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| 689 Euery synneful mā is chorle to synne / I rede the certes thou | |||
| lord that thou reule the in suche wyse that thy chorles rather | |||
| loue the thenne hate the / 690 I wote wel ther is degre aboue degre | |||
| as reson is & skille is that men do her deuoyr there as it is | |||
| due / But certes extorcions and despites of your vnder- | |||
| lynges is dampnable 691 And furthermore vnderstonde wel | |||
| that conquerours or tyrauntis maken wel ofte thrallis of | |||
| hem that ben born of as ryall blood as they that hem con- | |||
| queryn / 692 This name of thraldom was neuer knowen eerst | |||
| tyl that Noe said / his sone Canaan shold be thral to his | |||
| brethern for his synne / 693 What saye we thenne of them that | |||
| pylle and do extorcions to holy chirche / Certes the swerd | |||
| that men yeuyn first to a knyght whan he is newe dubbyd | |||
| signefyeth that he shold defende holy chirche and not robbe | |||
| hem / And who so doth is a traytour to Crist 694 as sayth | |||
| seynt Austyn / Tho ben the deuyllis woluys that strangelin | |||
| the sheep of Ihesu Crist and don worse than woluys 695 For | |||
| soth whan þe wolf hath ful his wombe he stynteth to strangle | |||
| sheep / But sothly the pyllours and destroyers of goodes | |||
| of holy chirche do not so / For they stynte neuer to pylle / . | |||
| 696 Now haue I sayd syn so is that synne was first cause of | |||
| thraldom and subiection / 697 But certes sith the tyme of grace | |||
| cam / god ordeyned that som folk shold be made more in | |||
| high astate 698 and high degre / and som folk more lowe And | |||
| that euerich shold be seruyd in his astate and his degre . | |||
| And therfore in som contrees there as they ben thrallis . | |||
| When they haue torned hem to the feyth / they make her | |||
| thrallis fre out of thraldom / And therfore certes the lord | |||
| oweth to his man / that the man oweth to the lord / 699 The | |||