Classic Poem

[M]ost worthi prince, of whome the noble fame
In vertue floureth and in hih prudence,
Laude and honoure be vnto thi name
And to thi worthi roial excellence,
The which hast been protectour and diffence
Thoruh thy manhode ageyn thy mortall foon
Off Cristis spouse, douhtir of Syoun.

That was oppressid almost in thy rewme
Even at the poynt of hir destruccioun
Amyd hir citee of Ierusalem,
Al bysett with enmyes envyroun:
Tamade a new transmygracioun
When she, allas, disconsolat, allone
Ne kneuh to whome for to make hir moone,

But on the floodis of fell Babiloun,
Al solitair and trist in compleynyng,
Sat with hir children aboute hir euerichoun,
Almost fordrownyd with teerys in weepyng.
And wher as she was won[t]e to play and syng
In pr[a]ys and honour of hir eternall lorde,
On instruments of musik in accorde,

Constreyned was, and almost at the prikk
Talefft hir song of holy notis trewe,
And on the salwys olde, foule and thikk
To hang hir orgnes þat were entvned newe,
O Goddis knyht, till þu list to rewe
Upon hir pitouse lamentable woo:
Off reuth and mercy to deliuer hir froo
The mortall honds that wrouhte hir al þis soore,
Hir to have put in captyuytee
Off the tyraunte Nabugdonosor,
Ferr frome the boundis, allas, of hir citee;
Till thou of grace grauntest libertee
Zorobabell and also Neemye
Ierusalem ageyn to edyfye,

And kepe the Temple hoole and sounde bi grace
That stoode in way of perdicioun,
Thorough hem þat gan to threten and menace
The libertees of Cristys mansioun,
And for to pynch att her fundacioun
In pre[judic]e of the olde and newe lawe,
The patrymony of Petir to withdrawe;

That ther was noon her malis to withstonde,
Cristys quarell manly to susteen,
Til thow were chose for to lay to honde,
Only by grace hir champioun to been,
For to delyuer out of woo and teen
Noees shipp, bysett with many [a] wawe,
Tyl thow the watres madist to withdrawe,

That Karibdis myht it nat devoure,
Nor fierce Silla with hir bittyr rage,
For noon but thow myht [yt] tho socour
To make the floodis fully to aswage,
Thoruh the straytis to holden the passage,
Thi silff of goodnesse the rother list to guye
Til on the hyllys hy of Armonye

The shipp gan rest out of all dawngeere,
Maugre the rokkis of vengeaunce mercilesse,
And that the skies wex[e] faire and clere;
And thoruh thyn helpe that the dowe chese
For to repaire with a braunch of pes,
When as the raven hath a careyn take,
Oute of the shipp, upon his praye to wake,
With coverte tresoun falsely to lachche
(When he seeth tyme) his desired praye:
Liche a bosarde vnwarly for to cachche
Smale briddys that thynke on noon affraye.
Wherfor I rede, both nyght and day,
To Goddys knyght, so goode wachch to make
Off Philistees the [Arke] be nat take.

All Israel to bryngen in distresse
Whos ioy and helth lith in thi persoone,
The welfaire eke and holly þe gladnesse
In every thyng of what thai ha to doone;
Wherfor beware of chaungyng of the moone,
Eclipse of falsehed betrassh nat the liht
Off thi goodnesse that shyneth yitt so briht.

Thynke, how to Dauid full innocente
Saul was fals for all his othis sworne,
Nad God by grace makid resistence
His chose knyght[e] had[de] be forlorne.
Wherfor I rede þe, greyn and purid corne
Thow cherrish wel, and lay the chaff aside
That trouth han voided, for to been her gide.

And thynke how Dauid ageyn Iebusee
When that he fouht, in Regum as I fynde,
How he made voide from Syon his Citee
Unweldy, crokid, both[e] lame and blynde:
By which example alway have in mynde
To voide echon, and for to do the same
Oute of thi siht, that in the faith be lame.

For who is blynde or haltith in þe faith
For any doctryne of these sectys newe
And Cristes techyng therfor aside laith,
Unto thy corone may he nat be trewe.
He may dissymule with a feynyd hewe —
But take good heede, what way þat he faire,
Thy swerde of knyhthoode, that no swich ne spaire,
And Cristis cause alway fyrst preferre
And althirnexte thi knyhtly state preserue,
And lat this lawe be thi loode-sterre;
Than grace shall thyn honour ay conserve.
And Goddys foon manly make to sterue:
For any fals feynyd repentaunce,
Of right lat rigour holden the ballaunce.

Thynke how Saule from his kyngly place
And frome th'onour of his royall see,
Whilome was abiect for he did[e] grace
To Amalech ageyne the voluntee
Of Goddys precepte, of feynyd fals pitee
To spare his swerde rihtfully to bite,
When as God bad that he shulde smyte,

Wher Samuel, the perfite hooly man,
Chosen of God to execute trouth,
With a swerde the rihtfull doome he gan
And slouh Agag, withouten any routh
In Galgalis wher Saule for his slouth
Forsaken was, and hoolly al the lyne
That cam of hym in myscheff did[e] fyne.

Slouh nat Helye in all his holinesse
The fals prophetis longyng vnto Baal?
O noble prynce, exaumple of rightwisnesse,
Off God preservid to be the myhty wall
Of Hooly Churche in thyn estate royall,
Distroye hem tho, that falsely now werrey
Her own modir, to whome thai shulde obeye.

And namely hem that of presumpcyoun
Dispraven hir, and hir ornamentes,
And therwithall, of indignacioun
Withdrawe wolde hir rich[e] paramenteg.
O prudent prynce, thynke what her entent is,
Who falsely the Hooly Churche accuse,
For thay hemsilff the riches wolden use.
Remembre also, for swich transgressioun
What was the fyne of kyng Antiochus
That proudely tooke by extorsioun
The sacred iewels from Goddis hooly hous:
Was he nat slawe, this tiraunt trecherous,
With smale worms hym fretyng manyfolde
Whan [that] he fill down from his chare of golde?

What myht availe his pompe or all his pride,
Or all the gliteryng of his riche chare
In which that he so proudely did ride?
The surquedye also of Baltasar
Was it nat abatid or that he was war,
In Babiloun, with a soden fall,
Whan that the honde wrote upon the wall?