Prosopopeia CONTAINING THE TEARS OF THE holy, blessed, and sanctified Marie, the Mother of God.  Luke 2. 
And moreover, the sword shall pierce thy soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be opened.  
LONDON, Printed for E. White. 1596.   

TO THE RIGHT NOBLE, THE MOTHER COUNTESS, COUNTESS of Derby, and the virtuous and devout Countess of Cumberland, Charity in life, and eternity after death.  
Right noble Madams (and more noble in that devout) I have made you patronesses of a just cause, the tears of a matchless mother, shed for a Saviour & a son: If to begin your new year you shall but peruse these in devotion, I doubt 〈◊〉 but they will prove holy motives of meditation: in shedding one tear with Marie, you shall confess with Barnard, that you purchase much interest in jesus. I join you in this greatest of your honours, not for your birth's sake, (for we may disparaged ourselves) neither your wealth sake, (for riches are as the dew in April) but for your virtue sake (which retaineth this quality of the Sun, communicating his beams to all things, enriching every one without impoverishing himself.) Good Madams, accept these tears in their nature, and hold it better to weep many times with jesus and Marie, than to laugh with Belial and the world for the world hath deceived you long, but piety will eternize you for ever. If you shall but grace what I give, my desires are satisfied: if give what you own, you shall grieve when you read, if as you read you consider, you have the end of true consideration. For to lament sin, is to redeem sin.  
Noble Ladies, use not these gifts as the Roman Matrons their puppies, spit not in their mouths to make them wait at your heels: neither cocker them at your breasts, lest Caesar hold you more careful of your whelps than your sons: but use them as the goldsmith his metal, try them at the test of your contemplation, and so prize them. God work that in your hearts, that my devotion intendeth to your souls, and bless you in giving me grace to serve him.  
Your honours most bounden, T. L.   

To the Readers.  
IT was a custom amongst the Cretans, (gentle readers) when they intended to use their most bitter and vehementest execratitio, to desire that those whom they hated, should fix their whole delights and like on an inveterate and evil custom. This Cretan course, I fear me, is fallen upon our age, wherein men are so accustomed to vanity, that nothing is pleaseth which is not pleasant, nothing is sought after which is not amorous. Which lamentable error and sickness of our time, being so ordinary, I almost wax in despair of the happy issue of my devotion: for some I know will condemn me, & that justly, for a Galba (who begat foul children by night, and made fair pictures by day:) To whom I answer, that I paint fair things in the light of my meditation, who begot the soul forepast progeny of my thoughts, in the night of mine error. Some other, (and they superstitiously ignorant) will accuse me for writing these tears, desiring rather with Brentius, to impair the honour of the mother of God, than with Bernard to enhance it. To whom I answer, that it is better imitating many holy men's devotion, than cleaving to a few men's foolish and graceless contempts. For other that have wept (as Peter his apostasy, Marry her loss & miss of Christ,) their tears wrought from them either for repent or love. But these tears of Marie the blessed, are not only ratified by a motherly compassion, a working charity, & unstained love, but by a manifest prophesy, wherein Zacharie told her, Et tuam ipsius animam pertransibit gladius, And the sword of sorrow shall pierce thy heart. And the reason is annexed, To the end that the hearts of many may be opened. This sword of grief, saith Beda, is the sword of sorrow for our lords passion, Chrisostome and Bernard, the sword of love. To good men therefore let this suffice, that in imitation of no less than five & twenty ancient, holy, and Catholic Fathers of the Church, I have enterprised this Prosopopeia: to the bad I yield no reason at all, who wanting devotion, can have no feeling at all. Some there be that will not only gibe at this complaint, but impair the person, drawing from Mary's demerit all that which the fathers in her life held marvelous, to whom beside the special testimonies of john Damascene, and holy Gregory, who have written largely of her dignities, I oppose that of Bernard's, Quod seminae obtemperat, humilitas sine exemplo, quod faemina Deo principetur, sublimitas sine modo. Some there be that will accuse the style, as to stirring, some the passion, as too vehement. To the first I will be thankful, if they amend mine errors: to the next I wish more judgement, to examine circumstances. Some (and they too captious) will avow that Scriptures are misapplied, fathers mistaken, sentences dismembered. Whom I admonish (and that earnestly) to beware of detraction, for it either showeth mere ignorance, or mighty envy, for the detractor first of all showeth himself to be void of charity, and next of all extinguisheth charity in others. To leave them satisfied therefore, let this sussise, I have written nothing without example, I build no wares on mine own ability. If therefore they hold it mistaken which they have not read, let them acquaint me with their mislikes, I will further their readings and establish their judgements.  
Finally, whosoever Turk like, seeketh to kill me with reproofs, for cherishing him with meditation, let him beware of ingratitude, least according to the opinion of the Platonikes, he prove Corpus obliviosum, a forgetful and fantastic body.  
Having thus prevented the captious, I turn to you courteous and virtuous readers, to whom I commit and commend these labours, wherein if you exercise yourselves you shall govern your senses, which as Gregory witnesseth, are certain windows, whereat the waters of temptation do enter. In meditating with Marie, you shall find jesus: in knowing Christ's sufferance, you shall be instamed in his love: in hearing his words, you shall partake his wisdom, which who inioteth, leaveth the world as transitory, and seeketh after heaven for immortality. Hereon Augustine exclaimeth, Unhappy is he that knoweth all things, & knoweth thee not: blessed is he that knoweth thee to despise all things. If these stirreanie fire of devotion in you, then shall I not grieve to see the Baalites, my reprovers, mangle themselves for shame, whilst the fire of God's entire love consumeth and drieth the sacrifice, Briefly, our Lord send a plentiful harvest of tears by this meditation, that the devout hereby may wax more confident, the incredulous believing: the indifferent, more zealous, that now at last after I have wounded the world with too much surfeit of vanity, I may be by the true Helizeus, cleansed from the leprosy of my lewd lines, & being washed in the jordan of grace, employ my labour to the comfort of the faithful.  
Yours T. L.   

ERRATA.  
Io A 4: page, li. 18 for son hath died, read son died In the 6: p, li: 14, for son, read syen: in the 7, li, 4 for rest read rest, l, 19: for lost read lest: p 8, l. 8: for queen read quiet, p. 9, l: 16 & 17, read, one individed grave, might bury two individ, p, 10, l, 16, heart, read hearse p, 12, l, 4, for dissolution, read desolation: In C p, 8, li, 3, for a tree, read five p, 10, li, 11, read them, being reproved, p, 13 l, 17, desires, read disasters In D p, 16 Od●tus read Odilus; E, In p, 1, l, 20, mortuam, read mortuum.   

THE TEARS of MARIE the mother of Christ.  
AS soon as our saviour had paid the tribute of our redemption on the tree of the Cross, and suffered in the flesh, for the offences of fleshly men, just and compassionate joseph, (with his associates, who had begged the body, and taken the true Isaac from the pile of the sacrifice) wrapped the prison of Christ's eternity in fair linen clothes, addressing himself to bear him to his sepulchre, but Marry the maiden mother, who during the time of his passion had well-nigh emptied all the rivers of her compassion, & rifled the treasures of her remorse, to lament her sons most tragic martyrdom, accompanying her devotion with their duty, as they wrapped him, she wept him; as fifty zeal assisted their hands sounding grief wrought on her heart; her eye grudged at that their hands did execute, and her eyes only grief was so vehement, that they executed themselves in executing grief.  
Alas (amiable Lady) how sattest thou like the desolate turtle weeping thy make? How many legions of miseries were armed against thy sole & singular patience? Thy dead joys gave thy sorrows flock, & sorrow was so active in thee, as if thou hadst been wholly resolved into sorrow. They that beheld thy grief were amazed to behold it, yet thou in suffering it, thoughtest all to little for him thou suffered'st. 
Chrisost. in Genes. Bernard Homil. 2. de virgin.  Thou flaming bush replenished with fire, yet never burning, thou flourishing rod of Aaron swiftly springing, thou lock of Gedeon filled with celestial dew, how near neighbours were thy lips to the dear lips of thy son? How ready were thy hands to discover thy cause of grief, to the end thou mightest cover those limbs which did comfort thee in life. Thorns could not let thee from kissing his torn face, from his dead countenance grew thy disconsolate comfort: The suppose of what he was, made thee grieve, that so he is, & the hope of that he would be, governed and bridled the sorrow wherein thou wouldst be. Ah fair among the daughters of Zion, he that had seen thy cheeks (like clusters of grapes in Engaddi) become more pale than the frosty face of Apennine: he that had seen the mother imbrued in the blood of her Son, the Son bedewed with his mother's tears, could he leave off tears, except he had for sworn them? Oh ye Angels of peace weep with this virgin, mourn heavens, droop stars, the Lord of heaven hath suffered, and Marie sigheth for him: the Son hath died for all, the mother deads' her heart with sorrow, for the Lord of all: his dead body is the mirror of her loss: her lively grief is the motion and spirit of her love: she exclaims on every sense, but they forsake their offices: his eyes will not behold her, his tongue will not salute her, his hands will not embrace her, his ears will not hear her, yet yieldeth her charity such vigour to all her senses, that in looking on him, she seemeth to give his dead eye a second sight; his deaf ear, a relenting attention; his senseless arms and hands, a habit of embrace, only seeing the tongue the unkindest member in requiting her, she betrothed her tongue to complaint, and thus most pensively lamented.  
O my God, 
jeremy 9  lend mine eyes a well of tears, for they must weep a world of wrongs. Let the voice of my complaints pierce the heavens, and let the centre shake, to hear my shriks.  
Alas this day must I be tender, 
1: Reg: 30  having as many sorrows to weep for, as days to live; and no day to live, that hath not his legion of sorrows. Mine eyes break my heart, when I consider what my heart must discharge by mine eyes. Oh Lord thou seest my wrong, take thou my cause upon thee, for an infinite passion is required to lament my infinite loss. I am the tigress deprived of her young whelp, the sacred tree that have lost my son, that altar of heaven, who want my sacrifice, the throne of Solomon, 
Chri: ho●de Io: Baptist Hier. in 44 Ezechiel Greg: Nissen de nat: Dom Bernard super missus hortum condusum, etc.  who fail my king: the oriental gate, who lack the bridegroom. I am the root of jesse, the high mountain, the ladder of jacob, the propitiatory, the tower of David, the terrestrial paradise, yet am I not in this, that I want my branch, I lack my increase, I fail of my Angel, I am'depriued of my tenant, I am rob of my keeper, and rest of my citizen.  
Come ye daughters of jerusalem, and weep with me, behold, he that leadeth captivity captive, is now a captive, and I in looking on am a caitiff: Behold the gold that was bright, is become dim: the doves eyes are grown dark: the growing lily is quite choked by thorns: weep ye foolish virgins, your bridegroom is parted. Feed with poor Marie on the bread of tribulation, for I have lost a son, and you lost your Saviour.  
Ah look with me you judicial eyes of Israel, behold riches appareled in poverty; beauty obscured in darkness, charity exemplified in death, death crucified by charity. Behold him whose beauty the Sun & Moon admire, whose majesty the heavens and earth reverence, whose wisdom yields wisdom to the queen of Angels, by whose beauty the college of all happy souls are maintained: behold him lifeless, to get you life, breathless, for your benefit, naked, to give you clothing, wounded for your weal, bleeding, for your behest, and can you choose but weep with the mother the loss of such a son? Red wax in the Sun becometh white: hard diamonds in vinegar wax soft: 
Bernard. Granaten. li. meditationum  one Summer ripes many fruits: since then the Sun of justice hath shined upon you, be ye mollified like wax, lenyified like diamonds, tipened like fruit: that the water of angels may drop from your eyes, that the fire of charity may cause compassion distill from your brains, so that weeping with me so great a loss as I weep, the world may know the want of him we weep for.  
I lift not up my voice with Esau to weep, he found a brother, I have lost a son. jacob kissed Rachel and wept for joy to see her: I kiss the body of my son, and weep because I see him not: Oh would my Rachel might be his wounds, would my concubine were his cross: would his winding clothes were my wedding coats, & individed grave might bear to individed hearts. The daughters of Israel wept over Saul, and he a wicked king: 
2. Reg. 1  O ye daughters of jerusalem weep, howl, and lament, a Saviour is departed from you, a just king hath suffered. Let your faces be swollen with weeping, for I will water my couch with tears. Let the voice of my mourning be heard in your streets, for the noise of tribulation is harboured in my heart. Weep uncomfortable tears, and I will mingle my drink with weeping: 
psalm psalm  with weeping conduct that Lord to the grave, who weepingly bewailed, and bewailingly wept over your City.  
Enforce yourselves to weep, 
'em. 14  whilst my eyes fail me through weeping: power your tears on his heart, whilst I feed on tears day and night. I will power all my tears into his wounds, 
psalm 50  he will put all your tears into his bottle.  
Let your tears run like a river, & let my tears be seas to suck them up, only assist me in my strong weeping and tears, and he will wipe away all your tears. Why claim I partners in my grief, who have no partners in my love? No creatute loved thee dearer in thy life, & shall I seek associates in bewailing thee? Ah my son, could aught but death depart thee and me? Nay, could there be one step betwixt me and death, who only in death may now seek thee?  
O jesus my Father, my Son, see here an indissoluble Enigma, 
Enigma inextricabil-Maria est virgo, matter, sponsa, filia. Benedictus in vita Marry  I a Virgin, had thee a Son; thou a son, hadst me a spouse; my son is my father, and I am the daughter of my son. I will then weep for thee as my father, sigh for thee as thy daughter, die for thee as thy spouse, and grieve for thee as thy mother: & as thou art wonderfully mine, so will I weep such a labyrinth of tears, as no mortal mourner shallbe able to tract them. I will dissolve my relenting, & yielding passions with all their fruits, to lament thee as a son, I will put on the robes of dissolution to mourn for thee as my spouse, I will gather & engross all grief, to weep for thee as my father, & beginning where I end, and ending where I began, I will make my tears famous in their continuance, and my love more inflamed by thinking on thee.  
I conjure you ye daughters of jerusalem to look on me, but weep no more with me, I lament a son lost, to teach you to weep for the sorrows of your children to come: but if the entrails of your pity, & springs of compassion must needs break out, weep you only his harms in life, & let me bewail the loss of him by death: my confident mind and firm constancy, when the world was disturbed at his passion, made me peremptory: when the earth trembled, I was not troubled, 
Bernard in Medit.  when the pilets of heaven were shaken, I sounded not, they sell, I stood: now am I drowned in the sea of bitterness, his eye of compassion (the pilot in those seas) hath left me, the helm of my hope is broken, 
Granatensis lib de vita Christi.  the sun of my comfort is eclipsed, he hath passed the brierie & thorny paths, the scourges hath registered his patience on his back, the nails have tied his triumphs, our sins, his body to the cross, I niurie hath spit her venom, Infamy hath done his worst, justice hath ransacked his right: wail this ye daughters of jerusalem, for your children shall wring for it, I only exclaim on death, death hath triumphed over life, till glory overcome death, the holy one hath perished, fished, & seethe no corruption: one days, one hours, one minutes want of that I love, makes every day an age, every hour a million of ages, every minute an eternity of sorrow, for that I want.  
O you that pass this way & behold this body, you that look on these wounds, & see these limbs; tell me, Is not beauty oppressed? Majesty embased? innocency martyred? Come near and judge if any grief may be compared with mine? The fairer children we have the dearer we love them, and should I who bore the mirror of all beauty in my womb, cease to weep for him? You men of Israel that behold this, be not amazed at my grief, my love was extreme, my grief must not be extenuate: the grace was great to bear Christ, the courage is as great to bewail him his beauty was infinite, and shall my moans be definite? These thorns which martyrize his beauteous brows, this blood which bedeweth his bloodless face, these wounds that disgrace his blessed body, this humility in so great & mighty a monarch, ' are pricks and spurs to egg you unto repentance; springs to wash you from your wickedness, gates to bring you to glory: all these are but stings to stir you to love God, mirrors in which you see his beauty, books in which you read his wisdom, and preachers which teach you the way to heaven. Oh thou paschal lamb, 
Ambrose in Math.  whose blood hath been sprinkled on the timber of the cross! Oh thou by whom men are delivered from the thraldom of Egypt, & the captivity of the prince of this world, whose death killed their death, whose sacrifice satisfied for their sins. Whose blood delivereth them from the chastising Angel, whose meekness pacifieth the ire of the father, and whose innocency deserveth for them true security and justice.  
Thou book which the Prophet saw written both within and with out, 
sech. 2  why strive not men by their sighs to breath life into thee? And why should not my cries of compassion recall thy spirit? Alas my God, sin hath gotten the upper hand, these jews are amazed, thy mother unable, their zeal cold, my power small, the unbelieving are many, and penitents have too few tears to bewail thee: yet while tears yield me any tribute, sighs vouch safe me any succour, tongue afford me any words, I will weep for thee, sigh for thee, and talk of thee, desiring rather to surfeit in words, than to shroud my zeal, and rather die in bewailing thee to much, than live to lament thee too little.  
O thou glass of grace, who hath bespotted thee? who hath brought thee into the shadow of death? Ah dear soul, what north-wind of sin hath blown hither all this tempest? meekness could not offend, patience did not insult, innocency was faultless: the wolf should have suffered, not the lamb: the guilty, not the guiltless. Oh the immeasurable reach of thy mercy, I have spied the insearchable bent of the same, thou hast left life to revive them that loathe thee: suffered death, for such as detracted from thee, born man's infirmities, and satisfied his sins.  
O grace beyond all conceit, O marucilous mystery: Thou diedst for man, man declineth from thee: thou suffered'st for his sins, he sigheth not for thy death. 
Proverb. 6  O men swift footed to run to wickedness, have you no affects to bewail him who suffered for your defects? Will you not weep for the prophet that died for your profit? Have you no tears to spend for him, whose life is spent for you? O ingrateful, O injurious, draw near and behold a mother bewailing your ingratitude: a son dead for your redemption: and though you lament him not for the plenteous consolations you have reiceived by him, yet grieve for him for my plenteous grief sake, who have lost all my joy for your general comfort.  
Behold these lips are closed which were wont to utter oracles of comfort: those eyes are shut which never beheld your infirmities without floods of compassion, the hands are maimed which were liberally opened to all good works, the feet are wounded that brought you tidings of peace, each part of him is thus mangled, to amend you: hurt, to heal you: galled, to do you good: pierced, to work your profit: And have you no one tear to tender for his kindness?  
Ah ingrateful that ye are, and more insensible than beasts, more cruel than tigers, more hard than stones: the Sun put on mourning garments, when my son suffered, and shall not the sword of afflictions pierce your entrails to behold this tragedy? The vail of the Temple rend from the top to the bottom, and will you not rend your hearts with ruth, to regard his rend body? The earth trembled for fear, and will you not weep for pity? Stones break in sunder, and shall not your stony hearts wax tender? The dead for sook their graves, to grieve for him, and shall not the living despise their delights to lament him?.  
Ah just Abel, 
●●●aeseos  thy blood crieth for revenge, and hath pierced heaven, but it is dispersed and despised on earth. 
●enes. 37  Ah holy joseph, thy bloody coat hath broached a spring of remorse in jacobs' eyes, though thy brethren lament thee not. The chosen Israelites mourn for their Samson, 
●id. 6  though the Philistians afflict thee. Oh men, the Saints in heaven bless this body, you sinners on earth will not bewail it: the heavens show his greatness, yet men on earth acknowledge not his goodness, the stars declare his divinity, men decline not to see his dead humanity: the flowers of the fields testify his beauty, but the worms of the earth sorrow not his obscurity.  
O you race of Adam, he that created all things without travel, governed them without care, sustained them without thought, and possessed them without necessity, now lieth here dead, traveled by sorrow and death, blind to make you see, senseless to make you feel, subject to make you sovereigns, and shall he have so much care of you, & you so little compassion of him? Oh you hardened in heart, blinded in understanding, surfeited in sensuality, will not then your stony hearts otherwise suffer ye to weep, come gather tears from the wel-head of his benefits, that you may assist me to bewail him: he hath drawn you from your banishment to your blessing, from obscurity to life, from death to eternity. What he punished in the angels, he pitied in you: what he persecuted in himself, 
●●. 14  he hath pacifid for you. In the old law whosoever had fallen into the uncleanness of leprosy, was thus cured and thus cleansed, the priest taking two sparrows, when he had slain the one, dismissed the other, & anointing the sick of the leprosy with the blood of the dead one, he thereby recured the sick, & purged the uncleanness. And what figure is this, o ye sons of vanity, but the type of your own imperfections: you are spiritually fallen into the leprosy of sin, this noble sacrifice, this sacred priest hath taken two sparrows, his body and soul, to cleanse you of your leprosy, his body hath he suffered to die, to be rend, to be torn, to be whipped for you, his soul he hath dismissed, and by the blood issuing from his wounds he hath cleansed your leprosy, 
Animan nullus potest occidere. Math 10  ratified his covenant, shut you in the arms of mercy, shuted you with your wedding garments. Oh than though his sufferance touch not your hearts let his benefits turn them: weep, weep on him that prayeth for you as your priest, prayeth in you as your head, and must be entreated by you as your God. Behold your physician whom desire of gold hath not drawn to you, 
jerem. 107  but entireness of mercy hath provoked to assuage your misery. Behold that Christ that hath united you to God, reconciled you with his blood, & urged compassion for you with his tears: your sins have separated you from him, 
jerem. 59  his death hath allied you to him. O hard hearted men cannot this move you, them hearken to further motives, and let them amend you. God in the first law appointed a free city of refuge for the afflicted, and privilege for the offenders, whereto whosoever had grace to approach before he were apprehended, he was assured of safety, and defended from justice. In this new law, this Christ (oh true type of charity) hath made these cities in himself, established this privilege in his body, and walled the same with his wounds. Hither, o you sinners, repair, here shall you have mercy for tears, life for repentance, remission of sins, for confession of sin. Oh contrite sinner, dwell in these cities, let your memory inhabit them, thy meditation embrace them, thy pity bewail them. Think on these wounds, they will heal thee, forsake them, death will follow thee, forget them, mercy will deny thee. Abuse not the privilege of wounds, death, and passion, lest thou bewail too late the horror of hell, death, and damnation. Will none weep with me? Will no reasons wound you? Are tears so scant, for mercies so plentiful? Come, come and learn what tears be, that you may know their benefits. The sinner's tears are Gods mirrors: their penitent sighs, his incense: God heareth prayers, but beholdeth tears: prayers move God to hear, 
Esay 38 Ambrose  tears compel him to have mercy. Silent tears are speaking advocates. It was not Mary's anointing with sweet balm, Maries drying, with fair hair, Mary's attention with humble heart, but Mary's tears, they wrought my compassion. Oh come & weep then, & if not weep, yet consider. Proud man, see here the pattern of humility: humble, learn here whereof to relieve thee: ireful, learn here the benefit of sufferance, 
●ust.  patiented, receive here the crown of durance: covetous, learn here to affect poverty: poor, receive here, how thou hast Christ thy companion: the only son of God, hath made many sons of God, he hath bought him brothers with his blood, approved them, and being approved, redeemed them being sold, 
〈…〉  honoured them by suffering dishonours, and given them life by suffering death. Let him therefore be wholly infixed in your hearts, who wholly was crucified for you on the cross. O men lose not these blessings, forget not these bounties. This Christ subjecteth himself to the power of death that he might deliver you from the yoke and power of the devil: he took servitude upon him, that he might give you the liberty of eternal life, hear what he crieth in your souls, and respect his summons.  
O man see what I suffer for thee, 
Ambrose.  there is no grief like to mine, I cry unto thee who died for thee. Behold the pains wherewith I am afflicted, see the nails wherewith I am pierced, and although the exterior grief be so great, yet the inward sorrows are more vehement, when I behold and find thee so ungrateful for my passion. Behold man whom you crucified, behold God and man whom you would not believe, 
Hicrome  behold the wounds which you inflicted, acknowledge the sides which you wounded, all which were opened for you, but you will not enter: I gave myself for you, that I might redeem you from all iniquity, 
Ad Tu. 20  I suffered with entire love to win your entire love, being God I became man; being the fountain of all plenty, I suffered hunger, I the well spring thirsted, I the light, was darkened, I the rest of all, was wearied for all, false witness outfaced verity, I the judge of the living & the dead, was judged by a mortal creature, justice was condemned by the unjust, 
●●gust.  discipline was beaten, the cluster of grapes was crowned with thorns, virtue was weakened, health wounded, and life made death, my heart for sook me in torments for you, they wounded my hands and feet, so that all my bones were broke asunder, 
〈◊〉. 5  even in that weakness I died for you being wicked. Why therefore fasten you me to a more grievous cross of your sins, than that whereon I was crucified? 
●●gust in ●●dam ser●●em de judicij.  The cross of your crimes is more irksome unto me than the cross whereon I lately suffered. Taking compassion on you, I willingly ascended. Oh then weep for me, because I suffered for you. Thou that runnest after delight, surfetest in pleasure, desirest ease, come to this school, and learn thy lesson, let my grace draw thee from disgrace, my sufferance, from thy sensuality, my charity from thine uncleanness. Behold the law is satisfied in my blood, and your infirmities are covered by my cross. I a man prayed to me a God, 
Innocentius  jaiudge wept over you being condemned: to ease your temptation I was tempted for you: yet for all these dolorous deserts, you yield me no tears of true sorrow. I was spit upon to wash you, I was covered, to the end that the vale of sin and ignorance should be taken from your hearts: my head was wounded, 
Hiero. super Matth.  to the end that your head Adam should be restored to health, I was buffeted with fists, & mocked with words, to the end that you should applaud me with your lips, lift up your hands unto me, and worship me both in deeds and words, thus loving you, and washing you from your sins, disdain not to be reconciled to me in repentance. Hear the three things figured in my passion, my head was bowed down, in sign of remission of sins: water issued from my sides, in token of the cleansing of your faults: blood, in sign of the redemption of your punishment. Oh let the effects of these signs force you, I am a medicine to the sick, a rule to the depraved, a dwelling place to the desolate, and a light for the darkened. Oh come unto me you hard hearted, for to be turned from me, is to fall: to be converted to me, 
●●gust. lib. ●●put.  is to rise: to be grounded in me, is to flourish: o turn unto me, whom no man loseth, except deceived, no man seeketh unmonished, 
Bernard  and no man findeth unpurged. I am the first that come to you, and the last that go from you, I being just, came unto you sinners, that of sinners I might make you just: I being holy, came to the unhallowed, to the end I might make you whole: I being humble, came unto you being proud, that I might make you humble: I came not for the just sake, but to correct the reprobate: I came not for the strong, but to heal the weak: I came not for the resolved, but to strengthen the doubtful: my melody is the amendment of sinners, my triumph the constancy of martyrs, my desire the immortality of that faithful. Thus sat ● blessed mother, sometime personating her son, to persuade more movingly, sometime soliciting the assistance by great motives to bewail him earnestly, sometime weeping, while sorrow stopped her speech, sometime persuading whilst charity quickened her tongue, sometime bemoaning her while she beheld her dead son, sometime recomforting Marie that fate weeping at her feet, so that those that disdained her fortune, were amazed at her constancy, for though she bewailed like a natural mother, yet endured she like a confident martyr, 
Bernard  & therefore saith Chrisostome, she was vexed with an intolerable agony of grief, because she was touched with an unspeakable affection of love, whereby being united to God, we seem to be converted & made one with him. Oh my soul consider a while, whilst the solitary maid sitteth over her son, what she is that bewaileth him? This is the blessed amongst women that was saluted by the Angel with Auc, as being delivered, 
Libro de natura rerum.  ave, from all curse: This is that Marie that by interpretation being the sea, retaineth six qualities of the same. Of the sea it is said, that it is the collection of all waters, either sour or sweet, the head and hosterie of all floods, a help in necessities, a refuge in perils, an ease in travels, a gain to labourers: of her it is said, Let all the waters under heaven be drawn into one place, which gathering of waters, is the accomplishment of natures: 
Anselmus Gen: 1  the sea is the head and hostery of floods, the head by the flux of waters, the hosterie by the reflux: so the blessed virgin is the mediation and head of grace, & whatsoever good we receive, it floweth from the fruit of her womb. Thirdly, the sea is a help in necessity, Fourthly, as the sea is a refuge in perils when in her main body we escape shipwreck: so the immaculate maid bringing forth the fullness of our redemption, delivereth us from the shipwreck of our souls. So testifieth Bernard of Marie. Quia aperit sinum pietatis universis. Fiftly, the sea is a help to shorten the way of the traveler: so in this great sea of this world this holy maiden directeth us and shorteneth our way by the stair of her humility. Sixtly, it is a gain to labourers, making them rich by traffic: so he that trafiqueth with this blessed maid in meditation, imitateth her in devotion, accompanieth her in sorrow, shall receive the gain of his labour, and the fruits of immortality. This is she of whom Ambrose speaketh in his book of virginity, Virgo erat. She was a virgin not only in body but in mind, for no circumvention of decit could adulterate her sincere affect: in heart humble, in words grave, in mind wise, in speech sparing, in readings studious. This is the rose without prickles, the flower of the rose in the prime: for as the spring is the cause of gladness, so was her fruit the cause or redemption. This is she whose humility hath raised us, whose virginity hath enriched us, & whose devotion hath relieved us. O how wonderful was the fruitfulness of this virgin, saith Bonaventure, 
Anselme  which no sooner receiveth salutation, but conceiveth salvation. Before the virgin (saith Oditius) conceived Christ, it was winter, but after she had conceived the word of God, it became Summer. Finally, through the vapour of the holy Ghost the flower sprung: A branch shall springe out of the root of less, and a flower shall ascend from the root, as faith Esaie. And what other is this branch (O thou blessedst amongst women) but thyself the virgin of God: what this flower but thy son? O crimson rose jesus how in all thy body shine the perfect signs of thy love? Alas there is no little space left without impression of love or grief. Hark what Ambrose faith further of this virgin, She fixed not her happiness in uncertain substance, but fastened her hope to her son Christ, intentive in her works, modest in her sayings, whose purpose was not to satisfy man, but to seek after God: to hurt none, but to secure all: to salute every one, to reverence her elders, not to hate her equals: to sly boasting, to follow reason, & to love virtue. When did this virgin hurt her parents with disobedient looks? When dissented she from her friends? When despised she the humble? When decided she the weak? When shunned she the needy? Accustoming herself to converse only with that company of men, whose conversation she might not be ashamed of? Whom past she by without modesty? having nothing crabbed in her looks, nothing crooked in her sayiugs, nothing immodest in her actions, not wanton in gesture, not insolent in gate, not foolish in voice, but such she was, that the very beauty, portraiture, and form of her body, was the image of her mind, and figure of her honesty. The beauty of this temple of the Deity, was expressed in the Canticles, where it is said: O how fair art thou my love? 
Cant: 4  How fair art thou? Thine eyes are like doves eyes, yet is there far more hidden within. This is the paradise which God prepared to put the second Adam in. This is that virgin of whom Hierome speaketh, which passed the night in contemplation & watching the thief: in love of God the most learned, in humility the most humble, in the psalms of David the most elegant, in charity most fervent, in purity the most pure, and in all virtue the most perfect: All her words were always full of grace, because she had God always in her mouth, she continually prayed, and as the Prophet said, meditated in the law of God day and night. 
Psalm 1  This is the virgin of virgins, the humble of humblest, in whom humility greatened virginity, & virginity adorned humility. This is she whose humility adorned her fecundity, and whose fecundity consecrated her virginity. This is that Marie, into whose arms the fair unicorn jesus retired himself after a long pursuit, by the prayers, tears, and sighs of the fathers.  
This is the exalted, according to the Hebrew, or the star of the sea, as Hierome translateth it: or the mistress of mankind, according to the Siriake. 
Hier. de nomimbus. Sibil Erichea Et brevis egressus Maria de virgins aluo. Exaita est nouatua.  This is she of whom the Sibyls prophesied. This is she whom Euodius, Peter's successor, calleth immaculate, without spot, glorious in humility. This is she appointed before all ages, to bear the great fruit.  
This is the animated ark of the living God, which brought many blessings to Zacharie and Elizabeth, 
2, Reg. 6  as the Ark of the covenant did to Obed Edom. This is she of whom Albumazar prophesied, 
Albumazar li. 6 in inter.  who speaking of the sign of the Virgin, said that there should an immaculate virgin be borne, fair, elegant, and modest, that should nourish an infant in judea, who should be called Christ. Of this virgin there was found a testimony on the tomb of a pagan; where in a plot of ground these words were written, & found in Constantine and his mother irene's time, An infant named Christ shall be borne of a virgin, and I believe in him. O son thou shalt see me again in the time of Constantine and his mother Irene. The like Zonoras' reporteth of a certain jew, who in a certain ancient book written in three languages used these words: This is she in whom Nestorius denying the uniting of the humanity with the divinity, our Lord in justice caused worms to devour and eat out his tongue. This is she in whom all virtues did concur, all learning abound, all devotions flow, all comforts depend. This is she, as Gregory testifieth, which foretold the jews of their destruction, and the desolation of their city. This is the true celestial Pandora, decked and enriched with the whole gifts of God, the father, the son, and the holy Ghost. This is she whom the Moors reported to surpass in excellence, this is the perfectest of all perfections, as the Turks and Arabians testify. This is she whom all the fathers in devotion, the Mahumetists in their Alcoran, set forth with praises, and enrich with titles. Oh sweet mother of God, who so speaketh of thee as Hierome saith, speaketh insufficiently: human ability cannot attain it, human industry is too weak for it. Whether art thou transported my soul? O my heart be no more ravished with joy, intentive to praise: look back to the foot of the cross, there is more cause of meditation, more cause of moan.  
Alas, what seest thou? Nay, what seest thou not to bewail? If thou seest the virgins lap, it is bloodied with the streams that fall from her sons wounded head. If thou seest her modest eyes, they are almost swollen and sunk into her head with tears. If thou look for her pure colour, it is decayed with extreme sorrow, her breasts are defaced with often beating of her hands, her hands are wearied by often beating of her breasts.  
If she look on the one side, she sees Marie the sinner washing her sons feet with her tears: if on the other, she beholdeth joseph woefully preparing his funerals: if on the other, she seethe virgin's mourning: if on the other, she beholdeth soldiers mocking: if any ways, she sees sorrows plentiful: knowing therefore in herself, that true grief correcteth the mind, salueth the offence, and maintaineth innocence, she 'gan renew her tears, and thus tenderly bewailed her.  
If it be a custom in nature, that fountains return from whence they first issued, bodies be resolved to that whereof they were first created, alas why should not the same law be in my tears, which first springing from love, must be buried in love, & no sooner buried but renewed: nothing before his fullness hath his fairness, his ripeness, his strength, his perfection, his praise. Why then delay I my tears, which can never receive their excellence, till they be wept to their utterance. Alas, alas, tears are sweet weapons to wound and to win hearts, I will use them, I will invite them, I will maintain them, I will triumph in them: Come my son, what now shall I weep in thee? Not thy death, for it is thy triumph: not thy contempts, for they were thy contents: but thy martyrdom, which wrought my misery. O sinful souls, behold two altars raised by one massacre, one in the body of Christ, the other in the heart of the virgin: on the one is sacrificed the flesh of the son, on the other the soul of the mother: such a death no creature hath suffered, such a sorrow no heart hath contained. Philosophy concents to my sorrow, 
Cic Famil. 6  for mine eyes increase in grief, my passions are intolerable, being afflicted in all my senses, my love quickens my passions, my devotion nourisheth my love, my tears beautify my affection. Woe is me, nowe'am I rightly compared to the Moon; for my sun is eclipsed, and I am confounded: now justly am I counted a peel, being said no ways better than by the dew of tears: now am, I'improperly taken for a cedar, for the sweet sent of my blossom is vanished, my fruit is decayed, the leaves of my delight are fallen, only in this I retain thy nature, by reserving my grief in force, & my compassion to eternities. Oh what a woe is mine? What a sorrow is mine? If the Angels behold this face, they bewail him; if the heavens look on this cruelty, they weep for him: if the air discover it, it loureth: if the earth eye it, it renteth: What shall the mother then do, that hath beheld her son martyred, and could not secure him: naked, & could not clothe him: thirsty, and could not comfort him: injuried, and could not defend him: defamed, and could not answer for him, spit upon, and could not wipe him: finally, weeping, and could not comfort him. Out alas, for tears I will pay tears, tears for former tragedies, tears for after passion: tears for present misery: tears in abundance, 
Gregory  tears with usury. Oh thou so excellent in holiness, so mighty in power, and so merciful in piety, how shall I more righfully bewail thee, than in considering the wants I have, being divided from thee? I want thy presence to repair my delights, I want thy counsel to enrich my soul, I want my joy by wanting thee. Nay, what wanteth not the world by thine absence? The humble are turned to proud: the faithful fallen to Apostasy, 
Barnard  the poor are despised: the just, reviled: the patiented, spit at: the faithful, afflicted: devotion, now is clothed with dissimulation: sanctimony, with simony: conscience, with covetousness: hypocrites will be humble without contempt: poor, with out defect: flatterers unseen: envious unsuspected: slanderers, without cause: crafty as foxes within, humble as lambs without. Alas, what confusion? What error? Thy scholars in humility have forgotten their lesson, they will not learn of the bird, which before he soareth towards heaven, humbleth his body to the earth, they will enter by thee as the gate, and will not learn of thee because thou art humble. Thou humblest thyself to thy equals, they despise their superiors. 
Bernar. li. de disp. & prec.  The tree the more it aboundeth in fruit, the more it abaseth his bows towards the earth: but man the more he is raised by thy graces, the more he resisteth against thy humility. Thy glory is to submit, serve, and obey: man's desire is to govern, rule, & command. Thou sayest that all thing perisheth, if it be not kept with humility: they say that nothing more breedeth contempt than observance. Thou biddest them fly honours: they affect them. Thou biddest them possess their souls in fear: they deem nothing assured but in honour. Oh sweet jesus, thou sayest that the gate of heaven is so strait, that no man laden with riches, no man fattened with delights, no man decked in purple can be possessed thereof before he be dispossessed of these vanities: but the worldling saith, that wealth breedeth happiness, delights lengthen life, rich clothing bringeth credit: so that they that possess these, they utterly despise heaven. What shall I say? the world is so fraught with pleasure, and avarice is so full of profit, that it is held good policy to hear thee preach: but no wisdom to follow thy poverty. Oh dear Lord, thou givest thyself wholly unto them, and they wholly fly thee: if they are hungry, thou art bread to them: if they are thirsty, thou art water to them: if they are in darkness, thou are light unto them: if they be naked, thou cloathest them: yet are they 〈◊〉 grounded in ungratitude, that they forget thee. They know that what so ever the world is, 
Deut. 32  is either the desire of the flesh, or the desire of the eyes, or the pride of life, yet pretending to fly the world, they fancy nothing more earnestly. They know that a fattened, thick, and dilated body leaveth God, and forgetteth his creator: yet follow they sensuality, and forget thee, eammque mortuam; saith the Psalm, neither cordially record they thy benefits. They know with Hermes, 
Libro de logostileos.  that thy acceptable & best incense is thanksgiving, yet have they learned with judas, to crucify thee ungratefully. They know that they are blessed that have not seen, 
john 20 Apoc: 20 john 8  and believe, yet having beheld thy passion, they despise it. They know the book of life is opened, but they will not read. They know that those which follow thee shall not walk in darkness se, yet take they pleasure to stumble in the day time. Finally, they know that thou hast spread the light of thy countenance on them, yet prefer they darkness before light, to their own damnation. The Naturalistes writ, that Bats have weak sight, because the humour Crystalline, which is necessary for the eye to see with, is translated into the substance of the wings to fly with, whereupon they have leathern wings, and so for their flight sake, have lost their sight, because that is substracted from the eyes, which is employed in the wings: These bats betoken these proud neglecters, who by how much the more they strive to fly, by so much more are they deprived of the grace of the divine light, because all their intention, which ought to be in consideration of heavenly things, is translated into the feathers of ambition, so that all their thought is how they may ascend by degrees the steps of dignity, not descend in imitation of thee, to the bosom of humility. O man, the cause of the Angels fall was negligence, the cause of Adam's fall was negligence: why then art thou summoned so sweetly, & neglectest so carelessly? If men & angels created by God, had used his gifts orderly, the angels had never strived to surpass God in excellence, neither had man listened to the serpent's persuasion, but because they were careless of his graces, he suffered them to fall into error by the sin of negligence, and from the error of negligence, into the sin of pride & disobedience. Beware man, by man's first falling, fly man the Angel's negligence, lest by both thou win apostasy, and with apostasy, perdition. Wilt thou be friend of this world: thou art enemy to God? Wilt thou follow Beliall? thou art not for jesus. Oh cast down thyself, proud soul, whatsoever thou hopest, trust not the weakness of thy power, since strength itself hath been oppressed. Know that chastity is hardened in delights, truth in riches, and humility in honours: just, fear to fall: merciful, fear obduration: continence, fear lust: devout, fear negligence: with fear and trembling wax you rich in jesus, who with grief and agony hath endured for you.  
Oh sinners, though nature cannot m●●e you to sighs, (which is affectedly her objects) let me win you by reasons, to ratify your remorse. If your friends come from far countries to visit you, you embrace them: if they give you gifts, you thank them: if they counsel you, you consent unto them: What then will you return your saviour & my son for his courtesies? He coming into the world, hath showed you three principal signs of love, mercy, and piety. First, he condescended to your mortality. Secondly, he provided messengers of your salvation. Thirdly, he gave you precepts and admonishments of your welfare. He came from heaven, to comfort you on earth: he suffered on earth to carry you to heaven: he became the lowliest amongst men, to make you the highest among creatures, he hath visited you with his graces, giving ease to your labour, comfort to your afflictions, salve to your infirmities: he hath presented you with gifts, not gold and silver, which are corruptible, not pomp & honour, which seduce the senses, not security and vanity, which corrupt the heart, but he hath broken his body on the cross for you, he hath broken his body in the Sacrament for you, he hath given you the cup of atonement (his ' precious blood) he hath made you one with God, by being generally condemned by the world, he hath counseled you to rise from sins, to make your body's vessels of the holy Ghost, to sanctify your souls in the blood of his testament, being made & approved just: therefore you ought to love him wholly, 
Americus Card: in prol: suo lib  to whom you own all what you are wholly. If you see an earthly king before you, you fall before his throne you humble yourself before his judgement, you subscribe to his law, and obey his ordinances: why despise you then the king of heavens? 
Math: 8 Phil. 2  to whom prince's stoop, and whom the wind and sea obeyeth, to whom all knees both in heaven, earth, and hell are bowed. If you respect works, he made heaven and earth: if the manner, of nothing: if the purpose, for ungrateful man, who being lord of all by him, will not acknowledge his due homage to him: if you dispose your affections by the wisdom of your governors, who more wiser than jesus? Where the Psalmist saith, Great is the Lord our God, & mighty his virtue, and his wisdom is beyond number. And again, God is the God of sciences, 
1, Reg. 2  & our thoughts are prepared unto him: Who therefore is so wise & mighty as her that by wisdom discovereth all things and by power punisheth all offences? How much wisdom and sevetitie is in this judge? Who discovereth the thoughts of the heart, 
Rom: 1i  knoweth whereunto our imaginations are intended, measureth the weight of our sins, and how iniquities are chained together. Fnally, all are of him, by him, and in him. If wonders draw your affections, who were wonderful, look on his birth, it is wonderful above nature, without man, of a sole virgin: look on his name, it is wonderful: (jesus) by interpretation, a saviour. Yet more wonders, a frail man, and a strong God: a poor man's son, and the prince of peace, borne in time, and the perpetual father of succeeding ages. Yet three more wonders. First, in those things which were spoken of him. Secondly, in those things which were spoken by him. Thirdly, in those which were forespoken of him by the patriarchs and Prophets. jacob prophesied his coming long before, The sceptre shall not be taken from judah. Balaam called him the star out of jacob: they called him the flower, and the branch, on which flower the holy Ghost should have his resting place. And is not this admirable? Will you more wonder? Hear Elizabeth prophesy, hear Zacharie prophesy, the shepherd prophesy, the Sages prophesy. Yet more wonders. In his infansy his answers were admirable, all testify of him, marvel at his answer, applaud his prudence. 
john 1 Luke 4 Mirabantur ludei quomodo literas seisset Mark 20  Will you more wonders. The people marveled at him, saying, He hath done all things well, he hath made the deaf hear, and the dumb speak. Love him therefore as your Lord, honour him as your king, who is admirable in his conception, admirable in his birth: admirable in his preachings, admirable in his passion, admirable in his death, admirable in his charity.  
And to this love (O remorseless lookers on) add tears, for no man can truly love, that is not affected, to see his beloved afflicted.  
Come, 
Anselme  come and weep bitterly with me, for you have much cause of lamentation. If love can divorce you from ingratitude, come and weep of pure love: for my son hath therefore suffered, because he loved: if in justice; come mollify your hearts, behold an innocent reproachfully crucified: if consanguinity can affect you, behold your father which hath begotten and chosen you before all eternities, reckoned amongst thieves, rend by bloodthirsty men, scourged by the guilty: if you be abashed to see God so mightily bruised, bewail your deadly sins, the causes of his detriment: if you wonder at his humility, blame your pride: if you admire his patience, condemn your wrath. As the member that feeleth no grief, is said to be dead, and the disease which is insensible, is always uncurable: so unless you partake in passion with Christ, lament to see him crucified, sorrow to behold his wounds, you are no living members, but dead ones: no true sons of his, but bastards: if you suffer with him, you shall reign with him: if you associate him in his passions, you shall partake with him in his consolations.  
The Philosophers write, that the Harpy is a bird (having a man's 〈◊〉) so fell, cruel, and furious, that being pressed and assaulted with hunger, she invadeth & killeth a man: whom when she hath devoured, and whose body when she hath torn, being assailed with thirst, she flieth to the water to drink, where beholding 〈◊〉 own face, and remembering the similitude of him whom she slew, she is confounded with so much grief, that she dieth for dolour. Oh careless worldlings, except there be less remorse in you than in this creature, look into the spring of your consciences, lodge in your memory how much you have crucified this Christ with your sins, & slain him by your offences. & though you die not through extremity of grief, yet let fall some tears to bewail him tenderly.  
Oh let not sin take hold of you, idleness prevent you, or pride confound you, for trees that have broadest leaves, do soon lose them, & men that have proudest thoughts are soon deceived by them. Foolish that thou art, canst thou bewail thy dead father that begot thee, thy sick son that delights thee, thy lost riches that maintained thee, & wilt not thou weep for jesus that redeemed thee? Canst thou grieve to see thy flocks perish, thy houses burnned, thy wise slain, thy daughters deflowered: and wilt thou not weep to see thy God, who gave these, confounded with torments, thy comforter that created these, suffer on the cross: thy jesus that lighteneth thee, clothed with death? Oh let not your groanings be hidden from him: pray with job, that thou mayest a little bewail thy dolours, push forth thy tears of grief, and make them flow in abundance, for laughlng thou descendest to hell, but mourning thou ascendest to heaven: Wilt thou have Christ dwell with thee, 
Amb. hom: 1. lib. 1  mourn? Wilt thou have Christ dwell in thee? mourn. Wilt thou have sin mortified in thee? mourn: Wilt thou have grace plentiful in thee? mourn. O remember that Peter after he had bewailed his apostasy, found greater grace by his tears, than he lost by his denial.  
Look on David the adulterer, he weary, and is restored: Look on Agar the desolate, she weary, and is comforted: Look on weeping Anne, she recovereth her barrenness.  
Look on mourning and weeping job, he overcometh his temptations: mourning jeremy prophesieth, the mourning Publican is justified, and mourning joseph is delivered.  
Oh tears of great worth, working great things with God. By tears Marie obtained the pardon of her sins: by tears she obtained the resurrection of her dead brother: for her tears sake, the Angels came and comforted her: for her tears sake our Saviour first appeared and showed himself unto her.  
Great is the virtue and power of tears, which tie the hands of the omnipotent, overcome the invincible, appease the wrath and indignation of the judge, and doth change and convert it into mercy.  
He that standeth on a profound and deep pit, sayeth the Philosopher, seethe the stars at noonstead: where he that standeth on the face of the earth, seethe not one star in so great a light: In like manner, he that is placed in the depth of humility, tears, sighs, and tribulation, sigheth to heaven, and summoneth God by his cries: but he that standeth in the light of this world, and in the brightness of worldly lasciviousness, can see no star, or retain any grace. 
1 Dionysius.  Shall I teach you how to bewail Christ? First love him, for love uniteth things together, drawing all man's interest from himself, and placing it in another: when thou art converted into Christ, then mayest thou truly bewail him. For the loss of things then nearest touch us, when they are best knowee unto us. Those that are one in affection, are one in passion, one in desires, one in tears, one in love, one in sorrow, one in mind, one in martyrdom: mockers martyr Christ, penitents weep for him, blasphemeis crucify him, the sorrowful are comforted by him, O men, learn and understand this, our Lord suffered of will, not of necessity, and he endured of commiseration, we in condition: his voluntary passion therefore, is our necessary consolation, that being afflicted as he was, we may be confident as he was. Will you know the hunger and thirst of this advocate? Alas, he scarce found one these on the gallows whom he might taft: his Apostles are fled from him, and hide them in the throng: Peter that promised to persever till death, hath denied him. Whereupon then shall he feed, if all souls fly him? Nay, how can he hope orf love, where none weep for him? Oh man thou art made just by the justice of God? Thou art saved gtatis, and not by thy graces: thou hast none to fly to, but to him in necessities, thou hast no life but it proceedeth from him: under the Sun thou hast nothing but watching, sleeping, eating drinking, hunger, thirst, growth, weakness, infancy, childhood, youth, age, and all these he gave thee. Above the Sun, thou hast invisible faith, 
August in Psalm 38  invisible hope, invisible charity, invisible bounty, invisible fear in holiness, which he willingly offereth thee. Oh then give him tears for his treasures, a small interest for so great riches. Oh ye sinful race of men, what are you but a sack of necessities? Alas, what necessities are these? Not to know another's heart, to think ill oftentimes of a faithful friend, to think well oftentimes of a dissembling enemy? O hard necessity! yet another harder. Thou knowest not what thou shalt be tomorrow. O greatest misery! yet another harder. Thou must needs die: O hard necessity! not to will that which thou canst not escape? In this confusion what canst thou man? Whether art thou carried? How art thou banished? Cry and cry out, unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from these? Who shall answer thee? Who shall help thee? Not ambition, for it is blind: not lust, for it hastens death: not wrath, for it subdueth reason: not the infirmities of the world, for they are all frail: It must be humble jesus then, that must heal these imperfectious, recover these necessities, & determine these dangers, to whom thou no sooner canst offer tears, but he suddenly sendeth remedies. Oh what heart can be so hardened? 
August in Psalm 10  What mind so obdurate? What soul so senseless, that beholding a prince in his own kingdom, amongst his own subjects, massacred by his own son, will not grieve at it: by how much reason then (ō you bond slaves of sin) should you be sorrowful, that see a prince, not slaughtered in his own kingdom, but unjustly murdered in the world, not among his subjects, but his brethien: not by his sons only, but sons, servants, and liegemen: nay, which is more, not for his own offence, his own default, his own error, but for their sins only who persecute him only. Oh wonderful charity, Christ spreadeth his arms to embrace those that spit at him, openeth his wounds to entertain those that will enter, offereth his blood to ran some them that shed it, giveth his flesh to be eaten, to those that mangled it: he prayeth for their offences that fastened him to the cross, 
August in Psalm 41  he made their sins his sin, that he might make his justice their justice. Oh if there be any kindness in thee (man) think on these benefits: look, look about thee, consider the weight of thy offences, which stops the Father's cares, though the son crieth, Make Christ sweat water and blood for very agony in bearing them, make heaven, and earth, and all creatures break out in miracles to behold them. job upon the devils request, 
job i  was left to him to be tempted, and after his long patience received blessings two fold: but our Lord was whipped, and no man helped him: foully spit upon, and no man succoured him: lewdly buffeted, and no man regarded him: crowned with thorns, and no man pitied him: nailed to the cross, and no man delivered him: he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? and was not succoured. Why oh good jesus, whence came these things? For what cause suffered'st thou all this? To what end are all these torments? Why cried the jews, Crucify, crucify? Why wert thou poured out like water? Why were all thy bones dispersed? Why became thy heart like melting wax? Why cleaved thy tongue to thy roof? Why divided they thy garments & cast lots on thy vesture? O Christ, the son of God, if thou wouldst not, thou shouldest not have suffered: show us therefore the fruit of this thy passion: It was thy sin (O sinner) that caused this, it was thy disobedience to God that was punished in God's son: to show the horror of thy offence, power was made desolate. Oh stony heart be not so obstinate, let tears drop from thine eyes to recompense the blood pouring from his wounds: sigh bitterly with him that prayed earnestly for thee. What is this sin, sayest thou, that enforceth such a sacrifice? That which maketh all men in the world fly from their salvation, 
August. li: 12 de civitate Dei  and run after their own concupiscences without any fear: that which leadeth men down to hell, that which blindeth the understanding, that which maketh men like unto foolish beasts: for as beasts incline themselves to earthly pleasures, so sinners betrothe themselves to worldly desires: that which maketh men seek only those things which are of the flesh, that which maketh men esteem their belly for their God. Sinners are compared to hogs by their detracting, for as the hog devoureth dung, so detracting & sinful men, other men's sins and filthiness: For lechery they are compared unto a horse: 
Phillip 30 Rom: 8  for folly and slowness to an ass: for their solicitude & worldly care, to an ox: for their curious conversations, to an ape: for their inconsiderate boldness, to a lion: for their cruelty, to a bear: for their vanity, to leopards: for their craft, to a fox. Sin is the transgression of the laws of God, 
Numquid potest Athiops mutare pellem suain avi paidus varietate 〈◊〉  and the disobedience of his commandments: Sin, is the contrary to nature: sin draweth us from the sovereign good, to make us subject to brittle, frail, and mutable pleasures. 
Ambrose li. de pa●ad: ho. 32 quest. 133 art. 1 ●●ay ●9 Plato in Gorgia  Sin divideth us from God. To conclude, (as the Ethnic witnesseth) the sinner is only miserable: Sin depriveth man of eternal beatitude, banisheth him from heaven, confineth him with hell, despoileth him of graces, exileth him from paradise. Briefly, it maketh him the most miserable amongst miserable. Sin perverteth the order of nature, impugneth our reason, vigeth our sensuality: sin blindeth the spirit, darkeneth the understanding (ordained to contemplate spiritual things:) Sin soileth and infecteth the solve, depriveth it of her nuptial garment, and maketh it filthy and loathsome: according to that of the Prophet, Denigrata est super carbones facies eius. Sin after it hath blinded the understanding, hardeneth the heart, and maketh obstinate in iniquity: whence cometh the habitude of sin, which is the extremity of sin, and as Philosophers conclude, another nature. He that sinneth, whatsoever he be, either king in his diadem, 
Abissus abissum invocat Psalm 41 Ex frequentatione actu um genetatur habitus Arist Categ Rom. 6 john 8  prince in his purple, poor, in his misery, he is the slave of sin: who therefore by sin is given over as a pray to vices, looseth his liberty, and cannot resist his unhappiness. See sinner, see, what horror, what confusion? Look with what foes you are environed, that you may know the greatness of your deliverance: you are uncurable by sin, & Christ healeth you: you are separated from God, from the Angels, from the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, by sin, and jesus restoreth you: you are impoverished by sin, and he enricheth you: you are made abominable, and he blesseth you.  
O if you knew how abject & wretched a sinful soul is, you would resist it, (saith a father,) even unto the death. Waries, plagues, famine (the whips of God) sickness, dishonours, and adversity, (the tools of his correction) how light trifles are these in comparison of loathsome sin? Tyrannies, injuries, oppressions, the fury of the fire, the danger of water, the contagion of air, the trembling of the earth, finally, all the compliments of evils which persecute man, proceed from sin: so that rightly it may be said, 
Quicquid patimur peccata nostra merue●●●t  all that which the wretched suffer, their sins have deserved it. Oh the horror of sin, oh the terrible issues thereof: wretched men take heed and look about you, let your hairs stand upright for very fright, and let your blood fly to your heart, to comfort it in the extremity of your thoughts, no punishment can satisfy for it, no death can recompense for it, but the flames of hell eternal in their extremity, extreme in their eternity.  
Oh hard hearted souls, sold and quite given over to your own sensualities, behold the issues of your evil lives, behold your martyrdoms for crucifying Christ, if you reconcile not & weep with him you shall have perpetual darkness without light, you shall be deprived of God's presence, (a greater torment to the damned than may be expressed) fire shall burn you unquenchably, darkness shall blind you unseparably, conscience shall accuse you incessantly, devils shall persecute you eternally, cries, cursings, and blasphemies shall haunt you continually, desolation and discomfort shall detain you perpetually. Finally, without remorse in life, there is no redemption after death. O jesus my son, how rich art thou in compassion, thou only healest these wounds, & recoverest these harms. It is thou only that canst dull the sting of this death, thy blood only satisfieth for these defaults. Ah dear Lord, thou art worthy of tears, thou deservest remorse, thou hast purchased compassion. Oh woeful spectacle for men to weep at, for angels to sigh at. Oh sacrifice for sin, O atonement for offences, oh seal of redemption. O contemplation to extort tears, to behold innocency martyred with so many and grievous wounds. Oh liberty taken prisoner, oh truth accused, oh innocency whipped, oh justice condemned, oh glory discruciate, oh life dead and crucified: oh highness of charity, oh baseness of humility, oh greatness of mercy, oh excess of bounty. Thou hast wept for all, 
Granaten.  & art bewailed of none: thou hast borne many hurts, to cure a few hearts: thou hast been a corrosive to thy mother, to be a cordial to men: but men weep thee not, they pass by wagging their heads at my woe, & hiding their faces, lest they should be enforced to bewail thee. Their hearts are become adamants, & loathing to spend tears themselves, they grieve to grace my tears by hearkening to them. Ah heavenly father, let me consume with sorrow till I see him: let my life pass like a tale that is told: let my soul (that mourneth within me) give a libel of divorce to this flesh, that I in spirit may seek him out, who in the flesh did glorify me. Thou that rainedst upon the earth forty days, to revenge thee on the rebellious, open the clouds of thy compassion over me, that they weeping on me, and I with them, I may be drowned in them, innocency may be quickened by me. All judah & Israel mourned for josiaz, 
Paral. 15  & shall tears want to bewail jesus? See my son, I will bear thy cross on my shoulders, imprint thy passisions in my heart: I will beat so long upon my breast, that the echo thereof shall pierce all ears: I will sigh so long, till the furnace of my charity steam out my heart, and the winged chaste affections of my soul, soar heavens, search earth, find my son, or forsake my soul. Ah my son, no Absalon a sinner, but jesus a saviour. The root of my hope is waxed old, and the stock thereof is dead in the ground; When shall these closed eyes open to warm him as his son? When shall thy breath quicken and cheer my barrenness, the days of my desolation are come. The blessedst amongst women, is now the miserablest amongst mothers. Grief hath brought me to death's door, (my son) but death will not let me enter, oh than show thy deity to help thy mother, and let me die in this desolate flesh, to live in thy divine body, the joy in possessing the one, shall temper the loss of the other, and dying in myself to give thee life, I shall live in death by reason of thy life. O Lord Lord of my life, how hath zeal made me presume? no soul meriteth to dwell in this body but thine own: thus impatience in love, makes me too much presume for love: Fruits long time shut in their buds, by rain, dew, and sun are made to blossom: rivers closed in then bounds by huge winds, are forced to overlope the banks. The Ostrich by help of the Sun and sand, breaketh the shell: ripen then (thou root of mine) for the rain of remorse hath watered thee, the dew of compassion hath wet thee, the sun of my zeal and charity hath looked on thee, and inflamed thee: rise & rouse thyself thou river of God, for the winds of my sighs have summoned thee: overbear death, holy spring of happiness, and let the waters of life issue from thee. Break the shell of death, thou that fastedst in the desert, and let the sun of my desire quicken the sun of understanding, be not to long in conquering death, lest I lose life in wailing thy death. How long o Lord, how long wilt thou delay? Shall death never have end, because my life may be devoured in death? Wilt thou not awake like a strong warrior, to conquer these passions with combat with thy mother's heart? Set thine axe to the tree of my sorrow, let mine eyes which bewail thee dead, behold thee living; let mine ears, which are scared with mine own clamours, be consolated by thy counsels: let me smell thee the rose, and see thee the lily richly clothed: let me taste how sweet the Lord is: let me touch him, whose absence toucheth me at the heart: let my imagination be the usher, to present thee, my memory, the painter, to describe thee, my consideration the fire to kindle love. Let hell, hunger, thirst, weep and wail, come thou and joy with Israel, thou hast not to do with Egypt. Come thou corner stone, and let me build on thee, wed me to death, so thou return to life, I cannot want thee. I will not miss thee, my love is so fervent, as it neither measures judgement, or regardeth counsel, or is bridled by shame, 
Bernard  or subject to reason: come yield me peace with a kiss of thy mouth, and let my importunacy work more with thee than all expectation can require. Lend me the cloak of thy presence, to divide the waters of my woes: let thy mother be as strong as thy prophet, that by praying to our Lord with tears, by putting my mouth on thy mouth, 
4: Reg. ●  by fastening mine eyes to thine eyes, by closing my hands in thy hands, I may make the flesh of my son wax warm: as he warmed the flesh of the Sunamites child, then gasping seven times I would kiss thee seventy times seven, & seem more thy lover than thy mother. I would expostulate with thee of thine absence, and if thy wounds fell new a bleeding, I would wash them with my tears; my hairs should dry them, my lips should suck them, thou shouldest make me more than a mother, in recovering me an absent son. Well Lord, if thou deniest that I want, I will rejoice in that I have, I will symbolise thy body with mine, and quicken thy passion by my sufferance: There shall no sorrow be hid from mine eyes, till I see thy eyes open, and till the eyes of our Lord quicken me, the eye of poor Marie shall see no comfort: mine eye shall only see by supposing thine eye seethe: all pleasures shall be smoke to mine eyes, till thy eyes do behold them: till thy eyes be waking, mine eyes shall be weeping, and unless they grow open, 
Eccles. 21  I will shut mine eyes with sorrow. I will set a sure seal upon my lips, 
〈◊〉 4  till thy lips salute me, & my lips shall become white as the lily, till thy lips grow crimson like a rose coloured ribbon. 
1. b 5  My unsained lips shall be tired with prayer, till such time I may enjoy thy desired presence: my hands shall never unfold, till the hands of my Lord be extended: I will never deliver thy body out of my hands, till thou deliver my soul out of her sorrow: I will lay my hand upon my mouth, till thou speakest, & never will I cease to lift up my hands to heaven, till thy hands have embraced me on earth: till thou put forth thy hand, I will lean my head upon my hand, and till thy fingers touch me, my heart shall be touched with sorrow: the wings of the cherubins touched one another, o let the wings of my charity touch the wings of my life, both are allied, both love. They that touched the hem of thy vesture, recovered from their sickness, shall not I touch thy body to recover me of my sorrow? The body which lifeless touched the bones of Elisa, 
4. Reg: 13  were restored to life; and shall my hands touch thee, my lips kiss thee, my love importune thee, and thou not live? 
Arist. libro Phil. 1  All heavy things by nature search the centre, I am in the abundance of my heaviness, and cannot descend into the grave: I will glory in tribulation, 
2 corinth. 12  so thou grace me in thy life. My soul is in bitterness, and heavy captivity, oh make my burden light, by once looking on me. 
jeremy 6  The jews by smiting have wounded thee, thou by absence hast wounded me, sorrow and wounds are ever in my sight: touch I thy brow, thorns have wounded it: kiss I thy cheeks, crimson hath forsaken them, thy sides are wounded, thy hands are wounded, thy feet are wounded, my wounds cannot be hid till thy wounds be healed, 
Mark 11  and till thou live to recure me, I shall die through wanting thee. Thou hast promised that whatsoever we shall faithfully ask in thy name, thou wilt grant it us. Then o jesus, my son, my comforter, I conjure thee by thine own name jesus, to blunt and abate the sting of death, to break up and disperse the clouds of darkness, and appearing like a fair morning star, quicken the dead comfort of thy mother, and give a light to this desolate and dismayed world. Show the light of thy countenance, and I shall be whole. O Lord my redeemer, tarry not, my soul thirsteth after thee my son, & as the hart desireth the hart desireth the water brooks, even so my soul longeth after thee my God. Appear than thou chief shepherd, 
2: Pet: 5  thy flocks saint without thee. Apparel thyself with life, to apparel our hearts with joy: my eyes long fore for thy sight, oh when wilt thou comfort me. 
Psal: 〈◊〉 Ies●● 9   
O who will give my head water enough, and a spring of tears for mine eyes, that I may weep day & night for the absence of my son? Alas, alas, sorrow increaseth in me, and heaviness swalloweth up my soul: my tears are like seed in a barren ground, the garden of my delight is become a desert of sorrow, I am like a mother bemourning her child, because he is not. Oh thou angel of peace, come and secure me: Ah my son, the happiness in bearing thee, is buried through the heaviness in missing thee: and the hope I conceived of thy life, is prevented by thy lamentable death. Woe is me, I am sick to the death, to see thee dead, I am sick for love, and desire to hasten thy life. Wilt thou lift the poor out of the dust, 
Phil. 23  and leave thy mother in desolation? Oh lift up thine eyes, and see how the mother lifteth up her voice and weary! 
Cant: 8  Oh love, if thou art mightier than death, now show thy power, lighten the lamp of his life, at the candle of my charity: Pour the oil of thy compassion into these wounds, and heal them, breath the breath of life into him by embraces and kissing: as I clasp mine arms, let him gasp & breath: as I weep on his face, let him suck up my tears: O death, if thou be more pitiful than love, imprison thy dart in my heart, & ransom my son. Alas the fairest among men, love will not lend him me, death will not grant him me, his mother must be only kind, and her best tributes are but tears, prayers, kisses, and wishes. Ah Bethelem, mourn with me, and you inhabitants of juda, put on sackcloth, for sorrow is come upon you, and the voice of the mourner must ring in your streets, howl and lament jerusalem, weep the tears of contrition, sigh, sob, & complain you, he that loved you lost his life, he that wept for you, is dead for you: he that prayed for you, is plagued for you. Ah cross that hast made my son a martyr, and me a mourner! Ah cross that art the mean of my grief: Ah cross, the cause of cross, I must kiss thee, & accuse thee. See, see, thou art honoured by my jesus name, his purple drops of blood dwell in thee, thou didst kiss his body, his warm body, and for these causes I kiss thee. But cruel cross, since all thy trophies are cause of my trouble: thy titles, the occasions of my tears: let me accuse thee, which hast honoured thyself, and left me comfortless: yet art thou kind to me in listening my complaints, and but in bearing the name of jesus in thy front, thou hast already recovered my favour. O cross, the image of mortification, 
Bernard  the tree of redemption, the bond of peace, the seal of the covenant, I will cross mine arms to embrace thee. Cross, all my joys to contain thee, I will be a cross to mine own soul, if it seek thee not, and count every comfort a cross, that is not crossed by thee. I will cross the seas of tribulation to encounter thee, & whilst I hold thee holy cross I will count no cross too cruel: I that bare my son, will hold it for no base benefit to bear his cross, 
〈◊〉: 4  & the only glorying in the cross of Christ crucified, shall be my best blessing: my love shall fasten me to my sons cross, and in that he vouchsafed a cross, 
Col: 1  I will esteem no glory but in his cross. O son, the words of thy wisdom were pricks and nails to my meditation: these fastened thee unto me in all assaults of sorrow, and those nails which nailed thy hands and feet to the cross, shall nail my soul & thoughts to thy cross, & with my nails I will dig my own grave, before I forsake those nails which forced thy hands: Like as a nail in the wall sticketh fast, so fastly shall the nails of thy martyrdom stick in my heart: 
Eccle. 27  I will nail up my soul from all joy, because the nail that issued from juda is broken: my flesh is torn with thorns, 
Zach: 16  because thy forehead is rend with thorns: the thorns of tribulation persecute me, because the thorns of martyrdom pierceth, I will hedge in my heart with thorns, because they have hemmed in thy brains with thorns. Whether unto extendeth my sorrow? If it was thy love that madest thee suffer, it becometh my love to suffer with thee: 
job 81  and since thou givest me an example of patience, why should I not preserve the same? Though the shadow of death overspread thine eyes, hope saith they shall be lightened: though thy life be now like the dark night, it shortly shall be as clear as the noon day, yea, thou shalt shine forth and be as the morning.  
The shepherds after great storms wait for fair weather: the soldiers after dreadful war, expect happy peace: the sentinel after his cold watch, attendeth, and intendeth his desired and wished sleep: pleasures are the heirs of displeasures, & comfort treadeth on the heel of care. Why expostulate I then with death? who having a time to tyrannize, shall at last be lead in triumph: the storms of afflictions shall be calmed, the wars of rueful wailing, shall have a peaceful delight: these watchful complaints and attending to see my love, shall at last be quieted, and I shall lay me down and take my rest, for my Lord shall come, and cause me to dwell in safety. Brieftie, all tears shall be wiped from mine eyes, death's sting shall be dulled, life's triumph shall be established, sorrow shall be disinherited, and majesty revived.  
Oh my charity, how much dost thou help me in this? my faith only presenteth me with all these hopes, as it were under a vail, my hope beholdeth my son (& these future prophecies of him (as the chiefest good (which as yet unpossessed she hopeth to enjoy) but thou my charity makest all these joys present, so that I behold effectually things before thy Bee, and crave no interest in belief, whereas my love assures me all is present. Ah that the adversity of an hour should make me thus forget the pleasures I had in life? when I lulled thee in my lap my son, fostered thee at these teats, followed thee in travels, fed with thee in Egypt: Then, o than what sweetness enjoyed I in thy presence: what comfort in thy counsels, what courage in extremes? Ah but if it be true, that things the dearer they are loved, breed the more heart grief by their loss: how can I choose but wail, that having had pleasure to wrap thee in thy swathing bands, must now to my discomfort, close thee in thy winding sheet: Can the want of thy company, the lack of thy counsels, the muficke of thy preachings, the miracles in thy life, the charity in thy death be expiated but with another death, or answered with a few sighs? Ah this adversity of an hour (in other men's thoughts) is an age in mine. Compare the age of thy pleasure, to one minute of the grief, and it exceedeth it. The earth for a little travel rewardeth the husbandman with a huge crop, 
Tul▪ Offi. 1;  and shall I be more unkind than the earth, to the king of the heavens (who as the beam in the glass, hath enriched my womb, and anointed me with the oil of gladness above my fellows) shall I requite his kindness & great mercies with a few faint tears? No my charity shall not let me, my love shall suffer my grief to exceed her, and reason shall surrender his Lordship to passion, sufficeth it my son, that in spirit I assure me of thy life; yet in flesh whilst thou art absent, & dwellest with death, let me bewail thee, (for human weakness requireth a little more weeping. Of one spark, (saith the wise man) is made a great fire, of one kernel a large tree, of one grain of mustard seed, a great and gross number: why then should not one care beget another, one tear produce multitudes, one sigh enforce storms, wherethorough my grief might be endless in lamenting, my tears ceaseless in weeping, and my sighs incessant in their doubling? Hanna was troubled in her mind, and wept sore to get a son, and should not Marie be tormented in soul, and weep instantly that hath left a son? Achsah married to Othoviel, humbled herself before her father, and said, Give me a blessing, thou hast given me a South land, give me also springs of water. As Achsah to Caleb her father, so I to she my God; 
Greg. libro ● Dialog.  thou hast given me a South land of desolation, wherein the fruits of hope are bar, the blossoms of joys are blasted: Oh give me therefore a well spring of tears, to water this waist, that my hopes may ripe by my ruth, and my joys may bloom after their blasting. josiah considering the long absence & concealment of the books of the law, rend his garments for grief, & wept bitterly: Wonder not therefore o ye men of Israel, though Marie rend her heart, rend her hairs, rend her clothes, for the hath lost & long wanted, the Lord of the law, the maker of Moses, the father of the people, the passover and pledge of man's redemption. As the hand which is filled with one thing, can receive and contain no other thing, 
August.  so my heart being filled with the love of this absent Christ, the grief in wanting him, & the wounds that wound him) can love nothing better than to lament him: can grieve at nothing else but his want: finally, my eyes presenting his wounds to the consideration of the same, my thoughts are wounded, by dwelling in my heart, my heart is wounded by containing my thoughts, and both are wounded in imagining his wounds: yea, they are so filled with compassion, that they yield no place to consolation. Why then beget not these grief-full thoughts more grief-full thoughts: these tears, more tears: these sighs, more sighs: which having only empery in my heart, may give place to no joy, but break the circumference that encloseth them in in the centre of care, and getting better freedom to produce more, they may in their eternity make me more miserable, and my moan more fruitful', my sorrow more plentiful, through the foisons of my misfortune. Ah Marry, thou canst not make thine ability answerable to thy will, thy life hath limits, and must limit thy tears. He that bindeth the floods that they overflow not, boundeth thy tears. Thou hast wept to the utterance, thou hast no more to utter: the darkness must once come to an end, the clouds must at last be dissolved, and every thing must end at his appointed time, and as there is a time to bemoan, so likewise there is a time to be merry.  
If thou weep till thou weep away life, and cry till thy days be consumed and quite wasted, a day shall come to determine both? What shall I become a comforter? or give a law to my remorse, who cannot comprehend my loss? No mine eyes weep on, whilst I have a time to live, give no term to your tears: as fast as you weep them, my brains shall distill them, the fire of my love shall help to distill them, they cannot cease till I die, and being dead, what need I seek to bewail, his absence, being assured of his presence? The till I die I will not cease to weep, that being dead, I may behold him, & whilst I live, I will count all food vain, till I feed on his presence. If mine eyes grow weary, my sighs shall assist them, and when both of them are enfeebled, my cries shall be enforced: in the hollow of his sepulchre I will execute these drirements, and I will exclaim so long on death till I make him deaf with hearing me. Make him deaf poor Marie? Alas, he is always deaf and insensible, it were a second death to assault him: he is not tamed by entreaties, tempted by persuasions, bribed by benefits, or alured by lamentations, terms please him not, tears pierce him not, it were an endless labour, a fruitless work. Oh my son, how am I discruciate for thee, I would work, I know not what, to win thee I know not how, I would end my sorrow, and desire to begin it, I would bear thee to thy grave, could I cease to embrace thee, I would complain of my desires, so I might appease them, and conquer my affections, so I might command them: but flames that are ' quickly kindled, are hardly quenched, and where oil seeds the lamp of sorrow, it will hardly be extinguished. My sighs prevent my tears, and enforce them to issue, my tears prevent my thoughts, & make them impatient, my thoughts prevent my reason, and admit no moderation, my reason would prevent all this, but love preventeth it: my love being of itself fiery, will not cease burning till it embrace thee, flaming, till it find thee out: my charity is sovereign of all my delights, she wills me die to live with thee: And as in salomon's temple there, there was nothing that was not covered with gold, so is there not any part, sense, motion, or action in me, or the living temple of my soul, which is not invested with love, clothed with charity, which having the nature of fire, (which is the most active of all elements) is never idle, but reviveth tears when they are extinct, quickeneth sighs when they cease: armeth thoughts, when they are dismayed: and forceth reason when she fainteth. As the root is to the tree, the soul to the body, the sun to the world: such are thou to me, O my son: the boughs are not clothed with green, except they be united to the root: the members enjoy no life, except they be imformed by the soul: the world partaketh no light, except the Sun illuminateth and lighteneth the same: so my body enjoyeth no life except thou live in me, mine eyes no delight, except thou look upon them, my thoughts no clear and perfect understanding, unless thou beautify and behold them. Briefly, I cannot be mine own without thee, I cannot live, thou being dead, I cannot leave weeping tears, until thou come and wipe away my tears. He that truly loveth (saith the Philosopher) is dead in his own body, and liveth in another's: then how cometh it to pass my son, 
Arist: Polit: 1  (if this reason do hold) that I live not in thee, who love thee so dearly? If it be true, that there are two terms in all motions, the one from whence the thing parteth, the other whether it is resorted: why is it not this life that hath left thee, incorporated in my body? and my life which should forsake my body, possessed of thine? Our loves are in the highest degree perfect, why have not then these causes their effects? Why livest thou not my son? Why move not these hands with mine? Why stirs not this heart with mine? Why open not these eyes with mine? Why speaks not this mouth with mine? Oh my God, except it be imperfection of my body, I know nothing can withdraw thy life from me. By it I live, by thy spirit my spirit breatheth, only my life is not in thy body, because it is unworthy to express it, unworthy to animate thy heart, open thine eyes, quicken thy hands and tongue: and thy life is not in mine, because my body is unable to contain it: yet a spark of thy spirit is my love, and a beam of this love is my desire, which by kisses I breath into thy lips, which though it actually work not in thee, yet by effectual will, I wish it in thee. What I can give of my life, I lavishly have spent on thee, my life liveth in my body, though my body live not, till thy body enjoy life, the life of my body is lifeless, only my charity which is in me, taken from thee (who art the tree ' of life, and fountain of charity) maketh my body living in spite of my will, and enforceth all my senses (through vehemency of my spirit,) to work their offices in a lifeless body, and a heartless creature, which liveth only by thee, and cannot live but in thee: so if I live, I live forcibly, till thou live. And to verify this philosophy (in that I love thee truly) I leave myself to live in thee, & only by the living charity which is in me, my hands embrace thee, as they do, mine eyes bewail thee with tears, and every other part worketh as thou wouldst. Ah Lord now see I the reason of my deadly life, and thy wounding death: thou the hope of the disconsolate, art crucified. thou the fountain of life, art troubled: how can my life then be fruitful, who was engraffed by thee, Or thy death be but wounding, when thou the fountain (by whom I live) art dried up by death? If of contraries, there grow a contrary reason, why should I fear? The wicked (saith job) shall never depart out of darkness, the flame shall dry up their branches, with the blasts of God's mouth shall they be taken away. What then shall become of the godly? If the wicked dwell in darkness, they shall enjoy light? If the flame dry up their branches, the children of the righteous shall be like Olive branches: if the godless be blasted by God's mouth, the innocent shall be blessed with his benefits: Then what should I fear? And what not hope? Thou knowest me (o Lord my father) how I have conceived in ' innocency, and hated the works of darkness: thou knowest my son hath suffered in innocency, let therefore the fruit of my womb flourish, let thy promises be accomplished in jacob, & thy covenant in Israel.  
Though death hath blasted the branch, by a winter of others sin, let the spring of thy mercy comfort the root, and animate the bows, so shall thy terrors and promises be accommplished in both sorts. The weight of their shames shall weigh down the evil: the works of the just shall prevail before thy mercy seat. There are two tears, O Lord, wherewith thou art pleased, the one of joy and praise, the other of sorrow and lamentation: I wept the tears of joy when thou blessedst my womb, I weep the tears of sorrow, because the hope of my days is decayed. Quicken him O Lord, and encourage me, and as I received him with delight, nourished him with care, wept for him with joy, and lost him with grief: so let me recover him with comfort, who wept for him through discontent & loss, and behold him in his resurrection, and triumph in his ascension, that pleasing In either sort of tears, I may praise thee for both sorts of mercy. O my body, thou hast passed the wilderness of woe, no rock hath been so kind to yield thee an echo, my only breast by often beating on, hath echoed my stripes, so that in myself I have had the cause of complaint, & report. Oh my soul, thou hast been sifted by incessant sorrow, all thy intellectual powers & discurfive parts, have been plagued by themselves, and supposing their weal lost, they entertain no hope to come.  
Thus plagued in body and distressed in soul, sat poor Marie (a holy and happy virgin) enacting her grief with her arms, when she had overforced both her tongue and eyes with compassion: briefly, her pain & impatience being so great as her words could not express it, her desires so importunate, as they exceeded all her delights. The image of her grief before her, and the damage of her loss within her, she sounded on the senseless earth, and being conveyed to her oratory by the holy assistance, the sacred body of Christ was bound up and borne to the sepulchre.  
FINIS.