why his Hands were pierced, his Head was pierced, his Sides were pierced, his Heart was pierced with the sting of thy sins, that by these marks thou mightest always know him; Dost thou not remember when he found thee lying in thy blood,1 and took pity on thee, and dressed thy wounds, and brought thee home, and said unto thee, Live? Hast thou forgotten since he wounded himself to cure thy wounds, and let out his own blood to stop thy bleeding? Is not the passage to his heart yet standing open? If thou know him not by the face, the voice, the hands;2 if thou know him not by the tears and bloody sweat, yet look nearer, thou mayest know him by the Heart: That broken-healed heart is his, that dead-revived Heart is his, that soul-pitying melting Heart is his: Doubtless it can be none's but his, Love and Compassion are its certain Signatures: This is He, even this is He, who would rather dye then thou shouldst dye, who chose thy life before his own, who pleads this blood before his Father, and ⟨p. 734⟩makes continual intercession for thee; if he had not suffered, O what hadst thou suffered? what hadst thou been if he had not Redeemed thee? whether hadst thou gone if he had not recalled thee? there was but a step between thee and Hell, when he stepped in, and bore the stroke; He slew the Bear, and rescued the prey, he delivered thy soul from the roaring Lyon; And is not here yet fuel enough for Love to feed on? Doth not this Lodestone snatch thy heart unto it? and almost draw it forth of thy breast? Canst thou read the History of Love any further at once? Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop to ease it self? and dost thou not, as Joseph, seek for a place to weep in? or do not the tears of thy Love bedew these lines? Go on then, for the field of Love is large, it will yield thee fresh contents for ever, and be thine eternal work to behold and love: thou needest not then want work for thy present Meditation. Hast thou forgotten the time when thou wast weeping, and he wiped the tears from thine eyes? when thou wast bleeding, and he wiped the blood from thy soul? when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee, and he did refresh thee, and draw out the Thorns? Hast thou forgotten when thy folly did wound thy soul, and the venomous guilt did seize upon thy heart? when he sucked forth the mortal poison from thy soul, though therewith he drew it into his own?
why his Hands were pierced, his Head was pierced, his Sides were pierced, his Heart was pierced with the sting of thy sins, that by these marks thou mightest always know him; Dost thou not remember when he found thee lying in thy blood,1 and took pitty on thee, and drest thy wounds, and brought thee home, and said unto thee, Live? Hast thou forgotten since he wounded himself to cure thy wounds, and let out his own blood to stop thy bleeding? Is not the passage to his heart yet standing open? If thou know him not by the face, the voyce, the hands;2 if thou know him not by the tears and bloody sweat, yet look neerer, thou maist know him by the Heart: That broken-healed heart is his, that dead-revived Heart is his, that soul-pittying melting Heart is his: Doubtless it can be none's but his, Love and Compassion are its certain Signatures: This is He, even this is He, who would rather dye then thou shoulst dye, who chose thy life before his own, who pleads this blood before his Father, and ⟨p. 734⟩makes continual intercession for thee; if he had not suffered, O what hadst thou suffered? what hadst thou been if he had not Redeemed thee? whether hadst thou gone if he had not recalled thee? there was but a step between thee and Hell, when he stept in, and bore the stroak; He slew the Bear, and rescued the prey, he delivered thy soul from the roaring Lyon; And is not here yet fuell enough for Love to feed on? Doth not this Loadstone snatch thy heart unto it? and almost draw it forth of thy breast? Canst thou read the History of Love any further at once? Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop to ease it self? and dost thou not, as Joseph, seek for a place to weep in? or do not the tears of thy Love bedew these lines? Go on then, for the field of Love is large, it will yield thee fresh contents for ever, and be thine eternal work to behold and love: thou needest not then want work for thy present Meditation. Hast thou forgotten the time when thou wast weeping, and he wiped the tears from thine eyes? when thou wast bleeding, and he wiped the blood from thy soul? when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee, and he did refresh thee, and draw out the Thorns? Hast thou forgotten when thy folly did wound thy soul, and the venomous guilt did seize upon thy heart? when he sucked forth the mortal poyson from thy soul, though therewith he drew it into his own?
- 1Lam. 1.12. Ezek. 16.6, 7, 8.9. Luke 10 30. &c.
- 2If the Love of God in us were but as the love of the world in others, it would make us wholly despise this world and forget it, as worldly love maketh men forget God: and it would be so strong, and ardent, and rooted a in mans heart that he would not be able voluntarily and freely to think of any thing else: He would not fear contempt, nor care for disgrace or the reproaches of persecutions; nor would he be afraid of death it self, because of this Love of God; and all the things of this world which he seeth and heareth, would bring God to his memory, and themselves would seem to him but as a dream, or a fable, and he would esteem them as nothing in respect of God and his Glory. And (to be short) in the judgment of the world he would be taken for a fool or a drunken man, because he so little careth for the things of this world; —This is that Love of God to which we should aim to attain by this contemplative life. Gerson de monte Contemplationis in part operum tertia fol. 382.If the Love of God in us were but as the love of the world in others, it would make us wholly despise this world and forget it, as worldly love maketh men forget God: and it would be so strong, and ardent, and rooted a in mans heart that he would not be able voluntarily and freely to think of any thing else: He would not fear contempt, nor care for disgrace or the reproaches of persecutions; nor would he be afraid of death it self, because of this Love of God; and all the things of this world which he seeth and heareth, would bring God to his memory, and themselves would seem to him but as a dream, or a fable, and he would esteem them as nothing in respect of God and his Glory. And (to be short) in the judgment of the world he would be taken for a fool or a drunken man, because he so little careth for the things of this world; —This is that Love of God to which we should aim to attain by this contemplative life. Gerson de monte Contemplationis in parte operum tertia fol. 382.
