Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/194

20 is, into his power. The father who would not redeem him, is the world, which aids not man's escape from the evil one, but rather loves to retain him in thraldom. The daughter who visited him in prison, is the Divinity of Christ united to the soul; who sympathised with the human species—and who, after his passion, descended into hell and freed us from the chains of the devil. But the celestial Father has no occasion for wealth, because he is infinitely rich and good. Therefore Christ, moved with compassion, came down from Heaven to visit us, and took upon himself our form, and required no more than to be united in the closest bonds with man. So Hosea ii. "I will marry her to me in faithfulness." But our father, the world, whom many obey, ever murmurs and objects to this. "If thou unitest thyself to God, thou shalt lose my inheritance"—that is, the inheritance of this world; because, it is "impossible to serve God and mammon." Matt. vi.—"He who shall leave father, or mother, or wife, or country, for my sake, he shall receive an hundred fold and possess everlasting life."