Page:The rock of wisdom.djvu/43

 gates, and angels came unto him; and so we find we must become poor in order to get rich; now all men who seek God with a pure heart is counted poor in the sight of the world but they are rich through the blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin; this is the way beloved, in which we find Jesus Christ our salvation the high priest of our suffering, the supporter of our infirmity, and our defender, through him we raise our aspiring looks to heaven and behold the celestial mansion as in a glass, through him the eyes of our hearts are opened, through him our foolish and darkened understandings are renewed in his marvellous light, through him God hath willed us to taste immortal knowledge, who being the glory and the light of his magnificence is much greater than the angels; by how much he hath obtained a more excellent name than they, for it is written, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire, but of his son the Lord hath said, thou art my son this, day I have begotten thee, and again he saith unto him, set thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot stool, Ps. 10 c. but who are his enemies? wicked men, and those who oppose his will. The following passages are beautiful and affecting in the highest degree: "why are there amongst us contentions, wrath, envying, schism, and war, have we not one God and one Christ and one spirit of grace poured out upon us, and is there not one vocation in Christ ? why do we tear asunder and rend the members of Christ? take ye into your hands the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul, study what he hath written unto you, immediatelv in the beginning of his address; certainly being divinely inspired, he admonishes us respecting himself and Cephas and Apollas in his epistle; there were even then amongst you factions and parties, but surely in that inclination of mind ye sinned less, in that ye were disposed by the affection towards the Apostle, eminent by good report, and toward the men approved by them, he who hath the charity that is in Christ will keep Christ's commandments, who by words can express the bond of the charity of God, for what is capable of representing its beauty in the highest degree to which charity bears us is inexpressible; charity unites us to God, charity covereth a multitude of sins, charity supports us in all things, charity patiently endureth all