The Practice of Piety

And seeing that thou hast vouchsafed me the assistance of thy holy spirit: suffer me, O heavenly Father, who art the Father of spirits, in the mediation of thy Son, to speak a few words in the ears of my Lord. If thou, O Father, despisest me for mine iniquities, as I have deserved; yet be merciful unto me for the merits of thy Son, who so much for me hath suffered. What if thou seest nothing in me but misery, which might move anger and passion? Yet behold ⟨p. 1027⟩the merits of thy Son, and thou shalt see enough to move thee to mercy and compassion. Behold the mystery of his incarnation, and remit the misery of my transgression. And as oft as the wounds of thy Son appear in thy sight; Oh let the woes of my sins be hid from thy presence. As oft as the redness of his blood glisters in thine eyes, Oh let the guiltiness of my sins be blotted out of thy Book. The wantonness of my flesh provoked thee unto wrath, Oh let the chastity of his flesh persuade thee unto mercy, that as my flesh seduced me to sin, so his flesh may reduce me unto thy favour. My disobedience hath deserved a great revenge, ⟨p. 1028⟩but his obedience merits a greater weight of mercy: for what can man deserve to suffer, which GOD made man, cannot merit to have forgiven? When I consider the greatness of thy passion, then do I see the trueness of that saying, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chiefest sinners. Darest thou, then O Cain, say, that thy sins are greater then may be forgiven? Thou liest like a murderer. The mercies of one Christ are able to forgive a whole world of Cains, if they will believe and repent. The sins of all sinners are finite, the mercies of GOD are infinite. Therefore, O Father, for the bitter death and bloody passion sake, which thy ⟨p. 1029⟩son Jesus Christ hath suffered for me; and I have now remembered unto thee: pardon and forgive thou unto me all my sins, and deliver me from the curse and vengeance, which they have justly deserved. And through his merits, make me, O Lord, a partaker of thy mercy. It is thy mercy that I so earnestly knock for. Neither shall mine importunity cease to call and knock, with the man that would borrow the loaves: until thou arise and open unto me thy gates of grace. And if thou wilt not bestow on me the loaves, yet▪ O Lord, deny me not the crumbs of thy mercy, and those shall suffice thy hungry handmaid.