My sone, of mochel speking evil avised, Rede Salomon, so wise and honourable, My sone, speke not, but with thyn hed thou beck, The Fleming sayth, and lerne if that thee lest, THE PERSONES PROLOGUE. By that the Manciple had his tale ended, 'The Sonne fro the south line was descended So lowe, that it ne was not to my sight Degrees nine and twenty as of hight. Foure of the clok it was tho, as I gesse, For enleven foot, a litel more or lesse, My shadow was at thilke time, as there, Of swiche feet as my lengthe parted were In six feet equal of proportion. Therwith the Mones exaltation, In mene Libra, alway gan ascende, As we were entring at the thorpes ende. For which our Hoste, as he was wont to gie, As in this cas, our jolly compagnie, Said in this wise; "Lordings, everich on, Now lacketh us no tales mo than on. Fulfilled is my sentence and my decree; I trowe that we han herd of eche degree. Almost fulfilled is myn ordinance; 1 pray to God so yeve him right good chance, That telleth us this tale lustily. "Sire preest," quod he, "art thou a vicary? This Person him answered al at ones; For which I say, if that you list to here But trusteth wel, I am a sotherne man, I cannot geste, rom, ram, ruf, by my letter, To knitte up all this feste, and make an ende: I put it ay under correction I take but the sentence, trusteth me wel., Upon this word we han assented sone: Our Hoste had the wordes for us alle: THE PERSONES TALE. OUR Swete Lord God of Heaven, that no man wol perish, but wol that we comen all to the knowleching of him, and to the blisful lif that is pardurable, amonesteth us by the prophet Jeremie, that sayth in this wise: Stondeth upon the wayes, and seeth and axeth of the olde pathes; that is to say, of olde sentences; which is the good way: and walketh in that way, and ye shul finde refreshing for your soules. Many ben the wayes spirituel that leden folk to our Lord Jesu Crist, and to the regne of glory of which wayes, ther is a ful noble way, and wel covenable, which may not faille to man ne to woman, that thurgh sinne hath misgon fro the right way of Jerusalem celestial; and this way is cleped penance; of which man shuld gladly herken and enqueren with all his herte, to wete, what is penance, and whennes it is cleped penance, and how many maneres ben of actions or werkings of penance, and how many spices ther ben of penance, and which thinges apperteinen and behoven to penance, and which thinges distroublen penance. Seint Ambrose sayth, that penance is the plaining of man for the gilt that he hath don, and no more to do any thing for which him ought to plaine. And som doctour sayth: Penance is the waymenting of man that sorweth for his sinne, and peineth himself, for he hath misdon. Penance, with certain circumstances, is veray repentance of man, that holdeth himself in sorwe and other peine for his giltes: and for he shal be veray penitent, he shal first bewailen the sinnes that he hath don, and stedfastly purposing in his herte to have shrift of mouth, and to don satisfaction, and never to don thing, for which him ought more to bewayle or complaine, and to continue in good werkes: or elles his repentance may not availe. For as Seint Isidor sayth: He is a japer and a gabber, and not veray repentant, that eftsones doth thing, for which him oweth to repent. Weping, and not for to stint to do sinne, may not availe. But natheles, men shuld hope, that at every time that man falleth, be it never so oft, that he may arise thurgh penance, if he have grace: but certain, it is gret doute. For as saith Seint Gregorie: Unnethes ariseth he out of sinne, that is charged with the charge of evil usage. And therfore repentant folk, that stint for to sinne, and forlete sinne or that sinne forlete hem, holy chirche holdeth hem siker of hir salvation. And he that sinneth, and veraily repenteth him in his last day, holy chirche yet hopeth his salvation, by the grete mercy of our Lord Jesu Crist, for his repentance; but take ye the siker and certain way. And now sith I have declared you, what thing is penance, now ye shul understond, that ther ben three actions of penance. The first is, that a man be baptised after that he hath sinned. Seint Augustine sayth: But he be penitent for his old sinful lif, he may not beginne the newe clene lif: for certes, if he be baptised without penitence of his old gilt, he receiveth the marke of baptisme, but not the grace, ne the remission of his sinnes, til he have veray repentance. Another defaute is, that men don dedly sinne after that they have received baptisme. The thridde defaute is, that men fall in venial sinnes after hir baptisme, fro day to day. Therof sayth Seiut Augustine, that penance of good and humble folk is the penance of every day. The spices of penance ben three. That on of hem is solempne, another is commune, and the thridde privee. Thilke penance, that is solempne, is in two maneres; as to be put out of holy chirche in lenton, for slaughter of children, and swiche maner thing. Another is whan a man hath sinned openly, of which sinne the fame is openly spoken in the contree: and than holy chirche by jugement distreyneth for to do open penance. Commun penance is, that preestes enjoinen men in certain cas: as for to go paraventure naked on pilgrimage, or bare foot. Privee penance is thilke, that men don all day for privee sinnes, of which we shrive us prively, and receive privee penance. Now shalt thou understond what is behoveful and necessary to every parfit penance: and this stont on three thinges; contrition of herte, confession of mouth, and satisfaction. For which sayth Seint John Chrisostome: Penance distreineth a man to accept benignely every peine, that him is enjoined, with contrition of herte, and shrift of mouth, with satisfaction, and werking of all maner humilitee. And this is fruitful penance ayenst tho three thinges, in which we wrathen our Lord Jesu Crist: this is to say, by delit in thinking, by rechelesnesse in speking, and by wicked sinful werking. And ayenst these wicked giltes is penance, that may be likened unto a tree. The rote of this tree is contrition, that hideth him in the herte of him that is veray repentant, right as the rote of the tree hideth him in the erthe. Of this rote of contrition springeth a stalke, that bereth branches and lever of confession, and fruit of satisfaction. Of which Crist sayth in his gospell: Doth ye digne fruit of penitence; for by this fruit mow men understonde and knowe this tree, and not by the rote that is hid in the herte of man, ne by the branches, ne the leves of confession. And therfore our Lord Jesu Crist saith thus: By the fruit of hem shal ye knowe hem. Of this rote also springeth a seed of grace, which seed is moder of sikernesse, and this seed is eger and hote. The grace of this seed springeth of God, thurgh remembrance on the day of dome, and on the peines of Helle. Of this matere saith Salomon, that in the drede of God man forletteth his sinne. The hete of this sede is the love of God, and the desiring of the joye perdurable. This hete draweth the herte of man to God, and doth him hate his sinne. For sothly, ther is nothing that savoureth so sote to a child, as the milke of his norice, ne nothing is to him more abhominable than that milke, whan it is medled with other mete. Right so the sinful man that loveth his sinne, him semeth, that it is to him most swete of any thing; but fro that time that he loveth sadly our Lord Jesu Crist, and desireth the lif perdurable, ther is to him nothing more abhominable. For sothly the lawe of God is the love of God. For which David the prophet sayth: I have loved thy lawe, and hated wickednesse: he that loveth God, kepeth his lawe and his word. This tree saw the prophet Daniel in spirit, upon the vision of Nabuchodonosor, whan he counseiled him to do penance. Penance is the tree of lif, to hem that it receiven: and he that holdeth him in veray penance, is blisful, after the sentence of Salomon. In this penance or contrition man shal understond foure thinges; that is to say, what is contrition; and which ben the causes that moven a man to contrition; and how he shuld be contrite; and what contrition availeth to the soule. Than is it thus, that contrition is the veray sorwe that a man receiveth in his herte for his sinnes, with sad purpos to shriven him, and to do penance, and never more to don sinne. And this sorwe shal be in this maner, as sayth Seint Bernard: It shal ben hevy and grevous, and ful sharpe and poinant in herte; first, for a man hath agilted his Lord and his creatour; and more sharpe and poinant, for he hath agilted his father celestial; and yet more sharpe and poinant, for he hath wrathed and agilted him that boughte him, that with his precious blod hath delivered us fro the bondes of sinne, and fro the crueltee of the devil, and fro the peines of Helle. And The causes that ought to meve a man to contrition ben sixe. First, a man shal remembre him of his sinnes. But loke that that remembrance ne be to him no delit, by no way, but grete shame and sorwe for his sinues. For Job sayth: Sinful men don werkes worthy of confession. And, therfore sayth Ezechiel: I wol remembre me all the yeres of my lif, in the bitternesse of my herte. God sayth, in the Apocalipse: Remembre you fro whens that ye ben fall, for before the time that ye sinned, ye weren children of God, and limmes of the regne of God; but for your sinne ye ben waxen thral and foule; membres of the fende; hate of angels; sclaunder of holy chirche, and fode of the false serpent; perpetuel matere of the fire of Helle; and yet more foule and abhominable, for ye trespassen so oft times, as doth the hound that torneth again to ete his owen spewing; and yet fouler, for your long continuing in sinne, and your sinful usage, for which ye be roten in your sinnes, as a beest in his donge." Swiche manere thoughtes make a man to have shame of his sinne, and no delit; as God saith, by the prophet Ezechiel: Ye shul remembre you of your wayes, and they shul displese you. Sothly, sinnes ben the waies that lede folk to Hell. we shal yeve rekening of everich idle word. Ther shal we have a juge that may not be deceived ne corrupt; and why? for certes, all our thoughtes ben discovered, as to him: ne for prayer, ne for mede, he wil not be corrupt. And therfore saith Salomon: The wrath of God ne wol not spare no wight, for prayer ne for yeft. And therfore at the day of dome ther is non hope to escape. Wherfore, as sayth Seint Anselme: Ful gret anguish shal the sinful folk have at that time: ther shal be the sterne and wroth juge sitting above, and under him the horrible pitte of Helle open, to destroy him that wolde not beknowen his sinnes, which sinnes shullen openly be shewed before God and before every creature: and on the left side, mo Divels than any herte may thinke, for to hary and drawe the sinful soules to the pitte of Helle: and within the hertes of folk shal be the biting conscience, and without forth shal be the world all brenning. Whither than shal the wretched soule flee to hide him? Certes he may not hide him, he must come forth and shewe him. For certes, as saith Seint Jerome: The erth shal cast him out of it, and the see, and also the aire, that shal be ful of thonder clappes and lightnings. Now sothly, who so wil remembre him of these thinges, I gesse that his sinnes shal not torne him to delit, but to grete sorwe, for drede of the peine of Helle. And therfore saith Job to God: Suffer, Lord, that I may a while bewaile and bewepe, or I go without retorning to the derke londe, ycovered with the derkenesse of deth; to the londe of misese and of derkenesse, wheras is the shadowe of deth; wheras is non ordre ne ordinance, but grisly drede that ever shal last. Lo, here may ye see, that Job prayed respite a while, to bewepe and waile his trespas: for sothely on day of respite is better than all the tresour of this world. And for as moche as a man may acquite himself before God by penitence in this world, and not by tresour, therfore shuld he pray to God to yeve him respite a while, to bewepen and bewailen his trespas: for certes, all the sorwe that a man might make fro the beginning of the world, n'is but a litel thing, at regard of the sorwe of Helle. The cause why that Job clepeth Helle the londe of derkenesse; understondeth, that he clepeth it londe or erth, for it is stable and never shal faile; and derke, for he that is in Helle hath defaute of light naturel; for certes the derke light, that shal come out of the fire that ever shal brenne, shall torne hem all to peine that be in Helle, for it sheweth hem the hor The second cause that ought to make a man to have disdeigne of sinne is this, that, as saith Seint Peter, Who so doth sinne, is thral to sinne, and sinne putteth a man in gret thraldom. And, therfore, sayth the prophet Ezechiel: I went sorweful, and had disdeigne of myself. Certes, wel ought a man have disdeigne of sinne, and withdrawe him fro that thraldom and vilany. And lo, what sayth Seneke in this mater. He saith thus: Though I wist, that neither God ne man shuld never know it, yet wold I have disdeigne for to do sinne. And the same Seneke also sayth: I am borne to greter thinges, than to be thral to my body, or for to make of my body a thral. Ne a fouler thral may no man, ne woman, make of his body, than for to yeve his body to sinne. Al were it the foulest chorle, or the foulest woman that liveth, and lest of value, yet is he than more foule, and more in servitude. Ever fro the higher degree that man falleth, the more is he thral, and more to God and to the world vile and abhominable. O good God, wel ought a man have disdeigne of sinne, sith that thurgh sinne, ther he was free, he is made bond. And therfore sayth Seint Augustine: If thou hast disdeigne of thy servant, if he offend or sinne, have thou than disdeigne, that thou thy self shuldest do sinne. Take reward of thin owen value, that thou ne be to foule to thyself. Alas! wel oughten they than have disdeigne to be servants and thralles to sinne, and sore to be ashamed of hemself, that God of his endles goodnesse hath sette in high estat, or yeve hem witte, strength of body, hele, beautee, or prosperitee, and bought hem fro the deth with his herte blood, that they so unkindly agains his gentillesse, quiten him so vilainsly to slaughter of hir owen soules. O good God! ye women that ben of gret beautee, remembreth you on the proverbe of Salomon, that likeneth a faire woman, that is a fool of hire body, to a ring of gold that is worne in the groine of a sowe: for right as a sowe wroteth in every ordure, so wroteth she hire beautee in stink-rible divels that bem turmenten. Covered with the ing ordure of sinne. derkenesse of deth; that is to say, that he that is The thridde cause, that ought to meve a man to in Helle, shal have defaute of the sight of God; for contrition, is drede of the day of dome, and of the certes the sight of God is the lif perdurable. The horrible peines of Helle. For as seint Jerome sayth: derknesse of deth, ben the sinnes that the wretched At every time that me remembreth of the day of man hath don, which that distroublen him to see dome, I quake: for whan I ete or drinke, or do the face of God, right as a derke cloud betwene us what so I do, ever semeth me that the trompe and the Sonne. It is londe of misese, because that sowneth in min eres: riseth ye up that ben ded, ther ben three maner of defautes ayenst three thinges and cometh to the jugement. O good God! that folk of this world han in this present lif; that moche ought a man to drede swiche a jugement, is to say, honoures, delites, and richesses. Ayenst ther as we shul be alle, as seint Poule sayth, be- honour have they in Helle shame and confusion: fore the streit jugement of oure Lord Jesu Crist; for wel ye wote, that men clepen honour the reve wheras he shal make a general congregation, wheras rence that man doth to man; but in Helle is non no man may be absent; for certes ther availeth non honour ne reverence; for certes no more reverence essoine ne non excusation; and not only, that our shal be don ther to a king, than a knave. For defautes shul be juged, but eke that all our werkes which God sayth by the prophet Jeremie: The shul openly be knowen. And, as sayth Seint Ber-folk, that me despisen, shal be in despite. Honour nard, "ther ne shal no pleting availe, ne no sleight: is also cleped gret lordeship. Ther shal no wight E serven other, but of harme and turment. Honour | is also cleped gret dignitee and highnesse; but in Helle shal they be alle frotroden of divels. As God saith: The horrible divels shul gon and comen upon the hedes of dampned folk: and this is, for as moche as the higher that they were in this present lif, the more shul they be abated and defouled in Helle. Ayenst the richesse of this world shul they have misese of poverte, and this poverte shal be in foure thinges: in defaute of tresour; of which David sayth: The riche folk that embraceden and oneden all hir herte to tresour of this world, shul slepe in the sleping of deth, and nothing ne shul they find in hir hondes of all hir tresour. And moreover, the mesese of Helle shal be in defaute of mete and drink. For God sayth thus by Moyses: They shul be wasted with honger, and the briddes of Helle shul devoure hem with bitter deth, and the gall of the dragon shal ben hir drinke, and the venime of the dragon hir morsels. And further over hir misese shal be in defaute of clothing, for they shul be naked in body, as of clothing, save the fire in which they brenne, and other filthes; and naked shul they be in soule, of all maner vertues, which that is the clothing of the soule. Wher ben than the gay robes, and softe shetes, and the fyn shertes? Lo, what sayth God of Heven by the prophet Esaie, that under hem shul be strewed mothes, and hir covertures shul ben of wormes of Helle. And further, over hir misese shal he in defaute of frendes, for he is not poure that hath good frendes: but ther is no frend; for neither God ne no good creature shal be frend to hem, and everich of hem shal hate other with dedly hate. The sonnes and the doughters shal rebel ayenst father and mother, and kinred ayenst kinred, and chiden, and despisen eche other, both day and night, as God sayth by the prophet Micheas. As the loving children, that whilom loveden so fleshly, everich of hem wold eten other if they might. For how shuld they love togeder in the peines of Helle, whan they hated eche other in the prosperitee of this lif? For truste wel, hir fleshly love was dedly hate. As saith the prophet David: Who so that loveth wickednesse, he hateth his owen soule, and who so hateth his owen soule, certes he may love non other wight in no manere: and therfore in Helle is no solace ne no frendship, but ever the more kinredes that ben in Helle, the more cursing, the more chiding, and the more dedly hate ther is among hem. And further over ther they shul have defaute of all maner delites, for certes delites ben after the appetites of the five wittes; as sight, hering, smelling, savouring, and touching. But in Helle hir sight shall be ful of derkenesse and of smoke, and hir eyen ful of teres; and hir hering ful of waimenting and grinting of teeth, as sayth Jesu Crist: hir nosethirles shul be ful of stinking; and, as saith Esay the prophet, hir savouring shal be ful of bitter galle; and touching of all hir body, shal be covered with fire that never shal quenche, and with wormes that never shal die, as God sayth by the mouth of Esay. And for as moche as they shul not wene that they mow dien for peine, and by deth flee peine, that mow they understonde in the word of Job, that sayth; ther is the shadow of deth. Certes a shadowe hath likenesse of the thing of which it is shadowed, but shadowe is not the same thing of which it is shadowed: right so fareth the peine of Helle; it is like deth, for the horrible anguish; and why? for it peineth hem ever as though they shuld die anon: but certes they shul not dien. For as sayth Seint Gregory: To wretched caitifes shal be deth withouten deth, and ende withouten ende, and defaute withouten failing; for hir deth shal alway live, and hir ende shal ever more beginne, and hir defaute shal never faile. And therfore sayth Seint John the Evangelist: They shul folow deth, and they shul not finde him, and they shul desire to die, and deth shal flee from hem. And eke Job saith, that in Helle is non ordre of rule. And al be it so, that God hath create all thing in right ordre, and nothing withouten ordre, but all thinges ben ordred and nombred, yet natheles they that ben dampned ben nothing in ordre, ne hold non ordre. For the erth shal bere hem no fruite; (for, as the prophet David sayeth, God shal destroy the fruite of the erth, as fro hem) ne water shal yeve hem no moisture, ne the aire no refreshing, ne the fire no light. For as sayth seint Basil: The brenning of the fire of this world shal God yeve in Helle to hem that ben dampned, but the light and the clerenesse shal be yeve in Heven to his children; right as the good man yeveth flesh to his children, and bones to his houndes. And for they shul have non hope to escape, saith Job at last, that ther shal horrour and grisly drede dwellen withouten ende. Horrour is alway drede of harme that is to come, and this drede shal alway dwell in the hertes of hem that ben dampned. And therfore han they lorne all hir hope for seven causes. First, for God that is hir juge shal be withouten mercie to hem: and they may not plese him; ne nou of his halwes; ne they may yeve nothing for hir raunsom; ne they have no vois to speke to him; ne they may not flee fro peine; ne they have no goodusse in hem that they may shew to deliver hem fro peine. And therfore sayth Salomon; The wicked man dieth, and whan he is ded, ho shal have non hope to escape fro peine. Who so than wold wel understonde these peines, and bcthinke him wel that he hath deserved these peines for his sinnes, certes he shulde have more talent to sighten and to wepe, than for to singe and playe. For as sayth Salomon: Who so that had the science to know the peines that ben established and ordeined for sinne, he wold forsake sinne. That science, saith seint Austin, maketh a man to waimenten in his herte. The fourthe point, that oughte make a man have contrition, is the sorweful remembrance of the good dedes that he hath lefte to don here in erthe, and also the good that he hath lorne. Sothly the good werkes that he hath lefte, either they be the good werkes that he wrought er he fell into dedly sinne, or elles the good werkes that he wrought while he lay in sinne. Sothly the good werkes that he did before that he fell in dedly sinne, ben all mortified, astoned, and dulled by the eft sinning: the other werkes that he wrought while he lay in sinne, they ben utterly ded, as to the lif perdurable in Heyen. Than thilke good werkes that ben mortified by eft sinning, which he did while he was in charitee, moun never quicken ayen without veray penitence. And therof sayth God by the mouth of Ezechiel: If the rightful man retorne again fro his rightwisnesse and do wickednesse, shal he liven? nay; for all the good werkes that he hath wrought, shul never be in remembrance, for he shall die in his sinne. And upon thilke chapitre sayth Seint Gre-everich of thise foure thinges shuld have lordship gorie thus; that we shal understonde this principally, that when we don dedly sinne, it is for nought than to remembre or drawe into memorie the good werkes that we have wrought beforn: for certes in the werking of dedly sinne, ther is no trust in no good werk that we have don beforn; that is to say, as for to have therby the lif perdurable in Heven. But natheles, the good werkes quicken again and comen again, and helpe and availe to have the lif perdurable in Heven, whan we have contrition: but sothly the good werkes that men don while they ben in dedly sinne, for as moche as they were don in dedly sinne, they may never quicken: for certes, thing that never had lif, may never quicken: and natheles, all be it so that they availen not to have the lif perdurable, yet availen they to abreggen the peine of Helle, or elles to get temporal richesses, or elles that God wol the rather enlumine or light the herte of the sinful man to have repentance; and eke they availen for to usen a man to do good werkes, that the fende have the lesse power of his soule. And thus the curteis Lord Jesu Crist ne woll that no good werk that men don be loste, for in som what it shal avalle. But for as moche as the good werkes that men don while they ben in good lif, ben all amortised by sinne folowing, and eke sith all the good werkes that men don while they ben in dedly sinne, ben utterly ded, as for to have the lif perdurable, wel may that man, that no good werk ne doth, sing thilke newe Frenshe song, J'ay tout perdu mon temps, et mon labour. For certes sinne bereveth a man both goodnesse of nature, and eke the goodnesse of grace. For sothly the grace of the holy gost fareth like fire that may not ben idle; for fire faileth anon as it forletteth his werking, and right so grace faileth anon as it forletteth his werking. Than leseth the sinful man the goodnesse of glorie, that only is hight to good men that labouren and werken wel. Wel may he be sory than, that oweth all his lif to God, as long as he hath lived, and also as long as he shal live, that no goodnesse ne hath to paie with his dette to God, to whom he oweth all his lif: for trust wel he shal yeve accomptes, as sayth Seint Bernard, of all the goodes that han ben yeven him in this present lif, and how he hath hem dispended, in so moche that ther shal not perishe an here of his hed, ne a moment of an houre ne shal not perishe of his time, that he ne shal yeve therof a rekening. The fifthe thing, that ought to meve a man to contrition, is remembrance of the passion that our Lord Jesu Crist suffered for our sinnes. For as sayth Seint Bernard: While that I live, I shal have remembrance of the travailes that our Lord Jesu Crist suffered in preching, his werinesse in traveling, his temptations whan he fasted, his long wakinges whan he prayed, his teres whan he wept for pitee of good peple: the wo and the shame, and the filthe that men sayden to him: of the foule spitting that men spitten in his face, of the buffettes that men yave him: of the foule mouthes and of the foule repreves that men saiden to him: of the nayles with which he was nailed to the crosse; and of all the remenant of his passion, that he suffred for mannes sinne, and nothing for his gilte. And here ye shul understand that in mannes sinne is every maner order, or ordinance, tourned up so doun. For it is soth, that God and reson, and senqualitee, and the body of man, ben ordained, that over that other: as thus; God shuld have lordship over reson, and reson over sensualitee, and sensualitee over the body of man. But sothly whan man sinneth, all this ordre, or ordinance, is turned up so doun; and therfore than, for as moche as reson of man ne wol not be subget ne obeisant to God, that is his lord by right, therfore leseth it the lordship that it shuld have over sensualitee, and eke over the body of man; and why? for sensualitee rebelleth than ayenst reson: and by that way leseth reson the lordship over sensualitee, and over the body. For right as reson is rebel to God, right so is sensualitee rebel to reson, and the body also. And certes this disordinance, and this rebellion, our Lord Jesu Crist abought upon his precious body ful dere: and herkeneth in whiche wise. For as moche as reson is rebel to God, therfore is man worthy to have sorwe, and to be ded. This suffred our Lord Jesu Crist for man, after that he had be betraied of his disciple, and distreined and bounde, so that his blood brast out at every nail of his hondes, as saith Seint Augustin. And ferthermore, for as moche as reson of man wol not daunt sensualitee whan it may, therfore is man worthy to have shame: and this suffered our Lord Jesu Crist for man, whan they spitten in his visage. And fertherover, for as moche as the caitif body of man is rebel both to reson and to sensualitee, therfore it is worthy the deth: and this suffered our Lord Jesu Crist upon the crosse, wheras ther was no part of his body free, without grete peine and bitter passion. And all this suffred our Lord Jesu Crist that never forfaited; and thus sayd he: To mochel am I peined, for thinges that I never deserved: and to moche defouled for shendship that man is worthy to have. And therfore may the sinful man wel say, as sayth Seint Bernard: Accursed be the bitternesse of my sinne, for whiche ther must be suffered so moche bitternesse. For certes, after the divers discordance of our wickednesse was the passion of Jesu Crist ordeined in divers thinges; as thus. Certes sinful mannes soule is betraied of the divel, by coveitise of temporel prosperitee; and scorned by disceite, whan he cheseth fleshly delites; and yet it is turmented by impatience of adversitee, and bespet by servage and subjection of sinne; and at the last it is slain finally. For this discordance of sinful man, was Jesu Crist first betraied; and after that was he bounde, that came for to unbinde us of sinne and of peine. Than was he bescorned, that only shuld have ben honoured in alle thinges and of alle thinges. Than was his visage, that ought to desired to be seen of all mankind (in which visage angels desiren to loke) vilainsly bespet. Than was he scourged that nothing had trespassed; and finally, than was he crucified and slain. Than were accomplished the wordes of Esaie: He was wounded for our misdedes, and defouled for our felonies. Now sith that Jesu Crist toke on himself the peine of all our wickednesses, moche ought sinful man to wepe and to bewaile, that for his sinnes Goddes sone of Heven shuld all this peine endure. The sixte thing, that shuld move a man to contrition, is the hope of three thinges, that is to say, foryevenesse of sinne, and the yeft of grace for to do wel, and the glorie of Heven, with whiche God shal guerdon man for his good dedes. And for as moche as Jesu Crist yeveth us thise yeftes of his |