How much soever others are elated by the light of their knowledge I have cause with humility to adore thee for the heavenly heat with which thou hast warmed my affections Pause a while my soul opon this point With what seed is my heart sown and of what kind are those things wherein I excel others are they indeed speciall seeds of grace or common gifts and naturall excellencies If the latter little cause have I to pride my self in them were they ten thousand times more then they are If these things be indeed the things that accompany salvation the seed of God the true and real work of grace Then 1 how comes it to pass that I never found any throws or travelling pangs in the production of them It s affirmed and generally acknowledged that the new creature is never brought forth without such pains and compunctions of heart Act. 2. 37. I have indeed often felt an aking head whilst I have read and studied to increase my knowledge but when did I feel an aking heart for Sin Oh I begin to suspect that it is not right Yea 2 and my suspition increases whiles I consider that grace is of an humbling nature 1 Cor. 15. 10. Lord how have I been elated by my gifts and valued my self above what was meet O how have I delighted in the noise of the Pharisees trumpet Mat. 6. 2. No musick so sweet as that Say O my consicience have I not delighted more in the Theater than the closet in the praise of men than the approbation of God Oh how many evidences dost thou produce against me Indeed these are sad symptoms that I have shewed thee but there is yet another which renders thy case more suspitious yet yea that which thou canst make no rational defence against even the ineffectualness of all thy gifts and knowledge to mortifie any one of all thy lusts It 's beyond all dispute that gifts may but grace cannot consist without mortification of sin Gâ—l 5. 24. Now what lust hath fallen before these excellent parts of mine Doth not pride passion covetousness and indeed the whole body of â—in live and thrive in me as much as ever Lord I yield the cause I can defend it no longer against my conscience which caâ—ts and condemns me by full proof to be but in a wretched cursed lamentable state notwithstanding all my knowledg and flourishing gifts O shew me a more excellent way Lord That I had the sincerity of the poorest Saint though I should lose the applause of all may parts with these I see I may go to hell but without some better thing no hope Of heaveâ— The Poem GReat difference betwixt that seed is found With which you sow your several plots of ground Seed-wheat doth far excel in dignity The cheper Barley and the courâ—er Rye Though in themselves they good and wholsome are Yet these with choicest wheat may not compare Mens hearts like fields are sowed with different grain Some baser some more noble some again Excelling both the former more than wheat Excels that grain your swine and horses eat For principles of meer morality Like Cummin Barley Fitches Pease or Rye In those mens hearts are often to be â—ound Whom yet the Scripture calleth cursed ground And nobler principles than these sometime Cal'd common grace and spiritual gifts which shine In some mens heads where is their habitation Yet they are no companions of Salvation These purchase honour both from great and small But I must tell thee that if this be all Though like an Angel in these gifts thou shine Amongst blind mortals for a little time The days's at hand when such as thou must take Thy lot with devils in th' infernal lake But principles of special saving grace Whose seat is in the heart not head or face Like sollid wheat sown in a fruitful field Shall spring and flourish and at last will yield A glorious harvest of eternal rest To him that nourish'd them within his breast O grace how orient art thou how divine What is the glory of all gifts to thine Disseminate this seed within my heart My God I pray thee though thou shouldst impart The less of gifts then I may truly say That thou hast shew'd me the more excellent way CHAP. IX By heavens influence Corn and plants do spring Gods showers of grace do make his valleys sing OBSERVATION THe earth after that it is plowed and sowed must be watered and warm'd with the dews and ifluences of heaven or no fruit can be expected If God do not open to you his good treasure the heavens to give rain unto the Land in its season and bless all the work of your hands as it is Deut. 28. 12. The earth cannot yield her increase The order and dependance of natural causes in the productions of fruit is excellently described Hos. 2. 21. 22. I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and wine and Oyl and they shall hear Iezreel Iezreel must have corn and wine and Oyl or they cannot live they cannot have it unless the earth bring it forth the earth cannot bring it forth without the heavens the heavens cannot yield a drop unless God hear them that is unlock and open them Nature and natural causes are nothing else bâ—t the order in which God works This some Heatheâ—s by the light of nature acknowledged and therefore when they went to plow in the morning they did lay one hand upon the plow to speak their own part to be painfulness and hold up the other hand to Ceres the Goddess of Corn to shew that their expectation of plenâ—y was from their supposed Deity I fear many Christians lay both hands to the plow and seldom lift up heart or hand to God when about that work There was an husbandman saith Mr. Smith that alwayes sowed good Seed but never had good Corn at last a neighbour came to him and said I will tell you what probably may be the cuse of it It may be said he you do not steep your Seed no truly said the other nor ever did I hear that Seed must be steeped yes surely said his neighbour and I will tell you how it must be steeped in prayer When the party heard this he thanked him for his counsel reformed his fault and had as good Corn as any man whatsoever Surely it is not the Husbandmans but God steps that drop fatness Alma Mater terra the earth indeed is a fruitful mother but the rain which â—ecundates and fertilizes it hath no other father but God Iob 38. 28. APPLICATION As impossible it is in an ordinary way for souls to be made fruitful in grace and holiness without the dews and influences of Ordinances and the blessing of God upon them as for the earth to yield her fruit without the natural influences of heaven for look what
Iewish Proverb When the bricks are doubled then comes Moses And it is a Christian experience When the spirit is ready to fail then comes Iesus according to that promise Isa. 57. 16. REFLECTIONS HOw unlike am I to God in the afflicting of his people The Lord is pitiful when he smites them but I have been cruel He is kind to them when most severe but the best of my kindnesses to them may fitly enough be called severity God smites them in love I have smitten them in hatred Ah what have I done God hath used me as his hand Psal. 17. 14. or as his rod to afflict them Ier. 10. 7. but his end and mine have widely differed in that action Isa. 10. 7. I am but the Scullion or rather the wisp so Sâ—our and cleanse these vessels of glory and when I have done that dirty work those bright souls shall be set up in heaven and I cast into the fire If he shall have judgment without Mercy that shewed no mercy how can I expect mercy from the Lord whose people I have persecuted mercilesly for his sake Is the Lord's Wheat thus threshed in the floor of affliction What then shall I think of my condition who prosper and am let alone in the way of sin surely the Lord looks on me as on a weed and not as his corn and 't is too probable that I am rather reserved for burning than threshing Some there are whom God loves not so well as to spend a rod upon them but faith Let them alone Hos. 4. 17. but miserable is their condition notwithstanding their impunity for what is the interpretation but this I will come to a reckoning with them for altogether in hell Lord how much better is thy afflicting mercy than thy spaâ—ing severity Better is the condition of an afflicted child than of a rejected bastard Heb. 12. 7. O let me rather feel thy rod now as the rod of a loving father than feel thy wrath hereafter as the wrath of an omnipotent avenger Well then despond not O my soul thou hearest the Husbandman loves his corn though he thresheth it and surely the Lord loves thee not the less because he afflicts thee so much If affliction then be the way to heaven blessed be God for affliction The threshing strokes of God have come thick upon me by which I may see what a tough and stubborn heart I have if one stroke would have done the work he would not have lifted up his hand the second time I have not had a stroke more than I had need of 1 Pet. 1. 6. and by this means he will purge my sin blessed be God for that The damned have infinitely more and harder strokes than I and â—et their sin shall never be separated by their sufferings Ah sin cursed sin I am so much out of love with thee that I am willing to endure more than all this to be well rid of thee all this I suffer for thy sake but the time is coming when I shall be rid of sin and suffering together Mean while I am under my own fathers hand smite me he may but hate me he cannot The Poem THe sacred records tell us heretofore God had an Alter in a threshing floor Where threshing instruments devoted were To sacred service so you find them here I now would teach the thresher to beat forth A notion from his threshold much more worth Than all his corn and make him understand That soul-instructing engine in his hand With fewer strokes and lighter you will beat The Oats and Barley than the stubborn wheat Which will require and endure more blows Than freer grain Thus deals the Lord by those Whom he afflicts He doth not use to strike Offending children with his rod alike But on the ablest shoulders doth impose The heaviest burdens and the less on those Of weaker grace He shews himself a God Of judgment in his handling of the rod. God hath a rate book by him wherein he Keeps just accounts how rich his peopâ—e be What â—aith experience patience more or less Each one possesseth and doth them assess According to their stock Such as have not A Martyrs faith shall have no Martyrs lot The kinds degrees and the continuance Of all their sufferings to a circumstance Prescribed are by him who wisely swayes The world more than 's right on no man layes Be man or devil the apothecary God's the Physician who can then miscarry In such a hand he never did or will Suffer the least addition to his bill Nor measure nor yet mercy he observes In threshing Babilon for the deserves His heaviest strokes and in his floor she must Be beaten shortly with his flail to dust But Sion's God in measure will debate his children he may smite but cannot hate He beats them true to make their chaff to flye That they like purged golden graines may lye In one fair heap with those bless'd souls that here Once in like manner thrash'd and winnowed were CHAP. XX. The fan doth cause light chaff to fly away So shall th'ungodly in Gods winnowing day OBSERVATION WHen the Corn is threshed out in the floor where it lyes mingled with empty ears and worthless chaff the husbandman carries it out altogether into some open place where having spread his sheet for the preservation of the grain he exposes it all to the wind the good grain by reason of its solidity remains upon the sheet but the chaff being light and empty is partly carried quite away by the wind and all the rest separated from the good grain into a distinct heap which is carried away either to the fire of the dunghil as a worthless thing APPLICATION MEn have their winnowing dayes and God hath his a day to separate the chaff from the wheat the godly from the ungodly who shall both be held up to the wind but only the wicked shall be driven away by it Such a day God hath in this world wherein he winnows his wheat and separates the chaff There is a double fanning or winnowing of men here in this world one is doctrinally in which sense I understand that Scripture Mat. 3. 12. spoken of Christ when he was entring into his Ministerial work His fan is in his hand and he shall throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will brun up the chaff with unquenchable fire The preaching of the Gospel is as a fan in Christs hand and it is as much as if Iohn had thus told the Iews that though there were the many hypocrytical ones among them that had now a place and name among the people of God and gloried in their Church-priviledges yet there is a purging blast of truth coming which shall make them fly out of the Church as fast as chaff out of the floor Thus Christ winnows or fans the world doctrinally The other is judicially by bringing sore and
Husbandry Spiritualized OR The HEAVENLY USE OF Earthly Things Consisting of many Pleasant OBSERVATIONS Pertinent APPLICATIONS and serious REFLECTIONS and each Chapter concluded with a Divine and suitable POEM Directing HUSBAND-MEN to the most Excellent Improvements of their common Imployments Whereunto are added by way of Appendix several choice OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS upon Birds Beasts Trees Flowers Rivers and several other Objects fitted for the help of such as desire to walk with God in all their Solitudes and Recesses from the World Hos. 12. v. 10. I have used Similitudes by the Ministry of the Prophets Gen. 24 v. 63. And Issac went out to meditate in the Fields Experto crede aliquid amplius invenires in sylvis quam in angulis linga lapides decebunt te quod à Magistris audire non possis Bernard Simul jucunda idonea dicere vitae Lectorem delectando pariterque monendo Horace By IOHN FLAVELL Minister of the Gospel in Devon THE THIRD EDITION London Printed and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil MDCLXXIV THE Epistle Dedicatory To the Worshipful Robert Savery and William Savery of Slade Esquires Honoured Friends IT hath been long since observ'd That the world below is a Glass to discover the World above Seculum est speculum And although I am not of their opinion the say The Heathens may spell Christ out of the Sun Moon and Stars yet this I know That the irratoinal and inanimate as well as rational creatures have a Language and though not by Articulate speech yet in a Metaphorical sense they preach unto man the wisdom Power and goodness of God Rom. 1. 20. There is saith the Psalmist Psal. 19. 3. No speech nor Language where their voice is not heard Or as Iunius renders there is no Speech nor Words yet without these their voice is understood and their Line i. e. saith Deodate their writing in gross and plain draughts is gone out through all the earth As man is compounded of a fleshly and spiritual substance so God hath endowed the creatures with a spiritual as well as fleshly usefulness they have not only a natural use in Alimental and Physical respects but also a spiritual use as they bear the figures and similitudes of many sublime and heavenly mysteries Believe me saith contemplative Bernard thou shalt find more in the Woods than in a corner Stones and Trees will teach thee what thou shalt not hear from learned Doctors By a skilful and industrious improvement of the creatures saith Mr. Baxter excellently we might have a fuller taste of Christ and Heaven in every bit of Bread that we eat and in every draught of Beer that we drink than most men have in the use of the Sacrament And as the Creatures teach divine and excellent things so they teach them in a perspicuous and taking manner Duo illa nos maximè movent similitudo exemplum saith the Orator These two things similitude and example do especially move us Notions are more easily conveyed to the understanding by being first cloathed in some apt Similitude and so represented to the sense And therefore Iesus Christ the great Prophet delighted much in teaching by Parables and the Prophets were much in this way also Hos. 12. 10. I have used Similitudes by the Ministry of the Prophets Those that can retain little of a Sermon yet ordinarily retain an apt Similitude I confess it is an humbling consideration That man who at first was led by the knowledge of God to the knowledge of the Creature must now by the Creatures learn to know God That the Creatures as one saith like Balaams Ass should teach their Master But though this be the unhappiness of poor man in his collapsed state yet it is now his wisdom to improve such Helps and whilst others by the abuse of Creatures are furthering their Perdition to be the spiritual improvement of them promoting our own Salvation It 's an excellent Art to discourse with Birds Beasts and Fishes about sublime and spiritual Subjects and make them answer to our Questions yet this may be done Iob 12. 7 8. Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the Fowls of the Air and they shall tell thee or speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee That is saith neat and accurate Caryl the creatures teach us when we think of them They teach us though not formally yet vertually the answer and resolve the question put to them though not explicitely to the ear yet convincingly to the conscience So then we ask the creatures when we diligently consider them when we search out the perfections and virtues that God hath put into or stampt upon them To set our mind thus upon the creature is to discourse with the creature the questions which man ask of a beast are only his own Meditations Again the creatures teach us when we in Meditation make out collections and draw down a demonstration of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God in making them or of the frailty of man in needing them Such Conclusions and Inferences are the teachings of the creatures Common objects saith another may be improved two ways viz. In an argumentative and in a Representative way by reasoning from them and by viewing the resemblance that is betwixt them and spiritual matters First In Meditation argue thus as in the present case and Similitude of the Apostle If an Husbandman upon the ordinary principles of reason can wait for the Harvest shall not I wait for the Coming of the Lord The day of Refreshing the Corn is precious to him and so is the coming of Christ to me Shall he be so patient and endure so much for a little Corn and not I for the Kingdom of Heaven He is willing to stay till all causes have had their operations till he hath received the former and the latter rain and shall not I till the divine decrees be accomplished Secondly in Meditation make the resemblance and discourse thus within your selves This is my Seed-time Heaven is my Harvest here I must labour and toyl and there rest I see the Husbandmans life is a great toyl no excellent thing can be obtained without labour and an obstinate patience I see the Seed must be hidden in the furrows rotten and corrupted â—re it can bring forth with any increase Our hopes are hidden light is sown for the righteous all our comforts are buried under the clods and after all this there must be long waiting we cannot sow and reap in a day effects cannot follow till all necessary causes have first wrought T is not in the power of Husbandmen to ripen fruits at pleasure our times are in the hands of God therefore 't is good to wait a long-suffering patience will reap the desired fruit Thus you have some hints of this heavenly Art of improving the Creatures
merits hell sweetens present difficulties So to come home to the present similitude do the expectations and hopes of a blessed harvest and reward in heaven This made Abraham willing to wander up and down many years as a stranger in the world for he looked for a City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God The hopes of such a harvest is incouragement enough to work hard and wait long yet some Christians are so impatient of it that they would fain be reaping before the time but as God hath by an unalterable law of nature appointed both the seasons of seed time and harvest which are therefore called the appointed weâ—ks of the harvest Ier. 5. 24. and these cannot be hasten'd but when we have done all that we can on our part must wait till God send the former and latter rain and given every natural cause its effect So is it in reference to our spiritual harvest we are appointed to sweat in the use of all God's appointments and when we have done all must patiently wait till the divine decrees be accomplished and the time of the promise be fully come In due time we shall reap if we faint not To which patient expectation and quiet waiting for the glory to come these following considerations are of excellent use As the Husbandman knows when the Seed-time is past it will not be long to the harvest and the longer he waits the neerer still it is So the Christian knows It is but yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 37. And that now his salvation is nearer than when he first believed Rom. 13. 11. What a small point of time is our waiting time compared with eternity yet a few dayes more and then comes the long expected and welcome harvest The Husbandman can find other work to do before the reaping time come he need not stand idle though he cannot yet reap And cannot a Christian find any work to do for God till be come to heaven O there is much work to do and such work as is only proper to this season You may now reprove sin exhort to duty succour the distressed this is good work and this is your only time for such work the whole of eternity will be taken up in other imployments I think it meet saith Peter as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir up your minds knowing shortly that I must put off this tabernacle 2 Pet. 1. 13 14. q. d. I know I have but a little time to work among you I am almost at heaven and therefore am willing to husband this present moment as well as I can for you O Christians you need not stand idle look round about you upon the multitude of forlorn sinners speak now to them for God speak now to God for them for shortly you shall so speak more you shall see them no more till you see them at Christâ—s Bar God leaves you here for their sakes up and be doing If you had done all you were to do for your selves and them he would have you to heaven immediately you should not wait a moment longer for your glory Husbandmen know though they cannot yet gather in the precious fruits of the earth yet all this while they are ripening and preparing for the harvest they would not house it green or take it before its time And is not this also my preparation time for glory As God prepared heaven for his people by an eternal decree Mat. 25. 34. by an act of creation Heb. 11. 10. by the death of Christ which made a purchase of it Heb. 10. 19 20. and by his ascension into it Ioh. 14. 2 3. So the reason why we are kept here is in order to our sitting for it Heaven is ready but we are not fully ready the Barn is fit to receive the corn but the corn is not yet fit to be gathered into it But for this self same thing God is now working us 2 Cor. 5. 5. he is every day at work by Ordinances and by providences to perfect his work in us and as soon as that is finished we shall hear a voice like that Rev. 11. 12 Come up hither and immediately we shall be in the spirit for how ardently soever we long for that desirable day Christ longs for it more than we can do The Husbandman is glad of the first fruits that incourages him though the greatest part be yet out and have not you received the first fruits of that glory have you no earnests pledges and first fruits of it 'T is your own fault if every day you feed not upon such blessed comforts of the spirit Rom. 8. 23. Rom. 5. 2. 1 Pet. 8. 9. O how might the interposing time even all the dayes of your patience here be sweetned with such prelibations of the glory to come Husbandmen know 't is best to reap when 't is fit to reap one handful fuly ripe is worth many sheaves of green corn And you know heaven will be sweetest to you when you are fittest for it the child would pluck the apple while it 's green but he might gather it easier and taste it sweeter by tarrying longer for it We would fain be glorified per saltum When we have got a taste of heaven we are all in hast to be gone Then O that I had wings as a dove I would flie away and be at rest Then we cry to God for our selves as Moses for his sister Miriam Heal her now O God I beseech thee Num. 12. 13. Clorifie me now O Lord I pray thee But surely as God hath contrived thy glory in the best of wayes so he hath appointed for thee the fittest of seasons and when ever thou art gathered into glory thou shalt come as a shock of corn in its season REFLECTIONS I Have waited for thy salvation O God! Having received thy first fruits my soul longs to fill its besome with the full ripe sheaves of Glory As the Hart panteth for the water brooks so panteth my soul for thee O God! O when shall I come and appear before God I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. When shall I see that most lovely face When shall I hear his soul-transporting voice Some need patience to dye I need it as much to live Thy sights O God by faith have made this world a burden this body a burden and this soul to cry like thirsty David O that one would give me of the waters of Bethlehem to drink The Husbandman longs for his Harvest because it is the reward of all his toyl and labour but what is his harvest to mine what is a little corn to the enjoyment of God What is the joy of harvest to the joy of heaven what are the shoutings of men in the fields to the acclamations of glorified spirits in the kingdome of God Lord I have gone forth bearing more precious â—eed that they
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
unable to withstand that stroke as the weak reeds or feebleâ—stalks of the corn are to resist the keen Sithe and sharp Sickle The reapers receive the wheat which they cut down into their armes and bosom Hence that expression by way of imprecation upon the wicked Psal. 129. 7. Let them be as the grass upon the house top which withers before it grows up wherewith the mower filleth not his hand nor be that bindeth sheaves his bosom Such withered grass are the wicked who are never taken into the reapers bosom but as soon as Saints are cuâ— down by death they fall into the hands and bosoms of the Angels of God who bear them in their arms and bosoms to God their father Luke 16. 22. For look as these blessed spirits did exceedingly rejoyce at their conversion Luke 15. 10. and thought it no dishonour to minister to them whilst they stood in the field Heb. 1. 14. So when they are cut down by death they will rejoyce to be their convoy to heaven When the corn and weeds are reap'd or mowed down they shall never grow any more in that field neither shall we ever return to live an animal life any more after death Iob 7. 9 10. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more he shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Lastly to come home to the particular object of this Chapter the reapers are never sent to cut down the harvest till it be fully ripe neither will God reap down Saints or sinners till they be come to a maturity of grace or wickednâ—ss Saints are not reap'd down till their grace be ripe Iob. 5. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Not that every godly man dies in such a full old age saith Mr. Caryl on the place but yet in one sense it is an universal truth and ever fulfilled for whensoever they die they die in a good age yea though they die in the spring and flower of their youth they die in a good old age i. e. they are ripe for death when ever they die When ever a godly man dies it 's harvest time with him though in a natural capacity he be cut down while he is green and cropt in the bud or blossom yet in his spiritual capacity he never dies before he be ripe God ripens his speedily when he intends to taks them out of the world speedily he can let out such warm rayes and beams of his spirit upon them as shall soon maturate the seeds of grace into a preparedness for glory The wicked also have their ripening time for hell and judgement God doth with much longâ—suffering endure the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction Of their ripeness for judgment the scripture often speaks Gen. 15. 16. The sin of the Amorites is not yet full And of Babilon it 's said Ier. 51. 13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters thine end is come and the measure of thy covetousness 'T is worth remarking that the measure of the sin and the end of the sinner come together So Ioel 3. 13. Put ye in the sickle for the harvest of the earth is ripe for the press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great Where note sinners are not cut down till they be ripe and ready Indeed they are never ripe for death nor ready for the grave that is fit to die yet they are alwayes ripe for wrath and ready for hell before they die Now as Husbandmen judge of the ripeness of their harvest by the colour and hardness of the grain so may we judge of the ripeness both of Saints and Sinners for heaven or hell by these following signs Three Signs of the maturity of grace VVHen the Corn is near ripe it blows the head and stoops lower than when it was green When the people of God are near ripe for heaven they grow more humble and self-denying that in the dayes of their first profession The longer a Saint grows in this world the better he is still acquainted with his own heart and his obligations to God both which are very humbling things Paul had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of sinners and least of Saints 1 Tim. 1. 15. Eph. 3. 8. A Christian in the progress of his knowledge and grace is like a vessel cast into the Sea the more it fills the deeper it sinks Those that went to study at Athens saith Plutarch at first coming seemed to themselves to be wise men afterwards only lovers of wisdom and after that only thetoricians such as could speak of wisdom but knew little of it and last of all Ideots in their apprehensions still with the increase of learning laying aside their pride and arrogancy When harvest is nigh the grain is more solid and pithy than ever it was before green corn is soft and spungy but ripe corn is substantial and weighty So it is with Christians the affâ—ctions of a young Christian perhaps are more ferverous and sprightly but those of a grown Christian are more judicious and solid their love to Christ abounds more and more in all judgment Phil. 1. 9. The limbs of a Child are more active and plyable but as he grows up to a perfect state the parts are more consolidated and firmly knit The fingers of an old Musician are not so nimble but he hath a more judicious ear in musick than in his youth When Corn is dead ripe it 's apt to fall of its own accord to the ground and there shed whereby it doth as it were anticipate the harvest man and calls upon him to put in the sickle Not unlike to which are the lookings and longings the groanings and hastenings of ready Christians to their expected glory they hasten to the coming of the Lord or as Montanus more 〈◊〉 renders it they hasten the coming of the the Lord i. e. they are urgent and instant in their desires and cryes to hasten his coming their desires sally forth to meet the Lord they willingly take death by the hand as the corn bends to the earth so do these souls to heaven This shews their harvest to be near Six signs of the maturity of Sin WHen â—inners are even dead ripe for hell these â—igns appear upon them or by these at least you may conclude those souls not to be far from wrath upon whom they appear When conscience is wafted and grown past feeling having no remorse for â—in when it ceases to check reprove and smite for sin any more the day of that sinner is at hand his harvest is even come The greatest violation of conscience is the greatest of sins this was the case of the forlorn Gentiles among whom Satan had such a plentiful harvest the patience of God suffered them to grow till their consciences were grown
of a long suffering God! lest he proportion the degrees of his wrath according to the length of his patience The Poem WHen fields are white to harvest forth you go With Sith's and Sickles to reap down and mow Down go the laden ears flat to the ground Which those that follow having stitcht and bound It 's carted home unto the Barn and so The fields are rid where lately corn did grow This world 's the field and they that dwell therein The Corn and tares which long have ripening been Angels the reapers and the judgment day The time of harvest when like Corn and hay The sading flower of earthly glory must Be mowed down and level'd with the dust The Barns are heaven and hell the time draws nigh When through the darkned clouds and troubled skie The Lord shall break a dreadful trumpet shall Sound to the dead the stars from heaven fall The rowling sphears with horrid flames shall burn And then the Tribes on earth shall wail and mourn The judgment set before Christs awful throne All flesh shall be conven'd and every one Receive his doom which done the just shall be Bound in lifes bundle even as you see The full ripe ears of wheat bound up and born In sheaves with joy unto the owners barn This done the Angels next in bundles binde The tares together as they did combinde In acting sin so now their lot must be To burn together in one misery Drunkards with drunkards pinion'd shall be sent To hell together in one Regiment Adulterers and swearers there shall lye In flames among their old society O dreadful howlings O the hideous moans Of â—etter'd sinners O the tears the groans The doleful lamentations as they go Chain'd fast together to their place oâ— we The world thus clear'd as fields when harvest 's in Shall be no more a stage for acting sin With purifying flames it shall be burn'd It s stately fabricks into ashes turn'd Cease then my soul to dote on or admire This splendid world which is reserv'd for fire Decline the company of sinners here As thou wouldst not be shackel'd with them there CHAP. XVI Your winter store in Summer you provide To Christian prudence this must be apply'd OBSERVATION GOod husbands are careful in Summer to provide for Winter then they gather in their Winter store food and fewel for themselves and fodder for their cattel He that gathers in Summer is a wise son but be that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame Prov. 10. 5. A well chosen season is the greatest advantage to any action which as it is seldom found in haste so it is often lost by delay 'T is a good proverb which the frugal Dutch have among them Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium a good Saver will make a good Benefactor And 't is a good Proverb of our own He that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Husbandmen know that Summer will not hold all the year neither will they trust to the hopes of a mild and favourable Winter but in season provide for the worst APPLICATION VVHat excellent Christians should we be were we but as provident and thoughtful for our souls 't is doubtless a singular point of Christan wisdom to foresee a day of spiritual straits and necessities and during the day of grace to make provision for it This great Gospel truth is excellently shadowed forth in this natural Observation which I shall branch out into these seven particulars Husbandmen know there is a change and vicissitude of seasons and weather though it be pleasant Summer weather now yet Winter will tread upon the heel of Summer frosts Snows and great falls of rain must be expected This alternate course of seasons in nature is setled by a firm Law of the God of nature to the end of the world Gen. 8. 22. Whilst the earth remaineth seed time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer day and night shall not cease And Christians know that there are changes in the right hand of the most High in referrence to their spiritual seasons If there be a Spring time of the Gospel there will also be an Autmn if a day of prosperity it will set in a night of adversity for God hath set the one over aginst the other Eccles. 7. 14. In heaven there is a day of everlasting serenity in hell a night of perfect and endless horror and darkness on earth light and darkness take their turns prosperity and adversity even to souls as well as bodies succeed each other If there be a Gospel day a day of grace now current it will have its period and determination Gen. 3. 6. Common prudence and experience enables the Husbandman in the midst of Summer to foresee a Winter and provide for it before he feel it yea natural instinct teaches this to the very birds of the air and beasts of the field And spiritual wisdome should teach Christians to exercise their foreseeing faculties and not suffer them to feel evil before they fear it But O the stupifying nature of sin Though the Stork in the heavens knows her appointed time and the Turtle Crane and Swallow the time of their coming yet man whom God hath made wiser than the fowls of the air in this acts quite below them Ier. 8. 7. The end of Gods ordaining a summer season and sending warm and pleasant weather is to ripen the fruits of the earth and give the Husbandman fit opportunity to gather them in And God's design in giving men a day of grace is to furnish them with an opportunity for the everlasting happiness and salvation of their souls Rev. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent It is not a meer reprieval of the soul or only a delay of the execution of threatned wrath though there be much mercy in that but the peculiar aim of this patience and bounty of God is to open for them a way to escape the wrath to come by leading them to repentance Rom. 2. 4. The Husbandman doth not find all harvest seasons alike favourable sometimes they have much fair weather and meet with no hindrance in their business other times 't is a catching harvest but now and then a fair day and then they must be nimble or all is lost There is also great difference in Soul-seasons some have had a long and a fair season of grace an hundred and twenty years did God wait upon the old world in the Ministry of Noah Long did God wait on the gainsaying Israelites Isa. 42. 14. I have a long time held my peace I have been still and refrained myself Others have a short and catching season all lies upon a day upon a nick of time Act. 17. 30. A proper season neglectd and lost is irrecoverable Many things in Husbandry must be done in their season or cannot be done at all for that
grievous tryals and sufferings upon the Churches for this very end that those which are but chaff i. e. empty and vain Professors may be such winds as these be separated from his people The Church increases two wayes and by two divers means extensively in breadth and numbers and intensively in vigour and power peace and prosperity cause the first sufferings and adversity the last and well may a day of persecution be called a winnowing day for then were the people of God tossed to purpose as corn in the siâ—ve though nothing but chaff be lâ—st thereby Of such a winnowing day the Prophet speaks Amos 9. 9 10. I will sift the house of Israel among all Nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth all the sinners of my people shall die q. d. I will cause great agitations and tossings among you by the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians into whose Countryes you shall be disperst and scattered yet I will so govern those your dispersions by my providence that not one good grain one upright soul shall eternally perish but the sinners of my people the refuse stuff that shall perish To the same purpose speaks another Prophet Zeph. 1. 1 2. Gather your selves together or as some read fan your selves yea fan your selves before the decree bring forth and the day pass as the chaff He doth not mean that the time shall pass as the chaff but there is a day of affliction and distress coming in which the wicked shall pass as the chaff before the wind and yet notwithstanding all these winnowings upon earth much chaff will still abide among the corn therefore God hath appointed another day for the winnownig of the world even the day of judgment in reference to which it is said Psal. 1. 4 5. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous i. e. God hath a day wherein he will fift the world like corn in a sieve and then the wicked shall appear to be but chaff which God will eternally separate from his wheat I will not strain the similitude but fairly display it in these seven particulars The chaff and wheat grow together in the same field and upon the same root and stalk In this wicked men are like chaff who not only associate with the people of God but oftentimes spring up with them in the same families and from the same root or immediate Parents Mal. 1. 2. was not Esau Iacobs brother yet the one was wheat the other chaff Instances of this are infinite The Husbandman would never endure the husks chaff and dry stalks to remain in the field if it were not for the good corns sake he would quickly set fire on it but that the corn is among it which he highly prizeth and be assured God would never suffer the wicked to abide long in this world were it not for his ownâ—â—act that were dispersed among them Except the Lord had such a remnant dispersed in the world he would quickly set fire to the four quarters and make it like Sodom Isa. 1. 9. The chaff is a very worthless thing the Husbandman cares not what becomes of it and of as little worth are wicked men Prov. 10. 20. The heart of the wicked is little worth The heart is the principal part of the man and yet that 's but chaff no worth in it his lands his cloaths c. are worth somewhat but his heart is worth nothing Though chaff in it self be nothing worth yet it is of some use ot the corn whiles 't is standing in the field the stalk bears up the ear and the chaff covers the grain and defends it from the injury of the weather Thus God makes wicked men of use to his people in outward society they help to support and protect them in this world Rev. 12. 16. The earth helped the woman i. e. worldly men for carnal ends helpt the Church when a flood of persecution was poured out The Church often helps the world it receives many benefits from the people of God and sometimes God over-rules the world to help his Church When the chaff and wheat are both brought forth and held up to the wind in one sieve they fall two wayes the wheat falls down upon the floor or sheeâ— the chaft is carried quite away So although for a time godly and ungodly abide together yet when this winnowing time comes Gods wheat shall be gathered into his garner in heaven the chaff shall go the other way Mat. 3. 12. If there be any chaff among the corn it will appear when it is sifted in a windy day it cannot possibly escape if it be well winnowed much more impossible it is for any wicked man to escape the critical search of God in that day the closest hypocrite shall then be detected for God will judge the secrets of men 2 Cor. 16. He will then bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart I Cor. 4. 5. Lastly after corn and chaff are separated by the winnowing wind they shall never lye together in one heap any more The wicked shall see Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God but themselves thrust out there is no chaff in heaven REFLECTIONS AM I an empty vain Professor that want the pith and substance of real godliness then am I but chaff in Gods account though I grow among his corn the eye of man cannot discern my hypocrisie but when he comes whose fan is in his hand then how plainly will it be detected Angels and men shall discern it and say Lo this is the man that made not God his hope how shall I abide the day of his coming Christ is the great heart-Anatomist things shall not be carried then by names and parties as they are now every one shall be weighed in a just balance and a Mene Tekel written upon every false heart great will be the perspicuity of that trial my own conscience shall joyn with my Iudg and shall then acknowledg that there is not one drop of injustice in all that Sea of wrath and though I am damned yet I am not wronged the chaff cannot stand before the wind nor I before the judgment of Christ. Is there such a fanning time coming why do not I then sift my heart every day by serious self-examination no work more important to me and yet how much have I neglected It O my soul thou hadst been better imployed in searching thine own estate in reference to that day than in prying sinfully into the hearts and censuring the conditions of other men judge thy self and thou shalt not be condemned with the world the work indeed is difficult but the neglect dangerous were I within a few dayes to stand