the removal of it ; at last God removed it, but instead thereof he was sorely exercised with the motions and temptations of lust, which when he perceived, he as earnestly desired his head-ach again, to prevent a greater evil. Lord ! if my corruptions may be prevented by my afflictions, I refuse not to be clogged with them ; but my soul rather desires thou wouldest hasten the time when I shall be for ever freed from them both.
Upon the love of a Dog to Ids Master.
JLiOW many a weary step, through mire and dirt, hath this poot dog followed my horse^s heels to day, and all this for a very poor reward ? for all he gets by it at night, is but bones and blows, yet will he not leave my company, but is content upon such hard terms, to travel with me from day to day.
O my soul ! what conviction and shame may this leave upon thee, who art oftentimes even weary of following thy master, Christ, whose rewards and encouragements of obedience are so incomparably sweet and sure ! I cannot beat back this dog from following me, but every inconsiderable trouble is enough to discourage me in the way of my duty. Ready I am to resolve as that scribe did, Matth. viii. 19. " Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest ;" but how doth my heart faulter, when I must encounter with the difficulties of the way ? Oh ! let me make a whole heart-choice of Christ for my portion and happiness ! and then 1 shall never leave him, nor turn back from following him, though the present difficulties were much more, and the present encouragements much less.
Upon the fighting of two Rams.
AKING notice how furiously these sheep, ivhich by nature are mild and gentle, did yet, like bulls, push each other, taking their advantage by going back to meet with a greater rage and fury : methought I saw in this a plain emblem of the unchristian contests and animosities which fall out amongst them that call themselves the people of God, who are in scripture also stiled sheep, for their meekness and innocency ; and yet, through the remaining corrup- tions that are in them, thus do they push each other : as one long since complained,
Cum duo conversis inimica inpraTia tauriy Frontibus inQurrunt i '■■■■■ ■■ ■
194 HUSBAXDIIY SPIRITUALIZED ; olt.
Shall Christians one another wound and push, like furious bulls, when they together rush ?
The fighting of these sheep doth in two respects notably comport with the sinful practices of contending Christians, 1. That in this fight they engage with their heads one against another : aad what are they but those head-notions, or opposition of sciences falsely so called, that have made so many broils and uproars in the Chriitian world ? O f what clashings have tliese heady opinions caused in the churches ? First heads, and then hearts have clashed. Christians have not dis- tinguished betwixt adversarius litis, et fcrsonoe ; an adversary to the opinion, and to the perifon ; but dipt their tongues and pens in vinegar and gall, shamefully aspersing and reproaching one another, because their understandings were not cast into one mould, and their heads all of a bigness. But, 2. That which country-men observe from the fighting of sheep. That it presages foul and stormy weather, is much more certainlv consequent upon the fighting of Chrisfs sheep. Do these clash and push.'* Surely it is an iiifaUible prognostic of an ensuing storm, Mai. iv. 6.
Upon the Catching of an Horse in a fat Pasture.
▼ T HEN this horse was kept in poor short leas, where he had much scope, but little grass, how gentle and tractable was he then ? He would not only stand quiet to be taken, but come to hand of his own accord, and follow me up and down the field for a crust of bread, or handful of oats; but since I turned him into this fat pasture, he comes no more to me, nor will suffer me to come near him, but throws up his heels wantonly against me, and flies from me as if I were rather his enemy than a benefactor. In this I behold the car- riage of my own heai't towards God, who the more he hath done for me, the seldomer doth he hear from me ; in a low and afflicted state, how tractable is my heart to duty ? Then it comes to the foot of God voluntarily. But in an exalted condition, how wildly doth my heart run from God and duty ? With this ungrateful requital God faulted his own people, Jer. iii. 31. teachable and tractable in the wilderness, but when fatted in that rich pasture of Canaan, " Then " we are lords, we will come no more to thee." How soon are all God's former benefits for£otten ? And now often is that ancient ob- servation * verified, even in his own people ?
" No sooner do we gifts on some bestow,
" But presently our gifts grey-headed grow."
Fast munera ciio consemscit gratia.
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 195
But that is a bad tenant, that will maintain a suit at law against his landlord with his own rent ; and a bad heart, that will fight against God witli his own mercies. I wish it may be with my heart, as it is reported to be with the waters in the kingdom of Congo, that are never so sweet to the taste, as when the tide is at the highest.
Upon the huntings of a Deer.
X HE full-mouthed cry of these dogs, which from the morning have hunted this poor tired deer, which is now no longer able to stand before them, but is compassed round with them, who thirst for, and will presently suck her blood, brings to my thoughts the con- dition and state of Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh, who was thus hunted from place to place by blood-thirsty enemies. Upon this ve- ry account, the 22d Psalm, which treats of his death, is inscribed with the title of Ajieleth Shahar, which signifies the hind of the morning', and fully imports the same notion which this occasion presented me with ; for look, as the hind or deer, which is intended to be run down that day, is roused by the dogs early in the morning, so was Christ, in the very morning of his infancy, by bloody Herod, and that cruel pack confederated with him. Thus was he chased from place to place, till that was fulfilled which was prophetically written of him in ver. 16. of the forecited Psalm : " For dogs have compassed me about, " the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me ; they pierced my " hands and my feet."
And canst thou expect, O my soul ! to fare better than he did, or escape the rage of bloody men ? Surely, if the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee, if his holiness have favoured thee, these dogs will wind it, and give thee chase too : they go upon the scent of holiness still, and would hunt to destruction everyone, in whom there is aliquid Christi, any thing of Christ, if the gracious providence of the Lord did not sometimes rate them off: for it is no less a pleasure which some wick- ed ones take in hunting the people of God, than what * Claudian the poet observes men use to take in hunting wild beasts. " Whilst every huntsman in the night do sleep, " Their fancies in the woods still hunting keep."