William Penn. (1644–1718). Fruits of Solitude.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| Part I |
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| A Country Life |
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| 220. The Country Life is to be preferr’d; for there we see the Works of God; but in Cities little else but the Works of Men: And the one makes a better Subject for our Contemplation than the other. | 1 |
| 221. As Puppets are to Men, and Babies 1 to Children, so is Man’s Workmanship to God’s: We are the Picture, he the Reality. | 2 |
| 222. God’s Works declare his Power, Wisdom and Goodness; but Man’s Works, for the most part, his Pride, Folly and Excess. The one is for use, the other, chiefly, for Ostentation and Lust. | 3 |
| 223. The Country is both the Philosopher’s Garden and his Library, in which he Reads and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God. | 4 |
| 224. It is his Food as well as Study; and gives him Life, as well as Learning. | 5 |
| 225. A Sweet and Natural Retreat from Noise and Talk, and allows opportunity for Reflection, and gives the best Subjects for it. | 6 |
| 226. In short, ’t is an Original, and the Knowledge and Improvement of it, Man’s oldest Business and Trade, and the best he can be of. | 7 |
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