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MY sacred Creator, and celestiall Father, didst not thou make me of running water and ruddie earth? Doest thou not see how Sathan assaults me? how the world insnates me? and how my owne nature betraies me? O my God how then canst thou but in pittie take compassion vpon me? knowing I haue no power to pre∣uent any of these precedent con∣spiracies, but by thy diuine proui∣dence.
Wilt thou then leaue mee to my selfe, that I might appeare worse miserable than the beast which perisheth? O be more cha∣ritable, for that thou madest mee thy image; cast but thine eie vp∣on mee, and turne not thy face from me; then trie whether thou wilt denie thy mercy vnto mee: were not, sweet Sauiour, my first parents sinners? Did not thy selfe suffer for sinners? and protestedst thou desirest not the death of sin∣ners. Shall then the iniquities of my onely offences blot out the re∣membrance of thy immortal mer∣cies? When thou art my aduocate, I the offender; thou my redeemer, I the debtor. Let mee not then perish for want of thy protection,
when it is not riches, nor honor, I would haue; O my Father, no! or releasement of my miseries I seeke; O my Father, no! or hea∣uen I beg; O my Father, I dare not presume, no! nor any thing I craue; but the increase of penitent teares fit for transgressors, and sor∣rowes due to sinners; O my Saui∣our, no! How then canst thou de∣nie me? when I sue for no more, but what thy selfe hath assured me? O my Christ! are these the eyes that haue displeased thee; let them receiue no light through thee: is this the heart, which hath dishonoured thee; let it bleed to death for thee Is this the flesh which hath offended thee? let fire be her fuell by thee. Are these
the bones which haue brought me woe? let them bee burnt, and borne no more. Or are these the sences which haue sinned against thee? let them be a liuing sacrifice to thee. O my God, I am rackt with griefe, that I cannot grieue; and perplext in repentance, that I know not how to repent. For to proceed after the worlds weake∣nesse, I suspect thou seest their wilfull ignorance. And if I fol∣low thy Gospels professours, I feare thou findst them full of scan∣dall, distraction, and worldly per∣turbation. What then (sweet Sa∣uiour) will become of me forlorne creature, that haue no reliefe? but sinnes to succour me, Sathan to assist me, and a guilty conscience
to comfort mee: without thy sa∣cred sufferings make intercession for me, and accept thy Saints ob∣lations for sinners to thee; I shall be forced to curse my conception, and wish my mothers wombe, had beene my tombe, to haue formed me a lumpe of flesh with∣out life, or any creature but thy image; for then had I liued accor∣ding to creation, and not liable to eternall damnation. Yet, most mercifull and immortall father, should my agonied soule suspect to suffer shipwracke, when thou guidest the sterne? or despaire and die, when thou art liuing? or curse her birth when thou art in being? O my God, rather let her taste the tortures of hell, then be depriued
of life, and lose her hopes in the ioyes of heauen, let then Sathan assay his best, and the wicked world her worst, my deiected soule hath set vp her rest in thee that made her to saue her; Lord I beseech thee to say A∣men.