Selected quad for the lemma: life_n
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A00799
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[3 dialogues in verse, between Gelasimus and Spudaeus, Eda and Agna, and Wisdom and Wyll]
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Fisher, John, student in Oxford.
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1558
(1558)
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STC 10917; ESTC S112327
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17,319
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54
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me moch to lament And that is somtime for myne owne document I wold keepe company with Maides very fayne And I fynde the most of them raumpysh vaine And like as many of them are past all shame So feare they not God neither honour his name â–ª If I chaunce with any of them to walke Of beauty or of gay raiment is their talke Elles of marâ—age or of yonge bachelers To speake shortly they are vayne claterers Speake to them of God and of obedience They fare as persons without intelligence So that in their company kepyng in deede Of .ii. perilles it is expedient to take heede One is if I be not like to them obloquie The other is if I be lyke the company Lewde condition by talke vncomly Whiche thynges are a great greefe to me truly Agna ¶ Children and seruauntes are representations Of their parentes and maisters abhominations Like as many parents ar without the fere of god So from their maners the children be seldome od My couÌ„sell is suche Maydes company to forsake What they talke of you no mater it dooth make So that a pure conscience beareth you recorde That faithfully you serue Iesus christ our lorde Neuer be you without some vertuous booke Wheron at voyde times you mai diligently looke ¶ In good bookes truly is all my solace For in them I learne thynges wysely to compace First how I shal feare god our lorde omnipotent To my Prince and parentes to be obedient To loue my familiers to honour my betters To pitye the needye and to forgeue my detters Agna As I wyll you to vse bokes well if you haue any So I counsell you not to vse very many For so many heades so many wyttes they say Amonge the whiche all take not the right way For some haue written asmoche for affection As for any good zeale or instruction And as virginitie is nothyng without humilitie So neither of theÌ„ is ought worth without veritie Uertuous in good persons are so lynked togither That one can not auayle without the other What is virginitie worth ioyned with errour Nothyng but payne takyng for infernal terrour That mynde can neuer be scincere and pure Which in the fayth of Christ standeth not sure In Christes Testament be stable eruditions Therafter frame your lyfe and conditions Saynt Ambrose wrote the lyfe of saynt Cecily Wherin are notable examples verely Eda ¶ Sauyng your tale I haue read the same story Wher I find many thiÌ„gs sounding to gods glory And cheefly this I noted in saynt Cecily That the Gospell she bare in her hert secretly And as a Bee busely goeth from flame to flame So she in all thynges serued God day and houre â–ª And wheÌ„ other dyd syng with instrumeÌ„ts play Unto our Lorde in her mynde she dyd thus pray O Lorde let my hart be pure and immaculate That I be not confounded with the reprobate She was no vayne babler of the holy Gospell But framed her lyfe accordyng to Christes couÌ„sel Agna ¶ O well noted good syster Eda in deede God grauÌ„t you in knowledge forward to procede As you say bablers there are to many The floures they haue but thei tast not the hony Saynt Cecily kepte the Gospell in her brest But in the mouthe nowe only it dooth rest Eda ¶ Better it had ben neuer it to haue knowne Then so vily in the stretes to haue it throwne Sayntes in tyme past studyed the Gospell To th entent that in good lyfe they myght excell As it is to see very well in theyr lyues Yea both of men women maydes and wyues â–ª Agna ¶ Haue you red the lyfe of saynt Agnes Eda ¶ I readde it ones in Englysh doutlesse If it be truly translated as it was All other Uirgins of that age she dyd passe Thirtene yeres of age lytle past infancye Marterdome she suffred with great constancye Agna ¶ Saynt Ambrose as it is thought by the stile Dyd her lyfe in latine eligantly compile At .xiii. yeares of age saith he death she lost And founde eternall lyfe though her lyfe it cost Full well loued she the floure of Uirginitie That woulde die rather then spotte her integrite Eda ¶ What I am hable to doo I doo not fynde But without doute I am of the same mynde Uirginitie oh can there be any greater pleasure Into this world we brought none other treasure Agna ¶ It is euen so whan into this world we came Moch misery we brought as the childreÌ„ of Adam Yet with vs we brought this commoditie In thought worde and deede pure virginitie Nothyng in mankynde God loueth more Nothyng so moche aduaunceth his honour Therfore scripture compareth virginitie to Bisse The finest lynnen cloth that euer was or is Wryters therof whiche do the nature knowe Say that it is a cloath as white as snowe As Bysse doth all one lynen passe in puritie So aboue all vertues god loueth virginitie It ouer passeth mans nature Doctors do say And make men like vnto Aungels alway Greater saye they is virgyns victory Than the triumphe of Aungels in glory Eda ¶ Where as you speake of that kinde of vesture Bysse is a precious cloth that is most sure But yere it come vnto the perfection It requireth great labour and correction For before to the whytenes they can it bring They vse to beate it oft and oft it to wryng â–ª Agna ¶ You say truthe yeuen so virginitie Must eftsones be beate with humilitie It must be wronge with abstinence and prayer Before it be perfight pure cleane and fayer It must be rubbed with the soape of penaunce And bleached in the hote sunne of sufferaunce Here to must we adde perseuerance to the ende Whiche is our lyfe in defence therof to spende Thus shall we make a fayer garment of Bysse And therwith entre before the kynge of blysse Eda â–ª Lord why haue not the christen maids this talke When they meete or togither doo walke Agna ¶ I told you before that the parentes negligence Causeth most this and like inconuenience The filthy perswations of suche as be olde Kyndle moche euyll and make maides euer bold Agayne the bringyng vp of them in idlenes Is thoccasion of moche vnthriftenes They haue no respecte also vnto the company Which to virginitie is a great vilany Whosoeuer toucheth pitche shal be defiled So by euyll company many one is begiled Eda ¶ Where as you talke of suche as be aged I knowe that some haue to filthely raged Hauyng no respecte theyr vile mouthes to open Shewyng therwith many an vnchast token Yea forsothe that before yonge girles boyes Wherby they learne to practise wicked toyes Auncient women wyues assemblyng togither Many times do not their talke honestly consider Neither what thei speke where nor before whom No truly lytle wisdome without lesse at home Agna ¶ O lytle regarde they the terrible sentences Of Christ our Lord for suche great offences Better were it for suche a corrupte persone