Christian meditations upon eight Psalms of the prophet David. Made and newly set forthChristian meditations vpon eight Psalmes of the prophet Dauid. Made and newly set forth

If it be not only simple thievery, but, which more is, flat sacrilege, to withhold goods consecrated to thy glory, (according as thou hast committed them unto us from above to be thy stewards of them) how may I be dispensed withal, having shut mine ears least I should hear the poor, closed mine eyes that I might not see him, locked up my bowels that they might not be touched with compassion towards so many my poor brethren? What say I, my brethren? Nay rather ⟨image 12⟩towards thee thy self, O Lord, hungering, thirsting, and being naked in their person. Thee I say, oh thou great and eternal Son of God, which hast made thy self of no reputation, that thou mightest advance man so high with thee, which vouchsafedst to be come poor to the end to enrich him with eternal treasures, which didst subject thy self to all our weaknesses, that thou mightest make us invincible: at once, (oh depth of bounty) thou disdainedst not to hang naked on the cross, & to enter into the house of death, to the end to cloth me again with glory, and to bring me into the true paradise of everlasting life. To be short, who is it but man that holdeth thy truth in unrighteousness, that is a liar, and a falsifier, and that is borne with lust: And ⟨image 12⟩wouldest thou, Lord, that I should search life in thy law, which is the very solicitor, witness, judge, and executioner of the deadly sentence against me? All this notwithstanding (oh Lord) there will I seek life, since that so is thine ordinance, and there shall I find it, since thou hast spoken it. Thy law is good because it is given by him that is only good: it is holy, for it is made by the holy of holies. From that which is good cannot proceed that which is ill: death cometh not properly by the law, but through sin: sin cometh of the sinner, and not from thee, who doest hate and forbid that which is naught. If a sick man would fret himself to death against the Physician, whose were the fault? The law then judgeth me because it finds me guilty: O good Lord, ⟨image 13⟩clear me again, and make me guiltless by thy law of faith, that the law of works (which amaseth me, condemneth me, & slayeth me in my self) may assure me, absolve me, and quicken me by him that hath fulfilled it for me, & became even curse it self for my sake: For, Lord, it is thou which strikest and curest, which leadest to grave & bringest back again: