I have to day been at youre chirche at messe,
And seyd a sermon after my symple wit –
Nat al after the text of hooly writ,
For it is hard to yow, as I suppose,
And therfore wol I teche yow al the glose.
Glosynge is a glorious thyng, certeyn,
For lettre sleeth, so as we clerkes seyn.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Tale. When Friar John goes to the house of the sick, bedridden Thomas and his wife, he speaks admiringly of his sermon he gave earlier that day in church. He doesn’t entirely follow holy writ, as it is hard for people to understand, but preaches his own interpretation of it.