Profession is not a covert to hide from the eye of God, nor will it palliate the revengeful threatening of his justice; he will command to cut it down shortly.

The Church, and a Profession, are the best places for the Upright, but the worst in the world for the Cumber-ground: He must be cast as profane, out of the Mount of God: Cast, I say, over the wall of the Vineyard, there to wither; thence to be gathered and burned. It had been better for them that they had not known the way of righteousness, Ezek. xxviii. 16; John xv. 16; 2 Pet. ii. 12. And yet if they had not they had been damned; but it is better to go to hell without, than in, or from under a profession: These shall receive greater damnation, Luke xx. 47.

If thou be a Professor, read and tremble: If thou be profane, do so likewise. For if the Righteous scarcely can be saved, where shall the Ungodly and Sinners appear? Cumber-ground, take heed of the Axe Barren fig-tree beware of the fire.

But I will keep thee no longer out of the Book: Christ Jesus, the dresser of the Vineyard, take care of thee, dig about thee, and dung thee, that thou mayest bear fruit: that when the Lord of the Vineyard cometh with the Axe to seek for fruit, or pronounces the sentence of damnation on the Barren fig-tree, thou mayest escape that judgment. The Cumber-ground must then to the wood-pile, and thence to the fire. FAREWELL. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity. Amen.

JOHN BUNYAN.

LUKE xiii. 6, 7, 8, 9.

A certain Man had a Fig-Tree planted in his Vine yard, and he came and sought Fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he to the Dresser of the Vineyard, Behold these Three Years I come seeking Fruit on this Fig-Tree, and find none: Cut it down, why cumbereth it the Ground. And he answering, said, Lord, let it alone this Year also, until I shall dig about it and dung it: And if it bear Fruit well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

An

AT the beginning of this chapter, we read, how some of the Jews came to Jesus Christ, to tell him of the cruelty of Pontius Pilate in, mingling the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. heathen and prodigious act. For therein he not only showed his malice against the Jewish nation, but also against their worship, and consequently against their God. An action, I say, not only heathenish, but prodigious also: for the Lord Jesus paraphrasing upon this fact of his teaching the Jews, that without repentance, they should all likewise perish. Likewise, that is, by the hand and rage of the Roman Emperor: Neither should they be more able to avoid the stroke, than were those eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell and slew them, Luke xix, 42, 44. The fulfilling of which prophecy, for their hardness of heart and impenitence, was in the days of Titus, son of Vespasian, about forty years after the death of Christ. Then, I say, were these Jews, and their city envi

roned round on every side, wherein both they and it, to amazement, were miserably overthrown.God gave them sword, and famine, pestilence and blood, for their courage against the Son of his love: so wrath came on them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. ii. 16.

Now to prevent their old and foolish salvo, which they always had in readiness against such prophecies and denunciations of judgment, the Lord Jesus presents them with this parable, in which he emphatically shows them, that their cry of being the Temple of the Lord, and of their being the children of Abraham, &c. and their being the Church of God, would not stand them in any stead. As who should say, It may be, you think to help yourselves against this my prophecy, of your utter and unavoidable overthrow, by the interest which you have in your outward privileges: But all these will fail you; for what think you A certain man had a Fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. This is your case. The Jewish land is God's vineyard: I know it; and I know also that you are Fig-trees. But behold there wanteth the main thing, fruit, for the sake and expectation of which he set his vineyard with trees. Now, seeing that the fruit is not found amongst you: the Fruit, I say, for the sake of which he at first did plant this Vineyard; what remains, but that in justice he command to cut you down, as those that cumber the ground, that he may plant himself another Vineyard. Then said he to the Dresser of his Vineyard, Behold, these Three Years, I come seeking Fruit on this Fig-Tree, and find none; cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? This,

therefore must be your end, although you are planted in the garden of God, for the barrenness and unfruitfulness of your hearts and lives you must be cut off, yea, rooted up, and cast out of the Viueyard.

In parables there are two things to be taken notice of, and to be inquired into of them that read.

I. First, the metaphors made use of.

II. Secondly, The doctrine or mysteries couched under such metaphors.

The metaphors in this parable are ;

(1.) A certain Man.

(2.) A Vineyard.

(3.) A Fig-Tree, barren or fruitless.

(4.) A Dresser.

(5). Three years.

(6.) Digging and dunging, &c.

The Doctrine, or Mystery, couched under these words, is to show us, What is like to become of a fruitless, or formal Professor; for,

1. By the Man in the Parable, is meant God the Father. Luke xv. 11.

2. By the Vineyard, his Church, Isa. v. 3. By the Fig-Tree, a Professor.

4. By the Dresser, the Lord Jesus.

5. By the Fig-Tree's Barrenness, the Professor's Fruitlessness.

6. By the Three Years patience of God, that for a time he extendeth to barren Professors.

7. This calling to the Dresser of the Vineyard to cut it down, is to show, the outcries of Justice against fruitless Professors. Isa. liii. 12.

The Dresser's interceding, is to show, how the Lord Jesus steps in, and takes hold of the head of

his Father's Axe, to stop, or at least to defer present execution against a barren Fig-Tree.

9. The Dresser's desire to try to make the FigTree faithful, is to show you, How unwilling he is that even a barren Fig-Tree should yet be barren, and perish.

10. His digging about it, and dunging of it, is to show his willingness to apply gospel help to this barren Professor, that if haply he may be fruitful.

11. The supposition that the Fig-Tree may yet continue fruitless, is to show, that when Christ Jesus hath done all, there are some Professors will abide barren and fruitless. Matt. iii. 10.

12. The determination upon this supposition, at last to cut it down, is a certain prediction of Professor's unavoidable and eternal damnation.

But to take this parable into pieces, and to discourse more particularly, though with all brevity, upon all the parts thereof.

A certain Man had a Fig-Tree planted in his Vineyard.

The man, I told you, is to represent us with God the Father, by which similitude he is often set out in the New Testament.

Observe then, That it is no new thing, if you find in God's Church, barren Fig-Trees, fruitless Professors; even as here you see is a Tree, a fruitless Tree, a fruitless Fig-Tree, in the Vineyard. Fruit is not so easily brought forth, as a provision is got into; it is easy for a man to clothe himself with a fair show in the flesh, to word it, and say, Be thou warmed and filled with the best. It is no hard thing to do these with other things; but to be fruitful, to bring forth Fruit to God,