might be thought fit to be made pertakers of so high a good and so great a glory Let therfore the deuills lye in wayte for vs let them prepare theyr temptations let fasting breake our bodyes let garments loade our flesh let labours weigh heauy vpon vs let watching drye vs let one man cry out vpon vs and let another man disquiet vs let cold contract vs let the conscience repine let heat burne vs let the head ake the breast be inflamed let the stomacke be swolne let the face growe pale and let the whole body be distempered let my yeares be spent in groaning yea let rottennes enter into my bones and multiply therin so that yet I may rest in that day of tribulation and may ascend to our elected people For how great wil that glory of iust persons be how great will be that ioy of the saints when euery one of their faces shal be resplendent like a Sunne When our Lord shall begin to muster vp his people by different ranks in the kingdome of his father shall assigne the promised rewards according to the workes and merit of euery one Celestiall rewards for workes which were performed heere on earth Great rewards for little workes eternall for such as were but temporall That indeed will be a whole huge heape of felicity when our Lord shall bring his Saints into the vision of his Fathers glory and shall place them vpon their seats in heauen that so he may be all in all CHAP. XVI How the kingdome of God may be obteyned O HAPPY sweetnes O delicious happines which it will be for vs to behold the Saints be with Saints and to be Saints to see God and to possesse him for all eternity and euen if it might be beyond eternity Let vs be continually thinking on these things let vs aspire to them with our whole desire that so we may speedily arriue to enioy them If thou aske how this may be done by what merits or by what helpes giue eare and I will tell thee This affaire is put into thine owne power for the kingdome of heauen suffereth violence The kingdome of heauen O man doth exact no price at thy hands but onely thy selfe So much is it worth as thou thy selfe art Giue thy selfe and thou shalt haue it Why art thou troubled about the price Christ our Lord did giue himself away that he might purchase thee to be a kingdome for his father and so do thou also giue thy selfe that thou maist become a kingdome for him that sinne may not raigne in thy mortall body but the Spirit in the renouation of life CHAP. XVII What a happy place Heauen is O My soule returne toward that heauenly Citty wherin we are written and enrold as Cittizens And as Cittizens amongst the Saints the houshold seruants of God and as the heires of God and coheires of Christ our Lord. Let vs consider that excellent felicity of this citty of ours to the very vttermost of what we are able Let vs therefore say with the Prophet O how glorious thinges are sayd of thee thou Citty of God the habitation which is made in thee is of them who are all full of ioy For thou art founded in the exultation of the whole earth No old age is in thee nor any misery which is wont to wayte vpon old age In thee there is no man lame of arme or legg nor crooked nor other wise deformed when once they meet together becoming perfect man in the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ What is more happy then such a life where there is no fear of pouerty nor no incommodity of sicknes where no man is offended no man is angry no man enuious no desire doth solicite vs there is no appetite of meate no man is importuned by thirsting after honour and power there is no feare of the Diuell or the craft of those infernall spirits all terrour of hell is farre off there is no death either of body or soule but a life which is made full of ioy by the guift of immortality In fine there is no kind of ill or discord but all thinges are full of agreement proportion for as much as the concord of all the Saints is intierely one all things are full of peace and ioy all things are quiet and serene An euerlasting splendor there is not like that of this Sunne of ours but another which is so much more bright at it is more blessed For that Citty as we read shall need neither Sūne nor Moone but our Lord omnipotent will illuminate it and the Lambe is the bright lampe therof Where the Saints shall shine like starres and they who instruct many others like the splendour of the firmament No night shal be therefore there no darknes no concourse of clowds no incommodity at all of heat or cold but such a temper of things there wil be as neither the eye hath seene nor the eare hath heard nor can it enter into the hart of any other mē but such as shal be thought worthy to enioy it Whose names are written in the booke of life But it exceedeth all these thinges to be associated to the Quires of Angells and Archangells to behold the Patriarkes and the Prophets to see the Apostles and all the Saints yea to see our owne parents friends These things indeed are glorious but yet still incomparably a more glorious thing it is to behold the present face of God to looke vpon that vnlimitted light of his A superexcellent glory it will be when we shall see God in himselfe we shall see we shall possesse him in our selues and of that sight there wil be no end CHAP. XVIII We cannot make any requitall to Almighty God but only by loue THE soule which is beautifyed by the Image and dignifyed by the ressemblance of God hath groūd inough within it selfe which is also imparted by the same God wherby she may be aduised to remain perpetually within him or at least to return towardes him if she chance to haue beene separated by her affection or rather by her defectes And not only hath she ground of solace in the hope which she may conceaue of pardon and mercy but yet further she may also presume to aspire euen to the marriage of the Word and to contract a league of friendship with God and togeather with that king of the Angells to be drawing in the same sweet yoake of loue Now all this is performed by the same loue if the soule do make it selfe like to God by her will as already she is like him by nature and if she loue him as she is beloued by him For only loue amongst all the motions passions feeling senses of the soule is the thing whereby a creature may answere the benefits of a Creatour and repay after a sort what it oweth though it be not in any equall manner Where loue entreth in it draweth captiueth all other
lett my spiritt pante towards thee my hart burne bright in thy loue forgetting all vanity and misery Hearken to me ô God hearken ô thou light of myne eyes hearken to that which I desire and make me desire such things as thou wilt grant O Lord thou who art holy exorable in thy selfe doe not become inexorable to me for my sinns but for thyne owne goodnes sake receaue the Prayers of thy seruant grant me the effect of my desire and sute by the prayers and merits of my Lady the glorious Virgin Mary and of all thy Saintes Amen CHAP. XXXVII A most holy and most excellent Prayer to Almighty God whereby the soule is greatly mooued to deuotion O Lord Iesus O Holy Iesus O good Iesus who didest vouchsafe to dy for our sinns and to rise agayne for our Iustification I beseech thee by that glorious Resurrection of thyne raise me vp from the sepulchre of all my vices and sinns dayly giue me a part in thy Resurrection by grace that I may obteyne to be made a true pertaker of thy Resurrection to glory O thou most sweete most benigne most loueinge most pretious most amiable and most beautifull Lord who didest ascend vp to heauen in a triumph of glory and beinge a most puissant Kinge dost sitt at the right hand of thy Father Drawe me vpward that I may runn after thee in the pursute and sent of thy odoriferous oyntments I will runn and not faynt Whilest thou art leading and draweinge me I will be runninge Drawe vp this mouth of my thirsty soule into those celestiall spirings of eternall satiety Nay rather drawe me to thy very selfe who art the true liueinge fountayne that so accordinge to the vttermoste of my capacity I may drinke that where-vpon I may for euer liue O thou my God and my life For thou haste said with thy holy and blessed mouth If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke O thou fountayne of life grant to my thirsty soule that it may alwayes drinke of thee that accordinge to thy holy and faithfull promisse the liueing waters may flowe from me O thou fountayne of life fill my minde with the torrent of thy delight and inebriate my hart with the sober ebriety of thy loue that I may forget all vaine ād earthly things and may perpetually haue thee and thee alone in my memory as it is written I haue beene mindfull of God and I was delighted Imparte to me the holy Spiritt which was signifyed by those watters which thou didest promisse that thou wouldest giue to such as thirsted after them Grant I beseeche thee that with my whole desire and endeauour I may tend thyther whither I beleeue thee to haue ascended vpon the fortieth day after thy Resurrection That so my body onely be held in this present misery and that I may euer be with thee in desire and thought That my hart may be there where thou art who art my incomparable disireable and extreamely amiable treasure For in the great deluge of this life wherein we are tossed with stormes to and fro surrounding vs and where there is noe secure castinge of anchor nor place more eminent wher-vpon the Doue may place her foote repose her selfe in some smale measure there is noe where any safe peace noe where any secure quietnes but euery where warrs and strife all places full of enemyes fighting without and fears within And because one parte of vs is celestiall and the other terrestriall the body which is subiect to coruption doth dull and stupify the soule Therefore doth this soule of myne which is my companion and my freind and which colmes all weary from trauellinge vpon a long and laborious way lye languishinge and torne in sunder by those vanityes which it passed by and it doth hunger and thirst extreamely and I haue nothinge to sett before it because I am a poore creature and a meere begger Thou ô Lord my God who art rich in all things and art a most plentifull imparter of celestiall satiety giue foode to it being weary recolect it being scattered and repair it being torne in peeces Behold it is at the doore and knockes It beseeches thee by those bowells of thy mercy whereby thou didest visite vs riseinge from aboue to open thy hand of pitty to this miserable soule which knockes and commaund out of thy benignity grace that it may enter in to thee that it may repose in thee and that it may be recreated and fedd with thee who art that true celestiall bread and wine That when it is satisfyed therewith it may recouer strength and so ascēd vp to the things aboue it being snatched vp out of this valley of misery by the wing of holy desires it may fly into those celestiall Kingdomes Let my spiritt ô Lord let my spiritt I beseech thee take the wings of an Eagle let it spring vp and neuer fainte let it fly till it arriue euen as farr as the beauty of thy house that place of the habitation of thy glory that it may there be full fedd vpon that table where thy celestiall Cittizens are refreshed with those secret delights of thyne in that place of rich feedinge close by those full fountaynes and there ô my Lord let my hart repose and rest in thee My hart is a high sea swelling vp with waues Thou who didest commaund both windes and seas where vpon great tranquillity did followe come downe and walke vpon these Waues of my hart that all my thoughts may become serene and quiet to the end that I may embrace thee my deare and onely Lord and that I may contemplate thee who art the sweete light of myne eyes being freed from the blinde mistes or foggs of all vnquiet cogitations Let my hart fly vnder the shadowe of thy wings from the scorching heate of the cares and cogitations of this world that so being hidden vp in that sweete refreschinge of thine it may exult singe In thy peace in thy very selfe will I sleepe and rest Let my memory sleepe let it sleepe I beseeche thee O my Lord God from all sinn and vice Let it hate iniquity and loue sanctity For what is more beautifull what is more delightfull then in the middest of the deepe darkenes and the many bitter sorrowes of this life to pante towards that diuine sweetnes of thine and to aspire to that eternall beatitude and there to haue our harts fixed where it is most certaine that true ioy is to be found O thou most sweete most loueinge most benigne most deare most precious most desirable most amiable and most beautifull Lord When shall I be able to see thee When shall I apppeare before thy face Whē shall I be satisfyed with that beauty of thine Vvhen wilt thou lead me out of this darke prison that I may confesse to thy Name that so from thence forth I may haue noe more cause of greife Vvhen shall I passe on into
stone or some tree or some brute beast but because thy goodnes hath ordeyned otherwise concerning me and that thou shouldest so ordeyne was not caused by any precedent merits of myne CHAP. X Of the incomprehensible prayse of God WHence came this mercy to me O Lord and whence shall I be able to gett power wherewith I may be able to prayse thee For as thou madest me without me according to thyne owne good pleasure so art thou praysed in thy self as thou art best pleased without mee Thy prayse O Lord is thy very selfe Lett all thy workes prayse thee according to the multitude of thy greatenes Thy prayse O Lord is incomprehensible It is not comprehended by the hart nor to be measured by the mouth nor receiued by the eare For these things passe on away but thy prayse O Lord remaynes for euer The cogitation of man begins and his cogitation ends the voyce sounds and the voyce is blowen ouer the eare heares and it leaues of to heare but thy prayse endures for euer Vvho is therefore he that shall prayse thee Vvhat man shall be able to announce thy prayse Thy prayse is not transitory it is eternall He prayseth thee who beleiues thee to be thyne owne prayse He prayseth thee who knoweth that he cann neuer arriue to prayse thee enough Thy prayse is euerlasting doth neuer passe In thee is our prayse and in thee shall my soule be praysed It is not wee who prayse thee but it is thou who prayseth thy selfe and in thy selfe and by thy selfe and wee also haue our prayse in thee Then haue wee true prayse when wee haue prayse from thee when light approueth light For thou O true Prayse doest imparte true prayse but as often as we seeke prayse from any other but thee soe often doe wee loose thy prayse because that other is transitory but thyne eternall If wee seeke that prayse which is transitory wee shall loose the prayse which is eternall If wee desire that which is eternall let vs not loue that which is transitory O thou eternall Prayse O thou my Lord and my God from whome all prayse proceedeth and without whom there is no prayse I am not able to prayse thee without thee but let me possesse thee and I shall prayse thee For who O Lord am I that of my selfe I should be able to prayse thee dust and ashes I am a dead and stinkeing dog I am I am a very worme and putrefactiō it selfe Vvho am I that I should prayse thee O thou most Mighty Lord and thou God of the spirits of all flesh who inhabitest Eternity Shall darkenes be able to praise light or death life Thou art light and I am darkenes thou art life and I am death Shall vanity be able to prayse truth Thou art truth but I am a man as vane as vanity it selfe How then O Lord shall I be able to praise thee Shall my misery be able to prayse thee Shall stinkes be able to prayse pretious odours Shall the mortality of a man who is here to day and will be gone to morrowe be able to prayse thee Shall man who is rottennes it selfe be able to prayse thee and the sonne of man who is noe better then a base worme Shall he be able to prayse thee O Lord who is conceyued and borne and bredd vp in sinne verily thy prayses cannot be gratefull in the mouth of a sinner O Lord my God let thy incomprehensible power thy wisdome which cannot be circumscribed and thy goodnes which cannot be declared prayse thee Let thy supereminent clemency thy superabondant mercy thy sempiternall vertue and diuinity praise thee Let thy most Omnipotent fortitude thy supreme benignity and charity whereby thou didest create vs O Lord thou God of my soule prayse thee CHAP. IX Of the hope which is to be erected towards God BVt I who am thy creature reposing vnder the shadow of thy Vvings will hope in thy goodnes whereby thou didest create me Assiste thy creature who was created by thy benignity let not that perish through my malice which hath bene wrought by thy goodnes Let not that perish by my misery which hath bene framed by thy mercy For what doth it profit thee to haue created me if I shall descend to hell through myne owne corruption For hast thou ô Lord in vaine made all the sonnes of men Thou hast created mee O Lord and therefore gouerne that which thou hast created Doe not O Lord despise the the worke of thine owne hands Thou madest mee of nothing and if thou doe not gouerne me O Lord I shall againe retourne into my nothing For as once I was not O Lord then thou madest me of nothing soe if thou doe not gouerne me yet once againe I shall of my selfe be reduced to nothing Helpe me O Lord my life and let me not perish in my wickednes If thou haddest not created mee O Lord I had not beene and because thou didest create me Behold I am But if now thou doe not gouerne me behold I am noe more For neither my merits nor any priuiledge of myne compelled thee to create me but thyne owne most benigne bounty clemency Let that charity of thyne O Lord my God which compelled thee to create me I beseech thee oblige thee to gouerne mee For what doth it profit me that thy charity constrayned thee to create me if now I perish in my misery and if thy right hand doe not perfect me Let that mercy compell thee O Lord my God to saue that which thou hast created which compelled thee to create that which thou haddest not created Let charity ouercome thee to make thee saue which ouercame thee to make thee create because now that charity is not lesse then it was For that very charity is thy very selfe who art the same for euer Thy hand O Lord is not so abbreuiated as that it cannot saue vs nor is thine eare out of tune that it cannot heare vs but my sinnes haue made a diuision betwixt thee and me betweene light and darkenes betweene the image of death and life betweene vanity and verity betweene this lunatike inconstant life of myne thyne which is capable of noe change or end· CHAP. XII Of the snares of Concupiscence THese are those shadowes of darkenes wherewith I am couered in the Abysse of this darke prison where I lye prostrate till such tyme as the day may dawne and the black shadowes be remoued and the light may be made in the firmament of thy power Let the voyce of our Lord in power The voyce of our Lord in magnificence say thus Let light be made and let darkenes be driuen away let the earth appeare dry sprout forth fresh and greene plants which may bring forth seede and the good fruite of the Iustice of thy Kingdome O Lord our Father and our God thou light whereby all things liue and without which all things are accounted for dead doe not
the body of his glory wee expect when our Lord returneth from the marriage that he may carry vs in with him Come Lord and doe not stay Come O Lord Iesus Christ come visit vs in peace come and carry vs out who are bound in prison that wee may reioyce before thee with a perfect harte Come O thou Sauiour come thou who art the desired of all nations doe but let vs see thy face and wee are safe Come my Light and my Redeemer lead my soule out of this prison that I may confesse to thy holy Name How long shall I wretched creature be tossed vp and downe in these waues of my mortality cryeing out vpon thee O Lord whilest thou hearest mee not Harken to mee O Lord who am cryeing to thee out of this deepe Sea and waft mee into the Hauen of eternall blisse to theyr society who being conducted out of this dangerous Sea haue obtayned to repose in that most safe harbour which is thy selfe O God O how truely happy are they who be deliuered from that Sea to the shore from banishment to their country and from the prison to the Pallace Happy are they who in theyr desired place of rest are eternally to reioyce for haueing soe with such prosperous ioy obtayned that prize of eternall glory towards which they here made they re course through such a multitude of tribulations O how truely happy are they O thrice and three thousand tymes happy who being freed from all misery and being secure in the possession of that inuiolable glory haue deserued to arryue to that Kingdome of order and delight O Eternall Kingdome Kingdome which out liueth all ages where there is a light which neuer fayleth and a peace which passeth all vnderstanding where the soules of the Saincts repose and eternall ioy hāgeth ouer theyr heads For they shall obtaine delight and exultation and greif and sorrow shall fly away How glorious O Lord is that kingdome wherein all thy Saints shall for euer reigne with thee being cladd with light as with a garment and heauing a crowne of pretious stone vpon theyr heads O kingdome of eternall beatitude where thou O Lord who art the hope of the Saints and the diademe of theyr glory art beheld by them face to face delighting them on all sides with thy peace which passeth all vnderstanding VVhere there is infinite ioy without greif health without payne workeing without labour light without darkenes life without death all good without any ill VVhere youth neuer waxeth old where life neuer cometh to an end where beauty is neuer diminished where loue is neuer weakened where health is neuer blasted where Ioy is neuer impayred where payne is neuer felt where groane is neuer heard where sadnes is neuer seene where ioy is euer had where noe euill is feared because the souueraigne good is possessed there which consists in euer seeing the face of our Lord the God of all strength Happy therefore are they who haue obtayned to come to soe greate ioye out of this life where so many shipwrakes are suffered And O vnhappy and wretched creatures wee who are steereing our ships through the floods of this great sea through these stormy whirlepooles not knoweing whether or no wee shall be able to arryue to the porte of saluation Miserable I say wee are whose life is spent in banishement and whose way in daunger and whose end in doubt for wee knowe not our end because all things are reserued in suspense for the future VVee are still tossed in these sea-waues aspireing to thee who art the hauen O thou country of ours wee see thee though it be from farre of VVee salute thee from this sea wee sigh to thee from this valley and wee striue with teares if perhaps wee may be able to get thither O Christ thou God of Gods thou hope of mankinde thou refuge and strength of ours whose light like some beame of the sea starre doth strike our eyes from farre of amongst the foggy mists and tempests of this sea wherein wee liue that soe our course may be directed to thee who art our hauen gouerne I beseech thee our ship with thy right hand by the instrument of thy Crosse that wee may not perish in these floods that the stormes of water may not drowne vs that the profound pitt may not swallow vs vp but drawe vs out of this sea to thee who art our onely solace whome wee see with our lamenting eyes to be expecting vs though from farre of vpon the shore of that celestiall country as it might be some Sunne of Iustice or morneing starre Behould wee cry out to thee who are redeemed by thee and who are now those exiles of thine whom thou hast redeemed with thy pretious blood Harken to vs O our Sauiour the hope of all the sands of the sea how farre soeuer it be of Wee are tossed in this turbulent sea and thou standing vpon the shore doest see our dangers and saue vs for thy names sake Graunt to vs O Lord that wee may hold soe euen away betweene Sylla and Caribdis that haueing escaped the danger of them both wee may securely arriue in the port with our ship and our aduenture safe CHAP. XXXVI Of the glory of our celestiall country WHen therefore we shall be come to thee O thou foūtaine of wisedome to thee O indeficient light to thee O thou who art the splendour which cannot be defaced that we may then behould thee not by representation as in a glasse but face to face then shall our desire be fully satisfyed with good things because no other thing will remayne to be desired by vs when we shall possesse thee O Lord our soueraigne good who art to be the reward of the blessed and the diademe of they re glorye and the sempiternall Ioy which hangeth ouer theyr heads possessing them both inwardly outwardly in that peace of thyne which passeth all vndestanding There shall wee see and loue and praise Wee shall see light in thy light because with thee is the fountaine of life and in thy light wee shall see light But what kinde of light an immense light an incorporeall incorruptible and incomprehensible light a light indefcient a light which cannot bee put out an inaccessible light an vncreated light a light which sheweth truth a diuine light which illuminateth the eyes of Angells which reioyceth the youth of saints which is a light of lights and the fountaine of life which is thy selfe O Lord my God For thou art that light in whose light wee shall see thy self who art that light hat is to say thee in thee in the splendour of thy countenance when wee shall see thee face to face What is it to see face to face but as the Apostle sayth to knowe thee as I am knowen To knowe thy truth thy glory is to knowe thee face to face To knowe the power of the Father the wisedome of the Sonne the meekenes of the Holy Ghost
the one and indiuiduall essence of the supreme Trinity For to see the face of the liueing God is to possesse the soueraigne good It is the ioy of the Angells and of all the Saints the reward of eternall life the glory of spirites the eternall Ioy the crowne of beauty the prize of felicity the rich repose the beauty of peace the internall and externall Ioy the celestiall Ierusalem the Paradise of God the happy life the fullnes of felicity the delight of eternity the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding This is that full beatitude and that totall glorification of man to see the face of his God to see him who made heauen and earth to see God who made him who saued him and who glorifyed him He shall see him by knoweing him he shall apply himselfe to him by loueing hym and he shall praise him by possessing him For he is the inheritance of his people of the people of Saints of the people which he redeemed He is the possession of they re felicity he is the reward recompence of they re expectation I will sayth he be a great and excessiue reward to thee For great things become great persons Indeed O Lord my God thou art excessiuely great beyond all Gods and thy reward is excessiuely greate For it cannot be true that thy self should be great and thy reward litle but as thou art great so thy reward is great for thy reward and thy self are not two seuerall things But thou thy self artexcessiuely great and thou thy self art that reward which is soe excessiuely great Thou thy self art he who crowneth vs who art the crowne thou thy self art he who maketh the promise and who art that very promise it selfe Thou art he who bestowest the guift and who art the guift it self Thou thy self art the rewarder and thou art the reward of eternall felicity Thou art therefore he who crowneth and thou O my God art the crowne and diademe of my hope which is ad orned with glory Thou art that recreatiue brightnes that reuiuing light that gracefull beauty thou art my great hope the desire of the harte of thy Saints and desired by them Thy vision therefore is the totall pay the totall reward the totall Ioy which wee expect For this is eternall life this I say is thy wisedome This is eternall life that wee may knowe thee onely true God and Iesus Christ whome thou hast sent VVhen therefore wee shall see thee the only God the true God the God liuing Omnipotent simple inuisible incomprehensible not to be circumcribed and thy onely begotten Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord who is consubstantiall and coeternall with thee whome thou hast sent into the world for our saluation in the vertue and power of the Holy Ghost they being Trine in persons and one in essence one onely Holy God besides whome there is noe God Then wee shall enioy what now wee seeke which is eternall life and euerlasting glory which thou preparest for them who loue thee and hidest vp for them who feare thee and wilt impart to them who seeke thee them who seeke thy face for euer And thou O Lord my God who framedst mee in the wombe of my mother who recommended mee ouer to thy hand do not permit mee any longer to be distracted into many thinges from thee who art one But gather mee vp from exteriour obiects into my self and then take mee from my self into thee that my hart may be euer saying to thee my face hath sougt thee O Lord I will seeke thy face The face of our Lord power wherein alone of the totall eternall glory of blessed soules doth consist the vision whereof is the eternall life euerlasting glory of the SS t s Let therefore my hart reioyce that it may feare thy name let the hart of such as doe but euen seeke our Lord reioyce but much more let them reioyce who finde him For if Ioy be taken in the search of him what ioy will that be which is felt in findeing him Therfore I will be euer seeking thy face ardently and without giueing ouer to see if once at length that doore and gate of Iustice may perhaps bee opened vnto mee that I may enter into the Ioy of my Lord. This is the gate of our Lord and the Iust shall enter into it CHAP. XXXVII A prayer to the blessed Trinity O You three coequall and coeternall persons who are one true God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost thou who alone dwellest in eternity and inaccessible light Who hast layd the foundations of the earth with thy power and who gouernest the world with thy wisedome Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth terrible and powerfull Iust and mercifull admireable laudable and amiable One God three persons one essence power wisedome one onely vndeuided Trinity Open thou the gates of Iustice to mee who am crying out after them and being once entered by them I will confesse to thee O Lord. Behold I who am a poore begger doe knocke at thy doore O thou who art the soueraigne Master of the house command that it may be opened to me thou who say dest knocke and it shall be opened to you For the desires of my bowells which do euen roare againe and the cryes of the teares of myne eyes are they who knocke at thy gate O most mercifull Father Before thee is my whole desire and my groanes are not hidden from thee And thou O Lord turne thy face noe longer away from mee and decline not in thy wrath from thy seruaunt O thou Father of mercyes hearken to the loud crye of thy poore childe and reach forth thy best helping hand that it may drawe me out of the profound pitts of water and out of the lake of misery and out of the durt and dregs that I may not perish whilest the mercy of thyne eyes is beholding mee and the charity of thy bowells is lookeing on But enable mee to escape to thee who art my Lord and my God that I may see the riches of thy kingdome and may behold thy face for euer and may sing prayse to thy holy name O Lord thou who workest wonderfull things thou who makest my hart ioyfull by the memory of thee and who illuminatest my youth doe not despise my old age but fill my bones full of ioy and renew my grey heires as that of an eagle is renued All glory all prayse all strength all power all magnificence all beatitude all mercy be ascribed to God the Father and the Sonne and the Holy Ghost Amen The end of the Soliloquia Deo gratias THE MANVALL OF S. AVGVSTINE THE FIRST CHAPTER Of the wonderfull essence of God THov O Lord dost fill heauen earth carrying all things and yet they are no burthen to thee Thou fillest all thinges without being shut vp by them Thou art euer working yet euer quiet gathering togeather yet thou needest nothing seeking yet wanting nothing louing yet