water is mixt together this mixture makes mire So when the truths of God do mix with the corruptions of men that they either hold some truths and yet live in their lusts or else when men do make use of the truths of God to justifie and plead for their â—inâ— Or 3 When as in a miry place the longer the water stands in it the worse it grows so the longer men abide under Ordinances the more filthy and polluted they grow These are the miry places that cannot be healed their disease is incurable desperate O this is a sad case and yet very common Many persons are thus given over as incorrigible and hopeless Rev. 22. 1â— Let him that is filthy be filthy still Ier. 6. 29. Reprobate silver shall men call them for the Lord hath rejected them Isa. 6. Go make the heart of this people fat their ears dull c. Christ executes by the Gospel that curse upon many souls which he denounced against the figtree Mat. 21. 19. Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever and immediately the fig-tree withered away To be given up to such a condition is a fearful judgement indeed a curse with a witness the sum of all plagues miseries and judgments a fatal stroke at the root it self It 's a wo to have a bad heart saith one but it 's the depth of wo to have a heart that shall never be made better To be barren under the Gospel is a sore judgement but to have that pertinax sterilitâ—s a pertinacious barrenness this is to be twice dead and pluckt up by the root as Iude speaks And to shew you the woful and miserable state and plight of such men let the following particulars be weighed 1 It s a stroke at the soul it self an inward spiritual judgement and by how much the more inward and spiritual any judgement is by so much the more dreadful and lamentable As soul mercies are the best of mercies so soul-judgements are the saddest of all judgements If it were but a temporal stroke upon the body the loss of an eye an ear a hand a foot though in it self it would be a considerable loss yet it were nothing to this Omnia Deus dedit duplicia saith Chrysostom speaking of bodily members God hath given men double members two eyes if one be lost the other supplies its wants two hands two ears two feet that the failing of one may be supplyed by the help of the other animam vero unam but one soul if that perish there is not another to supply its loss The soul saith a Heathen is the man that which is seen is not the man The Apostle calls the body a vile body Phil. 3. 21. and so it is compared with the soul and Daniel calls it the Sheath which is but a contemptible thing to the sword which is in it O it were far better that many bodies perish than one soul that every member were made the seat and subject of the most exquisite torture than such a judgement should fall upon the soul. 2 It 's the severest stroke God can inflict upon the soul in this life to give it up to barrenness because it cuts off all hopes frustrates all means nothing can be a blessing to him If one come from the dead if Angels should descend from heaven to preach to him there is no hope of him If God shut up a man who can open Iob 12. 14. As there was none found in heaven or earth that could open the seals of that book Rev. 5. 5. so is there no opening by the hand of the most able and skilful Ministry those seals of hardness blindness and unbelief thus impressed upon the spirit Whom jâ—stice so locks up mercy will never let out This is that which makes up the Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16. 22. which is the dreadfullest curse in all the book of God cacursed till the Lord come 3 'T is the most indiscernable stroke to themselves that can be and by that so much the more desperate Hence there is said to be powred out upon them the spirit of slumber Isa. 29. 10. The Lord hath powred out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes Montanus renders it The Lord hath mingled upon you the spirit of deep sleep And so it is an allusion to a soporiferous Medicine mingled and made up of opium and such like stupifactive ingredients which casts a man into such a dead sleep that do what you will to him he feels he knows it not Make their eyes heavy and their ears dull lest they should see and hear and be converted Isa. 6. 9 10. This is the heart which cannot repent which is spoken of Rom. 2. 5. For men are not sensible at all of this judgment they do not in the least suspect it and that is their misery Though they be cursed trees which shall never bear any fruit to life yet many times they bear abundance of other fair and pleasant fruits to the eye excellent gifts and rare endowments And these deceive and undo them Mat. 7. 22. We have prophecyed in thy name this makes the wound desperate that there is no finding of it no probe to search it 4 'T is a stroke that cuts off from the soul all the comfort and sweetness of Religion A man may pray hâ—ar and confer but all those duties are dry stalks unto him which yield no meat no solid substantial nutriment some common touches upon the affections he may sometimes find in duty the melting voice or Rhetorick of the Preacher may perhaps strike his natural affections as another Tragical story pathetically delivered may do but to have any real communion with God in Ordinances any discoveries or views of the beauty of the Lord in them that he cannot have for these are the special effects and operations of the Spirit which are alwayes restrained God hath said to such as he did to them Gen. 6. 3. My spirit shall no longer strive with them and then what sweetness is there in Odinances What is the word separated from the Spirit but a dead Letter it's the Spirit that quickens 2 Cor. 3. 2. Friend thou must know that the Gospel works not like a natural cause upon those that hear it if so the efâ—â—ct would alwayes follow unless miraculously stopt and hindred but it works like a moral instituted cause whose efficacy and success depends upon the arbitrary concurrence of the Spirit with it The wind blows where it listeth so is evâ—ry one that is born of the Spirit Ioh. 3. 8. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth Ordinances are as the pool of Bethesda which had its healing vertue only when the Angel moved the waters but the spirit never moves savingly upon the waters of Ordinances for the healing of these souls how many years soever they lye by them Though others feel a Divine power in them yet they shall not As the men that
when shall I return rejoyceing bringing my sheaves with me Their harvest comes when they receive their corn mine comes when I leave it O much desired harvest O day of the gladness of my heart How long Lord How long Here I wait as the poor man Bethesda's pool looking when my turn will come but every one steps into heaven before me yet Lord I am content to wait till my time be fully come I would be content to stay for my glorification till I have finisht the work of my generation and when I have done the will of God then to receive the promise If thou have any work on earth to use me in I am content to abide Behold the Husbandman waiteth and so will I for thou art a God of judgement and blessed are are all they that wait for thee But how doth my sloathful soul sink down into the flesh and settle it self in the love of this animal life How doth it hug and wrap up it self in the garment of this mortality not desiring to be removed hence to the more perfect and blessed state The Husbandman indeed is content to stay till the appointed weeks of the Harvest but would he be content to wait alwayes O my sensual heart is this life of hope as contentful to thee as the life of vision will be Why dost thou not groan within thy self that this mortality might be swallowed up of life Doth not the scripture describe the Saints by their earnest looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus unto eternal life Iude 21. By their hastening unto the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. What is the matter that my heart hangs back doth guilt lye upon my conscience Or have I gotten into a pleasant condition in the world which makes me say as Peter on the Mount It 's good to be here Or want I the assurance of a better state Must God make all my earthly comforts die before I shall be willing to die Awake Faith awake my Love heat up the drowzy desires of my soul that I may say make hast my Beloved and come away The Poem NO prudent Husbandman expects the fruit of what he sows Till every cause have its effects and then he reaps and mows He works in hope the year throughout and counts no labour lost If when the season comes about His harvest quits his cost This rare example justly may rebuke and put to shame My soul which sows its seed one day and looks to reap the same Is cursed nature now become so kind a soyl to grace That to perfection it should come within so short a space Grace springs not up with speed and ease like mushrooms in a night But rather by degrees increase as doth the morning light Is corn so dear to Husbandmen much more is heaven to me Why should not I have patience then to wait as well as he To promises appointed years by God's decrees are set These once expir'd beyond its fears my soul shall quickly get How small a part of hasty time Which quickly will expire Doth me within this world confine and then comes my desire Come Lord how long my soul hath gasp'd faith my affections warms O when shall my poor â—oul be clasp'd in its redeemers arms The time seems long yet here I 'le lye till thou my God do call It is enough eternity will make amends for all CHAP. XIX Corn fully ripe is reap'd and gather'd in So must your selves when ripe in grace or sin OBSERVATION VVHen the fields are white to harvest then Husbandmen walk through them rub the ears and finding the grain full and solid they presently prepare their Sithes and Sickles send for their harvestmen who quickly reap and mow them down and after these follow the binders who stitch it up from the field where it grew it 's carried to the Barn where it is threshed out the good grain gathered into an heap the chaff separated and burnt or thrown to the dunghil how bare and naked do the fields look after harvest which before were pleasant to behold When the harvest men enter into the field it is to allude to that Ioel 2. 3. before them like the garden of Eden and behind them a desolate wilderness and in some places its usual to set fire to the dry stubble when the corn is housed which rages furiously and covers it all with ashes APPLICATION THe Application of this I find made to my hands by Christ himself in Mat. 13. 38 39. The field is the world the good seed are the Children of the kingdom the tares are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sowed them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world the reapers are the Angels The field is the world there both the godly and ungodly live and grow together till they be both ripe and then they shall both be reaped down by death death is the Sickle that reaps down both I will open this Allegory in the following particulars In a catching harvest when the Husbandman sees the clouds begin to gather and grow black he hurries in his corn with all possible hast and houses day and night So doth God the great Husbandman he hurries the Saints into their graves when judgments are coming upon the world Isa. 57. 1. The righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Methusalah died the year before the flood Augustine a little before the sacking of Hippo Pareus just before the taking of Heidleberge Luther a little before the Wars brake out in Germany but what speak I of single Saints Sometimes the Lord houses great numbers together before some sweeping judgement comes How many bright and glorious stars did set almost together within the compass of a few years to the astonishment of many wise and tender hearts in England I find some of them ranked in a Funeral Elegy The learned Twisse went first it was his right Then holy Palmer Burroughs Love Gouge White Hill Whitaker grave Gataker and Strong Perâ—e Marshal Robinson all gone along I have not nam'd them half their only strife Hath been of late who should first part with life These few who yet survive sick of this age Long to have done their parâ—s and leave the stage The Lord sees it better for them to be under ground than above ground and therefore by a merciful providence sets them out of harms way Neither the corn or tares can possibly resist the sharp and keen Sickle when it 's applyed to them by the reâ—pers hand neither can the godly or ungodly resist the stroke of death when God inflicts it Ecclis 8. 8. No man can keep alive his own soul in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war The frail body of man is as
them in the way to the prisons or stake with their little ones in their armes and throwing themselves at their feet would thus bespeak them What shall be our estate now you are gone to Martyrdom who shall instruct these poor Babes Who shall ease our afflicted consciences Who shall lead us in the way of life recompense unto them O Lord as they have deserved who aâ—e the causes of this Lord give them sad hearts Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis And to let you see there is sufficient ground for this sorrow when God restrains the influences of the Gospel solemnly consider the following particulars That it is a dreadful token of God's great anger against that people from whom he removes the Gospel The anger of God was fearfully incensed against the Church of Ephesus when he did but threaten to come against her and remove the Candlestick out of its place Rev. 2. 5. 'T is a stroke at the soul a blow at the root usually the last and therefore the worst of judgments There is a pedigree of judgments first Gomer bears Iezreel next Loruhamah and at last brings forth Loammi Hos. 1. 4 6 8 9. There is cause of mourning if you consider the deplorable estate in which all the unregenerate souls are left after the Gospel is removed from them What will become of these or by whom shall they be gathered It made the bowels of Christ yearn within him when he looked upon the scattered multitude that had no Shepherd Mat. 9. 36. What an easie conquest doth the devil now make of them how fast doth hell fill in such times poor souls being driven thither in droves and none to rescue them Mathew Paris tells us that in the year 1072. when preaching was suppressed at Rome letters were then framed as coming from hell wherein the devil gave them thanks for the multitude of souls they had sent to him that year But truly we need not talk of letters from hell we are told from heaven how deplorable the condition of such poor souls is See Prov. 28. 19. Hos. 4. 6. Or The judgment will yet appear very heavy if you consider the loss which God 's own people sustain by the removal of the Gospel for therâ—in they lose 1 their chief glory Rom. 3. 2. the principal thing in which the peculiar glory of Israel consisted was this That unto them was committed the Oracles of Gâ—d On that account is was called the glorious Land Dan. 11. 16. This made them greater than all the Nations rouâ—â— about them Deut. 4. 7. 8. 2 By losing the Ordinances they lose their quickenings comforts and soul-refreshments for all these are sweet streams from the Gospel fountain Psal. 119. 50. Col. 4. 8. No wonder then to hear the People of God Complain of dead hearts when the Gospel is removed 3 In the loss of the Gospel they lose their defence and safety This is there is their hedge their wâ—ll of protection Isa. 5. 5. Walls and hedges saith Musculus in loc are the Ordinances of God which serve both ad se perationem munitionem to distinguish and to defend them When God plucks up this hedge and breaks down this wall all mischiefs break in upon us presently 2 Chron. 15. 3 4 5 6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true Goâ— and without a teaching Priest and without Law And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the Countiries and Nations was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity How long did Ierusalem remain after that voice was heard in the Temple migremuâ— hinc Let us be gone 4 With the Gospel we lose our temporal injoyments and creature comforts These usually come and go with the Gospel When God had once written Loammi upon Israel the next news is this I will recover my wool and my flax Hos. 2. 9. 5 and lastly to come up to the very case in hand they loâ—e with it their spiritual food and soul-subsistence for the Gospel is their feast of fat things Isa 25. 6. their spiritual wells Isa. 12. 3. a dole distributed among the Lords poor Rom. 1. 11. In a word it is as the rain and dews of heaven as hath been shewed which being restrained a spirituall famine necessarily follows a famine of all the most terrible Now to shew you the analogy betwixt this and a temporal famine that therein you may see what cause you have to be deeply affected with it take it in thse six following particulars A famine is caused by the failing of bread or that which is in the stead and hath the use of bread Dâ—inties and superfluous rarities may fail and yet men may subsist comfortably As long as people have bread and water they will not famish but take away bread once and the spirit of man faileth Upon this account bread is called a staff Psal. 105. 16. because what a staff is to an aged or feeble man that bread is to the faint and feeble spirits which even so do lean upon it And look what bread is to the natural spirits that and more than that the word is to gracious spirits Iob 23. 12. I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food If once God break this staff the inner man that hidden man of the heart will quickly begin to fail and faulter It is not every degree of scarcity of bread that presently makes a famine but a general failing of it when no bread is to be had or that which is yields no nutriment For a famine may as well be occasioned by Gods taking away panis nutrimentum the nourishing vertue of bread that it shall signifie no more as to the end of bread than a chip Hag. 1. 6. as by taking away panem nutrientem bread it self Isa. 3. 1. And so it is in a spiritual famine which is occasioned either by Gods removing all the Ordinances and making vision utterly to â—ail or else though there be preaching prayer and other Ordinances left at least the names and shadows of them yet the presence of God is not with them There is no marrow in the bone no milk in the breast and so as to soul-subsistance 't is all one as if there were no such things In a corporeal famine mean and course things become sweet and pleasant famine raises the price and esteem of them That which before you would have thrown to your dogs now goes down pleasantly with your selves To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet Prov. 27. 7 'T is the Dutch Proverb and a very true one hunger is the best Cook Iejunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit Horat In time of famine coursest fare contents The barking stomach strains no complements 'T is storied of Artaxerxes Memor that when he was flying before his enemies he fed
much the dearer shalt thou be to me MEDIT. IX Vpon the early singing of birds HOw am I reproved of sluggishness by these watchful Birds which cheerfully entertain the very dawning of the morning with their cheerful and delightful warblings they set their little spirits all awork betimes whilst my nobler spirits are bound with the bonds of soft and downy slumbers For shame my soul suffer not that Publican sleep to seize so much of thy time yea thy best and freshest time reprove and chide thy sluggish body as a good Bishop once did when upon the same occasion he said Surrexerunt passeres sterâ—unt Pontifices The early chirping Sparrows may reprove Such lazy Bishops as their beds do love Of many slâ—ggards it may be said as Tully said of Verres the Deputy of Sicily Quod nunquam solem nec orientem nec occidentem viderat that he never saw the Sun rising being in bed after nor setting being in bed before 'T is pity that Christians of all men should suffer sleep to cut such large thongs out of so narrow a hide as their time on earth is But alas it is not so much early rising as a wise improving those fresh and free hours with God that will inrich the soul else as our Proverb saith a man may be early up and never the neer yea far better it is to be found in bed slâ—eping than to be up doing nothing or that which is worse than nothing O my soul learn to prepossess thy self every morning with the thoughts of God and suffer not those fresh and sweet operations of thy mind to be prostituted to earthly things for that is experimentally true which one in this case hath pertinently observed That if the world get the start of Religion in the morning it will be hard for Religion to overtake it all the day after MEDIT. X. Vpon the haltering of birds with a grain of hair Observing in a snowy season how the poor hungry Birds were haltred and drawn in by a grain of hair cunningly cast over their heads whilst poor creatures they were busily feeding and suspected no danger and even whilst their companions were drawn away from them one after another all the interruption it gave the rest was only for a minute or two whilest they stood peeping into that hole through which their companions were drawn and then fell to their meat again as busily as before I could not chuse but say Even thus surprizingly doth death steal upon the children of men whilst they are wholly intent upon the cares and pleasures of this life not at all suspecting its so neer approach These Birds saw not the haâ—d that insnared them nor do they see the hand of death plucking them one after another into the grave Ovid. Omnibus obscur as injecit illa manus Death 's steps are swift and yet no noise it makes Its hand unseen but yet most surely takes And even as the surviving Birds for a little time seemed to stand affrighted peeping after their companions and then as busie as ever to their meat again Iust so it fares with the careless inconsiderate world who see others daily dropping into eternity round about them and for the present are a little startled and will look into the grave after their neighbours and then fall as busily to their earthly imployments and pleasures again as ever till their own turn comes I know my God! that I must die as well as others but O let me not die as do others let me see death before I feel it and conquer it before it kill me let it not come as an enemy upon my back but rather let me meet it as a friend half way Die I must but let me lay up that good treasure before I go Mat. 6. 19. carry with me a good conscience when I go 2 Tim. 4. 6 7. and leave behind me a good example when I am gone and then let death come and welcom MEDITATIONS upon Beasts MEDIT. I. Vpon the clogging of a straying Beast HAd this Bullock contented himself and remained quietly within his own bounds his Owner had never put such an heavy clog upon his neck but I see the prudent Husbandman chuses rather to keep him with his clog than lose him for want of one What this clog is to him that is affliction and trouble to me had my soul kept close with God in liberty and prosperity he would never thus have clogged me with adversity yea and happy were it for me if I might stray from God no more who hath thus clogged me with preventive afflictions If with David I might say Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy word Psal. 119. 67. O my soul 't is better for thee to have thy pride clogged with poverty thy ambition with reproach thy canal expectancies with constant disappointments than to be at liberty to run from God and duty 'T is true I am sometimes as weary of these troubles as this poor Beast is of the clog he draws after him and often wish my self rid of them but yet if God should take them off for ought I know I might have cause to wish them on again to prevent a greater mischief 'T is storied of Basil that for many years he was sorely afflicted with an inveterate head-ach that was his clog he often prayed for the removal of it al last God removed it but instead thereof he was sorely exercised with the motions and temptations of lust which when he perceived he as earnestly desired his head-ach again to prevent a greater evil Lord if my corruptions may be prevented by my affliction I refuse not to be clogged with them but my soul rather desires thou wouldst hasten the time when I shall be for ever freed from them both MEDIT. II. Vpon the love of a Dog to his Master HOw many a weary step through mire and dirt hath this poor Dog followed my horse to day and all this for a very poor reward for all be gets by it at night is but bones and blows yet will he not leave my company but is content upon such hard terms to travel with me from day to day O my soul what conviction and shame may this leave upon thee who art often times even weary of following thy Master Christ whose rewards and incourage ments of obedience are so incomparably sweet and sure I cannot beat back this dog from following me but every inconsiderable trouble is enough to discourage me in the way of my duty Ready I am to resolve as that Scribe did Mat. 8. 19. Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest but how doth my heart faulter when I must encounter with the difficulties of the way O! let me make a whole heart-choice of Christ for my portion and happiness and then I shall never leave him nor turn back from following him though the present difficulties were much more and the present incouragments much less
full fill carnal hearts with joy 156. Some have no Barns yet much joy 156 Beasts their bondage by sin 205 206 Blastings incident to Corn 115 Buildings where â—rected 5 C Capacity of beasts how narrow 208 Chaâ—â— grows with Wheat its usefulness to itâ— its worthlessness in it self its separation from the Corn 167 168 Corn cannot resist the Sickle 131. Received into the Reapers bosom 131. Corn not to be reaped till ripe signs when it is so 132 133. Crop the first usually best 10 D Death of seeds how to be understood 101 Deeds for estates how carefully proved and preserved 226 Diligence the thriving way 24 Diligence a credit to men 25 Disappointments grievous to Husbandman 6 Dressing of ground 4 Drought follows a glut of rain 85 E Ease how little the beasts have 207 Enclosures the end of them 3 End of all Husbandry 7 Estates increased and preserved how 26 Expectation of Harvest 122. the grounds and incouragements of it 124 125 F Famine occasioned by drought 90. Its effects terrible 91 92 Fowls enemies to seed 155 Frosts conduce to a good Harvest how 72 Fruits shaken and when 186 187 G Gathering in of fruit the Emblem of the end of the world 186 187 Graffing the manner of it shewn 180 Graffs their danger till they take hold of the stock 181 All do not thrive alike in the stock 183 H Harvest the joy thereof described 158 159 Harvest when catching what Husbandmen do 130 Hâ—rrow its use in Husbandry 72 Hâ—dges their use 4 Hâ—alth preserved by labour 56 Horses how carefully fed and dressed 200 Husbandmen their work spending 1â— yet have some resting dayes 20 I Influences of heaven necessary to produce and ripen fruits 81 82 â—oy natural four of it 152 153 Ioy of Harvest the causes and grounds of it 154 155 156 157 Ioy of Harvest but a gift of common providence 155 L Labourers their bands sufficient for them and theirs 8 Land when spent how recovered 45 Labours of Husbandmen ends at and sometimes before death 21. It sweetens their bed 26 Lost Cattel how recovered 210 211 M Mowing when and what it represents 138 Multiplicity of work and workâ—men in Husbandry 7 18 Miry places barren 54. What causes Mire 55 N Natural and natural causes what 81 Negligence in Summer upon presumption of fair weather a folly 142 O Occasion to be eyed by Husbandmen 140 Opportunities of plowing sowing reaping once lost irrecoverable for that year 140 141 P Pleasure much in Husbandry 31 Plowing requires judgement 63. 'T is hard work 84 Plow rends the earth discovers things hid under the surface 65 Plowing a preparatory and respective work 66. It kills weeds 67. best after rain 67 Plow-man must make no baulks in good ground 67 Posterity to be provided for 221 Poverty when extream a snare 39 Providence in Husbandmen commendable 139 R Rain is from heaven falls by divine appointment great difference in it warm rain most beneficial former and latter both needful obtained by prayer 82 83 84 85 Reaping the fit season thereof 129 S Seed-corn how qualified and prepared 71. Advantaged by early sowing 72 much vigour in a small seed 73 Seeds produce their own kind 146 Springing of seeds and plants whence 81 82. cannot be hindred when the time comes 102 Sowing done in hope and in season 102 Stalk potentially in a small seed 73 Summer why appointed 141 T Tares their resemblance to wheat 108 Threshing the ancient manner of it 160 the use and end of it 161 Threshing corn what is resembles 162 Trees when dead cut down 192 Trees how laden with fruit 186 187 as they leaned so they fall 194 V Valleys most fruitful 10 Variable weather in Harvest 141 Ungraffed fruit harsh 147. The cause thereof 176 Vexation to Husbandmen to be â—indred in their business 9 Union with the graff and stock 180 W Weariness of labourers at night 7 Weeds pernicious to Corn 115 Winnowing its use and end 165 166 Winter sweetned by Summers providence 142 A ACtions eternal in their effects Page 147 148 Account of Ministers great 8 Afflictions parallel'd with threshing in five things 160 161 c. Afflicted Saints Reflections 163 Apostates Reflections 69 118 B Barrenness the Christians reproach 12 Its causes 55. its danger 56 57 58 Beauty of glorified bodies 103 Body of man its noble structure commodious scituation and excellent configuration 207 Business of a Christian and of the Husbandman parallel'd in four things 18 19 20 C Carelesness reproved by the worldlings deligence 143 Caius Marâ—us Victorius his strange conversion 144 Duke of Condy his rare saying 123 Censorious persons reproved 111 Church Gods â—ee 5. how purchased 3. how dressed 4. what expected from it 6. its dignities 11 Christ a sufficient portion to the poor 156 Childrens souls neglected how sinful 201 202 Comforts for declining Christians 48 49 Competency best for Christians 37 38 39 40 Conviction parallel'd with plowing in nine particulars 64 65 66 67 Conversion in old age a wonder 144 D Declining of grace how far 46 47 Deceived souls their reflections 78 Death and reaping parallel'd in five things 131 132 Decayes in grace lamented 137 Diligence in religion honourable safe beneficial and comfortable 25 26 Delight spiritual whence it flows 32 33 Discouragement should not seize on Ministers though they see no present fruit 46 47 Disobedient Children their sin aggravated 203 E Earthly employments suit earthly hearts 33 Elezarius his excellent saying to his wife 122 Elect souls Reflection 190 Examination of our selves needful 166 Example of the multitude no plea 189 Evidences for heaven and Land compared in seven things 24 F Famine spiritual the sorest of judgements 91 92. 93. 94 95 Few saved and their Emblem in nature 188 189 Feeding beasts their plenty and liberty 216 Formalists Reflections 60 196 G Gifts how excelled by grace 74 75 76 Gospel its first entertainment best 10 Removed by reason of barrenness 11 Grace carried through many dangers 116 117 118 Gracious principles parallel'd with seed 71 72 73 Gracious and growing souls Reflections 42 77 136 H Harvest of glory what and when 125 Healthful Christians Reflection 104 Humble hearers profit most 10 Hypocrisie parallel'd with chaff 166 167. It acts like grace 109 110 111 112 Hypocrites their Reflections 34 41 169 Hypocrites inside opened at death 195 I Ignorance inexcusable in Husbandmen 14 15 Ioy spiritual how excellent 153 154. 'T is perfected when natural joy is finished 154. Peculiar mercies the grounds of it 155. God its object 155 Ingratitude for the mercy of our creation how great at sin 206 207 208 L Learning no plea before God 177 Lingring Saints Reflection 127 Longing for heaven what and by whom 126 Lost sinners parallel'd with Straying Cattel in five particulars 211 212 Lycurgus his Law for Parents what 203 M Maintenance due to Ministers 8 Maturity of grace three signs of it 133 Maturity of sin six signs of it 134 135 Ministers must be