A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Ii Part 13

O, where is the G.o.dly example, that parents should give Unto their young family by G.o.dly and virtuous living?

Alas! how wickedly[147] do they themselves live, Without any fear of G.o.d or his righteous threatening!

They have no respect unto the dreadful reckoning, Which shall be required of us, when the Lord shall come, As a rightful judge at the day of doom.

O, what a joyful sight was it for to see, When Youth began G.o.d's word to embrace?

Then he promised G.o.dly Knowledge and me, That from our instruction he would never turn his face; But now he walketh, alas! in the unG.o.dly's chase!

Heaping sin upon sin, vice upon vice: [_Here entereth_ JUVENTUS.

He that liveth most unG.o.dly is counted most wise--

JUVENTUS.

Who is here playing at the dice?

I heard one speak of cinque[148] and sice[149]; His words did me entice Hither to come.

GOOD COUNSEL.

Ah, Youth, Youth, whither dost thou run?

Greatly I do bewail thy miserable estate; The terrible plagues, which in G.o.d's law are written, Hang over thy head both early and late: O fleshly Capernite, stubborn and obstinate, Thou hadst liever forsake Christ, thy Saviour and King, Than thy fleshly swinish l.u.s.ts and abhominable living.

JUVENTUS.

What, old wh.o.r.eson, art thou a-chiding?

I will play a spurt, why should I not?

I set not[150] a mite by thy checking: What hast thou to do, and if I lose my coat?

I will trill the bones, while I have one groat; And, when there is no more ink in the pen,[151]

I will make a shift,[152] as well as other men.

GOOD COUNSEL.

Then I perceive you have forgotten clean The promise, that you made unto Knowledge and me: You said such fleshly fruits should not be seen; But to G.o.d's word your life should agree.

Full true be the words of the prophet Hose, No verity nor knowledge of G.o.d is now in the land, But abhominable vices hath gotten the upper hand.

JUVENTUS.

Your mind therein I do well understand: You go about my living to despise, But you will not see the beams in your own eyes.

GOOD COUNSEL.

The devil hath you deceived, which is the author of lies, And trapped[153] you in his snare of wicked Hypocrisy; Therefore all that ever you do devise, Is to maintain your fleshly liberty.

JUVENTUS.

I marvel, why you do this[154] reprove me; Wherein do I my life abuse?

GOOD COUNSEL.

Your whole conversation I may well accuse, As in my conscience just occasion I find; Therefore be not offended, although I express my mind.

JUVENTUS.

By the ma.s.s, if thou tell not truth, I will not be behind To touch you as well again.

GOOD COUNSEL.

For this thing most chiefly I do complain:[155]

Have you not professed the knowledge of Christ's gospel?

And yet, I think, no more unG.o.dliness doth reign In any wicked heathen, Turk, or infidel; Who can devise that sin or evil, That you practise not from day to day?

Yea, and count it nothing but a jest or a play.

Alas! what wantonness remaineth in your flesh!

How desirous are you to accomplish your own will!

What pleasure and delight have you in wickedness!

How diligent are you your l.u.s.ts to fulfil!

St Paul saith, that you ought your fleshly l.u.s.ts to kill: But unto his teaching your life ye will not frame; Therefore in vain you bear a Christian name.

Read the Five to the Galatians, and there you shall see, That the flesh rebelleth against the spirit, And that your own flesh is your[156] most utter[157] enemy, If in your soul's health you do delight: The time were too long now to recite, What wh.o.r.edom, uncleanness, and filthy communication Is dispersed with youth in every congregation.

To speak of pride, envy, and abhominable oaths, They are the common practices of youth, To avance your flesh, you cut and jag your clothes, And yet ye are a great gospeller in the mouth: What shall I say for this blaspheming[158] the truth?

I will show you what St Paul doth declare In his Epistle to the Hebrews and the tenth chapter.

For him, saith he, which doth willingly sin or consent, After he hath received the knowledge of the verity, Remaineth no more sacrifice, but a fearful looking for judgment, And a terrible[159] fire, which shall consume the adversary; And Christ saith that this blasphemy Shall never be pardoned nor forgiven In this world, nor in the world to come.

JUVENTUS [_He lieth down_].

Alas, alas! what have I wrought and done!

Here in this place I will fall down desperate; To ask for mercy now, I know, it is too late.

Alas, alas! that ever I was begat!

I would to G.o.d I had never been born!

All faithful men, that behold this[160] wretched state, May very justly laugh me to scorn; They may say, my time I have evil-spent and worn, Thus in my first age to work my own destruction: In the eternal pains is my part and portion.

GOOD COUNSEL.

Why, Youth, art thou fallen into desperation?

What, man, pluck up thine heart, and rise, Although thou see nothing now but thy condemnation, Yet it may please G.o.d again to open thy eyes: Ah, wretched creature, what doest thou surmise?

Thinkest not that G.o.d's mercy doth exceed thy sin?

Remember his Merciful Promises, and comfort thyself in him.

JUVENTUS.

O sir, this state is so miserable, the which I lie in, That my comfort and hope from me is separated: I would to G.o.d I had never been!

Woe worth the time, that ever I was created!

GOOD COUNSEL.

Ah, frail[161] vessel, unfaithful and faint-hearted, Doest thou think that G.o.d is so merciless, That when the sinner doth repent, and is converted, That he will not fulfil his merciful promises?

JUVENTUS.

Alas, sir! I am in such heaviness, That his promises I cannot remember.

GOOD COUNSEL.

In thy wickedness continue no lenger; But trust in the Lord without any fear, And his Merciful Promises shall shortly appear.

JUVENTUS.

I would believe, if I might them hear, With all my heart, power and mind.

GOOD COUNSEL.

The living G.o.d hath him hither a.s.signed: Lo, where he cometh even here by, Therefore mark his sayings diligently.

[_Here entereth_ G.o.d'S MERCIFUL PROMISES.

The Lord, by his prophet Ezekiel, saith in this wise plainly, As in the thirty-third chapter it doth appear: Be converted, O ye children, and turn unto me, And I shall remedy the cause of your departure; And also he saith in the eighteenth chapter, I do not delight in a sinner's death, But that he should convert and live: thus the Lord saith.

JUVENTUS.

Then must I give neither credit nor faith Unto St Paul's saying, which this man did allege.

G.o.d'S MERCIFUL PROMISES.

Yes, you must credit them, according unto knowledge; For St Paul speaketh of those which resist the truth by violence, And so end their lives without repentance.

Thus[162] Saint Augustine[163] doth them define, If unto the Lord's word you do your ears incline, And observe these things which he hath commanded, This sinful state, in the which you have lain, Shall be forgotten and never more remembered: And Christ himself in the gospel hath promised, That he, which in him unfeignedly doth believe, Although he were dead, yet shall he live.