following Conclusions.
1. That there is an essential Omnipresence of God with all his creatures: This is one of the Divine Attributes or perfections which belong to God; it belongs to his prerogative, and is fully and frequently ascribed to him in the Scripture: Because he is an Infinite, Immense and Uncomprehended Being, he must needs therefore be every where: because place cannot contain him, he must of necessity contain all place: hence that, I Kings 8. 27. behold, the Heaven, and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee; the Heaven of Heavens, is the third Heaven, which is the utmost limit of place, and there is none beyond it: hence there is no getting away from him, or absconding ourselves any where, where he is not, Psal, 139. 7, &c.
2. Hence it follows that he must certainly be Omniscient. If he be every where, he must needs know every thing. Not only doth God assume this Atribute to himself, but it also is necessarily inferred from his Omnipresence. We are to conceive of God under the Notion of an Intelligent Being; knowledg is therefore ascribed to him; and that not in the concrete only but in the abstract, without an Hyperbole, Prov. 8. 14. I am Understanding, wheresoever then God is, he is there by his knowledge: his knowledge is his Being, and must be Inseperable from it; and, because his perfections are himself, and he is an undivided Being, where he is, there he is in all his Attributes; although he makes the manifestations of them to the Creatures according to his Pleasure.
3. This Omniscience of God must needs comprize in it a distinct knowledge of all Creatures in particular, a… all their action. Universal Understanding cannot be Confined meerly to Universals or to Generals, but it must reach to individuals; and that not meerly as to their beings or natures, but their actions too; none of these must be hid from him; nay it saith that he minds, regards, takes particular notice of them; he is for this reason said to count them, Job. 31. 4. and, to be acquainted …, Psal. 139. 13 And this knowledge is extended to the most secret things, even the Hearts of men, which are very deep; the thoughts which others can hardly guess at; we are then assured that there is no hiding of Counsel from him. God is all Eye, & that eye is fixt upon all things, and therefore is said to behold them, and look upon them Psal. 33. 13. 14.
4. Hence God cannot, in propriety of speech, be said …o know one thing more than another; or to observe one thing more intensly than another: if we consider this observation as it is in God, it cannot be more or less, intended or remitted; for God doth all things like himself, he is the same God; he cannot know or see one thing more distinctly or clearly than another; all things come equally under his cognizance; he is no more intimately acquainted with the things in heaven, than with those in hell; his actual knowledge of all must be infinite, and in that which is infinite, there are no degrees: All Beings are comprehended in him, Acts 17. 28. and therefore intimate acquaintance with them all belongs to him; yea and all Beings are to be improved by him for his glory; he must therefore know them throughly, and all their motions, that so he may not miss of his glory by them.
5. There are yet some persons and things in which God will have more of his declarative glory to shine forth than in others: it is Gods declarative glory which is his last end … all his works; and he will be glorified in them all; yet not in all alike: some things he will be more seen in than others; he hath not put into all things a like capacity of representing his perfections: he hath not laid out so much upon some as he hath done upon others; and therefore he doth not look for so much from those as from these: he hath given to some creatures a more excellent being, and endued them with more noble Faculties, and they have larger capacities, Job. 35. 9, 10. he providentially bestows more advantages and helps on some than he doth upon others; and he will be no loser by any thing that he doth, he will either receive, or recover more from them, Luk. 12. 48.
6. This glory of his is most of all concerned in his (Vineyard) or, Church: there is a glory which he will have by irrational creatures, his works shall praise him; but there is a special glory that he will have by men; hence there are the great Attributes of his Justice and Grace are concerned about them, and must be made to shine out in them; but among men, there are some whom he hath a more special respect to: all are under the conduct of special Government, and to be led to be everlasting monuments of his glory: but he hath a peculiar people among these, a selected number▪ gathered out of these, whom he hath done more for, and expects more from, and will have … honour in & by the result, and these are his Church: here he most of all manifests himself, and they are to be molded into a Church to shew forth his glory, Isa. 43. 21.
7. Hence he is said, after the manner of men, to have a special inspection over these: because he lays out more upon them, and expects more from them; he is therefore said to look more peculiarly after them: as one which has a plat of ground planted with choice plants; and on which he lays out more than ordinary cost, will he not expect more from it, & be more curious in observing of it, and all the plants there growing; and takes but little care of the rest of his ground in comparison of what he doth for this; God is therefore said to know them after a peculiar manner, Amos 3. 2. is said to wink at the other, to suffer them to go on in their ways, as if he were careless or not concerned about them; but for his vineyard, to be looking there for grapes, to be visiting it, and coming again and again to it.
2. How it appears that he doth thus by every individual?
A. Besides the consideration, of what hath been already mentioned, that Gods all-knowledge respects all individuals, both persons & actions, and that God hath … special glory that he is concerned for in his visible Church below; these things are to be observed.
1. That God doth particularly and personally either Commend or Reprove these. It is not only his Church in General, or these and these bodies of Professors, that he so expresseth himself unto, but to persons also. An evident instance for this we have in Cain and Abel, Gen. 4. Begin. And this is intimated by Christ in another Parable, Viz. of the Wedding Supper, where the Lord observed that one person that had not on the Wedding Garment, and treats him accordingly. If a Church do well in General, yet if it hath within it such as do otherwise, and provoke God, he tells them of such, and reproves them for suffering them, Rev. 2. 14. 20. If the visible Church be gone to decay, and there be a Noah in it that is righteous, God notes him, and commends him fo… it: if there be one good Child in Jerebodoms wicked family, he is specified; if there is one cursed Cha… in Noah's family, he hath his brand.
2. That Gods Mercies and Judgments are very signally observable in these; not only do these respect the Church in general, or this or that particular Church, but these and those individual persons in it. Not only when Gods People do walk closely with him, have they more observeable and admirable deliverances conferred upon them; and when they highly provoke him, do they meet with more stupendous visitations, and Come down wonderfully; but this is oftentimes apparent in particular persons. Sometimes when the Church is preserved in peace and prosperity, yet particular Sinners in Zion are animadverted upon; & thus the Fig-tree in the Text; when God is bringing of Judgments upon the body of a Church, yet there are some who must first …have a mark set upon them; for their preservation, Ezek. 9. 3. And it shall go well with the … of Jeremiah: Baruch and Ehedweleel shall have their lives given them fore prey, when utter desolation is coming upon the whole Land.
3. That God is in Scripture recorded to take notice of such Individuals as men would least think of. Such as we would account to be least of all thought of; God Eies them: the poor and despised in the World, whom men regard not, yet God observes them, and takes notice how they carry it, and he accounts it his great Glory so to do, Psal. 102. 17. Such actions also as we might think lay most out of Observation; their secret and re…ired duties which they are engaged in; let but a Na… thanael get under a fig-tree to pray, and it shall be recorded: nay so curious is he in his Observation, that there cannot a tear fall from them, but he puts it in his bottle, nor … …igh pass, but he writes it down in has …ovh Psal. …6. 8.
3. Why God takes such a curious and distinct Observation of these, to see what fruit they bring forth?
A. The ground of this will appear if we lay these things together.
1. That which God expects of his Visible Church, is fruit, this hath bin already cleared in the former Doctrine. God would be honoured and served by some in the World; other men pay him no Tribute, bring forth no fruits that he can tast any pleasancy in; he therefore for that end planted his Church that from it he might receive some revenue in the world; that all the world might not …y in Wickedness, and nothing but dishonour him, as all the residue of mankind certainly and unavoidably do.
2. Hence God is honoured by his Visible Church proportionably to the good fruits which they bear. This is the proper and only way in the which they can so serve to his praise, as to answer the end of their being a Church. The rest of mankind shall answer his designs upon them, in some other way; for God will have his honour upon all: but except these serve God, do the works of God, yeild the fruits of Obedience, they live in vain: and consequently, the more careful and constant they are in these services the more honour they bring to God. Every act of true Obedience hath of this in it, when then these are multiplied, God hath great glory by such.
3. The Church consists of individuals, and consequently the honour which God hath by his Church, is by the individuals in it. The Church is an aggregate body, it is made up of particular persons; and the duty of bearing fruit lies upon every one of them: what therefore God expec…s of his Church is personally expressed, as well as joyn…ly; a Vineyard consists of particular plants; by the bearing of these, the fruitfulness of the Vineyard is known? and the way for the Owner to know whether it answers its ends, Is to go from tree to tree, and see how they bear; and in no other way is he acquainted with the state of the whole. If every one in the Church be faithful to God, that is a faithful Church indeed: so many as there are belonging to it that are otherwise, do make It to come so far short, and to be unto such a degree barren; God therefore observes each, because he will know the state of his Vineyard.
4. These individuals are there planted by his special Providence; men are ready to think that all these things are casual, and meerly eventual, and do not see an higher hand in them; but gracious Souls acknowledge a peculiar favourable Providence in it. They are lines that are here fallen unto them Psal. 16. 7. It is a Metaphor taken from the custom among men, in laying out and bounding of mens Allotments. There is therefore a peculiar remark made upon this; this & that man was born in Zion, Psal 87. …. and as there is much of Gods good will displaying of it self to them, in making it their portion to be in his Church, so there it some special aim at his own glory in it, concerning every one; and therefore according to our conception, God is singula…ly concerned to look after these.
5. God must have glory by them that do not bear, as well as by them that do. That it is awfully true, that all those that are in the visible Church do not yield the fruit expected, will be considered in the next Doctrine; although these do not glorifie God; but come short of it, yet God must not, will not be a loser by them. No man would willingly be a loser by any thing that he doth, if he could help it; God can help it, and he wilt. But he is not glorified in the one, after the same manner that he is in the other; the one is found to the praise of the glory of his grace, the others are to be made monuments of the Glory of his Justice. The one are made happy in their glorifying God; the other are made miserable by it: it is therefore requisite that God observe, and have a particular knowledge of the state of each one, that he may get himself a name in them accordingly, Rom. 9. 22, 23.
6. There are particular and personal rewards that God hath to distribute to men, according to the fruits they bear. These Rewards God stands obliged to in the Covenant Promises and Threatnings; for both of these belong to the Gospel-Covenant in which the visible Church is empaled: there is therefore a Day of Judgment appointed, in which Christ will not only sit upon the world, but also upon his Vineyard, in which he will give each one his recompense according as he is found; and this is personal: for, we must every one of us give an account of himself to God. In the dispensing of these recompences, God will proceed with men, according to their deeds, Rom. 2. 6. and that will be very diversly, verse 7, 8, 9. and it is of infinite moment, whether man be adjudged to happiness or misery: and how shall the Judge of all the earth do that which is right in all this, if he do not observe who bear fruit, and who is barren? and the more curious must the observation be, if we consider, that not only fruitfulness and barrenness, but the more fruits there are of either sort, the more recompense is measured. Some bear more than others, and therefore some are to have greater degrees of glory, and others more amazing wrath to fall upon them; which how should it be, if God did not write all down, and keep an exact account of all actions as well as persons?
USE I.
For Information in two particulars.
1. See here the Atheism of all such as are bold to sin, because they think that God regards them not. For the Heathen, that know not God, thus to do, is not so much to be wondred at; and yet even some of them will rise up in Judgment against us, if we do thus: but for those that are taken so near unto God, as all they are that are in his Church to be guilty of this, is an astonishing thing; whether there be any among us that dare to say it in words, may be questioned; but there are too many whose practices declare them to be directed by these false principles, this is too evident; and indeed, that is the root of all wickedness that is committed among Professors: God himself acquaints us, tha… hence sprang all the impiety and wickedness of the men of Judah, Ezek 8. 12. They say God seeth not; it may be they did not say it any otherwise but in their hearts? and truly this is little if any thing better than what the …ool saith, viz. There is no God, Psal. 14. 1. would those that are of the holy seed perpetrate such abominations as they do? would they that have the name of God called upon them, and that are under the obligations of the Gospel-Covenant, live like Heathen that know not God? would they drive a trade of sin and vanity, were they indeed perswaded that they are under the watchful eye of the great God, which is making dayly remarks upon what they do, and taking a most distinct account of all their actions? surely it could not be. If they thought that the flaming Eye of his Jealousie were looking intensly upon them, it would make them a…raid of doing such things as they do,
3. Learn hence also the unspeakable folly of Hypocrisie. Such as make an high profession, and pretend to be flourishing trees in the Vineyard; but mean while think to put God off with leaves instead of fruit; or fruits which though they seem fair to the eyes of men, are yet rotten at the core: Do such men think to impose upon him? no, they deceive their own Souls, but God is not to be mocked, he looks too curiously to be made to take a tree that is only full of leaves, for one that is full of fruit. It is fruit that he is seeking for, and he will discern whether there be any there or no: and he knows how to distinguish good fruit from bad: his Vineyard brought forth grapes, but what then? possible they were fair to look upon, but they were indeed …owre and wild, and he discovered it, and thereupon condemned it, as if it had born nothing at all; men may do a great many things that are like Obedience for the matter of them. But if they have not the right principle: are not the product of saving grace in the soul, Gods curious eye will discover the difference, and what profit will they yield when he shall reject them, and profess that he takes no pleasure in them?
USE II.
Let this be for a word of solemn warning to all that are in the visible Church, to beware of barrenness there, and what greater caution can there be set before Christians, than the consideration that God looks after every one of them, to see how they behave themselves in pursuit of the profession which they have made? for certainly God is not an idle spectator; and this will hereafter be made awfully to appear. Think what a shame it is to be in the Vineyard, and yet to be unfruitful; and then add to think, that the Lord of the Vineyard sees this, and will let us sooner or later know that he sees it too; and can it be for our comfort to be so found and charged by him in the day of accounts? do not your own Consciences sometimes reflect and accuse you, and tell you how unworthily you carry it, under all the care and husbandry that is laid out upon you? now when they so do, add to say as the Apostle, 1 Joh. 3. 20. if our own heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knows all things: But,
USE III.
To quicken and encourage us all in our endeavours after fruitfulness. Doth God take such particular notice of each of us? let every Christian carry this thought upon his own heart, & make it an in…entive and engagement to him, to endeavour to answer Gods ends in this respect▪ And there are these three things which this thought should engage and excite us unto.
1. To see that we bring forth good fruit. If God be so curious, let it make us to be so too. They that would approve themselves to an all-seeing and heart searching God, had need to take heed to themselves, and beware of being imposed upon. God not only looks whether we bear, but what we bear; let us do so too: and here let us know, that the tree must be made good, if ever the fruit be good: grapes are not gathered of thorns. It should make all that call themselve Christians, to be afraid of living one day in a state of unregeneracy; for as long as we so do, we do nothing at all that will turn to account. See that you have a principle of Grace within, and then take heed that your lives be the continued exercise of it,
2. To take care that we bear much fruit. When you have gotten grace into your Hearts let in be your industrious endeavour to bring it forth into action through your whole life and Conversation. The best of us have another Law in our Members, which will be putting it self forth, and doing of such works as must be burnt up: Grace must be carefully Nourished and Excited, else it will be born down and suppressed by the Carnal part within us.
3. To be sure to bring forth secret fruits. Here is the least d…nger of Hypocrisy. We may do many things which a love of Applause & Commendation from men may excite us to but our secret service, which is done out of the reach of the eye and observation of others, is that which is in the least danger of decieveing us; because herein we have better evidence that we set God before us: and that you may he truely thus engaged, here is your help; to be always thinking, God is now …t my right hand, his eye is upon me, and there are these three Motives which the Doctrine before us affords, to put us upon Carefully and Cheerfully doing thus.
1. If God sees, he will aprove us if we thus do. He looks with great Approbation upon the Faithful Endeavours of his Children; it pleaseth him highly to see them engaged for him and his glory in all that they do. And what should please or satisfy us more or better, than that the God we profess to serve, takes Content in our Duties, and Smells a sweet savour in them?
2. Thus only shall we answer the end of our being planted in Gods Vineyard. The reason why God looks so exactly, is, as we heard, because he would not miss his end, that if we answer it not one way, he may have it of us in another: And remember, if we do thus, it is the way for us to be continued in the Vineyard, and have the constant influences of his Grace; for to them that have, more shall be given: God will not be wanting to us, if we take heed to be faithful to him in our improvements, and therefore,
3. We shall not lose our labour. For if God observes in particular, then he will not forget to reward us in particular. There is a great recompense promised to them that are faithful, and it is a strong consolation to all such as are so, to consider that he who hath thus promised, keeps the account of all the care and fidelity of his people, even to the most secret Duty which they do in sincerity; and our Saviour hath given us this Assurance, That our father that seeth in secret will reward us openly.