Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A61207
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The spiritual chymist, or, Six decads of divine meditations on several subjects by William Spurstow ...
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Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing S5097; ESTC R22598
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119,345
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208
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and Aaron the Saint of the Lord and yet how strangly differing are their two Images they are unlike in the Matter the one being of Gold and the other of Brass unlike in the Figure the one a Calfe the other a Serpent but most unlike in their Effects the one Killing and the other Healing Viâ—â—lus aureus occidit Serpens Aeneus sanat The Golden Calfe that kills and the Brazen Serpent that saves alive One would think that the same Fountain should as soon send forth Salt Water and Fresh as either of these to do any thing that should terminate in such contrary effects by whose harmonious Conduct Israel had been led as a Flock of Sheep through the Wilderness But what if their Actions did Jarr yet who could readily conceive that Aarons Calfe should be as a destroying poyson or that Moses his Serpent should be as an effectuall Antidote to save alive did he not flee from his Rod when turned into a Serpent as fearing to be hurt by it And was not this Brazen Serpent in shape and figure like to those fiery Serpents that had stung many Israelites to death from whence then comes this strange difference between the one and the other is it not from hence Aarons Calfe though made of Gold was without yea against a command of God but Moses his Serpent though of Brass was by his special appointment Let the Institutions of God be never so mean and despicable to the eye of sense yet they shall obtain their designed end and let the Inventions of Men be never so rich and costly yet they will be found to be no other then hurtful vanities Who is of so small an Insight in the Mystery of Idolatry and Superstition as not to observe how they affect a Pomp and Splendor in their Religion as if when they had made it Gay they had made it Good and how greatly they despise the simplicity of that Worship which is not clothed and decked with an external Grandure But will a Clove in the Mouth cure the unsavory breathings of corrupt Lungs or will the Leperâ— making of himself brave with the finest Garments cause the Priest to pronounce him clean when he comes to behold his Sore then may such arts and palliations of men wedded to Idolatrous practises vindicare the evil of their doings and justifie them to be such as God will not condemne But as Religion is not a thing left to any mans choice to pick out from that diversity with which the World abounds what best pleaseth himself so neither are the wayes and Mediums of the Exercise of it at all in his power As God is the object of Worship so the meanes by which he is honoured and his servants benefited that use them must be appointed by himself His will and not mans must be the sole and adâ—quate Rule For all Ordinances do not work necessarily as the Fire burns or as the Sun enlightens the Air nor do they work Physically as having an inherent power to produce their effects but they are operative by way of Institution and receive their vertue from God who therefore appoints weak and insufficient things to the eye of Reason that himself may be the more acknowledged in all What could be more unlikely to heal the bitings of a fiery Serpent then the looking up onely to a Brazen Serpent or to restore to the blind Man his â—ight then the anointing of his eyes with Clay and Spittle And yet these things God and Christ are pleased to make use of not from indigency as if they could not work without meanes but from Wisdom and Councel to shew that they can work by any Let no Man then fondly make it his Work or count it his duty to honour God with his Inventions though specious and beautiful in his own eyes but let him value and prize Gods Institutions though to outward appearance they be contemptible The Blew-Bottles and other Weeds in the Field are more gaudy and delightful to the Eye than the Corn amongst which they grow but yet the one are worthless and the other is full of strength and nourishment Meditation XXII Vpon the Circulation of the bloud THough it be no confessed Maxime yet it is an opinion which many Physicians do confidently assert that the motion of the bloud is Circular and that the bloud which is in the feet hath a reflux back into the heart But it is not for me if there be a difference between those who are of the secrets of nature to undertake the decision of it least it be said to me as iâ— was to Moses when he mediated between the two Israelites that strove Quis te constituit Judicem Who made you a Judge over us I shall therefore turn my thoughts from it unto the circulation which is in the civil body of Society wherein the affections habits manners as a kind of spiritual bloud may be truly affirmed both to flow upward from the inferiour parts of it to the superiour and to descend again from the superiour parts of it to the inferiour But yet this disproportion is to be observed that the Efluxes both of good and evil which move downwards are more quick and operative than those which ascend from below upwards Great persons by their manners and carriage do sooner make impressions upon persons of a meaner rank than they are able to reflect back upon them again This Moral Circulation therefore may teach those who are as the noble and Architectonical parts of the civil body full of power and influence to be exact and circumspect in their converse and living that others upon whom their influences fall may be drawn by them to a love of holiness and not seduced to lusts and intemperancies by their example If he who was rightly surnamed Copronimus have a fancy to the smell of horse-dung as to besmear himself with it all his Courtiers in a servile compliance unto him will qualifie themselves for his company by using no other perfumes Yea if greater Beastialities be used by other Princes they are not likely to want followers The whole Court will be soon like Jacobs Cattel spotted and speckled as being apt to conceive with some tincture of the Colours which they see in those waters whereof they dayly drink It being an hard thing to be an Obadiah that fears God greatly in Ahabs Court or a Saint in Neroes Houshold But though evil in those who are in high places be more infectious and the good more powerful than it is in others yet the vices of those who are in a lower Station have a tendency to corrupt the greatest as the head in the body natural is oft distempered by the feet And so the vertues that are in them are also operative to influence those that are in dignity above them to the making of themselves evil if not more good The lustre of St. Johns Sanctity though cloathed with Camels hair extorts reverence from Herod in his Robes and Pauls
bestowed by God upon Judea the Country which is renouned for Christs Birth is also only celebrated for this Balm all other Nations wholly wanted it or at least had none like it Moses tells us that it was anciently one of the Isâ—maelites Commodities which they carried from Gilead to Egypt And Ezekiel saith it was Israels and Judahs Merchandise to Tyrus Doth it not then genuinely poynt out unto us that the whole world must be beholding to Christ for Salvation and healing Doth it not as a spiritual Hierogliphick assert that weighty Doctrine of Peters That there is no name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but by the name of Christ Why then do men lay out their money for that which is not Balm Why do they take hold sometimes on one Creature and sometimes one another saying Be thou our healer let this ruin be under thy hand Is it not one of those glorious Appellations which God in Scripture is pleased to take unto himself Ego Jehovah curator tuus I am the Lord that healeth thee Take heed then O Christian when thou art under any distress or under any malady to cheat thy self with false remedies to use Fig leaves instead of Figs themselves Adam took the one which did only hide his nakedness but not cure it but to restore Hezekiah God took the other Use what God hath appointed not what thou fanciest Secondly This Balsâ—me tree drops and weeps forth its Balm to heal their wounds that cut and mangle it and did not our blessed Saviour do thus What a strange requital did this great innocent and holy person make unto those from whom he suffered They mock and revile him hanging upon the Cross and he prayes and begs forgiveness for them They shed his bloud and he makes it a precious Medicine to heal their putred sores They smite and pierce him to the heart with a Spear and he erects in his heart a fountain to wash them from their sin and uncleanness Was it ever heard that a Physician would sweat and bleed for his surfeited Patient Or that an offended Prince would expiate the foul Treasons of his Subjects with his own life Surely well might the Apostle say that God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Be astonished O ye Angels of Heaven who delight to pry into Gospel mysteries at this Abyss of divine love from which Seraphims themselves cannot but detract if they should in the least conceive that they could either fathom with their knowledge or express in their praises And be ye melted O rocky hearts of sinners with the ardency and strength of such love which is stronger than death it self It was his love which held him upon the Cross to finish your salvation when death could not hold him in the grave Let this love of Christ constrain you henceforth not to live unto your selves but unto him that died for you Thirdly This Balm which distills from this wounded tree is of such vertue and efficacy as that it is Medicina omni morbia Physick to cure all diseases being applied inwardly or outwardly It allayeth the Head-ach it restoreth thy eye-sight helpeth the Astmah purgeth Ulcers cureth the poysonful Sting of Serpents healeth all kind of wounds Is not then this Balm in the Letter an apt Emblem of the Balm in the mystery of the bloud of Christ Which is of an unlimited power and excellency What is the evil that can befall any for which this is not a certain Cure Oh when taken inwardly as in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is both Food and Physick it enlightens the dark mind it heals the broken in heart it fills the hungry with good things When sprinkled outwardly as in Baptisme it is effectual to stop the Leprosie of Sin to cure the venome and rage of Lusts to mollifie the stony heart and to make fruitful the Barren Be then of good chear O ye drooping and afflicted souls let me say to you as Paul to those in the tempest The lives of none of you shall be lost If you complain No sins like yours let me adde There is no Salvation like Christs If you say you are a Systeme a fardle of sins and lusts hear what the Apostle saith The bloâ—d of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin No man ever miscarried for being a great sinner but only for being an impenitent sinner Be not in love with your sins as Beggars are with their sores that will not part with them and then doubt not of your Physicians skill or care It is his peculiar glory that never any Patient miscarried under his hand though such was their condition that they were all utterly incurable by any other Meditation XXX Vpon the palpitation of the heart THe Pearl which in the Oyster is a disease in the Cabinet is a Jewel of rich value and in the Ear an Ornament of an orient beauty and such a thing is this trembling or palpitation of the heart in the body it is a sad malady in the soul it is an heavenly grace They who are afflicted with the one seek earnestly to the Physician for a Cure And they who want the other importune God to obtain it from him as a blessing when once they know the excellency and worth of it Who is the Favourite of heaven with whom the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity will dwell And to whom he will look with an eye of protection with an eye of care and delight Is it not to him that is of a contrite heart and that trembleth at his word Who is the best Saint on Earth Is it not he who useth most diligence to work out his salvation with fear and trembling All duties are best done when accompanied with this holy trembling Prayer and Confession of sins are never better made than when we imitaâ—e those Penitents in Ezra who sate trembling in the street of the House of God The Word is never more awfully received as the Will and Command of a Great King than when received as the Elders of Bethlehem did Samuel who trembled at his coming O methinks I cannot without wonder read how Paul lived among the Corinthians in fear and much trembling as sensible of the weight of his Ministry and how they again received Titus Pauls Messenger with the like affection not entertaining him with costly banquets with Court-like Salutations but with fear and trembling which is the highest respect that can be showen to the Doctrine of Christ Yea the Supper of the Lord it self though it be a Feast of Love in which Christ qui est totus amor est caput coenae who is all love is the chief and onely dish that a Soul hath to feed upon is best Celebrated with a Divine trembling which may correct our joy and keep it from degenerating into a carnal mirth The sparkling raies of light which are reflected from the polished Diamond are