De Officio Pastorali, chap. xv.

(MS. Ashburnham XXVII., 15th c.)

Ant heere þe freris wiþ þer fautours seyn þat it is heresye to write þus Goddis lawe in English, and make it knowun to lewid men. And fourty signes þat þey bringen for to shewe an heretik ben not worþy to reherse, for nou"t groundiþ hem but nygromansye.

It semyþ first þat þe wit of Goddis lawe shulde be tau"t in þat tunge þat is more knowun, for þis wit is Goddis word. Whanne Crist seiþ in þe Gospel þat boþe heuene and erþe shulen passe, but His woordis shulen not passe, He vndirstondith bi His woordis His wit. And þus Goddis wit is Hooly Writ, þat may on no maner be fals. Also þe Hooly Gost "af to apostilis wit at Wit Sunday for to knowe al maner langagis, to teche þe puple Goddis lawe þerby; and so God wolde þat þe puple were tau"t Goddis lawe in dyuerse tungis. But what man, on Goddis half, shulde reuerse Goddis ordenaunce and His wille?

See nowe þe ypocrisie of þis false seiynge. Crist tau"t and dide þe beste lif for prestis, as oure feiþ techiþ, siþ He was God and my"te not erre. But Crist preched þe Gospel, and charged alle His apostlis and disciplis to goo and preche þe Gospel to alle men. þan it is þe beste lif for prestis in þis world to preche þe Gospel.

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