Come then, my soul, set the Lord before thee, to whom the secrets of all hearts are manifest : and in the awful sense of that great day make true answer to these heart-discovering queries : For though thou canst not discern the diiferencc betv.ixt these things in another, yet thou mayest and oughtest to discern it in thyself: For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man that is in him !
1. Is my obedience uniform ? am I the same man at all times, places and companies ? Or, ratlicu-j am I not exact and curious in open and public, remiss and careless in ^private and secret duties? Sincere souls are uniform souls, Psal. cxix. 6. the hypocrite is no closet-man, Matth. vi. 5.
% Doth that v.hich I call grace in me oppose and mortify, or doth it not rather quietly consist with, and protect my lusts and corrup- tions ? True grace tolerates no lust, Gal. v. 17. No, not the bosom, darling corruptions, Psal, xviii. 9Ji.
3. Doth that which I call my grace, humble, empty, and abase my soul? Or rather, doth it not puff it up with self-conceitedness ? All saving grace is humbling grace, 1 Cor. xv. 10. " But the soul which " is lifted up, is not upright,^ Hab. ii. 4»
Lastly, Canst thou, my soul, rejoice and bless God for the grace imparted to others ? And rejoice if any design for Christ be carried on in the world by other hands ? Or, rather, dost thou not envy those that excel thee, and carest for no work in Vvhich thou art not seen?
But stay, my soul, it is enough : If these be the substantial differ- ences betwixt special and common grace, I more tlian doubt, I shall not endure the day of his coming, Whose fan is in his hand. Do not those spots appear upon me, which are not the spots of his children ? Woe is me, poor wretch ! the characters of death are upon my soul ! Lord add power to the form, life to the name to live, practice to the knowledge, or I perish eternally ! O rather give me the saint's heart than the angeVs tongue ; the poorest breathing of the Spirit than the richest ornaments of common gifts ! Let me never deceive myself or others in matters of so deep and everlasting consequence.
i?ltE HEAVENLY VSt OF EARTHLY THINGS. Bflt
JLn eastern countries, as good authors write,
Tares, in their springing up, appear to sight,
Not like itself, a weed, but real wheat ;
Whose shape and form it counterfeits so neat.
That 'twould require a most judicious eye.
The one from t'other to diversify.
'Till both to some maturity be grown,
And then the difference is eas'ly known.
Even thus hypocrisy, that cursed weed,
Springs up so like true grace, that he will need
More than a common insight in this case,
That saith, this is not, that is real grace.
Ne'er did the cunning actor, tho' a slave
Array'd in princely robes, himself behave
So like a king, as this doth act the part
Of saving grace, by its deep hellish art.
Do gracious souls melt, mourn, and weep for sin ?
The like in hypocrites observed hath been.
Have ihey their comforts, joys, and raptures sweet .''
With them in comforts hypocrites do meet.
In all religious duties they can go
As far as saints, in some things farther too ;
They speak like angels, and you'll think within.
The very spirit of Christ and grace hath been.
They come so near, that some, like Isaac, take
Jacob for Esau, this for that mistake :
And boldly call (their eyes, with his, being dim)
True grace, hypocrisy ; and duty, sin :
Yea, many also, Jacob-like, embrace
Leah for Rachel, common gifts for grace :
And in their bosom hug it, 'till the light
Discover their mistake, and clear their sight :
And then, like him, confounded they will cry,
Alas ! 'tis Leah, curs'd hypocrisy !
Guide me, my God, that I may not, instead
Of saving grace, nurse up this cursed weed,
O let my heart, at last, by thee be found
Sincere, and all thy workings on it sound I
100 HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; OR,
Upon the Dangers incident to corn from Seed-time to Harvest,
Fowls, weedsy and blastings do your cor7i annoy^ Even so corruptions would your grace destroy.
X HERE are, amongst many others, three critical and dangerous periods between the seed-tmie and harvest. The first, when corn is newly committed to the earth, ail that lies uncovered is quickly picked up by tlie birds ; and much of that which is but slightly co- vered, is plucked up, as soon as it begins to sprout, by rooks, and other devouring fowls, Matth. xiii. 4. But if it escape the fowls, and gets root in the earth, yet then it is hazarded by noxious weeds, which purloin and suck away its nourishment, whilst it is yet in the tender blade. If by the care of the vigilant husbandman it be freed from choaking weeds ; yet, lastly, as great a danger as any of the former still attends it ; for oftentimes, whilst it is blow* ing in the ear, blastings and mildews smite it in the stalk, and cuts off the juice and sap that should ascend to nourish the ear, and so shrivels and dries up the grain whilst it is yet immaturate ; whereby it becomes like those ears of corn in Pharaoh^s vision, which were thin and blasted with the east-wind ; or like the ears the Psalm- ist speaks of upon the house top, wherewith the reaper lilleth not his arms.
A BITE grace, from the infancy to the perfection thereof, conflicts with far greater dangers, amongst which it answerably meets with three dangerous periods which marvellously hazard it : So that it is a much greater wonder that it ever arrives at its just perfection. For, (1.) No sooner hath the great Husbandman disseminated these holy seeds in the regenerate heart, but multitudes of impetuous corrup- tions immediately assault, and would certainly devour them, like the fowls of the air, did not the same arm that sowed them also protect them. It fares with grace, as with Christ its Author, whom Herod sought to destroy, in his very infancy. The new creature is scarce warm in its seat, before it must fight to defend itself This conflict is excellently set forth in that famous text, Gal. v. 17. "The flesh lusteth against the *' Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are contrary the '' one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."" By flesh here understand the corruption of nature by original sin, and the sinful motions thereof; — by Spirit, not the soul, or natural spirit of man, but the Spirit of God in man, viz. those graces in man which are the workmanship of the Spirit, and»therefore called by his name. The opposition betwixt these two is expressed by lusting^ i. e.
THE HEAVEXLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 101