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 stead
Of 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’s pardon 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 the form 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.