A61391:351
The husbandmans calling showing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandmanThe husbandmans calling shewing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman
The husbandmans calling showing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman : being the substance of XII sermons preached to a country congregation / by Richard Steele.The husbandmans calling shewing the excellencies, temptations, graces, duties &c. of the Christian husbandman : being the substance of XII sermons preached to a country congregation / by Richard Steele.
London: printed by M.S., 1668
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.
1. The First Lesson the Husbandman learns in his Garden, is, from the Flowers thereof, I cannot say with that *Reverend Author, that we may learn a whole Creed out of the 2Lilly but this I am sure, that in some one ⟨p. 172⟩flower that's chequered with white and red the Husbandman may meet with the Obedience, Sufferings, and Sweetness of Christ al• together, who is that Rose of Sharon, and tha• Lilly of the Valleys, Cant. 2.1. If this sweetness be in these flowers, O what is there i• him, that infused it into them? And if a Garden be so ravishing, O what is Heaven! Th• Paradise of God, where the Tree of Life is […] the midst of the Garden. And then, as the B• sucks somewhat out of every flower, so th• Husbandman squeezes some spiritual lesso• out of each flower into his soul. The Ros• teaches him the fading of his Beauty, that smiles one day, and withers the next, Psal. 103.15. The Lilly persuades him to Innocency, and to drop, by his gracious words, sweet smelling Myrrh, Cant. 5.13. The Cammomil tells him, the more he is pressed down with trials and oppositions, he must grow the more. The Marigold guides him to open his heart, in compliance with the presence of Christ; and the Hyssop minds him of Remission by his blood: Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean. And thus he gathers a blessed posy of heavenly thoughts, and puts them in his bosom, and both feeds his senses, and feasts his Soul by the same Creature.