84 ON SOME DESPISED, YET USEFUL Weeds.

upon account of his poverty, for God thinks never the worse of him for it; admire no man merely for his riches, for God thinks never the better of him for them: this would be to worship a golden calf. The time is coming, that the king must leave his robes behind him, and the beggar his rags; and the inward qualifications alone must distinguish between the one and the other. Dives and Lazarus, when they come to stand on even ground, shall by these be tried; and so must all, by what means or titles soever they have been dignified, distinguished, or called. Our works and worth, not our wealth, will follow us. Whereever thou seest Christ in any, own him; for God will own him. Esteem grace in the soul more than gold in the purse, and the robes of righteousness above the most costly jewels. For thy counsellors take the wisest, not the wealthiest. Esteem that preacher best who speaks home to the heart and conscience; not him who seeks to please the fancy. Esteem that sermon best where thou findest most of Christ; and not that which is dressed with rhetorical flourishes, which serve to darken and not illustrate the matter.

O my God, should I cover my profaneness or hypocrisy with the vizor of seeming holiness, thou wilt soon discover it, and unmask me; for thou searchest the heart, and triest the reins, and all things are open and apparent to thee. Lord, give me sincerity and truth in the inward part, for this is thy gift; make me such as thy own soul delights in; let me not be deceived by my own deceitful heart, nor think to deceive others, for. I cannot deceive thy all-seeing eye.

XXV.-U PON THE SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY

OF DIFFERENT VEGETABLES.

I CONSIDERED the sympathy and antipathy which may be observed to subsist between different vegetables, for which no reason can be given, and which is such that some will rather die than grow in the neighbourhood of others; whilst others never thrive well, except so planted; and the like antipathy we may observe among sensitive creatures, where one kind seeks the destruction of another, and others discover mutual love and delight; nay, something of this may be seen where is neither life nor sense, as in the strange sympathy between the loadstone and the iron, etc. This consideration reminded me of the strange antipathy between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman, mentioned in Gen. iii. 15, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed." In wicked men there is so perfect a hatred to God, that they will, if they can possibly, erase the very image of God, wherever they see it. They hate every thing that God loves, and love every thing that he hates; they hate every thing that is like him, and that for this very reason, because it is like him. Now, no reason can be given for this, why they should hate this God, who is goodness itself, who is also their Creator, and their great Benefactor, from whom they have their life, and breath, and being, their

86 food and raiment, their limbs and senses, their health and strength, their peace and plenty; without whom they cannot speak, or stir, or live a moment. And yet this is the case of all wicked men on earth, however contrary to each other in their principles, and their dispositions: if they agree in nothing else, yet they agree in this, -to oppose the power of godliness. Herod and Pilate can both consent that innocent Christ

UPON THE SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY

shall be put to death. Let a godly man be of ever so pleasing a disposition, and ever so engaging a behaviour, ever so open-hearted and open-handed, yet this one ingredient, holiness, spoils all in the world's account, and renders him hateful and contemptible in their eyes. Though never man spake like Christ, and no guile was found in his mouth, John vii. 46; 1 Pet. ii. 22; yet a seditious murderer, Barabbas, was preferred before him. Oh the degenerate estate of poor man! whither art thou fallen! Is the chief good become the object of thy chief hatred? and is holiness, wherein thou wast created, and which is God's image, without which thou canst never be saved, become thy scorn, and more contemptible than the image of the devil? Is the devil become the better master; and is his work the better work; and will also his wages be the better wages? Well, the time is coming when thy judgment will be altered, and thou wilt be glad to revoke those words which now thou speakest against the power of godliness.

The sympathy, also, which is amongst the children of God was called to mind: they are

OF DIFFERENT VEGETABLES.

87

sons of the same Father, and heirs of the same inheritance; and therefore should be "kindly affectioned one to another,” Rom. xii. 10.

They are brethren in Adam according to the flesh, and brethren in Christ according to the Spirit; they "rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep," Rom. xii. 15. This is that brotherly love in which the apostle bids us continue, Heb. xiii. 1. Communion with God, and the communion of saints is heaven upon earth. Believers are members of the mystical body of Christ: and it is with believers, as with members in the natural body, they have the same care one for another; if one suffer, all suffer; and if one be honoured, all rejoice, 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26; they are like lyre strings, if one be struck, all the rest sound; and still more clear would this sympathy be, if it were not for the remaining corruption that is in us.

O my soul, dost thou meet with hardship in the world; wonder not at it, thou art in an enemy's country; the world will love her own, but never loved Christ, nor any of his: the Seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent, did never yet agree. Christ hath told thee, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world," John xvi. 33. The godly and the wicked fight under two captains; the one under the banner of Christ, the other under the standard of Satan; and therefore there is no hope of reconciliation: fire and water are not more contrary than Christ and Belial. On my soul, manifest thyself to be the seed of the woman, not by making peace, but by maintaining war with Christ's enemies, and by sympathizing with

88 SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY OF VEGETABLES.

his children; mourn with those that mourn, and rejoice with those that rejoice, Rom. xii. 10–15: like the members of the same body, when one is distempered, the other suffers; when one stands in need, all the rest yield their help and assistance.

O my God, is there such an antipathy in the hearts of wicked men, against thine image in the hearts of thy people? What cause have we to admire thy patience which suffers such enemies to live upon the face of the earth, and feedest, and maintainest them at thy own cost and charge! What cause have I to wonder that thou didst bear with me so long, when I was in that relation. And what cause have we to admire thy wisdom and power in preserving a handful of thy people, like lambs in the midst of numerous wolves, which seek their destruction; when, for ought we know, there are hundreds to one against them, that vow their destruction! Lord, let me manifest myself to be thine, by my antipathy to sin and the works of darkness, and by my sympathy with the children of light.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you, John xv. 19.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, 1 John iv. 9—11.