ever in ioy and rest without trouble and sure never to lose it Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven as to love all that thou lovest and to hate all that thou hatest and that wee keep evermore thy commandements Our daily bread give us to day that is to say bread of doctrin bread of penance and bread for our bodily sustentation And forgive us all our sins that we have done against thee against our neighbours and against our self Semblably as we forgive other that have offended us by words in our bodies or our goods And suffer not that we be overcome in temptation that is to say as by the devill the world and the flesh But deliver us from all evill works ready done and also them for to come Here followeth the History of the Pater noster row OVR Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name Let thy kingdome come Thy will be done as well in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our trespassers And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the kingdome and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen IN the story here before sheweth the simple people how this holy praier the Pater noster should be said to God the father to God the son God the holy Ghost to none other The which praier containeth and taketh all that be rightfully asked of God our Lord Iesus Christ made it there to the intēt that we should have more hope and devotion and he made it on a time when he taught his Apostles speally to make orison And then the disciples said Lord and master learn us to pray and then our Lord opened his holy mouth and said to his Apostles when ye will make any prayers after this maner as here followeth shall you begin saying thus Our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us and let us not be led into temptation But deliver vs from evill Amen Hereafter followeth the salutation that the Angell Gabriel made to the glorious Virgin Mary with the greeting of the holy woman S. Elizabeth Haile Mary full of grace our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou of all women and blessed be the fruit of thy wombe Iesus Secondly in the booke of Iesus the Salutation is such Haile Mary full of grace our Lord is with thee Blessed be thou amongst all women and blessed be the fruit of thy wombe Iesus Christ Amen The salutation of the Angel Gabriel IN this salutation is three mysteries The first is the salutation that the Angell Gabriel made The second is the loving commendation that S. Elizabeth made mother to S. Iohn Baptist The third is the supplicatiō that our mother holy church maketh And they be the most fair words that we can say to our Lady that is the Ave Maria wherin we salute her praise her pray her and speak to het And therfore it is only said to her and not to S. Katherine nor to S. Margaret nor to none other Saint And if thou demaund how thou maist then pray to other saints I say to thee thou must pray as our mother holy Church praieth in saying to Saint Peter Holy S. Peter pray for us S. Thomas pray for us That they may pray to God to give us grace he forgive us our sins And that he give us grace to doe his will penance keep his commandements so we shall pray to the saints in heaven after the necessity that we have S. Peter S. Andrew S. Iames the great S. Iohn S. Thomas S. Iames the lesse S. Philip S. Bartholomew S. Matthew S. Simon S. Iude and S. Matthias CHAP XI Thirdly in the book of Iesus is salutary science and is the Credo which we ought to beleeve on pain of damnation I beleeve in God the father almighty maker of heaven and Earth and in Iesus Christ his only Sonne our Lord. which was conceived of the holy Ghost and suffered passion under Ponce Pilate crucified dead and buried went into hell the third day rose from death Ascended into heaven and siteth on the right hand of God the Father And after shall come to iudge the quick and the dead I beleeve in the holy Ghost The Holy Catholick Church the communion of Saints and remission of sinnes The rising of the flesh The life everlasting Amen SAint Peter put the first article and said I believe in God the Father almightie creator of heaven and earth Saint Andrew put to the second and said I beleeve in Iesus Christ his onely son our Lord. Saint Iames the great put to the third saying I beleeve that he was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary Saint Iohn put to the fourth saying I beleeve that he suffered passion under Ponce Pilate was crucified dead and buried Saint Thomas put to the fift saying I beleeve that he descended into hell and the third day arose from death to life Saint Iames the lesse put to the sixt saying I beleeve that he ascended into heavē and sitteth on the right hand of God the father omnipotent Saint Philip put to the seventh saying I beleeve that after he shall come to iudge the quick and the dead S. Bartholomew put to the eight saying I beleeve in the holy Ghost S. Matthew put to the ninth saying I beleeve in the holy Church Catholike S. Simon put to the tenth saying I beleeve the communion of saints and remission of sinnes Saint Iude put to the eleventh saying I beleeve the resurrection of the flesh Saint Matthias put to the twelfth saying I beleeve the life eternall Amen Here followeth the Creed as it ought to be said I Beleeve in God the father almighty creator of heaven earth And in Iesus Christ his only son our Lord. That was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary Sufferd passion under Ponce Pilate crucified dead and buried Descended into hel and the third day arose from death Ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the father omnipotent And after shall come to iudge the quick and the dead I beleeve in the holy Ghost The holy Church Catholike The communion of saints Remission of sins Resurrection of the flesh and life eternall Amen THis Creede was made composed by the xii Apostles of our Lord of the which every Apostle hath put to his Article as is here above shewed in the Creed as much of one part as of the other our faith Catholike is cōtained in the said xii Articles that is the begining of our health without which none may be saved ne do nothing that is agreeable to God and faith ought to be at the
commandements of God and doe all good workes that we should have accustomed The third coniecture is when wee hear gladly the word of God as Sermons and good counsellers for our saluation The fourth when we be sorry and contrite at our heart to have commised and done any sin The fift is when with good purpose and will of our selves we persever to keep us from sin in time to come These coniectures be they whereby Shepheards and lay people know if they be in his grace or not as much as in them is possible to know The sixt thing that every man ought to know is God for all men ought to know God for to accomplish his will and commandement by the which he would be loved with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all the force that we have which we may not doe if we know him not then who that would love God ought to know him and the more that they know him the more they love him wherefore hereafter shall be said how Shepheards and simple people doe know him Shepheards and simple people for to have knowledge of God of their possibility considering 3 things The first is that they consider the right great riches of God his puissance his soveraign dignity his soveraign noblenesse his soveraign ioy and blisse The second is for they consider the right noble right great and marvellous operations and workes of our Lord God And the third consideration is for they consider the innumerable benefits that they have received of God and that continually every day they receive of him and by these considerations they come to his cognisance and knowledge First to know God Shepheards and lay people consider his great riches plenteous abundance of the goodnesse that he hath for all the treasures and riches of heaven and of the earth bee his and all goodnesse he hath made of the which he is fountaine creator and master and distributeth them largely unto every creature and he hath no need of any other Wherfore it behoveth to say that he is right rich Secōdly he is right puissant for by his great puissance hee hath made heaven earth and the sea with all things contained in them and might undoe them if it were his will unto the which puissance all other be subiect and tremble before him for his great excellency And who that would consider every work of God should find enough to marvell on By the first of these consideratiōs God is known to be right rich by gifts that he giveth to his friends and by the second he is known right puissant for to avenge him on his enemies Thirdly he is soveraignly worthie for all the things of heaven and earth oweth him honour and reverence as to their Creatour and him that made them as wee see children honour father and mother of whom they be descended by a generation and all things be descended of God by a creation to whom ought to be given great reverence and he is so worthie Fourthly hee is soveraignly noble for who that is soveraignly rich puissant and worthie him behoveth to be soveraignlie noble but none other but God hath riches puissance and dignity as he hath wherfore of such nobles ought to be said that he is right noble Fifthly he hath soveraign ioy for he that is rich puissant worthie and right noble is not without soveraign ioy and this ioy is full of all goodnesse and ought to be our felicitie to the which we hope to come That is to know and see God in his soveraign ioy and gladnesse for to have with him eternall ioy that ever shall endure And this is the first consideration of GOD. that shepheards and other simple people ought to have Secondly for to know God considering his great noblenesse and marvellous workes the bounty and the beauty of the things that he hath made for it is commonly said one may know the workman by the work· Knowledge wee then the work of God and knowledge we that his beauty bounty shineth in the operations that he hath made which if they bee fair and good the workman that hath made them must needs bee fair and good without comparison more than any thing that he hath made Be it considered of the heavens and the things therein set what noble and marvellous work how may one consider their excellence beauty Bee it considered also as we may of the earth the right noble marvellous works of God the gold the silver and all manner of metals precious stones in it the fruits that it beareth the trees the beasts that it sustaineth and of the bountie that it nourisheth Be it in like wise considered of the sea the rivers the fish nourished in them The weather the elements the ayre the winds the birds that flie in them and all the usage and service of men And consider the workeman that of his puissance hath made all by his sapience hath right well ordered his works and governeth them by his great bounty and by this manner we may know God as shepheards and simple folkes in considering his work Thirdly for to know God consider the great benefits that we receive daily of him which may not be numbred for their great multitude nor spoken of for their noblenesse dignity albeit in their hearts be vi principally noted For the which another Shepheard giving praises to God said in this manner Lord God I know thou hast indued me with thy infinit benefits by thy great bounty First the benefit of thy creation by the which thou madest me a reasonable man unto thy image and similitude giving me body and soul and raiment to clothe me Lord thou hast given me my wits of nature understanding for to govern my life my health my beautie my strength and my science for to get my living honestly I yeeld to thee graces and great thankes Secondly Lord I know the goodnes of my redemption how by thy misericordious pity thou boughtst me dearly by the affection of thy most precious bloud paines and torments that for me thou hast suffered finally endured death thou hast given me thy body thy soul and thy life for to keep me from damnation wherefore humblie I yeeld to thee graces and great thankes Thirdlie Lord I know the goodnesse of my vocation how of thy great grace thou hast called me again for to inherit thy eternall benediction and also thou hast given unto me faith and knowledge of thine owne self as baptism and all the other sacraments that none intendment may comprize their noblenesse and dignity that so many times hath pardoned me of my sinnes Lord I know that this is to mee a singular gift that thou hast not given to them which have no knowledge of thee whereof I am more beholding humblie bound I yeeld thee graces and thanks Fourthly Lord I knowledge that thou hast given this world and the things that be therein made for my
other Lordshipps that been under the obedience of the Catholike Church The second nation is of Greeks HOrace complaineth speaking of this nation of Greece for the vexation that it hath had in times past The Greeks have the Patriark of Constantinople Arch-bishops and Abbots to the spiritualty and to the temporalty Emperours Dukes and Earles They be now but of smal number for Agariens and Turks have taken the greatest part of Greece the which part obeyeth not the catholike Church for their errour They been condemned by the Church for that they say Spiritus Sanctus non procedit a filio The third Nation is of Armenians WE read that the Nation of Armenians is nigh Antioch they use all one language in the divine service and in holy scripture as who should sing English in the Church and both the men and women understand all They have their Primate which they call Catholike to whom they obey as to the king in great devotion and reverence They fast the Lent and eate no fish and they drink no wine and eat flesh on the Saturday The fourth Nation is of Georgians THis Nation is called Georgians of St. George of whom they bear the Image in battaile and he is their Patron They been in the parts Oriential and been strong and delicious half Persians and half Assyrians and they speak foul and foolish language and make their sacraments as the Greeks The preists have their crownes round raised on their heads and the clarkes have them square When they goe to the holy Sepulcher they pay no tribute to the Sarazins they enter into Ierusalem their standards displaid for the Sarazins feareth them the women use armors as the men When they write to the Soldan incontinent that which they demand is granted them The fift Nation is of Assuriens I Find also by writing that the Nation of Suriens hath taken the name of a citie named Sur the which is the most eminent and most upholden among all other cities and townes of the countrey of Surrey These people for their vulgar and common speech speaketh the language Sarazionis their holy scriptures divinities and offices of the service in the Greek They have the Bishops keep constitutions of the Greeks and obey them in all things They sacrifice with raised bread and have opinions of the Greekes as the Latines There be some Christian men in the holy land that ensueth them and been called Samaritans which were converted in the time of the Apostles but they be not perfect Christian men The sixt Nation is of Mororabins SOmetime were wont to bee a Nation of people in the country of Affrick and Spain called Mororabiens but now they been but few They bee called Mororabiens for that in many things they held the use in Christian men being in Araby they use the language of Latin in the divine offices sacred things and obey to the Church and to the Prelates of the Latines They confesse them in the language Azymonien or in Latin They bin different to the Latines for that in their divine offices they have the hours to long And for the day is divided in xxiv hours of night and day so many offices hours Psalmes and all other Orizons have they along the which they say not after the custome of the Latines for that that the Latins say in the begining they say in the end or in the middst Some divideth the holy sacraments in vii parts and other in x. This is a right devout nation they conioyn no persons by mariage but if they be born in their own countrey and land the strangers be not received in mariage And when a man leeseth his wife by death he will never be wedded againe but live in chastity The cause of so great diversity among Christian men was for that in time past the Christians were let and not constrained to celebrate councell general For this cause there arose divers heretikes in many parts For there was none that might remedy it The seventh Nation is of Prester Johns land in Indie THen is the land of Indie whereof Prester Iohn is For his might is so great that it exceedeth all christendom This Prester Iohn hath under him lxx kings the which do to him obeisance and homage and when hee rideth about his country hee maketh to be borne afore him a Crosse of wood And when he will go to battaile he maketh two to be borne before him one of gold and the other of precious stones and in that land is the body of St. Thomas the Apostle buryed in a Tombe of stone and one of his hands is out of the Tombe and that hand every body may see that goeth thether The eight Nation is of Jacobites FOllowing after the Nation of Iacobits the which been named St. Iames the disciple of Alexander the Patriarck These Iacobites have taken and occupied a great part of Asia in the parts Occidentall and the land of Mambre that is in Egypt and the Land of Ethiopians unto Indie with more then xx Realms The children of that Country bee circumcised and baptised with an hot yron for they have printed the Character of the Crosse on their foreheads and on other parts of the body as on the armes and the brest they shrive them onely to God and not to the preists In this Province the Indians and Agarenoriens say that Iesus Christ hath only but the nature divine Some among them speaketh the language of Calde and Araby and divers other that speaketh other languages after the diversities of nations They were condemned at the councell of Calcedony The ninth Nation is of Nescoriens OF Nescorianus that was of Constantinople hath bin made this name Nescoriens These Nescorians putteth in Iesus Christ two persons one divine and another humain and they deny our Lady to be the mother of God but they say well Iesus to be man they speak the language of Caldee and sacrifice the body of Iesus Christ with raised bread They inhabit in Tartary and in great Inde they be in great number their countrey containeth almost as much as Almaigne and Italy The tenth Nation of Moroniens RObust is the Nation of Moronyens called of an heretick of Morone They put in Iesus Christ one understanding and one will they inhabit in Libia in the province of Venice and be a great number they use specially bows and arrowes and they have bells Their Bishopes have rings Miters and Crosses as the Lattines they use the letter of Caldee in their divine scriptures and in their vulgar speech they use the letter of Araby They have been under the obedience and lordship of the most holy and sacred Church Romain their Patriark was at the general councell of saint Iohn de Latran celebrate at Rome under Pope Innocent the third but since then they be returned They were first condemned at the councel of Constantinople and since been returned to the obedience of the Romain Church and yet returned againe to their false and evill opinions wherein they persevere CHAP. LV. Here beginneth a few proverbs THese proverbs be good to mark The which followeth in this book Be thou never so great a clark Disdaine not on them to look The first is man be content As God hath set thee in degree Each man may not have land and rent It were not convenient so to bee If thou have not worldly goods at will Therefore care nothing by the rede of me Do well and Gods commandement fulfill For every man may not a goldsmith be He that hath a penny in his purse If he the right way of Gods law hold He shall come to heaven as soon I wusse As a King that weareth on a crown of gold Also there is of men full many a score And each of then doth keep well his wife Which never had a noble in store And yet they live a full merry life And also another forget it nat Keep your own home as doth a mouse For I tell you the devil is a wily cat He will spye you in another mans house And in especiall God to please Desire thou never none other mans thing Remember that many fingers is wel at ease That never ware on no gay gold ring And this I tell you for good and all Remember it you that be wise That man or woman hath a great fall The which slide down and do never rise And one also forget not behind That man or woman is likely good to be That banisheth malice out of their mind And sleepeth every night in charity I read you work by good counsell For that man is worthy to have care That hath twise faln into a well And yet the third time cannot beware Say that a fryer told you this He is wise that doth forsake sin Then may we come to heavens blisse God give us grace that place to winne O Ye Clerkes famous and eloquent Cunning is caught by reading and exercise Of noble matters full excâ—llent And remembreth what Salomon saith the wise That praiseth businesse and idlenesse doth dispise And saith he that many books doth read and see It is full likely wisdome have shall hee Remember Clearks dayly doth their diligence Into our corrupt speech matters to translate Yet between French and English is great difference Their langing in reading is douse and delicate In their mother tongue they be so fortunate They have the Bible and the Apocalipse of divinitie With other noble books that now in English be And remember readers where ever ye go That Honey is sweet but cunning is sweeter Caton the great Cleark sometimes said so How gold is good and learning much better Yet many full good be that never knew letter And yet vertuous none can be of living But first of Preists and Clerks they must have learning Wherefore with patience I you all desire Beware of the rising of false heresie Let every perfect faith set your hearts afire And the chaffe from the corn cleane out to try They that beleeveth amisse be worthy to die And he is the greatest fool in this world iwis That thinketh no mans wit so good as his Thus endeth the Shepheards Kalender Drawn into English to Gods reverence And for profit and pleasure shall Clerks to cheer Plainly shewed to their intelligence Ours is done now readers do your diligence And remember that the Printer saith to you this He that liveth well may not die amiss FINIS