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God indeed shows to admiration the incomprehensible
riches of his power in this great variety of things
which we see in nature, yet he makes the infinite
treasures of his goodness still more magnificently
appear in the incomparable variety of the goods which
we acknowledge in grace. For, Theotimus, he was not
content, in the holy excess of his mercy, with
sending to his people, that is, to mankind, a general
and universal redemption, by means whereof every one
might be saved, but he has diversified it in so many
ways, that while his liberality shines in all this
variety, this variety reciprocally embellishes his
liberality.
And thus he first of all destined for his most holy
Mother a favour worthy of the love of a Son who,
being all wise, all mighty, and all good, wished to
prepare a mother to his liking; and therefore he
willed his redemption to be applied to her after the
manner of a preserving remedy, that the sin which was
spreading from generation to generation should not
reach her. She then was so excellently redeemed, that
though when the time came, the torrent of original
iniquity rushed to pour its unhappy waves over her
conception, with as much impetuosity as it had done
on that of the other daughters of Adam; yet when it
reached there it passed not beyond, but stopped, as
did anciently the Jordan in the time of Josue, and
for the same respect: for this river held its stream
in reverence for the passage of the Ark of Alliance;
and original sin drew back its waters, revering and
dreading the presence of the true Tabernacle of the
eternal alliance.
In this way then God turned away all captivity
from his glorious Mother, giving her the blessing of
both the states of human nature; since she had the
innocence which the first Adam had lost, and enjoyed
in an excellent sort the redemption acquired for her.
Whence as a garden of election which was to bring
forth the fruit of life, she was made to flourish in
all sorts of perfections; this son of eternal love
having thus clothed his mother in gilded clothing,
surrounded with variety,(1) that she might be the
queen of his right hand, that is to say, the first of
all the elect to enjoy the delights of God's right
hand:(2) so that this sacred mother as being
altogether reserved for her son, was by him redeemed
not only from damnation but also from all peril of
damnation, he giving her grace and the perfection of
grace, so that she went like a lovely dawn, which,
beginning to break, increases continually in
brightness till perfect daylight.
Admirable redemption! master-piece of the
redeemer! and first of all redemptions! by which the
son with a truly filial heart preventing his mother
with the blessings of sweetness, preserved her not
only from sin as he did the angels, but also from all
danger of sin and from everything that might divert
or retard her in the exercise of holy love. And he
protests that amongst all the reasonable creatures he
has chosen, this mother is his one dove, his all
perfect one, his all dear love, beyond all likeness
and all comparison.
God also appointed other favours for a small number
of rare creatures whom he would preserve from the
peril of damnation, as is certain of S. John Baptist
and very probable of Jeremias and some others, whom
the Divine providence seized upon in their mother's
womb, and thereupon established them in the
perpetuity of his grace, that they might remain firm
in his love, though subject to checks and venial
sins, which are contrary to the perfection of love
though not to love itself.
And these souls in comparison with others, are as
queens, ever crowned with charity, holding the
principal place in the love of their Saviour next to
his mother, who is queen of queens, a queen crowned
not only with love but with the perfection of love,
yea, what is yet more, crowned with her own Son, the
sovereign object of love, since children are the
crown of their father and mother.
There are yet other souls whom God determined for
a time to leave exposed to the danger, not of losing
their salvation, but yet of losing his love; yea he
permitted them actually to lose it, not assuring them
love for the whole time of their life, but only for
the end of it and for a certain time preceding. Such
were the Apostles, David, Magdalen and many others,
who for a time remained out of God's grace, but in
the end being once for all converted were confirmed
in grace until death; so that though from that time
they continued subject to some imperfections, yet
were they exempt from all mortal sin, and
consequently from danger of losing the divine love,
and were sacred spouses of the heavenly bridegroom.
And they were indeed adorned with a wedding
garment of his most holy love, yet they were not
crowned because a crown is an ornament of the head,
that is, of the chief part of a person; now the first
part of the life of this rank of souls having been
subject to earthly love, they were not to be adorned
with the crown of heavenly loves but it is sufficient
for them to wear the robe, which fits them for the
marriage bed of the heavenly spouse, and for being
eternally happy with him.
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