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A69364
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Certaine select prayers gathered out of S. Augustine's meditations which he calleth his selfe talke with God.; De meditatione. English.
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Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.
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1574
(1574)
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STC 924; ESTC S100328
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71,249
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294
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thy glory And to know thy face is to know the power of the father the wisedome of the sonne the mercifulnes of the holy ghost the one vndeuidable being of the thrée persons in one souereine Godhead For the beholding of the face of the liuing God is the souerein good the ioy of the aūgels of all holy mē the reward of endlesse life the glory of all soules the euerlastyng gladnes the crown of honor the obteinemēt of happines the wealthfull rest the beawtiful peace the inward outward ioyfulnesse the paradise of god Here is the heauēly Ierusalē the happy life the fulnesse of blessednes the ioy of euerlastingnesse the peace of God which passeth all vnderstādyng This is the ful blessednes the whole glorification of mā namely to sée God face to face to sée him that made heauen and earth to sée him that made him that saued him that glorified him He shal sée him by knowing him be in loue with hym by liking him prayse him by possessing hym For he shal be the heritage of his people of his people the Saints of his people whō he hath raunsomed He shal be their possession of happinesse he shal be the reward recompēce of their lōgyng I wil be thine excéedyng great reward sayth he For great thinges beséeme great personages Verely my Lord God thou art excéedyng great aboue all Gods excéedyng great also is thy reward But thou thy self art ouer great thou thy selfe art an ouer great reward thou thy selfe art both he that crowneth also the crowne thou thy selfe art both the promiser and the promise thou art the recompēcer the recompēce thou art the rewarder and the reward of euerlastyng happines Thou thē art both the crowner the crowne O my God the diademe of my hope which is garnished with glorie a gladdyng light a renewyng light a glorious ornamēt my chief hope the desire of the hartes of all saintes their deare beloued The seing of thée thē is the whole hyre the whole reward and the whole ioy that we looke for For it is life euerlastyng yea I say it is thy wisedome Life euerlasting is to know thée the onely true God Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Therfore when we shall sée thée the onely God the true God the liuyng God almightie single inuisible vnboundable vncōprehēsible thine onely begottē sonne God of thine own substaūce euerlastyng as well as thou euē our Lord Iesus Christ whō for our welfare thou hast sent into the world in the power of the holy Ghost thrée in persons one in beyng the onely holy God besides whom there is no God thē shal we hold that which we now séeke namely euerlasting life endlesse glorie which thou hast prepared for them that loue thée whiche thou hast layd vp in store for thē that feare thée and which thou wilt giue to them that séeke thée euen to them that séeke thy face for euer And thou O Lord my God which diddest shape me in my mothers wōbe who hath giuen me vp into thy hād suffer me not any more to be plucked out of one into many but gather me out of these outward thinges into my selfe frō my selfe vnto thée that my hart may alwayes say vnto thée my face hath sought thée out Lord I will séeke after thy face euē after the face of the Lord of all power wherein standeth the whole glorie of the blessed sorte for euer whiche to behold is the endlesse life euerlastyng glorie of the Saintes Let my hart reioyse therfore that it may reuerēce thy name Let the harts of them that séeke God reioyse but much more the hartes of them that finde god For if there be ioy in séekyng what maner of ioy shall there be in findyng Therefore I will alwayes séeke thy face earnestly incessantly if at any tyme the doore and gate of rightuousnesse may be opened vnto me that I may enter into the ioy of my lord This is the Lordes gate the rightuous shall enter in thereat ¶ A prayer to the holie Trinitie THou thrée coequall and coeternal persons one God the very father Sonne holy ghost who dwellest alone in euerlastingnesse and in vnapproachable light which hast foūded the earth by thy mighty power rulest the whole world by thy wisedome Holie holie holie Lord God of hostes dreadfull strong rightuous mercyfull maruelous prayse worthie to be beloued One God thrée persons one being power wisedome goodnes one vnseperable Trinitie I crye vnto thée open me the gates of rightuousnes whē I am come in I will prayse thée O lord Behold I poore begger knocke at thy doore O souerein housholder Commaund the gates to be opened at my knockyng accordyng as thou hast sayd knocke ye it shal be opened For truly O most mercyfull father the desires of my groning hart and the cryes of my wéepyng eyes doe knocke at thy doore All my desire is before thée and my gronyng is not hyd frō thée Lord turne not thy face any more away frō me neither flyng thou away frō thy seruaunt in a sume O father of mercies heare the houling out of thy ward reach hym thy singular good helpyng hād that it may drawe me out of the déepe waters out of the lake of miserie and out of the myre of filthynes that I perishe not thy pitifull eyes seyng it the bowels of thy mercy beholdyng it but that I may wade out vnto thée my Lord God so as I may see the riches of thy kyngdome alwayes behold thy face sing prayse to thy holy name O Lord which workest wonders whiche chearest my hart with remembryng thée which inlightenest my youth despise not myne olde age but make my bones to reioyse my hore heares to waxe fresh againe as the Eagle ¶ FINIS SAINT AVstens Manuell or litle Booke of the Contemplation of Christe or of Gods worde whereby the remembraunce of the heauenly desires which is falne a sleepe may be quickned vp agayne AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Daye dwellyng ouer Aldersgate 1574. ¶ Cum gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis The Preface FOr asmuch as we be set in the middes of snares we easly become cold in desire of heauenly thynges And therfore we haue neede of continuall defence that when we be shronke awaye we may be wakened to runne backe agayne to our true God the souereine goodnesse In consideration wherof not through rash presumption but for the great loue that I beare to my God I haue vndertaken this worke to his glorie to the intent I might alwayes haue with me a short and handsome abridgement of the chosen sayinges of the holie fathers concernyng my God by the fire of the readyng whereof the loue of him might be kindled in me as oft as it is waxed cold in me Assiste me now I beseech thee my Lord God whom I seeke whom I
Creature and without thee am already forlorne I am thy creature and am alreadie dead I am thy workemanship thy handes O Lord haue made me and fashioned me Lorde despise not the worke of thy handes I am by nature the child of wrath a wild oliue trée a vessell of dishonour the vessell of Sathan an enemie to thée O God a louer of my selfe a cage of vncleane birdes all that euer nought is Lord be mercyfull to my sinnes for they are many graft me into the true oliue make me a vessell to honor take from me selfe loue pride and cōtempt of others renue a right spirite within me that I may perfectly loue thée and worthely magnifie thy holy name for euer and euer Behold O Lord thou hast set me downe vpon thy hands Lord God read the writyng and saue me I that am the creature do grone vnto thée that art my creator O refresh me Behold I thy workemanship do cry vnto thée thou that art my life quickē me Behold I thy handiworke looke vp to thée thou that art my maker recomfort me Spare me O Lord for my dayes are nothing What is man which is but dust and ashes that he should talke vnto God his maker Beare with me for my talking to thée Pardon thy seruaunt for presuming to speake to so great a lord Necessitie hath no law Paine compelleth me to speake and the grief that I indure inforceth me to cry out I am sicke I call to the Phisician I am blind and I hye me to the light I haue gone astray and thirst to returne into the way I am dead and I labour for life Thou art the Phisiciā thou art the light the way and the life Iesus of Nazareth haue mercy vppon me O thou sonne of Dauid haue mercy vpō me O welspring of mercy harken to the diseased which crieth vnto thée Thou light which passest by tarie for the blind reach him thy hand that he may come to thée and let him sée light in thy light Thou liuing life raise vp the dead againe What am I that speaketh with thée woe is me Lord O Lord spare me I am but a rotten carcasse wormes meate a stinking coffin and foode for fire What am I that talketh with thée Wo is me Lord O Lord spare me I am an vnhappie mā euen a sory man borne of womā shortliued full fraught with many miseries euen a man that is like vnto vanitie matched with witlesse beastes and already become like vnto them Againe what am I a darke dungeon wretched earth a child of wrath a vessell méete for dishonor begottē with vnclennesse liuing in miserie and dying in distresse Out vpon me wretch what am I Alas what shall become of me I am a sacke of dūg a coffin of rottēnesse full of lothsomnesse and stinch blind poore naked subiect to exceding many necessities woting neither when I came into the world nor when I shall goe out mortall and miserable whose dayes passe away as a shadowe whose life glaunceth away as a shadow by Moonelight growing as a floure vpon a trée and fading out of hād againe now florishing and by and by withering againe My life I say is a fraile life a fléeting life such a life as the more it lengtheneth the shorter it is the further it goeth the néerer it draweth vnto death A deceitfull and shadowish life full of snares of death Now I am merie anone I am sorie Now I am lustie anone I am weake Now I am aliue and by and by I am dead I séeme happie for a while I am alwayes wretched One while I laugh another while I wéepe And all thinges are so subiect to vnstablenesse that nothing continueth at a stay one houres space Here withall commeth feare trembling hunger thirst heate cold faintnesse and grief In the necke of these foloweth importunat death which snatcheth vp wretched men vnwares a thousand wayes euery day He killeth one with diseases and dispatches another with sorrowes He starueth this man for hunger and pyneth that man with thirst He choketh some mē with water and strangleth other some with a halter He makes a hand of some men by fire and deuoureth othersome with the téeth of wild beastes He fleas this mā with the sword destroyes that man with poyson and causeth some other man to finish his miserable life with nothyng but some sodein feare And yet there is one great miserie aboue all these namely that whereas nothing is more certeine thē death yet doth not a man know when he shall dye Yea euen when he thinkes him selfe to haue best footing then is he shaken down his hope perisheth For a man knoweth not whē where or how he shall dye yet is he sure that he must néedes dye Sée Lord how great mans wretchednesse is wherein I am yet mistrust it not how howge the miserie is which I indure yet am not greued nor make any moue to thée Lord I will cry out vnto thée before I passe away if peraduenture I may abyde in thée and not passe away I will tell thée then I will tell thée my miserie I will not be ashamed to acknowledge my vylenesse before thée Helpe me my strength by whom I am vnderpropped succour me my power by whom I am vpheld come my light by whom I sée appeare my glorie through whom I reioyce shewe thy selfe O life wherein I may liue O my Lord God. ¶ Of Gods Wonderfull light O Light which Tobias saw when with his eyes shet he taught his sonne the way of life O light which Isaac saw inwardly when his outward eyes were dim yet he told his sonne what was to come O light inuisible which beholdest all the dūgeons of mans hart O light which Iob saw when he openly foreshewed his sonnes things to come accordyng as thou haddest taught him inwardly Behold how darknesse ouerwhelmeth the dungeon of my minde for thou art light Behold how mistie dimnesse lyeth vpō the waters of my hart for thou art truth O word by which all things were made without whiche nothing was made O word which art before all things before which was nothing O word which createst all thinges without which all thinges are nothyng O worde which rulest all thinges without which all things are nought worth O word which in the begynnyng didst say let light be made light was made say also vnto me let light be made that light may be in déede and I may sée the light know what soeuer is not light For without thée I take darknes for light light for darknesse so without thy light there is no truth Al is errour al is vanity there is no discretiō Al is cōfusiō all is ignoraūce there is no knowledge All is blindnesse and there is no sight all is straying there is no way All is death and there is no life ¶ Of the mortalitie of mans nature O Lord the