Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.

so þat he þat haþ beden þee seie to þee for þi mekenesse, Frend stye more up; þanne shalt þou have worship and joie bifore hem þat sitten at þe feste. For ech man þat heieþ him by presumpcioun shal be mekid bi God, and he þat mekiþ him in his soule shal be heyed bi God. Þere we shal undirstonde þat Crist spekiþ not here of worldely feste, ne of place, for þanne his sentence were nouȝt; for þan strif shulde be for place, and oonli oon shulde do Cristis bidding, and so Crist shulde ordeyne discencioun wiþouten fruyt among men; and herfore shulde we undirstonde þat þis feste is þe laste soper, þat shal be in heven of seintis aftir þe day of dome; and þe last place at þis feeste shulde be mannis reputacioun, bi whiche he shulde not presume to be in heven bifore oþirs, but reste mekeli in þis þat he shal come to hevene. Eche man shal hope for to come to blisse; and if he lyve febly and make þis hope fals, himsilf is cause whi his hope is suche. Ffor þis fals hope, þat sum men do clepen dispeir, shulde have anoþir qualite, and it shulde not be sich, whan we witen þat we shulden hope for to come to hevene, after we maken comparisoun bytwene us and oþers; and many men for pryde hopen to passe oþers, and suche presumpcioun of hope is sittynge here in hey place. We shulden reste in þis hope þat we shal come to hevene, and leve sich veyne comparisouns, lest we setten us here to hey, and þis is þe last place þat þe gospel spekiþ of. And þus siche false presumpcioun of heynes of state, and aftir þis presumpcioun, of heyenesse in hevene, makiþ a man to come at þe laste to þe loweste place in þe world, þat is to seie, to depe helle, þat is þe myddil of þe world. And so spekiþ þe gospel on two weies of þe last place. The laste place here stondiþ in meke reputacioun, but þe last place at þe day of dome stondiþ in dampnacioun. And so knyttiþ Crist wel þe helynge of þis ydropesie, for as ydropesie is an yvel of fals gretenesse of mennys lymes, and comeþ of unkyndli watir bitwene þe fleish and þe skyn; so pride of worldly goodis, þat ben unstable as þe watir, makiþ a man in ydropesie, and falsely presume of himsilf; as many men in greet astaate and in ryches of þis worlde þenken þat þei shulden þus in heven be bifore oþir men. For, as þei supposen now, þei lyven to God aftir þer staat, and so þei profiten more in þis world þan
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Title
Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 42
Publication
Oxford,: Clarendon Press,
1869-71.

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"Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/afb3713.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 21, 2025.
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