Chapter 15
Corn fully ripe, is reaped, and gathered in.
So must yourselves when ripe in grace or sin.
OBSERVATION.
When the fields are white to harvest, then husbandmen walk through them, rub the ears, and finding the grain full and solid, they presently prepare their scythes and sickles, send for their harvestmen, who quickly reap and mow them down; and after these follow the binders, who stitch it up; from the field where it grew, it's carried to the barn where it is threshed out; the good grain gathered into a heap, the chaff separated and burnt, or thrown to the dunghill, how bare and naked do the fields look after harvest which before were pleasant to behold? When the harvest men enter into the field, it is (to allude to that, Joel 2:3) before them, like the garden of Eden, and behind them a desolate wilderness; and in some places it's usual to set fire to the dry stubble, when the corn is housed; which rages furiously, and covers it all with ashes.
APPLICATION.
The application of this, I find made to my hands, by Christ himself (Matthew 13:38-39): The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, the tares are the children of the wicked one, the enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are the angels.
The field is the world; there both the godly and ungodly live and grow together, till they be both ripe, and then they shall both be reaped down by death; death is the sickle that reaps down both. I will open this allegory in the following particulars.
In a catching harvest, when the husbandman sees the clouds begin to gather and grow black, he hurries in his corn with all possible haste, and houses day and night.
So does God the great husbandman, he hurries the saints into their graves, when judgments are coming upon the world (Isaiah 57:1): The righteous perish and no man lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away; none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Methuselah died the year before the flood, Augustine a little before the sacking of Hippo, Pareus just before the taking of Heidelberg, Luther a little before the wars broke out in Germany; but what speak I of single saints? Sometimes the Lord houses great numbers together, before some sweeping judgment comes. How many bright and glorious stars did set almost together, within the compass of a few years to the astonishment of many wise and tender hearts in England. I find some of them ranked in a funeral elegy.
The learned Twisse went first, (it was his right)
Then holy Palmer, Burroughs, Love, Gouge, White,
Hill, Whitaker, grave Gataker and Strong,
[reconstructed: Perne], Marshal, Robinson, all gone along.
I have not named them half, their only strife,
Has been (of late) who should first part with life.
These few who yet survive, sick of this age
Long to have done their parts and leave the stage.
The Lord sees it better for them to be under ground than above ground; and therefore by a merciful providence sets them out of harm's way.
Neither the corn nor tares can possibly resist the sharp and keen sickle, when it's applied to them by the reapers hand; neither can the godly or ungodly resist the stroke of death; when God inflicts it (Ecclesiastes 8:8): No man can keep alive his own soul in the day of death, and there is no discharge in that war. The frail body of man is as unable to withstand that stroke, as the weak reeds, or feeble stalks of the corn are to resist the keen scythe and sharp sickle.
The reapers receive the wheat which they cut down, into their arms and bosom. Hence that expression, by way of imprecation upon the wicked (Psalm 129:7): Let them be as the grass upon the house top which withers before it grows up, with which the mower fills not his hand, nor he that binds sheaves his bosom. Such withered grass are the wicked, who are never taken into the reapers bosom; but as soon as saints are cut down by death, they fall into the hands and bosoms of the angels of God, who bear them in their arms and bosoms to God their father (Luke 16:22). For look, as these blessed spirits did exceedingly rejoice at their conversion (Luke 15:10) and thought it no dishonor to minister to them while they stood in the field (Hebrews 1:14), so when they are cut down by death, they will rejoice to be their convoy to heaven.
When the corn and weeds are reaped or mowed down they shall never grow any more in that field; neither shall we ever return to live an animal life any more after death (Job 7:9-10): As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away; so he that goes down to the grave, shall come up no more; he shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
Lastly, (to come home to the particular object of this chapter) the reapers are never sent to cut down the harvest till it be fully ripe; neither will God reap down saints or sinners, till they be come to a maturity of grace or wickedness. Saints are not reaped down till their grace be ripe (Job 5:26): You shall come to your grave in a full age, as a shock of corn comes in in his season. Not that every godly man dies in such a full old age (says Mr. Caryl on the place) but yet in one sense it is a universal truth, and ever fulfilled; for whenever they die, they die in a good age; indeed, though they die in the spring and flower of their youth, they die in a good old age (that is) they are ripe for death whenever they die. Whenever a godly man dies, it's harvest time with him, though in a natural capacity he be cut down while he is green, and cropped in the bud or blossom; yet in his spiritual capacity, he never dies before he be ripe. God ripens his speedily, when he intends to take them out of the world speedily; he can let out such warm rays and beams of his spirit upon them, as shall soon mature the seeds of grace into a preparedness for glory.
The wicked also have their ripening time for hell, and judgment; God does with much long-suffering endure the vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction. Of their ripeness for judgment the Scripture often speaks (Genesis 15:16): The sin of the Amorites is not yet full. And of Babylon, it's said (Jeremiah 51:13): O you that dwell upon many waters, your end is come and the measure of your covetousness.
It is worth remarking, that the measure of the sin, and the end of the sinner come together. So Joel 3:13: Put you in the sickle, for the harvest of the earth is ripe, for the press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Where note, sinners are not cut down till they be ripe and ready. Indeed they are never ripe for death, nor ready for the grave; that is, fit to die: yet they are always ripe for wrath, and ready for hell before they die. Now as husbandmen judge of the ripeness of their harvest, by the color and hardness of the grain; so may we judge of the ripeness both of saints and sinners, for heaven or hell, by these following signs.
Three Signs of the maturity of grace.
When the corn is near ripe, it blows the head, and stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying, than in the days of their first profession. The longer a saint grows in this world, the better he is still acquainted with his own heart, and his obligations to God; both which are very humbling things. Paul had one foot in heaven, when he called himself the chiefest of sinners, and least of saints (1 Timothy 1:15; Ephesians 3:8). A Christian in the progress of his knowledge and grace, is like a vessel cast into the sea, the more it fills the deeper it sinks. Those that went to study at Athens (said Plutarch) at first coming, seemed to themselves to be wise men; afterwards, only lovers of wisdom, and after that, only rhetoricians, such as could speak of wisdom, but knew little of it, and last of all idiots in their apprehensions; still with the increase of learning, laying aside their pride and arrogance.
When harvest is nigh, the grain is more solid and pithy than ever it was before; green corn is soft and spongy, but ripe corn is substantial and weighty. So it is with Christians; the affections of a young Christian perhaps are more fervent and sprightly, but those of a grown Christian are more judicious and solid; their love to Christ abounds more and more in all judgment (Philippians 1:9). The limbs of a child are more active and pliable, but as he grows up to a perfect state, the parts are more consolidated and firmly knit. The fingers of an old musician are not so nimble, but he has a more judicious ear in music, than in his youth.
When corn is dead ripe, it is apt to fall of its own accord to the ground, and there shed; whereby it does as it were anticipate the harvest man, and calls upon him to put in the sickle. Not unlike to which are the lookings and longings, the groanings and hastenings of ready Christians to their expected glory; they hasten to the coming of the Lord, or as Montanus more [illegible] renders it, they hasten the coming of the Lord; (that is) they are urgent and instant in their desires and cries to hasten his coming; their desires sally forth to meet the Lord, they willingly take death by the hand; as the corn bends to the earth, so do these souls to heaven. This shows their harvest to be near.
Six signs of the maturity of sin.
When sinners are even dead ripe for hell, these signs appear upon them, or by these at least, you may conclude those souls not to be far from wrath, upon whom they appear.
When conscience is [reconstructed: wasted] and grown past feeling, having no remorse for sin; when it ceases to check, reprove and smite for sin any more, the day of that sinner is at hand, his harvest is even come. The greatest violation of conscience is the greatest of sins; this was the case of the forlorn Gentiles, among whom Satan had such a plentiful harvest; the patience of God suffered them to grow till their consciences were grown seared and past feeling (Ephesians 4:19). When a member is so mortified, that if you lance and cut it never so much, no fresh blood, or quick flesh appears, nor does the man feel any pain in all this, then it is time to cut it off.
When men give themselves over to the satisfaction of their lusts, to commit sin with greediness, then are they grown to a maturity of sin; when men have slipped the reins of conscience and rush headlong into all impiety, then the last sands of God's patience are running down. Thus Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner gave themselves over to wickedness and strange sins; and then justice quickly trussed them up for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
That man is even ripe for hell, that is become a contriver of sin, a designer, a student in wickedness; one would think it strange, that any man should set his invention on work, upon such a subject as sin is; that any should study to become a dexterous artist this way, and yet the Scripture frequently speaks of such, whose bellies prepare deceit (Job 15:35), who travel in pain to bring forth this deformed birth (verse 20), who wink with their eyes, while plotting wickedness, as men use to do when they are most intent upon the study of any knotty problem (Proverbs 6:13). These have so much of hell already in them, that they are more than half in hell already.
He that of a forward professor, is turned a bitter persecutor, is also within a few rounds of the top of the ladder; the contempt of their light, the Lord has already punished upon them, in their obduracy and madness against the light. Reader, if you be gone thus far, you are almost gone beyond all hope of recovery. Towards other sinners, God usually exercises more patience, but with such he makes short work. When Judas turns traitor to his Lord, he is quickly sent to his own place. Such as are again entangled and overcome of those lusts they once seemed to have clean escaped, these bring upon themselves swift damnation, and their judgment lingers not (2 Peter 2:3, 20).
He that can endure no reproof or control in the way of his sin, but derides all counsel, and like a strong current, rages at, and sweeps away all obstacles in his way, will quickly fall into the dead lake (Proverbs 29:1). He that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. This is a death spot, a hell spot, where ever it appears. From this very symptom the Prophet plainly predicted the approaching ruin of Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:16). I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my voice. He that will not be timely counselled, shall be quickly destroyed.
Lastly, when a man comes to glory in his sin, and boast of his wickedness, then it's time to cut him down; whose end is destruction, whose glory is in their shame (Philippians 3:16). This is a braving, a daring of God to his face, and with whoever he bears long, to be sure, these are none of them.
You see now, what are the signs of a full ripe sinner; and when it comes to this, either with a nation, or with a single person, then ruin is near (Joel 3:13; Genesis 15:16). It is in the filling up of the measure of sin, as in the filling of a vessel cast into the sea, which rolls from side to side, taking in the water by little and little, till it be full, and then down it sinks to the bottom. Meanwhile, admirable is divine patience, which bears with these vessels of wrath, while fitting for destruction.
REFLECTIONS.
Hear yourself, O my soul! with the heart strengthening bread of this divine meditation. Let faith turn every drop of this truth into a soul-reviving cordial. God has sown the precious seed of grace upon my soul, and though my heart has been an unkind soil which has kept it back and much hindered its growth; yet blessed be the Lord, it still grows on, though by slow degrees; and from the springing of the seed, and shootings forth of those gracious habits, I may conclude an approaching harvest. Now is my salvation nearer than when I believed; every day I come nearer to my salvation (Romans 13:11). O that every day I were more active for the God of my salvation! Grow on my soul, and add to your faith virtue, to your virtue knowledge, etc. Grow on from faith to faith; keep yourself under the ripening influences of heavenly ordinances; the faster you grow in grace, the sooner you shall be reaped down in mercy, and bound up in the bundle of life (1 Samuel 25:29). I have not yet attained the measure and proportion of grace assigned to me, neither am I already perfect, but am reaching forth to the things before me, and pressing towards the mark for the prize of my heavenly calling (Philippians 3:12-13). O mercy to be admired! that I who lately had one foot in hell, stand now with one foot in heaven!
But the case is far different with me, while others are ripening apace for heaven, I am withering, many a soul plowed up by conviction, and sown by sanctification long after me, has quite over-topped and out-grown me? My sweet and early blossoms were nipped and blown off, my bright morning overcast and clouded; had I kept on according to the rate of my first growth, I had either now been in heaven, or at least in the suburbs of it on earth; but my graces wither and languish, my heart contracts and cools to heavenly things; the sun and rain of ordinances and providences improve not my graces; how sad therefore is the state of my soul?
Your case, O declining saint, is sad! but not like mine; yours is but a temporary remission of the acts of grace, which is recoverable; but I am judicially hardening and treasuring up to myself wrath, against the day of wrath (Romans 2:5). Time was, when I had some tender sense of sin, when I could mourn and grieve for it, now I have none at all. My heart is grown stupid and sottish. Time was when I had some conscientious care of duty, and my heart would smite me for the neglect of it; but now none at all. Wretched soul! what will you do? You are gone far indeed, a few steps farther will put you beyond hope; hitherto I stand in the field, the long-suffering God does yet spare me; indeed, spare me, while he has cut down many of my companions in sin round about me. What does this admirable patience, this long-suffering drawn out to a wonder, speak concerning me? Does it not tell me, that the Lord is not willing I should perish, but rather come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)? And what argument is like his pity and patience, to lead a soul to repentance (Romans 2:4)? O that I may not frustrate at last, the end of a long suffering God! lest he proportion the degrees of his wrath, according to the length of his patience.
The Poem.
When fields are white to harvest, forth you go
With scythes and sickles; to reap down and mow.
Down go the laden ears, flat to the ground;
Which those that follow having stitched and bound;
It's carted home to the barn, and so
The fields are rid; where lately corn did grow.
This world's the field, and they that dwell therein;
The corn and tares; which long have ripening been.
Angels the reapers, and the judgment day
The time of harvest when like corn and hay;
The fading flower of earthly glory must
Be mowed down, and leveled with the dust.
The barns are heaven and hell; the time draws nigh
When through the darkened clouds, and troubled sky
The Lord shall break, a dreadful trumpet shall
Sound to the dead, the stars from heaven fall.
The rolling spheres with horrid flames shall burn,
And then the tribes on earth shall wail and mourn.
The judgment set, before Christ's awful throne
All flesh shall be convened, and every one
Receive his doom: which done, the just shall be
Bound in life's bundle; even as you see
The full ripe ears of wheat bound up, and born
In sheaves with joy; to the owner's barn.
This done, the angels next in bundles bind
The tares together, as they did combined
In acting sin, so now their lot must be
To burn together in one misery.
Drunkards with drunkards pinioned, shall be sent
To hell together in one regiment.
Adulterers and swearers there shall lie
In flames, among their old society.
O dreadful howlings! O the hideous moans
Of [reconstructed: fettered] sinners! O the tears! the groans!
The doleful lamentations as they go
Chained fast together, to their place [reconstructed: of woe].
The world thus cleared, as fields when harvest's in,
Shall be no more a stage for acting sin.
With purifying flames it shall be burned,
Its stately structures into ashes turned.
Cease then my soul, to dote on, or admire
This splendid world, which is reserved for fire.
Decline the company of sinners here,
As you would not be shackled with them there.
