sweetnesse therefore it is that maketh this word so sweet and for loue of him thou repeatest it so often because hee in the like case said of thy brother where haue you put him O how much doest thou affect his person that findest so sweete a feeling in his phrase Howe much desirest thou to see his countenance that with so great desire pronouncest his wordes And howe willingly wouldest thou kisse his sacred feet that so willingly vtterest his shortest speeches But what meanest thou to make so absolute a promise and so boldly to say I will take him away Ioseph was afraid and durst not take downe his body from the crosse but by night yea and then also not without Pilats warrant But thou neyther staiest till night nor regardest Pilat but stoutly promisest that thou thy selfe wilt take him away What if hee be in the Pallace of the high Priest and some suche mayd as made Saint Peter denie his maister to beginne to question with thée wilt thou theÌ„ stand to these words I wil take him away Is thy courage so high aboue thy kinde strength so far beyond thy sexe and thy loue so much without measure that thou neither remembrest that al women are weak nor that thou thy selfe art but a woman Thou exemptest no place thou preferrest no person thou speakest without feare thou promisest without condition thou makest no exception as though nothing were impossible that thy loue suggesteth But as the darknesse could not fright thée from setting foorth before day nor the watch feare thee from comming to the Tombe as thou diddest resolue to breake open the seales though with danger of thy life and to remoue the stone from the graues mouth though thy force could not serue thée so what maruell though thy loue being nowe more incensed with the fresh wound of thy losse it resolue vpon any though neuer so hard aduentures Loue is not ruled with reason but with loue It neither regardeth what can be nor what shall be done but onely what it selfe desireth to doe No difficultie can stay it no impossibilitie appale it Loue is title iust enough and armour strong enough for all assaultes and it self a reward of all labours It asketh no recompence it respecteth no commodity Loues fruits are loues effects and the gaynes the paynes It considereth behoofe more then benefite and what in dutie it shoulde not what in deede it can But how can nature be so mastered with affection that thou canst take such delight and carrye such loue to a dead corse The mother how tenderly soeuer shee loued her childe aliue yet shée can not choose but loath him dead The most louing spouse can not endure the presence of her deceasâ—d husband and whose embracements were delightsom in life are euer most hatefull after death Yea this is the nature of all but principally of women that the very conceite much more the sight of the departed striketh into them so fearful and vgly impressions and stirreth in them so great a horrour that notwithstanding the most vehement loue they thinke long till the house be ridde of their very dearest friends when they are once attired in deaths vnlouely liueries How theÌ„ canst thou endure to take vp his corse in thy handes and to carry it thou knowest not thy selfe how far being especially so torne and mangled and consequently the more likely in so long time to be tainted Thy sister was vnwilling that the graue of her owne brother should be opened and yet he was shrowded in shéetes embalmed with spices and died an ordinary death without anye wound bruse or other harme that might hasten his corruption But this corse hath neither shroud nor spice sith these are all to be séene in the Tombe and there is not a part in his body but had some helpe to further it to decay and art not thou afraide to see him yea to touch him yea to embrace and carry him naked in thy armes If thou haddest remembred Gods promise that His Saintes shoulde not see corruption If thou haddest beléeued that his Godhead remaining with his body could haue preserued it from perishing thy faith had ben more worthye of praise but thy loue lesse worthy of admiration sith the more corruptible thou diddest conceiue him the more combers thou diddest determine to ouercome the greater was thy loue in being able to coÌ„quer them But thou wouldest haue thought thy ointments rather harms then helpes if thou hadst béene setled in that beléef and for so heauenly a corse embalmed with God all earthly spices woulde haue séemed a disgrace If likewise thou haddest firmely trusted vppon his resurrection I should lesse maruail at thy constant designement sith all hazards in taking him should haue beene with vsury repaid if lying in thy lap thou mightest haue séene him reuiued and his disfigured and dead body beautified in thy armes with a diuine maiesty If thou hadst hoped so good Fortune to thy watery eies that they might haue beene first cleared with the beames of his desired light or that his eies might haue blessed thee with the first fruites of their glorious lookes If thou hadst imagined any likelihood to haue made happy thy dying hart with taking in the first gaspes of his liuing breath or to haue heard the first words of his pleasing voice Finally if thou hadst thought to haue séen his iniuries turned to honours the markes of his misery to ornaments of glory and the depth of thy heauinesse to such a height of felicity what so euer thou hadst don to obtaine him had béen but a mite for a million and too slender a price for so soueraigne a peniworth But hauing no such hopes to vphold thee and so many motiues to plunge thée in dispaire how could thy loue be so mighty as neither to féele a womans feare of so deformed a corse nor to thinke the weight of the burthen too heauy for thy féeble armes nor to bee amated with a world of daungers that this attempt did carry with it But affection can not feare whom it affecteth loue féeleth no load of him it loueth neither can true friendshippe be frighted from rescuing so affied a friend What meanest thou then O comfort of her life to leaue so constant a well willer so long vncomforted and to punish her so much that so well deserueth pardon Dally no longer with so known a loue which so many trials auouch most true And sith shée is nothing but what it pleaseth thée let her taste the benefite of being onely thine Shée did not follow the tide of thy better Fortune to shift saile when the streame did alter course Shée began not to loue thee in thy life to leaue thée after death Neither was shée such a guest at thy table that meant to be a straunger in thy necessity Shée lefte thee not in thy lowest ebbe shee reuolted not from thy last extremity In thy life shee serued thee with her goods In thy death shee departed
the vsuall vaine should haue beene no eye-sore to those that are better pleased with worse matters Yet sith the copies therof flew so fast and so false abroad that it was in danger to come corrupted to the print it seemed a lesse euill to let it flie to common viewe in the natiue plume and with the owne wings then disguised in a voate of a bastard feather or cast off from the fist of such a corrector as might happily haue perished the sound and impedâ—n some sicke and sory fethers of his owne phansies It may be that courteous skill will recken this though eourse in respect of others exquisite labors not vnfit to entertaine well tempered humours both with pleasure and profit the ground therof being in scripture and the forme of enlarging it an imitation of the ancient doctours in the same and other pointes of like tenour This commodity at the least it will carie with it that the reader may learne to loue without improofe of puritie teach his thoughts eyther to temper passion in the meane or to giue the bridle onely where the excesse cannot be faultic Let the work defend it self and euerie one passe his censure as he seeth cause Manie Carpes are expected when curious eyes come a fishing But the care is alreadie taken and the patience waiteth at the table readie to take away when that dish is serued in and to make roume for others to set on the desired fruit S. VV. MARY MAGDALENS Funerall Teares EMONGST other mourneful accidents of the passion of Christ that loue presenteth it selfe to my memory with which the blessed Mary Magdelen louing our Lord more then her life followed him in his iourney to his death attending vppon him when his Disciples fledde and being more willing to die with him then they to liue without him But not finding the fauour to accompany him in death and loathing after him to remaine in life the fire of her true affection enflamed her heart and her enflamed hart resolued into vncessant teares so that burning and bathing betwéen loue and griefe shee led a life euer dying and felt a death neuer ending And when hee by whome shée liued was dead and shée for whom he died enforcedly left aliue shée praised the dead more then the liuing and hauing lost that light of her life shee desired to dwell in darkenesse and in the shadow of death choosing Christs Tombe for her best home and his corse for her chiefe comfort For Mary as the Euangelist saith Stoode without at the Tombe weeping But alas how vnfortunate is this woman to whome neyther life will afforde a desired farewell nor death alow any wished welcome Shée hath abandoned the liuing and chosen the company of the dead and now it seemeth that euen the dead haue forsaken her sith the corse shee séeketh is taken away froÌ„ her And this was the cause that loue induced her to stand and sorrow enforced her to wéepe Her eie was watchful to séek whom her heart most longed to enioy and her foote in a readinesse to runne if her eie shoulde chaunce to espy him And therefore shée standeth to be still stirring prest to watch euery way and prepared to goe whether any hope should call her But shée wept because shée had such occasion of standing and that which moued her to watch was the motiue of her teares For as shée watched to finde whom shée had lost so shée wept for hauing lost whom shée loued her poore eies being troubled at once with two contrary offices both to be clear in sight the better to séeke him and yet cloudy with tears for missing the sight of him Yet was not this the entrance but the increase of her griefe not the beginning but the renewing of her mone For first shée mourned for the departing of his soule out of his body and now shée lamented the taking of his body out of the graue being punished with two wreckes of her onely welfare both full of misery but the last without all comfort The first originall of her sorrow grew because shée could not enioy him aliue yet this sorrow had some solace for that shée hoped to haue enioyed him dead But when shée considered that his life was already lost and now not so much as his body could be found shee was wholly daunted with dismay sith this vnhappinesse admitted no helpe Shee doubted least the loue of her master the onely portion that her Fortune had left her would soon languish in her cold brest if it neither had his wordes to kindle it nor his presence to cherishe it nor so much as his dead ashes to rake it vp Shee had prepared her spices and prouided her ointments to pay him the last Tribute of eternall dueties And though Ioseph and Nichodemus had already bestowed a hundred pounds of Mirthe and Aloes which was in quantity sufficient in quality of the best and as well applied as art and deuotion could deuise yet such was her loue that shée would haue thought any quantity too little except hers had béene added the best in quality too meane except hers were with it and no diligence in applying it inough except her seruice were in it Not that shée was sharpe in censuring that which others had done but because loue made her so desirous to doe all her selfe that though all had béene done that shée could deuise and as wel as shee could wishe yet vnlesse shee were an Actor it would not suffice sith loue is as eager to bee vttered in effects as it is zealous in true affection Shee came therefore now meaning to enbalme his corps as shee had before annointed his feet and to preserue the reliques of his body as the only remnant of all her blisse And as in the spring of her felicitie shee had washed his feete with her teares be wailing vnto him the death of her own soule so nowe shee came in the depth of her misery to shedde them a freshe for the death of his body But when she saw the graue open and the body taken out the labour of embalming was preuented but the cause of her wéeping increased and he that was wanting to her obsequies was not wanting to her teares and though shée founde not whom to annoint yet found she whom to lament And not without cause did Mary complaine finding her first anguishe doubled with a second griefe and being surcharged with two most violent sorrowes in one afflicted heart For hauing setled her whole affection vppon Christ and summoned all her desires and wishes into the loue of his goodnes as nothing could equall his worthes so was ther not in the whole world either a greater benefit for her to enioy then himselfe or any greater domage possible then his losse The murdering in his one death the life of all lifes left a general death in all liuing creatures and his disease not onely disrobed our nature of her most roiall ornaments but impouerished the world of
the libertie of a ioyfull life O swéet tomb of my swéetest Lord while I liue I will stay by thee when I die I will cleaue vnto thée neither aliue nor dead will I euer be drawne from thée Thou art the altar of mercie the temple of trueth the sanctuary of safetie the graue of death and the cradle of eternall life O heauen of my eclipsed sunne receiue into thee this sillie starre that hath nowe also lost all wished light O Whale that hast swallowed my onely Ionas swallowe also me more worthy to be thy pray sith I and not he was the cause of this bloudie tempest O Cesterne of my innocent Ioseph take me into thy drie bottome sith I and not he gaue iust cause of offence to my enraged brethren But alas in what cloud hast thou hidden the light of our way Upon what shoare hast thou cast vp the preacher of all trueth or to what Ismaelite hast thou yéelded the purueyour of our life O vnhappie me why did I not before thinke of that which I now aske why did I leaue him when I heard him thus to lament him nowe that I haue lost him If I had watched with perseuerance either none would haue taken him or they shoulde haue taken me with him But through too much precisenesse in keeping the lawe I haue lost the lawmaker and by being too scrupulous in obseruing his ceremonies I am proued irreligious in loosing himselfe sith I should rather haue remained with the trueth then forsaken it to solemnize the figure The Sabboth could not haue bin prophaned in standing by his corse by which the prophanest thinges are sanctified whose couch doth not defile the cleane but clenseth the most defiled But when it was time to stay I departed When it was too late to helpe I returned and nowe I repent my folly when it cannot be amended But let my heart dissolue into sighes mine eyes melt in teares and my desolate soule languish in dislikes yea let all that I am and haue indure the deserued punishment that if hee were incensed with my fault he may be appeased with my penance and returne vpon the amendement that fled from the offence Thus when hir timorous cōscienec had indited hir of so great an omission hir toong enforced the euidence with these bitter accusations Loue that was now the onely vmpier in all hir causes condemned hir eyes to a freshe showre of teares hir brest to a new storme of sighes and hir soule to be perpetuall prisoner to restlesse sorrowes But O Mary thou deceiuest thy selfe in thy owne desires and it well appeareth that excesse of griefe hath bred in thee a defect of due prouidence And wouldest thou indeed haue thy wishes come to passe and thy wordes fulfilled Tell me then I pray thee if thy heart were dissolued where wouldest thou harbor thy Lord what wouldest thou offer him how wouldst thou loue him Thy eyes haue lost him thy hands cannot féele him thy féet cannot follow him and if he be at all in thée it is thy heart that hath him and wouldest thou now haue that dissolued from thence also to exile him And if thy eyes were melted thy soule in languor and thy senses decayed how wouldest thou see him if he did appeare howe shouldest thou heare him if he did speake howe couldest thou knowe him though hée were there present Thou thinkest happily that hee loueth thée so wel that if thy heart were spent for his loue he would either lend his owne heart vnto thee or create a newe heart in thee better then that which thy sorrow tooke from thée It may bee thou imaginest that if thy soule woulde giue place his soule wanting nowe a body would enter into thine with supplie of all thy senses and release of thy sorrowes O Mary thou didst not marke what thy maister was woont to say when he told thee that the third day he shuld rise againe For if thou hadst heard him or at the least vnderstoode him thou wouldest not thinke but that hée now vseth both his heart and soule in the life of his owne body And therefore repaire to the angels and enquire more of them least thy Lord be displeased that comming from him thou wilt not entertaine them But Marie whose deuotions were all fixed vpon a nobler Saint and that had so straightly bound hir thoughtes to his onely affection that shee rather desired to vnknow whom she knew alreadie then to burthen her mind with the knowledge of newe acquaintance could not make her wil long since possessed with the highest loue stoupe to the acceptance of meaner friendships And for this though she did not scornefully reiect yet did she with humilitie refuse the Angels company thinking it no discourtesie to take her selfe from them for to giue her selfe more wholly to her Lord to whome both shee and they were wholly deuoted and ought most loue and greatest dutie Sorrow also being nowe the onely interpreter of all that sense deliuered to her vnderstanding made hir conster their demand in a more doubtfull then true meaning If saith she they come to ease my affliction they coulde not be ignorant of the cause and if they were not ignorant of it they woulde neuer aske it why then did they say Woman why weepest thou If their question did import a prohibition the necessitie of the occasion doth countermand their counsaile and fitter it were they shoulde wéepe with me then I in not wéeping obey them If the Sunne were ashamed to shew his brightnesse when the father of all lightes was darkened with such disgrace If the heauens discolouring their beauties suted themselues to their makers fortune If the whole frame of nature were almost dissolued to sée the authour of nature so vnnaturally abused why may not Angelles that best knewe the indignitie of the case make vp a part in this lamentable consort And especially nowe that by the losse of his bodie the cause of wéeping is increased and yetthe number of mourners lessened sith the Apostles are fled all his friends afraid and poore I left alone to supplie the teares of all creatures O who will giue water to my head a fountaine of teares vnto my eyes that I may weepe day and night and neuer cease weeping O my only Lord thy griefe was the greatest that euer was in man and my griefe as great as euer happened to woman for my loue hath carued me no small portion of thine thy losse hath redoubled the torment of mine owne and all creatures séeme to haue made ouer to me theirs leauing mee as the vice-gereut of all their sorrows Sorrow with me at the least thou O Tombe and thawe into teares you hardest stones The time is now come that you are licensed to cry and bound to recompence the silence of your Lordes Disciples of whome hée himselfe said to the Pharisies that if they held their peace the verie stones should crie for them Nowe therefore sith feare hath
MARIE MAGDALENS FVNERAL TEARES Ieremiae CAP. 6. VERSE 26. Luctum vnigeniti fac tibi planctum Amarum LONDON Printed by I. W. for G. C. 1591. To the worshipfull and vertuous Gentlewoman Mistres D. A. YOur vertuous request to whiche your deserts gaue the force of a com mandement won me to satisfie your deuotion in penning some little discourse of the blessed Mary Magdalen And among other glorious examples of this Saints life I haue made choise of her Funeral Tears in which as shee most vttered the great vehemency of her feruent loue to Christ so hath shee giuen therein largest scope to dilate vppon the same a theame pleasing I hope vnto your self and fittest for this time For as passion and especially this of loue is in these daies the chiefe commaunder of moste mens actions the Idol to which both tongues and pennes doe sacrifice their ill bestowed labours so is there nothing nowe more needefull to bee intreated then how to direct these humors vnto their due courses and to draw this floud of affections into the righte chanel Passions I allow and loues I approue onely I would wishe 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 author is good and their end godly so ther vse tempered in the meane implieth no offence Loue is but the infancy of true charity yet sucking natures teate and swathed in her bandes which then groweth to perfection when faith besides naturall motiues proposeth higher and nobler groundes of amitye Hatred and anger are the necessary officers of prowesse and Iustice courage being colde and dull and Iustice in due reuenge slacke and carelesse where hate of the faulte doth not make it odious anger seteth not edge on the sword that punisheth or preuenteth wrongs Desire hope are the parents of diligence and industry the nurses of perseueraunce and constancy the seedes of valour and magnanimity the death of sloth and the breath of all vertue Feare and dislike are the sconces of discretion the herbingers of wisedome and pollicy killing idle repentance in the cradle and curbing rashnesse with deliberation Audacity is the armour of strength and the guide to glory breaking the ice to the hardest exploites and crowening valour with honourable victory Sorrowe is the sister of mercy and a waker of compassion weeping with others teares and grieued with their harmes It is both the salue and smart of sin curing that which it chasticeth with true remorse and preuenting neede of new cure with the detestation of the disease Dispaire of successe is a bitte against euil attempts and the herse 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 ther is no passion but hath a seruiceable vse eyther in the pursuite of good or auoydance of euill and they are all benefites 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 limmits are imperfections nothing being good thatwanteth measure And as the sea is vnfit for traffick not onely when the windes are too boisterous but also when they are too still and a middle gale and motion of the waues serueth best the sailers purpose So neither too stormy nor too calme a minde giueth Vertue the freest course but a middle temper betweene them both in which the well ordered passiōs are wrought to prosecute not suffered to peruert any vertuous indeuour Such were the passions of this holy Sainte which were not guides to reason but attendantes vpon it and commanded by such a loue as could neuer exceede because the thing loued was of infinite perfection And if her weakenes of faith an infirmity then common to all Christes disciples did suffer her vnderstanding to be deceiued yet was her will so setled in a most sincere and perfect loue that it ledde all her passions with the same bias recompensing the want of beliefe with the strange effectes of an excellent charity This loue these passions are the subiect of this discourse which though it reach not to the dignity of Maries deserts yet shal I thinke my indeuors wel apaide if it may wooe some skilfuller pennes from vnworthy labours eyther to supply in this matter my want of ability or in other of like piety wherof the scripture is full to exercise their happier talents I know that none can expresse a passion that hee feeleth not neyther doth the penne deliuer but what it coppieth out of the minde And therefore sith the finest wits are now giuen to write passionat discourses I would wish them to make choise of such passions as it neither should be shame to vtter nor sinne to feele But whether my wishes in this behalf take effect or not I reap at the least this reward of my paines that I haue shewed my desire to answer your courtesie and set forth the due praises of this glorious Saint Your louing friend S. W. To the Reader MAnie suting their labors to the popular vaine and guided by the gale of vulgar breath haue diuulged diuerse patheticall discourses in which if they had shewed as much care to profite as they haue done desire to please their workes woulde much more haue honoured their names and auailed the Readers But it is a iust complaint among the better sorte of persons that the finest wittes loose themselues in the vainest follies spilling muche Arte in some idle phansie and leauing their workes as witnesses howe long they haue beene in trauaile to be in fine deliuered of a fable And sure it is a thing greatly to bee lamented that men of so high conceite should so much abase their habilities that when they haue racked them to the vttermost endeuour all the prayse that they reape of their employment consisteth in this that they haue wisely tolde a foolish tale and carried a long lie verie smoothlie to the ende Yet this inconuenience might finde some excuse if the drift of their discourse leuelled at anie vertuous marke for in fables are often figured morall trueths and that couertly vttered to a common good whiche without a maske woulde not finde so free a passage But when the substance of the worke hath neither trueth nor probabilite nor the purport thereof tendeth to anie honest end the writer is rather to bee pitied then praised and his bookes fitter for the fire then for the presse This common ouersight more haue obserued then endeuored to salue euerie one being able to reproue none willing to redresse such faultes aucthorised especially by generall custome And though if necessitie the lawlesse patrone of enforced actions had not more preuailed then choise this worke of so different a subiect from
his death and the day of his resurrection But alas let her heauinesse excuse her and the vnwontednes of the miracle plead her pardon sith dread and amazement hath dulled her senses distempered her thoughts discouraged her hopes awaked her passions and left her no other liberty but onely to wéepe Shée wept therefore being onely able to wéepe And As shee was weeping shee stouped down and looked into the Monument and she saw two Angels in white sitting one at the head and an other at the feete where the body of Iesus had beene layd They said vnto her Woman why wepest thou O Mary thy good hap excéedeth thy hope and where thy last sorrow was bred thy first succour springeth Thou diddest séeke but one and thou hast found two A dead body was thy errand and thou hast light vppon two aliue Thy wéeping was for a man and thy téars haue obtained Angels Suppresse now thy sadnes and refresh thy heart with this good Fortune These angels inuite thée to a parlée they séem to take pitty of thy case and it may be they haue some happy tidinges to tell thée Thou hast hitherto sought in vaine as one either vnséene or vnknown or at the least vnregarded sith the party thou séekest neither tendereth thy teares nor aunswereth thy cries nor relenteth with thy lamentings Either he doth not heare or hée will not helpe he hath peraduenture left to loue thée and is loath to yéelde thée reliefe 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 sitte from whence they come and to whom they speake They are Angels of peace neither sent with out cause nor séen but of fauour They sit in the Tombe to shew that they are no straungers to thy losse They come from Heauen from whence all happy newes descend They spake to thy selfe as though they had some speciall Embassage to deliuer vnto thée Aske them therfore of thy maister for they are likeliest to returne thée a desired aunswere Thou knewest him too well to thinke that hell hath deuoured him thou hast long sought and hast not found him in 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 thée Or if thou art resolued to continue thy séeking who can better helpe thée then they that are as swift as thy thought as faithfull as thy owne heart and as louing to thy Lord as thou thy selfe Take therefore thy good hap least it be taken away from thée and content thée with Angels sith thy maister hath giuen thée ouer But alas what meaneth this change how happeneth this strange alteration The time hath béene that fewer teares would haue wrought greater effecte shorter séeking haue sooner found and lesse paine haue procured more pitty The time hath ven that thy annointing his féete was accepted and praised thy washing them with teares highly commended and thy wyping them with thy haire most curteously construed How then doth it now fall out that hauing brought thy swéete oiles to annoint his whole body hauing shed as many teares as would haue washed more then his féet and hauing not only thy haire but thy heart ready to serue him he is not moued with all these duties so much as once to affoorde thée his sight Is it not he that reclaimed thee from thy wandring courses that dispossessed thee of thy damned inhabitants and from the wildes of sinne recouered thee into the folde and family of his flocke was not thy house his home his loue thy life thy selfe his Disciple did not hee defend thée against the Pharisee pleade for thée against Iudas and excuse thée to thy sister In summe was not hee thy patron and protector in all thy necessities O good Iesu what hath thus estranged thée from her Thou hast heretofore so pittied her teares that séeing them thou couldest not refraine thine In one of her greatest agonies for loue of her that so much loued thée thou diddest recall her dead brother to life turning her complaint into vnexpected contentment And we knowe that thou doest not vse to alter course without cause nor to chastice without desert Thou art the first that inuitest and the last that forsakest neuer leauing but first left and euer offering til thou art refused How then hath shée forfaited thy fauour Or with what trespasse hath shée earned thy ill will That shée neuer left to loue thée her heart will depose her hand will subscribe her tongue will protest her teares wil testify and her séeking doth assure And alas is her particular case so farre from all example that thou shouldest rather alter thy nature then shée better her Fortune and be to her as thou art to no other For our parts since thy last shew of liking towardes her we haue found no other faulte in her but that shée was the eareliest vp to séeke thée readiest to annoint thée and when shée saw that thou wert remoued shée forthwith did wéepe for thée and presently went for helpe to finde thée And whereas those two that shée brought being lesse careful of thée then fearefull of themselues when they had séene what shée had sayd sodainely shrunke away behold shée stil staieth shée still séeketh shée still wéepeth If this be a fault we cannot deny but this shée doth and to this shée perswadeth yea this she neither meaneth to amend nor requesteth thée to forgiue if therfore thou reckōnest this as punishable punished shée must be sith no excuse hath effect wher the fact pleadeth guilty But if this import not any offence but a true affection and be rather a good desire then an euil 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 wordes I loue those that loue mee and who watcheth earely for me shall finde mee Why then doth not this woman finde thée that was vp so early to watch for thée Why doest thou not with like repay her that bestoweth vppon thée her whole loue sith thy word is her warrant and thy promise her due debt Art thou lesse moued with these tears that shée sheddeth for thée her onely Maister then thou wert with those that shée shed before thée for her deceased brother Or doth her loue to thy seruaunt more please thée then her loue to thy selfe Our loue to others must not be to them but to thée in them For he loueth thée so much the lesse that loueth anything with thée that he loueth not for thée If therefore shée then deserued wel for louing thée in an other shée deserueth better now for louing thée in thy selfe and if in déede thou louest those that loue thée make thy worde good to her that is so far in loue with thée Of thy selfe thou hast
place where he is trouble thée sith it cannot be worse then his graue and infinite coniectures make probability that it cannot but be better But suppose that he were yet remaining in earth and taken by others out of his tombe what would it auail thée to know where he were If he bée with such as loue and honor him they will be as wary to kéepe him as they are loth he should be lost and therfore will either often change or neuer confesse the place knowing secresie to be the surest locke to defende so great a treasure If those haue taken him that malice and maligne him thou maist wel iudge him past thy recouery whē he is once in the possession of so cruell owners Thou wouldest happely make sale of thy liuing and séek him by ransome But it is not likely they woulde sell him to be honoured that bought him to be murdered If price would not serue thou wouldest fall to praier But how can praier soften such flint hearts and if they scorned so many tears offered for his life as little will they regard thy intreaty for his corse If neither price nor praier would preuaile thou wouldest attempt it by force But alas séely souldier thy arms are too weak to manage weapons and the issue of thy assault would be the losse of thy selfe If no other way would helpe thou wouldest purloine him by stealth and thinke thy selfe happy in contriuing such a theft O Mary thou art deceiued for malice will haue many lockes and to steale him from a théefe that could steale him from the watch requireth more cunning in the art then thy wāt of practise can affoorde thée Yet if these be the causes that thou enquirest of the place thou she west the force of thy rare affection and deseruest the Laurell of a perfect louer But to féele more of their sweetnes I will pound these spices and dwell a while in the peruse of thy resolute feruour And first can thy loue enrich thée when thy goods are gone or dead corse repay the value of thy ransome Because he had neither bed to be borne in nor graue to be buried in wilt thou therefore rather be poore with him then rich without him Againe if thou hadst to sue to some cruell Scribe or Pharisée that is to a heart boyling in rancor with a heart burning in loue for a thing of him aboue all things detested of thée aboue all thinges desired as his enemie to whome thou suelt and his friend for whom thou intreatest canst thou think it possible for this sute to speed Could thy loue repaire thée from his rage or suche a tyraunt stoupe to a womans teares Thirdly if thy Lord might be recouered by violence art thou so armed in complete loue that thou thinkest it sufficient harnesse or doth thy loue indue thee with such a ludithes spirite or lend thée such Sampsons lockes that thou canst breake open huge gates or foyle whole armies Is thy loue so sure a shield that no blowe can breake it or so sharpe a dint that no force can withstand it Can it thus alter sexe change nature and excéed all Arte But of all other courses wouldest thou aduenture a theft to obtaine thy desire A good déede must be well done and a worke of mercie without breath of iustice It were a sinne to steale a prophane treasure but to steale an annointed prophet can be no lesse then a sacriledge And what greater staine to thy Lord to his doctrine and to thy selfe then to sée thée his Disciple publikely executed for an open theft O Mary vnlesse thy loue haue better warrant then common sence I can hardly sée how such designementes can be approued Approoued saith shee I would to God the execution were as easie as the proofe and I should not so long bewaile my vnfortunate losse To others it séemeth ill to prefer loue before riches but to loue it séemeth worse to preferre any thing before it selfe Cloath him with plates of siluer that shiuereth for cold or fill his purse with treasure that pineth for hunger and sée whether the plates will warm him or the treasure féed him No no he will giue all his plates for a wollen garment and all his mony for a meals meate Euerie supply fitteth not with euery néed and the loue of so swéete a Lord hath no correspondēce in worldly wealth Without him I were poore though Empresse of the worlde With him I were riche though I had nothing else They that haue moste are accounted richest and they thought to haue moste that haue all they desire and therfore as in him alone is the vttermost of my desires so hee alone is the summe of all my substance It were too happie an exchaunge to haue God for goodes and too rich a pouerty to inioy the only treasure of the world If I were so fortunate a begger I woulde disdaine Solomons wealth and my loue being so highly enriched my life shoulde neuer complaine of want And if all I am worth would not reach to his ransome what should hinder me to saek him by intreaty Thogh I were to sue to the greatest tyrant yet the equitie of my sute is more then halfe a grant If many droppes soften the hardest stones why shoulde not many teares supple the moste stonie heartes what anger so fiery that may not be quenched with eye water sith a weeping suppliant rebateth the edge of more then a Lions fury My sute it selfe woulde sue for me and so dolefull a corse woulde quicken pitie in the moste iron heartes But suppose that by touching a ranckled sore my touch should anger it and my petition at the first incense him that heard it he would percase reuile mée in wordes and then his owne iniurie would recoyle with remorse and be vnto me a patron to procéed in my request And if he should accompanie his wordes with blowes and his blowes with wounds it may be my stripes would smart in his guilty minde and his conscience bléede in my bléeding wounds and my innocent bloud so entender his adamant heart that his owne inward feelings would plead my cause and peraduenture obtayne my sute But if through extremity of spite he should happen to kill me his offence might easely redound to my felicity For he would be as carefull to hide whom he had vniustly murdered as him whom he had felonously stollen and so it is like that he would hide me in the same place wher he had layd my Lord and as he hated vs both for one cause him for challenging and me for acknowledging that he was the Messias so would he vse vs both after one manner And thus what comfort my body wanted my soule should enioy in séeing a part of my selfe partner of my Maisters miserye with whome to be miserable I reckon a higher fortune then without him to be most happy And if no other means would serue to recouer him but force I sée no reason why it
but thy fault deserueth fauor because thy charity is so great and therefore O mercifull Iesu giue me leaue to excuse whom thou art minded to forgiue Shée thought to haue found thée as shée left thée shée sought thee as shée did last sée thée being so ouercom with sorrow for thy death that shée had neither roome nor respite in her mind for any hope of thy life and being so déeply interred in the griefe of thy buriall that shée could not raise her thoughtes to any conceite of thy resurrection For in the graue where Ioseph buried thy body Mary together with it entombed her soule and so straightly combined it with thy corse that shee could with more ease sunder her soule from her owne bodie that liueth by it then from thy dead bodie with which her loue did bury it for it is more thine and in thée then her owne or in herselfe and therefore in séeking thy bodie she séeketh her owne soule as with the losse of the one shee also lost the other What maruaile then though sence faile when the soule is lost sith the lanterne must néeds be dark when the light is out Restore vnto her therefore her soul that lieth imprisoned in thy body and shée will soone both recouer her sense and discouer her errour For alas it is no errour that procéedeth of any will to erre and it riseth as much of vehemency of affection as of default in faith Regard not y e error of a woman but the loue of a disciple which supplieth in it self what in faith it wanteth O Lord saith she If thou hast carried him hence tell me where thou hast laid him I will take him away O how learned is her ignoraunce and how skilful her errour Shée charged not the Angels with thy remoning nor séemed to mistrust them for carrying thée away as though her loue had taught her that their helpe was néedelesse where the thing remoued was remouer of it selfe Shée did not request them to enfourme her where thou wert laide as if shée had reserued that question for thy selfe to answere But now shée iudgeth thée so likely to be the author of her losse that halfe supposing thée guilty shée sueth a recouery and desireth thée to tell her wher the body is as almost fully perswaded that thou art as priuy to the place as well acquainted with the action So that if shée be not altogether right shée is not very much wrong shée erreth with such aime that shée litle misseth the truth Tell her therefore O Lord what thou hast done with thy selfe sith it is fittest for thy owne spéech to vtter that which was onely possible for thy owne power to performe But O Mary since thou art so desirous to know wher thy Iesus is why doest thou not name him when thou askest for him Thou saidst to the Angels that they had taken away thy Lord and now the second time thou askest for this him Are thy thoughtes so visible as at thy onely presence to be séene or so generall that they possesse all when they are once in thee when thou speakest of him what him doest thou meane or how can a stranger vnderstand thée when thou falkest of thy Lord Hath the worlde no other Lords but thine or is the demanding by no other name but him a sufficient notice for whom thou demandest But such is the nature of thy loue thou iudgest that no other should be intitled a Lord sith the whole worlde is too litle for thy Lordes possession and that those few creatures that are cannot chuse but knowe him sith all the creatures of the world are to fewe to serue him And as his worthies can appay all loues and his only loue content all heartes so thou deemest hym to be so well worthy to bee owner of all thoughtes that no thought in thy conceite can be well bestowed vppon anie other Yet thy speeches seeme more suddaine then sound and more peremptorie then well pondered Why doest thou say so resolutely without anie further circumstance that if this gardiner haue taken him thou wilt take him from him If he had him by right in taking him away thou shouldest do him wrong If thou supposest hee wrongfully took him thou laiest theft to his charge and howsoeuer it be thou either condemnest thyselfe for an vsurper or him for a theese And is this an effect of thy zelous loue first to abase him from a God to a Gardiner and now to degrade him from a Gardiner to a theese Thou shouldest also haue considered whether he tooke him vpon loue or malice If it were for loue thou maiest assure thy selfe that he wil be as wary to keepe as hee was ventrous to get him and therefore thy pollicie was weake in saying thou wouldest take him away before thou knewest where he was sith none is so simple to bewray their treasure to a known théefe If he tooke him of malice thy offer to recouer him is an open defiance sith malice is as obstinate in defending as violent in offering wrong and he that woulde be cruell against thy maisters dead body is likely to be more furious against his liuing disciple But thy loue had no leysure to cast so many doubts Thy teares were interpreters of thy words and thy innocent meaning was written in thy dolefull countenance Thy eyes were rather pleaders for pity then Heralds of wrath and thy whole person presented such a paterne of thy extreame anguish that no man from thy presence could take in anie other impression And therefore what thy wordes wanted thy action supplied and what his eare might mistake his eye did vnderstand It may be also that hee wrought in thy heart that was concealed from thy sight and happily his voyce and demeanor did import such compassion of thy case that hee seemed as willing to affoord as thou desirous to haue his helpe And so presuming by his behauiour that thy sute should not suffer repulse the tenour of thy request doth but argue thy hope of a grant But what is the reason that in all thy speeches which since the misse of thy maister thou hast vttered where they haue put him is alwaies apart So thou saydst to the Apostles the same to the Angels and nowe thou doest repeat it to this supposeo gardiner verie sweete must this word be in thy hart that is so often in thy mouth and it would neuer be so readie in thy tongue if it were not verie freshe in thy memorie But what maruell though it fast so swéete that was first seasoned in thy maisters mouth which as it was the treasurie of trueth the fountaine of life and the onely quire of the moste perfect harmonie so whatsoeuer it deliuered thy eare deuoured and thy heart locked vp And nowe that thou wantest himselfe thou hast no other comfort but his wordes which thou déemest so much the more effectuall to perswade in that they tooke their force from so heauenly a speaker His
then wilfull error was assoone cured as knowne And therfore thou quickly appliest a swéete lenitie to asswage her paine that shee might acknowledge her forbidding rather a fatherly checke to her vnsetled faith then an austere reiecting her for her fault And therefore thou admittest her to kisse thy feete the two conduits of grace and seales of our redemption renewing her a charter of thy vnchanged loue and accepting of her the vowed sacrifice of her sanctified soule And thus gratious Lord hast thou finished her feares assured her hopes fulfilled her desires satisfied her loues stinted her teares perfited her ioyes and made the period of her expiring griefes the preamble to her nowe entring and neuer ending pleasures O how mercifull a father thou art to left Orphanes how easie a iudge to repentant sinners and howe faithfull a friend to sincere louers It is vndoubtedly true that thou neuer leauest those that loue thée and thou louest suche as rest their affiance in thée They shall finde thée liberall aboue desert bountifull beyond hope a measurer of thy giftes not by their merites but by thy owne mercie O christian soule take Mary for thy mirrour follow her affection that like effectes may follow thine Learne O sinfull man of this once a sinfull woman that sinners may finde Christ if there sinnes be amended Learne that whome sinne looseth loue recouereth whome faintnesse of faith chaseth away firmnes of hope recalleth that which no other mortall force fauour or policy can compasse the continued teares of a constant loue are able to obtaine Learne of Mary for Christ to feare no encounters out of Christ to desire no comforts and with the loue of Christ to ouer-rule the loue of all things Rise early in y e morning of thy good motions and let them not sléepe in sloth when diligence may perfourme them Run with repentaunce to thy sinfull heart which should haue béene the temple but through thy faulte was no better then a Tombe for Christ sith hauing in thée no life to féele him he semed vnto thée as if he had béene dead Roule away the stone of thy former hardnes remoue all the heauy loades y t oppresse thée in sin looke into thy soule whether thou canst there finde thy Lord. If he be not within thée stand wéeping without and séeke him in other creatures sith being present in all he may be found in any Let faith be thy eie hope thy guide and loue thy light Séeke him and not his for himselfe and not for his giftes If thy faith haue found him in a cloude let thy hope séek to sée him If hope haue led thee to sée him let loue séeke further into him To moue in thée a desire to finde his goods are precious and when he is found to kéep thée in a desire to séek his treasures are infinit Absent he must be sought to be had being had he must be sought to be more enioyed Séeke him truely and no other for him Séeke him purely and no other thing with him Séeke him only and nothing beside him And if at the first search he appeare not thinke it not much to perseuer in tears and to continue thy seeking Stand vpon the earth treading vnder thée all earthly vanities and touching them with no more then the soals of thy féete that is with the lowest and least part of thy affection To looke the better in the tombe bow down thy necke to the yoake of humility and stoupe from lofty and proud conceites that with humbled and lowly lookes thou maist finde whom swelling and haughtie thoughtes haue drawne away A submitted soule soonest winneth his returne and the déeper it sinketh in a selfe contempt the higher it climeth in his highest fauours And if thou perceiuest in the tombe of thy hart the presence of his two first messengers that is at the féet sorrow of the bad that is past and at the head desire to a better that is to come entertaine them with sighes and welcome them with penitent tears yet reckoning them but as herbingers of thy Lord cease not thy seeking till thou findest himselfe And if hee vouchsafe thee with his glorious sight offering himselfe to thy inward eies presume not of thy selfe to be able to knowe him but as his vnworthie suppliant prostrate thy petitions vnto him that thou maiest truely discerne him and faithfully serue him Thus preparing thée with diligence comming with spéede standing with high lifted hopes and stouping with inclined heart if with Marie thou crauest no other solace of Jesus but Jesus himselfe he will answere thy teares with his presence and assure thée of his presence with his owne words that hauing séene him thy selfe thou maiest make him knowne to others saying with Marie I haue seene our Lord and these thinges he sayd vnto me Laus Deo Faults escaped in the Printing IN the Epistle fol. 2. b. lin 2. sconces read scoutes To the Reader foure lines before the end and the patience read and patience FOl. 2. b. lin 23 eternall read externall fol. 3. b. l. 19. summoned read summed Fol 4. a. l. 3. disease read decease Fol. 6. a. l. 21. for read For. Fol. 6. b. l. 15. companions read champions Fol. 7. a. l. 22. drouen read drowned Fol. 7. b. l. 7. should read would Fol. 11. b. l. 7. to thy read to her Fol. 14. a. l. 24. demanding read demaund Fol. 18. b. l. 22. I heard read I had Fol. 19. a. l. 14. couch read touch Fol. 22. b. l. 1. heart read harts Ibid. l. 8. this read his Fol. 23. a. l. 10. dicease read decease Fol. 26. b. l. 14. enioyned read enioyed Fol. 29. b. l. 12. trouble read throbbes Ibid. l. 21. without which calling it commeth read which without calling commeth Fol. 31. a. l. 9. to weeping read to no more then weeping Fol. 35. a. l. 25. better titles read better many titles Fol. 44. a. l. 12. misere read miserie Fol. 51. b. l. 25. to read do Fol. 52. a. l. 3. kind strength read kind thy strength Fol. 53. b. l. 7. His Sayts read His holy one Fol. 58. b. l. 21. breaketh read brake Fol. 66 a. l. 14. lenity read lenitiue Ibid. l. 20. kisse thy read kisse in thy Iohn 20. Ioan. 19. Iohn 20. Sap. 5.