Man. To ask mercy and to have—this is a liberal possession:
Shall this expeditious petition ever be allowed, as ye have in sight?
Mer. In this present life mercy is plenty, till death maketh his division;
But when ye be go, usque ad minimum quadrantem—ye sha[ll] reckon this right.
Ask mercy and have, while the body with the sou[l] hath his annexion;
If ye tarry till your decease, ye may hap of your desire to miss;
Be repentant here; trust not the hour of death; think on this lesson:
Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile! ecce nunc dies salutis!
All the virtue in the wor[l]d, if ye might comprehend,
Your merits were not premiable to the bliss above;
Not to the lowli'st joy of heaven, of your proper effort to ascend;
With Mercy ye may: I tell ye no fable—Scripture doth prove.
Man. O, Mercy! my suavious solace and singular recreatory!
My predelict special! ye are worthy to have my love;
For, without desert and means supplicatory,
Ye be compatient to my inexcusable reproof.
A! it swimmeth my heart to think how unwisely I have wrought!
Titivilly, that goeth invisible, hung his net before my eye;
And, by his fantastical visions, sedulously sought,
By New Guise, Now-a-days, Nought, caused me to obey.
Mer. Mankind! ye were oblivious of my doctrine manitory;
I said before: Titivilly would assay you a bront.
Beware from henceforth of his fables delusory!
The proverb saith: Jacula prefata minus ledunt.
Ye have three adversaries—he is master of them all—
That is to say, the devil, the world, the flesh, and the fell;
The New Guise, Now-a-days, and Nought, the world we may them call;
And, prope[r]ly, Titivilly signifies the fiend of hell;
The flesh, that is the unclean concupiscence of your body.
These be your three ghostly enemies in whom ye have put your confidence;
They brought you to Mischief to conclude your temporal glory:
As it hath be showed before this worship[f]ul audience.
Remember how ready I was to help you; from such I was not dangerous;
Wherefore, good son! abstain from sin evermore after this!
Ye may both save and spoil your soul, that is so precious:
Libere velle, libere velle! God may not deny, I wis.
Beware of Titivilly with his net, and of all his envious will;
Of your sinful delectation that grieveth your ghostly substance:
Your body is your enemy: let him not have his will.
Take your leave when ye will; God send you good perseverance!
[Man]. Sith I shall depart, bless me, father! hence then I go—
God send us all plenty of His great mercy!
Mer. Dominus custodi[a]t te ab omni malo!
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
Amen! [Hic exit Mankind.
(Epilogue.)
Worship[f]ul sovereigns! I have do my property;
Mankind is delivered by my several patrociny.
God preserve him from all wicked captivity;
And send him grace, his sensual conditions to mortify!
Now for His love, that for us received His humanity,
Search your conditions with due examination!
Think and remember: the world is but a vanity,
As it is proved daily by dverse transmutation,
Mankind is wretched; he hath sufficient proof;
Therefore, God [keep] you all per suam misericordiam,
That ye may be pleyseris with the angels above,
And have to your portion vitam eternam.
Amen!
Finis.