OF THE DUTIES OF A SOUL'S FRIEND WHO TAKES UNTO HIM PENITENTS HERE.
45. If you be any body's soul's friend,
His soul thou shalt not sell;
Thou shalt not be a blind leading a blind,
Thou shalt not allow him to fall into neglect.
46. Let them give thee their confessions
Candidly and devoutly;
Receive not their alms
If they be not directed by thee.
47. Though you receive their offerings,
They [the offerings] abide not in thy love;
Let them be as if fire upon thy body,
Until you have distributed them in your might.
48. Of fasting and praying
Pay thou their price;
If you do not you shall pay
For the sins of the host.
49. Teach thou the ignorant,
That they bend to thy obedience;
Let them not come into sin
In imitation of thyself.
50. For sake of gifts be not false,
By denial, by penuriousness;
For thy soul to thee is more precious
By far than the gifts.
51. You will give them to the strangers,
Be they powerful, or be they weak;
You will give them to the poor people,
From whom you expect no reward.
52. You will give them to old people,
To widows—'tis no falsehood;
You will not give them to the sinners,
Who have already ample gifts.
53. You will give them in real distress,
To every one in turn,
Without ostentation, without boasting,
For 'tis in that their virtue lies.
54. To sing the requiems
Is thine by special right,
To each canonical hour,
In which the bells are rung.
55. When you come to the celebration,
The men of earth in all faith
You will there contemplate,
And not each in turn.
56. Mass upon lawful days,
Sunday along with Thursday,
If not upon every day,
To banish every wickedness.
57. It is lawful, too, in solemnities—
I should almost have said
The feast of an apostle or noble martyr,
The festivals of pure believers.
58. Masses for all the Christians,
And for all those in orders;
Masses for the multitudes,
From the least unto the greatest.
59. For every one who merits it,
Before you offer it for all,
And who shall merit
From this day until the Judgment comes.
60. When you come unto the Mass—
It is a noble office—
Let there be penitence of heart, shedding of tears,
And throwing[B] up of the hands,
61. Without salutation, without inquiry,
With meekness, with silence,
With forgiveness of all ill-will
That is, shall be, or has been;
62. With peace with every neighbour,
With very great dread,
With confession of vices,
When you come to receive.
63. Two hundred genuflexions at the Beata
Every day perpetually;
To sing the three times fifty
Is an indispensable practice.
64. If you are desirous of preserving the Faith
Under the government of a pure spirit,
You shall not eat, you shall not sleep
With a layman in a house.
65. There shall be no permanent love in thy heart
But the love of God alone;
For pure is the Body which thou receivest,
Purely must thou go to receive it.
66. He who observes all this,
Which in the Scripture is found,
Is a priest—it is his privilege;
May he be not privileged and unworthy.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]