thee. If I am thy Father, where is my honour? And if I am thy Lord, where is my fear? Behold, I have brought thee up, and exalted thee to be my son, but thou hast despised me. Why, when thou mightst have been brought up in scarlet, and clothed in double garments, hast thou preferred to go abroad into a far country, to attach thyself to strangers, to embrace the dung, and to pine away naked with hunger and cold? ‘What have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee, that thou shouldst abandon me? Why hast thou forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug to thyself broken cisterns, that can hold no water?
I had chosen thy soul to be my dearest spouse ; but thou hast preferred to go after other lovers, I shewed thee a straight and level way, for I am myself the way, the truth, and the life. Why hast thou, then, wearied thyself, in the way of iniquity, and walked through hard ways, in which is nought but sorrow and unhappiness, and refused to learn the way of peace?
I had given thee a law of life and discipline, that in keeping my commandments thou mightst show that thou lovedst me, and mightst have life; but thou hast hated my discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee. Oh, how often have I called, and thou hast refused! How often have I reached out my hand to thee, and thou regardest not, and despisedst all my counsel! Is not my yoke sweet, and my burden light? How, then, wouldst thou rather buy thee five yoke of oxen, and go after the concupiscences of thy own heart, which plunge a man into destruction and perdition? O son of man, how long wilt thou be dull of heart? Why dost thou love vanity, and seek after lying?
Man. Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God.
I would justify myself, the truth will condemn me. If I say that I am innocent, thou wilt prove me guilty. If I would contend with thee, I cannot answer thee one for a thousand. I have sinned. What shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? Behold, I know my iniquity, and am become burdensome to myself. Why dost thou not take away my sin, for my iniquities, as a heavy burden, are become heavy upon me. I confess I have deserved thy anger, not thy pardon. Thou actest justly, then, if thou castest me out from thy presence. But thou actest mercifully, if, wretched and unworthy as I am, thou receivest me even among thy hired servants. Oh, that mercy would exalt itself above judgment, because it is mercy
