|
A good man was ther of religioun, PERSOUN.
And was a povre PERSOUN of a toun;
But riche he was of holy thoght and werk.
He was also a lerned man, a clerk,
That Cristes gospel trewely wolde preche;
His parisshens devoutly wolde he teche.
Benigne he was, and wonder diligent,
And in adversitee ful pacient;
And swich he was y-preved ofte sythes.
Ful looth were him to cursen for his tythes,
But rather wolde he yeven, out of doute,
Unto his povre parisshens aboute
Of his offring, and eek of his substaunce.
He coude in litel thing han suffisaunce.
Wyd was his parisshe, and houses fer a-sonder,
But he ne lafte nat, for reyn ne thonder,
In siknes nor in meschief, to visyte
The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lyte,
Upon his feet, and in his hand a staf.
This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf,
That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte;
Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte;
And this figure he added eek ther-to,
That if gold ruste, what shal iren do?
For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste,
No wonder is a lewed man to ruste;
And shame it is, if a preest take keep,
A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep.
Wel oghte a preest ensample for to yive,
By his clennesse, how that his sheep shold live.
He sette nat his benefice to hyre,
And leet his sheep encombred in the myre,
And ran to London, unto sëynt Poules,
To seken him a chaunterie for soules,
Or with a bretherhed to been withholde;
But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde,
So that the wolf ne made it nat miscarie;
He was a shepherde and no mercenarie.
And though he holy were, and vertuous,
He was to sinful man nat despitous,
Ne of his speche daungerous ne digne,
But in his teching discreet and benigne.
To drawen folk to heven by fairnesse
By good ensample, was his bisinesse:
But it were any persone obstinat,
What-so he were, of heigh or lowe estat,
Him wolde he snibben sharply for the nones.
A bettre preest, I trowe that nowher noon is.
He wayted after no pompe and reverence,
Ne maked him a spyced conscience,
But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve,
He taughte, and first he folwed it him-selve.
|
There was also a poor PARSON, the priest of a rural county church. He was a
good man, a person who thought only holy thoughts and did only good deeds. He
was very gentle, diligent, and always patient in the face of adversity. He
wouldn’t look down on any of his poor parishioners for not donating money to the
church. In fact, he’d rather give them what little money he himself had,
especially since he lived happily on very little. He didn’t think himself better
than others, but he would scold people for being too stubborn in their ways. The
county where he lived was large and the houses were spread far apart, but that
didn’t stop him from visiting every one of his parishioners, rich or poor. With
his walking stick in hand, he’d make his rounds from house to house no matter
what, even if he was sick or it was raining. He truly was the embodiment of the
teachings of Jesus Christ. He lived as he preached, which set the perfect
example for his parishioners, his flock of sheep. He lived by the motto, “If
gold rusts, what would iron do?” by which he meant, “The priest must live a holy
life if he expects ordinary people to live holy lives; all hope is lost if he
turns out to be corrupt.” It’s a shame whenever you see a filthy shepherd
watching over clean sheep, which is why priests should live by example to show
their sheep how to live. The parson remained loyal to his parishioners and would
never think about leaving them for a more prestigious post in London or to make
more money working for a church on a wealthy landowner’s estate. He wasn’t
interested in wealth or status and wasn’t obsessed with the philosophy of ethics
or morality. No, he was merely a simple shepherd who sought to save the souls of
his flock by living a good life himself and setting a good example. I believe he
was the finest priest in the world.
|
payment page
