am enforced ô God to say now vnto thee I shall see thee no more in the land of the liuing 3 I shall neuer more I say lift vp mine eyes vnto thee amongst the liuing in turning my face towards the corners of this world behold admire the works of thine haÌ„ds Farewell most beautifull and glorious Sunne which hast so often risen farre aboue the waters to geue vnto mine eyes the shining brightnesse of thy beames Farewell pale siluery Moone which by degrees slakest the shadowy sayles of the night by degrees markest the measures of our time put thy self out when euer thou wilt for my sight is put out for euer seeing of thee And ye glistering starres of light which couer by pace measures all alongst this azured playne skyes and which spred ouer our weake bodies your heauenly powers stay your selues when you will for ye haue not any power ouer the dead and ô ye ritch meadâ—…es wither when ye will your excellent enameled floures and ô yee christâ—ll spring heads dry vp when yee will the beds of running streames for death commeth to feele vp mine eyes to bereaue me of your pleasant sights farewell ô world farewell ô men and farewell what so euer pleasure I haue had in this place And ye my deare friends lo heere my last farewell for hers is broken â—e knot of our sweet friendship And ye my children heere endeth the holy affection wherewith I haue made mery amongst you and now I am possessed with another care for death seperateth me from you and you from me 4 My posteritie is carried farre away from mee euen as the Shepheards Tents of Scythia to day here and to morrow there O most bitter and grieuous separation which pluckest the children out of the armes of their father and from the sweet bosome of their mother 5 But why is this so quickly done and against all hope I came no sooner to be set vpon the frame and scarsly was there a bait or stale layd for my life but that the workeman was ready to put his fleame or lancing knife into me What a kind of alteration ô Lord is this In how short a time changeth the face of the world And truly are not the euening and morning all alike For I was this morning aliue and lo I am now amongst the dead I looke but for the houre wherein I meane to tread the fields that I might trusse vp bag and baggage and away 6 Why I was this morning a very gallant and I was tickled with new and strange hopes I proued mine owne strength and me thought I was sound and like to liue long and I had a world of deuises in mine head and euery minute my courage encreased and anon death commeth vpon me like an hungrie Lyon sucketh my bloud shaketh my flesh breaketh in sunder my bones and loe I am stretched out and readie to yeeld vp the last gaspe of my life Alasse I was this morning some body and now at night I shal be no body O God what a small distance is there betweene a mans being and his not being And from morning to night euery man goeth this broad beaten hye way yea yea ô Lord in a moment if thou please a man passeth from the one to the other and goeth from life vnto death The first course of the heauens is verie suddaine and swift and yet is the cutting sythe of death more suddaine and far nimbler for thou geuest vs life in breathing on vs an wheÌ„ thou ceasest we dye Thou lookest vpon vs we are borne thou turnest away thine eye froÌ„ vs and by and by we are dead We are the bubble of the water which apeareth with the least mouing and is puffed out with the smallest winde We are the haruest leafe hanging now vpon the tree and eftsoone lying flat on the ground or to speake more properly we are the shadow of a dreame which is quite gone so soone as we awaken But although ô Lord death hath laid fast hold on me and that one of my fecte is already in the graue yet will I crie out vnto thee and coniure thee by thine infinite power and pittifully grone vnto thee in acknowledging my misery and thy clemency wilt thou not then haue compassion vpoÌ„ me wouldst thou not somwhat lengthen the thred of my life 7 The terror ô Lord of thy great maiesty maketh me afeard to speake although I feele my misery to presse me and pursue me that I know my helpe is in thee yet dare I not addresse my praier vnto thee But I am like vnto the young new hatched swallow who being naked and without feathers is left alone in the nest pittifully chirping and looking for her dam. Nay I am rather like vnto the scarefull Doue alone in her nest who seeing the Gerfalcon soaring ouer her head hideth her selfe poore miserable Doue sitteth close and amazed by reason of the danger she seeth her self in O my God I know my misery do right well vnderstand mine infirmity But although ô Lord that with a submisse voice trembling words I implore thy maiesty yet forsake me not I humbly beseech thee 8 Is it so long sithence ô Lord that I turned mine eies vnto thee to call vpon thy goodnesse I am alwaies wonted to lift vp mine eyes on hie O Lord I am at a non plus I am forced and my misery is gone ouer mine head and therfore I beseech thee to helpe me if it may so please thee 9 But alas dare I speake vnto God and shew my selfe vnto him Euen I whom he hath created with his owne hands and fashioned by his grace who in stead of seruing and honouring of him haue giuen my selfe vnto the pleasures of this world and turned the honor which I owe vnto him vnto earthly and corruptible things what answer will he make me for if he grow once to be angry and shew himselfe vnto me in his fury with that countenance that he shall iudge the guilty were it not an hundreth times better for me to haue held my peace then to speake But it were better I say to be dead and buried then to haue eyes to see him and eares to heare him what then shall I either do or say 10 I will endeuour my selfe to appease him before in presenting him for an offring the contrition of mine heart and bitternesse of my soule and in my greeuous anguish will call to minde all my yeares past lay abroade the moments of life runne ouer the number of my sinnes that I might cleanse and purge the sinnes and transgressions which defile my conscience and stirre vp Gods wrath against me 11 And therfore thou shalt ô Lord most assuredly seeing that I returne vnto thee and bitterly weepe for mine offences receiue my repentance and through the heartinesse of my continuall prayers which I so effectuously powre out vnto thee appease thy sharpe and heauy wrath Thou shalt stay
the hand of thy iustice which would swallow me vp Thou shalt turne away the dart of death whose point hath pierced me euen to the very hart Thou shalt lengthen the course of my yeares which my sinne hath already shortened And thou shalt bee contented that thou hast reprooued me without vtterly vndoing me and made me to acknowledge and confesse my sinnes with punishing me for the same 12 And although I thinke my selfe blessed and as it were in most excel-cellent peace yet do I vse nay rather abuse the blessings and riches which thou hast lent and vouchsafed mee yea and although I say I should be drunken with the hony sweet pleasures of this world yet loe a store of affliction and misery is betide me which as a most bitter brooks is come vpon me to drowne me and swallow me vp But as I was about to giue vp the ghost I felt thee taking me by the hand and by a wonderfull helpe drewest me by little and little out of that fearefull gulfe O Lorde the weight that sunke me to the bottome was the waight of my sinnes They lay so thick and heauie on my head and held me so to the ground as that I knew not how to lift vp mine eyes vnto heauen much lesse was I able to hold vp my head and open my mouth to vtter and shew forth thy holy grace and mercy Thou hast broken the chaines of the wicked affections which held me bound vnto these cursed sinnes And neuerthelesse because they are euer before thine eyes and that my repentance in some measure coniureth thy goodnesse and mine iniquity sharpeneth thy iustice yet hast thou cast all mine offences behinde thy back and turned them all away from thy presence to the end there might be nothing betweene me and thy mercy to hinder me from being enuironed by the same as mine only and assured defence But how can this be ô Lord that thou who seest all things both present to come which seest through the earth and piercest the bottomes of our hearts that in regard of me alone ô Lord thou becommest blinde and seest not my sâ—…nes which enuiron me round about O how wonderfull great is thy mercy which blindfoldeth the eyes of thy Deitie which hideth from thee that euery one seeth and maketh thee forget that which thou knewest before such time as it was done 13 From whence ô Lord commeth this great change and alteration in thee whence commeth it that to do me fauour thou puttest so farre from thee thy iustice which is naturally in thee I wonder but yet cannot I tell from whence this thy so great clemency and louing kindnesse proceedeth It is yea it is ô Lord because thou wilt saue vs whether we wil or no and to draw vs as it were by force out of that condemnation which we most iustly haue deserued For thou art the God of glory iealous of honour and praise for thou art alone worthy therof Thou knowest right well that very hell shall praise thee and thou knowest also ô Lord that death it selfe shall set forth thy praise Seeing that thou hast created all things to testifie thine infinite goodnesse and power shall death which is one of thy works make an end of thy praise Yea and seeing thou hast here placed man to lift vp his eyes vnto heauen and to behold thy glory and to sing both with the heart and mouth a continuall hymne therof and if thou take away his life is not that a breache of one of the organes of thine honour And if thou send him to hell is not that to defame thy workmanship Thou hast ô Lord sowne by the mouthes of thy Prophets the truth of thy promises Shall they that are pent vp in the earth gather together the fruite thereof shall they whome the death of the body hath closed vp the eye liddes and whome the death of the soule engendred through their impenitence hath sealed vp the eyes of the spirit making them go groping to hell wandring and stumbling from paine to paine and from torment to torment No no it shall be the liuing man that shall publish and set forth thy praise the man I say that liueth and that liuing life which is maintained by those blessings which thou bestowest vpon vs here on the earth and that life which is nourished by the beholding of thy Deitie and by the blessings which thou hast laide vppe in heauen Euen so O Lorde do I at this day with them seeing it hath pleased thee to conuert my miseries into grace and blessing and to turne away from me death and dolors which brought them vnto mee Mine infirmitie is at this day seeing it so pleaseth thee an argument of thy glory thou workest such miracles in me as are able to astonish an whole world To the end ô Lord that the fathers may tell vnto their children what the effects of thy mercies are how sure the effect of thy promises and how vndoubted the truth of thy word And so whensoeuer the last and hindermost posteritie shall vnderstand what hath be fallen vnto my person it will praise and blesse thy holy name 15 Seeing then my God that thou hast assured me this life I meane this earthly and corporall life graunt me also assurance of this heauenly and diuine life to the end that I being most full of all hope and strength may passe the rest of my daies in praising and seruing of thee continually Mine aboade ô Lorde shall be alwaies at the feete of thine aulters mine action shall bee a song of thy praise and goodnesse and so will goe day and night into thy church lifting 〈…〉 eyes vnto thee and hauing my thoughts fixed on thee I will open â—ine heart and thou shalt fill it with thy grace that it may sanctifie all mine affections and so 〈◊〉 thereby may set forth nothing more then thy glory FINIS
hath bound vs to pay that debt it is the reward for his disobedience we must go againe into the earth and returne from whence we came Neuerthelesse ô Lord thou shalt redeeme me from death and deliuer me from the hand of hell when it would lay hold on me Thou wilt not suffer me to go downe all below but wilt deliuer me eueÌ„ at the very mouth thereof and be contented that I acknowledge it without suffering the punishment of my deserued thraldome and captiuitie But what shall be the price of my redemption shall it be the goods and possessions of the earth and the aboundance of gold and siluer No ô Lord for hell is full thereof it maketh no reckning of this geare for thou thy selfe shalt be the price of my redemption thou shalt deliuer thine owne body to death that my soule might be deliuered from hell Thou shalt put vpon thee and cloth thee with the dolors of the dead that I might be clothed with the ioyes of immortalitie And therefore I will not from henceforth my God haue any other ritches but thee and in possessing thee I shall possesse the whole world and in louing thee I shall be in thee thou in mee and thou being there shalt bring thither all the goods strength and glorie of the world and fill me full with other manner of ritches then the ritches of these miserable carles which will not acknowledge thee for their ritches are but the fruite of their sinne which shall perish with their sinne 17 No maÌ„ ought to be abashed to see them all at once suddainly enriched ne yet to esteeme theÌ„ to be any whit the happier therby for although the false honor which they so greedily hunt after exceedeth excelleth and are filled with this vaine and vanishing glorie which carieth with it but a glorious glittering outward shew yet must we not be in an admiration thereat much lesse enuie the same 18 For although they shall at any time haue kissed the earth and put on the round compasse thereof yet shall they carry away nothing of it with theÌ„ saue their winding sheet nothing shall follow them but their shadow and yet I beleeue that it will also leaue them for the very selfe-same day which maketh the shadow will forsake them and they shall want the ordinary light and in stead of these magnificeÌ„ces pomps and swelling ostentations wherewith they make little children afeard shall wrap them vp in sorrow griefe dolor anguish pouertie and miserie and cast them into Mercuries heape 19 And is it not great reason that it should be thus for they haue taken their pleasures here in this life and haue had their felicitie in this world and whatsoeuer they haue desired hath falne vnto them goods haue come rolling in by heapes vnto them the felicitie of their greatnesse was a burden vnto them they esteemed of none but of such as did help to enrich them neither loued they any but such as gaue them and made much of none saue of those that encreased their reuenues They are like to those meÌ„ who because they would haue a great stock sell the proprietie of their goods vnto others they dye leauing nothing behinde for the world to come hauing made no prouision for any goods that are there in request but content them selues with the goods that serue for this earthlie life which being ended they are left verie poore They haue desired honor but a vaine and slipperie honor which hangeth and resteth but vpon the opinion of fooles they had it but they could not tell well how to keepe it They would gladly haue sit vppon the top of the wheel that being turned about they are now downe in the bottome thereof but blessed and happy are they which can keepe them sure and immoueable vpon the scaffold and see them selues safe both aboue and below 20 But these miserable caytifes haue done nothing so for they haue made the leape them selues they haue voluntarily climbed vp to the steepest place from whence they haue bene cast downe backward euen vnto hell they are at this day in the number of their forefathers there haue they found their Auncesters from whome they receyued their birth and conditions they were imitators of theyr sinnes and when they are dead they shall be also partakers of their punishment for when repentance commeth too late they then learne but out of season what it is to lift them selues vp against God and oppose them selues vnto his glorie then they learne what it is to afflict the iust to oppresse the poore and to scorne the afflicted They are confined in the darke and the light geueth no more sight vnto their eyes They heare nothing but horror and gnashing of teeth they breath out nothing but sighes and groanes and they neuer stirre but with trembling and fretting 21 When these poore senselesse people were in honor they could not vnderstand it but became like vnto brute beasts which haue neyther sense nor iudgement But yet alasse they are farre vnlike for death in bereauing the beasts of their liues taketh from them aswell the feeling of their paine as of their pleasure but as for these poore fooles who would neuer vnderstand wherein their chiefe blessednes consisted but closed vp their eyes against the eternall light and stopped their eares against the spirituall word shall haue their sense as an argument or subiect of torments and their spirit shall liue continually to conceiue and eternally to languish their miseries O how good is God c. Psalme 73. 1 O How grâ—…t is the goodnes of our God and how assured is his helpe vnto all those that wait vpon him Vnto those I say who haue neuer turned away their thoughts from his iustice and mercie and who hauing the eyes of their soules alwayes fixed vpon his prouidence neuer gaue ouer the hope which they should haue in his grace And how greatly blessed are they whome the sundry ill haps of this world could neuer shake that constant assurance which they ought to haue of Gods righteousnesse O how greatly I say is the constancie of such men to be commended 2 For to say truly my foot oftentimes began to slip in the way and I glided oftentimes as it were euen readie to fall to the ground Much like vnto them that climbe vp a steepe thornie hill who so soone as they feele the briers and brambles begin to prick and raunch them or rub off the skinne against any flint stone lay hold with theyr hands for verie griefe vpon the crampons and rests which help them to climbe vp and then forthwith tumble quite cleane downe if they be not the sooner stayed Euen so my God whilst I would vnderstaÌ„d the iudgemeÌ„ts of thy works behold how thou dispensest thy graces as one pricked wounded to see the wicked prosper I make many false steps strides and am ready to fal into this steep breakeneck of not belieuing thy wisedome and
remedie we can finde out for them and it may be it will be to good purpose to vse the counsell which a good auncient Father gaue vnto a religious nouice of his house Like as wise nurses sayd he when they will weane their children will rub the neble of their teate with wormewood and other bitter druggs euen so must we be dealt withall for the making of vs lose the taste of our delightes and pleasures for wee must set downe vnto our selues a certaine punishment for our lusts and change the houres of our pleasures into rigorous and austere exercises and at what time we are wonted to take our foolish and dissolute recreations let vs examine with all humilitie what paynes and torments our sinfull and detestable life deserueth I cannot tell whether this good old Father in speaking this thought vpon the custome which the Hebrewes vsed who made a solemne feast vpon that day that they began to weane any of their children or whether they reioyced in that their children left their weaker foode and fell to more strong and marrowye meates either else to stirre them vp by their example vnto a new kinde of dyet For we may verie fitlie applie this example vnto the instruction of our mindes if so be we will weane our selues from the milke of our delights and sweare an irreconciliable diuorce betweene vs and our sinnes inuiting our selues vnto the like feast as he amongst those holie religious men of whome Phylo in the booke of a contemplatiue life maketh mention did They met together at this banquet and the first principall and most delicate and sweet dishes were the most beautifull and best tasting fruites of true wisedome which were presented vnto them by a most elegant preaching of the Prophets and commaundements of God as pure and vndefiled vessels Their reioycing was consolation their pastime austeritie their delicate dishes abstinence Their mindes being satisfied with such marrowy meate they were in a maruelous great and firme tranquillitie to be at leysure to follow their most happie contemplation And surely this exercise would become vs all very well neuerthelesse we had need euery one of vs particularly to accomplish this our purging of the soule which we call repentance by meanes whereof our soule returning into her selfe shall be able to wipe out spot by spot the blots that there most filthely do sauour Seeing then that this repentance should be vnto vs as it were the entrance and preface of a good and perfect life which should make vs cleane we should therein exercise our selues both carefully and ordinarily For seeing we are determined to erect a Temple in our soule wherein to lodge the Deitie we must therfore throughly wash and rewash the same with this purifying water and thinke that it is to vs vnto whome Ezechias speaketh when as he said vnto the Leuits Listen vnto me and sanctifie your selues make cleane the house of the Lord and thrust the filthinesse out of the Sanctuarie We will haue our Spirite to be his Aulter our thoughtes his offerings our prayers his presents and shall we offer them in a filthie place would he not then say vnto vs that which was spoken vnto the Iewes by the mouth of Malachy saying I haue not set mine heart vpon you neither will I receiue any sacrifice from you because you are most filthie and full of pâ—llution But how shall we begin to performe such a glorious and profitable an action Saint Iohn Chrysostome teacheth vs and geueth vnto vs an excellent instruction hereof We must sayth he looke well vnto our selues and hauing compassion of our miserie we must rub and make leane our hearts so as we must alwayes haue our mouths full of the confessing of our sinnes and the rest of our actions in great and singular humilitie The filthy stinking and brutish concupiscences of ours finding our hearts voyd of the grace of God place themselues there and in such sort puffe vp and harden our harts as that no goodnes can now enter them without we first presse and squeeze them betweene our hands with sharpe earnest contrition To be short if we shall not haue blowen this bladder full of wind we shal neuer find this spiritual licour this holy oyle of consolatioÌ„ euer to be placed there This was the presumption that first assaulted the Angels and since that time hath set a snare or pitfall to trap our feet in This is that thing which as an heauie counterpoise keepeth vs continually tied vnto these worldly lusts and which settle our desires in our selues and maketh vs beleeue that we liue only for this world and stayeth also the sayle of our soules from lanching towards heauen How shall we then rid our selues out of this Forsooth in casting back our eys vpon our life in considering of our foulenesse deformitie in beholding how many miseries afflictioÌ„s coÌ„tinually surprize vs which we neuer once loked for If the iustice of God ouer-compassionat in our behalfe did not sufficiently furnish vs with matter to be angrie with our selues or if because wee are too neere vnto our owne harmes we cannot see them let vs turne our eyes vpon the infinite millions of men which now are or yet heretofore haue been and let vs marke what a small and short thing their life is and hath been and yet although it bee neuer so small and short yet it is enuironed with infinite sorrowes griefes and cares which are the verie fruites of theyr sinnes and transgressions Do not all men liuing continually cry and complayne of their miseries and mishaps Now it is no reason that we most sinfull and filthie wretches that we are should seeke out of our selues the matâ—er for which we should be angrie and grieued with our selues For our consciences do commonly tell vs and continually represent vnto vs in despite of vs the register of our sinnes agreeing with that of Democritus saying That hee heard the voyce of malice and sinne accusing her selfe Ouer and besides all this the heauenly iustice or the fatherly care of God continually sheweth vnto vs his rods sometimes striking vs with them to make vs awake and leape out of this miserable filthie and dirtie puddle But if nothing will cause vs to hate our selues and detest our miserable sinfull life let vs consider with our selues and thinke of this hideous and terrible image of death vnto whome our sinne hath deliuered vs vp For death followeth vs hard at our heeles both by sea and land he embarketh himself with vs and rideth on horsebacke behinde vs and leaueth vs nothing saue only our shadow We do nothing else all our life long but flye from him and yet we are still neerer and neerer him It is he that in a moment cutteth off the thread of our desires and he who vppon the suddaine bereaueth vs of all that we haue scraped together with great paine and in the end taketh our selues away cleane out of the world Seeing then that
his image is pictured out to be so feareful in all the corners of our life let it be a bridle to restraine our filthy lusts and let vs step backe when we see such a bottomlesse deapth lye wide open before vs. But if we haue so engaged and bound our selues before hand as that we cannot goe backe yet he at least forewarneth vs of the danger and let vs forsake this vile and heauie burden of baggage that we may the lightlier leape and lustelier skip ouer this dangerous breake-necke and leape into that goodly and flourishing playne which we see to be on the other side which is that euerlasting life that we all waite for Howbeit if the remembrance of this temporall and corporall death cannot possibly wither and dry vp our thoughts who is he amongst vs whē as we shall but once think vpon the other death which afterward threatneth vs which is this spiritual eternal death that wil not tremble gnash his teeth with feare yea a most horrible death because that they vpon whom it layeth hold do dye eternally not looking for the blessednes whereof they depriued themselues for euer and yet liue for euer but altogether in sorrowes torments whereunto they are eternally reserued Alas are not we able so terribly horribly to picture him out as that we neuer dare once behold his looks Let vs picture the dart which he carieth in his hand with fire and flame round about it and arme it with hell fire with fireforks and tongs But we cōtrariwise garnish him with al maner of ornamēts to make him seeme pleasing vnto our eyes set a false couler vpon him to make him shew more agreeable vnto our liking we erect aulters vnto him neuer make feasts of reioycing but when as we consecrate our soules vnto him And when is that forsooth euen then when we bath our selues in these worldly pleasures or rather when we plunge our soules into that infernall riuer of forgetfulnesse which putteth out that heauenly fier that is in vs rocketh vs asleepe maketh vs become most brutish beastly And yet notwithstāding we then say that we liue not counting any of those dayes any part of our life which we passe not ouer in pastimes merimēts nay rather which we passe not ouer in sins trāsgressiōs Surely we are much like vnto those sailers which turn their backs vpō the place where they meane to go ashore We make a shew as thogh we would eschue this death yet according to the course of our liues we run vnto it with open mouth Let vs therefore looke wishly vpō this death and on as many other rocks as we must sayle and flote by in this voyage that we may feare And let vs consider that we are now so wounded and brused as that if an especiall fauour from heauen saue vs not we shall be hardly able to auoyd shipwracke This is the contritiō which should be in our souls this is that bitter repentance which shoulde drawe bloudie teares euen frō out of the bottome of our bowels This is it that should make vs hate euen our own selues for the recōciling of vs vnto our God to renue our life of sin and wickednes into puritie and cleannesse This is it that should cause vs to enter into iudgement with our selues that we might not be reserued vnto the day of that most heauy iudgemēt For what man is he that is able at that day to iustifie himselfe Now it is not enough that we haue had this compunction and repentance in our harts but we must also lay open our sinnes and the iustice of God that we might receiue from him his mercy and comfort And it is he that must accept of our sorrow and griefe and he vnto whome we must make an honorable amends and simply and plainely confesse our errors For seeing it is his pleasure that his goodnes which he is able to keepe and reserue vnto himselfe should be poured out vpon all his creatures and that he hath made all things to manifest his glorie and bestowed the vse of our life only to glorifie him neither are we any way able to repare the offence which we commit against him by the corrupting of the vse of our life but in manifesting that he hath created vs to do good that we our selues haue conuerted our selues only to do ill And therefore we must of necessitie vndoubtedly declare that he is liberall we most vnthankfull we must say that he is good our selues to be most wicked we must also pronounce his righteousnesse and our sinne we must set forth our own griefs and his mercy we must protest that all the euill which is in vs commeth of ourselues and all the good which we hope after to proceed from him alone For if so be we shall be silent after that we haue once acknowledged our euill it is to be belieued that we will perseuere with this silēce all the daies of our life past and so approue by this silēce that we cannot freely be found fault withall And Tertullian exhorting vs vnto this confession telleth vs that we do not confesse our selues vnto God as if he knew not our sinnes before hād but because confession is a counsel vnto satisfaction and maketh vs apt vnto reconciliation and reconciliation vnto mercy and mercy vnto euerlasting life Now the satisfaction which we looke for commeth from his fauour and grace by which only we must and may be restored vnto immortalitie and this grace is not geuen vnto any but vnto such as acknowledge themselues to be miserable sinners and not geuen by any but by him that is chiefe in power It must needs therefore be that the word which he hath bestowed vpon vs to glorifie him withall must be employed to the manifestation of our misery because the confession of our sinnes iustifieth the goodnes of God which we haue as much as in vs lieth vtterly peruerted We must therefore pray vnto him to forgiue vs as if we should say that he may and ought to punish vs and so thereby testifie his power and righteousnes For this cause it is why the Prophet Isaiah calleth vs when as he sayth Goe your wayes with those that are sanctified and present your Confession vnto God with the liuing O sayth Ecclesiastes it is a good thing when as he that is sound in a fault will manifest his repentance And truly it were a great glorie for vs if we would be once so couragious as openly to confesse our sinnes and shew that as we haue been the first that haue sinned so also we are the first that do repent Howbeit there remaineth in vs a foolish shame which abideth with vs as the skarre of sinne and causeth vs the slowlier and hardlier to do it This was the cause why the auntient Fathers in fitting themselues vnto this our infirmitie and vnto the weakenesse of such also which might be offended
of one of his legges he goeth not a step but he reioyceth that he was so gloriously marked Wherefore they are not our wounds that do so greeue and trouble vs but the occasions for the which we receiue them they bring vs either honor or dishonor neither is any thing esteemed for the thing it selfe but for the end why we do it If we endure all things for the honor of God and for the saluation which we shall obtaine through our patience then that which we call euill shall turne to our good and that which once seemed to vs to be bitter shall in the end be found very sweet The patience which this moderation of spirit shall bring vs will be a secret testimonie vnto vs that we are the faithfull seruants of our maister that we spare our selues no whit at all to obey him nor yet refuse any trauell or paine to put his commandements in execution There is nothing surely so honourable in this world euen in the iudgement of the very heathen as to vnderstand how to forgiue and pardon The lawes permit euery man to pursue the wrong done vnto him but to pardon and forgiue belongeth vnto a Prince alone And therefore if thou wilt be a king ouer thy selfe forgiue thy selfe freely for the glory of a Christian consisteth chiefly in this loue by which he bindeth his neighbour to loue him and to be voide of this worldly desire of reuenge which as a worme gnaweth the hart of those which are infected therewith tosseth turmoileth them all the day and keepeth them waking all the night And therefore the spirit will compose it selfe with this equalitie as that it will not suffer it selfe to be carryed away with hatred and euill will And from thence will ensue another excellent disposition of the soule which is modesty moderation which bringeth with it a certaine comlinesse vnto all the actions of the body and is a testimonie by them of gentlenesse goodwill vertue which can do more then all the rest to make vs sociable to get vs the friendship of those with whom either our nature good hap or choise coÌ„ioineth vs. This gratious maner is so agreeable vnto meÌ„ as nothing more for she wringeth out of theÌ„ that which force is no way able to do for she desireth no superiority ouer the rest but according to reason which is a kind of weapon that will cut deeper then either yron or steele But these proud frowning and scornefull people which looke at all the world ouer their shoulders which are therwith swolne so full as their skinnes can hold and looke at their tailes like vnto proud Peacocks do reason great wrong when as they so do clothing him with such talke as vtterly disgraceth him and maketh him odious And beleeue me it is a very hard thing for these men to come any thing neere this holy Philosophie or wisedome which dwelleth amongst the graces that garde and eâ—…iron her on euery side Tertullian who is desirous to haue vs learne how greatly mildnesse and simplicitie serue vs to prepare our selues to receiue the gifts and perfections of the holy Ghost saith precisely that he appeareth oftenest in the shape of a Doue to shew vnto vs that he dwelleth not but in such as are without gall as a Doue is but are very gratious and gentle Now because that for the most part it commeth by reason of our infirmitie as thinking to fly one sinne we fall into another we are to feare that because we are not well confirmed in vertue thinking 〈◊〉 hold vs in humilitie we fall to become very cowards when as in deed wâ— should rather fall to banding chaâ—ging And therefore it shall not be â—misse that we adde vnto that which we haue spoken of temperance and mildnesse certaine considerations to raise vs vp to be most couragious wheÌ„ as it shall stand vs in hand to be so Which wil principally serue vs to keep vs in a straite and an assured course against all whatsoeuer shall offer it self to amaze and turne vs from obeying the commandements of God For first we shall on the one side haue rash presumption to egge vs forward to desire more then that wherevnto God hath called vs and oppose our selues vnto his constant and firme purpose Our happie successes and prosperous encounters or accidents will so tickle vs as that they will make vs laugh our good hap will promise vs high and great things and yet for all this we will not once change our visage nor countenance We will scornefully behold and looke vpon and that with a leering eye the presents of fortune if I may so say like vnto the faire fresh coloured Apples which grew neere to the lake of Ghomorre but they were no sooner touched but that they fel forthwith into powder and ashes But if reason telleth vs that we must take them we will then vse them with great equalitie of minde and facilitie of maners and make none other estimation of them On the other side we shall haue afflictions dangers griefes and pouertie which in the iudgement of the common people wrappeth vp all manner of miseries And it is against these enemies chieflie that this vertue must boisterouslie stretch forth her armes It is through them that she must make way if she meane to come to the end of her purpose Howbeit if we our selues stand in no feare and flie not before such time as we see the enemie what mischiefe may they do vs Forsooth they will spoile vs of all our goods and so we shall go the lighter seeing then that the reward is reserued for him that commeth first and shall the longer while enioy the immortall goddes which soonest commeth thether shall we then feare to lose the baggage for the obtaining of such a glorious victorie And now behold the breach is made and our Captaine within that calleth vs and we our selues busie our selues to shoote at him that arresteth vs by the cloake and put our selues in hazard to remaine prisoners in the hands of the enemie that will cause vs loso both cloake and honour and the fruite also of all our trauell We are threatned with death and what other thing else is it that we seeke after We haue not clothed our selues with this transitorie and mortall life but onely to pay the tribute and discharge the tolle at the comming in of euerlasting life These are good newes seeing we are called vpon to pay for it is a token that we are come on shore But what is this death that thus terrifieth vs What is he so to be feared as that he will make vs turne our backs vpon him forsake the field of vertue â—…ly hid in the trenches or rather in the sand holes of sâ—…thfulnesse and cowardise If we thinke it an euill thing it is because we feele it to be so or else because others thinke so of it Haue we not heard the plaint of those who haue
couragiously died either for the honor of God or els for the seruice of their king or for the defence of their countrey Was there euer yet any nation so barbarous so voide of humanitie or as we commonly say so farre from the sunne as that commend not with great praise the valure and worthinesse of those that haue spent their liues for the common-wealths sake Hath not the memorie of posteritie taken them out of their graues to make them aliue againe in the remembrance of men And if we should come to number out the parts of the life of man shall we recken the time which they haue bestowed in eating drinking and sleeping or rather principally bring into a short accoumpt the dayes wherein they haue most valiantly fought for vertue And therefore that which we call life is but a death because it dyeth without leauing any memory therof for that which we call death iâ— in very deed life because it is that which maketh vs to be continue for euer Neither are we to regard how long we liue but how wel we liue neither commeth death too soone if he bring honor with him neither is it for the only opinion of another and for the honor which we shall get by well dying that ought to make vs contemne death but for the loue of that second life whereinto we must enter The Druydes had some forefeeling of the immortalitie of our soules which caused them to be more valiant then all the people of tho world for they made a skorne to saue their liues saying that they made no more accoumpt of them then of the head of a willow tree And the Philosophers who made a iest at them confessed yet that they held a blessed error Howbeit we say that their wisedome was blessed by tasting of this opinion whereby they found groping in the darke the very resting place of felicitie and had found out the counterpoyson which driueth away and slayeth feare the very poyson of our soules which drieth vp and feeblisheth our hearts and minds But we being brought vp and taught in a better Schoole then they were do not only know but constantly beleeue and not only beleeue but are glad also as a man would say of this second immortall life For we haue a spirit lodging in the inward part of our soule which sayeth and soundeth continually if so be we will heare it nothing else but this life to come And vnto this voyce it is that so many millions of Christians haue in the middest of their afflictions and torments followed the standard or ensigne of their Captaine spilling and sheading their bloud in all the corners of the earth as the true and pure seed os faith This is that Trompet which hath encouraged them to fight this combat from wheÌ„ce they haue returned very bloudy but yet haue bene triumphant and crowned victorers If ambitious honor driueth vs vnto most strange hazards of warre if this affection to be esteemed and honored of those before whome wee liue hastneth and kindleth the course of our actions what greater hope is there of these which haue obtayned this for they haue not onely bene honored whilst they liued but wee also reuerence theyr ashes after they are dead theyr bones are holie vnto vs the memorie of their liues is yeerely renued with deuout commemorations and prayers wee honor them in our verie thoughtes wee humble our cogitations before them as placed in a great degree of honor in the Church of God and as hauing found grace before the face of our Lorde and God And therefore wee must not bee voyde of courage for the effectuall bringing to passe of good and holie things seeing that the verie wicked them selues are the better part of theyr dayes so valiant in executing these wicked and most detestable things For with this patience and strength of courage must wee enter triumphing into the kingdome of glorie wee hauing bene told by Toby this goodly and holy Oracle That hee O Lord which serueth thee with all his heart if his life be put in hazard shall bee without doubt crowned And for this cause it is why the Scripture telleth vs that this good Father beeing brought into miserable captiuitie thraldome did neuer for all that forsake the voyce of the truth And to say truly we can no way iustly attribute vnto our selues the name of Christians if we reiect and forsake the Crosse which is left vnto vs in stead of all other maner of weapons and is the very sample paterne that Iesus Christ hath geuen vs to make vs vnderstand when we shall come vnto him and the watchword that witnesseth vnto vs that we are his For we haue no means that can make vs perceiue that we are instructed in his discipline but by this patience the very mother of all the other vertues And Theodoret also sayth That the Martyres run vnto â—orments as vnto the schoole exercise of vertue It now followeth that we see how we should behaue and carry our selues in the disposing of the benefits which it pleaseth God to bestow vpon vs. In very deede the rule which hereof is set before vs and the habit which we take vpon vs to vse them well is called Liberalitie Now the first precept which we are to learne is to acknowledge that all the benefits which we haue we hold of the goodnes grace of God the ordinary exercise whereof is to do good vnto all the world and to spread vpon vs his blessings albeit we no whit deserue them And the reason why he so bountifully destributeth them amongst vs is not to the end we should locke them vp and let the gold and siluer mould which are no way good nor profitable but when they are well vsed but to the end that as he hath created vs vnto his owne image so also we should imitate him in well doing vnto our neighbour according to our abilities And truly we haue farre greater occasion to do it then he For that which he geueth is his owne and he geueth it to such also as be no way able to do him good But we are another maÌ„s purse-bearers we geue the goods of our God we geue them to such as are not onely able to pay vs againe but also to lend vs as much when we stand in need And although they should be vnable to pay yet God by whose commaundement we geue them answereth vs the same for them and maketh it his owne debt and chargeth himselfe also not only to pay the principal but to geue vsury for it yea double treble and an hundreth fold And we are besides to consider that all these benefits should be dealt proportionnably for our necessties and that by the lawe of nature they belong not vnto vs no further then wee haue neede of them for the maintenance of our life The measure of our benefits are heate cold hunger and thirst and if the custome of the countrey wherein
of his way is glad when he seeth the dawning of the day peepe and yet cannot forget the great darkenesse out of which he is but newly gotten ne yet cast of the feare which he had of so tedious a night Euen so also haue I a continuuall horror of my sinnes past and yet a sure and ioyfull hope of enioying that euerlasting blessednesse which thou hast purchased for vs with the bloud of thy dearely beloued sonne Christ Iesus O Lorde what a loue is that when as a maister dooth not spare the life of his owne onely sonne to redeeme his slaue Wherefore O most louing Sauiour seeing that I being formed with thine owne hands bought with thy bloud and purified by thy mercie I do here offer my selfe an obedient sacrifice vnto thee my God and Sauiour and therefore reiect me not Lord in thy wrath reprooue me not Psalm 37. I Must O Lord returne vnto thee and beginne againe to call vpon thee and to beseech thee of thy mercy For it seemeth to me that thine anger is rekindled against me Alas my God wilt thou chastise me in thine anger and make me feele the violence of thy iust furie which my sinnes haue prouoked thee to do The flame being consumed by the fire falleth into ashes and I being deuoured with the heate of thine anger do so vanish away as that there remaineth not so much as the smoake 2 For I see my God that thou hast discharged the sharpest arrowes of thy vengeance against me thou hast touched me with thine hand and neuer takest away the same from me I feele the gnawing and terror of my conscience which astonish and bruse me eueÌ„ as it were thunder and lightning my miseries came vpon me one after another and one mischiefe presseth another warre is no sooner finished but that the plague assaulteth me and in the end death bereaueth me of the dearest pawnes I haue in this world Wherein then shall I take comfort my God shall it be in my selfe 3 Out alas my good God I haue neuer an whole member in me for my misery is entred euen into the marrow neither is there any part of me that reprocheth me not with my sinne and for the which I am not pained I languish in my griefe and there is none to comfort me mine eyes serue me for none other purpose but to looke vpon my miserie and my soule for nothing else but to acknowledge my cursednesse 4 I looke round about me and so farre as the eyes of my body and eyes of my soule can discerne what is past I see nothing either aboue me or below me or yet on any side of me but sinne which inuironeth me round about and mine iniquities which presse and ouerthrowe me They lyâ— heaped vpon my head as a very heauy burden and loe how ready they are to throttle and strangle me 5 How shall I be euer able to resist them What strength haue I to defend me from them seeing that my body is ready to fall in peeces The very filthinesse of them flowe on euery side me my vlcers and sores are no sooner closed vp but that they breake out againe and if my body be ill can my soule be well Must not she be altogether ashamed and tremble with horror and feare 6 After the same maner that a disease vndermineth my body maketh it stoope to death sorrow vndermineth my soule bereaueth her of her strength and as great cold congealeth in the bud the tender blossom withereth drieth it vp euen so dooth the finger of the Lord which hath touched my soule cause it to languish and to be out of heart 7 But alas my God what courage can I haue when as I see my selfe thus couered ouer with wounds and no part of my body free from paine and euer and besides this my miserie the rememberance of my dissolute pleasures is still before my face and reproch me with my sinne laugh at my vanitie Then say I thus vnto my selfe must I season my life with the honie of so many delights and afterward kneade them with the gall of so bitter anguishes Where now art thou ô thou deceitfull voluptuousnesse which drownest my soule in the sweet licour of thy pleasures Oh what drinke is that that thou leauest me 8 Haue not I ô Lord endured enough hath not mine humilitie sufficiently chastized mine arrogancie If I haue through fond presumption sinned alas I haue sithence that crepe vpon the earth I haue couered mine head with ashes and with mine arme haue I preuented my payne I haue cut through mine heart with crying out I haue drowned mine eyes in teares and yet thine anger continueth still 9 Is it of set purpose ô Lord that thou hast not perceiued my teares It is thou I say who with the twinkle of â—hine eye trauersest both heauen and earth euen thou I meane whose sight goeth beyond the depth of our harts It is thou ô Lord that hast read euen my very thoughts and knowne mine intent What haue I desired but thy mercie Wherin haue I trusted but in thy goodnes Why haue I made open profession of repentance but to condemne my selfe If my toong hath not throughly expressed my minde and caused my desier to be vnderstood alas ô Lord thou knowest what we would haue before we once thinke of it It is enough for vs to lift vp our harts vnto thee and thou forthwith grauntest our petitions 10 Why stayest thou ô Lord so long before thou geuest me that holie coÌ„solation which thou hast promised me I am quite spent my hart is gone my senses are trouble my streÌ„gth faileth my sight waxeth dim my soule is vpoÌ„ the shore of my lips ready to fly away 11 All my friends are now about me bewailing my death they are out of all hope of my health they dreame of nothing but of my funerall saying where is now that help which he looked for to come froÌ„ his God where is his fauour which he so promised to himselfe 12 The flatterers are gon away from me they thought to haue parted my goods they meant to haue preuented my fatall houre I am noisome to the whole world in the case that I now staÌ„d 13 They whisper in mine eare and tell me a thousand tales They dayly bring me in new acquaintances and thinke of nothing but to betray me He lieth say they on his death-bed and will neuer rise vp aliue againe What do we feare that the shadowe of his bones will bite vs 14 And I as if I had bin deafe made shew that I heard them not and as if I had bin dumb spake not one word vnto them for my patieÌ„ce was my buckler and my constancy my rampart 15 And euery man seing me so patieÌ„t said surely this man is dumb for when he is touched he saith not a word would he abide all these indignities if he had any feeling of his honor and credit or yet the least
heard where shall that people be so farre from the sunne so confined and limitted in darknesse as will not vnseele their eyes to behold the cleare burning brightnesse of saluation which will shine vpon them Yea heauen it selfe shall encrease his flames to giue light vnto this thine entrance into the world and the kings shall run from all places to do homage vnto the king of kings vnto the gouernor both of heauen and earth 17 For he hath set vp and aduanced his kingly throne vpon Sion in great costly array there shall he be seene wholy encompassed with glory darkning the Sunne and Moone with the brightnesse of his face 18 But why hast thou O Lord so highly exalted the throne of thy glory hast thou done it because thou wouldest not vouchsafe to heare the praiers of thy faithfull seruants And because thou wouldest make no reckoning of the whole world which in deed is nothing in respect of thy greatnesse Alas no my God Thou hast lifted vp the self vpon an eminent place that all the inhabitants of the earth might see acknowledge thee and so run vnto thy grace and mercy for thou shouldest be alwaies ready to come at the humble summons of thy seruants neuer disdaine their pittifull petitions And behold them also standing as miserable offenders condemned vnto bolts shackles looking for the comming of some king that should set them free at the entrance into his kingdome Euen so ô Lord deliuer thou them who haue giuen themselues vp into the bondage of sinne and with the onely twinke of thine eye the mainacles shall fall from their wristes 19 Then shall they be all heard to sing a glorious song vnto the victorious king their voices shall be heard throughout al the corners of the earth and the remembrance of thy singular bountie and infinite mercy shall be engraued within the memory of men and so passe from age to age euen vnto the last posteritie The earth shall then be consumed all the waters dryed vp the ayre vanished and the heauens haue an end which shall as yet sing the glory of the eternall God 20 The eternall God who hath vouchsafed merely and ioyfully to cast downe his eyes from the highest heauens into the very deepest place of the bowels of the earth for the acknowledging of the torments of the miserable detained captiues in hell heard their groanes is himselfe suddenly runne thither to vnbinde and set at libertie his poore captiue prisoners and all their posteritie where death with the weapons of sinne had ouercome them and confined them in his most darke prisons But the God of life hath ouercome death and hath freed and cleared them quite from thence 21 To the end O Lord that they might set foorth thy praise in Sion and preach thy louing kindnesse in Ierusalem And although euery one of them had an hundreth mouthes and their voices as lowd as thy thunder yet should they neuer be able to attaine and reach vnto the greatnesse of thy glory All the parts of the world conspire not nor ioyne not themselues together saue onely to represent in their motions a part of thine infinite power and goodnesse howbeit they neuer looke to come neere thereunto for they are more then bottomlesse depths which haue neither bottom nor yet brinke and therfore they must onely behold them a farre of 22 And therefore I most humbly beseech thee my God to be contented that thy people assemble and reunite themselues both in bodies and minds deuoutly to offer vp vnto thee that holy will which they haue to honour thee for the effect can in no wise otherwise be able to come neare that which thou deseruest Accept therefore O Lord the humble submission of the kings of the earth which come before thee to yeeld vnto thee their homage and seruice due vnto thee as vnto their soueraigne chiefe Lord. They shall cast their scepters vnto the earth and their crownes at their feete and present for a sacrifice vnto thy maiesty their humble praiers and innocent consciences And I will be the first my God which will cast downe my selfe before thee to worship and serue thee with all mine heart to thee alone will I consecrate my spirit Quicken it therefore O Lord that being purified by the holy zeale of thy loue it may receiue in it selfe as it were in a cleare looking Glasse the image of thine incomprehensible excellency perfection feele in it self the reflexion of thy sincere amitie aswel as thine infinite goodnesse accompanied with the number of thine elect to be an inheritor with them in euerlasting life 23 Now I haue already felt my good God that thou hast enlightened my soule with thy grace and haue presented the fauour which thou wouldest shew vnto all the children of the earth Heretofore hath my spirit a far of takeÌ„ a note how thou proceedest for the deliuerance of the world but it hath beene afraid to die before such time as thou wert come and that is because thou hast heard it call vpon thee saying Tell me O Lord how long the course of mine age shall bâ— and when thou wilt end my dayes 24 Go not about O Lord to cut of the thred of my life at the first or second winding vp of the spindle neither stay it ouer short in the middest of the course Attend my God vntill the time be come when thou must set open the treasure of thy graces to make an entrance for men vnto the largenesse of saluation or if thou hast at least appointed mine end and that my life cannot stretch so farre yet remember my posteritie and let him be borne of my race that must sanctifie the world by his comming 25 I right well know O Lord that at the first thou madest heauen and earth and whatsoeuer excellent thing we see here in this world to be the worke of thine owne hands 26 But all this shall come to an end euen as an old worne garment a man shall enquire what is become of it and there shal be no mention made thereof at all It was made and it shall be vnmade it had a beginning it must haue an end But thou alone O Lord which hast beene from all eternitie shalt be alwaies one and the same For age time which consume all things serue for none other purpose but to confirme thine euerlastingnesse and to set foorth thy Deitie men seeme to remaine heere vpon the earth for none other cause but to behold round about them thine incomprehensâ—ble greatnesse on the one side and their infirmitie on the other side 27 A man changeth not his shirt so often but the earth oftner changeth her inhabitants one putteth forth another and all is renued euen in a moment But thou my God art euen the same at this day that thou wast at the beginning Euery prouince of the earth hath a great catalogue of kings who haue there commaunded one successiuely after
the more my voice cryeth vnto thee the stronger it is my courage encreaseth more and my praier betteâ— pleaseth me And therefore do I begin againe daily to crie vpon thee Lord heare my praier giue eare vnto my complaint for in praying to thee my God consisteth all mine whole comfort It is my praier O Lord which coniureth thy louing kindnessâ— to purge my sinnes not by reason of the seueritie of the punishment but by the meanes of the effect of the grace which thou hast graunted vnto vs by which thou doest abolish by thy souereigne and absolute power the remembrance of our sinnes 2 And therefore enter not O Lord into iudgement with thy seruant ne yet leaue him vnto the rigour of thy lawes for no man liuing that shall appeare before thee at thy iudgement seate shall be iustified No man shall escape this fearefull condemnation the punishment whereof is not onely cruell but immortally rigorous also Alas O Lord who can be saued before thee It is thou that art offended it is thou that wilt â—ccuse vs It is thou that hast seene ouâ— iniquities and wilt attest them â—nd it is thou that shalt iudge vs. When the accuser shall be witnesse and the witnesse Iudge what shall become of the offendor What defence can he make to iustifie himselfe O Lord my God I will not â—…rrie vntill this blowe light vpon me I will defend me with â—…y fauour and grace to oppose it vnto thy Iustice And thy grace is obtained by the acknowleding and confessing of our sinnes and the humbling and submitting of our mindes Loe I here cast downe my selfe prostrate before thee and lay open my sinnes and therefore I beseech thee O Lord to haue mercy vpon me 3 My sinnes my God the capitall enemie vnto my soule haue so terrified me and cast me downe as that I now lie crawling vpon the ground daring not once to looke vp vnto heauen For so soone as I lift vp mine eyes I see the light which shineth vpon me discouer on the day a great many of sinnes which accuse my conscience And then I feele forthwith shame take holde on my guiltie face and to make me cast downe my countenance vnto the ground a countenance vnworthy to behold the heauens the maister wherof she hath so grieuously offended too too cowardly a face to cast the eyes thereof vpon such places which haue so many thunder-bolts prepared to roote out the guiltie 4 My spirit therefore hath led me into darke places and buried me as a dead man in the cranuies of obscuritie My soule is made very sad in me and mine hart stirreth it selfe like vnto one walking with his nose lifted vp into the weather who through his retchlesnesse falleth into the boâ—rome of a well hauing forthwith thereby beene amazed is incontinent void of iudgement falleth out with himselfe and tormenteth himselfe vntill such time as being come againe to his wits he knoweth both the place wherein he is and vnderstandeth the maner how he fell in and then beginneth by little and little to get vp againe vnto the top thereof and yet is scarslie able to note and marke the place whence he so easily fell 5 And so hauing called to minde as farre as I possibly could the memorie of things past hauing set before me in a deepe meditation the workes of thine hands and hauing exactly considered the perfection thereof yea and remembring the estate wherein thou hast created vs and besides setting before me him by whome I feele my selfe now as it were oppressed vnder the destruction of sinne I cursed in my self the houre wherein my mother conceiued me I abhorred the day which first opened vnto me mine eye lids whereby I might see heauen and earth witnesses of mine infirmitie and in the end finding nothing in the world that in this distresse might comfort and helpe me I at last addressed my selfe vnto thy most excellent maiestie 6 I fell on both my knees before thee I stretched out mine armes and hands vnto thee and my soule thirsting for thy grace waited with a great desire for the same as the chapping ground through heat looketh for a gratious and sweet showre in the hoatest daies of sommer 7 Make hast therefore vnto me O my God for I am already out of breath for loe mine heart fainteth and I am at the point to swound wilt thou stay vntill I be dead I am already so if thou make noâ— hast for my sences do by little and â—…tle faile me my soule glideth gentlie out of me leauing my body without moouing and I am like vnto him who letting his foote bleede in the water looseth his life with his bloud without feeling the occasion or cause of his death 8 If thou O Lord holdest thy selfe aloofe from me and turnest thy face â—…ay I shall become like vnto those that go downe vnto the bottom of hell â—…le death will make my face looke wanâ—… and my feeling to sleepe â—ay a worse thing then this will betide me my God for spirituall death will kill my soule make it horribly a feard and take from her the acknowledgement of thy singular goodnesse and the hope of grace which shineth in thy miracles as a bright shining starre in a darke night 9 Make me therefore O lord in thy good time to vnderstand and feele the effect of thy mercy and when the sunne riseth in the morning vpon the face of the earth let then thy louing kindnesse rise vpon me for the enlightening of mine ignorance and leade me in the way of thy wyll But let it not deale with me O Lord as the sunne dooth who at his fall plungeth him selfe into the sea keeping away his light for a time from poore wretched and distressed men But let thy fauour and grace continually assist and defend mee and neuer depart more from me then my soule doth from my body for thy mercy is farre away more 〈…〉 of my soule theâ— my soule is 〈◊〉 lâ—fe of my bodie 10 And therefore let 〈…〉 neuer forsake me but let 〈◊〉 â—ight direct my footsteps alwayes in thy wayes and leade me continually in the way which must bring me vnto thee For my spirit which hath run it self through the strange â—…ches of this world and strayed into the broad and thicke bushes thereof can neuer find out her tract againe but rusheth out at all aduentures and loseth both her path and also her payne going alwayes back from the abiding place whither she was deteâ—…ned to goe But I my God do alwayes attend thine ayd for it is from aboue that I looke for help 11 I am a captiue in the hands of the most cruell enemies of my life and therefore I most humbly beseech thee ô Lord to make haste to deliuer me I flye vnto thee for refuge receiue mee into thy protection Teach mee what thou wouldest haue me to do for thou art my God whome alone I am resolued now to serue And now away away from me
an innocent life 6 Trust therfore in God ô my soule reioyce in his fauour for I right well knowe that he is well pleased with his prayses by my lips All my life long â—ill I prayse him and declare and confesse him to be the God of truth the God of iustice God the tutor of the innocent God the father of saluation and God mine only defence I will haue mine eye alwayes fixed on him and my face continually turned towards him for I haue found no saluation but in him O my God who from the beginning of the world reachest out thine armes vnto the afflicted which hast alwayes receyued into thy protection the oppressed and comfortest the iust vniustly tormented graunt me O Lord both comfort and courage to the end that I taking my spirits vnto me againe which were halfe in a dead sleepe through affliction may glorifie thee with all my force and strangle by the strength of my voyce the blasphemies of the wicked which goe about to defame thine honor and not being able to reach thee rush and runne vppon the good and godly men that faithfully serue thee All people harken and geue c. Psalme 46. 1 COme vnto mee all yee strange nations drawe neere yee people that are farthest off come yee from all coasts to heare that which ye shall neuer heare else-where Passe ye the seas mountaines and let not any hardnesse of the way stop ye for the prize of your nauigation shall be greater then he that sayleth from the East to the West laden with pearles and diamonds And the reward of 〈◊〉 sweâ—…ings shall be more pretious then the Trophees of those that conquer the nations of the earth Shore vp your eares therefore harken attentiuely vnto that which I shall now say vnto you O I would 〈◊〉 God that ye were all 〈…〉 all the rest of your 〈…〉 might strengthen your heâ—… 〈…〉 conceiue that which I will delâ—… 〈…〉 to you 2 Come come all ye that 〈…〉 selues the children of the earth which thinke to attribute your originall being vnto nothing but vnto the earth and your being borne vnto none but vnto your fathers and suppose nothing to be more auncient here in this world then they and nothing greater then your selues In very deed yee are the right children of the earth for ye are as insensible as it is and of no more vnderstanding then images made of clay and annealed in the fornace Come and open your eares that I may open the spirit close vp the eyes of your bodies that I may make your soules so clearely forsake this stepmother of earth that I may make you know your heauenly father Come ye therefore together both poore rich for ye are vnworthy of the goods that I meane largely to bestow vpon you 3 Come for I go about to discouer lay wide opeÌ„ vnto you the treasures of eternal wisdom And in opening my mouth being inspired with the grace of Almighty God I meane to vnfold vnto you in my words his wonderfull wisedome I haue long held my soule in a deep thought and after I had a great while dreamed I conceiued in the end of a strange discourse of Gods wisedome by which I vnderstood his goodnesse and mercie in all things and the folly misery infirmitie of mankinde 4 Whereupon I being as it were beside my selfe about the wondring at his greatnes the feeling of our own infirmitie I was forthwith desirous to geue eare vnto that which my spirit taught me and began carefully to consider of those things which it couertly shewed me vnder a disguised maner the knowledge the truth And after I had carefully vnderstood examined the same I tooke my harp in my hand according my voyce vnto the sweet tune of my harp I was ready to put abroad my conceits and to make my meditations to be heard vnto all those that would heare them that they might be acceptable vnto God the author of so holie thoughts and wholesome instruction vnto the fauourable hearer of my discourses 5 If thou wilt then know what I sayd within my selfe this I sayd what shall I feare in the hardest time of my life Why should I feare when death shall come to lay hold on me and to cause me to get me out of this world Alas death is a strange busibody I know not who should not feare him seeing no man can keepe him selfe from him How shall I be able to defend my selfe from his arrowes What armour shall I put on against his pick-axe which ouerthroweth and razeth Castels Cities Kingdomes and Empires yea which threatneth to bring the world to an end and who at last shall make an end of him-selfe I shall need no kinde of weapons but innocencie that is able to be a steely an assured buckler for me for if I take not good heed vnto it that traytor sinne whome death hath appoynted will neuer be from my heeles will lodge in my concupisceÌ„ce and deliuer me presently at an assault into the hands of damnation 6 O deare and wholesome innocencie in thee alone resteth all our assurance vnder thy faith we constantly abide whatsoeuer shall come vppon vs and we beleeue that thou art strong inough to defende vs from death O foolish and mad men who leauing this faithfull protection assure them-selues in their greatnesse and mightinesse make an accompt of their ritches and magnificences They accompt the Nations which are vnder their gouernments and recken vp the treasure which they keepe vnder lock 〈◊〉 key and to what purpose serueth and this against death 7 If one brother can not redeeme the life of another for money nay and if one would dye for another yet inexorable death will not receyue him what then shall man geue vnto death for his owne ransome Shall he geue the goods that are none of his or his dominions which he loseth as soone as he is dead No no there is nothing which hee hath left vnto him-selfe wherewith God is appaised and pacified when his iudgement is once pronounced against mortall men He will not compound with him for any thing whatsoeuer This is his creature this is the slime of the earth out of which hee will take when it pleaseth him the spirit of life which he breathed into him and therefore man can no way gaynsay not yet reply against him 8 Let vs I beseech thee a little value the soule of man and let vs see what he will offer vnto God for his ransoming of him let him trauell a little all his life long let him go and trauell awhile all the dayes of his life let him goe and ferrit out all thâ—…â—…ners of the earth let him go and 〈…〉 out the bowels of the mines let him draw dry the golden dugs of both the Indies let him dispeople the Easterne parts of the world of all her pearles and when he hath heaped vp all this geare let him then come
affection because I would loue none but thee I haue circumcised mine hart of all his wicked desires and fettered my will with the shackles of thy loue because it should serue nothing else but thy glory and in eschuing both sinnes and sinners I haue kept companie with the innocents and washed mine hands amongst them and not the hands of my body only my God but the hands of my soule that are mine affections which I haue washed and purified with the brookes of my teares 14 I haue embraced repentance scourged my selfe all day long beating mine hart with cōtinuall sorrows pricking it with sharp and piercing contritions and driue from it with many sorrowfull sobs all that ill and cursed humor which hath engalled my will Euery morning when I rose I cryed thee mercy for my sinnes and detested mine iniquitie and thinking to amend my life I continually watched ouer this purpose and thereupon I began my dayes worke 15 I sayd within my selfe whē I was alone loe as for my selfe all that I am able to say is this that in the end they which feare God and serue him are afflicted and they that blaspheme his name liue at all ease pleasure And therupon I began ô Lord to detest the condition of all those who glorifyed them selues in being thy children and chosen people and began to say Are these they that are called the children of the Almightie God verely these are the children of reprobation for loe the other sort possesse the inheritance of their Fathers and these men liue in extreame pouertie But the others are they that abound in all wealth and vnto whome God is so fauourable and indulgent which are his children it is they vnto whome this name belongeth seeing they enioy his benefits and are masters next vnto him selfe of his works 16 As I my selfe ô Lord verely thought that I knew it to be so and to say truly I was told that it was so indeed I could not hold me from vexing tormenting my selfe saying A◠my God how doth this fall out Is it possible that it should be thus considering how thou hast threatned the wicked and how thou hast also prepared punishment for them To be short I became strangely and wonderfully perplexed when I considered of this geare 17 But I at last perceyued thy mind and purpose and hauing entred into the depth of thy sanctuary me thought I was come into thy holie consistorie and vnderstood thy councell therein For after I had resolued with my selfe to see the end whereunto thou haddest prepared those peoples I forthwith saw that thy iustice is most true and that although it sometimes maketh slow haste yet it payeth home at the last with seueare punishment and therefore I verie stedfastly waited and looked what should become of them 18 And truly in the end thou payedst them thorough stitch and rewardedst them according to their craftie and wicked dealing For when they thought them selues at the highest degree of honor behold thou ouerthrewest them and castedst them down headlong in a bottomlesse depth of miserie For all their pomps magnificences and ritches were nothing vnto them in the end but an high and eminent scaffold to bring them vp vnto that steepe and high breake-necke from whence they were most shamefully rolled downe ouer and ouer 19 O most true God what a desolation discomfort is this There is nothing but weeping about them for all they of their guards and all their pentioners do nothing else but beate their brests holding down their heads as the Lilly holdeth downe his when it is sore rayne-beaten and hauing compassion of those whome they were wont to enuy They most lamentably looke vpon the ruine of their idoll and consider with them selues how foolish they were to make a mortall and miserable man their God who was no better then wind or smoke For if a man considereth and marketh their end he shall see them dispatcht and gone in a moment neyther is there any thing that commeth more speedily to an end then the way of their greatnesse bringeth them thereunto and they haue bene so suddainely changed as that there could be nothing possibly to be seene of them Behold and looke on them for once they were and now they are not hardly can a man see their footsteps and marke whither their sinnes haue brought them it was a great while before the snare or grin could be made fit for them but loe in the end they lighted into it For during the time that the foundation of the house was in vndermining they climbed the higher that their fall might be the greater They continually clambered vp higher and higher and thought that whatsoeuer was below them was theirs only but in the end they clambered vp so high as that they lost them selues in the ayre before they could get againe to the earth so as they were caried away with the wind 20 And loe they became as dreames when men awake for as a man sayth when he awaketh I dreamed well to thinke of such a thing euen so shall it fare with you for when such men as ye are shall vanish away and come to naught the people will then say surely the greatnes of these men was but as a dreame and a very meere vaine and inconstant folly For thou wilt make them of so little worth as that they shall be neuer once thought of but as in a mockerie and in discommending and condemning their pride and insolencie will say See how their houses are ruined behold the place where these outragious Sirs dwelt who cared neither for God nor men which delighted in nothing but in filthinesse wickednes who haue built so many and so many houses with the boanes of the poore and cimented their palaces with the bloud of the needy and loe there remaineth nothing of all that they had but the markes and notes of their ignominie for the tempest hath passed ouer them and there is not so much as any one tittle or iote remayning of them Thus we see ô Lord that we must not rashly iudge of thy prouidence and therefore who so euer will iudge therof must patiently wait vnto the end and suffer himself to be led by thy spirit must call vpō thee also for the comforting addressing of him for notwithstanding that I fret fume chafe sigh grone and haue set euery part of my body in a sweat with sore labor and brought my selfe as it were euen to deaths dore yet am I neuer a-whit the better for it and after I had tormented my selfe I found my selfe as resolute as I was before 22 I was so vexed and grieued I say as that I knew not whether I was a man or a beast nay I was in very deed like a beast and could no more comprehend the same then if I had vtterly lost mine vnderstanding Howbeit I still stand to that hope which I haue in thee and the more I see my sense
side where the law iudgeth rightly Neither doth auarice make his hand shake nor fauour to hold vp his hand to take but keepeth him selfe alwayes equall and vpright and faithfull and iust vnto all others geuing by his wisedome authoritie vnto his iudgements 7 He that shall thus liue shall without doubt ascend vnto the height of this happy hill The Angels shall carry him vp in their armes guide his feet for feare of stumbling and in the end place him before the face of the eternall truth where he shall for euer enioy the pleasant abiding place of this most excellent hill lifted vp aboue the heauens to be the habitation of glorified innocencie and be reunited vnto the principall of his being which is that euerlasting Deitie and diuine eternitie All things here below altâ—… and change haue an end and are consâ—med but he whose vertue shall haue lifted him vp vnto this heauenly blessednes shall continue in most glorious estate and vanquish all times and ages Strengthen therefore ô Lord our courages and comfort vs in these worldly afflictions And seeing it is thy good will and pleasure that good men shall goe this way through the insolencies and iniuries of the wicked susteine thou their hope which is shaken by their afflictions and by the prosperitie of the wicked and graunt them constancie to continue vnto the end that they may see the repayment both of the good and of the bad A MEDITATION OF THE Lords Prayer ANCHORA SPEI 1594. A MEDITATION of the Lords Prayer I Come vnto thee my God as vnto the common Father of the whole world I come vnto thee I say who in the creation and conseruation of all thy works hast witnessed thy selfe to be a most affectioned louing Father To thee I come as to my right Father who hast not contented thy selfe with the geuing me of my being life and feeling as thou hast done vnto the rest of thy liuing creatures but hast sent downe on me thine holy spirit filled my soule with an heauenly light and beaâ—e of thy Diuinitie I come vnto thee my God regenerated reincorporated into thy familie by a new grace I come by reason I have appeased the wrath of my Father through the satisfaction of my Redeemer I come because thou thy selfe-hast called me vnto thee and holdest forth thine armes Receyue me therefore my God not after the austeritie of a iust Iudge but according to the compassion of a pitifull father and accept this mine earnest prayer which being conceyued in the bottome of mine hart hath disclosed it selfe by my lips â—nd flyeth with my voyce vnto the fauourable eare of mine heauenly Father seeing it hath pleased thee ô Lord to suffer me so to call thee Cause it ô Lord my God to pierce the heauens where thou thy selfe art I know right well that thy Throne is aboue and that thou keepest vnder thy feet both the Sunne and the Starres and the earth to be but a very tittle and my selfe being the least part thereof am a great deale lesse then nothing Who then shall dare to make me so saucy â—s to lift vp mine eyes vnto thee It is euen thou my God who fittest on hye to behold at once all the works of thine hands the better to vnderstand our wants and dayly to poure vpon vs thy grace as a most sweet showre Euen thou who hast thy selfe sayd Aske and yee shall be heard But thou wilt be prayed vnto with a constant faith cause it therefore to be borne and growe in my soule for it is a gift that cannot come but from the Treasure of thy grace and as at other times thou hast addressed the lips of infants to glorilye thee gouerne now the infancie and infirmitie of mine hart that it may deliuer vnto my mouth such a prayer as may very well like and please thee And because thou mayest know my God that my prayer is sooner conceyued in my soule then in my lips and that although the binden of my â—…esh greeueth and vexeth my spirit yet breatheth it out as much as it can thine honor and prayse And the first petition that I make vnto thee is this Hallowed be thy name or rather let thy name hallow and sanctifie me that I may be after able to blesse glorifie thee But which of thy names shall I blesse that wherwith thou hast confouded cast down the enemies of thy people or else that wherewith thou hast blessed all the nations of the earth Wilt thou be praysed as the God of hosts ô Lord God of all battailes or as the Sauiour and Redeemer of the world Shall I tell abroad how thou hast made all things of nothing how thou hast sowen the heauens with starres couered the earth with flowres fruites riuers and with all liuing creatures and Man like vnto thy selfe Or shall I speake but of that incredible loue by which thou hast deliuered thine owne only Sonne vnto death to purchase for vs life euerlasting I have not breath inough ô Lord for such an enterprise but let it content thee that I sanctifie thy name with an humble and chast thought and that my meditation be alwayes fixed vppon all the benefits wherwith it pleaseth thee continually to fauour me so as both my selfe and as many as thou hast placed here in this world as in the middest of a ritch Temple for the beholding and admiring on euery side the excellency of thy Deitie we neuer turne our vnderstandings vnto any other thing but to the comprehending and learning of thy will to the end that we being reunited in one and the selfe same desire to serue thee Thy kingdome may come and that after we shall haue cast off the yoke of sinne which so long time hath thralled and captiued vs thy loue alone may reigne in our consciences A most blessed and prosperous reigne for to obey thee is to commaund our vnruly appetites and to command them is for a man to be master of his owne selfe and for a man to be master of him selfe is the most souereigne principalitie It is an easy matter my God to obey thee thy yoke is gratious and the tribute which thou exactest on vs is nothing else but to haue vs to be blessed Confirme vs therefore ô Lord in this thy will and assist the zeale of thy good seruants repressing the insolencie of all such as blaspheme against thy Maiestie because that thy lawe and thy truth do reigne throughout the world O King of kings which hast the dominion of our hearts who by our humilitie and obedience hast established thine Empire bend our wills vnder thy law to the end that we looking all to one end aspire not but to the aduancing of thy glory and that our good actions may testifie the good discipline of the King of heauen vnto whome we do homage and who alloweth vs for his subiects of whome we hold so many benefits and graces as that we can not possibly
come any thing neere the number of them Now what obedience is it that we should yeeld vnto thee how should we ghesse to do that which might please thee who is able to sound the bottome of thy thoughts and who shall be able to vnderstand that which thou wouldest haue I therefore beseech thee only that thy will be done For lâ—…h thou art altogether good thou willest nothing but good things and for thee both to do and to will is all one and in making this prayer vnto thee we wholy submit our selues vnto thee who neuer faylest to will vs well and to performe the fame also For whatsoeuer ô Lord thou hast willed waâ— done and from this thy will as from a liuely and pleasant spring head are deriued all the benefits wherewith the whole face of the earth is couered and wherewith all the heauens are beautified Continue thou the same towards vs and seeing thy loue is as a fire that encreaseth according as it findeth matter to burne let it encrease and enlarge it selfe in doing good vnto vs vnto vs I say poore miserable wretches in whose weakenesse miserie and infirmitie it shall finde it selfe matter enough to exercise and worke vpon When I pray thee ô Lord That thy will be done my meaning is to beseech thee that thou wouldest eftsoones root out of mine heart all these worldly desires and willes which being borne in the corruption of the flesh can not haue any fellow-feeling and agreement with the law of the spirit neyther geue thou me the bridle to liue as I lust and seeing that I am thy child and honorest me with this title let me neuer be bondslaue vnto my affectioÌ„s but keepe me vnder the rod of thy law vnder the tutorship of thy 〈…〉 demeÌ„ts to the end that my 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 many as haue swoâ—…se to 〈…〉 â—…ing framed to serue and 〈◊〉 thee worthely may also be reâ—dy â—…erfull in the ministerie of thy â—eâ—…ce so long as we shall abide here below in this mortall world as thine Angels and other most blessed soules are in that heauenly habitation and so Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen And seeing it is thy will that our frayle and mortall bodies do dayly decay and had need to be repared and strengthned by some new nourishment that wee might haue continually recourse vnto thee Geue vs my God our dayly bread and geue vs therewith the grace so to vse it and all other thy benefits which thou hast bestowed vpon vs that we in some measure nourishing and maintaining our bodies grieue not nor vexe not our soules making them thereby lesse able to come vnto the knowledge of thy truth And in vsing thy liberall dealing with thanksgeuing we tye not for all that our affections vnto earthly and worldly things but make vs so to passe through these temporall benefits as we lose not for the getting of them the eternall blessings Let not the taste of earthly bread wherewith we feed our bodies make vs forget our heauenly bread that bread of life that eternall bread which nourisheth strengthneth our soules keepeth them from death filleth our mouthes with the Deitie and maketh vs the temples of our God to receiue him into our bodies and to be made members of his members Graunt vs my God that by this bread or rather by this flesh we may be incorporated into our Redeemer and as he in taking and putting on of our flesh was partaker of our death euen so we taking and putting on of his flesh may be partakers of his immortalitie And seeing we haue my God bene made vessels and receptacles of his Deitie wash vs and make vs cleane to the end that he comming to dwell in vs thou mayest finde nothing there to geue thee occasion to depart from vs and to make vs voyd of thy grace and of our saluation Now it is impossible for vs to be made cleane without thou forgeue vs our sinnes and remit our debts For we haue bene bondslaues both vnto sinne and vnto death and whatsoeuer we clayme to be ours it belongeth vnto him neither haue we any thing either to pay our raunsome or yet to discharge our debt and therfore ô Lord it is thou that must do it Thou hast once for all redeemed vs and set vs at libertie but yet notwithstanding we dayly fall into the hands of the enemy we daily commit a thousand sinnes which make vs bond vnto sinne cease not for all this my God to opeÌ„ vnto vs this treasure froÌ„ which we may take the price of our libertie Be thou ô Lord more strong stout in pardoning of vs then we are in offending of thee Let thy merciful hand stretch it selfe out continually vnto vs for sin cleaueth fast vnto the marrow of our bones and groweth and waxeth old in vs which maketh vs wheÌ„ we are old to be after a sort more filthy infectious were it not that thou continually applyest vnto our miserie the merit and worthinesse of thy holy passion to the end that we in some measure launching wounding our consciences thou mayest strengthen and heale our wounds and rub out with the oyle of thy mercy the skarres that may of them remayne Otherwise ô Lord I should be afeard that thou in casting thine eyes ordinarily vpon vs wouldest in the end be so angry and grieued as that thou wouldest come very fast vpon vs to be reuenged of the wickednes which we our selues haue coÌ„mitted Forgeue vs therfore our offences that is to say our sins which we coÌ„mit all the time of our life And forgeue vs ô heauenly Father as we from our very harts forgeue theÌ„ that trespasse against vs. Cause vs coÌ„tinually to set before vs this loue by which thou hast not only takeÌ„ vpoÌ„ thee to pay our debts but the punishment for our sins that we may iudge what an vnreasonable thing it should be for vs to looke to haue any fauour at thy hands who wil not agree with our neighbors considering there is no comparison betweene the offences which we commit against thee and the offences wherwith they offend vs. Pluck cleane out of our harts all pride malice for their sakes for whose ayd and succour thou causedst vs to be borne Geue vs gentle and meeke spirits which may keepe vs in vnitie and brotherly loue by patiently meekly bearing the infirmities one of another For we right well know my God how easily we slip yea how easily we stumble and fall in the way of thiâ— slippery and irkesome life We haue too too little force and strength continually to keepe our feet and to resist the winds which driue vs forward into the steepe breake-necks of all wickednes and iniquitie And therfore we pray most earnestly vnto thee Not to leade vs into tentation and to keepe farre froÌ„ vs all occasions which may any way cause vs to offend thee and to arme vs with thy holy spirit against all those
honor her began forthwith to disdaine and looke sourely vpoÌ„ her For her shame lay opeÌ„ vnto the eyes of al the world was set before euery man as a laughing stocke some asking her what was become of all her wealth some what was become of all her honor and there was neuer an honest womaÌ„s child which had not a gird at her In so much that she could do nothing else but weepe and being all ashamed and comfortlesse she was driuen to goe hide her selfe Thet. And wheÌ„ she saw her self alone and in what estate she stood she found her self from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot to be most filthie and her garmeÌ„ts to be most beastly berayed with bloud and mire And as the Peacock when he hath spread abroad his tayle in looking at his feet letteth it fall downe agayne abating thereby his pride euen so hath she plucked downe 〈◊〉 heart sorrowed within her selfe and cared no whit for death by reason that all things misliked her but chiefly and aboue all her poore and miserable life She was giuen to be altogether sad without hauing any bodie to comfort her For her friends had forsaken her or if they were neere about her it was to none other end but to afflict her Wherefore when as she found no help here vpon earth she lamentably lifted vp her head vnto heauen with deep sighes froÌ„ the bottome of her hart addressed herselfe vnto God and sayd O Lord hast thou not compassion vppon me in this my great affliction Seest thou not mine extreame miserie Surely there is none can saue me so well as thy selfe Come therefore if thou be the God of mercy and forsake not thine humble and old seruant for mine enemy setteth his foote vpon my throate and causeth me most shamefully to belch Come therefore ô Lord for my continuall iniury is thy shame and the outrage that is done vnto a seruant redoundeth to the mayster And therefore come ô Lord for mine enemy â—…geth me beyond all measure and without all pitie Iod. He hath layd his bloudy hand vpon that which I accompted most deere and spared no whit of that which I made reckning off to be most holy Thou hast seene him enter into thy Sanctuary and into that place which ought to haue receyued none but sanctified persons no none but pure and cleane soules and such as are worthie to be partakers of the beholding of thy diuine maiestie hath seene receyued and touched euen pollution and impietie it selfe and seene his sacrilegious hands steale away the ornaments of thy Temple destroyed the habitation of thy deitie and the abiding place of thy grace as if thy lawes and prohibitions forbidding them not to abide and carry in that place no nor once to enter thereinto had bene but as it were a very song Where wert thou then ô Lord and although thou carest not for the iniuries which we haue receyued why art thou not yet reuenged of the wrongs done vnto thy selfe Caph. Thou hast bene ô Lord very angry against poore Ierusalem and hast sayd that thou haddest no will to come to help it by reason of the great and manifold offences thereof It is now time ô Lord or else neuer for all her miserable inhabitants goe shamefully a begging for their liuing and haue geuen whatsoeuer good thing they haue for a mouth full of bread and bought full dearely the water which they haue dronke Forsake not ô Lord this our earnest prayer and turne a-little thine eyes of mercy vpon vs for if our pride hath heretofore estranged vs fom thee our humilitie shall now reconcile vs vnto thee There can be now nothing ô Lord to be seene so humble vile and abiect as we are nor there is nothing that hath more need of thee then we haue neyther can there be any thing found to be more pitifull then thy selfe Lamed Tell me I beseech ye you that passe by and see my ruines and do consider the remayne of my greatnesse and then tell me if there be any thing in the whole world so miserable as it is and that euer sithence you haue had eyes that euer you sawe any dolor like vnto mine Tell me I pray you if euer ye were able to keepe your eyes from shedding of teares whensoeuer ye beheld my desolation I speake vnto you I say which haue heretofore seene this Citie so wonderfully furnished with welth ritches her greatnes magnificeÌ„ce do now behold her moÌ„strous spoile do ye not thinke that you see a vineyard laid wide open whereinto all sorts of beasts are entred who haue not only spoiled the vintage of the grape but haue also broken downe the hedges pluckt in sunder the very armes of the vines And this ye see is the pleasure of God he is iustly angry with me hath determined to visit me in his fury Mem. His vengeance is come downe from heauen like lightning it is come to thunder and lighten vpon me and is entred into the very marrow of my bones nothing can be seene to be done more suddainely more earnestly or more powerfully For in a moment it is come ouerthrowne all in a moment and all in a minute shaken into fitters pieces For my Temples and my Castles which reached vnto the clowdes lye now euen with the grouÌ„d Our Cities are like vnto plaine heathes wheron you may driue Carts God hath made me right well know to my cost his power and might He hath made me heare an horrible lesson We thought by our wisedomes to haue bene able to withstand the blow of his iustice howbeit there is neither wisedome nor councell against God We haue bene entrapped on euery side For wheÌ„ we thought to come out and to be in safetie we were fast intangled in his nets and the more haste we made to get out the faster were we masshed in the end were cast downe headlong into that punishment which he had prepared for vs like vnto the mariner who thinking to escape a shelf or flat falleth into a gulfe which swalloweth him vp For our misery is in deed a very gulfe where our fight is taken away and we brought back into an inaccessible wildernes where there is none to comfort vs in so much as that our eyes neuer geuing ouer weeping are able inough to drowne vs in our owne teares Nun. I neuer ô Lord looked to escape it for thou hast too too long had an eye vnto my sinnes and hast determined of the punishment which I should suffer it is ouer long ago since thou didst couple my sinnes together and holdest them fast linked within the hand of thy iustice In the end I found my selfe all at once oppressed and felt my sinnes as an hard and insupportable yoke tye me fast to be tormented I yelded my neck vnto the punishment as an oxe vnto the yoke vnder the hand of an vnmercifull master My misery gaue me no rest nor intermission so long
bitter which way so euer I turne me I see nothing but horror and trembling for without the sword cutteth downe whatsoeuer staÌ„deth before it the iron pardoneth nothing My land is not knowne it is so thicke sowne with dead bodies and within the estate and condition is not much more pleasant for I see there my children afflicted with famine and dye most pitifully I behold them lying gastly and thinly with goggle eyes and wide open gaping mouthes breathing out the last gasps of death Sin O what a fatall horrible spectacle is this and yet men haue no compassion on them They haue seene me in this estate and yet could there not be found one that had a fellow feeling of my misery or that euer gaue me any comfortable word to mitigate my griefe And as for mine enemies the extremitie of my miserie made theÌ„ no more to melt then if they had had stony hearts in their bodies and frosen bloud in their vaines For all their talke was Marke how God hath chastized and drest her and beaten downe her pride But thou knowest not ô thou tygerlike inhumane race how God keepeth thee Thou thy selfe reioycâ—st at my miserie and I wil comfort my selfe by thine For thou wilt shew vnto them ô Lord God that thou art iust all the world ouer and that with thee there is no acceptation of persons that euery man hath his turne through thine hands and that the longer thou deferrest thy vengeance the more grieuous and terrible it is when it commeth recompencing the forbearing thereof with rigour and seueritie Tau Enter therefore ô Lord into iudgemeÌ„t with mine enemies lay open a little their doings shew vnto them their liues and after that thou hast caused them to know that their consciences are full of blasphemie pollution and hast taken from them the curtain of hipocrisie which so mightely ouershadowed theyr robberies and thefts be reuenged a little of theyr turnes lay them vpon the rack that they may be hard a little to cry vnder the presse of tribulations to the end they may vnderstand that seeing that I haue suffered for my sinnes that the rigour of my punishment is but as it were a summons and denunciation of theirs and that my teares and grones haue put out thy heauie wrath which I kindled and lighted against my selfe and that they haue lighted againe the same against those which reioyced and laughed at my misery CHAPTER II. Aleph MArke and behold here a strange and lameÌ„table alteration of things For Syon the dearely beloued daughter of God who held vp her head aboue all the Câ—…es of the world as a Cypres tree doth aboue all the bushes in the wood who caried in her forehead an honorable and magnificall maiestie and shining most gloriously is now brought downe to the ground and so disfigured obscuâ—ed besmeared and blemished as that no man will euer know her and this ô Lord is come to passe by reason of thine irefull blowes which thou hast layd vpoÌ„ her who as thou hast with an infinit power created all things in perfection destroyest also with a most infinit power all things in the heat of thy iust anger Thou hast lifted vp euen vnto heauen thy dearely beloued Syon and afterward threwest her downe roundly from heauen to earth because she contemned thy amitie and friendship Her mightinesse serued her for none other purpose but to make her fall the greater and the noyse thereof the more terrible For as thou art extreame in louing so also art thou as extreame in punishing and wheÌ„ through long impenitencie the people enforce thee to put to thy reueÌ„ging hand then is thine anger like thunder and lightning which spareth nothing that it meeteth withall Now it is a strange thing to see how God hath dealt with Syon in his fury to see how he hath bene auenged of his very Temple to see how he hath destroyed shaken to fitters the place of the world which best liked him wherupon a maÌ„ might say he rested his feet making his deitie to be seene and knowne in that place as much as possible might Beth. And what hath he pardoned Hath any thing escaped his hands vntouched Looke vpon all the houses of Iaâ—ob and vpon what so euer exquisite thing that is in Iudah and tell me if there be any whit of any of all these things standing Tell me I beseech thee if there be so much as a corner of any of all those so braue and proud fortresses remayning Is it possible for all Palestine to be noted for one whose feasts are not brought downe also as low as the foundations Hath the Kings Throne bene polluted ouerthrowne Haue the Princes and noble meÌ„ of the countrey bene beaten with cudgels and drest like poore and miserable slaues Surely they were the very Buts of the iniuries Gimel To be short since the time that God began to be aduenged of vs he hath not left either great or mighty in our land whom he hath not shaken shiuered For what so euer was eminent high hath met with the finger of his wrath He hath brought vpoÌ„ our heads great armies of enemies assembled strange nations and brought them home euen vnto our faces and left vs vnto their furious cruelty We haue called and cryed vpon him and coniured him to ayd his people but he hath beheld vs with a threatfull and disdainefull eye and turned his back vpon vs without geuing vs answere And incontineÌ„tly he lightened a fire of dissention in the middest of our prâ—uince which winning from place to place and compassing all the whole countrey hath burnt downe euen to the very least houill or shed and deuoured all the whole nation Daleth It is the Lords hand which hath done this It is he that is our principall enemy and he that hath fought against vs. We haue seene his bowe bent against vs his arme stretched ouer our heads And with this blowe haue all our Citizens bene cast to the ground With this blow haue our most proud palaces fallen to pieces Belieue me it is with his owne hand that he hath spred vpon our land the fire of his indignation which hath thus miserably consumed vs. Vnto him alone must we impute our ruine For all the forces of meÌ„ were neuer able to bring this matter thus about and to passe He. Nay he hath of set purpose put to his hand hath denounced warre vnto Israel and meaneth to proue his forces against him O what an hard and dangerous tryall is this He hath cast downe headlong from the highest vnto the lowest the most pompous and great feast euen vnto the bottomlesse deapths of pouertie miserie the hath shaken with thunder and lightning all her fortresses and dismanteled all her Castles He hath humbled and that with great shame both men and women and changed their pomp magnificence into mourning and groning Vau. But wilt thou know how we haue bene handled
Imagin then with thy selfe that thou seest a flocke of Goats in a faire Garden set full of yong graffes and impes bordered and knotted with beautifull floures and sowen with most excellent seeds of most dayntie herbs and in a moment they are all rauened broused on bitteÌ„ to the stumps and rooted cleane vp Or else imagine thou seest before thee a small houill or shed as we call it built vp with dirt and spittle and Thatched with strawe and as soone as any storme ariseth it carrieth away with it an handfull of it this way and another handfull that way and the place where it stood is that where the least part of the substance thereof remayned Euen so hath Syon bene dealt withall for of all the great Temples and braue buildings thereof can hardly be sound the place whereon they stood that a man might say Here they were once For now there is no more speech of them then if they had neuer bene The feasts and Sabboths which were there celebrated with so great ceremonie and reuerence are vtterly abolished Yea both Kings and Bishops were touched with the â—inger of God as well as the rest Zain It was a strange thing to see God grow to be thus angrie that he abhorred his Aulters had his sacrifices in abhomination to curse that which he him self had once sanctified to leaue his holy Temple his very deere and pretious Sanctuary in the impure and polluted hands of infidels To lodge this vncleane nation within this braue magnificall and religious accent or Tenor as it were within the tents of a Camp To heare the crying and howling of their barbarous voyces in that place where his seruice was wont to be solemnly celebrated and Hymnes song vnto his glory Het It may be very well sayd that God thought long before to destroy this City to see how all things met so iump for seruing to the ouerthrow thereof all at once Thou mightest say that he had taken measure and order of and for all things for it to the end they might ioyne together in this behalfe In so much as there was nothing wanting as if it had bene fatall that whatsoeuer we had bene able to haue done could no way haue turned the hand of God froÌ„ vs neither yet deferre our misery for all felt it yea forefelt it we also saw before the coÌ„ming of our mishap the very walls of our City as it were weepe and all the face of the City fall away and looke sadly and beare on her forehead a cloudy and darke wildernesse for after she had once receyued a strange shock she was straightwayes ouerturned and there was not left one stone vpon another Thet Oye braue honorable Gates of Syon ye haue bene cast downe wide open your books and hengils puld out your locks broken vp and your iron barres beaten in pieces and in vâ—…se deed there was not a gate left for the Citie lay wide open in euery place and men might go in and out at the breaches where they pleased But for thy last vnhappie farewell before thou wert razed thou sawest thy Princes and worshipfull Citizens passe ouer thy thresholds led captiues into a strange land Thou sawest thy law abolished yea euen that law which the Lord thy God had geuen thee as a guage and earnest pennie of his couenant so as thou mightest haue iudged that thou haddest lost his friendship wheÌ„ as he tooke from thee those his pawnes And besides he neuer reuealed him selfe vnto thee for his spirit was neuer in thy Prophets they that came froÌ„ him had no mo visions by which he made them vnderstand his will he hath left vs without both counsell and conduct like strayed sheepe that goe bleating ouer the fields without Shepheard or guide Iod. And therefore the poore gray haired old men which could no way escape finding no more help in their God and seeing him deafe vnto their prayers being altogether out of heart layd themselues downe on the grouÌ„d and leaning vpon their elbowes pitifully lamented their miserie and taking ashes in their hands cast them vpoÌ„ their heads praying from the bottome of their hearts that their poore and miserable bodies might eftsoones be there changed They also were so trussed vp in sackcloth as that there could be nothing seene of them but their feet the place of their graue They carried also their haires on their backs that they might be either familiarly acquainted with the custome of their miserie or else make them not to feele it all And after this manner bewailed they their calamitie The poore and delicate maydens and desolate fatherlesse children followed them casting downe their eyes bedeawing their cheekes holding downe their heads euen as the Lilly doth when it is sore beaten with rayne and wind Caph. And in very truth when I saw this so lamentable a Tragedy mine eyes melted into teares and I had almost lost my sight as it were with extreame weeping and mine heart heaued vp my body as if one had rent my bowels out of my belly when as I saw I say the poore children of Syon in this pitifull estate when I saw them lament so bitterly when I saw the greatest of them fall into swoundâ— with very sorrow and griefe and the sucking children forsaken of their mothers pine away most miserably Lamed Some crying vnto their mothers for the teat and others calling vppon them for bread But they had neyther milke not bread to geue them and this was the greatest comfort that the poore mothers had euen to go as farre as they could from theyr poore children and turne away theyr faces from them vntill such time as the famine had consumed them and they themselues lay screeking out in other places dying of very faintnes as if they had bin wounded to death And some of them were of that stomacke as that they could abide to see their children dye between their armes and by little and little prolong their owne poore life dying soonâ— after with very sorrow and griefe O what wounds felt these poore harts and how deepe did these blows pierse verely euen into the place of motherly pitie which is euen the very bottome of the heart And it is no maruell that they died so suddainly wheÌ„ as they were at once so piersed throughout all the vitall parts yea to the very wounding of the soule and the casting of it perforce out of the body Mem. O poore and miserable Ierusalem how shall I depaint and set foorth this thy so great misery what tearmes shall I deuise liuely to expresse so strange and suddaine a calamitie Whereunto shal I compare the greatnes of thine affliction The earth is not able to comprehend it and therfore the sea must for it is as large and infinit as the sea is a tormentrous field like to the sea a bottomlesse gulfe and a receptacle for great hidious monsters as the sea is one mischiefe driueth on another as the waus of