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they be come to a maturity of grace or wickednefs. Saints are" not reaped down 'till their grace is ripe, Job v. 26. "Thou shalt 66 come to thy grave in a full age, as a fhock of corn cometh " in its season." Not that every godly man dies in fuch a • full old age (faith Mr. Caryl on that place ;) but yet, in one fenfe it is an univerfal truth, and ever fulfilled; for whenfoever they die, they die in a good age; yea, though they die in the spring and flower of their youth, they die in a good old age; (i e.) they are ripe for death whenever they die. Whenever a godly man dies, it is harveft-time with him,' though in a natural capacity he be cut down while he is ⚫ and cropped in the bud or bloffom; yet in his fpiritual ca⚫pacity he never dies before he be ripe: God ripens him fpee

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dily, when he intends to take him out of the world speedily; • he can let out fuch warm rays and beams of his Spirit upon them, as fhall foon maturate the feeds of grace into a pre"paredness for glory.'

The wicked alfo have their ripening-time for hell and judgment: God doth with much long-fuffering endure the veffels of wrath, prepared for deftruction. Of their ripeness for judg ment the Scripture often fpeaks, Gen. xv. 16. "The fin of "the Amorites is not yet full." And of Babylon it is faid, Jer. li. 13. "O thou that dwelleft upon many waters! thine "end is come, and the measure of thy covetoufnefs."

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It is worth remarking, that the measure of the fin, and the end of the finner, come together. So Joel iii. 13. "Put ye " in the fickle, for the harveft of the earth is ripe; for the "prefs 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 hufbandmen judge of the ripeness of their harvest, by the colour and hardness of the grain; fo may we judge of the ripenefs both of faints and finners, for heaven or hell, by thefe following figns.

I.

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Three figns of the maturity of grace.

HEN the corn is near ripe, it bows 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 felf-denying, than in the days of their firft profession. The longer a faint grows in the world, the better he is ftill acquainted with his own heart, and his obligations to God; both

which are very humbling things. Paul had one foot in hea ven, when he called himfelf the chiefeft of finners, and least of faints, 1 Tim. i. 15. Eph. iii. 8. A Christian in the progress of his knowledge and grace, is like a veffel caft into the fea, the more it fills, the deeper it finks. Those that went to study at Athens (faith Plutarch) at first coming feemed to themselves to be wife men; afterwards only lovers of wisdom, and after that, only rhetoricians, fuch as could fpeak of wisdom, but knew little of it, and last of all, ideots in their own apprehenfions; ftill, with the increase of learning, laying afide their pride and arrogancy.

2. When harvest is nigh, the grain is more folid and pithy than ever it was before; green corn is foft and fpungy, but ripe. corn is fubftantial and weighty: So it is with Chriftians; the affections of a young Chriftian, perhaps are more feverous and fprightly; but thofe of a grown Chriftian are more judicious and folid; their love to Chrift abounds more and more in all judgment, Phil. i. 9. The limbs of a child are more active and pliable but as he grows up to a perfect state, the parts are. more confolidated and firmly knit. The fingers of an old mufician are not fo nimble; but he hath a more judicious ear in mufic than in his youth.

3. When corn is dead ripe, it is apt to fall of it's own accord to the ground, and there fhed; whereby it doth, as it were, anticipate the harveft-man, and calls upon him to put in the fickle. Not unlike to which are the lookings and longings, the groanings and hastnings of ready Chriftians to their expected glory; they haften to the coming of the Lord, or, as Montanus more fitly renders it, they haften the coming of the Lord; (i. e.) they are urgent and inftant in their defires and cries to haften his coming; their defires fally forth to meet the Lord; they willingly take death by the hand; as the corn bends to the earth, so doth these fouls to heaven: This fhows their harvest to be near.

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Six figns of the maturity of fin.

HEN finners are even dead ripe for hell, thefe figns appear upon them; or by thefe, at least, you may conclude those fouls not to be far from wrath, upon whom they appear.

1. When confcience is wafted, and grown paft feeling, hav ing no more for fin; when it ceases to check, reprove, and fmite for fin any more, the day of that finner is at hand, his Tarveft is even come. The greatest violation of confcience is

the greatest of fins; this was the cafe of the forlorn Gentiles, among whom Satan had such a plentiful harvest; the patience of God fuffered them to grow till their confciences were grown feared, and past feeling, Eph. iv. 19. When a member is fo mortified, that if you lance and cut it never fo much, no fresh blood, or quick flefa appears, nor doth the man feel any pain in all this, then it is time to cut it off.

2. When men give themselves over to the fatisfaction of their lufts, to commit fin with greedinefs, then are they grown to a maturity of fin; when men have flipped the reins of conscience, and rush headlong into all impiety, then the last fands. of God's patience are running down. Thus Sodom and Go`morrah, and the cities about them, in like manner gave themfelves over to wickedness and strange fins; and then justice quickly gave them up for an example, fuffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

3. That man is even ripe for hell, that is become a contri ver of fin, a defigner, a student in wickedness. One would think it strange, that any man should set his invention on work upon fuch a subject as fin is, that any should study to become a dexterous artift this way! and yet the fcripture frequently fpeaks of fuch, "whofe bellies prepare deceit," Job xv. 35. "who travail in pain to bring forth" this deformed birth, ver. 20. "who wink with their eyes," whilft plodding wickedness, as men used to do when they are most intent upon the study of any knotty problem, Prov. vi. 13. These have fo much of hell already in them, that they are more than half in hell already.

4. He that of a forward profeffor is turned a bitter perfecutor, is also within a few rounds of the top of the ladder; the contempt of their light the Lord hath already punished upon them, in their obduracy and madness against the light. Reader, if thou be gone thus far, thou art almoft gone beyond all hope of recovery. Towards other finners God ufually exercises more patience, but with fuch he makes fhort work. When Judas turns traitor to his Lord, he is quickly fent to his own place. Such as are again intangled and overcome of thofe lufts they once feemed to have clean escaped, thefe bring upon themselves fwift damnation, and their judgment lingers not, 2 Pet. ii. 3,

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5. He that can endure no reproof or controul in the way of his fin, but derides all counfel, and, like a strong current, rages at, and fweeps away all obftacles in his way, will quickly fall into the dead lake, Prov. xxix 1. "He that being often "reproved, hardneth his neck, fhall fuddenly be deftroye

"and that without remedy." This is a death-fpot, a heHfpot, where-ever it appears. From this very fymptom the prophet plainly predicted the approaching ruin of Amazia, 2 Chron. xxv. 16. "I know that God hath determined to de"ftroy thee, because thou haft done this, and haft not hearkned "to my voice." He that will not be timely counselled, fhall be quickly destroyed.

Laftly, When a man comes to glory in his fin, and boast of his wickedness, then it is time to cut him down, "whofe end " is deftruction, whofe glory is in their fhame;" Phil. iii. 19. This is a braving, a daring of God to his face; and with whomfoever he bears long, to be fure these are none of them.

You fee now what are the figns of a full ripe finner; and when it comes to this, either with a nation, or with a fingle perfon, then ruin is near, Joel iii. 13. Gen. xv. 16. It is in the filling up of the measure of fin, as in the filling up of a veffel caft into the fea, which rowls from fide to fide, taking in the water by little and little till it be full, and then down it finks to the bottom. Mean while, admirable is divine patience, which bears with these veffels of wrath, whilft fitting for deftruction ?

tian.

REFLECTION.

1. Cheer thyfelf, O my foul! with the The reflection of heart-strengthening bread of this divine a growing Chrif meditation. Let faith turn every drop of this truth into a foul-reviving cordial. God hath fown the precious feed of grace upon my foul; and though my heart hath been an unkind foil, which hath kept it back, and much hindered its growth, yet, blessed be the Lord, it ftill grows on, though by flow degrees; and fromthe springing of the feed, and fhooting forth of thofe gracious habits, I may conclude an approaching harveft: Now is my falvation nearer than when I believed; every day I come nearer to my salvation, Rom. xiii. II. O that every day I were more active for the God of my falvation! Grow on, my foul, and add to thy faith virtue, to thy virtue knowledge, &c. Grow on from faith to faith; keep thyself under the ripening influences of heavenly ordinances: The fafter thou groweft in grace, the fooner thou fhalt be reaped down in mercy, and bound up in the bundle of life, 1 Sam. xv. 29. I have not yet attained the measure and proportion of grace affigned 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, Phił. iii.

The reflection of the decaying Chriftian.

The reflection of a hardning finner.

12, 13. O mercy to be admired! that I, who lately had one foot in hell, stand now with one foot in heaven! 2. But the cafe is far different with me; whilst others are ripening apace for heaven, I am withering; many a foul plowed up by conviction, and fown by fanctification long after me, hath quite over-topped, and out-grown me; my fweet and early bloffoms are nipped and blown off, my bright morning over-caft 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 furburbs of it on earth; but my graces wither and languish, my heart contracts and cools to heavenly things; the fun and rain of ordinances and providences improve not my graces: how fad therefore is the ftate of my foul ! 3. Thy cafe, O declining faint, is fad, but not like mine: thine is but a temporary remiffion of the acts of grace, which is recoverable; but I am judicially hardening, and "treasuring ¢ up to my self wrath against the day of wrath," Rom. ii. 5. Time was, when I had fome tender sense of fin, when I could mourn and grieve for it; now I have none at all: my heart is grown stupid and fottifh. Time was, when I had fome confcientious care of duty, when my heart would fmite me for the neglect of it; but now none at all. Wretched foul! what wilt thou do? Thou art gone far, indeed, a few fteps further will put thee beyond hope: hitherto I ftand in the field; the long-fuffering God doth yet fpare me; yea, fpare me, while he hath cut down many of my companions in fin round about me. What doth this admirable patience, this long-fuffering, drawn out to a wonder, fpeak concerning me! doth it not tell me, that the Lord is not willing I fhould perifh, but rather come to repentance? 2 Pet. iii. 9. And what argument is like his pity and patience, to lead a foul to repentance? Rom. ii. 4, O that I may not fruftrate at last the end of a long-suffering God, left he proportion the degree of his wrath, according to the length of his patience!

The POE M.

HEN fields are white, to harvest forth you go

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With fcythes and fickles to reap down and mow.

Down go the laden ears flat to the ground,

Which thofe that follow having stitch'd and bound, "Tis carried home unto the barn, and fo

The fields are red where lately corn did grow.

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