lived and taught, and spent poor men's goods. For if they had such a faith in their minds, they would begin a better life, and continue therein. II. The second default is, that they run fast, by land and by water, in great peril of body and soul, to get rich benefices; but they will not knowingly go a mile to preach the gospel, though christened men are running to hell for want of knowing and keeping of God's law; and certainly here they show, indeed, that they are foully blind with covetousness, and worship false gods, as St. Paul saith. Since they so much love worldly riches, and labour for them night and day, in thought and deed, and labour so little for God's worship and the saving of christian souls, who can excuse these covetous clerks from simony and\ heresy? Neither God's law, nor man's law, nor reason, nor good conscience. And let the king and his council inquire how much gold goes out of our land, for purchase of benefices, into alien's hands, and how much is given privately to men in the land. They shall find many thousand pounds.* III. The third default of evil curates is, that they are angels of Satan to lead men to hell; for, instead of truly teaching Christ's gospel, they are dumb, or else tell men's traditions. Instead of example of good life, they hurt their parishioners many ways-by example of pride, envy, covetousness, and unreasonable vengeance-cruelly cursing for tithes, and evil customs. And for example of holy devotion, devout prayer, and works of mercy, they teach idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, and lechery, and maintaining of these sins, and many more. For since priests are called angelst in holy writ, and these curates bring not the message of God, but of the fiend, as their wicked life showeth, they are not angels of God, but of the fiend, as the true clerk Robert Grosthead wrote to the pope. St. Peter was called Satan by Christ, as the gospel telleth, because he was contrary to God's will, and savoured not of heavenly things; well then are these evil curates so called, since they are *At that time the pope and the court of Rome exercised the chief ecclesiastical patronage in England. A large portion of the benefices were held by foreigners. In the reign of Henry III. the sums thus received by Italians were more than three times the amount of the king's revenues. + Messengers. + Grosthead, or Grosseteste, was Bishop of Lincoln in the preceding century He strenuously opposed the corruptions of the papacy. See Hist of the Church of Christ, cent. xiii. more contrary to God's will, and savour less of spiritual things, and the saving of christian souls. IV. The fourth error is, that they think more of statutes 1 of sinful men than the most reasonable law of almighty God. For they dread the pope's law, and statutes made by bishops, and other officers, more than the noble law of the gospel. Therefore they have many great and costly books of man's law, and study them much, but few curates have the bible and expositions of the gospel, they study them but little and do them less. But would to God that every parish church in this land had a good bible and good expositions on the gospel, and that the priests studied them well, and taught truly the gospel and God's commands to the people. Then should good life prevail, and rest, and peace, and charity; sin and falseness should be put backGod bring this end to his people. V. The fifth default is, that they practise strife and plea,* and gather envy and hate from laymen for tythes.† They leave preaching of the gospel, and cry fast after tythes, and summon men to account, and by force take their goods, or else curse them seven foot above the earth, and seven foot under the earth, and seven foot on each side, and afterwards draw men to prison as though they were kings and empe rors of men's bodies and goods; forgetting wholly the meekness and patience of Christ and his apostles, how they cursed not when men would neither give them meat, nor drink, nor harbour; but Christ blamed his apostles when they would have asked such vengeance, as the gospel of St. Luke teaches. And St. Peter biddeth to bless other men, even enemies, and not to have will to curse. Paul also teacheth that we should not do evil for evil, but overcome an evil deed by good doing. VI. The sixth default is, that they teach their parishioners, by their deeds and life, which are as a book to them, to love and seek worldly glory, and to be careless of heavenly things. For they make themselves busy, night and * Law. + Wickliff's views respecting tythes have already been noticed in his life, see p. 41. William Russel, a Lollard, thus stated his opinions upon the subject of dymes or tythes. Personal dymes fall not under the precepts of God's law, wherefore if custom were not to the contrary, it is lawful for Christ's people to dispose them to piteous use of poor men. Wilkins, iii. 438. See Fox's Acts and Monuments for the discussions on this subject among the Bohemian reformers. day, to get worldly advancement, and their own worship and dignity in this world, by pleading and striving therefore. Considering it great righteousness to hold forth and maintain points of worldly privilege, and dignity; but about spiritual dignity, and high degree of heavenly bliss, they will not strive against spiritual enemies; for they strive not who shall be most meek and willingly poor, and most busy in open preaching and private counselling how men shall obtain heaven, as Christ and his apostles did. But they, like moles, remain rooting after worldly worship, and earthly goods, as though there were no life but only in this wretched world. * VII. The seventh error is, that they teach sinful men to buy hell full dear, and not to come to heaven which is proffered them for little cost. For they teach christian men to suffer much cold, hunger, and thirst, and much waking, and despising, to get worldly honour; and a little dirt by false warring, out of charity; if they bring them much gold they absolve them lightly and to think themselves secure by their prayers, and grant them a blessing. But they teach not how their parishioners should dispose themselves to receive gifts of the Holy Ghost, and keep conditions of charity, doing truth and good conscience to each man, both poor and rich. And if they are poor by the chances of the world, or willingly, by dread of sin, they set them at nought, and say they are cursed, because they have not much muck; and if they have much worldly goods, got with false oaths, false weights, and other deceits, they praise them, and bless them, and say that God is with them and blesseth them. VIII. The eighth default. They shut the kingdom of heaven before men, and neither go in themselves, nor suffer other men to enter, for they shut up holy writ-as the gospel, and commandments, and conditions of charity, which are called the kingdom of heaven, by false new laws, and evil glossing, and evil teaching. For they will neither learn themselves, nor teach holy writ, nor suffer other men to do it, lest their own sin and hypocrisy be known, and their pleasurable life withdrawn. Thus they close Christ's life and his apostles' from the common people, by the keys of antichrist's judgment and censures; and they make them not so hardy as to say a truth of holy writ against their accursed The great wealth acquired by some in the wars which then prevailed has been noticed in the life of Wickliff. The sufferings of the people at large, as may be supposed, were in proportion. life, for that shall be held to be detraction and envy, and against charity! Therefore they make the people follow their teaching, their statutes, and their customs, and to leave God's teaching; and thereby lead them blindly to hell, and thus close the kingdom of heaven from them. IX. The ninth error is, that they waste poor men's goods on rich furs and costly clothes, and worldly array, feasts of rich men, and in gluttony, drunkenness, and lechery. For they sometimes pass great men in their gay furs and precious clothes-they have fat horses with gay saddles and bridles. St. Bernard crieth, Whatever curates hold of the altar more than a simple livelihood and clothing, is not theirs, but other men's.* X. The tenth default is, that they haunt lords' courts, and are occupied in worldly offices, and do not take care of their parishes, although they take more worldly goods for them, than Christ and his apostles. Certainly it is great treachery; for what man durst undertake to keep men who are besieged in a feeble castle by many strong enemies, and then flee into a swineherd's office, and let enemies take the castle and destroy it? Were not this open treason? and would not this keeper be guilty of the loss of the castle, and all men therein? So it is of the curates and christian souls of which they take care, who are besieged by fiends, when they leave them unkept, and busy themselves in worldly offices and lords' courts. Are not these lords, who thus hold curates in their courts and worldly offices, traitors to God Almighty, since they draw away his chief knights from their spiritual battle, when and where they were most needful for this service.† * Chaucer, in his Plowman's tale, describes priests, as, That high on horse willeth ride, + Chaucer thus describes the secular canons of that day. They are curates of many towns, On earth they have great power,- (Set out.) XI. The eleventh error is, that they attend more to wrongful commandments of sinful men, than to the most rightful commandments of God. For if the pope or bishop send a letter to receive a pardoner to deceive the people, by grants of many thousand years of pardon, he shall be despatched;* although if there come a true man, to preach the gospel freely and truly, he shall be hindered for wrongful command of a sinful man. And thus they put God's commandment and his rightful will behind, and put sinful man's will and wrong commandments before; and thus for their own worldly profit and bodily ease they stop their parishioners from hearing of God's law, which is food for the soul, and lead them blindly to hell. These are evil fathers who thus cruelly starve their subjects' souls, and drive them to damnation, for love of worldly muck, or bodily ease, or for dread of wretched antichrists, who are traitors to God and his people. XII. The twelfth error is, that they despise the principal duty, which is commanded of God to curates, and busy themselves about novelties made by sinful men. For they know not to preach the gospel wisely, and they busily learn men's traditions for worldly gain, but not the gospel which Christ, God and man, taught and commanded curates to teach, as to life and death. XIII. The thirteenth error is, that they curse their spiritual children more for the love of worldly good than for breaking God's commands. For though a man openly break God's commands, living in pride, in false ways, and in open breaking of the holy day, he shall not be summoned, nor punished, nor cursed by them; but if a man be behind of tythes and other offerings and customs made of sinful men, he shall be summoned, punished, and cursed, though he cannot live out of other men's debts, and find his wife and his children by God's commandments. XIV. They take their worldly mirth, hawking, hunting,† and doing other vanities, and suffer wolves of hell to strangle men's souls by many cursed sins. They should * See § xix. + Chaucer describes his monk, He gave not of that text a pulled hen, ******** Greyhounds he had as swift as fowl of flight, |