MarginaliaThe clergy beggers. men beggars. For they wold not so instantly require those almes except they had neede of them: neither ought we be so ashamed therof, or to be proud beggers: for so much as Christ touching his humanitie became a beggar for vs, because hee declared his need vnto his Father saying. &c.

Item, when any Kyng, Prince, Knight, Citizen, or anye other man doth geue vnto the clergy, or to anye priest for his stipend, he geueth the same vnto the Churche of God, and to the priuate party, as a perpetuall almes, that he should attend to his vocation, preaching, praying and studying. But this kinde of geuing doth not suffice to ground any seculer vse withotu any seculer power.

The maior appeareth hereby, forsomuch as otherwise almes should not be a worke of mercy. Whereby it may also appeare, that tenths are pure alms geuen to the church, to the vse of the pore.

And hereupon the holy men doe say that tenthes are the tributes of the needy soules. Whereupon S. Augustine in a sermon made vpon the restoring of tithes saytg. The geuing of Tithes most deare brethren are the tributes of the poore soules therefore pay your tribute to the poore. MarginaliaTithes are to be giuen of the ninth parte of goods.And by and by after, he sayth, therefore who desireth eyther to get any rewards, or to haue anye remission of sinnes, by geuing of his tenthes, let him study to geue almes euen of the ninth part: so that what soeuer shall remayne more then a competent liuing, and decent clothing: that it be not reserued for riot, but that it be layd vp in the heauenly treasure, by geuing it in almes to the poore. For what so euer God doth geue vnto vs more then we haue neede of: but doth send it vs to be bestowed vpon others by our handes, if wee doe not geue it, we inuade an other mans possessions.

Thus much wryteth S. Augustine, and is repeted in teh xvi. question 1. Decime.

Also S. Ierome in an Epistle, and it is put in the 16. question, and 2. chap Quicquid. What soeuer the clergy hath it is the goods of the poore.

Also S. Augustine in his 33. Epistle vnto Boniface, and it is aleaged in the 1. question 12.

Also in the 23. question 7. If we doe possesse any thinge priuately, the which doth suffice vs, they are not oures, but the goods of the poore, whose stewardes we are, except we doe challenge to our selues a property by somedamnable vsurpatiō. The glose vpon that part of the 23. question 7. sayth. The Prelates are but onely the stewardes of the church goodes, and not Lordes therof.

S Ambrose also vpon this saying of the Gospell. Luke the 16. Geue accompt of your bailiship, or stewardship: Hereby then doe we learne, that they are not Lordes, but rather stewardes and baliffes of other mens substaunce.

And S. Ierome, writing to Nepotianus saieth, howe can they be of the clergye, which are commaunded to contemne and dispise their owne substaunce, and to take away from a frend, it is theft, to deceiue the Churche it is sacriledge, and to take away that which should be geuen vnto the poore.

MarginaliaThe clergie are stewards or the church goods, and not Lordes thereof.And S. Bernard in his sermon, vppon these wordes (Symon Peter sayd vnto Iesus, chap. 17) sayd. Truely the goodes of the Church, are the patrimony of the poore: And whatsoeuer thyng the ministers and stewardes of the same, not Lordes or possessours do take vnto themselues more then sufficient, for a competent liuing, the same is taken away from the poore, by a sacrilegious crueltie.

And Eusebiur in his treatise vpon the pilgrimage of S. Ierom writeth thus, if thou doest possesse a garment, or anye other thing more then extreme necessitie doth require: and dost not help the needy, thou art a theef & a robber. Wherefore dearly beloued children, let vs be stewards of our temporallities, and not possessors.

And Isidore in his treatise De summo Bono chap. 42. sayth. Let the byshop know that he is the seruant of the people, and not Lord ouer them.MarginaliaIsidorus de summo bono.

Also in the 5. booke of decretals, extra de donatitionibus, sub authoritate Alexandri terij. Episcopi parisiensis. He sayth, we beleue that it is not vnknowne vnto your brotherhoode, that a Byshop, and euery other Prelate is but a steward of the Churche goodes, and not Lord thereof. By these sayinges of these holy men it is euidently declared, that not only tithes, but also al other substaunce which the clergy hath by gift of worke of mercy, are pure almes, which after the necessitie of the clergy once satisfied, ought to be transported vnto the poore.

Secondly it is declared how that the Clergye are not Lordes and possessours of those goods, but ministers & stewardes therof.

Thirdly it is shewed, that if the Clergye doe abuse the same, they are theeues, robbers, and sacrilegious persons, and except they doe repent, by the iust iudgement of God they are to be condempned.

ANd thus hetherto I may peraduenture seeme to haue made sufficient long resitall out of Ihon Hus, but so notwithstanding that the commoditie of those thinges, maye aboundantly recompence the prolixitie thereof. Wherfore if I shall seeme vnto any man in the rehearsall of this disputation to haue passed very farre the boundes of the history: let him thinke ths of me, that at what tyme I tooke in hand to wryte of these Ecclesiasticall matters, I could not omit these thinges whiche were so straightly ioyned with the cause of the Church.

Neither that I did make more accompt of the historye which I had taken in hand then of the common vtilitie, whereunto I had chiefe respect. These were besides these certayne other articles. Whereupon the sayde Iohn Hus had very wisely and learnedly disputed, but these shal suffice vs for this present. And for the residue we will passe them ouer, to the intent we may the more spedely retourne whereas our story left, declaring what cruelty they vsed not onely against the bookes and articles of Iohn Wickliffe, but also in burning his body and bones, commaunding them to be taken vp 41. yeares after he was buryed, as appeareth by the decree of the sayde Synode, the forme wherof, we thought hereunto to annexe as followeth.

Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

The first of five large illustrations, which cover the period from Wyclif to Luther. The chance survival of 'proof sheets' from the 1563 edition indicate problems that arose with the printing of a picture of Wyclif's body being posthumously burned. The sheets were identified as 'proof sheets' (even though they are only printed on one side) in the revised STC (no.11222a). Wyclif, who died in his bed, exiled from Oxford where he had recruited a following that proved so challenging, did not make an easy martyr. His views were condemned but he was but by no means persecuted by the Church (though it was long believed by Foxe and others that he had gone into exile abroad for a time). It was the Council of Constance that made it possible to elevate the English heresiarch to new heights, by the judgement that condemned him as a notorious heretic and ordered his body and bones to tbe exhumed and -- providing they could be distinguished from those of others -- cast out of consecrated ground. That was in 1415, when the bishop of Lincoln, who would have had to act, was Philip Repingdon, who might well have found this a repugnant duty. Twelve years later, by which time English heresy seemed to be assuming new dimensions, Pope Martin V took up the case and ordered Bishop Fleming (Repingdon's successor and a man of different mettle) not only to exhume Wyclif's body and bones, but to have them publicly burned. It amounted to an accolade for some of his followers. In order to celebrate the English heresiarch in this posthumous martyrdom Foxe had to anticipate a later part of his narrative on the Council of Constance. The image of the event had no hesitation in portraying each stage of this gruesome process, labelling the church, coffin, and various episcopal officials, who unpacked the bones piece by piece to go into the fire which is already consuming the skull, while the bishop's commissary pours the ashes into the river to prevent any posthumous veneration of the heresiarch's remains. This vivid image might have informed Fuller's commemorative words about how 'this brook hath convey'd his ashes into Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; they, into the main Ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliff are the emblem of his doctrine, which now, is dispersed the world over'. CUL copy: Note that the faces of those depicted are particularly well detailed, e.g., figure detailed 'Com[m]issari' has a flush of colour in his lips, cheeks and ear lobes, which are depicted in a pinkish red. There is also well defined shading of the hands, provided by a pale brown wash. WREN: same stock of colours but not so well executed.