73. But this speed, in its untrustworthiness
and excessive haste, is in danger of being like the seeds which fell
upon the rock, S. Luke viii. 6. and, because they
had no depth of earth, S. Matt. xiii. 5. sprang up at once,
but could not bear even the first heat of the sun; or like the
foundation laid upon the sand, Ib. vii.
26. which could not
even make a slight resistance to the rain and the winds. Woe to
thee, O city, whose king is a child, Eccles. x. 16. says
Solomon. Be not hasty of speech, Prov. xxix. 20.
says Solomon again, asserting that hastiness of speech is less serious
than heated action. And who, in spite of all this, demands haste
rather than security and utility? Who can mould, as clay-figures
are modelled in a single day, the defender of the truth, who is to take
his stand with Angels, and give glory with Archangels, and cause the
sacrifice to ascend to the altar on high, and share the priesthood of
Christ, and renew the creature, and set forth the image, and create
inhabitants for the world above, aye and, greatest of all, be God, and
make others to be God?