PARAPHRASTICALL AND DEVOVT DISCOVRSES VPON THE PSALME MISERERE, COMPOSED BY CH. M.

Rent your heartes and not your garments, and turne to the Lord your God: because he is benigne and mercifull, patient and of much mercie, and readie to be gracious vpon the malice. Ioel 2.

ANNO M.DC.XXXV.

TO THE READER.

DIVERS of the learned Catholiques of our natiō (Gentle Reader) haue writtē sundrie bookes in our vulgar lan­guage to informe and instruct thy vnderstanding in mat­ters of faith and Religion, and I also ac­cording to my little abilitie and slender Talentes, haue not beene wanting in that kinde. And diuers also haue either transla­ted other mens bookes, or published their owne to mooue and stirre vp thy vvill to pietie and deuotion: vvhom I desiring to imitate, haue compiled for thee these Pa­raphrasticall discourses vpon the Psalme [Page] Miserere: In which I bring in the Royall Prophet Dauid much lamenting, bewailing, and ruing his two great sinnes, the murder of Vrias, and his adulterie with his wife Bersabee: & thereby I en­deauour to mooue the willes of all sinners to sorrovv & repentance of their sinnes, and amendement of their liues. These dis­courses I intend principallie for great sin­ners, vvho also still persist in their sinfull state of life, though I exclude not other sinners, vvhose sinnes are not so great as Dauids sinnes vvere, no not any the least sinners: because though some sinnes be mortall, some veniall, some greate some lesser, yet if they be compared to the Di­uine Maiestie vvhich they offend, no sinnes are to be esteemed litle, be they in themselues neuer so litle: and so they also may take benefite by these my discourses. I haue liued long out of my Countrie, and so knovv not vvho are the greater, vvho the lesser sinners: yet this I knovv in ge­nerall, [Page] that there must needs be many, & great sinners in England: because vvhere there are ill-beleeuers, there, ordinarilie, are ill liuers, and vvhere there are many beleeuers (as there are in England) there are many ill beleeuers (true faith and be­leefe being but one) and consequentlie many ill liuers, true faith being the rule & square of good life. For although some­times true and good beleeuers are not good liuers, because they liue not accor­ding to the rule of their faith and Reli­gion; and sometimes ill beleeuers doe liue vvell morallie, because guided by God his grace, vvhich is vvanting to none, they follovv naturall reason, and their ovvne vertuous inclination and disposi­tion, not the preceptes of their Religion: yet ordinarilie, ill beleeuers are not good liuers; & at least, amongest good beleeuers you shall finde moe good liuers then amongest ill beleeuers. Wherefore these my Paraphrasticall Discourses and [Page] pitifull lamentations of King Dauid, (who was a true beleeuer, and yet some times an ill liuer, but in this psalme shew­eth himselfe a true penitent) I entend for all sinners as well Catholiques as not Catholiques, and of what so euer Reli­giō, I beeing debtour to all: & because I would haue them all to peruse these dis­courses,Rom. 1. I abstaine from Controuersies in Religion, least I should auert any from the reading of them; onelie in paraphra­sing the last two verses of this psalme, occasion beeing offered, I speake of the vn­bloodie and daylie sacrifice of the Altar, but so, that I rather touch it then handle it, mention it then treat of it, suppose it then prooue it in that manner as I might, hoping that this doctrine now, will not be distastfull; for seeing that now in Englād in very many churches, Altars, which here­tofore were throwne downe, are againe erected according to the laudable exāple and pious vse, and custome of the Catho­lique, [Page] & euē primitiue Church; to auerre a true sacrifice, will not be ill taken, be­cause to allow of Altars is to allovv of a true sacrifice, which vseth to be offered on them, an Altar, and a true & proper sa­crifice beeing correlatiues, of which th'one inferreth the other, and so the one can not be auerred vvithout the other, nor th'one denied vvithout the other. And although (as I sayd) there vvāt not bookes of pietie & deuotion in Englād, to mooue the good to deuotion, pietie and good life, & sinners also to repentance, the beginning (after faith) of all good life: yet I vvould not therefore be silent; rather by the exāple of other vvriters, I was encouraged to offer my myte, & my small endeauours also for the cōuersion of sinners, & to follow there­in not onelie their examples, but the exāple also of my Sauiour IESVS CHRIST, & his Apostles. For he dyed for sinners, and came not to call the iuste, but sin­ners to pennance, and he left nintie [Page] nine in the desert, Luc. 5, to seeke out one sheepe that vvas last, and he and his Angels reioice more vpon one sinner that doth penance, Luc. 15 then vpon nintie nine iuste that neede no penance. And his Apostles trauersed the world through many stormes of perse­cution, to gaine the soules of sinners, and to gaine them, thought it no losse, to loose their ovvne liues. And as sinne through humaine frayltie, doth so domineere in this life, that, as the Prophet Dauid saith;Psal. 13 All haue sinned and trans­gressed, all haue declined, & there is not one that doth good, no not one, to vvitt so, as not sometime to sinne: so nothing is more necessarie in this life then penance, it being the onelie reme­die against sinne, and the ground of Iusti­fication and saluation. In Paradise there vvas no penance, because there vvas no sinne; that place being à place of innocēcie; In Heauen there is no penance, because, [Page] sinne being à miserie, can not haue accesse to that place of felicitie; In Hell there is no true penance because though there, be sinne, yet that place is a place of obstinacie, and sinne there, is not pardonable. But in this life and vvorld, penance is necessarie, because this life is subiect to sinne, and in this life sinne is also pardonable, vvhilest the sinner liueth. And therefore Holie scripture inculcateth nothing more then penance and repentance.Ezech. 18. Math. 3. Luc. 13. Act. 2. Hieron. epist. 8. ad De­metr. cap. 6. Penance as S. Hierom telleth vs is a second table after Shipvvracke, by which vve may escape drovvning, and svvimme out of the sea of sinne to the hauer and hauen of of grace. Penance is a salue against all the vvounds of the soule, it is a plaster against all her sores of sinne, it is a soue­raigne receite against all her spirituall diseases. And vvhereas many vvoundes and diseases corporall, are incurable by corporall physicke, no disease of sinne in this life is incurable, but onely finall im­penitence, [Page] because it excludeth pennance. And vvhereas no corporall physicke can of old, make vs young, or of dead, liuing againe: pennāce will make the soule after she is old and decrepite by sinne, younge againe by grace and newnes of lyfe: 2. Co. 4 Eph. 4. 4. Col­los. 3. Epla ad Tit. c. 3. 1. Pet. 1. 1. Rom. 6. & 12. Gal. 6. It maketh vs put of the old man, and put on the new, it regenerateth vs and maketh vs new creatures, and after vve are dead in soule by sinne, it re­storeth vs to the life of grace, yea & glorie also, if vve perseuer in grace. For these causes I haue made these Paraphrasti­call Discourses, to allure sinners to re­pentance, knowing hovv miserable a thing it is to liue in sinne, hovv dangerous to deferre repentance, and hovv hopelesse to dye in sinne without it. And if by these my small labours, I shall be so happie as to conuert any sinners, yea but one sinner, I shall esteeme it no small benefite, not onely to the sinner conuerted, but also to my­selfe: [Page] because S. Iames assureth me, that he that maketh a sinner to be con­uerted from the errour of his wayes, Iacobi 5. shall saue his soule from death and couer a multitude of sinnes, not onelie of the sinner vvhom he conuerteth, but also of his ovvne; because the conuersion of a sinners soule, is a sa­crifice for the conuerters soule more plea­sing to God, then if he had offered an he­catombe, yea a world to God for his owne sinnes. For, as S. Chrysostome saith,Chry­sost. ho 3. in 1. ad Co­rinth. nullius rei pretiū est cū anima con­ferendū, ne totus quidem mundus; quare etiamsi diuitias innumeras dederis pauperibus, nihil tale effi­cies, quale is qui conuertit animam. The price of nothing, no not of the vvhole vvorld, is to be cōpared to a soule. Wherefore although thou shalt giue innumerable riches to the poore, thou shalt not doe so great a [Page] worke, as he that conuerteth a soule. But of penance and the effectes of it, I shall not need in this Epistle to vse moe words, it being the principall subiect of my ensuing Paraphrasticall Dis­courses; and therefore here I shall take my leaue of my Reader, and desire him vvhether he be Catholicque or not Ca­tholicque, to take in good parte this my litle labour, intended and taken for th' one, as vvell as for the other: and if he take profit by it, let him thanke God th' Authour of all that is good; if, through my default, it moue him not to that re­pentance and amendement of life, vvhich I entended, I must desire him to pardon me: I vvas not so able, as vvilling.

APPROBATIO.

POEnitentiae coronam hanc, in qu [...] nihil quod fidei Catholicae splendori, morumue sanctorum integritati non sit consentaneum, de speciosissimis Psalmi quinquagefimi floribus Poenitentium Principis memoriae scitè contexuit pius hic Paraphrastes.

Ita sentio Ed. St. S. T. D.

APPROBATIO.

NIhil est in hac Paraphrasi Psalmi quin­quagesimi fidei Catholicae, aut bonis moribus contrarium, sed plurima ad poenitentiam excitandam & iuuan­dam conducēntia: qua propter vtiliter excudi poterit.

Georgius Colvenerius, Sacrae Theol. Doctor, & Regius ordinariusque Professor, Duacensis Academiae Cancellarius, & librorum Censor.
[figure]

PARAPHRASTICAL AND DEVOVT DISCOVRSES VPON THE FIFTITH PSALME MISERERE.

Miserere mei Deus.

Haue mercie on me, ô God.

THE Royal Pro­phet Dauid, ha­uing, through hu­maine frayltie, cō ­mitted twoe greate offences against the diuine Maiestie, 2 Reg. 1 [...]. & 12. no lesse then adalterie vvith BERSABEE, and murder of her husband Vrias; and beeing re­prooued thereof by the Prophet Nathan [Page 2] accused by his own conscience, and mooued by the diuine grace; hee con­ceiueth such a detestation and horrour of those his sinnes, and is so ashamed and confounded with the horride aspect of them, that he falleth down prostrate at the feete of his GOD, whom he had thus offended. And at the first sorrow hindred his tongue from crauing pardon: but his eyes vndertook the office of the mouth and tongue, and pleaded better for the delinquent, by teares, then the mouth could haue donne by tongue and wordes, teares being the best oratours. At length his speeche comming to him, he singeth, or rather sobbeth forth this his dolefull Psalme and sonnette; and peraduenture he playeth to it with his harpe, but assuredlie with his harte: and so maketh a sweete consort of his harte by sorrow, of his eyes by teares, & of his voice by a lamentable tune. And fearing God his Iustice, he flyeth to his mercie, [Page 3] and beginneth with that dolefull note miserere; haue mereie. As if he had sayd:

1. THOV art iust, ô Lord, Psal. 118. and thy Iudgement is right: Ioel 2. but thou art also benigne and mercifull, patient, and of much mercie, and readie to be gracious vpon the malice. If thou wert iust onelie, I should despaire, knowing my two so great offences, which now especiallie I lament. If thou wert mercifull onelie I should pre­sume: but because thou art iust and mercifull, my feare is mixt with hope, and my hope with feare, and I so feare thy iustice, as I hope in thy mercie. Thou art ô Lord (I confesse) so iust, that thou art iustice it self, and this ma­keth me feare, but thou art also so mercifull, that thou art mercie it selfe, and this maketh me hope: that discourageth me verie much; [Page 4] this as much encourageth, and giueth me the hart to saye, Mise­rere mei Deus: Haue mercie on me ô God. If I were ô Lord as iuste and holy as a Sainte, yet durst I not appeare before the eyes of thy iustice,Iob 4. Iob 25. which in the Angelles found wickednes, and in whose sight the moone doth not shine, and the starres are not cleane: but seeing that I am noe Sainte but a wretched sinner, conceiued in sinne, borne in sinne, brought vp in sinne, and guiltie of the twoe mentioned and many other sinnes; how shall I dare to appeare, before thy iustice? For if the iust man trembleth before the Tribunal of thy Iustice, how shall the sinner stand before it?

2. But I appeale, ô Lord, (sayth Dauid) from thy iustice to thy mer­cie, not as to an higher Tribunal (for thy iustice and mercie are both [Page 5] infinite, and so equall) but as to a Tribunal more benigne, more clement and gentle. And al­though I be guiltie of greeuous and enormous sinnes, and those so greate, that if I regard them only and their ill disertes,Gen. 4. I may say with Cain: myne iniquitie is grea­ter, then that I may deserue pardon: Yet they are not so greate, but thy mercie is infinitelie greater, & soe compared to it, they are not so greate, but they may deserue par­don: for if thou please, ô Lord, to put not only my sinnes, but also all the sinnes of all men in one scale of thy diuine balance, and thy mercie in the other, thy mercie wold out waye and ouersway them, and as the sands of the sea, Iob 6. thy mercie wold ap­peare heauier.

3. Wherfore, ô mercifull Lord, not daring to appeare before [Page 6] thee as a iust Iudge, I present my selfe before thee as a mercifull and louing Father. He that is presen­ted as guiltie before a Iudge, vseth to deny, or diminish, or excuse the fault: but I presēting my selfe before thee, ô Lord, as before a mercifull father, doe neither deny nor excuse nor extenuat my fault; thy prophet Nathan, 2. Reg. 12. thy vnder Iudge, hauing condemned me as guiltie of no lesse then adulterie and murder, & myne owne conscience hauing pronounced sentence against me, crying in my name, peccaui: but stā ­ding before thee as a cōdēned per­son, I bring in no witnesse to defēd me, no slightes nor excuses to hide my faultes (as who can hide any thing frō thee, whose eyes doe penetrate the most secret corners of our hartes) onelie I pleade, begge, and clayme thy mercie, crying [Page 7] Miserere mei Deus: Haue mercie on me, ô God. Psal. 119. for if thou shalt obserue iniquities ô Lord, Lord who shall susteine it? And therfore,Psal. 142. enter not into Iudgement with thy once seruāt Dauid, examine not his case and cause, according to the order of iustice, but accor­ding to thy mercie: I confesse all, & I haue nothing to say for my selfe but Miserere, Haue mercie. I hide not my fault, nor can I, it is too well known vnto thee, onely I can saye Miserere, Haue mercie.

4. Deale not with me, ô Lord, (sayth Dauid) according to thy Ius­tice; that would cast me in all lawe, but according to thy mercie; by that onelie I can be saued. Thou art (it is true) soueraigne Lord of heauen and earth, to whom euen Kings and potentates are but vas­sals; but Lords also doe pardon their seruantes, vvhen with teares [Page 8] of eyes & sorrow of harte they demaund pardon: I demaund it in the same manner.Apoc. 5. Thou art a a Lion, & a Lion of the Tribe of Iuda, but Lions also will spare them who prostrate themselues before them; I prostrat both body & soule vnto thee.

5. I confesse that by sinne I am become,Psal. 31 Sicut equus & mulas in quibus non est intellectus: as a horse and mule which haue noe vnderstanding. And my brutish appetites, to which I haue been a slaue, haue metamor­phized me & made me so brutish, that I am in life and conuersation rather a brute beast then a reaso­nable creature:Psal. 35 but yet, Men and beasts thou wilt saue ô Lord: and in the law deliuered by Moyses, though it be a lawe of terrour, thou hadst pitie euen of brute beasts, and therefore woldst not permit the [Page 9] Iew to plough with an oxe and an asse,Deut. 22. Exod. 23. & Deut. 14. least the asse should be ouer laboured; nor to seethe the kidde in the milke of his damme, that seeming crueltie, nor in a nest to kill or take the old bird with the younge ones,Deut. 22. nor to moosel the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne. Haue mercie then on me, though by sinne more a beast then they.

6. If I were the onelie sinner ô Lord, thou shouldst haue lesse reason to pardō mee, but seeing all haue sinned, and transgressed, Psal. 13 seeing that all haue declined, and that there is not that doth good, noe not one: if thou shouldst exercise iustice one­lie, on sinners, thou shoulest finde none on whom thou couldst exer­cise thy mercie. If thou shouldst punish all sinners, thou shouldst haue none to pardon: and so thy most gratefull attribute mercie, [Page 10] should neuer showe it selfe. And yet none of thy diuine attributes is so gratefull as thy clemencie, none doe make thee so popular as thy mercie; neither hath thy diuine nature any thing greater then that thou canst remitte sinnes, nor more pleasing to men & Angelles, then that thou wilt. If no sinner, ô mercifull Lord, had euer obtained mercie and pardon at thy handes, then might it seeme arrogancie in me to demaund mercie: but if many and verie grieuous sinners haue found mercie at thy hands, then doe thou vouch safe to par­don me, whom by pardoning others thou hast caused to hope for pardō; and be not displeased if the burden of my dolefull sonnet be still the same, Miserere mei Deus, haue mercie on me ô God, ô most mercifull God. And thou ô Chri­stian [Page 11] soule who hast sinned with Dauid, cry peccaui; I haue sinned, with him cry, miserere mei Deus, haue mercie on me o God.

7. Rue the day and hower, yea the many dayes and howers in which thou hast offended God, and acknowledge therein thy to too greate ingratitude, because in of­fending him thou hast offended thy creatour, by whom thou hast thy naturall being, by whom thou liuest and breathest, thou hast offēded thy Redeemer, who to rā ­some thee from death, the deuill and sinne became man for thee, and suffred the most shamefull and most painfull death of the crosse to giue to thee here in this life a spirituall life and being by grace, and in the next life an eter­nall life, and being by glorie. Saye vnto him: I ought my selfe wholie [Page 12] vnto thee for my creation, and I ought my selfe again wholie vnto thee for my redemption, and so I but one, am twise thine, and twyse due vnto thee. And if I owe my selfe and consequentlie my all for my creation, what shall I giue thee for my redemption? What shall I render to our Lord, Psal. 115. for all thinges that he hath rendred to mee. I ame lesse, ô Lord, then ether of these benefits of creation and re­demption, yea then the least of thy graces and fauours. How vngratefull then was I to offend thee, and thereby as much as lay in mee, to take from thee, who can neuer giue thee sufficient, to iniure thee, disgrace, dishonour thee, who can neuer render thee sufficiēt for the least of thy benefitts though I giue all I ame and haue, yea though I could giue ten thou­sand [Page 13] tymes more then I am and haue But seeing I owe more then I am and haue, and yet haue also beē so vngratefull as to offēd thee, what wilt thou expect of me? Thou knowest, ô Lord, that of an ill & vnable debter, thou canst ex­pecte nothing but an acknowled­gement of the debte, & an humble demaund of pardon for the offēce and remission of the debte, as I doe in Dauids dolefull crye: Which I repeate after him. Miserere mei Deus: Haue mercie on me ô God.

8. And ô my not onlie ingra­titude but impudencie who being not so much as a vile worme, com­pared vnto thee, ô Lord, durst of­fend thyne infinite Maiestie: and was not ashamed to commit those my heinous offences not onlie be­fore thee, but also against thee, which I wold haue shamed to com­mit [Page 14] before my seruaunt, or in pre­sence of the poorest begger: as though I had thought there had been no God, or that thou, vvho madst the eye didst not see, or that thou who art euery where hadst not been present. I sayd then in effect as the fornicatour, or adulte­rer did in Ecclesiasticus: Ecclesiastici 23. Who seeth me? darknes compasseth me, and the walles couer me, and no man beholdeth me: whom doe I feare? The Highest will not be mindfull of my sinnes. O Good God, where was then my vn­derstanding that I could thinke that I could hide any thing from thy all seeing eyes? That I could Imagin, or could behaue my selfe, as though Thy eyes were not brighter then the sunne, Eccle­siastici 23. beholding round about all the vvayes of men, and the bottome of the depth, & the hartes of men. Or if I did know or thinke that thou didst [Page 15] see the sinnes which I committed in the darke or in the secret closet of my harte; how impudent and shameles vvas I, Who feared not to doe that before thy diuine eyes and in thy diuine presence, vvhich I should haue shamed and blushed to doe in the presēce of the poorest begger? howe couldst thou, ô God, endure this impudencie of so vile a sinner? O yee blessed Angel­les, who carrie the sword of God his iustice, how could you hold your hands seeing your Lord & Prince so contemned by so vile, malapert, and saucie a varlet?

But vvhat shall I doe, ô Lord? If my sinnes past could so be recal­led, as not to haue been, I vvould reuoke and recall all my offences. But seeing I can no more recall my former euill actions then the daye or hower paste; I can onelie vvish [Page 16] that I had neuer sinned, and be hartily sorrie that I haue sinned: and that I doe, and so doing, I can not but hope that thou vvilt for­giue and forget my sinnes; for so thou hast promised by thy Prophet Ezechiel, & I take thee at thy word. And this is thy promise:Ezech. 18. But if the impious shall doe penaunce from all his sinnes, which he hath wrought, &c. liuing he shall liue, and shal not dye. All his ini­quities vvhich he hath vvrought, I vvill not remember them. In this thy promi­se I will hope, because I know thou art veritie it selfe, and so canst not deceiue or be deceiued, & thou art goodnes it selfe, & so vvilt not de­ceiue. On this promise I will relye, because I know thou art able and willing to forgiue their sinnes who are penitēt for them: If thou wert able onlie but not vvilling, I could not easilie hope, nor could I, if thou [Page 17] wert willing onelie, and not able: but seeing that thou art both able and vvilling, I vvill hope for pardō for my sinnes, and I vvill neuer let my hold goe of this hope, it being grounded in thy promise; but (as Iob sayd:Iob 13.) Although thou shalt kill me, I will trust in thee: and animated and encouraged by this hope, though I be a greeuous sinner, and a great offendour, I dare craue mercie vvith Dauid and crye: Miserere mei Deus: Haue mer­cie on me, ô God.

9. I intend, ô Lord, to leaue the state of sinne, and to amend my life for hereafter, and seeing that thy mercie is the source & beginning of all thy workes, I desire that by thy mercie this vvorke of myne amen­dement may be begunne. Mercie vvas the beginning of creation: for vvhen vve vvere nothing, we could [Page 18] not deserue any thing, and so it was thy mercie, of nothing to make vs something, and thy great mercie to make vs the greatest and noblest thing after the Angels. Mercie is the beginning of the greate grace of predestination, vvhich distinguisheth the elect, from the reprobate, as appeareth by those thy vvords to Moyses al­leadged by thy Apostle.Exod. 33. Rom. 9. See S. Aug. ep. 105. ad Six­tum. I will haue mercie on vvhom, I vvill haue mercie, and I vvill shevve mercie, to vvhom I vvill shevv mercie. Whence S. Paule inferreth, That it is not of the vviller nor the runner, but of God that shew­eth mercie. And a litle after: there­fore on vvhom he vvill, he hath mercie, and vvhom he vvill he doth in­durate, to vvitt, permissiuelie. And so it is not to be imputed to any merit of ours that vve are predes­tinated, but to the onelie mercie [Page 19] of God. Though to the reprobate also he giueth grace sufficiēt to be saued. Mercie vvas the beginning of the Incarnation, vvhich is the ground of all mans grace, merit and glorie; because it vvas decreed and effected by God,S. Th. 3. p. q. 1. [...]. 3. not for mās merit, but out of God his mercie, and compassiō he tooke on mans miserie, into vvhich by Adams sinne, he vvas fallen: and it being the beginning of all grace and me­rit, could not be preuented by the merit of man, but onelie by the mercie of God: Mercie is the be­ginning of our redemption: for although to Christ his passion, and its value and merit our redem­ption vvas due by right of iustice, yet that he did suffer for vs and suf­fring redeemed vs, it was his mercie not our merit: Mercie is the begin­ning of our Iustification, and re­mission [Page 16] [...] [Page 17] [...] [Page 18] [...] [Page 19] [...] [Page 20] of sinnes, because vve are iustified gratis, Rom. 3. by his grace, and grace is giuen gratis, for no merit of ours, but onelie for God his mercie; for as S. Paule sayth:Rom. 11. If by grace; not for vvorkes, or merits, othervvise grace vvere not grace: Mercie also is the beginning of our glorification, for although glory be giuē for our me­rits, and so in that respect be a re­ward,Vide Aug. ep. 105. ad Six­tum. Rom. 6. yet our merits would not be merits, if they proceeded not from grace which is giuē gratis, & there­fore S. Paule sayth, The grace of God, life euerlasting: And so I vvith Dauid desiring iustificatiō frō my sinnes and after it glorie and life euer­lasting, doe humblie craue thy mercie the ground of both, saying vvith Dauid: Miserere mei Deus: Haue mercie on me ô God.

Secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

According to thy greate mercie.

1. IT is not so proper to the sunne ô Lord, to illuminate and giue light, nor to the fier to vvar­me and giue heate, as it is to thee to haue mercie: because it is but an accidentall proprietie to the sunne to illuminate, as it is also for the fire to heate; but thou, ô Lord, art essentiallie mercifull and mer­cie it selfe, & therefore if thou wilt shew thy selfe to be thyselfe, haue mercie on my sinfull soule; and because thy mercie is infinite, Haue mercie on me according to this thy greate mercie. Litle miseries, as sicknesses and diseases of the body require but litle mercie, and may often [Page 22] tymes be healed & cured by Phy­sitians; but sinne, if it be mortall, is a greate miserie (as vvhich de­priueth the soule of her life of grace, makes her odious and de­formed in the sight of God, makes her an enemie to God, and his Saintes, and a freind onelie to the deuill, depriueth her of life euerlas­ting, and of the cleare vision and fruition of God, & if she repent not in tyme, tumbleth her head­long into hel, and into that inex­tinguible fier for euer, (where the damned shall euer burn, & neuer be consumed, where they shall be dying and neuer dead, where tor­mēts shall be without ease, miseries without end) and therefore requi­reth a greate, and an infinite mer­cie, and can not be pardoned but by God, or by special power and authoritie from him, which he [Page 23] onelie graunted to his Apostles & their lawfull successours,Mar. 2. for to them onelie Christ sayd,Ioan. 20. Whose sinnes you shal forgiue they are forgiuen them. And therefore Dauid whose consciēce accused him of mortall sinnes, which he knew to be greate miseries, desired God to haue mercie on him according to his greate mercie. 2. Reg. 11. & 12. Hee had committed two greate and heinous sinnes, for he had committed adulterie vvith Bersabee, and to couer it, he had killed Vrias her husband, and so he stoode in neede of a great mer­cie.

2. O Dauid although thou hadst formerlie been a good King,Act. 13. and a man according to God his hart, yet I can not excuse thee now from greate sinne and great ingratitude; and this thou thy selfe seest and confessest. Thow didst violate the [Page 24] wife of Vrias thy faithfull seruant and valiant soldiour, and to couer this fault thou addest an other, to vvitt, the death of this thy innocēt and faithfull soldiour. O Dauid doth not the zeale of Vrias thy sol­diour confound thee! he would not lye vvith his owne wife whi­lest,2. Reg. 11. & 12. The Arke of God and Israel and Iuda, dvvelt in pauilions, and his Lord Ioab and the seruants of his Lord aboade vpon the face of the earth; thou at that tyme lyest with his wife in a soft bed, takest thy vnlawfull pleasure with her; He exposed his life for thee, thy kingdome, and the cause of God, and thou causest him to be vniustly & cruellie murdered, and to be sure to kill him, thou ex­posest to danger of death many other soldiours, & thereby giuest occasiō to the Infidelles to insult ouer the armie of God, and to blas­pheme [Page 25] the name of God, who had eleuated to the dignitie of a King, thee, who now dealest more trai­trously then many of them would haue done.

3. And this treacherie, crueltie, iniustice, and ingratitude thou cō ­mittest, ô Dauid, after many guiftes of grace & nature, which God had hestowed on thee;Psalm. 77. after he had chosen thee and taken thee from the flockes of sheepe, from after the ewes with young: & had made thee of a shephearde a King, and of a gouernour of a flocke of sheepe a King & Pastour of the people of God, after he had honored thee with so many victo­ries, first ouer Golias, and then ouer the Philistians and Assyrians; after he had deliuered thee so often from the hatred, enuie and malice of Saul; after he had indued thee with the light of prophecie and know­ledge [Page 26] of diuine mysteries, yea and and with great sanctitie also; after he had promised to establish the scepter of Iuda in thy familie,Psalm. 88. and had begun to fullfill his promise: Thou, ô Dauid, for one filthie and short pleasure (ô inconstancie, ô leuitie, ô ingratitude,) forgetting all these graces & fauours, couldst find in thy hart to forsake so good a God, and so great a benefactour, for so short and so brutish a plea­sure, and to offend him so gree­uouslie, who had beene so benefi­ciall to thee. But this thy great fault, ô Dauid, I need not to aggra­uate, thou knowest it better then any man else, and thou acknow­ledgest it, and therefore for so great a sinne and miserie, thou de­sirest, not whatsoeuer, but a great mercie.

4. God almightie his mercie [Page 27] in it selfe is alwaies great, and so great, that it is God him selfe (for whatsoeuer is in God, is God, and so, infinite as he is) but yet this di­uine attribute of mercie in its effe­ctes, is greater and lesser; greater in those to whome many and greate sinnes are forgiuen; lesse in those to whom lesser and fewer sinnes are pardoned. Dauid therefore desireth God to shew mercie vnto him in effect according as he had shewed to the greater sinners.

5. And I ô Lord (say so ô sinfull Cstristiā) acknowledging my selfe with Dauid a great sinner, and if not in the same kind of sinne, at least in some other kind as greate or greater, and if not in carnall,S. Tho. 1.2. q. 73. art. 5. at least in spirituall sinnes, which are of themselues greater then carnall sinnes, as in Schisme, Heresie, enuy, pride, ambition, hatred of [Page 28] my neighbour, and the like, doe desire thee to haue mercie on me according to thy great mercie in effect, according to that mercie which thou shewedst to Dauid, Manasses and other great sinners in the old lawe, according to that great mercie thou shewedst to S. Peter, S. Mathew, S. Paule and S. Marie Magdalen, in the new lawe; for my sinnes being great, doe re­quire a greate mercie. Or haue mercie on me according to that great worke of mercie the Incarna­tiō, to which peraduēture Dauid allu­ded, for out of thy mercie onely not for our merit, thou wast incarnate: Or haue mercie on me according to that great worke of mercie, thy painfull death and Passion, which out of mercie and compassiō thou sufferdst for mās redemption. And if, ô heauenly father, out of thy [Page 29] mercie and compassion towards vs thou sparedst not thy owne sonne, Rom. 8. though equall & consubstātiall vnto thee, but for vs all deliueredst him, vnto death, no doubt thou art readie on thy part for this so extraordinary work of mercie, to haue mercie on the greatest sinners. Or else thou whosoeuer hast sinned with Dauid, say with him; haue mercie on me ô God, according to thy greate & infinite attribute of mercie, which is as great as thy selfe, who are es­sentiallie mercie, and is so infinite, that all the sinnes of the world are but litle drops, in regarde of that sea of mercie. In this mercie, ô Lord, that is in thy selfe who art this mer­cie, I principallie hope, and next in that great effecte & worke of mer­cie, thy Incarnation and bitter pas­sion. And if in the Ocean sea I can not want water to wash and coole [Page 30] me, If in the sunne I can not want light to illuminate me, nor in the fier heate to vvarme me; much lesse can I vvant mercie in this Ocean of mercie, or light of grace in this sunne of mercie, vvhich shineth on the good and the badde; or can my cold sinnes make me shiuer for want of heate of charitie, in this infinite fier of mercie, vvhich con­sumeth sinnes, but saueth soules?

Et secundum multitudinem miseratio­num tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.

And according to the multitude, of thy commiserations, take away myne iniquitie.

1. MY sinnes ô mercifull God (sayth Dauid) are not onelie great, but also many,Prou. 24. for if the Iust finneth seuen tymes in a day venially, I who haue of long tyme ledd a sin­full life, vvho seldome resisted ten­tations, and as seldome flyed the occasions of sinnes, but rather sought for them: who haue sinned so often that I may say with Ma­nasses,Orat. Manas. & 2. Par. 33 Peccaui super numerum arenae maris. I haue sinned aboue the number of the sand of the sea. And as Eccle­siasticus sayd,Eccles. c. 10. Arenam maris & plu­uiae guttas & dies saeculi quis dinumera­uit? [Page 32] The sand of the sea, and the droppes of rayne, and the dayes of the world who hath nūbred? so may I say: my sinnes of mouth, harte, deed, my many sinnes of my fiue senses of the bodie, & of the faculties & powers of my soule, vvhich I committed euery day and night, euerie hovver and moment, in this place, in that place, and in all places; who can recken? they are so many that I my selfe can not number them, thou onelie, ô Lord, hast thē all in thy coūt-booke, which one day will be produced against me, if in the meane time by my sorrow, with thy grace, they be not cācelled. And whi­lest I thus multiplied my sinnes, vvhat patience, vvhat mercie; ô Lord, didst thou shevv vnto me? when I prouoked on my part more and more by often sinning thy wrath and indignation, thou exten­dedst [Page 33] thy patience and mercie? for when thou mighst haue iustly takē me in my sinnes, & for thē, by sud­den death, mighst haue sent me presently to hell, there to receaue my iust punishment, as thou hast dealt with many no greater, yea lesser sinners then I, yet thou graū ­tedst me lesure and grace to re­pent, and whilest I contemned thy goodnes & patiēce, and longa­nimitie, thy benignitie expected me to penance, wherfore resoluing by thy grace, to multiplie my sinnes no more, yea neuer to adde any one mortall sinne to my former, I desire thee to pardon my former sinnes, and because they are very many, to haue mercie on me, Ac­cording to the multitude of thy commise­rations, and mercies.

2. And thou ô Christian, who hast multiplied sinnes vpon sinnes [Page 34] vvith Dauid, & peraduenture more then he, desire God, vvith him, to haue mercie on thee according to the multitude of his mercies▪ 2. Reg. 12. Say, vvith him: Thou forgauest peni­tent Dauid, penitent Ezechias, and penitent Manasses, thou pardone [...]st S. Peter, S. Paul, S. Matthew, S. Marie Magdalene, and thousands other great sinners; pardon me also, ô sweete Lord, accordinge to these thy so many mercies,Psal. 88 & com­miseratiōs. Where are thyne old mercies ô Lord, which thou shewedst hereto­fore to sinners?Psal. 21 In thee our forefathers (though sinners as we) haue hoped, they haue hoped & thou didst deliuer thē, They ried to thee & were saued: they ho­ped & were not cōfounded I cry, ô Lord, with them, heare me as thou didst them, I hope with them for mercie, let me finde mercie at thy hands as they did, and let not me be con­founded. [Page 35] Are all thy mercies spent? are none left for me? May I say vnto thee as Esau sayd to his Father Isaac? Genes, 27. Hast thou not reserued me also a blessing, a mercie? Hast thou one onelie blessing, Father? Hast thou no moe blessings nor mercies left for me? no I can not say so. Thou art, ô Lord, infinitelie more rich in mer­cies, then Isaac vvas in blessings. Thou hast bestowed thousands & millions of mercies on sinners, and yet thou hast infinite mercies reserued for other sinners that cry vnto thee for mercie. Thy mercies are infinite, and an infinite number can not be exhausted, thy mercies are aboue the sandes of the sea, Thy mercie is a sea which can not want the cooling waters of mercies: soo­ner may the sea be dryed vp then the Ocean of thy mercies drawn drye. Wherefore I cry with Dauid, [Page 36] Haue mercie on me ô God according to thy great mercie, because my sinnes are great, and according to the multi­tude of thy commiserations, and mer­cies, because my sinnes are many; & as he cryed peccaui for his sinnes, so vvill I send forth from hart and tongue many a peccaui, and day and night, and howerlie and whensoe­uer my sinnes occurre to my me­morie, I vvill cry peccaui.

3. And because I can not safely enough rely (in my opinion) on my peccauies, not knowing whether they proceede from a truly cōtrite heart or no, I vvill haue recourse to thy infinite mercies, ô Sonne of God, which are merites in respect of thee, as which deserued of thy Father our redemption, but in res­pect of me, vvho deserued them not, they are mercies; And I shall offer vnto thee all the steppes thou [Page 37] vvalkedst on earth for me, all the howers thou liuedst for me, all the wordes thou spakest, all the praiers and exhortations thou madst, all thy Theandricke or humane-di­uine workes and operations, all thy miracles, all the drops of sweate thou swetst for me in the garden, all those lashes thou enduredst for me at the Piller, all the prickes thou feltst in thy coronatiō with thornes, all the pearsinges of the nayles, all the panges on the crosse, all that shower of bloud which rained frō the heauenly cloude of thy sacred humanitie, yea all the drops of that shower, of which euery one vvas a mercie to me, of which euery one was such a merit in respect of thee, that the least vvould haue been suf­ficiēt to redeeme a thousād worlds, And according to this multitude of thy commiserations, and mercies; take [Page 38] away myne iniquitie. And take our all the staynes and blottes which sinne hath left in my soule, and crosse and cancell by thy death and pas­siō, out of thy booke of accountes, all the Items and debtes I owe, take away my sinnes from my soule, from thy eyes, from thy memorie, that they may not onelie be forgiuen, but also forgotten, and so buried in perpetuall obliuion.

4. For although thou canst not forget any sinnes cōmitted against thee, no not S. Marie Magdalens sinnes, which were vvashed avvay with many teares of eyes and harte; yet when sinnes by true repentāce and hartie sorrowe are remitted, & quite effaced and taken away, thou doest no more impute them, nor doest thou punish them, at least with eternall payne, as if thou hadst forgotten them: & therefore thou [Page 39] hast promised, and this promise is my comfort, that vvhensoeuer a sinner shall repent himselfe of his sinnes, Thou wilt not remember them, Ezech. 18. that is, so, as to punish them, or to be offended vvith the sinner for them, because by contrition and the grace thereof they are taken away, as if they neuer had beene.

Amplius laua me ab iniquitate mea, & à peccato meo munda me.

Wash me more amplie from myne ini­quitie, and cleanse me from my sinne.

1. A Fowle cloth, and especial­lie if it be also stained, re­quireth much washing and no lesse rubbing; and a soule that hath much sinned, requireth much wash­inge by the teares of contrition, and much rubbing by the austere workes of pennance. King Dauid hauing cried peccaui Domino, 2. Reg. 1 [...]. I haue sinned to our Lord, for his great and manifold sinnes, deserued to heare from Nathan the Prophets mouth: Dominus quoque transtulit peccatum tuū: our Lord also hath taken away thy sinne, and so by that peccaui, spoken vvith sorrow of heart, the malice of his [Page 41] mortall sinnes was washed away, yet he not attending so much to Nathans reuelation, as to the great­nes of his sinne cōmitted, desireth to be more amplie washed, to vvitt not onelie from the malice of his mortall sinnes (of vvhich he vvill not be secure, and of vvhich one can not by grace and contrition be remitted vvithout the rest, grace being equallie opposite to all) but also from his veniall sinnes, and the temporall payne due to mortall sinne remitted. For although the eternall payne due to mortall sinne be alwaies remitted with the sinne, yet not the tēporall payne, vnlesse the contrition be extraordinarie, as it vvas in S. Marie Magdalene; And therefore after that Nathan had tould Dauid, 2 Reg. 12. that our Lord had taken away his sinne, he tould him also that because by his sinne he had made the ene­mies [Page 38] [...] [Page 39] [...] [Page 40] [...] [Page 41] [...] [Page 42] of our Lord to blaspheme, for this thiag the sonne that is born to thee, dying shall die. Yea Nathan tould Dauid, that the sword should not depart from his house. 2. Reg. 13. 2. Reg. 18. 3. Reg. 1 2. Par. 21.24.25.35. As indeed three of his owne sonnes, Ammon, Absalon, and Adonias were slaine, as vvere also many others of Dauids race and fa­milie. Finally Dauid, in desiering to be more amplie washed, desired to be cleansed from all the reliques of sinne.

2. But thou, ô sinfull Chris­tian, because thou hast not that re­uelation which Dauid had, to witt that our Lord hath takē away thy sinne, 2. Reg. 12. Desire him to vvash thee cleane, euen from the malice of sinne, yea and to wash thee more amply, that is frō the payne and reliques of sinne. Say vnto thy mercifull God: ô Lord how often haue I wallowed in my filthie pleasures, and in the fowle [Page 43] puddle of sinne, by which I haue polluted body and soule, yea the earth on which I haue vvalked, and the ayre in which I haue breathed; in so much that I haue defiled by sinne the Image of God engrauen in my soule, and haue caused my soule to sauour so ill to thy diuine senses, and to seeme so vglie to thy diuine eyes, that thou hast turned thy face from me.

3. And if it seeme strange to any, that sinne should pollute the soule, which is of a spirituall, im­mortall, & incorruptible substance, he must know, that then a thing is polluted or defiled vvhen it is vnited or mixed with a baser thing then it selfe:See S. Tho. 2.2 q 7. ar. 2. in corp. then graced or embel­lished vvhen it is mixed vvith a thinge more noble then it selfe. And so siluer is defiled vvhen it fal­leth in the durt, or into moltē leade, [Page 44] but when a siluer ring falleth into molten gold, it is guilded and gra­ced; And seeing that by sinne our soule auerteth it selfe from God, and conuerteth and vniteth, and as it were mingleth it selfe by inor­dinate affection with creatures, as corporall and beastly pleasures of the body, the trash and pelfe of the world, baser then she, and in­feriour to her, she is contaminated and defiled, but when she conuer­teth her selfe to God the creatour by charitie and loue, then is she graced and adorned, because then she is vnited to a more noble sub­stance then her selfe: And therefore as one can not touch pitch,Eccl. 13 coales or other filthy thinges but he shall file his hands, so a sinner can not touch creatures by inordinate affe­ction, but he shall be defiled in soule.

[Page 45]4.S. Tho. 1.2. qu. 86. ar. 1. & 2. Hence it is that Diuines doe affirme that euery mortall sinne leaueth behind it maculam a spott or blott, which blurreth, staineth, and defileth the soule, and maketh her odious in the sight of God. Wherefore God by Hiere­mie the Prophet telleth the Iewish Synagogue, which had defiled her selfe by many sinnes and euen by Idolatrie,Hier. 2. If thou shouldst wash thy selfe with nitre and multiply to thy selfe the hearbe borith, thou art spotted in thine iniquitie before me. And of our Bles­sed Ladie, because she vvas free from all sinne, at least actuall,Cant. 4 the Spouse saith in the Canticles, Thou art all fayre, my loue, and there is not a spott in thee, Ephes. 5 And S. Paule saith that Christ so loued the Church that he deli­uered him selfe to death for it, that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it by the lauer of water in the word, that he might [Page 46] present to him selfe à glorious Church not hauing spott or vvrinkle.

5. And this spott and filth of sinne, is the filthiest of all filthes; for corporall filthes doe onelie pol­lute, and defile bodies, and cannot defile any spirituall substance. And therefore if an Angell, or a mans soule should paste through the most filthie puddle that is, it would not be defiled, and hence it is that in a lepours body the soule of man is not a vvhitt contaminated; but sinne is so fowle and filthie, that it defiled Lucifer & the Angells that followed him in his rebelliō against God, and it blurreth, spotteth and polluteth our soules, as I haue shewed. And therefore God vvho hath created all thinges, euen those which seeme to vs foule and vn­cleane, and yet neuer defiled his handes, and who is in all thinges [Page 47] by essence, power, and presence,S. Tho. 1 pa q. 8. ar. 3. and yet is no more contaminated by them then the sunne is when he shineth on the puddle or dunghill: yet if he could create or be Authour of sinne, he should be contamina­ted, and therefore he can not be Authour of it, because he can not be contaminated.

6. From this filth Dauid cryeth to be washed & cleansed: But what water, ô penitent Dauid wouldst thou haue to wash & cleanse thee from this filth? the filth of sinne is so abominable, that neither the water of the Cistern of Bethleem which thou once so greedilie desi­redst: nor the Probatica Pond, 1. Para. 11. Ioan. 5.4. Reg. 5. Luc. 4. which being stirred by an Angell cured the corporall lame and blind, nor the riuer of Iordan, in which Naa­man was cleansed frō his leprosie, can wash away this filth of sinne, [Page 48] or take out the stayne thereof. And therefore most wiselie, ô Royall Prophet, thou specifiest none of these vvaters, but onelie demādest that vvater and lauer vvhich hath force to wash out the filth of sinne, and leauest to God to fynd out the vvater, at vvhich also by faith, thou thy selfe aymedst.

7. And vvhat is this lauer? it is the bloud of the Lambe CHRIST IESVS vvhich he shedd for all sinners,Apoc. 1 1. Ioan. 1. and in which he hath washed vs from our sinnes. By vertue of this Bloud, all the sinnes that were euer remitted from the fall of Adam, haue been vvashed, and our soules haue been cleansed frō them: And therefore this lambe of God is sayd to haue been killed from the begin­ninge of the world. Apoc. 13. Not onelie because he vvas in figure killed in Abel, but also because all vvho haue had re­mission [Page 49] of their sinnes from the beginninge of the world, haue had it by faith in Christ, and by vertue of his sacred bloud which was shed for vs. O Lord, sayth Dauid, wash me and rinse me in this holy bathe and lauer of thy bloud, that I may be cleansed from all fylth of sinne, and appeare gratefull hereafter to thy diuine sight.

8. But although this sacred bloud and passion of Christ be the generall cause of all remission of sinnes, yet there are many other particular causes, which in vertue of that doe also remitte sinnes; as Baptisme, and other Sacraments in the new Lawe, and the water of contrition in all Lawes. And this lauer of Christs bloud, Dauid by faith forsawe, and desired to be washed and bathed in it, and to be cleansed frō the filth of sinne by it.

[Page 50]9. We are defyled in generall by twoe sinnes, to witt originall and Actuall or personall sinne; and because originall sinne is contrac­ted not by our owne personall acte or will, but by the will of our first parent Adam,Rom. 5. in whome as S. Paule saith, All haue sinned, therefore to wash out the fylth of this sinne, no personall acte of ours is required (as children are not capable of any such acte,) but in the Lawe of na­ture, the faith of the parents mani­fested by some externall signe was sufficient, in the Lawe of Moyses cir­cumcision, and in the new Lawe, Baptisme doth suffice. But because our actuall sinnes are committed by our owne proper Willes, a lauer and Baptisme of contrition, called by the Diuines Baptismus fla­minis, baptisme of the Spirit, was euer in all Lawes necessarie. And [Page 51] for this water Dauid cryed when he sayd, Wash me more amply from myne iniquitie.

10. And almightie God out of compassion of the thirst Dauid suf­fered in this kind, stroke the rocke of his stony hart hardened by sinne and made the waters of contrition to gush forth in that aboundance and with that impetuositie, that he saith in an other place:Psal. 118. myne eyes haue gushed forth issues of waters, and he will not weepe once onelie for his sinnes, he will weepe day & night, and this lauer of teares where in he desireth to wash his soule, shall not be a torrent, which runneth impe­tuously, but for a tyme; it shall be an euer running fountaine,Psal. 6. for saith he I will euery night wash my bed, I will water my couche with teares. See Ge­nebrard on this Psalme. And the Hebrew text by an hyperboly expli­cateth yet more the aboundance [Page 52] of his teares, for whereas our vulgar Latin text hath, Lauabo per singulas noctes lectū meū. I will euery night wash my bed. The Hebrew hath natare faciam. I vvill make my bed swimme with the floudes of my teares. S. Marie Magdalen though beautifull in body, by sinne vvas become so lothsome a creature in soule, and in the sight of God, that she durst not looke Christ in the face, but Standing behind besides his feete, Luc. 7. began to vvater his feete vvith teares, yet being bathed in this water she be­came as white as driuen snowe. S. Peter what a sinne did he wash away by this lauer? He had denied his master Christ Iesus three tymes, and not at the threatning of a Ty­rant, but at the voice of a wooman and she a wench & an hand-maid, and he had also abiured him,Mat. 26 Mar. 14 Luc. 2. with oathes & curses most vnworthely [Page 53] and vngratfully, considering his masters loue vnto him, and yet goeing forth and weeping bitterly, this great sinne vvas vvashed so cleane avvay as if it had neuer been.

11. Say then, ô sinfull Wighte, vnto thy mercifull God, If Dauid, Manasses, Marie Magdalene, & other great sinners haue been vvashed cleane frō their sinnes, why should I dispare to be vvashed from the filth of my sinnes. I Confesse that I am a great sinner, and cōsequent­ly defiled and polluted from top to toe, but I desire thee, ô Lord, to vvash me in the vvater of contri­tion, vvhich hath vertue from thy bloud, for then I make no doubt to be cleansed: I cry ô Lord vvith Hieremie the Prophete: Who vvill giue vvater to my heade, Hier. 9 and to myne eyes a fountaine of this vvater, that I [Page 54] may vveepe day and night, For lesse vvill not serue to vvash my defiled soule?1. Par. 11. I cry vvith Dauid, ô that some man (Christ Iesus, God and man) vvould giue me vvater of this cisterne of Bethleem. Gen. 6. This vvater of contri­tion is an other Noes floud vvhich drowneth sinnes and saueth soules, to vvhich vvater if the sinners of the world at that tyme had had re­course, they had neuer beene drow­ned in the deluge. It is an other redde sea, Exod. 14. redde vvith the bloud of Christ, from vvhich it hath its ver­tue, which drowneth the Egyptiās, the deuill & all his hellish troupes of sinnes, but saues soules and the true Israëlites, by vvhich out of Egipte, that is, out of the state of sinne, vve passe to the land of pro­mise, heauen, the home of our soule, and the land of the liuing and blessed. This vvater is distilled [Page 55] in the limbecke of our hart, by the Holy Ghost & the fyer of charitie, vvhich maketh it to ascende to the eyes, and thence to Heauen, be­cause it is:Ioan. 4. Aqua saliens in vitam aeter­nam, vvater vvhich stringeth to life euerlasting.

12. O Lord, I demaund not vvith thy blessed virgin-mother, for wine for the Bride, I cry onelie for this vvater that vvasheth away the fylthe of sinne, cooleth the heate of concupiscence, mollifieth our stony hartes, and like an hea­uenly raine maketh fertille the soyle of our soule, and causeth it to bring forth the florishing plantes and sweete herbes and flowers of all māner of vertues, which setteth a new glosse on our soule, and ma­keth the Image of God therein en­grauen to appeare most amiable to God, and his Angels and Sain­tes, [Page 56] asswageth God his ire & indig­nation, and extinguisheth the fyre of hell. Giue me this vvater ô Lord, and I shall esteeme it aboue the most precious vvines, It shall be meate and drinke vnto me, and I shall say vvith our Royall Prophet: Fuerunt mibi lacrymae mea panes die ac nocte: Psal. 41. my teares haue been breads vnto me day and night, & the gratefull refec­tion of my soule.

13. And giue me, ô sweete God, a vvaterie ground aboue and a vvaterie beneath, Iudie. 1 as Axa asked of Caleb. Wa­ter, I beseech thee, vvith this water of contrition not onelie the eyes of my bodie but also the eyes of my foule, and not onelie the inferiour parte of my soule but also the su­periour. If the eyes of my soule & superiour part be vvatered vvith this heauenlie vvater, it is sufficiēt, although the eyes of my body [Page 57] should be drye, but I desier thee to vvater both, that not onelie my hart and eyes of my soule may weepe, but that also the eyes of my bodie may gush forth vvith teares, for that one helpeth the other, & many tymes the sorrovv of the su­periour part redounds to the infe­riour, and vvhen the hart sorroweth the eyes shed forth teares. I desier not teares for temporall losses, I defier to behold them vvith drye eyes, and if I should vveepe neuer so much for such losses, vveeping would not helpe me giue me grace to weepe onelie for spirituall losses, for hauing offended thee by sinne, for hauing by sinne lost thy grace, thy fauour, yea life euerlasting; be­cause teares shed for sinne and spi­rituall losses are neuer in vaine, are neuer frustrated; because teares to obtaine those fauours are better [Page 58] oratours then wordes, and the eyes by teares doe sooner persuade, then the mouth by vvordes, vvherefore Hieremie the Prophet in his Threnes or Lamentations, vvisheth Hieru­salem then captiuated and desolate (and in her he speaketh to euerie sinfull soule) to shed teares as a torrent by daye and night, Hier [...]e. [...]am. 2. s [...]u Thren. 2. to giue no rest to her selfe, neither to let the aple of her eye be silent. I desier of thee, ô Lord, this torrēt, yea foūtaine of teares, which from the heart vseth to falle in to the eyes, that I may shedde for my sinnes not a fevve drops but a tor­rent, and not a torrēt onelie which rūneth for a tyme, but a fountaine also vvhich runneth perpetually: that I may crye as Dauid did, not onelie vvith mouth, and tongue, but vvith harte and eyes also, not onelie vvith vvords, but also vvith teares? Washe me more amelie from [Page 59] my iniquitie, and clense me from my sinne.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognos­co, & peccatum meum contra me est semper.

Because I doe knovve myne iniquitie and my sinne is before me alvvayes.

1. BEfore that I vvashed my selfe (saith Dauid) in the vvater of cōtrition I vvas a greate sinner, but did not knovve nor acknovvledge as I ought to haue done, the greate­nes of my sinne, I vvas defiled yet savve not my ovvne filthynes; but since I haue beholden and looked my selfe in this vvater, I see my sinnes and I knovve myne iniquitie and my sinne is before me alvvaies. No mer­uayle then that God did not pardō Dauid before he acknowledged his [Page 60] fault, and no meruayle that before his contrition of harte, he did not acknowledge it, because his eyes vvere bleared and blinded vvith carnall luste, and so he did not see nor knovv his sinne; but after the teares of contrition, his eyes vvere cleared, and then in this vvater, he savve his sinne, and seeing it, he ac­knovvledged it, and acknovvled­ging it he asked pardon, & asking pardon, he deserued it, and deser­uing it, he obtained it.

2. The vulgar Latine text hath. Et peccatum meum contra me est semper; which may be trāslated not onelie, and my sinne is before me alvvayes, but also, and my sinne is alvvayes against me, as is vvere accusing me, yea and tormenting me vvith the remorse and gnavving vvorme of consciēce, vvhich it engendreth: And indeed God hath engrauen in our hartes, [Page 61] and soules a conscience of sinne, vvhich like a lavve dictateth vnto vs vvhat is lawfull, what vnlawfull, and telleth the theefe & murderer that they sinne against Iustice, the fornicatour that he offendeth a­gainst Chastitie, the lyer that he contradicteth the truth. The con­science is also a vvitnesse vvhich ac­cuseth the sinner before God euen of his most secret sinnes: and whe­ther he be in bed or at borde, at home or abroad, alone or in com­panie, it still crieth against him, guiltie: And like a Iudge it cōdem­neth him, and like an executioner by remorse, it tormenteth the delinquent, by day and by night: and in the night vexeth him vvith fearfull dreames, in the daye cros­seth his recreations and pastimes vvith melancholicke dumpes, and mixeth his vvyne with vvater, that [Page 62] is his ioye vvith sorrowe. So that as the murderer hath alwayes his murder and the Iudge and execu­tioner before his eyes or imagina­tion; so a sinner hath no sooner committed his sinne, but consciēce putteth it before his eyes, and pla­ceth it also as an enemie against him. So that sinne is at it vvere al­waies in armes against vs, terrifying and threatning, and therefore the sinner should alvvaies be in armes against it, detesting it, vvishing he had neuer cōmitted it, punnishing it by vvorkes of pennance and sa­tisfaction.

3. And here I note that Dauid saith, myne iniquitie, my sinne: signi­fying by the Pronownes possessiue my and myne, that sinne is the sinners possession, so vve say my land, my house, my gold my siluer. But ô the vnhappie possession; by posses­sing [Page 63] temporall goods, and riches vve are rich and happie for this world, but by possessing sinne vve are poore, not rich, beinge depri­ued of grace & all spirituall riches of the soule, vve are miserable, not happie, Sinne being the greatest miserie that is. Wee possesse sinne, as a snake, or viper in our bosome, or as a plague, or mortall sicknes. And whereas we may leaue or giue avvay our temporall lands, mony & other thinges at our owne plea­sure, vve can not be ridde of sinne without Gods grace, and our much sorrovv, and as vve take possession of it vvith pleasure, vve can not be dispossessed of it but by sorrovve, and contrition of harte and manie austerities of pennance.

4. As Dauid said that his sinne was alwaies before him, and against him, so may euery sinner say. Cain [Page 64] had no sooner killed his brother Abel, but his conscience presented vnto him his sinne in that heinous manner, that he hung dovvn the head like a sheepe byter, and (to vse the phrase of the Scripture) his countenance was fallen, Gen. 4. and goe he vvhere he vvould, he could not put from his eyes the sight of his sinne, but it scarred him so, that he feared that euerie one he mette would kill him. The sonnes of Iacob after they had vnnaturally sould their Bro­ther Ioseph to the Ismaelites, Gen. 37 this their sinne still crossed their sight, and vvhensoeuer any aduersitie happe­ned to them, they imputed it to this their sinne,Gen. 42 saying: Worthily doe vve suffer these thinges, because we haue sinned against our Brother.

5. And some sinners when their sinnes present themselues before their eyes,Gen. 5. despaire, as Cain did, but [Page 65] others so soone as their sinnes shewe themselues in their vgly hewe, doe acknowledge them, and acknovvledginge them doe crye to God for mercie, knowing that his mercie is greater then all the sinnes of the vvorld. So Dauid did,2. Reg. 12. vvho not onelie vvhen Nathan the Pro­phete checked him for his murder of Vrias, and adulterie vvith Bersa­bee his vvife, but in this psalme in euerie verse almost, and in all his life time cried peccaui, and euen in the night vvhen his eyes should haue slepte, he made them avvake to gush forth teares, and to vvater his bed vvith them.

6. So S. Peters denyall of his Master came often into his mynd,Niceph. lib. 2. c. 37. Baron anno Christi 69. & especially vvhē the cock crowed, and moued him to such teares, that it is vvritten of him that his eyes vvere redde vvith often vveeping [Page 66] and his face furrovved vvith the trickling dovvn of his teares. And so, ô Mercifull God, let my sinnes be alvvayes before myne eyes, to humiliat me, and to make me knovve myne ovvne frayltie, to make me take heed for hereafter, to make me abhorre these mōsters, to make me deteste these vipers, to make me cry oftē to thee for mercie to make me lament my miserie, & to endeuour alwaies, to pacifie thee for my offence, and to satisfie thee by vvorkes of penance for the in­iuries I haue done against thee.

Tibi soli peccaui & malum coram te feci vt iustificeris in sermonibus tuis & vincas cu [...] iudicaris.

To thee onelie haue I sinned and haue done euill before thee, that thou maist be iustified in thy wordes, and maist ouercome when thou art iudged.

1. I am an absolute King, and soueraigne Prince, made so by thee, ô Lord, and by thy goodnes, & authoritie, & so I haue no iudge nor superiour on earthe, vvhome I need to feare; or vvho can call me to an account, or punish or pardon me; and so, in this sence, I haue sinned against thee onelie, because none, but thou, can call me to an account, none but thou can Iudge, punish, or pardon me, and therefore to thee onelie I confesse, [Page 68] my sinne, and cry peccaui, and of thee onelie I craue pardon.

2. I confesse I haue offended against Vrias in causing him to be murdered, and against him and his Wife in violating her, yea and a­gainst Ioab also in cōmanding him to expose Vrias to daūger:2. Reg. 11. yet thee onelie I haue offended principallie, because I haue transgressed thy lawe vvhich forbiddeth murder, a­dulterie & all sinne▪ yet thee onelie I haue offēded principallie, because that, which most aggrauateth my sinne, is thy diuine maiestie vvhich I haue not feared, thy diuine goodnes which I haue not regarded thy infinite power, vvhich I haue contemned, though thou onelie couldst by thy omnipotencie anni­hilate me, by thy Iustice punish me euen vvith hell fier, and by thy goodnes and mercie pardon me. [Page 69] And so although I haue sinned a­gainst men, yet my sinne especially shewed its malice, in that by it I haue offended thee so great and so good a God, who hast created me and all men, who hast redeemed me and all men, and vvho hast made me in particular King of thy people, and hast taken the crowne frō Saul his head to put it on myne, & hast depriued his familie of the scepter to bestowe it on myne.

3. To thee onelie haue I sinned be­cause Vrias knew not of the wrong I did him, Bersabee vvas consenting, and not offended, my sinne vvas done secretelie in my secret cham­ber, none but thou, ô Lord, didst knowe of it, and so in this sense also I offended thee onelie. But, ô inconsiderat vvretch that I vvas, vvho chose to, cōmit this sinne be­cause men saw me not, vvheras I [Page 70] should haue feared to commit it because thou sawest me, & should haue more feared to commit it be­fore thyne eyes, then in the sight of all the vvorld: But thou hast dealt Iustly vvith me; because the sinne vvhich I thought to conceale from the vvorld, thou hast diuulged to all the vvorld, according as thou toldst me by the Prophete Nathan. Thou hast done this secretlie, 2 Reg. 12. but I will doe this word in the sight of Israël and in the sight of the sunne.

4. And thou Christian vvho hast sinned with Dauid, say also vvith him. To thee onelie I haue sinned and do [...] euill before thee. That is, to thee onelie I haue sinned principal­lie, for although I haue sinned a­gainst men; as against my supe­riours by disobedience and breach of their commandements, against my neigbour by detracting from [Page 71] his good name, stealing his goods, or killing or wounding his bodie, and against myne owne body also by carnall sinnes, in vvhich, as S. Paules saith, wee sinne against our bodie, 1. Cor. 6. yea and against myne owne soule also in killing it spirituallie by mortall sinne, vvhich depriueth it of the life of grace, because as the vviseman saith,Sap. 1. the mouth that lyeth (to vvitt perniciously and to the notable dommage of an other) killeth the soule: Yet in all these sinnes I sinned principallie against thee vvho forbadst these thinges, and my sinne is much more aggrauated in that it is against thee and thy in­finite maiestie, then in that it is a­gainst men of vvhatsoeuer dignitie they be, the circomstance of the person against vvhom vve sinne, aggrauating the sinne. Say also, ô Christian soule vnto thy God: To [Page 72] the onelie I haue sinned and done euill before thee, Whē in my secret cham­ber, or in the darke night I sinned, and hid my sinnes from the sight of men, but not frou thy all-seeing eyes: To thee onelie I sinned when in the secrete cabinet of my hart, by thought & consent, resolution or vvill to sinne, I offended thy di­uine Maiestie, for, voluntas reputatur pro facto, the vvill before God is re­puted for the deed: To thee onelie I then sinned: because thou onelie vvast conscious of these my sinnes, vvhich I could cōceale from men, but could not hide them from thy all-pearcing eyes.

5. But seeing that, ô Lord, in all my sinnes euen those that I com­mitted against men, I haue princi­pally offended against thy diuine Maiestie, hovv shall I dare to ap­peare before thee, and thy dreadfull [Page 73] Tribunall, vvho as thou art the partie cheeflie of [...], so thou art the Iudge, and vvitnes, and accuser of all. Thou art the supreme Iudge, euen of Kinges and Emperours, because thou art the soueraigne Lord, and King euen of Kinges. How shall I auoide such a Iudge vvho is so vvyse that he can not be deceaued, so vpright that he vvill not be corrupted? how shall I de­fend my selfe against such a witnes, vvho knoweth the truth, and neuer saieth but the truth? how shall I excuse my selfe against such an ac­cuser, vvho because he knoweth all can prooue all he saieth? I vvill therefor cōfesse all, & so auoid all: because confession of the fault, is a vomit vvhich maketh the sinner cast vp all the fylth of sinne, it is a lancing of the sore of sinne vvhich maketh the filthie matter runne [Page 74] out; confesse before men and thou art condemned, but cōfesse before God, and thou shalt be repriued, yea quite pardoned.

6. I will lay open my faultes, that by thee (ô Lord) they may be couered, I vvill confesse all that thou maist pardon all, I vvill accuse my selfe, that thou maist excuse me, I vvill Judge & condemne my selfe, that thou maist not condēne me, according to the promise made by thine Apostle,1. Cor. 11. If vve did Iudge our selues we should not be Iudged, that is, condemned

7. I vvill make myne owne pro­cesse against my selfe, & that shall be to accuse my selfe, to beare vvit­nes against my selfe, and to con­demne my selfe; and for my selfe I will pleade onelie. Miscrere, haue mer­cie: vvash me more amplie from myne iniquitie; that thou maist be iustified in [Page 75] thy vvords, and maist ouercome, vvhen thou are Iudged. That is, that thou hauing promised mercie & forgiue­nes to all repentant sinners, maist iustifie and shew thy selfe to keepe thy promise in forgiuinge me, vvho do so hartelie repent my selfe of my sinnes, that I rue the tyme and moment that euer I sinned; and so maist ouercome, vvhen thou art pre­sumptuously Iudged, not to haue kept this promise. Or vvhen thou art Iudged to be so iust in puni­shing sinners, as that thou are not also mercifull in pardoning them, vvhen from the harte the sinner crieth for mercie, thou maist ouercome. Or els (vvhich perhaps vvas also Dauids meaning) pardō me, ô Lord, and doe not forsake me and my familie for this sinne, as thou for­sookest Saul and his familie, for his disobedience: that if any presume [Page 76] to Iudge that thou vvilt also for­sake and cast me of as thou didst him, not vvithstanding that thou hast promised to establish the Kingdome of Iuda and Israel in my familie, thou by pardoning this my fault, maist prooue thy selfe true in thy promise, and so maist ouercome, Psal. 88 those rash Iudges, Thou hast svvorne to Dauid thy seruant: Ibidem. for euer will I prepare thy seed. Thou hast said; I vvill put his seed for euer and euer: Ibidem. and his Throne as the dayes of heauen. Ibidem. And againe, once haue I svvorne to my holy, if I lye to Dauid, his seed shall con­tinue for euer. And againe: Our Lord hath svvorne trueth to Dauid, & he will not disappoint it: of the frute of thy vvōbe I vvill set vpon thy seate. Keepe these promises, ô Lord, notvvithstan­ding my sinne that thou maist o­uercome those, vvho thinke that for my sinne thou vvilt forsake me [Page 77] & my familie. Or lastly, vvhen any doe rashly Iudge that thou some­times punishest sinners in this lyfe to rigorously (as thou puni­shedst Dauid seuerly, partly in him selfe, permitting his sōne Absalon to rebell against him, and to abuse his wiues and concubines, partly in his children & Royall issue, Thou maist ouercome vvhen thou art so Iudged, thy iudgmēts being often secret, neuer vniust.

8. And saye thou, ô Christian sinner vnto thy God; I for my part, ô Lord, doe confesse that thou art Lord of life and death, and maist vvithout any iniustice punish or annihilate euen the Innocēt at thy pleasure, and no man can iustly saye vvhy didst thou so? For,Sap. 12. as the wiseman saith. Who shall impute it to thee, if the nations perish vvhich thou hast made? much more maist [Page 78] thou punish those vvho dare offēd thy so great maiestie. One mortall sinne deserueth an eternall Hell, much more doth it deserue all tem­porall punishment of this lyfe, and therefore, ô Lord, say what tempo­rall punishment thou vvilt on me, I shall neuer complaine of thy iu­stice, but shall thinke thou dealest fauorably with me, so thou sparest me eternally. Hic vre, hic seca, vt in a­ternum parcas: Here burn me, here cutt and lance me, that thou maist spare me eternallie.

9. I desire thee, Sweete Lord, to giue me true pennance, vvhich may quite vvash away my mortall sinnes, & change the eternall paine due to them into tēporall paine, & although temporallie thou punish me for it, as thou punishedst Da­uid, yea though thou shouldst chas­tice me all my lyfe tyme, I shall [Page 79] crie.Psalm. 118. Iustus es Domine & rectum iudi­cium tuum: Thou art iuste, ó Lord, and thy iudgment is right. And seeing I haue begun to speake vnto thee,Gen. 18 though I be but dust and ashes, & haue aduētured to begge of thee that re­pentance vvhich may wash avvay the malice of my mortall sinnes, & the eternall paine due vnto them, I vvill not be affrayd to aske of thee also, thou being so liberall a Lord, such a repentance, such a floud of teares, as thou gauest to that peni­tēt sinner Marie Magdalen, by which I may not onelie vvash away all the malice of my sinnes, but also all the paine euē temporall due vnto thē: And if after both my sinne and paine due to it be quite abolished, thou shalt think it good to punish me for that I haue sinned, I shall not complaine of thy seueritie, but shall kisse thy rodde, as being layd [Page 80] on by a louing Father; for that will be for my greater caueat, and better warning, for my encrease of grace, merite, and vertue, as also for my greater securitie. Yea I will be con­tent to vveepe daylie for my sinnes forgiuen, and to exercise my selfe in workes of pennance and satisfa­ctiō, as fasting, prayers, and almes­deedes, and according to the coun­saile of the wiseman,Eccl. 50. of sinne forgiuen I vvill not be vvithout feare. But fol­lowing the example of S. Peter, S. Marie Magdalene, & other penitent sinners, and conforming my selfe to my Sauiour IESVS-CHRIST, vvho though he neuer did nor could committ the least sinne, yet ledde a most austere life: I will spēd the rest of my dayes in weeping, and satisfying for my sinne past, though peraduenture quite par­doned.

Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, & in peccatis concepit me mater mea.

For behold I was conceiued in ini­quities, and my Mother con­ceiued me in sinnes.

1. THat I may the better facili­tate my pardon, ô Lord, and induce thee the more easelie to mercie, I desire thee (sayth Dauid) to consider of vvhat stocke and and race I am descended. If the roote of the tree be infected, sound fruite can not be expected of it, if the sowne seed be tainted, the corne must needs tast of it, if the foun­taine be muddie, the riuer can not runne cleare, if the foundatiō be ill layed, the howse builded vpon it, can not chuse but totter with euery [Page 82] blast of winde, and if one be borne lame, he can not but halt or goe awrye all his life time. So it is with me, ô my mercifull God, the verie roote and beginning of my life was infected vvith originall sinne, in the vvhich I vvas conceiued: pardō me then if my vvorkes, vvhich are my fruites be sower & infected vvith sinne, they proceeding from this infected and infecting roote. Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine. Iob 14. Who can make cleane him that is conceiued of vncleane seed. The foundatiō of my life, ô Lord, vvas ill layde, not by thee, for thou laydst a fundation of an innocent and happie life in Paradise, by ori­ginall iustice, but by Adams sinne who being our head infected all his members & being our first parent transfused his sinne, and the infec­tion vvith it to all his posteritie; [Page 83] Pardon me then, ô mercifull God, if I shake at euerie tentation of the world, flesh and deuill, yea if I fall at the puffes and blastes of these vvyndes, my foundatiō being not firmly layed; And seeing I vvas borne, yea cōceiud lame, & crooked euen in soule, not through thy de­fault (for thou createdst Adam and vs in him, right & vpright in soule and bodie, in so much that by ori­ginall iustice his bodie was subiecte, and obedient to his soule, his sen­sualitie to reason, and the inferiour part of his soule to the superiour) but through Adams sinne, vvho brake this goodlie frame, & made the first discorde in this heauenlie harmonie, And vvheras thou madst man (the first man) right, he hath in­tangled him selfe with infinite questions, and oppositions betwixt reason and sensualitie, out of vvhich, we [Page 84] his children can not extricate our selues. How then, ô Lord, canst thou expecte of me that am borne lame and crooked, to walke so right in the waye of thy cōmandemēts, as neuer to halt, neuer to stumble; neuer to goe awrye, neuer to swarue from the rule of reason, and thy eternall Lawe? Consider, ô Lord, that this originall sinne, by dispoi­ling me of originall iustice (which was the bridle and curbe of sensua­litie, and which in Adam, before his sinne, was prepared for me) hath caused in me a great pronenesse & propension to sensualitie, to sinne and vice, which being hard to re­siste may make some excuse for my manifold sinne.

2. And thou, ô Christian penitēt sinner, alleage also with Dauid thy pronenesse to sinne, for thou wast conceiued in sinne as deeplie as he, [Page 85] and consequentlie hast contracted thereby the like propēsiō to sinne. For this may induce thy mercifull God, in that respecte, to be the more forward to pardon thee. The Angels that fell by sinne, could not alleadge this excuse, because they had not this pronenesse to sinne, & so deserued not mercie, but seeing thou art conceiued and borne in sinne, and hast contracted this pro­pensiō to sinne, which is called fo­mes peccati, and which stirreth vp to sinne, cry vnto thy Lord, Haue mercie on me, ô God, for behold I am conceiued in sinne, and thereby I haue contracted a great pronenesse to sinne, which with thy ordinarie grace I can hardlie resiste, and without it not at all: Haue mercie then vpon me, ô mercifull Father, & excuse thy childes sinne, to which [Page 86] he was so much inclined.

3. I haue, I confesse, so much yeelded to this my propension, that vvhereas thou hast giuen me reason, and grace also sufficient to resiste this propensiō yet I yeelding to it, did like the prodigall sonne, lauish out prodigally my childs por­tion both of reason and grace, and gaue my selfe to all licentiousnes: But thou ô mercifull God, art not lesse louing thē vvas that Father, & I, as I hope, no lesse penitēt then that his sonne.Luc. 15 For, as he did, so doe I confesse, that I haue sinned a­gainst heauen and earth, and am not vvorthie to be called thy sonne: And, as he did, so doe I return vnto thee againe by sorrow and repentance. Embrace me then ô Lord, and re­ceaue me in to grace, as that Father did his sonne, and be not thou, ô [Page 87] Eternall Father, inferiour to that Temporall Father, in mercie and compassion; and shew thy selfe as thou art, more prone to mercie, then I am to sinne, more prone to pardon, then I vvas to offend.

Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti, incerta & occulta sapientiaetuae manifestasti mihi.

For behold thou hast loued truth, the vncertaine and hidden thinges of thy wisdome thou hast made manifest vnto me.

1. THou hast, ô Lord, loued veritie, truth and sinceritie of hart in me, and that before my falle) I was a sincere and true louer of thee, and thy lawe (no double dealer in any my wordes or actiōs,) thou hast liked in me, and for that cause thou hast reuealed vnto me manie thinges vncertaine to men (though not to thee) yea altogether hidden to them, to witt the mysterie of the Incarnation, thy lyfe and death, Resurrectiō and Ascension, which are the verities of the figures of the old lawe vnder which I liue, [Page 89] and which verities thou louest, ô Lord before all those shadowes, & figures: for partly by faith, partly by spirite of prophecie and reuela­tion, I haue had such knowledge of future thinges, that there is almost no mysterie of the new lawe, no promise made vnto it, vvhich thou hast not reuealed vnto me, and which I haue not forseene, and for­told also in my psalmes. And so thou, who hast done me so many fauours, vvilt not, I hope, deny me that grace, without vvhich all the reste of thy benefites vvill be cast away, and vvill not any vvhitt plea­sure me, but vvill rather be to my greater damnation. And vvhat is that? it is remission of my sinnes, without the which to haue been good vvill not benefit me, without the which the guifte of prophecie and miracles, and all other guiftes [Page 90] will not saue me, but rather aggra­uate my sinnes, & augment my dā ­natiō. Wherefore, ô Lord, knowing my selfe to be a great sinner, I still crye vnto thee, as I did in the be­ginninge of this my penitentiall psalme. Haue mercie on me, ô God, ac­cording to thy great mercie.

2. Or (saith this Royall Pro­phet and penitent sinner) I might, ó Lord, in some sorte couer my fault, & extenuate and excuse my sinnes, because (as I haue saide in the pre­cedent verse) I was conceiued in ini­quities, and in a greate pronenesse & propensiō to sinne: but I know thou louest truth, that is a sincere harte & a true tongue that confesseth the truth. And therfore I sincerlye cō ­fesse, that this pronenesse to sinne doth not quite excuse me frō sinne, because it could not enforce me against my will, I by faith in the [Page 91] Messias (who is the waye veritie and lyfe, and by his life and death which was reuealed to me, and by grace from his death and passion, which was not wāting to me) hauing had grace sufficiēt, by which, maugre this pronenesse to sinne, I might haue resisted & ouercome all tentation to sinne; And therefore I will not excuse my selfe by my pronenesse to sinne, but ingenuouslie, sincerlie, and in veritie confessing it, I flye onelie to thy goodnes & pronenesse to mercie.

3. And ó Christian soule say thou also vvith Dauid vnto thy Lord: I acknowledge that I haue receaued many benefites and fa­uours at thy handes. Thou hast created me of nothing, and made me of nothing something, and not what thing soeuer, but a reasonable creature, resembling thee by the [Page 92] image of thy selfe, which thou hast drawne and engraued in me. I by sinne, as I confesse haue marred, what thou hast made, and haue blurred, slurred, blotted and de­faced this thy so glorious image. But, what ô Lord! wilt thou there­fore abādon thy creature, thy owne handworke? To haue created me is a great benefit; but if thou leaue me to my selfe, and in the miserie into which sinne hath plunged me, this thy benefite of creation vvill be to me no benefite, because better it is not to haue been, then to be miserable, as sinne maketh me now, and vvill make me more mi­serable herafter in hell, into vvhich it will tumbleme, vnlesse thou first forgiuest and remittest it. Thou then, ô Lord, who hast done so much for me as to make me, vouch­safe to renewe me, and to sette a [Page 93] new glosse and hewe on me by thy grace, which may vvash avvay my sinne, and ridde me of this miserie.

4. Thou hast not onelie crea­ted me, but also conserued me in the being thou gauest me by crea­tion, yea thou hast preserued me from manie corporall dangers: And great are these benefites in thēselues, but vnlesse thou remitte my sinne vvhich maketh me mise­rable, better had it been for me, that thou shouldst not haue conserued me, but rather annihilated me, and so preuēted this my miserie; better had it been for me, that thou hadst not preserued me from corporall dangers of fire, vvater and the like, then to preserue and conserue me, & so giue me the tyme to fall in to a greater domage, to vvitt of sinne, vvhich offendeth thee, maketh me miserable, and exposeth me to ha­zard [Page 94] of hell it selfe.

5. Thou hast heretofore iustified me and cleansed me from originall sinne by Baptisme, & from Actuall sinne by contrition, the Sacrament of penance, and other sacramentes: Great are these benefites, but if thou doe not againe iustifie me by thy grace, and remitte these my last sinnes, it vvill be little bene­fite to me: rather thy former grace of iustification vvill aggrauate my sinnes committed after it; and these my sinnes hauing de­priued me of the grace of iusti­fication, haue mortified also my former merites done in grace, & so all will be lost, vnlesse thou againe take mercie on me, and againe re­mitte my sinnes.

6. Thou hast redeemed me, and didst bind thy selfe to thy eter­nall Father to pay no lesse (ó the [Page 95] deare bargaine) for my ransom, then thy precious bloud and death: And wilt thou now cast me of who cost thee so dearlie? Trulie all this is lost in me, & I vvith it, vnlesse thou againe forgiue me, & by thy grace apply this price paid for me vnto me, and so againe pardon me.

7. Thou hast called me to be a Christian, and hast reuealed vnto me, as thou didst to Dauid many hidden mysteries, as the sacred Trinitie, the sōne of God incarnate, his life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, and many other my­steries, the secrets of thy wisdome, vvhich thou didst hide from the Philosophers & Sages of the world. And hast thou done all this for me, and vvilt not doe this one thing for me (to vvitt pardon my sinnes) without vvhich all the rest vvill not profite me, but rather will augmēt [Page 96] my damnation? Thou saidst, ó Lord,Matth. [...]. Luc. 5. that thou camst not to call the iuste, but sinners to penance. And behold I confesse my selfe a greate and grieuous sinner, and I harken to thy call, desiring thee to harken to my petition, vvhich is, haue mercie on me according to thy greate mercie, which I hope thou vviltt not deny, thou hauing bestowed so many other benefites on me, vvhich yet are all lost, vnlesse thou adde this also vnto them.

8. Or else I also, ó Lord, might aleadge with Dauid, that I vvas con­ceiued & borne in sinne, & thereby contracted a propension to sinne. And I might adde therevnto my corrupt nature, myne euill com­plexion and disposition, my euill customes, and ill companie, vvhich haue allured me to sinne: but be­cause I know thou louest truth, and [Page 97] sinceritie of harte I confesse inge­nuouslie, and I truly acknovv­ledge, that notwithstanding all this, I might with thy grace (which is neuer wanting to them that de­maunde it, or vvill accept and vse it) haue resisted all these alluremēts and incitements to sinne; & there­fore I vvill not vse any such ex­cuse (for these might excuse (as di­uines say) A tanto, non à toto, from parte, but not from all) but plainlie trulie and sincerlie confessing my greeuous sinne, I fly onelie to thy mercie, and vnder the shadovv or winges of that, I desire onelie to shroude my selfe. All I haue to say is peccaui, as Dauid said, and I beseech thee to speake those comfortable words to me, which thou vtteredst to him,2. Reg 12. And our Lord hath taken away thy sinne.

Asperges me Hyssopo & mundabor, lauabis me & super niuem dealbabor.

Thou shalt sprinckle me with hyssope and I shall be cleansed, thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter then snowe.

1. I Cry not (saith Dauid) to Moyses, nor Aaron, nor the Preistes of the old lavv, vnder vvhich I liue, but to thee, ô Eternall sonne of God, God and man, the Messias and Redeemer of the vvorld, to sprinkle, and washe me, and cleanse me from the fylthe of my sinnes; They could vvash the bodie from legall immundicities, but not from the fylthe of sinne, from vvhich I desire to be cleansed; nay they could not cure the corporall lepro­sie, [Page 99] but onely could pronoūce a de­claratiue sentence,Leuit. 14. vvhen it vvas healed: but thou canst euen heale; and cleanse my soule from the le­prosie & fylthe of sinne, and there­fore my hope is that thou vvilst sprinkle me, not with the Cedar wood, Leuit. 14. scarlet, Num. 19. Vide Augu. to 4. q. 33. su­per Nu­mer. and hyssope dipped in the blood of the immolated sparow, nor vvith the ashes of the redde cowe, but vvith the blood of thy sacred humaine nature, ruddie by its passion, and prefigured by those figures, by this blood shed in thy passion, and sprinkled by the meanes of the humble hyssope of the crosse, I hope thou shalt sprinkle me, and I shall be whiter then the snowe.

2. In this bloud is my hope, because this onelie can take out the staine of sinne, this onelie can wash away the fylthe of sinne, wherewith my soule is defiled. The blood of [Page 100] goates and oxen, and such like sa­crifices sprinkled (saith Dauid) can vvash avvay legall immundicities, but it can not vvash avvaye the fylthe of sinnes, but thy blood, ô Blessed Sauiour, can sanctifie and mundifie our soules from all filth of sinne.

3. I forsee, saith Dauid, by faith in Christ, that by the Sacraments of Baptisme and penāce in the new lavve, and by cōtrition in all lawes, soules are vvashed from the filthi­nesse of sinne, but yet by the bloud also of the lambe Christ Iesus, from vvhich they take their vertue. Thy bloud, ô Blessed Sauiour, is the ge­nerall cause, they are particular causes appointed to applie that: thy bloud and passion is the principall morall cause of grace and remissiō of sinnes, they are but instrumētall causes, vvhich vvorke in vertue of [Page 101] that principall.

4. And although now by wal­lovving my selfe in the puddle of sinne, I am in soule more foule, then the hogge that vvalloweth himselfe in the mire, yet this lauer of thy bloud, ô Lord, vvill vvash me so cleane, that I shall be whiter then driuen snowe. And although my sinnes vvere as scarlet,Isa. 1. they shall be made vvhite as snovve. And if they be redde as vermilion they shall be white as vvooll: and my soule vvatred vvith this bloud, and heauenlie rayne, vvhich rayned out of the cloude of thy sacred humaine nature, shall be made fertile, and apte to bring forth the greene plantes, & sweete hearbes and flovvers of all manner of vertue, and bathed in this bathe it shall recouer its former lustre & beautie of grace, vvhich it had lost by sinne, and of a vessel of base ser­uice [Page 102] which it yelded to the vvorld, flesh, and Diuell, it shall be a vessell of honour (Because take avvay the rust from siluer, Prou. 25. and there shall come forth a moste pure vessell) & a goodlie piece of plate, fit to be set on thy cup-boord, ô Lord, and to be serued in at that table in Heauen, where the Angels are vvaiters, and the blessed are commensalls, and thy diuinitie is the viande on vvhich they feede by cleare vision and fruition, for all eternitie.

5. And thou, ô penitent Chris­tian, confesse vvith Dauid, that by sinne thou art slurredd and defiled more then the sovve vvashed in vo­lutabro luti, 2 Pet. 2. in the wallowing of mire, & so, as thou needest to cry with Dauid to be sprinkled vvith the blood of the immaculate lambe Christ Iesus, by the meanes of the humble and contemptible hyssope of the [Page 103] crosse. The blood of Goates and oxen and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctifyeth the polluted to the cleansing of the fleshe, hovv much more hath the blood of Christ, Heb. 9. vvho by the Holy Ghost offered himselfe vnspotted vnto God, cleansed our conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God? This lauer of this bloud I desire because it clēaseth the soule from dead workes, that is deadlie sinnes vvhich bring death to the soule: Sprinkle then and vvash me, ô Lord, vvith this bloud,Apoc. 7. that I maybe on of those happy ones, who haue washed their robes, and made them vvhite in the bloud of the lambe. For vvhereas my soule by sinne is vglie in thy sight, and therefore forsaken of thee, and diuorced from thee, and betrothed to the Diuell; after she shall be vvashed in this lauer, and restored to her former beautie, vvhich she receaued by baptisme, [Page 104] she may breake vvith the Diuell, and vvith all that is contrarie to thy vvill and pleasure, and may be made againe a gratefull spouse vnto thee, vvorthie thy loue in this life, and thy eternall imbracementes in the next.

Auditui meo dabis gaudium & lati­tiam, & exultabunt ossa humiliata.

To my hearing thou shalt giue ioy and gladnes, and the bones humbled shall reioice.

1. ANd vvhen thou hast forgiuē me my sinnes, and cleansed my soule from the fylth of them, then shall the remorse and worme of conscience (the brood of sinne) be killed, and my conscience no more gnawed vvith it, but insteed of it a great calmenes & quietnes, yea a gladnes of harte shall followe, vvhich shall be a cōtinuall banquet to my soule, because as the wise­man saith, A secure mind, Prou. 15. is as it vvere a continuall feaste: and the eares of my soule, shall alvvayes heare those comfortable wordes, vvhich [Page 106] by thy Prophet Nathā thou vtterdst vnto me: [...]. Reg. 12. And our Lord hath taken avvay thy sinne; then, to the eares of my vnderstanding thou shalt giue ioy and gladnes, & then to them nothing shall soūd not melodious, nothing not gratefull, nothing not cōfor­table, vvhich shall so comfort my soule, that my bones humbled, that is the forces and powers of my soule, vvhich vvere debilitated and de­iected, and which were euen faynte vvith feare of thy iudgements, shall reioyce, and shall recouer their spiri­tuall forces and strength againe: by vvhich I shall be made constant & couragious to resiste all tentations, and to persiste for euer hereafter in thy seruice, and so euer enioy the ioye and gladnes of harte, vvith which thou feedest and refreshest all thy deuoted freinds and seruan­tes.

[Page 107]2. Demaund thou also, ô pe­nitent sinner, vvith Dauid the ioye and gladnes of harte and conscience, in lieu of the remorse & gnawing vvorme bredde by sinne, vvhich continually tormenteth the con­science. For if euer thou possesse this calme of conscience & ioy of harte (vvhich God his Spirit imparteth vvhen it giueth testimonie, that is a morall certitude, to our spirit, and conscience, that vve are the sonnes of God, if sonnes, heyres also, Rom. 8. heyres trulie of God, and cohey [...]es of Christ:) then the yoke of CHRIST vvill seeme sweete, and the burden of his lawe easie, and his seruice honour and pleasure: then fasting vvill seeme feasting, prayer vvill neuer seeme long, In almes-deeds we shall seeme rather to receiue, then to giue: at least it vvill seeme beatius [...]are, quam accipere, a more blessed thinge [Page 108] to giue, Act. 20 then to take: Then vertue vvill appeare in its owne lustre, amiable, and vice, though seasoned vvith neuer so much corporall pleasure, vvill seeme brutish, vglie, & beast­lie. O Lord, let me neuer loose this ioy and gladnes, by vertue of vvhich my bones, & spirituall forces of my soule humbled and vveakned by sinne, may reioyce and receaue their forces againe, and I thereby may vvalke cherfullie in the vvaies of thy commandements, and so vvalking, may carrie this ioy and gladnes of harte (grounded in grace and the obseruations of thy com­mandements) vvith me to Heauen, and euen to those eternall ioyes, vvhich there are layde vp in store for all those that departe hēce with Ioy and gladnes, of conscience, deuoid of all sinne.

Auerte faciem tuam à peccatis meis: & omnes iniquitates meas dele.

Turne away thy face from my sinnes: and wipe away all myne iniquities.

1. ANd after my conscience shall haue enioyed this calme & quietnes, after the storme of sinne shall be appeased, vvhich made debate betwixt thee and me, and incensed me against thee by malice, and prouoked thee against me by anger; I beseech thee, ô Lord, saith Dauid, to turne away for here­after thy face frō my sinnes. There is no child that hath committed a fault, but feareth the eyes and face of his Father, there is no scholler that hath played the trewant, vvho dreadeth not the sight of his Master, no theefe that quaketh not [Page 110] at the sight of the Iudge; no mar­ueill then, if Dauid feared the sterne countenance of God, he being his Father, vvhom he disobeyed, his Master, vvhom he had neglected, his Iudge, vvhom he had slighted, and therefore he had reason to de­sire God to turne avvay his face from his sinnes.

2. I know, saith Dauid, my sinnes can not be hidden from thy all-seeing eyes, vvhich reach to the sight of all thinges past, present & future: But yet I desire thee to turne away thy frowning & angrie coū ­tenance from them, and not to be displeased any more vvith me for them, and to laye aside all cogi­tation of punishing me for them. Thou still remembrest the moste penitent sinners sinnes, and offen­ces, but yet since they were washed avvay by the teares of contrition, [Page 111] and remitted, and pardoned by thy grace & mercie, thou doest not re­member thē so, as to be displeased with the penitent sinner for thē, or so as to haue the thought of punis­hing him, at least eternallie. Thou seest still the penitēt sinners sinnes, though longe since remitted, but thou art no more displeased vvith him for thē; nor doest thou think of punishing him at least eternally for thē. Thou lookest on him still & his sinnes past, but thou lookest not on him with an angrie, but with an amiable looke; And in this sence saith Dauid I desire thee after my sinnes are forgiuē, & after the ioye of cōscience which followeth their forgiuenesse, to turne away thyne angrie countenance frō me & thē, not to be any more displeased with me for thē, nor to thinke of punis­hing me at least eternallie for thē, [Page 112] but to be haue thy selfe towards me hereafter, as though thou diddest no more remēber thē, as though thy face & eyes wese turned frō them: and so to loue me hereafter, so to behold me, and with such a mild as­pect & countenāce, as though I had neuer sinned, for so thou beholdest all truly penitent sinners, and tur­ning away thy angrie face from me, & behoulding me with a mild coun­tenance, wype away all my iniquities.

3. Thou promisedst, ô sweete Lord,Ezech. 18. by the Prophet Ezechiel that if the impious shall doe pennance of all his sinnes, &c. ehou wilt not remember them, that is, so, as to punish them, at least eternallie. Forget, ô Lord, my sinnes also in the same manner. Thou promisedst by thy Prophet Micheas, Michea 7. that thou wilt cast our sinnes into the bottome of the sea, that is, of the sea of thy mercie, that they may [Page 113] be seene no more, cast my sinnes into this sea, that they may be drowned & hidden from thy face. Thou dist cast all the sinnes of Eze­chias behind thy back, Isai: 38 cast also myne and turne thy face from them.

4. I also ô Lord (say so ô peni­tent sinner) haue sinned with Da­uid, and I feare with him to appeare before thy face, or to come in thy sight or presence: And therefore, as my first Parentes Adam and Eue did,Gen. 3. I desire to hyde my selfe from thee, if it might be in some bush or thicket:Gen. 4. and as Cain had no sooner sinned but his countenance was abated and fallen, so I guiltie of many and greeuous sinnes, dare not looke thee in the face: I count my selfe with Manasses vnworthie to looke vp to the height of Heauen, Orat. Manaes. Lucae 18. and with the penitent Publican I dare not so much as to lifte vp my eyes [Page 114] tovvards Heauen, where thou art. Wherefore, ô Lord I cry to thee, with Dauid, to turne thy face from my sinnes: It is not conuenient that thy Diuine eyes should cast their light and beames on so vile obiectes; It is not conuenient they should looke on such filthines, least they prouoke thee to disdaine, to Indig­nation, and anger; remember them no more so as to be displeased with me for them, remember them no more, so as to punish me, at least eternallie, for them: but as thou remembrest S. Marie Magdalenes sinnes, and yet since her repentāce art not depleased with her, nor doest punish her for them: so deale with me, and in this sence, turne thy face from my sinnes, and behaue thy selfe towards me.

5. But let myne owne eyes, ô Lord, and cogitations be euer fixed [Page 115] on my sinnes, not to approue thē, not to take delight in them, nor yet thereby to dispaire of thy mercie towards me, but as oft as I thinke of them, to deteste and abhorre them, to humble my selfe, and to take notice of myne owne frayltie by thē, to thinke into what danger of damnation they brought me, & how gratefull I should be to thee, who hast deliuered me from this daunger; To take heed hereafter least I fall againe into them, to weepe for them, and to crye thee mercie for them, so oft as I thinke on them, and by so fixing myne eyes and cogitations on them, to cause thee, to turne thy face and Di­uine eyes from them, and by thy grace and mercie, to vvipe avvaye all myne iniquities.

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

Cor mundum crea in me Deus, & Spi­ritum rectum innoua in visce­ribus meis.

Create a cleane heart in me ô God, and renevv a right Spirit in my bovvels.

1. THere is no merit or desert in me, ô Lord, sayth Dauid on which, as on a subiect thou maist worke my Iustification from sinne, and cleanenesse of heart; but as thou createdst the whole world of nothing, so thou must create a cleane, right, and iust heart in me of nothing that is myne; that is of no precedent merite of myne, because the grace of iustification by which my heart is to be cleāsed from sinne, is not giuen for any precedent good worke or deserte [Page 117] of myne. For if by grace, Rom. 11 I be Iusti­fied then not by vvorkes, othervvise grace vvere not grace, no free guift, but a reward.

2. The almes I gaue to the poore, the fasting wherewith I chas­tised my bodie, my many prayers then made to thee; ô Lord, and whatsoeuer good worke I did whilest I was in the state of mortall sinne, were dead workes, the workes of a dead man, dead in soule by sinne, and so could not merite my Iustification, and therefore hauing nothing in me, which could merite my Iustification, & cleane­nesse of heart, thou, ô Lord out of thy mercie, & for the merite of thy sacred passion, must iustifie me, and not for any thing in me: and so thou must create my heart, thou must create me a new creature of nothing of myne, but onelie of [Page 118] thine, that is of thy grace and mercie. A sinner as a sinner is no creature of God, and therefore in the Canticle Benedicite, where all creatures, euen to windes, tempests, dew, snow, yea and brute beastes, are inuited to prayse & blesse God, the sinner is not inuited, because he, as a sinner, is no creature of God, but a mōster of his owne per­uerse will, yea a nothing, sinne being no reall thing; & if it be true, as it is most true, which the wise­man saieth, feare God and obserue his commandementes, [...]ccle­siastes. 12. for this is euery man: then a sinner who is not this, be­cause he nether feareth God, nor obserueth his commaundementes, must be no man, nothing: and consequentlie, if God will make him of a sinner iust, and an obser­uer of his commaundementes, he must make him of nothing, and [Page 119] therefore Dauid vseth the vvord create, which signifieth a productiō of nothing, as when God created the world of nothing; And seeing that as cold is not expelled but by heate, nor darkenes but by light, nor any contrarie, but by its con­trarie, my heart, sayth Dauid, can not be freed from the darkenes of sinne but by the light of grace, nor from the filth of sinne but by the cleane, and cleansing qualitie of grace, and therefore I desire thee, ô Lord (sayth he) to create in me this grace of nothing of myne, that thereby my heart may be mūdified, and renewed.

3. A peruerse heart is abominable to our Lord, saith the vviseman,Prou. 11. and therefore, ô Lord, create in me a new heart, which shall be cleane, and pleasing vnto thee: my old heart was become by sinne old, & [Page 220] was clothed in the old habit of the old man the first Adam, and the first sinner of mē: take this oldnesse of sinne from me and from my heart, and create in me a new heart, a cleane heart.

4. O Lord, thou promisedst that thou wouldst giue to thy people a new heart, Ezech. 36. and wouldst put a new spirit in the middest of them, and wouldst take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and giue them a fleshy heart. This promise I challenge, ô Lord, and this heart I desire, myne old heart hetherto was by sinne fowle and vncleane, giue me a cleane heart, It was by sinne become as hard as a stone, not apte to receaue thy good inspirations, nor plyable to any good, giue me for hereafter a fleshie heart, a softe heart, mollified by thy bloud, and by the waters of contrition, an heart as softe as [Page 221] waxe, easie to be formed and figu­red by thy Diuine hand, and to be framed to what thou wilt, apt to receaue thy Diuine inspirations, apt to melte in thy loue, apt to be mooued passionatlie for myne owne sinnes and compassionatlie for the sinnes & miseries of others. Giue me a new heart, a cleane heart, cleane washed from the abomi­nable filth of sinne, by the water of grace, which floweth from thy holie passio through the channelles of the Sacramentes.

5. Demaund thou also with, Dauid, ô penitent sinner, a cleane & a new heart. Say vnto thy God; Thou commandest me ô mercifull God, by the vvise Salomon, Prou. 4 with all garde to keepe my heart, because life proceedeth from it: but because I haue not well looked to it, nor haue set a watch, or garde ouer it by continuall vigi­lancie, [Page 122] I desire thee to take it to thy care,Psalm. 126. (for vnlesse thou keepest this Citie, he watcheth in vaine that keepeth it) & not to permit any vncleane thing to enter into it. It hath hetherto lodged the world, the flesh, and the Deuil, by inordinate affection: expelle them I beseech thee out of it; It is, or ought to be, thy mansion place, thy cabinet, thy Temple, let none else enter into it. Giue me grace to adorne this Temple, with chast and holie cogitations, that thou onelie in it maist be loued, thou onelie worshiped, thy prayses onelie may be daylie sung in it, & to thee onelie the sacrifice of a con­trite harte, of prayse, and thankes­giuing may be offered: And seeing my old & vncleane heart is not fit for this, create in me a cleane and a new heart.

6. Thou commandest me to [Page 123] giue my heart vnto thee, and thou beggest it of me in those enchan­ting wordes; Praebe, fil [...]mi, Prou. 23. cortuum mihi: my sonne giue me thy heart. And if thou please to create it new, (for else it is not worth the giuing, nor vvorthie the acceptance) I giue it thee frankelie, and freelie, and in so doeing, I shall but giue thee that vvhich is thyne ovvne by creatiō, redemption (for to redeeme this heart thou dyedst) & sanctification; I doe not onelie lend it thee for a tyme, as I did heretefore, when I liued well for a tyme, but after by sinne vvrested this my heart out of thy possession, and gaue the Deuill the keyes of this Citie: but I giue it thee for euer, neuer intending (by thy grace) to take it from thee againe.

7. O Eternall Father: thou gauest vnto me by Incarnation thy [Page 124] litle one, Isaie 9. so stiled by the Prophet Esaie, litle in his temporall birth, and as litle as a sucking babe, but greate in his eternall natiuitie; litle in his humane nature, greate and immense in his Diuinitie; vveake as a child in his litle bodie, but om­nipotent and of infinite povver in his Diuinitie; contained and re­strained in a narrovv crib, in re­specte of his bodie, but filling Heauen and earth, containing all thinges, contained of nothing, in regard of his Diuine nature. I giue also vnto thee, my litle one, my heart, one of the least members of my bodie in quantitie, greatest in vigour, force, and vertue: as vvhich is the fountaine of life, imparting motion, life, ad vitall spirites to the rest of the membres; Thou gauest vnto me, by Incarnation, thy sonne, the middle personne in Tri­nitie, [Page 125] I giue vnto thee my heart, vvhich is my middle, because it is placed in the middest of my bodie, that it may the better imparte heate & life to all the other partes thereof. Thou gauest vnto me, by Incarnation, thy first and onelie begotten sonne; I giue vnto thee my first borne, that is my heart, which is the first liuing, and last dying in me. And this I hope vvill be pleasing vnto thee, thou, like the Eagle, desiring to feed on the heart, by a complacence vvhich thou takest in it, and thou estee­ming the heart, if it be cleane and Sanctified, aboue all the mansion places in earth, and desiring rather to dvvell in it by charitie,1. Ioan. 4. (for God is charitie & he that abydeth in charitie abydeth in God, and God in him) then in the richest Pallace on earth, yea then in Salomons Temple.

[Page 126]8. And hauing giuen this my heart vnto thee, henceforth it shall not be myne but thine: thou shalt possesse it, thou shalt gouerne it, thou onelie shalt rule it: I vvill not meddle with the gouernemēt of it, but vnder thee & according to thy commaundements, counsell and direction: And although this heart heretofore hath beene the rendeuous and Receptacle of the Deuill, the world, & flesh, thy svvorn enemies, yet if thou please by thy grace to cleanse it, and adorne it, they shall be sent packing, thou onelie shalt be entertained, and it shall be at thy disposition, readie to beleeue in thee, to hope in thee, and to loue thee aboue all thinges, and to doe thy will, and pleasure in all thinges. For all this, my old harte was alto­gether vnapt, create then in me a new heart by the nevvnes of grace.

[Page 127]9. To this nevv heart, sayth Dauid, giue for hereafter a new spi­rit, renew a right spirit in my bowelles. After the earth and vvorld vvas drovvned, and ouerflovved vvith that Deluge and generall inunda­tion of Noes fludde,Gen. 2. thou broughtst a Spirit or winde vpon the earth to drye it; Giue to the litle vvorld, and land of my soule and heart, a spirit of grace, vvhich may dry it from all concupiscence and from the Deluge of sinne, for that,Osea 4. & 5. this is a right Spirit. Ridde me of the vvrong spirit of fornication, and of all carnall delightes, free me from the vncleane spirit of lust, from the spi­rit of lying and dissembling; from the Spirit of pride and enuie, for that these are not right spirites, and renevv in me the right spirit, of chari­tie, chastitie, humilitie, pouertie; renevv in me and create a nevv, [Page 128] those seuen graces and spirites of the Holie Ghost, the spirit of wisedome and vnderstanding, the spirit of counsell and strengh, Isa. 11. the spirit of knovvledge and pietie, the spirit of the feare of our Lord: of vvhich, euerie one is a right Spirit, is thy good spirit,Psalm. 142. which will conduct me into the right vvay to saluation. The former spirit wherewith I was lead heretofore, was not a right spi­rit, because it ledde me out of the way, it was a crooked spirit, because, though my bodie be made to looke vp to heauen, yet the euill spirit, vvhich before ruled me, did crooken my soule & made it looke dovvne to the earthlie pleasurs, not vpward to thee and to the blisse of Heauen. Giue me therefore, ô Lord, the former seuen Spirites, and guiftes of the Holie Ghost, vvhich are right Spi­rites, and vvhich doe put my soule [Page 129] in a right posture tovvards thee & Heauen, and doe make my soule in all her actions to ayme princi­pallie at thee and thy honour, and doe eleuate her to Heauen by con­templation, by which shee conuer­seth in Heauen with thee, and thy-Angelles, and Saints. Engraft this Spirit in me, ô Lord, and then as the graft of a peare tree grafted on a thorne tree, beareth not thornes but peares: so this spirit grafted on the thorne of my carnall and cor­rupte nature, vvill make me hence­forth to beare, not the fruites of the flesh, but of the spirit. This is the right spirit I desire to haue for my guide and conductour, and direc­tour in all my actions. In this thy spirit now is all my delight, not in the spirit of the vvord, or flesh; and how good and sweete is this thy spirit, Sap. 12. ô Lord in all?

[Page 130]10. And I beseech thee, sweet Lord, to renew and innouate this spirit, this right spirit, in my bowels. Permit not the spirit of Hypocrisie to dominere in me, because that spirit doth all to the outward shewe, and hath a faire outside, but a fowle and filthie inside: That spirit mooueth to fast, to seeme holy, to pray, to seeme deuout, to giue almes, to seeme charitable; but I desire a spirit which may worke in­wardlie, vvhat it sheweth out­wardlie, and therefore I desire it maybe innouated in my entralls, in my heart, that vvhen I pray, it may not be with lippes onelie, but vvith heart also, vvhē I giue almes, it may not be out of a desire to please men, but out of charitie and com­passion, to please God. O Lord giue me this right heart this right and invvard spirit, for if the spirit of my [Page 131] heart be right, all my actions vvill be vpright, not crooked, nor bēding to the world, If my heart be cleane all my cogitations, pur­poses, and euen my outvvard ac­tiōs will be cleane: but if the hearte be crooked, or vncleane, all my actions vvill be crooked and vn­cleane, because if the fountayne be muddie, the riuer can not runne cleare, if the roote be poysoned, the bowes and fruites vvill be in­fected, & will infect; If my heart be dead, all my actions, euen the best, vvill be dead, and not meri­torious of life euerlasting; but if my heart be liuing by the life of grace, all my good vvorkes vvill be liuing and meritorious. And seeing my former heart, ô Lord, was vncleane by sinne, & crooked by a crooked spirit tending to earthlie thinges, yea vvas dead by [Page 132] mortall sinne, which depriued it of the life of grace, giue me a cleane heart, fit for thee to dvvell in, giue me a right heart, vvhich may all­vvaies ayme at thy glorie, giue me a liuing heart, vvhich, liuing here by grace, may liue in Heauen by glorie, the fruite and haruest of the seed of grace.

Ne proijcias me à facie tua, & Spiri­tum Sanctum tuum ne auferas à me.

Cast me not avvay from thy face, and thy holy Spirit take not from me.

Aug. l. 1. de li­bero ar. cap. 16. & lib. 2. c. 19. & lib. contra Socun­dinum Ma­nich. c. 15.1. SInne, if it be mortall, is an auersion of our vvill from God the Creatour, and an inord­nate conuersion of the same to the Creature, it is a scornefull turning [Page 133] of the backe to God, and a loving turning of the face to the creature, it is a disdainfull farewell to the creatour, & a freindlie vvellcome to the creature; And this vvere enough to cause God to turne his face from vs, because vve by sinne doe turne our faces from him, and our backes to him. I, ô Lord, saith Dauid, in a former verse desired thee to turne thy face from my sinnes, that is, so, as not to be displeased with them; novv I desire thee not to turne thy face from my selfe, & my person. My sinnes are no crea­tures of thine, but vglie monsters of my peruerse vvill, and therefore thou hast cause to turne thy face from them, and not to daine these viperous broods, thy good looke, or fauorable countenance: but I my selfe, though I be a sinner by myne owne malice, yet I am thy crea­ture [Page 134] by thy goodnes, and seeing Thou louest all thinges that are, Sap. 11. & hatest nothing of those thinges, which thou hast made, yea thou sparest all, because they are thine, And especially thou louest soules & reasonable creatures; I hope thou vvilt not turne thy face from me, but looke on me vvith a louinge aspect. Thou hatest not the Diuell but for his sinne, and vvere it not for that, thou vvouldst loue him; Hate then, ô Lord, my sinnes, for I also doe hate and detest them with thee, auert thy fauorable counte­nāce from them, for I also, through thy grace, can not afford them a good looke. But hate not me, I am thy handworke, and thy master­peece after the Angells: hate not me, I beare thy liuelie image, which thou canst not hate, it so liuelie re­presenting thy selfe, Hate then my creature, my sinne, but not thy [Page 135] creature, auert thy face from my sinnes; but cast me not from thy face, conuert thy selfe to me, that I may be con­uerted to thee. I could of my selfe, auert my selfe from thee, but I can not conuert my selfe to thee, vnlesse thou by thy grace conuert me.

2. Heretofore it vvas a pleasure to me (but ô the novv displeasing pleasure) to be auerted from thee, and conuerted to thy creatures, vvhich I loued in ordinatlie, because aboue thee, & aboue thee, because against thy commaundements: but novv thy grace hath made a great mutatiō in me,Psa. 76 & this is mutatio dex­terae excelsi, the change of the right hand of the Highest; novv it is the greatest corrosiue to my heart to be auerted from thy face, in vvhich the Angells take delight, and it will be my greatest comfort, if thou [Page 136] vouchsafe to turne thy benigne countenance to me, and not to cast me away from thy face. The aspect of thy countenance, the verie turning and cōuersion of thy glorious face to me, is a torch and light, vvhich illuminateth my way, and keepeth me from stumbling and falling; it is the sea starre which directeth my nauigation; it is the piller of fire vvhich leadeth me by night, & the cloud vvhich guideth me by day through the desertes of this life,Gen. 13 to Heauen the land of promise.

3. I heretofore (vvhich now I rue) tooke a fall by sinne from thee (ô God) from thy grace & fauour, frō Heauen, into the depth of sinne, and if thy mercifull hand had not holden me, into the pit of Hell: but now that by thy grace, the effect of thy benigne coūtenance, I am risen, let me not fall againe; [Page 137] now, that by the light of thy face, which is thy grace, I am directed in the right way, let me not range out of it any more; novv that by the same grace I am vvashed from my sinnes, let me not defile my selfe againe; now that I am by this grace cured of my disease of sinne, let me not fall into it againe, novv that my mortall woūdes are healed by this grace, let me not renew them. For vvhat vvould it auaile to be risen vp, if I fall againe the after fall vvould make my rising more difficult: What to haue vvalked in the vvayes of thy commaunde­mentes, if I loose this vvay againe? I shall the more hardlie finde it. What to haue been vvashed cleane in the lauer of penance, and by thy grace, if like a swine, I vvallovv my selfe againe in the puddle of sinne? the stayne vvill more hardlie [Page 134] [...] [Page 135] [...] [Page 136] [...] [Page 137] [...] [Page 138] be gotten out; better it is for me to say vvith the Spouse,Cant. 5 I haue washed my feete, hovv shall I defile them? What vvill it auaile to haue beene cured of the ague of sinne, if I admitte an other accesse of it? Recidiuation is more dangerous then the former sicknes. What, to haue been healed of so many mortall vvoundes as mortall sinnes, if I renevv them a­gaine? the renevving makes them harder to be cured then before. Wherefore turne not thy face frō me by vvithdrawing thy grace, for then I shall fall againe into all those miseries: to haue vvell begun is a small thing, how many good be­ginners are novv in Hell? perseue­rance is that vvhich maketh vs goe on to the end, and the end crow­neth the vvorke. And therefore, ô Lord, take not thy holy spirit from me. Take not from me the create spirit [Page 139] of grace, by vertue of vvhich I may perseuer to the end: yea, ô Eternall Father, ô Eternall Sonne, giue me your increate spirit, the holy Ghost vvho proceedeth from you both, and vvho is equall, coequall, and consubstantiall to you both, and who is your mutuall loue and eter­nall knotte of freindship; take not frō me this your increate Spirit. So long as this Spirit supporteth me, I can not fall; Heauen vvill sooner fall, then I so supported can fall.

4. And thou, ô penitent Chri­stian, desire almightie God to turne his face from thy sinne, but not from thee, it being thy onelie com­fort in this life, to haue its benigne aspect, and the light of grace which proceedeth from it, and vvhich il­luminateth thy vvay, vvhich thou art to vvalke. Desire him also not to take avvay his holy Spirit from thee, [Page 140] vvithout vvhich, liuing thou art dead, liuing in bodie, dead in soule, vvhich, if thou fall, will raise thee, if thou stand, vvill so direct thy steppes, as thou shalt neuer fall a­gaine.Ioan. 1. This Spirit houered ouer the waters in the first creation, & gaue them fecunditie to bring forth fish and fowle. The same spirit houered ouer the waters of Baptisme, when thou vvast regenerated of water and the holy Ghost, Ioan. 3. and gaue it force to this day to bring forth Spirituall fishes, to vvitt Christ [...]ans, who are spawnes and young fishes of the great fish CHRIST IESVS,Tertul. lib. de Baptismo. Aug li de Ci­uit. ca. 18. stiled by the Sybille in the first letters of her Greeke verses [...] (which signi­fieth a fish) because in the riuer of Iordan, vvhere he was Baptized by S. Iohn Baptist, he like a fish, did, as it vvere, swimme, and thereby gaue vertue to the water of baptisme to [Page 141] regenerat Christiās, whereas Chri­stiās haue their origin frō the water, as fishes haue. This Spirit againe ho­uered ouer the vvaters of contritiō & the Sacramēt also of penāce, whē it inspired into me the Spirit of cō ­punction, and contrition, by which from my sinnes committed after Baptisme, I vvas againe vvashed, and rose againe from sinne to iusti­fying grace. Let it giue me also, ô most mercifull Lord, the grace and guift of perseuerance, vvhich is all in all, and without vvhich all is no­thing. Do not take this Holie Spirit from me, and I shall perseuer to the end against all tentations, maugre all the Deuills in Hell.

5. S. Peter before he vvas forti­fied by this Spirit, vvas so frayle, fearfull, and cowardlie, that he de­nied his Master at the voice of a Maide-seruaunt; a woeman dashed [Page 142] him out of countenance; but after he vvas armed & fortified by this Holy Spirit, he feared not the Ty­rants of the vvorld, nor all the tormentes that cruell heartes could deuise: but like a rocke vvithstood the boisterous windes of their per­secutions, vvhich did but breake & wast themselues, mooued not him. And he, & the rest of the Apostles, vvho fled vvhen their Master vvas taken, and vvho euē after his death and resurrection, assembled them­selues together, and shutte the doores: Propter metum Iudaeorum, for feare of the Ievves, Ioan. 20. after they had re­ceaued this Holy Spirit, they feared not the Tyrants of earth, nor all the Deuills in Hell: Yea they but twelue set vpon all the vvorld, and not iointly neither, but singlie, and made a conquest of a greater world then euer Alexander the Great did, [Page 143] & subdued not onelie their bodies, as he did, but their vvilles and vn­derstanding, & subiected the Em­pire to the Churche, the Scepter to the crosse, made philosophie stoupe to Christes doctrine,Matth. 10. and Idolatrie to Christian religion. And whereas they were sent as sheepe amongest vvolues, yet these sheepe, streng­thened by this Holy Spirit, were to hard for the wolues, and as fire cō ­uerteth all into it, so they inflamed vvith this Heauēlie fire, consumed sinne and Idolatrie, and like so many walking fiers, set all the world on fire, conuerted all to Christ, and made all like themselues, that is Christians.

6. I, ô Lord request at thy boun­tifull handes with Dauid, a guift of this Holy Spirit, Act. 20 and this Heauenlie fire, which descended on the first Christians in the forme of fierie [Page 144] tongues, corroborate and encou­rage me by this Holy Spirit, inflame me with this heauenlie fire, and harden me with it, that no assaults of the Deuill, world, or flesh may be able to ouerthrowe me, that for feare of persecution I may not deny thee; but as now (as I hope) I am risen by thy Holy Spirit, and grace of iustification, so by thy guifte and grace of perseuerance, the proper effect of it, I may neuer fall againe by mortall sinne from thy grace, fauour, face, and eternall vision, the blisse of the blessed, which is onelie graunted to them, who perseuer to the end.

Redde mihi letitiam salutaris tui, Et spiritu principali confirma me.

Render vnto me the ioy of thy Salua­tion: and confirme me with thy principall Spirit.

1. I Remember, ô Lord, saith Da­uid (say the same, ô penitent soule, with him) what ioye, peace of conscience, and comfort I en­ioyed in thee and in thy seruice, before my sinne, and when I was enriched with thy grace, the foun­taine of true peace and ioye: Then I tasted and sawe how sweet thou art, then I experienced,Psal. 33 how great is the multitude of thy sweetnes, ô Lord, which thou hast hidd for them, that feare thee; and hast hidden from the world­lings, vvho feare thee not:Sap. 12. O hovv good and sweet is thy spirit, ô Lord, in [Page 146] all. Math. 11. Thy seruice is à yoke, but sweet, it is a burden, but light. And, ô my infe­licitie, who when I sinned, left thee, and all this true ioye and consola­tion. When by Iustifying grace I liued in thy house, I aboūded with this bread of consolation; but whē by my sinne I left the house of thee my eternall father, & follow­ed the seruice of the world, vvith the Prodigall sonne,Luc. 15 then instead of this bread of true consolation, I vvas fedd as he vvas, after he left his fathers house, with the huskes of worldlie consolation, & with carnall and brutish pleasures, the hoggish fare of sinners, vvhich neuer quencheth thirst, neuer slaketh or assuageth hunger, neuer giueth contentement:

2. When I serued thee, ô Lord, J drank of the fountaine of liuing waters and true pleasures,Ioh. 4. & whilst [Page 147] I drank those waters, I neuer thirsted after any other; but vvhen I forsooke thee the Creatour and fountaine of liuing water, Hierem 24. and digged to my selfe cisternes, broken cisternes, which are not able to hold water: that is whē I thought to extinguish my thirst by my loue of creatures or create riches or pleasures, I found thē to be broken cisternes, which doe not containe the water of solid comfort, pleasure, or contētement. When I serued thee, I was fedd vvith Manna, Num. 21. the bread of Angels, which containeth in it selfe all delight; but vvhen by sinne I loathed and left this foode of An­gels, and sought to satisfie myne appetite with worldly, and carnall pleasures (ô what an ill exchange I made) I then sold vvith Esau my spirituall first birth-right, Gen. 25 vvhich grace gaue vnto me, for a messe of potage:Exod. 25. I exchanged Manna for the [Page 148] flesh pottes, yea onions and garlick of Egipt I left thee, ô Lord, the Creatour in whom I had true con­tentement, for thy creatures, which by reason of their insufficiencie, can not content.

3. Thou hast created vs, ô Lord, to thy selfe and for thy selfe, and hast made vs capable of thy selfe, by thy cleare vision and frui­tion, and thou being rich, eminēt in excellēcie aboue all, beautifull, most good, yea a sea of goodnes; hast made vs capable of all these thy Diuine attributes and perfections: But because we seeke for these thinges not in thee, where they are, & where onely they content, but in thy creatures, where is but a shadow of them, and vvhere they doe not content; we by abuse haue made this our capacitie of fruition of thee, & thy Diuine perfections, [Page 149] which onely can satisfie and fill vs, the cause of all our discontente­ment, yea our vices and disorders. For whereas thou hast made vs ca­pable of thy Diuine excellencie, to vvhich supreame honour is due, we by abuse seeke for this excel­lencie, and honour, not in thee, but in our selues, desiring too much to excell others, and to be estee­med aboue them, & this is pride & ambition, which is neuer satisfied. Others giue this excellencie and supreame honour to creatures, as to the sunne, moone, starres, and this is Idolatrie; vvhereas thou hast made vs capable of thy beautie, which is the cause and fountaine of of all beautie, we leauing thee, doe seeke for it in thy creatures, where is but a shadow of that thy beautie, and this is carnall concupiscence, which is neuer filled. Whereas thou [Page 150] hast made vs capable of thy riches and aboundance, vvhich compre­hendeth all the riches, and varieties of Sea and Land, & that also most eminentlie; vve by abuse seeke this aboundance, and varietie of all thinges in thy creatures, and trou­ble Sea & Land to procure it, & this is riotte and auarice, vvhich is neuer contented: whereas thou hast crea­ted vs capable of thy bountie & li­beralitie, by vvhich thou shinest & raynest by thy guiftes, and fauours on the good, and badde, and castest a largesse of thy infinite guiftes, and benefites on all thy creatures, euē to the young rauens and craw­ling wormes, we by abuse seeke for this bountie out of thee, & would be liberall, not out of thy aboun­dance, but out of our owne store, and this is lauishing prodigalitie, vvhich spendeth till it hath ruined [Page 151] the spender and his familie, and aftervvard stealeth to spend more & more, and so findeth no end nor content in spending.

4. And the reason vvhy these creatures and create perfections can not content our will or appe­tite, is, because thou, ô Lord, hast giuen to our vvill an infinite capa­citie, capable of thy selfe, who art an infinite sea of all goodnes and perfection, whereas thy creatures are finite and limited in perfection, an so can not fill a vessell (as our vvill is) of infinit capacitie: and thy creatures are also imperfect, & so doe not onelie not satisfie and fill vs, but doe also, by reasō of this imperfection and disproportion, cause in vs a spirituall thirst and hungre vvhich vexeth and tormē ­teth vs. One vvorld was not great enough to content Alexander the [Page 152] Great, nor would many worlds haue satisfied him, though thy had beene as many as Democritus imagined. what rich man was euer satisfied vvith riches? vvhat ambitious mā vvith honours? what luxurious mā vvith carnall pleasures? And no maruayle: no create thing is pro­portionat to mans infinit capa­citie. All create perfections are de­fectiue, insufficient and vayne, like to painted grapes, and so can giue no solid satietie or consolation.

5. For vvhat are the gold and syluer, landes and liuinges, and all the riches of the vvorld (vvhich are gotten with labour, kept with care, and lost with sorrow) but pelfe and trash and fruites of the earth, and so earthlie, and consequentlie im­proportionate to our soules appe­tite vvhich is spirituall? what are the pleasures of the bodie, but gay [Page 153] stinking flowers, thornie roses, sweet poysons, delights of brute beastes, in vvhich we agree vvith them; vvhich so are the pleasures of the bodie, that they are the greatest displeasures of the soule? what are the honours and estimations of the vvorld, which so daste wordlings eyes, but blastes of mens mouthes, or the transitory conceites of mens mindes, which often are erroneous, alwaies inconstant, and more chan­gable thē the vvinde, passing more swiftly them the waues of the run­ning water? And as yet the man vvas neuer found which vvas satis­fied vvith these painted gugawes.

6. Thou onelie, ô my Lord, and God, vvho art infinit in all perfection and goodnes, canst fill the infinit capacitie of our soule: Thou onelie art the center of our desires in vvhom onelie they rest: [Page 154] The stone vvill sooner rest in the ayre, before it come to the center, then the soule of man in creatures, before it come to thee her creatour, her first efficient, and last end. Fecisti nos Domine ad te (saith S. Austin) & inquietum est cor nostrum, Aug. lib. 1. Confes. cap. 1. donec requies­cat in te. Thou hast made vs, ô Lord, to thee, and our heart is neuer quiet till it rest in thee. Seeke then, ô my soule, for true riches, true beautie, true pleasure, true contentement, but seeke for them in God, where they are, not in creatures where they are not; seeke for vvhat thou seekest, but not where thou seekest. If thou seeke still for thē in the creatures, thou shalt alvvaies seeke and neuer finde, if thou seeke for thē in God, there thou shalt finde them, for that there they are in their prime cause and fountaine, there they are in their prime perfection.

[Page 155]7. Returne then, ô my soule to thy Lord God, and remember vvhat ioye and solide consolation thou enioyedst, when thou louedst and seruedst him. Thē thou spakest not but of him, thoughtst not but of him, dreamedst not but of him, louedst nothing but him, or for him, reioicedst in nothing but in him, or for him, & this brought thee such ioy and consolation, that thou enioyedst a kind of Heauen in earth, and hadst a tast & feeling of the ioyes of Heauen, vvhich there are laid vp in store for them, that feare God, loue him, and serue him.

8. This a wordling vvill not easelie conceaue, for he hauing or esteeming no other Heauen but this vvorld, and proposing to him selfe no beautie but corporall beau­tie, no riches but vvordlie riches, [Page 156] no pleasure but carnall pleasure, is a sensuall man, 1. Cor. 2. which perceaueth not those thinges that are of the spirit of God. But a spirituall man vnder­standeth vvhat I saye, & knoweth by experience that it is true; For if the bodie, as it is animated by the sensuall parte of the soule, hath its delights, if corporall beautie plea­se the eyes of the body, if musicke of mens voices or instrumēts please thr eares, if worldlie riches content in some sorte for a tyme, vvhat delight hath the soule according to her reasonable and superiour parte, vvhich is more noble, and hath more pure & noble obiectes? what delight taketh the deuoute soule in the contemplation of Heauenlie thinges, & in the exercise of morall and supernaturall vertues? If vertue could be seene, sayth one, as to the spirituall mans eye it is seene, mira­biles [Page 157] excitaret amores, it would straūg­lie enamour vs, If a beautifull crea­ture draweth, and as it vvere en­chanteth our affections, vvhat de­light taketh the deuout, and con­templatiue man in the loue and cōtemplation of God the creatour & fountaine of all beautie, riches pleasure, perfection? if the good vve find in creatures, though finit and imperfect, not pure but mixt with something that is displeasing in it, doth so allure vs, hovv doth the goodnes of God (in vvhom God and good is all one) vvhose goodnes is the fountaine of all that is good in creatures, rauish and transport the deuout and spirituall man?

9. O sweet Lord render me this ioy of thy saluation, so called because it is the effect of iustifying grace, caused by the merite of thy [Page 158] sacred passion, our redemption and saluation. If thou now render it to me againe, it vvill be after my disgust & discontentement taken in sinne, and in the seruice of the vvorld, as a greate benefite, so far more gratefull and pleasing then it vvas before my sinne. For euen as the good cheare the Prodigall sonne made after his returne to his Father, and after the huskes he had eaten,Lucae 15. seemed more delicious, then euer it did before: Or as peace is more vvellcome after vvarre, sweet more pleasing after sower, and heate after cold, light after darkenes, sight after blindnes, health after sicknes, libertie after serui­tude, rest after labour, is more grat­lull: so the manna of spirituall con­solations, vvherewith novv I shall be feasted, vvill seeme more deli­cious, after my hoggish fare in [Page 159] sinne; and the peace of conscience after vvarre vvaged against God by sinne, the sweetnes of vertue after the sower tast of sinne, the heate of grace & charitie after the nipping cold of sinne, the light of grace after the darkenes and blind­nes I endured in sinne, my spirituall health receaued by grace after the mortall sicknes of sinne, my li­bertie of spirit and grace, after the slauerie of sinne, the rest and quietnes of minde, after my drud­gerie in sinne, will be more pleasing gratefull, and delightfull, then euer they vvere before my sinne.

10. Render me then, ô Lord, this ioy of thy saluation; and doe not onelie render it, but conserue it to my dying daye, that I may carrie it vvith me to the eternall ioyes of Heauen; and, that it may be thus conserued in me, I beseech [Page 160] thee to confirme me with thy principall Spirit, the holie Ghost the principall Spirit, and fountaine from vvhich all create spirits of grace doe flowe, let this Spirit conserue this ioy of my saluation so constantly, that I may neuer loose it, so pure that it may neuer be mixed vvith any ioy of thy creatures, which is not pleasing to thee, let this Spirit be my guide, my directour, my conductour, my protectour in all my vvayes, actiōs, and proceedinges, that I may neuer loose againe by sinne thy iusti­fying grace purchassed by penance, and consequently may euer con­serue this ioy of thy saluation, this ioy of conscience, the effect of this grace:

11. The Apostles and Mar­tyrs, by this principall Spirit, and the spirit of grace vvhich it giueth, vvere so confirmed and hartned, [Page 161] that all the tormentes, vvhich they suffered of the cruell Tyrants and persecutors, could not daunt them, but they so ioyed in their persecu­tions and tormentes, that either they felt them not, or they ioyed in feeling them for thy sake. Their persecutions were of themselues the bitter vvaters of Mara, Exod. 15 but by the vvood of the Crosse dipped in them, that is by consideration of thy passion suffered on it, they be­came sweet. They vvere of them­selues bitter pills, but being wrap­ped in the sugar of this ioie of salua­tion, they seemed not bitter, but pleasing to the taste of the soule; this thy principall Spirit did so fill their heartes with ioye, that there was no place for greefe or sorrow, but vvhen they vvere scourged & persecuted, they wēt frō the sight of the Councell reioicing, because they were ac­counted [Page 162] worthie to suffer reproch for the name of IESVS.Act. 5. And if thou vouch­safe, ô Lord, to confirme me vvith this principall Spirit, & by the grace it giueth, I shall neuer be separated againe from thee by sinne, I shall neuer forsake so good a God, as thou hast beene vnto me, either for feare of persecutiō, or death it selfe, or for loue of whatsoeuer the world cā afford, but rather shall so ioy in all temporall sufferances and losses for thee here on earth, that I shall be made worthie to ioy and reioice vvith thy Angells and saintes, by thy cleare vision and fruition for all eternitie.

Docebo iniquos vias tuas, & impij ad te conuertentur:

I will teach the vniust thy wayes, and the impious shall be conuerted.

1. A Scarr, spott, or blott in the face or forepart of the head can not be hidden, but is ex­posed to the sight of all, though in the inferiour members of the body it be seldome marked. Euen so the faultes or euill examples of Princes or Superiours, vvho are the heades of their subiectes, are by & by noted, vvhen their subiectes faultes are not regarded; and there­fore it is sayd that Princes faultes are vvritten in their foreheades. I, saith Dauid, am the Heade of my People & King of my Kingdome, & so my faultes of murder against [Page 164] Vrias, and adulterie with his vvife, are so well knovvne to all my sub­iectes, that they haue not onelie of­fended thee, ô Lord, but haue also scandalized them, from vvhom they could not be hidden, and haue giuen them the euill example to follovv me in my euill vvayes, be­cause the People follovveth the example of the King, and thinketh they may doe that securelie, which they see the Prince doe before them.

2. Yea I haue not onely by these my greate sinnes scandalized the Ievvs my subiectes, but also the Gentils,2. Reg. 12. and haue caused the enemies of thee my Lord to blaspheme thy name, vvherefore hereafter for sa­tisfaction of thee, ô Lord, and of the vvorld, I will teache the vniust thy vvayes & the impious, by my meanes shall be conuerted to thee. For as I haue [Page 165] heretofore accompanied the Ark, which was thy mānour house, with nables, harpes, cymbals, trumpets, and all musicall instruments, Yea and haue daunced before it to ho­nour and praise thy name,1. Par. 15. vvhich novv by my sinnes I haue caused to be blasphemed of thy enemies▪ so I vvill again resume this my de­uotion: and although thou hast forbiddē me to build thy Temple, because I haue beene a vvarriour, & so hauing defiled my hands with bloud, am not fit to build it;2. Reg. 7.1. Pa­ral. 28. yet I vvill giue the charges of it, and of gold I vvill giue a hundred thousand talentes, and of syluer a thousand thousand ta­lentes. 1. Par. 22. But of brasse and iron there is no vveight, for the number is surpassed with the greatnes; timber and stones I haue prepared to all the charges. I vvill dispose of the offices of the Temple, & Musicians, and their instruments, and psalmes, and [Page 166] songes. 1. Par. 23.24. & 25. 2. Par. 28. I vvill giue to my sonne Salomon a description of the porche and of the Temple, and of the cellers and of the vp­per loft, and of the chambers in the inner roomes, and of the house of the proposition &c. And this, sayth Dauid, I will doe for satisfaction of my sinnes, and for the glorie and prayse of thy name, vvhich shall be praysed, and honoured in this Temple till the Messias shall come. And vvhereas I haue scādalized the Gentils, they, vvhen they shall be conuerted to Christian Religion, shall in their churches sing day and night, (and I in them, & by the psalmes vvhich I haue composed) prayses & laudes vnto thee, euen to the end of the vvorld:Ps. 56. I will confesse to thee amongest peoples, ô Lord, and I vvill say a psalme to thee among the Gentils. And I shall teach the vniust amongest Iewes and Gentils thy vvayes, vvhich if they [Page 167] follovv, they shall attaine to life euerlasting; & the impious amongest them, shall be conuerted vnto thee. And this I will doe, partlie by my psal­mes in vvhich I teach thē to knowe thee, to loue thee, to feare thee, to serue thee, In vvhich I shall teach both Ievve and Gentill Christian Religion (for I shall treate in them of thy povver, Maiestie, Iustice, mercie, and of all thy Diuine attri­butes; yea in them I shall discouer vnto them the Incarnation of the Sonne of God, his Conception,Esa. 11. Esa. 9. Natiuitie, life and death, Resurre­ction and Ascension) and partlie also I shall doe this by the exāples of my good life, vvhich hereafter I vvill leade. For as Iob vvas an ex­ample of patience, and vvill be to the end of the vvorld, to all that are in affliction, So will I be an exāple of penance to all sinners, I vvill by [Page 168] my example make them to hope in thy mercie, neuer to dispaire of it: For if I, after so greate sinnes and so many, haue found mercie at God his hands, vvhat sinner may not hope to finde the like mercie, if he be sorrie for thē, as I haue beene. If I a King would detracte so much tyme from the publique affayres of my Kingdome, as seauen tymes in the day to praye and sing laudes vnto God. Ps. 118 If I vvould rise at middnight to Confesse to God, vvhat shall other sinners doe vvho haue no such in­cumbrances? If I a King haue labou­red in much sighing, If I euery night haue vvashed my bedd and haue vvatered my couch with teares: Psal. 6. If my eyes haue gushed forth issues of teares; will other sinners, thinke without teares and sorrow, to get remission of their sinnes? I Dauid, crye then vnto you all, who are sinners you, who haue followed [Page 169] Dauid in his sinnes, follovv him in his repentance, and you will find mercie, as he hath done.

3. O Dauid, I must needs con­fesse that as thou hast sinned gree­uouslie, so thy sorrovv, and satisfa­ction for thy sinne hath been great, as thou hast by thy euill vvorkes dishonoured God his name, so by thy good vvorkes alleadged, thou hast glorified God, and by thy ex­ample hast caused also others to glorifie his name; as by thy euill exāple thou hast peruerted many, so by thy Heauenlie psalmes and wholesome documents in thē, thou hast conuerted thousands, & shalt by them conuerte sinners to the end of the vvorld. O great King & Prophet, thy sinnes indeede haue beene great, but thy repentance also, and satisfaction, through Gods grace, hath beene greate, & [Page 170] so great, that J can not easelie say vvhether thou vvast more vnhap­pie in sinning, then thou hast beene happie in repenting; yea thy repen­tance hath beene so greate, so ho­norable to God, so beneficiall and exemplare to all the vvorld, that I can scarce hold my selfe frō saying; ô happie sinne of Dauid, See the like speech in the benedi­ction of the pas­chall candle: O foe­lix cul­pa, que talem at tan­tum meruit habere Redem­ptorem. which vvas seconded by so rare and so exem­plare a repentance, and satisfac­tion.

4. Graunte vnto me, ô Lord, (saye so, ô repentant sinner) that as I haue imitated Dauid in his sinnes, so I may follovv him in his repen­tance and satisfaction; I haue by my euill examples, yea persuasions allured others to sinne, but graunt me, ô Lord, thy grace, and in ver­tue of it, I shall endeauour vvith Dauid to teach by vvord of mouth, [Page 171] or by bookes, or example, the vniust thy wayes, & the impious thereby shall be conuerted to thee; To sollicitate o­thers by persuasion or euill exāple, vnto sinne is the office of the Deuill, vvho in all his tentations intendeth nothing else but to draw vs to sinne, and not onelie to spiri­tuall sinnes, as pride, enuy and hatred, vvhich he committeth him selfe, but also to carnall sinnes, vvhich he can not cōmitt, though he be guiltie of them in inticing vs. And I, ô Lord, doe ingeniouslie confesse, that I haue beene the Deuills Agent in prouoking others to sinne, either by persuasion, or euill example, by vvhich I haue of­fended thee, ruined them, and by the same sinne, haue runne myne ovvne soule through, to vvound them. In this Kind preachers of [Page 172] false doctrine, and Princes, and su­periours vvho cōmand or persuade their subiectes to sinne, doe offend, and vvho not by euill example?

5. Wherefore I, ô Lord, as here­tofore I haue cooperated vvith thy professed enemie the Deuill to peruert others, & thereby to ruine their soules; so hereafter I will serue no such master, I will be no instru­mēt, nor Agēt, nor factour for him, but as I am sorrie for the sinnes past, by which I haue offēded thee, and cooperated with him to the spi­rituall ruine of my neighbours soule: so hereafter, if it may please thee to giue me the grace, I will be thy instrument, thy factour and coadiutour, & will labour with thee and vnder thee for the conuersion of soules:1. Cor. 3

6. It is a greate sinne by per­suasion or ill example to peruert [Page 173] others, it is to cooperate vvith the Deuill, it is worse then Dauids mur­der of Vrias, because that killed the body, this the soule: And contrarie­wise to cooperate vvith God, as his instrument, and Minister, to the conuersiō of sinners, is the noblest office & imploiment that can be. It is the verie office of CHRIST IESVS the sonne of God, who came not to call the Iuste but sinners to penance, Mat. 9. Luc. 5. 1. Tim. 1. and, as S Paule saith, came into this world to saue sinners, and therefore he was Incarnate, borne, liued 33. yeares amongest vs, taught vs, ex­horted vs by wordes and deedes, wrought miracles to confirme what he sayd, and at length suffered and dyed for sinners, and had not beene man,S. Tho. 3 p [...] 4.1. art. 3. nor had descēded from Heauen to earth, but to saue sinners. For as S. Augustin saith, nulla fuit causa veniendi Christo Do­mino Aug. [...] 9. de verbis Apost. [Page 174] nisi peccatores saluos facere, tolle morbos, tolle vulnera & nulla est causa medicinae: There was no cause of Christ his comming, but to saue sinners, take away diseases, take away wounds (of sinne) and there will be no cause of a medicine. In this we doe Gods will and pleasure, who, of him selfe, will all men to be saued, 1. Tim. 2. and to come to the knowledge of the truth: For saith he by his Prophet Ezechiel, why, is the death of a sinner my will, Ezech. 18. and not that he con­uert from his wayes and liue?

7. This worke of the conuer­sion and Iustification of a sinner,Aug. tract. 72. in Ioan. to. 9. S. Th. 1. 2. q. 113 art. 9. is greater then the creation of the world; because creation had for its effect this world, which is a thing naturall; Iustification of a Sinner, hath for its effect grace, which is a thing supernaturall, that is nature, this aboue nature; that is temporall for Heauen and Earth shall passe, in res­pect [Page 175] of their state & qualitie,Matth. 24. this of it selfe eternall, because it is the seede of glorie which is eternall; that is a participatiō of God as he is Au­thour of nature, this as he is Au­thour of grace; that ordaineth vs to God as he is our naturall end, this as he is our supernaturall end; and as creatiō is of nothing, so the ius­tification of a sinner is of no merit of his. And although glorie & glo­rification be absolutlie greater thē the Iustificatiō of a sinner, because glorie is greater then grace, yet glorie is giuen to the iust, vho de­serue it by their merites; the grace of iustification of a sinner, is giuē to him that deserueth it not, and so is a greater guifte & fauour, because not deserued. And although crea­tion, iustification & glorification, be all great workes, and doe argue Gods infinite power, yet the Iusti­fication [Page 176] of a sinner, is a worke of greater, yea greatest mercie. It is a greater worke to cōuert a sinner thē to raise a dead man to life, because by that miracle a dead body is rai­sed to a tēporall life onely; by the conuersion of a sinner the soule is raised from the death of sinne to the life of grace, which causeth life euerlasting, if by our fault we doe not loose it.

8. Seeing then, ô God, thou hast wrought so great a worke, as is the conuersion of a sinner, not onely in Dauid, but, as I hope in me also, I will hereafter (say so ô penitent sinner) to shew my selfe gratefull for so greate a benefite, teach with Dauid, the vniust thy wayes, and I will endeauour to conuert the impious vnto thee: They that haue liued in capti­uitie doe most cōmiserat captiues and prisoners, they that haue liued [Page 177] long in banishement, take greatest compassion on the banished; they that haue beene greeueouslie sicke doe take most pittie on the sicke. And I, who haue beene a great sinner, & who haue experiēced the miserie and daūger sinne bringeth with it, will hereafter take compas­sion on sinners. I will enflame my selfe with Dauids zeale of soules.Ps. 68. 3. Reg. 19. This zeale of soules did eate Dauid, and cōsumed Elias, it shall consume me; for I will employ my selfe, my ta­lētes, my labours, my endeauours, and all I am and haue, for the con­uersion of sinners.

9. This zeale of soules,Greg. Hom. 12. su­per Ezech. as S. Gre­gorie saith, is a most pleasing sacrifice to God, it is an holocaust, because it consumeth all we are and haue, to gaine soules: It is,Dionys. lib. de Eccles. Hier. as S. Dionysius the Areopagite saith, Diuinorum operum di­uinissimum, of all the Diuine workes the [Page 178] most Diuine. The cōuersion of soules was the office of the sonne of God, of his Apostles, and all Apostolicall men, who haue consecrated them­selues to the conuersion of Coun­tries: & it shall be my office whilst I liue, for if I can not cooperate to the conuersion of sinners, vvith CHRIST IESVS the principall Sa­uiour and conuertour of them, by preaching, teaching, or writing of bookes, as the Apostles did, and as Doctours, Pastours, & the learned ought to doe, I will at least doe my indeauour herein, by my coūsell & good examples, knovving that he which maketh a sinner to be conuerted from the errour of his waye, Iacobi. 5. shall saue his soule from death, and couereth a multitude ofo his owne sinnes; Dan. 12. Knowing that they who instruct others to iustice shall shine as starres vnto perpetuall eternities. This is now my mynd, & [Page 179] this mind, by Gods grace, I will carrie to my dying day.

Libera me de sanguinibus Deus, Deus salutis meae & exultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam.

Deliuer me from bloodes ô God, the God of my saluation, and my tongue shall exulte (for) thy Iustice.

1. THe afflicted person, whose heart is seased with greefe & sorrow for any great losse, sicknes, or aduersitie, thinkes it not sufficiēt to crye once or twice for ayde, hel­pe, or succour, but often reiterateth the same crye, complaint or peti­tion, and neuer resteth crying for helpe, till he finde helpe; And the reason is, because the miserie it selfe still prompteth and suggesteth, and [Page 180] putteth him in minde to cry and call for helpe, till he be ridde of it. By vvhich we may easilie gather how great the greefe and sorrow of our penitent Dauid was for his sinnes, since it made him so often to cry for mercie, so often to de­mand to be ridd of his miserie of sinne. He had cryed Haue mercie on me, ó God, according to thy greate mercie, for my sinne is greate, & according to the multitude of thy commiserations take away myne iniquitie, for my sinnes are many. He had cryed, Wash me more amplie from myne ini­quitie, and cleanse me from my sinne; And not content with this: he againe singeth the same dolefull songe, saying, Turne away thy face from my sinnes, & wipe away all myne iniquties: & as though he had neuer cryed enough, he cryeth now againe for the same remissiō of his [Page 181] sinnes saying, Deliuer me from blouds, ó God, the God of my saluation. He imi­tateth herein the young sparrowes, or swallowes, which being destitute of meate, when their damme is ab­sēt, doe fill the aire with their cryes: for so Dauid left of God, because by sinne he had left him, and now by sinne spoiled of God his grace and fauour, and of the birthright of life euerlasting, plunged also in the mi­serie of sinne, and by it exposed to daunger of Hell, what should he doe but crye to God, who onelie can helpe? what should he doe but fill Heauen and earth with his cryes, thereby to mooue God to take compassion?

2. And what meaneth he by bloods, but the bloodie murder of Vrias, and many other Soldiours with him? and his adulterie with Bersabee his wife, which was a sinne [Page 182] of bloud, proceeding from the ar­dour of bloud, which inflamed his concupiscence and made it breake forth into that adulterie? O Dauid, vvhat doest thou meane novv in crying to be deliuered frō bloodes? Didst thou not euen in the first wordes of this psalme make the same petitiō, whē thou cryedst, Haue mercie on me, ô God, according to thy greate mercie? were not these the sinnes for which thou cryedst God mercie? hast thou then neuer done crying for mercie for these thy tvvo sinnes?Ps. 68. No (sayth he) I haue laboured crying, my iawes are made hoarse vvith crying; and although I hope those tvvo sinnes are forgiuen me, yet of sinne forgiuen I will not be without feare, Eccl. 5. and therefore so long as I liue, and can crye, I vvill crye for forgiuenes of them. Deliuer then me, ô Lord, from all sinne and especiallie from [Page 183] the blouds of murder & adulterie. And although thy Prophet Nathan hath told me that my sinnes are forgiuen,2. Reg. 12. yet I feare the paine due to them, knowing that thou vsest to punish those sinnes euen in this life most seuerelie.

3. And as for murder,Gen. 4. I knowe that Abels blood, vnnaturallie shed by Cain his brother, had a voice to crye for vengeance vpon him, for so God tould Cain, saying; the voice of thy brothers blood cryeth to me out of the earth. Wherefore fearing the crye of Vrias his blood vvhich I caused to be shed, I desire thee, ô God, the God of saluation, to deliure me from the hidious crye of Vrias his blood, and to defend me from it by the sheild of thy mercie.Mat. 23 The bloud of the iust shed by the Iewes and their predecessors, whom they imitated, from Abel to Zacharie fell [Page 184] vpon them. S. Ihon Baptiste blood vvhich Herod shed cried more ter­riblie against him before God, then the voice of his mouth did, vvhen he told him that it was not lawfull for him to haue the wife of his brother. Mar. 6. And vvith what a lovvde voice did the Innocentes & most holie blood of CHRIST IESVS crye against the Iewes? it is true it cryed for our re­demption,Heb. 12 by a sprinkling of it which spake better then Abel, but it cryed for such vengeance against the Iewes, vvho vniustlie shedd it, that to this daye they feele it in the destruc­tion of their temple and Citie, in the abrogation of their lawe and Preesthood, and in their vvan­dering about the world; which if they had foreknowne, they would neuer haue cryed, as they did, His blood be vpon vs and vpon our children. [...]h. The martyrs of the primitiue [Page 185] church are brought in by S. Ihon crying, after death,Apoc. 6. to God to re­uenge their blood, And their blood also cryed and obtained the ruine of the Roman Empire, as then it vvas, the extirpation of Idolatrie, & the planting of Christ his church and the propagation of Christian faith and religion.2. Ma­cab. 8. Wherefore Iudas Machabeus knowing that blood vn­iustlie shed cryed vengeāee against the shedder, desired God to heare the voice of the blood of the then in­nocent Iewes, shed by the infidells crying to him. And it is noted that whē the murderer is brought neere to him vvhom he killed, the blood floweth from the dead body, as crying for reuenge.

4. Dauid then fearing the crye of the blood of Vrias, vvhich he had shed, cryeth to God to deliuer him from bloods. And indeed he had [Page 186] already in part felt the reuenge of Vrias blood, for after he had caused Vrias to be slaine, that he might enioy his wife, the child, which was the vnfortunate brood of his murder and adulterie, dyed, and Dauid could not with all his praying,2. Reg. 12. fasting, and lying on the ground, impetrate his life. And this was not enough to silence Vrias his blood, nor to cause it to leaue crying; for after this, it cryed for reuenge against Dauid & his fami­lie,2. Reg. 13.15.16.18. 3. Reg. 2. in the death of his sonne Am­mon, and after in the rebellion and death of his sonne Absalom, whom he loued so dearlie; as also in the violating of his concubines by his sayde sonne Absalom, & in the death of his sonne Adonias killed by Salo­mon, and in the miserable ending of many Kinges of his blood and race.

[Page 187]5. And because Dauid knevv that God vseth to punish adulterie also very seuerely, he desireth also to be deliuered frō this blood, or sinne, vvhich proceedeth from the heate of blood & concupiscēce In the old lavv (much more in the nevv) this sinne was euer counted most greeuous before God and man, & and therefore by that lavv it vvas punished vvith death, & euen with stoning to death. And vvhen the Husband vvas iealous of his vvife,Deut. 22. Leuit. 20. Ioan. 8 Num. 5 she was brought before the Priest, and after some ceremonies vsed, if she prooued guiltie of adulterie, her thighe rotted, and her vvombe svvelling burst, as we read in the bookes of numbers. And good reason; because, besides the offence committed against God, and the vvrong done to her Husband, this sinne maketh issues and successions [Page 188] to inheritance vncertaine, and dis­turbeth families. And therefore Dauid fearing least this sinne of blood should also crye vengeance against him, he desireth to be deliured frō it, saying in the plurall number, Deliuer me from bloods, that is not onelie from the bloodie murder of Vrias, and his soldiours, but also frō the adulterie vvith Bersabee, this sinne also proceeding originallie from the heate of blood. And (saith Dauid) Jf thou, vvilt, ô Lord, deli­uer me from these bloods (as I hope thou vvilt) thou being the God of my saluatiō, my tōgue shall exalte thy iustice, that is, shall reioice in this iustice and praise thee for it; For although the remissiō of my sinne, in respect of my vnworthines, be mercie, yet it is iustice in respect of CHRISTS passion (vvhich I foresee & behold) because that did merit in rigour of [Page 189] iustice this remission, and this ius­tice I shall praise for euer.

6. Say thou also vvith Dauid, ô penitent sinner; I, ô Lord, am also guiltie of bloods, and therefore I desire thee to deliuer me from bloods, for if I be not guiltie of murder & adulterie, at least I am guiltie of many other sinnes, vvhich all may be called bloods, or sinnes procee­ding from flesh and blood, vvhich nourish and pamper cōcupiscence, the fountaine of all our sinnes: for as S. Iohn telleth vs,1. Ioan. 2. all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, & the concupiscence of the eyes, & the pride of life: These be the sources, rootes, and fountaines from vvhich all our sinnes doe proceede. and so all our sinnes are bloods, because they flow from concupiscence vvhich is in­flamed by the heate of bloud: De­liuer me therefore frō these rootes, [Page 190] and I shall be free frō the brāches, deliuer me from the fountaines, & and I shall be free frō the riuers, de­liuer me frō concupiscence of the flesh & make that chast,1. Cor. 9. or giue me grace to chastise it with S. Paul, that it may be chast; take frō me concu­piscēce of eyes & huddwincke thē vvith thy grace, that by them no sinne enter into my soule, as a glance onelie of the eye caused Da­uids adulterie; Take from me pride of life, giue me an humble heart, re­presse aspiring thoughtes, so shall I be free from pride, ambition, en­uye, and all other spirituall sinnes, vvhich are bloods, because they pro­ceede from concupiscence, vvhich is kindled by the heate of blood,2. Cor. 2 & are the vvorkes of a sensuall man who perceiueth not the thinges, which are of the Spirit of God. Deliuer me then frō bloods (that is from all sinnes) O God the [Page 191] God of saluation, because it is besee­ming the God of saluation to saue and to haue mercie on sinners. Which if thou doest, ô Lord, I promise, with Dauid, that my tongue shall exult in the praise of thy iustice; for although in respect of vs sinners it be a great grace & mercie to deliuer vs from sinne, vve hauing nothing to de­serue it, yet in respect of CHRIST IESVS, our God of saluation and Sa­uiour, it is great iustice, because he by his death and passion did merit this for vs; and if for this his sacred death and passion, the more then iust price of our Redemption, thou please to deliuer me from bloods, and sinnes, I shall praise and exalt this thy iustice for euer, and my tongue shall neuer be silent in the commē ­dation of it.

Domine labia mea aperies, & os meum annunciabit laudem tuam.

Lord thou wilt open my lippes, and my mouth shall shew forth thy prayse.

1. SInne, ô Lord, saith Dauid, (& say so vvith him, ô penitent sinner) had stopped my mouth, and made me dumme in thy prayses; for vvh [...]lst I vvas in sinne, I praised this vvorld, but cared not for Hea­uen, I praised the beautie of thy creatures, but cared not for the beautie of thee their Creatour, who art the fountaine of all beautie, and beautie by essence, they onelie by participatiō; I cōmended the plea­sures of the bodie as the onelie pleasure, as though there had beene no pleasure but in eating & drin­king and such like; but cared not [Page 193] for the pleasures, which the godlie take in contemplating thy good­nes, in louing and seruing thee. I praysed the Kinges, Princes, and Potentats of the earth, and I admi­red their greatnes, power, splēdour, and riches, but in thy praises I vvas altogether mute, though thou beest the King of Kinges, and Lord of Lords, Apo [...] 19. to vvhom the greatest Monarches are but Vice-Royes, Lieutenantes, and tenantes at vvill. And so,Psal. 11 [...] I who before my sinne did singe praise to thee seuen times a day, vvas by sinne become dumme, mute and tongue-tyed in thy praises. But if thou deli­uer me frō bloods, that is frō sinne, thē sinne the couer of my mouth, and tye of my tongue, being taken avvay, thou wilt open my lippes, and loose my tongue, by thy grace, & my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Psal. 33 Then I will blesse thee our Lord at all [Page 194] times thy praise shall be alwayes in my mouth.

2. And thou, ô penitent sinner, desire God as Dauid did, to open thy lippes, which now are shutt by sinne; and confessing the truth, say thus vnto him: Sinne, ô Lord, hath made me like an Infant in a spirituall life, not able to forme any vvords in thy praise. So that I may say vvith Hieremie.Hier. c. 1. A, a, a, ô Lord, behold I can not speake, because I am a child. Wherefore, ô Lord, doe me the like fauour thou didst to this Prophet, though I much lesse deserue it then he did:Hier. c. 1. put forth thy hand & touch my mouth, and thereby put the vvords into my mouth vvhich I shall speake, for then assuredlie, my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Nay cō ­fesse vnto thy God and say vnto him: Sinne, ô Lord, hath not onelie stopped my mouth, but hath also [Page 195] so polluted my lippes,Isa. c. 6. that I may saie vvith the Prophet Isaie: I am a man of polluted lippes. And greater cause haue I to saie so then he had: for he esteemed his lippes polluted, because he vvas silent vvhen he should haue spoken, and therefore cryed: Woe is me, Isa. c. [...] because I haue held my peace: But I haue spoken in de­tracting, lying, callumniating, swearing, & the like, vvhē I should haue beene silent, and so I haue of­fended not onelie in omission, as he did, but also in commission, and so haue much more polluted my lippes. Send therefore, ô Lord, vnto me, as thou didst to thy Prophet Isaie (pardon me, sweet Lord, if I farr vnworthier then he, presume to begge the same fauour at thy handes vvhich he did, because it is not any myne owne merit, but thy onelie mercie vvhich thus imbol­deneth [Page 196] me) one of thy Seraphins, so called because, as he is inflamed with charitie, so he inflameth, that he with an hot cole taken from the Altar, may touch my mouth, Isa. c. 6 and purge my lippes from all filth of sinne:See S. Thom. Lyra. Hector Pintus and Sāctius on the sixt chap. of Isai [...]. that is, that he vvith the burning cole of charitie taken from the Altar of the crosse, or CHRIST his passion endured on the crosse (for that is the source of all grace and charitie) may purge my hart and lippes as gold in the fornace, from all drosse of sinne, that my hart may thinke nothing, my mouth and lippes may speake nothing, which is not pure, chast, and holie: For then my mouth vvill be apt to shew forth thy praise. Or else, send, ô Lord, one of thy Priestes who by office is a Seraphin, instituted and ordained to illumi­nate and inflame the heartes of the people by preaching and adminis­tration [Page 197] of the Sacramentes: And let him either by the burning cole of thy word (for thy word is fired ex­ceedinglie) or by that sacred & bur­ning cole of CHRISTS holie bodie in the Eucharist (burning conti­nuallie vvith the Diuinitie,Ps. 118. yet not consumed) taken from the holie Altar, vvhere it is offered daylie in the Church of God, may inflame my heart & purge, first it, and then my lippes, vvhich are the interpre­ters of the heart, from all filth of sinne. Or else, ô my svveet God, send vnto me one of thy Seraphins, one of thy Priests vvho ministe­riallie by meanes of the Sacramēts vvhich he ministreth, giueth the Holie Ghost, that he by the hot cole of this holie Spirit (proceeding as ardent loue from God the father and God the sonne, coequall and consubstantiall vnto them, & vvho [Page 198] in the day of Pentecoste descending fom heauen in the forme of fierie tongues, inflamed & purged th' A­postles and first Christians) may inflame & purge my heart & lippes from all filth of sinne, and so may make me fitt to shew forth thy praise, for vntill I be purged from sinne,Ps. 49. I am a sinner, & to the sinner thou sayst: why doest thou declare my iustices and takst my Testament by thy mouth? And Ecclesiasticus telleth me,Eccle­isastici 15. that praise is not comelie in the mouth of a sinner.

3. But open my mouth, ô Lord, stopped by sinne, and purge my lippes polluted by sinne, and then not onelie my mouth shall be the trumpet to sound forth thy prayses (vvhich thou ô penitent sinner must say after him) but my soule shall say to her selfe:Ps. 102. My soule blesse thou our Lord, and all the thinges that are within me; my vnderstan­ding, [Page 199] my vvill, my memorie, my heart and all that is in me shall blesse and prayse God; yea my body and all the senses and partes of it, as myne eyes, myne eares, & the rest of my senses, my heade, my hādes, my feete, in imploying thē ­selues in thy seruice, shall be so many trumpets to sound forth thy praise.

4. And not onelie vvith bodie and soule I vvill praise thee, but I vvill coniure all people and natiōs to ioyne vvith me in thy praise, for I vvill crye vnto them:Ps. 1 [...]6 Praise our Lord all the Gentiles, praise him all the peoples yea I vvill coniure all thy creatures asvvell reasonable as vn­reasonable; sensible as vnsensible to praise thee, and confesse thee to be their Creatour, and to say, as they doe say euerie day to those that haue intelligence, He made vs, Psa. 99. [Page 200] and not we our selues: I vvil vvith Si­drach, Dan. 3. Misach, & Abdenago call vpon all creatures, to praise thee & I will sing daylie their Canticle and Bene­dicite. All workes of our Lord blesse our Lord: ye Angels of our Lord praise and superexalt him for euer: ye Heauens blesse our Lord, praise and superexalt him for euer; All waters that are aboue the heauens, blesse ye our Lord, praise and superexalt him for euer; Sunne and Moone blesse ye our Lord, praise and su­perexalt him for euer. In the like manner I vvill inuite the starres & planets; the showers and dewes, the vvindes and tempests, fire, & heate, frost, and cold, yce and snovv, and the rest, vvhich are inuited to the praise of God in this Canticle; for that all those creatures, though many of them be deuoide of rea­son, many also of sense, doe praise God in exciting men by conside­ration [Page 201] and contemplation of these admirable vvorkes of God, to the praise of him.

5. For as vvhen vve see a pic­ture vvell dravvne, or a statue cun­ninglie carued, we by and by com­mend not onelie the picture & sta­tue, but also, and especiallie, the painter and Caruer; so vvhen vve looke vpon the Heauens and those euer shining lights (vvhich may be ouershadovved, but neuer are put out) and the goodlie order and dis­position of the Heauens, elemētes, and creatures in thē, vve praise not onelie them, but much more the Creatour. And in this fence the Heauēs (though they haue neither reason nor sence) are sayd to shew forth the glorie of God; Ps. 18. vvherefore hence forth with thy grace, ô Lord, all my actions shall be directed to thy honour & glorie, euerie mor­ning [Page 202] so soone as I rise or awake, both they and all I am & haue shall be offered & designed for thy ho­nour; and so by vvord and worke I will euer shew forth thy praise, and I vvill neuer cease frō singing praises vnto thee, till I come to sing San­ctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holie, Holie, Holie, vvith the quire of thy Hea­uenlie musicians, thy Saintes and Angels.

Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedis­sem vtique: Holocaustis non delectaberis.

Because if thou wouldest haue had sa­crifice, I had verilie giuen it: with holocaustes thou wilt not be pleased.

1. I Promised thee, ô Lord, (saith Dauid) that my mouth should shew [Page 203] forth thy praise, Ps. 4 [...]. because I take the sa­crifice of praise to be more pleasing vnto thee, otherwise if thou wouldst haue had sacrifice, to vvit the ma­teriall & corporall sacrifice of brute beastes, I would verilie haue giuen it. And thou knovvest, ô Lord, that in such sacrifices I haue not beene vvanting but I know they are not pleasing to thee; nay vvith Holo­caustes, (vvhich were the best kind of externall sacrifices, as being who­lie burnt and consumed to thy ho­nour) thou art not delighted, as they are taken in themselues vvithout the internall sacrifice of the minde. Salomon in the dedication of the Temple,3. Reg. 2. offered of oxen tvvo & tvventie thousand, & of sheepe an hun­dred tvventie thousand; and yet all these sacrifices taken nakedlie in thēselues, without the inward sacri­fices of the minde, were not plea­sing [Page 204] to God.Mich. 6. For as Micheas sayth Nunquid placaripotest Dominus in milli­bus arietum? can our Lord be pacified with thousāds of Rammes? Or as thou, ô Lord, thy selfe sayst, will I eate the flesh of oxē, Ps. 49. ibid. or will I drinke the blood of buckgoats? Immolate to God the sacri­fice of praise, and pay thy vovve to the highest.

2. And vvhat need, ô Lord, hast thou of these externall sacri­fices of brute beastes? All the vvilde beastes of the vvorld be thyne, the cat­tell in the mountaines & oxen, Ps. 49. the fovvles of the ayre, and the beautie of the field is vvith thee. And therefore, thou, ô Lord, exprobatest vnto mē, saying, that if thou beest hūgrie, that is if thou couldest be hungrie, I vvill not tell thee, I vvill not aske an almes or a peace of bread of thee,ibid. for the round earth is myne and the fulnes thereof. So that thou, ô Lord, standest not in [Page 205] neede of any thing vve can offer vnto thee: if we offer an Hecatōbe of oxen vnto thee, thou art neuer the richer, if vve offer thee nothing, thou art not a iott the poorer. Before thou createdst the vvorld, there vvas nothing but thy selfe, and yet thou wast then as rich as now; for euen then thou contai­nedst in thee most compendiouslie all thinges, which novv are in hea­uen and earth, or vvhich hereafter shall be, or which are possible to be; for thou, ô Lord, art the first and generall cause of all thinges, and so containest in thy selfe all thinges, euen as the cause containeth its ef­fectes before it causeth thē; And so all things are in thee, & in a more eminent manner in thee then in themselues, for in themselues some be liuing, some not liuing, but in thee all thinges are liuing, yea as [Page 206] S. Iohn saith,Ioan. 1. Vide Augu. Tract. 1. in Ioā. & l. 11. de ciui. Dei. c. 29. & S. Tho. 1. parte q. 4. a. 1. life it selfe. In thēselues some be corruptible, some incor­ruptible, in thee they are all incor­ruptible. In themselues some be great, some litle, in thee all great, yea infinit, as thou art, because in thee they are thy selfe. In thēselues some be perfect, some imperfect, in thee they are all perfect. In them­selues they are all created, in thee they are increated, in thēselues they are all diuerse & distinct one frō an other, in thee they are all one, be­cause they are all one vvith thee. In thēselues they are creatures, in thee they are the Creatour, yea in thee they are God, because vvhatsoeuer is in God is God. For as the sunne vvith other second causes is cause of all thinges in this sublunarie vvorld, and so all thinges are in the sunne as in their cause, vvithout diuision; and as the peece of worke, [Page 207] be it a statue or Image, is cast or dravvne in the Artificers mentall platforme, before it be fashioned in it selfe, and in the Artificers minde, idea, or cōceite, hath a more noble beeing then in it selfe, for in it selfe it is corporall, massie, & ma­teriall, in his idea, it is intellectuall & spirituall: So all creatures which are Gods vvorkes, are contained in God, and in his diuine essence, as in their first cause, and Idea, or mentall platforme, and in him they haue a more eminēt beeing, that is Diuine, vvithout all diuision and imperfection, as is alreadie sayd.

3. What then, ô Lord, can we contribute to thee by sacrifices of oxen, sheepe, and the like? If vve should offer vnto thee all the Angels of Heauen, all the Heauēs, starres, planets, all the fowre elements, to vvit, fire, ayre, vvater, and earth, [Page 208] and all the mettals of gold, siluer &c. vvithin the earth, all the trees, plantes and beasts vpon it, and all creatures liuing and not liuing in one sacrifice; thou shouldest be neuer the better or richer, because all these thinges are thine alreadie, by Title & right of creatiō, & thou didst possesse thē all in thy Diuine essence, and in a more noble māner then they are in themselues, from all eternitie. So that as vve can take nothing from thee, so vve can giue thee nothing. Thou mast saye. Quis dedit mihi ve reddam ei? Iob. 41. omnia quae sub Coelo sunt mea sunt. Who hath giuen me before, that I may render vnto him? all thinges that are vnder the Heauē, yea & in Heauen, are myne, And there­fore saith Dauid, if thou, ô Lord, wouldst haue had sacrifice (of bruit beastes) I vvould verilie haue giuen it, but euen vvith holocaustes, the principall sa­crifices, [Page 209] thou wilt not be delighted, be­cause by them thou art not the richer, they being already thyne by title of creation, and possessed by thee, in that thou art their prime & generall cause.

Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, & humiliatum Deus non despicies.

A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrit, and humbled heart, ô Lord, thou wilt not despise.

1. ALthough it be true that the externall sacrifice of oxen, sheepe, and the like, are not profi­table to God, as in the explication of the former verse is shewed, yet before the comming of CHRIST, and before they vvith the old lawe by CHRIST were abrogated, they [Page 210] vvere not absolutlie displeasing to God, they beeing commaunded by God, and the manner of offering them beeing by God prescribed in the booke of Leuiticus. Yea if they proceeded from the internall sacri­fice of faith, submission of the minde to God, and deuotion, they vvere holie actes of Religion, by which God was highlie honoured, pleased, yea and pacified towards sinners. Why then did Dauid say in the former verse that God vvould not haue sacrifice, and would not be delighted in holocaustes, the best kind of sacrifice? Why did Micheas ques­tion the matter saying.Mich. 6 Why? can our Lord be pacified with thousands of rammes? Why did God himselfe say, To what purpose doe you offer me the multitude of your victimes? Isa. 1. I am full. &c. And againe saith he: Offer sa­crifice no more in vaine; Incence is abo­mination [Page 211] to me.

2. To this answer may be made, first that some Iewes thought that the onelie externall sacrifice without the internall of the minde did please and pacifie God. And such sacrifice God reiecteth as not pleasing.Isa. 29. So God sayd this people ap­procheth with their mouth, and with their lippes glorifieth me, but their heart is farre frō me. Secondlie these sacri­fices, as they proceeded frō wicked persōs, or were procured by wicked mē, whose heartes were full of ma­lice, and whose handes were full of blood, and iniustice, were not plea­sing but displeasing to God, not for the sacrifices themselues, but for the sinnes of them that offered them.Isa. 1. And so God sayd that incense (though by him commaunded) was abomination to him. Thirdlie Scrip­ture diuers times when it seemeth [Page 212] to reiect externall sacrifice, reiec­teth them not absolutlie, because God did institute them, but com­paratiuelie, that is, in comparison of the in world sacrifice of the minde, which it preferreth. In this sense God saith by the Prophet Osee, Oseae. 6. I would mercie and not sacrifice: That is I preferre mercie and chari­tie towards your neighbour before sacrifice to me,Aug. lib. 10. de Ci­uit. Dei cap. 5. 1. Reg. 15. & so Augustin saith, Sacrificium sacrificio praefertur, one sa­crifice is preferred before an other. In the same sense Samuel saith to Saul, who had disobeyed God: and yet had offered an holocaust of the first of the preyes, which he had brought from Amalec: Why will our Lord haue holo­caustes and victimes, and not rather that the voice of our Lord be obeyed? for better is obedience then victimes, and to harken rather then to offer the fatt of rammes. So that the externall sacrifice taken nakedlie by it selfe, or as it procee­deth [Page 213] frō sinfull men is not pleasing to God. The inward sacrifice is pleasing to God by it selfe & with­out the externall sacrifice, but this, without that, is not pleasing.

3. The sacrifices then, vvhich especiallie please God, are the in­ward sacrifices of the minde, such a sacrifice is the praise of God vvhich is called the sacrifice of praise in diuers places of Scripture,Tob. 2. Psal. 4.49.115 vvhich Dauid in his 49. Psalme preferreth before the sacrifice of oxen, and other beastes; for hauing reiected those sacrifices he saith: Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise: By this sacrifice of praise, we humble our selues and make a kinde of sacrifice of our selues to God, in acknowledging our selues to be nothing, to haue nothing, which we haue not from him, and so taking away all matter & motiue of praise frō our selues, [Page 214] vve giue all thankes and praise to God onelie for all his benefites & graces, and vve say with Dauid, not to vs ô Lord, Psalm. 113. 1. Tim. 1. not to vs, but to thy name giue the glorie. And with S. Paul, To the King of the worldes, immortall, inui­sible onelie God, honour & glorie for euer and euer. of vvhich sacrifice S. Paul speaking saith,Heb. 13. by him therefore let vs offer this hoste of praise alwayes to God that is to say the fruite of lippes, confes­sing to his name:

4. Such a sacrifice is obediēce, by vvhich vve sacrifice not the bodies of brute beastes, but our ovvne willes, affections, and iudge­ments, which are the thinges most deare vnto vs.Gen. 22 Such a sacri­fice Abraham offered to God, when after God had commaunded him to immolate & sacrifice his onelie and dearely beloued Isaac, he tooke the vvood and layd it on Isaac his [Page 215] sonnes shoulders, to prefigurat thereby CHRIST IESVS, vvho car­ried the vvood of the crosse, on which he vvas sacrificed for our Redemption, and Abraham himselfe carried the fire vvith vvhich he thought to haue burned Isaac into an holocauste, he built an Altar, he bound Isaac, and layd him on the pile of wood, which was on the Altar, and taking his sword & stret­ching forth his hand, he vvas readie to kill his owne sonne Isaac. O obe­dience better then an holocauste or hecatōbe of all the oxen & sheepe in the vvorld. O noble sacrifice by which he sacrificed his paternall af­fection to so deare a sonne. But God almightie was so pleased with this inward sacrifice of his obediēce, by which he sacrificed his vvill, and all naturall affectiō towards his onely sonne, that he sent an Angell to cō ­maund [Page 216] him to hold his handes, saying, by this, ô Abrahā, I see thou fearest God, by this I haue tried thy loue & obediēce towards me, who wast readie to kill thy onelie & thy so deare sōne to obey me: Enough Abraham, enough, this internall sa­crifice so pleaseth me, that now I care not for the externall, hold thy hands,Oratio de diui­nitate Filij & Spiri­tus S. kill not thy sonne. S. Gregorie Nissen affirmeth of himselfe, that when on a time he sawe the picture of Abraham readie to sacrifice his owne sonne, he could not passe by the picture vvithout shedding teares, as indeed the picture & the example would mooue any tender or generous heart.

5. Such a sacrifice is Beneficence or Almesgiuing, which S. Paul bid­deth vs not to forget: Heb. 13. because with such hostes God is promerited: this sacrifice is on Almes which proceeding from [Page 217] the loue of God & cōpassiō towards our neighbour, is first offered to God, because it is giuen principallie for his sake, & then is giuen to our neighbour or the poore: and so is a sacrifice resembling those sacrifices of the old lawe, of which not onelie the Priest, but the people also, vvas partaker.

5. Such a sacrifice is prayer made to God with feruencie & deuotiō; the Priest who offereth this sacrifice is the deuout Christian, his Altar is his soule or heart, his sacrifice is his prayer, the fire which burneth this sacrifice is Charitie, out of vvhich prayer ascending mounteth vp to Heauen, yea penetrateth it as a sweet perfume, and sauoureth sweetlie to the diuine senses, and perfumeth all the court of Hea­uen, like a most sweete incense,Psalm. 140. according to that of Dauid: Let [Page 218] my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight: And as by sacrifice vve acknovvledge our ovvne basenes, and vilitie, God his souuerainitie & maiestie, our selues his creatures, him our Creatour and Lord of our liues, who could destroy and anni­hilat vs, as by sacrifice beastes were vvont to be killed and consumed, that vve hold out beeing of him as tēnants at vvill, & are of our selues nothing; so by the spirituall sacri­fices of prayer we acknowledge our selues beggers, God the rich King of Heauen and earth, our selues so poore, that vve haue nothing, and are nothing of our selues, him so rich, that he is the fountaine and source of all goodnes, perfection, yea and beeing; on vvhom vve depend more then the riuer of the fountaine, or the sunne beames of the sunne; and so by prayer vve saccrifice [Page 219] all vve haue, and are to God, acknovvledging that of our selues we haue nothing, are nothing, but haue all of God, and so doe liue pre­cario by begging, and at his vvill.

6. Such a sacrifice is a contrit heart, and this is the principall of all spirituall and invvard sacrifices, and is of all the most pleasing to God, because, as Dauid saith in this verse, a sacrifice to God (& that more pleasing then holocaustes in which he vvill not be delighted) is an af­flicted spirit, and a contrit and humbled heart, which God will not despise. The externall and corporall sacrifices taken alone are neither profitable to God, nor pleasing, as in the for­mer verse is declared; the inward sacrifices alone are not profitable to God, but yet they are pleasing to him. They are not profitable, for what is he the better for our praise? [Page 220] vvhat the vvorse for our dispraise? vvhat is he the better if vve honour him? vvhat the vvorse is vve disho­nour him? vvhat the better is he for our good workes, prayers and deuotion? vvhat the vvorse for all the sinnes vve committ? For as Eliphaz Themanites sayd to Iob. Iob. 22. What doth it profit God if thou be iust? or what doest thou aduantage him, if thy way be vnspotted? And as, Eliu sayd to the same Iob; Iob. 35. If thou sinne what shalt thou hurt him? & if thy iniquitie be multiplied, what shalt thou doe against him? More ouer if thou doe iustlie what shalt thou giue him, or what shall he re [...]eaue of thy hande? yet the spirituall and inward sacrifice is more pleasing to God then are externall sacrifices, yea in respect and comparisons of the in­ward sacrifice, God, as it were, dis­piseth the externall sacrifices, as we haue seene aboue.

[Page 221]7. And hence it is, that in the nevv lavv, vvhich is of Christ, all those externall sacrifices of the Jewes are abrogated vvith their lavv, & now there is no proper ex­ternall sacrifice, but the bloodie sa­crifice of christ offered on the crosse for our Redemption, and the vn­bloodie sacrifice of the same christ, which he offered at his last supper for applicatiō of that;Matth. 26. and vvhich is repeated daylie in the office of the church, and at the Altar, of vvhich also Malachie prophecied vvhen he saith that instead of the sacrifice of the Ievves a cleane oblation should be offered in all places: Malac. 1. vvhich prophecie can not be vnderstood of the sacri­fice of the Crosse, that beeing offe­red but once, and in one place; nor of anie externall sacrifice of the Iewes, such sacrifices beeing in that place of Malachie reiected, nor of [Page 222] improper sacrifices of prayer, good vvorkes, &c. they being many, this sacrifice mētioned by Malachie being one, and they being improper sa­crifices, this of which Malachie spea­keth, being proper, as vvhich is by him opposed to the Ievves proper sacrifices; but of the sacrifice vn­bloodie offered at the Altar, which is a cleane oblation, & vnbloodie, whe­ther we regard the externall signes, the accidentes of bread and wine, or that vvhich they cōtaine, which is the bodie & blood of Christ offe­red in them by the Priest in an vn­bloody manner, and vvhich by an­cient fathers & councelles is called a sacrifice, and euer in the church hath beene esteemed and offered on an Altar as a sacrifice.

8. Wherefore now we are not to sacrifice oxen and calues or lambes as the Iewes did; now we [Page 223] are sayde to immolat the calfe whē we sacrifice by austeritie our ovvne flesh; now we sacrifice the lambe when we suppresse our ovvne furie and anger, and shevv our selues meeke & gentle to those, who haue wronged or offended vs; novv vve sacrifice the goate vvhen vve re­presse lasciuiousnes; now the turtle vvhen vve keepe our chastite vn­defiled; novv the young pigeon vvhen vve liue in charitie vvith all. God novv vvill not haue vs sacri­fice brute beastes, but our brutish passions and sensualities, not other liuing creatures, but our selues; so that God novv taketh no pleasure in the externall and carnall Iewish sacrifice, but in the inward and spi­rituall sacrifices of Christians, and as I sayd in the externall sacrifice of his sonnes sacred bodie and blood on the Altar.

[Page 224]9. And amongest all the in­ward and spirituall sacrifices, the af­flicted spirit, a contrit & humbled heart, is that, which especiallie pleaseth God? When Dauid considered his sinnes against God, his heart vvas contrit, that is rent & broken with sorrowe, and vvhen he considered that his sinne vvas not onelie an offence of God, but also a miserie to himselfe, vvhich made him more odious to God & his Angells, then the vilest toade or serpent, then it humbled his heart, and at the same time made it, Cor contritum & humi­liatum, a contrit, or broken, and hum­bled heart: His heart vvas broken with sorrow, vvhen he considered how good a God, how clement a Prince, how tender a Father, hovv great a benefactour, hovv louing a friend, he had offended: it humbled his heart, vvhen by his sinne he ex­perienced [Page 225] his ovvne frayltie, & savv into vvhat danger of eternall dam­nation he was fallen; it brake his heart, whē he considered that sinne is the greatest disease that is, great­er then any ague, palsey, or leprosie, for that these are but diseases of the body, sinne of the soule: And it humiliated his heart to see himsel­fe become by sinne a Lazar and a foule leper; it brake his heart when he considered that sinne is the greatest wound that is, greater then a stabb through the bovvelles of the body, for that onelie woundeth & killeth the bodie, sinne stobbeth, vvoundeth, yea & killeth the soule, by depriuing it of the life of grace, & therefore the vviseman biddeth vs to flye from sinne as from the face of a serpent, Eccl. 21. because saith he, the teeth of a Lion are his teeth, killing the soules of mē: It humiliated him to see him­selfe [Page 224] [...] [Page 225] [...] [Page 226] thus vvounded, and by so base a thing as his sinne vvas, a filthie & brutish pleasure, and a traiterous murder; It brake his heart vvith sorrovv, vvhen he considered that sinne, especiallie if it be mortall, is a greater euill then Hell it selfe, for that hell is onelie malum paenae the euill of payne, sinne is malum culpae, the euill of fault & offence of God, vvhich is the greatest euill: Hell is but malum poenae an euill of paine, & it is an effect of God his iustice, in­flicted by God: sinne is no effect of God, nor creature of God, but onelie a bastardly Impe of the sinners peruerse vvill: It humiliated him vvhen he considered that he vvas oppressed vvith the greatest euill that is, & that God could not lay so great an euill on him, though he should heape vpon him all the paynes in Hell, as he layde on him­selfe [Page 227] by his sinne; It brake his heart to consider that he had sinned: it humbled his heart in that he vvas sure he had sinned and had wepte for his sinnes, and yet, vvithout re­uelation he could not tell whether his sinne was forgiuen or no,Eccl. 9. whe­ther he was worthie hatred or loue; and though it was reuealed to him that his sinne vvas forgiuen,2. Reg. 12. by Nathan the Prophet, yet it was sufficient matter of humilitie to haue sinned, and therefore S. Paule, though he vvas sure his sinne of persecuting the first Christians vvas forgiuen him,1. Tim. 1. and that he had obtayned the mercie of God, because he did it beeing ig­norant in incredulitie, yet because he had persecuted the church of God, he thought it a sufficiēt matter of hu­militie,1. Co. 15 and a motiue euer after to thinke himselfe an Abortiue and the least of the Apostles not worthy to be cal­led [Page 228] an Apostle, onelie because he had heretofore persecuted the church of God. And therefore Dauid not con­tent that the Prophet Nathan told him,2. Reg. 12. that God had taken away his sinne, weepeth still, bevvayleth and lamē ­teth that he did sinne, & breaketh his heart with sorrovv & humbleth it, knowing that a contrite and hum­bled heart, God vvill not despise.

10. O Dauid, vvho art thou, vvho thus filleth the aire with cryes throbbes, sobbes and lamētations? vvho art thou, vvho fetchest from thy heart so deepe and so dolefull sighes, vvherevvith thy heart is broken, rent, and humbled? I am a cri­minall, saith he, and a guiltie per­son condemned by God, and by his Prophet Nathan, yea and by myne owne conscience (vvhich, forceth me to crye peccaui) of no lesse sinnes then murder and adulterie: vvhat [Page 229] meruaile then if my heart breake vvith sorrovv, my mouth sound it out in cryes, and my eyes vvitnesse it vvith flouddes of teares? O Da­uid vvho art thou, vvho novv art so humble euen in heart? vvast not thou elected by God, and anointed by Samuel the Prophet King of the Ievves? vvas it not thou,2. Reg. 10. vvho kil­ledst a lion and a beare,1. Reg. 17. foyledst at thy feete the great Giant Golias, vvho braued the hostes of God, & made them all to quake? Art not thou he of vvhom the yonge maydes & virgins sange,1. Reg. 18. Saul stroke a thousand, and Dauid ten thousand? It is true, I am he that did all this, but I, vvho killed the lion,1. Reg. 17. the beare and the Giant Golias, am now slaine by an homebred, yet more cruell beast concupiscence, vvhich pre­tending to doe me a pleasure, hath giuen me my deadlie vvound, and [Page 230] like a trayterous Ioab seeming to offer me a kisse,2. Reg. 20. 1. Reg. 18. Psa. 88 gaue me the stabb. O Dauid, art not thou he, to whom God promised the Kingdome of Israel to continue in thy race for euer, of vvhich race the Messias was to descende? vvhy then art thou so deiected, and humbled in heart? I am he, but I am now a greeuous sinner, and those great titles, preroga­tiues, and priuileges vvherevvith God heretofore honoured me, doe now but aggrauat my sinnes, and therefore not vvithstanding the aforesaid titles, I am afflicted in spirit my heart is contrite, broken vvith sorrovv and humbled.

11. And yet, ô Lord, saith he, I vvill not dispaire, knowing thee to be mercifull and mercie it selfe.Psa. 21. Ps. 70 ibid. Thou art my hope from the breastes of my mother; thou art my hope from my youth. In thee, Lord, I haue hoped, let [Page 231] me not be confounded for euer: Ps. 131. Remember Dauid, ô Lord, and all his meeknes. Re­member vvhat I vvas, heretofore,Act. 13. a man according to thy heart; consider not vvhat I am, but pardon vvhat I am, & restore me to what I was, to my former vertue, grace, and fa­uout; and for my sinnes past, I vvill offer thee a sacrifice, not of oxen or sheepe, but of my selfe, of an affli­cted spirit, of a cōtrite, & humbled heart, vvhich is more agreable to thee thē hecatombes of brute beastes: I, ô Lord, vvill be my selfe the Priest, my Altar shall be my soule, my sa­crifice my heart, vvhich by contri­tion I shall breake, and bruse; by charitie I vvill burne vnto thy ho­nour, as a most gratefull holo­causte, knowing that a contrite heart and humbled thou wilt not despise.

13. O the noble sacrifice of a contrite heart! This sacrifice in all [Page 232] lavves be it the lavv of Nature be­fore Moyses, or the lavv vvritten be­fore CHRIST, or the nevv law since the comming of Christ, is auay­lable, alwayes gratefull, neuer a­brogated, as the old sacrifices are: I neede not seeke farre countries for it, it is vvithin me, I neede not lay out mony to buy it, it is myne; CHRIST IESVS by his passion bought it, and gaue it to me, if I vvill, I neede not begge it of any but CHRIST IESVS, it is in my povver with his grace, it is a sacri­fice, which euerie one may offer, as­well the poore, as the rich, aswell the subiect, as the King, aswell the seruant, as the Master, it maybe of­fred asvvell in the night as the daye, aswell in the field as the Church: no time, no place, no per­son, no hovver, no moment vnfit for this sacrifice.

[Page 233]14. I, ô Lod, remembring with Dauid my many & greeuous sinnes am desirous with him to offer a sa­crifice to appease thy anger cōcea­ued against me for them: and be­cause the sacrifices of brute beastes, which were offered in the old lavv, are not now pleasing vnto thee, nor neuer vvere for themselues, vnlesse they proceeded frō the invvard sa­crifice of the heart, I offer vnto thee the invvard sacrifice, vvhich Dauid offered thee, to wit a contrite and humbled heart, beaten to povvder with contrition, burned to ashes by loue of thee and charitie: The zealous Moyses vvhen he saw that the Iewes had adored the golden calfe instead of God,Exod. 32. vvas transpor­ted with such an holie rage & furie, that in this zeale he slew the Idola­ters, and caused the golden calfe their Idoll to be beaten to powder, [Page 234] and mingling the powder with wa­ter, caused the children of Israel to drinke it. If Moyses was so angrie vvith that Idole, which committed no Idolatrie, but vvas onely the obiect of the Iewes Idolatrie, to vvhich also it could not consent, How should I detest my heart, in what a rage should I be against it? vvhy should I not beat it to povvder, by contritiō, it hauing committed a kinde of Idolatrie, so often as it sinned mortallie, in preferring the creature before the Creatour & his cōmaundements? and why should not I mingle this powder with the teares of contrition, and drinke, daylie this potion, and make it my meate and drinke,Psa. 41. as he did, vvho sayd: Fuerunt mihi lachrymae meae panes die ac nocte. My teares haue beene breads vnto me day and night?

15. O sweet Iesus, our true [Page 235] Moyses the veritie of the Ievves Moyses, a tipe & figure of thee, who gauest vs the law writtē in heartes, not in tables, as he did, vvho deli­ueredst vs not from a temporall captiuitie of Pharao, as he did,Exod. 17. but from an eternall thraldome of the Deuill; strike vvith the rodd of thy crosse, and consideration of thy passion, suffred for our sinnes on it, the rocke of my stonie heart, that the teares of contrition, may gushe forth and flow from it by my eyes, as they did frō Dauids, S. Peters, & S. Marie Magdalenes eyes. O sweet Iesus resolue by the blood of thy passion my hard heart into the riuers of teares, in vvhich Da­uid, Manasses S. Peter S. Marie Mag­dalene vvashed their soules frō the filth of sinne. In this Iordā of teares vvash me, ô Lord,4. Reg. 5. Luc. 4. from my lepro­sie of sinne vvith Naaman Syrus: In [Page 236] this poole of Siloe vvash myne eyes vvith the blind-borne:Ioan. 9 Ioan. 5. In this Pro­batica heale me, and cure me of all my infirmities.Ioan. 4. Wash me in this fountaine of liuing water which springeth vp to life euerlasting. In this second baptisme called Baptismus flaminis, regenerat me a new creature.2. Par. 33. Ionae. 3. 4. Reg. 20. 1. Reg. 2 Psa. 50. Luc. 7. Math. 26. These teares restored Manasses to his king­dome, deliuerd Niniue from destruc­tion, prolonged Ezechias life fifteen yeares, procured to Anna a Samuel, to Dauid, S. Peter, S. Marie Magdalene, and thousand other sinners, remis­sion of their sinnes; And if in Noë his tyme, the vvorld had beene vvashed in this water, it had neuer beene drovvned in the Deluge. In this vvater the ship of my soule shall sayle to the hauen of heauen securely, because in this sea of teares there is no storme to shake it, no surging vvaues to tosse it, no rock [Page 237] to shiuer it in peeces, or on which it running it selfe, may suffer ship­vvrack, nor Pirates to bord it and spoile it. And to this port & hauen of Heauen, & eternall blisse & fe­licitie, bring me, ô Lord, through the vvaters of contrition, and if it shall so please thee, through the vvaters also of tribulation, and aduersitie vvhatsouer.

Benignè fac Domine in bona voluntate tua Sion, vt aedificentur muri Hierusalem.

Deale fauourablie, ô Lord, in thy good will with Sion, that the walles of Hierusalem may be built vp.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae, obla­tiones & holocausta, tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

Then shalt thou accept sacrifice of iustice, oblations and holocaustes: then shall they lay calues vpon thyne Altars.

These tvvo verses are ex­plicated to ge­ther by reason of their conne­xion, the se­cond yeel­ding a reason of the first.1. THe first thing that a sinner must aske of God Almightie, is pardon for his sinnes committed, and by it, God his grace & fauour; for till that be obtained, the sinner is an enemie to God, and odious to his sight, & so not like to be heard; but pardon for his sinnes, and con­sequentlie grace and fauour beeing [Page 239] once purchased, then he may be bold to be a suter and a begger for other benefites. Dauid, as we haue seene in the former verses of this Psalme, hath oftē prayed for mercie & forgiuenes for his sinnes, & now hoping (yea knowing by reuelatiō from the Prophet Nathan) that by his pennance remissiō of his sinnes is obtayned, and he now in grace and fauour, he taketh the heart to pray to God for other benefits; and because the common good is to be preferred before ones priuate com­moditie, he asketh God, neither health, nor wealth, nor lōg life, nor any such priuat benefite, but being zealous of the common good, and especially of the publique worship and honour of God, which brin­geth with it many blessings to a countrie, he desireth God, to deale fauorablie with Sion that the walles of [Page 240] Hierusalem may be built vp.

2. He alwayes shewed a great zeale for Hierusalem, because it vvas the Metropolitan and head Citie, as also because there God was religiouslie serued, and vvas afterwards, whē the Temple should be built, much more to be honou­red by the many sacrifices which there were to be offered; and espe­ciallie because the Messias, CHRIST IESVS, was to teach, preach and worke miracles in that Citie and Temple, and was to sanctifie and honour both, by his sacred pre­sence; all vvhich he forsaw in spirit by faith and the guift of Prophe­cie.

Psalm. 136.3. And therefore saith he, If I shall forgeth thee, ô Hierusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, let my tōgue cleaue to my iawes, if I doe not remember thee, if I shall not set Hierusalsm in the [Page 241] beginning of my ioye: The like or greater zeale shevved tovvards the Arke and temple, though this as then vvas not bult: Behold, 1. Par. 17. saith he I dwell in an house of Cedar, and the arke of the couenant of our Lord is vn­der skinnes: that is vnder a tabernacle or pauillon. And againe: If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house, If I shall ascend into the bed of my couch, Psal. 131. If I shall giue sleepe to myne eyes, and slum­bring to myne eye liddes, & rest to my tē ­ples, vntill I find a place for our Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Iacob. O the zeale of Dauid. He would not, he could not sleepe nor rest, till an house and temple for God vvas built, & he had rather to haue lyen out of the doores, then that God should want his temple, and house of prayer and sacrifice wherein to dwell, & therefore he would haue built the temple in his owne dayes [Page 242] if that God had not tould him by Nathan the Prophet that not he,2. Reg. 7. but his sonne Salomon should build it:

4. But although he built not the Temple, yet such vvas his zeale, that he prouided the materialles, and almost all that vvas necessarie for the building of it, and besides, stones, tymber, brasse, iron, & such like,2. Pa­ral. 29. he gaue three thousand talentes of Gold of Ophir, and seuen thousand ta­lentes of Siluer, tovvards the building of it; and besides all this he gaue vnto Salomon a description of the temple, and tould him the order of the Musicians and Leuites vvhich were to sing and serue in the tēple, and he composed the psalmes and sonnettes, and prouided the musi­call instrumentēs which were to be vsed in it, as aboue vve haue seene, and so it maybe called in a manner asvvell Dauids, as Salomons temple.

[Page 243]5. He desireth then that Hieru­salem may be builded, that is accō ­plished, for although he speaketh onelie of the walles of Hierusalem, yet he taketh the parte for the whole, and by the vvalles of Hieru­salem he vnderstandeth Hierusalem: And although the citie of Hierusa­lem, for the greatest part, vvas then built, yet he desireth that it may be augmented, and perfected, espe­ciallie vvith the addition of the Temple, the greatest strength and ornament of the Citie, beeing the house of God, in vvhich he dwel­ling, the Citie could not be vvith­out defence or guard.

6. And although he knevv by reuelation frō God that this temple would infalliblie be builded by Sa­lomon, yet partlie to shevv his zeale and desire, partlie because he fore­savve that this temple vvas to be [Page 244] one of the cheefe wonders and mi­racles of the vvorld, and therefore could not be brought to passe without God his cooperation, nor succeede prosperouslie vnlesse God, as it vvere, did lay the first stone, & second this statelie building and Master-peece of masonrie, he prayeth to God for the building & hastening of it:

7. And why, ô Royall Prophet, doest thou so earnestlie desire that Hierusalem should be built? That it may be an honour to thee and thy sonne Salomon the principall Au­thours of it? or that it may be a perpetuall monument of thy riches or magnificence? or that it may be an ornament to the Citie, and a vvonder to the vvorld? No, no, thy thoughts vvere leuelled to an higher marke. Thou desiredst, that God thereby might be glorified, [Page 245] that his name might thereby be honoured & praysed, for thou fore­savvest by the guift of Prophecie, & the light of faith, that the holie Arke vvith great pompe and solē ­nitie, & to the great glorie of God, should be transported and transla­ted in to the temple. Thou knewest that in that temple God should be highlie praysed, by Hymnes, Psalmes, Canticles, and all manner of musicall instrumētes: Thou didst foresee the great & goodlie sacrifi­ces, vvhich by liuelie faith & deuo­tiō of the Priestes, should be offered to God his honour: thou didst fore­see that after this temple should be sacked by Nabuchodonosor, & raised, and reared vp again,Nehē. 3. Agg. 2. as it vvas in the time of Nehemias, and after by Herode, the Messias should honour it by his sacred presence, preaching, teaching, and miracles: Whereby [Page 246] as Aggeus prophecied,Agg. 2. Great should be the glorie of this last house, more then of the first. This vvas that at vvhich Dauid did ayme, this vvas the butt of his desire, to vvit, God his ho­nour and glorie, not any his ovvne interest, as appeareth by these his wordes which begin the next verse, Tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae, &c. Thou shalt then accept sacrifice of iustice, oblations and Holocaustes, then shall they lay calues vpon thine Altar: For al­though the sacrifices of the old law did not iustifie of themselues, yet when they proceeded from a liuelie faith, they did iustifie, as other good vvorkes doe, and so might be called in this sence sacrifices of iustice.

7. By this, ô my soule, thou maist learne a godlie lesson, that is, to be zealous vvith Dauid for God his glorie, & to prefer that before all priuate interestes, to spare no cost [Page 247] nor labour, that God may be ho­noured; And if thou haue not the meanes, to build a spirituall temple to his honour, that is either to con­uert a soule, or thy countrie to true faith and holie life, by teaching, preaching, or vvriting of bookes: then to set others on, that can, to encourage them, to ayde and assist them by thy meanes, as Dauid en­couraged and assisted Salomon to build that materiall temple; for so though thou thy selfe doe not build this temple, yet thou shalt vvith Dauid prepare the materialles and giue the meanes, as he did to Salomon his sonne, and so shalt be partaker vvith them, vvho conuert soules, and so build to God a spiri­tuall temple in vvhich he may be honoured vvith the spirituall sacri­fices of thankesgiuing, prayer, praises of his name & the like. Eng­land [Page 248] is English mens Hierusalem, vvhich they must neuer forget in their prayers,Psalm. 136. but they must say as Dauid did, If I forget thee, o Hierusalem, ô England, let my right hand be for­gotten. And the true church of Eng­land, heretofore great and glo­rious, novv litle and obscure in the eyes of men, by reason of the change of state and former perse­cution, must be their temple, to the restoring where of, some must coo­perat by preaching, teaching, wri­ting and good examples, others by encouraging their preachers and teachers, and by ministring meanes vnto them; and both must, vvith Dauid, prefer this common good, & flourishing estate of the Church and Countrie of England, before all priuate respectes, and commo­dities.

8. But Dauid, no doubt in an [Page 249] Allegoricall sense had a farther ayme, to vvit, at the Church and temple of CHRIST, the second Salo­mon, and the veritie of that figura­tiue temple; for Dauid hauing a more explicite faith then the ordi­narie Iewes had, beleeued explicite­lie that the Messias CHRIST IE­SVS, God and man, was to come to saue mankind, & to that end was to build a farre more Auguste tēple then he & his sonne Salomon could build, & out of this zeale he praieth to God to build the walles of this Hie­rusalem and to plant this temple of his church, knovving that this Hie­rusalem and temple farre excelleth that.

9. The founder and Authour of the first temple vvas the first Sa­lomon; the founder and architect of the tēple of the Church was Christ Iesus who feared not to say of him­selfe, [Page 250] behold more then Salomon here, Luc. 11. because he knevv himselfe not onelie to be wise, but also wisdome it selfe; that temple vvas confined in Hierusalem; this is greater then Hierusalem and all Ievvrie, yea hath no other limites then the limites of the vvorld; that temple and Syn­agogue comprehended onely the Ievves, the issue of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and therefore God vvas onelie knowne in Iewrie, Psal. 75 and in Israel his name was great; this tēple of Christs Church containeth Iew and Gen­tile, and all the vvorld, and there­fore few were saued by that temple, thousands and milliōs by this; that temple vvas built of materiall and inanimate stones, this of liuing stones,1. Pet. 2 according to that of S. Peter: be ye also your selues, superedifyed as it were liuing stones. That temple vvas not built by Dauid the vvarriour, [Page 251] but by peaceable Salomon, this not by Alexander the great or Iulius Ce­sar, nor any such warlike prince, but by the peaceable Messias Christ Ie­sus, the Prince of peace; Isa: 9. 3. Reg. 5. there vvere manie workmen vvho trauailed in the building of Salomons Temple, seuentie thousand vvho carried bur­dens: 3. Reg. eightie thousand hewers of stone in the mountaine: besides the ouerseers which were ouer euerie worke, in number three thousand three hundred: The vvorkemen vvhich concurre to the building of Christ his Church are some Apostles, and some Prophetes, and other-some Euangelistes and other-some Pastours and Doctours, and those,Ephes. 4 millions in number, by preaching and ministring sacramentes shall vvorke in the temple to the vvorlds end, to the consommation of the Sainctes, vnto the worke of the ministerie, vnto the edi­fying of the body (Mysticall) of christ, [Page 252] vvhich is his Church: There vvas heard no noyse of hammer or ha­chet and tooles of iron,3. Reg. 6. vvhen that tēple vvas built, because the stones vvere hevved before they vvere brought to the building And in the foundation and building of the Church, there vvas no noyse of armes, or engins or instrumentes of vvarre, by vvhich the Empires of the Chaldeās, Medes, Persians and Romās vvere built, onely the prea­ching of a fevv vnarmed fishermen vvas heard, and by vertue of that, this goodlie temple vvas raised and dailie augmented, notvvitstanding that Ievves and Gentiles, Phyloso­phers, Tyrants and all the vvorld stood in armes against the builders, & did all they could to hinder the building:3. Reg. 6 That temple vvas vested vvith gold, this with a more pre­cious gold, charitie; In that vvas a [Page 253] great lauer, in this Baptisme,2. Par. 3. &. 4 which washeth the soule; In that vvas the Altar of holocaustes & of incense, in this, as S. Paul saith,Heb. 13. we haue an Altar whereof they can not eate, which serue the tabernacle; In that temple, vvere places separate,2. Par. 3 one called Ho­lie an other Holie of Holies, others called courtes: In this there are diuers orders, and degrees of Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, inferiour Pa­stours, & many Religious orders;2. Par. 4. In that were tenne goldē cādlestsicks, on vvhich vvere lightes to illumi­nate the Temple; In this are the A­postles and their successours, vvho are called the light of the world, Mat. 5 [...] and they are candlesticks also, vvhich shew the light of the faith to o­thers: In that vvas a cloud called the glorie of God,2. Par. 7. because it vvas a signe and figure of his Diuinitie; In this the sonne of God, Christ [Page 254] Iesus, God and man, was offered once bloodilie on the Crosse, and euerie day vnbloodilie on the Altar,Opta­tus Mi­leuita­nus l. 6. contra Dona­tistas. Agg. 2. which Optatus calleth Sedem corporis Domini, the seate of the bodie of our Lord; by vvhich it is manifest, that, as Aggeus long since prophecied, Great is the glorie of this last howse temple, and Church of Christ) more then of the first.

10. Dauid therefore, fore-seeing by faith the glorie of this temple, Hierusalem, and Church of Christ, desireth almightie God that it may be built, And why Dauid? ô saith he, then and not before, thou shalt accept the sacrifice of iustice; And what is that? the sacrifice of the Crosse, to wit, of Christ Iesus offered by death on the crosse. This sacrifice is the fountaine of all grace receiued euer since Adams fall; this sacrifice appeaseth God his wrath and satis­fieth [Page 255] his iustice, in paying the great price of our Redemption; by this sacrifice God vvas more honou­red then by all the sacrifices that euer before were offered; by this sa­crifice vve were reconciled to God, and his Angels; By this, sinne vvas cancelled, the Deuill vanquished, Hell, that is limhus Patrum, was ran­sacked, and all those prisonners en­ioyed a iayle deliuerie; death vvas despoiled of his sting, yea vvas put to death; finallie by which onelie hoste, once onelie offered, our redemp­tion was consummated,Hebr. 9 & 10. for as S. Paul saith, by one oblation hath he con­summated for euer them that are sancti­fyed.

11. And peraduenture Dauid beeing a Prophet and hauing a more explicite faith then the other Ievves had,Matth. 26. alludeth also to the sa­crifice, which Christ instituted and [Page 256] offered at his last supper; & which is repeated by the Priest daylie in the Church; And this in respect, of the thing offered, which is Christ, differeth not from the sacrifice of the crosse, because in both sacrifices the same Christ, & the same bodie and blood of his, is offered; though in other respectes they differ, be­cause that of the crosse was a bloo­die sacrifice, this vnbloodie, that was offered in it's owne forme, this in the likenes of bread & wine; that was a reall mactation and killing of Christ, this mysticall onelie, that was our Redemption, this an ap­plication onelie of it; that was an vniuersall cause of all grace and re­missiō of sinnes, this is a particular cause (as Baptisme is) vvhich de­termineth the vniuersall cause to determinate effectes; that impe­trated grace by its ovvne vertue, [Page 259] this by vertue from that; that, be­cause it vvas a bloodie sacrifice, and contained the full price of our Re­demption, vvas offered but once, because a bloodie sacrifice is but once killed, a ransome or Redemp­tion, is but once payed; this, be­cause it is a mysticall mactation, and an application onelie of that price of our Redemption, is often­times offered; That vvas offered immediatlie by Christ, this novv immediatlie by his Priest at the holy Altar.

12. This veritie of the vn­bloodie sacrifice, Catholique vvriters doe prooue by all those kind of arguments (as I my selfe haue in some bookes of myne) by vvhich the greatest mysteries and articles of our faith are prooued, as by Scriptures, Councels, fathers, and practice of the Church; but be­cause [Page 260] I intend in this my Paraphrase to abstaine from controuersies, and onelie to stirre vp sinners to repentance, I vvill omit all such ar­gumentes, and vvill returne to our penitent king and Prophet. And vvhy Dauid doest thou so much de­sire that the vvalles of this Hierusa­lem, and the temple of the Church of Christ should be built? out of my zeale, saith he, of God his greater glorie, and saluation of others, for then, saith he, shalt thou accept sacri­fice of iustice, then, and not before shalt thou accept the bloodie and vn­bloodie sacrifices of the sonne of God the true sacrifices of iustice, because the bloodie sacrifice satis­fied thy iustice in paying the price of our redēption, & the vnbloodie applieth the price: & then by these sacrifices thou shalt be infinitlie more honoured then by all the sa­crifices [Page 261] of the old lawe; then thou­sands more both of Ievves and Gē ­tils shall be saued, then vvere in the old lavv; then shall be layd on thy Altar not calues, and oxen, but the sacrifices of thy sacred bodie and blood, the verities of those figures.

13. In a tropicall or morall sēse, Hierusalem & the temple doe signifie the soule of man, and in this sence, Dauid desireth that the walles of his Hierusalem, the forces of his soule, lost by sinne, may by grace be re­paired. Desire thou also, ô penitent sinner, vvith this penitent king and Prophet, that the forces of thy ruinous Hierusalem, of thy soule, cast downe by sinne, may be repayred, that faith the foundatiō of this spi­rituall temple may be renewed, if it be lost, or strengthned, if it be not lost; that the walles of thy hopes by which this Hierusalem and tēple [Page 262] riseth and is raised, may be erected & fortified, that Charitie the toppe and roofe, may couer it, that this temple may be cleansed from all sinne, and that by all Christian ver­tues it may be adorned & by God his grace and guiftes of the holie Ghost, embellished; and that in it daylie spirituall sacrifices of prayer, praise, thankesgiuing of a contrite heart, & of all good workes may be offered to God his honour & glorie.

14. Lastlie, in the Anagogicall sense, Dauid desireth that the walles of the celestiall Hierusalem may be built, that is, that the Heauēlie Hie­rusalē ruined in part by the falle of Lucifer and his rebellious followers, may be repayred, and their seates filled. For he knew by faith that there vvas a Hierusalem in Heauen farre more glorious then that in earth,Apoc. 21. and vvhich by S Iohn his [Page 263] description is built of no vvorse materialls then pearles, gold, and pretious stones, thereby signifying the splendour, riches, and maiestie of it. S. Paul calleth it a mount Sion, Heb. 12. & the Citie of the liuing God, Heauenlie Hierusalem, and the assemblie of many thousand Angels, the Church of the first borne, vvhich are vvritten in the Heauēs. This is the true Hierusalem, that is, the true vision of peace, vvhere all seeing God face to face, doe all pea­ceablie aggre, in louing, praising, honouring, and seruing him.

15. In this Hierusalem euerie Saint and Angell is a liuing stone, which cōposeth & buildeth vp this Citie, euerie Saint and Angell is a courtier of this Court, euerie Saint and Angell is a miniō, and fa­uorit of the Heauenlie king, euerie Saint and Angell is a Quirester of God his Chappell, euerie Saint [Page 264] & Angell is a king of a kingdome of no lesse extent, then the King­dome of Heauen.

16. In this Heauenlie Hierusa­lem there is peace vvithout vvarre, securitie vvithout feare, contente­ment vvithout disgust, satietie without glutting, ioy vvithout sor­row, rest with without labour, light vvithout darkenes, morning with­out euening, day vvithout night, spring without the falle of the leafe, summer vvithout vvinter, youth vvithout old age, health vvithout sicknes, life without death, hap­pines vvithout miserie, and one happier then an other vvithout all enuie, because euery one reioyceth in an others happines, as if it vvere his ovvne, no sinne against God, all iointlie louing him, no falling out vvith one an other, because all in God doe loue one another, and [Page 265] no end of this felicitie, but a perse­uerance in all this, for all eternitie. O vvorld, hovv vile seemest thou, vvhen I contemplate this Heauen? All thy pleasures, honours, & riches, are but sweepings of this house, lees of this wine, dregges of this drinke, drosse of this gold, chaffe of this corne, fragments, crustes and crūmes of this bāquet; all the world is but a poore cottage in respect of this Pallace, a village in respect of this kingdome, a litle hillock in re­spect of this high and holy moun­taine, a point in respect of this cir­cumference. O how great is the house of God, Baruc. 3. and hovv great is the place of his possession? ô Hovv beloued are thy taber­nacles, ô Lord, of hostes? my soule coue­teth & fainteth vnto the courtes of our Lord: Psal. 83 Blessed are they that dvvell in thy house, ô Lord, for euer and euer they shall praise thee: If I shall forget thee ô [Page 266] (Heauenlie Hierusalem, Ps. 136.) let my right hand be forgotten; let my tongue cleaue to my iavves, if I doe not remember thee: the cogitation of thee shall make me endure with all alacritie, all af­flictiō, the cogitation of thee shall make me contemne all that the world can promise or threaten.

17. O Lord, saith Dauid, deale fauorablie in thy good vvill vvith Sion that the vvalles of Hierusalem (of this Heauenlie Hierusalem) may be built vp, that sinners may with me be daylie conuerted, & made fit to be of the liuing & precious stones, of which that Cit [...]e is built, that the emptie roomes in Heauen, made vacāt by the falle of Lucifer and his adherentes, may be filled by holie soules, daylie thether ascēding, that the number of the elect and predes­tinate may be accomplished, and that the Church militant may be [Page 267] assumed to that Church trium­phant, and consequently that then there may be no more any Church militant, but of both may be made one Church triumphant, where the blessed may for all eternitie offer spirituall sacrifices vnto thee, of thēselues & all their actions; where they may render vnto thee, not the materiall calues which the Iewes layed vpon thyne Altar, but the spiri­tuall calues of the lippes, Osee. 4. Heb. 13. as Osee the Prophet stileth them, or the fruite of the lippes, as S. Paul termeth them, that is praise, and thankesgiuing, for euer and euer.

18. And, ô my soule, pray thou also that this Heauenlie Hierusalem may be built vp, that thou maist be one of the stones of vvhich it is to be built, though thou be the least stone in the building, yea though thou shouldst suffer much knoc­king [Page 268] and hammering of aduer­sities, before thou canst be ma­de a fit stone to be placed in that building. Nothing attaineth to perfection but by suffering. The gold cā not be pure vnlesse it passe the fire, nor can it prooue a golden goblet, fit for a Princes cupboord, before it suffer the knockes of the gold smiths hammer; The corne is not purged from the chaffe but by threshing, & it can not make bread till it be grinded; The grapes are pressed before they prooue good vvine, frankencense perfumeth not till it be burned, nor doe spices smell till they be bruised in the morter: The stones of the materiall Hieru­salem & tēple, could haue no place in those sumptuous buildings, till they were hewed, knocked, smoothed, and carued; and shall any christian thinke euer to be placed in the ce­lestiall [Page 269] Hierusalē vvithout suffering, hāmering, & knockes of aduersitie? Our blessed Sauiour the corner-stone, yea the foūdatiō both of the Hierusalem militant and triumphāt, his virgin-mother vvho vvas the next precious stone of that Citie, the Apostles vvhich vvere next to her, and all the martyrs and Saints, vvhat knockes of tormentes, yea and deathes did they suffer, before they found place in this Celestiall Hierusalem?

Tunsionibus, pressuris,
Expoliti lapides,
Suis coaptantur locis
Per manus artificis
Disponuntur permansuri
Sacris aedificijs.
Those stones the workemen presse and beate
Before they throughlie polisht are;
Then each is in his proper seate
Establisht by the builders care;
In this fayre frame to stand for euer,
So ioynd, that them, no force can scuer.

19. O Sweet IESVS the Prince, [Page 270] cheefe builder, and Architect of this Heauenlie Hierusalem, graunt me a place in that glorious buil­ding, and if by reason of my many sinnes, I be so vnapt for that place and building, that I neede much hammering, and knocking, spare me not, but hammer me, and breake me here, so I may be one of those liuing pretious and glorious stones, of vvhich that Hierusalem is composed, spare me not here, so thou place me there Hic vre, hic seca, vt in aeternum parcas; here burne me, here cutt and launce me, that thou maist spare me for euer. Amen.

FINIS.

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this EEBO-TCP Phase II text, in whole or in part.