chasten as many as hee loveth and scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth which is as the sprinkling on of salt to keep us from corruption The trees of the field are little regarded Planta ferax falcem patitur petitque frequentem Putationes redintegrant juventam afferunc Scal. in Theop. but those of the garden are often look't unto and repaired In exercising of us God dealeth with us as with sonnes correcting us in judgement for our reformation not consuming us in fury to our destruction A plant cut unseasonably dyeth but cut in due time it prospers the better The times and seasons are in Gods hands he doth then purge his children when it may be most for their discipline and amendment that our old errours and infirmities may passe away and we being regenerated may walke in newnesse of life as in pruning the withered and dry branches are taken away and young twigs doe shoot forth that may be fruitfull Let us never forget Gods dealing with us when hee did stretch out his hand Anno 1625. and did threaten to destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and to cut off branch and rush in one day by the noisome pestilence lopping off many ten thousands and leaving the chiefe body of the tree naked and bare yet then he preserved us in safety we were delivered from the mouth of that Lion and we are still defended by the shield of his favour that we may glorifie his Name by a godly conversation Will not all this move us to return unto the Lord His benefits conferred his fatherly reprehension his protecting us by his providence when he severely punished others Behold I have set before you life and death I have declared Gods mercy towards us and his judgement upon others Now what tribute or offering doth the Lord require of us but only the fruit of our thoughts in meditation upon his word and works the fruit of our lips in shewing forth his praise and the fruit of our lives in serving him acceptably with reverence and godly feare We all professe that wee are branches of that Root Mat. 7.17 12.33 Christ Jesus Now every good tree brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree evill fruit for by their fruit ye shall know them Can a fig-tree beare olive berries Jam. 3.12 or a vine figs If the root be holy so are the branches If wee bee members of Christ Rom. 11.16 wee must doe the workes of our heavenly Father Doe wee desire that every tree in our ground should be fruitfull and yet will we our selves be barren As some parents would have their children walke in a good way yet they themselves will runne into excesse of riot Shall others be excited by the divine blessings and powerfull meanes that they have enjoyed to bring forth the good fruit of obedience and wilt thou who hast been a partaker of the same blessings bring forth impietie and rebellion As the influence of the same Sunne ripeneth the sweet grape and the sowre crab but such wild trees are not suffered long to continue in the Paradise of the Church Every plant which my Father hath not planted shall be rooted up only the fruitfull trees shall be supported and strengthened Being planted in that garden in the midst whereof is the Tree of life which doth distribute of its grace and vertue unto all the trees that are round about it Of Christs fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace Ulmus vitis Ruta ficus It is observed what a sympathie there is among the trees how divers of them prosper best when they have such and such stand nigh unto them and some of them will never beare Exciso mare palmite sterilescit foemina Perottus Sands trav This we know assuredly that we can doe no good thing unlesse we have our ability from Christ who is that tree which is described to beare twelve manner of fruits and to yeeld the fruit every moneth Rev. 22.2 As he is so in himselfe full of grace and truth evermore doing good unto us and bestowing all kinds of blessings upon us so he gives power to us who receive him to become the sonnes of God enabling us in some measure to bring forth not one or some few kinds but divers and sundry fruits The Apostle when hee speakes of the fruit of the Spirit hee nameth love and joy and peace then he addes long-suffering and gentlenesse and yet these are not all for he annexeth goodnesse faith Gal. 5.22 meeknesse temperance And elsewhere expressing the fruit of the Spirit hee mentioneth righteousnesse and truth He that delights in planting Dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis Primus vere roosam atque autumno carpere poma Virg. will not be satisfied with some few sorts of fruit and in being provided for a short time or a part of the yeer but will be desirous of the best choice and varietie that may be and to have such fruit as may be usefull during the whole yeere Some that may bee ripe with the soonest and other that may endure a long time taking speciall contentment in that which is most durable that he may be provided when others are destitute Oh that wee were wise for the good of our soules wee would be more delighted in seeking for graces that wee might be perfect and thorowly furnished unto every good worke than any man can bee in these outward contentments and with an holy emulation wee would be more covetous of the spirituall gifts wherewith others are adorned than ever Ahab was of Naboths vineyard 1 Kin. 21. What diligence would wee give to adde to our faith vertue 2 Pet. 1.5 and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godlinesse and to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and to brotherly kindnesse charity for if these be in us and abound wee should not be Barren nor Unfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore when wee see the Almond tree of any man to blossome betimes and to promise a plenteous increase when wee see a young man cleansing his way by taking heed thereunto according to Gods word let us also bee thereby provoked to redeem the time and to remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth When wee observe another mans Vine to bee laden with goodly clusters when we take notice of a man who doth good and rejoyceth in the workes of his hands as Solomon speaks let us also be excited to labour for that gladnesse in our hearts Eccles 3.12.22 which is better than the increase of come and wine Morus quafi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Antiph Serior at Morus nunquam msi frigore lapso Germinat sapiens nomina falsa gerat Alciat Psal 74.47 For Mulberries now it is Sycomores When wee view the Mulberry tree of another man to forbeare sending forth any buds untill the danger of
partakers of the divine nature This is intended by the Apostle when he saith James 1. Receive with meekness the engraffed word When the heart is made lowly it will be more ready to receive the Word the Word will be more ready to incorporate into it Wee must not only lay aside our greatest sins our boasting that we could do mischiefe our delight in folly and wickednesse but also all confidence in our owne seeming vertues as of temperance liberality moderation and the like lest we be puffed up thereby See this in Saint Paul who saith Phil. 3.3 wee are the circumcision who have no confidence in the flesh and though he were blamelesse touching the righteousnesse that was in the law yet those things that were gain to him he counted losse for Christ Thus David saith His soule was even as a weaned childe and thus we should bee weaned and estranged from taking any contentment in our owne strength and ability and should put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved humbleness of mind meeknesse and lowlinesse In the next place there is an incision or wound made into the stocke by which it may be made capable and fitting to receive the cyons In like manner we must rend our hearts and open our selves that Christ may enter into our soules Our hearts must be broken and opened like the heart of Lydia that we may receive the Word of life Was Christ wounded for our transgressions and shall not wee be pricked to the heart with sorrow for our former provocations After this we put the cyons into that breach and division that is made in the stocke so after sorrow and humiliation God puts joy into our hearts and his law into our inward parts implanting his graces in our soules and rejoycing over us to doe us good Surculi vis ea est ut in tantillo corpusculo tamen praeponderet arboris viribus totius Non enim arboris prodit sed surculi fructus Scal. in Theoph. Bacon Cent. Although the Cyon be small in the beginning yet it groweth to be a great tree over-ruling the stocke and bringing forth fruit of its owne kind so although the beginning of grace be weak and little like a graine of mustard-seed yet there is a continuall increasing and growing unto more perfection when we yeeld our selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and our members as instruments of righteousnesse not living any longer in sinne but living by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved us and gave himselfe for us that hee might reconcile us who were sometimes alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked workes and delivering us from the power of darknesse might translate us into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne As after graffing the stocke being nigher unto the root than the cyons and still abiding in its proper place where it formerly did prosper is ready to send forth many young twigs that will arrest and anticipate that strength and vertue which should ascend for the nourishment of the cyons and are therefore diligently taken away to prevent that mischiefe So there is a combat betweene the flesh and the spirit the one lusting against the other there is the body of death and the old leaven of corruption remaining within us Our sins and infirmities are continually interposing and hindring us from apprehending the favour and love of God with that strength and fulnesse which wee doe desire and therefore wee must cut off these sprigs with pruning-hookes not suffering sinne to reigne in our mortall bodies and have dominion over us but mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit and casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ The Kingdome of God is compared to leaven hid in three measures of meale Luke 13.21 untill the whole were leavened A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump the grace begun should grow strong and powerfull within us the leaven of holiness should work out the leaven of malice If the tree doth not flourish we will impute the cause unto the barrennes of the ground or the want of a good root Crassitie suâ cortex obstat quo minus à terrae humore augeatur acinus non enim transmittitur Scal. in Theop. or the thicknesse of the bark that binds the stocke but not unto the graft it self which did grow very happily before it was converted to this use From whence is it that there is such imperfection weaknesse such backwardnesse in the good way and that our fruits rellish so much of the stocke so little of the graft Comes it not hence that our corruptions and lusts doe still warre in our members and we doe not labour to perfect holinesse in the feare of God O wretched men in whom the Crosse of Christ hath not yet worne out the bitter taste of that first tree The Cyon is taken from the tree of life Every good gift commeth downe from the Father of lights who giveth liberally and upbraideth not Oh that we were enlarged in apprehending and applying what is so freely offered If our hearts were opened wide in holy desires the Lord would fill them with spirituall blessings but wee are straitned in our owne bowels and being in this great strait we are as unable to free our selves as the Prophet was to deliver himselfe out of the belly of the Whale We cannot relieve our selves and vaine is the helpe of man who is subject to the same misery We may not trust to the arme of flesh or ascribe the praise to humane power as Adrian did who wrote over his Hospitall at Lovan Adr. 6. Trajectum me plantavit Lovanium me rigavit Caesar incrementum dedit Ergo Deus nihil fecit Utrecht planted Lovan watered Caesar gave the increase Whereunto it was fitly subscribed by another Therefore God had nothing to doe in this man We know that neither hee that planteth is any thing neither he that watereth but God who giveth the increase So Noah began to be an husbandman and planted a vineyard Gen. 9.20 He is the Husbandman saith our Saviour and we are his husbandry saith the Apostle both which places are to be understood of a Plantation as appeares by the context where it is said John 15.1 That Christ is the Vine and we the Branches whereof hee purgeth some and taketh away others Also there is frequent mention of planting watering 1 Cor. 39. which is some part of countrie labour And then the Apostle concludes We are Gods husbandry wee are Gods building and except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord gives a blessing our paines and industry will be fruitlesse In demanding who built such an house or planted such an orchard we intend not the inferiour workmen but the chief owners at whose expence they
animantium excrementis vel è stipulis culmis aut terrae medullá Authors as conducing to fructification when laid about the roots of the trees being so applyed there is vertue and efficacie in them but here to set them downe would not yeeld that profit which I most desire As they are to be covered in the earth so they shall bee concealed from the Readers view and passed over in silence My principall aime is to doe good in amending the barren heart rather than the barren earth Wherefore let us attempt to draw some benefit unto our selves The Apostle tells us what he accounts to bee dung Phil. 3.8 Even all his own worthinesse and workes all his owne priviledges and prerogatives whatsoever He was so far from being exalted above measure by them that hee rather casts them downe to the root and esteems them of no value And surely he was a plant of renowne raised up by the Lord whose height reached unto heaven when hee was caught up into Paradise it selfe whose leaves were faire and his fruit much preaching the Gospel to many Nations yet hee assumes not any praise to himselfe but gives the glory to God Hee doth not attribute his good fruit to any humane power but to the divine mercy Not to any inferiour cause in himselfe but to the Sunne of Righteousnesse which shined upon him who before was in darknesse The humble heart is most fruitfull when wee are abased in sense of our owne insufficiency we shall be enriched with Gods favour Such as trust wholly to their proper gifts doe rest upon the foot of pride which will slip away and overthrow them Much of that hot substance applyed doth consume the root and destroy the tree They that are high-minded and conceited of their abilities doe seeke their owne subversion Wee should be so farre from ascribing any excellency or dignity to our owne power Deut. 8.17 and the might of our hand that we should rather in all lowlinesse confesse that wee are all as an uncleane thing Isa 64.6 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags There is just cause to be humbled and abased when wee observe how barren we have made the earth by our sins so that we are constrained to use divers compounds and ingredients the naming wherof would be offensive of very meane estimation to help to revive it and restore it to some part of its former strength and vigour In like maner we may bewaile and lament the deadnesse and perversenesse of our hearts whenas all the furtherance and comfortable encouragement we can use is not sufficient to rectifie them and bring them to good perfection So great is their crookednesse they cannot be made straight so many are the graces wanting they cannot be numbred And yet we must not couch downe under our burthen for then our field will be all growne over with thornes and the face thereof will be covered with nettles and the stone wall will be broken down our soules will be filled with vice and impietie But let us with much labour seeke to reforme what is out of order and to supply what is defective Laudato ingentia rura Exiguum colito Virg. Quae cura totum postulat virum â—sibi Baudius that as the heart is one of the little members of the body so it may be like the poore mans small tenement well manured It is a common practice to lay some choice earth and good mould about the roots of the trees that they may grow 2 Pet. 1.4 and be fruitfull so we should apply unto our selves the exceeding great and precious promises which God hath given unto us Ephes 2.7 and the exceeding riches of his grace which he hath shewed in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus and thereby we shall find vertue to come into our soules and shall be enabled to bring forth good fruit Leaving the root we will contemplate the body of the tree and from thence we will ascend unto the branches Bacon cent v. 440. Vectigal intercipit sibi vafer ille atriensis heri sobole demenso suo defraudato Scal. in Theop It is an usuall practice to hacke the trees in the barke both downeright and acrosse which doth great good to trees and especially delivereth them from being bark-bound and killeth their mosse Something wee may performe which shall in part be answerable hereunto I intend not to approve of their custome who scourge themselves 1 Kin. 18.28 as the Priests of Baal did cut themselves with knives and lancers till the bloud gushed out upon them which is like that humour of Artaxerxes who would have the robes of his Nobles scourged for such offences as their bodies should be beaten In corde non in cortice Our wounds must pierce deeper than the barke even to the heart which must be rent by contrition There may be an inward bruise though there bee no outward breach there may be true compunction without vaine ostentation The Pharisees did dis-figure their faces when they fasted Mat. 6.16 by art they composed themselves to looke pale and leane that they might appeare unto men to fast 1 Cor. 9.27 But Saint Paul not regarding mans day did keepe under his body and bring it into subjection So we by fasting humiliation should subdue the body that the soules burthen may be light and the yoke easie when the body doth not rule as a tyrant but is ready to goe and come like a servant Lastly we cut off such branches as are not profitable and the water-boughs which are overshadowed by the superiour branches so we must lay aside all earthly affections and carnall desires And as the reapers in Gods harvest doe gather out all things that offend Mat. 13.41 so wee his husbandmen ought to cut off all corrupt and unfruitfull branches all wicked actions and worldly cares whereby we may be overcharged and hindred from obtaining true happinesse 1 Cor. 5.2 God hath given the pruning hooke into the hand of the Church that it may have power to take away wicked persons from among us And God hath put the pruning hook into the hand of every Christian to judge and trie and prove himselfe that he might reject and cast off all impiety destroying the flesh that the spirit may bee saved in the day of the Lord Jesus As it is required that we should thus labour to make our selves fruitfull so likewise we must be industrious in seeking to bring them into the same good condition which are committed to our charge Pro. 22 6. especially to traine up our children in the way they should goe and when they are old they will not depart from it Quae laceris ramis perstrictoque ardua libro Certatim fundis per latus omne petor Infelix fructus in mea damna fero Alciat If we neglect the performance hereof we may feare that will come upon us which doth befall divers trees whose branches