the feeling of my rauing fits Whose ioy annoy whose guerdon is disgrace Whose solace flies whose sorrow neuer flits Bad seed I sow'd worse fruit is now my gaine Soone dying mirth begat long liuing paine Now pleasure ebbes reuenge begins to flow One day doth wreake the wrath that many wrought Remorse doth teach my guilty thoughts to know How cheape I sold what Christ so dearely bought Faults long vnfelt doth conscience now bewray All ghostly dynts that Grace at me did dart Like stubborne rocke I forced to recoyle To other flights an ayme I made mine heart Whose wounds then welcome now haue wrought my foyle Wo worth the bow wo worth the Archers might That draue such Arrowes to the marke so right To pull them out to leaue them in is death One to this world one to the world to come Wounds may I weare and draw a doubtfull breath But then my wounds will worke a dreadfull doome And for a world whose pleasures passe away I lose a world whose ioyes are past decay O sense ô soule ô had ô hoped blisse You woo you weane you draw you driue me backe Your crosse encountring like their combat is That neuer end but with some deadly wracke When sense doth winne the soule doth lose the field And present haps make future hopes to yeeld O heauen lament sense robbeth thee of Saints Lament O soules sense spoyleth you of Grace Yet sense doth scarce deserue these hard complaints Loue is the thiefe sense but the entring place Yet graunt I must sense is not free from sinne For thiefe he is that thiefe admitteth in MARY MAGDALENS complaint at Christs death SIth my life from life is parted Death come take thy portion Who suruiues when life is murdred Liues by meere extortion All that liue and not in God Couch their life in deaths abod Silly starres must needs leaue shining When the Sunne is shaddowed Borowed streams refraine their running When head-springs are hindered One that liues by others breath Dyeth also by his death O true Life since thou hast left me Mortall life is tedious Death it is to liue without thee Death of all most odious Turne againe or take me to thee Let me dye or liue thou in me Where the truth once was and is not Shadowes are but vanity Shewing want that helpe they cannot Signes not salue of misery Painted meat no hunger feeds Dying life each death exceeds With my loue my life was nestled In the summe of happinesse From my loue my life is wrested To a world of heauinesse O let loue my life remoue Sith I liue not where I loue O my soule what did vnloose thee From the sweet captiuity God not I did still possesse thee His not mine thy liberty O too happy thrall thou wart When thy prison was his heart Spitefull speare that break'st this prison Seat of all felicity Working this with double treason Loues and liues deliuery Though my life thou drau'st away Maugre thee my loue shall stay Times go by turnes THE lopped tree in time may grow againe Most naked plants renew both fruit and flowre The sorriest wight may finde release of paine The driest soyle sucke in some moystning showre Times go by turnes and chances change by course From foule to faire from better hap to worse The sea of Fortune doth not euer flow She drawes her fauours to the lowest ebbe Her tides haue equall times to come and go Her Loome doth weaue the fine and coursest webbe No ioy so great but runneth to an end No hap so hard but may in fine amend Not alwaies Fall of leafe nor euer Spring No endlesse night nor yet eternall day The saddest Birds a season finde to sing The roughest storme a calme may soone allay Thus with succeeding turnes God tempereth all That man may hope to rise yet feare to fall A chance may winne that by mischance was lost That net that holds no great takes little fish In some things all in all things none are crost Few all they need but none haue all they wish Vnmingled ioyes heere to no man befall Who least hath some who most hath neuer all LOOKE HOME REtyred thoughts enioy their owne delights As beauty doth in selfe-beholding eye Mans mind a mirrour is of heauenly sights Abriefe wherein all maruels summed lye Of fairest formes and sweetest shapes the store Most gracefull all yet thought may grace them more The minde a creature is yet can create To Natures patterns adding higher skill Of finest works wit better could the state If force of wit had equall power of will Deuice of man in working hath no end What thought can thinke another thought can mend Mans soule of endlesse beauties image is Drawne by the worke of endlesse skill and might This skilfull might gaue many sparks of blisse And to discerne this blisse a natiue light To frame Gods image as his worths requir'd His might his skill his word and will conspir'd All that he had his Image should present All that it should present he could afford To that he could afford his will was bent His will was followed with performing word Let this suffice by this conceiue the rest He should he could he would he did the best Fortunes falshood IN worldly merriments lurketh much misery Sly Fortunes subtilties in bayts of happinesse Shrowd hookes that swallowed without recouery Murder the innocent with mortall heauinesse She sootheth appetites with pleasing vanities Till they be conquered with cloaked tyranny Then changing countenance with open enmities Shee triumphs ouer them scorning their slauery With fawning flattery Deaths doore she openeth Alluring passingers to bloudy destiny In offers bountifull in proofe she beggereth Mens ruines registring her false felicity Her hopes are fastned in blisse that vanisheth Her smart inherited with sure possession Constant in cruelty she neuer altereth But from one violence to more oppression To those that follow her fauours are measured As easie premisses to hard conclusions With bitter corrosiues her ioyes are seasoned Her highest benifits are but illusions Her way 's a labyrinth of wandring passages Fooles common pilgrimage to cursed deities Whose fond deuotion and iole menages Are wag'd with wearinesse in fruitlesse drudgeries Blinde in her fauorites foolish election Châ—nâ—â— is â—er Aâ—â—â—rer a giuing dignity Heâ— choyse of visions shâ—wâ—s most discretion Sith â—â—â—â—th the vertuous might wrest from piety To humble suppliants tyrant most obstinate She suters answereth with contrarieties Proud with petition vntaught to mitigate Rigor with clemencie in hardest cruelties Like Tygre fugitiue from the Ambitious Like weeping Crocodile to scornefull enemies Suing for amitie where she is odious But to her followers forswearing curtesies No winde so changeable no sea so wauering As giddie Fortune in reeling varieties Now mad now mercifull now fierce now fauouring In all things mutable but mutabilities Scorne not the least VVHere wards are weake and foes incountring strong Where mightier do assault then do defend The feebler part puts vp enforced wrong And silent
sees that speech could not amend Yet higher powers must thinke though they repine When Sunne is set the little starres will shine While Pike doth range the silly Tench doth fly And crouch in priuy creekes with smaller fish Yet Pikes are caught when little fish go by These fleete aflote while those do fill the dish There is a time euen for the wormes to creepe And sucke the deaw while all their foes do sleepe The Marline cannot euer soare on high Nor greedy Grey-houn still pursue the chase The tender Larke will finde a time to fly And fearefull Hate to runne a quiet race He that high growth on Cedars did bestow Gaue also lowly Mushrumps leaue to grow In Hamans pompe poore Mardocheus wept Yet God did turne his fate vpon his foe The Lazar pinde while Diues feast was kept Yet he to heauen to hell did Diues go We trample grasse and prize the flowers of May Yet grasse is greene when flowers do fade away The Natiuitie of Christ BEhold the Father is his daughters sonne The bird that built the nest is hatcht therein The old of yeares an howre hath not out-runne Eternall life to liue doth now beginne The Word is duâ— the mirth of heauen doth weepe Might feeble is and force doth faintly creepe O dying soules behold your liuing spring O dazled eyes behold your Sunne of grace Dull eares attend what word this Word doth bring Vp heauy hearts with ioy your ioy embrace From death from darke from deafnesse from dispaires This life this light this Word this ioy repaires Gift better then himselfe God doth not know Gift better then his God no man can see This gift doth here the giuer giuen bestow Gift to this gift let each receiuer be God is my gift himselfe he freely gaue me Gods gift am I and none but God shall haue me Man altered was by sinne from man to beast Beasts food is hay hay is all mortall flesh Now God is flesh and lyes in Manger prest As hay the brutest sinner to refresh O happy field wherein this fodder grew Whose taste doth vs from beasts to men renew Christs Childhood TIll twelue yeares age how Christ his childhood spent All earthly pens vnworthy were to write Such acts to mortall eyes he did present Whose worth not men but Angels must recite No natures blots no childish faults defilde Where grace was guide and God did play the child In springing locks lay couched hoary wit In semblance yong a graue and ancient port In lowly lookes high maiesty did sit In tender tongue sound sence of sagest sort Nature imparted all that she could teach And God suppli'd where Nature could not reach His mirth of modest meane a mirrour was His sadnesse tempered with a milde aspect His eye to try each action was a glasse Whose lookes did good approue and bad correct His Natures gifts his grace his word and deed Well shewed that all did from a God proceed A Childe my Choice LEt folly praise that fancie loues I praise and loue that child Whose heart no thought whose tongue no word whose hand no deed defil'd I praise him most I loue him best all praise and loue is his While him I loue in him I liue and cannot liue amisse Loues sweetest marke laudes highest Theame mans most desired light To loue him life to leaue him death to liue in him delight He mine by gift I his by debt thus each to other's due First friend he was best friend he is all times will trie him true Though yong yet wise though small yet strong though man yet God he is As wise he knowes as strong he can as God he loues to blisse His knowledge rules his strength defends his loue doth cherish all His birth our ioy his life our light his death our end of thrall Alas he weepes he sighs he pants yet do his Angels sing Out of his teares his sighes and throbs doth bud a ioyfull Spring Almightie Babe whose tender armes can force all foes to fly Correct my faults protect my life direct me when I die Content and rich I Dwell in Graces Court Enrich with Vertues rights Faith guides my wit Loue leades my will Hope all my minde delights In lowly vales I mount To pleasures highest pitch My silly shroud true Honour brings My poore estate is rich My conscience is my Crowne Contented thoughts my rest My heart is happy in it selfe My blisse is in my breast Enough I reckon wealth A meane the surest lot That lyes too high for base contempt Too low for Enuies shot My wishes are but few All easie to fulfill I make the limits of my power The bounds vnto my will I haue no hopes but one Which is of heauenly raigne Effects attaind or not desir'd All lower hopes refrainâ— I feele no care of coyne Well-doing is my wealth My mind to me an Empire is While grace affoordeth health I clyp high-climing thoughts The wings of swelling pride Their fall is worst that from the height Of greater honour slide Sith sayles of largest size The storme doth soonest teare I beare so low and small a sayle As freeth me from feare I wrastle not with rage While furies flame doth burne It is in vaine to stop the streame Vntill the tide doth turne But when the flame is out And ebbing wrath doth end I turne a late enraged foe Into a quiet friend And taught with often proofe A tempered calme I finde To be most solace to it selfe Best cure for angrie minde Spare dyet is my fare My clothes more fit then fine I know I feede and clothe a foe That pamp'red would repine I enuie not their hap Whom fauour doth aduance I take no pleasure in their paine That haue lesse happie chance To rise by others fall I deeme a losing gaine All states with others ruines built To ruine runne amaine No change of Fortunes calmes Can cast my comforts downe When Fortune smiles I smile to thinke how quickly she will frowne And when in froward moode She proou'd an angrie so Small gaine I found to let her come Lesse losse to let her go Losse in delayes SHun delayes they breed remorse Take thy time while time doth serue thee Creeping Snayles haue weakest force Flie their fault lest thou repent thee Good is best when soonest wrought Lingring labours come to nought Hoyse vp sayle while gale doth last Tide and winde stay no mans pleasure Seeke not time when time is past Sober speed is Wisedomes leisure After-wits are dearely bought Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought Time weares all his locks before Take thou hold vpon his forehead When he flies he turnes no more And behind his scalpe is naked Workes adiourn'd haue many stayes Long demurres breed new delayes Seeke thy salue while sore is greene Festered wounds aske deeper launcing After-cures are seldome seene Often sought scarce euer chancing Time and place giues best aduice Out of season out of price Crush the Serpent in the head Breake ill
egges ere they be hatched Kill bad Chickins in the tread Fligge they hardly can be catched In the rising stifle ill Lest it grow against thy will Drops do pierce the stubburne Flint Not by force but often falling Custome kils with feeble dint More by vse then strength preuailing Single sands haue little waight Many make a drowning fraight Tender twigs are bent with ease Aged trees do breake with bending Yong desires make little prease Growth doth make them past amending Happie man that soone doth knocke Babels Babes against the rocke Loue seruile Lot LOue Mistresse is of many minds Yet few know whom they serue They reckon least how little Loue Their seruice doth deserue The will she robbeth from the wit The sense from reasons lore Shee is delightfull in the ryne Corrupted in the core She shrowdeth vice in Vertues veile Pretending good in ill She offereth ioy affoordeth griefe A kisse where she doth kill A hony showre raines from her lips Sweet lights shine in her face She hath the blush of Virgine mind The minde of Vipers race She makes thee seeke yet feare to find To find but none enioy In many frownes some gliding smiles She yeelds to more annoy She wooes thee to come neare her fire Yet doth she draw it from thee Farre off she makes thy heart to fry And yet to freeze within thee She letteth fall some luring baits For fooles to gather vp Too sweet too sowre to euerie tast She tempereth her cup. Soft soules she binds in tender twist Small Flyes in spinners webbe She sets aflote some luring streames But makes them soone to ebbe Her watrie eyes haue burning force Her flouds and flames conspire Teares kindle sparkes sobs fuell are And sighs do blow her fire May neuer was the Month of loue For May is full of flowers But rather Aprill wet by kind For loue is full of showers Like Tyrant cruell wounds she giues Like Surgeon salue she lends But salue and sore haue equall force For death is both their ends With soothing words enthralled soules She chaines in seruile bands Her eye in silence hath a speech Which eye best vnderstands Her little sweet hath many sowres Short hap immortall harmes Her louing lookes are murdrings darts Her songs bewitching charmes Like Winter Rose and Sommer Ice Her ioyes are still vntimely Before her hope behind remorse Faire first in fine vnseemely Moodes passions fancies iealous fits Attend vpon her traine She yeeldeth rest without repose A Heauen in hellish paine Her house is sloth her doore deceit And slipperie hope her staires Vnbashfull boldnesse bids her guests And euerie vice repaires Her dyet is of such delights As please till they be past But then the poyson kils the heart That did entice the taste Her sleepe in sinne doth end in wrath Remorse rings her awake Death cals her vp shame driues her out Despaires her vpshot make Plow not the Seas sow not the sands Leaue off your idle paine Seeke other mistresse for your mindes Loues seruice is in vaine Life is but Losse BY force I liue in will I wish to dye In plaint I passe the length of lingring dayes Free would my soule from mortall bodie fly And tread the tracke of Deaths desired wayes Life is but losse where death is deemed gaine And lothed pleasures breed displeasing paine Who would not dye to kill all murdering greeues Or who would liue in neuer-dying feares Who would not wish his treasure safe from Theeues And quit his heart from pangs his eyes from teares Death parteth but two euer fighting foes Whose ciuill strife doth worke our endlesse woes Life is a wandring course to doubtfull rest As oft a cursed rise to damning leape As happie race to winne a heauenly crest None being sure what finall fruits to reape And who can like in such a life to dwell Whose wayes are strait to Heauen but wide to Hell Come cruell death why lingrest thou so long What doth withhold thy dint from fatall stroke Now prest I am alas thou doest me wrong To let me liue more anger to prouoke Thy right is bad when thou hast stopt my breath Why should'd thou stay to worke my bouble death If Sauls attempt in falling on his blade As lawfull were as ethe to put in vre If Sampsons leaue a common Law were made Of Abels lot if all that would were sure Then cruell death thou should'st the Tyrant play With none but such as wished for delay Where life is lou'd thou readie art to kill And to abridge with sodaine pangs their ioy Where life is loath'd thou wilt not worke their will But dost adiourne their death to their annoy To some thou art a fierce vnbidden guest But those that craue thy helpe thou helpest least Auant oh viper I thy spite defie There is a God that ouer-rules thy force Who can thy weapons to his will apply And shorten or prolong our brittle course I on his mercie not thy might relye To him I liue for him I hope to dye I dye aliue O Life what lets thee from a quicke decease O death what drawes thee from a present prey My feast is done my soule would be at ease My grace is said O Death come take away I liue but such a life as euer dyes I dye but such a death as neuer ends My death to end my dying life denies And life my liuing death no whit amends Thus still I dye yet still I do reuiue My liuing death by dying life is fed Grace more then Nature keepes my heart aliue Whose idle hopes and vaine desires are dead Not where I breathe but where I loue I liue Not where I loue but where I am I dye The life I wish must future glorie giue The deaths I feele in present dangers lye What ioy to liue I Wage no warre yet peace I none enioy I hope I feare I frye in freezing cold I mourne in mirth still prostrate in annoy I all the World imbrace yet nothing hold All wealth is want where chiefest wishes faile Yea life is loath'd where loue may not preuaile For that I loue I long but that I lacke That others loue I loath and that I haue All worldly fraights to me are deadly wracke Men present hap I future hopes do craue They louing where they liue long life require To liue where best I loue death I desire Here loue is lent for loue of filthie gaine Most friends befriend themselues with friendships shew Here plentie perill want doth breed disdaine Cares common are ioyes faultie short and few Here Honour enuide meannesse is despis'd Sinne deemed solace Vertue little pris'd Here beauty is a baite that swallowed choakes A treasure sought still to the owners harmes A light that eyes to murdring sights prouokes A grace that soules inchants with mortall charmes A luring ayme to Cupids fierie flights A balefull blisse that damnes where it delights O who would liue so many deaths to trie Where will doth wish that wisedome doth reproue
Where Nature craues that grace must needs denie Where sense doth like that reason cannot loue Where best in shew in finall proofe is worst Where pleasures vp-shot is to dye accurst Lifes death Loues life VVHo liues in loue loues least to liue And long delayes doth rue If him he loue by whom he liues To whom all loue is due Who for our loue did choose to liue And was content to dye Who lou'd our loue more then his life And loue with life did buy Let vs in life yea with our life Requite his liuing loue For best we liue when least we liue If loue our life remoue Where loue is hote life hatefull is Their grounds do not agree Loue where it loues life where it liues Desireth most to be And sith loue is not where it liues Nor liueth where it loues Loue hateth life that holds it backe And death it best approues For seldome is he wonne in life Whom loue doth most desire If wonne by loue yet not enioyd Till mortall life expire Life out of earth hath not aboade In earth loue hath no place Loue setled hath her ioyes in Heau'n In earth life all her grace Mourne therefore no true louers death Life onely him annoyes And when he taketh leaue of life Then loue begins his ioyes At home in Heauen FAire soule how long shall veiles thy graces shrowd How long shall this exile with-hold thy right When will thy Sunne disperse this mortall cloud And giue thy glories scope to blaze their light O that a starre more fit for Angels eyes Should pine in earth not shine aboue the skies This ghostly beautie offered force to God It chain'd him in the linkes of tender loue It wonne his will with man to make abode It staid his sword and did his wrath remoue It made the rigor of his Iustice yeeld And crowned mercie Empresse of the field This lull'd our heauenly Sampson fast asleepe And laid him in our feeble Natures lap This made him vnder mortall load to creepe And in our flesh his God-head to inwrap This made him soiourne with vs in exile And not disdaine our titles in his stile This brough him from the ranks of heau'nly Quires Into the vale of teares and cursed soyle From flowers of grace into a world of bryers From life to death from blisse to balefull toyle This made him wander in our Pilgrim weed And taste our torments to releeue our need O soule do not thy noble thoughts abase To lose thy loue in any mortall wight Content thine eye at home with natiue grace Sith God himselfe is rauisht with thy sight If on thy beautie God enamoured be Base is thy loue of any lesse then he Giue not assent to muddie minded skill That deemes the feature of a pleasing face To be the sweetest baite to lure the will Not valuing right the worth of ghostly grace Let God and Angels censure winne beliefe That of all beauties iudge our selues the chiefe Queene Hester was of rare and peerlesse hiew And Iudith once for beautie bare the vaunt But he that could our soules endowments view Would soone to soules the Crowne of beauty graunt O soule out of thy selfe seeke God alone Grace more then thine but Gods the world hath none Lewd Loue is losse MIsdeeming eye that stoopeth to the lure Of mortall worths not worth so worthie Loue All beautie 's base all graces are impure That do thy erring thought from God remoue Sparkes to the fire the beames yeeld to the Sunne All grace to God from whom all graces runne If picture moue more should the patterne please No shadow can with shadowed things compare And fairest shapes whereon our loues do seaze But silly signes of Gods high beauties are Go staruing sense feed thou on earthly mast True loue in Heau'n seeke thou thy sweet repast Gleane not in barren soyle these off all eares Sith reape thou maist whole haruests of delight Base ioyes with griefes bad hopes do end in feares Lewd loue with losse euill peace with deadly fight Gods loue alone doth end with endlesse ease Whose ioyes in hope whose hope concludes in peace Let not the luring traine of fancies trap Or gracious features proofes of Natures skill Lull reasons force asleepe in errours lap Or draw thy wit to bent of wanton will The fairest flowers haue not the sweetest smell A seeming Heauen proues oft a damning Hell Selfe-pleasing soules that play with beauties bait In shining shrowd may swallow fatall hooke Where eager sight on semblant faire doth wait A locke it proues that first was but a looke The fish with ease into the Net doth glide But to get out the way is not so wide So long the Fly doth dally with the flame Vntill his singed wings do force his fall So long the eye doth follow Fancies game Till loue hath left the heart in heauie thrall Soone may the minde be cast in Cupids Iayle But hard it is imprisoned thoughts to bayle O lothe that loue whose finall ayme is lust Moth of the mind eclipse of reasons light The graue of grace the mole of Natures rust The wrack of wit the wrong of euerie right In summe an euill whose harmes no tongue can tell In which to liue is death to dye is Hell Loues Garden griefe VAine loues auaunt infamous is your pleasure Your ioy deceit Your iewels iests and worthlesse trash your treasure Fooles common bait Your pallace is a prison that allureth To sweet mishap and rest that paine procureth Your Garden griefe hedg'd in with thornes of Enuie And stakes of strife Your Allies errour grauelled with iealousie And cares of life Your bankes are seates enwrapt with shades of sadnesse Your Arbours breed rough fits of raging madnesse Your beds are sowne with seeds of all iniquitie And poys'ning weeds Whose stalkes ill thoughts whose leaues words full of vanitie Whose fruit misdeeds Whose sap is sinne whose force and operation To banish grace and worke the soules damnation Your trees are dismall plants of pyning corrosiues Whose root is ruth Whose barke is bale whose timber stubburne fantasies Whose pith vntruth On which in lieu of birds whose voyce delighteth Of guiltie conscience screeching note affrighteth Your coolest Sommer gales are scadling sighings Your showres are teares Your sweetest smell the stench of sinfull liuing Your fauours feares Your Gardener Satan all you reape is miserie Your gaine remorse and losse of all felicitie From Fortunes reach LEt fickle Fortune runne her blindest race I setled haue an vnremoued mind I scorne to be the game of Fancies chase Or vane to shew the change of euery wind Light giddie humours stinted to no rest Still change their choyce yet neuer chuse the best My choice was guided by foresightfull heed It was auerred with approuing will It shall be followed with performing deed And seal'd with vow till death the chuser kill Yea death though finall date of vaine desires Ends not my choice which with no time expires To beauties fading blisse I
am no thrall I burie not my thoughts in mettall Mines I ayme not at such fame as feareth fall I seeke and finde a light that euer-shines Whose glorious beames display such heauenly sights As yeeld my soule a summe of all delights My light to loue my loue to life doth guide To life that liues by loue and loueth light By loue to one to whom all loues are tyed By duest debt and neuer equall right Eyes light hearts loue soules truest life he is Consorting in three ioyes one perfect blisse A FANCY TVRNED to a Sinners Complaint HE that his mirth hath lost Whose comfort is to rue Whose hope is fallen whose faith is cras'd Whose trust is found vntrue If he haue held them deare And cannot ceasse to mone Come let him take his place by me He shall not rue alone But if the smallest sweete Be mixt with all his sowre If in the day the moneth the yeare He feele one lightning howre Then rest he with himselfe He is no mate for me Whose time in teares whose race in ruth Whose life a death must be Yet not the wished death That feeles no paine or lacke That making free the better part Is onely Natures wracke O no that were too well My death is of the minde That alwaies yeeld extreamest pangs Yet threatens worse behinde As one that liues in shew And inwardly doth dye Whose knowledge is a bloudy field Where Vertue slaine doth lye Whose heart the Altar is And hoast a God to moue From whom my ill doth feare reuenge His good doth promise loue My Fansies are like thornes In which I go by night My frighted wits are like an hoast That force hath put to flight My sense is passions spye My thoughts like ruines old Which shew how faire the building was While grace did it vphold And still before mine eyes My mortall fall they lay Whom grace and vertue once aduanc't Now sinne hath cast away O thoughts no thoughts but wounds Sometime the Seate of ioy Sometime the store of quiet rest But now of all annoy I sow'd the soyle of peace My blisse was in the spring And day by day the fruit I eate That Vertues tree did bring To Nettles now my corne My field is turn'd to flint Where I a heauy haruest reape Of cares that neuer stint The peace the rest the life That I enioyd of yore Were happy lot but by their losse My smart doth sting the more So to vnhappy men The best frames to the worst O time ô place where thus I fell Deare then but now accurst In was stands my delight In is and shall my wo My horrour fastned in the yea My hope hangs in the no. Vnworthy of reliefe That craued is too late Too late I finde I finde too well Too well stood my estate Behold such is the end That pleasure doth procure Of nothing else but care and plaint Can she the minde assure Forsaken first by grace By pleasure now forgotten Her paine I feele but graces wage Haue others from me gotten Then grace where is the ioy That makes thy torments sweet Where is the cause that many thought Their deaths through thee but meet Where thy disdaine of sinne Thy secret sweet delight Thy sparkes of blisse thy heauenly ioyes That shined erst so bright O that they were not lost Or I could it excuse O that a dreame of fained losse My iudgement did abuse Or fraile inconstant flesh Soone trapt in euery ginne Soone wrought thus to betray thy soule And plonge thy selfe in sinne Yet hate I but the fault And not the faulty one Ne can I rid from me the mate That forceth me to moane To moane a sinners case Then which was neuer worse In Prince or poore in yong or old In blest or full of curse Yet Gods must I remaine By death by wrong by shame I cannot blot out of my heart That grace writ in his name I cannot set at nought Whom I haue held so deere I cannot make him seeme afarre That is in deed so neere Not that I looke hence-forth For loue that earst I found Sith that I brake my plighted truth To build on fickle ground Yet that shall neuer faile Which my faith bare in hand I gaue my vow my vow gaue me Both vow and gift shall stand But since that I haue sinn'd And scourge none is too ill I yeeld me captiue to my curse My hard fate to fulfill The solitary Wood My City shall become The darkest dennes shall be my Lodge In which I rest or come A sandy plot my boord The wormes my feast shall be Where-with my carkasse shall be fed Vntill they feed on me My teares shall be my wine My bed a craggy Rocke My harmony the Serpents hisse The screeching Owle my clocke My exercise remorse And dolefull sinners layes My booke remembrance of my crimes And faults of former dayes My walke the path of plaint My prospect into hell Where Iudas and his cursed crue In endlesse paines do dwell And though I seeme to vse The faining Poets stile To figure forth my carefull plight My fall and my exile Yet is my griefe not fain'd Wherein I starue and pine Who feeles the most shall thinke it least If his compare with mine Dauids Peccaui IN Eaues sole Sparrow sits not more alone Nor mourning Pellican in Desart wilde Then silly I that solitary mone From highest hopes to hardest hap exilde Sometime ô blissefull time was vertues meede Ayme to my thoughts guide to my word and deede But feares are now my Pheeres griefe my delight My teares my drinke my famisht thoughts my bread Day full of dumps Nurse of vnrest the night My garments gyues a bloudy field my bed My sleepe is rather death then deaths allye Yet kill'd with murd'ring pangs I cannot dye This is the chance of my ill changed choyse To pleasant tunes succeeds a playning voice The dolefull eccho of my wayling minde Which taught to know the worth of vertues ioyes Doth hate it selfe for louing fancies toyes If wiles of wit had ouer-raught my will Or subtile traines misled my steppes awry My foyle had found excuse in want of skill Ill deed I might though not ill doome deny But wit and will must now confesse with shame Both deede and doome to haue deserued blame I Fansie deem'd fit guide to leade my way And as I deem'd I did pursue the tracke Wit lost his ayme and will was Fansies prey The Rebels wan the Rulers went to wracke But now sith Fansie did with folly end Wit bought with losse Will taught by wit will mend Sinnes heauie load O Lord my sinnes do ouer-charge thy brest The poyse thereof doth force thy knees to bow Yea flat thou fallest with my faults opprest And bloudie sweat runs trickling from thy brow But had they not to Earth thus pressed thee Much more they would in Hell haue pestred me This Globe of Earth doth thy one finger prop The world thou do'st within thy hand
lesson it fell out to be the bitterest part of thy miserie that thou diddest so well know how infinite the losse was that made thee miserable This is the cause that those very Angels in whom all things make remonstrance of triumph and solace are vnto thee occasions of new griefe For their gracious and louely countenances remember thee that thou hast lost the beauty of the world and the highest marke of true loues ambition Their sweet lookes and amiable features tell thee that the heauen of thy eyes which was the reuerend Maiesty of thy Masters face once shined with farre more pleasing graces but is now disfigured with the dreadfull formes of death In summe they were to thee like the glistering sparkes of a broken Diamond and like pictures of dead and decayed beauties signes not salues of thy calamity memorials not medicines of thy misfortune Thy eyes were too well acquainted with the truth to accept a supply of shadowes and as comelinesse comfort and glory were neuer in any other so truely at home and so perfectly in their prime as in the person and speeches of thy Lord so cannot thy thoughts but be like strangers in any forraine delight For in them all thou seest no more but some scattered crums and hungrie morsels of thy late plentifull banquets and findest a dim reflexion of thy former light which like a flash of lightning in a close and stormie night serueth thee but to see thy present infelicitie and the better to know the horrour of the ensuing darknesse Thou thinkest therefore thy selfe blamelesse both in weeping for thy losse and in refusing other comfort Yet in common courtesie affoord these Angels an answer sith their charitie visiting thee deserueth much more and thou if not too vngratefull canst allow them no lesse Alas saith she what needeth my answer where the miserie it selfe speaketh and the losse is manifest My eyes haue answered them with teares my breast with sighes and my heart with throbs what need I also punish my tongue or wound my soule with a new rehearsall of so do lefull a mischance They haue taken away O vnfortunate word they haue taken away my Lord. O afflicted woman why thinkest thou this word so vnfortunate It may be the Angels haue taken him more solemnely to entombe him and sith earth hath done her last homage haply the Quires of heauen are also descended to defray vnto him their funerall duties It may be that the Centurion and the rest that did acknowledge him on the crosse to be the Sonne of God haue bene touched with remorse and goared with pricke of conscience and being desirous to satisfie for their haynous offence haue now taken him more honorably to interre him and by their seruice to his body sought forgiuenesse and sued the pardon of their guiltie soules Peraduenture some secret disciples haue wrought this exploit and maugre the watch taken him from hence with due honour to preserue him in some better place and therefore being yet vncertaine who hath him there is no such cause to lament sith the greater probabilities march on the better side Why doest thou call sorrow before it commeth which without calling commeth on thee too fast yea why doest thou create sorrow where it is not sith thou hast true sorrow enough though imagined sorrowes helpe not It is folly to suppose the worst where the best may be hoped for and euerie mishap bringeth griefe enough with it though we with our feares do not go first to meet it Quiet then thy selfe till time try out the truth and it may be thy feare will proue greater than thy misfortune But I know thy loue is little helped with this lesson for the more it loueth the more it feareth and the more desirous to enioy the more doubtfull it is to lose It neither hath measure in hopes nor meane in feares hoping the best vpon the least surmises and fearing the worst vpon the weakest grounds And yet both fearing and hoping at one time neither feare with-holdeth hope from the highest attempts nor hope can strengthen feare against the smallest suspitions but maugre all feares loues hopes will mount to the highest pitch and maugre all hopes loues feares will stoupe to the lowest downe-come To bid thee therefore hope is not to forbid thee to feare and though it may be for the best that thy Lord is taken from thee yet sith it may also be for the worst that will neuer content thee Thou thinkest hope doth enough to keepe thy heart from breaking feare little enough to force thee to no more than weeping sith it is as likely that he hath bene taken away vpon hatred by his enemies as vpon loue by his friends For hitherto sayest thou his friends haue all failed him and his foes preuailed against him and as they would not defend him aliue are lesse likely to regard him dead so they that thought one life too little to take from him are not vnlikely after death to wrecke new rage vpon him And though this doubt were not yet whosoeuer hath taken him hath wronged me in not acquainting me with it for to take away mine without my cōsent can neither be offered with out iniurie nor suffered without sorrow And as for Iesus he was my Iesus my Lord and my Maister He was mine because he was giuen vnto me borne for me he was the author of my being and so my father he was the worker of my well doing and therefore my Sauiour he was the price of my ransome and thereby my Redeemer he was my Lord to command me my maister to instruct me my pastor to feede me He was mine because his loue was mine and when he gaue me his loue he gaue me himselfe sith loue is no gift except the giuer be giuen with it yea it is no loue vnlesse it be as liberall of that it is as of that it hath Finally if the meate be mine that I eate the life mine wherewith I liue or he mine all whose life labours and death were mine then dare I boldly say that Iesus is mine sith on his body I feed by his loue I liue and to my good without any neede of his owne hath he liued laboured and dyed And therefore though his Disciples though the Centurion yea though the Angels haue taken him they haue done me wrong in defeating me of my right sith I neuer meane to resigne my interest But what if he hath taken away himselfe wilt thou also lay iniustice to his charge Though he be thine yet thine to command not to obey thy Lord to dispose of thee and not to be by thee disposed and therefore as it is no reason that the seruant should be maister of his maisters secrets so might he and peraduenture so hath he remoued without acquainting thee whither reuiuing himselfe with the same power with which he raised thy dead brother and fulfilling the words that he often vttered of his resurrection It may be thou wilt
busie about him and notwithstanding all this hast thou now forgotten him His countenance auoucheth it his voice assureth it his wounds witnesse it thine owne eyes behold it and doest thou not yet beleeue that this is Iesus Are thy sharpe seeing eyes become so weake sighted that they are dazeled with the Sunne and blinded with the light But there is such a shower of teares betweene thee and him and thine eyes are so dimmed with weeping for him that though thou seest the shape of a man yet thou canst not discerne him Thy eares also are still so possessed with the dolefull Eccho of his last speeches which want of breath made him vtter in a dying voice that the force and loudnesse of his liuing words maketh thee imagine it the voyce of a stranger and therefore as he seemeth vnto thee so like a stranger he asketh this question of thee O woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou O desire of the heart and onely ioy of her soule why demandest thou why she weepeth or for whom she seeketh But a while since she saw thee her onely hope hanging on a tree with thy head full of thornes thy eyes full of teares thy eares full of blasphemies thy mouth full of gall thy whole person mangled and disfigured and doest thou aske her why she weepeth Scarce three dayes passed she beheld thy armes and legges racked with violent puls thy hands and feete boared with nayles thy side wounded with a speare thy whole bodie torne with stripes and goared in blood and doest thou her onely griefe aske her why she weepeth She beheld thee vpon the Crosse with many teares and most lamentable cryes yeelding vp her ghost that is thy owne ghost and alas asketh thou why she weepeth And now to make vp her miserie hauing but one 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 she now standeth hopelesse of all helpe and demandest thou why she weepeth and for whom she seeketh Full well thou knowest that thee onely she desireth thee onely she loueth all things beside thee she contâ—mneth and canst thou finde in thy heart to aske her whom she seeketh To what end ô sweet Lord doest thou thus suspend her longings prolong her desires and martyr her with these tedious delayes Thou onely art the fortresse of her faint faith the anker of her wauering hope the very center of her vehement loue to thee she trusteth vpon thee she relyeth and of her selfe she wholly despaireth She is so earnest in seeking thee that she can neither seeke nor thinke any other thing and all her wits are so busied in musing vpon thee that they draw all attention from her senses wherewith they should discerne thee Being therefore so attentiue to that she thinketh what maruell though she marke not whom she seeth and sith thou hast so perfect notice of her thought and she so little power to discouer thee by sense why demandest thou for whom she seeketh or why she weepeth Doest thou looke that she should answere for thee I seeke or for thee I weepe vnlesse thou wilt vnbend her thoughts that her eyes may fully see thee or while thou wilt be concealed doest thou expect that she should be able to know thee But ô Mary not without cause doth he aske thee this question Thou wouldest haue him aliue and yet thou weepest because thou doest not find him dead Thou art some that he is not here and for this very cause thou shouldest rather be glad For if he were dead I it is most likely he should be here but not being here it is a signe that he is aliue He reioyceth to be out of his graue and thou weepest because he is not in it He will not lie any where and thou sorrowest for not knowing where he lyeth Alas why be wailest thou his glory and iniurest the reuiuing of his body as the robbery of his coarse He being aliue for what dead man mournest thou and he being present whose absence doest thou lament But she taking him to be a Gardener said vnto him O Lord if thou hast carried him from hence tell me where thou hast layd him and I will take him away O wonderfull effects of Maries loue if loue be a languor how liueth she by it If loue be her life how dyeth she in it If it bereaued her of sense how did she see the Angels If it quickened her of sense why knew she not Iesus Doest thou seeke for one whom when thou hast found thou knowest not or if thou dost know him when thou findest him why doest thou seek when thou hast him Behold Iesus is come and the partie whom thou seekest is he that talketh with thee ô Mary call vp thy wits and open thine eyes Hath thy Lord liued so long laboured so much died with such paine and shed such showers of bloud to come to no higher preferment than to be a Gardener And hast thou bestowed such cost so much sorrow and so many teares for no better man than a silly Gardener Alas is the sorry Garden the best inheritance that thy loue can affoord him or a Gardeners office the highest dignitie that thou wilt allow him It had bene better he had liued to haue bene Lord of thy Castle than with his death so dearely to haue bought so small a purchase But thy mistaking hath in it a further mysterie Thou thinkest not amisse though thy sight be deceiued For as our first Father in the state of grace and innocencie was placed in the Garden of pleasure and 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 likenesse that the beginnings of glorie might resemble the entrance of innocencie and grace And as the Gardener was the fall of mankinde the parent of sinne and authour of death so is this Gardener the raiser of our ruines the ransome of our offences and the restorer of life In a Garden Adam was deceiued and taken captiue by the deuill In a Garden Christ was betrayed and taken prisoner by the Iewes In a Garden Adam was condemned to earne his bread with the sweat of his browes And after a free gift of the bread of Angels in the last Supper in a Garden Chrid did earne it vs with a bloudy sweate of his whole body By disobedient eating the fruite of a tree our right to that Garden was by Adam forfeited and by the obedient death of Christ vpon a tree a farre better right is now recouered When Adam had sinned in the Garden of pleasure he was there apparelled in dead beasts skinnes that his garment might betoken his graue and his liuery of death agree with his condemnation to die And now to defray the debt of that sinne in this Garden Christ lay clâ—d in the dead mans shrowd
the first is counted vaine So is' t praise-worthy to conceit the latter The grauest wits that most graue works expect The qualitie not quantitie respect The smallest sparke will cast a burning heate Base cottages may harbour things of worth Then though this volume be nor gay nor great Which vnder your Protection I set forth Do not with coy disdainefull ouersight Deny to reade this well meant orphans mite And since his father in his infancie Prouided patrons to protect his heire But now by Deaths none-sparing crueltie Is turn'd an orphan to the open ayre I his vnworthy foster-sire haue darde To make you Patronizer of this warde You glorying issues of that glorious dame Whose life is made the subiect of deaths will To you succeeding hopes of mothers fame I dedicate this fruite of South wels quill He for your vnkles comfort first it writ I for your consolation priat and send you it Then daine in kindnesse to accept the worke Which be in kâ—ndnesse writ I send to you The which till now clouded obscure did lurke But now opposed to ech Readers view May yeeld commodious fruite to euerie wight That feeles his conscience prickt by Parcaes spight But if in ought I haue presumptuous bene My pardon-crauing pen implores your fauour If any fault in print be past vnseene To let it passe the Printer is the crauer So shall he thanke you and I by duty bound Pray that in you may all good gifts abound S. W. The Authour to the Reader IF the Athenians erected an altar to an vnknowne god supposing he would be pleased with their deuotion though they were ignorant of his name better may I presume that my labour may be gratefull being deuoted to such men whose names I know and whose fame I haue heard though vnacquainted with their persons I intended this comfort to him whom a lamenting sort hath left most comfortlesse by him to his friends who haue equall portions in this sorrow But I think the Philosophers rule will be heere verified that it shall be last in execution which was first designed and he shall last enioy the effect which was first owner of the cause Thus let Chance be our rule since Choice may not and into which of your hands it shall fortune much honour and happinesse may it carry with it and leaue in their hearts as much ioy as it found sorrow Where I borrow the person of an Historie as well touching the dead as the yet suruiuing I build vpon report of of such Authours whose hoarie heades challenge credit and whose eyes and eares were witnesses of their words To craue pardon for my paine were to slander a friendly office and to wrong their curtesies whom Nobilitie neuer taught to answer affection with anger or to wage dutie with dislike and therefore I humbly present vnto them with as many good wishes as good will can measure from the best meaning mind that hath a willingnesse rather to offoord then to offer due seruice were not the meane as worthlesse as the mind is willing R. S. The Triumphs ouer Death OR A Consolatorie Epistle for troubled minds in the affects of dying friends IF it be a blessing of the vertuous to mourn it is the reward of this to be comforted and he that pronounced the one promised the other I doubt not but that Spirit whose nature is Loue and whose name Comforter as he knowes the cause of our griefe so hath he salued it with supplies of grace powring into your wound no lesse oyle of mercy then wine of iustice yet sith courtesie oweth compassion as a dutie to the afflicted and nature hath ingrafted a desire to finde it I thought good to shew you by proofe that you carry not your cares alone though the loade that lieth on others can little lighten your burthen her deceasse can not but sit nearer your heart whom you had taken so deepe into a most tender affection That which dieth to our loue being alwayes aliue to our sorrow you would haue bene kind to a lesse louing sister yet finding in her so many worths to be loued your loue wrought more earnestly vpon so sweete a subiect which now being taken from you I presume your griefe is no lesse then your loue was the one of these being euer the measure of the other the Scripture moueth vs to bring forth our teares on the dead a thing not offending grace and a right to reason For to be without remorse in the death of friends is neither incident nor conuenient to the nature of man hauing too much affinitie to a sauage temper and ouerthrowing the ground of all piety which is a mutuall sympathie in each of others miseries but as not to feele sorrow in sorrowfull chances is to want sense so not to beare it with moderation is to want vnderstanding the one brutish the other effeminate and he hath cast his account best that hath brought his summe to the meane It is no lesse fault to exceede in sorrow then to passe the limits of competent mirth sith excesse in either is a disorder in passion though that sorrow of curtesie be lesse blamed of men because if it be a fault it is also a punishment at once causing and tasting torments It is no good signe in the sicke to be senslesse in his paines as bad it is to be vnusually sensitiue being both either herbingers or attendants of death Let sadnes sith it is a due to the dead testifie a feeling of pitty not any pang of passion and bewray rather a tender then a deiected minde Mourne as that your friends may finde you a liuing brother all men a discreet mourner making sorrow a signell not a superiour of reason some are so obstinate in their owne will that euen time the naturall remedy of the most violent agonies cannot by any delayes asswage their griefe they entertaine their sorrow with solitary muses and feede their sighes and teares they pine their bodies and draw all pensiue consideration to their minds nursing their heauinesse with a melancholy humour as though they had vowed themselues to sadnesse vnwilling it should end till it had ended them wherein their folly sometimes findeth a ready effect that being true which Salomon obserued Pro 1.25 that as a moath the garment and a worme the wood so doth sadnesse perswade the heart But this impotent softnes fitteth not sober mindes We must not make a liues profession of a seuen nights duety nor vnder colour of kindnesse to other be vnnaturall to our selues if some in their passion ioyned their thoughts into such labyrinths that neither wit knoweth nor will careth how long or how farre they wander in them it discouereth their weakenesse but discerneth our meditation It is for the most the fault not of all but of the silliest women who next to the funerall of their friends deeme it a second widowhood to force their teares and make it their happinesse to seeme most vnhappy as though they
only all he had but himselfe also to buy them thought now high time to bring her vnto his bargaine finding her growne to a Margarites full perfection She stood vpon too low a ground to take view of her Sauiours most desired countenance and forsaking the earth with Zacheus Luk. 9. she climed vp into the tree of life there to giue her soule a full repast of her beauties She departed with Iepthaes daughter from her fathers house but to passe some moneths in wandring about the mountaines of this troublesome world which being now expired she was after her pilgrimage by couenant to returne to be offered vnto God in a gratefull sacrifice and to ascend out of this desart like a stemme of perfume out of burned spices Let not therefore the crowne of her vertue be the foile of her constancie nor the end of her combers a renewing of yours But sith God was well pleased to call her she not displeased to go and you the third twist to make a triple cord saying Our Lord gaue and our Lord tooke away as it hath pleased our Lord so hath it fallen out the name of our Lord be blessed Clara ducum soboles superis noua sedibus hospes Clausit in offenso tramite pura diem Dotibus ornauit superauit moribus ortum Omnibus vna prior par fuit vna sibi Lux genus ingenio generi lux inclita virtus Virtutisque fuit mens generosa decus Mors muta at properata dies orbémque relinquit Prolem matre verum coniuge flore genus Occidit à se alium tulit hic occasus in ortum Viuat ad occiduas non reditura vices OF Howards stemme a glorious branch is dead Sweete lights eclipsed were at her decease In Buckhurst line she gracious issue spread She heau'n with two with foure did earth increase Fame honour grace gaue ayre vnto her breath Rest glory ioyes were sequels of her death Death aymde too high he hit too choise a wight Renown'd for birth for life for liuely parts He kild her cares he brought her worths to light He robd our eyes but hath enricht our hearts Lot let out of her Arke a Noyes Doue But many hearts were Arkes vnto her loue Grace Nature Fortune did in her conspire To shew a proofe of their vnited skill Sly Fortune euer false did soone retire But double Grace supplied false Fortunes ill And though she raught not to Fortunes pitch In Grace and Vertue few were found so rich Heauen of this heauenly Pearle is now possest In whose lustre was the blaze of honours light Whose substance pure of euery good the best Whose price the crowne of highest right Whose praise to be her selfe whose greatest blisse To liue to loue to be where now she is FINIS SHORT RVLES OF Good life by R. S. AN CHO RA. SPEI LONDON Printed for W. Barret TO MY DEARE AFFECTED FRIEND M. D. S. Gentleman AS there is a method and order to be obserued in all artes for the practitioners more facile attayning the effects of his endeuours so is there no lesse vniformity to be propounded in ayming at the true course of vertue the rules whereof albeit they are directorie to the sum of all happinesse yet do worldly courser studies entertaine far more followers whose erring iudgements entangled with dull ignorance cannot rightly preferre vertue nor effectually censure vice For what cleare sighted iudgement will rely eternall affaires vpon the gliding slippernesse and running streame of this vncertaine life or who but one of distempered wits would offer to dissemble with the Amightie decipherer of all thoughts in pretending vertue and pursuing vanitie It is a most seruile disposition that will yeeld the prerogatiue of the soule vnto the body and giue flesh and bloud libertie to determine the course of this life which are in manner but the barke and rinde of a man being that the soule is the soueraigne part ordained to an high end of so peerelesse dignitie and such estimate that not all the gold and treasure of the world nor anything in heauen of lesse worth then the bloud and life of Almighty God was able to buy it Let vs not then iniuriously depriue our soules of the due interest of grace and vertue but account this vaine world with the wares thereof sutable to the shop of idle Marchandise vnto which we haue already beene too long customers the trafficke being toile the wealth trash the gaine miserie and the whole contents thereof detriments in grace pietie and vertue Yours in firme affection R. S. To the Christian Reader IF vertue by thy guide True comfort is thy path And thou secure from erring steps That leade to vengeance wrath Not widest open dore Nor spacious wayes she goes To straight and narrow gate and way She cals she leades she shewes She cals the fewest come She leades the humble sprited She shewes them rest at rases end Soules rest to heauen inuited T is she that offers most T is she that most refuse T is she preuēts the broad way plagues Which most do wilfull chuse Do chuse the wide the broad The left hand way and gate These vice applauds these vertue loaths And teacheth hers to hate Her wayes are pleasant wayes Vpon the right hand side And heauenly happie is that soule Takes vertue for her guide R. S. A Preparatiue to prayer WHen thou doest talke with God by prayer I meane Lift vp pure hands lay downe all lusts desires Fixe thoughts on heauen present a conscience cleane Such holy balme to mercies throne aspires Confesse faults guilt craue pardon for thy sinne Tread holy pathes call grace to guide therein It is the spirit with reuerence must obey Our makers will to practise what he taught Make not the flesh thy counsell when thou pray T is enemie to euery vertuous thought It is the foe we daily feed and cloath It is the prison that the soule doth loath Euen as Elias mounting to the skie Did cast his mantle to the earth behind So when the heart presents the prayer on high Exclude the world from traffique with the mind Lips neare to God and ranging heart within Is but vaine babling and conuerts to sinne Like Abraham ascending vp the hill To sacrifice his seruants left below That he might act the great commanders will Without impeach to his obedient blow Euen so the soule remote from earthly things Should mount saluations shelter mercies wings The effects of prayer THe Sunne by prayer did ceasse his course and staid The hungrie Lions fawnd vpon their pray A walled passage through the sea it made From furious fire it banisht heate away It shut the heauens three yeares from giuing raine It opened heauens and clouds powrd downe againe Ensamples of our Sauiour OVr Sauiour patterne of true holinesse Continuall praide vs by ensample teaching When he was baptized in the wildernesse In working miracles and in his preaching Vpon the mount in garden grones of death At his last Supper
I can then discharge this account so shall I be either crowned in eternall ioy or condemned to perpetuall damnation Rules following of this Foundation FIrst I must vse all things in this life as another bodies goods for which I must be accountable to the vttermost farthing Secondly the more I haue the greater and harder will be mine account of the good vse thereof and therefore the more warie ought I to be in disposing of it Thirdly let me often consider what bodily ghostly and externall gifts of God I haue receiued what in baptisme and at other times I haue promised how profitable and necessarie good works I haue omitted how many grieuous and hainous sinnes I haue committed how often I haue lost the grace of God and my right to heauen Finally how much honour and how many soules I haue robbed from God And these things being well perused let me seeke to make that recompence satisfaction for them which I would wish to haue made when death shall summon me before my heauenly Iudge to giue a most strict account of them The fruite of these Foundations consisteth in the often considering of them as most necessarie points and as it were the very first principles of good life vpon the vnderstanding and practising whereof dependeth my progresse in vertue and therefore I must very often read them and examine my selfe whether my mind and actions be answerable vnto them How we ought to be affected towards God First of the consideration of Gods presence THese Foundations being laid it behooueth me further to descend to the notice of my dutie to God my neighbour and my selfe And first concerning my dutie vnto God a very fit meane I can vse to please him is to beare alway in mind his presence for sure it is that as God he is euery where in substance power and presence as in him I liue moue and am as the Scripture saith because he worketh with me in all my deeds thoughts and words in so much that as the beame of the Sunne the heate of the fier or the wetnesse of the water so depend I of God and should he but withdraw himselfe from me one moment I should forth with turne into nothing and therefore it is a very forcible meanes for my good to do all things as if I did see God visibly working with me in euery action as in truth he doth and knowing that what words thoughts or deeds soeuer passe me and what part of my bodie or mind soeuer I vse Gods concourse and helpe therunto is more then mine owne I must be afraid to vse them in any such thing wherein I might offend him but rather seeke to do all things so that they be worthy of his presence helpe and assistance in them and if I can get a custome or habite to remember still the presence and assistance of God as by vse easily I may I shall with due regard reuerence consideration abstaine from such behauiour as I thinke may be any way offensiue vnto him I shall also get a great facilitie in turning my mind and heart to him and in talking often with him by prayers which are the fuell of deuotion Other Affections that we ought to haue vnto God SEcondly I must endeuour to to kindle in my selfe these affections towards God The first Affection FIrst of a sincere and tender loue of him as the fountaine of all beautie and felicity of which loue I may ghesse by these signes By often thinking and an earnest desire of God by sorrow of his absence and contentment in consideration of his presence By my diligence in performing without delay or tediousnesse that which pleaseth best my Sauiour and by finding such comfort in doing it that it grieueth me when for things of lesse value and goodnesse I am enforced to deferre it By withdrawing all disordred loue from all creatures and especially my selfe and by louing nothing but in God and for God By seeking to increase this loue by consideration of Gods goodnesse and his daily benefit By taking delight in Gods seruice or things tending thereunto not because I finde contentment in it but because it is to Gods glorie to the which I would haue all things addressed By taking tribulations or troubles of body or minde patiently yea and with ioy knowing that they come by Gods permission and thinking them as fauours which he affoordeth to his dearest friends The second Affection THe second affection is a reuerent and dutifull feare of God which I may gather by these signes If when I remember the presence and maiestie of God I frame both my body and minde to reuerence and honour him with all humility and decency fearing lest by any vnseemely and light behauiour I should seeme to be contemptuous and carelesse of my dutie towards him If I finde great feare to do any thing that may displease God not onely mortally but euen venially and be withall â—â—â—y wâ—tchfull to auoide the least offâ—nce lest â—ny frailtie which is great should draw me to it and so to farther inconuenience If I feare to be banished from him or forsaken for my sinnes and endeuour what I may to preferre his loue and fauour towards me The third Affection THe third affection is zeale of Gods honour and desire that he should be duely serued and obeyed of all his creatures of which I may iudge by these signes First if I finde a griefe in my selfe and am heartily fory when I see or heare of other folkes faults or thinke on mine owne considering how by them a base and wretched creature dishonoreth and displeaseth his Creator in steade of him seruing his professed enemies the flesh the world and the diuell The second signe is an earnest desire to helpe my neighbour or mine owne soule out of sinne by praying for this effect and refusing no conuenient labour to accomplish the same so that my Lord God be no more or at least wise offended then before The fourth Affection THE fourth affection is to endeuour as neare as I can to take occasion of euery thing that I heare see or thinke of to praise God as if the things were good then to praise God that he gaue grace to do them and if the things were euill to thanke God that either he preserued me or others from them or at least hath not suffered me to continue still in them or to be in his wrath condemned for them Also I must consider and with my inward eye see God in euery creature how he worketh in all things to my benefit and weigh how in all creatures both within and without me he sheweth his presence by keeping them in their being and course of nature for without him they would presently turne to nothing and I must assure my selfe that in all this he hath as well regard to my good as to others and therefore all creatures must be as it were bookes to me to reade therein the loue presence prouidence and
health As in health I ought to be obedient to my superiours and by diligent obseruation shew my duty towards God so in sicknesse I must be contented to be ruled by the Phisitions and such as haue care of me in things belonging to my bodily health and I must perswade my selfe that in that time I haue one chiefe rule to obserue in being patient and tractable which in such a case doth counteruaile the valour of all my vsuall exercises I must also assure my selfe that I do God good seruice when I do any necessary thing and take any conuenient recreation that may further my health I must take heede of being 〈◊〉 or froward which sicknesse for the most part doth cause thinking that how much paine soeuer I suffer Christ suffered farre more for my sake and farre more had I suffered â—â—ng since in hell if God had dealt with me according to my deserts It is good also to haue my will and testament in a readinesse before I fall into any extremitie of sicknesse that a certaine order be set downe for all temporall matters that I be not combred with them when it standeth me most vpon to looke to my soule Of the care of seruants I Must see that they lie not out in the nights but that I may know what becommeth of them I must not keepe such in my house as are swearers liers gamesters or such as are giuen to any notorious vice vnlesse there be great likelihood and certaine hope of their amendment I must procure by what meanes conueniently I may that they haue necessary instruction in matters appertaining to the saluation of their soules I must take speciall heed of any secret meetings messages or more then ordinary liking betweene the men and women of my familie I must see that the men haue no haunt of women to their chambers lest lewdnesse be cloaked vnder some other pretence I must haue great regard that my chiefest officers and men of most account be trustie persons of good life and example because the rest will follow as they shall leade them I must seeke as much as may be that my seruants be not idle nor suffered to vse any great gaming for by the one they shall fall into lewde life and by the other into swearing vnthriftinesse robbing and such vices I must see that they haue their wages at due times lest for want they fall into bad courses When they do not their duties I must rebuke them agreeable to the qualitie of their fault and not winke at great matters lest they waxe carelesse and bold to do the like offences againe yet must my rebukes be tempered with grauitie and mildnesse Of the care of Children I Must thinke that my Children so long as they are vnder age and in my power or custodie ought to be kept as my selfe I hauing in this time to answer for them I must take heed that they come not amongst such seruants as are like to teach them to sweare or any other vice and I must giue speciall warning that none do it I must set honest and sound persons to gouerne them that may also teach them vertue and goodnesse yet not trusting too much to my seruants care but that I my selfe haue a speciall eye ouer them and take an account what they do I must vse them to deuotion by little and little not cloying them with too much at once but rather seeking to make them take a delight in it I must instruct them in the points of faith and true religion and teach them the Lords prayer the Creede and the ten Commandements I must keepe them alwayes occupied in some profitable things allotting them according to their age more or lesse time of recreation I must oftentimes remember vnto them the passions and sufferings of Christ for sinne with the benefit of his death and glorious resurrection I must breake them from their wills and punish them as they deserue yet remembring also that they are yong and not keeping them in too much subiection which may breed in them base and seruile minds and make their loue lesse towards me and I neuer ought to beate any child in mine anger I must procure that they be taught such exercises and qualities as are fit for those of their degree and yet haue chiefe care that good and honest persons be about them I must not vse them to vaine dresses and costly apparell but rather often shew them the vanitie thereof yet must they not be too straite kept in that or any other thing which they are afterward to haue lest the being too much barred from it make them more eager to haue it when they come to enioy it at their owne will I must vse them to giue almes to make much of the poore and to vse reuerence to aged persons and spirituall men I must vse them to reade good bookes such as are fittest for their capacitie and see them kept from vaine bookes of loue and such like idle discourses that do peruert the minds of youth oftentimes for all their ensuing time after I must hearten them as they grow in yeares to suffer aduersity and to digest griefe especially in Gods cause and a good quarrell telling them the examples of others and how good a thing patience and costancie is When they are fit to go to schoole I must procure that they haue discret and calme teachers such as are not cholerike hastie or curst lest they take dislike and tediousnesse in learning for they must be rather wonne vnto it by praise and emulation of others then by bayting and stripes I must see that they be taught such ciuilitie curtesie and complements as their degree and the time requireth and frame them as much as may be to be gentle humble and affable euen to the meanest rebuking them for angry and sharpe words or disdainefull behauiour euen to their inferiors I must not suffer the boyes and girles to be much together especially out of sight after eight or nine yeares of age lest they fall to vnhappinesse Likewise my daughters must not be amongst the men nor my sonnes amongst the women When they come to such age that they must of force be in many companies I must procure some sound and honest persons to be for the most part with them to enforme me of their courses I must make them in any wise to beware of lewd conuersation which is the ouerthrow of youth and therefore cause this point to be beaten into them by good and zealous men I must neuer assure or marrie them vntill they be of sufficient age to make their owne choise and frame their liking neither force them to any match lest they curse me all their liues after as it often happeneth An order how to spend euery day IN time of health houres of going to bed and rising may be either nine and fiue or ten and sixe or according to the strength or weaknesse of euery mans body so they
by seruing and prouiding things for euery part thereof If we spend so much time in feeding refreshing and reposing the same If the greatest portion of our reuenewes be they neuer so large be consumed in the meates pompe sports and pleasures thereof how much more ought we to seeke as many helpes seruices and purueyers for our soule for whose onely sake our bodie was giuen and of whose good the welfare of the body onely proceedeth Thirdly the necessitie and poise of this care of our soule may be gathered of this that all other matters are intreated with men or some other creatures but this businesse of our soule with God himselfe who by how much he is nobler worthier then any of his creatures so much more is the weight of this matter and cannot be dealt with any without him and so much more diligence ought there to be employed therein especially in this time wherein God is still ready to further our endeuours in this behalfe whereas when time is expired condemne he may for our negligence or reward vs for our carefulnesse but not helpe vs any more to alter the state of our soule be it neuer so miserable Fourthly we may gather how materiall and important this matter is by the life of Christ and his Saints who withdrawing themselues from all other worldly affaires thought it work enough to attend to this businesse of the soule and whosoeuer at this day are honoured in Gods Church they are honoured onely in this that they haue with a glorious conclusion happily and constantly accomplished this businesse to Gods glorie and their owne saluation and who so considereth the intollerable tormâ—â—ts of Martyrs the painefull agonies conflicts rough stormes and troubles of all Gods Saints and doth remember withall that they vndertooke them for no other respect but onely for the better bringing this businesse of their soule to an end it will soone appeare how waighty a thing and how precious the saluation of the soule is which they did thinke nothing too deare bought with all the miseries sorrowes and paines that this world could affoord Let vs also consider that whatsoeuer moued them to such care and earnestnesse in this behalfe hath no lesse place in vs doubtlesse then in them seeing that our soule is as deare bought as much worth and created to as great glorie as theirs the danger of our saluation rather more then any way lesse then theirs God hath as much right in vs as in thâ—â— and we as many titles of bond and dutie to serue him as they Finally we are assaulted by the same enemies enuironed with the like hazardes and subiect to as many yea more occasions of sinne and allurements to damnation then they Who therefore seeth not that we are in euery respect to account the care of our soules as important and necessarie to vs as euer it hath bene to any Wherefore let not the wise man glory in his wisedome nor the strong man in his might nor the rich man in his riches saith God by his Prophet Ieremie 9. But let him that glorieth glorie in this that he knoweth me for I am the onely Lord that worketh mercy iudgement and iustice vpon the earth and these things please me saith the Lord. As who would say it is follie and vanitie to glotie and reioyce in any other thing then in the knowledge and seruice of God and procuring mercy and mild iudgement for our soules The second Consideration How we ought to arme our minds against temptations that happen when we seeke earnestly to serue God FIrst seeing this businesse of our soule is of so great moment he that earnestly goeth about the same must offer himselfe vp vnto God and be most ready to endure constantly all the dangers combers and difficulties that shall happen and resolue neuer by Gods grace to be dismayed and beaten backe from his purpose by any trouble or encounter whatsoeuer knowing that glorious and honorable enterprises can neuer be atchieued without many contradictions Wherefore let him perswade himselfe that when he hath setled his mind seriously to follow this businesse Hell it selfe and all the enemies of God and mans soule will conspire against him The flesh to allure him to delights of the senses and to recall to the vomit of his abandoned pleasures The world to entice him with pompes and vanities with ministring occasion of sinne and prouoking by euill examples Yea if that will not serue by terrifying him with persecutions extortions obloquies slanders and torments and with all kinde of disgrace Finally the diuell a professed enemie to all that take care of their soules will seeke to intrap him with a thousand traines passions and subtill temptations leauing nothing that he thinketh may remoue a man from these endeuours tending to his saluation Secondly the case standing thus let that saying of Scripture come to our mind My sonne comming to the seruice of God stand in iustice and feare and prepare thy soule vnto temptation Wherefore he that entreth into the way of life must remember that he is not come to a play pastime or pleasure but to a continuall rough battaile and fight against most vnplacable enemies And let him resolue himselfe neuer in this world to look for quiet and peace no not so much as for any truce for a moment of time but arme himselfe for a perpetuall combat and rather thinke of a multitude of happie victories which by Gods grace he may attaine then of any repose or quietnesse from the rage and assaults of his enemies Let him see and peruse the patterne of his Captaines course who from his birth to his death was in a restlesse battaile persecuted in his swathling cloutes by Herod annoyed the rest of his infancy by banishment wandring and neede In the flower of his age slandered hated pursued whipped crucified and most barbarously misused In the same sort were all his Apostles and all his principall souldiers handled for whom he loueth he chastiseth and proueth like gold in the fornace And therefore no man must thinke it a new thing to be tempted and troubled when he once runneth a vertuous course contrary to the liking of his enemies For The Disciple is not aboue his maister nor the seruant aboue his Lord who as we see had the same intreaty Thirdly lest we should be agaste and discouraged at the expectation and feare of so many discomforts and the vncessant malice of so spitefull enemies let vs remember the words of Elizeus That more stand with vs then against vs. Against the corruption of nature we haue grace Against the Diuell we haue God who will neuer suffer vs to be tempted aboue our force and strength Against the power of hell we haue the prayers of the faithfull Against the miseries of the body we haue the spirituall comfort of the minde which God allotteth in such measure as our necessity requireth and if there were nothing else this were enough to make troubles welcome in
this case for that thereby we purchase an inestimable glory for a short passing combat the comfort whereof neither eye hath seene eare hath heard nor any heart conceiued And on the other side by the same we auoide other intollerable and eternall torments of hell the least whereof passeth all those that can be suffered in the world and therefore is our change most happie that by the paine of a short life auoide the misery of an eternall death and deserue the vnspeakeable happinesse of the life euerlasting For this cause saith Saint Iames Thinke you it all ioy my brethren when you shall fall into diuerse temptations knowing that the triall of your faith worketh patience and patience hath a perfect worke that you may be perfect and entire failing in nothing The third Consideration Of the watchfulnesse and attention required in the care of our soule SEeing this waightie affaire of our soules health is hemmed in and beset with so manifest perils and troubles it standeth vs vpon most watchfully to take heede to euery thought word and deed that passeth lest through the number and subtilties of enemies traines we be often entrapped for it is hard to touch pitch and not be defiled to liue in flesh a spirituall life to conuerse in the world without worldly affections Wherefore as a Legate that is to deliuer his embassage before a great presence of Peeres and Nobles hath not onely regard to his matter but also to his words voyee and actions that all be sutable to his message so we hauing to worke this exploit of our soule before God and all the court of heauen and also before the eyes of those that lay waite to take vs in any trippe ought to be very warie euen in our least thoughts and deeds for feare lest we offend the presence of God and giue occasion of triumph and victorie vnto our deadly foes And for this saith the Scripture Keepe thy selfe very watchfully Secondly to attaine this diligent and attentiue care in all our actions let vs consider what men vse to do that carry great treasure by places haunted with theeues how warily they looke to their way how often they turne about them how many times they prepare themselues sometimes to fight and other whiles to runne away Likewise how warily he walketh and how carefull he is neuer to stumble nor fall that carieth in each hand a thinne glasse of precious liquour through stony and rough places and when we haue marked these mens carefulnesse in these inferior matters let vs remember that much more respect is necessarie in vs whose treasure is more precious then any worldly iewels and yet do we carrie it in earthen and fraile vessels in the middest of so many theeues as there are passions and disordered appetites in vs as there are Diuels in waite for vs and as there are stumbling stones and occasions of sinne set round about vs to procure this attention the most effectuall helpes are these First to thinke how carefull we should be to do all things well if this present day were the last that euer we should liue in this world as peraduenture it may be and that at the end thereof we were to be conuented before a most seuere and rigorous Iudge who according to the desert of that dayes actions should passe the sentence of life or death vpon vs. Secondly to remember that God is in his owne substance power and true presence in euery place and seeth both our outward and inward actions more then we our selues and therefore let vs seeke in euery thing so to behaue our selues that we feare not to haue God a witnesse and beholder of all that we do thinke or say and let vs aske him grace to do nothing vnworthie his fight Thirdly we must consider the carelesnesse of our life past remembring how often we haue fought against God with his owne weapons and abused the force that he hath affoorded in euery part of our body and minde and therefore as Saint Paul warneth As we haue exhibited our members to serue vncleannesse and iniquitie so let vs now exhibite our members to serue iustice vnto sanctification Fourthly to procure this attention it is good oftentimes in the day when we ate about our ordinary actions to vse godly prayers and some verses out of the Psalmes with petition vnto God for his grace aide and assistance for such godly exercises are fewell of deuotion causes of attention foode of the soule preparatiues against temptations and assured helpes to attaine any vertues Therefore it is good to vse them in lieu of sightes and in the beginning of euery chiefe action directing therein our intention and action to Gods glory and seruice and our owne foules good health and fafetie The last Consideration Of the necessitie of perseuerance in continuing watchfull ouer our selues FIrst seeing the summe and complement of all vertue consisteth in the continuance and progresse of it perseuerance of all other things is most necessarie in this businesse to the better attaining whereof these considerations may preuaile First to consider by whose instinct and motion I beganne to take speciall care of my soule and I shall finde that being a thing contrary to the inclination of flesh and bloud and aboue the reach of nature to resolue vpon so painefull and warie a course in hope of a reward and ioy that faith doth promise that I say God onely and no other was the Authour and moouer of my heart vnto it and therefore vnlesse I meane directly to resist God and runne a contrary course to that which he prescribeth I must resolue my selfe to perseuer vnto the end in that which I haue happily begun Secondly the end of this enterprise was to serue God to bewaile my former sinnes and to worke by Gods helpe the saluation of mine owne soule and when I resolued vpon these meanes I was free from passion and as well able to chuse things conuenient as I could at any other time and wholly bent to do that thing which was for my greatest good Wherefore seeing I can neuer aime at a better end nor be in better plight to make a sounder choise my surest way is to perseuer still in my resolution to the end neuer altering my designment vnlesse it be to further my course Thirdly I must consider who is that that would make me forsake it for if God moued me vnto it doubtlesse it is the Diuell would moue me from it for God cannot be contrary to himselfe neither vseth he to alter our minds but onely from euill to good or from good to better therefore vnlesse I meane to yeeld willingly to the Diuell and to follow mine enemies counsell to mine owne perdition I must perseuer vnto the end for with what pretext soeuer the Diuell seeketh to couer his motion sure it is that his drift is to draw me from God and goodnesse and to damne my soule for how can he intend any thing for my good
Father grant me pardon of all my sinnes through the death of thy beloued Sonne Iesus Christ make me to please thee alone grant me to be thy gratefull sonne heire increase in me that iustice whatsoeuer which is giuen me and granted from heauen that I may continue and end my life in the same increase in me that faith which thou hast giuen me kindle my loue of thee and make it more apparent that by thy helpe and the presence of thy grace and the accomplishment of thy holy wil I may obtaine euerlasting life which thou hast promised vs to the end I may praise thee and giue thee thankes in thy kingdome for euer and euer Amen A Prayer to God the Sonne O Thou maker and redeemer of mankind Iesus Christ who saidest I am the way the truth and the life the way in doctrine precept and examples the truth in promises the life in reward I pray thee by thy vnspeakable charitie wherewith thou daignest to imploy thy selfe wholly for our saluation suffer me neuer to wander from thee who art the way neither euer to distrust in thy promises who art the truth and performest whatsoeuer thou doest promise neither to repose or relie on any other thing because thou art eternall life than which there is nothing more to be desired neither in heauen nor in earth By thee haue we learned the true and ready way to eternall saluation lest we should wander any longer in the Labyrinthes of this life Thou didst teach vs exactly how to beleeue what to do what to hope and in whom we ought to rest by thee we haue learned how vnhappie we were borne through our first father Adam by thee we haue learned that there is no hope of saluation except by faith in thee Thou hast taught vs that thou art the onely light that shinest to all men in the desart of this wolrd coÌ„ducting them through the night of their minds from the Egyptian darknesse to that blessed Land which thou promisest vnto the meeke and such as follow thy humility For in vs was nothing but vtter darknesse who neither could see our calamity neither know from whence to seeke the remedie of our misery thou daignedst to enter into the world vouchsafedst to take vpon thee our nature that thy doctrine might disperse the cloud of our ignorance that by thy precepts thou mightst direct our feete in the way of peace by the examples of thy life thou didst limit out a path for vs to immortality and beating it with thy steps thou madest it of a tedious and rough an easie and beaten way So becamest thou vnto vs a way that knoweth no errour in which lest we should be wearied thy bounty with great assured promises vouchsafed to assure vs for who could be wearied that thinketh how in following thy footsteps there is an heritage of eternall life prepared for him Therefore whilst we are in this iourney thou wouldest in stead of a staffe be an assured hope vnto vs whereby we might be sustained Neither was thy goodnesse coÌ„tented herewith but acknowledging the frailty of our natures in the meane space with the comfort of the holy Spirit thou repairest our courages to the end that we may more willingly run vnto thee And as thou being made a way vnto vs driuest away all errour so becoming our truth thou takest away al distrust Finally being made life vnto vs thou giuest heate vnto those that are dead in sinne a life through thy holy Spirit which quickeneth all things vntill all mortality laid aside in the resurrection we may alwaies liue with thee and in thee by reason that thou art vnto vs all in all things For it is eternall life to know the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost to be one true God Wherefore I beseech thee O most mercifull Father to increase faith in me who am thy vnworthie seruant lest at any time I wauer in thy celestiall doctrine increase obedience in me lest I swerue from thy precepts increase constancy that walking in thy waies I neither be allured by the inticements of Satan nor deiected by his terrors but that I may perseuere in thee who art rhe true way to my liues end Increase my faith that possessed of thy promises I may neuer waxe slow in the study of godlinesse but forgetting those things I haue left behind me I may alwaies striue and endeuour for more perfection Increase thy grace in me that daily more and more being mortified my selfe I may liue and be incouraged by thy holy Spirit fearing nothing but thee than whom there is nothing more amiable glorying in none but in thee who art the true glorie of all the Saints wishing nothing but thee than whom there is nothing better desiring nothing but thee who art full and perfect felicitie with the Father and the holy Ghost world without end Amen A prayer to God the holy Ghost HOly Spirit our Aduocate who on Whitsunday didst descend vpon thy Apostles filling their bosomes with charitie grace and wisedome I pray thee by that thy vnspeakable mercie and liberalitie that thou wilt vouchsafe to fill the secrets of my soule with thy grace and water my inward heart with the vnspeakable sweetnesse of thy loue Come holy Ghost from heauen send a beame of thy light Come thou Father of the poore come thou giuer of gifts come thou light of hearts come thou gracious comforter thou sweete guest of my soule my pleasant refresher Come thou Physition of those that faint come thou purger of eies come thou streÌ„gth of the fraile come thou remedie of sinnes come thou doctor of the humble come thou destroyer of the proud come thou excellent ornament of all vertues come thou onely saluation of the dying Come my God adorne a bed for thee in which I may worthily entertaine thee with all thy riches and mercies fill me with the gifts of thy wisdome illuminate me with the benefit of vnderstanding gouerne me with the gift of counsell confirme me with the gift of fortitude instruct me with the gift of science wound me with the gift of pietie and pierce my heart with the gift of thy holy feare O sweet louer of cleane hearts burne inflame all my bowels with the sweete fire of thy loue that being inflamed they may be carried rauished into thee who art the center and finall end of all my good ô sweete louer of â—oly soules since thou art not ignorant that I can do nothing of my selfe nor by my selfe stretch out thy fauorable hand ouer me grant that I may forsake my selfe flie vnto thee mortifie extinguish and dissolue in me whatsoeuer is displeasant vnto thee that in all things thou mayest conforme me vnto thy will that my life hereafter may be a perfect sacrifice in thy sight or rather an offering which may wholly be consumed in the fire of thy loue O who shall giue me the grace that I may at least attaine this chiefe good Looke vpon me ô Lord looke vpon me and see here this thy poore creature my soule sighing after thee day and night how she thirsteth after God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of thy grace When shall I enter into that admirable place of thy Tabernacle that I may attaine thâ— house of my God When wiâ—â— thou fill me with the light of thâ— countenance When shall I bâ— satiate with the presence of thy glory When shall I by thâ—â— meanes be deliuered from aâ—â— temptations and when shall ouercome this frailty of my moâ—talitie O eternall fountaine oâ— light bring me backe againe 〈◊〉 the Abysse of eternall goodnesse by whom I am created that â—ere I may know thee euen as I am knowne of thee and may so loue thee as I am loued by thee that I may see and enioy thee in the societie of all the elect euen as thou also hast seene me from euerlasting Amen FINIS
are kept by the Law and restrained by terrour thereof from open wickednesse Math. 23.13.16.23.25 These hate the Law but professe to loue it Psal 78.36 37. These ashamed of their nakednes couer it with fig-leaues or spiders webs of their own externall righteousnesse Isa 59.5.6 These crie but God heareth them not Isa 1.15 These change their words and workes but not themselues Gen. 4.3 28.8.9 Hos 7.16 These are in the house but as seruants not as children Iohn 8.35.36 Galat. 4.22 c. These go with their lampes but without oile they come to the feast but want the wedding garment Mat. 25 3. 22 11.1◠These are light before the world but darknesse before God Mat. 6.2 5.16 Isa 58.2.3.8 These though they see and know their sicknesse yet like to King Asa they seeke not the Lord in their disease but to the Physitians or with salues and medicines of their own making thinke to cure themselues 2. Chro. 16 12. Ioh 5.40 Hos 5.13 These do not the euill which they loue but the good which they loue not Nū 14.2.4.40 These expect saluation by themselues and their owne righteousnes Rō 10 3. Ier. 2.35 These vnder Moses conduct perish by Gods hand in the desert and come not into the Land of promise These both shall perish and be punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord their portion shall be with the diuels in the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death Mat. 25.30.41 24.51 Iob 13.16 2. Thes 1.8.9 Reue. 20.10.13.15 The Hypocrites hope shall perish Iob 8.13 The reioycing of the wicked is short the ioy of Hypocrites is but a moment Iob 20.5 SAINTS that rightly beleeue and obey Gods word with their vtmost power the friends of the Lord. Psal 119.3.5 10.11 c. These are borne anew not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh or of man but of God therefore they sauour the things of God mind heauenly things being children of Wisedome Ioh. 6.13 3.3 Luke 7.35 These are called and chosen of God are both in of the Church and so continue Ephes 1.4 c. Iob 17.9 In these sinne dieth and righteousnesse reuiueth daily both inwardly and outwardly Rom. 6.2 3 4 c. To these the law is not giuen or it lyeth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on them 1. Tim. 1.9 for they haue the Gospell the Law and Ministerie of the Spirit and Gods word is written in fleshly tables of their hearts within and without by the finger of God and they all behold as in a mirrour the glorie of the Lord with open face and are changed into the same image frō glorie to glorie as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. Cor 33.18 Eze. 11 19 Heb 8.10 These are the right keepers of the Law in spirit which sometime also were kept of the Law til Faith came Psal 119.33 34. Gal. 3.23 25. These loue the Law and professe their loue Psalme 119.97 Rom. 7.22 These haue their nakednesse couered of Christ and by the garments of his righteousnes Reuel 3.18 and 16.15 These call vpon God and he answereth them Ier. 29.12.13 These change both their actions and themselues or rather are changed of the Lord Rom. 12.2 These are no more strangers but children of Gods familie wherein they abide for euer Gal. 4.28 1. Ioh 3 These go to meete the bridegroom with oyle in their lamps are arrayed with the wedding robe Mat. 25.4 These are light both before God and the world Ephes 5.8 Mat. ◠16 Phil. 2.15 These see their sinnes and feele thēselues wounded by those fierie serpents but lift vp their eyes to the serpent of brasse they seek to Christ onely the Physitian of their soules Nūbers 21.8 9. Ioh. 3.14 15. These loue good and desire to do it yet do the euill which they hate Rom. 7.15 These expect saluation onely by Christs righteousnesse not by themselues Phil. 3.9 Rō 3 24.28 These after Moses death are brought by Iesus into the rest of Canaan the rest that remaineth for the people of God Heb. 4.8.9 These shall enter into the ioy of their Lord shall liue and reigne with him in heauen and with his holy Angels for euermore Amen Mat. 25.21.34.46 The Saints shall be preserued for euer Psal 37.28 And men shall say Verily there is fruite for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that iudgeth in the earth Psal 58.11 A prayer vnto God the Father THou that rulest in the highest reignest for euer onely canst do all things God the gouernor of heauen and earth at whose becke all creatures tremble and the pillars of heauen shake O heauenly God perfect workman and Potter I wretch made out of clay or rather of filthy mudde with feare and trembling come before the throne of thy maiestie I acknowledge and confesse my wickednesse I know that I am nothing yea that I am meere abomination and horror in thy sight if thy grace and mercie do faile me without thee I thinke no goodnesse without thee I do no good thing without thee I am a contemptible creeping worme I cannot be saued without thine assistance my saluation dependeth on thy hands I giue thee thanks O God and in especiall for this for that thou hast giuen me that knowledge that I may see and know that I am nothing vnable to do any thing without thee Thou art the Potter I the clay such as thou wilt haue me be such canst thou forme and fashion me if thou makest me blessed thou shewest thy mercy and grace if thou castest me into perdition thou shewest thy iustice and executest thy iudgement neither is it my duty to contradict thee why or for what reason thou doest it For thou hast mercy vpon him whō thou louest these things I meditate with my selfe ô Lord and I feare thy iudgements Since therefore all my safetie and saluation dependeth on thee and consisteth in thy hand and power and sith thou hast shewed thy selfe a mercifull and long-suffering God to the whole world and hast testified the same indeed in that thou wouldest thy onely Sonne Iesus Christ the innocent should die for our offences and expiate our sinnes with his bloud on the Crosse Finally since thou hast taught vs in all our perturbations to call vpon thee and aske thy grace and mercy for that thou wilt giue vs all things which we shall aske in the name of thy Sonne I come vnto thee being drosse and a lumpe of day O mercifull and celestiall Potter beseeching thee most humbly that thou wilt vse thy mercie and make of this vnworthy matter a vessell of eternall glorie Vouchsafe also of thy meere grace to fixe my mind on perfect faith assured hope and chaste and holy loue that being iustified by these thy gifts I may become vpright perfect good and holy according to thy good will both in the midst and end of my life as also at the latter day of iudgement O mercifull