Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

þat perschen, in þe whiche god of þis worlde haþ blyndid þe mynde of unfeiþful men." And þus whoso biþenkiþ hym what maner malyce was practisid aȝens criste by bischopis and scribis and religious in tyme of his bodily presence here, þe same malice in kynde [page 13b] he schal fynde, ȝhe uphepid, in oure byschopis and religious. And as þe peple of israel wern werste gouernyd undir her prestis, whan þe gouernance was commen holy in-to her hondis, and undir þat gouernance come in her mooste confusion & losten þe holy londe for euer; so ben now cristen rewmys foule confoundid by worldly gouernaunce and lordeschip þat prestis han take up-on hem. And alwey as þai getyn more & more of þis, so to more confusion drawen cristen rewmys. And for crist wolde not þat prestis schulde haue syche worldly gouernance, he saiþ to alle men: "Reddite que sunt cesaris cesari, & que sunt dei deo"—"ȝeldiþ to cesar þo þingis þat ben of cesar, [Luke xx. [25.]] and to god þo [page 14] þingis þat ben of god"; confermynge to þe seculer party of the chirche þe material swerde wiþ his purtenance in þe persone of cesar, in whom þat tyme was chefly þis swerde, wiþ alle þe temporaltes þat longen þerto. And certis I drede not but þat þe seculer party of þe chirche, & namely þe lordis, han als myche or more coloure of þe firste party of þis texte to chalenge oonly to hem þe tem|poral swerde, wiþ his purtenances þat longeþ þerto, as seculer lordeschipis wiþ seculer iugement & seculer offyce, as oure prestis han euydence of þe secunde party of þis tixte to chalenge þe tiþis of þe peple, as þingis oonly longynge to hem. And if þai wer indifferent, as þai demen þat it is wronge and [page 14b] dampnable a seculer man to take up-on hym a prestis office, in prechynge or minystrynge of sacramentis, and in disposynge of tiþis, þat weren lymyted to þe state of þe clergy, so þai schulden deme it fulle dampnable a prest to ocupie þe temporal swerde, wiþ þe purtenance þat longiþ þer-to specified to-fore. And in full witnes þat þis lordeschip is dampnable in þe state of presthode, crist, in whom is full ensaumple and lore of perfeccyon of presthode, fled alle þes
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 370
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 June 17, 2025.
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