Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
There are two sorts of branches in Christ the vine; the one sort
are such who have only an historical faith in him, believe but
for a time, and are removed; they are such who only profess to
believe in him, as Simon Magus did; are in him by profession
only; they submit to outward ordinances, become church members,
and so are reckoned to be in Christ, being in a church state, as
the churches of Judea and Thessalonica, and others, are said, in
general, to he in Christ; though it is not to be thought that
every individual person in these churches were truly and savingly
in him. These branches are unfruitful ones; what fruit they
seemed to have, withers away, and proves not to be genuine fruit;
what fruit they bring forth is to themselves, and not to the
glory of God, being none of the fruits of his Spirit and grace:
and such branches the husbandman
taketh away;
removes them from that sort of being which they had in Christ. By
some means or another he discovers them to the saints to be what
they are; sometimes he suffers persecution to arise because of
the word, and these men are quickly offended, and depart of their
own accord; or they fall into erroneous principles, and set up
for themselves, and separate from the churches of Christ; or they
become guilty of scandalous enormities, and so are removed from
their fellowship by excommunication; or if neither of these
should be the case, but these tares should grow together with the
wheat till the harvest, the angels will be sent forth, who will
gather out of the kingdom of God all that offend and do iniquity,
and cast them into a furnace of fire, as branches withered, and
fit to be burnt.
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it
may
bring forth more fruit.
These are the other sort of branches, who are truly and savingly
in Christ; such as are rooted in him; to whom he is the green fir
tree, from whom all their fruit is found; who are filled by him
with all the fruits of his Spirit, grace, and righteousness.
These are purged or pruned, chiefly by afflictions and
temptations, which are as needful for their growth and
fruitfulness, as the pruning and cutting of the vines are for
theirs; and though these are sometimes sharp, and never joyous,
but grievous, yet they are attended with the peaceable fruits of
righteousness, and so the end of bringing forth more fruit is
answered; for it is not enough that a believer exercise grace,
and perform good works for the present, but these must remain; or
he must be constant herein, and still bring forth fruit, and add
one virtue to another, that it may appear he is not barren and
unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ, in whom he is implanted.
These different acts of the vinedresser "taking away" some
branches, and "purging" others, are expressed by the Misnic
doctors
F16 by (hlwoyp) , and (hdwryz) . The former, the commentators F17 say, signifies to cut off the branches that are withered and perished, and are good for nothing; and the latter signifies the pruning of the vine when it has a superfluity of branches, or these extend themselves too far; when some are left, and others taken off.
F16 Misn. Sheviith, c, 2. sect. 3.
F17 Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
