The fifth objection; the one church from Abel, of which no foreknown man is a member

Loserth pp. 80.32–84.22

¶180.32–81.10

80Sed adhuc instatur quinto per hoc quod non expresse fulcitur ista sentencia ex testimonio sanctorum doctorum vel textu iuris canonici, imo fingitur ad 81colorandum quod omnia que fuerunt vel erunt sunt Deo presencia, et sic ad tollendum principatum Romane ecclesie fingitur quod ecclesia est corpus et homo, ubicunque sunt fideles; quod Johannes papa XXII negat et philosophia de continuacione requisita ad esse corporis. Unde nisi a signo sensibili possemus discernere qui forent ecclesiastici, non possemus hic cognoscere matrem nostram; quod tamquam maximum inconveniens confunderet religionem christianam, cum nemo tenetur diligere quod non noscit.

But it is still objected, fifthly, by appeal to this: that this teaching is not expressly supported by the testimony of the holy doctors or by the text of canon law; rather, it is feigned in order 81to colour [the claim] that all things that were or will be are present to God; and so, in order to take away the principate of the Roman church, it is feigned that the church is a body and a man wherever the faithful are; which Pope John XXII denies, and [so does] philosophy, concerning the continuity required for the being of a body.¹ Hence, unless we could discern by a perceptible sign who belonged to the church, we could not know our mother here; which, as the greatest absurdity, would confound the Christian religion, since no one is bound to love what he does not know.²

¶281.11–82.10

81Hic dicitur quod ista est concors sanctorum sentencia (ut partim patuit ex dictis), nec usquam invenietur aliquem sanctum contradicere isti sentencie, si non fallor. Unde sancti doctores, fides ecclesie et iura canonica tenent illam concorditer. Nam quoad etatem ecclesie sic scribit Augustinus super Psalmo CXLII°: Ecclesia, inquit, que est mulier antiqua, civitas Dei et corpus Christi, habet inicium ab Abel, sicut mala civitas a Caym. Sed contra istud obicitur, primo per hoc quod angeli confirmati qui sunt principalis pars ecclesie totum genus hominum precesserunt. Item, Adam et Eva qui sunt membra sancte matris ecclesie fuerunt priores filio suo Abel, non ergo sumpsit ecclesia inicium suum ab Abel. Quantum ad istud, dicitur quod ecclesia nunc sumitur pro universitate hominum predestinatorum (ut in auctoritate predicta beati Augustini) et nunc pro universitate creature beate (ut patet Encheridion LVI°), et cum in equivocis non sit contradiccio, patet quod nec 82verba nec sentencia Augustini contradicit supradictis de totali ecclesia. Et ita civitas Dei tempore vel natura precessit civitatem diaboli, cum angeli stantes pro primo instanti mundi erant civitas Dei quodam modo imperfecte, mali autem angeli non erant de civitate diaboli ante peccatum quod post fuit, et prius erant extravagantes presciti ad dampnandum ac excommunicandum se ipsos instituendo sese civitatem superbie; alios autem ex humili subieccione constituit Deus sibi in civitatem gloriosam quam semper inhabitat.

To this the answer is that this is the concordant teaching of the saints (as was partly clear from what has been said), nor will any saint anywhere be found to contradict this teaching, if I am not mistaken. Hence the holy doctors, the faith of the church and the canon laws hold it in agreement. For as to the age of the church, Augustine writes thus on Psalm 142: "The church," he says, "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."³ But against this it is objected, first, by appeal to this: that the confirmed angels, who are the principal part of the church, preceded the whole human race. Again, Adam and Eve, who are members of holy mother church, were prior to their son Abel; therefore the church did not take its beginning from Abel.⁴ As to this, the answer is that "church" is now taken for the whole body of predestinate men (as in the aforesaid authority of blessed Augustine), and now for the whole body of blessed creatures (as is clear from the Enchiridion 56); and since in equivocal [terms] there is no contradiction, it is clear that neither 82the words nor the teaching of Augustine contradict what was said above of the total church.⁵ And so the city of God preceded the city of the devil in time or in nature, since the angels who stood were, at the first instant of the world, the city of God, in a certain way imperfectly; and the evil angels were not of the city of the devil before the sin, which came after, and before [it] they were strays, foreknown to damn and excommunicate themselves by establishing themselves as the city of pride; but the others, from humble subjection, God constituted for himself into a glorious city, which he always inhabits.⁶

¶382.11–83.5

82Ad secundum obiectum conceditur quod parentes Abel prius erant imperfecte de ecclesia, sed ille fuit primus hominum qui consumavit viacionem perfectam incorporatus quoad perfeccionem beatitudinis, et sic dicitur quoad dignitatem totum genus suum precedere, unde quoad etatem ac unitatem ecclesie ponitur ista sentencia in decretis XXXII q. IV, Recurrat, sub auctoritate beati Augustini notabiliter in hiis verbis: Ecclesia que peperit Abel, Enoch, Noe et Abraham, ipsa peperit Moysen et prophetas tempore posteriores ante domini adventum, et que istos, ipsa et apostolos et martires nostros et omnes bonos christianos. Omnes enim peperit qui diversis temporibus nati apparuerunt, sed societate unius populi continentur. Tamquam eiusdem civitatis cives labores peregrinacionis experti sunt, quidam autem nunc experiuntur et usque in finem ceteri experientur. Et correspondenter loquitur de ecclesia malignancium: Que, inquit, peperit Caym, Cham, Ysmahel et Esau, 83eadem ipsa peperit Datan et alios in eodem populo similes, et que istos, eadem ipsa Judam, pseudoapostolos, Simonem magum et ceteros usque ad hec tempora pseudochristianos pertinaciter obduratos, sive sint permixti sive aperta precisione dissenciant.

To the second objection it is granted that Abel’s parents were, before [him], imperfectly of the church; but he was the first of men who completed a perfect wayfaring, incorporated as to the perfection of blessedness, and so he is said to precede his whole race in dignity.⁷ Hence, as to the age and unity of the church, this teaching is set down in the Decretum, 32 q. 4, Recurrat, under the authority of blessed Augustine, notably in these words: "The church which bore Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham, she bore Moses and the prophets, later in time, before the Lord’s coming; and she who [bore] these, she [bore] also the apostles and our martyrs and all good Christians. For she bore all who appeared, born at different times, but are held together in the fellowship of one people. As citizens of the same city they have experienced the labours of pilgrimage; and some experience them now, and the rest will experience them until the end."⁸ And correspondingly he speaks of the church of the malignant: "She," he says, "who bore Cain, Ham, Ishmael and Esau, 83she the same bore Dathan and others like them in the same people; and she who [bore] these, she the same [bore] Judas, the false apostles, Simon Magus, and the other false Christians down to these times, obstinately hardened, whether they are mixed in or dissent by open cutting-off."⁹

¶483.6–84.10

83Et post exponit quomodo allegorice docetur in historia veteris testamenti quomodo boni quandoque pariunt bonos, ut Jacob duodecim patriarchas, mali autem quandoque pariunt bonos, ut ancille Rachel pariunt Jacob filios, mali autem quandoque pariunt malos, et boni malos, ut patet de Ismahel, filio Abrahe et ancille. Et postmodum declarat quod palea nullo modo potest converti in frumentum sicut nec caro in spiritum, sed presciti omnes ab illa ecclesia que triumphans est sine macula vel ruga semper divisi sunt. Et sic patet ex testimonio sanctorum Augustini, Crisostomi et decreti quomodo est unica sancta mater ecclesia a principio mundi que eternaliter et impermixte amplexata est a sponsi dextera post diem iudicii. Unde, supposita ad istum sensum unitate sancte matris ecclesie, manifestum videtur quod nullus prescitus sit membrum illius ecclesie; nam solum illa est mater ecclesia pro tempore vie que coronabitur, nec habebit hic alias partes quam habebit post diem iudicii. Sed illa mater nostra post diem iudicii, quando erit sine macula vel ruga, non habebit prescitos sed solum predestinatos partes suas; ergo et modo. Assumptum patet de una sancta matre ecclesia que inutiliter serviret hic sponso, nisi post laborem eternaliter coronetur. 84Et hec eadem unica que in via fuit sancta ecclesia catholica. Non enim potest fingi quod decreta et sancti doctores loquuntur de alia sancta ecclesia catholica quam de illa, sic quod solum manebit una sancta ecclesia catholica usque ad diem iudicii, et post quando reciperet perfeccionem ultimam extinguetur vel in plures ecclesias dividetur, quia ut Augustinus dicit III° De Doctrina Christiana cap. XXXII°: Illi qui in die iudicii statuentur a sinistris ut edi (sicut patet Matthei XXV°, 41) nunquam erant de corpore domini, sed

And afterwards he expounds how it is taught allegorically in the history of the Old Testament how the good sometimes bear good, as Jacob the twelve patriarchs; and the evil sometimes bear good, as the handmaids of Rachel bore sons to Jacob; and the evil sometimes bear evil, and the good evil, as is clear of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and the handmaid.¹⁰ And afterwards he declares that chaff can in no way be turned into wheat, as neither [can] flesh into spirit; but all the foreknown have always been divided from that church which, [as] triumphant, is without spot or wrinkle. And so it is clear from the testimony of Saints Augustine and Chrysostom and of the Decretum how there is one only holy mother church from the beginning of the world, which eternally and unmixed is embraced by the bridegroom’s right hand after the day of judgement.¹¹ Hence, the unity of holy mother church being supposed in this sense, it seems manifest that no foreknown [man] is a member of that church; for only that [church] is mother church for the time of the way which will be crowned, nor will it have other parts here than it will have after the day of judgement. Now that mother of ours, after the day of judgement, when she will be without spot or wrinkle, will have not the foreknown but only the predestinate as her parts; therefore now also.¹² The assumption is clear of the one holy mother church, which would serve the bridegroom here to no purpose unless after labour she were eternally crowned. 84And this same [is] the one only [church] which in the way was the holy catholic church. For it cannot be feigned that the decrees and the holy doctors speak of another holy catholic church than that one, so that only one holy catholic church will remain until the day of judgement, and afterwards, when it should receive its final perfection, it will be extinguished or divided into several churches; because, as Augustine says, On Christian Doctrine 3, chapter 32: "Those who on the day of judgement will be set on the left as goats (as is clear from Matthew 25:41) were never of the body of the Lord, but¹³

¶584.11–84.14

84continue membra diaboli. Tale, inquam, aggregatum non foret sancta mater ecclesia sine macula vel ruga, quia per idem foret maledicta ecclesia malignancium, sedes sathane et meretrix adulterantis diaboli.

continually members of the devil." Such an aggregate, I say, would not be holy mother church without spot or wrinkle, because by the same token it would be the accursed church of the malignant, the seat of Satan and the harlot of the adulterous devil.¹⁴

¶684.15–84.22

84Ideo notet adversarius que sit illa mater ecclesia de cuius unitate leges, sancti doctores et ecclesia sic loquuntur et videat si membrum illius sit quivis reprobus. Nam in extravagante Bonifacii VIIIᵛⁱ suadetur multipliciter ex scriptura quod tantum est una talis ecclesia (ut patet cap. II), et idem exprimitur in decretis XXIVª q. I, Loquitur, cum concordanciis legum atque doctoribus.

Therefore let the adversary note which is that mother church of whose unity the laws, the holy doctors and the church speak thus, and let him see whether any reprobate whatever is a member of it.¹⁵ For in the Extravagant of Boniface VIII it is urged in many ways from scripture that there is only one such church (as is clear, chapter 2), and the same is expressed in the Decretum, 24 q. 1, Loquitur, with the concordances of the laws and the doctors.¹⁶

Notes

1 Ad colorandum: "to give colour to", i.e. a plausible ground (the glossary, color), here the verb; A₁ would correct to tollerandum. Imo = ymmo, "rather". Continuacio: the physical continuity a body needs, which scattered believers lack. John XXII’s denial is not identified. A margin: Quinta obieccio (80.32).
2 Ecclesiastici: here "those who belong to the church", not "the clergy"; the objector’s point is that the members must be visible. Inconveniens: an absurdity in argument (the glossary, CONTEXTUAL), though the consequence named is a disorder in affairs.
3 Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 142.3, paraphrased (PL 37:1846, Haec civitas initium habet ab ipso Abel; Loserth: Opp. V, 1589). The two cities are those of De civitate Dei 15.1. A margin: Responsio (81.11); Triplex testamentum [testimonium?] (81.14); Augustinus (81.16). B concorditer etatem (81.15).
4 B qui sunt membra (81.21). A margin: Duplex obieccio (81.21). Angeli confirmati: the angels confirmed in grace after the fall of the others.
5 Encheridion LVI is Loserth’s correction (Correxi); the MSS XLI (81.29). Augustine, Enchiridion 56 (15), the church including the holy angels (Loserth: Opp. VI, 217). Universitas … predestinatorum: "the whole body", as for universitas fidelium (the glossary, ). A margin: Solucio (81.26); Ecclesie equivocacio (81.27).
6 Extravagantes: "strays", wandering outside the city; perhaps a play on the Extravagantes, the papal decretals "wandering outside" the Decretum (cf. 84.16). Ad dampnandum ac excommunicandum se ipsos is read with presciti: foreknown to damn and excommunicate themselves. B’s later hand: Ecclesia est unica eternaliter; A margin: Ecclesia quid est (82.18).
7 Prius (82.12): the print has lower-case prius (plate). Incorporatus quoad perfeccionem beatitudinis: incorporated [into the church] in respect of the perfection of blessedness, i.e. the first to die in grace. A margin: Ad secundum (82.11); Nota qualiter ecclesia sumpsit exordium ab Abel, cum tamen angeli, Adam et Eva precesserint (82.12).
8 Decretum C. 32 q. 4 c. 2, Recurrat (Loserth: Decreti sec. pars, causa XXXII, q. IV, cap. II; the modern form is ours), inscribed Augustinus super Joannem, tract. XI (PL 187:1476C). The Decretum reads Et eiusdem (82.24). A₁ margin, a reader’s dissent: Nota Augustinus in hoc capitulo nullam facit mencionem de predestinacione nec de prescitis, ergo racionem non habet ad propositum (82.19). Peregrinacio: the pilgrimage of the city of God on earth (the glossary, pars peregrinans).
9 Ecclesia malignancium: Ps. 25:5 (Vulgate), DR "the assembly of the malignant". The Decretum reads in affeccione carnali pertinaciter (83.4). Aperta precisione: by open cutting off, i.e. schism. A margin: Nota continue infra de ecclesia, de prescitis et de predestinatis; Ecclesia malignancium (82.28).
10 Augustine as Loserth quotes him (83.6): In omnibus enim christianis … aut per malos nascuntur boni aut per bonos nascuntur mali aut per bonos boni aut per malos mali. Autem only extends the list ("and"). B pariunt malos (83.9). A margin: Generacio ecclesie (83.6).
11 Amplexata est a sponsi dextera: Song 2:6, DR "his right hand shall embrace me"; the perfect is rendered "is embraced", of the church’s settled state. Chrysostom’s testimony is that cited in 04-b (Opus imperfectum, hom. 9). B’s later hand: Palea nunquam vertetur in frumentum sicut corpus in animum (83.13). AA₁ de testimonio; B unica et sancta (83.16–17).
12 Sed illa … iudicii (83.24–25) is lacking in AA₁; the print follows B. Sed brings the minor premiss ("Now"). Mater ecclesia is holy mother church, not the local matrix ecclesia (the glossary, ).
13 Augustine, De doctrina christiana 3.32.45 (cf. 04-b n. 7), cited by Wyclif; Illi … diaboli paraphrases 3.32.45 (PL 34:82) and the seventh rule (PL 34:88, ituri cum illo in supplicium ignis aeterni). The goats on the left are Matt. 25:33; Wyclif cites 25:41, the sentence on them. Edi = haedi. A margin: Augustinus (84.8).
14 Sedes sathane: Apoc. 2:13, DR "the seat of Satan"; the harlot is that of Apoc. 17. Aggregatum: the church taken as an aggregate of good and bad (cf. aggregative, the glossary, ). A margin: Nota (84.11).
15 Reprobus: "reprobate" (the glossary, ), Wyclif’s word here, not prescitus. B Igitur notet (84.15). A margin: Vis racionis (84.15).
16 Boniface VIII, Unam sanctam (Extrav. comm. 1.8.1; the modern form is ours), cited by Loserth as at 25.26. Cap. II: Loserth prints II where the MSS have X (84.20); taken as this work’s chapter 2, where the bull was discussed. Decretum C. 24 q. 1 c. 18, Loquitur, from Cyprian, De unitate ecclesiae (PL 187:1271B; Loserth; the modern form is ours).

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 81: colorandum (139c is the folio mark)
- 81: et ('gan' is side-note text (the Church began))
- 82: Ad
- 82: Et (print 'Et correspondenter')
- 84: sed (print 'sed continue' (italic sed at line start))
- 84: loquuntur
- 84: VIIIᵛⁱ (superscript vi after VIII)
Corrected in the Latin: 80.32 ex-i presse; 82.12 Prius; 84.1 ceclesia; 84.7 111°.