Chapter 21

The cloisters and the open air

Pollard pp. 41.14–43.19

Falsehood and Truth41.14–43.19

41mendacium. In verbis tuis patenter implicas quod omnes abbatie de monachis tam nigris quam albis pure in sectam Christi debent converti, et sic nedum regula quam fecit papa gregorius sed suffragia spiritualia de perpetuis elemosinis deperirent. Sed utrumque brachium ecclesie, scilicet sacerdotum et dominorum secularium, istam stulticiam derideret. veritas. Fides et religio Christi est dicenda publice, quia si deus voluerit, licet non in temporibus nostris, tamen postmodum practizabitur, et error contrarius paulative evacuabitur. Et sic concedi debet quod tota congregacio istorum claustralium debet pure vivere vitam Christi, et dotaciones ac tradiciones adjectas libere dimittere. Christus enim in ascensu suo in celum non ordinavit apostolos suos sive discipulos sic vivere claustraliter; et tamen ex fide cognoscimus quod Christus scivit et potuit ordinasse, si ecclesie profecerit 42sue, apostolos suos ac eorum vicarios in claustris talibus taliter vegetasse, sed in fide evangelii prius dixit: Nemo accendit lucernam et ponit eam sub modio sed super candelabrum ut qui ingrediuntur lumen videant. Voluit ergo patris sapiencia ut persone splendentes in lumine gracie lucescerent patule ecclesie militanti, quia sic ordinat solem, lunam et astra cetera toti nostre habitabili elucere. Nec est virtus in claustris per diabolum introductis cum omnia illa signa sint falsa vel veritas signata per signa hujusmodi retardata. Discurrat igitur homo per signa hujusmodi et videat intencionem plus utilem ac virtutem, ex qua talis intencio oriatur, et videbit quod cum bono fraudulencia diaboli est commixta. Numquid credimus tales claustrales plus posse placere deo per talia saxa terrena de bonis pauperum superflue congregatis quam placuerunt patres tam novi quam veteris testamenti? Christus enim communiter mansit sub divo et templi edificium respuebat, et patriarche legis veteris ante templi edificium sub divo domino plus placebant. Et quantum ad edificia que claustro in abbaciis hujusmodi sunt connexa, videtur quod sunt stimuli ad habitacionem in terris perpetuam affectandum, et fide[m] apostoli ad hebreos 13° Non habemus hic manentem civitatem sed futuram inquirimus relinquendum. Sicut ergo sub divo influencia celestis liberius est recepta, sic religiosi oracio penetrat liberius celum sub divo quam venit ad aures domini in hiis claustris. Et patet quod regula quam condebat bonus gregorius debet racionaliter cedere evangelio Jesu Christi, et errores de vocatis perpetuis et monstrosis elemosinis cessarent, sicut necesse est ipsos in die judicii vel citra quando deo placuerit terminari. Et sic de vita Christi legimus quod ipse elegit facere facta sua sub divo, cum in 43dupplici convivio sub divo populum suum pavit, sub divo sepius predicavit, et sub divo pernoctando patrem suum pro ecclesia exoravit; ymmo exiendo jerusalem capcionem suam in orto sub divo non casualiter coaptavit, et corpus proprium in monte calvarie ex causa notabili, ut fideles oportet dicere, immolavit. Templa ergo et basilice sunt cum moderamine affectanda, et errores circa illa ac cultus indebite exaltati sunt catholice deserendi. Et sic respiciat fidelis prudenter in quo iste religiones private moderne religionem vel sectam domini antecellunt, et videbit quod totus excessus stat in affeccione sensibili ad terrena, que non est ad patriam sed ad seculum allectiva. Et certum est ex fide quod ista evidencia est religionis domini turbativa; quia ex fide debemus temporalia ista tam in consideracione quam affeccione dimittere, et ad celestia aspirare, et sic sophisticaciones diaboli in istis vocatis spiritualibus suffragiis nudarent. Et si utrumque brachium synagoge satane ad tempus contra istud remurmuret, tamen quando ecclesia carebit affeccione mundana ista fidei veritas elucescet.

Falsehood. In your words you plainly imply that all the abbeys of monks, black as well as white,¹ ought to be converted purely into the sect of Christ; and so not only the rule which Pope Gregory made but the spiritual suffrages from perpetual alms would perish. But both arms of the church, that is, of the priests and of the secular lords, would deride this folly.²

Truth. The faith and religion of Christ must be spoken publicly, for if God wills, though not in our times, yet afterwards it will be put into practice, and the contrary error will little by little be made void. And so it must be granted that the whole congregation of these cloisterers ought to live the life of Christ purely, and freely give up the endowments and the traditions added [to it].³ For Christ at his ascension into heaven did not ordain his apostles or disciples to live thus as cloisterers; and yet we know, as faith teaches, that Christ knew how, and was able, to have ordained, if it had profited his 42church, that his apostles and their vicars should have lived thus in such cloisters;⁴ but earlier, in the faith of the gospel, he said: "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light."⁵ The Father's wisdom therefore willed that persons shining in the light of grace should shine openly to the church militant, for so he ordains the sun, the moon and the other stars to shine on the whole of our habitable [world]. Nor is there virtue in cloisters brought in by the devil, since all those signs are false, or the truth signified by signs of this kind is held back. Let a man therefore run through signs of this kind and see the more useful intention, and the virtue from which such an intention would arise, and he will see that the devil's fraud is mixed with the good. Do we believe that such cloisterers can please God more by such earthly stones, gathered superfluously from the goods of the poor, than the fathers of both the New and the Old Testament pleased [him]?⁶ For Christ commonly stayed in the open air and spurned the building of the temple, and the patriarchs of the old law, before the building of the temple, pleased the Lord more in the open air. And as for the buildings that are joined to the cloister in abbeys of this kind, it seems that they are goads to desiring a perpetual dwelling on earth, and to abandoning the faith of the apostle, Hebrews 13, "We have not here a lasting city: but we seek one that is to come."⁷ As, therefore, the heavenly influence is received more freely in the open air, so the prayer of a religious pierces heaven more freely in the open air than it comes to the Lord's ears in these cloisters. And it is clear that the rule which the good Gregory drew up ought reasonably to yield to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the errors about the so-called perpetual and monstrous alms would cease, as it is necessary that they be ended on the day of judgement, or before, when it shall please God.⁸ And so we read of the life of Christ that he chose to do his deeds in the open air, since at a 43twofold feast he fed his people in the open air, often preached in the open air, and, passing the night in the open air, prayed earnestly to his Father for the church; indeed, going out of Jerusalem, he not by chance arranged his capture in a garden in the open air, and offered up his own body on Mount Calvary for a notable cause, as the faithful must say.⁹ Temples therefore and basilicas are to be desired with moderation, and the errors about them, and the worship unduly exalted, are to be abandoned in catholic fashion. And so let the faithful man consider prudently in what these modern private religions surpass the religion or sect of the Lord, and he will see that the whole excess consists in a perceptible affection for earthly things, which draws not toward the homeland but toward the world.¹⁰ And it is certain, as faith teaches, that this evidence is disruptive of the Lord's religion;¹¹ for, as faith teaches, we ought to let go these temporal goods both in thought and in affection, and aspire to heavenly things, and so the devil's sophistries in these so-called spiritual suffrages would be laid bare.¹² And if both arms of the synagogue of Satan murmur against this for a time, yet when the church is without worldly affection this truth of faith will shine out.¹³

Notes

1 Monachis tam nigris quam albis: the black monks (Benedictines) and the white monks (Cistercians). Regula quam fecit papa gregorius: Gregory I (so Pollard's index), whose Dialogues II is the life of Benedict. Wyclif says elsewhere that the monks' patron is Benedict et regula, quam ex eius sentencia beatus Gregorius compilavit (De Christo et suo adversario Antichristo c. 2), and he ascribes the monks' rule to Gregory again at 42.26.
2 Utrumque brachium ecclesie: the spiritual and the secular arm, glossed by Wyclif himself as priests and secular lords. B, B¹, C add cum spremento, "with contempt", after derideret (41.19).
3 B, B¹, C omit quod . . . debet (41.23–24), which leaves the sentence without a clean construction; the print is translated.
4 Scivit et potuit ordinasse . . . apostolos . . . taliter vegetasse: ordinasse governs the accusative-and-infinitive apostolos . . . vegetasse, "that his apostles . . . should have lived [thrived] thus"; si ecclesie profecerit sue is the condition. B, B¹, C add sive discipulos suos sic vivere after apostolos suos (42.1).
5 A conflation: accendit lucernam et ponit eam sub modio is Matt. 5:15, sed super candelabrum ut qui ingrediuntur lumen videant is Luke 11:33 (Vulgate supra). Rendered in DR wording from both.
6 Superflue congregatis agrees with bonis: the goods of the poor are superfluously gathered. B, C read congregata, B¹ agregata, agreeing with saxa: "stones superfluously gathered from the goods of the poor". At 42.6 B¹, C read ordinavit, at 42.7 B, B¹, C habitacioni, at 42.8 cum autem.
7 Fide[m] is Pollard's bracket: stimuli ad . . . affectandum et fidem apostoli . . . relinquendum, two gerundive phrases after ad. B, B¹, C read affectandam. Vide apostolum ad hebreos, and omit relinquendum (42.23): "goads to desiring a perpetual dwelling on earth. See the apostle, Hebrews 13". Heb. 13:14 lacks the Vulgate's enim.
8 Bonus gregorius: B, B¹, C read beatus, "blessed Gregory" (42.26); for racionaliter B, C read racionabiliter, B¹ totaliter, "yield wholly" (42.27). Vocatis perpetuis: "so-called perpetual".
9 The open-air acts: the two feedings of the multitude, "upon the grass" and "upon the ground" (Matt. 14:19; 15:35); the night of prayer (Luke 6:12, erat pernoctans); the garden beyond the Cedron (John 18:1). B, B¹, C read suo convivio (43.1); for pernoctando B, C read provocando, B¹ predicando (43.2); B, B¹, C exeundo (43.3).
10 For antecellunt B, B¹, C read antecesserunt, "went before" (43.10).
11 Ista evidencia: apparently the manifest excess just described, the evident fact of the orders' earthly affection, rather than a proof. B, C read in affeccione (43.14).
12 The print's nudarent has no object and no evident subject. Translated from B, B¹, C nudarentur, "would be laid bare" (43.16).
13 Synagoga satane: Rev. 2:9. Answers utrumque brachium ecclesie (41.18): the two arms are now the synagogue of Satan's. B, B¹, C read illud for istud (43.17).

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 41: CAPITULUM 21m.
Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference Heb. xiii. (42.21).