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Þen, ȝif þou leue þat þing þat þou art bounde to be wei of charite in riȝt & in resun, and wolt holli ȝiue þe to an oþur þing wilfulli as hit were for more plesaunce to god wȝuch þou art not bounde to fully: þou dost not worschipe
discretly to him. Þou art bisy to worschipe his hed & his face, & array hit fayre & curiously, but þou leuest his bodi, his armes & his feet, al ragged & rent & takest no kepe þerof. & þenne worschipest him nouȝt: ffor hit is a vilenye to a mon for to be curiousli arrayed vpon his hed wiþ perre & precious stones, & al his bodi be naked & bare as hit were a beggere. Riht so hit is, gostly, no worschipe to god þat his hed be keuered, & leue his bodi bare. Þow schalt vnderstande þat vre lord Ihesu Crist as man is hed of a gostly bodi, þe wȝuche is holy chirche. Þe limes of þis bodi are al cristen men. Summe are armes, and summe are feet, and summe are oþur limes, aftur diuerse worchynges þat þei vse in here liuing. Þenne ȝif þou be bisy wiþ al þi miȝt for to aray his hed, þat is for to worschipe him-self be mynde of his passion or of his oþur werkes in his manhede be deuocion & meditacion of him, and forȝetest his feet, þat are þi children, þi seruauns, þi tenans & al þin euencristen, & letest hem spille for defaute of keping, vnarayed, [vnkept], & not tended to as hem ouȝte for to be; þou plesest him nouȝt, þou dost no worschipe to him. Þou makest þe to cus his mouþ be deuocion of gostly preyere, but þou tredest vpon his feet & defoulest hem, in as muche as þou wolt not tende to hem for necclygence of þi-self of wȝuche þou hast take cure. Þus me semeþ. Neuerþeles ȝif þou þinke þat hit is not soþ, for hit were a fayr[er] offys to worschipe þe hed of him, as be ocupied al day in meditacion of his manhede, þen forto go lower to oþur werkes & make clene his
feet, as for to be bisy boþe in þouȝt & in dede aboute [þe] helpe [of] þin euen-cristen in tyme: me þinke not so as vn-to þe. For soþli he wol cun þe more þonk for meke wasschyng of his feet whon þei are riȝt foule & stynking vpon þe, þen for al þe preciouse peyntyng & araying þat þou can make aboute his hed be mynde of his monhede. For hit is fayr inouȝ & nedeþ not muche to be arrayed of þe. But his feet & his oþer lymes, þat are þi soiettes & þin euen-cristen, are sum-tyme vuel arayȝed and hadde nede to be loked & holpe be þe, namely seþ þou art bounden þerto; and for hem wol he cun þe moche þank, ȝif þou wole mekely & tenderly loke to hem. For þe more louh seruise þat þou dost to þi lord for þe loue of hym or to eny of his lymes whon neode & riȝtwysnes askeþ hit, wiþ a glad & a meke herte, þe more plesest þou him; þinking þat hit were inouȝ to þe for to be at þe leste degre & lowest state seþ hit is his wille þat hit be so. For hit semeþ to me, seþ he haþ put þe in þat state for to trauayle & serue oþer men, þat hit is his wille þat þou schulde fulfille hit in þy miht.