Selected quad for the lemma: son_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
son_n	mercy_n	miserable_a	sinner_n	20,907	5	11.5690	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52343	Of adoration in spirit and truth written in IV. bookes by Iohn Eusebius Nieremberg native of Madrid. S.I. And translated into English by R. S S.I. In which is disclosed the pith & marrow of a spiritual life, of Christs imitation & mystical theology; extracted out of the HH. FF. & greatest masters of spirit Diadochus, Dorotheus, Clymachus, Rusbrochius Suso, Thaulerus, a Kempis, Gerson: & not a little both pious & effectual is superadded.; De adoratione in spiritu et veritate. English.	Nieremberg, Juan Eusebio, 1595-1658.; Strange, Richard, 1611-1682.	1673 (1673)	Wing N1150A; ESTC R224195	255,001	517

to her in the person of his beloved Disciple saying behold thy Son He did it to wit when he was at the very point of death as if he had only desird life that he might be dutiful to his Mother but being not expedient that he should avoid it he left a deputy of his filial care and obedience in Saint John and of observance in the rest of the faithful that by this meanes he might both redeem us by dying and also be grateful to her by leaving so many to supply for him in exhibiting respect as if he confessd himself not to have fully accomplishd his desire in that behalf There at the foot of the cross Mary took us for her children there she brought us forth not of her womb but her hart which is a more pretious member and its filiation more efficacious For each child of the womb is not alwaies beloved but the child of ones hart cannot but be so Ther did she bear us together with Christ amidst throwes and pangs which she felt not in her carnal labour or child bed She took us very opportunely for her children at such a time when her bowels were wholly replenished with an affectionate compassion towards her Son that she might transfer it upon us and by it ennoble her mercy as if IESVS had recommended to his Mother what he said to the woemen Weep not over me but over your children And therfore hanging on the cross ful of anguish and torment remitting as it were to others all compassion due to him he said to his weeping Mother Mother behold thy Son behold each faithful Christian my Disciple is thy child do not so much compassionate and weep over me as over these thy children poor wretches and miserable sinners whom I recommend to thy motherly tuition Christ knew that the misery of sin was a greater object of mercy then any corporal pain whatsoever for his soul did more feelingly resent our offences then his body did its own torments Therfore he would have his Mother transfer her compassion and mercy to the defects faultines and miseries of our soul that she might chiefly assist us in them And because Christ by his sufferings deservd well of the divine justice for his superabundant satisfaction therfore was he worthy of that attribute of being judge of all men according to the prediction of David give o God thy judgment to the king thy justice to the kings Son the Mother of Christ by compassionating and commiserating him deservd well the attribute conferrd upon her of compassion commiseration that we also may say thou hast given o God thy mercy to the queen and thy pious affection to the kings Mother therfore no grace nor mercy is derivd to us but by Mary From henceforward o most pious Mother I take thee for mine will have this to be the first pledge of thy piety that thou imitate thy first begotten Son who as he not only gave thee to Iohn but Iohn also to thee so thou give me to God since thou also gave God to us Therfore since our misery finds no redress but in Gods mercy and the disposal of it is Mary's power to whom her Son denies nothing and she ful of commiseration why are we so slow and backeward in the discharge of our duty and devotion towards her we must for 4. reasons be very officious in the service of the Virgin Mother The first is the necessity and advantage of her intercession for without her intercourse and sollicitation no guifts discend from heaven grace depends far more upon Mary then the showers of heaven did on Elias The second is the will of Christ whose desire is that we honour his Mother and in honoring her we do him a piece of grateful service For he turnes over to her all the debts we owe him and she is our creditrice who must see them cancelld If what we do to the poor be so acceptable to him that he takes it as done to himself and makes them his substitutes in this behalf how much more gratefully will he take what is done to his Mother whose debter he acknowledgeth himself to whome all are endebted The third cause is the excellency of the most H. Virgin to whose worship though neither the tie of necessity nor the explicite will of her son IESVS did move us nevertheles the sole title of her rare prerogatives and perfections ought to endeare us extremely to her She is the glory of all pure creatures and especially of mankind the next in dignity to God himself to whom he granted this priviledg which he alone by reason of the infinitude of his nature enjoies to be together a Mother and a Virgin and Mother of God God is both a father and a Virgin Mary is also a Mother a Virgin And like as Christ according to his divinity was most chastly begotten in the splendours of Saints by a Virgin father without a Mother so according to his humanity he was most chastly begotten in the splendours of sanctity refulgent above all Saincts of a Virgin Mother without a father O double miracle both that a Virgin brings forth and that she brings forth God! and indeed what should a Virgin bring forth but God grace and nature are two sisters the same artificer gave them both a being and therfore their proceeding in their different functions is much a like Even as God after he had created all things made an abridgment of them all in Adam and Eve and all the degrees of life and nature are more eminently in man then in the natures themselves heavens plants and living creatures insomuch that one man is more valuable then the whole world besides and is as it were a little world by himself and all things do him homage and were made for his use so in like manner because Gods workmanship is no les exactly curious in matters of grace he also compendiated in the second Adam and Eve the whole extent of grace that ever hath or shall be imparted to men and Angels And Mary alone containes all kind of blessings and supernatural guifts and degrees of grace in a more singular manner then all the Hierarchies of B. Spirits and quires of Saints in such sort that she alone doth equalize all their sanctity and perfection Not piety only but reason also attesteth this assertion and now it is manifest enough by the revelation made to that B. Man and martir of Christ F. Martin Gutierez whom S. Teresa beheld in heaven adornd with the ensignes of martirdome he dying in prison under the heretiques wearied out with their fetters and il usage The Virgin her self gave many thanks to this her servant for defending her sanctity in these eminent tearmes The very Seraphins themselves and all the other ranks both of Angels and Saints doe homage to her and reverence her as queen of all no otherwise then the brute beasts in paradise to Adam while he stood as yet in the

if we believe the greatnes of the divine goodnes in it self and his immense charity and inestimable benefits towards us what is the reason I say that we doe not correspond in love fidelity and observance but rather dare offend him though but venialy and do not worship and love him indefatigably with all the extent of our strength who employd all the force of his omnipotency in creating and conserving us and loves us both perfectly and eternally and loves us even to the end yea even unto death what is the reason that we are alwayes senseles to our own good and shameles towards his majesty whether we believe or believe not truly while we remain so senslesly benumd If we have not a firm beliefe what greater folly since men give credit in all things to flatterers because they speak according to their pallat and profit then to disbelieve matters of faith so much importing us to be so and redounding so much to our credit and profit that they be true and undoubted What greater irreverence then to believe a man all men being obnoxious to lying and deceit and not believe God speaking things profitable to us and attesting them by so many miracles But if we believe these things and belye them with our actions what greater absurdity and derision of God then to reject his most amiable goodnes contemn his love his blood his benefits and either not dread the paines of Purgatory and hell or not hope for and most ardently desire the glory of heaven which God esteems matters of high concernment and as such eggs us on both by threats and promises to good works What greater madnes then to expose our selves by our own negligence to the hazard of forfeiting eternal glory or at leastwise enduring a long Purgatory We must be sure to make our works square in all exactly with our beliefe and adhere more tenaciously then if those objects were patent to the eye or any other sense or experiment Thou hast received the sacred body of Christ or art present at the dreadful Sacrifice of the Masse if thou believe that Christ is really there present with thee thou oughst to behave thy self with greater submission and veneration then if thou didst clearly behold him with thy eyes and to pray to him with a livelier confidence then if the heavens were opend to thee as they were to S. Stephen and thou beheldst the Hierachies of Angels accompanying Christ coming to thee to receive thy petitions for thou mayst be more infallibly ascertaind by faith that he is upon the Altar then if thou didst see him with thy corporal eyes Let every one procure after this manner to penetrate the truths of divine faith and strengthen himself in their certainty making his works consonant to his beliefe But how dost thou proceed consequently and not rather cozen thy self when thou sayst thou esteemst the least degree of glory more then the empyre of the whole world and nevertheles to gain heaven thou wilt not deny thy self the least pleasure and art so be sotted upon temporal things that thou toylest and moylest without respit for their purchase This certainly cannot stand good unles thou esteem earthly and perishable goods more then heavenly and eternal The V. Chapter Of the hope of pardon and zeal of pennance THe more vertuous one is the more he hates sin the more he hates it the more he desires its destruction and therfore God desires more to pardon sin then the Penitent himself who begs pardon God is most accomplished in all goodnes and therfore he of all others most hates sin If the sinner who is evill hates his own sin and desires its destruction how much more God who is supremely good Every one seeks his own ends and commodity God alone seeks thine and covets thy salvation doubt not then of pardon and the divine assistance We have a most sufficient suerty the Son of God if we would but resolve upon our conversion There is neither good nature wanting to the creditour nor ability in the bonds man do not then dispaire o sinner by reason of the vastnes of thy debt it is but a trifle in regard of the infinite mercy of God and endles merits of Christ IESVS crucified is our inexhaustible treasure It were a simple thing to think that the exchequer of a vast Empire if it were granted to thy use were not sufficient to defray thy petty debt of a few pounds and it is more simple to make delayes in discharging thy debt to Almighty God hoping he will be content to accept the merits of IESVS for thy payment It will be ridiculous if thou be unjust to thy self who seeks to be profitable and beneficial to others How much content would it cause thee if thou hadst occasiond the conversion of S. Austin or S. Mary Magdalen or S. Paul the Apostle or some other great sinner and drawn him to God and without all doubt thou wouldst endeavour that now if thou thought it lay in thy power to make any one become truly penitent and as holy as Magdalen Remember that it is in thy power mediating the grace of God to operate this in thy self that is to become truly penitent and hartily compunct for thy offences even small ones and very fervorous and devout Convert thy self and glory far more in thy own conversion then anothers What man that 's wel in his wits if he himself were at the point of starving would give a loafe of bread to another who were scarce pincht with hungar and stood but in small need of that merciless courtesy suffering himself in that utmost extremity to perish with famine Admonish thy self exhort thy self preach to thy self nothing is wanting to a remission of thy sins but thy desire thy sorrow thy disposal and this also by a special favour Behold God stands expecting thee ready to give greater supplies if necessary Thou hast already a pledge of his good will thy own will and desire of good which is from God I know not how it comes to pass that thou being compounded of a body like to brute beasts and a soul allied to God thou seeks all wayes and meanes to preserve thy body and sleights and neglects what may make for the health and integrity of thy soul Thy chiefe sollicitude ought to be placed upon the chiefest thing Let thy first care be concerning thy soul for which thy body was framd and moulded and if the first then for these reasons it must be the sole and only The diseases of the soul are greater and more in number and more pernicious its cure is certain and with out all peradventure since they are cured who onely have a real desire to be cured but the cure of the body is deceitful for those that are cured recover not presently but by degrees besides corporal medecines are harder bitterer and more costly not alwayes at hand but must be fetcht from beyond the seas and almost the worlds end but

to wit divine grace merited for us by his Passion and remaining inherent in us He satiates our hungar with his own Body he quencheth our thirst with his sacred blood he enricheth our penury with the ample treasure of his inexhaustible merits If thou wilt know how much Christs merits are thine how thou maist employ them to gaine grace offer them to God to obtaine mercy hence gather it to wit because he reput'd thy sins his It was said in the person of Christ the words of my offences Yet we must not think his merits so to be ours as that it is not needful to have any of our own but may be saved by sitting stil doing nothing for Iesus died not that we might be negligent but fervent and zealous in the divine service Even as the soul of Christ could not suffer damnation for thy sins unles he committed some himself which was impossible so neither shalt thou be saved by the merits of Christ unles thou do good works and have grace inherent in thee which nevertheles is also from Christ He gave us then his merits that we might use them as our own to appease Gods wrath and indignation no otherwise then he took upon him our sins as his own to make satisfaction he grieved he deplored them he satisfyd for them as if they had been his own delinquencies He gave us not his meer naked works but cloathd in their robes of dignity that is as performd by a divine person insomuch that as he took upon him our sins as committed by most vile and abject creatures his servants so we should partake of his merits as treasurd up by the Son of God equal to his heavenly father Let us imitate Christ in as much as he appropriated to himself our faults that we may learn how to use his merits and appropriate them to our selves Deem o sinner Christs merits thine and upon that account make thy demands with great confidence for this is to ask in the name of Christ His merits given to us are far more available to this then if we had done the same our selves had been crucifyed for the glory of God for in that case they would not be the works of God but man a sinner Lo then how much thou art obligd to Christ who took upon him thy sins and gave thee his merits who quitted thee of so great evil and bestowd upon thee so great good These two scores upon which he demands this satisfaction of thee are infinitly obligatory to wit that as he satisfyd for thy sins as if he had committed them so thou must not offer the merits of Christs otherwise to God and procure grace by them then as if they were thy own O most sweet IESV that I could but understand what benefit and advantages have do accrue to us so wretched from thee we were monsters of horrour and now by thy meanes we are become a spectacle grateful to God we were in the very mud and bottom of hel and now we are in the bosome I wil not say of Abraham the father of nations but of God thy father we were in the throat of the infernal dragon now we are in the hart of God himself we were an object unworthy of the divine eyes now we are worthy of his embracements we were slaves comdemnd to the prison of hel now by thee we shal be crownd kings of heaven Who can conceive whither we had precipitated our selves and to what thou hast exalted us our misery ought to have been throughly contented if thou hadst only freed us out of hel but not thy mercy unles thou hadst also elevated us above the heavens and so many Angels thou hadst done too-much when we were involud in an irreparable misery and so desperately that all redress seemd wholy impossible if thou hadst only obtaynd of thy father a surcease of his anger but thou gottest us also our pardon thou hadst done too much in getting our pardon but thou moreover ga inedst us his good will his love and his favour thou hadst done too-much and a thing deserving admiration if thou hadst only won his good will but thou obtainedst for us also guifts and graces thou hadst done too much and what might worthily make us amazd if thou hadst obtaind for us but the least guift at Gods hand but thou hast gotten us his kingdom and thy own inheritance thou hadst done too much if thou hadst effected this but once but thou hast effected that it should be given us innumerable times if we faulterd so often supposing we had recourse to thee by true pennance lastly thou obtainedst for us whatsoever God possesseth vouchsafedst to admit us as loathsome abominable as we wer to share with thee in thy patrimony Behold o man from whence Christ hath deliverd thee and where he hath installd thee if thou unwittingly and at hap-hazard hadst freed another not from death but some casual distress what thanks and gratitude wouldst thou expect from him savage beasts are grateful even for some benefits a fierce lion for one thorn pulld out of his foot was mindful of the good turn after a long time and requited it and why make we the immense benefits conferrd on us by Christ of an inferiour rank to those of wild beasts and rather stand not amazd and at a nonplus through desire of gratitude but perchance Christ was obligd to do for us what he did or did it with case and with out expense nay we were his enemies and the busines was most difficult and desperate and the atchieving it cost him no less then the price of his blood and pretious life O Immense charity of God what hast thou done for hatefulman when we were in an impossibility of salvation and knew not which way to turne our selves thou o most merciful God foundest out a remedy a devise a stratagem of stupendious mercy and when the compassing of it was out of our reach thou thy self wouldst execute the design But what kind of remedy was it what captive durst wish much less ask of his king that to gain his freedom he would become prisoner Thou o my IESVS wert content for our sakes to do more then we durst either hope or wish Thou being the king of glory wert bound for us hand and foot and treated as one that pleads guilty yea condemnd and executed for us thy enemies that stood impeachd of high treason It were an act worth admiration if an Emperour should daigne to visit a peasant cast into prison for his misde meanours and how much more if his own betraier what if he should quit his throne for him and in a disguisd habit remain prisoner while the malefactour made an escape Thou didst this o most loving IESVS His praise is never sufficiently renownd who made himself captive to redeem his friend nor that servant who to rescue his king exposd himself both to his enemies death nor that parent who

lost one of his own eyes to save one of his sons who otherwise had lost both But what wonder if a friend for a friend a servant for a king a parent for his child did such a feat how much more did my IESVS for me not a friend but an enemy not his king but a base slave of the divel not his child but a child of perdition If he had pardond me my trespass it had been enough but he relinquishd his throne he lost his life and over and above enthrond me in his kingdom If he had only canceld the disgrace and infamy of my sin he had shewd a rare clemency though the punishment due for it had stood good but he hath pardond the penalty and replenishd me both with joy and glory Are these things perchance false or is fayth infallible if they be truth it self how chances it that while we relate them with our mouth we are not affected towards the person of Christ with our hart who gave us his hart and inclind and stil inclines the hart of God towards us O how dear ought IESVS to be to us by whom we are so dear to God how much beloved by us for whom we are so much beloved by God! Consider what great good thou enjoyest in Christ infallibly God would not endure us and our impudency if Christ were not our mediatour he beautifies our deformity and renders us comely in the eyes of God he cloathd our nakednes with grace and attir'd us in his own robes when we were so miserably tatterd that we could not appeare in the presence of God and enricht us with his merits that we may appeare How gratefuly did he take it at S. Martins hands that he gave him but the one half of his cloak IESVS gloried and made as it were a flourish before the Angels with that torne rag and we are ungrateful to him who clad us in purple and a divine garment when we were naked unworthy and infected with leprosy not that he might only cloak the soare but throughly cure the loathsome disease and being washd like Naaman as it were in a Iordan make us truly sound and beautiful neither do we prize the garment and grace and his merits for whose sake his Father tolerates us takes notice of us and which is the chiefe makes us the object of his love O ungrateful mortals how comes it to pass that your harts are not forc'd after Christ who is our treasure our riches and our beauty without him we are deformed and unsightly to the eyes of God by him comely and conspicuous God stands proportionably in order to mankind and Christ its redeemer as doth our eye to its object which is colour light Without light all colours are invisible they are void of all beauty it by only illuminating them beautifies them so Christ who was a light to the revelation of nations makes God look regardingly upon us men now visible and sightly to his eyes who were buried before in darknes and the shadow of death Light is the first and chief in the class of visible things very agreable to good eyes by it all other things are seen and only seen so far forth as they partake of it for only with light or in light or by light colours are discernable light resides in the colour with our eye and in the space intermediate betwixt both So Christ is that which is the first and most visible in the divine eyes most grateful and acceptable to those of his Father other men only are so for as much as they partake of him by him and with him and in him they are conspicuous t is he that disposeth them and makes them regardable before God All the lustre and grace of colours consists in light and by its meanes hath its being and all the glory honour and grace of men is by Christ it is all his blessing and benevolence Mark how regardles the choisest and lovelyest rarities are by night they are as if they were a sleep or rather not at all so soaring spirits and subtle wits without Christ lie shrowded in darknes and are no more regardable then a nothing Why then dost thou glory in any thing besides him without light fair and foul is all one and both of them in a sorry condition without grace by Christ a sharp and piercing wit and a dul and doltish one is much the same and all other endowments of nature art and industry are no more then if they were not at all The heavens also and the sun are only beneficial by their light by which they effect all their productions so God by Christ alone communicates all the blessings he imparts to man Of all our sublunary simple qualities the heavens admit none besides light so neither shall any man ascend to heaven but he whom the light of Christ irradiates neither shal any prayer be heard with acceptance which petitions not by his sacred name O IESVS the light of men the true light which illuminates every man coming into this world illuminate me that thy Father may behold me who if he see in me any thing of thine cannot reject me if he hear thy name in my mouth cannot but harken to me O the force of the grace of our only-begotten Christ which begets so many children so grateful to God! where Christ is or his name is heard thither mercy flies immediately there mercy is certainly to be found O how efficaciously sounds the voice of Christ by which we assuage his Fathers anger and press him to our relief How can such obsequiousnes of his only Son most obedient most holy most officious most loving but move most tenderly such a parent especially since he sees himself beloved by him alone according to the fulnes of his desert amidst so many exulcerating affronts of men The name of a child prescinding from all respects of duty is grateful even to the most unnatural and miserly what then will it be to a most beneficent God especially if we add so many services exhibited even to his unthankful enemies He that considers Christs dutifulnes towards his Father wil adjudge all rewards more then due to him His father lost the world by the sin of man but such was the officiousnes of his Son that he regaind it restord it to him was this a smal piece of service All mankind and innumerable Angels became rebellious refractory to his Father the Son took upon him to quel their stubborness and teach them obedience and this at the expense even of his own life All mortals fel into a high contempt of the Father the Son by honouring him would make amends for all he finally restord him so many servants he gave him so many worshippers so many lovers so many praysers he peopled heaven that was void of inhabitants and were these but sleight services But with what affection what diligence what love what seemlines performd he this it was altogether

infinite and such that neither power nor knowledge remaines to the Father whereby to exceed in rewards the merits of his Son If God then be of such a munificent nature that of his own accord he is beneficial to sinners if so just that he rewards them beyond their merits and goes out of himself that he may be bountiful to all expecting no just title which exacts his beneficence wil he proceed partially with his Son alone and not have regard to the prescript of their agreement of which as yet the divine liberality in all its extent fals short what will he do when he sees that he cannot outstrip the merits of his Son but that all the rewards he gave him and all men for his sake are infinitly below his services will he that was profuse to sinners be injustly pinching to his own Son will he refuse to give what he demands or we ask for his sake supposing he cannot reward him too much nor hath hitherto done it sufficiently if God be munificent beyond all expectation to wit when men judge punishment more due then favour wil he be niggardly and sparing when they think him bound not only to do it by way of friendship but also in a manner claymd as a due debt if God hath bin bountiful to some masters for a silly servants sake because he did his duty what will he be to his beloved Son in whose sole service he took more complacence then in all the world besides if he esteem men so highly that he usd those expressions for lacob my servants sake and Israel my chosen and elsewhere for David my servant c. and this when he was in a veine of indulgence wil he misprize his beloved Son most dutyful to him and be harsh and unmerciful to him in whom he so gratifid us o men let us make our demands securely nay most securely by Christ let us approach with confidence to the throne of his grace because how great guifts soever we demand God wil remaine indebted for greater and because he excuseth not himself nor disclaimes the debt he will never remaine ungrateful or unjust but will give what we ask since he neither hath nor can give all that his Son meriteth Behold behold I now see more clearly then the sun that it is wholly impossible for him to deny whatsoever ●e ask for his Sons sake supposing our petition be made as it ought for we seem many times to petition but perchance do it so coldly and foolishly that it is no better then a mock-petition But he that makes it truly and really in the name of Christ not only intreats but as it were conjures and exacts Christ is the object and delight of all the divine senses God sees nothing that 's seemly but by Christ he hears nothing that 's harmonious but by Christ nothing is fragrant sweet to him but the good odour of Christ he annoints heales nothing with his mercy but by the oyle of the name of Christ nothing lastly rellisheth savourly to his pallat but what is seasond and sweetned with the passion and gal of Christ Whatsoever he feels all is grateful by Christ so regarding us in him because we resemble Christ we are pleasing to him as one that looks through a green glass all that he sees is green and agreable to his sight though before disagreeing that colour which of all others is most pleasing to the eye tempering the incongruity of the object O how far would God be from tolerating our loath somnes and nastines if it were not for his sake o how often would he be out of patience with us even after we are once put in the state of grace which we deservd to forfeit for our ingratitude and non-compliance and many other venial sins if he did not think upon him who sustaines us and supplies for our defects He alone is a lenitive to his Father to make him relish les noy somely our impudence and unthankfulnes The world had perishd a thousand times long ago unles it had been detaind maintaind by him who by offering a daily sacrifice infinitly pleasing to his Father conserves both it and us so shamelesly impudent Christ interposeth himself betwixt us and his Father who beholding us in him our deformity doth les offend him as he that beholds a dead dog but in a looking glass feels not the stench it sends forth hurtful objects when they are seen through a glass are not offensive to the eyes It fares with God as it did with that Emperour who having a very faire emerald which like a mirrour reflected objects he beheld in it all spectacles of horrour as combats of duellists slaughters and whatsoever causd aversion to the end that the pleasingnes of the stone might abate and sweeten the distastfulnes of the fact so our misdemeanours do les exasperate God when he beholds them represented in Christ Christ is a gem and most pretious emerald nothing is more pleasing to the eye then that stone whose only sight is said to exhilarate it and it shuts not up this grateful colour within its own inclosure but imparts it to the neighbouring aire void otherwise of all colour So Christ causeth joy to God and communicates his merits to us who have none of our own to the end that being endowd with his grace and the verdure of hope we may confide that by him we shall be acceptable to God All our good and graces are but only the exuberancies as it were the superfluities and offals of the merits of Christ The IV. Chapter How devoutly we ought to be affected towards the most B. Virgin Mary HOw great is our misery and malice since though the mercy and goodnes of God be infinite it nevertheles ●●ands in need of other helps and industries for our redress Christ the incarnate truth was a wonderful invention to satisfy the divine justice but because this instrument of mercy was to be our Iudge Gods love towards Christ provided another organ of pure mercy his most sacred Mother for which among other immense benefits of the divine goodnes we ought to be thankful What had become of us if Mary the mother of mercy had not been by whose prayers though our malignity and shamelesnes which is alwaies affronting God deserve a continual scourge yet his revenging hand is suspended and the scourge changd into a guift Christs reverence towards his Mother is more prevalent then our irreverence towards him If he offerd his life for his enemies and those who by crucifying him deprivd him of life what wil he not do for his dearest Mother of whom he received life if God did so great and remarkable things of his own accord and unrequested for creatures to whom he gave a being what will he do for her of whom he took his substance and Humanity she especially mediating and urging him by her intercessions as it were commanding him by the right and prerogative of a

by the same instruments by these Christ ascended into heaven and the members must not think of going another way then by which the head leads them They are not poyson Christ himself sanctified them and tasted them first of all himself yea that a smal parcel of them might only pass to us he drunk up almost the whole chalice of sorrows and afflictions and yet for all that he lives eternally and sits at the right hand of God How canst thou but be confounded whilst seing Christ accursed by all thou seekest so much to be honoured and praisd beholding him prostrate at the feet of Iudas thou preferst thy self before thy betters seing him thirsty and in want of a little water thou covets plenty and delicate fare It is the greatest glory of a servant to follow his masters footsteps To imitate Christ is a busines not only of necessity but dignity and for this respect the main difficulty is removed and a sufficient reward allotted for others that occur If it be a credit to imitate Christ then it wil not be difficult to suffer contempt and the revilements of men for that wil be a high point of honour and there is no contempt where it is a credit to be contemned It wil be also no hard matter to debar ones self of pleasures and superfluous riches to obtaine true glory for worldlings even heathens did more then this when they abstaind even from necessaries for a seeming only apparent glory Let it confound us that some barbarians have bin found so loyal and loving to their soveraign that if he wanted eyes they would put out theirs if he wanted hands they in like manner would cut of theirs and gave this as a pledge of their fidelity and imitation in others why do not we that are calld the faithful imitate the king of glory in things of far les difficulty If Christ had only told us what we were to do though he had not held forth the torch of example we were to have done it how much more when he did it first himself and did it to the end we might do it after him and not only said so in a word but made large encomiums of the happines of afflictions If a Prophet had but intimated it we could pretend no excuse and how much les can we when the very wisdom of Prophets and Gods own mouth hath exaggeratively recommended it and made himself a model of it IESVS never let fal the least idle word and yet he lest so many prayses and magnifying speeche● of the happines of poverty and affliction if it behooud us not to suffer the examplary life of IESVS would be to no purpose and his austerity wholly unuseful to us who should be unsensible of his charity who payd such a vast and superabundant sum for our ransome neither should we be taught by so lively an example to love his imitation and detest all sin and sensual pleasures Would God have needlesly thrust his only begotten Son upon such thornes if it imported nothing at all to do what he did that those whom he preelected and predestinated might be made conforme to the image of his Son that he may be the first begotten among many brethren God is not a God of impiety as who could take complacence in being so cruel towards his only beloved child Fierce and savage creatures are most passionately tender over their young ones and how could God who is most meek and ful of mercy be so tyrannically cruel towards his Son if it were not needful for us to suffer The enormity of our sins exacted not such heavy penalties for their redemption one drop I will not say of IESVS blood but of his sweat was superabundant It was therfore our behoof of imitating Christ and suffering it being the road way to heaven that requird such outragious torments and rigour of life God is either cruel and impious or else it is altogether needful for us to be humble afflicted and needy to have a high esteem of divine charity and a meane one of our selves No body knowes the way to heaven who hath not gone it no body ascends up to heaven but he who descended from heaven Christ Iesus who treads the path which he chalkd forth It was a way wholly unknown nor could any give better directions then Iesus who knew it had gone it Iesus did not as some peasants do who with their fingar or speech point out the way to travellers while they themselves sit quietly at home no whit sollicitous whether afterwards they hit or miss for besides that by word he had taught the path that carries to heaven he goes himself before and leads the way that we may be secure from errour Tel me if we were certainly assurd as now we are that there were such a thing as heavenly joyes and that one were to go thither on foot and no more were requird to compass these joyes but only to know the way which he is wholly ignorant of and another good body should instruct him in that who would not buckle himself to this journey though crabbed and ruggy especially if he that shewd us the way would accompany us and go before why then do we not believe Christ and follow him do we feare the wisdome of God being our guide to go astray do we think we can miscarry our B. Saviour going before no certainly Christ shewd us a secure path and traced it out to us so secure that although we die in it the very danger and death breeds security yea if thou didst love Christ thou wouldst not stick to die with him He loves not Christ who doth not imitate him for the vertue of love is assimilation or resemblance O that one could truly say I live now not I but Christ liveth in me carrying the mortification of IESVS about in my body and implanting it in my soul If then thou lovest the Son of Mary wilt become his tabernacle as she was behold with accuratenes and do according to the pattern which is proposd to thee in the mount Calvary and take a view of the whole life of IESVS He chose to live and die in contempt he was derided and set with the wicked accounted not only an idiot but a fool he was beaten as one would not beat his slave he was punishd as if he had been the worst of criminals of his own accord he shund all temporal honour when it was exhibited ther was no miscalling or slanderous nickname that was not appropriated to him they calld him Samaritan idolater possessd person false Prophet seducer belly God devourer drinker of wine blasphemer and transgressour of the law he was thought to be a traitor and conspiratour against his country a friend and abettour of sinners What creature can be namd to which he did not humble himself He humbled himself to the Angels what need was there that an Angel should come to comfort him who was God