marrow is spent, My throat is hoarse with crying. Such love have I
shown to man, that his heart cannot be human, cannot even be stony,
or the heart of a brute beast, but must be quite devilish and
desperate, if it be not moved by the thought of these things."

Moreover, this word of our Lord Jesus is a word of sorrow, not of
joy. He spoke it not as if He had now escaped from all His
suffering. No; when He said, "It is finished," He meant all that had
been ordained and decreed by the eternal Truth for Him to suffer.
Besides, all the sufferings which had been inflicted upon Him by
degrees and singly, He now endures together with immeasurable
anguish. Who can have such a heart of adamant as not to be moved by
such torment as this? How short were the words which our Lord Jesus
spoke on the Cross, yet how full of sacramental mysteries! Now were
fulfilled the words of Exodus: "And all things were finished which
belonged to the sacrifice of the Lord."

Moreover by this word our Lord declared the glorious victory of the
Passion, and how the old enemy, the jealous serpent, was overcome
and thrown down; for this was the cause for which He suffered. For
this He had taken upon Himself the garment of human nature, that He
might vanquish and confound the enemy, by the same weapons wherewith
the enemy boasted that he had conquered man. This was the chief
purpose of His Passion, and now He confesses that it is finished. O
how wonderful are the mysteries, and the victories, included in this
little but deep word: "It is finished!" All that the eternal Wisdom
had decreed, all that strict justice had demanded for each man, all
that love had asked for, all the promises made to the fathers, all
the mysteries, types, ceremonies in Scripture, all that was meet and
necessary for our redemption, all that was needed to wipe out our