of a long suffering God! lest he proportion the degrees of his wrath according to the length of his patience The Poem WHen fields are white to harvest forth you go With Sith's and Sickles to reap down and mow Down go the laden ears flat to the ground Which those that follow having stitcht and bound It 's carted home unto the Barn and so The fields are rid where lately corn did grow This world 's the field and they that dwell therein The Corn and tares which long have ripening been Angels the reapers and the judgment day The time of harvest when like Corn and hay The sading flower of earthly glory must Be mowed down and level'd with the dust The Barns are heaven and hell the time draws nigh When through the darkned clouds and troubled skie The Lord shall break a dreadful trumpet shall Sound to the dead the stars from heaven fall The rowling sphears with horrid flames shall burn And then the Tribes on earth shall wail and mourn The judgment set before Christs awful throne All flesh shall be conven'd and every one Receive his doom which done the just shall be Bound in lifes bundle even as you see The full ripe ears of wheat bound up and born In sheaves with joy unto the owners barn This done the Angels next in bundles binde The tares together as they did combinde In acting sin so now their lot must be To burn together in one misery Drunkards with drunkards pinion'd shall be sent To hell together in one Regiment Adulterers and swearers there shall lye In flames among their old society O dreadful howlings O the hideous moans Of â—etter'd sinners O the tears the groans The doleful lamentations as they go Chain'd fast together to their place oâ— we The world thus clear'd as fields when harvest 's in Shall be no more a stage for acting sin With purifying flames it shall be burn'd It s stately fabricks into ashes turn'd Cease then my soul to dote on or admire This splendid world which is reserv'd for fire Decline the company of sinners here As thou wouldst not be shackel'd with them there CHAP. XVI Your winter store in Summer you provide To Christian prudence this must be apply'd OBSERVATION GOod husbands are careful in Summer to provide for Winter then they gather in their Winter store food and fewel for themselves and fodder for their cattel He that gathers in Summer is a wise son but be that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame Prov. 10. 5. A well chosen season is the greatest advantage to any action which as it is seldom found in haste so it is often lost by delay 'T is a good proverb which the frugal Dutch have among them Bonus Servatius facit bonum Bonifacium a good Saver will make a good Benefactor And 't is a good Proverb of our own He that neglects the occasion the occasion will neglect him Husbandmen know that Summer will not hold all the year neither will they trust to the hopes of a mild and favourable Winter but in season provide for the worst APPLICATION VVHat excellent Christians should we be were we but as provident and thoughtful for our souls 't is doubtless a singular point of Christan wisdom to foresee a day of spiritual straits and necessities and during the day of grace to make provision for it This great Gospel truth is excellently shadowed forth in this natural Observation which I shall branch out into these seven particulars Husbandmen know there is a change and vicissitude of seasons and weather though it be pleasant Summer weather now yet Winter will tread upon the heel of Summer frosts Snows and great falls of rain must be expected This alternate course of seasons in nature is setled by a firm Law of the God of nature to the end of the world Gen. 8. 22. Whilst the earth remaineth seed time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer day and night shall not cease And Christians know that there are changes in the right hand of the most High in referrence to their spiritual seasons If there be a Spring time of the Gospel there will also be an Autmn if a day of prosperity it will set in a night of adversity for God hath set the one over aginst the other Eccles. 7. 14. In heaven there is a day of everlasting serenity in hell a night of perfect and endless horror and darkness on earth light and darkness take their turns prosperity and adversity even to souls as well as bodies succeed each other If there be a Gospel day a day of grace now current it will have its period and determination Gen. 3. 6. Common prudence and experience enables the Husbandman in the midst of Summer to foresee a Winter and provide for it before he feel it yea natural instinct teaches this to the very birds of the air and beasts of the field And spiritual wisdome should teach Christians to exercise their foreseeing faculties and not suffer them to feel evil before they fear it But O the stupifying nature of sin Though the Stork in the heavens knows her appointed time and the Turtle Crane and Swallow the time of their coming yet man whom God hath made wiser than the fowls of the air in this acts quite below them Ier. 8. 7. The end of Gods ordaining a summer season and sending warm and pleasant weather is to ripen the fruits of the earth and give the Husbandman fit opportunity to gather them in And God's design in giving men a day of grace is to furnish them with an opportunity for the everlasting happiness and salvation of their souls Rev. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent It is not a meer reprieval of the soul or only a delay of the execution of threatned wrath though there be much mercy in that but the peculiar aim of this patience and bounty of God is to open for them a way to escape the wrath to come by leading them to repentance Rom. 2. 4. The Husbandman doth not find all harvest seasons alike favourable sometimes they have much fair weather and meet with no hindrance in their business other times 't is a catching harvest but now and then a fair day and then they must be nimble or all is lost There is also great difference in Soul-seasons some have had a long and a fair season of grace an hundred and twenty years did God wait upon the old world in the Ministry of Noah Long did God wait on the gainsaying Israelites Isa. 42. 14. I have a long time held my peace I have been still and refrained myself Others have a short and catching season all lies upon a day upon a nick of time Act. 17. 30. A proper season neglectd and lost is irrecoverable Many things in Husbandry must be done in their season or cannot be done at all for that
awakening to consider the state of their souls whether in grace or in nature to others for their instruction consolation and encouragement in the wayes of grace as also of their proficiency and growth in those wayes That the blessing of the Lord and the breathings of his good Spirit may go out with it for all those gracious purposes is the hearts desire and prayer of him who is Christian Reader A sincere well-wisher to thy precious and immortal soul IOSEPH CARYL To his Reverend and learned Friend Mr. Iohn Flavell on his Spiritual Navigation and Husbandry LEtters of Mart of his dear Servant given By him that fists the ruffling winds of heaven To fight and take all such as would not daign T' acknowledge him the Seas great Soveraign He lanch'd his little Pinace and began T'attaque the vassals of Leviathan Auspicious gales swelling his winged Sails Searches all creeks and every Bark he hails That scarce a Ship our Western Coasts afford Which this brave Pinace hath not laid aboard And what among our riddles some might count Was seen at once at Barwick and the Mount Yea in more Ports hath in one lustre been Than Hawkins Drake or Cavendish have seen And Prizes of more worth brought home again Than all the Plate-Fleets of the Kings of Spain But that which makes the wonder swell the more Those whom he took were Beggars all before But rests he here No no our friend doth know 'T is good to have two strings unto his Bow Our rare Amphibion loves not to be pent Within the bounds of one poor Element Besides the learned Author understood That of an idle hand there comes no good The Law to him no Pulpit doth allow And now he cannot Preach he means to Plow Though Preaching were a crime yet the foresaw Against the Plowman there could be no Law Nor stayes he on resolves but out of hand He yoaks his Teem plows up the stubborn Land Sows it with precious Seed harrows again The tougher clods takes pleasure in his pain Whilst Orph'us like which doth his Art advance Rocks Fields and Woods after his pipe do dance Industrious spirit to what a rich account With thy blest Lord will all these labours mount That every nerve of thy blest soul dost ply To further heavens Spiritual Husbandry This kind of Tillage which thou teachest us Was never dreamt of by Triptolemus Go Reader turn the leaves and me allow To pray whilst at thy work God speed the Plow NICHOLAS WATTS In Authoris OPERA LEt Paracelsius and Van-Helmonts name No more ride triumph on the wings of fame Lo here 's a Chymist whose diviner skill Doth hallowed from unhallow'd things distil Spiritualizeth Sea affairs agen Makes the rude ground turn Tutor unto men Shews Mariners as by a Compass how They may unto the Port of Glory row Teacheth the Plowmen from their work to know What duties unto God and man they ow. Rare Artist who when many tongues are mute Mak'st things that are inanimate confute The Ages sins by preaching unto eyes Truths which in other modes their ears despise Prosper his pious Labours Lord howe'r Do not forget to crown the labourer Sic raptim canit DAN CONDY To his Reverend and Invaluable Friend Mr. I. F. upon his Husbandry Spiritualized INgenious Sir what do I see what now Are you come from the Pulpit to the Plow If so then pardon me if I profess The Plow deserves to be sent to the Press 'T is not long since you went to Sea they say Compos'd a Compass which directs the way And steers the course to heaven O blest Art And bravely done that you did that impart To us who take it kindly at your hand And bless the Lord that you are come to Lord. To be an Husbandman wherein your skill With admiration doth your Readers fill One grain will yield increase it 's ten times ten When th' earth's manur'd by such Husbandmen We may expect rich harvests and full crops When heavenly dew descendeth in such drops Of spiritual rain to water every field That it full helps of grace to God may yield I must adore the wisdom of that God That makes men wise who even from a clod Of earth can raise such heavenly Meditation Unto a pitch of highest elevation Besides I mark the goodness of the Lord Performing unto us his faithful Word That all shall work for good unto the Saints Which in some measure lessens our complaints For though our Pulpit mercies be grown less We have some gracious helps yet from the Press And herein all the world may plainly see That faithful servants will not idle be We have some bricks although the straw be gone The Church at last shall be of polisht stone What ever men or Devils act or say Sion at last will have a glorious day The wretched muck-worm that from morn to night Labours as if 't were for an heavenly weight And when he hath got all he can the most Amounts to little more than a poor crust To feed his tired carkase if himself Have by his carking got a little pelf Leave it he must to one he knows not whom And then must come to eternal doom And hear his poor neglected wretched soul Tell him at last that he hath play'd the fool But here he 's taught how he before he dye May lay up treasure for eternity Wherein he may be rich yea much much more Than they that do possess whole mines of Oar. When earth 's more worth than heaven gold than grace Then let the worldling run his bruitish race But not before unless he do intend To meet with soul-destruction in the end But I must leave him and return again To gratulate the author for his pain And here I can't forbear to let my pen To tell the world of all the Husbandmen That er'e I met he he hath hit the vein To recompense the Labourers hard pain And taught him how to get the greatest gain Wherein he treads a path not trod before By which indeed his skill appears the more I might Encomiums give him great and true And yet come short of what 's his due But I must not walk in forbidden wayes For thereby I am sure I should displease His pious mind who doth and freely can Give all the praise to the great Husbandman Who will his graces in his servants own But doth expect himself to wear the Crown Farewel dear Sir In take my leave and now Will say no more but this God speed the plow EDWARD IEFFERY Reader this Emblem darkly represents The Books chief scope and principall contents Yet since these Birds Beasts Heart Stone String and Tree Doe more imply than at first glance you see Our courteous Muse which cannot be unkinde Intends more plainly to divulge her minde You see the Shadows would you see the Things She couches under them then view her Wings A gracious heart here learns the art Of soaring up on high Upon the Wings
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
to pray he will shew them how to curse and swear and take the name of the Lord in vain if you grudge time a pains about their souls the Devil doth not Oh 't is a sad consideration that so many children should be put to School to the devil What comfort are you like to have from them when they are old if you bring them not up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord when they are young Many Parents have lived to reap in their old age the fruit of their own folly and carelessâ—ess in the loose and vain education of their children By Lieurgus his Law no Parent was to be relieved by his children in age if he gave them not good education in their youth and it is a Law at this day among the Switzers that if any child be condemned to die for a capital offence the Parents of that child are to be his executioners these Laws were made to provoke Parents to look better to their charge Believe this as an undoubted truth That that child which becomes through thy default an instrument to dishonour God shall prove sooner or later a son or daughter of sorrow to thee REFLECTIONS GOd hath found out my sin this day This hath been my practise ever since I had a family committed to my charge I have spent more time and pains about the bodies of my beasts then the souls of my children beast that I am for so doing little have I considered the preciousness of my own or their immortal souls How careful have I been to provide fodder to preserve my cattel in the Winter whilst I leave my own and their souls to perish to eternity and make no provision for them Surely my children will one day curse the time that ever they were born unto such a cruel fâ—ther or of such a merciless mother Should I bring home the plague into my family and live to see all my poor children lye dead by the walls if I had not the heart of a Tyger such a sight would melt my heart and yet the death of their souls by the sin which I propagated to them affects me not Ah that I could say I had done but as much for them as I have done for a beast that perisheth But unhappy wretch that I am God cast a better lot for me I am the off-spring of religious and tender Parents who have alwayes deeply concerned themselves in the everlasting state of my soul many prayers and tears have they poured out to God for me both in my hearing as well as in secret many holy and wholsom counsels have they from time to tome dropt upon me many precious examples have they set in their own practise before me many a time when I have sinned against the Lord have they stood over me with a rod in their hands and tears in their eyes using all means to reclaim me but like an ungracious wretch I have slighted all their counsels grieved their hearts and imbittered their lives to them by my sinful courses Ah my soul thou art a degenerate Plant better will it be with the off-spring of infidels than with thee if repentance prevent not now I live in one family with them but shortly I shall be separated from them as far as hell is from heaven they now tenderly pity my misery but then they shall approve and applaud the righteous sentence of Christ upon me So little priviledge shall I then have from my relation to them that they shall be produced as witnesses against me and all their rejected counâ—els reproofs and examples charged home upon me as the aggravations of my wickedness and better it will be when it shall come to that that I had been brought forth by a beast than sprang from the loyns of such Parents The Poem YOur cattel in fat pastures thrive and grow There 's nothing wanting that should make them so The pamper'd horse commends his Masters care Who neither pains or cost doth grudge of spare But art not thou mean while the veriest fool That pamper'st beasts and starv'st thy precious soul 'T were well if you could dye as now you live Like beasts and had no more account to give O that these lines your folly might detect Who both your own and childrens souls neglect To care for beasts O man prepare to hear The doleful'st language that e're pierc'd thine ear When you your children once in hell shall meet And with such language their damn'd parents greet O cursed father wretched mother why Was I your off-spring would to God that I Had sprung from Tygers who more tender be Unto their young than you have been to me How did you spend your thoughts time care and cost About my body whilst my soul was lost Did you not know I had a soul that must Live when this body was resolv'd to dust You could not chuse but understand if I Without an interest in Christ did dye It needs must come to this O how could you Prove so remorsless and no pity shew Oh cruel parents I may curse the day That I was born of such as did betray Their child to endless torments Now must I With and through you in flames for ever lye Let this make every parent tremble lest He lose his child whilst caring for his beast Or lest his own poor soul do starve and pine Whilst he takes thoughts for Horses Sheep and kine CHAP. II. When under loads your beasts do groan think then How great a mercy 't is that you are men OBSERVATION THough some men be excessively careful and tender over their beasts as was noted in the former Chapter yet others are cruel and merciless towards them not regarding how they ride or burden them How often have I seen them fainting under their loads wrought off their legs and turned out with galled backs into the fields or high-wayes to shift for a little grass many times have I heard and pitied them groaning under unreasonable burdens and beaten on by merciless drivers till at last by such cruel usage they have been destroyed and then cast into a ditch for dogs meat APPLICATION SUch sights as these should make men thankful for the mercy of their Creation and bless their bountiful Creator that they were not made such creatures themselves Some beasts are made ad esum only for food being no otherwise useful to man as swine c. these are only fed for slaughter we kill and eat them and regard not their cryes and struglings when the knife is thrust to their very hearts others are only ad usum for service whilst living but unprofitable when dead as Horses these we make to drudge and toyl for us from day to day but kill them not others are both ad esum usum for food when dead and service whilst alive as the Ox. These we make to plow our fields draw our carriages and afterwards prepare them
their own necessities while living but to lay up something for their posterity when they are gone they do not only leave to their children what their progenitors left them but they desire to leave it improved and bettered None but bad husbands and spend-thirfts are of the mind with that Heathen Emperor Tiberius who having put all into such confusions in the Empire that it might be thought the world would end with him yet pleased himself with this apprehension that he should be out of the reach of it and would often say When I am dead let heaven and earth mingle if the world will but hold my time let it break when I am gone But provident men look beyond their own time and do very much concern themselves in the good or evil of their posterity APPLICATION VVHat careful Husbands do with respect to the provisions they make for their children that all prudent Christians are bound to do with respect to the truths committed to them and do them to be transmitted to succeeding Saints In the first age of the world even till the Law was given faithful men were instead of books and records they did by oral tradition convey the truths of God to posterity but since the sacred truth hath been consigned the writing no such tion except full consentient with that written word is to be received as authentick but the truths therein delivered to the Saints are by verbal declarations open confessions and constant sufferings to be preserved and delivered from age to age This was the constant care of the whole cloud of witnesses both ancient and modern who have kept the word of Gods patience and would not accept their own lives liberties or estates no nor the whole world in exchange for that invaluable treasure of truth they have carefully practised Solomons counsel Prov. 23. 23. Buy the truth but sell it not they would not alienate that fair inheritance for all the inheritances on earth Upon the same reasons that you are refuse to part with or embezel your estates Christians also refuse to part with the truths of God You will not waste or alienate your inheritance because it 's precious and of great value in your eyes but much more precious are Gods truths to his people Luther professed he would not take the whole world for one leaf of his Bible Though some profane persons may say with Pilate What is truth yet know that any one truth of the Gospel is more worth than all the inheritances upon earth they are the great things of Gods Law and he that sells them for the greatest things in this world makes a soul-undoing bargain You will not waste or part with your inheritance because you know your posterity will be much wronged by it They that baffle or drink away an estate drink the tears of their sad widows and the very blood of their impoverished children The people of God do also consider how much the generations to come are concern'd in the conservation of the truths of God for them it cuts them to the heart but to think that their children should be brought up to worship dumb idols and fall down before a wooden or a breaden God The very birds and beasts will expose their own bodies to apparent danger of death to preserve their young Religion doth much more intender the heart and bowels than nature doth You reckon it a foul disgrace to sell your estates and beâ—â—me Bankrupts 't is a word that hears ill among you And a Christian accounts it the highest reproach in the world to be a traitor to or an Apostate from the truths of God When the primitive Saints were strictly required to deliver up their Bibles those that did so were justly branded and husht out of their company under the odiou title of Traditores or deliverers You are so loath to part with your â—states because you know its hard recovering an estate again when once you have lost it Christians do also know how difficult it will be for the people of God in times to come to recover the light of the Gospel again if once it be exinguished There is no truth of God recovered out of Antichrists hands without great wrestlings and much blood The Church may call every point of reformed doctrine and discipline so recovered her Napâ—â—alies for with great wrestlings she hath wrestled for them Earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to them Iude 3. To conclude rather than you will part with your estates you will chuse to suffer many wants and hardships all your lives you will fare hard and go bare to preserve what you have for your posterity But the people of God have put themselves upon far greater hardships than these to preserve truth they have chosen to suffer reproaches poverty prisons death and the most cruel torments rather than the loss of Gods truth All the Martyrologies will inform you what their sufferings have been to keep the word of Gods patience they have boldly told their enemies that they might pluck their hearts out of their bodies but should never pluck the truth out of their hearts REFLECTIONS BAse unbelieving heart how have I flinched and shrunk from truth when it hath been in danger I have rather chosen to leave it than my life liberty or estate as a prey to the enemy I have left truth and just it is that the God of truth should leave me Cowardly soul that durst not make a stand for truth yea rather bold and daring soul that wouldst rather venture to look a wrathful God than an angry man in the face I would not own and preserve the truth and the God of truth will not own me 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we deny him he will deny us Lord unto me hast thou committed the precious treasure and trust of truth and as I received it so do I desire to deliver it to the generations to come that the people which are yet unborn may praise the Lord. God forbid I should ever part with such a fair inheritance and thereby begger my own and thousands of souls Thou hast given me thy truth and the world hates me I well know that is the ground of the quarrel would I but throw truth over the walls how soon would a retreat be sounded to all presecutors But Lord thy truth is invaluably precious what a vile thing is my blood compared with the least of all thy truths Thou hast charged me to sell it and in thy strength I resolve never to lift a fine and cut off that golden line wherey thy truths are entailed upon thy people from generation to generation My friends may go my liberary go my blood may go but as for thee precious truth thou shalt never go How dear hath this inheritance of truth cost some Christians how little hath it cost us We are entred into their labours we reap in peace what they sowed in tears yea in blood O the grievous sufferings
full fill carnal hearts with joy 156. Some have no Barns yet much joy 156 Beasts their bondage by sin 205 206 Blastings incident to Corn 115 Buildings where â—rected 5 C Capacity of beasts how narrow 208 Chaâ—â— grows with Wheat its usefulness to itâ— its worthlessness in it self its separation from the Corn 167 168 Corn cannot resist the Sickle 131. Received into the Reapers bosom 131. Corn not to be reaped till ripe signs when it is so 132 133. Crop the first usually best 10 D Death of seeds how to be understood 101 Deeds for estates how carefully proved and preserved 226 Diligence the thriving way 24 Diligence a credit to men 25 Disappointments grievous to Husbandman 6 Dressing of ground 4 Drought follows a glut of rain 85 E Ease how little the beasts have 207 Enclosures the end of them 3 End of all Husbandry 7 Estates increased and preserved how 26 Expectation of Harvest 122. the grounds and incouragements of it 124 125 F Famine occasioned by drought 90. Its effects terrible 91 92 Fowls enemies to seed 155 Frosts conduce to a good Harvest how 72 Fruits shaken and when 186 187 G Gathering in of fruit the Emblem of the end of the world 186 187 Graffing the manner of it shewn 180 Graffs their danger till they take hold of the stock 181 All do not thrive alike in the stock 183 H Harvest the joy thereof described 158 159 Harvest when catching what Husbandmen do 130 Hâ—rrow its use in Husbandry 72 Hâ—dges their use 4 Hâ—alth preserved by labour 56 Horses how carefully fed and dressed 200 Husbandmen their work spending 1â— yet have some resting dayes 20 I Influences of heaven necessary to produce and ripen fruits 81 82 â—oy natural four of it 152 153 Ioy of Harvest the causes and grounds of it 154 155 156 157 Ioy of Harvest but a gift of common providence 155 L Labourers their bands sufficient for them and theirs 8 Land when spent how recovered 45 Labours of Husbandmen ends at and sometimes before death 21. It sweetens their bed 26 Lost Cattel how recovered 210 211 M Mowing when and what it represents 138 Multiplicity of work and workâ—men in Husbandry 7 18 Miry places barren 54. What causes Mire 55 N Natural and natural causes what 81 Negligence in Summer upon presumption of fair weather a folly 142 O Occasion to be eyed by Husbandmen 140 Opportunities of plowing sowing reaping once lost irrecoverable for that year 140 141 P Pleasure much in Husbandry 31 Plowing requires judgement 63. 'T is hard work 84 Plow rends the earth discovers things hid under the surface 65 Plowing a preparatory and respective work 66. It kills weeds 67. best after rain 67 Plow-man must make no baulks in good ground 67 Posterity to be provided for 221 Poverty when extream a snare 39 Providence in Husbandmen commendable 139 R Rain is from heaven falls by divine appointment great difference in it warm rain most beneficial former and latter both needful obtained by prayer 82 83 84 85 Reaping the fit season thereof 129 S Seed-corn how qualified and prepared 71. Advantaged by early sowing 72 much vigour in a small seed 73 Seeds produce their own kind 146 Springing of seeds and plants whence 81 82. cannot be hindred when the time comes 102 Sowing done in hope and in season 102 Stalk potentially in a small seed 73 Summer why appointed 141 T Tares their resemblance to wheat 108 Threshing the ancient manner of it 160 the use and end of it 161 Threshing corn what is resembles 162 Trees when dead cut down 192 Trees how laden with fruit 186 187 as they leaned so they fall 194 V Valleys most fruitful 10 Variable weather in Harvest 141 Ungraffed fruit harsh 147. The cause thereof 176 Vexation to Husbandmen to be â—indred in their business 9 Union with the graff and stock 180 W Weariness of labourers at night 7 Weeds pernicious to Corn 115 Winnowing its use and end 165 166 Winter sweetned by Summers providence 142 A ACtions eternal in their effects Page 147 148 Account of Ministers great 8 Afflictions parallel'd with threshing in five things 160 161 c. Afflicted Saints Reflections 163 Apostates Reflections 69 118 B Barrenness the Christians reproach 12 Its causes 55. its danger 56 57 58 Beauty of glorified bodies 103 Body of man its noble structure commodious scituation and excellent configuration 207 Business of a Christian and of the Husbandman parallel'd in four things 18 19 20 C Carelesness reproved by the worldlings deligence 143 Caius Marâ—us Victorius his strange conversion 144 Duke of Condy his rare saying 123 Censorious persons reproved 111 Church Gods â—ee 5. how purchased 3. how dressed 4. what expected from it 6. its dignities 11 Christ a sufficient portion to the poor 156 Childrens souls neglected how sinful 201 202 Comforts for declining Christians 48 49 Competency best for Christians 37 38 39 40 Conviction parallel'd with plowing in nine particulars 64 65 66 67 Conversion in old age a wonder 144 D Declining of grace how far 46 47 Deceived souls their reflections 78 Death and reaping parallel'd in five things 131 132 Decayes in grace lamented 137 Diligence in religion honourable safe beneficial and comfortable 25 26 Delight spiritual whence it flows 32 33 Discouragement should not seize on Ministers though they see no present fruit 46 47 Disobedient Children their sin aggravated 203 E Earthly employments suit earthly hearts 33 Elezarius his excellent saying to his wife 122 Elect souls Reflection 190 Examination of our selves needful 166 Example of the multitude no plea 189 Evidences for heaven and Land compared in seven things 24 F Famine spiritual the sorest of judgements 91 92. 93. 94 95 Few saved and their Emblem in nature 188 189 Feeding beasts their plenty and liberty 216 Formalists Reflections 60 196 G Gifts how excelled by grace 74 75 76 Gospel its first entertainment best 10 Removed by reason of barrenness 11 Grace carried through many dangers 116 117 118 Gracious principles parallel'd with seed 71 72 73 Gracious and growing souls Reflections 42 77 136 H Harvest of glory what and when 125 Healthful Christians Reflection 104 Humble hearers profit most 10 Hypocrisie parallel'd with chaff 166 167. It acts like grace 109 110 111 112 Hypocrites their Reflections 34 41 169 Hypocrites inside opened at death 195 I Ignorance inexcusable in Husbandmen 14 15 Ioy spiritual how excellent 153 154. 'T is perfected when natural joy is finished 154. Peculiar mercies the grounds of it 155. God its object 155 Ingratitude for the mercy of our creation how great at sin 206 207 208 L Learning no plea before God 177 Lingring Saints Reflection 127 Longing for heaven what and by whom 126 Lost sinners parallel'd with Straying Cattel in five particulars 211 212 Lycurgus his Law for Parents what 203 M Maintenance due to Ministers 8 Maturity of grace three signs of it 133 Maturity of sin six signs of it 134 135 Ministers must be