This boke is compyled by Dan Iohn Lydgate monke of Burye, at the excitacion [and] styrynge of the noble and victorious prynce, Kynge Henry the fyfthe, i[n] the honoure glorie [and] reuerence of the byrthe of our moste blessed Lady, mayde, wyfe, [and] mother of our lorde Iesu Christe, chapitred as foloweth by this table

¶ Autentyke conclusions agaynst vnbeleufull men that saydē that Christe might not be borne of a mayde Capitulo. xx. (Book 20)

O Blynde man / thorowe thyne iniquyte Why hast thou lost / thy reason & thy sight That thou of malyce / list not for to see Howe Christ Iesu / thorowe his greate myght To his disciples / helde the waye right Thorowe the yates / yshette by greate deffence Without brekyng / or any vyolence.

¶ Why myght he not of his magnificence Within a mayde / make his mancion And she yet stode / in hygh excellence Of maydenhede / from all corrupcion ye ben to blynde / in your discression That liste not to see / also howe he rose From deth to lyfe / in his sepulture close.

¶ And here withall / thou mayste also aduerte Howe he full graciously / of his myghty grace Made Peter out of pryson to sterte And where hym lyste frely for to pace And yet the dores were shutte of the place

What wonder than though god by myracle Within a mayde / made his habitacle.

¶ And beyng close / and parfytly shette With all the bondes / of clene vyrginite For sothfastly / her clennesse was not lette Upon no syde / ue yet her chastite But encreasyd / and fauour for to se That goddes sōne / list to light adowne Within this mayde / to make his mancion.

¶ Eke Heldefons / telleth of a tree In stede of fruyte / hereth byrdes smale From yere to yere / by kynde as men may se Without medlyng of female or of male This veryly is soth playnly and no tale Thā wondre not though / Crist were borne bitwene. The chaste sydes / of a mayden clene.

¶ Eke certeyne byrdes / called bultures Without medlyng conceyuyng by nature As bokes sayne / withouten any lees And of her lyfe / an hondred yere endure Than the lorde of euery creature That causeth all / no wonder though I say Though that he were conceyuyd of a maye.

¶ And Plunius / in bokes naturall Wrytte of a roche / greate and large also That wyll remeue / with a fynger small But yf a man do all his myght therto

It wyll not stere / neyther to ••e fro Right so this mayde / that is of vertue moste With a fynger of the holy ghoste

¶ And with a touche of his myghty grace Conserued hath stedfast / god and man That neuer myght remeue from her face Of thylke auowe / that she fyrst began To be a mayde / as fertorth as she can In herte & wyll / as any roche stable That from his grounde / is not remeuable.

¶ This clerke also this wise Plunius Sayth in Tauriche there is an erthe founde That of nature isso vertuous That will cure euery maner wounde Right so Marie was the erthe founde That god out chose by eleccion To bere the fruyte of our redempcion

¶ That shulde be helthe and also medecine To all our woundes / whan they ake or smerte And our greues & our hurtes fyne From deth to make vs to asterte With holsome bawme / percinge to the herte Our festerid soris / that they shull ake nomore Ne that she ne were / we were all forlore.

¶ And ferthermore this auctour can eke tell Within his boke / who so loketh a right To Iupiter sacred is a well

That whan it hath queynte his brondes bright That efte agayne hit geueth them a newe light Who list assaye / soth as he shall fynde What wonder than though the god of kynde.

¶ Amyd this well / from fylthe of synne colde Full of vertue / with fayre stremes clere His lodging toke & his myghty holde And thorowe his grace / sette hit newe afyre With the holy ghoste / that that withouten were Though she were colde / from all flesshlyhede She brent in loue / hotter than the glede.

¶ And in Falisco / as hym liste to wryte Is a well that causeth eke of newe Whan the oxen drynke to be whyte And sodaynly to chaunge her hewe What meruayle than though / the well trewe The well of helthe / and of lyfe eterne The lorde of all / so as I can disserne.

¶ These stremes / shedde in to this mayde fre To make her whightest / as in holynesse That bothe sholde / mayde and mother be And euer in one / kepe her clennesse Withouten chaunge / so that her whitnesse Ne fadeth neuer in beaute ne in coloure Of mayden hede to bere / bothe lefe and floure.

¶ And who that wolde / dispute in this matere

I holde hym madde / or elles out of mynde For yf he haue his eyen hole and clere He shall nowe se prefe ynough by kynde For he that made / bothe lefe and rynde And with a worde / these waste wordes wylde Myght make a mayde / for to go with chylde.

¶ And he that made the hygh cristall heuen The firmament / & also euery spere The golden axtre / & the sterres seuen Cithera: so lusty for to appere And rede marce / with his sterne hcere Myght he not eke onely for our sake Within a mayde / of man the kynde take.

¶ And he that causeth / fowles in the ayre In her kynde to w••xe and multeplye And fysshe eke with fynnes sleid fayre In depe ••aves to gouerne hem and gye And doth one lyue / & another dye And geueth beastes her fode vpon the grounde And in his kynde doth hem to abounde.

¶ Sithen he is lorde / and causeth all thynge To haue beyng / yf I shall not fayne And is the prynce and the worthy Kyng That all enbraceth in his myghty chayne Why myght he not by power souerayne At his fre choyse / that all may saue and lese To his mother / a clene mayde these.

¶ Who causeth the fruyte / out of the harde tre By vertue onely / that spryngeth from the rote To growe & wexe like as men may se With leues grene / & newe blosmes sote Is it not that lorde / that for all our bote Wolde of a mayde / as I reherce can Mekely be borne / without touche of man.

¶ For he that doth the tender braunches sprynge And fresshe floures / in the greate mede That weren in wynter / dede & eke droppinge Of bawme voyde / & of lust••hede Myght he not make / his grayne to growe & sede Within her brest / that was bothe mayde and wyfe Wherof is made / the sothfast breade of lyfe.

¶ And he that grauyd of his greate ••ight Without poyntell / in the harde stone And the tables / with letters clere and bright His ten preceptes / & buyldynges euericho••e The same lorde / of his power alone Hath made this mayde / here in erthe lowe A chylde conceyue / and no man to knowe.

¶ And he that made the busshe to appere All on flame with ferly sparcles shene And whan Moyses gan to approche nere And yet no harme / came to the bowes grene The same lorde hath conserued clene His habytacle / & his herber swete In this may de / from all flesshely hete.

¶ And he that made the ye••de of Moyses Of a serpent / to take the liknesse In the hall amonge all the prees Where Pharao / the people dyd oppresse And in deserte / the Byble bereth wytnesse The Ryuer made to renne / of the stone The thriste to staunche / of the people alone.

¶ And ouer this / for to verefye His greate myght: Sampson the stronge man As Iudicum / doth playnly specefye Dranke the water / that from the chanell ran And he that made the flodes of Iurdan To torne agayne / for loue of Iosue That all his people clerely myght se

¶ And howe wawes gan asondre breke And lyke and hylle / to stonde hygh on lofte And he that made the Asse to speke To Balaam? for he rode so softe Why myght he not / by power preued ofte Sithen he the yren made in the water houe Be of a mayde borne / for mannes loue.

¶ And he that made / a angell for to take Abacuk the prophete / by a litell heare And sodaynly brynge hym to the lake In Babylon / whiche was so feare And to visite ligginge in his feare Danyell amonge the beastes rage Tyll he to hym brought the potage.

¶ The dores shutte / of the stronge pryson For to aswage of hunger all his payue And in a moment / to his mancion Full sodaynly restored hym agayne Why myght he not as well in certayne The same lorde / of a may de than Take flesshe and blode / and bycome man.

¶ And he that made the sonne at Gabaon To stonde & shyne / vpon the bright shelde Of Iosue and towarde Achalon The mone also as all the hooste behelde The longe day / they faught in the felde Agaynst the Kynges of myghty of Amorre That his people clerely myght se.

¶ And he that made the shade we to retourne In the orlage of Kyng Ezechye By ten degrees onely to parfourme By heste I made to hym of I saye Why myght he nat / that all this worlde shall gye Of a may de / by the same skyll Frely be borne at his owne wyll.

¶ And he that fedde / with fyue loues smale Fyue thousande / in solytarie place Ferre in deserte / sittinge in a ••ale Thorowe the foyson / and plente of his grace The same lorde / why myght he not purchace Within a may de / duringe her maydenhede Whan that hym liste to take his manhede.

¶ For as the Bee / bothe waxe and hony shede At the hyue / who taketh hede therto Right so Marie flouring in maydenhede Bare in her wombe / god and man also And yet in sothe / she was bothe two I dare afferme / one persone in fere A mayde clene / and Christes mother dere.

¶ And as the beame shynyng from so ferre Shedith his light / as men maye well espye Withouten harme / of hynderyng of the sterre And so as Manna / fyl downe fro the skye Right so this floure / that called is Maria With wombe halowed into chastyte Conceyued hath in her virgynite.

¶ And as the Barnacle in the harde tre Of kynde bredeth / and the vyne floure Causeth the wyne / florre for to be Thorowe Bachus might / & grapes gouernoure Right so in soth mankyndes sauyoure As the barnacle and floure out of the vyne Spronge of Marie she beyng virgine.

¶ And as a worme vnder a stone Of therthe cometh without engendure And as the Feuyr / of whiche there is but one To asshes brent / rene with by nature Right so this lorde / that all hath in his cure Our kynde agayne for synne to renewe Toke flesshe and blode / in this mayde trewe.

¶ And as the Snowe / fro Iupiter doth f••ll Thorowe the force of Sagittarius 〈◊〉〈◊〉 And zepherus dothe the floures fall On whyte blosmes / whan she doth blowe Right so in sothe / the grace alight alow•• Of the holy ghoste / like a wynde cherisshyng Amydde the mayde / to make his dwellyng.

¶ And to the floure / did no duresse But parfytly / conserued her beaute From euery storme / and flesshely lustiness•• An lyke fresshe of fayrnes for to se As by examples / more than two or thre As ye to forne / haue herde deuyse Whiche as me semeth / ought ynough suffy••e.

¶ To all that be grounded in the fayth Agaynst falshede / to stande at defence And yet in suche / so as saynt Gregore sayth Fayth hath no merite / where as euydence Or mannes reason: geueth experience But he that leueth / and fyndeth no reason Ne kynde according / is worthy more guerdon.

¶ But yf that any be / nowe in this place That hath doute or ambyguyte Thorowe false errour / that doth his herte enbrace Eyther of malice / or of iniquyte For to accuse the blessed virginite Of Marie playnly / this is my bon•• But if so be that he amende sonne.

¶ And are mercy / for his greate ••ff••nc•• Of her that is / of mercy grounde and well That he of vengeaunce / haue experience With Ixyon / downe depe in hell And that the clapper / of his destuned bell May cankre sone / I mene his false tonge Be doumbe for euer / & neuer efte to be ronge.

¶ With hym / I am no better in charite Then ye haue herde / at euyn and at morow•• For here my trouthe / he gette no more of me Saue Cerberus / I take hym to borowe What euer he be / and leue hym with sorowe To Tantalus his hunger to appease At iewe wordes passe / ouer is an ease.