the libertie of a ioyfull life O swéet tomb of my swéetest Lord while I liue I will stay by thee when I die I will cleaue vnto thée neither aliue nor dead will I euer be drawne from thée Thou art the altar of mercie the temple of trueth the sanctuary of safetie the graue of death and the cradle of eternall life O heauen of my eclipsed sunne receiue into thee this sillie starre that hath nowe also lost all wished light O Whale that hast swallowed my onely Ionas swallowe also me more worthy to be thy pray sith I and not he was the cause of this bloudie tempest O Cesterne of my innocent Ioseph take me into thy drie bottome sith I and not he gaue iust cause of offence to my enraged brethren But alas in what cloud hast thou hidden the light of our way Upon what shoare hast thou cast vp the preacher of all trueth or to what Ismaelite hast thou yéelded the purueyour of our life O vnhappie me why did I not before thinke of that which I now aske why did I leaue him when I heard him thus to lament him nowe that I haue lost him If I had watched with perseuerance either none would haue taken him or they shoulde haue taken me with him But through too much precisenesse in keeping the lawe I haue lost the lawmaker and by being too scrupulous in obseruing his ceremonies I am proued irreligious in loosing himselfe sith I should rather haue remained with the trueth then forsaken it to solemnize the figure The Sabboth could not haue bin prophaned in standing by his corse by which the prophanest thinges are sanctified whose couch doth not defile the cleane but clenseth the most defiled But when it was time to stay I departed When it was too late to helpe I returned and nowe I repent my folly when it cannot be amended But let my heart dissolue into sighes mine eyes melt in teares and my desolate soule languish in dislikes yea let all that I am and haue indure the deserued punishment that if hee were incensed with my fault he may be appeased with my penance and returne vpon the amendement that fled from the offence Thus when hir timorous cōscienec had indited hir of so great an omission hir toong enforced the euidence with these bitter accusations Loue that was now the onely vmpier in all hir causes condemned hir eyes to a freshe showre of teares hir brest to a new storme of sighes and hir soule to be perpetuall prisoner to restlesse sorrowes But O Mary thou deceiuest thy selfe in thy owne desires and it well appeareth that excesse of griefe hath bred in thee a defect of due prouidence And wouldest thou indeed haue thy wishes come to passe and thy wordes fulfilled Tell me then I pray thee if thy heart were dissolued where wouldest thou harbor thy Lord what wouldest thou offer him how wouldst thou loue him Thy eyes haue lost him thy hands cannot féele him thy féet cannot follow him and if he be at all in thée it is thy heart that hath him and wouldest thou now haue that dissolued from thence also to exile him And if thy eyes were melted thy soule in languor and thy senses decayed how wouldest thou see him if he did appeare howe shouldest thou heare him if he did speake howe couldest thou knowe him though hée were there present Thou thinkest happily that hee loueth thée so wel that if thy heart were spent for his loue he would either lend his owne heart vnto thee or create a newe heart in thee better then that which thy sorrow tooke from thée It may bee thou imaginest that if thy soule woulde giue place his soule wanting nowe a body would enter into thine with supplie of all thy senses and release of thy sorrowes O Mary thou didst not marke what thy maister was woont to say when he told thee that the third day he shuld rise againe For if thou hadst heard him or at the least vnderstoode him thou wouldest not thinke but that hée now vseth both his heart and soule in the life of his owne body And therefore repaire to the angels and enquire more of them least thy Lord be displeased that comming from him thou wilt not entertaine them But Marie whose deuotions were all fixed vpon a nobler Saint and that had so straightly bound hir thoughtes to his onely affection that shee rather desired to vnknow whom she knew alreadie then to burthen her mind with the knowledge of newe acquaintance could not make her wil long since possessed with the highest loue stoupe to the acceptance of meaner friendships And for this though she did not scornefully reiect yet did she with humilitie refuse the Angels company thinking it no discourtesie to take her selfe from them for to giue her selfe more wholly to her Lord to whome both shee and they were wholly deuoted and ought most loue and greatest dutie Sorrow also being nowe the onely interpreter of all that sense deliuered to her vnderstanding made hir conster their demand in a more doubtfull then true meaning If saith she they come to ease my affliction they coulde not be ignorant of the cause and if they were not ignorant of it they woulde neuer aske it why then did they say Woman why weepest thou If their question did import a prohibition the necessitie of the occasion doth countermand their counsaile and fitter it were they shoulde wéepe with me then I in not wéeping obey them If the Sunne were ashamed to shew his brightnesse when the father of all lightes was darkened with such disgrace If the heauens discolouring their beauties suted themselues to their makers fortune If the whole frame of nature were almost dissolued to sée the authour of nature so vnnaturally abused why may not Angelles that best knewe the indignitie of the case make vp a part in this lamentable consort And especially nowe that by the losse of his bodie the cause of wéeping is increased and yetthe number of mourners lessened sith the Apostles are fled all his friends afraid and poore I left alone to supplie the teares of all creatures O who will giue water to my head a fountaine of teares vnto my eyes that I may weepe day and night and neuer cease weeping O my only Lord thy griefe was the greatest that euer was in man and my griefe as great as euer happened to woman for my loue hath carued me no small portion of thine thy losse hath redoubled the torment of mine owne and all creatures séeme to haue made ouer to me theirs leauing mee as the vice-gereut of all their sorrows Sorrow with me at the least thou O Tombe and thawe into teares you hardest stones The time is now come that you are licensed to cry and bound to recompence the silence of your Lordes Disciples of whome hée himselfe said to the Pharisies that if they held their peace the verie stones should crie for them Nowe therefore sith feare hath
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
the vsuall vaine should haue beene no eye-sore to those that are better pleased with worse matters Yet sith the copies therof flew so fast and so false abroad that it was in danger to come corrupted to the print it seemed a lesse euill to let it flie to common viewe in the natiue plume and with the owne wings then disguised in a voate of a bastard feather or cast off from the fist of such a corrector as might happily haue perished the sound and impedâ—n some sicke and sory fethers of his owne phansies It may be that courteous skill will recken this though eourse in respect of others exquisite labors not vnfit to entertaine well tempered humours both with pleasure and profit the ground therof being in scripture and the forme of enlarging it an imitation of the ancient doctours in the same and other pointes of like tenour This commodity at the least it will carie with it that the reader may learne to loue without improofe of puritie teach his thoughts eyther to temper passion in the meane or to giue the bridle onely where the excesse cannot be faultic Let the work defend it self and euerie one passe his censure as he seeth cause Manie Carpes are expected when curious eyes come a fishing But the care is alreadie taken and the patience waiteth at the table readie to take away when that dish is serued in and to make roume for others to set on the desired fruit S. VV. MARY MAGDALENS Funerall Teares EMONGST other mourneful accidents of the passion of Christ that loue presenteth it selfe to my memory with which the blessed Mary Magdelen louing our Lord more then her life followed him in his iourney to his death attending vppon him when his Disciples fledde and being more willing to die with him then they to liue without him But not finding the fauour to accompany him in death and loathing after him to remaine in life the fire of her true affection enflamed her heart and her enflamed hart resolued into vncessant teares so that burning and bathing betwéen loue and griefe shee led a life euer dying and felt a death neuer ending And when hee by whome shée liued was dead and shée for whom he died enforcedly left aliue shée praised the dead more then the liuing and hauing lost that light of her life shee desired to dwell in darkenesse and in the shadow of death choosing Christs Tombe for her best home and his corse for her chiefe comfort For Mary as the Euangelist saith Stoode without at the Tombe weeping But alas how vnfortunate is this woman to whome neyther life will afforde a desired farewell nor death alow any wished welcome Shée hath abandoned the liuing and chosen the company of the dead and now it seemeth that euen the dead haue forsaken her sith the corse shee séeketh is taken away froÌ„ her And this was the cause that loue induced her to stand and sorrow enforced her to wéepe Her eie was watchful to séek whom her heart most longed to enioy and her foote in a readinesse to runne if her eie shoulde chaunce to espy him And therefore shée standeth to be still stirring prest to watch euery way and prepared to goe whether any hope should call her But shée wept because shée had such occasion of standing and that which moued her to watch was the motiue of her teares For as shée watched to finde whom shée had lost so shée wept for hauing lost whom shée loued her poore eies being troubled at once with two contrary offices both to be clear in sight the better to séeke him and yet cloudy with tears for missing the sight of him Yet was not this the entrance but the increase of her griefe not the beginning but the renewing of her mone For first shée mourned for the departing of his soule out of his body and now shée lamented the taking of his body out of the graue being punished with two wreckes of her onely welfare both full of misery but the last without all comfort The first originall of her sorrow grew because shée could not enioy him aliue yet this sorrow had some solace for that shée hoped to haue enioyed him dead But when shée considered that his life was already lost and now not so much as his body could be found shee was wholly daunted with dismay sith this vnhappinesse admitted no helpe Shee doubted least the loue of her master the onely portion that her Fortune had left her would soon languish in her cold brest if it neither had his wordes to kindle it nor his presence to cherishe it nor so much as his dead ashes to rake it vp Shee had prepared her spices and prouided her ointments to pay him the last Tribute of eternall dueties And though Ioseph and Nichodemus had already bestowed a hundred pounds of Mirthe and Aloes which was in quantity sufficient in quality of the best and as well applied as art and deuotion could deuise yet such was her loue that shée would haue thought any quantity too little except hers had béene added the best in quality too meane except hers were with it and no diligence in applying it inough except her seruice were in it Not that shée was sharpe in censuring that which others had done but because loue made her so desirous to doe all her selfe that though all had béene done that shée could deuise and as wel as shee could wishe yet vnlesse shee were an Actor it would not suffice sith loue is as eager to bee vttered in effects as it is zealous in true affection Shee came therefore now meaning to enbalme his corps as shee had before annointed his feet and to preserue the reliques of his body as the only remnant of all her blisse And as in the spring of her felicitie shee had washed his feete with her teares be wailing vnto him the death of her own soule so nowe shee came in the depth of her misery to shedde them a freshe for the death of his body But when she saw the graue open and the body taken out the labour of embalming was preuented but the cause of her wéeping increased and he that was wanting to her obsequies was not wanting to her teares and though shée founde not whom to annoint yet found she whom to lament And not without cause did Mary complaine finding her first anguishe doubled with a second griefe and being surcharged with two most violent sorrowes in one afflicted heart For hauing setled her whole affection vppon Christ and summoned all her desires and wishes into the loue of his goodnes as nothing could equall his worthes so was ther not in the whole world either a greater benefit for her to enioy then himselfe or any greater domage possible then his losse The murdering in his one death the life of all lifes left a general death in all liuing creatures and his disease not onely disrobed our nature of her most roiall ornaments but impouerished the world of
and the losse is manifest My eies haue answered them with teares my brest with sighes and my heart with trouble what néed I also punish my toonge or wound my soule with a newe rehear sall of so dolefull a mischance They haue taken away O vnfortunate worde They haue taken away my Lord. O afflicted woman why thinkest thou this word so vnfortunate It may be the Angels haue taken him more solemnly to entombe him and sith earth hath done her last homage happily the Quires of heauen are also descended to defray vnto him their funerall duties It may be that the Centurian and the rest that did acknowledge him on the crosse to be the sonne of God haue béene touched with remorse and goared with the pricke of conscience and being desirous to satisfie for their heinous offence haue nowe taken him more honourably to interre him and by their seruice to his bodie sought forgiuenesse and sued the pardon of their guiltie soules Peraduenture some secret Disciples haue wrought this erploit and maugre the watch taken him from hence with due honour to preserue him in some fitter place and therefore being yet vncertaine who hath him there is no such cause to lament sith the greater probabilities march on the better side why doest thou call sorrowe before it commeth without which calling it commeth on thee too fast yea why doest thou create sorrow where it is not sith thou hast true sorrowes inough though imagined sorrowes helpe not It is follie to suppose the worst where the best may be hoped for and euerie mishappe bringeth griefe enough with it though wée with our friendes doe not goe first to méete it Quiet then thy selfe till time trie out the trueth and it may be thy feare will proue greater then thy misfortune But I know thy loue is litle helped with this lesson for the more it loueth the more it feareth and the more desirous to enioy the more doubtfull it is to loose It neyther hath measure in hopes nor meane in feares hoping the best vpon the least surmises and fearing the worst vppon the weakest grounds And yet both fearing and hoping at one time neither feare withholdeth hope from the highest atteÌ„pts nor hope can strengthen feare against the smallest suspitions but maugre all feares loues hopes will worke to the highest pitch and maugre al hopes loues feares will stoupe to the lowest downcome To bidde thée therefore hope is not to forbid thée to feare and though it may be for the best that thy Lord is taken from thée yet sith it may also be for the worst that wil neuer content thée Thou thinkest hope doth inough to kéepe thy heart from breaking feare little enough to force thée to wéeping sith it is as likely that he hath béen taken away vpon hatred by his enimies as vpon loue by his friendes For hitherto saiest thou his friends haue all failed him and his foes preuailed against him as they y t would not defend him aliue are lesse likely to regard him dead so they that thought one life too litle to take from him are not vnlikely after deathe to wreake new rage vpon him And though this doubt were not yet whosoeuer hath taken him hath wronged me in not acquainting me with it for to take away mine without my consent can neither be offered without iniurie nor suffered without sorrow And as for Jesus he was my Jesus my Lord and my maister Hée was mine because he was giuen vnto me and borne for me he was the author of my being and so my father hée was the worker of my wel doing and therefore my Sauiour hee was the price of my ransome and thereby my redeemer Hee was my Lord to command me my maister to instruct mée my pastor to féede mée He was mine because his loue was mine and when he gaue me his loue hee gaue me himselfe sith loue is no gift except the giuer be giuen with it yea it is no loue â—â—lesse it be as liberall of that it is as of that it hath Finally if the meat bee mâ—â—â— that I eate the life mine wherewith I liue or he mine all whose life labours and death were mine then dare I boldly say that Iesus is mine sith on his bodie I feede by his loue I liue and to my good without any neede of his owne hath hee liued laboured and died And therefore though his Disciples though the Centurion yea though the Angels haue taken him they haue done me wrong in defeating mee of my right sith I neuer meane to resigne my interest But what if he hath takeÌ„ a way himself wilt thou also lay vniustice to his charge Thogh he be thine yet thine to command not to obey thy Lord to dispose of thee and not to be by thée disposed and therefore as it is no reason that the seruant should be maister of his maisters secretes so might hee and peraduenture so hath he remoued without acquainting thee whether reuiuing himselfe with the same power with which he raised thy dead brother and fulfilling the wordes that he often vttered of his resurrection It may be thou wilt say that a gift once giuen cannot bee reuoked and therefore though it were before in his choise not to giue himselfe vnto thée yet the deede of gift being once made he cannot be taken from thee neyther can the doner dispose of his gift without the possessors priuitie And sith this is a rule in the lawe of nature thou maiest imagine it a breach of equitie and an impeachment of thy right to conuey himselfe away without thy consent But to this I will aunswere thée with thine owne ground For if he be thine by being giuen thée once thou art his by as many gifts as daies and therefore hee being absolute owner of thée is likewise full owner of whatsoeuer is thine and consequently because he is thine hee is also his owne and so nothing liable vnto thée for taking himselfe from thée Yea but he is my Lord saiest thou and in this respect bound to kéepe me at the least bound not to kill me and sith killing is nothing but a seuering of life from the body he being the chiefe life both of my soule and body cannot possibly go from me but he must with a double death kill me And therefore he being my Lord and bound to protect his seruant it is against all lawes that I should be thus forsaken But O cruel tongue why pleadest thou thus against him whose case I feare me is so pitifull y t it might rather moue all tongues to plead for him being peradueÌ„ture in their hands whose vnmercifull hearts make themselues merrie with his miserie and build the triumphes of their impious victorie vpon the dolefull ruines of his disgraced glorie And now O griefe because I know not where he is I caÌ„not imagine how to helpe for they haue taken him away and I knowe not where they haue put him Alas Mary why dost thou consume
might not very well become me None will bar me frō defending my life which the least worme in the right of nature hath leaue to preserue And sith he is to me so deare a life that without him all life is death nature authoriseth my féeble forces to imploy their vttermost in so necessary an attempt Necessity addeth ability loue doubleth necessity and it often happeneth that nature armed with loue and pressed with néede excéedeth it selfe in might and surmounteth all hope in successe And as the equity of the cause doth breath courage into the defendors making them the more willing to fight the lesse vnwilling to die so guilty consciences are euer timerous still starting with sodaine frights and afrayd of their own suspitions ready to yéeld before the assault vppon distrust of their cause and dispaire of their defence Sith therefore to rescue an innocent to recouer a right and to redresse so déep a wrong is so iust a quarrell nature will enhable me loue encourage me grace confirme me and the iudge of all iustice fight in my behalfe And if it séeme vnfitting to my sexe in talke much more in practise to deal with martiall affaires yet when such a cause happeneth as neuer had patterne such effects must follow as are without example There was neuer any body of a God but one neuer such a body stollen but now neuer such a stealth vnreuenged but this Sith therefore the Angels neglect it men forget it O Iudith lend me thy prowesse for I am bound to regard it But suppose that my force were vnable to winne him by an open enterprise what scruple should kéepe me from seeking him by secret means yea and by plain stealth It wilbe thought a sinne and condemned for a theft O swéete sinne why was not I the first that did commit thée Why did I suffer any other sinner to preuent me for stealing from God his honour I was called a sinner and vnder that title was spred my infamy But for stealing God from a false owner I was not worthy to be called a sinner because it had béene too high a glory If this be so great a sinne and so heinous a theft let others make choise of what titles they will but for my part I would refuse to be an Angel I would not wishe to be a Saint I would neuer be estéemed either iust or true and I shoulde be best contented if I might both liue and die such a sinner and be condemned for such a theft When I heard my Lord make so comfortable a promise to the théefe vppon the crosse that he should that day be with him in Paradise I had halfe an enuy at that théefes good Fortune and wished my selfe in the théefes place so I might haue enioyed the fruite of his promise But if I could be so happy a théefe as to commit this theft if that wish had takeu effect I would now vn wishe it againe and scorne to be any other théef then my self sith my booty could make me happier then any other théefes felicity And what though my felony should be called in question in what respect should I néede to feare They would say that I loued him too well But that were soone disproued sith where the worthinesse is infinite no loue can be inough They would obiect that I stole an others goods and as for that many sure titles of my interest would aucree him to be mine and his dead corse would rather speak then witnesses should faile to depose so certaine a truth And if I had not a speciall right vnto him what shuld moue me to venture my life for him No no if I were so happy a felone I shoulde fear no temporal araignmēt I should rather feare that the Angels woulde cite me to my aunswere for preuenting them in the theft sith not the highest Seraphin in heauē but would déeme it a higher stile then his owne to be the théefe that had committed so glorious a robbery But alas thus stand I deuising what I would do if I knew any thing of him and in the meane time I neither know who hath him nor where they haue bestowed him and stil I am forced to dwell in this aunswere that They haue taken away my Lord and I know not wher they haue put him While Marie thus lost her selfe in a Laberinth of doubtes watering her wordes with teares and warming them with sighes séeing the Angels with a kind of reuerēce rise as though they had done honour to one behinde her She turned backe and she saw Iesus standing but that it was Iesus she knewe not O Marie is it possible that thou hast forgotten Iesus faith hath written him in thy vnderstanding loue in thy will both feare and hope in thy memorie and how can all these registers be so cancelled that so plainly séeing thou shouldest not know the contentes For him onely thou tyrest thy féete thou bendest thy knées thou wringest thy handes For him thy heart throbbeth thy brest sigheth thy tongue complaineth For him thy eye wéepeth thy thought sorroweth thy wholebody fainteth and thy soule languisheth In summe there is no part in thée but is busie about him c notwithstanding all this hast thou nowe forgotten him His countenance auourheth it his voyce assureth it hys woundes witnesse it thy owne eyes beholde it and doest thou not yet beléeue that this is Iesus Are thy sharp séeing eies become so weake sighted that they are dazeled with the sunne and blinded with the light But there is such a showre of teares betwéene thée and him and thy eyes are so dimmed with wéeping for him that though thou seest the shape of a man yet thou canst not discerne him Thy eares also are still so possessed with the dolefull Eccho of his last spéeches which want of breath made him vtter in a dying voyce that the force loudnesse of his liuing wordes maketh thee imagine it the voice of a stranger and therefore as hée séemeth vnto thée so like a stranger hee asketh this question of thée O woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou O desire of heart and onely ioy of her soule why demandest thou why shée wéepeth or for whome she séeketh But a whilesince she saw thée hir only hope hanging on a trée with thy head full of thornes thy eies full of teares thy eares full of blasphemies thy mouth full of gall thy whole person mangled and disfigured and doest thou aske her why shee wéepeth Scarse thrée daies passed she beheld thy arms and legs racked with violent pulles thy hands and féete boared with nails thy side wounded with a speare thy whole body torne with stripes and goared in bloud and doest thou hir only griefe aske hir why shée wéepeth She beheld thee vppon the crosse with many teares most lamentable cries yeelding vp her ghost that is thy own ghost alas askest thou why she weepeth And now to make vp hir misere hauing but one