University of Virginia Library

Here after foloweth A Dialogue concernyng wysdom and Wyll. Who reason togither thus.

Wylle.
Somwhat of Wyll here by your pacience
I must saye accordyng to learnyng
And as you haue praysed sapience
So of Wyll, let me say my meanyng.

Wisdome.
Wyll playeth the wanton boy now and than.
Whan Wyll without wyt, reuelleth alone
He vndoeth many a wylfull man
Who wolde repent whan the time is gone

Wyll.
Wyll is an appetite gyuen to goodnes
According to prudent Aristotles mynde
In the fyrst boke of Rethorickes he doth expresse
The same sentence, or moche of that kynde
And the same Poete which you dyd reherse
(A Poete? no forsoth, rather a Deuine)
Ryght nobly speaketh of Wylle in a verse
As though Wylle, doth not to euyll encline.
Suntque voluntatis bona plura & quatuor horum
Præcipua existunt, prudencia iustitia atque
Grandia quæ aggreditur fortis discrimina virtus,
Net non quæ frenis nos temperat atque modestos,
Efficit. & c.
There be many good thynges longyng to Wylle
And cheefly .iiii. Prudence, and Iustice,
Strength, that noble vertue gret thīges to fulfyl
Temperance, who restrayneth sensuall vice.
These .iiii. be called vertues Cardinall:
For of them all other vertues depende
Of the which vertues, Wylle is thoriginall
Wherfore, Wylle I may iustly commende.

Wisdome.
I say styll, that Witte is a crafty boye,
Fayne he wolde his wilfull foly excuse,
He hathe played euen nowe a subtle toye.
For a learned sentence he dyd abuse
Aristotle in the place of you aledged
Where as you say, he dooth Wylle define,
Is of you triuicated and abredged
Contrary to the Philosophers doctrine,
Wyll is an appetite of goodnes sayeth he
Coniuncte or rather subiecte to reason
I saye whan Wyll to reason doth agree
Than all thinges be done well, and in season
But I speake onely of that sturdy Wyll
Whiche to obay reason doth proudly disdayne
Than both it selfe, it doth destroy and spyll
And putteth many another to payne.
In that Wyll, whyche to reason doth consent
Is all kynde of good vertues conteyned
Than it doth nothing wherof it should repent
For all vyces therby are restreyned.

Wyll.
Me thynke you make lytle difference
Betwyxt Wyll and sensualytie
Wyll is equall with sapience
Yea and hygher in authorytie.
For what could sapience or reason do
Or any other power of the minde
Except Wyll, wolde consent therto
Who hath power both to loase and to bynde.
Only in Wyll is free lybertie
Whan Wysdom and reason haue deuysed
Wyll hath this power for a suertie
To let all that they haue practysed.
Example. Reason and Wisdom do teache
Performe this they can not whiche they preache
Except Wyll therto shall lybertie gyue.

Wisdome.
The pride of this stoborne Wyll, breaketh out
And by lytle and lytle dooth theselfe declare
Wyll is proude, Wyll is sturdy and stout
And yet miserable, beyng lefte bare
Euery mā through Wyl alone is made a wretche
But the more wretched as Austen dooth publish
When the same Wyll dooth it selfe stretche,
So farre that he may his desyre accomplish
And also it foloweth, that through euyll Wyll
Not euery man a wretche is made
But also the more wretched when he may fulfyll
That euyll wherto euyll wyll doth perswade,
Thus he meaneth, the more power Wyll hathe
To doo euyll, the more wretched it is,
The more power Wyll hathe reason to scathe,
The more bonde, and the more dooth a mis.

Wyll.
You haue talked of euyll wyll a long season
I praye you what doo you call the same euyll wil

Wysdome.
That Wyll which is not subiecte to reason
But seketh his sensuall rage to fulfyll
Now to make answere to your comparison.
Where you preferre Wyll before reason,
In dede, Wyll, and his wylfull garison
Compare with God from whō all goodnes come
But in this poynt, wisdome doth wyll excell
Wisdome is alway good, and Wyll somtime euyl
Wisdome obaieth God, Wyll somtime doth rebel
Wisdom, of God is led, Wyl somtime of the deuyl
And let not wyll reioyce in his wicked power
For the more power he hath to commit euyll
The more seruile, the more vile day and hower,
And the more draweth he vnto the deuyll.

Wylle.
To your sentence I can not moche disagre
In few words you haue shewed ye bōdage of wyl
Now I praye you declare how it may be free
And I wyll humbly harke vnto your skyll.

Wysdome.
Whan Wyll to Wisdome wyllyngly doth encline
(Now what Wysdome is I declared before)
Than Wyll, not of merytes, but of grace diuyne
Is enfrenchesed, and made free euermore
Recte igitur quidam, liber solus sapiens est
Dixere, Hic etenim solus ratione Magistra
Castigat motus animi sensumque rebellem.
Certayne learned men forsoth sayed ryghtly
A wyse man onely hath a free wyll
For a wyse man through lady reason aptely
Chastiseth euyl lustes, & the flesshe rebelling stil.
Reke this ordre. And than the wyll is free
With Salomon aske of God his sapience
Than to reasons rule alway agree
And holde sensualitie in obedience
He that can obserue purely these .iiii. lynes
Not only a vertuouse man I do hym call
But also I compare hym to a diuines
And to the highest learned of them all.

Wyll.
I haue Ministred communication
Sumwhat contrary to verytie
That by your wyttie declaration
I might be brought out of ambyguitie.
For by reasonyng and argument
Maters of contrauersy and in doubt
Are opened, made playne and euydent
And the veritie searched and boulted out.
Now to God humble thankes let vs rendre
For his wonderful worke in mankynde
Who our misery so greatly dyd tender
That he sent his sonne his lost shepe to fynde.

Wysdome.
Say this before dyner or supper:
Glory, honour and prayse to God the father
For all his benefites geuen vnto vs
Who by his spirite vouchsafe vs to gather
Into the true fayth of his sonne Christ Iesus,
We beseche that one God in Trinitie
To blesse his creatures for vs prepared,
Rendre we thankes with all humilitie
For his kyndnesse to vs in all thynges declared
He graunte vs his giftes so meanly to take
That our bodyes may be in subiection
Wherwith, suche a lyuely sacrifice we may make
As before him may be in acception.

Wyll.
He keepe our tongues from talke of vanitie
From backbityng, sclaunderyng or liyng
At our table let there be suche humanitie
As becometh his people bothe liuyng and diyng.
In Gods name now take your refection
We haue ended our talke for this season
After your meale I must make an obiection
Concernyng the highest parte called Reason.
After dyner or supper say this

Wisdome.
Approche my frynde I pray you & come neare
Go to nowe, propugne your obiection
And in the truth, shewe you a direction.

Will.
You sayed before that Wyll is than free
Whan it is subiecte to reason and sapience
This sentence to reason doth not agree
There is no fredom where as is obedience.

Wisdom.
If Wyll hath any lybertie at all
The most is reason and Wysdome to obay
The freedom of Wyll, of it selfe is but small.
Whan it refuseth reason to be his stay.
To haue lycence to do euyll is no lybertie
But the most vyle bondage that euer was
Now reason through grace hath this propertie
To cause Wyll in the way of truth to passe.
He that doth synne, is seruaunt vnto synne
O what seruitude is lyke vnto this
Non other aduauntage therby do they wynne
But hell, where Satan the Deuyll dampned is.
Contrary wyse, there is no lybertie
Lyke the subiection vnto vertue
For that erecteth the soule into felycitie
Yf vnto the ende we do it ensue.
Beholde, here obedience is lybertye
And lybertie (yf I may it so name)
Is vyle bondage and vtter seruylitie
Whiche bringeth many a man to shame.

Wyll.
You haue well satisfyed my mynde
But where as you talked sumwhat of reason
I wolde knowe what reason is in kynde
Whom you saye, Wyll must obay in season.

Wysdome.
Est autem ratio lumen quoddam atque animi Vis
Qua curuum a recto secernimus, atque ab honesto
Turpe. Oculusque solet mentis quandoque vocari.
Reasson is a certayn lyght & strength of the mind
Wherby we discerne the croked from the right
The fylthy from the honest therby we do fynde
Therfore of the mynde it is named the light.
Lo here is this great Clearkes dyffinition
Wherby what reason is you may learne
Also reason is a perfecte erudition
By the Whyche good from euyll we discerne.
Now reason, as the phylosopher sayeth
Euer more approcheth vnto the beest
A directry of lyfe an handmayd of fayeth
Whiche loueth vertue, and doth vice detest.

Wyll.
Than I see yf Wyll foloweth reason
It shall consent to all that is honest
But sensualytie worketh moche treason
And doth both reason and Wyll greatly molest
But where as in your diffinicion aforesayd
Of the mynde also you made mencion
This terme (mynde) ought to be wayed
Therin let vs also knowe your intencion.

Wysdome.
Mens igitur sol est animæ, sunt sidera sensus.
The mynde to the soule is a sunne bryght
Whiche illumineth the same with her clere shine
By the minde the soule seeth to go right
And nedeth not out of the way to declyne.
As for the senses are as the dyuine starres
Whiche giue a shyne, but not to worke by
Yea against reason they be obstacles and barres
The motions of reason to stoppe or denie.
Senses alonely do the brute beastes beutyfie
But reason and senses both do enorne mankinde
Yet reason excelleth senses verely
As a man a lyue excelleth a man dead and blind.
Reason is the more noble parte in dede
For to heauenly thinges the minde it doth cary
Senses holde man downe, on the earth to feede
And therby man from beastes do not much vary.

Wylle.
You put me in memory of a sentence
Whiche the great clarke Lactantius doth write
Wolde to God I had the wyt and science
As he ment it, the same purely to recyte.
That high artyficer God our parent dere
Hath giuen to man, sense, reason and sapience
That man to be made of him it might appere
For God is sense, reason, Wisdom & intelligence
Of all the creatures that euer God did make
In man he shewed most his omnipotencye
Alas why dyd Adam his precept forsake
For through synne he lost his innocencye
Wysdom, Wyll, reason, mynde be here declared
If you wyll speake a worde or .ii. of sence
Whiche God in man hathe also prepared
I wyll no more trouble you, but depart hence.

Wisdome.
Sum learned men call sense a powre passyue
That is suffering obiectes variable
Sensualytie is an appetite sensityue
To the outwarde felyng very delectable.
But senses are deuyded of phylosophers
Into senses externall and internall
Auicenna, Thomas, and their folowers
Speake also of senses Intellectuall.
Touching the senses externall ther be fyue
That is, seyng, hearyng, smellyng, tasting, feling
Bothe men and beastes as many as be a lyue
Haue these fyue commonly, without differyng
These are as wyndowes to intelligence
For by them all things enter into vnderstanding
Of the whiche thinges, reason and sapience
Apoynt an ordre after their determining.
We myght minister hereof more mater
Than to the auditors should be profitable
Of many thinges to vtter muche clater
Is losse of tyme, and nothing laudable.

Wyll.
There is not a worde spoken this season
But therof some fruite I haue gathered.
The knowledge I haue not farther to reason
Whiche I trust is right well considered.
To God yf it wyll please you thankes to giue
Whiche wyth hys benefytes doth vs feede
We shall do but our deutye, and I beleue
That in all our actes, the better we shal speede.

Wysdome.
Thankes to the o father our creator
Thankes to the Iesus Christ the way & veritie
Thankes to the o spirite our consolator
Thankes to the one blessed God in Trynitie.