you have been saying subjoyns Lindamor when he perceived that Eusebius had done speaking suggests to me a Reflection that till now I did not dream of And though it differ from that wherewith you have been pleased to entertain us yet because 't is applicable to the same purpose and occasioned by the same River I shall without scruple though after your Discourse not without Blushes tell you that it is this I among many others that Live near it have often resorted in hot Weather to this River to bathe my self in it and after what I have been hearing I now begin to consider that though incomparably the greater part of the River run by me without doing me any good and though when I went out of it I carried away little or none of it with me yet whilst I stayed in it that very Stream whose Waters run so fast away from me washed and carried off whatever Foulness it might find sticking to my Skin And besides not only cooled me and refreshed me by allaying the intemperate heat that discomposed me and made me faint but also help'd me to a good Stomach for some while after Thus resumes Lindamor I have sometimes found that a moving Sermon though it did not find me qualified to derive from it the Advantages it questionless afforded better Auditors and when I went from it I found I had retained so little of it that it seemed to have almost totally slipt out of my Memory yet the more Instructive and Pathetick passages of it had that Operation upon me as to cleanse the Mind from some of the Impurities it had contracted by Conversing to and fro in a defiling World without suffering Pollutions to stay long and settle where they began to be Harboured And besides I found that a course of such Sermons as I have been mentioning did oftentimes and if it had not been my own fault would have always done so both allay those Inordinate heats that tempting Objects are but too apt to Excite refresh my drooping Spirits that continually needed to be revived and raise in me an Appetite to the means of Grace which are Piety's and consequently the Soul's true and improving Aliments So that concludes Lindamor though I seldome let Sermons do me all the good they may and should yet I dare not forsake them because I forget them since 't is to do a Man some good to make him less bad than he was and to give a Value and Inclination for the means of growing better than he is DISCOURSE X. Upon a Fishes running away with the Bait. THis Reflection of Lindamor's was soon follow'd by another of the same Gentleman's who seeing many Fishes rise one after another and bite at Eugenius's Bait which he let them sometimes run away with that he might be the surer to be able to draw them up as he afterwards did several of them See says Lindamor as one of the Fishes had just swallowed the Hook how yonder silly Fish having at length seized the beloved Bait he has been Courting posts away with it as his obtained wish little dreaming of being himself taken Thus continues the same Speaker when greedy Mortals have an opportunity to obtain forbidden things they joyfully run away with them as the Goods they aimed at and when they fondly think they have caught they are so and whilst they imagine themselves to carry away a Booty they become a Prey for that he is in his Judgment that never errs who whatever he gets into the Bargain loses himself The Scripture subjoyns Eusebius mentions among other properties of Vice that which it calls the Deceitfulness of Sin And the wise Man tells us that Wine is a Mocker and it may be one of the reasons of these Expressions that when we think our selves possessed of a sinfull Pleasure we are indeed possessed by it as Doemeniacks are possessed by the Divel who serves many other Sinners though less perceivedly as he serves Witches whom he gets the Power to command by seeming to obey them and to comply with their criminal desires And if we compare this with what I was just now observing to you on the occasion of the counterfeit Fly we may add That even when Sin seems the Kindest and most Obsequious to us and to answer if not exceed our Desires our case may be but like the Canaanitish General 's who though he had Milk brought him by Jael instead of the Water he only requested was but thereby invited to Sleep the Sleep of Death and to have his Fears more surpass'd than his Desires had been But pursues Eusebius this may supply us with another Reflection for though this Fish seems to have devoured the Hook and Bait it swallowed yet in effect it is taken thereby so the Divel when he had played the Serpent and the Lion when he had brought the Jews and Gentiles to conspire against their common Saviour and had made Herod and Pilate friends to make them joynt Enemies to Christ and when by these means he seemed to have obtained his end by employing their hands to Kill the formidablest of all his Enemies this pursued Prey destroyed the seeming Conquerour and Death appearing to swallow the Lord of Life was if I may so speak choaked by the Attempt since he not only was quickly able to say in the Apostles Triumphant Language O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory but did by Death conquer him that had the power of Death that is the Divel nay and made all his followers so much sharers in the advantages of his Conquest as by the same way which we are informed by the same Text to deliver those whom the restless fear of Death perpetually kept from relishing the Joys of Life DISCOURSE XI Upon a Danger springing from an unseasonable Contest with the Steersman THis Discourse being ended Eugenius who was look'd upon by us all as the most Experienc'd as well as concerned Angler among us descrying at a good distance a place which he judged more convenient for our Sport than that we there were in where the Fish began to bite but slowly He invited the Company to this new Station but when we were come thither finding in a short time that either it was ill stock'd with Fish or that the Season of their Biting in the places thereabouts was over he thought it concerned him to provide us some better place and accordingly whilst we were yet by the pleasure of mutual conversation endeavouring to keep the Fishes sulleness from proving an Exercise to our patience he walk'd on along the River till he lighted upon a Youth that by his Habit seem'd to belong to some Boat or other Vessel and having enquir'd of him whether he could not be our Guide to some place where the Fish would bite quick he replied that he easily could if we would take the trouble of coming to a place on the other side of the River which his Master who was a
Over-match'd by him to whom the Scripture ascribes the taking of the VVise in their own Craftiness For questionless he highly applauded his own Subtilty and seem'd to have taken the directest and most prosperous way to his impious Ends that could be devis'd when having made Herod and Pilate Friends upon such tearms that the Lamb of God should be the Victim of their new Confederacy he had engag'd both Jews and Gentiles in a ruinous and tragick Conspiracy to Kill the Prince of Life and by that unparallel'd Crime at once destroy the Divels chief Enemy and make God theirs And yet the Event has sufficiently manifested that the Apostle might well affirm that Christ by his Death destroy'd him that had the Empire of Death the Divel and that Satan's Kingdome never receiv'd so deadly a Wound as that which pierc'd our Crucify'd Saviour's side VVherefore in short concludes Eusebius the Decrees of Providence are too solid and fixt to have Violence offered them by humane Attempts how specious soever they be and those that think to bring God to their Bent will find at long Running that they have to do with One whose Power and Wisdome are so Over-ruling that not only he can frustrate their utmost endeavours but make those very endeavours frustrate themselves and employ Mens subtilest Policies to accomplish those very things they were design'd to defeat DISCOURSE XIV Upon Catching store of Fish at a Baited place AS soon as we were come to the place the Fisher-man told us of we found it as plentifully stor'd with Fish as he had fore-told us and caught more in some few Minutes than we had taken in a whole hour before But we did not half so much marvel at this as we were pleas'd with it because the Fisher-man inform'd us that he had liberally Baited the place over-night with Corn as well as VVorms whil'st this pleasant Exercise lasted Eusebius marking how great a Resort of Fishes there was in that place and how fast we drew them up upon comparing what he saw happen with the Occasion of it thus acquainted us with the thoughts thereby suggested to him Those says he that Yester-day in the Evening might see this Man pointing at the Fisher-man throw in his Baits by handfulls into this place and then depart as minding them no more were probably if they knew not his Design and the Custom of Fishers tempted to think him a wastfull Prodigal or at best a venturous Fool to bury his Corn in the River and throw his Baits to be caught up by Fishes that for ought he knew would never come back to thank their Host But those that know what we now find how profitable a Course this is wont to prove would in stead of thinking such a practice a piece of Folly look upon it as a piece of Proâ—idence For though he be sure not to recover in kind the things he cast upon the Waters yet such a loss is wont to prove very gainfull unto him whilst he loses but a Grain of Corn or a Worm to obtain Fishes of far more Value Thus though the purblind World may think a liberal Almes-giver or a generous Confessor a Fool or a Prodigal whil'st they only consider him as one that throws away what he has in present Possession and seems not so much as to hope for the recovery of the same Goods or any of the like Nature yet those whose Eyes being Illuminated with a Heavenly light are thereby enabl'd to look into the vast and distant Regions of the future and to descry there the final Issues of all Temporal things will be so far from thinking him unwise for parting with unsatisfying Trifles to procure the highest and most permanent Goods that they will think his Proceedings far more justifiable in point of Prudence than we now think the Fisher-man's Nor will the parting with a greater Fortune as freely as with a lesser any more alter the Case than the Fisher-mans throwing in his bigger VVorms and grains of Corn with no more scruple than his lesser For Heaven does as well incomparably outvaue the greatest as the least Goods poor Morals can lay out for it and he who has all things to give and is infinitely more than all himself has promis'd that those that Sow plentifully shall Reap so too and though the least of future Acquists would incomparably transcend the greatest Price that can be here given for it yet the future Rewards will betwixt one another bear a proportion to the Occasions of them and as the Fisher-man is sure to lose what he throws into the Water and is not sure to get by it any thing of greater Value than some Fishes the Christian-Adventurer if I may so call him may hope though not confidently promise himself in this World the hundred fold mention'd by our Saviour as well as in the VVorld to come Life everlasting And therefore if we do indeed in Saint Paul's Language look not to the things which are seen which are but Temporary but to the Invisible ones which are Eternal we shall think that Exhortation of his very Rational as well as very Pious where having Discours'd of the future and glorious State of the true Christians he concludes Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast immoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. DISCOURSE XV. Upon the Magnetical Needle of a Sun-Dyal WE had not yet dismiss'd the Waterman when Eugenius chancing to express a Curiosity to know what a Clock it was when we had freshly begun to Angle at our new Station as Lindamor and the rest drew their VVatches to satisfie his Question so the Boat-man took out of his Pocket a little Sun-Dyal furnished with an excited Needle to direct how to Set it such Dyals being used among Mariners not only to show them the hour of the Day but to inform them from what quarter the VVind blows upon the sight of this Dyal my natural Curiosity invited me after it had told me the hour to try whether the Magnetick Needle were well touched by drawing a little Penknife out of a pair of Twises I then chanc'd to have about me and approaching it to the North point of the Needle which according to the known custom of such Needles readily followed it or rested over against it which way soever I turned the Penknife or whereabout soever I held it still Eusebius seeing me give my self this Diversion came up to me to be a sharer in my sight which no Familiarity can keep from being a VVonder But after a while he look'd upon it in a way that made me think it presented him somewhat else than the hour of the Day or the corner of the VVind and I was confirm'd in that thought by seeing him apply to it the case of Lindamor's VVatch and then a Diamond-ring pluck'd from his own Finger and in effect he soon began to tell me Me-thinks
much more must she debase and degrade her self if the things she is tempted to be Lusts which she will thence clearly discern to be as Low as the Hell they belong to and deserve And as these Objects will afford Employment enough to our Reflector so will the wholsome Instructions they will suggest incline him to shun those ways of wasting his time which they enable him easily to avoid For I have observ'd this Difference betwixt Ghostly dangers and ordinary ones that whereas in Military hazards those that are the most forward to thrust themselves into dangers are commonly the best able to surmount them they on the contrary are wont to be the most fearful of Temptations that are the most resolv'd and best qualifi'd to resist them CHAP. III. NOr will the Meleteticks or way and kind of Meditation I would perswade keep Men alone from such gross and notorious Idleness that they may be ask'd the Question propos'd by the Housholder in the Gospel Why sit ye here all the Day idle But this way of Thinking may in part keep Men from the loss of such smaller parcels of Time as though a meer Morallist would not perhaps censure the neglect of them in others yet a Devout person would condemn it in himself For betwixt the more stated Employments and important Occurrences of humane Life there usually happen to be interpos'd certain Intervals of Time which though they are wont to be neglected as being singly or within the Compass of one day inconsiderable yet in a Man's whole Life they may amount to no contemptible Portion of it Now these uncertain Parentheses if I may so call them or Interludes that happen to come between the more solemn Passages whether Businesses or Recreations of humane Life are wont to be lost by most Men for want of a Value for them and ev'n by good Men for want of Skill to preserve them For though they do not properly despise them yet they neglect or lose them for want of knowing how to rescue them or what to do with them But as though grains of Sand and Ashes be a part but of a despicable smallness and very easie and liable to be scatter'd and blown away yet the skilful Artificer by a vehement Fire brings Numbers of these to afford him that noble substance Glass by whose help we may both see our selves and our Blemishes lively represented as in Looking-glasses and discern Celestial objects as with Telescopes and with the Sun-beams kindle dispos'd Materials as with Burning-glasses So when these little Fragments or Parcels of Time which if not carefully look'd to would be dissipated and lost come to be manag'd by a skilful Contemplator and to be improv'd by the Celestial fire of Devotion they may be so order'd as to afford us both Looking-glasses to dress our Souls by and Perspectives to discover Heavenly wonders and Incentives to inflame our hearts with Charity and Zeal And since Gold-smiths and Refiners are wont all the year long carefully to save the very sweepings of their Shops because they may contain in them some Filings or Dust of those richer Metals Gold and Silver I see not why a Christian may not be as careful not to lose the Fragments and lesser Intervals of a thing incomparably more precious than any Metal Time especially when the Improvement of them by our Meleteticks may not onely redeem so many Portions of our Life but turn them to pious Uses and particularly to the great Advantage of Devotion And indeed the Affairs and Customs of the World the Imployments of our particular Callings the allowable Recreations that Health or Weariness requires and the Multitude of unfore-seen and scarce evitable Avocations that are wont to share our Time among them leave us so little of it to imploy in the set and solemn Exercises of Devotion and make those so unfrequent that our Hearts are in great Danger of being by the Business and Pleasures and Hurry of the World if not perverted from Aspiring to at least too long diverted from Enjoying Communion with God and kept too much Strangers to Him if in the long Intervals of our more solemn Exercises of Devotion we be not careful to lay hold on the short and transient Opportunities of Cherishing and reviving that Grace in us and do not by the Rises given us by the Things that occur take occasion to make frequent though but short Flights Heaven-wards in extemporary Reflections serious Soliloquies piercing Ejaculations and other mental either Exercises or Expressions of Devotion by which means we may make those very objects and occasions that would Discourage or at least Distract our Minds elevate and animate them As Jonathan made those very things whereby his Enemies the Philistims sought to intrap or destroy him Incouragements to fight with them and Omens of his Victory over them And as scarce any Time is so short but that things so Agile and asspiring as the Flames of a Devout Soul may take a flight to Heaven as Nehemiah could find time to dart up a successful Prayer to the Throne of Grace whilst he stood waiting behind the King of Persia's Chair so by these extemporary Reflections as well as by other mental Acts of Piety duely made a Devout Soul may not onely rescue these precious Fragments of Time but procure Eternity with them SECT II. CHAP. I. A Second Inducement to the Practice of making Occasional Meditations is that for an Exercise of Devotion 't is very delightful and that upon sundry accounts For first Variety is a thing so pleasing to humane Nature that there are many things which it either alone or chiefly recommends to us and 't is rarely seen that we love the same things very much and very long and of things that else would appear equally good we usually think that the better which happens to be another Now a Person addicted to make Occasional Meditations may be suppli'd with Subjects whose Variety is scarce imaginable For the works of Nature and of Art are not the onely Objects that often present themselves to our Reflector's Consideration The Revolutions of Governments the Fates of Kingdoms the Rise and Ruine of Favourites and on the other side the most slight and trivial Occurrences And in short all that he sees happen from the highest Transactions to the slightest Circumstances incident to humane affairs may afford matter of Contemplation to a Person dispos'd to it The mind of Man is so comprehensive and so active a faculty that it can force its passage into those imaginary spaces that are beyond the outermost part of the outermost Heaven and can in a moment return back to consider the smallest Circumstances of the meanest of humane affairs so that the thinking faculty being equally fit and dispos'd to reflect upon the works of God and the actions of Men how unlikely is it that it should want Variety of Subjects to be imploy'd on whilst the whole World makes but a part of its Object And the
Planet to which she owes all her splendour so unthankful men abuse those very favours that should endear to them their Benefactors to the prejudice of those that oblige them And 't is like that our Reflector may by the way take notice That as what passes betwixt the Moon and the Sun does thus afford him a Simile whereby to set forth Ingratitude so what passes betwixt the Moon and the Sea may supply him with an example of the contrary quality and put him in mind that a thankful man will be true and obsequious to his Benefactor though the person that oblig'd him have lost that Prosperity that before made him conspicuous and attracted vulgar eyes as the Sea follows the course of the Moon not onely when she shines upon it with her full Light but when at the Change she can communicate little or no light to it To the two above-mentioned Attributes upon whose account the Moon afforded a comparison for humane Prosperity and another for Preachers of the Gospel we will now add That she may afford us a Similitude to set forth a liberal Person by For as the Moon freely communicates to the Earth the Light she receives from the Sun so the bountiful person imparts to indigent men the Largesses he receives from the exuberant goodness of God And as to Intellectual Communications the Parallel will hold further since as the Moon enjoys not the less of Light for her imparting so much to the Earth so in Mental Communications Liberality does not impoverish and those excellent gifts cease not to be possess'd by being imparted And 't is very possible to add that upon the By That after the light of the Moon has according to what I lately noted represented to our Contemplator the qualifications of a Preacher it may also put him in mind of the Duty of a Hearer For as it were very foolish in us and unthankful towards the Father of Lights not to make use of the great Light we receive from the Sun by the Moon or not to acknowledge the Moon to be a very useful Creature upon the score of that Light wherewith she shines upon the Earth though in her that Light be destitute of Heat so it were unwise and ungrateful for Hearers to refuse to acknowledge or to be guided by the conspicuous Endowments of Learning and Eloquence that God vouchsafes to great Scholars though they themselves were but illustrated not warmed by the Beams they reflect But therefore as Oysters and other Shell-fish are observ'd to thrive at the Increase of the Moon though her Light be unattended with Heat and though even when she is at Full she wants not her spots so devout Hearers will be careful to prosper proportionably to the Instructions they receive even from those Preachers whose Illuminations are unaccompani'd with Zeal and Charity and who when they shine with the greatest Lustre are not free from their Darknesses as to some Points or from notorious Blemishes And as the Moon may thus furnish our Contemplator with Similitudes to set forth both a Vertue and a Vice of the Mind so may it supply him with an Emblem of its Condition For as the Light of the Moon is sometimes Increasing and sometimes in the Wane and not onely is sometimes totally Eclips'd but even when she is at the Full is never free from dark Spots so the mind of Man nay even of a Christian is but partly enlighten'd and partly in the dark and is sometimes more and sometimes less Illustrated by the Beams of Heavenly Light and Joy and not alone now and then quite Eclipsed by disconsolate Desertions but even when it receives the most Light and shines the brightest knows but in part and is in part blemish'd by its native Darknesses and Imperfections And these Resemblances are not so appropriated to the mind of Man but that they might easily be shewn to be applicable to his condition in point of outward Prosperity and Adversity And to these Resemblances other Reflections on the several Adjuncts of the Moon might be also added together with several Examples of this nature on other Subjects were it not that I think my self to have spent time enough already upon a Theme that fell but incidentally under my consideration and were it not also that the Reflections which might here be annex'd upon the Attributes of other Objects may be more properly subjoyn'd to what may be on another occasion presented you by way of Illustration of some Particulars that belong to the fourth part of the precedent Section in which my haste and some other reasons made me content my self to give some few general Hints about such Reflections and an Intimation of the Topicks whence I am wont to fetch them CHAP. III. ANd having given you this Advertisement en passant we may now proceed a little further and add that if we suppose our Contemplator's thoughts to descend from Heaven to Earth the far greater multitude and variety of Objects they will meet with here below will suggest to them much more numerous Reflections But because so spacious a Field for Meditation as the whole Earth would afford us too vast a Theme to be attempted on this occasion we will confine our Contemplator to his Garden or rather to any one of the Trees of it and take notice not of all the Meditations he might fetch thence but onely of four or five of the considerablest of those that the viewing it may as he walks by at several times supply him with In then in the Spring of the Year our Reflector see the Gardener pruning a Fruit-tree we may suppose him invited by that Object to reason thus within himself Though one that were a Stranger to the Art of Gardening would think that that Man is an Enemy to this Tree and goes about to destroy it since he falls upon and wounds it with a sharp Iron and strikes off several of its Youthful parts as if he meant to cut it in pieces yet he that knows that the Gardener's arm is not set on work by Anger but by Skill will not conclude that he hates the Tree he thus wounds but that he has a mind to have it Fruitful and judges these harsh means the fittest to produce that desirable Effect And thus whatever a Man unacquainted with the ways and designs of Providence may surmise when he sees the Church not onely expos'd to the common Afflictions of humane Societies for that is but like our Trees being expos'd to be weather-beaten by Winds and Rain but distress'd by such Persecutions as seem to be Divine Inflictions that invite Men to say of the Body what the Prophet fore-told should be said of the Head We esteem'd him stricken smitten of God and afflicted Whatever I say a carnal or a moral Man would be apt to imagine upon sight of the Churches distresses the knowing Christian will not from thence infer that God hates Her or that he has abandon'd Her since 't is He
that lov'd his Church so well as to give Himself for it who declares that as many as He loves He rebukes and chastens And this is so fitly applicable also to particular Believers that the Divine Son of the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do's not onely give us cause to think that Afflictions do not suppose God's Hate but to hope that they may not always suppose Man's Guilt but sometimes rather aim at his Improvement since they are the memorable words of our Saviour speaking of his Father Every branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. And it may somewhat illustrate the Similitude to add that the Husbandman uses onely to prune the Trees of his Garden not those that grow wild in his Woods But though he oftner wound these yet he wounds the other more fatally imploying but the pruning Hook to pare off the superfluous Twiggs or at most Branches of the one whil'st he lays the Ax to the root of the other to fell the Tree it self But these are not the onely Thoughts which the pruning of a Fruit-tree may suggest to our Reflector For if he considers That by cutting off several of the parts of the Tree and by Nailing many of the rest to the Wall the Gardener do's not onely secure the Tree from being blown down or torn by the rudeneness of boisterous Winds but makes it look well shap'd So the Divine Husbandman as we have lately seen God stil'd in the Scripture by the wise and seasonable though seemingly rigorous and usually unwelcome Culture he imploys upon those Children of his whom he afflicts do's not onely protect them from several dangers whereto without those harsh restraints they would be expos'd but as he makes them amends in point of Safety for what he denies them in point of Liberty so he adorns them by VVounding them His kind and skilful stroaks adding as much to the Beauty of a Christian's Mind as they cut away from the Superfluities of his Fortune For the pressures of Affliction do give so much smoothness and gloss to the Soul that bears them patiently and resign'dly that the Heathen Moralist ventur'd to say That if there were any Spectacle here below noble enough and worthy to entertain the Eyes of God it was that of a Good Man generously contending with ill Fortune And the Hyperbole though after this manner somewhat loftily expressed will appear the less strange to him that considers That Job had not onely his Patience when it had been tried to the uttermost crown'd with a Fortune double to that which had been the fairest in the East but before his constancy was tried near so far receiv'd that much higher recompence of an Honour never vouchsaf'd to Mortals until then when God himself did not onely approve but if I may so speak with reverence make his boast of a Man Hast thou consider'd says he to Man 's great Enemy my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity although thou moved'st me against him to destroy him without cause Sure one may call him more than happy Job since if as David tells us the Man is happy whose sins God is pleas'd to cover what may that Man be accounted whose Graces he vouchsafes to proclaim CHAP. IV. ANd as the consideration of the pruning of Trees under the Notion of that which wounds them may afford our Contemplator the Reflections already pointed at so the considering of the same Action under another Notion may lead him to Reflections of another Nature For if he observes that in certain cases Gardeners oftentimes do not onely prune away all the Suckers and many of the Luxuriant sprigs but cut off some of the Branches themselves provided they spare the Master boughs and yet these Amputations though they take much from the Tree are design'd to add to the Fruit as accordingly they are wont to do If I say our Reflector takes notice of this it may easily supply him with an illustration of what he may have observ'd among some Men who by Afflictions ev'n in point of Fortune are brought to be far more charitable than they would have been if their peace and plenty had continued unimpair'd As besides that Saint Paul speaking of the Macedonian Churches gives them this Character That in a great trial of Affliction the abundance of their Joy and their deep Poverty abounded unto the Riches of their Liberality We have in Zacheus a memorable Instance to our present purpose since after his Repentance had by his own consent cut off from his Estate more than all that Slander Oppression and other unjust ways of Getting which us'd to bring in but too great a part of a Publican's had added to it he gave away more out of the Remainder of his Estate than every liberal Man would have done out of the Whole His Wealth like a skilfully prun'd Tree bore the more Fruit to Piety for having had some parts of it cut away he grew Rich in good works by being despoil'd and his Charity increas'd as much as his Fortune was lessen'd If towards the end of the Spring our Reflector see the Ground under his Tree strowed with the Blossoms that Time and Winds may have cast down thence 't is like it would furnish him with this consideration That as though the Blossoms are in themselves great Ornaments to a Tree and oftentimes both useful and pleasant things yet to be seasonably depriv'd of them is not a mischief to the Tree that loses them since till the Blossoms are gone the Fruit which is a better and more lasting thing and more principally intended by Nature cannot be had So it will not always follow that because certain things are in their kind desirable and therefore may be reckoned among Goods the loss or depravation of them must necessarily be an Evil. And so though a fair and healthy Body may be look'd upon as a Blessing yet it will not follow that a Death as the Scripture speaks either in or for the Lord because it throws this flourishing Body to the Ground and makes it rot there must needs be a deplorable Evil since as the Blossoms falling off is according to the course of Nature necessarily praevious to the formation or at least the perfection of the Fruit So the being depriv'd of this Life is according to God's Ordination a necessary Antecedent to our being inrich'd with those more solid and durable blessings of perfect Virtue and Happiness And if whil'st our Contemplator's Tree is adorn'd with Leaves as well as Blossoms as we often see several of the former come before all the latter are gone he chance to take notice how busie the Bees are in sucking these whil'st they leave the others untouch'd he