When all is done, with this cross thus laid out for me, and taken up by me, I must follow Christ; Christ to his end; his end is his cross; that is, I must bring my cross to his; lay down my cross at the foot of his; confess that there is no dignity, no merit in mine, but as it receives an impression, a sanctification from his. If I could die a thousand times for Christ, this were nothing, if Christ had not died for me before.
John Donne: Sermons.
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