6. If you would be fruitful in grace, be much in good conference; Mah iii. 16. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." There is an observation some have concerning the sympathy of plants ; some plants will bear better near other trees than when they grow alone, as is seen in the myrtle and olive : this holds true in divinity ; the trees of righteousness, when they associate and grow near together, thrive best in godliness. The communion of saints is an excellent means for fruitfulness. Christians increase one another's knowledge, strensfthcn one another's faith, clear one another's evidences. When the trees planted in God's orchard stand at a distance, and grow strange one to another, they are less fruitful.
7. If you would be fruit-bearing trees, be near the water of the sanctuary ; Jer. xvii. 8. " He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out the roots by the river; her leaf shall be green, nor shall it cease from yielding fruit." The word
preached will not only make us knowing Christians, but growing Christians. Mini- sters are compared to clouds, Isa. v. 6. their doctrine drops as the rain, and makes the trees of God fruitful. I wonder not thai they are barren trees and nigh unto cursing, tliat are not under the droppings of the sanctuary; a Christian can no more be fruit- ful without ordinances, than a tree without showers.
8. And lastly, if you wovild fructify apace, go to God and desire him to make you fruitful; God is called the husbandman, John XV. I. and he hath an art above all other husbandmen ; they can plant and prune : trees, but if they be dead they cannot make I them bear. God can make the barren tree bear, he can put life into a dead tree, Eph. ii. 5. It is not Paul's planting, but the Spirit's watering^ must give the increase.
Pray to God to make you fruitful, though it be by affliction ; oftentimes God makes us grow in grace this way, Heb. xii. 11. "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteous- ness." The bleeding vine bears best : it is an observation that the pulling off some of the blossoms of a tree makes the fruit fairer; the reason is, because the sap hath the less to nourish ; some Avriters say, they have known a tree by having too many blossoms, hath blossomed itself dead. The notion holds true in a spiritual sense; God, by pulling off some of the blossoms of our comforts, makes us bring forth fairer fruit; some have so blossomed in prosperity, that they have blossomed themselves into hell. It is an ancient experiment, that the planting some tender trees near the west sun doth them hurt, and parcheth the fruit, the sun being so extremely hot: too much prosperity, like the west sun, doth Christians much hurt, and parcheth all good affections, .Tcr. xxii. 21. O pray to God that he would make you fruitful, though it be by bleeding. Say, as Luther, Lord, wound where thou wilt, prune and cut me till I bleed, so that I may " have my fruit unto holiness, and my end , everlasting life." Uom.
VI. 22.
A.N
ALPIIAEI/nCAL liSDEX
OP TMR
CHIEF SUBJECTS OF THIS BOOK-
Abstaining from external act"? of sin, not
sufficient to entitle us to salvation, 604
Acts of sin, how we may keep from them, 596 Adam, how long he continued in Paradise
before he fell, 95
Adam's sin, how made ours, 98
Adopted son, how free, 156
Adoption, the instrumental cause of it, 156
Adultery, the heinousness of it, wherein it
appears, 318
Afflictions of the godly, how they differ
from those of the wicked, 232
Affliction, what kindness there is in it,
when God seems most unkind, 497
Afflictions, how they contribute to our
liappiness, 502
Afflictions, how they magnify us, 589
Aggravations of Adam's sin, 97
Aggravations of tiie loss of the kingdom
of heaven, 455
Angels, their society, how can it add to
the happiness of souls, when God is
infinite to fill the soul with delight ? 439
Anthropomorphites' objection answered, 35 Apostasy from religion, whence it proceeds, 451 Appearance of evil, the mischief of it, 596
Arguments to persuade us to seek after
the obtaining the kingdom of heaven, 472 Arian errors about the Holy Ghost re- futed, 78 Arminians deny saints' perseverance, and
why, 1 88
Assurance, what it is, J P"
Assurance, true, the difference between it
and presumption, 168
Assurance, how to know if we have right
to it, 170
Assurance, what we must do to get it, 172
Assurance, they that have it, how they
must carry themselves, 172
Atheist, t4ie wickedest creature that is, 33
B
Baptism, what it is, 362
Believers, whv thov have not all the full
Believers, privileges of. at death. 193
Believers, how they come to have those
privileges, 1 9o»
Believers, how shall we know that we
shall gain them at death? 199
Believers, privilege of, after death, 200
Believers, when they enter upon possession
of glory, 202