preestis shulden do shulde be, þat þei shulden caste out fendis. And þis we done on betere manere ȝif we casten out synnes fro men; for ech synne haþ a fend, þat goiþ whanne þis synne goiþ. But þe fend on two maneres is in diverse men. In sum men he is to tempte hem, al if he be not in her soule: In sum men he is incorporate, as in men þat have synne; and in þes soulis þe fend dwelliþ, as who shulde dwelle in his house. Þe fifte manere þat prestis shulden have shulde be þankful [That is, gratuitous.] traveilinge; for ȝif þei wolen have þank of God, þei shulden here fle symonie, and neiþer sille her preching ne oþer workes þat þei done. And þis forgeten many men, boþe more prestis and lesse; for popis wolen have þe firste fruytis for benefices þat þei ȝyven, and bishopis an hundrid shillingis for halewynge of oo Chirche [This, if ever really exacted, must have been an excessive charge. Ori|ginally, the bishop was to receive nothing for consecrating a church; but by degrees the custom crept in of allowing a reasonable 'procura|tion,' not for the consecration itself, but for the expenses of travelling, lodging, &c., which it entailed on the bishop. The amount of this procuration varied, says Gibson, in different dioceses. He had collected scarcely any information on the sub|ject, beyond the single fact that in the time of Archbishop Warham (circa 1530) the sum of £10 was paid for the consecration of three churches in the diocese of Bath and Wells, or at the rate of £3 6s. 8d. for each consecration. (Codex, Tit. ix, cap. I.)] ; and lordis wolen have longe service for o Chirche þat þei ȝyven, and þis is worþ ȝeer bi ȝeer moche rente or moche moneie. And howevere we speken, God woot wel how þis chaffaringe is maad, pryvyli or apertli; for God knowiþ al kyn þingis, and God biddiþ us do þes dedis and hope noȝte here for hem; for ȝif we hopen to be here re|wardid oure hope perishiþ to have blisse.
And wiþ þis synne ben freris bleckid þat shapen to preche wynnyng here; and herfore þei prechen þe peple fablis and falshede to plesen hem. And in tokene of þis chaffare, þei beggen after þat þei have prechid; as who seiþ, ȝyve me þi moneie, þat Y am worþi bi my preching. And þis chaffare is sellinge of preching, however þat it be florishid. Soþeli preestis mai medefulli, after þer sermouns, ete wiþ folk; but not calenge for her sermouns, neiþer bi dette ne bi custome. And herfore seien many preestis, þat no men þat have cure shal lyve but on Goddis part, as on dymes and on offringis; and so bi clene
