XT requires not only strength, but much skill and judgment, to manage and guide the plow. The Hebrew word irii which we translate to plow, signifies to be intent, as an artificer is about some curious piece of work. The plow must neither go too shallow, nor too deep in the eailh ; it must not indent the ground, by making crooked furrows, nor leap and make baulks in the good ground ; but be*guided as to a just depth of earth, so to cast the furrow in a straight line, that the floor or surface of the field may be made plain, as it is Isa. xxxviii. 25. And hence that expression, Luke ix. 62. " He *' that puts his hand to the plow, and looks back, is not fit for the ^' kingdom of heaven." The meaning is, that as he that plows must have his eyes always forward, to guide and direct his hand in casting the furrows straight and even ; (for his hand will be quickly- cut when his eye is off;) so he that heartily resolves for heaven, must adi^ict himself wholly and intently to the business of religion, and not have his mind entangled with the things of this world, which he hath left behind him ; whereby it appears, that the right manage- ment of the plow requires as much skill as strength.
X HIS observation in nature ser\'es excellently to shadow forth this proposition in divinity ; that the work of the Spirit in con- vincing and humbiino: the heart of a sinner, is a work wherein
02 HTTSBAKDllY SrlRITUALIZED ; OB,
much of the wisdom, as well as power of God, is discovered. The work of repentance, and saving contrition is set forth in scripture by this metaphor of plowing*, Jer. iv. 3. Hos. x. 12. " Plow up your ^' fallow ground ;'' that is, be convinced, humbled, and broken- hearted for sin. And the resemblance betwixt both these works ap- pears in the following particulars.
(1.) It is a hard and difficult work to plow, it is reckoned one of the painfullest manual labours ; it is also a very hard thing to con- vince and hurr) le the heart of a secure, stout, and proud sinner, indurate in wickedness. What Luther saith of a dejected soul, ' That ' it is as easy to raise the dead, as to comfort such a one.' The same I mav say of the secure, confident sinner ; it is as easy to rend the rocks, as to work saving contrition upon such a heart. Cifius ex pumice aquam ; all the melting language, and earnest entreaties of the gospel, cannot urge such a heart to shed a tear : Therefore it is called a heart of stone, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. a firm rock, Amos vi. 12. " Shall horses run upon the rock ? Will one plow there with oxen .^" Yet when the Lord comes in the power of his Spirit, these rocks do rend, and yield to the power of the word.
(2.) The plow pierces deep into the bosom of the earth, makes, as it were, a deep gash or vround in the heart of it. So doth the Spi- rit upon the hearts of sinners, he pierces their very souls by convic- tion. Acts ii. 37. " When tliey heard this they were pricked, (or * '' pierced point blank) to the heart." " Then the word divides the " soul and spirit,'' Heb. iv. 1 2. It comes upon the conscience with such piercing dilemmas, and tilts the sword of conviction so deep into their souls, that there is no stanching the blood, no healing this wound, till Christ himself come, and undertake the cure. Hceret la- ten lethaUs arundo ; this barbed arrov/ cannot be pulled out of their hearts by any, but the hand that shot it in. Discourse with such a soul about his troubles, and he will tell you, that all the sorrows that ever he had in this world, loss of estate, health, children, or what- ever else, are but flea-bitings to this ; this swallows up all other trou- bles. See how that Christian Niobe, Luke vii. 38. is dissolved into tears ; " Now deep calleth unto deep at the noise of his water-spouts, *' when the waves and billows of God go over the soul.'' Spiiitual sorrows are deep waters, in which the stoutest and most magnani- mous soul would sink and drown, did not Jesus Christ, by a secret and supporting hand, hold it up, and preserve it.
(3.) The plow rends the earth in parts and pieces, which before was united, and makes those parts hang loose, which formerly lay close. Thus doth the Spirit of conviction rend asunder the heart and its most beloved lusts. Joel ii. 13. " Rend your hearts, and not your " oarments." That is, rather than your garments ; for the sense is
* Glosfiiis lihet. Sacra , p. 300.
t Karsyjyr,faVy jninclim cedo, jnivgrndo jicneiro.
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 63
comparative, though the expression be negative. And this renting implies not only acute pain, flesh cannot be rent asunder without an- guish, nor yet only force and violence ; the heart is a stubborn and knotty piece, and will not easily yield ; but it also implies a disunion of parts united. As when a garment, or the earth, or any contiguous body is rent, those parts are separated which formerly cleaved toge- ther. Sin and the soul were glued fast together before, there was no parting of them, they would as soon part with their lives, as with their lusts ; but now when the heart is rent from them truly, it is also rent from them everlastingly, Ezek. vii. 15, to 19.
(4.) The j^low turns up and discovers such things as lay hid in the bosom of the earth before, and were covered under a fair green sur- face, from the eyes qf men. Thus when the Lord plows up tlie heart of a sinner by conviction, then the secrets of his heart are made ma- nifest, 2 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. the most secret and shameful sins will then out ; for " the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any *' two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul and " spirit, the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts •' and secret intents of the heart," Heb. iv. 12. It makes the Are burn inwardly, so that the soul hath no rest till confession give a vent to trouble. Fain would the shuffling sinner conceal and hide his shame, but the word follows hira through all his sinful shifts, and brings him at last to be his own, both accuser, witness, and judge.