embrace Yet all this waight of sweat drew not a drop Ne made thee bow much lesse fall on thy face But now thou hast a load so heauie found That makes thee bow yea fall flat to the ground O sinne how huge and heauie is thy waight That waighest more then all the world beside Of which when Christ hath taken in his fraight The poyse thereof his flesh could not abide Alas if God himselfe sinke vnder sinne What will become of man that dyes therein First flat thou fell'st when earth did thee receiue In closet pure of Maries virgine breast And now thou fall'st of earth to take thy leaue Thou kissest it as cause of thy vnrest O louing Lord that so doest loue thy fo As thus to kisse the ground where he doth go Thou minded in thy heauen our earth to weare Do'st prostrate now thy heauen our earth to blisse As God to earth thou often wert seuere As man thou call'st a peace with bleeding kisse For as of soules thou common Father art So is she Mother of mans other part She shortly was to drinke thy dearest bloud And yeeld the soule a way to Satans caue She shortly was thy corse in tombe to shrowd And with them all thy Deitie to haue Now then in me thou ioyntly yeeldest all That seuerally to earth should shortly fall O prostrate Christ erect my crooked mind Lord let thy fall my flight from Earth obtaine Or if I needs must still in Earth be shrin'd Then Lord on Earth come fall yet once againe And either yeeld in Earth with me to lye Or else with thee to take me to the skie Iosephs Amazement WHen Christ by growth disclosed his descent Into the pure receipt of Maries breast Poore Ioseph stranger yet to Gods intent With doubts of iealous thoughts was sore opprest And wrought with diuers fits of feare and loue He neither can her free nor faulty proue Now since the wakefull spy of iealous minde By strong coniectures deemeth her defil'd But loue in doome of things best loued blinde Thinkes rather sense deceiu'd then her with child Yet proofes so pregnant were that no pretence Could cloake a thing so cleare and plaine to sense Then Ioseph daunted with a deadly wound Let loose the reines of vndeserued griefe His heart did throb his eyes in teares were drownd His life a losse death seem'd his best reliefe The pleasing rellish of his former loue In gaulish thoughts to bitter tast doth proue One foot he often setteth out of dore But t'other loath vncertaine wayes to tread He takes his fardell for his needfull store He casts his Inne where first he meanes to bed But still ere he can frame his feet to go Loue winneth time till all conclude in no. Sometimes griefe adding force he doth depart He will against his will keepe on his pase But straight remorse so rackes his raging heart That hasting thoughts yeeld to a pawsing pase Then mightie reasons presse him to remaine She whom he flyes doth winne him home againe But when his thought by sight of his aboad Presents the signe of misesteemed shame Repenting euery step that backe he troad Teares done the guide the tong the feet do blame Thus warring with himselfe a field he fights Where euery wound vpon the giuer lights And was quoth he my loue so lightly pris'd Or was our sacred league so soone forgot Could vowes be void could vertues be despis'd Could such a spouse be stain'd with such a spot O wretched Ioseph that hath liu'd so long Of faithfull loue to reape so grieuous wrong Could such a worme breed in so sweet a Wood Could in so chast demeanure lurke vntruth Could vice lye hid where Vertues image stood Where hoarie sagenesse graced tender youth Where can affiance rest to rest secure In vertues fairest seat faith is not sure All proofes did promise hope a pledge of grace Whose good might haue repay'd the deepest ill Sweet signes of purest thoughts in Saintly face Assur'd the eye of her vnstained will Yet in this seeming lustre seeme to lye Such crimes for which the Law condemnes to dye But Iosephs word shall neuer worke her wo I wish her leaue to liue not doome to dye Though Fortune mine yet am I not her fo She to her selfe lesse louing is then I. The most I will the least I can is this Sith none may salue to shun that is amisse Exile my home the wildes shall be my walke Complaint my ioy my Musicke mourning layes With pensiue griefes in silence will I talke Sad thoughts shall be my guides in sorrowes wayes This course best sutes the care of carelesse minde That seekes to lose what most it ioy'd to finde Like stocked tree whose branches all do fade Whose leaues do fall and perisht fruit decay Like hearbe that growes in cold and barren shade Where darknesse driues all quickning heat away So dye must I cut from my root of ioy And throwne in darkest shades of deepe annoy But who can flye from that his heart doth feele What change of place can change implanted paine Remouing moues no hardnesse from the steele Sicke hearts that shift no fits shift roomes in vaine Where thought can see what helpes the closed eye Where heart pursues what gaines the foot to fly Yet did I tread a maze of doubtfull end I go I come she drawes she driues away She wounds she heales she doth both marre and mend She makes me seeke and shun depart and stay She is a friend to loue a fo to lothe And in suspence I hang betweene them both New Prince new Pompe BEhold a silly tender Babe In freezing Winter night In homely Manger trembling lies Alas a piteous sight The Innes are full no man will yeeld This little Pilgrime bed But forc't he is with silly beasts In Crib to shrowd his head Despise him not for lying there First what he is enquire An orient pearle is often found In depth of dirtie mire Waigh not his Crib his woodden dish Nor beasts that by him feed Waigh not his Mothers poore attire Nor Iosephs simple weed This Stable is a Princes Court The Crib his chaire of State The Beasts are parcell of his Pompe The wooden dish his plate The persons in that poore attire His royall liueries weare The Prince himselfe is come from heauen This pompe is prized there With ioy approach O Christian wight Do homage to thy King And highly praise his humble Pompe Which he from Heauen doth bring The burning Babe AS I in hoarie Winters night stood shiuering in the snow Surpris'd I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow And lifting vp a fearefull eye to view what fire was neare A prettie Babe all burning bright did in the ayre appeare Who scorched with excessiue heate such flouds of teares did shed As though his flouds should quench his flames which with his teares were bred Alas quoth he but newly borne in fierie heates I frie Yet none approach to warme their
Anna shed Who in her sonne her solace had forgone Then I to dayes and weekes to moneths and yeeres Do owe the hourely rent of stintlesse teares If loue if losse if fault if spotted fame If danger death if wrath or wreck of weale Entitle eyes true heyres to earned blame That due remorse in such euents conceale That want of teares might well enrole my name As chiefest Saint in Calendar of shame Loue where I lou'd was due and best deseru'd No loue could ayme at more loue-worthy mark No loue more lou'd then mine of him I seru'd Large vse he gaue a flame for euery sparke This loue I lost this losse a life must rue Yea life is short to pay the ruth is due I lost all that I had and had the most The most that will can wish or wit deuise I least perform'd that did most vainely boast I staynd my fame in most infamous wise What danger then death wrath or wreck can moue More pregnant cause of teares then this I proue If Adam sought a veyle to scarfe his sinne Taught by his fall to feare a scourging hand If men shall wish that hils should wrap them in When crimes in finall doome come to be scand What Mount what Caue what Center can conceale My monstrous fact which euen the birds reueale Come shame the liuery of offending minde The vgly shroud that ouer-shadoweth blame The mulct at which foule faults are iustly fin'd The dampe of sinne the common sluce of fame By which impostum'd tongues their humours purge Light shame on me I best deseru'd the scourge Cains murdring hand imbrude in brothers bloud More mercy then my impious tongue may craue He kild a riuall with pretence of good In hope Gods doubled loue alone to haue But feare so spoyld my vanquisht thoughts of loue That periur'd oathes my spitefull hate did proue Poore Agar from her pheere inforc't to flie Wandring in Barsabian wildes alone Doubting her child through helplesse drought would dye Laid it aloofe and set her downe to moue The heauens with prayers her lap with teares she fild A mothers loue in losse is hardly stild But Agar now bequeath thy teares to me Feares not effects did set a-floate thine eyes But wretch I feele more then was feard of thee Ah not my Sonne my soule it is that dies It dies for drought yet hath a spring in sight Worthy to die that would not liue and might Faire Absoloms foule faults compar'd with mine Are brightest sands to mud of Sodome Lakes High aymes yong spirits birth of royall line Made him play false where Kingdoms were the stakes He gaz'd on golden hopes whose lustre winnes Sometime the grauest wits to grieuous sinnes But I whose crime cuts off the least excuse A Kingdome lost but hop't no mite of gaine My highest marke was but the worthlesse vse Of some few lingring howers of longer paine Vngratefull child his Parent he pursude I Gyants warre with God himselfe renude Ioy infant Saints whom in the tender flower A happy storme did free from feare of sinne Long is their life that die in blisfull hower Ioyfull such ends as endlesse ioyes begin Too long they liue that liue till they be nought Life sau'd by sinne base purchase dearely bought This lot was mine your fate was not so fearce Whom spotlesse death in Cradle rockt asleepe Sweet Roses mixt with Lillies strew'd your hearce Death Virgine white in Martyrs red did steepe Your downy heads both Pearles and Rubies crown'd My hoary locks did female feares confound You bleating Ewes that wayle this woluish spoyle Of sucking Lambs new bought with bitter throwes T'inbalme your babes your eyes distill their oyle Each heart to tombe her child wide rupture showes Rue not their death whom death did but reuiue Yeeld ruth to me that liu'd to die aliue With easie losse sharpe wrecks did he eschew That Sindonlesse aside did naked slip Once naked grace no outward garment knew Rich are his robes whom sinne did neuer strip I rich in vaunts displaid prides fairest flags Disrob'd of grace am wrapt in Adams rags When traytor to the sonne in Mothers eyes I shall present my humble sute for grace What blush can paint the shame that will arise Or write my inward feeling in my face Might she the sorrow with the sinner see Though I despisde my griefe might pitied be But ah how can her eares my speech endure Or sent my breath still reeking hellish steeme Can mother like what did the Sonne abiure Or heart deflowr'd a Virgins loue redeeme The Mother nothing loues that Sonne doth loath Ah loathsome wretch detested of them both O sister Nymphes the sweet renowned paire That blesse Bethania bounds with your abode Shall I infect that sanctified ayre Or staine those steps where Iesus breath'd and trode No let your prayers perfume that sweetned place Turne me with Tygers to the wildest chase Could I reuiued Lazarus behold The third of that sweet Trinity of Saints Would not abstonisht dread my senses hold Ah yes my heart euen with his naming faints I seeme to see a messenger from hell That my prepared torments comes to tell O Iohn O Iames we made a triple cord Of three most louing and best louing friends My rotten twist was broken with a word Fit now to fuell fire among the Fiends It is not euer true though often spoken That triple twisted cord is hardly broken The dispossed Diuels that out I threw In IESVS name now impiously forsworne Triumph to see me caged in their mew Trampling my ruines with contempt and scorne My periuries were musicke to their dance And now they heape disdaines on my mischance Our Rocke say they is riuen O welcome howre Our Eagles wings are clipt that wrought so hie Our thundring Cloud made noise but cast no showre He prostrate lies that would haue seal'd the skie In womans tongue our runner found a rub Our Cedar now is shrunke into a shrub These scornefull words vpraid my inward thought Proofes of their damned prompters neighbours voice Such vgly guests still wait vpon the nought Fiends swarme to soules that swarue from vertues choice For breach of plighted truth this true I try Ah that my deed thus gaue my word the lie Once and but once too deare a once to twice it A heauen in earth Saints neere my selfe I saw Sweet was the sight but sweeter loues did spice it But sights and loues did my misdeed withdraw From heauen and Saints to hell and Deuils estrang'd Those sights to frights those loues to hates are chang'd Christ as my God was templed in my thought As man he lent mine eyes their dearest light But sinne his temple hath to ruine brought And now he lightneth terrour from his sight Now of my late vnconsecrate desires Profaned wretch I taste the earned hires Ah sinne the nothing that doth all things file Out-cast from heauen earths curse the cause of hell Parent of death author of our exile The wrecke of soules the wares that
Where Nature craues that grace must needs denie Where sense doth like that reason cannot loue Where best in shew in finall proofe is worst Where pleasures vp-shot is to dye accurst Lifes death Loues life VVHo liues in loue loues least to liue And long delayes doth rue If him he loue by whom he liues To whom all loue is due Who for our loue did choose to liue And was content to dye Who lou'd our loue more then his life And loue with life did buy Let vs in life yea with our life Requite his liuing loue For best we liue when least we liue If loue our life remoue Where loue is hote life hatefull is Their grounds do not agree Loue where it loues life where it liues Desireth most to be And sith loue is not where it liues Nor liueth where it loues Loue hateth life that holds it backe And death it best approues For seldome is he wonne in life Whom loue doth most desire If wonne by loue yet not enioyd Till mortall life expire Life out of earth hath not aboade In earth loue hath no place Loue setled hath her ioyes in Heau'n In earth life all her grace Mourne therefore no true louers death Life onely him annoyes And when he taketh leaue of life Then loue begins his ioyes At home in Heauen FAire soule how long shall veiles thy graces shrowd How long shall this exile with-hold thy right When will thy Sunne disperse this mortall cloud And giue thy glories scope to blaze their light O that a starre more fit for Angels eyes Should pine in earth not shine aboue the skies This ghostly beautie offered force to God It chain'd him in the linkes of tender loue It wonne his will with man to make abode It staid his sword and did his wrath remoue It made the rigor of his Iustice yeeld And crowned mercie Empresse of the field This lull'd our heauenly Sampson fast asleepe And laid him in our feeble Natures lap This made him vnder mortall load to creepe And in our flesh his God-head to inwrap This made him soiourne with vs in exile And not disdaine our titles in his stile This brough him from the ranks of heau'nly Quires Into the vale of teares and cursed soyle From flowers of grace into a world of bryers From life to death from blisse to balefull toyle This made him wander in our Pilgrim weed And taste our torments to releeue our need O soule do not thy noble thoughts abase To lose thy loue in any mortall wight Content thine eye at home with natiue grace Sith God himselfe is rauisht with thy sight If on thy beautie God enamoured be Base is thy loue of any lesse then he Giue not assent to muddie minded skill That deemes the feature of a pleasing face To be the sweetest baite to lure the will Not valuing right the worth of ghostly grace Let God and Angels censure winne beliefe That of all beauties iudge our selues the chiefe Queene Hester was of rare and peerlesse hiew And Iudith once for beautie bare the vaunt But he that could our soules endowments view Would soone to soules the Crowne of beauty graunt O soule out of thy selfe seeke God alone Grace more then thine but Gods the world hath none Lewd Loue is losse MIsdeeming eye that stoopeth to the lure Of mortall worths not worth so worthie Loue All beautie 's base all graces are impure That do thy erring thought from God remoue Sparkes to the fire the beames yeeld to the Sunne All grace to God from whom all graces runne If picture moue more should the patterne please No shadow can with shadowed things compare And fairest shapes whereon our loues do seaze But silly signes of Gods high beauties are Go staruing sense feed thou on earthly mast True loue in Heau'n seeke thou thy sweet repast Gleane not in barren soyle these off all eares Sith reape thou maist whole haruests of delight Base ioyes with griefes bad hopes do end in feares Lewd loue with losse euill peace with deadly fight Gods loue alone doth end with endlesse ease Whose ioyes in hope whose hope concludes in peace Let not the luring traine of fancies trap Or gracious features proofes of Natures skill Lull reasons force asleepe in errours lap Or draw thy wit to bent of wanton will The fairest flowers haue not the sweetest smell A seeming Heauen proues oft a damning Hell Selfe-pleasing soules that play with beauties bait In shining shrowd may swallow fatall hooke Where eager sight on semblant faire doth wait A locke it proues that first was but a looke The fish with ease into the Net doth glide But to get out the way is not so wide So long the Fly doth dally with the flame Vntill his singed wings do force his fall So long the eye doth follow Fancies game Till loue hath left the heart in heauie thrall Soone may the minde be cast in Cupids Iayle But hard it is imprisoned thoughts to bayle O lothe that loue whose finall ayme is lust Moth of the mind eclipse of reasons light The graue of grace the mole of Natures rust The wrack of wit the wrong of euerie right In summe an euill whose harmes no tongue can tell In which to liue is death to dye is Hell Loues Garden griefe VAine loues auaunt infamous is your pleasure Your ioy deceit Your iewels iests and worthlesse trash your treasure Fooles common bait Your pallace is a prison that allureth To sweet mishap and rest that paine procureth Your Garden griefe hedg'd in with thornes of Enuie And stakes of strife Your Allies errour grauelled with iealousie And cares of life Your bankes are seates enwrapt with shades of sadnesse Your Arbours breed rough fits of raging madnesse Your beds are sowne with seeds of all iniquitie And poys'ning weeds Whose stalkes ill thoughts whose leaues words full of vanitie Whose fruit misdeeds Whose sap is sinne whose force and operation To banish grace and worke the soules damnation Your trees are dismall plants of pyning corrosiues Whose root is ruth Whose barke is bale whose timber stubburne fantasies Whose pith vntruth On which in lieu of birds whose voyce delighteth Of guiltie conscience screeching note affrighteth Your coolest Sommer gales are scadling sighings Your showres are teares Your sweetest smell the stench of sinfull liuing Your fauours feares Your Gardener Satan all you reape is miserie Your gaine remorse and losse of all felicitie From Fortunes reach LEt fickle Fortune runne her blindest race I setled haue an vnremoued mind I scorne to be the game of Fancies chase Or vane to shew the change of euery wind Light giddie humours stinted to no rest Still change their choyce yet neuer chuse the best My choice was guided by foresightfull heed It was auerred with approuing will It shall be followed with performing deed And seal'd with vow till death the chuser kill Yea death though finall date of vaine desires Ends not my choice which with no time expires To beauties fading blisse I
lesson it fell out to be the bitterest part of thy miserie that thou diddest so well know how infinite the losse was that made thee miserable This is the cause that those very Angels in whom all things make remonstrance of triumph and solace are vnto thee occasions of new griefe For their gracious and louely countenances remember thee that thou hast lost the beauty of the world and the highest marke of true loues ambition Their sweet lookes and amiable features tell thee that the heauen of thy eyes which was the reuerend Maiesty of thy Masters face once shined with farre more pleasing graces but is now disfigured with the dreadfull formes of death In summe they were to thee like the glistering sparkes of a broken Diamond and like pictures of dead and decayed beauties signes not salues of thy calamity memorials not medicines of thy misfortune Thy eyes were too well acquainted with the truth to accept a supply of shadowes and as comelinesse comfort and glory were neuer in any other so truely at home and so perfectly in their prime as in the person and speeches of thy Lord so cannot thy thoughts but be like strangers in any forraine delight For in them all thou seest no more but some scattered crums and hungrie morsels of thy late plentifull banquets and findest a dim reflexion of thy former light which like a flash of lightning in a close and stormie night serueth thee but to see thy present infelicitie and the better to know the horrour of the ensuing darknesse Thou thinkest therefore thy selfe blamelesse both in weeping for thy losse and in refusing other comfort Yet in common courtesie affoord these Angels an answer sith their charitie visiting thee deserueth much more and thou if not too vngratefull canst allow them no lesse Alas saith she what needeth my answer where the miserie it selfe speaketh and the losse is manifest My eyes haue answered them with teares my breast with sighes and my heart with throbs what need I also punish my tongue or wound my soule with a new rehearsall of so do lefull a mischance They haue taken away O vnfortunate word they haue taken away my Lord. O afflicted woman why thinkest thou this word so vnfortunate It may be the Angels haue taken him more solemnely to entombe him and sith earth hath done her last homage haply the Quires of heauen are also descended to defray vnto him their funerall duties It may be that the Centurion and the rest that did acknowledge him on the crosse to be the Sonne of God haue bene touched with remorse and goared with pricke of conscience and being desirous to satisfie for their haynous offence haue now taken him more honorably to interre him and by their seruice to his body sought forgiuenesse and sued the pardon of their guiltie soules Peraduenture some secret disciples haue wrought this exploit and maugre the watch taken him from hence with due honour to preserue him in some better place and therefore being yet vncertaine who hath him there is no such cause to lament sith the greater probabilities march on the better side Why doest thou call sorrow before it commeth which without calling commeth on thee too fast yea why doest thou create sorrow where it is not sith thou hast true sorrow enough though imagined sorrowes helpe not It is folly to suppose the worst where the best may be hoped for and euerie mishap bringeth griefe enough with it though we with our feares do not go first to meet it Quiet then thy selfe till time try out the truth and it may be thy feare will proue greater than thy misfortune But I know thy loue is little helped with this lesson for the more it loueth the more it feareth and the more desirous to enioy the more doubtfull it is to lose It neither hath measure in hopes nor meane in feares hoping the best vpon the least surmises and fearing the worst vpon the weakest grounds And yet both fearing and hoping at one time neither feare with-holdeth hope from the highest attempts nor hope can strengthen feare against the smallest suspitions but maugre all feares loues hopes will mount to the highest pitch and maugre all hopes loues feares will stoupe to the lowest downe-come To bid thee therefore hope is not to forbid thee to feare and though it may be for the best that thy Lord is taken from thee yet sith it may also be for the worst that will neuer content thee Thou thinkest hope doth enough to keepe thy heart from breaking feare little enough to force thee to no more than weeping sith it is as likely that he hath bene taken away vpon hatred by his enemies as vpon loue by his friends For hitherto sayest thou his friends haue all failed him and his foes preuailed against him and as they would not defend him aliue are lesse likely to regard him dead so they that thought one life too little to take from him are not vnlikely after death to wrecke new rage vpon him And though this doubt were not yet whosoeuer hath taken him hath wronged me in not acquainting me with it for to take away mine without my cōsent can neither be offered with out iniurie nor suffered without sorrow And as for Iesus he was my Iesus my Lord and my Maister He was mine because he was giuen vnto me borne for me he was the author of my being and so my father he was the worker of my well doing and therefore my Sauiour he was the price of my ransome and thereby my Redeemer he was my Lord to command me my maister to instruct me my pastor to feede me He was mine because his loue was mine and when he gaue me his loue he gaue me himselfe sith loue is no gift except the giuer be giuen with it yea it is no loue vnlesse it be as liberall of that it is as of that it hath Finally if the meate be mine that I eate the life mine wherewith I liue or he mine all whose life labours and death were mine then dare I boldly say that Iesus is mine sith on his body I feed by his loue I liue and to my good without any neede of his owne hath he liued laboured and dyed And therefore though his Disciples though the Centurion yea though the Angels haue taken him they haue done me wrong in defeating me of my right sith I neuer meane to resigne my interest But what if he hath taken away himselfe wilt thou also lay iniustice to his charge Though he be thine yet thine to command not to obey thy Lord to dispose of thee and not to be by thee disposed and therefore as it is no reason that the seruant should be maister of his maisters secrets so might he and peraduenture so hath he remoued without acquainting thee whither reuiuing himselfe with the same power with which he raised thy dead brother and fulfilling the words that he often vttered of his resurrection It may be thou wilt
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
sory wight the obiect of disgrace The Monument of feare the Map of shame The mirror of mishap the staine of place The scorne of time the infamy of fame An excrement of earth to heauen hatefull Iniurious to man to God ingratefull Ambitious heads dreame you of Fortunes pride Fill Volumes with your forged goddesse praise You Fansies drudges plung'd in follies tide Deuote your fabling wits to louers layes Be you O sharpest griefes that euer wrong Text to my thoughts Theame to my playning tong Sad subiect of my sinne hath stoard my minde With euerlasting matter of complaint My threnes an endlesse Alphabet do finde Beyond the pangs which Ieremy doth paint That eyes with errors may iust measure keepe Most teares I wish that haue most cause to weepe All weeping eyes resigne your teares to me A sea will scantly rince my ordur'd soule Huge horrors in high tides must drowned be Of euery teare my crime exacteth tole These staines are deepe few drops take out no such Euen salue with sore and most is not too much I fear'd with life to die by death to liue I left my guide now left and leauing God To breathe in blisse I fear'd my breath to giue I fear'd for heauenly raigne an earthly rod. These feares I fear'd feares feeling no mishaps O fond O faint O false O faulty lapse How can I liue that thus my life deni'd What can I hope that lost my hope in feare What trust to one that truth it selfe defi'd What good in him that did his God forsweare O sinne of sinnes of euils the very worst O matchlesse wretch O caytiffe most accurst Vaine in my vaunts I vowd if friends had fail'd Alone Christs hardest fortunes to abide Giant in talke like dwarfe in triall quaild Excelling none but in vntruth and pride Such distance is betweene high words and deeds In proofe the greatest vanter seldome speeds Ah rashnesse hasty rise to murdering leape Lauish in vowing blind in seeing what Soone sowing shames that long remorse must reape Nursing with teares that ouer-sight begat Scout of repentance harbinger of blame Treason to wisedome mother of ill name The borne-blind begger for receiued sight Fast in his faith and loue to Christ remain'd He stooped to no feare he fear'd no might No change his choice no threats his truth distain'd One wonder wrought him in his duty sure I after thousands did my Lord abiure Could seruile feare of rendring Natures due Which growth in yeares was shortly like to claime So thrall my loue that I should thus eschue A vowed death and misse so faire an ayme Die die disloyall wretch thy life detest For sauing thine thou hast forsworne the best Ah life sweet drop drownd in a sea of sowres A flying good posting to doubtfull end Still losing months and yeares to gaine new howres Faine time to haue and spare yet forc't to spend Thy growth decrease a moment all thou hast That gone ere knowne the rest to come or past Ah life the maze of countlesse straying wayes Open to erring steps and strew'd with baits To winde weake senses into endlesse strayes Aloofe from vertues rough vnbeaten straits A flower a play a blast a shade a dreame A liuing death a neuer turning streame And could I rate so high a life so base Did feare with loue cast so vneuen account That for this goale I should runne Iudas race And Caiphas rage in cruelty surmount Yet they esteemed thirty pence his price I worse then both for nought deny'd him thrice The mother Sea from ouerflowing deepe Sends forth her issue by deuided veines Yet backe her off-spring to their mother creeps To pay their purest streames with added gaines But I that drunke the drops of heauenly flud Bemyr'd the giuer with returning mud Is this the haruest of his sowing toile Did Christ manure thy heart to breed him briers Or doth it neede this vnaccustom'd soyle With hellish dung to fertile heauens desires No no the Marle that periuries doth yeeld May spoile a good not fat a barren field Was this for best deserts the duest meede Are highest worths well wag'd with spitefull hire Are stoutest vowes repeal'd in greatest neede Should frendship at the first affront retire Blush crauen sot lurke in eternall night Crouch in the darkest Caues from loathed light Ah wretch why was I nam'd sonne of a Doue Whose speeches voided spite and breathed gall No kinne I am vnto the bird of loue My stony name much better sutes my fall My othes were stones my cruell tongue the sling My God the marke at which my spite did fling Were all the Iewish tyrannies too few To glut thy hungry lookes with his disgrace That thou more hatefull tyrannies must shew And spot thy poyson in thy Makers face Didst thou to spare his foes put vp thy sword To brandish now thy tongue against thy Lord Ah tongue that didst his praise and God-head sound How wert thou stain'd with such detesting words That euery word was to his heart a wound And launc't him deeper then a thousand swords What rage of man yea what infernall Sprite Could haue disgorg'd more loathsome dregs of spite Why did the yeelding Sea like Marble way Support a wretch more wauering then the waues Whom doubt did plonge why did the waters stay Vnkind in kindnesse murthering while it saues O that this tongue had then beene fishes food And I deuour'd before this cursing mood There surges depths and Seas vnfirme by kinde Rough gusts and distance both from ship and shoare Were titles to excuse my staggering mind Stout feet might falter on that liquid floare But heere no Seas no Blasts no Billowes were A puffe of womans wind bred all my feare O Coward troupes farre better arm'd then harted Whom angrie words whom blowes could not prouoke Whom though I taught how sore my weapon smarted Yet none repaide me with a wounding stroke O no that stroke could but one moity kill I was reseru'd both halfes at once to spill Ah whither was forgotten loue exil'd Where did rhe truth of pledged promise sleepe What in my thoughts begat this vgly child That could through rented soule thus fiercely creepe O Viper feare their death by whom thou liuest All good thy ruines wrecke all euils thou giuest Threats threw me not torments I none assayd My fray with shades conceites did make me yeeld Wounding my thoughts with feares selfely dismayd I neither fought nor lost I gaue the field Infamous foyle a Maidens easie breath Did blow me downe and blast my soule to death Titles I make vntruths am I a rocke That with so soft a gale was ouerthrowne Am I fit Pastor for the faithfull Flocke To guide their soules that murdred thus mine owne A rocke of ruine not a rest to stay A Pastor not to feed but to betray Fidelity was flowne when feare was hatched Incompatible brood in vertues nest Courage can lesse with Cowardise be matched Prowesse nor loue lodg'd in diuided brest O Adams Child cast by a
the feeling of my rauing fits Whose ioy annoy whose guerdon is disgrace Whose solace flies whose sorrow neuer flits Bad seed I sow'd worse fruit is now my gaine Soone dying mirth begat long liuing paine Now pleasure ebbes reuenge begins to flow One day doth wreake the wrath that many wrought Remorse doth teach my guilty thoughts to know How cheape I sold what Christ so dearely bought Faults long vnfelt doth conscience now bewray All ghostly dynts that Grace at me did dart Like stubborne rocke I forced to recoyle To other flights an ayme I made mine heart Whose wounds then welcome now haue wrought my foyle Wo worth the bow wo worth the Archers might That draue such Arrowes to the marke so right To pull them out to leaue them in is death One to this world one to the world to come Wounds may I weare and draw a doubtfull breath But then my wounds will worke a dreadfull doome And for a world whose pleasures passe away I lose a world whose ioyes are past decay O sense ô soule ô had ô hoped blisse You woo you weane you draw you driue me backe Your crosse encountring like their combat is That neuer end but with some deadly wracke When sense doth winne the soule doth lose the field And present haps make future hopes to yeeld O heauen lament sense robbeth thee of Saints Lament O soules sense spoyleth you of Grace Yet sense doth scarce deserue these hard complaints Loue is the thiefe sense but the entring place Yet graunt I must sense is not free from sinne For thiefe he is that thiefe admitteth in MARY MAGDALENS complaint at Christs death SIth my life from life is parted Death come take thy portion Who suruiues when life is murdred Liues by meere extortion All that liue and not in God Couch their life in deaths abod Silly starres must needs leaue shining When the Sunne is shaddowed Borowed streams refraine their running When head-springs are hindered One that liues by others breath Dyeth also by his death O true Life since thou hast left me Mortall life is tedious Death it is to liue without thee Death of all most odious Turne againe or take me to thee Let me dye or liue thou in me Where the truth once was and is not Shadowes are but vanity Shewing want that helpe they cannot Signes not salue of misery Painted meat no hunger feeds Dying life each death exceeds With my loue my life was nestled In the summe of happinesse From my loue my life is wrested To a world of heauinesse O let loue my life remoue Sith I liue not where I loue O my soule what did vnloose thee From the sweet captiuity God not I did still possesse thee His not mine thy liberty O too happy thrall thou wart When thy prison was his heart Spitefull speare that break'st this prison Seat of all felicity Working this with double treason Loues and liues deliuery Though my life thou drau'st away Maugre thee my loue shall stay Times go by turnes THE lopped tree in time may grow againe Most naked plants renew both fruit and flowre The sorriest wight may finde release of paine The driest soyle sucke in some moystning showre Times go by turnes and chances change by course From foule to faire from better hap to worse The sea of Fortune doth not euer flow She drawes her fauours to the lowest ebbe Her tides haue equall times to come and go Her Loome doth weaue the fine and coursest webbe No ioy so great but runneth to an end No hap so hard but may in fine amend Not alwaies Fall of leafe nor euer Spring No endlesse night nor yet eternall day The saddest Birds a season finde to sing The roughest storme a calme may soone allay Thus with succeeding turnes God tempereth all That man may hope to rise yet feare to fall A chance may winne that by mischance was lost That net that holds no great takes little fish In some things all in all things none are crost Few all they need but none haue all they wish Vnmingled ioyes heere to no man befall Who least hath some who most hath neuer all LOOKE HOME REtyred thoughts enioy their owne delights As beauty doth in selfe-beholding eye Mans mind a mirrour is of heauenly sights Abriefe wherein all maruels summed lye Of fairest formes and sweetest shapes the store Most gracefull all yet thought may grace them more The minde a creature is yet can create To Natures patterns adding higher skill Of finest works wit better could the state If force of wit had equall power of will Deuice of man in working hath no end What thought can thinke another thought can mend Mans soule of endlesse beauties image is Drawne by the worke of endlesse skill and might This skilfull might gaue many sparks of blisse And to discerne this blisse a natiue light To frame Gods image as his worths requir'd His might his skill his word and will conspir'd All that he had his Image should present All that it should present he could afford To that he could afford his will was bent His will was followed with performing word Let this suffice by this conceiue the rest He should he could he would he did the best Fortunes falshood IN worldly merriments lurketh much misery Sly Fortunes subtilties in bayts of happinesse Shrowd hookes that swallowed without recouery Murder the innocent with mortall heauinesse She sootheth appetites with pleasing vanities Till they be conquered with cloaked tyranny Then changing countenance with open enmities Shee triumphs ouer them scorning their slauery With fawning flattery Deaths doore she openeth Alluring passingers to bloudy destiny In offers bountifull in proofe she beggereth Mens ruines registring her false felicity Her hopes are fastned in blisse that vanisheth Her smart inherited with sure possession Constant in cruelty she neuer altereth But from one violence to more oppression To those that follow her fauours are measured As easie premisses to hard conclusions With bitter corrosiues her ioyes are seasoned Her highest benifits are but illusions Her way 's a labyrinth of wandring passages Fooles common pilgrimage to cursed deities Whose fond deuotion and iole menages Are wag'd with wearinesse in fruitlesse drudgeries Blinde in her fauorites foolish election Châ—nâ—â— is â—er Aâ—â—â—rer a giuing dignity Heâ— choyse of visions shâ—wâ—s most discretion Sith â—â—â—â—th the vertuous might wrest from piety To humble suppliants tyrant most obstinate She suters answereth with contrarieties Proud with petition vntaught to mitigate Rigor with clemencie in hardest cruelties Like Tygre fugitiue from the Ambitious Like weeping Crocodile to scornefull enemies Suing for amitie where she is odious But to her followers forswearing curtesies No winde so changeable no sea so wauering As giddie Fortune in reeling varieties Now mad now mercifull now fierce now fauouring In all things mutable but mutabilities Scorne not the least VVHere wards are weake and foes incountring strong Where mightier do assault then do defend The feebler part puts vp enforced wrong And silent
sees that speech could not amend Yet higher powers must thinke though they repine When Sunne is set the little starres will shine While Pike doth range the silly Tench doth fly And crouch in priuy creekes with smaller fish Yet Pikes are caught when little fish go by These fleete aflote while those do fill the dish There is a time euen for the wormes to creepe And sucke the deaw while all their foes do sleepe The Marline cannot euer soare on high Nor greedy Grey-houn still pursue the chase The tender Larke will finde a time to fly And fearefull Hate to runne a quiet race He that high growth on Cedars did bestow Gaue also lowly Mushrumps leaue to grow In Hamans pompe poore Mardocheus wept Yet God did turne his fate vpon his foe The Lazar pinde while Diues feast was kept Yet he to heauen to hell did Diues go We trample grasse and prize the flowers of May Yet grasse is greene when flowers do fade away The Natiuitie of Christ BEhold the Father is his daughters sonne The bird that built the nest is hatcht therein The old of yeares an howre hath not out-runne Eternall life to liue doth now beginne The Word is duâ— the mirth of heauen doth weepe Might feeble is and force doth faintly creepe O dying soules behold your liuing spring O dazled eyes behold your Sunne of grace Dull eares attend what word this Word doth bring Vp heauy hearts with ioy your ioy embrace From death from darke from deafnesse from dispaires This life this light this Word this ioy repaires Gift better then himselfe God doth not know Gift better then his God no man can see This gift doth here the giuer giuen bestow Gift to this gift let each receiuer be God is my gift himselfe he freely gaue me Gods gift am I and none but God shall haue me Man altered was by sinne from man to beast Beasts food is hay hay is all mortall flesh Now God is flesh and lyes in Manger prest As hay the brutest sinner to refresh O happy field wherein this fodder grew Whose taste doth vs from beasts to men renew Christs Childhood TIll twelue yeares age how Christ his childhood spent All earthly pens vnworthy were to write Such acts to mortall eyes he did present Whose worth not men but Angels must recite No natures blots no childish faults defilde Where grace was guide and God did play the child In springing locks lay couched hoary wit In semblance yong a graue and ancient port In lowly lookes high maiesty did sit In tender tongue sound sence of sagest sort Nature imparted all that she could teach And God suppli'd where Nature could not reach His mirth of modest meane a mirrour was His sadnesse tempered with a milde aspect His eye to try each action was a glasse Whose lookes did good approue and bad correct His Natures gifts his grace his word and deed Well shewed that all did from a God proceed A Childe my Choice LEt folly praise that fancie loues I praise and loue that child Whose heart no thought whose tongue no word whose hand no deed defil'd I praise him most I loue him best all praise and loue is his While him I loue in him I liue and cannot liue amisse Loues sweetest marke laudes highest Theame mans most desired light To loue him life to leaue him death to liue in him delight He mine by gift I his by debt thus each to other's due First friend he was best friend he is all times will trie him true Though yong yet wise though small yet strong though man yet God he is As wise he knowes as strong he can as God he loues to blisse His knowledge rules his strength defends his loue doth cherish all His birth our ioy his life our light his death our end of thrall Alas he weepes he sighs he pants yet do his Angels sing Out of his teares his sighes and throbs doth bud a ioyfull Spring Almightie Babe whose tender armes can force all foes to fly Correct my faults protect my life direct me when I die Content and rich I Dwell in Graces Court Enrich with Vertues rights Faith guides my wit Loue leades my will Hope all my minde delights In lowly vales I mount To pleasures highest pitch My silly shroud true Honour brings My poore estate is rich My conscience is my Crowne Contented thoughts my rest My heart is happy in it selfe My blisse is in my breast Enough I reckon wealth A meane the surest lot That lyes too high for base contempt Too low for Enuies shot My wishes are but few All easie to fulfill I make the limits of my power The bounds vnto my will I haue no hopes but one Which is of heauenly raigne Effects attaind or not desir'd All lower hopes refrainâ— I feele no care of coyne Well-doing is my wealth My mind to me an Empire is While grace affoordeth health I clyp high-climing thoughts The wings of swelling pride Their fall is worst that from the height Of greater honour slide Sith sayles of largest size The storme doth soonest teare I beare so low and small a sayle As freeth me from feare I wrastle not with rage While furies flame doth burne It is in vaine to stop the streame Vntill the tide doth turne But when the flame is out And ebbing wrath doth end I turne a late enraged foe Into a quiet friend And taught with often proofe A tempered calme I finde To be most solace to it selfe Best cure for angrie minde Spare dyet is my fare My clothes more fit then fine I know I feede and clothe a foe That pamp'red would repine I enuie not their hap Whom fauour doth aduance I take no pleasure in their paine That haue lesse happie chance To rise by others fall I deeme a losing gaine All states with others ruines built To ruine runne amaine No change of Fortunes calmes Can cast my comforts downe When Fortune smiles I smile to thinke how quickly she will frowne And when in froward moode She proou'd an angrie so Small gaine I found to let her come Lesse losse to let her go Losse in delayes SHun delayes they breed remorse Take thy time while time doth serue thee Creeping Snayles haue weakest force Flie their fault lest thou repent thee Good is best when soonest wrought Lingring labours come to nought Hoyse vp sayle while gale doth last Tide and winde stay no mans pleasure Seeke not time when time is past Sober speed is Wisedomes leisure After-wits are dearely bought Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought Time weares all his locks before Take thou hold vpon his forehead When he flies he turnes no more And behind his scalpe is naked Workes adiourn'd haue many stayes Long demurres breed new delayes Seeke thy salue while sore is greene Festered wounds aske deeper launcing After-cures are seldome seene Often sought scarce euer chancing Time and place giues best aduice Out of season out of price Crush the Serpent in the head Breake ill
hearts or feele my fire but I My faultlesse breast the fornace is the fuell wounding thornes Loue is the fire and sighes the smoake the ashes shames and scornes The fuell Iustice layeth on and mercie blowes the coales The mettall in this Fornace wrought are mens defiled soules For which as now on fire I am to worke them to their good So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood With this he vanisht out of sight and swiftly shronke away And straight I called vnto mind that it was Christmasse day New Heauen new Warre COme to your heauen you heauenly Quires Earth hath the heauen of your desires Remoue your dwelling to your God A stall is now his best abode Sith men their homage do deny Come Angels all their fault supply His chilling cold doth heat require Come Seraphins in lieu of fire This little Arke no couer hath Let Cherubs wings his body swathe Come Raphael this Babe must eate Prouide our little Toby meate Let Gabriel be now his groome That first tooke vp his earthly roome Let Michael stand in his defence Whom loue hath linkt to feeble sense Let graces rocke when he doth cry Let Angels sing his lullaby The same you saw in heauenly seate Is he that now suckes Maries teate Agnize your King a mortall wight His borrowed weed lets not your sight Come kisse the manger where he lyes That is your blisse aboue the skies This little Babe so few dayes old Is come to rifle Sathans fold All hell doth at his presence quake Though he himself for cold do shake For in this weake vnarmed wise The gates of hell he will surprise With teares he fights wins the field His naked breast stands for a shield His battering shot are babish cryes His arrowes lookes of weeping eyes His Martiall Ensignes cold and need And feeble flesh his warriers Steed His Campe is pitched in astall His bulwarke but a broken wall The Crib his trench hay-stalkes his stakes Of Shepheards he his Muster makes And thus as sure his fo to wound The Angels trumps alarum sound My soule with Christ ioyne thou in fight Sticke to the tents that he hath dight Within his crib is surest ward This little Babe will be thy guard If thou wilt foyle thy foes with ioy Then flit not from the heauenly Boy FINIS Moeoniae OR CERTAINE EXCELLENT POEMS AND SPIRITVAL Hymnes composed by R.S. AN CHO RA. SPEI LONDON Printed for W. Barret The Virgine Maries conception OVR second Eue puts on her mortall shrowd Earth breeds a heauen for Gods new dwelling place Now riseth vp Elias little cloud That growing shall distill the showre of grace Her being now begins who ere she end Shall bring our good that shall our ill amend Both Grace and Nature did their force vnite To make this babe the summe of all their best Our most her least our million but her mite She was at easiest rate worth all the rest What grace to men or Angels God did part Was all vnited in this infants heart Foure onely wights bred without fault are nam'd And all the rest conceiued were in sinne Without both man and wife was Adam fram'd Of man but not of wife did Eue beginne Wife without touch of man Christs mother was Of man and wife this babe was borne in grace Her Natiuitie IOy in the rising of our Orient starre That shall bring forth the Sunne that lent her light Ioy in the peace that shall conclude our warre And soone rebate the edge of Sathans spight Load-starre of all inclos'd in worldly waues The care and compasse that from ship-wracke saues The patriarkes and Prophets were the flowers Which time by course of ages did distill And call'd into his little clowd the showers Whose gracious drops the world with ioy shall fill Whose moisture suppleth euery soule with grace And bringeth life to Adams dying race For God on earth she is the royall throne The chosen cloth to make his mortall weede The quarry to cut out our corner stone Soile full of fruite yet free from mortall seede For heauenly flowre she is the Iessa rod The child of man the parent of a god Her Spousals WIfe did she liue yet virgine did she dye Vntoucht of man yet mother of a sonne To saue her selfe and child from fatall lie To end the web whereof the thred was spon In marriage knots to Ioseph she was tide Vnwonted workes with wonted wiles to hide God lent his Paradise to Iosephs care Wherein he was to plant the tree of life His sonne of Iosephs child the title bare Iust cause to make the mother Iosephs wife O blessed man betroth'd to such a spouse More blest to liue with such a child in house No carnall loue this sacred league procur'd All vaine delights were farre from their assent Though both themselues in wedlocke bands assur'd Yet chast by vow they seald their chast intent Thus had the Virgins wiues and widows crowne And by chaste child-birth doubled their renowne The virgins salutation SPell Eua backe and Aue shall you finde The first began the last reuerst our harmes An Angels Aue disinchants the charmes Death first by womans weaknesse entred in In womans vertue life doth now begin O Virgins breast the heauens to thee incline In thee they ioy and soueraigne they agnize Too meane their glorie is to match with thine Whose chast receit God more then heauen did prize Haile fairest heauen that heauen and earth do blisse Where vertues starre Gods Sunne of iustice is With haughty mind to godhead man aspired And was by pride from place of pleasure chac'de With louing mind our manhood God desired And vs by loue in greater pleasure plac'de Man labouring to ascend procur'd our fall God yeelding to descend cut off our thrall The Visitation PRoclaimed Queene and mother of a God The light of earth the soueraigne of Saints With Pilgrime foote vp tyring hils she trod And heauenly stile with handmaids toile acquaints Her youth to age her selfe to sicke she lends Her heart to God to neighbour hand she bends A prince she is and mightier prince doth beare Yet pompe of princely traine she would not haue But doubtlesse heauenly Quires attendant were Her child from harme her selfe from fall to saue Word to the voice song to the tune she brings The voice her word the tune her ditty sings Eternall lights inclosed in her breast Shot out such piercing beames of burning loue That when her voice her cosins eares possest The force thereof did force her babe to moue With secret signes the children greet each other But open praise each leaueth to his mother His Circumcision THe head is launc't to worke the bodies cure With angrie salue it smarts to heale our wound To faultlesse Sonne from all offences pure The faulty vassals scourges do redound The Iudge is cast the guiltie to acquit The Sunne defac'd to lend the starre his light The vine of life distilleth drops of grace Our rocke
hearse doth hang which doth me tell That I ere morning may be dead Though now I feele my selfe ful well But yet alas for all this I Haue little mind that I must die The gowne which I do vse to weare The knife wherewith I cut my meate And eke that old and ancient chaire Which is my onely vsuall seate All these do tell me I must die And yet my life amend not I. My ancestors are turnd to clay And many of my mates are gone My yongers daily drop away And can I thinke to scape alone No no I know that I must die And yet my life amend not I. Not Salomon for all his wit Nor Sampson though he were so strong No king nor person euer yet Could scape but death laid him along Wherefore I know that I must die And yet my life amend not I. Though all the East did quake to heare Of Alexanders dreadfull name And all the West did likewise feare To heare of Iulius Caesars fame Yet both by death in dust now lie Who then can scape but he must die If none can scape deaths dreadfull dart If rich and poore his becke obey If strong if wise if all do smart then I to scape shall haue no way Oh grant me grace O God that I My life may mend sith I must die A vale of teares A Vale there is enwrapt with dreadfull shades Which thicke of mourning pines shrowds from the Sunne Where hanging cliffes yeeld short and dumpish glades And snowy flouds with broken streames do runne Where eye-roome is from rocke to cloudie skie From thence to dales which stormy ruines shrowd Then to the crushed waters frothie frie Which tumbleth from the tops where snow is show'd Where eares of other sound can haue no choice But various blustring of the stubburne wind In trees in caues in straits with diuers noise Which now doth hisse now howle now roare by kind Where waters wrastle with encountring stones That breake their streames and turne them into foame The hollow clouds ful fraught with thundering groanes With hideous thumps discharge their pregnant wombe And in the horror of this fearefull quier Consists the musicke of this dolefull place All pleasant birds their tunes from thence retire Where none but heauy notes haue any grace Resort there is of none but pilgrime wights That passe with trembling foote and panting heart With terrour cast in cold and shuddring frights And all the place to terror fram'd by art Yet natures worke it is of arte vntoucht So strait indeed so vast vnto the eye With such disordred order strangely coucht And so with pleasing horror low and hie That who it viewes must needs remaine agast Much at the worke more at the makers might And muse how Nature such a plot could cast Where nothing seemed wrong yet nothing right A place for mated minds an onely bower Where euerie thing doth sooth a dumpish mood Earth lies forlorne the cloudie skie doth lower The wind here weepes her sighes her cries aloud The strugling floud betweene the marble grones Then roaring beates vpon the craggie sides A little off amidst the pibble stones With bubling streames a purling noise it glides The pines thicke set high growne and euer greene Still cloath the place with shade and mourning vaile Here gaping cliffes there mosse growne plaine is seene Here hope doth spring and there againe doth quaile Huge massie stones that hang by tickle stay Still threaten foule and seeme to hang in feare Some withered trees asham'd of their decay Beset with greene and forc'd gray coates to weare Here christall springs crept out of secret vaine Straite findes some enuious hole that hides their graine Here seared tufts lament the wants of g ace There thunder wracke giues terror to the place All pangs and heauie passions here may find A thousand motiues suting to their griefes To feed the sorrowes of their troubled mind And chase away dame pleasures vaine reliefes To plaining thoughts this vale a rest may be To which from worldly toyes they may retire Where sorrow springs from water stone and tree Where euerie thing with mourners doth conspire Sit here my soule mourne streames of teares aflote Here all thy sinfull foyles alone recount Of solemne tunes make thou the dolefulst note That to thy ditties dolor may amount When Eccho doth repeate thy painefull cries Thinke that the very stones thy sinnes bewray And now accuse thee with their sad replies As heauen and earth shall in the latter day Let former faults be fuell of the fire For griefe in Limbeck e of thy heart to still Thy pensiue thoughts and dumps of thy desire And vapour teares vp to thy eyes at will Let teares to tunes and paines to plaints be prest And let this be the burthen to thy song Come deepe remorse possesse my sinfull breast Delights adue I harboured you too long The prodigall childs soule-wracke DIsankerd from a blisfull shore and lancht into the maine of cares Grewne rich in vice in vertue poore from freedome falne in fatall snares I found my selfe on euerie side enwrapped in the waues of wo And tossed with a toilesome tide could to no port for refuge go The wrastling winds with raging blasts still hold me in a cruell chace They breake my anchors saile and masts permitting no reposing place The boistrous seas with swelling flouds on euerie side did worke their spight Heauen ouercast with stormy clouds denide the Planets guiding light The hellish furies lay in wait to winne my soule into their power To make me bite at euery baite wherein my bane I might deuoure Thus heauen and hell thus sea and land thus stormes and tempests did conspire With iust reuenge of scourging hand to witnesse Gods deserued ire I plonged in this heauie plight found in my faults iust cause to feare My darknesse taught to know my light the losse thereof enforced teares I felt my inward bleeding sores my festred wounds began to smart Stept far within deaths fatall dores the pangs thereof went neare my heart I cried truce I craued peace a league with death I would conclude But vaine it was to sue release subdue I must or be subdude Death and deceit had picht their snares and out their wonted proofes in vre To sinke me in despairing cares or make me stoope to pleasures lure They sought by their bewitching charmes so to enchant my erring sense That whē they sought my greatest harmes I might neglect my best defence My dazled eyes could take no view no heed of their deceiuing shifts So often did they alter hew and practise new deuised drifts With Syrens songs they fed mine eares till luld asleepe on errors lap I found their tunes turnd into teares and short delights to long mishap For I enticed to their lore and soothed with their idle toyes Was trained to their prison doore the end of all such flying ioyes Where chaind in sinne I lay in thrall next to the dungeon of despaire Till mercy rais'd
me from my fall and grace my ruines did repaire Mans ciuill warre MY houering thoghts wold fly to heauē and quiet nestle in the skie Faine would my ship in vertues shore without remoue at anchor lie But mounted thoughts are hailed downe with heauie poise of mortall load And blustring stormes denie my ship in vertues hauen a sure aboad When inward eye to heauenly sights doth draw my longing hearts desire The world with guesses of delights would to her pearch my thoughts retire Fond fancie traines to pleasures lure though reason stiffely do repine Though reason woo me to the Saint yet sense would win me to the shrine Where wisedome loathes there fancy loues and ouer rules the captiue will Foes senses and to vertues lore they draw the wit their wish to fill Need craues consent of soule to sense yet diuers bents breeds ciuill fray Hard hap where halues must disagree or trust of halues the whole betray O cruell fight where fighting friend with loue doth kill a fauoring foe Where peace with sense is warre with God and selfe delight the seed of wo Dame pleasures drugges are steept in sin their sugred taste doth breed annoy O fickle sense beware her ginne sell not thy soule for brittle ioy Seeke flowers of heauen SO eare vp my soule vnto thy rest cast off this loathsome load Long is the date of thy exile too long the strickt abode Grace not on worldly withered weed it fitteth not thy taste The flowers of euerlasting spring do grow for thy repast Their leaues are staind in beauties die and blazed with their beames Their stalks enameld with delight and limbde with glorious gleames Life giuing iuice of liuing loue their sugred veines doth fill And watred with eternall showers they nectard drops distill These flowers do spring from fertile soile though from vnmanur'd field Most glittering gold in lieu of glebe these fragrant flowers do yeeld Whose soueraigne sent surpassing sense so rauisheth the mind That worldly weeds needs must he loath that can these flowers find FINIS MARIE MAGDALENS FVNERALL TEARES Ieremie Chap. 6. verse 26. Luctum vnigeniti fac tibi planctum amarum AN CHO RA. SPEI LONDON Printed for W. Barret To the worshipfull and vertuous Gentlewoman Mistresse D.A. YOur Vertuous requests to which your deserts gaue the force of a commandement won me to satisfie your deuotion in penning some little discourse of the blessed Mary Magdalene And among other glorious examples of this Saints life I haue made choice of her Funerall Teares in which as she most vttered the great vehemencie of her feruent loue to Christ so hath she giuen therein largest scope to dilate vpon the same a theame pleasing I hope vnto your selfe and fittest for this time For as passion and especially this of loue is in these dayes the chiefe commander of most mens actions and the Idol to which both tongues and pennes do sacrifice their ill bestowed labours so is there nothing now more needfull to be intreated than how to direct these humours vnto their due courses and to draw this floud of affections into the right chanel Passions I allow and loues I approue onely I would wish that men would alter their obiect and better their intent For passions being sequels of our nature and allotted vnto vs as the handmaides of reason there can be no doubt but that as their authour is good and their end godly so their vse tempered in the meane implyeth no offence Loue is but the infancie of true charitie yet sucking Natures teat and swathed in her bands which then groweth to perfection when faith besides naturall motiues proposeth higher and nobler grounds of amitie Hatred and anger are the necessarie officers of prowesse and iustice courage being cold and dull and Iustice in due reuenge slacke and carelesse where hate of the fault doth not make it odious and anger setteth not an edge on the sword that punisheth or preuenteth wrongs Desire and hope are the parents of diligence and industrie the nurses of perseuerance and constancie the seedes of valour magnanimitie the death of sloath and the breath of all vertue Feare and dislikes are the scoutes of discretion the harbingers of wisedome and pollicie killing idle repentance in the cradle and curbing rashnesse with deliberation Audacitie is the armour of strength and the guide of glorie breaking the Ice to the hardest exployts and crowning valour with honorable victorie Sorrow is the sister of mercie and a waker of compassion weeping with others teares grieued with their harmes It is both the salue and smart of sinne curing that which it chastiseth with true remorse preuenting need of new cure with the detestation of the disease Despaire of the successe is a bitte against euill attempts and the hearse of idle hopes ending endlesse things in their first motion to begin True ioy is the rest and reward of vertue seasoning difficulties with delight and giuing a present assay of future happinesse Finally there is no passion but hath a seruiceable vse either in pursuite of good or auoidance of euill and they are all benefits of God and helpes of nature so long as they are kept vnder vertues correction But as too much of the best is euill and excesse in vertue vice so passions let loose without limits are imperfections nothing being good that wanteth measure And as the sea is vnfit for trafficke not onely when the windes are too boysterous but also when they are too still and a middle gale and motion of the waues serueth best the saylers purpose So neither too stormy nor too calme a mind giueth Vertue the first course but a middle temper betweene them both in which the welordered passiōs are wrought to prosecute not suffered to peruert any vertuous endeuour Such were the passions of this holy Saint which were not guides to reason but attendants vpon it and commanded by such a loue as could neuer exceede because the thing loued was of infinite perfection And if her weaknesse of faith an infirmitie then common to all Christs disciples did suffer her vnderstanding to be deceiued yet was her will so setled in a most sincere and perfect loue that it led all her passions with the same byas recompencing the want of beliefe with the strange effects of an excellent charitie This loue and these passions are the subiect of this discourse which though it reach not to the dignitie of Maries deserts yet shall I think my indeuours well appayd if it may but woo some skilfuller pennes from vnworthy labors either to supply in this matter my want of ability or in other of like pietie whereof the Scripture is full to exercise their happier talents I know that none can expresse a passion that he feeleth not neither doth the penne deliuer but what it copieth out of the minde And therefore the finest wits are now giuen to write passionate discourses I would wish them to make choise of such passions as it neither should be
principall fauorits of the parent of all wisedome Or if notwithstanding the danger there had bene iust cause to encounter it were not two together being both to Christ sworne champions each to other affected friends and to all his enemies professed foes more likely to haue preuailed than one feminine heart timorous by kind and already amazed with this dreadfull accident But alas why do I vrge her with reason whose reason is altered into loue that iudgeth it folly to follow such reason as should any way impaire her loue Her thoughts were arrested by euery thread of Christs Sindon and she was captiue to so many prisons as the tombe had memories of her lost master Loue being her Iaylor in them all and nothing able to ransome her but the recouery of her Lord. What maruaile then though the Apostles examples drew her not away whom so violent a loue enforced to remaine which prescribing lawes both to wit and will is guided by no other law but it selfe She could not thinke of any feare nor stand in feare of any force Loue armed her against all hazards and being already wounded wtih the greatest griefe she had no leisure to remember any lesser euill Yea she had forgotten all things and her selfe among all things onely mindfull of him whom she loued aboue all things And yet her loue by reason of her losse drowned both her mind and memory so deepe in sorrow and so busied her wits in the conceit of his absence that all remembrance of his former promises was diuerted with the throng of present discomforts and she seemed to haue forgotten also him besides whom she remembred nothing For doubtlesse had she remembred him as shee should shee would not haue now thought the tombe a fit place to seeke him neither would she mourne for him as dead and remoued by others force but ioy in him as reuiued and risen by his own power For he had often foretold both the manner of his death and the day of his Resurrection But alas let her heauinesse excuse her and the vnwontednesse of the miracle pleade her pardon sith dread amazement hath dulled her senses distempered her thoughts discouraged her hopes awaked her passions and left her no other liberty but onely to weepe She wept therefore being onely able to weepe And as she was weeping she stouped downe and looked into the Monument and she saw two Angels in white sitting one at the head and another at the feet where the body of Iesus had bene layd They said vnto her Woman why weepest thou Iohn 20. O Mary thy good hap exceedeth thy hope and where thy last sorrow was bred thy first succour springeth Thou diddest seeke but one and thou hast found two A dead body was thy errand and thou hast light vpon two aliue Thy weeping was for a man and thy teares haue obtained Angels Suppresse now thy sadnesse and refresh thy heart with this good fortune These Angels inuite thee to a parley they seeme to take pitty of thy case and it may be they haue some happy tidings to tell thee Thou hast hitherto sought in vaine as one either vnseene or vnknowne or at the least vnregarded sith the party thou seekest neither tendereth thy teares nor answereth thy cryes nor relenteth with thy lamentings Either he doth not heare or he will not helpe he hath paraduenture left to loue thee and is loth to yeeld thee reliefe and therefore take such comfort as thou findest sith thou art not so lucky as to finde that which thou couldest wish Remember what they are where they sit from whence they come and to whom they speake They are Angels of peace neither sent without cause nor seene but of fauour They sit in the tombe to shew that they are no strangers to thy losse They come from heauen from whence all happy news descendeth They speake to thy selfe as though they had some speciall embassage to deliuer vnto thee Aske them therefore of thy master for they are likeliest to returne thee a desired answer Thou knewest him too well to thinke that hell hath deuoured him thou hast long sought and hast not found him on earth and what place so fit for him as to be in heauen Aske therefore of those Angels that came newly from thence and it may be their report will highly please thee Or if thou art resolued to continue thy seeking who can better helpe thee than they that are as swift as thy thought as faithfull as thine owne heart and as louing to thy Lord as thou thy felfe Take therefore thy good hap lest it be taken away from thee and content thee with Angels sith thy master hath giuen thee ouer But alas what meaneth this change and how happeneth this strange alteration The time hath bene that fewer teares would haue wrought greater effect shorter seeking haue sooner found and lesse paine haue procured more pittie The time hath bene that thy annointing his feet was accepted and praysed thy washing them with teares highly cōmended thy wiping thē with thy haire most curteously construed How then doth it now fall out that hauing brought thy sweet oyles to annoint his whole body hauing shed as many teares as would haue washed more than his feet and hauing not onely thy haire but thy heart ready to serue him he is not moued with all these duties so much as once to afford thee his fight Is it not he that reclaimed thee from thy wandring courses that dispossessed thee of thy damned Inhabitants and from the wilds of sinne recouered thee into the fold and family of his flock Was not thy house his home his loue thy life thy selfe his disciple Did not he defend thee against the Pharisie pleade for thee against Iudas and excuse thee to thy sister In summe was not he thy Patron and Protector in all thy necessities O good Iesu what hath thus estranged thee from her Thou hast heretofore so pitied her teares that seeing them thou couldest not refraine thine In one of her greatest agonies for loue of her that so much loued thee thou didst recall her dead brother to life turning her complaint into vnexpected contentment And we know that thou doest not vse to alter course without cause nor to chastise without desert Thou art the first that inuitest and the last that forsakest neuer leauing but first left and euer offering till thou art refused How then hath she forfeited thy fauour or with what trespasse hath she earned thy ill will That she neuer left to loue thee her heart will depose her hand will subscribe her tongue will protest her teares will testifie and her seeking doth assure And alas is her particular case so farre from example that thou shouldest rather alter thy nature than she better her Fortune and be to her as thou art to no other For our parts since thy last shew of liking towards her we haue found no other fault in her but that she was the earliest vp to
seeke thee readiest to annoint thee and when she saw that thou wert remoued she forthwith did weepe for thee and presently went for helpe to finde thee And whereas those two that she brought being lesse carefull of thee than fearefull of themselues when they had seene what she had said sodainely shrunke away behold she still stayeth she still seeketh she still weepeth If this be a fault we cannot deny but this she doth and to this she perswadeth yea this she neither meaneth to amend nor requesteth thee to forgiue if therfore thou reckonest this as punishable punished she must be sith no excuse hath effect where the fact pleadeth guiltie But if this import not any offence but a true affection and be rather a good desire than an euill desert why art thou so hard a Iudge to so soft a creature requiting her loue with thy losse and suspending her hopes in this vnhappinesse Are not those thy words I loue those that loue me and who watcheth early for me shall find me why then doth not this woman find thee that was vp so early to watch for thee Why doest thou not with like repay her that bestoweth vpon thee her whole loue sith thy word is her warrant and thy promise her due debt Art thou lesse moued with these teares that she sheddeth for thee her onely Master than thou wert with those that she shed before thee for her deceassed brother Or doth her loue to thy seruant more please thee than her loue to thy selfe Our loue to others must not be to them but to thee in them For he loueth thee so much the lesse that loueâ—h any thing with thee If therefore she then deserued well for louing thee in another she deserued better now for louing thee in thy selfe and if indeed thou louest those that loue thee make thy word good to her that is so farre in loue with thee Of thy selfe thou hast said that thou art The way the truth and the life If then thou art a way easie to find and neuer erring how doth she misse thee If a life giuing life and neuer ending why is she ready to dye for thee If a true promising truth and neuer failing how is she bereaued of thee For if what thy tongue did speake thy truth will auerre she will neuer aske more to make her most happy Remember that thou saidst to her sister that Mary had chosen the best part which should not be taken from her That she chose the best parâ— is out of question sith she made choise of nothing but only of thee But how can it be verified that this part shal not be taken from her sith thou that art this part art already taken away If she could haue kept thee she would not haue lost thee and had it bene in her power as it was in her will she would neuer haue parted from thee and might she now be restored to thy presence she would trie all fortunes rather than for go thee Sith therefore she seeketh nothing but what she chose and the losse of her choise is the only cause of her combat either vouchsafe thou to keep this best part that she chose in her or I see not how it can be true that it shall not be taken from her But thy meaning haply was that though it be taken from her eyes yet it should neuer be taken from her heart it may be thy inward presence supplyeth thine outward absence yet I can hardly thinke but that if Mary had thee within her she could feele it and if she felt it she would neuer seeke thee Thou art too hot a fire to be in her bosome and not to burne her and thy light is too great to leaue her mind in this darknesse if it shined in her In true louers euery part is an eye and euery thought a looke and therefore so sweet an obiect among so many eyes and in so great a light could neuer lye so hidden but loue would espy it No no if Mary had thee her innocent heart neuer taught to dissemble could not make complaint the out-side of a concealed comfort neither would she turne her thoughts to pasture in a dead mans Tombe if at home she might bid them to so heauenly a banquet Her loue would not haue a thought to spare nor a minute to spend in any other action than in enioying of thee whom she knew too well to abridge the least part of her from so high an happinesse For her thirst of thy presence was so exceeding and the sea of thy ioyes so well able to afford her a full draught that though euery parcell in her should take in a whole tide of thy delights she would thinke them too few to quiet her desires Yea doubtlesse if she had thee within her she would not enuie the fortune of the richest Empresse yea she would more reioyce to be thy Tombe in earth than a throne in heauen and disdaine to be a Saint if she were worthy to be but thy shrine But paraduenture it is now with her mind as it was with the Apostles eyes and as they seeing thee walke vpon the Sea took thee for a Ghost so she seeing thee in her hart deemeth thee but a fancy being yet better acquainted with thy bodily shape than with thy spirituall power But ô Mary it seemeth too strange that he whom thou seekest and for whom thou weepest should thus giue thee ouer to these painefull fits if in thee he did not see a cause for which he will not be seene of thee Still thy plaint and stint thy weeping for I doubt there is some trespasse in thy teares some sinne in thy sorrow Doest thou not remember his words to thee and to other women when he said Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selues and for your children What meanest thou then to continue this course Doth he sorbid thy teares and wilt thou not forbeare them Is it no fault to infringe his will or is not that his will that his words do import The fault must be mended ere the penance be released and therefore either ceasse to weepe or neuer hope to finde But I know this Logicke little pleaseth thee and I might as soone win thee to forbeare liuing as to leaue weeping Thou wilt say that though he forbad thee to weepe for him yet he left thee free to weepe for thy selfe and sith thy loue hath made thee one with him thou weepest but for thy selfe when thou weepest for him But I answer thee againe that because he is one with thee and thy weeping for him hath bene forbidden thee thou canst not weepe for thy selfe but his words wil condemne thee For if thou he are one for which soeuer thou weepest it is all one therefore sith for him thou maist not weepe forbeare all weeping left it should offend Yea but saist thou to barre me from weeping is to abridge me of liberty and restraint of
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
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
I can then discharge this account so shall I be either crowned in eternall ioy or condemned to perpetuall damnation Rules following of this Foundation FIrst I must vse all things in this life as another bodies goods for which I must be accountable to the vttermost farthing Secondly the more I haue the greater and harder will be mine account of the good vse thereof and therefore the more warie ought I to be in disposing of it Thirdly let me often consider what bodily ghostly and externall gifts of God I haue receiued what in baptisme and at other times I haue promised how profitable and necessarie good works I haue omitted how many grieuous and hainous sinnes I haue committed how often I haue lost the grace of God and my right to heauen Finally how much honour and how many soules I haue robbed from God And these things being well perused let me seeke to make that recompence satisfaction for them which I would wish to haue made when death shall summon me before my heauenly Iudge to giue a most strict account of them The fruite of these Foundations consisteth in the often considering of them as most necessarie points and as it were the very first principles of good life vpon the vnderstanding and practising whereof dependeth my progresse in vertue and therefore I must very often read them and examine my selfe whether my mind and actions be answerable vnto them How we ought to be affected towards God First of the consideration of Gods presence THese Foundations being laid it behooueth me further to descend to the notice of my dutie to God my neighbour and my selfe And first concerning my dutie vnto God a very fit meane I can vse to please him is to beare alway in mind his presence for sure it is that as God he is euery where in substance power and presence as in him I liue moue and am as the Scripture saith because he worketh with me in all my deeds thoughts and words in so much that as the beame of the Sunne the heate of the fier or the wetnesse of the water so depend I of God and should he but withdraw himselfe from me one moment I should forth with turne into nothing and therefore it is a very forcible meanes for my good to do all things as if I did see God visibly working with me in euery action as in truth he doth and knowing that what words thoughts or deeds soeuer passe me and what part of my bodie or mind soeuer I vse Gods concourse and helpe therunto is more then mine owne I must be afraid to vse them in any such thing wherein I might offend him but rather seeke to do all things so that they be worthy of his presence helpe and assistance in them and if I can get a custome or habite to remember still the presence and assistance of God as by vse easily I may I shall with due regard reuerence consideration abstaine from such behauiour as I thinke may be any way offensiue vnto him I shall also get a great facilitie in turning my mind and heart to him and in talking often with him by prayers which are the fuell of deuotion Other Affections that we ought to haue vnto God SEcondly I must endeuour to to kindle in my selfe these affections towards God The first Affection FIrst of a sincere and tender loue of him as the fountaine of all beautie and felicity of which loue I may ghesse by these signes By often thinking and an earnest desire of God by sorrow of his absence and contentment in consideration of his presence By my diligence in performing without delay or tediousnesse that which pleaseth best my Sauiour and by finding such comfort in doing it that it grieueth me when for things of lesse value and goodnesse I am enforced to deferre it By withdrawing all disordred loue from all creatures and especially my selfe and by louing nothing but in God and for God By seeking to increase this loue by consideration of Gods goodnesse and his daily benefit By taking delight in Gods seruice or things tending thereunto not because I finde contentment in it but because it is to Gods glorie to the which I would haue all things addressed By taking tribulations or troubles of body or minde patiently yea and with ioy knowing that they come by Gods permission and thinking them as fauours which he affoordeth to his dearest friends The second Affection THe second affection is a reuerent and dutifull feare of God which I may gather by these signes If when I remember the presence and maiestie of God I frame both my body and minde to reuerence and honour him with all humility and decency fearing lest by any vnseemely and light behauiour I should seeme to be contemptuous and carelesse of my dutie towards him If I finde great feare to do any thing that may displease God not onely mortally but euen venially and be withall â—â—â—y wâ—tchfull to auoide the least offâ—nce lest â—ny frailtie which is great should draw me to it and so to farther inconuenience If I feare to be banished from him or forsaken for my sinnes and endeuour what I may to preferre his loue and fauour towards me The third Affection THe third affection is zeale of Gods honour and desire that he should be duely serued and obeyed of all his creatures of which I may iudge by these signes First if I finde a griefe in my selfe and am heartily fory when I see or heare of other folkes faults or thinke on mine owne considering how by them a base and wretched creature dishonoreth and displeaseth his Creator in steade of him seruing his professed enemies the flesh the world and the diuell The second signe is an earnest desire to helpe my neighbour or mine owne soule out of sinne by praying for this effect and refusing no conuenient labour to accomplish the same so that my Lord God be no more or at least wise offended then before The fourth Affection THE fourth affection is to endeuour as neare as I can to take occasion of euery thing that I heare see or thinke of to praise God as if the things were good then to praise God that he gaue grace to do them and if the things were euill to thanke God that either he preserued me or others from them or at least hath not suffered me to continue still in them or to be in his wrath condemned for them Also I must consider and with my inward eye see God in euery creature how he worketh in all things to my benefit and weigh how in all creatures both within and without me he sheweth his presence by keeping them in their being and course of nature for without him they would presently turne to nothing and I must assure my selfe that in all this he hath as well regard to my good as to others and therefore all creatures must be as it were bookes to me to reade therein the loue presence prouidence and
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
that beareth me such a cankred malice that he careth not to increase his owne paine so that he may worke me any spirituall yea or corporall harme Fourthly I must print that saying of Christ in my minde He that perseuereth vnto the end shall be saued for not he that beginneth nor he that continueth for a moneth or a yeare or a short time but onely he that perseuereth vnto the end of his life shall be saued Wherfore the same cause that moued me to beginne ought also to moue me to continue that the reward and crowne of my good resolution be not cut off by any want of perseuerance Let not the cries of mine enemies moue me let me with Saint Paul say The world is crucified to me and I to the world And with Dauid It is good for me to cleane vnto God Finally let me imitate the ensample of Christ that perseuered on the crosse vnto death for my sake though often called vpon to come downe Fiftly I must consider that in what state so euer of grace or merit of damnation I beginne the next life I must and shall vndoubtedly perseuer in it according to the words of Salomon Wheresoeuer the tree falleth there shall it be whether it be towards South or North that is towards heauen or hell for both the paine of this continueth for euer and the ioy of the other is also euerlasting If therefore I will perseuer in heauen let me perseuer in the way that leadeth vnto it and neuer forsake the painefulnesse of it vnto the iourneyes end The passions of this life are not condigne and comparable to the future glorie and it is extreame follie for auoiding a short and transitorie paine to hazard the losse of euerlasting ioy and put my selfe in perill of perpetuall bondage in sarre more extreame and endlesse torments The sinners perseuer still in wickednesse and seruice of the Diuell The worldlings perseuer in pursuing vanities and following the world yea and that with most seruile toile and base drudgerie and not without many bodily and ghostly harmes how much more ought a true seruant of God perseuer in Gods seruice and not seeme by forsaking him in the way to condemne him for a worse maister then the world or the Diuell whom many thousands serue to the end to their owne damnation Let me remember that the first Angell for want of perseuerance became a diuell Adam for want of the same was thrust out of Paradise and Iudas of an Apostle became a prey of hell Finally there be many thousands in hell fire burning that beganne very good courses and for a time went forward in the same and yet in the end for want of perseuerance were damned for euer What good a soule loseth by mortall sinne THe grace of the holy Ghost The friendship and familiaritie with God All morall vertues infused and gifts of Gods Spirit The inheritance of the kingdome of heauen The portion of Gods children and patronage of his fatherly prouidence which he hath ouer the iust The peace and quietnesse of a good and quiet conscience Many comforts and visitations of the holy Ghost The fruite and merits of Christs death and passion What misery the soule gaineth by mortall sinne COndemnation to eternall paine To be quite cancelled out of the booke of life To become of the child of God the thrall of the diuell To be changed from the temple of the holy Ghost into a denne of theeues a nest of vipers and a sinke of all corruption How a Soule is prepared to iustification by degrees Faith setteth before one eyes God as a iust Iudge Angrie with the bad Mercifull to the repentant Of this faith by the gift of Gods Spirit ariseth a feare by consideration of Gods iustice and Our ownâ— sinnes This feare is comforted by hope grounded in Gods mercie and the Merits of Christ Of this hope ariseth loue and charity to Christ for Louing vs without desert Redeeming vs with so many torments Of this loue followeth sorrow for offending Christ of whom we haue bene so mercifully Created Redeemed Sanctified Called to by Faith Of this sorrow ariseth a full purpose to auoid all sinne which God aboue all things detesteth The diuell aboue all things desireth Aboue all things hurteth the soule A short Meditation of mans miseries VVHat was I O Lord what am I what shall I be I was nothing I am now nothing worth and am in hazard to be worse then nothing I was conceiued in originall sinne I am now full of actuall sinne I may hereafter feele the eternall smart of sinne I was in my mother a lothsome substance I am in the world a sacke of corruption I shall be in my graue a prey of vermine When I was nothing I was without hope to be saued or feare to be damned I am now in a doubtfull hope of the one and in a manifest danger of the other I shall be either happie by the successe of my hope or most miserable by the effect of my danger I was so that I could not then be damned I am so that I can scarce be saued what I haue bene I know to wit a wretched sinner what I am I cannot say being vncertaine of Gods grace what I shall be I am ignorant of being doubtfull of my perseuerance O Lord erect my former weaknesse correct my present sinfulnesse direct my future frailtie from passed euill to present good and from present good to future glorie sweete Iesus A deuout prayer to desire pardon and remission of our sinnes O Most mightie Lord and Creator of all things when I thinke with my selfe how grieuously I haue offended thine infinite Maiestie with my sinnes I wonder at mine owne follie when I consider what a louing and bountifull father I haue forsaken I accurse mine ingratitude when I behold how I am fallen from such a noble libertie into such a miserable bondage I condemne my selfe for an inconstant foole and know not what other thing I may set before mine eyes but onely hell and damnation for so much as thy iustice from which I cannot flie putteth a great tetror into my conscience but contrariwise when I consider thy great mercie which as the Prophet witnesseth exceedeth all thy workes then do I feele forthwith a fresh and pleasant aire of hope to refresh and strengthen againe my weake and sorrowfull soule Wherefore should I then dispaire to obtaine pardon of him who hath so often times in the holy Scriptures inuited sinners to repentance saying I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should liue and be conuerted Moreouer thine onely begotten Sonne our sweete Sauiour Iesus Christ hath reuealed vnto vs by many parables how ready and willing thou art to graunt pardon vnto all such as are penitent for their sinnes This he signifieth vnto vs by the Iewell lost and found againe By the strayed sheepe brought home againe vpon the shepheards shouldiers and much more by the comparison of the prodigall sonne
are kept by the Law and restrained by terrour thereof from open wickednesse Math. 23.13.16.23.25 These hate the Law but professe to loue it Psal 78.36 37. These ashamed of their nakednes couer it with fig-leaues or spiders webs of their own externall righteousnesse Isa 59.5.6 These crie but God heareth them not Isa 1.15 These change their words and workes but not themselues Gen. 4.3 28.8.9 Hos 7.16 These are in the house but as seruants not as children Iohn 8.35.36 Galat. 4.22 c. These go with their lampes but without oile they come to the feast but want the wedding garment Mat. 25 3. 22 11.1◠These are light before the world but darknesse before God Mat. 6.2 5.16 Isa 58.2.3.8 These though they see and know their sicknesse yet like to King Asa they seeke not the Lord in their disease but to the Physitians or with salues and medicines of their own making thinke to cure themselues 2. Chro. 16 12. Ioh 5.40 Hos 5.13 These do not the euill which they loue but the good which they loue not Nū 14.2.4.40 These expect saluation by themselues and their owne righteousnes Rō 10 3. Ier. 2.35 These vnder Moses conduct perish by Gods hand in the desert and come not into the Land of promise These both shall perish and be punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord their portion shall be with the diuels in the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death Mat. 25.30.41 24.51 Iob 13.16 2. Thes 1.8.9 Reue. 20.10.13.15 The Hypocrites hope shall perish Iob 8.13 The reioycing of the wicked is short the ioy of Hypocrites is but a moment Iob 20.5 SAINTS that rightly beleeue and obey Gods word with their vtmost power the friends of the Lord. Psal 119.3.5 10.11 c. These are borne anew not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh or of man but of God therefore they sauour the things of God mind heauenly things being children of Wisedome Ioh. 6.13 3.3 Luke 7.35 These are called and chosen of God are both in of the Church and so continue Ephes 1.4 c. Iob 17.9 In these sinne dieth and righteousnesse reuiueth daily both inwardly and outwardly Rom. 6.2 3 4 c. To these the law is not giuen or it lyeth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on them 1. Tim. 1.9 for they haue the Gospell the Law and Ministerie of the Spirit and Gods word is written in fleshly tables of their hearts within and without by the finger of God and they all behold as in a mirrour the glorie of the Lord with open face and are changed into the same image frō glorie to glorie as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. Cor 33.18 Eze. 11 19 Heb 8.10 These are the right keepers of the Law in spirit which sometime also were kept of the Law til Faith came Psal 119.33 34. Gal. 3.23 25. These loue the Law and professe their loue Psalme 119.97 Rom. 7.22 These haue their nakednesse couered of Christ and by the garments of his righteousnes Reuel 3.18 and 16.15 These call vpon God and he answereth them Ier. 29.12.13 These change both their actions and themselues or rather are changed of the Lord Rom. 12.2 These are no more strangers but children of Gods familie wherein they abide for euer Gal. 4.28 1. Ioh 3 These go to meete the bridegroom with oyle in their lamps are arrayed with the wedding robe Mat. 25.4 These are light both before God and the world Ephes 5.8 Mat. ◠16 Phil. 2.15 These see their sinnes and feele thēselues wounded by those fierie serpents but lift vp their eyes to the serpent of brasse they seek to Christ onely the Physitian of their soules Nūbers 21.8 9. Ioh. 3.14 15. These loue good and desire to do it yet do the euill which they hate Rom. 7.15 These expect saluation onely by Christs righteousnesse not by themselues Phil. 3.9 Rō 3 24.28 These after Moses death are brought by Iesus into the rest of Canaan the rest that remaineth for the people of God Heb. 4.8.9 These shall enter into the ioy of their Lord shall liue and reigne with him in heauen and with his holy Angels for euermore Amen Mat. 25.21.34.46 The Saints shall be preserued for euer Psal 37.28 And men shall say Verily there is fruite for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that iudgeth in the earth Psal 58.11 A prayer vnto God the Father THou that rulest in the highest reignest for euer onely canst do all things God the gouernor of heauen and earth at whose becke all creatures tremble and the pillars of heauen shake O heauenly God perfect workman and Potter I wretch made out of clay or rather of filthy mudde with feare and trembling come before the throne of thy maiestie I acknowledge and confesse my wickednesse I know that I am nothing yea that I am meere abomination and horror in thy sight if thy grace and mercie do faile me without thee I thinke no goodnesse without thee I do no good thing without thee I am a contemptible creeping worme I cannot be saued without thine assistance my saluation dependeth on thy hands I giue thee thanks O God and in especiall for this for that thou hast giuen me that knowledge that I may see and know that I am nothing vnable to do any thing without thee Thou art the Potter I the clay such as thou wilt haue me be such canst thou forme and fashion me if thou makest me blessed thou shewest thy mercy and grace if thou castest me into perdition thou shewest thy iustice and executest thy iudgement neither is it my duty to contradict thee why or for what reason thou doest it For thou hast mercy vpon him whō thou louest these things I meditate with my selfe ô Lord and I feare thy iudgements Since therefore all my safetie and saluation dependeth on thee and consisteth in thy hand and power and sith thou hast shewed thy selfe a mercifull and long-suffering God to the whole world and hast testified the same indeed in that thou wouldest thy onely Sonne Iesus Christ the innocent should die for our offences and expiate our sinnes with his bloud on the Crosse Finally since thou hast taught vs in all our perturbations to call vpon thee and aske thy grace and mercy for that thou wilt giue vs all things which we shall aske in the name of thy Sonne I come vnto thee being drosse and a lumpe of day O mercifull and celestiall Potter beseeching thee most humbly that thou wilt vse thy mercie and make of this vnworthy matter a vessell of eternall glorie Vouchsafe also of thy meere grace to fixe my mind on perfect faith assured hope and chaste and holy loue that being iustified by these thy gifts I may become vpright perfect good and holy according to thy good will both in the midst and end of my life as also at the latter day of iudgement O mercifull
Father grant me pardon of all my sinnes through the death of thy beloued Sonne Iesus Christ make me to please thee alone grant me to be thy gratefull sonne heire increase in me that iustice whatsoeuer which is giuen me and granted from heauen that I may continue and end my life in the same increase in me that faith which thou hast giuen me kindle my loue of thee and make it more apparent that by thy helpe and the presence of thy grace and the accomplishment of thy holy wil I may obtaine euerlasting life which thou hast promised vs to the end I may praise thee and giue thee thankes in thy kingdome for euer and euer Amen A Prayer to God the Sonne O Thou maker and redeemer of mankind Iesus Christ who saidest I am the way the truth and the life the way in doctrine precept and examples the truth in promises the life in reward I pray thee by thy vnspeakable charitie wherewith thou daignest to imploy thy selfe wholly for our saluation suffer me neuer to wander from thee who art the way neither euer to distrust in thy promises who art the truth and performest whatsoeuer thou doest promise neither to repose or relie on any other thing because thou art eternall life than which there is nothing more to be desired neither in heauen nor in earth By thee haue we learned the true and ready way to eternall saluation lest we should wander any longer in the Labyrinthes of this life Thou didst teach vs exactly how to beleeue what to do what to hope and in whom we ought to rest by thee we haue learned how vnhappie we were borne through our first father Adam by thee we haue learned that there is no hope of saluation except by faith in thee Thou hast taught vs that thou art the onely light that shinest to all men in the desart of this wolrd coÌ„ducting them through the night of their minds from the Egyptian darknesse to that blessed Land which thou promisest vnto the meeke and such as follow thy humility For in vs was nothing but vtter darknesse who neither could see our calamity neither know from whence to seeke the remedie of our misery thou daignedst to enter into the world vouchsafedst to take vpon thee our nature that thy doctrine might disperse the cloud of our ignorance that by thy precepts thou mightst direct our feete in the way of peace by the examples of thy life thou didst limit out a path for vs to immortality and beating it with thy steps thou madest it of a tedious and rough an easie and beaten way So becamest thou vnto vs a way that knoweth no errour in which lest we should be wearied thy bounty with great assured promises vouchsafed to assure vs for who could be wearied that thinketh how in following thy footsteps there is an heritage of eternall life prepared for him Therefore whilst we are in this iourney thou wouldest in stead of a staffe be an assured hope vnto vs whereby we might be sustained Neither was thy goodnesse coÌ„tented herewith but acknowledging the frailty of our natures in the meane space with the comfort of the holy Spirit thou repairest our courages to the end that we may more willingly run vnto thee And as thou being made a way vnto vs driuest away all errour so becoming our truth thou takest away al distrust Finally being made life vnto vs thou giuest heate vnto those that are dead in sinne a life through thy holy Spirit which quickeneth all things vntill all mortality laid aside in the resurrection we may alwaies liue with thee and in thee by reason that thou art vnto vs all in all things For it is eternall life to know the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost to be one true God Wherefore I beseech thee O most mercifull Father to increase faith in me who am thy vnworthie seruant lest at any time I wauer in thy celestiall doctrine increase obedience in me lest I swerue from thy precepts increase constancy that walking in thy waies I neither be allured by the inticements of Satan nor deiected by his terrors but that I may perseuere in thee who art rhe true way to my liues end Increase my faith that possessed of thy promises I may neuer waxe slow in the study of godlinesse but forgetting those things I haue left behind me I may alwaies striue and endeuour for more perfection Increase thy grace in me that daily more and more being mortified my selfe I may liue and be incouraged by thy holy Spirit fearing nothing but thee than whom there is nothing more amiable glorying in none but in thee who art the true glorie of all the Saints wishing nothing but thee than whom there is nothing better desiring nothing but thee who art full and perfect felicitie with the Father and the holy Ghost world without end Amen A prayer to God the holy Ghost HOly Spirit our Aduocate who on Whitsunday didst descend vpon thy Apostles filling their bosomes with charitie grace and wisedome I pray thee by that thy vnspeakable mercie and liberalitie that thou wilt vouchsafe to fill the secrets of my soule with thy grace and water my inward heart with the vnspeakable sweetnesse of thy loue Come holy Ghost from heauen send a beame of thy light Come thou Father of the poore come thou giuer of gifts come thou light of hearts come thou gracious comforter thou sweete guest of my soule my pleasant refresher Come thou Physition of those that faint come thou purger of eies come thou streÌ„gth of the fraile come thou remedie of sinnes come thou doctor of the humble come thou destroyer of the proud come thou excellent ornament of all vertues come thou onely saluation of the dying Come my God adorne a bed for thee in which I may worthily entertaine thee with all thy riches and mercies fill me with the gifts of thy wisdome illuminate me with the benefit of vnderstanding gouerne me with the gift of counsell confirme me with the gift of fortitude instruct me with the gift of science wound me with the gift of pietie and pierce my heart with the gift of thy holy feare O sweet louer of cleane hearts burne inflame all my bowels with the sweete fire of thy loue that being inflamed they may be carried rauished into thee who art the center and finall end of all my good ô sweete louer of â—oly soules since thou art not ignorant that I can do nothing of my selfe nor by my selfe stretch out thy fauorable hand ouer me grant that I may forsake my selfe flie vnto thee mortifie extinguish and dissolue in me whatsoeuer is displeasant vnto thee that in all things thou mayest conforme me vnto thy will that my life hereafter may be a perfect sacrifice in thy sight or rather an offering which may wholly be consumed in the fire of thy loue O who shall giue me the grace that I may at least attaine this chiefe good Looke vpon me ô Lord looke vpon me and see here this thy poore creature my soule sighing after thee day and night how she thirsteth after God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of thy grace When shall I enter into that admirable place of thy Tabernacle that I may attaine thâ— house of my God When wiâ—â— thou fill me with the light of thâ— countenance When shall I bâ— satiate with the presence of thy glory When shall I by thâ—â— meanes be deliuered from aâ—â— temptations and when shall ouercome this frailty of my moâ—talitie O eternall fountaine oâ— light bring me backe againe 〈◊〉 the Abysse of eternall goodnesse by whom I am created that â—ere I may know thee euen as I am knowne of thee and may so loue thee as I am loued by thee that I may see and enioy thee in the societie of all the elect euen as thou also hast seene me from euerlasting Amen FINIS
Mat. 26. 14. Mat 27 2. Luke 22. 62. Iohn 20. 11. Luke 7 38. Luke 32 42. S T PETERS COMPLAINE Mary Magdalâ— teares W th other workes of the author R S LONDON Printed for W Barrett 1620. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE RICHARD Earle of Dorcet c. My Lord THe entertainment which this worke in the seuerall parts thereof hath formerly found with men of exact iudgment may be a sufficient testimonie that it is not now offered vnto your Lordship for that it stands in need of protectioÌ„ the vsuall apologie of euery triuiall Pamphletter much lesse to â—emendicate any others suffrages beyond the knowne worth thereof the onely reason of this present boldnesse and my excuse for thus presuming to recommend it to your Honorable hands being that as the Author thereof had long since dedicated some peeces of the whole to sundrie particular branches of that noble stocke and familie whereof your Lordship is long may you be a strong and flourishing arme so now my selfe hauing first collected these dismembred parcels into one body and published them in an entire edition I held it a kind of sacriledge to defraud your noble name of the right which you may so iustly challenge thereunto which by the Sunshine of your fauour shall be as it were re-animated and He encouraged to further endeuours who in the meane time is At your Lordships seruice W. BARRET THE AVTHOR TO HIS LOVING COVSIN POets by abusing their talent and making the follies and faynings of Loue the customarie subiect of their base endeuours haue so discredited this facultie that a Poet a Louer and a Lyer are by many reckoned but three words of one signification But the vanity of men cannot counterpoise the authoritie of God who deliuering many parts of Scripture in verse and by his Apostle willing vs to exercise our deuotion in Hymnes and spirituall Sonnets warranteth the Art to be good and the vse allowable And therfore not onely among the Heathen whose Gods were chiefly canonized by their Poets and their Paynim Diuinitie oracled in verse but euen in the Old and New Testament it hath bene vsed by men of greatest pietie in matters of most deuotion Christ himselfe by making an Hymne the conclusion of his last Supper and the prologue to the first Pageant of his passion gaue his Spouse a methode to imitate as in the office of the Church it appeareth and to all men a patterne to know the true vse of this measured and footed style But the Diuell as he affecteth Deitie and seeketh to haue all the complements of Diuine honour applyed to his seruice so hath he among the rest possessed also most Poets with his idle fancies For in lieu of solemne and deuout matter to which in dutie they owe their abilities they now busie themselues in expressing such passions as onely serue for testimonies to how vnworthy affections they haue wedded their wils And because the best course to let them see the errour of their workes is to weaue a new webbe in their owne Loome I haue here layd a few course threeds together to inuite some skilfuller wits to go forward in the same or to begin some finer peece wherein it may be seene how well verse and vertue sute together Blame me not good Cousin though I send you a blame-worthie present in which the most that can commend it is the good will of the writer neither Art nor Inuention giuing it any credit If in me this be a fault you cannot be faultlesse that did importune mee to commit it and therefore you must beare part of the penance when it shall please sharpe censures to impose it In the meane time with many good wishes I send you these few Ditties adde you the Tunes and let the Meane I pray you be still a part in all your Musicke THE AVTHOR to the Reader DEare eye that doest peruse my Muses style With easie censure deeme of my delight Giue sobrest countnance leaue sometime to smile And grauest wits to take a breathing flight Of mirth to make a trade may be a crime But tyred spirits for mirth must haue a time The loftie Eagle soares not still aboue High flights will force her from the wing to stoope And studious thoughts at times men must remoue Lest by excesse before their time they droope In courser studies t is a sweet repose With Poets pleasing vaine to temper Prose Profane conceits and faining fits I flie Such lawlesse stuffe doth lawlesse speeches fit With Dauid verse to Vertue I apply Whose measure best with measurd words doth fit It is the sweetest note that man can sing When grace in Vertues key tunes Natures string RVRSVS AD EVNDEM DEare eye that daynest to let fall a looke On these sad memories of PETERS plaints Muse not to see some mud in cleerest Brooke They once were brittle mould that now are Saints Their weakenesse is no warrant to offend Learne in their faults what in thine owne to mend If Equities euen-hand the ballance held Where PETERS sinnes and ours were made the weights Ounce for his dramme pound for his ounce we yeeld His Ship would grone to feele some sinners freights So ripe is vice so greene is vertues bud The world doth waxe in ill but wane in good This makes my mourning Muse resolue in teares This theames my heauy penne to plaine in prose CHRISTS Thorne is sharpe no head his Garland weares Still finest wits are stilling VENVS Rose In Paynim toyes the sweetest veines are spent To Christian workes few haue their Talents lent Licence my single penne to seeke a Pheere You heauenly sparkes of wit shew natiue light Cloud not with misty loues your Orient cleere Sweet flights you shoote learne once to leuell right Fouour my wish well-wishing workes no ill I moue the Sute the grant rests in your will SAINT PETERS COMPLAINT LAnch foorth my soule into a maine of teares Full fraught with griefe the trafficke of thy minde Torne sailes will serue thoughts rent with guilty feares Giue care the sterne vse sighs in lieu of winde Remorse thy Pilot thy misdeed thy Card Torment thy Hauen shipwracke thy best reward Shunne not the shelfe of most deserued shame Sticke in the sands of agonizing dread Content thee to be stormes and billowes game Diuorc't from grace thy soule to penance wed Fly not from forreine euils fly from the heart Worse then the worst of euils is that thou art Giue vent vnto the vapours of thy brest That thicken in the brimmes of cloudy eyes Where sinne was hatcht let teares now wash the nest Where life was lost recouer life with cryes Thy trespasse foule let not thy teares be few Baptize thy spotted soule in weeping dew Fly mournfull plaints the Ecchoes of my ruth Whose screeches in my frighted conscience ring Sob out my sorrowes fruits of mine vntruth Report the smart of sinnes infernall sting Tell hearts that languish in the soriest plight There is on earth a farre more sory wight A