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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2010

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Introduction
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Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1842

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References

page v note * It is marked in the Library, Class C. Tab. 5, No. 6.

page vi note * Life of Wiclif, Oxf. 1820, p. 205. Bale, Cent. vi. p. 454.

page vii note * Alluding to the Commemoratio pro vivis in the Canon of the Mass, “Memento Domine famulorum, famularumque tuarum N et N,” in which special mention is made by the priest of the persons for whom he intends to pray.

More thick, i. e. more numerously.

page viii note * Bale, Cent. vi. p. 454. Lewis's Catal. No. 153, p. 205. No. 273, p. 213. Comp. also, No. 278, p. 214.

page viii note † See British Magazine, Feb. 1836, p. 136.

page viii note ‡ Bale, ut supra. Lewis, No. 155, p. 206. No. 257, p. 211.

page ix note * Bale, ibid. Lewis, No. 156, p. 206, and No. 258, p. 211.

page ix note † Lewis, No. 259, p. 211.

page ix note † Lewis, No. 58, p. 191. Baber, p. 42.

page x note * Lewis, No. 51, p. 191.

page xi note * Lewis, No. 277, p. 214.

page xi note † Lewis, No. 5, p. 181.

page xii note * Meynee, or Meiny, from the French Mesnie. See Nares's Glossary in voc. Meiny.

page xii note † See Lewis, No. 6, p. 182.

page xii note † Lewis, p. 155.

page xv note * Lewis, No. 245, p. 211.

page xv note † Lewis, No. 256, p. 211

page xvi note * This little tract has been printed in the “Irish Ecclesiastical Journal,” No. 11, (May 1841,) page 183.

page xvi note † Some account of this volume was given about three years ago in the British Mazagine, vol. xiv. p. 275, as one of a series of papers on the MSS. of Wicklifle in the Library of the University of Dublin.

page xvii note * See the Preface to “The Last Age of the Church.” Dublin, small 4°. 1840. London (Leslie).

page xvii note † Bale himself says, “Edidit partim Latine, partim in lingua vulgari, opuscula quae sequuntur, quorum majorem partem ex adversariorum scriptis collegi.” But the Catalogue itself bears internal evidence of having been in great part derived from the MSS. many of the works being enumerated in the order in which they occur in MSS. still extant. In neither case, however, can much authority be given to Bale's enumeration of the Reformer's writings, and in particular no inference can fairly be drawn from his omissions.

page xviii note * Bale, Cent. vi. p. 455. Lewis, No. 231, p. 210. Bale also mentions “Positiones variee, lib. i.” and “Determinationes quredam, lib. i.” but as he has not quoted the initial sentences of any of these works it is impossible to identify them with that now before us.

page xix note * See No. XIV. p. xii. supra.

page xxi note * See for example the works of Bishops Andrewes, Hall, Saunderson, &c.

page xxiii note * See p. 1. The extracts here made are given in modern English, for the convenience of the reader, and (for the most part) in what may be called a translation. In the foregoing extract a conjectural emendation, suggested in the note (p. 115), has been adopted.

page xxv note * Orthuinii Gratii Fasciculus (ed. Brown), torn. i. p. 273. See also Bationes etMotiva, art. 8. “Si papa est prsescitus et malus, et per consequens membrum diaboli, non habet potestatem super fideles ab alio sibi datam, nisi forte a Csesare.” Ibid. p. 282.

page xxvi note * Ibid. p. 275.

page xxvi note † Orth, Gratii Fasciculus, torn. i. p. 294. See also Jo. Wiclef Trialogus, lib. iv. cap. xxxii.

page xxvii note * Orth. Gratii Fasciculus. Ibid. p. 283. Comp. also Art. 30. Ibid. p. 289.

page xxix note * Fox, Acts and Monuments, vol. i. p. 534. Lond. fol. 1684. So also in the “Rationes et Motiva” at the council of Constance, the 34th art. attributed to Wickliffe is, “Licet alicui diacono vel presbytero prsedicare verbum Dei, absque authoritate apostolicae sedis, vel episcopi authoritate.” Brown, Fasciculus, torn. i. p. 291.

page xxix note † See what has been said on this subject in the Note on p. 30,1. 22.

page xxx note * See the Note on p. 31, line 29.

page xxx note † These enactments are given rather inaccurately in Gratian's Decretum, Dish xxxii. c. 5 and 6. They will be found in the councils. (Hardouin, torn. vi. col. 1062, c. and 1139, c.) The decree of Alexander II. was the dangerous example afterwards followed by Gregory VII. of calling in the assistance of popular indignation in support of ecclesiastical canons. See Bowden's Life of Gregory VII. vol. ii. p. 25.

page xxxi note * See the second and eighth conclusion objected against William Swinderby. Fox, ubi supra, p. 533, 534. So in the “Rationes et Motiva,” already so often quoted, Wickliffe is made to say in the 15th article, “Nullus est Dominus civilis, nullus est praelatus, nullus est episcopus, dum est in peccato mortali.” (Brown, Fasciculus, torn. i. p. 284). And again in the 17th article, “Populares possunt ad suum arbitrium Dominos delinquentes corrigere.” (Ibid. p. 285.)

page xxxii note * See Art. xxvi. “Of the unworthiness of the ministers which hindereth not the effect of the sacraments.”

page xxxii note † See the fifth conclusion against William Swinderby. Fox, ubi supra.

page xxxii note † ”Rationes et Motiva,” apud Brown, Fascicul. torn. i. p. 287.

page xxxiii note * See the articles, under the head “Contra Orationes,” attributed to Wickliffe in the Council of Constance. Brown, torn. i. p. 269. Also those under the head “Contra Missas et horas.” Ibid. p. 276.

page xxxiv note * Fox, vol. i. p. 587.

page xxxv note * This last clause is very obscure, and is probably corrupt in the original. It is here emended conjecturally; the meaning appears to be “that which faith discerns under the form of the bread is the Body of Christ.”

page xxxv note * See the Note on p. 48, line 8.

page xxxvii note * Published in the Fasciculus rerum expetend. et fugiend. Ed. Brown, torn. ii. p. 250.

page xxxvii note † See the Note on p. 56, line 9.

page xxxvii note † See the Note on p. 53, line 12.

page xl note * Our author's gloss upon the words quemcunque solveritis in terra, “warn pat 3e bring out of synne” is remarkable. It is not to be taken as a translation, but as an exposition of the passage. In the printed text of Wickliffe's New Testament the words are rendered “what ever thingis 3e unbynden on erthe, tho shulen be unbounden also in hevene.” Matt, xviij. 18.

page xl note † Page 70.

page xli note * The eighth of the Articles attributed to Wickliffe, and impugned by William de Wodford, is “Quod causae divortii ratione consanguinitatis vel afflnitatis, sint infundabiliter humanitus ordinatæ.” See Orthuini Gratii Fascicul. ed. Brown, t. i. p. 190, and p. 213.

page xlii note * Egyptians, that is enemies of the true servants of God, and holding them in bondage, as the Egyptians did the children of Israel.

page xlii note † See JVote on page 53, 1. 12.

page xliii note * The “Liber sextus Decretalium” was added by Boniface VIII. in 1298. The five books of Clementine Constitutions were compiled under Clement V.but published by his successor John XXII. in 1317. And the twenty constitutions of this latter Pontiff, now commonly known by the name of Extravagantes, were published about the year 1326.

page xliv note * See the Articles condemned as Wickliffe's in the Council of Constance, No. 38. “Decretales epistolae sunt apocryphae, et seductivse a fide Christi, et Clerici sunt stulti qui eas student.” Orthuini Gratii Fascicul. ed. Browne, torn. i. p. 292.

page xliv note † It may be well to remind the general reader that theologians distinguish between the counsels and the commands of Christ. The latter are absolute, founded on the principles of immutable morality, or our natural duties to God and man, and are consequently equally binding upon all men, in all places and under all circumstances, and absolutely necessary to salvation. The counsels of Christ on the other hand relate not to things necessary, but to things expedient, leading us not to holiness, but to higher degrees of holiness, not to salvation, but to higher degrees of glory. “Haec est differentia,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “inter consilium et præceptum, quod prmceptum importat necessitatem, consilium autem in optione ponitur ejus cui datur: et ideo convenienter in lege nova, quas est lex libertatis, supra prcecepta sunt addita comilia: non autem in veteri lege, quaeerat lex servitutis. Oportet igitur quod pracepta novae legis intelligantur esse data de his quaa sunt necessaria ad consequendum finem sterna; beatitudinis, in quem lex nova immediate introducit; consilia vero oportet esse de illis per quae melius et expeditius potest homo consequi finem prsedictum.” Summa Theol. 1, 2, q. 108, 4.

page xlvi note * Page 82.

page xlviii note * Page 91.

page xlix note * This story is told of the woman whose issue of blood was healed by touching the hem of our Lord's garment. See Note, p. 91, 1. 24.

page xlix note † In the original “more excellent and vertuosar than other creatures.” This would seem to a modern reader to imply that Christ was a creature. But such was not our author's meaning, nor the import of his language, as it would have been understood in his own day. The word creatures is grammatically in apposition with other: as if he had said “more excellent than others, i. e. than creatures.” Comp. Luke x. 1. Rom. viii. 39, in our English Version.

page xlix note † In this part of the work our author repeatedly refers to some former discourse or treatise. “I have rehersid the sentence of Chrysostom, p. 90. “And to this I seid thus,” p. 91. “And to theis I have said thus,” p. 92. See p. xxi.

page l note * Page 94.

page lv note * The words “contening traveil” (p, 109, 1. 13) are printed exactly as they stand in the MS. but “contening” is probably a mistake for “contemning.” The omission of a line over the e would make the whole difference.

page lvii note * The only deviations that have been permitted are, first, in the case of proper names, the name of God, &c. which are written in the MS. sometimes with small, and sometimes with capital initial letters. In the printed tract capital letters have been uniformly employed. Secondly, in the punctuation; which has been conformed to the sense, and to the modern notation. The punctuation of the MS. is highly capricious and irregular, and no object would have been attained by attempting to preserve it. The marginal summaries, and references to the Scriptures and Fathers, although the greater part of them occur in the original, have been in some cases added by the Editor for the sake of uniformity.

page lviii note * Macpherson, in his edition of “Wyntoun's Cronykil of Scotland,” has the following remark on the difference of þ and th. “Ð þ expresses the sound now marked by th in that, this; whereas such words as think, thing, are written with th; and this distinction with very few exceptions (apparently faults of transcribers) is constantly observed.” (General rules for reading Wyntoun's Cronykil, vol. i. d. p. 2.) This distinction (which is no more than the difference between ð and þ) is probably characteristic of Scotch MSS. The Editor has not observed any such use of th as distinguished from þ in the English MS. of the fourteenth and fifteenth century to which he has had access.

page lxi note * The principal of these reasons has been already alluded to, p. xix.

page lxiii note * See the Preface to “the Last Age of the Church,” a tract supposed to be the earliest of Wicliffe's writings, and published from an unique MS. copy in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, by the Editor of the present volume.