The Ascension of Christ and the Selection of Matthias as the Twelfth Disciple

Hic incipit Ascencio Domini nostri, cum Maria, et vndecim discipulis, et duobus angelis sedentibus in albis; et Jesus dicit discipulis suis et cetera:


Jesus Pax vobis
Amonge 3ow pes,
Bothe love, and reste, and charyté.
Amonge all vertues lete it not ses,
For amonge all vertues prynspal his he.
3e be to blame I may wel preve,
For Iwyl vse to 3ow wordys pleyn
þat 3e be so hard of herte to beleve
þat from deth to lyve I am resyn ageyn.
Nottwithstondynge as 3e knowe, serteyn,
To 3ow viij sythys aperyd haue I
Be soundry tymes, the trewth to seyn;
And þis is þe ix tyme, sothly,
Evyn and no mo.
But now sum mete
Anon doth gete;
For I wyl ete
With 3ow and goo.
My dyscyplis, here what I sey,
And to my wourdys 3evyth attencyon.
From Jerusalem loke 3e go not awey,
But mekely abydyth my fadyres promiscyon,
Off whiche be my mowth 3e haue had informacyon
Whyll bodyly with 3ow I was dwellynge.
For Johan, sothly, for mannys saluacyon
Onlye in watyr was me baptysynge.
But I 3ow behete
Withinne fewe days þat 3e
In þe Holy Goost xul baptyzid be.
Therfore rysyth up and folwyht me
Onto þe Mownte of Olyvete.
Jacobus Major
O Lord, vowchesaff vs for to telle
Iff þu wylt now, withowte more delay,
Restoryn þe kyngdam of Israell
And 3eve vs þe joye, Lord, þat lestyth ay.
Jesus
Serys, þe tymes and þe monthis knowe 3e ne may
Whiche my fadyr hath put in his owyn power.
But 3e xul take within short day
Of þe Holy Goost þe vertu cler,
Thorwe whiche xul 3e
In Jerusalem and in Jury,
And moreovyr also in Samary,
And to þe worldys ende vttyrly,
My wyttnes only be.
Lovyth no wrath nor no wronge,
But levyth in charyté with mylde stevyn,
With myrthe, and melody, and aungell-songe.
Now I stey streyte from 3ow to hevyn.

Hic ascendit ab oculis eorum, et in celo cantent et cetera.


Angelus
Returnyth ageyn to 3oure loggynge,
To Jerusalem, for he wyl thus,
His promys mekely þer abydynge;
For dowteles þis forseyd Jesus,
Whiche from 3ow is take
In a clowde, as 3e hym seyn
Steyng vp, so xal comyn ageyn.
Of al mankynde, þis is serteyn,
Jugement xal he make.
[Petrus]
O 3e bretheryn, attendyth to me,
And takyth good hede what I xal seyn:
It behovyth þe scripture fulfyllyd to be
þat of Dauyd was seyd with wourdys pleyn
Of Judas, whiche was þe gyde, serteyn,
Of hem þat Cryst slow cruelly;
Which aftyr from deth ros vp ageyn,
And hath abedyn in erthe ful days fourty.
And aftyr all this,
Before oure eye
In a bryght skye
He dede up stye
To hevyn blys.
This seyd Judas was amongys us
Noumbryd apostyll, and had lych dygnyté.
But whan he betrayd oure Lord Jesus,
He hynge hymself vpon a tre;
In whos sted muste nedys ordeyned be
Another, oure noumbre for to restore,
On of þo whiche, as weel knowe we,
Han be conuersaunt here longe before
In oure company;
Whiche xal wyttnes
Berun expresse
To more and lesse
Of Crystys resurrexion stedfastly.

Hic statuent duos, Joseph Justum et Mathiam, et cetera.


O sovereyn Lorde, whiche of every man
The hertys dost knowe most inwardly,
With all þe lowlyness we may or kan,
To þe we prey ful benygnely
That þu vowchesaff thorwe þi mercy
Vs hym to shewe whiche in þis cas
þu lykyst to chesyn effectuously
To ocapye þe lot of Judas plas.

Hic dabunt sortes, et cadet super Mathiam, et cetera.


Now gramercy, Lord!
And to fulfylle
þin holy wylle,
As it is skylle,
We all accorde.


2024 Mar 19  14:56:36