his will because it should not be done if he did not suffer it he doth that which is good permitteth that which is evil directeth both good and evil Although God doth order and govern sins that be done yet he is not properly the efficient cause of sin therefore Austin again saith well An evil thing hath not a cause efficient but deficient as the corruption of judgement and the perverseness of the will of man I might shew through the whole current of the Scriptures how God at his pleasure ordereth the actions of evil men and Devils to the bringing to pass whatsoever he will have done he maketh the hard dealing of Laban turn to the benefit of Jacob Gen. 31. he turneth the cruelty of Jacobs sons to the advancement of Joseph Gen. 39. and Chap. 41. the Aegyptians oppressions to the encreasing of the Israelites In the same thing there is vertue both to kill and cure as in Achilles spear The Flies Cantharides having their bodies applied to any parts of our bodies exulcerate the same and especially the bladder and the wings applied to the same place help what the body hurteth The Scorpion and Vipers dissected and applied to the wounds heal what the sting of the one and biting of the other hand hurt Dr Bright Tract de Melanchol Exod. 1.12 the persecution of Saul to the benefit of David the hatred of the Caldeans to the exaltation of Daniel Dan. 6. the envy of Haman to the preferment of Mordecai and the delivery of the Jews the contempt of the Pharisees to the admission of the Publicans the persecution of the Apostles among the Jews to the calling of the Gentiles And to this I may adde that not only the sinfull actions of other men but even the Saints own sins through Gods wise disposing providence are turned to their benefit as of Serpents flesh Triacle is made which is a preservative against poison so the evils and sins of the faithfull are turned finally to their good When we grow dull he quickens us we wax proud he humbleth us we abuse his creatures he takes them from us dealing with our vices and sins as a good Gardiner with the weeds that would over-run his ground pulling them up and pruning his trees to bear good fruit CHAP. XXII How Gods providence reacheth the habitations and dwellings of Men. 5. IT will not now be unmeet to shew how Gods providence reacheth the habitations and dwellings of men God knew the City called Damascus and the Street therein called strait he knew the house of Simon the Tanner at Joppa Christ knew the upper room in that house where he intended to eat the Passeover with his Disciples Omnia nòn â—olùm à Deo permissa sed etiam immissa Lypsius de constant All mens habitations and dwellings are appointed by God he appointeth to every man his proper place and saith Dwell thou here Some plot to dwell in this place some in that and God sendeth them into other places and Countries to dwell some are appointed to dwell in hungry and barren places and others in delectable pleasant well-watered and fruitfull places some have very convenient dwellings for their more comfortable enjoyment of Gods Ordinances as it is said of Justus Migrat in aliam domum proculdubiò Gentilis hominis ut etiam nomen Romanum indicat quo tanto commodiùs posset cum Gentilibus agere eosque docere occasione hospitis hospitii Flac. Illyr in Act. 18. that his house joyned hard to the Synagogue Act. 18.7 and it 's very probable that the house of Anna the Prophetess was very near to the Temple in Jerusalem for it is said that she was a widow of about fourscore and four years having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity and that she departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day Luk. 2.36 37. She was of a great age when she uttereth her prophesie concering Christ in all likelyhood about an hundred years old at this time for it 's not likely she married before fifteen years of age she lived with her husband seven a widow eighty four years wherein we have a rare example of chastity and constancy for a young noble woman in the flower of her age about some two and twenty years old to lose her husband and to content her self to live a widow so long in one place with such singular commendation Now whereas it is said that she departed not from the Temple c. it is not meant that she never went out of the Temple but should lodge there as a Nun or Cloysterer so much cannot be gathered Supervenire autem nòn potuit si nonquam discessisset Gualt ad loc but the contrary because it is said vers 38. that she came upon Joseph and Mary at the same instant that they brought up Jesus to the Temple but such was her devotion as she was seldome absent thence she abode there for the most part giving her self to the service of God by the exercises of fasting night and day that is at all times or very frequently God sometime sends a man to dwell in such a place to convert some of the inhabitants thereof It is conceived that David dwelling a while at Gath Fenner's Catechism converted Ittai the Gittite to the faith 2 Sam. 15.19 and that Abraham dwelling or sojourning among the Canaanites by his godly perswasions preaching to them and conversing with them made many forsake their Idolatry and imbrace the true worship of the true God There is no man hath a spot of ground or never to small a cottage to dwell in but he hath it at the hand of God and it is a singular providence of God that we can dwell in safety and that our habitations dwelling houses and possessions are not laid waste when we consider the greatnesse of our sins which are able to make desolate the most goodly Edifices and most stately Palaces God threatned to send a fire into the house of Hazael that should devour the palaces of Benhadad Amos 1.4 God depriveth men of a great blessing when he takes their dwelling houses from them God hath many wayes to remove men from their houses and homes David through fear of Absalom was forced to flie from his house in Jerusalem Manasseh was forced out of his house and Kingdom into a prison others by riotousnesse and unthriftinesse cast themselves out of their habitations some wilfully like the Prodigal leave their Father's house Luke 15. Some go into a strange Countrey and never return again to their own native Countrey Shebna the treasurer promised himself a setled habitation and made himself a Sepulchre yet the Lord threatens to drive him out Isa 22.15 God commandeth the Prophet to say unto Shebna What hast thou here and whom hast thou here that thou hast hewed thee out a Sepulchre here as he that â—heweth out a Sepulchre on high and that graveth
For so Demosthenes observeth it was a usual speech among the Greeks Such and such things saith he were not done without the people of Athens that is without their authority and approbation CHAP. XIII Of God's Providence to be seen in the Seas in the Nature of them An Objection answered Of the saltness of the Sea and the Reasons thereof Of the bounds of the Sea of the Fishes of the Sea of their multiplication of the several sorts of Fishes taken in every moneth Of their provision An Objection answered FRom the Heavens I shall descend to the Sea and therein Gods Providence is very remarkable The Sea is a gathering together of many waters Gen. 1.10 it is the common receptacle of flouds and Rivers and as the Liver in the body by the veins sendeth bloud to the whole parts of the body so doth the Sea send water to all the parts of the earth Solomon tells us That all waters come from the sea Eccles 1.7 He compasseth the whole earth as with a girdle and bedeweth the world with his pleasing streams In the depth of the earth there be many concavities which breed winds Weems observ natur moral these winds lift up the waters the waters again presse down the winds which being thus prest down seek a passage through the earth making a way for the Sea to runne through the veins thereof and because of the continual strife between the Sea and the winds therefore the water in springs and fountains never faileth and coming back to the fountains then they run back again to the Sea Aristotle's opinion will not hold here who saith That the water contendeth to runne to the lowest place and if the waters should have this vicissitude of course from the fountains to the Sea from the Sea to the fountains then the same place should be both higher and lower than it self but some parts of the Sea are lower than the fountains and into them the fountains send forth their streams to runne Other parts of the Sea are higher than the fountains especially in great storms and tempests which mount up the waves of the Sea to Heaven as the Psalmist speaketh Psal 107 25 26. and they by secret channels send forth springs of water to supply the fountains Cotton Exposit in Eccles 1.7 as a Learned Divine hath well noted This is further noted by Strabo Strabo concerning the situation of the waters which if we consider the quality of their matter ought to be placed in the middle between the earth and the Air whereas the same are now included and dispersed within the earth to the end they might be no hindrance either to the fruitfulness of the ground or to the life of man neither are all things ordained only for their proper ends but also for the good and benefit of the whole Universe as appeareth particularly in the water which against its own proper nature is moved upward that there should be no gaping vacuity in the world which is so composed that the parts thereof do mutually uphold one another Quest If all waters come from the Sea how is it then that the waters in Rivers are sweet and fresh and that the waters in the Sea are salt Resp That the earth through the veins whereof the waters pass to the fountains doth percolate and strain the Salt out of it and so those waters by reason of the length of their course and their distance from the Sea lose their saltness therefore some fountains of water are salt as the Sea that are nearest to the Sea the pores of the earth being more open between the Sea and them which also is the cause of the flux and reflux of some of them God hath made the Sea salt by the fervent heat of the Sun which sucks out the sweet and thin substance thereof and this being easily drawn up all the tarter and grosser parts thereof remain behind Hence it is as Pliny Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 100. noteth that the deep water toward the bottome is sweeter and less brackish than that which is above in the top and surely this is a better reason of that unpleasant tast that it hath than that the Sea should be a sweat continually issuing out of the earth The learned have observed that God hath made the Sea salt for divers necessary uses 1. To keep it from putrefaction which is not necessary in Rivers because of their continuall running as also because of the celerity of their motion 2. Salt waters agree best to the nature of those great Fishes being both hotter and grosser that are bred and nourished in it which is not so necessary to the Rivers breeding smaller Fishes It is likewise an evident Argument of Gods Providence that the Ocean being higher than the Land doth not overflow his Banks Astronomers and naturall Philosophers can give no substantiall reason hereof but out of the Scriptures we may answer in a word that Gods Decree hath bounded and barred it in all the wild Beasts of the world might more easily be tamed than the Sea yet God ruleth and over-ruleth it in a most wonderfull manner he hath shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb he made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it he established his Decree upon it and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.8 9 10. Fear ye not me saith the Lord that have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall Decree that it cannot pass and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Jer. 5.22 Chrysostome saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Cor. Homil. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Hexam Homil. 4. The Lord hath walled about the Sea with the sand with a very weak thing doth he bridle the rage of it even with the sand which a poor weak silly worm can creep over The Lord sits upon the flouds and ordereth them and though they roar and lift up their waves yet the Lord on high is mightier than the mighty waves of the Sea Psal 93.3 4. The Sea is in the hand of God as a little Babe is in the womb of his Mother so that the Child lieth not more still in his Mothers womb than doth the Sea within his bounds and though it make a great noise and be tossed with winds and tempests and swell and threaten to overwhelm the earth yet cannot it get over its bounds Likewise God useth the mists and clouds to restrain the Sea that it shall not pass out of its limits as swadling bands are to keep in a young Babe who would fain pull out his arms and legs to make sport but he is so held in with his swadling cloathes that he is forced there to abide as a
XVII How the calling and labours of the Husbandman are directly subordinate to Gods Providence IT will not now be impertinent to shew how the calling and labours of the Husbandman in tilling the ground and sowing his seed in the furrows of the earth are directly subordinate to the Providence of God For albeit all callings be subordinate to God yet the subordination of them and the blessing of God is not so visible in any profession of men as in the trade of Husbandry For after the Husbandman hath opened and broken up the clods of the ground and cast in his seed Ore gero gladium matrisque 1. in pectore condo Ut mox quae nùnc sunt mortua 2. viva colas Dux meus a tergo 3. est caudamque trahens 4. retrahensque Hasta 5. non me ur ea verberet art alios Aratrum Jul. Scalig. 1. Terrae 2. Fruges 3. Utâ—ducis praeire solent 4. Stivam 5. Stimulo Unicuique semini corpus dat Deus quomodo voluerit unicuique semini proprium corpus Hyper. Method theol de provid the principal Wheat and the appointed Barley and the Rie in their place he lieth down and taketh his rest and night and day it springeth up he knoweth not how for the earth bringeth forth fruit of her self first the blade then the ear after that the full Corn in the ear Mark 4.27 28. Though the Husbandman go forth weeping with his seed-basket yet he cometh again rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psa 126.6 I have heard of a godly man that whensoever he broke up his ground and cast his seed into the earth he sought God with tears for a blessing upon his labour a neighbour of his observing that he had alwayes a good crop when as his own corn was blasted asked him one day What the reason was he should alwayes fare better than his neighbours he told him for his part he thought his ground and skill to be as good as his and that he took as much pains in manuring his ground as he did To whom the other replied O Neighbour I water my seed before I fow it That is a piece of Husbandry said the other that I never heard of before Truly said he again I water my seed with tears and go forth weeping and God hath made me to rejoyce in time of Harvest Rutherf Influences The Husbandman hath no command of Winds of Rain of Clouds of Summer Sunne yet may he dresse labour and fit and prepare his ground to lie under the seasonable iufluences of the Sunne Rain Dew and such impressions of the Heavens and the Clouds as the Lord of Nature shall afford as a judicious Divine hath said God hath promised that he will hear the Heavens and they shall bear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the corn and the wine and they shall hear Jezreel Hos 2.21 The Heavens are said to hear the Earth when they send down their heat and rain to refresh and moisten the Earth Now when the Heavens hear the Earth the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it untill he receive the early and the latter rain Jam. 5.7 The former rain in Scripture is called Moreh pluvia and the later rain Malcosh pluvia serotina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first rain fel after their sowing of corn that it might take rooting in the Earth the latter rain was a little before the Harvest that the ear might be full Twice in a year there fell afore of rain in Israel Ainsw in Deut. 11. in the beginning of September or Nisan and half a year after in the Moneth Abib or March which ecclesiastically began the year unto Israel whereupon it is called the latter rain in the first Moneth In the Canary Island called Ferro when it is scorcht with drought there is found a huge Tree every leaf whereof distilleth water and all render it in such abundance that it sufficeth both men and their flocks Causin holy Court Joel 2.23 the former rain among us is that rain which fals immediately after seed-time whereby the rain is beaten into the bosom and bowels of the Earth there to be covered that it may have some root and fastening in the heart of the Earth the latter rain is that which falls immediately before the Harvest which makes the Corn swell increase and grow more weighty for these the Husbandman waiteth depending upon the Providence of God and then the Earth heareth the corn and wine when it is laboured and manured by the Husbandman and when the Earth is refreshed with the influences of Heaven it is said to be married Isa 62.4 Veartzecha tibbagnel Terra moritur cùm nòn colitur producit fructus Weems Mirabilior est grani in terra multiplicatio quam illa quinque panum August Tract â—4 in Johan Quicquid mirabile fuit in mundo profectò minus est quà m totus hic mundus Quamvis itaque miracula visibilium naturarum videndi assiduirate vilescunt tamen cum ea sapientèr intuemur inusitatissimis rarissimisque majora sunt Aug. lib. 5. de civit Dei cap. 12. And when the ground is not tilled and sown it is said to die Genes 47.19 The Aegyptians in a time of famine said to Joseph Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes both we and our Land Now it is the Providence and blessing of God that maketh the Earth fruitfull How did he bless the seed sown by Isaac when it sprang up to an hundred-fold Genes 26.12 the seed sown endureth all blasts is sometime bound and imprisoned in the Earth with hard frost sometime covered with deep snow sometime drenched yea even drowned with rain sometime scorcht with the Sunne and blown and blasted with the winds and yet it outstandeth all storms and fructifieth exceedingly St Augustine meditating upon that miracle in the Gospel the multiplying of the Loaves observeth That there are great wonders in things natural though little observed by us Christ's followers wondered to see the Loaves multiply while they were eating to see bread increase upon the Table and grow between the teeth of the eaters this was very stupendious but there 's as great a miracle wrought every year and few there are that take notice of it that is when corn cast into the ground multiplieth and springs up to thirty sixty or to an hundred-fold it is saith he a greater miracle for corn to multiply in the Earth than for loaves to multiply upon the Table and he concludeth in like manner in one of his books of the City of God Whatsoever is wonderfull in the world is not so wonderfull as the world All the common works of Nature are very admirable the bringing an Infant alive from the womb as well as the raising a man from the dead The budding of a Tree every Spring as well as the budding of Aaron's Rod as a judicious Divine hath noted Caryl
godly and also shew how it reacheth the wicked First Toward the Godly 1. In afflicting them he is said in Scripture to send affliction to his people all afflictions either inward as passions of the mind grief of heart and sorrow of spirit or outward as diseases sicknesses pains of the body come from God and are inflicted by him David confesseth Psal 32.4 saying That Gods hand lay heavy upon him day and night Yea God himself tells us as much Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil that is the evil of punishment Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Affliction springeth not out of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground saith Eliphaz Job 5.6 This form of speaking is proverbial Proverbialis quaedam sententia est qua tollat easum asseratque divinam erga res humanas impiorum supplicium providentiam Pineda ad loc as the Learned note and frequently used in those times when they would remove Chance or Fortune as men commonly say or deny any event to be without a certain directive power they spake in this language This sprang not out of the dust nor came from the ground We must not therefore stay upon the second causes as the common corrupt custom of the world is blaming themselves for over-sight and want of good heed taking and in other cases blaming the falsnesse of friends and want of seasonable supplies and sometimes crying out of the unseasonablenesse of the weather and times causing infection in the air and putrifying the bloud c. But as Cratippus was wont to say Fata per causas agunt populi peccata evertunt imperia Cratippus That the destinies do act by causes and Empires are overthrown by the sins of the people So it 's not the influences of the Heavens nor the positions of the Stars nor the unseasonablenesse of the weather or the like that be the causes of sore diseases at any time among us but the just hand of God that punisheth our strange sinnes with strange sicknesses These have their places it cannot be denied but there 's an hand that over-rules them whereat we must look and which we must confesse and acknowledge Else shall we be like those of whom God complaineth by his Prophets Isa 1.5 Isa 9.13 Jer. 5.3 This is as if one that were wounded should fret and chafe at the spear dart sword bullet or arrow that hit and hurt him but never to regard the striker nor yet apply any medicine to the hurt-place this must needs be extream folly Thus did not David accuse Shimei for railing upon him but acknowledgeth the hand of God stirring him up and setting him a work 2 Sam. 16.11 and holy Job knew as much therefore he doth not cry out upon the Sabeans for taking away his Oxen and Asses nor blame the Chaldeans for carrying away his Camels no nor the Devil himself for raising the winds and hurling down the house upon his children but he confesseth the just hand of God in it all The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken Job 1.21 And so in all afflictions we should do as Nazianzen tells us he did A te Domine percussus ad te respicio Nazianz. viz. go to God and say to him Lord I am smitten of thee and to thee doe I look And so the Prophet calls upon us Come let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Hos 6.1 Object But some body perhaps may say Is it not very strange that we should therefore come to God because he hath smitten and afflicted us Doth not Reason teach reasonable creatures and even Nature it self all creatures to seek their preservation and avoid all things that may any way tend to their destruction as tearing and smiting may seem to do When Adam perceived that God was angry with him he ran away and hid himself among the bushes Genes 3. and we may observe that even horses dogs and other unreasonable creatures are easily brought to come to such as feed them and make much of them but they will flie and runne away from such as beat them therefore it may seem that afflictions should rather drive us from God than draw us to him Resp. 1. I cannot deny but must grant these things to be thus in Nature and Reason and therefore we must also know that the Prophet here being endued with Gods Spirit speaketh Metaphysicè above the reach of natural reason for these things come not to passe Vi tribulationis by the force of afflictions which have no power in their own nature but virtute tribulantis by the strength of him that afflicteth who maketh afflictions thus powerfull by his grace and who being infinite in power can produce contrary effects by contrary causes as he brought light out of darknesse Genes 1.3 Water out of a flinty rock Exod. 17.6 Wisdom out of foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1. Yea life out of death for out of Christs death came our spiritual yea eternal life for by his bloud he saveth his children from spiritual and eternal death as the old Pelican by his bloud saveth her young from natural death 2. Or we may answer that howbeit the Argument be not good in sensu diviso yet it is in sensu composito taking all together As therefore men go not to the Physician or take not physick to make them sick and yet are content by his direction to take physick though it doth make them sick for the time present to the end they may recover and be the more healthy for the time to come so the Prophet perswadeth not the people to come and return to him barely because he had torn and broken them so likewise he would heal and bind them up again In a word he wills them to consider and look upon God not as an angry Judge punishing them in his justice and displeasure for their destruction but as a loving Father correcting and chastening them in his mercy for their amendment and their profit For 1. Afflictions to the godly are an eyesalve to make them see and acknowledge their sins as to Josephs Brethren Gen. 42.21 Tribulation enlargeth the understanding making men to see into themselves Prosperity so blindeth men that they cannot know their own estate A man under the cross doth better understand the frailty of his body the uncertainty of his life and doth evidently perceive his manifold infirmities he learneth what little progress he hath made in the wayes of godliness he knoweth his interest in God he knoweth the strength of his faith and is not ignorant of Satans devices he seeth Gods infinite power by which he is able in our extream necessities to give relief and comfort he seeth the unalterable truth of God whereby he performeth all his promises and threatnings hereby he seeth the unmeasurable goodness
The very Athenians Aegyptians and Romans severely punished all idle persons as Gellius tells us The Godly that are truly humble refuse no honest kind of labour Abel keepeth sheepe Jacob and Moses do the like Sarah will bake cakes Rebekah takes a pitcher and draweth water Gideon will thresh and Elisha put his hand to the plough and the honourable woman will put her hand to the distaffe The wise man hath allowed a time for every thing else but for idlenesse no time at all Jacob's ladder had staves Generosos animos labor nutrit Senec. ad Lucil. Epist 31. Vita otiosa umbratilis solitaria nec ad sanitatem facit Plutarc Mor. 1. upon which he saw none standing still but all either ascending or descending by it Man is born to labour as the sparks flie upwards Excellent is the example of Alfred sometime King of England who flourished about eight hundred seventy two yeares after Christ and two hundred years before the Conquest who was very vigilant laborious and powerfull and often prevailed against the Pagans and restored divers Cities to their immunities being taken out of the hands of his enemies among other things he is famous for this that dividing the day nauturall into three even parts he spent eight hours in reading writing and praying eight hours in hearing and determining matters of State belonging to his place and but eight for the provision of his body by meat drink sleep and other necessaries King Alphonsus doing â—omething with his hand and labouring so as some which beheld him found fault smiled and said Hath God given hands to Kings in vain Some say that the Grand Seignour of the Turks is by his Law daily to do some bodily worke with his hands to grace labour The old Aegyptians were wont once a year to call their Citizens together and have every man give account to their governours how he got his living if they found any vagabonds and drones that lived by the sweat of other mens browes and used no lawfull labour themselves Quid vultis ut Dominus me otiosum inveniret Calvin they presently banished them It was a worthy saying of Mr. Calvin when his Friends found him continually macerating himself with painfull studies demanding of him why he had so little care of his health What will ye that may Master at his coming should find me idle It is the sinne of many of the Gentry to whom God hath given means and ability of doing good to spend their whole life either in doing nothing or that which is worse than nothing Ah what confusion will overwhelm prophane time spenders at the day of judgment when God shall shew them the bill of their mis-spent life Item So much time spent in swaggering Item So many nights spent in whoring Item So much spent in Carding Dicing and gaming Item So much spent in eating and gurmundizing rioting and drunkennesse Item So many choyce hours spent in swearing lying scoffing at holinesse and in foolish and rotten communication So much time spent at the glasse in frizzeling and poudering in singing complementing and dancing Certainly at the sight of all these dreadfull Items they shall then wish but all in vain that they had one hour to spend in weeping for their former folly Albeit there ought to be a difference in the manner of the employment between those that are Nobly descended and men of meaner rank Dr Sanders Serm. ad populum in 1 Cor. 7.24 yet no man should live idly If God hath made thee a man of authority in the Country where thou livest and blessed thee with a large estate thou oughtest to keep thy family in good order to be liberal to the poor hospitable to Gods Ministers others to endeavour to preserve love and peace among the neighbours he that doth this he may must needs be acknowledged a profitable member in the Commonwealth many prodigall young Gallants alleadge their birth and their noble extraction But was any man of higher birth than Adam Mart. Bucer de Regno Christi lib. 2. cap. 24. who laboured before he had sinned Who higher born than Cain and Able the sons of the absolute Monarch of the whole world yet one of them is a tiller of the ground the other a Keeper of sheep Would such men search their Pedigrees they would find their Worthy Ancestors raised their houses either by valiant exploits they did in the field by adventures at Sea diligent attendance at Court or by industriousnesse of some particular calling and though they inherit the Lands and Titles of honour yet if they also inherit not their vertues they are but the degenerate off-spring of generous Ancesstors One observeth how industrious every Creature in the world is and doth his office The little Nightingale in the forrest maketh an Organ of her throat sometimes her notes are warbling sometime she stretcheth them out at length the Swallow is busie in her masonry the Bee toileth all the day in her innocent thefts the Spider draweth out the long train of her webs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripid. and maketh more curious works with her feet than the most skillfull woman can weave with her hands Fishes play their parts under the water Beasts of service as Horses Oxen c. labour in their duty nature hath nothing at all except man that is willing to be idle Here I may tax the vanity of many young Gallants that for want of beter impolyment travell into far Countries meerly to see and learn new fashions quaint phrases apish gestures foolish courtings and vain complements and many times like unfortunate Merchant-adventurers they exchange good company for evill manners the fashion of too many Travellers as the old Lacedamonians long since observed is not to Brathwait Engl. Gent. bring home the wisedome and vertues but the follies and vices of forreign Countries Give me a man saith one that hath seen the Ephesian Diana in the Louire the great Vessell at Heidelberg the Amphitheatre at Vlysmos the stables of the great Mogol and Mahomets shrine at Mecha yea all the memorable Monuments of the world to delight the eye or Learned Academies to inrich his knowledge yet are not all these able to alter the quality of his disposition whence Flaccus saith Horat. lib. 1 Epist 11. To passe the Seas some are inclin'd To change their air but not their mind But I take not upon me from hence to condemn all Treavelling into sorreign parts I know divers sorts of Travellers are both Antient and honest as 1. Such as Travelled and undertook long journeys to deliver Captives from unjust imprisonment as the Poets feign of Hercules that he undertook many toilsome journeys to kill Monsters and curb Tyrants that oppressed poor innocents this is lawfull for great Princes either to go in person or to send by deputation into forreign Countries to deliver Captives and those that suffer wrong 2. To deliver souls from spirituall bondage in preaching the