Piers Plowman - Maybe You Like It

3.230: "Nay,' quod Conscience to the Kyng and kneled to the erthe,
3.231: "Ther are two manere of medes, my Iord, by youre leve.
3.232: That oon God of his grace graunteth in his blisse
3.233: To tho that wel werchen while thei ben here.
3.234: The Prophete precheth therof and putte it in the Sauter:
3.234: Domine, quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo?
3.235: Lord, who shal wonye in thi wones with thyne holy seintes
3.236: Or resten in thyne holy hilles? — This asketh David.
3.237: And David assoileth it hymself, as the Sauter telleth:
3.237: Qui ingreditur sine macula et operatur iusticiam.
3.238: Tho that entren of o colour and of one wille,
3.239: And han ywroght werkes with right and with reson,
3.240: And he that useth noght the lyf of usurie
3.241: And enformeth povere men and pursueth truthe:
3.241: Qui pecuniam suam non dedit ad usuram, et munera super innocentem
&c.
3.242: And alle that helpen the innocent and holden with the rightfulle,
3.243: Withouten mede doth hem good and the truthe helpeth —
3.244: Swiche manere men, my lord, shul have this firste mede
3.245: Of God at a gret nede, whan thei gon hennes.
3.246: "Ther is another mede mesurelees, that maistres desireth:
3.247: To mayntene mysdoers mede thei take,
3.248: And therof seith the Sauter in a salmes ende —
3.248: In quorum manibus iniquitates sunt; dextra eorum repleta est muneribus:
3.250: And he that gripeth hir gold, so me God helpe,
3.251: Shal abien it bittre, or the Book lieth!
3.252: Preestes and persons that plesynge desireth,
3.253: That taken mede and moneie for masses that thei syngeth,
3.254: Taken hire mede here as Mathew us techeth:
3.254: Amen, amen, receperunt mercedem suam.
3.255: That laborers and lewede [leodes] taken of hire maistres,
3.256: It is no manere mede but a mesurable hire.
3.257: In marchaundise is no mede, I may it wel avowe:
3.258: It is a permutacion apertly — a penyworth for another.
3.259: "Ac reddestow nevere Regum, thow recrayed Mede,
3.260: Whi the vengeaunce fel on Saul and on his children?
3.261: God sente to Saul by Samuel the prophete
3.262: That Agag of Amalec and al his peple after
29