Chapter X (continued, part 3)
this large and common relation of a root to both sorts of professors, true and
false is that other expression also, whereby he sets forth his Father s office, when he calls him, not cc/A-TrsXoysyoc, a vine-dresser, or a tiller of a vineyard, in a strict sense, as Luke xiii. 7, but ysw;y&c, as it were at large, the husband man. As thereby denoting out, not simply and alone that peculiar care that he hath to true believers only, that are branches of this vine, though includ
ing it, but withal importing that common care and providence which he bears
to others of his creatures; and this because some of these branches of this
440 THE TKIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [INTBOD.
vine are to him but as others out of the church, and of no more reckoning with him. The Father s relation herein answering to, and in a proportion running parallel along with, that which Christ bears towards them : those that Christ is head unto, those he is a father unto; those whom Christ
is but as a vine unto, he is but ysugyog, a husbandman unto, whose office is seen as well in cutting off such branches, as in pruning and dressing of those
other.
Ans. 2. These unfruitful ones are not, in Christ s account, reckoned as
true branches here ; for, in the 5th verse, he calls those disciples of his that were there and then present with him, (when now Judas was gone forth be
fore, as appears chap. xiii. 30,) them only, the branches ; and therefore re
peats it there again, I am the vine, with this addition, ye are the branches.
Implying hereby, that as he is the true vine, so that these only were the
true branches. The other he calls but us xXqtta, as a branch, ver. 6, He
is cast forth as a branch, giving them the name of branches, thereby the
better to express his Father s dealing with such, that as they that are dressers
of a vineyard use to do with such branches, so my Father with them ; but
they themselves are but tanquams, quasi palmites, as branches not really and in truth such.
Ans. 3. That expression which seems most to make for it is that in the 2d verse, when he says, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit; but
those words in me may as well, yea rather, be understood to have reference
to their not bringing forth fruit in him, than to their being properly branches in him : so as the meaning should be, they are branches that
bring not forth fruit in me. Though they do some good, yet it is not fruit ;
if so, not in me, though from me, and from my assistance. And so his
meaning is not so much to declare that they are branches in him, as that
they bring not forth fruit in him, which indeed is one of the characteristical
differences between true and unsound branches, and one main scope of the
parable; and this the Syriac translation makes for also, and confirms it: Omnem palmitem qui in me non fert fructum, Every branch which in me
bringeth not forth fruit. And there is this reason that this should be his
meaning, that he never reckoned them at all true branches ; because that is
the difference God puts between these and those other, that those that
bring forth fruit his Father purgeth, that they may bring forth more fruit/ He lets them not run so far out into sin as to become altogether unfruitful; but these he takes away
: so as true branches were never unfruitful.
Use. The use is to stir up all that profess themselves to be in Christ to examine whether they be true genuine branches of this true vine or no. Here in this kingdom, Christ is spread forth into a fair and pleasant vine in
show, as this earth affords. But if we ministers were able, with this hus bandman here, to turn up the leaves of formal profession, and look with his
eyes, we should discern that there are but a few true branches indeed to be found in flourishing congregations, as Isaiah foretold there should be in
Israel : chap. xvii. 6, Like the gleaning grapes, two or three in the top of the
uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches.
Now for a general help to discern whether you be true branches, consider, that union with Christ is it that makes men branches ; that is, men are ac
counted branches of Christ in regard of some union with him : and such as
their union is, such also is their communion with him, and accordingly such
branches are they, and such their fruit.
1. Some, and indeed the most, are united to him but by the external tie
of the outward ordinances, such as their obligation made in baptism ; and
INTROD.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 441
are knit to him thereby, no otherwise than many graffs are, that do not take or thrive in their stocks, only stand there as bound about by a thread. And suitable is their communion with him, even wholly external ; they continu
ing to partake of the outward ordinances, but without any sap or inward in fluence derived, without any inward work of the Spirit, or stirring of affec
tion. And answerable also is their fruit, when no other are found on them but such as you shall find grow in the waste of the wilderness among hea
thens, which ingenuity, and modesty, and natural honesty, and natural conscience do bring forth ; but not any such as an inward sap from Christ useth to produce. Civil men are not true branches ; for look on Christ, the
root, and see what fruits abounded in him most, as fruits of holiness did; and therefore if such were true branches, the same would abound in them
likewise, for every tree brings forth according to its kind.
2. You have some, they living in the church, Christ begins to shoot some
sap of his Spirit into their hearts, quickening them with many good motions, and stirring up some juiciness of affections in the administration of the word and sacraments, which causes them to bud forth into good inward purposes and outward good beginnings ; but this being not the communication of the
Spirit, as sanctifying and changing the branch into the same nature with the
root, therefore it comes to pass they are still nipped in the bud, as the stony ground was, and the sap stricken in again, like rath ripe fruit, which look
ing forth upon a February sun, are nipped again with an April frost. Many, when young, and their affections are green and tender, are wrought upon, and bud, but the scoffs of men nip them, and their lusts draw the sap another
way, as hopes of preferment, and the pleasures of sin, and so these buds wither and fall off, and the Spirit withdraws himself wholly in the root
again. Again
3. Some there are, as the thorny ground, in whom this inward sap com municated to them, though not spiritually changing and renewing them, yet being communicated in a further degree, abides in them longer, shoots up
farther, and these prove exceeding green branches, and are owned for true, even by the people of God themselves, as Judas was by the apostles, and
therefore are outwardly like unto them ; for how else are they said to be
cast out? ver. 1C, who therefore had once some fruit to commend them, for which they were accounted of by the people of God, and received amongst them, who judge of trees by the fruit. Neither are their fruits merely out
ward, like Solomon s apples of gold, in pictures of silver, merely painted ; but they have a sap that puts a greenness into what they do, and by reason
of which they bear and bring forth ; for how else are they said to wither
also ? ver. 6, which is a decay of inward moisture and outward greenness. And these also have some kind of union with Christ as with a Lord, 2 Pet.
ii. 1, he ascending to bestow gifts, even upon the rebellious also, Ps. Ixviii.
18, so far to enable them to do him some service in his vineyard. They are not united unto Christ as unto an Head; neither is it
* the spirit of adop tion which they do receive from him. And such a branch was Judas, who was not only owned by the disciples, who knew him not to be false, but who surely at the first had inward sap of gifts derived from Christ, to fit him for the ministry, he being sent out as an apostle to preach; whom there
fore Christ here aimed at in this place. Now for a more particular differencing of these branches and their fruits,
it is not my scope to engraff a large commonplace head of all the differences between temporaries and true believers upon this stock ; this root is not big enough to bear them, those differences being many. Only I will explain
442 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH.
those differences which the text affords, because they are in our way, and will further open the words.
Difference 1. That which they do bring forth is not true fruit; the Holy Ghost vouchsafeth it not that name ; they are said here not to bring forth
fruit. That speech in Hos. x. 1 will give clear light to understand this, with the ground of it also ; Israel is there called an empty vine, which
brings forth fruit to herself. It implies a seeming contradiction that it should be called an empty vine, and yet withal to bring forth any fruit. And these bring forth, not leaves, good words only, but good works, good
iictions, and those green; and therefore, Jude 12, their fruit is said to wither, as themselves are said to wither here, ver. 6. And as there Israel is said to be an empty vine, though it hath fruit, so here these are said not to bringforth fruit at all. Now the meaning of both is one and the same ; for a
thing is said to be empty when it wants that which is proper to it, and ought to be in it, as wells are called empty when they are not full of water, they are
full of air : for non datur vacuum. So they are called an empty vine, and these branches to have no fruit, because not such as ought to grow upon them, such as is proper to the root they seem to grow upon. Therefore, in Heb. vi. 7, that epithet is added, meet herbs, or fruit, that is, such as should grow there. So Luke iii. 8, they are to bring forth fruit worthy amendment of life, or else they were to be cut down, that is, such as be came true repentants, as were answerable, suitable thereunto : as we say a man carries himself worthy of his place, when answerably to what is re
quired of him in it. That place forecited out of Hosea further acquaints us with the true ground why their fruits, though green, which, chap. vi. 4, is
called goodness also, yet were not to be accounted meet fruit, and so not
fruit at all ; even because of this, that it brought forth all its fruit, whether
good or bad, to itself, that is, those ends that did draw up the sap, and did
put it forth in fruit, were drawn but from themselves, they bring them not
forth principally to God, and for him. All their prayers, all thenaffections
in holy duties, if they examine the reason of them all, the ends that run in them all, and whence all the motives that do actuate all they do in these, they will find they are taken from themselves. And though the assistance wherewith they are enabled to do what they do is more than their own, yet their ends are no higher than themselves, and so they employ but that
assistance God gives them wholly for themselves. Now the end for which a
true branch brings forth fruit is, that God might be glorified. Thus, Rom.
vii. 4, when married to Christ, they are said to bring forth fruit to God; which is spoken in opposition to bringing forth fruit to a man s self. Thus
also Christ here useth this as the great and main motive to fruitfulness in
* Hereby is my Father glorified, that you bring forth much fruit. Now whom will this move 1 into whose affections will such an argument draw
ver. 8,
up sap and quicken them ? None but those hearts who do make God s glory their utmost end; and so all true branches do, or else this motive should have been used by Christ in vain unto them. And as this end makes their
performances to be fruit, so this being wanting, all that is brought forth
deserves not the name of fruit, for it is not fruit worthy, as the Baptist says, not meet fruit for the dresser to receive, as was noted out of the Hebrews, not such as ought to grow on that tree. They should be trees of righteous
ness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified, Isa. Ixi. 3.
Again, not fruit meet or suitable for the root it seems to grow upon, that
is, such as Christ did bring forth, for he did all that his Father might be
glorified ; and therefore, says he, exhorting them to fruitfulness, ver. 8 of
INTEOD.] THE TEIAL OF A CHEISTIAN S GROWTH. 443
this chapter, If you Jo likewise, ye shall be my disciples. Again, otherwise it is not such as is meet for the husbandman s taste and relish, it being equal that he that planteth a vineyard should eat of the fruit of it/ 1 Cor. he. 7. And in fruit, you know, above all we regard the taste, and esteem the relish of it. Eve first considered the fruit was good for food/ then pleasant to the eye/ Gen. iii. It is not the sap that is in fruit only makes it acceptable ; crabs are as full of sap as apples. Nor is it the greenness, or colour, or big ness, but the relish that is the chiefest excellency in it, though those other, when joined with a good relish, do make it more desirable. So though thy performances be full of life and affection, and green, and long, and many, yet if they relish and taste of none but self-ends, God regards them not, they are not a,d gustum suum; it is the end that gives the relish, and makes them
fruits, and acceptable to God.
Difference 2. The second difference this text holds forth is, that they bring not forth their fruit in Christ ; for so the Syriac translation reads it, as making the sense to be that they bring not forth fruit in me : and so this particle in me referreth not so much to their being branches in him as to not bearing their fruit in him. Which indeed seems to have been Christ s
meaning, for his scope in this parable is to shew how that he is the root of sanctification ; and how not the habitual power only, but every act of grace, and the performance, comes from him : Without me ye can do nothing/ ver.
O. And thereupon he exhorts his disciples to fetch all from him, and to abide in him; and therefore, also, when he speaks of these unfruitful branches at ver. 6, that which here he calls bearing not fruit in me/ he
expresses there by not abiding in me/ as the cause of their not bringing forth fruit in him. Yea, and the principal scope of that phrase, Abide in me/ is, (as evidently appears by ver. 4, o,) to depend upon him for bring ing forth of fruit, and to fetch strength from him by faith. There is
therefore this essential defect in the work that is upon such, that they do not do all in that dependence upon Christ, such a dependence as a branch hath upon the root in bringing forth its fruit. For, my brethren, this you must know, that as it is essential to evangelical sanctification to do all for another, as your end, namely, to God; so to do
all in the strength of another as your sole assistant, namely, Christ, who works all in you, and through whose strength/ saith Paul, I am able to do all things/ and nothing without it. The life we lead is by faith/ and it
is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Therefore we find both these joined, Phil. i. 11, The fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ, to the praise and
glory of God. The latter, to the glory of God, is mentioned as the final cause ; the other, by Jesus Christ, as the efficient cause. Both these are
necessary unto true sanctification. For as w
re are to honour the husband man by making him our end, so also the root, by doing all in him and from him. Now temporary believers, as they do all principally for themselves, so
also all as from themselves ; and as they do not make God their end, so nor
Christ their root. And so some expound that phrase in the parable of the
stony ground, Luke viii. 13, when it is said they have no root/ (though I think he means also inherent habits of grace infused, for it is added, no root
in themselves," which Job calls the root of the matter which was in him,) it is
because they fetch not their strength to do all they do from Christ by faith, arid from their union with him. And the reason is this, because they are never emptied of themselves, which is the root we all do grow upon, either
in regard of their own ends or of their own efficiency of working. Whereas we must all be brought to nothing in ourselves, both in regard of self-aims
THE TRIAL OF A CHEISTIAN s GROWTH. [INTROD.
and also abilities of working; and till our hearts are inwardly taught that
lesson, that we are not sufficient as of ourselves, we will not go out of our selves to do all in Christ ; and therefore there was nothing which Christ endeavoured more to engraff upon their hearts than this principle, now at his departure, as it is ver. 4, 5. And indeed it is as hard a thing for nature to live out of itself and fetch all from another, as not to live to itself but to another. We are full of our own strength as well as of our own ends. And although these unfruitful branches they do indeed receive all their strength from Christ, and so all they do in what is good is from him ; yet they do not honour Christ in receiving it by doing all as in his strength, and so do not do it as in him. But though they receive all, yet they work with it as if it were their own stock, and so glory, as the apostle says, as if they had not received it. And thus though the sap and liveliness which stirs them is really and all efficiently from Christ, yet they may be said to bring forth fruit in themselves, because both they neither fetch nor receive it by faith, nor act by faith that strength received, as men that were acted by Christ, and as working all in Christ ; but they do all as if all proceeded from their own root. Even as the ivy, though it clasping about the oak receives much sap from it, which it digesteth and turneth into itself, yet it brings forth all its berries by virtue of its own root, rather than as in the oak, which yet sustains and supplies it with juice and sap. Whereas a true believer brings forth fruit in Christ, as a branch that is in and of the oak itself, as its own
root, and so from him all their fruit is found, Hos. xiv. 8. He fetcheth his assistance from him ; whereas the inward assistance of another unsound branch is strengthened and supported by pride, and self-sufficiency of gifts and parts, and not derived by faith, and maintained by confidence in Christ s strength to act all in them. So that, as it is said of the Corinthians, that they reigned, but without us, says Paul ; so I may say, temporaries per form duties, and pray, but as without Christ. But all true believers are emptied first of their own strength and ability, and so walk as those who can
do nothing without Christ, as those who are not able to love, believe one moment more without him. So Phil. iv. 13, I am able to do all things, but through Christ that strengthened me. And this they lay for a prin ciple in their hearts which they walk by, which therefore Christ presseth upon his disciples here, as the main requisite and fundamental principle of
evangelical sanctification, Without me ye can do nothing. And therefore such a one is sensible of that cursed self-sufficiency in him, and humbleth
himself, checks himself for it, as for as great and foul a sin as any other; and humbleth himself not only for the want of what life and stirring, &c., should have been in the duty fallen short of in performing it, but also for that he sanctified not Christ in the strength he received to do it with. But another doth not so ; if he finds strength, and power, and vigour to perform, and quickness in the performance, he looks no farther. That poor man in the gospel, as he acknowledged his want of faith, that he had much unbelief in him, so he goes out to Christ for the supply, Lord, help my unbelief, for he knew that it was he was to be the worker of every degree of faith in him. And again, a true believer being thus sensible of his own inability, doth, when he is anything assisted, attribute all to Christ when he hath done; and honours him as the author of it in himself; confesseth in his heart, be tween Christ and himself, that it was not he, but Christ that strengthened him. It is not I, says the Apostle, but the grace of God in me, though I have laboured more than they all. But another, though he receives all, yet not being emptied of himself, boasteth as if he had not received it. As the
INTROD.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 445
Pharisee, though he thanked God in words, yet in his heart attributed all to himself. Such a one is the more full and lift up when he hath done, but the true branch more empty and humble. A true believer glories not of himself as in himself, but only as he is a man in Christ; and that as a man in Christ, he did thus or thus : as Paul did, and no otherwise. So, 2 Cor. xii. 2, I knew a man in Christ, &c. Of such a man I will glory, but of myself I will not glory. And yet it was himself he spake of, but
yet not in himself as of himself, but as he was in Christ.
Quest. And if it be asked, Whether in every act a Christian doth thus ? Am. I answer, it is in this as in that other parallel to this, the making God a man s end. Now, as it doth not require that in every action a man should actually think of that his end, whilst yet habituallyhe makes it his aim ;
as a man in his journey doth not think of the place he goes to in every step he takes, yet so habitually hath it in his thoughts as he keeps in the way to
it; parallel to this is it in doing all in Christ: it cannot be supposed that in every act a man hath such a distinct thought of recourse to Christ ; but at the beginning and entrance of greater actions, he still hath such actings and exercise of faith ; and also often in the progress he reneweth them ; and in the conclusion, when he hath performed them, he doth sanctify Christ in his heart, by ascribing the praise of all unto him.
Quest. If, in the second place, the question be, Whether every true be liever doth from his first conversion thus distinctly and knowingly to him
self fetch thus all power from Christ, and do all in him ? Ans. 1. The answer is, that to all believers this principle of having re course to Christ for acting their sanctification may haply not presently be so
distinctly revealed as it hath been to some. This indeed is common and
absolutely necessary to all believers, to constitute and make them such, namely, that their faith should have recourse to Christ, and to take him for
their salvation, in the large and general notion of it, as it enfolds all under
it that is to be done to save them ; and thus many more ignorant do, when
yet they have not learned explicitly in every particular that concernetli
their salvation, to have frequently a distinct recourse unto him. It is pro bable that these very disciples of Christ, who yet savingly believed, had not
this particular principle of bringing forth all their fruit of holiness in Christ as their root, until this very time and sermon whereby Christ informed them
in it, so clearly revealed to them, nor till then so clearly apprehended by them. For ignorant they were of, and negligent in having recourse to, Christ in many other particulars, and making use of him therein, which are of as much concernment as this. They had not so distinctly and explicitly, as would
seem, put their prayers up in Christ s name : Hitherto you have asked no
thing in my name, John xvi. 24. Neither had they so frequently exercised
faith on Christ in all things as they had upon God. Therefore, John xiv. 1, he calls upon them, Ye believe in God, believe also in me/ Ans. 2. Many sorts of principles believers hearts may secretly have been
taught, which also habitually they practise, and yet they may be exceeding hidden and latent in them in respect of their own discerning them ; as was the case also of these disciples. John xiv. 4, says Christ,
l The way, namely, to heaven, ye know; and yet, ver. 5, Thomas says, How can we know the way? and then, ver. 7, Christ says of them again, that they knew him and the Father ; and yet, ver. 8, Philip again saith to him, Lord, shew us the Father, speaking as if they were ignorant of him, for Christ rebukes
him, ver. 9, and tells him he had both seen him and his Father. Those
principles of atheism and unbelief, as those sayings in the heart, that there
446 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. FlNTROD.
is no God, &c., of which the Scriptures speak so much, they are the prin ciples that act and work all in men that are wicked and carnal, and are the encouragers and counsellors to all the sins committed by them ; and yet they are least of all discerned by them of all other corruptions, for they are sel dom or never drawn forth into distinct propositions, or actually thought upon, but do lie as common principles taken for granted, and so do guide men in their ways. And thus it is, and may be long, with some of the contrary principles of faith ; they may act all secretly in the heart, and yet not be discerned, until called forth by the ministry of the word, or some distinct information, when it comes more distinctly to clear such a practice to them.
Am. 3. Neither is union with Christ presently cleared up to all believers; which, whilst it is darkly and doubtfully apprehended by them, Christ s communication of his grace and strength to them in every action remains doubtful also, and is not discerned by them. Of these disciples Christ says, John xiv. 20, That in that day namely, when they received the Com forter more fully, of the promise of whom he there speaks they should know that they were in him, and he in them. But not so clearly was this as yet apprehended by them. And so likewise that intercourse betwixt Christ and them, both for grace and comfort, &c., was not so clearly dis cerned by them, though continually maintained by him in dispensing all grace and power to them.
Am. 4. And yet, in the meanwhile, take the lowest and poorest believer, ind he doth these five things, which put together is really and interpretatively a bringing forth their fruit in Christ, though not in their apprehen sions :
(1.) In that their hearts are trained up in a continual sensibleness of their own insufficiency and inability for any good thought or word, as of them selves ; for poverty of spirit, to see their own nothingness in this respect, is the first evangelical grace, Matt. v. 3. And if the contrary would arise in them, to think, through habitual grace alone received, they were able of themselves to do good, it is checked soon, and confuted by their own expe rience, both of their own weakness, being sure to be left to themselves, as Peter was when confident in his own strength; as also by those various blowings of the Spirit in them as he pleaseth, with which, when their sails are filled, they are able to do anything, but when withdrawn they lay wind-bound, though all habits of grace be hoist up and ready, and nofc able to move of themselves. Now this principle of self-emptiness, habitu
ally to live by it, no carnal heart in the world hath it, or doth live by it. And
(2.) For this assistance they are trained likewise up, from the first, to have a continual dependence upon a power from above, without which they find they are able to do nothing, to come from God and from the Spirit of Christ, with a renunciation of themselves ; which implicitly is the same with this immediate intercourse with Christ, and is really equivalent thereunto, though they hit not at first haply on the right explicit notion thereof, as having not been taught it by the ministry of the word, or other ways, in that distinct manner that others do. And yet in honouring the Spirit of Christ
dwelling in them, they honour Christ, who sends that Spirit into their hearts, even as in honouring the Son Christ says that we honour the Father
also, although our thoughts may sometimes more distinctly be exercised towards one of the three Persons more than to another.
(3.) And, thirdly, when they are once taught from the word that it is the
INTROD.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 4-17
duty of a Christian, and part of the life of faith, to live thus in Christ, and to
bring forth all in him, and so come distinctly to apprehend this as requisite to a right bringing forth of fruit, then their hearts instantly do use to close with the truth of it, as being most suitable and agreeable to that holy frame of
their own spirits, which are evangelically wrought to glorify Christ all manner
of ways that shall be revealed. There is an instinct, a preparedness in their
faith to make Christ their all in all, as any particular comes to be revealed
to them, wherein they ought to exalt him in their hearts ; and so this being once revealed to be one way whereby they are to honour him, if they have
gone on before in a confidence on their own graces, henceforth they do so no more; yea, they humble themselves as much for so robbing Christ of
glory, or neglecting of him, in not having had that distinct recourse to him, as for any other sin. And
(4.) Though haply after all this, yet still their union with him is not cleared
to them, and so their communion with him herein, as must needs, doth still remain dark also. They therefore neither discern that they have any true communion with his person, nor can say how strength comes from him ; yet having been thus taught to fetch all from him, as was formerly explained, they do, in a continual renunciation of their own strength, deny all offers of
assistance from any other strength, as, namely, that which their gifts and
parts would make, even as they deny unlawful lusts or by-ends, and they
still have their eyes upon Christ to work in them both the will and the deed ; and so by a faith of recumbency, or casting themselves on him for
strength in all, such as they exercise towards him for justification, Gal. ii.
* they live by faith on the Son of God, and have thereby such a kind of
16,
faith, a continual recourse unto him. Upon which acts of true faith being exercised by them towards him, he, as he is pleased to dispense it, moves
them, and works and acts all in them, although still not so sensibly unto
their apprehensions as that they should discern the connexion between the
cause and the effect ; nor can they hang them together, that is to say, know
hoiv or that this virtue doth come from Christ, because their union with him
is as yet doubtful to them, and also because the power that worketh in be
lievers is secret, and like that of the heavens upon our bodies, which is as
strong as that of physic, &c., yet so sweet and so secretly insinuating itself with the principles of nature, that as for the convejrance of it, it is insen
sible, and hardly differenced from the other workings of the principles of
nature in us : and therefore the Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians, that
their eyes may be enlightened to see the power that wrought in them, Eph.
i. 18, 19. Yet so as
(5.) Their souls walk all this while by these two principles firmly rooted
in them, both that all good that is to be done must and doth come from
Christ, and him alone ; and that if any good be done by them, it is wrought by him alone, which do set their souls a-breathing after nothing more than
to know Christ in the power of his resurrection. And having walked thus
in a self-emptiness and dependence upon Christ by way of a dark recum
bency, when once their union with him conies to be cleared up unto them,
they then acknowledge, as they, Isn. xxvi. 12, that he alone hath wrought
all their works in them ; that they are nothing, and have done nothing. And though before this revelation of Christ, as Christ said to Peter, What
I do now thou knowest not, but thou shalt know/ so they knew not then
that Christ had wrought all in them, yet then they know it ; and when they do know and discern it, they acknowledge it with the greatest exaltation of
him, they having reserved, even during all that former time of their empti-
448 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [INTROD.
ness, the glory for him alone, staying, as Joab did for David,* till Christ come more sensibly into their hearts, to set the crown of all upon his head.
This I thought good to add, to clear this point, lest any poor souls should be stumbled.
Fourth observation. In the most fruitful branches there remain
corruptions unpurged out. The fourth doctrine is, That in the most fruitful branches there remain corruptions that still need purging out.
This is taken but as supposed in the text, and not so directly laid down, and I shall handle it but so far as it makes way for what doth follow. What shaU I need to quote much Scripture for the proof of it ? Turn but to your own hearts, the best will find proofs enough of it.
Reason 1. That God might thereby the more set forth and clear unto us his justifying grace by Christ s righteousness, and clear the truth of it to all our hearts. When the Apostle, long after his first conversion, was in the midst of that great and famous battle, chronicled in that 7th of Romans, wherein he was led captive to a law, and an army of sin within him, war
ring against the law of his mind, presently upon that woful exclamation and outcry there mentioned, miserable man that I am, &c., he falls admiring the grace of justification through Christ, they are his first words after the battle ended,
* Now, says he, there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Mark that word now ; that now, after such bloody wounds and
gashes, there should yet be no condemnation, this exceedingly exalts this grace ; for if ever, thought he, I was in danger of condemnation, it was upon the rising and rebelling of these my corruptions, which, when they had car ried me captive, I might well have expected the sentence of condemnation to have followed ; but I find, says he, that God still pardons me, and accepts me as much as ever upon my returning to him, and therefore I do proclaim with wonder to all the world, that God s justifying grace in Christ is exceed
ing large and rich. And though there be many corruptions in those that are in Christ, yet there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ, that walk after the Spirit, though flesh be in them. And this at once both clears our justification by Christ s righteousness alone, and also magnifies and extols it.
It clears it ; therefore how doth this remaining of corruptions afford to our divines that great demonstration against the Papists, that we are not justi fied by works, nor are those works perfect, which they so impudently affirm
against their own experience, even because corruption stains the best, and our best righteousness is but as a menstruous cloth.
And as it clears it, so likewise it extols it ; for how is grace magnified, whenas not only all the sins and debts a man brought to Christ to pardon at
first conversion are pardoned, but after many relapses of us, and provings bankrupt, we are yet still set up again by free grace with a new stock ; and though we still run upon new scores every day, yet that these should still be
paid, and there should be riches of love enough and stock enough, that is, merit enough to hold out to pardon us, though we remained in this mixed condition of sinning to eternity, this exceedingly advanceth the abounding of this grace.
Reason 2. It serves exceedingly to illustrate the grace of perseverance, and -the power of God therein ; for unto the power of God is our persever ance wholly attributed. 1 Pet. i. o, Ye are kept, as with a garrison, as the * Apparently referring to 2 Sam. xii. 28. ED.
INTROD.] THE TEIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 449
word signifies, through the power of God unto salvation. And were there not a great and an apparent danger of miscarrying, such a mighty guard needed not. There is nothing which puts us into any danger but our cor ruptions that still remain in us, which fight against the soul/ and endea vour to overcome and destroy us. Now, then, to be kept maugre all these, to have grace maintained, a spark of grace in the midst of a sea of corrup tion, how doth this honour the power of God in keeping us ! As much in regard of this our dependency on him in such a condition, as he would other wise be by our service, if it were perfect, and we wholly free from those
corruptions. How will the grace of God under the gospel triumph over the grace given Adam in his innocency ; when Adam having his heart full of inherent grace, and nothing inwardly in his nature to seduce him, and the temptation that he had being but a matter of curiosity, and the pleasing his
wife, and yet he fell ; whenas many poor souls under the state of grace, that have but mites of grace in comparison, and worlds of corruption, are yet kept not only from the unnecessary pleasures of sin in time of prosperity, but hold out against all the threats, all the cruelties of wicked persecutors in times of persecution, which threaten to debar them of all the present good they enjoy
! And though God s people are foiled often, yet that there should still remain a seed within them, 1 John iii. 9, this illustrates the grace of Christ under the gospel. For one act in Adam expelled all grace out of him, when
yet his heart was full of nothing else. Were our hearts filled with grace perfectly at first conversion, this power would not be seen. The angels are
kept with much less care, and charge, and power than we, because they have no bias, no weight of sin, as the Apostle speaks, hung upon them to draw them aside and press them down, as we have.
Reason 3. Neither would the confusion of the devil in the end be so
great, and the victory so glorious, if all sin at first conversion were expelled. For by this means the devil hath in his assaults against us the more advan
tages, fair play, as I may so speak, fair hopes of overcoming, having a great faction in us, as ready to sin as he is greedy to tempt ; and yet God strongly carries on his own work begun, though slowly, and by degrees, backeth and maintains a small party of grace within us to his confusion. That as in God s outward government towards his church here on earth, he suffers a
great party, and the greater still by far, to be against his church, and yet upholds it, and rules amongst the midst of his enemies, Ps. ex. 2, so doth he also in every particular believer s heart. "When grace shall be in us but
as a spark, and corruptions as much smoke and moisture damping it, grace but as a candle, and that in the socket, among huge and many winds, then
to bring judgment forth to victory, that is a victory indeed. Reason 4. Lastly, as God doth it to advance his own grace, and confound the devil, so for holy ends that concern the saints themselves ; as
(1.) To keep them from spiritual pride. He trusted the angels that fell with a full and complete stock of grace at first, and they, though raised up from nothing a few days before, fell into such an admiration of themselves
that heaven could not hold them, it was not a place good enough for them :
1 They left, the text says, their own habitation and first estate, Jude 6.
* Pride was the condemnation of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. 6. But how much more would this have been an occasion of pride to a soul that was full of
nothing but sin the other day, to be made penect presently 1 Perfectly to
justify us the first day by the righteousness of another, there is no danger in
.that, for it is a righteousness without us, and which we cannot so easily boast of vainly ; for that faith that apprehends it empties us first of our-
VOL. III. 2 F
450 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [INTROD.
selves, and goes out to another for it. But sanctification being a work
wrought in us, we are apt to dote on that, as too much upon excellency in
ourselves. How much ado have poor believers to keep their hearts off from
doting upon their own righteousness, and from poring on it, when it is, God
wot, a very little ! They must therefore have something within them to
pull down their spirits, that when they look on their feathers they may look on their feet, which, Christ says, are still defiled, John xiii. 10.
(2.) However, if there were no such danger of spiritual pride upon so sudden a rise, as indeed it befalls not infants, nor such souls as die as soon
as regenerated, as that good thief, yet, however, God thinks it meet to use
it as a means to humble his people this way; even as God left the Canaan-
ites in the land to vex the Israelites, and to humble them. And to have been throughly humbled for sin here will do the saints no hurt against they come to heaven ; it will keep them nothing for ever, in their own eyes, even when they are filled brimful of grace and glory. For
[1.] Nothing humbles so as sin. This made him cry out, miserable man that I am ! He that never flinched for outward crosses, never thought himself miserable for any of them, but gloried in them, 2 Cor. xii. 10, when he came to be led captive by sin remaining in him, cries out, O
miserable man ! And
[2.] It is not the sins of a fore-past unregenerate estate that will be enough to do this throughly; for they might be looked upon as past and gone, and some ways be an occasion of making the grace after conversion the more
glorious. But present sense humbleth most kindly, most deeply, because it
is fresh ; and therefore says Paul, O miserable man that / am ! And
again, we are not able to know the depth and height of corruptions at once, therefore we are to know it by degrees. And therefore it is still left in us, that after we have a spiritual eye given us, we might experimentally gauge it
to the bottom, and be experimentally still humbled for sin. And experi mental humbling is the most kindly, as pity out of experience is. And
[3.] God would have us humbled by seeing our dependence upon him for
inherent grace. And how soon are we apt to forget we have received it, and that in our natures no good dwells ! We would not remember that our
nature were a step-mother to grace, and a natural mother to lusts, but that we see weeds still grow naturally of themselves. And
[4.] God would have us not only humbled by such our dependence on
him, but by a sense of our continual obnoxiousness to him, and of being in
his lurch; and therefore leaves corruption still, that we might ever acknow
ledge that our necks do even lie on the block, and that he may chop them
off; and to see that in him we should not only live and move as crea
tures, but further, that by him we might justly be destroyed every moment, this humbles the creature indeed, Ezek. xxxvi. 31, 32.
(3.) As thus to humble them, so that they might have occasion to deny
themselves; which to do is more acceptable to God than much more service
without it, and therefore the great promise of having a hundred-fold is made to that grace. It was the great grace which of all other Christ exer
cised. Now, if we had no corruption to entice and seduce us, what oppor tunities were there for us thus of denying ourselves? Christ indeed had an
infinite deal of glory to lay down, not so we. Unless there be a self in us to
solicit us, and another self to deny those solicitations, we should have no
occasions of self-denial or the exercise of any such grace. Therefore Adam was not capable of any such grace, because he had no corruption to seduce him.
THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 451
And therefore a little grace in us, denying a great deal of corruption, is in that
respect, for so much as is of it, more acceptable than his obedience. Though we have less grace, yet in this respect of a higher kind in the exercises of it.
Use 1. To be meek and charitable to those who fall into sin, as knowingcorruption is not fully yet purged out of thyself. This is the Apostle s ad monition upon this ground, Gal. vi. 1,
< If a man be overtaken in a fault, he speaks indefinitely, that any man may, if it be but an overtaking, not a
sinning wilfully and obstinately, but a falling by occasion, through rashness, suddenness, and violence of temptation, &c. ; ye which are spiritual, restore such a man with the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. He would have every man be meek in his censure, and in his
reproof of such a one, and restore him, and put him in joint again, as the word signifies
: for still he may be united to Christ, as a bone out of joint is to the body, though for the time rendered thereby unuseful. And do this, says he, with tenderness and pity, with the spirit of meekness, which a man will not do unless he be sensible of his own frailty and subjection to cor
ruption, unless he reflects on himself, and that seriously too. Considering, saith the Apostle there, as implying more than a slight thought, I may chance to fall also ; but the seeing and weighing what matter of falling there
is in thine own heart, if God but leave thee to thyself a little while ; this works a spirit of meekness towards such a one. For meekness and pity is most kindly when we are sensible of the like in ourselves, and make it our own case. And this he speaks to the most spiritual Christians; not to those who are as yet but as carnal, as he speaketh of the Corinthians, Christians newly converted, who finding their corruptions at the first stounded with that first blow of mortification given them, and though but in part killed, yet wholly in a manner for a while laid asleep, and having not as yet, after their late conversion, had a fresh experience of the dangers and temptations a man after conversion in his progress is subject to are therefore apt to
imagine they shall continue free from assaults, and think not that their lusts will get up again, and so are prone to be more censorious of the falls of others. But you, who are more spiritual, to you I speak, says the
Apostle, for you are most meekened with a sense of your own weakness; and even you, says he, if you consider yourselves, and what you are in your selves, have cause to think that you also may be tempted. Use 2. Never set thyself any stint or measure of mortification, for still thou hast matter to purge out. Thou must never be out of physic all thy life. Say not, Now I have grace enough, and health enough ; but as that great Apostle, Not as if I had as yet attained, for indeed thou hast not ; still
press forward to have more virtue from Christ. If thou hast prevailed against the outward act, rest not, but get the rising of the lust mortified, and that rolling of it in thy fancy; get thy heart deaded towards it also; and rest not there, but get to hate it, and the thought of it. The body of death, it must not only be
* crucified with Christ, but buried also, and so rot, Eom.
vi. 4, 6 ; it is crucified to be destroyed, says the Apostle there, that is, to moulder away more and more, after its first death-wound.
Fifth observation That branches that have brought forth true fruit, God
takes them not away. The fifth doctrine is, That those who are true branches, and bring forth any true fruit pleasing to God, though they have many corruptions in them, yet God takes them not away, cuts them not off. The opposition implies
452 THE TEIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [INTROD.
this, lie speaks of taking away the other; not so of these, but purgeth them. It is an elegant paranomasia, cdgsi, KaQaiott, which the Holy Ghost here useth.
For an instance to prove this, wherein I will also keep to the metaphor here used, I take that place, Isa. xxvii., where this his care of fruitful
branches, with the very same difference put between his dealing with them and the unfruitful that is here, is elegantly expressed to us. God professeth himself the keeper of a vineyard, his church, ver. 2, 3, I the Lord do keep
it; and, ver. 6, He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel
shall blossom and bud, and fill the earth with fruit. But Israel having cor
ruption in him which would hinder his growth, he must be lopped and cut. And so, in the next verses, God is said to deal with him ; but not so as to cut them off, as he doth others that are both his and their enemies. Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote him? No. For in mea sure when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it. When Israel is but a tender plant, and first shooteth forth, he doth but in measure debate with
it, that is, in such a proportion as not to destroy it, or cause it to wither; but that it may blossom more, he measures out, as it were, afflictions to
them, but stays his rough wind, as it follows, that is, such afflictions as would shake that his plant too much, or quite blow it down ; but such a wind as shall make it fruitful, and blow away its unkindly blossoms and
leaves, so much, and no more, will he let out of his treasury, even he who holds the winds in his fists, and can moderate them as he pleaseth. For his
scope and purpose is nothing less than to cut off Jacob, both root and branch, because of corruptions and sins that do cleave to him. But this is all the
fruit to take away the sin, says he, ver. 9, that is, this is the fruit of that
wind, and of all these his dealings with them ; and it is all the fruit, that
is, all that he intends thereby, even to purge them.
But doth he deal so with others 1 No ; for the boughs of the most fenced city wither, and arc broken off and burned, ver. 10, 11. Reason 1. First, because in Christ God accepts a little good, and it
pleaseth him more than sin in his doth displease him. And therefore, as in
nations he will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, so nor in men
will he cast away their righteousness that is in them for a little wickedness
sake, but will rather purge out the one, and so preserve the other. This we have expressed under the same metaphor, Isa. Ixv. 8, we have in hand : Thus
saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy
it not, for a blessing is in it ; that is, look as when a man is about to cut down a vine, and his axe is even at the root of it, and one standing by spies a cluster upon it that hath new wine in it, (which also argues there is sap
still in the roots, which may yet bring forth more,) Oh, says he, destroy it not : even so says God of nations and men that fear him, of nations where he hath many holy ones. So there it follows, So will I do with Israel, for my servants sake I will not destroy them all : so it follows there; and thus he likewise says of particular men, There is a blessed work in such a man s heart, though mingled with much corruption,
l Oh, destroy it not. Take away the sin if possible, but cut not off the man. Why should his
grace perish with his wickedness ? Every dram of grace is precious ; it cost
the blood of Christ, and he will not suffer it to be destroyed.
Reason 2. Because he hath ordained that all the fruits of his children should remain, John xv, 1 6. Now, if they should be cut off, their fruit would
wither, their work must perish with them. Now, no man s work shall prove in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. xv. 58. But though the world, and all works
INTROD.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 453
and lusts of the world, will, with their makers, come to nothing, yet he that doth the will of God endureth for ever/ 1 John ii. 17. As the works of
Christ in himself are eternal, so his works in us are eternal also, because they are the fruits of what he did : He that soweth liberally, and gives to the
poor, his righteousness remains for ever.
Reason 3.- Because he loves the person, and hates only the sin; therefore he preserves the one, destroys only the other. This is all the fruit, to take
away the sin. Thus, Ps. xcix. 8, He forgave the persons, and took ven
geance only on their inventions. The covenant that is made with us in
Christ is not a covenant made with works, but with persons ; and there
fore, though the works be often hateful, yet he goes on to love the persons ; and that he may continue to love them, destroys out of them what he hates, but cutteth not them off. A member that is leprous or ulcerous, a man loves
it as it is his own flesh, Eph. v. 29, though he loathes the corruption and
putrefaction that is in it ; and therefore he doth not presently cut it off, but
purgeth it daily, lays plasters to it to eat the corruption out : whereas a wart
or a wen that grows to a man s body, a man gets it cut off, for he doth not reckon it as his flesh.
Reason 4. Therein God shews his skill, that he is able to deal with a branch which hath much corruption in it, so artificially as to sever the cor
ruption, and let the branch stand still. Utterly to cut down, and make
spoil of all, there is no great skill required to it ; but to lop the branches in
the right place, and due time and season, so as they may become fruitful, this is from the skill of the husbandman. Come to unskilful surgeons with
a sore leg or arm, and they seeing it past their skill, they talk of nothing but cutting it off, and tell you it is so far gone that there is no way else ; but come to one that is skilful indeed, that discerns it is not so perished but it may be cured, and lie will try his art upon it. And so doth God with branches and members that have much corruption in them : he tries his
skill upon them, makes a great cure of a leg or an arm where he discerns some sound flesh, though much corrupted ; he can cut out the dead flesh, and let the sound remain, and so makes it whole in the end.
Use 1. Of comfort to those who are true branches, and continue to bring forth fruit in the midst of all the trials that befall them, that God will not
suffer them to be cut off by their corruption. If anything in them should
provoke God to do it, it must be sin. Now for that, you see how Christ
promiseth that God will take order therewith, and will purge it out of them. In Ps. Ixxxix. 28-30, this is the covenant made with David, (as he was a
type of Christ, with whom the same covenant is made sure and firm,) that
if his seed forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, What ! presently turn them out of doors, and cut them off, as those he meant no more to have
to do with ? What ! nothing but utter rejection ? Is there no means of re
claiming them ? Never a rod in the house ? Yes, then will I visit their
transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes, whip out their
stubbornness and sinfulness ; but my loving-kindness will I not take from him as I did from Saul, as it is 1 Chron. xviL 13. Let the saints consider this, that they may return when they are fallen r and submit to him and his nature, and suffer him to do what he will with
them, and endure cutting, and lancing, and burning, so long as he cuts them not off ; endure chastening, and all his dealings else, knowing that all the
fruit is but to take away the sin, to make them partakers of his holiness ; and if by any means, as Paul speaks of himself, as Phil. iii. 11, be the means what it will, it is no matter. And God, if at any time he seems to
454 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [ItfTROD.
cut thee off, yet it is but as the incestuous Corinthian was cut off, that the flesh might be destroyed, and the spirit saved/
Use 2. Of encouragement to go on still to bring forth more fruit to God. For if you do, God will not cut you off; he will spare you as a man spares his son that serves him ; he will not take advantage at every fault to cast one off. It was his own law, Deut. xx. 19, that such trees as brought forth fruit fit for meat, they should not destroy when they came into an enemy s
country. Doth God take care of trees V No, it was to teach us that if we bring forth fruit, he will not destroy us, if it be fruit indeed fit for meat. Oaks bring forth apples, such as they are, and acorns, but they are not fit for meat ; such trees they might cut down. So, if thou bring not forth such fruit as is for God s taste and relish, wherein thou sanctifiest not God and Christ in thy heart, thou mayest and wilt be cut down, but else not. If thou beest betrothed to Christ, and he hath begotten children on thee, fear not a
bill of divorce, he will not lightly cast thee off. And it is a good argument to use to him, desire him to spare thee by all the children he hath begotten on thee. Children increase love between man and wife ; so between Christ and us.
Sixth observation That unfruitful branches God in the end cuts of, and the several degrees luhereby he cuts o/professors that are unfruitful. That unfruitful branches God in the end takes away, as he did Judas, who was here especially aimed at, for proof take Ps. cxxv. It is a psalm made of purpose to shew the different estate of the professors of religion. Those that are upright, ver. 4, he saith, God will continue to do them good, and they shall be as Mount Zion, and all the gates of hell shall not be able to remove one of these mountains. But because there are many that like planets go the same course with the other orbs, and yet have some secret byway besides of their own, of these he says, Those that turn aside into crooked ways, God will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, that
is, in the end he will discover them to be what they are. And though they go amongst the drove of professors like sheep, yet God will detect them, either in this life or in the life to come, to be goats. Though they did not seem to be workers of iniquity, yet God will lead them forth with them.
Reasons why God dealeth thus with them: Reason 1. Because they dishonour the root which they profess them selves to be graffed into. They profess themselves to be in Christ. Now, he
is a fruitful root, full of sap, and for any to be unfruitful in him is a dis honour to him. When you see unfruitful branches upon a tree, you blame the root for it ; so doth the world blame the grace of Christ, the profession of Christ, yea, even the root itself, for the unfruitfulness of the branches. Therefore, that they may dishonour the root no more, he takes them away, cuts them off from that root they seemed to stand in, and then they run out into all manner of wickedness.
Reason 2. Because the husbandman hath no profit by them : Heb. vi. 8, The ground that bringeth forth thorns, and not fruit meet for him that dresseth it, is nigh to cursing. In the 8th of the Canticles it is said, Solomon had a vineyard, and he let it out to keepers, &c. He speaks this of Christ, of whom Solomon was a type, and of his church; and his compari son stands thus : Solomon being a king, and having many vineyards for his
royalty, for the riches of ancient kings lay much in husbandry, he let them out to vine-dressers, and they had some gain by them ; but
* Solomon must have a thousand, and they but two hundred ; the chief gain was to
INTROD.] THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. 455
come to Solomon. So the vineyard that God had planted here below, he
lets it out to men, and they shall have some profit by it, you shall all have
wages for the work you do, yet so as the chief gain must return to God ; he
must have a thousand for your two hundred. But when men will have all
the gains that is in what they do, set up their own ends only, and the hus bandman shall have none, such branches he takes away, because they are not
for his profit, for it is made a rule of equity, 1 Cor. ix. 7, that he that
planteth a vineyard should eat of the fruit of it.
Reason 3. Because of all trees a vine is good for nothing else but to
bring forth fruit, as we see it expressed to us, Ezek. xv. 4 ; it is good for
nothing but the fire when it becomes unfruitful. Other trees are good for
building, to make pins of, but not the vine. And this similitude God chose
out to shew, that of all trees else, professors, if unfruitful, are good for
nothing ; their end is to be burned. Now if you ask, How God taketh them away 1 the degrees he doth it by
are set down here, ver. 6, If a man abide not in me, &c., that is, fall away,
then, 1. They are cast out; and, 2. They wither; 3. They are gathered;
4. They are burned.
1. They are cast forth, that is, out of the hearts of God s people, out of
their company, out of their prayers, yea, and out of their society by excom
munication often; and many times they cast out themselves, being given up
to such errors as discover them to be unsound. As Hymenseus and Philetus,
they were forward professors, so that their fall was like to have shaken many
of the fruitful branches, insomuch that the apostle was fain to make an apo
logy about their fall : Nevertheless the foundation of God remains sure, 2 Tim. ii. 19. God gave them up to such opinions and heresies as dis
covered their hearts to be rotten and unsound. So also he gives these carnal
professors up to such sins as will discover them. This was the case of Cain ; he brought forth some fruit, for he sacrificed ; yet because not in sincerity, he envied his brother, and was given up to murder his brother, upon which it
is said that he was cast out of the sight of the Lord, Gen. iv. 16, that is,
cast out of his father s family, and from the ordinances of God there enjoyed, and made a vagabond upon the face of the whole earth, which of all curses
is the greatest. Or else, as was said, they of their own accord forsake the
assembly of the saints. The Apostle makes this a step to the sin against the
Holy Ghost, Heb. x. 25. He saith, that when men forsake the assemblies
and company of the people of God, public and private, and love not to
quicken and stir up one another, or begin to be shy of those they once ac
companied, they are in a nigh degree to that which follows in the next verse,
to sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth.
2. Being thus cast forth, they wither, that is, the sap of abilities which
they once had begins to decay ; that life in holy duties and in holy speeches
begins to be withdrawn, and their leaves begin to fall off; they cannot pray
nor speak of holy things as they were wont. Thus it is said of such professors, Jude 12, that their fruit withereth, even here in the eyes of men; for
when God casteth them out, then he withdraws his Spirit from them ; and
then, although they come to the ordinances, yet they have no breathings.
They come to prayer, and the Spirit of God is departed; and so by degrees
God withdraws sap from them till they be quite dead. Thus he dealt with
Saul ; when he had discovered himself by sparing the Amalekites and by
persecuting David, it is said, the Spirit of God departed from him, and he
withered ever after, all his gifts vanished, and the spirit or frame of heart he
once had departed from him. So likewise they that had not gained by their
456 THE TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN S GROWTH. [INTROD.
talents, Matt. xxv. 26, their talents were taken from them, even in this
life, and the Spirit of God, which rested upon them, rested upon some other