80 THE BRUISED REED But then let us present him to our souls, as thus offered to our view by God himself, as holding out a sceptre of mercy, and spreading his arms to receive us. When we think of J oseph, Daniel, John the Evangelist, and others, we think of them with delight, as of mild and sweettempered persons. Much more when we think of Christ, should we conceive of him· as a mirror of all meekness. If the sweetness of all flowers were in one, how sweet must that flower needs be ? . In Christ all perfections of mercy and love n1eet, how great then must that mercy be which lodgeth in so gracious a heart? Whatsoever tenderness is scattered in husband, father, brother, head, all is but a beam from him, it is in him in the most eminent manner. We are weak, hut we are his; we are deformed, but yet carry his image upon us. A father looks not so much at the blemishes of his child, as · at his own nature in him ; so Christ finds matter of love from that which is his own in us. He sees his own nature in us. We are diseased, but yet we are his members. Who ever neglected his own members because they were sic~ or weak?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=