Upon springing-weather after feed-time, ४०
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, •To shadow forth a heavenly mystery, Which thus presents itself before your eye.
As when the sun draws near us in the spring, All creatures do rejoice, birds chirp and sing.
The face of nature smiles ; the fields adorn -Themselves with rich embroideries : The corn
Revives, and shooteth up; the warm sweet rain Makes trees and herbs sprout forth, and spring amain.
Walk but the fields in such a fragrant morn, How do the birds your ears with such music charm !
The flowers their flaming beauties 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 fouls, like those sweet-warminggleams
Which God ordains in nature, to draw forth The vertue seminal that's in the earth ;
It warms their hearts, their languid graces cheers, And, on such fouls, a spring-like face appears.
The gracious showers these spiritual cloudsdoyield, Enriches them with sweetnels, like a field
Which God hath bless'd. Oh ! 'tis exceeding sweet, When gracious hearts, and heavenly truthsdomeet!
How shouldthehearts of faintswithinthem spring, When theybeholdthe messengers that bring These gladsome tidings ?
Yea, their very feet Are beautiful, because their message sweet.
Ohwhat a mercy do those souls enjoy, On whom such gospel-dews falldaybyday!
Thrice happy land! which in this pleasant spring, Can hear these turtles in her hedges sing ?
Oprize such mercies ! If you ask me, why?
Read on, you'll fee there's reafonbyandby.
CHA P.
X.C
Upon a Dearth throughwantof Rain.
IfGodrestrains the showers, you howl and cry :
Shall faints not mournwhenspiritual clouds are dry ?
OBSERVATIO Ν.
IT is deservedly accountedafadjudgment, when God shuts up the heavens over our heads, and makes the earth as brass under our feet, Deut. xxviii. 23. Then thehusbandmen are
TheHeavenlyUse of Earthly Things.
called to mourning, Joeli. 11. All the fields do languish, and thebellowingcattle are pined with thirst.
Such a fad state the prophet rhetoricallydescribes, Jer. xiv. 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 was no " rain in the earth ; the plowmenwere ashamed, they covered
" their heads; yea, the hind also calved in the field, and for- " fook it, because there was no grass ; and the wild asses did
" fstand in the high places :
They souffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass ."
And that which makes the want of rain fo terrible a judg. ment, is the famine of bread, which necessarily follows these extraordinary droughts, and is one of the forest temporal judgments which God inflicts upon the world.
APPLICATION .
A ND, truly as much cause have they to weep and tremble, over whose souls God shuts up the spiritual clouds of the gospel, and thereby fends a spiritual famine upon their souls.
Such a judgment the Lord threatens in Amos viii. 11.
" hold the day is come, faith the Lord, that I will send a famine " in the land, not a famine of bread, nor athirst for water, but " of hearing the word of the Lord." The meaning is, I willfend
"Be a more fearful judgment 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, Ha. v. 6. " I will lay it waste (faithGodof the fruitless church ;)
" it shall not be pruned nordigged; but there shall come up " briars and thorns ; I will also command the clouds that they
" rain not upon it." And we find both inhuman and sacred histories, thatwhenGod hath shut up the spiritual clouds, removing or filencinghis ministers, sensible Christians have ever been deeply affected with it, and reckoned it a most tremenduous judgment. Thus the Christians ofAntioch,whenChryfoftom their minister was banished, * they judged it better to lose the fun out of the firmament, than lose that, their minister. And when
Nazianzen was taking his leave of Conftantinople, as he was preaching his farewelfermon, the people were exceedingly af- * It is better for us to want the light of the sun, than the teaching of Chryfoftomus.
VOL . VI.
Husbandry Spiritualized: or, fectedwithhis loss ; and among the rest, an old man in the congregation fell into a bitter passion, and cried out, Audepater, et tecumtrinitatemipfam ejice: (i.e.)Go, Father, 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, whenPaul was taking his farewel of them ? Acts xx. 37, 38. He had been a cloud of blefوم sings to that place, but now they must expect no more showers from him. Oh ! they knew not how to give up such a minister when the arkofGod (which was the symbol of the Divine presence among the Jews) was taken, "All the city cried out,"
Sam. iv. 13. Oh the loss of a gospel-ministry is an inestimable loss, not to be repaired but by its own return, or by heaven ! Mr.
Green ham 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 them in the way to the prisons, or stake, with their little ones in their arms, andthrowingthemselves at their feet, would thus bespeak them,
What • shall be our estate, now you are gone to martyrdom ? Who • shall instruct these poorbabes? Who shall ease our afflicted
• consciences ? Who shall lead us in the way of life ? Recom 6 pence unto them, OLord, as they have deserved, who are the • causes of this: Lord give them sad hearts.' Quis taliafando, temperet a lachrymis? And to let you see there is sufficient ground for this sorrow, when God restrains the influences of the gospel, folemnlyconfider the following particulars.
1. 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 ofEphefus, when he did but threaten to come against her, and remove the candlestick out of its place, Rev. ii. 5.
It 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 Jezreel ; next, Lo-ruhama, and at last brings forth Lo-ammi, Hofea i. 4, 6, 8 , 9.
2. There is cause of mourning, if you confider the deploraBleeftate in which all the unregenerate fouls 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. Matth. ix. 36. What an easy conquest doth the devil now make of them? How fast doth bell fill in such times ?
Poor souls being driven thither in droves, and none to rescue them ! Matthew Paris tells us, that
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in the year 1973,whenpreachingwas suppressed at Rome, letters were then framed as coming from hell; wherein the devil gaye them thanks for the multitude of fouls 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. xxviii. 19. Hos. iv. 6.
Or, 3. The judgment will yet appear very heavy, if you confider the loss which God's own people sustain by the removal of the gospel; for therein they lose (1.) Their chief glory,
Rom. iii. 2.
The principal thing in which the peculiar glory of Israel consisted was this, " That unto them were committed
" theoracles of God." On that account it was called the glorious land, Dan. xi. 16.
This made them greater than all the nations round about them, Deut. iv. 7, 8.
(2.) By losing the ordinances they lose their quickenings, comforts, and foul-refreshments; for all these are sweet Areams from the gospel fountain, Psalm cxix. 50. Col. iv. 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 their hedge, their wall of protection, Isa. v. 5.
Walls and hedges (faith Musculus in loc.) are the ordinances of God, which served both adfeparationem et munitionem, to diftinguith and to defend them.
When God plucks up this hedge, and breaks down this wall, all mischiefs break in upon us presently, 2 Chron. xv. 3, 4, 5, 6. " Now for a long
" season Israel hath been without the true God, 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 vexationswere upon all the inhabitants of " the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation, and city
" of city; for God did vex them with all adversity." How long did Jerusalem remain after that voice was heard in the temple, Migremus hinc? Let us be gone ?
(4.) With the gospel, we lose our temporal enjoyments and creature-comforts.
These usually come and gowith the gospel.
WhenGodhad once written Lo-ammi upon Israel, the next news was this, " I " will recover my wool and my flax," Hofea ii. 9.
(5.) And, lastly, to come up to the very case in hand, they lose with it their spiritual food and foul-subsistence, for the gospel is their feast off at things, Isa. xxv. 6. their spiritual wells, Ifa. xii . 3 . a dose distributed among the Lord's poor, Rom . i. 11.
In a word, it is as the rain and dews of heaven, as hath been shewed,whichbeingrestrained, a spiritual famine necessarily follows,
M 2
Husbandry Spiritualized ; or, a famine, of all, the most terrible. Now to shew you the analogy between this and a temporal famine, that therein you may fee what caute you have to be deeply affected with it, take it in these fix following particulars.
1. A famine caused by the failing of bread, or that which is in the stead, and hath the use of bread. Dainties and superfluous rarities may fail, and yet men may fubfift comfortably :
As long as people have bread and water, they will not famich ; but take away bread once, and the spirit of man faileth. Upon this account bread is called a staff, Plalm cv. 16 because what a staff is to an aged and feeble man, that bread istothefaintand 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, Job xxiii. 12. " I have esteemed the " words of thy mouth, more than my necessary food."
If once God breaks this staff, the inner man, that hidden man of the heart, will quickly begin to fail and faulter.
2. 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 occafionedbyGod's taking awaypanis nutrimentum, the nourishing vertue of bread, that it shall fignifyno more, as to the end of bread, thana chip, Hag. i. 6.
As by taking away panem nutrientem, bread itself, Ifa. iii. 1. And to it is in a spiritual famine, which is occasioned, either by God's remov ing all the ordinances, and making vision utterly to fail; or else, though there be preaching, prayer, and other ordinances left(at least the names and snadows 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 a soul-subsistence, it is all one, as if there were no such things.
{ 3. In a corporeal famine, mean and coarse things become sweet and pleasant : Famine raises the priceandesteemofthem .
That which before you would have thrown to your dogs, now goes down pleasantly with yourselves. To the hungry foul every bitter thing is sweet, Prov. xxvii. 7.
It is the Dutch proverb, and avery true one, hunger is the best cook*.
• In time of famine coarsest fare contents, ' The barking stomach strains nocomplements .'
It is storied ofArtaxerxes Memor, that when he was flying before his enemies, he fed hungrily upon barley-bread, and said, Gujufmodi voluptatis hactenus in expert us suit ! O what
* Jujunusftomachus raro vulgar i a temnit.
Horat.
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pleasure have I hitherto been ignorant of ! When greatDarius drank the puddledwater, that hadbeendefiledwith dead carcasses, which had been slain in that famous battle, he professed heneverdrank more pleasant drink. And famous Hunniades said, he never fared moredaintily,than when (in a like exigence) he fuppedupon bread, onions, and water, with a poor shepherd in his cottage.
Justsodothe famine of the word raise the price and esteem of vulgar and despised truths. Oh ! what would you give for one of those sermons, one of those sabbaths we formerly enjoyed! in those days 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.
4. in time of famine tome persons suffer more than others : it falls heaviest, and pincheth hardest upon the poorer fort; 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 fubfift much better than weak, ignorant, and unexperienced ones.
Some Christians have husbanded their time well, and, like Joseph in the seven years plenty, laid up for a Scarcity.
The word of God dwells richly in them.
Some such there are, as John calls young men, who are strong, and the word of God remaineth in them; of whom it may be said, as Jerom spake of Nepotianus, that by long and affiduous meditation of the scriptures,he had made his breast the very library of Christ, Entothers 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 5. In time of famine there are pitiful cries, and heart-breaking complaints where-ever you go. Oh the many pale faces you shall then see, and the sad language that rings in your ears in every place ! One cries, Bread, bread, for Christ's fake! one bit of bread ! another faints and falls down at your door.
All herpeoplefigh, Lam. i. 11. Yea, the poor little ones are brought
in, ver. 12. crying to their mothers, Where is the corn and wine? and then pouring out their souls into their mother'sbofom.
Just so it is ina famine of the word; poor Christians every where sighing and crying, Oh ! where are our godly ministers ? our tweet fabbaths, sermons, sacraments ? My fa-
Husbandry Spiritualized ; or, thers ! 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 Paul's departure, to think they shall fee their faces no more.
6. Laslly, In time of famine there is nothing so costly or precious, but the people will part with it to purchase bread.
" They have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve " their souls," Lam. i. 11.
And, doubtless, 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 waters of ad- " versity; yet it will sweeten that bread and water to you, if " your teachers be no more removed into corners," Ifa. xxx.
20.
REFLECTIONS.
1. Is the famine of the word such a fear The ungrateful ful judgment ? Then Lord pardon my unfoul's reflection. thankfulness, for the plentiful and long continued enjoyment of such a precious and invaluable mercy. How long 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, thatever I was brought forth in an age of so much light, in a valley of visions, in a land flowing with gospel-mercies ! " HathnotGod made ofoneblood all the na- " tions of men to dwell on the face of the earth ! Anddetermin- " ed the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habi- " tation ?" A&s xvii. 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 in it, in such a happy nickoftime, as canhardlybe paralleled 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 defarts ofArabia, or wastes of America, but in England, where God hath made the fun of the gospel to stand still, as the natural fun once did over Gibeon; and that such a mercy should no more affect my soul, let shame covermyface for this, and trembling seize my heart!
2. 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 Jacob's trouble !
The deprived Christian's reflection .
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Wo is me, thatever I should survive the gospel, and the precious liberties and mercies of it ! What horrid sins have been harbouredamongst us, forwhichtheLord contendsby such an unparalleled judgment ? Lord,let me justify thee, even in this severe dispensation ; the provocation of thy sons, and of thy daughters havebeenverygreat, and amongst them none greater than mine.
May we not this day read our fin in our punishment ? O what niceandwanton appetites, what curious and itching ears, had thy people in the days of plenty ! Methods,tones and gestures, were more regarded than the excellent treasuresofdivine truths.
Ah, my soul ! I remember my fault this day; little did I then confider, 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 ofa 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 supineness and formality of thy people. How drowfie, dull, and careless have they been under the most excellent and quickning means ? Few more than I.
Alas ! I have often presented mybodybefore the Lord in ordinances, ηδε ψυχη εξώ, but my soul hath been wandering abroad, as Chryfoftom speaks. I should have come from under every sermon, asa sheet comes from the press, with all the stamps and lively impressions of the truths I have 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 I was all the while minding another matter.
Righteous art thou, O Lord, in all that is come upon us !!
3. I am now as a spring shut up, that can The silent mini yield no refreshment to thirsty fouls, ready fter's reflection. to perish .
Thou hast said to me, as once to Ezekiel, " Son of man, behold, I will make thy tongue cleave
" to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shaltbedumb."
This is averyheavyjudgment; but thou must be justified and cleared in it.
Although men may not, yet God, if he please, may putalighted candle under a bushel. And herein I must acknowledge thy righteousness. Many times have I been finfully silent, when both thy glory and the interest of fouls engaged me to speak.
Most justly therefore haft thou made my tongue to cleave to its roof.
Little did I confider the preciousness of fouls, orthetremenduous account to be given for them, at the appearing of the great shepherd. I have now time enough to
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, fit down and mourn over former miscarriages, and loft opportunities.
Lord restore me once again to a serviceable capacity, to a larger sphere of activity for thee, for I am now become as a broken vessel.
It grieves me to the heart to fee thy flock scattered; to hear thy people cry to me, as once to Joseph,
" Give us bread; forwhy should we die in thy presence ?" The word is like fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing.
Oh ! that thou wouldst once again open the doors of thine house, that there may be bread enough in thine house forallthychildren.
W The POEM.
HEN God doth make the heavens above as brass, The earth's like iron, flowers, herbs and grass
Have loft their fragrant green, are turned yellow; The brooks are dry, the pining cattle bellow;
The fat and flow'ry meadows scorch'd and burn'd; The country's mirth is into mourning turn'd ;
The clefted earth her thirsty mouth sets ope Unto the empty clouds, as 'twere in hope
Offome refreshing drops, that might allay Her fiery thirst; but they soon pass away;
The pensivehusbandman with his own eyes Bedews his land, because he sees the skies
Refuse to do it.
Just so stands the case, When God, from fouls, removes the means of grace.
God'sministers are clouds, their doctrine rain, Which when the Lord, in judgment, shall restrain,
The peoples fouls in short time will be found In such a case as this dry parched ground.
When this fadjudgment falls on any nation, Let saints therein take up this lamentation.
- O dreadful, dark, and dismal day !
How is our glory fled away ?
Our fun gone down, our stars o'ercaft ?
God'sheritage is now laid waste.
Our pining fouls no bread can get ; With wantonsGod has justly met.
When we were fed unto the full, This man was tedious, that was dull :
But they are gone, and there remain No such occasions to complain.
Stars are not now for lights, but signs, God knows of what heart-breaking times,