Plant of renown (1813)/Sermon One

THE

PLANT OF RENOWN.

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SERMON I.

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Ezek. xxxix. 29.
And I will raise up for them a Plant
of Renown,——

If we cast our eyes back upon the foregoing part of this chapter, we shall find a very melancholy scene calling up; we shall find the flock and heritage of God scattered, robbed and peeled by the civil and ecclesiastical rulers that were in being in that day; a day much like to the day wherein we live; the ruin of the Church of Christ in all ages and periods of the world, has been owing to combinations betwixt corrupt Churchmen, and corrupt Statesmen; and so you will find it the preceding part of this chapter there is a high charge brought in against the Shepherds of Israel, and a terrible and awful threatning denounced by the great and chief Shepherd against them, for the bad treatment that the flock of Christ had met with in their hands: However the sheep of Christ may be fleeced, and scattered, and spoiled, yet the Lord looks on them; and many great and precious promises are made for their encouragement in that evil day; you may read them at your own leasure, for I must not stay upon them just now. But among all the rest of the promises that are made, Christ is the chief; Christ is the To-look of the Church, whatever trouble she be in. In the 7th. chapter of Isaiah, the Church had a trembling heart, God’s Israel was shaken as ever you saw the leaves of the word shaken by the wind, by reason of two Kings combining against them: Well, the Lord tells them, "A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and call his name Immanuel." But, might the Church say, what is that to us? What encouragement doth this afford in the present distress? Why, the Messiah is to come of the tribe of Judah and the family of David; and therefore that tribe and family must be preserved, in order to the accomplishment of that premise. Whatever distance of time, suppose hundreds or thousands of years, may interveen before the actual coming of the Messiah; yet the promise of his coming, as it is the ground of your faith for eternal salvation, so it is a security for the present, that the enemy shall not prevail, to the total ruin of Judah and the royal family of David. In all the distresses of the Church, Christ is always presented to her, in the Promise, as the Object of her Faith, and the ground of her consolation; and, accordingly, "They looked to him," in the Promise, "and were lightned; and their faces were not ashamed." He is here promised under the notion of God's Servant; and, in the words of the text, he is promised as a Renowned Plant that was to rise in the fulness of time. And, blessed be God, he has sprung up, and is in heaven already, and has overtopt all his enemies, and all his enemies shall be his footstool.

Ist, Here, then, you have a comfortable Promise of the Messiah; where, again, you may notice the Promiser: I, I will raise up &c. It is a great I, indeed; it Is JEHOVAH, in the person of the Father: It was he that, in a peculiar manner, sent him; "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whomever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.—In the fulness of time he sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons." God promised to send him, and accordingly he has actually fulfilled his promise. Again,

2dly, We may notice the blessing promised, and that is, a Plant of Renown.—Christ gets a great many metaphorical names and descriptions in Scripture:—Sometimes he is called a rose, sometimes he is called a Sun, and sometimes he is called a Door; sometimes he called the Tree of Life; sometimes he is called one thing, and sometimes another; and he is content to be called any thing, to make himself known to us; and here he is called a Plant, and a Renowned Plant; but more of this afterwards. But then,

3dly, We have the production of this Plant, I will raise him up. Hell will endeavour to keep him down; the Devil and his Angels will endeavour to smother him, when he sets his head above ground: So we find Satan sends Herod, and Herod sends the bloody dragoons to murder him, when he came into the world: But let hell do its utmost, as it hath done in all ages, and is doing this day, to smother that Plant, up it will be; I will raise him up, and therefore he shall prosper. But then again,

4thly, We may notice here, For whom, or for what end, for whose use and benefit it is: I will raise up for them a plant of Renown. Who these are, you will send by casting your eye on the former part of the chapter; it is for the Lord’s flock, his oppressed heritage, that are born down by wicked rulers, civil and ecclesiastic: I will raise up for them a plant of Renown, and he will be their Deliverer.

The Doctrine that naturally arises from this first clause of the verse, is in short this, "That Christ is a Plant of Renown, of God’s raising up, for the benefit and advantage of his people, or for their comfort and relief in all their distresses; he is a Renowned Plant of God’s raising up."

Now, in discoursing this Doctrine, if time and strength would allow, I might,

Ist, Premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.

2dly, I might enquire, Why he is called a Plant of Renown?

3dly, Speak a little to the raising up of this Plant.

4thly, For whom he is raised up.

5thly, For what end. And then,

Lastly. Apply.

As to the first of these, namely,

Ist. To premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.

First, I would have you to know what is here attributed and ascribed to Christ: It is not to be understood absolutely of him as God, but officially as he is Mediator and Redeemer. Considering him absolutely as God, this cannot be properly said of him that he was raised up; for he is God co-equal and co-essential with the Father: But viewing him as Mediator, he is a Plant, as it were, of God's training. You will see from the context all that is said of Christ has a respect to him as a Mediator, that he was to be God’s Servant to do his work: In that consideration he is here called a Plant, and a Plant of Renown.—Hence, Zacharias, when speaking of him has a phrase much to the same purpose; "He hath raised up a Horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Again,

Secondly, Another thing I would have you to remark, is, That this Plant is but small and little in the eyes of a blind world. He was little looked upon when he sprung up in his Incarnation; and when he was here in a state of humiliation, men looked upon him "as a Root sprung up out of a dry ground; they saw no comeliness in him why he should be desired." And to this day, tho’ he be in a state of exaltation at the right hand of God, yet he is little thought of, and looked upon, by the generality of mankind, and the hearers of the gospel; He is despised and rejected of men. But then,

Thirdly, Another thing I would have you to remark, is, That however contemptible this Plant of Renown is in the eyes of a blind world, yet he is the tallest Plant in all God’s Lebanon, there is not the like of him in it, "He is fairer than the children of men;" and, "He is as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood!." If ever you saw him, ye will be ready to say so too, and with David, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee". Again,

Fourthly, Another thing I remark, is That this blessed Plant of Renown, he was cut down in his death, and sprung up gloriously in his resurrection; the sword of divine Justice shewed down this Plant upon Mount Calvary, but within three days he sprung up again more glorious and more beautiful and amiable than ever; and "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead."

Lastly, I would have you to remark, That all the little plants in the garden are ingrafted in this Plant of Renown: "I am the Vine ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: For without me ye can do nothing.—I am a green Fir-tree, from me is thy fruit found." If you be not ingrafted, firs, in this Plant, you will never grow; and all the trees that are not planted in him, they are all but weeds.—There is a time coming when all the weeds will be plucked up, and therefore take heed that you be ingrafted in him by a faith of God’s operation. So much for the first thing I proposed.

The Second thing was to shew, That he is a Renowned Plant. He is renowned in heaven, and he is renowned on earth, and will be so, For his name shall endure for ever, Psal. lxxii. 17. O he is renowned!

For what, say you, is he renowned? I might here enter upon a very large field; I shall only tell you,

1. That he is renowned in his Person. There Was never the like of him! The two natures, God and man, are joined together in one, in him: Did you ever see that? If you have not seen that, yon have not seen the Mystery of Godliness: He is the most renowned Person in heaven; but he is Immanuel, God manifested in the flesh.—Then he is,

2. Renowned for his Pedigree: who can declare his Generation? Considering him as God, his eternal generation from the Father cannot be told. We can tell you, he is the only begotten of the Father, but we cannot tell you the manner of his generation; it is a secret that God has drawn a vail upon, and it is dangerous to venture into a search of it; and they that have attempted it, have, commonly been boged into Arian, Arminian, and Sabellian errors. Considering him as man, he is sprung of a race of ancient Kings, a famous catalogue of them you read of in it of Matthew.—And who can declare his generation even as man? For he was horn of a Virgin, and conceived by the overshadowing power of the Highest. Then,

3. He is renowned for his Name.—"He hath a Name above every name that can be named, whether in this world or that which is to come."

4. He is renowned for his Wisdom.—For, "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him."

5. He is renowned for his Power.—For he is not only the Wisdom of God, but the Power of God. He is "the Man of God’s right hand, even the Son of Man, whom he hath made strong for himself."

6. He is renowned for his Veracity and Fidelity. For, "Faithfulness is the girdle of his loins." Have you got a word from him? Depend upon it, it is a sicker word, it does not fail: The word of the Lord endures for ever, when heaven and earth shall pass away.

7. He is renowned for his Righteousness. For, "He hath brought in an everlasting Righteousness, whereby the Law is magnified and made honourable;" and by the imputation of which, the guilty transgressors are acquitted: "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him:" That is his Name, The Lord our Righteousness.

8. He is renowned for his Fulness.—For, "All the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him:" He is full of grace and truth; full of all created and uncreated excellencies.

9. He is renowned for his Love.—What but love brought him out of the bosom of the Father to this lower world? What but love made him lay down his life for his people?

10. He is renowned for his Liberality. He has a full hand and a free heart, as we use to say he gives without money, and he invites all to come and share of his fulness.

11. He is renowned for his Constancy. He is "Jesus Christ the same today, yesterday and for ever." The best of men will fail us, when we trust: them; they will run like splinters into our hands, when we lean upon them: But, sirs, you will find Christ ay the same, to-day, yesterday and for ever. And then,

12. He is renowned for his Authority and Dominion. It is great, and extends far and wide, whether in heaven above, or in the earth beneath: And his dominion reaches "from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth:" And all the kings of the earth are but his vassals.

Thus, I say, Christ in every respect is renowned.

But here, to keep by the phraseology of the text. He is a renowned Plant: Wherein is he renowned?

First, I say he is renowned for his Antiquity: "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was," &c. All the plants in the higher and lower gardens of God, they are but just upstarts in companion of him: Angels and Arch-angels, and the greatest Seraphims are but of yesterday, in comparison of this Plant. He is renowned for his Antiquity, for he is, "The Ancient of days, and the Everlasting Father," Isaiah 9th. chapter.

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N.B. Here he was desired to conclude his Discourse, in respect the Work in the Church was over, and that he might give way to another Minister that was to preach the Evening Sermon.

 

SERMON