CHAPTER IV: Upon the Cutting down of dead Trees.
Confess my Maker had done me no wrong, But if my name he please to let me see Enroll'd among those few that saved be, What admiration should such mercy move!
What thanks, and praise, and everlasting love!
CHAPTER IV
Upon the Cutting down of dead Trees.
Dead barren trees you for the fire prepare; In such a case all fruitless persons are.
OBSERVATION
AFTER many years patience, in the use of all means to recover a fruit-tree, if the husbandman see it be quite dead, and that there can be no more expectation of any fruit from it, he brings his ax, and hews it down by the root; and from the orchard it is carried to the fire, it being then fit for nothing else; he reckons it imprudent to let such a useless tree abide in good ground, where another may be planted in its room, that will better pay for the ground it stands in. I myself once saw a large orchard of fair but fruitless trees all rooted up, rived broad, and ricked up for the fire.
APPLICATION
THUS deals the Lord by useless and barren professors who do but cumber his ground, Matth. 3:10. "And now also the ax is laid to the
root of the trees; therefore every tree that brings not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." And Luke 13:7. "Then said the dresser of the vineyard, Behold, these three years I came seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" These three years, alluding to the time of his ministry, he being at that time entering upon the last half-year, as one observes, by harmonizing the evangelists; so long he had waited for the fruit of his ministry among those dead-hearted Jews; now his patience is even at an end: cut them down (saith he) why cumber they the ground? I will plant others, (viz. the Gentiles) in their room.
This hewing down of the barren tree doth, in a lively manner, shadow forth God's judicial proceedings against formal and empty professors under the gospel: and the resemblance clearly holds in these following particulars:
1. The tree that is to be hewn down for the fire, stands in the orchard among other flourishing trees, where it hath enjoyed the benefit of a good soil, a strong fence, and much culture; but being barren, these privileges secure it not from the fire. It is not our standing in the visible church by a powerless profession among real saints with whom we have been associated, and enjoyed the rich and excellent waterings of ordinances, that can secure us from the wrath of God,
Matth. 3:8, 9. "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father." Neither
Abraham, nor Abraham's God, will acknowledge such degenerate children; if Abraham's faith be not in your hearts, it will be no advantage that Abraham's blood runs in your veins. It will be a poor plea for Judas, when he shall stand before Christ in judgment, to say,
Lord, I was one of thy family, I preached for thee; I did eat and drink in thy presence. Let these scriptures be consulted, Matth. 7:22.
Matth. 25:11, 12. Rom. 2:17, and 25.
2. The husbandman doth not presently cut down the tree because it puts not forth as soon as other trees do; but waits as long as there is any hope, and then cuts it down. Thus doth God wait upon barren dead-hearted persons, from sabbath to sabbath, and from year to year; for the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3:9.
Thus the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah upon those dry trees, who are now smoking and flaming in hell, 1 Pet.
3:20. He waits long on sinners, but keeps exact accounts of every year and day of his patience, Luke 13:7. "These three years." And Jer.
25:3. these twenty-three years.
3. When the time is come to cut it down, the dead tree cannot possibly resist the stroke of the ax; but receives the blow, and falls before it. No more can the stoutest sinner resist the fatal stroke by death, by which the Lord hews him down; Eccl. 8:8. "There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death, and there is no discharge in that war."
When the pale horse comes, away you must into the land of darkness. Though thou cry with Adrian, O my poor soul! whither art thou going? Die thou must, thou barren professor; though it were better for thee to do any thing else than to die. What a dreadful shriek will thy conscience give when it sees the ax at thy root, and say to thee, as it is Ezek. 7:6. "An end is come, the end is come; it watcheth for thee; behold it is come." Oh! saith Henry Beauford,
(that rich and wretched cardinal, bishop of Winchester, and chancellor of England, when he perceived where unto he must go) wherefore must I die? If the whole realm would save my life, I am able either by policy to get it, or by riches to buy it. Fie (quoth he) will not death be hired? Will riches do nothing? No, neither riches nor policy can then avail.
4. The side to which the tree leaned most while it stood, that way it will fall when it is cut down: and as it falls, so it lies, whether to the south or north, Eccl. 11:3. So it fares with these mystical trees, I mean fruitless professors: Had their hearts and affections inclined and bended heaven-ward whilst they lived, that way, no doubt, they had fallen at their death; but as their hearts inclined to sin, and even bended to the world, so when God gives the fatal stroke, they must fall hell-ward and wrath-ward: And, how dreadful will such a fall be!
5. When the dead tree is carried out of the orchard, it shall never be among the living trees of the orchard any more; many years it grew among them, but now it shall never have a place there again. And when the barren professor is carried out of the world by death, he shall never be associated with the saints any more: He may then say, farewell all ye saints, among whom I lived, and with whom I so often heard, fasted, and prayed: I shall never see your face more; Matth.
8:11, 12. "I say unto you, that many shall come from the east, and west, and north, and south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth."
6. When the dead tree is carried out of the orchard, the husbandman cuts off its branches, and rives it asunder with his wedges. This also is the lot of barren professors: "The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and will cut him asunder;" he shall be dissected, or cut abroad, Luke 12:46.
Now therefore "consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear (or rend) you in pieces," Psalm 50:22. O direful day! when the same hand that planted, pruned, and watered thee so long, and so tenderly, shall now strike mortal strokes at thee, and that without pity! "For, he that
made them, will not have mercy on them; and her that formed them, will shew them no favour," Isa. 27:11. For the day of mercy is over; and the day of his wrath is fully come.
7. When this tree is cleaved abroad, then its rotten, hollow inside appears, which was the cause of its barrenness; it looked like a fair and sound-bodied tree, but now all may see how rotten it is at the heart; so will God in that day, when he shall dissect the barren professor, discover the rottenness of his heart, and unsoundness of his principles and ends: Then they who never suspected him before, shall see what a hollow and rotten-hearted professor he was.
8. Lastly; The fruitless tree is cast into the fire. This also is the end and sad issue of formality, John 15:6. "He is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire; and they are burned." This is an undoubted truth, that there is no plant in God's vineyard, but he will have glory from it, by bearing fruit; or glory on it, by burning in the fire. In this fire shall they lie
"gnashing their teeth," Luke 13:28. and that both in indignation against their saints, whom they shall see in glory; and against Jesus
Christ, who would not save them; and against themselves, for losing so foolishly the opportunities of salvation. Do you behold, when you sit by the fire, the froth that boils out of those flaming logs? O think of that foam and rage of those undone creatures, foaming, and gnashing their teeth in that fire which is not quenched! Mark 9:14.
REFLECTIONS
How often have I passed by such barren trees, with a more barren heart, as little thinking such a tree to be the emblem of myself, as Nebuchadnezzar did, when he saw that tree in a dream, which represented himself, and shadowed forth to him his ensuing misery,
Dan. 4:13. But, O my conscience! my drowsy, sleepy conscience! wert
thou but tender, and faithful to me, thou wouldst make as round and terrible an application of such a spectacle to me as the faithful prophet did to him, ver. 22. And thus wouldst thou, O my soul, bemoan thy condition.
Poor wretch! here I grow, for a little time, among the trees of righteousness, the plants of renown, but I am none of them; I was never planted a right seed; some green and flourishing leaves of profession, indeed, I have, which deceive others, but God cannot be deceived; he sees I am fruitless and rotten at the heart. Poor soul! what will thine end be but burning? Behold, the ax lieth by thy root? and wonder it is, that there it should lie so long, and I yet Standing!
Still mercy pleads for a fruitless creature: Lord, spare it one year longer. Alas! he need strike no great blow to ruin me; his very breath blows to destruction, Job 4:9. A frown of his face can blast and ruin me, Psalm 80:6. He is daily solicited by his justice to hew me down, and yet I stand. Lord, cure my barrenness! I know thou hadst rather see fruit than fire upon me.
THE POEM IF, after pains and patience, you can see No hopes of fruit, down goes the barren tree.
You will not suffer trees that are unsound, And barren too, to cumber useful ground.
The fatal ax is laid unto the root:
'Tis fit for fire, when unfit for fruit.
But, though this be a dead and barren tree,
Reader, I would not have it so to thee:
May it to thee this serious thought suggest, In all the orchard this dead tree's the best;
Think on it sadly, lay it close to heart, This is the case in which thou wast, or art.
If so thou wast, but now dost live and grow, And bring forth fruit, what praise and thanks dost owe
To that wise husbandman that made thee so?
O think, when justice lifted up its hand, How mercy did then interceding stand!
How pity did on thy behalf appear, To beg reprieval for another year.
Stop, Lord! forbear him: all hope is not past; He can but be for fire at the last.
Though many sermons, many a gracious call He hath resisted like a brazen wall, The next may win him; when thy grace shall raise
Unto itself a monument of praise.