Select English works of John Wyclif. Vol. 3. Miscellaneous works / edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.

XIV. DE STIPENDIIS MINISTRORUM.

[This tract, with the Latin title as given above, is mentioned in Bale's list of Wyclif's writings. The text is based on a careful transcript from C. C. C. C. 296, which has had the benefit of a revision by Mr. W. Aldis Wright, of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Dublin MS. C. III. 12, also contains this tract, of the authenticity of which I entertain little doubt.]

HOU MEN SCHULLEN FYNDE PRESTIS.

ÞENKIþ wisly, ȝe men þat fynden prestis, þat ȝe don þis [The qualifica∣tions which laymen should look for when they undertake to find priests.] almes for Goddis love, and helpe of ȝoure soulis, and helpe of Cristene men, and not for pride of þe world, to have hem occupied in worldly office and vanyte, and þei criynge in mennus eris. For ȝif ȝe don, it is for worldly pride; for to have a grete name of grete almes-doeris ȝe lesen ȝoure mede, and money þat ȝe spenden þus, and getten wraþþe of God, as Crist seiþ opynly in þe gospel. And ȝif ȝe fynden hem for Goddis love, and helpe of ȝoure soulis, and gostly helpe of Cristene men, ȝe schullen fynde hem to lerne Goddis lawe, to know hou þei schulde serve God in holy lif, and techen oþere men þe gospel, to save here soulis þerbi. For þei neden to have bokis of holy writt, as þe bible and exponitouris on þe gospellis and pistelis, more þan Graielis [Graiel, or Grayel, is a corrup∣tion of Graduale, the name given to the collection of short passages, chiefly taken from the Psalms, which are sung at mass between the epistle and the gospel. By a licence of language each such separate passage has come to be called a Gradual. Compare Halliwell's Archaeol. Dic∣tionary, sub voce.] and oþere bokis of song; and ben more bounden to lerne holy writt, and preche þe gospel, and Goddis hestis, and werkis of mercy, þan to seie matynes and masse and evensong bi Salisbury uss. And in what place or werk þei plesen most houre God bi holy lif, and stiren men to kepe Goddis hestis, in þat place and þat werk þei profiten most to here maistris and alle Cristene men. And be

þes maistris þat fynden prestis wel i-war, þat þei suffren not hem to lyve in synne and ydelnesse and vanytee, and þat þei meyntenen hem not þerinne. For þan þei meyntenen Goddis enemys in dispisynge of God, and so bicomen Goddis traitours hemself; namely, whanne þei knowen þe opyn defaute of here prestis, and may so soone amende hem, or ellis not fynde hem forþ. Ȝif þei don not þis, þei ben gilty and consentouris and auctouris of here synnes. And loke þat þes maistris cherische and meyntene here prestis in goode lif and trewe techynge and lernynge of holy writt, aȝenst Anticristis [corrected; auncristis, X.] clerkis and here curel censuris. And þis schulde make Goddis prestis of holy lif and trewe techynge encresse, and synne be dispisid and forsaken, and vertues lovyd and hauntid, and goode Cristene peple drede God and his lawe, and love hym before alle þingis, and þes maistris to have moche þank of God and alle his halwes, and costen no more þan þei don nowe, ne so moche, but lasse and betre for boþe partis, and for Cristene and heþene.

God forbede þat [corrected; þan, X.] ony Cristene man understonde, þat þis here [The new sys∣tem of loud intoning is not the best way of serving God or benefiting our neighbour.] synsynge [incensing.] and criynge þat men usen now [Compare the description of the 'newe preiynge bi gret criynge and hey song' in Tract XVIII of this volume.] be þe beste servyce of a prest, and most profitable to mannus soule. For Jesus Crist and his apostlis useden it [not [supplied conjecturally.] ], ne chargeden prestis þerto; but þei preiden devoutly and stilleliche, in nyȝttis and hillis, and precheden þe gospel opynly and frely, and dieden þerfore. For, as Austyn [The passage in St. Augustine referred to is perhaps the Enarratio in Ps. xxxvii. § 14. That quoted from St. Gregory may be the fol∣lowing passage in lib. xxii. of the Moralia, § 43: 'Aeternam . . vitam si ore petimus, nec tamen corde desideramus, clamantes tacemus. Si vero desideramus ex corde, etiam cum ore conticescimus, tacentes clamamus.'] and Gregory witnessen, preire is betre don bi compunction and wepynge and holy desir of riȝt∣wisnesse, þan bi grete criynge and blowynge of mannus vois. Þerfore seynt Gregory ordeynede þat prestis schulden ȝeve hem to prechynge of þe gospel, as þe cronycle of Sistrenþe ['Sistrenþe' must mean Cistren∣sis, i. e. Ranulf Higden; but I have not been able to discover the pas∣sage here cited in the Polychronicon.] telleþ.