XXIV.
Be thou leke to the godesse Ceres,
That tooke fro noon but yafe to corne encres;
In syche wyse abaundonede shulde be
The[[254]] good knygh, well sette in his degre.
Ceres was a lady that fond the craft to erye[[255]] the londe, for aforne gaineyers swe withowte laboure[[256]]; and because þat þe londe bare the more plenteously after þat it was erryed, thei seide that she was godesse of cornes, and thei called the londe after hyr name. Wherefor it wold be seide þat, as þe lande[[257]] is habaundone[d] and a large yefer of all goodes, on the same wyse shuld a good knygh be habaundonede to all personys and [ought] to gyffe his helpe and comfort aftyr hys power. And Arystotyl seyth, “Be a lyberall gyfer and thou shall hau frendys.”
Here [for] Ceres, to whom þe good knygh shuld resemble, we |f. 26.| shall take the Sone of God, whom the good spirit sholde folowe, þe which hath yoven so largely to vs of hy goodnes,[[258]] and in hym shuld be belewede stedeffastly, as the .ii.o Article seith, the which Seynt Jon sette, [“Et in Ihesum Christum, filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum”].