Transcriber’s Note: Sidenotes have been treated as footnotes, with anchors inserted in the text at the appropriate point. Upright text within italic passages is indicated ~like this~. 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. [Illustration] ¶ 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.