¶ Complaint of the soul.  
Cont●●● 〈◊〉 Heu infame. Furore consumor. Spes nobis nulla Animam ami●●mus.   

¶ Here beginneth a lamentable complaint that the soul maketh of the wretched life of the body.  
TEdet 〈◊〉 meam vite me●. ¶ My soul is weary of the life. For there I see no thing but matter of sorrow misery & sin. The part of my life passed is full lamentable when I remember it/ the present part suppressed mine heart with heaviness for it is unreformed. And the great loss of virtue in these two parts & abomination of sin putteth me in great fere of the third part the which is to come. And if my life might be prolonged many years only in virtuous uses/ yet it might not recompense for the manifold offences which I have done in the present sight of my lord god and terrible judge of my life which hateth no thing but only sin. Alas than my soul may be full of sorrow which hath provoked my lord god/ my most tender lover to be wroth with me and to hate me more than I do a dog or a stinking carrion/ for no thing is so vile so loathsome so stinking nor so abominable in the sight or smelling of man/ as sin in the sight or smelling of god. Alas alas that I should offend my lord god which hath made me of nought & where he might have made me a stone or an unreasonable be'st/ he hath made me to the image of himself a reasonable creature/ and when I was lost redeemed me with the precious blood of his heart and suffered the most bytterst death for me/ an● in an my life he hath showed great kindness unto nigh/ and I have showed great vnkȳden●●●e agayen to him/ he loved me & I not him/ for I will not do after the will of him/ but I set my will afore his will/ and the pleasure of myself afore the pleasure of him/ and in fulfilling my will I care not to displease him. And thus I see not by him which hath made so moche of me he hath made heaven and earth for me/ and hath comen to this earth to teach me the way of salvation/ and hath ordained for me if I would love him the mestymable joy of his divinity and to receive the eternal kingdom of felicity ¶ All these things I forget/ & I order myself by my lewd negligence and unhappy living to lose the love of my lord god/ & the transcending joy of his kingdom. I order me by my wretched life to everlasting pain/ woe I be a vessel of death of Ire and indignation of god/ he hath made my soul by the sacrament of baptism a vessel of mercy and grace/ and I have defouled it with abominable sin/ & made it with out his immeasurable mercy vessel of damnation to be brent in the fire of hell among the horrible fiends ever without ending. ¶ Alas what shall I do what shall I say which have erred thus far out of the way of virtue and is casted deep in to the pit of sin. A great cause I have of lamentation which am in this great jeopardy of endless damnation. I am a waster and a dystroyer of my soul and body. I destroy the goods of nature/ of grace/ and of the world as a man that is worse than good in the sight of him the which hath given them to me to the intent that I should use them virtuously. And in the sight of him which shall most bitterly punish him. I use them viciously I am closed in the dark clouds of Ignorance/ and reprovable negligence of my lord g●d/ of myself and of virtuous living. All my life is sinful/ & as a dry tr●e barren and far from all fruit of virtue I think not on the dreadful judgement of god/ where I shall stand afore the terrible judgement of christ/ and to render account for all the dydes that I have done in my soul and in my body. O there I shall show an unfruitful life/ and if there be any fruit therein it is but feigned and false/ or unperfect or corrupted and other it is full little pleased or else utterly disposed god. And notwithstanding that every man there shall be fed after this life with such fruit as that he hath brought forth in this life/ than my feeding is like to be full bitter unto me. ¶ O how sorrowful I ought then to be/ for except that I sorrow for my sin in this life. I am like for to be brought to great sorrow after this life. ¶ O my sinful soul. O my miserable soul look upon thyself/ see how thou art brought in to the great darkness of sin so deep that thou canst not see thyself. Seest thou not how thou runnest in to vain thoughts & unleeful desires. ¶ Remember that all the time that thou lookest not upon virtue is lost and thou shalt be shent therefore/ as moche time that lesest than which might turn the to great joy in time coming/ and now all shall turn the to great punishment except thou learn to amend and to spend the residue of thy tyme. O how afeard thou shouldest be to have an unfruitful life/ for the unfruitful life is a damnable life as almighty god which is very troth saith Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit it shall be cut down & cast in to the fire. ¶ A mercy god what shall I do than for I am so barren so dry from all devotion and moisture of contrition and grace that I am deapte and ready to the fire. ¶ A merciful lord cut me not down by death to such time that my tree may have moisture through thy grace & bring forth some profitable fruits of penance/ all my dydes that I do art not sufficient to recompense for the meet and drink that I receive of y● to my bodily sustenance. ¶ A where with shall I than recompense for my soul/ my body/ my wit/ my hearing/ my saying/ my speech/ my health/ my bodily power/ my life/ and where with all shall I recompense for my sin/ & for that loss of grace which passeth these all/ for none shall be brought to dampnacy on but such as for lack of grace are defouled with sin who so spendeth more in feeding of a be'st than it is worth in themself is not that superfluous expense and unprofitable. And yet merciful lord the nourysshest daily and abundantly an unprofitable worm & stinking sinner. ¶ A good lord thou wouldest not that this wretch shall perish of whom thou dost so large expenses and so tenderly keepest it. Many good thou givest it unasked/ & from many evil things he preserved it unthanked of it/ thou keepest me/ thou leadest me/ and protectest me from many perils/ and as an unkind wretch I remember not this & I do not call in wealth to the but in great sorrow & fere when than that I am like to fall. ¶ A good lord a more or a greater wretch is there none in this world than I am/ and a most unkind katyf/ a wretch/ a worm/ a vessel full of uncleanness and abomination not worthy for to be called a man or a reasonable creature For I abuse that reason/ that memory/ and that freedom of will which thou haste given unto me with all the gifts & all the benefits of nature and of fortune/ and so I am worse than a be'st the which hath not the helps and have no reason for to direct their life to the honour and the worship of god as I have/ they have no freedom of will for to choose the good & to leave the evil as I have. My reason is given to me for to know my lord god/ & for to know how I should live to the pleasure of him and to think upon the life that is to come/ & holily for to order mysefe thereto/ and for to avoid the great torments and the endless tribulation the which after this life is ordained for sin. ¶ A god mercy what great darkness am I in/ and my soul is in manner made blind the ghostly sight is gone. I look not up to my lord god with the sight of my soul/ but all my thought/ all my memory/ all my love/ and all the great pleasure in my soul is down ward/ & all is to vanities of this earth I am earthly in my prayers/ in me study/ in my labours in my meditations/ and in all my conversation. I may well think that these words are verified of me. The prophet Y say saith. Earth earth earth here the word of god/ for I am made of earth/ and hastily I shall turn to earth/ and all my conversation is but earth. I am reputed good lord in the sight of the after my love/ if I love earth I am earth/ if I love earthly things I am earthly/ if I love ghostly things I am ghostly/ and if I love the good lord which art very god than I am godly. ¶ A good lord I fear than that I am in thy reputation but as vile earth. For in the earth and in the earthly things is ever my mind. I keep it not upon the good lord/ ne upon the holy ordering of my soul I have suffered myself by wretched custom so long and so continually for to run from the and from actual thoughts of my soul and things which are profitable for to promote my soul in virtue and in good works. Than now I can not without great pain and without great labour for to fix my mind any time or space upon the or upon the holy direction and ordering of my soul/ and I of a froward and of an obdurate will in wretchedness enforces not neither care not myself for to take part against this miserable inclination of myself/ and so it goeth all downward with me. I come not upward to the neither I will not greatly apply myself for to come to the by actual meditation and by perfit love of the. I sleep. I dream and that I shall find when the sharp pains of death shall come for to open the eye of my soul/ for than I shall clearly see how vainly and how sinfully and how wretchedly and how unhappy and how miserably and how ungraciously that I have misspended the time of this life/ the which time is given unto me only because that I should spend it fruitfully in good and in virtuous lyu●ge unto the great honour and to the great worship of our saviour christ Ihesu and unto the promotion of my soul in the glory of eternal life and of the heavenly felicity/ and also for to avoid eternal damnation which is ordained by the rightwiseness of almighty god to the inordinate livers of this life/ the which consume the goods that they have received of god to their eternal reprove/ sorrow and/ pain: & for to receive of almighty god finally perpetual damnation.  
VEdet animam meam vite me. ¶ I am weary of my life. It is so full of Ignorance and of negligence/ so full of unhappy desires and of sinful words so full of forgetfulness and so full of evil thoughts/ & so full of unfruitful dydes and works and so full of unprofitable heaviness/ and so full unlawful sadness and so full of vain joys and sinful delectations with foul wretched and miserable pleasures/ also it is full of pains with unpatience of proud desires and with a full covetous mind/ & with all these miseries I see how that myself is but a course & a running to death/ and now I am more nearer it than when as I last spoke of it. The death cometh shortly/ & the life gooth away full fastly and full swiftly/ & at the hour of death I am like to be called for to render accounts of my life/ and I am unprovided and unware for to content the judge of my life/ and than I shall be most full of sorrow and pain & lament or complain the time that ever I came in to this life/ which so neclygently hath lost the profit of this. A good lord I am ashamed & abashed of my life in the sight of the good lord which all thing seth clearly/ & nothing may be hid from the. ¶ sithen it is so that shame is fear of rebuke and reprove/ and there is no rebuke which that I dread so moche as I do the rebuke of the good lord/ wherefore I am most ashamed of my sinful life in the sight of thee/ and thus I am ashamed to live/ and yet I am afeard to die. For if I may avoid by the great mercy of god the torments of eternal damnation/ yet I fear that I shall bear with me in to purgatory the guilt of many sins/ & I shall pay by great pain/ the duty of many obligations/ grant me good lord perfit fere of y●. For when I shall not fere by death to come to thee/ for thy fere maketh souls to decline and f●ee from sin. ¶ A good lord if I had thy fere perfitly I should be more a dread any thing to think or to desire sinfully in the sight of thee/ than I am to do sin in the sight of man. The sinful motions of my mind are so abominable in the beholding of the as the died of shameful sin in the sight of man than if I feared that I should be apunysshed and ashamed to think any thing displeasing to y●. I waute these fere of thee/ and why/ for I have not perfit faith of the. A than I am unfaithful/ and with out faith no man may please thee/ and thus all my life is displeasing unto the. ¶ A good lord what shall I do for I want faith of thee/ fere of thee/ love of thee/ & dread of thee/ but I want not the dread of the world/ love of the world/ and shame of the world. And thus the image of my soul is defauted & made foul in thy sight and is deprived thy great virtues where by it should be made fair and acceptable to the what shall I do than but turn me to the & ask mercy for that I have spenbed my life so miserably. A than I may call my soul a sinful soul which is without dread of the & without shame of sin understanding that after the order of thy rightwiseness sin must have sorrow/ than my soul ought to have sorrow/ and all my life should he we ping/ & who shall give tears enough to mine eyen that I may weep enough for my miserable living/ and lament that I ever have spent so miserably my time which I can not now revoke agayen/ ne fruitfully recompense but by sorrow for my sin. ¶ Alas I have lost the well of life and of all true solace/ and I have delved in the old stinking cistern of sin/ and the deceivable water there of which seemeth in the beginning sweet and delectable/ & now it is turned in to bitterness/ abomination/ and great sorrow. ¶ O most merciful lord which art the well of pity & of grace from whom the flood of celestial glory doth stream upon all the heavenly court. replenishing them with all pleasure & delectations passing the possibility of man's thinking/ give me good lord in this vale of my serye for the glory of thy name the spirit of compunction that I may bitterly weep for my sins and to be prevylegyate by thy grace never from hens forward damnably to affend the. ¶ O marvelous god how miserably is my soul/ which only can not sorrow according to the grievous offences that it hath done in this life but also it is in manner benomen and deed/ for it feeleth not the great ghostly sorrows that it hath/ whereby except it have help by mean of penance it shall be brought to the bitter pains of everlasting death. A I may curse sin the which hath brought me so far from the good lord/ and so far fro myself that I have lost my feeling the quickness of my spirit/ and the goostyly taste of all spiritual pleasure and delectations in virtue. ¶ A miserable soul a sinful soul why art thou so dull & so slow to all good works which art to the pleasure of god/ and to thy perpetual promotion and endless joy/ perpetual bliss and heartily gladness/ why art thou so prompt and so ready to all wretchedness and all works of abominable sins which are to the great displeasure of almighty god/ and to thy great pain and sorrow and damnation both of soul & of body. Why art thou so oblivious and forgetful of fruitful & virtuous doctrine/ and so retenty●e of evil fpeking and words inciting to sin. Woe woe mayst thou be which leveste the way of virtue & choosest the way of hyces/ leavest the way of salvation and takest the way of damnation. Thou haste life and death both laid before thee/ and which thou wilt thou mayst choose. Lovest thou not life/ hatest thou not death lovest thou not delectation and pleasure/ hatest not thou pain and sorrow. Alas how unhappy art y● than which choosest the way of sin/ the way of death/ the way of pain & endless sorrow/ and wilfully leavest the way of virtue which leadeth to ly●e joy and endless mirth with all the heart can think or desire consolation. Thou rennes to bodily death & not only bodily whereby thy soul shall be departed from thy body/ but also the ghostly sight of death where thou shalt be for ever departed from the face and clear vision of god which is the life to thy soul like as thy soul is life to thy body/ the pains of fire and the terrible sight of the devils shall not be so grievous unto thee/ as the sondring from thy lord god which full sure the thou shalt see him in his glory. Would not thou say that such a man were worthy sorrow and pain which would choose to go that way were it never so pleasant there he knew certainly/ if he continued therein that he shall be taken with thieves rob and put to the most bitterest pain of death. Then I counsel the by times leave the way of sin/ for the end thereof is endless sorrow/ and the pleasure that cometh thereof be it never so great it shall hastily pass. And if thou come to that end thou shalt take thy leave also true as god is true from all pleasures without end. Our lord of his great mercy offered to the eternal pleasure for a short temporal pain suffered according to the ordinance of his will/ if thou wilt refuse so great a lucre for so little a payment than thou art an unhappy merchant. Then if thou wilt not follow the will of god in suffering of this pain/ but will fulfil thynowne will in taking thy short & sinful pleasures of this life/ art not thou than worthy/ by the rightwiseness of god to lose and be deprived of this perpetual joy & pleasure thou canst not reasonably say nay. For thou that wilt refuse so inestimable a joy for so little a price/ than thou settest little thereby/ & in that thou dysablest thyself to have it. ¶ And of very equity thou which wilfully and syfully forsakest ●●●●nal salvation/ thou deservest by the rightwiseness of god to have eternal pain and damnation. Then behold upon the right side the mercy of god which is ready to give the perpetual joy for a short virtuous pain. And behold upon the lift hand the rightwiseness of god which shall give the eternal pain for refusing of eternal joy which thou forsookest for a short syful pleasure/ than beware what thou dost/ he of his great grace offereth the perpetual joy. And if thou wilt so lightly refuse it/ than he thryteth the with endless sorrow and pain that thou mayst not escape his hands/ chose the now whether thou wilt for a little pain have endless pleasure/ or for a little simple solace have endless pain and sorrow/ and one thou must needs choose. I counsel the to take pain and leave pleasure/ draw the to the right hand that thou be not found at the day of doom among the damned people upon the lift hand/ leave vain and sinful temporal joy for the end thereof is sorrow/ if thou livest after thy pselaunt desires of thy flesh it shall bring the to endless and painful death/ if thy flesh live after thy soul/ and thy soul after god/ than thou shalt live eternally. ¶ A my seek unstable soul/ dull soul/ miserable & sinful soul/ thou would have health/ strength/ love/ & power: thou would be much made of/ & have richesse/ freedom & friendship/ thou would be without fere without heaviness/ thou would be swift/ light/ impossible/ why seekest thou the gods in the region of death they are not here they are only there where is very life/ and no life may be called very life but only that life which is eternal life/ for there death hath no power any thing to minish thy life or any thing that appertaineth to that life/ for from the life death is perpetually exiled which maketh this life no life/ and all thing to vanish away which pertaineth to this life. ¶ A my soul love that life & that lord above all thing which shall give the that joyful life that blessed life perdurable and eternal living what haste thou in this mortal life but labour weariness sorrow and pain/ with these thou beginnest life/ with these thou continuest thy life/ with these thou shalt end thy life/ that pleasures are shortly passing/ the sorrows and pains are long abiding/ and all earthly joys are meddled with misery of sin/ thou thinkest sin is but little/ would god thou wouldest call it to mind how grievous it is in the sight of the great judge of the world a▪ mighty god remember how grievously he hath punished sin/ great part of the angels he cast out of heaven for sin which are of all creatures most excellent in natural perfection. ¶ O how shalt thou think than that he shall spare the which art sinful/ for thou art no thing so precious in nature as the least angel which was lost and dampened for sin/ & thy body is but a dounghylle and a sack of stinking mist/ than trust thou that if thou wilt not leave sin thou shalt perish with them/ for the rightwiseness of god will punish sin/ & right they shall perish from the perpetual pleasure & glory of god which will not leave sin/ all we are exiled from paradise for sin/ all the world was drowned except viii persons in the time of noah's flood for sin the five cities of which one was Sodom & Gomorre were destroyed with fire and brimstone & sank down for sin/ the Egyptians were drowned in the red see for sin/ the children of Israel were killed a great number in desert for sin/ & now all the xii trybus are in captivity for sin/ translations of kingdoms & empires fro man to man is for sin/ battles/ pestilence/ and hungres in common plagues of god continually in some part of the world or upon the people is for sin and finally all desire of sin shall cease from all pleasure and turn to unremedyable pains and sinners shall be put with sinners in everlasting woe there as they shall never turn to joy or pleasure again. ¶ A wretched soul why sorrowest not thou for sin/ seest thou not how my lord loved the and hated sin which would suffer the most painful death to deliver the from sin/ learn to love thy lover but thou hatest thy lover/ for when thou dost syune thou dost plainly that is in to make him to suffer death again thou lovest sin which is the most greatest enemy for it shall bring the except thou leave it to endless & horrible pain thou set test little by sin a would god our lord might set so little there by/ for than thou should be delivered from great ferehevynesse & pain which thou haste deserved for sin but woe should I be good lord for every transgression of thy commandment for if there come none other thereof disobedience it dyshonoured thee/ a how should I say that sin is little for I can not truly say that the dishonour of that is little/ a how I bound to honour the thou desirest it not for all that thou haste done to me but that I should honour do to y●. I receive thy benefits & thou mayst no thing receive of me but honour/ thou givest my goodness & this may grow. I may give to that no goods whereby thou mayst be the better for my goodness may not grow. I may give to the honour & this may not grow in y● but in me/ & when thine honour groweth in me than thy goodness in me/ & all the profits of my dydes in to me and none to thee/ for I may by dydes no thing make the to better/ but I may make me the better by thy grace in that I do honour to y●. A dear lord how woe should I than be to dishonour thee/ & I may do no more dishonour to the than to do sin which can not be done in mind in will ne died but in the clear sight of thee/ a how woe should I than be to do sin & there by for to dishonour the which art my lord and my god/ my maker & my redeemer & preserver/ and finally would bring me to see thy glory & to have with the honour in eternity. A how shall I say the sin is little sithen the sin dishonoured y●/ & no thing should be more shameful & sorrowful in me than for to do any died to dishonour the. Alas how may I find in my heart to to dishonour the which have none help but only of the ¶ O wretched & miserable soul why remember'st thou not the truth of god/ for thou knowest it well that it is impossible that he should make any lie/ & thou knowest well that he promised no thing but that it shall be fulfilled for the power is so great that no thing may let him/ than thou knowest verily that thou shalt appear afore him and account all thy life/ and of all that thou haste received of him/ what sayest thou art thou ready to thy reckoning/ canst thou show that thou hast well expended and well used all the goods that thou haste received of god/ haste not thou vainly lost and vainly suffered for to be lost many of these gifts of our lord god/ and many thou haste expended that thou haste to reason for to lay comfort the at thine account but that thou art worthy to be dampened for them. ¶ Alas sithen thou canst not give a good reckoning of thy time expended/ why wilt not thou amend thee/ & by the will spending of thy life to come for to procure the favour of this rightwise judge/ he is ready of his right great mercy to take one day well spended for a year. ¶ O than sithen he is thus kind to the & thou wilt continue in unkind unto him/ this sin of unkindness & ingratituding/ if thou hast none other sin it is enough to procure the Ire or wrath of this judge/ why wilt thou then unkind soul daily multiply new offences why remember'st not thou the great jeopardy that thou standest in for thine old sin. ¶ O wretch learn to weep apply & to take wilful sorrow/ that moche cause haste thou to weep and to sorrow/ for if thou might weep as much water as is in the see yet it were of thyself suffycyente to wash thy soul from sin thou dost▪ as a malefactor which hath offended his prince & is sorry for to be taken & to suffer great pain/ & yet wilfully he will more outrageously offend him knowing well that he shall suffer therefore the more pain/ thou sayest to me that this prince is merciful. I say to the that he is merciful to none but to such as have mercy upon themself & will leave their wretched living/ than have mercy upon thyself and leave the misery of sin/ for thou shalt be called sooner than thou trustest to thy account of all thy works of all thy idleness of all thy words/ of all thy silence/ of all thy sleeping/ of all thy waking/ of all thy sickness/ of all thy health/ of all thy richesse/ of all thy poverty/ of all thy feeding/ of all abstinences/ and of all thing that thou haste done and left undone to the least thought of thy soul/ and of all thing pertaining to thy power which thou haste not ordained to the will of god & salvation of thy soul/ and thy body shall be punished with y● for it sinned with the and thou in it for the cause of sin is in it and it shall have no pain but for thee/ for it might not sin but by the. Alas why wilt not thou see whether thou goest & behold the end of thy passage that thou deemest that thou goest to pleasures/ & as a blyndfull man thou goest even contrary toward pain/ thou thinkest thou goest for to have thy will/ and thou goest there thou shalt have all thing contrary to thy will/ and y● desirest mirth and thou takest the way of endless labour & perpetual pain & everlasting damnation.  
●Edet Eccliam mea. n vite me. ¶ A my soul hath a great cause to be weary of my life/ for I live not as the lover of god should live/ but as a wretched catyfe which forgetteth god/ & deserved to be forgotten of him. ¶ I have no mind upon my salvation/ my mind is rather upon thing of damnation. I endure me not to form me. I labour not to repress the wretched motion which I feel in me. I suffer my mind at large to run in vanities/ as a creature that hath no god or judge ne thing to answer for/ ne thing to sorrow for ne to fere/ for help is offered to me and I will not ask it/ it is offered to me and I will not put my hand thereto mine enemies & mine accusers I consent to/ & to my lord & my lover I will not consent. A good lord what shall I do at the dreadful day of death at the terrible doom in the day of judgement. ¶ A how many thousand sins shall come than upon me without on● provision as they lay in watch to take me which I see not now/ & I took no keep to deliver myself by plain confession and many a thing which I trust now is no sin shall than appear grievous sin/ and many a deed which I trust now is good/ than I shall find them evil & black and abominable they that shall appear to me/ there I shall receive in soul & body moche woe as I have done in soul and body moche wretchedness/ & than shall I be w● for I shall receive the woeful and sorrowful endless pain when the time shall be passed except I leave now sin and torn me to god and deserve by virtuous living to have mercy/ there shall be pain unprofitable and unfruitful penance/ for that pain shall not remove the sin of them which in this life would not take wilful pain to be delivered from sin and able to be dampened from grace that they shall have no power to recompense and to satisfy for their offences/ for when grace was offered to them they refused it/ and when the time of penance was laid afore them/ unfruitfully & negligently they passed it. ¶ O good lord now I ought for to remember what I have done and what that I have deserved to receive for my doing/ all my years I should record in the bitterness of my soul/ & say how my time is consumed without profit/ & what woe I have wrought to myself/ if I could remember that I had done many good things than I should be glad/ but I remember that I have done many wretched & evil things and few good/ & therefore I have great cause to be woe/ & if I will not apply me to be woe where I shall be woe there I shall never depart therefro. ¶ A woe woe be to this great hardness of mine heart/ for these great hamers of remembrance of eternal torments & most sorrowful vices are to light to break it. ¶ O dullness insanable and unable to be heeled all this sharp braids are not sufficient to quicken y●/ they are all to blunt for the. ¶ Alas sithen the great pains that god hath ordained for sin are to little to put the in fere/ and make the to be diligent for thy salvation. ¶ A god mercy/ a deadly dullness that is in me sithen the terrible thunder of my sins & ghostly sight of the great abominable multitude of pains causeth no quickness of devotion/ no misery of tears/ no fere of god in me. ¶ A woe may I be which feel myself in this great misery/ not ready to arise but rather desired to fall deeper. I am worse than a stone/ for it is descended of nature for to descend/ but I descend by malice against nature. ¶ A de●e lord I love more earthly vanity than I do y● or the place of thy glory/ my soul is crooked all down to the earth/ for there the love is of the there it is fixed and not upon y●/ and therefore it looked not up to thee/ here is matter of misery in me to exyte an hundreth souls to sorrow & make them continue uneasily in weeping but my soul is so dried fro all moisture & grace that there cometh no tears fro me and thus I may see myself a dry stock/ a seer tree ready to fire. A marvelous god how am I comen to this dullness to this dryness/ to this blindness & darkness of my soul/ my soul is made bynome & Impotent to all perfit deeds of virtue/ & not only it wanted will/ but in manner it wanteth power to do well/ & what hath made me this feebleness but only sin & what hath made in me such sin but only a crooked and froward will. A wretched disposition of my soul of the which I am cause myself/ & therefore mine Impotensy/ & indisposition to holy & perfit living is none excuse to me/ for this myself hath made me by long custom in living ¶ A good lord an unkind soul am I to the. I can not dyssymyle to thee/ for no thing I may withdraw from the sight of thee/ of a child thou hast given me power to live virtuously and to please the not for thine avail but for mine avail for the endless promotion & joyful reward to be received of thee/ thou haste called me/ and yet thou continuest it by good thoughts/ by good counsel/ by holy preachings/ by virtuous examples/ by great gifts/ calling to me for to come to the. And I as a wretch repel the & all the gifts that thou givest me I abuse to the displeasure of the and to the great accusation and without thy mercy to the great damnation of me I desire sudden sorrows and pains to come upon me there thou haste given to me this respite & time of great deliberation to avoid the painful doungen of hell and to come to the joyful Empire of thy glory there everlastingly for to dwell with the I attend it not wherefore I deserve hastily for to be cast down by the painful blasts of the great horrible tempests of death. I know well that I may not here alway abide/ & yet my mind/ and my love is more here than there that I must alway abide. ¶ A marvelous god a great blindness is in me that I should desire for to abide in the same place of misery there as I well know that I may not abide than for to be in the place of bliss and of mirth and great felicity there as I may come if I will and for ever abide/ god hath made me a reasonable creature for to choose the best life/ and I make myself an unreasonable creature for to choose the worst life/ & I love that I should not love/ and I hate that I should love/ and thus both my mind & my will I abuse unto my great hurt which thou haste given me to mine help/ if I should complain upon myself all that I can reduce to my mind of mine own wretchedness & unkindness to god/ remembering the great benefeytes & gifts that I have received of him/ and how gentle a lord he hath been to me without my deserving certainly all the wretchedness & discommendation & that I can say of myself is to little in regard of the great discommendation and blame which I have deserved/ my wretched disposition is more ready to do evil than my memory & many more if they were knit together with me are able to receive. I feel myself full of wretchedness. I am prone and all ready to all evil/ else dull & slow to all goodness A sithen I might here or see my defaults showed afore me like as thy be I should abhorred with myself like as with a toode or a serpent. A what dread should my heart unbrace of that terrible judgement which must be given of myself at the hour of death where the most right wise judge himself shall accuse me/ & mine own conscience shall witness against me how I have misused my soul and little heeded the valour thereof which was bought with the precious blood of christ very god and man creator and maker of the universal world lord of heaven and earth to whose name all creatures shall do obedience. I shall give accounts how I have abused my mind my will my body all my five wits my tongue my beauty my health my strength cunning virtue/ how I have mysordred myself my soul and body the evil mocyo●s both of soul and body how I have not done that was in me to repress them but rather to keep/ them & to work them. All these good lord I forget & of all these I shall give a straight accounts. Also of meet & drink/ gold silver & clothes/ & of all these which had been under my tuition/ as children servants/ & of the evil deeds that I have done/ and of all the good deeds which I might have done/ & for sloth & sloggysshenes of myself I have left them undone of all the time that I have received sithen I had use of reason. ¶ A dear lord what shall I do at the dreadful hour of reckoning where as shall be showed rightwiseness without grace if I now labour not for grace. ¶ O what shall I do dry tree that I am and bring forth no good fruit in the church of god/ but rather sewed fruit by many evil words evil works and evil examples. I am an unprofitable tree apt & worthy to be cast in to endless fire. ¶ A what shall I do that day when I shall give account of all the time given to me of our lord how I have spend it to the honour of him. I may say nothing is mine own for I must give a straight reckoning of all that I have. I am but as a bailie & a minister under god and taken charge well to spend his goods dear lord give me grace among all temporal mirth oft to remember the bitterness of the dreadful account that I may that day receive the kingdom of endless joy and mercy.  
●Edet animam meam vite me. ¶ A dear lord saying the myspending of my life I am weary of my life. I myself am grievous to myself my burden is great & is light to my body/ but it is heavy to my soul/ it is so great that it is like to press me down from heaven unto the pit of hell except special grace and help of my saviour. ¶ O my merciful lord send me tears that may lament day & night my miserable life & wash away the filth of so long gathering of my soul I am woe when I remember so long as I have been in this life & so wretched/ and my wretchedness daily grieveth me/ my mind is all occupied in vanities and my will in frowardness/ my mouth in shrewednes my body in idleness/ & my works in wretchedness. A who shall give to mine eyen a well of tears that I may continually weep & wail my woeful life my negligent life/ my unwise & foolish life. I live not as a reasonable creature ought to live reforming my soul & body and my works to my lord which hath ordained me in this life that by my works well ordered to him I should come to his life which life only ought to be called very life/ for that only is life which can not be ended by death & not the life where we daily run to death/ & the life only is health which can not be broken with sickness/ & that only is joy which can not be Interrupted with sorrow and that only is perfit bliss which can not be melde with misery of pain or sin. ¶ O thou blind ass why openst thou not thine eyen for to see the dyffrence betwixt life & death/ virtue/ and vices/ sickness & health/ felicity misery/ labour thou wretch for to arise which liest overcharged with old sins/ put fear to fear/ weeping to weeping/ except thou aplyest thyself wilfully to sorrow/ the right wiseness of god shall maugre thine heed bring the to sorrow. A chose than the less sorrow to avoid the more sorrow/ the temporal sorrow to avoided the eternal sorrow. Remember'st not thou that he shall judge the whom thou hast made by many fold offences thine adversary/ to whom thou hast done despite and rebuke breaking his commandment afore his own face. ¶ A god mercy I ought to be sorry in remembering his kindness to me and mine ingratituding & unkindness to him/ and the more kindness he showed to me the more kind I ought for to be to him/ and more I am bound by the law of kindness for to please him/ & the more my sin is. If I displease him awo ought I than to be for like as kindness is daily more and more/ for the longer that he spared me the more kindness he showed unto me/ so by the circumstance of unkindness/ the more grievous is the sin in me. what shall I say to this judge sithen y● only mine own kindness is able to convict me which so oftentimes calleth me for to amend my life inwardly inspiration/ and many a thought the which he putteth in my mind contrary unto mine own wretched disposition. And outward he called me by preaching/ and by moche good counseling/ by reading/ by example giving of such which hath less wit than I/ less power to good works than I/ god hath given to me more precious gifts & help to do well/ and yet I do worse or not so well/ am not I than worthy afore that rightwise judge to have great punishment/ he that is now most patient to me if I amend not my life shall be most fell/ and angry with me. ¶ And he which now is most liberal to me/ than shall be most hard to me/ and he which now is most meek to me than shall be most fellest/ now most merciful/ than most rigorous and straight in judgement/ I may not ●lee this judgement/ alway I am and shall be under his hand. Now I am under the right hand of mercy/ than shall I be under the heavy hand of his rightwiseness. woe es me woe is me whom have I offended/ whom I have not attended/ whom I have provoked to be wroth with me. ¶ Alas wretched what have I done. I have dishonoured my lord god. I have provoked almighty god to take vengeance on me if his hand of mercy had not retained the sword of vengeance I should have perished long afore this for many times I have deserved damnation/ but unto this time he hath deferred the sentence/ and ever abideth when I amend and come to reconciliation ¶. O wretched sinner why remember not I of this life the uncertain is and for the time of this life the great kindness in god and gratitude/ & how after this life none shall be taken to grace which will not amend in this time and space. I believe as I were immortal. I fear not what shall fall/ and mine old life customs hath so tied me that without special help of my lord god I can not lose me. Help me good lord from these dangers of dignation & wrath of these I am benomen/ my power is nought without supportation & help of thy mercy. ¶ A what anguish shall be in me if I do so unhappily guide me to see the terrible day where he which hath most loved me/ & most done and most suffered for me shall accuse me where he shall lay his wounds against me/ his cross/ his spear crown of thorns shall testify against me/ my good angel which hath so handsomely at many times counseled me/ & I have repelled & little set by his counsel this he shall witness against me/ ll devils which have tempted me to sin there shay ● accuse me/ and there rehearse the words of my profession there shall he show openly all my sins in what thing that I have sinned/ in what place & time/ & how I did sin/ and what thing: not only that I have done evil but what good works that I have left undone which I ought to have. All the creatures of god of whom I have received any benefit or profit shall accuse me/ for thy have served me by cause I should serve god and that I have deceived them & done that was in me to rob them of their labours/ the heaven/ the earth/ the son what mind of man should not dread this terrible judgement/ who should not dread the presence of the eternal judge where all sins shall be brought clearly in our sight & those things which we did with great desecration shall be laid afore us to our great sorrow confusion & detestation. The judge shall be above us whole hands we shall not escape/ the hell under us & the fiends ready to draw us thither/ the judge angered without forth/ the conscience biting & tourmentynge withinforth/ & sithen the rightwise man scarcely shall be saved/ the wretched sinner so unbelapped with wretchedness where shall become whom fear of damnation & remorse of conscience shall shake & make him to cry for woe. A woe may I than be which have so many matters in me to bring me to y● woe/ it shall be impossible that day to hide me/ & it shall be to terrible & fearful that day to show me/ & nedesly I must appear/ and by myself without any procurator and answer for all that I have done here/ & not only for mine own deeds but for all pertaining to my care & jurisdiction where any default hath been there I ought to have help. ¶ O how shall I answer for many which am not able to answer for myself. O my charge is great my remembrance is little/ my harms do multiply & I seek no help. I run to death all undisposed/ my mind is not with me. I am not with myself. I seek more for your advantage than for myself my burden I shall only bear for myself. Now might I make it lighter but I enlarge it & make it heavier myself/ but now arise thou sinner & see how woe is thy saviour Cryst Ihesu/ he is called the lamb of god by whom thou art redeemed his merits are sufficient though the sins be never so grievous call for help & thou shalt not be shent/ leave thy sins & change thine intent & purpose to do well/ change false pleasures in to painful solace & in to sorrow/ look up & despair not for thou shalt have help enough/ trust on him whom thou dreadest/ leave thy sin & flee to him thou shalt have succour in all thy needs/ run again to him from whom y● hast ronen Cry upon him inportunely whom thou haste offended most grievously/ and of his great mercy he may & will of all other help the most readily/ & meek confession excludeth desperation for there shall none be dampened but only for sins not truly confessed. I mean of such which as have received the baptism of christ. A Ihesu for thy holy name is as much to say by interpretation as the saviour of sinners/ by his mediation Ihesu the holy name be verified of y● in saving of a great sinner/ which have been by presumptuous will disobedient unto Ihesu/ forget my pride & ordyne it not to death/ but wash my soul from sin with those streams of the blood which ran from the fountain of the right side. Now behold sweet Ihesu with thine eyen of pity these sinners which calleth that sweet name that comfortable name of thee/ the name to sinners of most delectation/ the name of blessed hope/ the name of salvation/ and conversation. What is Ihesu but our saviour and redemptor/ wherefore Jesus' for thy bitter passion be to me Jesus'/ thou haste made me now save me/ thou hast redeemed me from damnation now deliver me than of thy goodness and now suftre not me to perish for my wretchedness/ suffer not wretchedness to lose in me that thine infinite goodness that thou hast given to me/ take to the good lord the which is thine and remove from wretchedness for that is mine. ¶ Now Ihesu/ Ihesu have mercy upon me this time of mercifulness that I may escape the terrible judgement in the time of rightwiseness/ take me good lord in to thy large bosom of mercy it shall be not less good lord/ for the more thou receivest the more it is/ than thy mercy is large enough whatsoever we do amiss & we call heartily this bosom is than ready. admit us most lovely Ihesu among the number of thine elect children that with them we may everlastingly laud thee/ and our profit fruition and glory in the among all those which ●oue thy name Ihesu to whom be honour and glory by infinite duration of eternity.  
Amen.  
¶ Here endeth a lamentable complaint that the soul maketh of the wretched life of the body.   

imprinted at London in Fleetstreet at the sign of the son/ by wynkind word.  
 device of Wynkyn de Worde 
W C  
Wykyn de word