our hartis, and schal deme ilk man after þe wordis of his mowþ. And þerfor men schuld be warer þat þei lere not, nor sey not þat þey wet a þing to be þat is not; for þan schal God condempne hem of þer own mowþ, wen þe þing mai not be prouid, wan nor were þat it was don, as Daniel did þe prestis; for þis wil be at þe day [Dan. xiijo.] wen al þing schal be demid after trowþ. And her be howuen þei be war þat are chargid to sey þe soþe to þer witing. And wen oþer seyn aȝen þer witing, þei holde hem stille, and þolun þe toþer to ȝeue þe dome, and þus þei are for sworne, and cause of þe mannis harme þat þei schuld leit os þei are sworne to do. And error excusiþ not, os is schewid oft, nor vnkunning; sin Balaam [Num.xxijo.] seid to aungel, I haue synnid, not witing þat þu stod aȝen me; and in þe law was bidun þat if ani synnid bi error or vnkunning, [Lev. vijo.] and did ani þing þat þe law forbed, þat he schuld mak an ofring, and þe prest schuld pray for him, and it schuld be for ȝeuen him, for he fautid be error and be vnkunning.
XVIII. A prest assoil|ing a feynar sinnith.
An oþer poynt is þis; a prest assoiling a feyner synniþ deadly. Soþly me semiþ þat he synniþ, for if he soile him neligently, þow God asoyle him not, me semiþ he synniþ greuously, weþer a presum, as autor, to assoile him, and bring him out of sin of peyn, or to mak him fre þerof; wheþer he denounce him so as a minster, or he hiȝt him þat God doþ so; weþer he do it of luf, or hat, or drede, or oþer vniust or vnordinat cause; weþer he do it vnwysly, reclesly, or bi error, or be vniust ordre or maner, and wen þe cause perteniþ not to him, for he schuld send him to his soueren. And þus wyle he reformiþ not þis man to lefe þis syne, nor to mak a mendis þerfor, as he schuld, and ellis telle him þat he mai not asoyle him, he synniþ, and namli, wan þe man trestiþ of þis absolu|coun, wening him siker, and contuniþ forþ, and mendiþ not, os he schuld, if þe prest refusid him as he auȝt, for þan he wold schame, and dred, and mend. And in þis defaut is be gilid, and þe prest beriþ fals witnes, and seiþ him to wit and do þing þat he noiþer
