from the rocks of this world which on euery side threaten shipwracke to my soule and as the Sailer when he is arriued in the hauen crownes the masts of his ship with garlands of flowers in token that he is in safty euen so crowne me ô my God with the precious guifts of thine holy spirit for pledges of the eternall blessednesse which thou promisest me I say of thy spirit which reigneth in thy faithfull ones which distributes faith to thine elect charity to thy beloued and hope to those whome thou hast predestinated 13. Now whilest my soule continues in this exile looking euery day when thou wilt call it to thy â—elfe I will teach sinners the way they ought to follow for to please thee I will direct them left that in the darknesse of this world they stumble vpon the blocks which shall he presented to them they will beleeue me and they shall returne to thee ô father of light turne to thee ô Father of light they shall with all their hearts imbrace thy law and walke in thine obedience 14. I know ô Lord that there bee some who will stoppe their eares at my words and will grow stubborne in their sinnes they will plot my death and willingly would die their barbarous cruelty with my bloud Deliuer mee my GOD forth of their hands and preserue mee that I may declare thy righteousnesse and pronounce their condemnation I will fore-tel them of their miseries and so soone as my speech is ended thine hand shall strike them and so soone as thine hand hath stricken them behold they shall bee for euer crusht in peeces and confounded 15. And then thou shalt open my lippes and my mouth shall declare thy victory the aire wil be cleere the winds will bee appeased and the flouds will stand still to heare mee sound forth the wonders of the eternall GOD. For thy praise ô LORD shal bee the sacrifice which I continually will offer vp vnto thee which at all times will bee pleasing vnto thee 16. I would willingly haue bloudied thine Altars with the slaughter of much cattell I would willingly haue sacrifized a thousand Oxen and as many sheepe in thine honor but bloud stinkes before thee and their flesh thou acceptest not the smoake of such offerings consumes it selfe in the arie like wind and it can not ascend where thou art the onely voyce of a iust man mounteth higher then the heauens and thine Angells present it vnto thee 17. O how acceptable vnto thee is the sacrifize of an hart pearced thorow with repentance an hart that is humbled in the knowledge of his sinne such an one wilt thou neuer reiect hee that will go vp vnto thee must descend downe into himselfe the way to touch heauen to lie groueling vpon earth hee that wil bee heard of thee must hold his peace and hee that will bee crowned in thy kingdome must be beaten and scourged in this world These are the sacrifices which can reconcile vs vnto thee and enter vs into the alliance which thou hast made with vs. 18. If thou wilt haue vs ô Lord to offer vp vnto thee bulls and oxen and that wee shall make thine Altars smoake with the bloud of Beasts if thou wilt haue vs by the death of an innocent oblation to represent before thee the death innocency of him whome thou hast destined for the redemption of our soules if the figure of that which shall come to passe in the person of the Immaculate Lambe bee pleasing vnto thee in the slaughter of sheepe and rams pittifully then beehold thy poore people comforte desolate Sion encourage her poore inhabitants to the end that they may repaire the walls of thine holy citty and re-edifie thy teÌ„ple not in equall measure to thy deserts ô Lord but according to the riches and industry that the world can attaine vnto 19. Thither from all parts shall thy faithfull people come in heapes to offer sacrifize vnto thee there onely shalt thou accept the expiation for their sins But my God neither the bloud nor death of beasts can wash out their filthinesse the expiation of their sinne and disobedience is prepared before all eternity It is an inestimable sacrifize an immaculate burnt-offering that must draw away the vaile dissipate the darkenesse and breake downe the partition-wall for to make vs behold the truth of our saluation face to face which must cause the beames of the diuine mercy to shine vpon vs and reassociate vs to the communion of the eternall blessednes which we haue willingly renounced O must pittiful God which hast cleered the eies of mine vnderstanding made me to see the mistery of my saluatioÌ„ cause me ô Lord to tast the excellent frute which budding on the tree of the crosse shall quicken with his iuyce our mortified soules shall for euer keepe and preserue vs from the ruine and calamity which hath so miserably attainted man-kind hath spred it selfe all ouer them by their owne disobedience Domine exaudi Psalme 110. O Lord how long haue I cried out for thy mercy yet I am still expecting thine aide The aire is filled with my lamentations the winds haue carried the voyce of my complaint to the farthest parts of the earth and thine eare which vnderstandeth what is done in the deepest bottoÌ„ of hell harkeÌ„s not vnto my praier which pierceth the very heauens Thou art onely deafe ô Lord in my respect and the whole world will sooner then thy selfe giue eare to my laments No no my God thou hast too long stretched out thine arme vnto me to reiect me now when I come vnto thee for refuge 2. Now that I feele a thousand and a thousand griefes and that euills assaile mee on euery side turne not thy face away from mee ô Lord. Alas I haue placed all my comfort in the milde aspect of thy countenance I haue left the world and retired my selfe vnto thee I haue forsaken the children of the earth to the end to allie my selfe to the maister of heauen can'st thou now cast mee of doe not so ô Lord but all the dayes of my life helpe my infirmitie 3. So soone as my voice shall cry out vnto thee ô my God so soone let me feele thee let thy grace come downe as swiftly vpon mee as an Eagle to the succour of her yong ones For if thou assist mee not what combate can I wage against the enemies of my soule 4. My strength and my life doth continually vanish away like to a light smoake which in flying abroad looseth it selfe that eye which sees it come forth of the fire doth as quickly see it dispersed and accompanieth it in a moment from his originall to his end and they that aske what is become of it cannot so much as discerne the trace thereof Who hath seene peeces of wood lye drying in the sunne loose both their vigor and verdure let them behold my poore bones which are become drye and withered and craue nothing but a
the Lord hath heard my prayer my teares haue ouercome his wrath and loe I enioy the frute of his holy fauor The brightnesse of his goodnesse hath shined vpon me and behold the mists wherin my head was wrapped are on a sodaine scattered and vanished away 9. I had skarce opened my lips to inuoke his ayde my heart did skarcely dispose it selfe to craue his pardon when as I felt his grace to bee shed vpon me to comfort and quicken my languishing soule euen as an hot bath doth the members of a poore Pilgrime tired with trauell oh incredible clemency how comes it to passe O Lord that thou art so ready to forgiue I ranne on to offend thee and thou came'st flying to giue me pardon I haue employed all the dayes of my life to seeeke both by sea and land matter for my ambition auarice and licentiousnes and after that I had engulphed and lost my selfe in mine owne pleasures thou pearced'st in a momēt the heauens and clowdes and cam'st to deliuer me So as now I triumphe ouer my sinne which followes the tropheis of my penitency the which hath found fauour in thy fight And in this manner my hope which mine offences had almost smothered is reuiued more then before doth promise me not onely the Empires of the world which houer where the Lord enclineth them but openeth the highest heauens vnto me and assureth mee after an happie life in this world the enioying of diuine immortallity What shall then mine enemies doe now when they shall see such felicity heaped vpon me They shall blush for shame and shall by greatly troubled in their mindes they shall retire themselues all confounded and astonished For he whome they thought to destroy is raised higher then euer he was Alas they mocked mine ashes they iested at my fasts they flouted my teares and whilest by abstinence I tamed my flesh the true enemy to my soule they did swimme in worldly delights but loe the arme of God was ready to thunder on their insolency ô my God giue them leasure to perceaue the extreame danger wherein they are and to begge from an high the onely remedy for their disease and as for me who feele my selfe purified from those filthinesses which compassed mee about which feele my soule enflamed with the fire of thy charity teach my lippes to set forth thy prayses adresse my voyce to resound thy mercy and direct mine affection to loue thee sincerely and to establish her cheefe happinesse and highest felicity in the knowledge of thy truth Beati quorum Psalme 31. HOw happy my God are those whose offences thou hast pardoned and whose sinns thou hast buried in a tombe of forgetfulnesse For alas what can become of him whom thou causest to endure the iust punishment for his sinnes an armie of miseries enuirons him pouerty assailes him sicknesse afflicts him famine oppresseth him and death it selfe which he thinketh to bee the hauen of this tempestuous nauigation is the bottomlesse pit to draw him into eternall torments 2. Thrice and foure times happy then are they of whom God demandeth none account of their actions but is satisfied so that they humble themselues before him acknowledging their infirmity and opening vnto him the depths of their hearts For his mercy is to bee called vpon by true confession and sincerity of conscience hee that will be heard must humble himselfe before him As hee which goeth to a fountaine puts downe the mouth of his vessell before hee can fill it with liqour in like manner it behooueth him to cast himselfe down before his creator which will draw and taste of the water of this sacred fountaine from whence distilleth the humour which alone can cleanse and purge our consciences 3. I did thinke sometimes oh my God to hide my faults from thee haue said vnto my selfe How can hee tell or not what I haue done In this manner my sinne waxed old in my bones and like the sores of a sick man who is ashamed and dares not shew his disease to the surgeon they doe increase and waxe worse till the whole body perrish in like manner the sinnes which I haue hidden from thee haue wholy infected me 4. But at the last thou hast in such sort day and night layde thy heauy hand vppon mee and hast caused mee to taste so many kindes of misfortunes betwixt which my soule liueth without rest quelled with a continual pricking in my consciēce which pierceth the very bottom of my heart as I haue acknowledged my falt the which I now carry in my hand Take notice of it ô my GOD but not in thine anger for the streaming teares which haue quenched with weeping the light of mine eyes ought likwise also to haue extinguished the heate of thy iust indignation And then am I not the worke of thine hands and that which is more the liuely image of thy diuinity who is hee so transported with choller which will breake in peeces the workmanship which hee hath so much delighted to polish and bring to perfection because it is a little foule and slubberd This image is loden with filthinesse I confesse but is it not much better to clense burnish it then to destroy it and tread it vnder foote 5. Teach me then my God what satisfaction I am to make for I haue now discouered vnto thee all those faults which before I did conceale The feare which possessed me then when I hid my selfe from thee now when I lay my selfe open vnto thee is turned into hope of fauor and pardon And now I cast my selfe into thine armes as my surest refuge with the selfe same countenance as the poore patient who shewing his wound to the Surgeon lookes attentiuely vpon him and manfully endureth the search and lancing for the desire and hope which hee hath to bee healed But that which giueth me most hope of health is that those vices wherein I delighted heertofore doe now make mee afraide to behold them as the meates where-with a man is stuffed in health doe afterwards make him sicke at the heart That which made mee fierce doth now make mee ashamed when I consider the danger of death wherevnto my pride had exposed my poore soule I thanke that day which first gaue mee the light to acknowledge my fault I did on that day my GOD receiue a singular testimony of thy goodnesse towards mee let it please thee then that the pleasure which I haue receyued in displeasing my selfe may continue with me as long as that which I tooke in my vices For if I can take as great contentment in my penitencie as I haue taken in my sinne my happinesse shall bee equall to that of thine Angels and by my humilation before thee I shall see my selfe exalted to the highest toppe of thy fauour 6. Who doubteth ô Lord that thou wilt not receiue mee to mercy thou whose meekenesse and benignity is not only vnspeakable but incomprehensible I did no sooner thinke of
off theyr hands 19. Then shall they all bee heard to sing a song of glory to the victorious King their voice shall bee heard in all the parts of the earth and the memory of thy singular goodnesse and infinite mercy shall bee engraued in mens mindes to passe from age to age euen to their last posteritie when the earth shall bee consumed the waters dryed vppe the firmament vanished away and the heauens come to an end euen then shall men sing forth the glory of the eternall God 20. The eternall GOD who hath vouchsafed from the highest heauens to cast his eyes downe to the depths of the earth to take notice of the torments of poore captiues deteined in the prisons of hell who hath heard their gronings and made haste to vnbinde and deliuer these poore wretched prisoners and their whole posterity Death had ouercome them with the weapons of sinne and confined them in his darke prisons but the God of life hath vanquished death and set them all at liberty 21. To the end ô Lord that they may declare thy praise in Sion and preach thy mercy in Ierusalem But though euery one of them had an hundered mouthes and a voyce as strong as thy thunder they should neuer bee able to attaine to the greatnesse of thy glorie All the parts of the world doe conspire together but to represent in their motion some part of thy power and infinite goodnesse and yet they shall misse the marke for they are bottomlesse pitts and more then bottomlesse pitts which haue neither banke nor bottome and which must onely bee look't vpon a farre off 22. Bee pleased then ô my God that thy people assembled together and revnited in body and minde doe deuoutly offer vnto thee the holy desire and will which they haue to honor thee for the effect it selfe can in no sort draw neer to thy desert Take it in good worth ô Lord that the Kings of the earth doe come and humble themselues before thee to pay the homage and seruice which is due vnto thee as to their souerain Lord. They shall lay their scepters on the ground and their crownes at their feete and shall present thee with a sacrifice of humble deuotion and an innocent conscience I will be the first ô my God that will prostrate my selfe before thee to adore and serue thee with my whole heart I will settle my thoughts on thee onely vnto thee alone will I consecrate my spiritte Quicken it ô Lord to the end that it beeing purified by the holy heat of thy charity it may receaue into it selfe like a well-pollished looking-glasse the Image of thine incomprehensible beauty and perfection and that it may feele the reflection of thy sincere affection so as thine infinite goodnes may make it one of the number of thine elect to bee a coheire with them of eternall life 23. I doe now already feele ô my God that thou hast enlightned my soule by thy grace and hast shewed me the mercy which thou wilt offer to all the children of the earth my spirit hath already seene from a farre off how readily thou walkest to deliuer the world which was in danger of death before thine arriuall that was the cause why thou heardest it cry out vnto thee saying tell me ô Lord the number of my yeares and what time thou wilt giue an end to my daies 24. Cut not of the thred of my life ô Lord at the first or second turne of the wheele shorten it not in the middest of his course stay my God til the time be come when as thou wilt open the treasures of thy graces to giue a largesse of saluation vnto men or if at the least thou hast determined of mine end and that my life cannot bee so farre stretched out yet remember my posterity and cause him to bee borne of my stocke who by his comming shall sanctifie the world 25. In very deed ô Lord I know that in the beginning thou diddest make heauen and earth and all that excellence which wee see in this world is the worke-man-shippe of thy hands 26. But all that shall weare away like an ouer-worne garment men shall seeke after and enquire what is become of it but it shall bee no more found it hath beene made and it shal be vndone it had a beginning and must needs haue an end but thou alone ô Lord which art from all eternity shalt remayne for euer at one stay Age and time which consumes all things doe but confirme thine essence and publish thy diuinity and it seemeth vnto me that men are borne vpon the earth to none other end but to behold on the one side thine incomprehensible greatnes and their owne weakenes on the other 27. Men shift not shirts so often as one selfe-same land doth oftentimes change hir inhabitants the one pusheth on another and all is renued in a moment But thou art yet my God to day the same that thou wert at the beginning Euery Prouince of the earth makes mention of a great number of Kings which haue commaunded therein one after another but heauen and earth doe continually sing vnto vs that thou hast alway beene alone euer like thy selfe and that neither the time past nor that which is to come can in any sort change thee 28. Yet notwithstanding ô Lord that we must part hence I doe not lose my hope to taste one day of the sweet fruite which will heale vs of this contagious disease which our first parents haue communicated to vs by eating of the fruite of sinne and death For our children shall succeed vs and thou wilt doe vs this fauour ô Lord to continue our posterity from age to age vntill that all of vs together doe appeare in thy presence not to receaue a rigorous iudgement but to enter by the merrits and intercession of thy welbeloued Sonne our Sauiour into the inheritance of eternall blessednesse which shal be purchaced for all thy faithfull ones by the adoption of thy sonne in the house of thy seruant Dauid De profundis Psalme 129. FRom the bottome of the deepes I haue cried vnto thee oh my God being buried and lost in the most fearefull cauernes of the earth I haue called vpon thy name listen to my voyce and giue eare vnto my praier for all hope of aide was taken from mee I saw nothing round about me but feare and trembling and yet notwithstanding I was not discourraged but haue expected from thee that which thou hast promised to all those which shall liue in the feare of thy name and in the obedience of thy commandements 2. Lend then a fauourable eare ô Lord vnto my prayer if sinne haue set it selfe betwixt thee and mee to whet thee on against mine iniquitie and to make thee an enemy to my request chace it away from the aspect of thine eye of mercy or else ô Lord shut for a while the eye of thy iustice vntill that thine eare of clemencie hath receiued
to comprehend the greatest wonders of the diuinity but eschewing the day-light of knowledge he went groaping vp and downe in the dennes and caues of ignorance and blockishnes and remained therein all his life-time hatching this miserable ritches and at the last is become like to a bruite beast For as a beast â—eigheth after his prouender and takes no care but how to feede euen so this man would not stir but for the necessities of the body nay he would scarcely vse that wealth which he had so much coueted being heerein much worse then all other beasts whose vnbridled appetite is satisfied by the vse of those things which they desire 13. O how scandalous and infamous is the life of such people what share haue they in this world or in the next but only shame in this and paine and torment in the other Let them now please themselues in their owne discourse let them grow proud in their wealth let them now a little call to mind the speeches they were wont to vse when they esteemed no man but themselues and their money and held all other men in contempt 14. Behold they are haled into hell like sheep to the slaughter death hath deuoured them and there is nothing left but their bare boanes which rotte in their graues 15. The iust man who with patience endured their pride his turne is now come loe his time is to raigne and he is now at his ease He riseth vp by the breake of day and after he hath giuen thankes vnto God he goes to behold the place where one of those miserable wretches dwelt the place where he was wont to braue and tiranize ouer the world and saies softly to himselfe praised be God who hath clensed the earth from this filth and hath giuen place vnto those which blesse his name This wretch is rotten and his glory with him He is now in torment and no man helps him let him remaine so hardly for death vnto him is a going on but not a comming back 16. As for my selfe ô Lord. I know very well that I must dye the sinne of our first parent hath bound vs to this debt it is the reward of his disobedience we must returne into the earth from whence we came Yet for all that ô Lord thou shalt redeeme me from death and deliuer me from the hands of hell when it would seaze on me Thou wilt not suffer me to goe downe so low thou wilt set me at liberty at the entry of the dore and wilt be satisfied that I should know without suffering the punishment of my deserued bondage and captiuity But what shall be the price of my redemption shal it be the goods of the earth the aboundance of gold and siluer Not so ô Lord. Thou thy selfe shalt be the price of my redemption thou shalt giue vp thine owne body to death to the end to deliuer my soule from hell thou shalt put on the sorrowes of the graue to the end to cloath me with the ioyes of immortallitie I will then hence-forward ô my God haue none other wealth but thou possessing thee I shall enioy the whole world louing thee I shall be in thee and thou in me and being so thou wilt bring thither all the wealth of the world all the strength all the glory of the world and wilt fill mee with an other manner of wealth then that of these poore wretches they know thee not their riches is but the fruite of their sinne which with their sinne shall perrish 17. Wee must not be amazed to see them sodainly wax riche nor account them happy for that if they doe abound in false honor which they hunt after and that they are loden with this vaine and fleeting glory which is nothing but a shew we must not wonder at it much lesse enuie them for it 18. For so soone as they shall kisse the earth and bee clothed with their winding sheete they shall carry away nothing with them but the cloth that couers them nothing shal follow them but their shadow Nay I beleeue that wil leaue them also for the light which causeth the shadow wil faile them insteed of these magnificent shews pompous solemnities wherewith they scared little children grief sorrow anguish pouerty misery shall wrap them about and cast them into the lake of Brimstone 19. And not without cause they tooke their pleasure in this life their happinesse was in this world they obteined what they wisht for wealth came to them by heapes greatnesse and felicitie was a burthen to them they loued none but such as inriched them they made much of none but those which encreased their reuenues they are dead haue nothing left them in the next world for they made no prouision of the wealth that is currant there they satisfied themselues to haue sufficient riches for this earthly life that is now ended and they are in pouerty They desired honor but it was vaine and fleeting which depended onely on the opinion of fooles they had it but they could not well tell how to keepe it They would needs sitte on the top of the wheele it turned round and threw them head-long downe Happy are they which can sitte at the foote thereof constant and vnmooued and behold in safety how it turnes about 20. But these miserable wretches did not so they willingly mounted the top from whence they fell into hell they are now of the number of their fathers they found their Ancestors there from whom they drew their birth and manners they imitated their vices and after death they pertake their punishment They learne but too late and when repentance is vnprofitable what it is to lift themselues vp against God and to resist his glory They learn what it is to afflict the iust to oppresse the poore to deride the afflicted They are confined in darknesse and the light shineth no more before their eyes They heare nothing but horror and gnashing of teeth they breath out nothing but sighs grones they do not moue vp and down but in feare and ttembling 21. When these wretched mad-men were in honor they knew not what it was and became like beasts without vnderstanding But alas this is no true comparison for when beasts die death takes away their feeling of sorrow as well as that of pleasure but these wretches which wold not know wherein their happinesse consisted who would not looke vpon eternall light who stopped their eares at the spirituall word their feeling shall remain for the subiect of their tormeÌ„ts their soule shal liue perpetually to coÌ„ceiue their misery and they shal for euer languish Quam bonus Israel Deus Psalme 72. HOw great is the goodnesse of our God how certaine is his helpe to those which waite on him to those I say who neuer turned away their thoughts from his mercy who holding the eie of their soule fixt on his prouidence haue neuer let slip the hope which they ought