greatest ftrength, and choiceft hours? O that I could once confider, what a good Mafter Chriftians ferve, who will not only abundantly reward them at night, but brings them their food into the fields to encourage them in their labour! What pity is it, that fo good a Master should be fo badly ferved as he hath been by me! Hark how he pleads to gain my heart:

THE POEM,

By way of Dialogue betwixt Chrift and the World.
CHRIST.

Why fo free of fweat and time,

For what ere long will not be thine?

Or if it might, thou fell'ft to lofs,
A precious foul for lafting drofs.
Those weary hands, and toiling brains,
Might be employ'd for better gains.
Wouldft thou but work as hard for me,
As for the world which cozens thee;
Thy gains fhould be a thousand fold:
For my revenue's more than gold.
WORLD.

Soul, I have always found thee willing,
Rather by me to earn a fhilling,
Than truft uncertain things which lie
Beyond thee in eternity.

Shall things unfeen now tempt thee? Tush,
A bird in hand's worth two i' tn' bush.

I pay thee wages down in hand,

This thou canft feel, tafte, understand,
O let not fuch a vain pretence

Prevail against thy very fenfe.

CHRIST.

Thus beafts are led, thus birds are fnar'd,
Thus fouls for ruin are prepar❜d.

What! truft no farther than you fee,
You'll truft a thief as far as me
Deluded wretch! Will nought but fight
And fenfe convince thee? O how right,
How juft is God? whofe direful scourge
Such arguments in hell fhall urge.
WORLD.

Chrift threatens wrath to come, but I
Do threaten thee with poverty.
And why wilt thou thyself, and those
That are fo dear, to want expofe !
VOL. V.

F

1

Come fee, the faints, for all their brags,

How well they thrive, they're cloth'd in rags.
CHRIST.

If my dear faints in rags do go,
'Tis not religion clothes them fo;
But by fuch wants the Lord fecures
Their fouls against the killing snares :
They all are heirs, tho' under age,
Expectants of their heritage:

Kept fhort for prefent, yet contemn
A change with those that scoff at them.
WORLD.

It is vain to plead, for I

With prefent things charm pow'rfully;
Whate'er thou offer'ft, they'll defpife,
I hold them pris'ners by their cyes.
CHRIST.

If they will ferve no other Lord,
Then let it ftand upon record,
Against their fouls, that they refas'd
My wages, and my grace abus'd.
Remember this when they fhall fee
All turn'd to afhes that's in thee.

N°

ANOTHER.

TONE will deny but those are bleffed pains
Which are attended with the richest gains.
Grant this, and then moft clearly 'tis inferr'd,
Soul-work to all deferves to be preferr'd.
This is an unknown trade: O who can count
To what the gains of godliness amount?
For one poor fhilling, O what risks some run?
Some toiling as i' th' fire, from fun to fun.
Whereas one hour spent with God brings in
Such heavenly treasures, that poor fouls have been
Enrich'd for ever. Even as you fee

A prince's favourite, upon the knee,
Can in an hour's time more wealth obtain,
Than all your lives by labour you can gain.

Pray'r-gains are great, and quick returns are made,
Sure then the Chriftian drives the richest trade.
'Tis true the hypocrite that never drove

A ferious trade for heaven may bankrupt prove:
But holy fouls, who mind, and closely ply
Their bus'nefs, greatly are enrich'd thereby :

The diff'rence 'twixt the one, and th' other's best
By fuch a fimile as this, expreft:

As in a fummer's day you often fee

The wanton butterfly, and painful bee;

On fragrant flowers fix, whence one doth strive
To bear his precious burden to the hive;
The other's pains no profit with it brings,
His time is spent in painting of his wings.
When winter comes, the bee hath full fupplies,
The other creeps into an hole, and dies.
Like different events fhall be betwixt
The painful faint, and lazy notionist.

TH

CHAP. III.

Upon the cheerfulness of the Hufbandman.

The plowman fings, and whiffles, though he fweat,
Shall Chriftians droop, because their work is great?

OBSERVATION.

HOUGH the labours of the husbandman are very great and toilfome, yet with what cheerfulness do they go through them? It is very delightful to hear the melody they make, by whistling, as they follow the plow; yea, the very horfes have their bells, which make a pleasant noife. Horfes (faith Mr Fuller) will do more for a whif tle than a whip; and their bells do, as it were, gingle away their weariness. I have been often delighted with this country mufic, whereby they fweeten their hard labours with an innocent pleasure, and verify the faying of the poet :

B

Tempus in agrorum cultu confumere dulce eft.
Altho' they plow from morning until night,
Time fteals away with pleafure and delight.

APPLICATION.

Ovid.

UT how much greater caufe have the people of God to addrefs themfelves unto his work with all cheerfulness of spirit? And, indeed, fo far as the heart is fpiritual, it delights in its duties. It is true, the work of a Chriftian is painful, and much more spending than the husbandman's, (as was opened, Chap. 1.) but then it as much exceeds in the delights and pleasures that attend it. What is the Chriftian's work, but "with joy to draw water out of the wells of "falvation?" Ifa. xii. 3. You may fee what a pleasant path the paths of duty is, by the cheerfulness of those that have walked in

them, Pfal. cxix. 14. I have rejoiced in the way of thy judgments, "as much as in all riches." And by the promifes that are made to fuch, Pfal. cxxxviii. 5. "Yea, they fing in the ways of the Lord, "for great is the glory of the Lord." And again, "You fhall have

a fong as in the night, when an holy folemnity is kept, and glad"nefs of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come to the "mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Ifrael," Isa. xxx.

29.

And, laftly, by the many commands, whereby joy in the way of the Lord is made the duty of the faints. "Rejoice in the Lord, ye " righteous, for praife is comely for the upright," Pfal. xevii. 12. "Rejoice, and again I fay, rejoice," Phil. iv. 4. where the command is doubled, yea, not only fimple rejoicing, but the highest degree of that duty comes within the command. Pfal. cxxxii. 9, 16. "Shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart." And Luke vii. 22, 23, they are bid to leap for joy, when about the difficulteft part of their work. And that you may fee there is a fufficient ground for it, and that it is not like the mad mirth of finners, be pleased to confider,

1. The nature of the work about which they are employed: It is the most excellent and heavenly employment that ever fouls were acquainted with. O what a ravishing and delightful thing it is to walk with God! And yet by this, the whole work of a Chriftian is expreffed, Gen. xvii. 1. Can any life compare with this, for pleafure? Can they be chill that walk in the fun-fhine? Or fad, that abide in the fountain of all delights; and walk with him whofe name is the God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3. "In whofe prefence is the "fulness of joy," Pfal. xvi. '11. O what an angelical life doth a Chriftian then live?

Or, 2dly, If we confider the variety of spiritual employments, Varietas delectat. Change of employment takes off the tedioufnefs of labour. Variety of voices pleases the ear, variety of colours delights the eye, the fame meat prepared feveral ways, pleases the palate more, and clogs it lefs. But oh the variety of choice difhes wherewith God entertains his people in a Sabbath! as the word, prayer, facraments, &c. Ifa. lviii. 13. If thou call the Sabbath thy delights; or, as Tremellius renders it, thy delicate things "My foul (faith David) fhall be fatisfied as with marrow and fatnefs," Pfal. lxiii. 5.

3dly or laftly. If we confider the fuitablenefs of this work to a regenerate foul. Is it any pain for a bird to fly? Or a fish to fwim? Is the eye tired with beautiful objects? Or the ear with melodious founds? As little can a fpiritual foul be wearied with fpiritual and heavenly exercifes. Rom. vii. 22. "I delight in the law of God after the inner man." Gravia non gravitant in eorum loco, (faith the philofooher) weighty things are not heavy in their own element, or centre. And furely God is the centre of all gracious fpirits. A faint can fit from morning to night to hear difcourfes of the love and

loveliness of Jefus Chrift. The fight of your thriving flocks and flourishing fields, cannot yield you that pleasure which an upright foul can find in one quarter of an hour's communion with God. "They that are after the flesh, (faith the apostle, Rom. viii. 5.) do "mind the things of the flesh, and they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." But then look how much heavenly objects tranfcend earthly ones, and how much the foul is more capable of delight in those objects, than the grofs and duller fenfes are in theirs; fo much doth the pleasure arifing from duty excel all sensitive delights on earth.

REFLECTIONS.

The carnal heart's reflection.

How am I caft and condemned by this, may I fay, who never favoured this fpiritual delight in holy duties! When I am about my earthly employments, I can go on unweariedly from day to day; all the way is down-hill to my nature, and the wheels of my affections being oiled with carnal delight, run so fast, that they have need moft times of trigging. Here I rather need the curb than the spur. O how fleet and nimble are my fpirits in thefe their purfuits! but O what a flug am I in religious duties! fure if my heart were renewed by grace, I fhould delight in the law of God, Rom. vii. 22. All the world is alive in their ways, every creature enjoys his proper pleasure; and is there no delight to be found in the paths of holinefs? Is godliness only a dry root that bears no pleasant fruits? No, there are doubtlefs incomparable pleafures to be found therein; but such a carnal heart as mine favours them not.

The hypocrite's reflection.

I cannot fay but I have found delight in religious duties, but they have been only fuch as rather fprang from the oftentation of gifts and applaufes of men, than any fweet and real communion I have had with God through them; they have rather proved food and fuel to my pride, than food to my foul. Like the nightingale, I can fing fweetly, when I obferve others to listen to me, and be affected with my mufic. O faife, deceitful heart, fuch delight as this will end in howling! were my fpirit right, it would as much delight in retirements for the enjoyment of God, as it doth in thofe duties that are moft expofed to the obfervation of man. Will fuch a fpring as this maintain a ftream of affections when carnal motives fail? What wilt thou anfwer, O my foul! to that question? Job xxvii. 9, 10. "Will God "hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? Will he delight him"felf in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" What wilt thou reply to this question? Deceive not thou thyself, O my foul! thou wilt doubtlefs be easily perfuaded to let go that thou never delightedft in, and, from an hypocrite in religion, quickly become an apoftate from religion.