Tractatus de apostasia

X INTRODUCTION.
himself with much skill of every motive they could have to be dis-
contented with their Superiors. On the other hand, it would appear
from these lines that his activity was met by activity in the opposite
direction, and that a Friar could not go over to Wyclif without
considerable personal danger.
I. 'Religious' life is not better than ordinary Christianity; for
the latter is more simple, more necessary, and more authorized.
Monks strive to become Bishops, i. e. to be loosed from their vows
and return to ordinary Christianity; if that were apostasy, they could
not be allowed to do so. And the objection that monks keep the
law of Christ and add thereto, is worthless; they add, as it were, a
heap of rubbish round the walls of a perfect building.
II. Would it not be better if no Orders existed? That they
were founded by Saints, proves nothing in their favour. Saints are
not infallible, and may have sinned. These orders have indeed produced
many Saints; but a bad father may have a good son. The
Pope has confirmed them for ever; i. e. as long
as God shall will
their existence; besides, we must suppose that the Pope approved
what was praiseworthy in them, not their defects. They ought to
be suppressed on account of their members' inordinate love for their
own sects, which causes dissensions in the Church, and is a sort
of idolatry.
III. Perpetual vows are not expedient. Obedience is good, if
rendered to God, not if to man; or if to man, only in so far as it
coincides with what is due to God. So that sometimes it is a virtue
to rebel. Obedience rendered to a proud and worldly Superior is
without merit, even when he commands what is good for his subject.
Here Wyclif, before in strict agreement with Aquinas and Catholic
theology in general, approaches nearer to heterodoxy, and denies that
the virtue of obedience sanctifies an order given by a Superior, if
he is a fool or an ignorant man.
Ch. II. If we recollect that it was the custom in old times to
speak much more plainly than we do now; if we compare
the con-
ditional tone of this chapter (if the Friars have done these things . . . )
with the unmeasured invective employed in some other works, and if
we note the exception that Wyclif explicitly makes in favour of his
friends in the cloister, we shall see that in the severe indictment of