A47542:122
A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the mediator to believers, and his direful wrath against impenitent sinners containing the substance of near forty sermons upon several subjects / by Benjamin Keach.
London: printed by the author, 1694
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
5. Wheat hath its Chaff cleaving oft-times close to it, yea, it will stick and cleave so to it, that it is not easily separated.
So it is with Christs Spiritual Wheat, the filth or Chaff of internal Corruption is very subject to cleave to them, and hard it is for them to get rid of it. When I would do good, Sin is present with me, for the good I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not do, that do I.1
Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of Death! 1I am (as if he should say) even wearied with continual Combating, I cannot get rid of this dead Body, this inward Filth and Corruption, the remainders of Sin in my flesh; this Chaff cleaves to all Christs Wheat.
6. Wheat is of prime and chiefest use, of it excellent things are made, as Meat for Princes. So the Lords faithful People are of chief use in Gods hand of all others; the Lips of the Righteous feed many.
7. That Nation that abounds with the finest Wheat is esteemed a choice Land, a happy Nation: So likewise that Kingdom and Nation in which are abundance of godly Christians, it is a happy Kingdom, a blessed Nation, because such are the common Interest of the Land or Place where they dwell; they are called the Pillars of the Earth.
7. That Nation that abounds with the finest Wheat is esteemed a choice Land, a happy Nation: So likewise that Kingdom and Nation in which are abundance of godly Christians, it is a happy Kingdom, a blessed Nation, because such are the common Interest of the Land or Place where they dwell; they are called the Pillers of the Earth.
8. Wheat is Threshed with the flail, to sever it from the straw and chaff, by the Husbandman; so God to sever the Wheat, i. e. the godly from the chaffy Professor, and free them of the Filth and Corruption of their own hearts, brings his flail of Affliction and Persecution upon them.
9. Wheat is also fanned, to cleanse it; and it is to be noted, that the fan in the Hand of the Husbandman tosses up the Wheat and Chaff together, and then he shakes it to and fro, this way and that way, on his knees.
So the Lord Jesus with his spiritual Fan tosses the Godly and Hypocritical Professor, by the same Afflictions, Trials, Persecutions and Temptations. And O what hurryings, tossings and Tumblings to and fro in their Spirits have some Christians met with in the late times, and still daily meet withal? they have their ups and downs, this Affliction, and the other Temptation, this Loss, and the other Cross: But yet, nevertheless, they are not tossed out, or blown away by the fan, but evident it is the Chaff is hereby purged out; while Christs Wheat is refined, they abide fanning, (as I hinted before) but so doth not the Carnal and light Professor: They are offended, through this means, as our Saviour shows, and are ready to say with that 1wicked man of old, this Evil is of the Lord, why should I wait upon 2him any longer? Believers know, God doth it not for his Pleasure, but for their Profit, that they might be partakers of his Holiness. 3Hence it is said, that they endure Chastening, and faint not when they are rebuked of the Lord.
So the Lord Jesus with his spiritual Fan tosses the Godly and Hypocritical Professor, by the same Afflictions, Trials, Persecutions and Tempations. And O what hurryings, tossings and Tumblings to and fro in their Spirits have some Christians met with in the late times, and still daily meet withal? they have their ups and downs, this Affliction, and the other Temptation, this Loss, and the other Cross: But yet, nevertheless, they are not tost out, or blown away by the fan, but evident it is the Chaff is hereby purged out; while Christs Wheat is refined, they abide fanning, (as I hinted before) but so doth not the Carnal and light Professor: They are offended, through this means, as our Saviour shews, and are ready to say with that 1wicked man of old, this Evil is of the Lord, why should I wait upon 2him any longer? Believers know, God doth it not for his Pleasure, but for their Profit, that they might be partakers of his Holiness. 3
Quest. 5. What is intended by Christ's Garner?
I answer, Christ hath a twofold garner.
First. His Church is his garner.
1. A Garner is prepared on purpose to retain, and safely 1to secure the Wheat in a heap together, where it is carefully to be looked after. So is the Church of God appointed and ⟨p. 30⟩prepared to receive and secure his faithful People together; 'tis not built for Chaff nor Tares, and great care and pains is required of Christs servants in looking to, and taking care of his Spiritual Wheat in his Church.
1. A Garner is prepared on purpose to retain, and safely 1to secure the Wheat in a heap together, where it is carefully to be look'd after. So is the Church of God appointed and ⟨p. 30⟩prepared to receive and secure his faithful People together; 'tis not built for Chaff nor Tares, and great care and pains is required of Christs servants in looking to, and taking care of his Spiritual Wheat in his Church.
2. Yet through the Negligence or want of Wisdom in the Servants, oft-times some Chaff is brought into the Garner with the Wheat, which when the Husbandman see's it, by viewing his Grain, he is Troubled at his servant; see (saith he) what abundance of Chaff you have brought in with the Wheat, which spoils the beauty of it to such a degree, that it does not seem to be near so good as indeed it is.
So it is here for want of Care, or through weakness or want of Knowledge in Christs Ministers and Servants, in discerning who are sincere Christians and who are not: Many unsound and Chaffy Professors are let into the Church or Churches of Jesus Christ, which is displeasing unto him, because they spoil the Beauty and Glory thereof, and cause many to reproach his faithful ones; as it also renders them in the sight of the Carnal World not to be the People which indeed they are.
3. The Husbandman therefore causes the Wheat in his Garner to be fanned again, to clear it of the Chaff that is got in amongst it; so Christ with the Fan of Persecution often times fans his, People to purge out the loose and profane from among them.
3. The Husbandman therefore causes the Wheat in his Garner to be fanned again, to clear it of the Chaff that is got in amongst it; so Christ with the Fan of Persecution often times fans his, People to purge out the loose and prophane from among them.
Secondly, By the Garner is meant Heaven it self, into which 1all the Elect shall be put at the last day, and into this Garner shall none come but pure Wheat: And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 2or that maketh a Lye, but they which are written in the Lambs book of Life.
