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

Here after þis witt men may large þis gospel, and trete what mater þat þei wenen shulde profite to þe puple; but it is comounly told of þe sacrament of þe auter, and how men shal disposen hem now to take þis sacrament. And it is seid comounly, þat as þes holy wymmen hadde lefte þer former synne, and taken þer freishe devocioun; so men shulden come to þe chirche to take þis holy sacrament, and þus come wiþ þes hooly wymmen wiþ liȝt of þe sunne. And þus men shulden cloþen hem wiþ þes þre vertues, bileve, hope, and charite, to resceyve þis sacrament. Bileve is first nedeful; and algatis of þis breed, hou it is Goddis body by vertue of Cristis wordis. And so it is kyndely breed, as Poul seiþ [I do not know to what passage the writer refers.] , but it is sacramentally verre Goddis bodi. And herfore seiþ Austyn [I am indebted to the kind as|sistance of Professor Stubbs for the discovery of the passage in the works of St. Augustine to which the text probably refers, though some force appears necessary to make the words of the saint bear the meaning which Wyclif imposes on them. The pas|sage is in a remarkable sermon, No. 272 (vol. v., p. 1104 of the Bene|dictine edition), addressed 'ad In|fantes' on their due reception of the Eucharist. The impression left by the entire sermon might certainly, to a mind already prepossessed. accord with the view of the Eucharist taken by Wyclif; on the other hand, the language is quite compatible with the view taken by his opponents, the friars. The words most to the pur|pose are these: 'Ista, fratres, ideo dicuntur sacramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intelligitur. Quod videtur, speciem habet corporalem; quod intelligitur, fructum habet spi|ritalem.'] , þat þing is breed þat þi iȝen tellen þee and þat þou seest wiþ hem. For it was not trowid bifore þe fend was losid [It had become a popular belief by this time, among the spiritual Franciscans and the various revo lutionary sects, that since the year 1000 A.D the devil, after his mil|lennary captivity (Apoc. xx. 2), had been let loose from the bottomless pit 'to deceive the nations.'] , þat þis worþi sacrament was accident wiþouten suget. And ȝit dwellen trewe men in þe old bileve, and laten freris foulen hem silfe in þer newe heresie. For we trowen þat þere is beter þing þan Goddis bodi, siþ þe holy trinite is in eche place. But oure bileve is sette upon þis point; what is þis sacrid hoost, and not what þing is þere. Þe secound vertue þat shulde cloþe trewe men is þe vertue of hope, þat is ful nedeful; how men shulde hope bi þer lyfe here, and first, wiþ þe grace of God, for to come to hevene. And to þis entent men taken now þis sacrament, so þat bi takynge herof þer mynde be freschid in hem to þenken