The Conclusions Of The Lollards

John Ball writes: It is many years since the Lord took the blindness from my eyes and let me see His Truth. For that I was expelled, beaten, imprisoned. For years I existed, a wandering preacher, living off the charity of poor peasants, sympathetic merchants, and even the occasional godly knight. Women, in particular, were glad to hear my message, for they feel a particular revulsion for the violence of men, the endless war in France, the self serving priests, the taxes that steal the strength of their youth.
Several years after my death, some fellow Lollards presented the Twelve Conclusions to King Richard and Parliament.
Here are the first three Conclusions:

1. That when the Church of England began to go mad after temporalities, like its great step-mother the Roman Church, and churches were authorized by appropriation in divers places, faith, hope and charity began to flee from our Church, because pride, with its doleful progeny of mortal sins, claimed this under title of truth. This conclusion is general, and proved by experience, custom and manner or fashion, as you shall afterwards hear.

2.That our usual priesthood which began in Rome, pretended to be of power more lofty than the angels, is not that priesthood which Christ ordained for His apostles. This conclusion is proved because the Roman priesthood is bestowed with signs, rites, and pontifical blessings, of small virtue, nowhere exemplified in Holy Scripture, because the bishop's ordinal and the New Testament scarcely agree, and we cannot see that the Holy Spirit, by the reason of any such signs, confers the gift, for He and all His excellent gifts cannot consist in any one with mortal sin. A corollary of this is that it is a grievous play for wise men to see bishops trifle with the Holy Spirit in the bestowal of orders, because they give the tonsure in outward appearance in place of pure hearts: and this is the unrestrained introduction of antichrist into the Church to give colour to idleness.

3. That the law of celibacy enjoined to priests, which was first ordained to the prejudice of women, brings sodomy into all the Holy Church, but we excuse ourselves by the Bible because the decree says that we should not mention it, though suspected. Reason and experience prove this conclusion: reason, because the good living of ecclesiastics must have a natural outlet or worse; experience, because the secret proof of such men is that they find delight in women, and when thou hast proved such a man, mark him well, because he is one of them. A corollary to this is that private religions and the originators or beginning of this sin would be specially worthy of being checked, but God of His power with regard to secret sin sends open vengeance in His Church.