Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 9, part 4

The saints’ example settles nothing; the vineyard turned into a garden of herbs

Loserth pp. 194.26–198.24

¶1194.26–195.22

194Sed da quod ista fuissent compossibilia cum dotacione ecclesie et da minorem principalis argumenti, adhuc non sequitur conclusio, cum stat cum toto isto quod ecclesia perdat perfeccionem aliunde maiorem quam fuit perfeccio ex acquisicione temporalium perquisita; quod ego credo nedum fuisse verum sed necessarium, supposita declinacione a religione quam Christus instituit. Et videtur mihi stultum fore omnino excusare beatum Silvestrum et Cesarem a peccato 195sic quod unus fuisset omnino inmunis ab affeccione inordinata ad temporalia, et ut sic aliquantulum venialiter nocens sibi, et occasione male accepta plene superbiendi, plus nocens suo generi succedenti. Potuit enim renuisse, sicut beatus Evangelista et ceteri apostoli qui possent in tanta quiete assumpsisse sibi et successoribus suis tantam copiam temporalium quam prudencius reliquerunt. Nec repugnat isti quod sancti canonizantur in ecclesia et beatificantur in celo, cum possunt hic penitere et in purgatorio emendari. Quis, inquam, sanctus a sancto sanctorum exclusive usque ad novissimum sanctum non peccavit eciam mortaliter? Ideo (ut sepe dixi) cecitas magna foret nobis superstitibus allegare tales argucias: Iste sanctus sic fecit, ergo nobis licet sic faciendo quodcunque opus consimile approbando defendere et augere. Hoc enim privilegium specialiter reservatum est Christo qui non potuit peccare, ut nitamur sequi ipsum in omnibus quantum sufficimus et nullum alium nisi de quanto ipsum sequitur; sed propter formidinem mentiendi neutram partem assero, vel quod sancti meruerunt in dicta dotacione vel quod demeruerunt.

But grant that these had been compossible with the endowmentdotacio: endowment of the churchecclesia: church, and grant the minor of the principal argument: still the conclusionconclusio: conclusion does not follow, since it stands with all this that the church should lose, from elsewhere, a perfection greater than was the perfection gained from the acquisition of temporal goodstemporalia: temporal goods; which I believe to have been not only true but necessary, supposing the declining from the religion which Christ instituted.1 And it seems to me that it would be altogether foolish to excuse blessed Silvester and Caesar from sin 195in such a way that the one had been altogether immune from inordinate affection toward temporal goods; and as such [he was] somewhat, venially, harming himself, and, through the occasion, ill taken, of growing fully proud, harming more his line succeeding him.2 For he could have refused, as did the blessed Evangelist and the other apostles, who could, in so great quiet, have taken for themselves and their successors so great an abundance of temporal goods, which they more prudently left. Nor is it repugnant to this that saints are canonizedcanonizare: canonize in the church and beatified in heaven, since they can repent here and be amended in purgatory. Who, I say, among the saints, from the Holy of holies (exclusive) down to the last saint, has not sinned, even mortally?3 Therefore (as I have often said) it would be great blindness for us survivors to allegeallegare / allegacio: allege / allegation such quibblesargucie; argucia: stratagems, quibbles; a quibble: "This saint did thus; therefore it is lawful for us, by doing thus, to defend and increase any like work by approving it." For this privilegeprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging is specially reserved to Christ, who could not sin: that we strive to follow him in all things as far as we are able, and no other except in so far as he follows him. But for misgivingformido (sine / cum formidine): misgiving of lying I assert neither part, either that the saints merited in the said endowment or that they demerited.4

¶2195.23–198.24

195Sed scio quod prior status fuit perfeccior, et scio quod donacio si fuit privilegium fuit facta a Christo, et scio quod nos debemus uti hiis temporalibus sicut illi usi sunt, quia aliter excidimus a privilegio per abusum. Si ergo volumus sequi sanctos confessores, arguamus per locum a sufficienti similitudine sequendo eos in affeccione et usu temporalium concessorum, et conformiter videtur probabile in republica de Cesare et ceteris mundi principibus quod laborarunt peccato superbie, volentes in republica solempnitate sacerdotes 196suos excellere et nomen suum in mundo extollere. Et sic potuerunt melius fecisse defendendo religionem quam Christus instituit. Christus enim ne sponsa sua adulteretur cum mundo, prohibuit sibi communicacionem cum mundo et iniunxit contemptum sue glorie, et hec fides scripture docuit sanctos pro amore sponsi zelotis vincere istum mundum; Iª Joh. II°, 15 precipit Johannes dileccione speciali privilegiatus a Christo: Nolite diligere mundum neque que in mundo sunt; et magister noster Christus dicit Iª Joh. III°, 13: Nolite mirari si odit vos mundus et Joh. XVI°, 33: Confidite, quia ego vici mundum, et: Sufficit discipulo ut sit sicut magister eius. Hec cum quotlibet eis similibus fecerunt sanctos mundum cum condicionibus suis contempnere et sponso qui hec fecit et docuit moribus adherere, cum ex testimonio suo Matthei VI°, 24: Non possumus Deo servire et mammone. Si ergo servamus usum et ritum ecclesie per accidens introductum in dicendo divinum servicium et conversando secundum tradiciones hominum, ne parva declinacio tracta in consequenciam inducat maiorem defectum, quanto magis debemus striccius servare usum et mandatum dominicum de incommunicanter odiendo mundum? Revera declinacio ad oppositum posset paulative inducere clerum nostrum, ut vivat secularius quam laici colentes seculum, et sic olim vinea domini transiret in ortum olerum; et probando si blaspheme excusaciones nostre sint vere de non diligendo seculum, sed ad roborandum amorem Dei, capiendo licitum eius usum, utamur regula tacta in fine proximi capituli, videndo si dicta nostra operibus compensamus. 197Constat quidem ex testimonio scripture Ysaie V°, 1, 2, quomodo ecclesia Dei est vinea, dum stillat a botris plenis vino sapiencie doctrinam fidei scripture ad nutriendam vitam fidelium, ut patet ex processu Cantici canticorum, quod si ab isto officio declinat ad seculum, tunc soror nostra parvula, non habens ubera, versa est in ortum olerum. Olera enim (ut tangit Augustinus super Psalmum XXXVIᵘᵐ) virescunt in hyeme, in estate autem propter defectum radicum marcescunt; et cum secundum naturales caules sunt herbe nimis melancolice, generantes humorem terrestrem, propter quod a bestiis melancolicis ut bobus, leporibus et similibus adeo sunt amate, signanter signant mundo deditos qui virescunt in yeme peregrinacionis, refrigescente caritate multorum, sed in estate diei novissime propter defectum radicacionis in Christo ex ardore solis iusticie evanescunt; sed tunc fideles in caritate fundati quorum vita abscondita est cum Christo, cum pastor eorum apparuerit, evirescunt. Canticorum II°, 11, scribitur: Jam enim yemps transiit, ymber abiit et recessit, flores apparuerunt in terra nostra, tempus putacionis advenit, vox turturis audita est in terra nostra, ficus protulit grossos suos, vinee florentes dederunt odorem suum. Quamvis autem illud epitalamium verificatum est ad literam pro tempore incarnacionis sponsi ecclesie, tamen pertinenter et vere dici potest pro estate diei iudicii. Primo enim tempore processit tempus vernum ecclesie, quando apparuit gracia et caritas solis iusticie, fugato frigore brumali ab ecclesia, instructa a sponso ponere animam 198pro amicis; tunc enim yemps transiit et ymber tribulacionis abiit, mollificans fideles, ut patet de Petro et ceteris fugientibus a sponso, qui postea usque ad mortem permanserant, quia Canticorum VIII° scribitur: Aque multe non potuerunt extinguere caritatem. Sermones Christi erant flores, fructus virtutum prenostici, et quando misit discipulos ad metendum fructus et evellendum actus superfluos (ut notat Christus Johannis IV°), tunc advenit tempus putacionis. Nonne fuit Baptista turtur qui Johannis III°, 29, dicitur gaudere propter vocem sponsi; ipse enim fuit vox clamantis in deserto, simul cantans penitenciam et gaudium sicut turtur; tunc enim cetus apostolorum protulit rudimenta fidei sicut ficus, et discipuli christiani florentes virtutibus ut palmites vitis vere dederunt adoramenta sancte matri ecclesie, IIª Corinthiorum II° 15, scribitur: Christi bonus odor sumus Deo. Sed sole occidente ab affeccionibus generata melancolia propter esum olerum yemps rediit, faciens refrigescere caritatem multorum; et iterum oportet ut fiat nova appropinquacio ad perpendiculare, quodque fiat directe post diem iudicii solsticium sempiternum (ut patet Apocalypsis ultimo), tunc enim invariabiliter coincident radius incidens et reflexus.

But I know that the former state was more perfect; and I know that the donation, if it was a privilege, was made by Christ; and I know that we ought to use these temporal goods as they used them, because otherwise we fall from the privilege through abuse.5 If, then, we wish to follow the holy confessors, let us argue by the topic from sufficient likeness, following them in affection for and use of the temporal goods granted; and correspondingly it seems probable, in the commonwealth, of Caesar and the other princes of the world, that they laboured under the sin of pride, wishing that their priests should excel in the commonwealth in pomp, 196and to extol their own name in the world.6 And so they could have done better by defending the religion which Christ instituted. For Christ, lest his bridesponsa / sponsus: bride / bridegroom commit adultery with the world, forbade her communion with the world and enjoined contempt of its glory; and this faith of scripture taught the saints, as zealots for love of the bridegroom, to conquer this world.7 In 1 John 2:15 John, privileged by Christ with a special love, commands: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world"; and our master Christ says, 1 John 3:13: "Wonder not if the world hate you"; and John 16:33: "Have confidence, for I have overcome the world"; and: "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master."8 These, with any number like them, made the saints despise the world with its conditions and cleave in their manners to the bridegroom who did and taught these things, since, on his own testimony, Matthew 6:24: "We cannot serve God and mammon."9 If, then, we keep the usage and rite of the church introduced by accident, in saying the divine service and in living according to the traditions of men, lest a small declining, drawn into precedent, bring in a greater defect, how much more strictly ought we to keep the usage and commandment of the Lord about hating the world without communion with it?10 Truly, the declining to the opposite could little by little lead our clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric to live more secularly than laymen who cultivate the world; and so the vineyard of the Lord would one day pass into a garden of herbs. And in proving whether our blasphemous excuses are true, that we do not love the world but, taking its lawful use, [use it] to strengthen the love of God, let us use the rule touched at the end of the last chapter, seeing whether we make our words good with works.11 197It is evident indeed from the testimony of scripture, Isaiah 5:1–2, how the church of God is a vineyard while, from clusters full of the wine of wisdom, it drips the doctrinedoctrina: doctrine of the faith of scripture to nourish the life of the faithful, as is clear from the course of the Song of Songs; [and] that if it declines from this office to the world, then "our little sister, not having breasts", is turned into a garden of herbs.12 For herbs (as Augustine touches on Psalm 36) grow green in winter, but in summer wither for want of roots; and since, according to the natural philosophers, cabbages are exceedingly melancholic herbs, generating an earthy humour, for which reason they are so loved by melancholic beasts such as oxen, hares and the like, they markedly signify those given to the world, who grow green in the winter of pilgrimage, as the charitycaritas: charity of many grows cold, but in the summer of the last day vanish for want of rootedness in Christ, from the heat of the sun of justice; but then the faithful, founded in charity, whose life is hid with Christ, when their shepherd shall appear, grow green again.13 In Song of Songs 2:11–13 it is written: "For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: the fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell." And although that marriage song was verified to the letter for the time of the incarnation of the bridegroom of the church, yet it can pertinently and truly be said of the summer of the day of judgment. For in the first time came the springtime of the church, when the grace and charity of the sun of justice appeared, the wintry cold having been driven from the church, which was taught by the bridegroom to lay down its life 198for its friends;14 for then winter was past and the rain of tribulation, which softened the faithful, was gone, as is clear of Peter and the others fleeing from the bridegroom, who afterwards stood firm unto death; because in Song of Songs 8:7 it is written: "Many waters cannot quench charity." The sermons of Christ were the flowers, foretelling the fruit of the virtues; and when he sent the disciples to reap the fruits and to pluck out superfluous acts (as Christ notes, John 4), then the time of pruning came. Was not the Baptist the turtle, who in John 3:29 is said to rejoice because of the bridegroom’s voice? For he was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness", singing at once penance and joy, like the turtle. For then the company of the apostles put forth the rudiments of the faith like the fig, and the Christian disciples, flowering with virtues like the branches of the true vine, gave sweet savours to holy mother church; in 2 Corinthians 2:15 it is written: "We are the good odour of Christ unto God."15 But as the sun set from the affections, melancholy being generated through the eating of herbs, winter returned, making the charity of many grow cold; and there must again be a new approach to the perpendicular, and [it must be] that directly after the day of judgment there be an everlasting solstice (as is clear in the last [chapter] of Revelation); for then the incident and the reflected ray will coincide without variation.16

Notes

  1. 1 Wyclif answers the fifth argument (193.31–194.12, 09-c). Ista: the four goods of the early church just listed (194.14–25), granted for argument’s sake to be compossible with endowment; "the minor of the principal argument": that some good came to the church from the endowment (194.1). Aliunde: on another side, by a loss elsewhere. Perquisita: obtained. Supposita declinacione: given that the clergy declined from Christ’s religion. A margin Conclusio (194.33). Side-note 194.26.
  2. 2 Sic quod unus fuisset … immunis: what it would be foolish to hold; we take unus as Silvester, who received the gift. The et ut sic … nocens clauses we read as Wyclif’s own estimate: Silvester harmed himself venially, and his successors (suo generi succedenti) more, by the occasion of pride. They could also be read as part of the excuse that is rejected; the sense is then that it is foolish to make his harm only venial. The construal is doubtful. Side-note 195.1.
  3. 3 "The blessed Evangelist": John, it seems (cf. Johannes … privilegiatus, 196.7). B reads beatificentur (195.9), the subjunctive; no change of sense. A sancto sanctorum exclusive: from Christ, the Holy of holies, who is excluded, to the last saint.
  4. 4 A margin Argucia (195.13), at the quibble "this saint did thus"; A margin Dotantes et dotaciones recipientes si et quomodo peccaverunt ("whether and how those who endowed and those who received endowments sinned", 195.21). Quantum sufficimus: as far as we are able. Neutram partem assero repeats the protestation at 193.24 (09-c). Side-note 195.16.
  5. 5 B reads quod peior status (195.23), "that the former state was worse", against the sense of the whole passage; the print is translated. A margin Sciencia trium ("knowledge of three things", 195.23), at Wyclif’s three scio. B omits uti (195.25). Si fuit privilegium fuit facta a Christo: if the gift was a privilege, its true giver was Christ.
  6. 6 A and A₁ omit de Cesare (195.30), and B adds et ceteris after it; the print is translated. The codices abbreviate solempni', which Loserth expands to solempnitate (195.32–33); his expansion is translated, "in pomp". Per locum a sufficienti similitudine: the topic from likeness (glossary: locus a simili), with the likeness required to be sufficient; Wyclif sets against it the devil’s topic ab insufficiente similitudine (204.10, 09-f). Sacerdotes suos excellere: accusative and infinitive, "that their priests should excel". Side-note 195.27.
  7. 7 Zelotis stands in the dative or ablative plural, with nothing to govern it; we take it with sanctos, "the saints, as zealots for the bridegroom’s love". The case is a doubt. Sibi (prohibuit sibi): the bride.
  8. 8 1 John 2:15; John as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Wyclif ascribes 1 John 3:13 to "our master Christ"; in the Vulgate the words are John’s in the epistle, with fratres, which Wyclif omits. Loserth’s foot (196.7, 196.11; the OCR is rough) records that A and B cite "Joh. III" (the Gospel), corrected in A₁ to "I Joh. III", and that the codices give "Joh. XVII" for John 16:33. Wyclif adds quia to John 16:33 ("for"). The last quotation is Matthew 10:25 (DR "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master"); Wyclif gives no reference.
  9. 9 At 196.13 the codices read Hec requiritur cum (A₁ requiritur); Loserth deletes requiritur as superfluous, perhaps an error of the archetype; his text is translated. B omits sanctos (196.14). Matthew 6:24: Wyclif’s Non possumus, "we cannot"; the Vulgate has Non potestis (DR "You cannot serve God and mammon"). Side-note 196.14.
  10. 10 Per accidens introductum: brought in by circumstance, not by Christ. Tracta in consequenciam: drawn into precedent, the canonists’ phrase for an act that comes to bind later acts; B omits tracta (196.21). Incommunicanter: so as to have no communion with it. Divinum servicium: the liturgy (glossary: servicium: untagged in this sense).
  11. 11 "Garden of herbs": hortus olerum, 1 Kings 21:2 (Vulgate 3 Kings), Naboth’s vineyard, which Ahab wished to turn into one; the figure governs what follows. Olim: of the future, "one day". Blaspheme: adjective with excusaciones. Sed ad roborandum … usum: the content of the excuse: that we take the lawful use of the world only to strengthen the love of God. "The rule touched at the end of the last chapter": the test at the end of ch. 8 (08-f), that grief and labour over temporal goods beyond grief over spiritual ones shows disordered love. A margin Conclusio (196.24). Side-note 196.28.
  12. 12 Isaiah 5:1–2, the vineyard of the beloved; A cites Is. IV. Song of Songs 8:8 (Loserth’s reference): Wyclif’s soror nostra parvula, non habens ubera, where the Vulgate has Soror nostra parva, et ubera non habet (DR "Our sister is little, and hath no breasts"). A margin Quomodo ecclesia dicitur vinea et quomodo convertitur in ortum olerum (197.1). Side-note 197.2.
  13. 13 Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 36, sermo 1 (PL 36:357–58, sicut olera prati cito cadent; Loserth: Opp. IV, 1). The cabbage as a melancholic herb is not Augustine’s; the natural philosophers meant are not identified. "The charity of many grows cold": Matthew 24:12; "whose life is hid with Christ": Colossians 3:3, where 3:4 has "When Christ shall appear"; Wyclif says "their shepherd". A and A₁ read apparuit (197.19); A malencolice (197.11). A margins Augustinus, Olus (197.7); B, in a second hand, Olerum proprietates. A₁’s margin reads: Olus est herba melancolica que signat mundo deditos, et ideo Theotunici pre aliis gentibus comedunt olus, quia plus sunt mundo et avaricie dediti: "cabbage is a melancholic herb that signifies those given to the world, and so the Germans eat cabbage more than other nations, because they are more given to the world and to avarice." It shows an early reader taking Wyclif’s figure literally and turning it on a nation.
  14. 14 Song of Songs 2:11–13 in the Douay–Rheims; Wyclif agrees with the Vulgate. Epitalamium: the Song as a marriage song. "To lay down its life for its friends": John 15:13. Instructa agrees with ecclesia: the church was taught to lay down its life. Side-note 197.27.
  15. 15 Song of Songs 8:7. Permanserant, pluperfect: who afterwards stood firm. "As Christ notes, John 4": the sowing and reaping of John 4:35–38; the "plucking out of superfluous acts" is Wyclif’s gloss. John 3:29; "the voice of one crying in the wilderness": John 1:23. Adoramenta we take as odoramenta, "sweet savours", which the next quotation (odor) requires. A and A₁ omit Deo in 2 Corinthians 2:15 (198.17); the print agrees with the Vulgate.
  16. 16 Sole occidente ab affeccionibus: we take it that the sun of justice set from men’s affections, and that melancholy, bred by eating the herbs of the world, then brought back winter; ab affeccionibus could instead go with generata, "melancholy bred by the affections". A reads malencolica (198.18). The codices read quosque (198.21); Loserth’s quodque is translated. Appropinquacio ad perpendiculare: the sun’s approach to the vertical, its summer height; at the perpendicular the incident and reflected rays coincide. "The last chapter of Revelation": Revelation 22:5, where there is no more night. Side-note 198.17.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 195: sic (155ᵈ is the folio mark)
    • 195: assumpsisse
    • 195: Christo (side-note things follows)
    • 195: ergo
    • 195: Cesare (capital C)
    • 196: sue (156ª is the folio mark)
    • 196: Iª
    • 196: II°
    • 196: Iª
    • 196: III°
    • 196: 24 (print: Matthei VI°, 24)
    • 196: declinacio (20 is the line number)
    • 197: 1 (old-style arabic 1, short like the following 2 (Ysaie V°, 1, 2))
    • 197: vinea (italic v)
    • 197: II° (Canticorum II°, 11)
    • 197: et (margin 1 is the argument numeral)
    • 197: pro
    • 198: tribulacionis (tri-/bulacionis hyphenated; main token holds whole word; 156ᵇ O are folio mark and margin letter)
    • 198: ∅ (bulacionis is the tail of tribulacionis held whole at pos 8; no separate word) [NW]
    • 198: Christi
    • 198: clamantis (6 is the argument numeral)
    • 198: IIª
    • 198: II° ('into' is the English side-note)
    • 195: fuisset
    • 195: sacerdotes