vvhich under burthen cries Vnto a nevv-made storme of sighes and feares And last my soule oh soule vvith vvoe opprest Is made a prisoner to my owne unrest My heart shall never cease to tire my toung My toung shall never rest to tell my smart My smart shall cause me still to vvaile my vvrong My vvrong bereaving me of my best part So heart so toung so smart shall all accord To sigh tell shew my greefes for my dead Lord. I silly soule sith I my mirth have lost For my part vvill make much of heartie sorrow And sith my ioy vvith such deepe vvoe is crost In bitter teares all comfort I vvill borrow Which I presume I lawfully may shee l Fetching my vvarrant from his latest deed Alas vvhat need had my sweet Lord to vveepe Vpon the crosse but for our learnings sake Which cannot sure be ill for me to keepe That he thought good to give t is good to take My vveeping cannot preiudice my blisse A vvorld of teares cannot bewaile my misse I still vvill dravv to my distressed mind All sad conceits all heavie pensive musing My heart to daily languor I will bind Where it may pinâ— in vvithered caâ—e perusing Taking no comfort for my vvoes redresse But in consenting to be comfortlesse Oh vvould to God I vvere as privie made Vnto his blessed bodies sweet remove To know vvhere that pure vessell now is laid As he is vvitting of my faithfull love Oh thou my Lord and owner of my soule That knowes my heart and can conceive my dole If skies bright Sunne to shew his beames did shame When light of lights vvas darkened vvith disgrace If heavens their beautie did vvith louring staine Suting their colours to their makers case If Natures frame did melting shake to see Natures faire Author us'd unnaturally Why should not I vvhose over-burthening smart Hath equall cause to vvaile his heavie case Helpe in this â—â—d consort to beare a part Especially sith in this little space His bodies losse hath mourners number lessened And yet the cause of vveeping is increased The Apostles all are fled his friends afraid And I alone to vveepe for all am staid Marie Magdalens fift Lamentation Maries perseverance at the Tombe and the apring of Christ in the likenesse of a Gardiner OH my dear Lord thy greefe the greatest was That evvâ—r vvas in man or manly heart And my greefe is as great a greefe alas As ever came to vvoman for her part For out of thine my love hath carved mee A part not small and yet too small for thee Thy losse my torment hath redoubled And all sad soules pay me vvhat they did borrow I beare the greefe which theÌ„ too much hath troubled Yea I am made Vice-gerent of all sorrow Sorrow ah sorrow thou O Tombe vvith me And thaw to teares you stones that hardest be The time is come now is the very time That leave it had and license for to cry To tell the Pharises their sinfull crime Now for the Lord the breach of silence try Who said if his disciples held their peace The very stones vvould crie for sins increace Sith then their lips be locked up vvith feare And sadnesse makes them mute and not a vvord Oh crie you stones and no exclaimes forbeare Crie out against the murtherers of my Lord The robbers of his sacred coarse bewray Bring them to light that stole my Lord away For sure it vvas some Pharises fell spight Or bloodie Scribe not sated vvith the paine His bodie felt but bloud their hearts envite To practise some vvorse crueltie againe And now to glut their brutish mind vvithall Have stolne his coarse to use unnaturall Oh rockes and stones if ever you must crie Now is high time to poure your loud exclaimes Novv let your clamours to the vvelkin flie Sith light is darkened dead the flame of flames The vvorlds great Monarch foulely massacred The life of lives outrageously misused Doth not his tongue vvhose truth infallible is Whose vvord omnipotent rules sea and vvind Whom creatures most insensible doe kisse With aw'd obedience vvhich his power doth bind Promise the vvhole vvorld shall defend the iust Against those sencelesse soules vvhich selfe power trust And vvho more iust than he of Iustice king Who than his barbarous murtherers sencelesse more Whose innocent bloud could not a staunching bring Vnto their greedie thirst slaughtered before Vnlesse they to this impious act proceed To vvorke his bodie dead some hellish deed Why doe not then all creatures them applie To be revenged in a cause so iust Vpon the Iewes uncivile tyrannie Bereft of sence and blinded in mistrust Their hearts made inhumane of reason barrain Void of good feeling both to God and Man But sure it cannot be in humane might To steale the bodie of my Lord away No bloudie theefe nor any mortall vvight Had sufferance to beare so vvicked sway It can not be that any sinfull soule Would undertake a deed of such deepe dole No no he vvas no bootie for a â—heefe Nor for a cruell Pharisee a pray Nor vvere the Angels slacke to attend him cheefe As my suspition doth presume to say If this thing cannot change my mind from feare Yet looking on the clothes my doubts may cleare Would any theefe have so religious beene To steale the bodie and the clothes not take Would any theefe so venterous have been seene To stay so many feare delaies to make As to unshroud the coarse order the sheets And fold the napkins vvith such seemely pleets I know that Mirrhe makes linnen cleave as fast As pitch or glue vvell tempered or made And could a theefes stolne leasure so long last As to dissolve the Mirrhe and baâ—e the dead Breake up the seales open the Tombe and all Where vvas the vvatch vvheÌ„ these things did befall If all this yet cannot persuade my mind Yet might my owne experience make me see When at the crosse they stripped him unkind I saw his garment vvould not parted bee From goaâ—ie backe but tare his tender skin Much more if it vvith Mirrhe had nointed bin I le looke into the sheet if there remaine Any one parcell of his mangled flesh Or any haire pluckt from his heads soft vaine If none that shall my vvearie vvoe refresh I le thinke a better chaunce betides my love Than my misdeeming feare vvill let me prove A guiltie conscience doubteth vvant of time And leaud attempts are still dispatcht in hast Offenders doubt least light make known their crime And in nights sable vveed commit their vvast With dread and horror acting fearefully And cannot marke vvhen things vvell ordered be But to unvvrap a bodie mangled so Out of Mirrhe cloathes and not the flesh to teare Leaving them thus so cleanely vvip'd in show It is a thing most marvellous to heare And most impossible for man to do Vnlesse they had light helpe and time thereto But oh the great effects of rarest love If love a languor be hovv then live I
too much vvoman now Tell us O vvoman wherefore vveepest thou If there vvere any coarse here lying by We then vvould thinke for it thou shedst thy teares That sorrow for the dead inforst thee cry But now this place a place of ioy appeares Thou findst no dead but living to be here Oh then why weepest thou with mournfull cheare What is our presence so discomfortable That seeing us thou art inforst to vveepe Thinkst thou if teares vvere so availeable That vve our selves from flowing streams could keep Or is thy kindnesse in this course extended That vve vvith teares should thus be entertained If they be teares of love to shew good vvill As love is knowne so let them be suppressed If teares of vvrath denouncing anger still To shed them here thou shouldst not have addressed Here vvhere all anger lately buried vvas But none deserv'd ah none deserv'd alas If they be teares of sorrow dead mens duties The dead revived they are spent in vaine If teares of ioy destilled from the booties Of happie fortune flowers of ioyfull gaine It better were that fewer had been spent And fitter tokens might expresse content And Angels semblance visible presents The vvill invisible of his dread Lord Whose shapes are shaddowed after the intents And drift of him that rules him by his vvord They brandish swords vvheÌ„ God begins to frown They sheath in scabbards when his wrath is downe When he vvould fight they armed come to field When he vvould terrifie their forme afright When he would comfort they their couÌ„tenance yeeld To smiling lookes and signes of sweet delight Mirth in their eies and mildnesse in their vvords All favour grace and comelinesse affourds Why weepest thou Marie then vvhen we reioice Thinke not our nature can degenerat Or faile in dutie vvhich vve hold so choice Ours is no changing or sin-working state Doest thou more love or more his secrets know Than vve that at his Throne our service show Oh deeme not Marie deeme not then amisse Against so plaine apparent evidence At our request forbeare and leave of this Leave vveeping Marie and vvith teares dispence Exchange thy sorrow for our offered ioy Accept sweet comfort and forsake annoy No no you Saints of glorie ever shining Persuade not me to harbor ioyfull glee But thinke to vvhom my sorrow is enclining And beare vvith my poore love-bound miserie Alas I vveepe for this one only losse For vvhom all ioy doth but inferre new crosse For while he liv'd I made my Paradise In every place vvhere I his presence found A speciall blisse vvas every exercise Wherein I shewed my service to him bound Each season vvherein I inioyd my king Did seeme to me a never dying Spring Marie Magdalens fourth Lamentation Marie bewailes the losse of that part which Christ promised her when he said Marie hath chosen the better part which shall not be taken from her IT comforts me to send forth dryrie plaints To fill the aire vvith my uncessant cries To volley forth a sea of sad laments With liquid teares to moisten still mine eies Yet neither plaints nor cries laments nor teares Can serve can ease can salve can shew my feares For all inioin'd to doe their best availe To helpe the mourne of my greefe-burthened soule Persuade me still it is my best to vvaile And spend the day in pittie-pleading dole Sith vvhom I chose the comfort of my heart Is now bereft oh care-increasing smart That I did chuse the best and precious part It is no doubt sith Christ I only chose My Lord the soveraigne of my zealous heart Whom to possesse I wish my life to lose But how I have it now I cannot say Sith he that vvas that part is tane away Ah could I still have kept him vvith me here I vvould not thus have lost him from my sight No I vvould not have parted from my deare If to my vvill I had obtained might And might I now vvith teares his presence buy Rather than lose it I all chance vvould trie Sith then I nothing seeke but vvhat I chose And losse of choice is all my combats cause Either vouchsafe this part I doe not lose Or I see not how to averre this clause Or how poore vvretch I now may truly say I chose best part vvhich is not ta'ne away But happily his heavenly meaning vvas That it should not be taken from my heart Though from mine eies thou suffered it to passe Thy inward presence should supplie this part And yet I thinke if thou vvithin me vvere I should thee feele and felt not seeke thee here Thou art too hote a fire to heat my breast And not to burne me vvith thy scorching flame Thy glorious light vvould not leave me to rest In this blind darkenesse if I had the same For if thy glorie in me duly shin'd It vvould reioice and cheere my dying mind No no if that I had the Virgins boy My innocent heart vvhich never yet hath knowne To counterfeit an outside of hid ioy Could not complain and make such greevous mone Nor should my thoughts feed on a dead maÌ„s grave If they at home so sweet a feast might have My love vvould not retaine a thought to spare Nor have an idle minute for to spend In any other action for to care But in the sweet amplecting of my freind Ah nothing could vvithdraw my mind from this To abridge least part in me from such a blisse My starving thirst for his lost sight is such The sea of my still flowing ioies againe So able is to let me drinke as much As may suffice to fill my longing paine That though each part vvhole tides of ioy should drinke Yet all too few my greedie drought vvould thinke In true loves hearts each part is made an eie And every thought prefixed for a looke Then I so sweet an obiect soone vvould spie That mongst so many eyes should darknesse brooke So cleare a shine so bright so cleare a light Could not be hidden from a lovers sight Yea doubtlesse had the Lord in me a seat I vvould not envie at the fortunes sweet Of mightiest prince or empresse ne're so great Yea I vvould more if so he thought me meet Reioice in earth to be his Tombe or shrine Than be in heaven a Throne or Saints faire shine But peradventure now t is vvith my mind As earst it vvas vvith his Apostles eyes Who on the sea thought they a ghost did find When there he walked in miraculous vvise And I knowing more his bodies shape than might Take him but for a fancie in hearts sight But oh sâ—d soule it seemes too strange that he He vvhom I seeke and hee for vvhom I vveepe Should to my plainings thus estranged be And leave me to these fits vvhich sorrovv keepe If that in me a cause he did not see For vvhich he vvill not yet be seene of mee For hence it comes that vvater-vvasted eies Commaund a fresh incessant showers of teares And drive my breast
But 'cause love makes me covetous of doing Though Iosephs vvorke no reprehension needs Though to my wish his baulme he vvas bestowing Yet all he did cannot my love suffise But I must actor be to please mine eies Such is the force of true affecting love To be as eagre in effects t' appeare As it is zealous fervently to move Affections firme to vvhat it holdeth deare This love devout sets my poore heart on fire To shew some deed of my most deepe desire And to embaulme his breathlesse corps I came As once afore I did annoint his feet And to preserve the reliques of the same The only remnant that my blisse did meet To vveepe afresh for him in deapth of dole That lately vvept to him for mine owne soule But loe alas I find the grave vvide ope The bodie gone the emptie Sindon left The hollow Tombe I every where doe grope To be assur'd of vvhat I am sure bereft The labour of embaulming is prevented But cause of endlesse vveeping is augmented He vvanting is unto my obsequies That vvas not vvanting to my ceaselesse teares I find a cause to move my miseries To ease my vvoe no vvisht for ioy appeares Thus though I misse vvhom to annoint I meant Yet have I found a matter to lament I having settled all my sole desires On Christ my love vvho all my love possest In vvhose rare goodnesse my affection fires Whom to enioy I other ioies supprest Whose peerelesse vvorth unmatcht of all that live Being had all ioy and lost all sorrowes give The life of lives thus murthering in his death Doth leave behind him lasting to endure A generall death to each thing having breath And his decease our nature hath made pure Yet am poore I of ornament bereft And all the vvorld vvithout perfection left What marvell then if my hearts hot desire And vehement love to such a lovely Lord To see lifes vvracke vvith scalding sighs aspire And for his bodies losse such vvoe afford And feele like tast of sorrow in his misse As in his presence I enioied blisse And though my teares destil'd from moistned eies Are rather oile than vvater to my flame More apt to nourish sorrow in such vvise Than to deminish or abate the same Yet silly soule I plung'd in deapth of paine Doe yeeld my selfe a captive to complaine Most true it is that Peter came and Iohn With me unto the Tombe to trie report They came in hast and hastily were gone They having searcht dare make no more resort And vvhat gain'd I two vvitnesse of my losse Dismaiers of my hope cause of more crosse Love made them come but love was quickly quail'd With such a feare as cal'd them soone away I poore I hoping in despaire assail'd Without all feare persevering still to stay Because I thought no cause of feare vvas left Sith vvhom I feard was from my sight bereft For I poore soule have lost my maister deare To vvhom my thoughts devoutly vvere combin'd The totall of my love my cheefest cheare The height of hope in vvhom my glorie shin'd My finall feare and therefore him excepted No other hope nor love nor losse respected Worse feare behind vvas death vvhich I desired And feared not my soules life being gone Without vvhich I no other life required And in vvhich death had been delight alone And thus ah thus I live a dying life Yet neither death nor life can end my strife Yet now me thinkes t is better die than live For haply dying I my love may find Whom vvhile I live no hope at all can give And he not had to live I have no mind For nothing in my selfe but Christ I lov'd And nothing ioies my Iesus so remov'd If any thing alive to keepe me striv'd It is his image cause it should not die With me vvhose likenesse love in me contriv'd And treasured up in sweetest memorie From vvhich my love by no vvay can depart Vnlesse I rip the centre of my heart Which had been done but that I feard to burst The worthlesse Trunck which my dear Lord inclosed In vvhich the reliques of lost ioy vvas trust And all the remnant of my life imposed Else greefe had chang'd my hart to bleeding tears And fatall end had past from pittious ears Yet pittious I in so unperfit sort Doe seeme to draw my undesired breath That true I prove this often-heard report Love is more strong than life-destroying death For vvhat more could pale death in me have done Than in my life performed plaine is showne My vvits destraught and all my sence amaz'd My thoughts let loose and fled I know not vvhere Of understanding robd I stand agaz'd Not able to conceit vvhat I doe heare That in the end finding I did not know And seeing could not vvell discerne the show I am not vvhere I am but vvith my love And vvhere he is poore soule I cannot tell Yet from his sight nothing my heart can move I more in him than in my selfe doe dwell And missing vvhom I looke for vvith sad seeking Poor vvo-worn womaÌ„ at the Tomb stay weeping Marie Magdalens third Lamentation In finding the Angels and missing whom shee sought BVt hope-beguiling fortune now to châ—ere My long-sad spirits vvith a shade of ioy With Angels presents doth preseÌ„t me here GraÌ„ting a momeÌ„ts mirth to increase annoy For looking him though for him I find twaine To thinke on him redoubleth still my paine Yet for a time I vvill revive my soule With this good hope vvhich may my hopes exceed Comfort sweet comfort shall my cares controule Releefe may hatch vvhere greefe did lately breed I seeke for one and now have found out twaine A bodie dead yet two alive againe My vvofull vveeping all vvas for a Man And now my teares have Angels bright obtained I vvill suppresse my sigh-swolne sadnesse than And glad my heart vvith this good fortune gained These Heaven attendants to a parle envite me I le heare vvhat they vvill say it may delight me For I assure my selfe if that the corse By fraud or mallice had removed bin The linnen had not found so much remorse But had been caried too away vvith him Nor could the Angels looke so chearefully But of some happier chance to vvarrant me And for to free me from all feares even now They thus encounter these their speeches vvere And thus they spake Woman vvhy vveepest thou As if they bad me vveeping to forbeare For ill it fits a mortall eye should vveepe Where heavenly Angels such reioicing keepe Erewhile they said Thou camst vvith manly courage Arming thy feet through greatest thornes to run Thy bodie to endure all tyrants rage Thy soule no violent tortures for to shun And art thou now so much a vvoman made Thou canst not bid thine eies from teares be staide If that thou hadst a true Disciples name So many certaine proofes vvould thee persuade But incredulitie so blots the same Thou of that title art unvvorthie made And therefore vvoman