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fhall I ever ftraggle again from thee? O let it for ever be a warning to me, how I turn aside into the by-paths of fin any more.

I

THE POEM.

HEN cattle from your fields are gone aftray,

WH

And you to seek them through the country ride;

Enquiring for them all along the way,

Tracking their footsteps where they turn'd afide;
One fervant this way fent, another that,

Searching the fields and country round about;
This meditation now falls in fo pat,

As if God fent it to enquire you out:
My beafts are loft, and fo am I by fin';

My wretched foul from God thus wand'ring went ;
As I feek them, fo was I fought by him,

Who from the Father's bofom forth was fent.
Purfu'd by fermons, follow'd close by grace,

And ftrong convictions, Chrift hath fought for me;
Yea, though I fhun him, still he gives me chase,
As if refolv'd I should not damned be.
When angels loft themselves, it was not fo;
God did not feek, or once for them enquire;
But faid, Let these apoftate creatures go,
I'll plague them for it with eternal fire.

eyes,

Lord! what am I, that thou should'ft fet thine
And still seek after fuch a wretch as I?
Whose matchlefs mercy, and rich grace despise,
As if, in fpite thereof, refolv'd to die.
Why fhould I fhun thee? Bleffed Saviour, why
Should I avoid thee thus? Thou doft not chafe
My foul to flay it; O that ever I

Should fly a Saviour that's fo full of grace!
Long haft thou fought me, Lord, I now return,
O let thy bowels of compaffion found;

For my departure I fincerely mourn,

And let this day thy wand'ring sheep be found.

CHAP. IV.

Upon the Feeding of fat Cattle.

Fat beafts you kill, the lean you use to fave:
God's difpenfations fome fuch meaning have.

OBSERVATION.

T is a good obfervation of a Father, and well applied; Vituli triturantes quotidie ligantur, vituli mactandi quotidie in pafcuis liberè re

linquuntur: Oxen for ufe are daily yoked and kept fhort, whilst thofe that are defigned for the fhambles, are let loofe in green pastures to feed at pleasure. Store beats fare hard, and are kept lean and low; feeding beafts are excufed from the yoke, whilft others are laboured and wrought hard every day; the one hath more than he can eat, the other would eat more if he had it.

APPLICATION.

TH

HUS deals the Lord oft-times with his own elect, whom he defigns for glory; and with the wicked, who are preparing for the day of wrath: thus are they filled with earthly profperity and creature-enjoyments, like lufty and wanton beafts turned out at liberty in a fat pasture, whilft poor faints are kept hard and fhort; Amos iv. 1. "Hear this word, ye kine of Bathan, that are in the mountains of "Samaria, which opprefs the poor, crufh the needy." Thefe metaphorical kine are the profperous oppreffors of the world, full fed, and wanton, wicked men. It is true, heaven hath not all the poor, nor hell all the rich; but it is a very common difpenfation of providence to bestow most of the things of this world upon them that have no portion in heaven; and to keep them fhort on earth, for whom that kingdom is provided. Let me draw forth the fimilitude in a few particulars.

1. The beafts of flaughter have the fatteft paftures; so have the ungodly in the world; "Their eyes ftand out with fatnefs: they have more than heart could with," Pfal. Ixxiii. 7. Their hearts are as fat as greafe, Pfal. cxix. 70. Thefe be they that fleet off the cream of earthly enjoyments, "whofe bellies are filled with hidden treasures," Pfal. xvii. 14. "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked," Job ix. 24. O what full eftates! what an affluence of earthly delights hath God caft in upon fome wicked men! There is much wantonnefs, but no want in their dwellings: fome that know not which way to turn themselves in hell, once knew not where to beftow their goods on earth.

2. Feeding beafts grow wanton in their full paftures; there you shall fee them tumble and frisk, and kick up their heels. The fame effect hath the profperity of the wicked; it makes them wanton; their life is but a diverfion from one pleasure to another, Job xxi. 11, 12, 13. "They fend forth their little ones like a flock, and their "children dance: they take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the "found of the organ: they fpend their days in wealth, and in a "moment go down to the grave." The fame character doth the prophet Amos give of them, Amos vi. 4, 5, 6. "They stretch them"felves upon beds of ivory, drink wine in bowls," &c. and no forrow goes to their hearts. Thefe are they that live in pleafures upon earth, as a fish in the water, Jam. v. 5.

3. Thefe fat paftures do but the fooner haften the death of thefe VOL. V.

cattle the fooner they are fatted, the fooner they are flaughtered; and the profperity of the wicked ferves to the fame end: the profperity of fools thall deftroy them; i. e. it fhall be the means and inftrument of heating and heightening their lufts, and thereby fitting them. for deftruction; their profperity is food, and fuel to their corrup tions. Many wicked men had not been fo foon ripe for hell, had they not grown in the funfhine of profperity.

4. Fatted beafts do not in the leaft underftand the intent and meaning of the husbandman, in allowing them fuch large and fat paftures, which he denies to his other cattle; and as little as beasts do wicked men understand the scope and end of God's providences, in cafting profperity and wealth upon them; little do they think their tables are a fnare, a gin, and a trap for their fouls; they only, like beafts, mind what is before them, but do not at all understand the tendency and end of thefe their fenfual delights.

5. Though the hufbandman keeps his ftore-cattle in fhort commons, yet he intends to preferve them': thefe fhall remain with him, when the others are driven to the flaughter.

Such a defign of prefervation is carried on in all thofe outward ftraits, wants, and hardships which the Lord expofes his people to. I confefs, fuch difpenfations, for the prefent, are very ftumbling and puzzling things, even to gracious and wife perfons. To fee wicked men, not only exempted from their troubles, but even oppreffed with profperity: to fee a godly man in wants and ftraits, and a wicked man have more than his heart can wifh, is a cafe that pofes the wifeft Christian, till he confiders the defigns and iffues of both thofe providences, and then he acquiefces in the wifdom of God fo ordering it, Pfal. lxxiii. 5, 14, 18, 23.

REFLECTIONS.

A reflection for a voluptuous worldling.

1. Doth my profperity fat me up for hell, and prepare me for the day of flaughter? Little caufe have I then to glory in it, and lift up my heart upon these things. Indeed, God hath given (I cannot fay blefled me with) a fulnefs of creature-enjoyments; upon thefe my carnal heart feizeth greedily and fecurely, not at all fufpecting a fnare lying in thefe things for the ruin of my. foul. What are all thefe charming pleasures, but fo many rattles to quiet my foul, whilft its damnation steals infenfibly upon it? What are all my busineffes and employments in the world, but fo many diverfions from the bufinefs of life? There are but two differences betwixt me and the poorest flave the devil hath on earth; fuch are whipped on to hell by outward miferies, and I am coached to hell in a little more pomp and honour; thefe will have a lefs, and I a greater account in the day of reckoning. O that I had never known profperity! I am now tumbling in a green pasture, and fhortly fhall be hanging up in the fhambles of hell: if this be the best fruit of my

profperity, if I were taken captive by cruel cannibals, and fed with the richest fare, but withal understood, that the defign of it were to fat me up like a beaft for them to feed upon, how little ftomach fhould I have to their dainties! O my foul! it were much better for thee to have a fanctified poverty, which is the portion of many faints, than an enfnaring profperity, fet as a trap to ruin thee for

ever.

2. The wisdom of my God hath allotted me A reflection for but short commons here; his providence feeds a poor Chriftian. me, but from hand to mouth; but I am, and well may be, contented with my prefent ftate; that which sweetens it is, that I am one of the Lord's preferved. How much better is a morfel of bread and a draught of water here, with an expectancy of glory hereafter, than a fat pafture given in, and a fitting for the wrath to come? Well, fince the cafe ftands thus, bleffed be God for my prefent lot! Though I have but a little in hand, I have much in hope; my prefent troubles will ferve to fweeten my future joys; and the forrows of this life will give a luftre to the glory of the next that which is now hard to fuffer, will then be fweet to remember; my songs will then be louder than my groans now are.

:

THE POEM.

HOSE beafts which for the fhambles are defign'd,

TH

In fragrant flow'ry meadows you fhall find,

Where they abound with rich and plenteous fare,
Whilft others graze in commons thin and bare:
Thofe live a fhort and pleasant life, but these
Protract their lives in dry and fhorter leas.
Thus live the wicked; thus they do abound
With earthly glory, and with honour crown'd.
Their lofty heads unto the stars aspire,
And radiant beams their fhining brows attire.
The fatteft portion's ferv'd up in their dith;

Yea, they have more than their own hearts can wish.
Diffolv'd in pleasures, crown'd with buds of May;
They, for a time, in thefe fat paftures play,

Frifk, dance and leap, like fall-fed beafts; and even
Tura up their wanton heels against the heaven ;
Not understanding that this pleasant life,
Serves but to fit them for the butcher's knife.
In fragrant meads they tumbling are to-day,
To-morrow to the flaughter led away.

Their pleafure's gone, and vanifh like a bubble,
Which makes their future torments on them double.
Meanwhile God's little flock is poor and lean,

Because the Lord did ne'er intend or mean

This for their portion; and befides doth know

Their fouls prove beft, where fhorteft grafs doth grow.

Cheer up, poor flock, although your fare be thin,
Yet here is fomething to take comfort in :
You here fecurely feed, and need not fear,
Th' infernal butcher can't approach you here.
'Tis fomewhat that; but, oh! which far tranfcends,
Your glorious fhepherd's coming, who intends
To lead you hence unto that fragrant hill,
Where, with green paftures, he his flocks will fill;
Or which he from celeftial cafements pours
The fweetcft dews, and conftant gracious fhow'rs;
Along whofe banks rivers of pleasures glide,
There his blefs'd flocks for ever shall abide,
O envy not the worldlings prefent joys.
Which to your future mercies are but toys,
Their pafture now is green, your's dry and burn'd,
But then the scene is chang'd, the tables turn'd.

CHAP. V.

Upon the Hufbandman's Care for Pofterity.
Good bufbands labour for pofterity;

To after-ages faints must have an eye.

OBSERVATION.

ROVIDENT and careful hufbandmen do not only labour to

fupply their own neceflities, while living, but lay up fomething for their pofterity when they are gone: they do not only leave to their children what their progenitors left them, but they defire to leave it improved and bettered. None but bad husbands and fpendthrifts are of the mind with that heathen emperor Tiberius, who having put all into fuch confufions in the empire, that it might be thought the world would end with him; yet pleafed himself with this apprehenfion, That he should be out of the reach of it; and would often fay, When I am dead, let heaven and earth mingle; if the world will but hold my time, let it break when I am gone. But provident men look beyond their own time, and do very much concern themselves in the good or evil of their pofterity.

W":

APPLICATION.

HAT careful hufbands do, with refpect to the provifions they make for their children, that all prudent Chriftians are bound to do, with respect to the truths committed to them, and by them to be transmitted to fucceeding faints.

In the first ages of the world, even till the law was given, faithful men were inftead of books and records; they did, by oral tradition,

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