LXXXVI. In Criste Ihesu be we alle gladde,
By whome oure ioye endeles is hadde.
1
The high fader of blisse aboue
Hathe sent his sonne to take nature
For his grete charite and loue
Of Marie myelde, that virgyne pure,
And so on vs to do his cure
And to bringe vs fro endeles woo
And fro the feende, oure goostely foo.
2
Gabriell of so high degre
Was sent fro god (scripture seith soo)
To Nazareth of Galilee,
And to Marie thus seide he thoo:
‘Haile, full of grace withouten woo:
The lorde god is dwelling with the;
Of alle women blessed thou be!’
3
Whenne she hurde this, she was afrayde
And thought, what greting this myght be.
‘Drede not, Marie,’ the aungell seyde:
‘Thou hast founde grace, thou mayden free,
Before one god in persones thre.
Thou shalt conceyve and bere the same,
The sonne of god, Ihesus by name.
4
He shalle be grete and called shall be
The sonne of the highest of alle,
And god shall geve hym Dauid see,
And ay shall reigne in Iacobes halle;
Whose high kingdome is eternall;
For of heuen and erthe alsoo
He is the lorde: there is nomoo.’
5
Marie seide to the aungell than:
‘Howe shall this be, that thou doest hight,
Sith I purpose to know no man
And shall conceyve the king of myght?’
He aunswered her, that aungell bright:
‘The holygoost shall light in the;
By whome Criest shall conceyved be.
6
Elizabeth, thy cosyn, loo,
In her olde age, that bareyn went,
Hath conceyved a chielde alsoo
By grace of god omnipotent;
Wherefore, good lady, geve concent;
For there shall be neuir a worde
Inpossible vnto that lorde.’
7
Magnifiyng god manyfolde
Vnto the aungell then seide she:
‘The handemayde of oure lorde beholde.
As thou haste seyde, be done to me.’
Thus conceyved this mayden free
By her mekenes god and man thoo
To bringe mankyende fro endeles woo.
8
This mayden myelde hath borne a chielde,
As prophetis seide longe tyme before,
To save mankyende, that was exielde,
And to blisse it for to restore.
Oure ioye is wonne for euirmore;
For Criste hath brought mankyende fro woo
And fro the fende, oure mortall foo.
