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iv. And the ends of His coming, making comparison between the one and the other, the better to show the greater splendour of this sovereign benefit.

POINT I.

First, I am to consider the excellences of this Lord, who is inclosed in this blessed sacrament, exercising a lively faith on them all, as well on those that He has as Almighty God as on those which He has as man,

1. First, I will discourse on the excellences of His Godhead, and of the works that He does as Almighty God, pondering that He that is there is the very " only-begotten" Son, [1] which is in the bosom "of the eternal Father," "the brightness of His glory and the figure of His substance," [2] as eternal, immense, infinite and omnipotent as the Father, the very wisdom, goodness, and fortitude by whom all things were created and are preserved. There also is the governor of the world, the sanctifier and glorifier of souls, He that is the first beginning and the final end of all creatures. And though He be a Lord of so great majesty that neither heaven nor earth can contain Him, yet He was not content to have made Himself man for our remedy, but would yet humble and restrain Himself more, remaining with us in this visible sacrament to comfort and protect us with His presence, that we might have upon earth some visible "throne of grace," to which to approach, as the apostle says, "with great confidence to obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid." [3]

Colloquy. — O divine Word, who art in the immense bosom of Thy eternal Father, how is it that Thou comest to dwell in the confined bosom of a foolish man? O King of Glory, who art in Thy heaven seated in a throne of infinite majesty, how is it that Thou humblest Thyself to be on earth in a throne of such

  1. Joan. i. 14.
  2. Heb. i. 3.
  3. Heb. iv. 16.