your garments for the sense is comparative though the expression be negative And this rending implyes not only acute pain flesh cannot be rent asunder without anguish nor yet only force and violence the heart is a stubborn and knotty piece and will not easily yield but it also implies a dis-union of parts united as when a garment or the earth or any continuous body is rent those parts are separated which fomerly cleaved together Sin and the Soul were glewed fast together before there was no parting of them they would as soon part with their lives as with their lusts but now when the heart is rent for them truely it is also rent from them everlastingly Ezek. 7. 15. to 19. 4 The plow turns up and discovers such things as lay hid in the bosome of the earth before and were covered under a fair green surface from the eyes of men Thus when the Lord plows up the heart of a sinner by conviction then the secrets of his heart are made manifest 2 Cor. 14. 24 25. the most secret and shameful sins will then our for the word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit the joynts and merrow and is a quick discerner of the thoughts and secret intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. It makes the fire burn inwardly so that the soul hath no rest till confession give a vent to trouble Fain would the shuffling sinner conceal and hide his shame but the word follows him through all his sinful shifts and brings him at last to be his own both accuser witness and judge â— The work of the plow is but opus ordinabile a preparative work in order to fruit Should the Husbandman plow his ground never so often yet if the seed be not cast in and quickned in vain is the Harvest expected Thus conviction also is but a preparative to a farther work upon the soul of a sinner If it stick there and go no farther it proves but an abortive or untimely birth Many have gone thus far and there they have stuck they have been like a field plowed but not sowed which is a matter of trembling consideration for hereby their sin is greatly aggravated and their eternal misery so much the more increased O when a poor damned creature shall with horror reflect upon himself in hell how near was I once under such a Sermon to conversion My sins were set in order before me my conscience awakened and terrified with the guilt of them many pâ—rposes and resolves I had then to turn to God which had they been perfected by answerable executions I had never come to this place of torment but there I stuck and that was my eternal undoing Many souls have I known so terrified with the guilt of sin that they have come roaring under horrors of conscience to the Preacher so that one would think such a breach had been made between them and sin as could never be reconciled and yet as angry as they were in that fit with sin they have hug'd and imbraced them again 6 'T is best plowing when the earth is prepared and mollified by the showers of rain then the work goes on sweetly and easily And never doth the heart so kindly melt as when the Gospel clouds dissolve and the free grace and love of Iesus Christ comes sweetly showing down upon it then it relents and mourns ingeniously Ezek. 16. 63. That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy moâ—th any more of thy shame when I am pocified towards thee for all that thou hast done So it was with that poor penitent Luke 7. 38. when the Lord Iesus had discovered to her the super-abounding riches of his grace in the pardon of her manisold abominations her heart melted within her she washed the feet of Christ with tears And indeed there is as much difference betwixt the tears which are forced by the terrors of the law and those which are extracted by the grace of the Gospel as there is betwixt those of a condemned malefactor who weeps to consider the misery he is under and those of a pardoned malefactor that receives his pardon at the foot of the ladder and is melted by the mercy and clemency of his gracious Prince towards him 7 The plow kills those ranck weeds that grow in the field turns them up by the roots buries and rots them So doth saving conviction kill sin at the root makes the soul sick of it begets indignation in the heart against it 2 Cor. 7. 11. The word there signifies the rising of the stomack any being angry even unto sickness Religious wrath is the fiercest wrath now the soul cannot endure sin trembles at it I find a woman more bitter than death saith penitent Solomon Eccl. 7. 26. Conviction like a surâ—et makes the soul to loath what it formerly loved and delighted in 8 That field is not well plowed where the plow jumps and skips over good ground and makes baulks it must turn up the whole field alike and that heart is not savingly convicted where any lust is spared and lest untouched Saving Conviction extends it self to all sins not only to sin in general with this cold confâ—ssion I am a â—â—nner but to the particulars of 〈◊〉 yea to the particular circumstances and aggravations of time place manner occasions thus and thus have I done to the sin of nature as well as practise behold I was shapen in iniquity Psal. 51. 5. There must be no baulking of any sin the spâ—ring of one sin is a sure argument thou art not truely humbled for any sin So far is the convinced soul from a studious concealment of a beloved sin that it weeps over that more than over any other actual sin 9 New ground is much more easily plowed than that which by long lying out of tillage is more consolidated and clung together by deep rooted thorns and brambles which render it difficult to the Plowman This old ground is like an old sinner that hath layn a long time hardening under the means of grace O the difficulty of convincing such a person Sin hath got such rooting in his heart he is so habituated to the reproofs and calls of the word that â—ew such are wrought upon How many young persons are called to one obdurate inveterate sinner I do not say but God may call home such a soul at the eleventh hour but I may say of these compared with others as Solomon speaks Eccles. 7. 28. One man among a thousand have I found c. Few that have long â—esisted the Gospel that come afterwards to feel the saving efficacy thereof REFLECTIONS OGrace for ever to bâ— admired that God should send forth his Word and Spirit to plow up my hard and stony heart yea mine when he hath lest so many of more tender ingenious sweet and melting tempers without any culture or meanes of grace O
do well resemble that small number of Gods elect in the world which free grace hath reserved out of the general ruine of mankind Four things are excellently shadowed forth to us by this similitude You see in a fruitful Autumn the trees even opprest and overladen with the weight of their own fruits before the shaking time come and then they are eased of their burden Thus the whole creation groans under the weight of their sins who inhabit it Rom. 8. 22. the creatures are in bondage and by an elegant Prosopopeia are said both to groan and wait for deliverance The original sin of man brought an original curse which burdens the creature Gen. 3. 17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake and the actual sin of man brings actual curses upon the creature Psal. 107. 34. Thus the inhabitants of the world load and burden it as the limbs of a tree are burdened and sometimes broken with the weight of their own fruit You may observe it in your Orchards every year what abundance of fruits daily fall either by storms or of their own accord but when the shaking time comes then the ground is covered all over with fruit Thus it is with the world that mystical tree with respect to men that inhabit it there is not a year day or hour in which some drop not as it were of their own accord by a natural death and sometimes wars and Epidemical plagues blow down thousands together into their graves these are as high winds in a fruitful Orchard but when the shaking time the Autumn of the world comes then all its inhabitants shall be shaken down together either by death or a translation equivolent thereunto When fruits are shaken down from their trees then the Husbandman separates them the far greatest part for the pound and some few he reserves for an hoard which are brought to his table and eaten with pleasure This excellently shadows forth that great separation which Christ will make in the end of the world when some shall be cast into the wine-press of the Almighties wrath and others preserved for glory Those fruits which are preserved on the tree or in the hoard are comparatively but an handful to those that are broken in the pound Alas 't is scarce one of a thousand and such a small remnant of Elected souls hath God reserved for glory I look upon the World as a great Tree consisting of four large limbs or branches this branch or division of it on which we grow hath doubtless a greater number of Gods elect upon it than the other three and yet when I look with a serious and considering eye upon this fruitful European branch and see how much rotten and withered fruit there grows upon it it makes me say as Chrysostom did of his populous Antioch Ah how small a remnant hath Iesus Christ among these vast numbers Many indeed are called but ah how few are chosen Mat. 20. 16. Alas they are but as the gleanings when the vintage is done here and there one upon its outmost branches To allude to that Isa. 17. 6. it was a sad Observation which that searching Scholar Mr. Brierwood long since made upon the world that dividing it into thirty equal parts he found no less than nineteen of them wholly overspread with Idolatry and Heathenish darkness and of the eleven remaining parts no less than six are Mahumetans so that there remain but five of thirty which profess the Christian Religion at large and the far greater part of these remaining five are invellop'd and drowned in Popish darkness so that you see the reformed Protestant Religion is confined to a small spot of ground indeed Now if from these we substract all the grosly ignorant openly profane meerly civil and secretly hypocritical judge then in your selves how small a scantling of the world falls to Christs share Well might Christ say Mat. 7. 14. Narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it And again Luke 12. 32. Fear not little little flock The large piece goes to the devil a little remnant is Christs Rom. 9. 27. Saints in Scripture are called jewels Mal. 3. 17. Precious pearls and diamonds which the Latines call Uniones Quia nulli duo simul reperiuntur saith Pliny because nature gives them not by pairs but one by one How many pebbles to one pearl Sutable to this notion is that complaint of the Prophet Mich. 7. 1 2. Wâ— is me for I am as when they have gathered the Summer fruits as the grape gleanings of the vintage there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the first ripe fruits the good man is perished out of the earth and there is none i. e. none comparatively upright among men The Prophet alludes to a poor hungry man that after the gathering time is past comes into an Orchard desiring some choice fruits to eat but alas he finds none there is no cluster possibly here and there a single Saint like a single apple here and there one after the shaking time True Saints are the worlds rarities REFLECTIONS WHat then will be my lot when that great shaking time shall come who have followed the multitude and gone with the tyde of the world how even when I have been pressed to strictness and singular diligence in the matters of salvation and told what a narrow way the way of life is have I put it off with this If it be so then wo to thousands Ah foolish heart thousands and ten thousands shall be woful and miserable indeed to all eternity Will it be any mitigation to my misery that I shall have thousands of miserable companions with me in hell or will it be admitted for a good plea at the Iudgment-seat Lord I did as the generality of my neighbours in the world did except it were here and there a more precise person I saw none but lived as I lived Ah foolish â—inner Is it not better go to heaven alone than to hell with company the worst courses have alwayes the most imitators and the road to destruction is thronged with passengers And how little better is my condition who have often fathered the wickedness of my own heart upon the incouragements of mercy Thus hath my heart pleaded against strictness and duty God is a merciful God and will not be so severe with the world to damn so many thousands as are in my condition Deluded soul if God had damned the whole race of Adam he had done them no wrong yea there is more mercy in saving but one man than there is of severity and rigour in damning all how many drunkards and adulterers have lived and dyed with thy plea in their mouths God is a merciful God but yet his word expresly saith Be not deceived such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9. God indeed is a God of infinite mercy but he will never exercise his mercy to
the prejudice of his truth O what rich grace is here that in a general Shipwrack mercy should cast forth a line or plank to save me that when millions perish I with a few more should escape that perdition Was it the Fathers good pleasure to bestow the kingdom upon a little flock and to make me one of that number What singular obligations hath mercy put upon my soul the fewer are saved the more cause have they that are to admire their Saviour If but one of a thousand had been damned yet my salvation would have been an act of infinite grace but when scarce one of a thousand are saved what shall I call that grace that cast my lot among them The Poem HE that with spiritual eyes in Autumn sees The heaps of fruit which fall from shaken trees Like storms of hailstones and can hardly find One of a thousand that remains behind Methinks this Meditation should awake His soul and make it like those trees to shake Of all the clusters which so lately grew Upon these trees how few can they now shew Here one and there another two or three Upon the outmost branches of the tree The greatest numbers to the pound are born Squeez'd in the trough and all to pieces torn This little handful's left to shadow forth To me Gods remnant in this peopl'd earth If o're the whole terrestrial globe I look The Gospel visits but a little nook The rest with horrid darkness overspread Are fast asleep yea in transgressions dead Whole droves to hell the devil daily drives Not one amongst them once resists or strives And in this little heaven-inlightned spot How vast an interest hath Satan got But few of holiness profession make And if from those that do prosess I take The self-deluding hypocrites I fear To think how few remain that are sincere O tax not mercy that it saves so few But rather wonder that the Lord should shew Mercy to any quarrel not with grace But for they self Gods gracious terms embrace When all were Shipwrackt thou shouldst wonder more To find thy self so strangely cast ashore And there to meet with any that can tell How narrowly they also scap'd from hell The smaller numbers mercy saves the higher Ingagements lye on thee still to admire Had the whole species perish'd in their sin And not one individual saved bin Yet every tongue before him must be mute Confess his righteousness but not dispute Or had the hand of mercy which is free Taken another and pass'd over me I still must justifie him and my tongue Confess my maker had done me no wrong But if my name he please to let me see Enroll'd among those few that saved be What admiration should such mercy move What thanks and praise and everlasting love CHAP. IV. Dead barren Trees you for the fire prepare In such a case all fruitless persons are OBSERVATION AFter many years patience in the use of all means to recover a fruit Tree if the Husbandman see it be quite dead and that there can be no more expectation of any fruit from it he brings his ax and hews it down by the root and from the Orchard it s carried to the fire it being then fit for nothing else he reckons it imprudent to let such a useless tree abide in good ground where another might be planted in its room that will better pay for the ground it stands in I my self once saw a large Orchard of fair but fruitless trees all rooted up rived abroad and ricked up for the fire APPLICATION THus deals the Lord by useless and barren Professors who do but cumber his ground Mat. 3. 10. And now also the ax is laid to the root of the trees therefore every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire And Luke 13. 7. Then said the dresser of the vineyard Behold this three years I came seeking fruit on this â—ig-tree and find none cut it down why cumbereth it the ground These three years alluding to the time of his Ministery he being at that time entring upon his last half year as one observes by harmonizing the Evangelists so long he had waited for the fruit of his Ministery among those dead-hearted Iews now his patience is even at an end cut them down saith he why cumber they the ground I will plant others viz. the Gentiles in their room This hewing down of the barren tree doth in a lively manner shadow forth Gods judicial proceedings against formal and empty Professors under the Gospel and the resemblance clearly holds in these following particulars The tree that is to be hewen down for the fire stands in the Orchard among other flourishing trees where it hath enjoyed the benefit of a good soyl a strong fence and much culture but being barren these priviledges secure it not from the fire It is not our standing in the visible church by a powerless profession among real Saints with whom we have been associated and enjoyed the rich and excellent waterings of Ordinances that can secure us from the wrath of God Mat. 3. 8. 9. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our father Neither Abraham nor Abrahams God will acknowledge such degenerate children if Abrahams faith be not in your hearts it will be no advantage that Abrahams bloud runs in your veins 'T will be a poor plea for Iudas when he shall stand before Christ in judgment to say Lord I was one of thy family I preached for thee I did eat and drink in thy presence Let these Scriptures be consulted Mat. 7. 22. Mat. 25. 11 12. Rom. 2. 17. ad 25. The Husbandman doth not presently cut down the tree because it puts not forth as soon as other trees do but waits as long as there is any hope and then cuts it down Thus doth God wait upon barren dead-hearted persons from Sabbath to Sabbath and from year to year for the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward and not willing that any should periâ—h but all come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. Thus the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah upon those dry trees who are now smoaking and flaming in hell 1 Pet. 3. 20. He waits long on sinners but keeps exact accounts of every year and day of his patience Luke 13. 7 These three years And Ier. 25. 3. These 23 years When the time is come to cut it down the dead tree cannot possibly resist the stroke of the ax but receives the blow and falls before it No more can the stoutest sinner resist the fatal stroke of death by which the Lord hews him down Eccles. 8. 8. There is no man that hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war When the pale horse comes
to the following Discourse The Apostle's scope in the context being to check and repress the vain glory and emulation of the Corinthians who instead of thankfulness for and an humble and diligent improvement of the excellent blessings of the Ministry turn'd all into vain ostentation and emulation one preferring Paul and another Apollos in the maan time depriving themselves of the choice blessings they might have received from them both To cure this growing mischief in the Churches he checks their vanity and discovers the evil of such practises by several Arguments amongst which this is one Ye are God's Husbandry q. d. Whar are ye but a field or plot of ground to be manured and cultivated for God and what are Paul Apollo and Cephas but so many work-men and labourers imployed by God the great Husbandman to plant and water you all If then you shall glory in some and despise others you take the ready way to deprive your selves of the benefits and mercies you might receive from the joint Ministry of them all God hath used me to plant you and Apollo to water you you are obliged to bless him for the Ministry of both and it will be your sin if you despise either If the work-men be discouraged in their labours 't is the field that loses and suffers by it so that the words are a similitude serving to illustrate the Relation 1. Which the Churches have to God 2. Which God's Ministers have to the Churches The relation betwixt God and them is like that of an Husbandman to his ground of tillage The Greek word signifies Gods Arable or that plot of ground which God manures by the ministry of Pastors and Teachers It serves to illustrate the relation that the Ministers of Christ sustain to the Churches which is like that of the Husbands servants to him and his fields which excellent notion carries in it the perpetual necessity of a Gospel-Ministry For what fruit can be expected where there are none to till the ground As also the diligence accountableness and rewards which these labourers are to give to and receive from God the great Husbandman All runs into this That the life and imployment of an Husbandman excellently shadows forth the relation betwixt God and his Church and the relative duties betwixt its Ministers and members Or more briefly thus The Church is God's Husbandry about which his Ministers are imployed I shall not here observe my usual Method intending no more but a Preface to the following Discourse but only open the particulars wherein the resemblance consists and then draw some Corrolaries from the whole The first I shall dispatch in these twenty particulars following The Husbandman purchases his fields and gives a valuable consideration for them Ier. 32. 9 10. So hath God purchased his Church with a full valuable price even the precious blood of his own Son Act. 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased or acquired with his own blood O dear-bought inheritance how much doth this bespeak its worth or rather the high esteem God hath of it to pay down blood and such blood for it never was any inheritance bought at such a rate every particular elect person and none but such as are comprehanded in this purchase the rest still remain in the devils right Sin made a forfeiture of all to justice upon which Satan entred and took possession and as a strong man armed still keeps it in them Luke 11. 21. but upon payment of this sum to justice the Elect who only are intended in this purchase pass over into God's right and propriety and now are neither Satans Acts 26. 18. nor their own 1 Cor. 6. 19. but the Lord 's peculiar 1 Pet. 2. 6. And to shew how much they are his own you have two possessives in one verse Cant. 8. 12. My vineyard which is mine is before me Mine which is mine Husbandmen divide and separate their own Lands from other mens they have their Land-marks and boundaries by which propriety is preserved Deut. 27. 17. Prov. 22. 28. So are the people of God wonderfully separated and distinguisht from all the people of the earth Psal. 4. 3 The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself and the Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2. 19 It is a special act of grace to be inclosed by God out of the waste howling wilderness of the world Deut. 33. 16. This God did intentionally in the decree before the world was which decree is executed in their sanctification and adoption Corn-fields are carefully fenced by the Husbandman with hedges and ditches to preserve their fruits from beasts that would otherwise over-run and destroy them Non minus est virtus quam querere parta tueri It is as good Husbandry to keep what we have as to acquire more than we had My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it Isa. 5. 1 2. No inheritance is better defended and secured than the Lords inheritance Psal. 125. 2. As the mountains are round about Ierusalem so the Lord is round about his people So careful is he for their safety that he createth upon every dwelling place of mount Sion and upon her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence Isa. 4. 5. Not a particular Saint but is hedged about and inclosed in arms of power and love Iob 1. 10. Thou hast made a hedge about him The Devil sain would but by his own confession could not break over that hedge to touch Iob till Gods permission made a gap for him Yea he not only makes an hedge but a wall about them and that of fire Zech. 2. 5. Sets a guard of Angels to encamp round about them that fear him Psal. 34. 7. and will not trust them with a single guard of Angels neither though their power be great and love to the Saints as great but watches over them himself also Isa. 27. 2 3. Sing ye unto her a vineyard of red wine I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Husbandmen carry out their Compost to fertilize their arable ground they dung it dress it and keep it in heart and in these Western parts are at great charges to bring lime and salt water sand to quicken their thin and cold soyl Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it and if it bear fruit well if not cut it down Luke 13. 8. O the rich dressing which God bestows upon his Churches they are costly fields indeed drest and fertilized not only by precious Ordinances and Providences but also by the sweat yea bloud of the dispensers of them You Londoners saith Mr. Lockier are trees watered choicely indeed 't is storied of the Palm-tree
be the Churches servants for Iesus sake 2 Cor. 4. 6. the power they have received being for edification and not for destruction 2 Cor. 10. 8. Christ hath given them to the Churches their gifts their time their strength and all their Ministerial talents are not their own but the Churches stock and treasure The workmen that labour in the fields are accountable for their work to him that imploy'd them Church-Officers are also accountable to God for all the souls committed to them They are Stewards of the Mysteries of God 1. Cor. 4. 1. and Stewards are accountable We watch for your souls saith the Apostle as they that must give an account Heb. 13. 7. If these servants be unfaithful in their work and trust the blood of souls shall be required at their hands Ezek. 3. 17 18. which are fulmina non verba saith Erasmus thunder-bolts rather than words The guilt of blood is the greatest guilt and of all blood the blood of souls Those that spend their time and strength all their dayes in manuring and plowing the fields do maintain themselves and their families by their labours their hands are sufficient for themselves and theirs Even so hath God ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1. Cor. 9. 14. The workman is worthy of his meat Mat. 10. 10. 'T is is sad thing if those who break the bread of life to souls should be suffered to want bread themselves God would not have the mouth of the ox muzled that treads out the corn but have liberty to eat as well as work Yet if any pretender to the Ministry be like the Heifer that loves to tread out the corn i. e. cares to do no work but such as brings in present pay he therein sufficiently discovers his beast-like disposition Ministers must be faithful in their Masters work and if men do not God will reward them For He is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love Heb. 6. 10. It is a great trouble to Husbandmen in a busie time to be put off from their labours by stormy weather which drives them out of the fields and makes thâ—m let all lye till it clear up again yet mean-while they are not idle but imploy themselves in home work Even so in God's Husbandry 't is an unspeakable affliction to God's workmen to be rendred useless and unserviceable to the Churches by those storms of trouble which drive them from their publick Ministerial work With what a heavy heart did Paul go off from his work at Ephesus Act. 20. It spends a Minister to preach but more to be silent 'T is a loud speaking judgment when God shall say to them as to Ezekiel Son of man I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb Ezek. 3. 26. Such silencing providences speaking thundring language to gracious hearts yet even then the keepers of the vineyard have a private vineyard of their own to look after they have much home-work when no out-work There is a vast difference betwixt those fields which have been well husbanded and drest by a skilful and diligent Husbandman and those that have been long out of husbandry How fragrant is the one how dry and barren the other When you pass by a field well dressed and fenced every thing prosperous and in exquisite order you may know without farther enquiry that a good Husband lives there Thus stands the case betwixt those places which God hath blest with a faithful painful Ministry and such as have none or worse than none For as the Husbandmans cost and pains appears in the verdant and fragrant hew of his fields so a Ministers pains and diligence is ordinarily seen in the heavenly lives and flourishing graces of the people The Churches of Corinth and Thessalonica where Paul and other holy instruments spent much of their time and pains became famous and flourishing Churches 2 Cor. 9. 2. A special blessing comes along with a godly Minister to the place where special providence assigns him Such places like Gideon's fleece have the dew of heaven lying on them whiles others round about are dry and barren The Husbandman is not discouraged though the seed lye long under the clods he knows it will spring up at last and reward him or those that come after him for their pains and patience in waiting for it Ministers should not be presently discouraged in their work because they see but little or no appearance of all the seed they have sown among the people The servant of the Lord must be patient towards all waiting if at any time God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 24. 25. And if it never spring up in his time it may after his death and if so he shall not fail of his reward Iob. 4. 36 37. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that someth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together and herein is that saying true one soweth and another reapeth Though Ministers die yet their words live yea their words take hold of men when they are in the dust Zech. 1. 6. Husbandmen find low ground and valleys most fertile Hills how loftily soever they over-top the lower grounds yet answer not the Husbandmans pains as the valleys do These are best watered and secured from the scorching heat of the Sun Experience shews us that the humblest Saints are most fruitful under the Gospel These are they that receive with meekness the ingraffed word Iam. 1. 21. whose influences abide in them as the rain doth in the low valleys Happy is that Minister whose lot falls in such a pleasant valley Blessed are they that sow beside all such waters that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass Isa. 32. 20. Among these valleys run the pleasant springs and purling brooks which fertilize the neighbouring ground Heavenly Ordinances there leave fruitful influences The first Crop is usually the best and the longer the Husbandman tills his ground the less it produces After a few years its vigour and strength if spent The first entertainment of the Gospel is commonly the best and what good is done by the Ministry is often done at its first entrance New things are pretty and very taking Iohn at first was to the Iews a burning and a shining light and they were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light Ioh. 5. 35. Paul was highly valued among the Galatians at first such was their zeal that they could have pluckt out their eyes and have given them to him but how quickly did this full tyde ebb again for he complains Gal. 4. 15. Where then is the blessedness ye spake of Lastly When fields prove barren and will not quit the Husbandmans cost nor answer the seed he sows in them he plucks up the hedges and layes it
traveller this world 's my way A single staff may be of use to stay My feeble body if it do not crack By too hard leaning on it but my back Will bear no more Alas I soon should tire And more than one I cannot well desire Lord to prescribe to thee becomes me not I rather do submit unto my lot But yet let condescending grace admit Thy servants suit this once and this is it The staff of bread convenient let me have And manage it discreetly so 't will save Thy feeble servant from the mire and dirt But more or less than this may do me hurt Or if thou say thy servant shall have none Then strengthen faith that I may go alone CHAP. IV. Spent barren Land you can restore and nourish Decayed Christians God can cause to flourish OBSERVATION WHen Land is spent out by â—illage or for want of manuring the careful husbandman hath many wayes to recover and bring it in heart again He lets it lye follow to give it rest and time to recover it self carries out his sand lime and compost to refresh and quicken it again and in pasture and medow ground will wash it if possible with a current of water or the float of the wayes after a fall of rain which is to the earth as a spring of new blood to a consumptive body He cuts down and kills the weeds that suck it out and cause them to make restitution of what they have purloined from it by rotting upon the place where they grew As careful are they to recover it when it is spent as an honest Physician is of his patient in a languishing condition for the knows his field will be as grateful to him and fully requite his care and cast APPLICATION AS man's so God's Husbandry is sometimes out of case not by yielding too many crops but too few The mystical Husbandman hath some fields I mean particular societies and persons who were once fragrant and fruitful like a field which God had blessed but are now decayed and grown barren whose gleanings formerly were more than their vintage now the things that are in them are ready to dye Rev. 3. 3. ' Tispossible yea too common for gracious souls to be reduced to a very low ebb both of graces and comforts how low I will not say Our Brittish Divines tell us That grace indeed cannot be totally intermitted nor finally lost but there may be an omission of the act though not an amission of the habit the act may be perverted though the faith cannot be subverted it may be shaken in though not shaken out its fruits may fall but its sap lyes hid in its root they demerit the loss of the kingdom but lose it not effectively the effect of justification may be suspended but the state of the justified cannot be dissloved Certain it is one that like Paul hath been rapt up with joy even to the third heavens and cryed I am more than a conqueror who can separate me from the love of God May at another time lye mourning as at the gates of death crying O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death One that hath walked in sweet communion with God sunning himself in the light of his countenance may afterwards walk in dark ness and see no light Isa. 50. 10. He that hath cast anchor within the vail and rode securely in the peaceful harbour of assurance may seem to feel his anchor of hope come home to him and go adrift into the stormy Ocean again crying with the Church Lam. 3. 18. My hope is perished from the Lord. His calm and clear Air may be overcast and clouded yea filled with storms and tempests lightnings and thunders his graces like under-ground flowers in the Winter may all disappear and hide their beautiful heads To God he may say I am cast out of thy sight I know thou canst do much but wilt thou shew wonders to the dead To the Promises he may say you are sweet things indeed but what have I to do with you I could once indeed rejoyce in you as my portion but now I doubt I grasped a shadow a fancy instead of you To Saints he may say turn away from me labour not to comfort me O do not spill your precious ointment of consolation upon my head for what have I to do with comfort to former experiences he may say in his haft you are all lyars To the light of God's countenance he may say farewell sweet light I shall behold thee no more To Saâ—an he may say O mine enemy thou haâ—t at last prevailed against me thou art stronger than I and haft overcome To duties and ordinances he may say where is the sweetness I once found in you you were once sweeter to me than the hony comb but now as tastless as the white of an egg O sad relaspe deplored change quantum mutatus ab illo But will God leave his poor creatures helpless in such a case as this Shall their leaf fall their branches wither their joy their life their heart depart will he see their graces fainting their hopes gasping the new creature panting the things that are in them ready to dye and will he not regard it yes yes There is hope of a tree if it be cut down and the root thereof wax old in the earth yet by the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant Iob 14. 89. This poor declined soul as sad as it sits at the gates of hell may rouze up it self at last and say to Satan that stands triumphing over him Rejoyce not over me O mine enemy for though I fall yet I shall arise though I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light unto me Mich. 7. 8. He may raise up himself upon his bed of languishing for all this and say to God though thou hast chastened me sore yet hast thou not given me over unto death He may turn about to the Saints that have mourned for him and with a lightsome countenance say I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord. He may say to the Promises you are the true and faithful sayings of God my unbelief did bely you I said in my hast you were lyars but I eat my words I am ashamed of my folly Surely O Soul there is yet hope in thine end thou mayst be restored Psal. 23. 3. Thou mayst yet recover thy verdure and thy dew be as the dew of herbs For Is he not thy father and a father â—ull of compassions and bowels And can a father stand by his dying Child see his fainting fits hear his melting groans and pitty begging looks and not help him especially having restoratives by him that can do it Surely as a father pities his own Children so will thy God pitty thee Psal. 103. 12 13. He Will spare thee as a father
dews showers and cleer shinings after â—ain are to the fields that the word and Ordinances of God are to the souls of men My doctrine shall drop as the rain my speech shall distil as the dew as the â—inaâ— rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass Deut. 3â— 2. For as the rain and snow cometh down from heaven and watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud so shall my word be that goeth forth of my mouth Isa. 55. 10 11. And as the doctrine of the Gospel is rain so Gospel Ministers are the clouds in which those heavenly vapours are bound up The resemblance lyes in the following particulars The rain comes from heaven Acts 14. 17. He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons c. The doctrine of the Gospel is also of an heavenly extraction and descent they are heavenly truths which are brought to you in earthen vessels things that were hid in God and come from his bosom Eph. 3. 9. What Nicodemus said of Christ is in a proportion true of every faithful dispenser of the Gospel Thou art a teacher come from God Ioh. 3. 2. You are not to look upon the truths which Ministers deliver as the meer effects and fruits of their inventions and parts they are but the Conduits through which those celestial waters are conveyed to you 'T is all heavenly the Officers from heaven Eph. 4. 12. Their Doctrine from heaven Eph. 3. 8 9. The efficacy and success of it from heaven 1 Cor. 3. 3. What I received of the Lord saith Paul that have I delivered unto you 1 Cor. 11. 23. The same may every Gospel Minister say too That 's the first And then 2ly The rain falls by divine direction and appointment He causes it to rain upon one city and not upon another Amos 4. 7. You shall often see a cloud dissolve and spend it self upon one place when there is not a drop within a few miles of it Thus is the Gospel sent to shed its rich influences upon one place and not upon another It pours down showers of blessings upon on Town or Parish whilst others are dry like the ground which lay neer to Gideons wet fleece To you is the word of this salvation sent Act. 13. 26. Sent it comes not by chance but by Commission and appointment and it s sent to you by special direction Ministers can no more go whither they please than the failing clouds can move against the wind Paul and Timothy two fruitful clouds that sent down many sweet refreshing showers upon every place whither they came the Lord sent them through Phrygia and Galatia but forbad them to preach the word in Asia Acts. 16. 6. And when they essayed to go into Bitâ—ynia the spirit suffered them not v. 7. But a man of Macedonia appears to Paul in a vision and prayed him saying come over to Macedonia and help us v. 9. Thus you see how the mystical as well as the natural clouds are moved according to divine counsel and though Ministers are not now disposed to their respective places in such an extraordinary way yet there is still a special hand of the Spirit guiding their motions which is seen partly in qualifying them or such a people and partly in drawing out their hearts to elect and call them and inclining their hearts to accept the call There is a great deal of difference in showers of rain that fall upon the earth Sometimes you have an hasty shower which makes the wayes fleet and the streets run but it 's gone presently the earth hath but little benefit by it and sometimes you have a sweet gentle soaking rain that moderately soaks to the root and refreshes the earth abundantly This is called the small rain and the former the great rain of his strength Iob 37. 6. So it is in these spiritual showers the effects of some sermons like a sudden spout of rainâ— are very transient that touch the heart a little for present by way of conviction or comfort but it fleets away immediately Iâ—m 1. 23. At other times the Gospel like a setled moderate rain soaks to the root to the very heart So did that sweet shower which sell Acts 2. 37. It searcheth the root it went to the heart the influences ' of it are sometimes abiding and do much longer remain in and refresh the heart than the rain doth the earth There be effects left in some hearts by some Sermons and duties that will never out of it so long as they live I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal. 119. 92. The rain is most beneficial to the earth when there come sweet warm Sun-blasts with it or after it This the scripture calls a clear shining after rain 2 Sam. 23. 4. by which the seminal vertue of the earth is drawn forth and then the herbs and flowers and Corn sprout abundantly So it is with Gospel showers when the Sun of righteousness opens upon poor souls under the word darting down the beams of grace and love upon them whilst they are attending on it just as you sometimes see a sweet shower fall while the Sun shines out O how comfortable is this And effectual to melt the heart and as the warm rain is most refreshing so when the word comes warmly from the melting affections of the Preacher who imparts not only the Gospel but his own soul with it 1 Thes. 2. 8. This doth abundantly more good than that which drops coldly from the lips of the unaffected speaker Showers of rain do exceedingly refresh the earth as a man is refreshed by a draught of water when his spirits are even spent O how welcome is a shower to the thirsty ground Hence the little hills are said to rejoyce on every side yea to shout for joy and sing when a shower comes Psal. 65. 12 13. but never was shower of rain so sweetly refreshing to the thirsty earth as Gospel-showers are to gracious hearts Col. 4. 8. It comforts their very hearts What joy was there in Samaria when the Gospel came to that place Acts 8. 8. It revives the soul its mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in corde honey in the mouth melody in the ear and a very Iubilee in the heart Rain is necessary at Seed-time to make ready the earth to receive the Seed Psal. 65. 9 10. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it thou greatly â—nrichest it with the river of God which is full of water thou preparest them coâ—n when thou â—ast so provided for it thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly thou settâ—st the furrows thereof thou makest it soft with showers thou blâ—ssest the springing thereof And this the Scripâ—ure calls the former rain And as this is necessary about Seed-time so the latter rain is as needâ—ul about â—aâ—ing time to disclose the ear and to bring it to perfection both these are great blessings to the earth and conduce to a
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