¶ CERTAIN select Prayers gathered out of S. Augustine's Meditations, which he calleth his self talk with God.  
AT LONDON Printed by john day, dwelling over Aldersgate. 1574.  
¶ Cum gratia & Privilegio Regiae Maiestatis.   

¶ Of the unspeakable sweetness of God.  
O Lord which art the searcher of the heart, and trier of the reins, endue me with the knowledge of thee: O my comforter, and mirth of my mind, show the light of thy countenance upon me, and be merciful to me: Appear unto me O my sovereign delight, my sweet solace, my Lord God, my life, and the whole glory of my soul. Let me embrace thee thou heavenly bridegroom: Let me possess thee O endless bliss, let me lodge thee in the bottom of my heart: thou art the blessed life, and the sovereign sweetness of my soul. Graft in me the true love of thee, O my God, my helper, the tower of my strength, my castle & deliverer in all my troubles. Open the entries of mine ears, thou word which interest swifter than any two edged sword, that I may hear thy voice. Thunder down from above (O Lord) with a loud and mighty voice. Let the Sea roar and the fullness thereof, let the earth be moved and all that is in it. Lighten mine eye (O incomprehensible light) that I sleep not in death: flash out thy lyghteninges, and turn them aside, that they may not look vainly. O savour of life, make my taste sound, that it may savour, try, and discern how great the abundance of thy sweetness is, which thou hast laid up for them that put their trust in thee. give me a mind that may ever think upon thee, a heart that may love thee, a soul that may honour thee, an understanding that may feel thee, and a reason that may always stick fast to thee my sovereign delight. O life to whom all things live, O life which art my life, and without whom I am dead. O life whereby I am raised to life, and without which I am forlorn. O life wh●●by I rejoice, and wherwithout I am sorrowful. O lively, sweet, and lovely life, always worthy to be had in mind, where art thou I pray thee, where shall I find thee, that I may give over in myself and stay upon thee? Be thou near me in my mind, be near in my heart, be near me in my mouth, be near me in mine ears, be near me to my help: for I pine away for love of thee, I die for want of thee: As the heart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after the O God. The sent of thee refresheth me, the remembrance of thee healeth me: but yet shall I never be sufficed, till thy glory appear which is the life of my soul. My soul fainteth with longing after thee, and with thinking upon thee: when shall I come and show myself in thy presence O my joy. I had rather be a doorekeeper in the house of my God, then to devil in the tents of ungodliness? for one day in thy courts is better than a thousand else where. O Lord hide not away thy face from me, in the needful time of trouble, but bow down thine ear to me and hear me, make haste to deliver me, make no long tarrying O my God. But wherefore hidest thou thy face away? perchance thou wilt say, man cannot see me, and live. Behold O Lord, I can find in my heart to die, that I may see thee: let me see thee, that I may die here. I desire not to live, I had liefer die: I would fain be let lose, that I might be with Christ: I covet to die, that I might see Christ: I refuse to live hear, so I may live with Christ. O Lord jesus, receive my spirit. My life, receive my soul. My joy draw my heart unto thee. My sweet food, let me feed upon thee. My head, direct thou me. Thou light of mine eyes, enlighten me. My melody, delight thou me. My sweet scent, refresh thou me. Thou word of God, quicken thou me. My praise glad thou the soul of thy servant. Thou everlasting light, shine thou upon it, that it may perceive thee, know thee, and love thee. For the cause O Lord why it loveth thee not, is for that it knoweth thee not: & the cause why it knoweth thee not, is for that it perceiveth thee not: & the cause why it perceiveth thee not, is for that it comprehendeth not thy light, for thy light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. O light of the mind, O lightsome truth, O true brightness, which inlightenest every man that cometh into the world: I say, which cometh into the world, but not which is in love with the world: for he that loveth the world & the things of the world, the love of God is not in him. drive away the darkness from the upperside of the deep of my mind, that it may see thee by understanding, know thee by perceiving, & love thee by knowing thee. For who soever knoweth thee must needs love thee. Yea he forgetteth himself and loveth thee more than himself: he forsaketh himself, and cometh to thee, that he may joy in thee. The cause then wherefore I am not so far in love with thee as I aught to be, is by reason that I do not thoroughly know thee: and because I have but small knowledge of thee, I have also but small love to thee: and because I bear but small love to thee, therefore have I but little joy in thee. By means of outward joys I range from thee the true inward joy, and seek counterfeit comforts in these outward things. And so like a wretch as I am, look what love I aught to have yielded unto thee alone with my whole heart, that have I set upon vanities: & therefore am become vain by loving vanity. Hereupon also O Lord it is come to pass, that I delight not in thee, nor stick not to thee: for my mind is busied about outward things, thine about inward things: my thought is occupied in carnal things, thine in spiritual things: my talk is entangled about transitory things, but thou dwellest in everlastingness, & art the everlastingness itself, thou in heaven, and I in earth: thou lovest high things, I low things: thou heavenly things, I earthly things. And how then can these contraries agree together?   

¶ Of the wretchedness and frailty of man.  
WRetch that I am, when shall my crookedness be made even to thy straightness? Lord, thou lovest solitariness, and I delight in company: thou stillness, and I noise: thou truth, I leasing: thou lovest cleanness, & I filthiness. And what more O Lord? Thou art thoroughly good, and I wholly evil: thou holy, I profane: thou happy, I miserable: thou righteous, I unjust: thou lightfull, I blind: thou living, I dead: thou the salve, I the sore: thou the joy, I the sorrow: thou the sovereign truth, I nothing but vanity, as all men living be. Alas therefore my maker, what shall I say? Hear me O my Creator: I am thy Creature, and without thee am already forlorn: I am thy creature, and am already dead: I am thy workmanship, thy hands O Lord have made me and fashioned me: Lord, despise not the work of thy hands.  
I am by nature the child of wrath, a wild olive tree, a vessel of dishonour, the vessel of Satan, an enemy to thee O God, a lover of myself, a cage of unclean birds, all that ever naught is: Lord be merciful to my sins, for they are many, grafted me into the true olive, make me a vessel to honour, take from me self-love, pride and contempt of others, renew a right spirit within me, that I may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name for ever and ever.  
Behold O Lord, thou hast set me down upon thy hands: Lord God read the writing, and save me. I that am the creature, do groan unto thee that art my creator: O refresh me. Behold, I thy workmanship do cry unto thee: thou that art my life quicken me. Behold I thy handiwork look up to thee: thou that art my maker recomfort me. Spare me O Lord, for my days are nothing. What is man, which is but dust and ashes, that he should talk unto God his maker? Bear with me for my talking to thee. Pardon thy servant for presuming to speak to so great a Lord. Necessity hath no law. Pain compelleth me to speak, and the grief that I endure enforceth me to cry out. I am sick, & I call to the Physician: I am blind, and I high me to the light: I have gone astray, and thirst to return into the way: I am dead, and I labour for life. Thou art the Physician, thou art the light, the way, and the life. jesus of Nazareth have mercy upon me: O thou son of David have mercy upon me: O wellspring of mercy hearken to the diseased which crieth unto thee. Thou light which passest by, tarry for the blind, reach him thy hand that he may come to thee, and let him see light in thy light. Thou living life, raise up the dead again.  
What am I that speaketh with thee? woe is me Lord: O Lord spare me. I am but a rotten carcase, worms meat, a stinking coffin, and food for fire. What am I that talketh with thee? Woe is me Lord: O Lord spare me. I am an unhappy man, even a sorry man borne of woman, shortlived, full fraught with many miseries: even a man that is like unto vanity, matched with witless beasts, and already become like unto them.  
Again, what am I? a dark dungeon, wretched earth, a child of wrath, a vessel meet for dishonour, begotten with uncleanness, living in misery, and dying in distress. Out upon me wretch, what am I? Alas what shall become of me? I am a sack of dung, a coffin of rottenness, full of loathsomeness and stinch: blind, poor, naked, subject to exceeding many necessities: woting neither when I came into the world nor when I shall go out: mortal, and miserable: whose days pass away as a shadow, whose life glanceth away as a shadow by Moonlight, growing as a flower upon a tree, and fading out of hand again, now flourishing and by and by withering again. My life (I say) is a frail life, a fleeting life, such a life as the more it lengtheneth the shorter it is: the further it goeth, the nearer it draweth unto death. A deceitful and shadowish life, full of snares of death. Now I am merry, & anon I am sorry. Now I am lusty, & anon I am weak. Now I am alive, and by and by I am dead. I seem happy for a while, & I am always wretched. One while I laugh, & another while I weep. And all things are so subject to unstableness, that nothing continueth at a stay one hours space. Here withal cometh fear, trembling, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, faintness, and grief. In the neck of these followeth importunate death, which snatcheth up wretched men unwares a thousand ways every day. He killeth one with diseases, and dispatches another with sorrows. He starveth this man for hunger, and pineth that man with thirst. He choketh some men with water, and strangleth other some with a halter. He makes a hand of some men by fire, and devoureth othersome with the teeth of wild beasts. He fleas this man with the sword, destroys that man with poison, and causeth some other man to finish his miserable life with nothing, but some sudden fear. And yet there is one great misery above all these: namely that whereas nothing is more certain than death, yet doth not a man know when he shall die. Yea even when he thinks himself to have best footing, then is he shaken down, & his hope perisheth. For a man knoweth not when, where or how he shall die, & yet is he sure that he must needs die. See Lord how great man's wretchedness is, wherein I am, & yet mistrust it not: how huge the misery is which I endure, & yet am not grieved, nor make any move to thee. Lord I will cry out unto thee before I pass away, if peradventure I may abide in thee, and not pass away. I will tell thee then, I will tell thee my misery: I will not be ashamed to acknowledge my vileness before thee. Help me my strength by whom I am underpropped, secure me my power by whom I am upheld, come my light by whom I see, appear my glory through whom I rejoice, show thyself O life wherein I may live, O my Lord God.   

¶ Of God's Wonderful light.  
O Light which Tobias saw, when with his eyes shut, he taught his son the way of life. O light which Isaac saw inwardly, when his outward eyes were dim, & yet he told his son what was to come. O light invisible, which beholdest all the dungeons of man's heart. O light which job saw when he openly foreshowed his sons things to come, according as thou hadst taught him inwardly. Behold how darkness overwhelmeth, the dungeon of my mind: for thou art light. Behold how misty dimness lieth upon the waters of my heart, for thou art truth. O word by which all things were made, & without which nothing was made. O word which art before all things, & before which was nothing. O word which createst all things, & without which all things are nothing. O word which rulest all things, & without which all things are naught worth. O word which in the beginning didst say, let light be made, & light was made: say also unto me, let light be made, that light may be in deed, and I may see the light, & know what soever is not light. For without thee I take darkness for light, & light for darkness: & so without thy light there is no truth. All is error, all is vanity, there is no discretion. All is confusion, all is ignorance, there is no knowledge. All is blindness, and there is no sight: all is straying, & there is no way: All is death, and there is no life.   

¶ Of the mortality of man's nature.  
O Lord the word, O God the word whereby all things are made & without whom there is not any thing made. Woe is me wretch so often blinded, for that thou art the light and I am without thee. Woe is me wretch so often wounded, for that thou art the salve and I am without thee. Woe is me wretch so often overseen, for that thou art the truth & I am without thee. Woe is me wretch so often straying, for that thou art the way & I am without thee. Woe is me wretch so often dead, for that thou art the life and I am without thee. Woe is me wretch so often brought to naught, for that thou art the word by which all things were made, & I am without thee, with out whom nothing was made. O Lord the word, O God the word, who art the light by whom light was made, who art the way, truth, and life in whom there is no darkness, oversight, vanity, nor death. O light without which all is but darkness: O truth with out which all is but leasing: O life without which all is but death. Lord say the word, that light may be made, so as I may see the light, & eschew darkness: see the way, & eschew straying: see the truth, and eschew leasing: see life, and eschew death. Shine forth O Lord my light, my enlightening, & my welfare, whom I will reverence: my Lord whom I will praise, my God whom I will honour, my father whom I will love, my bridegroom to whom I will keep myself. Shine forth O light, shine forth (I say) to this blind soul of mine which sifteth in darkness & in the shadow of death, and guide my feet into the way of peace, that I may pass thereby into the place of thy wonderful Tabernacle, even to the house of God with the voice of gladness and confession. For true confession is the way whereby I may enter unto thee which art the way, whereby I may return from by-ways, and whereby I come again to thee which art the way, for thou art the very way of life.   

¶ Of the fall of the Soul into sin.  
AS long as I was without thee, I was as nothing. And therefore I was blind, deaf, and senseless. For I did neither discern the good, nor shun the evil, nor feel the grief of my wounds, nor see mine own darkness, because I was without thee the true light which inlightenest every man that cometh into this world. Woe is me, they have wounded me and I was not sorry, they have haled me and I felt it not. For I was as nothing, because I was without life which is the word, whereby all things are made. And therefore O Lord my light, mine enemies have done what they lifted to me: they have stricken me, they have bewrayed me, they have marred me, they have wounded me, and they have killed me, because I shrunk back from thee, and am become as a thing of nothing without thee▪ Alas Lord my life which madest me, my light which hast guided me, than defender of my life, have mercy upon me. Raise me up again O Lord my God. My hope, my power, my strength, my comfort, have an eye to mine enemies in the day of my trouble, and rescue me. Let them that hate me flee away from my face, and let me live in thee by thee. For they have lain in wait for me O Lord and when they saw me without thee, they despised me. They parted among them the garments of the virtues wherewith thou hadst appareled me. They made their way through me, they trampled me under their feet, they defiled thy holy temple with the filth of their sins, and they left me desolate & forpyned with sorrow. I went after them blind, and naked, and shackled with the fetters of sins. They dragged me after them round about from vice to vice, and from mire to mire: and I went without strength before the face of him that pursued me. I was a bondslave, and yet I loved slavery: I was blind, & still I longed for blindness: I was manacled, & yet I misliked not my manacles: I thought bitter to be sweet & sweet to be bitter. I was a wretch & witted it not. And all this came to pass, because I was without the word, whereby all things are preserved, & without which all things are worse than nothing. For like as all things were made by the word, and nothing was made without it: even so by it are all things preserved and maintained what soever they be, either in heaven, or in earth, or in the Sea, or in any deeps. One piece should not cleave to another: in a stone or in any of the things that be created, unless they were maintained by the word, whereby all things were made. Therefore will I stick unto thee O word, that thou mayst preserve me, for assoon as I step aside from thee, I am undone in myself, saving that thou which madest me hast also renewed me again. For when I had sinned, thou didst visit me: when I was fallen, thou didst lift me up again: when I was ignorant, thou didst teach me: and when I could not see, thou didst enlighten me.   

¶ Of God's manifold benefits.  
WRetch that I am, my God, show me how much I am bound to love thee. Make it appear to me how much I aught to praise thee. Make me to know how much I aught to please thee. Lord thunder thou down into the inward care of my heart. Teach me, and save me, and I will praise thee. For thou hast created me when I had no being: thou hast enlightened me when I was in darkness: thou hast raised me when I was dead: thou hast fed me with thy benefits even from my youth up. This unprofitable worm which stinketh with sin, thou nourishest with all thy singular good gifts. Open unto me O thou key of David, which openest and no man shutteth against him to whom thou openest, and shettest and no man openeth unto him whom thou shettest out. Open me the door of thy light, that I may enter in, and both know, & acknowledge unto thee with my whole heart, that thy mercy is great towards me, & that thou hast delivered my soul from the bottom of hell. O Lord our God, how wondered and praise worthy is thy name through all the earth. And what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? O Lord which art the hope of the Saints, and the tower of their strength. O God the life of my soul, whereby I live, and where without I die. O light of mine eyes, by which I see, and without which I am sightless. O joy of my heart and chearer of my spirits, let me love thee with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my strength, and with all entireness: for thou hast loved me first. And why hast thou done so to me O maker of heaven, and of earth, and of the bottomless deep, who hast no need of me? Whereupon cometh it that thou hast loved me? O wisdom which openest the mouth of the dumb, whereby all things were made, open my mouth, and give me the voice of praise, that I may tell forth all thy benefits, which thou hast bestowed upon me from the beginning O Lord. For lo, I am, because thou hast created me: and the cause that thou didst created me and accounted me in the number of thy creatures, was thy foreordinaunce from everlasting, before thou madest any thing, even from the beginning, before thou didst spread out the heavens, when as yet there were no deeps, neither hadst thou yet made the earth, nor founded the mountains, neither were any waterspringes yet broken out. Before thou madest all these things, which thou madest by thy word, thou foresawest be the most assured providence of thy truth, that I should be thy creature, & also thou willeddest that I should be thy creature. And whence cometh this to me O most gentle Lord, most high God, most merciful father, and always most meek? What had I deserved? what kindness had I showed, that it should like thy royal majesty to created me? I was not, and thou didst created me. I was nothing, and of nothing thou madest me somewhat. And what manner of somewhat? not a drop of water, not fire, not a bird or fish, not a Serpent or some of the brute beasts, not a stone or a block, not of those sort of things which have but being only, or of those things that have but only being and growing, nor yet of those kind of things that have but only being, growing, and feeling. But above all these things, it was thy will to have me both of that sort which have but being only: for I am: and of those that have no more but being and growing: for I am, and grow: and also of those kind of things which have both being, growing, and feeling: for I am, and also do both grow and feel. Yea and thou hast made small odds between me and the angels. For I have received reason to know thee, at thy hand as well as they. But I did well to say there was some odds between us. For they have the happy knowledge of thee already in possession, and I have it but by hope. They see face to face, I see thee i● a riddle through a glass. They see thee fully, and I but partly.   

¶ Of man's dignity in time to come.  
1▪ But when the thing cometh which is perfect, then shall the unperfect be done away, at such time as we shall behold thee uncovered face to face. And what should let us to be counted little inferior to angels, seeing that thou O Lord hast crowned us with the garland of hope, which is decked with glory and honour, and seeing thou hast inhonored us exceedingly as thy friends, or rather as fellows and coequals in all things with thine angels? Verily even so saith thy truth, they are equal with the angels, and they be the sons of God. And what be they else then the sons of God, if they be made fellows with the angels? They shallbe the sons of God in very deed: for the son of man is become the son of God. Truly when I bethink me of this, I am bold to say, that man is not only little inferior to the angels, yea or haylefelow with the angels, but also superior to them, because a man is God, and God is a man, and not an angel. And in this respect I may say that man is the worthiest creature, because the word which in the beginning was God with God, the word whereby God said: let light be made & light was made, (that is to say, the angelical nature was made) the word whereby God created all things in the beginning, even the self same word become flesh and dwelled among us, and we have seen the glory of it. Lo here the glory, wherein I glory, when I glory discretely. Lo here the joy wherein I joy, when I joy discretely, O Lord my God, the whole life and glory of my soul. Therefore I acknowledge unto thee my Lord God, that when thou createdst me endued with reason, thou didst created me after a sort equal with the angels. For by thy word I may be perfect to attain unto equality with the angels, so as I may have the adoption of thy children by thine only begotten word, O Lord, by thy dear beloved son in whom thou art well pleased, by our only co-heir, which is of the same substance & everlastingness that thou thyself art, I even by jesus Christ our only Lord and redeemer, our inlightener & comforter, our spokesman with thee and the light of our eyes, who is our life, our saviour, our only hope, who hath loved us more than himself, by whom we have assured trust laid up in store, & steadfast faith to theeward, and entrance to come unto thee, because he hath given them power to become the children of God, as many as believe in his name. I will give praise unto thy name O Lord, who by creating me after thine own image, hast made me capable of so great glory, as to become the son of God. This truly can not trees do, this can not stones do, this (to speak generally) can not any of the things do that move or grow in the air, or in the Sea, or on the earth, in as much as he hath not given them power by thy word to become the sons of God, because they have not reason. For the power whereby we know, consisteth in reason. But he hath given this power unto men, whom he created reasonable after his own image and likeness. certes Lord it is by thy grace that I am a man, and by grace I may be thy child, which thing, the other can not be. Whence have I this O Lord the sovereign truth, and true sovereign, and the beginning of all creatures? Whence have I this O Lord, that I may become the child of God, which the other things can not? Thou art he that indurest for ever, and thou hast made all things at once. Thou hast made man and beast, stones and green things of the earth all at once. For there went no desert of theirs afore, there went no good turn of theirs afore. Thou hast created all things only of thine own goodness: no creature had deserved more than other, for none of them had deserved aught at all. And why then did thy goodness show itself more in this creature which thou hast made reasonable, then in all other that be without reason? Why was not I as all they be, or why are not all they as I am, or I alone as they be? What had I merited? What had I deserved, that thou shouldest make me able to become the child of God, and deny the same ability to all the rest? God forbidden that I should think so. It was thy only grace, it was thy only goodness which brought it to pass, that I might be partaker of that sweetness. Of that grace therefore whereby thou hast created me of nothing, I beseech thee O Lord to give me the grace to be thankful unto thee.   

¶ Of God's almightiness.  
THy almighty hand keeping always at one stay, created the angels in heaven & the silly worms upon earth, and yet was neither higher in the one, nor lower in the other. For like as none other hand could have created an angel, so could none other hand have created a worm. Like as none other could have created heaven: so could none other have created a leaf of a tree. Like as none other could have made a body: so could none other make a hear white or black, but only thine almighty hand, whereunto all things are possible alike. For it is not more possible with him to created a worm then an angel, nor more impossible to spread out the heaven, than a leaf: nor easier to fashion a hear, then to fashion a body: nor uneasier to establish the earth upon the water, than the waters upon the earth: but all that he listed to do, that hath he done. According as he listed he hath made all things in heaven, & in earth, and in the Sea, and in all deep places: & among all other things he hath also made me according as he listed, could, and knew how to do it. certes Lord thy hand could have made me some stone, or some bird, or some Serpent, or some beast: and it knew how to have done it: but it would not because of thy goodness. Why then am not I some stone, some tree, or some beast? Because thy goodness hath so ordained it, and that thou shouldest so ordain it, there were no merits of mine going afore.   

¶ Of the incomprehensible praise of God.  
HOw shall I do Lord, whence shall I have praise to praise thee withal? for like as thou madest me without mine advise, as it liked thyself best: so hast thou praise without me, as it liketh thee. Thou thyself Lord art thine own praise. Thy works praise thee according to thy manisolde greatness, thy praise O Lord is incomprehensible. No heart can comprehend it, no tongue can measure it, no ear can receive it: for these things pass away, but thy praise O Lord continueth for ever. Thoughts have a beginning, & thoughts have an end: voices make a sound and forthwith pass away: the ear heareth, and the hearing ceaseth: but thy praise standeth fast for ever. Who is he then that can praise thee? What man is able to utter forth thy praise? Thy praise is everlasting, and not transitory. That man praiseth thee, which believeth thee to be thine own praise. The man praiseth thee, which acknowledgeth himself unable to attain to thy praise. O praise perpetual which never fadest: in thee is our praise, in thee shall my soul be praised. It is not we that praise thee: but it is thou thyself that dost it, both thyself, and in thyself: & we also have praise in thee. Then have we true praise, when we have praise of thee, when light alloweth light, for thou being the true praise yieldest us true praise. And look how often we seek for praise at any other badies' hand than thine: so often do we forego thy praise, because the other is shadowish, but thine is everlasting. If we hunt after the transitory praise, we loose the eternal praise. O praise eternal, O my Lord God of whom is all praise, without whom there is no praise. I am not able to praise thee without thee. Let me have thee, and I will praise thee. For what am I of myself Lord, that I should praise thee? I am but dust and ashes, I am but a dead and stinking dog, I am but worms and rottenness I What am I to praise thee O most mighty Lord God? How can the breath of no better than flesh, praise thee which dwellest in everlastingness? Can darkness praise light, or death, life? Thou art light, I darkness: thou life, I death. Can lying praise truth? Thou art truth, and I am a man no better than vanity itself. How shall I then praise thee O Lord? Shall my wretchedness praise thee? Shall stinch praise sweet sentes? Shall man's mortality which is here to day and gone to morrow, praise thee? Shall man, which is but rottenness, or the son of man which is but worms, praise thee? O Lord, Can he praise thee which is breed, borne, and brought up in sinfulness? Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner? O Lord my God, let thine own incomprehensible power, let thy unbounded wisdom, let thine unspeakable goodness, let thine over passing mercy, let thy superabundant pity, and let thine everlasting virtue and Godhead praise thee. Praised be thou by thine own almighty puissance, and also by thy singular gracious goodness and lovingness, whereby thou hast created us O Lord God the life of my soul.   

¶ Of lifting a man's hope up unto God.  
ANd I thy creature will put my trust under the shadow of thy wings, and in thy goodness where thorough thou hast created me. Help thy creature whom thy gracious goodness hath created. Let not that perish through my naughtiness, which thy goodness hath wrought. Let not that perish through my wretchedness, which thy singular mercy hath made. For what availeth it me that thou hast created me, if I shall sink down into mine own corruption? O God hast thou made all the sons of men in vain? Thou hast created me O Lord: rule thou the thing that thou hast created. Despise not the work of thine own hands O God. Thou hast made me of naught O Lord, & if thou govern me not, I shall return to naught again. For like as when I was not, thou madest me of nothing: so if thou govern me not, I shall yet again be brought to nothing in myself. Help me O Lord my life, lest I perish in mine own naughtiness. Lord, if thou hadst not created me▪ I should not have been at all, but because thou hast created me, I am. Now if thou govern me not, I am undone. For it was not mine own merits, or mine own deservings that made thee to created me, but thine own most gracious goodness and mercifulness. That lovingness of thine O Lord my God, which made thee to created me, I beseech thee let the same make thee to govern me. For what booteth it that thy lovingness caused thee to created me, if I must perish in mine own wretchedness, and that thy right hand govern me not? O Lord my God, let this mercifulness which caused thee to created the thing that was not created, 'cause thee also to save that which is created. Let the lovingness which won thee to created, win thee also to save, sith it is no less now than it was then: for thou art the very love itself and thou continuest always one. Lord, thy hand is not shortened that it should not be able to save, nor thine ear deafed that it should not be able to hear: but my sins have put a partition between me and thee, between the darkness and the light, between the image of death, and life, between vanity and truth, between this waving life of mine, and that endless life of thine.   

¶ Of the snares of concupiscence.  
Such are the shadows of the darkness, wherewith I am covered in the dungeon of this dark prison, wherein I lie grovelling till the day may dawn and the shadows vanish, and light appear in the firmament of thy power. Let the voice of the Lord in his strength, let the voice of the Lord in his mightful power, say: let there be light & let darkness be chased away, and let the dry ground appear, and let the earth bring forth green herbs & such as bear the seed and good fruit of the righteousness of thy kingdom. O Lord my father & God, the life whereby all things live, & where without all things are as good as dead, leave me not in my naughty thoughts, and give me not up to the loftiness of mine own eyes. Take away my lusts from me, and give me not over to an froward and fantastical mind, but hold thou my heart to thee that it may always think upon thee. enlighten mine eyes that they may look at thee, & not be lifted up before thee which art the everlasting glory: but that they may have a lowly meaning not meddling with marvels that are above them, and which are at thy right hand. Let thine eyliddes go before my steps, for thine eyliddes peruse the sons of men. Assuage my lust with thy sweetness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, that I may lust after thee with endless longing, so as mine inward fast may not be alured and deceived by vain things, to take bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter: darkness for light, and light for darkness: but that I may be delivered from the mids of so many traps as are set by the enemy in the way of men's haunts, to catch the souls of sinners where the whole world is full: which thing the Apostle saw, and passed it not over with silence, but said: what soever is in the world, is either the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. Lo my Lord God, the whole world is full of the snares of lust, which they have laid for my feet, and who can escape these snares? Doubtless even he from whom thou takest away his lofty looks, so as the lust of his eyes catch not hold of him: and from whom thou takest away the lust of the flesh, that the lust of his flesh attach him not: and from whom thou takest away his froward & fantastical mind, that the pride of life do not craftily beguile him. O how happy is he to whom thou dost so, for he shall scape unpunished. Now my redeemer, I beseech thee by thyself, help me, that I fall not in the sight of mine adversaries, nor be caught in the snares which they have laid for my feet to bring my soul to the ground. But pluck me out thou strength of my welfare, lest thine enemies which hate thee may laugh at me. Up Lord my God my strong champion, break the array of mine enemies, and let them that hate thee flee away before thee. Like as wax melteth away at the heat of the fire, so let the sinners perish at thy presence: but let me be hidden in the covert of thy face, and rejoice with thy children as enjoying my fill of all thy benefits. And thou O Lord God the father of the fatherless, and thou mother of the motherless, hear the shréeking of thy children, and stretch out thy wings, that we may flee under them from the sight of our enemy. For thou art the tower of Israel's strength, which neither sleepest nor slumberest in keeping Israel, because the enemy that assaulteth Israel doth neither sleep nor slumber.   

¶ Of man's misery and Gods benefits.  
O Light which no other light can see: O brightness which no other brightness beholdeth: O light which darkeneth all other lights: O brightness which blindeth all outward sight. O light of whom cometh all light: O sight of whom cometh all sight: O brightness in comparison whereof all other brightness is but dimness, & all other light is but darkness. O light unto whom all darkness is light, and all dimness, bright. O sovereign light which no blindness can over shadow, which no mist can dim, which no let can forclose, & which no shadow can keep of. O light which inlightenest all things, whole, together, at once, and ever, swallow me up into the depth of thy brightness, that I may see thee thoroughly in thyself, & myself in thee, & all things under thee. Forsake me not, least the shadows of mine ignorance increase, and my misdeeds grow out of number. For without thee all things are darkness unto me, and all things are evil, because nothing is good without thee the true, only, and sovereign goodness. This I know, and this I confess O Lord my God, that wheresoever I am without thee, it is ill with me for want of thee, not only without me, but also within me: for all abundance besides thee my God, is nothing else but stark beggary. But I shall then have my fill, when thou appearest in thy glory. And thou O Lord my blessed life, make me to confess my wretchedness unto thee, which I am fallen into by slipping from the unity of thy goodness the sovereign and only good thing: since which time, the manifoldness of temporal things hath carried me away through my fleshly senses, and scattered me from one into many things: by reason whereof plenty is become painful to me, and poverty plentiful, while I raughted after this and that, and was satisfied with nothing, because that in myself I found not thee the unchangeable, singular, and undivided good: which had I once attained, I should no more want: which had I once gotten, I should no more be grieved: which had I once possessed, my whole longing were satisfied. Alas how misery cometh upon misery, when my miserable soul is fled from thee with whom it hath abundance and joy: and followeth the world, with whom it hath evermore scarcity and sorrow. The world calls me to undo me, thou O Lord callest me to revive me, and such is my wicked wretchedness, that I rather follow him that undoth me, than him that reviveth me. This is utterly mine infirmity. O Ghostly Physician, heal it, that I may give praise unto thee the health of my soul, with all my whole heart, for all thy benefits wherewith thou feedest me from my youth unto mine old age, and even till my last gasp. I beseech thee by thyself, forsake me not. Thou madest me when I was not: thou redéemest me when I was forlorn: yea when I was both forlorn & dead, thou camest down to me, and tookest mortality upon thee. Thou being my king, camest down to thy servant: To redeem thy servant, thou gavest thyself: To the intent that I might live, thou tookest upon thee to die, and overcamest death: Thou didst set me up again, by abasing thyself low. I was undone, I was gone away in my sins, I was sold to sin: then camest thou for me to buy me out again, and thou didst love me so well, that thou gavest thine own blood for my ransom. Lord thou hast loved me more than thyself: for thou didst find in thy heart to die for me. Upon this condition haste thou with so dear a price brought me back from banishment, ransomed me out of bondage, rescued me from punishment, called me by thine own name, and sealed me with thy blood: that the remembrance of thee should be evermore with me, and that he should never depart from my heart, who for my sake shunned not the cross. Thou hast anointed me with the oil wherewith thou thyself wart anointed, that I might be called a Christian after thy name Christ. Behold thou hast registered me upon thine hands, to the end that the remembrance of me might be always present with thee: yet notwithstanding, so as if the remembrance of thee be always present with me. Thus then have thy grace & mercy always prevented me. For thou hast oftentimes delivered me from many & great perils, O my deliverer. When I went astray, thou broughtest me back again: when I was ignorant, thou taughtest me: when I sinned thou didst chastise me: when I have been in heaviness, thou hast cheered me: when I have been in despair, thou hast recomforted me: when I have e'en fallen, thou hast lifted me up: when I have stood thou hast upheld me: when I have gone, thou hast guided me: when I have come, thou hast received me: when I have slept, thou hast watched me: and when I have cried unto thee, thou hast heard me.   

¶ That God doth continually behold and mark men's doings & intentes.  
THese and many other good turns hast thou done unto me O Lord my God the life of my soul: and it were a pleasure to me to be always talking of them, always thinking upon them, and always giving thee thanks for them, so as I might ever praise thee for all thy good gifts, and love thee with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength, yea and with the very bowels and entrails of my heart and of all my sinews, O Lord my God the blessed sweetness of all that delight in thee. But thine eyes have seen mine imperfection. Thy eyes I say are much clearer than the sun, viewing thoroughly all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and in all places always beholding both the good and bad. For in as much as thou overrulest all things, filling every thing, and art wholly present at all times & in all places, having regard of all things which thou hast created: (for thou hatest not any of the things that thou hast made) thou takest such heed to my steps and my paths, and keepest such watch and ward over me day and night, diligently marking all my walks like a continual overseer: as though thou hadst forgotten heaven and earth & all the creatures in them, and hadst regard of me alone, without caring for any of the rest. For the unchangeable light of thine eye sight increaseth not to thyselfward though thou look but upon one thing: neither is it diminished though thou look upon sundry and innumerable things. For like as thou considerest the whole perfectly at once: so thy whole sight beholdeth every several thing perfectly at once, and whole together, be they never so divers. Nevertheless thou viewest all things as one, and each one thing as all: thyself being whole together without division, or change, or abatement. Thou therefore being whole at all times, beholdest me whole, at once, and always, without time, as if thou hadst nothing else to think upon. Yea and thou standest in such wise my guard, as if thou hadst forgotten all other things, and wouldst task thyself to me alone. For thou ever showest thyself present: thou ever offerest thyself ready if thou find me ready. Whether soever I go, thou forsakest me not, except I forsake thee first. Where soever I be, thou departest not from me. For thou art every where, so as which way soever I go, I may find thee by whom I may be, that I perish not without thee, sith I cannot be without thee. I confess in deed, that what soever I do, and where soever I do it, I do it before thee, & what soever I do, thou seest it better than I that do it. For what soever I am working, thou art ever standing at mine elbow, a continual beholder of all my thoughts, intentes, delights & doings. Lord, all my desire is ever before thee, & all my thoughts are before thee. Lord, thou knowest from whence my spirit cometh, where it resteth, and whether it departeth: for thou art the weyer of all spirits. Thou knowest right well whether the root that sendeth forth fair leaves abroad, be sweet or bitter: yea thou searchest narrowly even the very pith of the roots within, as a judge: and by the discussing light of thy truth thou considerest, numbrest, viewest, and perusest not only the intent, but also the very innermost pith of the root of it, that thou mayst tender unto every man, not only according to his work or intent, but also even according to the very inward & hidden pith of the root of them, out of which the intent of the worker proceedeth. What soever I purpose when I work, what soever I think, and wherein soever I delight, thou seest it, thine ears hear it, thine eyes behold it, and consider it, thou markest it, thou takest heed of it, thou notest it, and thou writest it in thy book, be it good or evil: that afterward thou mayst tender, for the good, reward, & for the evil, punishment, at such time as thy books shallbe opened, and men shallbe judged according to the things that be written in thy books. And peradventure this is it that thou meantest, when thou saidest unto us: I will consider the last of them: & which is meant when it is said of thee O Lord: he considereth the end of all things. For in all things that we do, thou undoubtedly regardest more the end of the intent, than the act of the deed. Now when I consider this O Lord my God, which art terrible and mighty, I am abashed with fear of thine exceeding strength, because it standeth us greatly on hand to live justly and uprightly, for as much as we do all things in the presence of the judge that seeth all things.   

¶ That man can do nothing of himself without God's grace.  
MOst puissant and mighty-working God, the creator of the spirits of all flesh, whose eyes are upon all the ways of Adam's children, from the day of their birth, to the day of their departure, to give unto every of them according to his works either good or evil: show me how I may confess mine own poverty. For I said I was rich and wanted nothing, and I witted not that I was poor, blind, naked, wretched, and miserable. For I believed I had been somewhat, when as I was nothing. I said I will become wise, and I become a fool. I thought myself skilful, but I was deceived, for now I see it is thy gift, without whom we can do nothing, because that except thou keep the City, in vain doth he watch which keepeth it. So hast thou taught me to know myself, for thou hast forsaken me to try me: not for thyself that thou mightest know me, but for me that I might know myself. For as I said Lord, I believed I should have been somewhat of myself, I thought I had been a man able enough of myself, & I perceived not how thou didst govern me, until thou hadst withdrawn thee a while from me: and then by and by I fell to mine own bias: whereby I saw and knew, how it was thou that hadst ruled me, and that my falling was of myself, and my rising again was of thee. O light, thou hast opened mine eyes, and waked me, and enlightened me. I see that man's life upon earth is but a temptation, and that no flesh can glory before thee, nor any living wight be justified, because that if there be any good in them, be it much or little, it is thy gift, and we have nothing of our own but evil. Whereof then shall any flesh make his boast? Of evil? That is no glory, but misery. But what? shall he boast of goodness? Then shall he boast of that which is none of his own. For goodness is thine O Lord, and thine is the glory. For he that seeketh his own glory by thy goods, and seeks not thy glory, he is a thief and a robber, and he is like the devil who would have stolen away thy glory. For he that willbe praised for thy gift, & seeketh not to glorify thee in the same, but to glorify himself: although men praise him for thy gift, yet dost thou dispraise him, because that by thy gift he hath not sought thy glory, but his own. As for him that is praised of men when thou mislikest him, men shall not defend him when thou judgest him, neither shall they deliver him when thou condemnest him. Wherefore O Lord which didst shape me in my mother's womb, suffer me not to fall into that reproach, that it might be cast in my teeth how I would have stolen away thy glory. For all glory be unto thee, who art the owner of all goodness: but shame and misery be unto us, who are owners of all evil, except it please thee to show mercy. For thou O Lord hast pity, yea thou hast pity on all things, for thou hatest not any thing which thou hast made, but givest us of thy goods, and inrichest us beggars with thy singular good gifts O Lord God. Yea thou lovest the poor, and inrichest them with thine own riches. Behold now O Lord, we thy children and thy little flock are poor: open us thy gates that the poor may eat and be satisfied, & they that seek thee shall praise thee. Also Lord, I know by thy teaching, and I confess that none shallbe enriched by thee, but such as feel themselves poor, and acknowledge their poorness unto thee. For they that take themselves to be rich whereas they be poor, shall find themselves shut out from thy richesse. I therefore confess my poorness unto thee my Lord God, and thine be the whole glory, because the good that hath been done by me is thine. Lord, I acknowledge according as thou hast taught me, that I am nothing else but all together vanity, a shadow of death a dungeon of darkness, & a barren and waste ground, which without thy blessing beareth not any thing, ne yieldeth any fruit but confusion, sin, and death. If ever I have had any good in me, I have had it of thee: what soever I have, it is thine, or I have it of thee. If ever I have stood, I stood by thee: but when I have fallen, I have fallen of myself: and I should have lain in the mire for ever, hadst not thou drawn me out. I had been ever blind, hadst not thou enlightened me. When I was fallen I had never risen again, hadst not thou reached me thy hand. Yea I had continually fallen after thou hadst lifted me up, hadst not thou held me up still: finally I had oftentimes perished, but that thou didst govern me. Thus always Lord, thus always have thy grace and mercy prevented me, delivering me from all evils, saving me from that was past, lifting me up from that was present, and guarding me from that which was to come: and also ripping a sunder the snares afore me, and taking away all causes of annoyance. For unless thou hadst done so for me, I should have committed all the sins of the world. Doubtless Lord, I know there is no sin which ever any man hath committed, but that an other man may do the same, if he want his creator by whom he was made man. But look what I myself could not do, that hast thou done. That I forbore it was thy commandment: & that I believed thee, it was of thy grace which thou didst shed into me. For it was thou Lord that didst rule me, both to thee and to myself: and it was thou that gavest me grace and light, that I should not commit adultery or any other kind of sin.   

¶ Of the devil and of his manifold temptations.  
THere wanted a tempter, & thou wart the cause that he was wanting: there wanted time and place, and thou wart the cause that they wanted. The tempter was present, and there wanted neither place nor time: but thou hildest me back that I should not consent. The tempter came full of darkness as he is: & thou didst hearten me that I might despise him. The tempter came armed and strongly: but to the intent he should not overcome me, thou didst restrain him, and strengthen me. The tempter came transformed into an angel of light: and to the intent he should not deceive me, thou didst rebuke him: and to the intent I should know him, thou didst enlighten me. For he is that great read dragon, and that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which hath seven heads and ten horns, whom thou hast created to take his pleasure in this huge & broad sea, wherein there creep living wights innumerable, & beasts great and small, that is to say divers sorts of fiends, which practise nothing else day nor night, but to go about seeking whom they may devour, except thou rescue him. For it is that old dragon which was breed in the paradise of pleasure, which draweth down the third part of the Stars of heaven with his tail & casts them to the ground, which with his venom poisoneth the waters of the earth that as many men as drink of them may die, which trampleth upon gold as if it were mire and is of opinion that jordan shall run into to his mouth, and which is made of such a moold as he feareth not man. And who shall save us from his chaps? Who shall pluck us out of his mouth saving thou O Lord, who hast broken the heads of the great dragon? Help us Lord. Spread out thy wings over us O Lord, that we may flee under them from the face of this dragon that pursueth us: & fence thou us from his horns, with thy shield. For his continual endeavour and only desire is to devour the souls which thou hast created. And therefore we cry unto thee my God, deliver us from our daily adversary, who whether we sleep or wake, whether we eat or drink, or whether we be doing of any thing else, presseth upon us by all kind of means, assaulting us day and night with trains and policies, and shooting his venomous arrows at us, sometime openly and sometime privily, to slay our souls. And yet are we most lewdly overseen O Lord, in that whereas we see the dragon continually in a readiness to devour us with open mouth: we nevertheless do sleep and riot in our own slothfulness, as though we were out of his danger, who desireth nothing else but to destroy us. Our enemy to the intent to kill us, watcheth continually & never sleepeth: and yet will not we wake from sleep to save ourselves. Behold he hath pitched infinite snares before our feet, and filled all our ways with sundry traps, to catch our souls. And who can escape them? He hath laid snares for us in our riches, he hath laid snares in our poverty, he hath laid snares in our meat, in our drink, in our pleasures, in our sleep, and in our waking: he hath set snares for us in our words, and in our works, and in all our life. But Lord, deliver us thou from the net of the fowlers, and from hard words, that we may give praise to thee, saying: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us up to be torn with their teeth, our soul is delivered as a sparrow out of the net of a fouler, the net is broken and we be escaped.   

¶ That God is the light of the righteous.  
ANd thou O Lord my light, enlighten mine eyes that I may see the light & walk in thy light, and not stumble into his snares. For who can escape these so many snares, except he may see them? And who can see them, except he be enlightened with thy light? For the father of darkness hath hidden his snares in his own darkness, to catch all such in them as be in his darkness, which are the children of this darkness, and see not thy light, wherein who so walketh, shall not be afraid. For he that walketh in the day, stumbleth not: but he that walketh in the night, stumbleth: because there is no light in him. Thou art light O Lord, thou art the light of the children of light, thou art the day which hath none eventide, wherein thy children walk without stumbling, and where out of who so walketh is in darkness, because he hath not thee the light of the world. Lo, we see daily, that the further of that any man wandereth from thee, so much the more is he wrapped in the darkness of sin: and the more he is in darkness, so much the less doth he see the snares in his way, and therefore so much the less knoweth them, by reason whereof he is oftentimes caught and falleth into them, and (which more horrible is) he knoweth not that he is fallen into them. Now, he that knoweth not his own fall, careth so much the less to rise again, in as much as he wéeneth that he is still upon his feet. But thou O Lord my God the light of the mind enlighten now mine eyes, that I may both see and know, so as I fall not in the sight of mine adversaries. For our enemy laboureth to root us up, but we beseech thee make him to be melted before our face as wax melteth against the fire. For truly Lord, he is the first thief and the last, and he took counsel to rob thee of thy glory. But when he was puffed up & advanced, he did burst a sunder, and fell upon his face, and thou threwest him down from thy holy hill, and from the midst of the fiery stones in the midst whereof he walked. And now O Lord God my life, he ceaseth not to pursue thy children: and for hate of thee O mighty king, he covets to destroy this thy creature, which thine almighty goodness hath created after thine own image to inherit thy glory which he hath lost through his own pride. But beat thou him down O our strength before he devour us thy lambs: and enlighten thou us that we may espy the snares which he hath laid for us, and escape unto thee O joy of Israel. All these things dost thou right well know O Lord, who art acquainted with his stubbornness and exceeding stiff neck, neither say I this to inform thee of it, for thou seest all things, & there is not a thought hid from thee. But I make complaint of mine enemy at the feet of thy majesty O eternal king, to the end that thou shouldest both damn him, and also save us thy children, whose strength thou art. For why Lord, this is a turnecoate and a writhing enemy, and hardly shall a man find out the crinkes of his ways, or discern the looks of his countenance, except thou enlighten him. For he is now here, now there: now a lamb, now a Wolf: and seems sometime darkness & sometime light, offering sundry temptations upon every manner of quality, place & time, according to the sundry changes of things for to deceive the sad, he makes himself sad: and to beguile them that be merry, he himself also pretendeth mirth: to disappoint the spiritual sort, he turneth himself into an angel of light: to pull down the strong, he appeareth as a lamb: and to devour the meek ones, he showeth himself a Wolf. And according to the likeness of his sundry temptations, he hath all these things to work with all: that is to wit, to scare some with fear of the night, some with the arrow that flieth by day, some with the pestilence that walketh in the dark, some with breaking in, and other some with the noon sprite. And who is of ability to know all these things? or who hath discerned his wiles? who shall discover the shape of his raiment, or who will take account of the teeth in his head? Behold he hideth his arrows in his quiver, and shroudeth his snares under the covert of light. And this is the harder to espy, if we get not light at thee O Lord our hope, that we may see all things. For he hideth dangerous snares, not only in the works of the flesh which are easily known, nor only in vices: but also even in the spiritual exercises: egging men to vice under the colour of virtue, and transforming himself into an angel of light. These and many other things doth the son of belial, even Satan himself practise against us O Lord our God. He lieth in wait to catch our souls, one while as a Lion, and an other while as a dragon, openly and privily, within and without, day and night. But deliver us thou O Lord which savest them that trust in thee: that he may be grieved at us, & thou mayst be praised in us O Lord our God.   

Of God's benefits.  
I The son of thy handmaid who have commended myself into thy hand by these my poor complaints, will praise thee my deliverer with all my heart, and call to my mind all the good that thou hast done me from my youth up. For I know that unthankfulness doth greatly displease thee, which is the root of all spiritual evil, and a wind that blasteth and burneth up all good, damning up the fountain of thy godly mercy for ever. Through it, the works that be dead already, revive not: and the works that be alive do die out of hand and recover not again. But I will give thanks to thee O Lord, lest I be unthankful to thee my deliverer for thy delivering of me. How often had that dragon swallowed me up long ago, but that thou O Lord hast plucked me out of his mouth? How often have I sinned and he stood ready to snatch me up, but that thou didst defend me O Lord my God? When I dealt wickedly, & when I broke thy commandments, he stood waiting to carry me away to hell, but thou withstodest him. I offended thee, and thou didst defend me. I feared thee not, & yet thou didst keep me. I started away from thee and yielded myself to mine enemy, and yet thou didst fray him away that he should not take me. These good turns hast thou done for me O Lord my God, & I wretch witted it not. For so hast thou oftentimes delivered me out of the devils chaps, plucked me out of the lions mouth, and many and sundry ways brought me back again from hell though I witted it not. For I have gone down to the very gates of hell: but thou hast held me from going in. I drew near to deaths door, but thou hast not suffered it to take me in. Also thou hast oftentimes preserved me from bodily death, O my Saviour, when I have been attached with sore sicknesses: And when I have been in many dangers by Sea, and by land, thou hast always stood by me, delivering me from fire and from sword, and from all peril, and mercifully preserving me. Truly Lord thou knowest, that if death had dispatched me at that time, hell had received my soul, and I had been damned for ever. But thy mercy & thy grace prevented me, rescuing me from bodily death, and also from the death of my soul O my Lord God. These and many other good turns hast thou done for me, & I was blind and witted it not, until thou inlightenedst me. Now therefore O light of my soul, my Lord God, my life whereby I live, the sight of mine eyes whereby I see, behold thou hast enlightened me, and I perceive how I live through thee. And I yield thee thanks, though little worth and slender and far under thy benefits, howbeit yet such as my frailty hath to give. For thou only art my God, and my gracious maker, which lovest our souls and hatest none of the things that thou hast made. Behold I am the chief among the sinners whom thou hast saved, that I may be an example unto others of thy most merciful loving kindness. I will acknowledge thy great benefits unto thee: for thou hast plucked me out of the bottom of hell, once, & twice, and thrice, and a hundred times, & a thousand times. Yea I always made towards hell, and thou didst always bring me back again, when thou mightest justly have damned me if thou hadst would. But thou wouldst not O Lord my God, because thou lovest men's souls, and bearest with men's sins, that they might repent: all thy ways be full of mercy. Now therefore O Lord my God I see these things and discern them by thy light, & my heart is astonished at thy great mercy towards me, in that thou hast delivered my soul from the bottom of hell, and brought me back again to life. For I was stark dead, and thou hast made me thoroughly alive again. Therefore am I altogether beholden to thee for my life, and whole as I am I yield myself wholly unto thee. Let my whole spirit, my whole heart, my whole body, and my whole life live unto thee my sweet life: for thou hast delivered me whole, that thou mightest possess me whole: thou hast made me whole new again, that thou mightest have me whole again. And therefore let me love thee O Lord my strength, let me love thee O my unspeakable joy, and let me live hence forth, not to myself, but unto thee. All my whole life which was perished in mine own wretchedness, is revived again in thy mercy: for thou art a pitiful and merciful God▪ and many are thy compassions toward thousands, in them that love thy name. And therefore O Lord my God, thou my sanctifier hast commanded me in thy law, that I should love thee with all my heart, with all my might, yea even from the bottom of my heart, at all hours & times wherein I enjoy the benefits of thy mercy. For I should perish for ever, but that thou rulest me ever. I should ever die, but that thou ever quickenest me: yea every moment thou bindest me unto thee, in as much as every moment thou bestowest thy great benefits upon me. Therefore like as there is no hour or instant of time in all my life, that I have not the use of thy benefits: so aught there to be no moment wherein I should not have thee in remembrance before mine eyes, and love thee to thee uttermost of my power. But this am I not able to do, except thou make me able, of whom cometh every good gift & every excellent gift: for thou art the father of light, in whom there is no change nor intercourse of darkness: for to love thee cometh not of our own will, or of our own running, but of thy mercy. Lord it is thy gift, whose all good things are. Thou commandest us to love thee, give us that which thou commandest, & command what thou wilt.   

Of the ferventness of love or Charity.  
I Am in love with thee my God, & I covet to be always in love with thee more & more. For in deed thou art sweeter than all honey, more nourishing then all milk, and brighter than all light. And therefore I set more by thee, then by all the gold, silver, and precious stones in the world. For I mislike all that ever I have to do within this world: in respect of thy sweetness, and in respect of the beauty of thy house which I have loved. O fire which ever burnest & never goest out: O love which ever glowest & never coolest, inflame me: I say inflame me wholly that I may be wholly in love with thee. For he loveth thee the less, which loveth any thing besides thee, except he love it for thy sake. Let me love thee O Lord, because thou hast first loved me. Where shall I have words to utter the signs of thy singular great love towards me, considering thine innumerable benefits wherein thou hast brought me up from the beginning? namely even from the benefit of the creation, when at the first beginning thou madest me of nothing after thine own Image, in honouring and advancing me among the creatures which thou madest, and innobling me with the light of thy countenance, which thou imprintedst upon the lamp of my heart, thereby dissevering me as well from sensible as from senseless creatures, and abasing me but little beneath the angels. And yet was all this but a small matter in the sight of thy Godhead. For without ceasing thou hast daily nourished me with the singular and exceeding great store of thy benefits: and thou hast as it were suckled & strengthened me thy little tender babe with the teats of thy comfort. For to the intent that I should wholly serve thee, thou hast appointed all thy creatures to serve me.   

That God hath put all things under the service of man.  
THou hast put all things under man's feet, to the end that man alone should wholly be subject unto thee. And to the end that man should be wholly thine, thou hast made man Lord of all thy works. For thou hast created all outward things for his body: his body, for his soul: and his soul for thee: that he might serve thee only, & love thee only, possessing thee to his comfort, and all inferior things for his servants. For what soever is contained under the cope of heaven, is inferior unto man's soul, which was made to inherit the sovereign goodness above, and to become happy by possessing it. Whereunto if he stick fast, he shall surmount the need of all the inferior things which are changeable, and in everlasting immortality quietly behold the sovereign majesty, whereof he representeth the image. Then shall he enjoy those excellent good things in the lords house, in comparison whereof, all the things that we see, are accounted as nothing. Those be the things which no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man conceived, which God hath prepared for them that love him. And truly Lord, these things wilt thou give unto my soul. With these dost thou (which lovest men's souls,) daily glad the hearts of thy servants. But why wonder I at these things my Lord God? Thou inhonorest thine own image and thine own likeness whereunto they were created. For to the end our body (though it be yet corruptible & base) might see: thou hast given us the light of the sky by the hand of thine unwéeriable servants the noon, who according to thy commandment do continual service day and night to thy children. To the intent it might breathe, thou hast granted us the pure air. To the intent it might hear, thou hast given us the diversity of sounds. To the end it might smell, thou hast given us the sweetness of sentes. To the end it might taste, thou hast given us the qualities of savours. To the end it might feel, thou hast given us the substances of all bodily things. To help him in his necessities, thou hast given him bearing beasts. To refresh him with all, thou hast bestowed upon him the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, & the fruits of the earth. For every sore or disease of his, thou hast created medicine and salve out of the earth. And for every several evil, thou hast prepared a several remedy to encounter it, because thou art merciful and full of compassion, and thou our potter knowest of what metal we be made, and how that all of us are as clay in thy hand.   

That the greatness of the heavenly wisdom is conjectured by the consideration of the temporal benefits.  
O Let thy great mercy be opened unto me: shine upon me yet more with thy light I beseech thee, that it may be the more opened unto me. For by these lest things, we comprehend thy great things: and by these visible things, we comprehend thine invisible things O holy Lord God, our good maker. For if thou sand so great and so innumerable benefits unto me for this base & corruptible body of mine, from the sky and the air, from the land and the Sea, from light and darkness, from heat and shadow, from dew and rain, from wind and showers, from fowls and fishes, from beasts and trees, by diversity of herbs & things that grow upon the earth, and by the service of all thy creatures serving our turns by course in their seasons, to ease us of our weariness: How excellent I pray thee, and how great and innumerable shall these good things be, which thou hast prepared for them that love thee, in that heavenly realm, where we shall see thee face to face? If thou do so much for us in prison, what wilt thou do in thy palace? Great and innumerable are thy works O Lord thou king of heaven. For sith that all these things be exceeding good and pleasant, which thou hast delivered to good men and bad men together in common: what manner of things shall those be, which thou hast laid up in store for good men only? If the gifts be so sundry and so innumerable, which thou dealest now as well to thy foes as thy friends: How great and innumerable, how sweet and delightful shall those be, which thou wilt deal only to thy friends? If thou give so great solace in this time of mourning: how great joys wilt thou give in the day of wedding. If our prison contain so many delectable things: how much more delectable things containeth our father's house? O God, no eye without thee hath seen the things that thou hast prepared for them that love thee. For according to the manifoldness of thy mighty works, so also is the great abundance of thy sweetness, which thou keepest in store for them that love thee. For great art thou O Lord my God, yea unmeasurable art thou, and there is no end of thy greatness, nor number of thy wisdom, nor measure of thy mercy: neither is there end, number, or measure of thy bounteousness. But like as thou thyself art great, so are thy rewards great. For thou thyself art both the price and the reward of all thy lawful combaters.   

That the sweetness of God taketh away all the present bitterness of the world.  
LOrd God which art the sanctifier of thy Saints, these are thy great benefits wherewith thou wilt relieve the want of thy hungry children. For thou art the hope of the hopeless, the comfort of the comfortless, and the crown of hope bedecked with glory, which is prepared for them that get the upper hand. Thou art the everlasting suffisance, which shallbe given to the hungry. Thou art the endless solace which givest thyself to them only that despise the solace of this world for thy eternal solace sake. For they that have their comfort here, are unworthy of thy comfort. But such as are turmoiled here, are comforted at thy hand, and such as be partakers of thy sufferaunces, shall also be partakers of thy comforts. For no man can have solace in both the worlds, neither can a man joy both here and in the world to come: but he must be fain to for go the one, who soever will be owner of the other. When I consider these things O Lord my comforter, my heart refuseth to have solace in this world, to the intent it may be thought worthy of thy everlasting solace. For of good right aught he to forego thee, who soever hath chosen to solace himself in any other thing more than in thee. And I beseech thee O sovereign truth, by thyself I beseech thee, suffer me not to solace myself in any vain solace. But I ask of thee, that all things may be bitter to me, and that thou alone mayst seem sweet to my soul: for thou art the inestimable sweetness, whereby all bitter things are made sweet. For thy sweetness made even the stones of the brook sweet unto Stephen. Thy sweetness made the gréedyron sweet to saint Laurence. By reason of thy sweetness, the Apostles went away rejoicing from the counsel of the jews, for that they had been counted worthy to suffer reproach for thy name's sake. Saint Andrew went quietly and joyfully to the cross, because he hasted to thy sweetness. This thy sweetness did so replenish the very chief of thine Apostles, that to come unto it, the one chose the gallows of the cross, and the other was not afraid to lay down his head to have it stricken of. To buy this withal, Bartlemewe gave his own skin. Also that he might taste this, john drunk up a cup of poison unfearefully. Assoon as Peter had tasted hereof, by and by forgetting all inferior things, he cried out like a drunkenman, saying: Lord, it is good being here, let us make us three tents here, and let us dwell here and behold thee still: for we want nothing else. It sufficeth us to look upon thee Lord, I say it sufficeth us if we may have our fill of so great sweetness. For Peter had tasted but one drop of that sweetness, & yet he loathed all other sweetness. What thinkest thou he would have said, if he had tasted the great abundance of that sweetness of thy Godhead, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee? This unspeakable sweetness, was also tasted by that virgin of whom we read, that she went to prison as joyful and triumphing, as if she had been bidden to a feast. Hereof also (as I trow) had he tasted which said: Lord, how great is the abundance of thy sweetness which thou hast hoarded up for them that fear thee? And so had he which encouraged men, saying: Taste ye and see ye how that the Lord is sweet. For this is that blessedness O Lord our God, which we look to receive of thy gift, for which we serve thee in continual warfare, and for which we be killed unto thee all the day long, that we may live unto thee in thy life.   

That all our trust, and all the longing of our heart aught to be to Godward.  
LOrd which art the waiting of Israel, & the desire where after our heart doth daily long, make haste and forflow thou not. Up, high thee apace, & come, that thou mayst lead us out of this prison, to give praise unto thy name, and to glory in thy light. Open thine ears to the shréekes and tears of thy fatherless children which cry unto thee, saying: Our father, give us this day our daily bread, that we may walk in the strength thereof day and night, until we come to thy holy hill of Oreb. And I silly soul among the little ones of thy household O God my father and my strength, when shall I come and stand in thy presence, that as I now do praise thee for a time, so I may from thence forth praise thee for ever? Happy shall I be, if I be once admitted to the beholding of thy brightness. Who will do so much for me, as to get me leave at thy hand to come to this point? I know Lord, I know and confess, that I am unworthy to enter under thy roof: but yet give me leave for thine own honour's sake, and confounded not thy servant which trusteth in thee. For who shall enter into thy Sanctuary to consider thy mighty power, except thou open it unto him? And who shall open it, if thou shut it? For if thou pull down, there is none that can build up: and if thou shut up a man, there is none that can let him out. If thou hold the waters at a stay, all shallbe dried up: & if thou let them go, they shall overturn the earth. If thou bring all things which thou hast made, unto nothing, who shall gainsay thee? But everlasting is the goodness of thy mercy, whereby thou hast made all things that thou liftest. Thou O maker of the world hast created us, therefore rule us: thou hast created us, & therefore despise us not, for we be thy work. And truly O Lord our God, we silly worms and clay, are not able to enter into thine everlastingness, unless thou which hast made all of nothing, do lead us in.   

That our welfare cometh of God.  
ANd I the work of thy hands protest unto thee in thy fear, that my trust is not in mine own bow, nor that mine own sword shall save me: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance. Otherwise I should despair, but that thou which hast created me art my hope, because thou forsakest not them that trust in thee. For thou our Lord God art sweet and long suffering, and orderest all things in mercy. If we sin, we be none of thine, because we be out of thy books. But we be all of us as a leaf, and all men living are but vanity, and our life upon earth is but a blast. Be not angry with us if we thy fondlynges fall, for thou O Lord our God dost know what metal we be made of. O God which art of inestimable power, wilt thou show thy force against a leaf that is tossed with the wind? or wilt thou follow upon dry stubble? Will't thou O everlasting king of Israel, wilt thou condemn a dog? wilt thou condemn a flea? Lord we have heard of thy mercifulness, how that thou makest not death, nor delightest in the loss of them that die. For this cause Lord we pray thee suffer not the thing which thou madest not, to have dominion over the creature that thou madest. For if thou be sorry for our damnation, what letteth thee O Lord which art almighty, that thou shouldest not always rejoice in our salvation? Thou canst save me if thou list: but I cannot save myself, would I never so fain. Great is the multitude of my miseries within me. For why? to will, is present with me: but I find not how to bring to pass. To will the thing that is good, I am not able, except thou will it: neither can I do that I would do, except thy power do strengthen me. Again, that which I can do, of times I have no will to do, unless thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And though I both will and can: yet wot I not how to do, unless thy wisdom enlighten me. Yea and although sometimes I have knowledge joined both with will and with ability: yet doth my wisdom pass away imperfect & empty, unless I be helped by thy true wisdom. All things are in thy will, and there is none that can resist thy will O Lord of all things, which hast the sovereignty over all flesh, and dost what thou listest in heaven, in earth, in the Sea, and in all deep places. Therefore let thy will be done in us, upon when thy name is called, so as this noble handiwork of thine perish not, which thou hast created to shine own honour. And what man is he (if he were borne of a woman) that liveth and shall not see death, or can deliver his own soul from the hand of hell, except thou only which art the lively way of all life, whereby all things live, do rescue him?   

¶ That man's will is unable to do good works, without the grace of God.  
I Have even now confessed unto thee that thou art the stay of my life O Lord my God the strength of my welfare. The time hath been that I have trusted in mine own strength, which notwithstanding was no strength. And so when I would have run, where I thought myself to stand fastest, there did I most fall, and was rather cast behind then set forward: and the thing that I thought to catch, was further and further of from me. So triest thou my strength by many like things. Now know I that thou hast enlightened me. For look what I thought myself best able to do, that was I ever least able to do of myself. For I said, I will do this, and I will go through with that: but when it came to the point, I could do none of them both. When I had a will to do it, I wanted ableness: and when I was able, I wanted will, because I trusted to mine own strength. But now I acknowledge unto thee O Lord my God the father of heaven and earth, that it is not in man's power to strengthen himself, lest the foolish presumptuousness of any flesh should boast itself before thee. For man is not able to be willing to do that he can, nor to can the thing that he is willing to do, or to know the thing that he both would and could do: but rather thou art he that guidest men's steps, I say the steps of them which acknowledge themselves to be guided, not by themselves, but by thee. We beseech thee therefore O Lord by the bowels of thy mercy, that thou wilt save that which thou hast created, for if thou wilt thou canst save us, and in thy will resteth the power of our salvation.   

¶ Of God's old benefits.  
LOrd remember thine old mercifulness, whereby thou hast prevented us with thy sweet blessings even from the beginning. For before that I the son of thy handmaid was borne, thou O Lord my hope while I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts, didst prevent me, making my way for me wherein to walk, that I might come to the glory of thy house. Before thou didst shape me in my mother's womb, thou knewest me, and before I was borne thou didst foreordeine of me what soever pleased thee. How and what things are written of me in the secret book of thy Consistory, truly I know not: and therefore I am sore afraid. But thou knowest it: for what soever I look for by succession of days and times a thousand year hence in this mortal world: that is already done in the sight of thy everlastingness, and the thing that is to come is already in doing. Now then for as much as I stand in this night of darkness, and know not these things: fear and trembling are come upon me, because I see that many dangers press upon me on all sides, and many enemies hunt after me, and I am beset round about with an innumerable multitude of miseries in this life. And if thy help were not present with me in these so great miseries, I should despair. But I have a great hope of thee O most meek prince my God: and the considering of the multitude of thy compassions cheereth my heart. The former signs of thy mercy which prevented me before I was borne, and have now specially shined out upon me, do assure my hope of the better and perfecter rewards of thy goodness, which thou reservest for thy friends, that I may rejoice in thee O Lord my God, with the holy and lively joy wherewith thou always chéerest up my youth.   

Of God's predestination and foreknowledge.  
Teach me O bottomless deep, O wisdom the creator, which hast counterpoised the mountains & hills by weight, and hanged the mass of the earth by three fingers in the balance: hale up the lump of this grossness which I bear about me, unto thee by thy three unseen fingers, that I may see and know how wondered thou art over all the earth. O most ancient light which shonest before all light in the hill of thy tymelesse eternity, unto whom all things lay bore and open before they were made. O light which hatest all spottinesse, in as much as thou art most clean and spottelesse, what delight canst thou have in man? What agreement is there between light and darkness? For what is there in man, that may delight thee? Where canst thou make thee a meet sanctuary for thy majesty, that thou mayst enter into it, and take thy delight and pleasure in the same? A clean parlour becometh thee O cleansing virtue, which canst not be seen, and much less possessed, but of clean hearts. But where is there in man so clean a temple, as may receive thee the ruler of the world? Who can make that clean, which is conceived of unclean seed? Truly none but thou, who only art clean. For who can be made clean by that which is unclean? For according to the law which thou gavest to our fathers upon the mountain burning with fire, and in the cloud that covered the darksome water, what soever an unclean person toucheth, becometh unclean. But all of us are as a defileth cloth, coming of a corrupt and unclean mass, and we bear in our foreheads the spots of our uncleanness, which we be not able to hide, specially from thee who seest all things. Wherefore we cannot be clean, except thou make us clean, who only art clean. And of us sons of men thou makest those clean, whom it pleaseth thee to devil in, whom by the unapproachable and secret depth of the incomprehensible judgements of thy wisdom, always rightful though unespiable, thou hast (without any desert of theirs) predestinated before the world, called out of the world, justified in the world, and wilt glorify them after the world. But thou dost not this unto all men, whereat all the wise men of the earth 〈◊〉 marvel and are abashed. Yea and even I O Lord, when I bethink me of it, am afraid and amazed at the depth of the riches of thy wisdom and knowledge whereunto I cannot reach, and at the incomprehensible judgements of thy justice, for that of one self same piece of clay thou makest some vessels unto everlasting honour, and othersome unto everlasting shame. Therefore whom thou hast chosen to thyself out of the multitude to be thy holy temple, them dost thou make clean, pouring out clean water upon them: the names and number of whom thou knowest, who only tellest the number of the stars, and callest them all by their names. Who also are written in the book of life, who cannot in any wise perish, and unto whom all things work to the best, yea even their sins. For when they fall, they be not bruised, because thou puttest thy hand under them, and keepest all the bones of them, so as not one of them is broken. But most miserable is the death of sinners, I mean of those sinners whom thou hast foreknown unto eternal death before thou madest heaven and earth according to the great depth of thy secret (howbeit always rightful) judgements: the number of whose names and of their lewd deservings is with thee, which reckonest the number of the sand of the Sea, and hast measured the bottom of the bottomless pit: whom thou hast left up to their own uncleanness and unto whom all things work to the worst, and even their prayer is turned into sin: so that if they should climb up into the air, and advance their head above the clouds, yea and build their nest among the stars of the sky: yet shall they be destroyed in the end as a dunghill.   

Of such as first are righteous, and afterward become wicked, and contrariwise.  
GReat are these thy judgements O Lord God, thou righteous & mighty judge, which judgest uprightly, & dost things that are deep & unsearchable. Which when I consider, all my bones quake: for of all men living upon the earth, there is none of us sure to serve thee devoutly & purely in fear all the days of our life, nor to joy in the with reverence, so as our service may be without dread, & our joy without trembling. He that putteth on armour may not glory as he that putteth it of: for before thee may no flesh glory, but must quake & tremble at thy presence. For we have seen O Lord, & we have heard of our fathers, (which thing I cannot think upon without great dread, nor speak of without great shuddering) that many have heretofore clymbed after a sort up to the skies, & built their nest among the stars, & yet have afterward fallen down even into hell, and their souls have been forehardened with evils. We have seen stars fall from heaven by force of the stroke of the dragons tail: and them that lay in the dust of the earth, wonderfully mounted up at the present help of thy hand O Lord. We have seen the living die, and the dead rise from death, & them that walked among God's children in the mids of fiery stones, wash away to nothing like a piece of clay. We have seen darkness quench light, & light proceed out of darkness. For publicans & harlots go before the native people into the kingdom of heaven, & the children of the kingdom are cast out into utter darkness. And why cometh all this to pass, but because they be mounted up into that hill, whereinto the first of their race went up an Angel and came down a devil? Now then look whom thou hast predestinated, them hast thou also called, & sanctified and cleansed, that they may be a meet dwelling place for thy majesty, with whom and in whom is thy holy & clean delight, in whom thou hast pleasure & makest their youth cheerful, dwelling with them in their remembrance, so as they be thy holy temple, which is a great dignity and commendation of our manhood.   

That the faithful man's soul is God's sanctuary.  
THe soul which thou hast created, not of thine own substance but by thy word, nor of the substance of any of the four elements, but of nothing: which truly is reasonable, understanding, spiritual, everliving, and ever moving: & which thou hast sealed, marked with the light of thy countenance, and hallowed by the power of thy washing, is so made capable of thy majesty, as it may be filled by thee only and by none other. And when it hath thee, them hath it the full lust, & there remaineth not any thing else that it can desire outwardly. But as long as it desireth any thing outwardly, it is manifest that it hath not thee inwardly: for be thou once had, there is not any thing more to be wished for. For sith thou art the sovereign good, yea and all the good that may be: there is no more for it to desire, because he possesseth thee which art all the good. Now if he desire not the whole good, it resteth that he desireth somewhat which is not the whole good, and therefore also not the sovereign good: & so consequently not God, but rather a creature. But if he long after a creature, he must needs be ever hungry still, because that although he attain his desire of the creatures, yet it abideth unsatisfied still, in as much as there is nothing that can fill it, but thou unto whose image it is created. And thou fillest them that desire nothing but thee, & thou makest them worthy of thee, holy, blessed, undefiled, and Gods friends, who count all things as dung, that they may win thee only. For this is the blessedness which thou hast bestowed upon man, this is the honour wherewith thou hast ennobled him among all thy creatures and above them, that thy name might be wonderful over all the earth. Behold O most high sovereign good, and almighty Lord my God, I have found the place where thou dwellest, even in the soul which thou hast created after thine own image and likeness, which seeketh and desireth none but thee alone: and not in the soul that seeketh and desireth thee not.   

That God cannot be found neither by the outward senses nor by the inward wits.  
I Have strayed like a lost sheep seeking thee outward which art inward. And I have taken much pain to seek thee without me, & thou dwellest within me, at leastwise if I have a desire to thee. I have gone about the lanes and streets of the City of this world seeking thee and have not found thee, because I did amiss to seek that thing without, which is as within. I sent abroad all mine outward senses as messengers to seek thee, and I found thee not, because I sought thee amiss. For I see O my light, my God which hast enlightened me I see, I did amiss to seek thee by them, for thou art within me & yet they witted not where thou camest in. For mine eyes say, if he have not some colour, he came not in by us. Mine ears say, if he made no noise, he came not in by us. My nose saith, if he had no sent, he came not in by me. My taste saith, if he had no savour, he came not in by me. And my feeling saith, if he be not bodily, ask not me of any such matter. But none of these things are in thee my God. For it is neither shape of body, nor temporal beauty, nor shéernesse of light, nor colour, nor the melody of sweet songs and pleasant sounding tunes, nor the sentes of flowers, perfumes, ointments, or spices, nor honey or manna delightful to the taste, nor any of the things that men love to touch and embrace, nor any manner of thing subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 senses, which I seek when I seek my God. Fie of it, that I should take for my God any of these things which are comprehended even of the senses of brute beasts. Truly when I seek my God, I seek a certain light above all lights, which no eye can comprehend: a certain voice above all voices, which no ear can conceive: a certain sent above all sentes, which no nose can attain to: a certain sweetness above all sweetness, which no mouth can taste of: and a certain embracing above all embracing, which no bodily feeling can take hold of. This light shineth where no place is to hold it: this voice soundeth where no air is to carry it: this scent yieldeth 〈◊〉 where no blast is to shed it: this savour yieldeth savourines where as is no feeding: & this embracing is felt where no arms are plucked a sunder. It is even my God, and there shall none other be made account of in comparison of him. This is it that I seek, when I seek my God. This is it that I love when I love my God. To late have I loved thee O beauty so old and so fresh, to late have I loved thee. Thou wart within and I without, and there I sought thee, & I ill-favouredly rushed against these goodly things which thou hast made. Thou wart with me, and yet I was not with thee. These things held me far from thee, which could not be without thee. For I went all abouts seeking thee, and forsaking myself for all things. I asked the earth if it were my God, and it told me, no: and all things in it did verify the same. I asked the Sea and the great deeps and all the creeping things in them: and they answered, we be not thy God, seek him above us. I asked the windy air, and the whole air with all the dwellers therein said unto me, Anaximenes is deceived, for I am not thy God. I asked the sky, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, neither are we thy God, said they. Then said I to all the things that stand about me at the doors of my flesh, Tell me what you know of my God, tell me somewhat of him: and they cried all with a loud voice, it is he that hath made us. Again I spoke to the mass of the whole world, saying: Tell me if thou be my God or no? And it answered with a mighty voice, I am not he, but I am by him: he whom thou seekest in me, even he made me: above me must thou seek for him that made me and ruleth me. The asking of the creatures is the deep considering of them, and their answering is their avouchement concerning God: for all things cry out, it is God that hath made us. And (as the Apostle said) Gods invisible things are understood by his visible things which are beheld from the creation of the world. Then came I again to myself, & entered into myself, and said to myself. What art thou? and I answered, a man reasonable & mortal. And I began to bolt out what that should be, and I said: from whence is this manner of wight O Lord my God? from whence is it, but of thee? Thou madest me, and not I myself. Who art thou? Thou art he by whom I live, thou art he by whom all things live. Who art thou? Thou art the Lord my true and only God, almighty, everlasting, incomprehensible, & infinite, who livest evermore & nothing dieth in thee. For thou art immortal, dwelling in ever lastingness, wonderful to the eyes of the angels, unutterable, unsearchable, and unable to be named. The living & true God, terrible, strong, beginnynglesse and endless, the beginning and end of all things, which art before the foundations of the world, and before the originals of all ages. Thou art my God and the Lord of all thy creatures with thee stand the causes of all stable things, with thee do the originals of all changeable things abide unchangeable, and with thee do the grounds of all reasonable, unreasonable and temporal things continued everlastingly. My God, tell me thy humble servant, merciful Lord tell me wretch, tell me for thy mercies sake I beseech thee, from whence is this manner of wight but from thee? Is any man such a workmaster as to make himself? Is being and life fetched from any where else then from thee? Art not thou the sovereign being, from whence cometh all being? for what soever is, it is of thee, and without thee is nothing. Art not thou the fountain of life from whence all life floweth? for what soever liveth, it liveth by thee, & without thee doth nothing live. Then is it thou O Lord which hast made all things. Shall I demand who hath made me? Thou Lord hast made me, for without thee is nothing made. Thou art my maker, and I thy work. I thank thee my Lord God by whom I live & by whom all things live, for thou hast made me. I thank thee my creator, for thy hands have made me and fashioned me. I thank thee my light, because thou hast enlightened me and I have found both thee and myself. Assoon as I found myself, straightways I knew myself: Assoon as I found thee, straightways I knew thee: and assoon as I knew thee, forthwith thou didst enlighten me. I thank thee my light, for that thou hast enlightened me. What said I? that I knew thee? Art not thou God incomprehensible and infinite, the king of kings and Lord of Lords, who only hast immortality, and dwellest in unapproachable light, which never man saw, not nor can see? Art not thou the hidden God, of unsearchable majesty, the alonely peruser and wondered viewer of thyself? Who then can know that which he never saw? For thou hast said in thy truth, man shall not see me & live. Thy prophet also hath said by thy truth, never any man saw God. Who then hath known that which he never saw? Also thy truth hath said, no man knoweth the son, but the father, neither knoweth any man the father but the son. Thine only Trinity, which surmounteth all knowledge, is known fully to none but to thyself alone. What is it then that I vain man have said, that I know thee? for who knows thee else saving thyself? For thou only O God, in thy most holy and heavenly word art termed almighty, passing praise worthy, passing glorious, passing exalted, passing high, and passing substantial, because thou art discerned to be above all things that can be imagined to be, whether they be to be conceived in understanding or to be perceived by the senses: & above all names that are named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come, beyond all that is, or can be devised to be. For truly, above the reach of all reason, understanding and being, dost thou by thy substantial and secret Godhead dwell unapprochably and unsearchably in thyself, whereas is light unapproachable, & brightness unsearchable, incomprehensible, & unspeakable, whereunto no brightness may come near, because it is certainly unable to be beheld, unable to be seen, above reason, above understanding, above access, above all change, & above all partnership, which never any wight neither man nor angel hath thoroughly seen, nor can see. This is thy heaven O Lord, this is thy heaven so fair engraven, the light so passing privy, so passing understanding, so passing reason, & so passing all that is: whereof it is said, the heaven of heavens is the Lords. The heaven of heavens, in comparison whereof all other heavens are but earth, because it is passing wonderfully heaved up above all heavens. In comparison whereof even the very fiery heaven itself is but earth: for this is the heaven of heavens that is reserved to the Lord, because it is known to none but to the Lord. Unto this heaven came never none but he that came down from heaven: for no man knows the father saving the son, and the spirit of them both. Neither doth any man know the son, saving the father & the spirit that proceedeth from them both. The Trinity is fully known to none, but only to thyself O holy Trinity, O passing wonderful Trinity, surmounting all utterance, beyond all searching, above all approaching, over incomprehensible, over unconceivable, far above all things that be, far passing all understanding, all reason, all reach and all being of the minds that are above heaven: which it is not possible either to utter, or to conceive, or to understand or to discern, not not even to the angels that behold it. How then come I by the knowledge of thee which art highest above all the earth & above all heavens? whom neither the Cherubins nor the Seraphins do know perfectly, but are fain to shadow their faces with their wings, when they look upon him that sits upon the high and stately throne, crying & saying. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, the whole earth is full of thy glory. The prophet was abashed & said: Alas I am toungtyde, for I am a man of unclean lips. My heart was afraid and said, woe is me that I held not my tongue, because I am a man of unclean lips. But I said I knew thee. Nevertheless Lord, woe be to them that are toungtyde when they should speak of thee, for there be many that be to full of tongue without thee. And therefore O Lord my God I will not hold my peace, for thou hast made me, and enlightened me, whereby I have found myself & known thee, because thou shinest upon me. But in what wise have I known thee? I knew thee in thyself. I have known thee, not as thou art to thyself ward, but as thou art to me ward: and yet not without thyself, but in thyself: for thou art the light that hath enlightened me. For no man knows thee as thou art in thyself: but as thou art to me ward by thy grace, thou art known even unto me. But what art thou to me ward? merciful Lord, tell me thy silly servant, for thy mercies sake tell me what thou art to me ward? Say unto my soul, I am thy welfare: hide not thy face from me, lest I die. Give me leave to speak before thy mercy, suffer me that am but earth and dust, to speak before thy mercy, for great is thy mercy towards me. For I that am but dust and ashes will speak to my God. Tell me thy silly servant, tell me thy rueful creature, tell me for thy mercies sake what thou art to me ward. Thou hast thundered from above with a great noise into the inward ear of my heart, and hast broken my deafness, and I have heard thy voice, and thou hast enlightened my blindness, and I have seen thy light, and have known that thou art my God. And therefore have I said, I knew thee, because I knew that thou art my God. Yea I know thee to be the only true God, and thy son jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The time hath been that I have not known thee. woe worth that time that I knew thee not: woe worth that blindness when I saw thee not: woe worth that deafness when I heard thee not. Blind & deaf as I was, I run ill-favouredly through the goodly things that thou madest. And thou wart with me: and yet was not I with thee. For the things held me far from thee, which should not have been at all if they were not in thee. Thou hast enlightened me O light of the world, and I have seen thee and loved thee. For no man knoweth thee but he that sees thee: and no man sees thee but he that loves thee. It was late ere I loved thee thou beauty so old & so fresh, it was late ere I loved thee: woe worth the time that I loved thee not.   

Of the acknowledging of a man's own vileness.  
LOrd who is like unto thee, yea even among the Gods? who is like unto thee, which art of exceeding great holiness, dreadful, praise worthy, and a worker of wonders? Long it was ere I knew thee the true light, long it was ere I knew thee. There was a great dark cloud before my fond eyes, so as I could not see the son of righteousness, & the light of truth. I like a child of darkness was wrapped in darkness: and because I knew not the light, I was in love with mine own darkness. For as much as I was blind, I was in love with my blindness, and by darkness walked into further darkness still. But who brought me out of it, when I like a blind wretch sat in darkness and the shadow of death? who took me by the hand to lead me out of it? Who is he that enlightened me? For I sought not him, but he sought me: I called not him, but he called me. And who is he? It is even thou my Lord God, merciful, and pitiful, the father of compassion and God of all comfort. It is even thou my holy Lord God, whom I acknowledge with my whole heart, yielding thanks unto thy name. I sought not thee, and yet thou soughtest me. I called not upon thee, & yet thou called'st me. Yea thou hast called me by thine own name: with a loud voice hast thou thundered down from above into the innermore ear of my heart, saying: Let there be light: and there was light, so as the great cloud went away, and the dark mist that covered mine eyes melted away, and I saw thy light & knew thy voice, and said. Truth Lord, thou art my Lord God that brought me out of darkness and out of the shadow of death, & called me into thy wondered light, and so now I see, I thank thee mine inlightener. Then turned I back and looked upon the darkness wherein I had been, and the deep gulf wherein I had lain, & I trembled and was afraid and said: woe, woe worth the darkness that I had lain in. woe woe worth the blindness that letted me to see the light of heaven. woe woe worth my former ignorance, which letted me to know thee O Lord. I thank thee mine inlightener and deliverer, for that thou hast enlightened me and I have known thee. It was late ere I knew thee O ancient truth: it was late ere I knew thee O everlasting truth. Thou wart in light & I in darkness, & therefore I knew thee not. For I could not be enlightened without thee, neither is there any light without thee.   

¶ A considering of God's majesty.  
O Holiest of all holies, O God of inestimable majesty, O God of Gods and Lord of Lords, wondrous, unspeakable, unconceivable, whom the angels in heaven are adread of, whom all the dominations and thrones do worship, at the sight of whom all powers do tremble, of whose mightiness and wisdom there is no comprehending, which hast founded the world upon nothing, and shut up the sea in the air as in a bottle, O most almighty, most holy, most strong, O God of the breath of all flesh, at whose presence the heaven and earth shrink away, at whose beck all the elements submit them selves. Let all creatures worship and glorify thee. And I the son of thy handmaid do bow down the neck of my heart by faith under the feet of thy majesty, yielding thee thanks for that thou hast of thy mercy vouchsafed to enlighten me. O true light, O holy light, O pleasant light, O exceeding commendable light, O wonderful light which inlightenest all men that come into this world yea and even the eyes of the angels. Behold, I see, I thank thee for it. Behold, I see the light of heaven, the lightsome beams of thy countenance shine down upon the eyes of my mind, and cheer up my bones. O that thy light were perfected in me. Augment if I beseech thee O author of light. I beseech thee augment that which shineth into me. Let it be enlarged I beseech thee, let it be enlarged by thee. What is this that I feel? What fire is it that warmeth my heart? What light is it that spreaddeth his beams into my heart? O fire which evermore burnest and never art quenched, kindle me. O light which evermore shinest & never art dimmed enlighten me. O would to God I were set on fire by thee. O holy fire, how sweetly thou burnest, how secretly thou shinest, how amiably thou warmest. Woe be to them that burn not through thee, woe be to them that are not enlightened by thee. O soothfast light which inlightenest the whole world, and whose brightness filleth the whole world. Woe be to the blind eyes that see not thee, the sun that enlighteneth heaven and earth. Woe be to the dazzling eyes that cannot away with the sight of thee. Woe be to them that turn not away their eyes from looking upon vanity. For the eyes that are accustomed to darkness, are not able to abide the beams of the sovereign truth: neither can they that devil in darkness skill how to make account of the light. They see nothing but darkness, they love nothing but darkness, they like of nothing but darkness, and because they plod on from darkness to darkness, they wot not where they fall. Wretched are they that forego they wot not what, & more wretched certes are they that know what they forego, so as they fall with open eyes & go down alive into hell. O most blessed light which canst not be seen but of exceeding well cleared eyes. Blessed are the clean in heart, for they shall see God. O cleansing power cleanse thou me & heal mine eyesight, that I may behold thee with sound eyes, whom none but sound eyes may behold. O unapproachable brightness, take away the scales of my forgrown dimsightednesse, with the beams of thy enlightening, that I may look upon thee without dazzling, and see thee the better by thy brightness. I thank thee my light. Lo I see. Lord I beseech thee let mine eyesight be enlarged by thee. Shore open mine eyes that I may consider the wonderful mysteries of thy law who art wonderful among thy saints. I thank thee O my light. For lo I see, howbeit but through a glass & as in a riddle. But when shall I see thee face to face? When shall the day of joy and mirth come, that I may enter into the place of thy wonderful Tabernacle, even the house of God, there to behold him that sees me, face to face, that I may have my longing to the full.   

¶ Of the longing and thirsting of the soul after God.  
LIke as the Heart longeth for the springs of waters: so longeth my heart for thee O God. My soul thirsteth after thee O God which art the living wellspring, when shall I come and press into thy presence? O fountain of life, O vain of lively waters, when shall I come out of this desert, wayless, and waterless land, unto the waters of thy sweetness? that I may see thy power and thy glory and staunch my thirst with the waters of thy mercy? O Lord the fountain of life, I am a thirst, satisfy me. I thirst Lord, I thirst after thee the living God, O when shall I come Lord and show myself before thy face? Think ye that I shall see that day, I say that day of mirth and gladness, that day which the Lord hath made for us to be merry and joyful therein? O excellent and fair day, which knowest none eventide, nor hast any Sun going down, wherein I shall hear the voice of praise, wherein I shall hear the voice of gladness & thanksgiving, wherein I shall hear it said unto me, Enter thou into endless joy in the house of the Lord thy God, where be things great, unsearchable, & wonderful, that cannot be nombered. Enter thou into joy void of heaviness, which containeth endless mirth: whereas shallbe all goodness & no evil: whereas shallbe all that thou wouldst, & nothing that thou wouldst not. There shallbe the lively life, the sweet life, thee amiable life, & the life that would do a man good to be always thinking of it. There shallbe none enemy to assault: There shall not be rest at some times & unrest at other times: but there shallbe sovereign rest, assured safety, unimpeached quietness, quiet mirth, joyful happiness, happy everlastingness, everlasting blessedness, and blessed Trinity, and unity of Trinity and Godhead of unity, and blessed beholding of the same Godhead, which is the joy of thy Lord God. O joy over joyful, O joy surmounting all joys, without which there is no joy, when shall I enter into thee, that I may see my God which dwelleth in thee? I shall go thither and behold this great sight. What is it that holds me back? Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged. Woe is me, how long shall it be said unto me, wait and wait again. And now, to what purpose is my waiting? My Lord God, do we not wait for the Saviour our Lord jesus Christ, to repair our base bodies unto the likeness of his glorious body. We wait for the Lord when he should come from the bridhouse to fetch us into his wedding. Come Lord and tarry not. Come Lord jesus Christ, come visit us in peace. Come lead us prisoners out of prison, that we may rejoice before thee with a perfect heart. Come our Saviour. Come thou that art longed for of all nations, show thy countenance unto us and we shallbe safe. Come my light and my redeemer: take my soul out of prison, that it may give praise unto thy holy name. How long shall I be tossed in the waves of my mortality, crying unto thee Lord, and thou hearest me not? Lord hear me how I cry unto thee out of this huge sea, and bring me to the haven of endless bless. Happy are they O God which are conveyed out of this Sea, and have obtained to arrive at thee the safest harborough of all havens. O happy are they in deed, which are escaped already from sea to shore, from banishment home into their own country, and from prison into a palace, enjoying their wished rest. Blessed are they that already have gained the garland of endless glory which they sought for here by many tribulations, and joy in happy mirth for ever: O blessed are they in deed, O treble and four times blessed are they, which being already quite rid of all miseries, have obtained to come to the kingdom of beawtifulnesse, and are assured of their unapparable glory. O everlasting kingdom, O kingdom of all worlds, wherein is the light that never faileth, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding: wherein the souls of holy folk do rest, where everlasting joy is upon their heads, where they obtain mirth and gladness, and from whence all sorrow and sighing is fled. O Lord how glorious a kingdom is it, wherein all holy folks reign with thee, clothed with light as with a garment, having crowns of precious stones upon their heads. O kingdom of everlasting blissfulness, where thou O Lord the hope of the Saints and the garland of their glory art seen of them face to face, gladding them on all sides with thy peace, which passeth all understanding. There is joy endless, mirth sorrowless, health griefless, way without labour, light without darkness, life without death, all good without any evil: where youth never waxeth old, where life never weareth out, where beauty never decayeth, where love never cooleth, where health never appaireth, where mirth never abateth, where is never felt any pain, where is never heard any groaning, where is never seen any sadness, where joy is ever, where is no evil to be feared because the sovereign goodness is had there in possession, which is to behold always the face of the Lord God of hosts. Happy therefore are those that already have escaped the shipwreck of this present life, & obtained the grace to come to so great joys. We are yet still in the waves of the Sea, longing for thee the haven of our Sea. O country of ours, O quiet country, we ken thee a far of, we hail thee from this Sea, we sigh unto thee out of this vale of misery, and labour with tears if we may by any means attain unto thee O Christ God of God, the hope of mankind, our refuge and strength, whose brightness enlighteneth our eyes a far of, as the beams of the Sea star doth in the misty darkness of the stormy sea, to guide us unto thee our haven. Lord, govern our ship with thy right hand by the helm of thy cross, that we perish not in the waves, that the tempest of the water drown us not, and that the deep swallow us not up: but with the hook of thy cross pluck us back out of this vast Sea, unto thee our only comfort, whom we see waiting for us a far of as the morning star and as the day sun of righteousness, in manner with weeping eyes upon the shore of the heavenly country. Behold we whom thou hast ransomed do cry unto thee: yea even we as yet thy banished men whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood do cry unto thee. Here us O God our saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth & of all them that be in the sea a far of. We be conversant in a troublesome Sea, & thou standing upon the shore lookest at our perils: save us for thy name's sake. Lord grant us so to keep our course between Scylla & Charybdis, and to hold so with thee, that we may escape the danger of both, & come safe to land without less of ship or fraught.   

Of the glory of the heavenly country.  
THerefore when we shallbe come unto thee the fountain of wisdom, unto thee the unfaylable light, unto thee the unappallable brightness, so as we shall behold thee, not any more in a riddle or through a glass, but face to face: Then shall we have our fill of all good things. For there shallbe nothing without us to be desired but only thou O Lord the sovereign goodness, who shalt be the reward of the blessed, & the crown of their glory, & everlasting joy upon their heads, quieting them both inwardly & outwardly with thy peace which passeth all understanding. There we shall see thee, love thee, & praise thee. By thy light we shall see thy brightness, for in thee is the wellspring of life, & thy brightness shall give us light. And what manner of light? A light unmeasurable, a light bodiless, a light uncorruptible, a light incomprehensible, a light unfaylable, a light unquenchable, a soothfast light, a divine light, which enlighteneth the eyes of the angels, which cheereth up the youth of the saints, which is the light of lights & wellspring of life, which is even thou O Lord my God. For thou art the light in whose light we shall see light, that is to wit thyself, in thyself in the brightness of thine own countenance, when we shall see thee face to face. And what is it else to see thee face to face, them (as the Apostle saith) to know thee as I am known, to know thy truth & thy glory? And to know thy face, is to know the power of the father, the wisdom of the son, the mercifulness of the holy ghost, & the one undividable being of the three persons in one sovereign Godhead. For the beholding of the face of the living God is the sovereign good, the joy of the angels, & of all holy men, the reward of endless life, the glory of all souls, the everlasting gladness, the crown of honour, the obteinement of happiness, the wealthful rest, the beautiful peace, the inward & outward joyfulness, & the paradise of God. Here is the heavenvly jerusalem, the happy life, the fullness of blessedness, the joy of everlastingness, & the peace of God which passeth all understanding. This is the full blessedness, & the whole glorification of man: namely to see God face to face, to see him that made heaven and earth, to see him that made him, that saved him, & that glorified him. He shall see him by knowing him, be in love with him by liking him, & praise him by possessing him. For he shallbe the heritage of his people, of his people the Saints, of his people whom he hath ransomed. He shallbe their possession of happiness, he shallbe the reward & recompense of their longing. I willbe thine exceeding great reward saith he. For great things beseem great personages. Verily my Lord God, thou art exceeding great above all Gods & exceeding great also is thy reward. But thou thyself art over great, thou thyself art an over great reward, thou thyself art both he that crowneth, & also the crown: thou thyself art both the promiser, and the promise: thou art the recompencer, & the recompense: thou art the rewarder, and the reward of everlasting happiness. Thou then art both the crowner & the crown O my God, & the diadem of my hope which is garnished with glory, a gladding light, a renewing light, a glorious ornament, my chief hope, the desire of the hearts of all saints, & their dear beloved. The seeing of thee then, is the whole hire, the whole reward and the whole joy that we look for. For it is life everlasting, yea I say, it is thy wisdom. Life everlasting is to know thee the only true God, & jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Therefore when we shall see thee the only God, the true God, the living God almighty, single, invisible, unboundable, uncomprehensible & thine only begotten son, God of thine own substance, & everlasting as well as thou, even our Lord jesus Christ, whom for our welfare thou hast sent into the world in the power of the holy Ghost, three in persons & one in being, the only holy God, besides whom there is no God: them shall we hold that which we now seek, namely everlasting life, & endless glory, which thou hast prepared for them that love thee, which thou hast laid up in store for them that fear thee, and which thou wilt give to them that seek thee, even to them that seek thy face for ever. And thou O Lord my God which didst shape me in my mother's womb, who hath given me up into thy hand, suffer me not any more to be plucked out of one into many: but gather me out of these outward things into myself, & from myself unto thee, that my heart may always say unto thee, my face hath sought thee out, Lord I will seek after thy face, even after the face of the Lord of all power, wherein standeth the whole glory of the blessed sort for ever, which to behold, is the endless life & everlasting glory of the Saints. Let my heart rejoice therefore, that it may reverence thy name: Let the hearts of them that seek God rejoice, but much more the hearts of them that find God. For if there be joy in seeking, what manner of joy shall there be in finding? Therefore I will always seek thy face earnestly, & incessantly, if at any time the door and gate of righteousness may be opened unto me, that I may enter into the joy of my Lord. This is the lords gate, the righteous shall enter in thereat.   

¶ A prayer to the holy Trinity.  
THou three coequal and coeternal persons & one God the very father Son & holy ghost, who dwellest alone in everlastingness, and in unapproachable light, which hast founded the earth by thy mighty power, & rulest the whole world by thy wisdom, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts, dreadful, strong, righteous, merciful, marvelous, praise worthy, to be beloved, One God, three persons, one being, power, wisdom, goodness, & one unseparable Trinity. I cry unto thee, open me the gates of righteousness, & when I am come in, I will praise thee O Lord. Behold I poor beggar knock at thy door O sovereign householder. Command the gates to be opened at my knocking, according as thou hast said, knock ye & it shallbe opened. For truly O most merciful father, the desires of my groaning heart, and the cries of my weeping eyes, do knock at thy door. All my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee. Lord turn not thy face any more away from me, neither fling thou away from thy servant in a sum. O father of mercies, hear the howling out of thy ward, & reach him thy singular good helping hand, that it may draw me out of the deep waters, & out of the lake of misery, and out of the mire of filthiness, that I perish not, thy pitiful eyes seeing it, & the bowels of thy mercy beholding it: but that I may wade out unto thee my Lord God, so as I may see the riches of thy kingdom, & always behold thy face, & sing praise to thy holy name. O Lord which workest wonders, which chearest my heart with remembering thee, & which inlightenest my youth: despise not mine old age, but make my bones to rejoice, & my whore hears to wax fresh again as the Eagle.  
¶ FINIS.   

SAINT AVstens Manuel, or little Book of the Contemplation of Christ, or of God's word, whereby the remembrance of the heavenly desires which is fallen a sleep may be quickened up again.  
AT LONDON Printed by john day dwelling over Aldersgate. 1574.  
¶ Cum gratia & Privilegio Regiae Maiestatis.   

The Preface.  
FOr as much as we be set in the mids of snares, we easily become cold in desire of heavenly things. And therefore we have need of continual defence, that when we be shrunk away, we may be wakened to run back again to our true God the sovereign goodness. In consideration whereof, not through rash presumption, but for the great love that I bear to my God, I have undertaken this work to his glory, to the intent I might always have with me a short and handsome abridgement of the chosen sayings of the holy fathers concerning my God, by the fire of the reading whereof, the love of him might be kindled in me as often as it is waxed cold in me. assist me now I beseech thee my Lord God, whom I seek, whom I love, whom I praise and worship both with mind and mouth, and with all the power that I am able. My mind being vowed unto thee, and inflamed with love of thee, sighing for want of thee, gaping after thee, and longing only to see thee, hath no pleasure in any thing but to speak of thee, to hear of thee, to writ of thee, to confer of thee, and to bethink itself oftentimes of thy glory, so as the remembrance of thee may be some refreshing to me among the storms of this world. Thee therefore do I call upon most earnestly, unto thee do I cry with a loud noise even from the bottom of my heart. And when I call upon thee, verily I call upon thee in myself: for I should not be at all except thou wart in me, and except I were in thee thou wouldst not be in me. Thou art in me, because thou abidest in my mind: thereby do I know thee, and therein do I find thee. When I remember thee, I am also delighted in thee and by thee, of whom, by whom, and in whom, all things be.   

¶ Of God's Wonderful being.  
THou Lord fillest heaven & earth, bearing up all things without being burdened, filling all things without being enclosed, always doing and yet always at rest: always gathering, but not for any need: always seeking, and yet thou missest nothing: loving, & yet not doting, being jealous and yet still in quiet. It repenteth thee and yet thou art not grieved: thou art angry, and yet not out of patience. Thou changest thy works, but thou changest not thy purpose. Thou receivest that which thou hast sought out, and yet thou hadst never lost it. Thou art never needy, & yet thou delightest to gain. Thou art never covetous, & yet thou demandest usury. Thou lashest out where thou owest not, or rather there is always coming into thee that thou mayst owe. But who hath aught that is not thine? Thou payest debts, & yet art in no man's debts. Thou forgivest debts, & yet forgoest nothing. Thou art every where, & every where thou art whole: perceived thou mayst be, seen thou canst not be. Thou art no where absent, and yet art thou far of from the thoughts of the wicked, nay look where thou art far of, there art thou not away: for where thou art absent by grace, there art thou present by vengeance. So art thou present in all places, and yet canst scarcely be found. Thou standest still when we follow thee, and yet we cannot overtake thee. Thou holdest all things, fillest all things, invironest all things, surmountest all things, and susteinest all things. Thou teachest the hearts of the faithful without noise of words: thou art not dissevered by places, nor altered by times, nor subject unto to and fro. Thou dwellest in unapproachable light, which never man saw, nor can see. Abiding quietly in thyself, thou goest everywhere about the whole: for thou canst not be cut or divided, because thou art but one in very deed, & art not made out into parts or pieces: but being whole thou mainteinest the whole, thou fillest the whole, thou inlightenest the whole, and thou possessest the whole.   

¶ Of the unspeakable knowledge of God.  
ALthough the whole world were full of books, yet could not thine unspeakable knowledge be uttered. For in as much as thou art unspeakable, thou canst in no wise be put in writing or comprehended. Thou art the fountain of godly light, and the sun of everlasting brightness. Thou art great without quantifie, and therefore unmeasurable. Thou art good without quality, & therefore very good & sovereinly good, and no man is good but thou alone. Whose will is a work, for thou canst do what thou listest. Thou hast created all things of nothing, and by thine only will hast thou made them. Thou possessest all thy creatures without any want of them, thou governest them without pain, thou rulest them without wéerines, & there is nothing that may trouble the order of thy government, from the highest things to the lowest. Thou art in all places without place, confeyning all things without enclosure, and being present every where without setting or removing. Thou art not the author of any evil, for thou canst do none evil. Whereas thou canst do all things, thou hast not done any thing whereof it can forethink thee. It is of thy goodness that we be made, of thy justice that we be punished, and of thy mercy that we be delivered. Whose almightiness governeth, ruleth, & filleth all things which it hath made. Yet mean I not by thy filling of all things, that they contain thee, but rather that thou conteinest them. Neither fillest thou all things by parcel meal, neither is it in any wise to be thought that each thing receiveth thee according to the proportion of it own bigness, that is to wit the greatest things more, and the smallest things less: but rather that thou thyself art whole in all things, and all things in thee: whose almightiness encloseth all things, and no man can find any shift to scape from thy power. For he that hath not thy favour, shall never escape thy displeasure.   

¶ Of the longing of the soul that feeleth God.  
Therefore O most merciful God, I call upon thee for my soul, which thou preparest to receive thee through the desire which thou breathest into it. Enter into it I beseech thee, & make it fit for thee, that thou mayst possess that which thou hast both made and renewed, that I may have thee as a seal upon my heart. O most pitiful Lord, I beseech thee forsake not him that calleth upon thee: for ere I could call upon thee thou didst both call me and seek me, to the intent that I thy servant should seek thee, & by seeking thee find thee, & when I had found thee love thee. Lord I have sought thee & found thee, and I desire also to love thee. Increase my desirousness & grant the thing I crave: for if thou shouldest give me all that ever thou madest, it would not suffice thy servant, except thou give him thyself to. Give me thyself therefore O my God, restore thyself unto me. Behold, I am in love with thee: and if that be to little, let me be yet more in love. I am bound with the love of thee, I burn in desire of thee, I am delighted with the sweet remembrance of thee. Behold, when my mind styeth upward unto thee, & busieth itself with thinking upon thine unspeakable loving kindness: the farthel of my flesh is the less burdensome unto me, the turmoiling of my thoughts ceaseth, the weight of my mortality & miseries maketh me not dull as they are want to do, all things are still, and all things are calm. My heart gloweth, my mind rejoiceth, my memory is fresh, mine understanding is clear, and my whole spirit being kindled with desire to see thee, findeth itself ravished with the love of things invisible. Let my spirit take the wings of an Eagle & fly without ceasing: Let it fly even till it come to the beauty of thy house, and to the throne of thy glory, & there let it be fed at the dining table of thy heavenly Citizens, in the place of fulféeding by the plentiful running streams. Thou that art our hope, our welfare, & our redemption, be also our joy. Thou that shalt be our reward, be also our rejoicing. Let my soul seek thee always, & grant that in seeking thee it may never faint.   

¶ Of the wretchedness of that soul which loveth not, ne seeketh not our Lord jesus Christ.  
WOE is that wretched soul which loveth not Christ, nor seeketh him: it abideth dry & miserable. He loseth his life time which loveth not thee O God. He that cares not to live for thee Lord, is nothing and goeth for naught. He that refuseth to live unto thee, is already dead. He that is not wise to thee ward, is but a fool. Most merciful Lord, I yield, grant, & betake myself unto thee by whom I have being, life, and wit. In thee do I put my whole confidence, trust, and hope, by whom I shall rise again, live again, & enjoy rest. Thee do I covet, love, & worship, with whom I shall dwell, reign, & be blessed. The soul that seeketh not ne loveth not thee, seeketh & loveth the world, serveth sin, is subject to vice, never at rest, never at ease. Let my mind serve thee always O most merciful. Let my way faring be always to travel unto théeward, let my heart burn in love of thee. My God, let my soul rest in thee, let it run out of itself to behold thee, let it sing thy praises with joyfulness, and let this be the comfort of me in my banishment. Let my mind flee under the shadow of thy wings, from the raging heats of the thoughts of this world. Let my heart calm itself in thee, I say let the great sea of my heart that swelleth with waves, calm itself in thee. O God which art rich of all good dainties, thou most bountiful bestower of heavenly repast give meat to me that am faint, gather me up that am scattered, deliver me that am in prison, make me new again that am hewn in pieces. Behold I stand at thy door and knock. I beseech thee by the bowels of thy mercy, where through thou hast visited us in rising from aloft, bid the door to be opened for me wretch which do knock, that my soul may have free passage to come in unto thee, and to rest in thee, and to be refreshed by thee with thy heavenly bread. For thou art the bread and fountain of life, thou art the light of everlasting brightness, thou art all things whereby the righteous live which love thee.   

¶ Of the longing of the soul.  
O God the light of the hearts that see thee, and the life of the souls that love thee, and the strenghthener of the thoughts that seek thee, grant that I may stick to the holy love of thee. Come I pray thee into my heart, and make it drunken with the abundance of thy pleasantness, so as I may forget these temporal things. It shameth and irketh me to abide such things as this world doth. All that I see of these transitory things is but a sorrow to me: all that I hear of them, is but a grief to me. Help me O Lord my God, & put gladness into my heart, come unto me that I may see thee. But to narrow is the house of my soul for thee, until thou come unto me & make more room in it. Repair it for it is decayed. It hath many things that will mislike thine eyes. I know it and confess it: but who shall cleanse it, or to whom shall I cry else but unto thee? Lord cleanse me from my privy sins, & bear with thy servant for other folks faults. Sweet Christ make me I beseech thee good jesus make me to say away the burden of fleshly desires and earthly lusts, for love and liking of thee. Let my soul overrule my flesh, let reason overrule my soul, let thy grace overrule my reason, and subdue thou me both inwardly and outwardly to thy william. Give me the grace that my heart, my tongue and my bones may praise thee. Enlarge my mind, and lift up the eyesight of my heart: that even with the swift conceit of my spirit, I may attain to thee the everlasting wisdom which abidest upon all things. I beseech thee loose me from the fetters wherewith I am shackled, that I may leave all these things and high me unto thee, stick to thee only, and attend upon thee only.   

¶ Of the happiness of the soul that is let lose from the prison of the body.  
HAppy is the soul which being let lose from the earthly prison, flieth up freely into heaven, and there beholdeth thee her most sweet Lord face to face, & is no more disquieted with any fear of death: but rejoiceth in the everlastingness of incorruptible glory. For it is safe and out of peril, and hence forth feareth neither enemy nor death. It possesseth thee her merciful Lord whom she hath long sought and ever loved. And accompanying herself with the quires of Psalm singers, it singeth continually the sugared songs of everlasting mirth, to the glory of thee O king Christ, O gracious jesus. For she is made drunken with the bountifulness of thy house, & thou makest her to drink of the stream of thy pleasures. Happy is the fellowship of the heavenvly Citizens, and glorious is the solemnity of all them that return from the sorrowful travel of this our pilgrimage, to the pleasantness of beauty, to the beauty of all brightness, and to the flower of all excellency, where thy Citizens behold thee continually O Lord. Nothing that may trouble the mind is offered there to the ear. What songs, what instruments, what Carolles, what melody soundeth there without end? There sound always most pleasant tunes of Hymns, most sweet melody of angels, & most wonderful ditties of songs, which are sung to thy glory by the heavenly inhabitants. No harshness, no gallye bitterness hath any room with in thy realm. For there is neither a naughty person, nor naughtiness. There is none adversary nor impugner, neither is there any intycement of sin. There is no nedinesse, no shame, no brawling, no misusage, no excusing, no fear, no unquietness, no penalty, no doubtfulness, no violence, no discord: but there is perfect peace full of love, continual rejoicing & praising of God, careless rest without end, and everlasting gladness in the holy Ghost. O how lucky should I be if I might hear the most pleasant Carols of thy Citizens, and their sugared songs advancing the praises of the sovereign Trinity with due honour. But over happy should I be, might I once attain to sing a song myself, I say to sing one of the sweet songs of Zion to our Lord jesus Christ.   

¶ Of the joys of Paradise.  
O Lively life, O everlasting and ay blessed life, where as is joy without sorrow, rest without travel, dignity without fear, riches without loss, health fullness without impairing, abundance without want, life without death, continuance with out corruption, blessedness with out abatement, all good things in perfect love, beauty and beholding face to face, full knowledge of all things and in all things: where Gods sovereign goodness is seen, & his enlightening light is glorified of the Saints: where the present majesty of God is beheld, and the minds of the beholders satisfied therewithal as with the food of life. The more they see it, the more they desire to see it: yet desire they it without disquietness, and have their fill of it without weariness. There the daysun of righteousness cheereth all men with the wondrous sight of his beauty, and so in lighteneth all the Citizens of the heavenly soil, that they themselves yield light, even the light that God hath behighted them, light more lightsome than all the brightness of our daysun, & then the clearness of all the stars. For they cleave to the immortal Godhead, and thereby are made immortal and incorruptible themselves, according to this promise of our Lord and Saviour: Father, as for those whom thou hast given me, I will have them to be where I am, that they may see my glory, and that they may be all one, as thou father art in me, and I in thee, and that they also may be one in us.   

¶ Of the kingdom of heaven.  
O Realm of heaven, O most happy Realm, O Realm without death, O kingdom without end, where is no succession of time by ages, where the day lasting continually without night woteth not what time meaneth, where the soldier that getteth the upper hand is rewarded with unspeakable gifts for his labour, and hath an everlasting garland set upon his noble head. Would God that Christ of his heavenly pity having released the burden of my sins would command me the basest of his servants to lay aside the farthel of this flesh, that I might pass into the endless joys of his City, to repose myself, so as I might keep company with the holy sort above, stand before the glorious majesty of my creator with the blessed spirits, behold the present countenance of God, be touched with no fear of death, rejoice in surety of the incorruptibleness of the everlasting immortality, and being linked to him that knoweth all things, forego all blindness of ignorance, nothing esteeming all earthly things, and not vouchsaving to look upon this vale of tears or to remember it any more, whereas our life is a painful life, a corruptible life, a life full of all bitterness, a life that is mistress of mischief and handmaid of hell: whom humours make to swell, whom pains abate, whom heat parcheth, whom airs make diseased, whom meats puff up, whom fastings forepyne, whom mirth maketh nice, whom heaviness consumeth, whom thought pincheth, whom ease dwelleth, whom riches prank up, whom poverty pulleth down, whom youth setteth aloft, whom age makes to stoop, whom sickness defaceth, whom sorrow thrusteth down, whom the devil layeth wait for, whom the world flattereth, whom the flesh delighteth, where the soul is blinded, where the whole man is put out of order. After all which so many and so great mischiefs succeedeth cruel death, and in such wise maketh an end of all vain joys, that when they be once past, they may be thought to have never been.   

In what wise God comforteth the sorrowful soul after the long morning thereof.  
But what praises or what thanksgivings are we able to tender unto thee O Lord our God, who ceasest not to comfort us with the wonderful visitation of thy grace, among the great miseries of our mortality? Behold, while I fear the end of my life, while I consider my sins, while I stand in fear of thy justice, while I think upon the horror of death, while I shudder at the punishment of hell, while I know not with what straightness thou dost bolt out and weigh my works, while I am utterly ignorant with what end I shall close them up, and while I bethink me of these and many other things to myself in my heart: thou O Lord God of thine accustomed pity art ready at hand to comfort me wretch replenished with many griefs: and in the mids of these moanings, sore complaints, and deep sighs of my heart, thou takest up my sad and sorrowful mind to the tops of the high mountains, even to the beds of sweet spices, putting me in a place of pasture by the rivers of sweet waters, where thou preparest a table diversly furnished against I come, to refresh my appalled sprights, and to cheer up my heavy heart: through which dainties I being at length refreshed, do forget my manifold miseries, & being lifted up above the height of the earth, do take my rest in thee which art the true peace.   

¶ Of the sweetness of the love of God.  
I Love thee my God, I love thee, and more & more would I fain love thee. My Lord God, thou rest of all the children of men, grant me to long for thee, & to love thee as much as I would, and as much as I should. Thou art unmeasurable, and must be loved without measure, specially of us whom thou hast so loved, whom thou hast so saved, and for whom thou hast made so great & so goodly things. O love which burnest ever and art never quenched, O sweet Christ, O gracious jesus, O my God which art love itself, set me wholly on fire with thy fire, with the love of thee, with thy sweetness, with desirousness of thee, with liking of thee, with joying and rejoicing in thee, with thy pitifulness & pleasantness, and with the pleasure and delight of thee, which is holy and good, chaste and clean: that being thoroughly full of the sweetness of thy love, wholly besmoked with the flame of affection towards thee, I may love thee my Lord God most sweet and most beautiful, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, with all my power, with much sorrow of heart & shedding of tears, with much reverence and trembling, having thee in my heart & in my mouth & before mine eyes always & in all places, so as there may be no room in me for any counterfeit or unclean love.   

¶ Of joy.  
O Sweet love, O loving sweetness, let my belly eat thee, and let my bowels be filled with the pleasant wine of thy love, & let my mind utter forth good words. O charity my God, sweet honey, snowy milk, the food of Angels, make me to grow in thee that I may eat thee with a savoury taste. Thou art my life whereby I live, the hope that I stick unto, the glory that I desire. Hold thou my heart, rule my mind, guide mine understanding, cheer up my love, lift thou up my Soul, & draw the mouth of my spirit which thirsteth after thee, up to the water streams that are above. I beseech thee let the troubleo●●nesse of the flesh cease. Let the fancies of lands, waters, air, and sky hold their peace. Let dreams & fantastical Revelations, let all tongues, all signs, and what soever is able to pass, be whist. Yea let mine own soul be still, and let it overpass itself, not by thinking upon itself, but by thinking upon thee my God, because thou art in very deed my whole hope and trust. For in thee O most sweet, gracious, and merciful God O Lord jesus Christ, is both the portion & the blood and the flesh of every one of us. Then look where the portion or piece of me reigneth, there believe I myself to reign also. Look where my blood beareth rule, there trust I to bear rule to. Look where my flesh is glorified, there know I that I also am glorious, and although I be a sinner, yet distrust I not this communion of grace. For although my sins forfend it, yet doth my substance require it. And although mine own transgressions shut me out, yet doth the communion of nature take me in.   

¶ That the word is become flesh for our hopes sake.  
FOr the Lord is not so unkind, as not to love his own flesh, his own members, his own bowels. Truly I should despair for my sins, vices, faults, and negligences without number, which I have committed and daily do commit without ceasing, in heart, word, and deed, & by all means that man's frailty can offend in: were it not that thy word O my God is become flesh & dwelleth in us. But now I dare not despair, because that he being obedient unto thee to the death, even to the death of the cross, hath taken away the handwriting of our sins, and nailing the same to his cross, hath crucified both sin & death. Now then, I look back with a careless eye by means of him, who sitteth at thy right hand & sueth for us, & I think long to come unto thee upon trust of him, in whom we are already risen again & revived, already mounted up into heaven, & there do sit among the angels. To thee be praise, to thee be glory, to thee be honour, to thee be thanks. Amen.   

¶ That the more a man museth upon God, the sweeter it is unto him.  
MOst merciful Lord which hast so loved & saved us, so quickened & exalted us. Most merciful Lord, how sweet is the remembrance of thee? The more I think upon thee, the more sweet and amiable art thou unto me, and therefore am I greatly delighted with thy goods. With clear eyesight of mind, & with a most pure affection of godly love, according to my small ability, do I incessantly covet to sue for thy love, and to behold thy wonderful beauty, in this place of my pilgrimage, as long as I abide in these brittle members. For I am wounded with the dart of thy love, I am sore inflamed with desire of thee, I would fain come unto thee, I long to see thee. I will therefore stand upon my guard, and with waking eyes will I sing in my heart: yea I will sing with my mind, and with all my strength. I will praise thee my maker & renewer: I will pierce the sky with my mind, and be with thee in desire: so as my body only shallbe held here in this present misery: but in thought, in desirousness, and in longing, I will always be with thee, for look where thou mine incomparable desired and dear beloved treasure art, there also is my heart. But lo my most gracious and merciful Lord, whereas I would consider the glory of thine unmeasurable goodness & loving kindness, my heart is not sufficient to do it. For thine honour, thy beauty, thy power, thy glory, thy royalty, thy majesty, and thy love exceed all understanding of man's mind. Like as the brightness of thy glory is inestimable: so also is the graciousness of thine everlasting love unspeakable, where through thou adoptest those to be thy sons & knittest them unto thee, whom thou hast created of nothing.   

¶ That tribulations for Christ's sake are to be desired in this life.  
O My soul if we should be fain to suffer torments every day, if we should be fain to endure even hell fire for a long time, that we might see Christ in his glory, and be in company with his Saints: were it not meet we should abide all the sorrow that could be, that we might be made partakers of so great a benefit, and of so great glory? Let the devils then do their spite, let them tempt while they tempt may, let fastings forpyne the body, let course apparel grieve the flesh, let labour pinch it, let watching dry it up, let this man call upon me, let that man or that man disquiet me, let cold make me curl together, let my conscience bark at me, let heat scorch me, let my head ache, let my heart burn, let my stomach be windy, let my face look pale, let me be wholly diseased, let my life consume in sorrow, let my years wast away in sighing & sobbing, let rottenness lodge within my bones, & let worms crawl under me: so I may rest in the day of trouble, & that we may go up together to our people that wait for us. For, Lord what glory shall the righteous have? How great shall the joy of the Saints be, when every face shall shine as the sun? When the Lord having sorted his people into degrees, shall begin to muster them in the kingdom of his father, & tender the promised rewards to each of them according to his works and deserts: giving to them, for earthly things heavenly things, for temporal things everlasting things, for small things great things? Verily then shall happiness be heaped up full to the top, when the Lord shall bring his Saints to the sight of eternal glory, & make them sit down together in heaven, that God may be all in all.   

How the kingdom of heaven may be gotten.  
O Happy pleasantness, O pleasant happiness, to see the Saints, to be with the Saints, and to be a Saint: to see God, and to have God for ever & ever. Let us think upon this with diligent mind, let us long after this with our whole heart, that we may soon come unto them. If thou demand how that may be brought to pass, or by what deservings, or by what helps it may be compassed: hearken, O man: The kingdom of heaven requireth none other price but thyself: the full value of it is thyself: give thyself for it, & thou shalt have it. Why troublest thou thyself about the price of it? Christ hath given himself to purchase thee a kingdom to God the father. So then give thou thyself that thou mayst be his kingdom, & that sin may not reign in thy mortal body, but that the spirit may reign to the attainment of life.   

¶ What Paradise is, and what it hath.  
O My soul, let us return to the heavenvly City wherein we be registered and made free Citizens. For like as we be fellow Citizens of the Saints and the household meinie of God: & like as we be the heirs of God and coheirs of Christ: so let us consider the happy royalty of our City so far forth as it is possile for us to consider it. Let us say with the Prophet, O how glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God: for thou art the dwelling place of all them that rejoice, the joy of the whole earth is founded upon thee. There is not in thee any age, nor misery of age. There is not in thee any maimed person, any lame man, any crook back, nor any misshapen body. For all be grown up to perfect men, after the full measure of the age of Christ. What blesseder thing can there be than such a life, where there is no fear of poverty, nor weakness of disease? No man is harmed there, no man is displeased there, no man envieth there. There is no burning of covetousness, no desire of meat, no ambitious sewing for honour and authority, there is no dread of devil, no snares of fiends, no fear of hell fire. There is no death, neither of body nor of soul, but pleasant life assured of immortality. Then shall there be no miseries, then shall there be no debates, but all things shall be at agreement, because all the Saints shall agree in one. Peace and mirth hold all things together, all things are calm and quiet. There is continual light, not such as is now here, but so much the brighter as it is much happier. For (as we read) that City shall need no S●●ne, nor Moon, because the Lord almighty shall shine in it, and the lamb shallbe the light of it. Where the Saints shall shine as the stars for ever without end, and such as have taught many in the way of righteousness, shallbe as the brightness of the sky. Wherefore, there shallbe no night, no darkness, no meeting of clouds, no painfulness of heat or cold: but there shallbe such a temperateness, as never eye hath seen, ear heard, nor heart of any man conceived, saving only of them that are counted worthy to enjoy the same, whose names are written in the book of life. But yet it is far above all these things to be in fellowship with the companies of Angels, archangels, and all the heavenly powers, to behold the patriarchs and Prophets, to see the Apostles, and all the Saints, yea and also to see our own parents. Glorious are these things, but much more glorious is it, to behold the present countenance of God, & to see his infinite brightness. A passing excellent glory shall it be, when we shall see God in himself, and when we shall both see and have him in our selves, of whom we shall never have seen enough.   

What thing God requireth like unto himself in us.  
GOd the father is Charity, God the son is lovyngnesse, and God the holy ghost is the love of the father & the son. This love, this charity and this lovingness requireth some like thing in us, that is to wit charity, whereby we be associated, & knit unto God as it were by some alliance of kindred. Love passing not for dignity looketh for no reverence. He that loveth, cometh boldly of himself unto God, & speaketh familiarly unto him, without any fear or without any sticking. His life is but loss, which loveth not. But he that loveth hath his eyes evermore to Godward, whom he loveth, whom he longeth for, whom he thinketh of, in whom he delighteth, upon whom he feedeth, in whom he battleth. Such a one as is thus disposed, doth so sing, so read, & is so forecasting and circumspect in all his works, as though God were present before his eyes, & so is he present in deed. He prayeth in such wise as if he were taken up and presented before the face of God's majesty in his high throne, where thousands of thousands do him service, and ten hundred thousand are standing about him. Look what soul love visiteth, the same doth it awake out of sleep. It monisheth, softeneth, & woundeth his heart. It enlighteneth the dark places, unlocketh the shut places, warmeth the cold places, méekeneth the sturdy, fumish & impatient mind, chaseth away vice, bridleth fleshly affections, amendeth manners, reformeth & reneweth the spirit, and restraineth the light motions and actions of slippery youth. All these things doth love when it is present. And assoon as love is gone away, by and by the soul beginneth to droop, like as a boiling cawldron cooleth if a man draw away the fire from under it.   

¶ Of the boldness of the soul that loveth God.  
Love is a great thing, where through the Soul presseth boldly of itself unto God, and sticketh steadfastly unto God. The Soul that loveth God asketh questions of him familiarly, and taketh counsel of him in all cases. It can think upon nothing else, it can speak of nothing else, it despiseth all other things, and it loatheth all other things, saving God. What soever it mindeth, what soever it speaketh, it savoureth of love, and it smelleth of love, so wholly hath the love of God won it unto him. He that will have knowledge of God, let him love him. In vain cometh he to reading, studying preaching, or praying, which loveth not. The love of God breedeth the love of the soul, & maketh it intentive thereunto. God loveth to the intent to be loved again. When he loveth he meaneth nothing else but to be loved: for he knoweth that they which love him are blessed by their love. The soul that loveth God, renounceth all her own affections, and giveth herself wholly to nothing else but love, to the end she may answer love for love. And when she hath utterly spent herself in love, how small a thing is it in respect of that everlasting stream of the heavenly love? There is great odds in the match between the love and the lover, between the soul and God, between the maker and the creature. And yet if the soul love thee whole, where the whole is there is no want. Let not the soul be afraid which loveth, but let the soul be afraid which loveth not. The soul that loveth is carried with desirousness, drawn with longing, disclaimeth deserts, shutteth the eyes of majesty, openeth the eyes of pleasure, setteth herself in safety, and dealeth boldly with GOD. Through love, the soul withdraweth and departeth aside from the bodily senses, so as it feeleth not itself, to the end it may feel God. And this is done, at such time as the mind being alured with the unspeakable sweetness of God, doth after a sort steal away from itself, or rather is ravished and slippeth away from itself, to the intent to enjoy God to her delight. Nothing could be so pleasant, if it were not so gezon. Love procureth familiarity with God, familiarity procureth boldness, boldness taste, and taste continual hungering. The soul that is surprised with the love of God, can think of nothing else, nor wish nothing else: but with often sighs saith: Like as the Heart thirsteth after the water springs, so thirsteth my soul after thee my God.   

¶ What God hath done for man.  
FOr love to manward, God came to man, God came into   

¶ The remembering of the wounds of our Lord jesus Christ.  
WHen any foul thought assaulteth me, I run to the wounds of Christ. When my flesh presseth me down, I rise up again by remembering the wounds of my Lord. When the devil layeth wait for me, I flee to the bowels of the mercy of my Lord, and he departeth away from me. If the heat of lechery provoke my members, it is quenched with calling to mind the wounds of our Lord the son of God. In all adversities I find no remedy so effectual as the wounds of Christ. In them I sleep without care, and rest with out fear. Christ hath died for us: Now is there nothing so bitter to the death, which is not salved by the death of Christ. All my whole hope is in the death of my Lord. His death is my desert, & my refuge, my welfare, life, and resurrection, and the mercifulness of the Lord is my merit, I am not poor of merit, so long as he the Lord of compassions faileth not. As long as he is manifold in mercy, so long am I also manifold of deserts. The mightier that he is to save, the more am I without care.   

¶ That the remembrance of Christ's wounds is an effectual remedy against all adversities.  
EXcéedyng greatly have I sinned, and mine own conscience findeth me guilty of many offences, and yet do I not despair, because that whereas sin hath abounded, there hath grace overabounded. He that despaireth of the forgiveness of his sins, denieth God to be merciful. Great wrong doth he to God, which distrusteth his mercy. For (as much as in him lieth) he denieth God to be loving, true, and mighty, which are the things wherein my whole hope consisteth, that is to wit in the love of his adoption in the truth of his promise, and in the power of his redeeming. Now let my unwise imagination murmur as much as it listeth and say, Who art thou? how great is the glory? and by what deserts hopest thou to obtain it? and I will answer boldly, I know whom I have credited, that he of his exceeding great love hath adopted me to be his son, that he is soothfast of promise, that he is mighty in performance, and that he may do what he listeth. I can not be feared with the multitude of my sins, if I bethink me of the death of my Lord, because my sins are not able to overmatch him. His nails and his spear cry unto me that I am thoroughly reconciled to Christ, if I love him. Longiws hath opened me Christ's side with his spear, and I am gone into it, and there do I rest in safety. He that is afraid, let him love: for love driveth fear out of doors. There is no remedy so mighty and effectual against the heat of lechery, as the death of my redeemer. He stretcheth out his arms upon the Cross, and he holdeth out his hands in a readiness to embrace sinners. Between the arms of my Saviour mind I to live and die. There shall I sing safely, there will I exalt thee O Lord, because thou hast taken me up, and hast not given mine enemies their pleasure over me. Our Saviour hath bowed down his head at his death, to receive the kisses of his beloved. And so often do we kiss God, as we be thoroughly touched with the love of him.   

The musing of the Soul upon the love of God.  
O My soul which art ennobled with the Image of God, redeemed with Christ's blood, betrothed to him by faith, endued with the holy Ghost, garnished with virtues, and registered among the angels: Love thou him that hath loved thee so much: Serve him that hath served thee: Seek him that seeks thee: Love him that loves thee, which loved thee first, and which is the cause of thy love. He is the desert, he is the reward, he is the fruit, he is the use of it, he is the end of it. Be careful for him that is careful of thee: he at leisure for him, that is at leisure for thee: be clean with him that is clean: be holy with him that is holy. Look after what sort thou showest thyself towards God, after the same sort shall he show himself towards thee. He is sweet, meek, and merciful: and therefore he requireth to have them that be sweet, meek, pleasant, and merciful. Love thou him that hath plucked thee out of the puddle of misery, and out of the mire of filthiness. Choose him for thy friend above all friends, which alone will keep touch with thee when all things fail thee. In the day of thy burial when all thy friends shrink from thee, he will not forsake thee, but will defend thee from the roaring Lions that wait for their prey, and will lead thee through an unknown country, and bring thee to the streets of the heavenly Zion, and there set thee among the Angels before the face of his own majesty, where thou shalt hear this angelical ditty: holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. There is the song of mirth, the voice of joy and welfare, the voice of thanksgiving & praise, & the voice of magnifying God for ever. There is the full measure of happiness, passing excellent glory, superabundant joy, & all good things. O my soul, sigh heartily, desire earnestly, that thou mayst come to that City above, whereof so glorious things are spoken, and wherein is the habitation of all that rejoice. By love thou mayst get up thither. Nothing is hard, nothing is impossible to him that loveth. The soul that loveth goeth up often to the heavenly jerusalem, and runneth familiarly from street to street, visiting the patriarchs and Prophets, saluting the Apostles, wondering at the hosts of Martyrs and Confessors, and gazing at the companies of the Virgins. Heaven and earth and all things that are in them call upon me without ceasing, to love my Lord God.   

¶ What the knowledge of the truth is.  
WHat is the knowledge of truth? first to know thy self, and to endeavour to be that which thou oughtest to be, and to amend that which aught to be amended. And secondly to know and to love thy maker, for that is the whole happiness of man. See then how unspeakable the graciousness of God's love towards us is. He hath created us of nothing, and given us all that we have. But forasmuch as we have loved the gift more than the giver, and the creature more than the creator: we are fallen into the devils snare and become his bondslaves. Nevertheless God being moved with compassion, sent his son to redeem us slaves, and his holy spirit to make us his sons again. He hath given his son to be the price of our ransom, the holy Ghost as an assurance of his love, and to be short he reserveth himself whole for us to be the heritage of our adoption. And so God according to his exceeding gracious goodness and mercy, hath for very love and good will to manward, bestowed not only his benefits but also himself upon him, to recover him again, not so much to himself, as to him. To the intent that men might be borne of God, God was first borne of them. Who is so hard hearted that he will not be softened by the love of God preventing man with so hearty good will, that he vouchsafed to become man for man's sake? who can find in his heart to hate a man, whose nature and likeness he seeth in the manhood of GOD? Doubtless he that hateth a man hateth God, and so loseth all his labour. For God become man for man's sake, that he might be a redeemer as well as a creator, and that man might be ransomed with his own goods, and that one man might love an other the more heartily. God appeared in the shape of man, to the end that both body and soul might be made blessed, by renewing the eye of the mind in his Godhead, and the eye of the body in his manhood, so that whether man went in or out, he might find food in him laid up in store by him in his human nature.   

¶ What the sending of the holy Ghost worketh in us.  
FOr our Saviour was borne for us, and crucified and put to death for us, to destroy our death by his own death. And because the grape of his flesh was carried to the winepress of the Cross, and there being pressed yielded forth the sweet wine of his Godhead: The holy ghost was sent to make ready the vessels of men's hearts, that the new wine might be put into new vessels: first to season their hearts for marring of the wine that should be put into them, and afterward to hoop them well for leaking when the wine was poured into them: that is to wit, to cleanse them from delighting in sin, and to bind them from delighting in vanity. For that which is good could not come in, till that which is ill was first rid out. The delighting in wickedness defileth: and the delighting in vanity sheddeth out. The delighting in wickedness maketh the vessel foul, and the delighting in vanity maketh it full of crannies. To delight in wickedness, is to love sin, and to delight in vanity, is to be in love with transitory things. Therefore cast out the thing that is evil, that thou mayest receive the thing that is good. Pour out sourness that thou mayest be filled with sweetness. Cast out the spirit of the devil and the spirit of this world, that thou mayst take in the spirit of God. The spirit of the devil worketh delight in wickedness, and the spirit of the world worketh delight in vanity. And these delights are evil: for the one is a fault of itself, and the other is the occasion of faults. When the evil spirits be cast out, then will the spirit of God come and enter into the tabernacle of thy heart, and work good delights, and good love, whereby the love of the world and the love of sin is driven away. The love of the world intyceth men to deceive them, and the love of sin defileth and leadeth to death. But the love of God enlighteneth the mind, cleanseth the conscience, gladdeth the heart, and showeth a man God.   

¶ Of the working of him that loveth God.  
HE in whom the love of God dwelleth, is always devising when he shall come unto God, when he shall leave the world, and when he shall scape the corruption of his flesh. And to the intent he may find true peace, he hath his heart and desire always lifted up above. When he sitteth, when he goeth, when he resteth, or what soever he do, his heart is evermore with God. He exhorteth all men to the love of God, he commendeth the love of God unto all men, and in heart, word, and work he showeth unto all men both how sweet the love of God is, and also how evil and bitter the love of this world is. He laugheth at the glory of this world, & findeth fault with the care of it, showing how fond a folly it is to put a man's trust in things that be transitory. He marveleth at the blindness of the men that love such things. And he wondereth that all men forsake not all these transitory and flightful things. He thinketh that all men should deem the things sweet, wherein he himself findeth so good taste: that all men should love, that which he loveth: and that all men should be privy to that which he knoweth. Oftentimes doth he behold God, and is sweetly refreshed at the contemplation of him: so much the more happily, as he doth it more oftenly. For sweet always is that thing to be thought upon, which is always sweet to be loved and praised.   

¶ Of the true rest of the heart.  
IN deed the true rest of the heart, is when the heart is wholly settled in desire, upon the love of God, & coveteth nothing else, but hath a certain happy delight in the thing that he holds him to, & joyeth in the same delight. And if it be never so little withdrawn from him by any vain thought, or business of other matters: he hieth him as fast as he can to return to him again with all speed: accounting it but a banishment to abide any where else then there. For like as there is no moment wherein man doth not enjoy or use the gracious goodness of God: so aught there to be no moment wherein he should not have him present in remembrance. And therefore no small fault doth that man commit, who when he talketh with God in prayer, is suddenly plucked away from his presence, as it were from the eyes of one that neither saw him nor heard him. And that is done when he followeth his own naughty and unruly thoughts, and preferreth before God, some creature that is for his own profit or pleasure whereunto the contemplation of his mind is easily drawn away, by bethinking, revolving, or minding the same oftener th●n God, whom he must continually remember as his creator, honour as his redeemer, attend upon as his Saviour, and fear as his judge.   

¶ What soever withdraweth the sight of the mind from God, must in any wise be eschewed and abhorred.  
WHo soever thou art that lovest the world, look before thee whither thou goest. The way that thou walkest is an evil way and full of sorrow. Therefore O man leave of thine own businesses for a while, and with draw thyself from thy trouble some thoughts. Cast away thy burdensome cares, lay aside thy painful turmoils, bestow some time upon God, and rest thyself a while in him. Get thee into the chamber of thy mind, shut out all things saving God and such things as further the finding of him, and seek him with thy door fast shut to thee. Let thy whole heart say unto God, I seek thy countenance, it is thy countenance that I seek O Lord. Now than my Lord God, go to, teach thou my heart where and how it may seek thee, and where and how it may find thee. Lord if thou be not here, where shall I seek thee when thou art gone? Or if thou be every where, why see I not thee here? certes thou dwellest in unapproachable light. And how shall I come at thee then? or who shall lead me and bring me in thither? that I may see thee there? Again, what marks or what shape shall I seek thee by? I never saw thee my Lord God, I never knew thy face. What shall this far banished creature of thine do most high Lord, what shall he do? what shall thy servant do which is careful for love of thee, and is rejected far from thy presence? Behold, he panteth to see thee, and thy countenance is far from him. He longeth to come near thee, and thy dwelling place is unapproachable. He would fain find thee, & he knoweth not thy place. He is desirous to seek thee, and knoweth not thy countenance.   

¶ That the seeing of God is lost through sin, & misery found in stead of it.  
LOrd, thou art my God and my sovereign, and yet I never saw thee. Thou hast made me and made me new again, and bestowed all thy goods upon me, and yet hitherto I have neither known thee nor seen thee. To be short, I was made to see thee, and I have not yet done the thing that I was made for. O wretched state of man, that he must forego the thing for which he was made. O hard and cursed case as it was. Alas what hath he lost, and what hath he found? what is foregone, and what remaineth? He hath lost blessedness, to which he was made, and found misery, to which he was not made. The thing is gone without which nothing is lucky, and the thing remaineth which of itself is all together unlucky. Man did then eat angels bread, which thing he now hungereth for: and now he eateth the bread of sorrow, which he was not then acquainted with. O Lord, how long wilt thou forget us? for ever? how long wilt thou turn away thy face from us? when wilt thou look back and hear us? when wilt thou enlighten our eyes and show us thy face? when wilt thou restore thyself unto us? Look back Lord and hear us, and enlighten us, and show thyself unto us, and restore thyself unto us, that it may go well with us which are so ill bestead without thee. I have a bitterness at my heart because thou hast forsaken it: Lord I beseech thee sweeten it again with thy comfort. I have begun to seek thee with a hungry appetite, let me not be sent away from thee without repast. I am come with a sharp stomach, let me not go away fasting. I come poor to thee that art rich, I come wretched to thee that art pitiful, let me not go away empty and despised. Lord I am bowed down, and I can not look but downward. Raise me that I may look upward. Mine iniquities are gone over my head, they have overwhelmed me, and they overload me as a heavy burden. Wind me out, and unload me, that the pit shut not his mouth upon me. Teach me to seek thee, and show thyself to me at my seeking. For I cannot seek thee except thou teach me, nor find thee except thou show thyself unto me. Let me seek thee by longing after thee, and let me long after thee by seeking thee. Let me find thee by loving thee, and let me love thee by finding thee.   

Of God's goodness.  
I Confess Lord (I thank thee for it) that thou hast created me after thine own image, to the end I should be mindful of thee, think upon thee, and love thee. But that image is so defaced by the corruption of sin, that it cannot do the thing for which it was created, except thou renew and reform it again. I beseech thee O Lord which givest the understanding of faith, grant that I may readily understand how great thou art. For thou art as we believe, and this is it that we believe: namely we believe that thou art some one thing, than the which there can nothing be thought to be either greater or better? What art thou then O Lord God? Even that one thing, than the which nothing can be imagined to be greater or better, that is to say the sovereign goodness, which hath his being of itself alone, and hath made all other things of nothing. Thou therefore art righteous, soothfast, blessed and whatsoever thing else it is better to be then not to be. But how dost thou spare the wicked, seeing thou art wholly and without comparison righteous? Is it because thy goodness is incomprehensible? This thing lieth hid in the unapproachable light which thou dwellest in. Verily, the headspring from whence the stream of thy mercy floweth, lieth hid in the most deep and secret gulf of thy goodness. For although thou be wholly & excéedyngly righteous: yet art thou also gentle to the evil, because thou art wholly and exceeding good: for thou shouldest be the less good if thou shouldest bear with no evil. For better is he that is good both to good and bad, than he that is good but to the good only. And better is he that is good to the evil both by sparing them and also by punishing them, then he that is good to them but in punishing them only. The cause therefore why thou art merciful, is for that thou art wholly and exceeding good.   

¶ Of the delectable fruition of God.  
O Unmeasurable goodness which passest all understanding of heart, let that mercy of thine come upon me, which proceedeth from so passing abundance. Let that flow into me which floweth out of thee. Spare me of thy mercifulness, and punish me not by thy justice. Awake now my soul, and lift up thy whole understanding, and consider to the uttermost of thy power how great and of what sort that goodness is which is God. For if every several good thing be delectable: cast in thy mind advisedly, how delectable that good thing is, which containeth the pleasantness of all good things: not in such sort as we find it in things created, but as far differing, as there is odds between the creature and the maker. For if the life that is created be good: how good is the life that created it? If the welfare that is created be pleasant: how pleasant is the welfare that made all welfare? If the wisdom that consisteth in conceiving or knowing of things known, be amiable: how amiable is the wisdom that made all things of nothing? finally, if there be many and great pleasures in things that be delectable: what and how great pleasure is there in him which made those delectable things? O what shall he have, or what is it that he shall not have, which enjoyeth this good thing? certes he shall have what soever he will, and he shall not have any thing that he would not have. For there shall he have all good things, both of body and soul, such as never eye of man hath seen, nor ear heard, nor heart imagined.   

The sovereign good is to be sought.  
WHy raungest thou then through so many things O silly man, seeking the goods of thy soul and of thy body? Love the one good thing wherein are all good things, and it is enough. Be desirous of the single good thing which is all goodness, & it sufficeth. For what is it that thou lovest O my flesh? what desirest thou O my soul? whatsoever thou lovest, it is there: whatsoever thou desirest, it is there. If thou have a mind to beauty, there the righteous shine as the sun. If thou like of swiftness, strength, or liberty of body, where against nothing may resist: there they shallbe like the angels of God. For the body is sown a natural body, but it shall rise a spiritual body, that is to wit spiritual in power but not in substance. If thou desire a long or healthy life: there shallbe healthful everlastingness, and everlasting healthfulness. For the righteous shall live for ever, and the welfare of the righteous cometh of the Lord. If suffisance: They shallbe sufficed when the glory of the Lord appears. If drunkenness: They shallbe made drunken with the foison of God's house. If melody: There the angels shall sing unto God without end. If any manner of pleasure, so it be not unclean: The Lord will let them drink their fill of the stream of his pleasures. If wisdom: The very wisdom of God shall show himself to them. If friendship: They shall love God more than themselves, and one an other as themselves: and God shall love them more than they love themselves. For they love him, themselves, and one an other by him: and he loveth himself and them by himself. If concord: They shall all of them delight but in one thing, for there shallbe but one will among them, and that shallbe the will of God their sovereign. If power: They shallbe masters of their wills like as God is of his. For like as God can do what he listeth by himself: so shall they be able to do what they list by him. For like as they will not list any other thing than he listeth: so will he list whatsoever they list, and so consequently whatsoever he listeth must needs come to pass. If honour & riches: God will make his good and faithful servants rulers of much goods, yea they shallbe the children of God and Gods, and they shallbe the heirs of God and coheir with Christ. Or if thou desire assured safety: they shallbe as sure that that good state shall never fail them, as they are sure that they would never forego it by their own wills, and that God their lover will not take it away from his lovers against their wills, and that there is not any thing mightier than God to separate God and then a sunder. Now then what and how great joy is there, whereas is such & so great goodness?   

¶ Of the mutual love between the Saints in heavens.  
O heart of man, O poor heart, O heart unacquainted with misery and wretchedness, or rather overwhelmed with miseries: how glad wouldst thou be if thou hadst abundance of all these things? Ask thy furthest compass of thine inward conceit, if it were able to receive the joy of this so great happiness? certainly if any other man whom thou lovedst as thyself should have the same happy state, thy joy would be double, because thou wouldst be as glad for him as for thyself. But if two or three or a number more should have the same thing, thou wouldst be as glad for every one of them as for thyself, if thou didst love them as thyself. What joy then shall there be in that perfect love of the innumerable blessed angels and men, when none shall love any other less than himself? for every of them shallbe as glad for others as for himself. Now if the heart of man be scarce able to conceive the joy of any one so great a benefit, how shall it be capable of so many and so great joys? And doubtless, seeing that according as every man loveth another, so much doth he rejoice of his welldoing: therefore like as in that blessed happiness every man shall without comparison love God more than himself & all others set all together: so also shall he without estimation rejoice more of God's happy state, then of his own & of all other folks with him. Moreover if they love God with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all their soul, and yet all their heart, all their mind, and all their soul suffice not to love him as he is worthy: Out of all doubt, they shall also rejoice with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all their soul: and yet their whole heart, their whole mind, and their whole soul shall not suffice to rejoice to the full.   

¶ Of the full joy of the eternal life.  
MY God and my Lord, my hope and hearts joy, tell my soul whether this be the joy whereof thou sayest unto us by thy son: Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full, for I have found a certain joy that is full and more than full. For when the heart is full, the mind full, the soul full, and the whole man full of that joy, yet shall there remain an overplus of joy with out measure. All that joy then, shall not enter whole into the injoyers of it, but the injoyers shall enter whole into the joy of their Lord. Lord tell thy servant, tell me inwardly in my heart, whether this be the joy whereinto those servants of thine shall enter, which must enter into the joy of their master. Truly the joy that thine elect shall enjoy, was never seen of man's eye, nor heard of man's ear, nor conceived of man's heart. Therefore Lord I have not yet said or imagined how much thy chosen shall rejoice. Undoubtedly they shall so much rejoice, as they dee love thee: and they shall so much love thee, as they know thee. And how much shall they love thee? Verily, no eye hath seen, ear heard, nor heart conceived in his life, how much they shall know thee and love thee in that life. I beseech thee my God let me know thee & love thee, that I may have joy of thee. And although I cannot do it to the full in this life: yet let me profit from day to day until it may come to the full. Let the knowledge of thee grow in me here, that it may become full there. Let the love of thee increase in me here, that it may be full there: so as my joy may be great in hope here, and full in deed there. O soothfast God, I pray thee let me receive the thing that thou promisest, that my joy may be full. In the mean time let my mind be thinking upon it, let my tongue be talking of it, let my heart long for it, let my mouth be speaking of it, let my soul hunger after it, let my flesh thirst after it, let my whole self be desirous of it, until such time as I may enter into the joy of my Lord, there to continued for ever world without end. Amen.  
All glory, honour, praise, and thanks be given to God alone.   

¶ A TABLE OF the Prayers contained in S. Austin's books entitled his self talk with God, and his Manuel.  

OF the unspeakable sweetness of God.  
Of the wretchedness & frailty of man.  
Of God's wonderful light.  
Of the mortality of man's nature.  
Of the fall of the soul into sin.  
Of God's manifold benefits.  
Of man's dignity in time to come.  
Of God's omnipotency.  
Of the incomprehensible praise of God.  
Of lifting a man's hope unto God.  
Of the snares of concupiscence.  
Of man's misery and Gods benefits.  
How God doth continually behold & mark men's doings and intentes.  
Of man's imbecility without the grace of God.  
Of the devil and his manifold temptations.  
That God is the light of the righteous.  
Of God's benefits.  
Of the ferventness of love or charity.  
That God hath put all things under the service of man.  
By consideration of earthly benefits we conjecture the greatness of the heavenly wisdom.  
That the sweetness of God taketh away all the present bitterness of this world.  
That all our trust, and longing of our heart aught to be to Godward.  
That our welfare cometh of God.  
That man's will is unable to do good works without the grace of God.  
Of God's old benefits.  
Of God's deep predestination and foreknowledge.  
Of such as be righteous and afterward become wicked, and contrariwise.  
That the faithful man's soul is the Sanctuary of God.  
That God cannot be found neither by the outward senses, nor by the inward wits.  
Of the acknowledging of a man's own vileness.  
A consideration of God's majesty.  
Of the longing and thirsting of the soul after God.  
Of the glory of the heavenly country.  
A Prayer to the holy Trinity.    

The table of prayers in his Manuel.  

OF God's wonderful being.  
Of the unspeakable knowledge of God.  
Of the longing of the soul that feeleth God.  
Of the wretchedness of that soul which loveth not, neither seeketh our Lord jesus Christ.  
Of the longing of the soul.  
Of the happiness of the soul that is let lose from the prison of the body.  
Of the joys of paradise.  
Of the kingdom of heaven.  
Of the comfort of the sorrowful soul after the long mourning thereof.  
Of joy.  
That the word is become flesh for our sake.  
That the more a man museth upon God, the sweeter it is to him.  
That tribulations for Christ's sake, are to be desired in this life.  
How the kingdom of heaven may be gotten.  
What paradise, is and what it hath.  
What thing God requireth like unto himself in us.  
Of the boldness of the soul that loveth God.  
What God hath done for man.  
The remembering of the wounds of our Lord jesus Christ.  
That the remembrance of Christ's wounds is an effectual remedy against all adversities.  
The musing of the soul upon the love of God.  
What the knowledge of the truth is.  
What the sending of the holy Ghost worketh in us.  
Of the working of him that loveth God.  
Of the true rest of the heart.  
Whatsoever withdraweth the mind from God, must in any wise be eschewed and abhorred.  
That the seeing of God is lost through sin, and misery found in stead of it.  
Of God's goodness.  
Of the delectable fruition of God.  
That the sovereign good is to be sought.  
Of the mutual love between the Saints in heaven.  
Of the full joy of the eternal life.   
¶ The end of the Table.   

AT LONDON Printed by john day, dwelling over Aldersgate.  
¶ Cum gratia & Privilegio Regiae Maiestatis.