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and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. That is, (saith Mr. Caryl*) the creatures teach us when we think of them: "They teach us, though not formally, yet virtually; they answer and resolve the question put to them, though not explicitly to the ear, yet convincingly to the conscience. So then, we ask the creatures, when we diligently consider them, when we search out the perfections and virtues that God hath put into, or stampt upon them. To set our mind upon the creature, is to discourse with the creature ; the questions which man asks of a beast, are only his own meditations. Again, the creatures teach us; when we in meditation, make our collections, and draw down a demonstration of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in making them, or the frailty of man in needing them; such conclusions and inferences are the teachings of the creatures.'

thus

Common objects (saith anothert) may be improved two ways; viz. In an argumentative, and in a representative way; by reasoning from them, and by viewing the resemblance that is betwixt them and spiritual matters.

First, In meditation argue thus, as in the present case and similitude of the apostle. If an husbandman, upon the ordinary principles of reason, can wait for the harvest, shall not I wait for the coming of the Lord? The day of refreshing; the corn is precious to him, and so is the coming of Christ to me. Shall he be so patient, and endure so much for a little corn; and not I for the kingdom of heaven? He is willing to stay till all causes have had their operations, till he hath received the former and

* Caryl in lot,

† Dr. Manton,

the latter rain; and shall not I, till the Divine decrees be accomplished?

Secondly, In meditation make the resemblance, and discourse thus within yourselves: This is my seed-time, heaven is my harvest; here I must labor and toil, and there rest. I see the husbandman's life is a great toil: no excellent thing can be obtained without labor, and an obstinate patience. I see the seed must be hidden in the furrows, rotten and corrupted, e're it can spring forth with any increase. Our hopes are hidden, light is sown for the righteous; all our comforts are buried under the clods, and after all this there must be long waiting, we cannot sow and reap in a day; effects cannot follow, till all necessary causes have first wrought. It is not in the power of husbandmen to ripen fruits at pleasure, our times are in the hands of God, therefore it is good to wait; a longsuffering patience will reap the desired fruit. Thus you have some hints of this heavenly art of improving the creatures.

The motives inducing me to this undertaking, were the Lord's owning, with some success, my Navigation Spi- labors of a like nature, together with the desire and inclination (stirred up in

ritualized.

me, I hope, by the Spirit of the Lord, to devote my vacant hours to his service in this kind.) 1 considered, that if the Pharisees, in a blind zeal to a faction, could compass sea and land to proselyte men to their party, though thereby they made them sevenfold more the children of the Devil than before; how much more was I obliged, by true love to God, and zeal to the everlasting happiness of souls, to use my uttermost endeavors, both with seamen and husbandmen, to win them to Christ, and thereby make them more than seventy-seven fold happier

than before? Not to mention other encouragements to this work, which I received from the earnest desires of some reverend and worthy brethren inviting thereunto; all which I hope the event will manifest to be a call from God to this work.

I confess I met with some discouragement in my first attempt, from my unacquaintedness with rural affairs; and because I was to travel in a path (to me) untrodden; but having once engaged in it, those discouragements were soon overcome: and being now brought to what you here see, I offer to your hands these first-fruits of my spare hours.

you;

I presume you will account it no disparagement, that I dedicate a book of husbandry to gentlemen of your quality. This is spiritual husbandry, which here is taught and yet I tell you, that great persons have accounted that civil employment (which is much inferior to this) no disparagement to them. The king himself.is served by the field. Eccles. v. 9. Or, as Montanus renders the Hebrew text, Rex agro fit servus; The king himself is a servant to the field. And of king Uzziah it is written, 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. That he loved husbundry. And Amos vii. 1. we read of the king's mowings. Yea, Pliny hath observed, that corn was never so plentiful at Rome, as when the same men tilled the land that ruled the common wealth. Quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere scilicet et aratore triumphali; as though the earth itself rejoiced in the laurelled ploughshare, and the triumphant ploughman. What pleasure you will find in reading it, I know not ; but to me it hath been a pleasant path, from first to last; who yet have been at far greater expense of time and' pains in compiling it, than you can be in reading it. The husbandman's work, you know, is no easy work, and the

spiritualizing of it hath greater difficulties attending it; but yet the pleasure hath abundantly recompensed the pains. I have found the observation of Erasmus experimentally true; Qui litteris addicti sumus, animi lassitudinem a studiis gravioribus contractum; ab iisdem studiis, sed amoenioribus recreamus: Those that are addicted to study, (saith he,) when they have wearied their spirits with study, can recreate them again with study, by making a diversion from that which is severe and knotty, to some more facile and pleasant subject.

But to hear that God hath used and honored these pa pers to the good of any soul, will yield me the highest content and satisfaction imaginable.

May you but learn that lesson, which is the general scope and design of this book, viz. How to walk with God from day to day, and make the several objects you behold, scalae et alae, wings and ladders to mount your souls nearer to him, who is the centre of all blessed spirits. How much will it comfort me, and confirm my hope, that it was the call of God indeed, which put me upon these endea

vors!

O Sirs! What an excellent thing would it be for you, to make such holy improvemonts of all these earthly objects which daily occur to your senses, and cause them to pro. claim and preach to you divine and heavenly mysteries; whilst others make them groan, by abusing them to sin, and subjecting them to their lusts. A man may be cast into such a condition, wherein he cannot enjoy the blessing and benefit of a pious and powerful ministry; but you cannot, ordinarily, fall into such a condition, wherein any thing, excepting a bad heart, can deprive you of the benefits and comforts of those excellent sermons and divinity lectures, which the creatures here offer to preach and read to you.

Content not yourselves, I beseech you, with that natural sweetness the creatures afford; for thereof the beasts are capable, as much, if not more, than you; but use them to those spiritual ends you are here directed, and they will yield you a sweetness far transcending that natural sweetness you ever relished in them; and indeed, you never use the creatures as their Lord's, till you come to see your Lord, in and by them. I confess the discoveries of God in the word are far more excellent, clear, and powerful; He hath magnified his word above all his name. And therein are the unsearchable riches of Christ, or rich discoveries of that grace that hath no footsteps in nature, as the apostle's expression signifies, Ephes. iii. 8.

And if that which might be known of God by the crea tures, leave men without excuse; as it is manifest, Rom. i. 20. How inexcusable then will those be, who have received not only the teachings of the creature, but also the grace of the gospel in vain! How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? They that are careless in the day of grace, shall be speechless in the day of judgment.

I am sensible of many defects in these papers, as well as in myself; they have doubtless a taste of the distractions of the times wherein they were written; nor was I willing to keep them so long underhand, as the accurateness and exactness with which such a subject ought to be handled, did require. Had I designed my own credit, I should have observed that counsel, Nonumque prematur in annum, i. e. To have kept it much longer under the file, before I had exposed it to public view; but I rather inclined to Solomon's counsel, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest, Eccles. ix. 10.