vate vineyard of their own to look after, they have much homework, when no out-work.

16. Prop. There is a vaft difference betwixt thofe fields which have been well husbanded, and dreffed by a skilful and diligent husbandman; and those that have been long out of husbandry. How fragrant is the one? How dry and barren the other? when you pass by a field well dreffed and fenced, every thing profperous, and in exquifite order, you may know, without farther enquiry, that a good husbandman lives there.

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Reddit. Thus ftands the cafe betwixt those places which God hath blessed with a faithful painful ministry, and fuch as have none, or worse than none: for as the hufbandman's coft and pains appear in the verdant, and fragrant hue of his fields; fo a minister's pains and diligence are (ordinarily) feen in the heavenly lives, and flourishing graces of the people. The churches of Corinth and Theffalonica, where Paul, and other holy inftruments, spent much of their time and pains, became famous and flourishing churches, 2 Cor. ix. 2. A fpecial bleffing comes along with a godly minifter, to the place where special providence affigns him. Such places, like Gideon's fleece, have the dew of heaven lying on them, whilft others round about are dry and barren.

17. Prop. The hufbandman is not difcouraged, though the feed lie long under the clods; he knows it will fpring up at laft, and reward him, or those that come after him, for their pains and patience in waiting for it.

Reddit. Minifters fhould not be prefently difcouraged in their work, because they fee but little or no appearance of all the feed they have fown among the people. The "servant "of the Lord must be patient towards all, waiting if at any "time God will give them repentance," 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25And if it never fpring up in his time, it may after his death; and if fo, he shall not fail of his reward, John iv. 36, 37. "And he that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit "unto life eternal, that both he that foweth, and he that reap"eth, may rejoice together; and herein is that faying true, one "foweth, and another reapeth." Though minifters die, yet their words live; yea, their words take hold of men when they are in the duft, Zech. i. 6.

18. Prop. Husbandmen find low grounds, and valleys, most fertile; hills, how lofty foever they overtop the lower grounds, yet answer not the hufbandman's pains, as the valleys do: thefe are best watered and fecured from the fcorching heat of the fun."

Reddit. Experience fhews us, that the humbleft faints are moft fruitful under the gofpel; "Thefe are they that receive "with meeknefs the ingraffed word," Jam. i. 21. whofe influences abide in them, as the rain doth in the low valleys. Happy is that minifter, whose lot falls in fuch a pleasant valley. "Bleffed are they that fow befide all fuch waters, that "fend forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass," Isa. xxxii. 20. among these valleys run the pleasant springs, and purling brooks, which fertilize the neighbouring ground. Heavenly ordinances there, leave fruitful influences.

19. Prop. The first crop is ufually the best, and the longer the husbandman tills his ground, the lefs it produces; after a few years its vigour and ftrength is spent.

Reddit. The first entertainment of the gofpel is commonly the best; and what good is done by the miniftry is often done at its firft entrance. New things are pretty, and very taking.

John at firft was to the Jews a burning and fhining light, "and they were willing, [for a season] to rejoice in his light,' John v. 35. Paul was highly valued among the Galatians at firft; fuch was their zeal, that they could have plucked out their eyes, and have given them to him; but how quickly did this full tide ebb again? For he complains, Gal. iv, 15. "Where then is the bleffednefs ye fpake of?"

20. Prop. Laftly, When fields prove barren, and will not quit the husbandman's coft, nor answer the feed he fows in them, he plucks up the hedges, and lays it waste.

Reddit. So when churches grow formal, and fruitlefs, the Lord removes his gofpel-prefence from them, plucks up the hedge of his protection from about them, and lays them open, as waste ground, to be over-run by their enemies. Jer. vii. 12. "Go to Shiloh, and fee what I did unto it." What is become of those once famous and flourishing churches of Afia? Are they not laid wafte, and trodden down by infidels? And now go to, faith the great Husbandman, "I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard; I will pull up the hedge thereof, " and it fhall be laid wafte," Ifa. v. 5.

Thus you fee the allegory opened in its particulars: from the whole, I fhall prefent you with these five enfuing corollaries.

The firft Corollary.

How great then are the dignities and privileges of the chur ches of Jefus Christ whom he hath appropriated to himself, above all the people of the earth, to be his peculiar inheritance? The reft of the world is a waste wilderness; all other places, how

pleasant foever, in refpect of their natural amenity and delights, are truly enough called the dark places of the earth; difmal, folitary, cells, where Ziim and Iim, Bitterns, Cormorants, and every doleful creature dwells. But the church is the paradise of the earth, a garden inclosed, Cant. iv. 12. in whofe hedges the gospel birds chirp and fing melodioufly, Cant. ii. 12. Its beds are beds of fpices, Cant. vi. 2. and betwixt its pleasant banks, a crystal river of living water runs, Rev. xxii. 1. the ftreams whereof make glad the city of God, in the midft whereof the Lord himself delights to walk. O Sion, with what pleasures doft thou abound? If Bernard was fo ravished with the delights of his monaftery, because of its green banks, and fhady bowers, and herbs, and trees, and various objects to feed his eyes, and fragrant fmells, and sweet and various tunes of birds, together with the opportunities of devout contemplation, that he cried out admiringly, Lord! what delight doft thou provide, even for the poor! How much more fhould we be ravifhed with Sion's glory? For, beautiful for fituation is mount Zion. Of whom it may much more truly be faid, what a * chronicler of our own once faid of England, That it is the fortunate island, the paradife of pleasure, the garden of God, whofe valleys are like Eden, whofe hills are as Lebanon, whose springs are as Pifgah, whofe rivers are as Jordan, whofe wall is the ocean, and whofe defence is the Lord Jehovah. Happy art thou, O Ifrael; who is like unto thee? Who can count the privileges wherewith Chrift hath invefted his churches? O let it never seem a light thing in our eyes, that we grow within his bleffed inclosure. How fweet a promise is that, Exod. xix. 5. "Ye shall be to me a peculiar treasure, above all people; for "all the earth is mine."

The Second Corollary.

Hence it follows, That spiritual barrenness is a great reproach and shame to Chriftians. Shall God's husbandry, which is planted, watered, fenced, filled with favours and mercies, be like the barren heath in the desart? Surely it should be said of every foul that grows here, as the hiftorian faith of Spain, that there is nihil infructuosum, nihil sterile; nothing barren, or unfruitful in it. God's vineyard is planted in a very fruitful hill. Ifa. v. 1. "And furely they that are planted in the house of "the Lord, fhould flourish in the courts of our God; they "should bring forth fruit, even in old age, to fhew that God

"is upright," Pfal. xcii. 13, 14. "They are created in Chrift "Jefus unto good works, which God hath ordained they "fhould walk in," Eph. ii. 10. "They are married unto "Christ, that they might bring forth fruit to God," Rom. vii. 4. An empty branch is a dishonour to the root that bears it, a barren field to the husbandman that owns it; God cannot endure that in his fields, which he fuffers in the wilderness. The third Corollary.

If the church be God's husbandry, then there is fuch a fpecial, gracious prefence of the Lord in his churches, as is not to be found in all the world befide. Where may you expect to find the husbandman, but in his own fields? There lies his bufinefs, and there he delights to be. And where may we expect to find God, but in the affemblies of his faints? "He "walks among the golden candlesticks," Rev. ii. 1. I will walk among you, (faith he) and be your God, 2 Cor. vi. 16. Upon this account the church is called Jehovah Skammah, the Lord is there, Ezek. xlviii. ult. You may fee the footsteps of God in the creatures, but the face of God is only to be seen in his ordinances. Hence, Pfal. xxvii. 4. " David longed for "the temple, that he might see the beauty of the Lord." Now what is beauty, but a symmetry and proportion of parts? In the works of creation, you fee one attribute manifested in one thing, and another in another thing: but in the fanctuary you may see beauty, even in all the attributes of Gad difplayed there: And, indeed, we find in Scripture fuch aftonifhing expreffions about the vifions of God in his church, that in reading them, a man can see little difference betwixt it and heaven; for as the church is called heaven, Mat. xxv. 1. fo it's defcription is like that of heaven. Heb. xii. 22, 23. "You are come to the hea"venly Jerufalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,” &c. And Rev. xxii. 4. "They fhall fee his face, and his name "fhall be written in their foreheads." And ver. 6. The faints are reprefented" standing nearer to the throne of God, than the "angels themfelves." Hence alfo ordinances are called galIerics, in which both faints and angels walk, beholding the glory of him that fits upon the throne. Zech. iii. 7. "If you will keep my ways, I will give you galleries to walk in, among them that stand by.'

The fourth Corollary.

If the church be God's husbandry, then thofe that be employed in minifterial work ought to be men of great judgment, and experience in foul-affairs; for these are the labourers whom God, the mystical Husbandman, employs, and intrufts about

his fpiritual husbandry. Should husbandmen employ igno rant perfons, that neither understand the rules, ncr proper feafons of husbandry; how much would fuch workmen damnify and prejudice him? He will not employ fuch to weed his fields, as know not wheat from tares; or to prune his trees, that think midfummer as fit for that work as December: much lefs will God. He qualifies all that he fends, with wifdom for their work. "His workmen approve themselves workmen indeed, such as "need not be afhamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," 2 Tim. ii. 15. As Bezaleel was furnished with wifdom, before he was employed in tabernacle-work; fo Chrift instructs his fervants, with skill and infight, before they are employed in minifterial work. He gives them a mouth and wisdom, Luke xxi. 15. endues them with power from on high; as Chrift was filled abundantly with the Spirit for his work, fo, according to proportion, are those that are sent by him. John xx. 21, 22. "As my Father hath fent me, fo fend I you." And as for thofe that run before they are fent, and understand not the myfteries of the gofpel; I fhall fay no more of them but this; "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The fifth Corollary.

To conclude, If the church be God's husbandry, that is, if husbandry have so many refemblances of God's works about the church in it; then how inexcufable is the ignorance of hufbandmen in the things of God, who, befides the word of the gofpel, have the teaching of the creatures; and can hardly turn their hands to any part of their work, but the Spirit hints one fpiritual ufe or other from it to their fouls? How do the Scriptures abound with parables, and lively fimilitudes taken from husbandry? From the field, the feed, the plow, the barn, from threshing and winnowing; fimilitudes alfo from planting, graffing, and pruning of trees; and not a few from the ordering of cattle. So that to what bufinefs foever you turn your hands, in any part of your calling, still God meets you with one heavenly inftruction or other. But alas! How few are able to improve their civil employments to fuch excellent ends! Thefe things are but briefly hinted in the Scriptures, and those hints scattered up and down, that they know not where to find them; and if they could, yet would it be difficult fo to methodize them, as it is neceflary they fhould be, in order to their due improvement by meditation.

And therefore I judged it neceffary to collect and prepare them for their ufe; and in this manner to prefent them to