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
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
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.