the whole world would Rot and Perish without it All the Hearts of men and women in the World that live without the Gospel they are to God as rotten and stinking meat as filthy carrion is to you Indeed when once the hearts and minds of People are seasoned with the Gospel now they become sweet and savoury to God so Vers 14. What would this World be without the Sun in the Firmament shining upon it but a dark Dungeon Such my Brethren and no other are all the Kingdoms Nations Cities Countries Parishes Villages in the World where the light of the Gospel doth not shine Where they have not had the Ministry of the Word neither Prophets nor Apostles nor faithful Ministers of Christ to preach the Gospel and to make known the mind and will of God to them they are but as so many dark dungeons where the Prince of darkness reigns where unbelief Idolatry Superstition and all manner of wickedness and profaness reigns I say the state of nature is a state of darkness all the world doth but grope in darkness as the Egyptians did till they come to have the Gospel preached to them Alas they know little of God and nothing of Jesus Christ nor of the Gospel nor of the Covenant of Grace nor of the way to salvation by a Redeemer nor what the new Creature is and the work of Regeneration is How great a blessing and great gift therefore is it to have the Ministry of the Gospel You may see it by that promise God gives out in Jer. 3.15 And I will give you Pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding As if he had said Here is the Blessing the Blessing of Blessings I will bestow upon you for there is none comparable to it Suppose a man should have his habitation or dwelling in never so pure an Air and never so good a soil where he hath his Garden and his Fish-ponds and all outward Contentment his heart can desire but doth not the Sun of the Gospel shine there the Air and Wind of the Spirit breath there the clouds of Gods Ordinances drop there then I say it is but a dark and black place If the best things be not to be had there what is it for a man to be fatted to destruction what is a life without a life of Grace Again what a Blessing it is may appear in that it was the fruit of Christs prayer of his death blood and intercession Ephes 4.8 11. you read there of Christs ascending to Glory when he ascended up on high he gave gifts to men You know Kings and Emperours upon the day of their Coronation they use to scatter Money and let Conduits run with Wine give gifts to their friends this was the day Christ went up to Heaven and went to take his Crown of Glory now he gave gifts to men Vers 11. What did he give them for for the Perfecting Saints As if here was the greatest gifts the Son of God had to bestow on the Children of men here was the fruit of his Blood as well as Intercession Had it not been for the Blood of Christ there had never been any such thing as a Gospel-Ministry or Church or Ordinances In a word If you consider the great ends for which the Ministry is given it is for the bringing about the greatest good of the Children of men it is for the bringing you to the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ whom to know is eternal life it is to reveal the great Counsels of God to the Children of men The Preaching of the Gospel it is not only to civilize men and women though that were good if it were no more and many times where it hath not its saving work it hath the Authority to make people civil but I say the Preaching of the Gospel it is not only to make you civil but to make you Saints new Creatures 2. Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Why it belongs to the great Lord of the Harvest to give these Labourers The sending of Labourers into this Harvest is not only an Act of Grace and Mercy but of Power and greatest Authority Therefore Matth. 28. when Christ sends forth his Disciples to Preach mark the Preface Vers 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Mark how Christ doth begin with the preamble of all power being given to him in Heaven and in Earth It is as if he had said I am sending you about the greatest work that ever any Creatures were imployed in the Angels in Heaven were not imployed in a greater work than this of Preaching the Gospel for your Incouragement know all power in Heaven and in Earth is given into my hands and I will be with you and second you Here I might shew you how the Lord of the Harvest doth send forth his Labourers 1. It is he that calls them he that gives them their Mission and Commission they have their Commission on from Christ from Father Son and holy Spirit all their names are in the Commission though it is more Immediately from the Son Indeed did not God send them they could never expect to do any good in the World to convert one soul were not Preaching Gods Ordinance 2. It is he must gift and qualifie these Labourers for the work As in Nehem. 9.10 saith Nehemiah there Thou gavest thy holy Spirit Vers 20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit The meaning is in the Prophets which he gave them whereby they were fitted for the Work they were set about So it is still under the Gospel 1 Cor. 12.4 5. Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of Administrations but the same Lord. Whence are these diversities of gifts and ministerial Abilities they are from God This indeed my Brethren is very wonderful to be considered As you see a multitude of faces in the world yet every one differs from another so to consider that diversity that variety of gifts and spiritual Abilities God hath given to men in this work yet none hath the same gift To one the gift of Doctrine to another the gift of Exhortation One he is as a Son of Thunder to awaken another is a Son of Consolation to comfort I say variety of gifts and why to profit withall It is all for your profit that if you are not taken with one mans gifts you may be with anothers 3. It is the Lord of the Harvest that doth send forth and design every Labourer to his particular place and station wherein he is to labour it is he that appoints them the bounds of their habitation The Apostle he bids them feed the Church of God over which the H. Ghost had made them Overseers the holy Ghost placed them there If a Sparrow fall not to the ground without the power
of God much less doth a Minister preach a Sermon but there is a providence in it When God sends a Minister to a Congregation he doth lett out a piece of Land or bids him husband that for me Levit. 27.26 You read there how God would have them to value their Land dedicated to God to be worth more or less according to the Seed of it as it was capable of receiving much or less seed so the Minister should value his Land according to his opportunity he hath to sow Seed there 4. It is the Lord of the Harvest that must give success to these Labourers or else all their Preaching and labouring will be but as Plowing and Sowing among the Rocks You must not think Preaching of the Gospel doth work upon souls by any inherent vertue in the Word as Fire warms and Food nourishes and Physick heals If the Spirit of the Lord doth not go along with the Word it will be but as Musick to the Deaf c. 1 Cor. 3. Paul may plant Apollos may water but God gives the increase Now if the husbandman cannot command Seed to grow out of the Ground how much less can Ministers create Grace in Souls If in Natural things it is God that makes the Grass to spring how much more in spiritual things It is he makes the Soul to fructifie Alas it is not the parts and Eloquence of the Minister can beget Grace that must be the work of Gods Spirit 3. Here is our Duty or work in order to the obtaining this Gift that is to Pray the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Prayers you know that is the prevailing course for the removing any evil that lies upon us or obtaining any good we stand in need of Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear you Such and such things God promises to do for his People But for this I will be sought unto saith the Lord. God will do good things for his Church and People but he will do things in his own order Here I might shew you the great power the Prayers of Gods People have with him The fervent effectual Prayer of the righteous prevaileth much Acts 12. You read there how Herod had put to death one of the Apostles And Peter was likewise taken up too and the Church go to Prayer what was the issue Peter was delivered Likewise what became of Herod He was smitten of God As one said Wo be to the Birds of prey when Gods Turtles begin to cry and mourn before him O that we were perswaded of this that there is such a great deal of power and prevalency in Prayer how should we be more exercised in this Duty both in publick and private and to be representing the state of the Church to God as they did of Lazarus to Christ He whom thou lovest is dead so should we say He whom thou lovest thy Church is sick and languishing ready to give up the Ghost I would come to the last thing There are only two or three Uses I would make of it Use 1. If it be the duty of every good Christian Man and Woman thus to pray and cry to God for the sending more Labourers into his Harvest then it shews us 1. The necessity of a Gospel Ministry What do you think of the Husbandmans Calling is that a necessary Calling to Plow and sow the Land that ye may have Bread to eat What would your Houses and Families do without Bread No more can a Church of God subsist in this world without the Ministry of the Word I know there are some ready to say What need is there of mens Preaching what need of the Ministry of Man cannot God do it alone Yea we have Christ and the teaching of the Spirit what need is there of mans teaching is not the Spirit above man is not Christ above Ministers I grant there is no necessity of Preaching the Word with respect to God he is able to save men and women without the Preaching of the Word as well as with it he doth not need the gifts and parts and tongue of any man for bringing souls home to himself As Israel in the Wilderness when they had no Plowing yet God could feed them he could bring them Bread from Heaven But yet as Gods ordinary way of maintaining and feeding your Bodies it is by Plowing and sowing the Field so it is the ordinary way God hath set in his Church for feeding your souls It pleased him 1 Cor. 1.21 by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe and God will keep close to his own Ordinance and honour his own Institution As Acts 9. when Paul was converted it was in an extraordinary way It is true Christ did speak to him out of the Clouds Saul Saul why persecutest c. and he said Who art thou Lord Christ you know Preached himself to Paul and he trembled and was astonished and said Lord what wouldst thou have me to do and Christ said Arise and go into the City and it shall be told thee what thou must do Could not Christ have as well told him his own work and business See how Christ begins the work but would have Paul to wait upon him in his own way therefore Ananias must be sent to Paul The like instance you have in the next Chapter there you read of Cornelius a devout man yet knew little of Christ and God sent an Angel to him Thy Prayer is heard and thine Alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God send therefore to Joppa and call Simon whose Surname is Peter and he shall speak unto thee What was not the Angel as well able to have taught Cornelius as Peter yea doubtless but as if he had said That is none of my Commission therefore send for such a person he shall speak to thee Here I might spend time to shew you the necessity of the Ministry of the Word 1. In order to Conversion Regeneration and bringing sinners to Christ Faith comes by hearing Who is Paul c. but Ministers by whom ye believed Do you look for seed-time without Plowing the Ground No more must you expect Grace without hearing the Word 2. I might shew you the necessity hereof for the building up of those that are Converted When we are in Christ when we are Believers we are not now above the Ministry of the Word above Ordinances No my Brethren this Ministry of the Word and Ordinances must continue in the Church as long as there is one soul to be saved as long as one soul is out of Heaven it must continue till the coming of Christ Again 2. If the sending forth of Labourers into the Harvest be such a desirable mercy then it shews us how much we should prize a faithful Ministry If God hath sent us faithful Ministers we should look upon it as a great and wonderful blessing It is the
doth so often make use of such kind of comparisons and similitudes as these are The Lords People they are sometimes compared to a Garden sometimes to a Vineyard or as here to a Tilled and Harvest-field So that our Souls they are Gods Field and Harvest What doth that imply It implys these two things 1. It shews us what we are by Nature When the Gospel doth first come unto us that we are as an untilled Field as a barren Desart or as an unfruitful Wilderness In Gen. 3. and about the 18th you read there upon mans sin that God had Cursed the Earth therefore Thorns and Thistles shall it bring forth There was the like Curse upon the heart of man from that time it brought forth nothing but Thorns and Thistles So that as it is with persons that are travelling through some Desart places over high Mountains through rocky and stony waies where there is no husbandry used there grows nothing but Bryars and Thorns and unfruitful Trees such as are fit for the fire Such are the hearts and lives of all the children of men by Nature like the Ground the Apostle speaks of in the sixth of the Hebrews that brings forth nothing but Thorns and Nettles which is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned As for those fruits of the Flesh which the Apostle speaks of in Gal. 5.19 Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders and the like these fruits abound every where But as for those fruits of the Spirit which he mentions in the following verse which is Love and Joy and Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Paith Meekness and the like These fruits grow not in Natures Garden One asking a Gardiner what the reason was that Weeds did spring so naturally out of the Ground when it was so hard a thing to make good Plants and Flowers grow in it He answered Because the Earth was as a Natural Mother to the Weeds but was become as a Step-mother to the Plants Thus it is with all our hearts by nature the things of Grace and Godliness they are not only above our corrupt natures but contrary to them In a word my Brethren What were all those Churches you read of in the New Testament the Roman Corinthian and the rest of them before the Gospel was Preached to them They were all but as a noisome Dunghill or barren Wilderness to God till the Apostles came to Preach amongst them and to Plant them and then indeed the Wilderness was turned into a fruitful Garden then was fulfilled that of the Prophet Instead of the Bryar came up the Fir-tree c. Then 2. As this shews us what we are by Nature so it evidences Secondly What we should be when the Gospel comes to us As the Ground receives in the Plow and the Seed that it may bring forth the Harvest so should we be willing to hear the Word and to receive the Gospel that we may be gathered in unto Christ by Faith and Repentance As the Prophet Jer. 4.3 He bids us Plow up the fallow ground for thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem Break up the fallow ground and sow not among Thorns The Husbandman doth not use to cast his Seed among the Thorns without first breaking up the fallow Ground without first loosening the root of the Thorns and cleansing it from the Weeds and when the fallow Ground is broken up many times it needs to be Plowed not only once but twice or three times before it is fit to receive the Seed Thus it is with our hearts by Nature we need to be Plowed by the Word over and over and to be Harrowed by Afflictions again and again before we are fit to receive the Seed and to bring forth fruit to God Break up the fallow Ground and sow not among Thorns For persons to sow their Seed without Plowing the Ground that were a preposterous course And so it is with many people when they are convinced that they have lived wickedly they think they will now mend their waies and do better and perform some good actions that God approves of and then they hope all will be well I but that is to sow without Plowing God will never have a good Crop here Ungodliness will never be rooted out nor Godliness truly implanted in the soul except our hearts be first Plowed and broken up Therefore as the Plow you know doth enter into the bowels and heart of the Earth doth rend it open and break it to pieces so there are some truths of the Word which are like the Plow-share to enter into our hearts and to rend them and break them to pieces such as the knowledge of the purity and exactness of Gods Law and of the evil of sin and that dreadful curse we have brought upon our selves by it and of the sinfulness of our Natures how all our faculties are full of this sin And therefore we should joyn in with God in those things that are revealed to us concerning our lost and undone condition by Nature we should labour clearly to understand what is delivered in the Word concerning our lost estate and to work those truths upon our hearts that we may be sinsible of them and to beg of the Lord that he would set them home upon us that we may be truly sensible of them For Ministers they can only sow the Truths in your Ears and your Heads you must take them and labour to sow them in your Hearts and when the Truths come close to you at any time as a Sword piercing through your lusts and dividing between the Marrow and the Joynts Joh. 2. you should bid it welcom The Psalmist complains that the Plowers made deep furrows on their backs but I may say blessed are those Men and Women on whose hearts and consciences the Word doth make deep furrows For the great reason why so much of the Seed in the Parable of the Sower miscarryed was because it wanted Root So much for the first what is meant by the Harvest 2. Who are these Labourers in this Harvest There is no doubt of it but Christ thereby means the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament and the faithful Ministers of Christ in every Generation who are to labour in the Preaching of the Gospel and the salvation of souls And though this be the most blessed and glorious work that any Man or Angel can possibly be employed in to be recovering and reducing lost man to God his first cause and principle yet this shews us the nature of the work namely that the calling of a Minister is a laborious Calling and so the Apostle in 1 Tim. 5.7 Let the elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour they that labour in the Word and Doctrine the word signifies not only Labour but Pains or painful labour such wherein men do spend their strength and
spirits so that their life many times goeth out in their Labour And this is likewise held out to us by those many Metaphors that the Scripture doth apply to the Ministers of the Gospel They are compared here in the Text you see to Harvest men the Husbandmans work of Plowing and Harrowing Sowing and Reaping it is a laborious and painful work and the sweat of the Brain is no less than that of the Brow So sometimes they are called Builders as in 1 Cor. 3.9 We are Labourers together with God you are Gods husbandry you are Gods building Now the Building of Houses that is a laborious work for the House is not built of the Trees as they are standing in the Forest or of the Stones as they are in the Quarry but there must be hewing the Stones and squaring the Timber for the building the House What is the Ministers work but to build up an House for God an Habitation for Jesus Christ As the materials with which the Temple was built of old were first squared and fitted and prepared for the Building so must souls be for this spiritual House So that indeed Ministers are as Carpenters and Masons I have hewn them by my Prophets and that sheweth they have hard labour of it and many times meet with knotty pieces very hard hearts such as have made some of the best of Gods Labourers complain cry out and resolve with Jeremy they would Speak no more in the name of the Lord. So I might shew you likewise how they are compared to Shepherds and Watchmen whose calling you know have labour in them But to name no more their labour is compared to that which is the greatest labour of all What is that to the labour of a Woman in Travail Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travail in Birth again until Christ be formed in you Thus it is with faithful Ministers they have many a Pang many a throw of heart before Christ be formed in them to whom they Preach So if you look upon the work of the Ministry in these Metaphors by which the Scripture doth express it you see their calling is a laborious calling So if you look upon it out of these Metaphors you may see there is much of labour in this work there is labour to Preach the word labour in Reading Studying Praying and Meditating as Paul bids Timothy give himself unto Prayer and reading the word c. and there is labour in dispensing the Word There is a double labour the labour of the Mind as well as the Body There is labour to instruct the ignorant to shew man his unrighteousness and to shew man his righteousness labour to exhort and quicken those that are sluggish labour in resolving those that doubt and in comforting those that are sad there is labour in bringing in Souls to Christ and labour in building up souls when they are brought in Do but see what is said of John the Baptist who you know was a Labourer in Gods Harvest Luke 3.5 what his work was Every Valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made streight and the rough ways shall be made smooth Now to level mountains and fill up Valleys to make crooked things streight and rough ways smooth this cannot be done without labour And yet my brethren there is greater labour that the faithful Ministers of Christ sometimes go through than all this they are forced oftentimes not only to sweat at the Plough but bleed at the Cross they labour in induring reproaches and Persecutions they meet with in the world for the truths sake Remember my brethren saith James the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an Example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Who would have thought they should meet with any hard usage for speaking to People in the name of the Lord What saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.3 Truly God hath made us a spectacle to the world Why so We are appointed to death every day and reckoned the off-scouring of the World They are the greatest enemies the Devil and his Kingdom hath in the world and therefore the Devil is so great an enemy to them The faithful Ministers of Christ stand in the front of opposition That is the Devils principle Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered So that then you soe they are much mistaken who look upon a Ministers life as an easie if not an Idle life who think all their labours but a little Lip-labour I might tell you it is no easie thing for you to hear a Sermon well and then sure it cannot be such an easie thing to preach well it will cost you labour to hear aright I grant it is an easie thing to give the Minister the hearing but to give the ears to the Minister to give every truth a double hearing that is a hard matter I grant it is an easie thing to let in a Sermon at one ear and to let it out at the other but to let a Sermon in at the ear and to let it sink down in the heart and thence to spring up in the life this is a hard thing It is an easie thing to write down a Sermon in your Books and to repeat it at night in your Families and to discourse and talk of it but to get this Sermon written in your hearts and to repeat it over in your lives to be doers of it and not hearers only this will require pains and labour Thus we have shown you what this Harvest is here spoken of and who the Labourers are and now we come near to the point it self to shew that it is your duty to Pray the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Here are these three things offer themselves to be spoken to for the confirming of the point 1. That the Mininstry of the word it is a very great gift and blessing to a people 2. That God and God alone it belongs to him to send forth these Labourers into his Harvest 3. That our duty and work is to Pray and Pray earnestly to God that he would increase the number of his faithful Labourers And these may serve as the grounds and reasons of the Point for I shall name no other 1. Then do you ask me why we should pray to God to send forth more Labourers into his Harvest Because I say to have these faithful Labourers among you is one of the greatest gifts and blessings that God can bestow upon a People See what Christ himself saith of such Matth. 5.13 Ye are the salt of the Earth c. You know that salt savours every thing and that it is to preserve things from Rotting and Putrefaction so that salt is a very useful and necessary thing in the world you know not how to be without it Of such use and necessity is the Ministry of the word for