Upon the patience of the husbandman for
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
CHAP .
XIV.
Upon the Patience of the Hufbandman for the Harvest.
Ourhusbandmenfor harvest wait andstaye Oletnot anyfaintdo less than they !
OBSERVATIΟΝ.
HE 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. vi. 19. And they are not so irrational, to think they shall presently be partakers of their hope; nor, so foolish to anticipate the har vest, 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.
AN a little corn cause men to digest so many difficult C labours, and make them wait with invincible patience till the reaping time come? Much more should the expectation ofeternalglory steel and fortify my spirit against all intercurrenthardships and difficulties.
It least of all becomes a Christian to be ofanhastyandimpatient spirit. "Light is sown for " the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart," Psal. xcii.
11. "Behold the husbandman waiteth," &c. Jam. v. 7.
" Be patient therefore, my brethren, for the coming of the " Lord draws near."
There are three great arguments to persuade Christians to a long-suffering and patient frame under sufferings.
( 1.) The example of Christ, Isa. liii. 7.
To think how quietly he suffered all injuries and difficulties with invincible patience, is sufficient to shame the best of Christians, who are offuch short spirits. I have read of one Elezari us, a nobleman, that when his wife wondered at his exceeding great patience inbearinginjuries, he thus answered her : You know sometimes my heart is ready to rife with indignation against such as wrong me; but Ipresentlybegin to think of the wrongs that Christ suffered ; and say thus to myself; Although thyservantshould pluck thy beard, andsmitetheeon thy face, thiswerenothing to what the Lord suffered: he suffered more andgreaterthings; and affureyourself, wife, I never leave off thinking on the injuries done to my Saviour, tillsuchtime as P2
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, my mind be still and quiet.
To this purpose it was wellnotedbyBernard, speaking of Christ's humiliation, Was Christ the Lord of glory thus humbled and emptied of his fulness of glory ? And thall fuchaworm as I swell? (2.) The desert of fin, Lam. iii. 39. "Why doth the living man complain ?" It was a good saying of the bleffedGreenham ; when fin lies heavy, affliction lies light.
* And it is a famous instance which Dr. Taylor gives us of the duke ofConde.
I have read,(faith he)when the duke of Conde had voluntarily entered into the in commodities ofa religious poverty and retirement; he was one day fpiedand pitied by a lord ofItaly,who, out of tenderness wished him to be more careful and nutritiveofhis person.
The goodduke answered, Sir, be not troubled, and think not that I am ill provided ofconveniencies ; for I fend an harbinger before me, that makes ready my lodgings,and takes care that I be royally entertained. The lordaskedhim who was his harbinger?He answered,theknowledgeofmyself,andtheconfideration of what I deserve for my fins, 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 off in,which merits hell, sweetens present difficulties,so(tocomehome to the present similitude) do the expectations and hopes ofa 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 wouldfainbe reaping before the time : but asGodhath, by an unalterable law of nature appointed both the seasons of feed-time and harvest (which are therefore called the appointed weeks of the harvest) Jer. v. 24. and these cannot be hastened ; but when we have done all that we canon our part, must wait till God fend 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 whichpatientexpectation, and quiet waiting for the glory to come, these following considerations are of excellentufe.
* Dr. Taylor's great Exemplar, p. 103 .
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
1. As thehusbandman knows when the feed-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 willnottarry,"
Heb. x. 37. " And that now his salvation is nearer than when " he first believed," Rom. xiii. 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 yetreap. And cannot a Christian findanyworktodo for God, tillhecometoheaven ? O there is muchworkto do, and such work as is only proper to this season ! You may now reprove fin,exhorttoduty, fuccour 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 (faith Peter) as long as I am in this tabernacle, to ftirup "your minds, knowing shortly that I must put off this taber
" nacle," 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. 9. d. I know I have but a little timetowork among you , I am almost at heaven ; andthereforeamwillingtohusbandthispresentmomentaswell 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 shallfeethem no more till you fee them at Christ's bar ; God leaves you here for their fakes, 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. Husbandmenknow, though they cannot yet gather in the precious fruitsoftheearth,yet all this while they are ripening andpreparingforthe 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. xxv. 34. by an act of creation, Heb. xi.
10. by the death of Christ, which made a purchase of it, Heb. x. 19, 20. and by his ascension into it, John xiv. 2, 3. So the reasonwhywe 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-famethingGod is now working us," 2 Cor. v. 5. he is everyday at work, byordinances, and by providen ces, to perfect his work in us; and as foonas that is finished,
Husbandry Spiritualized ; or, we shall hear a voice like that, Rev. xi. 12. " Comeuphither,
" and immediately we shall be in the spirit;" for how ardently soever, we long for that defirableday,Christ longsfor it more than we can do.
4. The husbandman is glad of the first-fruits,that encourages him, though the greatest partbeyet out: and have not you received the first-fruits of that glory? Have you not earnests, pledges, and first-fruits of it? 'Tis your own fault, if everyday you feed not upon suchblessedcomforts of the spirit, Rom. viii. 23. Rom. v. 2. 1 Pet. viii. 9. Ohow might the interpofingtime, even all the days of your patienceherebe sweetned with suchprelibations of the glory to come!
5.Husbandmenknow 'tis best to reap, when 'tis fit to reap; onehandfulfullyripe, 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's green, but he might gather it easier, and taste it sweeter,by tarrying longer for it.
Wewouldfain beglorifiedperfaltum.
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 crytoGod for ourselves, as Moses for his sister Miriam, " Heal her [now], O God, I beseech thee!"
Numb. xii. 13. Glorify me now, O Lord, I pray thee ! But, surely, as God hath contrivedthyglory in the best of ways,fo he hath appointed for thee the fittest of seasons; and whenever thou art gathered into glory,thou shalt come asafhockofcorn in its season.
REFLECTIONS.
The longing I have waited for thy salvation,O God! Hafoul'sreflection. ving received thy first-fruits, my soul longs to fill its bosom with the full ripe sheaves of glory: "As thehart 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 diffolvedand to be with Christ !
When shall I see that most lovely face ? When shall I hear his " foul-transporting voice! Some need patience to die: I need it as much to live.
Thy fights, O God, by faith, have made this world a burthen, 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
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
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 heaves with me ? Their harvest comes when they receive their corn;mine comes when I leave it.
O much desired ! O day of gladness of iny heart ! How long, Lord ! how long !
HereIwaitas the poor man atBethesda's Pool,looking when myturnwillcome,but everyone steps intoheavenbefore me ; yet, Lord, I am content to wait 'till my time is fully come: I would be content to stay for myglorification '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 hufbandman waiteth, and so will I; for thou art a God of judgment ; and blessed are all they that wait for thee.
The lingring Soul'sreflection.
Buthowdoth my flothful foul fink down into the flesh, and fettle 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 scripture describe the saints by their earnest looking for the mercy of our LordJefus unto eternal life?
Jude 21. " By their haftening unto the coming of the day " of God," 2 Pet. iii. 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 fay as Peter on the mount, It is good to be here ? Or want I the assurance ofa better state? Must God make all my earthly comforts die, before I shall be willing to die ? Awake faith, awakemylove ; beat up the drowsy desires of my foul, that I may say, "Makehastemybeloved,and come away."
The POEM
No The fruit of what he sows, '
Tilleverycaufe have its effects,
And then he reaps and mows :
He works in hope the year throughout, And counts no lab our loft,
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, 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 feed one day, And looks to reap the fame.
Is cursed nature now become So kind a foil to grace, That to perfection it should come Within so short a space ?
Gracespringsnot up with feed and ease, Like mushrooms in a night ; But rather, by degrees increase, As doth the morning light.
Is corn fo dear to husbandmen ?
Much more is heaven to me.
Why should not I have patience, then,
To wait as well as he ?
To promises, appointed years By God's decrees, are set ; These once expired, beyond its fears My foul shall quickly get.
How small apart of hasty time, Which quickly will expire, Dothmewithin this world confine, Andthencomes mydefire.
Come, Lord! howlongmyfoulhath gasp'd!
Faith my affections warms ; Owhen shall my poor soul be clasp'd In it's Redeemer's arms!
The time seems long; yet here I'll lie, 'Till thou, my God, do call :
It is enough, eternity Will make amends for all.
CHAP.
XV.
Upon the Harvest-Season .
Corn,fully ripe, is reap'd, and gather'd in :
So must yourselves, when ripe in grace, or fin.
OBSERVATION.
HEN the fields are white to harvest, thenhusbandmen walk through them, rub the ears ; and finding
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
thegrainfullandsolid, they presently prepare their scythes and fickles; fendfor their harvest-men,who quickly reap and mow them down ; and after these follow the binders, who tie it up; from the field, where it grew, it is carried to the barn, where it is threshed out; the good grain gathered into an heap, the chafffeparatedand burnt, or thrown to the dung-hill.
How bareandnaked do the fields look after harvest, which before were pleasant to behold ? When the harvest-men enter into the field, it is(to allude to that, Joel ii. 3.) before them, like the gardenofEden, andbehindthema desolate wilderness ; and, insomeplaces, 'tis usual to set fire to the dry stubble,when the corn is housed; which rages furiously, and covers it all with athes.
APPLICATION.
T my hands by Christ HE application of this,Ifindmade tom himself, in Mat. xiii. 38, 39. "The field is the world ;
" the good feed are the children of the kingdom ; the tares are " the children of the wicked one ; the enemy that fowedthem
" is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reap- " ers are the angels."
The field is the world; there both the godly and ungodly live and grow together, 'tilltheybe both ripe ; and then they shall both be reaped down by death: death is the fickle, that reaps down both.
I will open this allegory in the following particulars:
1. In a catching harvest, when the husbandman sees the clouds begin to gather, and grows black, he hurries in his corn with allpossiblehaste, and houses it day and night.
SodothGod, the great Husbandman; he hurries the saints intotheirgraves, when judgments are coming upon the world ;
Ifa. lvii. 1. " The righteous perish, and no man layeth it to **" heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering
" that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Me thufelah diedtheyear before the flood; August in a little before the fackingofHippo ; Pareusjust before the taking ofHeidelburgh; Luther a little before the wars broke out in Germany.
But what speak I offingle faints ? Sometimes the Lord houses great numbers together,before somesweepingjudgmentcomes.
How many bright and glorious stars did set almost together within the compass of a few years, to the astonishment ofmanywife and tender hearts in England ? I find some of them thus ranked in a funeral elegy :
VOL . VI.
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, The learnedTwisse went first (it was his right:) ThenholyPalmer,Burroughs,Love,Gouge, White,
Hill, Whitaker, grave Gataker and Strong, Perne,Marthal, Robinfon, all gone along.
I have not nam'd them half; their only strife Hath been (of late) who should first part with life.
These few who yet survive, sick of this age, Long to have done their parts, and leave the stage.
The Lord fees it better for them to be under-ground, than above-ground ; and, therefore,by a merciful providence, sets them out of harm's way.
2. Neither the corn, nor tares, can possibly resist the sharp and keen fickle, when it is applied to them by the reaper's hand; neither can the godly or ungodly resist the stroke of death, when God inflicts it ; Eccl. viii 8. " No man can keep
" alive his own soul in the day of death ; and there is no dis- " charge in that war."
The frailbody of man is as unable to withstand that stroke, as the weak reeds, or feeble staiks of the corn, are to resist the keen scythe and sharp fickle.
3. The reapers receive the wheat, which they cut down, into their arms and bosom. Hence that expression,by way of im precationuponthe wicked, Psalm cxxix. 6, 7. " Let them be as " the grass upon the house-top,which withers before it grows
" up; wherewith the mower filleth not his hand,nor he that .
" bindeth sheaves, his bosom."
Such withered grass are the wicked, who are never taken into the reaper's bosom ; but as soon as faints are cut down by death, they fall into the hands and bosoms of the angels of God, who bear them in their arms andbofoms to God their father, Luke xvi. 22.
For look, as these blessed spirits did exceedingly rejoice at their conversion, Luke xv. 10. and thought it nodifhonour to minister to them, whilst they stood in the field,Heb. i. 14.
So when they are cutdownbydeath, they will rejoice to be their convoy to heaven.
4. When the corn and weeds are reaped or mowed down, they shall never grow any more in that field ; neither shall we ever return to live an animal life any more after death, Job vii. 9, 10. " As the cloud is consumed,and vanisheth away ;
" so he thatgoeth down to the grave, shall come up no more; " he shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place
" know him any more."
Lastly, (to come home to the particular subject of this chapter) the reapers are never sent to cut down the harvest 'till it be fully ripe ; neither will God reap down saints or sinners 'till
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
they become to a maturity of grace or wickedness .
Saints are not reaped down 'till their grace is ripe, Jobv. 26. "Thou shalt 66 come to thy grave in a full age, as a shock of corn cometh
" in its season."
Not that every godly man dies in such a • full old age (faithMr. Caryl on that place;) but yet, in one
• sense it is an universal truth, and ever fulfilled ; for when so- ، ever they die, they die in a good age; yea, though they die in the spring and flower of their youth, they die in agoodold age ; (i. e.) they are ripe for death whenever they die.
• Whenever a godlyman dies, it is harvest-time with him, though in a natural capacity he be cutdownwhilehe is green,
⚫and cropped in the bud or blossom ; yet in his spiritual ca- • pacity he never dies before he be ripe : God ripens him speedily, when he intends to take him out of the world speedily ;
< he can let out such warm rays and beams of his Spirit upon ، them, as shall soon maturate the feeds of grace into a pre- * paredness for glory.'
Thewickedalso have their ripening-time for hell and judgment: God doth with much long-suffering endure the vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction.
Of their ripeness for judgment the Scripture often speaks, Gen. xv. 16. "The fin of " the Amorites is not yet full." And of Babylon it is said,
Jer. li. 13. "O thou that dwellest upon many waters ! thine " end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness."
It is worth remarking, that the measure of the fin, and the end of the sinner, come together.
So Joel iii. 13. "Put ye " in the fickle, for the harvest of the earth is ripe; for the " press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great."
Where, note, sinners are not cut down 'till they be ripe and ready.
Indeed, they are never ripe for death, nor ready for the grave; that is, fit to die : yet they are always ripe for wrath, and ready for hell before they die. Now, as hufsbandmenjudge oftheripeness of their harvest, by the colour and hardness of the grain; fo may we judge of the ripeness both of faints and sinners, for heaven or hell,by these following signs.
I.W Threefigns of the maturity of grace.
HEN the corn is near ripe, it bows the head, and stoops lower than when it was green.
When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying, than in the days of their first profession.
The longer a faint grows in the world, the better he is still acquainted with his own heart, and his obligations to God ; botla
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, which are very humbling things.
Paul had one foot in heaven,when he called himself the chiefest of sinners, and least of saints, 1 Tim. i. 15. Eph. iii. 8. A Christian in the progress of his knowledge and grace, is like a vessel cast into the sea, the more it fills,the deeper it finks. Those that went to study at Athens (faith Plutarch) at first coming seemed to themselves to be wife men; afterwards only lovers of wisdom, and after that, only rhetoricians, such as could speak of wisdom, but knew little of it, and last of all, ideots in their own apprehenfions ; still, with the increase of learning,laying aside their pride and arrogancy.
2. When harvest is nigh, the grain is morefolid and pithy than ever it was before ; green corn is soft and spungy,but ripe. corn is substantial and weighty : So it is with Christians ; the affections of a young Christian, perhaps are more feverous and sprightly ; but those of a grown Christian are more judicious and solid ; their love to Christ abounds more and more in all judgment, Phil. i. 9.
The limbs of a child are more active and pliable : but as he grows up to a perfect state, the parts are moreconsolidatedand firmly knit.
The fingers ofanoldmufician are not so nimble; but he hath a more judicious ear in music than in his youth.
3.When corn is dead ripe, it is apt to fall of it's own accord to the ground, and there shed; whereby it doth, as it were, anticipate the harvest-man, and calls upon him to put in the fickle. Not unlike to which are the lookings and longings, thegroanings andhastnings of ready Christians to their expected glory; they hasten to the coming of the Lord, or, as Montanus more fitly renders it, they hasten the coming of the
Lord; (i. e.) they are urgent and instant in their desires and cries to hasten his coming ; their desires sally forth to meet the Lord ; they willingly take death by the hand ; as the corn bends to the earth, so doth these souls to heaven : This shows their harvest to be near.
WH Sixfigns of the maturity off in.
THEN sinners are even dead ripe for hell, these signs appear upon them; or by these, at least, you may conclude those souls not to be far from wrath,upon whom they appear.
1. Whenconfcience is wasted, and grown past feeling,having no more for fin; when it ceases to check, reprove, and smite for fin any more, the day of that sinner is at hand, his harvestisevencome.
The greatest violation of conscience is
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
the greatest of fins ; this was the case of the forlorn Gentiles, among whom Satan had such a plentiful harvest; the patience of God suffered them to grow till their consciences were grown feared, and past feeling, Eph. iv. 19.
When a member is fo mortified, that if you lance and cut it never so much, no fresh blood, or quick flesn appears, nor doth the man feel any pain in all this, then it is time to cut it off.
2. When men give themselves over to the satisfaction of theirlufts, to commit sin withgreediness, then are they grown toamaturityof fin ; when men have flipped the reins of conscience, and rush headlong into all impiety, then the last sands of God's patience are running down.
Thus Sodom andGomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner gave themselves over to wickedness and strange fins ; and then justice quicklygavethem up for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
3. That man is even ripe for hell, that is become a contri ver of fin, a designer, a student in wickedness.
One would think it strange, that anyman should set his inventiononwork upon such a subject as fin is,that any should study to become a dexterous artist this way! and yet the scripture frequently speaks of such, " whose bellies prepare deceit," Job xv. 35.
"whotravail inpaintobring forth" this deformed birth, ver.
20. " whowink with their eyes," whilst plodding wickedness, asmenusedtodowhen they are most intentuponthe study of anyknotty problem, Prov. vi. 13. These have so much of hell already in them, that they are more than half in hell already.
4.He that of a forward professor is turned a bitterperfecutor, is also within a few rounds of the top of the ladder ; the contempt of their light the Lord hath alreadypunishedupon them, in their obduracy and madness against the light. Reader, if thoubegone thus far, thou art almostgonebeyond all hope of recovery.
Towards other sinners God usually exercises more patience, but with such he makes short work.
When Judas turns traitor to his Lord, he is quickly sent to his own place.
Such as are again in tangled and overcome of those lusts they once seemed to have clean escaped, these bring upon themselves swift damnation, and their judgment lingers not, 2 Pet. ii. 3,
20.
5. He that can endure no reproofor controul in the way of his fin, but derides all counsel, and, like a strong current, rages at, and sweeps away all obstacles in his way, will quicklyfallintothedead lake, Prov. xxix 1. "He that being often
" reproved, hardneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
Hustandry Spiritualized ; or , " and that without remedy."
This is a death-spot, ahelfpot, where-ever it appears. From this very symptom the prophet plainly predicted the approaching ruin of Amazia,
2Chron. xxv. 16. " I know that God hath determined tode- " stroythee, because thou hast done this, andhaftnot hearkned
" to my voice." He that will not be timelycounselled, shall be quickly destroyed.
Lastly, When a man comes to glory in his fin, and boast of his wickedness, then it is time to cut him down, " whose end
" is destruction,whosegloryis in their shame ;" Phil. iii. 19.
This isa braving, a daring of God to his face ; and withwhomsoever he bears long, to be sure these are noneofthem.
You feenowwhat are the signs ofafullripe sinner ; and when it comes to this, either with a nation, or with a single person, then ruin is near, Joel iii. 13. Gen. xv. 16. It is in the filling up of the measure off in, as in the filling up of a vessel cast into the sea, which rowls from side to side, taking in the water by little and little till it be full, and then down it sinks to the bottom.
Mean while, admirable is divine patience, which bears with these vessels of wrath, whilst fitting for destruction?
REFLECTION.
1. Cheer thyself,O my soul ! with the The reflection of heart-strengthening bread of this divine growing Chrifmeditation. Let faith turn every drop of tian. this truth into a soul-reviving cordial. God hath sown the precious seed of grace upon my soul; and. though my heart hath been an unkind foil, which hath kept it back, and much hindered its growth, yet, blessed be the Lord, a it still grows on, though byflowdegrees; and from the springing of the feed,and shooting forth of those gracious habits, I may conclude an approaching harvest : Now is my salvation nearer than when I believed ; every day I come nearer to my salvation,
Rom . xiii. II . Othat every day I were more active for the God of my salvation ! Grow on, my soul, and add to thy faith virtue, to thy virtue knowledge, &c.
Grow on from faith to faith; keep thyself under the ripening influences of heavenly ordinances : The faster thou growest in grace, the sooner thou shalt be reaped down in mercy, and bound up in the bundle of life, 1 Sam. xv. 29. I have not yet attained the measure and proportion of grace affignedto me, neither am I already perfect, but am reaching forth to the things before me, and pressing towards the mark for the prize of my heavenly calling, Phit. iii.
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
12, 13. Omercy to be admired! that I, who lately had one foot in hell, stand now with one foot in heaven !
2. But the case is far different with me ; whilst others are ripening apace for heaven,
The reflection of the decaying Christian.
I am withering; many a foul plowed up by conviction, andsown by fanctification long after me, hath quite over-topped, and out-grown me ; my sweet and earlybloffoms are nipped and blown off, my bright morning over-cast and clouded : had I kept on, according to therateofmy first growth, I had either now beeninheaven, or at least in the furburbs of it on earth ; but my graces wither and languish, my heart contracts and cools to heavenly things ; the fun and rain ofordinances and providences improve not my graces : how fadtherefore is the state of my foul!
The reflection of 3. Thy case, O declining faint, is fad, but not like mine : thine is but a temporaahardningfinner. ry remission of the acts of grace, which is recoverable ; but I am judicially hardening, and " treasuring
"up to my self wrath against the day of wrath," Rom. ii. 5.
Time was, when I had some tender sense of fin, when I could mourn and grieve for it ; now I have none at all : my heart is grown stupid and fottish. Time was,when I had some conscientious care of duty, when my heart would smite me for the neglect of it; but now none at all.
Wretched foul ! what wilt thou do? Thou art gone far, indeed, a few steps further willputthee beyond hope: hitherto I stand in the field ; the long-fufferingGoddoth yet spare me ; yea, spare me, while hehathcutdown many of my companions in fin round about me. What doth this admirable patience, this long-suffering, drawn out to a wonder, speak concerning me ! doth it not tell me, that the Lord is not willing I should perish, but rather come to repentance ? 2Pet. iii. 9. Andwhatargument is like hispityandpatience, to lead a foul to repentance? Rom. ii. 4.
Othat I may not frustrate at last the end of a long-suffering God, left he proportion the degree of his wrath, according to the length of his patience!
THEN fields W The POEM. are white, to harvest forth you go With scythes and fickles to reap down and mow.
Downgo the laden ears flat to the ground, Which those that follow having stitch'd and bound,
Tiscarried home unto the barn, and fo The fields are red where lately corn did grow.
Husbandry Spiritualized ; or, This world'sthe field, and they that dwell therein The corn and tares,which long have rip'ning been :
Angels the reapers,and thejudgmentday The time of harvest,when, like corn and hay,
The fading flowers of earthly glory must Be mowed down, and levell'd with the dust :
Thebarns are heaven and hell, the time draws nigh, When through thedarkned clouds, and troubled sky,
The Lord shall break; a dreadful trumpet shall Soundtothedead; the stars from heaven fall;
The rowhng spheres with horrid flames shall burn ; And then the tribes on earth shall wail and mourn .
The judgment set, before Christ's awful throne All flesh shall be conven'd, and every one
Receivehisdoom; which,done, the just shall be Bound in life's bundle, even as you fee The full ripe ears ofwheatbound up and borne
In sheaves with joy into the owner's barn.
This done, the angels next in bundles bind The tarestogether ; as they had comb in'd In acting fin, fonowtheirlot must be Toburntogetherinone misery.
Drunkards with drunkards pinion'd, shall befent To hell together in one regiment.
Adulterers and swearers there shall lie Inflames amongst their old society.
O dreadful howhngs ! Othe hideous moans Of fetter'd sinners ! O the tears ! the groans !
Thedoleful lamentations as they go Chain'd fast together to theirplaceofwoe!
The world thus clear'd, as fields when harvest's in, Shall be no more a stage, for acting fin .
With purifying flames it shall be burn'd, Its stately fabrics into ashes turn'd.
Cease then, my soul, to dote on'or admire This splendid world, which is referv'd for fire.
Decline the company of sinners here, As thou would'st not be shackled with them there.