"The Tracts here collected are now, for the first time, printed.
They are interesting as being, perhaps, the latest of Wycklyffe's
writings, and as expressing, it may be presumed, his matured
opinions and judgement, on the important subjects of which they
treat. One of them, the Treatise _On the Church and its Members_,
contains internal evidence of having been composed within the last
year of the Reformer's life: the others, from their close
connexion with this, in style and subject-matter, were probably
written at the same time."
"It is scarcely necessary to say that the Editor, in printing
these curious tracts, has no wish to recommend _all_ the doctrines
they advocate. His object is to make them known as documents
essential to the right understanding of the attempt made by
Wycklyffe and his followers for the reformation of the Church.
They are interesting also as monuments of the state of the English
language in the fourteenth century, and they throw great light on
the manners, customs, and religion of our ancestors at that
period.
"Some _Notes_ have been added explanatory of obscure allusions,
and with verifications of the quotations from ancient writers,
occurring in the Text. A copious _Glossary_ has also been
compiled, to assist the reader in understanding the obsolete words
and spellings of the original.
"The Editor is not without a hope that the publication of these
Treatises may direct the attention of influential scholars to the
importance of collecting and printing, under the care of competent
Editors, all the existing writings which remain in our libraries,
under the name of Wycklyffe and his contemporaries. Until this is
done, a most important period of our ecclesiastical history must
continue in comparative obscurity."
Dublin: HODGES AND SMITH, Grafton Street, Booksellers to the
University.