Anne Bradstreet, help?

Question

Okay, I have five sayings I have to write about connecting to the Puritans, but I have no idea what they mean. Help? Could you go in order they are asked?

Downy beds make drowsy persons, but hard lodging keeps the eyes open. A prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity makes him consider.

Sweet words are like honey: a little may refresh, but too much gluts the stomach.

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.

Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought: so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on His anvil into what frame He pleases.

Sore laborers have hard hands, and old sinners have brawny consciences.

Please and thank you, I just have no idea what they mean, so as long as I understand them I can write the essays about them.

Answer 1

A soft bed makes you lazy. If you're rich, you're secure but if you have hard times you're a better one.

Too much flattery is bad for a person.

If you have too much power and not the sense to use it well, it's not a good thing.

If iron isn't hot enough, you can't bend it. So, God puts people though "fire" to bend them to his will.