Cross-reference update

Most of the blog-author's activity is currently being directed to his sister-blog: Aureum Rosarium. Please pop over and review the blog-posts from January onwards.

In 2019: Veni Creator Spiritus!

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Come Holy Spirit

VENI, Creator Spiritus,
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora.

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come
from thy bright heav'nly throne;
come, take possession of our souls,
and make them all thine own.

Qui diceris Paraclitus, [5]
altissimi donum Dei,
fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
et spiritalis unctio.

Thou who art called the Paraclete,
best gift of God above,
the living spring, the living fire,
sweet unction and true love.

Tu, septiformis munere,
digitus paternae dexterae,[10]
Tu rite promissum Patris,
sermone ditans guttura.

Thou who art sevenfold in thy grace,
finger of God's right hand;
his promise, teaching little ones
to speak and understand.

Accende lumen sensibus:
infunde amorem cordibus:
infirma nostri corporis [15]
virtute firmans perpeti.

O guide our minds with thy blest light,
with love our hearts inflame;
and with thy strength, which ne'er decays,
confirm our mortal frame.

Hostem repellas longius,
pacemque dones protinus:
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne noxium.[20]

Far from us drive our deadly foe;
true peace unto us bring;
and through all perils lead us safe
beneath thy sacred wing.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
noscamus atque Filium;
Teque utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.

Through thee may we the Father know,
through thee th'eternal Son,
and thee the Spirit of them both,
thrice-blessed three in One.

Deo Patri sit gloria,[25]
et Filio, qui a mortuis
surrexit, ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula.
Amen.

All glory to the Father be,
With his coequal Son;
The same to thee, great Paraclete,
While endless ages run. Amen.

Link to chant

Hymnus VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS, Visione spartito, due versioni, SCHOLA GREGORIANA MEDIOLANENSIS, Dir. Giovanni Vianini, Milano, Italia

Notes

[Attributed to Rabanus Maurus (776-856).  A plenary indulgence is granted if it is recited on January 1st or on the feast of Pentecost.] 

[l5] Paraclitus: < post-classical Latin paracletus (also paraclitus , paraclytus ) advocate, helper, comforter (Vetus Latina, Vulgate) < ancient Greek παράκλητος advocate, intercessor, a person called to one's aid, in Hellenistic Greek also comforter < παρα- para- prefix1 + κλητός called out, invited ( < the stem of καλεῖν to call (see calends n.) + -τός , suffix forming verbal adjectives), after παρακαλεῖν to call in, call to one's aid. In sense 1, as applied to the Holy Spirit, representing Hellenistic Greek παράκλητος in John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7; 

[l9] septiformis munere: the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are enumerated by Isaiah:

[2] And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. [3] And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. [Isaiah 11]

Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears (Southwell): Part 14/14

     Thus duty leading, and love withholding her, she
goeth as fast backward in thought, as forward in
pace ; ready to faint for grief, but that a firm hope
see him again supported her weakness. She often
turned towards the tomb to breathe deeming the very
air that came from the place where he stood to have
derived a virtue from his presence, and to possess a re-
freshing force above the course of nature. Sometimes
she forgetteth herself, and love entranceth her in a
golden distraction, making her to imagine that her
Lord is present ; and then she seemeth to ask him
questions, and to hear his answers : she dreameth that
his feet are in her folded arms, and that he giveth her
soul a full repast of his comforts. But, alas ! when
she cometh to herself, and findeth it but an illusion,
she is so much the more sorry, that if the mere ima-
gination is so delightful, she was not worthy to enjoy
the reality. And when she passes by those places where
her Master had been - O, ye stones, saith she, how
much happier are ye than I, most wretched creature !
since to you was not denied the touch of those blessed
feet, whereof my evil deserts have now made me un-
worthy. Alas ! what crime have I of late committed,
that hath thus cancelled me out of his good conceit,
and estranged me from his accustomed courtesy ? Had
I but a lease of his love, for the term of his earthly life ?
or did my interest in his affections expire with his de-
cease ? It was by embracing his feet that I first found
entrance into his favour ; by which I was graciously
entertained in his heart, and admitted to do homage
to his person, which was then a mortal mirror of im-
mortal majesty - earthly epitome of heavenly wis-
dom - containing in man a God's felicity.

     But, alas! I must be contented to bear a lower sail,
and to abase my desires to far humbler hopes, since
former favours are marks too high for me to aim at.—
mine eyes, why are ye so ambitious of heavenly
honours ? He is now too bright a sun for so weak a
sight : your looks are limited to meaner light; you
have the vision of the bat, not the glance of the eagle
you must humble yourselves to the twilight of inferior
things, and measure your views by your slender sub-
stance. Gaze not too much upon the blaze of eternity,
lest you lose yourself in too much self-delight - lest,
being too curious in inspecting his majesty, you be,
in the end, oppressed with his glory. No, no - since
I am rejected from the embrace of his feet, how can|
I otherwise presume, but that my want of faith has
dislodged me out of his heart, and thrown me out of
all possession of his mind and memory. - Yet why
should I stoop to so base a fear ? When want of faith
was added to a want of all goodness, he disdained not
to accept roe for one of his number ; and shall I now
think that he will so rigorously abandon me, on ac-
count of my faint belief? And is the sincerity of my
love, wherein he hath no partner, of so slender ac-
count, that it may not hope for some little regard of
his wonted mercy ? I will not wrong him with so
unjust a suspicion, since his appearance disproveth it,
his words overthrow it, and his countenance dissuadeth

it ; why, then, should I draw so much sorrow out of
so vain a surmise ?
     Thus Mary's fancies, wavering between the joy of
her vision and the grief of her denial, entertained her
in the way, and held her parley with such discourses
as are incident unto minds in which neither hope is
entirely master of the fields nor fear hath received aft
utter overthrow. But as she was in this perplexed
state, now falling, now rising in her own uncertain-
ties, she findeth on the way the other holy woman that
first came with her to the grave, whom the angels had
now assured of Christ's resurrection.

     And as they all passed forwards toward the disciples.
Behold, Jestus met them, saying, All hail. But they
came near, and took hold of his feet, and worshipped
him. Then Jesus said unto them. Fear not. Go, tell
my brethren that they go into Galilee, there they shall
see me.
     O Lord, how profound are thy judgments, how un-
searchable thy counsels ! Doth her sorrow sit so near
thy heart, or thy repulse rebound with such regret by
seeing her wounded love bleed so fast, that thy late
refusal must so soon be requited by so free a grant ?
Is it thy pity, or her change, which cannot allow that
she should any longer fast from her earnest longing ?
     But, O most mild Physician, well knowest thou that
thy sharp corrosive angered her tender wound, which

being rather caused by unwitting ignorance than wil-
ful error, was aa soon cured as known ; and therefore
tbou quickly applies! a sweet lenitive to assuage her
pain, that she might feel her repulse to be rather a fa-
therly check to her unsettled faith, than an austere re-
jection for any fault ; and therefore thou admittest
her to kiss thy feet - those two conduits of grace, and
teals of our redemption - renewing her a charter of
thy unchanged love, and accepting from her the sacri-
fice of her sanctified soul.
     And thus,gracious Lord, bast thou quieted her
fears, assured her hopes, fulfilled her desires, satisfied
her lore, dried up her team, perfected her joy, and
made the period of her expiring griefs the preamble
to her never-ending pleasures. - O how merciful a
Father thou art to friendless orphans, how lenient a
Judge to repentant sinners, and how faithful a friend
to sincere lovers ! How true it is, that thou never
leavest those that love thee, and thou lovest such as
rest their affiance in thee ! They will find thee liberal
above their desert, and bountiful beyond their hope -
a measurer of thy gifts, not by their merits, but of
thine own mercy.
     O Christian soul ! take Mary for thy mirror ; fol-
low her affection, that like effects may follow thy
own. Learn, O sinful man, of this once sinful woman,
that sinners may find Christ, if their sins be amended.
Learn, that whom sin loseth, love recovereth ; whom

faintness of faith chaseth away, firmness of hope re-
calleth ; and that which no other mortal force, favour
or policy can compass, the continued tears of a con-
stant love are able to attain. Learn of Mary, for
Christ to fear no encounters ; out of Christ, to desire
no comfort ; and with the love of Christ, to over-rule

the love of all things. Rise early in the morning of
thy good resolves, and let them not sleep in sloth,
when diligence may perform them. Run, with re-
pentance, to thy sinful heart, which should have been
It temple, but through thy fault has proved no better
than a tomb for Christ; since, having no life in thee
to feel him, he seemed to thee as if he had been dead.
- Roll away the stone of thy former hardness, remove
all the heavy loads that oppress thee in sin, and look
into thy soul whether thou canst there find the Lord.
If he be not within thee, stand weeping without, and
seek him till he be found. Let faith be thine eye,
hope thy guide, and love thy light. Seek him, and not
his: seek him for himself, and not for his gifts. -
Though to thy faith he be under a cloud, let thy hope
no less perseveringly seek him. If hope have led thee
to find him, let love urge thee the farther to seek into
him. To move in thee a desire to find, his goods are
precious ; and to keep thee in a desire to seek, his
treasures are infinite. Absent, he must be sought to
be had ; being had, he must be sought to be the
more enjoyed. Seek him truly, and no other for him ;

seek him purely, and no other with him ; seek him
only, and nothings beside him. And if at the first
search he appear not, think it not much to persevere
in tears, and to continue thy seeking. Stand upon
the earth, treading under thee all courtly vanities,
and touching them with no more than the soles of thy
feet - that is, with the lowest and least part of thy af-
fections. To look the better into the tomb, bow down
thy neck to the yoke of humility, and stoop from lofty
and proud conceits, that thy humbled and lowly looks
may find him whom swelling and haughty thoughts
have driven away. A submissive soul the soonest wins
his return ; and the deeper it sinks in self abasement,
the higher it climbeth to his highest favours. And if
thou perceivest in the tomb of thy heart the presence of
his two messengers - Sorrow for the bad that is past,
and Desire for the better that is to come - entertain
them with sighs, and welcome them with penitent
tears ! Yet, reckoning them but as the harbingers of
the Lord, cease not thy seeking till thou hast found
himself ; and if he vouchsafe thee his glorious sight,
offering himself to thy inward eyes, presume not of
thyself to be able to know him, but, as his unworthy
suppliant, lay thy petitions at his feet, that thou
mayest truly discern him, and faithfully serve him. -
Thus, preparing thyself with diligence, hastening with
speed, standing with high-lifted hopes, and stooping
with inclined heart, if, with Mary, thou cravest no


other solace of Jesus but Jesus himself, he will answer
thy tears with his presence, and assure thee of his
presence with his own words ; that having seen him
thyself, thou mayest make him known to others - say-
ing, with Mary ; I have seen our Lord, and these things
he said unto me.

Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears (Southwell): Part 13/14

     Yes, all this while she hath sought thee without

finding, wept without comfort, and called without rec-

ceiving an answer : but now thou comest to satisfy her

seeking with thy presence, her tears with thy triumph,

and all her cries with this one word - Mary ! - for

when she heard thee call her in thy wonted manner,

and with thy usual voice, the mere sound of her name

issuing from thy lips wrought a most sudden and

strange alteration in her. By this single word her

senses are restored, her mind enlightened, her heart

quickened, and her soul revived. Yet what wonder,

that with one word he should raise the sunken spirits

of his poor disciple, since with a word he made the

world, and even in this little word showeth the omn-

potence of his power ?

     Mary she was called, as well in her had as in her re-

formed state ; and both her good and evil was all of

Mary's working. And as Mary imports no less what

she was, than what she is ; so is this one word, by his

virtue that speaketh it, a repetition of all her mise-

ries, an epitome of his mercies, and a memorial of all

her better fortunes : and therefore it laid so general a

discovery of herself before her eyes, that it awakened

her most forgotten sorrows, and summoned together

the whole multitude of her joys ; and would have left

the issue of the conflict between them doubtful, had

not the presence of her highest happiness decided the

contest, and given her joys the victory. - As he was the

sun of her soul, his going down left nothing but a

gloomy night of fearful fancies, wherein no star of

hope shone, and the brightest planets were changed

into dismal signs ; but the serenity of his rising

brought a calm and well-tempered day, that chased

away all darkness, dispersed the clouds of melancholy,

arid roused her from the lethargy of her astonished

senses.

     Ravished, therefore, with his voice, and impatient

of delays, she taketh the words out of his mouth, and

to his first, and yet only word, answered but one other,

calling him Rabboni ! - that is, Master. And then sud-

den joy rousing all other passions, she could no more

proceed in her own, than give him leave to go forward

with his speech. Love would have spoken, but fear

enforced silence. Hope had framed words, but doubt

melted them in the passage; and when her inward

conceits strove for utterance, her voice trembled, her

tongue faltered, her breath failed. In fine, tears is-

sued in lieu of words, and deep sighs instead of long

sentences ; the eye supplying the tongue's default,

and the heart forcing out the unsyllabled breath at

once, which the conflict of her passions would not

suffer to be sorted into the several sounds of intelli-

gible speech.

     Such is their state that are overcome with a surfeit

of sudden joy, at the attaining of something vehe-

mently desired : for as Desire is ever ushered in by

Hope, and waited on by Fear, so is it credulous in en-

tertaining conjectures, but hard in grounding a firm

belief. And though it be ready to snatch at the least

shadow of the comfort it wishes, yet the more vehe-

ment the desire, the more perfect the assurance it re-

quires; and as long as this assurance is wanting, it is

rather an alarum to summon up all the passionts, than

a motive for quieting the desire. As Hope presumeth

the beat, and inviteth Joy to congratulate her on good

success ; so Fear suspecteth it too good to be true,

and calleth up sorrow to bewail the uncertainty.

     Mary, therefore, though she suddenly answered

upon hearing his voice, yet because the novelty was

so strange, his person so changed, his presence so un-

suspected, and so many miracles laid at once before

her wondering eyes, she found a sedition in her

thoughts, till a more earnest view of him exempted

them from all doubt. And then, though words would

have broken out, and her heart sprung to the perform-

ance of the duty she owed him ; yet^ every thought

striving first for utterance, and to have the first place

in his gracious hearing, she was forced, as an indif-

ferent arbitress among them, to seal them all up in

silence, and to supply the want of words by more sig-

nificant actions. She therefore ran to the haunt of

her chiefest delight, and filing at his sacred feet, she

offered to bathe them with tears of joy, and to sanctify

her lips with kissing his once grievous, but now most

glorious, wounds.

     She staid not for any more words, being now made

blessed by the Word himself, thinking it a greater be-

nefit at once to feed all her wishes in the homage, ho-

nour, and embracing of his feet, than in hearing all

that speech could utter.

     And, as the nature of love coveteth not only to be

united, but, if it were possible, to be wholly trans-

formed out of itself into the thing it loveth ; so doth

it most affect that which most uniteth, and preferreth

the least union before the most distant contentment.

And therefore to see him, did not suffice her ; to hear

him did not quiet her; to speak with him, was not

enough for her ; and except she might touch him, no-

thing could please her. But though she humbly fell

down at his feet to kiss them, yet Christ forbade her

saying ; Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended ta

my Father.

     O Jesu, what mystery is in this ! When dead in sin,

she touched thy mortal feet that were to die for her

sake ; and being now alive in grace, may she not

touch thy glorious feet, that are no less revived for her

benefit ? She was once admitted to anoint thy head;

and is she now unworthy of access to thy feet ? Dost ,

thou now command her from that, for which thou

^wert wont to commend her ; and, by praising the

deed, didst move her frequently to perform it ? Since

other women shall touch thee hereafter, why is she

now rejected ? What meanest thou, O Lord, by thus

debarring her from so desired a duty ? And since, among

all thy disciples, thou hast vouchsafed her such a pre-

rogative as to honour her eyes with thy first sight, and:

her ears with thy first words, why deny her the privi-

lege of thy first embrace ? If the multitude of her

tears have won so great a fayour for her eyes, and her

longing to hear thee so singular a recompense for her

ears, why dost thou not admit her hands to touch, and

her lips to kiss, thy holy feet, since the one with many 

plaints, and the other, with their readiness to all ser-

vices, seem to hare earned no less a reward. But not-

withstanding all this, thou preventest the effect of the

offer, by forbidding her to touch thee ; as if thou

hadst said - "O Mary, know the difference between a

glorious and a mortal body - between the condition of

a momentary, and of an eternal life : for since the im-

mortality of the body, and the glory both of the body

and the soul are the endowments of a heavenly inha-

bitant, and the rights of another world, think not this

fervour to seem ordinary, nor leave to touch me a com-

mon thing. It were not so great a wonder to see the

stars fall from their spheres, and the sun forsake the

heavens and come within the reach of a mortal arm.

As for me, that am not only a saint, but the Sovereign

of saints, and the sun whose beams are the angels'

bliss, to show myself visible to the pilgrims of this

world, and to display eternal beauties to corruptible

eyes. Though I be not yet ascended to my Father, I

shall shortly ascend ; and therefore measure not thy

demeanour towards me by the place where I am, but

by that which is due unto me, and then thou wilt rather

fall down afar off with reverence, than presume to

touch me with such familiarity. Dost thou not believe

my former promises ? Hast thou not a constant proof

by my present words ? Are not thine eyes and ears

sufficient testimonies ? Must thou also have thy hands

and lips witnesses of my presence ? - Touch me not,

Mary, for if I deceive thy sight, or delude thy hear-

ing, I can as easily beguile thy hand, and frustrate thy

feeling. If I be true in any one thing, believe me so

in all. Embrace me first in a firm faith, and then

thou shalt touch me with more worthy hands. It is

now necessary to wean thee from the comfort of my

external presence, that thou mayest learn to lodge in

me the secrets of my heart, and teach thy thoughts to

supply the offices of the outward senses : for in this

visible shape I am not long to be seen here, being

shortly to ascend unto my Father, But what thine

eye then seeth not, thy heart shall feel, and my silent

parley will find audience in thy inward ear. Yet if

thou fearest lest my ascending should be so sudden,

that if thou dost not now take leave of my feet with

thy humble kisses and loving tears, thou shalt never

find the like opportunity again ; expel from thee that

needless suspicion. I am not yet ascended unto my

Father, and for all such duties there will be a more

convenient time. But now, go about that which re-

quireth more haste, and run to my brethren, and in-

form them what I say. That I will go before them into

Galilee ; there shall they see me."

     Mary, therefore, preferring her Lord's will before

her own wish, yet sorry that her will was unworthy of

no better event, departed from him like a hungry in-

fant forced from a full breast, or a thirsty hart chased

from a sweet fountain. She judged herself but an

unlucky messenger, though of most joyful tidings,

being banished from her Master's presence, to carry

news of his resurrection. Alas ! said she, and cannot

others be happy, without my unhappiness ? or cannot

their advantage be gained but through my loss ?—

Must the dawning of their day be the close of mine,

and my soul be robbed of such a treasure, in order to

enrich them ? Oh, my heart ! return thou to enjoy

him. Why goest thou with me, that am forced to go

from him ? In me, thou art but in prison ; in him,

is thy only paradise. I have buried thee long enough

in former sorrows, and yet now when thou wert half

revived, I am constrained to carry thee from the

spring of life. Alas ! go seek to better thy life in some

more happy breast, since I, ill deserving creature ! am

nothing different from what I was, but in having

taken a taste of the highest delight, that the know-

ledge and want of it might drown me in the deepest

misery.

Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears (Southwell): Part 12/14

     If thou hadst remembered God's promise, that his
holy, one should not sec corruption - if thou hadst be-
lieved that his godhead, by remaining with his body,
must have preserved it from perishing - thy faith had
been more worthy of praise, but thy love less worthy
of admiration ; since the more corruptible thou didst
conceive him, the more difficulties thou didst over-

come, and the greater was thy love in being able to
conquer them. But thou wouldst have thought thine
ointments rather hams than helps, if thou hast been
settled in that belief ; and for so heavenly a corse, all
earthly spices would have seemed a disgrace. But if
thou hadst firmly trusted in his resurrection, I should
no longer have wondered at thy constant endeavours
since all hazards in gaining him would have been repaid
with usury, if, lying in thy lap, thou mightst have
seen him revive, and his disfigured and dead body be-
come beautified in thine arms with a divine majesty. -
If thou hadst hoped for so good a fortune to thy tearful
eyes, that they might have been first cleared with the
beams of his desired light, or that his eyes might have
blessed thee with the first fruits of his glorious looks -
if thou hadst imagined any likelihood to have made thy
dying heart happy, by taking in the first gasps of his
living breath, or to have heard the first words of his
pleasing voice : - finally, if thou hadst thought to have
seen his ii\juries turned to honours, the marks of his
sufferings to ornaments of glory, and the depth of his
heaviness to such a height of felicity, whatever thou
hadst done to obtain him had been but too slender a
price for so sovereign a treasure.
     What meanest thou, then, O comfort of her life !
to leave so constant a well-wisher so long uncomfort-
ed, and so severely to punish one who so well deserv-
eth pardon ? Dally no longer with so known a love,
which so many trials avouch to be so true ; and since
there is nothing in her that is displeasing to thee, let
her taste the benefit of being only thine. She did not
follow the tide of thy better fortune, to shift sail when
the stream did alter course; she began not to love
thee in thy life, and yet to leave thee after death ;
neither was she such a guest at thy table, as to act the
stranger in thy necessity. She left thee not in the
lowest ebb ; she revolted not in the last extremity. In
thy life, she served thee with her goods ; in thy death,
she departed not from the Cross ; after death, she
came to dwell with thee at thy grave. Why, then,
dost thou not say with Naomi — Blessed be the name of
our Lord, because what courtesy she afforded to the
quick, she hath also continued toward the dead.

     Do not, sweet Lord, any longer delay. Behold she
hath attended thee these three days - she hath not what
to eat nor wherewith to foster her famished soul,
unless thou, by discovering thyself to her, dost minister
unto her the true bread, and provide her with the
food that hath in it the taste of all sweetness. If,
therefore, thou wilt not have her to faint on the way,
refresh her with that which her hunger requireth, and
at the same time restore the life of her soul.
     But fear not, Mary - thy tears will prevail : they are
too mighty orators to let any suit fail ; and though
they were to plead at the most rigorous bar, yet have
they so persuasive a silence, and so conquering a com-


plaint, that by yielding they overcome, and by en-
treating they command. They can chain the tongues
of all accusers, and soften the rigour of the severest
judge ; yea, they can win the invincible, and bind the
omnipotent. When they seem the most pitiful, they
possess the greatest power ; and.when the most ne-
glected, they are the most victorious. Penitent tears
are sweetened by grace, and rendered more purely
beautiful by returning innocence. It is the dew of
devotion, which the sun of justice draweth up ; and
upon what face soever it falleth| it maketh it amiable
in the eye of God.
     Yes these tears have better graced thy looks, than
thy former alluring glances ; they have settled worth-
ier beauties in thy face than all thy artificial adorn-
mentas. Yea, they have quenched the anger of God,
appeased his justice, recovered his mercy, invited his
love, purchased his pardon, and proved the spring of
all thy favours. Thy tears were the procurers of thy
brother's life, the inviters of those angels for thy com-
fort, and the suitors that shall be rewarded with the
first sight of thy revived Saviour. Rewarded they
shall be, but not refrained ; altered in their cause,
but their course continued. In the mean time, raise
up thy fallen hopes, and gather confidence both of thy
speedy comfort, and thy Lord's well-being. - Jesus
saith unto her, Mary, She turning, saith unto him,
Rabboni, that is to say. Master,


     O, loving Master ! thou didst only defer her conso-
lation in order to increase it, that the delight of thy
presence might be so much the more welcome, as,
through thy long absence, it was much desired, and
yet with so little hope. Thou wert pleased that for
thee she should expend so many sighs, tears, and
plaints, and didst purposely adjourn the date of her
payment, to requite the length of the delay with a
larger loan of joy. Perchance she knew not her for-
mer happiness till she had been weaned from it; nor
had formed a right estimate of the treasures with which
thy presence had enriched her, till her extreme po-
verty taught her their inestimable worth. But now
thou shewest her, by sweetest experience, that though
she repaid thee with her dearest tears, with her fondest
sighs, and tenderest love, yet small was the price she
bestowed in respect to the value she had received. 
She sought thee dead, and imprisoned in the tomb,
and now she findeth thee both alive and at full liberty.
She sought thee enwrapped in a shroud, and now she
findeth thee invested in the robes of glory, and both
the owner and giver of all felicity.

Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears (Southwell): Part 11/14

     If he took him out of love, thy offer to recover
him is an open defiance, since malice is as obstinate in
defending, as it js violent in offering wrong ; and he
that would be cruel against thy Master's dead body,
is likely to be more furious against his living disciple.
But thy love had no leisure to examine so many
doubts. Thy tears were interpreters of thy words, and
their innocent meaning was written in thy sorrowful
countenance. Thine eyes were rather pleaders for
pity, than heralds of wrath ; and thy whole person
presented such a pattern of extreme anguish, that no
man could have conceived any other impression from
thy presence : and therefore what thy words wanted,
thy action supplied ; and what his ear might mistake,
his eye could understand. - It might be, also, that
what he wrought in thy heart was concealed from thy
sight ; and haply his voice and demeanour did impart
such compassion of thy case, that he seemed as willing
to afford, as thou wert desirous to have his help. -
And so, presuming on his behaviour that thy suit
would not suffer repulse, the tenor of thy request doth
but argue thy hope of a grant.
     But what is the reason, that in all thy speeches
which, since the loss of thy Master, thou hast uttered,
where they have put him always forms a part ? The name
thou saidst once to the apostles, lately to the angels,
and now thou dost repeat it to this supposed gardener.
Very sweet must this word be in thy heart, since it is
so often on thy tongue ; and it could never be so
ready on thy lips, if it were not very fresh in thy
memory.
     But what wonder, that that should taste so sweet,
which was first seasoned in thy Master's mouth ? His
lips were the treasury of truth, the fountain of life,
and the choir of perfect harmony ; so that whatsoever
they delivered, thine ear devoured, and thy heart
treasured up. And now that thou wantest himself,
thou hast no other comfort than his words, which
thou deemest so much the more effectual to persuade,
as they derived their force from so heavenly a speaker.
His sweetness, therefore, it is, that maketh this word
so sweet ; and for love of him thou repeatest it so
often, because he, in a like case, said of thy brother,
Where have you put him ? O how much must thou
love his person, when thou findest so sweet a feeling in
his phrase ! How much must thou desire to see his
countenance, when thou pronouncest his words with
such fervour ! And how eagerly wouldst thou kiss his
sacred feet, that dost so willingly utter his shortest
speeches !
     But what dost thou mean by forming so bold a re-
solution, and so resolutely to say, that thou wilt take
him away? Joseph was afraid, and durst not take
down his body from the cross but by night - yea, and
even then not without Pilate's warrant: but thou
neither stayest until night, nor regardest Pilate, but
stoutly declares that thou thyself wilt take him away.
Is thy courage so high above thy nature, thy strength
so for beyond thy sex, and thy love so far above mea-
sure, that thou neither dost remember that all women
are weak, nor that thyself art but a woman ? Thou
exemptest no place, thou preferrest no person ; thou
speakest without fear, thou promisest without con-
dition : as though nothing were impossible, if sug-
gested by love.
     But, as the darkness could not fright thee from set-
ting forth before day, nor the watch prevent thy
coming to the tomb ; as thou didst resolve to break
open the seals, though with the danger of thy life, and
to remove the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre,
though thy force should not serve thee ; what wonder,
if thy love, being now more incensed for its loss, and
stung with a fresh wound, should resolve upon any
though never such strange extreme.
     Love is not controled by reason. It neither regard-
eth what can be, nor what shall be done, but only
what itself desireth to do. No difficulty can daunt,
no impossibility appal it. Love is title just enough,
and armour strong enough, for all assaults, and is it-
self a sufficient reward for all labours. It asketh no
recompense ; it expecteth no advantage. Love's fruity
are lovers effects, and its pains prove its gains : it con-
siders behoof more than benefit ; and what of its duty
it should, not what of its power it can.
     But how can Nature be so mastered by affection,
that thou canst take such delight in, and cherish such
love to, a dead corse ? How tenderly soever the mo-
ther loved her child when living, yet she cannot
choose but loath it when dead. The most loving bride
cannot endure the presence of her deceased spouse ;
and he whose embrace was delightful in 1ife, becomes
an object of horror after death. Yea, this is the na-
ture of all, but principally of women, that the very
conceit, much more the sight of the departed, fills
them with fearful and appalling impressions, and stir-
eth in them so great a horror, that notwithstanding
the most vehement love, they think it long till the
house be rid of their very dearest friends, when once
they are attired in death's unlovely livery. - Thy sister
was unwilling that the grave of her own brother
should be opened ; and art thou not afraid to see the
dead corse of thy Lord to touch it, yea, to embrace
and bear it naked in thy arms ?

Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears (Southwell): Part 10/14

     For this did Christ, in the canticles, invite us to a
heavenly banquet, after he was come into his garden,
and had reaped his myrrh and his spice, to forewarn
us of the joy that after this harvest should presently
ensue, namely, that having sowed in this garden a
body, the mortality whereof was signified by these
spices, he now reaped the same, neither capable of
death, nor subject to corruption. For this also was
Mary permitted to mistake, that we might be informed
of the mystery, and see how aptly the course of our
redemption did: answer the process of our condemn-
ation.
     But though he be the gardener that hath planted
the tree of grace, and restored us to the use and eating


of the fruit of life - though it be he that soweth his
gifts in our souls, quickening in us the seeds of vir-
tue, and rooting out of us the weeds of sin ; - yet is he,
nevertheless, the same Jesus he was ; and the borrow-
ed presence of a mean labourer neither altereth his
person, nor diminislieth his right to divine titles.
     Why, then, canst thou not as well see what in
truth he is, as what in shew he seemeth? It is be-
cause thou trusteth more to thy senses than to thy be-
lief, and sufferest thy fancy to find more than faith
will avouch : it is for this cause that thy love was
thought worthy to see him, yet thy faith unworthy to
know him. Thou didst seek for him as dead, and
therefore dost not know him seeing him alive ; and
because thou believest not of him as he is, thou dost
only see him as he seemeth to be. I cannot say thou
art faultless, because thou art so unwilling in thy be-
lief ; but thy fault deserveth favour, because thy cha-
rity is so great ; and therefore, O merciful Jesu, let
an excuse be pleaded for her whom thou art minded to
forgive.
     She thought to have found thee as she left thee, and
she sought thee as she last saw thee ; being so over-
come with sorrow for thy death, that she had neither
room nor respite in her mind for any hope of thy
life; and was so deeply entombed in the grief of thy
burial, that she could not raise her thoughts to any
conceit of thy resurrection.
     But oh, Mary, since thou art so desirous to know
where thy Jesus is, why dost thou not name him when
thou askest for him ? Thou saidst to the angels, that
they had taken away thy Lord, and now the second
time thou askest for him. When thou speakest of him
what him dost thou mean ? or how can a stranger
understand thee, when thou talkest of thy Lord ? —
Hath the world no other Lords but thine ? or is the
demanding by no other name but him, sufficient to
define whom thou demandest ?
     But such is the nature of thy love ! It judgeth
that no other should be entitled Lord, since the whole
world is too little for thy Lord's possession ; and that
all creatures cannot choose but know him, since all
the creatures of the world are too few to serve him. -
And as his worth can requite all loves, and his love
alone content all hearts, so thou deemest him to be so
well worthy to be owner of all thoughts, that thou
thinkest no thought can be well bestowed upon any
other.
     Yet thy speeches seem more sudden than sound -
more peremptory than well pondered. Why dost thou
say so resolutely, that if this gardener have taken him,
thou wilt take him from him ? Thou shouldst con-
sider whether he took him from love or malice. If it
were for love, thou mayest assure thyself that he will
be as wary to keep, as he was venturous to obtain him,
and therefore thy policy was weak, in saying thou
wouldst take him away, before thou knowest where he
was, since none are so simple as to betray their trea-
sure.