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1. "O LORD, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and
the son of Thine handmaid Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to
Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." Let my heart and my tongue
praise Thee, and let all my bones say, "Lord, who is like unto
Thee?" Let them so say, and answer Thou me, and "say unto my
soul, I am Thy salvation." Who am I, and what is my nature?
How evil have not my deeds been; or if not my deeds, my words; or if
not my words, my will? But Thou, O Lord, art good and merciful,
and Thy right hand had respect unto the profoundness of my death, and
removed from the bottom of my heart that abyss of corruption. And this
was the result, that I willed not to do what I willed, and willed to
do what thou willedst. But where, during all those years, and out of
what deep and secret retreat was my free will summoned forth in a
moment, whereby I gave my neck to Thy "easy yoke," and my
shoulders to Thy "light burden," O Christ Jesus, "my strength.
and my Redeemer"? How sweet did it suddenly become to me to be
without the delights of trifles! And what at one time I feared to
lose, it was now a joy to me to put away. For Thou didst cast them
away from me, Thou true and highest sweetness. Thou didst cast them
away, and instead of thorn didst enter in Thyself, sweeter than
all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood; brighter than all light,
but more veiled than all mysteries; more exalted than all honour, but
not to the exalted in their own conceits. Now was my soul free from
the gnawing cares of seeking and getting, and of wallowing and exciting
the itch of lust. And I babbled unto Thee my brightness, my
riches, and my health, the Lord my God.
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