my soules distresse begonne Sinne causeth griefe for sorrow is their share That in the shop of shame trades periur'd ware Sinnes farme I rented with hard intrest bought The rent my soule yet all my gayne was griefe Deere was that purchase which my downfal wrought In Caiphas court I lost my soules reliefe O wretched men that buyes the curse of hell With wrecke of soules the wares that diuels sell Lord let thy mercy be the onely key To ope the doore of my afflicted hart Where my accounts in secret hidden lye Griping my conscience with extremest smart And thereby let thy holy spirit in Which is of force to dispossesse my sin Lord seeke the sheepe that long hath gone astray The prodigall to thee his mone hath made I haue procur'd and wrought my owne decay And of damnation am I sore afraid If thou wilt helpe O sweet Christ helpe me now And make not Peter breake although he bow O write my teares within the booke of life The register of thine elected fold Where mercie and compassion shineth rife There Lord let Peters name be sure intold Protect me Lord and free me from all feares Whose soule is drencht within a showre of teares With mildenes measure my submissiue minde Meekely forgiue I craue with contrite hart Let thy poore seruant thy free mercie finde With sighs I beg release of earned smart Bent knees thicke sobs wet eyes sad hart begin Pleade clients pleade Gods mercie sweete to win Sinfull Disciple fall flat on thy face And warme the thirstie earth with flowing teares Yea rise not vp till thou hast purchaste grace Ring rufull sobs repentant in his eares A true and contrite heauie soule for sin The Lord regardes and most doth ioy therein Redeeme me then with ransome of thy loue Release my bondage from sinnes captiue gaile Let Peters true repentance pittie moue And let thy mercie be my soules sure baile Tender my suiâ—e cancell offences great With feare I craue with hope I doe intreat O that I had not borne so base a minde As to deny my Christ that did me make But that I had with constant Steuen been kinde To haue been stoned for my masters sake Then had I neuer knowne this hellish smart That wounds my conscience and doth kil my hart What did produce me to this cursed crime How came I so securelie rockt asleepe The monster sinne my wings of faith did lime I could not flie that hellish danger deepe Blasphemous hart benumd with deadly colde Thou didst my tongue to periuries vnfolde Ah woe is me I am that cursed Caine That murdered Abel I may iustlie say His precious blood doth issue out amaine And t'was my sinnes that did my Sauiour slay Had I so many eyes as Starres in skie For this offence well might I weepe them drie I doe bewaile my foule committed sin Gainst Christ redeemer of my soule from hell Sweete Sauiour let my soule thy mercie win That I among the damned may not dwell For I confesse without thy mercies store I shall be damnd in hell for euermore Ah seruile feare that maskes a drooping minde Subiect to sinne base captiue vnto thrall Couldst thou permit a sillie woman kinde To be contriuer of thy shamefull fall Were now the Cocke to crow as thrice he crue No woman though I dyde should me subdue O hastie rashnes where true faith was fled Vnsauorie tree where fruits of sin do grow For want of faith let floods of teares be shed Baptize anew thy soule in streames of woe Too long they liue that liue till they be nought How cheape sold I what Christ so deerly bought Come idle eyes t'is long time since ye wept Straine out my sorrows fruits of my vntruth That springing streams of teares may still be kept To blaze with plaints the Ecchoes of my ruth Vnkind in kindnes where faint feare tooke place To spit thy poyson in thy makers face O wretched Peter far worse then the Iewes That hist at Christ like poysoned stinging snakes Whose scornfull mocks his patience did abuse Who notwithstanding dyed for their sakes My oaths were darts my cruell tongue the sting My God the marke and him I did maligne With sin O Lord my soule is sore attainted My mind my thoughts my hart is clog'd with griefe Heart throbbing feare and treason hath me haunted All these are ruines of my soules reliefe Inconstancy foule fraud and false selfe will These gaue attendance my poore soule to kill Dispaire not Peter doo not thy God forget To call for mercy doo thy best indeuour Neuer did he refuse a sinner yet Nor crau'd his death but wisht him life for euer All burdned soules come vnto me saith he And of your griefe you shall released be Therefore I thinke my selfe thrice happie blest For that I hope I shall beholde his blisse Although this flesh be fraile full of vnrest Against the spirit working much amisse Yet Christ his mercie floweth like a spring While his woundes bleede receiued for my sinne I did offend thee Lord with periurde speech Which wicked deed I doe from heart repent Therefore sweete Lord I humbly doe beseech To saue his soule that doth for sinne lament For I beleeue and for a truth I know My scarlet sinnes thou canst conuert to snow Lord clense me then thy blessing on me spread With many foes my soule is hard beset Be thou my strength and helmet for my head And with thy treasure pay my seruile debt As teares of vines foule leprosie doth cure So vlcer sinnes is by thy blood made pure Why then my soule wherefore art thou so sad And why art thou disquieted within Plucke vp thy selfe be ioyfull and most glad Christ by his passion washt away my sinne Though of all men the worst to be esteemed Yet by my Sauiour is my soule redeemed Then Peter breake from that vilde tirant strong Shake off his chaines and burst his hellish bands Sinne hath thee kept in seruitude too long And run to Iesus where he meekely stands Spread on the Crosse wide open with his armes Thee to imbrace keepe thee from all harmes Lo thus with faith and hope still did I pray Christ heard my suite and all my sinnes forgaue Poore sinners suites no time he doth delay He came from Heauen repenting soules to saue None can on earth a greater sinner be Then I was found and yet he saued me The wicked Iewes that halde him to the Crosse With many taunting tearmes and hatefull scornes He greatly grieude their soules eternall losse While they did crowne his holy head with thornes They whipt his body bor'd his hands and feete Yea pearst his side and did reioyce to see'r But this Beathlemite deare sonne of God Which by his wisedome could haue staide this strife Yet rather chose to feele Gods heauie rod Then we should lose the ioyes of blessed life For rather then we should hels torment trie He spared not to yeelde himselfe to die Yet cursed Scribes did take no
breath remained in him he was beheaded 8. MAtthew the Euangelist was chosen to be an Apostle of Christ he wrote the Gospell of our Lord Iesus in the Hebrew tongue and deliuered it to Iames the sonne of Alpheus he preached the Gospell in Aethiopia he was by the commandement of Hyrtacus runne through with a sworde 9. IAmes the sonne of Alpheus Marie sister to Marie the Lords mother called the brother of Christ was the first Bishop of Ierusalem he liued vertuously he vsed no woollen vesture but wore a Syndon his knees were after the guise of a camels knee benumd and bereft of the sence of feeling by reason of his continuall kneeling in supplication to God he continued Bishop thirtie yeeres and was martyred by the Iewes but especially by Ananias the high Priest who set him vpon a pinackle of the Temple to preach to the people threw him downe headlong he hauing breath after his fall one came with a Fullers club knockt him on the head and brained him 10. SImon the Cananite sonne to Cleopas surnamed Zelotes the Lordes cousin germaine hee was chosen to bee one of the twelue Apostles of Christ he preached the Gospel throughout Mauritania Aphricke Aegypt and Persia he returned thence and succeeded Iames in the Bishopricke of Ierusalem the heretickes accused him that he lineally descended of the stocke of Dauid and that he was a Christian which profession they hated he was scourged for the space of many dayes together so that Aticus the Iudge and his company was marueilously amased and marueiled how that he being an hundred and twentie yeeres old was able to abide that bitter torment in the end he dyed a death agreeable with the passion of Christ 11. IVde the brother of Iames called also Thaddeus was called to be an Apostle he preached vnto the Edessians through all Mesopotamia he was slaine at Berito in the time of Agbarus king of Edessa 12. MAtthias one of the seuentie Disciples was chosen to be an Apostle in the roome of Iudas the traytor hee preached the Gospell first in Macedonia then in Aethiopia about the hauen called Hissus and the riuer Phasis afterward he went into India where the Iewes stoned him and last of all he was beheaded with an axe after the Romaine manner Thus endeth the commemoration of the liues and deaths of the twelue Apostles HERE FOLLOWETH the Election Liues and Martyrdoms of S. Paul Marke the Euangelist and Stephen one of the seuen Deacons PAVL which before was called Saule was an Apostle of Christ yet out of the number of the twelue was borne in Iurie in a towne called Gascalis which towne beeing taken by the Romanes he with his parents fled to Tharsus a towne in Cilicia afterwards hee was sent vp to Ierusalem and there brought vp in the knowledge of the Law at that time when Stephen suffered martyrdome Paul was a persecutour in raging against the Church of God entring into the houses of the faithfull and gaue forth precepts that both men and women should be imprisoned he was conuerted to beleeue in Christ by a voice that spake to him from heauen as he went towards Damascus and from a persecutour he was made a professor an Apostle a martyr a witnes of the Gospel and a chosen vessell not of men neither by men but by reuelation from Iesus Christ among other his manifold labours and trauelles in spreading the doctrine of Christ hee wanne Sergius Paulus the Proconsul of Ciprus to the faith of Christ whereupon his name was turned from Saul to Paul he began to preach the Gospell of Christ at Ierusalem and went on still to Ilyricum Italie and Spaine his Epistles are extant at this day full of heauenly wisedome hee was accused before the Emperour Nero for teaching a new doctrine and stirring vp sedition against the Empire whereupon Nero commanded him to declare the order of his doctrine which was to teach all men peace and charitie how to loue one another that rich men should not bee puft vp in pride nor to put their trust in their treasure but in the liuing God meane men to be content with food and raiment and with their present state poore men to reioyce in their pouertie with hope fathers to bring vp their children in the feare of God children to obay their parents husbands to loue their wiues wiues to loue their husbands citizens and subiectes to be true to their Prince This was the summe of Paules teaching which hee receiued from Iesus Christ which spake to him from heauen When Nero had heard this he gaue sentence of death that Paul should bee beheaded vnto whose executiō Nero sent two of his Esquires Feraga Parthemius to bring him word of Paules death he was beheaded at Rome the last yeere of Nero the third calends of Iuly and was buried in the way to Ostia in the thirtie sixt yeere after his conuersion thirtie seuen yeeres after the Passion of Christ MArke the Euangelist was the first Bishop of Alexandria he was the first that preached Christ vnto the Egyptians in the time of Traian hee had a cable rope tyed about his necke and drawne through the streetes of Alexandria that his flesh was rent in pieces and the stones coloured with blood he was drawne from Blocus to a place called Angels where hee was burned to ashes by the furious Idolaters in the moneth of April and buried at Blocus STephen was chosen to bee one of the seuen Deacons by prayer and laying on of the Apostles hands for the publike administration of the Church affaires hee was stoned to death at Ierusalem by them that slew the Lorde he was the first of the triumphing Martyrs of Christ and as they stoned him he said Lord Iesu receiue my spirit and kneeling downe he cryed with a lowde voyce Lord lay not this sinne vnto their charge and so fell asleepe in the Lord. This is to beare the crosse of our Sauiour this is to drinke of one cuppe with Christ Christ saith He that taketh not vp his crosse and followeth after me is not worthie of me hee that will saue his life shall loose it and he that looseth his life for my sake shall saue it Great are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all Through many tribulations wee haue to enter into the king dome of heauen but hee that endureth to the ende he shall be saued Infinite are the number of the Saints of God that haue suffered for the testimonie of Christ as Hierome in his Epistle to Chromatius and Heliodorus saith Nullus esset dies quinon vltra quinque millium numerum martyrum reperiri posset ascriptus excepto die kalendarum Ianuarij
cropt cut mowne and reaped still A shade a breath a blast a span a flower A mornings deaw that's dried in an hower First marke the sorrowes of this wretched life And how thy soule still clogged is with sinne How worldly cares doe keepe thee still in strife The many perils thou art wrapped in Then shalt thou see this life to vs hath lent But harts vexation griefe and discontent Our greatest pleasures end in paines distresse The Elements offend vs with their heate The earth with vapours colde doth vs oppresse Our health is mixt with sicknes dangers great To be alone alacke it grieues vs sore And companie disturbeth vs much more Admit the Lord hath lent thee earthly treasure And thou enioyest the labour of thy hands Thy wife and children is to thee a pleasure Thou raisest sumptuous buildings on thy lands What is all this wert thou a Prince of power Hauing no charter of thy life one houre This life alasse is but a winke of Time And on eternitie our ioyes depend Our mortall bodies are but earth and slime Ordainde of God his glorie to attend Like to a bubble weake as brittle glasse Or like a shadow that full soone doth passe Why should we sleepe or slug one night in sin Seeing that night might chance to be our last What grieuous danger should our soules be in If vnpreparde so sinfull hence we past Then euery minute waile thy sinne with sorrow Men here to day are laide in earth to morrow But thou wilt say the world bids me delay And tels me that I neede not feare my life I shall liue long and in great pleasure stay And haue much time t'auoide all future strife Ah thinke not so the flattering world doth lie While yet thou speakest thou maist on suddaine die Amend thy life therefore without all let Least when the time approacheth thou should'st dye Thou dost thy soules chiefe comfort quite forget When thousand cares will leade thy thoughts awrie Repent repent death hath thy life in gage Repent in youth stay not till crooked age O thinke what wofull state thy soule is in When death drawes neere with terrible assaults That houre maist thou be vexed so with sin So much tormented with thy filthie faults And with thy bodies paine so vexed bee That true repentance will be farre from thee What time thy wofull minde will chieflie run Which way thou maist haue ease of bodies smart And how thou maist those bitter gripings shun That with such sorrow burdens thy poore hart How ill aduisde wast thou in fainting breath To post repentance to the houre of death What horror then will thy poore hart indure When feare of death doth so afflict thy minde When phisickes helpe cannot thy conscience cure Nor for thy soule a remedie can finde When thou shalt see the diuell accusing stand And gaping hell vpon the other hand But in respect this griefe is nought at all Touching thy soule and whither it shall goe After she leaues this fading life mortall She at Gods iudgement seate her selfe must shew Sentence to haue and glory to obtaine Or else sad sorrow and eternall paine O thinke what torments sinners haue in hell That's mad with paine and there doth rore and crie In extreame torment which no tongue can tell Alwaies a dying but can neuer die O hart ô minde ô eyes beholde and see Obserue and marke what endlesse torments bee Iudas too late doth there himselfe excuse Too late for Achan to restore his golde Gehezi doth his gifts too late refuse And Diues all too late his faultes vnfolde Lord though with these we haue deserued paine Yet to thy kingdome let our soules retaine The seas saltnes is tasted by one drop False oathes describes a guiltie heart within The world wins our flesh to a seruile lot Feare doth seduce vs vnto deadly sin Most mightie Lord therefore to thee we pray That thy true spirit may our conscience stay Sweete Iesu Christ resplendent in thy seate Which purchast by thy death mans perfect ioy For my misdeedes thy pardon I intreate With wings of mercie shroude vs from anoy Thy death slew death thy pains was our protectiō Thou triumphst ouer all by glorious resurrection It was foretolde and truely spoke of thee By holy Prophets many yeares agoe Gods glorious sonne should no corruption see Layde dead in graue from graue aliue should goe The sealed stone the carefull watchmens eye Could not keepe downe thy mightie maiestie But when I had my Sauiours presence lost Inforste I was vnto my former trade On surging waues my fishing boate was tost Yet of great labour little gaine I made All day I toyld but all in vaine I wraught And all the tedious night nothing I caught But when the cheerefull mornings light appeard Vpon the sandy shore my Sauiour stood Whose heauenly voice our heauie harts so cheard Calling to vs vpon the surging flood My friends quoth he what haue you any meate We answered no nor yet one bit to eate Then said the Lord that made both sea and land Vpon the right side of your sliding ship Cast forth your tangling nets with nimble hand And you shall finde what earst from you did slip We did the same whereby such store we got As neuer like did fall vnto our lot So full of skipping fish the net was found That we by all our force our strength and power Not able were to draw it from the ground Such was the store we got that instant houre At that one draught my selfe did tell and see An hundred mightie fishes fiftie three I knew not Lord thy sacred maiestie For sinne and shame had dulled Peter quite Till Iohn to me thy glorie did descrie I quite forgot my Christ the Lord of might Yet see my Sauiour in my greatest neede Forsooke me not for all my hainous deede This did reuiue my heauie mournfull minde A treble comfort did my ioy restore Iohn childe of grace did soone our Sauiour finde Who said t'is Iesus standeth on the shore It is the Lord vndoubted it is he As by this worke we may sufficient see I hearing that in hast did leaue my net And to my Sauiour sworm whereas he stood Through many mounting billowes did I get For he presern'd me in the raging flood The peacefull shore when so I had attaind There saw I fire and fish and bread ordaind A heauenly dinner on the earth below New raised Christ for vs had there preparde He saw our want and did our hunger know Poore men distrest the Lord doth still regarde Christ therefore calde and bad vs come to dinner The righteous Lord eates with a wretched sinner With his most holy hand he brake vs bread And gaue vs fish our hunger to asswage A gracious countnance on vs did hee spread Whose conquest did both death and hell enrage And this was now the third time truely knowne To his Disciples Christ himselfe had showne Then after dinner Christ tooke me aside And thrice