her loue that she would haue thought any quantitie too little except hers had bene added the best in qualitie too meane except hers were with it and no diligence in applying it enough except her seruice were in it Not that she was sharpe in censuring that which others had done but because loue made her so desirous to do all her selfe that though all had bene done that she could deuise and as well as she could wish yet vnlesse she were an actor it would not suffice sith loue is as eager to be vttered in effects as it is zealous in true affection She came therefore now meaning to enbalme his corps as she had before annointed his feet and to preserue the reliques of his body as the onely remnant of all her blisse And as in the spring of her felicitie she had washed his feet with her teares bewayling vnto him the death of her owne soule so now she came in the depth of her miserie to shed them afresh for the death of his body But when she saw the graue open and the bodie taken out the labour of enbalming was preuented but the cause of her weeping increased and he that was wanting to her obsequies was not wanting to her teares and though she found not whom to annoynt yet found she whom to lament And not without cause did Marie complaine finding her first anguish doubled with a second griefe and being surcharged with two most violent sorrowes in one afflicted heart For hauing setled her whole affection vpon Christ and summed all her desires and wishes into the loue of his goodnesse as nothing could equall his worthes so was there not in the whole world either a greater benefit for her to enioy than himselfe or any greater dammage possible than his losse The murdering in his owne death the life of all liues left a generall death in all liuing creatures and his decease not onely disrobed our nature of her most royall ornaments but impouerished the world of all highest perfections What maruell therefore though her vehement loue to so louely a Lord being after the wrecke of his life now also depriued of his dead body feele as bitter pangs for his losse as before it tasted ioyes in his presence and open as large an issue to teares of sorrow as euer heretofore to teares of contentment And though teares were rather oyle than water to her flame apter to nourish than diminish her griefe yet now being plonged in the depth of paine she yeelded her selfe captiue to all discomfort carrying an ouerthrowne mind in a more enfeebled body and still busie in deuising but euer doubtfull in defining what she might best do For what could a silly woman do but weepe that floating in a sea of cares found neither eare to heare her nor tongue to direct her nor hand to helpe her nor heart to pittie her in her desolate case True it is that Peter and Iohn came with her to the Tombe and to make triall of her report were both within it but as they were speedy in comming and diligent in searching so were they as quicke to depart and fearefull of farther seeking And alas what gained she by their comming but two witnesses of her losse two dismayers of her hope and two patternes of a new despaire Loue moued them to come but their loue was soone conquered with such feare that it suffered them not to stay But Mary hoping in despaire and perseuering in hope stood without feare because she now thought nothing left that ought to be feared For she hath lost her maister to whom she was so entirely deuoted that he was the totall of her loues the height of her hopes and the vttermost of her feares and therefore besides him she could neither loue other creature hope for other comfort nor feare other losse The worst she could feare was the death of her body and that shee rather desired than feared sith shee had alreadie lost the life of her soule without which anie other life would be a death and with which any other death would haue bene a delight But now she thought it better to dye than to liue because she might happily dying find whom not dying she looked not to enioy and not enioying she had little will to liue For now she loued nothing in her life but her loue to Christ and if any thing did make her willing to liue it was onely the vnwillingnesse that his Image should dye with her whose likenesse loue had limited in her heart and treasured vp in her sweetest memories And had she not feared to breake the table and to breake open the closet to which she had entrusted this last relique of her lost happinesse the violence of griefe would haue melted her heart into inward bleeding teares and blotted her remembrance with a fatall obliuion And yet neuerthelesse she is now in so imperfect a sort aliue that it is proued true in her that Loue is as strong as death For what could death haue done more in Mary than loue did Her wits were astonied and all her senses so amazed that in the end finding she did not know seeing she could not discerne hearing she perceiued not and more than all this she was not there where she was for she was wholly where her maister was more where she loued than where she liued and lesse in her selfe than in his body which notwithstanding where it was she could not imagine For she sought as yet she found not and therefore stood at the Tombe weeping for it being now altogether giuen to mourning and driuen to misery But ô Mary by whose counsaile vpon what hope or with what heart couldest thou stand alone when the Disciples were departed Thou wert there once before they came thou turnedst againe at their comming and yet thou stayest when they are gone Alas that thy Lord is not in the Tombe thine owne eyes haue often seene the Disciples hands haue felt the empty Syndon doth auouch and cannot all this winne thee to beleeue it No no thou wouldest rather condemne thine owne eyes of errour and both their eyes and hands of deceit yea rather suspect all testimonies for vntrue than not looke whom thou hast lost euen there where by no diligence he could be found When thou thinkest of other places and canst not imagine any so likely as this thou seekest againe in this and though neuer so often sought it must be an haunt for hope For when things dearely affected are lost loues natures is neuer to be weary of searching euen the oftenest searched corners being more willing to thinke that all the senses are mistaken than to yeeld that hope should quaile Yet now sith it is so euident that he is taken away what should moue thee to remaine here where the perill is apparent and no profit likely Can the wit of one and she a woman wholly possessed with passion haue more light to discerne danger than two wits of two men and both
egges ere they be hatched Kill bad Chickins in the tread Fligge they hardly can be catched In the rising stifle ill Lest it grow against thy will Drops do pierce the stubburne Flint Not by force but often falling Custome kils with feeble dint More by vse then strength preuailing Single sands haue little waight Many make a drowning fraight Tender twigs are bent with ease Aged trees do breake with bending Yong desires make little prease Growth doth make them past amending Happie man that soone doth knocke Babels Babes against the rocke Loue seruile Lot LOue Mistresse is of many minds Yet few know whom they serue They reckon least how little Loue Their seruice doth deserue The will she robbeth from the wit The sense from reasons lore Shee is delightfull in the ryne Corrupted in the core She shrowdeth vice in Vertues veile Pretending good in ill She offereth ioy affoordeth griefe A kisse where she doth kill A hony showre raines from her lips Sweet lights shine in her face She hath the blush of Virgine mind The minde of Vipers race She makes thee seeke yet feare to find To find but none enioy In many frownes some gliding smiles She yeelds to more annoy She wooes thee to come neare her fire Yet doth she draw it from thee Farre off she makes thy heart to fry And yet to freeze within thee She letteth fall some luring baits For fooles to gather vp Too sweet too sowre to euerie tast She tempereth her cup. Soft soules she binds in tender twist Small Flyes in spinners webbe She sets aflote some luring streames But makes them soone to ebbe Her watrie eyes haue burning force Her flouds and flames conspire Teares kindle sparkes sobs fuell are And sighs do blow her fire May neuer was the Month of loue For May is full of flowers But rather Aprill wet by kind For loue is full of showers Like Tyrant cruell wounds she giues Like Surgeon salue she lends But salue and sore haue equall force For death is both their ends With soothing words enthralled soules She chaines in seruile bands Her eye in silence hath a speech Which eye best vnderstands Her little sweet hath many sowres Short hap immortall harmes Her louing lookes are murdrings darts Her songs bewitching charmes Like Winter Rose and Sommer Ice Her ioyes are still vntimely Before her hope behind remorse Faire first in fine vnseemely Moodes passions fancies iealous fits Attend vpon her traine She yeeldeth rest without repose A Heauen in hellish paine Her house is sloth her doore deceit And slipperie hope her staires Vnbashfull boldnesse bids her guests And euerie vice repaires Her dyet is of such delights As please till they be past But then the poyson kils the heart That did entice the taste Her sleepe in sinne doth end in wrath Remorse rings her awake Death cals her vp shame driues her out Despaires her vpshot make Plow not the Seas sow not the sands Leaue off your idle paine Seeke other mistresse for your mindes Loues seruice is in vaine Life is but Losse BY force I liue in will I wish to dye In plaint I passe the length of lingring dayes Free would my soule from mortall bodie fly And tread the tracke of Deaths desired wayes Life is but losse where death is deemed gaine And lothed pleasures breed displeasing paine Who would not dye to kill all murdering greeues Or who would liue in neuer-dying feares Who would not wish his treasure safe from Theeues And quit his heart from pangs his eyes from teares Death parteth but two euer fighting foes Whose ciuill strife doth worke our endlesse woes Life is a wandring course to doubtfull rest As oft a cursed rise to damning leape As happie race to winne a heauenly crest None being sure what finall fruits to reape And who can like in such a life to dwell Whose wayes are strait to Heauen but wide to Hell Come cruell death why lingrest thou so long What doth withhold thy dint from fatall stroke Now prest I am alas thou doest me wrong To let me liue more anger to prouoke Thy right is bad when thou hast stopt my breath Why should'd thou stay to worke my bouble death If Sauls attempt in falling on his blade As lawfull were as ethe to put in vre If Sampsons leaue a common Law were made Of Abels lot if all that would were sure Then cruell death thou should'st the Tyrant play With none but such as wished for delay Where life is lou'd thou readie art to kill And to abridge with sodaine pangs their ioy Where life is loath'd thou wilt not worke their will But dost adiourne their death to their annoy To some thou art a fierce vnbidden guest But those that craue thy helpe thou helpest least Auant oh viper I thy spite defie There is a God that ouer-rules thy force Who can thy weapons to his will apply And shorten or prolong our brittle course I on his mercie not thy might relye To him I liue for him I hope to dye I dye aliue O Life what lets thee from a quicke decease O death what drawes thee from a present prey My feast is done my soule would be at ease My grace is said O Death come take away I liue but such a life as euer dyes I dye but such a death as neuer ends My death to end my dying life denies And life my liuing death no whit amends Thus still I dye yet still I do reuiue My liuing death by dying life is fed Grace more then Nature keepes my heart aliue Whose idle hopes and vaine desires are dead Not where I breathe but where I loue I liue Not where I loue but where I am I dye The life I wish must future glorie giue The deaths I feele in present dangers lye What ioy to liue I Wage no warre yet peace I none enioy I hope I feare I frye in freezing cold I mourne in mirth still prostrate in annoy I all the World imbrace yet nothing hold All wealth is want where chiefest wishes faile Yea life is loath'd where loue may not preuaile For that I loue I long but that I lacke That others loue I loath and that I haue All worldly fraights to me are deadly wracke Men present hap I future hopes do craue They louing where they liue long life require To liue where best I loue death I desire Here loue is lent for loue of filthie gaine Most friends befriend themselues with friendships shew Here plentie perill want doth breed disdaine Cares common are ioyes faultie short and few Here Honour enuide meannesse is despis'd Sinne deemed solace Vertue little pris'd Here beauty is a baite that swallowed choakes A treasure sought still to the owners harmes A light that eyes to murdring sights prouokes A grace that soules inchants with mortall charmes A luring ayme to Cupids fierie flights A balefull blisse that damnes where it delights O who would liue so many deaths to trie Where will doth wish that wisedome doth reproue
say that a gift once giuen cannot be reuoked and therefore though it were before in his choise not to giue himselfe vnto thee yet the deed of gift being once made he cannot be taken from thee neither can the donor dispose of his gift without the possessors priuity And sith this is a rule in the law of nature thou maist imagine it a breach of equine and an impeachment of thy right to conuey himselfe away without thy consent But to this I will answer thee with thine owne ground For if he be thine by being giuen thee once thou art his by as many gifts as dayes and therefore he being absolute owner of thee is likewise full owner of whatsoeuer is thine and consequently because he is thine he is also his owne and so nothing lyable vnto thee for taking him selfe from thee Yea but he is my Lord sayest thou and in this respect bound to keepe me at the least bound not to kill me and sith killing is nothing but a seuâ—ring of life from the body he being the chiefe life both of my soule and bodie cannot possibly go from me but he must with a double death kill me And therefore he being my Lord and bound to protect his seruant it is against all lawes that I should be thus forsaken But ô cruell tongue why pleadest thou thus against him whose case I feare me is so pitifull that it might rather moue all tongues to pleade for him being peraduenture in their hands whose vumercifull hearts make themselues merry with his miserie and build the triumphs of their impious victorie vpon the dolefull ruines of his disgraced glorie And now ô griefe because I know not where he is I cannot imagine how to helpe for they haue taken him away and I know not where they haue put him Alas Mary why doest thou consume thy felfe with these cares His father knoweth and he will helpe him The Angels know and they will guard him His owne soule knoweth and that will assist him And what neede then is there that thou silly woman shouldest know it that canst no way profit him But I feele in what vaine thy pulse beateth and by thy desire I discouer thy disease Though both heauen and earth did know it and the whole world had notice of it yet except thou also wert made priuie vnro it thy woes would be as great and thy teares as many That others see the Sunne doth not lighten thy darknesse neither can others eating satisfie thy hunger The more there be that know of him the greater is thy sorrow that among so many thou art not thought worthy to be one And the more there be that may helpe him the move it grieueth thee that thy poore helpe is not accepted among them Though thy knowiedge needeth not thy loue doth desire it and though it auaile not thy desire wil seeke it If all know it thou wouldest know it with all if no other thou wouldest know it alone and from whom soeuer it be concealed it must be no secret to thee Though the knowledge would discomfort thee yet know it thou wilt yea though it would kill thee thou couldest not forbeare it Thy Lord to thy loue is like drinke to the thirstie which if they cannot haue they die for drouth being long without it they pine away with longing And as men in extremitie of thirst are still dreaming of fountaines brookes and springs being neuer able to haue other thought or to vtter other word but of drinke and moisture so louers in the vehemencie of their passion can neither thinke nor speake but of that they loue and if that be once missing euery part is both an eye to watch and an eare to listen what hope or newes may be had If it be good they die till they heare it though bad yet they cannot liue without it Of the good they hope that it is the very best and of the euill they feare it to be the worst and yet though neuer so good they pine till it be told and be it neuer so euill they are importunate to know it And when they once know it they can neither beare the ioy nor brooke the sorrow but as well the one as the other is enough to kill them And this ô Mary I guesse to be the cause why the Angels would not tell thee thy Lords estate For if it had beene to thy liking thou wouldest haue died for ioy if otherwise thou wouldest haue sunke downe for sorrow And therefore they leaue this newes for him to deliuer whose word if it giue thee a wound is also a salue to cure it though neuer so deadly But alas afflicted soule why doth it so deepely grieue thee that thou knowest not where he is Thou canst not better him if he be well thou canst as little succour him if he be ill and sith thou fearest that he is rather ill than well why shouldest thou know it so to end thy hopes in mishap and thy great feares in farre greater sorrowes Alas to aske thee why is in a manner to aske one halfe starued why he is hungrie For as thy Lord is the food of thy thoughts the reliefe of thy wishes the onely repast of all thy desires so is thy loue a continuall hunger and his absence vnto thee an extreame famine And therefore no maruell though thou art so greedy to heare yea to deuoure any be it neuer so bitter notice of him sith thy hunger is most violent and nothing but he able to content it And albeit the hearing of his harmes should worke the same in thy mind that vnwholsome meat worketh in a sick stomacke yet if it once concerne him that thou louest thy hungrie loue could not temper it selfe from it though after with many wringing gripes it did a long and vnpleasant penance But why doth thy sorrow quest so much vpon the place where he is were it not enough for thee to know who had him but that thou must also know in what place he is bestowed A worse place than a graue no man will offer and many farre better many titles will allow and therefore thou maist boldly thinke that wheresoeuer he be he is in a place fitter for him than where he was Thy sister Martha confessed him to be the Sonne of God and with her confession agreed thy beliefe And what place more conuenient for the sonne than to be with his Father the businesse for which he hath bene so long from him being now fully finished If he be the Messias as thou diddest once beleeue it was said of him That he should ascend on high and leade our captiuitie captiue And what is this height but heauen what our captiuitie but death Death therefore is become his captiue and it is like that with the spoyles thereof he is ascended in triumph to eternall life But if thou canst not lift thy minde to so fauourable a beliefe yet maiest thou very well suppose that he is
busie about him and notwithstanding all this hast thou now forgotten him His countenance auoucheth it his voice assureth it his wounds witnesse it thine owne eyes behold it and doest thou not yet beleeue that this is Iesus Are thy sharpe seeing eyes become so weake sighted that they are dazeled with the Sunne and blinded with the light But there is such a shower of teares betweene thee and him and thine eyes are so dimmed with weeping for him that though thou seest the shape of a man yet thou canst not discerne him Thy eares also are still so possessed with the dolefull Eccho of his last speeches which want of breath made him vtter in a dying voice that the force and loudnesse of his liuing words maketh thee imagine it the voyce of a stranger and therefore as he seemeth vnto thee so like a stranger he asketh this question of thee O woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou O desire of the heart and onely ioy of her soule why demandest thou why she weepeth or for whom she seeketh But a while since she saw thee her onely hope hanging on a tree with thy head full of thornes thy eyes full of teares thy eares full of blasphemies thy mouth full of gall thy whole person mangled and disfigured and doest thou aske her why she weepeth Scarce three dayes passed she beheld thy armes and legges racked with violent puls thy hands and feete boared with nayles thy side wounded with a speare thy whole bodie torne with stripes and goared in blood and doest thou her onely griefe aske her why she weepeth She beheld thee vpon the Crosse with many teares and most lamentable cryes yeelding vp her ghost that is thy owne ghost and alas asketh thou why she weepeth And now to make vp her miserie hauing but one hope aliue which was that for a small reliefe of her other afflictions she might haue annointed thy body that hope is also dead since thy body is remoued and she now standeth hopelesse of all helpe and demandest thou why she weepeth and for whom she seeketh Full well thou knowest that thee onely she desireth thee onely she loueth all things beside thee she contâ—mneth and canst thou finde in thy heart to aske her whom she seeketh To what end ô sweet Lord doest thou thus suspend her longings prolong her desires and martyr her with these tedious delayes Thou onely art the fortresse of her faint faith the anker of her wauering hope the very center of her vehement loue to thee she trusteth vpon thee she relyeth and of her selfe she wholly despaireth She is so earnest in seeking thee that she can neither seeke nor thinke any other thing and all her wits are so busied in musing vpon thee that they draw all attention from her senses wherewith they should discerne thee Being therefore so attentiue to that she thinketh what maruell though she marke not whom she seeth and sith thou hast so perfect notice of her thought and she so little power to discouer thee by sense why demandest thou for whom she seeketh or why she weepeth Doest thou looke that she should answere for thee I seeke or for thee I weepe vnlesse thou wilt vnbend her thoughts that her eyes may fully see thee or while thou wilt be concealed doest thou expect that she should be able to know thee But ô Mary not without cause doth he aske thee this question Thou wouldest haue him aliue and yet thou weepest because thou doest not find him dead Thou art some that he is not here and for this very cause thou shouldest rather be glad For if he were dead I it is most likely he should be here but not being here it is a signe that he is aliue He reioyceth to be out of his graue and thou weepest because he is not in it He will not lie any where and thou sorrowest for not knowing where he lyeth Alas why be wailest thou his glory and iniurest the reuiuing of his body as the robbery of his coarse He being aliue for what dead man mournest thou and he being present whose absence doest thou lament But she taking him to be a Gardener said vnto him O Lord if thou hast carried him from hence tell me where thou hast layd him and I will take him away O wonderfull effects of Maries loue if loue be a languor how liueth she by it If loue be her life how dyeth she in it If it bereaued her of sense how did she see the Angels If it quickened her of sense why knew she not Iesus Doest thou seeke for one whom when thou hast found thou knowest not or if thou dost know him when thou findest him why doest thou seek when thou hast him Behold Iesus is come and the partie whom thou seekest is he that talketh with thee ô Mary call vp thy wits and open thine eyes Hath thy Lord liued so long laboured so much died with such paine and shed such showers of bloud to come to no higher preferment than to be a Gardener And hast thou bestowed such cost so much sorrow and so many teares for no better man than a silly Gardener Alas is the sorry Garden the best inheritance that thy loue can affoord him or a Gardeners office the highest dignitie that thou wilt allow him It had bene better he had liued to haue bene Lord of thy Castle than with his death so dearely to haue bought so small a purchase But thy mistaking hath in it a further mysterie Thou thinkest not amisse though thy sight be deceiued For as our first Father in the state of grace and innocencie was placed in the Garden of pleasure and the first office allotted him was to be a Gardener so the first man that euer was in glorie appeareth first in a Garden and presenteth himselfe in a Gardeners likenesse that the beginnings of glorie might resemble the entrance of innocencie and grace And as the Gardener was the fall of mankinde the parent of sinne and authour of death so is this Gardener the raiser of our ruines the ransome of our offences and the restorer of life In a Garden Adam was deceiued and taken captiue by the deuill In a Garden Christ was betrayed and taken prisoner by the Iewes In a Garden Adam was condemned to earne his bread with the sweat of his browes And after a free gift of the bread of Angels in the last Supper in a Garden Chrid did earne it vs with a bloudy sweate of his whole body By disobedient eating the fruite of a tree our right to that Garden was by Adam forfeited and by the obedient death of Christ vpon a tree a farre better right is now recouered When Adam had sinned in the Garden of pleasure he was there apparelled in dead beasts skinnes that his garment might betoken his graue and his liuery of death agree with his condemnation to die And now to defray the debt of that sinne in this Garden Christ lay clâ—d in the dead mans shrowd
calme minde in more hope then feare she expected her owne passage she commended both her duty and good will to all her friends and cleared her heart from all grudge towards her enemies wishing true happinesse to them both as best became so soft and gentle a mind in which anger neuer stayed but as an vnwelcome stranger She made open profession that she did die true to her religion true to her husband true to God and the world she enioyed her iudgement as long as she breathed her body earnestly offering her last deuotions supplying in thought what faintnesse suffered not her tongue to vtter in the end when her glasse was runne out and death began to challenge his interest some labouring with too late remedies to hinder the deliuery of her sweet soule she desired them eftsoones to let her go to God and her hopes calling her to eternall kingdomes as one rather fallen asleepe then dyieg she most happily tooke her leaue of all mortall miseries Such was the life such was the death of your dearest sister both so full of true comfort that this surely of her vertues may be a sufficient lenitiue to your bitterest griefes For you are not I hope in the number of those that reckon it a part of their paine to heare of their best remedies thinking the rehearsall of your dead friends praises an vpbraiding of their losse but sith the obliuion of her vertuues were iniurious to her let not the mention of her person be offensiue vnto you and be not you grieued with her death with which she is best pleased So blessed a death is rather to be wished of vs then pitied in her whose soule triumpheth with God whose vertue still breatheth in the mouths of infinite praises and liueth in the memories of all to whom either experience made her knowne or fame was not enuious to conceale her deserts She was a iewell that both God and you desired to enioy he to her assured benefit without selfe interest you for allowable respects yet employing her restraint among certaine hazards and most vncertaine hopes Be then vmpire in your owne cause whether your wishes or Gods will importeth more loue the one the adornement of her exile the other her returne into a most blessed countrey And sith it pleased God in this loue to be your riuall let your discretion decide the doubt whom in due should carry the suite the prerogatiue being but a right to the one for nature and grace being the motiues of both your loues she had the best litle in them that was authour of them and she if worthy to be beloued of either as she was of both could not but preferre him to the dearest portion of her deepest affection let him with good leaue gather the grape of his owne vine and plucke the fruite of his owne planting and thinke so curious workes euer safest in the artificers hand who is likeliest to loue them and best able to preserue them She did therefore her duty in dying willingly and if you will do yours you must be willing with her death sith to repine at her liking is discurtesie at Gods an impiety both vnfitting for your approued vertue she being in place where no griefe can annoy her she hath little neede or lesse ioy of your sorrow neither can she allow in her friends that she would loathe in her selfe loue neuer affecting likenesse if she had bene euill she had not deserued our teares being good she cannot desire them nothing being lesse to the likenesse of goodnesse than to see it selfe any cause of vniust disquiet or trouble to the innocent Would Saul haue thought it friendship to haue wept for his fortune in hauing found a kingdome 1. Sam. 17. by seeking of cattell or Dauid account it a curtesie to haue sorrowed at his successe that from following sheepe came to foyle a giant and to receiue in fine a royall crowne for his victorie why then should her lot be lamented whom higher fauour hath raised from the dust to sit with princes of Gods people Psal 112 if security had bene giuen that a longer life should still haue bene guided by vertue and followed with good fortune you might pretend some cause to complaine of her deceasse But if different effects should haue crossed your hopes processe of time being the parent of strange alterations then had death bene friendlier then your selfe and sith it hung in suspence which of the two would haue happened let vs allow God so much discretion as to thinke him the fittest arbitrator in decision of the doubt her foundations of happinesse were in the holy hills Psal 86. and God sawe it fittest for her building to be but low in the vale of teares better it was it should be soone taken downe then by rising too high to haue oppressed her soule with the ruines Thinke it no iniurie that she is now taken from you but a fauour that she was lent you so long and shew no vnwillingnesse to restore God his owne sith hitherto you haue payed no vsurie for it Consider not how much longer you might haue enioyed her but how much sooner you might haue lost her and sith she was held vpon curtesie not by any couenant take our soueraigne right for a sufficient reason of her death our life is but lent a good to make thereof during the loane our best commodity It is due debt to a more certaine owner than our selues and therefore so long as we haue it we receiue a benefite when we are depriued of it we haue no wrong we are tennants at will of this clayie farme not for tearme of yeares when we are warned out we must be ready to remoue hauing no other title but the owners pleasure it is but an Inne not an home we came but to baite not to dwell and the condition of our entrance was in fine to depart If this departure be grieuous it is also common this to day to me to morrow to thee and the case equally afflicting all leaues none any cause to complaine of iniurious vsage Natures debt is sooner exacted of some than of other yet is there no fault in the creditor that exacteth but his owne but in the greedinesse of our eager hopes either repining that their wishes faile or willingly forgetting their mortalitie whom they are vnwilling by experience to see mortall yet the generall tide wafteth all passengers to the same shore some sooner some later but all at the last and we must settle our minds to take our course as it commeth neuer fearing a thing so necessary yet euer expecting a thing so vncertaine It seemeth that God purposely concealed the time of our death leauing vs resolued betweene feare and hope of longer continuance Cut off vnripe cares lest with the notice and pensiuenesse of our diuorce from the world we should lose the comfort of needfull contentments and before our dying day languish away with expectation of death Some
made his heart a prey to his agonies whereas that that buried him in his owne melancholies raised Ioseph to his highest happinesse If Mary Magdalen said and supposed she could haue suncke no deeper in griefe than she had already plunged her selfe and yet that which she imagined the vttermost of euils proued in conclusion the very blisse of her wishes the like may be your errour if you cumber your minde with thinking vpon her death which could neuer be discharged from cares till death set his hand to her acquittance nor receiue the charter of an eternall being till her soule were presented at the sealing I loath to rubbe the scarre of a deeper wound for feare of renewing a dead discomfort yet if you will fauour your owne remedies the maisterie ouer that griefe that springs from the roote may learne you to qualifie this that buddeth from the branch Let not her losses moue you that are acquainted with greater of your owne and taught by experience to know how vncertaine then change is for whō vnconstant fortune throweth the dice. If she want the wonted titles her part is now ended and they were due but vpon the stage her losse therein is but a wracke of wounds in which she is but euen with the height of Princes surpassing both her selfe in them and the new honours of heauenly stile If she haue left her children it was her wish they should repay her absence with vsury yet had she sent her first fruits before her as pledges of her owne comming And now may we say that the Sparrow hath found an home and the Turtle doue a neast where she may lay her yonglings enioying some and expecting the rest If she be taken from her friends she is also deliuered from her enemies in hope hereafter to enioy the first out of feare of euer being troubled with the latter If she be cut off in her youth no age is vnripe for a good death and hauing ended her taske though neuer so short yet she hath liued out her full time Old age is venerable not long to be measured by increase of vertues not by number of yeares for grauity cōsisteth in wisedom Sap. 4. and an vnspotted life is the ripenesse of the perfectest age If she were in possibilitie of preferment she could hardly haue mounted higher than from whence she was throwne hauing bene brused with the first she had little will to clime for a second fall We might hitherto truly haue said this is that Naomi Ruth 1. she being to her end enriched with many outward and more inward graces But whether hereafter shee would haue bid vs not to call her Naomi that is faire but Mara that signifieth bitter it is vncertaine sith she might haue fallen into the widdows felicitie that so changed her name to the likenesse of her lot Insomuch that she is freed from more miseries then she suffered losses and more fortunate by not desiring then she would be by enioying fortunes fauour which if it be not counted a follie to loue yet it is a true happinesse not to need we may rather thinke that Death was prouided against her imminent harmes then enuious of any future prosperities the times being great with so many broyles that when they once fall in labour we shall thinke their condition securest whom absence hath exempted both from feeling the bitter throwes and beholding the monstrous issue that they are likely to bring forth The more you tender her the more temperate should be your griefe sith seeing you vpon going she did but step before you into the next world to which she thought you to belong more than to this which hath already giuen you the most vngratefull congee They that are vpon remouing send their furniture before them and you still standing vpon your departure what ornament could you rather wish in your future abode then this that did euer please you God thither sendeth your Adamants whither he would draw your heart and casteth your anchors where your thoughts should lie at roade that seeing your loue taken out of the world and your hopes disanchored from the stormie shoare you might settle your desires where God seemeth to require them If you would haue wished her life for an example to your house assure your selfe she hath left her friends so inherited with her vertues and so perfect patternes of her best part that who knoweth the suruiuours may see the deceassed and shall finde little difference but in the number which before was greater but not better vnlesse it were in one repetition of the same goodnesse wherefore set your selfe at rest in the ordinance of God whose works are perfect and whose wisedome is infinite The termes of our life are like the seasons of the yeare some for sowing some for growing and some for reaping in this onely different that as the heauens keepe their prescribed periods so the succession of times haue their appointed changes But in the seasons of our life which are not the law of necessarie causes some are reaped in the seed some in the blade some in the vnripe eares all in the end this haruest depending vpon the Reapers will Death is too ordinary a thing to seeme any nouelty being a familiar guest in euery house and sith his comming is expected and his errand vnknowne neither his presence should be feared nor his effects lamented What wonder is it to see fuell burned spice-pouned or snow melted And as little feare it is to see those dead that were borne vpon condition once to dye She was such a compound as was once to be resolued vnto her simples which is now performed her soule being giuen to God and her body resorted into her first elements It could not dislike you to see your friend remoued out of a ruinous house the house it self destroyed and pulled down if you knew it were to build it in a statelier forme and to turne the inhabitant with more ioy into a fairer lodging Let then your sisters soule depart without griefe let her body also be altred into dust withdraw your eyes from the ruine of this cottage and cast them vpon the maiestie of the second building which Saint Paul saith shall be incorruptible glorious strange spirituall and immortall Night and sleepe are perpetuall mirrours figuring in their darknesse silence shutting vp of senses the finall end of our mortall bodies and for this some haue entituled sleepe the eldest brother of Death but with no lesse conuenience it might be called one of Deaths tenants neare vnto him in affinity of condition yet farre inferiour in right being but tennant for a time of that Death is the inheritance for by vertue of the conueyance made vnto him in Paradice that dust we were and to dust we must returne he hath hitherto shewed his seigniory ouer all exacting of vs not onely the yearely but hourely reuerence of time which euer by minuts we defray vnto him so that our very life is
silly Eue Heire to thy Fathers foyles and borne to grieue In Thabors ioyes I eager was to dwell An earnest friend while pleasures light did shine But when eclipsed glory prostrate fell These zealous heates to sleepe I did resigne And now my mouth hath thrice his name defil'd That cry'd so loude three dwellings there to build When Christ attending the distressefull hower With his surcharged breast did blesse the ground Prostrate in pangs rayning a bleeding shower Me like my selfe a drowsie friend he found Thrice in his care sleepe clos'd by carelesse eye Presage how him my tongue should thrice deny Parting from Christ my fainting force declin'd With lingring foot I followed him aloofe Base feare out of my heart his loue vnshrin'd Huge in high words but impotent in proofe My vaunts did seeme hatcht vnder Sampsons locks Yet womans words did giue me murdering knocks So farre luke warme desires in crazie loue Farre off in neede with feeble foot they traine In tides they swim low ebbes they scorne to proue They seeke their friends delights but shun their paine Hire of an hireling minde is earned shame Take now thy due beare thy begotten blame Ah coole remisnesse vertues quartaine feuer Pyning of loue consumption of grace Old in the cradle languor dying euer Soules wilfull famine sinnes soft stealing pace The vndermining euill of zealous thought Seeming to bring no harmes till all be brought O portresse of the doore of my disgrace Whose tongue vnlockt the truth of vowed minde Whose words from Cowards heart did courage chase And let in death-full feares my soule to blind O hadst thou beene the portresse to my toombe When thou wert portresse to that cursed roome Yet loue was loth to part feare loth to die Stay danger life did counterpleade their causes I fauouring stay and life bad danger flie But danger did except against these clauses Yet stay and liue I would and danger shunne And lost my selfe while I my verdict wonne I stayd yet did my staying farthest part I liu'd but so that sauing life I lost it Danger I shunn'd but to my sorer smart I gained nought but deeper dammage crost it What danger distance death is worse then this That runnes from God and spoyles his soule of blisse O Iohn my guide into this earthly hell Too well acquainted in so ill a Court Where rayling mouthes with blasphemies did swell With tainted breath infecting all resort Why didst thou leade me to this hell of euils To shew my selfe a Fiend among the Deuils Euill president the tide that wafts to vice Dumme-Orator that wooes with silent deeds Writing in workes lessons of ill aduice The doing tale that eye in practice reeds Taster of ioyes to vnacquainted hunger With leauen of the old seasoning the yonger It seemes no fault to do that all haue done The number of offenders hide the sinne Coach drawne with many horse doth easely runne Soone followeth one where multitudes begin O had I in that Court much stronger bin Or not so strong as first to enter in Sharpe was the weather in that stormy place Best suting hearts benum'd with hellish frost Whos 's crusted malice could admit no grace Where coales are kindled to the warmers cost Where feare my thoughts canded with ycie cold Heate did my tongue to periuries vnfold O hatefull fire ah that I neuer saw it Too hard my heart was frozen for thy force Farre hotter flames it did require to thaw it Thy hell-resembling heate did freeze it worse O that I rather had congeal'd to yce Then bought thy warmth at such a damning price O wakefull bird proclaimer of the day Whose piercing note doth daunt the Lions rage Thy crowing did my selfe to me bewray My frights and brutish heates it did asswage But ô in this alone vnhappy Cocke That thou to count my foyles wert made the clocke O bird the iust rebuker of my crime The faithfull waker of my sleeping feares Be now the daily clocke to strike the time When stinted eyes shall pay their taske of teares Vpbraid mine eares with thine accusing crow To make me rue that first it made me know O milde reuenger of aspiring Pride Thou canst dismount high thoughts to low effects Thou mad'st a Cocke me for my fault to chide My lofty boasts this lowly bird corrects Well might a Cocke correct me with a crowe Whom hennish cackling first did ouerthrowe Weake weapons did Goliahs fumes abate Whose storming rage did thunder threats in vaine His body huge harnest with massie plate Yet Dauids stone brought death into his braine With staffe and sling as to a dog he came And with contempt did boasting furie tame Yet Dauid had with Beare and Lion fought His skilfull might excus'd Goliahs foile The death is eas'd that worthy hand hath wrought Some honour liues in honorable spoile But I on whom all infamies must light Was hist to death with words of womans spight Small gnats enforst th' Egyptian King to stoupe Yet they in swarmes and arm'd with piercing stings Smart noyse annoyance made his courage droupe No small incombrance such small vermine brings I quaild at words that neither bit nor stong And those deliuerd from a womans tong Ah feare abortiue impe of drouping minde Selfe ouerthrowe false friend roote of remorse Sighted in seeing euils in shunning blinde Foyld without field by fancie not by force Ague of valour phrensie of the wise True honours staine loues frost the mint of lies Can vertue wisedome strength by women spild In Dauids Salomons and Sampsons falls With semblance of excuse my errour guild Or lend a marble glosse to muddy walls O no their fault had shew of some pretence No veyle can hide the shame of my offence The blaze of beauties beames allur'd their lookes Their lookes by seeing oft conceiued loue Loue by effecting swallowed pleasures hookes Thus beauty loue and pleasure them did moue These Syrens sugred tunes rockt them asleepe Inough to damne yet not to damne so deepe But gracious features dazled not mine eyes Two homely Droyles were authors of my death Not loue but feare my senses did surprize Not feare of force but feare of womans breath And those vnarm'd ill grac'd despis'd vnknowne So base a blast my truth hath ouerthrowne O women woe to men traps for their falls Still actors in all Tragicall mischances Earths necessary euils captiuing thralls Now murdering with your tongues now with your glances Parents of life and loue spoylers of both The theeues of hearts false do you loue or loth In time O Lord thine eyes with mine did meete In them I read the ruines of my fall Their cheering rayes that made misfortune sweet Into my guilty thoughts powrd flouds of gall Their heauenly lookes that blest where they beheld Darts of disdaine and angrie checks did yeeld O sacred eyes the springs of liuing light The earthly heauens where Angels ioy to dwell How could you deigne to view my deathfull plight Or let your heauenly beames looke on my hell But
my loue my sonne my God behold thy mother washt in teares Thy bloudy wounds be made a rod to chasten these my latter yeares You cruell Iewes come worke your ire vpon this worthlesse flesh of mine And kindle not eternall fire by wounding him which is diuine Thou messenger that didst impart his first descent into my wombe Come helpe me now to cleaue my heart that there I may my sonne intombe You Angels all that present were to shew his birth with harmonie Why are you not now readie here to make a mourning symphony The cause I know you waile alone and shed your teares in secrecie Lest I should moued be to mone by force of heauie companie But waile my soule thy comfort dies my wofull wombe lament thy fruit My heart giue teares vnto mine eyes let sorrow string my heauie lute An holy Hymne PRaise O Sion praise thy Sauiour Praise thy captaine thy pastour With hymnes and solemne harmony What power affords performe indeed His workes all praises farre exceede No praise can reach his dignity A speciall theame of praise is read A liuing and life giuing bread Is on this day exhibited Within the Supper of our Lord To twelue disciples at his bord As doubtlesse t was deliuered Let our praise be lou'd and free Full of ioy and decent glee With minds and voices melody For now solemnize we that day Which doth with ioy to vs display The secret of this mystery At this boord of our new ruler Of old law and Pascall order The ancient right abolisheth Old decrees by new annil'd Shadowes are in truth fulfil'd Day former darknesse finisheth That at supper Christ performed To be done he straightly charged For his eternall memorie Guided by his sacred orders Bread and wine vpon our alters To sauing host we sanctifie Christians are by faith assured That by faith flesh is receiued And Christ his bloud most precious That no wit no sense conceiueth Firme and grounded faith beleeueth In strange effects not curious As staffe of bread thy heart sustaines And chearefull wine thy strength regaines By power and vertue naturall So doth this consecrated food Them symbole of Christ flesh bloud By vertue supernaturall The ruines of thy soule repaire Banish sinne horrour and despaire And feed faith by faith receiued Angels bread made Pilgrims feeding Truely bread for childrens eating To dogs not to be offered Sign'd by Isack on the altar By the Lambe and pascall Supper And in the Manna figured Iesu food and feeder of vs Here with mercie feed and friend vs Then graunt in heauen felicitie Lord of all whom here thou feedest Fellow heires guests with thy dearest Make vs in thy heauenly citie S. Peters afflicted mind IF that the sicke may grone Or Orphane mourne his losse If wounded wretch may rue his harmes Or caitife shew his crosse If heart consum'd with care May vtter signe of paine Then may my breast be sorrowes home And tongue with cause complaine My maladie is sinne And languor of the mind My body but a lazars couch Wherein my soule is pinde The care of heauenly kinde Is dead to my reliefe Forlorne and left like orphan child With sighes I feed my griefe My wounds with mortall smart My dying soule torment And prisoner to mine owne mishaps My follies I repent My heart is but the haunt Where all dislikes do keepe And who can blame so lost a wretch Though teares of bloud he weepe S. Peters remorse REmorse vpbraids my faults Selfe blaming conscience cries Sin claimes the hoast of hūbled thoughts And streames of weeping eyes Let penance Lord preuaile Let sorrow sue release Let loue be vmpier in my cause And passe the doome of peace If doome go by desert My least desert is death That robs from soule immortall ioyes From body mortall breath But in so high a God So base a wormes annoy Can adde no praise vnto thy power No blisse vnto thy ioy Well may I frie in flames Due fuell to hell-fire But on a wretch to wreake thy wrath Can not be worth thine ire Yet sith so vile a worme Hath wrought his greatest spite Of highest treason well thou maist In rigor him indite But mercy may relent And temper iustice rod For mercy doth as much belong As iustice to a God If former time or place More right to mercy winne Thou first wert author of my selfe Then vmpier of my sinne Did mercy spin the thread To weaue in iustice loome Wert thou a father to conclude With dreadfull Iudges doome It is a small reliefe To say I was thy child If as an ill deseruing foe From grace I am exilde I was I had I could All words importing want They are but dust of dead supplies Where needfull helpes are scant Once to haue beene in blisse That hardly can returne Doth not bewray from whence I fell And wherefore now I mourne All thoughts of passed hopes Increase my present crosse Like ruines of decayed ioyes They still vpbraid my losse O milde and mighty Lord Amend that is amisse My sinne my sore thy loue my salue Thy cure my comfort is Confirme thy former deeds Reforme that is defild I was I am I will remaine Thy charge thy choise thy child Man to the wound in Christs side O Pleasant sport ô place of rest O royal rift ô worthy wound Come harbour me a weary guest That in the world no case haue found I lie lamenting at thy gate Yet dare I not aduenture in I beare with me a troublous mate And combred am with heape of sinne Discharge me of this heauy load That easier passage I may find Within this bowre to make aboad And in this glorious tombe be shrin'd Here must I liue here must I die Here would I vtter all my griefe Here would I all those paines descrie Which here did meet for my reliefe Here would I view that bloudy sore Which dint of spitefull speare did breed The bloudy wounds laid there in store Would force a stony heart to bleed Here is the spring of trickling teares The mirrour of all mourning wights With dolefull tunes for dumpish eares And solemne shewes for sorrowed sights O happie soule that flies so hie As to attaine this sacred caue Lord send me wings that I may flie And in this harbour quiet haue Vpon the Image of death BEfore my face the picture hangs That daily should put me in mind Of those cold names and bitter pangs That shortly I am like to find But yet alas full little I Do thinke hereon that I must die I often looke vpon a face Most vgly grisly bare and thinne I often view the hollow place Where eyes and nose had somtimes bin I see the bones acrosse that lie Yet little thinke that I must die I reade the Labell vnderneath That telleth me whereto I must I see the sentence eke that saith Remember man thou art dust But yet alas but seldome I Do thinke indeed that I must die Continually at my beds head An
liberty is a penaltie and euery penaltie supposeth some offence but an offence it is not to weepe for my selfe for he would neuer commande it if it were not lawfull to do it The fault therefore must be in being one with him that maketh the weeping for my selfe a weeping also for him And if this be a fault I will neuer amend it and let them that thinke it so do penance for it for my part sith I haue lost my mirth I will make much of my sorrow and sith I haue no ioy but in teares I may lawfully shed them Neither thinke I his former word a warrant against his latter deed And what need had he to weepe vpon the Crosse but for our example which if it were good for him to giue it cannot be euill for me to follow No no it is not my weeping that causeth my losse sith a world of eyes and a sea of teares could not worthily bewaile the misse of such a maister Yet since neither thy seeking findeth nor thy weeping preuaileth satisfie thy selfe with the sight of Angels Demaund the cause of their comming and the reason of thy Lords remoue and sith they first offer thee occasion of parley be not thou too dainty of thy discourse It may be they can calme thy stormes and quiet thy vnrest and therefore conceale not from them thy sore lest thou lose the benefit of their emplaister But nothing can moue Mary to admit comfort or entertaine any company for to one alone and for euer she hath vowed her selfe and except it be to him she will neither lend her eare long to others nor borrow others helpe lest by the seeking to allay her smart she should lessen her loue But drawing into her mind all pensiue conceits she museth and pineth in a consuming languor taking comfort in nothing but in being comfortlesse Alas saith she small is the light that a starre can yeeld when the Sunne is downe and a sorry exchange to go gather the crums after the losse of an heauenly repast My eyes are not vsed to see by the glimse of a sparke and in seeking the Sunne it is either needlesse or bootlesse to borrow the light of a candle sith either it must bewray it selfe with the selfe light or no other light can euer discouer it If they come to disburden me of my heauinesse their comming will be burdensome vnto me and they will load me more while they labour my reliefe They cannot perswade me that my maister is not lost for my owne eyes will disproue them They can lesse tell me where he may be found for they would not be so simple to be so long from him or if they can forbeare him surely they do not know him whom none can truly know and liue long without him All their demurres would be tedious and discourses irksome Impaire my loue they might but appay it they could not to which he that first accepted the debt is the onely payment They either want power will or leaue to tell me my desire or at the first word they would haue done it sith Angels are not vsed to idle speeches and to me all talke is idle that doth not tell me of my maister They know not where he is and therfore they are come to the place where he last was making the Tombe their heauen and the remembrance of his presence the food of their felicitie Whatsoeuer they could tell me if they told me not of him and whatsoeuer they could tell me of him if they told me not where he were both their telling and my hearing were but a wasting of time I neither came to see them nor desire to heare them I came not to see Angels but him that made both me and Angels and to whom I owe more than both to men and Angels And to thee I appeale ô most louing Lord whether my afflicted heart doth not truly defray the tribute of an vndeuided loue To thee I appeale whether I haue ioyned any partner with thee in the small possession of my poore selfe And I would to God I were as priuie where thy body is as thou art who is onely Lord and owner of my soule But alas sweet Iesu where thou wert thou art not where thou art I know not wretched is the case that I am in and yet how to better it I cannot imagine Alas ô my onely desire why hast thou left me wauering in these vncertainties and in how wild a maze wander my doubtful perplexed thoughts If I stay here where he is not I shall neuer finde him If I go further to seeke I know not whither To leaue the Tombe is a death and to stand helplesse by it an vncurable disease so that all my comfort is now concluded in this that I am free to chuse whether I will stay without helpe or go without hope that is in effect with what torment I will end my life And yet euen this were too happy a choise for so vnhappy a creature If I might be chuser of mine owne death ô how quickly should that choise be made and how willingly would I runne to that execution I would be nailed to the same crosse with the same nailes in the same place my heart should be wounded with his speare my head with his thornes my body with his whippes Finally I would taste all his torments and tread all his embrued and bloudie steps But ô ambitious thoughts why gaze you vpon so high a felicitie why thinke you of so glorious a death that are priuie to so infamous a life Death alas I deserue yea not one but infinite deaths But so sweete a death seasoned with so many comforts the very instruments whereof were able to raise the deadest corps and depure the most defiled soule were too small a scourge for my great offences And therefore I am left to feele so many deaths as I liue houres and to passe as many pangs as I haue thoughts of my losse which are as many as there are minutes and as violent as if they were all in euery one But sith I can neither die as he died nor liue where he lyeth dead I I will liue out my liuing death by his graue and dye on my dying life by his sweete Tombe Better is it after losse of his body to looke to his Sepulcher than after the losse of the one to leaue the other to be destroyed No no though I haue bene robbed of the Saint I will at the least haue care of the shrine which though it be spoiled of the most soueraigne hoast yet shall it be the Altar where I will daily sacrifice my heart and offer vp my teares Here will I euer leade yea here do I meane to end my wretched life that I may at the least be buried by the Tombe of my Lord and take my iron sleepe neare this couch of stone which his presence hath made the place of sweetest repose It may be also that
this empty Syndon lyeth here to no vse and this Tombe being open without any in it may giue occasion to some mercifull heart that shall first light vpon my vnburied body to wrap me in his shroud and to interre me in this Tombe O too fortunate lot for so vnfortunate a woman to craue no no I do not craue it For alas I dare not yet if such an ouer-sight should be committed I do now before-hand forgiue that sinner and were it no more presumption to wish it aliue than to suffer it dead if I knew the party that should first passe by me I would woo him with my teares and hire him with my prayers to blesse me with this felicity And though I dare not wish any to do it yet this without offence I may say to all that I loue this Syndon aboue all clothes in the world and this Tombe I esteeme more than any Princes monument yea and I thinke that coarse highly fauored that shall succeed my Lord in it and for my part as I meane that the ground where I stand shall be my death-bed so am I not of Iacobs mind to haue my body buried farre from the place where it dyeth but euen in the next and readiest graue and that as soone as my breath faileth sith delayes are bootlesse where death hath won possession But alas I dare not say any more let my body take such fortune as befalleth it my soule at the least shall dwell in this sweet Paradise and from this brittle case of flesh and bloud passe presently into the glorious Tombe of God and man It is now enwrapped in a masse of corruption it shall then enioy a place of high perfection where it is now it is more by force than by choise and like a repining prisoner in a loathed gaile but there in a little roome it should find perfect rest and in the prison of death the liberty of a ioyfull life O sweet Tombe of my sweetest Lord while I liue I will stay by thee when I die I will cleaue vnto thee neither aliue nor dead will I euer be drawne from thee Thou art the Altar of mercie the temple of truth the sanctuary of safeâ—ie the graue of death and the cradle of eternall life O heauen of my eclipsed Sunne receiue vnto thee this silly starre that hath now also lost all wished light O Whale that hast swallowed my onely Ionas swallow also me more worthy to be thy prey sith I and not he was the cause of this bloudie tempest O Cesterne of my innocent Ioseph take me into thy drie bottome sith I and not he gaue iust cause of offence to my enraged brethren But alas in what cloud hast thou hidden the light of our way Vpon what shore hast thou cast vp the Preacher of all truth or to what Ismaelite hast thou yeelded the purueiour of our life Oh vnhappy me why did I not before thinke of that which I now aske Why did I leaue him when I had him thus to lament him now that I haue lost him If I had watched with perseuerance either none would haue taken him or they should haue taken me with him But through too much precisenesse in keeping the Law I haue lost the Law-maker and by being too scrupulous in obseruing his ceremonies I am proued irreligious in losing him selfe sith I should rather haue remained with the truth than forsaken it to solemnize the figure The Sabboth could not haue bene prophaned in standing by his coarse by which the prophaned things are sanctified and whose touch doth not defile the cleane but cleanseth the most defiled But when it was time to stay I departed when it was too late to helpe I returned and now I repent my folly when it cannot be amended But let my heart dissolue into sighes mine eyes melt in teares and my desolate soule languish in dislikes yea let all that I am and haue endure the deserued punishment that if he were incensed with my fault he may be appeased with my penance and returne vpon the amendment that fled from the offence Thus when her timorous conscience had indited her of so great an omission and her tongue enforced the euidence with these bitter accusations Loue that was now the onely vmpire in all her causes condemned her eyes to a fresh showre of teares her breast to a new storme of sighes and her soule to be perpetuall prisoner to restlesse sorrowes But ô Mary thou deceiuest thy selfe in thy owne desires and it well appeareth that excesse of griefe hath bred in thee a defect of due prouidence And wouldest thou indeed haue thy wishes come to passe and thy words fulfilled Tell me then I pray thee if thy heart were dissolued where wouldest thou harbour thy Lord what wouldest thou offer him how wouldest thou loue him Thine eyes haue lost him thy hands cannot feele him thy feet cannot follow him and if it be at all in thee it is thy heart that hath him and wouldest thou now haue that dissolued from thence also to exile him And if thine eyes were melted thy soule in langour and thy senses decayed how wouldest thou see him if he did appeare how shouldest thou heare him if he did speake how couldest thou know him though he were there present Thou thinkest haply that he loued thee so well that if thy heart were spent for his loue he would either lend his own heart vnto thee or create a new heart in thee better than that which thy sorrow tooke from thee It may be thou imaginest that if thy soule would giue place his soule wanting now a bodie would enter into thine with supply of all thy senses and release of thy sorrowes O Mary thou diddest not marke what thy maister was wont to say when he told thee that the third day he should rise againe For if thou hadst heard him or at the least vnderstood him thou wouldest not thinke but that he now vsed both his heart and soule in the life of his owne body And therefore repaire to the Angels and enquire more of them lest the Lord be displeased that comming from him thou wilt not entertaine them But Mary whose deuotions were all fixed vpon a nobler Saint and that had so straightly bound her thoughts to his only affection that she rather desired to vnknow whom she knew already than to burthen her mind with the knowledge of new acquaintance could not make her will long since possessed with the highest loue stoope to the acceptance of meaner friendships And for this though she did not scornefully reiect yet did she with humilitie refuse the Angels company thinking it no discourtesie to take her selfe from them for to giue her selfe more wholly to her Lord to whom both she and they were wholly deuoted ought most loue and greatest duty Sorrow also being now the onely interpreter of all that sense deliuered to her vnderstanding made her conster their demand in a more doubtfull than true
and buried in his Tombe that as our harmes began so they might end and such places and meanes as were the premises to our miserie might be also the conclusions of our misfortune For this did Christ in the Canticles inuite vs to an heauenly banquet after he was come into this Garden and had reaped his myrrhe and his spice to forewarne vs of the ioy that after this haruest should presently ensue namely when hauing sowed in this Garden a body the mortalitie whereof was signified by those spices he now reaped the same neither capable of death nor subiect to corruption For this also was Mary permitted to mistake that we might be informed of the mysterie and see how aptly the course of our redemption did answer the processe of our condemnation But though he be the Gardener that hath planted the tree of grace and restored vs to the vse and eating of the fruites of life Though it be he that soweth his giftes in our soules quickening in vs the seeds of vertue and rooting out of vs the weedes of sinne yet is he neuerthelesse the same Iesus he was and the borrowed presence of a meane laborer neither altereth his person nor diminisheth his right to his diuine titles Why then canst thou not as well see what in truth he is as what in shew he seemeth but because thou seest more than thou diddest beleeue and findest more thrn thy faith serueth thee to seek and for this though thy loue was worthy to see him yet thy faith was vnworthy to know him Thou diddest seeke for him as dead and therefore doest not know him seeing him aliue and because thou beleeuest not of him as he is thou doest onely see him as he seemeth to be I cannot say thou art faultlesse sith thou art so lame in thy beleefe but thy fault deserueth fauour because thy charitie is so great and therefore ô mercifull Iesu giue me leaue to excuse whom thou art minded to forgiue She thought to haue found thee as she left thee and she sought thee as she did last see thee being so ouercome with sorow for thy death that she had neither roome nor respite in her minde for any hope of thy life and being so deepely interred in the griefe of thy buriall that she could not raise her thoughts to any conceit of thy resurrection For in the graue where Ioseph buried thy body Mary together with it entombed her soule and so straightly combined it with thy coarse that she could with more ease sunder her soule from her owne body that liueth by it than from thy dead body with which her loue did burie it for it is more thine and in thee than her owne or in her selfe and therefore in seeking thy body she seeketh her owne soule as with the losse of the one she also lost the other What maruell then though sense faile when the soule is lost sith the lanterne must needes be darke when the light is out Restore vnto her therfore her soule that lieth imprisoned in thy body and she will soone both recouer her sense and discouer her errour For alas it is no errour that proceedeth of any will to erre and it riseth as much of vehemencie or affection as of default in faith Regard not the errour of a woman but the loue of a Disciple which supplyeth in it selfe what in faith it wanteth O Lord saith she If thou hast carried him hence tell me where thou hast laide him and I will take him away O how learned is her ignorance and how skilfull her errour She charged not the Angels with thy remouing nor seemed to mistrust them for carrying thee away as though that her loue had taught her that their helpe was needlesse where the thing remoued was remouer of it selfe She did not request them to enforme her where thou wert layd as if she had reserued that question for thy selfe to answer But now he iudgeth thee so likely to be the authour of her losse that halfe supposing thee guilty she sueth a recouerie and desireth thee to tell her where the body is as almost fully perswaded that thou art as priuie to the place as well acquainted with the action So that if she be not altogether right she is not very much wrong and she erreth with such ayme that she very little misseth the truth Tell her therefore ô Lord what thou hast done with thy selfe sith it is fittest for thy owne speech to vtter that which was onely possible for thy owne power to performe But ô Mary sithens thou art so desirous to know where thy Iesus is why doest thou not name him when thou askest for him Thou saidest to the Angels that they had taken away thy Lord and now the second time thou askest for him Are thy thoughts so visible as at thy onely presence to be seene or so generall that they possesse all when they are once in thee When thou speakest of him what him doest thou meane or how can a stranger vnderstand thee when thou talkest of thy Lord Hath the world no other Lords but thine or is the demanding by no other name but him a sufficient notice for whom thou demandest But such is the nature of thy loue thou iudgest that no other should be entitled a Lord sith the whole world is too little for thy Lords possession and that those few creatures that are cannot chuse but know him sith all the creatures of the world are too few to serue him And as his worthinesse can appay all loues and his onely loue content all hearts so thou deemest him to be so well worthy to be owner of all thoughts that no thought in thy conceit can be well bestowed vpon any other Yet thy speeches seeme more sudden than sound and more peremptory than well pondered Why doest thou say so resolutely without any further circumstance that if this Gardener haue taken him thou wilt take him from him If he had him by right in taking him away thou shouldst do him wrong If thou supposest he wrongfully tooke him thou layest theft to his charge and howsoeuer it be thou either condemnest thy selfe for an vsurper or him for a thiefe And is this an effect of thy zealous loue first to abase him from a God to a Gardener and now to degrade him from a Gardener to a thiefe Thou shouldest also haue considered whether he tooke him vpon loue or malice If it were for loue thou maiest assure thy selfe that he will be as wary to keepe as he was venturous to get him and therefore thy pollicie was weake in saying thou wouldest take him away before thou knewest where he was sith none is so simple to bewray their treasure to a knowne thiefe If he tooke him of malice thy offer to recouer him is an open defiance sith malice is as obstinate in defending as violent in offering wrong and he that would be cruell against thy maisters dead body is likely to be more furious against his liuing
Disciples But thy loue had no leisure to cast so many doubts Thy teares were Interpreters of thy words and thy innocent meaning was written in thy dolefull countenance Thine eyes were rather pleaders for pitty than Heraulds of wrath and thy whole person presented such a patterne of thy extreame anguish that no man from thy presence could take in any other impression And therefore what thy words wanted thy action supplied and what his eare might mistake his eye did vnderstand It might be also that what he wrought in thy heart was concealed from thy sight and haply his voice and demeanour did import such compassion of thy case that he seemed as willing to affoord as thou desirest to haue his helpe And so presuming by his behauiour that thy suite should not suffer repulse the tenour of thy request doth but argue thy hope of a graunt But what is the reason that in all thy speeches which since the misse of thy maister thou hast vttered where they haue put him is alwayes a part So thou saydest to the Apostles the same to the Angels and now thou doest repeate it to this supposed Garderner very sweete must this word be in thy heart that is so often in thy mouth it would neuet be so ready in thy tongue if it were not very fresh in thy memory But what maruaile though it tast so sweete that was first seasoned in thy maisters mouth which as it was the treasury of truth the fountaine of life and the onely quire of the most perfect Harmonie so whatsoeuer it deliuered thine eare deuoured and thy heart locked vp And now that thou wantest himselfe thou hast no other comfort but his words which thou deemest so much the more effectuall to perswade in that they tooke their force from so heauenly a speaker His sweetenesse therefore it is that maketh this word so sweete and for loue of him thou repeatest it so often because he in the like case said of thy brother Where haue you put him O how much doest thou affect his person that findest so sweete a feeling in his phrase How much desirest thou to see his countenance that with so great desire pronouncest his wordes And how willingly wouldest thou licke his sacred feete that so willingly vtterest his shortest speeches But what meanest thou to make so absolute a promise and so boldly to say I will take him away Ioseph was afraid and durst not take downe his body from the Crosse but by night yea and then also not without Pilats warrant but thou neither stayest vntill night nor regardest Pilate but stoutly promisest that thou thy selfe wilt take him away What if he be in the pallace of the high Priest and some such maid as made Saint Peter denie his maister do begin to question with thee wilt thou then stand to these words I will take him away Is thy courage so high aboue kinde thy strength so farre beyond thy sexe thy loue so much without measure that thou neither doest remember that all women are weake not that thy selfe art but a woman Thou exemptest no place thou preferrest no person thou speakest without feare thou promisest without condition thou makest no exception as though nothing were impossible that thy loue suggesteth But as the darknesse could not fright thee from setting forth before day nor the watch feare thee from comming to the Tombe as thou diddest resolue to breake open the seales though with danger of thy life and to remoue the stone from the graues mouth though thy force could not serue thee so what maruaile though thy loue being now more incensed with the fresh wound of thy losse it resolue vpon any though neuer so hard aduentures Loue is not ruled with reason but with loue It neither regardeth what can be nor what shall be done but onely what it selfe desireth to do No difficulty can stay it no impossibility appall it Loue is title iust enough and Armour strong enough for all assaults and it selfe a reward of all labours It asketh no recompence it respecteth no commoditie Loues fruites are loues effects and the gaines the paines It considereth behoofe more than benefit and what in dutie it should not what indeed it can But how can nature be so maistered with affection that thou canst take such delight and carry such loue to a dead coarse The mother how tenderly soeuer she loued her child aliue yet she cannot chuse but loath him dead The most louing Spouse cannot endure the presence of her deceassed husband and whose embracements were delightsome in life are euer most hatefull after death Yea this is the nature of all but principally of women that the very conceit much more the sight of the departed striketh into them so fearefull and vgly impressions and stirreth in them so great horrour that notwithstanding the most vehement loue they thinke long vntill the house is ridde of their very dearest friends when they are once attyred in deaths vnlouely liueries How then canst thou endure to take vp his coarse in thy hands and to carry it thou knowest not thy selfe how farre being especially torne and mangled and consequently the more likely in so long time to be tainted Thy sister was vnwilling that the graue of her owne brother should be opened and yet he was shrowded in sheets embalmed with spices and died an ordinarie death without any wound bruse or other harme that might hasten his corruption But this coarse hath neither shrowd nor spice sith these are to be seene in the tombe and there is not a part in his body but had some helpe to further it to decay and art thou not afraid to see him yea to touch him yea to embrace and carry him naked in thine armes If thou haddest remembred Gods promise that His holy one should not see corruption If thou haddest beleeued that his God-head remaining with his bodie could haue preserued it from perishing thy faith had bene more worthy of praise but thy loue lesse worthy of admiration sith the more corruptible thou diddest conceiue him the more combers thou diddest determine to ouercome and the greater was thy loue in being able to conquer them But thou wouldest haue thought thy oyntments rather harmes than helpes if thou hadst bene setled in that beleefe and for so heauenly a coarse embalmed with God all earthly spices would haue seemed a disgrace If likewise thou haddest firmely trusted vpon his resurrection I should maruaile at thy constant designement sith all hazards in taking him should haue bene with vsurie repaide if lying in thy lappe thou mightest haue seene him reuiued and his disfigured and dead body beautified in thine armes with a diuine maiestie If thou haddest hoped so good fortune to thy waterie eyes that they might haue bene first cleared with the beames of his desired light or that his eyes might haue blessed thee with the first fruites of his glorious lookes If thou haddest imagined any likelihood to haue made happie thy
also in her future meeting being both titles of more certaine delights than her casuall life could euer haue warranted If we will thinke of her deâ—th let it be as a warning to prouide vs sith that what happeneth to one may happen to another yea none can escape that is common to all It may be that blow that hither was meant to some of vs and this missing was but a proofe to take better aime in the next stroke If we were diligent in thinking of our own we should haue little leisure to bewaile others death When the souldier in skirmish seeth his next fellow slaine he thinketh more time to looke to himselfe then to stand mourning an haplesse mischance knowing the hand which sped so neare a neighbour cannot be farre from his owne head But we in this behalfe are much like the silly birds that seeing one sticke in the lime bush striuing to get away with a kind of natiue pitty are drawen to go to it and to rush themselues into the same misfortune euen so many for their friends deceasse by musing on their lot wittingly surfet of too much sorrow that sometimes they make mourning their last deceasse But slippe not you into this toyle that hath taken none but weake affections hold not your eyes alwayes vpon your hardest happes neither be you still occupied in counting your losses There are fairer parts in your body than scarres better eye-markes in your fortune than a sisters losse You might haply find more comfort left than you would willingly lose but that you haue already resigned the solaces of life and shunned all comforts into the hopes of heauen yet sith there is some difference betweene a purpose and proofe intending and performing a subdued enemy being euer ready to rebell when he findeth mighty helpes to make a party it is good to strengthen reason against the violence of Nature that in this and like cases will renew her assaults It was a forcible remedie that he vsed to withstand the conceit of a most lamentable occurrent who hauing in one ship lost his children and substance and hardly escaped himselfe from drowning went presently into an hospitall of lazars where finding in a little roome many examples of great miseries he made the smart of others sores a lenitiue to his owne wound For besides that as lownesse and pouerty was common to them they had also many combers priuate to themselues some wanting their senses some their wits other their limmes but all their health in which consideration he eased his minde that Fortune had not giuen him the greatest fall If God had put you to Abrahams triall commanding you to sacrifice the hope of your posteritie and to be to your onely sonne an authour of death as you were to him of life If you had bene tied in the straights of Iepthaes bitter deuotions embruing his sword in his owne daughters bloud and ending the triumphs ouer his enemies with the voluntary funerals of his only ofspring yet sith both their liues their labours had bene Gods vndeniable debt your vertues ought to haue obeyed maugre all encounters of carnall affection And how much more in this case should you encline your loue to Gods liking in which he hath receiued a lesse part of his owne and that by the vsuall easiest course of natures lawes Let God strippe you to the skinne yea to the soule so he stay with you himselfe let his reproach be your honour his pouerty your riches and he in lieu of all other friends Thinke him enough for this world that must be all your possession for a whole eternity Let others ease their carefullnesse with borrowed pleasures not bred out of the true roote but begged of externall helpes They shall still carry vnquiet mindes easily altered with euery accident sith they labour not for any change in their inward distempers but by forgetting them for a time by outward pastimes Innocencie is the onely mother of true mirth and a soule that is owner of God will quietly beare with all other wants nothing being able to empouerish it but voluntary losses Beare not therefore with her losses for she is won for euer but with the momentary absence of your most happy sister yea it cannot iustly be called an absence many thoughts being daily in parley with her onely mens eyes and eares vnworthy to enioy so sweete an obiect haue resigned their interest and interested this treasure in their harts being the fittest shrines for so pure a Saint whom as none did know but did loue so none can now remember but with deuotion Men may behold her with shame of their former life seeing one of the weaker sexe honor her weaknesse with such a traine of perfections Ladies may admire her as a glorie to their degree in whom honour was portraied in her full likenesse grace hauing perfected Natures first draught with all the due colours of an absolute vertue All women accept her as a patterne to imitate her gifts and her good parts hauing bene so manifested that euen they that can teach the finest stitches may themselues take new workes out of this Sampler Who then could drinke any sorrow out of so cleare a Fountaine or bewaile the estate of so happy a creature to whom as to be her selfe was her praise so to be as she is was her highest blisse You still floate in a troublesome sea and you find it by experience a sea of dangers how then can it pitty you to see your sister on shoare and so safely landed in so blisfull an harbour Sith your Iudith hath wrought the glorious exploite against her ghostly enemies Iud. 15. for the accomplishing whereof she came into the dangerous campe warfare of this life you may well giue her leaue to looke home to her Bethulia to solemnize her triumph with the spoiles of her victorie Yea you should rather haue wished to haue bene Porter to let her in than mourne to see her safe returned For so apparent hazards she carried an heauenly treasure in an earthly vessell 2. Cor. 4. which was too weake a treasurie for so high riches sinne creeping in at the window of our senses and often picking the locks of the strongest hearts And for this it was layd vp in a surer to the which the heauens are walles and the Angels keepers She was a pure fish but yet swimming in muddy streames it was now time to draw her to shoare and to employ the inwards of her vertues to medicinable vses that layd on the coals of due consideration they may draw from our thoughts the Diuels suggestions and applied to their eyes Tob. 6. which are blinded with the dung of flying vanities the slime of their former vanities may fall off and leaue them able to behold the cleare light The base shell of a mortall body was vnfit for so precious a Margarite Mat. 13. and the Ieweller that came into this world to seeke good pearles and gaue not
at his parting breath O fortresse of the faithfull sure defence In which doth Christians cognizance consist Their victorie their triumph comes from thence So forcible hell gates cannot resist A thing whereby both Angels clouds and starres At mans request fight Gods reuengefull wars Nothing more gratefull in the Highest eyes Nothing more firme in danger to protect vs Nothing more forcible to pierce the skies And not depart till mercy do respect vs And as the soule life to the body giues So prayer reuiues the soule by prayer it liues R. S. Of the Foundations of vertuous and godly life The first Foundation THe first Foundation of a vertuous life is often and seriously to consider for what end and purpose I was created and what Gods designement was when he made me of nothing and that not to haue a being onely as a stone nor with a bare kinde of life or growing as a plante or tree nor a power of sence or feeling onely as a brute beast but a creature to his owne likenesse endued with reason and vnderstanding also why he now preserueth me in this health state and calling Finally why he redeemed me with his owne bloud bestowed so infinite benefits vpon me and still continueth his mercy towards me The end of mans creation THe end of my being thus made redeemed preserued and so much benefited by God is this and no other that I should in this life serue him with my whole body soule and substance and with what else soeuer is mine and in the next life enioy him for euer in heauen Rules that follow of this Foundation I Was made of nothing by God and receiued bodie and soule from him and therefore am I onely his not mine owne neither can I so binde or giue my selfe to any creature but that I ought more to serue loue and obey God then any creature in this world Secondly I commit a kind of theft and do God great wrong so often as I employ any part of my body or soule to any other end then to his seruice for which onely I was created Thirdly for this I do liue and for no other end but for this do all creatures serue me and when I turne the least thing whereof God hath giuen me the vse or possessing to any other end then the seruice of God I do God wrong and abuse his creatures The second Foundation SEeing I was made to serue God in this life and to enioy him in the next the seruice of God and the saluation of mine owne soule is the most weightie and important businesse and the most necessarie matter wherein I must imploy my body mind time and labour and all other affaires are so farre forth to be esteemed of me waightie or light as they more or lesse tend to the furtherance of this principall and most earnest businesse for what auaileth it a man to gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule Rules that follow of this Foundation FIrst what diligence labour or cost I would employ in any other temporall matter of credite liuing or life all that I am bound to employ in the seruice of God and the saluation of my soule and so much more as the waight of my soule passeth all other things Secondly I ought to thinke the seruice of God and saluation of my soule my principall businesse in this world and to make it my ordinary study and chiefe occupation and day and night to keepe my mind so fixed vpon it that in euery action I still haue it before mine eyes as the onely marke I shoot at The third Foundation I Cannot serue God in this world nor go about to enioy him in the next but that Gods enemies and mine owne will repine and seeke to hinder me which enemies are three the world the flesh and the Diuell Wherefore I must resolue my selfe and set it downe as a thing vndoubted that my whole life must be as a continuall combat with these aduersaries whom I must assure my selfe to lie hourely in waite for me to seeke their aduantage and that their malice is so vnplacable and their hatred against me so rooted in them that I must neuer looke to haue one houre secure from their assaults but that they will from time to time so long as there is breath in my body still labour to make me forsake and offend God allure me to their seruice and draw me to my damnation Rules following of this Foundation I Must prepare my body and minde to all patience and thinke it no newes to be tempted but a point annexed necessarily to my profession and therefore neuer must I be wearied with the continuance nor dismaied with the difficultie considering the malice and wickednesse of mine aduersaries and my professed enmity with them Secondly I must alwayes stand vpon my guard and be very watchfull in euery action seeing that whatsoeuer I do they will seeke to peruert it and make it offensiue to God euen my very best endeuours Thirdly I must neuer looke to be free from some trouble or other but knowing my selfe to be a perpetuall warfare I must rather comfort my sel e with hope of a glorious crowne for my victories then of any long or assured peace with my enemies The fourth Foundation THe thing which these enemies endeuour to draw me to is sinne and offence to God which is so odious hatefull and abhominable that God doth more detest and dislike it then he did the cruell vsage the wounds the torments and the death it selfe that for vs he suffered of the Iewes and it maketh our soules more vglie then the plague leprosie or any other filthie disease doth the body Rules following this Foundation SO carefull as I would be not to wound torment or murther Christ so carefull must I be not to commit any mortall sinne against him yea and so much more seeing that he hateth sinne more then death hauing voluntarily fuffered the one and yet neuer committed the other Secondly when I am tempted with any sinne let me examine my selfe whether I would buy the fulfilling of mine owne appetite with being a Leaper or full of the plague or with death presently to ensue after it If not then much lesse ought I to buy it with the leprosie losse and death of my soule which is of farre more worth then my body The fift Foundation BEing Gods creature made to serue him in this life my body soule and goods and all things any way pertaining vnto me are but lent or onely let me for this end and I am onely a Bailife Tenant or officer to demaund or gouerne these things to his best seruice and therefore when the time of my stewardship is expired I shall be summoned by death to appeare before my Landlord who with most rigorous iustice will demand account of euery thing and creature of his that hath bene to my vse yea of all that I haue receiued promised omitted committed lost and robbed and as
be certaine After I am vp for a good pretty space it is good not to talke but at the least for halfe a quarter of an houre to busie my minde in prayer and meditation and then afterwards to talke if neede require because my businesse with God being greater then with any man it is fit that he should be first talked with of matters concerning my soule and then others of worldly things I must procure to go â—eately and handsome in my attire agreeable to my calling and to auoide all kind of vndecencie which breedeth dislike and contempt and doth rather offend then please God When I am ready I must go to my prayers appointed and before I set my selfe to pray I must call to minde what I promised to do for any at that time of what other necessary businesse I haue then to dispatch and I must keepe touch in my words in the least things cutting off occasions of being interrupted as neare as I may In prayer I must consider the presence of God not speaking vnto him carelessely or negligently but thinke a few prayers well said better and more acceptable then many hastily shuffled ouer and I must not omit to remember the ioyes of heauen the paines of Hell mine owne death and the death of Christ for me After prayer I must go about some exercise of worke agreeable to my facultie and vocation such as may be of some profit hauing an especiall respect aboue all things to sequester idlenesse the parent of all vice When I go to dinner I must thinke and consider for what end I am to eate which iâ— to helpe and strengthen nature and to make my selfe able to serue my Creator and feeder not to content mine owne appetite I must learne my little children if I haue any to say some godly grace or at the least performe that duty of thanksgiuing my selfe When I am set before I lay hand to my trencher I may pause a while and desire God to giue me temperance and mindfulnesse of his presence At meales I must neither be too curious or doubtfull of what I eate neither precise in the quantitie finenesse or coursenesse of the meat but of that which God hath sent take a competent meale measurable to my neede and not hurtfull to my health After dinner I must thanke God for his gifts remembring the end why he hath fed me is that I should be the better able to serue him I must also thinke that many haue wanted that sufficiency which I haue had and would be glad to accept of my leauings and therefore I ought to haue care and regard to the poore procuring something for them and sometimes seeing them serued my selfe considering Christ in their persons If I haue strangers I may keepe them companie and talke friendly and merily with them as occasion shall serue directing my behauiour agreeable to vertuous conuersation and hauing this intention in my talke that amitie and loue may be maintained and all breach and vnkindnesse auoided I must if time and place will permit me be alwayes doing some profitable thing to auoide sloth directing mine intention in all mine exercises to this end that I may auoide idlenesse and temptations bestowing my time in good sort to Gods glory After dinner I must call to mind whether I haue any promise to performe or any other businesse to do that is not ordinary that I neither forget the thing nor time appointed for it It is good for me sometimes to go about the roomes of the house to see that they be kept cleane and handsome thinking that God is delighted with cleanenesse both bodily and ghostly detesteth sluttishnesse as a thing which he permitteth for a punishment of sinne and one of the scourges of hell A little before supper it will be good to reade part of some godly booke procuring to take some benefit by it and continuing in one booke till I haue read it ouer and then beginne a new I must by watchfulnesse auoide all offence to God leauing him in one exercise to serue him in another as he appointeth me occasions When I sit downe to supper I must remember what my intention ought to be and to take the same course which is prescribed for dinner After supper I may talke as occasion shall serue or employ my time in reading of a godly booke Towards the houre of my going to bed I must examine my selfe first whether my promises and appointments concerning extraordinary businesse be performed or if I haue forgotten any necessary thing I must take order to remember it that I forget it not the second time This done I must examine my conscience concerning the thoughts words and deeds of that day and especially touching the purposes that I haue made in the morning and how I haue obserued my godly determination and what faults I haue committed of any moment After I haue examined my conscience and said my prayers it is good to abstaine from talke that night vnlesse some iust occasion require the contrary that my minde may be free from idle thoughts when I go to sleepe Of Temptations FIrst I must learne to know when I am tempted for if I can find my temptation I may reckon it halfe ouercome for if I haue feare of God or care of my soule I cannot but arme my selfe earnestly to resist knowing that temptation proceedeth from an enemie to whom I haue resolued by Gods grace neuer to consent what miserie or trouble soeuer I endure How to know temptations and good motion IT is alwayes a spirituall desolation originall and proceeding from the diuell when it darkeneth and disquieteth the minde awaketh and stirreth vp our passions when it draweth to externall and earthly solaces leauing in the minde a tediousnesse and vnwillingnesse to prayer and other workes of deuotion Also when it diminisheth our affiance and taust in God and driueth to a dispaire in Gods mercy or perseuering in his seruice making it seeme an irkesome and impossible thing and mouing vs to forsake it and when I finde my selfe troubled in this sort I must assure my selfe without all doubt that I am then tempted by the Diuell and therefore arme my selfe to resist him by doing that which those temptations disswade me from On the other side comfort which is caused by Gods Spirit is knowne by these signes It incenseth the minde by a quiet and calme motion to the loue of God without any inclination to any creatures loue more then for Gods only glory and it breedeth a kind of inward light and brightnesse wherby for the time the mind seeth after a most effectuall sort the necessity profit and true comfort that is in Gods seruice conceiuing a contempt and dislike of worldly delights and tasting that which is the greatest felicitie in this life that is so assured contentment in being in Gods grace and seeking to please him that it then iudgeth no contentment in the world like or comparable vnto it as
this case for that thereby we purchase an inestimable glory for a short passing combat the comfort whereof neither eye hath seene eare hath heard nor any heart conceiued And on the other side by the same we auoide other intollerable and eternall torments of hell the least whereof passeth all those that can be suffered in the world and therefore is our change most happie that by the paine of a short life auoide the misery of an eternall death and deserue the vnspeakeable happinesse of the life euerlasting For this cause saith Saint Iames Thinke you it all ioy my brethren when you shall fall into diuerse temptations knowing that the triall of your faith worketh patience and patience hath a perfect worke that you may be perfect and entire failing in nothing The third Consideration Of the watchfulnesse and attention required in the care of our soule SEeing this waightie affaire of our soules health is hemmed in and beset with so manifest perils and troubles it standeth vs vpon most watchfully to take heede to euery thought word and deed that passeth lest through the number and subtilties of enemies traines we be often entrapped for it is hard to touch pitch and not be defiled to liue in flesh a spirituall life to conuerse in the world without worldly affections Wherefore as a Legate that is to deliuer his embassage before a great presence of Peeres and Nobles hath not onely regard to his matter but also to his words voyee and actions that all be sutable to his message so we hauing to worke this exploit of our soule before God and all the court of heauen and also before the eyes of those that lay waite to take vs in any trippe ought to be very warie euen in our least thoughts and deeds for feare lest we offend the presence of God and giue occasion of triumph and victorie vnto our deadly foes And for this saith the Scripture Keepe thy selfe very watchfully Secondly to attaine this diligent and attentiue care in all our actions let vs consider what men vse to do that carry great treasure by places haunted with theeues how warily they looke to their way how often they turne about them how many times they prepare themselues sometimes to fight and other whiles to runne away Likewise how warily he walketh and how carefull he is neuer to stumble nor fall that carieth in each hand a thinne glasse of precious liquour through stony and rough places and when we haue marked these mens carefulnesse in these inferior matters let vs remember that much more respect is necessarie in vs whose treasure is more precious then any worldly iewels and yet do we carrie it in earthen and fraile vessels in the middest of so many theeues as there are passions and disordered appetites in vs as there are Diuels in waite for vs and as there are stumbling stones and occasions of sinne set round about vs to procure this attention the most effectuall helpes are these First to thinke how carefull we should be to do all things well if this present day were the last that euer we should liue in this world as peraduenture it may be and that at the end thereof we were to be conuented before a most seuere and rigorous Iudge who according to the desert of that dayes actions should passe the sentence of life or death vpon vs. Secondly to remember that God is in his owne substance power and true presence in euery place and seeth both our outward and inward actions more then we our selues and therefore let vs seeke in euery thing so to behaue our selues that we feare not to haue God a witnesse and beholder of all that we do thinke or say and let vs aske him grace to do nothing vnworthie his fight Thirdly we must consider the carelesnesse of our life past remembring how often we haue fought against God with his owne weapons and abused the force that he hath affoorded in euery part of our body and minde and therefore as Saint Paul warneth As we haue exhibited our members to serue vncleannesse and iniquitie so let vs now exhibite our members to serue iustice vnto sanctification Fourthly to procure this attention it is good oftentimes in the day when we ate about our ordinary actions to vse godly prayers and some verses out of the Psalmes with petition vnto God for his grace aide and assistance for such godly exercises are fewell of deuotion causes of attention foode of the soule preparatiues against temptations and assured helpes to attaine any vertues Therefore it is good to vse them in lieu of sightes and in the beginning of euery chiefe action directing therein our intention and action to Gods glory and seruice and our owne foules good health and fafetie The last Consideration Of the necessitie of perseuerance in continuing watchfull ouer our selues FIrst seeing the summe and complement of all vertue consisteth in the continuance and progresse of it perseuerance of all other things is most necessarie in this businesse to the better attaining whereof these considerations may preuaile First to consider by whose instinct and motion I beganne to take speciall care of my soule and I shall finde that being a thing contrary to the inclination of flesh and bloud and aboue the reach of nature to resolue vpon so painefull and warie a course in hope of a reward and ioy that faith doth promise that I say God onely and no other was the Authour and moouer of my heart vnto it and therefore vnlesse I meane directly to resist God and runne a contrary course to that which he prescribeth I must resolue my selfe to perseuer vnto the end in that which I haue happily begun Secondly the end of this enterprise was to serue God to bewaile my former sinnes and to worke by Gods helpe the saluation of mine owne soule and when I resolued vpon these meanes I was free from passion and as well able to chuse things conuenient as I could at any other time and wholly bent to do that thing which was for my greatest good Wherefore seeing I can neuer aime at a better end nor be in better plight to make a sounder choise my surest way is to perseuer still in my resolution to the end neuer altering my designment vnlesse it be to further my course Thirdly I must consider who is that that would make me forsake it for if God moued me vnto it doubtlesse it is the Diuell would moue me from it for God cannot be contrary to himselfe neither vseth he to alter our minds but onely from euill to good or from good to better therefore vnlesse I meane to yeeld willingly to the Diuell and to follow mine enemies counsell to mine owne perdition I must perseuer vnto the end for with what pretext soeuer the Diuell seeketh to couer his motion sure it is that his drift is to draw me from God and goodnesse and to damne my soule for how can he intend any thing for my good