Qiiest. 3. Is not this a sad symptom of a declining state of soul, to be so hot, eager, and anxious about the superfluous trifles of thig life ? Thinkest thou, O mv soul ? that one who walks in the views of that glory above, and maintains a conversation in heaven, can be much taken with these vanities.'^ Do not the -visions of God veil the tempting splendour of the creature ! It was the opinion of some of the School- men, that the reason whv Adam in paradise was not sensible of his nakedness, was because he was wholly taken up in conversing with God. But this is certain, lively and sweet communion with God, blunts and dulls the edge of the affections to earthly things ; and canst thou be satisflcd, my soul, with such gains as are attended with such spiritual losses ?
Q?(est. 4. To conclude, is it not dishonourable to God, and a jus- tification of the way of the world for me, that profess myself a Chris- tian, to be as eager after riches as other men ; " After all these things " do the nations seek,"' Matth. vi. 32. If I had no Father in hea- ven, nor promise in the world, it were another matter : but since my heavenlv Father knows what I have need of, and hath charged me to be careful in nothing, but only, to tell him my wants, Phil. iv. 6. how
THE HKAVEXLY USE OF EARTHLY THIXGS. 47
unbecoming a thing is it in me to live and act as I have done ! Let me henceforth learn to measure and estimate my condition, rather by its usefulness to God, than its content and ease to my flesh,
1 F fruit and service be indeed the end
To which my being and redemption tend,
Heason concludes that state of all the rest,
AVhich is most serviceable, to be best
And such a state experience shews to lie
'Twixt fulness and a pinching poverty.
This golden mean is worth a golden mine ;
He that hath this should be asham''d to whine.
The full-fed Christian, like the ox i' th' stall.
Is no way fit to -work, or plow withal.
x\nd penury, like Pharaoh's leaner kine,
Devours the fattest portions of our time.
That man with whom this earthly pleasure's found,
Or in whose heart those anxious cares abound ;
And yet can walk by scripture-rule, and line,
Will need a better head and heart than mine ;
A single staif the traveller may find,
Of use and service ; but if you should bind
A bundle of them to his back, they'll make
Him slack his pace and cry, my shoulders ach.
I am a traveller, this world's my way,
A single staff may be of use to stay
My feeble l^ody, if it do not crack
By too hard leaning on it ; but my back
Will bear no more : Alas ! I soon shall tire,
And more than one I cannot well desire.
Lord, to prescribe to thee becomes me not,
I rather do submit unto my lot.
But vet let condescending^ grace admit
Thy servant's suit this once, and this is it :
The staff of bread convenient let me have,
And manage it discreetly ; so, 'twill save
Thy feeble servant from the mire and dirt,
But more or less than this may do me hurt.
Or if thou say, thy servant shall have none,
Then strengthen faith, that I may go alone.
4S tifSBAKDRY sriRlTUALIZED; OK,
CHAP. V. Upon the Improvement of bad Ground.
Spent barren land ycni can restore^ and nourish; Decayed Christians God can cause tojlourish.
V T HERE land is spent out by tillage for want of manuring, the careful husbandman hath many ways to recover and bring it in heart again. He lets it lie fallow, to give it rest, and time to recover itself: carries out to his sand, Hme, and compost, to refresh and quicken it again ; and in pasture and meadow ground, will wash it, (if possible) with a current of water, or the float of the ways after a fall of rain, which is to the earth as a spring of new blood to a con- sumptive body. He cuts down and kills the weeds that suck it out, and causes them to make restitution of what they have purloined from it, bv rotting upon the place where they grew. As careful are they to recover it, when it is spent, as an honest physician is of his patient in a languishing condition ; for he knows his field will be as grateful to him, and fully requite his care and cost.
-oLS man'*s, so God's husbandry is sometimes out of case, not by yielding too many crops, but too few. The mystical husbandman hath some fields, (I mean particular societies and persons, who were once fragant and fruitful like a field) which God had blessed, but are now decayed and grown barren ; whose gleanings formerly were more than their vintage now; the things that are in them are ready to die. Rev. iii. 3. It is possible, yea, too common for gra- cious souls to be reduced to a very low ebb, both of graces and com- forts ; how low I will not say. Our British divines tell us, that grace indeed cannot be totally intermitted, nor finally lost ; but there may be an omission of the act, though not an omission of the habit : The act may be perverted, though the faith cannot be subverted ; it may be shaken in, though not shaken out : Its fruits may fall, but its sap lies hid in the root. They demerit the loss of the kingdom, but lose it not effectively; the effect of justification may be suspended, but the state of the justified cannot be dissolved *.
Certain it is, one that, like Paul, hath been wrapped up with joy, even to the third heavens, and cried, " I am more than a conqueror,
* Gratia nee totaliter intermittitur necjinaliter annttitur. Actus omittitur, habitus non amittitur. Actio pervertitur,Jides non subvertitur. Concutttur, non executitor. Defluiljruc- itis, Intet succus. Jus ad reeuum amittunt demeritorie^ non effective, Effect us justiAca' tionis siiSj)enditur, at status justijicati non dissoliitur.
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 49
" who shall separate me from the love of Christ ?"" may, at another time lie mourning, as at the gates of death, crying, " O wretched " man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this " death P'' One that hath walked in sweet communion with God, sunning himself in the light of his countenance, may afterwards " walk in darkness, and see no light," Isa. 1. 10. He that hath cast anchor within the veil, and rode securely in the peaceful harbour of assurance, may seem to feel his anchor of hope come home to him, and go a-drift into the stormy ocean again, crying with the church. Lam. iii. 18. " My hope is perished from the Lord.'' His calm and clear air may be overcast and clouded, yea, filled with storms and tempests, lightnings and thunders ; his graces, like under-ground flowers in the winter, may all disappear, and hide their beautiful heads.
To God he may say, I am cast out of thy sight. I know thou canst do much, but wilt thou shew wonders to the dead ?
To the promises he may say, you are sweet things indeed, but what have I to do with you ? I could once, indeed, rejoice in you, as my portion ; but now I doubt I grasped a shadow, a fancy instead o^ you.