those vnspotted eyes encountred mine As spotlesse Sunne doth on the dunghill shine Sweet volumes stor'd with learning fit for Saints Where blisfull quires imparadize their mindes Wherein eternall study neuer faints Still finding all yet seeking all it findes How endlesse is your labyrinth of blisse Where to be lost the sweetest finding is Ah wretch how oft haue I sweet lessons read In those deare eyes the registers of truth How oft haue I my hungry wishes fed And in their happy ioyes redrest my ruth Ah that they now are Heralds of disdaine That erst were euer pitiers of my paine You flames diuine that sparkle out your heates And kindle pleasing fires in mortall hearts You Nectar'd Aumbries of soule feeding meates You gracefull quiuers of loues dearest darts You did vouchsafe to warme to wound to feast My cold my stony my now famisht breast The matchlesse eyes matcht onely each by other Were pleas'd on my ill matched eyes to glance The eye of liquid pearle the purest mother Broch't teares in mine to weepe for my mischance The cabinets of grace vnlockt their treasure And did to my misdeed their mercies measure These blazing Comets lightning flames of loue Made me their warming influence to know My frozen heart their sacred force did proue Which at their lookes did yeeld like melting snow They did not ioyes in former plentie carue Yet sweet are crums where pined thoughts do starue O liuing mirrours seeing whom you shew Which equall shadowes worths with shadowed things Yea make things nobler then in natiue hew By being shap't in those life-giuing springs Much more my image in those eyes were grac't Then in my selfe whom sinne and shame defac't All-seeing eyes more worth then all you see Of which one is the others onely price I worthlesse am direct your beames on me With quickning vertue cure my killing vice By seeing things you make things worth the sight You seeing salue and being seene delight O Pooles of Hesebon the baths of grace Where happy spirits dine in sweet desires Where Saints delight to glasse their glorious face VVhose bankes make Eccho to the Angels quires An Eccho sweeter in the sole rebound Then Angels musicke in the fullest sound O eyes whose glances are a silent speech In cipherd words high mysteries disclosing Which with a looâ—e all Sciences can teach Whose texts to faithfull hearts need little glosing Witnesse vnworthy I who in a looke Learn'd more by rote then all the Scribes by booke Though malice still possest their hardned minds I though too hard learn'd softnesse in thine eye Which yron knots of stubburne will vnbinds Offring them loue that loue with loue will buy This did I learne yet they could not discerne it But wo that I had now such need to learne it O Sunnes all but your selues in light excelling Whose presence day whose absence causeth night Whose neighbour course brings Sommer cold expelling Whose distant periods freeze away delight Ah that I lost your bright and fostering beames To plonge my soule in these congealed streames O gracious Spheres where loue the Center is A natiue place for our selfe-loaden soules The compasse loue a cope that none can misse The motion loue that round about vs roules O Spheres of loue whose Center cope and motion Is loue of vs loue that inuites deuotion O little worlds the summes of all the best Where glory heauen God sunne all vertues starres Where fire a loue that next to heauen doth rest Ayre light of life that no distemper marres The water grace whose seas whose springs whose showers Cloth natures earth with euerlasting flowers What mixtures these sweet Elements do yel'd Let happy worldlings of those worlds expound But simples are by compounds farre exceld Both sute a place where all best things abound And if a banisht wretch ghesse not amisse All but one compound frame of perfect blisse I out-cast from these worlds exiled rome Poore Saint from heauen from fire cold Salamander Lost fish from those sweet waters kindly home From land of life stray'd Pilgrime still I wander I know the cause these worlds had neuer hell In which my faults haue best deseru'd to dwell O Bethlem cesterns Dauids most desire From which my sinnes like fierce Philistims keepe To fetch your drops what Champion should I hire That I therein my withered heart may steepe I would not shead them like that holy King His were but types these are the figured thing O Turtle twinnes all bath'd in Virgins milke Vpon the margine of full flowing banks Whose gracefull plume surmounts the finest silke Whose sight enamoureth heauens most happy ranks Could I forsweare this heauenly payre of Doues That cag'd in care for me were groning loues Twise Moses wand did strike the stubburne Rocke Ere stony veines would yeeld their chrystall bloud Thy eies one looke seru'd as an onely knocke To make mine heart gush out a weeping floud Wherein my sinnes as fishes spawne their frie To shew their inward shames and then to die But ô how long demurre I on his eyes Whose looke did pierce my heart with healing wound Launcing impostum'd sore of periur'd lyes Which these two issues of mine â—yes haue found Where runne it must till death the issues stop And penall life hath purg'd the finall drop Like solest Swan that swims in silent deepe And neuer sings but obsequies of death Sigh out thy plaints and sole in secret weepe In suing pardon spend thy periur'd breath Attire thy soule in sorrowes mourning weed And at thine eyes let guilty conscience bleed Still in the Limbecke of thy dolefull brest These bitter fruits that from thy sinnes do grow For fuell selfe accusing thoughts be best Vse feare as fire the coales let penance blow And seeke none other quintessence but teares That eyes may shead what entred at thine eares Come sorrowing teares the off-spring of my griefe Scant not your Parent of a needfull ayde In you I rest the hope of wisht reliefe By you my sinfull debts must be defrayd Your power preuailes your sacrifice is gratefull By loue obtaining life to men most hatefull Come good effects of ill-deseruing cause Ill gotten impes yet vertuously brought forth Selfe-blaming probates of infringed Lawes Yet blamed faults redeeming with your worth The signes of shame in you each eye may reade Yet while you guilty proue you pitty pleade O beames of mercy beate on sorrowes Clowd Proue suppling showers vpon my parched ground Bring forth the fruit to your due seruice vow'd Let good desires with like deserts be crown'd Water yong blooming vertues tender flowre Sinne did all grace of riper growth deuoure Weepe Balme and Myrrhe you sweet Arabian trees With purest gummes perfume and pearle your ryne Shead on your hony drops you busie Bees I barraine plant must weepe vnpleasant bryne Hornets I hyue salt drops their labour plyes Suckt out of sinne and shed by showring eyes If Dauid night by night did bathe his bed Esteeming longest dayes too short to moue Inconsolable teares if
am no thrall I burie not my thoughts in mettall Mines I ayme not at such fame as feareth fall I seeke and finde a light that euer-shines Whose glorious beames display such heauenly sights As yeeld my soule a summe of all delights My light to loue my loue to life doth guide To life that liues by loue and loueth light By loue to one to whom all loues are tyed By duest debt and neuer equall right Eyes light hearts loue soules truest life he is Consorting in three ioyes one perfect blisse A FANCY TVRNED to a Sinners Complaint HE that his mirth hath lost Whose comfort is to rue Whose hope is fallen whose faith is cras'd Whose trust is found vntrue If he haue held them deare And cannot ceasse to mone Come let him take his place by me He shall not rue alone But if the smallest sweete Be mixt with all his sowre If in the day the moneth the yeare He feele one lightning howre Then rest he with himselfe He is no mate for me Whose time in teares whose race in ruth Whose life a death must be Yet not the wished death That feeles no paine or lacke That making free the better part Is onely Natures wracke O no that were too well My death is of the minde That alwaies yeeld extreamest pangs Yet threatens worse behinde As one that liues in shew And inwardly doth dye Whose knowledge is a bloudy field Where Vertue slaine doth lye Whose heart the Altar is And hoast a God to moue From whom my ill doth feare reuenge His good doth promise loue My Fansies are like thornes In which I go by night My frighted wits are like an hoast That force hath put to flight My sense is passions spye My thoughts like ruines old Which shew how faire the building was While grace did it vphold And still before mine eyes My mortall fall they lay Whom grace and vertue once aduanc't Now sinne hath cast away O thoughts no thoughts but wounds Sometime the Seate of ioy Sometime the store of quiet rest But now of all annoy I sow'd the soyle of peace My blisse was in the spring And day by day the fruit I eate That Vertues tree did bring To Nettles now my corne My field is turn'd to flint Where I a heauy haruest reape Of cares that neuer stint The peace the rest the life That I enioyd of yore Were happy lot but by their losse My smart doth sting the more So to vnhappy men The best frames to the worst O time ô place where thus I fell Deare then but now accurst In was stands my delight In is and shall my wo My horrour fastned in the yea My hope hangs in the no. Vnworthy of reliefe That craued is too late Too late I finde I finde too well Too well stood my estate Behold such is the end That pleasure doth procure Of nothing else but care and plaint Can she the minde assure Forsaken first by grace By pleasure now forgotten Her paine I feele but graces wage Haue others from me gotten Then grace where is the ioy That makes thy torments sweet Where is the cause that many thought Their deaths through thee but meet Where thy disdaine of sinne Thy secret sweet delight Thy sparkes of blisse thy heauenly ioyes That shined erst so bright O that they were not lost Or I could it excuse O that a dreame of fained losse My iudgement did abuse Or fraile inconstant flesh Soone trapt in euery ginne Soone wrought thus to betray thy soule And plonge thy selfe in sinne Yet hate I but the fault And not the faulty one Ne can I rid from me the mate That forceth me to moane To moane a sinners case Then which was neuer worse In Prince or poore in yong or old In blest or full of curse Yet Gods must I remaine By death by wrong by shame I cannot blot out of my heart That grace writ in his name I cannot set at nought Whom I haue held so deere I cannot make him seeme afarre That is in deed so neere Not that I looke hence-forth For loue that earst I found Sith that I brake my plighted truth To build on fickle ground Yet that shall neuer faile Which my faith bare in hand I gaue my vow my vow gaue me Both vow and gift shall stand But since that I haue sinn'd And scourge none is too ill I yeeld me captiue to my curse My hard fate to fulfill The solitary Wood My City shall become The darkest dennes shall be my Lodge In which I rest or come A sandy plot my boord The wormes my feast shall be Where-with my carkasse shall be fed Vntill they feed on me My teares shall be my wine My bed a craggy Rocke My harmony the Serpents hisse The screeching Owle my clocke My exercise remorse And dolefull sinners layes My booke remembrance of my crimes And faults of former dayes My walke the path of plaint My prospect into hell Where Iudas and his cursed crue In endlesse paines do dwell And though I seeme to vse The faining Poets stile To figure forth my carefull plight My fall and my exile Yet is my griefe not fain'd Wherein I starue and pine Who feeles the most shall thinke it least If his compare with mine Dauids Peccaui IN Eaues sole Sparrow sits not more alone Nor mourning Pellican in Desart wilde Then silly I that solitary mone From highest hopes to hardest hap exilde Sometime ô blissefull time was vertues meede Ayme to my thoughts guide to my word and deede But feares are now my Pheeres griefe my delight My teares my drinke my famisht thoughts my bread Day full of dumps Nurse of vnrest the night My garments gyues a bloudy field my bed My sleepe is rather death then deaths allye Yet kill'd with murd'ring pangs I cannot dye This is the chance of my ill changed choyse To pleasant tunes succeeds a playning voice The dolefull eccho of my wayling minde Which taught to know the worth of vertues ioyes Doth hate it selfe for louing fancies toyes If wiles of wit had ouer-raught my will Or subtile traines misled my steppes awry My foyle had found excuse in want of skill Ill deed I might though not ill doome deny But wit and will must now confesse with shame Both deede and doome to haue deserued blame I Fansie deem'd fit guide to leade my way And as I deem'd I did pursue the tracke Wit lost his ayme and will was Fansies prey The Rebels wan the Rulers went to wracke But now sith Fansie did with folly end Wit bought with losse Will taught by wit will mend Sinnes heauie load O Lord my sinnes do ouer-charge thy brest The poyse thereof doth force thy knees to bow Yea flat thou fallest with my faults opprest And bloudie sweat runs trickling from thy brow But had they not to Earth thus pressed thee Much more they would in Hell haue pestred me This Globe of Earth doth thy one finger prop The world thou do'st within thy hand
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
not onely a memory but a part of our death sith the longer we haue liued the lesse we haue to liue What is the daily lessâ—ning of our life but a continuall dying and therefore none is more grieued with the running out of the last sand in an houre glasse the with all the rest so should not the end of the last houre trouble vs any more theÌ„ of so many that went before sith that did but finish the course that all the rest were still ending not the quantity but the quality commendeth our life the ordinary gaine of long liuers being onely a great burthen of sinne For as in teares so in life the value is not esteemed by the length but by the fruit goodnesse which often is more in the least than in the longest What your sister wanted in continuance she supplyed in speed and as with her needle she wrought more in a day than many Ladies in a yeare hauing both excellent skill and no lesse delight in working so with her diligence doubling her endeuours she wonne more vertue in halfe than others in a whole life Her death to time was her birth to eternitie the losse of this world an exchange of a better one endowment that she had being impaired but many farre greater added to the store Mardocheus house was too obscure a dwelling for so gracious an Hester shrowding royall parts in the mantle of a meane estate and shadowing immortall benefits vnder earthly veiles It was fitter that she being a summe of so rare perfections and so well worthy a spouse of our heauenly Ahashuerus should be carried to his court from her former abode there to be inuested in glorie and to enioy both place and preheminence answerable to her worthinesse her loue would haue bene lesse able to haue borne your death then your constancy to brooke hers and therefore God mercifully closed her eyes before they were punished with so grieuous a sight taking out to you but a new lesson of patience out of your old booke in which long study hath made you perfect Though your hearts were equally ballanced with a mutuall and most entire affection and the doubt insoluble which of you loued most yet Death finding her weaker though not the weaker vessell layd his weight in her ballance to bring her soonest to her rest Let your mind therefore consent to that which your tongue daily craueth that Gods will may be done as well here in earth of her mortall body as in that little heauen of her purest soule sith his will is the best measure of all euents There is in this world continuall enterchange of pleasing and greeting accidents still keeping their succession of times and ouertaking each other in their seuerall courses No picture can be all drawne of the brightest colours nor an harmonie consorted onely of trebbles shadowes are needfull in expressing of proportions and the base is a principall part in perfect musicke the condition of our exile here alloweth no vnmingled ioy our whole life is temperate betweene sweete and sower and we must all looke for a mixture of both The wise so wish better that they still thinke of worse accepting the one if it come with liking and bearing the other without impatience being so much maisters of each others fortunes that neither shall worke them to excesse The dwarfe groweth not on the highest hill nor the tall man loseth not his height in the lowest valley And as a base minde though most at ease will be deiected so a resolute vertue in the deepest distresse is most impregnable They euermore most perfectly enioy their comforts that least feare their contraries for a desire to enioy carieth with it a feare to lose and both desire and feare are enemies to quiet possession making men rather owners of Gods benefits then tenants at his will The cause of our troubles are that our misfortunes hap either to vnwitting or vnwilling minds Foresight preuenteth the one necessity the other for he taketh away the smart of present euills that attendeth their comming and is not amated with any crosse that is armed against all Where necessitie worketh without our consent the effect should neuer greatly afflict vs griefe being bootlesse where it cannot helpe needlesse where there was no fault God casteth the dice and giueth vs our chance the most we can do is to take the poynt that the cast will affoord vs not grudging so much that it is no better as comforting our selues it is no worse If men should lay all their euils together to be afterwards by equall portions deuided among them most men would rather take that they brought then stand to the diuision yet such is the partial iudgement of selfe loue that euery man iudgeth his selfe-misery too great fearing if he can find some circumstance to increase it and making it intollerable by thought to induce it When Moses threw his rod from him it became a serpent ready to sting and affrighted him insomuch as it made him to flie but being quietly taken vp it was a rod againe seruiceable for his vse no way hurtfull The crosse of Christ and rod of euery tribulation feeming to threaten stinging and terrour to those that shunne and eschue it but they that mildly take it vp and embrace it with patience may say with Dauid thy rod and thy staffe haue bene my comfort Psal 12. In this affliction resembleth the Crocadile flie it pursueth and frighteth followed it flieth and feareth a shame to the constant a tyrant to the timorous Soft mindes that thinke onely vpon delights admit no other consideration but in soothing things become so effeminate as that they are apt to bleed with euery sharpe impression But he that vseth his thoughts with expectation of troubles making their trauell through all hazards and apposing his resolution against the sharpest encounters findeth in the proofe facilitie of patience and easeth the loade of most heauy combers We must haue temporall things in vse but eternall in wish that in the one neither delight exceede in that we haue no desire in that we want and in the other our most delight is here in desire and our whole desire is hereafter to enioy They straighten too much their ioyes that draw them into the reach and compasse of their senses as if it were no facilitie where no sense is witnesse whereas if we exclude our passed and future contentments pleasant pleasures haue so fickle assurance that either as forestalled before their arriuall or interrupted before their end or ended before they are well begun the repetition of former comforts and the expectation of after hopes is euer a reliefe vnto a vertuous mind whereas others not suffering their life to continue in the conueniences of that which was and shall be deuided this day from yesterday and to morrow and by forgetting all and forecasting nothing abridge their whole life into the moment of present time Enioy your sister in her former vertues enioy her
only all he had but himselfe also to buy them thought now high time to bring her vnto his bargaine finding her growne to a Margarites full perfection She stood vpon too low a ground to take view of her Sauiours most desired countenance and forsaking the earth with Zacheus Luk. 9. she climed vp into the tree of life there to giue her soule a full repast of her beauties She departed with Iepthaes daughter from her fathers house but to passe some moneths in wandring about the mountaines of this troublesome world which being now expired she was after her pilgrimage by couenant to returne to be offered vnto God in a gratefull sacrifice and to ascend out of this desart like a stemme of perfume out of burned spices Let not therefore the crowne of her vertue be the foile of her constancie nor the end of her combers a renewing of yours But sith God was well pleased to call her she not displeased to go and you the third twist to make a triple cord saying Our Lord gaue and our Lord tooke away as it hath pleased our Lord so hath it fallen out the name of our Lord be blessed Clara ducum soboles superis noua sedibus hospes Clausit in offenso tramite pura diem Dotibus ornauit superauit moribus ortum Omnibus vna prior par fuit vna sibi Lux genus ingenio generi lux inclita virtus Virtutisque fuit mens generosa decus Mors muta at properata dies orbémque relinquit Prolem matre verum coniuge flore genus Occidit à se alium tulit hic occasus in ortum Viuat ad occiduas non reditura vices OF Howards stemme a glorious branch is dead Sweete lights eclipsed were at her decease In Buckhurst line she gracious issue spread She heau'n with two with foure did earth increase Fame honour grace gaue ayre vnto her breath Rest glory ioyes were sequels of her death Death aymde too high he hit too choise a wight Renown'd for birth for life for liuely parts He kild her cares he brought her worths to light He robd our eyes but hath enricht our hearts Lot let out of her Arke a Noyes Doue But many hearts were Arkes vnto her loue Grace Nature Fortune did in her conspire To shew a proofe of their vnited skill Sly Fortune euer false did soone retire But double Grace supplied false Fortunes ill And though she raught not to Fortunes pitch In Grace and Vertue few were found so rich Heauen of this heauenly Pearle is now possest In whose lustre was the blaze of honours light Whose substance pure of euery good the best Whose price the crowne of highest right Whose praise to be her selfe whose greatest blisse To liue to loue to be where now she is FINIS SHORT RVLES OF Good life by R. S. AN CHO RA. SPEI LONDON Printed for W. Barret TO MY DEARE AFFECTED FRIEND M. D. S. Gentleman AS there is a method and order to be obserued in all artes for the practitioners more facile attayning the effects of his endeuours so is there no lesse vniformity to be propounded in ayming at the true course of vertue the rules whereof albeit they are directorie to the sum of all happinesse yet do worldly courser studies entertaine far more followers whose erring iudgements entangled with dull ignorance cannot rightly preferre vertue nor effectually censure vice For what cleare sighted iudgement will rely eternall affaires vpon the gliding slippernesse and running streame of this vncertaine life or who but one of distempered wits would offer to dissemble with the Amightie decipherer of all thoughts in pretending vertue and pursuing vanitie It is a most seruile disposition that will yeeld the prerogatiue of the soule vnto the body and giue flesh and bloud libertie to determine the course of this life which are in manner but the barke and rinde of a man being that the soule is the soueraigne part ordained to an high end of so peerelesse dignitie and such estimate that not all the gold and treasure of the world nor anything in heauen of lesse worth then the bloud and life of Almighty God was able to buy it Let vs not then iniuriously depriue our soules of the due interest of grace and vertue but account this vaine world with the wares thereof sutable to the shop of idle Marchandise vnto which we haue already beene too long customers the trafficke being toile the wealth trash the gaine miserie and the whole contents thereof detriments in grace pietie and vertue Yours in firme affection R. S. To the Christian Reader IF vertue by thy guide True comfort is thy path And thou secure from erring steps That leade to vengeance wrath Not widest open dore Nor spacious wayes she goes To straight and narrow gate and way She cals she leades she shewes She cals the fewest come She leades the humble sprited She shewes them rest at rases end Soules rest to heauen inuited T is she that offers most T is she that most refuse T is she preuēts the broad way plagues Which most do wilfull chuse Do chuse the wide the broad The left hand way and gate These vice applauds these vertue loaths And teacheth hers to hate Her wayes are pleasant wayes Vpon the right hand side And heauenly happie is that soule Takes vertue for her guide R. S. A Preparatiue to prayer WHen thou doest talke with God by prayer I meane Lift vp pure hands lay downe all lusts desires Fixe thoughts on heauen present a conscience cleane Such holy balme to mercies throne aspires Confesse faults guilt craue pardon for thy sinne Tread holy pathes call grace to guide therein It is the spirit with reuerence must obey Our makers will to practise what he taught Make not the flesh thy counsell when thou pray T is enemie to euery vertuous thought It is the foe we daily feed and cloath It is the prison that the soule doth loath Euen as Elias mounting to the skie Did cast his mantle to the earth behind So when the heart presents the prayer on high Exclude the world from traffique with the mind Lips neare to God and ranging heart within Is but vaine babling and conuerts to sinne Like Abraham ascending vp the hill To sacrifice his seruants left below That he might act the great commanders will Without impeach to his obedient blow Euen so the soule remote from earthly things Should mount saluations shelter mercies wings The effects of prayer THe Sunne by prayer did ceasse his course and staid The hungrie Lions fawnd vpon their pray A walled passage through the sea it made From furious fire it banisht heate away It shut the heauens three yeares from giuing raine It opened heauens and clouds powrd downe againe Ensamples of our Sauiour OVr Sauiour patterne of true holinesse Continuall praide vs by ensample teaching When he was baptized in the wildernesse In working miracles and in his preaching Vpon the mount in garden grones of death At his last Supper
me and redeemed me in whom all things are possible vnto me and without whom I am able to do nothing thou seest who I am that here prostrate my prayers and poure out my heart vnto thee What I would haue and what is fit for me thou knowest My soule is buried in flesh and bloud and would faine be dissolued and come vnto thee I am vrged against my will and violently drawne to thinke that which from my heart I detest and to haue in mind the poyson and bane of my soule O Lord thou knowest my mould and making for thy hands haue framed me and with flesh and skin thou hast cloathed me And lo this flesh which thou hast giuen me draweth me to my ruine and fighteth against the spirit If thou helpe not ô gracious aide I am ouercome and vanquished If thou forsakest me I must needs faint with all discouragement Why doest thou set me contrary vnto thee and makest me grieuous and a burthen to my selfe Didst thou create me to cast me away Didst thou redeeme me to damne me for euer It had bene good for me neuer to haue bene borne if I were borne to perish Oh most mercifull father where are thy old and wonted mercies where is thy gracious sweetnesse and loue How long shall mine enemies reioyce ouer me and humble my life vpon earth and place me in darknesse like the dead of the world What am I ô Lord that thou settest me to fight alone against so mightie subtill and cruell enemies that neuer ceasse to bid me a perpetuall battaile O Lord why doest thou shew thy might against a leafe that is tossed with euery winde and persecutest a drie stubble Wilt thou therefore damne the work of thy hands Wilt thou throw me from thy face and take thy holy spirit from me Alas ô Lord whither shall I go from thy face or whither shall I fly from thy spirit whither shall I flie from thee incensed but to thee appeased whither from thee as iust but vnto thee as mercifull Do with me Lord that which is good in thine eyes for thou wilt do all things in righteous iudgement onely remember that I am flesh and bloud fraile of my selfe and impotent to resist Shew thy selfe a Sauiour vnto me and either take away mine enemies or graunt me such a supplie of thy grace to enable my defects that without wound or fault by thee and with thee I may ouercome them sweet Iesus Amen A godly deuout prayer O Gracious Lord and sweete Sauiour giue me a pure intention a cleane heart and a regard to thy glory in all my actions Possesse my mind with thy presence and rauish it with thy loue that my delight may be to be imbraced in the armes of thy protection Be thou light vnto mine eyes musicke to mine ears sweetnesse to my tast and contentment to my heart O Iesu I giue thee my body my soule my substance my fame my friends my libertie and life dispose of me and all that is mine as shall be most to thy glory I am not mine but thine therefore claime me as thy right keepe me as thy charge loue me as thy child fight for me when I am assaulted heale me when I am wounded reuiue me when I am spiritually killed receiue me when I flie and let me neuer be quite confounded giue me patience in trouble humility in comfort constancie in temptations and victorie against my ghostly enemies graunt me good Father modestie in countenance grauitie in my behauiour deliberation in my speeches puritie in my thoughts and righteousnesse in mine actions Be my sunshine in the day my foode at the table my repose in the night my clothing in nakednesse and my succour in all needes Let thy bloud runne in my minde as a water of life to cleanse the filth of my sinnes and to bring forth the fruite of life euerlasting Stay mine inclinations from beating downe my soule bridle mine appetites with thy grace and quench in me the fire of all vnlawfull desires Make my will pliable to thy pleasure and resigned wholly to thy prouidence and graunt me perfect contentment in that which thou allottest Strengthen me against occasions of sinne and make me stedfast in not yeelding to euill yea rather to die then to offend thee Lord make me ready to pleasure all loth to offend any louing to my friends and charitable to mine enemies Forsake me not lest I perish leaue me not to mine owne weakenesse lest I fall without recouerie Graunt me an earnest desire to amend my faults to renew my good purposes and to performe my good intentions Make me humble to my superiours friendly to my equals charitable to my inferiors and carefull to yeeld due respect to all sortes Lastly graunt me sorrow for my sinnes thankfulnesse for thy benefits feare of thy iudgements loue of thy mercies and mindfulnesse of thy presence Amen Considerations to settle the mind in the course of Vertue THe first consideration How waightie a thing the businesse of mans soule is Whosoeuer being desirous to take due care of his soule commencing a spirituall course must consider that he hath taken such a businesse in hand that for importance necessity and profit summoneth all other traffickes and affaires of the world yea and to which onely all other businesse ought to be addressed for herein our menage is about the saluation of our soule our chiefe iewell and treasure of which if in the short passage of our brittle and vncertaine life we take not the due care that we ought for a whole eternity after we shall euermore repent and be sorrie for it and yet neuer haue the like oportunitie againe to helpe it Secondly the better to conceiue the moment and waight of this businesse let vs consider what men vse to do for their bodily health for we see they make so principall a reckoning of it they spare no cost nor toyle nor leaue any thing vnattempted that may auaile them to attaine it They suffer themselues to be launced wounded pined burnt with red hot irons besides diuerse other extreame torments onely for this end How much greater miseries ought we to endure how much greater paines and diligence ought we to employ for this health of our soule which is to suruiue when the body is dead rotten and deuoured with wormes And to suruiue in such sort that it must be perpetually tormented in hell with intollerable torments or enioy endlesse felicitie in heauen And therefore of how much greater worth and waight we thinke the soule and the eternall saluation or damnation thereof then the momentarie health or sicknesse of our bodies so much greater account and esteeme ought we to make of the businesse of our soule then of any other worldly or bodily affaire whatsoeuer For what auaileth it a man saith Christ to gaine the whole world and make wracke of his soule If therefore we keepe diuers men for diuers offices about our bodie and many thousands do liue