[MANKIND
c. 1475
A MORALITY PORTRAYING THE LIFE OF NE'ER-DO-WEELS IN LATE PLANTAGENET AND EARLY TUDOR TIMES]

[The Names of the Players:

[MANKIND]

[Enter Mercy.]

Mercy. The very Founder and Beginner of our first creation,
Among us sinful wretches He oweth to be magnified;
That, for our disobedience, He had none indignation
To send His own Son to be torn and crucified.
Our obsequious service to Him should be applied:
Where He was Lord of all, and made all thing of nought,
For the sinful sinner, to have him revived,
And, for his redemption, set His own Son at nought.
That may be said and verified: Mankind was dear bought;
By the piteous death of Jesu he had his remedy;
He was purged of his default—that wretchedly had wrought—
By His glorious passion, that blessed lavatory.
O sovereigns! I beseech you your conditions to rectify;
And, with humility and reverence, to have a remotion
To this blessed Prince, that our nature doth glorify;
That ye may be participable of His retribution.
I have be[en] the very mean for your restitution:
Mercy is my name, that mourneth for your offence.
Divert not yourself in time of temptation,
That ye may be acceptable to God at your going hence;
The great mercy of God, that is of most pre-eminence,
By meditation of our Lady, that is ever abundant
To the sinful creature that will repent his negligence:
I pray God, at your most need, that Mercy be your defendant.
In good works I advise you, sovereigns! to be perseverant;
To purify your souls that they be not corrupt;
For your ghostly enemy will make his avaunt,
Your good conditions if he may interrupt.
O! ye sovereigns that sit, and ye brothern that stand right up,
Pryke not your felicities in things transitory!
Behold not the earth, but lift your eye up!
See how the head the members daily do magnify.
Who is the head? forsooth! I shall you certify:
I mean our Saviour that was likened to a lamb;
And His saints be the members, that daily He doth satisfy
With the precious river that runneth from His womb.
There is none such food by water, nor by land;
So precious, so glorious, so needful to our intent;
For it hath dissolved Mankind from the bitter bond
Of the mortal enemy, that venomous serpent:
From the which, God preserve you all at the last judgment!
For, sikerly, there shall be a strerat examination:
The corn shall be saved; the chaff shall be brent—
I beseech you heartily have this premeditation.