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UPON A GARDEN SPOILED

watch neglected, and the watchman either asleep or careless, will enter, destroy, and waste; he envies our condition, that we should enjoy the paradise he left, the comforts he once had; he has a spite and hatred against God and goodness, and opposes his image wherever he sees it: this is the boar out of the wood who wastes God's vineyard, and the wild beast out of the forest who devours it, Psa. lxxx. 13. He besieges the fort of our souls; and our own heart, that inbred traitor, watches to surrender it into his hands. A thousand snares and nets are spread for the soul, and it is in continual danger, in every calling, in every condition, in every relation, in every creature we have to do with; in every duty, nay, in every juncture, some snare or other is laid to entrap us. Youth and old age, sickness and health, prosperity and adversity, honour and disgrace, all have their peculiar snares. Our nearest relations ofttimes betray us into sin; thus Eve betrays Adam, Job's wife would have betrayed him, Lot's daughters betrayed him, and Peter would have betrayed Christ himself; "Get thee behind me, Satan," Matt. xvi. 23. We have enemies without, and enemies within, and many snares are laid for our feet; how warily then have we need to walk; what care to have of our souls, when they are in such continual danger, and so many snares laid for our feet; temptation without, and corruption within!

O my soul, hast thou so strong and potent an enemy to deal with, that seeks thy ruin, and makes it his business to undo thee. Oh what need then hast thou to stand upon thy guard. If thou

THROUGH NEGLECT OF THE FENCE.

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fall into his hands, nothing but the everlasting destruction of body and soul will satisfy him. Quit thyself therefore like a man, stand upon thy guard, "resist the devil, and he will flee from you," James iv. 7. None but those who throw down their weapon, and quit the field, are vanquished by him; though others may be foiled. Look to the main fort, the heart; if that be surprised, thou art undone; make a covenant with thy eyes, Job xxxi. 1; set a watch over thy mouth, that thou offend not with thy tongue, Psa. xxxix. 1; cxli. 3; 66 put on the whole armour of God," described in Eph. vi. 11-17; “the sword of the Spirit," and the darts of prayer are prevalent. Thou art to fight with "principalities and powers;" these contended with the angel, for Moses' body, but they contend with thee for thy precious soul. Stand fast, and thou wilt. prevail; cry to thy Captain, Christ, for his assistance; so shalt thou be the victor; and if thou overcome, thou shalt reign with Christ.

O my God, be thou my defender; I have no strength against these potent enemies, neither know I what to do; only my eyes are up unto thee. O let no cruel beast devour and destroy my soul. Do thou watch over me, or I shall wake in vain; teach me the use of the Christian armour, rebuke the tempter, and chain him up, that he may not hurt me; keep me under the shadow of thy wings, hide me in the hollow of thy hand, and keep me out of the snares that are laid for my feet. Then shall I praise thee with an upright heart, and tell what God hath done for my soul.

XV. UPON A MOLE SPOILING THE GARDEN.

WHEN I had fenced my garden, and secured it, as I thought, from the injury of all enemies, and began to grow secure and careless, as if out of the reach of danger; behold, an unseen and unexpected enemy! A despicable creature, comparatively speaking, was the occasion to me of no small trouble: a poor contemptible mole, ere I was aware, digged and rooted up my herbs and flowers, and spoiled the beauty of my work. And although I knew she could not be far distant, yet I knew not where to search for her; and for a considerable time was unable to take her prisoner, or punish her for the trespass.

This unexpected grievance made me consider the vanity of all human felicity, how soon the beauty of it may vanish and come to nothing, and by how small a means God can blast all earthly enjoyments. All that the world affords is of the nature of Jonah's gourd, which grew up in a night and perished in a night, Jonah iv. 6, 7. No solidity is to be found in sublunary creatures: some worm or other lies hid in every enjoyment, which eats out the very heart of it, and makes it wither and die; and when we have the greatest expectations, we meet with the greatest disappointments; when we think we are most secure, many times we are in most danger. I considered how foolish men were to promise

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themselves security in their enjoyments, when they apprehend no danger in sight: for, if our ways please God, he can make our enemies, yea, the stones of the field, be at peace with us, Prov. xvi. 7; but, if we please not God, he can raise us enemies enough to disturb our peace. David was a good man; yet, on offending God, his own familiar friend Achitophel, nay, his own son Absalom, were allowed to seek his ruin. The meanest vermin are sometimes a scourge to the proudest tyrant: frogs, and lice, and flies, and locusts, make proud Pharaoh stoop to God, who before had proudly said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," Exod. v. 2. But God made himself known to him by his judgments, and compelled him to say, "The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked," Exod. ix. 27. Yea, he has made caterpillars, cankerworms, palmerworms, and such like, which God calls his " great army," Joel ii. 25, a scourge to potent princes, and can destroy the greatest monarch on earth by these inferior insects. How little trust then should we put in earthly comforts, when God can so easily embitter them to us! and how dangerous is it, by our sins, to provoke God to leave us, and to punish us! He can easily do it; he need not raise many against us; no single creature, no fly, nor grass-blade, nor hair, but will be our bane, if it have a commission from God: instances of this might easily be given. Nay, if God withhold our breath, we return to our dust, and all our thoughts perish; and for our enjoyments, he can embitter that which we esteem our

sweetest comfort. If these earthly enjoyments, then, are vain and perishing, like their owners, what need have we to make preparation of something that is more durable and more certain, which may bear some proportion to our immortal souls. We can have no abiding city here, but affliction and vanity will attend us in all places: for if sin go before, affliction will follow after, as the effect follows the cause, or the shadow the substance. Mutable, however, as are our earthly enjoyments, and in continual danger, and having enemies without, within, above, beneath, and on every side; the soul is in much more danger, having more potent, subtle, cruel, and malicious enemies. How watchful then ought we to be, lest these chief jewels, our immortal souls, should be ruined or lost. What care, what providence should we use, that these be not made a prey! and what need have we to invoke God to be our Guardian, our Defender, and our Watchman!

O my soul, here is a check for thy folly, in that thou hast so over eagerly grasped after vanities, and sought content where it was not to be had : take heed to thyself, nothing earthly will supply thy need; a few days, and thou wilt be stripped of all. There are better pleasures, truer treasures to be had; there is a worm in these will eat out their very heart; there is vanity written upon them; they are but Egyptian reeds, and will break in thy hand; "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," Jer. xvii, 5; 1 John ii. 15. Use it we