Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/457

Rh leccherie and fals swering upon bokus. Sithen tho chirches bene dunnus of thefis and habitacionis of fendis." Ecclesiastics must not live in luxury and pomp, but as poor men "gyvynge ensaum- ple of holynes by ther conversacion." The Church must be de- prived of all its temporalities, and whatever was necessary for the support of its members must be held in common. Tithes and of- ferings were not to be given to sinful priests; it was simony for a priest to receive payment for his spiritual ministrations, though he might sell his labor in honest vocations, such as teaching and the binding of books, and though no one was forbidden to make an oblation at mass, provided he did not seek to obtain more than his share in the sacrifice. All parish priests and vicars who did not perform their functions were to be removed, and especially all who were non-resident. All priests and deacons, moreover, were to preach zealously, for which no special license or commis- sion was required.

All these tenets of which they were accused the Wickliffites admitted and defended in the most incisive fashion, but there were two articles which they denied. Wickliff's teaching so closely resembled that of the Waldenses that it was natural that the orthodox should attribute to him the two Waldensian errors which regarded all oaths as unlawful, and held that priests in mortal sin could not administer the sacraments. To the former, his followers replied that, though they rejected all unnecessary swearing, they admitted that "If hit be nedeful for to swere for a spedful treuthe men mowe wele swere as God did in the olde lawe." As to the latter, they said that the sinful priest can give sacra- ments efficient to those who worthily receive them, though he re- ceive damnation unto himself. The prominence of the Fraticelli also suggested the imputation that the Wickliffites believed the entire renunciation of property to be essential to salvation; but this they denied, saying that a man might make lawful gains and hold them, but that he must use them well.

All these antisacerdotal teachings flowed directly from the