Husbandry Spiritualized: Christian Meditations for Farmers

Husbandry Spiritualized: or, The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things. Consisting of many Pleasant OBSERVATIONS, Pertinent APPLICATIONS, and serious REFLECTIONS, and each Chapter concluded with a Divine and suitable POEM. Directing HUSBAND-MEN to the most Excellent Improvements of their common Employments. Whereunto are added, by way of Appendix, several choice OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS, upon Birds, Beasts, Trees, Flowers, Rivers, and several other Objects; fitted for the help of such as desire to walk with God in all their Solitudes and Recesses from the World.

That is the full title of John Flavel's wonderful book on husbandry, or FARMING. Every delightful chapter of this book draws from something in the farmer's life and surroundings and turns their thoughts to God and his gospel (see also Flavel's similar book on Navigation Spiritualized for sailors). Besides being an excellent devotional guide for any Christian, Husbandry Spiritualized is a real example for modern pastors to work hard to incorporate application and illustration into their sermons. Flavel was a true poet (there is a poem at the end of every chapter!) and saw the world in a way that most simply do not.

This new edition of this very old book has been newly formatted and typeset. Most of the spelling has been modernized (though some archaic spellings that are easy for modern readers to understand were left in place). The Kindle edition has also been given an active table of contents for ease of navigation. Editor's note: this modernization was quite an undertaking! The only remaining awkwardness in the text is the footnoting. The numbers for the footnotes are a little cumbersome, but I think the average reader will have no problem ignoring them or using them if they so desire.

John Flavel (c.1627–1691) was an English Puritan Presbyterian minister and author. After studying at Oxford, he ministered in Diptford, then in the seaport of Dartmouth, where his preaching was warmly received. The Act of Uniformity in 1662 forced him to carry on his ministry in secret. The next decades were full of narrow escapes. In 1672 he was Flavel wrote Divine Conduct, or The Mystery of Providence Opened in 1678. Six volumes of his written works were published after his death.