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
ponder this great question whether those things whereon I depend as my best evidences for the life to come be the real or only the common works of the Spirit whether they be such as can now endure the test of the Word and abide a fair tryal at the bar of my own conscience Come then my soul set the Lord before thee to whom the secrets of all hearts are manifest and in the awful sence of that great day make true answer to these heart-discovering queries for though thou canst not discern the difference betwixt these things in another yet thou mayest and oughtest to discern it in thy self for what man knows the things of a man save the spirit of man that is in him First Is my obedience uniform am I the same man in all times places and companies or rather am I not exact and curious in open and publick remiss and careless in private and secret duties sincere souls are uniform souls Psal. 119. 6. the hypocrite is no closet-man Mat. 6. 5. Secondly Doth that which I call grace in me oppose and mortifie or doth it not rather quietly consist with and protect my lusts and corruptions true grace tollerates no lust Gal. 5. 17. No not the bosom darling-corruption Psa. 18. 23. Thirdly Doth that which I call my grace humble empty and abase my soul or rather doth it not puff it up with self-conceitedness all saving grace is humble grace 1 Cor. 15. 10. But the soul which is lifted up is not upright Hab. 2. 4. Lastly Canst thou my soul rejoyce and bless God for the grace imparted to others and rejoyce if any design for Christ be carried on in world by other hands or rather dost thou not envy those that excel thee and carest for no work in which thou art not seen But stay my soul it is enough If these be the substantial differences betwixt special and common grace I more than doubt I shall not endure the day of his coming Whose fan is in his hand Do not those spots appear upon me which â—re not the spots of his children Wo is me poor wretch the characters of death are upon my soul Lord add power to the form life to the name to live practise to the knowledge or I perish eternally O rather give me the Saints heart than the Angels tongue the poorest breathing of thy Spirit than the richest ornaments of common gifts let me neither deceive my self or others in matters of so deep and everlasting consequence The Poem IN Eastern Countreys as good Authors write Tares in their springing up appear to sight Not like it self a weed but real wheat Whose shape and form it counterfeits so neat Though 't would require a most judicious eye The one from t'other to diversifie Till both to some maturity be grown And then the difference is eas'ly known Even thus hypocrisie that cursed weed Springs up so like true grace that he will need More than a common insight in this case That saith this is not that is real grace Ne're did the cunning Actor though a slave Array'd in princely robes himself behave So like a King as this doth act the part Of saving grace by its deep hellish art Do gracious souls melt mourn and weep for sin The like in hypocrites observ'd hath been Have they their comforts joyes and raptures sweet With them in comforts hypocrites do meet In all religious duties they can go As far as Saints in some things farther too They speak like Angels and you 'l think within The very spirit of Christ and grace hath bin They come so neer that some like Isaac take Iacob for Esau this for that mistake And boldly call their eyes with his being dim True grace hypocrisie and duty sin Yea many also Iacob like imbrace Leah for Rachel common gifts for grace And in their bosoms hug it till the light Discover their mistake and cleer their sight And then like him confounded they will cry Alas 't is Leah curs'd hypocrisie Guide me my God that I may not in stead Of saving grace nurse up this cursed weed O let my heart by thee at last be found Sincere and all thy workings on it sound CHAP. XIII Fowls weeds and blastings do your corn annoy Even so corruptions would your grace destroy OBSERVATION THere are amongst many others three critical and dangerous periods betwixt the seed-time and Harvest The first when corn is newly committed to the earth all that lyes uncovered is quickly pickt up by the birds and much of that which is but slightly covered is stockt up as soon as it begins to sprout by Rooks and other devouring fowls Mat. 13. 4. but if it escape the fowls and gets root in the earth yet then is it hazarded by noxious weeds which purloin and suck away its nourishment whilst it is yet in the tender blade If by the care of the vigilant Husbaâ—dman it be freed from choaking weeds yet lastly as great a danger as any of the former still attends it for oftentimes whilst it is blowing in the ear blastings and mildews smite it in the stalk which cuts off the juice and sap that should ascend to nourish the ear and so shrivels and dries up the grain whilst it is yet immature whereby it becomes like those ears of corn in Pharaohs vision which were thin and blasted with the East-wind or like the ears the Psalmist speaks of upon the house top wherewith the reaper filleth not his arms APPLICATION TRue grace from the infancy to the perfection thereof conflicts with far more greater dangers amongst which it answerably meets with three dangerous periods which marvellously hazard it So that it is a much greater wonder that it ever arrives at its just perfection For 1 no sooner hath the great Husbandman disseminated these holy seeds in the regenerate heart but multitudes of impetuous corruptions immediately assault and would cetainly devour them like the fowls of the air did not the same arm that sowed them also protect them It fares with grace as with Christ its Author whom Herod sought to destroy in his very infancy The new creature is scarce warm in its seat before it must fight to defend its self This conflict is excellently set forth in that famous Text Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would By flesh here understand the corruption of nature by original sin and the sinful motions thereof by spirit not the soul or natural spirit of man but the Spirit of God in man viz. those graces in men which are the workmanship of the Spirit and therefore called by his name The opposition betwixt these two is expressed by lusting i. e. desiring the mutual ruine and destruction of each other for even when they are not acting yet then they are lusting there is an opposite
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
that they chose to endure rather than to deprive us to such an inheritance those noble souls heated with the love of Christ and care for our souls made many bold and brave adventures for it and yet at what a low rate do we value what cost them so dear like young heirs that never knew the getting of an estate we spend it freely Lord help us thankfully and diligently to improve thy truths while we are in quiet possession of them Such intervals of peace and rest are usually of no long continuance with thy people The Poem A Publick spirit scorns to plant no root But such from which himself may gather fruit For thus he reasons if I reap the gains Of my Laborious predecessors pains How equal is it that posterity Should reap the fruits of present industry Should every age but serve its turn and take No thought for future times it soon would make A Bankrupt world and so entail a curse From age to age as it grows worse and worse Our Christian predecessors careful thus Have been to leave an heritage to us Christ precious truths conserved in their blood For no less price those truths our fathers stood They have transmitted would not alienate From us their children such a fair estate We eat what they did set and shall truth fail In our dayes shall we cut off th' entail Or end the line of honour nay what 's worse Give future ages cause to hate and curse Our memories like Nabotâ— may this age Part with their blood sooner than heritage Let pity move us let us think upon Our childrens souls when we are dead and gone Shall they poor souls in darkness grope when are Put out the light by which they else might see The way to glory yea what 's worse shall it Be said in time to come Christ did commit A precious treasure purchas'd by this blood To us for ours and for our Childrens good But we like cowards false perfidious men For carnal ease lost it our selves and them O let us leave to after ages more Than we receiv'd from all that went before That those to come may bless the Lord and keep Our names alive when we in dust shall sleep CHAP. VI. Deeds for your Lands you prove and keep with care O that for heaven you but as careful were OBSERVATION VVE generally find men are not more careful in trying gold or in keeping it than they are in examining their Deeds and preserving them these are virtually their whole estate and therefore it concerns them to be careful of them If they suspect a flaw in their Lease or Deed they repair to the ablest Counsell submit it to his judgment make the worst of their cause and query about all the supposeable dangers with him if he tell them their case is suspicious and hazardous how much are they perplexed and troubled they can neither eat drink or sleep in peace till they have a good settlement and willing they are to be at much cost and pains to obtain it APPLICATION THese cares and fears with which you are perplexed in such cases may give you a little gimpse of those troubles of soul with which the people of God are perplexed about their eternal condition which perhaps you have been hitherto unacquainted with and therefore slighted them as phansiâ—s and whimsies I say your own fears and troubles iâ— ever you were ingaged by a cunning and powerful adversary in a Law-suit for your estate may give you a little glimpse of spiritual troubles and indeed it is no more but a glimpse of it For as the loss of a earthly though fair inheritance is but a trifle to the loss of God and the soul to eternity so you cannot but imagine that the cares fears and solicitudes of souls about these things are much very much beyond yours Let us compare the cases and see how they answer to each other You have evidences for your estates and by them you hold what you have in the world They also have evidences for their estate in Christ and glory to come they hold all in capite by vertue of their intermarriage with Iesus Christ they come to be enstated in that glorious inheritance conâ—ained in the Covenant of grace You have their tenure in that Scripture 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All is yours for ye are Christs and Christ is Gods Faith unites them to him and after they believe they are sealed by the Spirit of promise Eph. 1. 13. They can lay claim to no promise upon any other ground this is their title to all that they own as theirs It often falls out that after the fealing and executing of your Deeds or Leases an adversary finds some dubious clause in them and thereupon commences a Suit of Law with you Thus it frequently falls out with the people of God who after their believing and sealing time have doubts and scruples raised in them about their title Nothing is more common than for the devil and their own unbelief to start controversies and raise strong objâ—ctions against their interest in Christ and the Covenant of promises There are cunning and potent adversaries and do maintain long debates with the gracious soul and reason so cunningly and sophistically with it that it can by no means extricate and satisfie it self alwayes alledging that their title is worth nothing which they poor souls are but to apt too suspect All the while that a Suit in Law is depending about your title you have but little comfort or benefit from your estate you cannot look upon it as your own nor lay out moneys in building or dressing for fear you should lose all at last Iust thus stands the case with doubting Christians they have little comfort from the most comfortable promises little benefit from the sweetest duties and Ordinances they put ofâ— their own conforts and say If we were sure that all this were ours we could then rejoyce in them But alas our title is dubious Christ is a precions Christ the promises are comfortable things but what if they be none of ours Ah! how little doth the doubting Christian make of his large and rich inhâ—ritance You dare not trust your own judgments in such cases but â—â—ate your case to such as learned in the Laws and are willing to get the ablest counsel you can to advise you So are poor doubting Christians they carry their Cases from Christian to Christian and from Minister to Minister with such requests as these Pray tell me what do you think of my condition deal plainly and faithfully with me these be my grounds of doubting and these my grounds of hope O hide nothing from me And if they all agree that their case if good yet they cannot be satisfied till God say so too and confirm the word of his servants and therefore they carry the case often before him in such words as those Psal. 39. 23 24. Search me O God and