Meditations on the Supper of our Lord and the Hours of the Passion, by Cardinal John Bonaventura the Seraphic Doctor. Drawn into English verse by Robert Manning of Brunne. (About 1315-1330.) Edited ... with introduction and glossary by J. Meadows Cowper |
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The secunde poynt of the soper.
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 | Meditations on the Supper of our Lord |  |
The secunde poynt of the soper.
The secunde poynt, beþenke þe weyl,For grete mekenes hyt wyl þe spelle.
Whan þe soper was do, cryst ros anone,
And with hym þey ryse vp euerychone;
To a logher place þey gunne þan to go,
Þey þat þe hous haue sey seyn ryȝt so.
He made hem sytte downe yn þat stede;
Beholde, and þenke weyl on crystys dede;
Hys cloþes he cast of swyþe sone,
Hys dycyplys wundred what he wulde done;
With a towel hym self he gert,
Watyr he badde brynge furþe smert,
He hyt yn a stonen bacyn put,
To wasshe here fete greued hym nat.
Petyr refused al þat seruyse;
Cryst bad hym suffre on alle wyse.
Beholde now, man, eche doyng,
And þenke þys mekenes with grete wundryng,
That þe hygh mageste and myȝtyest eke,
Boweþ hym downe to a fysshers fete.
He stode krokyng, on knees knelyng,
Afore hys cretures fete syttyng.
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He wypeþ he cleppeþ, and swetly kysseþ.
Of a more mekenes ȝyt mayst þou gryse,
Þat he to hys treytur dyd þe same wyse.
O Iudas, sore a shamed þou be may,
So meke and so myþe a mayster to tray;
Þyn herte ys harder þan any hardnesse,
Aȝens swyche mekenes deþ for to dresse.
Whan cryst þys seruyse had alle ydone,
To þe sopyng place aȝen þan þey come.
By þys ensample, and many ouþer,
He conforted hem to do to here broþer.
Man, here beþenke, yn eche degre,
How feyre ensample cryst shewed to þe;
Ensample of mekenes to þe he lete,
Whan he wysshe hys dyscyplys fete;
A grete ensample of mekenes loke,
Whan he hys flesshe to þy fode toke.
A feyre monasshyng hys sermoun shewed,
Þat þe lered men shulde teche þe lewed.
Pacyens he suffred, hys treytur suffryng
So shamely to þe deþ, as a þef hym bryng;
Yn goyng to þe deþ, he shewed obedyens
Yn fulfyllyng hys faders comoundemens.
Stedfastly for to prey here mayst þou lere,
For he preyd fyrst þryys ar hys fadyr wulde here.
By þese vertues folue hym, y rede,
And yn to hys blys þey wyl þe lede.
| Meditations on the Supper of our Lord | |