munificence in endowing man in paradise with delights of every kind, giving him the things above him to enjoy, and the things beneath him to rule — all to be held upon condition of ever praising Thee.
I praise and magnify Thee, most gracious God, for Thy infinite compassion, and Thy unspeakable mercy, in sparing man, who had gone astray, and been ungrateful for all Thy benefits, from a fall beyond recovery, when depriving him for his sins of the joys of paradise, that so he might be brought to repent of them. He had indeed, by his transgression, deserved to be condemned for ever, without hope of pardon; but Thou, by allowing Thy unspeakable mercy to take the place of the severity of Thy Justice, didst lay upon him the burden of a fitting penance, the smart of which was to be healed after many days by the balm of a longwished-for pardon. And this was done that the creature, whom Thou hadst endowed with reason, and who had fallen into sin by his own fault, might be saved by Thy grace.
Every faithful soul therefore is bound to render thanks to Thee, and never to trust in its own strength, or boast of its own merits or righteousness. Thy creatures, O my God, are we all: by Thy Goodness we exist: of Thy Bounty have we received all that we have: of our own perversity it is that we fall, and are found wanting in Thy sight; and were it not that by Thy merciful aid we are again raised up and strengthened, we should sink lower and lower, and end by being consumed in our iniquities.
Thy compassion, then, most gracious God, we entreat; the abundance of Thy tender lovingkindness we remember, we joyfully extol, we proclaim
