The works of George Swinnock, M.A

If she be so wise as to know her season, and to improve it, how inexcusable wilt thou be, if thou shouldst neglect it? ⟨p. 454⟩5. Innocency; The Sheep will suffer many injuries and offer none. He went as a sheep to the slaughter, dumb before the shearer, and opened not his mouth. 6. Wisdom and Prudence; The Serpent will if possible, secure her head, what ever part of her be wounded; Now the Serpent was more subtle then any Beast of the field; The Christian must be careful to secure his faith; be wise as Serpents; Ask the Fowls of the air, and they will tell thee; how many truths, O my soul, will the very Birds chatter out to thee? They will tell thee, 1. Concerning thy God, his goodness and mercy; Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing, and yet not one of them falleth to the ground, without thy Fathers providence, Mat. 6. His providence reacheth the meanest creatures. 2. Concerning the wicked one, his cunning and policy; As the Eagle, when she seizeth on the carcass, will first peck out the eyes, and then feed on its flesh; So Satan first blindeth the mind, and then leads them hood-winked to hell; As the Eagle carrieth the shellfish into the Air, only that he might break them by their fall, and devour them; so the Devil by his costly courtesy, advanceth many to their destruction, Pro. 1. 32. As Birds are caught with several baits by the Fowler, some with chaff, some with corn, some with day-nets, some with a lowbell, so the Arch-Fowler hath various ways to seduce and catch poor souls, ye are not ignorant of his devices. 3. Concerning thy self, they will tell thee, 1. That heavenly-mindedness, is the only ⟨p. 455⟩way to cheerfulness. Birds sing most, when they are got above the earth; The pretty Bed-breast doth chant it as merrily in September, the beginning of Winter, as in March, the approach of Summer. Thou mayst give as cheerful entertainment to hoary frosts, as to warming beams, to the declining Sun of adversity, as to the rising Sun of Prosperity, if thy conversation be in heaven. 2. That simple souls are soon seduced and slain; when the Larker's day-net is spread in a fair morning, and himself is whirling his artificial motion, by the reflecting lustre of the Sun on the wheeling instrument, not only the merry Lark, and fearful Pigeon, are dazzled and drawn with admiration;