Exclamation III

1. On reflecting, O my God! on the glory prepared by Thee for those who persevere in doing Thy will, and on the many labours and pains with which Thy Son purchased us this glory — remembering our unworthiness and our obligation to be grateful for this immense love, which, at so dear a cost to self, taught us how to love — my soul is wrung with anguish. How is it possible. Lord, to forget those mercies, as souls forget them when offending Thee?

2. O my Redeemer, how oblivious are men of their own interest! How excessive is Thy bounty! Thou Who art ever mindful of us, when by our fall we have struck Thee a mortal blow, dost forget it, and stretch forth Thy hand anew to preserve us, recalling us from our hopeless frenzy to petition Thee for health. Blessed be such a Master for His infinite mercy; may He be eternally praised for His tender compassion!

3. My soul, do thou for ever glorify so great a God. How can men rebel against Him? Do not the wicked stand condemned by His excessive mercies to them?

.1 Prov. xxjv. 16: Setie cadet Justus, et reurget,

EXCLAMATIONS. 8 1

Redress this evil, my God! Oh, children of men, how long will you be hard-hearted,* and steel yourselves against this most meek Jesus? What? Can our malice endure against Him for ever? No! for the life of man passes away like the flower of the held, and the Son of the Virgin will come at last to pronounce the terrible sentence. ' 4. Almighty God of mine, Who, though we will it not, must be our Judge, why do we not realise the need to propitiate Thee before that hour? Yet who, who indeed, would not desire to have so just a Judge? * Happy the souls who, at that dread time, shall rejoice with Thee! O my God and my Lord! What help is there for one whom Thou hast raised from his sins, who, seeing how miserably he had lost all for the sake of a momentary pleasure, is now resolved with the aid of Thy grace to spend his life in pleasing Thee? Thou Treasure of my soul, Who never forsakest those who love Thee, and ever hearest those who cry to Thee — ^how can man live and stave on death, at the thought of all he lost by forfeiting his baptismal innocence? The happiest life for him is for sorrow to render his life a living death. Yet, how can the soul that loves Thee tenderly endure this?

5. What foolish questions do I ask Thee, Lord! I seem to have forgotten all Thy mighty works and mercies — how Thou camest into the world for sinners' sakes,

2 Ps. iv. 3: Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde?

3 Way of Perf., ch. xl. 7.

6 didst purchase us by such a precious ransom, expiating our evil pleasures by agonising torments and scourging; Thou hast cured my blindness by the blindfolding of Thy sacred eyes, and healed my vanity by the cruel crown of thorns.

6. O Lord, Lord! all this does but embitter the grief of one who loves Thee! My only consolation is to think of the eternal praise that will be rendered to Thy mercy when my sins are revealed. Yet I know not if my grief will ever heal, until, on seeing Thee, all the miseries of this mortal life shall vanish,