Break your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain Righteousness upon you

Break your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain Righteousness upon you.

Break up your fallow ground &c.] The Prophet exhorted them in the words before, to sow in Righteousness, that they might reap Mercy.

But you must not sow without plowing, that were a preposterous way, therefore though the words come after, yet the thing is to be done before. Look that you plow up the fallow ground: you have been sinful and ungodly in your way, It will not be enough for you now to set upon some good actions, we will do better, we will do such and such good things that God requires of us: No, that's not the first work you must fal upon, but it must be to plow, to plow up your fallow grounds.

In this expression you have here implyed, first, That the hearts of men naturally are as follow grounds, nothing but thorns and bryars grows upon them, they are unfit for the Seed of the Word. And by this word is here meant these three things; when he bids them plow up their fallow grounds.

First, The work of humiliation, the truths of God, both of the Law and of the Gospel must get into their hearts, and rend up their hearts, even rend it up as the plow does rend up the ground.

And secondly, That weeds, thorns, and bryars must be turned up by the roots, the heart must be cleer'd of them; It is not enough to weed out a weed here and there, and to pluck out a thorn here and there, but plow up the ground, turn all upside down, and get up al the baggagely stuff and thorns that was in your hearts heretofore.

And then thirdly, Get a softness to be in your hearts; as when the ground is plowed, that which was before hard on the outside, and bak'd by the heat of the Sun, being now turned up there is a soft mould of the ground, and so by the softness of the mould of the ground it is prepared to receive seed.

There are many evils in us that we would reform, but we have not been humbled for them, for our ceremonies, and subjection to false government of the Church, Who has bin humbled for these things, as sin? We reform them as things inconvenient, but not being humbled for them as sin, the very roots of these things are in the hearts of many, so as if times should change, a distinction would serve their turn to come and submit to them again, so that we sow before we plow. I find in (Jeremiah 4:3) you have this exhortation even in termiminis, That, They must plow up the fallow-ground of their hearts (only exprest a little further) They must not sow among thorns. They must not think to mingle that which is good with that which is evil, it may be a few good seeds are brought into a business, yes, but there is a great deal of evil. My Brethren, take heed of being deceived that way; many though they do not intend to deceive you, yet they may deceive you by mixing some good things with a great many evil, and therefore examin things. But I note this place in Jeremiah the rather from the consideration of the time of Jeremiah's Prophesie. You shall find that the time of Jeremiah's Prophesie was in Josiah's time. Now the time of Josiah was a time of great reformation, there was very much reformation in his time, yes, but says Jeremiah, What though you did reform, what though you do many things, you sow among thorns, you do not plow up the ground, you are not humbled, the roots of your sin are not got out of you, and therefore though there be a great deal of ill stuff that seems to be cast out, and many good things are set upon in the worship of God that was not formerly, yet you must plow, plow up your fallow grounds. The Holy Ghost joyning of them together, Sow Righteousness, and plow up your fallow ground.

This note I would have you observe, That there are some that do Sow, and not Plow, and there are others that do Plow, and not Sow, but we must joyn both together.

There are that do Plow, and not Sow; that is, They (it may be) are troubled for their sin, it may be much humbled for their sin, but they do not reform, after their Humiliation there does not follow Reformation.

Now as Reformation, where Humiliation has not gone before, usually comes to little purpose, so Humiliation where Reformation follows not after, comes likewise to little purpose. In (Isaiah 28:24) Does the Husbandman plow all day to sow?

The text is brought to note thus much, That God observes his times; and that is the scope of the text, that we must not be offended because that the Lord does not do things as we would have him alwaies, that is, he lets wicked men prosper sometimes, and the godly suffer afflictions, but as if the Holy Ghost should say here, let God alone with his work, God observes his times and seasons, as the Plow-man does, he does not alwaies plow; so God has his times and seasons and knows when to relieve his Church and afflict his Church, and when the wicked shall prosper and be brought into adversity, God instructs the Plow-man to know his season, and so does he, and therefore be not offended. And so should we know our seasons, we should observe our times to be humbled and reform, to reform and be humbled. But this for the Reformation of a State.

But the plowing of the heart, that's the thing that is here especially intended, and I desire to apply it particularly to every man and woman. Those who have such sore necks who cannot bear the yoke, yet you must be Plow-men and Plow-women, for Alice Driver that I told you of, her father brought her up to plow, and both men and women, the daintiest Ladies of all must hold this plow that is here spoken of. Now for this plowing of humbling your hearts it is for the getting in of truths into your spirits, that may rend up your hearts, I'le name some few truths that are as it were the Plow-share, that you must not only know them, but labor to get them into your hearts.

As first, That such is the vileness of every sin, as it seperates the soul from God and puts it under an eternal curse. This one truth, you must get this into your hearts, and get it deep into your hearts, it will help to unloosen the roots of the thorns and bryars that are there, the setled apprehension of this truth.

And then secondly, this truth: that there is such a breach between God and my soul by sin, that all the power in all the creatures in heaven and earth is not able to make up this breach, here is a sharp plow-share to get into the heart.

And then thirdly, this truth, that by nature I am full of this sin, my heart is full of it, all the faculties of my soul are filled with sin that is of such a heinous nature. Here is a sharp plow-share to get into the heart.

And then fourthly, that every action that ever I have done in all my life, in my unregenerate estate, it is nothing else but sin, nothing else but sin that has such a vile nature.

Yes further, that if any sin be pardoned to me it is by virtue of a price paid that is more worth than ten thousand worlds: this truth. Now here's the Gospel as well as the Law, for the plowing is but the spiritualness of the Law, the truths of the Law in a Gospel way, for you must take notice that the Law [as Law] accepts of no humiliation for sin, it is as it is revealed in a Gospel way, in a Gospel way it does tend to humiliation, for let men be humbled never so much, the Law never accepts of them for their humiliation, but the Law in a Gospel way so it comes to humble the soul so as to do it good. Now therefore the consideration of the truths that the Law requires, having reference to the Gospel they serve for the humbling of the soul; now get in these truths and see what they will do in your soul, you must work them in, and let conscience be put on to draw this plow, these are as the plow-share, and the working of conscience is the drawing of this plow; while the plow stops (as when it meets with a thorn and briar) now a strong conscience will draw it on, and will make the thorns and briars to be rent up by the roots, if the conscience be put upon with strength to draw these truths in the soul; and though they put you to pain, yet you must be content to draw them on in the soul. And if these and the like truths be got into your soul, and you be at plow, and your conscience be drawing, this is that I shall say, God speed the plow, yes, God speed these truths that conscience is drawing on in the soul, for it may tend to a great deal of good, to prepare you for the seed that may bring forth righteousness and mercy to your soul for ever. I confess it is a hard work to be thus plowing; indeed for men and women only to hear sermons, and be talking and conferring of good things, these things are pretty easy, but to go to plow, to plow with such truths as these are, to get up the thorns and briars by the roots, this is a very hard task; but we must be willing to do it, and to continue plowing. As the fallow ground must not only be plowed once, but (it may be) it may stand in need of plowing the second and third time before it may be fit for the seed to be cast in, and so it must be with our hearts. It may be some of you have got in some truths, and you have been plowing; yes, but since that time you have had many weeds and thorns grown up, and you must to plowing again; it may be it is divers years ago since you have been thus plowing, and your hearts have lain fallow all this while, do not think it enough that once you have been humbled, but be often plowing up this fallow ground, you were as good have the plow get into your hearts though it be sharp, as to have the sword of God's justice be upon you. We have in these times a wanton generation that have risen up, that cannot endure to go to plow, they would be doing nothing but taking in the sweet, (as I told you before in a former exercise) treading out the corn. But this plowing they cry out of merely through a wantonness, and tenderness of their spirits, a sinful tenderness, because they would have nothing but jollity and licentiousness in their hearts and ways, yet the Scripture in (Luke 9:62) compares the ministers of the Gospel to the plow, He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back, is not fit for the Kingdom of God, not fit to be employed in the administration of the Gospel. Though these men cry out so much of humiliation for sin, which is as strange a generation as ever have risen up, that should cry out of that, when there's nothing more humbles for sin than the price that was paid for sin in the blood of Jesus Christ, and there is no such sharp plow-share as that. If I were to preach one sermon in all my life for the humbling of men for sin, I would take a text that might show the great price that was paid for it, and therein open the breach that sin has made between God and man's soul. But they will not make use of the Gospel neither, so much as to be a plow to plow the heart for the work of humiliation.

Well, God has prospered this work heretofore, and notwithstanding all the wantonness of men's spirits this way, yet (I say) still, God speed the plow, God speed this way of plowing the hearts of men, and getting in those truths that do humble the hearts of men for their sins; these were the truths that God has blessed in former times, and there's none that ever did live to the honor of the Gospel so much: for this generation that is come up, they talk of the Gospel, but they live not to the honor of it, the Gospel has not honor by them, nor Jesus Christ has not honor by them. But the former generation of men, though in some things they might fail, yet certainly God blessed them in their way so far as it was according to truth.

No marvel though these men bring forth such little fruit of righteousness, it is, because they sow among thorns, presently they are up at the top, and so confident presently in their way, their seed is among thorns and therefore it does not prosper. And thus much for this expression about the plowing up of fallow grounds, both in reference to general reformation, and humiliation, and concerning men's souls in particular. It follows;