The light of all life on land and in water,
190 The consoler of beings and the source of all bliss.
“Three things belong to a lord who claims lordship:
Might and a means to make known the might
Of himself and his servant, and the suffering of both.
Thus God without beginning thought it was good
195 To send out his Son at one time as his servant
And to occupy him here till his offspring were born,
The children of Charity and their mother, the Church:
Patriarchs and prophets and then the apostles,
Christendom and Christians and the Church of Christ.
200 He so let us see that God is single
But appears when proper in three distinct persons.
“That truth is portrayed to mankind in the trio
Of wedlock and widowhood, virginity as well,
Betokening the Trinity yet tracked to one source.
205 For Adam was father of us all, while Eve
Was taken from him, and they had joint issue,
Three separate beings yet a single substance,
Each bringing joy to the other on earth,
Man having sprung from marriage, which mirrors
210 The Trinity in heaven and the holy Truth.
“Marriage has the might to multiply on earth
And truly betokens, if I dare to tell it,
The Father of heaven who formed us first.
And the Son, dare I say, resembles the widow:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?12
215 That is, the Creator became his creation
To learn what that meant, and there must have been marriage
For a man or a woman to be widowed and weep.
A mother was needed to make God a man,
And marriage without offspring is of meager merit,
Accursed is the man who has not left seed in Israel.13
220 In a perfect marriage three persons are present:
Man and his mate, and the children they make,
Conjoined before Jesus by the generative act.
And so with the Father and the Son and the Spirit,
Which grants Free Will by the grace of God:
The Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son.14
225 “And sitting in my porch one summer I saw him.
I got up,” said Abraham, “and greeted him gravely.
But I welcomed not one but three men warmly.
I first washed their feet, and afterwards fed them
On calves’ flesh and cakes, and they discovered my thoughts:
230 I shall tell you some time of the covenant between us.
Then he tested my love and attachment by telling me
To slaughter for him my son called Isaac.
He saw my affection and will favor me for it,
I am certain in my soul, and so is my son.
235 Then I circumcised my older son for his sake,
And myself and my servants who were male all shed
Blood that was blessed for the love of the Lord.
I believe that fully and my faith is firm,
For he swore to me and to my descendants
240 Land and lordship and life without end,
And he granted yet more to me and to mine:
Mercy for our errors as often as we ask:
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.15
“Then he sent me instructions to sacrifice to him
And to worship him with bread as well as with wine,
245 Calling me the founder of his faith, which defends
And saves believers from Satan’s deceit.
I have been his herald both here and in hell,
Comforting the careworn who wait for his coming.
And now I seek him,” he said, “for it seems
250 That John the Baptist has just baptized Jesus,
Telling patriarchs and prophets and people in darkness
He has seen the Savior who will save us all:
Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.”16
I wondered at his words, and his wide flapping garments.
For he held in his arms some objects which he blessed.
255 I looked and I saw that what lay there was a leper,
Laughing and playing with patriarchs and prophets.
“What are you staring at so sharply?” he said.
“I’m eager to know what you hold in your arms.”
He let me see. “Oh Lord,” I said,
260 “That’s a precious present! What prince are they for?”
“They’re precious indeed, but they’re pledged to the devil.
And so am I,” he said. “For no substance
Or ransom or power can rescue and prize us
From the danger of the devil and his dreadful pit
265 Until that Christ I acclaimed has come
To redeem us some day from the devil’s might,
And to offer much more than we men all merit,
His life for our life. These souls will lie
Lolling in my arms till the Lord is here.”
270 “Alas,” I said, “that sin so obstructs
God’s mercy that might bring remission to all!”
I wept at his words, but then witnessed another
Person run past, and pass on ahead.
I called to inquire from where he came,
275 Who he was, where he went, and he told me at once.
1Psalm xxxvi 24 (KJV Psalm xxxvii 24).
2Matthew xii 32 and Hebrews xii 4: “For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”
3A place in Normandy.
4Luke i 38.
5Matthew ix 12.
6John xi 35 and Matthew xxvi 37.
7John vii 20.
8Matthew xxi 13.
9Matthew xxvi 25.
10Matthew xxvi 49.
11Matthew xviii 7.
12Matthew xxvii 46 and Mark xv 34.
13Not biblical, but something similar is said to Joachim in the Apocryphal Book of James and (Schmidt 474) is cited in a lesson for Saint Anne’s Day in the Hereford Breviary, Anne and Joachim being the parents of Mary.
14The Apostles’ Creed.
15Luke i 55.
16John i 29.
Step XVII
In which Hope, carrying Christ’s two commandments, joins Abrahamic Faith, and I hesitate between them. But we then meet Charity in the person of the Good Samaritan. He explains that Faith, Hope and Charity are all needed, as are all aspects of the Trinity, which he depicts as the parts of a hand. True repentance can evoke God’s mercy for sins caused by the flesh or sickness, but sins against the Spirit are worse, murder is all but unforgivable, and there is no excuse for lack of charity.
Then he too vanishes, and I awake again.
“I am Hope,” he said, “a scout who is seeking
A knight who on Sinai set me the assignment
Of ruling all realms with this writ that I bear.”
“Is it sealed?” I said. “Or may we see the wording?”
5 “That’s why I am seeking the possessor of the seal,
Which carries the image of Christ on the cross.
When it’s stamped and sealed, I’m certain,” he said,
“That Lucifer’s lordship will last no longer.”
“Let me look at the writ and learn of its law.”
10 So he pulled out a patent, a piece of hard rock,
On which were inscribed two simple sayings:
Love thy God, and Love thy neighbor.1
This was truly the text; I took a good look,
And a gloss was added, in glorious gold:
On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.2
“Is that all the law your lord allows?”
15 “It is,” he said, “and whoever does it honor
Shall never be daunted by death or the devil.
Though I say it myself, I vouchsafe for certain,
With this statute I’ve saved many scores of thousands.”
Abraham the herald nodded his head.
20 “Believers in the law are lying in my arms,
Joshua and Judith, and Judas Maccabaeus.
There are sixty thousand more I could mention besides.”
“What the two of you claim is peculiar,” I declared.
“For the life of me I’d love to know which to believe.
25 Abraham has talked with the Trinity, he tells me,
Three several persons, seemingly separate,
Yet all one God, and he also argues
That he’s saved a large number who were sorry for their sins
And honored one God and are held in his arms.
30 So why should we welcome a new law as well
If the first sufficed for salvation and bliss?
“Yet here now is Hope, who hails this New Law
Of loving and believing in a Lord Almighty
And loving every sinner the same as oneself,
35 But where is the Trinity that dictated that text?
And someone who walks with one stick, I suspect,
Is fitter than those who totter with two,
And it stands to reason that it’s simpler to instruct
Most straightforward folk in an established system
40 Than to teach them two when one is quite testing.
Abraham’s faith is hard enough to fathom,
But it’s even harder to love someone evil!
The three different persons pose fewer problems
Than loving every sinner the same as oneself!
45 So be off with you, Hope! God help us,” I said,
“No one could live by your law for long!”
As we went on our way, exchanging words,
We saw a Samaritan sitting on a mule,
And jogging speedily the same way as ourselves,
50 Coming from Jericho, as that country is called,
And trotting to a tournament in Jerusalem town.
The herald and Hope and he came together
Where a traveler lay wounded, attacked by thieves.
He was stripped and unable to help himself,
55 Or to stand and proceed, and no aid was at hand.
His limbs would not move and he looked half-alive.
The herald called Abraham, or Faith, saw him first
But refused to go nearer than nine plowed furrows.
Then along came Hope, who had loudly alleged
60 That he’d helped many men with the message of Moses,
But he steered well clear when he saw the scene,
Like a duck that is dodging a deadly falcon.
Then soon the Samaritan caught sight of the man
And leapt from his mount and led on the mule
65 As he went to view the victim’s wounds.
He deduced from the pulse that death was a danger,
And could tell at once that treatment was wanted.
So he hastened to his bottles and opened both
And washed the wounds with wine and oil,
70 Bandaged him, bound up his head and brought him
On the mule several miles to some houses near a market,
A cluster that was new and was called the Law of Christ,
Where he lodged him at an inn and alerted the landlord,
Asking him to treat him until his return.
75 “Here is money,” he said, “for medicine for the man,
And a few more coins for the cost of his keep.
And should he cost more I will settle it soon,
But I really cannot stay,” he said, and swiftly
He set off to ride the Jerusalem road.
80 Faith followed hastily, hoping to overhaul him,
And Hope hurried after, as fast as he was able,
Intending to catch him and talk as they traveled.
Seeing that, I scurried on too without stopping,
Pursuing the Samaritan who showed such pity
85 And pleading for employment as his page or groom.
“I fear not,” he said, “but you’ll find I’m your friend
In time of need.” So I thanked him and told him
How Faith and Hope had fled full of fear
When they saw the man and his sorrowful state.
90 “Excuse them,” he answered. “They would hardly have helped
For no medicine on earth could have mended the man,
Neither Faith nor Hope, for his hurts had so festered,
Without blood from a bairn that was born of a maid.
If baptized and bathed in that blessed blood,
95 And patched with penance and the Passion of that babe,
He’d be able to hobble, but he’ll never be whole
Till he’s swallowed the bairn’s sacred body and blood.
“No one wanders through the wilds of this world
Without running into robbers, riding or on foot,
100 Save a few such as Faith and his fellow, Hope,
And myself and now you, and such as pursue
Our ways and works, for the wood harbors outlaws
Who lurk on the look-out for likely prospects,
Checking who’s on horseback, ahead or behind,
105 Reckoning that riders are rougher prey.
When the robber saw me, a Samaritan on a mule,
Which is known as Flesh after flesh
ly human nature,
Following Faith and his fellow he fled
And he hid in hell, but within three days
110 I can vouch that the felon will be fettered with chains
And will trouble no travelers who take this road:
O death, I will be thy death.3
“Then Faith shall perform a forester’s duties,
Guiding those folk who are foreign to the forest
And revealing the road to Jerusalem town.
115 And Hope shall be ostler at the inn, healing victims
And the feeble and faint whom Faith cannot teach,
Leading them with love, by the law of his writ,
Giving lodging and relief through belief in the Church,
Till I come once again to this country with comfort
120 And bring the salve that will save all the sick
Who crave it, covet it and cry to be cured.
Then the blood of the child in Bethlehem born
Shall save those who follow the faith of his friends.”
“Sweet sir,” I said, “should I accept
125 What Faith and his fellow have each affirmed?
Three separate persons, prime and perpetual,
Yet all one God, as Abraham argued,
While Hope then urged and exhorted me to love
One God above all and then everyone else
130 The same as myself with all my strength?”
“Fasten your faith and your firm belief
On Abraham,” he said, “the herald of arms.
And as Hope exhorted you, I urge you to love
Fellow Christians as kindly as you care for yourself.
135 If Native Wit or Conscience should carp or cavil,
Or heretics should haggle, show them your hand,
For the hand can exhibit the whole of God.
“The Father was first, a fist with one finger
Folded till he chose to unfold it fully
140 To point out such places as he might appoint,
And to open the palm, the heart of the hand,
And extend the fingers, which affirm its force.
The palm betokens, I truly contend,
Piers Plowman Page 29
