ON OCTAVE OF MYDSOMER.

[SERMON CVIII.]

ÞIS gospel telliþ þe middil of a storie of Seint Joon Baptist. Þe vigile of Baptist telliþ how Gabriel bihiȝte him, and þis Page  368 storie telliþ how Zacarie mistrowide. And so Luk telliþ, how Zacharie seide to þe aungel, Wherof shal Y wite þis, þat Y shal gete a child; for I am an oold man, and my wif is passid in eelde? Here þis Zacharie trowide not to þe aungel; but Marie trowide to þis aungel þat he seide her soþ, but she wolde be certefied more of þe manere. And þus sum men reden as two wordis þis axing, On what manere shal þis be, for I knowe not man. But þis Zacarie mistrowide, and maad þerto his evy|dence; and so boþe þes weren troublid, but Zacarie more, for þe troubling of hym refte him bileve. But Gabriel telde him, wherfore he shulde trowe. For I am Gabriel, þat stonde bifore God, and I am sent of him to telle þee þes good tiþingis; and siþ it is þus, I mote nedis seie soþ, for I mai not see but treuþe in þe book of liif, and an aungel þat is confermed mai not lye to a man. And lo, þou shalt be domb, and þou shalt not mowe*. ['mowe' is the lost infinitive of the verb 'may;' it is the English form corresponding to the German 'mögen.' It occurs in this place in both Wycliffite versions.]speke unto þe dai þat þes þingis be done; and þis penance shalt þou have, for þou trowedist not to my wordis, which shal be fild in þes tyme. And here mai we se, bi logik of þis aungel, how al þing mote nede be; for noþing mai ever be but þat þat*. [So E; om. A.] God haþ ordeyned to be in his tyme; for ellis hadde Gabriel seid fals, þat he myȝte not speke til þanne.

And þe peple abood Zacarie, and wondride þat he tariede in þe temple. And whanne he cam out, he myȝte not speke to þe peple; and þei wisten þat he hadde seen sum visioun in þe temple. And he was bekenynge to hem, and dwelte dombe for þe tyme. And whanne þe daies of his office weren fulfillid, he wente hoom to his hous, and þanne was Joon geten. And after þes daies conseyved Elizabeth his wiif; and she hid hir for shame fyve moneþis aftir. And she seide to hirsilf; For þus haþ oure Lord do to me, in þe daies þat he caste to take awey my reprofe among men. And þus cam Elizbeth hoom, whanne she feelide þat Joon was quike; and so he myȝte witnesse þe comyng of Crist in þe wombe of Marie, whanne she cam to Elizabeth. For Joon made þanne joie in manere of dansing in presence of Page  369 Crist, as þe gospel seiþ. And so trowe not to hem þat seien, þat it is six moneþis bifore þat þe soule*. [That is, the rational or human soul.] be couplid wiþ þe bodi, and bifore it haþ plantid soule*. [plauntis of soule, E.], and siþ soule of beeste*. [The writer appears to repudiate, with Aquinas, the doctrine which held that before the rational soul,—anima intellectiva,—in virtue of which man is man, was joined to the em|bryo, it had been animated suc|cessively by a vegetative and a sen|sitive soul, so as to be conformed to plants during the first, to animals during the second period of gesta|tion. In the treatise De Spirituali Creatione among the Quaest. Dispu|tatae, Aquinas writes (art. 4) 'Quidam vero dixerunt quod a principio inest anima vegetabilis, et illa eadem cum fuerit magis perfecta fit anima sen|sitiva, et tandem fit anima intellec|tiva.' But the Christian philosopher, holding out for the oneness and in|corruptibility of the human soul, will not admit this; he looks upon the embryonic changes as indicating successive stages of the one soul, but no more. 'Sic cum in embrione primo sit anima vegetativa tantum, cum perventum fuerit ad majorem perfectionem tollitur forma imper|fecta, et succedit forma perfectior, quae est anima vegetativa et sensi|tiva simul, et ultimo cedente, suc|cedit ultima forma completissima, quae est anima rationalis.' To these three elementary stages St. Augus|tine, in the De Quantitate Animae, adds four more, that of moral effort, in which the soul is seeking virtue, that of moral perfection and rest, that of spiritual effort or tendency towards God, and that of the soul's union with and rest in God.]; but as we bileven þe wordis of þe gospel, þat Baptist was glad in comyng of Crist, so we supposen þat he was on lyve a litil bifore þat Jesus was conseyved, but we musen not how muche, siþ it is Goddis privyte.

Of þis gospel mai we take, how it is grete synne to mys|trowe to holi writt, siþ God punishide Zacarie for he trowide not to his aungel; and more ben wordis of God þan wordis of þis aungel. And þus defaute in bileve is bifore alle oþer synnes, and siþ God seiþ al treuþe, no treuþe shulde be denyed; but summe may men doute, and sum trowen wiþ drede, for God seiþ þis treuþe, or ellis God seiþ it not. O how myche ben þei to blame þat seien þat Goddis lawe is fals, for mys|undirstonding of a fool or an heeretik! Certis, bi þe same skile þei myȝten seie þat God is fals, siþ God signifieþ to hem fals undirstonding, in peyne of þer former synne, bi which þei ben blindid, and þus God were þe falseste þing þat evere was in þis world. For þei seien þat falshede is no defaute in a þing, whi seien þei not þat God is fals for perfeccioun of God, siþ God meveþ fals men, for þer former falshede, to undirstonde Page  370 falsly? and þanne þei seien þat God is fals. And þus God shulde meve men falseli, whanne evere þey synnen*. [So E; he synneþ, A.], and þus he were a fals God in punishing of sinful men. For, siþ fals|hede in God is good, ȝeve we him ynowȝ þerof; for God mai not have a name, but ȝif he passe al oþer þing. Blessid be treuþe, þat made us passe alle sich fals fantasies, and wite þat alle creaturis ben trewe in þat þat þei ben of God.