deceiving his own Soul From him shall be taken away even that which he hath he shall be deprived of it to inrich his industrious Brother and add to his Abundance What Grace he had before shall be withdrawn and he naked and defenseless left to the Fury of his Spiritual Enemies the Dews of Heaven shall no longer drop upon his barren Soul but parch'd and sapless it shall be reserv'd to eternal Burnings Consider this all ye that forget God and are unfruitful under all his Care and fatherly Nurture and Admonition lest at length he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you And remember the Words of Solomon Prov. 29.1 He that being often reprov'd still hardeneth his Neck shall suddainly be destroyed and that without Remedy And thus have I done with the first of our Saviours Parables in which is set before us a Blessing and a Curse a Blessing if when the good Seed is sown and we have heard the Word we receive it into honest and good Hearts and according to our several Abilities bring forth Fruit to Perfection that is obey and Practise it with Constancy and Perseverance And a Curse if we remain still barren and unfruitful not Doers of the Word but Hearers only deceiving our selves into eternal Perdition It becomes us all therefore to take heed how we hear and not be like the High-way-side suffering our Thoughts to wander from the Instructions we have heard and leaving the good Seed unregarded to the Mercy of the great Enemy of Souls and exposing our Minds as a common Tract to vain and wicked Fancies and Imaginations and diabolical Suggestions nor like the stony Ground impenetrable to any deep and lasting Impressions of the Word of Life nor like that over-run with Thorns and Briars and noxious Weeds such as are the Cares and deceitful Riches and Pleasures of this Life which will choak the Word and render it unfruitful But that we treasure up this Divine Word in our Memories ponder and consider it and set our Love and Affections upon it So shall it grow and prosper and bring forth Fruit in some Thirty in some Sixty in some an Hundred-Fold to the Honour and Glory of God and the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for Jesus Christ his Sake Now 2 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower both give us this Heavenly Bread for our Food and multiply the Seed that is sown and encrease the Fruits of our Righteousness that being inrich'd in every good thing to all Bountifulness there may be given through us Thanksgiving unto God Amen Amen The PRAYER I. MOST Holy Jesus thou blessed Author of the best Religion who hast in great Plenty sown among us the Seed of a happy Immortality even thy holy Word and watered it with the Dew of thy heavenly Grace and art wanting in nothing on thy Part to cause it to flourish and bring forth abundantly the Fruits of Righteousness I thy unworthy Servant unfeignedly bless this thy infinite Goodness and tender Care for the Children of Men but must with Shame confess that hitherto thy Care has been in too great Measure defeated by my Inconsiderateness and Obstinacy my Soul still remains barren as the High-way-side impenetrable to the Sermons of the Gospel or at best flitting and unconstant in religious Purposes which have been short-liv'd as the Grass that grows upon the Top of the Rocks or else choak'd with the Briars of worldly Cares and Distractions with covetous and sensual Desires Thus have I courted Death in the Error of my Life But now being awaken'd by thy Mercy and become sensible of the Danger I am in and the sad Consequence if my Barrenness continues I humbly beg and earnestly at the Throne of Grace that Thou from whom is all our Sufficiency wouldst aid me with thy blessed Spirit and help my Infirmities and strengthen me mightily in the inner Man that thy Word may ever hereafter take so deep a Rooting in my Soul as to produce the genuine Fruits of Christianity II. I am sadly sensible O Lord that the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Do thou therefore who art the Searcher of our Spirits purge my Soul of all lurking Hypocrisy and Pride and Self-conceit and every thing that will hinder the Growth and Increase of this heavenly Seed and make me apt to receive and cherish it by creating in me an honest and good Heart and renewing a sincere and right Spirit within me Grant that I may so seriously attend to and consider the great Truths thy Goodness hath revealed to us in the Gospel as intirely to assent to them and heartily endeavour to conform my Practice to my Belief and may I always heedfully preserve those divine Instructions and moving Arguments to a persevering Piety which I have learned from thy Word lest the infernal Bird of Prey deprive me of the good Seed and in its room plant devillish Affections And O that Patience and Hope and an humble Dependance upon thee for Direction and Defence may be my Support in this my Pilgrimage That so chearfully running the Race that is set before me and thankfully acknowledging the early Influences of thy blessed Spirit in my tender Years and waiting for the later Distillations of thy Grace which will bring my Fruit to Perfection and always endeavouring o proportion my Increase to the Means and Opportunities of it thy Goodness hath vouchsafed me I may at last escape the Intolerable Punishment of Unfruitfulness and having my Fruit unto Holiness the End may be everlasting Life through thy Merits and Mercies O blessed Saviour Jesus Amen PARABLE II. Of the Tares Matth. xiii 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. Another Parable put Jesus forth unto them saying The Kingdom of Heaven is likned unto a Man that sowed good Seed in his Field But while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way But when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appeared the Tares also So the Servants of the Housholder came and said unto him Sir didst not thou sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said unto them an Enemy hath done this The Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up But he said nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow together until the Harvest and in the time of Harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them But gather the Wheat into my Barn THE Interpretation of this Parable is thus set down Vers 37. of this Chapter He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seeds are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the wicked one the Enemy that sowed them
and promis'd as fair as the good Corn but when the Time drew nigh that the Corn should appear and come to Ripeness and Perfection then there was a manifest Disparity and what appear'd so well at first was then found to be an empty noxious Weed And thus it is too often in Religion Many Men make a fair Shew and Semblance of Piety attend the Place of divine Worship with much seeming Seriousness and Devotion and to all outward Appearance listen to the Sermons of the Gospel and beg the divine Aid as that Dew of Heaven which alone can make 'em fruitful as earnestly as others do And this looks very well and is as far as Men or Angels can discern for the present as hopeful a Beginning as need be desir'd The really good Seed can send forth nothing more promising at first and hitherto the Tares grow undiscover'd among the Wheat by any Eye but that of God But after this first Blade has appear'd and that for some considerable Time after they have begun to make this Shew of Religion instead of advancing further and further to Perfection as the good Seed does and abounding in every good Work like the full Grain in the Ear these have nothing but a Blade and Stalk of Religion no Fruit appears there is no no real substantial Vertue attends this Shew of Piety but rather the Works of the Flesh are discernable in their Lives and Conversations And this is a plain Discovery to themselves and others that they are but formal not sincere Christians vile unhappy Tares but not good Seed for every Tree is known by its Fruits Wherefore let no Man flatter himself with vain Hopes from a formal customary Religion when there are no real Fruits of Righteousness but on the contrary much Wickedness and Folly and Vanity for unless his Religion makes him grow in Grace and Vertue and is seen in all his Conversation 't will be to no purpose to make an hypocritical Shew of it at Church and is no better than the most provoking Mockery of God and an unnatural starving of the Soul with such fantastick Food and will consign to the lowest Hell which is the Portion of Hypocrites And as a hypocritical Religion will have a very sad Consequence in the other World so it exposes Men to much Shame and Contempt in this For every Man that sees such great Shews of Religion such Pretences to Christian Vertue will naturally expect to find the Man all of a Piece and that to his Devotion and Shew of Godliness at Church be added Sobriety and Righteousness in his Conversation and Intercourse with Men. As when Men see the first Sproutings and Flourishing of a Field that was sown with good Grain they expect to find Increase of the same good Fruits But when after all this fair and florid Shew of Piety and Goodness there appears nothing but Tares and the Man is over run with wicked Habits and vile Affections little or no Sign of a real Sense of Religion upon his Mind but rather the hidden Works of Dishonesty in his Dealings Lying and Collusion instead of Sincerity and Truth Lewdness and Intemperance Pride and Malice instead of Purity both of Flesh and Spirit When such Vileness as this treads upon the Heels of a Mans Shew of Religion any Man may discern that he is a christian Pharisee like a whited Sepulchre beautiful without but within full of Rottenness and all Uncleanness that his Religion is confin'd to the Church whither he goes sometimes for Fashion's Sake to visit it but always leaves it there behind him and will not be troubl'd with its Company abroad Now such Hypocrisy as this is certainly one of the most hateful things in the World and instead of gaining Reputation to a Man is the ready Way to make him a common Scorn Men can't but discover the abominable Cheat and they can't but hate and detest it Tares will at length appear to be Tares and the sooner for being among the good Corn. 'T is therefore certainly the greatest Folly in the World to pretend to conceal under a fair Appearance what will in a very short Time discover it self and will bring a Man to nothing but Shame and Hatred in this World and the Flames of Hell in the next And it concerns every Man that desires to be happy either here or hereafter to lay aside all Guile and Hypocrisy in Religion and sincerely endeavour after the Power of Godliness as well as put on the Form and Appearance of it And thus much for the third Part of this Parable viz. when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appear'd the Tares also The next thing it informs us of is the holy Angels Observation of the Actions of Men especially of Christians and their Diligence and Watchfulness in doing God Service and Zeal for his Glory For thus 't is said the Servants of the Housholder that is the Angels as 't is in the Interpretation came and said unto him Sir didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said an Enemy hath done this They answer'd wilt thou then that we go and gather them up They observ'd by the loose Lives of some Professors that there were very ill Men that went under the Notion of Christians which they knew would reflect Dishonour upon Christ the great Planter of that holy Religion and would be injurious to the Progress of the Gospel and therefore they haste to tell him that they may have his further Commands and with Zeal for his Glory and Intentions of great Charity to us poor Mortals they offer their best Endeavours to rid the Church of those scandalous hypocritical Members That the blessed Angels are by God's Appointment Observers and that for excellent Purposes of the Lives and Actions of Mankind especially of Christians is evident not only from this Part of this Parable but from many other Places of Scripture as an attentive Reader of the holy Writings must often have observ'd Of which some few of the new Testament only that give most Light to this Matter I shall at present mention St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.10 giving Directions for the more decent Service of God in the Church for this Reason says he according to the Custom of that Time ought Women to be veil'd or cover'd as the true Sense of the Place is in their publick religious Assemblies because of the Angels That is lest any thing indecent should be observ'd by those pure Spirits who are present as God's Spies upon the Actions of Men. The last Verse of the 1st Chapter to the Hebrews is likewise very plain to this Purpose where the Apostle speaking of the Angels Are they not all says he as assur'd of the Truth of what he said Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation That is to take notice of their Behaviour in the World in order to
sows these Tares because he is the busy Prompter to Vice and Hypocrisy and the great Encourager of it by his sly and wheedling Insinuations and wicked Injections He is that great Enemy of God and all things heavenly and good and whose constant Endeavour it is to oppose and weaken the Kingdom of Righteousness and upon the Ruins of it to establish his infernal Dominion The End of the World is compared to the Harvest because then is the Time of Gods gathering all Men from off the Face of the Earth and disposing them according to their Deservings into a new State of endless Happiness or Misery as good Corn at Harvest is taken from off the Ground and carryed-away and laid up in Repositories of Safety but the Tares and other noxious Weeds sever'd from the rest and bound up in Bundles to be burnt And the Angels are said to be the Reapers at this great Harvest because 't is by their Ministry that God will execute his most equal Sentence whether of Absolution or Condemnation the Righteous shall by them be caught up into the Clouds to meet their Lord in the Air and like good Corn be laid up and that for ever in God's heavenly Garner for they shall ever be with the Lord And the wicked and hypocritical shall by them be separated from the good and like vile Tares be thrown into a Furnace of Fire unquenchable And thus much in short for the Aptness of this Parable to express the Sense that our Lord conceal'd under it I shall now proceed to consider its several Parts And it will inform us of six things First it will inform us of the State of the Christian Church in this World that there will be both good and bad under the general Name of Christians as Tares and Wheat together go under the Name of one Field of Corn and that the Two first Planters of this Good and Evil respectively are Christ and the Devil That there will be both good and bad in this World under the general Name of Christians will be no wonder to any Man that considers how many there are that are Christians by Custom and Education only because their Fathers were so before 'em and in their tender Years procur'd their Reception into that Communion but seldom look any further into the Reasons and Inducements to such Belief and trouble themselves but very little to be inform'd in much less to practise the Duties that are bound upon them by that holy Profession And for the same Reason would have been Mahometans or Jews had their Parents been so and educated them in that Way and therefore are Christians by Chance not Choice And this those would do well to consider who spend the whole Six Days of the Week in drudging for the World from Morning until Night and then like tir'd Beasts when they have fill'd their Bellies without any further Thoughts lay them down to rest and when the Lord's Day comes which is design'd for the Nourishment and Improvement of their Souls in Piety and Goodness and their Instruction in the Religion they profess to be of make little better Use of it than their Horses do in the Stable rest from bodily Labour and saunter and prate and drink away the Day but seldom come at the Places of divine Worship and Instruction and if they do are as little the better for it as if they were absent Let such consider before it be too late whether this Sort of Christianity will bring 'em to Heaven or no Whether their being baptized in their Infancy will save 'em without any more to do Whether their telling our Lord at the Day of Judgment that they happen'd to be born in a Country where his holy Religion was profess'd and of such as call'd themselves Christians and were by them presented to a Minister of Christ who receiv'd them into the Pale of the Catholick Church and that they continued to call themselves Christians all their Lives and now and then came to Church as other Christians did Let them consider whether at that great Day such an empty Plea will be accepted when the Judg comes to enquire into what Obedience they have paid to his Commandments If it will be accepted Mat. 7.21 why does our Lord say not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.14 And why is the Way said to be narrow and the Gate strait that leads to Life and that few there be that find it but if it will not be accepted as most certainly it will not Doubtless it highly concerns such Men to consider more seriously of Religion than they have done hitherto unless they think their Souls not worth taking care of or that the everlasting Pains of Hell are not so great as those of Repentance and living a new Life And tho' for the Reason assign'd above it is no Wonder that many ill Men here go under the common Name of Christians and that Title be all the Christianity they can boast of yet 't would be a very great Wonder indeed if such empty Tares as these should be laid up with the good Wheat and get to Heaven as much by Chance as they became Christians Further 't is no strange thing to find ill Men amongst a Society of Christians because Men are free Agents and Religion does not force but only by proper Methods incline and perswade And those who in their Infancy were devoted to the Service of God and educated in his Discipline in their tender Years may yet through the Predominancy of their Lusts and vile Affections and the Temptations of the wicked one together with their own careless Inadvertency be when grown up inclined to live at quite another Rate than Christianity allows And though for Fashion's sake they may retain the Name of Christians yet choose to be indeed the Servants of their own Passions and of the Prince of Darkness And therefore 't is very unreasonable for the Enemies of Religion to conclude as they do that because many that profess Christianity live in direct Contradiction to it therefore the whole is a Cheat Because did they believe what that Religion teaches to be true they would not dare to live in such continual Opposition to it Indeed this should make all Christians very careful and circumspect in their Conversation lest they bring so great a Scandal as this upon their holy Religion remembring our Lord's Words Woe be to him by whom the Offence or Scandal cometh But it will not at all follow that because some of a Profession live contrary to its Precepts and Doctrin that therefore the whole is a Forgery For believing and doing are Two very different things and a Man may habitually assent to the Truth of a thing and yet not actually attend to it As a Man may be very well assured that there is a dangerous Pit in his Way and
be very little Hope if any of its Fruitfulness For in all Learning 't is Meditation that gives a Root to what is read or heard and fixes it deep in the Mind 't is that which makes it a Man 's own and serviceable to him upon occasion and without it the most accurate Discourse would tickle the Ear only not inform the Understanding and truly the more excellent the less Beneficial unless it be weighed and examined by a serious and near Inspection Thus the Doctrin of Christianity tho the most excellent in it self as proceeding from the Divine Word the Wisdom of the Father is seldom embrac'd as such by Persons of a trifling unthinking Spirit but rather appears harsh and unreasonable or at best is but faintly approv'd of and for a short Continuance For the Beauties of Holiness like other chief Excellencies are not to be clearly seen and fully discovered by a slight and cursory Glance but by a diligent and curious Search like Gold that is not to be found upon the Surface of the Earth but lies further in and is treasured up within her Bowels Wherefore as we tender our Perseverance in the Faith and our eternal Salvation we must not think our Task is over when we have heard the Word but always set some time apart and the sooner the better to meditate and lay it to Heart and frequently revolve it in our Minds consider it in all its Relations and Tendencies its Nature and its happy and glorious Effects and then we shall be intirely satisfyed that 't is our most reasonable Service and above all things our Interest to practise its Divine Precepts and that it flourish in our Souls and bring forth Fruit in Abundance Thirdly This Seed so planted and fixed in this good Ground must be likewise diligently kept and preserved in it Sloth and Idle Carelessness always have an ill Effect and many hopeful beginnings are nipp'd and crush'd and come to very deplorable conclusions for want of that care and Industry which was necessary to promote and further them to Perfection But above all they are most Dangerous in Religion For besides that they Naturally tend to make Virtue weak and degenerate they give a fair Occasion to our great Enemy to assault us that infernal Bird of Prey who is ready immediately to catch away the good Seed if unregarded and throw his wicked Suggestions into their Place and who is glad to find us thus weak and unarm'd and careless of our Safety and is too wise not to improve such Opportunities to his best Advantage And what Hopes but we shall be shamefully plundered of that Precious Seed which God has sowed in our Hearts that it may spring up to Immortality when we are thus careless and negligent and unable to make any great Resistance Therefore the Wise Man advises to keep the Heart with all Diligence Prov. 4.23 and St. 1 Pet. 1.5 Peter to give all Diligence to add to our Faith Vertue c. that so these good things may be in us and abound And our Lord tells us Mat. 13.25 in the next Parable to this that 't was while Men slept that the Enemy came and sow'd Tares Wherefore awake to Righteousness 1 Cor. 15.34 1 Pet. 3.8 says St. Paul be sober be vigilant says St. Peter for your Adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour Let us therefore endeavour as St. Paul advises Timothy 1 Tim. 6.2 to keep that which is committed to our Trust and to walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise lest as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtilty so our Minds should be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Christ We must be wise as Serpents as well as innocent as Doves lest when the Word has begun to thrive and prosper in our Souls it be at length rooted out by the Temptations of that old Serpent and bring no Fruit to Perfection Fourthly we must expect the Encrease of this good Seed with Patience and Perseverance and take care that the Fruits come to full Maturity We must expect the Increase of this good Seed with Patience because all Improvement is a thing of Time Men can't arrive at Perfection even in Vice in an instant much less in Vertue There are many intermedial Steps and Advances to it and as when Seed is sown there first appears but a tender Blade which in process of Time improves to a Stalk which every day grows taller and stronger and at length appears the Ear and the Grain in the Ear and even after that compleat Formation of the Plant there is yet some considerable Time before it comes to perfect Ripeness and all this while the Husbandman waits with Patience till the Time comes of gathering the ripe Fruits of the Earth So in Religion there are gradual Advances to Perfection The Beginnings of Religion the first Sproutings of this Heavenly Seed are and will be tender and unconfirm'd but Time will strengthen and improve them every Day will make some Advance to Perfection where there is an honest and good Heart and Sincerity at the Bottom But these Advances may be very leisurely and like the Growth of Plants scarce discernable in their Progress and yet at length the Word of God brings forth its genuine Fruits in great Abundance And this though perhaps slow pace in Religion must be born with Patience and Hope for in due Time for all this we shall reap if we faint not And this those should consider who expect to be compleat Christians in an instant and are impatient of Delays and disheartned by every Rub and Difficulty and because their Practice can't keep pace with their too forward and passionate Wishes and Desires are apt to despair of ever coming to that Ripeness of Christianity which will fit them for their great Masters Garner and too often let slip what they have already attain'd and give over in much Dejection after they have made a very hopeful Progress But this is a cunning Artifice of the Devil and ought with the greatest Care imaginable to be provided against and a Man's best Defence in this Case is Patience or a calm and resign'd Expectation of Encrease and Blessing from God in his due Time when we have done our own best Endeavour a waiting God's Leisure a confiding in his Goodness who only gives the Encrease And as St. Jam. 5.7 James expresses it as the Husbandman waiteth for the precious Fruit of the Earth and hath long Patience for it untill he receive the early and latter Rain so should we be also patient and in Patience possess our Souls and establish our Hearts For there is a latter Distillation of the Divine Grace as well as that which is early and at First and which when God pleases to afford it we shall then grow up to Perfection And though sometimes it may not be so plentifully showr'd down as we could wish yet will not be
is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels As therefore the Tares are gather'd and burnt in the Fire so shall it be in the End of the World The Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do Iniquity and shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father From this Interpretation of this Parable it appears that the Design of it is to shew for the Encouragement of the sincerely good and Terrour of the Hypocritical that though there may be many wicked Professors of Christianity that are Christians only in Name and Out-side and who in this World may be confusedly intermix'd among the good and go undiscover'd of Men and unpunish'd of God nay thrive and prosper here more than the good and to all outward Appearance be the Favorites of Heaven whilst the sincerely good undergo many Afflictions and appear to Men to be under God's Displeasure Yet in the great Harvest that shall be at the End of the World there shall be a Distinction made between the one and the other the hypocritical shall be separated from the sincere and the former consign'd to ever lasting Burnings and the latter received into the Heavenly Regions the Place prepared for them from the Beginning of the World This is the Design of the Parable We shall now briefly consider how aptly expressive it is of this Sense and then discourse upon the several Parts of it The planting of the Gospel in the World in order to the converting Men to Christianity is compared to the sowing of Seed because as was said upon the former Parable the Gospel like Seed is that Principle of a future great Increase of Piety and Holiness in this World and of Glory and Happiness in the next 'T is that which if sincerely embrac'd and its Growth and Progress not hindred will spring up to Glory Honour and Immortality And 't is said to be like Seed sown or committed to the Furrows and then left to its own seminal Powers and the favourable Influences of Heaven because the Gospel being actually planted in the World is as to particular Persons left to make its Way by its own Power and Efficacy the Excellency of its Precepts and its transcendent Rewards and Punishments together with the constant Dews of the Divine Grace that attend it without any more extraordinary Means unless upon some extraordinary Occasion to make it take Root and fructify 'T is generally propos'd to all in its whole Latitude which is the sowing of it and then Men are left to their own free Choice whether they will embrace it with its Promises or turn their Backs upon it and run the Hazard of its Threats without any irresistible Force to the one or the other only the small still Voice of God's Spirit in Men's Hearts and Grace descending like the gentle Dew to soften and incline them to cherish this good Seed which is the leaving the Gospel to its own seminal Powers with only the benign Waterings of the Divine Grace and Blessing Our Lord is call'd the Sower of the good Seed because he is the Author and first Teacher of this holy Religion and its Validity to the great Purposes to which it is design'd depends upon the Merit of his bitter Death and Passion and the invigorating Vertue of his precious Blood For 't was upon his satisfying the Divine Justice by his Death that he receiv'd Authority to mark out to us this Way to Life and Reconciliation as the only Principle and Seed of Immortality The World is call'd the Field where this Seed is sown because this blessed Religion is catholick and universal not confined to any particular Place or People as the Jewish Religion was but whosoever of what Nation or People soever shall believe in Jesus and repent shall be saved And agreeably in another Parable which for its great Analogy to this I shall not particularly discourse of the Gospel or Kingdom of Christ is represented by a Net cast into the Sea Mat. 13.47 not any particular Lake or River And this World is stiled the Field because this is the only Place of receiving this Seed and bringing forth the genuine and expected Fruits of it and he that shall refuse to receive this divine Seed now while he continues here or not suffer it to grow and increase and bring forth Fruit shall never have the like Opportunity again but suffer for ever the Punishment threatned to obstinate Infidelity or barren Unfruitfulness This World is the only Field this Life the only Seed-time and at the End of it comes that one great Harvest which shall consign Men to an eternal Condition either happy or miserable according to their Barrenness or Fruitfulness during this Time and in this Place of Growth and Increase The Children of the Kingdom or those that are sincere Christians intirely devoted to the Service of their great Master and have receiv'd the good Seed of the Gospel into honest and good Hearts as 't is express'd in the preceeding Parable These are themselves likewise compared to good Seed because they have a substantial Piety the Power as well as the Form and Appearance of Godliness and bring forth the genuine Fruits of their holy Religion That divine Seed that was sown in their Hearts has produced not only the Blade in the Ear but the full Grain in the Ear the same Kind of Seed that was sown appears in their Lives and Conversations the Seed of the Spirit brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit and the Seed of Holiness produces real and substantial Holiness so that the Gospel is called good Seed as 't is the first Principle of Holiness and truly pious Men are likewise call'd good Seed as the genuine Product and Increase of that first Principle The Gospel is the good Seed sown and the sincerely religious are the good Seed as springing from it and being produc'd by it The Children of the wicked one or the hypocritical Professors of Christianity are compared to Tares or Gockle because they have only a Shew and Appearance of Religion as Tares and Cockle have of Corn but like them no Substance of good Corn none of the real Excellencies of Religion nothing but hurtful and vicious Qualities as Tares are said to have hurtful to themselves in the final Consequence as bringing them to so miserable an End and hurtful to others by their ill Neighbourhood and Converse as Tares to Wheat and likewise injurious to the holy Religion they profess as reflecting Dishonour upon it by their scandalous Conversation Upon all Accounts 't is infoelix Lolium as the Poet calls it unhappy Tares they are that bring Dishonour upon God and Destruction upon themselves and others The Devil is very fitly stiled the Enemy that
will unhallow and make ineffecutal one Duty of Christianity I can't see why it should not do the like to all the rest And if a Separation were admitted upon such Accounts as as these there would be no such thing as an external Communion of Saints because such is the State of the Gospel in this World that the bad will be intermix'd with the Good as Tares are in a Field of Wheat And as to the Practice of particular Ministers I charitably hope none do admit of notorious Offenders to the Communion without receiving satisfactory Marks of their Repentance or at least by previous Discourse or writing When they know of their Intention to communicate let 'em know the great Danger of receiving unworthily and urge them to an immediate sincere Repentance or else forbid 'em at their Peril to approach the holy Table And if after all this they will come we are to suppose in Charity that they have repented except we are sure to the contrary And if a Minister sees one at the Table whose Life has in many Instances to his Knowledg been very faulty unless the Crimes have been very great and very notorious to reject such an one I think with Submission would be arrogant and uncharitable and might exasperate the Man to so high a Degree as to make him throw off all Regard to Religion for the future and in such a Case the Exhortation appointed to be read at the Time of celebrating those Holy Mysteries should one would think be Warning sufficient for such an one if unrepentant to withdraw and if he stays Charity would incline one to believe that he was penitent And if a Person kneeling by who perhaps knows much more of the Man's Course of Life than the Minister shall be offended at his communicating one that receives so unworthily and speak hard things of him and abstain from that blessed Ordinance upon this Account for the future as prophan'd by such mix'd Company at it this is highly unreasonable uncharitable and unnatural 'T is unreasonable with Relation to their hard Thoughts and Censures of the Minister because Charity obliges him to think well of such as present themselves at the holy Table unless there be great and undeniable Evidence of their obstinate and continu'd Wickedness and in such a Case I dare say no pious Minister would prostitute those holy Symbols to such Swine And where there is not such Evidence Ministers can search Mens Hearts no more than other Men and therefore must hope the best and judge according to the outward Appearance and should they communicate some that receive unworthily by this Means as 't is to be fear'd they too often do why should they be blam'd for that which 't is impossible for 'em to help and aspers'd and all further Communion with them deserted for suffering that ignorantly which God though the Searcher of all Hearts permits in his Church without any open Discrimination namely the bad to join in all holy Offices with the good And this Practice is as uncharitable as 't is unreasonable because 't is judging and condemning those as Reprobates obstinate unrepenting Sinners whose Hearts we cannot see and who though formerly egregiously wicked yet now through the mighty Efficacy of God's converting Grace may for ought we know to the contrary be better than our selves And 't is an unnatural Practice too because 't is the depriving our selves of the Comforts that attend the Reception of that holy Sacrament and those of Vnion and brotherly Love meerly upon a groundless Nicety Let us all rather learn not to judge others before the Time but leave every Man to stand or fall by the unerring Judgment of our great Master at the last Day lest by judging others we condemn our selves who do the same things and it may be worse And instead of abstaining from the Sacrament because some come and are admitted to it whom we think and it may be not without Reason are not so well prepar'd as they should be endeavour to make our selves still more and more fit for so holy an Ordinance by a dayly Amendment of Life and then our Fleece like that of Gideon shall be moistned tho' other Men's be dry The Apostles were never the less dear to our Saviour for Judas his being amongst 'em but the more so rather and though through the Wickedness that was in his Heart Satan enter'd into him after he had receiv'd the Sop our Lord gave him at the Celebration of the Passover and in all Probability did partake of what he consecrated in Memory of his succeeding Death and Sufferings yet the rest receiv'd miraculous Assistances of the holy Ghost and were faithful to the Death and for certain have receiv'd the Crown of Life And I hope this will satissy for the future such as upon this Account have abstain'd from the blessed Sacrament and censur'd the Ministers of our Church and though without all Reason our Church it self And as what has been said upon this Matter has been no impertinent Digression so I hope it may be a beneficial one Let us now proceed to the second thing this Parable informs us of namely The Time when God's and our great Enemy the Devil sowes his Tares among the Wheat and that is while Men sleep For so the Parable while Men slept the Enemy came and sow'd Tares among the Wheat and went his Way Then is the Time of his injecting his wicked Insinuations into Men's Hearts whereby to make 'em become like empty Tares Christians in Name and Appearance only but devoid of the substantial Graces and Vertues of that holy Profession By Men's sleeping is here meant a careless Inadvertency and Neglect of the things of Religion a stupid Security in a thoughtless Way of Life And this is a Metaphor which the sacred Writers have often made use of to this Purpose and 't is so expressive of what they would represent by it that 't will be worth our while briefly to consider wherein the Likeness of such thoughtless Inadvertency in religious Matters to sleep does consist It is like it in the first Place in its Cause For as Toil and Labour and any thing that brings Weariness and consumes the Spirits disposes the Body to Sleep and makes it desire Rest and Ease that it may have a Recruit so this moral Drowsiness or Hebetude of the Soul generally begins to creep upon Men when they find difficulty in Religion a little striving soon puts 'em out of Heart their Hands fall their Knees grow feeble their Soul faints within 'em all Hope of Victory is then laid aside and they sit them down as Men quite spent and then steals that deep Sleep upon them which too often ends in Death Thus we often see Men set very briskly upon the Practice of Religion at First and seem wondrously pleas'd with their new Choice and admire at their Stupidity that they did not sooner discover the transcendent Beauties of Holiness and are resolv'd
to redeem their mis-spent Time and talk of nothing but Raptures and of reaching great Hights and Eminencies of Piety when all on the suddain they are at a Stand there 's a Lyon in the Way a right Hand must be cut off or a right Eye put out i. e. some Favourite Vice must be cashier'd if they move any further and that 's a hard Saying and the Men begin to cool a Stifness seizes their over-heated Limbs and a senseless Torpor invades every Part of 'em Mark 10.21 and like the young Man in the Gospel whom our Lord began to love for his discreet Answers and towardly Disposition when they must part with their Riches to the Poor and deny themselves their corrupt Desires and Inclinations and take up their Cross and follow their Saviour Then they become sad and with Grief and Dissatisfaction leave him and fold their Hands and return again to their Dream of Vanity Just like those in the former Parable compar'd to stony Ground who receiv'd the Word at first with Joy but having not sufficient Deepness of Earth i.e. for want of through Consideration and beholding the smooth Side of Religion only endure but for a while and in Time of Temptation and Difficulty fall away and their forward Piety becomes dry and wither'd Or like those mention'd in another Parable Luke 14.28 which was spoken upon this very Account and which for its great Affinity with this Part of the Parable we are now upon I shall not particularly discourse of who begin to build and sit not down first and count the Cost whether they be able to finish and so proceeding no further than Foundation become the Scorn of all Men. But Secondly as a State of careless Inadvertency to the things of Religion is like Sleep in its Cause and Beginning so likewise is it in its Progress and Effects For like Sleep it locks up all the Powers and Faculties of the Soul and suspends their Action it dulls its Apprehension and makes it take Evil for Good and Good for Evil it vitiates its Reasoning and makes it draw false and fantastick Consequences and Conclusions and therefore corrupts its Will and Affections and makes its Choices strangely foolish and ridiculous such as preferring Earth before Heaven a little Ease and imperfect Pleasure here before Rivers of ineffable Pleasures that are at God's right Hand for evermore and the like The lower Life is in this Case predomimant and wild Dreams and incoherent Fancies make up such Men's Divinity and their Rule of Life and Manners In short the Life of such Men is but a Dream their Notions like those of Men in a Slumber dark hovering and uncertain their Discourse about religious Marters broken disjointed unconcluding full of Fallacies and dangerous Sophistry to cheat themselves of all Expectation here and Enjoyment hereafter of what is their greatest nay their only Happiness Their Actions are like those done in a Dream too extravagant brutish and unaccountable startled at Chimaera's and the Shadows of Danger and insensible of the Approaches of real and substantial Misery though just ready to overtake them fond of a Bundle of Feathers in love with an aery Nothing whilst their true Interest is not in all their Thoughts And to compleat the Parallel they are as deaf to all Reproofs as Men asleep as little affected with good Instruction and Advice and so bewitch'd with the Fanci'd Sweetness of their Slumber that they are as loath to be awaken'd And when by rudeer Applications they are like Men that have taken too large a Dose of Opium they are presently o'ercome with Heaviness and shut their Eyes against all Conviction and fall asleep again And the final Event is this that as natural Drowsiness cloaths a Man with Raggs so the moral will cloath him with Shame and utter Confusion And now from this short Parallel which I have drawn between the Sleep of the Soul and the Body as we may see the Fitness of the Expression in the Parable so we may learn what Guard to keep upon our selves to prevent our infernal Enemies sowing his Tares or making us become as such by his wicked Insinuations and Suggestions 'T is while Men thus sleep are thus thoughtless and inadvertent to Religion and taken up with the Gaieties and Pleasures of this World which like pleasant Dreams entertain the Fancy and Imagination with much Delight but soon vanish and become utterly unprofitable then it is that this subtle Enemy makes use of his Opportunity and unobserv'd steals in his wicked Injections which divert the Soul still more and more from attending to her main Interest and promote this spiritual Slumber so long 'till too often it becomes chronical and habitual and an utter Oblivion of all religious Obligations an incurable Numness and Stupidity of Soul God knows too often follows and Men become like Tares empty of all substantial Goodness and at best but Christians in Name and Shew and fit for nothing but when God shall see fit to be gathered up from among the Wheat and burnt Wherefore it highly concerns all those that hope to be sav'd not to sleep as do others but to watch and be sober to awake to Righteousness and walk circumspectly not as Fools diverted by every Feather and gay Appearance but as Men that are wise to Salvation always in a Posture of Watchfulness and Defence Fixing our Attention upon our Duty and the exceeding great Reward of it and often reflecting upon that intolerable Misery which will certainly be the Consequence of such fatal Slumberings and still pressing on with greater Courage as the Difficulties of Religion increase upon us and daily endeavouring still more and more to shake off dead Stupidity to Religion which so easily besets us and to rouze up the Faculties and employ 'em upon those noblest of Objects patiently receiving Instruction and Reproof rejecting every Notion and Opinion that would destroy the Necessity of a good Life and studiously avoiding Idleness and Sloth and according to our Lord 's most excellent Advice adding Prayer to Watchfulness that we enter not into Temptation This Course if we take we shall defeat this generally prevailing Stratagem of the subtle Tempter and being always in a Readiness to resist him make him fly from us with Shame and Disappointment And our Souls will then grow more and more substantial in Piety and abound in it as the good Corn and at length being grown ripe for the Glories and Felicities of Heaven be gather'd in Peace and laid up in Repositories of eternal Rest and Safety as in the blessed Garner of our Lord. Thirdly this Parable informs us of the Time of Discovery of the Tares the hypocritical Religionists namely the Time of bringing forth Fruit When the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit or when the Grain appear'd in the Ear then appear'd the Tares also Then appear'd the Difference between the good Corn and the Cockle which at first coming up look'd as flourishing