A godly medytacyon of the christen sowle, concerninge a loue towardes God and hys ChristeMarguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
Religion
A godly medytacyon of the christen sowle, concerninge a loue towardes God and hys Christe
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
Devotional literature; Meditations -- Early works to 1800
Where is the helle full of trauayle, payne, myschefe, and torment? Where
is the pytte of cursednesse, out of whych doth sprynge all desperacyon?
Is there any helle so profounde, that is suffycyent to ponnysh the tenth
part of my synnes, whych are so many in nombre, that the infynyte swarme
of them so shaddoweth my darkened sences that I can not accompte them
neyther yet wele se them? I am farre entered in amongest them, and (that
moch wors is) I haue not the power to obtayne the true knowledge of the
depe daūgers of them. I perfyghtly fele, that their roote is in me. And
outwardly I se non other effecte but all is eyther braūche leafe, or els
frute that it bryngeth fourth all aboute me. If I thynke to loke for
better, a braūche cometh and closeth myne eyes, and in my mouthe doth
fall whan I wolde speake, the frute so bytter to swalowe downe. If my
sprete be sturred for to harken, than a great multytude of leaues doth
entre in myne eares, and my nose is all stopped with flowers.
[Sidenote: 2. Cor. [unreadable].]
[Sidenote: Iob. 12.]
Now beholde how in paynes cryenge & wepynge, my poore sowle, a slaue and
prysoner, doth lye without lyghte, hauynge her fete bounde through her
concupyscēce & also both her armes through euyll vse. Yet the power to
remedy it, doth not lye in me, neyther haue I power to crye for helpe.
Agayne, so far fourth as I can perceyue, I haue no hope of socour, but
through the grace of God that I can not deserue, whych maye rayse euery
one from deathe. By hys bryghtnesse he geueth lyght to darkenesse. And
hys power examynynge my faulte, doth breake all the vayle of ignoraunce,
and geueth me clere vnderstādynge, not only that thys cometh of me, but
also what thynge abydeth in me. Where I am and wherfor I do laboure. Who
he is whom I haue offended, to whom I ded obeye so seldome. Therfor it is
cōuenyent that my pryde be suppressyd.
[Sidenote: Iob. 14.]
[Sidenote: Sapi. [unreadable].]
And humbly with wepynge harte, I do confesse that I am moch lesse thā
nothynge, before my byrth myer, after a dungehyll, a body prompte to all
euyll not wyllynge other stodye, also subiect to care, sorowe, and payne.
A short lyfe, and thende vncertayne. The whych vndre synne by Adam is
solde, and by the lawe iudged to be damnyd. For I had neuer the power to
obserue one only cōmaundemente of God, I do fele the strength of synne
in me, therfor is my synne no whyt the lesse to be hydden. And the more
he is dyssembled outwardly, so moche the more he encreasyth within the
harte. That whych God wyll, I can not wyll, and what he wolde not, I ofte
tymes desyre to perfourme. Whych thynge doth constrayne me by importable
sorowe, to wyshe thende of thys myserable bodye through desyred death,
bycause of my werye & ragynge life.
[Sidenote: Roma. [unreadable].]
[Sidenote: Gene. [unreadable].]
[Sidenote: Psal. 37.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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