142
The first Booke of
Cant. X.
Of salues and med'cines, which had passing prief,And there to added wordes of wondrous might:By which to ease he him recured brief,And much aswag'd the passion of his plight,That he his paine endur'd, as seeming now more light.
But yet the cause and root of all his ill,Inward corruption, and infected sin,Not purg'd nor heald, behind remained still,And festring sore did ranckle yett within,Close creeping twixt the marow and the skin.Which to extirpe, he laid him priuilyDowne in a darksome lowly place far in,Whereas he meant his corrosiues to apply,And with streight diet tame his stubborne malady.
In ashes and sackcloth he did arrayHis daintie corse, proud humors to abate,And dieted with fasting euery day,The swelling of his woundes to mitigate,And made him pray both earely and eke late:And euer as superfluous flesh did rottAmendment readie still at hand did wayt,To pluck it out with pincers fyrie whott,That soone in him was lefte no one corrupted iott.
And bitter Penaunce with an yron whip,Was wont him once to disple euery day:And sharpe Remorse his hart did prick and nip,That drops of blood thence like a well did play;And sad Repentance vsed to embay,His blamefull body in salt water sore,The filthy blottes of sin to wash away.So in short space they did to health restoreThe man that would not liue, but erst lay at deathes dore.
In
