274 The Sublapfari4n.s doöirine Efay 49. i g. (an a woman forget herfuckinng child, that fhe fhould not have compaon upon the Tonne, of her wombe ? yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. Women'are com- paflîonate toward their children , becau(e they are the fruit of their wombes , and a part of themfelves : but moll indul- gent are they towards thoîe children to whom they are Nur- fes aswell as Mothers, to their fucking children: and yet mo thers may forget even their fuckingchildren : But as for God, he can never forget his children. Again, Godcompareth him. felf with one ofthe molt affeftionatefemales among unreafon. able creatures, theHen, Matth. 23. 37. 0 .Jerufalem, how oft would 1 have gathered thee, az. a hengathereth her chickens un- der her wings ? &c. No Bird ( faith S. Auguftine) expref- feth fuch tender love to her young ones as the hen Both : t No fowlsdifcove"r themfelves tobe mo- thers fo much as hens do. Others,whenwe fee them in their nefis with theiryoung, we know them to be mothers, but no way elfe : but the hen difcovereth her felf to be fo even when her chickens do not follow her: herfeathersJtandup,her wings hang dovan, fhe clocketh mournfullyand goethfeebly; fo that we mayknow her tobe a mother, when vet we cannotlee her brood. Such another fpeech he hath in another place, and con- cludeth it with theft words , U Our Lord did therefore compare himfelf to a hen ra- ther then to any other creature, becaufe of dicens,OjERUSALEM,jERUSALEM, her fingular expreflions of love to her QOTIES voLur TE coNGREGA- young ones, even when they are out ofher RE UT GALL I NA, &c. fight. By thefe things we fee how highly the Scriptures (peak of Gods mercy, efpecially in its exprefli- ons to mankind, to whom he bath born a greater love,and for whom he bath declared himfelf to have done farre greater matters. then for the angels; the wifdomeof God delighting it felf in the children of men, before theworld was, Prov. 8. 3.1. and gratifying them in the fulneffeof time with the affumpti- on of thy. it nature ; Heb. z. 16. and the redemptionof their fouls with his bloud, I.Pet.t. &c. Nowwith fuch a Mercy cannot {land fuch a decree : Abfolute Reprobation being once gran ed, we may ( me think) more properly call God a Fath°r ofcruelties thenofmercies, and ofhatred rather then of love: and the devils names, Satan, and 'AmMvwv, an adver- fa'y, t (Aug. trait. ag. in7oh.pag.q.6. Vi- demus nidificare pafheres quoflibet ante oculos noftros ; hirundines, ci- conias, columbas quotidie videmus nidificare; quos enfi quando in nidis videmus, parentes effe non agnorci- anus. Gallina verò Tic infirmatur in pullis fais, ut etiamfi ipfi pulii non fequantur, filius non videas,matrem tamer intellitiac. Itá fit alis demif- liis, plumis hïfpida, voce rauca, om- nibus membris demifsa & abjeta,ut (quemadmodum dixi) etti filios non videos, matrem tamer intelligas. u Idem inPfal. 5 8.p. 2 12. B.C. chiare ere, Dominus, nit; propter hoc, gal- lina effe voluit in Canna Scripture
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