Chaucerian and Other Pieces: Being a Supplement to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
General
Chaucerian and Other Pieces: Being a Supplement to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400
Knowen may it wel ben now of these thinges toforn
declared, that man hath not alway thilke rightfulnesse
which by dutè of right evermore haven he shulde, and by no way
by him-selfe may he it gete ne kepe; and after he it hath, if he it
lese, recover shal he it never without especial grace. Wherfore 5
the comune sentence of the people in opinion, that every thing
after destenee is ruled, false and wicked is to beleve. For though
predestinacion be as wel of good as of badde, sithen that it is
sayd, god +hath destenees made, whiche he never ne wrought; but,
for he suffreth hem to be maked, as that he hardeth, whan he 10
naught missayth, or +let in-to temptacion, whan he not delivereth:
wherfore it is non inconvenient if in that maner be sayd, god toforn
have destenyed bothe badde and her badde werkes, whan
hem ne their yvel dedes [he] neyther amendeth ne therto hem
grace +leneth. But specialliche, predestinacion of goodnesse 15
alone is sayd by these grete clerkes; for in him god doth that
they ben, and that in goodnesse they werchen. But the negatif
herof in badnesse is holden, as the Lady of Love hath me lerned,
who-so aright in this booke loketh. And utterly it is to weten,
that predestinacion properly in god may not ben demed, no more 20
than beforn-weting. For in the chapitre of goddes beforn-weting,
as Love me rehersed, al these maters apertly may ben founden.
Al thinges to god ben now +togider and in presence duringe.
Trewly, presence and predestinacion in nothing disacorden;
wherfore, as I was lerned how goddes before-weting and free 25
choice of wil mowe stonden +togider, me thinketh the same reson
me ledeth, that destenye and free wil accorden, so that neyther of
hem bothe to other in nothing contrarieth. And resonabliche
may it not ben demed, as often as any thing falleth [thorow] free
wil werching (as if a man another man wrongfully anoyeth, wherfore 30
he him sleeth), that it be constrayned to that ende, as mokel
folk cryeth and sayth: 'Lo, as it was destenyed of god toforn
knowe, so it is thorow necessitè falle, and otherwyse might it not
betyde.' Trewly, neyther he that the wrong wrought, ne he that
him-selfe venged, none of thilke thinges thorow necessitè wrought; 35
for if that [oon] with free wil there had it not willed, neyther had
[he] wrought that he perfourmed; and so utterly grace, that free
wil in goodnesse bringeth and kepeth, and fro badnesse it tourneth,
in al thinge moste thank deserveth. This grace maketh
sentence in vertue to abyde, wherfore in body and in soule, in ful 40
plentee of conninge, after their good deserving in the everlastinge
joye, after the day of dome shul they endelesse dwelle; and they
shul ben lerned in that kingdom with so mokel affect of love and
of grace, that the leste joye shal of the gretest in glorie rejoice
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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