carelessness, but provoke the soul to an industrious use of means to preserve it ; so it is in itself an irrational and senseless conclusion, which \nll never follow from any scripture-promise ; for although it is readily granted, that God hath made many comfortable and sweet promises to the grace of his people, yet we must expect to enjoy the benefits and blessings of all those promises, in that way and order in which God hath promised them ; and that is in the careful and dili- gent use of those means which he hath prescribed, Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37. For promises do not exclude, but imply the use of means, Acts xxvii. 31. I know my life is determined to a day, to an hour, and I shall live out every minute God hath appointed ; but yet, I am bound to provide food, raiment, and physic to preserve it.
To conclude, let all doubting Christians reflect rpi j j ,• seriously upon this truth, and suck marrow and „ ^ ? ^
fatness out of it to strengthen and establish them -^ '**
against all their fears : your life, your spiritual life hath for many years hung in supense before you ; and you have often said with Da- vid, I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul. Desponding, trem- bling soul ! lift up thine eyes, and look upon the fields ; the corn lives still, and grows up, though birds have watched to devour it ; snows have covered it, beasts have cropped it, weeds have almost choaked it, yet it is preserved. And hath not God more care of that precious seed of his own Spirit in thee, than any husbandman hath of his corn ? Hath he not said, " That having begun the good " work in thee, he will perfect it to the day of Christ .?" Phil, i. 6. Hath he not said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, John x. 28. Hast thou not many times said, and thought of It, as thou dost now, and yet it Hves ? O what matter of unspeak- able joy and comfort is this to upright souls ! Well then, be not discouraged, for thou dost not run as one uncertain, nor fight as one that beats the air, 1 Cor. ix. 26. But the foundation of God stands gure, having this seal, the Lord knows who are his, 2 Tipi. ii. 19. Though thy grace be weak, thy God is strong : though the stream seem sometimes to fail, yet it is fed by an ever-flowing fountain,
A IS justly wondered that an ear of corn Should come at last in safety to the barn : It runs through many hazards, threatening harms, Betwixt the sower's hands and reaper's arms. The earth no sooner takes it from the sack. But you may see behind the sower's back A troop of thieves which would at once destroy That seed in which lies hid the seed of joy. r .
This dangerous period past, it soon doth fall Into a second, no less critical. j
104 HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED ; 0«,
It shooteth forth the tender blade, and then
The noxious weeds endanger it again.
These clasp about it till they kindly choak
The corn, as flattering ivy doth the oak.
Are weeds destroyed and all that danger past ?
Lo, now another comes, the worst at last :
For when i' th' ear it blows, begins to kern,
A mildew smites it, which you can't discern,
Nor any way prevent till all be lost,
The corn destroyed with all your hopes and cost.
Thus saving grace, that precious seed of joy,
Which hell and nature plot how to destroy,
Escapes ten thousand dangers, first and last,
O who can say, now all the danger's past ?
'Tis like a crazy bark toss'd in a storm,
Or like a taper which is strangely born
Without a lanthorn in a blustVing night.
Or Hke to glimmering sparks, whose dying light
Is still preserved : the roaring waves swell high,
Like moving mountains in the darkened sky :
On their proud backs the httle bark is even
Mounted unto the battlements of heaven ;
From thence dismounted, to the deeps doth slide
Receiving water upon every side ;
Yet he whose voice the proudest waves obey,
Brings it at last unto the quiet quay ;
The blustVing winds strive with a fatal puff,
To bring the taper to a stinking snuff:
Their churlish blasts extinguish it, and then
Our gentle breath recovers it again :
The fainting sparks beneath the ashes lie.
Where, choak'd and smother d, they begin to die :
But these collected, we do gently blow,
'Till from faint sparks to lively flames they grow.
Ev'n thus is grace preserved, thus kept alive ;
By constant wonders grace doth Uve and thrive,
Upon the Patience of the Husbandman for the Harvest.
Our husbandmen for harvest wait and stay : Olet not any saint do less than they !
X HE expectation of a good harvest at last, makes the husband- man^ with untired patience, to digest ail his labours. He that
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 105
plows, plows in hope, 1 Cor. vi. 19. And they are not so irrational to think they shall presently be partakers of their hope ; nor so fool- ish to anticipate the harvest, by cutting down their corn before it be fully ripened : but are content to plow, sow, and weed it ; and when it is fully ripe, then they go forth into their fields, and reap it down with joy.