A Call from Heaven, which every Man upon Earth is deeply concerned in. It is introduced so, Thus saith the Lord unto the Man, in the singular Number; Be­cause every single Man is to look on himself as ad­dressed in it. Unto every Man whatever, it may now be said, O Earth, Earth, Earth, Hear the Word of the Lord. There is a Plow ordered for thee; a Plow, the penetrations whereof thou must submit unto.

[Page 2] When the Illustrious and Immortal Prophet Elijah passed by One at the Plow, for whom GOD intended uncommon Favours, the Prophet put up­on him the Melota, which he wore upon his Head; and Lo, the Influences of Heaven accompanied it, so that he left the Plow, and he could let nothing hinder his becoming a Man of GOD, and a fol­lower of the best Man in the world.

It seems, to be at the Plow, is to be where the Influences of Heaven may find us. Oh! That what passes from the Head of the Speaker may be accom­companied with Influences of Heaven on the Heart of the Hearer. But what? Leave the Plow, upon it! GOD forbid. The Sermon, may find us at the Plow; But whether so or no, the design of the Sermon will be, to bring us all to the Plow, yea, to keep us at it all our Days.

The Glorious GOD calls a sinful People to REPENTANCE: REPENTANCE, without which 'tis impossible a Sinner should be prepared for the Blessings of Goodness. Of this Repentance, we have a notable Description, in that very Ex­pressive and Instructive Metaphor; Break up your fallow Ground. Now, certainly tis the Plow in its Work, that is thus to Break up the fallow Ground.

The Plow, that grand Instrument of Husbandry; which we may celebrate, as, The Ancient, and, The Honourable! The staff of Bread must sail us, and we must soon fall down into the Earth, if the Plow wherewith we sollicit the Earth for our Bread, were taken away. Doubeless, its Antiquity is higher than the Days of Tubal-Cain. And how much it Rivals the very Seeptre may be pondered, when we re­member; The profit of the Earth is for all; the King himself is also served by the Field.

[Page 3] The Plow which is now called for, is, That which brings a Repenting Sinner, to what we must all come to, that we may find mercy with GOD. The Breaking up of the fallow Ground, with the Plow, is, The bringing of the Sinner to that Repentance, which is necessary for him.

And the DOCTRINE of GOD our SAVI­OUR, the entrance of which now to give light unto us is This.

'Tis in the way of REPENTING, that they who have sinned, may look to be saved from the evil Effects of their Sin; And there must be seen the PLOW breaking up our Fallow Ground, in this REPENTANCE.

In the sacred Prophecies, with which the Scrip­ture of Truth has been, as a Light [...]ning in a Dark plnce unto us, the Times that are to be longed for, [The Souls under the Altar cry out, for them, How long!] even the Times, when the promised King­dom of GOD shall arrive, and the Times which ac­cording to his Promise we look for; This is given as the Character of them; Isa. II. 4. They shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares. My Brethren, There will be a praelibation of those glorious Times in it, if the Plow-shares may now so come into their ope­ration, as to break up our fallow Ground, and pro­duce the Repentance in us, which will never be Re­pented of.

In the Prosecution of this Intention, let us En­quire, first; What is the fallow Ground, which in the work of Repentance requires the Plow to be em­ploy'd upon it?

[Page 4] Verily, 'Tis the Heart of Man. O Man, 'tis thy Heart, and my Heart, that is the fallow Ground. Whenever thou seest any Ground lying fallow, thou mayst say. I now see a Soyl which my sinful Heart may be sadly compar'd unto. And, Oh! what will become of us, if the Plow-share of Repentance do not go deep into it!

REPENTANCE will bring us to make these Acknowledgments; and we shall make them with the bitterness of Wormwood and of Gall, and with a Soul humbled in us.

First; A Repenting Sinner will acknowledge This; My Heart is a very barren Soyl. Fallow Ground has growing upon it, none of those good things which we set a value on. It has enough of those things which are good for nothing, or, perhaps worse than so. Our Heart is this fallow Ground. It is an Heart that is destitute of good Principles; and good Ends, and good Frames, and good Thoughts, are not now the natural Growth of the Soyl. Our Nature being wofully corrupted by our fall from GOD, our complaint must be That; Rom. VII. 18. I know, that in me, (that is, in my Flesh,) there dwelleth no good thing. O Wretched Heart that thou art; How empty of all that is Good! It must come from an Hand which takes pains for thy good, if any good be found in thee. But for the Reverse thereof, enough of that! The Thorns & the Thistles of the cursed Ground are not such unhappy things as what our Heart is over grown withal. What natural­ly grows in our Heart, & appears without our taking any pains to bring it forward, is, what will be yield­ed, by an Heart fully set in us to do evil. What can be imagined, but what is Evil enough in an Heart, [Page 5]whereof every Imagination is Evil continually? What will be the growth of a carnal Mind that is full of Enmity against GOD; and of an Heart, that is desperately wicked? The growth of such a Soyl has been told us, by Him who searches the Heart; Mat. XV. 19. Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts, Murders, Adul [...] Fornications, Thefts, False Wit­ness, Blasphemies; The Things which difile a Man. What Thorns, what Hen-bane, and Hemlock!

Secondly; A Repenting Sinner will acknow­ledge This; My Heart is a very harden'd Soyl. Fal­low Ground is become hard; by lying long undis­turbed, its parts come to stick very close to one another. Perhaps, 'tis the more hard for being often trod upon. Our Heart is this fallow Ground. The Truths of GOD which are the Seeds of Life, the Rays that are shot from the Sun of Righteousness, the Doctrine which drops as the Rain, will not enter into so tough a Soyl. Our Heart will resist all good Admonitions; and Essays to do good, signify nothing, because of what we read of; Rom. II. 5. Thy hardness and impenitent Heart. Our Heart will remain as [...]ad as it was; and will receive no Be­nefit from [...]he means of good, that are used upon us. It has been so long under the Feet of Satan, that now it will deny entrance to all that is good: No Counsels, no Warnings, nothing at all, will enter into the Fool. In a Turn to GOD, this is usually one of the first things, that is complained of: An hard Heart! An hard Heart! An Heart which there is no moving of! That moan is heard; Isa LXIII. 17. Our Heart hardened from thy Fear. Oh! For­lorn Heart! How shut up, against GOD, and CHRIST, and all the good that he offers to do unto it!

[Page 6] Let us Enquire, Secondly; What are those ope­rations of Repentance, in which the Plow is to break up this fallow Ground?

You take it for granted, The Word of GOD, accompanied with the Influences of the Holy SPIRIT, is the Plow with which this work of GOD is carried on. And now,

First; In a true Repentance, the Heart is broken, with a sense and grief of the Sins, which the great GOD has been offended at. There is a compuncti­on of the Heart, and a contrition of the Heart, in that Repentance, which therefore, O Transgressor, thou art so lothe to come unto, Of Penitents we read, Act. II. 37. They are pierced in their Heart. And of Penitents we read, Psal. XXXIV. 18. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken Heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite Spirit. We are advised; By sorrow of Heart, the Spirit is broken. The Earth is not more broken by the Plow tearing of it, than the Heart of a Repenting one, is broken with the sorrow of Repen­tance. There is a godly sorrow working of and in Repentance. The Repenting one makes a sorrowful Reflection, on what he has done in sinning against the glorious GOD. With an Heart-breaking Re­gret, and Remorse, and sorrow, he thinks; ‘ I have sinned, and I have done very foolishly. But, Oh! What have I done, when I have sinned! I have deny'd the GOD that is above, and set my self and my Idols above him. I have trampled on the Au­thority of my Maker; defied his Power, derided his Wisdom, despised his Goodness, disputed his Faithfulness; and opposed his Holiness. I have slighted the SON of GOD, and scorned all his gracious Tenders. I have vexed the SPIRIT of [Page 7]GOD, and stifled all his gracious Motions. I have disobliged the Angels, and gratified the De­vils. I have wronged my own Soul, and ruin'd all my Interests. I have refused eternal Pleasures, and incurr'd eternal Torments; all for a meer sha­dow of a delight, which is but for a Moment. Oh! What madness has possessed me!’ Such sentiments as these enter with the wounding force of a Plow-share into the Heart of a Repenting one. He feels that anguish from them, that makes him cry out, My Heart is broken, O GOD, my Heart is broken. My wounded Spirit; Oh! I cannot bear it! This, O thou that hast gone on in thy Trespasses, This is what the Plow must bring thee to; Psal LI. 17. The Sacrifices of GOD, a broken Spirit; a broken and a contrite Heart. And let not this be forgotten; One conspicuous and perpetual mark of the broken Heart, will be This; The Heart is, like the Earth yielding to the Plow and what follows upon it, made willing to comply with the whole Will of GOD: Willing to come into whatever shape GOD would have it brought into; willing to be any thing, do any thing, take any thing, that GOD shall order for it. The Repenting one, lyes at the Foot of the glorious GOD, and says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.

Secondly. In a true Repentance, the Heart is left no longer under the Dominion of the Lusts, that were the Weeds of the Soul. There is the Lust of the Flesh, and the Lust of the Eye, and the Pride of Life, which engross the Soul, and bind the powers of it fast, in opposition unto GOD. These Weeds which cover the face of the Earth, in our Heart, and hinder our being filled with the Fruits of Righ­teousness, [Page 8]are extirpated in that Repentance which brings us unto GOD. What the Penitent comes to is that; Rom. VI. 16. Sin shall not have Dominion over you. Penitents have the experience of such a Deliverance, as that; Psal. CXVI. 16. Truly, O Lord, I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant; Thou hast loosed my Bonds. The desires of the Flesh and of the Mind, and the diverse Lusts, which are the Root of bitterness in the Soul, the intention of Repentance is to disturb them; and anon the Heart of the Repent­ing one becomes dispossessed of them. These poi­sonous Weeds of Death are disturbed, yea, they are destroyed by the Plow, in the Heart of such as are by Repentance brought home unto GOD. No Lust can live quietly in a Repenting Soul. Every Lust comes under a Mortification in the Heart of such an one. The Plow share does a notable Execution upon the Weods; and the Voice of the Repenting one is that; Hos. XIV. 8. What have I any more to do with Idols? The Repenting one comes to Re­nounce the Flesh, and say, I will never do what I judge to be a Sin, that my Flesh may have its pleasures. He comes to Renounce the World, and say, I will never do what I judge to be a Sin, that. I may gain the Riches of the World. He Renounces the Devil; and rejects and repels the Temptations of the wicked one. The Language of Repentance is, O take away all Ini­quity. Whatever dispositions to Sin, a Repenting one finds in his Heart, tho' they have never such a deep rooting there, yet the Heart under the Plow, is become desirous to be delivered from them all: It says, Lord, let my Heart be cleared of all those abo­minable weeds, which cleave to an evil Heart of Unbe­lief, departing from the living GOD. Oh! do thou tear [Page 9]them to pieces, and let there be none to deliver them.

¶ You have seen how the Plow breaks up the fal­low Ground, in the work of Repentance; But it must now be demanded, that you immediately feel the Plow operating on you.

And now, GOD speed the Plow, when the good work of his Grace, is making its way into your Hearts, in those Admonitions of PIETY, which are now brought unto you from him.

We read, Prov. XXI. 4. The plowing of the wick­ed is Sin. All his employment is nothing but Sin. Even what he does in his lawful Calling being de­signed only for himself, 'tis no better than Sin. He looks no higher than Earth, in what he does, and so he does nothing but Sin; Yea, Even wearies himself to commit Iniquity. But now, Another sort of plowing is exhorted to; The plowing which is to be used, in the confessing and forsaking of all wick­edness, and in Repenting of Sin. In order to this;

I. You must apprehend well, the mighty and awful Importance of that REPENTANCE, which must be found in all the sinful Children of Men, that would not perish in their Sins. Lo, GOD hath sent forth his Voice, and that a mighty Voice, unto all that sin against him; And, There is no Man that sinneth not. Yea, he has uttered it more than once; Luk. XIII. 3, 5. Except ye Repent, ye shall perish: And again, Except ye Repent, ye shall perish. 'Tis indeed, what the Conscience of every Man does preach unto him. Conscience, Do thou now lend thy Hand unto the Plow. And, Oh! let the Heart now under the Word of GOD, feel these Questions, pass like so many Plow-shares into it.

[Page 10] Question. I. Don't you really think, that you have been guilty of enough to be Repented of? A Mind so disaffected unto the glorious GOD! A Life so full of Rebellion against him! And not enough to be Repented of! Surely, The best of us all have cause enough to come unto That; Job. XLII. 6. I abhor my self, and I repent in Dust and Ashes.

Question. II. If you now come unto Repentance, can you doubt whether a merciful GOD will re­ceive you; or whether you shall not be the Blessed ones, whose Transgression is forgiven, and Sin covered? What? When you have that Assurance from the Mouth of the glorious One; Isa. LV. 7. Return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy; and unto our GOD, for he will abundantly pardon.

Question. III. Can you suppose, that if you de­cline the Repentance that you are called unto, you can look for any other than a fiery Indignation to devour you? Or, that a Righteous GOD will not be Terrible in his doings to them, who lift them­selves among his Adversaries? What? When you are warned; Psal. LXVIII. 21. GOD shall wound the Head of his Enemies, and the hairy Scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses.

Question. IV. If you dy before you come unto Repentance, will it not be forever too late for you; or can you suppose, that your cry, Lord, have mer­cy upon me; will avail any thing, or be any other than all too late, when the Pit hath shut its mouth upon you, and you are lodged among Devils in the place of Torment? What? When you are so taught; Isa. XXXVIII. 18. They that go down to the Pit, cannot hope for thy Truth.

[Page 11] Question. V. What is the plain Language of the Procrastination, wherewith you put off Repen­tance? Don't you plainly say, That Sin has nothing to be dreaded in it? That GOD is not worthy of your Love; and his Threatnings are nothing to be regarded? That His CHRIST has nothing that is precious to bestow upon you; and you can do well enough without him? And, What shall be given to thee, what shall be done to thee, O Tongue that can speak such things as these? What sharp Arrows of the Almighty One; what Coals more ardent and more lasting, than those of Juniper? It may be said, as in Psal. XXXVI. 1. What says the Transgression of the Wicked?

O Souls thus Expostulated withal; what, what Impression does the Plow make upon you?

II. 'Tis to be vehemently insisted on; It can by no means be dispensed with: You must pre­sently endeavour to go thro' such a PROCESS OF REPENTANCE, as lays hold on Eternal Life You have it Reveled from Heaven unto you, Act. XXII. 30. GOD now commands Men every where to Repent. And the Wrath of GOD is Reveled from Heaven against you, till this be done. What you have now to do, is with a Change of Mind, from the Vain Thoughts you have had, while you have walked in the Vanity of your Mind, Seriously and Regularly to do the Actions of a Repenting Soul. Retire; And own your selves Unable to Return unto GOD, and Unworthy that He should Enable you; but implore the Help of Sovereign Grace on this Grand Occasion. Then, Call over, Confess, Bewail, your Transgressions on what is Forbidden, [Page 12]and what is Required in the Commandments; Em­ploying the Explanation of the Commandments, which you have in the Catechism, for this purpose: But above all, mourn over that Original Sin, which is the Fountain of all your Transgressions; and an Heart that is the Mother of Abominations. Hereupon, Shew and Plead the Blood of your SAVIOUR, that you may be cleanfed from all Sin; Pray, Beg, Weep, for the Pardon of all your Sin: Do this, till you have a comfortable Perswasion from Above, raised in you, That you are pardoned. Now, Give up your selves to GOD, with hearty Desires, that having done with Iniquity, you may not offend a­ny more; and hearty Resolves, That in the Strength of CHRIST living in you, you will walk in Holiness and Righteousness before Him, all the remaining time of your Pilgrimage. But let it always be remembred, A Repentance without a CHRIST, is but a Repentance for a Devil, rather than a Chri­stian; there is nothing to be got by it. In the whole Process of Repentance, you must keep up an Encouraging Hope of Mercy, thro' a CHRIST appearing for you. You must behold a CHRIST as having made Expiation for the Sins of those those who come unto GOD in His Name to be Forgiven. You must behold a CHRIST as rea­dy to Assist you in cleansing your selves from all Fil­thiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit, and carrying on Holiness to Perfection in the Fear of GOD. This plain Process of Repentance, 'tis what your Salvation from the Evil which pursueth Sinners depends upon. Till you have pass'd thro' it, you walk in Dark­ness, not knowing whither you are going. Nay, you rather do know, that you are going down to Black­ness of Darkness for ever.

[Page 13] III. But What? Is once enough? No, There must be a Repetition of the Process. The Fallow Ground will not be thoroughly broke up, and Re­pentance will not have its perfect work, except the Plow do over and over again go over it. A Re­penting Soul must say, as in Psal. LI. 3. I acknow­ledge my Transgressions, and my Sins is ever before me. The Aims of Repentance are to be ever within us; and the Exercise thereof is never to be laid aside. There will be no Method so sure as this, to assure us, That we have the Repentance never to be repented of. Let us Repent over and over again. The process of Repentance must be transacted over and over again. More especially, When any Calamitous thing befalls us, now let us, in the day of Adversity consider, To what special Expressions of Repentance am I now to be Awakened? And how often do we hear things pressed in Sermons, whereof we should make this Use; To Repent more particularly of miscarriages, which we are minded of? Yea, Re­pentance is to be with us, a Daily Exercise of Godli­ness. In our Morning and Evening Sacrifices, every Day, there is to be a Repentance exercised; and this with some Recollection of what we can find amiss in our past Behaviour. And as often in the Day, as we are convinced of any Misbehaviour, we should with a fresh act of Repentance look unto Him whom we have pierced, and mourn for what has been Amiss. 'Tis with the spirit of Repentance, that we are to carry on the whole course of our Walk with GOD. The proud spirit of Quakerism which has done with Repentance, and in its Assem­blies, is never heard with Repentance praying for, The Pardon of Sin; It cannot but be detestable to [Page 14]the Children of GOD. There needs no more to make every sober Christian say, To such Assemblies, O my Soul, be not thou United. REPENTANCE TO THE LAST, is a Motto for one who walks with GOD. The Curtains of our Death bed must be hung with Penitentials. Our Eyes must be filled with the Tears of Repentance, when the cold Hand of Death, is closing of them. Syrs, Here is a Plow, that is never to stand still. 'Tis to be going in all seasons of the Year; Yea, And even in the Winter it shall be so!

IV. You must not think much of it, if you find Repentance to be a Laborious thing. If you will do any thing at plowing, you must not be they whose Hands refuse to labour. The Sluggard will do no­thing in Repentance, that will avail any thing. What a miserable Soul, will be the Field of the Slothful? O Soul void of understanding! Lo, 'Tis all grown over with Thorns; Nettles cover the Face thereof; and the Stone wall thereof is broken down. We read, 2. Tim. II. 6. The Husbandman laboureth. If the Life of Husbandry be Laborious, a Life of Repentance is no less Laborious. GOD will be a Rewarder to none but those who diligently seek Him. The Business of Repentance is to seek Him. A Diligence must be found in the performances with which we manage it. It is with all our Might that we are to do what our Hand finds to do. We are to Toyl at it, yea, to Sweat at it. It is to the Repent­ing Beleever, as well as to the Laborious Husbandman, that it has been said, In the sweat of thy Face thou shalt carry on, what thou hast to do. Things very tedious, very tiresome, to Flesh and Blood, are to be encountred in a life of Repentance. O Repenting [Page 15]Soul, Thou shalt often be weary in well doing; I trust; Never weary of it.

V. But won't you look for weeping, as well as working? Yes; look for This; That the Glori­ous GOD will make many sad Things to be found among the Things appointed for you. This will be, that so the work of Repentance may be the more powerfully and effectually carryed on. There will be Need that you should be ever now and then in Heaviness; without it, the work of Repen­tance cannot well be carried on. Of the Husband­men we read; Psal. CXXVI. 6. Each one of those in going forth, does mostly weeping go; He carries forth the precious seed, a little to be sown. He meets with many things, which makes him follow the Plow with an heavy Heart. You must not think always to do nothing Sing at the Plow. O Repenting ones, Never Dream, That you shall pass the time of your sojourning here without Affliction; Or, That your few Days here, will not be full of Troubles! A Dream in which there would be diverse vanities. What? When your Heavenly Father has told you. If ye be without Chastisement, then are ye Bastards and not Sons! This world, what is it but a Valley of Bacah? That is to say, of weeping. Truly, All your plowing will be in the Valley of Bacah. Has not your Faithful Redeemer forewarned you of it? And because of his Faithfulness, he willfulfil it. O Disciples of a Crucified Lord; look for the Cress. The Plow and the Cross will go together. The things that will call for your Tears, Lord, how ma­ny are they? How are the things multiplied, which will trouble you! Tho' the ways of Repentance are on many accounts ways of pleasantness, yet there will [Page 16]be some Troublesome things in the ways. Tho' you will sing in the ways of the Lord; and the worst of them are sweeter than the Hard ways of the Trans­gressor; Yet you must also weep in the ways. Ex­pect many Troublesome things, and when they ar­rive, be able to say, That which I was afraid of, is come unto me. And yet, be not afraid with any a­mazment! After the Ground is plowed, the Har­row is drawn over it, that so the work may be per­fect, and the Face of the Soyl so Levelled, as to be fit for what is to be cast upon it. When we have Repented of our Errors, there will be the Har­row of Affliction of drawn over us. Yea, our Af­fliction must come after another upon us. Tis all, that so Repentance may hvve have its perfect work. It must be expected, and it should not be unwel­come to us; That our Faithful Redeemer do by much Affliction carry on the good work of Repen­tance after he has began it upon us. Harrowed with much Affliction, O penitent Beleever say, Blessed be my Redeemer who will this way bring me to be what I should be!

VI. Nevertheless, hold on, hold out, O RE­PENTANCE; The Harvest will richly repay thee; Heaven will make amends for all. Repentance is nothing, if Perseverance do not Crown it. There is a dreadful Denunciation; Luk. IX. 62. No Man having put his hand to the Plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of GOD. Oh! Take heed of all Backslidings from good Beginnings in Repentance and Religion. And therefore take a due Notice of the least Beginnings, that may lead on to such Back­slidings. Let the Apostates Doon, cause you to trem­ble at all Degrees or Symptoms of Apostasy; [Page 17]Tremble at ending in the Flesh, after you have be­gun in the Spirit. Hear the tremendous Doom; If any Man draw back, my Soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, that you may not be wearied nor faint in your Minds, and that no Temptation to desert the Plow may move you; O commit your selves into the hands of a SAVIOUR, who is able to keep you from falling; and rely upon Him, to be kept by His almighty Power, thro' Faith unto Salvation. But then, Think on the Harvest that is a coming; An Harvest, wherein every good thing that a Man has done, the same shall he receive of the Lord. Indeed unto them to whom it may be said, Ye have plowed Wickedness, there will be a proportionable Reaping Time; They shall Reap what their Iniquity will bring them to; Wo to the wicked; for the Reward of his Hands will be given him. On the other side; Plow in and by Repen­tance, and look for what will be Reaped from it. We read; He that ploweth should plow in hope. Go on Repenting, and keep the Plow always going: But still do it, in hope of a Time coming, where­in, Thy Work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. Hope for something infinitely better than what has been in any Country called, Plow-Money; Yea, infi­nitely better than our Land yielding its Increase unto us.

VII. Finally; The Work of the Plow is in the Earth; In the Motions of it, he who drives the Plow, must often look down upon the Earth, into the Earth. And that the Work of Repentance may be carried on, it will be of great Advantage un­to us, to look down unto the Earth, whither, O Man, Thou art going! Thou art art going! Look [Page 18]unto the Earth, O ye Sons of Earthly Man, and you will see, what will have loud Exciters, and strong Incentives, to Repentance in it.

Beholding of the Earth, which the Plow digs into, Think; I was fetch'd out of the Earth by the Great GOD, who formed all things. How much may this Meditation do, To Humble you, and Abase you, and lay you in the Dust of Repentance, and cause you to count your selves no better than a poor Clod of animated Earth, before the GOD of Heaven, who is the Lord GOD Omnipotent?

Again; Beholding of the Earth which the Plow goes into, Think; In the Earth I have my Grave waiting for me, where I know not how soon I may be lodged. How much may this Meditation Quick­en you, to Make haste in that Repentance, which must be dispatch'd before you sleep in the Dust, or else nothing on Earth can keep you from an Hell for ever to be trembled at.

My Friend, Smell to the Earth. 'Tis a very wholesome Scent. It will contribute to the Work of Repentance wonderfully.

Thus you see the Plow in it Opetations. And upon the whole, what shall I say unto you?

A King of England, was doubtless well pleased with the Town, where the People presented them­selves with some hundreds of Plows before him. Among all those Plows, there was none compa­rable unto This; nor can there be a more accept­able Present unto the Glorious One, who is King over all the Earth.

It has been counted a memorable Thing; That among the old R [...]mans, they sometimes fetch'd a Man from the Plow, and one that was owner [Page 19]of no more than Four Acres neither, and set him at the head of the Commonwealth. Christian, Keep at this Plow, and GOD will one Day Raise thee out of the Dust, and fetch thee out if the Dunghil, and set thee with Princes, even with the Princes of His People.

I have done. The Plow has done its Work, and the Fallow-Ground is well broken up, if the Word of GOD finds now a free passage into your Hearts. And, Oh! May your Hearts be now so opened, by the Lord, that in whatever Word He comes unto you, your consenting Hearts may say, Welcome art thou, O Lord, and welcome is every Word of thine, unto me!

We read of it, as a very Improper Thing; Amos V. 12. Will one plow upon a Rock? Sinful Soul, Tho' thy Heart be like a Rock, Yet, Oh! Let not the Obduration continue, and let not all the Exhortations to Repentance, be but a plowing upon a Rock. But let thy Relenting Heart, at least come so far, as to beg it of thy Exalted SAVI­OUR; O my SAVIOUR, whose Office it is; Do thou give me both Repentance and Remission of Sins.

I did indeed say, I have done. But I know not how to part with my Plow-man, until I have ta­ken a little Notice of something in his Hand, by which the Creatures which draw his Plow for him, are Exagitated. He carries a GOAD in his Hand.

We read of a Champion, Judg. III. 31. He slew six hundred Men with an Ox-Goad. We may guess a little at the shape of that Ox-Goad, and how fit a Tool it was for such an Execution, from what is related by Modern Travellers concerning the Hus­bandry [Page 20]in those parts of the World. They tell us, That in plowing the Husbandmen use Goads of an extraordinary size. They are eight Foot long, and at the upper end, six Inches in Circumference. They are armed at the lesser end, with a sharp Nail, for the driving of the Oxen; and at the other end, with a small Spade, or Paddle of Iron, strong and massy for cleansing of the Plow, from the clay that encumbers it in working. In such a Goad, behold, a better Weapon than a Sword, for a Shamgar to employ upon his Philistines.

All that I shall observe upon it is; There are so many Goads, in the lively Oracles of GOD, for our Excitation and Instigation to Repentance, and a life of PIETY. We read, Eccl. XII. 11. The words of the Wise are as Goads. And such are the Words of our GOD by which we are to be Quick­ened. Alas, why do we no more find them so! How stupid a thing art thou, O Man, if thou dost not feel such pungencies? But then, the dealings of GOD with thee in his Providence, what are these also, but so many stimulations to Repentance, and a Life of PIETY? If they move thee not, O dull Soul, and if thou do not conform unto them, there is that Voice from Heaven, unto thee on them, Act. IX. 5. It is hard for thee, to kick against the Goads. Oh! do not by thy Dilatory proceedings in the Life of GOD, provoke him to multiply the uneasy strokes of his Goads upon thee.

TIS what is now adoing. O! May the Seed find a Soyl, that shall not be ungrateful to the Husbandry of GOD upon it.

In the admirable Sermons of Him that spoke so as never Man spake, which the Gospel, has, as the Golden Pot once did the Manna, reserved for us, there are about Five or Six and twenty Parables; Wherein he condescends unto a way of Teaching, which was much used among the Syrians, and which tends to bring the Darkest and Rudest Minds, into an Acquaintance with the Mysteries of Religion.

One of these Parables, does Exhibit an Husband­man at work in his Field, and lodging the Seed from whence he expects anon to have his Bread, [Page 23]in four several sorts of Ground; Whereof three were Bad, but the fourth is Good, and yields the ex­pected Crop unto him. Of this Parable, as well as of one more, our Blessed Lord is pleased Himself to give us the Exposition; so that we have the satis­faction of enjoying an Infallible Expositor. The Heart of Man, is the Field; The Word of GOD is the Seed; Our Lord himself is the Sower: Not Exclusive of his Ministers and Instruments.

And the DOCTRINE, which is now to fall from his Hand [For it is he that Ministers the Seed unto the Sower!] as the Seed upon the Field before him, [O! may it prove as a Field, which the Lord has Blessed!] it shall be This;

The WORD of GOD, in the Promulgation of the Gospel, is a Seed which finds in the Heart of Man a very different Soyl when it is cast up­on it; A Soyl which the Word has very vari­ous, Bad and Good Effects upon.

We are enriched with a GOSPEL, which is by our SAVIOUR in his explaining of his own Pa­rable, called, The Word of the Kingdom. 'Tis the Word which Proclaimes a Glorious CHRIST, as the King upon the Holy Hill of Zion, who is Lord of All, and has all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him. 'Tis a Word which brings the Law of this great King unto us, and promises unto them that Follow and Obey him, the Glories of an Heavenly Kingdom, at his Appearing.

Of this Word, whereof, O Blessed People that we are, we hear the Joyful Sound, some considerable things are to be now declared unto us.

[Page 24] I. The Word of GOD falling on the Heart of Man, is like a Seed of Corn, which the Earth has from the Husbandman cast and sown upon it.

You need not be told, That the Man who hears the Word of GOD, and indeed every Man on the Face of the Darth, may be compared unto the Earth. You are sufficiently apprised of it, That the Body of Man, came out of the Earth, and again goes into it. The devout Job, sitting on the Earth, call'd it, His Mother; And sitting in his Mothers Lap, he confessed; Job I. 21. Naked came I out of my Moehers Womb, and naked shall I re­turn thither. This Mother of Man, may well be allow'd a Figure of Man. Let it not offend thee, O proud Man, if the Term of, A Clod of Earth, be put upon thee.

But what I am to tell you, is, On what Ac­counts, the Seed of Corn (or of any Plant) resembles the Everlasting Gospel, that is preached unto them, who dwell on the Earth. The Accounts are ma­ny.

Is there a sort of Life in the Seed of a Plant? Our SAVIOUR, the Prince of Life, has told ns; Joh. VI. 63. The Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life. O the fair and sweet Things, which pullulate from these Lively Oracles!

The Seed must be sown, or the Fruit will be none: If it be kept in the Granary, it will never Fructify. It is the speaking of the Word, that is the casting of the Seed. We read, 1 Thess. II. 16. It must be spoken to Men, that they may be saved. There is ordinarily no saving the Souls of Men, but in the way of the Institution, the speaking and [Page 25] preaching of the Word unto them. They that are not in the way of it, are not in the ordinary way to be saved.

A Seed brings forth a Grain like it self; The Fruit is after its kind. What the Word of GOD produces, is what is agreeable to the Word. It is a Good Word; and it will do us this Good, it will make us Good; and make us love to do Good. It is a clean Word, and it will make us to cleanse our Way. It is a Word of Wisdom, and it will make us wise unto Salvation. Yea, 2 Cor. III. 18. We are changed by it, into the same Image from Glory to Glory.

A little Seed will go a great way: A few Sow­ers may soon cover an huge Tract of Land. Who can say, how much a few Hands may do in spreading the Word of GOD? A Paul did it for Thousands of Miles: From Jerusalem to Spain, was near Three Thousand Miles. What a few Men did, as we find in Col. I. 6. It brought forth Fruit in all the World. Yea, One Sermon has con­verted Thousands. And Hundreds of Thousands have been brought into the Life of GOD, by one little Book; such as Arndts, of True Christianity. What a Dispersion of Truth, has been made by Two such small Catechisms; as that of Heidelbergh, and that of our Assembly?

The Labour of the Sower will have no Success, without the Blessing of the Lord, upon the Seed. It is Thou, O Lord, that preparest the Corn. The Hus­bandman is an Atheist, if he do not Think so, and own it. The Ministry of the Word, will be Un­successful, except it receive a Blessing from GOD. We are informed; 1 Cor. III. 7. Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but GOD [Page 26]that giveth the Increase. The Success of the Word proceeds not from him that brings it, or from the skill with which he brings it; but from the SPI­RIT of GOD working in it. Let Isaac sow his Land, and if the Lord Bless him, he will receive an hundred fold.

Finally; The Seed will not presently spring up, at the first sowing of it; No, Behold, the Husband­man waits for the precious Fruit of the Earth. Nor does the Ministry of the Word, presently see all the Effect that it is to see. The Word may ly for some while under Clods, in many an unconcerned Soul. GOD by some occurence in his Providence, may bring to Remembrance a Word heard some while ago, and then it operates. Yea, it may so fall out, as in Joh. IV. 37. That saying is true, One soweth and another reapeth. Oh! Let Parents be often dropping some Word of GOD upon their Children; In the Morning sow thy Seed; and in the Evening slack not thy Hand; A long while hence, it may be, af­ter thou shalt thy self be sleeping in the Dust, the Word that seems to have been left there, shall have its Efficacy.

The Seed you see; But, who the Sower? Be sure, The owner of the Seed, is the principal sower of the Seed. It is the Word of CHRIST; and it is He that sows it. The second Adam is the Blessed Husbandman, who Tills the Ground, and sows the Field which the Lord has blessed. But then he has his Ministers, who do the part of Sowers under Him. These are they who may say, as in 1. Cor. IX. 11. We have sown unto you spiritual Things.

May our GOD Help us, That we may bring you none but the pure Seed of the Word; Pick and [Page 27]Cleanse the Seed in our Studies; and not bring you the Chaff or Husks of our own Brains; or the per­nicious Darnel of unscriptural Error.

May we bring you also the whole Seed of the Word; And so honestly dispose of the Seed com­mitted unto us, that we may balk no Truth, but be able to say, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of GOD.

But may we still see to it, that we Preach and Sowe to the Advantage of our Master: And all we do be aimed at this; That we may see you Glorifying of our Lord, and Glorified with him.

Wherefore, Brethren, Pray for us.

The rather, in as much as our Calling is no easy Calling. The Sweat of the Brain, not more easy than the Sweat of the Brow. The Calling of an Husbandman is a painful Calling. That Man is not worthy the Name of a Minister, who takes not as much pains as an Husbandman. Our Name, is Mat. IX. 38. that of, Labourers.

Thus you see the Sower with the Field. But I know not how to dismiss this matter, without some Reflection upon it.

Confess, O People that have the Word of GOD offered unto you, how Necessary it is, that this Word should be dispensed unto you. It is threat­ned as a very dismal Desolation; Jer. I. 20. I will cut off the Sower. In what a deplorable Condition were you, if the sowing should utterly fail? If you should have no Preaching, you would have no sowing; and if This fail, you soon fall under the Terriblest Famine in the world; Even That; Amos. VIII. 11. Not a Famine of Bread, but of hearing the words of the Lord. What, what will be­come of your starved Souls, if the Bread of Life [Page 28]should be deny'd you? The Bread of Life will be gone, when there are none to sowe the Seed of Life. A Country without the Word of GOD and CHRIST and Salvation in it, is a rueful Country: 'Tis all Winter there, They see no Seed time; They are Destroy'd for the lack of Knowledge. Oh! If the Gospel be hid from us, we are a lost People! But ours is not such a Country. Our GOD has given his Word unto us; Praise the Lord! And give to his Word, a Fruitful Entertainment.

We read of a Time when, and a Place where, a Cab of Doves Dung was rated at Five pieces of Sil­ver. What we render Doves Dung, I suppose, may mean rather the Offals, or the Refuse, of the Corn, which they commonly gave to their Pigeons; That Coarse Grain, which was the vile Remains and Sweepings of the Floor. Surely, 'Tis a better sort of Seed, that is generally cast upon the Fields in this Country; 'Tis the finest of the Wheat; where is there what exceeds it?

But then, Receive it Readily. Retain it Faith­fully. Improve it Suitably. In all the Fruits of the Spirit, make suitable Returns to Heaven for it. It was once a sad Complaint; Master, Didst not thou sowe good Seed? Whence then are these Tares? Oh! Let there not be cause of this Complaint; Lord, A good Seed has been cast upon us: But whence then, this Profaneness, this Intemperance, this Dishonesty? Whence these Abominable Impieties and Iniquities? GOD forbid, that such Briars and Thorns ever should be found in a Soyl, that a good Seed has been sown upon!

II. The Heart of Man under the Word of GOD, proves a very Different Soyl to the Seed that is cast [Page 29]upon it: Various are the Effects which the Word of GOD has upon them that hear it. For the Illustration and Confirmation of this Observation, our SAVIOUR has described the Hearers of his Word, and the Effects of it on them that Hear it, under the Figure of no less than Four Soyls: Whereof Three disappoint the Husbandman, but the Fourth proves as he would have it. And indeed, among them that hear the Word of GOD, it is well if One in Three entertain it as they ought to do. There is an High-way Ground, and a Stony Ground, and a Thorny Ground, and at last a Good Ground, which the Seed is cast upon. Each of these will now call for a Successive Contemplation.

A Most awful Judgment of GOD! If we take it Figuratively or Literally, tis a most awful Judgment of GOD.

At a Vintage of old, their Usage was to have Songs of Mirth and Joy; In the Vineyards there would be Singing, with glad Shouts and Accla­mations. But behold here, a Song over the Vine­yard of GOD, which is Carmen Lugubre; a very Mournful one, and fitted for Sighs and Lamenta­tions. The Church of GOD is very fitly com­pared unto a Vineyard. His Church among the Jews, was now become a Degenerate Vineyard. The Impieties abounding in that Church, were Sowre Grapes, which very poorly answered the Divine [Page 99]Cultivation, that had been employed upon the Vinerard. The Glorious GOD is introduced, as expressing His just Resentments upon the Ill Fruits found in a People that had been so richly Culti­vated. One of the Punishments threatned unto the Unfruitful Vineyard, is in this Article; I will command the Clouds, that they Rain no Rain upon it. The Interpretation of the Parable, and of this Ar­ticle in it, which I find in the Writings of the Ancients, when I seek Understanding from them, is to this purpose; ‘It was accomplished, when GOD sent away His Apostles from the Unbeliev­ing and the Disobedient Jews, unto the Gentiles; when the Offers of the Gospel were no longer dispensed as they had been unto that Rejected People, but the saving Instructions and Influ­ences of Heaven, were witheld from them; which they have now been for many Ages.’

The Doctrine which is now to distill as the Rain upon us, will be This.

When the Glorious GOD commands His Clouds to shed no RAINS upon a People, tis a terrible Judg­ment, and that whereof such a forsaken and un­happy People should be very sensible.

¶ Tis first in the Figurative Sense of it, that we will take the Terrible Judgment into our serious Consideration. Tis in the witholding Evangelical Blessings from a Land, that GOD commands the Clouds, to distil no Rains upon it. This is now to be considered as a Judgment of a very sad Impor­tance: O our dear People, not yet visited with it, I hope, you will apprehend it so, and accor­dingly deprecate it!

[Page 100] I. We will enquire, first; When may a People have it said of them, That GOD commands the Clouds to distil no Rain upon them?

In general; Tis when a People have not the Ministry of the Gospel, to bring them home unto GOD.

By the Rain here spoken of, tis agreed among Expositors, That Coelestis Doctrina, or, Heavenly Instructions are intended. It is well known, That in the Hebrew Language, both the Raining of Heaven, and the Teaching of Heaven, are expres­sed in Terms that come from the same Root. Even the Margin of the Bible in our Translation, gives us a notable intimation of This; at Joel II. 23. He hath given you the former Rain. In your Margin tis, A Teacher of Righteousness.

In the Sacred Scriptures, we find the Teachers of Truth, resembled unto the Clouds of Heaven. To these there may be applied that Word, Isa. LX. 8. Who are these, that fly as a Cloud? No wonder then, that the Word of GOD, which is taught by these, is resembled unto Rain. These are they who may say, Deut. XXXII. 2. My Speech shall distil as the small Rain upon the tender Herb, and as the Showers upon the Grass. Now,

First; When the Glorious GOD bestows not Able and Faithful Ministers of His Gospel on a People, then He commands the Clouds to distil no Rain upon them. The more Useful Ministers of the Gospel, are sometimes taken away from a Peo­ple. Perhaps Persecution Banishes them, or Silen­ces them; The Tail of the Dragon strikes them down from Heaven. Or, the ordinary Course of [Page 101] Mortality takes them off, without Successors com­ing on. The Teachers are no more to be seen, be­cause of their being removed into the Dark Corner of the Grave. The Clouds that should have Rain­ed the Word of Life upon a People, are blown out of the World, when they have no Ministers, to be the Dispensers of the Gospel unto them. Yea, a People may have pretended Ministers, and yet have this Curse upon them. They may have Men in Black, that yet shall be no Divines, nor any better than so many Chemarims unto them: Or, Men that wear Garments only to deceive: And, Men that being the Corruption of the Best Thing, are the worst Thing that can be; Mankind has a Transcendent Pest in such Dissemblers and Stage players. Of such we read, Jude 12. They are Clouds without Water. A People may have, Ignorant, or Erroneous, or Vi­cious Ministers; and such as distil no Rains of Hea­ven on the Souls of the People, but rather instil Poison into them. There are Ministers who are meer Good-for-nothings: Their chief Talent lies at making of Christless Christians. If they should over­come Sloth so far as to do something like Preach­ing an hundred times in a Year, there is not one right Gospel Sermon among all their Harangues. They are such Bunglers at Praying, that it would shamefully expose them, to put them upon it. Their Conversations are so Mean, so Vain, so Licentious, that the Blind lead the Blind, when the People are so left of GOD, as to follow them: Unsavoury Salt, fit only to be trodden under Foot of Men! Ah, Miserable People! GOD witholds Clouds of Hea­venly Rain, from such a People. Nay, He Rains Brimstone on their Habitations.

[Page 102] More than so, Secondly; When a People that sit under Good Ministers, do get no Good by them; then GOD commands the Clouds to distil no Rain upon them. The Holy SPIRIT of GOD giving Efficacy to His Word, is likened aptly enough un­to the Rain. It may be said of Him therein, as Hos. VI. 3. He shall come unto us as the Rain; as the latter and former Rain unto the Earth. People may have Ministers that shall be Fat Clouds, and full of Rain. But, if GOD leave this People, without any Impressions of Grace from His Holy SPIRIT, by His Word in the Mouth of such Ministers, here is a People not Rained upon. A People may have Excellent Ministers; such as are truly Men of GOD, and, Able Ministers of the New-Testament: And yet, the People may go on still in their Trespasses. The Ministers may be, Burning and Shining Lights; And yet, the People remain in Darkness, and never know the things of their Peace. The Ministers may be Good Men, and zealous for GOD; And yet, the People not by their Means turned unto the Lord. All the Pains taken by the Ministers with the Peo­ple, are lost upon them. The People continue the Children of Unperswadeableness, tho' the Ministers do all they can for the perswading of them to Be­lieve on CHRIST, and Repent of Sin, and lead Godly and Sober and Righteous Lives. The Holy SPIRIT of GOD, affords not His Efficacy to make all Effectual. The cursed Mountains of Gilboa, are not left so much without Rain, as the Souls of such a People.

II. We will Enquire, next; What will be the Consequence of such a Judgment; and what there [Page 103]is, that should make it appear Terrible unto us?

First. When the Clouds distil no Rains on the Souls of Men, the worst Famine that can be, will follow upon it. There will follow that Famine; Amos VIII. 11. Not a Famine of Bread, nor a Thirst for Water; but of hearing the Words of the Lord. A Bodily Famine is a Judgment, than which there is none more dreaded among the Children of Men. The King of Israel had cause enough to put the Denomination of, The Evil, upon it. When the Glorious GOD is going to spend His Arrows on a sinful World, He comes to an Extremity in this; I will send the evil Arrows of Famine upon them. O Dismal Case! Wherein the Torture is Intolera­ble! Men devour their own Flesh; Women de­vour the Infants at their Breasts; A lingring Tor­ment brings a fierce Rage, and a slow Death, upon the Miferables! How pathetically is it set forth; and how Lamentably! Lam. IV. 9. They that be slain with the Sword are better of it, than they that be slain with Hunger; for these pine away strick­en through for want of the fruits of the Field. But now, they that are slain with a Famine of Bread and a Thirst for Water, are better of it, than they that are slain with a Famine of hearing the Words of the Lord. For these pine away in their Sins; They are stricken through for want of the Fruits that are to bring and keep their Souls in Life; They go down to Eternal Burnings; Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth, in a Destruction from GOD, is what they are eternally damn'd unto.

Secondly. To enjoy the Clouds which distil Rains on our Souls, tis an High Favour of Heaven. Then tis a Sore Judgment of Heaven, to be depri­ved [Page 104]of such Enjoyments. If People should under­go many Difficulties, yet the Clouds distilling Rains on their Souls, would make amends for their dif­ficult Circumstances. Thus we read; Isa. XXX. 20. Tho' the Lord give you the Bread of Adversity, and the Water of Affliction, yet thine Eyes shall see thy Teachers. But, Ah, Abandoned People! If your Eyes can see no Teachers, you are worse of it, than any scarcity of Bread or of Water can render you. They are a Blessed People, who have the Word of GOD, with the Ordinances of Heaven which it leads them to. An Undone People then they that have none of these things. When this Good Part is taken away, the Best Thing a People can have, is taken away. They have then the worst Thing that can be befalling of them. The People are lifted up to Heaven that are made partakers of such Heavenly Priviledges, as the Clouds distilling Rains on their Souls. Tis then a meer Hell upon Earth, to be de­stitute of them. In the Word of GOD Men Eat the Food of Angels. When this Food is denied them, they are condemn'd and confin'd unto the Serpents Food, and have their Souls filled with nothing but what leaves them forever Empty; nothing but the Dust of the Earth. We read, Psal. LXXIX. 15. Blessed is the People that know the Joyful Sound. But then, Oh! the Curses that are poured out upon a People, who know nothing of the Joyful Sound! All the Curses that ever Mount Ebal roar'd withal, and enough to make a very Dreadful Sound! He was a Man of Right Sentiments, who said, I have esteemed the Words of thy Mouth more than my necessary Food. Then, if the Word of GOD be taken away, tis as bad as if our necessary Food were taken away. [Page 105] Wandring Souls, Tis by the Perfect Law of GOD, that you are to be Converted. Simple Souls, Tis by the Sure Testimony of GOD, that you are to be made Wise. Dejected Hearts, Tis by the Right Statutes of GOD, that you are to be Rejoiced. Ig­norant Minds, Tis by the pure Commandment of GOD, that you are to be Enlightened. What a Wretched­ness to be deprived of all this Blessedness! What a Wrath unto the uttermost!

Thirdly. Tis a Judgment that goes not alone. If the Clouds distil no Rains on the Souls of the Peo­ple, GOD has taken away the Signs of His Graci­ous Presence from among them; They may be­moan themselves, We see not our Signs, when there is no more any Prophet among them. The Lord Himself comes, where the Showers of His Word come. Hence, when the Showers of the Gospel are departed from a People, the Lord Himself is departed from them. This is the Burden from the Lord, upon them, I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. But, Oh! What a Word is That! Hos. IX. 12. Wo to them when I depart from them! And now, What ensues? All manner of Evil; And this Account of it, The Lord is not with us, and therefore all this is befallen us. A People so forsaken of GOD, must needs grow an Ungodly People. Satan has his Throne among them. From that Throne of Iniquity there issue out most venemous Operations. The People are all of them Captives to the Powers of Darkness, and the Prey of the Terrible Ones. GOD now makes Darkness, and it is Night, and the Beasts of the Pit creep forth, and the old Lions roar after their Prey, and the famished People become a Prey unto them. Their Character is That; Foolish, [Page 106]Disobedient, Deceived, serving diverse Lusts and Plea­ures, living in Malice and Envy, hateful and hating one another. O Rueful Condition! What Suburbs of Hell are we falling into! The People destitute of the Desirable Showers, are as Unloving as they are Ungodly, and are a continual Dropping to one another. The People make themselves to one another like the Bitter Waters, which the Star call­ed Wormwood, fell into; and become Grievous Judgments upon one another. At the same time, they Ripen for all the Judgments of GOD, and Open the Floodgates for them, and have no Me­thods of escaping them. Tis with them accor­ding to that Report, 2 Chron. XV. 3, 5, 6. They were without a Teaching Priest, and without Law; And in those times, there was no Peace, for GOD vex­ed them with all Adversity. Ah, Forlorn People; Sitting in Darkness, and in the Region of the sh [...]dow of Death;

But from these Things, let us make some In­ferences.

I. A People that have the Clouds of Heaven dis­tilling Evangelical Rains upon them, should be Thankful to Him, who Covers the Heavens with Clouds, and who prepareth Rain for the Earth. It is the Glorious GOD, who Commands His Clouds, to distil His Rains upon them, O our Evangelized People; It is He, who by watering wearies the thick Cloud, and causes the Rain to come for His Land, and in Mercy. On such an Occasion a People are so called upon; Praise ye the Lord. I call to Mind a Passage; Psal. LXXXIV. 6. The Rain fills the Pools. My little Skill in Philology, finds, many Hebrew Words are so significant, that without any Danget [Page 107]or Damage, we may suppose a further Sense in them, than what is at first obvious. This Passage particularly may be read thus, The Teacher is filled with Blessings. O People Travelling to Zion, You often meet with such a Thing: A Teacher that is full of Blessings; A Cloud from and by which, the Blessed GOD Showers down a Poure of Blessings upon you. Is there a Countrey any where under the Cope of Heaven at this Day, Richer on this regard, than this poor Countrey? Behold, Thy Dense Clouds, O People known above the most of the Families of the Earth, Charg'd Clouds, from whence much of a Glorious CHRIST comes down, like Rain upon the mown Grass, like Showers that water the Earth. Yea, we read, Job XXXVII. II. Of, Bright Clouds; that is to say, Clouds that have Rainbows in them. There are Candidates for the Work of GOD in our Churches, which are such Bright Clouds; Young Men of growing Abi­lities, and of settled Resolutions, to do all the Good that ever they can. These carry Rainbows with them, and comfortable Tokens, that our Churches will not as yet be overwhelmed in a General De­solation. O Churches that so find Life and ob­tain Favour of the Lord; Give Thanks, give Thanks to our Ascended JESUS, who gives these Gifts unto Men, and at the same time, sends a plentiful Rain, by which He confirms His weary Inheritance.

Pliny mentions among those which they call, The Fortunate Islands, one that is called, Pluviaria, because of the agreeable Rains which it is bless'd withal. Our Land may on the best Accounts be called, Pluviaria; None more happily Rained up­on!

[Page 108] It becomes us now to do what may be done, that the Clouds of Heaven distilling Evangelical Rains, may be always afforded unto us; and that we may never suffer a Famine of the Gospel, from the Clouds desisting to Rain upon us. The Three Years and an half in which it Rained not in the Days of Elias, were a Type of the Twelve Hundred and sixty Years, which make Three Years and an half of Prophetical Days, that the Romish Antichrist is to famish the Nations. This Period being upon its Expiration, We may be in more hopes than ever, that if due Means be used, we shall obtain the Rains that are to be wished for. It is to be ho­ped, that when our Elders give up the Ghost, our People shall yet know where to seek the Meat, that should relieve their Souls. In order to this;

First; The Clouds that bring the Rains, are to be fairly dealt withal. Indeed, if the Ministers of the Gospel are Men of no Merits. I am not aware of any Respects due to them. If they be Foolish and Selfish and Slothful Men, I know not why they should be Respected above other Men. If they are no better than Idol Shepherds, O Churches of GOD, Get rid of them as fast as you can. If they no­toriously Miscarry, let not their Coat be a Shelter for their Miscarriages: It aggravates 'em! Well, But if Ministers have the True Spirit of the Gospel in them, and keep within the Commissions and the Directions of it, then in Abuses offered unto them, it may in some sort be said, Ambassadors are abu­sed. GOD will call home His Injured Ambassa­dors, and there come none after them, like those that went before them. Yea, It comes to that; 2 Chron. XXXVI. 16, They mocked the Messengers [Page 109]of GOD, and misused His Prophets, until the Wrath of the Lord arose against His People, so far that there was no Remedy. Sometimes a People are blessed with Ministers who are Heavenly and Luminous Clouds over the Assemblies of Zion: Ministers that are the Beauty and the Defence of the Churches; Mi­nisters that are conspicuously full of Knowledge and of Goodness. They discharge all their Offices, with great Capacity, with great Activity, with great Fidelity. They study to do Good, and they do abundance of Good. They are Tender Fathers to their Flocks; Praying for them, Watching for them, glad of all Opportunities to be useful unto them; Scattering their Alms and their other Kind­nesses, like the Showers of Heaven among them. Of such Ministers, I was going to say, Make much of them. Without recalling that Word, I will say, Make Nothing of them. One of the Best among them said, 2 Cor. XII. 11. I am Nothing. If they are what they should be, you cannot more oblige them, than to see you looking thro' the Clouds, up to the Sun of Righteousness, who makes them to be all that they are. They will count, that you ne­ver carry it so well towards them, as when you take them to be Nothing but what their Glorious LORD makes them to be; and ascribe unto their LORD, the whole Glory of all the Good you find in them, and from them. Nevertheless, I may not leave unquoted those Words of our Apostle, 1 Thess. V. 12. We beseech you, Brethren, to know thens who Labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and esteem them very highly in Love for the sake of their Work. Yea, Let the Conscience in the Breast of the People, now do the part of [Page 110]a Preacher; And, O Conscience, Do thou Declare! —Is it not pity that such Benign Clouds of Hea­ven should be misused? Pity, they should have their Spirits broken with Oppressive Necessities? Pity, they should be Reproached and Slandered, and insulted with many Indignities? Pity, that any prevailing Party should load them with such Expressions of Aversion for them, as may compel them to mourn before the Lord; A Bad-spirited People have killed me; have hastened my Death upon me! The GOD of Zacharias may look upon such Things, and not only take away the Blessings, but also say, Let no more such Clouds distil my Rains upon such a People!

But inasmuch as there is very much Sacriledge committed in the Countrey, and many well de­serving Ministers of the Gospel, do not receive a proper and a decent Ma [...]ntainance, but suffer griev­ous Afflictions and Oppressions, and scandalous De­fraudations; I think it not unseasonable here to employ a Minute or two of Remarks upon it. I would not have taken so much Notice of this Matter, if I had not really thought the Cause of PIETY in the Countrey considerably concerned in it.

The Glorious GOD in Strange Ways, even fram­ing Evil, and devising one Device after another against us, obliges the Countrey to Vast Expences, which amount unto much more than as much a­gain as a Liberal Maintainance of the Ministry thro'­out the Land would call for; And if we were so Wife, as to observe these Things, and would wise­ly consider of His Doings, and consider our ways, we should Think, Whether a Righteous GOD be not [Page 111]in these Things punishing us for Witholding more than is meet, in this notorious Article.

But while the Countrey is under the Scourges of GOD, I will Read something of the Law unto you; and set Cmscience to work with and on such Questions as these.

Q. I. If you Read the First Epistle to the Corin­thians, the Ninth Chapter, from the Fourth Verse to the Fourteenth, don't you find an Inspired Apo­stle of our Lord, with six or seven Unanswerable Arguments, proving This, which he makes the Conclusion of all: The Lord hath Ordained, that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel? And is it not then incontestibly Evident, That if you do not your part, that your Ministers may live well, and have a Food convenient for them, you Sin against the Ordinance of that Glorious LORD, whose Name you have been Baptised into?

Q. II While you do not Communicate what may be Needful for the Support of your Teachers, how can you stand before that plain Command of GOD your SAVIOUR; Gal. VI. 6. Let him that is taught in the Word, Communicate unto him who teacheth, in all good Things? Or, will GOD be mock­ed, when you plead, That you can't afford the ex­pences herein called for, when GOD knows, you ex­pend much more in less useful ways, which might much better be spared?

Q. III. When our Lord sent forth His Ministers, did not He direct them to expect a Maintainance from them to whom He sent them; Declaring, Matth. X. 10. The Workman is worthy of his Meat: And, Luk. X. 7. The Labourer is worthy of his Wa­ges?

[Page 112] Q. IV. What an ample Provision of Temporal-Enjoyments, did the Holy One of Israel make, under the Mosaic Paedagogy, for the Tribe that were set apart for Spiritual Services; therewithal saying, Mal. III. 9, 10. Ye are cursed with a Curse, for ye have robbed me: Let there be Meat in my House, and prove me now herewith, if I do not pour you out a Blessing? And, if Moses took so much care for his Ministers, can you dream, that our Blessed JESUS, the Son over His House, takes no care for His?

Yea, Tho' your Ministers have a Ten times bet­ter Office than the Ancient Levites, yet would they not in much less than a Quarter part of what was allow'd unto the Levites, reckon a very competent Allowance made unto them?

Q. V. Did not our Father Abraham owe and pay a Tenth unto Melchizedek? And is not our Glorious CHRIST an High-Priest, who has the Rights of Melchizedek belonging to Him? How will ye prove your selves the Genuine Children of Abraham, if you devote not a Tenth part of your Income to the true Melchizedek? And will not less than One Half of this Tenth, ordinarily be much more than your Ministers would be comfor­tably supply'd and content withal?

Q. VI. Can it be Reasonable, that your Mini­sters Labourously spend all their Time and Strength, in doing the Best Good that can be done for you and yours; and neglect Advantages to Enrich themselves in the ways of other Business; And that you should at the same time expose them to Straits, and Wants, and let the [...] [...]nk under dis­tressing Difficulties, and the various Temptations which a pinching Poverty must lay them open to?

[Page 113] Q. VII. When a Laborious Minister of our Lord, received the Money which a Good Spirited People gathered for him, did he not assure them; Phil. IV. 18 It was a Sacrifice, acceptable, well-plea­sing to GOD? Upon an Impartial Observation, may it not be found, that those Persons, and those Places, which do Best for the Maintainance of the Evangelical Ministry among them, Thrive most, un­der a very sensible Benediction of GOD? If there could be Collected into an History the Nota­bl [...] Experiences, which here and there Particular Christians have had, of GOD smiling on their Af­fairs, with a Conspicuous and Surprising Blessing, from the time that they have set themselves to en­courage his Meritorious Ministers, would not the astonishing History be enough to convince an A­theist, and bring a Churl to be Bountiful?

Seven [...]UESTIONS,—If duely Thought upon, certainly our Levites would have their Por­tion more duly given to them!

In thus Contending for them, I will take occasi­on for a Parenthesis of the Hebrew Husbandry.

[It was forbidden Deut. XXV. 4. To Muzzle an Ox treading out the Corn. They (as well as other Nations) used Oxen in treading out their Corn, ei­their with their Feet barely, or their Feet shod with Brass or Iron, or with drawing over the Corn, an Heavy Cart, or Wooden Sled, with Iron Teeth or Nails next the Ground. While the Oxen were at this Work, they sometimes muzzled them, or daubed their Mouths, with Dung, or put Sharps into their Mouths, or hung an Instrument about their Necks that hindred them from stouping, or kept them from any Drink, or covered the Corn [Page 114]with Skins. These things are prohibited. The Intention of the Prohibition, is, That we should make much, even of the Brute Creatures that serve us. But it intends also, That we must learn to be Kind as well as Just unto all that are employ'd for our Good. Now this Law is Twice quoted in New Testament; and it is both Times for this purpose, To shew, that it is the Duty of a People, to give their Ministers a Comfortable Maintainance.]

I hope, I have said enough. I may now go on to say,

Secondly. When the Clouds distil Rains, the Fruits ought to be answerable. Shall I tell you, who the People are, that are in hazard of having the Clouds commanded, that they should convey no Rains unto them? Tis the Vineyard, that brings forth no Fruits, but Sowre Grapss. The Sowre Grapes of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness, abounding a­mong a People that have the Gospel, these pro­cure the Salutiferous Clouds and Rains to be with­held from them. We are so warned of GOD; Heb. VI. 7, 8. The Earth which drinketh in the Rain that cometh oft upon it, and bears Thorns and Briars, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. People hear the Word of GOD from time to time; and they get no Good by it; They are nothing the better for what they hear; The Word is not Embraced, not Obeyed, not Complied withal. If People won't Hearken to the Word of GOD, they shall not have the Hearing of it. The Word of GOD is preached among a a People; But, Few Sinners are Converted from the Error of their ways. And, if any are Converted, they show but very Dull Marks of their Conversi­on; [Page 115]they continue Barren and Lifeless Christians; there is little Power of Godliness among them; they make little Improvement in Piety. Alas, What will this Unfruitfulness bring them to? As our Lord said unto His Apostle; Act. XXII. 18. Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy Testimony concerning me. Thus does the Great GOD now say to the Clouds, which distil His Rains with so little profit upon the Peo­ple; Make haste, and come away from a People that hates to be Reformed. O my Word, Thou shalt stay no longer, where they will not receive thy Testimony.

III. The Clouds of Heaven distilling Evangelical Rains upon us, we should not be satisfied without the Heavenly Influences coming with and in the Rains upon our Souls. It is one of the Precious Promises; Isa. LV. 10, 11. As the Rain cometh down from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the Earth, and maketh it bring forth,—so shall my Word be, that goeth forth out of my Mouth. Oh! that we may feel this Word fulfilled unto us! Our Gospellized People; The Clouds of Heaven have long been showring down the Rains of the Gospel upon you. But, Oh! What the Influences of the Glorious Gospel! What the Dispositions which it has brought you to!

I will describe to you, a Soul that feels the In­fluences of the Heavenly Showers upon it. Examine what Experiences you have had of such Influences.

Tis a Soul happily Rained upon, that is come heartily to say; Great GOD, Thou shalt be my GOD and my Portion, and if I may live unto thee, I have all my Desire! Heartily to say; O my Lovely SAVI­OUR, [Page 116]I Repair to thee, and Rely on thee, that thou mayst bring me to GOD, and save me to the uttermost! Heartily to say, Vile Sin, I will for ever hate thee, and shun thee, and seek the Death of thee, and be glad of every thing that helps to kill thee! Heartily to say, Vain World, I will expect nothing from thee; and I will not be uneasy, tho' thy Pleasures and Riches and Honours be denied unto me! Heartily to say, I wish well un­to every one; Oh! that I may do Good unto all: Fain would I he a Blessing in all Relations! Are these the Dispositions of thy Soul? O Soul, on which the Clouds of Heaven have distilled the Showers of Bles­sing, To thee there belongs that Word; Isa. LVIII. 11. The Lord shall satisfy thy Soul in Drought; and thou shalt be like a watered Garden.

But the EXHORTATION, shall at length come to us, in that Abridgment which Hosea, that long lived Minister has given us, not only by his own Sermons, for about fourscore Years toge­ther, but also of all the Sermons preached by all the Prophets that were sent unto the Ancient People of GOD. You thus have it, Hos. X. 12. Tis time to seek the Lord, until He come and Rain Righteousness upon you. Behold what now falls from the opened Bottles of Heaven upon you.

O you that have the Clouds of Heaven over you; Be assured of this; Your Great SAVIOUR will come with a Blessed Rain of Righteousness, upon them that Seasonably seek for such a Blessed­ness.

The Thing to be sought for, is; That we may, by the Faith of it, come to have the perfect and peerless Righteousness of what our SAVIOUR did in conformity to the Law which is the Rule of [Page 117] Righteousness, as our Surety, may be imputed un­to us for the Justification of Life: And then, that our SAVIOUR would Sanctify us, as well as Justi­fy us, and lead us in the Paths of Righteousness.

We are now to apprehend, That when our SAVIOUR communicates of Himself and His Righteousness, in His Word, unto our Souls, there is in the Word it self, a sweet Rain from Heaven falling upon us. We shall soon make the Simili­tude very apparent. For, Does the Rain make the Earth Fruitful? O our Gospellized People, We hope, we hope, you can say, That you find the Word of your SAVIOUR do so. The Rain, Does it Comfort and Refresh the Earth? Doubtless, many of you can bring in this Testimony for the Word of your SAVIOUR, Lord, By this thou hast Quickened me! But then, The Righteousness, which our SAVIOUR has to bestow upon them, who attend upon His Word for it, This also may be compared unto the Rain, and the Comparison is a very Apt one. Shall we say? None but GOD can give the Rain. We are so taught of GOD; Jer. XIV. 22. Can the Heavens give Showers? Art not thou He, O Lord our GOD? Therefore we will wait upon thee, for thou hast made all these things. All Other Causes o [...] the Rain, are but Second Causes. This is very sure; None but GOD can give Righteous­ness unto us. Tis, The Righteousness of GOD. If our SAVIOUR had not been GOD as well as Man, He could never have brought in for us, that Everlasting Righteousness, wherein we may appear before GOD. And none but an Almighty GOD could ever do for us, those Things, which are done when Righteousness is convey'd unto us. Tru­ly, [Page 118]'tis a Constellation of Miracles! When a Sinner is made Righteous, the Blind sees, the Lame walks, the Dead comes to Life; Stone is turn'd into Flesh; a Wolf is chang'd into a Lamb. The Holy SPIRIT, who does these things,— O Lord, Thou art Great, and thou doest wondrous Things, and thou art GOD a­lone. Again; The Necessity of the Rain; How feelingly is This confessed with us? A Drought soon brings us to those Ejulations; Joel I. 19, 20. O Lord,— The Fire hath devoured the Pastures of the Wilderness, and the Flame has burnt all the Trees of the Field: The Beasts of the Field cry also unto thee. But then, the Necessity of Righteousness is nothing short of That. Soul, Necessity is laid upon thee, to ob­tain the Righteousness of thy SAVIOUR, and wo unto thee if thou do it not. There is a Fire that will devour thee, and a Flame that will burn thee up, if thou be a Stranger to it. Once more; The Ex­cellency of the Rain; Who once ever disputed this? 'Tis elegantly descanted on; Psal. LXV. 9, 10, 11. Thou visitest the Earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the River of GOD, which is full of Water;— Thou makest it soft with Showers; Thou crownest the Year with thy Goodness, and thy Pathes drop Fatness. But the Excellency of Righte­ousness is yet more to be accounted of. Soul, Pos­sessing the Righteousness of thy SAVIOUR, thou hast what makes thee more Excellent than thy Neigh­bour. GOD visits thee; thou art greatly Enriched with the River of GOD. He Crowns thee with His Goodness, and His Pathes drop Fatness upon thee.

In fine; What remains is This. O you that follow after Righteousness. PRAYER, PRAYER, to GOD your SAVIOUR for it; This is the [Page 119]Grand Method of your seeking for a Rain of Righ­teousness. The Cry of a perishing Sinner, and a Soul gasping like the parched Earth;— O my GOD and my SAVIOUR, Let thy Righteousness be Rained upon me from above!— May that Cry go up this Day from every one of us all; and pierce the Clouds, reach the Heavens! No one ever comes into the Righteousness of GOD, but here is the First of his Motions towards it, Behold, He prays. Of the genuine Christian we read, Psal. XXIV. 5, 6. He shall receive Righteousness from the GOD of hu Salvation; This is the Generation of them that seek Him. Christian, When thy SAVIOUR is going to make thee Righteous, He will bring thee into the Generation of them that seek Him.

Yea, but Remember, This is to be done in the Proper Time for it; even, when, It is Time to seek the Lord.

Indeed, Every Day we are to take our Time for the seeking of GOD. Every Day 'tis to be done in fit Retrements; Every Day 'tis to be done with our D [...]mesticks. A Black Day 'tis, wherein GOD has not been sought unto. But then, The Lords-day; This, be sure, is a most proper Time for this Work. 'Tis the Day of Rain. The Clouds which drop down Righteousness, are on that Day hovering o­ver the Assemblies of Zion. Tis Now, that the SPIRIT of GOD sollicits us; ‘Take This Time, O Soul far from Righteousness. Be not Stout-heart­ed. Fall down before thy SAVIOUR. Humbly look to Him, and beg of Him; for a Rain of Righ­teousness upon thee.’ Verily, Millions of Souls, have on This Day, found a Rain of Righteousness on them, from a SAVIOUR sought unto!

[Page 120] There is yet one thing more to be said. The present Time is of all the most proper Time. We must be so perswaded; 2 Cor. VI. 2. Behold, Now is the Acceptable Time. Languishing Soul, Thy SAVI­OUR stands ready with His Righteousness. He makes a Tender of His Righteousness. He says, Ask and it shall be given thee. Thou hast no Assurance of any but the present Time, to accept the Tender: 'Tis thy only Time. Alas, What Multitudes fall short of Righteousness and Salvation, because they let slip their only Time. Losing the present Time, they lose all their Time, and lose their Souls. They would not seasonably Worship the King, the Lord of Hosts; Even upon them there shall be no Rain; This shall be their Punishment, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Was it possible for me to say this, without an­nexing a most solemn Admonition unto our Young People? Children, Be you admonished of This. The Time of Youth, is the most proper Time in the World, for you to seek unto your SAVIOUR, for a Rain of His Righteousness upon you. You will never see such another Time. You Read, [For, I hope, you every Day Read in the Book, which tells you of him, even, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make Children wise unto Salvation!] of one, of whom it is related, While he was yet Young, he began to seek after GOD. GOD brought that Young Man into His Righteousness, and made him one of the Best Men in the World. I advise you to think on those two Passages, in the Holy Scrip­tures. First, a pious Father laid that Charge up­on a Son; 1 Chron. XXVIII. 9. My Son, serve the GOD of thy Father; If thou seek Him, He will be found of thee. The Devout Son kept in his Mind [Page 121]that Charge of his Father. Anon, with an Eye to it, he wrote that strain of Wisdom, Prov. VIII. 17 They that seek me early, shall find me.

My Son, Mind the Charge GOD now laid up­on thee.

¶ But we will now take into our consideration, the Terrible Judgment in the Literal sense of it. And what is now to be observed, is; That when the Glorious GOD commands the Natural Clouds to Distil no Rains upon a Land, His Judgment upon the Land should have a serious Notice taken of it.

It is what these Remarks are to be made upon.

I. The Clouds are Created by GOD, and when they distil Rains, 'tis because they are commanded by Him to do it. The Philosophy of the Clouds and their distilled Rains, is not here to be enlarged up­on. Tis enough to say, The Philosopher will tell you, That a Cloud is a Collection of little, but concave, Globules, which therefore ascend unto that Heighth, wherein they are of equal Weight with the Air; where they remain suspended, un­til by a Motion in the Air, they are Broken, and so come down in drops, that make our Mists or Showers. But it is the Religion of these Watry Me­teors, with which we are now to be entertained. Reason tells us, That there is a GOD of Infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness, who is the Creator of the World. These parts of the World then must needs be the Creatures of that Glorious GOD. But let us hear what Scripture teaches us concern­ing it.

[Page 122] The Book of GOD and of Truth, has taught us, That the Clouds are the Creatures of GOD. So we read; Joh. XXVI. 8. He bindeth up the Waters in His Thick Clouds, and the Cloud is not rent under them. So we read; Job XXXVII. 15. GOD causes the Light of His Cloud to shine. The Clouds are there­fore called, The Chariots of GOD, and, The Chambers of GOD; and, The Treasures of GOD; and the Stories which are built by GOD. Of our GOD we read; Psal. CXLVII. 8. GOD covers the Heavens with Clouds; and prepareth Rain for the Earth. The Pagans called their Jupiter, by the Name of Nubicoga; He that Orders the Clouds. We challenge the Name for our JEHOVAH; Of whom we read, He commands the Clouds from A­bove.

And then, This Book of His, has taught us, That the Rains too are the Creatures of GOD. So we read; Job V. 10. GOD giveth Rain upon the Earth, and sendeth Waters upon the Field. So we read; Job XXXVI. 27, 28. GOD maketh small the drops of Water, they pour down Rain according to the Vapour thereof: Which the Clouds do drop, and distil upon Man abundantly. We are accordingly informed, That GOD is the Father of the Rain; and, That GOD makes a Decree for the Rain. When the Rain falls, there cometh to pass that thing; Psal. LXV. 9, 10. Lord, Thou visitest the Earth, and waterest it; Thou waterest the Ridges thereof abundantly, Thou settlest the Furrows thereef: Thou makest it soft with Show­ers. We forget the Original of the Rain, if we don't look above the Region, from which it falls upon us; and if we are Strangers to those Terms; Lord, It is Thou that causest the Rain to fall upon thy [Page 123]Land. We ought then Religiously to acknowledge the Providence of the Glorious GOD, in His dis­posing of the Clouds and of the Rains. Behold the Distribution of the Clouds and of the Rains, in such agreeable Proportions, as to answer the Neces­sities of the World, and say, What a sensible Pro­vidence of the Glorious GOD! Man, Dost thou know the Ballancings of the Clouds? They are the Won­drous Works of a GOD who is perfect in Knowledge. Behold the gentle and softly way, in which the Clouds do drop down the Rains; not in destructive Torrents! And again say, What a sensible Providence of a Glorious GOD! It is our GOD who does make small the drops of Water, and pours down Rain accor­ding to the Vapour thereof. He that owns not the Hand of GOD in the Clouds and the Rains, de­serves to be struck with something else, that the Clouds are sometimes charged withal; deserves to see the Clouds darting down upon him their Thun­derbolts!

II. When GOD commands the Clouds, to distil no Rains, it is a Judgment, that Men should be affected withal. A long want of Clouds and Rains, or, the promising Appearance of Clouds from time to time going over without Rain; This is a very affecting Judgment of Heaven upon a sinful World. A DROUGHT is a sore Judgment of GOD!

It is a Judgment that is often threatned among the Effects of the Divine Displeasure: A Judgment of great Note among the Threatnings of GOD. Thus you read, Lev. XXVI. 19. I will punish you, and I will make your Heavens as Iron, and your Earth at Brass. Thus you read; Deut. XI. 17. The Lord [...] [Page 124]Wrath kindled against you, and He shut up the Heaven that there be no Rain.

Indeed, a Drought is a Plague, wherein a check is given to the Ordinary Course of Nature. 'Tis the Hand of GOD that gives the Check; the Hand of an angry GOD. The Burning Anger of GOD is discovered in it. The Lord GOD calls to contend by Fire, in the Judgment. There is the Indignation of GOD, proclaim'd against a Land, when the Land is not Rain'd upon. The Great GOD was offended; And then came this Judgment; Hag. I. 11. I called for a Drought upon the Land, and upon that which the Ground bringeth forth, and upon Men, and upon Cattel.

But that in which a Drought proves a fearful Plague, is, The Consequence of it. A Scarcity fol­lows: Yea, the Famine; Than which, what is there more to be trembled at? Perhaps Drink for Man and Beast, may grow scarce, by a Drought going on to Extremity. Be sure, Food will do so. Thus we read; Jer. XIV. 3, 4. Their Nobles have sent their little ones to the Waters, they came to the Pits, they found no Water; they returned with their Vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded; and cover­ed their Heads: Because the Ground is chapt, for there was no Rain in the Earth, the Plowmen were ashamed. Thus we read; Amos IV. 7, 8. I have witholden the Rain from you, when there were yet three months to the Harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one City, and I caused it not to rain upon another City: One piece was rained upon; and the piece whereupon it rained not, withered.— So two or three Cities wandred unto one City to drink Water; but they were not satisfied. The Vegetable World cannot subsist, except the Showers [Page 125]of Heaven saturate it. The Showers of Heaven are needful, as a moist Vehicle, to carry along with them that Nourishment which the Plants do subsist upon. All Plan [...]s must languish and wither, if they have not these Waters to bring into them the Sap, which they owe their Growth unto. But, if the V [...]getables of the World be destroy'd, the Animals will soon be so too. The Fruits of the Earth, depend on the Showers of Heaven. All Ani­mals do live on the Fruits of the Earth, or on those Animals which do live on these Fruits. We read; Job XXXVIII 26, 27. He causes it to rain on the Earth,—to satisfy the desolate and waste Ground, and to cause the Bud of the tend [...]r He [...]b to spring forth. Hence, when a Drought is parching our Fields, there is this awful Voice of GOD unto us in it; I will not feed you saith the Lord! But, the Famine! A Judgment which all Faces may gather Paleness at the very Mention of! To die of the Famine: How Grievous a Death! I will show you how it looks; Lam. V. 10 Our Skin was black like an Oven, be­cause of the terrible F [...]min [...]!

But let us make a sew brief Inferences, from what has been thus Remark'd unto us.

First. When the Clouds do distil Rains upon us, our Thankful Praises to the Glorious GOD are called for. My Brethren, Let our Praises go up in a greater Plenty than any Vapours, to the GOD of all Grace, who now opens and empties the Bot­tles of Heaven upon us. We read; Act XIV. 17. He left not Himself without a Witness, in that He did us Good, and gave us Rain from Heaven, and fruitful Seasons filling our Hearts with Food and Gladness. The Showers of Heaven then bespeak from us [Page 126]these Thankful Confessions; Great GOD; Thou art a good GOD! Oh! How much ought we to love and serve the GOD, who does good unto us, in giving us Rain from Heaven, and fruitful Seasons! Verily, The Showers are worse thrown away, than those that fall upon the Rocks, if they produce not such Consequences from us.

But, Secondly. When the Clouds refuse to dis­til Rains upon us, the Glorious GOD requires the Dispositions of Repentance from us. It is GOD who commands the Clouds to distil no Rains upon us, when we undergo such a Calamity. It be­comes us now, with Repenting Minds, humbly to enquire, what Controversy the Holy One may have with us, in such a Calamity? And, what Iniquity it may be, that such a Punishment is inflicted for? 'Tis true; No People under the New Testament are under such a Covenant for External Prosperity, upon Obe­dience to the Laws of GOD, as the Israelitish Na­tion were, under the Mosaic Dispensation. The Blessed GOD has not promised unto any People now, That if they will not scandalously Break His Covenant, they shall see no Unfruitful Seasons. Peo­ple may have the Showers of Heaven, and other such Blessings denied unto them, and be brought low thro' Oppression Affliction and Sorrow; And yet be able to say, All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy Covenant. We see it, at this very Day. The Peo­ple that have least of all paid respect unto the Cove­nant of GOD, yet have not the fewest Showers of Heaven upon them. Nevertheless, when Showers are witheld, it is frequently, it is commonly, a Pu­nishment upon a Land, for having sinned grievously [Page 127]when Water-springs are turned into Dry-ground, and a Fruitful Land into Barrenness, it is usually, for the Wickedness of those that dwell therein. 'Tis, as we read; Deut. XXVIII. 15, 23, 24. If thou wilt not hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy GOD, Thy Hea­ven that is over thy head shall be Brass, and the Earth that is under thee shall be Iron; The Lord shall make the Rain of thy Land Powder and Dust. Wherefore, under such Fiery Rebukes of our GOD, we should Loathe and Judge our selves for our Miscarriages. Of these, there is especially One, that is a very Comprehensive One; That is to say, Our Unfruitful­ness, our Unfruitfulness! How Pertinently, but how Penitently, may this Reflection be made on this Oc­casion! Lord, We bring forth little good Fruit of the Cultivations which thou dost employ upon us. How fitly, how justly, how wisely, are an Unfruitful People pu­nished with Unfruitful Seasons! Methinks, I over­hear the Angel of the Waters making his Acclama­tions; Thou art Righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged so! It becomes us to find out our Miscarria­ges; to Bewail them, to Reform them; and Re­pair unto the great Sacrifice of our SAVIOUR for the Pardon of them. Syrs, Our Main Work at such a time, is, To seek Reconciliation with GOD. Oh! For Good Terms with the Great KING, from whose Countrey it is, that our Countrey is nourished!

Thirdly. When we would have the Clouds to distil Rains upon us, what shall we do, what can we do, but look up to the Glorious GOD for the supply of what is wanting unto us? Both the Former Rain and the Latter Rain is that for which our Glorious GOD is to be look'd unto: The [Page 128] Former Rain, to soften the Ground before the Sow­ing of the Seed; The Matter Rain, by which the Corn in the Blade is brought on to Earing and Harvest. We have a Promise to plead for it, Isa. XXX. 23. He shall give the Rain of [or, for] thy Seed, that thou shalt sow the Ground withal, and Bread of the Increase of the Earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. Our GOD can command the Clouds, to distil what Rains He pleases upon us. Our Main concern is with a GOD, who commands Delive­rances.

This is the Direction which our GOD has gi­ven us; Zech. X. 1. Ask ye of the Lord Rain in the time of the latter Rain; so the Lord shall make bright Clouds, and give them Showers of Rain, to every one Grass in the Field. And in pursuance of this Di­rection, there is a Notable Thing, which I am to mind you of. In the Covenant which our Graci­ous GOD, after the Flood, made with our Patri­arch Noah, who was to Comfort us concerning our Toil, and the Work of our Hands, because of the Ground which the Lord had cursed; there is a Promise of Regular Seasons, [Perhaps better than what were before the Flood;] wherein Seasonable Rains are comprehended. It may be partly with relation to that Covenant, that we read; Psal. XXXVI. 5. Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in the Heavens; they Faithful­ness reacheth to the CLOUDS. When we want Rain, we should do well in our Supplications to plead that COVENANT of our GOD. It may be, if it were more in Use with us, to plead that CO­VENANT, the Faithfulness of our GOD, would bei [...]n the CLOUDS more display'd before us. My Friends, Our Invitations and our Excitations, to [Page 129]our Supplications, are Numberless. Among these, we have what is very cogent and pungent, when it pleases the Holy One, to send a severe Drought upon us. How Wicked, and how Woful, are the Prayerless, at such a Time, when our GOD exhi­bits Himself as a Consuming Fire unto us! O Prayer­less ones, what a Share have you in procuring the Desolation, whibh we are in danger of, while you will do nothing for the preventing of it? Our Business at such a Time, is, To look above the Clouds, unto a Merciful GOD, who Numbers the Clouds in Wisdom, and who can stay the Bottles of Heaven. Of this GOD, we are told; He is One, whose Faithfulness reacheth to the Clouds. It may be, a GOD of such Faithfulness, will deal with us, according to the Word on which he has caused us to hope; Even, that Word; If I shut up Heaven, that there be no Rain, and my People humble themselves, and pray and seek my Face, and turn from their wicked Ways, Then will I hear from Heaven, and heal their Land. We must come this Day to that Resolution; Jer. XIV. 22. Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles, that can cause Rain? Or can the Heavens give Showers? Art not thou He, O Lord our GOD? Therefore we will wait upon thee: For thou hast made all these things. It was demanded of old, Canst thou lift up thy Voice to the Clouds, that abundance of Waters may cover thee? No; Let us Lift up our Voice to the GOD, who commands the Clouds. 'Tis He alone who can send abundance of Waters from thence upon us. He will not so hide Himself in a Cloud, that our Prayer shall not pass through it, and come unto Him.

I have done, The Sermon of this Day, comes to you as one of the Clouds, from whence the Rains [Page 130]of Heaven have been distilling upon you. But, Clouds distilling of Rains often bring Thunder with them. The Showers of this Day shall go off in Thunder and Lightning. We shall conclude with a COROLLARY, that shall carry Lightning and Thunder in it.

Surely, The Wicked that shall be turned into Hell, and all they that forget GOD, must see very direful Circumstances. Miserable they, on whom GOD Commands the Clouds to distil no Rains. But, Oh! how miserable they, who go down to the Fires that Burn in the Foundations of the Mountains! My Neighbours, If any of you Dy in your Sins, you go to a place, where GOD Commands the Clouds to distil no Rains upon the Miserables. Alas, your Lot must be in such an horrid Land as That; Isa. XXXIV. 9, 10. The Streams thereof shall be turn­ed into Pitch, and the Dust thereof into Brimstone, and the Land thereof shall become burning Pitch; It shall not be quenched Night nor Day, the Smoke thereof shall go up forever. In that place, GOD from His Clouds, being Terrible from his Holy places, only sends down Hail stones and Coals of Fire, and burning Thunder­bolts. In that place, the Tormented in vain wish for a Drop of Water to cool their Anguish. There, the Wicked are made as a Fiery Oven, by the Hot Anger of GOD; And the Smoke of their Torment as­cends forever and ever.

Oh! Be perswaded, Immediately to get into the Peace of GOD; Immediately to flee from the Wrath to come; Immediately to lay hold on the JESUS, who delivers from it. Be perswaded, Knowing the Terror of the Lord!

OF whom speaks the Psalmist This? Those whom the SPIRIT of GOD calls, Evil Doers, and, Workers of Iniquity, are more distinguishingly and immediately referr'd unto. But it is the Com­mon Lot of Mankind, wherein such have their Share, that is thus described unto us. Even Good Livers, They also who do no Iniquity, have their Share in it. But it is mentioned on this Occasion. Be­sides and beyond the more Private Interpretation of the Psalm, we are to apprehend the Song of Zion before us, as consisting of proper Instructions for the Holy People under the Reign of Antichrist, who holds Pres [...]ity to be a Mark of the True Church. We find here foretold the Ruin of Antichrist, in a [Page 133]Tremendous Conflagration, wherein the Enemies of GOD shall be consumed as the Fat of Lambs; into Smoke they shall consume away: And we find fore­told, the Bright Prosperity of the Holy People, af­ter the wicked one shall be destroy'd by the Bright­ness of the coming of the Lord. There is a Passage of the Apochrypha, in which the Son of Syrach, has given us the Sum of the Psalm now before us, wherein we enjoy a Rich Portion of our Canoni­cal Scripture. That Passage is this; A patient Man will bear a long time, and afterward Joy shall spring up unto him In the wretched Ethicks taught by the Adored Aristotle, whom yet we may too justly call, a A great Apostle of Satan, it is commended as a Virtue, To have an Indignation at the Prospe­rity of Unworthy Men. This Aristotelean Virtue is here Cens [...]red, Rebuked, forbidden, as a Dis­temper. Fret not thy self because of Evil doers, neither be thou Envious against the workers of Iniquity: Let not the Prosperity of wicked People be any Distur­bance to thee. There is this Reason why we should not be disturbed at it; They shall soon be cut down as the Grass: It will be but a short-lived Prosperity. And yet the difference between the Godly and wicked, lies not in the Resemblance which the moveable Grass bears to their Condition. So far the Rod of the wicked is but in the Lot of the Righteous. They are both of them soon cut down as the Grass, in the quick Advances of Mortality. But herein they differ. When the Godly are cut down as the Grass, ' [...]is that they may be lodged in the House of GOD; Yea, that our SAVIOUR may fill His Hand with them. When the wicked are cut down as the Grass, 'tis that they may be cast [Page 134]into the Oven, and thrown into the devouring Fire.

All that we shall here consider, is, The Common Lot of Mankind; For This is but what Mankind in general is to look for.

The DOCTRINE with which we are now to be Instructed, but Oh! that as much Affected!— is This.

To be soon cut down as the Grass; This is a Con­dition, which Mankind is not a Stranger to.

I. If all the Children of Men, yea, the most Glo­rious of them, and in all their Glory, be compared unto the Grass of the Field, it is a Metaphor, which the Oracles of our GOD have consecrated. As is the Grass of the Earth, even such is Man upon the Earth. It was the Song of the Ancient La­mentations; Psal. CIII. 15. As for Man, his Days are as Grass; As a Flowre of the Field, so he flourish­eth. It continues the perpetual Note, and Cause of our Lamentations. I have a Commission to speak at this rate; Isa. XL. 6. The Voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All Flesh is Grass; and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field. Man, Be thy Goodliness what it will, thou art but a Leaf of Grass after all: At thy very best, no better than an Honey-suckle. To justify this Ele­gant, Expressive, Instructive Metaphor, and the Denomination of Grass like Man, let us call to Mind his Original. If the Grass do spring out of the Earth, 'tis no other than what we read of Man; The Lord GOD formed Man of the Dust of the Earth. Man, Thou hast thy Root in the Earth. I wish thy Heart may not be too much there; too [Page 135]firmly rooted there. Thy Foundation is in the Dust. And, as the Grass cant't Rise and Thrive and Live, without Influences from Above, no more canst thou. There must be Dews and Shines from Hea­ven upon thee, else thou wilt come to nothing. In GOD we Live and Move and have our Being. The Grass don't come to Maturity at once. Nor does Man. 'Tis by Degrees, that he comes to what is expected from him. In fine, The Fate of the Grass, This, O Man, will be thy Fate also. We are taught of GOD so to speak; Jam. J. 10. As the Flow [...]e of the Grass, he shall pass away. 'Tis what we see every Day before our Eyes.

But there is, methinks, one agreeable Im­provement, which we may make of this Thought, before we part with it. Since in our Life we are like the Grass, I pray, why may we not Live like the Grass? Our Gospellized People, You enjoy the Advantages of the Spring in the Gospel; you have the Shines and the Showers of Heaven upon you. Oh! That you may now sprout, and grow, like the Herbage of a Field which the Lord has bles­sed. Be not neither as Christians that are just got out of the Earth, but sprout and grow up to­wards Heaven as far as you can: And so, keep waiting all the Days of your appointed Time, until it shall please GOD that the Sithe shall come. For,

II. All the Children of Men are liable to the Stroke of Death; Every Leaf of this Grass must be cut down by the Sithe of Death: No Remedy nor Es­caping! It is an old Question, and every Man may from the Experience of all Mankind, give a plain and a [...]hort Answer to it: Psal. LXXXIX. 48. What [...] is he that liveth, and shall not see Death? [Page 136]'Tis in the Quality of a Mower, with an I [...]resistible Sithe in his Hand, that the King of Terrors appears unto him. 'Tis he, who may truly challenge the Title of, The Catholic King. And as David once dealt with the Geshurites, He smote the Land, and left neither Man nor Woman alive; so does this Mower deal with all Mankind; He smites the Land; He carries his Mortal Sithe over the Face of it. He cuts down all before him, until not one spire of Grass is left standing in the Field. The Matter, and the Reason of the Matter, has by the Holy SPIRIT of GOD been thus declared unto us; Rom. V. 12. By one Man Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin; and so Death passed upon all Men, for that all have sinned. Sin, Sin, put the Sithe in­to the Hand of the Mower; and has given the Edge unto the Sithe: Hence, 'tis now come to pass, Death as one may say, like Caesar, taxes all the World, and will not spare even Caesar himself. As no Poverty will shelter the meanest, so no Dignity will protect the Highest, from the cutting, stroke of the Sithe. Of the Heap fallen before the Sithe, we read; Job. III. 19. The Small and Great are there. A Lazarus feels the stroke; and so does a Nebuchadnezzar. We read, Psal. XLIX. 10. Wise Men Dy, and so does the Fool. A Solomon feels the stroke; and so does a Rehoboam. In the most Po­pulous and Splendid City of Europe, and, I sup­pose, of the World, there are by Computation, almost a Million, of those whom we take leave to call, Spires of Grass. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass; Not one of them left standing in the World. In the English Nation, there are by Computation, almost Eight [Page 137]Millions of these poor Spires of Grass. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass; not one of them left standing in the World. But must not the Grass all over the World, be used like the English Grass? They Compute for near Five Hundred Millions of these frail Spires of Grass appearing on the whole Globe at this time. In a very little while, they will be all cut down as the Grass; Not one of them left standing in the World. We read; Eccl. VII. 2. This is the End of all Men, and the Living will lay it to his Heart. Oh! That they would do so! Sorry Leaf of Grass; No Corner of the Field thou standest in, will be a priviledged Place where the Arrest of Death cannot come upon thee; and where the Sithe can­not reach thee! Will Holiness render thee Invul­nerable? No; Moses is cut down. Will Courage? No; David is cut down. Will Vigour? No; Samp­son is cut down. Will Grandeur? No; Abashuerus is cut down. Will the Best Qualities imaginable repel and retund the Sithe? No; As accomplish­ed a Man as Paul: must have a Time of departune; and feel the Sithe in the form of an Axe applied for his Excision. They too whose Profession it is to keep others Alive, are not suffered to continue by reason of Death. One Generation passes away, by the Sithe doing its Office upon it; and another Genera­tion cometh; but This also still finds the Sithe rea­dy for it. A Sithe, a Sithe is sharpened, and also fur­bished: It is shorpened to make a fore slaughter; and it shall carry all before it.

But as we read, As many as came to the place where Aschel fell down and died, stood still, so coming to such a vast Heap of Mown Grass, and seeing so [Page 138]many lie dead. at this place, I can't but stand still, and make a Pause. I can go no further, till I have tendered a Counsil, that will carry a Satyr in it. The very Tender of such a Counsil, is a Satyr upon the Spires of Grass, that seem to have as little Sense as the Turfs of Earth, and the Clods of the Valley, which the Grass grows upon. Tis this; O Man, Believe thine own Death, and expect the Reach of the Sithe unto thee. Oh! That we were come once to Realize this thing; I am one of those whom the Sithe of Death will cut down as the Grass. This is a very strange thing! The most Mysterious Point in all the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed GOD, has not more cause, than this Truth which lies every Day before our Eyes, to complain, Lord, who hath believed it! Tho' we see that Word every Day fulfilled before our Eves; Heb. IX. 27. It is appointed unto Men once to die: Yet how many do live, as if they were never to die! The Epidemi­cal Neglect of making due Provision for a Good State after Death, tis a Transgression that saith in my Heart, There is no fear of the Sithe before their Eyes. Men will grant it in the general Asserti­on, All Men are to die. But many things [...]ook, as if many of us did not grant it in the particular Application; I am the Man that am quickly to die. Certainly, it becomes us to say; Job XXX. 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to Death, and to the House appointed for all the living. Oh! Let us bring this Consi [...]tion home to our selves. Yea, Die daily; And, let us do those things, which will be sound the Things of our Peace in the Day of our Death! Verily. There is no Wisdom equal unto This!

[Page 139] III. Uncertain the Time when the Mower will come; The Offspring of the Earth, is not always of one Age and of one Bulk, when the Mower applies the Sithe unto it. Old Jsaac was not the only Per­son, who may say, with him; Gen. XXVII. 2. I know not the Day of my Death. All the Spires of Grass, that are Cut down, are not of an equal Growth; but the stroke of Death is given with a Promiscuons Excision among them. And, Mista Senum et Juve­num densantur Funera. The Sithe not only comes upon a Methuselah; But it comes upon an Abijah too; And the Child died. We read of some; Job. XXXVI 14. They Dy in Youth. How often has the Report been made, since the Days of the Sons of Job, The Young Men are Dead! We read of Children Dying. Read of such things! Yea, we see them every Day. The Zareptaness, and the Shunamitess, are not the only ones whose Children have died. It is a passage; Cant. II. 12. The Flowers appear on the Earth; the Time of singing is come. It may be rendred, The Time of Cutting is come. The Flowers of the Grass do no fooner ap­pear, but the Time of Cutting presently comes up­on them. The Ccoming forth of Man, is quickly followed with his Cutting down. It is a frequent saying, There are Skulls of all sizes in Golgotha We are warned concerning the Time when the Sithe is to come into its Operation; Eccl. IX. 12. Ma [...] ­knoweth not his Time. They that have made Nice Remarks on Bills of Mortality, will tell you; That one half of those that are Born, don't live Seventeen Years; That about Forty of an Hundred are found alive at Sixteen Years; That but Ten out of an Hundred, at Forty-Six; but Six, at Fifty-Six; [Page 140]but Three, at Sixty-Six; but One, at Seventy-Six. When GOD pronounced the Sentence of Death upon Mankind, it ran so; Gen. III. 19. Until thou return unto the Ground. It is a Descant which one of the Ancients made upon it; He does not say, Until thou hast passed thro' so many Years; but he speaks Indeterminately, Until the Time come; ‘A Time which I will keep Uncertain to thee, when it will come.’ Truly about the Execution which the Sithe of Death is to do upon us, We must say, Of that Day and Hour knoweth no Man. The Mower comes at that rate; Luk. XII. 40. At an Hour when ye think not.

Here again, how can I do any other than make a stop; and make it a Season to bring what will always be a Word in Season? It will here be a sea­sonable Admonition; The Uncertainty of Death should quicken us to labour for and Hasten to, a Certainty, That it will go well with us when we Dy? GOD forbid, That any Leaf of Grass, the smallest as well as the largest, the Youngest as well as the Oldest, should reckon themselves excused from that Grand Concern, A serious Preparation for Death. My Friends, Embrace an offered SAVIOUR in all his Offices. Accept the Covenant of Life, with all its Proposals. Be Importunate with the GOD of all Grace, for a sanctifying Work of his Grace upon you; unpacified until you find in yourselves the comfortable Marks of a SOUL in good Terms with Heaven. This must be done before you feel the Sithe; Undone, undone are you, if you Dy before this be done. Mind, I beseech you, what comes now to you from the Mouth of the Glorious GOD. If the Sithe find you unprepared, and strike [Page 141]you, while you are yet in your Sins. your Doom will be That; Psal. XCII 7. When the wicked spring as the Grass, it is that they shall be destroy'd for­ever. Verily, The Sithe will consign you over, to a Destruction from GOD, which, why, why is it no more of a Terror to you! Oh! Be able to say, with him, O Lord, I thought on my Ways and I turn­ed my Feet unto thy Testimonies; I made Haste, and I delayed not to keep thy Commandments.

IV. When the Children of Men who are the Children of Death, are taken away with a stroke, and the Mortal Sithe cuts us down as the Grass, 'tis not without something of a Violence, that the stroke does what it comes for. This Expression, They shall be cut down; denotes a Violence in what is done; 'Tis Violently done. First, The Death which we call Vi­olent, as it is opposed unto Natural; This is no rare thing among the Prisoners of the Earth. 'Tis no rare thing to Dy by Casualties, or to Dy by Adversaries. To Dy like them on whom the Tow­er of Siloam fell, or to Dy like them whose Blood Pilate sacrificed Sometimes the Sithe strikes with a Damage that happens Accidentally. Sometimes with a Mischief that is done Intentionally. We read of some whom the Sithe handles at that rate, Job. XXI. 13. In a Moment they go down to the Grave. Many a Death is brought by External Occurrences; by Invasions from abroad; So Died the First Man that ever died; While others may with Hezekiah say, He will cut me off with pining Sickness. But then, In the Death whice is most Natural, there is yet a Violence done to Nature. To Dy, is a thing Against Nature. To Dy willingly, is a thing Above Nature. Death is a Dissolution which Nature has an [Page 142]Horror of. Nature shrinks before the Sithe which threatens to Cut us down. On the Approach of the Sithe we cry out, Psal. XXXIX. 13. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. Death appears as our Enemy; An Enemy, that robs us of all our worldly Possessions; An E­nemy that makes painful Assaults without ceasing upon us; An Enemy, which nothing but our Hearts-Blood will satisfy. Thou hast found us, O our Enemy?

This Proposition also shall not be dismissed, without a Pertinent and Important Admonition. Can we tell of no way so far to cure our Aversion for Death, as to take away the Violence of the stroke, which the Sithe must give unto us? Yes; It may be so, that tho' our Death come ever so Violently, yet it may come Acceptably, and we may bear the Cutting as indeed an Acceptable kindness of GOD unto us. There was one who could say; Phil. I. 21. To me to Dy is Gain. 'Tis no wonder that it then follows; I desire to be dissolved. O you that are going the Way of all the Earth, Hear­ken to me. Become Reconciled unto GOD, and you will easiy become Reconciled unto Death. Get a well-grounded Assurance of a Blessedness after Death, and you may overcome all your Antipathy unto Death. Let your Conduct be such, that you need not be asham'd to live, and you need not be Afraid to dy. Lay hold on a Glorious CHRIST, in His Gospel declaring Himself willing to be your Life and your All. If a CHRIST be your Friend, then your Death will be your Friend. If a CHRIST be yours, then O Rich Heirs of GOD, it may be said unto you; 1. Cor. III. 21, 22. All things are [Page 143]yours; Even Death it self is yours. The SAVIOUR who has made a Conquest of Death, may give you a Triumph over it: The SAVIOUR, out of whose Hands no Death can pull you: The SAVIOUR, who by suffering of it Himself, has taken away the Sting of Death. Oh! Commit your selves in­to His Hands; and say, Lord, I am thine, save me. Then, be no longer so loth to dy. Especially, They that have stood a long while in the Field; stood until they are coming to the Grave in a full Age, as a shock of Corn cometh in the season thereof; and can sing, Lord, Now lettest thou thy Servant de­part in Peace. My Brethren, Tho' Death be a Vio­lent sort of a Thing, yet, Oh! May our Death, be exceeding Voluntary! Let us entertain the Stroke of the Sithe, Easily, Readily, Cheerfully, with a most amiable and admirable Resignation. Let us give an uncommon Welcome unto it. Yea, Wel­come, O Sithe, coming to deliver me from the Hand of all mine Enemies, and from the Hand of Sin! Welcome, O Killer, and yet, O Comforter! Welcome, O Thou cutter of the Knot, upon the Dissolving of which I go to my Father. When it is cut off I fly away to the sweet Mansions of my Fathers House. Oh! Blessed, Blessed be my SAVIOUR, who has made such an horrible thing as Death to become so welcome to me, that in the dark Valley of the shadow of Death, I have no more Horror of Darkness upon me!

V. The Stroke which brings our Death, may be a very sudden stroke; the Sithe which cuts down the Grass, may do it very suddenly, and with a quick Dispatch. The Sithe is not long adoing what it has to do; One Touch of it upon the Leaf, and it [Page 144]goes down at once. It is a Case propounded; Num. VI. 9. If any Man die very suddenly. How frequent a Case! Yea, any Man may do so. The greatest, the strongest, the youngest may do so; and often does it. The Death of People may be sud­den, in this regard, that it surprizes them, even when they fancied, Goods laid up for many Years, and could perhaps impiously say of a Thing they thought nothing of, I thought no more of it than of my dying Day: They are surprized, with the Bow-string served upon them. They are engaged in a most Eager Pursuit of This World; full of its Projections, full of its Amusements; But, the Sithe unexpected­ly comes at them; and that Word is fulfilled up­on them; A Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know of. Yea, their Death may be sudden in regard of the quick Work it makes with them; One Blow does it: They are gone on the sudden. They this Week make a lively, per­haps, a Busy Appearance. The next Week they Disappear, and their place knows them no more. Well one Day, Dead the next. Yea, Well one Hour, Dead the next. So we read of some; GOD shall shoot at them with an Arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded. They are talking, and walking, and working, and perhaps diverting themselves; And within a few Minutes they are gone into Eterni­ty. They go to Bed well in the Evening, but there is a Midnight-Cry heard in the Family. They go abroad well in the Morning. But some Wound, or Fall, or Pit brings a Night before Sunset upon them. The Sithe takes them, as the Hook does the Fish, or the Shot the Fowl. So the Sons of Men are taken in an evil time, when it cometh suddenly upon [Page 145]them! There may be the Transcendent Mercy of a Gracious GOD in such a Dispensation, to them that are Good, and the Upright in Heart. Some who do not Fear Death, yet Fear Dying. Unto such the Sorrows of Death are abated, by the Abbreviati­on of them. The Days of Tribulation are shortened unto the Elect, and are presently over with them. They escape a Grievous Death, by not having a Lingring one. There is an abatement of the Curse unto them, and they run speedily and easily thro' the Shadow of Death, so that indeed it proves but a Shadow of Death unto them. There may be al­so the Tremendous Vengeance of a Righteous GOD in such a Dispensation, to them that walk in the Crooked Ways. It is with them according to that Commination, The Anger of the Lord shall be hind­led against you, and shall destroy thee suddenly. They are so Destroyed, that all Space to Repent is at once for ever taken from them; and they are stript of their sleighted Opportunity to do what must be done, by all that would be saved from the Devour­ing Fire, and the Everlasting Burnings. Of an Ungodly Wretch, we read, The Lord will come upon him, in a Day when he looked not for him, and in an Hour that he shall not be aware of. 'Tis to As­certain a dreadful Portion for them; that they are brought unto Desolation us in a Moment. This is a thing which GOD often puts into the Portion of the wicked. Their Desolation must come as a Whirlwind: It comes with the Rapidity of a Whirlwind; but it is in His Wrath. Antichrist is not the only Son of Perdition that must see the Fulfil­ment of that Prediction; When they say, Peace and Safety, then sudden Destruction cometh upon them.

[Page 146] Such a Quick Motion of the Sithe, will render such an Admonition as This to be infinitely Rea­sonable. It is not to be said, That a Man should Live every Day, as if he knew it were to be the Day of his Death; But this must be said, We should Live every Day, as not knowing, but that it may be the Day of our Death. It was propounded among the Remarkables of the Christian Life; 2. Cor. VI. 9. As Dying, and behold we live. How Re­markably would it befriend and bespeak and strengthen a Religious Life; and how Remarkably would the Horrors of a sudden Death be taken off; if we lived always as Dying, and as having a sudden stroke of the Sithe impending over us! When we Pray, Think, I may die suddenly, and this may be the last Time of my calling upon GOD. When we Hear, Think, I may die suddenly, and this may be the last Sermon that ever I spall be instructed from. When the Sabbath arrives, Think, I may die suddenly, and be gone before another Sabbath. And, when we Con­verse with our Friends, Think, I may die suddenly, and this may be my last Conversation with them. Christian, So Number thy Days, as to look for no Number of Days. This will apply thy Heart unto Wisdom.

¶ And now, upon the whole; There are some Lessons of PIETY, which, Oh! that they may come upon us, with as much Efficacy, as they will with Pertinency!

I. Beware, O standers in the way of Unavoid­able Death, Beware of those Things that may Hasten the Stroke of Death, and bring the Sithe be­fore [Page 147]the Time upon you. Death will come fast enough. It will soon cut you down as the Grass. The Sithe, and what follows unto the Ungodly, It slum­bers not. But some Crimes will bring it on sooner than the Course of Nature would ripen for it. We read, Eccl VII 17. Be not overmuch Wicked: Why shouldest thou die before thy Time? Exceeding Sin, This will bring on Untimely Death. O Undutiful Children and Servants; Do you Reform; and no longer persist in your Disobedient and Refractory and Rebellious Behaviour; Or else look that the Fifth Commandment will bring on Anticipations of the Sithe upon you; and forbid your Days being Long in the Land. Let the Malignant Revilers of Good Men, and of them that are Innocent and Industrious Instruments of Good in the World, Consider their Ways. Methinks, The Twelfth and Thirteenth Verses of the Thirty fourth Psalm, should stand like a Flaming Sword in their way, and make them stand in Awe, and not Sin, in that way any more. Let all that use Dishonesty in their Dealings, also Consider their Ways. While they make haste to be Rich, the Thing which is to strip them of all their Ill-gotten Riches, does also make haste: And, He who gets Riches, but not by Right, leaves them in the midst of his Days, and at his end shall be a Fool. Rash Sinner, Do not by thy Sin call for the Sithe; and quicken the Pace of the Mower, that is upon his way unto thee.

II. Do presently, what you would certainly do, if you were sure to Die presently; and leave no­thing undone, which under the Stroke of the Sithe you will wish to have done. O Vain Mortal, for [Page 148]whom here is no abiding; What if the Dead War­rant could be shown thee? This Year thou shalt die; Or, A Month shall devour thee. Wouldest thou not presently go thro' a Process of Repentance; Wherein thou wilt pass from Death to Life? Present­ly, Confess and Bewail thy Sins, and plead the Blood of the Great Sacrifice for thy Pardon? Pre­sently give thy self up unto the Lord, and lay hold on the Covenant of GOD, and send up vehe­ment Petitions to the Glorious One to bestow a New Heart upon thee, and be in Agonies until thou feel a New Biass on thy Soul, and the Love of GOD planted in thee, as a Root, that shall prove a Tree of Life unto thee in the Paradise above! Then, Let all this be done accordingly; be done immediately! The Advance of the Sithe requires that it be done, without any more ado. The Maxim is, To make Hay while the Sun shines. While thou hast the Benefit of the Sun shining on thee in a Day of Grace, Oh! Do with thy Might, what thy Hand finds to do. The Thoughts of a Dying Man, Oh! Come into them. They are the wisest Thoughts that can inspire or direct the Living. Our Lord cured the Blindness of a Man with putting of Clay upon his Eyes. If the Clay to which our Death will shortly reduce us, were du­ly applied unto our Eyes, what a True Sight of Things would it help us to! It was the Wish; Deut. XXXII. 29. Oh! That they were Wise; that they would Consider their latter End, There are ma­ny points of Prudence: But, This I say, Brethren; The most Finished and Exalted Prudence in the World, is, For a Man to consider what Judgment he will pass upon every thing at his latter End; [Page 149]how he will Judge of every Thing when he feels the Sithe [...]ntting him down; And consider, what those things are, the doing whereof will at his latter End give the most Comfortable or the most Lamentable Reflections unto him: And order his Conversation aright; Even with a Behaviour which the Sentiments of a Man under the Sithe, would justi­fy. O Man going down to the Dead; Suppose thy self a Dying, thy Blood boiling, thy Breath fail­ing, thy Throat rattling, and the Decretory Hour come upon thee; Consider upon it; What, what should I wish to have done, at such a critical Time as this? Regulate thy self in every thing, by what thy Conscience will now bring as a Message from GOD unto thee.

III. Let us fall before the Sithe of the Destroyer, with a livel Faith of Rising again, by the power of a Redeemer: Dy Believing and Expecting a Re­surrection from the Dead Of the Patriarchs taken off by the Sithe, we read, All these died in Faith. Of wha [...]? Of a Good [...]tate after Death; and of a Resurrection from the Dead. We have a Sure Foun­dation of this Lively Hope, in the Resurrection of our Blessed JESUS from the Dead. Our JESUS declared, That an Hour shall come, when He will make all who are in their Graves to hear His Voice and come forth. As an incontestible Token for this, He foretold His own Resurrection from the Dead, on the Third Day after His Crucifixion. He did Rise as He said He would; And his Resurrection has as Infallible Proofs as any Matter of Fact that ever was in the World. Upon this, an Austin would cry out, Cur desperabo! — Why, why [Page 150]should I despair of his doing on me what he did on him­self, and for me? No; This Deliverer of Souls, has done enough to satisfy us, of his being a true Wit­ness, in all that he has Reveled concerning a Resur­rection to a Life of Immortality for his followers. He has now sufficiently assured us, That he will Raise and Change ou [...]vile Bodies, by the working of his migh­ty Power, which can subdue all things unto him.

It looks Melancholy, to see such Heaps of Grass, cut down by the Sithe of Death. But, Rejoice not o­ver me, O my Enemy; For tho' I fall, I shall arise. The coming of our SAVIOUR is thus foretold; Psal. LXXII. 6. He shall come down like Rain upon the Mown Grass. This Rain, O Mown Grass, will fetch thee to Life again. Yea, The quickening SPIRIT of GOD, shall come like the Dew of Herbs, upon thee, to Revive thee, O Beleever, at that Voice of thy SAVIOUR, Awake, and Sing, ye who dwell in the Dust. But in that Revival, O what an astonishing Change will pass upon thee? In what Glory, How Luminous, How Vigorous, How Incorruptible, will thou be Raised? O Comfort your selves and one another, with such words. Particu­larly, At Funerals, let this be, The Consolation. In the mean time, O thou Candidate of Heaven; Go thy way till the End be. For, thou shalt stand in thy Lot at the End; But in the mean time, thou shalt Rest; and be in a Coelestial Garden of Eden, where, no Evil shall annoy thee; but thou shalt be Com­forted, with Visions and Enjoyments of GOD; and be in those Courts of the Lord, where One day will be better than a Thousand of the best here below.

Come then; Be Dead before you die. Being Dead with CHRIST, and Crucified unto the World, and [Page 151]Mortified unto all the Vanities of the present State, and so improved in Piety under all the Killing Things you meet withal, that your Life may lie only in a CHRIST left unto you; Be ready to entertain the Stroke of the Sithe, and say, Strike, O Mower, strike, when my SAVIOUR shall Order thee; And let me go to be with Him, where to be is by far the best of all.

O What the Blessings of the Man who is not walking in the Counsel of the Men that are set for Impiety! The Man who stands not in the way of sinful Wanderers! The Man who sits not in the seat of scornful Cavillers! The Blessings of this God­ly Man are declared unto us, under the Metaphor of, A Fruitful Tree. Wherein there may be some Remembradce of, and some Allusion to, a Passage in the Benediction which the Patriarch bestowed upon Joseph; A Fruitful Bough by a Well; of whom we read, The Lord made all that he did to prosper. No doubt, here may be a Prophecy of what our Glorious Lord will do for His People, when He [Page 154]comes in His Kingdom, after the Fall of Anti-christ, when His People shall be the Branch of His Planting, the Work of His Hands, that He may be Glo­rified. But the Blessings of every Godly Man, are to be considered in it. And it is purticularly considerable, That his Blessings are as much in his Godliness it self, as in any Article whatsoever. Fruitfulness is Godliness. Tis among the singular Blessings of a Godly Man; That he shall be a Fruit­ful Man; He shall bring forth Fruit unto GOD; He shall be a Tree, whereof it may be said, [For so it shall be readd,] Whatsoever it does bear, shall prosper very well. The Fruit shall not be lost.

But in the Text now before us, Behold, An ex­cellent Property of the Fruit, which will be found with the Godly Man. It will be Seasonable Fruit. He will bring forth Fruit in the Season thereof. We read, Eccl. III. 11. GOD hath made every thing beautiful in the Season thereof. Come now, and be­hold a Tree which GOD has made Beautiful in its Goodness; Its Top is among the Thick Boughs; All the Trees in the Garden of God may envy it.

The Fruit I am now to bring forth, I hope, not unseasonably for your Entertainment, and Edifica­tion, will be This.

The Fruits of PIETY brought forth in the season there­of, are the Endeavour and the Character of a Godly Man; Yea, in such seasonable Fruits there very much lies the Blessedness of Real Godliness.

The first Thing that I am to do, is to tell you, what are the Fruits that are to be found in the En­deavour and the Character of a Godly Man. But [Page 155]have I not already said, The Fruits of PIETY? You are to be told in one Word, The Acts of PIETY are the Fruits to be expected from us. When the Glorious One says, Luk. XIII. 7. I come seeking Fruit: The Things which He seeks are the Acts of PIETY, wherewith GOD is to be acknow­ledged in all our ways. When we are directed, Exercise thy self unto Piety, tis a Direction unto Fruitfulness. To yield Obedience unto GOD, is to bring forth Fruit unto Him. There are Fruits in all Acts of Obedience to that Rule, which GOD has given us, That we may Glorify Him, and Enjoy Him for ever. It is prescribed unto us, Prov. XXIII. 17 Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the Day long. This will be to bring forth Fruits unto the Lord, all the Day long. The Fruits required of us, are all those Points, wherein the Fear of God is to be exercised. The Acts wherein we live unto GOD, and mak [...] it our Design to serve and please Him; are the Fruits required of us. The Acts wherein we prove that we Love the Lord our GOD with all our Hearts, and Love our Neighbours as our­selves; are the Fruits required of us. The Acts wherein we render Glory to GOD in the highest, and express Good Will towards Men, are the Fruits which our GOD has required of us.

But the main Thing that I am to do, is, To Enquire what are the Seasons for our Fruits, and what are the Fruits, with which the several Seasons are to be accommodated. I hope, it will be a Word in Season. And how Good will such a Word be, if it be well-hearken'd to?

We read, Eccl. III. 1. To every thing there is a Season, and a Time to every purpose under Heaven. [Page 156]Truly, To every Fruit there is a Season; and a Time for every thing that is to be done in our way to Heaven, and in pursuance of our Purpose to come to Heaven.

I. There are the Fruits of PIETY, for which we have a Season every Day, at the Hour of our Daily Sacrifices. The Devotions wherein we hear GOD speak to us, and GOD hears us also speak to Him; The Devotions wherein we Read the Word of GOD, and seek the Face of GOD, and Commune with our own Hearts; What are these, but so many Fruits of Piety? First, there is the Re­ligion of the Closet; So prescribed, Mat. VI. 6. En­ter into thy Closet, and when thou hast shut thy Door, Pray to thy Father who is in secret. And then, there is the Religion of the Houshold; So prescribed, Col. IV. 2. Masters, continue in Prayer, and Watch in the same with Thansgiving, Together with such as be­long unto you. Now these Fruits of Piety, in every Morning, and in every Evening, we are to find a Season for them. The People of GOD had of old their Morning Sacrifices, and their Evening Sacrifices. Our Devotion are Spiritual Sacrifices accep­table to GOD by JESUS CHRIST. In these Devo­tions, doing the part of Priests unto GOD, we are to have both our Morning Sacrifices, and our Even­ing Sacrifices. In the Morning, there is a Season for us to Retire, and Feed upon some Truths wholesome to be taken, as we may say, next our Hearts; and then do like him who said, My Voice thou shalt hear in the Morning, O Lord; In the Morning I will direct my Prayer unto thee, and will look up. In the Morning there is a Season for us, [Page 157]to call our Domesticks together, and after we have also fed them with something from the Word of Truth, hereupon to do like him, of whom it is said, He feared GOD with all his House, and prayed unto GOD always. In the Evening there is a Season to Repeat such Devotions; and Renew our Visits unto Heaven. Yea, Some will oftener in a Day than so, find a Season for Addresses to Heaven, with some of these Devotions. He did so, who could say; Psal. XV. 17. Evening, Morning, and Noon will I pray and cry aloud. But in the Evening, for the close of all, and that we may lie down in Peace, and sleep, and be assured of dwelling in safety, have we not a Season to Reflect on the Favours we have received in the Day, and be Thankful for them? A Season, to Reflect on the Errors we have committed in the Day, and be humbled for them? A Season to Resign our selves and our All, into the Hands of our SAVIOUR, and by some Act or other, put it out of Doubt, that we are in good Terms with Heaven, and in safety for Eternity?

But as an Appendix to our Account of the Daily Devotions, wherewith we are to bring forth Fruit in the Season thereof; Let the Table be brought in. It must not be forgotten, That when we sit down at the Table, Now is a Season to confess that the Glorious GOD is the giver of our Daily Bread, and that we live not by Bread alone, but by the Blessing of GOD upon it. Now is a Season for us to eat and drink for the Glory of GOD, intending thereby to fit our selves for the Work which He has assigned us; and Govern our selves by the Rules of Temperance which GOD has given us. [Page 158]Now is a Season to think on the Food which endures to everlasting Life, and to feed those that are about us, with a Communication that may Edify them.

II. There are the Fruits of Piety, for which we have a Season, as often as any Ordinances of Public Worship are to be attended on. We read, Psal. XCII. 13. They that are planted in the House of the Lord, shall flourish in the Courts of our GOD; They shall bring forth Fruit. Verily, as often as we come into the House of the Lord, we have a Season to bring forth Fruit unto our GOD. Yea, We should still come hither with such Ends moving of us to come, that our very coming it self should be to bring forth Fruit unto our GOD. We have our precious Liberties, to do that thing, I will bless the Lord in the Congregations. We have especially One Day in a Week, allow'd us for this purpose. With an Eye to the Fruits of Piety, which we have now and here a Season for, our Dispositions are to be those; My Soul does flame with Thirst for GOD, ev'n for the Living GOD: When shall I come, and when appear before the Face of GOD? And those, Lord, Better than a Thousand is One Day within thy Courts; I on the Threshold chuse to keep in the House of my GOD, rather than have my Dwelling in the Tents of Wickedness. When the Prayers are made in the House of GOD, Now is a Season to accompany the Confessions and Petitions that are offer'd up un­to GOD, with a Soul attentively coming into them, and charitably bespeaking for all the People, a share in the Kindnesses of Our Father in the Heavens. When the Psalms are sung in the House of GOD, Now is a Season, to form some [Page 159]Holy Note, and some Holy Wish, from every Verse, and with Grace in our Hearts, make a Me­lody to the Lord. When the Sermons are preached in the House of GOD, Now is a Season to Receive the Truth in the love of it, and make the Echo's of a Consenting Soul unto all that passes in them; and send up numberless Ejaculations unto Heaven; those Ejaculations, Lord, I own it; or, Lord I ask it! in the Hearing of what is brought from thence unto us. The Baptism of the Lord administred in the House of our GOD affords us a Season, over again to Lament our own Original Sin, and im­plore a Deliverance from it by the Blood and Power of our Great REDEEMER; and over­again lay hold of the Covenant of GOD for our selves and ours; and also to wish well unto the increa­sing Families of the Neighbourhood. But then, When our SAVIOUR sets the Children of GOD as Olive-Plants about His Table, Oh! what a Sea­son have we there to bring forth all manner of plea­sant Fruits unto the Beloved of our Souls! Now is a Season to Admire and Embrace a CHRIST evi­dently set forth as Crucified before our Eyes; and be Ravished in the sweet Meditation, wherewith Man may now eat the Food of Angels. Now is a Season, to make all the Sallies of a Repenting and a Believ­ing Soul, and a Soul making an Oblation of it self unto GOD in the Flames of Love: O Spiknard, Now send out thy pleasant Smell! Now is a Sea­son, to strengthen and confirm the Resolutions of an Heart fixed for the Ways of GOD. Yea, Now is a Season to take the Comforts of all the very great and precious Promises, which are now sealed unto us, and Rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of GOD, [Page 160]which we shall see when our Blessed JESUS brings us to sit in the Heavenly Places with Him. I will add this one thing more; If on the First Day of the Week, there be Gatherings, of what every one has laid by him in store, out of what GOD has prospered him withal; Now is a Season for us to bring the Sacrifices which GOD is well-pleased with­al. Now say, Gracious GOD, Wilt thou accept this little Quitrent, which confesses, that I owe my All un­to thee! Even the Widows Two Mites are Good Fruits unto GOD. But, when I said, We have one Day in a Week, thus to draw near unto the GOD, whom it is good for us to draw near unto, I did not say All, that might be said. For we have our Lectures too; In which we have a Season for those Fruits, that our GOD looks to find in the Fields of Zion. What Fruits may we both taste, and yield, if we made a due Resort unto those Assemblies of GOD? Verily, The Assemblies of the Faithful, at the Lectures, would not be so scandalously Thin, as they generally are, if Peo­ple were more careful to bring forth Fruit in the Season thereof.

III. There are Fruits of PIETY, for which we have a Season, very often when we come into a­ny Company. The Tongue of the Righteous, is com­pared unto a Tree of Life, because of the Fruits which it brings forth unto them that are about him. And thus we read; Prov. XII. 14. A Man shall be satisfied with Good, by the Fruit if his Mouth. Be sure, Fruitless Visits are Things which will be avoided by the Wise Men, who take the way that is Above. When we are upon the Visiting Account, [Page 161]shall not we do well to think, What Fruit, even what Good, may this Visit afford a Season for? The Visiters that are so kind as to come unto us, may awaken the like Thoughts in our Minds. If the Company which we come into, be Superiour to us, Now is a Season for us to get Good by them. We may, by Questions prudently proposed, put them upon bringing forth Fruit, for our Instruction. But if we are more on the level with our Company, we have more commonly, Now a Season to do Good unto them. Let us now shun the Raw Fruits of Impertinences; the Sowre Fruits of Controversies; the Stinking Fruits of an Obscaene and Rotten Com­munication. Our Conferences ought always to have a Tendency to something that is Good. Now is a Season, as for the Dispatch of the Affairs which we come upon, so for them that Fear the Lord so to speak unto one another, that they need not be asha­med, if their Talk be found written in a Book of Remembrance before the Lord. Christians, When you are together, do Good unto one another; In­form one another; Quicken one another; Comfort one another. Do your Best, that you may be the Better for one another. Now and then propose it, What Good may be done before we part? Oh! what Fruit would be brought forth in the Season thereof, if Good Men when they come together, would more see to it, that their coming together may be for the Better and not for the Worse! But I know, what I say will have little Notice taken of it.

IV. There are Fruits of PIETY, for which we have a Season, when the Business of our Temporal Calling is in its Prosecution. Every Israelite must [Page 162]be able to make a suitable Reply, to the Interroga­tory once put unto the Sons of Israel; What is your Occupation? It is directed, 1. Thess. IV. 11. Study to do your own Business. Indeed This Thing it self, is to bring forth Fruit in the Season thereof: When a Man minds and plies his own Business in the Sea­son thereof. The Business of the Personal Calling, wherein a Man deserves well of Humane Society, and accordingly demands upon it; This is part of the Fruit, that should be found upon us. For which cause every Man that is employ'd in any Business which is of use to Humane Society, may challenge what that Maxim of Religion has or­dered for him; Honour all Men. The very Wheel­barrow is to be with Respect look'd upon. But then, O Christian, Wilt thou not bring forth Fruit unto GOD as well as unto Man, in the Business of thy Personal Calling? And wilt thou not be at work for Heaven, in what thou hast to do upon Earth? How Nobly, how Bravely, how Plea­santly, and with what Songs in the House of thy Pil­grimage will the work proceed, if it may be so! Truly, Now 'tis a Season for thee, to bring a Right Principle into its Operation, and think, Because GOD my SAVIOUR has ordered this Business for me, Therefore 'tis that I will now Cheerfully do what my Hand finds to do. I will Obey GOD my SAVIOUR, and be emply'd as a Servant of His, in what my Hand finds to do. But then, all the Industry, all the Ho­nesty, all the Alacrity, in carrying on thy Business, from this Right Principle, which thou hast now a Season for; This also will be a Fruit well resent­ed with GOD. And canst thou not Now like­wise find a Season, to have thy Mind filled with [Page 163]the Precious Thoughts of GOD, until it may be said, How great is the Sum of them? Certainly, The less thy Business does require of Intense Thoughts upon it, and where the Hand is more engaged than the Brain, and the Hand also goes on with a Repetition of the same Thing a thousand times over, Now tis a Season to multiply the Thoughts of one whose Conversation is in Heaven. The Skill of making Occasional Reflections, on Visible and Various Occurrences; Oh! the lovely Fruits, which it would help the Christian to abound withal! What Life and Peace would such such a Spiritually-minded Christian be bless'd withal! It may be yet further said, That they who in the Shop spend very much Time in waiting for Customers, it may be, more than in tending upon them; These have Now a Season for very much Reading of such Things, as may fill the Chambers of their Souls with precious and pleasant Riches. My Friends, Consider what I say, and GOD give you Understanding.

V. There are Fruits of PIETY, for which we have a Season, when our GOD bestows Comforta­ble Things upon us. There are Cultivations by our GOD upon us, in all His Dispensations towards us. There are particularly so, when He dispenses un­to us, any Agreeable Things, and we have His Light shining on our Tabernacles. The Glorious GOD now makes a Demand of Agreeable Fruits from the Chil­dren of Men, when He makes an Hedge about them, and blesses the Works of their Hands, and their Sub­stance is increased in the Land. His Wrath fell upon one for this; 2 Chron. XXXII. 25. He rendred not again according to the Benefit that was done unto him. [Page 164]Syrs, Are you in Prosperity? Now tis a Season for you to serve the Lord with Gladness of Heart, in the Abundance of all things which He has given you: A Season for you to maintain a most Intimate Com­munion with GOD; and for you to Do Good in a most plentiful and copious Manner to all that are about you. Yea, Upon every Article of Prospe­rity, which your Lives are sweetened withal; Now tis a Season for you, to Give Thanks unto the Lord, who is Good, and whose Mercy endureth for ever. Now tis a Season for you to be Inquisitive, What shall I render to the Lord for all His Benefits? Now tis a Season for you, to be full of Projecti­ons, How you may bring others to share with you in all the Blessings of Goodness.

VI. There are Fruits of PIETY, for which we have a Season, when our GOD inflicts Calamitous Things upon us. There are some Strokes in learn­ing the Statutes of GOD, which are to be the pe­culiar care of them, who would be able to say, Tis good for me that I am afflicted: Things peculi­arly calculated for a Day of Adversity. When we are Chastened of GOD what are the Things to be look'd for? Those Things; Heb. XII. 11 The peaceable Fruits of Righteousness. O you that have an Heart stouping with Heaviness; Now tis a Season for you, to pour out your Souls unto the Lord, that so you may be no more sad. You have been so taught of GOD; Is any among you Afflicted? Let him pray. Now tis a Season for you, To Search and to Try your Ways, and to Turn unto the Lord; and not be Fools bray'd in a Mortar. You are to find out the Errand which your Troubles come upon, and see that it be well comply'd withal; Reform what [Page 165]your Affliction comes to Rebuke you for; Perform what your Affliction comes to Excite you to; And say, I have born Chistisement; I will not offend any more. Now tis a Season for Patience to have its perfect Work; And when Killing Things befall you, 'tis the Season for you to make a mighty Progress in Dying unto Creatures; in patiently submitting to be stript of every Thing, and have a CHRIST the only Thing lest Alive unto you, and find in a CHRIST alone every Thing that you have a Re­lish for. But what shall we do, if there be the Hand or Tongue of Man, in what we suffer? If Men rise up against us, Revile us, Injure us; Yea, Floods of Ungodly Men keep Dashing and Roaring upon us? Now tis a Season for us, with Meekness of Wisdom, to take the True Way of dealing with, and shaking off, a Viper. If Works of Iniquity are prevailing against us, Now tis a Season for us to use the best Methods, that our Transgressions may be purged away. Now tis a Season for us to be but the more zealous of Good Works, and to be Barked into a greater Speed in Runnig the way before us. Now tis a Season for us, Generously to Forgive Injuries, and Overcome Evil with Good.

VII. There are Fruits of PIETY, which every Age of Life, gives a Distinguishing Season for. Most certainly, The Lively Oracles of GOD, so distinctly calling on, Fathers, and Young Men, and Little Children; so distinctly calling on Young Men and Maidens, Old Men and Children; These inti­mate, that every Age is a Season for some Fruit unto GOD.

More particularly. Are there not Fruits which Old People have a singular Season for; and are most [Page 166]singularly obliged unto? No doubt of it! We read of some; Psal. XCII. 14. They shall bring forth Fruit in Old Age. My Neighbours, Has GOD brought you to be so stricken in Years, that you may say, Now I am Old and G [...]ay-headed; Ve­rily, Now tis a Season for you to get and keep your Evidences for Heaven so clear, that you may be ready upon the first Call, to go away Tri­umphing, and receive the King of Terrors, not at all terrified at his Approaches, but saying, O Messen­ger of Heaven, Thou art welcome to me! Now tis a Season for you to set an excellent Pattern of Serious Gravity; of a Soul weaned from a World, which you have upon a long Trial, found so fill'd with Vanity and Vexation; of an entire and profound Submission to the Will of GOD in all Events; And with such a Pattern of all Goodness, to be full of Savoury Discourses, and continually dropping wholsome Admonitions on those that may be reached by them. Now tis a Season for you, to sit loose from all things here below, and have your Thoughts and Hopes and Joys exceedingly ap­plied unto the Everlasting Habitations which you are quickly to be received into. And above all, Get a Soul as full of a CHRIST as ever you can: Gather a Double Fortion of that Manna, now your Sabbath is coming on! O Thou Hoary Head, thus found in the way of Righteousness: Thou art a Tree, which we will keep with us as long as ever we can. Thy Fall shall be only to Transplant thee into the Paradise of GOD.

But then, Oh! That Young People would be more concerned for the Fruits which ought in this their most proper Season to be sound upon [Page 167]them! Children, Don't you hear your GOD say­ing Mic. VII. 1. My Soul has desired the First Ripe Fruits? The Fruits of Righteousness which are grate­ful to GOD from All People, are more eminently so from Young People. Oh! Be not so Unrighteous as to withold them. You are in that Season where­of it may Emphatically be said, Behold, Now is the Acceptable Time. Now if Ever; Now is the Sea­son, for you to Cleanse your Ways; Let the Young Man do so. He'l do it, if he take heed, according to the Word. Now is the Season for you to Remember your Creator; Tis to be done in Youth, before the Evil Days come. Now is the Season for you, to know the Holy Scriptures, that you may be made wise unto Salvation; and seek that Wisdom, which will be found by the early seekers of it. Now is the Sea­son for you to make a Recognition of the Bonds which were in your Baptism laid upon you; and from this Time say unto GOD, Thou art my Father, and my Saviour, and the Guide of my Youth. Now is the Season for you to be Espoused unto your SA­VIOUR; and upon His Astonishing Proposal to make you His own, Heartily to answer, Lord, I am Thine, save me! You, You are They, to whom your SAVIOUR says, O my Dove, Let me hear thy Voice; for sweet is thy Voice unto me. Will you Now, even in the Season of it, Let Him Hear the Voice of your Supplications? And therein that Voice, Lord, I am sorry for my Sin! That Voice, Lord, In the shadow of thy Wings I make my Refuge! That Voice; Lord, Thou art my Portion, I have said, That I will keep thy Word. Child, As young a Tree as thou art, such Fruits may and should be found up­on thee; Oh! That they may be so! This, This [Page 168]is the fittest Season for them. Such Rathe-ripes, what a Price would be set upon them!

Yea, But who can Reckon up, all the Fruits, which, O Fruitful Christian, thou mayst find a Season for?

Scarce can I forbear making this Observation, That all the Four Seasons of the Year, may be made so many Seasons, for those Desires of PIETY to be pursued, that shall be most elegantly adapted un­to them. Very particularly; There are what may be called, Supplicationes Hyemales, or Winter Desi [...]es, which the Accidents of the Winter make a Season to insist upon. Can we see the Sun at such a Distance from us? And shall it not now be a Season to pray, Lord, let not my Soul, nor the World, languish in a Distance from my SAVIOUR? Can we see the Snow? And shall it not now be a Season for us to pray; Lord, let the Blood of my SAVIOUR make my Guilty and Stained Soul, whiter than the Snow? Can we see the Ice? And shall it not now be a Season for us to pray; Lord, Keep me from Falls into Sin; And, Let not my Activities for thy Service be frozen up? Can we see our Double Garments? And shall it not now be a Season for us to pray; Lord, Clothe me with the Garments of Righteousness and Salvation? Can we see our Fuel that warms us? And shall it not now be a Season for us to pray; Lord, make me Fervent in spirit for thy Service; But O save me from the Fiery Indignation which is to devour thy Adversaries? Can we feel the Cold, which who can stand before? And shall it not now affect us to think; Who can stand before the Wrath of the Lord Almighty? Can we see the Fruitless Face of the Earth? And shall it not now [Page 169]be a Season for us to Hope; Lord, Tho' my Life he too much without Good Fruits, yet thou canst bring me to be Fruitful in Good Works; And tho' the Face of the World at this Day be horribly Barren and Wretched, yet I will Hope in thee to give it one Day a better Face, and bring on a Better Time.

Christians, other Trees bring not forth Fruit in the Winter. 'Tis not a Season for it. We may be most Fruitful in the Winter. Some Fruit is then best in Season.

But then, for the Other Three Seasons of the Year, why may we not be awakened also, by the Circumstances of the Seasons, to form Supplicati­ons, which may be seasonably insisted on?

I have done.

I have only Two short Motions to make; Up­on Conforming to which, you will bring forth Fruit in the Season thereof; Yea, much of that Fruit by which our Father, and our SAVIOUR, will be Glorified.

[Page 171] The First is This. Make it your Ambition to Live unto GOD, as Explicitly as may be, in all your Actions, and all your Enjoyments.

In your Actions, often, very often, Think; In this Thing I would aim at the serving and pleasing of the Glorious GOD.

In your Enjoyments, often, very often, Think [...] I see the Glo [...]ious GOD in this Thing, and would serve Him with it.

And in all, still Remember the Eye of the Glo­rious GOD upon you.

The Second is This. Be watchful Redeemers of your Time. Set an high Price upon Time. Con­trive to Husband your Time as well as ever you can. Lay out all your Time, either in Mowing or in Whetting. Either in Doing and Getting of Good, or in Fitting your selves for Good Purposes.

No Season will be without its F [...]uit, where such PIETY shall be always exercised.

We read of a Tree, Rev. XXII. 2. which Yields its Fruit every Month. But here is a Tree that Yields its Fruit every Day.

Thus, Even Thus, you shall find that Illustrious Word accomplished; Hos. XIV. 5, 6. I will be as the Dew unto Israel; He shall cast forth his Roots as Lebanon; His Branches shall sp [...]ead; and his Beauty be as the Olive-tree.

A Day of Patience for one Year more is then obtained for a Barren Fig-tree. After the utmost Hazard of Destruction, for a Barrenness of Three Years, an Intercession is made, for one year more, to be allow'd. It was begg'd, Lord, Let it a­lone this Year also: that so a further Cultivation might be employ'd for the Cure of the offensive Barrenness. But, Behold the Consequence to be expected of the Grant thus made for Thu Year also. A Thing highly worthy to be deeply considered by us; To be so at all times; But very particu­larly so, on a Day, when we see the first Day of a New Year granted unto us.

The whole World had been very Barren of good Men, and of good Things, for no less than Three [Page 173]Thousands of Years. In the Fourth, our SAVI­OUR made Intercession for Mankind, which had hitherto stood as a Barren Fig tree. Upon this In­tercession the Great GOD staid unto the End of the Fourth. But then our SAVIOUR Himself was brought forth, and the Effusions of the Holy SPIRIT upon Ma [...]kind, then produced those other Fruits, for which the World stands unto his Day.

In making this Observation, I do not say, That I have made an Exposition of the Parable now before us. But I will observe, That our SAVI­OUR being thus brought forth, we have here set before us, in a Parable, some of the precious Fruits, which the Church of GOD has found, in Him and from Him, who is indeed the Tree of Life. Our Lord had newly warned the Jews, That if they did not Repent, they must perish. Now, since it might be Enquired, How and why they must perish, we have here in a Parable, an Answer to that Enquiry. The Prophet Isaiah, in his well­known Song had compared the Land of the Jews unto a Vineyard. Our SAVIOUR, not without some Allusion to that S [...]ng of Isaiah, here com­pares the Chu [...]ch of the Jews, unto a Barren Fig­tree in that Vineyard. It is here foretold, That GOD would by a R [...]man Axe cut down the Tree, for its U [...]fruitfulness. However, there is Hope of the Tree; tho' it be cut down, it shall sprout again, and the Tender Branches thereof will not cease. 'Twil do so at the Resurrection of the Dead. But the Comparison may be carried on, unto more of par­ticularity. O Man, Thou art the Tree Every Person under the Means of Grace may be compa­red unto a Fig-tree. The Flight which our Fallen [Page 174]Parents presently made unto a Fig-tree for their Cover and Relief, has added unto our Claim for the Resemblance. Every Person who does not improve in PIETY under the Means of Grace, may be compared unto a Barren Fig-tree. But the Danger of such unfruitfulness! The Doom of Cutting down is passed upon the Barren Fig-tree, after an Expectation excended for Three Years to see Fruit upon it. And Intercession is made, for One Year more of Expectation. The Consequence of what shall be found upon the Expectation to be still kept for This Year also, is here declared unto us. And an awful DOCTRINE shall introduce yet a fuller Declaration of it.

Let us, my Brethren, begin the Year, with some Admonitions of PIETY, which may be of use to us every Day of the Year, or, every Day that the GOD of our Life shall please to allow us in the Year.

I. Good Fruit is to be expected from all that have the means of growing Wiser and Better, employ'd upon them: A Good Fruit of such means. The Voice of GOD, Oh! Voice more than any Thunder to be trembled at! — is this, Behold, I come seeking for Fruit! People whom GOD places under the means of becoming what they should be, ought to be a Fruitful People.

[Page 175] But what is the Fruit that is to be looked for? PIETY does in one Word, express the Fruit which GOD expects from us all. PIETY and a Growth in PIETY. The Fruit looked for, is found in the Progress of a Soul Returning to GOD. GOD our Maker, has imprinted on our Soul, a Tendency for a Return to Him: In His Gospel, He does direct and Assist this Natural Tendency. We do in the ways of Sin Depart from Him, unto Creatures. We Return to GOD in the PIETY, which Remem­bers our Obligations to our GOD that made us, and Endeavours to find That in Him, which we vainly sought in Creatures. Just so much Progress as we make in this Return to GOD, just so much Fruit is to be found upon us. To Live unto GOD; This is to bring forth Fruit unto Him. Every Act of that Life, which lies in seeking and serving, and pleasing of GOD, is part of the Fruit which is required from us. Or, to use another Term for it: Good Fruit is found in every Religious Com­pliance with the Will of GOD. All manner of precious Fruits are laid up for the Bel [...]ved of our Souls, in those Demands, Mic VI. 8. To Do Justice, and love Mercy, and walk Humbly with thy GOD. And, Tit. II. 12. To live soberly, and Righteously, and God­lily in this present World. Every Grace of GOD in the Soul, 'tis a Good Fruit. Such Things are cal­led, Gal. V. 22. The Fruits of the Spirit. Every stroke in the work of Grace, produced by the Holy Spirit of GOD, in the chosen People of GOD, is a Good Fruit in the Soul. He that becom [...]s a Gra­cious Christian, becomes a Fruitful Christian. An Holy Christian has his Fruit unto Holiness. And all Gracious Actions are so many Fruits of a Christian [Page 176]that has the Root of the Matter in him. They are called, Phil I. 11. The Fruits of Righteousness. There are Good Fruits, in those which are called, The right Thoughts of the Righteous. There are Good Fruits in those Words, which make the Tongue of the Righte­ous as a Tree of Life. The Good Works of the Righ­teous, are Good Fruits. There are Fruits in our Devotions; Fruits in our Benignities; Good Fruits in all those good Things, wherein we render Glory to GOD in the Highest, and express Good Will to­wards Men.

Will you hear the Good Fruit expected from you? My Hearers, Give Attention to the Demands of Heaven upon you. 'Tis demanded, That you Repent of Sin, and Believe on CHRIST, and give yourselves up unto GOD. It is demanded, That you place your Love, and your Hope, and your Joy, in the Great GOD, and walk with Him, and have your Eye, continually unto Him and be mind­ful of Hu Eye upon you. It is demanded, That you be Diligent in your Callings, and Ingenuous in your Dealings, and Useful unto your Neighbours.

It is demanded, That you carry it well in your several Relations, and so treat your several Rela­tives as to Adorn the Doctrine of GOD your SAVI­OUR. It is demanded, That you pay suitable Acknowledgements unto GOD under His various Dispensations unto you: And, finally, That you place not your Happiness in This World, but in the Enjoyments of that Heavenly World, where GOD shall be All in All. Verily, you are unfruitful, if such Things as these be not found upon you. Be sure; An Unregenerate Sinner is a Dead Thing; a Tree that has no Good Fruits at all upon it. A [Page 177]Christian too, in whom the Grace of GOD is not very Conspicuous, and who does Little Good; a F [...]eble Christian, tis pity he should have the Ho­nour to be called, A Fruitful One.

II. While Men continue Unfruitful there is from the [...]atience of an Offended GOD, obtained for them, One Year after another, with an Opportu­nity for Good Fruits to be found upon them. Yea, After Three Years of looking for Good Fruit, there is often One Year more obtained, that it may be seen, what Good Fruit may be found upon us.

One Thing to be Remarked is, That the Bar­ren Tree, is an Offence unto the Glorious GOD. Of an Unfruitful Thing, we read, Heb. VI. 8. It is nigh unto cursing. Alas, The Unfruitful have the Wrath of GOD abiding on them. The Unfruitful are they with whom GOD is Angry every Day. Un­fruitfulness is the Grand Crime, for which the Wrath of GOD comes on the Children of Disobedience. Even so provoking a Sight unto Heaven is a Barren Tree, that it is a Wonder the Fate of the Tree in the Vision of the Chaldean Emperour comes not upon it; A Wonder, that an Holy Watcher coming down from Heaven do not cry aloud, and say, Hew down the Tree. But yet it is Remark­able, That the Patience of the Glorious GOD bears One Year after another, with the Barren Tree. So is that Word fulfilled; Isa. XXX. 18. The Lord waits that He may be Gracious. The Ax is indeed lifted up The Barren Tree is ready for the stroke of the Ax. But there is obtained a Liberty for the Barren Tree, to stand yet One Year more. And how is it obtained? A Seasonable Intercession comes in [Page 178]to obtain it; Lord, Let it alone this One Year also. So One Year more is added unto the Day of Pati­ence. The Enquiry may be; Whose Intercession is it, that prevails on this Occasion? Be sure, No Intercession can signify any thing for a Sinner, without That of our SAVIOUR. 'Tis our SA­VIOUR, who is our Intercessor. Tis He, of whom we are told, Heb. VII. 25. He ever lives to make Intercession for us. And indeed, an Authoritative Intercession can be made by none but Him. The Day of Patience indulged unto Reprobates, even This, is owing to our SAVIOUR. Our SAVIOUR Intercedes, that GOD may be Glorified, by length­ening out the Day of Patience, to those who after all will be Children of Wrath. The Pity, the Pity, in the Heart of the Blessed JESUS, for them, does move Him to Intercede for a Day of Patience to them. And then, for the Elect of GOD; The Day of Patience proves a Day of Salvation for them. Tis as we read, 2 Pet. III. 15. The Longsuffering of our Lord is Salvation. The Elect of GOD are for a while, and some of them for a long while, Bar­ren Tre [...]. There must come a Year, wherein they shall Begin to bring forth Fruit unto GOD. With respect unto this Year, there is the Intercession of their SAVIOUR for them: Let them stand this Year also. A Sinner that by long Barrenness has exposed himself to Destruction, is by the Intercession of our SAVIOUR, preserved from it. The Inter­cession by'nd by arrives to these Terms, This Year also! For, This Year, The Sinner will be converted from the Error of his way. This Year, the old Sinner will be a New Creature; will become a Servant of GOD, and a Blessing in the World. Therefore, [Page 179]Therefore it is, that the Tree stands, This Year al­so. And the Charitative Intercession of them that wish well unto the Tree; the Charitative Intercession of some whose Effactual Fervent Prayers will avail much; the Charitative Intercession of Pastors, and of Parents, and of Godly Friends; This may also Contribute unto this Day of Patience.

III. The Success of the Means used with the Unfruitful, while the Patience of GOD, is waiting One Year after another, to see Good Fruits upon them; This is Uncertain; To us, it is but Uncertain. Let the Barren Tree have One Year more, obtained for it, it is to us for the present not certain, whether it will bear Fruit, or whether Not. This Uncertainty indeed, is not with the Glorious GOD. For, The Lord knows who are His. He Infallibly Foreknows, how Men will be at the end of the Years. And His purposes are Unchangeable. But the Success of the Gospel, and of all the Labour used about a Barren Tree, it is with us, that it labours under an Uncertainty. When the Gospel comes any where, GOD sends it, because He has a People there. Some of His Elect are there. And as we read, Act. XIII. 48. As many as were ordained unto Eter­nal Life, Believed. Thus; None of the Elect shall continue always in their Barrenness: A cutting down shall be none of their Portion. But then, There are Many Called, who are not Chosen. And because they live Both Together, the Gospel, with the Offers of a SAVIOUR, and the Means of coming to Knowledge and Goodness, are granted unto Both Together. In the mean time, Tis not for us to discern which is which. This is among [Page 180]the Secret Things which belong unto the Lord. Men cannot convert unto GOD whom they please. The New Birth, is, J [...]h. I. 13. Not of the Will of Man. The Success of the Gospel, depends on the Will of GOD; A Sovereign GOD, who will have Mercy on whom He will have Mercy. Is any Fruit ever found upon any Soul? From me is thy Fruit found, saith the Lord. Should there be so much as one Barren Tree among our Children, if it were in our power to convert them unto GOD? So much as one Barren Tree in this Assembly of Zion, if it were in our power to give Success unto our Minis­try? Ah! Lord, If it were in our power, they should all bring forth Fruit unto thee! But, we must hold on endeavouring for the Conversion of all about us, Uncertain about the Success of our Endeavours. 'Tis uncertain to us, whether it will remain a Bar­ren Tree, or no. It may be, Fruit may This Year begin to be found upon it. It may be, its Un­fruitfulness may render it ripe for cutting down. We must hold on faithfully doing what we have to do; and commend unto GOD our Pains with our Prayers; leaving the Success of all with Him alone.

IV. If before the Year of Patience and Proba­tion expires, People become Fruitful unto GOD, It is well; All shall be well. The Barren Tree hav­ one Year more obtained for it, If it bear Fruit, it is well. Be sure, with the changed Sinner himself, it will be well. The Quickened Sinner becomes a Pardoned one. None of his former Unfruitfulness, nor of the Bad Fruits found upon him in his Un­fruitful Days, will be charged upon him; He will [Page 181]have the Pardon of them all! It shall be accor­ding to That; Ez [...]k. XVIII. 22 All his Transgres­sions, that he hath committed, they shall not be mention­ed unto him. The Threatnings of GOD against the Barren Tree, shall not now be executed on him. Tho' it is Threatene [...] [...] unto the Wicked; and it is Threatened, Evil pursueth Sinners; yet he is now safe, among the Just ones, to whom it must be said, It shall be well with them; and, who shall have no Evil happen to them. His Jov may be hat; Isa. XII 1. O Lord, I will praise thee; For tho' thou wast angry with me, thine Anger is turned away, and thou dost Comfort me. The Glorious GOD in His Promises now speaks comfortably to him. The very treat and precious Promises in the Covenant of GOD now belong unto him. All the Blessings purcha­sed by the Blood of the Son of GOD now belong un­to him. The Fruit which he brings forth unto GOD, what is it but a Fruit of the Everlasting Love in the Heart of the Glorious GOD unto him? In every Right Thing, which GOD enables the Fruit­ful Soul to do for him, He says unto that Soul, Behold, A roof of my Everlasting Love unto thee; Behold, a Sign that I will have thee to stand one Day among the Plants of Righteousness in my Garden, by which I will be Glorified Yea, And it shall be well also for them who wished well unto the Tree; and especially to them who have done any thing for the Tree; When they see the Fruit which they have wished for. The Angels of GOD themselves, The Angels of GOD among whom there is Joy o­ver a Sinner that Repenteth! Even those Birds of Paradise, will come and hover with Delight about the Fruitful Tree, and sit in the Boughs of it, and [Page 182] Sing together, and Shout for Joy. My Friend, so well will it be, from the Moment of thy becoming Fruitful unto GOD.

V. When the Year of Patience and Probation is expir'd, the Barren Tree no longer to be born with­al, has a Destruction appoin [...] for it: A Destructi­on from GOD, which, O M [...]n, should be a Terror to thee. If Now, it bear not Fruit, After That, a Cutting down shall be order'd for it.

You must be, first, warned of this; That the Barren Tree shall not be always born withal. The Glorious GOD will not always bear with it. The Patience of Heaven may stay a great while; But anon the Leaden Feet will come with Iron Hands. Of one, who had a space to Repent, and Repented not, we find anon it comes to That; Rev. II. 12. A great Tribulation. Barrenness under the Hus­bandry of GOD; shall I say, 'Tis a Sin? Yea, 'tis a Complication of all Sins. And this un­der the Aggravation of sinning against Instruc­tion, against Conviction; of Rebelling against the Light. Can the Glorious GOD see a Disappoint­ment of His Husbandry, without an Infinite Indig­nation against it? A Fiery Indignation that shall devour a Tree so obnoxious unto Him? Ah! Bar­ren Tree; What a Contempt all the while dost thou cast upon the Patience of God? Thus to De­spise the Riches of His Goodness and Forbearance, and Long suffering! Thus to Turn His Grace into Wan­tonness! GOD is greatly provoked at the Disho­nour thus done unto Him. His Honour is in His Patience, how abominably, how unaccountably trampled on! He Resents the Disparagement. Yea, The Barren Tree will wax worse and worse. [Page 183]Evil Men shall do so. They are the worse for the Patience of GOD. All tends to nourish and aug­ment their Corruption. This adds to the Provoca­tion. Anon, they grow Hopeless. Their Case is Desperate. They are Irrecoverable. To no purpose is any further Patience. To what purpose, one Year more? The Wrath of the Lord arises, and there is no Remedy. So, Abused Patience is turned into Fury. As a patient Creditor, long baffled, and bantered, and play'd upon, at length takes the Law upon the Debtor; becomes Inexorable: Thus the affronted Patience of GOD, will no longer divest the Law from taking its Course, on the Unfruitful Sinner. The Law is, Cut down the Barren Tree. O Unfruitful ones, Awake out of your security. GOD limits a certain Day, saying, To Day if you will hear His Voice. The Patience will come to an End, if your Barrenness don't come to an End. And, Oh! presume not, The Vision is for many Days to come. It may come to an End, sooner than you are aware of. It may come to an End, when you flatter yourselves, To Morrow shall be as this Day, and much more Abundant. It may come to an End, with such a Writ as that upon you, This Night thy Soul shall be required of thee. But, Oh! What will your Condition be, when the Day of Patience is come unto an End?

You must be, in the next place, warned of this; Destruction, Destruction comes, the Year of Destruction is come, on the Barren Tree, when the Patience of Heaven will not allow One Year more unto it. When the Barrenness of a Tree, has, as we may say, wearied out the Patience that waited on it; Then comes the Word, Cut it down! Stub it up! [Page 184]Root it out! A Tre [...] is Destroy'd that is thus dealt withal. Of the Unfr [...]itful we read. Phil. III 19. Their End is Destruction The Barren Soul will find it self as much under the Aversion and Abhorrence of GOD, as a B [...]rren Tre [...] is to the Disappointed owner. How shall I Pardon thee? Saith the Lord. GOD will so deal with the Unfruitful at the last, that there shall be an End put unto all Hope, of any Fruit from them. With a Tree that is Cut down, it is so. GOD will at length use no more Dressing upon them. No Counsils, no Tenders, no Per­swasives, will be used any more; or, if they be used, the Dews of Heaven will not accompany them. There is an [...]xe laid unto the Root of the Tree. There are Instruments used by the Vengeance of Heaven, to Cut [...]ff the U [...]fruitful Sinner, and the Days of the Wicked are shortened Perhaps Mortal Sickness chops him down. GOD Thunderstrikes the Tree; The Hand of Heaven strikes it down; hews it in pieces. Or, There may be some grie­vous Accident, or some cruel Enemy, whereto he is delivered. It may, 'tis not at once dispatched: There are several Blows given; There is a Repeti­tion of the Blows. One Blow comes upon ano­ther. There is a Succession of Judgments, All tend­ing to the Ruine of the Unfruitful Sinner. 'Tis anon thrown into the Fire. There is an Hell which it is thrown into; An Hell compared unto a Fire, for the Torment of it. None of all the Fuel there, will make or feel so hot a Fire, as the Barren Fig tree. No punishment will be equal to that of those, who have had many Means to make them Fruitful unto GOD; but the Means have all proved ineffectual. Their Hell will be the worse, because [Page 185]of what Heaven did for them. The Light against which they have sinn'd, will become as Oy [...] to the Flame of their Unquenchable Fire, They sin [...] the deeper into the Blackness of Darkness forever, because they were once, not far from the Kingdom of GOD. Unto them, who have been Exalted un­to Heaven in the Meant of Repentance, but all the Means have been lost upon them, it has been decla­red; Mat. XI. 24. It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom, in the Day of Judgment than for thee! Oh! That such Things as these were more thought upon!

THE Joy of Harvest is now before us! Here is an Husbandry, that never will, never can, miss of a Glorious Harvest! The Husbandry pro­secuted in the Fields of Nature, often misses of the Harvest expected by the Husbandman. Our Apo­stasy from GOD, has brought a Curse upon the Earth, and a Failing of the Harvest which we have Laboured for. After much Labour, the Issue often is That; Joel I. 11, 12. Be ye ashamed, O ye Hus­bandmen; Because [...]e Harvest of the Field is perished. Joy is withered away from the Sons of Men. But in the Husbandry of PIETY, a Blessed and a Joyful Harvest is never missed of. We are advssed from Heaven of it; It shall have a Sure Reward. The Reward of PIETY is the Harvest of it. Of this, the Holy SPIRIT of GOD has here given us this Assurance; Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall Reap, if we faint not. It seems, [Page 193]The Work of PIETY may not be without its Wearisome Difficulties: Things which our Carnal Minds may dispose us to be too soon weary of. But, Hold on, Hold out, O Unwearied PIETY. There will be an Harvest, wherein thou shalt Reap, what will be a Great Reward, yea, a Full Reward of all: The Oracles of our GOD have expresly called it so. But it is a Season that must be waited for.

Our Apostle is exhorting of the Faithful to shake off, yea, cut off. (with a just Excommunica­tion) the False Teachers from whom they suffered more than a little Trouble. But at the same time, he exhorts them to advance a Liberal Maintainance for the Orthodox, Diligent, Vigilant Ministers of the Gospel. He would have them to beware, lest they mocked GOD in their Parsimony on this Occa­sion; but asserts unto them, that their Liberality in this Matter, would not fail of a Recompence. There would be a Desireable Harvest of it. But it is asserted in such Terms, as to extend unto the whole Work of PIETY. And now, having that Commission; Isa. III. 10. Say ye to the Righteous, that it shall be well; For they shall eat the Fruit of their Doings: I will now execute it, saying what I am thus led unto. What I have to say, is in this Admonition of GOD our SAVIOUR.

Whatever Difficulties the Work of PIETY may be encumbred withal, yet, Thy Work shall be Rewarded, saith the Lord: There will be a Joyful Harvest of it.

The Work of PIETY is, that Whole Duty of Man, which has been summ'd up in that Wedge [Page 194]of Gold; Eccl. XII. 13. Fear GOD, and keep H [...] Commandments; A Mass of Gold, capable of being Beaten out, into how large Dimensions! Exceed­ing Broad.

Of this Work, it is ordered by the Wisdom of a Sovereign GOD, that it shall be attended with Difficulties; even such as may render a Toilsome Husbandry a Resemblance of it. That which cre­ates the Difficulties of this Work, is principally the Self-denial, which our Carnal Mind, makes neces­sary to be exercised, in our doing of it. Our Flesh must be cross'd, and our Appetites must be morti­fied; yea, there are Enemies to be Encountred, that are not easily to be Conquered; or else the Work of PIETY can't be carried on.

But, GOD will not forget this Work and Labour of Love. O PATIENCE, Do thou persist, even to Long-suffering, in the work of PIETY; There will be a Joyful Harvest of it. Things must pro­ceed according unto that Word; Jam. V. 7. Be Patient, Brethren;— Behold, The Husbandman waiteth for the precious Fruits of the Earth, and hath long Patience for it, until he receive the Early and Lat­ter Rain. Be ye also Patient. —

We have Two Enquiries before us. The first is, What will be the Harvest of PIETY? What the Reward that shall be Reap [...]d of it? The second is; When will be the due Season for it? When the Reaping Time? The Answer to both Enquiries, may best join them together. And it shall be given in Two Propositions. In general, We are taught, 1. Tim. IV. 8. Godliness has the Promise both of the Life which [...]w is, and of that which is to come. In this Promise, there is laid up the Harvest of Godliness; and what [Page 195]shall in the due Season be Reaped of it. More par­ticularly.