As Grace is the one thing needful for the Soul, it lives not a day in a true sense without it; so Bread is the one thing needful for the body, and it dyes without it: without the ⟨p. 38⟩staff of bread we fall to the ground; and who can provide for bread without the Husbandman? Plutarch tells of one Pythis, a great Prince, that having discovered some rich mines in his territories, employed so many of his Subjects there, that tillage being neglected, a general dearth followed. His prudent Queen, being sensible of the calamity of the Country, when her Husband came hungry to dinner, had procured the Bread and Meat to be artifi•lly made of Gold. The King was delighted with the deceit, till being throughly hungry, he called for real meat: Nay, (says she) if you employ all your Subjects in your Mines, you must expect to feed upon Gold, for nothing else can your Kingdom afford. So that the digging in the mines must give place to the Husbandmans digging in the ground, else they'll dig but a while. You remember that pretty Fable, of all the members mutinying against the Belly, for that they did all the work, and she devoured all the meat; wherefore they resolved to cut her short, she should labour as well as they, or fast for it. Accordingly they deal with her, all the members refuse to help her: but ere long the hands languish, the legs grow feeble, the eyes dim, and the head light, and soul and body had like to have taken leave: At length they see their error, and perceive that the belly maintained them all, and for all its […] they could not live without it, and so renewed their care thereof, and then their strength was renewed ⟨p. 39⟩even so, though the Husbandman have but a low situation in the body politic, yet' if he be discouraged, neglected, or should surcease, all degrees of men would be at a loss, and from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the body politic would be sick.
As Grace is the one thing needful for the Soul, it lives not a day in a true sence without it; so Bread is the one thing needful for the body, and it dyes without it: without the ⟨p. 38⟩staff of bread we fall to the ground; and who can provide for bread without the Husbandman? Plutarch tells of one Pythis, a great Prince, that having discovered some rich mines in his territories, imployed so many of his Subjects there, that tillage being neglected, a general dearth followed. His prudent Queen, being sensible of the calamity of the Country, when her Husband came hungry to dinner, had procured the Bread and Meat to be artifi•lly made of Gold. The King was delighted with the deceit, till being throughly hungry, he called for real meat: Nay, (says she) if you imploy all your Subjects in your Mines, you must expect to feed upon Gold, for nothing else can your Kingdome afford. So that the digging in the mines must give place to the Husbandmans digging in the ground, else they'l dig but a while. You remember that pretty Fable, of all the members mutinying against the Belly, for that they did all the work, and she devoured all the meat; wherefore they resolved to cut her short, she should labour as well as they, or fast for it. Accordingly they deal with her, all the members refuse to help her: but e're long the hands languish, the legs grow feeble, the eyes dim, and the head light, and soul and body had like to have taken leave: At length they see their errour, and perceive that the belly maintain'd them all, and for all its 〈…〉 they could not live without it, and so renewed their care thereof, and then their strength was renewed ⟨p. 39⟩even so, though the Husbandman have but a low situation in the body politick, yet' if he be discouraged, neglected, or should surcease, all degrees of men would be at a loss, and from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the body politick would be sick.
