¶ Here beginneth a little treatise of the dying creature infected with sickness uncurable with many sorrowful complaints.  

Labores amici.  
O homo avert ab inpatientia animam tuam.  
Sum captivatꝰ   deathbed scene  

Confusi sumus  
Heu infame.  
Furore consumor.  
animam amissimus.  
Spes nobis nulla   deathbed scene  
ALàs thàt ever I synnèd in my life to me is come this day the dreadful tidings that ever I heard/ here hath been with me a sergeant of arms whose name is crewelte from the king of all kings/ lord of all lords/ & judge of all judges dying on me his mace of his office saying unto me I arrest you & warn you to make you ready & that ye fail not to be ready every hour when ye be called on/ ye shall not weet when. And call sadly to your remembrance your old & long continued offences/ the goodness of god how largely he hath departed with you the gifts of nature/ the gifts of fortune & the gifts of grace/ & how he hath departed with you largely & ordained you at your baptism three sad borrows that ye should safely & surely be kept in your tender age as well from vices as fro bodily peril & ordained you a good angel to keep you and to counsel you if ye have be counseled by him bethink you. And when ye come to the year of discretion he or deigned you three sad counselors/ reason/ dread/ and conscience if ye have be ruled by their counsel call that to your remembrance. He ordained you also .v. wits/ servants that ye should be master of & rule them after your dyscrecyou/ that is to say your feeling/ your sight/ your hearing/ your speech/ & your taste How have ye ruled these that be under your obeisance me thinketh ye have moche thing to answer for for the judge that shall sit upon you he will not be partial nor he will not be corrupt with good but he will minster to you justice & equity certainly as well as this There were certain things he forbade you & the things ye should flee in any wise that is to were the seven deadly sins and all things that should provoke move or steer you thereto he bad you flee/ have ye do so/ have ye kept his commandments ten And yet that is but little thing.  

¶ The lamentation of the dying creature.  
ALas alas exscuse me I can not/ and whom I might desire to speak for me I wot not/ the day & time is so dreadful/ the judge is so rightful mine enemies be cruel my kin my neighbours my friends my servants be not favourable to me/ & also I wot well they shall not be herd there.   

¶ The complaint of the dying creature to the good angel.  
O My good angel to whom our lord took me to keep where be ye now me thinketh ye should be here now & answer for me for the dread of death dystroubleth me so that I can not answer for myself here is my bad angel ready & is one of my chief accusers with legions of fiends with him & I have no creature to answer for me/ alas it is an heavy case.   

¶ The answer of the good angel to the dying creature.  
AS to your bad deeds I was never consenting. I saw your natural inclination more disposed to be ruled by your bad angel than by me how be it ye can not excuse you but when ye were purposed to do any thing that was contrary to the commandments of god I failed not to remember you that it was not well & counseled you to flee the places of peril and the company that should steer or move you thereto can ye say nay hereto/ how can ye think that I could answer for you.   

¶ The complaint of the dying creature to reason dread and conscience.  
O Ye reason dread & conscience ye were assigned to be of my counsel now come I require you & help me to answer for me for my defaults be so many & so abominable in the sight of him that shall be my judge and my accusers be so many & so unfrendly that they leave not one default behind. Now come I require you & help to answer for me for it was never so great need. The fere & the dread that I am in dystroubleth me so that one word I can not speak for myself. Alas that ever I saw this day.   

¶ The answer of reason.  
BE ye remembered that our lord ordained you a good angel & a bad angel & he ordained you reason & discretion to know the good from the ill & he commanded you to do good & leave the evil/ he put you in free choice whether ye would do well or evil ye ought to call to your remembrance how well god hath done for you & helped you in every danger & peril he would have been loved dread & served according to the many fold graces & kyndenesses that he hath showed unto you how to answer for you I wot not loath I am to accuse you/ & excuse you I can not.   

¶ The complaint to the dying creature to dread saying thus.  
A dread where be ye is there no help and succour with you to speak for me when I shall come to my judgement.   

¶ The answer of dread.  
NO certainly for when ye were set in pleasance & delectation of the world reason put in your mind that ye died not well/ & I dread was with you at all times and in every place & failed not to speak unto you & to put you in mind of the shame of this world and dread of damnation & of the peril that world follow as well here as else where rehearsing unto you the punishments that our lord ordained for sin saying unto you. See ye not how graciously our lord hath called you from sin & wretchedness if ye would understand it/ how hath he long kept you in worship estate and in prosperity & could not know the goodness of god/ how hath he chastised you & how oft by loss of your children/ loss of your kin and friends/ loss of your goods and loss of all though things that ye could not be pleased with & set you in the indignation of the great high & mighty prince and help you out of the dangers & perils that ye have been in at all times/ & yet have ye not loved him dread him & served him that in all these perils hath preserved & kept you & hath been so gracious & good ford to you who should speak for you. I. nay certainly   

¶ The complaint of the dying creature to conscience saying thus.  
ALas conscience is there no help with you I have herd say long ago the world was to cursed/ but I would hope that conscience would have compassion of my distress and moche the more that I am friendless.   

¶ The answer of conscience to the dying creature.  
I Am sorry to accuse you & excuse you I can not for conscience and dread have been but seldom from you & called upon you in every time & place of peril & had you flee the occasions of sin ye might have fled at that time and would not/ now ye would flee death & can not/ we should speak for you & dare not & though we would it availeth not ye must sorrowfully & meekly suffer the judgements that ye have deserved.   

¶ The complaint of the dying creature to the five wits.  
O Ye five that were ordained to be my servants & under mine obeisance & to have be ruled at all times as I would have you/ is there no good word that ye may a ford to say for me & record my demeaning to you & report of me how I have ruled and governed you that were take me to keep rule & govern me thinketh ye should say for me now/ who might so well say for me as ye five/ ye have been with me continually ever sith that I was borne night & day and never at no time from me thinketh of your kindness ye should have compassion upon me and say the best that ye could say for me. I have been friendly to you and brought you in every place of pleasance and disport/ now show your kindness again to me and speak to faith and hope for me that they would charitably do my message unto the most glorious prince that ever was is or shall be.   

¶ The answer of the five wits.  
Certainly we marvel that ye would desire us to speak for you understanding these worship full people have denied and refused to speak for you your good angel reason dread and conscience/ how should we be herd or what credence will be given unto us that have been your servants and under your obeisance and no thing at all times but as ye have commanded us to do/ call to your remembrance how ye have ruled us five/ sight/ hearing/ feeling and thought ye have at all times brought us in places of pleasance & disport & though it were disport & pleasance/ for the time it is now sorrow weeping & wailing for your sake that we can not excuse you nor no thing say for you that might be to your well or to your ease for we have been privy & partners to all that hath been misdone in any wise and in every place and your offences in every thing is in your default for and ye had sadly ruled us and like a sovereign ye should have restrained in us every vice/ for we should have be ruled by you in every thing/ & otherwise than ye would have us do we would not do/ therefore of necessity your defaults must be laid upon you for we have do as servants should do & obeyed you in every thing & disobeyed you in no thing/ wherefore of right the peril must be yours what credence will ye give to us than/ if we should say well of you the people would say that we were false dyssymulours & favourers of sin.   

¶ The lamentation of the dying creature.  
ALas there is no creature that I can complain me to but utterly refuseth to say any thing that might be to my comfort.   

The complaint of the dying creature to faith & hope.  
O Holy faith & hope in you is all my trust for how grievously & how mischievously that ever I offended god you displeased I never. I have always believed as the church of christendom hath taught me & specially is of the most holy incarnation I was never in thought. I have believed in the blessed and most glorious trinity father son & holy ghost. I have believed that the second person of the trinity descended in to the bosom of the most glorious and pure chaste meek virgin that ever was is or shall be & meddled his very godhead with her pure chaste virginity & maidenhead and in her bosom was perfectly very god & man conceived by the great mystery of the holy ghost without knowledge or company of any earthly man & she a pure chaste virgin flowering in virginity and by hearing of the holy archangel Gabryell which brought unto her the most gracious & good tidings that ever came to man kind. Now holy Faith take with you hope & ye twain of your perfit charity be my advocates in the high court/ and refuse me not nor disdain me not for mine horrible and abominable sins that I have done/ which asketh vengeance in this world and damnation eternal without the mercies of him which is almighty/ What mean might I have thereto. I pray you counsel me for ye know well that my reason never discorded with the faith/ & as to you Hope I hope all ways that ye will say for me that I have always hoped to the mercies of god almighty and that I should be one of the children of salvation and one of though that should be redeemed by the precious and bitter painful passion as other sinners have be and certainly other plea nor resistance I can not make. But and ye twain would be a mean for me to that most glorious and pure chaste virgin that chosen was by one assent of all the hole glorious trinity to do the most glorious and worshipful act that ever was done for her chastity her pure virginity her meekness her virtue and her constance was cause that she was chosen by all the hole glorious trinity to be daughter mother & spouse to the most glorious trinity & that she should bear him that should redeem all mankind from damnation who may so well be advocatrice to the father the son and the holy ghost as she and ye will be mean to her son for me I hope she will not refuse me/ for I understand and know well that she hath holp many a sinner that hath right grievously offended and in the holy psalm that was made between her & her cousin saint Elyzabeth it was said that all generations should bliss her. I hope at the beginning of the world our lord put not me out of his number of though that should bliss his most holy mother & record her mercy pity & grace that she showed to sinners when they have none other succour ne help. She is mother of orphans/ and she is consolation of them that been desolate/ she is guide to all though that be out of the way to set them in the right way. I am an orphan I am desolate. I am out of the way I wot not where to cry and call after succour and help but only to her that bore our redemptor who may so well be mean to the son as the mother. And ye twain Faith and Hope would be mean to the mother of mercy for me. Now gracious Faith and Hope do your part and disdain not my request though I desire you to this occupation/ for and ye twain would deny to say for me I think I shall fall in despair for on whom to call after succour I wot not/ and to put myself in prees as a poor naked best unclothed of virtue and repleted with vices naked of grace and in mine own default and to come to the presence of the king of all kings and unpurveyed of all things that would accord with his most rial and Imperial estate I dare not take it upon me I should be in such dread & fere I should not con ne dare not speak for myself for I have prayed my good angel to speak for me and he hath denied it. I have called upon Reason dread and Conscyens & they have answered me full heavily that they be loath to accuse me and excuse me they can not/ & allegeth many a great reasonable cause why that I can not say nay to. I have called upon my servants which were take me to rule and govern as I would answer for them/ and they answer me right sorrowfully & say if they should say any good word for me they should not say troth of me & casteth to me that peril that no body would give credence unto them if they would say well on me but call them flatterers falls dyssymulours and flatterers of sin. Alas alas I have heavily dyspended my long life that in all this long time have not purchased me. One friend to speak for me had our lord of his most ample grace ordained me unmedyatly after my christendom to have died forth with I might say I had be borne in a gracious hour. But would it please your goodness to speak for me and understand whether I shall have hardiness to make a bill to the blessed lady and most holy virgin that ever was and she that disdaineth not nor denieth not synnard sinners when they call after grace. notwithstanding her chastity and her pure virginity excelleth all other virgins. Now good go your way & let me weet how I shall speed for all this time I live in such dread & fere that me were better die anon than live any longer in the dread that I am in. And also I have so great dread & fere of the rightwiseness of almighty god that I am almost deed for fere. For reason dread & conscience said to me full shortly that the high judge would not be partial nor he would not be corrupt with good but he will minister to me justice certainly but and he attaineth to minister to me justice without favour I will appeal to his mercies certainly for other remedy is there none par de. Origene our blessed lady help Thyofull/ & sir Emery how should they have done ne the mother of mercy had been & many another sinner that her grace hath holp. She is queen of heaven lady of the world and empress of hell/ and saying to her son christ Ihesu hath died & suffered so tourmentous a death & in her own sight to her great succour and motherly compassion I hope she would be loath that theke precious passion should be lost in any creature that her blessed son suffered so patiently.   

¶ The answer of faith & hope to the dying creature.  
Have ye none acquaintance with our brother charity we marvel that ye have not spoken of him in all this time/ for and ye were joined with us twain your message should be the more acceptably heard manifold.   

¶ The lamentable complaint of the dying creature to faith hope and charity.  
Certainly I have but little dealed with him. I was never conversant with him & that me repenteth now/ for I feel by you twain that he may do moche in the high court. I have more dealed with vengeance than I have with charity/ for I would have been avenged upon every man by my will when the people had slain my children my kin my friends & rob & spoiled myself certainly I would have been a wroke right fain and I had had power to my will but though my power were little certainly I have hated them and willed them to have been done to as they have done to me/ and well I wot that is not the order of charity. But now I heartily cry god mercy our blessed lady & you holy charity of the that mine enemies here afore god our blessed lady & you three. I forgive them all that they have done against me/ & will not be avenged thought I might: And I pray you holy charity though it were long or I were acquainted with you be not the loather to do for me I sore repent me that I have thus unreasonably & unwyttyngely absented me from you & heartily I cry you mercy/ & pray