The clergy’s number and its perfection

Pollard pp. 33.2–34.26

Falsehood33.2–33.11

33Mendacium. Videtur adhuc quod minaris tacite ruinam cleri, et per consequens more peccancium redarguis teipsum, et niteris, sed superflue, agere contra Christum qui est clericus clericorum. Cum enim ut fides capitur quod clerus sit suprema pars et perfectissima ecclesie militantis, et clerus per dotacionem hujusmodi augmentatur, manifestum videtur quod subtracta ista dotacione necesse est clerum, et per consequens perfectissimam partem ecclesie, minorari. Quis ergo presumeret sic agere contra celeste conjugium quod tenetur ex quarto mandato decalogi venerari?

Falsehood. It seems still that you tacitly threaten the ruin of the clergy, and consequently, after the manner of sinners, you refute yourself, and strive, but to no purpose, to act against Christ, who is the cleric of clerics. For since it is taken as a matter of faith that the clergy is the supreme and most perfect part of the church militant, and the clergy is increased by endowment of this kind, it seems manifest that, this endowment being withdrawn, the clergy, and consequently the most perfect part of the church, must be lessened. Who then would presume so to act against the heavenly marriage which one is bound by the fourth commandment of the decalogue to venerate?¹

Truth33.12–34.26

33veritas. Licet diabolus et membra ejus multiplicaverunt mendacia contra Christicolas, ille tamen foret nimis neophitus qui propter talia mendacia dimitteret defendere veritatem, cum petrus, johannes et alii in verbis asperioribus persteterunt. Scimus quidem quod non sic loquimur propter amorem aut questum temporalium, sed propter zelum quo afficimur evangelice veritati. Quod si quandoque temptacione diaboli surrepit superbia condolemus. Intendimus ergo purgacionem et perfeccionem cleri, quam scimus non stare in multitudine personarum, sed in observancia status quem Christus instituit; et sicut toto corpore hominis verso in oculos foret indisposicius quam est modo, sic clero facto irregulari quoad statum domini, quamlibet augmentato, et in se imperficitur et nocet matri ecclesie militanti. Et patet quod assumptum est a patre mendacii mendicatum: volo enim totum clerum sicut et me ipsum stare in statu quem Christus instituit, quia scio ex fide quod Christus ex deleccione cleri taliter ordinavit. Scio insuper ex eadem fide quod Christus ordinavit clerum suum expertem dominii secularis. Et scio 3° quod, licet clerus posset in temporalibus pati penuriam, hoc 34tamen est securius quam habere temporalium affluenciam; cum Christus ordinavit suos apostolos ita pati, et sic debeo niti pro profectu anime proprie et ad hoc sequi regulam domini jhu Christi. Et sic licet videar stultus in isto agens contra profectum proprium, scio tamen sapienciam dei ad hoc movere, et mihi credo ad perpetuam salutem proficere si in isto proposito perseverem. Et sic, diminuta multitudine cleri cesarii et augmentata sua virtute, vel pocius conversa in clerum Christi, ecclesia foret ab apostematibus superfluis expurgata et partes ejus infirme secundum regulam et formam sanacionis voluntati domini conformate. Sed felix talis imitacio, cum ipocrite qui simulant sanctitatem sunt apostemata magis superflua et matri ecclesie magis nocent. Cum evidens sit multis racionibus quod capiens simulatorie statum cleri propter honorem mundanum, dignitatem secularem, vel corporis voluptatem, tanquam dei proditor symoniacus et hereticus in peccatorum voraginem se involvit. Et sic incipiendo a papa usque ad religiosum infimum sunt heretici spissim in ecclesia seminati. Et sic supponis mendaciter quod eo ipso quo quis quo ad seculum habuerit nomen cleri, est clericus de suprema parte ecclesie militantis, sed principes sacerdotum, pharisei et scarioth contradicunt. Et sicut olym isti de secta antichristi practizaverant contra Christum, sic hodie sunt eorum semina derelicta que operantur copiosius contra Christum. Isti enim sunt meretrices que adulterinis signis nituntur celeste conjugium deturpare.

Truth. Although the devil and his members have multiplied lies against the worshippers of Christ, yet he would be too much a novice who for such lies would leave off defending the truth, since Peter, John and others persisted in harsher words.² We know indeed that we do not speak thus for love or gain of temporal goods, but for the zeal with which we are moved toward the gospel truth. And if at any time, by the devil’s temptation, pride creeps in, we grieve over it. We intend, therefore, the purging and perfecting of the clergy, which we know stands not in the multitude of persons but in the observance of the state which Christ instituted; and as, were the whole body of a man turned into eyes, it would be more unfit than it is now, so the clergy, once made irregular with respect to the Lord’s state, however much increased, is both made imperfect in itself and harms mother church militant.³ And it is clear that the assumption was begged from the father of lies:⁴ for I wish the whole clergy, as also myself, to stand in the state which Christ instituted, because I know as faith teaches that Christ ordained it so out of love for the clergy.⁵ I know besides, from the same faith, that Christ ordained his clergy to have no part in secular lordship. And I know, thirdly, that although the clergy might suffer penury in temporal goods, this 34is nevertheless safer than to have an abundance of temporal goods; since Christ ordained his apostles so to suffer, and so I ought to strive for the profit of my own soul, and to this end follow the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, although I may seem foolish in this, acting against my own profit, yet I know that the wisdom of God moves [me] to it, and I believe it profits me toward perpetual salvation if I persevere in this purpose. And so, the multitude of the caesarean clergy being diminished and its virtue increased, or rather [it being] converted into the clergy of Christ, the church would be purged of superfluous abscesses, and its sick parts conformed to the Lord’s will according to the rule and form of healing.⁶ But happy such an imitation! since hypocrites who feign holiness are abscesses more superfluous, and harm mother church more; since it is evident by many reasons that he who feignedly takes up the state of the clergy for worldly honour, secular dignity, or bodily pleasure, as a traitor to God, a simoniac and a heretic, wraps himself in the whirlpool of sins.⁷ And so, beginning from the pope down to the lowest religious, heretics are sown thickly in the church. And so you suppose lyingly that by the very fact that anyone has, as far as the world goes, the name of cleric, he is a cleric of the supreme part of the church militant; but the chief priests, the Pharisees and Iscariot contradict [it]. And as once these of the sect of antichrist had practised against Christ, so today their seeds are left behind, which work more abundantly against Christ. For these are the harlots who strive by adulterous signs to defile the heavenly marriage.

Notes

1 Quod tenetur … venerari: venerari is deponent, so quod is its object and tenetur impersonal, "which one is bound … to venerate". The fourth commandment in the medieval (Augustinian) count is "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exod. 20:12); the heavenly marriage is Christ’s with the church, whose mother-role Falsehood invokes.
2 Peter and John before the council, Acts 4:19–20. Neophitus, "novice", is the Vulgate’s neophytus.
3 The print has an ablative absolute, clero facto irregulari … quamlibet augmentato, leaving imperficitur and nocet without an expressed subject; the clergy is understood. B, C read the nominative clerus factus irregularis … augmentatus, which supplies it; Pollard notes augmentato corrected from augmentatus in B. B, C also read sic for sicut (33.22) and omit est (33.23). The English is the same on either reading.
4 Assumptum is the premiss Falsehood assumed (that disendowment ruins the clergy); mendacii mendicatum is a pun, "begged from the father of lies" (John 8:44, "he is a liar, and the father thereof").
5 Ex deleccione cleri: taken as dileccio, "love for the clergy". If read as delectacio, "out of delight in the clergy"; the sense is close.
6 At 34.11 B, B¹, C read salvacionis Christi for sanacionis: "the rule and form of Christ’s salvation". The print keeps the medical figure of the abscesses.
7 The print puts a full stop before Cum evidens sit, leaving the cum-clause without a main verb. We join it to the preceding sentence as a second reason, parallel to cum ipocrite … nocent. Sed felix talis imitacio is verbless, taken as an exclamation.

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 33: CAPITULUM 17m.
- 34: cleri
- 33: Christus
Apparatus read on leaves n64–n65 this session: 33.22–25 and 34.1–29 variants (B, B¹, C); those bearing on the sense are in notes 3 and 6.