All other comforts in the world are but like Jonah's gourd ; for all other shadows yield only a shadow for a while, and then the sunshine or east wind is like a worm to nip them asunder. Never trust, then, or lean to such shadows as these be, of friends, riches, &c., which are shadows men ordinarily rely upon. I have such and such a friend, a place, and the like, my mountain is thus and thus strong. All these are Jonah's gourds. There is a worm of vanity will be at the root of all, and consume all. All other shadows are but mere shadows. What is more transient than a shadow ? But God's shadow is like a green fir-tree. It never fails nor forsakes us, as all other shadows and contentments do whatsoever. But God saith, ' He will be like a green fir-tree unto thee.' Yet this is not all, nor enough, for after this he adds,
' From me is thy fruit found.'
God is not only to his children a fir-tree in regard of shadow, that tree abounding in leaves very thick, whereby we are kept from annoyance of scorching heats of troubles and terrors of conscience and persecution, &e. This is not all, but he saith also,
' From me is thy fruit found.'
A fir-tree, though it be for thickness of the leaves a very good shade, yet it is a barren, fruitless tree ; but God is such a tree as hath both shadow and fruit. In God there is a supply of all wants whatsoever. All the scattered excellencies of all creatm-es being united in God, and eminent in him, it is in him, and in him in a divine, gi'acious, eminent, and comfort- able manner. All the creatures, as they come from God, are his creatures, neither is there any creature but hath somewhat of God in it. Therefore, God vouchsafes to take names from the creatures. To be a rock of salva- tion, he is as a rock to build on ; to be a shadowing tree, because he is a defence from ill ; and to be a fruitful tree, because he yields good, and com- fort, and grace, as he doth fruit. When we see anything that is useful, we may say, this we have from God in an eminent manner, this preservation and comfort. Do I in my passage to heaven fiind such comfort in the creature ? When I am passing through a wild place, have I such comfort in the shadow of a tree ? or when I am hungry, am I so refreshed by a fruitful tree ? What comfort, then, is there in God, in heaven, in glory, when there are such comforts in the way of my pilgrimage in this world? Therefore, God is said here, both to be a fir-tree and a fruitful tree. For then the passenger travelling through a wild, barren place, thinks himself made when he can retire from the scorching of the heat, and also therewithal find fruitfulness. Shade and fruit concm-ring, he thinks himself marvellously happy. This is the state of a Christian that hath God for his God, being in covenant with him. He is not only a strong protection and defence from all annoyance (as God shadows us, and is a buckler from all evils, both in- ward and outward, from Satan, and all kind of evils and wrath), but he is also a fruitful tree too. ' From me is thy fruit found.*
HOSEA XIV. 8.] THE KETUKNING BACKSLIDER. 403
THE THIRTEENTH SERMON.
/ am like a green fir-tree ; from me is thy fruit found. — Hos. XIV. 8.
This holy prophet, as we heard heretofore, did prophesy more than sixty years among the ten tribes, even until the time immediately preceding their captivity and misery, in like manner as Jeremiah and Ezekiel did to the other Jews. Now, because in the worst times God always had a rem- nant, and yet hath, therefore it is the prophet's care, in this chapter which \fe have gone over, to instruct them in divers particulars of reformation, as we have heard at large, ' to return to the Lord,' ' to take woi'ds to them- selves,' which words, as we have heard, are also taught them, backed with many sweet promises and encouragements in God's answer to their ]Deti- tions : the last whereof insisted and stood upon was this, that God promiseth to be like a gi-een fir-ti'ee unto Ephraim, who personated all the ten tribes. Ephraim thought before to shadow and fence himself by idols, and league with other idolatrous nations, which were like Jonah's rotten gom'd unto them, poor shadows and defences ; but saith God, ' I will be a fir-tree' for shadow to Ephraim, to defend him from all dangers whatsoever ; and then in the next place he adds,
* From me is thy fruit found.'
A fir-tree is a green tree, but it hath no fruit. The excellencies of the creatures are applied to God, but not the defects. Therefore, when com- parisons are taken from the creatures and given to God, we must always except the defects, supplying the same by some other clearing comparison. So God is not only a fir-tree for shelter and defence, but he is a fi'uitful tree. So a fir-tree is not ; and therefore without comparison, God hath more in him than any creature hath. For all that excellency which is in all the creatures is in him, and that in a far more eminent manner ; therefore, he is both a shelter and fruit. If a passenger in distress have not only a fir- tree to shelter him and shadow him, but a fruit-tree also to feed him, he thinks he is made when God thus comforts him. So a Christian, he hath not only shelter from the wrath of God, but he hath also a place of rest and quiet, the mercy of God to keep him, and the word and sacraments to feed him. God is a fruit-tree as well as a fir-tree.