¶ The Preface.

A well known popular Writer on the History of the Christian Church has given it as his Opinion, that whoever will carefully examine the original Records, will soon be convinced that the Merits of Wyclyffe, as a Reformer, have been considerably exaggerated.[1] How far this is true or not, the Writer of these Pages will not attempt to determine; but certain it is, that to “examine the original Records,” with a View to discover the real Doctrines and Opinions of Wyclyffe, is much more easily said than done; and the Reader who seeks for Satisfaction from the Biographers of the Reformer, or from the Historians of the Period, will soon be convinced that the original Records, and above all, the still remaining Writings of Wyclyffe and his Followers, have never been examined with the Care and Attention necessary for the Purpose of forming a just Estimate of his Opinions, and of the Merit of his Efforts at a Reformation of the Church.

The List of Wyclyffe’s Writings published by Bishop Bale, in his Work, Scriptorum Majoris Brytanniæ Catalogus[2], has been necessarily made the Basis of all that subsequent Writers have collected. It has been reprinted, with many useful additions, by the learned and indefatigable John Lewis[3], of whose Labours every Student must speak with Gratitude. Mr. Baber[4] also has done much towards assisting future Inquirers, by the very valuable List of the Reformer’s Writings that he has compiled. Here, however, we must stop; Mr. Vaughan’s Compilation[5] has not added much to our Knowledge of the Subject, nor can it be commended either for Accuracy or Learning; and Mr. Le Bas[6] does not profess to do more than follow his Predecessors. His humbler Task, however, has been executed with great Elegance and Judgment.

The Truth, therefore, is, that until the Works of Wyclyffe, real and supposititious, be collected and published, it is vain to talk of determining his Opinions, or fixing his real Merits as a Reformer; and it is with the Hope of directing Attention to this Subject that the following Tract is now printed. The learned Henry Wharton[7] was willing to believe that all the Writings of Wyclyffe might in his Time have been recovered: “omnia Wiclefi scripta,” he says, “in Anglia adhuc delitescere, et ex Bibliothecis nostris qua publicis qua privatis in lucem erui posse, lubenter crederem.” Perhaps we have still all the MSS. that existed in Wharton’s Time, and it may be still within our Power to rescue them from the Oblivion in which they have so long been suffered to remain. But the Chances of their Destruction are every Day becoming greater, and Delay in such an Enterprize is highly dangerous. It is true that many of these Documents will be found dry, and to the popular Reader uninteresting; buried in the barbarous Latinity of the Schools, or concealed under the perhaps still more obsolete English of the fourteenth Century. But they who would engage in such a Labour as the Publication of the Works of Wyclyffe, must be above the narrow Influences of modern Utilitarianism. They must keep in View a higher Field of Learning than comes within the Sphere of Mercantile Speculators in Literature, or Useful Knowledge Societies. They must feel that the Value of these Documents as Compositions, is but a secondary Object in their Publication; the great End must be the Discovery of Truth, and the Preservation of the Remains of an illustrious Character in our History. What nobler, what more imperishable Monument could the Gratitude of England raise to her first Reformer, than a complete and uniform Edition of his extant Writings?

The Editor is fully sensible that the Tract which is now for the first Time given to the public, is very far from being a favorable Specimen of the Works of Wyclyffe. But it commended itself for Publication on many Grounds: First, its Shortness. Secondly, its early Date; for it bears internal Evidence of having been composed in the Year 1356[8], and must, therefore, (if really by Wyclyffe,) have been the earliest of his Writings. Another Motive for publishing this Production is furnished by the Consideration, that, if it be genuine, it reveals to us a Fact not dwelt upon, so far as the Editor knows, by any of the Reformer’s Biographers; namely, the Connexion which existed between the earlier Doctrines of Wyclyffe, and the prophetical Speculations of the Beguins, circulated under the Name of the famous Abbot Joachim.

It remains, however, to be proved, that the Tract now printed is really Wyclyffe’s; and this, the Editor admits, seemed to him an additional Reason for selecting it for Publication; inasmuch as it served at once to raise the Question, How far we have certain Grounds for attributing to Wyclyffe the Writings that exist under his Name; nor is it perhaps too much to say, that this is a Subject which the learned World has never been in a Condition to consider fully. Yet there is no preliminary Question more deserving of Attention, if we would form a just Estimate of our Reformer’s Merits; for it must be evident to every reflecting Reader, that if we are in any Degree uncertain of the Genuineness of such Writings as are quoted under the Name of Wyclyffe, the Conclusions drawn from them, as to the Nature and Character of his Doctrines, must be in the same Degree uncertain, and destitute of Authority.

In the present Case, the Grounds upon which the following Treatise has been assigned to Wyclyffe, are no more than these:—First, that it is found in a MS. Volume of the fourteenth Century, which contains several other Tracts, that are believed to be Wyclyffe’s. Secondly, that it has been ascribed to Wyclyffe, by Bishop Bale, Mr. Lewis, and, after them, by his more modern Biographers.

These Remarks are not made with a Design to cast any Doubt on the Genuineness of the following Treatise. It is very probably by Wyclyffe, although we have no better Reason than the Authority of Bale for thinking so. But if any Reader should entertain a Doubt on this Subject, deeming the Tract unworthy of our Reformer, (as many will doubtless feel it to be very different from what they would have expected from the Pen of Wyclyffe,) the Editor must confess himself unable to satisfy such Scruples; nor is he aware of any Argument by which the Authority of Bale and Lewis can be supported. The Conclusion, however, to which he desires to bring the Reader, and for the Sake of which he has hazarded these Remarks, is simply this, that until the various Treatises attributed to Wyclyffe are collected, and rendered accessible to the Learned, it is vain to think of deciding the Question how far any given Tract is worthy or unworthy of his Pen. One other Particular, concerning the following Work, remains to be considered. Mr. Vaughan[9] tells us that “this is one of the Reformer’s Pieces that is to be found only in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin;” and this may, for aught we know, be true, although perhaps it only means that no other Copy of the Tract was elsewhere found by Mr. Vaughan. Certain, however, it is, that Bishop Bale has entered the Treatise in two different Places of his Catalogue, and under two different Titles; from which we may infer, that in his Time, or in the Times of those from whom he copied, the Tract was found in two different Collections. In one place he enters it thus[10]:—(See No. 84 of Lewis’s Catalogue.[11])

“De simonia sacerdotum, lib. 1. Heu magni sacerdotes in tenebris.”

In another place[12] he gives it the Title under which it is now published, and describes it thus[13]:—

“De ultimâ ætate Ecclesiæ, lib. 1, Sacerdotes, proh dolor! versantes in vitiis.”

It is by no means improbable, therefore, that a second Copy of the Tract may still exist, under some Disguise, in our public or private Libraries.

The Volume from which the Treatise is now printed, is preserved among the MSS. of Archbishop Ussher, in the Library of the University of Dublin. It appears to have been once the Property of Sir Robert Cotton, whose Autograph is found on the lower Margin of the first Page, in his usual Form of Signature[14]:

“Robert Cotton Bruceus.”

On the upper Margin of the same Page, in a Hand of the early Part of the sixteenth Century, now nearly obliterated, may be traced the Words,

“Wiclefe roas a thousand thre hūderyd thre schorr and uiij.”

Over which Sir Robert Cotton has written,

“Anno 1368. Wicklif workes to the Duk of Lancaster.”

Nothing appears in the Volume to indicate the exact Year in which it was transcribed, but the Hand-writing would lead us to assign it to the latter End of the fourteenth or Beginning of the fifteenth Century. It is imperfect in some places, but contains a very valuable Collection of the Tracts of Wyclyffe, for a complete List of which the Reader is referred to some Papers that were published in the Year 1835, in the British Magazine[15]; where he will also find an Account of the Treatise, now for the first time printed, “On the last Age of the Chirche,” with an Exposure of certain Mistakes that have been committed respecting it. Several of the Remarks contained in those Papers have been transferred to the Notes, which will be found at the End of the present Volume.