 section 18 of select sermons of Jonathan Edwards. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Select sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Section 18. The Excellency of Christ Part 3. Part 3. I would now show how the aforesaid teaching is of benefit to us in that, A. It gives us insight into the names of Christ in Scripture, B. It encourages us to accept Him as our Saviour, C. It encourages us to accept Him as our friend, A. From this doctrine we may learn one reason why Christ is called by such a variety of names and held forth under such a variety of representations in Scripture. It is the better to signify and exhibit to us that variety of excellencies that meet together and are conjoined in Him. Many appellations are mentioned together in one verse, Isaiah 9.6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. It shows a wonderful conjunction of excellencies that the same person should be a son, born and given, and yet be the everlasting Father, without beginning or end, that he should be a child, and yet be he whose name is Counselor and the mighty God, and well may his name, in whom such things are conjoined, be called Wonderful. By reason of the same wonderful conjunction Christ is represented by a great variety of sensible things that are on some account excellent. Thus in some places he is called a son, as Malachi 4.2, in others a star, Numbers 24.17, and he is especially represented by the morning star as being that which excels all other stars in brightness and is the forerunner of the day, Revelation 22.16, and as in our text he is compared to a lion in one verse and a lamb in the next, so sometimes he is compared to a roe or young heart, another creature most diverse from a lion. So in some places he is called a rock, in others he is compared to a pearl. In some places he is called a man of war and the captain of our salvation. In other places he is represented as a bridegroom. In the second chapter of Canticles the first verse he is compared to a rose and a lily that are sweet and beautiful flowers. In the next verse but one he is compared to a tree bearing sweet fruit. In Isaiah 53.2 he is called a root out of a dry ground, but elsewhere instead of that he is called the tree of life that grows not in a dry or barren ground but in the midst of the Paradise of God, Revelation 27. B. Let the consideration of this wonderful meeting of diverse excellencies in Christ induce you to accept of him and close with him as your Savior, as all manner of excellencies meet in him so there are concurring in him all manner of arguments and motives to move you to choose him for your Savior and everything that tends to encourage poor sinners to come and put their trust in him. His fullness and all sufficiency as a Savior gloriously appear in that variety of excellencies that has been spoken of. Fallen man is in a state of exceeding great misery and is helpless in it. He is a poor weak creature like an infant cast out in its blood in the day that it is born. But Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is strong though we are weak. He hath prevailed to do that for us which no creature else could do. Fallen man is a mean despicable creature, a contemptible worm. But Christ, who has undertaken for us, is infinitely honorable and worthy. Fallen man is polluted, but Christ is infinitely holy. Fallen man is hateful, but Christ is infinitely lovely. Fallen man is the object of God's indignation, but Christ is infinitely dear to him. We have dreadfully provoked God, but Christ has performed that righteousness which is infinitely precious in God's eyes. And here is not only infinite strength and infinite worthiness, but infinite condescension and love and mercy as great as power and dignity. If you are a poor distressed sinner whose heart is ready to sink for fear that God never will have mercy on you, you need not be afraid to go to Christ for fear that he is either unable or unwilling to help you. Here is strong foundation and an inexhaustible treasure to answer the necessities of your poor soul. And here is infinite grace and gentleness to invite and embolden a poor, unworthy, fearful soul to come to it. If Christ accepts of you, you need not fear but that you will be safe, for he is a strong lion for your defense. And if you come, you need not fear that you shall be accepted, for he is like a lamb to all that come to him and receives them with infinite grace and tenderness. It is true he has awful majesty, he is the great God, and infinitely high above you. But there is this to encourage and embolden the poor sinner, that Christ is man as well as God, he is a creature as well as the Creator, and he is the most humble and lowly in heart of any creature in heaven or earth. This may well make the poor, unworthy creature bold in coming to him. You need not hesitate one moment, but may run to him and cast yourself upon him. You will certainly be graciously and meekly received by him. Though he is a lion, he will only be a lion to your enemies, but he will be a lamb to you. It could not have been conceived, had it not been so in the person of Christ, that there could have been so much in any savior that is inviting and tending to encourage sinners to trust in him. Whatever your circumstances are, you need not be afraid to come to such a savior as this. Be you never so wicked a creature, here is worthiness enough. Be you never so poor and mean and ignorant a creature, there is no danger of being despised, for though he be so much greater than you, he is also immensely more humble than you. Any one of you that is a father or mother will not despise one of your own children that comes to you in distress. Much less danger is there of Christ's despising you if you in your heart come to him. Here let me a little expostulate with a poor, burdened, distressed soul. One, what are you afraid of that you dare not venture your soul upon Christ? Are you afraid that he cannot save you, that he is not strong enough to conquer the enemies of your soul? But how can you desire one stronger than the Almighty God, as Christ is called, Isaiah 9.6? Is there need of greater than infinite strength? Are you afraid that he will not be willing to stoop so low as to take any gracious notice of you? But then look on him as he stood in the ring of soldiers, exposing his blessed face to be buffeted and spit upon by them. Behold him bound with his back uncovered to those that smote him, and behold him hanging on the cross. Do you think that he that had condescension enough to stoop to these things and that for his crucifiers will be unwilling to accept of you if you come to him? Or are you afraid that if he does accept you, that God the Father will not accept of him for you? But consider, will God reject his own Son, in whom his infinite delight is, and has been from all eternity, and who is so united to him, that if he should reject him, he should reject himself? Two, what is there that you can desire should be in a Saviour that is not in Christ? Or, wherein should you desire a Saviour should be, otherwise than Christ is? What Excellency is there wanting? What is there that is great or good? What is there that is venerable or winning? What is there that is adorable or endearing, or what can you think of that would be encouraging, which is not to be found in the person of Christ? Would you have your Saviour to be great and honourable, because you are not willing to be beholden to a mean person, and is not Christ a person honourable enough to be worthy that you should be dependent on him? Is he not a person high enough to be appointed to so honourable a work as your salvation? Would you not only have a Saviour of high degree, but would you have him, not with standing his exaltation and dignity, to be made also of low degree, that he might have experience of afflictions and trials, that he might learn by the things that he has suffered to pity them that suffer and are tempted, and has not Christ been made low enough for you? And has he not suffered enough? Would you not only have him possess experience of the afflictions you now suffer, but also of that amazing wrath that you fear hereafter, that he may know how to pity those that are in danger and afraid of it? This Christ has had experience of, which experience gave him a greater sense of it a thousand times than you have, or any man living has. Would you have your Saviour to be one who is near to God so that his mediation might be prevalent with him? And can you desire him to be nearer to God than Christ is, who is his only begotten Son of the same essence with the Father? And would you not only have him near to God, but also near to you, that you may have free access to him? And would you have him nearer to you than to be in the same nature united to you by a spiritual union so close as to be fitly represented by the union of the wife to the husband, of the branch to the vine, of the member to the head? Yea, so as to be one spirit. For so he will be united with you if you accept of him. Would you have a Saviour that has given some great and extraordinary testimony of mercy and love to sinners by something that he has done as well as by what he says? And can you think or conceive of greater things than Christ has done? Was it not a great thing for him who was God to take upon him human nature to be not only God, but man thence forward to all eternity? But would you look upon suffering for sinners to be a yet greater testimony of love to sinners than merely doing, though it be ever so extraordinary a thing that he has done? And would you desire that a Saviour should suffer more than Christ has suffered for sinners? What is there wanting, or what would you add if you could, to make him more fit to be your Saviour? But further, to induce you to accept of Christ as your Saviour, consider two things particularly. One, how much Christ appears as the Lamb of God in his invitations to you to come to him and trust in him? With what sweet grace and kindness does he from time to time call and invite you, as Proverbs 8.4 Unto you, O men I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. And Isaiah 55.1-3, quote, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye by and eat. Ye come, buy wine and milk without money and without price, end quote. How gracious is he here in inviting everyone that thirsts, and in so repeating his invitation over and over, come ye to the waters, come buy and eat, ye come. Mark the excellency of that entertainment which he invites you to accept of, come by wine and milk. Your poverty having nothing to pay for it shall be no objection. Come ye that hath no money, come without money and without price. What gracious arguments and expostulations he uses with you. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfyeth not? Harken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. As much as to say, it is altogether needless for you to continue laboring and toiling for that which can never serve your turn, seeking rest in the world and in your own righteousness. I have made abundant provision for you of that which is really good, and will fully satisfy your desires and answer your end, and I stand ready to accept of you. You need not be afraid. If you will come to me, I will engage to see all your wants supplied, and you made a happy creature. As he promises in the third verse, incline your ear and come unto me, here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. And so Proverbs 9 at the beginning. How gracious and sweet is the invitation there. Who so is simple, let him turn in hither. Let you never be so poor, ignorant, and blind a creature, you shall be welcome. And in the following words Christ sets forth the provision that he has made for you. Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled. You are in a poor famishing state, and have nothing wherewith to feed your perishing soul. You have been seeking something yet remain destitute. Harken how Christ calls you to eat of his bread and to drink of the wine that he hath mingled. And how much like a lamb does Christ appear in Matthew 9, 28 to 30. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. O thou poor distressed soul, whoever thou art, consider that Christ mentions thy very case when he calls to them who labor and are heavy laden, how he repeatedly promises you rest if you come to him. In the 28th verse he says, I will give you rest, and in the 29th verse ye shall find rest to your souls. This is what you want. This is the thing that you have been so long in vain seeking after. O how sweet would rest be to you if you could but obtain it. Come to Christ and you shall obtain it, and hear how Christ, to encourage you, represents himself as a lamb. He tells you that he is meek and lowly in heart, and are you afraid to come to such a one. And again, Revelation 3.20, behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and I will sup with him and he with me. Christ condescends not only to call you to him, but he comes to you. He comes to your door and there knocks. He might send an officer and sees you as a rebel and vile malefactor, but instead of that he comes and knocks at your door and seeks that you would receive him into your house as your friend and savior. And he not only knocks at your door, but he stands there waiting while you are backward and unwilling. And not only so, but he makes promises what he will do for you if you will admit him, what privileges he will admit you to. He will sup with you and you with him. And again, Revelation 22, verses 16 and 17, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star, and the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is a thirst, Come, and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely. How does Christ hear graciously set before you his own winning attractive excellency? And how does he condescend to declare to you not only his own invitation, but the invitation of the spirit and the bride if by any means he might encourage you to come? And how does he invite everyone that will, that they may take of the water of life freely, that they may take it as a free gift, however precious it be, though it be the water of life? 2. If you do come to Christ, he will appear as a lion in his glorious power and dominion to defend you. All those excellencies of his in which he appears as a lion shall be yours and shall be employed for you in your defense for your safety and to promote your glory, he will be as a lion to fight against your enemies. He that touches you or offends you will provoke his wrath as he that stirs up a lion. Unless your enemies can conquer this lion, they shall not be able to destroy or hurt you. Unless they are stronger than he, they shall not be able to hinder your happiness. Isaiah 31 verse 4, quote, For thus half the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himself for the noise of them. So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof, end quote. C. Let what has been said be improved to induce you to love the Lord Jesus Christ and choose him for your friend in portion, as there is such an admirable meeting of diverse excellencies in Christ, so there is everything in him to render him worthy of your love and choice and to win and engage it. Whatsoever there is or can be desirable in a friend is in Christ and that to the highest degree that can be desired. Would you choose for a friend a person of great dignity? It is a thing taking with men to have those for their friends who are much above them, because they look upon themselves honored by the friendship of such. Thus how taking would it be with an inferior maid to be the object of the dear love of some great and excellent prince. But Christ is infinitely above you and above all the princes of the earth, for he is the king of kings, so honorable a person as this offers himself to you in the nearest and dearest friendship. And would you choose to have a friend not only great but good? In Christ infinite greatness and infinite goodness meet together and receive luster and glory one from another. His greatness is rendered lovely by his goodness. The greater anyone is without goodness so much the greater evil. But when infinite goodness is joined with greatness it renders it a glorious and adorable greatness. So on the other hand his infinite goodness receives luster from his greatness. He that is of great understanding and ability and is with all of a good and excellent disposition is deservedly more esteemed than a lower and lesser being with the same kind inclination and good will. Indeed goodness is excellent in whatever subject it be found. It is beauty and excellency itself and renders all excellent that are possessed of it. And yet most excellent when joined with greatness. The very same excellent qualities of gold render the body in which they are inherent more precious and of greater value when joined with greater than when with lesser dimensions. And how glorious is the sight to see him who is the great Creator and Supreme Lord of heaven and earth full of condescension tender pity and mercy towards the mean and unworthy. His almighty power and infinite majesty and self-sufficiency render his exceeding love and grace the more surprising. And how do his condescension and compassion endear his majesty power and dominion and render those attributes pleasant that would otherwise be only terrible. Would you not desire that your friend though great and honorable should be of such condescension and grace and so to have the way opened to free access to him that his exaltation above you might not hinder your enjoyment of his friendship. And would you choose not only that the infinite greatness and majesty of your friend should be as it were mollified and sweetened with condescension and grace but would you also desire to have your friend brought nearer to you. Would you choose a friend far above you and yet as it were upon a level with you too though it be taking with men to have a near and dear friend of superior dignity yet there is also an inclination in them to have their friend a sharer with them in circumstances. Thus is Christ though he be the great God yet he has as it were brought himself down to be upon a level with you so as to become man as you are that he might not only be your Lord but your brother and that he might be more fit to be a companion for such a worm of the dust. This is one end of Christ's taking upon him man's nature that his people might be under advantages for a more familiar converse with him than the infinite distance of a divine nature would allow of. And upon this account the church longed for Christ's incarnation Canticles 8 1 all that thou art my brother that sucked the breast of my mother when I should find thee without I would kiss thee yea I should not be despised. One design of God in the gospel is to bring us to make God the object of our undivided respect that he may engross our regard every way that whatever natural inclination there is in our souls he may be the center of it that God may be all in all but there is an inclination in the creature not only to the adoration of a Lord in sovereign but to complacence in someone as a friend to love and delight in someone that may be conversed with as a companion and virtue and holiness do not destroy or weaken this inclination of our nature but so hath God contrived in the affair of our redemption that a divine person may be the object even of this inclination of our nature and in order here too such a one has come down to us and has taken our nature and has become one of us and calls himself our friend brother and companion Psalm 122 verse 8 for my brethren and companions say will I now say peace be within thee but is it not enough in order to invite and encourage you to free access to a friend so great and high that he is one of infinite condescending grace and also has taken your own nature and has become man but would you further to embolden and win you have him a man of wonderful meekness and humility why such a one is Christ he has not only become man for you but far the meekest and most humble of all men the greatest instance of these sweet virtues that ever was or will be and besides these he has all other human excellencies in the highest perfection these indeed are no proper addition to his divine excellencies Christ has no more excellency in his person since his incarnation than he had before for divine excellency is infinite and cannot be added to yet his human excellencies are additional manifestations of his glory and excellency to us and our additional recommendations of him to our esteem and love who are a finite comprehension though his human excellencies are but communications and reflections of his divine and through this light as reflected falls infinitely short of the divine fountain of light in its immediate glory yet the reflection shines not without its proper advantages as presented to our view and affection the glory of Christ in the qualifications of his human nature appears to us in excellencies that are of our own kind and are exercised in our own way and manner and so in some respect are peculiarly fitted to invite our acquaintance and draw our affection the glory of Christ as it appears in his divinity though far brighter more dazzles our eyes and exceeds the strength of our sight or our comprehension but as it shines in the human excellencies of Christ it is brought more to a level with our conceptions and suitableness to our nature and manner yet retaining a semblance of the same divine beauty and a savor of the same divine sweetness but as both divine and human excellencies meet together in Christ they set off and recommend each other to us it tends to endear the divine majesty and holiness of Christ to us that these are attributes of one in our nature one of us who has become our brother and is the meekest and humblest of men it encourages us to look upon these divine perfections however high and great since we have some near concern in and liberty freely to enjoy them and on the other hand how much more glorious and surprising to the meekness the humility obedience resignation and other human excellencies of Christ appear when we consider that they are in so great a person as the eternal Son of God the Lord of heaven and earth by your choosing Christ for your friend and portion you will obtain these two infinite benefits one Christ will give himself to you with all those various excellencies that meet in him to your full and everlasting enjoyment he will ever after treat you as his dear friend and you shall ere long be where he is and shall behold his glory and dwell with him in most free and intimate communion and enjoyment when the saints get to heaven they shall not merely see Christ and have to do with him as subjects and servants with a glorious and gracious Lord and sovereign but Christ will entertain them as friends and brethren this we may learn from the manner of Christ's conversing with his disciples here on earth though he was their sovereign Lord and did not refuse but required their supreme respect and adoration yet he did not treat them as earthly sovereigns or want to do with their subjects he did not keep them at an awful distance but all along conversed with them with the most friendly familiarity as a father amongst a company of children yea as with brethren so he did with the twelve and so he did with Mary Martha and Lazarus he told his disciples that he did not call them servants but friends and reread of one of them that leaned on his bosom and doubtless he will not treat his disciples with less freedom and endearment in heaven he will not keep them at a greater distance for his being in a state of exaltation but he will rather take them into a state of exaltation with him this will be the improvement Christ will make of his own glory to make his beloved friends partakers with him to glorify them in his glory as he says to his father John 17 22 and 23 and the glory which thou hast given me have I given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them etc we are to consider that though Christ is greatly exalted yet he is exalted not as a private person for himself only but as his people's head he is exalted in their name and upon their account as the first fruits and as representing the whole harvest he is not exalted that he may be at a greater distance from them but that they may be exalted with him the exaltation and honor of the head is not to make a greater distance between the head and the members but the members have the same relation and union with the head they had before and are honored with the head and instead of the distance being greater the union shall be nearer and more perfect when believers get to heaven Christ will conform them to himself as he is set down in his father's throne so they shall sit down with him on his throne and shall in their measure be made like him when Christ was going to heaven he comforted his disciples with the thought that after a while he would come again and take them to himself that they might be with him and we are not to suppose that when the disciples got to heaven they found him keeping a greater distance than he used to do no doubtless he embraced them as friends and welcomed them to his and their father's house and to his and their glory they who had been his friends in this world who had been together with him here and had together partaken of sorrows and troubles are now welcomed by him to rest and to partake of glory with him he took them and led them into his chambers and showed them all his glory as he prayed John 17 24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me and he led them to his living fountains of waters and made them partake of his delights as he praised John 17 13 that my joy may be fulfilled in themselves and set them down with him at his table in his kingdom and made them partake with him of his dainties according to his promise Luke 22 30 and led them to his banqueting house and made them to drink new wine with him in the kingdom of his heavenly father as he foretold them when he instituted the Lord's Supper Matthew 26 29 yea the saints conversation with Christ in heaven shall not only be as intimate and their access to him as free as of the disciples on earth but in many respects much more so for in heaven that vital union shall be perfect which is exceeding imperfect here while the saints are in this world there are great remains of sin and darkness to separate or disunite them from Christ which shall then all be removed this is not a time for that full acquaintance and those glorious manifestations of love which Christ designs for his people hereafter which seems to be signified by his speech to Mary Magdalene when ready to embrace him when she met him after his resurrection John 2017 Jesus saith unto her touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my father when the saints shall see Christ's glory and exaltation in heaven it will indeed possess their hearts with the greater admiration and adoring respect but it will not awe them into any separation but will serve only to heighten their surprise and joy when they find Christ condescending to admit them to such intimate access and so freely and fully communicating himself to them so that if we choose Christ for our friend and portion we shall hereafter be so received to him that there shall be nothing to hinder the fullest enjoyment of him to the satisfying the utmost cravings of our souls we may take our full swing at gratifying our spiritual appetite after these holy pleasures Christ will then say as in canticles five one eat oh friends drink ye drink abundantly oh beloved and this shall be our entertainment to all eternity there shall never be any end of this happiness or anything to interrupt our enjoyment of it or in the least to molest us in it two by your being united with Christ you will have a more glorious union with an enjoyment of God the Father than otherwise could be for here by the saints relation to God becomes much nearer they are the children of God in a higher manner than otherwise could be for being members of God's own Son they are in a sort partakers of his relation to the Father they are not only sons of God by regeneration but by a kind of communion in the sonship of the eternal Son this seems to be intended Galatians 4 4 to 6 quote God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that are under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father end quote the church is the daughter of God not only as he hath begotten her by his Word and Spirit but as she is the spouse of his eternal Son so we being members of the Son are partakers in our measure of the Father's love to the Son and complacence in him John 17 23 I in them and thou in me thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me and verse 26 that the love therewith thou hast loved me may be in them in chapter 16 verse 27 the Father himself loveeth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God so we shall according to our capacities be partakers of the Son's enjoyment of God and have his joy fulfilled in ourselves John 17 13 and by this means we shall come to an immensely higher more intimate and full enjoyment of God than otherwise could have been for there is doubtless an infinite intimacy between the Father and the Son which is expressed by his being in the bosom of the Father and saints being in him shall in their measure in manner partake with him in it and of the blessedness of it and thus the affair of our redemption ordered that thereby we are brought to an immensely more exalted kind of union with God and enjoyment of him both the Father and the Son than otherwise could have been for Christ being united to the human nature we have advantage for a more free and full enjoyment of him than we could have had if he had remained only in the divine nature so again we being united to a divine person as his members can have a more intimate union and intercourse with God the Father who is only in the divine nature than otherwise could be Christ who is a divine person by taking on him our nature descends from the infinite distance and height above us and is brought nigh to us whereby we have advantage for the full enjoyment of him and on the other hand we by being in Christ a divine person do as it were ascend up to God through the infinite distance and have thereby advantage for the full enjoyment of him also this was the design of Christ that he and his Father and his people might all be united in one John 17 21 to 23 quote that they all may be one as Thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me and the glory which Thou hast given me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and Thou in me that they may be made perfect in one end quote Christ has brought it to pass that those whom the Father has given him should be brought into the household of God that he and his Father and his people should be as one society one family that the church should be as it were admitted into the society of the blessed Trinity end of section 18 section 19 of Select Cermons of Jonathan Edwards this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Magdalena Cook Select Cermons of Jonathan Edwards section 19 wicked men useful in their destruction only part 1 Ezekiel 15 2-4 Son of Man what is the vine tree more than any tree or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest shall would be taken thereof to do any work or will men take a pin off it to hang any vessel thereon behold it is cast into the fire for fuel the fire devoureth both the ends of it and the midst of it is burnt is it meat for any work the visible church of God is here compared to the vine tree as is evident by God's own explanation of the allegory in verses 6, 7 and 8 therefore thus seth the Lord God as the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given to the fire for fuel so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem etc and it may be understood of mankind in general we find man often in scripture compared to a vine so in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy their vine is the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of Gaul and Psalm 88 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt verse 14 look down from heaven behold and visit this vine and Canticles 2, 15 the foxes that spoil the vines for our vines have tender grapes Isaiah verse 5 at the beginning my beloved hath a vineyard and he planted it with a choicest vine Jeremiah 2, 21 I had planted the enoble vine Hosea 10, 1 Israel is an empty vine so in chapter 15 of John visible Christians are compared to the branches of a vine man is very fitly represented by the vine the weakness and the weakness and dependence of the vine on other things which support it well represents to us what a poor feeble dependent creature man is and how if left to himself he must fall into mischief and cannot help himself the visible people of God are fitly compared to a vine because of the care and cultivation of the husbandmen or vine dresser the business of husbandmen in the land of Israel was very much in their vineyards about vines and the care they exercise to fend them to defend them to prune them to prop them up and to cultivate them well represented that merciful care which God exercises towards his visible people and this latter is often in Scripture expressly compared to the former in the words now read is represented 1. How holly useless and unprofitable even beyond other trees a vine is in case of unfruitfulness what is a vine tree more than any tree or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest i.e. if it do not bear fruit men make much more of a vine than other trees they take great care of it to wall it in to dig about it to prune it and the like it is much more highly esteemed than any one of the trees of the forest they are despised in comparison with it and if it bear fruit it is indeed much preferable to other trees for the fruit of it yields a noble liquor as it is said in Jotham's parable Judges 9.13 and the vine said unto them should I leave my wine which cheereth God and man but if it bear no fruit it is more unprofitable than the trees of the forest for the wood of them is good for timber but the wood of the vine is fit for no work as in the text shall would be taken thereof to do any work or will men take a pin off it to hang any vessel thereon 2. the only thing for which a vine is useful in case of barrenness viz for fuel behold it is cast into the fire for fuel it is wholly consumed no part of it is worth a saving to make any instrument offer for any work doctrine if men bring forth no fruit to God they are wholly useless unless in their destruction 3. for the proof of this doctrine I shall show 1. that it is very evident that there can be but two ways in which a man can be useful viz either enacting or on being acted upon and disposed of 2. that a man can no otherwise be useful actively than by bringing forth fruit to God 3. that if he bring not forth fruit to God there is no other way in which he can be passively useful but in being destroyed 4. in that way he may be useful without bearing fruit 1. there are but two ways in which a man can be useful either enacting or being acted upon if man being useful sort of creature he must be so either actively or passively there is no medium if he be useful to any purpose he must be so either enacting himself or else in being disposed off by some other either in doing something himself to that purpose or else in having something done upon him by some other to that purpose what can be more plain than that if man do nothing himself and nothing be done with him or upon him by any other he cannot be any way at all useful if man do nothing himself to promote the end of his existence and no other being do anything with him to promote this end then nothing will be done to promote this end and so man must be wholly useless so that there are but two ways in which man can be useful to any purpose vis either actively or passively either in doing something himself or in being the subject of something done to him 2. man cannot be useful actively any otherwise than in bringing forth fruit to God than in serving God and living to his glory this is the only way wherein he can be useful in doing and that for this reason that the glory of God is the very thing for which man was made and to which all other ends are subordinate man is not an independent being but he derives his being from another and therefore hath his end assigned him by that other and he that gave him his being made him for the end now mentioned this was the very design and aim of the author of man this was the work for which he made him vis to serve and glorify his maker other creatures are made for inferior purposes inferior creatures were made for inferior purposes but it is to be observed that man is the creature that is highest and nearest to God of any in this lower world and therefore his business is with God although other creatures are made for lower ends there may be observed a kind of gradation or gradual ascent in the order of the different kinds of creatures from the meanest clot of earth to man who hath a rational and immortal soul a plant a herb or tree is superior in nature to a stone or clod because it hath a vegetable life the brute creatures are a degree higher still for they have sensitive life but man having a rational soul is the highest of this lower creation and is next to God therefore his business is with God things without life as earth water etc are subservient to things above them as the grass herbs and trees these vegetables are subservient to that order of creatures which is next above them the brute creation they are for food to them brute creatures again are made for the use and service for the order above them they are made for the service of mankind but man being the highest of this lower creation the next step from him is to God he therefore is made for the service and glory of God this is the whole work and business of man it is his highest end to which all other ends are subordinate if it had not been for this end there would never have been any such sort of creature as man there would have been no occasion for it other inferior ends may be answered as well without any such creature as man there would have been no sort of occasion for making so noble a creature and endowing him with such faculties only to enjoy earthly good to eat and to drink and to enjoy sensual things brute creatures without reason are capable of these things as well as man yeah if no higher end be aimed at than to enjoy sensitive good reason is rather an hindrance than an help it doth but render man the more capable of afflicting himself with care and fears of death and other future evils and of vexing himself with many anxieties from which brute creatures are wholly free and therefore can gratify their senses with less molestation besides reason doth but make men more capable of molesting and impeding one another in the gratification of their senses if man have no other end to seek but to gratify his senses reason is nothing but an impediment therefore if man be not made to serve and glorify his creator it is wholly to no purpose that such a creature is made doubtless then the all wise god who doth all things in infinite wisdom hath made man for this end and this is agreeable to what he hath taught us in many places in the scriptures this is the great end for which man was made and for which he was made such a creature as he is having a body and soul bodily senses and rational powers for this is he placed in such circumstances as he is and the earth is given him for a possession for this he hath dominion given him over the rest of the creatures of this world for this the sun shines on him and the moon and the stars are for signs and seasons to him and the rain falls on him and the earth yields him her increase all other ends of man are subordinate to this there are inferior ends for which man was made men were made for one another made for their friends and neighbors and for the good of the public but all these inferior ends are designed to be subordinate to the higher end of glorifying god and therefore man cannot be actively useful or actively answer any purpose otherwise than by actively glorifying god or bringing forth fruit to god because one that is not actively useful which does not actively answer its end that which does not answer its end is in vain for that is the meaning of the proposition that anything is in vain so that which does not actively answer its end is as to its own activity in vain two that is as to its own activity altogether useless which actively answers only subordinate ends without answering the ultimate end and that because the ultimate end is the end of subordinate ends the notion of a supreme end is that it is the end of all inferior ends subordinate ends are to no purpose only as I stand related to the highest end the very notion of a subordinate end is that it is in order to a further end therefore these inferior ends are good for nothing though they be obtained unless they also obtain their end inferior ends are not aimed at for their own sake but only for the sake of the ultimate end therefore he that fails off his great end of all doth as much altogether fail of his end and is as much to no purpose as if he did not obtain his subordinate end I will illustrate this by two or three examples the subordinate end of the underpinning of a house is to support the house and the subordinate end of the windows is to let in the light but the ultimate end of the hole is the benefit of the inhabitants therefore if the house be never inhabited the hole is in vain the underpinning is in vain though it be ever so strong and support the building ever so well the windows are also wholly in vain though they be ever so large and clear and though they obtained the subordinate end of letting in the light they are as much in vain as if they let in no light so the subordinate end of this husbandman in plowing and sowing and well manuring his field is that it may bring forth a crop but his more ultimate end is that food may be provided for him and his family therefore though his inferior end be obtained and his field bring forth ever so good a crop yet if after all it be consumed by fire or otherwise destroyed he plowed and sowed his field as much in vain as if the seed had never sprung up so if man obtained his subordinate ends ever so fully yet if he altogether fail off his ultimate end he is wholly and useless creature thus if men be very useful in temporal things to their families or greatly promote the temporal interest of the neighborhood or of the public yet if no glory be brought to God by it they are altogether useless if man actively bring no glory to God they are as to their own activity altogether useless how much so ever they may promote the benefit of one another how much so ever one part of mankind may subserve another yet if the end of the whole be not answered every part is useless thus if the parts of a clock subserve ever so well one to another mutually to assist each other in their motions one will moving another ever so regularly yet if the motion never reached the hand or the hammer it is altogether in vain as much as if it stood still as in a clock one wheel moves another and that another till at last the motion comes to the hand and hammer which immediately respect the eye and the ear otherwise all the motions are in vain so it is in the world one man was made to be useful to another and one part of mankind to another but the use of the whole is to bring glory to God the maker or else all is in vain and however a man may serve among his fellow creatures in a private or public capacity upon the whole he is in vain it may perhaps be objected that a wicked man may by being serviceable to the public be useful to many who do bring forth fruit to God and thus glorify him answer one if he be so he is no further useful then he brings glory to God it all hath an ultimate respect to that glory that is brought to God and is useful no further as the motion of no one wheel of a clock is any further useful then as it finally respects the right pointing of the hand and striking of the hammer answer two when it is thus wicked men are useful only accidentally and not designedly although a wicked man may by being serviceable to good men do what will be an advantage to them to their bringing forth fruit to God yet that serviceableness is not what he aims at this is not his end he does not look so far for an ultimate end and however this end be obtained no thanks are due to him it is as to him accidental he is only the occasion and not the deciding course of it that fruit which is brought forth to the glory of God is not brought forth by him but by others the usefulness of such a man being not designed is not to be attributed to him as though it were his fruit he is not useful as a man or as a rational creature because he is not so designedly he is useful as things without life may be things without life may he useful to put the godly under advantages to bring forth fruit as the timber and stones with which his house is built the wool and flecks with which he is clothed but the fruit which is brought forth to God's glory cannot be said for all that to be the fruit of these lifeless things but of the godly man who makes use of them so it is when wicked men put the godly under advantages to glorify God as Cyrus and a taxisers and others have done three if men bring not forth fruit to God there is no other way in which they can be useful passively but in being destroyed they are fit for nothing else one they are not fit to be suffered to continue always in this world God suffers them to live for the present but it is only for a certain season they are here in a transitory state it is not fit that this world should be the constant abode of those who bring forth no fruit to God it is not fit that the barren tree should be allowed always to stand in the vineyard the husbandman lets it stand for a while till he digs about it dungs it and proves it to be incurable or till a convenient time to cut it down come but it is not fit that such a tree should stand here always it is not fit that they who bring forth no fruit to God should be suffered to live always in a world which is so full of the goodness of God or that his goodness should be spent upon them forever this world though it is fallen and is under a curse and is a miserable place to what it once was yet is full of the streams of divine goodness but it is not fit that those who bring forth no fruit to God should always be continued in partaking of these streams there are these three different states a state wherein is nothing but good which is the state of the blessed in heaven a state wherein is a mixture of good and evil which is the earthly state and a state wherein is nothing but evil which is the state of eternal destruction and damnation now they that bring forth no fruit to God are not fit for either of the former it is not fit that they should be continued in the enjoyment of any of the goodness of God it is not fit that an unprofitable unfruitful creature who will not glorify his creator should always live here to devour the fruits of the earth and consume the fruits of the divine bounty to have the good things of this life as God's wool and his flax and his corn and wine and oil spent with him in vain while a man lives in this world the other creatures of the world are subjected to him the brute creatures serve him with their labor and with their lives the sun moon and stars the clouds fields and trees all serve him but it is not fit that these creatures should always be made to serve him who brings forth no fruit to the creator why should God always keep his creatures in subjection to that man who will not be subject to him why should the creation be always kept in such bondage as to be subject to wicked men the creatures are made subject to vanity for a little time God has subjected them to wicked men and given them for their use this however he would not have done but as it is only for a little while and the creatures can bear it through the hope of approaching deliverance and otherwise it would have been intolerable Romans 8.20 For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope the creature doth as it were grown by reason of this subjection to wicked men although it be but for a while Romans 8.22 for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now therefore surely it would be no way fit that wicked men who do no good and bring forth no fruit to God should live here always to have the various creatures subservient to them as they are now the earth can scarcely bear wicked men during that short time for which they stay here but is ready to spew the yant it is no way fit therefore that it should be forced to bear them always men who bring forth no fruit to God are cumbers of the ground Luke 13.7 and it is not me that they should be suffered to cumber the ground always God cannot be glorified in this way of disposing of unfruitful persons if such men should be suffered to live always in such a state as this it would be so far from being to the glory of God that it would be to the disparagement of the wisdom of God to continue them in a state so unsuitable for them forever spending the fruits of his bounty in vain upon them it would also be a disparagement to his justice for this is a world where all things come alike to all and there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked if there were no other state but this for wicked men to be in justice could not possibly take place it would also reflect upon the holiness of God forever to uphold this world for an habitation of such persons and forever to continue the communications of his bounty and goodness to them would appear as though he were disposed to countenance and encouraged sin and wickedness two if men do not bring forth fruit to God they are not fit to be disposed of in heaven heaven above all others is the most improper place for them everything appertaining to that state is unsuitable for them the company is most unsuitable the original inhabitants of that world are the angels but what a disagreeable union would that be to unite wicked men and angels in the same society the employments of that world are unsuitable the employments are serving and glorifying God how unsuitable then would it be to plant barren trees in that heavenly paradise trees that would bring forth no fruit to the divine glory the enjoyments of heaven are unsuitable the enjoyments are holy and spiritual enjoyments the happiness of beholding the glory of God and praising his name and the like but these enjoyments are as unsuitable as can be to the carnal earthly minds of wicked men they would be no enjoyments to them but on the contrary would be most disagreeable and what they cannot relish but entirely nauseate the design of heaven is unsuitable to them the design of God in making heaven was that it might be a place of holy habitation for the reward of the righteous and not an habitation for wicked men it would greatly reflect on the wisdom of God to dispose of wicked men there for it would be the greatest confusion but God is not the author of confusion 1 Corinthians 14 33 it would be contrary to the holiness of God to take wicked men so near to himself into his glorious presence to dwell forever in that part of the creation which is as it were his own palace and to sit at his table we read in Psalm 5 4 thou are not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee therefore it would doubtless be impossible that the end of the existence of wicked men should be in any wise answered by the placing of them in heaven 4 Men who bring forth no fruit to God yet in suffering destruction may be useful although they be not useful actively or by any things which they do yet they may be useful in what they may suffer just as the barren tree which is no way useful standing in the vineyard yet may be good fuel and be very useful in the fire God can find use for the most wicked men he hath his use for vessels of broth as well as for vessels of mercy as in and house there is use for vessels under dishonour as well as for vessels under honour 2 Timothy 2 20 in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honour and some to dishonour Proverbs 16 4 the Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil I shall briefly take notice of what ends God accomplishes by it 1 and fruitful persons are of use in their destruction for the glory of God's justice it was the will of God to glorify his justice as well as his mercy on his creatures the vindictive justice of God is a glorious attribute as well as his mercy and the glory of this attribute appears in the everlasting destruction and ruin of the barren and unfruitful the glory of divine justice in the perdition of ungodly men appears wonderful and glorious in the eyes of the saints and angels in heaven hence we have an account that they sing praises to God and extol his justice at the sight of the awful judgments which he inflicts on wicked men Revelation 16 5 Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and wasst and art to come, because thou hast judged us, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy and Revelation 19 1 and 2 and after these things I heard a great voice saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great hall which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand 2 unfruitful persons in their destructions are of use for God to glorify his majesty upon them the awful majesty of God remarkably appears in those dreadful and amazing punishments which he inflicts on those who rise up against him and condemn him a sense of the majesty of an earthly prince is supported very much by a sense of its being a dreadful thing to affront him God glorifies his own majesty in the destruction of wicked men and herein he appears infinitely great in that it appears to be an infinitely dreadful thing to offend him how awful that the majesty of God appear in the dreadfulness of his anger this we may learn to be one end of the damnation of the wicked from Romans 9 22 what if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fit to to destruction it is often spoken of God that he is a terrible God it is a part of the Majesty and glory of God that he is a terrible God God tells Pharaoh that for this course he raised him up that he might show his power in him and that his name might be declared through all the earth in his destruction exodus 9 15 and 16 and again chapter 14 17 I will get my honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his host upon his chariots and upon his horsemen three the destruction of the unfruitful is of use to give the saints a greater sense of their happiness and of God's grace to them the wicked will be destroyed and tormented in the view of the saints and other inhabitants of heaven this we are taught in Revelation 14 10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and in Isaiah 66 24 and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me for their worm shall not die neither shall the fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh end of section 19 section 20 of select sermons of Jonathan Edwards this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Magdalena Cook select sermons of Jonathan Edwards section 20 wicked men useful in their destruction only part 2 when the saints in heaven shall look upon the damned in hell it will serve to give them a greater sense of their own happiness seeing how vastly different their case is from their own the view of the doleful condition of the damned will make them the more price their own blessedness when they shall see how dreadful the anger of God is it will make them the more price his love they will rejoice so much the more that they are not the objects of God's anger but of his favor that they are not the subjects of his dreadful wrath but are treated as his children are taken near to him to dwell in the everlasting embraces of his love when they shall see the misery of the damned it will give them a great sense of the distinguishing grace and love of God to them and that God should from all eternity set his love on them and make so greater difference between them and others who are of the same species with them are no worse by nature than they and have to serve no worse of God than they when they shall look upon the misery of the damned and consider how different their own state is from theirs and that it is only free and sovereign grace that makes a difference what a great sense will this give them of the wonderful grace of God to them and how will it heighten their praises with how much greater admiration and exaltation of soul will they sing of the free and sovereign grace of God to them when they shall look upon the damned and see their misery how will heaven ring with praises of God's justice towards the wicked and his grace towards the saints and with how much greater enlargement of heart will they praise Jesus Christ their redeemer that ever he was pleased to set his love upon them his dying love and that he should so distinguish them as to spill his blood and make his soul an offering to redeem them from that so great misery and to bring them to such exceeding happiness with what love and ecstasy will they sing that song in revelations five nine and ten thou art worthy for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every tongue and kindred and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests one end which the apostle mentions why God appointed vessels of wrath is the more to make known the wonderfulness of his mercy towards the saints in romans nine twenty two and twenty three there are two ends mentioned what if god willing to show his wrath and to make his power known and do it with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction that is one end then another is mentioned immediately after and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory application one hence we may learn how just and righteous God is in the destruction of those who bring forth no fruit to God seeing there is no other way in which they can be useful or in which the end of their being can be obtained certainly it is most just that God should thus dispose of them why should God be frustrated of his end through their perverseness if men will not do the work for which he has made and fitted them if they through a spirit of opposition and rebellion against God refuse yet why should God suffer himself to be disappointed of his end in making them it does not become the infinite greatness and majesty of God to suffer himself to be disappointed and frustrated by the wickedness and perverseness of sinful worms in the dust if God should suffer this it would seem to argue either a want of wisdom in God to fix upon a good end or a want of power to accomplish it God made all men that they might be useful and if they will not be useful in their conduct and actions how just is it that God should make them useful in their sufferings God made all men for his own glory and if they contrary to the revealed will of God refuse to glorify him actively and willingly how just is it that God should glorify himself upon them in what he does with them it has been shown that there is no other way wherein this can be done but by their destruction surely therefore it must be just and righteous that God should destroy them men are under no natural necessity of being put to use of glorifying God in their sufferings God gives them opportunity of glorifying him in doing in bringing forth fruit put some under advantages for it and use as many means to bring them to it but if they will not be useful this way it is very just that God should make them useful in the only remaining way in which they can be useful this in their destruction God is not forward to put them to this use he tells us that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezekiel 3311 God represents the destruction of sinners as a work to which he is backward yet it is meat that they should be destroyed rather than that they should be suffered to frustrate God of the end of their being who can blame the husbandmen for cutting down and burning a barren tree after he has diggits about it and dunged it and used all proper means to make it fruitful let those among us consider this who have lived all their lives hitherto unprofitably and never have brought forth any fruit to God's glory notwithstanding all the means that have been used with them consider how just it would be if God should utterly destroy you and glorify himself upon you in that way and what a wonder of patience it is that God has not done it before now two this subject ought to put you upon examining yourselves whether you be not wholly useless creatures you have now heard that those who bring forth no fruit to God are as to any good they do wholly useless inquire therefore whether you have ever in your lives brought forth any fruit to God have you ever done anything from a gracious respect to God or out of love to God by only seeking your worldly interest you do not bring forth fruit to God it is not bringing forth fruit to God for you to come to public worship on the Sabbath to pray in your families and other such like things merely in compliance with the general custom it is not to bring forth fruit to God that you be sober moral and religious only to be seen of men or out of respect to your own credit and honor how is that for God which is only for the sake of custom or the esteem of men it is not to bring forth fruit to God for men to pray and read and hear and to be strict and diligent in religious and moral duties merely from the fear of hell what thanks are due to you for not loving your own misery and for being willing to take some pains to escape burning in hell to all eternity there is never a devil in hell but would gladly do the same Hosea 10 1 Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit unto himself there is no fruit brought forth to God where there is nothing done in any wise from love to God or from any true respect to him God looketh at the heart he does not stand in need of our services neither is he benefited by anything that we can do he does not receive anything of us because it benefits him but only as a suitable testimony of our love and respect to him this is the fruit that he seeks men themselves will not accept of those shows of friendship which they think are hypocritical and come not from the heart how much less should God who searches the hearts and try the reigns of the children of men John 4 23 God is a spirit and that they worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth inquire therefore whether you ever in your lives did the least thing out of love to God have you not done all for yourselves Sakariah 7 5 and 6 when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even though 70 years did you at all fast unto me even unto me and when you did eat and when you did drink did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves 3 another use of this subject may be of conviction and humiliation to those who never brought forth any fruit to God if upon examination you find that you have never in all your lives done anything out of a true respect to God then it has been demonstrated that as to anything which you do you are altogether useless creatures and consider what a shameful thing it is for such rational beings as you are and placed under such advantages for usefulness yet to be wholly useless and to live in the world to no purpose we esteem it a very mean character in any person that he is a worthless insignificant person and to be called so is taken as a great reproach but consider seriously whether you can clear yourselves of this character set reason to work can you rationally suppose that you do in any measure answer the end for which God gave you your being and made you offer nature superior to the beasts but that you may be sensible what course you have to be ashamed of your unprofitableness consider the following things 1 how much God hath bestowed upon you in the endowments of your nature God has made you rational intelligent creatures hath endowed you with noble powers those endowments wherein the natural image of God consists you are vastly exalted in your nature above the other kinds of creatures here below you are capable of a thousand times as much as any of the brute creatures he has given you a power of understanding which is capable of vastly extending itself of looking back to the beginning of time and of considering what was before the world was and of looking forward beyond the end of time it is capable of extending beyond the utmost limits of the universe and is the faculty whereby you are akin to angels and are capable even of knowing God of contemplating the divine being and his glorious perfections manifested in his works and in his word you have souls capable of being the habitation of the Holy Spirit of God and his divine grace you are capable of the noble employments of angels how lamentable and shameful it is that such a creature should be altogether useless and live in vain how lamentable that such a noble and excellent piece of divine workmanship should fail off its end and be to no purpose was it ever worthwhile for God to make you such a creature with such a noble nature and so much above other kinds of creatures only to eat and drink and gratify your sensual appetites how lamentable and shameful to you that such a noble tree should be more useless than any tree of the forest that man whom God hath thus set in honour should make himself more worthless than the beasts that perish two how much God hath done for you in the creation of the world he made the earth and cease and all the fullness of them for the use of man and hath given them to him Psalm 115 16 the earth hath he given to the children of men he made the vast variety of creatures for man's use and service Genesis 128 have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth for the same purpose he made all the plants and herbs and trees of the field Genesis 129 I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for me he made the sun in the heavens the glorious luminary the wonderful globe of light to give light to man and to constitute the difference between day and night he also made the moon and the vast multitude of stars for the use of man to be to him for signs and seasons what great provision hath God made for man what a vast variety of good things for food and otherwise to be for his convenience to put him under advantages to be useful how lamentable is it that after all these things he should be a useless creature in the world three how much is done for you in the course of God's common providence consider how nature is continually laboring for you the sun is as it were in a ferment for mankind unwiredly running his course from year to year and from day to day and spending his race upon man to put him under advantage to be useful every day giving him light that he may have opportunity to behold the glorious wisdom of God and to see and serve God the winds and clouds are continually laboring for you and the waters are going in a constant circulation ascending in the air from the seas descending in rain gathering in streams and rivers returning to the sea and again ascending and descending for you the earth is continually laboring to bring forth her fruit for your support the trees of the field are laboring and spending their strength for you and how many of the poor brute creatures are continually laboring for you and spending their strength for you how much of the earth is spent upon you how many of God's creatures are devoured by you how many of the lives of the living creatures of God are destroyed for your sake for your support and comfort now how lamentable will it be if after all you be altogether useless and live to no purpose what mere cumbers of the ground will you be agreeably to Luke 13 7 nature which thus continually labours for you will be burdened with you this seems to be what the apostle means Romans 8 20 21 and 22 where he tells us that the creation is made subject to vanity and brought into the bondage of corruption and that the whole creation groans and travails in pain under his bondage 4 how much is done for you in the use of the means of grace how much has God done to provide you with suitable means and advantages for usefulness how many profits have God sent into the world in different ages inspiring them with his Holy Spirit and enabling them to work many miracles to confirm their word whereby you now have the written word of God to instruct you how great a thing has God done for you to give you opportunity and advantage to be useful in that he has sent his own son into the world he who is really and truly God united himself to the human nature and became a man to be a prophet and teacher to you and other sinners yeah he laid down his life to make atonement for sin that you might have encouragement to serve God with hopes of acceptance how many ordinances have been instituted for you how much of the labour of the ministers of God has been spent upon you it's not that true concerning you which is written in Isaiah 5 at the beginning concerning the vineyard planted in a very fruitful hill and fenced and cultivated with peculiar care and pains which yet proved unfruitful how much hath the dresser of the wineyard digged about the barren tree and dug it and yet it remains barren consider what a shame it is that you should live in vain when all the other creatures that are inferior to you do glorify their creator according to their nature you who are so highly exalted in the world are more useless in the brute creation yet than the meanest worms or things without life as earth and stones for they all do answer their end in the way in which nature hath fitted them for it none of them fail it they are all useful in their places all render the proper tribute of praise to their creator while you are mere nuisances in the creation and burdens to the earth as any tree of the forest is more useful than the vine if it bear not fruit for let me in a further application of this doctrine exhort you by all means to bring forth fruit to God let it be your constant endeavor to be in this way actively useful in the world here consider three things one what an honor it will be to such poor creatures as you are to bring forth fruit to the divine glory what is such a poor worm as man that he should be enabled to bring forth any fruit to God it is the greatest honor of the nature of man that God hath given him a capacity of glorifying the great creator it is what no other creature in this lower world can do in the same manner as man there is no creature in the visible world that is capable of actively glorifying God but man two in bringing forth fruit to God you will be so profitable to none as to yourselves you cannot thereby be profitable to God job 22 to can a man be profitable to God you may thereby be profitable to your fellow creatures yet not so much as to yourselves the fruit which you bring forth to God will be a greater benefit to yourselves than to anyone living you will be more useful to yourselves than to anyone else although you are under a natural obligation to bring forth fruit to God yet God does not require it of you without a reward he will richly reward you for it in requiring you to bring forth fruit to him he doth but require you to bring forth fruit to your own happiness you will taste the sweetness of your own fruit it will be most profitable for you in this world to bring forth fruit to God it will be exceedingly to your benefit while here it will be pleasant to you to lead a fruitful and holy life the pleasure will be beyond the labor besides this God has promised to such a life everlasting rewards unspeakable infinite benefits so that by it you will infinitely advance your own interest three if you remain thus unprofitable and be not actively useful surely God will obtain his end of you in your destruction he will say concerning the barren tree cut it down why cumbereth it the ground christ in John 15 6 tells us if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and he's withered and men gathered them and cast them into the fire and they are burned this is spoken off the barren branches in the vine how would you yourselves do in such a case with the barren tree in an orchard or with weeds and tears in your fields doubtless it were in your power you would utterly destroy them God will have his end he will accomplish it though all men and devils unite their endeavors they cannot frustrate God in anything and though hand join in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished Proverbs 11 1 God has sworn by his great name that he will have his glory of men whether they will actively glorify him or no numbers 14 21 22 and 23 but as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with a glory of the Lord because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have tempted me now these 10 times and have not harkened to my voice surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it the axliath at the root of the trees and every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is tuned down and cast into the fire Matthew 3 10 the end of those men who bring forth nothing but briars and thorns is to be burned as in Hebrews 6 7 and 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 receiveeth blessing from God but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned so we read of the tears Matthew 8 30 let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers gather you together first the tears and bind them into bundles to burn them and in verses 40 41 and 42 as therefore the tears are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be at the end of the world the son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and then which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth so it is set off the shaft Matthew 3 12 whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire if you continue not to bring forth any fruit to the divine glory as you have hitherto done hell will be the only fit place for you it is a place prepared on purpose to be a receptable of such person in hell nature ceases to labor any more for sinners the son does not run his cause to shine upon them the earth does not bring forth her fruit to be consumed upon them there there they will have no opportunity to consume the fruits of divine goodness on their lusts in hell they can prejudice or encumber nothing upon which god sets any value there the faithful servants and ministers of god will no longer spend their strength in vain upon them when the barren tree is in the fire the servants of the husbandmen are freed from any further labor or toil in digging about and manuring it in hell they will no more have opportunity to clog and discourage the flourishing of religion and to destroy much good as they often do in this world in hell they will no more have opportunity to corrupt others by their ill example in hell they will no more have it in their power to offend the godly they may hurt and torment one another but the godly will be out of their reach in hell there will be no ordinances no sabbaths no sacraments no sacred things for them to profane and defile by their careless and hypocritical attendance hell therefore if you remain unfruitful and cumbers of the ground will be the fittest place for you and there you will surely have your portion assigned you there god will get himself honor upon you there he will magnify himself in your ruin in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and will be praised upon that account by the saints at the day of judgment and by all the host of heaven through our everlasting ages end of section 20