How am I cast and condemned by this, may I say, who never sa- voured tliis spiritual delight in holy duties ! ^,^^ ^^^^^j When I am about my earthly employments, 1 n .• can go on unweariedly from day to day ; all the ^ way is down-hill to my nature, and the wheels of my affections being oiled with carnal delight, run so fast, that they have need most times of trigging. Here I rather need the curb than the spur. O how fleet and nimble are my spirits in these their pursuits ! but O what a slug am I in religious duties ! sure if my heart were renewed by grace, I should delight in the law of God, Rom. vii. 22. All the world is alive in their ways, every creature enjoys his proper pleasure; and is there no delight to be found in the paths of holiness .? Is godli- ness only a dry root that bears no pleasant fruits ? No, there are doubtless incomparable pleasures to be found therein ; but such a carnal heart as mine savours them not.
I cannot say but I have found delight in religious duties, but they have been only such as rather sprang from the os- t1 1 -7 '
tentation of gifts and applauses of men than any . ^ .• sweet and real communion I have had with God -^ through them ; they have rather proved food and fuel to my pride, than food to my soul. Like the nightingale, I can sing sweetly, when I observe others to listen to me, and be affected with my music. O false, deceitful heart, such delight as this will end in howling ! were my spirit right, it would as much delight in retirements for the en- joyment of God, as it doth in those duties that are most exposed to the observation of man. AVill such a spring as this maintain a stream of affections when carnal motives fail ? What wilt thou an- swer, O my soul ! to that question.? Job xxvii. 9, 10» " Will God " hear his cry when trouble comes upon him "^ Will he delight him- " self in the Almighty ? Will he always call upon God .?" What wilt thou reply to this question ? Deceive not thou thyself, O my soul ! thou wilt doubtless be easily persuaded to let go that thou never dehghtedst in, and, from an hypocrite in religion, quickly become an apostate from religion.
40 HUSBANDRY SPIKFTUALIZED ; OR,
rpr ' 1 f h f From all this the upright heart takes ad van-
^^ .r ^ tage to rouse up its delight in God, and thus
J^^ ' it exposiulateth with itself : Doth the plowman
sing amidst his drudging labours, and whistle away his weariness in the fields ; and shall I droop amidst such heavenly employment ? O my soul, what wantest thou here, to provoke thy delight ? If there be such an affection as delight in thee, methinks such an object as the blessed face of God in ordinances should excite it. Ah ! how would this ennoble all my services, and make them angel-like ! how glad are those blessed creatures to be employed for God ! No sooner were they created, but they sang together, and shouted for joy, Job xxxviii. 7. How did they fill the air with heavenly melody, when sent to bring the joyful tidings of a Saviour to the world ! Ascribing glory to God in the highest, even to the highest of their powers. Yea, this delight would make all my duties Christ-like; and the nearer that pattern, the more excellent : he delighted to do his Fathers will, it was to him mc-at and drink. Psalm xl. 7. John iv. 32, 34.
Yea, it would not only ennoble, but facilitate all my duties, and be to me as wings to a bird in flying, or sails to a ship in motion. Non tardat uncta rota ; oiled wheels run freely ; " Or ever I was awaro ^' my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib." O what is the reason (my God) my delight in thee should be so little ? Is it not be- cause my unbelief is so great ? Rouse up my delights, O thou foun- tain of pleasure ! and let me swim down the stream of holy joy in duty, into the boundless ocean of those immense delights that are in thy presence, and at thy right hand for everniore.
v^ What a dull, desponding heart is mine f That takes no more delipht in things divine. When all the creatures, both in heav'n and earth. Enjoy their pleasures, and are big with mirth. Angels and saints that are before the throne. In ecstasies and raptures every one Perpetually is held ; each blessed spirit The pure>t, highest joys doth there inherit ; The saints on earth, in their imperfect state. Those peerleps joys, by faith do antedate. To natVal men, who savour not this pleasure, Yet bounteous nature doth unlock her treasure Of sensitive delights ; yea, strange to tell, Bold sinners rant it all the way to hell. Like fish that play in Jordan's silver stream, Si> these in sensual lusts, and never dream Of that dread sea to which the stream doth tend, And to their pleasures puts a fatal end.
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EAKTHLY THINGS. 41
Yea, birds and beasts, as well as men, enjoy Their innocent delights : these chirp and play ; The cheerful birds among the branches sing, And make the neighboring groves with music ring : With various warbling notes they all invite Our ravished ears with pleasure and delight. The new-fall'n lambs, will in a sun-shine day, About their feeding dams jump up and play. Are cisterns sweet ? and is the fountain bitter ? Or can the sun be dark when glow-worms glitter ? Have instruments their sweet, melodious airs ? All creatures their delights ; and saints not theirs ? Yea, theirs transcend these sensual ones as far As noon-day Phoebus doth a twinkling star. Why droop I then, may any creature have A life like mine for pleasure ? Who e'er gave The like encouragement that Christ hath given, To do his will on earth, as 'tis in heaven ^
CHAP. IV, Upon the due Quality of Arable Land.
Corn land must neither be too fat, nor poor ; The middle state suits best with Christians^ sure.
JHUSBANDMEN find, by experience, that their arable lands may be dressed too much, as well as too little ; if the soil be over- rank, the seed shoots up so much into the stalk, that it seldom ears well ; and if too thin and poor, it wants its due nutriment, and comes not to perfection. Therefore their care is, to keep it in heart, but not to over-dress, or under-dress it. The end of all their cost and pains about it is fruit ; and therefore reason tells them, that such a state and temperament of it, as best fits it for fruit, is best both for it ^nd them.
./i^ND doth not spiritual experience, teach Christians that a medi- ocrity and competency of the things of this life, best fit them for the fruits of obedience, which is the end and excellency of their being ? A man may be over-mercied, as well as over-afflicted ; Rarofv^ mantfoelicibus arce, the altars of the rich seldom smoke. When our outward enjoyments are by providence shaped, and fitted to our con-
4^ HUSBANDKY SPIJlITUALi;!ED ; OK,