Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, METRICAL HOMILY: CHRIST'S TEACHING OF NICODEMUS, by ORM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

METRICAL HOMILY: CHRIST'S TEACHING OF NICODEMUS, by                    
First Line: In that the lord said thus
Last Line: To win the grace of christ. Amen.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ormin; Orm (circa 1170)
Subject(s): Jesus Christ - Life And Ministry


Thurrh thatt te Laferrd seggde thuss
In that the Lord said thus
Till Nicodem withth worde:
To Nicodemus with word:
Swa lufede the Laferrd Godd
So loved the Lord God
The werelld tatt he sennde
The World that he sent
His aghenn sune Allmahhtig Godd
His own Son Almighty God
To wurrthen mann onn erthe
To become man on earth
To lesenn mannkinn thurrh hiss death
To release mankind through his death
Ut off the defless walde,
Out of the devil's power,
Thatt whase trowwenn shall onn himm
That whosoever shall believe in him
Wel mughe wurrthenn borrghenn;
Surely may become saved;
Thaer thurrh he dide Nicodem
By that he caused Nicodemus
To sen and unnderrstanndenn,
To see and understand
Thatt he wass Godd himm sellf, off Godd,
That he was God himself, from God,
And Godess Sune ankennedd,
And God's Son acknowledged,
And wurrthenn mann o moder hallf
And become man on mother's side
Thurrh sothfasst herrsummnesse,
Through faithful obedience,
Thurr-thatt his Faderr haffde himm sennd
Because his Father had sent him
And gifenn himm to manne,
And given him for man,
To tholenn death o rode tre
To suffer death on the cross
Forr all mannkinne nede,
For all mankind's need,
All thurrh thatt lufe, and thurrh thatt lusst
All through that love and through that desire
That tegg till mannkinn haffdenn,
That they had towards mankind,
Forth withth thatt Hallghe Frofre Gast
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter
Thatt cumethth off hemm bathe,
That cometh of them both,
All thurrh thatt lufe and thurrh thatt lusst
All through that love and through that desire
That tegg till mannkinn haffden,
That they had towards mankind,
To lesenn menn off defless band
To release men from bonds of the devil,
And ut off helle pine,
And out of the pain of hell,
That whase trowwenn shollde o Crist
That whoso should believe on Christ
Wel shollde wurrthen borrghen.
Surely should be saved.
Whi seggde Crist to Nicodem
Why said Christ to Nicodemus
That Drihhtin Godd off heffne
That the Lord God of Heaven
Swa lufede thiss middell aerd,
So loved this mid-earth,
Thiss werelld, tatt he sennde
This world, that he sent
Hiss aghenn Sune, Allmahhtig Godd,
His own Son, Almighty God,
To tholenn daeth o rode,
To suffer death on the cross,
Als iff he shollde lesenn ut
So that he should deliver
The middell aerd off helle?
The mid-earth from hell?
Thurrh whatt wass heffness whel forrgarrt
For what was heaven's wheel (the firmament) compelled
To dreghen helle pine?
To suffer pain of hell?
And lifft, and land, and waterrflod,
And air, and land, and waterflood,
Hu waerenn thegg forrwrohhte
How were they condemned
To dreghenn wa withth mikell rihht
To suffer woe with much right
Inn helle withth the defell?
In hell with the devil?
Off thise fowre shaffte iss all
Of these four created things (elements) is all
Thiss middell werelld timmbredd,
This middle world built, --
Of heffness whel and off the lifft,
Of the firmament and of the air,
Off waterr, and off erthe;
Of water and of earth;
And i tha fowre shafftess niss
And in these four elements is (not)
Nowwtherr, -- ne lif ne sawle
Neither -- nor life, nor soul
That mihhte gilltenn anig gillt
That might be guilty of any guilt
And addlenn helle pine.
And deserve pain of hell.

We ought to know now that for us
The World here signifies
Created thing that was condemned
To suffer pain of hell.
The World here signifies for us
The race of man alone;
And since man's body is made up
Of what is in the world:
Of heaven's fire, and of the air
Of water, and of earth:
And since man's Soul is through the world
Here surely signified,
For both of them fall into one
After the Greekish speech,
For Cosmos all the world is called,
So as the Greeks explain,
Because it worthily is clothed
With sun and moon and stars
All round about the firmament,
Through God that wrought it so;
And eke it worthily is clothed,
That know'st thou well for sooth,
With air and land and water-flood
With creatures manifold,
The Soul, too, worthily is clothed
By God, after its kind,
With immortality, also
With wit and will and mind;
And therefore saith the Lord our God
The Soul is his likeness,
For that they both, the Soul and God,
Are ever without end,
And they have mind, and will and wit,
But not upon one wise:
For always God hath it in Him,
And ever and aye it had;
The Soul receives her excellence
All from the hand of God,
Where'er he shapeth Soul from nought
All as himself shall please.
And the World therefore in this place
But signifies mankind,
For both of them fall into one
Even as I have shown:
For either worthily is clothed,
But not upon one wise,
And yet the clothing of them both
Cosmos will signify.
And Man therefore thou mayest call
After the Greekish speech,
Microcosmos, the which we call
After the English speech,
The little World, and all for this:
Because the Soul of man
God has clothed worthily and well
With God and righteousness.
And even as this World is clothed
With creatures beautiful,
The World also may signify
Mankind therefore the better,
Because man's body is made up
And wrought of creatures four, --
Of heaven's fire, and of the air,
Of water, and of earth.
And therefore here the World must mean
Only the race of Man
That Word of God was sent by God
To loosen out of hell.

And of the Son of Man, and Son
Also of God, of both,
Christ here hath told to Nicodeme
The one truth in these words:
That whoso shall believe on him
He surely shall be saved.
And that was said as if he thus
With open speech had said:
For this I have come down from Heaven
To be a man on earth,
That whoso shall believe in me
And shall obey my laws,
Worthy shall he be with me
To have eternal bliss.
But this Christ said to Nicodeme
That he might understand
That he himself was God and Man,
One person, that should save
Mankind from hell and give to men
To win the bliss of heaven.

And that the Lord hath there declared
With words to Nicodeme,
That the Almighty hath not sent
His Son that he should judge
This world, but that he should redeem
It from the Devil's power; --
That said he then to cause him so
To see and understand
That he was sent and made as man
To rescue men from hell.
Through love he bore himself, and through
Love of his Father too
And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
Proceeding from them both,
Through that he was not come down then
To judge the people all,
But in humility to save
The world by his own grace.
And that he there to Nicodeme
Yet spake thus of himself:
Whoso believeth upon him
That man is not condemned; --
That was as if he had thus said
To him with open speech:
The man that shall believe on me
And shall obey my laws,
That same man will not be condemned
To suffer pain of hell.
And that he there to Nicodeme
Yet spake thus of himself:
And whoso believes not in him
With full and willing truth
Already is condemned by God
To suffer pain of hell; --
That was as if he had thus said
To him with open speech:
The man that believes not on me
With full and willing truth,
But shall through haughtiness and hate
Reject all that I teach,
Already is condemned by me
To suffer pain of hell:
For since that I am truly God
Full easily I know
All those in whom I shall be pleased
Who earn the bliss of heaven,
And those by whom I shall be scorned
Who earn the pain of hell,
Of all the folk that from this day
To Doomsday shall be born.
For all the folk that ever was,
And all that yet shall be,
It is already judged and set
In book, told, measured out,
By God, and now he seeth all
That each one man shall find,
What meed shall be the recompense
Of each one for his deeds.
The Highest how the doom shall go
All knows, and ever knew,
For eye of God and wit of God
All sees, all learns, all knows,
Both that that was, and that that is,
And that that yet shall be;
And if thou art redeemed that is
All through the Lord God's grace,
And through thy labour to win that,
Strong with the Lord God's help.
And if that thou art not redeemed,
That is all through thy sin,
And through right doom thou'rt then condemned
To suffer pain of hell
According to what thou hast earned,
And neither less nor more.

And that he there to Nicodeme
Yet spake thus of himself:
And he that shall not upon him
Believe, is now condemned
Because that he believeth not
As he ought to believe
Upon that one appointed name
Of God's Son upon earth,
On him that is of God the Lord
Only begotten Son; --
That was as if he had said thus
To him with open speech:
That man who wholly shall refuse
To trust and to believe
That I am by my Father sent,
Made Saviour on earth,
And whoso shall through hate and scorn,
And through his pride of heart,
My name all utterly despise
That calls me Saviour, --
The name that shall bring health to all
Who ever shall be healed,
The name that shall redeem all who
Shall ever be redeemed
Through me that am of God the Lord
Only begotten Son,
Son so begotten that I am
All one in Deity
With Father and with Holy Ghost
Withouten ord and end,
That am come to choose many for
My brethren upon earth
That cheerfully shall persevere
And do my Father's will,
So that he shall hold all of them
For children of His own
And give them to abide with me
Heirs of the heavenly realm,
That am the only son of Him
All one with him in kind, --
The man who wholly shall refuse
To trust this and believe,
That man is now condemned and set
To suffer pain of hell,
Unless he can escape therefrom
Before he come to die,
Believing that I am true God,
True Saviour on earth.

And that he there to Nicodeme
Yet spake thus of himself:
That is the doom, that light and gleam
Is come upon the earth,
And men have no love for the light,
But love the darkness more,
Because that their own deed is all
Evil and all unclean; --
That was as if he had said thus
To him with other words:
All that that any man shall be
Condemned to bear in hell,
All that shall be for that he shall
Neglect, scorn, and refuse
To come unto the Christendom
And to the right belief,
To know me and to follow me,
And in me to believe
That am true light of truth and right
And of the right belief.
And, therefore, shall all those who are
Known by the name of men
Because they follow their own flesh
In all its foul desires,
And wholly put away and scorn
To do the Spirit's will;
And hate all that is dear to God
And love all evil ways,
Are ever lying deep in sin
In many kinds of way
That are all openly enough
By darkness signified,
Because that sins will ever draw
Towards the gloom of hell,
Away from heaven's light and gleam,
The souls that follow them, --
Even as he that evil doth
Aye flies from light of day,
For him is loth that man him see
Employed in his foul deeds, --
Therefore, shall all that wicked flock
Be sentenced to hell pain,
Because that all their life on earth
With darkness is beset
In all the evil that man doth
Through heathendom and wrong.

Before that our Lord Christ was come
To be a man on earth,
This middle world was wholly filled
With gloomy shades of sin,
Because that Christ, the world's true light,
Was then not yet come down
With his rebuke for all mankind
Of heathendom and wrong,
And with his showing what was good
And what was evil deed,
And how a man might please his God
And earn the bliss of heaven,
And stand against the evil one,
And turn himself from hell.
And after our Lord Christ was come
To be a man on earth,
Thereafter was this middle earth
Filled full of heaven's light,
Because that our Lord Christ himself
And his Disciples too,
Both what was right and what was wrong
Made known in all the lands,
And how a man might please his God
And earn the bliss of heaven.
And many peoples haughtily
Withstood and still denied,
And turned them from the light of heaven
And from the heavenly lore,
Because they rather chose to be
In darkness that they loved,
To follow lusts of their own flesh
In every kind of sin,
Because they rather hated light
That brought rebuke of sin.
And other peoples well received
The gift of heavenly lore,
And turned them to the Christendom
And to the right belief;
That is that very light and gleam
That leadeth man to heaven;
And it received full inwardly
By shrift and penitence,
Accusing all their own misdeed
And punishing themselves,
That they so long in heathendom
Had angered the true Lord.
And so they came into the light,
Into the right belief
In Jesus Christ our Saviour,
Whose name is Faithfulness:
For all that's ever true and right
And good, and pleases God,
Salvation for His handiwork,
All comes by grace of Christ.
And so they come into the light
To shew and to make known
That their deeds have been done aright
By pattern of our Lord;
For all together did one thing
Both Christ and they themselves, --
Christ has rebuked them for their wrong
By teaching righteousness,
And they also rebuke their wrong
By shrift and penitence, --
So all together did one thing
Both Christ and they themselves.
And so through that was plainly seen
That any good they did
Was all in God and all through God,
Effected by His help.
And God Almighty grant us here
To please Christ while we live,
All pure in thought and pure in word,
Pure mannered, pure in deed,
So that we may be worthy found
To win the grace of Christ. Amen.





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