In the tract “De Officio Pastorale,” alluded to above, there is a similar passage—“conjugium secundum legem Christi eis licitum odiunt ut venenum, et seculare dominium eis a Christo prohibitum nimis avide amplexantur” (P. II. cap. xi. pp. 50-51).
It is to be borne in mind that at this period no one assumed that clerical celibacy had been ordained of Christ or the Apostles.
[942] Trialogi Lib. III. c. 22, 23; Lib. IV. 16 (Ed. Lechler, Oxford 1869).—Cf. Apology for Lollard Doctrines, p. 38 (Ed. Camden Soc.).
[943] Wilkins III. 229,—Trialogi Lib. IV. c. 20.
[944] Conclusiones Lollardorum (Wilkins III. 221-3).
[945] Wilkins III. 248.
[946] In 1426, ten years after the execution of Lord Cobham, a Franciscan named Thomas Richmond was brought before the council of York for publicly preaching the high Wickliffite doctrine “Sacerdos in peccato mortali lapsus, non est sacerdos. Item quod ecclesia nolente vel non puniente fornicarios, licitum est sæcularibus eosdem pœna carceris castigare, et ad hoc astringuntur vinculo charitatis” (Wilkins III. 488). This practical application of the Hildebrandine principle did not suit the church of the fifteenth century. It was pronounced heretical, and Friar Thomas was forced to recant.
Equally offensive to the memory of Gregory was the decision of the Sorbonne in 1486, condemning as heretical the propositions of the puritan Bishop of Meaux—“3. Un prêtre fornicateur ne doit pas dire Dominus vobiscum ni reciter l’office en aucun lieu sacré. Ce qui est faux et suspect d’heresie.”—“4. Les sacremens administrez ou l’office dit par un tel prêtre ne valent pas mieux que les cris des chiens. Proposition fausse et erronée dans la premiere partie, héretique scandaleuse et offensant les oreilles pieuses dans la seconde.”—Fleury, Hist. Eccles. Liv. CXVI. No. 39.
[947] When, after the fearful disaster of Taas, the council of Bâle, in 1432, commenced the conferences which resulted in the nominal reconciliation of the Hussites, the fathers of the council were much scandalized at hearing the Bohemian deputies reverently quote Wickliffe as the Evangelical Doctor. In fact, Peter Payne, his disciple, who did so much to promulgate his doctrines in Bohemia, was one of the disputants (Hartzheim V. 762-4). Even as early as 1403 the errors of Wickliffe were formally condemned by the University of Prague, on presentation by the Ordinary of the diocese, showing that they were already spreading and attracting attention (Höfler, Concil. Pragensia, p. 43.—Prag, 1862).
[948] Artic. Damnat. Joannis Husz, No. viii. x. xi. xii. xiii. xxii. xxx. (Concil. Constantiens. Sess. xv.)—On his examination Huss declared that these articles were exaggerated. See the proceedings in Von der Hardt, T. IV. pp. 309-11. But on the next day he defended a proposition which was virtually identical (Ibid. p. 321).