may APPEAL TO
HER, if any one feels himself AGGRIEVED BY THE JUSTICE OF GOD [Licet ad
ipsam appellare, si quis a Dei justitia se gravari sentit.] ... That
empress, therefore, Hester, was a figure of this empress of the heavens,
with whom God divided his kingdom. For, whereas God has justice and
mercy, He retained justice to himself to be exercised in this world, and
granted mercy to his mother; and thus, if any one feels himself to be
aggrieved in the court of God's justice, let him appeal to the court of
mercy of his mother." [Ideo si quis sentit se gravari in foro justitiae
Dei, appellet ad forum misericordiae matris ejus.]

For one moment, let us calmly weigh the import of these words:--Is it
any thing short of robbing the Eternal Father of the brightest jewel in
his crown, and sharing his glory with another? Is it not encouraging us
to turn our eyes from the God of mercy as a stern and ruthless judge,
and habitually to fix them upon Mary as the dispenser of all we want for
the comfort and happiness of our souls?

In another place, this same author thus exalts Mary:

"Since the Virgin Mary is mother of God, and God is her Son; and every
son is naturally inferior to his {374} mother, and subject to her; and
the mother is preferred above, and is superior to her son, it follows
that the blessed Virgin is herself superior to God, and God himself is
her subject, by reason of the humanity derived from her;" [Part ix.
Serm. ii. p. 605.] and again. "O the unspeakable dignity of Mary, who
was worthy to command the Commander of all." [Part xii. Serm, ii. p.
816.]

I will detain you by only one more quotation from this famed Doctor. It
appears to rob God of his justice and power, as well as of his mercy;
and to turn our eyes to Mary for the enjoyment of all we can desire, and
for safety from all we can dread. Would that Bernardine stood alone in
the propagation of such doctrines. "We may say, that the blessed Virgin
is chancellor in the court of heaven. For we see, that in the chancery
of our lord the pope, three kinds of letters are granted: some are of
simple justice, others are of pure grace, and the third mixed,
containing justice and grace.... The third chancellor is he to whom it
appertains to give letters of pure grace and mercy. And this office hath
the blessed Virgin; and therefore she is called the mother of grace and
mercy: but those letters of mercy she gives only in the present life.
For, to some souls, as they