Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 18, part 4

The devil’s four-horse chariot; the abuse of endowment; the betrayers of the truth

Loserth pp. 426.31–430.31

¶1426.31–428.7

426Et ex isto consolati sunt fideles equanimiter tolerare obprobria heresis a pseudocardinalibus et 427discipulis Scarioth ad hoc promoventibus propter defensionem veritatis evangelice, cum Christus propter persecucionem humiliter ita tulit. Et utinam pontifices templi, scribe et pharisei non haberent hodie cum Scarioth in ecclesia discipulos imitantes. Si enim sunt hodie seculares sacerdotes tamquam pontifices et religiosi possessionati tamquam pharisei qui secundum apparenciam religionis a populo sunt divisi et tercio doctores tradicionis humane tamquam scribe ac quarto profitentes evangelicam paupertatem cum Scarioth qui omnes nitantur impugnare evangelicam veritatem, non mirum si in ista quadriga diaboli Christi ecclesia perturbatur. Signum autem perversionis persone prime partis proprietarie foret, si plus fureret propter audicionem ablacionis suorum temporalium quam propter quantumcunque gravem lapsum ecclesie in peccatum; tunc enim plus afficeretur temporalibus quam honori Dei vel utilitati ecclesie verbi gracia. Si clerus Anglie magis timet amissionem dotacionis regie quam peccatum regni invadendo regnum Francie, non video quin philargiria sit seductus; utrumque nempe istorum potest bene fieri, sed indubie primum est propinquius potestati et facilitati humane, ut absque periculo anime fiat iuste. Quis (inquam) dubitat quin facilius foret regem et regnum ponere clerum nostrum in statu primevo qui foret isto statu perfeccior servando undique caritatem et evacuando pompam, rancorem ac avariciam quam exercitum Anglie invadendo Franciam, propter caritatem ad hostes, ipsos temporalibus spoliando et propter amorem eos generaliter occidendo. Et tamen ad hoc secundum consulimus ex isto colore quod potest fieri meritorie in casu possibili quoad Deum et possibilitatem primi 428tamquam venenum abnuimus contra fidem scripture et sanctorum testimonium. Nam beatus Jeronimus libro II° super Osee, exponens illud Osee IX°, 14: Da eis ubera arencia, ita scribit: Si hiis que pro benediccione donavit male abutamur et in contrarium quam ab eo data sunt convertantur, expedit ut auferantur a nobis.

And from this the faithful are comforted to bear with equanimity the reproaches of heresy from pseudo-cardinals and 427disciples of Iscariot who promote [them] to this, for the defence of gospel truth, since Christ bore it so humbly for persecution.1 And would that the pontiffs of the temple, the scribes and Pharisees, did not have disciples today in the church imitating them, with Iscariot! For if there are today secularecclesia laycalis / secularis: the lay church / the secular church priests as pontiffs, and possessionerpossessionati: the possessioners religiousreligiosi: the religious as Pharisees, who according to the appearance of religion are separated from the people, and thirdly doctors of human tradition as scribes, and fourthly those professing gospel poverty, with Iscariot, who all strive to attack gospel truth, it is no wonder if in this four-horse chariot of the devil the church of Christ is thrown into disorder.2 And it would be a sign of perversion in a person of the first, proprietary party if he raged more at hearing of the taking-awayablacio: taking-away of his temporal goodstemporalia: temporal goods than at a lapse of the church into sin, however grave; for then he would be more affected toward temporal goods than toward the honour of God or the profit of the church. For example: if the clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric of England fears the loss of the royal endowmentdotacio: endowment more than the sin of the kingdomregnum: kingdom in invading the kingdom of France, I do not see but that it has been seduced by love of moneyphilargiria: love of money; for both of these can well be done, but undoubtedly the first is nearer to human power and ease, so that it may be done justly without danger to the soul.3 Who (I say) doubts that it would be easier for the king and kingdom to put our clergy in the primitive state, which would be more perfect than this state, keeping charitycaritas: charity on every side and emptying out pomp, rancour and avarice, than [to put] the army of England to invading France, for charity toward the enemies despoiling them of temporal goods, and for love killing them wholesale?4 And yet to this second we give counsel, on this colourcolor (non est color): colour (a plausible ground), that it can be done meritoriously in a possible case as regards God; and the possibility of the first 428we reject as poison, against the faith of scripture and the testimony of the saints.5 For blessed Jerome, in book 2 on Hosea, expounding that text of Hosea 9:14, "Give them dry breasts," writes thus: "If we abuse what he gave for a blessing, and they are turned to the contrary of that for which they were given by him, it is expedient that they be taken from us."6

¶2428.8–430.31

428Nec credo esse meliorem medicinam contra abusum huiusmodi quam bonum abusum per eum cuius interest amoveri, nec dubium quin rex penes quem oportet residere capitale dominium (ut ostendit Hugo II° De Sacramentis, parte secunda, cap. VII°) habet precipuum interesse. Unde in desidiam regum monet Deus nunc gentem exteram ad predandum, nunc eventum aeris vel bestie ad vastandum (ut patet Joelis I°, 5). Ululate, inquit propheta, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine, quoniam periit ab ore vestro vel (ut habent septuaginta) ablatum est ab ore vestro. Super quo Jeronimus: Sepe quippe fit Dei providencia ut qui non cognoverant eum in prosperis cognoscent in adversis, et qui diviciis male abusi sunt ad vicia, ad virtutes penuria corrigantur. Et talem abusum temporalium reor esse causam bellorum et perturbacionis tocius ecclesie militantis; quibus enim servus Christi abutitur irregulariter in hiis punitur; quod si animus cleri inordinate afficitur istis bonis, nemo in ecclesia magis nocet, eo quod sub colore religionis palliat perseverancius et forcius abusum temporalium et plus inficit residuum ecclesie (ut ostendit Crisostomus, Omelia XXXIª Operis Imperfecti). Unde Augustinus tractatu 429quarto super Psalmo XXX: Maxime illi persecuntur ecclesiam qui christiani nolunt bene vivere; per hos enim obprobrium habet ecclesia et ab hiis inimicicias sustinet; quando corripiuntur, quando male vivere non permittuntur, quando cum eis vel verbo agitur, ipsi mala in suis cordibus meditantur et erumpendi occasionem exquirunt. Tales declarat beatus Gregorius, I° Pastoralium, esse sacerdotes malos. Et hec est racio quare Christus et sancti doctores invexerunt tam acute contra huiusmodi sacerdotes. Nam, ut ait Gregorius, Omelia XVII, nullum puto fratres carissimi maius preiudicium tolerat Deus quam a sacerdotibus. Ideo ad vindicandum illam Dei iniuriam debent christiani magis animose, aspere et unite consurgere, quia secundum Crisostomum, Omelia XVIIIª Operis Imperfecti, non est verus discipulus qui non imitatur magistrum nec est imago qui non est similis auctori. Et quoad discipulos Scariothis consideremus, si sunt aliqui professores vite exproprietarie, quin vel impugnant vel sophisticant vel tacent indebite evangelicam veritatem. Omnes enim illi sunt cum Scarioth proditores veritatis evangelice que est Christus, ut declarat Crisostomus, Omelia XLIXⁿᵃ Operis Imperfecti et parcialiter ponitur in decretis XIª, q. IIIª: Nolite, inquit, timere eos qui occidunt corpus, ne forte propter timorem mortis non libere dicatis quod audistis nec fiducialiter predicetis omnibus quod in aure soli audistis. Sic ergo ex hiis verbis ostenditur quod non 430solum ille est proditor veritatis qui transgrediens veritatem palam pro veritate loquitur mendacium, sed eciam ille qui non libere pronunciat veritatem quam libere pronunciare oportet aut qui non libere veritatem defendit quam libere defendere convenit, proditor est veritatis. Nam sicut sacerdos debitor est, ut veritatem quam audivit a Deo predicet, sic laicus debitor est, ut veritatem quam audivit a sacerdotibus probatam quidem in scripturis fiducialiter defendat. Quod si non fecerit, prodidit veritatem. Ex istis dictis cum explanatis alibi et statu ecclesie patet quod nimis multi sunt vicarii Scariothis, non solum qui pro ecclesia vel fama impugnant, sophisticant vel tacent evangelicam veritatem, nec solum qui portantes loculos furtive ut Scarioth ineque parciuntur patrimonium Crucifixi cum fratribus bona pauperum dominative in uxoribus, in filiis, in pompa seculi consumendo, sed tercio qui propter desidiam aut timorem mortis pro loco et tempore congruis obmutescunt. Nec valet ficcio qua dicimus inimicos evangelii exasperatos esse ex veritatis preconio magis segnes, quia iuxta hunc fucum caput martirum et sui milites nunquam sic pro publicacione veritatis usque ad mortem meritorie decertarent. Sed audi Augustinum super Johannis Omelia XXVII exponentem illud Johannis VI°, 7: Ex hoc multi discipulorum eius abierunt retro, dicentem: Hoc factum ad nostram consolacionem quoniam aliquando contingit ut dicat quis verum et quod dicit non capiatur, sed quod scandalizentur qui audiunt et discedant. Penitet enim hominem quandoque dixisse quod verum est; dicit enim aput seipsum:

Nor do I believe there is a better medicine against abuse of this kind than that the good abused be removed by him whose concern it is;7 nor is there doubt that the king, with whom the chief lordshipdominium: lordship must reside (as Hugh shows, On the Sacraments, book 2, part 2, chapter 7), has the chief interest.8 Whence, against the sloth of kings, God prompts now a foreign nation to plunder, now a happening of the air or of beasts to lay waste (as is clear in Joel 1:5). "Mourn," says the prophet, "all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth," or (as the Seventy have it) "it is taken away from your mouth." On which Jerome: "For it often comes about by the providence of God that those who had not known him in prosperity know him in adversity, and that those who abused riches to vices are corrected to virtues by want."9 And I reckon such abuse of temporal goods to be the cause of wars and of the disturbance of the whole church militantecclesia militans / triumphans / dormiens: the church militant / triumphant / sleeping; for in the things which a servant of Christ abuses irregularly, in these he is punished; and if the mind of the clergy is inordinately affected toward these goods, no one in the church does more harm, because under colour of religion it cloaks the abuse of temporal goods more persistently and more strongly, and infects the rest of the church more (as Chrysostom shows, homily 31 of the Opus imperfectum).10 Whence Augustine, in the 429fourth treatise on Psalm 30: "Those persecute the church most who, being Christians, will not live well; for through them the church has reproach, and from them it suffers enmities; when they are rebuked, when they are not permitted to live wickedly, when even a word is had with them, they meditate evils in their hearts and seek an occasion to break out."11 Such, blessed Gregory declares in the first [book] of the Pastoral Rule, are wicked priestssacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter. And this is the reason why Christ and the holy doctors inveighed so sharply against priests of this kind. For, as Gregory says, homily 17, "I think, dearest brethren, that God bears no greater injury than from priests." Therefore, to avenge that injury to God, Christians ought to rise up more spiritedly, harshly and unitedly, because according to Chrysostom, homily 18 of the Opus imperfectum, "he is not a true disciple who does not imitate the master, nor is that an image which is not like its author."12 And as for the disciples of Iscariot, let us consider whether there are any professors of a life without propertyexproprietarii / exproprietarie: the propertyless / without property who do not either attack, counterfeitsophisticare (transitive): to counterfeit or keep unduly silent about gospel truth. For all these, with Iscariot, are betrayers of the gospel truth which is Christ, as Chrysostom declares, homily 49 of the Opus imperfectum, and it is set down in part in the decrees, [Causa] 11, question 3: "Fear ye not them that kill the body," he says, "lest perhaps through fear of death you do not freely say what you have heard, nor confidently preach to all what you heard in the ear alone. So therefore it is shown from these words that not 430only is he a betrayer of the truth who, transgressing the truth, openly speaks a lie for truth, but also he who does not freely pronounce the truth which he ought freely to pronounce, or who does not freely defend the truth which it befits him freely to defend, is a betrayer of the truth. For as the priest is a debtor to preach the truth which he has heard from God, so the layman is a debtor confidently to defend the truth which he has heard from priests, proved indeed in the scriptures. And if he has not done so, he has betrayed the truth."13 From these sayings, with things explained elsewhere and the state of the church, it is clear that far too many are vicars of Iscariot: not only those who, for the church or for reputation, attack, counterfeit or keep silent about gospel truth; nor only those who, carrying the purse stealthily like Iscariot, unjustly share out the patrimony of the Crucified with their brethren, consuming the goods of the poor in lordly fashion on wives, on sons, on the pomp of the world; but thirdly those who from sloth or fear of death fall silent at a fitting place and time.14 Nor does the fictionficcio: fiction avail by which we, the more sluggish, say that the enemies of the gospel are exasperated by the proclamation of the truth; for by this disguise the head of martyrs and his soldiersmilicia; milites: knighthood; knights would never so have contended meritoriously, even to death, for the publishing of the truth.15 But hear Augustine on John, homily 27, expounding that text of John 6:67, "After this, many of his disciples went back," saying: "This was done for our consolation, since it sometimes happens that someone says what is true and what he says is not taken, but those who hear are scandalized and depart. For a man sometimes repents of having said what is true; for he says within himself:16

Notes

  1. 1 A pseudocardinalibus et discipulis Scarioth ad hoc promoventibus: the reproach of heresy comes from those who push it forward; propter defensionem veritatis evangelice is taken with tolerare: the faithful bear it for defending gospel truth. Propter persecucionem: as printed, "for persecution", that is, when persecuted. R. A in the margin at 426.31: Contra avariciam cleri; at 427.5: Condicionalis.
  2. 2 A populo sunt divisi: the name Pharisee as "separated". The four horses are the secular priests, the possessioner religious, the doctors of human tradition, and those who profess gospel poverty (the friars). Quadriga: a team of four, a four-horse chariot.
  3. 3 Persone prime partis proprietarie: a person of the first of the four parties, the secular priests who hold property; proprietarie might also go with persone. Verbi gracia, printed at the end of its sentence, is taken as opening the example. Utrumque istorum: giving up the endowment and invading France; the first is easier to do justly. T. At 427.14 B reads urerent.
  4. 4 Quam exercitum Anglie invadendo Franciam: the verb is understood from ponere, "than [to put] the army ... to invading France". The last clauses are ironic: charity that despoils, love that kills. R. B in the margin at 427.30: Nota bene ambas columpnas.
  5. 5 Ex isto colore: "on this colour", a plausible ground (glossary: color). Consulimus ... abnuimus: Wyclif speaks for the English church: we counsel the second, the war, and reject the first, though it is possible.
  6. 6 Hosea 9:14, of which Wyclif quotes the last words (Vulgate da eis vulvam sine liberis et ubera arentia; DR "Give them a womb without children, and dry breasts"). Jerome, Commentarii in Osee 2, on 9:14 (Loserth: Comment. in Oseam lib. II, cap. IX). T. At 428.4–5 the manuscripts read per benediccionem and quod ab eo data; Loserth corrects to pro benediccione and quam from Jerome’s text, and his correction is translated. R. B in the margin at 427.28: Inferius nota textum Jeronymi satis pugnantem pro ablacione temporalium; A at 428.2: De ablacione temporalium.
  7. 7 Bonum abusum: "the good abused", subject of amoveri; cuius interest: whose concern it is.
  8. 8 Hugh of St Victor, De sacramentis 2.2.7, Quomodo Ecclesia terrena possideat, on the earthly power’s hold over church possessions (PL 176), paraphrased; cf. 2.2.4, Terrena potestas caput habet regem. Loserth gives no reference. G. Capitale dominium: "chief lordship", the king as chief lord (glossary: capitalis dominus).
  9. 9 Monet ... ad predandum: "prompts ... to plunder". S. Joel 1:5, from ululate (Vulgate Expergiscimini ebrii et flete et ululate omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine; DR "mourn"). "The Seventy": the Septuagint’s reading as Jerome reports it. Jerome, Commentarii in Ioelem on 1:5: ut qui non cognoverunt Deum in prosperis cognoscant in adversis (PL 25); Wyclif adds ad vicia and changes the tenses.
  10. 10 Quibus ... abutitur ... in hiis punitur echoes Wisdom 11:17 (DR "by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented"). Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum, hom. 31, then current as Chrysostom’s (Loserth: Op. Imp. p. CXXX). R. A in the margin at 428.25: contra avariciam cleri bona correccio.
  11. 11 Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 30, II, sermo 3 (Loserth: the manuscripts read Psalmo XX; "rightly tractatu tertio, Ps. XXX, pars II, sermo III"; Opp. IV, i, p. 162). The print’s quarto is translated; Loserth’s note says the third. T. At 429.2 AA₁ read per hoc. R. B in the margin at 429.1: Nota que faciunt clerici, quando corripiuntur.
  12. 12 Gregory, Regula pastoralis 1.2 (Loserth: cap. II); Homiliae in Evangelia 1.17.14 (Loserth: Opp. I, p. 1503). Op. imperf. hom. 18: Loserth notes that the passage is not in hom. 18 but rather 28 (Op. Imp. p. CXIX). C. Preiudicium: injury done to God. R. A in the margin at 429.13: Qui non pronunciat veritatem est proditor eius et similiter qui ipsam non defendit.
  13. 13 Consideremus si sunt aliqui ... quin: whether there are any who do not; the friars are meant. The quotation is taken to run to prodidit veritatem (430.10). S. Matthew 10:28 and 10:27. Op. imperf., hom. 49 as Wyclif cites it; Friedberg’s inscription to the canon below gives hom. 25; Decretum C. 11 q. 3 c. 86 (Loserth: Dec. sec. pars, causa XI, q. III, cap. LXXXVI; the modern form is ours), whose rubric is Veritatem prodit non solum qui pro veritate mendacium loquitur, sed etiam qui veritatem non libere predicat; Wyclif’s text matches it with small variants. T. At 429.22 B reads qui est and omits Christus; at 430.8, probatam quid.
  14. 14 Pro ecclesia vel fama: for a church (a benefice) or for reputation. Fratribus: their brethren, perhaps their kin. Dominative: "in lordly fashion". S. John 12:6. T. At 430.17 B reads pompa simili.
  15. 15 At 430.20 A reads dicius, corrected in the margin to dicimus; Loserth notes that a word seems to have fallen out here. C. Magis segnes is taken with the subject of dicimus, "we, the more sluggish", which construes without supplying a word. Fucum: "disguise" (glossary: fucus). Caput martirum: Christ. G. Milites: "soldiers", the Pauline figure (glossary: milicia; milites).
  16. 16 John 6:67. Augustine, Tractatus in Iohannem 27 (Loserth: Opp. III, ii, p. 505); the quotation runs on into 431.1–3. T. At 430.25 the manuscripts read exponens; Loserth’s exponentem is translated. R. A in the margin at 430.25: Nota Augustinum bene.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 427: Franciam
    • 428: II°
    • 428: a (print has a nobis.)
    • 428: huiusmodi
    • 428: XXXIª
    • 429: quarto (folio mark 188ª glued)
    • 429: persecuntur (print spelling) [NW]
    • 429: Christus
    • 429: iniuriam
    • 429: impugnant
    • 429: XLIXⁿᵃ
    • 429: XIª
    • 430: Quod
    • 430: veritatis
    • 430: scandalizentur
    • 429: XVIIIª (no comma; followed by Operis) [-MARK]