CHAPTER XIV: Upon the Patience of the Husbandman for the Harvest
'Till from faint sparks to lively flames they grow.
Ev'n thus is grace preserv'd, thus kept alive; By constant wonders grace doth live and thrive.
CHAPTER XIV:
Upon the Patience of the Husbandman for the Harvest 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, plows 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 is 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 fortify my spirit against all intercurrent hardships and difficulties. It least of all becomes a Christian to be of an hasty and impatent spirit. "Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart," Psal.
92:11. "Behold the husbandman waiteth," &c. Jam. 5:7. "Be patient, therefore, my brethren, for the coming of the Lord draws near."
There are three great arguments to persuade Christians to a longsuffering 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 nobleman, that when his wife wondered at his exceeding great patience in bearing injuries, 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 suffered; and say thus to myself; Although thy servant should pluck thy beard, and smite thee on thy face, this were nothing to what the Lord suffered: he suffered more and greater things; and assure yourself, 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 the blessed Greenham; when sin lies heavy, affliction lies light.* And it is a famous instance which Dr. Taylor gives us of the duke of Conde. I have read (saith he) when the duke of Conde had voluntarily entered into the incommodites of a religious poverty and retirement, he was one day spied and pitied by a lord of Italy, who, out of tenderness wished 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 myself, and the consideration of what I deserve for my sins, which is eternal torments; and when with this knowledge I arrive at my lodgings, how unprovided soever I find it, methinks it is ever better than I deserve. (3.) And as the sense of sin,
which merits hell sweetens present difficulties, so (to come home to the present similitude) do the expectations and hopes of a blessed harvest and reward in heaven. This made Abraham willing to wander up and down many years as a stranger in the world; for he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. The hopes of such a harvest is encouragement enough to work hard, and wait long: Yet some Christians are so impatient of it, that they would fain be reaping before the time: but as God hath, by an unalterable law of nature appointed both the seasons of seed-time and harvest
(which are therefore called the appointed weeks of the harvest) Jer.
5:24 and these cannot be hastened; but when we have done all that we can on our part, must wait till God send the former and the latter rain, and give every natural cause its effect; so is it in reference to our spiritual harvest; we are appointed to sweat in the use of all God's appointments; and when we have done all, must patiently wait till the divine decrees be accomplished, and the time of the promise be fully come; "In due time we shall reap, if we faint not." To which patient expectation and quiet waiting for the glory to come, these following considerations are of excellent use.
1. As the husbandman knows when the seed-time is past, it will not be long to the harvest; and the longer he waits, the nearer still it is: so the Christian knows, "It is but yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry," Heb. 10:37. "And that now his salvation is nearer than when he first believed," Rom. 13:11. What a small point of time is our waiting-time compared with eternity? Yet a few days more, and then comes the long expected and welcome harvest.
2. The husbandman can find other work to do before the reaping time come; he need not stand idle, though he cannot yet reap. And cannot a Christian find any work to do for God till he come to
heaven? O there is much work to do, and such work is only proper to this season! You may now reprove sin, exhort to duty, succour the distressed; this is good work, and this is your only time for such work; the whole of eternity will be taken up in other employments. "I think it meet (saith Peter) as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir up your minds, knowing shortly that I must put off this tabernacle,"
2 Pet. 1:13, 14 q. d. I know I have but a little time to work among you; I am almost at heaven; and therefore am willing to husband this present moment as well as I can for you. O Christians! you need not stand idle; look round about you upon the multitude of forlorn sinners; speak now to them for God; speak now to God for them; for shortly you shall so speak no more; you shall see them no more till you see them at Christ's bar; God leaves you here for their sakes, up and be doing: if you had done all you were to do for yourselves and them, he would have you to heaven immediately; you should not wait a moment longer for your glory.
3. Husbandmen know, though they cannot yet gather in the precious fruits of the earth, yet all this while they are ripening and preparing for the harvest! they would not house it green, or take it before its time. And is not this also my preparation-time for glory? As God prepared heaven for his people by an eternal decree; Mat. 25:34 by an act of creation, Heb. 11:10 by the death of Christ, which made a purchase of it, Heb. 10:19, 20 and by his ascension into it, John 14:2,
3. So the reason why we are kept here, is in order to our fitting for it.
Heaven is ready, but we are not fully ready; the barn is fit to receive the corn, but the corn is not fit to be gathered into it. "But for this self-same thing God is now working "us," 2 Cor. 5:5 he is every day at work by ordinances, and by providences, to perfect his work in us; and as soon as that is finished, we shall hear a voice like that, Rev.
11:12. "Come up hither, and immediately we shall be in the spirit;"
for how ardently so-ever we long for that desirable day, Christ longs for it more than we can do.
4. The husbandman is glad of the first-fruits, that encourages him, though the greatest part be yet out: and have not you received the first fruits of that glory? Have you not earnests, pledges, and firstfruits of it? 'Tis your own fault, if every day you feed not upon such blessed comforts of the Spirit, Rom. 8:23. Rom. 5:2. 1 Pet. 3:9. O how might the interposing time, even all the days of your patience here be sweetened with such prelibations of the glory to come!
5. Husbandmen know it is best to reap when it is fit to reap; one handful fully ripe is worth many sheaves of green corn. And you know, heaven will be sweetest to you when you are fittest for it; the child would pluck the apple whilst it is green, but he might gather it easier, and taste it sweeter, by tarrying longer for it. We would fain be glorified per saltum. When we have got a taste of heaven, we are all in haste to be gone. Then, O that I had wings as a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Then we cry to God for ourselves, as Moses for his sister Miriam, "Heal her [now] O God, I beseech thee!" Numb.
12:13. Glorify me now, O Lord, I pray thee! But, surely, as God hath contrived thy glory in the best of ways; so he hath appointed for thee the fittest of seasons; and whenever thou art gathered into glory, thou shalt come as a shock of corn in its season.
REFLECTIONS
I have waited for thy salvation, O God! Having received thy firstfruits, my soul longs to fill its bosom with the full ripe sheaves of glory: "As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul for thee, O God! O when shall I come and appear before God!" I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ! When shall I see that most lovely face? When shall I hear his soul-transporting voice!
Some need patience to die: I need it as much to live. Thy sights, O God, by faith, have made this world a burden, this body a burden, and this soul to cry, like thirsty David, "O that one would give me of the waters of Bethlehem to drink!" The husbandman longs for his harvest, because it is the reward of all his toil and labour. But what is his harvest to mine? What is a little corn to the enjoyment of God?
What is the joy of harvest to the joy of heaven? What are the shoutings of men in the fields to the acclamations of glorified spirits in the kingdom of God? Lord, I have gone forth, bearing more precious seed than they; when shall I return rejoicing, bringing my sheaves with me? Their harvest comes when they receive their corn; mine comes when I leave it. O much desired! O day of gladness of my heart! How long, Lord! how long! Here I wait as the poor man at 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 is fully come: I would be content to stay for my glorification till I have finished 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 judgment; and blessed are all they that wait for thee.
But how doth my slothful soul sink down into the flesh, and settle itself in the love of this animal life? How doth it hug and wrap up itself in the garment of this mortality, not desiring to be removed hence to the more perfect and blessed state? The husbandman is indeed content to stay till the appointed weeks of the harvest; but would he be content to wait always? 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 thyself, that this mortality might be swallowed up of life? Doth not the scriptures describe the saints by their earnest looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life? Jude
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 lie upon my conscience? Or, have I gotten into a pleasant condition in the world, which makes me say as Peter on the mount, It is 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; beat up the drowsy desires of my soul, that I may say, "Make haste 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.
His rare example justly may Rebuke and put to shame My soul; which sows its seed and ease And looks to reap the same.
Is cursed nature now become So kind a soil to grace, That to perfection it should come Within so short a space?
Grace springs not up with seed 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 heav'n 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,