The moral man's

reflection.

2. How have I also been deceived in this matter? I verily thought that glory and immortality would have been the fruit and product of my moral honefty and righteoufnefs; that joy and peace had been feminally contained in thofe actions; but now I fee fuch fruit can fpring from no other root but special grace. Glory is difciofed from no other bud but holinefs, Alas! all my planting and fowing was to little purpofe, becaufe I fowed not the right kind of feed; the best fruit I can expect from this is but a leffer degree of damnation.

Deluded foul! thy feed is no better than what the moral heathens fowed: And do I expect better fruit than what they reaped? Civility without Chrift, is but a freer flavery; and Satan holds me as faft in captivity by this, as he doth the profane by the pleasure of their lufts Either I muft fow better feed, or look to reap bitter fruit.

The holy foul's reflection.

3. Mean while, blefs the Lord, O my foul! who enabled thee to fow better feed; who kept thee watching, humbling thyfelf, and praying, whilft others have been fwearing, drinking and blafpheming. This will yield thee fruit of joy in the world to come; yea, it yields prefent peace to thy confcience. These revenues are better than gold, fweeter than the honey, and the honey-comb; not that fuch fruits are meritorioufly contained in thefe actions; I fow to myself in righteousness, but I reap in mercy, Hof. x. 12. This is the way in which God will fave and glorify me. O then, let me be ever abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that my labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.

THE POEM.

WOULD be a ftrange and monftrous thing to see
Cherries or plumbs grow on an apple-tree.

Whoever gather'd from the thistle figs ?
Or fruitless grapes from off the worthless twigs
Of pricking thorns? In nature ftill we find
All its productions anfwering to their kind.
As are the plants we fet, or feeds we fow,
Such is the fruit we fhake, and corn we mow :
And canst thou think, that from corruption's root
Thy foul fhall pluck the sweet and pleasant fruit
Offpiritual peace! Whoever that was wife,
Abus'd himself with fuch abfurdities?
Look what you fow, the very fame you'll reap,
The fruit of what you plant, be fure you'll eat.
How are they baffled by a fubtile devil,

Who hope for heaven, whilft their ways are evil?
Such reafonings here their cred lous fouls beguile,
At which, in other things, then felves would fmile.

Our prefent acts, though flightly passed by,
Are fo much feed fown for eternity.
The feeds of prayers, fecret groans and tears,
Will fhoot at laft into the full-blown ears
Of peace and joy. Bleffed are they that fow
Befides thefe waters, yea, thrice bless'd, that go
Bearing fuch precious feed: Though now they mourn,
With joyful theaves they fhortly fhall return.
Needs muft the full-ripe fruits in heaven be good,
When as the feed was glory in the bud.
But, oh the bitter, bancful fruits of fin,
When all the pleasures finners have therein,
Like faded bloffems to the ground fhall fall,
Then they will talte the wormwood and the gall!
What God and confcience now of fin report,
You flight, and with their dreadful threat'nings sport :
But he'll convince you then your ways are naught,
As Gideon the men of Succoth taught.

If fermons cannot, fire and brimstone must
Teach men how good it is to pamper luft.
When confcience takes thee by the throat, and cries
Now wretch! now finner! thou that didft defpife
My warnings; learn, and ever learning be

That lefon which thou ne'er would learn of me.
The floutelt finner then would howl and roar,
O fin I never faw thy face before.

Is this the fruit of fin? Is this the place
'Where I must lie? Is this indeed the cafe
Of my poor foul! muft I be bound in chains
With thefe companions? Oh! are theft the gains
I get by fin? Poor wretch! I that would never
See this before, am now undone for ever!

A

CHAP. XVIII.

Upon the Joy of Harvest-men.

Great is the joy of harvefi-men: yet lefs
Than theirs whom God doth with his favour bless.

OBSERVATION.

MONG all earthly joys, thefe four forts are noted in fcripture, as the moft excellent and remarkable. (1.) Nuptial joys: the day of efpoufals is the day of the gladnefs of a man's heart, Cant. iii. 11. (2.) The joy of children: Though now it seems but a common mercy to moft, and a burden to fome, yet the people of God were wont to esteem it a choice mercy, and rejoiced greatly in it, John xvi. 21. there is joy that a man is born into the world.

(3) The joy of conquefts and victories, when men divide the spoil: And, laftly, The joy of harvest. Thefe two we find put together, as principal matters of joy, Ifa. ix. 3. "They joy before thee, according, "to the joy in harveft, and as men rejoice when they divide the fpoil.' The joy of harveft is no fmall joy; Gaudium meffis eft meffis gaudii; The joy of the harveft, is the harveft. of their joy. It is ufual with men, when they have reaped down their harveft (or cut the neck, as they call it) to demonftrate their joy by fhouting, and loud acclamations.

T

APPLICATION.

HUS, and unfpeakably more than thus, do faints rejoice and fhout for joy, when they reap the favour and love of God, for which they laboured in many a weary duty. This joy of harveft, as great as it is, and as much as carnal hearts are lifted up with it, is but a trifle, a thing of nought, compared with yours; after they have fown to themfelves in righteoufnefs, and waited for the effects and returns of their duties with patience, and at last come to reap in mercy, either the full harvest in heaven, or but the first-fruits of it on earth, yet rejoice, "with joy unfpeak"able and full of glory," 1 Pet. i. 8. "This puts more gladnefs "into their hearts, than when corn and wine increase," Pfal. iv. 7. Carnal joys are but as foul-fevers, the agues of the inward man, there is a great difference betwixt the unnatural inflammations of a feverish body, which wafte the fpirits, and drink up the radical moisture, and the kindly well-tempered heat of an healthy body; and as much between the fweet, ferene, and heavenly joy, which flow from the bofom of Chrift in the hearts of believers, and those earthly delights which carnal hearts, in a fenfual way, fuck out of creature-enjoyments. I will fhew you the tranfcendency of fpiritual joys, above the joy of harvest, in thefe eight particulars following.

1. You that joy with the joy of the harvest, are glad, because now you have food for yourselves and families to live upon all the year; but the Chriftian rejoiceth, because he hath bread to eat that the world knows not of, Rev. ii. 17. Chrift is the food of his foul, and his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, John V. 55. i. e. the moft real and excellent food. You read, Pfal. Ixxviii. 25. that men did eat angels food, i. e. Manna; which was fuch excellent bread, that if angels did live upon material food, this would be chofen for them; and yet this is but a type and dark shadow of Jefus Chrift, the food of believers.

2. You rejoice when your harvest is in, because corn is virtually many other things befides food; you can turn it into clothes to keep you warm, and many other neceffaries may be purchafed by it: but yet it is not like Chrift, the object of a faint's joy; though it answers many things, it doth not anfwer all things, as Chrift doth; turn it into what you will, it hath but a limited and respective usefulness ; but Jefus Chrift is all in all to believers, and out of him their faith

can fetch all fupplies; he is their health in ficknefs, their strength in weaknefs, their cafe in pain, their honour in reproach, their wealth in poverty, their friend in friendlefnefs, their habitation when harbourlefs, their enlargement in bonds, the ftrength of their hearts, and life of their life; O! he is a full Chrift! and whatever excellencies are fcattered among all the creatures, do meet all in him, and much

more.

3. You rejoice when you have gotten in your harveft, because now you can free thofe engagements, and pay thofe debts which you have contracted. "Tis a comfort to be out of debt; and you may lawfully rejoice that God gives you wherewith to quit your engagements, that you may owe no man any thing but love; but fill the joy of harveft falls fhort of the joy of the faints; for you rejoice that you are, or have wherewith to help yourfelves out of men's debt: but they rejoice that they are out of God's debt; that his book is cancelled, and their fins pardoned that by reafon of the imputed righteousness of Christ, the law can demand nothing from them, Rom. viii. 1. O what matter of joy is this!

4. You rejoice, because now your corn is out of danger; all the while it was abroad, it was in hazard, but now it is houfed you fear not the rain but Chriftians rejoice, not because their corn is fafe, but because their fouls are fo. All the while they abode in an unregenerate ftate, they were every moment in danger of the ftorms of wrath: but now, being in Chrift, that danger is over; and what compare is there betwixt the fafety of a little corn, and the fecurity of an immortal foul?

5. Your joy is but a gift of common providence. Turks and Heathens can rejoice with your joy; but the joy of a Chriftian, is a peculiar favour and gift of God. Corn is given to all nations, even the moft barbarous and wicked have ftore of it; but Chrift is the portion but of a few, and thofe the dearly beloved of God. Luther faid of the whole Turkish empire, (where is the beft and greateft ftore of corn) that it is but a crumb which the mafter of the family throws to the dogs. He that had more corn than his barns could hold, now wants a drop of water to cool his tongue. Chrift is a gift bestowed only upon God's elect.

6. Your joy will have an end; the time is coming, that when you have reaped down your harvests, yourselves must be reaped down by death, and then you fhall rejoice in these things no more. But when your joy is ended, then is the joy of faints perfected; they reap their harvest, when you leave your harveft; their confolation is everlafting.

7. God can feparate your joy from thefe enjoyments, even while you have them, as well as when you leave them. It is one thing for a man to have riches and full barns, and another thing to have comfort in them, Eccl. v. 19, 20. But now the joy of Chriftians is a thing infeparable from their enjoyment of Chrift: indeed the fenfe of their

intereft may be loft, and fo the acts of their joy intermitted; but they always have it in the feed, if not in the fruit, Pfal. xcvii. 11. "Joy is fown for the upright;" he hath it ftill in the principle, and in the promise.

8. The joy of harveft-men, for the moft part, is only in their harveft, and in fuch earthly things; take that away, and their joy ceafes. Earthly hearts are acquainted with no higher comforts; but the people of God can joy in him, and take comfort in their earthly enjoyments too. And what comfort they take in these things, is much more refined and fweet than yours; for they enjoy all thefe things in God, and his love in giving them, puts a sweetness into them, that you are unacquainted with. Thus you fee, how far your joys fall fhort of theirs.

REFLECTIONS.

A reflection for one that hath a full barn, but no Chrift.

1. How have I rejoiced in a thing of nought, and pleafed myself with a vanity? God hath bleffed me in my fields, and in my ftores; but not with fpiritual bleffings in heavenly places in Chrift. My barns are full of corn, but my foul is empty of grace; common bounty hath given me a fulness of the things of this life; but what if the meaning of it fhould be to fat me for the day of flaughter? What if this be the whole of my portion from the Lord? What if the language of his providences to my foul fhould be this; Lo! here I have given thee (with Ishmael) the fatnefs of the earth? Thou shalt not fay but thou haft tafted of thy Creator's bounty; but make the most of it, for this is all that ever thou fhalt have from me; there be others in the world, to whom I have denied these things, but for then I have referved better; for the moft part they are poor in this world, but rich, in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. Is not this enough to damp all my carnal mirth? Should my confcience give me fuch a meinento as Abraham, in the parable, gave to Dives; "Remember that thou in thy life-time receivedft thy good things." Ah! what a cut would that be to all my comforts? A man in a fever hath a lively colour, but a dying heart. I have an appearance, a fhadow of comfort, but a fad ftate of foul.

2. "Bleffed be the God and Father of my Lord

A reflection for

one that hath Christ, but

barn.

no

"Jefus Chrift, who hath bleffed me with all fpiri"tual bleffings in heavenly places in Chrift," Ephef. i. 3. Though he hath not feen fit to give me much of this world in hand, yet it hath pleafed him to fet le a rich inheritance upon me by promife; the hopes and expectations whereof yield my foul more true comfort than all the prefent enjoyments of this world could have done. Bleffed be the Lord, who hath not given me my portion in this life, that by keeping me from the enjoyment, hath alio preferved me from the fnares of a profperous eftate?