But 'cause love makes me covetous of doing Though Iosephs vvorke no reprehension needs Though to my wish his baulme he vvas bestowing Yet all he did cannot my love suffise But I must actor be to please mine eies Such is the force of true affecting love To be as eagre in effects t' appeare As it is zealous fervently to move Affections firme to vvhat it holdeth deare This love devout sets my poore heart on fire To shew some deed of my most deepe desire And to embaulme his breathlesse corps I came As once afore I did annoint his feet And to preserve the reliques of the same The only remnant that my blisse did meet To vveepe afresh for him in deapth of dole That lately vvept to him for mine owne soule But loe alas I find the grave vvide ope The bodie gone the emptie Sindon left The hollow Tombe I every where doe grope To be assur'd of vvhat I am sure bereft The labour of embaulming is prevented But cause of endlesse vveeping is augmented He vvanting is unto my obsequies That vvas not vvanting to my ceaselesse teares I find a cause to move my miseries To ease my vvoe no vvisht for ioy appeares Thus though I misse vvhom to annoint I meant Yet have I found a matter to lament I having settled all my sole desires On Christ my love vvho all my love possest In vvhose rare goodnesse my affection fires Whom to enioy I other ioies supprest Whose peerelesse vvorth unmatcht of all that live Being had all ioy and lost all sorrowes give The life of lives thus murthering in his death Doth leave behind him lasting to endure A generall death to each thing having breath And his decease our nature hath made pure Yet am poore I of ornament bereft And all the vvorld vvithout perfection left What marvell then if my hearts hot desire And vehement love to such a lovely Lord To see lifes vvracke vvith scalding sighs aspire And for his bodies losse such vvoe afford And feele like tast of sorrow in his misse As in his presence I enioied blisse And though my teares destil'd from moistned eies Are rather oile than vvater to my flame More apt to nourish sorrow in such vvise Than to deminish or abate the same Yet silly soule I plung'd in deapth of paine Doe yeeld my selfe a captive to complaine Most true it is that Peter came and Iohn With me unto the Tombe to trie report They came in hast and hastily were gone They having searcht dare make no more resort And vvhat gain'd I two vvitnesse of my losse Dismaiers of my hope cause of more crosse Love made them come but love was quickly quail'd With such a feare as cal'd them soone away I poore I hoping in despaire assail'd Without all feare persevering still to stay Because I thought no cause of feare vvas left Sith vvhom I feard was from my sight bereft For I poore soule have lost my maister deare To vvhom my thoughts devoutly vvere combin'd The totall of my love my cheefest cheare The height of hope in vvhom my glorie shin'd My finall feare and therefore him excepted No other hope nor love nor losse respected Worse feare behind vvas death vvhich I desired And feared not my soules life being gone Without vvhich I no other life required And in vvhich death had been delight alone And thus ah thus I live a dying life Yet neither death nor life can end my strife Yet now me thinkes t is better die than live For haply dying I my love may find Whom vvhile I live no hope at all can give And he not had to live I have no mind For nothing in my selfe but Christ I lov'd And nothing ioies my Iesus so remov'd If any thing alive to keepe me striv'd It is his image cause it should not die With me vvhose likenesse love in me contriv'd And treasured up in sweetest memorie From vvhich my love by no vvay can depart Vnlesse I rip the centre of my heart Which had been done but that I feard to burst The worthlesse Trunck which my dear Lord inclosed In vvhich the reliques of lost ioy vvas trust And all the remnant of my life imposed Else greefe had chang'd my hart to bleeding tears And fatall end had past from pittious ears Yet pittious I in so unperfit sort Doe seeme to draw my undesired breath That true I prove this often-heard report Love is more strong than life-destroying death For vvhat more could pale death in me have done Than in my life performed plaine is showne My vvits destraught and all my sence amaz'd My thoughts let loose and fled I know not vvhere Of understanding robd I stand agaz'd Not able to conceit vvhat I doe heare That in the end finding I did not know And seeing could not vvell discerne the show I am not vvhere I am but vvith my love And vvhere he is poore soule I cannot tell Yet from his sight nothing my heart can move I more in him than in my selfe doe dwell And missing vvhom I looke for vvith sad seeking Poor vvo-worn womaÌ„ at the Tomb stay weeping Marie Magdalens third Lamentation In finding the Angels and missing whom shee sought BVt hope-beguiling fortune now to châ—ere My long-sad spirits vvith a shade of ioy With Angels presents doth preseÌ„t me here GraÌ„ting a momeÌ„ts mirth to increase annoy For looking him though for him I find twaine To thinke on him redoubleth still my paine Yet for a time I vvill revive my soule With this good hope vvhich may my hopes exceed Comfort sweet comfort shall my cares controule Releefe may hatch vvhere greefe did lately breed I seeke for one and now have found out twaine A bodie dead yet two alive againe My vvofull vveeping all vvas for a Man And now my teares have Angels bright obtained I vvill suppresse my sigh-swolne sadnesse than And glad my heart vvith this good fortune gained These Heaven attendants to a parle envite me I le heare vvhat they vvill say it may delight me For I assure my selfe if that the corse By fraud or mallice had removed bin The linnen had not found so much remorse But had been caried too away vvith him Nor could the Angels looke so chearefully But of some happier chance to vvarrant me And for to free me from all feares even now They thus encounter these their speeches vvere And thus they spake Woman vvhy vveepest thou As if they bad me vveeping to forbeare For ill it fits a mortall eye should vveepe Where heavenly Angels such reioicing keepe Erewhile they said Thou camst vvith manly courage Arming thy feet through greatest thornes to run Thy bodie to endure all tyrants rage Thy soule no violent tortures for to shun And art thou now so much a vvoman made Thou canst not bid thine eies from teares be staide If that thou hadst a true Disciples name So many certaine proofes vvould thee persuade But incredulitie so blots the same Thou of that title art unvvorthie made And therefore vvoman
If life hovv doe I then such dead fits prove If it bereaveth sence hovv did I see The Angels then if it revive the same Why did I not knovv Iesus vvhen he came And doe I in such zeale thus seeke for one Whom vvhen I have found out I do not know Or if I know him that of late vvas gone Now having him vvhy doe I seeke him so Behold my Christ is come he vvhom I sought Doth talke vvith me and I my selfe know nought Why doe I not then vvipe my dazled eies Ah hath my Lord in this vvorld liv'd so long Di'de vvith such paine shed shours of tears with cries Laboured so much and suffered so much vvrong And hath thereby no more preferment cought But for to be a silly Gardiner thought And hath my kindnesse so much cost bestowed Vpon the ointment vvhich I did prepare Have I in anguish pin'd and so long sorrowed Shead all these teares and had such heedlesse care And vvas all done for one and one no better Than is a silly simple Gardiner Alas and is a silly garden plot The best free-hold that my love can afford Is this the highest office he hath got To be a Gardiner now that vvas my Lord He better might have liv'd and owned me Than vvith his death to have bought so small a fee. Marie Magdalens sixt Lamentation Iesus said unto hâ—r Marie she turned and said unto him Rabbâ—ni OH loving Lord thou only didst deferre My consolation to encrease it more That thy delightfull presence might preferre The better vvelcome being vvisht so sore In that thy absence little hope had left Vnto my heart so long of blisse bereft It may be that I knew not former blisse Till I a time vvas from the sweetnesse vvean'd Nor vvhat it vvas such treasures rich to misse Which in thy presence I of late attain'd Vntill my povertie had made it cleere Of vvhat inestimable rate they vvere But now thou shewst me by a proofe most sweet That though I paid thee vvith my dearest love With vvater of my teares to vvash thy feet With my best breath vvhich all desire could move Yet small the price vvas that I did bestow Waying the vvorth which now thou letst me know I sought thee dead pind in a stonie gaile But find thee living and at libertie Shrin'd in a shroud thy visage vvan and pale Left as the modell of all miserie But now invest in glorious robes I find thee And as the president of blisse I mind thee As all this vvhile I sought but could not find Wept vvithout comfort cal'd unanswered to So now thy comming satisfies my mind Thy triumphs please my teares vvhich long did vvo And all my cries are husht vvith this one vvord Marie cause sweetly spoken from my Lord. For vvhen I heard thee call in vvonted sort And vvith thy usuall voice my only Name Issuing from that thy heavenly mouths report So strange an alteration it did frame As if I had been vvholly made anew Being only nam'd by thee vvhose voice I knew Whereas before my greefe benum'd me so My bodie seem'd the hearse of my dead hart My heart soules coffin kil'd vvith care and vvo And my vvhole selfe did seeme in every part A double funerall presented plaine Of thee and of my selfe together slaine But now this one vvord hath my sence restored Lightned my mind and quickned my heart And in my soule a living spirit poured Yea vvith sweet comfort strengthened every part For vvell this vvord a spirit dead may raise Which only vvord made Heaven World and Seas Marie I vvas vvhen sin possest me vvhole Marie I am being now in state of grace Marie did vvorke the ill that damn'd her soule Marie did good in giving ill place And now I shew both vvhat I vvas and am This vvord alone displaies my ioy and shame For by his vertues that did speake the same An Epitome of all his mercies sweet A Repetition of my miseries came And all good haps I did together meet Which so my sences ravished vvith ioy I soone forgot my sorrowes and annoy And thus my heart a troupe of ioies did lead Mustered in rankes to mutinie they fell Conspiring vvhich might worthiest be made With them my owne unworthies doe rebell And long in doubtfull issue they contend Till view of highest blisse the strife did end He vvas my Sunne vvhose going downe did leave A dumpish night vvith fearefull fancies fild And did each starre of glistering shines bereave And all the vvorld vvith mystie horror hill'd And every planet reigning erst so bright Were chang'd to dismall signes in this darke night Yet now the clearenesse of his lovely face His vvords authoritie vvhich all obay This foggie darknesse cleane away doth chace And brings a calme and bright vvell tempered day And doth disperse clouds of melancholie Awakes my sence and cures my lethargie Rapt vvith his voice impatient of delay Out of his mouth his talke I greedily take And to this first and only vvord I say And vvith one other vvord this answere make Rabboni then my ioy my speech did choke I could no more proceed nor more hear spoke Love vvould have spoke but fear conceal'd the clause Hope framed vvords but doubt their passage staies When I should speake I then stood in a pause My suddaine ioy my inward thoughts quite slaies My voice doth tremble and my toung doth falter My breath doth faile and all my sences alter Lastly in lieu of vvords issue my teares Deepe sighs in stead of sentences are spent Their mothers vvant they fill vvith sighs and feares And from the heart halfe uttered breath they sent Which so in passions conflict disagree To sounds perceiv'd they cannot sorted be So fares the heart that 's sicke for suddaine ioy Attaining that for vvhich it long did fire For even as feare is loves still servile boy And hope an usher unto hot desire So love is hard a firme beleefe in gaining And credulous coniectures entertaining And though desire be apt for to admit Of vvisht for comfort any smallest shade The hotter yet it burnes in having it The more it cares to have it perfit made And vvhile least hope is vvanting vvhich is sought The best assurances avantage nought And even as hope doth still the best presume Inviting ioy to vvelcome good successe So feare suspects true blisse can hardly come And cals up sorrow making it seeme lesse With greefe bewailing the uncertainetie Of that vvhich should be sole felicitie And vvhile as these doe mutually contend Feare sometime falleth into deepe despaire Hope rising up his fierie darts doth send Of vvrath repining to the emptie aire Making a doubtfull skirmish dead they stand Till evidence of proofe the strife have skand For though poore I so suddainely repli'de Vpon the notice of his voice well knowne Yet for because so rare a chaunce I spi'de His person chaung'd himselfe unlookt for showne The sight my thoughts into sedition drew Then were they purg'd
vvhich under burthen cries Vnto a nevv-made storme of sighes and feares And last my soule oh soule vvith vvoe opprest Is made a prisoner to my owne unrest My heart shall never cease to tire my toung My toung shall never rest to tell my smart My smart shall cause me still to vvaile my vvrong My vvrong bereaving me of my best part So heart so toung so smart shall all accord To sigh tell shew my greefes for my dead Lord. I silly soule sith I my mirth have lost For my part vvill make much of heartie sorrow And sith my ioy vvith such deepe vvoe is crost In bitter teares all comfort I vvill borrow Which I presume I lawfully may shee l Fetching my vvarrant from his latest deed Alas vvhat need had my sweet Lord to vveepe Vpon the crosse but for our learnings sake Which cannot sure be ill for me to keepe That he thought good to give t is good to take My vveeping cannot preiudice my blisse A vvorld of teares cannot bewaile my misse I still vvill dravv to my distressed mind All sad conceits all heavie pensive musing My heart to daily languor I will bind Where it may pinâ— in vvithered caâ—e perusing Taking no comfort for my vvoes redresse But in consenting to be comfortlesse Oh vvould to God I vvere as privie made Vnto his blessed bodies sweet remove To know vvhere that pure vessell now is laid As he is vvitting of my faithfull love Oh thou my Lord and owner of my soule That knowes my heart and can conceive my dole If skies bright Sunne to shew his beames did shame When light of lights vvas darkened vvith disgrace If heavens their beautie did vvith louring staine Suting their colours to their makers case If Natures frame did melting shake to see Natures faire Author us'd unnaturally Why should not I vvhose over-burthening smart Hath equall cause to vvaile his heavie case Helpe in this â—â—d consort to beare a part Especially sith in this little space His bodies losse hath mourners number lessened And yet the cause of vveeping is increased The Apostles all are fled his friends afraid And I alone to vveepe for all am staid Marie Magdalens fift Lamentation Maries perseverance at the Tombe and the apring of Christ in the likenesse of a Gardiner OH my dear Lord thy greefe the greatest was That evvâ—r vvas in man or manly heart And my greefe is as great a greefe alas As ever came to vvoman for her part For out of thine my love hath carved mee A part not small and yet too small for thee Thy losse my torment hath redoubled And all sad soules pay me vvhat they did borrow I beare the greefe which theÌ„ too much hath troubled Yea I am made Vice-gerent of all sorrow Sorrow ah sorrow thou O Tombe vvith me And thaw to teares you stones that hardest be The time is come now is the very time That leave it had and license for to cry To tell the Pharises their sinfull crime Now for the Lord the breach of silence try Who said if his disciples held their peace The very stones vvould crie for sins increace Sith then their lips be locked up vvith feare And sadnesse makes them mute and not a vvord Oh crie you stones and no exclaimes forbeare Crie out against the murtherers of my Lord The robbers of his sacred coarse bewray Bring them to light that stole my Lord away For sure it vvas some Pharises fell spight Or bloodie Scribe not sated vvith the paine His bodie felt but bloud their hearts envite To practise some vvorse crueltie againe And now to glut their brutish mind vvithall Have stolne his coarse to use unnaturall Oh rockes and stones if ever you must crie Now is high time to poure your loud exclaimes Novv let your clamours to the vvelkin flie Sith light is darkened dead the flame of flames The vvorlds great Monarch foulely massacred The life of lives outrageously misused Doth not his tongue vvhose truth infallible is Whose vvord omnipotent rules sea and vvind Whom creatures most insensible doe kisse With aw'd obedience vvhich his power doth bind Promise the vvhole vvorld shall defend the iust Against those sencelesse soules vvhich selfe power trust And vvho more iust than he of Iustice king Who than his barbarous murtherers sencelesse more Whose innocent bloud could not a staunching bring Vnto their greedie thirst slaughtered before Vnlesse they to this impious act proceed To vvorke his bodie dead some hellish deed Why doe not then all creatures them applie To be revenged in a cause so iust Vpon the Iewes uncivile tyrannie Bereft of sence and blinded in mistrust Their hearts made inhumane of reason barrain Void of good feeling both to God and Man But sure it cannot be in humane might To steale the bodie of my Lord away No bloudie theefe nor any mortall vvight Had sufferance to beare so vvicked sway It can not be that any sinfull soule Would undertake a deed of such deepe dole No no he vvas no bootie for a â—heefe Nor for a cruell Pharisee a pray Nor vvere the Angels slacke to attend him cheefe As my suspition doth presume to say If this thing cannot change my mind from feare Yet looking on the clothes my doubts may cleare Would any theefe have so religious beene To steale the bodie and the clothes not take Would any theefe so venterous have been seene To stay so many feare delaies to make As to unshroud the coarse order the sheets And fold the napkins vvith such seemely pleets I know that Mirrhe makes linnen cleave as fast As pitch or glue vvell tempered or made And could a theefes stolne leasure so long last As to dissolve the Mirrhe and baâ—e the dead Breake up the seales open the Tombe and all Where vvas the vvatch vvheÌ„ these things did befall If all this yet cannot persuade my mind Yet might my owne experience make me see When at the crosse they stripped him unkind I saw his garment vvould not parted bee From goaâ—ie backe but tare his tender skin Much more if it vvith Mirrhe had nointed bin I le looke into the sheet if there remaine Any one parcell of his mangled flesh Or any haire pluckt from his heads soft vaine If none that shall my vvearie vvoe refresh I le thinke a better chaunce betides my love Than my misdeeming feare vvill let me prove A guiltie conscience doubteth vvant of time And leaud attempts are still dispatcht in hast Offenders doubt least light make known their crime And in nights sable vveed commit their vvast With dread and horror acting fearefully And cannot marke vvhen things vvell ordered be But to unvvrap a bodie mangled so Out of Mirrhe cloathes and not the flesh to teare Leaving them thus so cleanely vvip'd in show It is a thing most marvellous to heare And most impossible for man to do Vnlesse they had light helpe and time thereto But oh the great effects of rarest love If love a languor be hovv then live I