Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

Þe rewele is first worldliche, [page 85b] for þei ben ouercomen of þe world, & speche of men plesiþ hem not but ȝif it turne hem to worldis vynnyng, & sich a rewele mot neede ouercome þe flesh of siche freris, for þei seken lust as bestis, & coueyten likyngis of flesh. & þis rewele is þe deuelis; as þe deuel is here patroun in þis, "& þere," seiþ James, "is enuye & strif where sich a veyn religion regneþ." But þe rewele of clene religioun haueþ eyȝt condiciouns þat iames telliþ. "ffirst it is [James iii. [17.]] chast, pesible, temperat, tretable; [tretatable MS.] assentyng to goode þingis, þer-wiþ ful of mercy, ful of goode fruytis, & iugiþ wiþ-oute feynyng." Juge wise men wheþer þise eyȝte ben kept in þe ordris of freris. Bodiliche chastite is ofte broken, but oftere chastite of soule; ffreris fiȝten in mong hem silf, & helpen to fiȝte aȝen reeaumus; ffreris hauen a newe maner in alle þe dedis þat þei don heere, but þe old maner was ful good þat crist ȝaf to hise disciplis. Þe apostlis weren so tretable, þat ȝif men tauȝten hem a betere ordre or þat ouȝt of here bileeue were fals, þei wolden sone assente to treuþe; but þis þing myȝte not be, for stablenesse of here patroun. ffreris mai be pleynliche conuict boþe of here ordre & heere treuþe, & ȝit heere pride lettiþ hem to assente [assento MS.] to þis treuþe, boþe of here ordris & heere opiniouns; but þei seken mannes help & fals dilayes to lette knowyng of treuþe, & þus þei consenten not to good, but bi heere power striuen aȝen it. And when þei spoylen pore men, þei ben not ful of mercy, but louen betere stones of heere housis þen pore men or oþere freris. Hem wantiþ good fruyt, when þei pursewen trewe prestis bi gabbyngis & bi gylis for þei prechen freliche þe gospel. fflateryng þat þise men vsen telliþ þat þei iugen not wiþ-outen feynyng. Þis is þe veyn religioun þat James spekiþ of; "for who euere weneþ þat he be religiose, & refreneþ not his tunge, but deceyueþ his herte, þis mannes religion is veyn." [[James i. 26.]] Þise freris ben doumbe in many placis when [page 86] þei shulde speke to heere bretheren of þe treuþe of goddis lawe & oþere weyes þat helpen to vertues; but when þei comen out of þis prisoun
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 305
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 20, 2025.
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