Sequitur de Luxuria.
After Glotonye thanne comth Lecherie, for thise two synnes
been so ny cosyns that ofte tyme they wol nat departe.
God
woot, this synne is ful displesaunt thyng to God, for he seyde
hymself, "Do no lecherie." And therfore he putte grete
peynes agayns this synne in the olde lawe.
If womman thral
were taken in this synne, she sholde be beten with staves to the
deeth; and if she were a gentil womman, she sholde be slayn with
stones; and if she were a bisshoppes doghter, she sholde been
brent, by Goddes commandement.
Forther over, by the synne of
lecherie God dreynte al the world at the diluge. And after that
he brente fyve citees with thonder-leyt, and sank hem into helle.
Now lat us speke thanne of thilke stynkynge synne
of Lecherie that men clepe avowtrie of wedded folk; that is to
seyn, if that oon of hem be wedded, or elles bothe.
Seint
John seith that avowtiers shullen been in helle, in a stank
brennynge of fyr and of brymston—in fyr for hire lecherye,
in brymston for the stynk of hire ordure.
Certes, the
brekynge of this sacrement is an horrible thyng. It was maked of
God hymself in paradys, and confermed by Jhesu Crist, as
witnesseth Seint Mathew in the gospel: "A man shal lete fader
and mooder and taken hym to his wif, and they shullen be two in
o flessh."
This sacrement bitokneth the knyttynge togidre
of Crist and of hooly chirche.
And nat oonly that God forbad
avowtrie in dede, but eek he comanded that thou sholdest nat
coveite thy neighebores wyf.
"In this
heeste," seith Seint Augustyn, "is forboden alle manere
coveitise to doon lecherie." Lo, what seith Seint Mathew in
the gospel, that "whoso seeth a womman to coveitise of his
lust, he hath doon lecherie with hire in his herte."
Heere may ye seen that nat oonly the dede of this synne is
forboden, but eek the desir to doon that synne.
This cursed
synne anoyeth grevousliche hem that it haunten. And first to hire
soule, for he obligeth it to synne and to peyne of deeth that is
perdurable.
Unto the body anoyeth it grevously also, for it
dreyeth hym, and wasteth him, and shent hym, and of his blood he
maketh sacrifice to the feend of helle. It wasteth eek his catel
and his substaunce.
And certes, if it be a foul thyng a man
to waste his catel on wommen, yet is it a fouler thyng whan that,
for
swich ordure, wommen dispenden upon men hir catel
and substaunce.
This synne, as seith the prophete,
bireveth man and womman hir goode fame and al hire honour, and
it is ful plesaunt to the devel, for therby wynneth he the mooste
partie of this world.
And right as a marchant deliteth hym
moost in chaffare that he hath moost avantage of, right so
deliteth the fend in this ordure.
This is that oother hand of the devel with fyve fyngres
to cacche the peple to his vileynye.
The firste fynger is the
fool lookynge of the fool womman and of the fool man; that
sleeth, right as the basilicok sleeth folk by the venym of his
sighte, for the coveitise of eyen folweth the coveitise of the
herte.
The seconde fynger is the vileyns touchynge in wikkede
manere. And therfore seith Salomon that "whoso toucheth and
handleth a womman, he fareth lyk hym that handleth the scorpioun
that styngeth and sodeynly sleeth thurgh his envenymynge";
as whoso toucheth warm pych, it shent his fyngres.
The thridde is foule wordes, that fareth lyk fyr, that
right anon brenneth the herte.
The fourthe fynger is the
kissynge; and trewely he were a greet fool that wolde kisse the
mouth of a brennynge oven or of a fourneys.
And moore fooles
been they that kissen in vileynye, for that mouth is the mouth
of helle; and namely thise olde dotardes holours, yet wol they
kisse, though they may nat do, and smatre hem.
Certes, they
been lyk to houndes; for an hound, whan he comth by the roser or
by othere [bushes], though he may nat pisse, yet wole he heve up
his leg and make a contenaunce to pisse.
And for that many
man weneth that he may nat synne for no likerousnesse that he
dooth with his wyf, certes, that opinion is fals. God woot, a man
may sleen hymself with his owene knyf, and make hymselve dronken
of his owene tonne.
Certes, be it wyf, be it child,
or any worldly thyng that he loveth biforn God, it is his mawmet,
and he is an ydolastre.
Man sholde loven hys wyf by
discrecioun, paciently and atemprely, and thanne is she as though
it were his suster.
The fifthe fynger of the develes hand is
the stynkynge dede of Leccherie.
Certes, the fyve fyngres of
Glotonie the feend put in the wombe of a man, and with his fyve
fingres of Lecherie he gripeth hym by the reynes for to
throwen hym into the fourneys of helle,
ther as they shul han
the fyr and the wormes that evere shul lasten, and wepynge and
wailynge, sharp hunger and thurst, [and] grymnesse of develes,
that shullen al totrede hem withouten respit and withouten ende.
Of Leccherie, as I seyde, sourden diverse speces, as
fornicacioun, that is bitwixe man and womman that been nat
maried, and this is deedly synne and agayns nature.
Al that
is enemy and destuccioun to nature is agayns nature.
Parfay,
the resoun of a man telleth eek hym wel that it is deedly synne,
for as muche as God forbad leccherie. And Seint Paul yeveth hem
the regne that nys dewe to no wight but to hem that doon deedly
synne.
Another synne of Leccherie is to bireve a mayden of
hir maydenhede, for he that so dooth, certes, he casteth a mayden
out of the hyeste degree that is in this present lif
and
bireveth hire thilke precious fruyt that the book clepeth the
hundred fruyt. I ne kan seye it noon ootherweyes in Englissh, but
in Latyn it highte Centesimus fructus.
Certes, he that so dooth is cause of manye damages and
vileynyes, mo than any man kan rekene; right as he somtyme is
cause of alle damages that beestes don in the feeld, that breketh
the hegge or the closure, thurgh which he destroyeth that may nat
been restoored.
For certes, namoore may maydenhede be
restoored than an arm that is smyten fro the body may retourne
agayn to wexe.
She may have mercy, this woot I wel, if she
do penitence; but nevere shal it be that she nas corrupt.
And
al be it so that I have spoken somwhat of avowtrie, it is good
to shewen mo perils that longen to avowtrie, for to eschue that
foule synne.
Avowtrie in Latyn
is for to seyn approchynge of oother mannes bed, thurgh which tho
that whilom weren o flessh abawndone hir bodyes to othere
persones.
Of this synne, as seith the wise man,
folwen manye harmes. First, brekynge of feith,
and
certes in feith is the keye of Cristendom.
And whan that
feith is broken and lorn, soothly Cristendom stant veyn
and withouten fruyt.
This synne is eek a thefte, for thefte
generally is for to reve a wight his thyng agayns his wille.
Certes, this is the fouleste thefte that may be, whan a
womman steleth hir body from hir housbonde and yeveth it to hire
holour to defoulen hire, and steleth hir soule fro Crist and
yeveth it to the devel.
This is a fouler thefte than for to
breke a chirche and stele the chalice, for thise avowtiers breken
the temple of God spiritually, and stelen the vessel of grace,
that is the body and the soule, for which Crist shal destroyen
hem, as seith Seint Paul.
Soothly, of this thefte
douted gretly Joseph, whan that his lordes wyf preyed hym of
vileynye, whan he seyde, "Lo, my lady, how my lord hath take
to me under my warde al that he hath in this world, ne no thyng
of his thynges is out of my power, but oonly ye, that been his
wyf.
And how sholde I thanne do this wikkednesse, and synne
so horribly agayns God and agayns my lord? God it forbeede!"
Allas, al to litel is swich trouthe now yfounde.
The thridde
harm is the filthe thurgh which they breken the comandement of
God, and defoulen the auctour of matrimoyne, that is Crist.
For certes, in so muche as the sacrement of mariage is so
noble and so digne, so muche is it gretter synne for to breken
it, for God made mariage in paradys, in the estaat of innocence,
to multiplye mankynde to the service of God.
And therfore is
the brekynge therof the moore grevous; of which brekynge comen
false heires ofte tyme, that wrongfully ocupien folkes heritages.
And therfore wol Crist putte hem out of the regne of hevene, that
is heritage to goode folk.
Of this brekynge comth eek
ofte tyme that folk unwar wedden or synnen with hire owene
kynrede, and namely thilke harlotes that haunten bordels of thise
fool wommen, that mowe be likned to a commune gong, where as men
purgen hire ordure.
What seye we eek of putours that lyven
by the horrible synne of putrie, and constreyne wommen to yelden
hem a certeyn rente of hire bodily puterie, ye, somtyme of his
owene wyf or his child, as doon thise bawdes? Certes, thise been
cursede synnes.
Understoond eek that Avowtrie is set gladly
in the ten comandementz bitwixe thefte and manslaughtre; for it
is the gretteste thefte that may be, for it is thefte of body and
of soule.
And it is lyk to homycide, for it kerveth atwo and
breketh atwo hem that first were maked o flessh. And therfore,
by the olde lawe of God, they sholde be slayn.
But nathelees,
by the lawe of Jhesu Crist, that is lawe of pitee, whan he seyde
to the womman that was founden in avowtrie, and sholde han been
slayn with stones, after the wyl of the Jewes, as was hir lawe,
"Go," quod Jhesu Crist, "and have namoore wyl to
synne," or, "wille namoore to do synne."
Soothly the vengeaunce of Avowtrie is awarded to the
peynes of helle, but if so be that it be destourbed by penitence.
Yet been ther mo speces of this cursed synne; as whan that
oon of hem is religious, or elles bothe; or of folk that been
entred into ordre, as subdekne, or dekne, or preest, or
hospitaliers. And evere the hyer that he is in ordre, the gretter
is the synne.
The thynges that gretly agreggen hire synne is
the brekynge of hire avow of chastitee, whan they receyved the
ordre.
And forther over, sooth is that hooly ordre is chief
of al the tresorie of God and his especial signe and mark of
chastitee to shewe that they been joyned to chastitee, which that
is the moost precious lyf that is.
And thise ordred folk been
specially titled to God, and of the special meignee of God, for
which, whan they doon deedly synne, they been the special
traytours of God and of his peple; for they lyven of the peple,
to preye for the peple, and while they ben suche traitours, here
preyer avayleth nat to the peple.
Preestes been
aungels, as by the dignitee of hir mysterye; but for sothe, Seint
Paul seith that Sathanas transformeth hym in an aungel of light.
Soothly, the preest that haunteth deedly synne, he may be
likned to the aungel of derknesse transformed in the aungel of
light. He semeth aungel of light, but for sothe he is aungel of
derknesse.
Swiche preestes been the sones of Helie, as
sheweth
in the Book of Kynges, that they weren the
sones of Belial—that is, the devel.
Belial is to seyn,
"withouten juge." And so faren they; hem thynketh they
been free and han no juge, namoore than hath a free bole that
taketh which cow that hym liketh in the town.
So faren they
by wommen. For right as a free bole is ynough for al a toun,
right so is a wikked preest corrupcioun ynough for al a parisshe,
or for al a contree.
Thise preestes, as seith the
book, ne konne nat the mysterie of preesthod to the peple, ne God
ne knowe they nat. They ne helde hem nat apayd, as seith the
book, of soden flessh that was to hem offred, but they
tooke by force the flessh that is rawe.
Certes, so thise
shrewes ne holden hem nat apayed of roosted flessh and sode
flessh, with which the peple feden hem in greet reverence, but
they wole have raw flessh of folkes wyves and hir doghtres.
And certes, thise wommen that consenten to hire harlotrie
doon greet wrong to Crist, and to hooly chirche, and alle halwes,
and to alle soules; for they bireven alle thise hym that sholde
worshipe Crist and hooly chirche and preye for Cristene soules.
And therfore han swiche preestes, and hire lemmanes eek that
consenten to hir leccherie, the malisoun of al the court
Cristien, til they come to amendement.
The thridde spece of
avowtrie is somtyme bitwixe a man and his wyf, and that is whan
they take no reward in hire assemblynge but oonly to hire
flesshly delit, as seith Seint Jerome,
and ne rekken
of nothyng but that they been assembled; by cause that they been
maried, al is good ynough, as thynketh to hem.
But in swich
folk hath the devel power, as seyde the aungel Raphael to Thobie,
for in hire assemblynge they putten Jhesu Crist out of hire herte
and yeven hemself to alle ordure.
The fourthe spece is the
assemblee of hem that been of hire kynrede, or of hem that been
of oon affynytee, or elles with hem with whiche hir fadres or hir
kynrede han deled in the synne of lecherie. This synne maketh hem
lyk to houndes, that taken no kep to kynrede.
And certes,
parentele is in two maneres, outher goostly or flesshly; goostly,
as for to deelen with his godsibbes.
For right so as he that
engendreth a child is his flesshly fader, right so is his
godfader his fader espiritueel. For which a womman may in no
lasse synne assemblen with hire godsib than with hire owene
flesshly brother.
The fifthe spece is thilke
abhomynable synne, of which that no man unnethe oghte speke ne
write; nathelees it is openly reherced in holy writ.
This
cursednesse doon men and wommen in diverse entente and in diverse
manere; but though that hooly writ speke of horrible synne,
certes hooly writ may nat been defouled, namoore than the sonne
that shyneth on the mixne.
Another synne aperteneth to
leccherie, that comth in slepynge, and this synne cometh ofte to
hem that been maydenes, and eek to hem that been corrupt; and
this synne men clepen polucioun, that comth in foure maneres.
Somtyme of langwissynge of body, for the humours been to
ranke and to habundaunt in the body of man; somtyme of
infermetee, for the fieblesse of the vertu retentif, as phisik
maketh mencion; somtyme for surfeet of mete and drynke;
and
somtyme of vileyns thoghtes that been enclosed in mannes mynde
whan he gooth to slepe, which may nat been withoute synne; for
which men moste kepen hem wisely, or elles may men synnen ful
grevously.
