The old English versions of the Gesta Romanorum: edited for the first time from manuscripts in the British Museum and University Library, Cambridge, with an introduction and notes / By Sir Frederic Madden. Printed for the Roxburghe Club.

Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The old English versions of the Gesta Romanorum: edited for the first time from manuscripts in the British Museum and University Library, Cambridge, with an introduction and notes / By Sir Frederic Madden. Printed for the Roxburghe Club. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/544 (page 29)
    pronounce vicis, and allege holy scripturis a3enst synnerys. The smythe, that kepithe not the holy day, and spendithe viijd, is eche good Cristyn man, that turnythe not to the instigacione of the Deville, but that turnythe, and turnithe, and stondythe with Criste. And ther be thes scripturis, Tempora mutantur, for it is turnyd, that the wordle chaungithe euer fro worse in to worse; Et homines deterio- rantur, hit is sothe, men ben slower and slower; the thirde is. Si verum dicat, caput frangatur, this is to sey. He that seyithe sothe, shal haue a broken bed, scil. grete thretenynge, [and] cruelle wordis. And therfore ther ben fewe nowe a dais that wolle put hem selfe Pro domo Israel, scil. for God. The smythe jaf euery day ijd to his fadir, and so owe we for to 3eve to the fadir of Hevene honour and love ; to thes too we ben y-bounden. This smythe lente to his sone ijd, that is to sey, good wil, and goode werke, that we shul 3elde to Jhesu Crist our sone; for withoute dowte, whenne we shul passy this life, and mowe not helpe vs selfe, he shal 3elde to vs the fowre- fold, as he seyithe, Centuplum accipietis, et vitarn eternam possidebitis, this is to sey, 3e shul haue and take an hundridfolde meede, and 3e shul owe and haue euerlasting life. Also the smythe lost ijd vpon his wife ; so do we vpone our flesche, scil. that is to sey, ivil dilec- tacione, and consenting of synne. The wrecchid flesche covetithe theise two, and whenne thei haue it, hit is y-lost, for God is offendid by hem too ; and the fleshe may wele be y-callyd thi wife, for 3k as the wife is weddid by ordor of matrimonye, and may not departe, save only dethe, so thi fleshe may not be departid fro thi bonys, but by violence, where as wormys gnawith it of. Also the smythe spendithe eche day ijd vp on him selfe; and so shuld we euery day showe twey lovis, that is to sey, oon to God, that thou love him with alle thyne herte, withe alle thyne mynde, with alle thi soule; that other love is to love our negheboure as vs selfe. And if we thus spend our viijd, with oute ony doute we shulle haue the empire of Hevene, as Focus had the empire of erthe, Ad quam celeste imperium, &c.