She faints, the dies, falls on his inftrument And even as far are hypocrites driven on by their ambition and pride, which is the fpur that provokes them in their religious duties. MEDITATION II. Upon the Sight of many small Birds chirping about a dead Hawk. EARING a whole choir of birds chirping and twinkling together, it engaged my curiofity a little to enquire into the occafion of that convocation, which mine eye quickly informed me of; for I perceived a dead hawk in the bufh, about which they made fuch a noise, seeming to triumph at the death of their enemy; and I could not blame them to fing his knell, who, like a Canibal, was wont to feed upon their living bodies, tearing them limb from limb, and fcaring them with his frightful appearance. This bird, which living was fo formidable, being dead, the pooreft wren or titmouse fears not to chirp, or hop over. This brings to my thoughts the bafe and ignoble ends of the greatest tyrants, and greedy ingroffers of the world, of whom, (whilft living) men were more afraid, than birds of a hawk, but dead, became objects of contempt and fcorn. The death of fuch tyrants is both inglorious and unlamented; "When the wicked pe"rish, there is fhouting," Prov. xi. 10. Which was exemplified to the life, at the death of Nero, of whom the poet thus fings; Cum mors crudelem rapuiffet fæva Neronem, When cruel Nero dy'd, th' hiftorian tells, How Rome did mourn with bonfires, plays, and bells. Remarkable for contempt and fhame have the ends of many bloody tyrants been. So Pompey the great, of whom Claudian the poet fings, Nudus pafcit aves, jacetne qui poffidet orbem Exigua telluris inops Birds eat his fiefh. Lo, now he cannot have The like is ftoried of Alexander the Great, who lay unburied thirty days; and William the Conqueror, with many other fuch birds of prey whilft a beneficial and holy life is ufually closed up in an ho nourable and much lamented death. For mine own part, I wish I may fo order my converfation in the world, that I may live, when I am dead, in the affections of the best, and leave an honourable teftimony in the confciences of the worft; that I may opprefs none, do good to all, and fay when I die, as good Ambrofe did, I am neither afhamed to live, nor afraid to die. MEDITATION III. Upon the Sight of a Blackbird taking Sanctuary in a Bush from a pursuing Hawk. W1 THEN I faw how hardly the poor bird was put to it to fave herself from her enemy, who hovered juft over the bush in which fhe was fluttering and squeaking, I could not but haften to relieve her, (pity and fuccour being a due debt to the diftreffed ;) which, when I had done, the bird would not depart from the bufh, though her enemy were gone; this act of kindnefs was abundantly repaid by this meditation, with which I returned to my walk: my foul, like this bird, was once diftreffed, purfued, yea, feized by Satan, who had certainly made a prey of it, had not Jefus Chrift been a fanctuary to it in that hour of danger. How readily did I find him to receive my poor foul into his protection? Then did He make good that fweet promife to my experience, Thofe that come unto me I will in no wife caft out. It called to mind that pretty and pertinent story of the philofopher, who walking in the fields, a bird, pursued by a hawk, flew into his bofom; he took her out, and faid, Poor bird, I will neither wrong thee, nor expofe thee to thine enemy, fince thou cameft to me for refuge' So tender, and more than fo, is the Lord Jefus to diftreffed fouls that come unto him. Bleffed Jefus! how fhould I love and praife thee, glorify and admire thee, for that great falvation thou haft wrought for me? If this bird had fallen into the claws of her enemy, fhe had been torn to pieces indeed, and devoured, but then a few minutes had difpatched her; and ended all her pain and mifery: but had my foul fallen into the hands of Satan, there had been no end of its misery. Would not this fcared bird be flushed out of the bush that fecured her, though I had chafed away her enemy? And wilt thou, O my foul, ever be enticed or feared from Chrift thy refuge? O let this for ever engage thee to keep clofe to Chrift, and make me fay, with Ezra, "And now, O Lord, fince thou hall given me fuch a deliver"ance as this, fhould I again break thy commandments!" MEDITATION IV. Upon the fight of divers goldfinches intermingling with a flock of Sparrows. ETHINKS thefe birds do fitly refemble the gaudy courtiers, and the plain peasants; how fpruce and richly adorned with M fhining and various coloured feathers (like fcarlet, richly laid with gold and filver lace) are thofe? How plainly clad, in a home-spun country ruffet are these? Fine feathers (faith our proverb) make proud birds; and yet the feathers of the fparrow are as ufeful and beneficial, both for warmth and flight, though not fo gay and ornamental, as the others; and if both were ftript out of their feathers, the fparrow would prove the better bird of the two: by which I fee, that the greatest worth doth not always lie under the finest clothes: And befides, God can make mean and homely garments as useful and beneficial to poor and defpifed Chriftians, as the ruffling and shining garments of wanton gallants are to them: and when God shall strip men out of all external excellencies, these will be found to excel their glittering neighbours in true worth and excellency. Little would a man think fuch rich treasures of grace, wiïdom, humility, &c. lay under fome ruffet coats. Sæpe fub attrita latitat fapientia vefte. Under poor garments more true worth may be Whilft, on the other fide, "the heart of the wicked (as Solomon hath "obferved) is little worth," how much foever his clothes be worth. Alas! it falls out too frequently among us, as it doth with men in the Indies, who walk over the rich veins of gold and ore, which lie hid under a ragged and barren furface, and know it not. For my own part, I defire not to value any man by what is extrinfical and worldly, but by that true internal excellency of grace, which makes the face to fhine in the eyes of God and good men: I would contemn a vile perfon, though never fo glorious in the eye of the world; but honour fuch as fear the Lord, how fordid and defpicable foever to appearance. MEDIT. V. Upon the fight of a Robin-red-breaft picking up a Worm from a mole-hill, then rifing. BSERVING the mole working induftrioufly beneath, and the bird watching fo intently above, I made a ftand to observe the iffue; when in a little time the bird defcends, and feizes upon a Worm, which I perceived was crawling apace from the enemy below that hunted her, but fell to the fhare of another which from above waited for her. My thoughts prefently fuggefted these meditations from that occafion: methought this poor worm feemed to be the emblem of my poor foul, which is more endangered by its own lufts of pride and covetoufnefs, than this worm was by the mole and bird; VOL. V. Bb my pride, like the afpiring bird, watches for it above; my covetouf nefs, like the fubterranean mole, digging for it beneath. Poor foul! What a fad dilemma art thou brought to? If thou go down into the caverns of this earth, there thou art a prey to thy covetousness that hunts thee; and if thou aspire, or but creep upward, there thy pride waits to enfnare thee. Diftreffed foul! whither wilt thou go? Afcend thou mayeft, not by vain elation, but by a heavenly converfation, befide which there is no way for thy prefervation; "the way "of life is above to the wife," &c. Again, I could not but obferve the accidental benefit this poor harmless bird obtained by the labour of the mole, who hunting intentionally for herself, unburroughed and ferreted out this worm for the bird, who, poffibly, was hungry enough, and could not have been relieved for this time, but by the mole, the fruit of whofe labour she now feeds upon. Even thus the Lord oft-times makes good his word to his people: "The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the "juft." And again, "The earth fhall help the woman.” This was fully exemplified in David, to whom Nabal, that churlifh muckworm, fpeaks all in poffeffives: "Shall I take my bread," &c. "and "give it to one I know not whom?" And yet David reaps the fruits of all the pains and toils of Nabal at laft. Let it never encourage me to idleness, that God fometimes gives his people the fruit of others fweat, but if providence reduce me to neceflity, and difable me from helping myself, I doubt not then, but it will provide instruments to do it. The bird was an hungry, and could not dig. H MEDIT. VI. Upon the fhooting of two Finches fighting in the air. TOW foon hath death ended the quarrel betwixt these two little combatants! had they agreed better, they might have lived longer; it was their own contention that gave both the opportunity and the provocation of their death; and though living they could not, yet, being dead, they can lie quietly together in my hand. Foolith birds, was it not enough that birds of prey watched to devour them, but they must peck and fcratch one another? Thus have I feen the birds of paradife (faints I mean) tearing and wounding each other, like fo many birds of prey, and by their unchriftian contests giving the occafion of their common ruin; yea, and that not only when at liberty, as these were, but when engaged also; and yet, as one well obferves, if ever Chriftians will agree, it will either be in a prifon, or in heaven; for in prison their quarrelfome lufts lie low, and in heaven they fhall be utterly done away. But O what pity is it, that those who fhall agree fo perfectly in heaven, should bite and devour each other upon earth? That it should be faid of them, as one ingeniously obferved, who faw their carcaffes lie together, as if they had lovingly embraced each other, who fell together by a duel; Quanta amicitia fe invicem amplectuntur, qui mutua et implacabili inimicitia perierunt! Embracing one another, now they lie, Who by each other's bloody hands did die. Or, as he faid, who obferved how quietly and peaceably the dust and bones, even of enemies, did lie together in the grave; Non tanta vivi pace conjuncti effetis; you did not live together fo peaceably. If confcience of Chrift's command will not, yet the confideration of common fafety fhould powerfully perfuade to unity and amity. A MEDIT. VII. Upon the finging of a blind Finch by night. DEAR friend, who was a great obferver of the works of God in nature, told me, that being entertained with a fight of many rarities at a friend's houfe in London; among other things, his friends fhewed him a finch, whofe eyes being put out, would frequently fing, even at midnight. This bird, in my opinion, is the lively emblem of fuch careless and unconcerned perfons as the prophet defcribes, Amos vi. 4, 5, 6. who chant to the viol, when a dismal night of trouble and affliction hath overshadowed the church. You would have thought it ftrange to have heard this bird fing in the night, when all others are in a deep filence except the owl, an unclean bird, and the nightingale, which before we made the emblem of the hypocrite. And as ftrange it is, that any, except the prophane and hypocritical, fhould fo unfeafonably exprefs their mirth and jollity; that any of Sion's children fhould live in pleasure, whilft fhe herfelf lies in tears. The people of God, in Pfalm cxxxvii. tell us in what poftures of forrow they fat; even like birds, with their heads under their wings, during the night of their captivity. "How fhall "we fing the Lord's fongs in a ftrange land?" It is like enough, fuch as can fing and chant in the night of the church's trouble, have well feathered their nefts in the days of her profperity; however, let them know, that God will turn their unseasonable mirth into a fadder note; and those that now fit fad and filent fhall fhortly fing for joy of heart, when the winter is paft, the rain over and gone, the "flowers appear again upon the carth, and the time of the finging of "birds is come." MEDIT. VIII. Upon the comparing of two Birds Nests. Tis pretty to obferve the structure and commodioufness of the habitations of thefe little architects, who, though they act not by IT |