know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any way of wickedness in me You have little quiet in your spirits till the Case be resolved your meat and drink doth you little good you cannot sleep in the night because these troubled thoughts are ever returning upon you What if I should be turn'd out of all at last So it is with gracious souls their eyes are held waking in the night by reason of the troubles of their hearts Psal. 77. 4. Such fears as these are frequently returning upon their hearts What if I should be found a self-deceiver at last What if I do but hug a phantasm instead of Christ how can this or that consist with grace Their meat and drink doth them little good their bodies are often macerated by the troubles of their souls You will not make the best of your condition when you state your case to a faithful Councellor neither will they but oft-times poor pensive souls they make it much worse than indeed it is charge themselves with that which God never charged them with though this be neither their wisdom nor their duty but the fears of miscarrying make them suspect fraud in all they do or have Lastly when your title is cleared your hearts are eased yea not only eased but overjoyed though not in that degree nor with the same kind of joy that the hearts of Christians are overflowed when the Lord speaks peace to their souls O welcome the sweet morning light after a tedious night of darkness now they can eat their bread with comfort and drink their wine yea if it be but water with a merry heart Eccles. 9. 7. REFLECTIONS O How hath spirit been tossed and hurried when I have met with troubles and clamours about my estate but as for spiritual troubles and those soul-perplexing cases that christians speak of I understand but little of them I never called my everlasting state in question nor brake an hours sleep upon any such account Ah my supine and careless soul I little hast thou regarded how matters stand in reference to eternity I have strongly conceited but never throughly examined the validity of my title to Christ and his promises nor am I able to tell if my own conscience should demand whereupon my claim is grounded O my soul why art thou so unwilling to examine how matters stand betwixt God and thee art thou afraid to look into thy condition least by finding thine hypocrisie thou shouldest lose thy peace or rather thy security To what purpose will it be to shut thine eyes against the light of conviction unless thou couldst also find out a way to prevent thy condemnation Thou seest other souls how attentively they wait under the word for any thing that may speak to their conditions Doubtless thou hast heard how frequently and seriously they have stated their conditions and opened their cases to the Ministers of Christ. But thou O my soul hast no such cases to put no doubts to be resolved thou wilt leave all to the decision of the great day and not trouble thy self about it now Well God will decide it but little to thy comfort I have heard how some have been perplexed by litigious adversaries but I believe none have been so tossed with fears and distracted with doubts as I have been about the state of my soul. Lord what shall I do I have often carried my doubts and scruples to thine Ordinances waiting for satisfaction to be spoken there I have carried them to those I have judged skillfull and faithful begging their resolution and help but nothing will stick Still my fears are daily renewed O my God do thou decide my case tell me how the state stands betwixt thee and me my dayes consume in trouble I can neither do or enjoy any good whilst things are thus with me all my earthly enjoyments are dry and uncomfortable things yea which is much worse all my duties and thine Ordinances prove so too by reason of the troubles of my heart I am no ornament to my profession nay I am a discouragement and stumbling-block to others I will hearken and hear what God the Lord will speak O that it might be peace if thou do not speak it none can and when thou doest keep thy servant from returning again to solly lest I make fresh work for an accusing conscience and give new matter to the adversary of my soul But thou my soul enjoyest a double mercy from thy bountiful God who hath not only given thee a sound title but also the clear evidence and knowledge thereof I am gathering and daily feeding upon the full ripe fruits of assurance which grow upon the top boughs of faith whilst many of my poor brethren drink their own tears and have their teeth broken with gravel stones Lord thou hast set my soul upon her high places but let me not exalt my self because thou hast exalted me nor grow wanton because I walk at liberty lest for the abuse of such precious liberty thou clap my old chains upon me and shut up my soul again in prison The Poem MEn can't be quiet till they be assur'd That their estate is good and well secur'd To able Counsel they their Deed submit Intreating them with care t' examine it Fearing some clause an enemy may wrest Or find a flaw whereby he may devest Them and their children O who can but see How wise men in their generation be But do they equal cares fears express About their everlasting happiness In spiritual things 't would grieve ones heart to see What careless fools these careful men can be They act like men of common sense bereaven Secure their Lands and they 'l trust God for heaven How many cases ave you to submit To Lawyers judgments Ministers may sit From week to week and yet not see the face Of one that brings a soul concerning Case Yea which is worse how seldom do you cry To God for counsel or beg him to try Youâ— heartâ— and strictest inquisition make Into your state discover your mistake O stupid souls clouded with ignorance Is Christ and heaven no fair inheritance Compar'd with yours or is eternity A shorter term than yours that you should ply The one so close and totally neglect The other as not worth your least respect Perhaps the Dâ—vil whose plot from you's conceal'd Perswades your title 's good and firmly seal'd By Gâ—â—'s own Spirit though you never found One act of saving grace to lay a ground For that perswasion Soul he hath thee fast Though he 'l not let thee know it till the last Lord waken sinners make them understand 'Twixt thee and them how rawly matters stand Give them no quiet rest until they see Their souls secur'd better than Lands can be Occasional Meditations UPON BIRDS BEASTS TREES FLOWERS RIVERS and other objects MEDITATIONS on BIRDS MEDIT. I. Vpon the singing of a Nightingale
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
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
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
that at its first transplanting into Italy 't was watered with wine I cannot say saith he that you have been so watered by me I dare not but this I can humbly and truly say that if our choicest strength and spirits may be named instead of water wine or if the blessing which hath gone along with these waters at any time hath turned them into wine in vigour upon your souls then hath God by me watered your roots with wine The Husbandman builds his house where he makes his purchase dwells upon his Land and frequently visits it he knows that such as dwell far from their Lands are not far from loss So doth God where-ever he plants a Church there doth he fix his habitation intending there to dwell Psal. 46. 5. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved Thus God came to dwell upon his own Fee and Inheritance in Iudea Levit. 26. 11 12. And I will set my tabernacle amongst you and will be your God and ye shall be my people Which promise is again renew'd to his Churches of the New Testament 2 Cor. 6. 16. And when the Churches shall be in their greatest flourish and purity then shall there be the fullest and most glorious manifestation of the divine presence among them Rev. 21. 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and be their God Hence the Assemblies are called the places of his feet And there they behold the beauty of the Lord Psal. 27. Husbandmen grudge not at the cost they are at for their tillage but as they lay out vast sums upon it so they do it cheerfully And now O inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iuda judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard what could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it And as he bestows upon his heritage the choicest mercies so he doth it with the greatest cheerfulness for the saith Ier. 32. 41. I will rejoyce over them to do them good and I will plant them in this Land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. It is not the giving out of mercy saith one that grieveth God but the recoyling of his mercies back again upon him by the creatures ingratitude When Husbandmen have been at cost and pains about their Husbandry they expect fruit from it answerable to their pains and expences about it Behold saith Iames the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth Iam. 5. 7. And he looked that it should bring forth fruit Isa. 5. 2. This heavenly Husbandman waits for the fruits of his fields also never did any Husbandman long for the desired Harvest more than God doth for the fruits of holiness from his Saints great are the expectations of God from his people And when the time of the fruit drew near he sent his servants to the Husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it Husbandman are much delighted to see the success of their labours it comforts them over all their hard pains and many weary dayes to see a good increase Much more is God delighted in beholding the flourishing graces of his people it pleases him to see his plants laden with fruit and his valleys sing with corn Cant. 6. 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden into his beds of spices to feed in the gardens and to gather lillies These beds of spices say Expositors are the particular Churches the companies of Believers he goes to feed in these gardens like as men go to their gardens to make merry or to gather fruit Cant. 4. 16. He eats his pleasant fruit viz. His peoples holy performances sweeter to him than any Ambrosia thus he feeds in the gardens and he gathers lillies when he translates good souls into his Kingdom above For the Lord taketh pleasure in his Saints and will beautifie the meek with salvation The Husbandman is exceedingly grieved when he sees the hopes of a good crop disappointed and his fields prove barren or blasted So the Lord expresses his grief for and anger against his people when they bring forth no fruits or wilde fruits worse than none Hos. 9. 16. Ephraim is smitten their root is dryed up Christ was exceedingly displeased with the fig-tree and cursed it for its barrenness it grieves him to the heart when his servants return to him with such complaints as these We have laboured in vain we have spent our strength for nought Husbandmen imploy many labourers to work in their fields there is need to many hands for such a multiplicity of business God hath diversity of workmen also in the Churches whom he sends forth to labour in his spiritual fields Eph. 4. 12. He gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry Amos 3. 7. I have sent my servants the Prophets 'T is usual with the Apostles to place this title of servant among their honorary titles though a prophane mouth once called it Probosum artificium a sordid artifice Christ hath stampt a great deal of dignity upon his Ministers in retaining them for the nearest service to himself 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ they are workers together with God the Husbandman works in the field among his labourers and the great God disdaineth not to work in and with his poor servants in the work of the Ministry The work about which Husbandmen imploy their servants in the field is toylsom and spending You see they come home at night as weary as they can draw their legs after them But Gods workmen have a much harder task than they Hence they are set forth in Scripture by the laborious ox 1. Cor. 9. 9. Rev. 4. 7. Some derive the word Deacon from a word that signifies dust to shew the laboriousness of their imployment labouring till even choaked with dust and sweat 'T is said of Epaphroditus Phil. 2. 13. That for the work of Christ he was sick and nigh unto death not regarding his life to supply their lack of service The Apostles expression Col. 1. ult is very emphatical Whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily The word signifies such spending labour as puts a man into an agony and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh small find so doing The immediate end of the Husbandmans labour and his servants labour is for the improvement of his Land to make it more flourishing and fruitful The scope and end of the Ministry is for the Churches benefit and advantage They must not lord it over God's heritage as if the Church were for them and not they for the Church nor serve themselves of it but
blessed Gospel heart dissolving voice I have felt thine efficacy I have experienced thy divine and irresistible power thou art indeed sharper than any two edged sword and woundest to the heart but thy wounds are the wounds of a friend All the wounds thou hast made in my soul were so many doors opened to let in Christ all the blows thou gavest my consciences were but to beat off my soul from sin which I embraced and had retained to my everlasting ruine hadst thou not separated them and me O wise and merciful Phyâ—â—â—ian thou didst indeed bind me with cords of conviction and sorrow but it was only to cut out that stone in my heart which had killed me if it had continued there O how did I struggle and oppose thee as if thou hadst come with the sword of an enemy rather than the lancâ— and probe of a skilful and tender hearted Physician Blessed by the day wherein my sin was discovered and imbittered O happy sorrows which prepared for such matchless joyes O blessed hand which turned my salt waters into pleasant wine and after many pangs and sorrows of souâ— didst â—ring forth the man child of deliverance and peace 〈◊〉 But O what a Rock of Adamant is this 〈◊〉 of mine that never yet was wounded and savingly pierced for 〈◊〉 the terrors of the Law or melting voice of the Gospel long have I sate-under the word but when did I feel a relenting pang O my soul my stupified soul thou hast got an Antidote against repentance but hast thou any against â—ell thou canst keep out the sense of sin now but art thou able to keep off the terrors of the Lord hereafter If thou couldst turn a deaf ear to the sentence of Christ in the day of judgment as easily as thou dost to the intreaties of Christ in the day of grace it were somewhat but surely there is no defence against that Ah fool that I am to quench these convictions unless I knew how to quench those flames tâ—ey warn me of And may not I challenge the first place among all the mourners in the world who have lost all those convictions which at several times came upon me under the word I have been often awakened by it and filled with terrors and tremblings under it but those troubles have soon worn off again and my heart like water removed from the fire return'd to its native coldness Lord what a dismal case am I in Many convictions have I choaked and strangled which it may be shall never more be revived until hou revive them against me in judgment I have been in pangs and brought forth nothing but wind my troubles have wrought no deliverance neither have my lusts fallen before them my conscience indeed hath been sometimes sick with sin yea so sick as to vomit them up by an external partial reformation but then with the dog have I returned again to my vomit and now I doubt am given over to an heart that cannot repent Oh that those travelling pangs could be quickened again but alas they are ceased I am like a prisoner escaped and again recovered whom the Iaylor loads with double Irons Surely O my soul if thy spiritual troubles return not again they are but gone back to bring eternal troubles It is with thee O my soul as with a man whose bones have been broken and not well set who must how terrible soever it appear to him endure the pain of breaking and setting them again if ever he be made a sound man O that I might rather chuse to be the Object of thy wounding mercy than of thy sparing cruelty if thou plow not up my heart again by compunction I know it must be rent in pieces at last by desperation The Poem THere 's skill in plowing that the Plowman knows For if too shallow or too deep he goes The seed is either buried or else my To â—ooks and Daws become an easie prey This as a lively emblem fitly may Describe the blessed spirits work and way Whose work on souls with this doth symbolize Betwixt them both thus the resemblance lyes Souls are the soyl conviction is the plow Gods workmen draw the spirit shews them how He guides the work and in good ground doth bless His workmens paines with sweet and fair success The heart prepar'd he scatters in the seed Which in it's season springs no fowl nor weed Shall pick it up or choak this springing coâ—n Till it be housed in the heavenly barn When thus the spirit plows up the â—allow ground When with such fruits his servants work is crown'd Let all the friends of Christ and soul say now As they pass by these fields God speed the plow Sometimes this plow thin shelfy ground doth turn That little seed which springs the Sun-beams burn The rest uncovered lies which fowls devour Alas their hearts were touched but not with power The cares and pleasures of this world have drown'd The seed before it peep'd above the ground Some springs indeed the scripture saith that some Do taste the powers of the world to come These Embroy's never come to timely birth Because the seed that 's sown wants depth of earth Turn up O God the bottom of my heart And to the seed that 's sown do thou impart Thy choicest blessing Though I weep and mourn In this wet seed-time if I may return With sheaves of joy these fully will reward My paines and sorrows be they ne're so hard CHAP. VIII The Choicest wheat is still reserv'd for seed But gracious principles are Choice indeed OBSERVATION HUsbandmen are very careful and curious about their Seed-corn that it may not only be clean and pure but the best and most excellent in its kind Isa. 28. 25. He easteth in the principal Wheat If any be more full and weighty than other that is reserved for Seed 'T is usual with Husbandmen to pick and lease their Seed-corn by hand that they may separate the Cockel and Darnel and all the lighter and hollow grains from it wherein they manifest their discretion for according to the vigor and goodness of the Seed the fruit and production is like to be APPLICATION THe choice and Principal Seed-corn with which the fields are sowed after they are prepared for it doth admimirably shadow forth those excellent principles of grace infused into the regenerate soul. Their agreement as they are both seed is obvious in the ten following particulars and their excellency above other principles in seven more The earth at first naturally brought forth Corn and every Seed yielding fruit without humane industry but since the curse came upon it it must be plowed and sowed or no fruit can be expected So man at first had all the principles of holiness in his nature but now they must be infused by regeneration or else his nature is as void of holiness as the barren and
them in the way to the prisons or stake with their little ones in their armes and throwing themselves at their feet would thus bespeak them What shall be our estate now you are gone to Martyrdom who shall instruct these poor Babes Who shall ease our afflicted consciences Who shall lead us in the way of life recompense unto them O Lord as they have deserved who aâ—e the causes of this Lord give them sad hearts Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis And to let you see there is sufficient ground for this sorrow when God restrains the influences of the Gospel solemnly consider the following particulars That it is a dreadful token of God's great anger against that people from whom he removes the Gospel The anger of God was fearfully incensed against the Church of Ephesus when he did but threaten to come against her and remove the Candlestick out of its place Rev. 2. 5. 'T is a stroke at the soul a blow at the root usually the last and therefore the worst of judgments There is a pedigree of judgments first Gomer bears Iezreel next Loruhamah and at last brings forth Loammi Hos. 1. 4 6 8 9. There is cause of mourning if you consider the deplorable estate in which all the unregenerate souls are left after the Gospel is removed from them What will become of these or by whom shall they be gathered It made the bowels of Christ yearn within him when he looked upon the scattered multitude that had no Shepherd Mat. 9. 36. What an easie conquest doth the devil now make of them how fast doth hell fill in such times poor souls being driven thither in droves and none to rescue them Mathew Paris tells us that in the year 1072. when preaching was suppressed at Rome letters were then framed as coming from hell wherein the devil gave them thanks for the multitude of souls they had sent to him that year But truly we need not talk of letters from hell we are told from heaven how deplorable the condition of such poor souls is See Prov. 28. 19. Hos. 4. 6. Or The judgment will yet appear very heavy if you consider the loss which God 's own people sustain by the removal of the Gospel for therâ—in they lose 1 their chief glory Rom. 3. 2. the principal thing in which the peculiar glory of Israel consisted was this That unto them was committed the Oracles of Gâ—d On that account is was called the glorious Land Dan. 11. 16. This made them greater than all the Nations rouâ—â— about them Deut. 4. 7. 8. 2 By losing the Ordinances they lose their quickenings comforts and soul-refreshments for all these are sweet streams from the Gospel fountain Psal. 119. 50. Col. 4. 8. No wonder then to hear the People of God Complain of dead hearts when the Gospel is removed 3 In the loss of the Gospel they lose their defence and safety This is there is their hedge their wâ—ll of protection Isa. 5. 5. Walls and hedges saith Musculus in loc are the Ordinances of God which serve both ad se perationem munitionem to distinguish and to defend them When God plucks up this hedge and breaks down this wall all mischiefs break in upon us presently 2 Chron. 15. 3 4 5 6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true Goâ— and without a teaching Priest and without Law And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the Countiries and Nations was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity How long did Ierusalem remain after that voice was heard in the Temple migremuâ— hinc Let us be gone 4 With the Gospel we lose our temporal injoyments and creature comforts These usually come and go with the Gospel When God had once written Loammi upon Israel the next news is this I will recover my wool and my flax Hos. 2. 9. 5 and lastly to come up to the very case in hand they loâ—e with it their spiritual food and soul-subsistence for the Gospel is their feast of fat things Isa 25. 6. their spiritual wells Isa. 12. 3. a dole distributed among the Lords poor Rom. 1. 11. In a word it is as the rain and dews of heaven as hath been shewed which being restrained a spirituall famine necessarily follows a famine of all the most terrible Now to shew you the analogy betwixt this and a temporal famine that therein you may see what cause you have to be deeply affected with it take it in thse six following particulars A famine is caused by the failing of bread or that which is in the stead and hath the use of bread Dâ—inties and superfluous rarities may fail and yet men may subsist comfortably As long as people have bread and water they will not famish but take away bread once and the spirit of man faileth Upon this account bread is called a staff Psal. 105. 16. because what a staff is to an aged or feeble man that bread is to the faint and feeble spirits which even so do lean upon it And look what bread is to the natural spirits that and more than that the word is to gracious spirits Iob 23. 12. I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food If once God break this staff the inner man that hidden man of the heart will quickly begin to fail and faulter It is not every degree of scarcity of bread that presently makes a famine but a general failing of it when no bread is to be had or that which is yields no nutriment For a famine may as well be occasioned by Gods taking away panis nutrimentum the nourishing vertue of bread that it shall signifie no more as to the end of bread than a chip Hag. 1. 6. as by taking away panem nutrientem bread it self Isa. 3. 1. And so it is in a spiritual famine which is occasioned either by Gods removing all the Ordinances and making vision utterly to â—ail or else though there be preaching prayer and other Ordinances left at least the names and shadows of them yet the presence of God is not with them There is no marrow in the bone no milk in the breast and so as to soul-subsistance 't is all one as if there were no such things In a corporeal famine mean and course things become sweet and pleasant famine raises the price and esteem of them That which before you would have thrown to your dogs now goes down pleasantly with your selves To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet Prov. 27. 7 'T is the Dutch Proverb and a very true one hunger is the best Cook Iejunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit Horat In time of famine coursest fare contents The barking stomach strains no complements 'T is storied of Artaxerxes Memor that when he was flying before his enemies he fed