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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14612	The contrition of a Protestant preacher, converted to be a Catholiqve scholler conteyning certayne meditations vpon the fourth penitentiall psalme, Miserere / composed by Iames Waddesworth, Bachlour of Diuinitie in the Vniversity of Cambridge, & late parson of Cotton, and of Great-Thorneham in the County of Suffolke, who went into Spaine with the Kinges Maiesties first Embassadour-Legier, as his chaplayne ...	Wadsworth, James, 1572?-1623.	1615 (1615)	STC 24924.5; ESTC S2953	166,461	144

my willing seruice to intertayn these paper leaues into your Patronage to fauour them your selfe to further them with others and if by them any good redound to any soules my desire is that God may haue the glory you the thankes and that I may sometime be remembred in your deuout prayers assuring your Honour as I am bound neuer to omit you in my poore supplications And so I beseech our Lord Iesus to keep you and all yours for his owne precious merites and by the intercession of our blessed Lady and of all holy Sayntes and in particuler of S. Valentine Priest and Martyr on whose festiuall day I wrote this from Valliadolide the 14. of February 1612. Your Honours bounden Seruant in our Lord IESVS Iames Waddesworth THE PREFACE OF THE AVTHOR TO HIS FAVORABLE READER AND TO ALL HIS LOVING FRIENDES IN NORFOLKE SVFFOLKE LONDON NORWICH CAMBRIDGE OR ELSEWHERE SOEVER COVRTEOVS Reader or friendes of good affection whether you shall vouchsafe to read any of this Treatise for good will vnto the Author or for other expectation of the matter I do most hartily desire that laying aside all curiosity you will read it with the same intention with which it was written viz to bewayle sinne to forsake errour to seeke pardon and to giue thankes to Allmighty God for his grace offered or obteyned through our lord IESVS 2. And to these intentes I haue chosen first to exercise my pen in some poyntes of deuotion before I should be challenged with any disputes of controuersy neither coulde I finde in my opinion for my selfe and for all those former purposes any fitter Theme then the seauen penitentiall Psalmes which doo affoarde most plentifull matter whereupon to frame such meditations For as S. Gregory saith of the Psalter that it is a trianguler musicall instrument of ten stringes whereupon the Harper striketh in the lower narrow End from whence it yeildeth his melodious sounde in the vpper parte which is broader So all Psalmes in generall and in especiall the penitentiall Psalmes doo firste cause our trianguled hartes to be contracted and stroken at the roote with sorowe and contri●iō for sinne against the ten commandementes and afterwarde to be dilated broader enlarged vpwarde in the sweet sound of comforte to our selues and of prayse to Almighty God for our pardon for his mercy according whervnto euery one of these seauen Psalmes hath his beginning full of lamentation but towardes his end it is enlarged with prayse of consolation 3. I desired to write vpon all the 7. Penitentialls and to publish them all at once but hauing bene hitherto only able to finish the firste 4. of them partly for wante of firme health partly by occasion of more necessary busynes and furthermore perceuing the volume would be greater then I supposed and laste of all because I am now called away to another kinde of treatise therfore I thought it good in the meane while to publish what I had finished vpon the psalme Miserere as one desirous first to wash away the pollution of my particuler sinne before I would come to handle the pure mysteryes of our Catholique doctrine 4. And so our worthy Countryman Cardinall Poole vsed to say that one cause of so much heresy in these latter times was in too busy disputing about our faith before we tooke any care to reforme our life wherfore he wished all them who were ready to read S. Pauls Epistles to beginne firste to read to practise their latter chapters which are euer morally teaching vertues before they enter into disputes about their former Chapters which for the most part are doctrinall about matters of knowledge for it is vnlike they will be freed from peruerse errors who do continue their liues in obstinate vices such men may talke of opinions in religion but seldome shall you see any fruites of their religion more then opinion and table-talke 5. Some desire to know only because they would be able to talke or discourse this is vanity Some delight in knowing how to discourse or talke because they desire to be knowne and this is vayne glory Some labour to knowe much because knowledge hath delighte not intending therby any other fruite of their labour and this is curiosity Only their knowledge sauours of christian piety whose intention is therby to serue God and to profit men first sauing their owne soules and next to helpe others according to their ability 6. And surely as our knowledge wanteth wisdome when we direct others to euerlasting happynes suffering our selues to be lead vnto eternall misery for especially in regard of our soules ist hoc est sapere sibi sapere this is wisdome to be wise for our selues so yet neuer was any thus wise in his knowledge who firste did not learne humility with his wisdome For as naturally knowledge doth puffe vp in pride so spiritually we must endeuour to keep it vnder and in good order by humility Or indeed it is but humane wisdome knowledge of thinges without vs which maketh vs swell in our opinion of knowledge wheras if we woulde by the light of diuine wisdome view the defectes and faultes of our owne inward bosome and looke vpward with reuerence to the high Majesty of God himselfe then would our wisdome be profitable to our selues as well as to others and then will our knowledge increase our humility 7. Wherfore S. Thomas of Aquine speaking of Humility saith it is a vertue which maketh a man willing to submitte himselfe vnto God for God and vnto man for the same God and that this humility is founded vpon the knowledge of God and of our selues viz of our nothing and his infinite incomprehensibility of our basenes and his majesty of our pouerty and his Riches of our weakenes his omnipotency of our ignorance and his wisdome And therfore an humble man doth renounce himselfe acknowledging his owne faultes and imperfections and with reuerent confidence trusteth in our Lordes Goodnes And thus if we empty our owne vessells of windy pride and putrifyed sinne doubtles our Lord will fill them as the widowes vessell with his oyle of grace for if Achab was pardoned who was but feignedly humbled how much shall we haue forgiuenes with S. Mary Magdalen if with syncere humility we lye weeping and prostrate at our Sauiours feet 8. Such must be our humility and then will our knowledge be practicall as well as speculatiue and benefiting our selues as much as others wheras betwene speculation and practise there is as much difference as betwene studying the nature of gold and possessing the substance of gold It is true both are good yet shoulde they not be separated no more then our vnderstanding from our will For practicall knowledge doth mooue and order the will but speculation only doth informe the vnderstanding And therfore was Ananias to teach S. Paul by practicall instructions euen after he had seene a great light in the waye for still he

of is aucthority Especially when we go about any parte of his religious seruice let vs seriously suppose we come more particulerly into his presence then let vs consider him present as one of greatest maiesty and then let vs consider him present as one of the Best goodnes on the other side then let vs acknowledge our selues before him as exceeding vnworthy creatures and allso then let vs acknowledge our selues before him as maruelous wicked and malicious enemyes that so we may reuerenc● and feare his majesty as Greatest and with hope and loue praye vnto his Goodnes as Best especially humbling and confounding our selues before him as wonderfull lewde enemyes and vnworthy base creatures 4. Yet herein let vs take comforte o my soule as well as feare for as he is the Greatest to be feared so he is the Best to be loued And as he seeth all so he seeth not as man seeth his giftes of nature are admirable but any one gifte of his grace as S. Thomas saith is of more value then all his giftes of nature in the whole worlde therfore we will doo reuerence before thy majesty and before thy Goodnes we will sing prayses o lordè thou seest not as man seeth neither imperfectly to be deceiued taking good for euill nor partially to be corrupted by fauor or affection thine eye is not cruell in malice but mercifull euen in justice if we seeke to hide our faultes thou seest and doost punish if we humble our selues as Dauid here before thee then thou beholdest vs with pity 5. If we sinne before men many wil say why doth not fire come downe from heauen to chastize such wickednes But as Calicratidas hauing a prisoner whom his enemyes hated and a great summe of mony desidered to be deliuered vnto them to the end they mighte torment and kill him as they desidered thoughe Calicratidas wanted mony to pay his army yet he would not sell his captiue to their malice wherupon saith Cleander who was a Capteyn of his counsell surely if I were Calicratidas I woulde sell this prisoner for this mony the other wittily replyed In sooth so woulde I if I were Cleand insinuating the difference betweene a base couetous minde and a noble generous spirite In the same maner because our lorde is not of ignoble disposition like Cleander but much mor● heroycall then Calicratidas therfore with a munificent kingly minde he suffers our faultes rewardes vs with benefites when men would haue deliuered vs to the diuell he granteth pardon to much euill committed before him where men woulde take sharp vengeance for one worde of reproche thoughe spoken behinde their backes And in this sense Iob pleadeth vnto his pitifull eye saying Are thine eyes of fleth or d●ost thou see as a man seeth that thou shouldest seeke my iniquity and searche out my sinne so let vs say o lord we hope well to finde fauour in thy face for thine eyes are not vnmercifull nor doo they exaggerate our faultes as men being offended rather thoughe it doo aggrauate my sinne to haue bene committed before thee yet this doth cōforte my soule because I doo knowe thee a most heroycall lorde and a gracious God full of pity not like malicious men reuengefull in cruelty OF DIVERSE WAYES BY WHICH OVR lorde is justifyed and may be said to ouercome when he is judged Sect. 6. 1. VT iustificeris in sermonibus tuis vincas cum iudicaris That thou maist be iustfyed in thy wordes maist ouercome when thou arte iudged They that desire any benefite of kinges vse to alledge their passed merites or future ability in his seruice but of thee O God I aske mercy without merite only for mercy sake I suffer misery I abhorre my iniquity I see confesse my sinnes therfore haue mercy I haue principally-offended thee and thou hast promised pardon and passed thy worde to forgiue euery penitent therfore haue mercy that so thou maict be iustifyed in thy wordes and if any woulde doubte of the truthe of these promises that allso thou mayst ouercome such when thou arte iudged in their mistrustfull discourses 2. If directly thou shalte auouch that I all men are sinners absolutely thou shalte ouercome in this plea all mē who dare trauerse their enditemēt shal be found lyers thou shalte be iustifyed Or thus my sinne may be an occasion of thy greater bounty and iustification not causally but consequently thy iustification reckoned for an effecte not my sinne accompted for a cause so here is placed this coniunction vt that which is allso vsed by our Sauiour in the same sense saying sitt downe in the laste place that he coming who inuited thee may say freind sitte vp higher where he meaneth not to teach fayned humility to sit lowest to the end to be aduāced for such counterfet humility were indeede worse then ordinary pride but our Sauior foretelleth that so it will folowe succede that if we be sincerely humble we shall certeinly be exalted not to be so intended by vs but it will be so órdeyned of God And so S. Paul alledgeth these wordes concluding that our wickednes doth more manifest commend the iustice of God And so we may say I haue sinned o lorde before thee vnto thee and by how much more my sinnes are greater by so much the more thou haste occasion to magnifie thy mercy in my pardon to testifye to all the worlde the truthe of thy promises and against any mistrustfull or murmuring censurer to prooue thy selfe an vndoubted a gracious Iudge 3. O lorde thou haste sworne vnto thy seruante Dauid that of the fruite of his loynes thou wouldest set the Messias on his throne althoughe I haue sinned greiuously because I haue hartily repented yet let it appeare that thou hast forgiuen my sinnes and wilte still accomplishe thy former promises that so in respecte of doubtefull weakelinges thou maist be iustifyed in the assurance of thy worde and maist ouercome all misdeeming enemyes in their enuious imaginations who otherwise will iudge me as a reprobate or blaspheme thee as a promise breaker 4. Or else we may construe it thus o lorde thou haste threatned temporall publique punishment against me some paraduenture knowing me to be great in thy fauor yet ignorante of my great sinnes if they should see me so afflicted not knowe howe I haue offended it may be they woulde wonder or murmure or take some other scandall wherfore be it knowne to all the worlde that I haue sinned and hauing demerited all those punishments which shall come vpon me let it appeare that I am faulty and thou arte iuste both iustifyed in thy wordes accomplishing what thou haste threatned and allso maist ouercome in proofe that thou haste threatned punished me duely if any shoulde judge or censure thee rashly Thus o my soule let vs humble our selues for our sinnes and giue glory to God in his iustice thus said