OR THE

HEAVENLY USE

OF

EARTHLY THINGS,

IN WHICH HUSBANDMEN ARE DIRECTED TO AN EXCELLENT
IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR COMMON EMPLOYMENTS.

Whereunto are added,

OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS

UPON

BIRDS, BEASTS, TREES, FLOWERS, &c.

Also,

The Touchstone of Sincerity.

AND

EXTRACTS FROM A TOKEN FOR MOURNERS.

BY REV. JOHN FLAVEL,
Late Minister at Dartmouth, in Devon.

MIDDLETOWN:

PUBLISHED BY J. A. BOSWELL.

STARR & NILES, print.

Mr. Watts to Mr. Flavel, on his Spiritual Navigation and

Husbandry

In Authoris Opera, by Mr. Condy,

An Epistle to the intelligent Country Reader,

20

21

22

The Proem. 1 Cor. iii. 9. Ye are God's husbandry,

24

PART I.

CHAP. 1. Upon the industry of the husbandman,

CHAP. 2. Upon the thriftiness of the husbandman,

CHAP. 3. Upon the cheerfulness of the husbandman,

CHAP. 4. Upon the due quality of arable land,

CHAP. 5. Upon the improvement of bad ground,

CHAP. 6. Upon the incurableness of some bad ground,

CHAP. 7. Upon the ploughing of corn-land,

CHAP. 8. Upon the seed-corn,

103

CHAP. 9. Upon the springing weather after seed-time,

CHAP. 10. Upon a dearth through want of rain,

113

124

Page.

CHAP. 11. Upon the corruption of the seed before it springs, 135

CHAP. 12. Upon the resemblance of wheat and tares,

CHAP. 13. Upon the dangers incident to the corn from seed-

time to harvest,

143

CHAP. 14. Upon the patience of the husbandman for the

harvest,

CHAP. 15. Upon the harvest season,

CHAP. 16. Upon the care of husbandmen to provide for win-

ter,

CHAP. 17. Upon reaping the same we sow,

CHAP. 18. Upon the joy of harvest-men,

CHAP. 19. Upon the threshing out of corn,

CHAP. 20. Upon the winnowing of corn,

PART II.

CHAP. 1. Upon the ingrafting of fruit-trees,

CHAP. 2. Upon the union of the graft with the stock,

CHAP. 3. Upon the gathering in of fruits in autumn,

CHAP. 4. Upon the cutting down of dead trees,

PART III.

CHAP. 1. Upon the husbandman's care for his cattle,

149

CHAP. 2. Upon the hard labor and cruel usage of beasts,

237

CHAP. 3. Upon the seeking of lost cattle,

242

CHAP. 4. Upon the feeding of fat cattle,

247

CHAP. 5. Upon the husbandman's care for posterity,

CHAP. 6. Upon the husbandman's care to prove and pre-

serve his deeds,

OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS.

MEDITATIONS ON BIRDS,

MED. 1. Upon the singing of a nightingale,

256

263

Page.

MED. 2. Upon the sight of many birds chirping about a dead

hawk,

- 267

MED. 3. Upon the sight of a blackbird taking sanctuary in

a bush from a pursuing hawk,

MED. 4. Upon the sight of divers goldfinches intermingling

with a flock of sparrows,

MED. 5. Upon the sight of a robin-red-breast picking up a

worm from a mole-bill then rising,

269

270

271

MED. 6. Upon the shooting of two finches fighting in the air, 273-

MED. 7. Upon the singing of a blind finch by night,

274

MED. 8. Upon the comparing of two birds-nests,

275

MED. 9. Upon the early singing of birds,

276

MED. 10. Upon the haltering of birds with a grain of hair,

278

MEDITATIONS UPON BEASTS.

MED. 1. Upon the clogging of a straying beast,

279

MED. 2. Upon the love of a dog to his master,

280

MED. 3. Upon the fighting of two rams,

281

MED. 4. Upon the catching of a horse in a fat pasture,

MEDITATIONS UPON TREES.

MED. 1. Upon the fall of blossoms, nipt by a frosty morning, 285

MED. 2. Upon the knitting or setting of fruit,

286

MED. 3. Upon the sight of a far spreading oak,

MED. 4. Upon the sight of many sticks lodged in the branch-

es of a choice fruit tree,

MED. 5. Upon the gathering of choice fruit from a scrub-

bed, unpromising tree,

MED. 6. Upon an excellent, but irregular tree,

MEDITATIONS ON A GARDEN.

MED. 1. Upon the new-modelling of a garden,