⁠Then Mary went away in haste,
The carling made her so ashamed
she had no will of such a guest,
To lose her pains and be so blamed.
⁠Now good saint Paul, said Magdalen,
For that you are a learned man,
Go and convince this woman then,
For I have done all that I can:
Sure if she were in hell, I doubt
They would not keep her long there,
But to the gate would put her out;
And send her back to be elsewhere.
⁠Then went the good apostle Paul,
To put the wife in better tune,
Wash off that filth which fyles thy soul,
Then shall heaven's gates be op'ned soon.
⁠Remember, Paul, what thou hast done,
For all th' epistles thou didst compile,
Though now thou sittest up above,
Thou persecuted'st Christ a while.
⁠Woman, he said, thou art not right,
That which I did, I did not know;
But thou didst sin with all thy might,
Although the preachers did thee show.
⁠Saint Paul, she said, it is not so,
she did not know so well as ye,
That I will to my Saviour go,
Who will his favour show to me:
You think you are of flyting free,
Because you was rapt up above,
But yet it was Christ's grace to thee,
And matchlessness of his dear love.