Husbandry Spiritualized, Part 1 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
The Plowman guides his Plow with care and skill.Upon the plowing of C…rn-land.
So doth the Spirit, in sound conviction still.
OBSERVATION.
IT requires not only strength, but much skill and judgment,foreign to manage and guide the plow. The Hebrew word which we translate to plow, signifies to be intent, as an Artificer is about some curious piece of work. The plow must neither go too shallow nor too deep in the earth; it must not indent the ground by making crooked furrows, nor leap and make baulks in good ground; but be guided as to a just depth of earth, so to cast the furrow in a straight line, that the floor or surface of the field may be made plain. As it is Isa. 28. 25. And hence that expression, Luke 9. 62. He that puts his hand to the plow, and looks back, is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. The meaning is, that as he that plows, must have his eyes alwayes forward, to guide and direct his hand in casting the furrows straight and even; (for his hand will be quickly out when his eye is off). So he that heartily resolves for heaven, must addict himself wholly and intently to the business of Religion, and not have his mind intangled with the things of this world, which he hath left behind him; whereby it appears, that the right management of the plow, requires as much skill as strength.
APPLICATION.
THis Observation in nature, serves exc…llently to shadow forth this proposition in Divi…ity. That the work of the Spirit in convincing and humbling the heart of a sinner, is a work wherein much of the wisdom, as well as power of God is discovered. The work of repentance and saving contrition,Glassius Rhet. sacra, p. 300. is set forth in Scripture by this Metaphor of plowing, Ier. 4. 3. Hos. 10. 12: Plow up your fallow ground; that is,Caryl on Iob, Chap. 4. v. 8. be convinced, humbled, and broken hearted for fin. And the resemblance betwixt both these works, appears in the following particulars.
(1) 'Tis a hard and difficult work to plow, it's reckoned one of the pain…ullest manual labours. It is also a very hard thing to convince and humble the heart of a secure, stout, and proud sinner, indurate in wickedness. What Luther saith of a dejected soul, That it is as easie to raise the dead as to comfort such a one. The same I may say of the secure, confident sinner. 'Tis as easie to rend the rocks, as to work saving contrition upon such a heart. Citius exp…mice aquam; all the melting language and earnest intreaties of the Gospel, cannot urge such a heart to shed a tear: Therefore it's called a heart of stone, Ezek. 36. 26. A firm rock, Amos 6. 12. Shall horses run upon the Rock? will one plow there with Oxen? yet when the Lord comes in the power of his Spirit, these rocks do rend and yield to the power of the word.
(2) The plow pierces deep into the bosome of the earth, makes (as it were) a deep gash or wound in the heart of it. So doth the Spirit upon the hearts of Sinners, he pierces their very souls by conviction, Act. 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked (or pierced point blank)foreign punctim cedo pungendo penetro. to the heart. Then the word divides the soul and Spirit, Heb. 4. 12. It comes upon the conscience with such pinching dilemma's, and tilts the sword of conviction so deep into their souls, that there is no stenching the bloud, no healing this wound, till Christ himself come and undertake the cure. H…re… lateri lethalis arundo; this barbed arrow cannot be pulled out of their hearts by any but the hand that shot it in. Discourse with such a soul about his troubles, and he will tell you, that all the sorrows that ever he had in this world, loss of estate, health, children, or whatever else, are but flea-bitings to this; this swallows up all other troubles. See how that Christian Niobe, Luke 7. 38. is dissolved into tears. N…w deep calleth unto deep at the noise of his water spouts, when the waves and billows of God go over the soul. Spiritual sorrows are deep waters, in which the stoutest and most magnanimous soul would sink and drown, did not Iesus Christ by a secret and supporting hand, hold it up by the chin.
(3.) The plow rends the earth in parts and pieces, which before was united, and makes those parts hang loose, which formerly lay closs. Thus doth the spirit of conviction rend in sunder the heart, and its most beloved lusts, Ioel. 2. 13. Rent your hearts, and not your garments; that is, rather then your garments; for the sense is comparative, though the expression be negative. And this rending implyes, not only acute pain; flesh cannot be rent asunder without anguish; nor yet only force and violence; the heart is a stubborn and knotty piece and will not easily yield, but it also implies a dis-union of parts united: as when a garment, or the earth, or any continuous body is rent; those parts are separated which fomerly cleaved together. Sin and the Soul were glewed fast together before, there was no parting of them, they would as soon part with their lives, as with their lusts; but now when the heart is rent for them truely; it is also rent from them everlastingly, Ezek. 7. 15. to 19.
(4) The plow turns up, and discovers such things as lay hid in the bosome of the earth before, and were covered under a fair green surface, from the eyes of men. Thus when the Lord plows up the heart of a sinner by conviction, then the secrets of his heart are made manifest, 2 Cor. 14. 24, 25. the most secret and shameful sins will then our; for the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, the joynts and merrow, and is a quick discerner of the thoughts, and secret intents of the heart, Heb. 4. 12. It makes the fire burn inwardly, so that the soul hath no rest till confession give a vent to trouble. Fain would the shuffling sinner conceal and hide his shame; but the word follows him through all his sinful shifts, and brings him at last to be his own, both accuser, witness and judge.
(…) The work of the plow is but opus ordinabile: a preparative work in order to fruit. Should the Husbandman plow his ground never so often, yet if the seed be not cast in and quickned, in vain is the Harvest expected. Thus conviction also is but a preparative to a farther work upon the soul of a sinner. If it stick there, and go no farther, it proves but an abortive or untimely birth. Many have gone thus far, and there they have stuck; they have been like a field plowed, but not sowed, which is a matter of trembling consideration; for hereby their sin is greatly aggravated, and their eternal misery so much the more increased. O when a poor damned creature shall with horror reflect upon himself in hell, how near was I once under such a Sermon, to conversion? My sins were set in order before me, my conscience awakened and terrified with the guilt of them; many p…rposes and resolves I had then to turn to God, which had they been perfected by answerable executions, I had never come to this place of torment; but there I stuck, and that was my eternal undoing. Many souls have I known so terrified with the guilt of sin, that they have come roaring under horrors of conscience to the Preacher; so that one would think such a breach had been made between them and sin, as could never be reconciled; and yet, as angry as they were in that fit with sin, they have hug'd and imbraced them again.
(6) 'Tis best plowing when the earth is prepared and mollified by the showers of rain, then the work goes on sweetly and easily. And never doth the heart so kindly melt, as when the Gospel clouds dissolve, and the free grace and love of Iesus Christ comes sweetly showing down upon it; then it relents and mourns ingeniously, Ezek. 16. 63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mo…th any more of thy shame, when I am pocified towards thee for all that thou hast done. So it was with that poor penitent, Luke 7. 38. when the Lord Iesus had discovered to her the super-abounding riches of his grace, in the pardon of her manisold abominations; her heart melted within her, she washed the feet of Christ with tears. And indeed, there is as much difference betwixt the tears which are forced by the terrors of the law, and those which are extracted by the grace of the Gospel, as there is betwixt those of a condemned malefactor, who weeps to consider the misery he is under, and those of a pardoned malefactor, that receives his pardon at the foot of the ladder, and is melted by the mercy and clemency of his gracious Prince towards him.
(7) The plow kills those ranck weeds that grow in the field, turns them up by the roots, buries and rots them. So doth saving conviction kill sin at the root, makes the soul sick of it, begets indignation in the heart against it, 2 Cor. 7. 11. The word there signifies the rising of the stomack,foreign. any being angry even unto sickness; Religious wrath is the fiercest wrath, now the soul cannot endure sin, trembles at it. I find a woman more bitter than death (saith penitent Solomon) Eccl. 7. 26. Conviction like a sur…et, makes the soul to loath what it formerly loved and delighted in.
(8) That field is not well plowed, where the plow jumps and skips over good ground, and makes baulks, it must turn up the whole field alike; and that heart is not savingly convicted where any lust is spared and lest untouched. Saving Conviction extends it self to all sins, not only to sin in general, with this cold conf…ssion, I am a …nner? but to the particulars of …, yea, to the particular circumstances and aggravations of time; place, manner, occasions, thus and thus have I done; to the sin of nature, as well as practise, behold I was shapen in iniquity, Psal. 51. 5. There must be no baulking of any sin; the sp…ring of one sin, is a sure argument thou art not truely humbled for any sin. So far is the convinced soul from a studious concealment of a beloved sin, that it weeps over that, more than over any other actual sin.
(9) New ground is much more easily plowed than that which by long lying out of tillage, is more consolidated and clung together, by deep rooted thorns and brambles, which render it difficult to the Plowman. This old ground is like an old sinner, that hath layn a long time hardening under the means of grace. O the difficulty of convincing such a person! Sin hath got such rooting in his heart, he is so habituated to the reproofs and calls of the word, that …ew such are wrought upon. How many young persons are called, to one obdurate, inveterate sinner? I do not say but God may call home such a soul at the eleventh hour; but I may say of these compared with others, as Solomon speaks, Eccles. 7. 28. One man among a thousand have I found &c. Few that have long …esisted the Gospel, that come afterwards to feel the saving efficacy thereof.
REFLECTIONS.
OGrace, for ever to b… admired! that God should send forth his Word and Spirit to plow up my hard and stony heart!The true Converts Reflection. yea, mine, when he hath lest so many of more tender, ingenious, sweet, and melting tempers without any culture or meanes of grace. O blessed Gospel! heart dissolving voice! I have felt thine efficacy, I have experienced thy divine and irresistible power, thou art indeed sharper than any two edged sword, and woundest to the heart; but thy wounds are the wounds of a friend. All the wounds thou hast made in my soul, were so many doors opened to let in Christ, all the blows thou gavest my consciences, were but to beat off my soul from sin, which I embraced and had retained to my everlasting ruine, hadst thou not separated them and me. O wise and merciful Phy…ian, thou didst indeed bind me with cords of conviction and sorrow; but it was only to cut out that stone in my heart, which had killed me if it had continued there. O how did I struggle and oppose thee, as if thou hadst come with the sword of an enemy, rather than the lanc… and probe of a skilful and tender hearted Physician? Blessed by the day wherein my sin was discovered and imbittered! O happy sorrows which prepared for such matchless joyes! O blessed hand: which turned my salt waters into pleasant wine! and after many pangs and sorrows of sou… didst …ring forth the man child of deliverance and peace …
But O, what a Rock of Adamant is this … of mine that never yet was wounded and savingly pierced for … the terrors of the Law,The stuborn hearts Reflection. or melting voice of the Gospel! long have I sate-under the word, but when did I feel a relenting pang? O my soul! my stupified soul! thou hast got an Antidote against repentance▪ but hast thou any against …ell? thou canst keep out the sense of sin now, but art thou able to keep off the terrors of the Lord hereafter? If thou couldst turn a deaf ear to the sentence of Christ in the day of judgment, as easily as thou dost to the intreaties of Christ in the day of grace, it were somewhat; but surely there is no defence against that. Ah, fool that I am, to quench these convictions, unless I knew how to quench those flames▪ t…ey warn me of.
And may not I challenge the first place among all the mourners in the world, who have lost all those convictions which at several times came upon me under the word?The Miscarrying souls Reflection. I have been often awakened by it, and filled with terrors and tremblings under it; but those troubles have soon worn off again, and my heart (like water removed from the fire) return'd to its native coldness. Lord, what a dismal case am I in? Many convictions have I choaked and strangled, which it may be shall never more be revived, until hou revive them against me in judgment. I have been in pangs, and brought forth nothing but wind; my troubles have wrought no deliverance, neither have my lusts fallen before them, my conscience indeed hath been sometimes sick with sin, yea, so sick as to vomit them up by an external partial reformation: but then with the dog have I returned again to my vomit, and now I doubt am given over to an heart that cannot repent. Oh that those travelling pangs could be quickened again! but alas! they are ceased. I am like a prisoner escaped, and again recovered, whom the Iaylor loads with double Irons. Surely, O my soul! if thy spiritual troubles return not again, they are but gone back, to bring eternal troubles. It is with thee, O my soul! as with a man whose bones have been broken and not well set; who must, (how terrible soever it appear to him) endure the pain of breaking and setting them again, if ever he be made a sound man. O that I might rather chuse to be the Object of thy wounding mercy, than of thy sparing cruelty! if thou plow not up my heart again by compunction, I know it must be rent in pieces at last by desperation.
The Poem.
THere's1Isa. 28. 25. 26. skill in plowing, that the Plowman knows
For if too2Mat. 13. 5. shallow, or too deep he goes;
The seed is either buried, or else my
To3Mat. 13. 4. …ooks and Daws become an easie prey.
This as a lively emblem, fitly may
Describe the blessed spirits work and way:
Whose work on souls, with this doth symbolize;
Betwixt them both, thus the resemblance lyes.
Souls are the4Mat. 13. 38. soyl, conviction is the5Act. 2. 37. plow.
Gods workmen62 Cor. 6. 1. draw, the spirit shews them how.
He guides the work, and in good ground, doth71 Cor. 3. 5. bless
His workmens paines, with sweet and fair success.
The heart prepar'd, he scatters in the seed
Which in it's season springs, no fowl nor weed
Shall pick it up, or choak this springing co…n;
Till it be8Phil. 1. 6. housed in the heavenly barn.
When thus1Ioh. 16. 8. the spirit plows up the …allow ground,
When with such fruits, his servants work is21 Thes. 2. 19 crown'd;
Let all the3Luk. 15. 11. friends of Christ, and soul say now;
As they pass by these fields42 Cor. 9. 10, 11. God speed the plow.
Sometimes this plow5Mat. 13. 6. thin, shelfy ground doth turn.
That little seed which springs, the Sun-beams burn.
The rest uncovered lies, which fowls devour,
Alas! their hearts were61 Thes. 1. 5. touched, but not with power.
The7Mar. 8. 14. cares and pleasures of this world have drown'd
The seed, before it peep'd above the ground,
Some springs indeed, the8Heb. 6. 5. scripture saith that some
Do taste the powers of the world to come.
These9Luk. 8. 14. Embroy's never come to timely birth,
Because the seed that's sown wants depth of earth.
Turn up, O God, the bottom of my heart;
And to the seed that's sown, do thou impart
Thy choicest blessing. Though I1Psal. 126. 6. weep and mourn;
In this wet seed-time; if I may return
With sheaves of joy; these fully will reward
My paines, and sorrows, be they ne're so hard.