Manuscripts and Special Collections
WLC/LM/9, f. 16v: ‘Speculum Vitae’, lines 1025-1036 (composed mid-14th century, English)
Transcript
Þo þrid is halow wel þyn holy day
Þat is þus myche forto say
Þou schalt kepe þo sonnedays clene
And alle solempne festes þat bene
Þat are ordeyned thorow holy chirche
Fro alle werkes of seruage to wyrche
Þat is to say werkes fro of body
And fro werkes of synne and foly
For synne is a wrecched þraldome
Þat somme men haunten be custome
Þis comaundement ordeyneþ most
A man to god þo holy gost
Þat is þus myche forto say
Þou schalt kepe þo sonnedays clene
And alle solempne festes þat bene
Þat are ordeyned thorow holy chirche
Fro alle werkes of seruage to wyrche
Þat is to say werkes fro of body
And fro werkes of synne and foly
For synne is a wrecched þraldome
Þat somme men haunten be custome
Þis comaundement ordeyneþ most
A man to god þo holy gost
Translation
The third [commandment] is to worship well the holy days. That is to say, you shall keep Sundays, and all solemn feasts that are ordained by the Holy Church, unpolluted from all works of service. That is to say, free from physical labour and from acts of sin and wrong-doing, because sin is a wretched enslaver that some men resort to frequently.
This commandment disposes man to God the Holy Ghost, the most.
