Ministers Compared to Planters

    MINISTERS COMPARED TO PLANTERS

    "I have planted, and Apollo watered, &c. Now he that planteth, and he that watereth, are one, '' 1Co 3:6,8.

    GOD is the chief spiritual Planter, Isa 5:7; 60:21; 61:3; Mt 15:13. None but he can implant a principle of grace in the sinner's heart; it is his proper work to take us out of the old stock and root, and plant us into the new. But forasmuch as these things are asserted by the preaching of the Word, Ministers are called Planters: "I have planted," &c., 1Co 3:6. They are but under or subordinate Planters and waterers, to ton aucanonta, him that gives the increase, viz., Jehovah.

    METAPHOR

    I. A skilful Planter is a curious artist, one that knows the nature of trees, plants, and seeds. He is skilled in setting, ingrafting, innoculation, or grafting with the scion.

    PARALLEL

    I. So an experienced and able Minister of the Gospel is a very skilful person, one that hath knowledge of great mysteries, both of nature and grace: he knows the state of man in the first Adam, that old stock; and also the nature of planting, or grafting into Jesus Christ, how and which way it is, and must be done.

    METAPHOR

    II. A Planter hath fit tools or instruments to do his work withal, viz., a spade, a knife, &c., without which he can do nothing.

    PARALLEL

    II. So Ministers of Christ have fit instruments to work with, viz., the Gospel, which is called the ingrafted word, i.e., an instrument or means by which souls are planted, or grafted into Christ, by the help of the Holy Ghost, without which they can do nothing.

    III. A Planter knows, that until the ground he is to plant, be dug up, and well prepared, it is not meet to be sowed or planted.

    PARALLEL

    III. So Ministers know, unless the hearts of sinners are dug by the powerful convictions of the Word and Spirit of God, they are not fit to receive the seed of grace, nor to be planted in God's vineyard.

    METAPHOR

    IV. Planters, as naturalists observe, find by experience, that a wild ungrafted tree never hears good fruit, nor can, till it be removed out of its natural soil, into a good soil, and grafted with a better kind. The root that bears this wild fruit is a degenerate root. and that is the cause the fruit is so unpleasant, sour, and naught.

    PARALLEL

    IV. So Ministers also know, that unregenerate men, who grow upon the natural root of old Adam, unless they are removed, and planted into Jesus Christ, cannot bring forth acceptable fruit to God; until removed by the power of the Word and Spirit, and transplanted into Jesus Christ by a lively faith. Mankind naturally are the offspring of a corrupt and degenerate root, viz:, the first Adam; for as is the root and tree, such are the branches, and the fruit thereof: "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit," Mt 7:18.

    METAPHOR

    V. A Planter, who hath skill in grafting, knows the stock must be cut off, before the scions be grafted in.

    PARALLEL

    V. So a Minister knows, that until the new stock, viz., Jesus Christ, was cut off, that is to say, crucified, no men as spiritual scions, can be grafted into him by a lively faith: though there is in this a great disparity, as applied to Ministers, for Planters cut off or cleave the stock themselves, before they graft the scion; but Christ was cut off by another hand.

    METAPHOR

    VI. A Planter knows, a twig that is to be grafted, or a bud inoculated, must first be cut off with a knife that is keen or sharp, or an instrument, from the tree on which it naturally grew: and when the grafts are cut off, in order to this work, it is a critical season with them, saith worthy Mr. Flavel, if they lie too long before they are ingrafted, or take not with the stock, they die, and are never more recovered; they may stand in the stock a while, but are no part of the tree.

    PARALLEL

    VI. So a Minister knows, before a soul can be grafted into Christ, he must be cut off of the old stock, viz., old Adam, and taken off of his own righteousness. The first work upon a Christian is cutting work. They were cut or pricked in their hearts, while Peter preached to them, Ac 2:37. The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, Heb 4:12. As no scion is ingrafted without cutting; so no soul is united to Christ, without a true and cutting sense of sin, and of his own misery, Joh 16:8-9. And when souls are under a work of conversion, it is a critical time with them; many have miscarried then, and never recovered again: they have indeed for a time remained like dead grafts in the stock, by an external, lifeless profession, but never come to any thing; for such dead grafts in a little time fall off from the stock, Christ, and perish. But this I must needs say, it is principally for want of being quite cut off, or because they were never thoroughly cut or wounded at heart; convictions upon their hearts were never deep enough, or not kind convictions, rather legal than evangelical; they were not cut by a fit instrument, &c.

    METAPHOR

    VII. A Planter, when grafts are cut off, and prepared to be engrafted, makes all convenient speed he can to close them with the new stock; the sooner, saith one, that is done, the better. The graft is intimately united, and closely conjoined with the stock: the conjunction is so close, that they become one tree.

    PARALLEL

    VII. So a Minister, when he sees poor sinners are fitted, and every way prepared by powerful convictions, ought to make what speed he can to apply the plaister, and direct them to a closure with Christ, that is to say, to believe on the Lord Jesus, Ac 16:30-31. And when this is done, there is an intimate union betwixt Christ and the souls that believe in him: "He that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit." It is the nearest, closest, and strictest union; they are so glued one to the other, so that as the graft is really in the stock and the sap of the stock is really in the graft; so a believer is really, though mystically, in Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is communicated to a believer: "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God," 1Jo 4:16. And as the graft is bound to the stock so steadily, that the wind cannot lose it: so the believing soul is fastened to Christ by such bonds, as will secure it from all danger of being loosed from him any more.

    doth the soul's union, with Jesus show,

    And where and how these heavenly plants do grow.

    METAPHOR

    VIII. A Planter sometimes plants a whole vineyard, with the help and assistance he hath from others.

    PARALLEL

    VIII. So a painful Minister may, nay, and has planted a whole Church by the help and assistance of the Spirit of God, yea, several Churches, as St. Paul, and others we read of, &c.

    METAPHOR

    IX. A Planter's work, like other labourers, is very hard; they ofttimes sweat at it, spend and waste themselves; they find some ground very rocky, and difficult to dig up, and to manure.

    IX. So is the Minister's work a very hard and laborious work; no digger or Planter works harder, or takes more pains, than some faithful Planters, or preachers of the Gospel; they frequently sweat at their work, as we have elsewhere showed, and by their study and great labour, waste their frail bodies. Some sinners have rocky hearts.

    METAPHOR

    X. A Planter doth not only plant, but also water his plants, that they may grow and thrive the better.

    PARALLEL

    X. So godly Ministers do not only preach, whereby souls are planted by the heavenly doctrine; but also pray for increase, whereby their plants are watered: "I have planted, and Apollos watered." What Paul plants, Apollos comes after and waters with his doctrine, that dropped like dew. "Neither is he that planteth, anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase," 1Co 3:7.

    METAPHOR

    XI. He that plants a vineyard with his own labour, ought to be allowed to eat of the fruit thereof; and it would be accounted a strange thing, should he be denied it.

    PARALLEL

    XI. So a faithful Minister, or spiritual Planter, ought to eat of the fruit of that Church or vineyard he hath planted, or doth keep, prune, and manure; that is to say, to be fed and comfortably maintained by them. "Who goeth a warfare at his own charge at any time? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? For who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also!" &c. "If we have sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing we should reap your carnal things?" 1Co 9:7-8,11.

    METAPHOR

    XII. Planters greatly rejoice to see their plants thrive and grow, and their labour prosper.

    PARALLEL

    XII. So Ministers rejoice to see saints or spiritual plants grow and thrive in grace, and true holiness: "I have no greater joy, than to see my Father's children walk in the truth," 3Jo 1:4.

    METAPHOR

    XIII. Planters do not only take delight in planting, in the spring, and other fit seasons; but do also take care of the plants at such time when it is winter, lest the frost and cold should spoil their growth.

    PARALLEL

    XIII. So spiritual Planters, Christ's faithful Ministers, do not only take delight to labour in Christ's vineyard, to plant and graft when the sun or spring-season of providence shines upon them, but endure the sharpest storms of persecution, in the taking care of those tender plants, who by reason of the sharpest winter, may be in greatest danger.

    METAPHOR

    XIV. Planters have been, and are greatly instrumental for the benefit and advantage of the place and country where they dwell, by the vineyards, orchards, and gardens they have planted.

    PARALLEL

    XIV. So Ministers have been, and are great instruments of much good and benefit to the place or country where God hath blest their labours, by planting Churches, who have sent forth such fruit, that many thereby have been made fruitful in grace and holiness. What spiritual profit have these after-ages reaped by the labours of those that were at first, and those that, followed after, as Planters in God's vineyard! of which the holy scripture, and other histories give a full account. So that word is fulfilled, "Others have laboured, and you are entered into their labours," i.e., we reap the benefit of those that were Planters before us, as others may reap the benefit of the labours of such as are now entered into the same work, that the generation that is to come may praise the Lord.

    INFERENCES.

    I. What grace and glory is this, saint, that God hath conferred on thee, in taking thee out of that wild, dead, and barren stock, and planting thee into that precious, living, and fruitful One, Christ Jesus! Canst thou enough admire and prize this grace and favour?

    II. It shows what wonderful union, and blessed nearness there is between Christ and every sincere Christian!

    III. It shows us, that all our good fruit is from Christ Jesus, and by means of that blessed, mysterious, and glorious union with him.

    IV. Ministers ought to be men of wisdom, such as are faithful, able, and willing to labour, men that are not idle.

    V. It reproves not only such saints, that take up with the name of plants in God's vineyard, and bring not forth fruit: but also Churches, that see not, or will not see, nor learn their duty to their painful and faithful Ministers.

    VI. It shows the folly and madness of all those that go about to hinder or spoil the work of those spiritual Planters, God's Ministers: for what would men think of such, that should suffer none to plant, nor any plant or tree to grow, nay, destroy, inasmuch as in them lieth, all the vineyards, orchards, and gardens in the place or country where they dwell? Such like work do all those that persecute God's faithful Ministers and people.