The Cambridge ms. Dd. 4. 24. of Chaucer's Canterbury tales, completed by the Egerton ms. 2726 (the Haistwell ms) Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall ...

[6-text p 589]

GROUP I. FRAGMENT X.

§ 1. THE BLANK-PARSON LINK.

[This is really a link between some unwritten Tale and the Parson's. It has been made into the Manciple-Parson Link (or Yeoman-Parson by the Christ-Church MS) by Chaucer's copiers, though not meant for it.]

& Incipit prologus Rectoris fabule [Egerton 2726, on leaf240, back]

By that þe Maunciple / hade his tale ended. The son from þe South lyne/ was discended. So lowe that he nas nat/ to my sight/ Degrees .ix. / and .xx^ty of hight/ Line 4 x. of þe Clok / it was tho as I gesse ffor .xj. fote / and litle more/ or lesse My shadow was / at thilk tyme as there Of soch fete / as my length parted were Line 8 In .vj fete equall / of proporcion [Eg. 2726 folio 241a] There-with the mones exaltacion I mene libra / all-wey gan ascende As we were entryng/ at a thorpes ende Line 12 ffor which our hoost/ as he was wont to gye As in this caas / our ioly company Seid in this wise / lordynges euerychone Now lakketh vs no tales moo þan one Line 16 ffulfilled is my sentence / and my decree I trowe þat we han herde in ecch degree All-most fulfilled is / all myn ordenaunce I pray to god / so yeue hym right gode chaunce Line 20 That telleth/ this tale to vs lustely Sir preest koth he / art þou a vicary Or art þow parson / sey soth be thy fey Be what þou be / ne breke þou nat our pley Line 24

[6-text p 590] Line 24 ffor euery man saue þou / hath told his tale Vnbokle and shewe vs / what is in þy male ffor truely me thynketh / by þy chere Thow sholdest knytte vp wele a grete matere Line 28 Tell vs a fable anon / for goddes bones This parson answerd / all at ones Thow getest/ fable noon ytold for me ffor Poule þat writeth vn-to Tymothe Line 32 Repreven hem / þat weyven sothfastnesse And tellen fables / and soch wrecchednesse Why shold I sowe draf/ out of my fyst/ Whan I may sowe whete / yf þat me lyst/ Line 36 ffor which I sey / þat yf þou list to here Moralitee/ and vertuous matere And þan / that ye woll yeue me audience I woll fayn / at cristes reuerence Line 40 Do yow plesaunce leefull/ as I can But trusteth wele / I am a sothern man I can nat geest/ rom / ram / ruf by lettre Ne god wote / ryme hold I but litle better Line 44 And therfore yf þou list/ I woll nat glose I woll yow tell a mery tale in prose To knytte vp all þis feest/ and make an ende And Ihesu for his grace / witte me sende/. Line 48 To shewe yow / þe weye in this viage [Eg. 2726 folio 241b] Of thylk perfyte glorious pilgrymage That hight Ierusalem celestiall/ And yf ye vouchesauf/ anoon I shall/ Line 52 Begynne vp-on my tale / for which I prey Tell your avice / I can no better sey But natheles / this meditacion I put it ay / vnder correccion Line 56 Of clerkes / for I am nat textuell/ I take but þe sentence / trusteth well Therefore I make / a protestacion That I woll stond / to correccion Line 60

[6-text p 591] Line 60 Vp-on this worde / we han assented sone ffor as vs semed / it was to done To enden / in som vertuous sentence And for to yeve hym / space / and audience Line 64 And bad our hoost/ he shold to hym sey That all we / to tell his tale hym prey Our hoost/ hade þe wordes / for vs all Sir prest koth he / now faire yow byfall Line 68 Sey what yow list/ and we woll gladly here And with þat worde / he seid in þis manere Telleth koth he your meditacon But hasteth yow / þe son / woll adoun Line 72 Beth fructuous / and þat in litle space And to do wele/ god send yow his grace Line 74

Hic desinit prologus Rectoris/

[6-text p 593]

et incipit fabula SuA. [[There are no paragraph-breaks in the MS, but Tyrwhitt's are kept in the print for convenience sake.]]

[75]

[Eg. 2726 folio 242a] Our swete lord of heven / that no man woll peryssh/ but woll þat þey com all to the knowlecche of hym / and to the blisfull lyf that is perdurable / [76] Amonesteth vs / by the prophete Ieremye / and seith in this wise / [77] Stondeth vp-on the weyes / and seeth / and axeth of old pathes / that is to seye of old sentences / which is the gode weye / [78] and walketh in that weye / and ye shull fynde / refresshyng for your soules &c / [79] Many ben the weyes espirituels / that leden folk / to our lord Ihesu Crist / and to þe reigne of glorie / [80] of which weyes / there is a full noble weye / and a couenable which may nat fayle / to man / ne to womman þat þurgh synne hath mysgone / from the right weye / of Ierusalem celestiall / [81] And this weye is cleped Penitence / of which man/ shold gladly herken / and enqweren / with all his hert/ [82] to weten what is Pen|itence / and whennes it is cleped Penitence / and in how many maners / ben þe accions of werkynges of Penitence [83] and how many spices there ben of penitence / and which thynges appertenen / and byhoven to Penitence/ and which thynges distourben Penitence /

[6-text p 594]

[84] Seint Ambrose seith / that Penitence is / the pleynyng of a man / for the gylt/ that he hath done / and no more to do / ony thyng for which hym ought to pleyn / [85] And som doctour seith / Penitence is the wayment|yng of a man / þat soroweth for his synne / and pyneth hym self/ for he hath mysdoon / [86] Penitence / with certein circumstaunces / is verray repentaunce of a man / that halt hym / self in sorow / and other peyne for his gyltes / [87] and for he shall be verray penitent/ he shall first bewail the synnes that he hath doo / and stedfastly purposen / in his hert/ to haue shryft/ of mouth / and to don satisfaccion / [88] and neuer to do thyng for which hym ought more bewayle / or to compleyn / and to con|tynue in gode werkes / or elles his repentaunce may nat / availl/ [89] ffor as seyth Seint Isidre / he is a Iaper and a gabber/ and no verray repentant/ þat eft sone doth thyng/ for which hym ought repent/ [90] wepyng/ and nat for to stynt to synne / may nat availl/ [91] But natheles / men shull hope / þat euery tyme / that man falleth/ be it neuer so oft / that he may arise / þurgh peni|tence / yf he haue grace / but certenly / it is grete doute / [92] for as seith Gregorie / vnneth ariseth he out of synne / þat is charged with the charge of evill vsage / [93] and therfore repentyng folk/ þat stynt for to synne / and forlete synne / or synne forlete hem / holy chirche halt hem seker of her savacon / [94] And he þat synneth / and verrely repenteth hym / in his last day/ holy chirche / yitte hopeth his savacon / by þe grete mercy of our lord Ihesu Crist/ for his repentaunce / but take the seker weye/

[95] and now seth / I haue declared yow / what thyng is penitence / now shull ye vnderstonde / þat þere ben .iij. accions of Penitence / [96] The first is / that a man be baptised / after that he hath synned. [97] Seint [Eg. 2726 folio 242b] Austyn seith / but he be penitent / for his old synfull lyf/ he may nat begynne the newe

[6-text p 595] clene lyf/ [98] ffor certes yf he be baptised with-outen penitence of his old gylt/ he resceyueth the mark/ of baptisme / but nat þe grace / ne the remyssions of his synnes / till he haue verray repentaunce / [99] Another defaute is this / þat men doon dedely synne / after that they han resceyued baptisme / [100] The .iij^de defaute is this/ that men fallen/ in venyall synnes/ after her baptisme from day to day / [101] There-of seith Austyn / þat Penitence of gode and humble folk/ is the penitence of euery day /

[102] The spices of Penitence ben .iij. / that one of hem is solempne / another commune / and the thirde is pryvee / [103] thylk penaunce þat is so|lempne / is in ij. maners / as to be put out/ of holy chirche / for slaughter of children / and soch / maner thyng/ [104] Another thyng is / whan man hath synned openly / of which synne / þe fame is openly spoken / in þe cuntree and than holy chirche by Iuge|ment distreyneth hym / for to don open penaunce / [105] Commune penaunce is þat prestes enIoynen men / in certein caas as for to go perauenture / naked in pilgrymages / or bare-fote / [106] Pryvee penaunce is thylk/ that men doon / all day for pryve synnes / of which we shryue vs priuelye and resceyve pryvee penaunce /

[107] Now shalt þou vnderstond what is behovely / and necessarie to verray perfite penitence / and þis stant on .iij. thynges / [108] Contricion of hert/ Con|fession of mouth / and Satisfaccion / [109] ffor which seith Seint Iohn Crisostomus / Penitence distreyneth man / to accepte / benignely euery peyne / þat hym is enIoyned / with contricion of hert/ and shryft of mouth/ with satis|faccion / and in werkyng of all maner humylitee/ [110] and this is fruytfull penitence/ Ayeinst/ .iij. thynges/ in which we wrath our lord Ihesu Crist / [111] þis is to sey / by delite in thynkyng/ by rechelesnesse in spekyng/ by wykked synfull werkyng/ [112] And ayeinst thise

[6-text p 596] wykkyd gyltes/is Penitence þat may be lykkened vn-to a tree/

[113] þe rote of this tree / is contricion / þat hideth hym in the hert // of hym / þat is verray repentaunt/ right as þe rote of a tree / hydeth hym in the erthe. [114] Of the rote of Contricion / spryngeth a stake / that bereth braunches and leves of Confession / and fruyt of Satisfaccion / [115] ffor which Crist seith in his gospell/ doth digne fruyt/ of Penitence/for by this fruytmow men vnderstonde/and knowe this tree / and nat by the rote þat is hydde in þe hert / of man/ ne by þe braunches / ne the leves / of confession / [116] and þerfore our lord Ihesu Crist seith thus / by the fruyt of hem ye shull knowe hem [117] Of this rote eke spryngeth / a seede of grace the which is moder of sekirnesse / and in this sede / is egre and hote [118] þe grace of this sede / spryngeth of god / þurgh re|membraunce on þe day of dome / and on þe peynes of hell / [119] Of this mater seyth / Salamon that in the drede of god / man forlete[t]h his synne [120] The hete of þis seede / is þe love of god / and þe desiryng/ of þe Ioye perdurable [121] [Eg. 2726 folio 243a] This hete draweth the hert of a man to god / and doth hym hate his synne / [122] for sothely / there is no thing/ þat savoureth so wele to a child / as the mylk of his Norice/ne no thing is to hym more abhom|ynable / than thilk mylk / whan it is medled with other mete/ [123] Ryght so þe synfull man þat loueth his synne / hym semeth þat it is most swete to hym / of ony thyng/ [124] but from þat tyme / þat he loueth sadly / our lord Ihesu Crist/ and desireth the lyf perdurable / there nys to hym / no thyng more abhomynable / [125] ffor / sothly the lawe of god / is the love of god / ffor which Dauid þe prophete seith I haue loved thy lawe / and hated wykkednesse /and hate /he þat loveth god/kepeth his lawe/ and his/ worde/[126] This tree sawe þe prophete Danyell in sperit/ vp-on the avision/ of Nabogodonosor/ whan he coun|ceilled / hym to do penitence / [127] Penaunce is the tree of lyf to hem þat it resceyven/ and he þat holdeth hym /

[6-text p 597] in verrey Penitence / is blissed after the sentence / of Salamon

[128] In this Penitence and contricion / man shall vn|derstonde / .iiij. thynges þat is to sey / what is contricion / and which ben þe causes / þat meven a man to con|tricion / and how he shall be contrite / and what con|tricion availeth to the soule / [129] Than is it thus / þat contricion / is þe verray sorow / þat a man resceyueth in his hert / for his synnes / with sad purpoos / to shryve hym and to do penaunce / and neuer more to do synne / [130] and þis sorow shall ben in this maner / as seith Seint Bernard / it shall be hevy and grevous and full sharpe and poynant/ in hert/ [131] ffirst for man hath agylt his lord and his creatour / And more sharpe and poynant/ for he hath agilt his fader celestiall / [132] And yitte more sharpe and poynant/ for he hath wratthed and agilt/ ayeinst hym / that bought hym / þat with his precious blode hath deliuered vs / from þe bondes of synne / and from þe crueltee of the devill/ and from þe peynes of hell/

[133] The causes that oughten meve a man to con|tricion / ben .vj. ffirst a man shall remembre hym/ of his synnes / [134] but loke he / that thylk remem|braunce / ne be to hym no delite / by no weye / but grete shame and sorow / for his gylt / ffor Iob seith / synfull / men doon werkes / worthy of confusion / [135] and therfore seith Ezechie I woll remembre me all the yeres of my lyf / in bitternesse / of myn hert / [136] And our lord seith / in the Appocalypes / Remembre yow from whens / þat ye ben falle / for byfore that tyme / that ye synned / ye weren the children of god / . . [no gap in the MS.] [137] but for your synne / ye ben wexen thrall and foull / and menbres of the feend / hate of aungels / sclaundre of holy chirche/ and fode of þe fals serpent/ perpetuell mater of the fire of hell/ [138] And yitte more foule and abhom|ynable for ye trespasen so oft tyme/ as doth þe hound / þat retourneth to ete his spewyng/ [139] and yitte

[6-text p 598] be ye fouler ffor your long contynuyng in syn and your synfull vsage / for which ye ben roten in your synne / as a beste in his dung/ [140] Soch maner of thoughtes / maketh man have shame of his [Eg. 2726 folio 243b] Syn/ and no delite / As god seith / by the prophete Ezechiel [141] ye shull remembre yow / of your weyes / and they shull displese yow / Sothely synnes / ben the weyes / that leden folk to hell/

[142] The secunde cause / that ought make a man to haue disdeyne of synne / is this / That as seyth Seint Petir / who-so þat doth synne / is thrall of synne / and synne putteth a man / in grete thraldom [143] And ther|fore seith the prophete Ezechiel / I went sorowfull in dysdeyn of my self / and certes wele ought a man haue disdeyn of synne / and withdrawe hym from that thraldom / and velanye / [144] And loo what seith Senek / in this mater / he seith thus / þough I wost/ þat neyther god ne man / ne shold neuer knowe it / yitte wold I have disdeyn for to do synne / [145] And þe same Seneca seith / Also þat I am born to gretter thyng than to bee thrall to my body / or than/ for to maken of my body a thrall/ [146] Ne a fouler thrall / may no man/ ne womman/ maken of his body / þan for to yeve his body to synne / [147] all were it þe foulest/ cherle / or the foulest womman / that lyueth and leest of value / yitte is he þan more foule / and more in seruitute / [148] euere from þe hier degree / þat man falleth / the more is he thrall/ and more to god vile / and to þe world abhom|ynable / [149] O god wele ought man haue disdeyn / of synne seth þat þurgh synne / þere as he was free / now is he maked bonde / [150] And therfore seith seint Austeyn / yf þow have disdeyn of thy seruaunt yf he agylt/ or synne/ have þou þan disdeyn/ þat þou sholdest do synne [151] take reward of thy value / þat þou ne be / to foule to thy self / [152] Allas wele oughten they than haue disdeyn / to be

[6-text p 599] seruauntes and thralles to synne / and sore ben a-shamed of hem self/ [153] þat god of his endles godenes / hath sette hem in hie astate / or yeve hem witte / strength of body / heale / beaute / prosperitee / [154] and bought hem from þe deth / with his hert blode / that they so vnkyndely ayenst his gentillesse / quyten hym so veleynsly / to the slaughter of her owen soules / [155] O gode god ye wommen þat ben of so grete beautee / remembreth yow / of the proverbe of Salamon he saith [156] lykkeneth a faire womman þat is foule of hir body / lyke to a ryng of gold / þat were in the groyne / of a sowe [157] right so / as a sow wroteth in euery ordur so wroteth she hir beautee / in styngyng synne /

[158] The thirde cause / that ought meue a man / to contricion / is drede of the daye of Dome / and of the horrible peynes of hell / [159] for as seith Seint Ierom / At euery tyme / that we remembreth / of the day of dome I qwake / [160] for whan I ete or drynk/ or what so þat I do / euer semeth me / þat þe trumpe sowneth in myn ere / [161] Rise ye vp that ben dede and comth to the iugement/ [162] O gode god mochell ought a man / to drede soch a Iugement/ there as we shull ben all / As Seint Poule seith byfore the sete of our lord Ihesu Crist / [163] where as he shall make a generall/ [Eg. 2726 folio 244a] Con|gregacion / where as no man may be / absent / [164] for certes / ther ne availeth noon essoyen / ne excusacon / [165] and nat onely / that our defautes / shull be iuged / but eke that all our werkes / shull openly ben knowe / [166] And as seith Seint Bernard / there ne shall no pledyng availl/ ne sleight/ we shull yeve rekenyng/ of euery ydell worde / [167] there shull we han a iuge / that may nat be disceyved / ne corrupt/ and therfore certes all our thoughtes be discouered as to hym / ne for prayer ne for mede / he shall nat be corrupt/ [168] And therfore seith Salamon / the wrath of god / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.]

[6-text p 600] ne woll nat spare no wight/ for prayer ne for yifte / and therfore / at the day of dome / there nys noon hope to escape/ [169] wherfore as seith / seint Anselme / full grete angwyssh shull the synfull folk have / at that tyme / [170] there shall þe stierne and wroth Iuge / sitte above / and vnder hym / the horrible pitte of hell open to de|stroye hym / þat mot be-knowe his synnes / which synnes openly ben shewed byfore god / and byfore euery creature / [171] and in þe left side / mo devels þan hert may bethynk/ for to harye and drawe / þe synfull soules / to the peyne of hell/ [172] and with|in þe hertes of folk/ shall be þe bityng conscience and without forth/ shall/ be the world all brennyng/ [173] whider shall the wrecched synfull man flee than / to hide hym / certes he may nat hide hym / he most com forth / and shewe hym / [174] ffor certes as seith Seint Ierom The erthe shall cast hym out of hym / and the see also / And the heyre also / þat shall be full of thunder clappes / and lightenynges [175] Now soth-ly / who-so woll remembre of thise thynges / I gesse þat his synne shall turne hym / in no delite / but to grete sorow / fer drede of þe peyne of hell / [176] And ther|fore seith Iob / to god / suffre lord / that I may a while bewaile and wepe / or that I go / without retournyng to þe derk lond / couered with the derknesse of deth / [177] to þe lond of mysease / and of derknesse / where as is the shadow of deth / where as there is noon ordre ne ordenaunce / but grisly drede / þat euere shall last / [178] Lo here mow ye see / þat Iob prayed respite a while / to bewepe and waile his trespas ffor sothly a day of / respite / is better þan all the tresour of þis world. [179] and for-asmoch / as a man may acquyte hym self/ byfore god / by penitence / in this world and nat by tresour / therfore shold he pray to god / to yeve hym respite a while to bywepe and wayle his trespaces [180] ffor certes the sorow that a man myght/ make from the begynnyng

[6-text p 601] of the world / nys nat but a litle thyng/ at regarde / of the sorow / of hell [181] the cause why / that Iob clepeth hell / the lond of derknesse / [182] vnderstondeth þat he clepeth it lond or erthe / for it is stable / and neuer shall/ faill/ derknesse / for he that is in hell / hath defaute of light materiall / [183] ffor certes the derk light/ that shall / com out of the fire / that euer shall brenne / shall turne hym all to peyn / that is in hell/ for it showeth [Eg. 2726 folio 244b] Hym to the horrible devels þat hym turmenten [184] couered with þe derknesse of deth / that is to sey / that he / that is in hell/ shall have defaute of the sight of god / for certes the sight of god / is the lyf perdurable [185] the derk nesse of deth / ben the synnes / that the wrecched man hath don / which þat distourben hym / to se the face of god / Right as a derk cloude / bitwene vs and þe son / [186] lond of mysease / by cause that there ben .iij. maners of defautes ayeinst .iij. thynges / that folk of this world han / in this present lyf/ that is to sey / honoures / delices / and ricchesses / [187] Ayeinst honour haue they in hell/ shame and confusion / [188] for wele ye wote / that men clepen honour / the reuerence þat man doth to man / but in hell is noon Honour ne reuerence / ffor certes no more reuerence / shall be don there to a kyng þan to a knaue / [189] ffor which god seith / by þe prophete Ieremye / þe folk þat men despisen / shull ben in despyte / [190] Honour is eke cleped grete lord|shipe There shall no wight serue other / but of harme and turnement/ Honour is eke cleped grete dignitee and hy|nesse / but in hell they shull ben all fortroden of deuels / [191] as god seith the horrible deuels / shull goon and com vpon the hedes of dampned folk/ and this is / for-asmoch/ as the hyer that they were / in this present lyf/ the more shull þey ben abated and defouled in hell / [192] Ayeinst the richesse of this world / shull they haue mysease of pouertee / and this pouertee shall be in .iiij. thynges / [193] In defaute of tresour / of which that

[6-text p 602] Dauid seith / the Riche folk/ that embraceden and oneden all her hert/ to tresour of this world / shullen slepe / in the slepyng of deth / and no thyng shull they fynden in her hondes / of all her tresour / [194] And more-ouere the mysease of hell/ shall be in defaute of mete and drynk/ [195] ffor thus seith our lord by Moises / þey shull ben wasted with hunger / and the birdes of hell / shull devoure hem with bitter deth / and the gall of the dragon / shall ben her drynk / and þe venym of the dragon her morsels / [196] and ferther-ouere / her mysese / shall be in defaute of clothyng/ for they shull be naked in body / as of clothyng save þe fire / in which they brenne / and other fylthes / [197] and naked shull they ben of soule / and of all maner vertues which that is / þe clothyng of þe soule where ben þan the gaye Robes / and þe soft shetes / and þe smale shertes / [198] lo what seith god of heven / by þe prophete Ysaie þat vnder hem shull ben strawed mothes and her couertours / shull ben of wormes of hell/ [199] and ferther-ouer her mysease / shall be in defaute of frendes / for he is nat pore þat hath gode frendes / but þere is no frende [200] ffor neyther god / ne no creature / shall ben frende to hem / And euerycch of hem / shall hate other with dedely hate / [201] The sonnes and þe doughtren shull rebellen / ayeinst fader and moder / and kynrede ayeinst kynrede and chiden and despisen / euerycch of hem other / both day and nyght/ [Eg. 2726 folio 245a] As god seith by the prophete Michias / [202] And the lovyng children / þat whilom loued so flesshly euerycch other / wolden euerycch of hem eten other / yf they myght/ [203] for how shold þey loven hem to-geder / in þe peyne of hell/ whan þey haten euerycch other / in þe prosperitee of this lyf / [204] ffor trust wele / her flesshly loue / was dedely hate / as seith the prophete Dauid / who-so loveth wykked|nesse / hateth his soule / [205] and whoso hateth his owen soule / certes he may love noon other wyght/

[6-text p 603] in no maner / [206] And therfore / in hell / is no solace ne no frendshipe / but euer the more / the flesshly kynredes / þat ben in hell/ the more cursynges þe more chid|ynges / and the more dedely hate þere is / among hem / [207] and ferther ouer / þey shull haue defaute of all maner delices / ffor certes delices / ben after the appetites / of the .v. wittes / as sight / heryng Smellyng/ Savour|yng/ and touchyng/ [208] but in hell / her sight shall be full of derknesse / and of smoke / and her yien full of teres / and her heeryng full of waymentyng/ and gnastyng of teeth / As seith Ihesu Crist/ [209] her nose|thirles shull ben full of styngyng stenche / And as seith Ysaie þe prophete her savouryng / shall be full of bitter gall/ [210] and touchyng/ of all her body ycouered with fire / þat neuer shall qwenche / and with wormes þat neuer shall dyen / as god seith / by the mouth of Ysaie / [211] and for asmoch/ as þey shull nat wene / þat þey mow dyen for peyne / and by her deth flee from peyne / þat mow þey vnderstonde / in þe worde of Iob / þat seith / there is þe shadow of deth / [212] Certes a shadow / hath þe lyknes of the thyng/ of which it is shadowed . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [213] right so fareth the peyne of hell / it is lyke deth / for the horrible Angwyssh / and why / for it peyneth hem ever as though men shuld dyen anoon / but certes they shull nat dye / [214] ffor as seith seint Gregorie / to wrecched kaytyfs / shall be deth without deth / and ende without ende / and defaute without faylyng/ [215] ffor her deth shall all-weye lyven / and her ende shall euermore begynne / and her defaute / shall nat fayle / [216] And therfore seith Seint Iohn the Euaungelist þey shull folow deth / and þey shull nat fynde hym / and they shull desire to deye / and deth shall flee from hem [217] / And eke Iob seith / that in hell is noon ordre / of rewle/ [218] and all-be-it so / þat god hath create all thynges in right ordre / and no thyng with|out

[6-text p 604] ordre but all thinges ben ordeyned and nom|bred / yitte natheles þey that ben dampned / ben no thing in ordre / ne holden noon ordre / [219] ffor þe erthe ne shall bere hem / no fruyt / [220] ffor as þe prophete Dauid seith / god shall destroye the fruyt of the erthe / as from hem / ne water ne shall yeve hem no moistre / ne the eyre no refresshyng/ ne fire no light/ [221] ffor as seith seint Basilie / the brennyng/ of the fire of this werld shall god yeve in-to hell to hem þat ben dampned / [222] but þe light/ and þe clerenesse shall be yoven in|to heven / to his children / Right as the gode man yeveth [Eg. 2726 folio 245b] fflessh to his children / and bones to his houndes / [223] And for þey shull haue none hope to escape / seith Seint Iob / atte last / þat þere horrour / and grisly drede dwell without ende / [224] horrour is all-wey drede of harme þat is to com / and þis drede shall euer dwell in the hertes of hem / þat ben dampned and therfore han þey lorn / . . [no gap] for .vij. causes [225] ffirst for god / þat is her iuge shall be without mercy to hem / and þey mow nat plese hym / ne noon of his halowes / ne þey ne mow yeve no thyng for her raunsom / [226] ne þey haue no voice to speke to hym / ne þey may nat flee from peyne / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [227] And þerfore seith Salamon / þe wykked man deyeth / and whan he is dede / he shall have no hope to escape from peyne / [228] who-so than wold wele vn|derstonde / þe peynes / and bethynk hym wele / þat he hath deserued þylk peynes / for hys synnes / certes he shold haue more talent/ to syghen and to wepe / þan for to syng and to pleye / [229] ffor as seith þe same Salamon who so þat hade þe science to knowe þe peynes þat ben stablysshed and ordeyned for synne / he wold make sorow [230] thilk science / as seith Seint Austyn makeþ a man to wayment/ in his hert/

[231] The ferth poynt þat ought make a man /

[6-text p 605] haue contricion / is þe sorowfull remembraunce of the gode / þat he hath left to don here in erthe / and eke þe gode þat he hath lorne / [232] sothely þe gode werkes / þat he hath left / eyther þey ben the gode werkes / þat he wrought/ or he fell in-to dedely synne or els þe gode werkes / þat he wrought/ while he laye in synne / [233] sothly þe gode werkes / þat he dyd byfore / þat he fell in synne / ben all mortefied and astoned and dulled / by the oft synnyng/ [234] That oþere gode werkes / þat he wrought while he lay in synne / þey ben vttrely dede / as to lyf perdurable in heuen / [235] Than thilk gode werkes þat ben mortefied / by oft synnyng/ which gode werkes he did whiles he was in charitee / ne mow neuer qwyk ayein / without verrey penitence [236] And þerfore seith god / by þe mouth of Ezechiell / þat yf þe rightfull man re|turne ayein / from his rightwosnesse / and werk wykked|nesse / shall he lyve [237] nay / for all þe gode werkes þat he hath wrought/ ne shull neuere ben in remembraunce / for he shall deye in his synne / [238] And vp-on þat chapitre seith Seint Gregorie thus / þat we shull vnder|stonde this principally [239] þat whan we doon [[MS. repeats: principally / þat whan we don]] dedely synne / it is for nought / þan for to reherce / or drawe in-to memorie þe gode werkes þat we han wrought/ byfore/ [240] for certes in þe werkyng of þe dedely synne / þere is no trust/ to no gode werk/ þat we haue doon byforne/ þat is to seye / as for to haue þer-by þe lyf per|durable / in heven / [241] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] whan we haue contricion / [242] but sothely þe gode werkes þat men doon while þey ben in dedely synne / for as moch as þey were doon in dedely synne þey mow neuer qwyk [Eg. 2726 folio 246a] Ayein / [243] for certes thyng þat neuere had lyf/ may neuer qwykken And natheles all be it so / þey ne availlen nat/ to haue þe lyf perdurable yitte availlen

[6-text p 606] they to abregge / þe peyne of hell / or elles to gete temperall richesse [244] or elles þat god woll the rather enlumyne and light the hert / of the synfull man / to / haue repentaunce / [245] and eke þey availen for to vse a man to do gode werkes / þat þe fende haue þe lesse power of his soule / [246] And thus the curteys lord Ihesu crist / ne woll þat no gode werk be lost/ for in som what/ it shall availl / [247] But for as|moch / as þe gode werkes þat men doon / while þey ben in gode lyf ben all mortefied by synne folowyng/ And eke seith þat all þe gode werkes / þat men don while þey ben in dedely synne / ben all vtterly dede / as for to haue the lyf perdurable / [248] wele may þat man/ þat no gode werk ne doth / syng þe newe fressh song/ Iay tout perdu mon temps / & mon labour / [249] ffor certes synne byreveth a man both godenes of nature / and eke þe godenesse of grace / [250] for sothly the grace of þe holy goost fareth lyke fire / þat may nat be ydle ffor fire fayleth anoon as it forleteth his werk|yng/ and right so grace faileth anoon / as it forleteth his werkyng/ [251] than leseth þe synfull man þe godenes of glorie þat onely is behight to gode men / þat labouren and werken / [252] wele may he be sory than / þat oweth all his lyf to god / as long as he hath lyved and eke as long as he shall lyve / þat no godenes ne hath to paye with his dette/ to god / to whom he oweth all his lyf / [253] for trust wele he shall yeue accountes / as seith Seint Barnard of all þe godes þat han be yoven hym in þis present lyf/ and how he hath hem dispended [254] nat so moch þat þere shall nat perissh and here/ of his hede ne a moment of an houre / ne shall nat peryssh/ of his tyme þat he ne shall yeue of it a rekenyng/

[255] The .v^te. thyng þat ought meve a man to contricion is remembraunce of þe passion þat our lord Ihesu Crist suffred for our synnes / [256] ffor as seith seint Bernard while þat I lyve / I shall haue remem|braunce/

[6-text p 607] of þe travailes þat our lord Ihesu Crist suffred in prechyng / [257] his werynesse in trauaillyng his tempt|aciouns whan he fasted / his long wakynges / whan he prayed / his teres whan he wept/ for pitee of / gode peple / [258] þe wo and the shame / And þe filth þat men seiden to hym / of þe foule spettyng/ þat men spette in his face / of the buffettes þat men yave hym / of the foule mowes and of the foule re|preves þat men to hym seyden / [259] of the nayles / with which he was nayled to the crosse / and of all þe remenaunt of his passion þat he suffred for oure synnes / and no thyng for his gylt/ [260] And ye shull vnder|stonde that in man is euery maner of ordre or ordenaunce turned [Eg. 2726 folio 246b] Vp-so-doun / [261] for it is soth / þat god and reson / and sensualitee / and þe body of a man / ben ordeyned / þat euerycch of thise .iiij. thynges shold haue lordshipe ouer þat other / [262] as thus god shold haue lordshipe ouere reson / and reson ouere sensualitee / and sensualitee ouer þe body of man / [263] But sothly whan man synneth/ all þis ordre or ordynaunce is turned vp-so-doun / [264] and þerfore þan for asmoch as reson of man ne woll nat be subiette ne obeisant to god / þat is his lord by right / þer|fore leseth it þe lordshipe þat it shold haue ouer sensualite / and eke ouer þe body of man / [265] and why for sensualite rebelleth ayeinst reson / and by þat weye leseth reson þe lordshipe ouer sensualitee / and ouere þe body / [266] for right as reson is rebell to god / right so is both sensualitee rebell to reson / and to þe body also / [267] And certes this dysordinaunce and this rebellion / Our lord Ihesu Crist abought vp-on his precious body full dere / And herkeneth in which wise / [268] ffor-asmoch / þan as reson is rebell to god þer|fore is man worthy to haue sorow and to be dede / [269] This suffred our lord Ihesu Crist for man / after þat he hade be betrayed of his disciple / and distreyned and

[6-text p 608] bound so that his blode brast out / at euery naill of his hondes / as seith Seint Austyn / [270] and ferther-ouer / for-asmoch as reson of man / ne woll nat daunte his sensu|alitee whan it may / therfore is man worthy to haue shame / And þis suffred our lord Ihesu Crist for man / whan þey spette in his visage / [271] And ferther ouere for-as|moch þan / as þe kaytyf body of man / is rebell both to reson and to sensualitee / Therfore is it worthy the deth / [272] And þis suffred our lord Ihesu Crist/ for man vpon þe crosse / where as there was no parte of his body free / without grete peyne and bitter passion / [273] and all this suffred Ihesu Crist/ þat neuer forfayted . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] to mochell am I peyned for þe thynges that I neuer disserued / and to moch defouled for shenshippe þat man is worthy to haue / [274] And ther|fore may the synfull man wele sey / as seith Seint Bernard / accursed be the bitternesse of my synne / for which þere most be suffred so moche bitternesse / [275] ffor certes after the diuers discordaunces / of our wikkednesses / was þe passion of Ihesu Crist ordeyned in diuers thynges [276] as thus / Certes synfull mannes soule is betrayed of the devill/ by Couetise of temperall prosperitee/ and scorn|ed by disceyte whan he cheseth flesshly delices / and yitte it is turmented by Inpacience / of aduersitee / and by espyte / by seruage / and subieccion of synne / and at þe last it is slayn fynally / [277] for this disordinaunce of synfull man was Ihesu Crist betrayed / and after þat was he bounde / þat cam for to vnbynde vs of synne / and of peyne / [278] than was he bescorned þat onely shold be honoured in all thynges / and of all thynges / [279] þan [Eg. 2726 folio 247a] Was his Visage / þat ought to be desired to be seen / of all mankynde in which visage / Aungels desire to loke / veleynsly bespette / [280] þan was he scourged / þat no thing hade agylt/ and finally þan was he crucefied and slayn / [281] than was accompliced þe

[6-text p 609] worde of Ysaye / he was wounded for our mysdedes / and defouled by our felonyes [282] Now seth þat Ihesu Crist toke vp-on hymself / þe peyne of all our wykkednesse / mochell ought synfull man wepe and bewaile / þat for his synnes / goddes son of heven / shold all this peyne endure / [283] The .vj.^te thyng þat ought meve a man to contricion / is the hope of thre thynges / þat is to seye fforyevenesse of synne / and þe yifte of grace / wele for to do / and the glorie of heuen / with which god shall gwerdon man for his gode dedes [284] and for-asmoch / as Ihesu crist yeveth vs / thise yiftes / of his largenesse and for his soueraigne bountee / therfore is he cleped Ihesus Nazarenus rex Iudeorum [285] Ihesus is to sey Savyour or sav|acion / of whom men shull hope to haue foryevenesse / of synnes / which þat is proprely sauacion of synnes [286] And therfore seid þe Aungell to Ioseph/ thow shall klepe hyis name Ihesus / þat / shall saven his peple of her synnes / [287] And here-of seith Seint Petir þere is noon other name vnder heven / þat is youen to ony man / by which a man may be saued but onely Ihesus / [288] Nazarenus is asmoch for to sey / as florisshyng / in which a man shall hope / þat he þat yeveth hym remyssion / of synnes / shall yeve hym eke grace well to doo for in þe flour is hope of fruyt/ in tyme commyng/ and in foryeuenesse of synne / hope of grace / well to do / [289] I was at þe dore of þyn hert/ seith Ihesus / and cleped for to entre / he þat openeth to me shall haue foryevenesse of synne / [290] I woll entre In-to him by my grace / and soupe with hym by the gode werkes / þat he shall do / which werkes ben þe fode of god / and he shall soupe with me / by þe grete ioye / þat I shall yeue hym / [291] þus shall man hope for his werkes of penaunce / þat god shall yeve hym his reigne as he byhoteth hym in his gospell/

[292] Now shall man vnderstonde / in which

[6-text p 610] maner shall be his contricion / I sey þat it shall be vnmesurable and totall / þis is to sey a man shall be verray repentaunt/ for all his synnes / þat he hath doon / in delite of his thought/ for delite is full parlious / [293] ffor there ben two maner of consentynges / þat one of hem is cleped consentyng of affeccion / whan a man is meved to do synne / and than delyteth hym longe for to thynk on þat synne / [294] and his reson apperceyueth it wele / þat it is synne ayeinst þe lawe of god / And yitte his reson / refreyneth nat his foule delite / or talent/ þough he se wele / apertely / þat it is ayeinst þe reuerence of god all-though his reson / ne consent nat to do þat synne in dede / [295] yit/ seyn som doctours / þat soch delite þat dwelleth long it is [Eg. 2726 folio 247b] Full parlious / all-be-it neuer so lite / [296] And also a man shold sorow namely for all þat euer he hath desired / ayeinst the lawe of god / with perfite consentyng of his reson / for there-of is no doute / þat it is dedely synne in consentyng/ [297] ffor certes there is no dedely synne / þat it is ferst in mannes thought/ and after þat in his delite/ and so forth in-to consentyng / and in-to dede / [298] wherfore I sey þat many men / ne repent hem neuer of soch þoughtes and delites ne neuer shryven hym of it / but onely of þe dede / of grete synnes outward. [299] wherfore I seye / þat soch wykked delites / and wykked thoughtes ben subtell begylers / of hem þat shull be dampned / [300] More-ouer man ought to sorowen / for his wykked wordes / as wele as his wykked dedes / for certes the repentaunce of a singuler synne / and nat repentant of all his other synnes / or els repent hym of all his other synnes / and nat of a synguler synne / may nat availl [301] ffor certes god all-myghty is all gode / and þerfore / eyther he foryeueth all / or els right nought/ [302] And here-of Seith seint Austyn I wote certeinlye / [303] þat god is enemye to euery synner / and how þan / he þat obserueth oo synne / shall he haue foryevenesse of þe

[6-text p 611] remenaunt/ of his other synnes / nay / [304] And ferther|ouer contricion shold be wonder sorowfull / and ang|wyssious / And þerfore yeveth hym god pleinly his mercy / And þerfore whan my soule was angwyssious within me / I hade remembraunce of god / þat my prayer myght com to hym / [305] ffertherouere contricion most be contynuell / and þat man haue sted|fast purpoos to shryve hym / and for to amend hym / of his lyf/ [306] ffor sothely while contricion lasteth / man may ever haue hope of foryevenesse / of þis comth hate of synne / þat destroyeth synne / both in hym self and eke in other folk/ at his power [307] ffor which seith Dauid / ye þat louen god / hateth wykkednesse / for trusteth wele / to loue god is for to loue þat he loveth/ and hate þat he hateth /

[308] The last þyng þat men shull vnderstonde in contricion is this / whereof avayleth contricion I sey þat som tyme contricion deliuereth man from synne [309] of which þat Dauid seith / I sey koth Dauid / þat is to sey I purposed me fermely to shryve me / and þow lord relesedest my synne / [310] And right so as contricion avayleth nat/ without sad purpoos of shryft/ yf a man haue oportunitee right so / litle worth is shrift/ or satisfaccon without contricion [311] And more-ouer contricion destroyeth / þe prison of hell / and maketh weyke and feble / all the strengthes of þe devill/ and restoreth þe yiftes of þe holy goost/ and of all gode vertues / [312] and it clenseth þe soule of synne / and deliuereth þe soule from þe peyne of hell and from the companye of the devill/ and from þe seruage of synne / and restoreth it to all godes espirituels / and to þe companye and [Eg. 2726 folio 248a] Comunion of holy chirche / [313] And ferther ouer it maketh hym / þat whilom was son of Ire / to be son of grace / and all thise thynges / ben preued by holy writte/ [314] And therfore he þat woll sette his intent/ to thise þynges / he were full

[6-text p 612] wise / for sothely / he ne shold nat than / in all his lyf / haue corage to synne / but yeue his body / and all his hert to þe seruice of Ihesu Crist/ and þere-of do hym homage / [315] ffor sothely our swete lord Ihesu Crist hath spared vs / so debonairlye / in our folies / þat yf he ne hade pitee of mannes soule / a sory song we myght all synge

Explicit prima pars Penitencle

Et sequitur secunda pars eiusdem

[316]

THe Secunde partie of Penitence is Confession / þat is signe of Contricion / [317] Now shull ye vnderstonde what is confession and whether it aught nedes be doon / or noon / and which þinges ben couenable to verray confession /

[318] ffirst shalt þou vnderstonde / þat confession is verray shewyng of synnes to þe preest/ [319] þis is to sey verray / for he most confessen hym of all the condicions / þat longen to his syn as ferforth as he can / [320] all mot be seid / and no thyng excused ne hidde ne forwrapped And nought avaunt the of þy gode werkes / [321] And ferther ouer it is necessarie to vnder|stonde / Whens þat synnes spryngen and how þey encrecen / And which þey ben /

[322] Of þe spryngyng of synnes seith Seint Poule / in þis wise / þat right as by a man / synne entred first in-to þis world / and þurgh þat synne deth / right so þylk deth entred in-to all men þat synnedden / [323] And þis man was Adam. by whom synne entred in-to this world / Whan he brake þe commaundementes of god [324] And þerfore he þat was so myghty þat he shold nat haue deyed bycam soch one / þat he most nedes deye / whether he wold or noon / and all his progenye in þis world / þat in þat man synned / [325] loke in þe state of Innocence / Whan Adam and Eve

[6-text p 613] naked weren in Paradys / and no thing ne hadden shame / of her nakednesse / [326] how þat þe serpent þat was moost wilye of all other bestes þat god hade make / seid to þe womman why commaunded god to you / þat ye shuld nat ete of euery tree in paradys / [327] The womman answerd of þe fruyt koth she of þe trees of Paradys / we feden vs but sothely of the fruyt of the tree / þat is in þe myddle of Paradys / god forbad vs for to ete / ne nat touchen it / lest perauenture we sholden dye / [328] The serpent seid to þe womman nay nay / ye shull nat deye of deth / forsoth god wote / þat what [Eg. 2726 folio 248b] Day þat ye eten there-of / your yien shull open / and ye shull seen / and ben as goddes / knowyng gode and harme / [329] þe womman þan sawe / þat þe tree was gode to fedyng / and faire to þe yie / and delectable to sight/ she toke of the fruyt of þe tree / and ete it/ and yaue to hir housbond / and he ete / and anon þe yien of hem both opened / [330] and whan þat þey knewe þat þey were naked / þey sewed of fyke leues / a maner of breches / to hide her membres [331] There mow ye see / þat dedely synne hath first suggestion of the fend / as sheweth here by þe adder / and afterward þe delite of the flessh / as sheweth here by Eve / and after þat þe consentyng of reson as sheweth here by Adam / [332] for trusteth wele / þough so were / þat he tempted Eve / þat is to sey / þe flessh / and þe flessh hade delite in þe beaute of þe fruyt dyffended / yitte certes tyll þat reson / þat is to seye Adam con|sented to the etyng of þe fruyt/ yitte stode þey in the state of Innocence / [333] Of that / Adam toke we thilk synne originall/ for of hym flesshly dissended be we all/ and engendred of vyle / and corrupt mater / [334] and whan þe soule is put in our body / right anon is con|tract originall synne / and þat / þat was erst / but onely peyne of concupicence / is afterward both peyne and synne [335] And þerfor be we all born sones of

[6-text p 614] wratth and of dampnacion / perdurable / yf it nere baptisme / þat we resceyuen / which benymmeth vs þe culpe / but for|soth þe peyne dwelleth with vs / as to temptacion / which peyne hyght concupiscence / [336] [no gap in the MS.] whan it is wrongfully vsed disposed or ordeyned in man / yt maketh hym coueyte by coueytice of flessh / flesshly synne by sight of his yien / as to erthely thynges / and eke couetise of hyenesse / by pride of hert/

[337] Now as to speke of þe first couetice / þat is concupicence / after þe lawe of our membres þat were lawfully ymaked and by rightfull Iuge|ment of god / [338] I sey for-asmoch as man is nat obeisant to god / þat is his gode lord þerfore is the flessh to hym disobeisant/ þurgh concupiscence / which yitte is cleped Norisshyng of synne / . . . [no gap in the MS.] [339] therfore all þe while þat a man hath in hym þe peyne of concupiscence / It is impossible / but he be tempted som tyme / and meved in his flessh to synne / [340] and þis thyng may nat faill as long as he lyveth/ it may wele wexe feble / and faill by vertue of baptysme / and by þe grace of god / þurgh Penitence / [341] but fully shall it neuer quenche / þat he ne shall som|tyme / be meued in hym self/ but yf he were refreyned by sekenesse or malifice or sorcerie or cold drynkes / [342] ffor lo what seith Seint Poule / þe flessh coueyteth ayeinst þe sperit/ and the sperit ayeinst þe flessh / þey ben so contrarie / [no gap in the MS.] þat a man may nat all-wey do as he wold / [343] The same seint Poule seith / after his grete penaunce in water and in londe / in water by nyght / and by day in grete peryll/ and in grete peyne / In londe in famyn and thirst / and cold and clothlees / and ones stoned all-moost to þe deth / [344] yitte seid I. allas I caytif man / who shall [Eg. 2726 folio 249a] Deliuere me from the prison of my kaytif body / [345] And seint Ierom seith/ whan he long tyme hade wonned in desert/ where as he hade no companye / but of wild bestes / where as he ne hadde

[6-text p 615] no mete / but herbes / and water to his drynk/ ne no bed but the naked erthe / for which his flessh was blak / as an Ethiopien for hete / and nye destroyed for cold / [346] yitte seid he / þat þe brennyng of lecherie boyled in all his body / [347] wherfore I wote wele sekerly / þat þey ben disceyued þat seyen / þat they be nat tempted in her body [348] witnesse of Seint Iame þe Apostle / þat seith / þat euery wight is tempted in his owen con|cupyscence / þat is to sey / þat euerycch of vs hath mater and occasion / to be tempted of þe norisshyng of synne / þat is in his body [349] And therfore seith Seint Iohn þe Euaungelist / yf þat we sey / þat we be without synne we disceyue our self and trouth is nat in vs /

[350] Now shull ye vnderstonde / in what maner synne wexeth or encreseth in a man / The first thyng is / þe norisshyng of synne of which I spake biforn / thilk flesshly concupiscence / [351] And after þat þe suggestion of the devill / þat is to sey / þe devels bely / with which he bloweth in a man þe fire of flesshly concupiscence [352] and after that / A man be|þynketh hym / whether he woll do or noo þat þyng/ to which he is tempted / [353] and þan yf þat a man withstonde and weyue / þe first entisynges of his flessh and of þe fend þan is it no synne / And yf so be þat he do nat so / þan feleth he anon a flame of delite / [354] and þan is it gode to be ware and kepe hym wele / or elles he woll fall anon / in-to consentyng of synne / and þan woll he do it yf he haue tyme and place [355] And of þis mater seith Moises by þe devyll in this maner / the fende seith I woll chace and pursue man / by wyk suggestion / and I woll hent hym / by þe mevyng or steryng of synne / and I woll parte my prayes or my praye by de|liberacon / and my lust shall be accomplised in delite / I woll drawe my swerde in consentyng [356] for certes right as a swerd departed a thyng in two peces / Right

[6-text p 616] so / consentyng departeth god from man / and þan woll I slee hym with myn hond in dede of synne / thus seith the fende [357] ffor certes þan is a man all dede in soule and þus is synne accompliced by delite and consentyng / and þan is þe synne cleped actuell /

[358] fforsoth synne is in two maners either it is veniall or dedely synne / sothely whan man loveth ony creature / more þan Ihesu Crist our Creatour þan is it dedely synne / And veniall synne is yf man loue Ihesu Crist lesse þan hym ought/ [359] fforsoth þe dede of þis synne is full perlious / for it amenuseth þe love þat men shold haue to god more and more [360] And therfore yf a man charge hym self / with many soch veniall synnes / certes but yf so be / þat he sone or som|tyme discharge him of hem by shryft of mouth/ þey mow full lightly amenuse in hym / all þe love þat he hath to Ihesu Crist/ [361] And in this wise skyppeth veniall / in-to dedely synne ffor certes the more þat a man chargeth his soule with veniall synnes [Eg. 2726 folio 249b] The more is he enclyned to fall in dedely synne / [362] And therfore let vs nat be necligent to descharge vs of veniall synnes / for þe prouerbe seith þat many smale maken a grete / [363] And herken this ensaumple / A grete wawe of þe see comth somtyme with so grete a violence þat it drencheth the shippe And þe same harme doth somtyme þe smale dropes of water/ þat entren þurgh a litle crevice / in-to þe thurrok/ and in þe botom of the shippe / yf men be so necligent/ þat men ne discharge bem nat by tyme [364] And therfore all-þough þere be a difference bitwene thise two causes of drenchyng / all-gates þe shippe is dreynt/ [365] Right so fareth it som tyme of dedely synne / and of Anoyous veniall synnes / whan they multeplie in a man so gretely / þat þylk worldly thynges / þat he loueth / þurgh which he synneth venially / is as grete in his hert/ as þe loue of god or more / [366]

[6-text p 617] And þerfore þe loue of euery thyng þat is nat byset in god/ ne doon principally for goddes sake / all-þough þat a man love it lesse þan god / yitte is it veniall synne / [367] And dedely synne is whan þe love of ony thyng weyeth in þe hert of man / as moch as þe love of god / or more [368] Dedely synne / as seith seint Austyn / is whan a man turneth his hert from god / which þat is verray souerayn bountee þat may nat chaunge / and yeveth his hert to thyng þat may chaunge and flytte / [369] and certes þat is euery þyng save god of heuen / fforsoth is þat yf a man yeve his loue / which þat he oweth all to god / with all his hert vn-to a creature / Certes as moch of his love / as he yeueth to thylk creature / so moch he byreveth from god / [370] And þer|fore doth he synne / for he þat is dettour to god / ne yeldeth nat to god all his dette / þat is to sey all þe love of his hert /

[371] Now seth man vnderstondeth generally / which is veniall synne / þan is it couenable / to tellen specially of synnes which þat many a man perauenture / ne demeth hem nat synnes / ne shryueth hem nat of the same thynges / And yitte natheles / þey ben synnes / [372] sothly as thise clerkes writen / þis is to sey / þat at euery tyme þat man eteth or drynketh / more than suffyseth to þe sustenaunce of his body / in certein he doth synne / [373] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] Eke whan he herkeneth nat be|nyngnely the compleynt of the pore [374] Eke whan he is in hele of body / and woll nat fast whan oþer folk fast/ without cause resonable / Eke whan he slepeth more þan nedeth or whan he comth by thilk encheson to late to chirche / or to other werkes of charitee // [375] Eke whan he vseth his wyf without soueraigne desire of engendrure to the honour of god or for thentent / to yeld to his wyf þe dette of his body / [376] / Eke whan he woll nat visite þe seke / and þe prisoner yf he may

[6-text p 618] Eke yf he loue wyf or child or other worldly thyng more þan reson requyreth / Eke yf he flater or blaundyse / more than hym ought/ for ony necessitee / [377] Eke yf he amenuse or withdrawe the almesse of þe pore / Eke yf he apparayleth his mete more deliciously þan nede is/ or ete to hastely by [Eg. 2726 folio 250a] Likerous|nesse / [378] Eke yf he tale Vanitees at chirche / or at goddes seruice / or þat he be a talker of ydell wordes / of foly or of velanye / for he shall yeld accountes þere-of at þe daye of dome [379] Eke whan he byheteth or assureth to do þynges / þat he may nat perfourme / Eke whan þat he by sleightes or folye / myseseth or scorneth his neighbour / [380] Eke whan he hath ony wykked suspession of thyng / whan he woteth of it no soth|fastnesse / [381] Thise synnes and mo without nombre / ben synnes / As seith seint Austyn /

[382] Now shull men vnderstonde þat all-be-it so / þat noon erthely man may eschew all veniall synnes yitte may he refreyne hym / by the brennyng loue / þat he hath to our lord Ihesu Crist / and by prayer and confession / and other gode werkes / so þat it shall but litle greve / [383] ffor as seith Seint Austyn / yf a man love god in soch a maner þat all þat euer he doth / is in þe love of god / or for the loue of god / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [384] loke how moch þat a drope of water þat falleth in a furneys full of fire / annoyeth and greveth So moch anoyeth a veniall synne / vn-to a man þat is perfite in þe love of Ihesu Crist/ [385] Men mow also refreyne veniall synne / by resceyvyng worthely þe precious body of Ihesu Crist/ [386] by resceyuyng eke of holy water / and almesse dede / by generall confession / of confiteor at Masse and at Complyn / and by blessynges of bisshopes / and of Prestes and of other gode werkes ./.

[6-text p 619]

Sequitur de Septem peccatis mortalibus & eorum dependenciis circumstanciis & speciebus

[387]

NOW is it byhouely thyng to tell which ben dedely synnes that is to sey Cheveteyns for-asmoch as þey renne in oo lees but in diuers maners / Now ben they cleped Chefteynes for-asmoch as þey ben chief / and spryngen of all other synnes / [388] Of þe rotes of thise .vij. synnes / than is Pride þe generall rote of all harmes for of þis rote spryngen certein braunches / as Ire Envye Accidie or Slouth Auarice or Couetise to common vnderstondyng Glotonye / and lecherie / [389] And euerycch of thise thynges / and synneshath his braunches and his twygges as shall be declared in her chapitres folowyng / [no break in the MS.]

[The Twigs of Pride.]

[390] And þough so be þat no man can vttrely tell / þe nombre of twigges / and of the harmes þat commen of pride yitte woll I shewe a partie of hem / as ye shull vnderstonde [391] There is Inobedyence / Auauntyng/ Ypocrisie / Despite / Arrogaunce / Inprudence / Swellyng of hert / Insolence / Elacion / Inpacience / Stryf / Contumasye / Presumpcion / Inreuerence / Vayneglorie / and many another twyg / þat I can nat declare / [392] Ino|bedient is he / þat disobeyeth for despite / to þe commaunde|mentes [Eg. 2726 folio 250b] Of god / and to his soueraignes / and to his gostely fader [393] Auauntour is he þat bosteth of the harme or of the bountee that he hath don / [394] Ypocrisie / he is an Ypocrite þat hideth to showe hym soch as he is / and sheweth hym / soch as he nought is / [395] Dispytous is he / þat hath disdeyne / of his neighbore / þat is to sey of his even cristen / or hath despite to doon / þat hym yight to do / [396] Arrogant is he þat thynketh / þat he hath thilk bountees in hym þat he hath nat/ or

[6-text p 620] weneth þat he shold have hem / by his desertes / or elles he demeth / þat he be / þat he is nat/ [397] In|prudent is he / þat for his pride / hath no shame of his synnes / [398] Swellyng of hert is / whan man reioyseth hym of harme / þat he hath doon / [399] Inso|lent is he þat despiseth in his Iugement all other folk/ as to regarde of his value / and of his connyng and of his spekyng/ and of his heryng [400] Elacion is whan he ne may neither suffre to haue maister ne felawe / [401] Inpacient is he þat woll nat be ytaught/ ne vnder|nom of his vice / and by stryf werieth truth / wetynglye / and defendeth his folye / [402] Contumax is he / þat þurgh his Indignacion / is ayeinst euerycch auctoritee / or power of hem / þat ben his soueraignes / [403] Pre|sumpcion is whan a man vndertaketh an emprise/ þat hym ought nat to do / or els þat he may nat do / and þis is calld surquydre / Inreuerence is whan men doon nat honour / þere as hem ought to do / and wayten to be reuerenced [404] Pertinacie is / whan man diffendeth his folie / and trusteth to moch to his owen witte / [405] Vaynglorie / is for to haue pompe and delite / in þis temporell hyenesse / and glorifie hem in this worldly astate / [406] Ianglyng is whan men speken to moch byfore folk/ and clappen as a myll/ and taken no kepe what þey seyen.

[407] And yitte is there a pryve spice of Pride / þat wayteth first for to be salowed / or he wold salow / all be he lesse worthy þan þat oþer is peraventur And eke he waiteth or desireth to sitte or elles to go above hym in þe weye or kysse pax / or ben ensensed or gon to offryng byfore his neighbour [408] and semblable thynges ayeinst his duete perauenture / but he þat hath his hert / and his intent in soch a proude desire / to be magnyfied and honoured byfore þe peple

[409] Now ben there two maners of Pride / þat one of hem is within the hert of man / and þat

[6-text p 621] oþer is without / [410] of which sothly þise for|seid thynges / and mo þan I haue seid ben apperteynent to Pride / þat is in þe hert of man And þe other spices of pride ben without / [411] but natheles þat one of thise spices of pride is signe of þat other Right as þe gay levesell / at the Taverne is signe of þe wyne / þat is in þe seler / [412] and þis is in many thynges / As in speche and countenaunce and in outrageous array of clothyng/ [413] ffor certes yf þere hadde be no syn in clothyng/ crist wold nat so sone / haue noted and spoke of þe clothyng of þe riche man in þe gospell / [414] And as seith Seint Gregorie / þat precious clothyng is coul|pable for the derth of it / and for his softnesse [Eg. 2726 folio 251a] And for his straungenesse and disgesynesse / and for the super|fluytee or for þe inordinate scantnesse of it/ [415] Allas may man nat see / as in our dayes / þe synfull costlewe array of clothyng/ and namely in to moch superfluytee / or els in to disordinate scantnesse/

[416] As to þe first synne / in superfluite of clothyng/ which þat maketh it so dere / to harme of the peple [417] nat onely þe cost of enbrowdyng the desgise of endentyng or barryng oundyng palyng wyndyng or bendyng and semblable wast of cloth in vanytee / [418] But þere is also þe costlewe furryng in her gownes so moch pounsonyng of chisell to make holes / and so moch daggyng of sheres / [419] forth-with þe superfluytee in length of þe forseid gownes trayl|yng in the dung / and in the myre / on hors and eke on fote / as wele of man as of womman / þat all thilk traillyng is verrey wasted consumed threde|bare and roten with dunge / rather þan it yeven to the poure to grete damage of þe forseid poure folk/ [420] And þat in sondrye wise / þis is to sey / þat þe more that cloth is wasted þe more mot it cost to þe peple for scarsenesse [421] And ferther ouer yf so be þat þey wolden yeve soch pounsoned and

[6-text p 622] dagged clothyng / to þe poure folk it nys nat conuenient to were for her astate / ne sufficiant to bote her necessitee / to kepe hem from the dystemperaunce of the firmament / [422] On þat other side to speke of þe orible and disord|inate scantnesse / of clothyng/ As ben thise cutted sloppes / and hanselyns / þat þurgh her shortnesse þey kever nat the shamefull membres of man / to wykked intent/ [423] Allas som of hem shewen þe boce of her shappe and þe orrible swollen membres / þat semeth like þe maladye of Hirnya / in þe wrappyng of her hoses / [424] and eke the buttokkes of hem faren as it were þe hynder part of a shee ape / in the full of the mone / [425] And moreouer þe wrecched swollen membres / þat þey shewe þurgh disgysyng and departyng of her hosen in white & rede semeth þat half her priue shame|full membres weren flayn / [426] And yf so be þat þey depart her hoses in other colours / as is white and blewe / or white and blak / or blak and rede / and so forth / [427] þan semeth it / as by variaunce of colours / þat half the partie of her pryvee membres / ben corrupt/ by the fire of Seint Antony or by Cancre / or other soch meschaunce / [428] Of the hynder part of her buttokkes it is full horrible for to see / ffor certes in þat partie of her body / þere as þey purgen her stynkyng ordre / [429] þat foule partie shewe they / to þe peple proudely in despite of honestee / which honestee / þat Ihesu Crist and his frendes obserued to shewe in her lyve / [430] Now as of þe array outrageous of wommen god wote þat þough þe visages of som of hem seme full chaste and debonaire / yitte notifie þey in her array of atyre / likerousnesse and pride [431] I sey nat / þat dishonestee in clothyng of man or womman is vncouen|able but certes þe superfluytee / and disordinate scantnesse . . . [no gap] is reprevable/ [432] Also þe synne of hournement or of apparaill/ is in thynges þat appertenen to ridyng/ [Eg. 2726 folio 251b] As in to many delycate horses / þat ben holden

[6-text p 623] for delite / þat ben so faire fat and costlewe / [433] And also by many a vicious knave / þat is sustened by cause of hem / In to curious harneys / as in sadles / in Cropers / Paytrels / and bridles / couered with precious clothyng/ and riche barres and plates of gold and of siluer / [434] for which god seith by Zakarye þe prophete / I woll confounde þe riders of soch horses / [435] Thise folk taken litle rewarde / of þe ridyng of goddes son of heuen and of his harneys . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] but þe pore clothes of his disciples / Ne we rede nat þat euer he rode on other beest / [436] I speke this for þe synne of superfluytee / and nat for resonable honestee whan reson requyreth it/ [437] And ferther-ouer certes Pride is gretely notified / in holdyng of grete meyne / whan þey ben of litle profite / . . [no gap in the MS.] [438] and namely whan þat meyne is felonous and damage|ous to þe peple / by hardynesse of hie lordshippe or by wey of offices / [439] for certes soch lordes sellen þan / her lordshippes to þe devill of hell/ whan they sustene þe wykkednesse of her meynee / [440] Or elles whan thise folk of lowe degree as thilk þat holden hostillers / sustenaunt the theft of her Ostillers / and þat is in maner of deceytes / [441] Thilk maner of folk ben þe flies þat folowen þe hony / or elles þe houndes þat folowen þe careyn soch forseid folk stranglen spiritually her lordshippes [442] for which þus seith Dauid þe prophete wykked Deth mot com vp thilk lordshipes / and god yeve þat þey mow discende in-to hell/ all doun / for in her houses ben iniquytees / and shrewednesse / and nat god of heuen / [443] and certes but yf þey don amende|ment/ Right as god yaaf his beneson to kyng Pharao by þe seruice of Iacob / and to laban by the seruice of Ioseph / right so god woll yeve his malison / to soch lordshipes as sustene þe wykkednesse of her seruauntes / but they

[6-text p 624] com to amendement/ [444] Pride of the table appereth eke full ofte / for certes riche men ben cleped to festes / and poure folk ben pntte aweye / and rebuked [445] Also in excesse of diuers metes and drinkes and namely soch maner bakemetes and dysshmetes brennyng of wild fire and peynted and castelled with paper / and semblable wast/ So þat it is Abbucion for to thynk/ [446] And eke in to grete preciousnesse of vessell and curiositee of mynstralcie / by which a man is stered þe more to delices of luxurie / [447] yf so be he sette his hert þe lasse vp-on / our lord Ihesu Crist/ certein it is a synne / And certeinly the delices myght ben so grete in this caas / þat man myght lightly fall by hem in-to dedely synne / [448] And whan þey surden by frealtee vnavised of malice ymagened avised and forcast/ or elles of vsage / ben dedely synnes / it is no doute / [449] And whan þey surden by frealtee vn|avised sodenly withdrawe ayein / all be þey greuous synnes / I gesse that they ben nat dedely / [450] Now myght men axe where-of þat Pride surdeth and spryngeth And I sey somtyme it spryngeth of þe godes of nature / And somtyme of þe godes of fortune [Eg. 2726 folio 252a] And somtyme of the godes of grace / [451] Certes the godes of Nature . . . . .[452] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] ben hele of body / As strength / delyvernesse / beautee / Gentries / ffraunchise [453] Godes of nature of the soule ben / gode witte / Sharpe vnderstondyng / subtle engyne / vertue naturell/ gode memorie / [454] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [455] Godes of grace ben / Science / pouere to suffre Spirituall trauaill / benignitee / vertuous contemplacion / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] and semblab þynge [456] Of which forseid godes / certes it is a full grete folie / a man to pride him in ony of hem all / [457]

[6-text p 625] Now as for to speke of godes of nature / god wote þat somtyme we haue in nature as moch to our Damage as to our profite / [458] As for to speke of hele of body / certes it passeth full lightly / and eke it is full oft / encheson of sekenesse / of our soule / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] And þerfore þe more þat þe body is hole / the more we ben in peraill to fall / [459] Eke for to Pride hym in his strength of body / it is an hie folye ffor certes the flessh coueiteth ayeinst the sperit / And ay the more strong þat þe flessh is / þe sorier may þe soule be / [460] And ouere all þis / strength of body and worldly hardynesse causeth full oft many a man to perill and myschaunce / [461] Eke for to Pride him of his gentrie / is a full grete folye / for oft tyme the gentrie of his body begynneth the gentrie of the soule / and eke we ben all of o fader and of o moder and all we ben of oo nature / roten and corrupte / both riche and poure [462] fforsoth oo maner gentrie is for to preise / þat apparaileth a mannes corage with vertues and moralitees/ and maketh hym cristes child [463] ffor trust wele þat ouer what man / þat synne hath maistrie / he is a verray cherll to synne /

[464] Now ben þere generall signes of gentilnesse / as eschewyng of vice and ribawdrie / and seruage of synne / in worde / in werk / and countenaunce [465] and vsyng vertue / curtesye / and clennesse / and to be liberall / þat is to sey large by mesure / for thilk þat passeth mesure / is folie and synne [466] Another is to remembre hym of bountee / þat he of other folk hath resceyued [467] Another is to be benigne to his gode subiettes wherfore seith Senek / þere is no thing more conuenable / to a man of hie astate / þan debonairtee and pitee / [468] And therfore thise flies / that men clepen Bees / whan þey make her kyng/ þey chesen one þat hath no prikke / where-with he may styng [469]

[6-text p 626] Another a man to haue a noble hert and a diligent/ to atteyne to hie vertuous thynges / [470] Now certes a man to pride hym in the godes of grace is eke an outrageous folye / for thilk yiftes of grace / þat shold haue turned hym to godenesse / and to medicyne / turneth hym to venym / and to confusion As seith Seint Gregorie / [471] Certes also who so prideth hym in þe godes of fortune / he is a grete fool / for somtyme / is a man a grete lord by þe morow þat is a caytyf and a wrecche or it be nyght/ [472] And somtyme þe richesse of a man is cause of his deth / Somtyme þe delices of a man is cause of greuous maladye / þurgh which he dieth/ [473] Certes þe commendacon of þe peple is oft full fals and full brotle/ for to trust / This daye þey preise / [Eg. 2726 folio 252b] To-morow they blame / [474] God wote / desire to haue commendacion eke of þe peple hath caused deth/ to many a besy man / [475] Now seth þat so is / þat ye haue vnderstonde / what is Pride / and which ben the Spices of it/ and whan Pride sourdeth and spryngeth.;.

Hic tractus Superbie desinit / & remedium eiusdem Hic Incipit/.

[476]

Now shull ye vnderstonde which is þe Remedye ayeinst þe synne of pride / and þat is humylitee / or mekenesse / [477] þat is a vertue þurgh which a man hath verrey knowlecche of hym-self/ and holdeth him|self no pris ne deyntee / as in regarde of his dissertes consideryng euer his frealtee / [478] Now ben there .iij. maners of humylitee / as humylitee in hert/ Another humylitee in his mouth / the thirde in his werkes / [479] the humylitee in hert / is in .iiij. maners / þat one is / whan a man holdeth hym-self as nought worthy by-fore god of heven / Another is whan he despiseth

[6-text p 627] noon other man / [480] the thirde is / whan he ne rekketh nat / þough men hold hym nought worth / the ferthe is / when he is nat sory of his humyliacion [481] And þe humilitee of mouth is in .iiij. thynges / In attempre speche / and in humblesse of speche / and whan he beknoweth with his / owen mouth / þat he is soch as hym thynketh / þat he is in hert / Another is whan he preiseth the bountce of another man / and no thyng þere-of amenuseth [482] humylitee Eke in werkes is / in iiij. maners / þe first is whan he putteth other men byfore / þe secund is to chese the lowest place ouerall / þe iij^de. is to assent gladly to gode counseill / [483] the ferthe is to stonde gladly to þe awarde of his soueraignes / or of hym / þat is in hier degree / certein þis is a grete werk of humylitee.

Hic desinit Remedium Superbie / & tractus Incipit hic Inuidie/.

[484]

After Pride I woll speke of the foule synne of Envye which that is as by the worde of þe Philisophre Sorow of other Mannes prosperitee And after the worde of Seint Austyn it is sorow of oþere mennes wele / and Ioye of other mennes harme / [485] This foule synne is platly ayeinst the holy goost / yit natheles / ffor-asmoch as bounte perteneth proprely to þe holy goost / and Envye comth proprely of malice þer|fore it is proprely ayeinst the bountee of the holy goost / [486] Now hath malice .ij. spices / þat is to sey hardynesse of hert / in wikkednesse / or els þe flessh of man is so blynd þat he considereth nat / þat he is in synne / or rekketh nat þat he is in synne / which is þe hardnesse of þe deuell / [487] That other spice of malice is whan þat a man werryeth trouth / and eke whan þat he wote [Eg. 2726 folio 253a] That it is trouth / and eke whan þat he werrieth þe grace / þat god hath yeve to his

[6-text p 628] neighbour / and all this is by Envye / [488] Certes þan is Envye þe werst synne þat is / for sothely all other synnes / ben somtyme onely ayeinst o speciall vertue / [489] But certes Envye is ayeinst all vertues / and ayeinst all godenesse / for it is sorie / of all þe bountees of his neighbour / and in þis maner it is diuers from all other synnes / [490] ffor wele vnneth is þere ony synne þat it ne hath som delite in it self / save onely Envye / þat euere hath in it self / angwyssh and sorow / [491] The spices of Envye ben thise / þere is first sorow / of other mannes godenesse and of his pros|peritee / and prosperite is kyndly mater of ioye / Than is Envye a synne ayeinst kynde / [492] The secunde spice of Envie / is ioye of other mannes harme / and þat is proprely like to the devill / þat euere reioyseth hym / of mannes harme / [493] Of thise .ij. spices comth bakbytyng / And this synne of bakbityng or detraccion / hath certeyn spices as þus Som man prayseth / by a wykked intent / [494] for he maketh all-weye a wykked knotte / at þe last ende . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] þat is digne of more blame / þan worth is all the preisyng / [495] The secunde spice is / þat yf a man be gode / or doth or seith a thyng to gode intent / the bakbiter woll turne all thilk godenesse vp so doun / to his shrewed intent / [496] The thirde is to amenuse þe bounte of his neigh|bore [497] The ferthe spice of bakbityng is þis / þat yf men speke godenesse of a man [[MS. wrongly inserts, from the next line, in dispreysyng of hym]] þan woll þe bakbiter sey / Parfaye yitte soch a man is bet þan he / in dispreisyng of hym / þat men praise / [498] The fyfte spice is þis for to consent gladly / and herken gladly to þe harme / þat men speke of oþere folk / This synne is full grete / and ay encreceth / after þe wykked intent of þe bakbyter / [499] After bakbytyng comth grucchyng or murmuracion / and som tyme it spryngeth of Inpacience / ayeinst god / and somtyme ayeinst man /

[6-text p 629] [500] Ayeinst god is it / whan a man gruccheth / ayeinst peyne of hell or ayeinst pouertee / or losse of catell / or ayeinst Reyn / or tempeste / or elles gruccheth þat shrewes han prosperitee / or elles þat gode men han ad|uersitee / [501] And all thise thynges / shold men suffre paciently / ffor þey com by the rightfull Iugement and ordynaunce of god / [502] Somtyme comth grucchyng of Auarice / as Iudas grucched ayeinst the Magdaleyn / whan she anoynted the hede of our lord Ihesu Crist / with hir precious oynement / [503] this manere murmur is soch / as whan man gruccheth / of godenes / þat hym self doth or þat other folk don of her owen catell / [504] Somtyme comth murmur of Pride / as whan Symon the Pharisee / grucched ayeinst þe Magdaleyne whan she approched to Ihesu Crist / and wept at his fete for hir synnes [505] And somtyme it sourdeth of Envye / whan men discoueren a mannes harme / þat was priue / and bereth hym on honde thyng þat is fals / [506] Murmur is eke oft amonges seruauntes / þat grucchen whan her soueraignes bidden hem to do thynges leefull / [507] And for-asmoch as þey [Eg. 2726 folio 253b] Dare nat openly / withsey the commaundementes of her soueraignes / yitte woll þey seyen harme and grucche and murmur priuelye / ffor verray despite [508] which wordes men clepen the devels pater noster / þough so be / þat þe devyll ne hade neuer pater noster / but þat lewed folk yeven it soch a name / [509] somtyme it / comth of Ire or pryve hate / þat norissheth Rancour in hert / as afterward I shall declare / [510] Than comth eke bitternesse in hert / þurgh which bitternesse euery gode dede of his neighbour / semeth to hym bitter and vnsauerye / [511] Than comth discorde and vnbyndeth all maner of frenshippe / Than comth scornyng of . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] his neigh|bour / all do he neuere so wele / [512] þan comth accusyng / as whan man seketh occasion to anoyen his

[6-text p 630] neighbour which þat is like the Craft of the devell / þat wayteth both nyght and day to accuse vs all/ [513] Than comth malignytee / þurgh which a man anoyeth his neighbour priuelye yf he may / [514] and yf he ne may / all-gate his wykked will ne shall nat want/ as for to brenne his hous priuelye / or enpoysen / or slee his bestes / and semblable thynges./.

Hic Inuidie tractus desinit / & Remedium inde hic Incipit/.

[515]

Now woll I speke / of þe remedye ayeinst this foule synne of Envie / first is the love of god principall/ and lovyng of his Neighbore as hym self / for sothly þat one may nat be without þat oþer [516] and trust wele / þat in þe name of thy neighbour / þou shalt vnderstonde the name of thy brother ffor certes all we han oo fader flesshly and oo moder / þat is to sey Adam and Eve / and eke oo fader spirituell / and þat is god of heuen [517] Thy neighbour art þou hold to love / and will all godenes And þerfore seith god / love thy neighbour as þy self / þat is to sey to savacon both of lyf and soule / [518] And more-ouer þou shalt love hym in worde and in benygne amonestyng/ and chastizyng/ and comforte hym in his anoyes / and praye for hym with all thyn hert / [519] And in dede þou shalt love hym in soch wise / þat þou shalt do to hym in charitee / as þou woldest / þat it were don to thyn owen persone / [520] and therfore þou ne shalt do to hym no damage in wykked wordes / ne harme in his body / ne in his catell ne in his soule / by entisyng of wikked ensaumple / [521] þou ne shalt nat desire his wyf/ ne noon of his thynges / vnderstonde eke þat in þe name of neighbour is com|prehended his enemy [522] Certes man shall love his enemye by the commaundement of god / And sothely thy frend shalt þou love in god [523] I sey thyn enemy for goddes sake / by his commaunde|ment

[6-text p 631] / for yf it were reson / þat man shold hate his enemye / forsoth god nold nat resceyve vs to his love / þat ben his enemyes [524] Ayeinst .iij. maner of wronges / þat his enemye doth to hym / he shall do thre thynges as þus / [525] Ayeinst hate/ [[ [Eg. 2726 folio 254a] : Ayeinst hate repeated.]] and rancour of Hert / he shall love hym in Hert/ Ayeinst chidyng and wykked wordes / he shall praye for his enemye/ Ayeinst þe wykked dede of his enemye / he shall don hym bountee/ 526] ffor Crist seith loveth your enemyes and prayeth for hem þat speke you harme / and eke for hem / þat you chasen and pursuen / and doth bountee to hem / þat you haten / lo thus commaundeth vs our lord Ihesu Crist to do to our enemyes / [527] fforsoth Nature dryveth vs to love our frendes / and parfeye our enemyes han more nede to love / þan our frendes / and þey þat more nede han / certes to hem shollen men do gode|nesse / [528] and certes in thilk dede / have we remem|braunce of the love of Ihesu Crist / that deyed for his enemyes / [529] And in-asmoch as thilk loue / is þe more greuous to perfourme / So moch is the more grete the merite And þerfore the lovyng of our enemye hath confounded the venym of þe devyll [530] for right as þe devill / is discomfited by humylitee / right so is he wounded to the deth/ by love of our Enemye / [531] Certes þan is loue the medecyn that casteth out the venym of Envye from mannes hert/ [532] þe spices of this pace shull be more largely declared in her chapitres folowyng./.

Hic Remedium Inuidie desinit & tractus Ire Incipit /.

[533]

After Envye woll I descryve þe synne of Ire for sothly who-so þat hath Envye vp-on his neighbour / anone he woll comunely fynde hym a mater of wrath / in worde or in dede / ayeinst hym / to whom he hath envye [534] And as wele comth Ire of Pride /

[6-text p 632] as of Envye ffor sothly / he þat is proude or envyous / is lightly wroth /

[535] this synne of Ire After the discryvyng of Seint Austyn / is wikked will to be avenged by worde or by dede [536] Ire after the Philisophre is the feruent blode of a man yqwyked in his hert/ þurgh which he wold harme to hym þat he hateth/ [537] ffor certes the hert of man by eschawfyng and mevyng of his blode wexeth so trouble / þat he is out of all Iugement of reson / [538] But ye shull vnderstonde/ þat Ire is in two maners / þat one of hem is gode / and þat oþer is wykked / [539] The gode Ire is / by ielousye of godenesse / þurgh which a man is wroth / with wikkednesse / and ayeinst wykkednesse And þer|fore seith a wise man / þat Ire is bet þan pley / [540] this Ire is with Debonairtee and it is wroth with|out bitternesse / nat wroth ayeinst the man / but wroth with þe mysdede / of the man / as seith the prophete David Irascimini & nolite peccare / [541] Now vnderstondeth þat wikked Ire is in two maners þat is to sey soden Ire / or hasty Ire / without avisement/ and consentyng of reson [542] The menyng and þe sence of this / is / þat þe reson of a man ne con|sent nat / to thilk soden Ire / and than is it venyall / [543] Another Ire is full wykked þat comth of ffelonye / of hert avised and cast byforn [Eg. 2726 folio 254b] With Wykked will to do Vengeaunce / and there-to his reson consenteth / and sothly this is dedely synne [544] This Ire is so dis|plesaunt to god þat it troubleth his hous / and chaseth the holy goost/ out of mannes soule and wasteth and de|stroyeth / the liknesse of god that is to sey / the vertue that is in mannes soule [545] and putteth in hym the lyk|nesse of the devyll/ and benymmeth the man from god / that is his rightfull lord / [546] This Ire is a full grete plesaunce to þe devill / for it is the devels fourneis / þat is enchaufed with the fire of hell / [547] ffor certes

[6-text p 633] right so / as fire is most myghty to destroye all erthelye thynges / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [548] loke how that fire of smale gledes / þat ben almost dede vnder asshen wollen qwyk ayein whan they be touched with brymstone / Right so woll Ire euermore qwyk ayein whan it is touched by the pride þat is couered in mannes hert/ [549] ffor certes fire ne may nat com out of nothing/but yf it were first naturely in the same thyng/ as fire is drawen out of flyntes with steell / [550] And right so as Pride is oft tyme mater of Ire / right so is rancour norice and keper of Ire [551] There is a maner tree / as seith Seint Isidre / þat whan men maken fire of that tre / and couere the coles of it with asshen / sothely the fire of it woll lasten all a yere or more/ [552] and right so fareth it / of Rancour whan it is ones conceyued in the hertes of som men / certein it woll last perauenture from o Ester day vn-till another Ester day and more / [553] but certes thilk man is full fer from the mercy of god all þat while /

[554] In þis forseid devels fourneys þere forgen thre Shrewes / Pride þat ay bloweth and encreseth the fire by chidyng and wikked wordes / [555] Than stant Envye and holt þe hote Iren vpon the hert of man with a peire of long tonges / of long Rancour / [556] And than stant / the Syn of Contwmelie or Stryf / and cheste and batereth and forgeth by veleyns reprevynges / [557] Certes this cursed synne anoyeth both in the man hymself and eke to his neighbour / for sothly all-most / all the harme þat ony man doth / to his neighbour cometh of wratth / [558] for certes outrageous wratth / doth all þat euer the devill hym commaundeth for he ne spareth neither Crist / ne his swete moder / [559] and in his out|rageous angre and Ire / allas allas / full many oon / at þat tyme / feleth in his hert full wikkedly /

[6-text p 634] both of Crist / and eke of all his halowes / [560] Is nat þis a cursed vice / yis certes / allas it benymmeth from man his witte / and his reson and all his debonair lyf / spirituell/ þat shold kepen his soule / [561] Certes it benymmeth eke goddes due lordshippe / and þat is mannes soule / and the love of his neighbores / it stryueth eke all day ayeinst trouth / it reveth hym þe quyete of his hert / and subuerteth his soule /

[562] Of Ire commen stynkyng engendrures ffirst hate / þat is old wratth / Discorde / þurgh which a man forsaketh his old frende / full longe / [563] and than comth Werr and euery manere Wrong þat man doth / to his neighbour / in body or in catell / [564] Of this cursed synne of Ire / comth manslaughter And vnderstonde [Eg. 2726 folio 255a] Wele þat Homycide is manslaughter in diuers Wise / Som manere of homicide is spirituell / and som is bodely [565] Spirituell manslaughter is in .vj. thynges / first by hate / as seint Iohn seith / he þat hateth his brother / is an homicide / [566] Homycide is eke by bakbityng/ of which bakbiters seith Salamon þat þey han two swerdes / with which they sleen her neighbores ffor sothly / as wykked is to benym hym his gode name as his lyf / [567] Homycide is eke in yevyng of wikked counseill by fraude / as for to yeve counseill to areyse wrongfull custumes and taliages [568] Of which seith Sala|mon / lyon roryng / and bere hungrie / ben like to þe cruell lordshippes in which holdyng or abreggyng of the shepe / of the hire / or of the wages of seruauntes / or els in vsure / or in with-drawyng of the almesse of pore folk/ [569] ffor which the wise man seith / ffedeth hym that all-most deyeth for hunger / ffor sothly / but yf þou fede him þou sleest hym / and all thise ben dedely synnes / [570] Bodely manslaughter is whan þou sleest hym with thy tung / in other maner / as whan þou commaundest to slee a man / or yevest hym counceill to slee a

[6-text p 635] man / [571] Manslaughter in dede is in .iiij. maners / þat one is by lawe / right as a Iustice dampneth hym þat is coulpable to the deth / but let the Iustice be ware / þat he do it rightfully/ and þat he do it nat for delite to spill blode but for kepyng of rightwo|nesse [572] Another homicide is don for necessitee/ as whan a man sleeth another in his diffendant/ and þat he ne may escape non oþer wise from his owen deth/ [573] But certainlye yf he may escape with|out slaughter of his aduersarie and sleeth hym / he doth synne / and he shall bere penaunce as for dedely synne / [574] Eke yf a man / by caas or auenture shete an arow or cast a stone with which he sleeth a man he is an homycide / [575] Eke yf a womman by necligence ouerlie hir child in hir slepyng / it is homycide and dedely synne/ [576] Eke whan man distourbeth con|cepcion of a child and maketh a womman eyther bareyn by drynkyng of venemouse herbes þurgh which she may nat conceyue/ or sleeth a child by drynkes or els putteth certen materiall thynges in hir secre places / to slee the child [577] or els doth vnkyndely synne / by which man or womman shedeth her nature in maner or in place / þere as a child may nat be con|ceyued / or els and yf a womman haue conceyued and hurte hir self / and sleeth the child / yitte is it homicide / [578] what sey we eke / of wommen þat mordren her children / ffor drede of worldly shame/ certes it is an horrible homicide/ [579] Homycide is eke / yf a man ap|proche to a womman by desire of lecherie / þurgh which þe child is perisshed / or elles smyt a womman wetyngly / þurgh which she leseth her childe All þise ben homy|cides/ and horrible dedely synnes / [580] Yitte comth ther of Ire many no synnes / as wele in worde as in thought / and in dede / as he þat arretteth / vp-on god or blameth god of þing/ of which he is him [Eg. 2726 folio 255b] Self gilty or despiseth god / and all his halowes / as don thise cursed hasardours /

[6-text p 636] in diuers cuntrees / [581] This cursed synne doon þey whan þey felen in her hert full wikkedly of god and his halowes [582] Also whan þey treten vnreuerently þe sacrament of the auter/ þat synne is so grete/ þat vnneth it may be relesed / but that the mercy of god passeth all his werkes / it is so grete / and he so benigne / [583] Than comth of Ire / Attrye angre / whan a man is sharply amonested in his shrifte / to for|lete synne/ [584] þan woll he be angry and answere hokerly and angrelye / or defende or excuse his synne / by vnstedfastnesse of his flessh / or els he did it / for to hold companye with his felawes / or elles he seith / the fend enticed hym / [585] or els he did it / for his youth / or els his complexion is so corageous / þat he ne may nat forbere or els it is destenye as he seith/ vn-to a certein age / or els he seith it comth hym of his gentillesse of his Auncetres / and semblable thynges / [586] All þise maner of folk / so wrappen hem in her synnes / þat þey ne woll deliuere hem self/ ffor sothly no wight/ þat excuseth hym wilfully of his synne / may nat be deliuered of his synne / till þat he mekely beknowe his synne [587] After this than comth sweryng/ þat is expresse ayeinst the commaundement of god / and þis befalleth oft of angre and of Ire / [588] God seith þou shalt nat take / the name of thy lord god / in veyne / or in Idle / Also our lord Ihesu Crist seith / by the worde of Seint Mathewe / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [589] ne woll þou nat swere in all maner / neither by heven / for it is goddes Trone / ne by erthe / for it is þe benche of his fete / ne by Ierusalem / for it is the Citee of a grete kyng/ ne by thyn hede / for þou maist nat make an here white ne blak/ [590] But seith by your word. ye ye / nay nay / and what þat is more is of evill / þus seith Crist/ [591] ffor Cristes sake / ne swereth nat so synfully in dysmembryng of Crist/ by soule /

[6-text p 637] hert/ bones and body / for certes it semeth / that ye thynk þat þe cursed Iewes / ne dismembred nat ynough / þe precious persone of Crist/ but ye dismembre hym more [592] And yf so be þat þe lawe com|pell yow to swere / þan shull ye rewle you / after the lawe of god / in your sweryng / As seith Ieremye / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] þou shalt kepe .iij. condicions/ þou shalt swere in trouth / in dome / and in rightwosnesse [593] this is to sey þou shalt swere soth / for euery lesyng is ayeinst Crist / for Crist is verray trouth / and þynk wele this / þat euery grete swerer nat compelled lawefully to swere / þe wound shall nat departe from his hous / while he vseth soch sweryng/ [594] Thow shalt swere eke in dome. whan þou art constreyned by the domes|man / to witnesse the trouth [595] Eke þou shalt nat swere for envye / ne for fauour / ne for mede but for rightwosnesse / for declaracon of it/ to þe worshippe of god / and helpyng of thyn even cristen / [596] And þerfore euery man / þat taketh goddes name in Idle / or falsly forswereth with his mouth / or els taketh on him [Eg. 2726 folio 256a] The name of Crist to be called a Cristen man / and lyveth ayeinst cristes lyvyng/ and his techyng/ All they taken goddes name in ydle / [597] loke eke what seith Seint Petir Actuum 4^o / Non est aliud nomen sub celo &c / There is non other name seith Seint Petir / vnder heuen / to men / in which þey mow be saved / þat is to sey / but in the name of Ihesu Crist / [598] Take kepe eke / how þat / þe precious name of Ihesu Crist / as seith Seint Poule / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] In þe name of Ihesu / euery knee of hevenly creatures / or erthely / or of hell / shold bowe / ffor it is so hye / and so worshipfull/ þat þe cursed fend in hell/ shold tremble for to here it named / [599] þan semeth it / þat men þat sweren so horriblye / by his

[6-text p 638] blessed name / þat they despise it more boldely / þan dyd the cursed Iewes / or elles the devill þat trembleth / whan he hereth his name /

[600] Now certes seth þat sweryng/ but yf it be lawefully doon / is so hiely defended / moch wers is for-sweryng falsly / and yitte natheles /

[601] what sey we / eke of hem [no gap in the MS.] in sweryng / þat hold it as a gentrie or a manly dede to swere grete othes / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] all be the cause nat worth A strawe / Certes this is horrible synne / [602] Sweryng eke without avisement / is eke a Synne / [603] But let vs go now / to that horrible sweryng of Adiuracion and coniuracion as don thise fals en|chauntours or Nygromaunciens / in basyns full of water / or in a bright swerd / or in A Circle/or in a fire / or in the sholder bone of a shepe / [604] I can nat sey but þat þey don cursedly and dampnablye / ayeinst Crist/ and all þe feyth of holy chirche /

[605] what seye we by hem / þat beleven on dyvynailles as by flight/ or by noise of birdes / or of bestes / or by sorte of Geomancye / by dremes / by chirkyng of dores / or crakkyng of howses / by gnawyng of Rattes / and soch maner of wrecchednesse / [606] certes all this thyng is defended by god / and by holy chirche / for which þey ben accursed till they com to amendement/ þat on soch fylth setten her byleve [607] Charmes for woundes or maladye / of men / or of bestes / yf they taken ony effectes it may be perauenture / þat god suffreth it / for folk shold yeve þe more feith / and reuerence to his name /

[608] Nowe woll I speke of lesynges / which gener|ally is fals signifiaunce of worde / in entent/ to disceyve his even Cristen / [609] Som lesyng is of which þere comth noon auauntage to no wight / And som lesyng turneth to the ease / and profite of o man and to

[6-text p 639] damage of another man / [610] Another lesyng / for to saven his lyf / or his catell / þat comth / of delite for to lye / in which delite þey wollen forge a long tale / and peynte yt / with all þe circumstaunces where as all þe ground of the tale is fals / [611] Som lesyng comth for he wold sustene his worde / Som lesyng comth of rechelesnesse without avisement / and sem|blable thynges /

[612] let vs now touche the vice of flateryng/ which ne comth gladly / but for drede / or for Covetise / [613] [Eg. 2726 folio 256b] fflatery is generally wrongfull preisyng/ fflater|ers ben the devels Norices that norisshen his children with mylk of losengrye / [614] fforsoth Salamon seith þat flaterie is wers than detraccion / for somtyme de|traccion maketh an hawteyn man / be the more humble / for he dredeth detraccion / but certes flaterie / þat maketh an hauteyn man in hert/ and countenaunce / [615] fflaterers ben the devels enchauntours ffor þey make a man to wene of hym self belike þat he is nat like [616] they ben like Iudas / þat betrayeth . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] a man to sell hym to his enemye þat is the devyll/ [617] fflaterers ben the devels Chapellyng þat syngen euere Placebo / [618] I reken flaterie / in the vices of Ire for oft tyme yf o man be wroth with another / þan woll he flater som wight to sustene him in his quarell /

[619] Speke we now of soch cursyng/ as comth of Irous hert/ Malison generally may be seid / euery maner power of harme / soch cursyng byreveth man from þe reigne of god As seith Seint Poule / [620] and oft tyme soch cursyng wrongfully retourneth / ayein to hym / þat curseth as a bird þat retourneth ayein to his owen nest/ [621] And ouer all thyng men ought eschewe to curse her children / and yeven to þe devill her engendrure/ as ferforth / as in hym is / certes it is grete perill and grete synne /

[6-text p 640]

[622] Let vs than speke of chidyng and repreef/ which ben full grete woundes in mannes hert/ . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [623] for certes vnnethes may a man pleinlye be accorded with hym / þat hath hym openly reviled and repreved and disclaundred / this is a full grisly synne / as crist seith in the gospell / [624] and take kepe now / þat he þat repreveth his neighbour/ eyther he repreueth hym by som harme of peyne / þat he hath on his body / as Mesell / Croked Harlot / on by som synne þat he doth / [625] Now yf he repreue hym by harme of peyne / þan turneth the repreef to Ihesu Crist/ for peyne is sent by ryghtwys sonde of god / and by his suffraunce / be it meselrie / or mahayme or maladye / [626] And yf he repreue hym vncharitablye of synns / as þou drunk|lewe Harlot/ and so forth / þan apperteneth þat / to þe reioisyng of þe devyll / þat euere hath ioye / þat men doon synne / [627] And certes chidyng may nat com / but out of a veleyns hert/ for after the habundaunce of the hert/ speketh þe mouth full oft/ [628] And ye shull vnderstonde / þat loke by ony weye whan ony man / shall chastise another / þat he be ware from chidyng/ or reprevyng/ ffor truly but he be ware / he may full lightly qwyk þe fire of Angre and of wratth / þat he shold qwenche and perauenture sleeth hym / þat he myght chastise with benig|nytee [629] ffor as seith Salamon / the Amyable tung / is the tree of lyf / þat is to sey lyf spirituell/ And sothly a dislaue tung sleeth þe sperit of hym that repreveth / and eke of hym þat is repreued [630] loo what seith Seint Austyn / ther is no thing so like the devels child / as he þat oft chideth Seint Poule seith eke / I seruaunt of god byhoueth nat to chide [631] [Eg. 2726 folio 257a] And though þat chidyng be a veleyns thyng bitwene all manere folk/ yitte is it certes most vncouenable / bitwene a man and his wyf / for þere is neuer rest/

[6-text p 641] And therfore seith Salamon / An hous þat is vncouered and droppyng and a chidyng [[MS. repeats and a chidyng]] / wyf / ben like [632] a man þat is in a droppyng hous / in many places / þough he eschew the droppyng in oo place it droppeth on hym in another place / So fareth it by a chidyng wyf/ but she chide hym in oo place / she woll chide him / in another / [633] and therfore better is A morsell brede with ioye / þan an hous full of delices / with chidyng/ seith Salamon / [634] Seint Poule seith / O ye Wommen / be ye subiectes to your housbondes / as byhoueth in god / and ye men loueth your wyfes / Ad Colonisences 3^o.

[635] Afterward speke we of scornyng/ which is a wykked synne And namely whan he skorneth a man for his gode werkes / [636] ffor certes soch scorners / faren like the foule tode / þat may nat endure / to smell the swete sauour / of the vyne whan it florissheth / [637] þe scorners ben partyng felawes with the devyll/ for þey han Ioye whan þe devyll wynneth / and sorow whan he leseth / [638] they ben aduersaries of Ihesu Crist/ for they haten þat he loueth / þat is to sey sauacion of soule /

[639] Speke we now of wykked counseill / for he þat wikked counseill yeveth is a traytour / for he disceyueth / hym þat trusteth hym / . . . [no gap in the MS.] But natheles yitte is his wykked counseill/ first ayeinst hym self/ [640] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] þat he þat woll anoye another man / he anoyeth first hym self/ [641] And men shull vnderstonde þat man shall nat take his counseill of fals folk/ ne of angrye folk or greuous / folk/ þat loven specially to moch her owen profite / ne to moch worldly folk/ namely in counseillyng of soules /

[642] Now comth þe Synne of hem / þat sowen and maken discorde amonges folk/ which is a synne/ þat

[6-text p 642] Crist hateth vtterly / and no wonder is / for he dyed to make concorde / [643] And more shame do they to crist/ þan dyd þey þat hym crucefied / for god loueth better / þat frendshippe be amonges folk/ þan he did his owen body / which þat he yaaf for vnytee / þerfore ben þey lykned to þe devyll/ þat euer is about to make discorde

[644] Now comth þe synne of double tung / soch as speken faire byfore folk/ and wikkedly behynde / or elles they make semblant/ As though þey speke of gode intencion / or elles in game and pleye / and yitte they speke of wykked intent /

[645] Now comth bywreying of Counseill thurgh which a man is defamed / certes vnethe may he restore þe damage

[646] Now comth manace / þat is an open folye / for he þat oft manaceth he threteth more þan he may perfourme / full ofte tyme

[647] Now comth ydell wordes / þat is without profite of hym / þat speketh the wordes / and eke of hym / þat herkeneth the wordes / or elles ydell wordes / ben tho þat ben nedeles or elles withouten intent / of naturell [Eg. 2726 folio 257b] Profite / [648] and all be it þat ydell wordes / ben som|tyme veniall synne / yitte shull men doute hem / for we shull yeve rekenyng of hem byfore god /

[649] Now Now comth Iangelyng þat may nat be with|outen synne / As seith Salamon it is a signe of pert folye / [650] And therfore A philiȝophre seid whan men axed how þat men shold plese þe peple / and he answerd Do many gode werkes / and speke fewe iangles /

[651] After this comth the synne of Iapers / þat ben the devels Apes / for þey make folk to laugh at her Iaperye / as folk don at þe gawdes of ape / Soch iapes defendeth Seint Poule / [652] Loke How þat vertuous wordes and holy comforten hem

[6-text p 643] þat trauaillen in the seruice of Crist / right so comforten the veleyns wordes and knakkes of Iapers hem þat travaillen in þe seruice of the devill / [653] þise ben the synnes þat commen of the tunges þat commen of Ire / and other synnes moo.

Hic Ire tractus desinit / & remedium eiusdem Incipit/.

[654]

THe Remedye ayeinst Ire / is a vertue þat men clepen Mansuetude þat is debonairtee / and eke another vertue / þat men callen Pacience or suffraunce /

[655] Debonairtee withdraweth / and restreyneth / þe sterynges of þe meuynges of mannes corage in his hert/ in soch maner þat þey ne skippe nat out by angre ne bi Ire / [656] Suffraunce suffreth swetely all the anoysaunces / and þe wronges / þat men doon to man outward/ [657] Seint Ierom seith thus of debonairtee / þat it dooth noon harme to no wight/ ne seith ne for noon harme / þat men doon or seyn / he ne eschaufeth nat his reson [658] This vertue somtyme comth of nature / for as seith the Philosophre / A man is a qwyk thyng / by nature debonaire and tretable to godenesse But whan debonairtee is enfourmed of grace / þan is it þe more worth /

[659] Pacience / þat is another Remedye / ayeinst Ire / for it is a vertue þat suffreth swetely / euery mannes godenesse/ and nat wroth / for noon harme / þat is don to hym / [660] The Philosophre seith / þat Pacience ys thilk vertue / þat suffreth / debonairlye all the outrages of aduersitee / and euery wykked worde / [661] this vertue maketh a man lyke to god / and maketh hym goddes owen dere child / as seith Crist / this vertue discomfyteth thyn enemy And therfore seith the wise man yf þou wolt venqwyssh þyn enemy lerne to suffre [662] And þou shalt vnderstonde / þat man suffreth .iiij. maner

[6-text p 644] of thynges / and greuaunces / ayeinst þe which .iiij. he most have .iiij. maner of Paciences /

[663] The first greuaunce is / of wykked wordes tho suffred Ihesu Crist / without grucchyng full paciently / whan the Iewes despised hym / and repreued hym full ofte / [664] suffre þou þerfore paciently ffor the wise man seith/ yf þou stryve with a fooll/ þough þe fole be wroth or þough he laugh / all gate þou shalt haue no rest / [665] þat other greuaunce [Eg. 2726 folio 258a] Outward is to haue damage of thy catell/ þere ayeinst suffred crist full paciently / whan he was despoyled of all that he hadde in this lyf/ and that nas but his clothes / [666] The thirde greuaunce is / a man to haue harme in his body þat suffred Crist full paciently in all his passion / [667] The ferthe grevaunce is in outrageous labour in werkes / wherfore I seye þat folk þat maken her seruauntes to travaillen to greuously or out of tyme / as on holidayes / sothly they doon grete synne / [668] here ayeinst suffred Crist full paciently / and taught vs pacience / whan he bare vp-on his blissed sholder the crosse / vp-on which he suffred dispitous deth/ [669] Here men mow lerne to be pacient/ for certes nat onely cristen men ben pacient/ for þe love of Ihesu Crist / and for the gwerdon / of þe blisfull lyf / þat is perdurable / But certes þe old Payens / þat neuer were cristen commendeden and vseden þe vertue of pacience /

[670] A Philosophre vp-on a tyme þat wold haue bette his disciple / for his grete trespace / for which he was gretely ameved / and brought a yerde to skoure the childe / [671] and whan þe child sawe the yerd / he seid to his maister / what thynk ye to doo / I woll bete the koth þe maister / for thy correccion / [672] forsoth koth the child / ye ought first correcte your self/ þat han lost all your Pacience for the gilt of a childe / [673] forsoth koth þe maister all wepyng/ þou

[6-text p 645] seyst soth/ haue þou the yerde my dere son and correcte me / for myn Inpacience / [674] Of Pacience comth Obedience þurgh which a man is obedient to Crist/ and to all hem / the which he ought to be obedyent too / [675] And vnderstonde well þat obedience is perfite / whan þat a man doth gladly and hastely with gode hert entierly / all þat he shold do / [676] Obedience generally / is to perfourme hastely the doctrine of god / and of his soueraignes to which hym ought to be obeysant/ in all rightwosnesse /.

Hic Remedium contra Ire peccatum desinit & tractus Accidie Incipit.

[677]

After the synnes of Envye and Ire / now woll I speke of the synne of Accidie / for Envye blyndeth þe hert of man / and Ire troubleth a man / and Accidie maketh hym hevy / þoughtfull and wrawe [678] Envye and Ire maken bitternesse in hert/ which bitternesse is moder of Accidie/and benymmeth/hym þe loue of all godenesse / Than is Accidie the Angwyssh of troubled hert / And seint Austyn seith it is anoye of godenesse / and anoye of harme [679] Certes this is a dampnable synne for it doth wrong to Ihesu Crist/ in asmoch as it benymmeth the seruice / þat men doon to Crist / with all diligence As seith Salamon / [680] But Accidie doth no soch diligence / he doth all thyng with anoye / and with wrawenesse / slaknesse and excusacion / and with ydelnesse and vnlust/ for which the boke seith A-cursed be he / that doth þe ser|uice of god necligently / [681] þan is Accidie enemye [Eg. 2726 folio 258b] To euery astate of man / for certes the [blotch in MS.] man / is in .iij. maners [682] The first astate that is is the astate of Innocence / as was the state of Adam byfore þat he fell in-to synne / in which astate / he was holden to werche as in heryng and adhouryng of god / [683] Another astate is the astate of synfull men/in which astate/men ben holden

[6-text p 646] to labour in praying to god / for amendement of her synnes / and þat he woll graunt hem / to rise out of her synnes / [684] Another estate is / thestate of grace / in which astate / he is hold to do werkes of Penitence / And certes to all thise thynges / is Accidie enemye and con|trarie / for he loueth no besynesse at all/ [685] Now certes þis foule synne Accidye is eke a full grete enemye / to þe lyflode of þe body for it ne hath / no purveaunce ayeinst temporell necessitee / for it forsleutheth and for|sluggeth and destroyeth all godes temporels by rechelesnesse

[686] The .iiij^th thyng is þat Accidie [[The MS. repeats þat Accidie]] / is like hem þat ben in þe peyne of hell / by cause of her sleuth / and of her hevynesse / for þey þat ben Dampned ben so bound / þat þey mow neither wele do / ne wele þynk [687] Of Accidie comth first / þat a man is anoyed / and encombred for to do ony godenesse / and maketh þat god hath abhominacon of soch Accidie /

[688] Now comth Slouth þat woll nat suffre noon Hardnesse / ne no penaunce for sothly Slouth is so tender and so delicate / as seith Salamon / þat he woll nat suffre noon Hardnesse ne penaunce / and þerfore he shendeth all þat he doth [689] Ayeinst þis roten and hurted synne of Accidie and slouth shold men exercise hem self/andvse hem self/to do godewerkes and manly and vertuously / cacchen corage well to doo / thynk|yng þat our lord Ihesu Cryst qwyteth euery gode dede/ be it neuer so litle / [690] vsage of labour is a grete thyng/ for it maketh/ as seith Seint Bernard / the laborer to have strong Armes / and harde senewes / And slouth maketh hym feble and tendre [691] Than comth drede to begynne to werke ony gode werkes / for certes / he that is enclyned to synne / hym thynketh it is so grete an emprise / for to vndertake to do werkes of godenes / [692] and casteth in his hert / þat þe

[6-text p 647] circumstaunces of godenesse ben so greuous / and so chargeant for to suffre / þat he dare nat vndertake / to do werkes of godenesse / as seith Seint Gregorie /

[693] Now comth wanhope þat is dispeire of the mercy of god þat comth somtyme of to moch out|rageous sorow / and som tyme of to moch drede / ymagen|yng þat he hath doon so moch synne / þat it wold nat availl/ þough he wold repent hym and forsake synne / [694] thurgh which Dispeire or drede he haboundeneth all his hert/to euery maner synne/ as seith Seint Austyn / [695] which dampnable synne / yf þat it contynue vn-to his lyves ende / it is cleped synne in the hooly goost / [696] This horrible synne is so perlious / þat he þat is dispeired / þere nys no felonye ne no synne / þat he douteth for to doo. [Eg. 2726 folio 259a] As shewed wele by Iudas / [697] Ce[ink gone]ve all synnes / þan is this synne most displesant to Crist/ and moost [aduer]sarie / [698] Certes he that dispeyreth hym is like the Coward Champion/ recreant/ þat seith creaunt withouten nede Allas Allas nedeles is he recreaunt/ and nedeles dispeirant / [699] Certes þe mercy of god is euer redy / to the penitent / and is aboven all his werkes / [700] Allas can nat a man bethynk hym / on the gospell of Seint Luke .15. where as Crist seith/ þat aswele shall there be ioye in heven / vp-on a synfull man þat doth Penitence / þan vp-on .90. and .9. rightfull men / þat . . [no gap in the MS.] neden no Penitence / [701] loke ferther in the same gospell/ þe ioye and the feest / of þe gode man / þat hade lost his son / whan his son with repentaunce was retourned to his fader/ [702] kan they nat eke remembre hem / þat as seith Seint luke 23^o. how þat þe theef þat was hanged beside Ihesu Crist/ seid lord remember the of me / whan þou comst in-to thy reigne / [703] forsoth seid Crist/ I sey to þe to day / shalt þou be with me in paradys / [704] Certes þere is noon so horrible a synne of

[6-text p 648] man / þat it ne may in his lyf / be destroyed by penitence / þurgh vertue of the passion / and of þe deth of Crist/ [705] Allas what nedeth man þan / to be dispeyred / seth þat his mercy so redy is / and large / axe and haue / [706] Than comth Sompnolence / þat is sluggy slombryng/ which maketh a man be hevy / and dulle in body and soule / and þis synne comth of slouth / [707] and certes the tyme / þat by weye of reson / man shold nat slepe / þat is by þe morow but yf there were cause resonable / [708] for sothly in the morowtide / is most couenable / a man to seye his prayers / and for to thynk on god / and to honour god / and to yeve almesse to the pore / þat first comth in þe name of Crist/ [709] loo what seith Salamon / who-so woll by þe morow awake and seke me he shall fynde me [710] Than comth Necligence / or Rechelesnesse þat rekketh of no thing/ And how þat ignoraunce is moder of all harme Certes Necligence is the Norice / [711] Necligence ne doth no force / whan he shall do a thyng / whether he do it wele or badly

[712] Of Remedie of þise two synnes / as seith þe wise man / þat he þat dredeth god / he spareth nat to do / þat hym ought to do / [713] And he that loueth god / he woll do dyligence to please god / by his werkes / and abunden hym self/ with all his myght wele for to doo / [714] Than comth Ydelnesse / þat is þe yate of all harmes An ydell man is like a place / þat hath no walles / þere as deuels now entren on euery side / or shete at hym / at discouert by temptacon on euery side / [715] This ydelnesse is þe thurrok / of all wikked and veleyns thoughtes / and of all iangles / trifles / and of all ordre / [716] Certes þe heven is yeven to hem / þat woll labouren and nat to ydle folk / Eke Dauid seith / þey ne be nat in the labour of men / ne they ne shull nat ben whipped with men / þat is to sey in Purgatorie

[6-text p 649] [717] Certes þan semeth it that they shull ben turmented with the devill in hell / but yf þey [Eg. 2726 folio 259b] Do Penitence

[718] Than comth the Synne þat men clepen Traditas / as whan a man is to latered or tariyng/ or he woll turne to god / and certes þat is a grete folye / he is like hym / þat falleth in þe dyche / and woll nat arise / [719] and this vice comth of fals hope þat he thynketh / þat he shall lyve long / but þat hope fayleth full ofte

[720] Than comth Lacchesse / þat is he / þat whan he begynneth ony gode werk/ anone he shall forlete it/ and stynt/ as don þey / þat han ony wyght / to gouerne and ne taken of hem no more kepe / anone as they fynden / ony contrarie / or ony anoye [721] Thise ben þe new Sheperdes / þat leten her shepe wetyngly go renne / to þe wolf / þat is in the breres / or do no force of her owen gouernaunce / [722] Of this comth Pouertee and destruccion / both of spirituell / and temperell thynges Than comth a maner coldenesse / þat fressheth at þe hert of man [723] Than comth vndeuocion / thurgh which a man is blent/ as seith Seint Barnard / and hath soch langour in soule / þat he may neither rede ne syng in holy chirche / ne here ne thynk of no deuocion ne travaill with his hondes in no gode werke / þat it nys to hym vnsauerie / and all appalled [724] þan wexeth he slowe / and slombrye / and sone wold he wroth and sone is enclyned to hate / and to envye [725] Than comth the synne of worldly sorow / soch as is cleped Tristicia þat sleeth man / as seith seint Poule / [726] ffor certes soch sorow werketh to the deth of þe soule / and of the body / Also ferther / of þat comth / þat a man is anoyed of his owen lyf / [727] Wherfore soch sorow shorteth full ofte the lyf of man / or þat his tyme be com / by weye of kynde /.

[6-text p 650]

Hic tractus Accidie desinit & Remedium eiusdem Incipit/.

[728]

A Yeinst this horrible Synne of Accidie / and þe braunches of the same / there is a vertue þat is called ffortitudo or Strength / þat is an affeccion / þurgh which a man despiseth annoyous þynges / [729] this vertue is so myghty and so vigorous þat it dare withstonde myghtely and wisely kepe hym self / from perels / þat ben wykked and wrastle ayeinst the assawtes of the devell / [730] for it enhaunceth and enforceth the soule Right as Accidie abateth it / and maketh it feble ffor this ffortitudo may endure by long suffraunce / þe travailles þat ben couenable /

[731] This vertue hath many spices / The first is Magnanimitee / þat is to sey / grete corage ffor certes þere behoveth grete corage ayeinst Accidie / lest þat it ne swolow the soule by þe synne of sorow or destroye it / by wanhope / [732] this vertue maketh folk vndertake harde thynges / and greuous thynges / by her owen will/ wisely and resonablye / [733] And for|asmoch as the devill fyghteth / ayeinst a man [Eg. 2726 folio 260a] More by qweyntise and by sleight/ þan by strength/ þerfore shall man withstonde hym / by witte and by reson / and by dis|crecion / [734] þan are the vertues of feith and hope in god / and in his seyntes / to atteyne and accomplice the gode werkes in the which he purposeth fermely to contynue / [735] Than comth sewertee / or sekernesse / and þat is whan a man ne douteth no travaile / in tyme commyng / of þe gode werkes / þat a man hath bygon / [736] Than comth magnificence / þat is to sey / whan a man doth and perfourmeth grete werkes of godenesse / and that is the ende / why that men shold do gode werkes / for in the accomplisyng of grete gode werkes / lyth the grete gwerdon / [737] Than is þere Constaunce that is stablenesse of corage / and þis shold be in hert/ by stedfast feith and in mouth and in

[6-text p 651] beryng / and in chere and in dede / [738] Eke þer ben moo speciall remedies ayeinst Accidie in diuers werkes and in consideracions of the peynes of hell / and of þe Ioyes of heven / and in þe trust of þe grace / of þe holy goost/ þat woll yeve hym myght to perfourme his gode Intent/.

Hic Remedium Accidie desinit / & tractus Auaricie Incipit/.

[739]

After Accidie woll I speke of Auarice and of Covetise / Of which synne seith Seint Poule / þat þe Rote of all harmes is Couetise / ad thumotheum 6° [740] for sothly whan þe hert of man is confounded in it self/ and trouble / and þat þe soule hath lost þe comforte of god / þan seketh he an ydle place of worldly thynges /

[741] Auarice after þe discripcion of Seint Austyn is a lykerousnesse in hert to haue erthely thynges / [742] Som other folk seyn þat Auarice / is for to purchace many erthely thynges / and no þing yeve to hem þat han nede [743] And vnderstonde þat Auarice / ne stant nat onely by lond ne cattell/ but som tyme in science and in glorie / and in euery maner of outrageous thyng/ is Auarice and Covetice / [744] And þe difference bitwene Auarice and Couetice is þis / Couetyce is to coveit soch thynges as þou hast nat and Auarice is for to withhold and kepe / soch þynges as þou hast / without rightfull nede / [745] sothly þis Auarice is a synne / þat is full dampnable for all holy writte curseth it / and speketh ayeinst þat vice / for it doth wrong to Ihesu Crist / [746] for it byreveth hym þe love / þat men to hym owen / and turneth it bakward ayeinst/ all reson / [747] and maketh þat þe Auaricious man / hath more hope in his catell / þan in Ihesu Crist and doth more obseruaunce / in kepyng of his tresour / þan he doth to þe seruice of Ihesu Crist / [748] And therfore seith

[6-text p 652] Seint Poule ad Ephesios .i^o. þat an Avaricious man / is þe thraldom of Idolatrie /

[749] what difference [Eg. 2726 folio 260b] Is bitwene an Ydolastre and an Auaricious man / but that an ydolastre perauenture / ne hath but o Mawmet or two / and the Auaricious man hath manye / ffor certes euery ffloreyn in his coffre / is his mawemet / [750] And certes þe synne of Mawmettrye / is þe first thyng / þat god defended in þe .x commaunde|mentes / as bereth witnesse in Exodye c^o 20°. [751] þou shalt haue no fals goddes byfore me / ne þou shalt make to the / no grave thyng / þus is an Auaricious man / þat loveth his tresour byfore god / an ydolastre [752] þurgh this cursed synne of Auarice Of Covetise commen thise harde lordshipes þurgh which men ben distreyned by taillages / Custumes and cariages more þan her duetee / or reson is / and eke take þey of her bonde men amercimentes which myghten more resonablye be cleped extorcions than mercimentes [753] Of which mercymentes and rawnsomyng of bonde men Som lordes Stewardes seyn / þat it is rightfull for-asmoch as a Cherle hath no temperell/ thyng/ þat it ne is / his lordes / as þey seyn [754] But certes þise lordshipes don wrong þat by-reven her bonde folk/ thynges þat þey neuer yaaf hem / Augustinus de li^o. 9°. [755] Soth is / þat the condicion of thraldom / and þe first cause of thraldom. is for synne Genesis 9°.

[756] þus now ye see / that þe gylt / deserued thraldom / but nat nature / [757] wherfore thise lordes / ne shold nat mochell glorifye hem in her lordshippe seth that by naturell condicion / þey be nat lordes ouer thralles / but þat thraldom comth first/ by þe deserte of synne [758] And ferther ouer / þere as þe lawe seith/ þat temperell godes of bonde folk/ ben þe godes of her lordshipes / ye þat is for to vnderstonde þe godes of the Emperour to defenden hem in her right/ but nat for to robben hem / ne reve hem [759] And therfore

[6-text p 653] seith Seneca Thy Prudence shold lyve benignely with thy thralles / [760] þoo þat þou clopest / þy thralles ben goddes peple / for humble folk/ ben Cristes frendes / þey ben contubernyall/ with the lord /

[761] thynk eke þat of soch seed as cherles spryngen of soch seed spryngen lordes / as wele may þe Charle be saved as the lord / [762] the same deth / þat taketh þe Cherll/ soch deth taketh þe lord Wherfore I rede / do right so with thy Cherll/ as þou woldest þat þy lord did with the / yf þou were in his plite / [763] Euery synfull man is a cherl to synne / I rede þe certes / þat þou lord werke in soch wise with thy cherles þat þey rather love the and drede þe / [764] I wote wele there is degree aboue degree / as reson is / and skyll/ is / þat men doon her devoir þere as it is due But certes extorcions and despite of your vnderlynges / is dampnable /

[765] And ferther ouer vnderstonde wele þat conquerours or tyrauntes / maken full oft thralles / of hem þat ben born of as riall blode as ben þey þat hem conqweren [766] This name of Cherldam was neuer erst couth till þat Noe seid / þat his son Chayme shold [Eg. 2726 folio 261a] be thrall to his brethern / for his synne / [767] What sey we þan of hem / þat pelen and don extorcions / to holy chirche / Certes the swerd þat men yeven first to a knyght/ whan he is newe dubbed signefyeth / þat he shold defende holy chirche / and nat robbe it / ne pyl it / and who so doth is traytour to Crist/ [768] and as seith Seint Austyn / þey ben þe devels wolfes / þat stranglen þe shepe of Ihesu Crist/ and don wers þan wolves [769] for sothly whan a woolf/ hath full his wombe / he stynteth to strangle shepe / But sothly the pylours and destroy|ers of holy chirche godes / ne do nat soo / for they ne stynt neuer to pill/ [770] Now as I haue seid / seth so is / þat synne was first cause of thraldom / þan is it

[6-text p 654] thus / þat thylk tyme þat all þe world was in synne / þan was all the world in thraldom / and subieccion [771] But certes seth the tyme of grace cam / god ordeyned þat som folk / shold be more hye in estate and degree / and som folk more lowe / and þat euerycch shold be serued in his astate / . . [no gap in MS.] [772] and therfore in som cuntrees / þere þey ben thralles / whan þey han turned hem to þe feith þey make her thralles free / out of thraldom / and þerfore certes / þe lord oweth to his man / þat þe man oweth to his lord / [773] The pope calleth hym seruaunt of the seruauntes of god / but for-asmoch as the state of holy Chirche / ne myght nat have be / ne the commune profite / ne myght nat have be kept / ne pees and rest/ in erth / but yf god hade ordeyned þat som man hade hyer degree / and som man lower [774] þerfore was souerayntee was ordeyned to kepe and mayntene and de|fend her vnderlynges / or her subiectes / in reson / as fer|forth as lyeth in her power and nat to destroye hem ne confound / [775] wherfore I sey / þat þoo lordes / þat ben like wolfes þat devouren the possessions / or the catell / of poure folk wrongfully withouten mercy or mesure/ [776] þey shull resceyue by the same mesure / þat þey han mesured to poure folk/ the mercy of Ihesu Crist / but yf it be amended / [777] Now comth disceite bitwene merchaunt and merchaunt/ and þou shalt vnder|stonde / þat merchandise is in many maners / þat one is bodely and þat other is gostely / þat one honest and leefull / and þat other dishonest / and vnlieffull / [778] Of þat merchandise / þat is lieffull and honest / is this / þat there as god hath ordeyned þat a regne or a cuntree / is suffisant to hymself/ þan is honest and lieffull/ þat of habundaunce of þis Contre þat men help another contree / þat is more nedy [779] And þerfore þer mot be merchauntes / to bryng from þat oo contree to þat other her merch|andise

[6-text p 655] / [780] That other merchaundise / þat men haunt/ with fraude and trecherie / and disceyte with lesynges / and fals othes is cursed and dampnable / [781] Espirituel merchandise / is proprely Symonye þat is ententyf desire / to bye thyng espirituell/ þat is thyng that apperteneth to the Sentuarie of god / and to Onre of þe soule [782] þis desire / [Eg. 2726 folio 261b] Yf so be / þat a man do his diligence / to perfourme it/ all be it/ þat his desire take noon effecte / yitte is it to hym a dedely synne / and yf he be ordred He is irregulere / [783] Certes Symonye is cleped of Symond Magus / þat wold have bought for temperell gode / þe yift þat god hade yeven by þe holy goost to seint Petir / and to the Appostles / [784] And therfore vnderstonde / þat both he / þat selleth and he þat byeth / thynges espirituels / ben cleped Symonyales / be it by catell/ be it by procuryng / or by flesshly prayer / of his frendes / flesshly frendes or spirituell frendes / [785] flesshly in two maners as by kynrede or other frendes / sothly yf þey pray for hem / þat is nat worthy and able / it is Simonye / yf he take the benefice / and yf he be worthy and able / þere is none [786] That other maner is whan men or wommen / prayen for folk to avauncen hem onely / for wykked flesshly affeccion / þat þey han to the persones / and þat is foule Symonye / [787] But certes in seruice / for which men yeven thyng espirituell/ vn-to her seruauntes it mot be vnderstonde þat þe seruice mot ben honest / and elles nat/ and eke þat it be without bargeynyng / and þat þe persone be able / [788] ffor as seith Seint Damasie / all þe synnes of þe world at regarde of þis synne arn as a thyng of nought / for it is the grettest synne / þat may be / after ye synne of lucifere / and of Antecrist / [789] for by this synne / god forleseth þe Chirche / and þe soule / þat he bought with his precious blode / by hem þat yeven chirches to hem / þat ben nat digne / [790] for þey put in þefes þat

[6-text p 656] stelen þe soules of Ihesu Crist / and destroyen his patri monye / [791] by soch vndigne prestes and curates / han lewde men þe lesse reuerence / of þe sacramentes of holy chirche / And soch yevers of chirches putten out / the children of Crist / and putten in the devels owen son/ [792] þey sellen the soules þat lambes shold kepen / to þe wolf þat strangleth hem / and þerfore shull þey neuer haue parte / of þe pasture of lambes þat is the blys of heuen / [793] Now comth hasardrye with his appur|tenaunces as tables and raafles / of which comth disceite / fals othes / chidynges and all ravynes / blasfemyng and reneying / of god / and hate of his neighbours / wast of godes / myspendyng oft tyme / and somtyme man|slaughter [794] Certes hasardours ne mow nat be / without grete synne / . . . [no gap in MS.] [795] Of Auarice commen lesynges / theft / and fals witnesse / and fals oþes And ye shull vnderstonde / þat þise ben grete synnes / and expresse ayeinst þe commaundementes/of god/as I haue seid [796] ffals witnesse is in worde / and eke in dede / In worde / as for to byreve þy neighbours gode name by fals witnessyng/ or byreve hym / his catell/ or his heritage / by þy fals witnessyng/ whan þou for Ire / or for mede / or for envye / berest fals witnesse / or els ex|cuseth þy self falsly / [797] ware yow qwest-mongers and Notaries / Certes for fals witnessyng was [Eg. 2726 folio 262a] Susanna in full grete sorow and peyne / and many other moo/. [798] The synne of theft/ is eke expresse / ayeinst goddes heest/ in .ij. maners corporell or spirituell [799] [Corporell] as for to take thy neighbours catell/ ayeinst his will/ be it by force or by sleight/ be it by mete or by mesure / [800] By stelyng eke of fals endytementes / vp-on hym / and in borowyng eke of thy neighbours catell/ in entent neuere to paye / and semblable thynges / [801] Es|pirituell thynges / to stele; is sacrilegge / þat is to sey hurt|yng

[6-text p 657] of holy thynges / or of thynges sacred to crist/ in two maners by reson of the holy place as chirches or chirchehawes [802] ffor which euery vileyns synne / þat men doon / in soch places / may be cleped sacrilegge / or euery violence / in the semblable places / Also they that with-drawen the rightes þat longen to holy chirche / [803] And pleinly and generally sacrilegge is to reve holy thyng from holy place / or vnholy þyng out of holy place / or holy thyng out of vn|holy place /.

Hic Auaricie tractus desinit / & Remedium eiusdem Incipit/.

[804]

Now shull ye vnderstonde / þat þe Releuyng of Auarice is misericorde and pitee largely taken And men myght axe why / þat misericorde and pitee is relevyng of Auarice [805] Certes þe Auarous man sheweth no pitee ne misericorde / to þe nedefull man / for he deliteth hym / in the kepyng of his tresour and nought in the reskewyng ne relevyng of his even cristen / And therfore speke .I first of mysericorde / [806] . . . [no gap in MS.] as seith the Philosophre / a vertue / by which þe corage of a man is stered by the mysease of hym / þat is myseased [807] vpon which misericorde foloweth pitee in perfourmyng of charitable werkes / of misericorde [808] and certes thise meven men / to misericorde of Ihesu Crist / þat yafe hym self for our gilt / and suffred deth/ for misericorde / and foryave vs our originall synnes [809] and thereby relesed vs / from þe peyne of hell/ and amenused the peynes of Purgatorie by Penitence / and yeveth grace wele to do / and at the last the ioye of heuen [810] The spices of misericorde ben as for to love and for to yeve / and to foryeve and relees / and for to haue pitee in hert/ and compassion of the myschief of his

[6-text p 658] even cristen / and eke chastise þere as nede is / [811] Another maner of remedy ayeinst Auarice is resonable largesse / but sothly here byhoueth/ þe con|sideracion of the grace of Ihesu Crist / and of his temperell godes / and eke of þe godes perdurables / þat Crist yave vs / [812] and eke to haue remembraunce of þe deth þat he shall resceyve he note whan / and eke þat he shall forgoo all that he hath/ save onely þat he hath dispended in gode werkes /

[813] But for-asmoch / as som folk / ben mesur|able / men ought eschewe foollargesse þat men clepen waste / [814] Certes [Eg. 2726 folio 262b] He þat is fool-large / he yeveth nat his catell/ but he leseth his catell sothly / what thyng that he yeveth / for veyne glorie / as to mynstrals / and to folk to bere his renoun / in þe world he hath synne and noon almesse [815] Certes he leseth foule his gode / þat he seketh with þe yift of his gode no þyng but synne / [816] he is like an hors / þat rather seketh to drynk drovy water or trouble þan for to drynk water of þe clere well/ [817] And for-asmoch/ as þey yeven þere as þey shold nat yeven / to hem apperteneth þe malison / þat crist shall yeve at þe day of dome / to hem þat shull be dampned.·.

Hic Auaricie Remedium desinit & tractus Gule nunc Incipit /.

[818]

AFter Auarice comth Glotonye / which is expresse ayeinst the commaundement of god / Glotonye is vnmesurable appetite to ete / or drynk / or elles to do ynough to vnmesurable appetite or disordeyne Couetise / to ete or to drynk / [819] þis synne cor|rumpeth all þis werld as is wele shewed / in the synne of Adam / and of Eve / lo eke what seith seint Poule of Glotonye / [820] many seith seint Poule goon / of which

[6-text p 659] I haue oft seid to yow / and now I sey yitte wepyng/ to hem þat ben þe enemyes of þe crosse / of Crist / Of which þe ende is deth / and of which/ her wombe is her god and her glorie in confusion of hem / þat so deuouren erthely þynges [821] He þat is vsant to this synne of glotonye he ne may no synne withstonde he mot be in seruage to all vices / for it is the devels horde / þere he hideth hym and resteth / [822] this synne hath many spices / þe first is dronkenesse þat is þe horrible sepulture of mannes reson / and þer|fore whan a man is drunken / he hath lost his reson / and this is dedely synne / [823] But sothly whan þat a man is nat wont / to stronge drynk / and perauenture ne knoweth nat / the strength of þe drynk / or hath feblenesse in his hede / or haue travailled þurgh which he drynketh þe more / all be he sodenly caught with drynk it is no dedely synne / but veniall/ [824] The secunde spice of glotonye is / þat þe sperit of a man / wexeth all trouble / for dronkenesse/and byreveth hym the discrescion of his witte / [825] The iij^de. spice of Glotonye is/ whan a man devoureth his mete / and hath no maner of rightfull etyng / [826] The iiij^th is whan thurgh þe grete habund|aunce of his mete / þe humours in his body ben dis|tempered [827] The fyfte is foryetefulnesse / by to moch drynkyng for which som tyme a man / forgeteth or þe morow what he did at even or on the nyght byfore

[828] In oþer maners ben distynct / þe spices of Glotonye after Seint Gregorie / þe first is for to ete by|fore tyme to ete / þe secund is whan a man gete hym to delicate mete or drynk / [829] the thirde is whan men taken to moch ouere mesure / The iiij^th is Curiositee with grete Intent/ to make and apparaill/ his mete / The fyfthe is / for to ete to gredely [830] [Eg. 2726 folio 263a] Thise ben the fyngers / of the devels Hand / by Which he draweth folk to synne /.

[6-text p 660]

Hic tractus Gule desinit / et Remedium eiusdem Incipit/.

[831]

Ayeinst Glotonye is the Remedye of Abstinence / as seith Galyen but þat hold I nat meritorye / yf he do it onely / for hele of þe body Seint Austyn woll þat Abstinence be don / for vertue / and with pacience [832] Abstinence is litle worth / but yf a man haue gode wille there-to / and but it be enforced by Pacience / and by charitee / and þat men doon it for goddes sake / and in hope to haue the blysse of heven /

[833] The felawes of Abstinence ben attemper|aunce þat holdeth the meynee / in all thynges / Eke Shame that escheweth all dishonestee / Suffisaunce þat seketh no riche metes ne drynkes ne doth no fors of to outrageous apparaylyng of mete / [834] Mesure also / þat restreyneth by reson þe dislaue appetite of etyng/ Sobernesse also þat restreyneth þe outrage of drynk / [835] Sparyng also / þat restreyneth þe delicate case to sitte long at his mete and softly wherfore som folk stonden of her owen will / to ete at lesse leiser ./.

Hic Remedium Gule desinit / & tractus Luxurie Incipit

[836]

After Glotonye than comth lecherie / for þise two synnes ben so nye Cosyns / þat oft tyme þey woll nat departe / [837] god wote þis / synne / is full displesant thyng to god / for he seid hym|self / do no lecherie / and therfore he put grete peynes / ayeinst this synne / in þe old lawe [838] yf a wom|man thrall were and taken in this synne / she shold be beten with staves to þe deth / And yf she were a gentill womman she shold be slayn with stones And yf she were a bisshoppes doughter / she shold be brent by goddes commaundement / [839] fferther-ouer by the synne of lecherie / god dreynt all the world at the

[6-text p 661] deliuye and after þat he brent .v. Citees / with þonder leyte / and sonke hem in-to hell/

[840] Now let vs speke than of þat stynkyng synne of lecherie / þat men clepen Avoutree of wedded folk/ þat is to seye / yf þat one of hem be wedded or elles both / [841] Seint Iohn seith þat Avouterers shull ben in hell in a stynk brennyng of fire / and of brymstone / in fire for her lecherie / in brymstone for þe stynk of her ordre [842] Certes þe brekyng of this sacrament / is an horrible thyng / it was made of god hym-self in Paradys / and confermed by Ihesu Crist / as witnesseth Seint Mathew in the gospell / A man shall lete fader and moder / and take him to his wyf / and they shull be two in oo flessh / [843] þis sacrament bytoken|eth the knettyng to-geder of Crist/ and of holy Chirche [844] and nat onely þat / [Eg. 2726 folio 263b] God forbade Aduoutre in dede / but eke he commaunded þat þou sholdest nat coueyte thy neighbours wyf/ [845] In this Heste seith seint Austyn / is forbode all maner Couetise / to do lecherie lo what seith Seint Mathewe in þe gospell/ that who-so seeth a womman / to Couetise of his lust/ he hath don lecherie with hir in his hert / [846] Here now ye se / þat nat onely / the dede of þis synne is forboden / but eke the desire / to do þat synne / [847] This cursed synne anoyeth greuously hem / þat it haunten / and first to her soule / for he obligeth it to synne / and to peyne of deth / þat is perdurable / [848] vn-to þe body / anoyeth it greuously / for it drieth hym / and wasteth hym / and shent hym/. and of his blode he maketh sacrifice to the feend of hell/ it wasteth eke his catell/ and his substaunce/ [849] And certes yitte / yfit be a foule thyng/ a man to waste his catell on wommen / yitte / it is a fouler thyng/ whan þat for soch þyng wommen dispenden vp-on men her catell and substaunce / [850] this synne as seith the prophete byreveth man and womman / her gode fame / and all her honour / and it is full plesaunt to þe devell/ for þere-by

[6-text p 662] wynneth he / þe most partie of this world [851] And right as a Merchaunt / deliteth hym moost in chaffare / þat he hath most auauntage of / right so the fende deliteth in this ordure /

[852] þis is that other hande of the devill with .v. fyngers to cacche the peple to his velanye / [853] The first fynger is / þe foole lokyng on the foole womman / and of þe fool man þat sleeth right as the Basilicok / sleeth folk by the venymous lokyng/ for the Couetise of yien folowen þe Covetise / of þe hert/ [854] The secund fynger is þe veleyns touchyng/ in wikked maner And therfore seith Salamon þat who-so toucheth and handleth a womman / he fareth like hym þat handleth the Scorpion / þat styngeth and sodenly sleeth þurgh his envemenyng / And who-so toucheth warme pycche / it shent his fyngers / [855] The thirde is foule wordes / þat fareth lyke fire / þat right anone brenneth þe hert/ [856] The .iiij^th is the kissyng/ and truely he were a grete fole / þat wold kisse the mouth of a brennyng oven / or of a fourneys / [857] And more fooles ben þey þat kissen in velanye / for þat mouth / is the mouth of hell/ And namely thise old dotardes / holours yitte woll they kisse / þough þey may nought do ne smater hem. [858] Certes þey ben like to houndes / ffor an hound whan he comth by þe roser / or by other beautees / þough he may nat pisse / yitte woll he heue vp his legge / and make a coun|tenaunce to pisse / [859] And for þat many man weneth þat he may nat synne for no likerousnesse þat he doth with his wyf / Certes þat Opynyon is fals / god wote a man may slee hym-self / with his owen knyf / and make hym self dronken of his owen ton / [860] Certes be it wyf/ be it child / or ony worldly thyng [Eg. 2726 folio 264a] That he loveth byfore god / it is Mawmette / and he is an Ydolastre [861] Man shold loue his wyf by discrecion paciently and attemprely / and þan is she / as though it

[6-text p 663] were his suster [862] The .v^ta. fynger of the devels hande is the stynkyng dede of lecherie [863] Certes the .v. fyngers of glotonye / þe fende put in the wombe of man / and with his .v. fyngers of lecherie /. he grypeth hym by the Reines / for to throwe hym / in-to the fourneys of hell / [864] there as þey shull haue the fire and the wormes / þat euere shull lasten and wepyng and waylyng/ sharpe hunger and therst/ grymlynesse of devels / þat shall all to-trede hem / without respite and with|outen ende / [865] Of lecherie as I seid surden diuers spices / as fornicacion / þat is bitwene man and womman / þat ben nat maried and this is dedely synne / and ayeinst nature / [866] All þat is enemye and destruccion to nature / is ayeinst nature [867] Perfay the Reson of a man / eke telleth hym wele / þat it is dedely synne for-asmoch as god forbade lecherie / And seint Poule seith Yeveth hem the reigne / þat nys due to no wight/ but to hem þat don dedely synne / [868] Another synne of lecherie is / for to byreve a maide of hir maydenhede / for he þat so doth / Certes he casteth a maiden out of the hiest degre þat is in this present lyf/ [869] and byreveth hir þat precious fruyt/ þat the boke clepeth þe hundred-fold fruyt / I ne can sey it non otherwise in englyssh / but in latyn it hight Centesimus fructus / [870] Certes he þat so doth / is cause of many damages / and velanyes moo þan ony man can reken / Right as he som tyme is cause of all damage / þat bestes don in the fold / þat breken the hegge or the closure / þurgh which he destroyeth þat may nat be restored / [871] ffor certes no more may maydenhode be re|stored þan an arme / þat is smyten from the body may retourne ayein to wexe [872] She may haue mercy this wote I wele / yf she do Penitence / but neuer shall it be / þat she nas corrupte [873] And all be it so / þat I haue spoke som what of Auoutrie / it is gode to shewe mo perels þat longen to Auoutrie for to eschewe þat foule

[6-text p 664] synne [874] Auoutrie in latyn is for-to seye / Approchyng of other mannes / þurgh which thoo that whilom^* weren oo flessh Abundaunce her bodyes to other persones^* [875] Of this synne as seith the wise man folowen many harmes ffirst brekyng of feith/ And certes in feith / is the keye of Cristendom / [876] And whan þat feith is broken and lorn sothly Cristendom stant veyne / and without fruyt / [877] This synne is eke a theef/ for theft generally is for to reve a wight his þyng ayeinst his will/ [878] Certes þis is þe foulest theft/ þat may be / whan a womman steleth her body from hir housbond and yeveth it to hir holour / to defoule hir / and steleth hir soule from Crist/ and yeueth it to þe devill [879] This is a fouler theft/ þan for to breke a chirche / and stele the Chalice ffor thise Auoutries breken þe temple of god/ spirituelly and stelen [Eg. 2726 folio 264b] The vessell of grace / þat is the body and the soule / for which Crist shall destroye hem / as seith Seint Poule / [880] Sothly of this theft douted gretely Ioseph / whan that his lordes wyf/ prayed hym / of velanye / whan he seid. Lo my lady / how my lord hath take to me / vnder my warde / all þat he hath / in this world. ne no thing of his thynges / is out of my power but onely ye / þat ben his wyf / [881] And how shold I than do this wikkednesse / and synne so horribely ayeinst god and ayeinst my lorde / god it forbede / Allas all to lite / is soch trouth now yfound. [882] The thirde harme is the filth / thurgh which þey breken þe commaundement of god / and defoulen the Auctor of his matrimonye / þat is crist/ [883] for certes in so moch/ as the sacrament of mariage / is so noble and so digne / so moch is it grete synne for to breke it / ffor god made mariage in paradys in the state of Innocence to multiplie mankynde / to the seruyce of god / [884] and therfore is þe brekyng more greuous / of which brekyng comen fals heires oft tyme / þat wrongfully occupien folkes heritage / and therfore woll crist put

[6-text p 665] hem out of the regne of heuen / þat is heritage to gode folk/ [885] Of this brekyng comth eke oft tyme / þat folk vnware wedden or synnen / with her owen kynne / and namely thoo harlottes / þat haunten bordels of þise fool wommen /þat mowen be lykkened to a commune gonge / where as men purgen her ordure / [886] what sey we eke of Putours / þat lyven by þe horrible synne of Puterie / and constreyne wommen / to yeld hem a certein rent/ of her bodely Puterye / ye somtyme [[MS. repeats of his bodely puterye / ye som tyme]] of his owen wyf / or his child / as don thise baudes / Certes thise ben cursed synnes / [887] vnderstonde eke / þat auoutrie is sette in the .X. commaundementes / bitwene theft and man|slaughter / for it is the grettest theft þat may be / for it is theft of body and soule [888] and it is like homicide for it kerveth a two / and breketh a twoo / hem that first were maked oo flessh / And þerfore by þe old lawe of god they shold be slayn with stones / [889] Butnatheles by þe lawe of Ihesu Crist / þat is lawe of pitee / whan he seid to the womman / þat was founde in auoutrie / and shold haue be slayn / with stones / after the will of the Iewes / as was her lawe / Go koth Ihesu Crist / and haue no more will to synne / or will no more to do synne / [890] Sothly the vengeaunce of Auoutrie is awarded to the peynes of hell/ but yf it be distourbed by Penitence [891] yitte ben there mo spices of this cursed synne / as whan þat oon [of] hem is religious / or elles both/ or of folk þat ben entred in-to ordre / as subdeken or preest/ or hospitilers / And euere the hier þat he is in ordre the gretter is the synne [892] The thynges þat gretely aggreggen her synne is the brekyng of her avow / of chastitee / whan he hath resceyued þe ordre / [893] And ferther-ouer soth it is / þat holy ordre / is chief / of all tresorie / [Eg. 2726 folio 265a] Of god / and his especiall signe / and mark of chastitee / to shewe þat þey ben ioyned to chastitee which þat is most precious lyf þat is / [894] And þise ordred folk / ben specially titled to god / and of the

[6-text p 666] speciall meynee of god / for which whan þey don dedely synne / þey ben especiall traytours of god / and of his peple / for þey lyuen of the peple / to praye for the peple / and while þey ben soch traytours / her prayer avayleth nat to the peple [895] Prestes ben Aungels / as by the dignitee / of her misterie / But forsoth seint Poule / seith þat Sathanas transfourmeth / hym in Aungell of light/ [896] sothly the preest þat haunteth dedely synne / he may be lykkened to the Aungell of derknesse / transfourmed the Aungell of light/ he semeth Aungell of light / but forsoth he is Aungell of derknesse / [897] Soch prestes ben the son of Belie / as sheweth in the boke of kynges / þat they weren the sonnes of Beliall/ þat is the devill / [898] Beliall is to sey without Iuge / and so faren they hem þynken þey ben free / and han no Iuge / no more þan hath a free Bole / þat taketh soch a Cow / as hym liketh in the toun / [899] So faren þey by wommen / for right as a free Bole / is ynough for all a toun / Right so is a wikked prest/ corrupcion ynough for all a paryssh / or for all a cuntree [900] Thise prestes as seith the boke ne kon nat þe misterie of presthode / shewe to þe peple ne god þey knowe nat / þey hold hem nat appayed as seith þe boke of soch flessh þat was to hem offred / but they toke by force þe flessh þat is rawe / [901] certes so thise old shrewes ne hold hem nat appayed of rosted flessh/ and sode flessh with which the peple feden hem / in grete reuerence but þey woll haue rawe flessh of folkes wyfes / and her doughters [902] And certes thise wommen þat consenten to her harlotrye / don grete wrong to Crist/ and to holy chirche / and all halowes / and to all soules / for þey byreve hym / all þise þat shold worshippe Crist/ and holy chirche / and praye for Cristen soules / [903] And þerfore han soch prestes and her lemmans eke / þat consenten to her lecherie / þe malison of all Cristen court/ till þey com to amendement/

[6-text p 667] [904] The thirde spice of Auoutrie is somtyme bitwene a man and his wyf / and þat is whan þey make no rewarde in her assemblyng/ but onely to her flesshly delite as seith Seint Ierom [905] and rekken nat/ of no thyng/ but þat þey ben assembled / by cause / þat þey ben maried/ all is gode ynough þynketh to hem / [906] but in soch folk / hath þe devill power / As seid þe Aungell Raphael to Thobye / for in her assemblyng / þey putten Ihesu Crist out of her hert/ and yeven hem self to all ordure / [907] The .iiij^th spice is / þe assemble of hem þat ben of her kynrede / or of hem þat ben of one affinitee / or elles with hem / with which her faders / or her kynrede han deled in the synne of lecherie / This synne maketh hem like to houndes / þat taken no kepe to kynrede [908] and certes parentele is in [Eg. 2726 folio 265b] Two maners either gostely or flesshly / gostely as for to delen with her gossibbes / [909] for right so as he þat engendreth a child is his flesshly fader right so is his godfader his espirituell/ for which a womman / may in no lesse synne / assemble with her gossipe / þan with hir owen flesshly broþere [910] The v^te spice / is þat habhominable synne / of which þat no man vnneth ought speke ne write / Natheles it is openly reherced in holy writte / [911] this cursednesse doon men and wommen in diuers intent / and in diuers maner / But þough þat holy writte speke of horrible synne / certes holy writte / may nat be defouled no more þan þe son þat shyneth on þe myxene / [912] Another synne / apperteneth to lecherie / þat comth in slepyng and þis synne comth oft to hem þat ben maydens / and eke to hem þat ben corrupte / and this synne men clepen Polucion / þat comth in .iij. maners / [913] som tyme of langwysshyng of body / for the humours ben to rank/ and to habundant in þe body of man / Som tyme for Infirmitee / for the feblenesse of þe vertue retentyf/ as phisik maketh mension Somtyme for surfet / of mete and drynk / [914] and somtyme of

[6-text p 668] veleyns þoughtes / that ben enclosed in mannes mynd / whan he goth to slepe / which may nat be without synne ffor which men most kepe hem wisely / or elles mow men synne full greuously. /

Hic tractus Luxurie desinit & Remedium eiusdem Hic Incipit ./.

[915]

Now comth the Remedie ayeinst lecherie / and þat is generally Chastite and continence / þat re|streyneth all þe disordeyne mevynges þat commen of flesshly talentes [916] and euer the gretter merite shall he haue / þat moste restreyneth the wykked chauf|ynges or ordure of this synne / and this is in two maners / þat is to sey Chastitee of mariage and chastitee of wydowhode [917] Now shalt þou vnderstonde / þat matrimonye is leefull assemblyng of man / and of womman / þat resceyuen by vertue of the sacrament/ þe bonde þurgh which þey mow nat be departed / in all her lyf / þat is to sey / while þat they lyven / both/ [918] þys as seith the boke / is a full grete sacrament/ god made it in Paradys as I haue seid byfore / and wold hym self/be born in mariage / [919] And for to halowen mariage / he was at a weddyng / where as He turned water in-to wyne / which was þe first myracle / þat he wrought in erthe byfore his disciples / [920] Trewe effecte of mariage clenseth ffornicacion / and replenyssheth / holy chirche / of gode lynage for þat is the ende of mariage / and it chaungeth dedely synne in-to veniall synne / bitwene hem / þat ben ywedded / and maketh þe hertes all one of hem þat ben wedded / as wele as the bodies / [921] þis [Eg. 2726 folio 266a] Is Verray mariage / that was establysshed by god / or that synne bygan whan naturell lawe was / in his right poynt in Paradys/ and it was ordeyned þat no man shold have but oo womman / and oo womman but oo man / As seith Seint Austyn by many resons /

[922] ffirst for mariage is first figured bitwene Crist and

[6-text p 669] holy chirche / And þat oþer is for a man is hede of a womman / all-gate by ordynaunce it shoold be soo / [923] for yf a womman hade mo men þan oon / þan shold she haue mo hedes þan oon / and þat were an horrible thyng byfore god / and eke a womman ne myght nat plese to many folk at ones / And also þere ne shold neuer be pees ne rest amonges hem / for euerycch wold axe his owen thyng / [924] And ferther-ouere / no man ne shold knowe / his owen en|gendrure / ne who shold haue his heritage / and þe womman shold be the lesse beloved from þe tyme þat she were conioynte to many men /

[925] Now comth how þat a man shold bere him with his wyf / and namely in two thynges / þat is to seye in suffraunce / and reuerence as shewed Crist / whan he made first womman [926] for he ne made hir nat / of the heved of Adam / for she shold nat clayme to grete lordshipe / [927] for there as þe womman hath the maistrie / she maketh to moch disraye There neden noon ensaumples / of this / þe experience of day by day ought suffice / [928] Also certes god ne made nat/ womman of the fote of Adam / for she ne shold nat be holden to lowe / for she can nat paciently suffre / But god made womman of the ribbe of Adam / for womman shold be felawe vn-to man / [929] Man shold bere hym to his wyf/ in feith in trouth / and in love / as seith Seint Poule / þat a man shold love his wyf / as crist loved holy chirche / he loved it so wele / þat he dyed for it / so shold a man for his wyf / yf it were nede /

[930] Now how þat a womman shold be subgette to hir housbond þat telleth Seint Petir / in obedi|ence / [931] and eke as seith þe decree / A womman þat is wyf / as long as she is a wyf / she hath noon auctoritee to swere ne to bere witnesse / without leve of hir housbond / þat is hir lorde allgate he shold be soo by reson / [932] She shold eke serue hym in all

[6-text p 670] honestee and ben attempre of hir array / I wote wele / þey shold sette her intentes to plese her hous|bondes / but nat by her qweyntise of arraye [933] Seint Ierom seith / þat wyfes þat ben apparayled in silk/ and in precious purpure / ne mow nat clothen hem in Ihesu Crist / loke what seith Seint Iohn eke in this mater [934] Seint Gregorie eke seith / þat no wight seketh precious array / but onely for vayneglorie to ben honoured the more byfore the peple / [935] it is a grete folie / a womman to haue a faire array outward / and in hir self foule inward [936] A wyf shold eke be mesurable in lokyng/ and in beryng/ and in laughyng/ and discrete in all her wordes and hir dedes / [937] and aboue all worldly thyng she [Eg. 2726 folio 266b] Shold loue Hir housbond with all hir hert/ and to hym to be true of hir body [938] so shold an housbond eke be to his wyf/ for seth þat all the bodye is þe housbondes so shold hir hert ben / or elles þere is bitwene hem two / as in þat no perfite mariage / [939] Than shull men vnder|stonde / þat for thre thynges/ A man and his wyf / flesshly mowen assemble / The first is in intent/ of engen|drure of children to the seruice of god / ffor certes þat is þe cause fynall of matrimonye / [940] Another cause is to yelden euerycch of hem to other / þe dette of his body / for neither of hem / hath power of his owen body The .iij.^de is to eschewe lecherie and velanye The iiij^th is forsoth dedely synne [941] As to þe first/ it is meritorie / the secunde also / for as seith the decree / þat he hath merite of chastitee / þat yeldeth to her housbond þe dette of hir body / ye þough it be ayeinst hir likyng and þe lust of hir hert/ [942] . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] And truely scarsly may ony of thise be / without veniall synne for þe corrupcon and for the delite [943] The .iiij.^th maner is for to vnderstonde / as is they assemblen onely for amerous love / and for none of þe forseid causes / but

[6-text p 671] for to complyssh þylk brennyng delite / þey rek neuer how oft/ sothly it is dedely synne / and yitte with sorow / som folk woll peyne hem more to do / þan to her appetite suffiseth /

[944] The secunde maner of Chastitee / is for to ben a cleen wydow / and eschewe thembrasynges of man / and desiren thembrasyng of Ihesu Crist / [945] þise ben thoo / þat haan been wyfes and han forgoon her hous|bondes / and eke wommen þat haan doon lecherie / and ben releved by Penitence / [946] And certes yf þat a wyf coude kepe hir all chaast / by licence of hir housbond / so þat she yave neuer occasion / þat he agilt/ it were to hir a grete meryte/ [947] Thise manere wommen þat obseruen chastitee / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] in clothyng and countenaunce / Abstinent in etyng and drynkyng/ in spekyng and in dede And þan is she þe vessell or the booyst/ of the blissed magdalene / þat fulfilleth holy chirche full of gode odour [948] The thirde maner of chastitee / is virginitee / and hit byhoueth þat she be holy in hert/ and clene of body / þan is shee spouse to Ihesu Crist/ and she is þe lyf of Aungels / [949] she is þe preysyng of this world. and she is as thise martirs / in egalitee / she hath in hir þat tung may nat tell/ [950] virginite bare our lord Ihesu Crist/ and virgyn was hym-self /

[951] Another Remedye ayeinst lecherie is specially to withdrawe soch thynges / as yeven occasion to thilk veulanye as ese / etyng/ and drynkyng/ for certes whan þe pot boyleth strongly / the best remedye is to with|drawe þe fire [952] Slepyng long in grete quyete is eke a grete Norice to lecherie /

[953] Another remedye is ayeinst lecherie þat a man or a womman eschewe the companye of hem / by which he douteth to be tempted / for all be it so / þat þe dede be withstonden yitte is þere grete temptacon /

[6-text p 672] [954] Sothly a white wall/ all-þough it [Eg. 2726 folio 267a] Ne wenne nat fully / by stikkyng of a candell/ yitte is þe wall blak of the leyte / [955] full oft tyme / I rede þat no man trust in his owen perfeccion but he be strenger þan Sampson / or holyer than David and wiser than Salamon /

[956] Now after þat I haue declared yow as I can / the vij. dedely synnes / and som of her braunches / and her remedyes Sothly yf I coude I wold tell you / þe .x. commaundementes [957] but so hie a doctryne I lete to dyvynes / Natheles I hope to god / þey ben touched in this tretyce euerycch of hem all/.

Hi[c] Sequitur secunda pars Penitence. /:

[958]

Now for asmoch / as the secunde partie of Penitence stant in confession of mouth / as I began in the Chapitre I sey Seint Austyn seith [959] Synne is euery worde and euery dede and all þat men coveiten / ayeinst þe lawe of Ihesu Crist / And þis is for to synne / in hert in mouth and in dede by the .v. wittes / þat ben/ sight/ heryng/ smellyng tastyng or savouryng/ and felyng/ [960] Now it is gode to vnderstonde þat / þat agreggen mochell euery synne / [961] þou shalt consider what þou art/ þat doost the synne / whether þou be male or female yong or olde / gentill or thrall/ free or seruaunt / hoole or sike / wedded or sengle ordred or vnordred wise or fooll/ Clerk or seculer [962] yf she be of thy kynrede / bodely or gostely or noo / yf ony of thy kynrede haue synned with hir or noon / and many thynges /

[963] That other circumstaunce is this wheþer it be doon in fornycacion or in auoutrie or noon / incest / or noon Mayde or noon / in maner of homicide or noon / horrible grete synnes or smale and how long þou haast contynued in synne / [964] The thirde circumstaunce is the place where þou haast done synne / whether in other

[6-text p 673] mennes houses or in thyn owen / in feeld or in chirche / or in chirche hawe / in chirche dedicat/ or noon / [965] for yf the chirche be halowed / and man or womman spilt his kynde within þat place by weye of synne or by wikked temptacion þe chirche is entredyted / . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [966] and yf he were a preeet / þat did soch a velanye / to terme of all his lyf / he shold no more synge masse / and yf he did / he shold do dedely synne / at euery tyme þat he song masse / [967] The .iiij^th circumstaunce is / by soch media|tours / as by messagers / as for enticement/ or for consentment/ to bere companye with felaushipe / ffor many a wrecche for to bere companye / woll goo to the devill of hell / [968] for þey þat eggen or con|senten to the synne / ben partiners of the synne / and of þe dampnacion of the synner

[969] The .v^te. . . [no gap] is / how many tymes / þat he hath synned. yf it be in his mynde / and how oft þat he hath fall / [970] for he þat ofte falleth in synne / he despiseth the mercy of god / and encreceth his synne / [Eg. 2726 folio 267b] And is vnkynde to Crist/ and he wexeth the more feble to withstonde synne and synneth the more lightly / [971] and the latter ariseth / and is the more eschewe for to shryve hym / and namely to hym þat is his Con|fessour [972] ffor which þat folk/ whan they fall ayein / in her old folies / eyther þey forleten her old Confessours all vttrely / or elles they departen her shryft / in diuers places But sothly soch departed shryft/ deserueth no mercy of god / of his synnes / [973] The sexte circum|staunce is / why / þat a man synneth / as by temptacion / and hymself procure thilk temptacion / or by the ex|cityng of other folk / or yf he synne with a womman / by force / or by hir owen assent / [974] or yf þe womman maugre hir hede hath be aforced or noon / this shall she tell / for couetise or for pouertee / and yf it was hir procuryng or noon / and soch manere

[6-text p 674] harneys [975] The .vij^th. Circumstaunce is in what maner he hath doon his synne / or how þat she hath suffred þat folk han doon to hir / [976] and þe same shall man tell pleinly all circumstaunces / and whether he hath synned with commune bordell wommen or noon / [977] or doon his synne in holy tymes or noon / In fast|yng tyme or noon / or byfore his shryft/ or after his latter shryft/ [978] and hath perauenture broken therfore his penaunce enioyned by whoos help / and whoos counseill/ by sorcerie or Craft/ all most be tolde / [979] all thise thynges / after þat þey ben grete or smale / engreggen the conscience of man / And eke the preest/ þat is thy Iuge may þe better ben avised of his Iugement/ in yevyng of þy penaunce / and þat is after thy contricion [980] ffor vnderstonde wele þat after the tyme þat a man hath defouled his baptisme / by synne / yf he woll com to savacion / þere is noon other weye / but by Penitence and shrift/ and by satisfaccion / [981] and namely by the two / yf there be a Confessour to which he may shryue hym / and þe thirde / yf he may lyve to perfourme it /

[982] þan shull men loke and consider / þat yf he woll make a trewe and a profitable confession / þere most be .iiij. condicions [983] ffirst it mot bee in sorowfull bitternesse / of hert/ as seid the kyng Ezechiell / to god / I woll/ remembre me all the yeres of my lyf / in bytternesse of myn hert / [984] þis condicion of bitter|nesse hath .v. signes / þe first is þat confession most be shamefast/ nat for to keuer ne hide his synne but for he hath agylt his god / and defouled his soule / [985] And here-of Seith Seint Austyn þe hert trauaileth / for shame of his synne and for he hath a grete shamefastnesse he is digne to haue grete mercy of god / [986] soch was þe confession of the Publican / þat wold nat heve vp his yien to heven / for he hade offended god of heven / ffor which shamefastnesse / he hade anoon / the mercy of god / [987] And þerfore seith

[6-text p 675] Seint Austyn / þat soch shamefast folk / be next foryevenesse and remission / [988] That other signe is humilitee / of Confession of which [Eg. 2726 folio 268a] Seith Seint Petir / humbleth you vnder þe myght of god / þe hond of god is myghty in confession / for there-by god foryeveth þe þy synnes / for he allone hath the power / [989] and this humilitee shall ben in hert/ . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] right so shold he humble his body outward to the preest/ þat sitteth in goddes place / [990] for which in no maner seth þat Crist is soueraigne / and þe preest mene and mediatour / bi|twene Crist and þe synner it is þe last by weye of reson / [991] þan shold nat þe synner sitte as hie as his confessour / but knele byfore hym / or at his fete / but yf maladye destourbed it/ for he shall nat take kepe whoo sitte þere / but in whoos place þat he sitteth/ [992] A man þat hath trespaced to a lorde / and cam for to axe mercy / and maken his accorde / and he sette hym doun anoon by the lord men wold hold hym outrageous / and nat worthy so sone for to haue remission / ne mercy / [993] The thirde signe is / þat þe shrift shold be full of teres / yf men myght/and yf þey mow nat wepe with her bodely yien/ let hem wepe in hert/ [994] Soch was þe confession of Seint Petir / for after þat he hadde forsake Ihesu Crist/ he went out and wept full bitterly [995] The .iiij^th. signe is / þat he ne lette nat for his shame to shewe his confession [996] soch was þe confession of þe magdalene þat ne spared for no shame of hem / þat weren at þe feest/ for to goo to our lord Ihesu Crist/ and byknowe to hym hir synne. [997] The .v^te. signe is þat a man or womman / be obeysant/ to resceyue the penaunce / þat hym is enioyned. for certes Ihesu Crist / for þe gilt of oo man / was obedient to the deth

[998] The secunde condicion of verray confession is þat it be hastely doon / for certes yf a man hade a dedely wound euer þe lenger þat he tarieth to warissh

[6-text p 676] hym-self/ þe more wold it corrupte / and haste hym to his deth / and eke þe wound wold be þe wors for to hele / [999] and right so fareth synne þat long tyme is in a man vnshewed. [1000] Certes a man ought hastely shewe his synnes for many causes / as for drede of deth / þat comth oft sodenly and at no certeyn / what tyme it shall / be / ne in what place and eke þe drecchyng of oo synne draweth in another / [1001] and eke þe lenger þat he tarieth þe ferther he is from Crist/ And yf he abide till his last daye / scarsly may he shryve hym / or re|membre hym of his synnes / or repente for þe greuous maladye / of his deth [1002] And for-asmoch as he ne hath nat in his lyf herkened Ihesu Crist/ whan he hath spoken / he shall crye to Ihesu Crist at his last day / and scarsly woll he herken hym / [1003] And vnderstonde þat þis condicion most have .iiij. thynges / thy shryft most be purveid byfore / [Eg. 2726 folio 268b] And avised for wikked haast do no perfite / and þat a man kon shryve hym of his synnes / be it of Pride or of Envye / and so forth with þe spices and þe circumstaunces/[1004] and þat he haue comprehended in his mynde / þe nombre and þe gretnesse of his synne / and how long þat he hath/ lyen in synne / [1005] and eke þat he be contrite of his synnes / and in stedfast purpose / by þe grace of god / neuere eft to fall in synne / and eke þat he drede and countre-waite hym-self þat he flee the occasions of synne / to which he is enclyned / [1006] Also þou shalt shryve the of all thy synnes / to oo man / and nat a parcell to oo man / and a parcell to anoþere þat is to vnderstonde / in entent to departe thy confession / and for shame or drede / for it nys nat but stranglyng of þy soule / [1007] for certes Ihesu Crist is entierly all gode / in hym is noon inperfeccion and þerfore he foryeueth all perfitely / or neuer a dele / [1008] I sey nat þat yf þou be assigned to þy penytauncer / for certein synne / þat þou art bound to shewe hym / all þe remenaunt of thy synnes of which

[6-text p 677] þou hast ben shryven of thy curate / but yf it like the of thyn humilitee / þis is no departyng of shrift / [1009] ne I ne sey nat/ þere as I speke of diuision / of confes|sion / þat yf þou haue licence for to shryve the to a discrete and an honest preest/ where the liketh / and by licence eke of thy curate / þat þou ne maist wele shryve the to hym / of all thy synnes / [1010] but let no blotte be behynde / let no synne be vntold as fer as þou haast remem|braunce / [1011] And whan þou shalt be shryven to þy curate / tell hym eke all thy synne / þat þou haast doon / sen þou were last yshryven / this is no wikked intent of diuision of shryft/

[1012] Also þe verray shryft/ axeth certeins con|dicions / ffirst þat þou shryve the by thy free will / nat constreyned ne for shame of folk/ ne for maladye / ne soch thynges / for it is reson þat he that trespasseth / by his free will / he most by his free will confesse his trespace / [1013] noon other man shall tell / his synne / but he hym-self / ne he shall nay it / or denye his synne ne wratth hym ayeinst the preest/ for his ammonestyng to lete synne [1014] The secunde condicion is þat thy shryft be lawe-full þat is to sey / þat þou þat shryvest the / and eke the preest þat hereth thy confession be verrely In the feith of holy chirche [1015] and þat a man ne be nat dispeired of þe mercy of Ihesu Crist/ as Cayme or Iudas / [1016] and eke a man mot accuse hym-self of his owen trespace / and nat another but he shall blame and wite hym-self / and his owen malice of his synne and noon other / [1017] But natheles / yf þat another be occasion of his synne or the state of a persone be soch þurgh which he hath synned and þat his synne is agregged or els þat he may nat pleinly shryve hym / but he tell þe persone with which he hath synned / þan may he tell it [1018] so / þat his intent be nat to bakbite the persone but onely to declare his con|fession /

[6-text p 678]

[1019] þou ne shalt nat eke make no lesynges / in thy [Eg. 2726 folio 269a] Confession / for humilitee perauenture to seye / þat þou haast do synnes / of which þou were neuer gilty [1020] ffor seint Austyn seith yf þou by cause of humylitee makest lesynges / on thy self/ þough þou ne were nat in synne byfore yitte art þou in synne / þurgh þy lesynges / [1021] þou most eke shewe thy synne / by thyn owen propre mouth / but þou be woxe doumbe / and nat by no lettre / for þou þat hast doon þe synne / þou shalt haue the shame / [1022] Thow shalt nat eke paynt thy confession / by faire subtile wordes / to kouere þe more thy synne for þan begilest þou þy-self / and nat þe preest/ þou most tell it platly / be it neuer so foule / ne so horrible / [1023] þou shalt eke shryve the to a preest/ þat is discrete to counceill the / and eke þou shalt nat shryve the for vaynglorie ne for Ypocrisie / ne for no cause / but onely for the doute of Ihesu Crist / and the hele of thy soule / [1024] thow shalt nat eke renne to the preest sodenlye / to tell hym lightly thy synne / And who-so telleth a Iape or a tale but avisely and with grete deuocion / [1025] and generally shryve the oft / yf þou oft falle / oft yf þou arise by confession / [1026] and þough þou shryve þe ofter þan ones of syn of which þow hast be shryven it is the more merite And as seith Seint Austyn / þou shalt haue the more lightly releesyng / and grace of god both of synne and of peyne / [1027] and certes ones a yere / at þe leste weye / it is lawefull / for to be housled for sothly all thynges ones a yere renovellen /

[1028] Now have I told of verrey confession / þat is þe secunde partie of Penitence / [[no break in the MS.]]

[6-text p 679]

[1029] The thirde partie of penitence is Satisfaccion and þat stant most generally in almesse / and in bodely peyne / [1030] Now ben there thre maner of Almesse Contricion of hert/ where a man offreth hym-self to god / Another is / to haue pitee of the defaute of his neighbours The thirde is in yevyng gode counceill / both gostely and bodely / where men han nede / and namely in sustenaunce of mannes fode / [1031] And take þat a man þat he hath nede of / Of thise thynges generally he hath nede / of fode he hath nede / clothyng and herborow / he hath nede of charitable counseill / and visityng in prison and maladye / and sepulture of his dede bodye / [1032] And yf þou maist nat visite the nedefull / with thy persone visite hym by thy message / and thy yiftes / [1033] Thise ben generall almesses or werkes of charitee of hem that ben riche in temperall richesse / or discrecion in counseillyng of thise werkes shalt þou heren / at the daye of dome /

[1034] Thise almesses shalt þou doo of thyn owen propre thynges / and hastely and priuely yf þou maist/ [1035] But natheles yf þou maist nat do priuely þou shalt nat forbere to do almesse / þough men se it/ so þat it be nat doon for thank of the world but onely for thank of Ihesu Crist/ [1036] for witnesseth Seint Mathew capitulo 5^o A citee may nat be hide / þat is sette on a mountayne / Ne men light nat a lanterne and put it vnder a busshell but men sette it on a Candel|stykke / to light the men in þe hous / [1037] [Eg. 2726 folio 269b] Ryght so shall your light / lyghten byfore men / þat þey mow see your gode werkes / and glorifye your fader þat is in heven

[1038] Now as to speke of bodely peyne / it stant in prayers in wakynges in fastynges in vertuous

[6-text p 680] techynges or orisons / [1039] ye shull vnderstonde / þat orisons or prayers / is for to seye / a pitous will of hert/ þat redresseth it in god / and expresseth it by worde outwarde to remeve harmes / and to haue thynges espirituell and durable / and somtyme temperell thynges / of which orisons / certes in the Orison of the Pater noster hath Ihesu Crist enclosed most thynges [1040] Certes privyleged it is of the thynges in his dignytee / for which it is more digne than ony prayer / for þat Ihesu Crist hym self made it/ [1041] and it is short/ for it shold be couthe more lightly / and for to withholde it/ more esely in hert/ and help hym self þe ofter with the orison / [1042] and for a man shold be þe lasse werie to seye it / and for a man / may nat excuse hym to lerne it/ it is so short / and so esy / and for it comprehendeth in it self all gode prayers [1043] The exposicion of this holy prayer / þat is so excellent and digne I betake to the maisters of Theologie / save þus moch woll I sey / þat whan þou prayest / þat god shold foryeve the thy giltes / as þou foryeuest/ hem þat agylten to the / be full wele ware / þat þou ne be nat out of charitee / [1044] This holy orison amenuseth eke veniall synne / and þerfore it apperteneth specially to Penitence /

[1045] this prayer most be truely seid and in verrey feith and þat men praye to god ordinatelye and dis|cretely and deuoutly / and all-weye a man shall putte his wille to be subgette to þe will of god. [1046] this orison most eke be seide with grete humblesse and full pure honestly and nat to the anoysaunce of ony man or womman / it most eke be contynued with the werkes of charitee / [1047] it auayleth / ayeinst þe vices of þe soule ffor as seith Seint Ierom by fastyng ben salved þe vices of þe flessh and by prayer / the vices of the soule

[1048] After this þou shalt vnderstonde / þat bodely peyne stant in wakyng for Ihesu Crist seith waketh and prayeth/ þat ye ne entre in wykked

[6-text p 681] temptacion / [1049] ye shull vnderstond þat fast|yng stant also in thre thynges / in forberyng of bodely mete and drynk and in forberyng of worldly iolitee / and in for|beryng of dedely synne / þis is to sey þat a man shall kepe hym from dedely synne with all his myght /

[1050] And þou shalt vnderstonde eke / þat god ordeyned fastynges / and to fastyng appertenen iiij. thynges / [1051] largenesse to poure folk / gladnesse of hert spirituell/ nat to be angrye ne anoyed ne grucche for he fasteth and also resonable houre for to ete by mesure / þat is for to seye / a man shold nat ete in vntyme / ne sitte the lenger at his table to ete for he fasteth

[1052] Than shall þou vnderstonde / þat bodely peyne stant in disciplyne or techyng by worde or by writyng or in ensaumple also in weryng of heires or of stamyn or of habergeons on her naked flessh [Eg. 2726 folio 270a] ffor Cristes sake / and soch manere of penaunces [1053] But ware þe wele þat soch maner penaunces / on thy flessh ne make nat thyn hert bitter or angrye / or anoyed of thy self / for better is to cast awey þyn heire þan for to cast aweye [[MS. repeats the heire þan for to cast awaye, but draws a line under it.]] the swet|nesse of Ihesu Crist [1054] And therfore seith Seint Poule / Clothe yow as þey þat ben chosen of god / in hert of misericorde / debonairtee suffraunce / and soch maner of clothyng of which Ihesu Crist is most appayed þan of his heyres or habergeons or hawberkes /

[1055] Than is disciplyne eke in knokkyng of þy brest/ in scourgyng with yerdes / in knelynges in tribulacions / [1056] in suffryng paciently wronges / þat ben don to hym / and eke in pacient suffraunce of maladyes / or lesyng of worldly catell/ or of wyf / or of child / or other frendes /

[1057] Than shalt þou vnderstonde which þynges destourben penaunce and þis is in .iiij. maners / þat is drede shame hope and wanhope / þat is desperacion [1058] And for to speke first of drede for which he

[6-text p 682] weneth þat he may suffre no penaunce / [1059] there|ayeinst is remedye / for to thynk þat bodely penaunce is but shorte and litle / at regarde of þe peyne of hell/ þat is cruell and so long / þat it lasteth withouten ende /

[1060] Now ayeinst the Shame / þat a man hath to shryve hym / and namely thise Ypocrites þat wold be holden so perfite / þat þey haue no nede to shryve hem [1061] ayeinst/ þat shame shold a man þynk þat by weye of reson þat he þat hath nat ben a-shamed to do foule thynges Certes hym ought nat be ashamed to do faire thynges and þat is confessions / [1062] A man shold eke thynk / þat god seeth and woteth all thing þy thoughtes and all thy werkes / to hym may no thing be hidde / ne covered [1063] Men shold eke remembre hem of þe shame þat is to com / at þe day of dome to hem þat ne be nat penitent and shryven in this present lyf [1064] ffor all þe creatures in erthe and in hell shull seen appertely all þat he hideth in this world

[1065] Now for to speke of þe hope of hem / þat ben necligent/ and slowe to shryve hem / it stant in two maners [1066] þat one is / þat he hopeth/ for to lyve long/ and for to purchace moch ricchesse for his delite / and þan he woll shryue hym and as he seith/ he may as hym semeth þan tymely ynough / com to shryft/ [1067] Another is of Surquydrie þat he hath in cristes mercy / [1068] ayeinst þe first vice he shall thynk þat our lyf is in no sekirnesse / and eke þat all ther richesse in þis world ben in auenture / and passen as a shadow on a wall / [1069] And as seith Seint Gregorie / þat it apperteneth to þe rightwosnesse of god / þat neuer shall þe peyne stynt of hem þat neuer wold withdrawe hem / from synne her thankes / but ay contynue in synne / for thylk perpetuell will/ to do synne shull þey han perpetuell peyne /

[1070] Wanhope is in two maners / þe first wan|hope is / in þe mercy [Eg. 2726 folio 270b] Of Crist / that other is þat þey

[6-text p 683] thynken / þat þey myght nat long perseuere in gode|nesse / [1071] the first wanhope comth comth of þat he demeth/ þat he hath synned so gretely and so oft/ and so long lyen in synne / þat he shall nat be saved [1072] Certein ayeinst þat cursed wanhope shold he þynk þat þe passion of Ihesu Crist/ is more strong/ for to vnbynde / þanne synne is strong for to bynde / [1073] Ayeinst the secund wanhope / he shall thynk þat as oft / as he falleth/ he may arise ayein by penitence / and þough he neuere so long haue leye in synne / þe mercy of crist / is all-wey redy to resceyue him to mercy / [1074] Ayeinst þe wanhope þat he demeth/ þat he shold nat long perseuere in godenesse / he shall thynk/ þat þe feblenesse of the devyll may no þyng don / but men woll suffre hym/[1075] And eke he shall have strength of the helpe of god / and of all holy chirche / and of þe proteccion of Aungels / yf hym list/

[1076] Than shull men vnderstonde what is þe fruyt of penaunce and after the worde of Ihesu Crist/ it is the endeles blysse of heven / [1077] þe ioye hath no contraritee of woo ne greuaunce / þere all harmes ben passed of this present lyf / þere as is the sekirnesse / from the pyne of hell/ there as is the blisfull companye / þat reioysen hem euermoo euerycch of others ioye [1078] there as the bodye of man þat whilom was foule and derk/ is more clere þanne þe sonne / þere as þe body þat whilom was seke frele and feble and mortall/ is ymmortall/ and so strong/ and so hole / þat þere may no thing appeire it/ [1079] there as ne is neither hunger thirst ne colde / But euery soule replenysshed with the sight of þe perfite knowyng of god [1080] This blisfull/ regne mow men purchace by pouertee espirituell/ and þe glorie by lowe|nesse the plentee of Ioye / by hunger and therst/ and þe rest by trauaill/ and the lyf by deth and mortificacion of synne ./.

[6-text p 684]

Here the maker taketh His Leue /

[1081]

Now pray I to hem all / þat herken this litle tretice/ or reden þat yf there be ony thyng in it / þat liketh hem that þere-of þey thanken our lord Ihesu Crist / of whom procedeth all witte / and all godenesse / [1082] and yf þere be ony thyng þat displese hem I praye hem also arette it/ to the defaute of myn vnkonnyng / and nat to my will þat wold fayn haue seid better yf I hade connyng / [1083] for our boke seith/ all that is writen / is writen for our doctryne and þat is myn entent/ [1084] wherfore I beseche you mekely for þe mercy of god þat ye praye for me / þat crist haue mercy on me / and foryeve me my giltes [1085] and namely for my translacions and of enditynges of worldly vanitees [[The old MS. ends here; the rest of the text is in an 18th century hand. [Perhaps from MS. Laud K 50, from which the Tale of Gamelyn, in 8 leaves, was copied by the 18th century hand, and put into this Egerton MS. as leaves 56-63.] ]] [Eg. 2726 folio 271a] the which I revoke in my Retraxions [1086] As is the Book of Troylus, the Boke also of Fame, the Boke of y^e 25 Ladies, the Boke of the Duchesse, the Boke of Seint Valentyns day, of the Parlement of Briddes, the Tales of Cauntor|bury, thilke that sownen in-to Synne, [1087] the Boke of the Leon, & many other Bokes if thei wer in my remembrance. And many a Song, & many a lecherous lay. Criste for his mercy forgiffe y^e Synne. [1088] But of y^e Translacion of Boece de Consolacion, of other Bokes of Legendes of Seintes, and Omelies, and Moralite and Devocion, [1089] that thank I our Lord Ihesu Criste and his blessid Mother and all the Seintes of Heven, [1090] beseke hem that thei fro henes forth on to my Lyves end send me grace to be-weale my Giltes, and to stodien to the Savacion of my Soule, and greaunte me spase of veray penitence, con|fession

[6-text p 685] and satisfaccion, to don in this present Liffe, [1091] thorow the benigne grace of him that is Kynge of Kyngs and Prest of all Prests, that bough[t] us with the precious blod of his hert, [1092] So that I mot be on of hem at the day of Dome that shulbe saved.

Deo Gracias.

here endith the Canterbury Tales compiled by Geffrey Chaucer, of whose soule Ihesu Crist haue mercy. Amen. [[in red ink]]