MEDITATIONS upon BEASTS
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
panionsweredrawn away from them, one after another, all the interruption it gave the rest, was only for a minute or two, whilst they stood peeping into that hole through which their companions were drawn, and then fell to their meat again as busily as before ; I could not chuse but say,
Even thus sure prizingly doth death steal upon the childrenofmen, whilst they are wholly intent upon the cares and pleasures of this life, not at all suspecting its so near approach.'
These birdsfaw notthehandthat ensnared them, nordothey fee the hand of death plucking them one after another intothegrave.
" Death's steps as swift, and yet no noise it makes ; " Its hand unseen, but yet most surely takes †."
And even as the surviving birds for a little time seemed to stand affrighted, peeping after their companions, and then as busy as ever to their meat again: just so it fares with the careless, inconsiderate world,who fee others daily dropping into eternity round about them, and for the present are a little startled,and will look into the grave after their neighbours, and then fall as busily to their earthly employments and pleasures again, as ever, till their own turn comes.
I know, my God, that I must die as well as others ; but O let me not die as others do, let me see death before I feel it, and conquer it before it kill me ; let it not come as an enemy uponmyback,but rather let me meet it as a friend, halfway.
Die I must, but let me lay up that good treasure before I go, Matth. vi. 19.
Carry with me a good confciencewhen I go, 2Tim. iv. 6, 7. and leave behind me a good example when I am gone, and then let death come, and welcome.
MEDITATIONS upon BEASTS .
MEDIT.
Upon the clogging of aftraying beast.
AD this bullock contented himself, andremainedquietly H within his own bounds, his owner had never put such an heavyclog upon his neck ; but I fee the prudent husbandmanchuses rather to keep him with this clog,than lose him for want of one. What this clog is to him, that is affliction and trouble to me ; had my foul kept close with God in liberty and prosperity,he would never thus have clogged me with adversi- † Omibus obfcuras injecit ill a man us.
Ovid.
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, ty; yea, and happy were it for me, ifI might stray from God no more,who hath thus clogged me with preventive afflictions.
If,with David,I might say, " Before I was afflicted I went a- " stray, but now I have kept thy word," Psalm cxix. 67. О my foul ! it is better for thee to have thy pride clogged with poverty, thy ambition with reproach, thy carnal expectancies with constant disappointments, than to be at liberty to run from God and duty.
It is true, I am sometimes as weary of these troubles, as this poor beast is oftheclog he draws after him, andoftenwithmy self rid of them ; but yet, if God should take them off, for ought I know, I might have cause to wish them on again, to prevent a greater mischief. It is storiedofBasil, that for many years he was forelyafflicted with an inveteratehead-ach, (that was his clog) he often prayed for the removal of it ; at last
God removed it, but instead thereof he was sorely exercised with the motions and temptations of lust, which when he perceived, he as earnestly desired his head-ach again, to prevent agreaterevil.
Lord! ifmycorruptions maybe prevented by my afflictions, I refuse not to be clogged with them ; but my soul rather desires thou wouldst hasten the time when I shall be for ever freed from them both .
MEDIT.
II.
Upon the love of a dog to bis master.
OW many a weary step, through mire and dirt, hath H his poor dog followed my horse's heels today, and all this for a very poor reward? for all he gets by it at night, is but bones and blows, yet will he notleavemycompany,but is content upon such hard terms, to travel with me fromdaytoday.
Omyfoul! what conviction and shame may this leave upon thee, who art oftentimes even weary of following thy master,
Christ, whose rewards and encouragements of obedience are so incomparably sweet and sure ! I cannot beat back this dog from following me, but every inconsiderable trouble is enough to discourage me in the wayofmyduty. Ready I am to resolve as that scribe did, Matth. viii. 19. "Master, I wiltfollowthee
" whithersoeverthou goeft;" but how doth my heart faulter, when I must encounter with the difficulties of the way ? Oh ! let me make a whole heart-choice of Christ for my portion and happiness! and then I shall never leave him, nor turn back from following him, though the present difficulties were much more, and the present encouragements much less.
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
MEDIT.
III.
Upon the fighting of two rams.
A king notice howfuriouslythese sheep,which by nature T are mild and gentle, did yet, like bulls, pusheachother, taking their advantage by going back to meet with a greater rage and fury: methought I saw in this a plain emblem of the unchristian contests and animosities which fall out amongst them that call themselves the people of God, who are in scripture also stiled sheep, for their meeknefs and innocency ; and yet, through the remaining corruptions that are in then., thus do they do push each other; as one long since complained, nonfecus ac, Camduo converfisinimica in praelia tauri,
Frontibus incurrunt Shall Christians one another wound and push, Like furious bulls, when they together rush ?
The fighting of these sheep doth in two respects notably comportwith the sinful practices of contending Christians, 1.
That in this fight they engage with their heads one against another : and what are they but those head-notions, or opposition of sciences, falfetysocalled, that have made so many broils anduproars in the Christian world ? O ! what clafshings have these heady opinions caused in the churches ! First heads, and then hearts have clasfred. Christianshavenotdiftinguishedbetwixtadverfarius lit is, etperfonae; an adversary to the opinion, and to the person; but dipt their tongues and pens in vinegar and gall, shamefullyafperfingandreproaching one another, because their understandings were not cast into one mould, and their heads all ofa bigness. But, 2. That which country-men observe from the fighting of sheep, That itpresages foul and Stormy weather, is much more certainly confequent upon the
fighting of Christ's sheep. Do these clash and push ? Surely it is an infallible prognostic of an enfuingstorm, Mal. iv. 6.
MEDIT.
IV.
W keptinpoor short leas,where he Upon the catching of an horse in a fat pasture.
HEN this horse was had much scope, but littlegrafs,how gentle and trac table was he then ? He would not only stand quiet to be taken, but come to hand of his own accord, and follow me up and
down the field for a crust of bread, or handful of oats; but
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, sinceIturnedhim intothisfat pasture,he comes no more to me, nor will suffer me to come near him, but throws up his heels wantonly against me,and flies from me,as if I were rather his enemy than benefactor. In this I behold the carriage of my own heart towards God, who the more he hath done for me, the feldomer doth he hear from me ; in a low and afflicted state, how tractable is my heart to duty ? Then it comes to the foot of God voluntarily. But in an exalted condition, how wildly doth my heart run from God and duty ? With this ungrateful requitalGodfaulted his own people, Jer. iii. 31. teachable and tractable in the wilderness, but when fatted in that rich pasture ofCanaan, "Then we are lords, we will come no "more to thee." How soon are all God's former benefits forgotten ? And how often is that ancient observation * verified, even in his own people ?
" No sooner do we gifts on some bestow, " But presently our gifts grey-headed grow."
But that isa bad tenant, that will maintain a suit at law against his landlord with his own rent ; and a bad heart, that will fight againstGodwithhis own mercies. I wish it maybe with my heart, as it is reported to be with the waters in the kingdom ofCongo, that are never so sweet to the taste, as when the tide is at the highest.
MEDIT.
Upon the hunting of a deer.
HE full-mouthed cry of these dogs, which from the T morning have hunted this poor tired deer, which is now no longer able to stand before them, but iscompassed round with them,who thirst for, and will presently fuck her blood ; brings to my thoughts the condition and state of Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh, who was thus hunted from place to placebyblood-thirsty enemies.Upon this very account, the 22d
Psalm, which treats of his death, is inscribed with the title of Aijeleth Shahar, which signifies the hind of the morning, and fully imports the same notion which this occasion presented me with ; for look, as the hindor deer, which is intended to be rundownthatday, is rouzedby the dogs early in the morning, fowas Christ, in the very morning of his infancy, by bloody
Herod, and that cruelpackconfederatedwithhim. Thus was * Μετατ δοσιν ταχίζαγκραστει χαρις.
Post munere cito confenefcitgratia.
The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things.
he chased from place to place, till that was fulfilled which was propheticallywrittenofhiminver. 16. of the forecited Psalm :
* For dogs have compassed me about,the affemblyofthe wick- " edhave inclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet."
And canftthou expect, O my soul ! to fare better than he did, or escape the rage ofbloodymen ? Surely, if the Spirit of
Christdwellinthee, if his holiness have favoured thee, these dogswillwind it, andgivethee chase too ; theygo upon the scentofholiness still, andwouldhunt to destruction every one, in whom there is a liquid Chrifti, any thing of Christ, if the gracious providence of the Lord did not sometimes rate them off: for it is no less a pleasure which some wicked ones take in hunting the people of God, than what † Claudianthe poet observes men use to take in hunting wild beasts.
" Whilst weary huntsmen in the night do sleep, " Their fancies in the woods still hunting keep."
Lord! should I with the hypocrite decline the profession and practice of holiness, to escape the rage ofperfecuting enemies, at what time they cease, my own conscience would begin to hunt me like a blood-hound ; let me rather chuse to be chased bymenthanGod, to flee before pursuing enemies, than be dogged from day to day with a guilty conscience.
MEDITATIONS upon TREES.
MEDIT.
Upon the fall of blossoms, nipt by a frosty morning.
Beholding blo early spring, fruit-trees embossed with beautiful blossoms of various colours, which breathed forth their delicious odours into the circumambient air, and adorned the branches on which they grew, like so many rich jewels,or glitter i pendents ; and further observing, how these perfumed blossoms droptoff, being bitten with the frost, and discolouredallthe ground, as if a shower of snow had fallen ;
I faidwithin myself, these sweet and early blossoms are not unlike my sweet and early affections to the Lord, in the days of my first acquaintance with him. Owhat fervent love, panting desires, and heavenly delights beautified my soul in those days ! The odoriferous scent of the sweetest blossoms, the + Venator defefsa thero quum membra reponit,
Claud Mens tamen adfylvas, et sua lustra red it...
VOL. VI.
Husbandry Spiritualized; or, morning breath of the most fragrant flowers, hathnothalf that sweetness with which those my first affections were enriched. O ! happy time, thrice pleasant spring ! My soul hath it still in remembrance, and is humbled within me; for these alsowerebutblofsoms which now are nipt and faded, that first flourish is gone; my heart is like the winter'searth, because thy face, Lord, is tome like a winter fun. " Awake, O
" north wind! and come, south-wind,blow upon my garden, "that the spices thereof may flow out, thenletmy beloved
" come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruit!"
MEDIТ .
Upon the knittingorfetting of fruit.
Have often observed, that when the blossoms of a tree set I and knit, though the flourish thereofbegone,and nothing but the bare rudiment of the expected fruit be left; yet then the fruit is much better secured from the danger offrosts and. winds, than whilst it remained in the flower or blossom; for now it hath past one of those critical periods, in which so many trees miscarryand lose their fruit. And methought this natural observation fairly led me to this theological proposition,
•That good motions, andholypurposes in the soul, are never 'secured, and past their most dangerous crisis, till they be turned into fixed resolutions, and answerable executions,
•which is as the knitting and setting of them.'
Upon this proposition my melting thoughts thus dilated : happy had it been for thee, my soul ! had all thebleffedmotions of the Spiritbeenthus knit and fixed in thee.
Oh, how have mine affections blown and budded under the warm beams of the gospel ! But a chill blast from the cares, troubles and delights of the world without, and the vanity and deadnefs of the heart within, have blasted all ; my goodness hath been but as a morning-dew, or early cloud,that vanisheth away. And even of divine ordinances, I may say whar is said of human ordinances, " They have perished in the using." Ablofsom is butfructus imperfect us, et ordinabilis, an imperfect thing in itself,and something in order to fruit ; a good motion and holy purpose is but opus imperfectum, et ordinabile, an imperfect work, in order to a complete work of the Spirit ; when that primus impetus, those first motions were strong uponmyheart, had I then pursued them in the force and vigour of them,how many difficulties might I have overcome ? Revive thy work,
O Lord, and give not to my foul a miscarrying womb, or dry breasts.