Gods husbandry

Doct. 1 ¹Come hither therefore, I pray you, in the first place, and behold the end of the hypocrite; He is to be cut off. All false-hearted, guileful, and hollow professors of Christian Religion, that are not in truth, which they seem in appearance, shall by degrees be surely brought to nought and destroyed. The Lord will no more suffer such persons to remain in his Church undiscovered and unconfounded, then a good husbandman will suffer dry and rotten branches to remain upon the trees of his Orchard uncut off. So you have it in the other Parables also,² The tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewne down and cast into the fire, saith John the Baptist, to the men that came to his Baptism. The house that was built upon the sand, when the wind, rain, and tempest did beat upon it, was quickly tumbled under foot,³ and the fall thereof was great, saith our Saviour, in the conclusion of his Sermon on the mount. The stony ground also withered away in the heat, and the thorny was overrun with thorns. The earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh upon it, and bringeth forth no better fruit then thorns and briers, is near unto cursing, whose end shall be burning, saith ⟨p. 5⟩the Author to the Hebrews: And from him that hath not, (meaning in truth) that shall be taken away which he seemed to have, as our Saviour tells us. Saint John doth give us examples of this ruin of dissemblers, saying of many in his time, They went out from us, because they were not of us. Thus hath the Lord been abundant in discovering his intended vengeance against the counterfeit Christian.