Wyclif, Dialogus

Chapter 3

The first law: Numbers 18

Pollard pp. 5.13–7.10

Truth5.13–7.10

5veritas. Quia autem vellem quod ista lex et cleri specialiter esset recencius memorata, feci illam scribi sepius in duplici testamento. Et sicut nemo potest excusari quin noscat in gradum qui sibi pertineat legem dei, sic nemo potest excusari quin noscat quodammodo matrem suam. Sicut enim oportet servire deo qui est caput ecclesie, sic oportet honorare matrem ecclesiam, que est principaliter conjux sua. Sed sicut habemus de Christo tam secundum divinitatem suam quam humanitatem hic parvam noticiam, sic habemus hic de ecclesia parvam noticiam et confusam. Unde ignorancia 6legis Christi et partis ecclesie que hic vivit facit communiter membra diaboli et eciam filios ecclesie contra ipsam culpabiliter rebellare. Cum tamen ex primo mandato secunde tabule omnis fidelis debet ad sanacionem hujus matris modo quo deus voluerit laborare, nam numerorum 18 scribitur Dixit Dominus ad aaron in terra eorum nichil possidebitis nec habetis partem inter eos; ego pars et hereditas tua in medio filiorum israel. Filiis autem levi dedi omnes decimas israelis in possessionem pro ministerio quo serviunt mihi in tabernaculo federis et sequitur legitimum sempiternum erit in generacionibus vestris. Nichil aliud possidebunt, decimarum oblacione contenti quas in usus eorum et necessaria separavi. Ex quibus verbis notaret fidelis quod hec non dicit imperator vel papa sed hec dicit dominus tanquam fidem. Nec dubium quin verba ista dominus dirigat ad primam partem ecclesie, scilicet clerum suum, nec est color dicere quod hec verba directa fuerunt clero legis veteris et non nobis; cum debemus nunc vivere spiritualius sicut Christus. Quare ergo virtute istius legis vendicamus nunc decimas, et primam partem negativam hujus legis deserimus. Revera hoc testatur contra nos quod degeneramus a clero Christi in lege sua duplici terrenis possessionibus ocupati. Si ergo illi sunt maledicti qui declinant a mandatis domini manifestum videtur quod clerus qui tam pertinaciter in temporali 7dominio obviat legi dei est hereticus maledictus. Et sic creditur quod, si consencientes et agentes sunt pariter heretici maledicti, magna pars militancium est divino judicio hereticus maledictus. Et ex illo convincunt ulterius, cum talis apud deum sit indispositus ad convincendum alios super heretica pravitate juxta illa jo 8 qui sine peccato est vestrum mittat in illam lapidem, curia romana est nimis indisposita ad convincendum alios super heretica pravitate. Istud tamen presumit temere, quia est ad sensum misticum castellum quod est contra Christi apostolos ut dicitur M. 21°.

Truth. And because I wished that this law, and the clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric's especially, should be remembered the more freshly, I had it written more than once in the twofold testament. And as no one can be excused from knowing God's lawlex dei / lex Christi / lex evangelica: God's law / the law of Christ / the gospel law in the degree that pertains to him, so no one can be excused from knowing, in some manner, his mother.1 For as one must serve God, who is the head of the churchecclesia: church, so one must honour mother church, who is chiefly his spouse. But as we have here little knowledge of Christ, as much according to his divinitydeitas / divinitas: the Godhead / divinity as according to his humanity, so we have here a little and confused knowledge of the church. Hence ignorance 6of the law of Christlex dei / lex Christi / lex evangelica: God's law / the law of Christ / the gospel law and of the part of the church that lives here commonly makes members of the devil, and even sons of the church, rebel culpably against her. Whereas, nevertheless, by the first commandment of the second table every believer ought to labour for the healing of this mother, in the way God wills;2 for in Numbers 18 it is written: "And the Lord said to Aaron: You shall possess nothing in their land, neither have you a portion among them: I am thy portion and inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel. And I have given to the sons of Levi all the tithesdecime; pars decima: tithes; the tenth part of Israel for a possession, for the ministry wherewith they serve me in the tabernacle of the covenant"; and it followssequitur: it follows: "It shall be an everlasting ordinance in your generations. They shall not possess any other thing, but be content with the oblation or tithes, which I have separated for their uses and necessities."3 From these words the believer should note that it is not the emperor or the popepapa: pope who says this, but the Lord says it, as [a matter of] faith. Nor is there any doubt that the Lord directs these words to the first part of the church, namely his clergy; nor is there any colour for saying that these words were directed to the clergy of the old law and not to us, since we ought now to live more spiritually, like Christ. Why then do we now claim the tithes by virtue of this law, and abandon the first, negative part of this law?4 In truth this testifies against us that we have degenerated from the clergy of Christ in his twofold law, being occupied with earthly possessions. If then they are cursed who decline from the commandments of the Lord, it seems manifest that the clergy which so obstinately, in temporal 7lordshipdominium: lordship, withstands God's law is an accursed heretic. And so it is believed that, if those who consent and those who act are alike accursed heretics, a great part of the [church] militant is, by divine judgement, an accursed heretic.5 And from this they prove further: since such a one is, before God, unfit to convict others of heretical depravityheretica pravitas: heretical depravity, according to that in John 8, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her," the Roman curiacuria romana: the Roman curia is all too unfit to convict others of heretical depravity.6 Yet it presumes this rashly, because in the mystical sense it is the village that is over against Christ's apostles, as is said in Matt. 21.7

Notes

  1. 1 In gradum qui sibi pertineat: "in the degree that pertains to him", with qui agreeing with gradum. B, C omit in gradum, read quid for qui, and add secundum before legem: "knowing what pertains to him according to God's law". B¹ omits quin … excusari (5.15–17).
  2. 2 Cum tamen … debet … laborare has no main clause. We take it as the medieval independent cum tamen, "whereas, nevertheless". The first commandment of the second table is "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exod. 20:12), here applied to mother church. The Augustinian division, which Wyclif follows, counts it fourth; Pollard's side-note calls it "the fifth", as English Protestant numbering does.
  3. 3 Num. 18:20–21, 23–24; et sequitur marks the skip over v. 22 and v. 23a. Where the Vulgate has nec habebitis partem ("neither shall you have"), Pollard prints habetis, and we translate it; B, C read habebitis. The rest agrees with the Vulgate and is given in DR's wording.
  4. 4 Quare ergo … deserimus: printed with a full stop, but best taken as a question ("why then…?") that Revera ("In truth") answers. As a statement it would run "wherefore we claim…". The first person is the clergy's: Truth, who spoke as God at 5.13 (feci illam scribi), now speaks as one of the clergy. Pollard dates the change of voice from chapter 3 (p. vi).
  5. 5 Maledicti qui declinant a mandatis: Ps. 118:21 (Vulgate numbering), "they are cursed who decline from thy commandments". Consencientes et agentes: cf. Rom. 1:32, "not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them". Militancium: "of those militant", the members of the church militant.
  6. 6 Convincunt … ad convincendum: the same verb, first "prove", then "convict"; the subject of convincunt is unexpressed. John 8:7: Wyclif omits the Vulgate's primus ("let him first cast"), and his order differs; B, B¹ read eam for illam.
  7. 7 Matt. 21:2, Ite in castellum quod contra vos est, "the village that is over against you" (Pollard's margin reference, Mat. xxi. 2). In the mystical sense the curia is that castellum, "over against" the apostles. B, B¹, C omit Christi; B¹ reads 22°. The subject of presumit is the curia.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 5: CAPITULUM 3m.
    • 7: 21°. (degree sign)
    • 6: Christus.
    • 6: ∅ (English side-note word leaked into the column (layout error shared across scans))
  • Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference Numbers xviii. 20 (6.6); reference John viii. 7 (7.6); reference Mat. xxi. 2 (7.10). The draft also listed B¹. 150 c. (5.1), John x. 38 (5.11) and Deut. (7.12), which fall outside this chunk.
  • Side-notes read on plates n36–n38. The draft's 5.2–5.10 notes belong to chapter 2 and its 7.10–7.21 lines to chapter 4 (7.10 Mat. xxi. is the margin reference, not a side-note).
  • Apparatus consulted: 6.1 vincit for vivit, B, B¹, C; 6.2 membra vel filios, B, B¹, C; 6.7 habebitis, B, C (n. 3); 6.14–15 hoc for hec, B, B¹, C; 6.22 degiramus, B, B¹, C; 7.7 eam, B, B¹ (n. 6); 7.10 (n. 7). Italics: the plate italicises the Numbers and John quotations; the English puts them in quotation marks.