Also he wole þat his preestis traveilen fast in his lawe, and kepen hem medefully from oþer occupaciouns; for noon of us haþ matere to say þat he can alle Goddis lawe, and so he haþ no more to lerne þerynne. Also we shulden trowe þat alle mennys wordis may not come to þe witt þat is in Goddis wordis; for we witen þai nouȝt in hem is seid wiþouten chesoun, but in ech Goddis word is more witt þan we knowe.
ÞE GOSPEL ON PALM SONDAY.
[SERMON XLV.] [The style of this sermon rises occasionally to real eloquence.]
Altera autem die quae est post parasceven.—MATT. xxvii. [62.]
WE suffisen not here to telle pleynly þis gospel, but þe ende þerof makiþ mynde of oure bileve, how, after þe tyme þat Crist hadde suffrid deeþ, þe nexte day after, þat is þe holy Satirday, þes men þat hadden kild Crist gideren to gidere. For þe gospel telliþ þat princes of prestis and þe Phariseis comen to gidire to Pilate, and þes two folk, as hie preestis of þe temple and þes religiouse, diden Crist to deþ. And herfore telliþ Matheu how þes two dredden more þat þe name of Crist shulde growe among men, and so þer defamyng shulde growe, and þei shulden be distryed. And certis as þese two maner of folk diden Crist to þe deþ, so þei ben now cheveteynes to distrien his lawe; for þei letten þat þei may þe treuþe of þe gospel. And noo woundir is; for þei in þer lyvynge reversen þe lyf of Crist, and ben weddid to contrarye lyf. And siþ þe gospel telliþ dampnynge of siche men, and hou þat men shulden flee hem as heretikes and fals prophetis, þei dreden þat þer gile by þis shulde be knowe. And herfore þei seien þat Goddis lawe is fals, but ȝif þei glosen it after þat þei wolen; and þus þer glose shulde be trowid as bileve of cristene men, but þe tixt of Goddis lawe is perelous to trowe. Þes two manere of folk comen to gidere to Pilate on þe next Satirday aftir þei hadden kild Crist, and þus seiden to him,
