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
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
hungrily upon barly bread and said Cujusmodi voluptatis hactenus in expernus fuit Oh what pleasure have I hitherto been ignorant of when grea◠Darius drank the pudled water that had been defiled with dead carcases which had been slain in that famous battel he professed he never drank more pleasant drink And famous Hunniades said he never fared more daintily than when in a like exigence he supped upon bread onions and water with a poor Shepheard in his cottage Iust so doth the famine of the Word raise the price and esteem of vulgar and despised truths O what would we give for one of those Sermons one of those Sabbaths we formerly enjoyed In those dayes the word of the Lord was precious When God calls to the enemy to take away and remove his contemned but precious dainties from his wanton Children and a spiritual famine hath a little pinched them they will then learn to prize their spiritual food at a higher rate In time of famine some persons suffer more than others It falls heaviest and pincheth hardest upon the poorer sort as long as any thing is to be had for money the rich will have it So it falls out in a spiritual famine although the most experienced and best furnished Christians will have enough to do to live in the absence of Ordinances yet they are like to subsist much better than weak ignorant and unexperienced ones Some Christians have Husbanded their time well and like Ioseph in the seven years plenty laid up for a scarcity The Word of God dwells richly in them Some such there are as Iohn calls young men who are strong and the word of God remaineth in them of whom it may be said as Ierom spake of Nepotianus that by long and assiduous meditation of the Scriptures he had made his breast the very Library of Christ. But others are babes in Christ and though God will preserve that good work which he hath begun in them yet these poor babes will soonest find and be most concerned in the loss of their spiritual Fathers and Nurses In time of famine there are pitiful cryes and heart-breaking complaints where-ever you go O the many pale faces you shall then see and the sad language that rings in your ears in every place One cryes bread bread for Christ's sake one bit of bread another faints and falls down at your door All he◠People sigh Lam. 1. 11. Yea the poor little ones are brought in v. 12. crying to their Mothers where is the Corn and wine and then pouring out their souls into their Mothers bosome Iust so it is in a famine of the Word poor Christians every-where sighing and crying O where are our godly Ministers Our sweet Sabbaths Sermons Sacraments my Fathers my Fathers the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof How beautiful were your feet upon the mountains And then weeping like the people at Pauls departure to think they shall see their faces no more Lastly in time of famine there is nothing so costly or precious but people will part with it to purchase bread They have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve their souls Lam. 1. 11. And doubt less when a spiritual famine shall pinch hard those that have been close-handed to maintain a-Gospel Ministry will account it a choice mercy to enjoy them again at any rate Though the Lord feed you with the bread of affliction and give you the watres of adversity yet it will sweeten that bread and water to you if your teachers be no more removed into corners Isa. 30. 20. REFLECTIONS Is the famine of the word such a fearful judgment then Lord pardon my unthankfulness for the plentiful and long continued injoyment of such a precious and invaluable mercy How lightly have I esteemed the great things of the Gospel O that with eyes and hands lifted up to heaven I might bless the Lord that ever I was brought forth in an age of so much light in a valley of visions in a Land flowing with Gospel-mercies Hath not God made of one bloud all the Nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth and determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation Act. 17. 26. Many of these great and populous Nations are involved in gross darkness Now that of all the several ages of the world and places in it God should espy the best place for me and bring me forth into it in such an happy nick of time as can hardly be paralleld in History for the plenty of Gospel-mercies that this age and Nation hath enjoyed that my Mother did not bring me forth in the desarts of Arabia or wastes of America but in England where God hath made the Sun of the Gospel to stand still as the natural Sun once did over Gibeon and that such a mercy should no more affect my soul let shame cover my face for this and trembling seize my heart Is the Gospel indeed departed its sweet influences restrained and a famine worse than that of bread come upon us Alas for the day for it is a great day so that none is like it it is even the day of Iacob 's trouble Wo is me that ever I should survive the Gospel and the precious liberties and mercies of it What horrid sins have been harboured amongst us for which the Lord contends by such an unparalleld judgment Lord let me justifie thee even in this severe dispensation the provocation of thy Sons and of thy daughters have been very great and amongst them none greater than mine May we not this day read our sin in our punishment O what nice and wanton appetites what curious and itching ears had thy people in the dayes of plenty Methods tones and gestures were more regarded than the excellent treasures of divine truths Ah my soul I remember my fault this day little did I then consider that Sermons work not upon hearts as they are thus elegant thus admirable but as they are instruments in the hand of God appointed to such an end Even as Austin said of the Conduits of water though one be in the shape of an Angel another of a beast yet the water refreshes as it is water and not as it comes from such a Conduit By this also O Lord thou rebukest the supiness and formality of thy people How drowsie dull and careless have they been under the most excellent and quickning means few more then I. Alas I have often presented my body before the Lord in Ordinances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but my soul hath been wandring abroad as Chrysostom speaks I should have come from under every Sermon as a sheet comes from the press with all the stamps and lively impressions of the truths I heard upon my heart But Alas If it had been demanded of me as once it was of Aristotle after a long and curious Oration how he liked it I might have answered as he did Truly I did not hear it for
when shall I return rejoyceing bringing my sheaves with me Their harvest comes when they receive their corn mine comes when I leave it O much desired harvest O day of the gladness of my heart How long Lord How long Here I wait as the poor man Bethesda's pool looking when my turn will come but every one steps into heaven before me yet Lord I am content to wait till my time be fully come I would be content to stay for my glorification till I have finisht the work of my generation and when I have done the will of God then to receive the promise If thou have any work on earth to use me in I am content to abide Behold the Husbandman waiteth and so will I for thou art a God of judgement and blessed are are all they that wait for thee But how doth my sloathful soul sink down into the flesh and settle it self in the love of this animal life How doth it hug and wrap up it self in the garment of this mortality not desiring to be removed hence to the more perfect and blessed state The Husbandman indeed is content to stay till the appointed weeks of the Harvest but would he be content to wait alwayes O my sensual heart is this life of hope as contentful to thee as the life of vision will be Why dost thou not groan within thy self that this mortality might be swallowed up of life Doth not the scripture describe the Saints by their earnest looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus unto eternal life Iude 21. By their hastening unto the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. What is the matter that my heart hangs back doth guilt lye upon my conscience Or have I gotten into a pleasant condition in the world which makes me say as Peter on the Mount It 's good to be here Or want I the assurance of a better state Must God make all my earthly comforts die before I shall be willing to die Awake Faith awake my Love heat up the drowzy desires of my soul that I may say make hast my Beloved and come away The Poem NO prudent Husbandman expects the fruit of what he sows Till every cause have its effects and then he reaps and mows He works in hope the year throughout and counts no labour lost If when the season comes about His harvest quits his cost This rare example justly may rebuke and put to shame My soul which sows its seed one day and looks to reap the same Is cursed nature now become so kind a soyl to grace That to perfection it should come within so short a space Grace springs not up with speed and ease like mushrooms in a night But rather by degrees increase as doth the morning light Is corn so dear to Husbandmen much more is heaven to me Why should not I have patience then to wait as well as he To promises appointed years by God's decrees are set These once expir'd beyond its fears my soul shall quickly get How small a part of hasty time Which quickly will expire Doth me within this world confine and then comes my desire Come Lord how long my soul hath gasp'd faith my affections warms O when shall my poor â—oul be clasp'd in its redeemers arms The time seems long yet here I 'le lye till thou my God do call It is enough eternity will make amends for all CHAP. XIX Corn fully ripe is reap'd and gather'd in So must your selves when ripe in grace or sin OBSERVATION VVHen the fields are white to harvest then Husbandmen walk through them rub the ears and finding the grain full and solid they presently prepare their Sithes and Sickles send for their harvestmen who quickly reap and mow them down and after these follow the binders who stitch it up from the field where it grew it 's carried to the Barn where it is threshed out the good grain gathered into an heap the chaff separated and burnt or thrown to the dunghil how bare and naked do the fields look after harvest which before were pleasant to behold When the harvest men enter into the field it is to allude to that Ioel 2. 3. before them like the garden of Eden and behind them a desolate wilderness and in some places its usual to set fire to the dry stubble when the corn is housed which rages furiously and covers it all with ashes APPLICATION THe Application of this I find made to my hands by Christ himself in Mat. 13. 38 39. The field is the world the good seed are the Children of the kingdom the tares are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sowed them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world the reapers are the Angels The field is the world there both the godly and ungodly live and grow together till they be both ripe and then they shall both be reaped down by death death is the Sickle that reaps down both I will open this Allegory in the following particulars In a catching harvest when the Husbandman sees the clouds begin to gather and grow black he hurries in his corn with all possible hast and houses day and night So doth God the great Husbandman he hurries the Saints into their graves when judgments are coming upon the world Isa. 57. 1. The righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Methusalah died the year before the flood Augustine a little before the sacking of Hippo Pareus just before the taking of Heidleberge Luther a little before the Wars brake out in Germany but what speak I of single Saints Sometimes the Lord houses great numbers together before some sweeping judgement comes How many bright and glorious stars did set almost together within the compass of a few years to the astonishment of many wise and tender hearts in England I find some of them ranked in a Funeral Elegy The learned Twisse went first it was his right Then holy Palmer Burroughs Love Gouge White Hill Whitaker grave Gataker and Strong Perâ—e Marshal Robinson all gone along I have not nam'd them half their only strife Hath been of late who should first part with life These few who yet survive sick of this age Long to have done their parâ—s and leave the stage The Lord sees it better for them to be under ground than above ground and therefore by a merciful providence sets them out of harms way Neither the corn or tares can possibly resist the sharp and keen Sickle when it 's applyed to them by the reâ—pers hand neither can the godly or ungodly resist the stroke of death when God inflicts it Ecclis 8. 8. No man can keep alive his own soul in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war The frail body of man is as
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
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
travelled with Paul when Christ appeared to him from heaven they saw the light but heard not the voice which he heard to salvation So it is with these they see the Ministers hear the words which are words of salvation to others but not so to them Concerning these miserable Souls we may sigh and say to Christ as Martha did concerning her brother Lazarus Lord if thou hadst been here in this Sermon or in this prayer this soul had not remained dead But here is the woe that lyes upon him God is departed from the means and none can help him 5. 'T is such a stroke upon the spirit of man as is a fearful sign of his eternal reprobation 'T is true we cannot positively say of a man in this life he is a reprobate one that God will never shew mercy to but yet there are some probable marks of it upon some men in this world and they are of a trembling consideration where-ever they appear of which this is one of the saddest 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid t is hid to those that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them So Act. 13. 48. As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep Ioh. 10. 26. And again Mat 13. 11. To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but to them it is not given There cannot be a more dreadful Character of a person marked out for wrath than to continue under the Ordinances as the Rocks and miry places do under the natural influences of heaven What blessed opportunities had Iudus he was under Christ's own Ministry he often heard the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth he was night and day in his company yet never the better and why because he was the son of perdition that is a man appointed to destruction and wrath 6 And lastly to add no more 'T is such a stroke of God upon the soules of men as immediately foreruns hell and damnation Heb. 6. 8. But that which beareth thorns and bryars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt So that look as some Saints in this world have had a prelibation or foretaste of heaven which the Scripture calls the earnest of the Spirit so this is a precursor of hell a sign of wrath at the door We may say of it as 't is said of the pale horse in the Revelation that hell follows it If a man abide not in me saith Christ Iohn 156. he is cast forth as a branch and withered which is the very state of these barren cursed souls And what follows Why saith he men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned Lo this is the vengeance which the Gospel executes upon this barren ground REFLECTIONS Well then blessed be God that made me feel the saving power of the Gospel O let God be exalted for ever for this mercy that how defective soever I am in common gifts though I have a dull understanding a leaking memory a stammering tongue yet I have felt and do feel the power of the Gospel upon my heart I bless thee my God that although I labour under many spiritual infirmities yet I am not sick of this incurable disease I have given thee indeed just cause to inflict and execute this dreadful curse upon me also but thou hast not only dealt with me after my deserts but according to the riches of thy mercy Some little fruit I bring forth and what it is is by vertue of my union with Iesus Christ Rom. 7. 4. And this hath more in it as to my comfort than all the glittering gifts and splendid performances of the most glorious hypocrite can yield to him If I might have my choice saith one I would chuse and prefer the most despicable and â—ordid work of a rustick Christian before all the victories of Alexander and triumphs of Caesar. Blessed therefore be the Lord who hath abounded unto me in all spirtâ—ual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Iesus I cannot remember a Sermon as another can but blessed be God that I am able to sâ—vour it and feel it that I have an heart to love and a will to obey all that God discovers to be my duty O then how little cause have I to make my boast of Ordinances and glory in my external priviledges who never bear spiritual fruit under them If I well consider my condition there is matter of tâ—embling and not of glorying in these things It may be while I have been glorying in them and listing up my secure heart upon them the Lord hath been secretly blasting my soul under them and insensibly executing this horrible curse by them Shall I boast that with Capernaum I am lifted up to heaven since I may with her at last be cast down to hell And if so Lord what a hell will my hell be It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrab than for me It drew tears from the eyes of Christ when he was looking upon Ierusalem under the same consideration that I doubt I have cause to look upon my own soul Luke 19. 41. He wept over it saying if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes So long I have been a hearer a Professor of the Gospel so many years I have injoyed its distinguishing Ordinances but have they not been all dry and empty things to me hath not the spirit of formality acted me in them Have not self ends and worldly respects lain at the bottom of my best duties Have not my discourses in communion with the Saints been Trade words speaking what I have learnt but not felt sad is my condition now but it would be desperate and irreâ—overable shouldst thou execute this curse upon me And what may I think of my condition Lord I acknowledge my unprofitableness under the means hath been shameful and this hath made my condition doubtful I have often trembled for fear lest my root had been blasted by such a curse but if so whence is this trembling whence these fears and sorrows about it doth such fruit grow in that soyl which thou hast crused I am told but now that on whom this judgment falls to them thou givest an heart that cannot repent Lord I bless thee for these evidences of freedom from the curse for the fruits of fear sorrow and holy jealousie The laws of men spare for the fruits sake and wilt not thou spare me also my God if there be found in me a blessing in the bud Isa. 65. 8. To conclude what a serious Reflection should this occasion in every dispenser of the Gospel how should he say
among men and rejected eternally by God Who can considerately read that sixth Chapter of the Hebrews and not tremble to think in what a forlorn case a soul may be though set off and accomplisht with the rarest endowments of this kind Mat. 7. 22. We read that many shall say to Christ in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils c. and yet themselves at last cast out as a prey to Devils How divinely and rhetorically did a Balaam speak and prophesie Num. 23. What rare and excellent parts had the Scribes and Pharisees Who upon that account were stiled principes seculi the Princes of the world 1 Cor. 2. 8. What profound and excellent parts had the Heathen Sages and Philosophers These things are so far from securing the soul against the wrath to come that they often expose it unto wrath and are as oyl to encrease the eternal burnings but now gracious principles are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle calls them Heb. 6. Things that accompany and have salvation in them These are the things on which the promises of Salvation run and these treasures are never found but in elect vessels Glory is by promise assured and made over to him that possesses them There is but a little point of time betwixt him and the glorified spirits above And how inconsiderable a matter is a little time which contracts and winds up apace For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed And hence the scriptures speaks of them as already saved Rom. 8. 24. We are saved by hope because it s as sure as if we were in heaven We are made to sit in heavenly places Gifts may damnifie the person that possesses them and it may be better in respect of a mans own condition he had never had them Knowledge saith the Apostle Puffeth up 1 Cor. 8. 1. maketh the soul proud and flatulent 'T is a hard thing to know much and not to know it too much The Saints knowledge is better than the Schollars for he hath his own heart instead of a Commentary to help him Aristotle said a little knowledge about heavenly things though conjectural is better than much of earthly things though certain The world by wisdom knew not God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 21. i. e. their learning hanged in their light they were too wise to submit to the simplicity of the Gospel The excellent parts of the old Hereticks did but serve to midwiâ—e into the world the monstrous birth of soul-damning heresies Cupit abs te ornari diabolus as Austin said to that ingenious young Scholler The devil desires to be adorned by thee But now grace in its self is not subject to such abuses it cannot be the proper univocal cause of any evil effect It cannot puff up the heart but alwayes humbles it nor serve the devils designs but ever opposes them Gifts may be given a man for the sake of others and not out of love to himself they are but as an excellent dish of meat which a man sends to nurse not for her sake so much as for his Child that sucks her God indeed makes use of them to do his children good the Church is benefitted by them though themselves are but like Cooks they prepare excellent dishes on which the Saints feed and are nourished though themselves tast them not They dona ministrantia non sanctificantia ministring but not sanctifying gifts proceeding not from the good will of God to him that hath them but to those he benefits by them And oh what a sad consideration will this be one day to such a person to think I helped such a soul to heaven while I my self must lodg in hell Sin in the raign and power of it may cohabit with the most excellent natural gifts under the same roof I mean in the same heart A man may have the tongue of an Angel and the heart of a Devil The wisdome of the Philosophâ—rs saith Eactantius non excindit vitia sed abscondit did not root out but hide their vices The learned Pharisees were but painted sepulchers gifts are but as a fair glove drawn over a foul hand But now grace is incompatible with Sin in dominions it purifies the heart Act. 15. 9 cleanses the conscience Heb. 9. 14. Crucifies the affections and lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 24. is not content with the concealment but ruine of corruptions Lastly Gifts must leave us at last Whether there be knowledge that shall cease All flesh is grass and the goodliness of it as the flower of the grass the grass withers the flower fadeth but the word of the Lord abideth for ever Isa. 40. 6 8. Many times they leave a man before death One knock if it hit right as one saith may make a wise man a fool but to be sure they all leave us at death Doth not his excellency which is in him go away Iob 4. 21. yea then all natural excellency departs Death strips the soul of all those splendid ornaments then the rhetorical tongue is struck dum the nimble wit and curious phansie shall entertain your ears with no more pleasant discourses Nunquam jâ—cos dabis as Adrian said to his departing soul but grace ascends with the soul into eternity and there receives its perfection and accomplishment Gifts take their leave of the soul as Orpha did of Naomi but grace saith then as Ruth where thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge and nothing shall separate thee and me Now pâ—â— all this together and then judge whether the Apostle spake hyperbolyes when he said Covet earnestly the best gifts and yet I shew unto you a more excellent way 1 Cor. 12. ult And thus you have the choiceness of these principles also REFLECTIONS The lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place may the gracious soul say How defective soever I am in gifts yet blessed be the Lord who hath sown the seeds of true grace in my heart What though I am not famed and honoured among men let it suffice me that I am precious in the eyes of the Lord. Though he hath not abounded to me in gifts of nature yet blessed be the God and Father of my Lord Iesus Christ who hath abounded to me in all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Iesus Eph. 1. 3. Is not a true jewel though spurn'din the dirt more precious than a false one though set in gold Why art thou troubled O my soul for the want of these things which reprobates may have and art not rather admiring and blessing God for those things which none but the darlings and favourites of heaven can have is not an ounce of pure gold more valuable than many pounds of guilded brass what though the dews of Helicon descend not upon my head if in the mean time the sweet influences of Sion fall upon my heart O my God!
plentiful harvest Ioel 2. 23 24. Beglad then ye Children of Sion and râ—joyce in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former rain modâ—rately and he will cause to come down for you the rain the former and the latter rain in the first month and the floors shall be full of wheat and the faces shall overflow with wine and Oyl Thus the Gospel hath a double use and benefit also It 's necessary as the former rain at Seed-time it causes the first spring of grace in the heart Psal. 19. 7. And there could be in an ordinary way no spring of grace without it Prov. 29. 18. And as this former rain is necessary to cause the first spring of grace so also it hath the use of the latter rain to ripen those precious fruits of the Spirit in the souls of Belivers Eph. 4. 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Were all the elect converted unto God yet still there would be a necessity of a Gospel Ministry After a great glut of rain usually there comes a drought 't is a common Countrey Proverb Wet and dry pay one another And truly when a people are glutted with a fulness of Gospel-mercies it 's usual with God to shut up and restrain the Gospel-clouds that for a time at least there be no dews upon them and thereby teach them to prize their despised because common mercies at an higher rate For as a good man once said mercies are best known by the back and most prized when most wanted In those dayes the word of the Lord was precious there was no open vision 1 Sam. 3. 1. It is with spiritual as with temporal food slighted when plenteous but if a famine once come then every bit of bread is precious Ierusalem remembred in the dayes of her affiction and of her misery all her pleasant things that she had in the dayes of old Lam. 1. 7. 'T is both a sinflul and dangerous thing to wantonize with Gospel-mercies and dâ—spise the plainest if faithful Minisâ—eâ—s of the Gospel The time may come when you may be glad of the plainst Sermon from the mouth of the meanest Embassador of Christ. To conclude the prayers of Saints are the keys that open and shut the natural clouds and cause them either to givâ— out or with-hold their influences Iames 5. 18. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth fruit God hath subjected the works of his hands to the prayers of his Saints Isa. 45. 11. Prayer is also the golden key which opens these mystical Gospel clouds and dissolves them into sweet gracious showers God will have the whole work of the Ministry carried on by the prayers of his people they first obtain their Ministers by prayer Luke 10. 2. Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest to sâ—nd forth labourers into the vineyard It is by the help of prayer that they are carried on and enabled to exercise their Ministry They may tell their people as a great General once told his Souldiers That he flew upon their wings Pray for me saith the great Apostle that utterance may be given me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the Mysteries of the Gospel Eph. 6. 19. Yea by the Saints prayers it is that Ministers obtain the success and fruits of their labours Tâ—fse 3. 1. Finally brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord my have free course and â—e glorified even as it is with you And thus you have the Metaphor opened Now Oh! That these truths migh come down in sweet showers upon the hearts both of Ministers and people in the following Reflections REFLECTIONS Am I then a cloud and is my doctrine as rain to water the Lords inheritance * and yet do I think it much to be tossed up and down by the furious winds and storms of persecution do I not see the clouds above me in continual motions and agitations and shall I dream of a fixed setled state No false Teachers who are clouds without rain are more likely to enjoy that than I. Which of all the Prophets have not been tossed and hurried worse than I Acts 7. 52. He that will not let men alone to be quiet in their lusts must expect but little quiet from men in this life But it is enough Lord that arest remaineth for thy servant let me be so wise to secure a rest to come and not so vain to expect it on earth And O that I might study those instructing clouds from which as from the bottles of heaven God pours down refreshing showers to quench and satisfie the thirsty earth in this may I resemble them and come amongst the people of the Lord in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ Rom. 15. 29. O let not those thirsty souls that wait for me as for the rain Iob 29. 23. Return like the Troops of Tema ashamed with their heads covered Iob 6. 19. O that my lips might refresh many let me never be like those empty clouds which deceive the hopes of thirsty souls but let my doctrine descend as the rain and distil as the dew and let that plot of thine inheritance which thou hast assigned to me be as the field which the Lord hath blessed Once more lift up thine eyes to the clouds and behold to how great an height the Sun hath mounted them for by reason of their sublimity it is that they are called the clouds of heaven Mat. 24. 30. Lord let me be a cloud of heaven too Let my heart and conversation be both there Who is more advantaged for an heavenly life than I heavenly truths are the subjects of my daily study and shall earthly things be the objects of my daily delights and loves God forbid that ever my earthly conversation should contradict and shame my heavenly calling and profession Shine forth thou glorious Suâ— of righteousness and my heart shall quickly be attracted and mounted above these visible clouds yea and above the aspectable heavens Is the Gospel rain and its Ministers clouds Wo is me then that my habitation is upon the mountains of Gilboa where there are no dews Ah sad lot that I should be like Gideons dry fleece whilst the ground round about me is wet with the dew of heaven O thou that commandest the clouds above and openest the windows of heaven remember and refresh this parched wilderness
wherein I live with showers o grace that we may not be as the heath in the desart which seeth not when good cometh nor inhabit the parched places of the wilderness O Lord thou hast caused the heavens above me to be black with clouds thou openest the celestial casements from above and daily sendest down showers of Gospel-blessings O that I might be as the parched earth under them not for barrenness but for thirstiness Let me say My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the lord that I might there see the beauty of the Lord. Doth the spungy earth so greedily suck up the showers and open as many mouths as there are clefts in it to receive what the clouds despense and shall those precious soul-inriching showers fleet away unprofitably from me if so then What an account have I to make for all those Gospel-blessings that I have injoyed for all those Gospel-dews and showers wherewith I have been watered Should I be found fruitless at last it will â—are better with the barren and uncultivated wilderness than with me more tolerable for Indians and Barbarians that never heard the Gospel than for me that have been so assiduously and plenteously watered by it Lord what a difference wilt thou put in the great day betwixt simple and pertinacious barrenness Surely if my root be not rottenness such heavenly waterings and influences as these will make it sprout forth into fruits of obedience The Poem THe vegetables here below depend Upon those treasures which the heavens do spend Most bounteously upon them to preserve Their being and their beauty This may serve To shadow forth a heavenly mystery Which thus presents it sâ—lf before your eye As when the Sun draws near us in the spring All creatures do rejoyce birds chirp aâ—d sing The face of nature smiles the fields â—dorn Themselves with rich embroyderies â—he corn Revives and shooteth up the warm swâ—â—t rain Makes trees and herbs sprout forth and spring amain Walk but the fields in such a fragrant mâ—â—n How do the birds your ears with musick charm The flowers their flaming beauty's do present Unto your captiv'd eyes and for their scent The sweet Arabian gums cannot compare Which thus perfume the circumambient air So when the Gospel sheds its cheering beams On gracious souls like those sweet warming gleams Which God ordaines in nature to draw forth The vertue seminal that's in the earth It warms their hearts their languid graces cheers And on such souls a spring-like face appears The gracious showers these spiritual clouds do yield Inriches them with sweetness like a field Which God hath blest Oh! 't is exceeding sweet When gracious hearts and heavenly truths do meet How should the hearts of Saints within them spring When they behold the messengers that bring These gladsom tydings Yea their very feet Are beautiful because their message sweet O what a mercy do those souls enjoy On whom such Gospel-dews fall day by day Thrice happy Land which in this pleasant spring Can hear these Turtles in her hedges â—ing O prize such mercies if you ask me why Read on you 'l see there 's Reason by and by CHAP. X. If God restrain the showers you howl and cry Shall saints not mourn when spiritual clouds are dry OBSERVATION 'T Is deservedly accounted a sad judgment when God shuts up the heavens over our heads and makes the earth as brass under our feeet Deut. 28. 23. Then the Husbandmen are called to mourning Ioel. 1. 11. All the fields do languish and the bellowing cattle are pined with thrist Such a sad state the prophet rhetorically describes Ier. 14. 3 4 5 6. The Nobles have sent their little ones to the waters they came to the pits and found no water they returned with their vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads because the ground is chapt for there is no rain in the earth the Plowmen were ashamed they covered their heads yea the Hinde also calved in the field and forsook it because there was no grass and the wild asses did stand in the high places they sâ—uffed up the wind like dragons their eyes failed because there was no grass And that which makes the want of rain so terrible a judgment is the famine of bread which necessarily follows these eâ—traordinary droughts and is one of the sorest temporal judgments which God inflicts upon the world APPLICATION ANd truly as much cause have they to weep and tremble over whose souls God shuts up the spiritual clouds of the Gospel and thereby sending a spiritual famine upon their souls Such a judgment the Lord threatens in Amos 8. 11. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord. The meaning is I will send a more fearful judgement than that of the famine of bread for this particle not is not exclusive but excessive implying that a famine of bread is nothing or but a light judgment compared with the famine of the word Parallel to which is that Text Isa. 5. 6. I will lay it wast saith God of the fruitless Church sit shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up bryars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain not upon it And we find both in humane and sacred Histories that when God hath shut up the spiritual clouds removing or silencing his Ministers sensible Christians have ever been deeply affected with it and reckoned it a most tremendous judgment Thus the Christians of Antioch when Chrysostom their Minister was bâ—nished they judged it better to lose the Sun out of the firmament than lose that their Minister And when Nazianzen was taking his leave of Constantinople as he was preaching his farewell-Sermon the people were exceedingly affected with his loss and among the rest an old man in the Congregation fell into a bitter passion and cryed out Aude pater tecum trinitatem ipsam ejice i. e. Go farther if you dare and take away the whole Trinity with you meaning that God would not stay when he was gone How did the Christians of Antioch also weep and lament when Paul was taking his farewell of them Act. 20. 37 38. He had been a cloud of blessings to that place but now they must expâ—ct no more showâ—râ— from him O they knew not how to givâ— up such a Minister Whâ—n the Ark of God which was the Symbole of the divine presence among the Iews was taken all the City cryed out 1 Sam. 4. 13. O the loss of a Gospel Ministry is an inestimable loss not to be repaired but by its own return or by heaven Mr. Greenham tells us that in the times of Popish persecution when godly Ministers were haled away from their flocks to Martyrdom the poor Christians would meet
I was all the while minding another matter Righteous art thou O Lord in all that is come upon us I am now as a Spring shut up that can yield no refreshment to thirsty souls ready to perish Thou hast said to me as once to Ezekiel Son of man behold I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb This is a heavy judgment but thou must be justified and cleared in it Although men may not yet God if he please may put a lighted candle under a bushel And herein I must acknowledge thy righteousness Many times have I been sinfully silent when both thy glory and the interest of souls ingaged me to speak Most justly therefore hast thou made my tongue to cleave to its roof Little did I consider the preciousness of souls or the tremenduous account to be given for them at the appearing of the great Shepherd I have now time enough to sit down and mourn over former miscarriages and lost opportunities Lord restore me once again to a serviceable capacity to a larger sphere of activity for thee for I am now become as a broken vessel It grieves me to the heart to see thy flock scattered to hear thy people cry to me as once to Ioseph Give us bread for why should we dye in thy presence Thy word is like fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with forbearing O that thou wouldst once again open the doors of thine house that there may be bread enough in thine house for all thy children The Poem When God doth make the heavens above us brass The earth's lke iron Flowers herbs and grass Have lost their fragrant green are turned yellow The brooks are dry the pining cattel bellow The fat and flowry meadows scorcht and burn'd The Countreys mirth is into mourning turn'd The clefted earth her thirsty mouth sets ope Unto the empty clouds as 't were in hope Of some refreshing drops that might allay Her fiery thirst but they soon pass away The pensive Husbandman with his own eyes Bedews his Land because he sees the skies Refuse to do it just so stands the case When God from souls removes the means of grace God's Ministers are clouds their doctrine rain Which when the Lord in judgment shall restrain The peoples souls in short time will be found In such a case as this dry parched ground When this sad judgment falls on any Nation Let Saints therein take up this lamentation O dreadful dark and dismal day How is our glory fled away Our Sun gone down our stars o'recast God's heritage is now laid wast Our pining souls no bread can get With wantons God hath justly met When we are fed unto the full This man was tedious that was dull But they are gone and there remain No such occasions to complain Stars are not now for lights but signs God knows of what heart-breaking times Sure heaven intends not peace but wars In calling home Ambassadors How long did Sodom's judgment stay When righteous Lot was snatcht away How long remain'd that stately Hall When Sampson made the pillars fall When Horsemen and Commanders fly Wo to the helpless Infantry This is a sad and fatal blow A publick loss and overthrow You that so long have wish'd them gone Be quiet now the thing is done Did they torment you ere your day God hath remov'd them out o'th'way Now sleep in sin and take your ease Their doctrine shall no more displease But Lord what shall become of us Our Teacher's gone and left us thus To whom shall we our selves address When conscience labours in distress O who shall help us at our need Or pour in Balm when wounds do bleed Help Lord for unto thee our eyes Do pour out tears our groans our cryes Shall never cease till thou restore The mercies which we had before Till Sions paths where grass now grows Be trodden by the feet of those That love thy name and long t' enjoy The mercies they have sin'd away CHAP. IX Seeds dye and rot and then most fresh appear Saints bodies rise more orient then they mere OBSERVATION AFter the seed is committed to the earth it seems to perish and dye as our Saviour speaks Iohn 12. 24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it brings forth much fruit The death of the Corn in the earth is not a total death but only the corruption or alteration of it for if once the seminal life and vertue of it were quite extinguisht it could never put forth blade or ear without a miracle Yet because that alteration is a kind of death therefore Christ here uses it as a fit illustration of the resurrection And indeed there is nothing in nature more apt to illustrate that great mystery What a fragrant green and beautiful blade do we â—ee spring up from a corrupted seed how black and mouldy is that how beautiful and verdant is this APPLICATION EVen thus shall the bodies of the Saints arise in beauty and glory at the resurrection They are sown in dishonour they are raised in glory they are sown natural bodies they are raised spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. 43 44. The Husbandman knows that though the seed rot in the earth yet it will rise again And the believer knows That though after his skin worms destroy his body yet in his flesh he shall see God Iob 19. 25 c. and the resemblance betwixt the seed sown and springing up and the bodies of the Saints dying and rising again lyes in these following particulars First the seed is committed to the earth from whence it came so is the body of a Saint earth it was and to earth it is again resolved Grace exempts not the body of the best man from seeing corruption Rom. 8. 10. Though Christ be in him yet the body is dead that is sentenced to death because of sin Heb. 6. ult It is appointed for all men once to dye Secondly The seed is cast into the earth in hope 1 Cor. 9. 10. Were there not a resurrection of it expected the Husbandman would never be willing to cast away his Corn. The bodies of Saints are also committed to the grave in hope I Thes. 4. 13 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning those which are asleep as them which have no hope for if we believe that Iesus dyed and rose again even so also them which sleep in Iesus shall the Lord bring with him This blessed hope of a resurrection sweetens not only the troubles of life but the pangs of death Thirdly the seed is cast into the earth seasonably in its proper season So are the bodies of the Saints Ioh. 5. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age as a shock of corn cometh in in its season They alwayes dye in the fittest time though sometimes they seem
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
conclude let all doubting Christians reflect seriously upon this truth and suck marrow and fatness out of it to strengthen and establish them against all their fears your life your spiritual life hath for many years hanged in suspence before you and you have often said with David I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul Desponding trembling soul lift up thine eyes and look upon the fields the corn lives still and grows up though birds have watcht to devour it snows have covered it beasts have cropt it weeds have almost choakt it yet it 's preserved And hath not God more care of that precious seed of his own spirit in thee than any Husbandman hath of his corn hath he not said That having begun the good work in thee he will perfect it to the day of Christ Phil. 2. 6. Hath he not said I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish Iohn 12. 28. Hast thou not many times said and thought of it as thou dost now and and yet it lives O what matter of unspeakable joy and comfort is this to upright souls Well then be not discharged for thou dost not run as one uncertain nor fight as one that beats the air 1 Cor. 9. 26. but the foundation of God stands sure having this seal the Lord knows who are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Though thy grace be weak thy God is strong though the stream seem sometimes to fail yet it 's fed by an ever-flowing fountain The Poem 'T Is justly wondered that an ear of corn Should come at last in safety to the Barn It runs through many hazards threatning harms Betwixt the sowers hands and reapers arms The earth no sooner takes it from the sack But you may see behind the sowers back A troop of thieves which would at once destroy That seed in which lyes hid the seed of joy This dangerous period past it soon doth fall Into a second no less critical It shooteth forth the tender blade and then The noxious weeds engender it again These clasp about it till they kindly choak The corn as flattering Ivy doth the oak Are weeds destroyed and all that danger past Lo now another comes the worst at last For when i' th ear it blow begins to kern As mildew smites it which you can't discern Nor any way prevent till all be lost The corn destroy'd with all your hopes and cost Thus saving grace that precious seed of joy Which hell and nature plot how to destroy Escapes ten thousand danger 's first and last O who can say now all the danger 's past 'T is like a crazy bark tost in a storm Or like a taper which is strangely born Without a lanthorn in a blustring night Or like to glimmering sparks whose dying light Is still preserv'd The roaring waves swell high Like moving mountains in the darkned sky On their proud back the little bark is even Mounted unto the battlements of heaven From thence dismounted to the deeps doth slide Receiving water upon every side Yet he whose voice the proudest waves obey Brings it at last into the quiet key The blustring winds strive with a fatal puff To bring the tapor to a stinking snuff Their churlish blasts extinguish it and then Our gentle breath recovers it agen The fainting sparks beneath the ashes lye Where choakt and smother'd they begin to dye But these collected we do gently blow Till from faint sparks to lively flames they grow Even thus is grace preserv'd thus kept alive By constant wonders Grace doth live and thrive CHAP. XIV Our Husbandmen for Harvest wait and stay O let not any Saint do less than they OBSERVATION THe expectation of a good Harvest at last makes the Husbandman with untired patience to digest all his labours He that plows plow in hope 1 Cor. 6. 19. and they are not so irrational to think they shall presently be partakers of their hope nor so foolish to anticipate the Harvest by cutting down their corn before it be fully ripened but are content to plow sow and weed it and when it 's fully ripe then they go forth into their fields and reap it down with joy APPLICATION CAn a little Corn cause men to digest so many difficult labours and make them wait with invincible patience till the reaping time come much more should the expectation of eternal glory steel and fortifie my spirit against all intercurrent hardships and difficulties It least of all becomes a Christian to be of a hasty and impatient spirit Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart Psal. 92. 11. Behold the Husbandman waiteth c. Iam. 5. 7. Be patient therefore my Brethren for the coming of the Lord draws neer There are three great Arguments to perswade Christians to a long-suffering and patient frame under sufferings 1 The example of Christ Isa. 53. 7. to think how quietly he suffered all injuries and difficulties with invincible patience is sufficient to shame the best of Christians who are of such short Spirits I have read of one Elezarius a noble man that when his wife wondered at his exceeding great patience in bearinig njuries he thus answered her You know sometimes my heart is ready to rise with indignation against such as wrong me but I presently begin to think of the wrongs that Christ suffer'd and say thus to my self although thy servant should pluck thy beard and smite thee on thy face this were nothing to what thy Lord suffer'd he suffered more and greater things and assure your self wife I never leave off thinking on the injuries done to my Saviour till such time as my mind be still and quiet To this purpose it was well noted by Bernard speaking of Christ's humiliation was Christ the Lord of glory thus humbled and emptied of his fulness of glory and shall such a worm as I swell 2 The desert of sin Lam. 3. 39. Why doth the living man complain It was a good saying of blessed Greenham When sin lyes heavy affliction lyes light And it is a famous instance which Dr. Taylor gives us of the Duke of Condey I have read saith he when the Duke of Condia had voluntarily entred into the incommodities of a religious poverty and retirement he was one day spied and pitied by a Lord of Italy who out of tenderness wisht him to be more careful and nutritive of his person the good Duke answered Sir be not troubled and think not that I am ill provided of conveniences for I send an Harbinger before me that makes ready my lodgings and takes care that I be royally entertained The Lord asked him who was his Harbinger he answered the knowledge of my self and the consideration of what I deserve for my sins whâ—ch is eternal torments and when with this knowledge I arrive at my lodging how unprovided soever I find it methinks it is ever better than I deserve and as the sense of sin which
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
year if he plow not and sow not in the proper time he loses the harvest of that year 'T is even so as to spiritual seasons Christ neglected and grace despised in the season when God offers them are irrecoverably lost Prov. 1. 28. then that is when the season is over they shall call upon me but I will not hear O there is a great deal of time in a short opportunity that may be done or prevented in an hour rightly timed which cannot be done or prevented in a mans life-time afterwards There was one resolved to kill Iulius Caesar such a day the night before a friend sent him a letter to acquaint him with it but he being at supper and busie in discourse said to morrow is a new day and indeed it was dies novissima his last day to him whence it became a Proverb in Greece To morrow is a new day Our glass runs in heaven and we cannot see how much or little of the sand of God's patience is yet to run down but this is certain when that glass is run there is nothing to be done for our souls Luke 19. 42. O that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are bid from thine eyes Those Husbandmen that are careful and laborious in the Summer have the comfort and benefit of it in Winter he that then provides fewel shall sit warm in his habitation when others blow their fingers He that provides food for his family and fodder for his cattel in the harvest shall eat the fruit of it and enjoy the comfort of his labours when others shall be exposed to shifts and straits And he that provides for eternity and layes up for his soul a good foundation against the time to come shall eat when others are hungry and sing when others howl Isa. 65. 13. A day of death will come and that will be a day of straits to all negligent souls but then the diligent Christian shall enjoy the peace and comfort that shall flow in upon his heart from his holy care and sincere diligence in duties as 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in all sincerity and godly simplicity we have had our conversation in this world So Hezekiah 2 King 20. 3. Remember now O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart A day of judgement will come and then â—oolish virgins who neglected the season of getting oyl in their lamps will be put to their shifts then they come to the wife and say give us of your oyl Mat. 25. 8 9. but they have none to spare and the season of buying is then over No wise Husbandman will neglect a fit opportunity of gathering in his hay and corn upon a presumption of much fair weather to come he will not say the weather is setled and I need not trouble my self though my corn and hay be fit for the house yet I may get it in another time as well as now And no wise Christian will lose a present season for his soul upon the hopes of much more time yet to come but will rather say now is my time and I know not what will be hereafter hereafter I may wish to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and not see it Luke 17. 22. 'T is sad to hear how cunning some men are to dispute themselves out of heaven as if the devil had hired them to plead against their own souls sometimes urging the example of those that were called at the eleventh hour Mat. 20. 6. and sometimes that of the penitent thief But O! to how little purpose is the former pleaded they that were called at the eleventh hour were never called before as these have been no man had hired that is called or invited them to Christ and for the thief as Mr. Fenner rightly observes it was a singular and extraordinary example It was done when Christ hang'd on the Cross and was to be inaugurated then Kings manifest such bounty and pardon such crimes as are never pardoned afterwards Besides God was then in a way of working miracles then he rent the rocks open'd the graves raised the dead and converted this thief but God is now out of that way REFLECTIONS I Have indeed been a good Husband for the world with what care and providence have I looked out for my self and family to provide food to nourish them and cloaths to defend them against the asperities of Winter mean while neglecting to make provision for eternity or take care for my soul. O my destitute soul how much have I slighted and undervalued thee I have taken more care for an horse or an ox than for thee a well stored-barn but an empty soul. Will it not shortly be with me as with that careless Mother who when her house was on fire busily bestir'd her self to save the goods but forgot the child though it were saved by another hand and then minding her child ran up and down like one distracted wringing her hands and crying O my child my child I have saved my goods and lost my child such will be the case of thee my soul Mat. 16. 26. Besides how easie will my conviction be at the Bar of Christ will not my providence and care for the things of this life leave me speechless and self-condemned in that day What shall I answer when the Lord shall say Thou couldst foresee a Winter and seasonably provide for it yea thou hadst so much care of thy very beasts to provide for their necessities and why tookest thou no care for thy soul was that only not worth the caring for Is it so dangerous to neglect a present proper season of grace What then have I done who have suffered many such seasons to die away in my hand upon a groundless hope of future opportunities Ah deluded wretch what if that supposition fail where am I then I am not the Lord of time neither am I sure that he who is will ever vouchsafe an hour of grace in old age to him that hath neglected many such hours in youth neither indeed is it ordinary for God so to do 'T is storied of Caius Marius Victorius who lived about 300 years after Christ and to his old age continued a Pagan but at last being convinced of the Christian verity he came to Simplicianus and told him he would be a Christian but neither he nor the Church could believe it it being so rare an example for any to be converted at his age But at last seeing it was real there was a shouting and gladness and singing of Psalms in all Churches the people crying Caius Marius Victorius is become a Christian. This was written for a wonder and what ground have I to think that God will work such wonders for me who have neglected his ordinary means of salvation Bless the Lord O my
soul who gave thee a season a day for eternal life which is more than he hath done for thousands yea bless the Lord for giving thee an heart to understand and improve that season I confess I have not improved it as I ought yet this I can through mercy say that how ever it fare in future times with my outward man though I have no treasures or stores laid up on earth or if I have they are but corruptible yet I have a blessed hope laid up in heaven Col. 1. 5. I have bags that wax not old Whilst worldlings rejoyce in their stores and heaps I will rejoyce in these eternal treasures The Poem OBserve in Summers sultry heat how in the hottest day The Husbandman doth toyl and sweat about his Corn and Hay If then he should not reap and mow and gather in his store How should he live when for the snow he can't move out of door The little Ants and painful Bees by natures instinct led These have their Summer granaries for Winter furnished But thou my soul whose Summers day is almost past and gone What soul-provision dost thou lay in stock to spend upon If nature teacheth to prepare for temporal life much rather Grace should provoke to greater care soul food in time to gather Dayes of affliction and distress are hasting on apace If now I live in carelessness how sad will be my case Unworthy of the name of man who for that soul of thine Wil t not do that which others can do for their very kine Think frugal Farmers when you see your mows of Corn and Hay What a conviction this will be to you another day Who ne're were up before the Sun nor break an hours rest For your poor souls as you have done so often for a beast Learn once to see the difference betwixt eternal things And these poor transient things of sence that fly with eagles wings CHAP. XVII When from Tare seeds you see choice Wheat to grow Then from your lusts may joy and comfort flow OBSERVATION GOd gives to every seed it s own body 1 Cor. 15. 38. At first he created every Tree and herb of the field having its seed in it self for the conservation of the species and they all inviolably observe the Law of their Creation All fruits naturally rise out of the seeds and roots proper to them Men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles Such productions would be monstrous in nature and although the juice or sap of the earth be the common matter of all kind of fruits yet it is specificated according to the different sorts of Plants and seeds it nourishes Where Wheat is sown it 's turned into Wheat in an apple Tree it becomes an apple and so in every sort of Plants or seeds it 's concocted into fruit proper to the kind APPLICATION TRanslate this into spirituals and the proposition shadowed forth by it is fully expressed by the Apostle Gal. 6. 7. What a man sows that shall be reap they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting And as sure as the harvest follows the seed-time so sure shall such fruits and effects result from the seeds of such actions He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity Prov. 22. 8. And they that now go forth weeping and bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Psal. 126. 5. The sum of all is this That our present actions have the same respect and relation to future rewards and punishments as the seed we sow in our fields hath to the harvest we reap from it Every gracious action is the seed of joy and every sinful action the seed of anguish and sorrow to the soul that sowed it Two things are sensibly presented to us in this â—imilitude That as the seed sown is presently covered from our sight under the clods and for some time after we see no more of it and yet at last it appears again by which it's evident to us that it is not finally lost So our present actions though physically transient and perhaps forgotten yet are not lost but after a time shall appear again in order to a retribution If this were not so all good and holy actions would be to the loss of him that performed them All the self-denial spending duties and sharp sufferings of the people of God would turn to their damage though not in point of honesty yet in point of personal utility and then also what difference would there be betwixt the actions of a man and a beast with respect to future good or evil yea man would then be more feared and obeyed than God and souls be swayed in all their motions only by the influence of present things and where then would Religion be found in the world 'T is an excellent note of Drexellius Our works saith he do not pass away as soon as they are done but as seed sown shall after a time rise up to all eternity whatever we think speak or do once spoken thought or done is eternal and abides for ever What Zeuxes the famous Limner said of his work may be truly said of all our works Aeternitati pingo I paint for eternity O how careful should men be of what they speak and do whilst they are commanded so to speak and so to do as those that shall be judged by the perfect law of liberty Iam. 2. 12. What more transient than a vain word and yet for such words men shall give an account in the day of judgment Mat. 12. 36. That 's the first thing Actions like seed shall rise and appear again in order to a retribution The other thing held forth in this similitude is That according to the nature of our actions now will be the fruit and reward of them then Though the fruit or consequence of holy actions for the present may seem bitter and the fruit of sinful actions sweet and pleasant yet there is nothing more certain that that their future fruits shall be according to their present nature and quality 2 Cor. 5. 10. Then Dionisius shall retract that saying Ecce quam prospera navigatio a Deo datur sacrilegis Behold how God favours our sacriledge Sometimes indeed though but rarely God causes sinners to reap in this world the same that they have sown as hath been their sin such hath been their punishment It was openly confessed by Adonibezek Iudg. 1. 7. as I have done so hath God requited me Socrates in his Church History furnishes us with a pertinent passage to this purpose concerning Valens the Emperor who was an Arrian and a bitter persecutor of the Christians This man when eighty of the Orthodox Christians failed from Constantinople to Nicomedia to treat with him about the points of Arrianism and to settle the matter by
away and their joy ceases Earthly hearts are acquainted with no higher comforts but the people of God can joy in him and take comfort in their earthly enjoyments too and what comfort they take in these things is much more refined and sweet than yours for they enjoy all these things in God and his love in giving them puts a sweetness into them that you are unacquainted with Thus you see how far your joy falls short of theirs REFLECTIONS HOw have I rejoyced in a thing of nought and pleased my self with a vanity God hath blessed me in my fields and in my stores but not with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. My Barns are full of corn but my soul is empty of grace common bounty hath given me a fulness of the things of this life but what if the meaning of it should be to fat me for the day of slaughter what if this be the whole of my portion from the Lord what if the language of his providences to my soul should be this Lo here I have given thee with Ishmael the fatness of the earth Thou shalt not say but thou hast tasted of thy Creator's bounty but make the most of it for this is all that ever thou shalt have from me There be others in the world to whom I have denyed these things but for them I have reserved better for the most part they are poor in this world but rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom Is not this enough to damp all my carnal mirth Should my conscience give me such a memento as Abraham in the parable gave to Dives Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Ah what a cut would that be to all my comforts A man in a Fever hath a lively colour but a dying heart I have an appearance a shadow of comfort but a sad state of soul. Blessed be the God and father of my Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. Though he hath not seen fit to give me much of this world in hand yet it hath pleased him to settle a rich inheritance upon me by promise the hopes and expectations whereof yield my soul more true comfort than all the present enjoyments of this world could have done Blessed be the Lord who hath not given me my portion in this life that by keeping me from the enjoyment hath also preserved me from the snares of a prosperous estate Lord Iesus I have no bags I have no Barns but thou shalt be to me instead of all those things When others rejoyce in the fulness of their earthly comforts I will rejoyce in the fulness of my Christ they have that which though I have not I shall not want and I have that which all their riches cannot purchase Bless the Lord O my soul But Lord how am I obliged above thousands to love and praise thee to bless and admire thee who hast not only plentifully provided for my soul but for my body too who hast given me both the upper and the neather springs heaven and earth things present and things to come Thou hast not dealt so with all no not with all thine own people many of them are strangers to the mercies which I enjoy God hath done great things for me O my soul what wilt thou do for God The freer the condition is he hath placed me in the more am I both obliged and advantaged for his service and yet I doubt it will be found that many a poor Christian that labours with his hands to get his bread redeems more hours for God than I do Lord make me wise to understand and answer the double end of this gracious dispensation Let me bestow the more of my time on God and stand ready to Minister to the necessities of his people Oh what an unhappy wretch am I that have nothing either in hand or in hope am miserable here and like to be so for ever Had I but an interest in Christ as the godly poor have that would sweeten all present troubles and shew me the end of them But alas I am poor and wicked contemned of men and abhorred of God an object of contempt both to heaven and earth Lord look upon such a truly miserable object with compassion give me a portion with thy people in the world to come if thou never better my outward condition here O sanctifie this poverty bless these straits and wants that they may necessitate my soul to go to Christ make this poverty the way to glory and I shall bless thee to eternity that I was poor in this world The Poem OFt have I seen when harvest's almost in The last load coming how some men have bin Rapt up with joy as if that welcom cart Drew home the very treasure of their heart What joyful shoutings hooping hollowing noise With mingled voices both of men and boyes To carnal minds there is no greater mirth No higher joy nor greater heaven on earth He speaks pure Paradoxes that shall say These are but trifles to what Saints enjoy But they despise your sparks as much as you Contemn their Sun Some that could never shew A full stuft Barn on which you set yourt hear But glean perhaps the ears behind your cart Yet are the gleanings of their comfort more Than all your harvest and admired store Your mirth is mixt with sorrow theirs is pure Yours like a shadow fleets but theirs indure God gives to you the husk to them the pith And no heart-string sorrow adds therewith Though at the gates of death they sometimes mourn No sooner doth the Lord to them return But sorrow 's banisht from their pensive breast Ioy triumphs there and smiles their cheeks invest Have you beheld when with perfumed wings Out of the balmy East bright Phoebus springs Mounting th' Olympick hill with what a grace He views the throne of darkness and doth chase The shades of night before him having hurl'd His golden beams about this lower world How from sad Groves and solitary Cells Where horrid darkness and confusion dwells Batts Owles and doleful creatures fly away Resigning to the cheerful birds of day Who in those places now can sit and chaunt Where lately such sad creatures kept their haunt Thus grief resigns to joy sighs groans and tears To songs triumphant when the Lord appears O matchless joy O countenance divine What are those trifles to these smiles of thine May I with poor Mephibosheth be blest With these sweet smiles let Ziba take the rest My life my treasure thou shalt ne'r be sold For silver hills or rivers pav'd with gold Wer 't thou but known to worldlings they would scorn To stoop their hearts to such poor things as corn For so they do because thou art above That sphere wherein their low conceptions move CHAP. XIX More solid grain with greater
at mans bar there to be tryed for my life how busie should I be every hour of the day in writing to any that I thought could befriend me and studying every advantage to my self and yet what a vast difference is there between mans bar and Gods between a tryal for my life and for my soul Lord rouze up my sluggish heart by awful and solicitous thoughts of that day left I be found among that chaff which shall be burnt up with unquenchable fire Fear not O my soul though there be a blast coming which shall drive all the chaff into hell yet it shall blow thee no harm I know that when he hath tryed me I shall come forth as gold Iob 23. 10. I confess I have too much chaff about me but yet I am not altogether chaff there is a solid work of grace upon my soul that will abide the tryal let the judgement to come be as impartial and exact as its possible to be yet a grain of sincerity cannot be lost in it for God will not cast away a perfect i. e. an upright hearted man Iob 8. 20. He that 's appointed to judge the world is mine and his imputed righteousness will make me full weight in the balance Bless the Lord O my soul for sincerity this will abide when common gifts and empty names will flee as the chaff before the wind The Poem THe winnowing wind first drives the chaff away Next light and hollow grains those only stay Whose weight and solid substance can endure This tryal and such grains are counted pure The corn for use is carefully preserv'd The useless chaff for burning flames reserv'd No wind but blows some good a Proverb is Glad shall I be if it hold true in this O that the wind when you to winnowing go This spiritual good unto your souls might blow To make you pause and sadly ruminate In what a doleful plight and wretched state Their souls are in who cannot hope to stand When he shall come whose fan is in his hand His piercing eyes infallibly disclose The very reins and inward parts of those Whose outside seeming grace so neatly paints That with the best they pass for real Saints No hypocrite with God acceptance finds But like the chaff dispers'd by furious winds Their guilt shall not that searching day endure Nor they approach th'assemblies of the pure Have you observ'd in Autumn thistle-down By howling Enrus scatter'd up and down About the fields even so Gods ireful storm Shall chace the hypocrite who now can scorn The breath of close reproofs and like a rock Repel reproofs and just reprovers mock How many that in splendid garments walk Of high professions and like Angels talk Shall God devest and openly proclaim Their secret guilt to their eternal shame This is the day wherein the Lord will rid His Church of those false friends which now lie hid Among his people There will not be one False heart remian to lose our love upon O bless'd assembly glorious state when all In their uprightness walk and ever shall O make my heart sincere that I may never Prove such light chaff as then thy wind will sever From solid grain O let my soul detest Unsoundness and abide thy strictest test An Introduction TO THE Second PART OF HUSBANDRY HOw is it reader have I tired thee Whilst through these pleasant fields thou walk'st with me Our path was pleasant but if length of way Do weary thee we 'l slack our pace and stay Let 's sit a while under the cooling Shade Of fragrant trees were for shadow made Lo here a pleasant grove whose shade is good But more than so 't will yield us fruit for food No dangerous fruits do on these branches grow No snakes among the verdant grass below Here we 'l repose a while and then go view The pleasant herds and flocks and so adieu CHAP. I. Vngraffed Trees can never bear good fruit Nor we till graffed on a better root OBSERVATION A Wild tree naturally springing up in the wood or hedge and never graffed or removed from its native soyl may bear some fruit and that fair and beautiful to the eye but it will give you no content at all in eating being alwayes harsh sower and unpleasant to the taste but if such a stock be removed into a good soyl and graffed with a better kind it may become a good tree and yield store of choice and pleasant fruit APPLICATION UNregenerate men who never were acquainted with the mystery of spiritual union with Iesus Christ but still grow upon their natural root old Adam may by the force and power of natural principles bring forth some fruit which like the wild hedge fruit we speak of may indeed be fair and pleasant to the eyes of men but God takes no pleasure at all in it its sower harsh and distasteful to him because it springs not from the spirit of Christ Isa 1. 13. I cannot away with it it is iniquity c. but that I may not intangle the thred of my discourse I shall as in the former Chapters set before you a paralel betwixt the best fruits of natural men and those of a wild ungraffed tree The root that bears this wild fruit is a degenerate root and that 's the cause of all this sowerness and harshness in the fruit it bears it 's the seed of some better Tree accidentally blown or cast into some waste and bad soyl where not being manured and ordered aright it 's turned wild So all the fruits of unregenerate men â—low from the first Adam a corrupt and degenerate root he was indeed planted a right seed but soon turned a wild and degenerate plant he being the root from which every man naturally springs corrupts all the fruit that any man bears from him It 's observed by Gregory pertinent to my present purpose Genus humanum in parente primo velut in radice putruit Mankind was putrified in the root of his first parent Matt. 7. 18. A Corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit This corrupt root spoyls the fruit by the transmission of its sower and naughty sap into all the branches and fruits that grow on them they suck no other nourishment but what the root affords them and that being bad spoyles all for the same cause and reason no meeâ— natural or unregenerate man can ever do one holy or acceptable action because the corruption of the root is in all those actions The necessity of our drawing corruption into all our actions from this cursed root Adam is expressed by a quick and smart Interrogation Iob 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one The sense of it is well delivered us by Mr. Caryl in loc This question saith he may undergo a threefold construction First thus Who can bring a morally clean person out of a person originally unclean and so he layes
man appears When you have recovered and brought home your lost cattel you may lose them the second time and never recover them again but so cannot Christ. Man once recovered is for ever secured by him All that thou â—ast given me I have kept and not one of them is lost but the son of perdition and he was never savingly found Ioh. 17. 12. Though you prize your cattel yet you will not venture your life for the recovery of them rather let them go than regain them with such an hazard but Iesus Christ not only ventured but actually laid down his life to recover and save lost man He redeemed them at the price of his own blood he is that good Shepherd that laid down his life for the Sheep O the surpassing love of Christ to lost souls REFLECTIONS LOrd I am a lost creature an undone soul and herein lyes my misery that I have not only lost my God but have no heart to return to him Nay I fly from Christ who is come on purpose from heaven to seek and to save me his Messengers are abroad seeking for such as I am but I avoid them or at least refuse to obey their call and perswasions to return Ah what a miserable state am I in every step I go is a step towards hell my soul with the Prodigal is ready to perish in a strange Countrey but I have no mind with him to return home wretched soul what will the end of this be If God have lost thee the Devil hath found thee he takes up all strayers from God yea death and hell will shortly find thee if Christ do not and then thy recovery O my soul will be impossible Why sit I here perishing and dying I am not yet as irrecoverably lost as the damned are O let me delay no longer lest I be lost for ever O my soul for ever bless and admire the love of Iesus Christ who came from heaven to seek and save such a lost soul as I was Lord how marvellous how matchless is thy love I was lost and am found I am found and did not seek nay I am found by him from whom I fled Thy love O my Saviour was a preventing love a wonderful love thou lovedst me much more than I loved my self I was cruel to my own soul but thou wast kind thou soughtest for me a lost sinner and not for lost Angels thy hand of grace caught hold of me and hath let go thousands and ten thousands as good as my self by nature Like another David thou didst rescue my poor lost soul out of the mouth of the destroyer yea more than so thou dist lose thine own life to find mine And now dear Iesus since I am thus marvellously recovered shall I ever straggle again from thee O let it for ever be a warning to me how I turn aside into by-paths of sin any more The Poem VVHen cattel from your fields are gone astray and you to seek them through the Country ride Enquiring for them all along the way tracking their foot-steps where they turn'd aside One servant this way sent another that searching the fields and countrey round about This meditation now falls in so pat as if God sent it to enquire you out My beasts are lost and so am I by sin my wretched soul from God thus wandring went And I seek them so was I sought by him who from the fathers bosom forth was sent Pursu'd by Sermons Follow'd close by grace and strong convictions Christ hath sought for me Yea though I shun him still he gives me chase as if resolv'd I should not damned be When Angels lost themselves it was not so God did not seek or once for them enquire But said let these Apostate creatures go I 'le plague them for it with eternal fire Lord what am I that thou shouldst set thine eyes and still seek after such a wretch as I Whose matchless mercy and rich grace despise as if in spight thereof resolv'd to die Why should I shun thee blessed Saviour why should I avoid thee thus thou dost not chase My soul to slay it O that ever I should fly a Saviour that 's so full of grace Long hast thou sought me Lord I now return O let thy bowels of compassion sound For my departure I sincerely mourn and let this day thy wandring sheep be found CHAP. IV. Fat beasts you kill the lean you use to save God's dispensations some such meaning have OBSERVATION IT is a good Observation of a Father and well applied Vituli triturantes quotidie ligantur vituli mactandi quotidie in pascuis libere relinquntur Oxen for use are daily yoaked and kept short whilst those that are designed for the shambles are let loose in green pastures to fed at pleasure Store beasts fare hard and are kept lean and low feeding beasts are excused from the yoak whilst others are laboured and wrought hard every day the one hath more than he can eat the other would eat more if he had it APPLICATION THus deals the Lord oft-times with his own elect whom he designs for glory and with the wicked who are preparing for the day of wrath Thus are they filled with earthly prosperity and creature-enjoyments like resâ—y and wanton beasts turned out at liberty in a fat pasture whilst poor Saints are kept hard and short Amos. 1. 4. Hear this word ye kine of Bashan that are in the mountains of 〈◊〉 which oppress the poor and crush the needy These metaphorical kine are the prosperous oppressors of the world full fed and wanton wicked men ' This true heaven hath not all the poor nor hell all the rich but it s a very common dispensation of providence to bâ—stow most of the things of this world upon them that have no portion in heaven and to keep them short on earth for whom that kingdom is provided Let me draw forth the similitude in a few particulars The beasts of slaughter have the fâ—ttest pastures so have the ungodly in the world Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Psal. 73. 7. their hearts are as fat as grease Psal. 119. 7. These be they that fleet off the cream of earthly enjoyments whose bellies are filled with hidden treasures Psal. 17. 14. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked Iob 9. 24. O what full estates what an affluence of earthly delights hath God cast in upon some wicked men there is much wantonness but no want in their dwellings Some that now know not which way to turn themselves in hell once knew not where to bestow their goods on earth Feeding beasts grow wanton in their full pastures there you shall see them tumble and frisk and kick up their heels The same effect hath the prosperity of the wicked it makes them wanton their life is but a diversion from one pleasure to another Iob. 21. 11
12 13. They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance they take the timbrel and harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ they spend their dayes in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave The same character doth the Prophet Amos give of them Amos 6. 4 5 6. They stretch themselves upon beds of Ivory drink Wine in bowls c. and no sorrow goes to their hearts These are they that live in pleasures upon earth as a fish in the water Iam. 5. 5. These fat pastures do but the sooner hasten the death of these cattle the sooner they are fatted the sooner they are slaughtered and the prosperity of the wicked serves to the same end The prosperity of fools shall destroy them i. e. it shall be the means and instruments of heating and hightening their lusts and thereby fitting them for destruction their prosperity is â—ood and fewel to their corruptions Many wicked men had not been so soon ripe for hell had they not grown in the Sun-shine of prosperity Fatted beasts do not in the least understand the intent and meaning of the Husbandman in allowing them such large and fat pastures which he denyes to his other cattle and as little as beasts do wicked men understand the scope and end of Gods providences in casting prosperity and wealth upon them little do they think their tables are a snare a gin and a trap for their souls they only like beasts mind what is before them but do not at all understand the tendency and end of these their sensual delights Though the Husbandman keep his store cattle in short commons yet he intends to preserve them these shall remain with him when the others are driven to the slaughter Such a design of preservation is carried on in all those outward straits wants and hardships which the Lord exposes his people to I confess such dispensations for present are very stumbling and puzling things even to gracious and wise persons To see wicked men not only exempted from their troubles but even oppressed with prosperity to see a godly man in wants and straits and a wicked man have more than his heart can wish is a case that poses the wisest Christian till he consider the design and issues of both those providences and then he acquiesces in the wisdom of God so ordering it Psal. 73. 5 14 18 23. REFLECTIONS DOth my prosperity fat me up for hell and prepare me for the day of slaughter little cause have I then to glory in it and lift up my heart upon these things Indeed God hath given I cannot say-blessed me with a fulness of creature-enjoyments upon these my carnal heart seizeth greedily and securely not at all suspecting a snare lying in these things for the ruin of my soul. What are all these charming pleasures but so many rattles to quiet my soul whilst its damnation steals insensibly upon it What are all my businâ—â—â—es and imployments in the world but so many diversions from the business of life There are but two differences betwixt me and the poorest slave the devil hath on earth such are whipt on to hell by outward miseries and I am coached to hell in a little more pomp and honour these will have a less and I a greater account in the day of reckoning O that I had never known prosperity I am now trumbling in a green pasture and shortly shall be hanging up in the shambles in hell if this be the best fruit of my prosperity if I were taken capitive by cruel Canibals and fed with the richest fare but withal understood that the design of it were to â—at me up like a beast for them to feed upon how little stomack should I have to their dainties O my soul it were much better for thee to have a sanctified poverty which is the portion of many Saints than an ensnaring prosperity set as a trap to ruin thee for ever The wisdom of my God hath allotted me but short commons here his providence feeds me but from hand to mouth but I am and well may be contended with my present state that which sweetens it is that I am one of the Lords preserved How much better is a morsel of bread and a draught of water here with an expectancy of glory hereafter than a fat pasture given in and fitting for the wrath to come Well since the case stands thus blessed be God for my present lot though I have but little in hand I have much in hope my present troubles will serve to sweeten my future joyes and the sorrows of this life will give a lustre to the glory of the next that which is now hard to suffer will them be sweet to remember my songs then will be louder than my groans now The POEM THose beasts which for the shambles are design'd In fragrant flowry Meadows you shall find Where they abound with rich and plenteous fare Whilst others graze in commons thin and bare Those live a short and pleasant life but these Protract their lives in dry and shorter leas Thus live the wicked thus they do abound With earthly glory and with honour crown'd Their lofty heads unto the stars aspire And radiant beams their shining brows attire The fattest portion 's serv'd up in their dish Yea they have more than their own hearts can wish Dissolv'd in pleasures crown'd with buds of May They for a time in these fat pastures play Frisk dance and leap like full fed beasts and even Turn up their wanton heels against the heaven Not understanding that this pleasant life Serves but to fit them for the Butchers knife In fragrant Meads they tumbling are to day Tomorrow to the slaughter led away Their pleasure 's gone and vanish'd like a bubble Which makes their future torments on them double Mean while Gods little flock is poor and lean Because the Lord did ner'e intend or mean This for their portion and besides doth know Their souls prove best where shortest grass doth grow Cheer up poor flock although your fare be thin Yet here is something to take comfort in You here securely feed and need not fear Th' infernal butcher can't approach you here 'T is somewhat that but O which far transcends Your glorious Shepher'ds coming who intends To lead you hence unto that fragrant hill Where with green pastures he his flocks will fill On which he from celestial casements pours The sweetest dews and constant gracious sâ—owres Along whose banks rivers of pleasures slide There his bless'd flocks for ever shall abide O envy not the worldlings present joys Which to your future mercies are but toyes Their pasture now is green your's dry and burn'd But then the Scene is chang'd the tables turn'd CHAP. V. Good Husbands labour for posterity To after ages Saints must have an eye OBSERVATION PRovident and careful Husbandmen do not only labour to supply
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
for slaughter But man was made for nobler ends created Lord of the lower world not to serve but to be served by other creatures a mercy able to melt the hardest heart into thankfulness I remember Luther pressing men to be thankful that they are not brought into the lowest condition of creatures and to bless God that they can see any creature below themselves gives us a famous instance in the following story Two Cardinals saith he riding in a great deal of pomp to the Council of Constance by the way they heard a man in the fields weeping and wailing bitterly they rode to him and asked what he ailed perceiving his eye intently fixed upon an ugly toad he told them that his heart was melted with the consideration of this mercy that God had not made him such a deformed and loathsom creature though he were formed out of the same clay with it Hoc est quod amare fleo said he This is that that makes me weep bitterly Whereupon one of the Cardinals cryes out Well said the Father the unlearned will rise and take heaven when we with all our learning shall be thrust into hell That which melted the heart of this poor man should melt every heart when we behold the misery to which these poor creatures are subjected And this will appear a mercy of no slight consideration if we but draw a comparison betwixt our selves and these irrational creatures in these three particulars Though they and we were made of the same mould and clay yet how much better hath God dealt with us even as to the outward man the structure of our bodies is much more excellent God made other creatures by a word of command but man by counsel it was not be Thou but let us make man We might have been nude stones without fence or beasts without reason but we were made men The noble structure and symetry of our bodies invites our souls not only to thankfulness but admiration David speaking of the curious frame of the body saith I am wonderfully made Psal. 139. 14. or as the vulgar reads it painted as with a needle like some rich piece of needle-work curiously embroydered with nerves and veins Was any part of the common lump of clay thus fashioned Galen gave Epicuâ—us an hundred years time to imagine a more commodious situation configuration or composition of any one part of a humane body and as one saith of all the Angels in heaven had studied to this day they could not have cast the body of man into a more curious mould How little ease or rest have they they live not many years and those they do is in bondage and misery groaning under the effects of sin but God hath provided better for us even as to our outward condition in the world we have the more rest because they have so little How many refreâ—hments and comforts hath God provided for us of which they are uncapable if we be weary with labour we can take our rest but fresh or weary they must stand to it or sink under it from day to day What a narrow capacity hath God given to beasts what a large capacity to man Alas they are only capable of a little sensitive pleasure as you shall see sometimes how they will frisk in a green pasture this is all they be capable of and this death puts an end to but how comprehensive are our souls in their capacities we are made in the image of God we can look beyond present things and are capable of the highest happiness and that to all eternity the soul of a beast is but a material form which wholly depending upon must needs dye with the body but our souls are a divine spark or blast and when the body dyes it dyes not with it but subsists even in its separated state REFLECTIONS HOw great a sin is ingratitude to God for such a common but choice mercy of Creation and provision for me in this world There is no creature made worse by kindness but man There is a kind of gratitude which I may observe even in these bruit beasts they do in their way acknowledge their benefactors The Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib How ready are they to serve such as feed and cherish them but I have been Both unthankful and unserviceable to my Creator and Benefactor that hath done me good all my dayes those poor creatures that sweat and groan under the loads that I lay upon them never sinned against God nor transgressed the Laws of their Creation as I have done and yet God hath dealt better with me than with them Oh that the bounty of God and his distinguishing mercy between me and the beasts that perish might move and melt my heart into thankfulness O that I might consider seriously what the higher and more excellent end of my Creation is and might more endeavour to answer and live up to it Or else O my soul it will be worse with thee than with the beasts 'T is true they are under bondage and misery but it is but for a little time death will end all their pains and ease them of all their heavy loads but I shall groan to all eternity under a heavier burden than ever they felt they have no account to give but so have I. What comfort is it that I have a larger capacity than a beast hath that God hath endowed me with reason which is denied to me Alas this will but augment my misery and enlarge me to take in a greater measure of anguish But how many steps O my soul mayest thou ascend in the praises of thy God when thou considerest the mercies that God hath bestowed upon thee not only in that he made thee not a stone or tree without sense or an horse or dog without reason but that thou art not an infidel without light or an unregâ—nerate person without grace What! to have sense and all the delights of it which stones have not reason with the more high and noble pleasures of it which beasts have not the light and knowledge of the great things of the Gospel which the Heathens have not and such an expectation and hope of unconceivable glory and felicity which the unsanctified have not O my soul how rich how bountiful hath thy God been to thee these are the overflowings of his love to thee who wast moulded out of the same lump with the beasts that groan on earth yea with the damned that howl in hell well may I say that God hath been a good God to me The Poem WHen I behold a tyred Iade put on With whip and spur till all his strength be gone See streams of sweat run down his bleeding sides How little marcy's shewn by him that rides If I more thankless to my God don't prove Than such a Rider's merciless 't will move My soul to praise for who sees this and can But bless the Lord that he was