Almes _ the firft Sunday inLent. Serin. zo. ( 16i we enter intoGods house. to flop their mouths with fomthing or other : We are all Theeues, and that we mayenter peaceably into GodsHoule, there is no bettermeanes thanto giue fomething to the poore, which like fo many Dogges lie at thegate. Twice in the O IdTeflament bath God commanded , That no man fhould petition him with emptie hands ; [INCon apparebis in conffiellu meo vacuw.] And SaintChryfo- flame expounding this place,fùith, He enters emptiehanded , who comming to craue fomethingof God, dothnot firfl bellow an Almes vpon the poore ; ac- cording to thatrule of our SauiorChrift, What yee(halldoe toone ofthefe littleones, &c. Citing likewife for confirmation of this Dottrine, that placeof Ecclefia- flicus, Ante Orationem, preparaanimar tuam,Before thouprayefl,prepare thyfelf,éc. When thou haft enough , remember the timeof hunger ; and when thou art rich, thinke vponpouertie and need . Tofhew pittie to the poore, he termes it Animapreparationem, ¿preparingoftheflute : And it is not inuch,that God fhould take pleafure therein, feeing menare fo well pleafed therewith.iuillappeafe hies withgifts,faithlacob, when he went forthto meet his brother Efau. And Eller commingbefore Alperinto beg aboone at his hand, it is Paid, That one ofher maids of Honourbare vp her arme,and the other, her traine. This is aTypeof Prayer, accompaniedwith Falling and Aimef-deeds ; which two,are ableto ne- gotiateany thingwith God : andwhere there is fuch an Ef ere , there is not any Affuerus(thoughneuer fo great) who will not bowthe Scepter ofhis meroe to- wards her. Ecclefaflicru faith,Giue analmato thepoore,andit(hall entreatfor thee, andpreuaile. There ú in Iertfalem by theplaceof the Sheep, aPoole . God did honour his Temple with this Poole, where therewas a perpetual! prouifion for health ; and it was aprouidencefull ofconueniencie , that Godfhould conferre his fauours wherehis name isprayfcd, and that Man fhould receiue them there where hec praifeth him. Te decet Hymnus Deus in Syon,tibireddeturVotuminHierufalem, In Syon, ô Lord, theyfang Hymnesvino thee; inlerufalem they make theirvowes 3 Open in theftplaces the hands of thy bountie, Et replebimurinbonisdorms tux, Andwe(hall bee filledwith thegood things ofthy houfe. Amongfi other fauours whichGodpromi- fed to his houfe, this was one, in loco Wedabopacem, In thatplace 1 willgrant thee peace. The name of Peaceintimateth all manner ofgood things whatfoeuer ; hereart thouto beg, and here to receiue thegrantingof thy petitions. And for thiscaufe Godcalls his houfe the houfe of Prayer, which is ordained to begge thofe things ofGod whichwe (land in needof;and to praifehim for what he giues,and we receiue. The Court is the Worlds Epitome, anabreuiation,or fhortabridgement of thisgreater Vniuerfe ; forthat it hath in it whatfoeuer is difperfedthroughout the faceofthe earth. And this Poole is a figure of the Court: Firfl ofall,in this Poolethere areagreat many officke &difeafed perfons,& thofeofverie foule and filthie difeafes, blind, waftedin their bodies, benumm'd, withered, lame, and maimed. Iacere,To lie, in Scripture is fpokenof thofethatare dead, (as it ap- peareth in Exodris, in theBooke ofTobias, and foof thofethat lie atthepoint of death) as likewife ofLazarus, when he lay at Dimes his gate. So faith Saint Iohn in this place, c multitudolanguentium iacebat, i. There layagreatmultitudeoffeke men. In the Court thereare agreat many thatlie fickeof diuers and fundrie dif- cafes of the Soule : an Apoplexy feifeth vponall the fences of thebodie ; one preteronor other poffeffeth thefences of the bodie, and thefaculties of the Souk, andvpon allwhatfoeuer belongs untoman ; ashishonour, hiswealth, his confcience, andtruth, &c. Thismán came tothe Poolebenumm'd, and at 0 3 the Exod.23,6.3¢ Leste. it. Alines, the preparation of the foule to Prayer. Gen. 3z. Pnblicke ten. pies to he fre- quented. ExOd. xi; 706. 2.
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