eclare in the vulgar tongue unto you
that have not the tongues, this passage of God's Word as sueth." [Sueth
means follows].

"_The Lombe that was slayn is worthi to take vertue and Godhed and
wisdom and strengthe and onour and glorie and blessyng_!"

Note: it will readily be seen that all the quotations from Scripture in
this story are necessarily taken from Wycliffe's translation.

What followed was no scholastic disquisition, no common-place remarks on
the passage chosen. "The Lamb that was slain" was the beginning and the
end of Sastre's discourse. He divided his sermon into the following
subjects. "Who is the Lamb?--how and why was He slain?--why is He
worthy?--and, who are the speakers in the text who thus proclaim His
worthiness?" He showed them, by a reference to the Mosaic sacrifices,
why Christ was called a Lamb; he told them most fully that He died, the
Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God; he placed completely
before his audience the full and free and finished nature of His perfect
work: he told them that God's love to sinners was such that He gave out
of His bosom His own dear Son, the Son of His love, that their sins
might be counted His, and that His righteousness might be accounted
theirs. And under his last head, he spoke of that holy, happy city
whereinto no sin, nor harm, nor death could ever enter; whose
foundations were gems, and whose gates pearls; the dwelling-place of the
blessed ones, who having washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb, would never rest day nor night in singing the praises
of His worthiness.

Sastre also drew the attention of his hearers to the fact that the
ascription of praise in the text was made by the angels. "In all this
Book," remarked he, "I find nowhere such like laud as this given unto
any but God only. The blessed angels do worship unto the Lamb, but I
see not any offer for to do worship unto the angels, save only Saint
John himself, who doth twice fall down to worship afore the feet of the
angel which did show these things unto him. But I find not the angel in
any wise gladded with the same. Nay, the blessed John doth receive a
sharp rebuking of his folly: `See thou that thou do not,' saith the
angel; `worschipe thou God.' Wherefore, good friends, ye may see hence
how foolish are they who do worship unto the blessed angels: and how
grievous would be the same unto those good spirits of God if they did
knowledge it.