The selling of prayers

Pollard pp. 43.21–45.19

Falsehood43.21–43.26

43mendacium. Adhuc video quod per infidelem ignoranciam es cecatus; non enim consideras quomodo ecclesia tam militancium quam dormiencium per oraciones claustralium et spiritualia suffragia fundata in perpetuis elemosinis est adjuta. Quis ergo nisi demoniacus istud ecclesie suffragium impediret?

Falsehood. I still see that you are blinded by unbelieving ignorance; for you do not consider how the church both of the militant and of the sleeping is helped by the prayers of the cloisterers and by spiritual suffrages founded on perpetual alms.¹ Who, therefore, but one possessed by a demon would hinder this suffrage of the church?

Truth43.27–45.12

44.2 Monks’ prayers cannot avail more than apostles’, nor probably than those of any faithful worker still in the world.

44.8 Their higher efficacy is a delusion from the devil.

44.12 Yet in this belief men rob their heirs to fatten monks.

44.16 Whose red cheeks and fat lips are their highest claim to God’s favour. A good life is the best prayer.

44.20 Merit should be left to God to distribute.

44.23 When a monk sells his prayers, neither buyer nor seller can appraise their value.

44.30 The bargain may be fraudulent and is certainly simoniacal.

45.4 No man knows how far God accepts his prayers.

45.7 Or even if he is doomed to Heaven or Hell.

45.9 He may thus be selling devil’s prayers.

45.14 Even if the seller’s prayers have merit he cannot tell they will avail the buyer.

45.17 God alone can assign the fruits of merit.

43veritas. Video quod in falaciis que mundanis complacent delectaris. Ideo, ne in materia hujus fidei sim cecatus, in fide vivo domini Jesu Christi. Unde licet supponi possit 44quod claustrales priores per oracionum suffragia juverint duplicem ecclesiam hic in terris, non tamen tantum quantum priores viri apostolici qui vixerant extra claustra; et ut quidam estimant non tantum quantum juverunt fideles laboratores cum claustralibus conviventes. Unde inter alias cataractas diaboli quas invenit ad faciendum ipocritas decipere seculares oracionis valencia est precipua, cum introduxit sub colore fidei quod oracio unius claustralis novi ordinis quem invenit excellit omnia temporalia hujus mundi, et sic movebat seculares tam dominos quam operarios et mercantes conferre claustralibus tam dotaciones quam bona mobilia, ut exproprietarie sequentibus. Et per istam fallaciam diaboli in mammona sic habundant. Nec videtur quod oracio istorum claustralium sit tam valida, nisi propter buccas tam rubeas et labia tam pinguia deus eos libencius ceteris sic exaudit; quia aliter, cum quelibet res dicit deo seipsam, fidelis operarius suis operibus deum melius et ecclesie utilius exoraret. Et quantum ad particionem meriti oracionis, certum est quod, tanquam nobis incognita, est appropriate domino tribuenda, et istam materiam studerent sacerdotes cum laicis in foro oracionum suarum civiliter commercantes. Nam mercator vendens pure temporalia suo proximo habet racionabiliter conscienciam, si valor venditi sit utrique incognitus, quia aliter ex sibi dubio in commercio proximum defraudaret; quomodo ergo claustralis vendens symoniace oracionum suarum suffragia propter lata predia non haberet conscienciam super isto quod neutra pars scit si ista suffragia valent aliquid, et per consequens nescit si temporalis dominus ipsum ditans est in tali commercio defraudatus, et per consequens commercans sic ambigue de tam spirituali suffragio sibi incognito est symoniacus expressus vel insinuativus, 45et per consequens excommunicatus a Christo, qui talia commercia condempnavit? Quilibet enim debet scire quod precise tantum valet sibi vel alteri sua oracio quantum deus ipsam acceptaverit ad hunc finem. Sed quilibet orator hic in terris non est tantus dei conciliarius quod scit ad quantum deus oracionem suam acceptat; ergo non debet oracionem suam sic vendere tacite vel expresse. Similiter nemo viancium scit si est predestinatus ad patriam vel prescitus, sed certum est si sit prescitus tunc est diabolus, et per consequens oracio sua quantum ad beatitudinem sibi vel alteri nichil valet. Qua ergo fronte vel consciencia venderet tam care sibi incognitum?

Truth. I see that you delight in fallacies that please worldly men. Therefore, lest I be blinded in the matter of this faith, I live in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.² Hence, although it may be supposed 44that the earlier cloisterers helped the twofold church here on earth by the suffrages of their prayers, yet not as much as the earlier apostolic men who had lived outside the cloisters; and, as some reckon, not as much as the faithful labourers living alongside the cloisterers helped it.³ Hence among the other trapdoors of the devil which he devised for making hypocrites deceive seculars, the worth of prayer is the chief, since he brought in, under colour of faith, that the prayer of one cloisterer of a new order which he devised surpasses all the temporal goods of this world;⁴ and so he moved seculars, lords as well as labourers and merchants, to confer on the cloisterers both endowments and movable goods, as on men following [Christ] without property. And through this fallacy of the devil they so abound in mammon.⁵ Nor does it seem that the prayer of these cloisterers is so strong, unless on account of cheeks so red and lips so fat God so hears them more gladly than others; for otherwise, since every thing speaks itself to God, the faithful labourer would by his works entreat God better, and more profitably to the church.⁶ And as for the apportioning of the merit of prayer, it is certain that, being unknown to us, it is to be assigned to the Lord as proper to him;⁷ and priests who trade in worldly fashion with lay people in the market of their prayers should study this matter. For a merchant who sells purely temporal goods to his neighbour is reasonably troubled in conscience if the value of the thing sold is unknown to both, since otherwise, from what is doubtful to him, he would defraud his neighbour in the trade. How, therefore, would a cloisterer who sells the suffrages of his prayers simoniacally for broad estates not be troubled in conscience over this: that neither party knows whether these suffrages are worth anything, and consequently he does not know whether the temporal lord who enriches him is defrauded in such a trade, and consequently one who trades so doubtfully in so spiritual a suffrage, unknown to him, is an express or implied simoniac, 45and consequently excommunicated by Christ, who condemned such trading?⁸ For everyone ought to know that his prayer avails him or another precisely as much as God has accepted it for this end. Now no one who prays here on earth is so great a counsellor of God that he knows how far God accepts his prayer;⁹ therefore he ought not to sell his prayer so, tacitly or expressly. Similarly, no wayfarer knows whether he is predestinate to the homeland or foreknown; but it is certain that if he is foreknown, then he is a devil, and consequently his prayer is worth nothing towards blessedness, for himself or for another. With what face, then, or what conscience would he sell so dearly a thing unknown to him?

Truth45.13–45.19

45Similiter sicut commercans ignorat valorem sui meriti, sic ignorat dignitatem persone ementis, si pro dato tempore fructu meriti venditi congaudebit. Cum ergo tenetur pro die judicii vel in patria reddere bonum, sive defendere quod vendebat, videtur quod solius dei est distribuere bona meriti sicut placet. Et istam fidem notarent ipocrite et mundi divites cum talibus meritis commercantes.

Similarly, as the trader is ignorant of the value of his merit, so he is ignorant of the worthiness of the person buying, whether at the given time he will rejoice in the fruit of the merit sold. Since, therefore, he is bound, against the day of judgement or in the homeland, to render the good, or to warrant what he sold, it seems that it belongs to God alone to distribute the goods of merit as he pleases.¹⁰ And let hypocrites and the rich of the world who trade in such merits mark this faith.

Notes

1 Ecclesia tam militancium quam dormiencium: the church of the living on earth and of the souls in purgatory (the "twofold church" of 44.2). The suffrages "founded on perpetual alms" are prayers endowed in perpetuity.
2 B¹, C read credis quod for ne: "Therefore you believe that I am blinded in the matter of this faith. I live in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ", answering Falsehood’s es cecatus directly.
3 Claustrales priores is taken as "the earlier cloisterers", matching priores viri apostolici, not "cloistered priors". B, B¹, C read veri apostoli, "true apostles", for viri apostolici (44.3).
4 Cataractas: literally sluices or floodgates (the cataractae caeli of Gen. 7:11), in medieval use also a trapdoor or portcullis. Either way, openings the devil makes for deceit. In quem invenit the antecedent is ordinis, and the devil is the subject: he devised the new order.
5 Fallaciam (44.12–13) is divided fal-|laciam on the plate; the extraction doubled the second half, now removed.
6 Quelibet res dicit deo seipsam: every thing expresses itself to God, so the labourer’s works speak for him as prayer. B, B¹ add plus fundatis after operibus (C fundatis plus): "by his works, more firmly grounded".
7 Incognita agrees with particionem: the apportioning is unknown to us. Appropriate is the adverb, "as proper to him", i.e. God’s prerogative. B¹ has percepcionem in the text, with perticionem in the margin.
8 The clauses from "and consequently one who trades" may still depend on "troubled in conscience over this", as rendered, or may be Wyclif’s own conclusion. The sense is the same. For insinuativus, "implied", B¹ reads symiatus.
9 Quilibet orator … non est tantus … conciliarius: literally "every one who prays is not so great a counsellor"; the argument requires the universal negative, "no one".
10 Printed defendere is translated in its legal sense, "to warrant" (as a seller warrants what he sells). B was corrected by another hand to refundere, and B¹, C read refundere: "or to pay back what he sold".

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 44: fallaciam (fal-|laciam, MS mark B.12a)
- 45: ∅ (tail of vian-|cium, already joined)
- 45: fructu (line no. 15)
- 45: ∅ (English side-note word leaked into the column (layout error shared across scans))
- 45: ∅ (English side-note word leaked into the column (layout error shared across scans))
- 45: ∅ (English side-note word leaked into the column (layout error shared across scans))
Latin fixed from the plate: 44.12–13 fallaciam laciam corrected to fallaciam (plate fal-|laciam; note 5).
Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference Matt. vi. (45.26). MS folio marks omitted: C. 13 b. (44.3), B. 12 a. (44.12), 110. (44.29), B¹. 155 d. (44.30), B. 12 b. (45.7), C. 14 a. (45.16).