Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 10, part 2

The argument from mercy for the privilege; the twofold remission of debt

Loserth pp. 207.1–211.31

¶1207.1–210.10

207Quod autem hec possunt racionabiliter concedi, sic ostenditur: Omnia que possunt sonare in pietatem ac misericordiam, que homo potest de facto concedere, possunt racionabiliter concedi. Sed huiusmodi sunt omnia in dictis privilegiis annotata, ergo conclusio. Maior patet racione meriti quod non potest esse nisi racionabile, et minor patet ex hoc quod omne delictum commissum in hominem nedum potest sed debet remittere, et per consequens, tam rex quam totum regnum potest remittere iniusticiam quamlibet fugitivi. Confirmatur de debito de quo minime videretur; nam Matthei VI°, 12, docet Christus nos orare, ut Deus dimittat nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris, ubi docemur non dimitti nobis a Deo, nisi dimiserimus ex corde debita nostris confratribus. Secundo confirmatur ex parabola Salvatoris Matthei XVIII° de servo suffocante unum de conservis suis, postquam longe maiora debita a suo domino sunt dimissa. Serve nequam, inquit, omne debitum dimisi tibi, quoniam rogasti me, nonne ergo oportuit te misereri conservi tui, sicut ego tui misertus sum? Et iratus dominus eius tradidit eum tortoribus, quoadusque redderet universum debitum. Sic, inquit, et pater meus celestis faciet vobis, si non remiseritis unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris. Unde eodem capitulo docet Petrum in persona ecclesie quod usque septuagies septies, hoc est, quociens in ipsum peccaverit, dimitteret debitum fratri sue. Frater enim non incurrit culpabiliter debitum nisi excedendo decalogum mandatorum. Tercio confirmatur ex lege veteri, nam Levitici XXV° datur lex de anno septimo, quod tunc sabbatizabunt et anno quinquagesimo redibunt ad possessiones suas, 208eritque remissio plena debiti cuiuscunque. Nolite, inquit, affligere contribules vestros, sed timeat unusquisque Deum suum. Et breviter utrumque testamentum testatur creberrime misericordiam faciendam. Unde Matthei V°, 7, quando Christus tradidit legem suam, hortatus est ad misericordiam sub obtentu misericordie consequende. Beati, inquit, misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur. Unde ad exprimendum quod misericordia in novo testamento debet excellere dicit discipulis Matthei IX°, 13: Euntes discite quid est: Misericordiam volo et non sacrificium. Et super talibus fundat se beatus Gregorius, exponens illud Matthei XXII°, 2, Simile factum est regnum celorum homini regi qui fecit nupcias filio suo, et ponitur in canone XXIIIª, q. IV: Cum in lege scriptum sit, diliges amicum tuum et odio habebis inimicum tuum, accepta tunc licencia, cum iustum fuerit ut Dei suosque adversarios quanta possent virtute comprimerent, eosque in ore gladii ferirent quod in novo procul dubio testamento compescitur cum per semetipsam veritas predicet dicens: Diligite inimicos vestros, benefacite hiis qui oderunt vos. Et post exponens illud evangelii: Thauri mei et altilia occisa sunt, venite ad nupcias. Quid, inquit, per thauros nisi veteris testamenti patres signantur. Nam dum ex permissione legis acceperant, quatinus adversarios suos odii retribucione percuterent, ut ita dicam, quid aliud quam thauri erant, qui inimicos suos cornu virtutis corporee feriebant? Quid enim per altilia nisi patres novi testamenti figurantur qui dum graciam interne pinguedinis percipiunt a terrenis 209desideriis innitentes, quasi contemplacionis penna sese ad sublimia sublevant? Ex istis videtur hunc sanctum intendere quod in magnis nupciis sancte matris ecclesie membra eius rudia pascenda sunt exemplo patrum testamenti veteris tamquam carnibus thaurinis qui contra infideles usi sunt ex mandato domini feritate; modo vero adveniente Christo mitissimo pascendi sunt laucius evacuatis grossis carnibus veteris testamenti, in secundo ferculo novi testamenti porrectis eis altilibus; quod fit, dum ad exemplum Christi et suorum discipulorum ob amorem sui paciuntur iniurias. Et utinam ista leccio esset per nos sacerdotes tam sermone quam opere efficaciter in populo predicata. Tunc enim non foret tanta sanguinis effusio nec tanta conturbans ecclesiam Christi per membra diaboli a lege Christi declinacio. Accipio itaque istam sentenciam tamquam catholicam et tocius ecclesie directivam et dico ulterius quod ipsa nedum non confirmat sed infirmat privilegium supradictum, quia (ut patet ex dicta sentencia et fide scripture) non est privilegium, nisi de quanto sonat in misericordiam privilegiantis et privilegiati et omnino in honorem Dei et utilitatem sancte matris ecclesie; quod cum capit instanciam de isto, ideo interimit se ipsum. Unde ista condicio debet subintelligi de natura privilegii in opere cuiuscunque privilegiantis ecclesiam, cum Deus non potest privilegiare aliquam partem ecclesie, condicione ista penitus pretermissa, quia tunc foret sibi ipsi et sponse sue contrarius. Ideo necesse est privilegiantes ecclesiam cavere precipue ne ex ignorancia scripture et cecitate seculi officiant matri sue cui debent proficere. Non enim solum debent attendere ad illud quod posset sonare in misericordiam et edificacionem ecclesie, sed ad illud quod verisimiliter 210secundum legem scripture sonaret in caritatem et utilitatem ecclesie, quia cum omnia facta sceleratissima possent occasione misericordie Dei sonare ad profectum ecclesie, patronus ecclesie indifferenter omnia talia ordinaret. Sic ergo conceditur quod tam rex quam regnum nostrum nedum potest sed debet de lege caritatis (que est ius communissimum contra quod non fit dispensacio) remittere omnes iniurias fratris sui, nedum hospitati infra basilicam sed ubicunque terrarum fuerit, sub divo, in celo vel purgatorio.

And that these things can reasonably be granted is shown thus: All things that can tend to piety and mercy, which a man can in fact grant, can reasonably be granted. Now of this kind are all the things noted in the said privilegesprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging; therefore the conclusionconclusio: conclusion.1 The major is clear by reason of merit, which cannot be other than reasonable; and the minor is clear from this, that every offence committed against a man [the man] not only can but ought to remit, and consequently both the king and the whole kingdomregnum: kingdom can remit any injustice whatever of the fugitive.2 It is confirmed of debt, where it would least seem [to hold]; for in Matthew 6:12 Christ teaches us to pray that God "forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors", where we are taught that [debts] are not forgiven us by God unless we have forgiven from the heart their debts to our brethren. Secondly it is confirmed from the Saviour’s parable in Matthew 18 of the servant throttling one of his fellow servants after far greater debts had been forgiven [him] by his lord: "Thou wicked servant," he says, "I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldst not thou then have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee? And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So also," he says, "shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts."3 Hence in the same chapter he teaches Peter, in the person of the churchecclesia: church, that he should forgive his brother the debt up to seventy times seven times, that is, as often as he sins against him. For a brother does not culpably incur a debt except by transgressing the decalogue of the commandments.4 Thirdly it is confirmed from the old law; for in Leviticus 25 the law is given of the seventh year, that then they shall keep sabbath, and in the fiftieth year "they shall return to their possessions", 208and there shall be full remission of every debt. "Do not," he says, "afflict your countrymencontribules: countrymen: but let every one fear his God."5 And in brief both testaments testify very often that mercy is to be done. Hence in Matthew 5:7, when Christ delivered his law, he exhorted to mercy under the prospect of obtaining mercy: "Blessed," he says, "are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Hence, to express that mercy ought to excel in the new testament, he says to the disciples, Matthew 9:13: "Go and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice."6 And on such [texts] blessed Gregory grounds himself, expounding that of Matthew 22:2, "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who made a marriage for his son"; and it is set in the canon, C. 23 q. 4: "Since it is written in the law, Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thy enemy, licence then being received, when it was just that they should crush the adversaries of God and their own with what strength they could, and strike them with the edge of the sword; which in the new testament is without doubt restrained, since the Truth through itself preaches, saying: Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you."7 And afterwards, expounding that of the gospel, "My beeves and fatlings are killed: come ye to the marriage": "What," he says, "is signified by the bulls but the fathers of the old testament? For since by the permission of the law they had received [leave] to strike their adversaries with the requital of hatred, what else were they, so to speak, but bulls, who struck their enemies with the horn of bodily strength? For what is figured by the fatlings but the fathers of the new testament, who, while they receive the grace of inward fatness, bearing up from earthly 209desires, raise themselves to the heights as on the wing of contemplation?"8 From these it seems that this saint maintainsintendere (a thesis): maintain that at the great wedding of holy mother church her untaught membersmembrum: member are to be fed with the example of the fathers of the old testament, as with bulls’ flesh, [fathers] who by the Lord’s command used fierceness against unbelieversinfidelis: unbeliever; with a dative, faithless (to); but now, Christ the most gentle having come, they are to be fed more sumptuously, the coarse meats of the old testament being cleared away and the fatlings set before them in the second course, of the new testament; which happens when, after the example of Christ and his disciples, they suffer injuries for love of him.9 And would that this lesson were effectually preached among the people by us priestssacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter, in word as much as in deed! For then there would not be so great a shedding of blood, nor so great a turning aside from the law of Christlex dei / lex Christi / lex evangelica: God's law / the law of Christ / the gospel law through members of the devil, troubling the church of Christ. I accept, therefore, this teachingsentencia: CONTEXTUAL: teaching / sentence as catholic and as directive of the whole church; and I say further that it not only does not confirm but weakens the privilege mentioned above, for (as is clear from the said teaching and from the faith of scriptureex fide: as faith teaches; with a genitive, from the faith of [scripture]) there is no privilege except in so far as it tends to the mercy of the one who privilegesprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging and of the one privileged, and altogether to the honour of God and the profit of holy mother church; and since it [the privilege] meets an objectioninstancia; objectum: objection on this point, it therefore destroys itself.10 Hence this condition must be understood [as belonging] to the nature of a privilege in the act of anyone whatever who privileges the church, since God cannot privilege any part of the church with this condition wholly left out, for then he would be contrary to himself and to his bridesponsa / sponsus: bride / bridegroom. Therefore it is necessary that those who privilege the church take special care lest, from ignorance of scripture and the blindness of the world, they harm their mother, whom they ought to profit. For they must not attend only to what could tend to the mercy and edification of the church, but to what, 210according to the law of scripture, would in all likelihood tend to the charitycaritas: charity and profit of the church; for since all the most wicked deeds could, by occasion of God’s mercy, tend to the church’s advancement, the patronpatronus: patron of the church would [then] ordain all such things indifferently.11 So therefore it is granted that both the king and our kingdom not only can but ought, by the law of charity (which is the most common lawius: right / law, against which no dispensation is made), to remit all the injuries of his brother, not only of one lodged within the basilica but wherever on earth he may be: in the open airsub divo: in the open air, in heaven or in purgatory.12

¶2210.11–211.3

210Nam cum remittere iniuriam sit caritatem ignoscere ipsam quoad dampnacionem vel vindictam, volendo iniuriantem transire impunem de quanto placuerit domino capitali, patet quod omnis christianus debet cedendo Christo remittere (quantum in ipso est) omnem fratris iniuriam. Nam ut sic meritorie defert Deo qui Deuteronomii XXXII°, 35, dicit: Mea est ulcio et ego retribuam. Et sic est duplex remissio, scilicet debiti spiritualis quo quilibet christianus debet prodesse in vita caritatis cuilibet membro ecclesie; et illud debitum incurrit quilibet peccator (in quantum huiusmodi), cum ex lege caritatis et communione sanctorum iniuriatur Deo et toti ecclesie, ut patet XXIIIª q. IV. Hec autem, et recitatur proximo capitulo. Talem autem remissionem debet quilibet peccator habere quoad omnem iniuriam fratris sui, cum debet humiliter iudicium puniendi Deo relinquere. Secunda autem est remissio debiti corporalis, quam ut quis fecerit, cedit iuri illud debitum repetendi. Et qui non concipit istam duplicem remissionem debiti, est valde indispositus ad concipiendum materiam privilegiorum ecclesie vel 211scripturas. Sic enim loquuntur tractantes materiam de indulgenciis quod Deus remittit culpam et expetit penam. Ideo impetratur absolucio tam a pena quam culpa.

For since to remit an injury is to pardon it [in] charity as regards condemnation or vengeance, willing that the one who did the injury pass unpunished in so far as it shall please the chief lordcapitalis dominus; tenere de: chief lord; to hold of, it is clear that every Christian ought, yielding to Christ, to remit (as far as in him lies) every injury of his brother.13 For in this way he meritoriously defers to God, who says, Deuteronomy 32:35: "Revenge is mine, and I will repay."14 And so there is a twofold remission: namely, of the spiritual debt, by which every Christian ought to profit every member of the church in the life of charity; and that debt every sinner (in so far as he is such) incurs, since by the law of charity and the communion of saints he does injury to God and to the whole church, as is clear in C. 23 q. 4, Hec autem, which is also recited in the preceding chapter.15 And such remission every sinner ought to have as regards every injury of his brother, since he ought humbly to leave the judgment of punishing to God. And the second is the remission of the bodily debt: when anyone has made it, he yields the right of reclaiming that debt. And he who does not grasp this twofold remission of debt is very unfitindispositus; (se) indisponere: unfit; to make (oneself) unfit to grasp the matter of the church’s privileges, or the 211scriptures. For so those who treat the matter of indulgencesindulgencie: indulgences speak: that God remits the guilt and exacts the penalty. Therefore absolution is obtainedimpetrare: obtain (by request) both from penalty and from guilt.16

¶3211.4–211.31

211Ex istis patet quod stat hominem meritorie et plene remittere fratri debitum et tamen eum impetere excommunicare et quandocunque meritorie occidere pro eodem. Nam capio Petrum qui licite repetit in foro contencioso debitum a suo debitore, Paulum rite excommunicantem suum debitorem, et Linum meritorie persequentem suum debitorem usque ad mortem, ut puta, decapitacionem, suspensionem vel aliam mortem corporalem: patet possibilitas casus ex hoc quod aliter leges ecclesie de contencione, excommunicacione et occisione hominum forent heretice, quia legi caritatis contrarie. Stat ergo hominem meritorie exequi legem talem et cum de necessitate salutis tenetur iniuriam et debitum spirituale remittere, patet conclusio. Ymmo cum licet excommunicare accessorie, et per accidens sic persequi hominem pro debito corporali, videtur quod stat illud remittere et tamen ad salutem anime debitoris ex caritate fraterna quolibet istorum trium modorum eum persequi et torquere. Nemo enim meritorie sic persequitur principaliter propter debitum corporale, sed propter spirituale debitum et iniuriam factam Deo, remittendoque eum divino iudicio diligit ipsum in domino. Cum quo stat quod ex revelacione vel lege divina moveatur licite ad taliter cruciandum, sive ex sola detencione debiti committatur Dei iniuria, sive alia superveniens sit commixta; utrobique enim excommunicatur vel occiditur confuse pro omnibus, sicut Deus dampnat prescitum pro peccatis singulis que commisit.

From these it is clear that it is consistent for a man meritoriously and fully to remit a debt to his brother and yet to sue him, excommunicate [him] and even, on occasion, meritoriously kill [him] for the same. For I take Peter, who lawfully reclaims a debt from his debtor in the contentious court; Paul, duly excommunicating his debtor; and Linus, meritoriously pursuing his debtor even to death, for example beheading, hanging or some other bodily death: the possibility of the case is clear from this, that otherwise the laws of the church on litigation, excommunication and the killing of men would be heretical, as contrary to the law of charity.17 It is consistent, therefore, for a man meritoriously to carry out such a law; and since, of necessity for salvation, he is bound to remit the injury and the spiritual debt, the conclusion is clear. Indeed, since it is lawful to excommunicate accessorily, and incidentally thus to pursue a man for a bodily debt, it seems that it is consistent to remit it and yet, for the salvation of the debtor’s soul, out of brotherly charity, to pursue and torment him in any one of these three ways.18 For no one meritoriously pursues in this way principally for the bodily debt, but for the spiritual debt and the injury done to God; and by remitting him to the divine judgment he loves him in the Lord. With which it is consistent that he be moved lawfully, by revelation or by divine law, to torment [him] in such a way, whether the injury to God is committed by the mere withholding of the debt, or another [injury] supervening is mixed with it; for in either case he is excommunicated or killed indistinctlyconfuse / confusus (fides, noticia): indistinct(ly) for all [of them], just as God damns the foreknownprescitus, -i: the foreknown man for each of the sins that he committed.19

Notes

  1. 1 The argument for the privilege (A in the margin Racio, 207.1; side-note 207.1). Sonare in: tend to. Sed brings the minor premiss ("now"). The three confirmations that follow (Matthew 6, Matthew 18, Leviticus 25) are the "first", "second" and "third" answered in 10-c.
  2. 2 Omne delictum … nedum potest sed debet remittere: the subject of potest … debet is unexpressed; we supply "the man", the one offended (the homo of the major). Racione meriti: because granting what tends to mercy is meritorious.
  3. 3 Matthew 18:32–35. Wyclif lacks the Vulgate’s et before te and before ego (nonne ergo oportuit et te … sicut et ego), so DR’s "also" in verse 33 is dropped. Quoniam rogasti me is Loserth’s correction from Matthew 18:32 (codd. quando rogasti, 207.20); AA₁ read dimiseritis for remiseritis (207.24). Suffocante: throttling (cf. Matthew 18:28). Side-note 207.16.
  4. 4 Matthew 18:21–22, paraphrased. In persona ecclesie: Peter stands for the church. Excedendo decalogum: only by transgressing the ten commandments does a brother incur a debt culpably.
  5. 5 Wyclif summarises Leviticus 25, the sabbath of the seventh year and the return to possessions in the fiftieth (Loserth cites 25:13, 17). Eritque remissio plena debiti cuiuscunque is not in Leviticus 25; compare the year of remission, Deuteronomy 15:2 ("He to whom any thing is owing from his friend or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again"). Leviticus 25:17 is quoted as the Vulgate, without its last clause. Side-note 207.31.
  6. 6 Matthew 5:7 as the Vulgate. Matthew 9:13: Wyclif lacks autem (DR "then"); in Matthew the words answer the Pharisees (9:11), not the disciples. Sub obtentu misericordie consequende: under the prospect of obtaining mercy. Side-note 208.5.
  7. 7 Gregory, Homily 38 on the Gospels (on Matthew 22:2), as in the Decretum, C. 23 q. 4 c. 16 (Loserth: "Homil. XXXVIII in Matth.", "Decr. II. pars, causa XXIII, q. 4, cap. XVI"; the modern form is ours). Loserth notes that Gratian has in ore gladii (as the Maurist edition records), Gregory’s homily iure gladii, "by right of the sword"; Friedberg prints iure with the Correctors’ note that the original has iure (Friedberg I; PL 76, Hom. 38); Wyclif’s in ore gladii is translated ("with the edge", literally "the mouth", "of the sword"). As Wyclif gives it the period has no main verb: accepta … licencia is an ablative absolute and cum iustum fuerit its clause; we construe what is written ("licence then being received"), the sense being that licence was then given. "Thou shalt love thy friend": the Vulgate (Matthew 5:43) has proximum, DR "neighbour". Matthew 5:44 is quoted only as far as "hate you".
  8. 8 Matthew 22:4, without the Vulgate’s et omnia parata (DR "and all things are ready"). Terrenis is Loserth’s correction from Gregory (codd. eternis, 208.31). Terrenis desideriis innitentes: "leaning on earthly desires" would contradict the figure; we render "bearing up from earthly desires", as a bird pushes off from the ground; Gregory has a terrenis desideriis enitentes (PL 76), Gratian innitentes: Wyclif follows Gratian’s verb. B reads promissione for permissione (208.26). Altilia: fatlings, fattened fowl, hence the wing.
  9. 9 Intendere: "maintain" (the glossary). Membra rudia: the untaught, the beginners. Laucius: lautius, more sumptuously. Ob amorem sui: we take sui as Christ, "for love of him". Side-note 209.3.
  10. 10 A in the margin Responsio (209.18); side-note 209.18. Sentencia: CONTEXTUAL (the glossary): here the position taught, Gregory’s, so 'teaching', not a judicial sentence. Nedum non confirmat sed infirmat: the play confirm / weaken. Ex dicta sentencia et fide scripture: ex governs both. Quod cum capit instanciam de isto: instancia in the logicians’ sense, a counter-case or objection (the glossary); we take the subject to be the privilege itself, privilegium supradictum, the subject of the whole period: since it admits an objection on this point (it does not tend to mercy), it undoes itself; the next sentence (Unde ista condicio … de natura privilegii) continues with the privilege. It could also be the argument for the privilege.
  11. 11 Officiant … proficere: harm … profit, Wyclif’s play. The last clause is a reductio: if what could tend to the church’s profit sufficed, every crime would qualify, since God’s mercy can turn any to good; so a privilege must be judged by what in all likelihood does so "according to the law of scripture".
  12. 12 Ius communissimum: ius here is "law", the law of charity (glossary: ius). Nedum hospitati infra basilicam: not only the brother sheltered in the sanctuary. Sub divo, in celo vel purgatorio: wherever the brother is, under the open sky (out of sanctuary) or, after death, in heaven or purgatory. A in the margin Conclusio (210.5); side-note 210.5.
  13. 13 A in the margin Quid est remittere iniuriam (210.11). Caritatem ignoscere ipsam: caritatem is the print (plate n0247, 210.11; no variant). It does not construe. "In" is our supply, giving the sense of caritative (our emendation would be caritative or caritate). B reads concedendo for cedendo (210.15). Domino capitali: God as chief lord (the glossary).
  14. 14 Deuteronomy 32:35: Wyclif quotes only the opening words (Vulgate Mea est ultio, et ego retribuam in tempore; DR "Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time"); compare Romans 12:19, "Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord".
  15. 15 A in the margin Duplex remissio (210.17); B, second hand, Remissio duplex; side-note 210.17. Debiti spiritualis quo: the debt of charity owed to every member. "C. 23 q. 4, Hec autem": Wyclif cites the canon by its opening words. Loserth’s foot reference at 210.23 reads "Cap. XV.". That is the canon number, C. 23 q. 4 c. 15, Hec autem (the modern form is ours). If it means De ecclesia cap. 15 instead, it would conflict with proximo capitulo. Et recitatur: "which is also recited"; proximo capitulo is the nearest chapter, cap. 9, where the canon is quoted (09-e, 201; C. 23 q. 4 c. 15, Hec autem uita).
  16. 16 Remissio debiti corporalis … cedit iuri … repetendi: he gives up the right to reclaim; side-note 210.25. Indispositus: unfit (the glossary). Absolucio tam a pena quam culpa: the indulgence formula a pena et a culpa; Loserth’s apparatus records an added a culpa (211.3). Ideo: since God remits the guilt but requires the penalty, absolution is sought from both.
  17. 17 A in the margin Conclusio. Nota quomodo mali ex caritate sunt persequendi (211.3) and Casus (211.7); side-note 211.4. Stat: "it is consistent", the logicians’ stat (can hold together). AA₁ read quomodocunque (211.6), "in whatever way", for quandocunque; the print is translated. Quandocunque: medieval "at some time, on occasion" (= aliquando); "at any time" is possible but overstates the thesis. Peter, Paul and Linus as names for the case: Loserth compares Wyclif, De civili dominio, p. 39. Suspensio: here "hanging", a bodily death, not the canonical penalty (glossary: suspencio).
  18. 18 Patet conclusio: the conclusion stated at 211.4. Accessorie … per accidens: excommunication and pursuit for a bodily debt are lawful only as accessory, not as the principal end. A in the margin Conclusio (211.17). Quolibet istorum trium modorum: suit, excommunication, killing.
  19. 19 Remittendo eum divino iudicio: the same verb remittere, here "remitting him to the divine judgment". Confuse: "indistinctly" (the glossary): for all the injuries taken together, not one by one, as God damns the foreknown for each of his sins. Sive ex sola detencione debiti …: whether the withholding of the debt alone already injures God, or another sin is added to it.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 207: Serve (italic)
    • 208: eritque
    • 208: sacrificium (sacri-/ficium hyphenated; main token holds whole word)
    • 209: magnis
    • 209: infirmat
    • 210: regnum
    • 210: impunem
    • 211: accessorie [NW]