The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.

[Capitulum 3^m.]

HOpe is þe secounde vertu þat god himself axiþ, & is ful diuerse fro feiþ þat we han spokun of. ffor feiþ is of þingus þat was & ben & schul be, but hope is al only of þinges þat

ben to come. as we trowen þat god made þe world of nouȝt, & we trowen þat crist is now bodily in heuen, & schal euermore be after þe ¹day of¹ [1_1 omitted CC.] dom. ¶ also feiþ is boþe of gode þing & euyl, boþe of him þat haþ feiþ & of oþer creaturis, but hope is al only of hym þat haþ hope and only of good þinge in þe blis of heuen. as we trowen þat many men schul [page 125b] be dampned in helle, & þat many oþur schul be saued in heuen; but noþur we hopen þis damp|nacion ne þis saluacion, for we hopen al only þat towchiþ oure owne blis. and so trowthe of cristen men puttiþ hem owte of dowte, & makiþ hem so surely trowe [thorowe Q.] here bileue, þat þei schulden stonde for þis treuþe, to deeþ of here bodye. ¶ but so it is not of hope if we looken wel, as neþer we witen ne we trowe now to be sauyd, & ȝhit we hopen it wiþ-outen ony dowte. and so hope is werke of soule bi-neþe oure bileue, & so by-nethe knowynge but a-bouen doutinge. and so hope of erþely þinge is not vertu of hope, but comunely it smacchiþ synne, for it lettiþ hope of heuen. and so it is all diuerse to hope and to trowe; but þis is a sutil mater to clerkis for to knowe, but comune ³sentence here-of³ [3_3 speche CC.] sufficiþ to oþure men.