þing mai not be seen, and power of God is feyned to prelatis, þerfore þis synne is more hid, and more privyly disseyveþ þe peple. And so þe fend cast a long tyme to marre men in bileve, and bi þis errour bringe aftir [om. E.] inne more synnes to blynde þe peple.
And siþ Crist is holi treuþe, and ypocrisie is fals feyning, it semeþ þat þis ypocrisie is moost synne aȝens Crist. And so as lordis weren bifore tormentours of þe fend, so þes prestis and Pharisees ben tormentours of Anticrist, and more falseli disseyven þe peple, and more turmenten Cristis ser|vantis. And herfore Crist biddiþ fle þis synne of Pharisees. Crist biddiþ attende his lawe, þat is, bisili to perceyve it; and he biddiþ attende from false prophetes; and þat telliþ two þingis, þat is, to perceyve Goddis lawe, and flee from falshede feyned þerof. For we supposen þat in Goddis law is al treuþe þat is needful, and if þis feyned þing of ypocritis were nedeful to Cristene men, he wolde telle þat, as he doiþ oþer, but now he leveþ þat ypocritis seien. And, for ypocritis ben cautellous for to take men in wordis, þerfore Crist biddiþ flee hem, and calliþ her synne sour dowȝ [douȝ, E.] ; and riȝt as sour dowȝ shendiþ þe dowȝ þat it to longe dwelliþ wiþ, so synne of þese Pharisees shendiþ men þat consenten to it. And wisdom of water þat is feyned, stablid to hem bi longe tyme, confermeþ þis synne to men, and makeþ hem bileve amys [The meaning seems to be:—as 'sour douȝ,' or leaven, is made from a mixture of pure flour with water, and, if left too long with fresh dough, spoils it,—so the doctrine of the hypocrites, being compounded, partly of Christian truth, partly of an unsound philosophy of their own invention ('wisdom of water þat is feyned'), if it has established itself firmly and for a long time in men's minds, makes them 'bileve amys.'] ; and herfore biddiþ Poul to clense out þis old synne þat þei be new springinge of flour, as þei ben clene in þe newe lawe. Crist ordeynede in his law alle hise children to be free, and flee rites [riȝtis, E.] of Pharisees þat cumbren þe folk before. Loke we þat þis be not knodyn [knoden, E.] wiþ us, but holde we us in þe whete flour, þat tauȝte us fulli Goddis lawe, and þe weie to come to hevene. Cunne we wel Goddis lawe, and loke wher Fariseis grounden hem in it; and if þei done not, flee we her sentence as heresie or fendis glewe [gleu, E.] . And, for we shulden
