To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
ATtend and hearken, what answer this most gracious Father makes to the Flesh. Forasmuch as thou art my creature, I will shew thee Justice with Mercie. Whereas then thou wert or∣dained to bee the Soules Hand-maid, yet hadst ever a desire to play the Mistresse, and demeaning thy selfe al∣waies inordinatly, hast cau∣sed her to serve thee and not mee, by making her prone unto all evill, and which is
worse, hast subjected her, who was made after my image, to the bondage of Satan. Thou, I say, who hast made her worse than any brute beast, being by thee defiled and ab∣••ominably polluted, yea, a∣bove all darknesse blackned, and so much altered, as I can∣not know that noble crea∣ture stamped and formed to so glorious a feature: Need∣full it was then, because I lo∣ved her so much that was in∣closed in thy Flesh, that my Sonne should take Flesh upon him, that so hee might allure her to his and my love. And because the Soule by cleaving to thee, her Flesh was become dead, it was my will that my Sonne who became Flesh should be slaine for her, that
she might be quickned. Nei∣ther was this in my Sonne any circumvention or decei∣ving, but mine and his inef∣fable vouchsafing. And be∣cause thou, O Flesh, hast done evilly ever from thy first infusion, but my Sonne hath beene inflamed towards thy Soule with exceeding affecti∣on, and hath wholly given himselfe up for her redemp∣tion, therefore my justice exacteth many things, espe∣cially, that I wholly and to∣tally resigne her unto him, and that shee abhorre thee more than dung, and that she desire that thou maist bee abhorred of all. But foras∣much as thou hast be sought not onely my Iustice but Mercy; it is my will that
thou in some measure bee re∣freshed with that present sweetnesse which thy Soule feeleth in my Sonne; yea more than all this, I will hereafter endow thee most nobly and most perfectly: and if thou beest truly obedi∣ent to thy Soule, from hence∣forth deliver thee from eter∣nall punishment, and bring thee to an inheritance glo∣riously permanent, where I live eternally resident.