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A22823
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Godly meditations made in the forme of prayers by S. Augustine; De meditatione. English.
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Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
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1570
(1570)
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STC 933; ESTC S119229
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32,187
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250
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of nothing els Happy are they whose onely hope thou art which haue no trust but in thee onely all theyr whole worke is prayer Blessed is he that sitteth solitarely alone holdeth his peace standeth vpon his ward that he is set to keep continually day and night that yet while he is in this fraile body he may be able to taste somwhat thy pleasantnes I require thee by those thy wounds which bring health vnto vs which wounds thou suffredst vpon the crosse for our health out of the which thy precious bloud wherewith thou redeemedst vs did distill and drop downe wound this my sinnefull soule for the whiche also thou diddest vouchsafe to die Wound it I say with the fiery mighty dart of thy great charitie for the worde of God is liuely and effectuous and more pearcing and sharpe then any two edged sworde Thou O chosen dart most sharp sword which art able by thy power to pearce thorough the hard shielde or buckler of mans hart fasten and stick the shaft of thy loue in my hart that my soule may say vnto thee I am wounded with thy charitie so that forth of that same woūd of thy loue teares may flowe most plēteously both day night Strike o Lord strike I befech thee this most indurated and hardened mynde of myne with the sharpe dart of thy loue and pearce it deper and deper into the innermost partes thereof by thy mightie power and so bring out of my head aboundance of water and out of myne eyes a very well of teares continually running thorowe the great affect merueilous desire to see thy glory that I may mourne day and night without taking any comfort in this lyfe vntill in thy heauenly weddyng chamber I may see thee my weldeloued beutifull spouse my God and my Lorde And that there when I see thy glorious merueilous and beutifull face full of all swetenes together with them which thou hast chosen then I say I may worshippe humbly thy maiesty and there at the last being replenished with heauenly and vnspeakable reioysing of euerlasting gladnes I may euen cry out with them that loue thee saying Beholde that which I haue long desired now I haue obteined For I am ioyned in heauen vnto hym whom when I was in earth I loued with all my strength with all my charitie I embraced him vnto whom with all my loue I did stick cleaue Him do I praise blesse worship that liueth and raigneth GOD world without end Amen ☞ A prayer in tyme of tribulation HAue mercy on me o lord haue mercy on me a most wretched sinner which do commit wickedly and do suffer therfore worthely which do sinne continually and suffer thy scourge therefore dayly If thou take my dayly tribulation as a recompēce for the euils which I haue committed thē it is not so much that I suffer For it is a great deale more grieuous which I haue trespassed then that which I do suffer Thou art iust O Lord and thy iudgement is according to right Yea all thy iudgements are iust and true and thou O Lord our God art iust righteous for there is no iniquitie in thee Thou doost not vniustly nor yet cruelly scourge and punishe sinners O almightye and mercyfull God which when we had no being at all didst mightily create make vs And when we were lost by our owne faulte thou by thy pitie goodnes marueilously did dest recouer vs I know and am very certain and sure that our life is not led by sodeine motions but it is disposed and gouerned of thee O Lord our god Whereby I knowe thou takest care for all men most chieflye for thy seruauntes which haue put their whole hope in thine onely mercy Therefore do I besech and humbly require thee that thou wouldest not deale with me according to my sins wherwith I haue deserued thine anger but according to thy great mercifulnes which exceedeth the sinnes of the whole worlde Thou O Lorde which outwardly doest punish scourge graunt me inwardly a patience that will neuer fayle so that thy prayse neuer departe away from my mouth Haue mercy on me O Lord haue mercy on me and helpe me as thou thinckest best to be most necessary for my body and soule Thou knowest all things thou caust doo all thinges which liuest for euer and euer ¶ A very deuout prayer to the Sonne O Lord Jesu Christ son of the liuing God whiche being vppon the crosse with thy handes spread abroad for the redemption of all mankind didst drinke the most bitter cup of thy passion I besech thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to geue me helpe this day and euer Lo I a poore wretch come vnto thee which art ritch a sinner vnto thee that art mercifull Let me not returne home contēned and despised with nothing I begin an hungred Let me not leaue of fasting I come vnto thee as though I were famished let me not go away vnfed Although before I eat I sigh and sorow yet after my sorow gene me somwhat to eat First of all good Jesu I acknowledge before thy maiestie mine vnrighteousnes toward thee Beholde O Lorde I was conceiued in sinne and borne in the same thou didst wash them of from mee and sanctified mee but I afterwarde defiled my selfe with bigger and more greeuous sinnes For I was born in sinne of necessitie because I coulde bee borne none otherwise but afterward I rolled my self willingly in sinnes Neuertheles thou O Lord being mindful of thy pitie didst take me out of the house of my carnall father and out of the tentes of the vngodly and hast enspired me put me in mind to follow thee with the generation of them that seeke thy face of thē that walke in the right path of them that abide and continue amongst the lilies of chastetie and of them that sit downe together with thee at supper of most scarcitie and lesse excesse But I an vnkind person forgetting so many great benefites after that I was entred into religion and holines did commit many vnlawfull thinges I did offend wonderfull vngraciously and where I should of right haue amended mine euill life left my sinnes I heaped sinnes vpon sinnes and these be the euils O Lord wherwith I haue dishonoured thee and haue spotted and defiled my selfe whom thou didst create after the similitude likenes of thine owne selfe with pride vaine-glory and other many euils wherewith myne vnlucky soule is vexed punished torne and destroyed Beholde O Lorde myne vnrighteousnes is gone ouer my heade and are lyke a sore burthen ouer heauy for me to beare And except thou whose propertie is euer to haue mercy and to forgeue doe lay vnder me the right hand of thy maiestye I shall be constrayned miserablye to sinke into the deepe and be drowned Geue heede O Lord God and behold because thou art holy loke how myne enemy assaulteth me saying God hath forsaken him I will
drincke of wherwith we are washed and sanctified and are made partakers of the only high diuinitie I geue thee thankes for thy marueilous and vnspeakable charitie and loue wherwith thou didst loue vs vnworthy persons didst saue vs by thine onely and beloued Sonne for so thou didâ—â— loue the world that thou gauest thine onely begotten sonne to the entent that none which beleeued in him should perish but haue euerlasting life This thing truly is euerlasting life to know thee also Jesus Christ whome thou sentest to be very God by an vpright fayth and workes worthy for fayth Of the exceeding loue of the euerlasting Father towarde mankinde OH vnmeasurable pitie and fatherly loue oh inestimable charitie that thou shouldest delyuer thy sonne to suffer death to the entent thou mightest redeme and ransome a seruaunte God was made man to the entent that man being lost might be plucked out of that power of deuils How gentle and kinde a louer of man was thy sonne our God who thought it not enough to humble himself to bee made man of the virgiue Mary but also toke vpoÌ„ him the paines of the crosse in shedding his bloud for vs and for our saluation He came a pitifull God he came for his pitie and goodnesses sake he came to search to saue that whiche was lost He sought the straye sheep he sought found and he being a good lord and truely a very good and plentifull shepheard brought him home vpon his shoulders vnto the foldes of the flocke Oh charitie oh pitie who heard any such thinges who is not astonied to consider the bowels of so great mercy who would not marued who would not honour and worship thee for thy great charity wherewith thou louedst vs Thou didst send thy sonne into the similitude of flesh subiect to sinne that we might condemne sinne for sinne that wee might be made thy righteousnes in him For hee was the very lamb without sporte which tooke awaye the sinnes of the worlde whiche destroyed our death by dying himselfe But what may we render vnto thee our God for so great benefites of thy mercie what prayses or what thankes Uerely if wee shoulde haue that same knowledge and power that blessed angels haue yet should we not be able to requiâ—â— thy so great pitie and goodnes with any thing of valure No if all our meÌ„bers were turned into tongues to repay vnto thee due prayses yet were not our fleÌ„dernes sufficient There is one thing that exceedeth all knowledge euen thine inestimable charitie which thou diddest shew vnto vs vnworthy persons for thy goodnes pities sake Thy Sonne our God did take vpon him to be the seede of Abraham not of Angels yea he was made like vnto vs in all thinges sinne onely excepted He therefore taking mans nature not Angels and glorifying it with the stole of holy resurrection and immortalitie caryed it aboue the heauens and aboue all the melodious companies of angels aboue Cherubin and Seraphin placing it vppon thy right hand This humane nature do Angels prayse all the powers of heauen do tremble to see a man to bee God ouer them This truely is all my hope all my trust And this same humaine nature is in Jesu Christ our Lord who is the portion of euery one of vs the flesh bloud Therfore wheras my portion raigneth there do I beleue to raigne whereas my flesh is glorified ther do I beleue to be glorified where my bloud ruleth there do I perceiue me to bear rule although I be a sinner yeâ— doâ— I not inistrust nor dispeire of the communion and partaking of fauour Although my sinnes do hinder me and in a manner forbid me neuertheles my substance requireth it And albeit that mine offences do exclude me yet the communion of our nature doth not expell me for God is not so vngentle as to forget man and not to remember that thing which himself beareth and that which for my sake he toke vpon him and that which for my sake he requireth But truly the Lord our God is lowly and meek and wonderfull gentle and loueth his flesh his members and his bowels In the very same God our Lorde Jesus Christ who is most gentle louing and merciful in whome we are risen from death that is to say from the state of pernition and eternall damnation and euen nowe by him we asccude into the heauens and now sit in the heauens in him I say our flesh loueth vs For we haue in him and by him a prerogatiue as it were a prefermence of our bloud for we are his members and his flesh and he is our head of the which dependeth the whole body as it is written a bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh they shall be two in one flesh and no man at any time hateth his owne fleshe but rather cherisheth and loueth it This is a great mistery I speak in Christ and in the church sayth the Apostle ¶ Of the double nature of Christ which hath mercy vpon vs â–ª and maketh intercession for vs. WHerefore with my lips and hart and with al the might that I may I render thankes vnto thine infinite mercy O Lord our God for all thy mercy wherwith marueilously thou hast vouchsafed to helpe and succour vs that were lost by the same thy sonne our sauiour and recouerer which dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification and liuing without ende sitteth on thy right hande and entreateth for vs together with the taketh pitie mercy vpon vs because he is God thorow thee O father euer lasting and of one substance with thee in all thinges wherby alway he may saue vs but forasmuch as he is man in which thing he is lesse inferiour vnto thee all power both in heauen in earth was geuen vnto him that in the name of Jesu euery knee should bowe both of celestiall and earthlye creatures and also of infernall that all tongues may confesse that oure Lorde Jesus Christ is in thy glory O Father almighty Hee verely was constituted of thee and ordayned to be a iudge of the quicke and dead for thou truely iudgest no man but hast geuen all thy iudgement to thy Sonne in whose brest al treasures of wisdome and knowledge ar hid He truely is both a witnes and a Judge a Judge and a witnesse whome no sinneful conscience can flye or auoyd for all things be they neuer so secret are open euen naked and vncouered vnto him He verily which was vnrighteously iudged himselfe shall iudge the whole worlde in equitie and the people in righteousnes and according to iustice Therfore do I blesse thy name euerlasting and glorifie the same with al my hart O almighty and mercifull Lord for that vnspeakable and maruellous coniunction of Godhead manhood together in the vnitie of a person and not after this sort that y one should be God and the other man but one the same was