.Serm.CXCIV. the prefent Opportunity. For that Parable concerningthe Hufbandmen, who infteadofrendring to their Lord thefruits of his vineyard in due feafon, evilly entreated, and killed thofe whom he fens to them, I fay this Parable, tho' it immediately refpefted the yews , yet it does in proportion concernall that live unfruitfullyunder the Gofpel, Matt. 25.40, 45. When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto thofe Hus- yandmen ? Theyfay unto him, He willmiferably de(lroy thofe wickedmen, andwill let out his vineyard unto other Hufbandmen, which (hall render him the fruits in their feafons. And ver.43, 44. Therefore Ifay untoyou, Pays our Lord, The Kingdom of God (hall be takenfromyou, andgiven to a Nation bringingforth thefruits thereof. And whafbever (hallfall on this ¡lone, fhall be broken: but on whomfoexer itfhall fall; it will grind him to powder. The removal of the Gofpel from any people, as it is the greateft judgment in it felf, fo it is likely to be accompanied with the greateft temporal miferies and cala- mities : and fo in fart it hathhappened not only to the7ews, whofe cafe, as I faid before, hath fomething in it peculiar, but to otherChurches andNations. To the feven famous Churches of Afia, the cities of them beingdemolithed and laid walte,. and the very place of feveral ofthem hardly known at this day. And fo likewife it bath happened to the flourithing Churches of Africa, where Chriftianity is ex-, tinguilh'd, and the place of them now the great feat of barbarifm and flavery. And God feerfts to fee thefeexamples before us, as a dreadful warning "aridádmóni tion to us, and to fay to us as he did to the people offerufalent, yer.7.12, 53', 14, 5.5. ye now unto myplace which was in Shiloh, where Ifet my name at thefarfl, and fee what Ididto it, for the wickednefs of my people Ifrael. And now hecaffeye have done all thefe works, faith the Lord, and Ifpake untoyou, rilingupyearly, andfpeak- ing , butye heard not; and .1 calledyou but ye anfwered not : Therefore will I do unto this houfè, which is called by my name , wherein ye trufl, andunto the place. which Lgave toyou, and toyourfathers, as I have done to Shiloh. AndI will trill you out ofmy fght; as I have call out all your brethren. I proceed to the Fifth particular I mentioned, which is to confider, by what means Godis more efpeciallyprovoked to deprive a people of the light ofthe Gofpel, and the means ofSalvation. By thefe two more efpecially. By ,a general barennefs and unfruit- fulnefs under them : and by general impiety and wickednefs. 5. By a general barennefs and unfruitfulnefs under the means and opportunities of falvation plentifully afforded to us. This our Saviour` reprefents to us in the parableof the Hufbandmen, which I mentioned before, , who render'd no fruit of the vineyard let out to them, for which they are threatned to have the vineyard ta- ken from, them, and let out to other Hufbandmen; that will render thefruits of it in their feafrrns. Andin the fame Chapter, Matth. 25. 19. we find our Saviour cur- ling the Fig-tree, which he fare in the way, becaufe he found nothing thereon, but leaves only. Leaves are the outward thew and profeflion of Religion : but if there be no fruit, we may juftly fear a curfe : for our Saviour did not curfe the Fig- tree for its own fake, but for our example. Sterilitas noflra in facu vapulat ; Our barennefs is correctedand chaflifed in the curfe which he pronouncedupon the fig-tree. To the famepurpofe there is a remarkable parable of a barren Fig-tree, and of the Hufbanmán's patient expeftation of fruit from it, Luke 53. 7, 8, 9. after three years waiting, Then faid he unto the dreffer of his vineyard, Behold, thefe three years Icome feekingfruit on this fig-tree, andfind none. Cut it down; why cumbreth it the ground? And he anfwering, faid unto him, Lord, let it alone thisyear alfo, tillI pall dig about it, and clung it And if it bearfruit, well: and if not, then after that thoufaalt cut it down. It is literally true , that fruit may be expefted from a Fig-tree, at fartheft the third year; and if in that time it do not bear, it is al- aloft in vain to expect it : but our Saviour intended by this parable to reprove the yews, among whom he had taken fo much pains for three years, and was now up- on his fourth, refolving with the utmoft patience to expert the fruit of Repentance, and 'Obedience to hisDoftrine, and then to leave them, andwithdraw that light from them which they made no ufe of : and yet after this, he continued his Apoftles a- mong them, who preached the Do&rive of Life and Salvation to them for many years, before he punifhed their barrennefs under all thofe means, by taking away his Gofpel from them , and giving them up to utter ruin and deftruftron. Llfl 2.Ano- 62 s_.
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