Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

An apology for Lollard doctrines, attributed to Wicliffe. Now first printed from a manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. With an introduction and notes by James Henthorn Todd.

makyng þe hous of prayors a den of þeuis. Also þey ȝekun al kynd of brekyng of law, þat now þer is not opun what þing þe Lord hem a towere. And þat I passe ouer schortly, wiþ al kynd of syn, felony, and abhominacoun, and new aduencouns. And in þer aduencouns þey are filid as þe prophet seiþ to God, and to þe court of heuen are þey moost abominable, and hateful maade; for bi hem þe nam of God is blasfemid in alle folk. Wen þe lesynd of þe herd is a bok of þe schepe, and þei are opunly maistris of alle iuelis; how are þey not heretyks? namly sin, þe word of dede, is more effectuos in werkyng þen þe word of þe mouþ. And wen þei of þer office are gederers of euerlastyng lif, how euen þey are þus misusing þis generatif strengþe, are þei not, a cordantly to þe wordis of þe prophets, werr, and abhominabler þan carnal sodomits? namly wan þe misusing of þe better vertu is werr, and more abho|minable. And þus þeis scheperds are, of office, liȝt and sun of þe world, liȝtning and quickning it; but aȝenword, wan þei mak and ȝetten out for liȝt þickest derknes, and so lifly ȝet corrumping cold and blakning, opunly are traytors of þis world. But wo is þe formar and original cause, wel, and biginning of þis þus gret iuel, I drede ungly to sey, tremel and quake. Neuerþeles I dar not hold it stille, þat I falle not in to þis woo þat þe prophet seiþ, Woo to [Isa. ujo.] me for I haue be stille, for I am a man pollutid in lippis. Þe cause, welle, and biginning of þis iuel is þe court of Rome; not only for it scateriþ not his þings, and purgiþ not his abhomina|couns, wen it a lone myth, þis moost and heiast is haldun þer to; but þus mikil þe more þat it silf bi his prouisiouns, dispensacouns, and ȝeuing of pastoral curis, ordeyniþ in þe een of þe sun, swilk as are towchid bifore, hyrdis, ȝa traytors of þis world, þat it peruey to þe temporal lif of sum man, it haþ be taken to þe deuowring or swelluing of alle bestis of þe feld, þat is to al þe fendis to ay lasting deþ many þowȝandis; for þe wilk lest of alle to be quicknid ȝend|lesly, þe Son of God wold be condempnid to fowlist deþ; for [he]
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Title
An apology for Lollard doctrines, attributed to Wicliffe. Now first printed from a manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. With an introduction and notes by James Henthorn Todd.
Author
Wycliffe, John, supposed author. d. 1384.
Canvas
Page 55
Publication
London,: Printed for the Camden Society, by J.B. Nichols,
1842.
Subject terms
Lollards

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"An apology for Lollard doctrines, attributed to Wicliffe. Now first printed from a manuscript in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. With an introduction and notes by James Henthorn Todd." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/acm9160.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 14, 2025.
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