both the image and the embosting of them which is without all doubt most maruellous and when you haue paid your custome and passed the borders and limits of this life you shal see that which no tongue is able to vtter nor eare able to heare But to make you acknowledge at length what this is and plainly to prick out vnto you some draughts hereof I beseech you consider euen of the things which you so wonder at heere in this world and so greedely and egerly labour for and hunt after and you shall finde that if you go onely step by step on them and follow still your way that they will at last bring you vnto the knowledge of that which you at this day desire But because that in stead of going on them you settle your selues and sit fast down vpon on them you your selues become most vile and filthie by them Now let vs see a little why you thus satisfie your sences and from whence this pleasure and tickling delight springeth wherein you establish the seat of your worldly felicitie Commeth this from the obiect of naturall things that are growne vnto perfection Are these the well mingled sorted and setled colours and the exactly obserued proportions and dimensions which thus please the eyes What other thing admire you in a medow ennameled with a thousand goodly and odoriferous floures and so richly in diuerse places with sundrie colours bedecked What other thing admire you in the stately buildings of kings in their Bracelets Chaines and other Iewels and in the Tables of most excellent Pictures but onely this curious obseruation Yea what other estimation make you of the most faire sweete faces of women with whom yee effeminately burne in loue but an equall proportion and exact diligence of nature in the conformitie and assemblie of many things differing one from another What other thing is the sweetnesse of one especiall voice of a man or the melodie of many together in consort but a iust and orderly continuation of them all together or suddaine motion of many voices according to a naturall rule and proportion of the same And what other thing is the most pleasant and sweete sauour that a man can possiblie smell but a certaine temperature both of heate and moisture and a certaine qualitie imprinted in a bodie by the suddaine motion of one or many causes Neither is any thing sweet and pleasant in the most delicate meates and sauoures but a certaine measure of well mixed licoures Neither doth the touching of them bring or yeeld any other pleasure but a certaine equalitie and length which we finde in naturall bodies Now marke then all the pleasures which your sences can possibly receiue yee consume the whole time of your life onely about thē for for them alone ye wearie your bodies with continuall toiling moiling and for them alone yee striue against the winds and crosse the seas If then yee finde that all these particular things do possesse your minds by a certaine vaine shew of beauty and excellencie what will yee then say when as yee shall consider of them all at once and at one view euen from their first beginning vnto the highest degree of their perfection Shall yee not see the selfe and the same difference betweene them that is betweene one stone alone and an whole proude and costlie Pallace and betweene one voice and a complet and full noise of musick and betweene one finger and the whole bodie What matter can you make of all these particular things especially of these earthly things when as in lifting vp your eyes towards the Sunne and Starres yee behold the world from the highest part of heauen to the lowest part of the earth euen from the beginning of the same vnto the end thereof and consider how many wonderfull things are depainted and set foorth on euery side If so be then we haue done it to feed and satisfie our sences onely with the communicating of these beautifull and excellēt things it must needs be that we haue done it at the least by reason of the whole workmanship and frame of the same the elegancie whereof consisteth in the accordance and assembly of all the other particular beauties ornaments thereof But our soule which lancheth and stretcheth forth her desires and wishes farre aboue the reach of our sences without we will violently captiuate choake and strangle her hath no desire to stay heere For she findeth nothing heere which can any way retaine or yet containe her But she is more honourable then so for she embraceth heauen and earth compasseth all the whole world pierceth the bottomlesse depths knoweth all things and bestirreth and manageth her selfe and is so glorious as that if we conserue her in her naturall excellencie all the rest of the things of the world in respect of her will seeme to be most filthie and ouglie After she hath beheld her selfe and exercised her selfe about the searching out of causes and sciences finding nothing in all this no not any thing in her selfe that liketh her selfe and resting her selfe in a desire which she hath to learne she is enforced to lift vp her selfe farre aboue the world yea and farre aboue her selfe and suffereth her selfe to be guided by the workes of the worke-maister And there she seeth all at once all sorts of beauties and perfections abutting and assembling themselues euen from their very first originall and by so much the more they appeare most excellent and wonderfull by how much the nearer they come from thence from whence they first came Altogether like vnto the Sunne beames which the nearer they are the bodie from whence they shoote and spred themselues the greater the purer and the brighter they do appeare I vse especially in this behalfe this comparison because that of all things which we know heere below nothing more proportionably agreeeth with our soule then our sight which is the most noble liuely quickest action of all our sences nor nothing more proportionable vnto God then the light which is the most pure and most excellent thing in the world And the ancient wise men haue said That the light was Gods bodie and the truth his soule representing shewing and giuing vs a taste as it were heereby of one of the greatest secrets of the Godhead We must therefore open and vnseele the eyes of our minde that we may pearse into this heauenly light euen vnto the depth of the euerlasting truth If we will neuer so little helpe our selues and lift vp our soule that she may ascend by those steppes which offer themselues vnto her and hoise vp her saile on hie what delight and pleasure might she not hope for but wish not wish for but say not say but thinke which we enioy not in full measure yea such pleasure as that we should feele encrease and redouble in vs vntill the time that being ascended vnto the feast we should be ioined vnto that first and most high light
So as we then being compassed with brightnesse and rauished with the sight of this wonderfull beautie should feele the pleasure most infinitly to be encreased be filled with incoÌ„parable ioy to make vs generally scorne these fleeting perishing shing delights al these fading chaÌ„geable sweet pleasures which occupie our minds here belowe and none otherwise to be desired then as a small sparke of beautie spred ouer vs like a scarfe Then shall we enter â—nto the shop where all these rare and strange workes were cast in a mould where we shall not onely see the patternes of them and not onely handle the tooles and instruments but shall also see and familiarly know the very workemaster of them who will not onely shew vnto vs his workemanship nor descifer only vnto vs his purposes but will also teach vs his arte and science and make vs all perfect and godly according to him selfe There shall we see the beames of this Deity spread all ouer and reunite it selfe vnto this body of light whereunto when we shall see our selues conioyned in thought we shall then perceiue at once all the causes and effects of the eternall wisedome which particularly and separably may seeme to be able to be furnished with matter to our great contentment Here then we see wherein consisteth our felicitie that is to say in this vndriable spring-head of beauties in this deepe sea of all bounties whereinto all the riuers streames of the world must run That is to say into this original light vnto whom we must turne our selues and vpon whome we must fast fixe and set the eyes of our soules if so be we loue the eternall blessednesse Alas how excellent was this last sigh of the Philosopher Plotin who hauing now his soule geuing vp her selfe betweene his lips called his schollers vnto him giuing them this farewell My good friends God graunt you to liue both now and hereafter in blisse for euer and alwayes turne that godlinesse that is in you vnto that auncient principall Deitie O noble speech and worthie the closing vp of the mouth and life of a Philosopher But what shall we do for the returning of our selues vnto God and to approch reunite and become one with him Shall we present our selues vnto his maiestie in that estate wherein we commonly stand No surely for if we before such time as we lift vp the eyes of our soules towards this cleere and bright burning light do not wipe and cleanse our selues we shall in stead of enioying this glorious and pure light haue that little sight that we haue vtterly put out For as in the lawe of the lewes the woman that offred her selfe vnto the triall of the ielousie offering receiued no hurt by the bitter cursed water if she were chast and sound but was quit and free froÌ„ all blame suspicion and contrariwise if she had broken her mariage promise faith remained infected and so rotted and burst in sunder euen so also those meÌ„ who as the members of the Church of God haue maried his only Sonne if they offer themselues poluted and defiled to touch the holy fier of his holy spirit are rather blinded then enlightened yea rather consumed then warmed And this is the reason why God when as he hauing compassion of our ruine fall is willing for our saluation to disclose vnto the world this light of wisedom he sendeth his herault before to wash make cleane the soules of all such as he would haue behold the brightnes of his glory We heare euery where the souÌ„d of the holy voice of this Prophet crying Make straight plaine the wayes of the liuing God repent and bring forth the fruites worthy of repentance for he will come with his fanne in his hand to winnow the Corne from the Chaffe lay vp the Corne by itselfe and cast the Chaffe into euerlasting fier Seeing then that we desire this great felicitie and that before we present our selues vnto him we must cleanse our harts and minds and make them capable to conceiue of heauenly things let vs see what remedies we haue for that purpose Howbeit let vs somewhat alittle before consider how and in what sort we haue so defiled our selues that we might thereby the more easily finde out the meetest meanes to cleanse our selues and let vs see from whence and which way we are fallen that thereby we may perceiue by what meanes we may be able to lift vp our selues againe For God saw nothing amongst all his workes which any thing drew neare vnto his perfection and therefore he himself was then desirous to mould and fashion a liuing image of his Deitie which should be his chiefe and especiall worke and set him in the middest of the world Whereupon man forthwith shewed himselfe in the middest of the earth so perfect and complete as that nothing could be wished to be more excellently perfect For he being made a liuely image and being also as it were but a short and halfe picture hauing withall many the lineaments both of the aire and of the grace of the principall subiect or matter was most wonderfully perfect The holy fier which God had breathed into him being very pure enlightened his vnderstanding and filled him with the knowledge of all things in so much that he hauing truth for his guide and vertue for his ayde all his actions passed within the compasse of reason and turning him selfe continually vnto his Creator receiued to himselfe as in a very cleere looking glasse the forme and fashion of the Deitie in beholding of whome he fixed and stayed all his thoughts and thereby became very blessed for he liued in God and God in him But when as this mirror which was beautified and adorned with the obiect of the Deitie would needs runne him selfe amongst the troublesome and dangerous stormes and thereby defile and sully him selfe then this immortall brightnesse disdained any more to shew himselfe vnto him and left him altogether to remaine in darkenesse obscuritie So that man before such time as he had turned his back vpoÌ„ God being filled with a most sure knowledge of all things is now as it were become brutished and in stead of truth is full of error and lying and in stead of a ruled and moderate will is now full of burning lust so as all his thoughts which before were reunited to the beholding of his creator haue now spread themselues ouer the creatures roame about at all adueÌ„tures without either guide or reason This concupiscence and lust then hauing thus prostituted her selfe forthwith conceiued sin which comming to a ful growth amended death And death in deed brought forth the extremitie of al euils and death I say the hope of all horror and obscuritie wherein all the while that maÌ„ was swadled wrapped was neuer since euer able to receiue the brightnes of the immortal light ne yet attaine againe vnto the conduct of the truth the only beholding
thee 17 O what an acceptable sacrifice before thee is a broken and contrite heartâ— and an humble heart that acknowledged his sinne thou wilt neuer reiect for if it will come vp vnto thee it must first come downe and if it will touch the heauen it must first crawle vppon the ground if it will haue thee to heare it it must fyrst be silent and if it will be crowned in thy kingdome it must fyrst be beaten and scourged in the world These are the Sacrifices O Lord wherewith wee must be reconciled vnto thee and enter into couenant as thou hast set it downe vnto vs. 18 But if it be thy pleasure ô Lord that we shall offer bulls and bullocks vnto thee and perfume thine Aulters with the bloud of beasts if thou wilt that we by the death of an innocent burnt offering should represent vnto thee the death and innocencie of him whome thou hast destined to redeeme our soules If the figure of that which should come in the person of the vnspotted lambe doth please thee by the killing of Weathen and Sheepe looke then with pitie vppon thy poore people comfort thoâ— desolate Syon and encourage her poore enhabitants to the end they may set vp againe the walls of thine holie Citie and reedifie thy Temple not according to that equall proportion O Lord which thou deseruest but according to the wealth and industrie that the poore world can possibly affoord 19 Thither shall come from alâ— parts thy faithfull in great multitudesâ— to offer vp sacrifice vnto thee and there shall the expiation and purging of their sinnes be acceptable vnto thee But it shall neither be the death of beasts that shall wash away their spots for the cleansing of their disobedience and preuarication was prepared from all eternitie This is an inestimable sacrifice a burnt offering without spot which shall drawe away the curtayne disperse and destroy the darkenesses breake downe the wall or hedge that we may see the truth of our saluation face to face make the beames of his diuine mercie shine vpon vs and reassociate vs vnto the communion of that euerlasting blisse which we willingly haue renounced O most mercifull God which hast vnseeled the eyes of mine vnderstanding to see the misterie of my saluation make me O Lord to taste the excellent fruite which flourishing vppon the tree of the Crosse shall with the iuice thereof quicken and gene life vnto our dead souses preserue and warrant vs for euer from that ruine and calamitie which hath so miserably brought together the race of mankinde and ouerflowed them through their disobedience Lord heare my Prayer Psalme 102. I Haue ô Lord cryed and called vppon thee a long time for thy mercie and do yet looke for ayd and help from thee The ayte is filled with my cryes The winds haue carried the voyce of my dolor and griefe euen vnto the vttermost parts of the world and thine eaâ—e which heareth and vnderstandeth whatsoeuer is done in the bottomlesse pit of hell doth not yet heare and vnderstand my prayer which reacheth and beateth the very heauens Wilt thou therefore be deafe only vnto meâ— and shall all the world heare me saue thy selfe alone No no my God thou hast ouer-long stretched out thine armes now to reiect mee when as I come vnto thee for refuge 2 And now that I feele a thousand and a thousand sorrowes and that miseries assayle me on euery side do not turne thy backe vpon me ô Lord. Alas haue I setled my whole power and strength vpon the sweet countenance of thy face Haue I diuorced my selfe from the world to the end I might drawe neere vnto thee and haue I forsaken the children of the world that I might ioyne my self vnto the master of the heauens and wouldest thou now forsake me O Lord deale not so with me but assist mine infirmitie all the dayes of my life 3 Let my voyce no sooner cry and call vnto thee my God but that I may also soone feele thee and let thy grace descend as speedely vppon me as an Eagle hasteth her selfe to ayd her yong on s For if thou assist me not what maner of sight shall I be able to make against the enemies of my soule 4 My strength and life would dayly vanish away as the light smoke doth in flying in the ayre for the eye which seeth it goe out of the fire seeth it also forthwith consumed and in a moment accompanied both with his originall and his end and if any should aske what is become of it there is not one that can so much as tell where â—he trace only of it is to be found He that hath seene the loppings of wood wither in the sunne and loose their strength and verdure hath also seene my poore bones become both drye and consumed meete for none other thing but for the graue The graue yea surely the graue which is the happiest thing that can betide me if so be so small a pit may be able to stay the violent course of mine extreame misery 5 Who soeuer he be that hath seene grasse cut downe and tanned with the Sunne in the field and lose the coulor and wither and looke vppon my gastly and deadly face he would thinke that I were able to make death afeard Mine hart is parched within mine entrailes and my bloud drieth vp within my vaines for I remember not to put bread into my mouth and do still forget to eate my meales 6 My mouth serueth me for none other purpose but to cry out lament and the ordinary voice of my griefe is so strong as that it draweth after it all the rest of my strength Now if so be that my body being so extreamely full of heauinesse consume it selfe by little and little and my bones horribly sticke through my skinne what cause haue I to take care for the sustayning of this miserable body of mine which is the matter and substance of all my miseries Wherefore should I be watchfull for the conseruing of this life of mine which wrestleth against so many enemies and is cast downe with so many afflictions Were it not much better for me in ending my life to make also therewith an end of all miseries 7 Is the Pellican more full of greefe then I who liuing in the most solitary deserts of Egipt tormenteth her selfe for the killing of her yong ones and washeth them in her owne bloud to restore them to life which she had taken from them Is her sorrow greater than mine Hath nor my sinne procured the death of the child whome I more dearly loued then my selfe And now that I haue dried vp all my teares the bloud will gush out of mine eyes for feare I should be voide of teares in so lamentable and cursed a case But the Pellican hath redeemed with her own bloud the price of her yong ones and I most miserable wretch that I am shall be depriued for euer of the child which I so
hart stirreth it selfe like vnto one walking with his nose lifted vp into the weather who through his retchlesnesse falleth into the botrome of a well hauing forthwith thereby beene amazed is incontinent void of iudgement falleth out with himselfe and tormenteth himselfe vntill such time as being come againe to his wits he knoweth both the place wherein he is and vnderstandeth the maner how he fell in and then beginneth by little and little to get vp againe vnto the top thereof and yet is scarslie able to note and marke the place whence he so easily fell 5 And so hauing called to minde as farre as I possibly could the memorie of things past hauing set before me in a deepe meditation the workes of thine hands and hauing exactly considered the perfection thereof yea and remembring the estate wherein thou hast created vs and besides setting before me him by whome I feele my selfe now as it were oppressed vnder the destruction of sinne I cursed in my self the houre wherein my mother conceiued me I abhorred the day which first opened vnto me mine eye lids whereby I might see heauen and earth witnesses of mine infirmitie and in the end finding nothing in the world that in this distresse might comfort and helpe me I at last addressed my selfe vnto thy most excellent maiestie 6 I fell on both my knees before thee I stretched out mine armes and hands vnto thee and my soule thirsting for thy grace waited with a great desire for the same as the chapping ground through heat looketh for a gratious and sweet showre in the hoatest daies of sommer 7 Make hast therefore vnto me O my God for I am already out of breath for loe mine heart fainteth and I am at the point of swound wilt thou stay vntill I be dead I am already so if thou make not hast for my sences do by little and little faile me my soule glideth gentlie out of me leauing my body without moouing and I am like vnto him who letting his foote bleede in the water looseth his life with his bloud without feeling the occasion or cause of his death 8 If thou O Lord holdest thy selfe aloofe from me and turnest thy face away I shall become like vnto those that go downe into the bottom of hell pale death will make my face looke wanne and my feeling to sleepe nay a worse thing then this will betide me my God for spirituall death will kill my soule make it horribly a feard and take from her the acknowledgement of thy singular goodnesse and the hope of grace which shineth in thy miracles as a bright shining starre in a duke night 9 Make me therefore O Lord in thy good time to vnderstand and feele the effect of thy mercy and when the sunne riseth in the morning vpon the face of the earth let then thy louing kindnesse rise vpon me for the enlightening of mine ignorance and leade me in the way of thy wyll But let it not deale with me O Lord as the sunne dooth who at his fall plungeth him selfe into the sea keeping away his light for a time from poore wretched and distressed men But let thy fauour and grace continually assist and defend mee and neuer depart more from me then my soule doth from my body for thy mercy is farre away more the soule of my soule then my soule is the life of my bodie 10 And therefore let thy mercie neuer forsake me but let her light direct my footsteps alwayes in thy wayes and leade me continually in the way which must bring me vnto thee For my spirit which hath run it self through the strange queaches of this world and strayed into the broad and thicke bushes thereof can neuer find out her tract againe but rusheth out at all aduentures and loseth both her path and also her payne going alwayes back from the abiding place whither she was determined to goe But I my God do alwayes attend thine ayd for it is from aboue that I looke for help 11 I am a captiue in the hands of the most cruell enemies of my life and therefore I most humbly beseech thee ô Lord to make haste to deliuer me I flye vnto thee for refuge receiue mee into thy protection Teach mee what thou wouldest haue me to do for thou art my God whome alone I am resolued now to serue And now away away from me deceitfull pleasure which heretofore hast bewitched my poore soule and poysoned my spirit thou hast with thy sweet delights fed me and made me with a little bait of hony to swallow a deadly potion which running through my members hath so astonished and mortified me as that there is no differēce betweene me and a dead man nay worse then that for it is not my body that is thus mortified but it is my soule wherin cōsisteth the principall matter both of this present life and also of the life to come 12 And therfore thy holy spirit must light vpon me to rewarme and fetch againe my dying soule and take it by the hand to quicken and set it in a safe place imprinting therein the image of thy righeuousnesse to serue her as a sauegard against all tentations which besiege her on euery side and threaten her destruction 13 Thou shalt come therefore and at thy comming shalt draw back my soule from tribulation and in shewing of me mercy shalt destroy all those that haue coniured against me And then shall my sorrow haue an end and theirs shall begin and the beginning of their sorrow shall neuer cease But as the streames comming out of the spring heads do still growe larger and larger vntill such time as they enter into the deepe Seas where is neyther brinke nor bottome euen so shall theyr miserie day by day encrease and in the end will heape vppon them extreame dolour and infinite distresse 14 And so shall all they perish which shall vexe my soule for I ô God am thy faithfull seruant whome thou hast remembred and wilt remember all those who in disdayne of my Lord haue thus shamelesly troubled mee They laughed at my miseries but now behold the season wherein they shall bewayle theirs Thy vengeance beginneth to waxe hoat against them and a man shall see them fall like vnto the leaues of trees in the beginning of winter O God what glorie shall I render vnto thy name and at what end shall I begin to set foorth thy prayse Shall I publish thy goodnesse in creating so many wonderfull works which are vnder the Sunne Thy wisdome in the conseruing of them Shall I preach abroad thy iustice in the condemnation and vengeance of the pride of the Angels the disobedience of men Shall I sing foorth thy mercy in the redeeming of those who by transgressing thy lawes haue cast them-selues downe headlong into the bondage of eternall death vnto what part of thy prayses may the sound tune of my voyce attaine reach Yea put the case that my voyce were