not from thy crosse after death shee came to dwell with thee at thy graue Why then dost not thou say with Noemi Blessed bee shee of our Lord because what courtesie shee afforded to the quicke shee hath also continued towardes the dead A thing so much the more to be esteemed in that it is most rare Doe not sweet Lord any longer delay her Behold shee hath attended thee these three daies and shee hath not what to eate nor wherewith to foster her famished soule vnlesse thou by discouering thy selfe doest minister vnto her the bread of thy body feede her with the foode that hath in it all taste of sweetnesse If therefore thou wilt not haue her to faint in the way refresh her with that which her hunger requireth For surely shee cannot long enioy the life of her body vnlesse shee may haue notice of thee that art the life of her soule But feare not Mary for thy teares will obtaine They are too mighty oratours to let any suite fall though they pleaded at the most rigorous bar yet haue they so perswading a silence and so conquering a complaint that by yeelding they ouercome and by intreating they commaund They tie the tongues of all accusers and soften the rigour of the seuerest Iudge Yea they win the inuincible and bind the omnipotent When they seeme most pittiful they haue greatest power and being most for saken they are most victorious Repentant eies are the Cellers of Angels and penitent teares their sweetest wines which the sauor of life perfumeth the taste of grace swéetneth and the purest colours of returning innocency highly beautifieth This dew of deuotion neuer falleth but the sunne of iustice draweth it vp and vpoÌ„what face soeuer it droppeth it maketh it amiable in Gods eie For this water hath thy heart beene long a limbecke sometimes distilling it out of the weedes of thy owne offences with the fire of true contrition Sometimes out of the flowers of spirituall comforts with the flames of contemplation and now out of the bitter hearbs of thy Maisters miseries with the heate of a tender compassion This water hath better graced thy lookes then thy former alluring glaunces It hath setled worthier beauties in thy face then all thy artificiall paintings Yea this onely water hath quenched Gods anger qualified his iustice recouered his mercy merited his loue purchased his pardon brought forth the spring of all thy fauors Thy tears were the proctors for thy brothers life the inuiters of those Angels for thy comfort and the suiters that shall be rewarded with the first sight of thy reuiued Sauiour Rewarded they shal be but not refrained altered in their cause but their course continued Heauen would weepe at the losse of so pretious a water and earth lament the absenee of so fruitefull â—owers No no the Angels must still bathe themselues in the pure streams of thy eies and thy face shall still bee set with this liquid pearle that as out of thy teares were stroken the first sparkes of thy Lordes loue so thy teares may be the oyle to nourishe and feede his flame Till death damme vp the springs they shall neuer cease running and then shal thy soule be ferried in them to the harbour of life that as by them it was first passed from sinne to grace so in them it may be wasted from grace to glorie In the meane time réere vp thy fallen hopes and gather confidence both of thy spéedie comforte and thy Lordes well being Iesus saith vnto her Maria She turning said vnto him Rabboni O louing maister thou didst onely deferre her consolation to increase it that the delight of thy presence might be so much the more welcome in that through thy long absence it was with so little hope so much desired Thou wert content shee shoulde lay out for thée so manie sighs tears and plaints and diddest purposely adiorne the date of her paiment to requite the length of these delaies with a larger loane of ioy It may be she knewe not her former happinesse till shee was weaned from it nor had a right estimate in valuing the treasures with which thy presence did enriche hir vntill her extreame pouertie taught her their vnestimable rate But now thou she west by a swéete experience that though she paied thée with the dearest water of her eyes with her best breath and tenderest loue yet small was the price that shee bestowed in respect of the worth that shee receiued She sought the dead and imprisoned in a stonie gayle and now she findeth thée both aliue and at full libertie Shée sought the shrined in a shrowd more like a leaper then thy selfe left as the modell of the vitermost miserie and the onely paterne of the bitterest vnhappinesse And now shee findeth thée inuested in the robes of glorie the president of the highest and both the owner and giuer of all felicitie And as all this while shee hath sought without finding wéept without comforte and called without aunswere so no we thou satisfiest her séeking with thy comming her tears with thy triumph and al her cries with this one word Marie For when she heard thee call her in thy woonted maner and with thy vsuall voyce her onely name issuing froÌ„ thy mouth wrought so strange an alteration in her as if she had béene wholly new made when she was only named For whereas before the violence of her griefe had so benummed her that her bodie séemed but the hearse of her dead heart and her heart the cophin of an vnliuing soule and hir whole presence but a representation of a double funeral of thine and of hir owne now with this one word her senses are restored her minde lightened her heart quickened and her soule reuiued But what maruell though with one word hee raise the dead spirites of his poore disciple that with a word made the world euen in this very worde sheweth an omnipotent power Marie she was called as well in her bad as in her reformed estate and both her good and euill was all of Maries working And as Marie signifieth no lesse what she was then what she is so is this one word by his vertue that speaketh it a repetition of all her miseries an Epitome of his mercies and a memorial of all her better fortunes And therefore it laid so generall a discouerie of her self before her eyes that it awaked her most forgotten sorows and mustered together the whole multitude of her ioyes and woulde haue left the issue of their mutinie verie doubtfull but that the presence and notice of hir highest happinesse decided the quarrell and gaue her ioyes the victory For as he was her only sunne whose going downe left nothing but a dumpishe night of fearefull fansies wherein no starre of hope shined and the brightest plannets were chaunged into dismall signes so the serenitie of his countenance and authoritie of hys worde brought a calme and well tempered day that chasing away all darknesse and
hope aliue which was that for a small reliefe of her other afflictions she might haue annointed thy body that hope is also dead since thy body is remoued and shee nowe standeth hopelesse of all helpe and demandest thou why shée wéepeth and for whome shee séeketh Full well thou knowest that thée onely shee desireth thée onely she loueth all things besides thée she contemneth and canst thou find in thy heart to aske hir whom she séeketh To what end O sweet Lord doest thou thus suspend hir longinges prolong hir desires and martir hir with these tedious delaies Thou onely art the fortresse of hir faint faith the anker of her wauering hope the very center of her vehement loue to thée she trusteth vpon thée she relieth and of her selfe she wholly dispaireth She is so earnest in seeking thée that shée can neither seeke nor thinke any other thing and all her wittes are so busied in musing vppon thée that they draw all attention from her senses wherewith they should discerne thée Being therfore so attentiue to that she thinketh what maruell though shee marke not whome shée séeth and sith thou hast so perfect notice of her thought and she so litle power to discouer thée by sense why demandest thou for whome shée séeketh or why shee wéepeth Doest thou looke that she should answer for thée I séeke or for thée I wéep vnlesse thou wilt vnbend her thoughtes that her eyes may fully sée thée or while thou wilt be concealed doest thou expect y t she should be able to know thee But O Mary not without cause doth he aske thée this question Thou wouldest haue him aliue and yet thou wéepest because thou doest not finde him dead Thou art sorie that hee is not here and for this verie cause thou shouldst rather be glad For if he were dead it is moste likely hee should bee héere but not being héere it is a signe that hée is aliue Hee reioyceth to be out of his graue and thou wéepest because hee is not in it Hee will not lie any where and thou sorrowest for not knowing wherehe lieth Alas why bewaylest thou his glorie as an iniurie the reuiuing of his bodie as the robberie of his corse Hee being aliue for what dead man mournest thou and he being present whose absence doest thou lament But shee taking him to be a Gardiner said vnto him O Lord if thou hast carried him from hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away O woonderfull effectes of Maries loue if loue be a languor howe liueth she by it If loue be her life how dieth shée in it if it bereued her of sence how did she sée y e Angels if it quickned her sense why knewe shee not Jesus doest thou séeke for one whome when thou hast found thou knowest not or if thou doest know him when thou findest him why doest thou séeke when thou hast him Behold Jesus is come and the partie whom thou seekest is he that talketh with thee O Mary call vp thy wittes and open thine eyes Hath thy Lord liued so long laboured so much dyed with such paine and shedde such showres of bloud to come to no higher preferment then to bee a Gardiner And hast thou bestowed suche cost so much sorrow and so many feares for no better man then a silly Gardiner Alas is this soarie Garden the best inheritāce that thy loue can affoord him or a Gardiners office the highest dignitie that thou wilt allow him It had bin better he had liued to béen Lord of thy castle then with his death so dearly to haue bought so small a purchase But thy mistaking hath in it a farther mistery Thou thinkst not amisse though thy sight bee deceiued For as our first father in the state of grace innocency was placed in the garden of pleasure the first office allotted him was to be a Gardener so the first man that euer was in glorie appeareth first in a Garden and presenteth himselfe in a gardeners likenes that the beginnings of glory might resemble the entrance of innocencie and grace And as a Gardener was the foyle of mankind the parent of sinne and author of death so is this Gardiner the raysor of our ruines the ransome of our offences and the restorer of life In a Garden Adam was deceiued and taken captiue by the diuell In a Garden Christ was betraied and taken prisoner by the Jewes In a Garden Adam was condemned to earn his bread with the sweate of his browes And after a frée gift of the bread of Angels in the last supper in a Garden Christ did earne it vs with a bloudy sweat of his whole body By disobedient eating the fruite of a trée our right to that Garden was by Adam forfeited and by the obedient death of Christ vpon a trée a farre better right is nowe recouered When Adam had sinned in the garden of plesure hee was there apparelled in dead beastes skinnes that his garment might betoken his graue and his liuerie of death agrée with his condemnation to die And nowe to defray the debt of that sin in this garden Christ lay clad in the dead mans shrowd and buried in his Tombe that as our harmes began so they might ende and such places and meanes as were the premises to our miserie might be also the conclusions of our misfortune For this did Christ in the canticles inuite vs to a heauenly banquet after hee was come into this garden and had reaped his myrrh and his spices to forewarne vs of the ioy that after this haruest should presently insue namely when hauing sowed in this garden a body the mortalitie whereof was signified by those spices he now reaped the same neither capeable of death nor subiect to corruption For this also was Mary permitted to mistake that we might be informed of the mystery and see how aptly the course of our redemption did answere the processe of our condemnation But though he be the gardiner that hath planted the Trée of grace and restored vs to the vse and eating of the fruites of life Though it be he that soweth his gifts in our souls quickning in vs the seedes of vertue rooting out of vs the wéedes of sinne Yet is he neuerthelesse the same Jesus he was the borowed presence of a meane laborer neither altreth his persō nor diminisheth his right to his diuine titles Why then canst thou not as well sée what in trueth he is as what in shew he séemeth but because thou seest more then thou diddest beléeue findest more then thy faith serued thee to seeke and for this though thy loue was worthy to sée him yet thy faith was vnworthy to know him Thou diddest seeke for him as dead and therfore dost not know him seing him aliue and because thou beléeuest not of him as hée is thou doest onely sée him as he séemeth to be I cannot say thou art faultlesse sith thou art so lame in thy beliefe
thy selfe with these cares His father knoweth and hée will helpe him The Angels know and they wil gard him His own soule knoweth and that will asist him And what néede then is there that thou séely woman shouldst know it that canst no way profite him But I féele in what vain thy pulse beateth and by thy desire I discouer thy disease Though both heauen and earth did know it and the whole world had notice of it yet except thou also wert made priuy vnto it thy woes would be as great thy teares as many That others sée thy Sunne doth not lighten thy darkenesse neither can others eating satisfie thy hunger The more there be that know of him the greater is thy sorrow that among so many thou art not thought worthy to be one And the more there bée that may help him the more it gréeueth thée that thy poore helpe is not accepted among them Though thy knowledge needeth not thy loue doth desire it and though it auaile not thy desire will séeke it If all know it thou wouldest know it with all if no other thou wouldest know it alone and from whom soeuer it be concealed it must be no secret to thée Though the knowledge would discomfort thée yet know it thou wilt yea though it would kill thée thou couldest not forbeare it Thy Lord to thy loue is like drink to the thirsty which if they cannot haue they die for drouht and béeing long without it they pine away with longing And as men in extremity of thirst are still dreaming of fountaines brookes and springs being neuer able to haue other thought or to vtter other word but of drink and moisture so louers in the vehemency of their passion can neither thinke nor speake but of that they loue and if that be once missing euery part is both an eie to watch and an eare to listen what hope or newes may be had of it If it be good they die till they hear it though bad yet they cannot liue without it Of the good they hope that it is the verye best and of the euill they feare it to be the worst and yet though neuer so good they pine til it be told and be it neuer so euil they are importunate to know it And when they once know it they can neither beare the ioy nor brook the sorrow but as well the one as the other is inough to kill them And this O Mary I ghesse to be the cause why the Angels would not tell thee thy Lords estate For if it had béen to thy liking thou wouldest haue died for ioy if otherwise thou wouldst haue suncke downe for sorrow And therefore they leaue this newes for him to deliuer whose word if it giue thée a woūd is also a salue to cure it though neuer so deadly But alas afflicted soule why doth it so déepely grieue thée that thou knowest not where he is Thou canst not better him if he be well thou canst as little succour him if he be ill and sith thou fearest that he is rather ill then well why wouldest thou knowe it so to end thy hopes in mishappe and thy great feares in farre greater sorrows Alas to aske thée why is in a manner to aske one halfe starued why he is hungry For as thy Lord is the foode of thy thoughts the relief of thy wishes the onely repast of all thy desires so is thy loue a continuall hunger and his absence vnto thée an extream famine And therefore no maruail though thou art so gréedy to heare yea to deuour any be it neuer so bitter notice of him sith thy hūger is most violent and nothing but he able to content it And albeit the hearing of his harmes should work the same in thy minde that vnwholesome meat worketh in a sicke stomacke yet if it once concerne him that thou louest thy hungry loue could not temper it selfe from it though after with many wringing gripes it did a long and vnplesaunt penance But why doth thy sorrow quest so much vppon the place where hée is were it not inough for thée to knowe who had him but that thou must also know in what place he is bestowed A worse place then a graue no man will offer and many farre better titles wil allowe and therefore thou maist boldly thinke that where so euer he be he is in a place fitter for him then where he was Thy sister Martha confessed him to be the Sonne of God and with her confession agreed thy beleef And what place more conuenient for the Sonne then to be with his Father the businesse for which he hath béene so long from him being now fully finished If he be the Messias as thou diddest once beléeue it was said of him That he should ascend on high and leade our captiuity captiue And what is this height but heauen what our captiuity but death Death therefore is become his captiue and it is like that with the spoiles thereof he is ascended in triumphe to eternall life But if thou canst not lift thy mind to so fauourable a beléefe yet maist thou very well suppose that he is in Paradise For if he came to repaire Adams ruines and to be the common parent of our redemption as Adam was of our originall infection reason seemeth to require that hauing endured al his life the penalty of Adams exile he should after death reenter possession of that inheritance which Adam lost that the same place that was the nest where sinne was first hatched may be now the child-bed of grace and mercy And if sorrow at the crosse did not make thée as deafe as at the tomb it maketh thée forgetfull thou diddest in confirmation hereof heare him selfe say to one of the théeues that the same day he shuld be with him in Paradise And if it bee reason that no shadow should be more priuiledged then the body no figure in more account then the figured truth why shouldest thou beléeue that Elias and Enoch haue bin in Paradise these many ages and that he whom they but as tipes resembled should be excluded from thence He excelled them in life he surpassed them in miracles he was farre beyond them in dignity Why then should not his place be farre aboue or at the least equall with theirs sith their prerogatiues were so farre inferiour vnto his And yet if the basenesse and misery of his passion haue laid him so low in thy conceite that thou thinkest Paradise too high a place to be likely to haue him the very lowest roome that anye reason can assigne him can not bée meaner then the bosome of Abraham and sith God in his life did so often acknowledge him for his Sonne it seemeth the slendrest preheminence that he can giue him aboue other men that being his holy one hee should not in his body see corruption but be frée among the dead reposing both in body and soule where other Saints are in soule onely Let not therefore the