Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

it to drawe mennus soulis out of errour & peril of soule; þat is disceit in bileue brouȝt in bi coueitouse clerkis & luciferis children. but anticristis prelatis & veyn religious seyn þat it is aȝenst charite to nemne hem bi name in open sermon & in here absence. trewe men seyn here þat ihū crist reproued scribis & pharisees bi name & in here absence, as þe gospel [Matt. xxiii.] [Luke xi. 44.] witnessiþ in many placis, & eiȝte tymes bi name cursed hem & cleped hem ypocritis, & telde [telle X.] to þe comune peple here [page 220] false coueitise, ypocrisie & pride. & ihū clepid herode a fox in his absence & in his presence spak no word to him, as [Luke xiii. 32.] [Luke xxiii. 8, 9.] diuerse gospellis seyn. & ȝit anticristis clerkis tellen false lesyngis in open sermons vpon certeyn personys & in here absence, so þei don openly aȝenst here owene techynge; but anticrist wolde haue þis ende, þat in absence of his cursed worldly prelatis & heretikis men schulden not reproue here cursed synnes for drede of lesyngis of charite & for bacbitynge. & anticrist makeþ hem so myȝtty þat in here presence no man dar speke aȝenst here opyn synnes but ȝif he wole be dede anoon. And so anticrist wolde þat no man schulde speke aȝenst here synne in no manere, but suffre hem [omitted X.] to robbe þe peple & brynge in heresies & distroie cristen-dom. But o principal cause is whi þei sey þus; ȝif it be charite to crie þus aȝenst synnys of worldly prelatis & veyn religious, siþ many of hem ben kunnynge & reulen lordis & prelatis & myȝtty men in confession, þei mosten warne hem þat clerkis schulden lyue in pouert & mekenesse, & not in worldly lordischipis ne in pompe & vanyte as þei now don; & warne lordis þat þei amende wickid clerkis of here opyn symonye & robbynge of here tenauntis; & warne lordis & comyns hou god curseþ to blissyngis & preieris of men of cursed lif, & þat here preiere turne in-to synne, as god hym self & gregory & þe lawe witnessen, & hou prestis & religious þat ben out of charite & lyuen aȝenst goddis comaundementis, as in glotonye, dronkenesse & enemyte & pride, stiren god bi here veyn
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 273
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Early English text society, by Trübner & co.,
1880.

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"The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aeh6713.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 28, 2025.
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