CHAPTER VI: Upon the incurableness of some bad Ground
When I was barren and accurst, Can much more easily restore My soul to what it was before; 'Twas Heman's, Job's, and David's case, Yet all recovered were by grace.
A word, a smile on my poor soul, Will make it perfect, sound, and whole.
A glance of thine hath soon dissolv'd A soul in sin and grief involv'd.
Lord, if thou canst not work the cure, I am contented to endure.
CHAPTER VI:
Upon the incurableness of some bad Ground No skill can mend the miry ground; and sure
Some souls the gospel leaves as past a cure.
OBSERVATION
ALTHOUGH the industry and skill of the husbandman can make some ground that was useless and bad, good for tillage and pasture, and improve that which was barren; and by his cost and pains make one acre worth ten: yet such is the nature of some rocky or miry
ground, where the water stands, and there is no way to cleanse it, that it can never be made fruitful. The husbandman is fain to let it alone, as an incurable piece of waste or worthless ground; and though the sun and clouds shed their influences on it, as well as upon better land, yet that doth not at all mend it. Nay, the more showers it receives, the worse it proves. For these do no way fecundate or improve it; nothing thrives there but worthless flags and rushes.
APPLICATION
MANY also, there are, under the gospel, who are given over by God to judicial blindness, hardness of heart, a reprobate sense, and perpetual barrenness; so that how excellent soever the means are which they enjoy, and how efficacious soever to the conversion, edification, and salvation of others; yet they shall never do their souls good. Ezek. 47:9, 11. "Every thing wheresoever the river comes shall live, but the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof shall never be healed, but be given to salt;" i.e. given to an obstinate and everlasting barrenness. Compare Deut. 9:23. By these waters, saith the judicious Mr. Strong*, understand the doctrine of the gospel; as Rev. 21:2 a river of water of life, clear as crystal: Hic fluvius est uberrima doctrina Christi, saith Mr. Brightman. This river is the most fruitful doctrine of Christ: yet these waters do not heal the miry, marshy places; i.e. men that live unfruitfully under ordinances, who are compared to miry, marshy places, in three respects:
(1.) In miry places the water hath not free passage, but stands and settles there. So it is with these barren souls; therefore the apostle prays, that the gospel may run, and be glorified, 2 Thes. 3:1. The word is said to run, when it meets with no stop, Cum libere propagatur, when it is freely propagated, and runs through the whole
man; when it meets with no stop, either in the mouth of the speaker, or hearts of the hearers, as it doth in these.
(2.) In a miry place the earth and water are mixed together; this mixture makes mire. So when the truths of God do mix with the corruptions of men, that they either hold some truths, and yet live in their lusts; or else when men do make use of the truths of God to justify and plead for their sins. Or, (3.) When, as in a miry place, the longer the water stands in it, the worse it grows; so the longer men abide under ordinances, the more filthy and polluted they grow. These are the miry places that cannot be healed, their disease is incurable, desperate.
O this is a sad case! and yet very common; many persons are thus given over as incorrigible, and hopeless; Rev. 22:11. "Let him. "that is filthy be filthy still." Jer. 6:29. "Reprobate silver shall men call them, for the Lord hath rejected them." Isa. 6:10, 11. "Go make the heart of this people fat, their ears dull," &c.
Christ executes, by the gospel, that curse upon many souls, which he denounced against the fig-tree, Mat. 21:19. "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever; and immediately the fig-tree withered away." To be given up to such a condition, is a fearful judgment indeed, a curse with a witness; the sum of all plagues, miseries, and judgments, a fatal stroke at the root itself. It is a woe to have a bad heart, (saith one) but it is the depth of woe to have a heart that never shall be made better. To be barren under the gospel, is a sore judgment, but to have that pertinax sterilitas, a pertinacious barrenness; this is to be twice dead, and plucked up by the root, as Jude speaks.
And to shew you the woful and miserable state and plight of such men, let the following particulars be weighed.
(1.) It is a stroke at the soul itself, an inward spiritual judgment; and by how much the more inward and spiritual any judgment is, by so much the more dreadful and lamentable. As soul-mercies are the best mercies, so soul-judgments are the saddest of all judgments. If it were but a temporal stroke upon the body, the loss of an eye, an ear, a hand, a foot, though in itself it would be a considerable loss, yet it were nothing to this. Omnia Deus dedit duplicia, saith Chrysostom, speaking of bodily members; God hath given men double members, two eyes, if one be lost, the other supplies its want; two hands, two ears, two feet, that the failing of one may be supplied by the help of the other: animam vero unam, but one soul; if that perish, there is no other to supply its loss. "The soul, saith a heathen*, is the man; that which is seen, is not the man." The apostle calls the body a vile body,
Phil. 3:21 and so it is, compared with the soul; and Daniel calls it the sheath, which is but a contemptible thing to the sword which is in it.
Oh! it were far better that many bodies perish, than one soul; that every member were made the seat and subject of the most exquisite torture, than such a judgment should fall upon the soul.
(2.) It is the severest stroke God can inflict upon the soul in this life to give it up to barrenness; because it cuts off all hopes, frustrates all means, nothing can be a blessing to him. If one comes from the dead, if angels should descend from heaven to preach to him, there is no hope of him. If God shut up a man, who can open? Job 12:14. As there was none found in heaven or earth that could open the seals of that book, Rev. 5:5 so is there no opening by the hand of the most able and skilful ministry, those seals of hardness, blindness, and unbelief, thus impressed upon the spirit. Whom justice so locks up, mercy will never let out. This is that which makes up the Anathema
Maranatha, 1 Cor. 16:22 which is the dreadfulest curse in all the book of God, accursed till the Lord come.
(3.) It is the most indiscernable stroke to themselves that can be, and by that so much the more desperate. Hence there is said to be poured out upon them the spirit of slumber, Isa. 29:10. "The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes." Montanus renders it, The Lord hath mingled upon you the spirit of deep sleep. And so it is an allusion to a soporiferous medicine mingled, and made up of opium, and such-like stupefactive ingredients, which casts a man into such a deep sleep, that do what you will to him, he feels, he knows it not. "Make their eyes heavy, and their ears dull; lest they should see, and hear, and be converted," Isa.
6:9, 10. This is the heart that cannot repent which is spoken of, Rom.
2:5. For men are not sensible at all of this judgment, they do not in the least suspect it, and that is their misery. Though they be cursed trees, which shall never bear any fruit to life, yet many times they bear abundance of other fair and pleasant fruits to the eye, excellent gifts, and rare endowments: and these deceive and undo them. Mat.
7:22. "We have prophesied in thy name;" this makes the wound desperate, that there is no finding of it, no probe to search it.
(4.) It is a stroke that cuts off from the soul all the comforts and sweetness of religion. A man may pray, hear, and confer, but all those duties are dry stalks to him, which yield no meat, no solid substantial nutriment; some common touches upon the affections he may sometimes find in duty, the melting voice or rhetoric of the preacher may perhaps strike his natural affections, as another tragical story pathetically delivered may do; but to have any real communion with God in ordinances, any discoveries or views of the beauty of the Lord in them, that he cannot have; for these are the special effects and operations of the Spirit, which are always restrained.
God hath said to such, as he did to them, Gen. 6:3. "My Spirit shall no longer strive with them;" and then what sweetness is there in ordinances? What is the word, separated from the Spirit, but a dead letter? It is the Spirit that quickens, 2 Cor. 3:2. Friend, thou must know that the gospel works not like a natural cause upon those that hear it; if so, the effect would always follow, unless miraculously stopt and hindered; but it works like a moral instituted cause, whose efficacy and success depend upon the arbitrary concurrence of the Spirit with it. "The wind blows where it listeth, so is very one that is born of the Spirit," John 3:8. "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." Ordinances are as the pool of Bethesda, which had his healing virtue only when the angel moved the waters; but the Spirit never moves savingly upon the waters of ordinances, for its healing of their souls, how many years soever they lie by them; though others feel a divine power in them, yet they shall not. As the men that travelled with Paul, when Christ appeared to him from heaven, they saw the light, but heard not the voice which he heard to salvation: So it was with these; they see the ministers, hear the words, which are words of salvation to others, but not so to them. Concerning these miserable souls, we may sigh, and say to Christ, as Martha did concerning her brother Lazarus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, in this sermon, or in this prayer, this soul had not remained dead. But here is the woe that lies upon him, God is departed from the means and none can help him.
(5.) It is such a stroke upon the spirit of man, as is a fearful sign of his eternal reprobation. It is true, we cannot positively say of a man in this life, he is a reprobate, one that God will never shew mercy to; but yet there are some probable marks of it upon some men in this world, and they are of a trembling consideration wherever they appear; of which this is one of the saddest, 2 Cor. 4:3. "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost, in whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them that believe not; lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." So Acts 13:48. "As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep," John
10:26. And again, Matth. 13:11. "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it is not given." There cannot be a more dreadful character of a person marked out for wrath, than to continue under the ordinances, as the rocks and miry places do under the natural influences of heaven. What blessed opportunities had Judas? He was under Christ's own ministry, he often heard the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth; he was day and night in his company, yet never the better; and why? Because he was the son of perdition, that is, a man appointed to destruction and wrath.
(6.) And lastly, To add no more. It is such a stroke of God upon the souls of men, as immediately fore-runs hell and damnation, Heb.
6:8. "But which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burnt." So that look as some saints in this world have had a prelibation or forestate of heaven, which the scripture calls the earnest of the Spirit; so this is a precursor of hell, a sign of wrath at the door. We may say of it as it is said of the pale horse in the Revelation, that hell follows it. "If a man abide not in me, (saith Christ, John 15:6) he is cast forth as a branch, and withered;" which is the very state of these barren, cursed souls. And what follows? Why, saith he, men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Lo, this is the vengeance which the gospel executes upon this barren ground.
REFLECTIONS
1. Well then, blessed be God that made me feel the saving power of the gospel. O, let God be exalted for ever for this mercy! that how defective soever I am in common gifts, though I have a dull understanding, a leaking memory, a stammering tongue; yet I have felt, and do feel the power of the gospel upon my heart. I bless thee
(my God) that although I labour under many spiritual infirmities, yet I am not sick of this incurable disease. I have given thee indeed just cause to inflict and execute this dreadful curse upon me also, but thou hast not dealt with me after my deserts, but according to the riches of thy mercy. Some little fruit I bring forth, and what it is, is by virtue of my union with Jesus Christ, Rom. 7:4. And this hath more in it as to my comfort, than all the glittering gifts and splendid performances of the most glorious hypocrite can yield to him: if I might have my choice (saith one) I would chuse and prefer the most despicable and sordid work of a rustic Christian before all the victories of Alexander, and triumphs of Caesar. Blessed therefore be the Lord, who hath abounded unto me in all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
I cannot remember a sermon as another can, but blessed be God that I am able to favour it, and feel it? that I have an heart to love and a will to obey all that God discovers to be my duty.
2. O, then how little cause have I to make my boast of ordinances, and glory in my external privileges, who never bear spiritual fruit under them? If I well consider my condition, there is matter of trembling, and not of glorying in these things. It may be while I have been glorying in them, and lifting up my secure heart upon them the Lord hath been secretly blasting my soul under them, and insensibly executing this horrible curse by them. Shall I boast with Capernaum that I am lifted up to heaven, since I may with her, at last be cast down to hell? And if so, Lord, what a hell will my hell be? It will be
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for me. It drew tears from the eyes of Christ, when he was looking upon Jerusalem, under the same consideration that I doubt I have cause to look upon my own soul, Luke 19:41. "He wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes." So long have I been a hearer, a professor of the gospel, so many years have I enjoyed its distinguishing ordinances, but have they not been all dry and empty things to me; hath not the spirit of formality acted me in them? Have not self-ends and worldly respects lain at the bottom of my best duties? Have not my discourses, in communion with saints been trade words, speaking what I have learnt, but not felt? Sad is my condition now, but it would be desperate and irrecoverable shouldst thou execute this curse upon me.
3. And what may I think of my condition; Lord, I acknowledge my unprofitableness under the means hath been shameful; and this hath made my condition doubtful. I have often trembled for fear, lest my root had been blasted by such a curse? but if so, whence is this trembling! Whence these fears and sorrows about it? Doth such fruit grow in that soil which thou hast cursed! I am told but now, that on whom this judgment falls, to them thou givest an heart that cannot repent. Lord, I bless thee for these evidences of freedom from the curse: for the fruits of fear, sorrow, and holy jealousy. *The laws of men spare for the fruit's sake, and wilt thou not spare me also, my
God, if there be found in me a blessing in the bud, Isa. 65:8.
4. To conclude, what a serious reflection should this occasion in every dispenser of the gospel? How should he say when he goes to preach the gospel, I am going to preach that word which is to be a savour of life or death unto these souls; upon how many of my poor hearers may the curse of perpetual barrenness be executed this day!
O how should such a thought melt his heart into compassion over them, and make him beg hard, and plead earnestly with God for a better issue of the gospel than this upon them.
THE POEM YOU that besides your pleasant fruitful fields, Have useless bogs, and rocky ground that yields
You no advantage, nor doth quit your cost, But all your pains and charges on them's lost:
Hearken to me, I'll teach you how to get More profit by them than if they were set
At higher rents than what your tenants pay For your most fertile lands; and here's the way.
Think when you view them, why the Lord hath chose These, as the emblem to decipher those That under gospel-grace grow worse and worse;
For means are fruitless when the Lord doth curse.
Sweet showers descend, the sun his beams reflects On both alike, but not with like effects.
Observe and see how after the sweet showers
The grass and corn revive: the fragrant flowers Shoot forth their beauteous heads, the vallies sing,
All fresh and green as in the verdant spring.
But rocks are barren still, and bogs are so; Where nought but flags, and worthless rushes grow.
Upon these marshy grounds there lies this curse, The more rain falls, by so much more the worse.
Even so the dews of grace that sweetly fall, From gospel-clouds, are not alike to all.
The gracious soul doth germinate and bud, But to the reprobate it doth no good.
He's like the wither'd fig-tree, void of fruit; A fearful curse hath smote his very root.
The heart's made fat, the eyes with blindness seal'd; The piercing'st truths the gospel e'er reveal'd,
Shall be to him but as the sun and rain Are to obdurate rocks, fruitless and vain.
Be this your meditation when you walk