all highest perfections What meruaile therefore though her vehement loue to so louely a Lord being after the wrecke of his life now also depriued of his dead body feele as bitter pangues for his losse as before it tasted ioyes in his presence and opē as large an issue to teares of sorrowe as euer heretofore to tears of contentment And though teares were rather oile then water to her flame apter to nourish then diminish her grief yet being now plunged in the depth of paine shee yéelded her selfe captiue to all discomfort carrying an ouèrthrowen mind in a more enfeebled body and still busie in deuising but euer doubtfull in defining what shée might best doe For what could a seely woman doe but weepe that floating in a Sea of cares founde neither eare to heare her nor tongue to direct her nor hand to helpe her nor heart to pitty her in her desolate case True it is that Peter and Iohn came with her to the tombe and to make triall of her report were both within it but as they were speedy in comming and diligent in searching so were they as quick to depart and fearefull of farther seeking And alas what gained shee by their comming but two witnesses of her losse two dismaiers of her hope and two paterns of a new despaire Loue moued them to come but their loue was soone conquered with such a feare that it suffered them not to stay But Mary hoping in dispaire and perseuering in hope stood without feare because shée now thought nothing left that ought to be feared For shée had lost her maister to whom shée was so entirely deuoted that hee was the totall of her loues the height of her hopes and the vttermost of her feares and therefore beside him shée could neither loue other creature hope for other comfort nor feare other losse The worst shee could feare was the death of her body and that shée rather desired then feared sith shée had already lost the life of her soule without which any other life would be a death and with which any other death would haue ben a delight But now shée thought it better to die then to liue because shée might happely dying finde whome not dying shee looked not to enioy and not enioying shée had little will to liue For nowe shée loued nothing in her life but her loue to Christ if any thing did make her willing to liue it was onelye the vnwillingnesse that his Image should die with her whose likenesse loue had limmed in her heart and treasured vp in her swéetest memories And had shée not feared to break the Table and to breake open the closet to which shée had entrussed this last relique of her lost happinesse the violence of griefe would haue melted her heart into inward bleeding teares and blotted her remembraunce with a fatall obliuion And yet neuerthelesse shée is no we in so imperfect a sort aliue that it is proued true in her that Loue is as strong as Death For what could death haue done more in Mary then Loue did Her wittes were astonied and all her senses so amased that in the end finding shée did not know séeing shée could not discern hearing shée perceiued not and more then all this shée was not there where shée was for shée was wholly where her Maister was more where shée loued then where shée liued and lesse in her self then in his body which notwithstanding where it was shee could not imagine For she sought and as yet found it not and therefore stood at the Tombe weeping for it being now altogether giuen to mourning driuen to misery But O Mary by whose counsaile vppon what hope or with what hart couldest thou stand alone when the Disciples were departed Thou wert there once before they came thou returnest againe at their comming and yet now thou staiest when they are gone Alas that thy Lord is not in the Tombe thy own eies haue often séen the Disciples hands haue felt the empty Sindon doth auouch and cannot al this winne thée to beléeue it No no thou wouldest rather condemne thy owne eies of error and both their eies and handes of deceite yea rather suspect all testimonies for untrue then not looke whom thou hast lost euen there where by no diligence he coulde be found When thou thinkest of other places and canst not imagine any so likely as this thou séekest againe in this and though neuer so often sought it must still bee a haunt for hope for when things dearely affected are lost loues nature is neuer to be weary of searching euen the oftenest searched corners being more willing to thinke that all the senses are mistaken then to yéelde that hope should quaile Yet now sith it is so euident that he is taken away what should moue thee to remaine here where the perill is apparent and no profite likely Can the witof one and shée a woman wholly possessed with passion haue more light to discerne daunger then two wittes of two men and both principall fauorites of the parent of all wisedom Or if notwithstanding the danger there had béene iust cause to encounter it were not two together being both to Christ sworne companions each to other affied friends and to all his ennemies professed foes more likely to haue preuailed then one feminine heart timorous by kinde and already amased with this dreadfull accident But alas why doe I vrge her with reason whole reason is altered into loue and that iudgeth it folly to follow such reason as should any way impair her loue Her thoughts were arrested by euery thredde of Christs Sindon and shée was captiue in so many prisons as the Tombe had memories of her lost maister Loue being her Iailor in them all and nothing able to raunsome her but the recouery of her Lord. What maruaile then though the Apostles examples drew her not away whome so violent a loue enforced to remaine which prescribing lawes both to witte and wil is guided by no other lawe but it selfe Shee could not thinke of any fear nor stand in feare of any force Loue armed her against all hazardes and being already wounded with the greatest griefe shée had not leisure to remember any lesser euill Yea shée had forgotten all things and her selfe among al things onely mindefull of him whom shée loued aboue all thinges And yet her loue by reason of her losse drownev both her mind and memory so déepe in sorrow and so busied her wittes in the conceite of his absence that al remembraunce of his former promises was diuerted with the throng of present discomforts and shée séemed to haue forgotten also him besides whome shée remembred nothing For doubtlesse had she remembred him as she should shée should not haue now thought the Tombe a fitte place to séeke him neither would shée mourne for him as dead and remoued by others force but ioy in him as reuiued and risen by his owne power For hee had often foretold both the manner of
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
and the losse is manifest My eies haue answered them with teares my brest with sighes and my heart with trouble what néed I also punish my toonge or wound my soule with a newe rehear sall of so dolefull a mischance They haue taken away O vnfortunate worde 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 solemnly to entombe him and sith earth hath done her last homage happily the Quires of heauen are also descended to defray vnto him their funerall duties It may be that the Centurian and the rest that did acknowledge him on the crosse to be the sonne of God haue béene touched with remorse and goared with the pricke of conscience and being desirous to satisfie for their heinous offence haue nowe taken him more honourably to interre him and by their seruice to his bodie sought forgiuenesse and sued the pardon of their guiltie soules Peraduenture some secret Disciples haue wrought this erploit and maugre the watch taken him from hence with due honour to preserue him in some fitter 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 sorrowe before it commeth without which calling it commeth on thee too fast yea why doest thou create sorrow where it is not sith thou hast true sorrowes inough though imagined sorrowes helpe not It is follie to suppose the worst where the best may be hoped for and euerie mishappe bringeth griefe enough with it though wée with our friendes doe not goe first to méete it Quiet then thy selfe till time trie out the trueth and it may be thy feare will proue greater then thy misfortune But I know thy loue is litle 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 loose It neyther hath measure in hopes nor meane in feares hoping the best vpon the least surmises and fearing the worst vppon the weakest grounds And yet both fearing and hoping at one time neither feare withholdeth hope from the highest atteÌ„pts nor hope can strengthen feare against the smallest suspitions but maugre all feares loues hopes will worke to the highest pitch and maugre al hopes loues feares will stoupe to the lowest downcome To bidde thée therefore hope is not to forbid thée to feare and though it may be for the best that thy Lord is taken from thée yet sith it may also be for the worst that wil neuer content thée Thou thinkest hope doth inough to kéepe thy heart from breaking feare little enough to force thée to wéeping sith it is as likely that he hath béen taken away vpon hatred by his enimies as vpon loue by his friendes For hitherto saiest thou his friends haue all failed him and his foes preuailed against him as they y t would not defend him aliue are lesse likely to regard him dead so they that thought one life too litle to take from him are not vnlikely after deathe to wreake 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 consent can neither be offered without iniurie nor suffered without sorrow And as for Jesus he was my Jesus my Lord and my maister Hée was mine because he was giuen vnto me and borne for me he was the author of my being and so my father hée was the worker of my wel doing and therefore my Sauiour hee was the price of my ransome and thereby my redeemer Hee was my Lord to command me my maister to instruct mée my pastor to féede mée He was mine because his loue was mine and when he gaue me his loue hee gaue me himselfe sith loue is no gift except the giuer be giuen with it yea it is no loue â—â—lesse it be as liberall of that it is as of that it hath Finally if the meat bee mâ—â—â— 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 bodie I feede by his loue I liue and to my good without any neede of his owne hath hee liued laboured and died And therefore though his Disciples though the Centurion yea though the Angels haue taken him they haue done me wrong in defeating mee of my right sith I neuer meane to resigne my interest But what if he hath takeÌ„ a way himself wilt thou also lay vniustice to his charge Thogh he be thine yet thine to command not to obey thy Lord to dispose of thee and not to be by thée disposed and therefore as it is no reason that the seruant should be maister of his maisters secretes so might hee and peraduenture so hath he remoued without acquainting thee whether reuiuing himselfe with the same power with which he raised thy dead brother and fulfilling the wordes that he often vttered of his resurrection It may be thou wilt say that a gift once giuen cannot bee reuoked and therefore though it were before in his choise not to giue himselfe vnto thée yet the deede of gift being once made he cannot be taken from thee neyther can the doner dispose of his gift without the possessors priuitie And sith this is a rule in the lawe of nature thou maiest imagine it a breach of equitie and an impeachment of thy right to conuey himselfe away without thy consent But to this I will aunswere thée with thine owne ground For if he be thine by being giuen thée once thou art his by as many gifts as daies and therefore hee being absolute owner of thée is likewise full owner of whatsoeuer is thine and consequently because he is thine hee is also his owne and so nothing liable vnto thée for taking himselfe from thée Yea but he is my Lord saiest thou and in this respect bound to kéepe me at the least bound not to kill me and sith killing is nothing but a seuering of life from the body he being the chiefe life both of my soule and body cannot possibly go from me but he must with a double death kill me And therefore he being my Lord and bound to protect his seruant it is against all lawes that I should be thus forsaken But O cruel tongue why pleadest thou thus against him whose case I feare me is so pitifull y t it might rather moue all tongues to plead for him being peradueÌ„ture in their hands whose vnmercifull hearts make themselues merrie with his miserie and build the triumphes of their impious victorie vpon the dolefull ruines of his disgraced glorie And now O griefe because I know not where he is I caÌ„not imagine how to helpe for they haue taken him away and I knowe not where they haue put him Alas Mary why dost thou consume
might not very well become me None will bar me frō defending my life which the least worme in the right of nature hath leaue to preserue And sith he is to me so deare a life that without him all life is death nature authoriseth my féeble forces to imploy their vttermost in so necessary an attempt Necessity addeth ability loue doubleth necessity and it often happeneth that nature armed with loue and pressed with néede excéedeth it selfe in might and surmounteth all hope in successe And as the equity of the cause doth breath courage into the defendors making them the more willing to fight the lesse vnwilling to die so guilty consciences are euer timerous still starting with sodaine frights and afrayd of their own suspitions ready to yéeld before the assault vppon distrust of their cause and dispaire of their defence Sith therefore to rescue an innocent to recouer a right and to redresse so déep a wrong is so iust a quarrell nature will enhable me loue encourage me grace confirme me and the iudge of all iustice fight in my behalfe And if it séeme vnfitting to my sexe in talke much more in practise to deal with martiall affaires yet when such a cause happeneth as neuer had patterne such effects must follow as are without example There was neuer any body of a God but one neuer such a body stollen but now neuer such a stealth vnreuenged but this Sith therefore the Angels neglect it men forget it O Iudith lend me thy prowesse for I am bound to regard it But suppose that my force were vnable to winne him by an open enterprise what scruple should kéepe me from seeking him by secret means yea and by plain stealth It wilbe thought a sinne and condemned for a theft O swéete sinne why was not I the first that did commit thée Why did I suffer any other sinner to preuent me for stealing from God his honour I was called a sinner and vnder that title was spred my infamy But for stealing God from a false owner I was not worthy to be called a sinner because it had béene too high a glory If this be so great a sinne and so heinous a theft let others make choise of what titles they will but for my part I would refuse to be an Angel I would not wishe to be a Saint I would neuer be estéemed either iust or true and I shoulde be best contented if I might both liue and die such a sinner and be condemned for such a theft When I heard my Lord make so comfortable a promise to the théefe vppon the crosse that he should that day be with him in Paradise I had halfe an enuy at that théefes good Fortune and wished my selfe in the théefes place so I might haue enioyed the fruite of his promise But if I could be so happy a théefe as to commit this theft if that wish had takeu effect I would now vn wishe it againe and scorne to be any other théef then my self sith my booty could make me happier then any other théefes felicity And what though my felony should be called in question in what respect should I néede to feare They would say that I loued him too well But that were soone disproued sith where the worthinesse is infinite no loue can be inough They would obiect that I stole an others goods and as for that many sure titles of my interest would aucree him to be mine and his dead corse would rather speak then witnesses should faile to depose so certaine a truth And if I had not a speciall right vnto him what shuld moue me to venture my life for him No no if I were so happy a felone I shoulde fear no temporal araignmēt I should rather feare that the Angels woulde cite me to my aunswere for preuenting them in the theft sith not the highest Seraphin in heauē but would déeme it a higher stile then his owne to be the théefe that had committed so glorious a robbery But alas thus stand I deuising what I would do if I knew any thing of him and in the meane time I neither know who hath him nor where they haue bestowed him and stil I am forced to dwell in this aunswere that They haue taken away my Lord and I know not wher they haue put him While Marie thus lost her selfe in a Laberinth of doubtes watering her wordes with teares and warming them with sighes séeing the Angels with a kind of reuerēce rise as though they had done honour to one behinde her She turned backe and she saw Iesus standing but that it was Iesus she knewe not O Marie is it possible that thou hast forgotten Iesus faith hath written him in thy vnderstanding loue in thy will both feare and hope in thy memorie and how can all these registers be so cancelled that so plainly séeing thou shouldest not know the contentes For him onely thou tyrest thy féete thou bendest thy knées thou wringest thy handes For him thy heart throbbeth thy brest sigheth thy tongue complaineth For him thy eye wéepeth thy thought sorroweth thy wholebody fainteth and thy soule languisheth In summe there is no part in thée but is busie about him c notwithstanding all this hast thou nowe forgotten him His countenance auourheth it his voyce assureth it hys woundes witnesse it thy owne eyes beholde it and doest thou not yet beléeue that this is Iesus Are thy sharp séeing eies become so weake sighted that they are dazeled with the sunne and blinded with the light But there is such a showre of teares betwéene thée and him and thy eyes are so dimmed with wéeping for him that though thou seest the shape of a man yet thou canst not discerne him Thy eares also are still so possessed with the dolefull Eccho of his last spéeches which want of breath made him vtter in a dying voyce that the force loudnesse of his liuing wordes maketh thee imagine it the voice of a stranger and therefore as hée séemeth vnto thée so like a stranger hee asketh this question of thée O woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou O desire of heart and onely ioy of her soule why demandest thou why shée wéepeth or for whome she séeketh But a whilesince she saw thée hir only hope hanging on a trée with thy head full of thornes thy eies full of teares thy eares full of blasphemies thy mouth full of gall thy whole person mangled and disfigured and doest thou aske her why shee wéepeth Scarse thrée daies passed she beheld thy arms and legs racked with violent pulles thy hands and féete boared with nails thy side wounded with a speare thy whole body torne with stripes and goared in bloud and doest thou hir only griefe aske hir why shée wéepeth She beheld thee vppon the crosse with many teares most lamentable cries yeelding vp her ghost that is thy own ghost alas askest thou why she weepeth And now to make vp hir misere hauing but one
starre can yeeld when the Sun is downe and a sorry exchange to goe gather crummes after the losse of a heuenly repast My eyes are not vsed to see by the glims of a sparke and in seking the sunne it is either needeles or booteles to borrowe the light of a candle sith eyther it must bewray it selfe with the selfe light or no other light can euer discouer it If they come to disburden me of my heauinesse their comming wil be burdensom vnto me and they wil load me more while they labour my reliefe They cannot perswade me that my Maister is not lost for my owne eyes will disproue them They can lesse tell me where he may be found for they would not be so simple to be so long from him or if they ran forbeare him surely they doe not know him whom none cā truly know and liue long without him All their demurres would be tedious and discourses irkesome Impaire my loue they might but appay it they could not to which he that first accepted the debt is the onely paiment They eyther want power will or leaue to tell me my desire or at the first word they would haue don it sith Angels are not vsed to idle spéeches and to me al talke is idle that doth not tell me of my master They know not where he is and therefore they are come to the place where he last was making the tombe their heauen and the remembrance of his presence the foode of their felicity Whatsoeuer they could tell me if they told me not of him and whatsoeuer they should tell me of him if they told me not where he were both their telling and my hearing were but a wasting of time I neither came to sée thē nor desire to heare them I came not to sée Angels but him that made both me and Angels and to whom I owe more then both to men and Angels And to thée I appeal O most louing Lord whether my afflicted heart doe not truely defray the tribute of an vndeuided loue To thée I appeale whether I haue ioyned any partner with thee in the small possession of my poore selfe And I would to God I were as priuy where thy body is as thou art who is onely Lord and owner of my soule But alas swéet Iesu where thou wert thou art not where thou art I know not wretched is the case that I am in and yet how to better it I cannot imagin Alas O my onely desire why hast thou left me wauering in these vncertainties and in how wilde a maze wander my doubtfull and perplexed thoughts If I stay here where he is not I shall neuer finde him If I would goe farther to séeke I knowe not whether To leaue the tombe is a death and to stand helpeles by it an vncurable disease so that all my comfort is now concluded in this that I am left frée to choose whether I will stay without helpe or goe without hope that is in effect with what torment I will end my life And yet euen this were too happy a choise for so vnhappy a creature If I might be chooser of my owne death O how quickely should that choise be made and how willingly would I runne to that execution I would be nailed to the same crosse with the same nailes and in the same place my heart should be wounded with his speare my head with his thornes my body with his whips Finally I would taste al his tormentes and tread all his embrued and bloudy steppes But O ambitious thoughts why gaze you vpon so high a felicity why think you of so glorious a death y t are priuy to so infamous a life death alas I deserue yea not one but infinite deaths But so swéet a death seasoned with so many comforts the very instruments whereof were able to raise the deadest corps depure the most defiled soule were too small a scourge for my great offences And therefore I am left to feele so many deaths as I liue hours and to passe as many pangues as I haue thoughts of my losse which are as many as there are minutes and as violēt as if they were all in euery one But sith I can neither die as he died nor liue where he lieth dead I will liue out my liuing death by his graue and die on my dying life by his swéete tombe Better is it after losse of his body to looke to his sepulchre then after losse of the one to leaue the other to be destroyed No no though I haue béene robbed of the Saint I wil at the least haue care of the shrine which though it be spoiled of the most soueraigne hoast yet shall it be the Altar where I will daily sacrifie my heart and offer vp my teares Here will I euer leade yea here to I meane to end my wretched life that I may at the least bee buried by the tombe of my Lord and take my iron sléepe neere this couche of stone which his presence hath made the place of swéetest repose It may be also that this empte Sindon lying héere to no vse and this tōbe being opē without any in it may giue occasion to some mercifull heart that shall first light vpon my vnburied body to wrap me in this shroud and to interre me in this tombe O too fortunate lott for so vnfortunate a woman to craue no no I doe not craue it For alas I dare not yet if such a sinfull ouersight shoulde be committed I doe now beforehand forgiue that sinner and were it no more presumption to wish it aliue then to suffer it dead if I knew the party that shuld first passe by me I woulde woe him with my teares and hire him with my praiers to blesse me with this felicity And though I dare not wish anie to do it yet this without offence I may say to all that I loue this Syndon aboue all clothes in the world and this tomb I estéeme more then any princes monument yea and I thinke that corse highly fauoured that shall succéede my Lord in it and for my part as I mean that the ground where I stand shall be my death-bed so am I not of Iacobs minde to haue my bodie buried farre from the place where it dieth but euen in the next and readiest graue and that as soone as my breath faileth sith delaies are bootlesse where death hath wonne possession But alas I dare not say any more let my bodie take such fortune as befalleth it my soule at the least shall dwel in this swéet Paradise and from this britle case of flesh and bloud passe presently into the glorious tombe of God and man It is nowe enwrapped in a masse of corruption it shall then enioy a place of high perfection where it is nowe it is more by force then by choise and like a repining prisoner in a loathed gayle But there in little roume it should finde perfect rest and in the prison of death
where the dead is reuiued If they be teares of ioy stilled from the flowers of thy good Fortune fewer of these would suffice and fitter were other tokens to expresse thy contentment And therefore O VVoman why doest thou weepe Would our eies be so dry if such eie streams were behoouefull Yea would not the heauens rain tears if thy suppossals were truths Did not Angels alwaies in their visible semblaunces represent their lords inuisible pleasure shadowing in their shapes the drift of his intentions When God was incensed they brandished swords When hée was appeased they sheathed them in scabbards When hée would defend they resembled souldiers when hée would terrify they took terrible forms and when he would comfort they carried mirth in their eies swéetenes in their countenaunce mildenes in their wordes fauour grace and comlinesse in their whole presence Why theÌ„ dost thou wéepe séeing vs to reioyce Dost thou imagin vs to degenerate from our nature or to forget any duety whose state is neither subiect to chaÌ„ge nor capable of the least offence Art thou more feruent in thy loue or more priuy to the counsaile of our eternall God then we that are daily attendaÌ„ts at his throne of glory O Woman déeme not amisse against so apparaunt euidence and at our request exchange thy sorrow for our ioy But O glorious Angels why doe yée moue her to ioy if you know why shée wéepeth Alas shée wéepeth for the losse of him without whom all ioy is to her but matter of new griefe While hée liued euery place where shée found him was to her a Paradise euery season wherin he was enioyned a perpetuall spring euery exercise wherein he was serued a speciall felicity the ground whereon hée went séemed to yéelde her swéeter footing the aire wherein hée breathed becam to her spirite of life being once sanctified in his sacred brest In summe his presence brought with it a heauen of delightes and his departure séemed to leaue an Eclipse in all things And yet euen the places that he had once honored with the accesse of his person were to her so many swéete pilgrimages which in his abseÌ„ce shée vsed as chappels and altars to offer vp her prayers féeling in them long after the vertue of his former presence And therefore to féed her with coniectures of his well-being is but to strengthen her feare of his euill and the alledging of likelyhoodes by those that knowe the certainty importeth the case to bée lamentable that they are vnwilling it should bée known Your obscure glancing at the truth is no sufficient acquittance of her griefe neither can shée out of these disioyned ghesses spell the wordes that must be the conclusion of her complaint Tell her then directly what is becom of her lord if you mean to deliuer her out of these dumpes sith what else soeuer you say of him doth but draw more humors to her sore and rather anger it then any way asswage it Yet hearken O Mary and consider their spéeches Thinke what answer thou wilt giue them sith they presse thee with so strong perswassons But I doubt that thy wittes are smothered with too thicke a miste to admit these unknowen beams of their pale light Thou art so wholly inherited by the bloudy tragedy of thy slaughtred Lord and his death and dead body haue gotten so absolute a conquest ouer all thy powers that neither thy sence can discerne nor thy minde conceiue any other obiect then his murdered corse Thy eies séeme to tel thee that euery thing inuiteth thee to weepe carrying such outward shew as though all that thou seest were attired in sorrow to solemnize with generall consent the funerall of thy Maister Thy ears perswade thée that all sounds and voices are tuned to mourning notes and that the Eccho of thy own wailings is the cry of the very stons trées as though the cause of thy teares being so vnusuall God to the rocks and woods had inspired a féeling of thine and their coÌ„mon losse And therefore it soundeth to thée as a straunge question to aske thee why thou wéepest sith al that thou seest and hearest séemeth to eâ—duce thée yea to enforce thée to weepe If thou seest anie thing that beareth a cullour of myrth it is vnto thee like the riche spoiles of a vanquished kingdome in the eye of the captiue Prince which put him in minde what he had not what he hath and are but vpbraidinges of his losse and whetstones of sharper sorrow Whatsoeuer thou hearest that moueth delight it representeth the misse of thy maisters spéeches which as they were the onely harmonie that thy eares affected so they being now stopped with a deathfull silence all other words and times of comfort are to thee but an Israelites musicke vpon Babilon bancks memories of a lost felicitie and proofes of a present vnhappinesse And though loue increased the conceite of thy losse which endéereth the meanest thinges and doubleth the estimate of thinges that are pretious yet thy faith teaching thee the infinite dignitie of thy maister and thy vnderstanding being no dull scholler to learne so wel liked a lesson it fell out to be the bitterest part of thy miserie that thou diddest so wel know howe infinite the losse was that made thée miserable This is the cause that those verie angels in whome all thinges make remonstrance of triumph and solace are vnto thée occasions of new griefe For their gratious and louely countenances remember thee that thou hast lost the beutie of the world and the highest marke of true loues ambition Their swéete lookes and amiable features tel thée that the heauen of thy eyes which was the reuerend Maiestie of thy maisters face once shined with farre more pleasing graces but is now disfigured with the dreadful formes of death In summe they were to thée like the glistering sparkes of a broken Diamond and like pictures of dead and decaied beauties signes not salues of thy calamitie memorials not medicines of thy misfortune Thy eies were to wel acquainted with the trueth to accept a supplie of shadowes and as comelinesse comfort and glorie were neuer in anie other so truely at home and so perfitly in their prime as in the person and speeches of thy Lord so cannot thy thoughtes but be like strangers in anie forraigne delightes For in them all thou séest no more but some scattered crummes and hungrymorsels of thy late plentifull banquets and findest a dimme reflexion of thy former light which like a flash of lightning in a close and stormy night serueth thee but to sée thy present infelicitie and the better to know the horror of the insuing darkenesse Thou thinkest therefore thy selfe blamelesse both in wéeping for thy losse and in refusing other comforte Yet in common courtesie affoord these Angels an answere sith their charitie in visiting thee deserueth much more and thou if not too vngratefull canst allow them no lesse Alas saith she what néedeth myanswere where the miserie it selfe speaketh
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