SAINT PETERS Complaynt - by Robert Southwell: 757 - 792/792

If King Manasses, sunke in depth of sinne,
With plaintes and teares recovered grace and crowne:
A worthlesse worme some milde regard may winne,
And lowly creepe, where flying threw it downe. [l760]
A poore desire I have to mend my ill;
I should, I would, I dare not say, I will.

I dare not say; I will, but wish I may:
My pride is checkt, high wordes the speaker spilt:
My good, o Lord, thy gift; thy strength my stay: [l765]
Give what thou bidst, and then bid what thou wilt.
Worke with me what of me thou do'st request:
Then will I dare the most, and vow the best.

Prone looke, crost armes, bent knee and contrite heart,
Deep sighes, thicke sobs, dew'd eyes and prostrate praiers, [l770]
Most humbly beg releafe of earned smart,
And saving shroud in mercies sweet repaires.
If justice should my wrongs with rigor wage:
Feares, would despaires: ruth, breed a hopelesse rage.

Lazar at pitties gate I ulcered lye, [l775]
Craving the reffues crummes of childrens plate:
My sores, I lay in view to mercies eye,
My rags, beare witness of my poor estate.
The wormes of conscience that within me swarme:
Prove that my plaintes are less than is my harme. [l780]

With mildenesse, Jesu, measure mine offence:
Let true remorse thy due revenge abate:
Let teares appease when trespasse doth incrense:
Let pittie temper thy deserved hate.
Let grace forgive, let love forget my fall: [l785]
With fear I crave, with hope I humbly call.

Redeeme my lapse with raunsome of thy love,
Traverse th' inditement, rigors doome suspend:
Let frailtie favour, sorrow succour move:
Be thou thyself, though changling I offend. [l790]
Tender my suite, cleanse this defiled denne,
Cancell my debtes, sweete Jesu, say Amen.

The ende of Saint Peters complaint 

Notes

[l757] Manasses: King of Israel. He sinned grievously through idolatry, was taken captive and repented.

[1] Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. [2] And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel: [3] And he turned, and built again the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of heaven, and worshipped them. [4] He built also altars in the house of the Lord...
[11] Therefore he brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and they took Manasses, and carried him bound with chains and fetters to Babylon. [12] And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers. [13] And he entreated him, and besought him earnestly: and he heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord was God. [2 Chronicles]

[l764] high wordes:  After the Last Supper, Christ told His Apostles that all of them would be scandalized in Him that night:

[33] And Peter answering, said to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized. [34] Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, that in this night before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice. [35] Peter saith to him: Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee. And in like manner said all the disciples. [Matthew 26]

[l773] wage: to pay, to reward. 'If my sins have earned me (your) justice...'

[l774]: 'Feares' and 'ruth' are subjects sharing the verb 'breed'.

[l775] Lazar: A reference to the beggar sitting at the gates of Dives, the rich man:

[19] There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,[21] Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover the dogs came, and licked his sores. [22] And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. [Luke 16]

[l776] reffues: refuse - Discarded as being superfluous or of poor quality; spare, waste; worthless. 1598   Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. iv. v. 42   Vnlesse some base hedge-creeping Collybist, Scatters his refuse scraps on whom he list.

[l788] traverse th'inditement:  to traverse - transitive. Law. To contradict formally (a matter of fact alleged in the previous pleading); to deny at law; spec. in phr. to traverse an indictment, to deny or take issue upon an indictment. 1588   W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) iv. xiii. 542   To Trauerse an Enditement..is to take issue vpon the chiefe matter therof, which is none other..then..to deny the point of the Enditement.

[l788] rigors doome: rigour - Harsh inflexibility (in dealing with a person or group of people); severity, sternness; cruelty. 1597   R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxvi. 226   If..they haue tempered rigour with lenitie. doome -  A judgement or decision, esp. one formally pronounced; a sentence; mostly in adverse sense, condemnation, sentence of punishment.

[l790] changling: A person likely to change attitude or allegiance; a fickle or inconstant person; a turncoat. Also fig. Now somewhat arch.1598   Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 v. i. 76   Fickle changlings and poore discontents. An extremely stupid or foolish person; an idiot, an imbecile. Now hist. 1612   W. Attersoll Comm. Epist. Philemon 127   If they [sc. children] do not prosper and proceede, we commonly call them and account them Vrchins and Changelings. A child secretly substituted for another in infancy; a child supposedly left by fairies in exchange for one stolen.More generally: a person or thing secretly or surreptitiously substituted for another; a replacement, esp. one of inferior worth or value.

[l791] Tender my suite: tender my suit - To regard or receive favourably; to attend to or comply with (a request) graciously. Obsolete. 1594   Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E1v   Then for thy husband and thy childrens sake, Tender my suite.