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.”