.cof -------- -----------~---------------------------- onlyChri!.l: differs from th~ vine,.ill.· ~lia-t' iA him' '7'as feery not enly one fort or kind offlowers', l.itH every kind. 'Bernard reck-ons uP the violet of humiliry, the- lill-y of chaftity, the rofe of patietJce, ' the Bem. de ?Jffio faffi-on of ttb-flinrme; l maY, not fo-far inlarge my fe.Jf; but in re. ne Domrn. £ h' b' h 1 b ,, d · h' ! ·•· · ' erence to 1s trc ~· t cannot u~ a· mtre a-t ts 1Uffilrity,, pattence and infinitecondef,'en~ioh~;tha~ the creator iliould become a creature; though .an Angel , it ·wc.\re a•great gulf which no created underftanding ·could mea(urei but that he {hould reject Angels, and take the feed of A(9rahmn; that he fhould be made lower chen the Angels; who is God over all;. that he would be conceived, who is the uncreatetl wifdom, in the dark ptifon of the womb, who is the light of the world; and . that of a woman the weaker, firft finning fex, who is the holy one and power ofGod; that he would be born,who beareth all things; the Lord of '!11, of a lowly haqdmaid; in fulneffe of time, who is eternity, in the night time who is the Sonne ofrighteoujmf[e; in the winter, who gives lite and heat; in a time of publick taxation, who is Lord ofLords; and that not at Rome, the Lady of nations, nor at JerJtfnlem, the glory of the Eaft, but at Bethlehem the leaft of the thoufands of [udah; not in a Palace prepared ,nor in his mothers houfe. but in - an Inne; not in the bell roorri,nor in any room of the houfe, but in a ftable of bea!ls; not attended there with a royal guard, but with [ofeph and Mary; not adorned in robes, but fwadled in clouts ; notftately enthronized, but laid in a manger; nor la!lly his birth proclaimed by the Kings at Armes, but by poore fbepheards. That the Word fhould be an infant not able to fpeak a word; thst life fhould be mortal; that power fhould be fubjeCl: to a poore Carpenter;that the Lord ofthe covenant fhould be circumdfed· that the God of the Temple fhould be prefented in the Temple, that wifdome fhould be inftruc\ed, intinitnes fhould grew in ftature; that the feeder of all things fhould be fed; that all thefe are preludes, and but beginnings of his futferings; 0 wonderful condefcenfion ! 0 admirable patience! 0 rare , humility ! how ftrange are the blooming bloffomes of this vine? 4· For the fruit: the.nature ofVines is to caft fweet favours, but to bear fower grapes : Chrift that was blameleffe before God and man, yet bore the heavy burthcn of our fin. 0 the fweetnefs of
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=