_Man._ To ask mercy and to have--this is a liberal possession: Shall this expeditious petition ever be allowed, as ye have in sight?
_Mer._ In this present life mercy is plenty, till death maketh his division; But when ye be go, _usque ad minimum quadrantem_--ye sha[ll] reckon this right. Ask mercy and have, while the body with the sou[l] hath his annexion; If ye tarry till your decease, ye may hap of your desire to miss; Be repentant here; trust not the hour of death; think on this lesson: _Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile! ecce nunc dies salutis!_ All the virtue in the wor[l]d, if ye might comprehend, Your merits were not premiable to the bliss above; Not to the lowli'st joy of heaven, of your proper effort to ascend; With Mercy ye may: I tell ye no fable--Scripture doth prove.
_Man._ O, Mercy! my suavious solace and singular recreatory! My predelict special! ye are worthy to have my love; For, without desert and means supplicatory, Ye be compatient to my inexcusable reproof. A! it swimmeth my heart to think how unwisely I have wrought! Titivilly, that goeth invisible, hung his net before my eye; And, by his fantastical visions, sedulously sought, By New Guise, Now-a-days, Nought, caused me to obey.
_Mer._ Mankind! ye were oblivious of my doctrine manitory; I said before: Titivilly would assay you a bront. Beware from henceforth of his fables delusory! The proverb saith: _Jacula prefata minus ledunt_. Ye have three adversaries--he is master of them all-- That is to say, the devil, the world, the flesh, and the fell; The New Guise, Now-a-days, and Nought, the world we may them call; And, prope[r]ly, Titivilly signifies the fiend of hell; The flesh, that is the unclean concupiscence of your body. These be your three ghostly enemies in whom ye have put your confidence; They brought you to Mischief to conclude your temporal glory: As it hath be showed before this worship[f]ul audience. Remember how ready I was to help you; from such I was not dangerous; Wherefore, good son! abstain from sin evermore after this! Ye may both save and spoil your soul, that is so precious: _Libere velle, libere velle!_ God may not deny, I wis. Beware of Titivilly with his net, and of all his envious will; Of your sinful delectation that grieveth your ghostly substance: Your body is your enemy: let him not have his will. Take your leave when ye will; God send you good perseverance!