Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

assoyle hym & leuyng worde of assoylyng; and þus he myȝt assoyle at home hym þat were a þousand myle fro hym. and lewed men þat weren bettur myȝten þus assoyle bettur þenne wickid prestis. ffor it is licly þat a prest ordeyned to be dampned assoyleþ not þus; but what prest or man con|fessid wot wher þis prest shal be dampned. and þis shrift þus brouȝt inne semeþ to marre þe churche in bileeue, as þe prest made hym goddis felow, as god and he shulden assoile to|gidre; or ellis þat god mut nedis assoile whenne þe prest makiþ his sygne. Suche many blassefemys aȝeynes þe beleue ben sowen of antecrist in þis mater, ffor god, þat ȝyueþ grace & is in þe soule, assoyleth & doþ a-wey synne, and þis may not þe prest do, siþ it is propur to god, and, siþ no man shuld liȝe a lytle lesyng to saue þe worlde, a prest shuld not seye, "y assoyle," whenne he not neuer wheþir god assoyle. ffor he knoweþ neiþer wher þis man confessid seye treuþe vpon conscyence, or wher þat he be contrite, as he knoweþ not hym-self; and I suppose he wite þe soþe, ȝitte he knowiþ not þe quantite of peyne þat god wole þat þis man haue for hise trespase aȝeynes god, for penaunce is arbitrarie, now more & nowe lesse, aftur þat þe prest wole lymyte, be he neuer so grete a fool. And here spryngen many errours aȝens beleue on boþe sydis; for þe prest gedreþ hym ofte [of CC.] moneye or money worþe by suche penaunce, and so bi priuey symony he harmeþ hem boþe & þe churche. and þus a frere or a prest haþ as [CC inserts myche.] leue to be seurerly a confessour of a lord or of a [page 131] lady as 3to be3 [3_3 omitted CC.] a simple bischop; for bi þis office he takiþ his worship & his wynnyng, as if he were pope. and it were hard to telle þe harme þat comeþ be many of þise confessours, for þe pope & þe emperour myȝte priuely be poysened bi suche fadres, and rewmes myȝten liȝtly be destruyȝed by counseilis þat þei ȝyuen to lordis, for no drede þei ben cause of mennes synne confessid to hem. anentis þe persone þat is confessid fallen many errours aȝens bileeue, as þat he þat is
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 333
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 18, 2025.
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