wonders for me, who have neglected his ordinary means of salvation? 3. Bless the Lord, O my soul! who gave thee a season, a day for eternal life, which is more than he The industri- hath afforded for thousands; yea, bless the ous soul's re- Lord for giving thee an heart to understand flection. and improve that season. I confess I have not improved it as I ought, yet this I can through mercy say, that however it fare in future times with my outward man, though I have no treasures or stores laid up on earth, or if I have, they are but corruptible, yet I have a blessed hope laid up in heaven. Col. i. 5. I have bags that wax not old. Whilst worldlings rejoice in their stores and heaps, I rejoice in these eternal treasures. CHAPTER XVII. UPON REAPING THE SAME WE SOW. When from tare seeds you see choice wheat to grow, OBSERVATION. GOD gives to every seed its own body. At first he created every tree and herb of the field, having its seed in itself, for the propagation of their species, and they all inviolably observe the law of their creation. All fruits naturally rise out of the seeds and roots proper to them: "Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles ;" such productions would be monstrous in nature; and although the juice or sap of the earth be the common matter of all kind of fruits, yet it is specificated according to the different sorts of plants and seeds it nourishes. Where wheat is sown, it is turned into wheat; in an apple-tree, it becomes an apple, and so in every sort of plants or seeds, it is concocted into fruits proper to the kind. APPLICATION. Translate this into spirituals, and the proposition shadowed forth by it is fully expressed by the apostle. "What a man sows, that shall he reap: They that sow to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; and they that sow to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." And as sure as the harvest follows the seedtime, so sure shall such fruits and effects result from the seeds of such actions. "He that soweth iniquity, shall reap vanity." And they that now go forth, weeping, and bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them." The sum of all this is, that our present actions have the same respect and relation to future rewards and punishments, as the seed we sow in our fields hath to the harvest we reap from it. Every gracious action is the seed of joy, and every sinful action the seed of anguish and sorrow to the soul that soweth it. Two things are sensibly presented to us in this similitude. 1. That as the seed sown is presently covered from our sight under the clods, and for sometime after we see no more of it, and yet at last it appears again; by which it is evident to us, that it is not finally lost: so our present actions, though physically transient, and perhaps forgotten, yet are not lost, but after a time shall appear again, in order to a retribution. If this were not so, all good and holy actions would be to the loss of him that performed them. All the self-de nial, spending duties and sharp sufferings of the people of God, would turn to their damage, though not in point of honesty, yet in point of personal utility; and then also, what difference would there be betwixt the actions of a man and a beast, with respect to future good or evil? Yea, man would then be more feared and obeyed than God, and all souls be swayed in their motions only by the influence of present things: And where then would religion be found in the world? It is an excellent note of Drexellius; "Our works," saith he, "do not pass away as soon as they are done, but as seed sown, shall after a time rise up to all eternity: Whatever we think, speak, or do, once spoken, thought, or done, is eternal, and abides for ever." 492 What Zeuxis, the famous limner, said of his work, may be truly said of all our works-Eternitati pingo, I paint for eternity. O, how careful should men be of what they speak and do, whilst they are commanded so to speak and so to do, as those that shall be judged by the perfect law of liberty! James ii. 12. What more transient than a vain word? And yet for such words men shall give an account in the day of judgment. That is the first thing : Actions, like seed, shall rise and appear again in order to a retribution. by The other thing held forth in this similitude is, that according to the nature of our actions now, will be the fruit and reward of them then. Though the fruit or consequence of holy actions, for the present, may seem bitter, and the fruit of sinful actions sweet and pleasant; yet there is nothing more certain, than that their future fruits shall be according to their present nature and quality. Then Dionysius shall retract that sayingEcce quam prospera navigatio a Deo datur sacrilegis, Behold how God favors our sacrileges! Sometimes, indeed, though but rarely, God causes sinners to reap, in the world, the same that they have sown; as hath been their sin, such hath been their punishment. It was openly confessed by Adoni-bezek, Judg. i. 7. "As I have done, so hath God requited me." : Socrates, in his church history, furnishes us with a pertinent passage to this purpose, concerning Valens the emperor, who was an Arian, and a bitter persecutor of the Christians This man, when eighty of the orthodox Christians sailed from Constantinople to Nicomedia, to treat with him about the points of Arianism, and to settle the matter by way of dispute; the emperor, hearing of their arrival, while they were yet in the harbor, and not a man landed, caused the ships to be fired wherein they were, and so consumed them all. Not long after, in his wars against the Goths, he was overthrown, and hiding himself in a little cottage, the enemy coming by burnt it and him together. Thus this wretch reaped what he sowed, burning for burning, the very same in kind paid him again. It is not always so in this world, but so it shall be in that to come: The tables shall then be turned, and the scene altered; for shall not the Judge of all the world do righteously? Diogenes was tempted to think that God had cast off the government of the world, when he saw the wicked prosper in their wickedness. On the same ground many have been tempted to Athe. ism; but then the world shall see distributive justice shining out in its glory. "Tribulation, anguish and wrath to every soul of man that doth evil; but glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good." Then it will appear what seed we sowed, what lives we lived; "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.” REFLECTIONS. 1. This meditation may be to me what the hand-writing upon the wall was to that profane prince, Dan. v. 5, 6. and a like effect it The profane pershould have upon me; for if all the son's reflection. actions of this life be seed sown for the next, Lord, what a crop, what a dreadful harvest am I like to have! How many oaths and curses, lies and vain words have I sown with my tongue! How have I wronged, oppressed and over-reached in my dealings! Rushed into all profaneness, drunkenness, uncleanness, sabbathbreaking, &c. "as the horse rusheth into the battle!" And what shall I reap from such seed as this, but vengeance and fury? These sins seemed pleasant in the commission, but Oh! how bitter will it be in their account? "What shall I do when God riseth up; and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?" Is it not reasonable and just, O my soul! that thou shouldst eat the fruit of thine own planting, and reap what thou hast sown? I thought nothing but profit and pleasure would spring from my lust, but now I see it is a root bearing gall and wormwood. Deut. xxix. 18. Wretched soul! what shall I do? By these actions I am undone. I have been the author of mine own ruin-twisted an halter with mine own fingers for the execution of mine own soul! O! let me rather taste the bitterness of sin, by repentance now, than enjoy its present pleasures, which betray the soul to endless wrath! 2. How have I also been deceived in this matter! I verily thought that glory and immorThe moral man's tality would have been the fruit and product of my moral honesty and righteousness; that joy and peace had been reflection. |