Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 664] synne of [874] aduoutrie / in latyn it is for to seie / approching of other menis wivis / thorugh whiche tho that whilom were first oo flesshe / abunden here bodies to other persones / [875] Off this synne / as seith the wise man / folowen many harmes / ffirst brekyng of feith / & certis in the feith is the keye of cristendom / [876] & whan that feith is broke & lorne / certis cristendom stondith in vayne & withouten fruyte / [877] this sinne is eke a theffte / for theffte generally is / to reve a wighte his thinge ayeines his wille / [878] Certes this is the fouleste thefft that may be / whan a woman stelith hir body from hir housbond / & yivith hit to hir holour to defoule hir / & stelith hir soule from criste / & yivith hit to the deuel / [879] this is a fouler thefft than forto breke a chirche & stele the chaleys / ffor these aduoutres breken the temple of god spiritually / & stelen the vessel of grace / that is the body & the soule / ffor whiche criste shal distroien hem as seith seint Poule / [880] sothely [¶ Poule.] of this thefft dovted gretely Ioseph / whan that his lordis wiff praide him of vilonye / whan he seide lo my ladi how my lorde hath taken to me vnder my warde al that he hath in this worlde / ne nothing of his thinges is out of my power / but onely ye that ben his wiff / [881] and how sholde I than do this wikkednes / & synne so orrible ayeines god / & ayeines my lorde / god hit forbede / Allas al to litel is suche trouth now I-founde / [882] The thridde harme is the filthe thorugh whiche thei breken the commaundement of god / & defoulen the auctor of here matrymoigne that is criste / [883] ffor certis in-so-meche that the sacrament of mariage is so noble / & so digne / so meche hit is the gretter synne to breke hit / ffor god made mariage in Paradise in the state of Innocence / to multiplie [MS Arch. Seld. B. 14 folio 300b] mankynde to the seruice of god / [884] & therfore is the brekyng therof the more greuous / of whiche breking cometh fals heires ofte tyme / that wrongefully occupien other menis heritage / & therfore wol criste put
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Title
The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 676
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1868-[1869]

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"The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 20, 2025.
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