Tractatus de apostasia

XII
INTRODUCTION.
the Friars exasperate those that have possessions, they will suffer
for it." . . . And therefore, he concludes significantly (p. 24), the
religious and intelligent Friars break away from these apostates.
2 nd Graditur ore perverso. Sins of the tongue: lying, flattery,
evil-speaking. Lying is dismissed with a few strong words; the
proverb: 'A Friar has said thus and thus, so it is false', is quoted.
The flattery here attacked is the flattery of the public, by sermons
uttered to please, not to edify them. To relate fabl.es and put human
traditions in the place of God's word, is the very
worst kind of
flatterr; thereby they become spirits of error, demons, or rather, as
dead to the world, corpses wandering about, moved by a demon.
They delight in repeating all evil they have heard;
more grievous sin,
if they are bound to silence.
3 rd Annuit oculis. In a mystic sense,
'the
intention, to wink with the eye signifies to prefer private
which is a still
eye' meaning the
interest to
the public good; for instance, when they entrap men, and especially
boys, into their Order. This is at any rate a sin against prudence ;
for the persons thus influenced may have no call from God; and thus,
though serving the order, they w^ould harm the Church. Seeking our
private welfare,
sin can hardly be avoided; and that is why civil
ownership always savours of sin (p. 30). Here incidentally we see
a Socialistic conclusion that necessarily flows from Wyclf's principles;
another appears still more clearly at the end of ch. 7.
4 th Terit pede. 'The foot' in Scripture signifies the affections,
which are perverted amongst the Friars, who love temporal things;
they beg clamorously, continually, shamelessly, for rich communities,
in order to waste the money; and they refuse to share what they
have with their poorer brethren, who have more right to ask alms
of them than they of the people.
5 th
Digito loquitur. 'The finger taken in its mystic sense, means
the power of acting. Three points in which the Friars go to excess:
I st
Indulgences and absolutions. He who is contrite gets indulgence
from God by the very fact; indulgences can only be of use when
contrition exists already. 2 nd They extol masses, penances, funerals,
and all functions that bring them money. 3 rd 'make broad
They
1 'To savour of sin' however, does not mean to be sinful in Wyclif s language.
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