Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 17, part 2

The church was from the beginning of the world

Loserth pp. 390.12–394.23

¶1390.12–394.23

390Ex istis dictis notari possunt notabilia. Primo quia christiana religio secundum formam quam ipse instituit est perfectissima et securissima; secundo quod ipsa durat per tempus utriusque testamenti, licet ante incarnacionem non sit vocata christiana religio, et tercio sequitur quod ecclesia fuit a mundi inicio, ut dicit Crisostomus et decretum Augustini, positum XXXIIª q. IVª. Recurrat. Et hoc debet attendere doctor allegans hoc dictum Augustini, non enim hic loquitur de ecclesia sub nomine ecclesie, sed loquitur de religione christiana, dicens quod fuit a mundi inicio. Ecclesiam ergo vocat sub nomine religionis que hodie dicitur christiana. Et patet quod non sequitur: si ante incarnacionem non vocabatur christiana religio, ergo ante incarnacionem non fuit ecclesia vel christiana religio, quin pocius sequitur quod a mundi inicio fuit ecclesia; quia notum est quod nunquam fuit religio fidelium predestinatorum nisi quando fuit ecclesia. Ideo sicut a mundi inicio fuit illa religio, sic a mundi inicio fuit ecclesia; et ad hoc sunt quotlibet testimonia sanctorum. Nam Augustinus (ut allegavi 391superius) sic scribit super Psalmo CXLII°: Ecclesia que est mulier antiqua, civitas Dei et corpus Christi, habet inicium ab Abel, sicut mala civitas a Caym. Unde in libro De Questionibus veteris et nove legis q. IIIa declarat quomodo fides ecclesie successit per ordinem in electis. Ab inicio, inquit, genus est christianorum, priores ergo homines quotquot fidem habuerunt unius Dei iure christiani dicendi sunt. Unde sicut non sequitur: per tempus veteris testamenti non fuit vocata religio christiana, ergo tunc non fuit religio, ita non sequitur: tunc non fuit vocata ecclesia christiana, ergo tunc non fuit ecclesia. Sicut ecclesia Romana, cum sit universalis ecclesia, diu fuit ecclesia, antequam fuit ecclesia Romana, quia quemcunque locum mundi incoluerit semper manet ecclesia, cum fides et predestinacio non dependent a loco corporeo. Ideo oportet notare quomodo accidit ecclesie denominacio a loco et denominacio a natura creata sub nomine tali, sed per se inest sibi denominacio a capite, quod nunc est Christus, Deus et homo; fuit autem caput ecclesie antequam fuit homo. Ideo foret nephandum sophisma concedere quod tunc non fuit ecclesia, licet ecclesia fuerit tunc per locum a simili quod ecclesia Romana vel christiana fuit, quando ipsa non fuit Romana vel vocata christiana. Oportet enim distinguere inter per se et per accidens. Ecclesia enim non potest desinere esse ecclesia, sicut nec aliqua creatura potest desinere esse membrum Christi mistici (ut declarat Augustinus III°, De Doctrina Christiana XXXII°). Unde quod ecclesia vocata est sub nomine ecclesie pro tempore veteris testamenti, patet scrutanti 392scripturas tam in libris legalibus quam prophetalibus, in libris historialibus et sapiencialibus. Unde frequencius (si non fallor) fit mencio in lege veteri de matre nostra sub nomine ecclesie quam in nova. Unde quia liber Psalmorum est valde autenticus, quia a domino allegatus et communius in ore presbyteri exclamatus, notaremus illud Psalmi XXIª, 26. Aput te laus mea in ecclesia magna, et Psalmo XXXIV°, 18, dicitur: Confitebor tibi in ecclesia magna, et Psalmo CXLIX°, 1: Laus eius in ecclesia sanctorum. Et sic exponit Augustinus maiorem partem Psalmorum, dictam de ecclesia vel in persona ecclesie, sicut loquuntur libri alii veteris testamenti. Unde beatus Gregorius, Omelia XIXª, exponens illud Matthei XX, 1: Simile est regnum celorum homini patrifamilias qui exiit primo mane conducere operarios in vineam suam, declarat quomode paterfamilias est conditor noster qui in magna domo sua regit singula, sed specialiter suam ecclesiam. Ipse, inquit, habet vineam, scilicet universam ecclesiam que ab Abel iusto usque ad ultimum electum qui in fine mundi nasciturus est quot sanctos protulit tot palmites misit. Et post prosequitur quomodo dicta ecclesia mane hora tercia, sexta, nona et undecima habuit cultores vinee ecclesie quos vocavit et excitavit ad colendum ecclesiam et vicia extirpandum. Illas autem quinque horas limitat iste sanctus papa per quinque etates mundi. Modo non dubium vel ceco logico, si vinea dicti patrisfamilias sit ad sensum misticum sancta ecclesia 393que ab Abel iusto usque ad novissimum electum sic fructificavit, tunc illa est extencior in etate quam pro hora undecima. Sequitur enim: Deus habet illam ecclesiam, ergo illa est ecclesia, et sequitur: Ab Abel iusto usque ad novissimum electum illa taliter germinavit, ergo per tantumdem temporis ipsa fuit. Et eandem sentenciam dicunt Augustinus, Crisostomus et decretum ex fide scripture (ut ostendi superius); et revera abbreviare etatem sancte matris ecclesie quod non fuit in veteri testamento foret presumptuosus error et periculosus merito revocandus; quod ego statim facerem, si (quod absit) illam assercionem temerariam presumpsissem. Nec valet dicere quod ecclesia fuit per istas quatuor etates ante incarnacionem, sed tunc non fuit ecclesia, primo quia tam literaliter quam mistice vocatur ecclesia pro tempore veteris testamenti, sicut patet in parabolis Christi quibus vocavit fideles ad nupcias et ad laborandum in vinea (ut patet Mat. XXII° et Mat. XX°), et secundum peritos linguarum ecclesia dicitur convocacio fidelium, synagoga autem congregacio fidelium. Ideo prius dicta est ecclesia, antequam fuerat vocata synagoga. Et quoad sensum literalem, patet quod sepe vocata est ecclesia pro tempore veteris testamenti. Similiter, si ecclesia fuit in prima etate mundi, tunc vel illud quod est ecclesia vel illud quod fuit ecclesia. Primum negabitur et dato secundo oportet cum veris dicere quod illa adequata ecclesia que fuit in prima etate mundi fuit in illa etate ecclesia, et cum illa etas lapsa est per multa millia annorum ante incarnacionem Christi, sequitur quod per tantum temporis ante incarnacionem fuit ecclesia; quod ego credo esse de fide ecclesie. Similiter modo est ecclesia triumphans que fuit in prima etate mundi, 394et cum nulla sit ecclesia triumphans nisi que prius fuit militans (ut declarabitur inferius), sequitur quod illa ecclesia triumphans que fuit pro prima etate mundi fuit tunc ecclesia militans. Non enim est fas dicere quod nunc non sit ecclesia triumphans nec erit ante diem resurreccionis finalis, nec fas est dicere quod solum Christus vel alia persona humana, si iam sit beata in corpore et anima, sit modo ecclesia triumphans. Ex istis videtur mihi quod post hereses de trinitate et incarnacione non fuit heresis periculosior quam pertinaciter defendere quod per totum tempus veteris testamenti non fuit ecclesia sancta catholica; tunc enim deficeret fidelibus tam viantibus quam triumphantibus solempnis articulus fidei, immediate sequens post articulum de spiritu sancto, quod est contra fidem scripture, contra sanctos doctores et iura ecclesie, que dicunt concorditer quod fidelis debet credere in spiritum sanctum, sanctam ecclesiam catholicam. Ideo tam clerici quam laici debent constanter consurgere ad istum articulum defendum, scilicet quod ecclesia sancta catholica fuit a mundi principio cuius pars triumphans est spiritus celestis (ut dixi superius).

From these sayings notable points can be noted. First, that the Christian religion, according to the form which he himself instituted, is most perfect and most secure; second, that it lasts through the time of both testaments, although before the incarnation it was not called the Christian religion; and third, it followssequitur: it follows that the churchecclesia: church was from the beginning of the world, as Chrysostom says, and the decree of Augustine, placed at [Causa] 32, q. 4, [the canon] Recurrat.1 And the doctor who allegesallegare / allegacio: allege / allegation this saying of Augustine ought to attend to this: for here he is not speaking of the church under the name of church, but speaks of the Christian religion, saying that it was from the beginning of the world. He therefore calls the church by the name of the religion which today is called Christian. And it is clear that it does not follow: if before the incarnation it was not called the Christian religion, therefore before the incarnation there was not the church or the Christian religion; rather it follows that the church was from the beginning of the world; for it is known that there was never a religion of the faithful predestinatepredestinatus, -i: the predestinate (sg. "a predestinate [person]") except when there was the church.2 Therefore, just as that religion was from the beginning of the world, so the church was from the beginning of the world; and to this there are any number of testimonies of the saints. For Augustine (as I alleged 391above) writes thus on Psalm 142: "The church, which is the ancient woman, the city of God and the body of Christ, has its beginning from Abel, as the evil city from Cain." Hence in the book Of Questions of the Old and New Law, q. 3, he declares how the faith of the church came down in order in the elect: "From the beginning," he says, "there is the race of Christians; therefore the earlier men, as many as had faith in one God, are rightly to be called Christians."3 Hence, just as it does not follow: through the time of the old testament the religion was not called Christian, therefore then there was no religion, so it does not follow: then it was not called the Christian church, therefore then there was no church. Just as the Roman church, since it is the universal church, was the church long before it was the Roman church; for whatever place of the world it has inhabited, it always remains the church, since faith and predestination do not depend on a bodily place. Therefore one must note how naming from a place, and naming from a created nature under such a name, are accidental to the church; but naming from its headcaput: head belongs to it of itself, the head which is now Christ, God and man; and he was head of the church before he was man.4 Therefore it would be an abominable sophismsophisma: sophism to grant that then there was no church, although the church existed then, by the topic from likenesslocus a simili: the topic from likeness, in that the Roman or Christian church existed when it was not Roman or called Christian.5 For one must distinguish between of itself and by accident. For the church cannot cease to be the church, as neither can any creature cease to be a membermembrum: member of the mystical Christ (as Augustine declares, De doctrina christiana III, 32).6 Hence that the church was called by the name of church for the time of the old testament is clear to one who searches 392the scriptures, as well in the books of the law as in the prophetic, in the historical and in the sapiential books. Hence (if I am not mistaken) mention is made more frequently in the old law of our mothermater nostra: our mother under the name of church than in the new. Hence, since the book of Psalms is very authenticautenticus / autenticacio: authentic / authentication, because alleged by the Lord and more commonly cried out in the mouth of the presbytersacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter, we should note that of Psalm 21:26: "With thee is my praise in a great church"; and in Psalm 34:18 it is said: "I will give thanks to thee in a great church"; and in Psalm 149:1: "his praise in the church of the saints."7 And so Augustine expounds the greater part of the Psalms as said of the church or in the person of the church, as the other books of the old testament speak. Hence blessed Gregory, Homily 19, expounding that of Matthew 20:1, "The kingdomregnum: kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard," declares how the householder is our maker, who in his great house rules each thing, but especially his church. "He has," he says, "a vineyard, namely the universal church, which, from Abel the just to the last elect who is to be born at the end of the world, put forth as many branches as it brought forth saints." And afterwards he goes on to show how the said church, in the morning, at the third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hour, had dressers of the vineyard of the church, whom he called and stirred up to dress the church and to root out vices. And this holy popepapa: pope assigns those five hours to the five ages of the world.8 Now it is not doubtful even to a blind logician: if the vineyard of the said householder is, in the mystical sense, the holy church 393which thus bore fruit from Abel the just to the last elect, then it is more extended in age than for the eleventh hour. For it follows: God has that church, therefore it is the church; and it follows: from Abel the just to the last elect it so budded, therefore it existed for just so much time.9 And Augustine, Chrysostom and the decree state the same teachingsentencia: CONTEXTUAL: teaching / sentence from the faith of scriptureex fide: as faith teaches; with a genitive, from the faith of [scripture] (as I showed above); and in truth, to cut short the age of holy mother church, [saying] that it was not in the old testament, would be a presumptuous and dangerous error, deservedly to be retracted; which I would do at once if (God forbid) I had presumed that rash assertion.10 Nor does it avail to say that the church existed through those four ages before the incarnation, but then it was not the church: first, because both literally and mystically it is called church for the time of the old testament, as is clear in the parables of Christ in which he called the faithful to the wedding and to labour in the vineyard (as is clear in Matthew 22 and Matthew 20); and according to those skilled in languages ecclesia means a convocation of the faithful, but synagoga a congregation of the faithful. Therefore it was called church before it had been called synagogue.11 And as to the literal sense, it is clear that it was often called church for the time of the old testament. Likewise, if the church was in the first age of the world, then [it was] either that which is the church or that which was the church. The first will be denied; and the second being granted, one must say with the truth that that adequate church which was in the first age of the world was in that age the church; and since that age passed away many thousands of years before the incarnation of Christ, it follows that for so much time before the incarnation there was the church; which I believe to be of the faith of the church.12 Likewise, there is now the church triumphant which was in the first age of the world, 394and since there is no church triumphant except one that was first militant (as will be declared below), it follows that that church triumphant which was for the first age of the world was then the church militant. For it is not right to say that now there is no church triumphant, nor will be before the day of the final resurrection; nor is it right to say that only Christ, or another human person if he is already blessed in body and soul, is now the church triumphant.13 From these it seems to me that after the heresies about the Trinity and the incarnation there has been no more dangerous heresy than to defend pertinaciously that through the whole time of the old testament there was no holy catholic church; for then the faithful, both those on the roadviantes: those on the road and those triumphant, would lack a solemn article of faitharticulus fidei: article of faith, immediately following after the article on the Holy Spirit; which is against the faith of scripture, against the holy doctors and the laws of the church, which say with one accord that the faithful man ought to believe "in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church." Therefore both clericsclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric and laymen ought to rise up steadfastly to defend this article, namely that the holy catholic church was from the beginning of the world, whose triumphant part is the heavenly spirits (as I said above).14

Notes

  1. 1 Augustine’s text placed in the Decretum: Loserth gives Decret. C. 32 q. 4 c. 2, the canon Recurrat nunc animus vester ad Abraham (Augustine, Tract. in Ioh. 11), whose §3 has the mother that bore Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham bearing all good Christians (Friedberg). The Chrysostom passage is not identified by Loserth and is untraced. C. Ipse instituit: "he" is Christ, the founder named in the religion’s title. Recurrat is the canon’s incipit, by which Wyclif cites it. R. A in the margin at 390.20: Ecclesia incepit habere nomen ecclesie in novo testamento, sed utique ipsa prius fuit.
  2. 2 At 390.26 B reads vel fuit. At 390.28 A and A₁ omit quia notum est ... fuit ecclesia; the print is translated. C. Doctor allegans: the opponent of 17-a, who cited Augustine’s De vera religione against Wyclif; Wyclif’s point is that Augustine speaks of the thing under another name.
  3. 3 Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 142.3 (PL 37, 1846; Loserth: Opp. IV.2, p. 1589), paraphrased: Augustine has Haec autem mulier, antiqua est civitas Dei ... initium habet ab ipso Abel, sicut mala civitas a Cain; and De questionibus veteris et novi testamenti q. 3 (PL 35, 2219; Loserth: Opp. III, Appendix, p. 44), reworded by Wyclif (Augustine’s text: ab initio genus est Christianorum), a work printed among Augustine’s and now ascribed to Ambrosiaster (Souter, CSEL 50, q. 3.4, p. 28). C. Successit per ordinem: "came down in order", that is, passed in succession from one generation of the elect to the next.
  4. 4 B in the margin at 391.17: Denominacio accidit ecclesie tripliciter. C. Three namings: from a place ("Roman"), from a created nature ("Christian", from the incarnate Christ), and from the head. Only the last belongs to the church per se; and since Christ was head before he was man, the church existed before it was called Christian. Fuit autem: continuative autem, "and".
  5. 5 Licet here concedes nothing against Wyclif: the clause adds that the topic from likeness also shows the church existed then, since the Roman church existed before it was Roman. An alternative is to take licet as "while" (the sophism being to grant non-existence while the analogy shows existence); the sense is the same.
  6. 6 Augustine, De doctrina christiana 3.32, on Tyconius’s second rule, de Domini corpore bipartito (PL 34, 82); Augustine’s point is the mixed church, so it supports Wyclif only loosely. C. Aliqua creatura ... membrum: any creature that is a member; on Wyclif’s terms a member is one of the predestinate, who cannot cease to be one (Loserth’s side-note adds "except by falling away from him").
  7. 7 A in the margin at 392.4: Ecclesia vocata est sub nomine ecclesie pro tempore veteris testamenti; B in the margin at 392.6: Frequenter in lege veteri fit mencio de ecclesia sub nomine ecclesie. T. At 392.6 B reads communicus. At 392.12–13 the manuscripts read ecclesia; Loserth corrected to ecclesie. S. Psalms in Vulgate numbering; the quotations agree with the Vulgate. C. Domino allegatus: cited by the Lord himself in the gospels.
  8. 8 Gregory the Great, Homiliae in evangelia 1.19 (PL 76, 1154–1155; Loserth: Opp. I, p. 1510), quoted nearly verbatim. In Gregory the five hours run from Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to Moses, Moses to the coming of the Lord, and from the coming to the end of the world. T. At 392.20 B reads que Abel iusto; at 392.23 B reads quomodo dunca (sic) ecclesia. Quomode is the print’s misprint for quomodo, "how". R. A in the margin: Ecclesia sunt omnes electi qui sunt et palmites in Christo qui est vitis. G. Limitat: "assigns" (glossary: limitare).
  9. 9 At 393.2 A reads extensior. C. Quam pro hora undecima: than if it existed only for the eleventh hour, Gregory’s age from the incarnation to the end; that is, the church is older than the new testament.
  10. 10 At 393.12–13 B reads presumpsisse. A in the margin: Ficcio. C. Quod non fuit: an object clause in apposition to abbreviare, "to cut short ... by saying that it was not"; hence the bracket.
  11. 11 The "four ages" are Gregory’s first four hours, before the incarnation. The etymology (ecclesia convocation, synagoga congregation) is Augustine’s, Enarr. in Ps. 81.1 (PL 37:1047: convocari autem magis est utentium ratione), taken over by Isidore, Etym. VIII.1.7–8; the point is that a convocation, of rational beings called, is prior to a congregation. T. At 393.21 A reads congregacio fidelium, and A₁ adds Iudeorum.
  12. 12 Illud quod est ... illud quod fuit: the dilemma is whether the church in the first age is what is now the church or what was then the church. Adequata ecclesia: the church taken as a whole and exactly, as it then was. Cum veris: "with the truth", or "with those who hold the truth".
  13. 13 At 394.4 A reads Non enim fas. C. The last clause excludes the view that the church triumphant began only with the risen Christ (or with a saint assumed body and soul) and will be complete only at the resurrection.
  14. 14 A in the margin at 394.10: Conclusio. S. The Apostles’ Creed, Credo in Spiritum sanctum, sanctam ecclesiam catholicam, where the article on the church follows that on the Spirit. T. Defendum, as printed, is a misprint for defendendum, "to defend". Spiritus celestis: plural, "the heavenly spirits" (celestis for celestes). C. Viantibus ... triumphantibus: the faithful on the road and those already in the homeland.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 390: incarnacionem
    • 390: IVª
    • 390: ergo
    • 390: allegavi (alle- here, gavi at top of p.391 with 183b folio mark; main token holds whole word, p.391 pos 0 is superius))
    • 391: fidem (italic)
    • 391: III°
    • 392: scripturas
    • 392: in
    • 392: legalibus
    • 392: XXIª
    • 392: 1 (verse number, short old-style 1)
    • 392: XIXª
    • 392: quomode (print reads quomode) [NW]
    • 393: que (alinea C and 183c folio mark glued)
    • 393: literalem (clear e) [NW]
    • 393: testamenti (2 is a margin argument numeral)
    • 393: triumphans
    • 393: in
    • 393: prima
    • 394: defendum (print reads defendum) [NW]