justice cut him down And level'd with the earth his lofty Crown What hope of branches when the tree's o'return'd But like dry faggots to be bound and burn'd It had been so had not transcendent love Which in a sphear above our thoughts doth move Prepar'd a better stock to save and nourish Transplanted twigs which in him thrive and flourish In Adam all are curs'd no saving fruit Shall ever spring from that sin-blasted root Yea all the branches that in him are found How flourishing soever must be bound And pil'd together horrid news to tell To make an everlasting blaze in Hell God takes no pleasure in the sweetest bud Disclos'd by nature for the root 's not good Some boughs indeed richly adorned are With natural fruits which to the eye are fair Rare Gifts sweet dispositions which attracts The love of thousands and from most exacts Honour and admiration You 'l admire That such as these are fewel for the fire Indeed ten thousand pities 't is to see Such lovely creatures in this case to be Did they by true Regeneration draw The sap of life from Iesses root the Law By which they now to wrath condemned are Would cease to curse and God such buds would spare But out of him there 's none of these can move His unrelenting heart or draw his love Then cut me off from this accursed Tree Leâ—t I for ever be cut off from thee CHAP. II. When ere you bud or graft therein you see How Christ and souls must here united be OBSERVATION WHen the Husbandman hath prepared his graffs in the season of the year he carries them with the tools that are necessary for that work to the tree or stock he intends to ingraft and having cut off the top of the limb in some strait smooth part he cleaves it with his knife or chissel a little beside the pith knocks in his wedge to keep it open then having prepared the graff he carefully sets it into the cleft joyning the inner side of the barks of graff and stock together there being the main current of the sap then pulls out his wedge binds both together as in barking and clayes it up to defend the tender graff and wounded stock from the injuries of the Sun and rain These tender cyences quickly take hold of the stock and having immediate coalition with it drink in its sap concoct it into their own nourishment thrive better and bear more and better fruits than ever they would have done upon their natural root yea the smallest bud being carefully inocculated and bound close to the stock will in short time become a flourishing and fruitful limb APPLICATION THis carries a most sweet and lively resemblance of the souls union with Christ by faith and indeed there is nothing in nature that shadows forth this great Gospel-mystery like it 'T is a thousand pities that any who are imployed about or are but spectators of such an action should terminate their thoughts as too many do in that natural object and not raise up their hearts to these heavenly meditations which it so fairly offers them When a twig is to be ingraffed or a bud inocculated it 's first cut off by a keen knife from the Tree on which it naturally grew And when the Lord intends to graft a soul into Christ the first work about it is cutting work Acts 2. 37. their hearts were cut by conviction and deep compunction no cyence is ingraffed without cutting no soul united with Christ without a cutting sense of sin and misery Iohn 16. 8 9. When the tender shoot is cut off from the Tree there are ordinarily many more left behind upon the same Tree as promising and vigorous as that which is taken but it pleaseth the Husbandman to chuse this and leave them Even so it is in the removing or transplanting of a soul by conversion it leaves many behind it in the state of nature as likely and promising as it self but so it pleaseth God to take this soul and leave many others yea often such as grew upon the same root I mean the immediate parent Mal. 1. 2. was not Esau Iacob's brother saith the Lord yet I loved Iacob and I hated Esau. When the graffs are cut off in order to this work 't is a critical season with them if they lye too long before they are ingraffed or take not with the stock they dye and are never more to be recovered they may stand in the stock a while but are no part of the Tree So when souls are under a work of conviction it is a critical time with them many a one have I known then to miscarry and never recovered again they have indeed for a time stood like dead graffs in the stock by an external dead hearted profession but never came to any thing and as such dead graffs either fall off from the stock or moulder away upon it so do these 1 Iohn 2. 19. The Husbandman when he hath cut off graffs or tender buds makes all the convenient speed he can to close them with the stock the sooner that's done the better they get no good by remaining as they are And truly it concerns the servants of the Lord who are imployed in this work of ingraffing souls into Christ to make all the haste they can to bring the convicted sinner to a closure with Christ. As soon as ever the trembling Iaylor cryed out What shall I do to be saved Paul and Silas immediately direct him to Christ Act. 16. 30 31. They do not say it 's too soon for thee to act faith on Christ thou art not yet humbled enough but believe in the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved There must be an incision made in the stock before any bud can be inocculated or the stock must be cut and cleaved before the cyence can be ingraffed according to that in the Poet. Venerit insitio fac ramum ramus adoptet i. e. To graffs no living sap the stocks impart Unless you wound and cut them neer the heart Such an incision or wound was made upon Christ in order to our ingraffing into him Iohn 19. 34. the opening of that deadly wound gives life to the souls of believers The graff is intimately united and closly conjoyned with the stock the conjunction is so closs that they become one Tree There is also a most closs and intimate union betwixt Christ and the soul that believeth in him It is emphatically expressed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit The word imports the nearest clossest and strictest union Christ and the soul cleave together in a blessed oneness as those things do that are glewed one to another so that look as the graff is really in the stock and the spirit or sap of the stock is really in the graff so a believer is really though mystically in Christ and the Spirit of
NO such reward from man Shall others WORK and not regard Their strength TO get a small reward Whilst we TURN slugs and loyter thus Oh that THEIR zeal might quicken us Why are our HANDS and feet so slow When we UNTO our business go How can we THEN Christ's pay expect And yet the CHRISTIANS work reject If this then ALSO that embrace Them both IF not we both disgrace Some if THEY could these two divide T' would PLEASE them well with Christ to side But if they MAY not then it were As good CEASE pleading they 'l not hear Rouze up FROM sloth my soul betake Thee to thy WORK no cavils make O strive AND try Saints say that even The pain they TAKE hath much of heaven But yet THEIR best wine 's kept till last Their rest and EASE comes all so fast CHAP. II. The hardest labourers are the thriving men If you 'l have thriving souls be active then OBSERVATION INdustry and diligence is the way to thrive and grow rich in the world The earth must be manured or its increase is in vain expected Qui fugit molam fugit farinam he that refuses the mill refuses the meal saith the Proverb the diligent soul shall be made fat Solomon hath two proverbs concerning thriftiness and increase in the world In Prov. 10. 4. he saith The hand of the diligent maketh rich And v. 22. he saith The blessing of the Lord maketh rich These are not contradictory but confirmatory each of other one speaks of the principal the other of the instrumental cause Diligence without Gods blessing will not do it and that blessing cannot be expected without diligence therefore Husbandmen ply their business with unwearied pains they do even lodge in the midst of their labours as that good Husband Boaz did Ruth 2. 3. they are parsimonious of their time but prodigal of their sweat and strength because they find this to be the thriving way APPLICATION AS nature opens her treasures to none but the diligent so neither doth grace He that will be rich must be a painful Christian and whosoever will closly ply the trade of godliness shall comfortably and quickly find That in keeping Gods commands there is great reward Psal. 19. 11. God is a bountiful rewarder of such as diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. They must not indeed work for wages nor yet will God suffer their work to go unrewarded yea it sufficiently rewards it self 1 Tim. 6. 6. and its reward is twofold 1 present and in part 2 future and in full Mark 10. 29 30. Now in this time an hundred-fold even from suffering which seems the most unprofitable part of the work and in the world to come life everlasting If you ask what present advantage Christians have by their diligence I answer as much and more than the Husbandman hath from all his toyls and labours Let us compare the particulars and see what the Husbandman gets that the Christian gets not also Compare your gains and you 'l quickly see the odds You get credit and reputation by your diligence 't is a commendation and honour to you to be active and stirring men But how much more honour doth God put upon his laborious servants 'T is the highest honour of a creature to be active and useful for its God Saints are called vessels of honour as they are fitted for the Masters use 2 Tim. 2. 21. Wherein consists the honour of Angels but in this that they are ministring spirits serviceable creatures And all the Apostles gloried in the title of servants The lowest office in which a man can serve God even that of a Nethinim or door-keeper which was the lowest order or rank of officers in the house of God Ezek. 44. 10 11. is yet preferred by David before the service of the greatest Prince on earth Psal. 84. 10. 'T is no small honour to be active for God You have this benefit by your labour that thereby you avoid loose and evil company which would draw you into mischief By diligence for God the Christian also is secured from temptations God is with them while they are with him 2 Chron. 15. 2. Communion with God in the way of duty is a great preservative against temptations The School-men put the question how the Angels and glorified Saints become impeccant and resolve it thus That they are secured from sin by the beatifical vision and sure-I am that the visions of God not only in glory but now also in duty are marvellous defences against sin and they that are most active for God have the fullest and clearest visions of God Ioh. 14. 21. You have this benefit by your labour that it tends much to the health of your bodies The Christian hath this benefit by his labour that it tends to a faithful state of soul The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. As those that follow their daily labours in the field have much more health than Citizens that live idly or Scholars that live a sedentary life So the active Christian enjoys more spiritual health and is troubled with fewer complaints than others By diligence in your civil imployments you preserve your estates and are kept from running behind-hand in the world Bayliffs trouble not such mens doors they usually have the fore-foot of their neighbours And by activity and diligence for God souls are kept from backsliding and runing back in their graces and comforts Remissions and intermissions in our duties are the first steps and degrees by which a soul declines and wastes as to his spiritual estate Your pains and diligence in the fields makes your beds sweet to you at night Eccl. 5. 12. Rest is sweet to a labouring man whether he eat little or much But the diligent life of a Christian makes the clods of the valley his grave sweet unto him 2 Cor. 1. 12. 2 King 20. 3. Remember now O Lord how I have walked before thee c. Think Christian how sweet it will be for thee when thou comest to dye to say then as thy Redeemer did when near his death Ioh. 17. 4 5. I have finished the work thou gavest me to do and now O Father glorifie me with thine own self The expence of your sweat fills your purses you get estates by your diligence and labour but what are your gains to the gains of Christians They can get in an hour that which they will not part with for all the gold and silver on earth Prov. 3. 14. So that compare these labourers as to all their advantages and you shall see that there is no trade like that which the diligent Christian drives REFLECTIONS Blush then O my soul at the consideration of thy laziness and sloth which is attended with so many spiritual wants and can I wonder at it when I refuse the painful way of duty in which the precious fruits of Godliness are
I was all the while minding another matter Righteous art thou O Lord in all that is come upon us I am now as a Spring shut up that can yield no refreshment to thirsty souls ready to perish Thou hast said to me as once to Ezekiel Son of man behold I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb This is a heavy judgment but thou must be justified and cleared in it Although men may not yet God if he please may put a lighted candle under a bushel And herein I must acknowledge thy righteousness Many times have I been sinfully silent when both thy glory and the interest of souls ingaged me to speak Most justly therefore hast thou made my tongue to cleave to its roof Little did I consider the preciousness of souls or the tremenduous account to be given for them at the appearing of the great Shepherd I have now time enough to sit down and mourn over former miscarriages and lost opportunities Lord restore me once again to a serviceable capacity to a larger sphere of activity for thee for I am now become as a broken vessel It grieves me to the heart to see thy flock scattered to hear thy people cry to me as once to Ioseph Give us bread for why should we dye in thy presence Thy word is like fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with forbearing O that thou wouldst once again open the doors of thine house that there may be bread enough in thine house for all thy children The Poem When God doth make the heavens above us brass The earth's lke iron Flowers herbs and grass Have lost their fragrant green are turned yellow The brooks are dry the pining cattel bellow The fat and flowry meadows scorcht and burn'd The Countreys mirth is into mourning turn'd The clefted earth her thirsty mouth sets ope Unto the empty clouds as 't were in hope Of some refreshing drops that might allay Her fiery thirst but they soon pass away The pensive Husbandman with his own eyes Bedews his Land because he sees the skies Refuse to do it just so stands the case When God from souls removes the means of grace God's Ministers are clouds their doctrine rain Which when the Lord in judgment shall restrain The peoples souls in short time will be found In such a case as this dry parched ground When this sad judgment falls on any Nation Let Saints therein take up this lamentation O dreadful dark and dismal day How is our glory fled away Our Sun gone down our stars o'recast God's heritage is now laid wast Our pining souls no bread can get With wantons God hath justly met When we are fed unto the full This man was tedious that was dull But they are gone and there remain No such occasions to complain Stars are not now for lights but signs God knows of what heart-breaking times Sure heaven intends not peace but wars In calling home Ambassadors How long did Sodom's judgment stay When righteous Lot was snatcht away How long remain'd that stately Hall When Sampson made the pillars fall When Horsemen and Commanders fly Wo to the helpless Infantry This is a sad and fatal blow A publick loss and overthrow You that so long have wish'd them gone Be quiet now the thing is done Did they torment you ere your day God hath remov'd them out o'th'way Now sleep in sin and take your ease Their doctrine shall no more displease But Lord what shall become of us Our Teacher's gone and left us thus To whom shall we our selves address When conscience labours in distress O who shall help us at our need Or pour in Balm when wounds do bleed Help Lord for unto thee our eyes Do pour out tears our groans our cryes Shall never cease till thou restore The mercies which we had before Till Sions paths where grass now grows Be trodden by the feet of those That love thy name and long t' enjoy The mercies they have sin'd away CHAP. IX Seeds dye and rot and then most fresh appear Saints bodies rise more orient then they mere OBSERVATION AFter the seed is committed to the earth it seems to perish and dye as our Saviour speaks Iohn 12. 24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it brings forth much fruit The death of the Corn in the earth is not a total death but only the corruption or alteration of it for if once the seminal life and vertue of it were quite extinguisht it could never put forth blade or ear without a miracle Yet because that alteration is a kind of death therefore Christ here uses it as a fit illustration of the resurrection And indeed there is nothing in nature more apt to illustrate that great mystery What a fragrant green and beautiful blade do we â—ee spring up from a corrupted seed how black and mouldy is that how beautiful and verdant is this APPLICATION EVen thus shall the bodies of the Saints arise in beauty and glory at the resurrection They are sown in dishonour they are raised in glory they are sown natural bodies they are raised spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. 43 44. The Husbandman knows that though the seed rot in the earth yet it will rise again And the believer knows That though after his skin worms destroy his body yet in his flesh he shall see God Iob 19. 25 c. and the resemblance betwixt the seed sown and springing up and the bodies of the Saints dying and rising again lyes in these following particulars First the seed is committed to the earth from whence it came so is the body of a Saint earth it was and to earth it is again resolved Grace exempts not the body of the best man from seeing corruption Rom. 8. 10. Though Christ be in him yet the body is dead that is sentenced to death because of sin Heb. 6. ult It is appointed for all men once to dye Secondly The seed is cast into the earth in hope 1 Cor. 9. 10. Were there not a resurrection of it expected the Husbandman would never be willing to cast away his Corn. The bodies of Saints are also committed to the grave in hope I Thes. 4. 13 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning those which are asleep as them which have no hope for if we believe that Iesus dyed and rose again even so also them which sleep in Iesus shall the Lord bring with him This blessed hope of a resurrection sweetens not only the troubles of life but the pangs of death Thirdly the seed is cast into the earth seasonably in its proper season So are the bodies of the Saints Ioh. 5. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age as a shock of corn cometh in in its season They alwayes dye in the fittest time though sometimes they seem
soul who gave thee a season a day for eternal life which is more than he hath done for thousands yea bless the Lord for giving thee an heart to understand and improve that season I confess I have not improved it as I ought yet this I can through mercy say that how ever it fare in future times with my outward man though I have no treasures or stores laid up on earth or if I have they are but corruptible yet I have a blessed hope laid up in heaven Col. 1. 5. I have bags that wax not old Whilst worldlings rejoyce in their stores and heaps I will rejoyce in these eternal treasures The Poem OBserve in Summers sultry heat how in the hottest day The Husbandman doth toyl and sweat about his Corn and Hay If then he should not reap and mow and gather in his store How should he live when for the snow he can't move out of door The little Ants and painful Bees by natures instinct led These have their Summer granaries for Winter furnished But thou my soul whose Summers day is almost past and gone What soul-provision dost thou lay in stock to spend upon If nature teacheth to prepare for temporal life much rather Grace should provoke to greater care soul food in time to gather Dayes of affliction and distress are hasting on apace If now I live in carelessness how sad will be my case Unworthy of the name of man who for that soul of thine Wil t not do that which others can do for their very kine Think frugal Farmers when you see your mows of Corn and Hay What a conviction this will be to you another day Who ne're were up before the Sun nor break an hours rest For your poor souls as you have done so often for a beast Learn once to see the difference betwixt eternal things And these poor transient things of sence that fly with eagles wings CHAP. XVII When from Tare seeds you see choice Wheat to grow Then from your lusts may joy and comfort flow OBSERVATION GOd gives to every seed it s own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. At first he created every Tree and herb of the field having its seed in it self for the conservation of the species and they all inviolably observe the Law of their Creation All fruits naturally rise out of the seeds and roots proper to them Men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles Such productions would be monstrous in nature and although the juice or sap of the earth be the common matter of all kind of fruits yet it is specificated according to the different sorts of Plants and seeds it nourishes Where Wheat is sown it 's turned into Wheat in an apple Tree it becomes an apple and so in every sort of Plants or seeds it 's concocted into fruit proper to the kind APPLICATION TRanslate this into spirituals and the proposition shadowed forth by it is fully expressed by the Apostle Gal. 6. 7. What a man sows that shall be reap they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting And as sure as the harvest follows the seed-time so sure shall such fruits and effects result from the seeds of such actions He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity Prov. 22. 8. And they that now go forth weeping and bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Psal. 126. 5. The sum of all is this That our present actions have the same respect and relation to future rewards and punishments as the seed we sow in our fields hath to the harvest we reap from it Every gracious action is the seed of joy and every sinful action the seed of anguish and sorrow to the soul that sowed it Two things are sensibly presented to us in this â—imilitude That as the seed sown is presently covered from our sight under the clods and for some time after we see no more of it and yet at last it appears again by which it's evident to us that it is not finally lost So our present actions though physically transient and perhaps forgotten yet are not lost but after a time shall appear again in order to a retribution If this were not so all good and holy actions would be to the loss of him that performed them All the self-denial spending duties and sharp sufferings of the people of God would turn to their damage though not in point of honesty yet in point of personal utility and then also what difference would there be betwixt the actions of a man and a beast with respect to future good or evil yea man would then be more feared and obeyed than God and souls be swayed in all their motions only by the influence of present things and where then would Religion be found in the world 'T is an excellent note of Drexellius Our works saith he do not pass away as soon as they are done but as seed sown shall after a time rise up to all eternity whatever we think speak or do once spoken thought or done is eternal and abides for ever What Zeuxes the famous Limner said of his work may be truly said of all our works Aeternitati pingo I paint for eternity O how careful should men be of what they speak and do whilst they are commanded so to speak and so to do as those that shall be judged by the perfect law of liberty Iam. 2. 12. What more transient than a vain word and yet for such words men shall give an account in the day of judgment Mat. 12. 36. That 's the first thing Actions like seed shall rise and appear again in order to a retribution The other thing held forth in this similitude is That according to the nature of our actions now will be the fruit and reward of them then Though the fruit or consequence of holy actions for the present may seem bitter and the fruit of sinful actions sweet and pleasant yet there is nothing more certain that that their future fruits shall be according to their present nature and quality 2 Cor. 5. 10. Then Dionisius shall retract that saying Ecce quam prospera navigatio a Deo datur sacrilegis Behold how God favours our sacriledge Sometimes indeed though but rarely God causes sinners to reap in this world the same that they have sown as hath been their sin such hath been their punishment It was openly confessed by Adonibezek Iudg. 1. 7. as I have done so hath God requited me Socrates in his Church History furnishes us with a pertinent passage to this purpose concerning Valens the Emperor who was an Arrian and a bitter persecutor of the Christians This man when eighty of the Orthodox Christians failed from Constantinople to Nicomedia to treat with him about the points of Arrianism and to settle the matter by
MEDIT. III. Vpon the fighting of two Rams TAking notice how furiously these Sheep which by nature are mild and gentle did yet like bulls push each other taking their advantage by going back to meet with a greater rage and fury Methought I saw in this a plain Emblem of the unchristian contests and animosities which fall out amongst them that call themselves the people of God who in Scripture are also stiled Sheep for their meekness and innoceny and yet through the remaining corruptions that are in them thus do they push each other as one long since complained non secus ac Cum duo conversis inimica in praelia tauri Frontibus incurrunt Shall Christians one another wound and push Like furious Bulls when they together rush The fighting of these sheep doth in two respects notably comport with the sinful practises of contending Christians 1 That in this fight they ingage with their heads one against another and what are they but those head-notions or opposition of Sciences falsly so called that have made so many broyls and uproars inthe Christian world O! What clashings have these heady opinions caused in the Churches first heads and then hearts have clashed Christians have not distinguished betwixt adversarius litis personae an adversary to the opinion and to the person but dipt their tongues and pens in vinegar and gall shamefully aspersing and reproaching one another because their understandings were not cast into one mould and their heads all of a bigness But 2 that which Countrey-men observe from the fighting of Sheep That is presages soul and stormy weather is much more certainly consequent upon the fighting of Christs Sheep Do these clash and push Surely it is an infallible prognosâ—ick of an ensuing storm Mal. 4. 6. MEDIT. IV. Vpon the catching of a Horse in a fat Pasture WHen this Horse was kept in poor short leas where he had much scope but little grass how gentle and tractable was he then he would not only stand quiet to be taken but come to hand of his own accord and follow me up and down the field for a crust of bread or handful of Oaâ—s but since I turned him into this fat pasture he comes no more to me nor will suffer me to come neer him but throws up his heels wantonly against me and flies from me as if I were rather his enemy than Benefactor In his I behold the carriage of my own heart towards God who the more he hath done for me the seldomer doth he hear from me in a low and afflicted state how tractable is my heart to duty Then iâ— comes to the foot of God voluntarily but in an exalted condition how wildly doth my heart run from God and duty With this ungrateful requital God faulted his own people Ier. 2. 31. teachable and tractable in the wilderness but when fatted in that rich pasture Canaan then we are Lords we will come no more to thee How soon are all Gods former benefits forgotten and how often is that antient observation verified even in his own people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Post munera cito consenescit gratia No sooner do we gifts on some bestow But presently our gifts gray headed grow But that 's a bad Tenant that will maintain a Suit at Law against his Landlord with his own rent and a bad heart that will fight against God with his own mercies I wish it may be with my heart as it is reported to be with the waters in the Kingdom of Congo that are never so sweet to the taste as when the tide is at the highest MEDIT. V. Vpon the hunting of a Deer THe full-mouthed cry of these Dogs which from the morning have nunted this poor tired Deer which is now no longer able to stand before them but is compassed round with them who thirst for and will presently such her blood brings to my thoughts the condition and state of Iesus Christ in the dayes of his flesh who was thus hunted from place to place by blood-thirsty enemies Upon this very account the 22. Psal. which treats of his death is inscribed with the title of Aijeleth Shahar which signifies the Hind of the morning and fully imports the same notion which this occasion presented me with for look as the Hind or Deer which is intended to be run down that day is rouzed by the Dogs early in the morning So was Christ in the very morning of his infancy by bloudy Herod and that cruel pack confederated with him Thus was he chased from place to place till that was fulfilled which was prophetically written of him in ver 16. of the forecited Psalm For Dogs have compassed me about the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet And canst thou expect O my soul to fare better than he did or escape the rage off bloudy men Surely if the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee if his holiness have â—avoured thee these Dogs will wind it and give thee chase too they go upon the scent of holiness still and would hunt to destruction every one in whom there is aliquid Christi any thing of Christ if the gracious providence of the Lord did not sometimes rate them off For it is no less a pleasure which some wicked ones take in hunting the people of God than what Claudian the Poet observes men use to take in hunting wild beasts Venator defessa thoro quum membra reponit Mens tamen ad Sylvas sua lustra redit Whilst weary Huntsmen in the night do sleep Their fancies in the woods still hunting keep Lord should I with the hypocrite decling the profession and practise of holiness to escape the rage of persecuting enemies at what time they cease my own conscience would begin to hunt me like a Blood-hound let me rather chuse to be chased by men than God to flee before pursuing enemies than be dogged from day to day with a guilty conscience MEDITATIONS upon Trees MEDIT. I. Vpon the fall of blossoms nipt by a frosty morning BEholding in an early Spring fruit Trees embossed with beautiful blossoms of various colours which breathed forth the delicious odours into the circumambi◠〈◊〉 and adorned the branches on which they grew like so many rich jewels or glittering pendents and further observing how these persumed blossoms dropt off being bitten with the frost and discoloured all the ground as if a shower of snow had fallen I said within my self these sweet and early Lord in the days of my first acquaintance with him Oh! what fervent love panting desires and heavenly delights beautified my soul in those dayes the odoriferous scent of the sweetest blossoms the morning breath of the most fragrant flowers hath not half that sweetness with which those my first affection were inriched O! happy time thrice pleasant Spring my soul hath it still in remembrance and is humbled within me for these also were but blossoms which now are nipt and saded
that first flourish is gone my heart is like the Winters earth because thy face Lord is to me like a Winter Sun Awake O Northwind and come South wind blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out then let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit MEDIT. II. Vpon the knitting or setting of fruit I Have often observed that when the blossoms of a tree set and knit though the flourish thereof be gone and nothing but the bare rudiment of the expected fruit be left yet then the fruit is much better secured from the danger of frosts and winds than whilst it remained in the flower or blossom for now it hath past one of those critical periods in which so many trees miscarry and lose their fruit And methought this natual Observation fairly led me to this Theological Proposition That good motions and holy purposes in the soul are never secured and past their most dangerous Crisis till they be turned into fixed resolutions and answerable execution which is as the knitting and setting of them Upon this Proposition my melting thoughts thus dilated Happy had it been for thee my soul had all the blessed motions of the Spirit been thus knit and fixed in thee O how have mine affections blown and budded under the warm beams of the Gospel but a I hill blast from the cares troubles and delights of the world without and the vanity and deadness of the heart within have blasted all my goodness hath been but as a morning dew or early cloud that vanisheth away And even of divine Ordinance I may say what is said of humane Ordinances They have perished in the using A blossom is but fruâ—tus imperfectus ordinabilis an imperfect thing in it self and something in order to fruit a good motion and holy purpose is but opus imperfectum ordinabile an imperfect work in order to a compleat work of the Spirit When that primus impetus those first motions were strong upon my heart had I then pursued them in the force and vigour of them how many difficulties might I have overcome Revive thy work O Lord and give not to my soul a miscarrying womb or dry breasts MEDIT. III. Vpon the sight of a fair spreading Oak WHat a lofty flourishing Tree is here It seems rather to be a little Wood than a single Tree every limb thereof having the dimensions and branches of a Tree in it and yet as great as it is it was once but a little slip which one might pull up with two fingers this vast body was contained virtually and potentially in a small Acorn Well then I will never despise the day of Small things nor despair of arriving to an eminency of grace though at present it be but as a bruised reed and the things that are in me be ready to dye As things in nature so the things of the Spirit grow up to their fulness and perfection by flow and insensible degrees The famous and heroical acts of the most renowned believers were such as themselves could not once perform or it may be think they ever should Great things both in nature and grace come from small and contemptible beginnings MEDIT. IV. Vpon the sight of many sticks lodged in the branches of a choice fruit Tree HOw is this Tree batter'd with stones and loaded with sticks that have been thrown at it whilest those that grow about it being barren or bearing harsher fruit escape untouched Surely if its fruit had not been so good its usage had not been so bad and yet it is affirmed that some trees as the Walnut c. bear the better for being thus bruised and battered Even thus it fares in both respects with the best of men the more holy the more envied and persecuted every one that passes by will have a fling at them Methinks I see how devils and wicked men walk round about the people of God whom he hath enclosed in armes of power like so many boys about an Orchard whose lips water to have a fling at them But God turns all the stones of reproach into precious stones to his people they bear the better for being thus batter'd And in them is that ancient observation verified Creseunt virtutem palmae crescuntque Coronae Mutantur mundipraelia pace Dei The Palmes and Crowns of virtue thus increase Thus persecution's turned into peace Let me be but fruitful to God in holiness and ever abounding in the work of the Lord and then whilst devils and men are flinging at me either by hand or tongue persecutions I will sing amidst them all with the divine Poet What open force or hidden charm Can blast my fruits or bring me harm Whilst the inclosure is thine arm MEDIT. V. Vpon the gathering of choice fruit from a scrubbed unpromising Tree VVOuld any man think to find such rare delicious fruit upon such an unworthy Tree to appearance as this is I should rather have expected the most delicious fruit from the most handsome and flourishing Trees but I see I must neither judge the worth of Tree or Men by their external form and appearance This is not the first time I have been deceived in judging by that rule under fair and promising out-sides I have found nothing of worth and in many deformed despicable bodies I have found precious richly furnished souls The sap and juice of this scrubbed Tree is concocted into rare and excellent fruits whilst the juice and sap of some other fair but barren Trees serves only to keep them from rotting which is all the use that many souls which dwell in beautâ—uâ—l bodies serve for they have as one saith animam pro sale their souls are butsalt to their bodies Or thus The only use to which their souls do serve Is but like salt their bodies to preserve If God have given me a sound soul in a sound body I have a double mercy to bless him for but whither my body be vigorous and beautiful or not yet let my soul be so For as the esteem of this Tree so the esteem and true honour of every man rises rather from his fruitfulness and usefulness than from his shape and form MEDIT. VI. Vpon an excellent but irregular Tree SEeing a Tree grow somewhat irregular in a very neat Orchard I told the Owner it was pity that Tree should stand there and that if it were mine I would root it up and thereby reduce the Orchard to an exact uniformity It was replyed to this purpose that he rather regarded the fruit than the form and that this slight inconveniency was abundantly preponderated by a more considerable advantage This Tree said he which you would root up hath yielded me more fruit than many of those Trees which have nothing else to commend them but their regular scituation I could not but yield to the reason of this answer and could wish it had been spoken so loud that all our Uniformity men had