Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.

siþ þe same Chirche his wyf lastiþ ever more, but wiþ newe wenchis is Crist now weddid, and on newe maner he kepte his firste matrimonye; as, if a spouse of a wife were newe cled, herfore were not dyvors made bytwene hem. A newe weddinge wiþ membris of þis grete womman makiþ not divors, ne bryngiþ in no bigamye; as, if a wyf growide and hadde many partis þat she hadde not bifore, sche were not þerfore lefte. And þus Chana, þat is gelousnes [gelousnesse, B and C.] , and Galilee, þat is a turnynge whele, bitokenen þe love of Crist þat he hadde to conforte his spouse in þis weie, and brynge her after to blisse in þe chaum|bre of hevene.—Þe turnynge of þis water into good wyn techiþ hou Crist made his lawe more savery, as þe wyne was beter þan þe water bifore. And riȝt as o substaunce is first water and siþ wyne, riȝt so o lawe is first colde and siþ hote; and herfore seiþ Crist þat he came not to fordo þe lawe but to fulfille þe lawe, and make it more savery. And drede we not þes philo|sophris to graunte hem aptly þat þe same substaunce is first watir and siþ wyne, ne drede we not dyvynes þat axen in þis cas, what was maad newe of Crist in þis myracle; siþ qualite, as coloure or savoure of wyne, may not be by it silf. As Austyn seiþ ['Sicut enim quod miserunt mini|stri in hydrias, in vinum conversum est opere Domini, sic et quod nubes fundunt, in vinum convertitur ejus|dem opere Domini. Illud autem non miramur, quia omni anno fit; assiduitate amisit admirationem.' S. Aug. loc. cit.] , we shal wite þat myracle of Crist was wrouȝt here, so þat riȝt as water, þat first was in þe erþe, is drawen in to þe vyne tree, and siþ in to þe grapis, and by tyme defyed [defied, B, C.] til þat it be wyne, so Crist did þis chaunginge in a litil tyme; but more myracle was of beteringe of his lawe, and þe moste of alle, of swifte turnynge to it. Þes sixe water pottis þat helden þis colde water ben men of þe olde lawe þat kepten Goddis lawe. But þei weren sixe, for fro ȝeer to ȝeer þei kepten þis lawe þat was hard as stones, and made hem colde on oþer manere þan þe newe lawe; for it makiþ men liȝt, and hetiþ hem, and confortiþ hem, as wyn doiþ mannis bodi. As philo|sophris seyn, þes mesures of þes vessilis ben þe olde cerymonyes þat weren beden of God, and sum founden of Jewis, and al þes weren fillid of Crist. But, to anoþer witt, þis archytryclyn was
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Title
Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold.
Author
Wycliffe, John, d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 88
Publication
Oxford,: Clarendon Press,
1869-71.

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"Select English works of John Wyclif; edited from original mss. by Thomas Arnold." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/afb3713.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 16, 2025.
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