[All but Mercy and Mankind go out.
Mer. Arise, my precious redempt son! ye be to me full dear.
He is so timorous; meseemeth his vital spirit doth expi[re].
Man. Alas! I have be so bestially disposed; I dare not appear;
To see your solicitous face, I am not worthy to desire.
Mer. Your criminous complaint woundeth my heart as a lance.
Dispose yourself meekly to ask mercy, and I will assent.
Yield me neither gold nor treasure, but your humble obeisance,
The voluntary subjection of your heart, and I am content.
Man. What! ask mercy yet once again? alas! it were a wild petition.
Ever to offend, and ever to ask mercy—that is a puerility.
It is so abominable to rehearse my worst transgression;
I am not worthy to have mercy, by no possibility.
Mer. O, Mankind! my sing'ler solace! this is a lamentable excuse!
The dolorous fears of my heart, how they begin to amount!
O, blessed Jesu! help thou this sinful sinner to redeem!
Nam hæc est mutatio, dexteræ Excelsi; vertit Impios, et non sunt.
Arise! and ask mercy, Mankind! and be associate to me.
Thy death shall be my heaviness; alas! 'tis pity it should be thus.
Thy obstinacy will exclude [thee] from the glorious perpetuity.
Yet, for my love, ope thy lips and say, Miserere mei, Deus!
Man. The egal justice of God will not permit such a sinful wretch
To be revived and restored again: it were impossible.
Mer. The justice of God will, as I will, as Himself doth precise:
Nolo mortem peccatoris, inquit, and if he will [be] reducible.
Man. Then, mercy, good Mercy! what is a man without mercy?
Little is our part of paradise were mercy ne where.
Good Mercy! excuse the inevitable objection of my ghostly enemy;
The proverb saith: the truth tryeth thyself. Alas! I have much care!
Mer. God will not make you privy unto His last judgment:
Justice and equity shall be fortified, I will not deny;
Truth may not so cruelly proceed in his straight argument
But that mercy shall rule the matter, without controversy.
Arise now, and go with me in this deambulatory.
Incline your capacity; my doctrine is convenient.
Sin not in hope of mercy; that is a crime notory;
To trust overmuch in a prince, it is not expedient.
In hope, when ye sin, ye think to have mercy—beware of that adventure!
The good Lord said to the lecherous woman of Canaan—
The holy gospel is the authority, as we read in Scripture—
"Vade! et jam amplius noli peccare!"
Christ preserved this sinful woman taken in advoutry;
He said to her these words: "Go, and sin no more!"
So to you; Go, and sin no more! Beware of vain confidence of mercy!
Offend not a prince on trust of his favour! as I said before.
If ye feel yourself trapped in the snare of your ghostly enemy,
Ask mercy anon: beware of the continuance!
While a wound is fresh it is proved curable by surgery;
That, if it proceed over long, it is cause of great grievance.