CHAPTER III: A genuine saving work of grace specifically distinct from that which is in a tempora
CHAPTER III
That a genuine saving work of grace is specifically distinct from that which is in a temporary believer, evidenced from a consideration of the state of the thorny ground here, in Heb. 6, set in parallel with the parable of the sower in the Evangelists.—Some observations on the whole.
In prosecution of my discourse about the nature of the work wrought in temporary believers, and to prove that the true work of grace wrought in sincere believers is specifically distinct from it, I shall now consider the state of the thorny ground, as represented in Heb.
6:7, 8, 'For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.'
1. I shall consider the parallel these words do hold with the thorny ground in the parable of the sower, in respect of what each brings forth.
2. I shall consider the allusion whereby the event or issue that in the end befalleth these thorny-ground professors that fall away, is set forth in those words: (1.) Nigh unto cursing. (2.) Whose end is to be burned.
3. I shall consider the import of the similitudes whereby the means by which they are wrought upon are set out. (1.) Rain. (2.) The
dressing.
4. Some observations upon all.
1. As for the parallel which this text, Heb. 6:7, 8, holds with the thorny ground in the parable of the sower, an allusion here seems expressly to be intended.
In the substance and reality of the things, the works here spoken of by Paul, from which men fall away, are one and the same with those mentioned in the parable. For he speaks here of the highest sort of workings upon men that fall away, as the descriptions of the workings themselves shew, viz., their being 'enlightened, and having tasted of the heavenly gift, and being made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, and having tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.' And as in the primitive times there were in true believers the highest communications of graces and of the Holy
Ghost, so there were then the highest elevations and raisings up of the principles in men unregenerate, and influences of the Spirit upon them; and here he mentioneth the highest of what are spoken anywhere in any other place of Scripture.
Now then in like manner, in the parable, the order of Christ's placing the thorny ground, and the works thereon, doth speak the highest work of them that fall away. For, as for the stony ground, that imports a lower degree of working upon it than that of the thorny; and there is no other work mentioned by our Saviour (whose scope was perfectly to set down all the several sorts of hearers and professors) beyond the thorny, but only the good ground, the good and honest heart that brings forth fruit with patience to the end. And therefore, this work on the thorny ground is, of temporary works, the highest, and so in reality is one and the same with this in Heb. 6.
But let us compare the analogy of the words and phrases, and so thereby of the things that are found in that parable, and in these words of Paul.
As there in the parable you find three hearts or hearers, compared in general unto the ground which seed is sown in, to the end to bring forth fruit, so here unto the earth which drinks in the rain from heaven, to the end to bring forth herbs, doth answer. For those words, 'The earth that drinks in the rain,' ver. 7, are to be carried down unto ver. 8, in common spoken both of good and bad, and are thus to be read in ver. 8, 'But that earth which drinks in the rain and bears the thorns,' &c. The comparison is in all unto the earth in bearing and bringing forth; this in general.
But secondly, and more particularly, the parallel here and there, as concerning the good ground, agrees perfectly in both, even in this, that the good heart or good ground there in the parable, is said to bring forth fruit to perfection: Mark 4:8, 'And the other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.' 1.
It yielded fruit. 2. That sprang up. 3. And increased and brought forth; that is, continued to bring forth, some thirty, &c., even till the harvest, and so from first to last had some fruit all along. But of the thorny ground it is oppositely spoken. 1. That it brought forth no fruit, Mark 4:7. 2. That it became unfruitful, Mat. 13:22. 3. That it brought no fruit to perfection, Luke 8:14. The meaning of all which comes to this, that it brought forth no true perfect fruit, for the kind of fruit, as also not fruit to the end of their days, unto the harvest, or unto maturity. Thus we have it in the parable. And answerably we have here, Heb. 6:7, the difference between the two earths or soils: that the ground that is good, and blessed, is said, 1, to bring forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed; 2, and to receive a blessing from God. The first imports that it brings forth true and wholesome herbs, meet for his use, for his taste, his gust, for his diet, as the margin varies it.
Yea, and critics have observed this difference between the two earths here in this place (which I make use of unto this correspondency with the parable), that concerning the good earth here, and of its bringing forth its herbs, the phrase used is τίκτουσα, it begets, and
brings them forth as a mature birth ripened to perfection; as when a woman goes forth her whole time. For in allusion unto a woman's bringing forth, is a womb ascribed unto this earth (as ordinarily it useth to be), and so a double metaphor is insinuated. But of the other earth (ver. 8, as prosecuting the same), it is said ἐκφέρουσα, they cast out their production as abortive births, and so their best fruits arrive not at perfection, but end in abortiveness. And indeed if we would study an expression whereby to set out the difference of a temporary and a saving work, or a holy calling, we could not do it more lively than to say, that the one is a ripe and perfect birth, the other but a mola, an abortive; and becomes such through and from the deficiency in the work itself from the first, as women's abortives usually are. However, the issue of this second parallel is this, that the actings and products of the thorny ground professors were never true fruit, for neither Christ nor the apostle here do vouchsafe them that name.
And I may strengthen this parallel from that of Jude, who speaks of the same sort, or of like professors. That those he so vehemently inveighs against once were professors, is many ways evident, as having been such as once had had some green fruit: ver. 12, 'Trees whose fruit withereth' (says he), and once had some life (why else are they called 'trees twice dead'), once in Adam, and then wrought on anew, and then dead a second time. And yet, to, he plainly concludes of them, that they had no fruit. They are (saith he) 'trees whose fruit withereth, and are without fruit,' wherein he corrects his first, having said, 'whose fruit withereth,' because it might be thought thereupon that yet at least he acknowledged they once had some fruit, and that fresh and lively, and therein did honour them. Therefore he in this after-saying absolutely denies it, that they ever had any true fruit.
No, 'they are without fruit,' says he.
The third parallel is, that in the very letter the apostle, ver. 8, doth describe these temporaries by the same similitude by which our
Saviour sets out that third and highest sort of professors, that 'they both bring forth thorns.' And this is the most characteristical and
most eminent deciphering whereby either of them did set them forth; and therefore, besides the reality in what is the main, they in the very letter agree.
And for the further illustration of either, I shall pursue this query, whether in the intendment both of the apostle here, and of Christ in the parable be, that the thorny earth in both places did bring nothing but thorns?
1. In the intention of the apostle it is so to be understood; for not only he mentioneth no fruit at all, but thorns only; but takes it in its comparative opposition unto the good earth's bringing forth good herbs, as in difference from this, and therefore this other earth brings forth no such herbs at all, but only these thorns instead thereof. And this sense is confirmed by this, that seeing the best earth, or hearts of the holiest upon earth, do bring forth thorns as plentifully as it doth herbs, therefore the point of difference in this opposition must lie in this, that this second earth brings forth nothing but thorns and briars, and no herbs at all; whereas that other did bring forth some herbs, for if it also brought forth no herbs, there would be no difference between them.
If it be said that he speaks of this bad earth, how that in the end it brings forth thorns, and so is cursed, but not so from the first,
The reply is, 1. That if this earth had brought forth herbs at first, as well as thorns, as the other earth doth, then it would have received a blessing from God upon such its bringing forth, so as to bring forth more, for that is also one difference put between the one and the other. 2. The apostle (in the 9th and 10th verses) shews in the persons and instances of these Hebrews, that the difference between them was not confined unto what was the event on either side, but extended unto what, from the very first of their being good earth, they had brought forth. This the apostle doth here, and also chap. 10 ver. 32. In both he refers them to time past, yea, unto the first: chap.
10 ver. 32, 'But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after
ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.' And he doth it also here, ver. 9, 10, 'But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak; for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.' Therefore oppositely (in this 8th verse), speaking of the other earth, his meaning must be, that for time past, yea, and from the first, these only had brought forth even thorns, and nothing else.
2. For the parable, I urge that in the Πρύτασις, or forepart of it, there is this expression: Luke 8:7, 'Some' (of the seeds, namely) 'fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it.' Where,
(1.) The word συμφυεῖσαι, imports at least that from the very first, together with the word, there were thorns sprung up. This cannot be denied, and therefore take it as it is styled, a 'thorny ground' (in difference from the good ground), and it is to be understood to have been such as brought forth thorns from the first, in such a manner as the good ground did not; for otherwise even the good ground doth bring forth some thorns from the first, and it cannot be otherwise; but this of the thorns must be understood with difference.
(2.) That word also may, and doth sometimes import a coalescency, or a growing up into a oneness, or a becoming one (as Grotius hath observed,* and quotes this very phrase, Luke 8:7, for that signification), as well as a springing up together from the first, or all along, and so implies that some of the thorns did at least coalesce and become one with what these men had received of the word, and as they received it; for it is the same word that is used of our ingrafture into, and our being one with Christ as our root: Rom. 6:5,
'If we have been planted together,' &c. The main emphasis of which speech lies not in this only, that all the saints are ingrafted together, but chiefly in this, that Christ and all and each saint are 'planted together,' and are σύμφυτοι, for it refers to it as explaining his foregoing speech: ver. 3, 'Know ye not that as many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ,' which (here in ver. 5) he explaineth by our being 'planted together with him,' it having been into him, and therefore 'were baptized into his death' (which here in ver. 5 is explained by a being planted together into the likeness of his death,
&c.), baptism being the sacrament signifying our ingrafture into Christ, ver. 3, and our being planted together with Christ into the same conformity, being the thing signified thereby, ver. 5. Now in the like sense here the thorns and the work of the word in the heart are said to grow into one, to be σύμφυτοι; that is, the word they received was admitted by way of ingrafture upon some thorns or other in the heart, and thence all the actings of their spirits were but fruits of flesh, as the root of them, though conversant about spiritual objects; and if so, then all such actings of spirits unrenewed are no other unto
God than thorns in reality, although in view and in speciousness herbs and fruits.
And certainly the reason of the thing itself falls in fully for this, for to sow among thorns, or earth where thorns are unploughed up, or in the midst of thorns, ἐν μέσῳ (as the parable, Luke 8:7, hath it), is all one in Scripture phrase as to sow seed upon a heart remaining still wholly unregenerate: Jer. 4:3, 'Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns,' which is interpreted to be, ver. 4, 'Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your hearts;' so as to sow among thorns is to plant the word received in a heart that remains utterly flesh still. And as this is the mind of the prophet's caution there, so it must be understood to be the mind of Christ here in the parable, that there were no other principles in the heart to receive that word into, so as to affect the heart, but what was flesh, and so there was an ingrafture of it upon, and a coalescency with, some root of thorns or other; and it cannot be otherwise, if the heart remains thorny ground.
But here may this objection be made, That in the interpretation of the parable these thorns are said to enter in after the seed was received into the ground, Mark 4:19, and so the whole sense of the parable is to be restrained thereunto.
I answer, That indeed there is one sort of thorns that do as it were anew arise, and so are said, to enter in after the seed was received into these men's hearts; and they are such as Christ (in that 19th verse) instances in, viz., either worldly lusts or gross sins, the tops whereof, by the power of the word, when it was received even into these men's hearts, were lopped off, so far as they grew above ground; of which thing Calvin was well aware whilst he notes upon it,
'That though indeed evil lusts, before the word riseth up unto a stalk'
(in these men's hearts), 'did wholly possess the heart, that yet they did not seem to be predominant at the first beginnings' (of such men's being so wrought upon), 'but to come or steal upon them by little and little, after the word is grown up into some blade, and where it promiseth some fruit.' Yet still, say I, this noway lets but that there might be some other thorns that should rise up with the word received even from the first, which I will call in respect of their objects spiritual thorns, seeing in their root they are fleshly, and indeed but the affections and actings of self upon what is in the word suitable thereunto; and my reason is, because these two speeches of Christ, the one of which is in Luke, 'They sprung up together with the word,' and the other is in Mark, which speaks of lusts entering in afterward, must be reconciled; especially considering withal that these thorny professors were men unregenerate, and by their thorns so distinguished from the good ground at the very first, the reconciliation seems easy; for that speech, 'They sprang up together,' expresseth and takes in the whole from first to last, as to this sense, that some were still springing up, and not at last only, but from the first, insomuch as there were some or other all along. There were at first those spiritual thorns, and afterward those otherworldly thorns, so as, what with the one and with the other, there was still a growing up of thorns all the while, which do both of them also tend to 'choke the word,' as it is there said, received in the heart. For selfish affections unto spiritual things are still behind-hand with themselves, and do destroy themselves (as Aristotle says of vices), and through their intermingling with the word received do hinder and spoil the efficacy thereof, and turn all into sin. And then again those other thorns, namely, worldly lusts, supervening, do more
conspicuously choke that word, by sucking and drawing away all the sap, and juice, and intention of the mind from those spiritual objects at first entertained. And these latter are said to 'enter in,' as it were anew, because indeed the former growth of such lusts was (so far as before this new work they appeared above ground) in a great measure as then cut down; what through errors of conscience, sense of sin, tastings of the powers of the world to come, by which the intention of the mind was drawn out another way, yet still self remained in its full vigour the same, though diverted another way, and turned upon other objects. Hence therefore all those worldly lusts do in their root remain still unstubbed up, for they are all seated in self, and if that be not mortified, then they all remain unmortified at the bottom, and will in the end rise up as much as ever; for worldly pleasures are the natural objects suited to the genius and disposition of self-love, as it is now corrupted, and are the natural channel for corrupt self to run in. But, on the other hand, its diversion unto spiritual objects of the other world (whilst itself remains in its native strength) is but forced and with a violence offered upon it, and therefore will not continue; and for the same reason those other worldly lusts will sooner or later sprout and revive, as Job speaking of a tree says, Job 14:7, 8, 9, 'There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; though the root thereof was old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.' Thus here, in the case before us, the general root of self is still as much alive as ever; and upon the fresh scent of former objects presenting themselves, who had been the old and natural acquaintance of their hearts, they obtain their wonted life and strength again, and overcome, as Peter says.
2. The second thing proposed is the dreadful issue that befalls the thorny ground professors, and the allusions it is set forth by.
(1.) In this life, nigh unto cursing.
(2.) Whose end is to be burned, in the world to come.
Our Saviour Christ in the parable doth not mention this dreadful issue, for his main scope was to shew the causes of each ground's unfruitfulness; but Paul's drift is mainly and farther to shew the end of such men.
(1.) They are nigh unto cursing. This hath relation and allusion to the condition of the earth afore the fall, and after the fall: I say the earth, for the substratum, or principal subject-matter or thing the comparison runs upon, is the earth, to which men and their hearts are compared: so ver. 7, 'The earth which brings forth,' &c.; ver. 8, but 'that earth,' namely, 'that brings forth thorns,' &c., it is that earth is nigh unto cursing; so as to make out the allusion we must find out some earth that was cursed; and what other earth do we find to have been cursed but that earth for Adam's sin? And so as Adam himself was a type of Christ (Rom. 5), and Adam's world afore his fall a type of the world to come (Heb. 2), so upon Adam's falling, the curse of his earth was the type of such persons that should apostatize from Christ. And so the allusion holds thus, that as before the fall the earth was so fruitful that with a small pains it would bring forth fruit, in comparison of what it did after the curse, as those words, 'In the sweat of thy brow,' &c., do shew. But how it was after the fall accursed you read, Gen. 3:17, 'The ground for thy sake is cursed; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.' Now to make up this comparison about the thing in hand. Man's heart before the fall was a paradise to God, planted 'wholly a right seed,' as the prophet expresses it; and man himself was blessed of God, and God rejoiced in him, Gen. 1:31. But now man, being fallen, is cursed, and brings forth nothing but thorns and briars. Well, but yet the Lord comes again to cultivate and till the earth of some men's hearts a second time, sows his seed, and comes with rain, and sends dressers to manure it, but it still brings forth thorns; then it is nigh unto a final cursing, says he, as the earth was then cursed. See Isa. 5:1, 2, Jude, ver. 12, 'Trees twice dead,' once in Adam, and then after their fall some little life was put into them, but they brought forth thorns. And
Peter, writing of the same sort of men (as you well know that Jude doth), his express sentence of them is, 2 Peter 2:14, 'cursed children.'
(2.) Whose end is to be burned.
That the thorns are to be burned is not immediately said of them, but that the earth shall be burned, and therefore by consequent the thorns that are found growing thereupon; yea, and the thorns being set on fire, do help towards that fire that burneth the earth together with themselves. Now, the earth notifies the man, the person, and the thorns his works and fruits brought forth; but it is the man chiefly, for he is the earth. This I take to be an allusion to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, with the inhabitants of all sorts on it. The soil of Sodom and Gomorrah, before its being burned, was, as you find
Gen. 13:10, 'Behold all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord.' It was like to paradise itself (which we spoke of before) before God destroyed it. Thus here the rain comes often upon this earth, and it is watered with better water than ever paradise was; but the effect of all being that it brings forth thorns, then follows that which is equivalent unto the curse of Sodom; for God comes upon that land with fire from heaven, and burned the very ground as well as all that were upon it. He did not only turn it into barrenness, as when it is said 'a fruitful land shall be turned into a desert' (so the psalmist), but it was turned into a lake, and that a sulphurous lake of fire and brimstone, out of which such vapours do arise as kill birds that fly over it; and the fruits that grow upon the banks do, through the heat and fire that is in the earth, turn to dust, which fruits are called proverbially 'the apples of Sodom.' The very rocks are blasted, and the ground smells of fire to this day. Now, to this earth are the hearts of apostates here compared, in their fatal and final punishment in the other world. And Jude's comparison, when he speaks of these, is the same: 'Even as Sodom and Gomorrah,' says he, 'and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.' He
speaks of such very apostates, and these that were trees twice dead.
And on the contrary, he thereupon comforts and encourages the 'preserved in Jesus Christ;' as ver. 1, in a purposed opposition, he styles them, in reference to these apostates. Oh! bless God for election! that we were not left to be such professors as these, bringing forth nothing but thorns, whose end is to be burned; as, if he had left us to our own spirits, and had not changed our hearts, we had been: Rom. 9:29, 'Except the Lord had left us a seed' (viz., of election), 'we had been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah.' It would have been the issue of us all, we should have been burned with our thorns.
3. We have next the rain falling on this earth, and its being dressed, spoken of. This is the third part of his comparison, wherein he compares the means of grace whereby men are wrought upon unto two things: (1.) The rain; (2.) The dressing of the earth. The rain I take to be inward means vouchsafed, viz., those illapses, enlightenings, good motions, and comings of the Spirit of God upon man's soul, falling immediately from heaven, as the rain does. The dressing is the outward means, as preaching of the word, and other ordinances, differing from and besides the rain, as when it is said that 'Paul plants, Apollos waters,' &c., 1 Cor. 3:6, there is the dressing; but the rain is the inward means, of which I understand that of James, when he speaks of the husbandman's waiting for the harvest: James 5:7, says he, 'He hath long patience for it, until he receiveth the early and latter rain.' These come before the harvest, and are those inward influences and refreshments which do accompany the outward means. The Lord affords such rain to poor souls when they need it, some at one time, which is the early rain, and some again at another time, still as they need it; and all tends to ripen the fruit, and keep the soul in heart, as the rain doth the earth.
And then what man doth in the outward ministry of the ordinances, that is the dressings or culture here spoken of.
Now I come to the observations, which are of three sorts:
1. Upon the ground that is cursed.
2. Upon the ground that was fruitful.
3. Concerning the means, rain, &c. These two latter I shall put under one head.
1. The first sort of observations is upon the ground that bore thorns, and that was cursed. (1.) From that of the earth bearing thorns, although the good word had been sown into it; and although the rain had come upon it, and it had drunk in that rain, yet the heart remaining only carnal, and the roots of thorns abiding (as hath been opened), it brought forth no other product. Observe, that all means, inward and outward, and influences from heaven, do but nourish self, and but cause worldly lusts and self-love to grow. Take a poisoned plant, plant it by another wholesome herb in the same ground, and let the rain fall upon both, yet the rain and the ground nourishes the poison in the one, and causes that to grow, as well as a good plant in the other. So that we have no way but to turn to God, and to get the thorns out, and new principles in their room. Yea, in a regenerate man, so far forth as the roots of thorns remain, so far forth all the actings of the spirit will be the actings of the flesh, and so but thorns. The root is thorn, and the fruit will be like the root; as Christ says, that the fruit was like the tree. They are all thorns to God; and carnal affections to spiritual things, or affections arising merely from self-love to divine objects, will make fuel for hell, as well as worldly lusts; they are all thorns in the eyes of God.
(2.) Observe, concerning these thorny professors, that God proccedeth towards them in casting them off by degrees, and not presently upon the first advantages against them, which is apparent out of the text.
For [1.] he continues the rain, the inward good motions, long to them; for that which is said, ver. 7, 'the earth that oft drinks in the rain,' is to be understood ἀπὸ κοινοῦ, and to be carried to the 8th
verse, and applied to this earth that brings forth thorns as well as to the good; for that is spoken in common, both to the one that brings forth herbs, &c., and to that other that is rejected.
[2.] After such a bringing forth of thorns for some long space of time, he yet proceeds by degrees. As, first, though within himself and in his own purpose he rejects them sooner, that is, he purposeth, if they persist still to bring forth no other fruit than thorns, to have no more to do with them: Luke 13:7, 'Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this figtree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?' He, after two years' expectation, had his heart taken off from them, and began to have no pleasure in them, as the Epistle to the Hebrews expresseth it, yet still continued a-dressing of it: ver. 8, 'For he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it;' and withal God sends rain upon it as aforetime. But, secondly, after some further expectation, it becomes
'nigh unto cursing.' Now, what it is for God to curse finally, you may know by the contrary dispensation towards the good here in ver. 7,
'The earth that brings forth herbs,' &c., 'receives a blessing from God;' that is, so as to bring forth more herbs, which the parable calleth 'an increase,' and which Christ, John 15:2, thus expresseth,
'Every branch that bringeth forth in me he purgeth it, to bring forth more fruit.' And that is the blessing it receives here in this world, nor can there be a greater blessing in this life vouchsafed; and yet still to be nigh unto cursing imports God's loathness and backwardness finally to pronounce it; only in the meanwhile he withdraws his influences, till—Thirdly, At the last he curseth them indeed, as he did those in 2 Pet. 2:14, 'cursed children;' and as he did the fig-tree, Mat.
21:19, 'And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig-tree withered away.' Now, as Paul says, 'doth God take care of oxen?' No; his aim was further, at ministers in them. So here, doth Christ curse fig-trees? No; his aim is to shew how he curseth in the end fruitless souls. He says of such a soul, Let never fruit grow more on thee; and
look, as that tree stood still in the same place, but yet none of its former fruit grew thereon, so men may profess religion after such a cursing of them, and continue in the church and under ordinances, but never a prayer with affection grows any more thereon, no more dews from heaven, or inward correspondences with God.
Use. Let us take heed therefore, and eye the withdrawings of God, and mourn presently, lest we grow nigh unto cursing; let us watch the rising up of thorns, for they will bring a curse of bringing forth worser and sharper thorns; and let us humble ourselves for them, and seek to root them out.
(3.) Observe God's dealings with these men, that having had workings on them, do fall away. You see how dreadful they are.
Everywhere you find this dreadfulness expressed: 'He built his house'
(says Christ) 'upon the sand, and the fall of that house was great.' All the sermons he had heard, and all the profession he had made, and all he had done, fell upon him and broke him to powder. Read Jude: you have black words given to such. The blackest words that ever fell from the Holy Ghost's pen, are to he found in Peter (2 Peter 2) and in this Jude, concerning such men, for whom the blackness of darkness
(he says) is reserved; read but that epistle. Then says Peter, 2 Peter 2, 'If they be again entangled and overcome of corruption, their latter end is worse than their beginning; for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,' &c. Men cannot profess religion at that rate they may profess other things.
The consideration of these things should awaken and quicken us to be observant how thorns grow in our hearts, viz., worldly lusts, cares, murmuring, unthankfulness, inordinate fancies of what in the world we would be. And we should be watchful to keep them from growing up in us, as also to observe, narrowly any steps or beginnings of God's withdrawings from us; for they tend to cursing, and we should never be quiet in such a case.
II. The second sort of observations is, concerning the good earth, and the means vouchsafed.
1. Observe, even in good hearts that have a blessing from God, the fruit, or at least the increase of that fruit, doth not appear oftentimes of a long while. This is plain out of the text; for of the good earth that brings forth herbs, it is said, 'The earth, which drinks in the rain that comes often upon it, brings forth herbs meet,' &c., and receives a blessing from God to bring forth more. If therefore thou dost bring forth herbs meet for God after the rain hath come oft upon thee, it is well; thou art still within the compass of receiving a blessing from God. Affliction works the quiet fruit of righteousness, after we have been exercised thereby; but it is afterward, not presently.
2. Observe, God's saving and through workings in the spirits of men are not always in violent ways, but in gentle, sweet, soaking dispensations. The word ὑετὸς here, signifies your mizzling rain, molliores et minores guttas (saith Hyperius), as the Israelites, 1 Cor.
10:2, were sprinkled in the cloud; it was such a rain as falls in a mist.
Multitudes of souls are not wrought upon by stormy showers of rain falling with thick drops. No. There comes your gentle rain, 'the early and the latter,' as the poor soul hath need thereof, and bedews his heart. He prays and goes to bed, and it may be in the morning finds some dew upon his heart. Now wilt thou comfort thyself, though thy work goes on but gently, yet it goes on surely. Thou hast not those high manifestations and sudden sensible comings in thou nearest others speak of, yet thou hast God's presence in a subsistence to thy heart, and thy heart drinks it in, and goes away strengthened and quickened. There is a still work that doth not make a noise, when some that are far greater works decay, and like a land-flood dry up.
Of the sly husbandman that found the treasure in the field, it is said, that 'he did hide it,' but for joy thereof went and sold all he had for it,
Mat. 13:44.
I shall answer but an objection or two which good and honest souls may make about themselves, upon occasion of these observations,
and the doctrine that hath been delivered.
Obj. 1. My heart hath a world of thorns in it, and more of thorns than of what I can ever hope to be good herbs.
Ans. So hath every regenerate man a world of thorns in him: ay (says Calvin*), thick-set copses of them. Every one's grace is sown and continues amongst a wood of thorns. Yea; but yet there is another root of something that grows up in thy heart, that is not thorns; and there is a conflict against the thorns, an endeavour to stub them up; and they are thorns in thy side. Therefore there is another principle in thee.
Obj. 2. Thou wilt again say; I do not grow by reason of these thorns.
But comfort thyself (says Calvin), for he that brought forth the thirtyfold is by Christ reckoned with him that brought forth the hundredfold. Christ puts them altogether, and dignifies them all alike with the common style of good ground; and where the expectation of the husbandman (as he speaks) is not altogether frustrate, that little they have is accepted.
Obj. 3. But you will object, Alas! my affections were mightily flushed at first, and now they wither, and worldly lusts grow up in their stead.
Ans. Shall I yet say to thee? Doth God maintain a conflict in thee against sin, an endeavour to stub up the thorns? Dost thou water those roots of bitterness with bitter tears and sorrow, and with the blood of Christ, to kill them? Then still the root of the matter remains in thee.
Again, consider, when thou wert first converted to God, as thou hadst grace in thee, so thou wert a temporary believer at first, in respect of thy unregenerate part. All was stirred at first; corrupt selflove was stirred at first, as well as what was truly gracious; and when all was stirred, there must needs be a great flush of affection. This was my case at first, and then the stream was strong; as take a little