To the contrary, Wyclif encourages secular monarchs to do the Church a favor by taking away all of its possessions, since concern with wealth distracts the clergy from their proper, spiritual tasks. In a state of grace before original sin, there was no private property and Christ’s restoration of human nature offers us the chance to live again with all things shared in common, something embraced by the Apostles, who led lives of poverty. The Church of Wyclif’s own day was obviously failing rather spectacularly to follow suit.
