![]() Shall I have no company from this vale terrestrial O gracious God, in the high seat celestial, You it will not avail to cry, weep, and pray:īut haste you lightly that you were gone the journey,įor Adam's sin must die of nature. Wherefore, Death, I pray you, for God's mercy, That my reckoning I should not need to fear. My accounting book I would make so clear, To think on you, it maketh my heart sick,īut twelve year if I might have remaining, I give you no delay: come here, and do not tarry. Nor by pope, emperor, king, duke, nor princes. I am not moved by gold, silver, nor riches, Yet of my goods will I give you, if you will be kind,Īnd defer this matter till another day. O Death, you have come when I least had you in mind I do not know you what messenger are you? Deathįor every man I put to rest and no man do I spare Everymanįull unready I am such reckoning to give. How you have spent your life, and in what way,įor, know well, you shall not repent. Therefore your book of account with you bring To give a reckoning longer leisure I crave So happily? Have you forgotten your Maker? Everyman His mind is on fleshly lusts and his treasure,Īnd great pain it shall cause him to endureĮveryman, stand still where are you going His sight to blind, and from heaven to depart, He that loves riches I will strike with my dart, Lord, I will in the world go run over all,Īnd cruelly search out both great and small Įvery man will I beset that liveth beastly Where are you, Death, you mighty messenger? Death.Īnd that he bring with him a sure reckoning That it is essential on them I must do justice, I offered the people a great multitude of mercy,Īnd few there be that ask for it heartily Nor yet for their being that I them have lent They thank me not for the pleasure that I to them meant, Verily they will become much worse than beasts įor now one would by envy another up eat I healed their feet, with thorns hurt was my head:Īnd now I see the people do clean forsake me.Īs pride, covetousness, wrath, and lechery,Īnd thus they leave to angels the heavenly company Įveryman lives so after his own pleasure,Īnd yet of their life there is nothing sure: I hanged between two, it cannot be denied They forget completely the shedding of my blood red My law that I showed when I for them died They fear not my righteousness the sharp cross In worldly riches is all their mind The Son ![]() In spiritual sight the people are so blindĭrowned in sin they know me not for their God ![]() Here shall you see how fellowship and jolliness You think sin in the beginning full sweet ![]() Look well and take good heed to the ending Everyman, the Play and Poem, Begins Messenger ![]() Here begins a treatise how the High Father of heaven sends death to summon every creature to come and give an account of their lives in this world and is in the manner of a moral play. It has lived on because of its reminder of what's important beyond the grave. It is even careful to place the source of all those good deeds in the cross of Christ and in the Triune God, though not before commending the Roman Catholic sacraments and priests, who are said to be even more important than angels.Įveryman is, however, an ancient classic. There is no command to scourge ourselves in penance, and doing so will do nothing for your good deeds.Īt the end Beauty, Strength, and Discretion fail him as he enters the grave, and the play takes the opportunity to remind us that only our deeds will follow us into the next life. Good deeds are wonderful, but good deeds involve the two great commandments, both of which tell us to love. It's not the message I'd want to give anyone. This appeases God, strengthens Good Deeds, and clears his slate. Unfortunately, the unknown, late-1400's author was of course a Roman Catholic, so the remedy is provide by Knowledge, the sister of Good Deeds, who has Everyman scourge himself in penance. Finally, he appeals to Good Deeds, but she is so weak she cannot even stand, representing the lack Everyman had in his life. He then appeals to Goods and Riches, who mock him and tell him they deceived him. Kindred and Cousin turn him down similarly, though he upbraids them for unfaithfulness. Death was the frontispiece of the first edition of Everyman around 1500įellowship, representing his friends, turn him down. ![]()
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