Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

þingis; for he auoidid þis swerde in seculer office, and tauȝte his apostles, and in hem alle oþer prestis, to do þe same whan he fled fro þe peple þat wolde han sett hym in þe office of a kynge. And whan he was requirid to ȝeue iugement bitwene two breþern [page 15] stryuynge for heritage, he wolde not ȝeue þat seculer iugement, but saide: "Homo, quis me [Luc. xii. [14.]] constituit iudicem aut diuisorem super vos?"—"Man, who made me a iuge or a departer up-on ȝou?" And so he auoidid þis swerde, and left it to þe temporal party of his chirche wiþ all þe purtenances. And þis same lesson tauȝte þe apostle: for saynt poule assigneþ þis swerde to þe seculer lordis, as it is saide bifore, and techiþ men to pray firste for [[1] Tim. ii. [2.]] suche men; þat þe peple mai lede a pesable lyfe undir hem. And he techiþ cristen men to obey to hem whedir þai ben [Eph. vi. [5.]] [Titus iii. [1.]] cristen or heþen; ȝe, all-þouȝ þai ben tirawntes. And saynt [1 Peter ii. [13.]] petir techiþ þe same lesson, and biddid þe peple to obey to þe kynge, as to hym þat is passynge [page 15b] oþer, & to duykys as to þo þat ben sent of þe kynge, in-to þe vengance of schrewis & preysynge of goode men. And as touchynge þis seculer lordeschip, saynt petir techiþ how þer schulde be no lordis in [[1] Peter v. [3.]] þe clergy; and þis worde most nedis be vndirstonden of seculer lordeschip, þe which criste his maistir bifore forfendid to alle his clergi. Siþ þan þat þis lordeschip of þe clerkis is so openli aȝens þe wille of god, schewid in boþe his lawis, and so þai offenden god deedly, & euer schulen while it duriþ in hem, it wer tyme þat cristis chirche toke hede to cristis wordis, þe whiche he spak to petir figurynge þis chirche, and saide: "turne þe swerde in-to his place"; as þouȝ crist [page 16] wolde say þus: "þou my chirche, figurid bi petir, se how þe material swerde wiþ his purtenances is owte of his place; þerfor do as I commaundid þe, and turne þis swerde in-to his place wiþ his purtenancis, as secular lordeschipis, seculer office & seculer iugement, in-to þe seculer arme of my chirche, as I haue ordeyned." And certis, but if þe chirche here effectualy þis worde of criste, schal it neuer stonde in redy rule, ne aftir þe plesance of god; and þerfore lordis schulden take hede fulle tendirly to
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 371
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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