THE LAST AGE
OF
THE CHURCH.
The
Last Age of the Church.
By JOHN WYCLYFFE.
Now first Printed
From a Manuscript
In the
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, DUBLIN.
EDITED WITH NOTES,
By
JAMES HENTHORN TODD, D.D.,
Fellow of Trinity College, and Treasurer of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Dublin:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
M.DCCC.XL.
A well known popular Writeron the History of the ChristianChurch has given it ashis Opinion, that whoeverwill carefully examine the original Records,will soon be convinced that the Merits ofWyclyffe, as a Reformer, have been considerablyexaggerated.[1] How far this istrue or not, the Writer of these Pages willnot attempt to determine; but certain it is,[vi]that to “examine the original Records,”with a View to discover the real Doctrinesand Opinions of Wyclyffe, is much moreeasily said than done; and the Readerwho seeks for Satisfaction from the Biographersof the Reformer, or from the Historiansof the Period, will soon be convincedthat the original Records, and above all,the still remaining Writings of Wyclyffeand his Followers, have never been examinedwith the Care and Attention necessaryfor the Purpose of forming a justEstimate of his Opinions, and of the Meritof his Efforts at a Reformation of theChurch.
The List of Wyclyffe’s Writings published[vii]by Bishop Bale, in his Work, ScriptorumMajoris Brytanniæ Catalogus[2], hasbeen necessarily made the Basis of all thatsubsequent Writers have collected. Ithas been reprinted, with many useful additions,by the learned and indefatigableJohn Lewis[3], of whose Labours every