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
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
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
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
thy selfe with these cares His father knoweth and hée will helpe him The Angels know and they wil gard him His own soule knoweth and that will asist him And what néede then is there that thou séely woman shouldst know it that canst no way profite him But I féele in what vain thy pulse beateth and by thy desire I discouer thy disease Though both heauen and earth did know it and the whole world had notice of it yet except thou also wert made priuy vnto it thy woes would be as great thy teares as many That others sée thy Sunne doth not lighten thy darkenesse neither can others eating satisfie thy hunger The more there be that know of him the greater is thy sorrow that among so many thou art not thought worthy to be one And the more there bée that may help him the more it gréeueth thée that thy poore helpe is not accepted among them Though thy knowledge needeth not thy loue doth desire it and though it auaile not thy desire will séeke it If all know it thou wouldest know it with all if no other thou wouldest know it alone and from whom soeuer it be concealed it must be no secret to thée Though the knowledge would discomfort thée yet know it thou wilt yea though it would kill thée thou couldest not forbeare it Thy Lord to thy loue is like drink to the thirsty which if they cannot haue they die for drouht and béeing long without it they pine away with longing And as men in extremity of thirst are still dreaming of fountaines brookes and springs being neuer able to haue other thought or to vtter other word but of drink and moisture so louers in the vehemency of their passion can neither thinke nor speake but of that they loue and if that be once missing euery part is both an eie to watch and an eare to listen what hope or newes may be had of it If it be good they die till they hear it though bad yet they cannot liue without it Of the good they hope that it is the verye best and of the euill they feare it to be the worst and yet though neuer so good they pine til it be told and be it neuer so euil they are importunate to know it And when they once know it they can neither beare the ioy nor brook the sorrow but as well the one as the other is inough to kill them And this O Mary I ghesse to be the cause why the Angels would not tell thee thy Lords estate For if it had béen to thy liking thou wouldest haue died for ioy if otherwise thou wouldst haue suncke downe for sorrow And therefore they leaue this newes for him to deliuer whose word if it giue thée a woūd is also a salue to cure it though neuer so deadly But alas afflicted soule why doth it so déepely grieue thée that thou knowest not where he is Thou canst not better him if he be well thou canst as little succour him if he be ill and sith thou fearest that he is rather ill then well why wouldest thou knowe it so to end thy hopes in mishappe and thy great feares in farre greater sorrows Alas to aske thée why is in a manner to aske one halfe starued why he is hungry For as thy Lord is the foode of thy thoughts the relief of thy wishes the onely repast of all thy desires so is thy loue a continuall hunger and his absence vnto thée an extream famine And therefore no maruail though thou art so gréedy to heare yea to deuour any be it neuer so bitter notice of him sith thy hūger is most violent and nothing but he able to content it And albeit the hearing of his harmes should work the same in thy minde that vnwholesome meat worketh in a sicke stomacke yet if it once concerne him that thou louest thy hungry loue could not temper it selfe from it though after with many wringing gripes it did a long and vnplesaunt penance But why doth thy sorrow quest so much vppon the place where hée is were it not inough for thée to knowe who had him but that thou must also know in what place he is bestowed A worse place then a graue no man will offer and many farre better titles wil allowe and therefore thou maist boldly thinke that where so euer he be he is in a place fitter for him then where he was Thy sister Martha confessed him to be the Sonne of God and with her confession agreed thy beleef And what place more conuenient for the Sonne then to be with his Father the businesse for which he hath béene so long from him being now fully finished If he be the Messias as thou diddest once beléeue it was said of him That he should ascend on high and leade our captiuity captiue And what is this height but heauen what our captiuity but death Death therefore is become his captiue and it is like that with the spoiles thereof he is ascended in triumphe to eternall life But if thou canst not lift thy mind to so fauourable a beléefe yet maist thou very well suppose that he is in Paradise For if he came to repaire Adams ruines and to be the common parent of our redemption as Adam was of our originall infection reason seemeth to require that hauing endured al his life the penalty of Adams exile he should after death reenter possession of that inheritance which Adam lost that the same place that was the nest where sinne was first hatched may be now the child-bed of grace and mercy And if sorrow at the crosse did not make thée as deafe as at the tomb it maketh thée forgetfull thou diddest in confirmation hereof heare him selfe say to one of the théeues that the same day he shuld be with him in Paradise And if it bee reason that no shadow should be more priuiledged then the body no figure in more account then the figured truth why shouldest thou beléeue that Elias and Enoch haue bin in Paradise these many ages and that he whom they but as tipes resembled should be excluded from thence He excelled them in life he surpassed them in miracles he was farre beyond them in dignity Why then should not his place be farre aboue or at the least equall with theirs sith their prerogatiues were so farre inferiour vnto his And yet if the basenesse and misery of his passion haue laid him so low in thy conceite that thou thinkest Paradise too high a place to be likely to haue him the very lowest roome that anye reason can assigne him can not bée meaner then the bosome of Abraham and sith God in his life did so often acknowledge him for his Sonne it seemeth the slendrest preheminence that he can giue him aboue other men that being his holy one hee should not in his body see corruption but be frée among the dead reposing both in body and soule where other Saints are in soule onely Let not therefore the
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
not from thy crosse after death shee came to dwell with thee at thy graue Why then dost not thou say with Noemi Blessed bee shee of our Lord because what courtesie shee afforded to the quicke shee hath also continued towardes the dead A thing so much the more to be esteemed in that it is most rare Doe not sweet Lord any longer delay her Behold shee hath attended thee these three daies and shee hath not what to eate nor wherewith to foster her famished soule vnlesse thou by discouering thy selfe doest minister vnto her the bread of thy body feede her with the foode that hath in it all taste of sweetnesse If therefore thou wilt not haue her to faint in the way refresh her with that which her hunger requireth For surely shee cannot long enioy the life of her body vnlesse shee may haue notice of thee that art the life of her soule But feare not Mary for thy teares will obtaine They are too mighty oratours to let any suite fall though they pleaded at the most rigorous bar yet haue they so perswading a silence and so conquering a complaint that by yeelding they ouercome and by intreating they commaund They tie the tongues of all accusers and soften the rigour of the seuerest Iudge Yea they win the inuincible and bind the omnipotent When they seeme most pittiful they haue greatest power and being most for saken they are most victorious Repentant eies are the Cellers of Angels and penitent teares their sweetest wines which the sauor of life perfumeth the taste of grace swéetneth and the purest colours of returning innocency highly beautifieth This dew of deuotion neuer falleth but the sunne of iustice draweth it vp and vpoÌ„what face soeuer it droppeth it maketh it amiable in Gods eie For this water hath thy heart beene long a limbecke sometimes distilling it out of the weedes of thy owne offences with the fire of true contrition Sometimes out of the flowers of spirituall comforts with the flames of contemplation and now out of the bitter hearbs of thy Maisters miseries with the heate of a tender compassion This water hath better graced thy lookes then thy former alluring glaunces It hath setled worthier beauties in thy face then all thy artificiall paintings Yea this onely water hath quenched Gods anger qualified his iustice recouered his mercy merited his loue purchased his pardon brought forth the spring of all thy fauors Thy tears were the proctors for thy brothers life the inuiters of those Angels for thy comfort and the suiters that shall be rewarded with the first sight of thy reuiued Sauiour Rewarded they shal be but not refrained altered in their cause but their course continued Heauen would weepe at the losse of so pretious a water and earth lament the absenee of so fruitefull â—owers No no the Angels must still bathe themselues in the pure streams of thy eies and thy face shall still bee set with this liquid pearle that as out of thy teares were stroken the first sparkes of thy Lordes loue so thy teares may be the oyle to nourishe and feede his flame Till death damme vp the springs they shall neuer cease running and then shal thy soule be ferried in them to the harbour of life that as by them it was first passed from sinne to grace so in them it may be wasted from grace to glorie In the meane time réere vp thy fallen hopes and gather confidence both of thy spéedie comforte and thy Lordes well being Iesus saith vnto her Maria She turning said vnto him Rabboni O louing maister thou didst onely deferre her consolation to increase it that the delight of thy presence might be so much the more welcome in that through thy long absence it was with so little hope so much desired Thou wert content shee shoulde lay out for thée so manie sighs tears and plaints and diddest purposely adiorne the date of her paiment to requite the length of these delaies with a larger loane of ioy It may be she knewe not her former happinesse till shee was weaned from it nor had a right estimate in valuing the treasures with which thy presence did enriche hir vntill her extreame pouertie taught her their vnestimable rate But now thou she west by a swéete experience that though she paied thée with the dearest water of her eyes with her best breath and tenderest loue yet small was the price that shee bestowed in respect of the worth that shee receiued She sought the dead and imprisoned in a stonie gayle and now she findeth thée both aliue and at full libertie Shée sought the shrined in a shrowd more like a leaper then thy selfe left as the modell of the vitermost miserie and the onely paterne of the bitterest vnhappinesse And now shee findeth thée inuested in the robes of glorie the president of the highest and both the owner and giuer of all felicitie And as all this while shee hath sought without finding wéept without comforte and called without aunswere so no we thou satisfiest her séeking with thy comming her tears with thy triumph and al her cries with this one word Marie For when she heard thee call her in thy woonted maner and with thy vsuall voyce her onely name issuing froÌ„ thy mouth wrought so strange an alteration in her as if she had béene wholly new made when she was only named For whereas before the violence of her griefe had so benummed her that her bodie séemed but the hearse of her dead heart and her heart the cophin of an vnliuing soule and hir whole presence but a representation of a double funeral of thine and of hir owne now with this one word her senses are restored her minde lightened her heart quickened and her soule reuiued But what maruell though with one word hee raise the dead spirites of his poore disciple that with a word made the world euen in this very worde sheweth an omnipotent power Marie she was called as well in her bad as in her reformed estate and both her good and euill was all of Maries working And as Marie signifieth no lesse what she was then what she is so is this one word by his vertue that speaketh it a repetition of all her miseries an Epitome of his mercies and a memorial of all her better fortunes And therefore it laid so generall a discouerie of her self before her eyes that it awaked her most forgotten sorows and mustered together the whole multitude of her ioyes and woulde haue left the issue of their mutinie verie doubtfull but that the presence and notice of hir highest happinesse decided the quarrell and gaue her ioyes the victory For as he was her only sunne whose going downe left nothing but a dumpishe night of fearefull fansies wherein no starre of hope shined and the brightest plannets were chaunged into dismall signes so the serenitie of his countenance and authoritie of hys worde brought a calme and well tempered day that chasing away all darknesse and
locked vp their lips sadnesse made theÌ„ mute let the stones crie out against the murderers of my Lord and bewray the robbers of his sacred body And I feare that were it well knowen who hath taken him away there is no stone so stony but should haue cause to lament It was doubtlesse the spite of some malicious Pharisée or bloudy Scribe that not contented with those torments that he suffred in life of which euery one to any other would haue bin a tirannicall death hath now stollen away his dead body to practise vppon it some sauage cruelty and to glutte their pittilesse eies and brutish heart with the vnnaturall vsage of his helples corps O yée rockes and stones if euer you must cry out now it is highe time sith the light the life and the Lord of the world is thus darkened massacred and outragiously missused Doth not this tongue whose truth is infallible and whose word omnipotent commaunding both windes and seas and neuer disobeyed of the moste insensible creatures promise to arme the world to make the whole earth to fight against the sencelesse persons in defence of the iust And who more iust then the lord of iustice who more sencelesse then his barbarous murderers whose insatiable thirst of his innocent bloud could not be staunched with their cruell butchering him at his death vnles they procéeded farther in this hellish impiety to his dead body Why then doe not all creatures addresse themselues to reuenge so iust a quarrell vppon so sencelesse wretches left of all reason forsaken of humanity bereaued of all féeling both of God and man O Mary why doest thou thus torment thy selfe with these tragical surmises Doest thou thinke that the Angels would sit still if their Maister were not well Did they serue him after his fasting and would they despise him after his dicease Did they comfort him before he was apprehended would none defend him when he was dead If in the garden hée might haue had twelue Legions of them is his power so quite dead with his body that he could not now commaund theÌ„ Was there an Angell found to helpe Daniel to his dinner to saue Tobye from the fish yea and to defend BalaaÌ„s poore beast from his Maisters rage and is the Lord of Angelles of so little reckonning that if his body stoode in néede neuer an Angell would defende it Thou séest two here present to honour his Tombe and how much more carefull would they be to doe homage to his person Beléeue not Mary that they would smile if thou haddest such occasion to wéepe They would not so gloriously shine in white if a blacke mourning wéede did better become them or were a fitter liuery for theyr Maister to giue or them to weare Yeelde not more to thy vncertain fear 〈◊〉 deceiued loue then to their assured â—â—â—wledge and neuer erring charity 〈◊〉 a materiall eye sée more then a â—â—â—uenly spirite or the glimmering of 〈◊〉 twi-light giue better aym then the beames of their eternal Sun Would they thinkest thou wait vpoÌ„ the winding sheete while the corse were abused or be here for thy comfort if their Lord did néede their seruice No no he was neither any théeues bootye nor Pharisées praye neyther are the Angels so careles of him as thy suspition presumeth And if their presence and demeanour can not alter thy conceite looke vppon the clothes and they will teach thée thine errour and cleare thée of thy doubt Would any théefe thinkest thou haue béen so religious as to haue stollen the body and left the clothes yea would he haue béene so venturous as to haue staied the vnshrowding of the corse the well ordering of the shéets and folding vp the napkins Thou knowest that mirrhe maketh linnen cleaue as fast as pitch or glue and was a théefe at so much leisure as to dissolue the mirrhe and vncloath the dead what did the watch while the seales were broken the Tombe opened the body vnfolded al other things ordered as now thou seest And if all this cannot yet perswad thee beleeue at the least thy own experience when thy maister was stripped at the crosse thou knowest that his onely garmont being congealed to his goary backe came not off without many partes of his skinne and doubtlesse would haue torne off many more if it had béen annointed with mirrhe Looke then into the shéete whether there remaine any parcell of skinne or any one haire of his head and sith there is none to bée found beléeue some better issue of thy maisters absence then thy feare suggesteth A guilty conscience doubteth want of time and therfore dispatcheth hastely It is in hazard to be discouered and therefore practiseth in darkenes and secresie It euer worketh in extreame feare and therefore hath no leisure to place things orderly But to vnwrappe so mangled a body out of mirrhed clothes without tearing of any skinne or leauing on any mirrhe is a thing either to man impossible or not possible to be done with such spéed without light or help and with so good order Assure thy selfe therefore that if either of malice or by fraud the corse had béen remoued the linnen mirrhe should neuer haue béene left and neither could the Angels looke so chearfully nor the cloths lie so orderly but to import som happier accident then thou conceiuest But to frée thée more from feare consider those wordes of the Angelles Woman why weepest thou For what doe they signify but as much in effecte as if they had said Where Angels reioyce it agréeth not that a womaÌ„ shold wéepe and where heauenly eies are witnesses of ioy no mortall eye should controll them with testimonies of sorrow With more then a manly corage thou diddest before thy comming arme thy féete to runne among swords thy armes to remoue huge loads thy body to endure al tirants rage and thy soul to be sundred with violent tortures and art thou now so much a Woman that thou canst not command thy eies to forbeare teares If thou wert a true Disciple so many proofes would perswade thée but now thy incredulous humor maketh thée vnworthy of that stile and we can affoorde thée no better title then a Woman and therefore O Woman and too much a Woman why weepest thou If there were here any corse wée might thinke that sorrow for the dead enforced thy teares but now that thou findest it a place of the liuing why dost thou here stand weeping for the dead Is our presence so discomfortable that thou shouldest wéep to behold vs or is it the course of thy kindnesse with teares to entertaine vs If they bée tears of loue to testify thy good will as thy loue is acknowledged so let these signes be suppressed If they be teares of anger to denounce thy displeasure they should not here haue béene shedde where all anger was buried but none deserued If they be teares of sorrow and dueties to the dead they are bestowed in vaine
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
disperpling the cloudes of melancholie cured the letargie and breaketh the dead sleep of her astonied senses Shée therefore rauished with his voice and impatient of delaies taketh his talke out of his mouth and to his first and yet onely worde aunswered but one other calling him Rabboni that is Maister And then sodaine ioy rowsing all other passions shée coulde no more procéed in her own then giue him leaue to goe fore ward with his spéech Loue would haue spoken but feare enforced silence Hope frameth the words but doubt melteth them in the passage and whē her inward conceits striued to come out her voice trembled her tongue faltered her breath failed In fine teares issued in liew of words and déep sighes in stead of long sentēces the eie supplying the mouths default and the heart pressing out the vnsillabled breath at once which the conflict of her disagréeing passions would not suffer to be sorted into the seuerall soundes of intelligible speeches For such is there estate that are sicke with a surfet of sodaine ioy for the attaining of a thing vehementlye desired For as desire is euer vshered by hope and waited on by feare so is it credulous in entertaining coniectures but hard in grounding a firme beliefe And though it be apt to admitte the least shadow of wished comfort yet the hotter the desire is to haue it the more perfect assurance it requireth for it which so long as it wanteth the first newes or apparaunce of that which is in request is rather an Alarum to summon vp all passions then a retraite to quiet the desire For as hope presumeth the best and inuiteth ioy to gratulate the good successe so feare suspecteth it too good to be true calleth vp sorrowe to bewaile the vncertainety And while these enterchange obiections and answeres somtimes feare falleth into despaire and hope riseth into repining anger and thus the skirmishe still continueth till euidence of proofe conclude the controuersie Mary therefore though shée sodainly aunswered vpon notice of his voice yet because the nouelty was so strāge his person so chaunged his presence so vnerpected and so many miracles laid at once before her amazed eies shée found a sedition in her thoughts till more earnest vewing him erempted them from all doubt And then though wordes woulde haue broken out and her hart sent into his the dueties that shée ought him yet euery thought striuing to be first vttered and to haue the first roome in his gracious hearing shée was forced as an indifferent arbitrer among thē to seal them vp al vnder silence by suppressing spéech and to supplye the want of words with more significant actions And therefore running to the haunt of her chiefest delights and falling at his sacred feete shée offered to bath them with teares of ioye and to sanctifie her lippes with kissing his once grieuons but now most glorious wounds She staied not for any more words being now made blessed with the word himselfe thinking it a greater benefite at once to féede al her wishes in the homage honour and embracing of his féet then in the often hearing of his lesse comfortable talke For as the nature of loue coueteth not onely to be vnited but if it were possible wholly transfourmed out of it selfe into the thing it loueth So doth it most affect that which most vniteth and preferreth the least coniunction before any distant contentment And therefore to sée him did not suffiss her to heare him did not quiet her to speak with him was not inough for her and except shée might touch him nothing could please her But though she humbly fell down at his féete to kisse them yet Christ did forbidde her saying Do not touch me for I am not yet ascended to my Father O Iesu what mistery is in this Being dead in sinne shée touched thy mortall féete that were to die for her sake being now aliue in grace may shée not touch thy glorious féete that are no lesse for her benefite reuiued Shée was once admitted to annointe thy head and is shée now vnworthy of accesse to thy féete Doest thou nowe commaund her frō that for which thou wert wont to commend her and by praising the déede diddest moue her often to doe it Sith other women shall touch thée why hath shée a repulse yea sith shée her selfe shall touch thée hereafter why is shée now reiected what meanest thou O Lord by thus debarring her of so desired a duty and sith among al thy disciples thou hast vouchsafed her with such a prerogatiue as to honour her eies with thy first sight and her eares with thy first wordes why deniest thou the priuiledge of thy first embracing If the multitude of her tears haue wonne that fauour for her eies and her longing to heare thée so great a recompence to her eares why doest thou not admitte her handes to touch and her mouth to kisse thy holye féete sith the one with many plaintes and the other with their readinesse to all seruices seeme to haue earned no lesse reward But notwithstanding all this thou preuentest the effect of her offer with for bidding her to touch thee as if thou haddest said O Mary know the difference betwéene a glorious and a mortall body betwéene the condition of a momentary and of an eternall life For sith the immortality of the body and the glory both of body and soule are the endowments of an heauenly inhabitant and the rights of an other world think not this fauour to se me here ordinary nor leaue to touch me a common thing It were not so great a wonder to sée the starres fall from their Sphers and the Sunne forsake heauen and to come within the reach of a mortall arme as for me that am not only a cittizen but the soueraign of saints and the sunne whose beames are the Angels blisse to shew my self visible to the pilgrims of this world and to display eternall beauties to corruptible eies Though I be not yet ascended to my father I shall shortly ascend and therfore measure not thy demeanour towardes me by the place where I am but by that which is due vnto me And then thou wilt rather with reuerence fall down a farre off then with such familiarity presume to touch me Doest thou not beléeue my former promises hast thou not a constant proofe by my present wordes are not thy eies and eares sufficient testimonies but that thou must also haue thy handes face witnesses of my presence Touch me not O Mary for if I doe deceiue thy sight or delude thy hearing I can as easely beguile thy hand and frustrat thy féeling Or if I be true in any one beléeue me in all and embrace me first in a firme faith and then thou shalt touch me with more worthy hands It is now necessary to weane thée from the comfort of my externall presence that thou maist learne to lodge mee in the secretes of thy heart and teach thy thoughts to