blessed Gospel heart dissolving voice I have felt thine efficacy I have experienced thy divine and irresistible power thou art indeed sharper than any two edged sword and woundest to the heart but thy wounds are the wounds of a friend All the wounds thou hast made in my soul were so many doors opened to let in Christ all the blows thou gavest my consciences were but to beat off my soul from sin which I embraced and had retained to my everlasting ruine hadst thou not separated them and me O wise and merciful Phyâ—â—â—ian thou didst indeed bind me with cords of conviction and sorrow but it was only to cut out that stone in my heart which had killed me if it had continued there O how did I struggle and oppose thee as if thou hadst come with the sword of an enemy rather than the lancâ— and probe of a skilful and tender hearted Physician Blessed by the day wherein my sin was discovered and imbittered O happy sorrows which prepared for such matchless joyes O blessed hand which turned my salt waters into pleasant wine and after many pangs and sorrows of souâ— didst â—ring forth the man child of deliverance and peace 〈◊〉 But O what a Rock of Adamant is this 〈◊〉 of mine that never yet was wounded and savingly pierced for 〈◊〉 the terrors of the Law or melting voice of the Gospel long have I sate-under the word but when did I feel a relenting pang O my soul my stupified soul thou hast got an Antidote against repentance but hast thou any against â—ell thou canst keep out the sense of sin now but art thou able to keep off the terrors of the Lord hereafter If thou couldst turn a deaf ear to the sentence of Christ in the day of judgment as easily as thou dost to the intreaties of Christ in the day of grace it were somewhat but surely there is no defence against that Ah fool that I am to quench these convictions unless I knew how to quench those flames tâ—ey warn me of And may not I challenge the first place among all the mourners in the world who have lost all those convictions which at several times came upon me under the word I have been often awakened by it and filled with terrors and tremblings under it but those troubles have soon worn off again and my heart like water removed from the fire return'd to its native coldness Lord what a dismal case am I in Many convictions have I choaked and strangled which it may be shall never more be revived until hou revive them against me in judgment I have been in pangs and brought forth nothing but wind my troubles have wrought no deliverance neither have my lusts fallen before them my conscience indeed hath been sometimes sick with sin yea so sick as to vomit them up by an external partial reformation but then with the dog have I returned again to my vomit and now I doubt am given over to an heart that cannot repent Oh that those travelling pangs could be quickened again but alas they are ceased I am like a prisoner escaped and again recovered whom the Iaylor loads with double Irons Surely O my soul if thy spiritual troubles return not again they are but gone back to bring eternal troubles It is with thee O my soul as with a man whose bones have been broken and not well set who must how terrible soever it appear to him endure the pain of breaking and setting them again if ever he be made a sound man O that I might rather chuse to be the Object of thy wounding mercy than of thy sparing cruelty if thou plow not up my heart again by compunction I know it must be rent in pieces at last by desperation The Poem THere 's skill in plowing that the Plowman knows For if too shallow or too deep he goes The seed is either buried or else my To â—ooks and Daws become an easie prey This as a lively emblem fitly may Describe the blessed spirits work and way Whose work on souls with this doth symbolize Betwixt them both thus the resemblance lyes Souls are the soyl conviction is the plow Gods workmen draw the spirit shews them how He guides the work and in good ground doth bless His workmens paines with sweet and fair success The heart prepar'd he scatters in the seed Which in it's season springs no fowl nor weed Shall pick it up or choak this springing coâ—n Till it be housed in the heavenly barn When thus the spirit plows up the â—allow ground When with such fruits his servants work is crown'd Let all the friends of Christ and soul say now As they pass by these fields God speed the plow Sometimes this plow thin shelfy ground doth turn That little seed which springs the Sun-beams burn The rest uncovered lies which fowls devour Alas their hearts were touched but not with power The cares and pleasures of this world have drown'd The seed before it peep'd above the ground Some springs indeed the scripture saith that some Do taste the powers of the world to come These Embroy's never come to timely birth Because the seed that 's sown wants depth of earth Turn up O God the bottom of my heart And to the seed that 's sown do thou impart Thy choicest blessing Though I weep and mourn In this wet seed-time if I may return With sheaves of joy these fully will reward My paines and sorrows be they ne're so hard CHAP. VIII The Choicest wheat is still reserv'd for seed But gracious principles are Choice indeed OBSERVATION HUsbandmen are very careful and curious about their Seed-corn that it may not only be clean and pure but the best and most excellent in its kind Isa. 28. 25. He easteth in the principal Wheat If any be more full and weighty than other that is reserved for Seed 'T is usual with Husbandmen to pick and lease their Seed-corn by hand that they may separate the Cockel and Darnel and all the lighter and hollow grains from it wherein they manifest their discretion for according to the vigor and goodness of the Seed the fruit and production is like to be APPLICATION THe choice and Principal Seed-corn with which the fields are sowed after they are prepared for it doth admimirably shadow forth those excellent principles of grace infused into the regenerate soul. Their agreement as they are both seed is obvious in the ten following particulars and their excellency above other principles in seven more The earth at first naturally brought forth Corn and every Seed yielding fruit without humane industry but since the curse came upon it it must be plowed and sowed or no fruit can be expected So man at first had all the principles of holiness in his nature but now they must be infused by regeneration or else his nature is as void of holiness as the barren and
experimentally true A Verse may find him that a Sermon flies And turn delight into a Sacrifice I should never have been perswaded especially in this scribling Age wherein we may complain with the Poet. Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim To have set my dull fancy upon the Rack to extort a Poem to entertain my Reader for I cannot say with Ovid Sponte sua carmen c. but that I have been informed that many Seamen induced by the pleasure of a Verse have taken much pains to learn the Poems in their Compass by heart and I hope both the Children at home and the Servants in the fields will learn to exercise themselves this way also O how much better will it be so to do than to stuff their memories with obscene Ballads and filthy Songs which corrupt their minds and dispose them to much wickedness by irritating their natural corruption But these are purer flames you will find nothing here of such a tendency 'T is guilt not Poetry to be like those Whose wit in Verse is downright sin in Prose Whose studies are prophaneness as if then They only were good Poets when bad men I shall add no more but to beg that God who instructeth the Husbandman in his civil Calling to teach him wisdom spiritually to improve it and particularly that you may reap a crop of much spiritual benefit from that seed which is here sown by the hand of the Lords unprofitable servant and in him Your very affectionate Friend and Servant IOHN FLAVELL TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THere are three things wherein as it hath been said long before my day the exercise of Godliness doth chiefly consist Prayer Temptation Meditation Meditation is the Subject of this following Manual The Object of Meditation is twofold First The Word Secondly The Works of God The Works of God are twofold First Internal Secondly External The External Works of God are twofold First Of Creation Secondly of Providence The works of Providence are likewise twofold First In things Civil the Lord ordering and over-ruling all the affairs and motion of single Persons Families and Nations in a subserviency to his own most holy Ends Designs and Purposes Secondly In things Natural the Lord instructing the Husbandman to discretion and teaching him how to Dress and Till the Earth that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater as also how to breed up and manage the Beasts of the field both greater and lesser Cattel for the use and service of Man Meditation upon this lower part of the Works of God and his wonderful Providences about them may raise our souls very high and while we wisely consider these natural things we may grow more and more wise in and for Spirituals and Eternals The worthy and ingenious Author of the ensuing Discourse hath supplied us with an excellent help for the Spiritualizing of the providential Works of God in natural things by godly Meditation we chiefly want the help of the holy Spirit without which all other helps and helpers are altogether insufficient to frame and wind up our hearts for this both profitable and delightful duty yet the help which the Lord is pleased to give us for our direction in it by the Ministery of man is not only not to be refused but thankfully received and improved and all little enough to bring our minds to or keep them at this work The best of Saints on this side heaven have though they are not earthly minded much earth in their minds which like a heavy clog at their heels or a weight at their hearts presseth them down when they would make an Essay to mount upward in Meditation We find it no easie matter to keep off earthly thoughts when we are most seriously engaged in heavenly work how hard is it then to get in and be fixed upon heavenly thoughts while we are engaged about earthly work yea are for so is the Husbandman working the very earth and raking in the bowels of it 'T is a great part of our holiness to be spiritually minded while we are conversing with God through Iesus Christ in spiritual duties but to be spiritually minded and to mind spiritual things when we are conversing with the clods of the earth and the furrows of the field when we have to do with Corn and Grass with Trees and Plants with Sheep and Oxen when we behold the birds and fowls of the Air the worms and all that creep upon the ground then I say to be spiritually minded and thence to have our thoughts ascending and soaring up to God in heart-affecting and quickning contemplations witnesseth an high degree of holiness and of gracious attainments To make a ladder out to earthly materials for the raising of our selves in spirit up to heaven is the Art of Arts. Holy and happy indeed are they who being taught of God have learned this Art and live in the daily practise of it Earthly objects usually hinder us in our way sometimes turn us quite out of our way to heaven Many plow and sow dig and delve the earth till their hearts become as earthly as the earth it self many deal about the beasts of the field till themselves become even brutish Is it not then a blessed design which this Author aims and drives at so to spiritualize all sorts or the whole compass of earthly Husbandry that all sorts of husbandmen may become spiritual and heavenly It seems to me a taken for good that God hath an intendment of some special good to the souls of such as are by profession proper Husbandmen seeing he hath lately put it into the hearts of two faithful Ministers who with all of that profession are Husbandmen in a figure to undertake though in a different way this Subject to publish their labours in print that they may be of use not only for the present age but for posterity And that the Husbandman may be pleased as well as profited in perusing the labours of this Author he hath with singular aptness and acuteness contrived and contracted the sum or scope of every Chapter into an elegant Distich or pair of Verses placed at the head of it and concluded it with a choice melodious Poem sutable to and dilating upon the whole matter of it These the Husbandman who can but read may quickly learn and sing for his solace instead of those vain Ballads and corrupting Rimes which many of that rank are apt to buy and solace themselves withal without any benefit yea much to their hurt making their hearts more corrupt carnal and vain thereby Let me add one word more to the Reader This Book of Husbandry Spiritualized is not calculated only for the common Husbandman persons of any calling or condition may find the Author working out such searching Reflections and strong Convictions from almost every part and particular of the Husbandmans work as may prove if faithfully improved very useful to them to some for their
waste So when Churches grow formal and fruitless the Lord removes his Gospel-presence from them plucks up the hedge of his protection from about them and layes them open as waste ground to be over-run by their enemies Ier. 7. 12. Go to Shiloh and see what I did unto it What is become of those once famous and flourishing Churches of Asia Are they not laid waste and trodden down by infidels And now go to saith the great Husbandman I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard I will pull up the hedge thereof and it shall be laid waste Isa. 5. 5. Thus you see the Allegory opened in its particulars from the whole I shall present you with these five ensuing Corrolaries The First Corrolary How great then are the dignities and priviledges of the Churches of Iesus Christ whom he hath appropriated to himself above all the people of the earth to be his peculiar inheritance The rest of the world is a waste wilderness all other places how pleasant soever in respect of their natural amaenity and delights are truly enough called the dark places of the earth dismal solitary cells where Ziim and Iim Bitterns Cormorants and every doleful creature dwells But the Church is the Paradise of the earth a garden enclosed Cant. 4. 12. in whose hedges the Gospel-birds chirp and sing melodiously Cant. 2. 12. Its beds are beds of spices Cantt 6. 2. and betwixt its pleasant banks a Christal River of living water runs Rev. 22. 1. The streams whereof make glad the City of god in the midst thereof the Lord himself delights to walk O Sion with what pleasures dost thou abound If Bernard were so ravished with the delights of his Monastery because of its green banks and shady bowers and herbs and trees and various objects to feed his eyes and fragrant smells and sweet and various tunes of birds together with the opportunities of devout contemplation that he cryed out admiringly Lord what delights dost thou provide even for the poor How much more should we be ravished with Sion's glory for beautiful for scituation is mount Zion Of whom it may much more truly be said what a Chronicler of our own once said of England that it is the fortunate Island the Paradice of Pleasure the Garden of God whose valleys are like Eden whose hills are as Lebanon whose springs are as Pisgah whose Rivers are as Iordan whose wall is the Ocean and whose defence is the Lord Iehovah Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee Who can count the priviledges wherewith Christ hath invested his Churches O let it never seem a light thing in our eyes that we grow within his blessed inclosure How sweet a promise is that Exod. 19. 5. Ye shall be to me a peculiar treasure above all people for all the earth is mine The Second Corrolary Hence it follows That spiritual barrenness is a great reproach and shame to Christians Shall God's Husbandry which is so planted watered fenced filled with favours and mercies be like the barren heath in the desert Surely it should be said of every soul that grows here as the Historian saith of Spain that there is nihil infructuosum nihil sterile nothing barren or unfruitful in it God's vineyard is planted in a very fruitful hill Isa. 5. 1. And surely they that are planted in the house of the Lord should flourish in the Court of our God they should bring forth fruit even in old age to shew that God is upright Psal. 92. 13 14. They are created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath ordained they should walk in Eph. 2. 10. They are married unto Christ that they might bring forth fruit to God Rom. 7. 4. An empty branch is a dishonour to the root that bears it a barren field to the Husbandman that owns it God cannot endure that in his fields which he suffers in the wilderness The third Corrolary If the Church be God's Husbandry then there is such a special gracious presence of the Lord in his Churches as is not to be found in all the world beside Where may you expect to find the Husbandman but in his own fields there lyes his business and there he delights to be And where may we expect to find God but in the Assemblies of his Saints He walks amongst the golden Candlesticks Rev. 2. 1. I. will walk among you saith he and be your God 2 Cor. 6. 16. Upon this account the Church is called Iehovah Shamah the Lord is there Ezek. 48. ult You may see the footsteps of God in the creatures but the face of God is only to be seen in his Ordinances Hence Psal. 27. 4. David long'd for the Temple that he might see the beauty of the Lord. Now what is beauty but a symetry and proportion of parts In the works of Creation you see one attribute manifested in one thing and another in another thing but in the Sanctuary you may see beauty even in all the attributes of God displayed there And indeed we find in Scripture such astonishing expressions about the visioâ—s of God in his Church that in reading them a man can see little difference betwixt it and heaven for as the Church is called heaven Mat. 25. 1. so its description is like that of heaven Heb. 12. 22 23. You are come to the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels c. And Rev. 4. 22. They shall see his face and his name shall be written in their foreheads And v. 24. The Saints are represented standing nearer to the throne of God than the Angels themselves Hence also Ordinances are called Galleries in which both Saints and Angels walk beholding the glory of him that sits upon the throne Zech. 3. 7. If you will keep my wayes I will give you Galleries to walk in among them that stand by The Fourth Corrolary If the Church be God's Husbandry then those that be imployed in Ministerial work ought to be men of great judgment and experience in soul affairs for these are the labourers whom God the mystical Husbandman imploys and entrusts about his spiritual Husbandry Should Husbandmen imploy ignorant persons that neither understand the rules nor proper seasons of Husbandry how much would such workmen damnifie and prejudice him he will not imploy such to weed his fields as know not wheat from tares or to prune his trees that think Midsummer as fit for that work as December much less will God He qualifies all that he sends with wisdom for their work His workmen approve themselves workmen indeed such as need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Tim. 2. 15. As Bezaleel was furnished with wisdom before he was imployed in tabernacle-Tabernacle-work so Christ instructs his servants with skill and insight before they are imployed in ministerial-Ministerial-work He gives them a mouth and wisdom Luke 21. 15. indues them with power from on high as Christ was filled abundantly with the Spirit for
his work so according to proportion are those that are sent by him Ioh. 20. 21 22. As my Father hath sent me so send I you And as for those that run before they are sent and understand not the Mysteries of the Gospel I shall say no more of them but this Father forgive them for they know not what they do The Fifth Corrolary To conclude If the Church be God's Husbandry that is if Husbandry have so many resemblances of Gods works about the Church in it then how inexcusable is the ignorance of Husbandmen in the things of God who besides the word of the Gospel have the teachings of the Creatures and can hardly turn their hands to any part of their work but the Spirit hints one spiritual use or other from it to their souls How do the Scriptures abound with Parables and lively similitudes taken from Husbandry from the field the seed the plow the barn from threshing and winnowing similitudes also from planting graffing and pruning of trees and not a few from the ordering of Cattel So that to what business soever you turn your hands in any part of your calling still God meets you with one heavenly instruction or other But alas How few are able to improve their civil imployments to such excellent ends These things are but briefly hinted in the Scriptures and those hints scattered up and down that they know not where to find them and if they could yet would it be difficult so to methodize them as it is necessary they should be in order to their due improvement by Meditation And therefore I judged it necessary to collect and prepare them for your use and in this manner to present them to you as you find them in the following Chapters Read consider and apply and the Lord make you good Husbands for your own souls THE FIRST PART OF HUSBANDRY Spiritualized CHAP. I. In the laborious Husbandman you see What all true Christians are or ought to be OBSERVATION The imployment of the Hsbandman is by all acknowledged to be very laborious there is a multiplicity of business incumbent on him The end of one work is but the beginning of another Every season of the year brings its proper work with it Sometimes you find him in his Fields dressing plowing sowing harrowing weeding or reaping and sometimes in his Barn threshing or winnowing sometimes in his Orchard planting graffing or pruning his trees and sometimes among his Cattel so that he hath no time to be idle And as he hath a multiplicity of business so every part of it is full of toyl and spending labour He eats not the bread of idleness but earns it before he eats it and as it were dips it in his own sweat whereby it becomes the sweeter to him Though sin brought in the Husbandmans sweat Gen. 3. 19. yet now not to sweat would increase his sin Ezek. 16. 49. APPLICATION BEhold here the life of a serious Christian shadowed forth to the life As the life of a Husbandman so the life of a Christian is no idle or easie life They that take up Religion for ostentation and not for an occupation and those that place the business of it in notions and idle speculations in forms gestures and external observances may think and call it so but such as devote themselves unto it and make Religion their business will find it no easie work to exercise themselves to godliness Many there are that affect the reputation and sweet of it who cannot endure the labour and sweat of it If men might be indulged to divide their hearts betwixt God and the World or to cull out the cheap and easie duties of it and neglect the more difficult and costly ones it were an easie thing to be a Christian but surely to have respect to all God's commandments to live the life as well as speak the language of a Christian to be holy in all manner of conversation is not so easie This will be evident by comparing the life of a Christian with the life of a Husbandman in these five particulars Wherein it will appear that the work of a Christian is by much the hardest work of the two The Husbandman hath much to do many things to look after but the Christian more If we respect the extensiveness of his work he hath a large field indeed to labour in Psal. 119. 96. The commandment is exceeding broad of a vast extent and latitude comprizing not only a multitude of external acts and duties and guiding the Offices of the outward man about them but also taking in every thought and motion of the inner man within its compass You find in the Word a world of work cut out for Christians there 's hearing work praying work reading meditating and self-examining work it puts him also upon a constant watch over all the corruptions of his heart Oh what a world of work hath a Christian about them For of them he may say as the Historian doth of Hannibal They are never quiet whether conquering or conquered How many weak languishing graces hath he to recover improve and strengthen There is a weak faith a languishing love dull and faint desires to be quickned and invigorated And when all this is done what a multitude of work do his several relations exact from him he hath a world of business incumbent on him as a parent child husband wife master servant or friend yea not only to friends but enemies And beside all this how many difficult things are there to be born and suffered for Christ and yet will not God allow his people in the neglect of any one of them neither can he be a Christian that hath not respect to every command and is not holy in all manner of conversation Psal. 119. 6. 2 Pet. 3. 11. every one of these duties like the several spokes in a wheel come to bear in the whole round of a Christians conversation so that he hath more work upon his hands than the Husbandman The Husbandman's work is confessed to be Spending work but not like the Christians What Augustus said of the young Roman is verified in the true Christian Quicquid vult válde vult Whatsoever he doth in Religion he doth to purpose Under the Law God rejected the Snail and the Ass Levit. 11. 30. Exod. 13. 13. And under the Gospel he allows no sluggish lazy Professor 1 Tim. 5. 11 13. Sleepy duties are utterly unsuitable to the living God he will have the very spirits distilled and offered up to him in every duty Ioh. 4. 24. he bestows upon his people the very substance and kernel of mercies and will not accept from them the shells and shadows of duties not the skin but the inwards and the fat that covereth the inwards was required under the Law Exod. 29. 30. And every sacrifice under the Gospel must be sacrificium medullatum a sacrifice full of marrow observe the manner in which their work is to be performed
an innocent pleasure and verifie the saying of the Poet Ovid. Tempus in agrorum cultu confumere dulce est Although they plow from morning until night Time steals away with pleasure and delight APPLICATION BUt how much greater cause have the people of God to address themselves unto his work with all cheerfulness of spirit And indeed so far as the heart is spiritual it delights in its duties 'T is true the work of a Christian is painful and much more spending than the Husbandmans as was opened Chap. 1. but then it as much exceeds in the delights and pleasures that attend it What is the Christians work but with joy to draw water out of the wells of salvation Isa. 12. 3. You may see what a pleasant path the path of duty is by the cheerfulness of those that have walked in them Psal. 119. 14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy judgment as much as in all riches And by the promises that are made to such Psal. 13 8. 5. Yea they shall sing in the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. And again You shall have a song as in the night when an holy solemnity is kept and gladness of heart as when one goeth with a pipe to come to the mountain of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel Isa. 30. 29. And lastly by the many commands whereby joy in the wayes of the Lord is made the duty of the Saints Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Psa. 97. 12. Rejoyce and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4. 4. Where the command is doubled yea not only simple rejoycing but the highest degree of that duty comes within the command Psal. 132. 9 16. Shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart And Luke 6. 22 23. they are bid to leap for joy when about the difficult'st part of their work and that you may see there is sufficient ground for it and that it is not like the mad mirth of sinners be pleased to consider The nature of the work about which they are employed it is the most excellent and heavenly employment that ever souls were acquainted with O what a ravishing and delightsome thing it is to walk with God! and yet by this the whole work of a Christian is expressed Gen. 17. 1. Can any life compare with this for pleasure Can they be chill that walk in the Sun-shine or sad that abide in the fountain of all delights and walk with him whose name is the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3. In whose presence is the fulness of joy Psal. 16. 11. O what an Angelical life doth a Christian then live Or 2ly If we consider the variety of spiritual imployments varietas delectat Change of employment takes off the tediousness of Labour Variety of voices please the ear variety of colours delight the eye the same meat prepared several wayes pleases the palate more and clogs it less Bâ—t O the variety of choice dishes wherewith God entertains his people in a Sâ—bbath as the Word Prayer Sacraments c. Isa. 58. 13. If thou call the Sabbath thy delights or as Tremelius renders it thy delicate things My soul saith David shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal. 63. 5. Or lastly if we consider the suitableness of this work to a regenerate soul. Is it any pain for a bird to flye or a fish to swim Is the eye tired with beautiful objects or the ear with melodious sounds As little can a spiritual soul be wearied with spiritual and heavenly exercises Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inner man Gravia non gravitant in eorâ—m loco saith the Philosopher weighty things are not heavy in their own element or center And surely God is the center of all gracious spirits A Saint can sit from morning to night to hear discourses of the love and loveliness of Iesus Christ. The fight of your thriving flocks and flourishing fields cannot yield you that pleasure which an upright soul can find in one quarter of an hours communion with God They that are after the flesh saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 5. do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit But then look how much heavenly objects transcend earththly ones and how much the soul is more capable of delight in those objects than the gross and duller senses are in theirs so much doth the pleasure arising from the duty excel all sensitive delights on earth REFLECTIONS How am I cast and condemned by this may I say who never favoured this spiritual delight in holy duties When I am about my earthly employments I can go on unweariedly from day to day all the way is down hill to my nature and the wheels of my affections being oyled with carnal delight run so fast that they have need most times of trigging Here I rather need the curb than the spur O how fleet and nimble are my spirits in these their pursuits But O what a slug am I in religious duties Sure if my heart were renewed by grace I should delight in the law of God Rom. 7. 22. All the world is alive in their wayes every creature injoyes his proper pleasure and is there no delight to be found in the paths of holiness Is godliness only a dry root that bears no pleasant fruits No no there are doubtless incomparable pleasures to be found therein but such a carnal heart as mine favours them not I cannot say but I have found delight in Religious duties but they have been only such as rather sprang from the ostentation of gifts and applauses of men than any sweet and real communion I have had with God through them they have rather proved food and fewel to my pride than food to my soul. Like the Nightingale I can sing sweetly when I observe others to listen to me and be affected with my musick O â—alse deceitful heart such delight as this will end in howling were my spirit right it would as much delight in retirements for the enjoyment of God as it doth in those duties that are most exposed to the observation of man Wilt such a spring as this maintain a stream of affections when carnal motives fail What wilt thou answer O my soul to that question Ioâ— 27. 9 10. Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwayes call upon God What wilt thou reply to this question Deceive not thou thy self O my soul thou wilt doubtless be easily perswaded to let go that thou never delightedst in and from an hypocrite in Religion quickly become an Apostate from Religion From all this the upright heart takes advantage to rouze up its delight in God and thus it expostulateth with it self Doth the Plowman sing amidst his drudging labours and whistle away his weariness in
spareth his own son that serves him Mal. 3. 17. Heark how his bowels yearn I have surely heard Ephraim bemâ—aning himself it not Ephraim my dear son is he not a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still I will surely have mercy on him Ier. 31. 20. Doth he not know thy life would be altogether useless to him if he should not restore thee what service art thou fit to perform to him in such a condition Thy dayes will consume like smoak whilst thy heart is smitten and withered like grass Psal. 102. 3 4. Thy months will be months of vanity they will fly away and see no good Iob 7. 3. If he will but quicken thee again then thou must call upon his name Psal. 80. 18. but in a dead and languishing condition thou art no more fit for any work of God than a sick man is for manual labours and surely he hath not put those precious and excellent graces of his Spirit within thee for nothing they were planted there for fruit and service and therefore doubtless he will revive thee again Yea dost thou not think he sees thine inability to bear such a condition long he knows thy Spirit would fail before him and the soul which he hath made Isa. 57. 16. David told him as much in the like condition Psal. 143. 7 8. Hear me speedily O Lord for my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto those that go down into the pit q. d. Lord make hast and recover my languishing soul otherwise whereas thou hast now a sick child thou wilt shortly have a dead child And in like manner Iob expostulated with him Iob 6. 1 2 3 11 12 My grief is heavier than the sand of the Sea my words are swallowed up for the arrows of the Almighty are within me and the poyson thereof drinks up my spirits the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me what is my strength that I should hope is my strength the strength of stones or are my bones of brass So Chap. 7. 12. Am I a Sea or a Whale c. Other troubles a man may but this he cannot bear Prov. 18. 14. And therefore doubtless seasonable and gracious revivings will come He will not stir up all his wrath for he remembers thou art but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Psal. 78. 38. 39. He hath wayes enough to do it if he do but unvail his blessed face and make it thine again upon thee thou art saved Psal. 80. 3. the manifestations of his love will be to thy soul as showers to the parched grass thy soul that now droops and hanges the wing shall then revive and leap for joy Isa. 61. 1. A new face shall come upon thy graces they shall bud again and blossom as a Rose if he do but send a spring of auxiliary grace into thy soul to actuate the dull habits of inherent grace the work is done then shalt thou return to thy first works again Rev. 2. 4 5. and sing as in the dayes of thy youth REFLECTIONS O this is my very case saith many a poor Christian thus my soul languishes and droops from day to day 't is good new indeed that God both can and will restore my soul but sad that I should fall into such a state How unlike am I to what once I was Surely as the old men wept when they saw how short the second Temple came of the glory of the first so may I sit down and weep bitterly to consider how much my first love and first duties excelled the present For. Is my heart so much in heaven now as it was wont to be Say O my soul dost thou not remember when like the beloved Disciple thou layest in Iesus bosome how didst thou sweeten communion with him how restless and impatient wast thou in his absence Divine withdrawments were to thee as the hell of hell What a burden was the world to me in those dayes Had it not been for conscience of my duty I could have been willing to let all lye that communinion with Christ might suffer no interruption When I awaked in the night how was the darkness enlightned by the heavenly glimpses of the countenance of my God upon me How did his company shorten those hours and beguile the tediousness of the night O my soul speak thy experience is it now as it was then No no those dayes are past and gone and thou become much a stranger to that heavenly life Art thou able with truth to deny this charge When occasionally I pass by those places which were once to me as Iacob's Bethel to him I sigh at the remembrance of former passages betwixt me and heaven there and say with Iob Chap. 29. O that it were with me as in moneths past as in the dayes when God preserved me when his candle shined upon my head when by his light I walked through darkness when the Almighty was yet with me when I put on righteosness and it cloathed me when my glory was fresh in me when I remember these things my soul is poured out within me Is thy obedience to the commands of Christ and motions to duty as free and cheerful as they were wont to be Call to mind my soul the times when thou wast born down the stream of love to every duty if the spirit did but whisper to thee saying Seek my face how did my spirit eccho to his calls saying Thy face Lord will I seek Psal. 27. 8. If God had any work to be done how readily did I offer my service Here am I lord send me My soul made me as the chariots of Aminadab love oyled the wheels of my affection and his commandments were not grievous 1 Iohn 5. 3. Non tardat uncta rota There were no such quarrellings with the command no such excuses and delayes as there are now No such was my love to Christ and delight to do his will that I could no more keep back my self from duty than a man that 's carried away in a crowd Or lastly tell me O my soul dost thou bemoan thy self or grieve so tenderly for sin and for grieving the holy Spirit of God as hou wa st wont to do When formerly I had fallen by the hanbd of a temptation how was I wont to lye in tears at the Lord's feet bemoaning my self how did I hasten to my closet and there cry like Ezra Chap. 9. 6. O my God I am ashamed and blush to look up unto thee How did I sigh and weep before him and like Ephraim smite upon my thigh saying What have I done Ah my soul how didst thou work strive and cast about how to recover thy self again hast thou forgotten how thou wouldst sometimes look up and sigh bitterly Ah! what a God have I provoked whjat love and goodness have I abused sometimes look in and weep Ah! what
when he goes to preach the Gospel I am now going to preach that word which is to be a savour of life or death to these souls upon how many of my poor hearers may the curse of perpetual barrenness be executed this day O how should such a thought melt his heart into compassion over them and make him beg hard and plead earnestly with God for a better issue of the Gospel than this upon them The Poem YOu that besides your pleasant fruitful fields Have useless bogs and rocky ground that yields You no advantage nor doth quit your cost But all your pains and charges on them 's lost Hearken to me I le teach you how to get More profit by them than if they were set At higher Rents than what your Tenants pay For your most â—ertile Lands and here 's the way Think when you view them why the Lord hath chose These as Emblems to decipher those That under Gospel-grace grow worse and worse For means are fruitless where the Lord doth curse Sweet showers descend the Sun his beams reflects on both alike but not with like effects Observe and see how after the sweet showers The grass and corn revive the fragrant flowers Shoot forth their beauteous heads the valleys sing All fresh and green as in the verdant spring But rocks are barren still and bogs are so Where nought but flags and worthless rushes grow Upon these marish grounds there lyes this curse The more rain falls by so much more the worse Even so the dews of grace that sweetly fall From Gospel clouds are not alike to all The gracious soul doth germinate and bud But to the Reprobate it doth no good He 's like the withered fig-tree void of fruit Afearful curse hath smote his very root The heart 's made â—at the eyes with blindness seal'd The piercingst truths the Gospel ere reveal'd Shall be to him but as the Sun and rain Are to obdurate rocks fruitless and vain Be this your meditation when you walk By rocks and fenny grounds thus learn to talk With your own souls and let it make you fear Lest that 's your case â—haâ— is described here This is the best improvement you can make Of such bad ground good soul I pray thee take Some pains about them though they barren be Thou seest how they may yield sweet fruits to thee CHAP. VII The Plowman guides his Plow with care and skill So doth the Spirit in sound conviction still OBSERVATION IT requires not only strength but much skill and judgment to manage and guide the plow The Hebrew word which we translate to plow signifies to be intent as an Artificer is about some curious piece of work The plow must neither go too shallow nor too deep in the earth it must not indent the ground by making crooked furrows nor leap and make baulks in good ground but be guided as to a just depth of earth so to cast the furrow in a straight line that the floor or surface of the field may be made plain As it is Isa. 28. 25. And hence that expression Luke 9. 62. He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven The meaning is that as he that plows must have his eyes alwayes forward to guide and direct his hand in casting the furrows straight and even for his hand will be quickly out when his eye is off So he that heartily resolves for heaven must addict himself wholly and intently to the business of Religion and not have his mind intangled with the things of this world which he hath left behind him whereby it appears that the right management of the plow requires as much skill as strength APPLICATION THis Observation in nature serves excâ—llently to shadow forth this proposition in Diviâ—ity That the work of the Spirit in convincing and humbling the heart of a sinner is a work wherein much of the wisdom as well as power of God is discovered The work of repentance and saving contrition is set forth in Scripture by this Metaphor of plowing Ier. 4. 3. Hos. 10. 12 Plow up your fallow ground that is be convinced humbled and broken hearted for fin And the resemblance betwixt both these works appears in the following particulars 1 'T is a hard and difficult work to plow it 's reckoned one of the painâ—ullest manual labours It is also a very hard thing to convince and humble the heart of a secure stout and proud sinner indurate in wickedness What Luther saith of a dejected soul That it is as easie to raise the dead as to comfort such a one The same I may say of the secure confident sinner 'T is as easie to rend the rocks as to work saving contrition upon such a heart Citius expâ—mice aquam all the melting language and earnest intreaties of the Gospel cannot urge such a heart to shed a tear Therefore it 's called a heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26. A firm rock Amos 6. 12. Shall horses run upon the Rock will one plow there with Oxen yet when the Lord comes in the power of his Spirit these rocks do rend and yield to the power of the word 2 The plow pierces deep into the bosome of the earth makes as it were a deep gash or wound in the heart of it So doth the Spirit upon the hearts of Sinners he pierces their very souls by conviction Act. 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked or pierced point blank to the heart Then the word divides the soul and Spirit Heb. 4. 12. It comes upon the conscience with such pinching dilemma's and tilts the sword of conviction so deep into their souls that there is no stenching the bloud no healing this wound till Christ himself come and undertake the cure Hâ—reâ— lateri lethalis arundo this barbed arrow cannot be pulled out of their hearts by any but the hand that shot it in Discourse with such a soul about his troubles and he will tell you that all the sorrows that ever he had in this world loss of estate health children or whatever else are but flea-bitings to this this swallows up all other troubles See how that Christian Niobe Luke 7. 38. is dissolved into tears Nâ—w deep calleth unto deep at the noise of his water spouts when the waves and billows of God go over the soul. Spiritual sorrows are deep waters in which the stoutest and most magnanimous soul would sink and drown did not Iesus Christ by a secret and supporting hand hold it up by the chin 3. The plow rends the earth in parts and pieces which before was united and makes those parts hang loose which formerly lay closs Thus doth the spirit of conviction rend in sunder the heart and its most beloved lusts Ioel. 2. 13. Rent your hearts and not your garments that is rather then
soul of thy servant fain would I serve glorifie and enjoy thee but a distempered body will not let me However it is reviving to think that though I am now forced to crawl like a worm in the discharge of my duties I shall shortly fly like a Seraphim in the execution of thy will Cheer up drooping soul the time is at hand when thou shalt be made more willing than thou art and thy flesh not so weak as now it is And is it so indeed then let the dying Saint like Iacob rouze up himself upon his bed and incourage himself against the fears of death by this refreshing consideration Let him say with holy dying Musculus Why tremblest thou O my soul to go forth of this Tabernacle to the Land of rest hath thy body been such a pleasant habitation to thee that thou shouldst be so loath to part with it though but for a time and with assurance of receiving it again with such a glorious improvement I know O my soul that thou hast a natural inclination to this body resulting from the dear and strict union which God himself hath made betwixt thee and it yea even the holiest of men do sometimes sensibly feel the like in themselves but beware thou love it not immoderately of inordinately 't is but a creature how dear soever it be to thee yea a fading creature and that which now stands in thy way to the full enjoyment of God But say my soul why are the thoughts of parting with it so burdensom to thee Why so loath to take death by its cold hand Is this body thy old and dear friend True but yet thou partest not with it upon such sad terms as should deserve a tear at parting For mayest thou not say of this departure as Paul of the departure of Onesimus Philem. v. 15. It therefore departeth for a season that thou mayest receive it for ever The daye of re-espousals will quickly come and in the mean time as thy body shall not be sensible of the tedious length of interposing time so neither shalt thou be solicitous about thine absent friend for the fruition of God in that thine unbodied state shall fill thee with infinite satisfaction and rest Or is it not so much simply for parting with it as for the manner of thy parting either by the slow and lingring approaches of a natural or the quick and terrible approaches of a violent death Why trouble not thy self about that for if God lead thee through the long dark lane of a tedious sickness yet at the end of it is thy fathers house And for a violent death 't is not so material whether friends or enemies stand weeping or triumphing over thy dead body Nihil corpus sentit in nervo cum anima sit in coelo When thy soul shall be in heaven 't will not be sensible how the body is used on earth But oh what an uncomfortable parting will mine be and how much more sad our meeting again how will this soul and body blush yea tremble when they meet who have been copartners in so much guilt I damn'd my soul to please my flesh and now have ruin'd both thereby had I denied my flesh to serve Christ worn out my body in the service of my soul I had thereby happily provided for them both but I began at the wrong end and so have ruin'd both eternally The Poem BAre seeds have no great beauty but inhum'd That which they had is lost and quite consum'd They soon corrupt and grow more base by odds When dead and buried underneath the clods It falls in baseness but at length doth rise In glory which delights beholders eyes How great a difference have a few dayes made Betwixt it in the bushel and the blade This lovely lively emblem aptly may Type out the glorious Resurrection day Wherein the Saints that in the dust do lye Shall rise in glory vigour dignity With singing in that morning they arise And dazling glory such as mortal eyes Ne're viewed on earth The sparkling buties here No more can equalize their splendor there Than glimmering glow-worms do the fairest star That shines in heaven or the stones that are In every street may competition hold With glittering diamonds in rings of gold For unto Christ's most glorious body they Shall be conform'd in glory at that day Whose lustre would should it on mortals fall Transport a Stephen and confound a Paul 'T is now a course and crazy house of clay But O! how dear do souls for lodging pay Few more than I for thou my soul hast bin Within these tents of Kedar cooped in Where with distempers clog'd thou mak'st thy moans And for deliverance with tears and groans Hast often sued cheer up the time will be When thou from all these troubles shalt be free No jarring humours cloudy vapours rheum Pains aches or what ever else consumes My dayes in grief whil'st in the Christian race Flesh lags behing and can't keep equal pace With the more willing spirit none of these Shall thenceforth clog thee or disturb thine ease CHAP. XII As wheat resembled is by viler tares So vile hypocrisie like grace appears OBSERVATION It is Ieroms Observation that wheat and tares are so much alike in their first springing up that it is exceeding difficult to distinguish the one from the other These are his words Inter triticuâ— lolium quamdiu herba est nondum culmus venit ad spicam grandis similitudo est indiscernendo aut nulla aut perdifficilis distantia The difference saith he between them is either none at all or wonderful difficult yo discern which those words of Christ Mat. 13. 30. plainly confirm Let them both alone till the Harvest thereby intimating both the difficulty of distinguishing the tares and wheat as also the unwarrantable rashness of bold and hasty censures of mens sincerity or hypocrisie which is there shadowed by them APPLICATION HOw difficult soever it be to discern the difference betwixt wheat and tares yet doubtless the eye of sence can much easier discriminate them than the most quick and piercing eye of man can discern the difference betwixt special and common grace for all saving graces in the Saints have their counterfeits in hypocrites There are similar works in these which a spiritual and very judicious eye may easily mistake for the saving and genuine effects of the sanctifying Spirit Doth the Spirit of God convince the consciences of his people of the evil of sin Rom. 7. 9. Hypocrites have their convictions too Exod. 10. 16. Then Pharoah called for Moses and Aaron in hast and he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you Thus was Saul also convicted 1 Sam. 15. 24. Doth true conviction and compunction work reformation of life in the people of God even hypocrites also have been famous for their reformations The unclean spirit often goes out of the
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 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
Rom. 12. 11. in serving God servent in spirit or hissing hot 2 Pet. 1. 10. in securing salvation diligent or doing it throughly and enough 1 Tim. 4. 7. in godliness exercising or stripping themselves as for a race Luke 13. 24. in the pursuit of happiness striving even to an agony Act. 26. 7. in prayer serving God instantly or in a stretched-out manner yea pouring out their hearts before him Psal. 62. 8 as if the body were left like a dead corps upon the knees whilst the spirit is departed from it and ascended to God This is the manner of his work judge then how much harder this work is than to spend the sweat of the brow in manual labour The Husbandman finds his work as he left it he can begin one day where he left the other but it is not so with the Christian a bad heart and a busie devil disorder and spoyl his work every day The Christian finds not his heart in the morning as he left it at night and even when he is about his work how many set-backs doth he meet with Satan stands at his right hand the working hand to resist him Zech. 3. 1. when he would do good evil the evil of his own heart and nature is present with him The Husbandman hath some resting days when he throws aside all his work and takes his recreation but the Christian hath no resting day till his dying day and then he shall rest from his labours Religion allows no idle dayes but requires him to be always abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. When one duty is done another calls for him the Lord's day is a day of rest to the Husbandman but no day in the week so laborious to the Christian. O 't is a spending day to him When he hath gathered in the crop of one duty he is not to sit down satisfied therewith or say as that rich worldling did Luke 12. 19. Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years but must to plow again and count it well if the Vintage reach to the seed-time Lev. 26. 5. I mean if the strength influence and comforts of one duty hold out to another duty and that it may be so and there be no room left for idleness God hath appointed ejaculatory prayer to fill up the intervals betwixt stated and the more solemn duties These are to keep in the fire which kindled the morning sacrifice to kindle the evening sacrifice When can the Christian sit down and say now all my work is ended I have nothing to do without doors or within Lastly There is a time when the labour of the Husbandman is ended old age and weakness takes him off from all imployment they can only look upon their labourers but cannot do a stroke of work themselves they can tell you what they did in their younger years but now say they we must leave it to younger people we cannot be young always but the Christian is never super-annuated as to the work of Religion yea the longer he lives the more his Master expects from him When he is full of dayes God expects he should be full of fruits Psal. 9. 14. They shall bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing REFLECTIONS HOw hard have I laboured for the meat that perisheth prevented the dawning of the day and laboured as in the very fire and yet is the Christians work harder than mine Surely then I never yet understood the work of Christianity Alas my sleepy prayers and formal duties even all that ever I performed in my life never cost me that pains that one hour at plow hath done I have either wholly neglected or at best so lazily performed religious duties that I may truly say I offer to God what cost me nothing Wo is me poor wretch How is the judgment of Corah spiritually executed upon me The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up his body but it hath opened its mouth and swallowed up my heart my time and all my affections How far am I from the Kingdom of God! And how little better is my case who have indeed professed Religion but never made it my business Will an empty though splendid profession save me How many brave Ships have perished in the storms notwithstanding their fine names the Prosperous the Success the Happy return A fine name could not protect them from the rocks nor will it save me from hell I have done by Religion as I should have done by the world prayed as if I prayed not and heard as if I heard not I have given to God but the shadow of duty and can never expect from him a real reward How unlike a Christian dost thou also O my soul go about thy work though upright in the main yet how little zeal and activity dost thou express in thy duties Awake love and zeal feest thou not the toyl and pains men take for the world how do they prevent the dawning of the day and labour as in the very fire till night and all this for a trifle should not every drop of sweat which I see trickle from their brows fetch as it were a drop of blood from my heart who am thus convinced and reproved of shameful laziness by their indefatigable diligence Do they pant after the dust of the earth Amos 2. 7. and shall not I pant after God Psal. 42. 1. Ah my soul It was not wont to be so with thee in the dayes of my first profession Should I have had no more communion with God in duties then it would have broken my heart I should have been weary of my life Is this a time for one to stand idle who stands at the door of eternity What now slack-handed when so neer to my everlasting rest Rom. 13. 11. or hast thou found the work of God so unpleasant to thee Prov. 3. 17. or the trade of godliness so unprofitable Psal. 19. 11. Or knowest thou not that millions now in hell perished for want of serious diligence in Religion Luke 13. 34. or doth my diligence for God answer to that which Christ hath done and suffered to purchase my happiness or to the preparations he hath made in heaven for me or dost thou forget that thy Masters eye is alwayes upon thee whilst thou art lazing and loytering or would the damned live at this rate as I do if their day of grace might be recalled for shame my soul for shame rouze up thy self and fall to thy work with a diligence answerable to the weight thereof for it is no vain work concerning thee it is thy life The Poem Religion WHEN advanc'd in power Will make you HUSBAND every hour 'T will make MEN strive with all their might And therein FIND a sweet delight If there were NOUGHT besides that pay Christ gives TO cheer us in our way Should we not DO the best we can For there 's