þes goodis. But here men seien, siþ þis wrong is brood sprad in Cristendom, and Goddis oost shulde be myȝti to do þis dede aȝens þe fend, in many placis shulden men worche on þis weie to helpen her modir. But siþ þe nest and heed hereof is at Rome, where it bigan, it semeþ to many men þat at Rome shulde þis riȝtting bigynne; and so shulde þis heed be stoppid to feyne censuris aȝens God, and fere foolis bi cursingis for þei fulfillen Goddis lawe; and wiþ þis boþe lordis and comuns mai lette freris to harmen þe Chirche. And þus were Goddis word soþ whanne he spekiþ to þe fend, and seiþ, a woman shal disquatte [disquate, E.] his heed. And Marie helpe [helpe Marie, E.] þe Chirche þat it be so. For ȝif richesse and worldli lordship weren taken aweie from prelatis and preestis, moche of þe fendis pride were abatid in þes clerkes; and Goddis name were not dispisid ech dai as it is now, but his lawe shulde be betere holde, and Anticristis jugementis shulde ceesse.
But ȝit men douten wheþer þei shulden fiȝten in þis cause aȝens her enemyes;—speciali, siþ Crist movede two princis of Rome for to fiȝte, Titus and Vaspasian, þat distroieden Jerusalem. Here men þenken, þat Cristene men shulden not fiȝte but if Crist bad hem; for Crist seide þat his yoke is softe and his charge liȝt to bere. And so neiþer bodili swerd neþer oþer armes, ne fiȝtinge shulde be here usid of Cristene men; ne oþer lawe but Goddis lawe, and lordis drede, and manassing to clerkis þat wolden aȝenstonde. And to bindinge and prisoninge of hem shulde alle maner of men helpe; but bi Goddis grace þis shulde not falle, siþ clerkis shulde helpe here in Goddis cause, and feyn [fayn, E.] to be dischargid of erþeli goodis, þat þei beren now. And þanne þei shulden go liȝt to hevene, and drawe þe world after hem; þer þei doppen now to helle, and drawen many men wiþ hem. Freris shulden help in þis cause, siþ þei ben groundid in poverte, and þei have but temporal goodis [As opposed to lands or lordships.] , þe which ben knytt to her hertis. And shortly alle maner of men, ȝhe, prestis boþe more and lesse, shulden helpe here in Goddis cause, for love þat þei shulden love her modir.
