Þe secun­de pro­fit is wyn­nyn­ge of holy lif on eche side. For nowe pre­la­tis and gre­te reli­gious pos­ses­sio­ners ben so occu­p­ied abou­te world­ly lor­di­s­chip­is and plea and bysi­nesse in her­te, þat þei may not be in devo­ci­on of preiyn­ge, and þouȝt of heve­ne­ly þin­gis, and of here owe­ne syn­nys and oþe­re men­nys, and stu­die and prechyn­ge of þe gos­pel, and visi­tyn­ge and con­for­tyn­ge of pore men in here dio­cis­is and lor­di­s­chip­is. And þo goo­dis þat ben ove­re here owe­ne sus­ten­aun­ce and neces­s­a­ries, þat schul­de be depart­id among pore men most nedi, ben now was­tid in fes­tis of lor­dis and riche men, in fes­tis and robis and ȝiftis of men of lawe, in alle con­trees whe­re here lor­di­s­chip­is ben, and in riche cler­kis of þe Chaun­ce­rie, of þe Comyn Ben­che and Kyn­gis Ben­che, and in þe Che­cher, and of jus­ti­cis and sche­re­ves and sti­war­dis and bai­li­fis, þat litil or nouȝt comeþ to hem, or here chirch­is and coven­tis, but name of þe world, and þouȝt and bisyn­es­se and care and sor­owe. And for dre­de of los­se of þes tem­po­ral­tees, þei doren not repro­ve syn­ne of lor­dis and myȝtty men, ne fre­ly damp­ne covei­ti­se in world­ly men, ne in meyn­tenyn­ge of fals plee; for þei ben opyn­ly smyt­ted in alle þes syn­nys, and many moo. And þus is tre­we techyn­ge of God­dis lawe, and ensaum­p­le of holy lif, wiþ­dra­wen fro lor­dis and comyns for þes world­ly lor­di­s­chip­is of cler­kis, and sym­onye, pri­de, ext­or­si­ons, and alle mane­re syn­ne and meyn­tenyn­ge of syn­ne is brouȝt in.

Wyclif, Sel­ec­ted Eng­lish Works

Ich hat­te die­ser Tage auf der – in die­sem Fall zuge­ge­ben etwas extre­men – Suche nach Erst­be­le­gen Gele­gen­heit, ein biss­chen in mit­tel­eng­li­schen Tex­ten zu wüh­len. Was ja heut­zu­ta­ge mit dem Text­an­ge­bot im Web kei­nen Biblio­theks­be­such mehr erfor­dert; da spart man die Anfahrt und hat ent­spre­chend mehr Zeit, sich mit den ein­schlä­gi­gen Titeln zu ver­lus­tie­ren. Über­haupt bestand das Pro­blem, wie ich bald fest­stel­len muss­te, nicht mehr im Zugang zum Text, son­dern dar­in, die gesuch­ten Stel­len denn auch ordent­lich dort­hin zu kopie­ren, wo man sie braucht. (mehr …)