Sequitur de Avaricia.
After Accidie wol I speke of Avarice and of Coveitise, of
which synne seith Seint Paul that "the roote of alle harmes
is Coveitise." Ad Thimotheum Sexto.
For soothly, whan the herte of a man is confounded in
itself and troubled, and that the soule hath lost the confort of
God, thanne seketh he an ydel solas of worldly thynges.
Avarice, after the descripcioun of Seint Augustyn, is a
likerousnesse in herte to have erthely thynges.
Som oother
folk seyn that Avarice is for to purchacen manye erthely thynges
and no thyng yeve to hem that han nede.
And understoond that
Avarice ne stant nat oonly in lond ne catel, but somtyme in
science and in glorie, and in every manere of outrageous thyng
is Avarice and Coveitise.
And the difference bitwixe Avarice
and Coveitise is this: Coveitise is for to coveite swiche thynges
as thou hast nat; and Avarice is for to withholde and kepe swiche
thynges as thou hast, withoute rightful nede.
Soothly, this Avarice is a synne that is ful dampnable,
for al hooly writ curseth it and speketh agayns that vice, for
it dooth wrong to Jhesu Crist.
For it bireveth hym the love
that men to hym owen, and turneth it bakward agayns alle resoun,
and maketh that the avaricious man hath moore hope in his
catel than in Jhesu Crist, and dooth moore observance in kepynge
of his tresor than he dooth to the service of Jhesu Crist.
And therfore seith Seint Paul Ad Ephesios
quinto, that an avaricious man is the thraldom of ydolatrie.
What difference is bitwixe an ydolastre and an avaricious
man, but that an ydolastre, per aventure, ne hath but o mawmet
or two, and the avaricious man hath manye? For certes, every
floryn in his cofre is his mawmet.
And certes, the
synne of mawmettrie is the firste thyng that God deffended in the
ten comaundementz, as bereth witnesse in Exodi
capitulo vicesimo:
"Thou shalt have no false goddes
bifore me, ne thou shalt make to thee no grave thyng." Thus
is an avaricious man, that loveth his tresor biforn God, an
ydolastre,
thurgh this cursed synne of avarice. Of Coveitise
comen thise harde lordshipes, thurgh whiche men been distreyned
by taylages, custumes, and cariages, moore than hire
duetee or resoun is. And eek taken they of hire bonde-men
amercimentz, whiche myghten moore resonably ben cleped extorcions
than amercimentz.
Of whiche amercimentz and raunsonynge of
boonde-men somme lordes stywardes seyn that it is rightful, for
as muche as a cherl hath no temporeel thyng that it ne is his
lordes, as they seyn.
But certes, thise lordshipes doon wrong
that bireven hire bonde-folk thynges that they nevere yave hem.
Augustinus, De Civitate libro nono.
"Sooth is that the condicioun of thraldom and the
firste
cause of thraldom is for synne.
Genesis nono.
Thus may ye seen that the gilt disserveth thraldom, but nat nature."
Wherfore thise lordes ne sholde nat muche glorifien hem in hir lordshipes,
sith that by natureel condicion they been nat lordes over thralles,
but that thraldom comth first by the desert of synne.
And
forther over, ther as the lawe seith that temporeel goodes of
boonde-folk been the goodes of hir lordshipes, ye, that is for
to understonde, the goodes of the emperour, to deffenden hem in
hir right, but nat for to robben hem ne reven hem.
And
therfore seith Seneca, "Thy prudence sholde lyve benignely
with thy thralles."
Thilke that thou clepest thy
thralles been Goddes peple, for humble folk been Cristes
freendes; they been contubernyal with the Lord.
Thynk eek that of swich seed as cherles spryngen, of swich
seed spryngen lordes. As wel may the cherl be saved as the lord.
The same deeth that taketh the cherl, swich deeth taketh the
lord. Wherfore I rede, do right so with thy cherl, as thou
woldest that thy lord dide with thee, if thou were in his plit.
Every synful man is a cherl to synne. I rede thee, certes,
that thou, lord, werke in swich wise with thy cherles that they
rather love thee than drede.
I woot wel ther is degree above
degree, as reson is, and skile is that men do hir devoir ther as
it is due, but certes, extorcions and despit of youre underlynges
is dampnable.
And forther over, understoond wel that thise
conquerours or tirauntz maken ful ofte thralles of hem that been
born of as roial blood as been they that hem conqueren.
This
name of thraldom was nevere erst kowth til that Noe seyde that
his sone Canaan sholde be thral to his bretheren for his synne.
What seye we thanne of hem that pilen and doon extorcions to
hooly chirche? Certes, the swerd that men yeven first to a
knyght, whan he is newe dubbed, signifieth that he sholde
deffenden hooly chirche, and nat robben it ne pilen it; and whoso
dooth is traitour to Crist.
And, as seith Seint Augustyn,
"They been the develes wolves that stranglen the sheep of
Jhesu Crist," and doon worse than wolves.
For soothly,
whan the wolf hath ful his wombe, he stynteth to strangle sheep.
But soothly, the pilours and destroyours of the godes of hooly
chirche ne do nat so, for they ne stynte nevere to pile.
Now as I have seyd, sith so is that synne was
first cause of thraldom, thanne is it thus: that thilke tyme that
al this world was in synne, thanne was al this world in thraldom
and subjeccioun.
But certes, sith the time of grace cam, God
ordeyned that som folk sholde be moore heigh in estaat and in
degree, and som folk moore lough, and that everich sholde be
served in his estaat and in his degree.
And therfore in somme
contrees, ther they byen thralles, whan they han turned hem to
the feith, they maken hire thralles free out of thraldom. And
therfore, certes, the lord oweth to his man that the man oweth
to his lord.
The Pope calleth hymself servant of the servantz
of God; but for as muche as the estaat of hooly chirche ne myghte
nat han be, ne the commune profit myghte nat han be kept, ne pees
and rest in erthe, but if God hadde ordeyned that som men hadde
hyer degree and som men lower,
therfore was sovereyntee
ordeyned, to kepe and mayntene and deffenden hire underlynges or
hire subgetz in resoun, as ferforth as it lith in hire power, and
nat to destroyen hem ne confounde.
Wherfore I seye
that thilke lordes that been lyk wolves, that devouren the
possessiouns or the catel of povre folk wrongfully, withouten
mercy or mesure,
they shul receyven by the same mesure that
they han mesured to povre folk the mercy of Jhesu Crist, but if
it be amended.
Now comth deceite bitwixe marchaunt and
marchant. And thow shalt understonde that marchandise is in manye
maneres; that oon is bodily, and that oother is goostly; that oon
is honest and leveful, and that oother is deshonest and
unleveful.
Of thilke bodily marchandise that is leveful and
honest is this: that, there as God hath ordeyned that a regne or
a contree is suffisaunt to hymself, thanne is it honest and
leveful that of habundaunce of this contree, that men helpe
another contree that is moore nedy.
And therfore ther moote
been marchantz to bryngen fro that o contree to that oother hire
marchandises.
That oother marchandise, that men
haunten with fraude and
trecherie and deceite, with
lesynges and false othes, is cursed and dampnable.
Espiritueel marchandise is proprely symonye, that is ententif
desir to byen thyng espiritueel; that is, thyng that aperteneth
to the seintuarie of God and to cure of the soule.
This
desir, if so be that a man do his diligence to parfournen it, al
be it that his desir ne take noon effect, yet is it to hym a
deedly synne; and if he be ordred, he is irreguleer.
Certes
symonye is cleped of Simon Magus, that wolde han boght for
temporeel catel the yifte that God hadde yeven by the Hooly Goost
to Seint Peter and to the apostles.
And therfore understoond
that bothe he that selleth and he that beyeth thynges espirituels
been cleped symonyals, be it by catel, be it by procurynge, or
by flesshly preyere of his freendes, flesshly freendes or
espiritueel freendes:
Flesshly in two maneres; as by
kynrede, or othere freendes. Soothly, if they praye for hym that
is nat worthy and able, it is symonye, if he take the benefice;
and if he be worthy and able, ther nys noon.
That oother
manere is whan men or wommen preyen for folk to avauncen hem,
oonly for wikked flesshly affeccioun that they han unto the
persone, and that is foul symonye.
But certes, in service,
for which men yeven thynges espirituels unto hir servantz, it
moot been understonde that the service moot been honest and elles
nat; and eek that it be withouten bargaynynge, and that the
persone be able.
For, as seith Seint Damasie, "Alle the
synnes of the world, at regard of this synne, arn as thyng of
noght." For it is the gretteste synne that may be, after the
synne of Lucifer and Antecrist.
For by this synne God
forleseth the chirche and the soule that he boghte with his
precious blood, by hem that yeven chirches to hem that been nat
digne.
For they putten in theves that stelen the
soules of Jhesu Crist and destroyen his patrimoyne.
By swiche
undigne preestes and curates han lewed men the lasse reverence
of the sacramentz of hooly chirche, and swiche yeveres of
chirches putten out the children of Crist and putten into the
chirche the develes owene sone.
They sellen the soules that
lambes sholde kepen to the wolf that strangleth hem. And therfore
shul they nevere han part of the pasture of lambes, that is the
blisse of hevene.
Now comth hasardrie with his apurtenaunces,
as tables and rafles, of which comth deceite, false othes,
chidynges, and alle ravynes, blasphemynge and reneiynge of God,
and hate of his neighebores, wast of goodes, mysspendynge of
tyme, and somtyme manslaughtre.
Certes, hasardours ne mowe
nat been withouten greet synne whiles they haunte that craft.
Of Avarice comen eek lesynges, thefte, fals witnesse, and
false othes. And ye shul understonde that thise been grete synnes
and expres agayn the comaundementz of God, as I have seyd.
Fals witnesse is in word and eek in dede. In word, as for to
bireve thy neighebores goode name by thy fals witnessyng, or
bireven hym his catel or his heritage by thy fals witnessyng,
whan thou for ire, or for meede, or for envye, berest fals
witnesse, or accusest hym or excusest hym by thy fals witnesse,
or elles excusest thyself falsly.
Ware yow, questemongeres
and notaries! Certes, for fals witnessyng was Susanna in ful gret
sorwe and peyne, and many another mo.
The synne of thefte is
eek expres agayns Goddes heeste, and that in two maneres,
corporeel or spiritueel.
Corporeel, as for to take thy
neighebores catel agayn his wyl, be it by force or by sleighte,
be it by met or by mesure;
by stelyng eek of false
enditementz upon hym, and in borwynge of thy neighebores catel,
in entente nevere to payen it agayn, and semblable thynges.
Espiritueel thefte is sacrilege; that is to seyn, hurtynge
of hooly thynges, or of thynges sacred to Crist, in two maneres:
by reson of the hooly place, as chirches or chirche-hawes,
for which every vileyns synne that men doon in swiche places
may be cleped sacrilege, or every violence in the semblable
places; also, they that withdrawen falsly the rightes that longen
to hooly chirche.
And pleynly and generally, sacrilege
is to reven hooly thyng fro hooly place, or unhooly thyng
out of hooly place, or hooly thing out of unhooly place.
