dying for the love of us, says, “Yes, Lord, I will attend and see if there be any love like unto Thy love." [1] By which he means, I do indeed see and understand, O my most loving Redeemer, how much Thou didst suffer upon that infamous tree; but what most constrains me to love Thee is the thought of the affection which Thou hast shown me in suffering so much, in order that I might love Thee.
V.
That which most inflamed St. Paul with the love of Jesus was the thought that he chose to die, not only for all men, but for him in particular : He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. [2] Yes, he has loved me, said he, and for my sake he gave himself up to die. And thus ought every one of us to say; for St. John Chrysostom asserts that God has loved every individual man with the same love with which he has loved the world : “ He loves each man separately with the same measure of charity with which he loves the whole world." [3] So that each one of us is under as great obligation to Jesus Christ for having suffered for every one, as if he had suffered for him alone.
For supposing, my brother, Jesus Christ had died to save you alone, leaving all others to their original ruin, what a debt of gratitude you would owe to him! But you ought to feel that you owe him a greater obligation still for having died for the salvation of all. For if he had died for you alone, what sorrow would it not have caused you to think that your neighbors, parents, brothers, and friends would be damned, and that you would, when this life was over, be forever separated from them? If
