the pith and substance of real godliness ? Then A reflection for a am I but chaff in God's account, though I grow close hypocrite. among his corn ; the eye of man cannot discern my hvpocrisy ; but when lie comes, whose fan is in his hand, then how plainly will it be detected ? Angels and men shall discern it, and say, " Lo, this is the man that made not God his liopc ;"*' How shall I abide the day of his coming? Christ is the great heart-anatomist : Things shall not be carried tlien by names and parties, as tliey are now ; every one shall be weighed in a just balance, and a Mene Telccl written upon every false heart : Great will be the perspicuity of that trial : My own conscience shall join with my judge, and shall then ac- knowledge, that there is not one drop of injustice in all that sea of wrath ; and though I am damned, yet I am not wronged. The chaff cannot stand before the wind, nor I before the judgment of Christ.
2. Is there such a fanning-time coming ? Why do not I then sift my heart every day by serious self-examination ?
No work more important to me, and yet how A reflectinnfor one much have I neglected it ? O my soul ! thou tJtat neglects self- hadst been better employed in searching thine examination. own estate in reference to that day, than in pry- ing sinfully into the hearts, and censuring the conditions of other men: Judge thyself, and thou shalt not be condemned with the world ; the work indeed is difficult, but the neglect dangerous : Were I within a few days to stand at man's bar, there to be tried for my life, how bu- sy should I be every hour of the day in writing to any that I thought could befriend me, and studying every advantage to myself? And yet what a vast difference is there betwixt man's bar and God's ? Be- twixt a trial for my life, and for my soul ? Lord, rouse up my slug- gish heart by awful and solicitous thoughts of thatday, lest I be found amongst that chaff which shall be burnt up with unquenchable fire.
5. Fear not, O my soul ! though there be a blast coming which shall drive all the chaff into A reflection for a hell, yet it shall blow thee no harm. " I know sincere soul. " that when he hath tried me, I shall come forth *' as gold," Job xxiii. 10. I confess I liave too much chaff about me, but yet I am not altogether chaff; there is a solid work of grace upon my soul that will abide the trial : Let the judgment to come be as impartial and exact as it is possible to be, yet a grain of sincerity
140 HusBAXDiiY spihitualized; ok,
cannot be lost in it : for " God will not cast away a perfect (i. e. art upright-hearted) man," Job viii. 20. He that is appointed to judge the world is mine ! and his imputed righteousness will make me full weight in the balance. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for sincerity ! this will abide, when common gifts and empty names will flee as the chaff before the wind,
X HE winnowing wind first drives the chaff away. Next light and hollow grains ; those only stay Whose weight and solid substance can endure This trial, and such grains are counted pure. The corn for use is cai'efully preserved ; The useless chaff for burning flames reserved. iVb 'Wind hilt hloics some good^ a proverb is ; Glad shall I be if it hold true in this. O that the wind, when you to winnowing go, This spiritual good unto your souls might blow \ To make you pause, and sadly ruminate, In what a doleful plight and wretched state Their poor souls are who cannot hope to stand When he shall come, whose fan is in his hand ; His piercing eyes infallibly disclose The very reins, and inward part of those Whose out-side seeming grace so neatly paints. That, with the best, they pass for real saints. No hypocrite with God acceptance finds. But, like the chaff, dispersed by furious winds. Their guilt shall not that searching day endure. Nor they approach the assemblies of the pure. Have you observed in autumn, thistle-down, By howling tEoIus scattered up and down About the fields .'' Ev'n so God's ireful storm Shall chase the hypocrite, who now can scorn The breath of close reproofs; and like a rock. Repel reproofs, and just reprovers mock. How many that in splendid garments walk, Of high professions, and like angels talk, Shall God divest, and openly proclaim Their secret guilt to their eternal shame ? This is the day wherein the Lord will rid His church of those false friends, who now lie hid Among his people ; there will not one False heart remain, to lose our love upon. O bless'd assembly ! glorious state ! when all In their uprightness walk, and ever shall.
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 141
O make my heart sincere, that I may never Prove such hght cliafF as then thy wind shall sever From solid grain ! O let my soul detest Unsoundness, and abide thy strictest test !
To the Second Part of
JlXOW is it, reader, have I tired thee,
Whilst through these pleasant fields thou walk^'st with me ?
Our path was pleasant ; but if length of way
Do weary thee, we'll slack our pace and stay :
Let's sit a while, under the cooling shade
Of fragrant trees ; trees were for shadow made.
Lo here a pleasant grove, whose shade is good ;
But more than so, 't^vi^ yield us fruit for food :
No dangerous fruits do on these branches grow,
No snakes among the verdant grass below ;
Here we'll repose a while, and then go view
The pleasant herds and flocks ; and so adieu.
Upon tbe Ingraffing of Fruit-trees.
Ungrqffed trees can never hear good fruit ; Nor zee, till g'^'affed on a better root.
-A. WILD tree naturally springing up in the wood or hedge, and never graffed or removed from its native soil, may bear some fruit, and that fair and beautiful to the eye ; but it will give you no content at all in eating, being always harsh, sour, and unpleasant to the taste ; but if such a stock be removed into a good soil, and graffed with a better kind, it may become a good tree, and yield store of choi|f and pleasant fruit.
U NREGENERATE men, who never were accquainted with the mystery of spiritual union with Jesus Christ, but still grow upon
142 IIUSBAXUIIY SPIllITUALIZED ; Oil,
on tlieir natural root, old Adam, may, by the force and power of na^ tural principles, bring forth som.e fruit, which, hke the wild hedge- fruit we speak of, may, indeed, be fair and pleasant to the eyes of men, but God takes no pleasure at all in it ; it is sour, harsh, and distasteful to him, because it springs not from the Spirit of Christ, Isa. i. 13. "I cannot away with it, it is iniquity," &;c. But that I may not entangle the thread of my discourse, I shall (as in tlie former chapters) set before you a parallel betwixt the best fruits of natural men, and those of a wild ungraffed tree.