to dye immaturately The time of their death was from all eternity prefixt by God beyond which they cannot go and short of which they cannot come The seed lyes many dayes and nights under the clods before it rise and appear again Even so man lyeth down and riseth not again till the heavens be no more Iob 14. 12. The dayes of darkness in the grave are many When the time is come for its shooting up the earth that covered it can hide it no longer it cannot keep it down a day more it will find or make a way through the clods So in that day when the great trump shall sound bone shall come to his bone and the graves shall not be able to hold them a minute longer Both Sea and earth must render the dead that are in them Rev. 20. 13. When the seed appears above ground again it appears much more fresh and orient than when it was cast into the earth God cloaths it with such beauty that it is not like to what it was before Thus rise the bodies of Saints marvellously improved beautified and perfected with spiritual qualities and rich endowments in respect whereof they are called spiritual bodies I Cor. 15. 43. not properly but analogically spiritual for look as spirits subsist without food raâ—ment sleep know no lassitude weariness or pain so our bodies after the resurrection shall be above these necessities and distempers for we shall be as the Angels of God Mat. 22. 30. Yea our vile bodies shall be changed and made like unto Christs glorious body which is the highest pitch and ascent of glory and honour that an humane body is capable of Phil. 3. 21. Indeed the glory of the soul shall be the greatest glory that 's the orient invaluable jem but God will bestow a distinct glory upon the body and richly enammel the very case in which that precious jewel shall be kept In that glorious morning of the resurrection the Saints shall put on their new fresh suits of flesh richly laid and trimmed with glory Those bodies which in the grave were but dust and rottenness when it delivers them back again shall be shining and excellent pieces absolutely and everlastingly freed 1 From all natural infirmities and distempers death is their good Physician which at once freed them of all diseases 'T is a great Affliction now to many of the Lord's people to be clog'd with so many bodily infirmities which render them very unserviceable to God The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak A crazy body retorts and shoots back its distempers upon the soul with which it is so closely conjoyned but though now the soul as Theophrastus speaks payes a dear rent for the Tabernacle in which it dwells yet when death dissolves that Tabernacle all the diseases and pains under which it groaned shall be buried in the rubbish of its mortality and when they come to be re-united again God will bestow rich gifts and dowries even upon the body in the day of its re-espousals to the soul. 2 It shall be freed from all deformities there are no breaches flaws monstrosities in glorified bodies but of them it may much rather be said what was once said of Absalom 2 Sam. 14. 25. That from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him 3ly It shall be freed from all natural necessities to which it is now subjected in this its animal state How is the soul now disquieted and tortured with cares and troubles to provide for a perishing body Many unbelieving and unbecoming fears it is now vexed with What shall it eat and what shall it drink and wherewithal shall it be cloathed But meats for the belly and the belly for meats God shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6. 13. i. e. as to their present use and office for as to its existence so the belly shall not be destroyed But even as the Masts Poop and Stern of a Ship abide in the harbour after the voyage is ended so shall these bodily members as Tertullian excellently illustrates it 4ly They shall be freed from death to which thenceforth they can be subject no more that formidable adversary of nature shall affault it no more For they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they dye any more for they shall be equal to the Angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection Luk. 20. 35 36 Mark it equal to the Angels not that they shall be separate and single spirits without bodies as the Angels are but equal to them in the way and manner of their living and acting We shall then live upon God and act freely purely and delightfully for God for all kind of living upon and delighting in creatures seems in that Text by a Synechdoche of the part which is ordinarily in Scripture put for all creature-delights dependencies and necessities to be excluded Nothing but God shall enamour and fill the soul and the body shall be perfectly subdued to the spirit Lord what hast thou prepared for them that love thee REFLECTIONS If I shall receive my body again so dignified and improved in the world to come then Lord let me never be unwilling to use my body now for the interest of thy glory or my own Salvation Now O my God it grieves me to think how many precious opportunities of serving and honouring thee I have lost under pretence of endangering my health I have been more solicitous to live long and healthfully than to live usefully and fruitfully and like enough my life had been more serviceable to thee if it had not been so fondly overvalued by me Foolish soul hath God given thee a body for a living tool or instrument and art thou afraid to use it wherein is the mercy of having a body if not in spending and wearing it out in the service of God to have an active vigorous body and not to imploy and exercise it for God for fear of endangering its health is as if one should give thee a handsom and sprightful horse upon condition thou shouldst not ride or work him O! if some of the Saints had enjoyed the blessing of such an healthy active body as mine what excellent services would they have performed to God in it If my body shall as surely rise again in glory vigour and excellent endowments as the seed which I sow doth why should not this comfort me over all the pains weaknesses and dulness with which my soul is now clogged Thou knowest my God what a grief it hath been to my soul to be fettered and intangled with the distempers and manifold indispositions of this vile body It hath made me sigh and say with holy Anselme when he saw the mounting bird weighed down by the stone hanging at her leg Lord thus it fares with the
soul of thy servant fain would I serve glorifie and enjoy thee but a distempered body will not let me However it is reviving to think that though I am now forced to crawl like a worm in the discharge of my duties I shall shortly fly like a Seraphim in the execution of thy will Cheer up drooping soul the time is at hand when thou shalt be made more willing than thou art and thy flesh not so weak as now it is And is it so indeed then let the dying Saint like Iacob rouze up himself upon his bed and incourage himself against the fears of death by this refreshing consideration Let him say with holy dying Musculus Why tremblest thou O my soul to go forth of this Tabernacle to the Land of rest hath thy body been such a pleasant habitation to thee that thou shouldst be so loath to part with it though but for a time and with assurance of receiving it again with such a glorious improvement I know O my soul that thou hast a natural inclination to this body resulting from the dear and strict union which God himself hath made betwixt thee and it yea even the holiest of men do sometimes sensibly feel the like in themselves but beware thou love it not immoderately of inordinately 't is but a creature how dear soever it be to thee yea a fading creature and that which now stands in thy way to the full enjoyment of God But say my soul why are the thoughts of parting with it so burdensom to thee Why so loath to take death by its cold hand Is this body thy old and dear friend True but yet thou partest not with it upon such sad terms as should deserve a tear at parting For mayest thou not say of this departure as Paul of the departure of Onesimus Philem. v. 15. It therefore departeth for a season that thou mayest receive it for ever The daye of re-espousals will quickly come and in the mean time as thy body shall not be sensible of the tedious length of interposing time so neither shalt thou be solicitous about thine absent friend for the fruition of God in that thine unbodied state shall fill thee with infinite satisfaction and rest Or is it not so much simply for parting with it as for the manner of thy parting either by the slow and lingring approaches of a natural or the quick and terrible approaches of a violent death Why trouble not thy self about that for if God lead thee through the long dark lane of a tedious sickness yet at the end of it is thy fathers house And for a violent death 't is not so material whether friends or enemies stand weeping or triumphing over thy dead body Nihil corpus sentit in nervo cum anima sit in coelo When thy soul shall be in heaven 't will not be sensible how the body is used on earth But oh what an uncomfortable parting will mine be and how much more sad our meeting again how will this soul and body blush yea tremble when they meet who have been copartners in so much guilt I damn'd my soul to please my flesh and now have ruin'd both thereby had I denied my flesh to serve Christ worn out my body in the service of my soul I had thereby happily provided for them both but I began at the wrong end and so have ruin'd both eternally The Poem BAre seeds have no great beauty but inhum'd That which they had is lost and quite consum'd They soon corrupt and grow more base by odds When dead and buried underneath the clods It falls in baseness but at length doth rise In glory which delights beholders eyes How great a difference have a few dayes made Betwixt it in the bushel and the blade This lovely lively emblem aptly may Type out the glorious Resurrection day Wherein the Saints that in the dust do lye Shall rise in glory vigour dignity With singing in that morning they arise And dazling glory such as mortal eyes Ne're viewed on earth The sparkling buties here No more can equalize their splendor there Than glimmering glow-worms do the fairest star That shines in heaven or the stones that are In every street may competition hold With glittering diamonds in rings of gold For unto Christ's most glorious body they Shall be conform'd in glory at that day Whose lustre would should it on mortals fall Transport a Stephen and confound a Paul 'T is now a course and crazy house of clay But O! how dear do souls for lodging pay Few more than I for thou my soul hast bin Within these tents of Kedar cooped in Where with distempers clog'd thou mak'st thy moans And for deliverance with tears and groans Hast often sued cheer up the time will be When thou from all these troubles shalt be free No jarring humours cloudy vapours rheum Pains aches or what ever else consumes My dayes in grief whil'st in the Christian race Flesh lags behing and can't keep equal pace With the more willing spirit none of these Shall thenceforth clog thee or disturb thine ease CHAP. XII As wheat resembled is by viler tares So vile hypocrisie like grace appears OBSERVATION It is Ieroms Observation that wheat and tares are so much alike in their first springing up that it is exceeding difficult to distinguish the one from the other These are his words Inter triticuâ— lolium quamdiu herba est nondum culmus venit ad spicam grandis similitudo est indiscernendo aut nulla aut perdifficilis distantia The difference saith he between them is either none at all or wonderful difficult yo discern which those words of Christ Mat. 13. 30. plainly confirm Let them both alone till the Harvest thereby intimating both the difficulty of distinguishing the tares and wheat as also the unwarrantable rashness of bold and hasty censures of mens sincerity or hypocrisie which is there shadowed by them APPLICATION HOw difficult soever it be to discern the difference betwixt wheat and tares yet doubtless the eye of sence can much easier discriminate them than the most quick and piercing eye of man can discern the difference betwixt special and common grace for all saving graces in the Saints have their counterfeits in hypocrites There are similar works in these which a spiritual and very judicious eye may easily mistake for the saving and genuine effects of the sanctifying Spirit Doth the Spirit of God convince the consciences of his people of the evil of sin Rom. 7. 9. Hypocrites have their convictions too Exod. 10. 16. Then Pharoah called for Moses and Aaron in hast and he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you Thus was Saul also convicted 1 Sam. 15. 24. Doth true conviction and compunction work reformation of life in the people of God even hypocrites also have been famous for their reformations The unclean spirit often goes out of the
Rom. 12. 11. in serving God servent in spirit or hissing hot 2 Pet. 1. 10. in securing salvation diligent or doing it throughly and enough 1 Tim. 4. 7. in godliness exercising or stripping themselves as for a race Luke 13. 24. in the pursuit of happiness striving even to an agony Act. 26. 7. in prayer serving God instantly or in a stretched-out manner yea pouring out their hearts before him Psal. 62. 8 as if the body were left like a dead corps upon the knees whilst the spirit is departed from it and ascended to God This is the manner of his work judge then how much harder this work is than to spend the sweat of the brow in manual labour The Husbandman finds his work as he left it he can begin one day where he left the other but it is not so with the Christian a bad heart and a busie devil disorder and spoyl his work every day The Christian finds not his heart in the morning as he left it at night and even when he is about his work how many set-backs doth he meet with Satan stands at his right hand the working hand to resist him Zech. 3. 1. when he would do good evil the evil of his own heart and nature is present with him The Husbandman hath some resting days when he throws aside all his work and takes his recreation but the Christian hath no resting day till his dying day and then he shall rest from his labours Religion allows no idle dayes but requires him to be always abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. When one duty is done another calls for him the Lord's day is a day of rest to the Husbandman but no day in the week so laborious to the Christian. O 't is a spending day to him When he hath gathered in the crop of one duty he is not to sit down satisfied therewith or say as that rich worldling did Luke 12. 19. Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years but must to plow again and count it well if the Vintage reach to the seed-time Lev. 26. 5. I mean if the strength influence and comforts of one duty hold out to another duty and that it may be so and there be no room left for idleness God hath appointed ejaculatory prayer to fill up the intervals betwixt stated and the more solemn duties These are to keep in the fire which kindled the morning sacrifice to kindle the evening sacrifice When can the Christian sit down and say now all my work is ended I have nothing to do without doors or within Lastly There is a time when the labour of the Husbandman is ended old age and weakness takes him off from all imployment they can only look upon their labourers but cannot do a stroke of work themselves they can tell you what they did in their younger years but now say they we must leave it to younger people we cannot be young always but the Christian is never super-annuated as to the work of Religion yea the longer he lives the more his Master expects from him When he is full of dayes God expects he should be full of fruits Psal. 9. 14. They shall bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing REFLECTIONS HOw hard have I laboured for the meat that perisheth prevented the dawning of the day and laboured as in the very fire and yet is the Christians work harder than mine Surely then I never yet understood the work of Christianity Alas my sleepy prayers and formal duties even all that ever I performed in my life never cost me that pains that one hour at plow hath done I have either wholly neglected or at best so lazily performed religious duties that I may truly say I offer to God what cost me nothing Wo is me poor wretch How is the judgment of Corah spiritually executed upon me The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up his body but it hath opened its mouth and swallowed up my heart my time and all my affections How far am I from the Kingdom of God! And how little better is my case who have indeed professed Religion but never made it my business Will an empty though splendid profession save me How many brave Ships have perished in the storms notwithstanding their fine names the Prosperous the Success the Happy return A fine name could not protect them from the rocks nor will it save me from hell I have done by Religion as I should have done by the world prayed as if I prayed not and heard as if I heard not I have given to God but the shadow of duty and can never expect from him a real reward How unlike a Christian dost thou also O my soul go about thy work though upright in the main yet how little zeal and activity dost thou express in thy duties Awake love and zeal feest thou not the toyl and pains men take for the world how do they prevent the dawning of the day and labour as in the very fire till night and all this for a trifle should not every drop of sweat which I see trickle from their brows fetch as it were a drop of blood from my heart who am thus convinced and reproved of shameful laziness by their indefatigable diligence Do they pant after the dust of the earth Amos 2. 7. and shall not I pant after God Psal. 42. 1. Ah my soul It was not wont to be so with thee in the dayes of my first profession Should I have had no more communion with God in duties then it would have broken my heart I should have been weary of my life Is this a time for one to stand idle who stands at the door of eternity What now slack-handed when so neer to my everlasting rest Rom. 13. 11. or hast thou found the work of God so unpleasant to thee Prov. 3. 17. or the trade of godliness so unprofitable Psal. 19. 11. Or knowest thou not that millions now in hell perished for want of serious diligence in Religion Luke 13. 34. or doth my diligence for God answer to that which Christ hath done and suffered to purchase my happiness or to the preparations he hath made in heaven for me or dost thou forget that thy Masters eye is alwayes upon thee whilst thou art lazing and loytering or would the damned live at this rate as I do if their day of grace might be recalled for shame my soul for shame rouze up thy self and fall to thy work with a diligence answerable to the weight thereof for it is no vain work concerning thee it is thy life The Poem Religion WHEN advanc'd in power Will make you HUSBAND every hour 'T will make MEN strive with all their might And therein FIND a sweet delight If there were NOUGHT besides that pay Christ gives TO cheer us in our way Should we not DO the best we can For there 's
noted in Scripture as the most excellent and remarkable 1 Nuptial joyes the day of Espousals is the day of the gladness of a mans heart Cant. 3. 11. 2 The joy of children Though now it seem but a common mercy to most and a den to some yet the people of God were wont to esteem it a choice mercy and rejoyced greatly in it Iohn 16. 21. there 's joy that a man is born into the world 3 The joy of conquests and victories when men divide the spoyl And lastly The joy of Harvest these two we find put together as principal matters of joy Isa. 9. 3. They joy before thee according to the joy in Harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoyl The joy of Harvest is no small joy Gaudium messis est messis gaudii the joy of harvest is the harvest of their joy 'T is usual with men when they have reaped down their harvest or cut the neck as they call it to demonstrate their joy by shoutings and loud acclamations APPLICATION THus and unspeakably more than thus do Saints rejoyce and shout for joy when they reap the favour and love of God for which they laboured in many a weary duty This joy of harvest as great as it is and as much as carnal hearts are lifted up with it is but a trifle a thing of nought compared with yours after they have sown to themselves in righteousness and waited for the effects and returns of their duties with patience and at last come to reap in mercy either the full harvest in heaven or but the first fruits of it on earth yet rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. This puts more gladness into their hearts than when corn and wine increases Psal. 4. 7. Carnal joyes are but soul-Fevers the Agues of the inner-man there is as great difference betwixt the unnatural inflamations of a feverish body which wastes their spirits and drinks up the radical moisture and that kindly well-tempered heat of an healthy body and as much between the sweet serene and heavenly joyes which flow from the bosom of Christ into the hearts of believers and those earthly delights which carnal hearts in a sensual way suck out of creature-enjoyments I will shew you the transcendency of spiritual joyes above the joy of harvest in these eight particulars following You that joy with the joy of harvest are glad because now you have food for your selves and families to live upon all the year but the Christian rejoyceth because he hath bread to eat that the world knows not of Rev. 2. 17. Christ is the food of his soul and his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed Iohn 5. 55. i. e. the most real and excellent food You read Psal. 78. 25. that man did eat angels food i. e. Manna which was such excellent bread that if Angels did live upon material food this would be chosen for them and yet this is but a type and dark shadow of Iesus Christ the food of believers You rejoyce when your harvest is in because corn is virtually many other things besides food you can turn it into cloaths to keep you warm and many other necessaries may be purchased by it but yet it is not like Christ the object of a Saints joy though it answers many things it doth not answer all things as Christ doth turn it into what you will it hath but a limited and respective usefulness but Iesus Christ is all in all to believers and out of him their faith can fetch all supplies he is their health in sickness their strength in weakness their ease in pain their honour in reproach their wealth in poverty their friend in friendlessness their habitation when harbourless their enlargement in bonds the strength of their hearts and life of their life O he is a full Christ and what ever excellencies are scattered among all the creatures do meet all in him and much more You rejoyce when you have gotten in your harvest because now you can free those engagements and pay those debts which you have contracted 'T is a comfort to be out of debt and you may lawfully rejoyce that God gives you wherewith to quit your engagements that you may owe to man any thing but love but still the joy of harvest falls short of the joy of Saints for you rejoyce that you are or have wherewith to help your selves out of mens debts but they rejoyce that they are out of God'd debt that his book is cancelled and their sins pardoned that by reason of the imputed righteousness of Christ the Law can demand nothing from them Rom. 8. 1. O what matter of joy is this You rejoyce because now your corn is out of danger all the while it was abroad it was in hazard but now it 's housed you fear not the rain But Christians rejoyce not because their corn is safe but because their souls are so All the while they abode in an unregenerate state they were every moment in danger of the storms of wrath but now being in Christ that danger is over and what compare is there betwixt the safety of a little corn and the security of an immortal soul Your joy is but in a gift of common providence Turks and Heathens can rejoyce with your joy but the joy of a Christian is a peculiar favour and gift of God Corn is given to all Nations even the most barbarous and wicked have store of it but Christ is the portion but of a few and those the dearly beloved of God Luther said of the whole Turkish Empire where is the best and greatest store of corn that it is but a crumb which the Master of the Family throws to the dogs He that had more corn than his Barns could hold now wants a drop of water to cool his tongue Christ is a gift bestowed only upon God's Elect. Your joy will have an end the time is coming that when you have reaped down your harvests your selves must be reaped down by death and then you shall rejoyce in these things no more but when your joy is ended then is the joy of Saints perfected they reap their harvest when you leave your harvest their consolation is everlasting God an separate your joy from these ejoyments even while you have them as well as when you leave them 'T is one thing for a man to have riches and full Barns and another thing to have comfort in them Eccles. 5. 19 20. But now the joy of Christians is a thing inseparable from their enjoyment of Christ Indeed the sense of their interest may be lost and so the acts of their joy intermitted but they alwayes have it in the seed if not in the fruit Psal. 97. 11. Ioy is sown for the upright he hath it still in the principle and in the promise The joy of Harvest-men for the most part is only in their harvest and in such earthly things take that
WHO that hears such various ravishing and exquisite melody would imagine the bird that makes it to be of so small and contemptible a body and feather her charming voice ingaged not only mine attentive ear but my feet also to make a nearer approach to that shady bush in which that excellent Musician sate vailed and the nearer I came the sweeter the melody still seemed to be but when I had described the bird her self and found her to be little bigger and no better feather'd than a sparrow it gave my thoughts the occasion of this following application This Bird seems to me the lively emblem of the formal hypocrite 1 In that she is more in found than substance a loud and excellent voice but a little despicable body and it recal'd to my thoughts the story of Plutarch who hearinâ— a Nightingale desired to have one killed to feed upon not questioning but she would please the pallat as well as the ear but when the Nightingale was brought him and he saw what a poor little creature it was truly said he thou art vox preterea nihil a meer voice and nothing else So is the hypocrite did a man hear him something in more publick duties and discourses O thinks he what an excellent man is this what a choice and rare spirit is he of but follow him home observe him in his private conversation and retirements and then you will judg Plutarchs note as applicable to him as the Nightingale 2 This Bird is observed to charm most sweetly and set her spirit all on work when she perceives she hath ingaged attention so doth the hypocrite who lives and feeds upon the applause and commendation of his admirers and cares little for any of those duties which bring in no returns of praise from men he is little pleased with a silent melody and private pleasure betwixt God and his own soul. Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter Alas his knowledge is not worth a pin If he proclaim not what he hath within He is more for the Theatre than the Closet and of such Christ saith Verily they have their reward 3 Naturalists observe the Nightingale to be an ambitious Bird that cannot endure to be out-vied by any she will rather chuse to die than be excell'd a notable instance whereof we have in the following pleasant Poem translated out of Strada concerning the Nightingale and a Lutanist Now the declining Sun did downward bend From higher heavens and from his locks did send A milder flame when neer to Tibers flow A Lutanist allayed his careful wo With sounding charms and in a greeny seat Of shady Oak took shelter from the heat A Nightingale o'reheard him that did use To sojourn in the neighbour Groves the muse That fill'd the place the Syrene of the wood Poor harmless Syrene stealing near she stood Close lurking in the leaves attentively Recording that unwonted melody She con'd it her self and every strain His fingers play'd her throat return'd again The Latanist perceiv'd an answer sent From th'imitating Bird and was content To shew her play more fully then in haste He tryes his Lute and giving her a tast Of the ensuing quarrel nimbly beats On all his strings as nimbly she repeats And wildly ranging o're a thousand keys Sounds a shrill warning of her after layes With rowling hand the Lutanist then plyes The trembling threeds sometimes in scornful wise He brushes down the strings and strikes them all With one even stroke then takes them several And culls them o're again his sparkling joynts With busie descant mincing on the points Reach back again with nimble touch then stayes The Bird replies and art with repays Sometimes as one unexpert and in doubt How she might weild her voice she draweth out Her tone at large and doth at first prepare A solemn strain nor wear'd with winding air but with an equal pitch and constant throat Makes clear the passage for her gliding note Then cross division diversly she playes And loudly chanting out her quickest layes Poyses the sound and with a quivering voice Falls back again he wondering so choice So various harmony could issue out From such a little throat doth go about Some harder Lessons and with wondrous art Changing the strings doth up the treble dart And downward smite the Base with painful stroke He beats and as the Trumpet doth provoke Sluggards to fight even so his wanton skill With mingled discord joyns the hoarse and shrill The Bird this also tunes and whilst she cuts Sharp notes with melting voice and mingled puts Measures of middle sound then suddenly She thunders deep and jugs it inwardly With gentle murmur clear and dull she sings By course as when the martial warning rings Believ 't the Minstrel blusht with angry mood Inflam'd quoth he thou Chantress of the wood Either from thee I 'le bear the price away Or vanquisht break my Lute without delay Unimitable accents then he strains His hand flyes on the strings in one he chains Far different numbers chasing here and there And all the strings he labours every where Both flat and sharp he strikes and stately grows To prouder strains and backward as he goes Doubly divides and closing up his layes Like a full Quire a shivering consort playes Then pausing stood in expectation Of his corrival nor durst answer on But she when practise long her throat had whet Enduring not to yield at once doth set Her Spirits all to work and all in vain For whilst she labours to express again With Natures simple voice such divers keys With slender pipes such losty notes as these O're matcht with high designs o're matcht with wo Iust at the last encounter of her foe She saints she dyes falls on his instrument That conquer'd her a fitting monument So far even little souls are driven on Struck with a vertuous emulation And even as far are hypocrites driven on by their ambition and pride which is the spur that provokes them in their religious duties MEDIT. II. Vpon the sight of many small Birds chirping about a dead Hawk HEaring a whole quire of Birds chirping and twinking together it ingaged my curiosity a little to enquire into the occasion of that convocation which mine eye quickly inform'd me of for I perceived a dead Hawk in the bush about which they made such a noise seeming to triumph at the death of their enemy and I could not blame them to sing his knell who like a Cannibal was wont to feed upon their living bodies tearing them limb from limb and scaring them with his frightful appearance This Bird which living was so formidable being dead the poorest Wren or Titmouse fears not to chirp or hop over This brings to my thoughts the base and ignoble ends of the greatest Tyrants and greedy ingroffers of the world of whom whilst living men were more afraid than birds of a Hawk but dead became objects of contempt and scorn The death