Welcome, Lord, in form of bread,
For me thou suffered hard deed?
As thou didst bear the crown of thorn
Suffer 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-spoke
Must 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 the parish 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.