Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

ȝoue bi perpetual lawe or riȝte to þe stade of seculer lordis, and ȝeue þis fro þat state, to þe whiche god entaylid þis lordeschip, to an-oþer straunge peple of an-oþir lyne, þe whiche haþ neþer nede ne leue of god for to ocupie it. And if oure prestis clayme tiþis as goodis in a maner entaylid to hem, for als myche as god in þe olde lawe had ȝoue & entailed siche tiþis to þe kynred of levy and to noone oþer lyne; For criste cam of þe lynyage of [page 44] Juda, to whiche lyne was no tiþis grauntid; And so as men supposen þis entaile was not expresly confermyd bi criste and his apostles to his prestis in þe new lawe. For as it is writen in policronicon, þe sevenþe boke, gregor þe sexte ordenyd first tiþis to be payde to curatis oonly. And ȝitt þai claymen so ferforþli þes tiþis, þat no man lawfully may wiþ-holde hem or minystre hem save þai. Ne þai may be turnyd or ȝouen to eny oþer state or kynred saue oonly to hem, all-þouȝ men wolden do þat undir coloure or bi titille of perpetualle almes; for þis schulde be demyd of þe clergy a dampnable synne & dis|troynge of holy chirche & sacrilege. Hou myche raþer þen is it an hidous and a [page 44b] dampnable synne, to ȝeue or to take away þe seculer lordeschipis fro þe state of seculer lordis, þe whiche god had ȝeue & entaylid to hem, bi þe same lawe & riȝte by þe whiche he had ȝouen þe tiþis to þe prestis in þe olde lawe? and þis entaile was neuer interrupte or y-broken in-to cristis tyme & his apostles; and þen þai confermyd þis entayle bi lawe so stronge to þe seculer party þat no man, safe anticriste and his disciples, may openly enpugne þis entaile, as it is schewid bifore. And so as no man schuld presume to wiþdrawe, wiþholde or turne þe tiþis fro þe state of presthode, as þai sayne; so myche raþer schuld no man presume bi ȝeuynge or takynge to aliene þe temporal lorde|schips [page 45] fro þe state of seculer lordis. And þus clerkis han not so myche coloure to sai þat þe lordis & þe lay peple robben holy chirche, if þai wiþdrew þe tiþis fro hem, for als miche as þai han take her temporaltes fro hem. And þis takynge of þes temporaltes in-to þe handis of þe clergi haþ
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Title
The English works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted.Edited by F. D. Matthew.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 391
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 16, 2025.
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