Bulls, indulgences and letters of fraternity

Pollard pp. 25.5–26.26

Truth25.5–26.26

25veritas. Ex istis dictis est medium inductivum ad respondendum ad alia que postmodum sunt illata. Non enim debemus accipere bullas papales vel generaliter dicta illius curie tanquam fidem; cum sunt viatores peccabiles et non generaliter inspirati, et ocularis experiencia docet quod sepe sunt decepti et contra veritatis regulam sepe errant. Et sic debemus ex sufficienti evidencia credere sociis cum quibus communiter conversamur, sed non habemus ex fide credere omni spiritui quem audimus, nec indulgenciis debemus credere, sicut nec papa vel sua curia, cum nescit si illa persona cui concedit dictam indulgenciam sit dampnanda, sicut nec scit si sit voluntatis dei concedere quod ipse annuit sic in bullis. Ideo non relucet magna discrecio vel sapiencia in hiis indulgenciis, specialiter si non fundantur in factis Christi vel verbis, nec in alicujus pape sapiencia antequam satanas est solutus; que ergo evidencia movet hos satrapas sic voluntati domini adversari? Aut que cupiditas urgeret istum prelatum sic scribere et sigillare sibi ambiguum, ubi verisimile est quod sit mendacium presumptivum? Ideo est multis evidens quod ista presumpcio sit peccatum; quia pari evidencia posset filium dei predestinatum dampnare ad tartarum. Ideo dicunt quidam viantes quod propter tale judicium temerarium nec magis nec minus, sed propter meritum vel demeritum quo ad deum. Et de multis literis episcopalibus concedentibus 40 dies venie est idem probabiliter senciendum. Et quantum 26ad literas fraternitatum, cum certum videtur quod ipsimet nesciunt si sint globus reprobus prescitorum, quid ergo valet illis vendere suffragiorum suorum participium cum nesciunt si aliqua merita illis remaneant ad beatitudinem consequendam. Nec ex istis infertur quod aliquis de militante ecclesia desperaret; sed quod non confideret in istis apocrifis et incertis; ymmo quod totam spem suam in gracia Christi colligeret. Et ad percipiendum fructum illius spei in bono meriti secundum doctrinam legis domini laboraret. Et istud evacuaret desperacionem finalem multorum qui in istis suffragiis sunt decepti. Et quantum ad contractus humanos vel civilia commercia patet quod fiunt communiter cum peccato, quia cum juramentis et testificacionibus illicitis. Ideo donate viro apostolico injuriam qui propter periculum hoc evitat. Et quantum ad hereditates descendentes ex datis patribus, sacerdotes non debent circa talia esse soliciti; sicut nulli debent presumere imponere dato heredi quod non descendit ab istis parentibus, nisi a spiritu sancto motus fuerit descensum hujusmodi impugnare. Et sic bene concluditur quod multa sunt vera in actibus humanis tam presentibus quam preteritis circa que viatores non debent esse soliciti. Ideo magis foret prudencia hominem renuere sibi neutrum aut impertinens sue beatitudini, in quo devio tam speculative quam practice multi peccant; ut patet de arte obligacionis et contencionibus circa temporalia hereditarie et temporaliter possidenda.

Truth. From what has been said there is a middle term that leads on to answering the other points brought in afterwards.¹ For we ought not to receive papal bulls, or in general the sayings of that curia, as faith; since they are wayfarers able to sin and not in general inspired, and the experience of the eyes teaches that they are often deceived and often err against the rule of truth. And so we ought to believe, on sufficient evidence, the companions with whom we commonly live; but we are not bound, as faith teaches, to believe every spirit that we hear,² nor ought we to believe in indulgences, any more than the pope or his curia [ought], since he does not know whether the person to whom he grants the said indulgence is to be damned, just as he does not know whether it is of God’s will to grant what he himself thus assents to in bulls. Therefore no great discretion or wisdom shines out in these indulgences, especially if they are not founded on Christ’s deeds or words, nor on the wisdom of any pope before Satan was loosed.³ What evidence, then, moves these satraps thus to set themselves against the will of the Lord?⁴ Or what covetousness would urge this prelate thus to write and seal what is doubtful to himself, where it is likely that it is a presumptuous lie? Therefore it is evident to many that this presumption is a sin; for with equal evidence he could condemn a predestinate son of God to Tartarus. Therefore some wayfarers say that on account of such a rash judgement [a man is] neither more nor less [blessed], but on account of merit or demerit with respect to God.⁵ And the same is probably to be thought of many episcopal letters granting forty days of pardon.⁶ And as for 26letters of fraternity: since it seems certain that they themselves do not know whether they are a reprobate band of the foreknown, what then does it avail them to sell a share in their suffrages, since they do not know whether any merits remain to them for attaining blessedness?⁷ Nor is it inferred from these things that anyone of the church militant should despair; but that he should not trust in these apocryphal and uncertain things; indeed rather, that he should gather his whole hope in the grace of Christ. And that, to receive the fruit of that hope, he should labour in the good of merit according to the doctrine of the Lord’s law. And this would do away with the final despair of many who have been deceived in these suffrages.⁸ And as for human contracts or civil dealings, it is clear that they are commonly made with sin, since [they are made] with unlawful oaths and testimonies. Therefore forgive the apostolic man the wrong, who because of the danger avoids this.⁹ And as for inheritances descending from given fathers, priests ought not to be anxious about such things; just as none ought to presume to charge a given heir that he is not descended from those parents, unless he has been moved by the Holy Spirit to impugn such descent.¹⁰ And so it is rightly inferred that there are many truths in human acts, present as well as past, about which wayfarers ought not to be anxious. Therefore it would be more prudent for a man to refuse for himself what is neutral or irrelevant to his blessedness, a by-way in which many sin, speculatively as well as practically; as is clear from the art of obligation and from contentions about temporal goods to be possessed by inheritance and in a temporal manner.¹¹

Notes

1 Medium inductivum: taken as the logical middle term that "leads on" to the answers; medium may also be simply "a means". B, B¹, C omit ad respondendum ("a middle term leading on to the other points").
2 Cf. 1 John 4:1, "believe not every spirit". Non habemus ex fide credere: we have no obligation of faith to believe; C reads debemus for habemus.
3 The loosing of Satan after the thousand years, Apoc. 20:3, 7. Wyclif reckons it as having happened about the year 1000, so only popes before then are allowed some authority here.
4 Satrapas: Wyclif’s derogatory word for church officials with delegated power; Pollard’s side-note takes these to be the bishops. B¹ reads sapiencia for evidencia; B, B¹, C moveret ("would move") for movet.
5 Printed viantes; B, B¹, C read viatores, translated here. The sentence is elliptical: judged by such a sentence, a man is no more and no less saved or damned; only merit or demerit before God counts.
6 Forty days was the limit for an indulgence granted by a bishop (Fourth Lateran Council, c. 62).
7 Letters of fraternity were issued by the friars, admitting benefactors to a share in the order’s prayers and merits. The foreknown: those God foreknows will be damned, not "the reprobate". Illis is taken both times as the friars; the first could be the buyers ("what does it avail to sell to them").
8 Suffragiis (26.10–11) is hyphenated suf-|fragiis on the plate; the extraction doubled the second half, now removed.
9 Donate … injuriam: "forgive … the wrong", i.e. do not count it a fault in the apostolic man that he keeps out of contracts because of the danger of sin. B, B¹ read hec for hoc.
10 Ex datis patribus … dato heredi: "given", i.e. the father and heir taken as such, the reputed ones (Pollard: "paternity should not be disputed"). B, B¹ correct to patrum; C patrum.
11 Ars obligacionis: the scholastic disputation exercise (obligationes) in which a respondent is bound to maintain a posited proposition. B, B¹, C read magna for magis ("it would be great prudence"), speculativi … practici, multum for multi, and contencionis.

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 26: literas (page-opening slip: witnesses matched p.25 "ad tartarum"; print p.26 opens "ad literas fraternitatum")
- 25: CAPITULUM 13m.
- 26: ∅ (page-opening slip: end of p.25 re-matched; p.25 already carries it)
- 26: suffragiis (suf-|fragiis, line no. 10 at the break)
- 25: concedentibus 40 (40 line-final, dropped; plate n56)
Latin fixed from the plate: suffragiis fragiis at 26.10–11 corrected to suffragiis (plate: suf-|fragiis; note 8).
Pollard’s margin references (MS foliation, not side-notes): 25.5 B¹.152 D; 25.14 B. 6 d.; 25.20 "104."; 26.8 C. 8 a.; 26.10 B. 7 a.; 26.23 B¹.153 a. No scriptural references in the margin of this chapter.