In _English Chantries: The Road to Dissolution_ (Cambridge,
1979), Alan Kreider wrote that "At no stage of his career did
John Wyclif their [Lollards] prophet and founder, expressly
denounce the doctrine of Purgatory, but he was increasingly
outraged by what he regarded as the Church's fiscally motivated
exploitation of it" (94). In Wycliffe's _Select English Works_
(Oxford, 1871) one sermon attributed to Wycliffe stated that
"Since they are all dead in body, Christ's words may be applied
to them--let us serve Christ in our life, and let the dead bury
the dead" (III, 339-40). Some Lollards did denounce Purgatory,
while others attacked prayers for the dead as a "false ground of
alms-giving." Most, however, did not include rejection of
Purgatory among their beliefs when confessing their heresies in
1511-12 or 1528-29.
Is it safe to say that Wycliffe did not "expressly denounce the
doctrine of Purgatory" in his works? Or are there other more
explicit references than that from _Select English Works_? If he
did denounce the doctrine, it would be striking that so few
Lollards chose to follow him. If he didn't, then Wycliffe and
the Lollards did not plant any "seeds of doubt" which later
reformers were able to exploit to undermine belief in Purgatory.
(See Clare Gittings, _Death, Burial, and the Individual_ (London,
1984), 36).
Comments? Suggestions? Inspirations?
j.helt
heltjs@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu