The second and third difficulties; honour due to prelates is judged by their works

Loserth pp. 126.14–130.17

¶1126.14–128.9

126Secunda difficultas logica est, utrum debet concedi, posito quod essemus ante incarnacionem, quod verbum est homo Christus Jesus. Et videtur quod sic, nam secundum rectam philosophiam et logicam creatura nedum habet existenciam in suo singulari sed tam esse ydeale in verbo quam esse potenciale in causis secundis. Cum ergo ante incarnacionem fuit illa sancta massa materialis in patribus, quam postmodum assumpsit de virgine, et spiritus habuit esse in humana specie, videtur quod totus Christus habuit humanitus esse potenciale, et sic esse. Confirmatur secundo ex hoc quod sacerdos conficiens in sancto triduo vere conficeret corpus Christi, sicut dicunt doctores concorditer, in tantum quod hoc foret tunc verum hoc est corpus Christi (ut recitavi in tractatu De Incarnacione); quare ergo non foret verum ante incarnacionem quod verbum est Christus, cum tunc habet corpus quod post unit sibi, sicut est de corpore suo pro triduo? 127Tercio confirmatur ex hoc quod ecclesia foret aliter acephala, cum tunc non haberet caput intrinsecum sicut post, et cum non potest habere taliter nisi unum caput, videtur quod Christus ante incarnacionem fuit caput sponse sue intrinsecum, quia aliter vel haberet duo capita vel idem foret caput extrinsecum et caput intrinsecum. Et ad illud sonant quotlibet scripture (ut allegavi alias de beato Jeronymo in quadam epistola ad Paulum et Eustochium). Hic dicitur quod patribus veteris testamenti fuit hec vera: verbum est homo Christus Jesus. Ipsi enim secundum sanctos habuerunt eandem fidem quam nos habemus. Ideo sicut nos credimus creacionem mundi, carnis resurreccionem et vitam eternam, hoc est quod Deus tempore suo creat mundum, quod mortui resurgent, et quod beati vivunt eternaliter post diem iudicii, ita utraque ecclesia credit incarnacionem, scilicet quod Christus pro suo tempore incarnatur. Et sic proposicio nostra: Christus est homo, foret in signo utrobique vera, non quia tunc est quod Christus est homo, sed quia verum est quod Christus est homo pro suo tempore. Nec video quod Christus est homo pro illo tempore, cum tunc componeretur ex corpore et anima quam assumeret pro illo tempore, et potissime foret primus Adam secundum materiam et non secundum raciones seminales, qualiter apostolus dicit Levi fuisse in lumbis Abrahe, et qualiter Anselmus dicit: Omnes nos fuisse Adam, sed limitatum est ad existenciam individuam humanitatis Christi. Et ad primam instanciam dicitur quod non sequitur: Hoc eternaliter fuit et hoc est iste homo, ergo iste homo eternaliter fuit, deducendo pure creaturam. 128Conceditur tamen de Christo quod ipse eternaliter fuit Deus; nec sequitur: Si iste homo habet esse potenciale in causis secundis, ergo iste homo est pro eadem mensura, quia tunc omne individuum quod posset esse foret, et sic esse in potencia est distrahens. Vel concesso quod Christus habet esse creatum pro mensura data, quod est, esse cause secunde, tamen tunc non habet esse Christi, quia tunc haberet existenciam humanitus singularem.

The second difficulty is a logical one: whether, supposing that we were before the incarnation, it ought to be granted that the Word is the man Christ Jesus.¹ And it seems that it ought: for according to right philosophy and logic a creature not only has existence in its singular, but both ideal being in the Word and potential being in secondary causes. Since, therefore, before the incarnation that holy material mass which he afterwards assumed from the virgin was in the fathers, and the spirit had being in the human species, it seems that the whole Christ had potential being as man, and so being.² It is confirmed, secondly, from this: that a priest consecrating in the holy three days would truly consecrate the body of Christ, as the doctors say with one accord, so much so that this would then be true, "This is the body of Christ" (as I have recounted in the treatise On the Incarnation); why, then, would it not be true before the incarnation that the Word is Christ, since he then has the body which he afterwards unites to himself, as is the case with his body for the three days?³ 127Thirdly, it is confirmed from this: that otherwise the church would be headless, since it would not then have an intrinsic head as afterwards; and since it cannot have more than one head in this way, it seems that Christ before the incarnation was the intrinsic head of his bride; for otherwise either it would have two heads, or the same [one] would be extrinsic head and intrinsic head. And any number of scriptures sound to that effect (as I have alleged elsewhere from blessed Jerome, in a certain letter to Paula and Eustochium).⁴ Here the answer is that for the fathers of the old testament this was true: "The Word is the man Christ Jesus." For they, according to the saints, had the same faith that we have. Therefore, just as we believe the creation of the world, the resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting, that is, that God in his time creates the world, that the dead will rise, and that the blessed live eternally after the day of judgment, so each church believes the incarnation, namely that Christ for his time is incarnate.⁵ And so our proposition, "Christ is man", would be true in the sign on both sides, not because it is then [the case] that Christ is man, but because it is true that Christ is man for his time.⁶ Nor do I see that Christ is man for that time, since then he would be composed of a body and a soul which he would assume for that time; and above all he would be the first Adam according to matter and not according to seminal reasons, in the way in which the apostle says "Levi was in the loins of Abraham", and in which Anselm says "that we all were Adam"; but it is limited to the individual existence of Christ’s humanity.⁷ And to the first objection the answer is that it does not follow, "This was eternally, and this is this man, therefore this man was eternally", when "this" points to a mere creature. 128Yet it is granted of Christ that he was eternally God; nor does it follow, "If this man has potential being in secondary causes, therefore this man is for the same measure", for then every individual that could be would be; and so "being in potency" is a diminishing qualifier. Or, granted that Christ has created being for the given measure, that is, the being of the secondary cause, yet he does not then have the being of Christ, for then he would have singular existence as man.⁸

¶2128.10–128.17

128Et sic respondetur ad secundam instanciam con- cedendo assumptum, cum Christus fuit in triduo tam corpus quam anima, sed cum Christus non assumit corpus ypostatice nisi mediante anima, patet, cum nondum creata est anima Christi pro tempore veteris testamenti, non pro illo tempore est Christus, nec sufficit ad esse individuum esse specificum, quia tunc omnes effectus absolute necessario evenirent.

And so the reply is to the second objection by granting the assumption, since Christ was in the three days both body and soul; but since Christ does not assume a body hypostatically except by means of the soul, it is clear, since the soul of Christ was not yet created for the time of the old testament, that Christ is not for that time; nor does specific being suffice for individual being, for then all effects would come about with absolute necessity.⁹

¶3128.18–128.28

128Ad tercium negatur assumptum, cum ecclesia semper fuit capitata per verbum quod mansit perpetue eadem persona et sic idem caput post et ante. Conceditur tamen quod post illas nupcias celebratas in utero virginis, quando Christus fuit murus et antemurale sponse sue, fuit caput racionis duplicis et duplicis nature et sic simul caput intrinsecum et caput extrinsecum eiusdem ecclesie. Et sic ad auctoritates potest dici (ut alias) quod Christus est pro tempore veteris testamenti nedum secundum deitatem sed secundum causas secundas, et sic possunt ipsi dici christiani.

To the third, the assumption is denied, since the church was always headed by the Word, which remained perpetually the same person, and so the same head after and before. Yet it is granted that after those nuptials celebrated in the virgin’s womb, when Christ was the wall and the bulwark of his bride, he was head of a twofold aspect and of a twofold nature, and so at once intrinsic head and extrinsic head of the same church. And so to the authorities it can be said (as elsewhere) that Christ is, for the time of the old testament, not only according to the Godhead but according to secondary causes; and so they can be called Christians.¹⁰

¶4128.29–129.11

128Tercia difficultas naturalis est, quomodo manet idem corpus inanimatum aliis partibus corruptis continue generatis. Sed ad illud dictum est alias quod est dare corpus successivum tam continue quam interpolate, et ita est de domo materiali, sive ecclesia, sic quod existente secundum totam aliquam fuit illa que permansit 129in principio, adhuc manet; et est eadem domus successiva que fuit a principio usque in finem; sicut posito quod ignis incipiat partibiliter generari et cum hoc corrumpi, tunc ignis successivus mensurat secundum partes utrumque motum, et sic corrumpitur inanimatum ad corrupcionem tocius et manet continue, dum corrumpitur. Et si queratur, quando consecrande forent ecclesie, dicitur quod ille est ritus humanitus introductus, ideo non est vis de tali consecracione assistente sanctitate persone incolentis. Istam autem materiam relinquo aliis.

The third difficulty is a natural one: how the same inanimate body remains when some parts are corrupted and [others] continually generated.¹¹ But to that it has been said elsewhere that there is such a thing as a successive body, both continuous and interrupted; and so it is with a material house, or church, so that, while some [part] exists as a whole, that which has remained 129from the beginning still remains; and it is the same successive house that was from the beginning to the end;¹² as, supposing that a fire begins to be generated part by part and at the same time to be corrupted, then the successive fire measures each motion according to its parts; and so the inanimate thing is corrupted to the corruption of the whole, and remains continuously while it is being corrupted. And if it is asked when churches would have to be consecrated, the answer is that that is a rite introduced by men; therefore there is no weight in such consecration, so long as the holiness of the person who dwells there is present. But this matter I leave to others.¹³

¶5129.12–129.17

129Sed quinto arguitur, probando sequi ex dictis omnem honorem et obedienciam inpendendam prelato confundi et omnem exaccionem corporalis debiti, cum deficeret probacio predestinacionis vel sanctitatis, et illud secundum racionem foret fundamentum talia vendicandi.

But fifthly it is argued, by proving that it follows from what has been said that all honour and obedience to be paid to a prelate are thrown into confusion, and every exaction of a bodily debt, since proof of predestination or holiness would be lacking; and that, according to reason, would be the foundation for claiming such things.¹⁴

¶6129.18–130.17

129Hic negatur assumptum, quia (ut patet alibi) operibus debet credi, nec licet prelato aspirare ad lucrum vel honores illis dimissis, quia ut sic redderet se indignum illis lucris atque honoribus. Unde oraremus omnes, ut ecclesia sicut in suis primitivis attendat pure fructuoso operi sine ambicione temporalis commodi vel honoris. Modo vero ad tantum invalescebat oppositum quod de clero nostro potest dici illud Ysaie III°, 12: Populum meum exactores sui spoliaverunt et mulieres dominate sunt eius. Et sequitur: Popule meus qui beatum te dicunt, ipsi te decipiunt. Nam qui olim erant rectores anime, iam perversi sunt in exactores pecunie; qui olim zelabant pro honore divino contempto honore mundano, modo econtra lege Dei et per consequens honore eius postposito, preponderantes tradiciones 130humanas nimis dediti sunt mundo, qui olim dediti sunt ministerio apostolico, contempto temporali lucro, modo econtra totaliter inhiant temporali comodo, insolencia mundana et ocio introducto. Et tum extorta sunt nomina: Nam qui olim nominarunt se a Deo vocatos apostolos, hodie contendunt se permissione divina ab homine nude electos; qui olim nominarunt se servos domini Jesu Christi, hodie retorquent, ut nominentur domini reverendissimi et patres beatissimi, et (quod est summus gradus ypocrisis) vocant se servos servorum Dei, licet sint in opere, et per consequens, in nomine reali servi precipui patris mendacii et mendacissima membra diaboli. Et sic necesse est iuxta propheciam scripture ut pervertantur mendacio et ypocrisi singuli non electi. Tales autem, ut docet Augustinus in libro De Vita Christiana, non sunt veraciter christiani.

Here the assumption is denied, for (as is clear elsewhere) works ought to be believed; nor is it lawful for a prelate to aspire to gain or honours with those [works] set aside, for as such he would render himself unworthy of those gains and honours.¹⁵ Hence we should all pray that the church, as in its first [days], may attend purely to fruitful work without ambition of temporal advantage or honour. But now the opposite has grown so strong that of our clergy can be said that of Isaiah 3:12: "As for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them." And it follows: "O my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive thee."¹⁶ For those who were once rulers of the soul are now perverted into exactors of money; those who were once zealous for God’s honour, worldly honour despised, now on the contrary, God’s law and consequently his honour being put after, and weighting the scale with 130human traditions, are too much given over to the world; those who were once given to the apostolic ministry, temporal gain despised, now on the contrary gape wholly after temporal advantage, worldly insolence and idleness being brought in.¹⁷ And then the names were wrested: for those who once named themselves apostles called by God today contend that they are elected barely by man, by divine permission; those who once named themselves servants of the Lord Jesus Christ today twist it round, so that they are named most reverend lords and most blessed fathers; and (what is the highest degree of hypocrisy) they call themselves servants of the servants of God, although in work, and consequently in real name, they are chief servants of the father of lies and most lying members of the devil.¹⁸ And so it is necessary, according to the prophecy of scripture, that every one of the non-elect be perverted by lying and hypocrisy. And such men, as Augustine teaches in the book On the Christian Life, are not truly Christians.¹⁹

Notes

1 A margin Secunda difficultas. Utrum verbum est homo Christus Jesus ante incarnacionem; B margin (later hand) Ante incarnacionem verbum est homo Christus Jesus (126.14). The second of the three difficulties announced at 123.24 (06-b). Posito quod essemus: a supposition in the manner of the schools, testing the proposition’s truth at that time.
2 Esse ydeale … esse potenciale: ideal being in the divine Word, potential being in secondary causes (his ancestors). Massa materialis in patribus: the matter of Christ’s body, in his forefathers. We take spiritus habuit esse in humana specie of the human soul, having being in the species; doubtful. Humanitus: as man.
3 The page foot gives "B: missa" (126.21) without the word it replaces; B margin (later hand) In triduo (126.32). Sanctum triduum: the three days of Christ’s death; conficere: to consecrate the sacrament. The doctors’ common teaching is in, e.g., Aquinas, ST III q.81 a.4 ad 2–3 (consecrated during the passion, the body alone under the bread, without the soul); Wyclif’s place in De incarnacione is not traced.
4 Intrinsecum … extrinsecum: a head within the body (as man) and a head flowing in from without (as God), as at 123.26 (06-b); taliter: as intrinsic head. Print Paulum (127.9, plate); Jerome’s addressees are Paula and Eustochium, and we give "Paula" (our emendation; the print has Paulum). The letter is the pseudo-Jerome Cogitis me to Paula and Eustochium (Ep. 9, on the Assumption): Christ jam esset in illo per unitatem personae ab initio saeculi … quod multis Scripturarum declaratur indiciis (PL 30:132C). Wyclif had cited it for the same point in De benedicta incarnacione (7, 53, 109).
5 A margin Responsio (127.10). A A₁ lack Deus, B resurgunt (127.15). The presents (creat, vivunt, incarnatur) are Wyclif’s: each article is true "for its time", past or to come. Utraque ecclesia: the church of the old and of the new testament.
6 In signo: in the proposition taken as a sign, spoken or written; utrobique: in both churches (or "at both times"). The proposition is true not because the thing then is, but because it is true of its time.
7 Nec video quod: we take it, "I do not see [how it could be granted] that Christ is man for that time". Primus Adam secundum materiam et non secundum raciones seminales: Christ was in Adam by his body’s matter, not by seminal reasons; the qualiter clauses illustrate the seminal way, in which Levi "was yet in the loins of his father" (Heb. 7:10, DR; Loserth, 127.24, cites Heb. 7:5) and all men were Adam. The distinction recalls Augustine on Christ’s not paying tithes in Abraham (De Gen. ad litt. X.19.34, PL 34:423: non est decimatus Christus, quia non erat in lumbis Abrahae … secundum carnem ibi fuisse). Anselm, De conceptu virginali c. 11 (Loserth 127.27): the words are not in c. 11 (PL 158:445A–446C); the nearest is Omnis autem homo aut Adam est, aut de Adam (446C). Sed limitatum est: we take the subject as "man" said of Christ, restricted to his humanity’s individual existence; doubtful.
8 Primam instanciam: the argument from ideal and potential being (126.15–23). Deducendo pure creaturam: pointing to a mere creature (cf. deducendo, 119.16, 06-a). Of a mere creature the inference fails; of Christ, who is not a mere creature, it is granted that he was eternally God (128.1). B Concedit (128.1); B esse in persona (128.5, its place unclear). Mensura: the measure of time. Distrahens: a qualifier that takes away from what it qualifies (as "dead" in "a dead man"), so that "being in potency" does not yield "being" (the glossary). Esse cause secunde: the being Christ has in his causes, which is not his own.
9 Concedendo assumptum: that a priest consecrating in the three days would consecrate Christ’s body; for then his body and soul, though parted, were each Christ’s. Non pro illo tempore est Christus: Christ does not exist for that time. The page foot (128.16) reads "In cod. A₁ spec"ra; A B: speculum" (OCR rough): the manuscripts appear corrupt where the print has specificum; we translate the print.
10 Isa. 26:1, "a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein" (DR). Caput racionis duplicis: head under two aspects, as God and as man. Ad auctoritates: the scriptures and Jerome of 127.8–9. Ipsi: the fathers of the old testament.
11 A margin Tercia difficultas (128.29). Aliis partibus corruptis continue generatis: printed with one aliis; we read "some parts corrupted, [others] continually generated". The difficulty is the house of 123.17–22 (06-b).
12 Est dare: there is such a thing as; interpolate: with interruption. Existente secundum totam aliquam fuit illa que permansit does not construe as printed (no noun for existente … aliquam, and fuit stands unconnected); we give the likeliest sense, that the house remains while some part persists through the replacements. The 146b folio mark at 129.1 is not Wyclif’s.
13 A ad corrumpcionem; A margin Nota (129.6). Mensurat … utrumque motum: the fire, itself successive, measures both its generation and its corruption. Quando consecrande forent ecclesie: when a church renewed part by part would need consecrating again. Non est vis de: it is of no weight. Persone incolentis: the person who dwells in the church, whether minister or faithful; doubtful.
14 A margin Quinta obieccio (129.12). Confundi: since no one could know to whom honour and dues are owed. Corporalis debiti: dues in temporal goods. Illud: the proof of predestination or holiness.
15 A margin Responsio (129.18), Nota processum (129.20). Operibus debet credi: John 10:38, "believe the works" (DR). Illis dimissis: the works set aside; ut sic: as such, without the works.
16 B lacks attendat (129.22). In suis primitivis: in its first days, the primitive church (or "its first members"). Isa. 3:12 agrees with the Vulgate except eius for eis; DR’s "oppressors" renders exactores, the word Wyclif takes up below ("exactors of money"). A margin Is. Illa (129.25).
17 A A₁ lack sunt (129.29); A margin Avaricia cleri (129.31). At 130.1 the codd. read sumus, which Loserth corrected (presumably dediti sunt mundo); we translate his text. Preponderantes tradiciones humanas: making human traditions outweigh God’s law. Dediti sunt with olim (130.1–2): "were given", as the series requires.
18 B extorquent ut vocentur (130.8) for retorquent, ut nominentur; A margin papa (130.9) at servos servorum Dei, the papal style. Permissione divina: the style of a bishop’s title; against Gal. 1:1, "not of men, neither by man" (DR). Patris mendacii: John 8:44, the devil "is a liar, and the father thereof" (DR). We take in opere and in nomine reali both with servi precipui.
19 Propheciam scripture: not identified; cf. 1 Tim. 4:2, "Speaking lies in hypocrisy" (DR). Non electi: electi, "the elect", not predestinati. Loserth (130.16): De vita christiana c. 6, in the appendix to Augustine’s works (Opp. VI, 186); PL 40:1036–37; it is not Augustine’s (PL: auctor incertus).

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 126: incarnacionem (print has incarnacionem) [NW]
- 126: conficeret
- 126: Christi
- 127: cum (146a folio mark)
- 127: Christus
- 127: Christus
- 127: Christus
- 127: signo
- 127: Christus
- 127: Christus
- 127: Christi
- 128: con- (con-/cedendo hyphenated; main token holds first half (b is the margin alinea letter))
- 128: Christi
- 128: eadem
- 129: III°
- 128: permansit (per- here, 146b mansit at top of p.129; main token holds whole word)
- 130: nimis
OCR scars, translated as corrected: p. 126 ht (read Et), exb (read ex, alinea b); p. 127 hoc est. (stray point), nostra! (read a colon). Doubts: p. 127 Paulum; pp. 128–129 existente … permansit; p. 128 specificum against the page foot.