ry. Should husbandman employ ignoraut persons, that neither un- derstand the rules nor proper seasons of husbandry ; how much would such workmen damnify and prejudice him? He will not em- ploy such to weed his fields, as know not wheat from tares ; or to prune his trees, that think midsummer as fit for that work as Decem- ber : much less will God. He qualifies all that he sends with wis- dom for their work. " His "workmen approve themselves workmen " indeed, such as need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of '' truth,"' 2 Tim. ii. 15. As Bezaleel was furnished with -wisdom before he was employed in tabernacle-work ; so Christ instructs his servants with skill and insight, before they are employed in ministe- rial work. He gives them a mouth and wisdom, Luke xxi. 15. en- dues them with power from on high ; as Christ was filled abundant- ly with the Spirit for his work, so, according to proportion, are those that are sent by him. John xx. 21, 22. " As my Father hath ^' sent me, so send I you."*" And as for those that run before they are sent, and understand not the mysteries oi the gospel ; I shall say no more of them but this ; " Father, forgive them, for they kno^7 *' not what they do,"
To conclude. If the church be God's husbandry, that is, if hus- bandry have so many resemblances of God's works about the church in it; then how inexcusable is the ignorance of husbandmen in the things of God, who, besides the word of the gospel, have the teach- ing of the creatures ; and can hardly turn theu' hands to any part of their work, but the Spirit hints one spiritual use or other from it to their souls ? How do the scriptures abound with parables and lively similitudes taken from husbandry ? From the field, the seed, the plow, the barn, from threshing and winnowing; similitudes also from planting, graffing, and pruning of trees ; and not a few from the ordering of cattle. So that to what business soever you turn your hands, in any part of your calling, still God meets you with one heavenly instruction or other. But alas ! How few are able to improve their civil employments to such excellent ends ! these things are but briefly hinted in the scriptures, and those hints scattered up and down, that they know not where to find them ; and if they could, yet would it be difficult so to methodize them, as it is neces- sary they should be, in order to their due improvement by medita- tion.
And therefore I judged it necessary to collect and prepare them for your use ; and in this manner to present them to you as you find them in the following chapters. Read, consider, and apply ; and the Lord make you good husbandmen for your own souls.
HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED.
CHAP. I Upon the Industry of the Hushandman.
In the laborious Hushandman you see. What all true Christians are, or ought to he,
i HE employment of the husbandman is by all acknowledged to be very laborious; there is a multiplicity of business incumbent on him. The end of one work is but the beginning of another, every season of the j'^ear brings its proper work with it : sometimes you find him in \i\s fields, dressing, plowing, sowing, harrowing, weeding, or reaping ; and sometimes in his ham, threshing or winnowing ; sometimes in his orchard, planting, graffing, or pruning his trees ; and sometimes among his cattle ; so that he hath no time to be idle. As he hath a multiplicity of business, so every part of it is full of toil and spending labour : he eats not the bread of idleness, but earns it before he eats it ; and, as it were, dips it in his own sweat, whereby it becomes the sweeter to'him. Though sin brought in the husbandman''s sweat, Gen. iii. 19- yet now not to sweat would increase his sin, Ezek. xvi. 49.
Behold here the life of a serious Christian, shadowed forth to the life. As the life of a husbandman, so the life of a Christian is no idle nor easy life. They that take up religion for ostentation, and not for an occujiat'ion, and those that place the business of it in notions and idle speculations, in forms, gestures, and external observances, ma}'- think and call it so : but such as devote themselves unto it, and make rehgion their business, will find it no easy work to exercise themselves to godliness. Many there are that affect the reputation and sweet of it who cannot endure the labour and siveat of it. If men might be indulged to divide their heart betwxit God and the world, or to cull out the cheap and easy duties of it, and neglect the more difficult and costly ones, it were an easy thing to be a Christian : but surely to have a respect to all God's commandments, to live the life, as well as speak the language of a Christian ; to be holy in all manner of conversation, is not so easy. Tiiis will be evident, by
^S HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; OR,
comparing the life of a Christian with the Ufe of a husbandman, in these five particulars ; wherein it will appear, that tlie work of a Christian is by mucli the harder work of the two.
1. The husbandman hath much to do, many things to look after ; but the Christian more : if we respect the extensiveness of his work, he hath a large field indeed to labour in, Psal. cxix. 96. " Thy com- " mandment is exceeding broad,'' of a vast extent and latitude, com- prizing not only a multitude of external acts and duties, and guiding the offices of the outward man about them, but also taking in every thought and motion of the inner man within its compass.
You find in the word, a world of work cut out for Christians ; there is hearing-work, praying-work, reading, meditating, and self- examining- work ; it puts him also upon a constant watch over all the Corruptions of his heart. Oh, what a world of work hath a Chris- tian about him .'* For of them he may say, as the historian doth of Hannibal, they are never quiet, whether conquering or conquered. How many weak, languishing graces hath he to recover, improve, and strengthen ^ There is a weak faith, a languishing love, dull and faint desires, to be quickened and invigorated. And when all this is done, what a multitude of work do his several relations exact from him ? He hath a world of business incumbent on him, as a parent, child, husband, wife, master, servant, or friend, yea, not only to friends, but enemies. And, besides all this, how many difficult things are there to be borne and suffered for Christ ? And yet God will not allow his people to neglect any one of them : neither can he be a Christian that hath not respect to every command, and is not holy in all manner of conversation, Psal. cxix. 6. 2 Pet. iii. 11. every one of these duties, like the several spokes in a wheel, come to bear, in the whole round of a Christian's conversation : so that he hath more work upon his hands than the husbandman.