‘Since the holy church says that pride is the foundation of sin, covetousness is not the root of all evil,—and thus the words of St Paul do not seem true. In answer to this I say, from St John the evangelist, ‘Nolite diligere mundum nec ea quæ in eo sunt. Si quis diligit mundum, non est charitas Patris in eo: quoniam omne quod est in mundo aut est concupiscentia carnis, aut oculorum, aut superbia vitæ, quæ non est ex Patre sed mundo: et mundus transibit, et concupiscentia carnis; sed qui facit voluntatem Dei vivet in æternum.’
‘That is to say, Do not love the world, nor place your sole happiness in worldly things; for the pleasures of this world consist in covetousness and in a love of the flesh,—in the pursuit of worldly riches and vain honours, which are not the passions given us by God. All worldly things are transitory,—and the world dies and its desires with it; but he who does the will of God will enjoy everlasting glory with him.
‘It appears clearly from this quotation from St John that there are three sorts of covetousness, which include within them every sin, namely, covetousness of vain honours,—covetousness of worldly riches,—covetousness of carnal delights; and it was thus understood by the Apostle when he said, ‘Radix omnium malorum cupiditas.’
‘Covetousness being understood to appear in the three forms aforesaid, and mentioned by St John,—the first of which is that of vain honours, which is nothing more than a wicked desire, and a disordered inclination to deprive another of his honours or lordships,—this passion is called by St John superbia vitæ, and contains within it every vice, namely, pride, vain-glory, anger, hatred and envy; for when he who is possessed by this passion cannot accomplish his will, he becomes enraged against God, and against those that stand in his way, and thus commits the sin of anger, which increases soon against the person in possession of the aforementioned superiority, to so great a degree that he practises to put him to death.
‘The second covetousness is called ‘the covetousness of worldly riches,’ which is the passion to take away from another his wealth and moveables, and is called by the evangelist concupiscentia oculorum. It includes within it usury, avarice, and rapine.
‘The third covetousness is the concupiscentia carnis, which is merely disorderly desires for carnal delights, or perhaps indolence; as, for example, when a monk or other religious cannot endure to go to matins, because he is more comfortable in his bed. Sometimes it consists in gluttony, as when any one devours too much meat or wine, because they are pleasing to his tongue and savoury to his palate. At other times, it may shew itself in luxury, and in other shapes and manners which it is unnecessary to explain.
‘My first article is therefore clear, when I said, that ‘covetousness was the root of all evil,’ if we understand it as the apostle did, when he said, ‘Radix omnium malorum cupiditas: et hoc de primo articulo hujus primæ partis.’
‘To enter on the subject of the second article of my major, I shall take it for granted that the greatest possible crime on earth is the crime of high treason, for the highest honour under heaven consists in the royal majesty. Can there then be a greater crime than any injury offered to the royal majesty? As this crime, therefore, is the deepest, the punishment of it should be the most severe.
‘There are two sorts of kingly dignity,—the one divine and perpetual, the other human and temporal; and in like manner, there are two kinds of high treason,—the first the crime of treason against the divine, and the second against the human majesty. That of high treason against the divine majesty may be again divided into two parts; first, when an injury is offered personally to our Sovereign Lord God and Creator, such as heresy and idolatry; secondly, when they are committed against the spouse of our holy Lord God Jesus Christ,—namely the holy Church, and when any schism or division is introduced within it. I therefore mean to say, that heretics and idolaters commit the crime of high treason in the first degree, and schismatics in the second.
‘The crime of human high treason may be divided into four degrees: first, consisting of offences done personally against the prince,—of offences done to the person of the queen, his spouse,—of such as are done personally against their children,—and fourthly, of injuries done to the public state. As the crime of high treason has been ever considered as one of the most atrocious, the laws have ordained much severer punishments against it than for any others. In cases of heresy and human high treason, a man may be accused after his death, and a process may be carried on against him: should he be convicted of heresy, his body is taken up from the grave, his bones put into a bag, carried to the place of execution, and burnt. In like manner, should any one be convicted after his decease of human high treason, his body is taken up from the grave, his bones put into a sack, all his wealth in land or moveables is confiscated to the prince, and his children declared incapable of holding lands or of succeeding to any property.