[Second. Particularly—but few of them that profess have been saved.]
7. Christ Jesus casts away two of the three grounds that are said to receive the word. (Luke 8)
The stony ground received it joyfully, and the thorny ground brought fruit almost to perfection. Indeed, the highway ground was to show us that the carnal, while such, receive not the word at all, but here is the pinch, two of the three that received it fell short of the kingdom of heaven, for but one of the three received it to bring forth fruit to perfection. Look at it, professors!
8. The parable of the unprofitable servant, the parable of the man without a wedding garment, and the parable of the unsavory salt, do each of them justify this for truth. (Matt 25:24,29, 22:11-13, 5:13) That of the unprofitable servant is to show us the sloth and idleness of some professors; that of the man without a wedding garment is to show us how some professors have the shame of their wickedness seen by God, even when they are among the children of the bridegroom. That parable of the unsavory salt is to show that as the salt that hath lost its savor is fit for nothing, no, not for the dunghill, but to be trodden under foot of men; so some professors, yea, and great ones too, for this parable reached one of the apostles, will in God’s day be counted fit for nothing but to be trodden down as the mire in the streets. O the slothful, the naked, and unsavory professors, how will they be rejected by God and his Christ in the judgment! Look to it, professors!
9. The parable of the tares also giveth countenance to this truth: though it is said the field is the world, it is said the tares were sown even in the church. “And while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” (Matt 13:24,25) Object. But some may object, The tares might be sown in the world among the wheat, though not in the churches. Answ. But Christ, by expounding this parable, tells us the tares were sown in his kingdom; the tares, that is, the children of the devil. “As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and do iniquity and cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (verse 30,39-43) Look at it, professors!
10. The parable of the ten virgins also suited our purpose; these ten are called the kingdom of heaven, that is, the church of Christ, the visible rightly-constituted church of Christ, for they went all out of the world, had all lamps, and all went forth to meet the bridegroom; yet behold what an overthrow the one-half of them met with at the gate of heaven; they were shut out, bid to depart, and Christ told them he did not know them. (Matt 25:1-13) Tremble, professors! Pray, professors!
11. The parable of the net cast into the sea also countenances this truth. The substance of that parable is to show that souls may be gathered by the gospel—there compared to a net—may be kept in that net, drawn to shore, to the world’s end, by that net, and yet may then prove evil fishes, and be cast away. The parable runs thus:—”The kingdom of heaven,” the gospel, “is like unto a net which was cast into the sea,” the world, “and gathered of every kind,” good and evil, “which when it was full, they drew to shore,” to the end of the world, “and sat down,” in judgment, “and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Some evil fishes, nay, I doubt a great many, will be found in the net of the gospel on the day of judgment. (Matt 13:47,49) Watch and be sober, professors!
12. “And—many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out.” (Matt 8:11,12) The children of the kingdom, whose privileges were said to be there, “to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” (Rom 9:4) I take liberty to harp the more upon the first church, because that that happened to them, happened as types and examples, intimating, there is ground to think, that things of as dreadful a nature are to occur among the church of the Gentiles. (1 Cor 10:11,12) Neither have the Gentile churches’ security from God that there shall not be dreadful things happen to them. And concerning this very thing, sufficient caution is given to us also. (1 Cor 6:9,10, Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5:3-6, Phil 3:17,19, 2 Thess 2:11,12, 2 Tim 2:20,21, Heb 6:4-8, 10:26-28, 2 Peter 2, 3, 1 John 5:10, Rev 2:20-22)
13. The parable of the true vine and its branches confirms what I have said. By the vine there, I understand Christ as head; by the branches, I know this church. Some of these branches proved fruitless cast-always, were in time cast out of the church, were gathered by men, and burned. (John 15:1-6)
14. Lastly, I will come to particular instances.
(1.) The twelve had a devil among them. (John 6:70) (2.) Ananias and Sapphira were in the church of Jerusalem. (Acts 5) (3.) Simon Magus was among them at Samaria. (Acts 8) (4.) Among the church of Corinth were those without knowledge of God. (1 Cor 15:34) (5.) Paul tells the Galatians that false brethren crept in unawares, and so does the apostle Jude, and yet they were as quick-sighted to see as any nowadays. (Gal 2:4, Jude 4) (6.) The church in Sardis had but a few names in her to whom the kingdom of heaven belonged. “Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” (Rev 3:4) (7.) As for the church of the Laodiceans, it is called “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Rev 3:17) So that put all things together, and I may boldly say, as I also have said already, that among the multitude of them that shall be damned, professors will make a considerable party; or, to speak in the words of the observation, “when men have put in all the claim they can for heaven, but few will have it for their inheritance.”
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