it be hid in the secrets of thy coūtenance Neuertheles this I knowe that it were euell with me if it were not for thee O Lorde and that not only w e thoutward things that belong vnto me but also with the inward things For all my riches God except is but meere pouer tie but thou only art a tresure a parcell of riches that canst nether be chaūged into better nor wurs Thou art he to whom it is not one thing to liue and an other thing to liue happely because thou art thy blessednes thi happines and thou art all one But I whiche am thy creature to whom it is not one thing to liue and an other to liue blessedly and happily all bothe in that I liue and in that I liue happely I ought not to at tribute nor refer it to be receiued of any body but of thy fauour And therfore haue we need of thee but not y u of vs because if we were not at al yet shouldest thou lack nothing of thy goodnes Therfore O lorde it is necessary for vs to stick and cleaue vnto thee that by thy continuall help we may be able to liue holily vertuously and as we ought to liue For with y e waight of our frailnes we are drawn euer downward but by thy gift we are stir red caried vpward we feruent ly desire to ascend we make certain ascensions in our harts lifting thē vpward sing y e sōgs of stars w e y e fire of thy loue I say are we kindled moued to go w e thee Whether go we now vpward vnto y e peace of Ierusalē because I was glad did reioice in those things whice were spoken vnto me we wil go into the hous of our Lorde there hath he placed vs we will haue good things y twe may wil or dsire no thing els but to tari and remain ther for euer But for as much as whiles we be clad with this bo dy we do as it were go a stray are straungers vnto thee we haue not heer an abiding place for euer but we seek for one y t is to come Our abiding place is in heauen Therfore thy fauor and grace being my guide I enter in to the chamber of my hart and sing vnto thee songs of loue my king my God mourning with merueilous sighīgs in this place of my peregrinatiō wheras thy iustices are made my songs And when I remember Ierusalem I extend and stretch forth toward it the sences of my hart Ierusalem I say whiche is my coūtrey Ierusalem which is my mother and toward thee whiche art a king ouer her her light her father her defender her patrone her gouernour her keeper her chaste and strong delite her only and whole pleasure all her goodnes comes of thee because thou art y e cheef good the true good I will neuer turn back vntil thou bring me home from this Pilgrimage in whiche I am deformedlt scattered abrode vnto the peace of my deerely beloued mother wheras be y e first frutes of my spirite and vntill thou O God which art my mer cy fashiō me and confirm me for euer ¶ A prayer declaring with how great miseries this life is replenished I Am wunderfull wery O lord of this life and of this careful painfull pilgrimage This life is a wretched life a life that will soon fade awai an vncertain life a painfull life an vnclean life a life that wurthely may be called the maistres of all euils y e queen of pride full of miseries and errours whiche is not wurthy to be called a life but rather a death in the whiche euerihoure we die by diuers defects failings of nature by mutabilities alteratiōs diuers kindes of deaths How can we therfore call this that we liue in this world a life whiche is puffed vp and swollen often with humours made lene and feble with sorowes dried with angres and hot hasty furies of the minde the air filleth it full of diseases metes doo infect it fasting doo extenuat and make it lean pastimes maketh it to dissolute and rechles pensiuenes doth consume and waste it trouble and vexation dooth shorten and lessen it securitie and to much ease maketh it dul and nothing lusty riches setteth it a flote and puffeth it vp into pride pouertie dismayeth and discourageth it youth dooth extoll it age lameth it Infirmitie breaketh it sorow oppresseth it And immediatly after these euils as though it were by succession commeth death and maketh an end of all y e ioyes of this miserable life after suche a sorte that a man wold not think whē he leaueth this life to haue liued at all This liuing death dying life although it be sprinkled and mixt with these and other so rows miseries yet Oh good Lorde how many men dooth it catche and entangle with her en tising snares how many dothe she deceiue with her deceitfull fals promises And for all that she of her self is so fals bitter that her blinde louers can not be kept long secret nor close vnknown yet doth she daily cause an infinite numbre of fooles to drink of the golden cup whiche she beareth in her hand yea and maketh them vtterly drunken with the loue of her Happy are they but very few of them is there that refuse her acquaintance and familiaritie or that dispise to vse her ioyes or that neglect her frendship and felowship least when theyr deceiuer perisheth that they should perish also ¶ Of the blessednes of that life whiche God hath prepared for them that loue him BUt thou heauenly life thou art she whom God hath ordeined prepared for them that loue him thou art the heauenly life the blessed life the sure life the quyet life the fair life the clean life the chastelife the holy life the life that knowest no death knowest no sadnes or pen siuens a life without spot with out dolor without vexatiō with out corruption without trouble without varietie or mutabilitie a life moste full of plesure dignitie wher as is none aduersary to striue against a man no intice ments of sinnes where as is per fect loue without all maner of feare wher as is day continually an done spirit of all men Wheras God is seen face to face and the minde is fed with this meat of life without end I haue a very good minde and desire to mark and geue heed to thy clear nes with thy goods the desire and appetite of my hart is delited Look how muche I am able to considre with my self in musing and thinking of thy com modities euen somuche am I rauished and rapt with thy loue with the ardaunt desire of thee and with the sweet and comfortable remēbrace of thee am I wunderfully delited I haue a plesure therfore surely to lift vp the eyes of my hart vnto thee to erect the state of my minde and conform or fashion the affects of my
of mine hart haue I acknowledged thal mightifulnes of thy maiesty maiesty of thine almightifulnes But now like as with hart I beleue whiche is counted righteousnes vnto me so with mouth doo I confes before thee whiche is to my saluation after what sort and maner thou didst vouchsafe in the end of the world to succour and aid mankinde Thou in deed only O God the father art not red at any time or in any place to be sēt But of thy sonne the Apostle writeth When that y e time was fulfilled God sent his sonne In that he saith he sent he doth sufficiently declare that he being sent came into this world when as he being borne a very perfect man of blessed Mary a pure Uirgin did apeer and shew him self in y e flesh But what is that whiche he that is the cheef of the Euangelists dooth say He was in the world and the world was made my him Thither truely was he sent by his humanitie where he allway is and alway hath bene by his diuinitie The whiche sending or embassage I beleeue withall my hart and confes with my mouth to be the consent and wurk of al the whole Trinitie Oh holy good father how didst thou loue vs How great fauour didst thou bear toward vs moste mercifull creator whiche haste not spared thine owne sonne but for vs wretched sinners hast deliuered him He was obedient vnto thee vntill death yea death vpon a cros taking y e obligation or hād writing of our sinnes whiche was his fleshe fastening it vnto the cros he crucified sin and kild death He a lone is amongst the dead free from death hauing power to put his soule for vs to take it again for vs. Therfore was he bothe a vanquisher and a sacrifice and therfore was he an ouercommer because he was a sacrifice for vs. He was bothe y e preest sacrifice vnto thee and therfore was he apreest because he was a sacrifice Not without a cause haue I great hope in him Forasmuche as thou wilt make whole all my diseases for his sake that sitteth on thy right hād and dothe continually make intercession for vs. For my diseases O Lorde are great and many oh they are many in number great For the Prince of this world as I very well knowe confes hath mani things in me But I beseche thee deliuer me through our redeemer whiche sitteth on thy righthand in whō y e said Prince of this world could finde none euill that was his of his owne committing By him doo thou iustify me whome his self did not sin nether was there any deceit or gile found in hys mouth By him whiche is oure head in whom there is not one spot of euill deliuer me whiche am one of his members though I be but a little membre and feble and weake Deliuer me I be sech thee from my sinnes offences faults ignoraunces Fulfill me with thy holy vertues make me to shine in good maners make me I besech the for thy holy names sake to cōtinue in holi wurks vntill thend accor ding to thy will and pleasure ¶ Of the trust whiche a soule ought to haue in our Lorde Iesu and in his Passion I Might dispaire verely because of my manifolde sinnes negli gences without nūber if it were not that thy wurd O God was made fleshe and dwelt amongst vs. But I can not now dispaire because that seeing when we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of thy sonne how muche more are we now reconciled saued by him For all the hope and the certitude sure nes of all my trust is in his precius blud whiche was shed for vs for our saluation In him doo I take hartening and trusting in him I haue a desire to come vnto the not hauing mine owne righteousnes but that whiche I haue through thy sōne our lorde Iesu Christe For the whiche O moste mercifull God and moste gentle louer of mankinde we geue thee thāks which through Iesus Christe thy sōne our lord when we were not didst mighte ly make vs and when we were lost through our sinnes moste merucilously didst deliuer recouer vs again To thy goodnes I say doo I geue thanks manifold praises doo I shew for the to the withall my hart minde whiche through the vnspeakable loue wherwith thou hast vouchesafed of thy meruelous goodnes to loue vs wretches vnwurthy to be loued didst sēd that same thine only begotten sōne from thy bosome vnto our cōmon weal to saue vs sinners whiche were at that time y e children of perdition and damnaciō I rendre vnto thee thāks for his holy incarnation and natiuitie and for his blessed mother vpon whom he did vouchesafe to take fleshe for vs and for our saluation to thintent that like as he is very God of God so he might be very man of man I geue thee thanks for his passion and cros for his death and resurrection for his ascention into heauen his seat of his maiestie on thy right hand For he the fortie day after his resurrection ascending aboue all the heauens his disciples seeing it and sitting on thy right hand did pour out his holy spirite abundantly according to his promis vppon them whom he had chosen to be his children I geue thee thāks for that moste sacred sheding foorth of his precious bloud wherwith we ar re deemed also for the moste holy and quickning sacrifice of his body and bloud whiche daily in thy churche we feed of drink of wherwith we are washed sanctified and are made partakers of the only high diuinitie I geue thee thanks for thy merueilous vnspekeable charitie loue wherwith thou didst loue vs vnwurthi persones and didst saue vs by thine only and be loued sōne for so thou didst loue y e world that thou gauest thine only begotten sonne to thintent that none which beleued in him should perish but haue euerlasting life This thing truly is euerlasting life to knowe thee also Iesus Christe whom thou sent to be very God by an vpright faith and wurkes wurthy for faith ¶ Of thexceding loue of the euer lasting father toward mankind OH vnmesurable pitie and fatherly loue oh inestimable charitie that thou shouldest deliuer thy sonne to suffre death to thintent thou mightest redeem and raunsom a seruaunt God was made mā to the intent that man being lost might-be plucked out of the powre of deuels How gētle and kinde a louer of man was thy sōne our God who thought it not enough to humble him self to be made man of the very virgin Mary but also took vpon him the paines of the cros in sheding his bloud for vs and for our saluation He came a pitifull God he came for his pitie goodnesses sake he came to serche and to saue that which was lost He sought the straied sheep he sought and found and he being a good Lorde and truly a
very good pitifull shepherd brought him home vpō his shulders vnto the foldes of the flock Oh charitie oh pitie who hathe heard any suche things who is not astonied to cōsider the bowels of so great mercy who wold not meruail who would not ho nor wurship thee for thy great charitie wherwith thou louedst vs Thou didst send thy sōne into the similitude of fleshe subiect to sin that he might condemn sin for sin that we might be made thy righteousnes in him For he was the very lamb with out spot whiche took away the sinnes of the world whiche destroyed our death by diyng him self But what may we render vnto thee our God for so great benefites of thy mercy What praises or what thancks Uerily if we should haue that same knowledg and power that blessed Angels haue yet should we not be able to requite thy so great pitie and goodnes with any thing of valure No if all our mēbres were turned into tungs to repay vnto thee due praises yet were not our slendernes sufficient There is one thing that excedeth all knowledge euen thine inestimable charitie whiche thou didst shew vnto vs vnwurthi persons for thy goodnes pities sake Thy sonne O our God did take vpō him to be the seed of Abraham not of Angels yea and he was made like vnto vs in all things sin onli excepted He therfore taking mand nature not angels and glorifying it with the stole of holi resur rection and immortalitie caried it aboue the he auens and aboue all the melodious companies of Angels aboue Cherubin Seraphin placing it vpō thy right hand This humain nature doo Angels praise all the powers of heauen doo tremble to see a mā to be God ouer thē This truly is all my hope all my trust And this same humain nature is in Iesu Christe our Lorde who is the porcion of euery one of vs y e flesh bloud Therfore whereas my portion reigneth there doo I beleue to reign Wheras my fleshe is glorified there doo I beleue to be glorified Where my bloude ruleth there do I per ceiueme to beare rule Although I be a sinner yet I doo not mistrust nor dispair of the communion and partaking of fauour Although my sinnes doo hinder me in a maner forbid me neuertheles my substaunce requireth it And al be it that mine offences doo exclude me yet the cō manion of our nature dothe not expell me For God is not so vngentle as to forget man and not to remembre that thing whiche him self beareth that whiche for my sake he took vpon him that which for my sake he requireth But truely the Lorde our God is lowly and meek wunderfull gentle and loueth his fleshe his membres and his bow els In the very same God our lord Iesus Christe who is moste gentle louing and mercifull in whom we are risen from death that is to say from the state of perdition and eternall damnation euen now by him we ascend into the heauens now sit in the heauēs in him I say our flesh loueth vs. For we haue in him by him a prerogatiue and as it were a preferment of our bloud For we are his mēbres his flesh And he is oure head of the whiche dependeth the whole body as it is written a bone of my bones flesh of my flesh thei shalbe two in one flesh no mā at ani time hateth his owne flesh but rather cherisheth and loueth it This is a great mistery I speak in Christe in the churche saith the apostle Of the double nature of Christ whiche hath mercy vpon vs and maketh intercession for vs. WHerfore with my lips hart and with all the might that I may I rendre thankes vnto thine infinit mercy o Lorde our god for all thy mercy wherwith merueilously thou vouchsafed to help succour vs that were lost by the same thy sonne our sauior and recouerer whiche died for our sinnes rose again for our iustification and liuing without end sitteth on thy right hand and entreateth for vs and together with thee taketh pitie and mercy vpō vs because he is God thorow thee O father euerlasting and of one substance with thee in all things Wherby alway he may saue vs but for as muche as he is man in whichething he is les and inferiour vnto thee all power bothe in heauen and in earth was geuen vnto him that in the name of Iesu euery knee should bow bothe of celestiall earthly creatures and also of infernall that all tūgs may confes that our lorde Iesus Christe is in thy glory O father almightie He verily was constituted of thee and ordeined to be aiudge of the quick and dead for thou truly iudgest no man but all thy iudgement hast geuen to thy sonne in whose brest all trea sures of wisedom knowledge are hid He truly is bothe a witnes and a iudge a iudge a wit nes whom no sinfull conscience can flee or auoid for al things be thei neuer so secret are open and euen naked and vncouered vnto him He verely whiche was vnrighteously iudged himself shall iudge the whole world in equitie and the people in rightousnes and according to iustice Therfore doo I bles thy name e uerlasting and glorify the same with all my hart O almighty mercifull Lorde for y tvnspeakable and merueilous coniuntiō of godhed and manhod together in the vnitie of a person not after this sort y t thone should be God and thother man but one and the same was bothe God man man and God Neuertheles although by thy merueilous will the wurd was made fleshe yet nether of bothe the natures was chaunged into others substaunce In the mistery of y e Trinitie there is not afourth persō added For the substaunce of the wurd of god and of man was vnited and knit together but not cōfused mixed that that thing whiche was taken of vs should be turned into god that which neuer had ben before that time that is his flesh manhod shuld be the same that had ben euer without any beginning that is his godhed Oh meruellous mistery Oh vnspeakeable felowship Oh merueilous meeknes of the heauenli mercifulnes which is euer wurthy merueiling and euer to be loued We were but vile seruants beholde we are made the sōnes of god Yea and heires of god together w t christe From whence came this goodnes and who broughte vs vnto this state But I require the O moste mercifull father by thine inestimable pitie goodnes charitie to make vs wurthy of these many and great promisses of the same thy Sonne our Lord Iesu Christe Send forth thy strength O God and establish the thing that thou hast wrought in vs. Make perfect that whiche thou hast begun that we may be able to come vnto the fulnes and per fectnes of thy pity Make vs tho row the holy ghost to vnderstād and