"And Hope afterward He bad me to lovye O God with al my good, {356} And alle gomes after, Lovye hem lik myselve, Ac oure Lord aboven alle. "After Abraham," quod he, 11630 "That heraud of armes, Sette fully thi feith And ferme bileve; And as Hope highte thee, I hote that thow lovye Thyn evene cristene evere moore Evene forth with thiselve. And if Conscience carpe ther ayein, Or kynde wit eyther, Or eretikes with argumentz 11640 Thyn hond thow hem shewe; For God is after an hand, Y-heer now and knowe it. "The fader was first as a fust, With o fynger foldynge; Til hym lovede and liste To unlosen his fynger, And profre it forth as with a pawme To what place it sholde, "The pawme is purely the hand, 11650 And profreth forth the fyngres, To ministren and to make That myght of hand knoweth; And bitokneth trewely, Telle who so liketh, The Holy Goost of hevene He is as the pawme. "The fyngres that fre ben To folde and to serve, Bitoknen soothly the Sone 11660 {357} That sent was til erthe, That touched and tastede At techynge of the pawme Seinte Marie a mayde, And mankynde laughte. _Qui conceptus est de Spiritu sancto, etc._ = "The Fader is pawme as a fust, With fynger to touche,-- _Quia omnia traham ad meipsum, etc._ = Al that the pawme perceyveth 11672 Profitable to feele. "Thus are thei alle but oon, As it an hand weere, And thre sondry sightes In oon shewynge, The pawme for it putteth forth fyngres, And the fust bothe; Right so redily, 11680 Reson it sheweth How he that is Holy Goost Sire and Son preveth. "And as the hand halt harde, And alle thyng faste, Thorugh foure fyngres and a thombe Forth with the pawme; Right so the Fader and the Sone, And Seint Spirit the thridde, Al the wide world 11690 Withinne hem thre holden, Bothe wolkne and the wynd, Water and erthe, Hevene and helle, {358} And al that is therinne. "Thus it is, nedeth no man Trowe noon oother, That thre thynges bilongeth In oure Lord of Hevene; And aren serelopes by hemself, 11700 A-sondry were thei nevere, Na-moore than myn hand may Meve withoute my fyngres. "And as my fust is ful hand Y-holden togideres; So is the Fader a ful God, Formour and shappere. _Tu fabricator omnium, etc._ And al the myght myd hym is In makynge of thynges. 11710 The fyngres formen a ful hand To portreye or peynten, Kervynge and compasynge, As craft of the fyngres. "Right so is the Sone The science of the Fader, And ful God as is the Fader, No febler ne no bettre.