AN Horse is a very excellent Crea­ture for Shape and Beauty, for Strength, for Swiftness, and for its great and general Use; for (to omit its frequent imployments in War, most valu­able and delightful to such as practise that destructive Course of Life) in the Trans­actions of Peace and Affairs of a civil Life, in Tillage, Carriage, swift Conveyance upon important and necessary Occasions, Draughts, working of Engins, and a thou­sand other matters, Man happily serves himself really and effectually with this kind of Beast; for I will not mention the famous Sports of Racing, since 'tis founded on an extravagant Humour, rather than any just cause, nor know I whether for our own Di­version, o [...] forbid hopes of getting Money (which being but a Mineral, or refined Dirt, seems much inferiour in the Dignity [Page 2] of Nature to the least or meanest Animal) We can't justifie the over-straining (in such manner as is commonly practised) and over-forcing Creatures, otherwise so truly usefull, beyond their strength. Though I am not ignorant that there want not some of Adam's Race, so little elevated in Under­standing above the Beast that perisheth, that they will voluntarily in like manner ex­pose their own Health and Lives upon no more Important occasions then for the Rab­ble to cry, Well run Tom! for getting half a Peice from him that laid the Wager, to be Drunk with.

Horses are dignified with a strong Mar­tial Nature, viz. hot and dry, but as all other Animals they differ much as to their Identical Qualities and particular Constitu­tions, some more Cholerick and Fierce, others more Phlegmatick, Sanguine or Melancholy: Therefore some are more lively, brisk and swifter of motion, but others of dull heavy Dispositions, slow in motion, great Bellies and Heads, with dull heavy Eyes: But in General as to their four Humours, Heat in Horses does predominate, and they do ex­ceed most other Creatures therein, whence do proceed those Brisk, Lively, Bold, Free, Proud Dispositions, whereby they are more easily apt to be forced by their Riders and [Page 3] Drivers beyond their strength and power of Nature; which for want of mercy, Com­passion and Understanding is often done. And thence so many Diseases in this Crea­ture, more than any other, do proceed; for they are not thus infirm from their Temperature or Radixes, but the same arises from, and is occasioned by the Dis­orders & Intemperances their Mannagers do enforce them unto, being by [...]ir na­tural Constitutions not only one of the strongest and hottest, but also the Healthiest sort of Animals; for in what Creature so­ever the Natural Heat is strong, the Spirits are great, brisk and powerful; and for this cause Horses exceed most other Creatures in Courage and Martial Exercises.

This innate Heat and Strength in Horses is further manifested by this, viz. Let the Season of the Year be never so Wet, or Cold and Unkind, yet the Grass will bring upon them little or no Inconveniency, though they lie out Day and Night, and though the same Grass and Pasturage will rot Sheep, and cause Cows to become unhealthy, as also that in September and October, when the Air and Elements are humid and thick, whence do arise great Dews, which makes the Grass white like a Frost, that so turns the Stomachs of Cows and Sheep that they [Page 4] will not feed, but stand still or lie down till the Sun hath dryed or exhal'd the Moi­stures (except they are very hungry, and then it proves of evil consequence to them) yet even then Horses, though they lie at their [...]ill of Grass, will feed as freely as at other times, and without prejudice; Nay, do not many Farri [...]rs, and others, turn dis­eased Horses out all Winter in hard Pastures, (and give them neither Hay nor Corn) which often proves of good effect, as to their Cure? It is also from their great Heat that Horses will eat a far greater Quantity of Food than Cows (though the latter have near as large Bodies to nourish, besides the great Quantities of Milk they afford to their Keepers twice a day) Now this sharpness of Appetite and quick Dige­stion proceeds from the strength of the Central Heat, which they are so strongly dignified withal. And this all Riders and Keepers of Horses ought in the first place to understand, so as to know their Natural Temperature, and accordingly to observe Order and Temperance in their Mannage­ment, or else they will quickly make way for Diseases, as most do, through Passion, Violence and Ignorance in the Govern­ment of them.

SHEEP area sort of Animals highly to be esteemed, as well for the Ex­cellency of their Natures, wherein they transcend most other Creatures, as for the manifold Benefits they afford unto Mankind.

[Page 33] The Dignity of their Nature renders them the Emblems of Innocency, and fit Metaphors for Virtue: Thus not only Princes by the Heathen-Sages are called Shepherds, and their obedient and well go­vern'd Subjects, their Sheep, to intimate that no other species of Creatures are more inclinable to good Order, or so readily governable; but even in sacred W [...]it the People of God are every where denomina­ted, The Sheep of his Pasture; and Christ himself likens his Disciples and Followers to Sheep, and calls himself, The good Shep­herd that layeth down his Life for his Flock. And this was for the near Affinity Sheep have to Equality, and to the harmless in­nocent Life and Principle, which Christs Sheep and Lambs do live in. But on the other side, he compared Evil Men unto, and called them by the Names of wild, fierce, savage, ravenous Beasts, as Bears, Tygers, Wolves, &c. because that sort of degenerate men do live in, and are acted by the uneven fierce and cruel Nature and Principle, and have therein an Affinity with the Beasts be­fore mentioned. And thus there is as per­fect an Antipathy between the friendly in­nocent Principle, which governs and rules in the Hearts of Christs People, and those that are guided by his holy Peace-breathing [Page 34] Spirit, and those other that live in the power of the fierce Wrath and uneven Nature, as between Sheep and Wolves or Foxes, and the like Beasts, whose very sight does afright and amaze them, even more than that contrariety proceeding from their Radixes, Sheep being dignified as it were with a gleam of the Coelestial Principle of Unity, having no manifest Quality predominating; whereas on the contrary, all the before-mentioned Beasts of Prey have their predominant Quality standing in the fierce Wrath, as appears by their unsightly Shapes, their frightful Howlings or Noises that they send forth, their cruel Inclinations and bloody Dispo­sitions.

To speak more plainly, Sheep are in Temperature moderately Hot and Moist, and in Complexion Phlegmatick-Sanguine, with a mixture of Melancholy, and if they exceed in any of the four Humours, it is in Moisture; their Radical Fires burn but gently, being of a good equal Tempera­ture, whence their sweet and amicable Natures and Dispositions do arise; For this cause all Inequality is an utter Enemy unto them, especially excess of Moisture. For they are very porous, by which the moist vapours of the Air do powerfully [Page 35] penetrate them on all parts, which causeth such Quantities of Wool, and does supply them with store of Moisture, which when the Air is humid, or too much wet weather happeneth, proves prejudicial unto them; for this cause Sheep can live longer in times of Drought, than many other Creatures, without Water, and receive less prejudice by the want thereof; though all Creatures are more or less nourished by this way, and do suck in their spirituous moist Nourish­ment, like Spunges on all parts; if this were not so, no Creature could subsist. For the attractive Quality and natural Heat do in a hidden way draw in the moist spiritu­ous Vapours, which the Element of Air does plentifully afford; and the more Humid the Air is, the greater Quantity of Moisture is received into the Body, which Nature per­forms in a Magnetick Insensible way; but the same does more manifestly appear when the Season is wet, the Element of Air being then more imbib'd with Humidity than in drier times, and therefore most or all Creatures will then live with, and desire lesser Quantities of Water than when the Weather is dry, though the Meat and La­bour be the same. This may also appear in Man: If he shall live temperately in his Diet & Exercises, so as he do not sweat, nor [Page 36] any other way affront Nature, to put her to the Expences of too great a Transpiration, then let him drink a pint or a quart in twenty four hours space (which is a suffi­cient Quantity for such whose Labours are easie) then observe that such an one shall make more Urine in quantity than he drank; and if the Season be moist and the Air humid, he will make near double the quantity, provided he do not eat Foods that are over Salt; for such do naturally heat the Body, and consume the thin moist cooling Vapours, which serve for the help of Concoction, and do comfort and refresh Nature. But on the contrary, if a man shall drink two or three Gallons in a day, as many do (though to their shame, and the Injury of their Healths, especially if their Drink exceed in strength) then it is to be observed, that such an one will make but half, or no [...] half the quantity of Urine, as he swallowed down Liquor. And also, it is to be noted, that the more Temperately any shall live, and the smaller the quan­tity of Food they eat, the more Urine they will make, that is, proportionably to their Drink; for Abstinency cools the Body, opens the Pores and Passages, sets the Na­tural Spirit at liberty, and strengthens the Attractive Faculty; for this cause, a pro­portionable [Page 37] time of Fasting makes all the Members and whole Body light and airy. But to return to our subject—

The more Sanguine and equal any Crea­tures are in their Qualities, the more apt they are to be put out of tune, when any affront or disorder is offered unto them; for this cause Sheep cannot endure any kind of Extreams without manifest danger to their Healths, they being sensible of every Inconvenience, whether it be from their Keepers, or from the Elements, by reason of their tender Spirits and natural Heats, so that every disorder wounds their Health, as if they be but driven a little too hard when the Weather is hot, or if they be coursed with a Dog, or the like, which puts them into an heat, in any such case, if their Keepers suffer them to lie down whilst they are yet hot, and this [...]e done often, it will make them break out with a Scab or Mange when they come into fresh Pasturage or about Michaelmass. Also, if they are Folded too close it will occasion the same Dis­ease; or if in Summer time and hot Wea­ther the Shepherd do move them too often out of one place into another, as the custom of some is, who do not understand the Na­ture of this delicate Creature, especially if it be in the heat of the day, it will keep [Page 38] them from proving or thriving, and also cause the same Distemper. So likewise much wet will Rot them; therefore Shep­herds ought to be the most knowing, and careful of all Husband-men, since they are to preserve so timerous and tender a Crea­ture, whose Nature cannot endure any In­equality without danger.

It will be convenient that all Shepherds in dry Summers, who keep their flocks in common Fallow-Fields or Downs, when Grass is scarce, and that they have no keep­ing for them but what such miserable Com­mons will afford, should let their Sheep out of the Fold betimes in the Morning; not that they naturally delight to feed early, but in times of Drought, and where Water is not near at hand, then early in the Morn­ings the Air is moist and full of humid Va­pours, which powerfully penetrate, and are suckt in through all parts by the way of the Pores, which Nature has more advan­tage to perform when they are out of their Fold, because they spread themselves into fresh open places, where the Air is more humid thin and spirituous than in Folds, where the Breathings and Heats that do proceed from the Sheep, do make such Airs thick and hot, rather suffocating, heating the Blood and drying up the cool refreshing [Page 39] Moisture: for this cause, if they are pen'd close, it gives them the Scab or Mange, as is mentioned before.

You are to take notice of the Scituation of your Field or Downs, and in the Morn­ing walk or slait your Sheep gently on the highest and and driest parts; or if there be Corn-fields or humid Pasturages, then feed them by the edges thereof for three or four hours, till they begin to be weary, and the heat of the day comes on; But remember that you do not use any Violence towards them, for violent Motion will heat and spend their Spirits, and dry up their Radical Moisture, and stir or awaken the Central Poysons and Original Heat, which ought not by any means to be awakened; and yet the same is sooner done in them (if care be not taken) than in other Creatures, by reason of their weak timerons Spirits and tender natural Heats.

But when the Sun draws near the Meri­dian, viz. about ten or eleaven of the Clock, you ought to turn them from off the edges of such Pasturages or Corn-fields into the lowest Vallies or Clayie Grounds that your Field will afford, and there let them lie at large, and at the greatest ease you can, and as scattering as your Valley will afford, till folding time, which ought (if the Drought [Page 40] be great) to be late, otherwise not. You ought at all times to use Tenderness and gentle Behaviour to your Sheep, but more especially in dry times, and when the Grass is scarce; for a far lesser quantity of Food will supply Nature's wants when they are still, quiet and lie at ease, and a less quan­tity of Water, than when they are hurried out of one place into another; for Motion, especially in hot seasons, and in the heat of the day, does cause sweating, and too great an evaporation of the Spirits, whence follows faintish Indispositions, that bring very ill Effects.

This Order all Shepherds ought to ob­serve from the latter end of May till August, if hot dry Weather continue so long, and being duly follow'd, will preserve your Sheep from many Inconveniences, especially from breaking out with the Scabb or Mange to­wards Michaelmass, or when they come to fresh Pasturage.

As for the time of Shearing of Sheep, there are various opinions amongst Shepherds, some will have it sooner, others later; but for certain the best is to unclothe them be­times, viz. in the latter end of May or be­ginning of Iune, and many of the Sheep­masters and Shepherds are of the same judg­ment; [Page 41] but out of a certain Policy they will not shear them then, because they should sweat in their Wool, which makes it wa­tery, heavy, and consequently more for advantage; but that is not any part of my Work, I only aim to inform you the best and most Natural way and means to pre­serve them sound and free from Diseases, and for that purpose it cannot be denyed but that the Shearing them betimes is best, especially in hot Summers; for their Wool is so thick and hot as it causeth them to sweat much, which evaporates the Spirits, and causeth saintiness, weakening the Na­tural Heat, which hurts the digestive Fa­culty of the Stomach, and that by degrees disables them to go through an hard summer; for after shearing is commonly the hardest time for Sheep, especially for all Fi [...]ld-Sheep (which are the subject of my present Dis­course) whether it be a seasonable time or not; for Sheep will prove better after they are shorn than before: And if the latter part of the Summer be dry and hot, then there is but little Grass; if wet, the Sheep being newly unclothed, are cold and uneasie, and also hungry, but the Grass is then of a gross substance and but of little Vertue, it being the Declination of the Sun, all things fade and decrease in Power, Vertue and [Page 42] Strength: And such Sheep as are by good Order well kept in the beginning of the year, shall be far better able to go through an hard time, (which generally happens in the latter end of Summer, viz. in Iuly, August and September) than those that are out of heart for want of good order and keeping; even as a Cow which is well winter'd will give a far greater quantity of Milk the following Summer, than one that has been hardly kept.

When Summers prove Wet, especially when the Rains come in about Iune or Iuly then these following Rules ought to be observed, whether your Field be subject to the Rot, or the contrary; for Wet is a far greater Enemy to Sheep than Drought, as daily Experience does testifie, though all Extreams are bad. Therefore the Shepherd in all such Seasons ought to let his Sheep continue in the Fold till seven or eight a Clock in the Morning, or longer, if the Morning be very moist; in which time the comforting Beams of the Sun, with the help of the Air, will in part, or wholly have exhal'd and dry'd up those moist slimy Vapours the night distill'd down on the Grass, which being gone, the Grass is much more wholsom. Besides, their lying long in the Fold doth beget a sharp piercing Ap­petite; [Page 43] for Fasting does naturally digest and clean the Stomach and Vessels thereof from all superfluous flegmie matter, which is contra [...]ed by that too much moisture, which Grass in wet seasons does plentifully contain; for the action of the Stomach and Natural Heat is never idle, if the Creature be in health; so that when it is not sup­ply'd with its usual food, then it power­fully attracts or draws unto its self all such gross matter and supersluities, and casts it forth both upwards and downwards, there­by preventing matter for the generation of Diseases; and when the Stomach is thus purged and prepared by due fasting, then a little inconveniency in food will not hurt, whether it be in quality or quan­tity; for a vigorous well prepared Stomach does not seldom make good Nouri [...]hment of very ordinary food.

Further, the Sbepherd is to observe to fold his Sheep before the Dews fall, whereby he may avoid many Inconveniences; nor need he fear that the long Nights lodging will hinder them from proving; for all Cattel that have clean sharp Appetites will eat as much in two hours as others will in four, whose Appetites are imperfect and Stomachs foul and obstructed through fleg­matick Juices and supersluous Humours; [Page 44] Besides, Sheep do not naturally care for feeding in the Morning, whilst the Dew is much on the ground, except in times of scarcity, which seldom happens in wet sea­sons; the Passages of Sheep are then furr'd with a moist slimy matter, which ought always to be cleansed, either by Fasting, or by some drying food, as Hay, Corn, or the like.

If Shepherds observe these Rules, they may prevent most of the Diseases Sheep are subject to, since for the greatest part they are occasioned for want of good Order and skill, as Heats, Colds, Over-wet weather, being folded on New-plow'd moist grounds, or for want of a little Hay in the latter end of summer, viz. in Iuly, August and September, when the Weather proves wet and cold. And though your Field or Pasturage will not Rot your Sheep, yet it may and does oft-times cause a great num­ber of Diseases, many of which prove satal to them, as the Diseases of the Gall and Iaundies, Choller, and sickness coming of tough Flegon, Blinding, Stoppages, Water in the Belly, Red-Water, Coughs, turning Evil, Pains in the Ioynts, Lameness in the Feet, and the like Evils and Distempers.

Shepherds should likewise observe, that after an hard Summer and great scarcity, [Page 45] when they put their Sheep into fresh Fields and Pasturages, where there is plenty of Grass, if then he intends to preserve them free from Disorders, he ought not to let them eat as much as they will, but only bait them (as they call it) and when they have eaten pretty well to take them out, and let them have a sufficient time to digest it, and then turn them in again; and continue this order for a Week, or two, or three, as [...]ou shall see occasion; and though your Sheep do not look so full, and p [...]ove so fast as others, that lie at Rack and Manger, (as the Proverb is) yet in conclusion they shall gradually attain to the same or better Proof and Well-liking with others, and be abundantly sroer from Disorders and Diseases. This the Shepherd may remem­ber, That from Midsummer to Michaelmass is the most dangerous season in the whole year; and therefore then he ought to be most careful and circumspect. And of this I shall now proceed to give the true Grounds and Reasons in Nature.

The most hazardous time for occasioning the Rot in Sheep is from Iuly to the last of September, especially if there be Floods or constant Rains, or moist foggy Airs.

There are many Opinions, what the [Page 46] matter is that does breed the Rot in Sheep, some s [...]y the cause is, their licking up of small white Snales, which much Wet does generate; others think that it is occasion'd by great Dews, and others have other Fancies, which I forbear to mention, being all besides the business. For most certain it is, that the true cause of this pernicious and fatal Disease in Sheep is too much Moisture at the season before-mention'd; for they very rarely Rot at any other sea­son of the year, though there be the same occasion, as to the Weather, which all Shepherds and Sheep-masters ought well to consider. As for Example; Suppose Wet weather comes in after Michaelmass, viz. in Decemb [...]r or Ianuary, and hold so most part of the Winter, yet this shall not Rot Sheep, except some few in low Marshie Moorish Grounds, where they have store of Grass, and lie nights and days and have no Hay given them. Or if Rains and floods come in Ianuary, February, March or April, and hold dripping till the latter end of May, or beginning of Iune, and then cease, and a dry Summer follow, this also will not cause Sheep to Rot, except (as is said before) in some certain low Grounds, a few may be infected.

Hence it appears, that from the latter [Page 47] end of Iuly to the last of September or Octo­ber, is the time for generating this Disease, and wherein it reigns amongst Sheep, if that season happen to prove wet. Now the Reasons why Sheep are not so subject to this Disease at other times of the year, are,

1st. If Rains or wet Weather come in after Michaelmass, in December, Ianuary, or the like, the season then is cold; which does check and consume the raw indigested flegmy substance or matter, which all grass is filled with in the latter end of Summer, viz. in August, September and October, as appears by the Latter-Math or Hay made in those Moneths, what poor feeble stuff is it, in comparison of that Hay the first Spring produceth? And how little heart it affords to those Cattel that feed thereon?

2dly, In this Winter-season most Sheep are in part kept with Hay, which dries up [...]d consumes all that superfluous Moisture which is so injurious to Sheep.

3dly, The Coldness of this Winter-season causeth the natural Heat in all Crea­ [...]res to become more Central, which gives [...]rength and power to the Stomach and [...]igestive Faculty to digest and throw off [...]ll raw cold superfluous matter, which at the other before-mentioned season, gives [...]ccasion for the generation of this Disease; [Page 48] for all cold weather strengthens the natural Heat, sharpens the Appetite, and make the Spirits strong and powerful. Thus both Men and Beasts have sharper Appetites and stronger Digestions, and can without prejudice, eat more Food in cold seasons than in hot, and less Drink does serve them; for the stronger and more lively the natural Heat and Spirit are, the greater and sharper is the Stomach; but a less quantity of Drink will suffice Nature, because all ex­ternal Heat, if it exceed the Medium, draws forth and evaporates the pure subtle Spirits, which impedes and weakens the Natural Heat and Action of the Stomach, and then the hot sierce original Fires of Saturn and Mars are stirred up, and become manifest in all the external parts of the Body, which indisposeth the whole, and makes the Members glow with an unnatural Heat; and therefore then all Creatures desire and require more Drink and less Food; but then they are not so strong and lively as in▪ cold, but faintish, and more apt to contract Diseases from every Inconveniency o [...] Disorder.

4thly, If Wet or Rainy Weather come [...] in in March or April, and goes out in the latter end of May or Iune, then there i [...] no danger of this Disease, because th [...] [Page 49] are kept with Hay most part of the Spring, which as is mentioned before, destroys all the putrifying Matter; Besides, the Spring is powerful and lively, giving Life and Vertue to all Creatures, the warm and en­livening Beams of the returning Sun em­brace, the reviving Nature, fills all things with Spirit, so as that the Grass and Herbs then are freed from, or nothing so subject to that gross flegmy Substance most sorts of Herbage consists of in the latter Spring, by which all Creatures are healthier, and bet­ter able to withstand Disorders or Incon­veniences that happen from the Elements. Besides, Sheep, as is hinted before, have been at Hay a considerable time, which is a sound, healthy, hearty Food, suitable to their Natures, and drying up all Super­fluities; nay, the very Season it self is an Antidote and Preservative; for how plea­sant, lusty and vigorous is every thing brought forth at the approach of the Sun? and how joyful all the Creation is, every thing seeming to sport it self in various Delights? But when once Phoebus drives down his fainting Steeds, and with shor­ter Marches descends with his Charriot from the back of Cancer, then quickly does all Natures Wardrobe begin to be fullied, every Vegetable and Annimal droops, de­cays [Page 50] and languishes, and the Earth mourn­ing the Retreat of her Coelestial Lover, with his golden Locks, brings forth none but Sickly and Rickety Productions. And therefore no wonder if so tender a Crea­ture as Sheep be at that time much more lyable to contract this Disease for the Rea­sons aforesaid, than in the Spring.

5thly, But to come to some more parti­cular Reasons; all Astrologers say, that Sheep are under the dominion of the Coe­lestial Sign Aries, into which the Eye of the World enters the 9th or 10th day of March, at which time the Sun is strong and powerful, as being exalted therein; and therefore then this glorious Coelestial Body by its benevolent Influences, chears and comforts all things; But on the other side, about the 11th of September, Sol enters Libra, where he is in some degree impe­dited or debilitated, as being in opposition to his Exaltation: These Coelestial Influ­ences do often take place, but more espe­cially when other Causes concur, as when Rains come in about Iuly, and continue till September or October, and the like.

6thly, You must consider that at this latter Season of the Year, Sheep have passed through the Heats of Summer, which have [Page 51] awakned their natural Heat, stirring up from the Center the hidden, or sleeping Poysons, whence the Spirits on all occa­sions are apt to be evaporated, and Diseases generated, which then meeting with Food full of gross Humors, and earthy flegmatick Matter, arising from declining Vegetati­ons, do then manifest themselves to the great prejudice of Health; for which Rea­sons those Moneths of Iuly, August, Sep­tember and October are most dangerous both to Man and Beasts; Are not Men more sickly in this Season than in any other? and also Diseases then contracted more fierce and mortal, as Plagues, Rots, Mur­rains, &c?

Not that it is to be doubted but Sheep may Rot, on have watry Diseases in the Win­ter, as well as in Autumn, but then it must be such as lie Night and Day in marshie wet low Grounds, living chiefly on Grass, which in all wet Seasons, with­out giving them some Hay at times with it, is very pernicious to them; whence it comes to pass, that most Years such Grounds do more or less distemper Sheep; As for Example, in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, where their Land is rich and low, their Grass plentiful, and Sheep large, but the Country-Farmers are cunning [Page 52] enough to save themselves prety well, for knowing that their Sheep are subject to this fatal Disease, they are careful to time it, and bring them up to London Market, be­fore they are too far gone, and then our Citizens and dainty Dames do make good Cheer with this stately and (no doubt) very tender Mutton, and are as Blith and Merry at the Burial of their Carcasses in their own Paunches, as Young Men and Maids are at their Whitson-Ale, or liquerish Matrons at a Gossipping.

Some do say, that there is a Spring Rot sometimes, but this is very rare, and when it happens, the chief Cause has been ei­ther the disorders of a wet Winter, where care has not been to give them a sufficient quantity of Hay, or that they have fed in low wet Grounds, where they have eaten too great a quantity of Grass, or else they have been Touched the Michaelmass before with the Rot; and though they do hold well all the Winter, yet when the Spring comes, the hidden Distemper manifests it self, for at that time Nature has a fresh and lively Motion, and what is Infirm will then appear.

Having thus discoursed and laid open the Cause of the Rot in Sheep, from the Closet [Page 53] of Nature, and pointed out the time when, and by what means that Mischief is to be feared; so that I hope all Shepherds and Sheep masters will hence-forth take parti­cular notice when Rains, and much wet weather happens about Iuly, August or September, or when it is generally a wet Summer, and continues so till towards Michaelmess, and that they will remember, then is the Time to be feared of a general Rot. I shall now proceed to befriend them with some Directions, how to pre­vent the danger in that case threatned.

1st. You ought to keep your Sheep in the Fold till eight or nine a Clock in the fore-noon, or longer, according as the Morning is either wet or dry, the Air humid or clear; or if there be great Dews, as often there are in August and September, and also in October; and when the Sun and Elements have pretty well dry'd up the moist Vapours and Humidity off from the Earth, then you may let them out, and keep them on the highest Ground, and where it is dryest, and if the day prove dry, then you may about the middle of the day feed them in the lower grounds for two or three hours; and when it draws towards Evening, put them again on the higher places, always observing to fold them be­fore [Page 54] the Dews fall, and let them be folded on dry grounds, it being injurious to Sheep to be out late at night, by reason of the humid Vapours which then arise.

2dly. If it do chance to rain a consider­able part of the day, then you ought to give your Sheep a little Hay at night and in the morning, which is the surest Remdy against this Disease, and also many others; for dry Food is proper at all times for Sheep, especially in wet seasons, and ought to be given them once a day all the Moneths be­fore mentioned. There are likewise other sorts of Food, which are admirable for this purpose, viz. When the Weather is very wet, and the Air humid, with great Dews, to give them three or four times a week, either at night or morning, Oates in the straw, or Pease and Barley; this will prove an absolute prevention of the fore­mentioned Disease; or if your Oates or other Grains be Thresht, then mix some Salt with them, and so give it them. If this be continued, and the afore-mentioned Observations followed, it will certainly prevent the Rot and other Distempers; for this dry Food does afford such a firm Nou­rishment, that it dries up and consumes all superfluous Moisture in the Body. Now the Rot in Sheep is a Dropsical Disease, or [Page 55] the overflowing of gross Flegmatick Hu­mours, which in a little time spoils the Complexion, that it becomes of a pale wa­terish Colour: It also generates hard con­gealed matter or knobs, corrupting the fountain of Blood, and causeth the Body to become cold; for the Bodies of all Crea­tures have their Original from the Watery and Earthy Qualities, as the Spirits have theirs from the Element of Air: But in what thing soever the Element of Water does too violently predominate, there all is poysoned, the Natural Heat loseth its power and proper Action, and Nature is put out of her way, and all the Humours and sweet Oyl, or Balsamick Vertues turn sower, or become of a stinking Rankness, whence proceeds Melancholly, and a sad heavy Spirit, which is the beginning of Sorrow and end of all Pleasure, which no­thing will so well prevent as continual supplies of the before-mentioned Foods, viz. Hay, Corn in the straw, or Thresht Corn mixt with a little Salt. This will certainly cut off the causes of this Distem­per in the bud, if other circumstances, mentioned before, be duely observed.

There is another thing which will very much help to prevent the generation of this Disease, (the Rot in Sheep) viz. to have [Page 56] large sheds, or low wide Houses, like Barns, but open on all sides, to house your Sheep in, during wet cold Weather, which is a general Rule in Flanders; and when the day proves wet, many times they will keep them in the House all day, and give them Hay; but at all times they observe not to let them out before the Sun and Ele­ments have exhaled the moist Dews and Vapours, and to house them again at Night, before the said Dews and Humidity falls; by this means they preserve their Sheep from the Rot; whereas otherwise their Land being low, their Sheep would almost every year be swept away thereby.

But note, that these Rules and Obser­vations must be Timed; for a little In­dustry and small Charge may prevent the Mischief; but if once your Sheep be taint­ed, then it will be an hard matter to re­cover them; you may possibly preserve them, with a great deal of care and charge, till spring, but then most of them will dye. Therefore be sure use these Preven­tive Remedies as soon as you perceive the Weather begin to require them.

But when there happens three or four days, or a week of dry Weather, then you need give them Hay but once every other day, or a few Oats or other Grain, [Page 57] either in the straw, or thresht mixt with a little Salt, as you see occasion. I would, by the permission of the Lord, be he that with four or five Loads of good old Hay, viz. Hay one year old, and a few Oates or other Grain, preserve and secure three or four Hundred Sheep from the fore-men tioned Disease in a general Rot, and I would not take any other measures than what are before specified.

Those Sheep-masters that live in places subject to the Rot, may do well to change their Sheep every two, three or four years, for Hill-Country Sheep, which will, on the change of Pasturage thrive much better, and not prove so subject to Diseases; for change of Pasture for Sheep, and Air for Men, generally proves Healthy: In all Hilly poor Grounds, where Sheep do work hard for their Living, they do thereby be­come healthy, strong and hardy; for Na­ture in all Creatures does use highest dili­gence to Arm and defend her self against those Inconveniences hard keeping and labour bring on her: But those Sheep that are bred in Rich Pastures, where they have Grass in superfluity, lying at ease, filling their Bellies without much labour or mo­tion, like idle People, who feed to super­fluity and to sleep; such Sheep, I say, are [Page 58] subject to many Diseases; for no Creature can attain to Fatness, except they have Ease, and superfluity of Meat and Drink, which consequently renders them full of gross Phlegmatick Humours and Juices, which do in a degree deprave Nature of its innate Heat, and as it were suffocate the pure natural spirits and strength, and stop the Passages and contract the Vessel of the Sto­mach, and give much flesh and little spirit, and that too very impure; Hence the Flesh of such Creatures that are large, and bred in low Marshie grounds, loaded with fat­ness, is nothing so sweet and pleasant as that of smaller Cattel, that are fed more moderately on high dry Grounds. Nor will their Flesh take salt or keep so well or long, nor breed so good Nurtriment, more especially in the said Moneths of August, September and October; for then the flesh and sat, not only of Sheep, but all other Annimals, is far more gross, and fuller of flegmatick Juices than at any other times of the year, and that's the Reason it will not keep so long, or take salt, as at other times; for where the Phlegm abounds in any flesh, or fat, there the pure Spirits and balsamick Vertues are weak, & those few that are, are impure, therefore such Flesh presently turns to Putrifaction, the gross Juices and Hu­midity [Page 59] hindering the Salt from incorpora­ting with it; for where the spirituous part of flesh is hurt or wounded, either by over­fatness and phlegmy substance, or the Creature surfeited, or the flesh kept too long after 'tis killed, &c. then such flesh will not take salt, nor ke [...] as others do. If you think this strange, ask the Tallow-Chandlors whether the Tallow be not fuller of gross Phlegm in Summer than in Winter, but more especially Iuly, August, September and October; Which does render all Crea­tures more subject to Diseases in that Sea­son, than at other times, and their flesh un­clean, and apter to generate Diseases in men that eat it, as I have more clearly and largely demonstrated in our Treatise of Tem­perance, and the Nature of Things.

A Soft and Idle Life has no sympathy either with God or Nature; for the Heavens, Stars and Elements, with the wonderful and amazing variety of Beasts, Fishes, Vegetations and Minerals, wherewith the lower Worlds are endued and furnisht, are the Works of the Lord, and are still continued and maintained by his All-wise Providence and divine Word, which is never idle; for Idleness is allowed no beeing, either in the internal or external Worlds; all in the beginning was brought into a Beeing through Labour and Motion; as the wise Moses saith, The Lord moved himself on the face of the Waters; and [Page 86] they are still sustain'd to this day by the same active and working Powers of the Creator; Consider the daily motion of the Coelestials, viz. the Sun, Moon, and the wonderful Companies of Stars, their Rising, Setting, continual Courses and various Consigu­rations, all in exact Order; behold the Rivers Labouring continually in a long progress, to pay their Tributary Streams to the Ocean, and the Ocean by Indu­strious Tides, and Flux and Refluxes, stri­ [...]ing to supply the Land: The Sun exhales Moisture from below, and bottles it up in Clouds till an appointed time, and then returns it with plentious Usury to water and make fat the Earth with the Dew of Heaven: Without Motion there is no Vege­tation; should the Primum Mobile stand idly still but a few minutes, the whole Munda [...]e Systime would be ready to sink into Con­fusion. All those necessary things that serve for the Support and Accomodation of Humane Life, are not, cannot be procured without Labour; Nay, Life it self cannot otherwise be maintained; The Blood must be always circulating, the Pulse (Nature's Clock) continually striking, the Stomach must labour hard in her Kitchin to dress, prepare and separate Aliment for the other parts; the Lungs be busie in Transpiration, [Page 87] the Hears sending forth Reserves and new Supplies of Spirits to all the Frontier Gar­risons and remote Limbs of the Body, whilst the Brain is no less solicitous to give the necessary Orders from the grand Counsel held between [...]he Understanding, the Will and the Judgment; whereunto Intelligence every minute arrives from the five Sally­ports, call'd, [The [...]] and all their Results are carefull [...] & treasur'd up by the Recorder [Memory] Nay, should the Hands grow sluggish, & neglect supply­ing the Stomach with food, the Mouth would soon be open to [...] their Laziness.

From all which 'tis apparent, as if written with Sun-Beams, That nothing is a greater Evil than Idleness; it breaketh the first Command of God, and contra­dicts the whole course of Nature, and is the Mother of Oppression and Violence: A Sin that never goes alone, but attended with a black Train of other Vices, always subject to the gross inferiour Powers and evil Demons, which continually promp them on to commit all kinds of Out-rages against God and his [...]aw in Nature. From whom did all vain Playes and wicked Games and such other lewd Exercises, which they call Diversions and Pastimes (as if TIME (than which nothing is more procious, and [Page 88] for want of which, or the mis-spending it, there are, or one day will be such loud and lamentable Complaints) were such a Drug, that we must be beholding to the Devil's Inventions of Cards, Dice, Coemedies, &c. to rid it off our hands) Whence, I say, did all those Devises (which are daily the utter Ruin of Thousands) proceed, or who were the first Inventers, and continue the chief Haunters of them? Are they not such as oppress the Poor, and get Money and Riches by Villany and Vio­lence, and abandon themselves to Idleness, Gluttony, Drunkenness and all Uncleanness?

This sort of People it was, that by giving way to the Dictates of their own evil Ge­nius, found out and brought into fashion those varieties of unlawful Sports, as Cards, Dice, Ninepins, Billeards, Shu [...]e-Boards, Lotteries, Whimsey-boards, Stage-Playes, mixt wanton Dancings, Huntings, Hawk­ings, Low-bellings, Drolls, Iack-Pudding-Tricks, Foot-Balls, Wrastlings, Cornish-Hurlings, Cudgel-Playing, Bull-baitings, Bear baitings, Cock fightings, Races, Ring­ings, and a thousand other Vanities, of which some are matters of meer Hazard, whereby men led on by Covetousness, lose their own Estates, in hopes to get other mens, and both the Contenders at last are [Page 89] equal Beggars; others are Rude, Ro­bustick, Unmanly and Unscemly; others, Cruel, Bloody and Oppressive to our inno­cent Fellow-Creatures; others, Effaeme­nate, and tending to Debanchery, but all vain, and to be condemned, as in many respects, so particularly because they take up that Time which ought to be better im­ployed, viz. to the Honour and Glory of God, the Improvement of our own Un­derstandings, and rational Faculties, and the publick Benefit of the Creation.

Where Note, That by Idleness I do not mean a Letargy of the Soul, or Stupidity of the Body, or the not doing any thing at all, but the doing of Evil, or that which we ought not to do; for in the first sence, there is scarce any thing ilde in the whole Creation, the Devil himself is busie, run­ning up and down like a Roaring Lyon, seeking whom he may devour; and who­ever he be that doth not exercise himself in Virtue and Goodness, he is always doing the contrary: Mens Desires and Imagin­ations cannot stand still; nay, even when the Body sleeps, they are working and framing a thousand Idea's and Chimara's; therefore when we exhort men to eschew Idleness, we mean, That they should for sake the pursuit after vain things, which are [Page 90] unnessary, and will not turn to any solid account, but rather are evil and destrustive; and on the other [...] that they would apply themselves to diligence in the Ways of God and Nature, and the Exercises of Piety and Virtue.

Thus our Auc [...]lor Adam, that he might not be idle, had his Task set him, even in the state of Innocence; And what was it? To dress his Garden and keep it. This is the appointed business of all his Off-spring; every one ought to imploy himself in pre­serving the Garden of his Soul clear from the over-spreading W [...]ds of Vice and inor­dinate affections, and his Body free from Uncleannesses, and super [...]uous Humours; and though in Paradise his Work was but his Diversion, (as indeed all Labour to those in Paradisical state is no more) yet as soon as he had precipitated himself from that happy Condition, he is presently en­joyn'd to get his Bread by the sweat of his Brows; no [...] by the Sweat and Labour of other mens Brows, but of his own; not to spend and consume on his Lusts and Pas­sions as much as five Hundred can get by their hard Labour, as is now a days practi­sed by many much inferior to him, who make both men and Beasts groan under such heavy Burthens as are their Ruin, [Page 91] which is a Crying Sin, though the least re­garded of any other; do not some particular Persons spend as much daily in Wine, strong Drink and Rich Food, (compounded with as many Ingredients as there are weeks in the Year) as would well sustain ten, twenty or forty People in simple harmless Food? And is there not spent daily in one City, viz. in London, near Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling in Wine, Brandy, and other Spi­rits and strong Liquors? which is Eighteen Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling every year. A Prodigious Sum of Money to be swallowed up and pissed away in one year, by a parcel of Spoil-Goods, on a spot of Ground not above six or seven Miles long, and three or four broad! The greatest part of all which is spent in superfluity, and by idle People, as well to their own particular Prejudice, in point of Health, as to the Impoverishment of the Publick, and Robbing of the more Poor and Industrious of those necessary Supplios which God and Nature bounti­fully allow'd to all Mankind. And yet this Gluttonous Invasion amongst most of the Rich and Great, is not counted any Evil; for they esteem it their Priviledge, saying, What! has not God given me Plenty? Where­fore then should I pine my Self, or deny to [Page 92] gratifie my Appetite and craving Desires? And thus they study to pamper their Bo­dies, even till they oppress them, and im­ploy all the noble Faculties of their Souls to advance the worse than bruitish Pleasure of their Throats, and Lusts of the Flesh; as if the whole business of their Lives were only Injection and Ejoction, never so much at once considering the hard Labours, Cries, Groans, Dangers, Wants, and sore Oppressions both Men and Beasts do undergo to procure those things, which they so vainly and superfluously consume, destroying thereby their own Bodies, and stupifying their Minds and Senses, where­by they are not only rendred incapable of every good Work, but the Soul becomes a Den sit to entertain the Infernal Inha­bitants.

'Tis most certain, that Idloness and Glut­tony are two of the greatest Tyrants in the World; for they enthrall the Mind, and draw it to all kind of Vitiousness, and both enfeeble and torture the Body by a great Number of Diseases, which are also entailed to their Posterity; so that what men call Pleasure proves the greatest Pain. For tell me, O thou idle and sottish Glutton! what real Pleasure is there in the continual supping of VVine and Drunkenness, and [Page 93] to have thy Table twice or thrice a day loaded with the Richest Foods and Fruits, not only of our own Country, but fetcht with vast Toil and Hazards from the fa [...] thest Corners of the Earth? Do you not hereby Tire, and make simple Nature groan under many sore Burthens? Do not your Veins glow with an unnatural Heat? Are not your Heads pestered with Fumes and Dullness? Do not your Mem­bers ake with very Idleness, and languish for want of Exercise? Is not the sharp­ness of your Pallate dulled, so that you cannot taste the good Relish of the best Food, or most Cordial Drinks? Are not your Passages stopt and furr'd, and the Digestive Faculty and Natural Heat of the Stomach debilitated, so that Nature cannot make any true Separation; whence are generated evil Juices, that enfeeble all the Joynts, and put the whole Systime of Na­ture's Occonomy in your Bodies out of Kelter, whence corrupt gross Blood is ge­nerated, and consequently impu [...]e Spirits; from whence an Universal ill habit of Body arises?

The Richer Meats and Drinks are, the sooner do they tyre and nauseate, if taken in Excess, and when Nature is forced to receive them. Idleness and Superfluity can [Page 94] find no place of Rest; their Horses nor Charriots can give them ease, nor their softest Beds, nor most delicate Couches, [...]ut all things that they intend for their Pleasure, prove wearisom and painful unto them. Therefore the Wise Antients, and great Princes and Prophets, the better to obey the Commands of God, and imitate his Works, both Coelestial and Terrestrial, were skilled, not only in sublime Arts and Sciences, but also in all Husbandry, and the mannagement of Cattel; As Abraham the great and Pious Father of the Faithful, and his Son Isaac, and his Grand-son Iacob, and Royal David, &c. whose Sepulchers, or the Shadows of their Memories our modern superfluous DONS pretend to Ho­nour, and yet at the same time scorn to imitate them, but hate and contemn their Deeds. That famous Patriarch Isaac did not say to his Son Iacob, Thou art my Heir, it does not become thee to spend thy time to un­derstand Husbandry, or to be a Plow-man or a Shepherd, and a Companion of Clowns and [...]usticks, [...]ut I will have thee bred a Gentle­man, that is, E [...] [...]nd drink of the best, and superfluo [...]sly, and do not work, but ride up and down in thy Coach, and be waited upon by a parcel of Servants altogether as idle as thy self; and thou shalt Rack thy Tenants, and Domi­neer [Page 95] over the Poor, and oppress and violate their Rights, and spend their Labours, and the sweat of their Brows in Riot and Wantonness, and lead a lazy swaggering Life, and bear all out because thou art my Son, and well Descended. But alas! these Maxims of Education were not known or practised in those days, but the Prudent Fathers brought up their Du­tiful and Laborious Children to their own Trades, and in honest Country Imploy­ments. Iacob had twelve Sons, how many of them did he make Lawyers, University­men, or Inn [...] of Court-Gentlemen? No, No; they were every one of them Shep­herds, and were not ashamed of their Oc­cupation, nor thought it any dishonour to their Birth; for those were the Golden Times, so much celebrated by the An­tients, when Kings and Princes studied Wisdom, and preferr'd the true Know­ledge of God and Nature in themselves before the vain Conceits of Ignorance, Ambition, or the outward and barren Noise of Lip-Learning, but Tutor'd their Children in the Mysteries of undisguised Nature, and contented themselves with [...]lain Country-Lives, mean Clothing and [...]ple Food, which render'd them sound [...]d healthful, both in Body and Mind; [...]ir Children for that Reason being not so [Page 96] subject to such a number of Diseases as ours, nor to Immature Deaths; for Temperance and Cleanness in Meats and Drinks, joyn'd with moderate Exercises and Labours, are most excellent Assistants, and very much tend to the rendering of men capable of obtaining the true Knowledge of God and Nature in themselves; for when the Body is free from Disorders, the pure thin Va­pours of the Air are suckt in as by a Spunge, on all parts, which do wonderfully refresh and replenish Nature, and render the Body full of brisk lively Spirits, which make it vigorous and sprightful.

And Labour duely followed does not only strengthen the Body, but fortifies us against many Evils, making all the Limbs better able to discharge those Functions for which they are designed, begets Appetite, helps Concoction, Corroborates the Sto­mach and Natural Heat, frees the Passages from Obstructions, makes the Blood cir­culate freely, &c.

In a word, Labour and Abstinence are not only two of the best Physitians in the World, and two of the best Common-Wealths-men, the Pillars of Strength and Fortitude, but the Grounds of all Virtue. Therefore know, O Man! if thou dost not imploy those Talents which God hath [Page 97] entrusted thee with, and put them to that use for which they were lent thee, then the Lord, the great Creator will spue thee out of his Mouth, as he did the proud dis­obedient Angels: Nor will it serve thy turn in that day to say, My Father got an Estate by Oppression, Blood and Violence, and made me his Heir, why then should I work? Had not I Slaves to do my Drudgery? I am a Gentleman born and bred, who shall hinder me from taking my Pleasure in Carrouzing, Pampering my Carcass, diverting my self in all manner of Uncleanness and Idleness? No No, these Allegations will not excuse, but aggravate both your Guilt and your Punish­ment. Every one must give an Account of his Stewardship. No Punctilio's of Gentility, or Birth, or Blood, or Titles, or Estate will stand thee in stead; nor any mans saying, It was my own, and therefore I might do there-with what liked me best. For this is a most false Usurpation and Robbing God of his Propriety in his Creatures, and assuming the same to thy self. Alas, vain Man! The Lands, the Mines, the Fruits, the Corn, every thing thou so proudly boastest to be thine own, are Gods; for he made them, he preserves them, he endues them with all their Virtues, he lent thee the Possession of them to imploy them to [Page 98] his Glory, and the good of thy fellow. Creatures; not to lavish them away on thy Lusts: And if thou dost abuse them, he can in the twinkling of an Eye take thee from them, or them from thee, and be­stow them on another; nay, so far art thou from being Lord Paramount over those out­ward things thou enjoyest, that thou hast no Right nor Title to thine own Self, but thy Person is Gods by Creation, who made thee to serve him, and not thy own Imaginations, and that thou mightst be capable of serving him, and thereby in the end to obtain that Happiness which is the Consummation of thy Happiness or chiefest Good; he hath endued thee with Organs of Body and Faculties of Mind, but thou let'st them rust with Idleness, or dost weaken and destroy them by Excess, and so thy Work, that very Work for which thou wast made remains undone; thy Creator is most ungratefully neglected, or Impiously affronted; thy Fellow-Creatures, instead of a Guide or Helper, find thee a Tyrant, and their Tormentor: Thy Life is rendred uncomfortable here, and all Endeavers after a better state hereafter are by thee sleighted. What remains then, but that the Justice of divine Vengeance should arise terribly against thee, and cut thee off [Page 99] from the Land of the Living, and cast thee into utter Darkness and ever lasting Flame, to have thy Portion with the Devil and his Angels, whom thou hast imitated and ser­ved. But on the other side, Blessed and thrice Happy are they that in time entertain and cherish Temperance, and exercise them­selves diligently in VVell-doing, and do not misuse the good Gifts and Graces of their Creator, whose Garments are not stain'd with Oppression, but they retain Humanity, and live under the Dominion of the Friendly Principle and Divine Love, being at Peace with the whole Creation; for Nothing then can Hurt them, because They have hurt Nothing.

THough it may seem very Imperti­nent and Unnecessary to go about to repeat to you the Occasions and Motives that inclined you to abandon the Land of your Nativity, and those comfortable outward Imployments and Accommodations which most of you had there, and to adventure your selves to the Hazards of a long Voyage at Sea, to come to this Remote part of the World; yet lest you should forget those Inducements, as often it happens, that men by a slothful Negligence or Ignorance, after some [Page 101] Tract of Time, fall from their first Love, and blindly hurrey themselves into the very same Mischiefs which they intended to avoid, and build up again what they justly endeavoured to destroy, not fore­seeing the future ill Conveniences of their present (supposed Innocent) Actings; I shall take leave briefly to mention some few of those weighty Causes which I am confi­dent originally sway'd your Spirits to this Transplantation, and those good Ends, for the obtaining of which you chiefly remo­ved hither.

The Motives of our Retreating to these New Habitations, I apprehend (measuring your Sentiments by my own) to have been,

1st. The desires of a Peaceable Life, where we might Worship God and Obey his Law with freedom, according to the Dictates of the divine Principle, unincumbred with the Mouldy Errors and Fierce Invasions of Tradition, Politick Craft, Covetous or Ambitious Cruelty, &c.

2dly. That we might here, as on a Virgin Elysian Shore, commence or improve such an Innocent course of Life, as might unload us of those other outward Cares, Vexations and Turmoils, which before we were al­ways subject unto from the hands of Self­designing and Unreasonable Men.

[Page 102] 3dly. That as Lot, by flying to little Zoar, from the Ungodly Company of a more Populous Magnificent Dwelling, we might avoid both being grieved with the sight and Infections, as well as odious Examples of Horrid Swearings, Cursings, Drunkenness, Gluttony, Uncleanness, and all kinds of De­bauchery continually committed with greediness; and also escape the Iudgments threatned to every Land polluted with such Abominations.

4thly. That as Trees are transplanted from one [...]oyl to another, to render them more Thriving and better Bearers, so we here in Peace and secure Retirement under the [...]ntiful Protection of God, and in the Lap of the least adulterated Nature, might every one the better improve his Ta­lent, and bring forth more plentious Fruits to the Glory of God, and publick Well­fare of the whole Creation.

5thly. And Lastly, That in order here­unto, by our Holy Doctrine, and the Pra­ctical Teachings of our Exemplary Abstemi­ous Lives, transacted in all Humility, So­briety, Plainness, Self-denial, Virtue and Honesty, we might gain upon those Thou­sands of poor dark Souls scattered round about us, (and commonly, in way of Con­tempt and Reproach call'd, Heathens) and [Page 103] bring them not only to a state of Civility, but real Piety; which effected, would turn to a more satisfying Account, than if with the proud Spaniards, we had gain'd the Mines of Potosi, and might make the Ambitious Hero's, whom the World admires, blush for their petty and shameful Victories, which only tend to make their Fellow-Creatures Slaves to those that are already the Devil's Vassals: Whereas hereby we might release Millions from the Chains of Satan, and not only teach them their Rights as Men, and their Happiness when Christians, but bring them from the Power of Darkness, into the Marvellous Light and the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of the most High.

These Thoughts, those Designs, My Friends, were those that brought you hi­ther; and so far only as you pursue and accomplish them, you obtain the end of your Journey. If these be neglected, tho' your Ports and Rivers were full of Trading Ships, your Land never so Populous, and loaden with the most vendable Commodi­ties, yet I would be bold [...]o say, That your Plantation were in a most unthriving Con­dition; that like men in a Feaver, tumbling from one side of the Bed to the other, you have shifted your Dwelling, but not re­covered [Page 104] your Health, nor are one Inch the nearer your proposed Happiness in Ame­rica, than in Europe; and have travelled some Thousands of Miles to as little pur­pose as the Iesuites into Iapan and China, or foolish Pilgrims in their tedious vain Journeys to Compostella, Loretto, or Ieru­salem.

Our business therefore here in this New Land is not so much to build Houses, and establish Factories, and promote Trades and Manufactories, that may enrich our selves, (though all these things in their due place are not to be neglected) as to erect Temples of Holiness and Righteousness, which God may delight in; to lay such lasting Frames and Foundations of Temperance and Virtue as may support the Superstructures of our future Happiness, both in this and the other World.

In order to these Great and Glorious Ends, it will well become, nay, is the In­dispensible Duty of all that are Superiours amongst us, to make Laws and imitate Customs that may tend to Innocency and an Harmless Life, so as to avoid and prevent all Oppression and Violence either to Men or Beasts; by which we shall strengthen the Principle of Well-doing, and qualifie the Fierce, Bitter, Envious, Wrathful Spirit, [Page 105] which (as 'tis said of Fire and Water in their Extreams) is a good Servant, but a bad Master.

Be pleased therefore to give me leave, (or whether you are pleased, and will give leave, or no, I must, because 'tis my Duty, take it) to nominate some Particulars, which in my Opinion will be convenient for us to observe, and may be as so many Pillars to sustain our New-Building, and prevent those Deluges of Evil, that other­wise will in time unavoidably break in upon us.

I. Since Temperance is the firmest Esta­blishment of a People, and most sits them for all the Duties of a Civil and Religious Life; since Strong and Heady Drinks are no way necessary to Humane Life, but rather their at first (perhaps) innocent and moderate use, is most apt to degene­rate into Excess, and the Example of those that use them most sparingly, tends to encourage others to partake therein, who have not so much discretion as to use them properly, (which indeed should be only in certain cases, as Physick) as is apparent in our Neighbouring Indians, whose Well­fare we ought, in Christian Charity, to tender as much as our own, and not lay [Page 106] Stumbling-blocks before them, whereby both our Holy Religion becomes scandaliz'd, as well as our future Temporal Safety endan­gered. I would humbly, and I hope may justly, piously and prudentially Advise, That we should either wholly prohibit, or lay very large Impositions on all sorts of Brandy, Rum, distill'd Spirits and Wine, so as to render the common [...]se of them impracticable.

For much better it is, that the Merchants that deal only therein, and the Distillers should los [...] their Trade, and the Vines for that use be neglected, than that We, and our Posterity and Neighbours should by such a Temptation perish, and commit all kind of Outrages and Uncleanness in the use of them: For what if all such amongst us, either Young or Old, Rich or Poor, that are found to drink of them (unless in case of Sickness, and prescribed as Physick) were punished with Servitude for a certain time, and the Offence not to be bought off with Money; What would the Publick, or any sober Person be the worse for this? Hath not woful Experience taught us the evil Consequences of drinking such Liquors in our own Native Country? Are not such Practises the Leading Cards to all Vitiousness? They precipitate Young Men into all kinds of Fury, Madness and [Page 107] Folly; and besides weakening the already exhausted Natural Heat of the more Antient, they render Gray Hairs, (which ought to be the Ensigns of Gravity and Wis­dom) ridiculous and contemptible; In Women they destroy and corrupt the very Radix of Nature, and intail a great Num­ber of incurable Diseases on Posterity; add to this, that they not only Spend and impaire the outward Substance most un­necessarily, but at the same time drown the Mind, and debilitate all the Intellectual Faculties, and by extravagant Expences render us uncapable to perform those Of­fices of Charity and Beneficience, which we might otherwise, and ought, render to our poor Neighbours, and the publick benefit of our Country: In a word, these Superfl [...]ities and needless things cannot be procured and used without hazard to our Health and Lives, and oppression to the whole Creation, for all such things are dear, and hard to come by; and when they are procured, the use of them proves of more dangerous Consequence than the charge and trouble of getting them, so that when all is done, they only serve to Tickle and please the sensual and depraved Appetite of vain Men, and to force Nature out of her innocent way.

[Page 108] The use of such Superstuities is attended with many other evil Circumstances, as first, it occasions men to let their Farms or Plantations dear, or makes them labour very hard, or put their poor Servants upon Ex­cessive Toil, and put their own, both Body and Mind as it were on the Rack, to pro­cure such things as are necessary, and then not content therewith, they must exchange them away for that which stands them in no stead, viz. To sell their most pleasant and fragrant Fruits, Grains and Seeds at a low and poor Rate, that with the procede there­of they may buy Brandy, Rum, Wine and the like at dear Rates, As to give a Bushel of brave Wheat for half a Gallon of Brandy, or a Gallon of Rumbullion; What comparison is there to be made between a Twelve Penny Wheat Loaf and a Pint of Brandy, Rum or Wine? The first is the real Preserver of Nature, a durable sustantial Food, most grateful to Nature: The last serves only for a moments time to please the sensual Appetite; but its evil Operations and Effects stay behind, heats the Blood, makes the Veins glow with an unnatural Heat, destroys the edge of the Appetite, renders the whole Body uneasie, and fills the Mind with an innumerable Troop of wanton and vain Imaginations, which seldom are [Page 109] raised, but (as 'tis said of evil Spirits in Magick) they do some Signal Mischief, both to the Body and Mind. Or (to take notice by the way of other the like Super­stuities) which is most useful and beneficial to humane Nature, one Ounce of Nutmegs, Cleves, Mace, and the like, or 20 or 30 brave New-laid Eggs? (which of all sorts of Food are the compleatest, and being well ordered, afford the best of Nourish­ment). Or which is indeed most service­able, a Pound of good Butter or Cheese, or on the other side, a Pound of Sugar, Cur­rants, Raisins, and the like? Indeed these last are excellent Fruits, but they will not grow in our Country, nor under our Ele­vation; therefore not so proper for our Bodies, every Soil naturally bringing forth, by the merciful Wisdom and Providence of God, such Vegetations as are most agree­able to the Constitutions of the People of that place.

Besides, all forreign Fruits and Commodi­ties are dear, and for the most part serve only to squander away Estates, advance Gluttony and procure Diseases, and the frequent use of them does sow seeds of Oppression, causing mankind to labour for that, which in truth he had much better have been without. Has not this particu­lar [Page 110] evil Inclination unto, & hankering after strong Liquors, and other the like Superstui­ties, destroy'd the Healths and Estates of many Thousands in these Western Indies, (as they are called) of our Country-men, viz. in Iamaica, Barbadoes and the Leward Islands, where they have and do make it a common practice to sell their excellent Butter, Eggs, Fruits, and fragrant Herbs, their Hens, Turkies, Ducks, &c. to purchase Rum, Brandy, Wine, and putrisied stinking salt Flesh and Fish, which have destroy'd their Healths, emptied their Purses, and rendered them in every respect Unhappy?

Moreover, the Disorders hence arising have put out the Eye of their Understan­ding, and debauch'd the Natural Faculty of distinguishing between Good and Evil, Wholesom and Harmful, Pleasant and Nau­scous, and made them Bruitish, Sottish and Ignorant, even like Swine, to take plea­sure in that Mire wherein by Custom they have long wallowed themselves.

In particular, there is a pernicions sort of Drink in great Reputation and Use amongst them, call'd, PUNCH, which with your leave, I shall give you some Account of, as to both its Nature and Oper­ation, to the end we may expell and pre­vent, even in the bud, the growth of such [Page 111] evil Customs and Habits amongst us. This sort of beloved Liquor is made of Brandy or Run, Sugar, Water, Lime-Iuice, and some­times Ginger or Nutmegs: Now here are four or five Ingredients, all of as different Natures as Light is from Darkness, and all great Extreams in their kind, except only the Water.

Ist. Rum and Brandy are terrible hot, fierce, sulpherous Spirits, void of all the good friendly Balsamick Vertues, and mid­dle Quality, which is the Moderator and Qualifier in each Body, whilst it remains unviolated or entire; but whensoever it shall happen that this benigne Property is wounded or destroyed, either by undue Preparations, or other Accidents, then that thing becomes either of a fierce raging domineering wrathful Operation, or else of a stinking rank Nature, according to the Nature Original in each thing, as is plain in all Balsamick Liquors; As Canary for Example, when once this aimable Quality is destroy'd by the common way of Distil­lation, then it becomes fierce, raging and unnatural; and when the same is perisht in Flesh, Herbs or Fruits, they become putrified, rank and stinking; therefore in all sorts of Foods and Drinks there ought to be great care and diligence used, [Page 112] not to destroy this friendly Quality or middle Nature, which is in every thing the Uniter and Preserver (as it were) of Soul and Body, it being that which gives the most fragrant Smell and pleasant Taste to all Drinks and Foods, and is the true Life, Light and Splendor of every thing in the Annimal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms. And in what thing soever, be it Annimal or Vegetable, this friendly Quality is either naturally impotent, or impaired by pernicious Art, or other Cau­salty, thence forwards that thing is neither good for Food nor Drink, except the Ve­noms of the Martial and Saturnine Proper­ties (which then are altogether predomi­nant) be first corrected; for if it be in Animals, then such Beasts are fierce, cruel, ravenous and unclean; If in Minerals, they are high Poysons; if in Herbs or Fruits, they are rank and fulsom, and also in some degree Poysonous; and all this by their natural Constitution and Quality: And the very same is to be understood when the Essential Virtues of things in themselves, most wholsome and pleasant, come to be hurt or destroy'd; which being done in the Preparation of Rum, Brandy, and all such sulpherous Spirits, 'tis evident how destru­ctive the use thereof must be to Nature.

[Page 113] 2dly. Limes are an immature Fruit, wherein the Martial and Saturnine Poysons are so powerful that the Sun and Elements have not had power to awaken the Balsa­mick Vertues, or bring the Properties of Nature into an equal Operation, as it hath in other Fruits. The Iuice of Limes there­fore contain two siery Qualities, viz. a Saturnine churlish Fire, which is of an hard Co [...]gulating Nature in Operation, like the raw cold Saturnine Airs of Winter, which congeals the Water, and hardens all things; 2dly, a sharp keen Martial Pro­perty, of a sower harth sretting Nature and Operation. And though in that Drink called Punch these Extreams are some-what allay'd or moderated by the friendly In­gredients, viz. Water and Sugar, which do not only render it pleasurable to the Pallate, but also more tollerable to the Stomach. Nevertheless it must be granted that no Extreams can be made altogether Homogeneal by any Artificial Mixtures, or give Nature such ample Satisfaction as those things that are equal in their parts. For the first leave the Stomach and Desire al­ways either Craving and in want, or disor­dered. For when such improper Compo­sitions of Mature and Immature Fruits and Unwholsom Liquors come into the Body, Nature's Limbeck, the Stomach, quickly [Page 114] separates them, as sometimes you may per­ceive after you have eaten or drank such things, by the sower Belches and keen sharp matter the Stomach sends up into the Mouth; as when any shall eat Pyes, Tarts, or other Food made of unripe Fruits, tho' never so much sweetned to deceive the Pal­late, if one make a Meal of them, he shall find those sower distasteful Belchings, and also that they leave his Stomach unsatisfied. The same may also be said even of Ripe Fruits, when too great a number are jumbl'd together of contrary Natures. There are but few that are truly sensible of the many sore Evils and Dissatisfactions improper Mixtures in Diet brings upon the Body and Mind of Man.

But certainly, My Friends and Country­men, you cannot but be sensible how freely, how bountifully the Creator hath given us all those things that are truly Natural and Necessary to support Life; and are they not familiar, and procured with little Labour and less Hazards, either to the Body or Mind? But on the contrary, are not all these Needless things hard to come by, so that oft-times the Acquest of them tends to the Ruin of the Soul and Body? And yet when all's done, the enjoyment of them gives neither Satisfaction to the one nor Health to the other, but makes our [Page 115] Wants the greater; for presently we shall want Doctors and Physick to repair those Ruins which our own Intemperances have made; such improper Meats and Drinks being the original Causes of those cruel Belly-Akes and griping Pains in the Bowels, Feavers, Fluxes and Dropsical Diseases, both here and in the West, as also in the East-Indies, where our English inhabit, all according to the Nature of each place, and as other Circumstances of Intemperances shall concur.

But besides Diseases, there are many other Mischiefs that do attend all those places and Countries that accustom to give themselves up to Supersluity, and especially to the drinking of strong Liquors; for they deprave both Superiors and Inferiors, and are the Nurses of perpetual Crimes, Con­fusions and Disorders on both sides, ren­dering the first Fierce, Rash, Tyrannical, and unfit for Government; and the latter, Rude, Bold, Surly, Inhumane, and more apt to Contemn all Authority than Obey.

Nor is this Prohibition more sit and requisit in respect of our selves, than in regard of our Neighbours; so that if once we admit the common drinking of such Heady Intoxicating Liquors, we may justly expect the same Inconveniences to befall us as have done New-England. For the [Page 116] Venom of such Liquors, by our fatal Ex­ample, will quickly spread it self amongst the Indians, and so instead of making them better, or more humane and tractable, by our Christian Vertues and Abllemious Conversation, we shall make them Tenfold worse, and teach them the g [...]d Sin of Drunkenness, which is the Inlet, Parent and Nurse of the most Monstrous Enormities, as Uncleanness, Murders, &c For all People who have not the true Knowledge of God, and his divine Principle, and the Understanding of the hidden Natures of things, are terrible greedy and desirous after such fierce wrathful Liquors, as also after Food wherein the Blood is, it being the Original of every Life, which is the forbidden Fruit, that man ought not to have eaten, nor awakened, there being searcea more evident Token of his depraved state, and that the fierce wrathful Spirit does bear sway and carry the upper Dominion, in mens hearts, than their violent Inclina­tions after Blood, and fierce strong Liquors, which two things have a simile to, and with each other, and the Devilish Nature and Wrath is nourished by the use of them; which is further manifested by all the Savages of the Desert, as the contrary ap­pears in Sheep, and all tame humane and tractable Creatures, which therefore we [...]ll Clean Beasts.

[Page 117] II. Another thing, my Friends and Country men, which I desire you to con­sider, is, the innumerable Evils and cruel Miseries man draws upon himself, and the whole Creation, is the common use of war-like destructive murthering Weapons, and their Appurtenances, viz. Guns, Swords, Powder, Bullets, Shot, Drums, and the like Devilish Instruments; I may properly so call them, for no doubt the invention and use of them all did originally proceed from, and is still some [...]ted by the fierce Wrath; for as they have been always used for Destruction, so indeed they can have no other use, but only to awaken and en­courage Wrath and Blood-shed; There­fore let not our Streets (the Temples of Peace, and Tabernacles of Love and In­nocence) be encumbred with such mischie­vous Tools; let not our pure Air be di­sturbed with their ungrateful Noises, Clashings, Ratlings and [...]ouncings, nor po­luted with the Sulpherous Steams they send forth, as if so many Devils had marcht through the Skey, and lest the stench of the Infernal Regions behind them.

Wherefore should we give wild Indians, that do not know the use of the Messengers of Death, such a bad and fatal Example, [Page 118] as to shew a new Method how to kill one another, which no doubt in process of time they will improve so far as to make War upon us, and kill us with our own Wea­pons, witness the Evils that by this very means have attended our Neighbours, and the like, we or our Postenity may justly ex­pect. Besides, tell me, I pray, what Af­finity there is or can be imagined between a Christian, and Guns, Swords, Powder, Shot, Drums, and the frightful noise of Armed Troops marching on to Man­slaughter, Desolation and Spoil? does such Imployment of Wrath and Blood, look any thing like the pure, peaceable, meek, in­nocent Christian-Life, which teaches to do unto all as we would be done unto; and to love not only our Friends and our Neighbours, but also our Enemies; which assures us, that those that use the Sword shall perish by the Sword, that commands us, if we are s [...]ote on the Left Cheek, to turn the Right, &c. Can any thing be more Oppo­site to all this, than swaggering in Buff and Armour, and boasting how many Men we have kill'd in a day?

And though many of you do not use, nor perhaps intend these Martial Instruments for Man-slaughter, but only to kill and destroy other inferiour Creatures, and In­habitants of the Elements; yet I pray con­sider, [Page 119] why will you arm your selves, & pro­vide thus to kill those innocent Creatures? Does not bounteous Mother Earth furnish us with all sorts of [...]ood necessary for Life? Wherefore then will you trouble your selves to kill those Creatures who have a have a Title by Nature's Charter to their Lives as well as you? Shall not the groaning of those Creatures call for Ven­geance? And must not there be a Retali­ation? Can you think the Noble Race of Man was made to be a Tyrant over, and a Scourge unto the inferior Inhabitants of the World? No sure, he was to treat and govern them in Love and Friendliness. But instead thereof, he is now become their deadly Enemy. Therefore though you will not fight with, and kill those of your own Species, yet I must be bold to tell you, That these lesser Violences (as you may call them) do proceed from the same Root of Wrath and Bitterness, as the greater do, there being but one grand Fountain from whence all kinds of Evil, Violence, Oppression and Cruelty do proceed, whe­ther it be towards our Brother, Man, or any other of our Fellow-Creatures. And though Custom hath made the killing and oppressing of Beasts, Birds, &c. to be sa [...] ­liar, and consequently easie, and done with­out [Page 120] any Remorse or Bowels of Pity, yet it is still from the dark Root. 'Tis true, we read in Scripture frequently of the Killing both Men and Beasts; and 'tis true, the Lord did give the Nations liberty to kill and eat the Flesh of Inferior Creatures; But note, That this was not done until Mankind had departed out of his holy Law, and goverment of his divine Principle, into his sierce Wrath, out of which wrath­ful Principle he permitted the killing and eating of Flesh; so the Scripture saith, The Wickedness of Man had corrupted the Earth, and then the Lord said, My Spirit shall no longer strive with Man, Threescore and ten years shall be the term of his Life, &c. That is, Man would not submit unto and be governed by his holy friendly Principle of Love and Light; therefore the Lord in his fierce Wrath (which man had rather chosen to precipitate himself into) short­ned mans Life, and gave him Flesh to eat; which sort of Food had the nearest Affinity to that Wrathful Spirit that had then gotten the Government in Man. But in Paradise, that is, whilst man continued under the sweet Conduct of the divine Principle, his Bill of Fare, allowed by his Creator in love, was only, Every Herb bearing Seed, and every Tree in which is the Fruit of a Tree [Page 121] yielding Seed, to you it shall be for Meat, Gen. 1. 29. Thus far the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, as long as they were Obedient, God provided and fed them with Angels Food, pure and delicious Manna; but when they grew Disobedient, and Murmured, and nothing would serve them but Flesh, God gave them Flesh in his Wrath, and Quails in his Displeasure, which fitted them for Destruction.

Furthermors, though you will not kill those of your own kind, yet your Children seeing and learning these Preparations of Oppression and Violence, they may come to be of different Opinions, and by de­grees kill one another with their Fathers Guns and Swords; for we know not what sort of People will come after us, nor what Spirit they may be of: Therefore it will be highly convenient for us to prevent the Growth of all Fierceness, Wrath and Vi­olence, even in the bud, by our Laws and wholsome Customs; for there is no way or means that can or will so powerfully disarm the Rage of Men and other Crea­turs, as Clemecy and Well-doing. Has not the Lord by his divine Hand of Providence brought us into a pleasant and fruitful Country, that flows (as one may say) with Milk and Honey, that is, all things necessary [Page 122] for sustaining Life and rendering it de­lightful, as far as Nature desires, or Inno­cency will admit; why then should we by our Intemperance make i [...] slow with Blood, Oppression and Violence? Will not a little Labour cause the Earth to bring forth a great number of brave fragrant Herbs, Fruits and Grains, which will readily sup­ply us with both dry and moist Nourish­ment, and preserve our Health and Strength without the use of Guns, Swords, Powder, Shot, or the like Engines and Utensils of War, which have their Original from the fierce Wrath of God in Nature, and let men pretend what they will of Ne­cessity, cannot be used, but only by the same Spirit.

Wherefore should we Christians, whose Laws and the Doctrines of our Saviour en­gage us to live in love & unity, that we may be rendred capable to understand and enjoy that glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, which the whole Creation groans to be deli­ver'd into; why, I say, should we with wrath­ful Weapons, and breathing Death and De­struction, terrifie, amaze and alarm not only one another, but also all the Inhabitants of the four Elements, meerly to gratifie our extravagant Desires and wanton Appetites, or furious Passions, and all the while to [Page 123] suffer the friendly Law and good Principle of Gods eternal Love to languish, sigh and groan under the burthens of those intoller­able Evils; in which slate Man often finds himself in great Trouble and Discontent, and wonders very much what may be the occasion thereof; not considering the true cause, viz. That their Hearts and Souls do move in the fierce Wrath, and that they do not do unto all as they would be done unto, nor live in Innocency and Concord with all Creatures, which is the true Chri­stian Doctrine. Therefore to prevent all these Troubles, Dangers and Annixities, it will become us to be wise and Innocent in our Laws and Customs, that our Youth­ful Settlements may be a means to preserve us and our Posterity, and then our Chil­drens Children will bless our Souls, and we shall as naturally attract the sweet In­fluences of the Coelestials, and also the benovelent Aspects of all Creatnes, as the Load-stone doth Iron; for every Like draws to its self its Likeness; for therein consists its highest Ioy.

III. A Third thing I would offer to your Consideration, is, That you will not suffer it to become a Custom, or to be lawful for any amongst you to wear any sort of Gar­ments [Page 124] or Clothing, save only such, both Woolen and Linnen, as our own Country does or may produce; nor of any other Colours, but such as the Woods, Seeds, Earths and Minerals of our own Land affords; By which we shall encourage, not only all Ingenious People, but also our own Commodities, and altogether dis­courage Forreigners. Also, let it be a Custom amongst us for all our Superiors or Magistrates to wear White Garments made of Wool, which is not only more serviceable, but natural, whereby they will be good Examples to the lower sort, who in such things always take their mea­sures from those above them. Besides, such Clothings are easier procured, and Custom has stronger Chains to hold the Multitude than the most severest Laws; And why should Christians so much desire those Martial and Saturnine Colours! whereas White is truly natural, the emblem of In­nocence and Temperance, which God and Nature gives us without labour or trouble, it being convenient for us who have in some degree seperated our selves from the Va­nities of this World to chuse all such things as have the nearest Affinity to Sim­plicity, as well in Cloathing, as in Meats, Drinks and Exercises, by which we shall [Page 125] not only free our selves from unnecessary Bonds, needless Changes, vain Fashions, burthensome Inconveniences we have many Years laboured under, but also teach our Posterity this important Truth, That the sewer things we need, the Happier we are, and the more quiet we shall lead our Lives; Super­fuity and Extravagant Desires being the Mother of all Need, Labour, Pain, Trouble and Diseases.

IV. We ought by all means to discoun­tenance all Babylonical Letter-learn'd Physi­tians, both for the Soul or Body; and on the contrary to direct [...]nd teach every one to hearken unto their own Genius and the Voice of Wisdom in themselves, which being minded, will teach every one the right Cure far better than their Mercinary Prescriptions. It will be also very conve­nient that our Superiors should accustom themselves to an higher degree of Temper­ance and Self-Deneal, which will have greater Influence on the meaner sort; and let them be diligent in Labour and In­dustry; By which wholsom Laws and Customs it will become a shame either to be idle, or addicted to Superfluities; There­fore let their Meats, Drinks Exercises and Clothing be according to their Age, and [Page 126] the necessities of Nature, and no more; whereby the young and simple Ones will be kept from despising the Children of the Poor, and the Poor from admiring and envying the Rich; which will put a per­petual stop to the Carrier of Pride and Covetousness, since then all will enjoy the Goods of the Creatures, as it were, in equal Portions. Wherefore then should any strive, and sweat, and bustlo so furious­ly to arrive at great Riches, seeing that as they cannot be procured without such great Care, Labour, Violence, Oppres­sion, not only to a mans own Body and Soul, but also to the whole Creation; so the Enjoyment of them contributes no­thing to our real Happiness, but rather leads us into more Snares and Dangers than the Hazards and Turmoils of getting them did.

The chief end men seem now to propose to themselves in the Acquisition of vast Riches, is, That they may eat of the best Lambs, Fowls, Fishes, &c. and drink Wine and strong Drink to Superfluity, and to live in Idleness, and be clothed with soft and costly Rayment; That they may be admired by the Multitude, and dwell in sumptuous Houses, cramb'd with Rich and glittering Furniture, and such like Vanities; [Page 127] All which puff up the Rich with a swelling Conceit of their own Worth, and causeth them in most Nations to despise, and count the Poor but as Dogs in comparison of themselves: And on the other side, makes the Poor secretly Hate and Curse the Rich; And hence usually proceed Tmuults, Insur­rections, and most of the publick Miseries and Desolations which happen amongst the Sons of Men: And what can be more fit and prudential, more necessary for the publick Repose, as well as the Happiness and Content of all Individuals, than that we should not only by our Laws, but also in our Examples and Customs, cut off these Roots of so many Evils, by grubbing up all Temptations to such Superfluity and Intemperance, and by so well cultivating our Plantation, as to remove all the Mat­ter whence these Mischiefs are generated. And then we and our Children shall be free from those Disquietudes which chiefly render mans Life uncomfortable; free from wasting Laborious Days and Restless Nights in a greedy pursuit after Noxious Vanities, and half killing our selves with cruel Carking Cares & Excessive Drudgeries; free from Sh [...]king Policies, Unmanly Frauds and Lewd Endeavours to supplant or cir­cumvent our Neighbours; all which pro­ceed [Page 126] [...] [Page 127] [...] [Page 128] for the most part from an insatiate Desire, either to gratific a Luxurious Paunch or please a vain glorious I [...]h, which will never be contented; but makes it enjoy­ment of the greatest Abundance, only a Step to Mount it self towards the grasping [...] some, [...]et higher Extravagancies; and if it could become Master of all the No­velties the four Worlds afford, would yet with childish Alexander be ready to sit down and cry for more Bawbl [...]s and New Play-Things.

V. Let it be a Law and Custom amongst us, not only to abandon the use of all Weapons of War, but also to avoid all Attempts and Beginnings of Violence, as not to suffer any to use Cruelty unto, or to Hurrey and Oppress any of the Inferiour Creatures. This may seem a small and light thing, but really the Consequences of it are very great; for this will disarm the Rage of our Young People, and give their greener Years a settled Tincture or Habit of Love, Compassion and Concord. Have you not often seen in our own Coun­try, littl [...] Children, almost as soon as they are able to take up a Stone or any other Weapon into their Hands, fling it at some Bird, or other innocent Creature, and [Page 129] to take delight in hanging, drowning or to [...] menting young Cats or Dogs, or any thing else that they can master; which evil Inclinations to Violence proceed partly from their Birth, as being begot from Wrathful Essences, and the like bad Qua­lities predominating in their Parents, and partly from Imitation; for the daily Pra­ctice and Examples they behold of Cruelty and Violence offered to all Creatures by their Fathers, stirs them up to do the like as far as their Power will reach to do Mischief. For this cause most Boys whilst they are in tender years do delight in Drums Swords, and all Weapons of Violence, be­cause they see their Fathers and the Elder sort of their Sex do the same. But on the contrary, Female Children delight them­selves in sewing of Linnen, Needle-work, playing with Babies, making of Banquets, imitating Christenings, (as they call them) and the like, in Imitation of their Mothers, whom they see much concerned in such Affairs. Since therefore whatsoever you do, your Youth will certainly endeavour to imitate; and for that there is as well a Possibility of awakening, strengthening and encouraging Innocence, Compassion, Patience, Concord, good Will and harmless Inclin [...]ions in all Youth, by the Practise and [Page 130] Custom of Well-doing, as there is of breeding and encouraging Wrath and Vio­lence by evil Practices and Conversations: Therefore it will be good to season your Children's first Years with Customs tend­ing to Virtue and Innocence; in order to which, nothing will be more Prevalent than good Examples.

VI. Let it not be lawful for any amongst us to use Scoffing, Iesting or Idle Discourses, but [...] our Conversation always relish of Wisdom, humane or divine, and help to instruct each other in the true knowledge of God, Nature, and our selves; and let Tale-bearers (the Fire-brands of Society, and Nurses of Strife and Dissention) be punished with Servitude; nor let Riches, chance of Birth, gay Clothes, nor any other thing be counted Honourable amongst us, but only the true knowledge of God, Na­ture, and our selves, and acting pursuant thereunto.

VII. Let us resolve to relinquish that mis­chievous Custom of Marrying for Wealth; & therefore let it be prohibited for any to give Portions or Dowries with his Daugh­ters; by this we shall discourage the Spirit of Covetousness and Idleness in our Young [Page 131] Men, and prevent their making use of base depraved counterseit Kindnesses, which are but meer Complements, to bring their greedy Desires to pass: Nor ought the dis­eased and deformed, who are not fit for Generation, or to answer the end for which Marriage was instituted, be desirous to press into that state: Also, all unequal Matches, as Young with the Old, and Old with the Young (which commonly proceed from Lust in one of the Parties, and Cove­tousness in the other) ought to be discou­raged, and all such unnatural Marriages branded with a Note of Infamy, and th [...]se Persons to be accounted most miserable who commit such Intemperances.

IX. For the preventing of Theft, let it be ordained, that if any Person steal, he shall make four-fold satisfaction to the party injur'd, either by Money or Servitude. And if any wilfully commit Man-slaughter, then let such perish by the same Sword or Weapon. And let all the Fellons that give themselves to stealing be compelled, during all their time of Servitude to wear a dif­ferent Garment from others during their whole Lives, that all may know what they have done. And to hinder such bad Practices in the Root, let none be exempted [Page 132] from Working, but only Magistrates and Tutors.

X. It ought to be considered, understood and taught amongst us, That the fragrant Herbs, Fruits and Grains were not only ordained by the Lord for Food in the be­ginning, but also that the same are still much to be preferred for their natural Excel­lency, before and above the Stock and Radix thereof. For is not the Corn to be preferred before the Stalk it grows on for Food? And are not all sorts of Fruits far more acceptable than the Trees whence they proceed? The very same is to be under­stood of all Animals; Is not the Milk of Cows and Sheep more pleasant to behold, and better Food, being varied by the House-wives Art, than the Blood and Flesh of such Cattel? There being as great a difference between the one and the other as there is between Fire and Light; the Fire being of a consuming sierce Nature, but the Light thereof is of a most delightful aimable Principle or Quality, and yet if there were no Fire there could be no Light, the Fire being the Radix of all Light and Loveliness. Every particular Creature and Fruit, be it ever so mean and simple, is an Image of, and does contain the true Nature and Pro­perty [Page 133] of the whole. The Fruits and Grains of all Vegetables, as also the Fruits of Animals, send forth a pleasant Odour, and are delightful to the Sight and Pallate, easie of Concoction, assording Nourishment of a clean firm substance; but the Stock or Stalk, which is the Father of the Fruit, is of an astringent harsh sower bitter Taste, and an unpleasant Smell, not fit for Food; even so it is in Animals. For this cause it will be highly convenient for us to put away from us all Intemperance and Super­ [...]uity, and to prefer the eating of Fruits, Grains and Seeds, for fear we should be pre­cipitated into the Wrath before we are sensible of it, as many Thousands are; for mens strong Inclinations to Flesh and Blood, and to all Beastiality, do too clearly manifest that they live in the Power and Operation of the sierce Wrath and savage Nature of the wild Beasts of the Desert.

XI. The usual time of our Labour need not exceed Six Hours in a natural day; for if every one performs that duely according to the Obligation which the Lord hath laid upon men in general, without exception, & content themselves with innocent Fruits, Grains and Seeds, and observe the Rules of Moderation and Temperance, you may [Page 134] assure your selves, that six hours Labour in a day will plentifully supply us with all things necessary for Life, Health or Pleasure; Not that the rest of our time should be spent in Idleness, much less wasted in vain Gaming or Riot, but imployed in medita­ting on the Works of God and Nature, innocent and useful Conference, reading profitable Books, refreshing our Spirits with the sweet Airs of Musick, practising curious and beneficial Arts, as Planting, In­oculating, Grafting, studying the Science of Numbers, the Use of the Globes, the Theory of Navigation, and all the parts of the Ma­thamaticks, for those whose Genius leads them thereunto; Others to gain skill by Experience in the Knowledge of Herbs, Plants, and other Vegetations, to distinguish them by their Names, Shape and Virtues, take notice of their Agreement with, or Antipathy to each other; and particularly to observe the Signature of each; for on every thing God has engraven certain Mystick real Characters, fully expressing its true Nature and Vertues to such as can obtain the skill to read that [...]ssential Alpha­bet; also reading of true and select Histories, wherein by taking notice of the Revolutions, Confusions, Slaughters and Meseries men in all Ages have brought upon themselves, by [Page 135] their Lusts and Pride, we may both learn to detest their Ways which lead to those Confusions, and be excited to a greater gratitude to God for his Mercies to us, in planting us under more happy Circumstances.

XII. Let Sugar, Spanish Fruits, and all sorts of Spices be sold only at and place in a Town, and be used wholly in Medicines, and not to mix with any sort of common Food or Drink; for they are not only Superfluous, but prejudicial to Health so to be used. Also, let our times of eating be about Nine in the Morning and Five in the After-noon; for you will find that much more agreeable than a Meal at Mid-day, as commonly in use; for the central Heat or Eye of the World being then in the Meri­dian, hath great power to awaken the Na­tural Heat, and also to evaporate it, and therefore at that time, most People, espe­cially in hot Weather, do feel themselves more hot and indisposed than either in the Morning or Afternoon; besides, all that would preserve their Health, ought to fast a proper time between Meals, that so the Stomach and Natural Heat may the better concoct, and make a perfect seperation, whence is generated good Blood, and brisk lively Spirits; besides, a long Mor­nings [Page 136] work or exercise, dulls and wastes the pure Spirits, which renders Nature not so capable to digest a full Meal of Meat and Drinks; And let this be a general Rule amongst us, That Nature be alwayes stronger than the Meats and Drinks, and not your Food stronger than Nature; and then you will find your selves after such Meals refreshed, and not dulled. And by observing these Rules and practising Tem­perance, you will prevent abundance of Diseases, so that I need speak the less touch­ing Physick; Only shall recommend to your notice and publick use the following Po [...]ltice, for the speedy and certatn Cure of Burns, Scalded Limbs, Byles, Fellons, or any the like Sores, viz. Wheat-Flower, Water and Milk simpered over the sire till it be thick, and then add some Sugar and make it sweet, & apply this to the part grieved 9 or 10 times a day, the oftner the better, and then anoint the it with fresh Butter to keep it, subtle; for all these Ingredients do cast a friendly Aspect to each other, and are of a Balsamick Nature, and therefore do soon raise up the dismay'd Oyl or wounded Spi­its, by mel [...]orating, and asswaging the awakned Poysons in such Harts. Perhaps some good Houswife will be apt to contra­dict me, and say, that Bread may do better [Page 137] than Flower: But give me leave to tell her, that Bread has passed through a strong fiery Preparation, which has, as it were, broken the very heart of it; besides, it does more or less retain those sulpherous Vapours it received in the Oven, which are very in­jurious; also Salt being generally mixed with it, makes it so much the worse, Salt being of a sharp fretting Nature, apt to incorporate with the Venoms in such Sores, and so advance and encrease them.

What is said of Bread is clearly manifest­ed by this, viz. Put what quantity you will of Bread into Water or Milk, and it will not thicken nor become of so strong a sub­stance as it will do with a small quantity of Flower. For this cause Milk and Water thickned with Flower, (provided it be not thicker than Milk-Pottage, and do but just boyl up) is one of the healthiest Foods in the World for all Ages, but especially for Children and Old People; for it does not only administer wholsom Nourishment, but naturally opens the Passage of the Stomach, and powerfully carries the Windy matter downward, and causeth it to break away with case. This sort of Food is good for all Women, but more particularly those that are troubled with Fumes and Windy Vapours flying into the Head; nor doth it [Page 138] bind the Body, as some ignorantly imagine, though sometimes it does prove beneficial in Looseness and Fluxes, but that does not proceed from its binding Quality, but from its sweet friendly Nature, by moderating those sharp keen Poysons that are by some Intemperance or Accident awakened in the Bowels.

There are several other particulars which might be recommended to your Ob­servation and Use; but if you duely follow these, and continue to walk in the strait Paths of Nature, your Eyes will be daily more and more enlightned, and you will come to see and discern in all things what is good, wholsom, safe, proper and natural, and the contrary, so as to chuse the one and refuse the other.

There only remains now one Objection to what I first proposed touching avoiding the use of Weapons, viz. That if we shall do so, we shall presently become a Prey, and be over-run by Forreigners.

To which I Answer; This Objection is some-what like that of the Iews of old, con­sulting whether or no they should put to death Innocent Iesus; If we let this Man alone, cry'd they, the Romans will come upon us, and take away our Place and Nation. Whereas on the quite contrary, for their [Page 139] Wickedness in slaying the Lord of Life, God in his just Judgment brought upon them the Romans indeed, who destroy'd them with [...] Desolation, such as no Age can parallel; so there is just Reason to judge, that the di­rect contrary to your Apprehensions will happen in this case; for Innocence is a better Bullwark than Force, and will more surely protect you than great Guns and Munition of War. And indeed what Security is there in those things, since there is no Na­tion, though never so well furnisht with or skill'd in the use of them, but one time or other is subdued and over-run by the grea­ter Violence of others? Whereas your Harmless, Innocent, just Course of Living will disarm the Rage of your Neighbour Princes; for nothing does so powerfully fortifie a Nation or People as Virtue and Well-doing. For all Wars are set on foot either for Cove­tousness to make themselves Masters of great Treasure and Spoil, or for Ambition and vain Glory, to boast of their Victories, or for Revenge of past Injuries. Now none of all these will have any place in Relatio [...] [...]on. For first, you contenting your selves with what is necessary, will give no [...] [...]on to their Covetousness; nor can they [...] any Honour by vanquishing those that [...] no Resistance; nor pretend a Quarrel [...] [Page 140] Injuries received when you live at Peace will all the Creation: Which last, by a se­cret, yet powerful Magnetism will again draw all things to a friendliness towards you. Whence come Wars and Fightings, (saith the Apostle) Is it not from your Lusts? Root out the latter, and you will be inno danger from the former: Having once subdued our Inward or Home Enemies ☞ there will be no fear of forreign Forces, but all things shall work together for our good. Besides, good and virtuous Examples will work far more upon our Neighbour Indians than Lip-preaching or external Rites of Religious Worship; for the first doth reach to the Root, and touch the inwards of a man, the latter affect only the Eye or Ear; so that nothing can effectually overcome the fierce Wrath, both in man and without him, but only living in the Power and O­peration of the pure innocent and friendly Principle of God's Love, whence all Com­passion and Well-doing proceed, that being the true Protector and Defendor of our Faith, and in which alone is perfect Peace, wherein we shall find rest to our Souls. But on the other side, Intemperance and Super­sluity do enthral Mankind, makes that their Masters which was ordained to be their Ser­vants, and exposes them to continual Dan­gers, [Page 141] Troubles, Turmoils, Vexations and Miseries.

Thus in true Love to the Wellfare of this our New Plantation, and to you all, My Friends and Country-men, I have laid before [...]u those things which I conceive tend to your Peace, Prosperity and Happiness: And may the good Spirit of Light, Love and Innocence illuminate you to pursue and vigorously endeavour what may conduce to these most Safe, Honourable and Desirable Ends.

THough Nature hath formed most of our kind for Harmony, and endued us with Ravishing Notes, and the warbling Airs of Melody, yet we cannot but now for a [Page 142] while forget our pleasant Singing, and in Sorrowful Tones sigh out our just Complaints, from a deep sence of those Oppressions and undeserv'd ill usage under which we groan. 'Tis not the severity of the Season, nor the [...]arshness of the Weather, that so much af­flicts us; for to those Inconveniences of the Elements we patiently submit; but 'tis the Treachery and Tyranny that we endure from the hands of Creatures that call themselves Rational, and whom we never injured, but on the contrary have many ways obliged, that enforces us to remonstrate to all the Creation the Injustice of their Dealings and our Sufferings.

Cruel and heard-Hearted Man! does this Persidiousness and Tyranny of thine to­wards us Inferior-graduated, yet Innocent fellow Creatures, look like thy first Estate? Has not our Creator made and ordained thee his Governour and great Vice-Gerent over all the Inhabitants of the lower Uni­verse, to Rule them with Meekness and E­quity? and formed thee his Image, viz. to live in and under the Government of the divine and friendly Principle of his Love and holy Light, but you have disobeyed the Commands of our Creator, and despised the Voice of Wisdom in your Hearts, and through Cruelty, Violence and Oppression [Page 143] not only to one another, but to all the Host of Heaven, have precipitated your selves into the fierce Wrath of God and Nature, whence have been invented all Guns, Powder, Bullets, and other hellish Engines of Destruction, by which you do not only plague and torment and butcher one another, but all other Innocent Crea­tures, whom the great Jehovah hath made for his Honour and Glory, and to sing forth his Praise, by whose Power and divine Hand we are sustained; for he bountifully gives us our daily Bread without labour of Body or perturbation of Mind; therefore in our way and according to our nature, we joyfully chaunt forth Hellelujahs to his Name, and rest satisfied with his good pleasure.

But depraved Man will not suffer us in peace or safety to go on with that Imploy­ment for which we were made, but declares himself our Enemy, and causelesly pro­claims War against us, and by force and fraud, open Violence and secret Stratagems endeavours, where-ever he can catch or sur­prize us, to deprive us of that Life which God hath given us.

And we are more especially astonish't to meet with these usages from those that call themselves Christians; who of late years [Page 144] have found out and settled themselves in the Regions and Countries of America, where before their Arrival we lived in a very great degree of freedom and security. But now by this new Neighbour-hood of those from whose, Profession we might pro­mise our selves nothing but Love and good Will, our Condition is much altered for the worse, our Danger and Destruction is daily encreased, and to kill and murder us is be­come an Occupation and a Trado, for which purpose these peaceable Christians (as they would be counted) have brought with them all kinds of Snares and Engines of War and Violence, which never had before been seen, nor their frightful hellish Noises heard in our Coasts. Now how absurd is it for those who fly from Violence in one place, to begin it themselves on the Inno­cent in those places where they take shelter? Flow much below the dignity of a Man are those cruel and insidious Practices? How forreign from and contrary to the Doctrin of that Christianity which you profess, where 'tis expresly declared, That whoever useth the Sword shall perish by it: That is to say, he that by any kind of Violence doth awaken the Center of Wrath in himself, shall be precipitated into it; and therefore your most holy Prophet, the first born of [Page 145] the Sons of God, and in and by whom the World was made, saith, My Kingdom is not of this World, for then would my Servants fight. That is, My Kingdom, and that state whereunto I bring my Disciples, does not consist in Wrath, Violence or Oppres­sion, but in Peace, Innocency, Love and universal good Will, doing unto all as they would be done unto. And in pursuance of these Injunctions and Instructions from that adorable Prince of Peace, we have been informed, that divers Christians in the Primitive times, at the first arising of the Day-Star of Gods eternal Light and Love, did deny themselves all the violent Sports of Esau and Nimrod, and bore their Testimony against all Oppression and the use of those devilish Engines of Destruction; and many in their own Country will not to this day be seen to practise any violent Ex­ercises, as Hunting, Hawking, Shooting or laying of Suares and Traps to betray the guiltless Inhabitants of the expanded Fir­mament, but make it a main point of Do­ctrine to disown Fighting, and use of Arms, and Practices of Violence, as being contra­ry to the divine Principle; and yet some of the same men coming into our Indian Ter­ritories for the sake of a good Conscience, and that they might exercise their Minds [Page 146] and Liberties in peaceable Well-doing, which the Sword of Wrath disquieted and hindered them from enjoying in their own Country, did as lustily provide themselves with hellish Engines of Wrath, Cruelty and Bloodshed, as Guns, Swords, Powder, &c. as if they had been marching into the Fields of Mars, rather than into a Land of Tran­quility and Repose.

But tell us, O Men! we pray you tell us what Injuries have we committed to forfeit? What Law have we broken, or what Cause given you, whereby you can pretend a Right to invade and violate our part, and natural Rights, and to assault and destroy us, as if we were the Agressors, and no better than Thieves, Robbers and Murtherers, fit to be extirpated out of the Creation? Sure we are, we have not made our selves more Rich than our Neigbours, nor endeavour'd to establish to our selves a Tyranny over them: We have not taken away their Pri­viledges, nor laid Cities and Countries waste: We are not guilty of Burning of Towns, nor Deslowring of Virgins, nor Ravishing Matrons, nor of Slaying Old Men, or carry­ing away Captive the Young: We do not gather our selves into Troops to destroy those of our own kind; nor have we at any time Plundered them, or haled them into [Page 147] loathsom Prisons: Nor are we offended with each other, because our Feathers are not all of a length or of the same colour: We ea [...] not to Gluttony, nor drink to Excess and Ebriety, whilst some of our kind are half starved: Others of larger Bodies or higher Fleight, do not squeeze and oppress the In­feriors with hard Labours, whilst them­selves surfeit in Riot and Wantonness: We do not rob one another of natural Ray­ment, nor grow proud with their Orna­ments: Our Foods and Drinks are not the price of Blood, nor do they smell of the Vi­olence and Oppression of Aegypt; but our Liquor is pure Water, and our Food is given us by the divine hand of Providence: Our Love to each other is neither partial nor dissembled; nor do we couple for Mo­ney, Honour, or any private base Interest.

Consider therefore, O Man! our Inno­cence, and thine own high Birth, and fully not thy natural Honour with an unjust pur­suit to destroy us, but remember, that all the Inventers of those Engines of War and Violence, which thou usest against us, have brought them forth from the Root of Bitter­ness; and know this, that none can use them but from the Power of the same black Principle. How unworthy the humane Nature, and how unlike Innocency is it, [Page 148] for thee, O Man, that art made but a little lower than the Angels, to hang a great Iron Sword by thy side, a huge Budget of stinking Sulphur and N [...]tre and l [...]aden Pallats at thy Girdle, and an heavy Gun on thy Shoulder, and thus loaden with Violence within and without, to run through thick and thin, over pleasant Plains and craggy Mountains. playing at Bo-p [...]p behind Trees, Bushes and Hedges, like a Thief or Trepan, taking all advantages to betray Innocency, and unsuspectedly let fly the fierce Thunder­bolts of Mars, and the Poysons of Saturn, to deprive us of our harmless Lives, to the great Amazement of all the Peaceable In­habitants of Heaven; and when all is done, the Summ Total of thy Exploit, and all the Trophy and Triumph of thy War like Expe­dition, is but this That with the expence of much precious Time, and enduring more extremity of To [...]l, Hunger and C [...]ld than perhaps thou wouldst have suffered to save the Life of one of thy wanting Brethren, thou hast treacherously Kill'd a poor Innocent Bird, whose Carkass perhaps will scarce yield thee a Penny, whilst in the mean time and with half this pains, thou mightst at thy own needful and lawful Occupation have gotten to the value of six Pence or a Shilling, and yet oft-times the time, [Page 149] charge and trouble of Dressing this thy un­just Prey, is double the value of it when it is dressed; whereas one Pint of Milk of it self, or conveniently varied, would give thee a much more wholsom and nourishing Meal.

Consider further, what an odd, disho­nourable and Beggarly Basen [...]ss it seems to be in Gentlemen and those of Estates, who live and spend most part of their time in idle Wantonness, Gluttony and Excess, and whensoever they have a mind to exer­cise themselves a little, and disperse the thick Fumes of a late Debanch, then out they must go abroad to offer Violence to some of their fellow Creatures; and they that are content to hire lewd and obscene Mi [...]strils, to divert them at their Revels, with a rude scraping on a parcel of Cats-Guts with their clumsey Fingers, are so far from returning us any thanks for that most pure natural and ravishing Musick that we continually assord them gratis, that on the contrary, with the blackest Ingratitude they study our Destruction: And this their Malice they chiefly execute when it is frosty snowy and severe Weather, when the Sun, the Fountain of Light and Com­fort is retreated to the remotest Tropick, when the Earth is stript of Fruits and Grains, and lies bedrid and benumb'd un­der [Page 150] the Bands of sullen Saturn, and the Heavens with-draw their sweet and friend­ly Influences, then instead of relieving us in our Extreamity, and preserving us from the Rigors of the Season, and of the Ele­ments, they take their opportunity to add to our Miseries and Dangers, and rather than fail to do us a mischief, punish them­selves with Wet and Cold, lurking in pri­vate Holes to circumvent and murder [...]; and he is the bravest Fellow that can kill most of us, which serves them to beast of amongst their Drunken Companions in their Riotous Feasts, when they make them­selves merry at our being buried in their insatiate Paunches.

But why should we wonder at this Vio­lence and Unnaturalness of depraved men, seeing that they do not scruple to do almost the same to those of their own Species? Nay, we are informed, that in the more Populous Countries, where these Killing Christians live, when there happens a very hard cold frosty Season, there can hardly and little innocent Bird escape their bloody hands, but even the Harmonious Blackbirds, the sweet Quavering Throshes, and the high soaring Lark (who every Morning sends up a Sacrifice of Melody in the Suburbs of Heaven, and whom all, not [Page 151] stupified into B [...]ty, are half ravisht to hear, such are their charming Notes) yet all promiscuously go to Pot, and fall Victims to this unparallel'd Barba [...]ity.

And so far as we can perceive, we shall quickly be but in little better Condition, if the Trade of Violence, Killing and Inhu­manity be encouraged, as it has been hither­to; for the Europeans and Christians are far more expert in the feats of Arms, and these Murthering Mysteries than our for­mer Masters, the Indians, whom the Chri­stians and others do in contempt call Hea­thens, Barbarians and Savage Wild People, which indeed is true, and in their Barba­rity they do as much Mischief as they can; but they had not where-with to destroy us in any considerable Numbers, neither are they such cunning Artists in the dark Wrath and Devilish Practices of Killing, nor did they attempt us but to satisfie their Hunger; whereas now they are encourag'd to make a Trade of selling our Bodies for Brandy, Rum and strong Liquors, which the Christians give them in Exchange, though the same proves almost as great a Mis­chief to the Indians as to us, and in the end will prove of as fatal Consequence to the Christians themselves.

For by selling the Indians Guns, Powder, [Page 152] &c. they grow more expert in all kind of Violence, and practise the same not only upon us, but oft-times on one another, and in time, no doubt will attempt the same on those who furnish them with these Mortife­rous Tools, [...]s by Experience is found they have done in other places. Besides, the Christians bring them acquainted with the several sorts of pernicious intoxicating strong Drinks, before mentioned, the use of which makes them Mad, and tenfold more Devilish and Inhumane than they were be­fore; for the more savage, wild and bruitish any Man is, both the more fond is he of such strong Liquors, and the more mischievous Effects have they upon him; so that rather than they will be without those abominable Drinks, after once they have tasted them, they will travel night & day with all Pains and Cunning imaginable, to hunt, kill and destroy us, and all other Creatures, not so much (now) for Food, as for the Skins, Feathers or Carkasses to sell, that so they may be able there-with to procure those baneful Drinks; whereas before the Christians Arrival they only were able to kill some few of us, and that too, as it were, for Ne­cessity, for Food, and Skins to cover them in the Winter; but since they hunt Fish, and torment all the innocent Inhabitants of the [Page 153] Elements, so that they cannot have any rest or security; for they will sell the choi­cest of their Skins & Furs to procure a little Rum or Brandy, or a Gun, Powder, Shot, and the like, which only tend to their own De­struction, as well as ours; for as with the one they take away our sweet Lives, so with the other they ruin their own Healths, con­tract various Diseases never before heard of amongst them; and besides, put themselves to a World of needless Slavery and Toil to procure to themselves these Mischiefs. And is▪ it not a shame that it should be said, (and too truly) that where the Christians come in new Plantations, they instead of converting, have often debauched the old neighbouring Indiane and Heathen-Natives, and rendred many of them worse than they were before?

But still, tell us (if thou canst) O Man! wherefore dost thou thus degrade thy self to become a S [...]tter, a Tr [...]pan, a Snare, a Plague and a Torment to all the rest of the Innocent Inhabitants of the four Worlds, wherein yet thou plaguest thy self more than any of them? Has not thy Creator made thee in his own Image, indued th [...] with divine and human Wisdom, substituted thee Governor and Deputy-Lievetenant over all, and boun­tifully enricht thee with a thousand Privi­ledges [Page 154] and Benefits, which we poor inferior Graduates are denyed? And hast not thou power to command, by Understanding and Art, the lower Animals to serve and labour for thee, as to plough up and till the stub­born Ground (but rendered so by thy Sin) so that it becomes fruitful, and brings thee forth a great number of various sorts of gallant wholsom nurtritive Seeds & Grains, which being wisely ordered may make va­riety of curious Food? Art thou not endued with Strength and Art to manure, cultivate and improve the Earth, also by planting innumerable Fruit-Trees, which will afford not only good Food, but likewise several sorts of delicate and refreshing Drinks? Does not that brave Creature the Cow, pay thee Tribute twice a day, by filling thy Pails with Nectar, which of it self is a sublime Food, and being altered by Care and Art, makes several sorts of excellent Dishes? Doth not the bounteous Earth, out of her ever-Teeming Womb, by Nature and the help of thy Art, present thee with a vast Number of various sorts of beautiful, fra­grant and virtuous Plants and Herbs, proper both for Food and Physick? In a word, has not our benificent and indulgent Creator freely accomodated thee with the Blessings of all the four Worlds, which almost surpass [Page 155] in Number the utmost reach of humane A­rithmatick? Has he not appointed the Coe­lestials to distill continually their sweet In­fluences upon thee? Dost thou not com­mand the fine soft Wool of that most inno­cent and useful Creature, the Sheep, to cover the self-contracted Shame of thy Nakedness, and keep thee from the Injuries of the Ele­ments? Art not thou possest of all the stately Woods and noble Trees (wherein we are content to spond our selves and build our Nests) but thou takest liberty to cut them down, not only to supply thee with Fires, but also to furnish thee with many other Conveniences, both of Necessity and Ornament, especially to build thee Houses therewith to secure thy self from pinching Frost, and violent Rains, and offensive Winds, and parching Sun shine; and yet tho' we are thereby disseized of our antient Freeholds and Habitations, we have never been heard to murmur or repine, who yet enjoy not a thousandth part of these Privi­ledges and Felicities: We pretend not to command over any of our fellow Creatures, [...]or have the use of Fire, nor the benefit of Houses; we wear none but our own natural Cloathings, and are continually exposed to all the Injuries of the Elements; neither are we endued with Arts and Sciences, [Page 156] Crafts and Mysteries, whereby to make any Advantages to our selves, so that we have nothing to trust to but only the divine Hand of our Creator; when he gives us a Breakfast, we know not where we shall have a Dinner, nor what it will be; so when we Sup, we know nothing of what Food, or where we shall eat on the Morrow, but wholly rely upon our Maker, who never faileth to comfort and feed us; for a few, and simple mean things sufficiently serve our turns, and relieve our wants, and there­fore we need not many; our Desires never wandring beyond the necessities of Nature; our Food is innocent and our Drink simple Water, therefore we are not sick, but live our appoint time in perfect Health.

Wherefore then, O Man! shouldst thou lie in wait to shorten our days, to disturb our Repose and interrupt our Harmony by the hellish Noise of thy Guns, Arms, Snares and Stratagems? Or why dost thou teach thine Off-spring, as soon as they are able to handle a Stone, to fling it at us, as if we were your Enemies? Are not those of our winged kind, that inhabit the most sweet and sublime Element, the Air, more Noble than any of the inferior Creatures, that grovel upon the Earth, or hide themselves in the Waters? And do not all men de­light [Page 157] to hear our Melodious Consorts and Mu­sical Notes, filling the Heavens and Earth with our delightful Songs, which we chaun [...] forth in honour and praise to our Creator, being free from Envy, Strife & Contention, from carking Cares and Vexations, all places being our Home, and we go freely where we please, except when entangled in thy treacherous Gins and Devices, for which there is no pretence or provocation, nor the least colour of Reason why thou shouldst envy our sin pl [...] innocent safe, seeing we cannot by our Death cont [...]te any thing to thy Happiness, who art al [...]eady so plen­tifully stored with the great and gallant Priviledges and Advantages before-menti­oned. And, O! what a brave noble wise Creature would Man be, and what Honour and Glory might his Government bring unto his Creator, as well as Comfort and Happiness to himself and all his fellow-Creatures, if he liv'd innocently, and did but as we poor Creatures do, viz. answer that end for which he was made, and do as he would willingly be done unto.

I have heard, that one of the cunningest of our kind, viz. a Iack Daw, who (like some pretended Christians, loves Churches, more for conveniency and shelter than Worship, having made a Nest in the Steeple, or some [Page 158] part of the House, where a number of them use to meet for performing their publick ex­ercises of Religious Worship, and by means thereof, often hearing a great noise below, was prompted, by curiosity, to enquire the occasion thereof▪ so listening attentively, he heard the men there met were a reading the Commandments of God, where 'tis said, Thou shalt do no Murder: To which all the People answer'd, Lord incline our hearts to keep this Law. And afterwards they pro­ceeded to read many good Prayers to God to forgive them their Trespasses & Mis-deeds, all their Violences and Abuse of Gods Creatures, &c. Which extreamly rejoyced the poor Bird to hear; so he returned to his fellows, and acquainted every Bird that he met with in the Airial Plains, of these glad Ti­dings, That MAN, their Tormentor and v [...] ­gilent Enemy did now repent of the Evil of his Ways, and would now commit no more Murders, nor Acts of Violence on the Innocent. Which was receiv'd with an universal Acclamation of the Volatile Troops, and now with re­doubl'd Notes began to sing louder Anthems of Joy and Gratitude for so great a Blessing, which would give a general Peace to the whole Creation But their Mirth was but short liv'd; for the very next day this Daw, with some others was abroad seeking for [Page 159] Food, and there comes one of the same Per­sons whom he had seen so devoutly praying in the Church, and lying in ambush with a long Gun cramb'd with Brimstone and Nitre and murthering P [...]llets of Load, as soon as he spy'd his opportunity, let flie at the harm­ [...]ess Birds, and kill'd several of them upon the place, and wounded others; those that escaped acquainted their Fellows what they had seen and suffered, and bid them look to themselves, whatever fair words men might use; for they say, and do not; they pray God would incline their hearts not to com­mit any Violence, and yet the Profession, the very Trade of Killing is one of the most Honourable Callings amongst them in their esteem: They with their Lips desire the Lord would forgive them their Oppres­sions and Violences, and in their Hearts resolve upon, and by their Practices con­tinue the same Outrages. Thus vain and depraved Men, through their wanton and extravagant Desires after those things which they need not, nay, which are much more prejudicial than profitable unto them, do draw upon themselves a deluge of Cala­mities; the more they have, the more they need; for as their Possessions and Enjoy­ments are enlarged, so continually in pro­portion are their greedy Desires augmented, [Page 160] like Persons in a Dropsie, coveting after more Drink, because they have ingurg'd too much already; and so through Trans­gression and Violence that Noble Rational Creature, becomes the most miserable of all Animals, who was made in the beginning not only the Supream, but most Happy, and Wisest of all: And although we are daily subject to all his Snares and Violences, yet still we would not for a thousand Worlds be in some mens condition; for they have made themselves not only subject to a thou­sand Miseries in this Life, but more especi­ally in the World to come, which has no end; whereas both our Joy and Sorrow terminates with this Life, and extends not beyond the short horizon of Time: And though we do undergo great Inconvenien­ces, and often lose our dear Lives sacrificed to irrational and ungodly Violence, yet let him know, That he himself is and shall be thereby the greatest Sufferer; and there­fore we advise him to be careful that he do no [...] awaken the sierce Jaws and ravenous Mouth of the Wrath, for fear he be thereby in the end swallowed up, and there be none to deliver him.

Canst thou, O Man! accuse us for break­ing or transgressing Gods pure Law in Na­ture? Are we guilty of Cheating, Lying [Page 161] or bearing false Witness, of Gluttony, Drunkenness, or taking the adorable Name of our Creator in vain? Have we usurpt upon thy Priviledges, taken away thy Lands, or laid waste thy Houses? Do we not abominate thy Uncleannesses, and ob­serve the proper times of our Couplings? Are not our Males tender and loving, and our Females so chaste that they will not ad­mit the greatest Courtier amongst us to touch them out of their proper Seasons? Are either of us ever jealous of each other? Where canst thou find amongst all the nu­merous Inhabitants of the four Worlds, so much Abstinence, Love, Constancy and Chastity as in our kind, our Males taking the like care and Industry as the most sober provident well-disposed Man does for the Preservation and Accomodation of his dear Wife and tender Children; for during the time of our hatching and breeding up, they duly take pains to provide and bring home Food for their Females, whilst they sit, and also for their Young Ones after they are brought forth; neither do they visit the Nests of others, but keep close to their first chosen Loves; therefore Anger, Jealousie and Contention (those Thorns which render most of your Down-Beds uneasie) enter not into our unbounded Habitations.

[Page 162] We contend not, nor wrangle about our Pedigrees, nor trouble our Heads about Noble Birth and State; neither have we any Law-suits for Rights, Priviledges, Lands or Inheritances; the whole expand­ed Ante-Court of Heaven our Creator has given in common amongst us, not limiting us by any Land-marks; the vast and spaci­ous Air is our natural City, whereof we are all born free; nor have we forfeited our Charter: The Composition and Elements of our Bodies are more brisk, lightsom, agile and pleasant than any other Creatures, as coming nearest to the Coelestial Quires than the heavy dull melancholly Earth-creepers, or Phlegmatick Inhabitants of the Ocean; therefore we can remove many Miles in a very few hours, and mount our selves to the lofty Regions, and there behold, the won­derful Secrets of our Creator in the gene­ration of Meteors, how soft Vapours are cran'd up, by the Suns strong Beams, and condens'd into Clouds, and thence distill'd into Showers, to enable the Earth to afford us Nourishment; how falling Drops being intercepted in their way, congeal into [...]lakes of Srow; and how hot Exhalations imprison'd in surrounding Vapours of a cold and contrary Nature, force their Passage with bright Flashes and terrible [Page 163] Noises, which you call Lightning & Thunder; whilst in the mean time, whilst we survey near hand these Wonders, our fallen Prince [Man] is confin'd to his Earthly Palaces, [...]uzling like Swine in Dung and Dirt, or rather like Moles, always moiling, yet al­ways blind.

This Active Life, joyn'd with our inno­cent simple Diet, preserves us from being afflicted with Diseases; Your Agues are as unknown to us as their Causes and Cures are to your Physitians; We have no Feavers, because we never burn with unnatural Lusts, nor Dropsies, because we never drown our faculties with over-charg'd Bowls; nei­ther are our Joynts crampt with the Great Pox, nor our Skins deform'd with the Small; Our Young Ones are not tortur'd with the Evil or Rickets, nor those of riper Age with Trembling Palsies, Putrifying Seurvies, or any [...]he like cruel Diseases! so that rarely any of our kind dye unnatural Deaths (unless occasion'd by the T [...]eachory or Violence of [...]an) but we are by the goodness of our Creator blessed with Health and long Life, not subject to Distempers, slavish Labours, Cares, or any other Perturbations either of Body or Mind, because we still continue in [...]he constant Observation of that pure inno­ [...]nt Law of God in Nature, in which we [Page 164] were first created, and do still retain those natural Gifts and Self-preservations which we were endued with in the beginning; for the Lord made all Creatures sound and healthful, and now if any are otherwise it is because they have forsaken Gods pure Law, and depraved themselves; the most fatal Instance whereof is Man, who was in his Creation adorn'd with wonderful Gifts and Graces, both divine and humane, and in every respect made more compleat than any other Inhabitants of the material Worlds; but behold now how miserably is he degenerated and shut up in Ignorance, Folly and Blindness, by his stepping out of that innocent Law God had placed him in, and giving way first to the Insinuations, and by degrees to the Tyranny of the fierce vi­olent wrathful poysonons Spirit, which has not only captivated his Soul to all Evil, and exposed his Body to innumerable Diseases, but also enslaved all the vast Multitudes of the [...] Worlds; for he being our Angel and Governour, therefore we partake in the [...]ad Consequences of his Transgrssion [...] Fa [...], but none so much as himself, be­cause none sinned, nor broke God's pure Law but himself; se [...] not only those of our kind, but all [...]thers (except Men) do still return [...] truly Noble and universal Lan­guage [Page 165] which our Creator endued us with in the beginning; and though carried or vo­luntarily flying into remote Climates, many hundred Miles distant, can as intelligibly understand those of our own kind, as nearer home where we were bred; but it is not so with our Prince [Man] for if he travels but four or five hundred Miles, or shifts three or four Degrees of Latitude, he must have an Interpreter, or else he can no more comprehend the Language of those of his own Species than he can do ours; And yet what a clutter does he make about Langu­ages and Scholarship, spending the prime part of his Life (which ought to be entirely imployed in the Study of Nature and Wis­dom) in learning a few Ca [...]ting words, of the Basis and true Root whereof he knows nothing; whereas we need no tyrannical Schoolmaster to lash us into the knowledge of Grammer, or teach us the use of Letters, since we can by our Natural Tones communicate whatsoever is needful for the Relief or Preservation of each other, still varying that Tone according to our Ne­cessities.

Do not therefore boast, O Man! nor grow proud of thy great Knowledge and Parts, nor usurp to thy self a License to op­press and domineer over both the weaker [Page 166] of thine own kind, and all other innocent Inhabitants of Air, Earth and Sea: From whence didst thou derive thy Authority for killing thy Inferiors, meerly because they are such, or for destroying their Natural Rights and Priviledges? Is it not from thy Fall? Has not Transgression been the oc­casion thereof? And is it not the Effects of the fierce Wrath, where every form hath its motion and operation in Discord; And h [...]st not thou by adhearing thereunto, and being govern'd by the Serpentine Nature, attracted unto thy self a thousand Evils and Calamities? For what inferior Creature in the World is afflicted with so many Dis­eases of Body and Perturbations of Mind as thou art? Also, art not thou the most helpless and forlorn Creature of the Uni­verse, and more subject than any of us to receive Impressions from the Injuries of the Elements? For art not thou beholding to the in or Graduates for thy Cloathing, and a great part of thy Food? And art thou not continually assaulted with inward and outward Enemies? with perpetual Plagues of Suspitions, Fears, Jealousies and unsa­tisfied Desires? And dost not thou fear those of thy own kind more than all the fierce Savages of the Deserts?

What Authority dost thou retain over [Page 167] the Elements? or what savour or kindness will they shew unto thee, more than to us poor Inferiors? When once they get the Mastery, will not the Water drown thee, the Fire burn thee, and the Earth swallow thee up? Nor hast thou any more command of the Air; How hast thou lost those spa­cious Dominions the Creator invested thee with in the beginning? Examine thy self, O thou Two-Leg'd unfeather'd unthinking Thing! What canst thou truly boast of now, according to thy common way of Li­ving, more than we? A Crane hath a longer swallow, and therefore 'tis like takes more delight in receiving its Food and Drink; and yet many of you make the pleasure of your Throats your business, I may almost say, your godd: The Eagle can vastly out­see you, the Vultur out-smell you, every one of us hear more nimbly; for Chastity, our Turtles vye with the very best of [...]; for Paternal Affections towards their [...]oung, our Pelican exceeds you, and for returning Love towards helpless Parents, our Storks may shame you. Dare any of your Songsters, Musick-Masters, Choristers or Organ-Players compare with the ravishing Notes of a Morning Lark or an Evening Nightingale? What more certain Knowledge have you of the Times, or the changing of Seasons, [Page 168] or any the like secret Operations of Gods Power in the internal & external Nature? Are not thy Astrological Predictions gene­rally false, and thy Prognostications of the Weather scarce so significant or certain as the Chattering of our Magpies, or the Screaking of a Peacock? Are not all thy Methods of Physick as fallible? And dost thou not venture blindfold at these things, by Cuess and Chance?

Consider therefore, O Man! that tho [...] art the unhappiest of all Gods Creatures, and that thou dost excel all others in Cruelty; for if thou hadst thy Will, thou wouldst hardly leave one of our innocent kind alive to sing forth the Praises of our Crea­tor, and to wellcome in the great Eye of the World, and the delightful Spring, at whose Approach all things r [...]joyce, and chaunt forth Hyms and Praise to the Crea­tor, every thing according to its kind and nature (Man only excepted) whose Teeth are imbrew'd in Blood, which will not be for his good, but hath thereby broken the holy Commandments of his Creator, as the Scriptures of Truth do testifie, I will, saith the Lord, cut off that Soul from the La [...]d of the Living that d [...]fileth himself with Blood. Con­sider also, O Man! how unpleasing, dol­lerous and frightful would it be to thee in [Page 169] the pleasant Moneths of March, April and May, when thou walkest in the delightful Fields, if thou shouldst not hear the pleasant and refreshing Charms of those of our kind, would thou not fear, say and think, that the Creator was angry, and that some Judg­ment was near at hand? Why then dost thou thus endeavour to bring all our joyful Tones, Notes, Sounds and melodious Har­monies into Mourning and Silence, and to root us from off the Earth, and that we should have no Beeing or Habitation in the Elements, which are as much our Right by Elohim's great Charter as they are thine. Also, how Monsterous, Cruel, yea, and every way Ridiculous doth Man behave himself to all those of our kind? for though many do not, cannot delight themselves with the best Instrumental Harmony those of their own Species can make, yet all men love and delight in our pleasant Tunes and Harmo­nies; and yet neither our Innocency nor our Ravishing Notes will appease his Fury towards us, but many of them in the hard and severe Winter will rise betimes, and spare no pains to kill us, and on the other side, when Spring comes, the very same men will rise as early to walk in the open Fields, Groves and Meadows to hear our Melodi­ous Songs and pleasant Harmonies. Oh! [Page 170] manifest unparallel'd Contradiction and Cruelty! Does this look like Man in his innocent estate, who was made but little inferior to Angels, and an Associate with God himself, who endued him with both divine and human Wisdom? Alas! No.

Leave off then, O Man! for shame leave off thy Pride, and thy vain Glory, and boast no more of thy Knowledge, and Dominion, and Authority; for in truth thou art poor, and blind, and we [...]k, and helpless, and miser­ably ignorant; sink down therefore into Humility, and cease from Cruelty, first against those of thine own kind, and then thou mayst come to see and abhor the Error of opp [...] essing t [...]y Inferiors; for this is the way to retreive thine Honour and Dignity, to bring back the Golden Age, and that In­nocent Estate, which by oppression, cruelty and violence thou hast lost; for Mercy, In­nocence and Well-doing are well-pleasing to our Creator, and agreeable to the noble divine Principle, and attract the sweet In­fluence of the Coelestials, so that the Mer­ciful, and the Peace-Makers and Peace-Pre­servers shall be filled with all good things; for as Man was created after the Image of God, so in him are contained the true Na­ture and Properties of all Elements; and since God is both the Maker and Preserver [Page 171] of all Creatures, there is no doubt but Man (his Vice-Gorent here below) ought to imi­tate his Soveraigne therein; but instead thereof he sets himself to destroy not only those of his own kind, but also all other Creatures; so that through Sin and Vanity he is become a professed Enemy to all the Host of Heaven. How many thousands of our innocent kind have been murthered by Guns, Traps, Snares, &c? and many thou­sands both of our Males and Females have lost their loving Mates by the like Strata­gems, and no Pity or Compassion taken by Man on our miserable Sufferings, but rather they encourage each other to our destructi­on, and cry, Hang these scurvey Birds, shoot them, destroy them, they are good for nothing but to eat up our Corn: As if God that crea­ted us had done it in vain, as if he intended us not a subsistance and Food? What right I pray, has Man to all the Corn in the world? or why should he grumble and repine if we take a few Grains to supply our Necessi­ties, whilst he squanders away such Heaps upon his Lusts?

Wherein I fear he has so much besotted himself, and by continual Practice is be­come so harden'd, and has so powerfully irritated the dark Wrath in himself, that all our Remonstrances to him to move him [Page 172] to Merey and Compassion, and to forbear polluting himself with the Blood of the In­nocent, will be but in vain, and that we must still sigh and groan under his Cruelty and Tyranny, which as long-run will return seven fold upon his own guilty Head.