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plead! With what oratory, doth he force my compassion! so as it is scarce any thank to me that he prevails.

Why do I not thus to my God? I am sure I want no less, than the neediest: the danger of my want is greater the alms, that I crave, is better; the store and mercy of the Giver, infinitely more.

Why shouldest thou give me, O God, that which I care not to ask? Oh, give me a true sense of my wants: and then, I cannot be cool, in asking; thou canst not be difficult, in condescending.

denudat sibi ulcera, impotentiamque palam ostendit, ut oculi etiam mei linguæ exoranti suppetias ferant! Quàm bellè rhetoricatur, mirâque arte miserecordiam mihi extorquet! ut vix mihi gratias nunc deberi sentiam, qui, post tot tamque potentes preces, annuerim.

Quidni et ego sic me Deo geram? Non minùs certè egeo, quàm qui mortalium omnium pauperrimus: sed et gravius multò est inopiæ meæ periculum eleemosynæ, quas peto, longè meliores sunt; opulentia et miserecordia Largientis, immanè quanto major!

O Deus, cur tu ultrò mihi porrigeres, quod rogare usque volens detrectaverim? Faxis, obsecro, egestatem meam verè persentiscam: tum demum, neque ego frigidè te rogare potero; neque tu ægrè, quod petierim, erogare.

CXXXIX.

On a medicinal potion. How loathsome a draught is this! How offensive, both to the eye, and to the scent, and to the taste? Yea, the very thought of it, is a kind of sickness: and, when it is once down, my very disease is not so painful for the time, as my remedy. How doth it turn the stomach, and wring the entrails; and works a worse distemper, than that, whereof I formerly complained! And yet it must be taken, for health: neither could it be so wholesome, if it were less unpleasing; neither could it make me whole, if it did not first make me sick.

Such are the chastisements of God, and the reproofs of a friend; harsh, troublesome,

Viso pharmaco quodam. Quàm nauseosum est hoc poculum! Oculis, naribus, gustui quàm ingratum! Cujus vel ipsa cogitatio, morbi quoddam genus est: et, ubi exhauserim, morbo ipso graviùs me affligit hoc, quicquid est, remedii. Quanto dolore stomachum afficit, intestina torquet; vehementiorem in corpore intemperiem excitans, quam quâ priùs laborabam. Sumendum tamen est, valetudinis ergò neque revera adeò salutare foret, si minùs foret ingratum ; nec me sanum deinceps præstaret, nisi priùs ægrotum præstitisset.

Tales omnino sunt, et castigationes Dei, et amici reprehensiones; duræ forsan, pro tem-.

grievous but, in the end, they yield the peaceable fruit of righ

teousness.

Why do I turn away my head, and make faces, and shut mine eyes, and stop my nostrils, and nauseate and abhor to take this harmless potion for health; when we have seen mountebanks, to swallow dismembered toads, and drink the poisonous broth after them, only for a little ostenta tion and gain?

It is only weakness, and want of resolution, that is guilty of this squeamishness. Why do not I cheerfully take, and quaff up that bitter cup of affliction, which my wise and good God hath mixed for the health of my soul?

CXL.

On the sight of a wheel. THE Prophet meant it for no other than a fearful imprecation against God's enemies, O my God, make them like unto a wheel: whereby, what could he intend to signify, but instability of condition, and sudden violence of judgment? Those spokes of the wheel, that are now up, are, sooner than sight or thought, whirled down; and are straight raised up again, on purpose to be depressed. Neither can there be any motion so rapid and swift, as the circular.

It is a great favour of God, that he takes leisure in his affliction; so punishing us, that we have respites of repentance. There is life and hope, in these degrees of suffering; but those hurrying and whirling judgments of God have nothing in them, but wrath and confusion.

pore, ac molesta: quæ tamen postmodo xaprov eignuinòv opportunè producunt.

Quid ego nunc faciem indignabundus averto, oculos claudo, nares obstruo, et à certo morbi mei remedio tantopere abhorreo; cùm empiricos quosdam viderim, qui bufones discerptos audacter manducârint, moxque liquorem venenosum liberè absorpserint, idque vel lucri tantilli vel fortè ostentationis solius causâ?

Sola quædam imbecillitas, animique parùm audentis anxietas, fastidiosi hujusce affectûs rea est. Quin ego alacris mihi sumo, totumque exhaurio amarum afflictionis poculum, quod sapiens et benignus Deus in animæ meæ salutem ægro miscere voluit?

Ad conspectum rotæ.

Dirissimè quidem hostibus Dei imprecari voluit Propheta, dum ait, 0 Deus, facito eos rotæ similes: quo, quid aliud innuere potuit, nisi conditionis eorum instabilitatem, subitique demum judicii violentiam? Isti nimirum rota radii, qui ne sursum feruntur, jam, dicto aut cogitatione citiùs, deorsum volvuntur; moxque elevantur, ut illico deprimantur denuo. Neque ullus dari potest motus æquè velox rapidusque, ac circularis.

Magnam arguit Dei benignitatem, quòd, in pœnis infligendis, moras nectere soleat; ita nos puniens, ut resipiscentiæ adhuc tempus ultrà indulgeat. In hisce suppliciorum spatiis gradibusque, vita aliqua et spes residua est; at rapidissima illa vindicis Dei judicia, nihil planè,

O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger. I cannot deprecate thy rebuke my sins call for correction but I deprecate thine anger. Thou rebukest, even where thou lovest. So rebuke me, that, while I smart with thy rod, I may rejoice in thy mercy.

præter furorem confusionemque æternam, præ se ferunt.

0 Domine, in excundescentiá tuâ ne me redarguas. Castigationes tuas deprecari non possum : correctionem certè quandam peccata mea necessariò efflagitant : ego iram tuam supplex deprecor. Castigas tu nempe, quos amas. Ita me verberes, quæso, ut, dum vibices tuas dolens sentio, in misericordiâ tuâ lætus acquies,

cam.

A

HOLY RAPTURE;

OR,

A PATHETICAL MEDITATION

ON THE

LOVE OF CHRIST.

BY JOSEPH, BISHOP OF NORWICH.

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