The ignorance of priests precipitates the people into the pit of error, and the foolishness or rudeness of clerks, who ought to instruct the minds of the faithful in the Catholic faith, sometimes tends rather to error than to doctrine. Also some blind preachers[212]do not always visit the places which most need the light of truth, as the prophet witnesses, who says, “The children seek for bread, and there is no one to break it to them;” and another prophet cries, “The poor and needy ask for water, and their tongue is parched.” For the remedy of such mischiefs we ordain that every priest who presides over a people do four times a year, that is, once in each quarter of the year, on one or more festival days, either by himself or by another, expound to the people in popular language without any fanciful subtlety, the 14Articles of Faith, the 10 Commandments of the Lord, the 2 Evangelical Precepts of Charity, the 7 Works of Mercy, the 7 Deadly Sins with their progeny, the 7 Principal Virtues, and the 7 Sacraments of Grace. And in order that no one may excuse himself from this on account of ignorance, though all ministers of the Church ought to know them, we have here with great brevity summed them up.Of the Articles of Faith.—Seven of them concern the mystery of the Trinity; four of these belong to the essence of the Godhead, and the other three relate to His works. The first is the unity of the Divine Essence in three Persons of the Indivisible Trinity agreeably to this part of the Creed, “I believe in one God.” The second is to believe God the Father, begotten of none. The third is to believe the Son the only begotten, and God. The fourth is to believe the Holy Ghost to be God, neither begotten nor unbegotten, but proceeding both from the Father and the Son. The fifth article is to believe in the creation of Heaven and Earth (that is, of every visible and invisible creature) by the whole and undivided Trinity.The sixth is the Sanctification of the Church by the Holy Ghost, and by the Sacraments of Grace, and by all those things in which the Christian Church communicates. By which is understood that the Church, with its Sacraments and discipline, is, through the Holy Ghost, sufficient for the salvation of every sinner; and that outside the Church there is no salvation. The seventh article is the consummation of the Church in eternal glory by a true resurrection of body and soul; and on the contrary is understood the eternal damnation of the lost.Of the Seven Articles relating to the Humanity of Christ.—The first is His Incarnation, or His true assumption of human flesh of the Blessed Virgin, by the Holy Ghost.The second is the real birth of God Incarnate from the immaculate Virgin. The third is the true passion of Christ and His death upon the Cross under Pontius Pilate. The fourth is the descent of Christ in the Spirit into hell, while His body remained in the grave, for the despoiling of Tartarus. The fifth is the true Resurrection of Christ. The sixth is His Ascension to heaven. And the seventh is the most confident expectation of His coming to judgment.Of the Ten Commandments.—Of the ten commandments of the Old Testament three relate to God, and constitute the first table; the remaining seven concern our neighbour, and are called the Commandments of the Second Table. The First Commandment is,[213]Thou shalt have no other gods before Me; by which all idolatrous worship is forbidden; and by inference all lots and incantations and superstitions[214]of letters, and such-like figments are forbidden. In the Second, where it is said,Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain, all heresy is principally condemned; and, in a secondary sense, all blasphemy, irreverent mention of the Name of God, and especially perjury. The Third Commandment, where it is said,Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day, commands Christian worship, to which clergy and laity are alike bound. But we are to understand that the obligation of rest upon the Jewish Sabbath came to an end together with the other legal ceremonies; and that under the New Testament came in the practice of Divine worship on the Lord’s day and other holy days appointed by the authority of the Church, and the manner of keeping thosedays is to be governed by the laws of the Church, and not by any Jewish usage.The First Commandment of the Second Table is,Honour thy Father and Mother, in which we are explicitly commanded to honour our parents, both in temporal and in spiritual matters; but implicitly, and in a secondary sense, every man is by this commandment to be honoured according to his proper degree; not only our natural father and mother are intended, but our spiritual parents, the Bishop of the Diocese and the Priest of the Parish, may be said to be our fathers; and the Church is our Mother, who is the Mother of all the faithful. The Second precept in this division is,Thou shalt not kill; by which the unauthorized taking away any person’s life, either by consent, act, word, or encouragement, is explicitly forbidden, and implicitly every unrighteous injury to the person. They likewise who do not support the poor, they who murder a man’s reputation, are guilty of the breach of this Commandment; and so are all such as harass and distress the innocent. The Third Commandment says,Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery is explicitly condemned, and implicitly fornication, which is likewise explicitly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxiii., where it is said, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel.” But, further, the command extends by way of reduction to all instances of impurity. The Fourth Commandment declaresThou shall not steal, which explicitly condemns the clandestine conveying away another man’s property without his consent, implicitly it forbids taking what belongs to our neighbour either by fraud or violence. The Fifth Commandment is,Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. This precept explicitly forbids false testimony to the damage of our neighbour; and in a secondary sense it disallows undue commendation in order to the promotion of an unworthy person. Lastly, under this command,all sort of lies, but especially those which are injurious, are condemned. The Sixth Commandment is,Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house—i.e. to his injury. By this command we are implicitly forbidden to desire therealestate of our neighbour, and especially if he is a Catholic. The Seventh and last Commandment of the Table is,Thou shalt not covet his wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his, where the coveting of our neighbour’s stock orpersonalestate is forbidden.But to these Ten Commandments the Gospel superadds two, viz.The Love of God and of our neighbour. He loves God who obeys the aforesaid Commandments more out of love than out of fear of punishment; and every one ought to love his neighbour as himself; where the particle “as” does not signify equality but similarity. So that, for example, you may love your neighbour to the same extent as you love yourself, that is for good and not for evil; and in the same way that is spiritually and not carnally; and as much as yourself, in regard to time, that is in prosperity and adversity, in health and sickness; as also as much as yourself in respect of degree, insomuch as you love each and every man more than riches; also insomuch as you love the soul of your neighbour, or his eternal salvation, more than your own earthly life, as you ought to put the life of your soul before the life of your body; also in the same kind as yourself, so that you succour all others in need as you wish to be helped in like necessity. All these things are meant when it is said “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”Of the Seven Works of Mercy.—Six of the Seven Works of Mercy may be learned from St. Matthew’s Gospel:To feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to entertain the stranger; to clothe the naked; to visit the sick; to comfort those in prison; the seventh is gathered from Tobit—to bury the dead.The Seven Deadly or Capital Sins are Pride, Envy, Anger or Hatred, Sloth, Avarice or Covetousness, Gluttony, Intemperance. Pride is the love of one’s own superiority (amor propriæ excellentiæ), from whence spring boasting, ostentation, hypocrisy, schism (sasinata), and such like. Envy is hatred of another’s good: whence come detraction, strife, complainings, dissension, perverse judgements, and such like. Anger is the desire of revenge, of doing hurt to any person, when it continues upon the mind it settles into hatred; whence proceed outrage in words and acts, quarrels, murders, and such like. Sloth (accidia)[215]is a strong indisposition for spiritual good, so that a man has no delight in God or in His praises; out of it come idleness, cowardice, despair, and the like. Avarice is an immoderate love of riches, either by unlawful gathering or unlawful hoarding; out of it spring fraud, theft, sacrilege, simony, and every sort of base gain. Gluttony is an immoderate love of gratifying the palate in food and drink, and it sins in many ways; first, in regard to time, when a man eats too early or too late or too often; second, in respect to quality, when he is too nice in the choice of his diet; third, in respect of quantity, when he eats and drinks too much, which is the most degrading form of gluttony; also in respect of avidity and voracity, and lastly, in too nice a preparation of food so as to excite the appetite; all which are contained in this verse—“Præ, propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose.”Lastly, as for Luxuria, it is not needful to explain it, for its infamy poisons the whole atmosphere.The Seven Principal Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity, which, having God for their object, are called the Theological Virtues; and the others, Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, which relate to ourselves andour neighbours. The action of Prudence is to make a proper choice; of Justice to do what is good and right; of Temperance not to be hampered by pleasures; Fortitude is not to desert our duty for any pain or hardship. These are called the seven cardinal or principal virtues, because from these seven many others are deduced; concerning which, since we work chiefly for the benefit of the plainer sort of people, we shall at present add no more.There are Seven Sacraments of the Church, the power of administering which is committed to the clergy. Five of these Sacraments ought to be received by all Christians in general; that is, Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, the Holy Eucharist, and Extreme Unction, which last is only for one who seems to be in danger of death; it should be given, if it may be, before a man is so far spent as to lose the use of his reason; but if he happens to be seized by a frenzy, or suffer from any alienation of mind, this Sacrament ought nevertheless to be administered to him, provided he gave signs of a religious disposition before his mind was disturbed. Under such qualifications Extreme Unction is believed to be beneficial to the sick person provided he is predestinated (predestinationis filius), and either procures him a lucid interval or some spiritual advantage. The other two Sacraments are Order and Matrimony. The first belongs to the perfect, but the second in the time of the New Testament belongs to the imperfect only, and yet we believe that, by the virtue of the sacrament, it conveys grace, if it is contracted with a sincere mind.
The ignorance of priests precipitates the people into the pit of error, and the foolishness or rudeness of clerks, who ought to instruct the minds of the faithful in the Catholic faith, sometimes tends rather to error than to doctrine. Also some blind preachers[212]do not always visit the places which most need the light of truth, as the prophet witnesses, who says, “The children seek for bread, and there is no one to break it to them;” and another prophet cries, “The poor and needy ask for water, and their tongue is parched.” For the remedy of such mischiefs we ordain that every priest who presides over a people do four times a year, that is, once in each quarter of the year, on one or more festival days, either by himself or by another, expound to the people in popular language without any fanciful subtlety, the 14Articles of Faith, the 10 Commandments of the Lord, the 2 Evangelical Precepts of Charity, the 7 Works of Mercy, the 7 Deadly Sins with their progeny, the 7 Principal Virtues, and the 7 Sacraments of Grace. And in order that no one may excuse himself from this on account of ignorance, though all ministers of the Church ought to know them, we have here with great brevity summed them up.
Of the Articles of Faith.—Seven of them concern the mystery of the Trinity; four of these belong to the essence of the Godhead, and the other three relate to His works. The first is the unity of the Divine Essence in three Persons of the Indivisible Trinity agreeably to this part of the Creed, “I believe in one God.” The second is to believe God the Father, begotten of none. The third is to believe the Son the only begotten, and God. The fourth is to believe the Holy Ghost to be God, neither begotten nor unbegotten, but proceeding both from the Father and the Son. The fifth article is to believe in the creation of Heaven and Earth (that is, of every visible and invisible creature) by the whole and undivided Trinity.
The sixth is the Sanctification of the Church by the Holy Ghost, and by the Sacraments of Grace, and by all those things in which the Christian Church communicates. By which is understood that the Church, with its Sacraments and discipline, is, through the Holy Ghost, sufficient for the salvation of every sinner; and that outside the Church there is no salvation. The seventh article is the consummation of the Church in eternal glory by a true resurrection of body and soul; and on the contrary is understood the eternal damnation of the lost.
Of the Seven Articles relating to the Humanity of Christ.—The first is His Incarnation, or His true assumption of human flesh of the Blessed Virgin, by the Holy Ghost.The second is the real birth of God Incarnate from the immaculate Virgin. The third is the true passion of Christ and His death upon the Cross under Pontius Pilate. The fourth is the descent of Christ in the Spirit into hell, while His body remained in the grave, for the despoiling of Tartarus. The fifth is the true Resurrection of Christ. The sixth is His Ascension to heaven. And the seventh is the most confident expectation of His coming to judgment.
Of the Ten Commandments.—Of the ten commandments of the Old Testament three relate to God, and constitute the first table; the remaining seven concern our neighbour, and are called the Commandments of the Second Table. The First Commandment is,[213]Thou shalt have no other gods before Me; by which all idolatrous worship is forbidden; and by inference all lots and incantations and superstitions[214]of letters, and such-like figments are forbidden. In the Second, where it is said,Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain, all heresy is principally condemned; and, in a secondary sense, all blasphemy, irreverent mention of the Name of God, and especially perjury. The Third Commandment, where it is said,Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day, commands Christian worship, to which clergy and laity are alike bound. But we are to understand that the obligation of rest upon the Jewish Sabbath came to an end together with the other legal ceremonies; and that under the New Testament came in the practice of Divine worship on the Lord’s day and other holy days appointed by the authority of the Church, and the manner of keeping thosedays is to be governed by the laws of the Church, and not by any Jewish usage.
The First Commandment of the Second Table is,Honour thy Father and Mother, in which we are explicitly commanded to honour our parents, both in temporal and in spiritual matters; but implicitly, and in a secondary sense, every man is by this commandment to be honoured according to his proper degree; not only our natural father and mother are intended, but our spiritual parents, the Bishop of the Diocese and the Priest of the Parish, may be said to be our fathers; and the Church is our Mother, who is the Mother of all the faithful. The Second precept in this division is,Thou shalt not kill; by which the unauthorized taking away any person’s life, either by consent, act, word, or encouragement, is explicitly forbidden, and implicitly every unrighteous injury to the person. They likewise who do not support the poor, they who murder a man’s reputation, are guilty of the breach of this Commandment; and so are all such as harass and distress the innocent. The Third Commandment says,Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery is explicitly condemned, and implicitly fornication, which is likewise explicitly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxiii., where it is said, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel.” But, further, the command extends by way of reduction to all instances of impurity. The Fourth Commandment declaresThou shall not steal, which explicitly condemns the clandestine conveying away another man’s property without his consent, implicitly it forbids taking what belongs to our neighbour either by fraud or violence. The Fifth Commandment is,Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. This precept explicitly forbids false testimony to the damage of our neighbour; and in a secondary sense it disallows undue commendation in order to the promotion of an unworthy person. Lastly, under this command,all sort of lies, but especially those which are injurious, are condemned. The Sixth Commandment is,Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house—i.e. to his injury. By this command we are implicitly forbidden to desire therealestate of our neighbour, and especially if he is a Catholic. The Seventh and last Commandment of the Table is,Thou shalt not covet his wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his, where the coveting of our neighbour’s stock orpersonalestate is forbidden.
But to these Ten Commandments the Gospel superadds two, viz.The Love of God and of our neighbour. He loves God who obeys the aforesaid Commandments more out of love than out of fear of punishment; and every one ought to love his neighbour as himself; where the particle “as” does not signify equality but similarity. So that, for example, you may love your neighbour to the same extent as you love yourself, that is for good and not for evil; and in the same way that is spiritually and not carnally; and as much as yourself, in regard to time, that is in prosperity and adversity, in health and sickness; as also as much as yourself in respect of degree, insomuch as you love each and every man more than riches; also insomuch as you love the soul of your neighbour, or his eternal salvation, more than your own earthly life, as you ought to put the life of your soul before the life of your body; also in the same kind as yourself, so that you succour all others in need as you wish to be helped in like necessity. All these things are meant when it is said “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Of the Seven Works of Mercy.—Six of the Seven Works of Mercy may be learned from St. Matthew’s Gospel:To feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to entertain the stranger; to clothe the naked; to visit the sick; to comfort those in prison; the seventh is gathered from Tobit—to bury the dead.
The Seven Deadly or Capital Sins are Pride, Envy, Anger or Hatred, Sloth, Avarice or Covetousness, Gluttony, Intemperance. Pride is the love of one’s own superiority (amor propriæ excellentiæ), from whence spring boasting, ostentation, hypocrisy, schism (sasinata), and such like. Envy is hatred of another’s good: whence come detraction, strife, complainings, dissension, perverse judgements, and such like. Anger is the desire of revenge, of doing hurt to any person, when it continues upon the mind it settles into hatred; whence proceed outrage in words and acts, quarrels, murders, and such like. Sloth (accidia)[215]is a strong indisposition for spiritual good, so that a man has no delight in God or in His praises; out of it come idleness, cowardice, despair, and the like. Avarice is an immoderate love of riches, either by unlawful gathering or unlawful hoarding; out of it spring fraud, theft, sacrilege, simony, and every sort of base gain. Gluttony is an immoderate love of gratifying the palate in food and drink, and it sins in many ways; first, in regard to time, when a man eats too early or too late or too often; second, in respect to quality, when he is too nice in the choice of his diet; third, in respect of quantity, when he eats and drinks too much, which is the most degrading form of gluttony; also in respect of avidity and voracity, and lastly, in too nice a preparation of food so as to excite the appetite; all which are contained in this verse—
“Præ, propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose.”
Lastly, as for Luxuria, it is not needful to explain it, for its infamy poisons the whole atmosphere.
The Seven Principal Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity, which, having God for their object, are called the Theological Virtues; and the others, Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, which relate to ourselves andour neighbours. The action of Prudence is to make a proper choice; of Justice to do what is good and right; of Temperance not to be hampered by pleasures; Fortitude is not to desert our duty for any pain or hardship. These are called the seven cardinal or principal virtues, because from these seven many others are deduced; concerning which, since we work chiefly for the benefit of the plainer sort of people, we shall at present add no more.
There are Seven Sacraments of the Church, the power of administering which is committed to the clergy. Five of these Sacraments ought to be received by all Christians in general; that is, Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, the Holy Eucharist, and Extreme Unction, which last is only for one who seems to be in danger of death; it should be given, if it may be, before a man is so far spent as to lose the use of his reason; but if he happens to be seized by a frenzy, or suffer from any alienation of mind, this Sacrament ought nevertheless to be administered to him, provided he gave signs of a religious disposition before his mind was disturbed. Under such qualifications Extreme Unction is believed to be beneficial to the sick person provided he is predestinated (predestinationis filius), and either procures him a lucid interval or some spiritual advantage. The other two Sacraments are Order and Matrimony. The first belongs to the perfect, but the second in the time of the New Testament belongs to the imperfect only, and yet we believe that, by the virtue of the sacrament, it conveys grace, if it is contracted with a sincere mind.
Thoresby, Archbishop of York in 1357, commissioned John Graytrigg, a monk of York, to write in English verse an exposition of these six things: The Fourteen Points of the Creed, the TenCommandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Works of Mercy, the Seven Virtues, the Seven Deadly Sins; and this he sent to all his priests, and bade them teach them often to their people, and urge them to teach their children; and to examine them as to their knowledge when they come to confession in Lent. At a synod held at Ely in 1364, priests were enjoined frequently to preach, to expound the Ten Commandments, etc., to study the sacred Scriptures, to see that children are taught prayers, and to examine adults when they come to confession as to their religious knowledge. When Arundel, in 1408, forbade preaching without a licence, he expressly excepted the parish priests, who were bound to instruct their people in simple language.
A provincial synod at York, under Archbishop Nevil, in 1465, orders systematic teaching quarterly in simple language on points which the canon elaborately sets forth.
There were numerous helps to preachers. Ælfric, towards the end of the Saxon period, freely translated forty homilies from Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Gregory, and other great ancient writers, which were put forth for the use of the clergy under the authority of Archbishop Siric; he afterwards added forty others of a more legendary character; and there are many other Saxon sermons still extant, printed by Wanley, Sharon Turner, Thorpe, the Early English Text Society, etc. Of a later period there are series of sermons by Grostete of Lincoln,FitzRalph of Armagh, and literally hundreds of other writers, some for all the Sundays of the year, some for the great festivals only. A series of sermons for Sundays and feast days, by John Felton, Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford, c. 1450, seems to have been popular, since many manuscripts of it remain. The “Liber Festivalis” of John Myrk, Canon of Lillieshall, was also popular; Caxton’s printed “Liber Festivalis” was founded upon it. The “Summa Predicantium” is a book of sermon notes for preachers; the “Alphabetum Exemplarium” is a collection of illustrations and anecdotes from which the preacher might cull examples.
The “Speculum Christiani,” by John Watton, in the fourteenth century, was intended, as is stated in the preface, to help the parish priests to carry out Peckham’s injunctions. A great part of it is in English, and it contains rhymed versions of the Commandments to help the memory. Several editions of it (one in 1480, at the cost of a London merchant) are among the earliest printed books. The “Flos Florum” was another book of the same class explaining the Lord’s Prayer, Virtues, and Vices, etc. There were also many private manuals instructing the clergy in all their duties: as the “Pars Oculi Sacerdotis” of W. Parker, about 1350A.D.; and the revised edition of it, under the title of “The Pupilla Oculi” of Burgh, in 1385.
These series of authoritative instructions are open to the criticism that they are dry and formal, lacking evangelical tone and unction, manuals of theology areapt to be dry and formal; the treatment of sins and virtues is perhaps pedantic and fanciful, but it proves a searching analysis of the human heart and conduct, and contains much which is striking and true.
But there was another class of English books, like “The Prick of Conscience” and other works of Richard the Hermit of Hampole[216](died in 1349), and the “Speculum” of Archbishop St. Edmund Rich, in which we find a vein of pious meditation, intended in the first instance for the use of the clergy; but the pious thoughts of the clergy are not long in finding their way to their tongues, and so to the ears and hearts of their people. The religious poem of William of Massington, an advocate of the Court of York, “On the Works of God and the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ,” etc., and a number of short poems, which have been printed in various collections, give examples of the existence of the emotional elementin the popular religion in strains of considerable poetical and religious merit.
It is a very curious circumstance that many of these books are cast into a poetical mould—Dom Johan Graytrigg’s work is in the alliterative poetry of Saxon and early English literature, and John Myrk’s “Instructions” and the “Lay Folks’ Mass-book” are in rhyme, no doubt with the twofold purpose of making them more attractive and more easily remembered.
A remarkable feature of the moral teaching of the Middle Ages was its minute analysis of sin. It divided sin into the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Covetousness, Gluttony, Luxury; the list of them is sometimes slightly varied. Then it divided each sin into its various branches. It will be enough to quote from the “Argenbite of Inwit” the analysis of the first of them—Pride.
Pridehas seven boughs: Untruth, Contempt, Presumption, Ambition, Vainglory, Hypocrisy, Wicked Dread.
Untruthhas three twigs: Ingratitude, Foolishness, Apostasy.
Contemptis of three sorts: not praising others as they deserve; not giving reverence where one ought; not obeying those who are over us.
Presumptionhas six twigs: Singularity, Extravagance, and also Strife, Boasting, Scorn, Opposition.
Vaingloryhas three small twigs: God’s gifts of Nature, Fortune, and Grace.
Hypocrisyis of three kinds: Foul, Foolish, Subtle.
The seventh bough of Pride is Wicked Fear and Shame.
And so with the rest of the deadly sins.
Envypoisons the heart, mouth, and head.
Hatredhas seven twigs: Chiding, Wrath, Hate, Strife, Vengeance, Murder, War.
Slothmeans yielding to our natural disinclination to good and proneness to evil, and has six divisions: Disobedience, Impatience, Murmuring, Sorrow, Desire of Death, Despair.
Avaricehas ten divisions: Usury, Theft, Robbery, False Claim, Sacrilege, Simony, Fraud, Chaffer, Craft, Wicked Gains.
Gluttonyhas five kinds;Lecheryfourteen. It is very pedantic in form; but there is a keen insight into human frailty, and there are many shrewd hits and pithy sayings, and it is lightened by anecdotes and illustrations. Men nowadays would not have the patience to read it; but if they did read and digest it, they might gain a great amount of self-knowledge.
Some similar treatises at the end of every deadly sin give its remedy, also minutely analyzed.[217]Other subjects are treated by the same method—the Seven Virtues, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, etc. It is all dry reading, but it gives the patient reader valuable knowledge of the attitude of men’s minds in those days towards Christian faith and practice. An evidence of the popularity of these treatises is given by the fact that “The Parson’s Tale”in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” is nothing more or less than such a treatise on penitence, divided into three parts, viz. Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction; in the course of which the Seven Deadly Sins, with their remedies, are dealt with in the usual manner.
People bestowed a great deal of ingenuity in representing these systems of teaching by diagrams. A MS. Psalter of the thirteenth century (Arundel, 83) gives a number of them;[218]at f. 129versois theArbor Vitiorum, a tree with seven principal branches, viz. the Seven Deadly Sins, and their subordinate boughs and twigs as above. At f. 120 is theArbor Virtutum, treated in a similar way. At f. 130 the Seven Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Vices, and the Seven Virtues, are arranged in a device so as to give their relations to one another; and there are similar devices on f. 2verso, and the two following pages. Such devices were sometimes painted on the walls of churches.
Larger ImageARBOR VIRTVTVM.
Larger ImageARBOR VICIORVM.
The pictorial representation of type and antitype seems to have had an interest for them. So early as the seventh century, Benedict Biscop brought pictures from Gaul and Italy to adorn his monasteries on the Tyne, and among them were one pair of Isaac bearing the wood for the sacrifice, and our Lord carrying His cross; another pair the brazen serpent and our Lord upon the cross. In the King’s MS. 5 are a series of pictures arranged in three columns; in the middle a subject from the history of our Lord, and on each side two Old Testament types. The “Biblia Pauperum” of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries consisted of a similar arrangement of gospel histories, with Old Testament types.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARISH PRIESTS.
Aflood of light is thrown upon the subject of a priest’s duties in his parish by the handbooks which seem to have been as common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as they are in the nineteenth; instructing, advising, exhorting the clergy as to their duties, and the best way of fulfilling them. The Early English Text Society has printed one of these entitled, “Instructions for Parish Priests,” written by John Myrk, a canon of Lilleshall, in Shropshire, not the same man who wrote the “Liber Festivalis.” The oldest MS. of it belongs to the first half of the fifteenth century. It will answer our purpose to give a rather complete analysis of the book, spelling some words in modern fashion, in order to make it more intelligible, without much altering the substance.
It begins:—
Whenne the blynde ledeth the blynde,Into the dyche they fallen both.
BAPTISM BY AFFUSION.FROM THE XV. CENT. MS. EGERTON, 2019 f. 135.
BAPTISM BY IMMERSION.FROM THE XIV. CENT. MS., ROYAL 6 E. VI., f. 171.
So, our author says, ignorant priests lead their people into sin; therefore, if you are not a great clerk, you will do well to read this book, where you will find—
How thou schalt thy parische techeAnd what thou must thyself be.For lytel is worth thy prechynge,If thou be of evil lyvynge.
Which is certainly a very wholesome exordium.
Then he begins his instructions—
Preste; thy self thou moste be chaste,And say thy service withouten haste,That mouthe and heart accord i fere,[219]If thou wilt that God thee hear.
And so he goes on: He must be true in heart and hand, eschew oaths, be mild to all, put away drunkenness, gluttony, pride, sloth, and envy. He must not frequent taverns, or make merchandise, or indulge in wrestling, shooting, hawking, hunting, dancing; wear cutted (slashed) clothes, or piked shoes; not frequent markets or fairs. He must wear proper clothes, must not wear basilard or baldrick, must keep his beard and crown shaven; be free of meat and drink to rich and poor; forsake women, avoid foolish jesting, despise the world, and cultivate virtue. We recognize that the author is giving a summary of all the canons on the subject of the life of the clergy.
Confession.(From Chaucer’s “Romaunt of the Rose,” Harl. 4425, f. 143.)
He goes on to the priest’s duties. He is not to let men go on in sin, but urge them to speedy confessionlest they forget before Lent. He is to bid women with child to come to confession and holy communion,
For dread of peril that may befallIn their travailing that come shall.
If a child is in danger of death, the midwife or the father or mother is to baptize it; and he is to teach people what is the proper form, “I folowe (baptize) thee, or, I christen thee, in the name of, etc.” All children born within eight days of Easter or of Whitsunday, are to be brought to baptism at those seasons, unless they are in danger of death. He is to instruct godparents to teach their god-children the Our Father and Creed; and to bring them to be bishoped within their fifth year; but the sponsors at the baptism are not to hold the child at the confirming.[220]Relatives by spiritual ties as well as by blood, are not to marry, and he defines these spiritual relationships. Irregular marriages are cursed.Banns are to be asked on three holy days, and then the parties are to be openly wedded at the church door. He is to bid all who are of years of discretion to come to church to confession, and to receive communion on Easter Day all together:[221]
Teach them then with good intentTo beleve in that sacramentWhat they receive in form of breadIt is God’s body that suffered dead[222]Upon the holy rood tree,To buy our sins and make us free.
Every Sunday a “holy loaf”[223]provided by the charity of some one of the laity was cut in pieces, and a piece given to all who came up to receive it: the authority forthis practice was no doubt the primitive love-feast. But when it was not the custom for the laity to communicate, this was given as a sort of representation of and substitute for the consecrated bread, and it was attended by a good deal of superstition. A question in the “Lay Folks’ Mass-book” seems to indicate that it was required that people should receive it and eat it, fasting, every Sunday—Hast thou eaten any SondayWithouten holy bred? Say yea or nay;and a return by the vicar of Leominster of the sources of his income, seems to indicate that a payment for this holy bread was customary in some places (see p. 404).
Every Sunday a “holy loaf”[223]provided by the charity of some one of the laity was cut in pieces, and a piece given to all who came up to receive it: the authority forthis practice was no doubt the primitive love-feast. But when it was not the custom for the laity to communicate, this was given as a sort of representation of and substitute for the consecrated bread, and it was attended by a good deal of superstition. A question in the “Lay Folks’ Mass-book” seems to indicate that it was required that people should receive it and eat it, fasting, every Sunday—
Hast thou eaten any SondayWithouten holy bred? Say yea or nay;
and a return by the vicar of Leominster of the sources of his income, seems to indicate that a payment for this holy bread was customary in some places (see p. 404).
He is to teach that, after receiving the Consecrated Bread at Easter, what is given them afterwards in the chalice is only wine and water to assist in the swallowing it completely:
But teach them all to ’lieve sudde[224]That it which is on the altar madeIt is very God’s bloodThat He shed on the rood.
Teach the people when they go to church to leave behind idle speech and jests, and light behaviour, and say their paternoster and creed. Not to stand or lean against pillar or wall, but set themselves on their knees on the floor, and pray to God with meek heart to give them grace and mercy. When the gospel is read, they are to stand and bless Him as well as they can, and whengloria tibiis done, they are to kneel down again; and when the sacring-bell rings, they are to hold both hands up and say softly, without noise—
Jesu, Lord, welcome thou be,In forme of bred as I Thee see;Jesu for thy holy nameShield me to-day from sin and shame.Shrift and housel, Lord, thou grant me bo[225]Ere that I shall hennes[226]go,And true contrycion of my sinThat I Lord never die therein.And as thou wert of a may[227]y’bore,Suffer me never to be forelore;But when that I shall hennes wendGraunt me thi blysse withouten ende. Amen.Teche them thus or some othere thynge,To say at the holy sakerynge.
[In the “Lay Folks’ Mass-book” the following short verse is given to be said in this place—
Welcome, Lord, in form of bread,For me thou suffered hard deed?As thou didst bear the crown of thornSuffer me not to be forlorn.]
He is to teach them when they walk in the way, and see the priest bearing “God’s body” to the sick, to kneel down, whether the way be fair or foul.[228]And then comes a gross bit of superstition which he fathers on St. Augustine:
So mickle good doth that syht,As Saint Austen teacheth wryht,
that on that day the devout beholder shall have meat and drink, God will forgive idle oaths and words, and he need not fear sudden death nor loss of sight.Within the church and “seyntuary”[229]people are not to sing or cry; not to cast the axtre or stone, or play bull and bears in the churchyard. Courts and such-like contentions are not to be held in church. Teach them duly to pay their tithe—but, he breaks off jestingly, it is not necessary to teach a priest how to ask for his tithe. Witchcraft and usury are forbidden, and so is selling at too high a price.
Next he gives metrical paraphrases of the Lord’s Prayer, Ave and Creed, with a brief explanation of the Creed, and a curious illustration of the doctrine of the Trinity:—
Water and ice and eke snowe,Here be thre things as ye may see,And yet the three all water be.
Then he gives a long instruction on the right administration of baptism, and on confirmation:—
Which in lewde men’s menyng,Is y-called the bishoping.The bishop confirmeth and maketh sad[230]That that the priest before hath made,[231]Wherefore the name that is then y-spokeMust stand firm as it were loke,[232]
which is an interesting allusion to the right of altering the Christian name at Confirmation.
Then comes a general sentence of excommunication[233]to be said two or three times a year when theparish is met together, with cross and candle and bell tolling. It declares that all persons are accursed who break the peace of the church, or rob it, or withhold tithes; all slanderers, fire raisers, thieves, heretics, usurers, etc., etc. Then the candle is to be thrown down, and the priest is to spit on the ground, and the bells to ring. This general sentence of excommunication is clearly the origin of the form of Commination still said on Ash Wednesday.
CONFIRMATION. FROM A PRINTED PONTIFICAL, A.D. 1520 (471, f. 2).
Then comes an instruction on the mode of hearing confessions, and some practical advice on the kind of penances to give,e.g.if the penitent does not know the Pater, Ave, and Creed, he is to have such a penance set as will make him learn them; and he is to be examined as to his belief.
Next, as part of the instruction in the art of confession, comes a practical exposition of the ten commandments one by one; and in the same way an exposition of the seven deadly sins and of the venial sins; and of the sins of the senses; in all which we recognize a digest of Archbishop Peckham’s famous canon of instruction for preaching; then come counsels as to the remedies for the seven deadly sins. Then an instruction on the administration of Extreme Unction, with a kind of Office for the Visitation of the Sick.
When thou shalt to sick goneA clean surplice cast thee on,Take thy stole with thee right,And pull thy hood over thy sight.Bear thy Host anont[234]thy breastIn a box that is honest.Make thy clerk before thee gynge[235]To bear light and bell ring.[236]
This is the prayer of the sick before the unction—
My God, my God, my mercy and my refuge, Thee I desire, to Thee I flee, to Thee I hasten to come. Despise me not, placed in this tremendous crisis, be merciful to me in these my great necessities. I cannot redeem myself by my own works; but do Thou my God redeem me, and have mercy on me. I trust not in my merits, but I confide rather in Thy mercies, and I trust more in Thy mercies than I distrust my evil deeds. My faults, my great faults. Now I come to Thee because Thou failest none, I desire to depart and be with Thee. Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Amen. And grant to me, my God, that I may sleep and rest in peace, who in perfect Trinity livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.
My God, my God, my mercy and my refuge, Thee I desire, to Thee I flee, to Thee I hasten to come. Despise me not, placed in this tremendous crisis, be merciful to me in these my great necessities. I cannot redeem myself by my own works; but do Thou my God redeem me, and have mercy on me. I trust not in my merits, but I confide rather in Thy mercies, and I trust more in Thy mercies than I distrust my evil deeds. My faults, my great faults. Now I come to Thee because Thou failest none, I desire to depart and be with Thee. Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Amen. And grant to me, my God, that I may sleep and rest in peace, who in perfect Trinity livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.
PARISH PRIEST TAKING THE LAST SACRAMENT TO THE SICK.XIV. CENT. MS., 6 E. VI., f. 427 verso.
PARISH PRIEST ADMINISTERING LAST SACRAMENT.XIV. CENT. MS., 6 E. VII., f. 70.
POPULAR RELIGION.
In Saxon times, the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments were taught to the people in their own tongue, sometimes in metrical paraphrases, that they might the more easily be remembered, and every parent was required to teach them to his children.
A canon of the Synod of Clovesho, in 747, required the priest to explain everything in the Divine service to the people, and the Gospel for the day was read to them in the vernacular. The poem of Cædmon, which paraphrased large portions of the Old Testament history, was not the only use of the native poetry for the purpose of popularizing the truths of religion; we call to mind how Aldhelm used to sit on the parapet of the bridge over which the country-people must needs pass into Malmesbury, and sing to them religious poems, to theaccompaniment of his harp. King Alfred translated the psalms, and there were various other versions of the psalms and other portions of Scripture.
Education was much more common among the laity of the Middle Ages than is sometimes supposed. The French books of piety and of romance in the thirteenth century presuppose people capable of reading them. Grostete’s “Castle of Love” was a religious allegory, in which, under the ideas of chivalry, the fundamental articles of Christian belief are represented. By the middle of the fourteenth century, English had become a literary language, and works of all kinds were written in it. Wiclif did not translate the Bible from Latin into English for the clergy; they would rightly prefer to continue to read it in the Latin of the Vulgate; he wrote it for the laity, and we know that it was largely circulated among them. The poems of Lydgate and Gower, “Piers Plowman,” and the Canterbury Tales, the numerous romances, and the religious tracts of Wiclif and Robert of Hampole, had numerous readers; and for those readers books of devotion were largely provided.
Robert de Brunne’s “Handlyng of Synne,” in 1303, was a translation of the French “Manuel des Pechiez” of the previous century. The “Meditacyuns of the Soper of oure Lorde Ihesu,” in 1303, was a translation of the “Meditationes Vitæ Christi” of Cardinal Bonaventure.
“The Pricke of Conscience,” by Richard Rolle,the Hermit of Hampole, and “The Ayenbite of Inwit” (Remorse of Conscience), completed in 1340,[237]are translations of “Le Somme des Vices et des Vertus,” composed in 1279. The “Parson’s Tale” in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Pilgrims,” is in part a translation from the same book. The “Lay Folks’ Mass-book,” or manner of hearing mass, with rubrics and devotions for the people, and offices in English according to the Use of York, is an evidence that pains was taken to enable the people to enter intelligently into the Latin service. It was written in French by Dan Jeremy, Canon of Rouen, afterwards Archdeacon of Cleveland, in about the year 1170, and was translated into English towards the close of the thirteenth century.
The “Lay Folks’ Mass-book” is well worth more space than we can afford it here, as a curious illustration of the popular religion. It explains the meaning of the service, and of the ritual, tells the worshipper when to stand and kneel, and puts private devotions into his mouth in rhyme, for their better remembrance. There are numerous MSS. of these books still existing, and when the art of printing was discovered, they were among the books early printed, so that we have reason to believe that they were in general demand and use among the laity.
We learn that it was the custom for the parish priest to vest at the altar—the old parish churches seldom had vestries:
When the altar is all dight,And the priest is washed right,Then he takes in both his handsA chesepull[238]cloth on the altar hangs,And comes aback a little down,And does it upon him all aboune.All men kneeling, but he stands,And holds to God up both his handes.
When the priest and clerks confess to one another, the worshipper is directed also to make his confession in a form given.
After the confession the people stand, and the priest begins the service; the worshipper is told to pray for him, and the hearers, and their friends, and for “peace and rest that lastes ay to Christian souls passed away,” and to all men. Next is given a rhyming English version of theGloria in Excelsis, to be said while the priest is saying it in Latin. The people kneel and sayPater nostersthrough the Collect and Epistle; when the priest crosses to the south corner of the altar to read the Gospel, then the people are to stand and make a cross, and take good heed, and say this prayer—
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,One steadfast God of might most,Be God’s word welcome to me,Joy and love, Lord, be to Thee.
Again at the end of the Gospel make another cross and kiss it. While the Mass (Nicene) Creed is beingsaid, say the Apostles’ Creed, as given in a rhymed version—
I trow[239]in God, father of mightThat all has wrought,Heaven and earth, day and night,And all of nought, etc.
At the end is a very curious perversion of the clause of the Communion of Saints:Communio Sanctorumis translated as if it wereConcomitantia Sanctorum—
And so I trow that housel isBoth flesh and blood.
After that comes the offertory; offer or not, as you please;[240]but in either case say the following prayer—
Jesu, that wast in Bethlem bore,Three kings once kneeled Thee before,And offered gold, myrrh, and incense;Thou disdained not their presents,But didst guide them all the threeHome again to their country.So our offerings that we offer,And our prayers that we proffer,Take them, Lord, to Thy praise,And be our help through all our days.
Then when the priest turns to the people and asks their prayers, kneel and pray for him. When the priest comes to the middle of the altar and sayssursum corda, then lift up your heart and body, and praise God with the angels—
Sweet Jesu grant me now thisThat I may come to Thy bliss,There with angels for to sing,The sweet song of Thy loving,Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,God Grant that it be thus.
Kneel when the canon of the mass begins, and offer thanksgivings for talents of nature, right mind, grace in perils, etc.; pray for pardon, grace, strength for the future; make intercessions for church, king, nobility, kinsmen, friends, servants, for the afflicted, sick, captive, poor, banished, dispossessed; pray for God’s ordering of the world, for good weather, that He will
The fruits of the earth make plenteous;All Thou seest best ordain for us,Such grace to us Thou send,That in our last end,When this world and we shall sever,Bring us to joy that lasts for ever. Amen.
ADMINISTERING HOLY COMMUNION WITH HOUSEL CLOTH.EARLY XIV. CENT. MS., ROYAL, 2 B VII., f. 260 v.
At the sacring bell do reverence to Jesus Christ’s presence, holding up both hands, and looking upon the elevation;[241]and if you have nothing better prepared to say, say this which follows—
Loved be Thou, king,And blessed be Thou, king,Of all thy giftes good;And thanked be Thou, king,Jesu, all my joying,That for me spilt Thy blood.And died upon the rood.Thou give me grace to sing,The song of thy loving.Pater noster. Ave maria. Credo.
After the sacring, pray for the dead, that they may have part in this mass:—
When the priest the elevation has madeHe will spread his arms on-brade,[242]Then is the time to pray for the dead,Father’s soul, mother’s soul, brother dear,Sister’s souls, sibmen, and other sere,[243]That us good would, or us good did,Or any kindness unto us kyd.And to all in purgatory pineThis mass be mede and medicine;To all Christian souls holyGrant Thy grace and Thy mercy;Forgive them all their trespass,Loose their bonds and let them passFrom all pine and care,Into the joy lasting evermore. Amen.
Listen for the priest to beginPater noster, and be ready to answer attemptationem,Sed libera nos a malo. Amen.And then say the Lord’s Prayer to yourself as here given—
Fader our, that is in heaven,Blessed be Thy name to neven.[244]Come to us Thy kingdom.In heaven and earth Thy will be done.Our ilk-day bread grant us to-day,And our misdeeds forgive us aye,As we do them that trespass usRight so have mercy upon us,And lead us in no founding,But shield us from all wicked thing. Amen.
At thePaxpray for peace and charity. Lastly, he is to pray for the grace of having heard the mass, making it a kind of spiritual communion—
Jesu my King, I pray to Thee,Bow down thine ears of pity,And hear my prayer in this place.*****We pray this mass us stand in steadOf shrift and als[245]of housel bread.And Jesu, for Thy woundes five,Teach us the way of right-wise live. Amen.
After all is over, he is to utter a final thanksgiving:—
God be thanked of all his works,God be thanked for priests and clerks,God be thanked for ilk a man.And I thank God all I can, etc.
Then there follows an example of the superstition with which sound doctrine was vitiated. Every step, this book teaches, that a man makes to attendance at mass is noted by the guardian angel, that day a man does not age nor become blind, he has God’spardon if he goes to confession, and if he die it avails him as the viaticum.
The Primers were books for the private devotion of the laity. They began at an early period, and from the fourteenth century onward they were often wholly or in part translated into English. The latest of them put forth by the king’s authority, in 1545, contained “the Kalendre, the king’s highnesse Injunction, the Salutation of the Angel, the Crede or Articles of the Faith, the Ten Commandments, certain graces, the matyns, the evensong, the complen, the seven [penitential] psalmes, the commendations, the psalmes of the passion, the passion of our Lorde, certeine godly prayers for sundry purposes.”
The “Myrroure of our Ladye,” written for the nuns of Sion, is a translation of their services into English, with an explanation of their meaning. It became a favourite book of devotion to the laity, and was printed at an early period. The writer explains that he has thought it necessary to translate only a few of the psalms, because they may be found in Hampole’s Version, or in the English Bibles, a passing testimony to the accessibility of these books. The tone of the book may be indicated by one extract. “There is neither reading nor singing that may please God of itself, but after the disposition of the reader or singer, thereafter it pleaseth or displeaseth.”
“Dives and Pauper” was another of the popular English books, written probably about the middle of the fifteenth century, and early printed. It is in theform of a dialogue between a rich man and a poor man, in which the poor man occupies the place of teacher. It begins with an essay on Holy Poverty, and then goes on to an excursive exposition of the Ten Commandments; for example, under the first commandment, the author shows how imagery is lawful, and how images were ordained for three causes. 1. To stir men’s minds to think on Christ and the saints. 2. To stir their affections; and 3. To be a book for the unlearned. He explains that “worship to God and the Lamb, done before images, should properly not be done to such images.” “Christ is the cross that men creep to on Good Friday.” “For this reason,” he says, “be crosses by the way that when folk passing see the crosses they should think on Him that died on the cross, and worship Him above all thing.” And, similarly, he gives the rationale of a number of practices.
The Anglo-Saxon poems attributed to Cædmon are said by the critics to be, in their present form, probably not of earlier date than the eleventh century. In any case, they are very remarkable productions of a school of native poetry; and we think it worth while to give some examples of them. The first is taken from the account of the Creation—
Here the eternal Lord, Head of CreationIn the beginning shaped the universe,The sky upreared, and this fair spacious earthBy His strong might was stablished evermore.As yet no verdure decked the new-born world;The ocean far and wide in deepest nightConcealed the universe. Then o’er the deepWas swiftly borne on bright and radiant wing,The spirit of the Lord. The mighty KingBade Light come forth far o’er the spacious deep,And instantly His high behest was done,And holy Light shone brightly o’er the waste,Fulfilling His command. In triumph thenHe severed light from darkness, and to bothThe Lord of Life gave names; and holy lightFirstborn of all created things, beauteousAnd bright, above all creatures fair,He called the Day ...Then time past o’er the quivering face of earth,And Even, first at God’s command dispelledThe radiant Day, till onward rolled the darkAnd murky cloud which God Himself called Night,Chasing away the Even’s twilight gleam.*******
Next we take the poet’s conception of Satan and his fall—
Of oldThe King eternal by His sovereign mightOrdained ten Angel tribes, of equal rank,With beauty, power and wisdom richly dowered;And in the host Angelic, whom, in love,He moulded in His own similitude,He evermore reposed a holy trustTo work His will in loving loyalty,And added by His grace, celestial witAnd bliss unspeakable.One of the hostAngelic He endowed with peerless mightAnd arch intelligence. To him aloneThe Lord of Hosts gave undisputed swayO’er all the Angel tribes, exalted high,Above all Principalities and Powers,That next to God omnipotent he stoodO’er all created things, lone and supreme.So heavenly fair and beauteous was his form,Fashioned by God Himself, that by compare,Less glorious spirits grew dim; e’en as the starsIn God’s fixed belt, pale in the glowing lightOf nine resplendent spheres.Long had he reigned,August Vicegerent of the Heavenly King,But for presumptuous pride which filled the heartWith dire ingratitude and hostile thoughtsAgainst the eternal throne.Nor was it hid from God’s omniscient eyeThat this archangel, though beloved still,Began to harbour dark presumptuous thoughts,And in rebellion rise against his GodWith words of pride and hate.For thus he spakeWithin his traitorous heart:“No longer I,With radiant form endowed and heavenly mien,Will brook subjection to a tyrant God,Or be His willing slave. Such power is mine,Such goodly fellowship, I well believe’Tis greater e’en than God’s own following.”With many a word of bold defiance spakeThe Angel of Presumption; for he hopedIn heaven to rear a more exalted throneAnd stronger, than the seats he now possessed.Then moved by traitorous guile he built in thoughtVast palaces within the northern realm,And richer western plains of Paradise,And evermore he dwelled in doubtful moodWhether ’twere better in acknowledged warTo risk his high estate, or prostrate fallMock-loyal as his God’s inferior.*******When the All-Powerful in secret knewThe great presumption of His Angel-chief,*******Heavenly Justice hurled him from his throne,And cast him headlong down the burning gulfWhich leads to deepest hell.For three long daysAnd three successive nights the apostate fallsForgotten with his lone rebellious tribe.*******Then Satan sorrowing spake—“This straitened place,O how unlike those heavenly seats where onceIn heaven’s high kingdom we as princes reigned.*******’Tis this most grievesMy anxious heart, that earthborn man should holdMy glorious seat and dwell in endless joy,While we in Hell’s avenging horrors pine.*******Here then liesOur only hope of adequate revenge—To ruin, if we may, this new-born man,And on his race eternal woe entail.”*******
Next a brief fragment from the account of Satan’s invasion of Paradise—
Without delay the Apostate Angel donnedHis glistening arms, and lightly on his headHis helmet bound, secured with many a clasp,And started toward his fatal enterprise.High toward the fiery concave first he shot,A spiry column, bright with lurid flame,Showed where he took his flight. The gates of HellWere quickly left behind as lion-likeIn strength, and desperate in fiendish moodHe dashed the fire aside.*******Onward he took his way, and soon descriedFar off the trembling light of this fair world.*******Ere long amid the shadeOf Eden’s fair wide-spreading foliageHe saw the Parents of Mankind; the manWhose comely form bespoke a wise design,And by his side, radiant with guileless youth,His God-created spouse. Above them spreadTwo trees rich laden with immortal fruit.[246]
The parallelism with the “Paradise Lost” is, in many places, so striking that we should conclude that Milton knew the work of his predecessor by so many centuries, if we were not assured that the work was unknown in Milton’s day.
The publications of the Early English Text Society have made known a considerable number of religious treatises, tracts, poems, and short pieces in the English language, which throw light upon the popular religion of the three centuries from the thirteenth to the fifteenth.
Legendary histories of saints and apocryphal stories indicate the general acceptance of themarvellous; addresses to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or by her to the soul, bear witness to the existence of a general veneration for the virgin mother, but the tone of them is more calm and chastened than the addresses in some of the popular Italian devotions; there are others which give sound teaching; and others which reveal the existence of a strain of profound and pathetic religious sentiment in the heart of the people.
Here from a MS. of the fifteenth century[247]is a poem of six stanzas, every stanza ending with the line, “Why art thou froward since I am merciable?” It begins—
Upon a cross nailed I was for thee,I suffered death to pay thy raunison;[248]Forsake thy synne for the love of Me,Be repentant, make plain confession.To contrite hearts I give remission;Be not despaired, for I am not vengeable;’Gainst ghostly enemies, think on my Passion;Why art thou froward since I am merciable?
Another fifteenth-century poem, whose theme is taken from Solomon’s Song, the love of Christ for man’s soul, concludes every eight-line stanza with the text,Quia amore langueo.[249]Here are two stanzas—
Upon this mount I found a tree,Under this tree a man sitting;From head to foot wounded was he.His heart’s blood I saw bleeding;A seemly man to be a king,A gracious face to look unto;I asked him how he had paining,[250]He saidQuia amore langueo.I am true-love that false was never,My sister, man’s soul, I loved her thus,Because I would not from her disseverI left my kingdom glorious;I provide for her a palace precious;She fleeth, I follow, I sought her so.I suffered the pain piteous,Quia amore langueo.I crowned her with bliss, and she me with scorn,I led her to chamber, and she me to die;I brought her to worship, and she me to scorn,I did her reverence, and she me villainy, etc.
Another favourite theme was a pathetic “Complaint of Christ,” in which He sets before man all that He has done for him, in creation, in providence, in redemption, and appeals against his unkindness. The refrain of every stanza is, “Why art thou to thy friend unkind?” Here is a stanza of it—
Man, I love thee! Whom lovest thou?I am thy friend, why wilt thou feign?I forgave, and thou Me slew;Who hath de-parted our love in twain?Turne to Me! Bethink thee howThou hast gone amiss! Come home again!And thou shalt be as welcome nowAs he that synne never did stain.Man! bethink thee what thou art;From whence thou come, and whither thou move,For though thou to-day be in health and quarte,[251]To-morrow I may put thee adown.I forgave, and thou sayest nay,Why art thou to thy friend unkind?I have bought thy love full dear,Unkind! why forsakest thou mine?I gave thee mine heart and blood in fere,Unkind! why wilt thou not give Me thine?