HERE IS DETERMYNED HOW LONGE ADAM AND HIS YSSUE SHOLD ABYDE THEIR REDEMPCION

CAPITULO XVII

'Certes', quod the Fader, `dere Sone, thou seyst wonder well, so fro this tyme I wil that man lyue in anguyssh, tene and tribulacion fyue thousand yere, or neyhe ther aboutes, for the myspendynge of his fyue wyttes in takynge of this appel, that he may knowe the meschyef and the mysery that he hath cast hym seluen ynne, and after wylle we ordeyne for his helpe in the best wyse.

`And in this mene tyme I shalle purueye an appeltre, the moost suffysaunt and the best that I can aspye, that moost is to thy plesaunce, whiche the Hooly Ghoost shalle haue in his kepynge. And he shalle make hyr to bere that noble newe creature, whyche I clepe Vyrgynyte, in to the whiche thy seluen shalt descende and become an appel, to that ende that by the this drye tree maye be restablysshed of that other appel, of whiche he was wrongfully despoylled.

`So shalt thou be Mene and Medyator bytwene synful man and me, for soothly also soone as I see the thus become an appel, therwith wylle I ben appesyd. But thou must nedes suffre thy self to ben beten soo, that this Iuse may yssuen oute fro the, for the Iuse wylle I receyuen as for ful amendys of the old trespas. And ther by wylle I that Helle delyuer me man, that longe he hath witholden, whan thou hast thus boughte hym and comest thyder for hym.'