The Minor Poems of John Lydgate :: :: University of Virginia Library

Þis hye feste nowe for to magnefye,
Feste of festes moost hevenly and devyne,
In goostly gladnesse to governe vs and guye,
By which al grace dooþe vppon vs shyne;
For now þis day al derkenesse tenlumyne,

In youre presence fette out of fygure,
Schal beo declared by many vnkouþe signe
Gracyous misteryes grounded in scripture.

2

First, þat þis feste may more beo magnefyed,

Adam.

Seoþe and considerþe in youre ymaginatyf
For Adams synne howe Cryst was crucefyed
Vppon a crosse, to stinten al oure stryff.
Fruyt celestyal hong on þe tree of lyff,
Þe fruyt of fruytes, for shorte conclusyoun,
Oure helpe, oure foode, and oure restoratyf
And cheef repaste of oure redempcioun.

3

Remembreþe eeke in youre Inwarde entente

Melchisedech.

Melchysedec, þat offred bred and wyne,
In fygure oonly of þe sacrament,
Steyned in Bosra, on Calvarye made red,
On Sherthorsday to-fore er he was ded,
For memoryal mooste souereyne and goode,
Gaf hees appostels, takeþe here off goode heed,
His blessid body and his precyous bloode.

4

Chosen of God þis patryarch Abraham,

Abraham.

Example pleyne of hospitalytee,
Recorde I take, whan þat þe aungel came
To his housholde, wheeche were in noumbre three,
In figure oonly of þe Trynyte,

ponam bucellam panis / Genesis xliijo

Set to hem brede with ful gladde chere,
Of gret counforte, a token who list see,
Þe sacrament þat stondeþe on þe awter.

5

To Ysaake God list his grace shewe

Isaake.

Lyneally adowne frome þat partye,
In eorþes fatnesse, aud in hevenly dewe

In pinguedinis terre et rore celi.

Frome þeolly gooste descending to Marye;
Þat braunche of Gesse God list to glorefye,

Þis Roos of Iherico fresshest on lyve,
Blest among wymmen, Luc dooþe specefye,
Whos name is fygurde here with lettres fyve.

6

Jacob saughe aungels goyng vp and doune

Jacob.

Vppon a laddre, he sleeping certeyne

pinguis est panis christi Genesis xl. ixo

Lowe on a stoone for recreacyoun,—
Þe whete glene crowned aboue þe greyne,
Forged of golde an hooste þere Inne eseyne;
Þis Crystes bred, delicyous vn-to kynges,
With goostly gladnesse, gracious and souereyne,
Gayue forreyne damage of alle eorþely thinges.

7

Þis noble duc, þis prudent Moyses,

Moyses.

With goldin hornes lyche Phebus beemys bright,
His arche so ryche, his vyole for tencresce,
With þe manna to make oure hertes light;
Figure and liknesse, who so looke aright,
Þis goostly manna being here present
To vs figureþe in oure Inwarde sight
A symilitude of þe sacrament.

8

Þis chosen Aaron bering a liknesse,

Aaron.

In hoolly writte as it is clerly founde,
Of trewe preesthode and goostly parfytnesse,
Þis Innocent, þis lambe with large wounde,
Þe feonde oure enemy outtraye and confounde,
Is token and signe of Cristes passyoun,
Spirituel gladnesse & mooste fer to habounde,
Þis day mynisterd til oure Reffeccion.

9

Þou chose of God, Dauid þat sloughe Golye,

Dauid.

With slyng and stoone called þe Chaumpyoun,
Of al Isrel, as bookis specefye,
Þat sloughe þe Bere and venqwysshed þe lyoun,
Figure of Ihesu, þat with his passyoun

And verraye victoire of hees woundes fyve
Brought Philisteys vnto subieccyoun,
Whan Longeus spere did thorgh his herte ryve.

10

Ecclesiaste, myrrour of sapience,

Ecclesiaste.

With cloose castel besyde a clowde reed,
Þat same token by virgynal vydence
Sette in Marye flouring of maydenhede,
Which bare þe fruyt, þe celestial bred,
Of oure counfort and consolacyoun,
In to whos brest þe Hoolly Gooste, taþe heede,
Sent to Nasareth gracyously came doune.

11

Beholde þis prophete called Jeremye,

Geremye.

Bavisyoun so hevenly devyne
Tooke a chalyce and fast cane him hye
To presse owte lykoure of þe rede vyne
Greyne in þe middes, which to make vs dyne,
Was beete and bulted floure to make of bred,
A gracyous fygure þat a pure virgyne
Shoulde bere manna in which lay al our speede.

12

Þis Ysayes, in token of plentee,

Ysaye.

A braunche of vynes mooste gracious and meete
At a gret feest him thought þat he did see,
And þere-with-al a gracyous glene of whete,
Token of Joye frome þe hevenly seete,
Whan God above list frome Jessyes lyne
To make his grace as golde dewe doune to fleete,
To stanche our venymes wheeche were serpentyne.

13

Holly Helyas, by grace þat God him sent,

Helyas.

Þe noble prophete benigne and honurable,
Made strong in spirit fourty dayes wente
In his iourney, þe brede made him so stable,
Cristallyne water to him so comfortable,

Al his vyage booþe in brede and lenkeþe,
A blessid fygure verray coumfortable,
Of þe sacrament komeþe oure goostly strenkeþe.

14

Zacharye holding þere þe fayre sensier,

Zacharye.

With goostely fumys as any bawme so swoote,
Beo meditacyouns and grete preyer
Þat vppe ascendiþe frome þe hertes Roote,
Goostely tryacle and oure lyves boote,
Ageynst þe sorowes of worldely pestylence,
Alle infect ayres it putteþe vnder foote
Of hem þat take þis bred with reuerence.

15

Blessed Baptyst, of clennesse locke and keye,

Baptist.

Mooste devoutly gan marken and declare
With his fingur, whan he seyde Agnus Dei,
Shewing þe lambe which caused oure welfare
On Good Frydaye was on þe crosse made bare,
And offred vp for oure Redempcyoun
On Eestre morowe, to stinten al oure care,
Ageynst seeknesse our Restauracyoun.

16

Þis holly man, þevangelist saint Jehan

John Evangelist

Þappocolips wrote, and eke dranke poysoun,
In Crystes feyth als stable as þe stoone,
Aboode with Ihesu in his passyoun;
And for to make a declaracyoun,
O þe chalyce patyn a chylde yong of age
Shewed affter þere þe consecracyoun
Þis brede is he þat dyed for oure outrage.

.id est Jhesus.

17

Þis blessed Mark, Resembling þe lyoun,

Marcus.

In his gospel parfyte, stable and goode,
Of bred and wyn for confirmacion

On Sherthorsday Remembreþe howe it stoode;
Seyde at his souper with a ful blessed moode
To hees discyples, aforne er he arros,
Þis bred, my body, þis wyne, it is my bloode

hoc est corpus meum.

Which þat for man dyed vppon þe crosse.

18

Hooly Mathewe þis elate gospeller,

Matheus.

Stable, parfyte, and truwe in his entente,
He wrote and seyde, of hole herte and entiere,
Touching þis blessed gloryous sacrament,
“Þis is þe chalyce of nuwe testament
Þat schal beo shadde for many and not for oon,
For Cryste Jhesu was frome his fader sent,
Excepcion noone, but dyen for ech oone.”

19

Lucas confermeþe of þis hooly bloode,

Lucas.

Tavoyde aweye al Ambeguytee,
“Þis is my bodye þat schal for man beo ded,
Him to delyver frome infernal powstee;
To Jherusalem, þemperyal citee,
Him to conduyte eternally tabyde,
Adam oure fader and his posteritee,
By Cryst þat suffred a spere to perce his syde.”

20

Paulus doctor wryteþe in his scripture,

paulus doctor gencium et apostolus.

Þe which affermeþe and seyþe vs truly,
“Yif þere beo founden any creature
Which þat þis bred resceyveþe vnworþely,
He eteþe his doome moste dampnabully,
For which I counseyle, and pleynly þus [I] mene,
Ech man beo ware to kepe him prudently,
Not to resceiue it, but yif he beo clene.

21

He þat is cleped maystre of sentence,

Magister historiarum.

Sette in a cloude holde here a fresshe ymage,
Remembreþe eeke by gret excellence,

In this mater avoyding al outrage,
Given to man here in oure pilgrymage,
Þis sacrament affter his doctryne
Is Crystis body, Repaste of our passage,
By þe Holly Gooste take of a pure virgyne.

22

Þe noble clerc, þe doctour ful famous,

Jeronimus.

Wryteþe and recordeþe Remembring truly
Geyns heretykes, hoolly Jeronimus,
Howe þat þis hoost is hole in ech partye,
Boþe God and man, Cryste Jhesus verraily,
In eche partycle hoole and vndevyded,
Þis oure byleve and creance feythfully,
Oute of oure hertes alle errours circumcyded.

23

Þis glorious doctour, þis parfyte hooly man,

Gregorius.

Touching þis bred doþe thus determyne,
Moral Gregore, ful weele reherce he can
In his wryting and vertuous doctryne,
Howe it is flesshe toke of a pure virgyne.
Geynst al seeknesse our cheef restoratyff,
Oure helth, welfare, Richchest medisyn,

sic medisyn in a later hand.

Þis sacrament þis blessed bred of lyff.

24

Blessed Austyne reherseþe in sentence,

Augustinus.

“Whan Cryste is ete or resceyved in substaunce,
Þat lyff is eten of hevenly excellence,
Oure force, oure might, our strenkeþe, oure suffisaunce,
Qwykenyng oure herte with al goostly plesaunce,
Repast ay lasting, Restoratyff ternal,
And remedy geynst al oure olde grevaunce
Brought Ine by byting of an appul smale.

25

Ambrosius, with sugerd elloquence,

Ambrosius.

Wryteþe with his penne and langage laureate,
With Crystis worde substancial in sentence,

“Þe sacrament is Justely consecrate
Oure daily foode, Renuwyng oure estate,
Recounseylling vs whan we trespas or erre,
And maþe vs mighty with Sathan to debate
To wynne tryumphe in al his mortal werre.”

26

Maistre of storyes, þis doctour ful notable,

Maystre of storyes.

Holding a Chalys here in a sonne clere,
An ooste alofft gloryous and comendable,
A pytee pleyning with a ful hevy cheere,
With face doune caste, shewing þe manere
Of hir compleynte with her pytous looke,
Ellas! she bought hir sones deþe to deere,
Whan he for man þe Raunsoun on him tooke.

27

Þis hoolly Thomas, called of Algwyne,

Thomas de Alquino.

By hie myracle þat sawghe persones three,
An ooste ful rounde, a sunne about it shyne,
Joyned in oon by parfyte vnytee,
A gloryous liknesse of þe Trynitee,
Gracyous and digne for to beo comended,
With feyth, with hope, with parfyte charitee,
Al oure byleeve is þere Inne comprehended.

28

With þeos figures shewed in youre presence,
By diuers liknesses you to doo plesaunce,
Resceiueþe hem with devoute reverence,

Þis bred of lyfe yee kepe in Remembraunce

eucaristia

Oute of þis Egipte of worldely grevaunce,
Youre restoratyff celestyal manna,
Of which God graunt eternal suffysaunce
Where aungels sing everlasting Osanna.

“Shirley kouþe fynde no more of þis Copye.”