94 UPON THE RECEIVING IN OF THE FRUITS.

have talents, but thou must improve them, or thou wilt be sent to outer darkness. It is not enough to grow in the same field, be manured by the same hand, heated by the same sun, and watered with the same showers; thus the tares were; but there must be good seed, well rooted, springing up, and bearing fruit in thy heart. Thou mayest live under the same minister, enjoy the same ordinance with the wheat, and yet still

be but a tare.

O my God, discover myself to myself, and let me not be deceived by a cunning devil and a deceitful heart. If I be a tare, Lord, let me know it, ere it be too late; that I may sow better seed in my field; that I may be gathered into thy barn, and not be bound up with the tares for the fire. Let my heart bring forth good fruit for the basket, good wheat for thy barn, solid wheat that may not be blown away with the wind, and much fruit that I may glorify thy name. Let me not sow to the flesh, but to the Spirit; that I may not reap corruption, but life everlasting. Let me not be deceived in so great a concern as the salvation of my soul.

The wicked are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away, Job

xxi. 18.

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire, Matt. iii. 12.

XXVIII. UPON THE WINNOWING OF THe seed.

WHEN the seed had been gathered in, and had been threshed or beat out, the next work was winnowing it, whereby the chaff and refuse, the lightest, emptiest part, was blown away with the wind; but the solid, substantial, weighty grain, was not hurt by it, but benefited; it was refined and purified. I saw that what the furnace was to metal, such is the fan to the corn, that which separateth, purgeth and purifieth it. This made me compare temporal with spiritual things, and consider, that God has many ways to purge and try his people. Sometimes he casts them into the furnace of affliction, and tries them this way; "others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment," Heb. xi. 36; and sometimes he tries them with the fan, to see what solidity is in them. "The messenger of the covenant shall come; but who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," Mal. iii. 1-3. Then many a gilded piece will be found counterfeit, and much seeming gold prove to be but dross; but true gold neither fears the furnace nor the touchstone. Then the sincere Christian and the hypocrite will be distinguished, which now are hardly known asunder. In this world they may grow in the same field, as did the

96 wheat and the tares; but they shall never lie in the same garner together, for this is reserved for the wheat alone. Here they may benefit one the other, as the straw bears up the wheat, and the chaff and piles defend it from injury, and they are preserved, secured, and fed for the wheat's sake; but hereafter the godly will not need their protection, and the other shall not have preservation. Here the earth helps the woman, and the innocent save the island, Job xxii. 30; and so both shall grow together till the harvest, but then they shall be separated one from another, Matt. xiii. 30. Now there are several fans; Satan has his fan; "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," Luke xxii. 31, 32. Satan's end in sifting is not to purify, but to destroy; his sieve holds nothing but refuse, the best runs through: but God's sieve preserves the best, and severs it from the chaff. There is a fan of scoffs and scorns, and of persecution, which is in the hands of wicked men; and much of the lighter chaff is blown away by this fan, and cannot stand before it. There is also another fan, and that is of errors and heresies, and this takes away not the chaff only, but some of the lighter sort of corn, yea, and if possible, the very elect. This the apostle warns professors of, that they be not like “ children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," Eph. iv. 14. And how many such hearers are there, that are cast into what mould the preacher pleases, and, like glasses, are by the breath blown into any shape: but ere long Christ him

UPON THE WINNOWING OF THE SEED.

UPON THE WINNOWING OF THE SEED.

97

self will come with his fan, "whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire," Matt. iii. 12.

up O my soul, are there trying times to come; wherein grace will be known from its counterfeit ; and when the axe will be put to the root of the tree, and every one that brings not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire? Matt. iii. 10. Must the dross be consumed, and the chaff be driven away of the wind? Examine, and be sure that thou art true gold, solid grain, and a tree of righteousness, bringing forth good fruit; that thou exceedest hypocrites, and hast something they have not, and canst do something they cannot do; that thou mayest be able to abide the " refiner's fire, and the fullers' soap," Mal. iii. 2; see that the house of thy profession be built upon the rock; that no wind nor weather, storms nor tempests, floods nor waves of trouble may molest thee. Trouble will come; there is no prevention: sometimes lighter afflictions, as smaller rain; and sometimes greater, as the overflowing of Jordan. Amidst these waves, thy ship had need be like the ark, pitched within and without; yea, thou hadst need to be shut in by God himself. A true Christian is like Mount Sion, that cannot be moved; when he is founded upon this rock, he need fear neither wind nor weather; if he fall, Christ himself must fall; and it would be better to fall with him than stand without him. Christ lives in him; and while Christ, who is the life of his soul, lives, he cannot die. But if thy house be built upon the sand, when the

98 UPON THE WINNOWING OF THE SEED.

winds and waves come, and come they will, it will surely fall down, and great will be the fall thereof, because irresistible and irreparable.

O my God, are trying times coming? And must I be sifted by Satan, winnowed by the world, and fanned by Christ? Who can stand in these trials, and bear up against these floods and waves, without Divine assistance? Lord, give me strength from above; for vain is the help of man. Make me solid grain that may abide the wind; true gold that may abide the fire; and build me upon that Rock that is high, that no storms nor tempests may beat me down, nor all the floods in the world ever remove me.

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness, Mal. iii. 1-3.

Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and ho-, nour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7.