Moralities.
1. JEsus entering into Jerusalem, went streight to the Temple, as a good Son goes to his Fa∣thers house; as a High-Priest to the Sanctuary; and as a sacrifice to the Altar. He doth very lively in∣terest himself in the goods of his Heavenly Father, and chaseth out every prophane thing out of that sa∣cred place, to give thereby glory to the living God, and to put all things in order. It is a wicked stain to Religion, when Ecclesiastical persons are vicious, and when Churches are profaned. Saint John Chry∣sostom saith, That Priests are the heart of the Church, but when they are wicked, they turn all into sin. A decaying tree hath always some ill quality about the root; so when any people are without discipline, the Pastours are without virtue. The want of reverence in Churches, begets the contempt of God; they can∣not have Jesus in their hearts, when they give him af∣fronts even in his own Temple.
2. His house (saith he) is a house of Prayer; but your heart should be the Sanctuary, and your lips the door. So long as you are without the exercise of prayer, you shall be like a Bee without a sting, which can make neither honey nor wax. Prayer is the chiefest and most effectual means of that Angeli∣cal conversation, to which God calls us, by the me∣rits of his passion, and by the effects of his triumphant resurrection. It is the sacred business which man hath with God, and (to speak with Saint Gregory Nazi∣anzen) it is the art, to make our souls divine. Before all things you must put into an order, the number, the time, the place, the manner of your prayers; and be sure that you pay unto God this tribute, with respect, fervour, and perseverance. But if you desire to make a very good prayer, learn betimes to make a prayer of all your life. Incense hath no smell without fire, and prayer is of no force without charity. A man must converse innocently and purely with men, that desire to treat worthily with God.
3. Keep your person and your house clean, from ill managing all holy things, and from those irre∣verences, which are sometimes committed in Church∣es. It is a happy thing for a man to be ignorant of the trade of buying and selling benefices, and to have no intercourse with the tribunals of iniquity. Many other sins are written in sand, and blown away with a small breath of Gods mercy; But the faults of so great impiety, are carved upon a corner of the Altar, with a graver of steel, or with a diamond point, as the Prophet saith. He deserves to be made eternally culp∣able, who dries up the fountain, which should waste himself, or poisons the stream, which he himself must drink; or contanimates the Sacraments which are given him, to purifie his soul.