Front matter (continued, part 5)
" thine eyes." 6. Those husbandmen that are careful and laborious in thesumra have the comfort and benefit of it in winter : he that then provi( fuel, shall sit M^arm in his habitation, when others blow their fing€
He that provides food for his family, and fodder for his cattle, in 1 harvest, shall eat the fruit of it, and enjoy the comfort of his labou when others shall be exposed to shifts and straits. And he that p vides for eternity, and lays up for his soul a good foundation agai the time to come, shall eat when others are hungry, and sing wh others howl, Isa. Ixv. 13. A day of death will come, and that y be a day of straits to all negligent souls ; but then the diligent Chi tian shall enjoy the peace and comfort that shall flow in upon heart, from his holy care and sincere diligence in duties ; as 2 C
i. 12. " This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that " sincerity and godly simplicity, we have had our conversation in t
" world." So Hezekiah, 2 Kings xx. 3. " Remember now, " Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perf( " heart." A day of judgment will come, and then foohsh virgi who neglected tlie season of getting oil in their lamps, will be put their shifts ; then they come to the ^vise, and say. Give us of yo oil, Matth. XXV. 8, 9but they have none to spare, and the season
buying is then over.
7. No wise husbandman Avill neglect a fit opportunity of gatheri in his hay and corn, upon a presumption of much fair weather come ; he will not say. The weather is settled, and I need not troul myself ; though my corn and hay be fit for the house, yet I may ^ it in another time as well as now.
And no wise Christian will lose a present season for his soul, up the hopes of much more time, yet to come ; but will rather si Now is my time, and I know not what will be hereafter : hereafte may wish to see one of the days of the Son of man, and not see Luke xvii. 22. It is sad to hear how cunning some men are to d pute themselves out of heaven, as if the devil had hired them to pie against their own souls ; sometimes urging the example of those tl were called at the eleventh hour, Mat. xx. 6. and sometimes that
L^ • r 1^
r **''«■■■— ---r—^"~" - ^ ^~--9i» ^fc«ir»I^««*«»l''
120 HUSBAKDRY SPIllITL-ALIZED ; OK,
when Christ hanged on the cross, and was tobeinaugur kings manifest such bounty, and pardon such crimes a pardoned afterwards.. Besides, God was then in a way miracles ; then he rent the rocks, opened the graves, raise and converted this thief; but God is now out of that w
REFLECTIONS.
nil 7 -n 1. I have indeed been a ffood ] The careless SOULS ,, ,, vi. i . ^ j „ ,. the world : with wJiat care and •^ ' have I looked out for myself and fa vide food to nourish them, and clothes to defend themagai
rities of winter .? mean while, neglecting to make provision or take care for my soul. O my destitute soul ! how m slighted and undervalued thee ? I have taken more care \ or an ox, than for thee : a well-stored barn, but an (
Will it not shortly be with me, as with that careless n when her house was on fire, busily bestirred herself to sav but forgot the child (though it Avere saved by another 1 then minding her child, ran up and down like one distra ing her hands, and crying, O my child ! my child ! I ha goods, and lost my child ! Such will be the case of thj Matth. xvi. 26. Besides, how easy will my conviction 1 of Christ ? Will not my providence and care for the th
life, leave me speechless and self-condemned in that c shall 1 answer, when the Lord shall say. Thou coulde winter, and seasonably provide for it ; yea, thou hadst si of thy very beasts, to provide for their necessities : and thou no care for thy soul ? Was that only not worth the
rm . 2. Is it so dangerous to neglect a ihe presumptuous ^ ^ ixn f^i i
r, '^ n ,• per season or p-race .'* What then 1 souts reflection. ^ i v ip j i •^ "who have suitered many such season in my hand, upon a groundless hope of future opportunif luded wretch ! what if that supposition fail ? Where an am not the lord of time, neither am I sure, that he who vouchsafe an hour of grace in old age, to him that hat many such hours in youth ; neither indeed is it ordinary
to do. It is storied of Caius Marius Victorius, -who three hundred years after Christ, and to his old age cont
gan ; but at last being convinced of the Christian vei-it}? Simplicianus, and told him he would be a Christian ; bt nnr thp rhiirrh cnnld bplipvp if. it lipinrr so rurp an pvar
Tins HEArEXLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS.
S. Bless the Lord, O my soul ! who gave thee a ^ . . , . ,
season, a day for eternal life, whioh is more than he ,, ' Iiath afforded for thousands ; yea, bless the Lord -^ for giving thee an heart to understand and improve that seas I confess I have not improved it as I ought ; yet this I can (throi mercy) say, that however it fare in future times with my outw man, though I have no treasures or stores laid up on earth, or : have, they are but corruptible, yet I have a blessed hope laid u] heaven, Col. l 5. I have bags that wax not old. Whilst worldli rejoice in their stores and heaps, I rejoice in these eternal treasu;
Vr BSERVE in summer's sultry heat. How in the hottest day The husbandman doth toil and sweat
About his com and hay : If then he should not reap and mow.
And gather in his stores. How should he hve, when, for the snow,
He can't move out of doors .'* The little ants, and painful bees.
By nature's instinct led. These have their summer granaries
For winter furnished.
But thou, my soul, whose summer's day Is almost past and gone ; What soul-provision dost thou lay
In stock to spend upon .'' If nature teaches to prepare
For temporal life, much rather Grace should provoke to greater care,
Soul-food in time to gather. Days 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, ^Vilt not do that which others can
Do for their very kine. Think, frugal farmers, when you see
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;122 HUSSANDRY SPIRITUALISED J OR,
For your poor souls, as you have done So often for a beast. Learn once to see the difference
Betwixt eternal things, And those poor transient things of sense.
That fly with eagle's wings.
CHAP. XVII.
Upon reaping the same we sow.
When from tare-seeds you see choice wheat to ^ Then from your lusts may joy and comfort fo
OBSEUVATION.
vTOD gives to every seed its own body, 1 Cor. xv he created every tree and herb of the field having its for the conservation of their species^ and they all invio the law of their creation. All fruits naturally rise ou and roots proper to them. " Men do not gather graj
** nor figs of thistles :"" such productions would be nature ; and although the juice or sap of the earth be matter of all kind of fruits, yet it is specificated acc(
different sorts of plants and seeds it nourishes. Where it is turned into wheat ; in an apple-tree, it becomes a so in every sort of plants or seeds, it is concocted intoi the kind. APPLICATION.
X R ANSL ATE this into spirituals, and the proposit forth by it, is fully expressed by the apostle, Gal. vi. 7.
*^ man sows, that shall he reap : They that sow to tl " of the flesh reap corruption ; and they that sow to tl " of the Spirit reap life everlasting." And as sure i follows the seed-time, so sure shall such fruits and effec
the seeds of such actions. " He that soweth iniquity si
*' ty," Prov. xxii, 8. " And they that now go forth weep *' ing preciou s seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, " sheaves with them," Psal. cxxvi. 6. The sum of al
THE HEAVEN1Y USE OF EARTHLY THIXCTS. 11
the clods, and for some time after we see no nore of it, and yet last it appears ag^a ; by which it is evident to us that it is ii finally lost: So our present actions, though physically transiei and perhaps forgotten, yet are not lost, but after a time shall appt
again, in order to a retribution.
If this were not so, all good and holy actions would be to the h of him that performed them. All the self-denial, spending duti and sharp sufferings of the people of God, would turn to th damage, though not in point of honesty, yet in point of personal t
lity ; and then also, what difference would there be betwixt the ;
tions of a man and a beast, with respect to future good or e\-il ? Yi man would then be more feared and obeyed than God, and all soi be swayed in their motions, only by tlie influence of present thin< And where then would religion be found in the world ? It is an < cellent note of Drexelhus ; * Our works (saith he) do not pass aw
* as soon as they are done, but as seed sown, shall, after a time, r * up to all eternity : Whatever we think, speak, or do, once spok( * thought, or done, is eternal, and abides for ever.' What Zeuxus, the famous limner, said of his work, may be tn said of all our works ; ^ternitati pingo, — I paint for eternity. how careful should men be of what they speak and do whilst th are commanded so to speak and so to do, as those that shall be judo by tlie perfect law of liberty .' James ii. 12. What more transit than a vain word ? And yet for such words men shall give an accoi in the day of judgment, Matth. xii. 36. Tliat is the first thing : 1 lions, like seed, shall rise and appear again in order to a retribute
2. The other thing held forth in this similitude is, that accordi to the nature of our actions now, will be the fruit and reward them then. Though the fruit or consequence of holy actions, for 1 present may seem bitter, and the fruit of sinful actions, sweet a pleasant ; yet there is nothing more certain tlian that their futi fruits shall be according to their present nature and quality, 2 C \. 10. Then Dionysius shall retract that sapng, Ecce quam prospi
navigatio a Deo datur sacrileg-'i-s, Behold how God favours our crileges ! Sometimes indeed (though but rarely) God causes sinn to reap in this world the same that they have sown ; as hath b<
their sin, such hath been their punishment. It was openly coni ed by Adonibezek, Judg. i. 7. " As I have done, so hath God
" quited me."'
Socrates, in his church history, furnishes us with a pertinent f sage to this purpose, concerning Valens the Emperor, who was
~«u*^« ^ ■■ ■ fll.J
124< HusBAXDUY spiritualized; on,
the matter by way of dispute ; the emperor hearing of while they were yet in the harbour, and not a man lai the ships to be fired wherein they were, and so consun Not long after, in his wars against the Goths, he was and hiding himself in a little cottage, the enemy comin< and him together. Thus this wretch reaped what he ing for burning, the very same in kind paid him again, ways so in this world ; but so it shall be in that to come shall then be turned, and the scene altered; for shall not
all the world do righteously ? * Diogenes was tempted God had cast off the government of the world when lie s ed prosper in their wickedness. On the same ground heen tempted to Atheism ; but then the world shall se^
justice shining out in its glory, "•' Tribulation, anguisl
" to every soul of man that doth evil ; but glory, hono' " to every man that worketh good," Rom. ii. 9, 10. ' appear what seed we sowed, what lives we lived ; " Fi
*' bring every work into judgment, with every secret th
?' it be good or evil," Eccles, xii. 14,
REFLECTIONS.
^T J, ,1. This meditation may be to Trie profane persons , j •.• ,, -{■, ■^ Kj .. ^ hand-writmffupon the wall waste reflection. • t\ r a j n i •^ prince, Dan. v. 5, b. and a like ei have upon me ; for if all the actions of this life be seed next, Lord, what a crop, what a dreadful harvest am I How many oaths and curses, hes and vain words have I s tongue ! How have I wronged, oppressed, and over-re dealings ! Rushed into all profaneness, drunkenness,
sabbath-breaking, &c. " as the horse rusheth into the b what shall I reap from such seed as this but vengeanc( These sins seemed pleasant in the commission, but, oh ! Ik it be on their account ? " What shall I do Avhen God
*' and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him .?" Jc Is it not reasonable and just, O my soul ! that thou shoi fruit of thine own planting, and reap what thou hast sowr nothing but profit and pleasure would spring from my lu I see it is a root bearing gall and wormwood, Deu Wretched soul ; what shall I do ? By these actions I I hfjvp bppn tlifi author nf mine own ruin, twisted an
TIIE HEAVENLY USE OF EAUTHLY TinXGS. IJ
2. How have I also been deceived in this
matter ? I verilv thought that glory and imHie moral man mortality would have been the fruit and proreflection. duct of mv moral honesty and righteousness ; that joy and peace had been seminally contained in those actions but now I see such fruit can spring from no other root but speci
grace. Glor\- is disclosed from no other bud but holiness. Alas ! s mv planting and sowing was to little purpose, because I sowed n
the right kind of seed ; the best fruit I can expect from this is bi a lesser degree of damnation.
Deluded soul ! thy seed is no better than what the moral he thens soAved : And do I expect better fruit than what thev reaped Civility without Christ, is but a free slavery ; and Satan holds n as fast in captivity by this, as he doth the profane by the pleasure their lusts : Either I must sow better seed, or look to reap bitter fru
3. Mean while, bless the Lord, O my soul ! who enabled thee to sow better seed ; who kept The holy som
thee watching, humbling thyself, and pra\'ing, reflection. whilst others have been swearing, drinking and blaspheming. This will yield thee fruit of joy in the world come ; yea, it yields present peace to thv conscience. These r venues are better than gold, sweeter than the honev, and the hone comb ; not that such fruits are meritoriously contained in these a tions ; 1 sow to myself in righteousness, but I reap in mercv. He X. 12. This is the way in which God will save and glorifv me. then, let me be ever abounding in the work of the Lordji knowir that my labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.
JL WOULD be a strange and monstrous thing to see Cherries or plumbs grow on an apple-tree. Whoever gather d from the thistle figs ? Or fruitless grapes from off the worthless Uvio-s Of pricking thorns ? In nature still we find
All its productions answering to their kind. As are the plants we set, or seeds we sow, Such is the fruit we shake, and com we mow: And canst thou think, that from corruption s root Thy soul shall pluck the sweet and pleasant fruit Of spiritual peace ! ^^^loever that was wise, Abus'd himself with such absurdities ?
.c..t,. ■■ ■ tl«.J
126 HUSBANDRY SI'IRTTUALIZED ; 0R|
Our present acts, though slightly passed by. Are so much seed sown for eternity. The seeds of prayers, secret groans and tears, Will shoot at last into the full-blown ears Of peace and joy. Blessed are they that sow
Beside these xoaters^ yea, thrice bless'd, that go Bearing such precious seed : Though now the] With joyful sheaves they shortly shall return. Needs must the full-ripe fruits in heaven be go When as the seed was glory in the bud. But oh ! the bitter, baneful fruits of sin, When all the pleasures sinners have therein. Like faded blossoms to the ground shall fall, Then they will taste the wormwood and the ga What God and conscience now of sin report, You slight, and with their dreadful threafning
But he'll convice you then your ways are naug As Gideon the men of Succoth taught. If sermons cannot, fire and brimstone must Teach men how good it is to pamper lust. When conscience takes thee by the throat, and Now wretch I now sinner ! thou that didst des My warnings ; learn, and ever learning be That lesson which thou ne'er wouldst learn of i The stoutest sinner then would howl and roar, 0 sin I never saw thy face before. Is this the fruit of sin.^ Is this the place Where I must lie .'' Is this indeed the case Of my poor soul ! must I be bound in chains With these companions ? Oh ! are these the ga 1 get by sin ? Poor wretch ! I that would neve See this before, am now undone for ever !
CHAP. XVIII.
Upon the Joy of Harvest-men.
Great is the Jot/ of harvest-men : yet less
Than theirs zchom God doth with hisjavo
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EAETHLY THINGS. 1
(3.) The joy of conquests and victories, when men divide the spo And, lastly, The joy of harvest. These two we find put together,
principal matters of joy, Isa. ix. 3. " They joy before thee accordi
*' to the jov in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the sp< The joy of har\est is no small joy ; Gatidium messisest messisgaua The joy of harvest, is the harvest of their joy. It is usual w men, when they have reaped down their har\ est (or cut the ne( as they call it) to demonstrate their joy by shouting, and loud ace mations.
X HUS, and unspeakably more than thus, do saints rejoice a shout for jov, when they reap the favour and love of God,
which they laboured in many a weary duty. This joy of h vest, as great as it is, and as much as carnal hearts are lifl up with it, is but a trifle, a thing of nought, compared w yours; after they have sown to themselves in righteousnc and waited for the effects and returns of their duties with patien and at last come to reap in mercy, either the full harvest in hea^
or but the first-fruits of it on earth, yet rejoice, " with joy unspe;
*' able and full of glory,'' 1 Pet. i. 8. " This puts more gladn *' into their hearts, than when corn and wine increase," Psal. iv. Carnal joys are but as soul-fevers, the agues of the inward ma there is a great difference betwixt the unnatural inflammations o feverish body, which waste the spirits, and drink up the radi moisture, and the kindly well-tempered heat of an healthy bod
and as much between the sweet, serene, and heavenly joy, wh: flow from the bosom of Christ in the hearts of believers, and th* earthly delights which carnal hearts, in a sensual way, suck out creature enjoyments. I will shew you the transcendency of spiriti joys, above the joy of harvest, in these eight particulars following.
1. You that joy with the joy of the harvest, are glad, becai now you have food for yourselves and families to live upon ail 1
year : but the Christian rejoiceth because he hath bread to eat tl the world knows not of. Rev. ii. IT. Christ is the food of his so and his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, Jo
V. 55. i. e. the most real and excellent food. You read Ps
Ixxviii. 25. that men did eat angels food, i. e. Manna ; which \i
such excellent bread, that if angels did live upon material food, t would be chosen for them ; and yet this is but a type and da thadow of Jesus Christ, the food of believers.
128 WUSBAKDRY SPIIIITUALIZED ; ORj
but Jesus Christ is all in all to believers, and out of hi can fetch all supplies; he is their health in sickness, t1 in weakness, their ease in pain, their honour in reproach, in poverty, their friend in friendlessness, their habitatic bourless, their enlargement in bonds, the strength of and life or their life ; O ! he is a full Christ ! and wh;
lencies ai'e scattered among all the creatures, do meet a] much more.
3. You rejoice, when you have gotten in yourharvest, you can free those engagements, and pay those debts w
contracted. 'Tis a comfort to be out of debt ; and you i rejoice that God gives you wherewith to quit your engag you may owe no man anv thing but love ; but still the y
falls short of the joy of the saints ; for you I'ejoice tha have wherewith to help yourselves out of men's debt : bu that they are out of God's debt ; that his book is cancell sins pardoned ; that by reason of the imputed righteousn the law can demand nothing from them, Rom. viii. matter of joy is this !
4. You rejoice, because now your corn is out of dar
"while it was abroad, it was in hazard, but now it is hoi not the rain : but Christians rejoice, not because their but because their souls are so. A.11 the while they abod( generate state, they were every moment in danger of t
■wi'ath: but nowbeing in Christ, thatdanger is over; and^ is there betwixt the safety of a little corn, and the sccur mortal soul ?
5. Your joy is but a gift of common providence. T u thens can rejoice with your joy ; but the joy of a Chri
culiar favour and gift of" God. Corn is given to all nati( most barbarous and wicked have store of it ; but Christ i
but of a few, and those the dearly beloved of God. L the whole Turkish empire, (where is the best and gret corn) that it is but a crumb which the master of the i\ to the dogs. He that had more corn than his barns cou
■wants a drop of water to cool his tongue. Christ is a <
only upon God's elect. Your joy will have an end ; the time is coming, th; have reaped down your harvests, yourselves must be by death, and then you shall rejoice in these things nc whpn vnnr inv is ended, then is the iov of saints ner
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THIXGS. 15
inseparable from their enjoyment of Christ : indeed the sense of th( interest may be lost, and so the acts of their joy intermitted ; b thcv always have it in the seed, if not in the fruit, Psal. xcvii. 1
" Joy is soAvn for the upright ;"" he hath it still in the principle, ai in the promise.
8. The joy of harvest-men, for the most part, is only in th( harvest, and in such earthly things; take that away, and their j ceases. Earthly hearts are acquainted with no higher comfort but the people of God can joy in him, and take comfort in thi earthly enjoyments too. And what comfort they take in these thin« is much more refined and sweet than yours ; for they enjoy all the
things in God, and his love in giving them, puts a sweetness ir them, that you are unacquainted with. Thus you see, how far yo joys fall short of theirs.
REFLECTIONS.
1. How have I rejoiced in a thing of nought, a ~ ij, r and pleased myself with a vanity.? God hath ,, Y7^/,^ 'l \A A •*iiii J- 'x \. J. one that liatli a / blessed me m my helds, and m my stores; but , , , ri ■
not with spu'itual blessmgs in heavenly places m ' Christ. My barns are full of corn, but my soul is empty of grac common bounty hath given me a fulness of the things of this lit but what if the meaning of it should be to fat me for the day slaughter ? What if this be the whole of my portion from the Lor
What if the language of his providences to my soul should be th Lo ! here I have given thee (with Ishmael) the fatness of the eart
Thou shalt not say but thou hast tasted of thy Creator's bounty ; I make the most of it, for this is all that ever thou shalt have from n
there be others in the world, to whom I have denied these thin; but for them I have reserved better ; for the most part they are pt in this world, but rich in taith, and heirs of the kingdom. Is i
this enough to damp all my carnal mirth ? Should my conscier give me such a memento as Abraham, in the parable, gave to Div<
" Remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good thing All ! what a cut would that be to all my comforts '? A man in fever hath a lively colour, but a dying heart I have an appearan a shadow of comfort, but a sad state of soul.
2. " Blessed be the God and Father of my Lord " Jesus Christ, who hath blessed me with all spiri- . . . « tual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," Eplies. ^ refection)
i. 3. Though he hath noi seen fit to give me much ^7 . ^''l f of this world in hand, vet it hath pleased him to f'^^'"'"*'* ^"'
130 KUSBANDllY SPIRITUALIZED ; OR,
Lord Jesus, I have no bags, I have no barns; but 1 to me instead of all those things. When others rejoice i of their earthly comforts, I will rejoice in the fulness o they have that which (though I have not) I shall not i have that which all their riches cannot purchase. Bles O my soul !
A refection for one ^- ,^"!' Y'^' ^7 ^"? ^ ^jj^^^f that hath ami ham ^ ' ? i^"u ^T^\ T \ and Christ too. admire thee, who hast not only ph
vided tor my souJ, but lor my boi hast given me both the upper and the nether springs, earth ; things present, and things to come ^ Thou husi
with all ; no, not with all of thy own people': many of th gers to the mercies which I enjoy. God hath done gre me, O my soul ! what wilt thou do for God ? The freer i is he hath placed me in, the more am I both obhged anc for his service ; and yet I doubt, it will be found, that Christian that labours with his hands to get his bread, x hours for God than I do. Lord, make me wise to un< answer the double end of this gracious dispensation ! h the more of my time upon God, and stand ready to minis cessities of his people.
4. Oh ! what an unhappy wretch A reflection Jhr one have notliing either in hand, or in hi
that hath neither a scrable here, and like to be so for ham nor a Christ, but an interest in Christ, as the god]
that would sweeten all present troub me the end of them. But, alas ! I am poor and wickec of men, and abhorred of God ; an object of contempt b( and earth. Lord, look upon such a truly miserable obj( passion, give me a portion with thy people in the worL
thou never better my outward condition here ! O sanctil ty ; bless these straits and wants, that they may necessi to go to Christ : make this poverty the way to glory, bless thee to eternity that I was poor in this world.
v-^FT have I seen, when harvest''s almost in, The last load coming, how some men have been Wrapt up with joy, as if that welcome cart Drew home the very treasure of their heart ;
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EAETHLY THINGS. IS
But they despise your sparks as much as you Contemn their sun. Some that could never shew A full stuflTd barn, on which you set your heart, 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 mix'd with sorrow, theirs is pure; Yours like a shadow fleets, their joys endure. God gives to you the husk, to them the pith. And no heart-stinging sorrows adds therewith.
Though at the gates of death they sometimes mourn, No sooner doth the Lord to them return,
But sorrow's banish'd from their pensive breast ; Joy triumphs there, and smiles their cheeks invest. Have you beheld, when, with perfumed wings. Out of the balmy east, bright Phoebus springs,
Mounting th' Olympic 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, owls, and doleful creatures, fly awav, Resigning to the cheerful birds of day : Who in those places now do sit and chant. Where lately such dire creatures kept their haunt ? ^ Thus grief resigns to joy ; sighs, groans, and tear* ' 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 resL My life f my treasure ! thou shalt ne'er be sold For silver-hills, or rivers pav'd with gold. AVert thou but known to worldlings, they would scorn
To stoop their hearts to such poor things as com : For so they do, because thou art above That sphere wherein their low conceptions move
132 HUSBANDIiy SPIRITUALIZED ; OR*
CHAP. XIX.
Upon the threshing out of Corn.
More solid g^rain with greater strength you tl\ The ablest Christians have the hardest Icuih.
OBSEfeVAtlON.
-USBANDMEN having to do with divers sorts < more tough and stubborn, others more free and tende all alike on the threshing-floor ; but as they have thres sizes, so they bestow on some grain more, on others according to the different qualities of the grain to be tl observation the prophet Isaiah hath, chap, xxviii. ver. !
" ches are not threshed with a threshing instrument,
" cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin, but tl *' beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. ner of beating out the corn in former times was far that which is now in use among us : they had the carl was full of iron spokes or teeth, and the hoofs of I harder sort of grain, as wheat, rye, and barley ; a staff fitches, and a rod or twig for the cummin ; all whic were proportioned according to the nature of the grai
APPLICATrON.
VfOD having to do, in a way of correction, with ( offenders, doth not use the like severity with ihem al tions his corrections to their abilities and strength,
" I will not make a full end of thee, [but will correc " sure] and will not leave thee altogether unpunit Afflicted thou must be ; my respect to my own glory, puts a necessity upon that ; but yet I will do it mode not lay on without measure or mercy, as I intend to do mies ; but will mete out your sufferings in a due prop a careful physician, in prescribing pills or potions to hi regard as well to the ability of the patient, as to the Ui lity of the disease ; even so thy God, O Israel, will according to the greatness of his power, and his svxi thereunto, Psal. xc. 11. That would break thee to piece
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 1
tdwards thee. And the similitude betwixt the husbandman's thres
ing liis corn, and the Lord's afflicting his people, stands in tlit particulars.
1. The husbandman's end in threshing the corn is, to separate from the husks and cliaif ; and God's end in afflicting his people to separate them from their sins, Isa. xxvii. 9- " In measure wh
*' it shooteth forth, he will debate with it,"" (i. e.) he will moderate correct them ; and what the ends of those corrections are, the ne
words inform us, " By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob
" purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin." God us afflictions as we use soap, to cleanse away filthiness, and fetch o spots, Dan. xi. 35. He aims not at the destruction of their persor but of their lusts.
2. If the husbandman have cockle, darnel, or pernicious tares t fore him on the floor among his corn, he little regards whether it 1 bruised or battered to pieces by the thresher or not ; it*is a worthle thing, and he spares it not. Such cockle and tares are the enemi of God ; and when these come under his flail, he strikes them wit out mercy ; for these the Lord prepares a new sharp threshing i strument, having teeth, which shall beat them to dust, Isa. xli. 1
" The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor ; it is time " thresh her,*" Jer. li. 33. And when that time is come, then ( allusion to the beast that was to tread out the corn) " Zion's hoi
" shall be of iron, and her hoofs brdss," Mic. iv. 13. He smit not his people according to the stroke of them that smote them ; tl meaning is, his strokes on them shall be deadly strokes : they shei ed no mercy to Zion ; and God will shew^ no mercy to them.
8. When the husks and chaff are perfectly separated from tJ grain, then the husbandman beats it no more, ^^'hen God hal perfectly purged and separated tlie sins of his people, then afflictioi shall come to a perpetual end ; he will never smite them agair there is no noise of the threshing instrument in heaven ; he that be them with his flail on earth, will put them into his bosom in heavei
4. Though the husbandman lays on, and beats his corn as if h
was ang-ry with it, yet he loves and highly prizes it ; and thoug God strike and afflict his people, yet he sets a great value upon them and it is equally absurd to infer Qod's hatred to his people from h afflicting of them, as the husbandman's hatred of his corn, becaus he threshes and beats it ; Heb. xii. 6. " Whom the Lord lovet " he correcteth, and chasteneth every son whom he receiveth."
5. Though the husbandman thresh and beat the corn, yet he wi not brnisp nr hurt it iP lit. /.on h,J^ 4+ . *U 1 ; -^
134 HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; OK,
sures and degrees of his servants faith and patience, an( shall their trials be, Psal. ciii. 13, 14. " Like as a fatl
*' children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; f
** their frame, he remembers they are but dust;"" " " way to escape, that they may be able to bear it," j This care and tenderness over his afflicted, is eminent in three particulars.
(1.) In not exposing them to, until he hath prepar
their trials, Luke xxiv. 49. " Tarry ye at Jerusalem,
" endued with power from on high." He gives the eminent discoveries of his love immediately before, an rative to their sufferings, in the strength whereof the^
through all.
(2.) Or if not so, then he intermixeth supporting > their troubles ; as you sometimes see the sun shine o rain falls. It was so with Paul, Acts xxvii. 23. " Thi
" it was a sad night indeed) there stood by me the ange " whose I am."
(3.) In taking off the affliction when they can bear 1 Cor. X. 13. " He makes a way to escape, that they n *' bear it ;" Psal. cxxv. 3. The rod is taken off, " w ** teous is even ready to put forth his hand to iniqui Jewish proverb. When the bricks are doubled, then c And it is a Christian's experience. When the spirit is then comes Jesus, according to that promise, Isa. Ivii.
IIEFLECTIOXS.
A reflection 1. How unlike am I to God, in the a1 Jhr persecutors^ people ? The Lord is pitiful when he
but I have been cruel : he is kind to
most severe ; but the best of my kindness to them, maj be called severity : God smites them in love ; I have ! in hatred. Ah! what have I done? God hath used m
Psal. xvii. 14. or as his rod to afflict them, Jer. x. 1
and mine have widely differed in that action, Isa. x, ' the scullion, or rather the whisp to scour and cleanse glory ; and when I have done that dirty work, those
shall be set up in heaven, and I cast into the fire. If judgment without mercy, that shewed no mercy, how
mercy from the Lord, whose people I have persecuted n
his sake ?
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 3
Some there are whom God loves not so well as to spend a rod uj:
them, but saith, " Let them alone,'' Hos. iv. 17. but miserable their condition, notwithstanding their impunity ! For what is the terpretation but this ? I will come to a reckoning with them al gether in hell. Lord, how much better is thy afflicting mercy, th thy sparing severity ! Better is the condition of an afflicted chi than of a rejected bastard, Heb. xii. 7. Oh, let me rather feel thy i now, as the rod of a loving Father, than feel thy wrath hereafter, the wrath of an omnipotent avenger !
3. Well then, despond not, O my soul ! A reflection Jbr Thou hearest the husbandman loves his corn, afflicted saint. though he thresheth it ; and surely, the Lord loves tliee not the less, because he afflicts thee so much. If afflicti then be the way to heaven, blessed be God for affliction ! The thre ing-strokes of God have come thick upon me ; by which I may ; what a tough and stubborn heart I have : if one stroke would hi done the work, he would not have lifted up his hand the secc
time. I have not had a stroke more than I had need of, 1 Pet. i and by this means he will purge my sins : blessed be God for thi the damned have infinitely more and harder strokes than I, and their sin shall never be separated by their suiferings. Ah sin ! c sed sin ! I am so much out of love with thee, that I am Avilling endure more than all this to be well rid of thee : all this I suffer thy sake ; but the time is coming when I shall be rid of sin a
suffering together : meanwhile I am under my own father's han smite me he may, but hate me he cannot
X HE sacred records tell us, heretofore God had an altar on a threshing-floor. Where threshing instruments devoted were To sacred service ; so you find them here.
I now would teach the thresher to beat forth A notion from his threshold much more worth Than all his corn ; and make him understand
That soul-instructing engine in his hand. With fewer strokes, and lighter will you beat The oats and barley than the stubborn wheat. Which will require and endure more blows Than freer grain. Thus deals the Lord by those Whom he afflicts : he doth not use to strike r\(Pr.^A\^ T,;iJ :*iu: J .1-1
136 HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; OJl,
God hath a rate-book by him wherein he Keeps just accounts how rich his people be; What faith, experience, patience, more or less Each one possesseth, and doth them assess According to their stock. Such as have not
A martyr's faith, shall have no martyr's lot. The kinds, degrees, and the continuance Of all their sufTrings to a circumstance Prescribed are by him who wisely sways
The world, and more than's right on no man lays Be man or devil the apothecary,
God's the Physician : who can then miscarry In such a hand ? He never did or will Suffer the least addition to his bill.
Nor measure, nor yet mercy he observes
In threshing Babylon ; for she deserves His heaviest strokes ; and in his floor she must Be beaten shortly with his flail to dust.
But Zion's God, in measure, will debate; His children he may smite, but cannot hate ; He beats them, true, to make their chaff to fly, That they, like purged golden grains, may lie
In one fair heap, with those bless'd souls that her Once in like manner thresh'd and winnow''d were.
mtftieeegCeeei
CHAP. XX.
Upon the winnowing of Corn.
The fan doth cause light chaff toffy away
So shall th" ungodly in God's zcinnozoing-c
▼ T HEN the corn is threshed out in the floor wher
gled with empty ears, and worthless chaff, the busbar
it out altogether into some open place ; where, havir sheet for the preservation of the grain, he exposes it al the good, by reason of its solidity, remains upon the s chaff, being light and empty, is partly carried quite
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHIY THINGS. 1
godly wlio shall be held up to the wind ; but only the wicked sh be driven away by it. Such a day God hath in this world, when he winnows his wheat, and separates the chaff. There is a doul fanning or winnowing of men here in this world ; one is doctrinal in which sense I understand that scripture, Matth. iii. 12. spoken
Ciirist, when he was entering upon his ministerial work : " His f " is in his hand ; and he shall thoroughly purge his floor, and gatl " his wheat into the gamer; but he will burn up the chaff with i " quenchable fire." The preaching of the gospel is as a fan Christ's hand : and it is as much as if John had thus told the 5e\ that though there were many hypocritical ones among them, tl had now a name and place among the people of God, and gloried their church-privileges ; vet there is a purging blast of truth comi which shall make them fly out of the church, as chaff out of t floor. Thus Christ winnows or fans the world doctrinally : the otY \% judiciously, by bringing sore and grievous trials and sufferin u}X)n the churches fortius very end, that those which are but cha i. e. empty and vain pi'ofessors, may by such winds as these be i parated from his people.
The church increases two ways, and by two diverse means ; exU sivelf/, in breadth and numbers; and iniensiveli/, in vigour a jx)wer ; peace and prosperity cause the first, sufferings and adversi the last : And well may a day of persecution be called a winnowir day, for then are the people of God tossed to purpose, as corn the sieve, though nothing but chaff be lost thereby. Of such winnowing-day the prophet speaks, Amos ix. 9, 10. " I will sift t " house of Israel among all nations, like as com is sifted in a sieA " yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth; all the sinne " of my people shall die." q. d. I will cause great agitations ai tossings among you by the hands of the Assyrians and Babvloniar into whose countries you shall be dispersed and scattered ; yet will so govern those your dispersions by my providence^ that n one good grain, one upright soul, shall eternally perish, but tl sinners of my people, the refuse stuff, that shall perish.
To the same purpose speaks another prophet, Zeph. ii. 1,2. " G
*' ther yourselves together, (or as some read) fan yourselves, yea, fi " yourselves, before tlie decree bring forth, and the day pass as tl " chaff." He doth not mean that the time shall pass as the cha but there is the day of affliction and distress coming, in which tl Avicked shall pass as the chaff before the wind ; and yet, notwithstan ing all these winnowings upon earth, much chaff will still abide amoi
« •Rkiv-.St.
^ HUSBANDllY SPIRITUALIZED; OR,
world like corn in a sieve, and then the wicked shall a but chaff, which God will eternally separate from his w not strain the siraihtude, but fairly display it in thest Culars.
1. The chaff and wheat grow together in the same fie the same root and stalk. In this wicked men are like c]
only associate with the people of God, but oftentimes sp
them in the same family, and from the same root c
parents, Mai. i. 2. " Was not Esau Jacob's brother one was wheat, the other chaff. Instances of this are :
2. The husbandman would never endure the liusks, c stalks to remain in the field ; if it were not for the gooi he would quickly set fire to it, but that the corn is am( he highly prizeth : And be assured, God would nev wicked to abide long in this world, were it not for his o are dispersed among them : Except the Lord had sue dispersed in the world, he would quickly set fire to the of it, and make it like Sodom, Isa. i. 9-
3. The chaff is a very worthless thing, the hu.sbandr what become of it ; and of as little worth are wicked r 20. " The heart of the wicked is little worth." The principal part of the man, and yet that is but chaff, no his hands, his clothes. Sic. are worth somewhat, bui
worth nothing.
4. Though chaff in itself be nothing worth, yet it is to the corn while it is standing in the field ; the stalk ear, and the chaff covers the grain, and defends it from the weather. Thus God makes wicked men of use to
outward society ; they help to support and protect
world. Rev. xii. 16. " The earth helped the woman, ' men for carnal ends helped the church, when a flood c was poured out. The church often helps the world, it i benefits from the people of God ; and sometimes God ( world to help his church.
5. When the chaff and wheat are both brought fortl to the wind in one sieve, they fall two ways ; the whc upon the floor or sheet, the chaff is carried quite awa} though for a time godly and ungodly abide together, ;
winnowing-time comes, God's wheat shall be gathered ii in heaven, the chaff shall go the other way, Mat. iii. 1
6. If there be any chaff among the corn, it will apj
THE HEAVENLY D5E OF EARTHLY TUIXGS.
7. Lastly, After corn and chaff are separated by the \*-innowli wind, they shall never lie together in one heap any more : The wic ed shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophc in the kingdom of God, but themselves thrust out : There is no chi in heaven.
KEFLECTIOXS.
1. Am I an empty vain professor, that wants the pith and substance of real godliness ? Then A reflection Jbr
am I but chaff in God's account, though I grow close hypocrite. among his corn ; the eve of man cannot discern my hvpocrisy ; but when he comes, whose fan is in his hand, th how plainly will it be detected ? Angels and men shall discern it, a
say, " Lo, this is the man that made not God his hope ;"" How sh I abide the day of his coming ? Christ is the great heart-anatomi! Things shall not be carried then by names and parties, as they i now ; every one shall be weighed in a just balance, and a Mem Tet written upon every false heart : Great will be the perspicuity of tl trial : Sly own conscience shall join with my judge, and shall then i knowledge, that there is not one drop of injustice in all that sea wrath ; and though I am damned, yet I am not wronged. The ch cannot stand before the wind, nor I before the judgment of Chr
2. Is there such a fanning-time coming ? Why do not I then ! my heart every day by serious self-examination ? No work more important to me, and yet how much have I neglected it ? O my soul I thou hadst been better employed in searching thine own estate in reference to that day, than in pry-
A reflectionjbr c t/iat neglects st examination.
ing sinfully into the hearts, and censuring the conditions of other mi Judge thyself, and thou shalt not be condenmed with tlie world ; i work indeed is difficult, but the neg^lect dangerous : ^Vere I withi
few days to stand at man's bar, there to be tried for my life, how 1
sy should I be every hour of the day in writing to any that I thou< could befriend me, and studying every advantage to myself? And what a vast difference is there betwixt man's bar and God's ? 1 twixt a trial for my life, and for my soul ? Lord, rouse up my sh gish heart by awful and solicitous thoughts of thatday, lest I be fou amongst that chaff which shall be burnt up with unquenchable f
5. Fear not, O my soul ! though there be a blast coming which sliall drive all the chaff into A reflection fo hell, yet it shall blow thee no harm. " I know sincere s&uL
140 HUSBANDIIY SPiniTUALIZED; OR,
cannot be lost in it : for " God will not cast away a pe
upright-hearted) man,"" Job viii. 20. He that is appoi the world is mine ! and his imputed righteousness will weight in the balance. Bless the Lord, O my soul, i this will abide, when common gifts and empty names v chaff before the wind.
JL HE winnowing wind first drives the chaff awj Next light and hollow grains ; those only stay Whose weight and solid substance can endure This trial, and such grains are counted pure.
The corn for use is carefully preserved ; The useless chaff for burning flames reserv'd. Ho wind but blows some ^ood, a pi < )verb is ; Glad shall I be if it hold true in this. O that the wind, when you to Avinnowing 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 poor souls are 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 part of those Whose out-side seeming grace so neatly paints, That, with the best, they pass for real saints. Ko hypocrite with God acceptance finds.
But, like the chaff, dispersed by furious winds. Their guilt shall not that searching day endure, Nor they approach the assemblies of the pure.
Have you observed in autumn, thistle-down, By howling ^Eolus scattered up and down About the fields? Ev'n so God's ireful storm Shall chase 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 divest, and openly proclaim Their secret guilt to their eternal shame .''
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EAnTIILY THINGS.
O make my heart sincere, that I may never Prove such light chaiF as then thy wind sliall sever From sohd grain ! O let ray soul detest
Unsoundness, and abide thy strictest test !
——»«■*«€:?»©«•*■ —
AN INTRODUCTION
To the Second Part of HUSBANDRY.
JrXOW 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'll slack our pace and stay : Let's sit a while, under the cooling shade Of fragrant trees ; trees were for shadow made.
Lo here a pleasant grove, whose shade is good ;
But more than so, 'twill yield us fruit for food : No dangerous fruits do on these branches grow.
No snakes among the verdant grass'below;
Here we'll repose a while, and then go view The pleasant herds and flocks ; and so adieu.
Upon the Ingraffing of Fruit-trees.
Ungrqffcd trees can never hear good fruit ; Nor zee, till graffed on a better root.
OBSEUVATION.
A. WILD tree naturally springing up in the wood or hedge, ai never graffed or removed from its native soil, may bear some fru and that fair and beautiful to the eye ; but it will give you no conte at all in eating, being always harsh, sour, and unpleasant to the tast l>iit if siinh n stock be rpmncpfl info n oronri «r>il. and ornffpfl witli
.l-.£jlu.i '> t «. »
142 HusBAXDPvY spikitualized; or,
on tlieir natural root, old Adam, may, by the force anci tural principles, bring forth some fruit, which, like the fruit we speak of, may, indeed, be fair and pleasant tc men, but God takes no pleasure at all in it ; it is sour distasteful to him, because it springs not from the Spii
Isa. i. J 3. "I cannot away with it, it is iniquity," &c. may not entangle the thread of my discourse, I shall (as chapteis) set before you a parallel betwixt the best fri men, and those of a wild ungraffed tree.
1. The root that bears this wild fruit is a degenerate ] is the cause of all this sourness and harshness in the fruit
the seed of some better tree accidentally blown, or cast in and bad soil, where not being manured and ordered ari^ ed wild : So all the fruits of unregenerate men flow f Adam, a corrupt and degenerate root ; he was indeed p seed, but soon turned a wild and degenerate plant ; 1 root from which every man naturally springs, corrupt! that any naan bears from him. it is observed by G nently to my present purpose, Genus humanum inpareni in radice putruii : Mankind wasputriiiedin the rootot it Matth. vii. 18. " A corrupt tree cannot bring forth gi
2. This corrupt root spoils the fruit, by the trans sour and naughty sap into all the branches and fruits tl it ; they suck no other nourishment, but what the them, and that being bad, spoils all ; for the same caus no mere natural or unregenerate man can ever do one ceptable action, because the corruption of the root is ii tions. The necessity of our drawing corruption into a from this cursed root Adam, is expressed by a quick ;
terrogation, Job xiv. 4. " Who can bring a clean thii
" unclean ? Not one." The sense of it is well deliverc Caryl, m loc.) This question (saith he) may undergo a struction. First, thus. Who can bring a morally clean a person originally unclean ? and so he lays his hand u sin. Or, Secondly, which speaks to my purpose, it ma; action of the same man ; man being unclean, cannot I clean thing ; i. e. a clean or holy action ; that which is
like its original. And that this sour sap of the first s' Adam's sin) is transmitted into all mankind, not onl their fruit, but ruining and withering all the branches shews us in that excellent parallel betwixt the two A
THE HEAVEXLY PSE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 1
that looks U]X)n them, and cloth not know what fruit it is, wo judge it by its shew and colour, to be excellent fruit ; for it ma
a fairer shew oftentimes than the best and most wholesome fi
doth : even so, these natural gifts and endowments which some regenerate persons have, seem exceeding fair to the eye, and a fi to be desired. What excellent qualities have some mere natural u and women ! what a winning affability, humble condescension, me ness, righteousness, ingenuous tenderness and sweetness of natu As it was (hyperbolical ly enough) said of one, In hoc fiomine, i peccavit Adam : Adam never sinned in this man ; meaning that
excelled the generality of Adam's children in sweetness of temper i natural endowments, AVhat curious phantasies, nimble wits, sc judgments, tenacious memories, rare elocution, &c. are to be foi among mere natural men ! by which they are assisted in discoursi; praying, preaching and writing to the admiration of such as kn them. But that which is highly esteemed of men, is abominatior God, Luke xvi. 15. It finds no acceptance with him, becaus( springs from that cursed root of nature, and is not the productioE his own Spirit.
4. If such a stock were removed into a better soil, and graf with a better kind, it might bring forth fruit pleasant and grateful the husbandman; and if such persons (before described) were but generated and changed in their spirits and principles, what excelh and useful persons would they be in the church of God ? And i\ their fruits would be sweet and acceptable to him. One observes
Tertullian, Origen, and Jerom, that they came into Canaan lad with Egyptian gold, i. e. they came into the church full of excell* human learning, which did Christ much service.
5. When the husbandman cuts down his woods or hedo-es, he ci down these crab stocks with the rest, because he values them i any more than the thorns and brambles among which they gro' and as little will God regard or spare these natural branches, h( much soever they are laden ynxh such fruit. The threatening universal, John iii. 3. " Except you be regenerate, and bom aga " you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." And again, Ht xii. 14. " Without holiness no man (be his natural gifts never so e " cellent) shall see God." Embellished nature, is nature sti "That which is born of the flesh, is dwf flesh," however it be seti with advantage to the eye of man.
REFLECTIONS.
1 T« ».rU«+ «..- ^ *1 J_ T 1 • M
14l! IIUSBAXDRY SriKlTUALIZED ; 0"R,
God makes no account of. O cunning thought ! tliat tl shall rise and take heaven, when I with all my excellei descend into hell. Heaven was not made for scholars, for believers ; as one said, when they comforted him upc bed, that he was a knowing man, a doctor of divinity ; ( shall not appear before God as a doctor, but as a man ; upon a level with the most illiterate in the day of judgm doth it avail me that I have a nimble wit, wliilst I hav myself good ^ Will my judge be charmed with a rhetori Things will not be carried in that world, as they are ii
could, with Berengarius, discourse deomni scib'ili, of evei is knowable ; or with Solomon, unravel nature from the hyssop, what would this advantage me, as long as I am
Christ, and the mystery of regeneration .-^ Myheadhatl •with study, but whqn did my heart ach for sin ? Metl soul ! thou trimmest up thyself in these natural ornamcn
befoi'e God, as much as that delicate Agag did, when he before Samuel, and fondly conceited that these things w( favour, or, at least, pity from him ; but yet think not, the bitterness of death is past : Say not within thysel cast such a one as I into hell ? Shall a man of such parts
Alas .'* Justice will hew thee to pieces, as Samuel did that and not abate thee the least for these things ; many thous; of nature, as fair and fruitful as thyself, are now blazin« cause not transplanted by regeneration into Christ : and not them, neither will he spare thee.
2. 1 am a poor despised shrub w] A rejlectionjbr beauty at all in me, and yet such a a true, hut weak Lord chosen to transplant into Chr believer. left many fragrant branches stand
native stock, to be fuel of his wrat] nity ! O grace ! for ever to be admired ! Ah ! what a to be thankful to free grace, and for ever to walk hum God ! the Lord hath therefore chosen an unlikely, rug polished creature as I am, that pride may for ever be hi eyes, and that I may ever glory in his presence, 1 Cor. i. have the advantage of a better root and soil than any c hath ; it will therefore be a greater shame to me, and i the root that bears me, if I should be outstripped and them ; yet. Lord, how often do I find it so ? 1 see so meek and patient, whilst I am rough and surly ; generoi
THE HEAVEXLY USE OF EARTDLV THINGS. 1^
The common stock : his situation good, His branches many, of himself a m ood ; And Uke a cedar by the river fed, Unto the clouds his ample branches spread : Sin smote his root, then justice cut him down, And leveird with the earth his lofty crown.
What hope of branches ^hen the tree's o'erturn'd. But like dry faggots to be bound and burnd? It had been so, had not transcendent love. Which in a sphere above our thoughts doth move,
Prepared a better stock to save and nourish Transplanted twigs, which in hira thrive and flourish.
In Adam all are curs'd ; no saving fruit Shall ever spring from that sin-blasted root ; Yea, all the branches that in him are found. How flourishing soever, must be bound And pird togetlier (horrid news to tell !) To make an everlasting blaze in hell. God takes no pleasure in the sweetest bud
Disclosed by nature ; for the root's not good, Some boughs, indeed, richly adorned are With natural fruits, which to the eye are fair ; Rare gifts, sweet dispositions which attract
The love of thousands, and from most exact
Honour and adm'u-ation. You'll admire That such as these are fuel for the fire.
Indeed, ten thousand pities 'tis to see Such lovely creatures in this case to be. Did they by true regeneration draw
The sap of life from Jesse's root, the law. By which they now to wrath condemned are.
Would cease to curse, and God such buds would spare ; But out of him tliere's none of these can move His unrelenting heart, or draw his love.
Then cut me ofl" from this accursed tree.
Lest I for ever be cut off" from thee.
CHAP. II.
Upon the union of the GrafF with the Stock.
Whene'er you bud and g-rqf, therein you see.
146 irrSBAXDEY SPIJIITITALIZED ; OK,
having cut ofF the top of the limb in some smootli par it with his knife or chisel a little beside the pith, knocks to keep it open, then (having prepared the graff) he ca into the cleft, joining the inner side of the barks of or together (there being the main current of the sap) th his wedge, binds both together (as in barking) and cl
defend the tender graft" and wounded stock from the ir sun and rain.
These tender cyons quickly take hold of the stock, an mediate coalition with it, drink in its sap, concoct it ir nourishment, thrive better, and bear more and bettei ever they would have done upon their natural root ; yea bud, being carefully inoculated and bound close to the in a short time, become a flourishing and fruitful limb.
^^ APPLICATION.
X HIS carries a most sweet and lively resemblance union with Christ by faith ; and indeed there is nothir that shadows forth this great gospel-mystery like it : It pities that any who are employed about, or are but ! such an action, should terminate their thoughts (as t in that natural object, and not raise up their hearts t< Tenly meditations, which it so fairly offers them.
1. When a twig is to be ingrafl'ed, or a bud inoculat cut off* by a keen knife from the tree on which it natur And when the Lord intends to graff a soul into Chr work about it, is cutting work, Acts ii. 37. their hearts conviction, and deep compunction ; no cyon is ingral cutting, no soul united with Christ, without a cutting and misery, John xvi. 8, 9.
2. When the tender shoot is cut off from the tree
ordinarily, many more left behind upon the same tree, and vigorous as that which is taken ; but it pleaseth the ] to chuse this, and leave them.
Even so it is in the removing or transplanting of a s version ; it leaves many behind it in the state of natui and promising as itself; but so it pleaseth God to tak and leave many others ; yea, often such as grew upon th I mean, the immediate parent, MaL i. 2. " AVas not £ *' brother ? saith the Lord : yet I loved Jacob, and I h
S. When the graffs are cut off', in order to this work, i
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 1
in the stock, by an external dead-hearted profession, but never car to any thing ; and as such dead grafFs, either fall off from the stoc or moulder away upon it ; so do these, 1 John ii. 19-
4. The husbandman, when he hath cut off graffs, or tender buc makes all the convenient speed he can to close them with the stocl the sooner that is done, the better ; they get no good by remaining they are. And trulv it concerns the servants of the Lord, who a emploved in this work of ingraffing souls into Christ, to make all tl haste they can to bring the convicted sinner to a closure with Chrii As soon as ever the trembling jailor cried, " What shall I do to 1
" saved ?"" Paul and Silas immediately direct him to Christ, Acts x^ 30, 31. They do not say, it is too soon for thee to act faith on Chris
thou are not yet humbled enough, but '• believe in the Lord Jesi *' Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 5. There must be an incision made in the stock before any bi) can be inoculated ; or the stock must be cut and cleaved, before tl
cyon can be ingraffed ; according to that in the poet,
Venerit insHio,J'ac ramum ramus adoptet ; i. e. To graffs no living sap the stocks impart. Unless you wound and cut them near the heart. Such an incision, or wound, was made upon Christ, in order 1 our ingrafting into him, John xix. 34. the opening of that dead]
wound gives life to the souls of believers.
6. The graff is intimately united, and closely conjoined with tl stock ; the conjunction is so close, that they become one tree.
There is also a most close and intimate union betwixt Christ an
the soul that believeth in him. It is emphatically expressed bv th
apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 17. " He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit The word imports the nearest, closest, and strictest union. Chris and the soul cleave together in a blessed oneness, as those things d that are glued one to another ; so that look as the graff is really i the stock, and the spirit or sap of the stock is really in the grafl
so a believer is really (though mystically) in Christ,' and the Spir of Christ is really communicated to a believer. " I live, (saith Pau]
'• yet not I, but Christ hveth in me," Gal. ii. 20. " He that dwellet
" in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him," 1 John iv. 16.
7. Graffs are bound to the stock by bands made of hay or flags these keep it steady, else the wind would loose it out of the stock.
The believing soul is also fastened to Christ by bands, which wii secure it from all danger of being loosed off from him any mon
There are two bands of this union ; the Spirit on God's part, this i trip firm linn^l r>f iininn iirit-Vi^.i* iirllii.^V. ,-,^ „„.,U ^^-■.^■m U^ »»,«^J„ „„
148 HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; OKy
thrive and flourish aUke in it ; some outgrow the rest, i grow not so well as the others do, the fault is in them, stock : so it is with souls really united to Christ ; all c alike in him, the faith of some grows exceedingly, 2 H things that be in others are ready to die, Rev. iri. 2, a must charge the fault upon themselves. Christ sends