Mistress Margery | Page 3

being already seated before her on the grey palfrey; for in the
days of pillions, if the gentleman assisted the lady on her pillion before
he mounted himself, he ran imminent risk of knocking her off when he
should attempt to mount. They rode leisurely to church, the distance
being about two miles, and a little foot-page ran beside them charged
with the care of the palfrey, while they attended the service. Mass was
performed by the parish priest, but the scholar from Oxford, who sat in
the sedilia, where Margery could scarcely see him, took no part in the
service beyond reading the Gospel.
The sermons of that day, as a rule, may be spoken of in two classes.
Either the preacher would read a passage of Scripture in Latin, and
throw in here and there a few remarks by way of commentary, or else
the sermon was a long and dry disquisition upon some of the
(frequently very absurd) dogmas of the schoolmen; such as, whether
angels were synonymous with spirits, which of the seven principal
angels was the chief, how long it took Gabriel to fly from heaven to
earth at the Annunciation, at what time of day he appeared, how he was
dressed, etcetera, Sastre's discourse could not be comprised in either of
these classes. He read his text first, as usual, in Latin, but then he said:
"And now, brethren and sistren, to declare in the vulgar tongue unto
you that have not the tongues, this passage of God's Word as sueth."

[Sueth means follows].
"The Lombe that was slayn is worthi to take vertue and Godhed and
wisdom and strengthe and onour and glorie and blessyng!"
Note: it will readily be seen that all the quotations from Scripture in
this story are necessarily taken from Wycliffe's translation.
What followed was no scholastic disquisition, no common-place
remarks on the passage chosen. "The Lamb that was slain" was the
beginning and the end of Sastre's discourse. He divided his sermon into
the following subjects. "Who is the Lamb?--how and why was He
slain?--why is He worthy?--and, who are the speakers in the text who
thus proclaim His worthiness?" He showed them, by a reference to the
Mosaic sacrifices, why Christ was called a Lamb; he told them most
fully that He died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God;
he placed completely before his audience the full and free and finished
nature of His perfect work: he told them that God's love to sinners was
such that He gave out of His bosom His own dear Son, the Son of His
love, that their sins might be counted His, and that His righteousness
might be accounted theirs. And under his last head, he spoke of that
holy, happy city whereinto no sin, nor harm, nor death could ever enter;
whose foundations were gems, and whose gates pearls; the
dwelling-place of the blessed ones, who having washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb, would never rest day nor
night in singing the praises of His worthiness.
Sastre also drew the attention of his hearers to the fact that the
ascription of praise in the text was made by the angels. "In all this
Book," remarked he, "I find nowhere such like laud as this given unto
any but God only. The blessed angels do worship unto the Lamb, but I
see not any offer for to do worship unto the angels, save only Saint
John himself, who doth twice fall down to worship afore the feet of the
angel which did show these things unto him. But I find not the angel in
any wise gladded with the same. Nay, the blessed John doth receive a
sharp rebuking of his folly: `See thou that thou do not,' saith the angel;
`worschipe thou God.' Wherefore, good friends, ye may see hence how
foolish are they who do worship unto the blessed angels: and how

grievous would be the same unto those good spirits of God if they did
knowledge it. Whether or no they be witting of such matters, I wis not,
for this Book saith nought thereupon; but ye see, friends, that if they
wit it, it doth anger them; and if they wit it not, what are ye the better
for praying unto them? Moreover, meseemeth for the same reason, that
the blessed Virgin Saint Mary, who is now in heaven with her Son and
Lord, Christ, would not be in any wise over well pleased if she wist
how men do worship unto her on the earth. And the like, I trow, may be
said of all God's saints."
At the conclusion of his sermon, Sastre leaned forward over the pulpit
and spoke in a low,