A39665:2116
Husbandry spiritualized, or, The heavenly use of earthly things consisting of many pleasant observations,…
Husbandry spiritualized, or, The heavenly use of earthly things consisting of many pleasant observations, pertinent applications, and serious reflections and each chapter concluded with a divine and suitable poem : directing husband-men to the most excellent improvements of their common employments : whereunto is added ... several choice occasional meditations / by John Flavell.Husbandry spiritualized, or, The heavenly use of earthly things consisting of many pleasant observations, pertinent applications, and serious reflections and each chapter concluded with a divine and suitable poem : directing husband-men to the most excellent improvements of their common imployments : whereunto is added ... several choice occasional meditations / by John Flavell.
London : Printed and are to be sold by Robert Boulter, l674
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.
MEDIT. VII.
Upon the singing of a blind Finch by night.
Vpon the singing of a blind Finch by night.
A Dear friend, who was a great observer of the works of God in nature, told me, That being entertained with a sight of many rarities at a friends house in London; among other things, his friend showed him a Finch, whose eyes being put out, would frequently sing, even at midnight. This Bird in my opinion, is the lively Emblem of such careless and unconcerned persons, as the Prophet describes, Amos 6. 4, 5, 6. who chant to the viol, when a dismal night of trouble and affliction hath overshadowed the Church. You would have thought it strange to have heard this Bird sing in the night, when all others are in a deep silence; except the Owl, an unclean Bird, and the Nightingale which before we made the Emblem of the Hypocrite. And as strange it is, that any except the profane and hypocritical, should so unseasonably express their mirth and jollity; that any of Scions children Should live in pleasure, whilst she her •elf lies in tears. The people of God in Psal. 137. tell us, in what postures of sorrow they sate; even like birds, with their heads under their wings, during the night of their Captivity. How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land? 'Tis like enough, such as can sing and chant in the night of the Churches trouble, have well feathered their nests in the days of her prosperity; however let them know, that God will turn their unseasonable mirth into a sadder note; and those that now sit sad and silent, shall shortly sing for joy of heart, when the winter is past, the rain over and gone, the flowers appear again upon the earth, and the time of the singing of Birds is come.