doun the other man," or ellis thus: "O thou spere, throwe doun the other man." [The following words occur in the MS., being in part written on an erasure by a later (?) hand, but some still later corrector has drawn a pen through every line:—"And thanne ferther, if this speche is alloweable: 'Y preie thee, spere, throwe thou doun the other man,' this present vje. reule muste nedis be trewc, that it is alloweable and conuenient speche forto seie, 'That y preie thee, spere, that thou ouer|throwe the othir man.' "]
Certis these vj. reulis or supposiciouns ȝeuen suffi|cient and cleer iustifiyng to manye spechis and writ|ingis seid to crossis and of crossis. Forwhi if it be seid or writun to the same crosse in which Crist henge: "Thou, crosse, aȝenbouȝtist man," the dewe meenyng and vndirstonding ther of is this: "Sum persoon aȝenbouȝte man bi thee, crosse, in that that thou were an instrument forto aȝenbie man." And if it be seid or writun of the same crosse thus: "The crosse of Crist saued the world and clensid the world," the dewe vndirstonding ther of is this: "Crist bi his crosse as bi therto a seru|yng instrument saued the world and clensid the world." And if it be seid or writun to an other crosse sett vp in a chirche: "In thee the Sauiour of the world henge," the dew vndirstonding ther of is this: "In oon thing lijk to thee (or in oon thing, which thou representist,) the Sauiour of the world henge." And if to the same crosse in which Crist died it be preied thus: "O crosse of Crist, y preie thee helpe me and defende me and iustifie me," the dew vndirstonding her of mai be this: "O Crist, y preie thee helpe me and iustifie me bi thi crosse as therto the helping instrument." And herbi it is open that the dew vndirstonding of thilk preier bifore rehercid in the xiije. argument and conteyned in this ympne, Vexilla Regis prodeunt, et cætera,
