to inhabite and to illuminate it and that for euer Nor can I finde what I may more fittly call this heauen of the heauens to our Lord then that howse of thine which is contemplateinge thy delighte without any defect at all and without the least inclination to departe from that to any other that pure minde most intirely one that establishemēt of those blessed spirits in the foundation of peace in those heauens aboue which are yet aboue these heauens which we see Hereby my soule whose pilgrimage is so far of from thee may vnderstande if now it thirst affer thee if now her teares are not made her bread if now she desire that one thinge and begg it agayne and agayne that she may inhabite thy howse all the days of her life And what is the life of that howse but thou thy selfe and what are the dayes therof but thy eternity as thy years are which neuer faile Let therfore the soule vnderstand here as well as it can how sublymely thou art Eternall before all tymes since that howse of thyne which neuer wandred from thee although it be not coeternall with thee yet by reason that it adheareth to thee without any failing or euer faintinge vndergoeth noe variety of tyme but sucking vp thee her immutability with a perpetuall perseuering purity of minde she doth at no tyme and in noe place depart from thee to whom she cleaues with vnseparable loue to whom thou art euer present And so haueing no future which it may expecte nor any transitory thing passing by which it may remember it is not varied to and fro by turnes nor extended into future tymes CHAP. XX. Here man prayeth that the said spirituall howse of God may pray for him O Thou bright and beautifull howse of God I haue loued thy comelynesse and the place of the habitation of the glory of my Lord God who did both build thee and doth possesse thee Lett this pilgrimage of myne send sighes to thee day and night lett my hart pant towards thee lett my minde thinke on thee and lett my soule desire to attayne to the Society of thy beatitude I say to him who made thee that he would possesse me in thee for it is he who made both thee me Or rather doe thou desire and beseeche of him that he will make me worthy of the participation of thy glory For I doe not challenge thy holy Society nor thy admirable beauty by any meritt of mine but I despaire not to obteine it by the Blood of him who redeemed me Onely let thy meritts help me let thy most holy and most pure Prayers which cannot but be effectuall with Almighty God succour my sinfulnesse I confesse that I haue wandred like a lost sheepe and my habitation here is prolonged and I am cast farr of from the face of my Lord God into this blindenesse of banishment where being driuen from the ioyes of Paradise I am dayly lamentinge with my selfe the miseryes of my captiuity and I singe a mornefull songe and I make huge lamentations when I remember thee O Ierusalem who art my mother whilest I finde my feete standinge in thy outward Courts O thou faire and holy Sion but am not able so much as to looke into those interior parts of that Temple But yet I hope that I shall once be brought into thee vpon his shoulders who is my Pastor and who was thy builder that I may triumphe with thee in that inspeakable ioy wherewith they reioyce who stand with thee before God our Sauiour himselfe who discharged our enmytyes in his flesh and who pacifyed all things which are both in Heauen and in earth by his blood For he is our peace who made both to become one and who ioyned in himselfe those two walls which went by contrary ways Ordeyninge thy permanent felicity and promissing that he would giue himselfe to vs accordinge to the same measure sayinge And they shal be equall to the Angells of God in Heauen O Ierusalem thou eternall house of God be thou after the charity of Christe our Lord my ioy and my comfort and let the sweet memory of thy blessed Name be a solace to my sorowes and heauinesse of hart CHAP. XXI How full of biternesse this life of ours is O Lord I am extreamely weary of this life and of this woefull pilgrimage This life this miserable life fraile life vncertaine life laborious life vncleane life Life which is the lady of wicked men the queene of proude men full of miseryes and errours which deserues not to be call'd a life but a death since we are dying in euery moment by diuers kinds of death through the seuerall miseryes and changes which we are subiect too Doth therfore this which we liue in this world deserue to be called life when humors make vs swell and greife extenuates and vnnaturall heat dryes vp and impressions of the ayre infect Meat maketh fatt fasting maketh leane mirth makes dissolute sorrowes consume care straitneth security makes dull Riches puffs vs vp pouerty casts vs downe youth extolls vs and old age makes vs stoope sicknes breakes sorrow oppresses vs. And to all these miseryes furious death succeeds and at a clapp doth so impose an end vpon this miserable life that as soone as it hath left to be it is scare beleeued that euer it was This vitall death and this mortall life although it be all sprinckled with these and many other bitter miseryes alas alas it doth yet take very many by the inticeinge pleasures therof and it deceiues them by the false promisses which it makes And although of it selfe it be so very biting so bitter as that it cannot be concealed from her blinde louers yet are there an infinite nomber of fooles in the world whome she intertaynes inebriates with the golden chalice which she hath in her hand Happy are they but they are to fewe who refuse her familiarity who dispise her sleight entertaniements and ioys who forsake all society with her lest they be forced to perish together with her who deceiued them CHAP. XXII Of the felicity of that life which our Lord hath prepared for them that loue him O Thou life which our Lord hath prepared for them who loue him O thou vitall life happy life quiett life secure life beautifull life pure life chaste life holie life life which knowes not what belongs to death which knowes not what belongs to sorrow life without spott without greife without anxiety without any perturbation without corruptiō without variety and mutation life toppfull of all excellency and dignity where there is noe aduersary to impugne vs noe inticeinge baite of sinn to allure vs where there is perfect loue noe feare an euerlastinge day and one spiritt of vs all where God is seene face to face where the soule is full fedd with this food of life without all defect I am resolued to looke earnesly towards thy light Thy felicity
light is glorifyed by the Saints wher the Maiesty of God is beheld present and the mind of the beholders is satiated by this food of life without all defect They euer see and yet they euer desire to see but they desire without anxiety and they are not glutted by their satiety Where the true Sonne of Iustice doth recreate them all by the admirable sight of his beauty and so doth illuminate all the inhabitants of that heauenly Countrey Where the light of them who are illuminated by that other superiour illuminating light doth shine farre beyond the splendor of our Sun and beyond the clarity of al the Startes adhering to that immortall Deity them selues being made thereby incorruptible and immortal according to this promise of our Lord and Sauiour Father they whome thou gauest me I will that where I am they may be also there that they may see my brightnes and that they all may be one as thou O Father art in me I in thee so they also may be one in vs. CHAP. VIII Of the kingdome of Heauen THE kingdome of heauen is a most happy kingdome a kingdome which hath no death nor end where there shal be no succession of tymes nor no interruption of the day by any night Where the victorious souldier is euen laden with vnspeakeable treasures an immortal crowne being placed vpon his triumphant head O that the diuine mercy hauing first discharged the weight of my sins would commaund me who am the least amongst the seruants of Christ to lay downe this burthen of flesh and bloud that so I might passe on towards my true repose in those eternall ioyes of his Citty that I might beare my part among th' inhabitants of those heauēly Quires that I might assist in glorifying our Creatour with those blessed spirits that I might behold the face of God there present that I might not be so much as touched with the least feare of death but that I might securely reioyce through the incorruptibility of immortall glory that being conioyned to him who knoweth all things I might loose all blindnes of ignorance that I might esteem meanely of all earthly thinges that I might no longer vouchsafe to behold or euen so much as to remember this valley of teares the life whereof is laborious and corruptible a life which is full of all bitternes a life which is the mistresse of sinne and the slaue of Hell The humours of our body doe puffe it vp paynes put it downe intemperate heats dry it the ill affections of the ayre indispose it meate makes it fat fasting makes it shrinke loose myrth dissolueth it afflictions consume it solicitude straitens it security makes it sottish riches make it vane pouerty makes it base youth extolleth it age makes it stoope sicknes breaks it sorrow deiects it the Diuell lyes in wayte for it the world flatters it the flesh is delighted the soule is blinded and the whole man is disioynted And to all these so many and great mischiefes death doth furioussy succeed doth so impose an end vpon these vayne ioyes that when once they leaue to be it is scarce so much as beleeued that they euer were CHAP. IX How God doth comfort an afflicted soule after too great lamentations BVT what prayse what thakes shal we be able to giue thee O our God who euen in the midst of these great miseries of our mortality dost not faile to comfort vs with the admirable visitation of thy Grace For Behold when I am full of many sorrowes whilst I am fearing the end of my life whilst I am considering my sinns whilst I am meditating vpon death whilst I am frighted with thinking on thy iudgement whilst I tremble at the torments of hell whilst I am ignorant with what scales my works are to be wayghed by thee whilst I cannot knowe by what kind of end shal be able to shut them vp whilst I am ruminating vpon these many other things in my hart thou O my Lord and my God according to thy wonted pitty art present with a resolution to comfort me wretched creature And when I am in the midst of these complaints and excessiue lamentations and in the profoundest sighings of my hart thou takest vp this afflicted and perplexed minde aboue those high topps of the mountaines euen to those odoriferous spicy beds of thine and thou dost place me in that deepe pasture neere those brookes of sweet waters where thou preparest in my sight a table full of choice curious meats which may refresh my wearied spirit and may giue ioy to my afflicted hart And so at last being all restored by those delights and forgetting mine owne many miseries and being exalted aboue the highest partes of the earth and earthly thinges I repose in thee who art true peace CHAP. X. Of the sweetnes of diuine loue O My God I loue thee I loue thee and faine would I loue thee yet more and more Grant to me O Lord my God O thou beautifull beyond the sonnes of men that I may desire thee and that I may loue thee as much as I list and as much as I ought Thou art immense and without measure thou oughtest to be beloued especially by vs whom thou so hast loued and so hast saued and for whom thou hast done so many and so mighty things O loue which euer burnest and art neuer quenched sweet Christ deere Iesus O charity my God kindle me with all that fire of thine with thy loue with thy lyking with thy sweetnes with thy desire with thy Charity with thy ioy and exultation with thy piety and suauity with thy pleasure with that ardent desire of thee which is holy and good chast cleane That so being all full with the sweetnes of thy loue and all perfumde sweetened by the flame of thy Charity I may loue thee my most sweet and most beautifull Lord with my whole hart with my whole soule with my whole strength with all the application of my mind with much contrition euen with a very fountaine of teares with much reuerence and trembling loue carrying thee in my hart and in my mouth before mine eyes at all tymes in all places that so there may neuer be found any roome in me for any disloyall and impure loue CHAP. XI Of the preparation of our Redemption O Most beautifull Christ Iesus I beseech thee by that most sacred effusion of thy most pretious bloud whereby we are redeemed graunt me contrition of hart and a very fountaine of teares especially whilest I am offering vp both my vocall and mentall prayers to thee Whilest I am singing the Office of thy prayse to thee whilest I do either declare with my mouth or consider in my mind the mystery of our redemption that expresse testimony of thy mercy Whilest I though vnworthy am assisting at thy sacred Altar intending to offer vp to thee that admirable celestiall sacrifice which is so worthy of
might be thought fit to be made pertakers of so high a good and so great a glory Let therfore the deuills lye in wayte for vs let them prepare theyr temptations let fasting breake our bodyes let garments loade our flesh let labours weigh heauy vpon vs let watching drye vs let one man cry out vpon vs and let another man disquiet vs let cold contract vs let the conscience repine let heat burne vs let the head ake the breast be inflamed let the stomacke be swolne let the face growe pale and let the whole body be distempered let my yeares be spent in groaning yea let rottennes enter into my bones and multiply therin so that yet I may rest in that day of tribulation and may ascend to our elected people For how great wil that glory of iust persons be how great will be that ioy of the saints when euery one of their faces shal be resplendent like a Sunne When our Lord shall begin to muster vp his people by different ranks in the kingdome of his father shall assigne the promised rewards according to the workes and merit of euery one Celestiall rewards for workes which were performed heere on earth Great rewards for little workes eternall for such as were but temporall That indeed will be a whole huge heape of felicity when our Lord shall bring his Saints into the vision of his Fathers glory and shall place them vpon their seats in heauen that so he may be all in all CHAP. XVI How the kingdome of God may be obteyned O HAPPY sweetnes O delicious happines which it will be for vs to behold the Saints be with Saints and to be Saints to see God and to possesse him for all eternity and euen if it might be beyond eternity Let vs be continually thinking on these things let vs aspire to them with our whole desire that so we may speedily arriue to enioy them If thou aske how this may be done by what merits or by what helpes giue eare and I will tell thee This affaire is put into thine owne power for the kingdome of heauen suffereth violence The kingdome of heauen O man doth exact no price at thy hands but onely thy selfe So much is it worth as thou thy selfe art Giue thy selfe and thou shalt haue it Why art thou troubled about the price Christ our Lord did giue himself away that he might purchase thee to be a kingdome for his father and so do thou also giue thy selfe that thou maist become a kingdome for him that sinne may not raigne in thy mortall body but the Spirit in the renouation of life CHAP. XVII What a happy place Heauen is O My soule returne toward that heauenly Citty wherin we are written and enrold as Cittizens And as Cittizens amongst the Saints the houshold seruants of God and as the heires of God and coheires of Christ our Lord. Let vs consider that excellent felicity of this citty of ours to the very vttermost of what we are able Let vs therefore say with the Prophet O how glorious thinges are sayd of thee thou Citty of God the habitation which is made in thee is of them who are all full of ioy For thou art founded in the exultation of the whole earth No old age is in thee nor any misery which is wont to wayte vpon old age In thee there is no man lame of arme or legg nor crooked nor other wise deformed when once they meet together becoming perfect man in the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ What is more happy then such a life where there is no fear of pouerty nor no incommodity of sicknes where no man is offended no man is angry no man enuious no desire doth solicite vs there is no appetite of meate no man is importuned by thirsting after honour and power there is no feare of the Diuell or the craft of those infernall spirits all terrour of hell is farre off there is no death either of body or soule but a life which is made full of ioy by the guift of immortality In fine there is no kind of ill or discord but all thinges are full of agreement proportion for as much as the concord of all the Saints is intierely one all things are full of peace and ioy all things are quiet and serene An euerlasting splendor there is not like that of this Sunne of ours but another which is so much more bright at it is more blessed For that Citty as we read shall need neither Sūne nor Moone but our Lord omnipotent will illuminate it and the Lambe is the bright lampe therof Where the Saints shall shine like starres and they who instruct many others like the splendour of the firmament No night shal be therefore there no darknes no concourse of clowds no incommodity at all of heat or cold but such a temper of things there wil be as neither the eye hath seene nor the eare hath heard nor can it enter into the hart of any other mē but such as shal be thought worthy to enioy it Whose names are written in the booke of life But it exceedeth all these thinges to be associated to the Quires of Angells and Archangells to behold the Patriarkes and the Prophets to see the Apostles and all the Saints yea to see our owne parents friends These things indeed are glorious but yet still incomparably a more glorious thing it is to behold the present face of God to looke vpon that vnlimitted light of his A superexcellent glory it will be when we shall see God in himselfe we shall see we shall possesse him in our selues and of that sight there wil be no end CHAP. XVIII We cannot make any requitall to Almighty God but only by loue THE soule which is beautifyed by the Image and dignifyed by the ressemblance of God hath groūd inough within it selfe which is also imparted by the same God wherby she may be aduised to remain perpetually within him or at least to return towardes him if she chance to haue beene separated by her affection or rather by her defectes And not only hath she ground of solace in the hope which she may conceaue of pardon and mercy but yet further she may also presume to aspire euen to the marriage of the Word and to contract a league of friendship with God and togeather with that king of the Angells to be drawing in the same sweet yoake of loue Now all this is performed by the same loue if the soule do make it selfe like to God by her will as already she is like him by nature and if she loue him as she is beloued by him For only loue amongst all the motions passions feeling senses of the soule is the thing whereby a creature may answere the benefits of a Creatour and repay after a sort what it oweth though it be not in any equall manner Where loue entreth in it draweth captiueth all other
and delightes drawe me to thee with a greedy hart The more I consider thee the more doe I languish with thy loue and with a vehement desire of thee and I am extreamely delighted with the sweete remembrance of thee I am therfore resolued I am resolued to cast vp myne eyes to thee to erect the state of my minde and to conforme the affections of my will to thee I am resolued to talke of thee to heare speake of thee to write of thee to conferr with others of thee daily to read somewhat of thy felicity glory when I shall haue redd it to reuolue it very often in my hart that at least by this meanes I may passe on from the burninge heats and dangers toyling labours of this mortall dying life to the sweete refreshing of that vitall aire of thyne and that I may proceede at last when I shall lay my selfe downe to sleepe to repose my head a little in that bosome of thyne To this end I enter now and then into those sweete feilds of thy holy Scriptures and whilest I am turninge ouer those leaues I gather the fresh flowers of sentences from thence By reading them I eate by frequenting them I ruminate and by gathering them vp at last I lodge them in the deepe receptacle of my memory that by this meanes haueing taken a taste of thy sweetnes I may feele the biteernes of this most miserable life so much the lesse O thou most happy life O Kingdome which art truely blessed free from death and farr from haueing an end to which noe tymes shall euer succeede where that day which is still continued without night admitts of noe Tyme where the conquering souldiers being associated to those chantinge quires of Angells sing that Canticle of the Canticles of Syon to Almighty God without ceasinge the garland of triumph imbraceinge their glorious heads that for euer I would to Christe that my sinns beinge once forgiuen me and then this burden beinge layd downe I might be assigned to eternall rest might enter into thy ioyes within those excellent and beautifull walls of thy Citty receiuinge the crowne of glory from the hand of my Lord. That I might be present with those most holy Quires of Angells That together with those blessed Spiritts I might concurre to glorify our Creator that I might veiwe the present face of Christe our Lord that I might for euer behold that supreame vnspeakable vncircumscribed light and that so not being subiect to any feare of death I might for euer reioyce in the euerlastinge endowment of incorruption CHAP. XXIII Of the felicity of that holy soule which departeth hence HAppy is that soule which beinge discharged from this body of earth goes freely vp to heauen and is in peace safetie not fearing either any enemy or death it selfe For it will then haue present and shall for euer behold that most beautifull Lord whom it hath serued and whom it hath loued and to whom at length it arriueth all full of glory and ioy This glory of so great beatitude noe tyme shall diminish nor wicked enemy be able to bereeue vs of The Daughter of Syon saw this soule and did publish it to be most happy The queenes and the concubines sawe it sayinge Who is this which goeth forward like a riseinge morninge faire like the Moone bright like the Sunn and terrible like a pitched feild of armed men How ioyfully doth she goe forth make haste and runn when with astonished eares she hears her spouse say thus Rise vp and make haste O thou my freind and my beautifull creature and come with me for now the Winter is ouer-past the Storme is gone and hath hidd it selfe the flowers haue appeared in our Land the tyme of pruninge is now come the voice of the turtle hath beene heard in our land The figg tree hath brought forth her younge fruite the vines are in flower and send forth theire odour Rise vp maKe haste O thou my freind my faire Creature my doue in the holes of the RocKe in the lowes places of the wall Shew me that face of thyne let thy voice sound forth in my ears for thy uoice is sweete and thy face is full of comlinesse and grace Come my elected and my beautifull Creature my doue my immaculate my Spouse Come and I will place my throne in thee because I haue had a greedy desire of thy beauty Come that thou maist reioyce in my presence with my Angells whose society I haue promissed thee Come after many dangers and labours and enter into the ioy of thy Lord which none shal be able to take from thee CHAP. XXIV A prayer to the sanites to secure vs in our dangers HAppy are all you O Saynts of God who now haue passed through the sea of this mortality and haue obteyned to arriue at the gate of eternall quietnesse security peace your selues beinge peacefull and secure and perpetually full of triumph and ioy I beseeche you by your owne Charity you who are secure concerninge your selues be yet solicitous concerning vs. You are secure concerninge your owne incorruptible glory be you solicitous of our manifold misery By him I beseech you who chused you who made you what you are in the fruition of whose beauty you are satiated by whose immortality you are now immortalized by whose most blessed vision yow are continually in ioy be you also continually mindfull of vs. Helpe vs miserable creatures who in the salt waters of this life are tossed with stormes rounde about vs. You are those most beautifull gates who haue beene erected to a huge altitude O giue some helpe to vs who are noe better then a base pauement lying so farr vnderneath you Stretch forth your hand raise vs vp vpon our feete that we recouering out of our infirmity may become strong and fitt for warr Interceede pray with constancy and perseuerance for vs miserable and most negligent sinners that by your Prayers we maybe ioyned to your holy society for otherwise we shall not be saued For we are extreamely frayle and of no strength or vertue miserable base wretches beasts who care but for the belly the slaues of flesh blood in whome the very shadow of goodnes doth scarce appeare And yet not withstandinge beinge placed vnder the confession of Christe our Lord we are borne vp by the wood of his Crosse whilest we saile through this great and spatious sea where there are creepinge creatures without number where there are wilde beasts great and small where there is á most cruell dragon euer ready to deuour vs where there are places full of dangers as Scylla and Charybdis and innumerable others where carelesse persons and they who are of a waueringe faith suffer shipwracke Pray you to our Lord pray O you who are full of pitty pray all you troopes of Saintes and all you compagnies of blessed Spiritts that beinge assisted by your Prayers and meritts we may with our shipp
my selfe am growen to be wholy vayne And hence also it is O Lord that I reioyce not in thee and that I adheare not to thee For I am in exteriour things thou in interiour I am in temporall things thou in spirituall my minde is scattered spilt my thought is entertayned my speach is imployed vpon transitory obiects but thou O Lord doest dwell in the eternities and art eternity it selfe Thou art in heauen I on earth thou louest high and I lowe things thou celestiall I terrestriall when shall these contrarietyes be euer able to meete CHAP. II. Of the misery and frayletie of Man WRetch that I am when shall this crookednes of mine be straightened according to that rectitude of thyne Thou O Lord louest to be alone and I to be in multituds Thou louest to be in silence and I in noyse Thou louest truth and I loue vanity Thou louest purity and I vncleanenes What should I say more O Lord thou art truely good and I naughty thou art holy and I am wicked thou art happy and I vniust thou art light it selfe and I am truely blinde thou art life it selfe and I am dead thou art Phisicke and I am sicke thou art ioy and I am sorrow thou art soueraigne Truth and I am an vniuersality of vanitie as indeede all men liueinge are Woe be therefore to me O thou Creatour of myne what shall I say Yet hearken thou O my Creatour for I am thy creature and I am euen now vpon perishing I am thy creature and am euen very now vpon dying I am the worke of thy hands and I am euen now reduced to nothing I am the thing which thou haste made Thy hands O Lord haue made me and fashioned me those hands I say which were fastened to the Crosse with nayles for me Doe not O Lord despise the worke of those hands of thine I beseech thee behold the wounds which are in thine owne hands Behold O Lord how thou haste writtē me in thyne owne hāds Reade that wrightinge of thine and saue me Behold I thy creature doe sigh towards thee thou art my Creatour and doe thou refresh me Behold I who am the worke of thy hands cry out to thee thou art life it self doe thou quicken me Behold I whom thou haste framed am lookeing towards thee thou art my maker and therefore doe thou restore me Pardon me O Lord for my dayes are nothing And yet what is any man that he should presume to speake to his Creator who is God Pardon me whilest I am speakeing to thee forgiue thy slaue who presumes to open his mouth to soe great a Lord. But necessity hath noe lawe Greife forces me to speake the calamity which I endure constraynes me to cry out I am sicke and I cry out to my Physician I am blinde and I make haste towards the light I am dead and I aspire towards life Thou O Iesus of Nazareth art the Physician thou art the Light thou art life Haue mercy on me O thou Sonne of Dauid Take pitty on me O thou fountaine of mercy Giue eare ro thy poore creature which cryes out after thee O thou light which art passing by expect this blinde man reach forth thy hand to him that he may come to thee ard may see light in thy light O thou liueing life reuiue thou this dead man But yet who am I that am speakinge to thee Woe be to me O Lord haue mercy on me O Lord on me who am a rotten carkas the food of wormes a stinkeing pott and that matter whereon fyre must feede VVoe be to me O Lord wretched man that I am Man who being borne of a woeman is to liue but a little time and is to be filled with many miseries Man I say who is growen like to vanity it selfe and being cōpared to the foolish beasts is now also become like to them But yet still what am I a darke abysse a wretched peece of earth a childe of wrath a vessell euen made fitt for reproach begotten with impurity liueing in mysery and dying in agony Alas poore wretch what am I and yet againe alas what am I to be A vessell full of dunge a hollow shell full of putrefaction full of stinkeing filth which euen breedeth horrour Blynde poore naked subiect to a world of myseries and wholly ignorant eyther how I came into the world or how I shall gett out Miserable and mortall whose dayes passe away like a shadow whose life doth vanish like awayning Moone like a flower which groweth vpon a stalke and presently decayes Now it florisheth and in the turneing of a hande it withereth This life I say this frayle life of myne this transitory life this life which how muche the more it encreaseth soe much the more it decayes how much the more it proceedes so much the nearer it drawes to death A deceiptfull life and like to a shadow and all besett with the very snares of death Now I reioyce and euen now againe I am sadd now I am strong and now againe I am weake now I liue and now I am about to dye now I laugh and now againe I weepe now I seeme happy whilest yet I am all wayes miserable And soe subiect are all things to change vpon all warninges as that there is scarce any one of them which continueth permanent for the space of an houre Here feare and apprehension and hunger and thirst and heate and cold and sickenes of body and sorrow of mynd is in all aboundance And all these are followed by vntimely death which snatcheth men out of the world by a thousand wayes It kills one man with a feauer another man is oppressed with greife of mynd hunger consumeth one thirst makes an end of another one man is drowned by water another man is strangled by a halter another is destroyed by fyre another is deuowred by wilde beasts One is killed by the sword another is corrupted by poyson and another ends his miserable life by the surprise of some strange and sodayne feare And now besides and beyond all these things a huge misery it is that as nothing is more certayn then death soe of nothing is a man more vncertayn then of the tyme when he shal dy When he thinkes he standeth fastest he is tripped vp and his hope perisheth Noe man can tel eyther when or where or how he shall dye and yet he is sure enough that dye he must Behold O Lord how great this misery of man is wherein I am placed yet I am voyd of feare How great the calamite is which I endure and yet I am farre from greife nor doe I cry out to thee But I will cry out O Lord before I passe away to the end that I may not passe away but remayne in thee I will therfore declare I will declare my misery I will not be ashamed to confesse my basenes before thee Helpe me O thou my strength whereby I am raised succour me