Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 15

In heaven and earth Thy will be done.

Our ilk-day bread grant us to-day, And our misdeeds forgive us aye, As we do them that trespa.s.s us Right so have mercy upon us, And lead us in no founding, But s.h.i.+eld us from all wicked thing. Amen.

At the _Pax_ pray for peace and charity. Lastly, he is to pray for the grace of having heard the ma.s.s, making it a kind of spiritual communion--

Jesu my King, I pray to Thee, Bow down thine ears of pity, And hear my prayer in this place.

We pray this ma.s.s us stand in stead Of shrift and als[245] of housel bread.

And Jesu, for Thy woundes five, Teach us the way of right-wise live. Amen.

After all is over, he is to utter a final thanksgiving:--

G.o.d be thanked of all his works, G.o.d be thanked for priests and clerks, G.o.d be thanked for ilk a man.

And I thank G.o.d all I can, etc.

Then there follows an example of the superst.i.tion with which sound doctrine was vitiated. Every step, this book teaches, that a man makes to attendance at ma.s.s is noted by the guardian angel, that day a man does not age nor become blind, he has G.o.d's pardon if he goes to confession, and if he die it avails him as the viatic.u.m.

The Primers were books for the private devotion of the laity. They began at an early period, and from the fourteenth century onward they were often wholly or in part translated into English. The latest of them put forth by the king's authority, in 1545, contained "the Kalendre, the king's highnesse Injunction, the Salutation of the Angel, the Crede or Articles of the Faith, the Ten Commandments, certain graces, the matyns, the evensong, the complen, the seven [penitential] psalmes, the commendations, the psalmes of the pa.s.sion, the pa.s.sion of our Lorde, certeine G.o.dly prayers for sundry purposes."

The "Myrroure of our Ladye," written for the nuns of Sion, is a translation of their services into English, with an explanation of their meaning. It became a favourite book of devotion to the laity, and was printed at an early period. The writer explains that he has thought it necessary to translate only a few of the psalms, because they may be found in Hampole's Version, or in the English Bibles, a pa.s.sing testimony to the accessibility of these books. The tone of the book may be indicated by one extract. "There is neither reading nor singing that may please G.o.d of itself, but after the disposition of the reader or singer, thereafter it pleaseth or displeaseth."

"Dives and Pauper" was another of the popular English books, written probably about the middle of the fifteenth century, and early printed. It is in the form of a dialogue between a rich man and a poor man, in which the poor man occupies the place of teacher. It begins with an essay on Holy Poverty, and then goes on to an excursive exposition of the Ten Commandments; for example, under the first commandment, the author shows how imagery is lawful, and how images were ordained for three causes. 1.

To stir men's minds to think on Christ and the saints. 2. To stir their affections; and 3. To be a book for the unlearned. He explains that "wors.h.i.+p to G.o.d and the Lamb, done before images, should properly not be done to such images." "Christ is the cross that men creep to on Good Friday." "For this reason," he says, "be crosses by the way that when folk pa.s.sing see the crosses they should think on Him that died on the cross, and wors.h.i.+p Him above all thing." And, similarly, he gives the rationale of a number of practices.

The Anglo-Saxon poems attributed to Caedmon are said by the critics to be, in their present form, probably not of earlier date than the eleventh century. In any case, they are very remarkable productions of a school of native poetry; and we think it worth while to give some examples of them.

The first is taken from the account of the Creation--

Here the eternal Lord, Head of Creation In the beginning shaped the universe, The sky upreared, and this fair s.p.a.cious earth By His strong might was stablished evermore.

As yet no verdure decked the new-born world; The ocean far and wide in deepest night Concealed the universe. Then o'er the deep Was swiftly borne on bright and radiant wing, The spirit of the Lord. The mighty King Bade Light come forth far o'er the s.p.a.cious deep, And instantly His high behest was done, And holy Light shone brightly o'er the waste, Fulfilling His command. In triumph then He severed light from darkness, and to both The Lord of Life gave names; and holy light Firstborn of all created things, beauteous And bright, above all creatures fair, He called the Day ...

Then time past o'er the quivering face of earth, And Even, first at G.o.d's command dispelled The radiant Day, till onward rolled the dark And murky cloud which G.o.d Himself called Night, Chasing away the Even's twilight gleam.

Next we take the poet's conception of Satan and his fall--

Of old The King eternal by His sovereign might Ordained ten Angel tribes, of equal rank, With beauty, power and wisdom richly dowered; And in the host Angelic, whom, in love, He moulded in His own similitude, He evermore reposed a holy trust To work His will in loving loyalty, And added by His grace, celestial wit And bliss unspeakable.

One of the host Angelic He endowed with peerless might And arch intelligence. To him alone The Lord of Hosts gave undisputed sway O'er all the Angel tribes, exalted high, Above all Princ.i.p.alities and Powers, That next to G.o.d omnipotent he stood O'er all created things, lone and supreme.

So heavenly fair and beauteous was his form, Fas.h.i.+oned by G.o.d Himself, that by compare, Less glorious spirits grew dim; e'en as the stars In G.o.d's fixed belt, pale in the glowing light Of nine resplendent spheres.

Long had he reigned, August Vicegerent of the Heavenly King, But for presumptuous pride which filled the heart With dire ingrat.i.tude and hostile thoughts Against the eternal throne.

Nor was it hid from G.o.d's omniscient eye That this archangel, though beloved still, Began to harbour dark presumptuous thoughts, And in rebellion rise against his G.o.d With words of pride and hate.

For thus he spake Within his traitorous heart:

"No longer I, With radiant form endowed and heavenly mien, Will brook subjection to a tyrant G.o.d, Or be His willing slave. Such power is mine, Such goodly fellows.h.i.+p, I well believe 'Tis greater e'en than G.o.d's own following."

With many a word of bold defiance spake The Angel of Presumption; for he hoped In heaven to rear a more exalted throne And stronger, than the seats he now possessed.

Then moved by traitorous guile he built in thought Vast palaces within the northern realm, And richer western plains of Paradise, And evermore he dwelled in doubtful mood Whether 'twere better in acknowledged war To risk his high estate, or prostrate fall Mock-loyal as his G.o.d's inferior.

When the All-Powerful in secret knew The great presumption of His Angel-chief,

Heavenly Justice hurled him from his throne, And cast him headlong down the burning gulf Which leads to deepest h.e.l.l.

For three long days And three successive nights the apostate falls Forgotten with his lone rebellious tribe.

Then Satan sorrowing spake-- "This straitened place, O how unlike those heavenly seats where once In heaven's high kingdom we as princes reigned.

'Tis this most grieves My anxious heart, that earthborn man should hold My glorious seat and dwell in endless joy, While we in h.e.l.l's avenging horrors pine.

Here then lies Our only hope of adequate revenge-- To ruin, if we may, this new-born man, And on his race eternal woe entail."

Next a brief fragment from the account of Satan's invasion of Paradise--

Without delay the Apostate Angel donned His glistening arms, and lightly on his head His helmet bound, secured with many a clasp, And started toward his fatal enterprise.

High toward the fiery concave first he shot, A spiry column, bright with lurid flame, Showed where he took his flight. The gates of h.e.l.l Were quickly left behind as lion-like In strength, and desperate in fiendish mood He dashed the fire aside.

Onward he took his way, and soon descried Far off the trembling light of this fair world.

Ere long amid the shade Of Eden's fair wide-spreading foliage He saw the Parents of Mankind; the man Whose comely form bespoke a wise design, And by his side, radiant with guileless youth, His G.o.d-created spouse. Above them spread Two trees rich laden with immortal fruit.[246]

The parallelism with the "Paradise Lost" is, in many places, so striking that we should conclude that Milton knew the work of his predecessor by so many centuries, if we were not a.s.sured that the work was unknown in Milton's day.

The publications of the Early English Text Society have made known a considerable number of religious treatises, tracts, poems, and short pieces in the English language, which throw light upon the popular religion of the three centuries from the thirteenth to the fifteenth.

Legendary histories of saints and apocryphal stories indicate the general acceptance of the marvellous; addresses to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or by her to the soul, bear witness to the existence of a general veneration for the virgin mother, but the tone of them is more calm and chastened than the addresses in some of the popular Italian devotions; there are others which give sound teaching; and others which reveal the existence of a strain of profound and pathetic religious sentiment in the heart of the people.