Miserere mei Deus .

Haue mercie on me , ô God .

THE Royal Prophet Dauid , hauing , through humaine frayltie , committed twoe greate offences against the diuine Maiestie , 2 Reg. 1● . & 12. no lesse then adalterie with BERSABEE , and murder of her husband Vrias ; and beeing reprooued thereof by the Prophet Nathan accused by his own conscience , and mooued by the diuine grace ; hee conceiueth such a detestation and horrour of those his sinnes , and is so ashamed and confounded with the horride aspect of them , that he falleth down prostrate at the feete of his GOD , whom he had thus offended . And at the first sorrow hindred his tongue from crauing pardon : but his eyes vndertook the office of the mouth and tongue , and pleaded better for the delinquent , by teares , then the mouth could haue donne by tongue and wordes , teares being the best oratours . At length his speeche comming to him , he singeth , or rather sobbeth forth this his dolefull Psalme and sonnette ; and peraduenture he playeth to it with his harpe , but assuredlie with his harte : and so maketh a sweete consort of his harte by sorrow , of his eyes by teares , & of his voice by a lamentable tune . And fearing God his Iustice , he flyeth to his mercie , and beginneth with that dolefull note miserere ; haue mereie . As if he had sayd :

1. THOV art iust , ô Lord , Psal. 118. and thy Iudgement is right : Ioel 2. but thou art also benigne and mercifull , patient , and of much mercie , and readie to be gracious vpon the malice . If thou wert iust onelie , I should despaire , knowing my two so great offences , which now especiallie I lament . If thou wert mercifull onelie I should presume : but because thou art iust and mercifull , my feare is mixt with hope , and my hope with feare , and I so feare thy iustice , as I hope in thy mercie . Thou art ô Lord ( I confesse ) so iust , that thou art iustice it self , and this maketh me feare , but thou art also so mercifull , that thou art mercie it selfe , and this maketh me hope : that discourageth me verie much ; this as much encourageth , and giueth me the hart to saye , Miserere mei Deus : Haue mercie on me ô God . If I were ô Lord as iuste and holy as a Sainte , yet durst I not appeare before the eyes of thy iustice , Iob 4. Iob 25. which in the Angelles found wickednes , and in whose sight the moone doth not shine , and the starres are not cleane : but seeing that I am noe Sainte but a wretched sinner , conceiued in sinne , borne in sinne , brought vp in sinne , and guiltie of the twoe mentioned and many other sinnes ; how shall I dare to appeare , before thy iustice ? For if the iust man trembleth before the Tribunal of thy Iustice , how shall the sinner stand before it ?

2. But I appeale , ô Lord , ( sayth Dauid ) from thy iustice to thy mercie , not as to an higher Tribunal ( for thy iustice and mercie are both infinite , and so equall ) but as to a Tribunal more benigne , more clement and gentle . And although I be guiltie of greeuous and enormous sinnes , and those so greate , that if I regard them only and their ill disertes , Gen. 4. I may say with Cain : myne iniquitie is greater , then that I may deserue pardon : Yet they are not so greate , but thy mercie is infinitelie greater , & soe compared to it , they are not so greate , but they may deserue pardon : for if thou please , ô Lord , to put not only my sinnes , but also all the sinnes of all men in one scale of thy diuine balance , and thy mercie in the other , thy mercie wold out waye and ouersway them , and as the sands of the sea , Iob 6. thy mercie wold appeare heauier .

3. Wherfore , ô mercifull Lord , not daring to appeare before thee as a iust Iudge , I present my selfe before thee as a mercifull and louing Father . He that is presented as guiltie before a Iudge , vseth to deny , or diminish , or excuse the fault : but I presenting my selfe before thee , ô Lord , as before a mercifull father , doe neither deny nor excuse nor extenuat my fault ; thy prophet Nathan , 2. Reg. 12. thy vnder Iudge , hauing condemned me as guiltie of no lesse then adulterie and murder , & myne owne conscience hauing pronounced sentence against me , crying in my name , peccaui : but standing before thee as a condemned person , I bring in no witnesse to defend me , no slightes nor excuses to hide my faultes ( as who can hide any thing from thee , whose eyes doe penetrate the most secret corners of our hartes ) onelie I pleade , begge , and clayme thy mercie , crying Miserere mei Deus : Haue mercie on me , ô God . Psal. 119. for if thou shalt obserue iniquities ô Lord , Lord who shall susteine it ? And therfore , Psal. 142. enter not into Iudgement with thy once seruant Dauid , examine not his case and cause , according to the order of iustice , but according to thy mercie : I confesse all , & I haue nothing to say for my selfe but Miserere , Haue mercie . I hide not my fault , nor can I , it is too well known vnto thee , onely I can saye Miserere , Haue mercie .

4. Deale not with me , ô Lord , ( sayth Dauid ) according to thy Iustice ; that would cast me in all lawe , but according to thy mercie ; by that onelie I can be saued . Thou art ( it is true ) soueraigne Lord of heauen and earth , to whom euen Kings and potentates are but vassals ; but Lords also doe pardon their seruantes , when with teares of eyes & sorrow of harte they demaund pardon : I demaund it in the same manner . Apoc. 5. Thou art a a Lion , & a Lion of the Tribe of Iuda , but Lions also will spare them who prostrate themselues before them ; I prostrat both body & soule vnto thee .

5. I confesse that by sinne I am become , Psal. 31 Sicut equus & mulas in quibus non est intellectus : as a horse and mule which haue noe vnderstanding . And my brutish appetites , to which I haue been a slaue , haue metamorphized me & made me so brutish , that I am in life and conuersation rather a brute beast then a reasonable creature : Psal. 35 but yet , Men and beasts thou wilt saue ô Lord : and in the law deliuered by Moyses , though it be a lawe of terrour , thou hadst pitie euen of brute beasts , and therefore woldst not permit the Iew to plough with an oxe and an asse , Deut. 22. Exod. 23. & Deut. 14. least the asse should be ouer laboured ; nor to seethe the kidde in the milke of his damme , that seeming crueltie , nor in a nest to kill or take the old bird with the younge ones , Deut. 22. nor to moosel the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne . Haue mercie then on me , though by sinne more a beast then they .

6. If I were the onelie sinner ô Lord , thou shouldst haue lesse reason to pardon mee , but seeing all haue sinned , and transgressed , Psal. 13 seeing that all haue declined , and that there is not that doth good , noe not one : if thou shouldst exercise iustice onelie , on sinners , thou shoulest finde none on whom thou couldst exercise thy mercie . If thou shouldst punish all sinners , thou shouldst haue none to pardon : and so thy most gratefull attribute mercie , should neuer showe it selfe . And yet none of thy diuine attributes is so gratefull as thy clemencie , none doe make thee so popular as thy mercie ; neither hath thy diuine nature any thing greater then that thou canst remitte sinnes , nor more pleasing to men & Angelles , then that thou wilt . If no sinner , ô mercifull Lord , had euer obtained mercie and pardon at thy handes , then might it seeme arrogancie in me to demaund mercie : but if many and verie grieuous sinners haue found mercie at thy hands , then doe thou vouch safe to pardon me , whom by pardoning others thou hast caused to hope for pardon ; and be not displeased if the burden of my dolefull sonnet be still the same , Miserere mei Deus , haue mercie on me ô God , ô most mercifull God . And thou ô Christian soule who hast sinned with Dauid , cry peccaui ; I haue sinned , with him cry , miserere mei Deus , haue mercie on me o God .

7. Rue the day and hower , yea the many dayes and howers in which thou hast offended God , and acknowledge therein thy to too greate ingratitude , because in offending him thou hast offended thy creatour , by whom thou hast thy naturall being , by whom thou liuest and breathest , thou hast offended thy Redeemer , who to ransome thee from death , the deuill and sinne became man for thee , and suffred the most shamefull and most painfull death of the crosse to giue to thee here in this life a spirituall life and being by grace , and in the next life an eternall life , and being by glorie . Saye vnto him : I ought my selfe wholie vnto thee for my creation , and I ought my selfe again wholie vnto thee for my redemption , and so I but one , am twise thine , and twyse due vnto thee . And if I owe my selfe and consequentlie my all for my creation , what shall I giue thee for my redemption ? What shall I render to our Lord , Psal. 115. for all thinges that he hath rendred to mee . I ame lesse , ô Lord , then ether of these benefits of creation and redemption , yea then the least of thy graces and fauours . How vngratefull then was I to offend thee , and thereby as much as lay in mee , to take from thee , who can neuer giue thee sufficient , to iniure thee , disgrace , dishonour thee , who can neuer render thee sufficient for the least of thy benefitts though I giue all I ame and haue , yea though I could giue ten thousand tymes more then I am and haue But seeing I owe more then I am and haue , and yet haue also been so vngratefull as to offend thee , what wilt thou expect of me ? Thou knowest , ô Lord , that of an ill & vnable debter , thou canst expecte nothing but an acknowledgement of the debte , & an humble demaund of pardon for the offence and remission of the debte , as I doe in Dauids dolefull crye : Which I repeate after him . Miserere mei Deus : Haue mercie on me ô God .

8. And ô my not onlie ingratitude but impudencie who being not so much as a vile worme , compared vnto thee , ô Lord , durst offend thyne infinite Maiestie : and was not ashamed to commit those my heinous offences not onlie before thee , but also against thee , which I wold haue shamed to commit before my seruaunt , or in presence of the poorest begger : as though I had thought there had been no God , or that thou , who madst the eye didst not see , or that thou who art euery where hadst not been present . I sayd then in effect as the fornicatour , or adulterer did in Ecclesiasticus : Ecclesiastici 23. Who seeth me ? darknes compasseth me , and the walles couer me , and no man beholdeth me : whom doe I feare ? The Highest will not be mindfull of my sinnes . O Good God , where was then my vnderstanding that I could thinke that I could hide any thing from thy all seeing eyes ? That I could Imagin , or could behaue my selfe , as though Thy eyes were not brighter then the sunne , Ecclesiastici 23. beholding round about all the wayes of men , and the bottome of the depth , & the hartes of men . Or if I did know or thinke that thou didst see the sinnes which I committed in the darke or in the secret closet of my harte ; how impudent and shameles was I , Who feared not to doe that before thy diuine eyes and in thy diuine presence , which I should haue shamed and blushed to doe in the presence of the poorest begger ? howe couldst thou , ô God , endure this impudencie of so vile a sinner ? O yee blessed Angelles , who carrie the sword of God his iustice , how could you hold your hands seeing your Lord & Prince so contemned by so vile , malapert , and saucie a varlet ?

But what shall I doe , ô Lord ? If my sinnes past could so be recalled , as not to haue been , I would reuoke and recall all my offences . But seeing I can no more recall my former euill actions then the daye or hower paste ; I can onelie wish that I had neuer sinned , and be hartily sorrie that I haue sinned : and that I doe , and so doing , I can not but hope that thou wilt forgiue and forget my sinnes ; for so thou hast promised by thy Prophet Ezechiel , & I take thee at thy word . And this is thy promise : Ezech. 18. But if the impious shall doe penaunce from all his sinnes , which he hath wrought , &c. liuing he shall liue , and shal not dye . All his iniquities which he hath wrought , I will not remember them . In this thy promise I will hope , because I know thou art veritie it selfe , and so canst not deceiue or be deceiued , & thou art goodnes it selfe , & so wilt not deceiue . On this promise I will relye , because I know thou art able and willing to forgiue their sinnes who are penitent for them : If thou wert able onlie but not willing , I could not easilie hope , nor could I , if thou wert willing onelie , and not able : but seeing that thou art both able and willing , I will hope for pardon for my sinnes , and I will neuer let my hold goe of this hope , it being grounded in thy promise ; but ( as Iob sayd : Iob 13. ) Although thou shalt kill me , I will trust in thee : and animated and encouraged by this hope , though I be a greeuous sinner , and a great offendour , I dare craue mercie with Dauid and crye : Miserere mei Deus : Haue mercie on me , ô God .

9. I intend , ô Lord , to leaue the state of sinne , and to amend my life for hereafter , and seeing that thy mercie is the source & beginning of all thy workes , I desire that by thy mercie this worke of myne amendement may be begunne . Mercie was the beginning of creation : for when we were nothing , we could not deserue any thing , and so it was thy mercie , of nothing to make vs something , and thy great mercie to make vs the greatest and noblest thing after the Angels . Mercie is the beginning of the greate grace of predestination , which distinguisheth the elect , from the reprobate , as appeareth by those thy words to Moyses alleadged by thy Apostle . Exod. 33. Rom. 9. See S. Aug. ep. 105. ad Sixtum . I will haue mercie on whom , I will haue mercie , and I will shewe mercie , to whom I will shew mercie . Whence S. Paule inferreth , That it is not of the willer nor the runner , but of God that sheweth mercie . And a litle after : therefore on whom he will , he hath mercie , and whom he will he doth indurate , to witt , permissiuelie . And so it is not to be imputed to any merit of ours that we are predestinated , but to the onelie mercie of God . Though to the reprobate also he giueth grace sufficient to be saued . Mercie was the beginning of the Incarnation , which is the ground of all mans grace , merit and glorie ; because it was decreed and effected by God , S. Th. 3. p. q. 1. ● . 3. not for mans merit , but out of God his mercie , and compassion he tooke on mans miserie , into which by Adams sinne , he was fallen : and it being the beginning of all grace and merit , could not be preuented by the merit of man , but onelie by the mercie of God : Mercie is the beginning of our redemption : for although to Christ his passion , and its value and merit our redemption was due by right of iustice , yet that he did suffer for vs and suffring redeemed vs , it was his mercie not our merit : Mercie is the beginning of our Iustification , and remission of sinnes , because we are iustified gratis , Rom. 3. by his grace , and grace is giuen gratis , for no merit of ours , but onelie for God his mercie ; for as S. Paule sayth : Rom. 11. If by grace ; not for workes , or merits , otherwise grace were not grace : Mercie also is the beginning of our glorification , for although glory be giuen for our merits , and so in that respect be a reward , Vide Aug. ep. 105. ad Sixtum . Rom. 6. yet our merits would not be merits , if they proceeded not from grace which is giuen gratis , & therefore S. Paule sayth , The grace of God , life euerlasting : And so I with Dauid desiring iustification from my sinnes and after it glorie and life euerlasting , doe humblie craue thy mercie the ground of both , saying with Dauid : Miserere mei Deus : Haue mercie on me ô God .

Secundum magnam misericordiam tuam .

According to thy greate mercie .

1. IT is not so proper to the sunne ô Lord , to illuminate and giue light , nor to the fier to warme and giue heate , as it is to thee to haue mercie : because it is but an accidentall proprietie to the sunne to illuminate , as it is also for the fire to heate ; but thou , ô Lord , art essentiallie mercifull and mercie it selfe , & therefore if thou wilt shew thy selfe to be thyselfe , haue mercie on my sinfull soule ; and because thy mercie is infinite , Haue mercie on me according to this thy greate mercie . Litle miseries , as sicknesses and diseases of the body require but litle mercie , and may often tymes be healed & cured by Physitians ; but sinne , if it be mortall , is a greate miserie ( as which depriueth the soule of her life of grace , makes her odious and deformed in the sight of God , makes her an enemie to God , and his Saintes , and a freind onelie to the deuill , depriueth her of life euerlasting , and of the cleare vision and fruition of God , & if she repent not in tyme , tumbleth her headlong into hel , and into that inextinguible fier for euer , ( where the damned shall euer burn , & neuer be consumed , where they shall be dying and neuer dead , where torments shall be without ease , miseries without end ) and therefore requireth a greate , and an infinite mercie , and can not be pardoned but by God , or by special power and authoritie from him , which he onelie graunted to his Apostles & their lawfull successours , Mar. 2. for to them onelie Christ sayd , Ioan. 20. Whose sinnes you shal forgiue they are forgiuen them . And therefore Dauid whose conscience accused him of mortall sinnes , which he knew to be greate miseries , desired God to haue mercie on him according to his greate mercie . 2. Reg. 11. & 12. Hee had committed two greate and heinous sinnes , for he had committed adulterie with Bersabee , and to couer it , he had killed Vrias her husband , and so he stoode in neede of a great mercie .

2. O Dauid although thou hadst formerlie been a good King , Act. 13. and a man according to God his hart , yet I can not excuse thee now from greate sinne and great ingratitude ; and this thou thy selfe seest and confessest . Thow didst violate the wife of Vrias thy faithfull seruant and valiant soldiour , and to couer this fault thou addest an other , to witt , the death of this thy innocent and faithfull soldiour . O Dauid doth not the zeale of Vrias thy soldiour confound thee ! he would not lye with his owne wife whilest , 2. Reg. 11. & 12. The Arke of God and Israel and Iuda , dwelt in pauilions , and his Lord Ioab and the seruants of his Lord aboade vpon the face of the earth ; thou at that tyme lyest with his wife in a soft bed , takest thy vnlawfull pleasure with her ; He exposed his life for thee , thy kingdome , and the cause of God , and thou causest him to be vniustly & cruellie murdered , and to be sure to kill him , thou exposest to danger of death many other soldiours , & thereby giuest occasion to the Infidelles to insult ouer the armie of God , and to blaspheme the name of God , who had eleuated to the dignitie of a King , thee , who now dealest more traitrously then many of them would haue done .

3. And this treacherie , crueltie , iniustice , and ingratitude thou committest , ô Dauid , after many guiftes of grace & nature , which God had hestowed on thee ; Psalm . 77. after he had chosen thee and taken thee from the flockes of sheepe , from after the ewes with young : & had made thee of a shephearde a King , and of a gouernour of a flocke of sheepe a King & Pastour of the people of God , after he had honored thee with so many victories , first ouer Golias , and then ouer the Philistians and Assyrians ; after he had deliuered thee so often from the hatred , enuie and malice of Saul ; after he had indued thee with the light of prophecie and knowledge of diuine mysteries , yea and and with great sanctitie also ; after he had promised to establish the scepter of Iuda in thy familie , Psalm . 88. and had begun to fullfill his promise : Thou , ô Dauid , for one filthie and short pleasure ( ô inconstancie , ô leuitie , ô ingratitude , ) forgetting all these graces & fauours , couldst find in thy hart to forsake so good a God , and so great a benefactour , for so short and so brutish a pleasure , and to offend him so greeuouslie , who had beene so beneficiall to thee . But this thy great fault , ô Dauid , I need not to aggrauate , thou knowest it better then any man else , and thou acknowledgest it , and therefore for so great a sinne and miserie , thou desirest , not whatsoeuer , but a great mercie .

4. God almightie his mercie in it selfe is alwaies great , and so great , that it is God him selfe ( for whatsoeuer is in God , is God , and so , infinite as he is ) but yet this diuine attribute of mercie in its effectes , is greater and lesser ; greater in those to whome many and greate sinnes are forgiuen ; lesse in those to whom lesser and fewer sinnes are pardoned . Dauid therefore desireth God to shew mercie vnto him in effect according as he had shewed to the greater sinners .

5. And I ô Lord ( say so ô sinfull Cstristian ) acknowledging my selfe with Dauid a great sinner , and if not in the same kind of sinne , at least in some other kind as greate or greater , and if not in carnall , S. Tho. 1.2 . q. 73. art. 5. at least in spirituall sinnes , which are of themselues greater then carnall sinnes , as in Schisme , Heresie , enuy , pride , ambition , hatred of my neighbour , and the like , doe desire thee to haue mercie on me according to thy great mercie in effect , according to that mercie which thou shewedst to Dauid , Manasses and other great sinners in the old lawe , according to that great mercie thou shewedst to S. Peter , S. Mathew , S. Paule and S. Marie Magdalen , in the new lawe ; for my sinnes being great , doe require a greate mercie . Or haue mercie on me according to that great worke of mercie the Incarnation , to which peraduenture Dauid alluded , for out of thy mercie onely not for our merit , thou wast incarnate : Or haue mercie on me according to that great worke of mercie , thy painfull death and Passion , which out of mercie and compassion thou sufferdst for mans redemption . And if , ô heauenly father , out of thy mercie and compassion towards vs thou sparedst not thy owne sonne , Rom. 8. though equall & consubstantiall vnto thee , but for vs all deliueredst him , vnto death , no doubt thou art readie on thy part for this so extraordinary work of mercie , to haue mercie on the greatest sinners . Or else thou whosoeuer hast sinned with Dauid , say with him ; haue mercie on me ô God , according to thy greate & infinite attribute of mercie , which is as great as thy selfe , who are essentiallie mercie , and is so infinite , that all the sinnes of the world are but litle drops , in regarde of that sea of mercie . In this mercie , ô Lord , that is in thy selfe who art this mercie , I principallie hope , and next in that great effecte & worke of mercie , thy Incarnation and bitter passion . And if in the Ocean sea I can not want water to wash and coole me , If in the sunne I can not want light to illuminate me , nor in the fier heate to warme me ; much lesse can I want mercie in this Ocean of mercie , or light of grace in this sunne of mercie , which shineth on the good and the badde ; or can my cold sinnes make me shiuer for want of heate of charitie , in this infinite fier of mercie , which consumeth sinnes , but saueth soules ?

Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum , dele iniquitatem meam .

And according to the multitude , of thy commiserations , take away myne iniquitie .

1. MY sinnes ô mercifull God ( sayth Dauid ) are not onelie great , but also many , Prou. 24. for if the Iust finneth seuen tymes in a day venially , I who haue of long tyme ledd a sinfull life , who seldome resisted tentations , and as seldome flyed the occasions of sinnes , but rather sought for them : who haue sinned so often that I may say with Manasses , Orat. Manas . & 2. Par. 33 Peccaui super numerum arenae maris . I haue sinned aboue the number of the sand of the sea . And as Ecclesiasticus sayd , Eccles. c. 10. Arenam maris & pluuiae guttas & dies saeculi quis dinumerauit ? The sand of the sea , and the droppes of rayne , and the dayes of the world who hath numbred ? so may I say : my sinnes of mouth , harte , deed , my many sinnes of my fiue senses of the bodie , & of the faculties & powers of my soule , which I committed euery day and night , euerie hower and moment , in this place , in that place , and in all places ; who can recken ? they are so many that I my selfe can not number them , thou onelie , ô Lord , hast them all in thy count-booke , which one day will be produced against me , if in the meane time by my sorrow , with thy grace , they be not cancelled . And whilest I thus multiplied my sinnes , what patience , what mercie ; ô Lord , didst thou shew vnto me ? when I prouoked on my part more and more by often sinning thy wrath and indignation , thou extendedst thy patience and mercie ? for when thou mighst haue iustly taken me in my sinnes , & for them , by sudden death , mighst haue sent me presently to hell , there to receaue my iust punishment , as thou hast dealt with many no greater , yea lesser sinners then I , yet thou grauntedst me lesure and grace to repent , and whilest I contemned thy goodnes & patience , and longanimitie , thy benignitie expected me to penance , wherfore resoluing by thy grace , to multiplie my sinnes no more , yea neuer to adde any one mortall sinne to my former , I desire thee to pardon my former sinnes , and because they are very many , to haue mercie on me , According to the multitude of thy commiserations , and mercies .

2. And thou ô Christian , who hast multiplied sinnes vpon sinnes with Dauid , & peraduenture more then he , desire God , with him , to haue mercie on thee according to the multitude of his mercies ▪ 2. Reg. 12. Say , with him : Thou forgauest penitent Dauid , penitent Ezechias , and penitent Manasses , thou pardone●st S. Peter , S. Paul , S. Matthew , S. Marie Magdalene , and thousands other great sinners ; pardon me also , ô sweete Lord , accordinge to these thy so many mercies , Psal. 88 & commiserations . Where are thyne old mercies ô Lord , which thou shewedst heretofore to sinners ? Psal. 21 In thee our forefathers ( though sinners as we ) haue hoped , they haue hoped & thou didst deliuer them , They ried to thee & were saued : they hoped & were not confounded I cry , ô Lord , with them , heare me as thou didst them , I hope with them for mercie , let me finde mercie at thy hands as they did , and let not me be confounded . Are all thy mercies spent ? are none left for me ? May I say vnto thee as Esau sayd to his Father Isaac ? Genes , 27. Hast thou not reserued me also a blessing , a mercie ? Hast thou one onelie blessing , Father ? Hast thou no moe blessings nor mercies left for me ? no I can not say so . Thou art , ô Lord , infinitelie more rich in mercies , then Isaac was in blessings . Thou hast bestowed thousands & millions of mercies on sinners , and yet thou hast infinite mercies reserued for other sinners that cry vnto thee for mercie . Thy mercies are infinite , and an infinite number can not be exhausted , thy mercies are aboue the sandes of the sea , Thy mercie is a sea which can not want the cooling waters of mercies : sooner may the sea be dryed vp then the Ocean of thy mercies drawn drye . Wherefore I cry with Dauid , Haue mercie on me ô God according to thy great mercie , because my sinnes are great , and according to the multitude of thy commiserations , and mercies , because my sinnes are many ; & as he cryed peccaui for his sinnes , so will I send forth from hart and tongue many a peccaui , and day and night , and howerlie and whensoeuer my sinnes occurre to my memorie , I will cry peccaui .

3. And because I can not safely enough rely ( in my opinion ) on my peccauies , not knowing whether they proceede from a truly contrite heart or no , I will haue recourse to thy infinite mercies , ô Sonne of God , which are merites in respect of thee , as which deserued of thy Father our redemption , but in respect of me , who deserued them not , they are mercies ; And I shall offer vnto thee all the steppes thou walkedst on earth for me , all the howers thou liuedst for me , all the wordes thou spakest , all the praiers and exhortations thou madst , all thy Theandricke or humane-diuine workes and operations , all thy miracles , all the drops of sweate thou swetst for me in the garden , all those lashes thou enduredst for me at the Piller , all the prickes thou feltst in thy coronation with thornes , all the pearsinges of the nayles , all the panges on the crosse , all that shower of bloud which rained from the heauenly cloude of thy sacred humanitie , yea all the drops of that shower , of which euery one was a mercie to me , of which euery one was such a merit in respect of thee , that the least would haue been sufficient to redeeme a thousand worlds , And according to this multitude of thy commiserations , and mercies ; take away myne iniquitie . And take our all the staynes and blottes which sinne hath left in my soule , and crosse and cancell by thy death and passion , out of thy booke of accountes , all the Items and debtes I owe , take away my sinnes from my soule , from thy eyes , from thy memorie , that they may not onelie be forgiuen , but also forgotten , and so buried in perpetuall obliuion .

4. For although thou canst not forget any sinnes committed against thee , no not S. Marie Magdalens sinnes , which were washed away with many teares of eyes and harte ; yet when sinnes by true repentance and hartie sorrowe are remitted , & quite effaced and taken away , thou doest no more impute them , nor doest thou punish them , at least with eternall payne , as if thou hadst forgotten them : & therefore thou hast promised , and this promise is my comfort , that whensoeuer a sinner shall repent himselfe of his sinnes , Thou wilt not remember them , Ezech. 18. that is , so , as to punish them , or to be offended with the sinner for them , because by contrition and the grace thereof they are taken away , as if they neuer had beene .