A sinfvll Mans Solace Most sweete and comfortable, for the sicke and sorowful Soule: Contriued, into seuen seuerall Daies Conference, betweene Christ and a carelesse Sinner. Wherin, euerie man, from the highest, to the lowest: from the Richest, to the poorest: and aboue all, the sorowfull Sinner: maye take such sweet repaste of Resolution, to amendment of lyfe, and confirmation of Fayth: that (in respect of the Heauenlie Solace, therin faithfully remembred:) all the pompes and pleasures of this wicked worlde, shall be plainely perceiued to be meere miserie. Writeen by Iohn Norden |
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The Fryday, or fifth dayes cōferēce, between Solace, and the sinful man
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 | A sinfvll Mans Solace |  |
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The Fryday, or fifth dayes cōferēce, between Solace, and the sinful man
That were the sinful man being yesterday perswaded, to redeliuer those things vnto Simple, his Tenaunt, which he had by flatterye & threatning gottē of him: As also to make restitution of all his wrongful gotten goods to other men, hee did it accordingly: And when hee had giuen euerye Birde his Feather; hee became so naked, and his estate so bare, that for his suddayne chaunge, he cryeth out in great heauines, on this wise: Solace comforting him, and willeth him to beare the matter with patience and to confesse his sinnes. &c.
Alas , the life that late I did
in precious price imbrace,
Is past and gone, and poore estate
hath taken riches place,
[88]
that flickred erst so hie.
Mine hautie harte in heauie chere,
doth wonted ioyes deny.
Where riches did ere while abound,
and bagges of golde were store:
Now want hath wonne the field again
wo worth me wretch therfore.
Solace.
What is the matter, oh sinfull man, that this morning, thou beginnest thus, as a man best laughted, shewing thy self yet subiect to frailty, which thou yesterday diddest promise manfully to withstanay
The sinfull man.
Oh (Solace) helpe, I am vndone,
now past are pleasant daies,
What thou didst will is done, & nowe
my stately state decaies.
My substance all, alas is gone,
now Simple and the rest
Haue had their shares of all my store,
my share alas is least.
I am vndone, I know not how,
to maintaine mee and mine:
I doubt I shall be sore opprest,
with poore estate, in fine.
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for want, to begge their bread,
Why should we liue in this distresse?
wold they and I were dead.
This hard estate of mine, I know
would break an hearte of stone:
For that in my distresse, I haue
no wher to make my mone.
For those, that did before acquaint
themselues as friends to be.
Will now disdaine my poore estate,
and looke awry on mee.
Unles it be for my reproch
to say, loe, this is hee,
That was aloft but now is lowe,
what shall mine answere bee.
Solace.
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Alas my poore estate is such,
I am so sore decayde:
No man can blame mine heauines,
if mine ill hap were wayde.
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Oh how could he with patience,
these cruell crosses beare:
It can not be but that he did,
in griefe himselfe beteare.
Solace.
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Thē shewe me how I should cōfesse,
and how I ought to pray:
I doe repent my sinfull life,
That I haue led astray.
Solace.
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Before I doe confesse to thee
my sinne, thou doest beholde
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my sinnes thus to vnfolde.
Solace.
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[103]
Thē what auaile good works? are they
of none effect in deede?
And bootes it not to keepe the lawes
that Moses first decreede?
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Then Lorde of lords, oh Solace sweet
Oh loving Iesu deere:
Whose passing power, by word of trueth
created heauens cleere:
The Sea, that surgeth too and fro,
the earth and Creatures all:
Thy wisdome, is surpassyng high,
thy mercies great withall.
So that, the workes which thou hast done,
doo all depend on thee:
And I among them all, the woorst,
crye, come Lorde, come to mee.
Who am a Uessell, fraught with wo,
whose dayes are past in sinne:
My nature proane to wickednesse,
reteines mee yet therin.
But thou that art the God of blisse
extende thy mercie meere:
[105]
against thy Creatures, heere:
Thou canst attend, before I crie,
support, before I fall:
Thou canst relieue, before I craue,
forgiue, before I call.
Thy grace, is of so great effect,
thy counsaile (Lord) so pure,
That whome thou wilt preserue and keepe,
remaineth most secure.
Thou art of grace, the giuer true,
the God of mercie meere:
Who wouldest not that Sinners die,
but turne to thee in feare.
So that (Oh Lord) abounding so,
with loue and mercie store:
Thou didst vouchsafe to send a salue,
to cure my cruell sore.
Thy onely Sonne, delight and ioy,
who came in humaine weede:
Into this vale of deepe annoy,
to kyll the Serpents seede.
Who did betray, and bryng to woe,
our former Parentes twaine,
Whom thou hadst set in blessed state,
for aye there to remaine.
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so subiect unto yll:
Haue swerued from ye word of trueth
and sore transgrest thy wyll.
Imbracing with great greedinesse,
my substance and my store:
Which I, by couin and deceit,
haue gotten heretofore.
And in delight haue past my dayes
as Sathan rulde my will,
I framde my fancies all and some.
to thinges peruers and ill.
Haue mercie, mercie, Lord on mee
whoe haue deserued thrall.
Refuse mee not, though I be dust,
by nature proane to fall.
Blot out of thine accompting Booke,
what I haue done amisse:
Oh, pardon my Offences all,
and place my soule in blisse.
Wash me from all vngodlinesse,
make soule and body cleene:
That not a spot of filthinesse,
in neither may be seene.
I doo confesse (O Lord) to thee,
I doo confesse my sinne:
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that I haue liued in:
I am a frowarde Childe to thee,
prouokyng thee to Ire:
But, Lord, vouchsafe, call mee againe
I would full faine retire.
From wandring in such vanities.
to walke the wayes of light,
Extend thy loue, Lorde, let me liue,
from hence, a life upright.
I disobeyed thy Preceptes,
and did what Nature would:
I did not that, that Uertue wyld:
and what, of right, I should.
Most wickedly I walked, in
the wayes that were vniust:
Esteeming filthy Carcase so,
as it had not ben dust.
Oh Lorde, I stood no feare of thee,
nor reverenst thy name:
But, as a disobedient wretche.
haue lead my life in blame.
Thy Lawes, I cast behinde my back
and doo not them fulfyll:
I follow with all greedinesse,
mine owne corrupted wyll.
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without remorce of minde:
Neglecting true repentance styll,
to wickednes inclinde.
I roue at randone, too and fro,
from sinne to sinne I runne:
And therin wallow, as the Sow,
in durtie soyle, in Sunne.
The Solace, whiche I should haue shund
I sought with gredinesse:
And shund the Solace, which I shuld
haue held, as happinesse.
Which thou (O lord) thou doost behold
yea, what I thinke or saye:
What I haue done, and what I doo,
and how I gad astraye.
How I despised thy commaund,
and how I breake thy wyll,
How like a senceles man I run,
by rash conceit to yll:
Wherfore, I neede to say no more,
my sinnes, my soule annoy,
Mine heart, doeth harbour such conflict,
that gone is all my ioy.
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Dispaire not man, let sorrow passe,
take solace now of mee:
I am the God, that neuer was,
nor wyll vnfaithfull bee:
My mercie, is a thousand fould,
to him that doth repent:
Repent (therfore) saye on, be bould,
the contrite is not shent.
What? if thou be a sinfull man,
in hart, repent, therfore:
Be sure, thou shalt haue pardon then
but see thou sinne no more.
The Thiefe, that hung on tree wt mee,
as he gaue vp the Ghost:
Did craue, that he might saued bee.
whose praiers were not lost:
And Marie Magdaline, that was,
a sinfull woman, came
To mee, in heart, repenting sinne,
and I forgaue the same.
By death (I say) I ouerthrew
the Serpent, and his trayne,
Mine heauenly fathers wyll, I dyd
obey without disdaine.
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my Corps were nayled fast:
Not as a Sinner, but for thee,
when helpe of hope was past:
Proceede therfore, confesse in haste,
what thou hast done amisse:
For Sinne, I know, remains in thee,
as in all men there is.
The sinfull man.
Then Lorde, I see, thou doest beholde
with thy supernall eye:
The creaturs which in thraldome bee,
and hearest when they crie:
I sinfull soule, distressed sore,
in plungyng pangues of woe:
Doo craue the crūmes of mercie store
which from thy Table floe.
For, Lorde, I see that thou art prest,
to ease my sinfull sore:
Refuse me not, vouchsafe mee rest,
in heart, that call therfore.
Who by my sinfull lyfe, haue lost,
thy loue: and purchast thrall:
Extende vnto mee, wretched wight,
thy light, and loue withall.
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hyde not thy selfe from mee:
Although my flesh do striue to keepe,
my syllie soule from thee:
Showe not thyne anger, as a foe,
let mercy be my staye:
It is no profite (Lord) for thee,
to cast my soule awaye.
Denie mee not, a contrite heart:
a pensiue person poore:
An wofull wretch, a sinfull soule,
that knocke here at thy doore.
Uouchsafe, to turne thy face to mee,
forgiue my deedes amisse:
In feare, I doo appeale to thee,
as one that guiltie is:
Deale not, as my deserts doo craue,
but as of mercie, thou,
Doost will, and still delight to haue,
all sinfull heartes to bow:
Showe not thy force against thy foe,
that faine would come to thee:
And pardon my Offences all,
though Death be due to mee.
Oh, plague mee not (good Lord so sore
I haue no force, I fall.
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if thou vouchsafe to call,
My soule from sinne, and to affoord,
mee Solace sweete againe.
Loe, here, I doo against my selfe,
a sinfull wretch complaine:
Shame dooth beset mee round about
my selfe consume in woe:
I am corrupt, mine heart throughout
I wander too and fro.
From sinne to sinne, I run perforce,
I wander styll astraye.
Wherfore, without thy due remorce,
I can not but decaye.
Since first I suckt my Mothersbrest
yea, since I sawe the daye:
The subtill Serpent, hath not ceast,
to wrest mine heart astraye.
In sinne, my mother did conceaue,
this cankred Corps of mine:
And Sathan seekes (Lord) to bereaue,
all that (of right) is thine:
He soweth vaine and wicked seedes,
in mine vnstaid brest:
Wherof doo grow pernitious deedes,
which breede my soule vnrest.
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they fixe so fast one mee:
That frō my youth they haue anoid,
and keepe me (Lord) from thee.
So that I am full bought and sould,
betwene the Feend and synne:
And wickednes a thousand foulde,
myne heart doth lodge within.
The good I cannot which I would,
my nature proane to ill:
Withdraws myne harte frō what it should
imbrace wt heauenly skil.
But (Lord) in sinne why should I dye,
syth thy good will is so:
To heare poor synners whē they crie,
and them redeeme from woe
And giuest them, repaste againe,
from heauens high aboue:
And to repentant hearts full faine,
thou showest thy selfe in loue.
Ye, thou doest saue through mercie meere
those that deserue to dye,
When they to thee returne in feare,
(oh Lorde) now so doe I:
A thousand times before this date,
thy mercies from aboue.
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to showe thy zealous loue:
Our fathers, who were longe agoe,
when they were in dystresse:
Fell prostrate on their harts, and loe,
thou gauest them redresse:
Ye, whē they were incompast round
and no hope to auoyde:
Thy mercye Lord did so abounde,
that they were not destroyed:
Haue mercie therfore (Lord) on mee,
oh god on whome I call.
I wretched synner here to thee,
on prostrate heart doe fall:
Ease mee againe, let mercie thine,
myne woefull hearte releeue.
And let not synne all goodnes mine,
through loosenes thus bereaue:
My soule alas, in dolefull plight,
in hope of helpe doth crie:
Oh Lord extend thy louelie light,
that shines from heauen hye:
To guide my silly soule to blisse,
by shunnyng what is ill.
High time, alas, good Lord it is,
to frame mee to thy will.
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put foorth thy helpyng hand:
Let it reuiue, what sinne hath slaine,
and loosen Sathans bande.
Lorde Iesus come, oh come in haste,
Let Heauens Bowe come down
That I a wretched wight at last,
maye ioye that passing Crowne.
Which yu by dreadful death hast won
through plūging panges on tree:
In loue, to giue the same to those,
that feare to fall from thee.
Come, come, I say, thou Solace true
and fill mine hart with ioye:
My sinfull soule, with grace renue,
whom Sathan would destroye,
No daye, no time, no minute is,
deuoyde of wo, to mee:
But (oh alas,) the cause is this,
I hold mee not by thee:
If thou absent thy selfe, my soule,
my bones, my bodie dust:
Corrupt, with carke of wicked will,
as Iron doeth with rust:
If thou absent thy selfe, my soule
runnes headiong into yll:
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and kickes against thy wyll:
Yf thou absent thy selfe, my soule,
like wretched wight opprest:
Fast fettred in the boultes of sinne,
lyes groaning voyde of rest:
Yf thou absent thy selfe, my soule,
sinckes into darkesome thrall:
But (Lord) driue darknes far frō mee
sende light and loue withall:
So sinne shal passe, and vertue flow
within my dolefull brest:
Oh Iesu, come, Oh, come in haste,
to set my soule at rest.
And thus, my soule I doo commende,
into thy bosome sweete:
On whome, I doo in heart depende,
heere prostrate, at thy feete.
Solace.
Take heed, take heed, Oh sinful man,
let heart and tongue agree:
Leaue off to sinne, repent foorthwith
and I wyll dwell with thee.
Cast of the Cloake, that is the cause,
to hinder thine intent:
Thy sinne, and then, in deede, I wyll,
to my request consent.
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How shuld mine heart & toong agree?
what meanest thou therin?
I haue (at large, thou maist perceiue)
vnfoulded all my sinne.
Solace,
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The sinfull man
Show mee therfore, what must I doe
and what must I obeye?
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my gaddyng longe astray:
Solace.
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The Ende of the Frydaye, or Fyfth Dayes Conference.
| A sinfvll Mans Solace | |