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are wrought upon. How many young perfons are called to one obdurate, inveterate finner? I do not say but God may call home fuch a foul at the eleventh hour, but I may fay of thefe, compared with others, as Solomon fpeaks, Eccl. vii. 28. "One man among a thou"fand have I found," &c. Few that have long refifted the golpel, that come afterwards to feel the faving efficacy thereof.

REFLECTIONS.

The true convert's reflection.

1. O grace, for ever to be admired! that God fhould fend forth his word and Spirit to plow up my hard and ftony heart! yea, mine, when he hath left fo many of more tender, ingenuous, fweet, and melting tempers without any culture or means of grace. O bleffed gofpel, heart-diffolving voice! I have felt thine efficacy, I have experienced thy divine and irrefiftible power; thou art indeed fharper than any two-edged fword, and woundest to the heart; but thy wounds are the wounds of a friend: All the wounds thou haft made in my foul, were fo many doors opened to let in Chrift: all the blows thou gavest my conscience, were but to beat off my foul from fin, which I embraced, and had retained to my everlasting ruin, hadst thou not separated them and me. O wife and merciful Phyfician! thou didst indeed bind me with cords of conviction and forrow, but it was only to cut out that stone in my heart, which had killed me if it had continued there. O how did I struggle and oppofe thee, as if thou hadft come with the sword of an enemy, rather than the lance and probe of a skilful and tender-hearted physician? Bleffed be the day wherein my fin was discovered and embittered! O happy forrows, which prepared for such matchlefs joys! O blefied hand, which turned my falt waters into pleafant wine and after many pangs and forrows of soul, didft, at length, bring forth deliverance and peace.

The ftubborn heart's reflection.

2. But O what a rock of adamant is this heart of mine! that never yet was wounded, and favingly pierced for fin by the terrors of the law, or melting voice of the gofpel! long have I fat under the word, but when did I feel a relenting pang? O my foul! my ftupified foul thou haft got an antidote against repentance, but haft thou any against hell? Thou canst keep out the sense of fin now, but art thou able to keep out the terrors of the Lord hereafter? If thou couldst turn a deaf ear to the sentence of Chrift in the day of judgment, as easily as thou dost to the entreaties of Chrift in the day of grace, it were fomewhat; but furely there is no defence against that. Ah! fool that I am, to quench thefe convictions, unless I knew how to quench those flames they warn me of.

3. And may not I challenge the first place among all the mourners in the world, who have all loft thofe convictions which at feveral times came upon me under the word? I have been often awa

The miscarrying foul's reflection.

kened by it, and filled with terrors and tremblings under it; but thofe troubles have foon worn off again, and my heart (like water re moved from the fire) returned to its native coldness. Lord! what a difmal cafe am I in! many convictions have I choaked and ftrangled, which, it may be, fhall never more be revived, until thou revive them against me in judgment. I have been in pangs, and brought forth nothing but wind; my troubles have wrought no deliverance, neither have my lufts fallen before them? My confcience, indeed, hath been fometimes fick with fin, yea, fo fick as to vomit them up by an external, partial reformation; but then, with the dog, have I turned again to my vomit, and now I doubt I am given over to an heart that cannot repent. O that thefe travelling pangs could be quickened again! but alas! they are ceafed. I am like a prifoner efcaped, and again recovered, whom the gaoler loads with double irons. Surely, O my foul! if thy fpiritual troubles return not again, they are but gone back to bring eternal troubles. It is with thee, O my foul as with a man whofe bones have been broken, and not well fet; who muft, (how terrible foever it appear to him) endure the pain of breaking and fetting them again, if ever he be made a found O that I might rather chufe to be the object of thy wounding mercy, than of thy fparing cruelty! if thou plow not up my heart again by compunction, I know it must be rent in pieces at last by defperation.

man.

THE POEM.

HERE's fkill in plowing, that the plowman knows,

TH

For if too fhallow, or too deep he goes,

The feed is either bury'd, or elfe may

To rooks and daws become an easy prey.

This, as a lively emblem, fitly may

Defcribe the bleffed Spirit's work and way:
Whofe work on fouls, with this doth fymbolize;
Betwixt them both, thus the resemblance lies.
Souls are the foil, conviction is the plow,
God's workmen draw, the Spirit fhews them how.
He guides the work, and in good ground doth blefs
His workmen's pains, with fweet and fair fuccefs.
The heart prepar'd, he scatters in the feed,
Which in its feason springs, no fowl nor weed
Shall pick it up, or choak this fpringing corn,
"Till it be houfed in the heavenly barn.

When thus the Spirit plows up the fallow ground,
When with fuch fruits his fervant's work is crown'd;
Let all the friends of Chrift, and fouls fay now,
As they pafs by the fields, God speed the plow.
Sometimes this plow thin fhelfy ground doth turn,
That little feed which fprings, the fun-beams burn.

The reft uncover'd lies, which fowls devour.
Alas! their heart was touch'd, but not with pow'r.
The cares and pleasures of this world have drown'd
The feed before it peep'd above the ground.
Some fprings indeed, the Scripture faith that fome
Do tafte the powers of the world to come.
Thefe embrios never come to timely birth,
Because the feed that's fown wants depth of earth.
Turn up, O God, the bottom of my heart;
And to the feed that's fown, do thou impart
Thy choiceft bleffing. Though I weep and mourn
In this wet feed-time, if I may return

With fheaves of joy; thefe fully will reward
My pains and forrows, be they ne'er fo hard.

CHAP. VIII.

Upon the Seed-Corn.

The choiceft wheat is ftill referv'd for feed,
But gracious principles are choice indeed.

H

OBSERVATION.

USBANDMEN are very careful and curious about their feed

corn, that it may not only be clean and pure, but the best and moft excellent of its kind. Ifa. xxviii. 25. " He cafteth in the prin"cipal wheat." If any be more full and weighty than other, that is referved for feed. It is ufual with hufbandmen to pick and leafe their feed-corn by hand, that they may feparate the cockel and darnel, and all the lighter and hollow grains from it, wherein they manifect their difcretion; for, according to the vigour and goodness of the feed, the fruit and production are like to be.

APPLICATION..

THE choice and principal feed corn, with which the fields are fowed, after they are prepared for it, doth admirably shadow forth thofe excellent principles of grace infufed into the regenerate foul. Their agreement, as they are both feed, is obvious, in the ten following particulars; and their excellency above other principles in fe

ven more.

1. The earth at first naturally brought forth corn, and every feed yielding fruit, without human induftry; but fince the curfe came upVOL. V. No.

39.

K

on it, it must be plowed and fowed, or no fruit can be expected. So man, at first, had all the principles of holiness in his nature, but now they must be infufed by regeneration, or elfe his nature is as void of holinefs as the barren and untilled defert is of corn.

2. The earlier the feed is fown, the better it is rooted, and enabled to endure the afperities of the winter; fo when grace is early infused, when nature is fanctified in the bud, grace is thereby exceedingly advantaged. It was Timothy's fingular advantage, that he knew the Scriptures from a child.

3. Frofts and fnows conduce very much to the well-rooting of the feed, and make it spread and take root much the better. So do fanctified afflictions, which ufually the people of God meet with after their calling, and often in their very feed time. 1 Thef. i. 6. "And "you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the "word in much affliction." But if they have fair weather then, to be fure they shall meet with weather hard enough afterwards. Heb. x. 32. "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye. "were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions."

4. When the feed is caft into the earth, it must be covered up by the harrow, the ufe whereof in husbandry, is not only to lay a plain floor (as they fpeak) but to open and let in the corn to the bofom of the earth, and there cover it up for its fecurity from birds that would devour it. Thus doth the moft wife God provide for the fecurity of that grace which he at first diffeminated in the hearts of his people. He is as well the finisher as the author of their grace, Heb. xii. 2. and of this they may be confident, that he that hath begun a good work in them will perform it unto the day of Chrift. The care of God over the graces of his people, is like the covering of the feed for fecurity.

5. Seed-corn is in its own nature of much more value and worth than other corn; the hufbandman cafts in the principal wheat. So are the feeds of grace fown in the renewed foul, for it is called the feed of God, 1-John iii. 9. The divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4.

One dram

of grace is far beyond all the glory of this world; it is more precious than gold which perishes. 1 Pet. i. 7. "The price of it is above ru"bies, and all that thou canft defire is not to be compared with it," Prov. iii. 15.

6. There is a great deal of spirit and vigour in a little feed; though it be fmall in bulk, yet it is great in virtue and efficacy. Gracious habits are alfo vigorous and efficacious things. Such is their efficacy that they overcome the world, 1 John v. 4. "Whatfoever is born of "God overcometh the world." They totally alter and change the perfon in whom they are. "He that perfecuted us in times paft, now "preacheth the faith which he once deftroyed." They enable the foul to do and fuffer great things for God, Heb. xi. 33, 34, 35. 7. The ftalk and ear are potentially and virtually in a small grain of corn. So are all the fruits of obedience which believers afterwards

bring forth to God, virtually contained in thofe habits or feeds of grace. It is ftrange to confider, that from a mustard-feed, (which, as Chrift faith, is the leaft of all feeds) fhould grow fuch great branches. that the birds of the air may build their nefts in them. Surely, the heroical and famous acts and atchievements of the most renowned believers fprang from finall beginnings at first, to that eminency and glory.

8. The fruitfulness of the feed depends upon the fun and rain, by which they are quickened, as opened largely in the next chapter. And the principles of grace in us have as neceffary a dependence upon the affifting and exciting grace without us. For though it be true, they are immortal feed; yet that is not fo much from their own ftrength as from the promifes made to them, and that conftant influx from above, by which they are revived and preserved from time to

time.

9. The feed is fruitful in fome foils more than in others, profpers much better, and comes fooner to maturity. So do graces thrive better and grow fafter in fome perfons than in others. "Your faith "groweth exceedingly," 2 Thef. i. 3. "Whilft the things that are " in others are ready to die," Rev. iii. 2. Though no man's heart be naturally a kind foil to grace, yet doubtless grace is more advantaged in fome difpofitions than in others.

10. And lastly, their agreement, as feed, appears in this, the feedcorn is fcattered into all parts of the field, as proportionably and equally as may be. So is grace diffufed into all the faculties: the judgment, will, and all the affections are fowed with thefe new principles. "The "God of peace fanctify you wholly," 1 Thef. v. 23.

And thus you fee why principles of grace are called feed. Now, in the next place, (which is the second thing promifed, and mainly defigned in this chapter) to fhew you the choicenefs and excellency of thefe holy principles with which fanctified fouls are embellished and adorned; and to convince you that true grace excels all other principles by which other perfons are acted, even as the principal wheat doth the chaff, and refufe ftuff, I fhall here inftitute a comparison betwixt grace and the moft fplendid, common gifts in the world; and its tranfcendent excellency above them all, will evidently appear in the feven following particulars.

1. The most excellent common gifts come out of the common treafury of God's bounty, and that in a natural way. They are but the improvement of a man's natural abilities, (or as one calls them) the fparks of nature blown up by the wind of a more benign and liberal education; but principles of grace are of a divine and heavenly original and extraction, not induced or raifed from nature, but fupernaturally infused by the Spirit from on high, John iii. 6. «That which " is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is "fpirit." When a foul is fanctified by them, "he partakes of the "divine nature," 2 Pet. i, 4. "Is born not of flesh, nor of blood,

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