Book IV. Tn" CHURCH co:vrPA RED TO A LILY. 68 5 4 . It is he only who gathereth the Fruit of it.. Wo :herefore to them that adventu;e to crop, and pull up, and deft roy any of I'S chotce } lowers! They that touch God • .People, Chrift's Lilies, touch the Apple ol lm Eye. V. Let the Saints of Chrift alfo learn from hence to be fruitful, Chrift'ha:h been at areat Coft and Pains in order thereunto. And that you may be fo, . " 1 . See rhat you be Plants of his own pianting, otherwilc you will be plucked up. 2. See thar you be wel:--oored: Such bring forrh moft Fruit. 3· Take heeci of the Worm at the Root. 4 . Take heed whom ye chufe for Garden-Dreffers, and look to your Hedge or vVall of Church-Difcipline. You muft know your Bounds, the Garden ofChnfr muft not be opened into other Men's Fields. Keep your Communion entire; reme~ber, you ~re bounded by Chrift's Laws and Inftinuions ; take heed you do not, With Ephra.m, .mix. youtfelves with other .People. THE c H R ·u c H coMPARED To A LILY. As the Lily among the '!'horns, fo is my Love among the Daughters, Cant. ii. 2. CHRIST calleth his Church his Love, and compareth her to a Lily among '!'horns. By Daughters are meant, as fome conceive, other Churches, who pretend they are the SpoLlfe of Chrifr. Daughters, faith the learned Wendelin, are either Nations, Strangers to the Church of Chri!t, which nevertbelefs are jnined to us by the common Ligaments of.Hnmanity, and de!i::end from the f:1me Creator, and there– fore called Daughters; or elfe fuch as profefs their Names among the Citizens of Zion, the Church ofChrifl. But as the Church is compared to a Lily; fo, with the greateft Elegancy, the Daugilters are compared to '!'horns. SIMILE. I. A LILY is a very fweet Flower, fo fragrant, that Naturalifls tell us, a Man's Senfes will be ealily turned with the Strength thertof. PARALLEL. I. so there is nothing fweeter ro Chrift, than the Church, the Spoufe: 'I'hou art all fair, my Love, tbcre is no Spot in thee. '!'he Smell of thy Ointment is better than all Spices, Spikenard, and Saffron, Calamus, aud Cinnam~n, with a/! 'I'rees of F'rankincmfe, Jl.fyrrh and Aloes, with the chiefSpices, C4nt. iv. 7• ro, 14. The Church a!Jd faithful Children of God, are unto Chrift a f"eet Saver. And it is faid, Noah built an Altar to the Lord, and took of every clean Fowl, aud offered Burnt-Ojferi11gs on the Altar; and the Lord[me/led a fioeet Savor. Gen.viit. 4 o, 41. I!. A Lily is an exceeding white 1!. So nothing is more fair and white, or purer Flower; nothing more pure, noin Chrifr's Sight than the Church. .My Undifiied thing whiter, faith the lame Auis but one, jhe is the on~' Me of her Mether, }be is .thor, than a Lily. the choice one of her that bare her. '/hou art all fail·, my Love, aud there is 110 Spot in thee. Hence faid to be cloathed in fine Limm, clean and white, Chnft, her bl:fT<tl Bridegroon,, aave himfelf for her, that he might Janflify and cleanfe ber, with the wajhing of Water~ by the lVo>"d ; that he might prefen! her to himfelf a .r:forious Church, not h.n'ing Spot, or fVrinkle, or any fuch Thing; but that jhe jhould be holy, and without Blemijh, Epb. v. 25, z6, 27. · Ill. The Lily is a very fruitful Ill. The Church is fruitfL>l; nothin~ more F'lower; one Root, faith Pliny *, fruitful, faith Wendelin : The which bt;n::' plant– often yielding fifty Pods. The ed in the Field of one Jmy(dem, in the LJys of Dew of Heaven, the Heat of the old, watered by the Apofmlic '\llen, with the Sun, and Fatnds ofthe Soil, make Dew of the Word, and Miracles; the Sun of it fruitr.ul. Righteoufiltfs fhining upon it, and wfuimo- of his Divine Heat into it, Mal. iv. 2. In ~hat part of the World, in the fpace of a few Years, bath it not taken Root ? In the f.,rrner Age, after the Roman Winters of the Alpine Snow had for fame Ages deprefii:d this • P/in, lib. xxi. cap. 5· 8M FlowN
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