Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse Part 23

"And the man said, 'Sir, our priests say that they curse men thus, by authority of G.o.d's Law.'

"And I said, 'Sir, I know not where this sentence of cursing is authorized now in the _Bible_. And therefore, Sir, I pray you that ye will ask the most cunning Clerk of this town, that ye may know where this sentence, "cursing them that tythe not now," is written in G.o.d's Law: for if it were written there, I would right gladly be learned [_informed_] where.'

"But, shortly, this man would not go from me, to ask this question of another body; but required me, there, as I would answer before G.o.d! if, in this case, the cursing of priests were lawful and approved of G.o.d?

"And, shortly, therewith came to my mind the learning of Saint PETER, teaching priests especially, _to hallow the LORD CHRIST in their hearts, being evermore ready, as far as in them is, to answer through faith and hope, to them that ask of them a reason_. And this lesson PETER teacheth me to use, with a meek spirit, and with dread of the LORD.

"Wherefore, Sir, I said to this man, in this wise, 'In the Old Law, which ended not fully till the time that CHRIST rose up again from death to life, G.o.d commanded t.i.thes to be given to the Levites for the great business and daily travail that pertained to their office: but Priests, because their travail was mickle more easy and light than was the office of the Levites, G.o.d ordained that Priests should take for their lifelode [_livelihood_] to do their office, the tenth part of those t.i.thes that were given to the Levites.

=APOSTLE PAUL WORKED WITH HIS HANDS.=

"'But now,' I said, 'in the New Law, neither CHRIST nor any of his Apostles took t.i.thes of the people, nor commanded the people to pay t.i.thes, neither to Priests nor to Deacons. But CHRIST taught the people to do almesse [_alms_], that is, works of mercy to poor needy men, of surplus that is superfluouse [_superfluity_] of their temporal goods which they had more than them needed reasonably to their necessary livelihood. And thus,' I said, 'not of t.i.thes, but of pure alms of the people CHRIST lived and his Apostles, when they were so busy in teaching of the Word of G.o.d to the people, that they might not travail otherwise for to get their livelihood. But after CHRIST's Ascension, and when the Apostles had received the HOLY GHOST, they travailed with their hands for to get their livelihood when that they might thus do for [_on account of_] busy preaching. Therefore, by example of himself, St. PAUL teacheth all the priests of CHRIST for to travail with their hands, when for busy teaching of the people, they might thus do. And thus all these priests (whose priesthood G.o.d accepteth now, or will accept; or did [accept] in the Apostles' time, and after their decease) will do, to the world's end.

"'But as _Cisterciensis_ telleth, in the thousand year of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, two hundred and eleventh year, one Pope, the tenth GREGORY, ordained new t.i.thes first to be given to priests now in the New Law. But Saint PAUL in his time (whose trace or example, all priests of G.o.d enforce them to follow), seeing the covetousness that was among the people (desiring to destroy this foul sin, through the grace of G.o.d, and true virtuous living and example of himself) wrote and taught all priests for _to follow him, as he followed CHRIST_, patiently, willingly, and gladly in high poverty. Wherefore PAUL saith this, _The LORD hath ordained, that they that preach the Gospel shall live by the Gospel. But we,_ saith PAUL, _that covet and busy us to be faithful followers of CHRIST, use not this power._ For, lo, as PAUL witnessed afterward, when he was full poor and needy, preaching among the people, he was not chargeous [_chargeable_] unto them, but with his hands he travailed, not only to get his own living, but also the living of other poor and needy creatures. And since the people were never so covetous nor so avarous [_avaricious_], I guess, as they are now; it were good counsel that all priests took good heed to this heavenly learning of PAUL: following him here, in wilful poverty, nothing charging the people for their bodily livelihood.

=PRIESTS SPEND THE PARISH OFFERINGS.=

"'But because that many priests do contrary PAUL in this foresaid doctrine, PAUL biddeth the people take heed to those priests, that follow him, as he had given them example: as if PAUL would say thus to the people, "Accept ye none other priests, than they that live after the form that I have taught you!" For, certain, in whatsoever dignity or order that any priest is in, if he conform him not to follow CHRIST and his Apostles in wilful poverty and in other heavenly virtues, and specially in true preaching of G.o.d's Word; though such a one be named a Priest, yet he is no more but a Priest in name: for the work of a very Priest such a one wanteth! This sentence [_opinion_] approveth AUGUSTINE, GREGORY, CHRYSOSTOM, and [GROSSETeTE, _Bishop of_] LINCOLN plainly.'"

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, "Thinkest thou this wholesome learning for to sow openly, or yet privily among the people!

Certain, this doctrine contrarieth plainly the ordinance of Holy Fathers: which have ordained, granted, and licensed priests to be in divers degrees; and to live by t.i.thes and offerings of the people, and by other duties."

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, if priests were now in measurable measure and number; and lived virtuously, and taught busily and truly the Word by the example of CHRIST and of his Apostles, without t.i.thes offerings and other duties that priests now challenge and take: the people would give them freely sufficient livelihood."

+A Clerk.+ And a Clerk said to me, "How wilt thou make this good, that the people will give freely to priests their livelihood; since that now, by the law, every priest can scarcely constrain the people to give them their livelihood?"

=CHRIST LIVED WHOLLY UPON ALMS.=

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, it is now no wonder, though the people grudge to give the priests the livelihood that they ask! for mickle people know, now, how that priests should live; and how that they live contrary to CHRIST and His Apostles. And therefore the people are full heavy to pay, as they do, their temporal goods to Parsons and to other Vicars and Priests; which should be faithful dispensators of the parish's goods, taking to themselves no more but a scarce living of t.i.thes nor of offerings by the Ordinance of the Common Law. For whatsoever priests take of the people, be it t.i.thes or offering, or any other duty or service, the priests ought not to have thereof no more but a bare living: and to depart [_give away_] the residue to the poor men and women, specially of the parish of whom they take this temporal living. But the most deal [_greater portion_] of priests now waste their parish's goods, and spendeth them at their own will, after the world in their vain l.u.s.ts: so that in few places poor men have duly, as they should have, their own sustenance, neither of t.i.thes nor of offerings, nor of other large wages and foundations that priests take of the people in divers manners, above that they need for needful sustenance of meat and clothing. But the poor needy people are forsaken and left of priests, to be sustained of the paroshenis [_paris.h.i.+oners_]; as if the priests took nothing of the paris.h.i.+oners, for to help the poor people with. And thus, Sir, into over great charges of the paris.h.i.+oners, they pay their temporal goods twice; where once might suffice, if priests were true dispensators.

"Also, Sir, the paris.h.i.+oners that pay their temporal goods, be they t.i.thes or offerings, to priests that do not their office among them justly, are partners of every sin of those priests: because that they sustain those priests' folly in their sin, with their temporal goods. If these things be well considered, what wonder is it then, Sir, if the paris.h.i.+oners grudge against these dispensators?"

+Archbishop.+ Then the Archbishop said to me, "Thou that shouldest be judged and ruled by Holy Church, presumptuously, thou deemest Holy Church to have erred in the ordinance of t.i.thes and other duties to be paid to priests! It shall be long ere thou thrive, losell! that thou despisest thy ghostly Mother! How darest thou speak this, losell! among the people? Are not t.i.thes given to priests for to live by?"

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, Saint PAUL saith that t.i.thes were given in the Old Law to Levites and to Priests, that came of the lineage of LEVI.

But _our priest_, he saith, _came not of the lineage of LEVI, but of the lineage of JUDAH; to which JUDAH, no t.i.thes were promised to be given_.

And therefore PAUL saith, _Since the priesthood is changed from the generation of LEVI to the generation of JUDAH, it is necessary that changing also be made of the Law_. So that priests live now without t.i.thes and other duties that they now claim; following CHRIST and his Apostles in wilful poverty, as they have given them example. For since CHRIST lived all the time of His preaching by pure [_the simple_] alms of the people, and (by example of him) his Apostles lived in the same wise, or else by the travail of their hands, as it is said above; every priest, whose priesthood CHRIST approveth, knoweth well, and confesseth in word and in work that _a disciple oweth_ [ought] _not to be above his Master, but it sufficeth to a disciple to be as his Master_, simple and pure, meek and patient: and by example specially of his Master CHRIST, every priest should rule him in all his living; and so, after his cunning and power, a priest should busy him to inform and to rule whomsoever he might charitably."

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, with a great spirit, "G.o.d's curse have thou and thine for this teaching! for thou wouldest hereby make the Old Law more free and perfect than the New Law! For thou sayest it is lawful for Levites and to Priests to take t.i.thes in the Old Law, and so to enjoy their privileges; but to us priests in the New Law, thou sayest it is not lawful to take t.i.thes! And thus, thou givest the Levites of the Old Law more freedom, than to priests of the New Law!"

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, I marvel, that ye understand this plain text of PAUL thus! Ye wot well, that the Levites and Priests in the Old Law, that took t.i.thes, were not so free nor so perfect as CHRIST and his Apostles that took no t.i.thes! And, Sir, there is a Doctor, I think that it is Saint JEROME, that saith thus, _The priests that challenge now in the New Law, t.i.thes, say, in effect that CHRIST is not become Man, nor that he hath yet suffered death for man's love._ Whereupon, this Doctor saith this sentence, _Since t.i.thes were the hires and wages limited to Levites and to Priests of the Old Law, for bearing about of the Tabernacle, and for slaying and flaying of beasts, and for burning of sacrifice, and for keeping of the Temple, and for trumping of battle before the host of Israel, and other divers observances that pertained to their office; those priests, that will challenge or take t.i.thes, deny that CHRIST is comen in flesh, and do the Priest's office of the Old Law, for whom t.i.thes were granted: for else_, as the Doctor saith, _priests take now t.i.thes wrongfully_."

="HEARD YE EVER LOSELL SPEAK THUS!"=

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to his Clerks, "Heard ye ever losell speak thus! Certain, this is the learning of them all, that wheresoever they come, and they may be suffered, they enforce them to expugn the freedom of Holy Church!"

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, why call you the taking of t.i.thes and of such other duties that priests challenge now wrongfully 'the freedom of Holy Church'; since neither CHRIST nor his Apostles challenged nor took such duties? Herefore these takings of priests now, are not called justly 'the freedom of Holy Church': but all such giving and taking ought to be called and holden 'the slanderous covetousness of men of the Holy Church.'"

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, "Why, losell! wilt not thou and others that are confedered [_confederated_] with thee, seek out of Holy Scripture and of the sentence of Doctors, all sharp authorities against Lords and Knights and Squires, and against other secular men, as thou dost against priests?"

=_PRIESTS ARE THE STOMACH OF THE PEOPLE!_=

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, whatsoever men or women, Lords or Ladies, or any others that are present in our preaching specially, or in our communing, after our cunning, we to tell to them their office and their charges: but, Sir, since CHRYSOSTOM saith _the priests are the stomach of the people_, it is needful in preaching and also in communing, to be most busy about this priesthood, since by the viciousness of priests, both Lords and Commons are most sinfully infected and led into the worst. And because that the covetousness of priests, and pride and the boast that they have and make, of their dignity and power, destroyeth not only the virtues of priesthood in priests themselves: but also, over this, it stirreth G.o.d to take great vengeance both upon Lords and Commons, which suffer these priests charitably."

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, "Thou judgest every priest proud that will not go arrayed as thou dost! By G.o.d! I deem him to be more meek that goeth every day in a scarlet gown, than thou, in that threadbare blue gown! Whereby knowest thou a proud man?"

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, a proud priest may be known when he denieth to follow CHRIST and his Apostles in wilful poverty and other virtues; and coveteth worldly wors.h.i.+p, and taketh it gladly, and gathereth together with pleting [? _pleading_] menacing or with flattering, or with simony, any worldly goods: and most if a priest busy him not chiefly in himself, and after in all other men and women, after his cunning and power, to withstand sin."

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, "Though thou knewest a priest to have all these vices, and though thou sawest a priest, lovely, lie now by a woman, knowing her fleshly; wouldest thou herefore deem this priest d.a.m.nable? I say to thee, that in the turning about of thy hand, such a sinner may be verily repented!"

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, I will not d.a.m.n any man for any sin that I know done or may be done; so that the sinner leaveth his sin! But, by authority of Holy Scripture, he that sinneth thus openly, as ye shew here, is d.a.m.nable for doing of such a sin; and most specially a priest that should be [an] example to all others for to hate and fly sin: and in how short time that ever ye say, that such a sinner may be repented, he oweth [_ought_] not, of him that knoweth his sinning, to be judged verily repentant, without open evidence of great shame and hearty sorrow for his sin. For whosoever, and specially a priest, that useth pride, envy, covetousness, lechery, simony, or any other vices; and sheweth not, as open evidence of repentance, as he hath given evil example and occasion of sinning: if he continue in any such sin as long as he may, it is likely that sin leaveth him and he not sin; and, as I understand, such a one sinneth unto death, for whom n.o.body oweth [_ought_] to pay, as Saint JOHN saith."

+A Clerk.+ And a Clerk said to the Archbishop, "Sir, the longer that ye appose him, the worse he is! and the more that ye busy you to amend him, the waywarder he is! for he is of so shrewd a kind, that he shameth not only to be himself a foul nest; but, without shame, he busieth him to make his nest fouler!"

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to his Clerk, "Suffer a while, for I am at an end with him! for there is one other point certified against him; and I will hear what he saith thereto."

=THE 5TH CHARGE OF THE SHREWSBURY MEN.=

And so then, he said to me, "Lo, it is here certified against thee, that thou preachedst openly at Shrewsbury _that it is not lawful to swear in any case_."

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, I preached never so openly, nor I have not taught in this wise, in any place. But, Sir, as I preached in Shrewsbury, with my Protestation I say to you now here, That by the authority of the Gospel and of Saint JAMES, and by witness of divers Saints and Doctors, I have preached openly, in one place or other, that it is not lawful in any case to swear by any creature. And, over this, Sir, have also preached and taught, by the foresaid authorities, that n.o.body should swear in any case, if that without oath, in any wise, he that is charged to swear, might excuse him to them that have power to compel him to swear in leful things and lawful: but if a man may not excuse him without oath to them that have power to compel him to swear, then he ought to swear only by G.o.d, taking Him only, that is Soothfastness, for to witness the soothfastness."

+A Clerk.+ And then a Clerk asked me, "If it were not leful [_lawful_]

to a subject, at the bidding of his Prelate, for to kneel down and touch the Holy Gospel book, and kiss it saying, _So help me, G.o.d! and this holy doom!_ for he should, after his cunning and power, do all things, that his Prelate commandeth him?"

+William.+ And I said to them, "Sirs, ye speak here full generally and largely! What, if a Prelate commanded his subject to do an unlawful thing, should he obey thereto?"

+Archbishop.+ And the Archbishop said to me, "A subject ought not to suppose that his Prelate will bid him do an unlawful thing. For a subject ought to think that his Prelate will bid him do nothing but that he will answer for before G.o.d, that it is lefull [_lawful_]: and then, though the bidding of the Prelate be unlawful, the subject hath no peril to fulfil it; since that he thinketh and judgeth that whatsoever thing his Prelate biddeth him do, that is leful to him for to do it."

=A MAN OF LAW AND A MASTER OF DIVINITY.=

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, I trust not hereto! But to our first purpose! Sir, I tell you that I was once in a gentleman's house, and there were then two Clerks there, a Master of Divinity and a Man of Law; which Man of Law was also communing in divinity. And among other things, these men spake of oaths. And the Man of Law said, 'At the bidding of his Sovereign which had power to charge him to swear, he would lay his hand upon a book, and hear his charge; and if his charge, to his understanding were unlawful, he would hastily withdraw his hand from the book; and if he perceived his charge to be leful he would hold still his hand upon the book, taking there only G.o.d to witness that he would fulfil that leful charge after his power.' And the Master of Divinity said then to him thus, 'Certain, he that layeth his hand upon a book in this wise, and maketh there a promise to do that thing that he is commanded, is obliged there, by book oath, then, to fulfil his charge.

For, no doubt, he that chargeth him to lay his hand thus upon a book, touching the book and swearing by it, and kissing it, promising in this form, to do this thing or that, will say and witness, that he that toucheth thus a book and kisseth it, hath sworn upon that book; and all other men that see that men thus do, and also all those that hear thereof in the same wise, will say and witness that _this man hath sworn upon a book!_ Wherefore,' the Master of Divinity said, 'it was not leful, neither to give nor to take any such charge upon a book! for every book is nothing else but divers creatures [_created things_], of which it is made of: therefore to swear upon a book, is to swear by creatures! and this swearing is ever unleful.'

"This sentence witnesseth CHRYSOSTOM, plainly blaming them greatly, that bring forth a book for to swear upon, charging Clerks that in nowise they constrain anybody to swear, whether they think a man to swear true or false."

And the Archbishop and his Clerks scorned me, and blamed me greatly for this saying. And the Archbishop menaced me with great punishment and sharp, except I left this opinion of swearing.

+William.+ And I said, "Sir, this is not mine opinion; but it is the opinion of CHRIST our Saviour! and of Saint JAMES! and of CHRYSOSTOM!

and of other divers Saints and Doctors!"

Then the Archbishop bad a Clerk read this _Homily_ of CHRYSOSTOM, which _Homily_ this Clerk held in his hand written in a roll; which roll the Archbishop caused to be taken from my fellow at Canterbury: and so then this Clerk read this roll, till he came to a clause where CHRYSOSTOM saith that _it is sin, to swear well_.

+A Clerk (? Malveren).+ And then a Clerk, MALVEREN as I guess, said to the Archbishop, "Sir, I pray you wit of him, how that he understandeth CHRYSOSTOM here, saying it to be _sin, to swear well_."

+Archbishop.+ And so the Archbishop asked me, "How I understood here CHRYSOSTOM?