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Whan Alifaundre fro Candace
Cam ridend in a wilde place
Under an hille a cave he fond,
And Candalus, whiche in that lond
Was bore and was Candaces fone,
Him told, how that of comun wone
The goddes were in thilke cave.
And he that wolde affay and have
A knoulechinge, if it be foth,
Light of his hors and in he goth
And fond therinne that he fought.

For through the fendes fleight him thought
Amonges other goddes mo,

That Serapis spake to him tho,

Whom he figh there in great array.
And thus the fend fro day to day
The worship of ydolatrie
Drough forth upon the fantasy

Of hem, that weren thanne blinde
And couthen nought the trouthe finde.
Thus haft thou herd in what degre
Of Grece, Egipte and Caldee
The mifbeleves whilom ftood,
And how so that they be nought good
Ne trewe, yet they fprongen oute,
Wherof the wide worlde aboute
His parte of misbeleve toke.
Til fo befelle, as faith the boke,
That god a people for him felve
Hath chose of the lignages twelve,

Wherof the fothe redely,

As it is write in Genesy,

I thenke telle in fuche a wife,
That it shall be to thin apprife.

After the flood, fro which Noe
Was fauf, the worlde in his degre
Was made as who faith new ayein
Of flour, of fruit, of gras, of grein,
Of beeft, of brid and of mankinde,
Whiche ever hath be to god unkinde.
For nought withstonding all the fare
Of that this world was made fo bare,
And afterward it was reftored,
Among the men was nothing mored
Towardes god of good living,
But all was torned to liking
After the flessh, so that foryete
Was he, which yaf hem life and mete,
Of heven and erthe creatour.

And thus cam forth the great errour,
That they the highe god ne knewe,
But maden other goddes newe,
As thou haft herd me said to-fore.
There was no man that time bore,
That he ne had after his chois
A god, to whom he yaf his vois,
Wherof the misbeleve cam
Into the time of Abraham.
But he found out the righte wey,
Howe only men fhuld obey

De Hebreorum feu
Judeorum

fecta, quorum finagoga, ecclefia Chrifti fuperveniente, defecit.

The highe god, which weldeth all
And ever hath done and ever shall
In heven, in erth and eke in helle.
There is no tunge his might may telle.
This patriarch to his lignage
Forbad, that they to none ymage
Encline fholden in no wife,

But her offrende and facrifife
With all the hole hertes love
Unto the mighty god above
They shulde yive and to no mo.
And thus in thilke time tho

Began that fect upon this erthe,
Whiche of beleves was the ferthe,
Of rightwifneffe it was conceived,
So must it nedes be received
Of him, that alle right is inne,
The highe god, which wolde winne
A people unto his owne feith.
On Abraham the ground he laith
And made him for to multiply
Into fo great a progeny,

That they Egipte all over spradde.
But Pharao with wrong hem ladde
In fervitude ayein the pees,
Til god let fende Moises

To make the deliveraunce.

And for his people great vengeaunce
He toke, which is to here a wonder.
The king was flain, the lond put under,

God bad the redde fee devide,
Which stood upright on every fide
And yaf unto his people a wey,
That they on foot it paffed drey
And gone
fo forth into defert,
Where for to kepe hem in covert
The daies whan the fonne brent
A large cloude hem over went,
And for to wiffen hem by night
A firy piller hem alight.

And whan that they for hunger pleigne,
The mighty god began to reine
Manna fro heven down to grounde,
Wherof that eche of hem hath founde
His food, fuch right as him list.
And for they shuld upon him trift
Right as who set a tonne abroche,
He percede the harde roche

And fpronge out water all at wille,
That man and befte hath dronk his fille.
And afterward he yaf the lawe

To Moises, that hem withdrawe

They fhulde nought fro that he bad.

And in this wife they be lad,
Til they toke in poffeffion
The londes of promiffion,
Where that Caleph and Jofue
The marches upon fuch degre
Departen after the lignage,
That eche of hem as heritage

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