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
the World's Allurements and their own Impatience there are Pleasures for evermore that is Eternal ones Lastly if towards the end of Summer or of Autumn our Reflector coming to visit his Instructive Tree find it present him store of Fruit and perhaps observes it to be grown taller since the last Winter each Bough will afford him a lively Emblem of a true Believer For as the loaded Branch makes use of the moisture it attracts from the dirty ground to recede as much as it can from the Earth and spends its sap in shooting up towards Heaven and bearing Fruit for Men so the devout Christian improves the Blessings he receives of this inferiour World to elevate his mind above it And the use that he makes of earthly Goods and Advantages is to raise his grateful Soul nearer to God and dispense them by works of Charity to men CHAP. V. THese Sophronia are some and but some of the Thoughts which the Occasional Consideration of a fruit-Fruit-tree might suggest to a Considering Person And if we should lead our Reflector from the Garden to the Woods or to the River side or into the Fields or to the Street or to a Library or to the Exchange or in a word to I know not how many other places I could name I have some reason to think that each of them would supply him with variety of Occasional Meditations Wherefore since the want of Themes will not 't is fit that somewhat else should place Bounds to this Discourse And since by finding that I my self begin to be weary of writing I have too much cause to fear that you are quite tir'd with reading I think it high time to hasten to a Conclusion Onely before I make one I must do our Meleteticks the right to advertise you that you would do them wrong if you should imagine that in the pass'd Discourse I have either carefully enumerated or fully displai'd the Advantages which a devout and ingenious Contemplator may derive from the Exercise of the ways of Thinking I have been treating of For though I have in the past Discourse especially those parts of it that are contain'd in the 3 d precedent and in this present 4 th Section said enough to recommend the Subject to any that is not much indispos'd to be prevail'd with yet I will not deny but that even in those two Sections I have left much unsaid For besides the several Advantages and ways of making Occasional Meditations already pointed at there are other accounts upon which the practice I would persuade may both benefit a pious Soul and be made use of by an ingenious one For the respects one thing may have to another are so numberless and the mind of a rational man vers'd in Meditations may compound and disjoyn Notions so many ways and may make such Inferences from them and such Applications of them that it frequently happens that besides the Reflection suggested by that which gave the first Rise to his Meditations he lights upon Conceipts differing enough from them and perhaps better than they As when Hounds hunting a Hare meet in their way with a Stag. For though Philosophers seem to have justly enough rejected the Opinion attributed to Plato That all Knowledge is but Reminiscence yet certainly the Mind of a Man well furnish'd with variety of Notions is by the Analogy or Contrariety of Things and Notions in reference to each other so easily and readily excited to lay them together and discourse upon them that he is oftentimes by any sleight occasion helped to light and that with a strange and almost surprizing facility upon things that he would else have scarce taken the least notice of When the Mind is once set on work though the Occasion administred the first Thoughts yet those thoughts themselves may as well as the Object that excited them become the Themes of further Meditation and the Connection of Thoughts within the Mind may be and frequently is so latent and so strange that the Meditator will oftentimes admire to see how far the Notions he is at length lead to are removed from those which the first Rise of his Meditation suggested And by these Incidental Excursions he may sometimes be as much delighted and surpris'd as Samson was when going aside to look upon the Carcass of a Lion he met with a Stock of Honey But I can add one thing towards the inducing you to exercise your self in the way of Thinking we have all this while been speaking of which though I had almost forgot to take notice of it will I doubt not seem important to Sophronia to whom it need not be a discouragement from aiming at one of the noblest uses of Occasional Reflections that it supposes not a bare acquaintance with them but springs from an entire and if I may so speak intimate familiarity with our Meleteticks For this use of Occasional Meditations though it do but gradually differ from some of those that have been already mentioned will perhaps by the devout and consequently by Sophronia be esteemed the highest Advantage that this way of Thinking can confer and it is That the custom of making Occasional Reflections may insensibly and by unperceiv'd degrees work the Soul to a certain frame or temper which may not improperly be called Heavenly Mindedness whereby she acquires an aptitude and disposition to make pious Reflections upon almost every Occurrence and oftentimes without particularly designing it But as this privilege will as I was intimating scarce fall to the share of any but those that by long or frequent Exercise have so accustom'd their minds to reflect upon what they see that they continue that practice as it were of their own accord so when once by such a constant kindness and hospitableness to such thoughts that they will as it were come to the mind without calling and make themselves its guests without particular Invitations the Soul has attain'd that desirable Frame we lately call'd Heavenly mindedness which is a Disposition and a Readiness to make Spiritual uses of Earthly things both the Advantage and the Delight of that frame of heart cannot but be extraordinary It must surely afford a great deal of satisfaction to an Ingenious and Devout person to be able to make the world both his Library and his Oratory And which way soever he turns his eyes not onely upon unobvious things but even upon the most familiar ones to behold something that instructs or that delights him And to find that almost every object that presents it self to his notice presents also good Thoughts to his Mind to be gather'd with as much Innocency and Pleasure and with as little prejudice to the things that afford them as Honey is gather'd by the industrious Bee from the differing Flowers she meets with in her way Certainly if we would carefully lay hold on and duly manage this help it would prove a powerful Remedy to prevent or cure much of that Dulness and
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