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

Capitulum 25^m. [24 X.]

Þe fyue & twentiþe errour; þei chesen newe lawis maad of synful men & worldly & coueytise prestis & clerkis to reule þe peple bi hem as most nedful & best lawis, & forsaken þe perfiteste lawe of þe gospel & pistlis of crist & his apostlis, as not perfit ne fully ynouȝ ne trewe; for now heþene mennus lawis and worldly clerkis statutis ben red in vnyuersitees, & curatis lernen hem faste wiþ grete desir, studie & cost, but þe [omitted X.] lawe of god is litel studied, litel costid þer aboute, & lesse kept & tauȝt; but þe olde testament for wynnyng of tyþes & offryngis is sumwhat practised; & þe gospel þat techeþ [techid X.] cristis mekenesse & wilful pouert & bisi traueileȝ in prechynge to saue cristene soulis, for it constreyneþ prestis to þis holy lif, is litel loued & studied & tauȝt but raþere dispised & hyndrid & maade fals bi [AA inserts þe uiciouse.] speche of anticristis clerkis. & in þis þei

seyn þat crist is vnwytty, out of charite & treuþe, siþ he ȝaf not a sufficient lawe & þe beste for reuelynge of his peple, & þat worldly fonned clerkis of sathanas & anticrist ben wittiere, trewere & in more charite þan ihū crist, siþ here lawes ben betre & more nedful for cristene men þan þo [þe X.] lawis þat crist himsilf [omitted X.] made. But on this blasphemye heresie schullen alle cristene men crien out & take fully þe gospel to here reule ³& helþe,³ [3_3 omitted X.] & not sette bi þes newe lawis ⁴maad of synful wrecchis⁴ [4_4 omitted X.] but in also moche as þei ben groundid in holy writt expresly or good reson & trewe conscience & charite; for as god bi seynt poul techiþ, who euere techeþ oþere lawes he is cursed [Gal. i. 8.] of god; ȝe, þouȝ he were an angil of heuene; for god may not make oþere lawis aȝenst his gospel & charite, whi schulde anticrist & his clerkis?