1

0

OR THE

HEAVENLY USE

OF

EARTHLY THINGS,

IN WHICH HUSBANDMEN ARE DIRECTED TO AN EXCELLENT
IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR COMMON EMPLOYMENTS.

Whereunto are added,

OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS

UPON

BIRDS, BEASTS, TREES, FLOWERS, &c.

Also,

The Touchstone of Sincerity.

AND

EXTRACTS FROM A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.

BY REV. JOHN FLAVEL,
Late Minister at Dartmouth, in Devon.

MIDDLETOWN:

PUBLISHED BY J. A. BOSWELL.

STARR & NILES, print.

CONTENTS.

HUSBANDRY SPIRITUALIZED.

THE Epistle Dedicatory,

Page.

9

Mr. Caryl to the Christian Reader,

Mr. Watts to Mr. Flavel, on his Spiritual Navigation and

Husbandry

In Authoris Opera, by Mr. Condy,

An Epistle to the intelligent Country Reader,

The Proem. 1 Cor. iii. 9. Ye are God's husbandry,

PART I.

CHAP. 1. Upon the industry of the husbandman,

CHAP. 2. Upon the thriftiness of the husbandman,

CHAP. 3. Upon the cheerfulness of the husbandman,

CHAP. 4. Upon the due quality of arable land,

CHAP. 9. Upon the springing weather after seed-time,

CHAP. 10. Upon a dearth through want of rain,

CHAP. 5. Upon the improvement of bad ground,

CHAP. 6. Upon the incurableness of some bad ground,

CHAP. 7. Upon the ploughing of corn-land,

CHAP. 8. Upon the seed-corn,

Page.

CHAP. 11. Upon the corruption of the seed before it springs, 135

CHAP. 12. Upon the resemblance of wheat and tares, 143

CHAP. 13. Upon the dangers incident to the corn from seed-

time to harvest,

149

CHAP. 14. Upon the patience of the husbandman for the

harvest,

156

CHAP. 15. Upon the harvest season,

163

CHAP. 16. Upon the care of husbandmen to provide for win-

ter,

172

CHAP. 17. Upon reaping the same we sow,

179

CHAP. 18. Upon the joy of harvest-men,

186

CHAP. 19. Upon the threshing out of corn,

192

CHAP. 20. Upon the winnowing of corn,

198

PART II.

CHAP. 1. Upon the ingrafting of fruit-trees,

CHAP. 2. Upon the union of the graft with the stock,

CHAP. 3. Upon the gathering in of fruits in autumn,

CHAP. 4. Upon the cutting down of dead trees,

CHAP. 1. Upon the husbandman's care for his cattle,

CHAP. 2. Upon the hard labor and cruel usage of beasts,

231

237

CHAP. 3. Upon the seeking of lost cattle,

242

CHAP. 4. Upon the feeding of fat cattle,

247

CHAP. 5. Upon the husbandman's care for posterity,

251

CHAP. 6. Upon the husbandman's care to prove and pre-

serve his deeds,

OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS.

MEDITATIONS ON BIRDS.

MED. 1. Upon the singing of a nightingale,

256

263

Page.

MED. 2. Upon the sight of many birds chirping about a dead

hawk,

-

-

MED. 3. Upon the sight of a blackbird taking sanctuary in

267

a bush from a pursuing hawk,

269

MED. 4. Upon the sight of divers goldfinches intermingling

with a flock of sparrows,

270

MED. 5. Upon the sight of a robin-red-breast picking up a

worm from a mole-bill then rising,

271

MED. 6. Upon the shooting of two finches fighting in the air, 273

MED. 7. Upon the singing of a blind finch by night,

274

MED. 8. Upon the comparing of two birds-nests,

275

MED. 9. Upon the early singing of birds,

276

MED.10. Upon the haltering of birds with a grain of hair,

278

MEDITATIONS UPON BEASTS.

MED. 1. Upon the clogging of a straying beast,

MED. 2. Upon the love of a dog to his master,

279

-

280

MED. 3. Upon the fighting of two rams,

281

MED. 4. Upon the catching of a horse in a fat pasture,

282

MED. 5. Upon the hunting of a deer,

283

MEDITATIONS UPON TREES.

MED. 1. Upon the fall of blossoms, nipt by a frosty morning, 285

MED. 2. Upon the knitting or setting of fruit,

286

MED. 3. Upon the sight of a far spreading oak,

287

MED. 4. Upon the sight of many sticks lodged in the branch-

es of a choice fruit tree,

288

MED. 5. Upon the gathering of choice fruit from a scrub-

bed, unpromising tree,

289

MED. 6. Upon an excellent, but irregular tree,

290

MEDITATIONS ON A GARDEN.

MED. 1. Upon the new-modelling of a garden,

290