Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.

drounkenesse & ydelnesse & sleep. & as þei feynen þei ben exempt from prechynge, þat crist comaundeþ to prestis, bi profession maad to synful foolis & in cas to sathanas þat techeþ hem þe contrarie of goddis comaundementis; & ȝif ony such religious be stirid bi charite & conscience to goo to cristene peple & preche hem goddis lawe he schal be lettid bi anticristis obedience vp peyne of dedly synne & prisonynge & sumtyme of bodely deþ. & þus þes possessioneris, & namely religious, leuen goddis comaundement & [page 108] werkis of mercy & charite vndon for obedience of synful men, And distroien presthod & trewe techynge & holi lif of þe peple in eche degree. ¶ Also þei distroien knyȝthod bi wiles of þe fend, for þei [omitted X.] han grete lordischipis amorteised to hem; bi whiche lord|schipis knyȝtis schulden be susteyned to gouerne þe peple & þei moten now faile boþe in noumbre & power; & þis amorteisynge comeþ in bi ypocrisie of preiynge be mouþ þat is preised of hem more þan prechynge of þe gospel; but certis þis is [omitted X.] merueile, for none of alle þes þat preien þus whot where his preiynge schal turne in-to his owene damp|nacion, and þan is it litel worþ to oþere synful men; & almyȝtti god seiþ þat þe sacrafices of wickid men ben abhomi|nable [Prov. xv. 8.] and that he schal curse to here blissynges; & þe preire of þat man þat turneþ awey his erris to here not goddis lawe [Prov. xxviii. 9.] is abhominable or cursed; & [omitted AA.] þanne siþ god comaundiþ so often in his lawe boþe olde & newe þat clerkis ne schulden haue non seculer lordischipis & þei hauen so many, & so faste meyntenen hem, here preynge is cursed & abhominable. And ȝif seynt austyn, seynt gregory & seynt bernard & oþere seyntis & reson wiþ manere of lyuynge of þes proude posses|sioneris ben wel souȝt in matere of preiynge, þere wole seue a sentence of grete wepynge & mornynge, schewynge how men ben disceyued bi ypocritis preire boþe in feiþ hope & charite & worldely goodis & pees & reste. for ȝif a lord or a laborer loue betere god þan þes veyn religious & proude & lecherous possessioneris, þe lewid manys preiere is betere
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 117
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Early English text society, by Trübner & co.,
1880.

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"The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aeh6713.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 17, 2025.
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