"To alle trewe tidy men That travaille desiren, Oure Lord loveth hem and lent Loude outher stille 5380 {166} Grace to go to hem, And of-gon hir liflode. _Inquirentes autem Dominum non minuentur omni bono._ "Trewe wedded libbynge folk In this world is Do-wel, For thei mote werche and wynne, And the world sustene. For of hir kynde thei come That confessours ben nempned, 5390 Kynges and knyghtes, Kaysers and cherles, Maidenes and martires, Out of o man come. The wif was maad the weye For to helpe werche; And thus was wedlok y-wroght With a mene persone, First, by the fadres wille, And the frendes conseille; 5400 And sithenes by assent of hemself, As thei two myghte acorde. And thus was wedlok y-wroght, And God hymself it made In erthe and in hevene, Hymself bereth witnesse. "Ac fals folk feyth-lees, Theves and lyeres, Wastours and wrecches, Out of wedlok, I trowe, 5410 Conceyved ben in yvel tyme, As Caym was on Eve; Of swiche synfulle sherewes The Sauter maketh mynde: {167} _Concepit in dolore, et peperit iniquitatem, etc._ = "And alle that come of that Caym, Come to yvel ende. And God sente to Seem, And seide by an aungel, 5420 'Thyn issue in thyn issue I wol that thei be wedded, And noght thi kynde with Caymes Y-coupled nor y-spoused.' "Yet some, ayein the sonde Of oure Saveour of hevene, Caymes kynde and his kynde Coupled togideres, Til God wrathed for hir werkes, And swich a word seide, 5430 'That I makede man It me for-thynketh.' _Poenitet me fecisse hominem._ "And com to Noe anon, And bad hym noght lette: 'Swith go shape a ship Of shides and of bordes; Thyself and thi sones, And sithen youre wyves, Busketh yow to that boot, 5440 And bideth ye therinne, Til fourty daies be fulfild, That the flood have y-wasshen Clene awey the corsed blood That Caym hath y-maked. "'Beestes that now ben Shul banne the tyme That evere that cursed Caym {168} Coom on this erthe; Alle shul deye for hise dedes, 5450 By dales and by hulles, And the foweles that fleen Forth with othere beestes, Excepte oonliche Of ech kynde a couple, That in thi shyngled ship Shul ben y-saved.' Here a-boughte the barn The bel-sires giltes, And alle for hir fadres 5460 Thei ferden the werse; The Gospel is her ayein, In o degré, I fynde: _Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris, et pater non portabit iniquitatem filii, etc._ "Ac I fynde if the fader Be fals and a sherewe, That som del the sone Shal have the sires tacches. 5470