Pater Cœlestis. Thou shalt not say so, for I have given thee grace,
Eloquence and age, to speak in desert place.
Thou must do therefore as I shall thee advise,
My appointed pleasure forth utter in any wise;
My strong mighty words put I into thy mouth,
Spare not, but speak them to east, west, north and south.
[God stretching out his hand, touches John's lips with his finger and confers upon him a golden tongue.
Go now thy way forth, I shall thee never fail,
The spir't of Elijah have I given thee already.
Persuade the people, that they their sins bewail;
And if they repent their customable folly,
Long shall it not be ere they have remedy.
Open thou their hearts: tell them their health is coming
As a voice in a desert; see thou declare the thing.
I promise thee sure, thou shalt wash him among them
In Jordan, a flood not far from Jerusalem.
John the Baptist. Shew me yet, good Lord, whereby shall I know that man,
In the multitude which will resort to Jordan.
Pater Cœlestis. In thy mother's womb of him hadst thou cognition.
Have thou no fear John, him shalt thou know full well,
And one special token afore will I thee tell.
Super quem videris spiritum descendentem et manentem
Super eum, hic est qui baptizat spiritu sancto:
Among all other whom thou shalt baptise there
Upon whom thou seest the Holy Ghost descend
In shape of a dove, resting upon his shoulder,
Hold him for the same, that shall the world amend,
By baptism of spirit, and also to man extend
Most special grace. For he must repair his fall,
Restoring again the justice original.
Take now thy journey, and do as I thee advise,
First preach repentance, and then the people baptise.
John the Baptist. High honour, worship, and glory be unto thee,
My God eternal, and patron of all purity.
Repent good people, for sins that now are past,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand very nigh.
The promised light to you approacheth fast,
Have faith, and apply now to receive him boldly.
I am not the light, but to bear testimony
Of him am sent, that all men may believe,
That his blood he will for their redemption give.
He is such a light as all men doth illumine,
That ever were here, or shall be after this.
All the world he made by his mighty power divine,
And yet that rude world will not know what he is.
His own he entering, is not regarded of his.
They that receive him, are God's true children plain,
In spir't regenerate, and all grace shall attain.
Many do reckon, that I John Baptist am he,
Deceived are they, and that will appear in space.
Though he come after, yet he was long afore me.
We are weak vessels, he is the well of grace,
Of his great goodness all that we have we purchase.
By him are we like to have a better increase
Than ever we had by the laws of Moses.
For Moses' hard law we had not else but darkness,
Figure and shadow, all was not else but night,
Punishment for sin, much rigour, pain, and roughness,
An high charge is there, where all is turned to light,
Grace and remission anon will shine full bright.
Never man lived that ever saw God afore,
Which now in our kind man's ruin will restore.
Help me to give thanks to that Lord evermore,
Which am unto Christ a crier in the desert,
To prepare the paths and high ways him before
For his delight is on the poor, simple heart.
That innocent lamb from such will never depart,
As will faithfully receive him with good mind.
Let our voice then sound in some sweet musical kind.
[Then in a resounding voice he begins an antiphon, "O clavis David," which the chorus follows with instruments, as before.
O perfect key of David, and high sceptre of the kindred of Jacob, which
openest and no man sperith,[628] thou speakest and no man openeth; come
and deliver thy servant mankind, bound in prison, sitting in the
darkness of sin and bitter damnation.
EPILOGUE
Baleus Prolocutor. The matters are such as we have uttered here,
As ought not to slide from your memorial;
For they have opened such comfortable gear,
As is to the health of this kind universal,
Graces of the Lord and promises liberal,
Which he given to man for every age,
To knit him to Christ, and so clear him of bondage.
As St. Paul doth write unto the Corinthes[629] plain,
Our forefathers were under the cloud of darkness,
And unto Christ's days did in the shadow remain;
Yet were they not left, for of him they had promise
All they received one spiritual feeding doubtless.
They drank of the rock which them to life refreshed,
For one saving health, in Christ, all they confessed.
In the woman's seed was Adam first justified,
So was faithful Noah, so was just Abraham;
The faith in that seed in Moses forth multiplied,
Likewise in David and Esaye[630] that after came,
And in John Baptist, which shewed the very Lamb.
Though they so afar, yet all they had one justice
One mass, as they call it, and in Christ one sacrifice.
A man cannot here to God do better service,
Than on this to ground his faith and understanding.
For all the world's sin alone Christ payed the price,
In his only death was man's life always resting,
And not in will--works, nor yet in men's deserving,
The light of our faith makes this thing evident,
And not the practice of other experiment.
Where is now free will, which the hypocrites comment?
Whereby they report they may at their own pleasure
Do good of themselves, though grace and faith be absent,
And have good intents their madness with to measure.
The will of the flesh is proved here small treasure,
And so is man's will, for the grace of God doth all.
More of this matter conclude hereafter we shall.