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fire and defign to make you fo: and I could not think on a more probable mean to accomplish this honett defign, than what I have here ufed. Methinks it thould be a pleature to you, when you come weary out of the fields from plow, or any other labour to fit down in the evening, and read that chapter which concerns that particular business, and refresh your fouls, even from that which hath wearied your bodies. Were your hearts but heavenly, and more time allowed for fpiritual husbandry, your inward comforts would be much more, and your outward gains not a jot lefs; for if the fuccefs of all your civil labours and employments depend upon the pleasure and will of God, (as all that are not atheift's do acknowledge) then, certainly, your business can fucceed never the worfe for your endeavours to please him, upon whofe pleafure it fo entirely depends. I have many times lifted up my heart to heaven, whilst these papers were under my hand, for a fpecial blefling to accompany them, when they should be in yours. If the Lord accomplith my defires by them upon your fouls you fhall enjoy two heavens, one here, and another hereafter. Would not that be tweet? The hiftorian tells us, that Aititius Serarius was fowing corn in the field, when Q. Cincinnatus came to him bare-headed with letters from the fenate, fignifying, that he was chofen to the dictatorship. I hope the Lord will fo blefs and fucceed thefe labours, that many of you will be called from holding the plow on earth, to wear the crown of glory in heaven; which is the fincere defire of

Your hearty well-wisher,

JOHN FLAVEL.

The AUTHOR to the READER,

NOME you, whofe lift'ning ears do even itch
To hear the way prefcrib'd of growing rich;

I'll thew you how to make your tenements
Ten thousand times more worth, and yet your rents
Not rais'd a farthing; here my reader fees

A way to make his dead and barren trees

Yield precious fruit; his fheep, though ne'er fo bad,
Bear golden fleeces. fuch ne'er Jafon had :
In every thing your gain fhall more than double,
And all this bad with far lefs toil and trouble.
Methinks I hear thee fay, This cannot be,
I'll ne'er believe it. Well, read on and fee.
Reader, hadft thou but fenfes exercis'd
To judge aright; were fpiritual things but priz'd
At their juft value, thou wouldft quickly fay,

'Tis fo indeed; thou wouldst not go thy way
Like one that's disappointed, and to fling
The book afide. I thought 'twas fome fuch thing.
Time was when country Chriftians did afford
More hours and pains about God's holy word:
Witness the man who did moft gladly pay

For fome few leaves his whole cart-load of hay.
And time fhall be, when heavenly truth that warms
The heart, thall be preferr'd before your farms;
When holinefs, as facred fcripture tells,
Shall be engraven on the horfes bells.
Lord, haften on thofe much defired times,
And, to that purpose, bless those rural rhymes:

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THE fcope and defign of the following chapters, being the fpiritual improvement of hufbandry, it will be neceffary, by way of proem, to acquaint the reader with the foundation, and general rules of this art in the fcriptures, thereby to procure greater refpect unto, and prevent prejudices against compofures of this kind.

To this end, I fhall entertain the reader a little while upon what this scripture affords, which will give a fair introduction to the following difcourfe.

The apoftle's fcope in the context being to check and reprefs the vain glory and emulation of the Corinthians, who, inftead of thankfulness for, and an humble and diligent improvement of the excellent bleflings of the miniftry, turned all into vain oftentation and emulation, one preferring Paul, and another Apollos; in the mean time depriving themselves of the choice bleffings they might have received from them both.

To cure this growing mifchief in the churches, he checks their vanity, and difcovers the evil of fuch practices by several arguments, amongst which this is one,

Ye are God's Husbandry, q. d.

What are ye, but a field or plot of ground, to be manured and cultivated for God? And what are Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but fo many workmen and labourers, employed by God, the great Hufbandman, to plant and water you all?

If, then, you fhall glory in fome, and despise others, you take the ready way to deprive yourselves of the benefits and mercies you might receive from the joint miniftry of them all. God hath ufed me to plant you, and Apollos to water you; you are obliged to blefs him for

the miniftry of both, and it will be your fin if you defpife either. If the workmen be difcouraged in their labours, it is the field that lofes and fuffers by it; fo the words are a fimilitude, ferving to illustrate the relation,

I. Which the churches have to God.

2. Which God's minifters have to the churches.

1. The relation betwixt God and them is like that of an husbandman to his ground or tillage. The Greek word fignifies God's *arable, or that plot of ground which God manures, by the miniftry of pastors and teachers.

2. It ferves to illuftrate the relation that the minifters of Christ sustain to the churches, which is like that of the husbandman's fervants to him and his fields; which excellent notion carries in it the perpetual neceffity of a gospel miniftry. (For what fruit can be expected, where there are none to till the ground?) As also the diligence, accountablenefs, and rewards which these labourers are to give to, and receive from God, the great Husbandman. All runs into this,

That the life and employment of an husbandman, excellently shadows forth the relation betwixt God and his church, and the relative duties betwixt its ministers and members.

Or more briefly thus:

The church is God's hufbandry, about which his minifters are employed.

I fhall not here obferve my ufual method, (intending no more but a preface to the following difcourfe) but only open the particulars wherein the resemblance consists; and then draw fome Corollaries from the whale. The first I fhall dispatch in these twenty particulars following:

1. Prop. The husbandman purchases his fields, and gives a valuable confideration for them, Jer. xxxii. 9, 10.

Reddit. So hath God purchafed his church with a full valuable price, even the precious blood of his own Son, Acts xx. 28. "Feed the church of God which he hath purchased, or acquired with his " own blood." O dear-bought inheritance! how much doth this bespeak its worth! Or rather, the high efteem God hath of it, to pay down blood, and fuch blood for it; never was any inheritance bought at fuch a rate: every particular elect person, and none but fuch are comprehended in this purchase; the rest still remain in the devil's right. Sin made a forfeiture of all to juftice, upon which Satan entered, and took poffeffion, and, as the ftrong man armed, ftill keeps it in them, Luke xi. 21. but upon payment of this fum to juftice, the elect (who only are intended in this purchase) pafs over into God's right and property, and now are neither Satan's, Acts xxvi. 18.

The faithful (or believers) are called God's husbandry, (yswgyior, georgeon) because God cultivates them as land by means of spiritual teachers (or pastors) Rev.

nor their own, 1 Cor. vi. 19. but the Lord's peculiar, 1 Pet. ii. 6. And to fhew how much they are his own, you have two poffeffives in one verfe. Cant. viii, 12. " My vineyard, which is nine, is before 61 me, mine, which is mine."

2 Prop. Hufbandmen divide and feparate their own lands from other men's, they have their land-marks and boundaries, by which property is preferved, Deut. xxvii. 17. Prov. xxii. 28.

Reddit. So are the people of God wonderfully feparated and diftinguished from all the people of the earth. Pfal. iv. 3. "The Lord "hath fet apart him that is godly for himself. And the Lord knoweth "who are his," 2 Tim. ii. 19. It is a fpecial act of grace, to be inclofed by God out of the wafte howling wilderness of the world, Deut. xxxii. 16. This did God intentionally, in the decree before the world was; which decree is executed in their fanctification and adop

tion.

3. Prop. Corn-fields are carefully fenced by the husbandman with hedges and ditches, to preferve their fruits from beafts that would otherwife over-run and destroy them- -Non minor eft virtus quam quærere parta tueri. It is as good husbandry to keep what we have, as to acquire more than we had.

Reddit. "My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it," Ifa. v. 1, 2. No inheritance is better defended and fecured, than the Lord's inheritance, Pfal. cxxv. 2. « As the "mountains are round about Jerufalem, fo the Lord is round about

his people." So careful is he for their fafety that he createth "upon every dwelling-place of mount Sion, and upon her affem"blies, a cloud and fmoke by day, and the fhining of a flaming fire "by night for upon all the glory fhall be a defence," Ifa. iv. 5. Not a particular faint, but is hedged about and inclofed in arms of power and love, Job i. 10. "Thou haft made a hedge about him," The devil fain would, but by his own confeffion could not break over the hedge to touch Job, till God's permiffion made a gap for him: yea, he not only made an hedge, but a wall about them, and that of fire, Zech. ii. 5. Sets a guard of angels to encamp round "about them that fear him," Pfal. xxxiv. 7. And will not truft them with a fingle guard of angels neither, though their power be great, and love to the faints as great; but watches over them himfelfalfo, Ifa. xxvii. 2, 3. "Sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine, "I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; left any "hurt it, I will keep it night and day."

4. Prop. Hufbandmen carry out their compoft, to fertilize their arable ground, they dung it, drefs it, and keep it in heart; and in thefe western parts are at great charges to bring lime, and falt-water-fand to quicken their thin and cold foil.

Reddit. "Lord, let it alone this year alfo, til! I fhall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well, if not, cut it down," Luke xiii. 8. O the rich dreffing which God beftows upon his churches!

they are coftly fields indeed, drefs'd and fertilized, not only by precious ordinances and providences, but also by the fweat, yea, blood of the difpenfers of them. "You Londoners (faith Mr Lockier in "Colof. p. 552.) are trees watered choicely indeed; it is ftoried of "the palm-tree, that at its firft tranfplanting into Italy, it was wa"tered with wine. I cannot fay (faith he) that you have been fo "watered by me, I dare not; but this I can humbly and truly fay, "that if our choiceft strength and fpirits may be named inftead of "water, wine; or if the bleffing which hath gone along with these "waters, at any time, hath turned them into wine, in vigour upon your fouls, then hath God by me, watered your roots with wine.' 5. Prop. The husbandman builds his houfe, where he makes his purchase, dwells upon his land, and frequently vifits it; he knows that fuch as dwell far from their lands, are not far from lofs.

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Reddit. So doth God; wherever he plants a church, there doth he fix his habitation, intending there to dwell, Pfalm xlvi. 5. " God ❝is in the midst of her," she shall not be moved. Thus God came to dwell upon his own fee and inheritance, in Judea, Lev. xxvi. 11, 12. “And I will set my tabernacle amongst you, and will be your "God, and ye fhall be my people." Which promife is again renewed to his churches of the New Teftament, 2 Cor. vi. 16. And when the churches fhall be in their greatest flourish and purity, then shall there be the fullest and most glorious manifeftation of the divine prefence among them, Rev. xxi. 3. " And I heard a great voice out "of heaven, faying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and " he will dwell with them, and be their God." Hence the affenblies are called, the places of his feet--And there they "behold "the beauty of the Lord," Pfalm xxvii.

6. Prop Husbandmen grudge not at the coft they are at for their tillage; but as they lay out vaft fums upon it, fo they do it cheerfully.

Reddit. "And now, O inhabitants of Jerufalem, and men of Ju❝dah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard; what could "have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? And as he bestows upon his heritage the choiceft mercies, fo he doth it with the greatest cheerfulness; for he faith, Jer. xxxii. 41. " I "will rejoice over them to do them good; and I will plant them in "this land affuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole "foul." It is not the giving out of mercy (faith one) that grieveth God, but the recoiling of his mercy back again upon him by the creature's ingratitude.

7. Prop. When husbandmen have been at coft and pains about their husbandry, they expect fruit from it, answerable to their pains and expences about it: "Behold (faid James) the husbandman waiteth "for the precious fruits of the earth," Jam. v. 7.

Reddit." And he looked that it fhould bring forth fruit," Ifa. v. VOL. V.

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