all our salvation, all our health, all our life, all our glory; and,
"if we suffer with Him," saith the Apostle, "we shall also reign
with Him." That we may not be found ungrateful for these inestimable
benefits, let us call upon heaven and earth, and all that in them
is, to join us in praising and blessing and giving thanks to God.
Let us invite them to come and look upon this wondrous sight, and
say: "Magnify the Lord with me, for He hath done marvellous things.
O praise and bless the Lord with me, for great is His mercy toward
us." Come up with me, I pray you, ye angelic spirits, to Mount
Calvary, and see your King Solomon on His throne, wearing the diadem
wherewith His mother has crowned Him. Let us weep in the presence of
the Lord who made us, the Lord our God. O all mankind, and all ye
who are members of Christ, behold your Redeemer as He hangs on high;
behold and weep. See if any sorrow is like unto His sorrow.
Acknowledge the heinousness of your sins, which needed such
satisfaction. Go to every part of His body; you will find only
wounds and blood. Cry to Him with lamentations and say, "O Jesus,
our redemption, our love, our desire, what mercy has overcome Thee,
that Thou shouldest bear our sins, and endure a cruel death, to
rescue us from everlasting death?" And Thou, O God, the almighty
Father of heaven, look down from Thy sanctuary upon Thine innocent
Son Joseph, sold and given over unjustly to the hands of bloody men,
to suffer a shameful death. See whether this be Thy Son's coat or
not. Of a truth an evil beast hath devoured Him. The blood of our
sins is sprinkled over His garments, and all the coverings of His
good name are defiled by it. See how Thy holy Child has been
condemned with the wicked, how Thy royal Son has been crowned with
thorns. Behold His innocent hands, which have known no sin, dripping
with blood; behold His sacred feet, which have never turned aside
from the path of justice, pierced through by a cruel nail; behold