_Good-Deeds._ Nay, _Everyman_, I will bide with thee, I will not forsake thee indeed; Thou shalt find me a good friend at need. _Everyman._ Gramercy, _Good-Deeds_; now may I true friends see; They have forsaken me every one; I loved them better than my _Good-Deeds_ alone. _Knowledge_, will ye forsake me also? _Knowledge._ Yea, _Everyman_, when ye to death do go: But not yet for no manner of danger. _Everyman._ Gramercy, _Knowledge_, with all my heart. _Knowledge._ Nay, yet I will not from hence depart, Till I see where ye shall be come. _Everyman._ Methinketh, alas, that I must be gone, To make my reckoning and my debts pay, For I see my time is nigh spent away. Take example, all ye that this do hear or see, How they that I loved best do forsake me, Except my _Good-Deeds_ that bideth truly. _Good-Deeds._ All earthly things is but vanity: _Beauty_, _Strength_, and _Discretion_, do man forsake, Foolish friends and kinsmen, that fair spake, All fleeth save _Good-Deeds_, and that am I. _Everyman._ Have mercy on me, God most mighty; And stand by me, thou Mother and Maid, holy _Mary_. _Good-Deeds_. Fear not, I will speak for thee. _Everyman._ Here I cry God mercy. _Good-Deeds._ Short our end, and minish our pain; Let us go and never come again. _Everyman._ Into thy hands, Lord, my soul I commend; Receive it, Lord, that it be not lost; As thou me boughtest, so me defend, And save me from the fiend's boast, That I may appear with that blessed host That shall be saved at the day of doom. _In manus tuas_--of might's most For ever--_commendo spiritum meum_. _Knowledge._ Now hath he suffered that we all shall endure; The _Good-Deeds_ shall make all sure. Now hath he made ending; Methinketh that I hear angels sing And make great joy and melody, Where _Everyman's_ soul received shall be. _Angel._ Come, excellent elect spouse to Jesu: Hereabove thou shalt go Because of thy singular virtue: Now the soul is taken the body fro; Thy reckoning is crystal-clear. Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere, Unto the which all ye shall come That liveth well before the day of doom. _Doctor._ This moral men may have in mind; Ye hearers, take it of worth, old and young, And forsake pride, for he deceiveth you in the end, And remember _Beauty_, _Five-wits_, _Strength_, and _Discretion_, They all at the last do _Everyman_ forsake, Save his _Good-Deeds_, there doth he take. But beware, and they be small Before God, he hath no help at all. None excuse may be there for _Everyman_: Alas, how shall he do then? For after death amends may no man make, For then mercy and pity do him forsake. If his reckoning be not clear when he do come, God will say--_ite maledicti in ignem æternum_. And he that hath his account whole and sound, High in heaven he shall be crowned; Unto which place God bring us all thither That we may live body and soul together. Thereto help the Trinity, Amen, say ye, for saint _Charity_. THUS ENDETH THIS MORALL PLAY OF EVERYMAN.