The Practice of Piety

I have ⟨p. 1021⟩done the crime, and thou hangest on the Cross. Oh the deepness of Gods love! Oh the the wonderful disposition of heavenly grace! Oh the unmeasurable measure of divine mercy! The wicked transgresseth, and the just is punished: the guilty is let scape, and the innocent is arraigned: the malefactor is acquitted, and the harmless condemned: what the evil man deserveth, the good man suffereth: the servant doth the fault, the Master endures the strokes: What shall I say? Man sinneth; and God dieth. O Son of God! Who can sufficiently express thy love? or commend thy piety? or extol thy praise? I was proud, and thou art humbled: ⟨p. 1022⟩I was disobedient, and thou becamest obedient. I did eat the forbidden fruit, and thou didst hang on the cursed tree: I played the glutton, and thou diddest fast: evil concupiscence drew me to eat the pleasant apple, and perfect charity led thee to drink of the bitter cup: I assayed the sweetness of the fruit, and thou diddest taste the bitterness of the gall. Foolish Eve smiled, when I laughed: but blessed Mary wept, when thy heart bled and dyed. O my God, here I see thy goodness, and my badness: thy justice, and my injustice: the impiety of my flesh, the piety of thy nature. And now, O blessed Lord, that thou hast endured all this for my sake; What shall ⟨p. 1023⟩I render unto thee for all thy benefits bestowed upon me, a sinful soul? Indeed, Lord, I acknowledge that I owe thee already for my creation, more then I am able to pay: for I am in that respect, bound with all my powers, and affections to love and to adore thee. If I owed my self unto thee, for giving me my self in my creation, what shall I now render unto thee, for giving thy self for me to so cruel a death to procure my Redemption? Great was the benefit that thou wouldest create me of nothing; but what tongue can sufficiently express the greatness of this grace: that thou didst redeem me with so deer a price, when I was worse then ⟨p. 1024⟩nothing? Surely, O Lord, if I cannot pay the thanks which I owe thee; (and who can pay thee, who bestowest thy graces, without either respect of merit, or regard of measure.) It is the abundance of thy blessings that makes me such a bankrupt: that I am so far unable to pay the principal, that I cannot possibly pay, so much as the interest of thy love.