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[CHRISTIANITY]. [WYCLIFFE, John (1328-1384), subject]. LEWIS, John. The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Reverend and Learned John Wicliffe, D. D. Warden of Canterbury Hall, and Publick Professor of Divinity in Oxford… London: Robert Knaploc and Richard Wilkin, 1720. 8vo. xxvi, [1]-[406] pp. Approximately 7 ½ x 4 ½”. Bound in contemporary full speckled calf, boards double-ruled in gilt, spine ruled in gilt, burgundy gilt morocco lettering label, five raised bands (some light wear, scuffing to binding, apparent library label residue on spine, ink library markings on both pastedowns, hinges starting, occasional thumbsoiling in text). Very good. FIRST EDITION OF THIS BIOGRAPHY OF THIS CHURCH REFORMER AND SCHOLAR. Wycliffe was critical of the Catholic Church and its wealth, thus incurring the wrath of Pope Gregory XI and later popes (he was posthumously declared a heretic and had his writings banned and burned and his body exhumed and desecrated). Many religious scholars consider Wycliffe to be a vanguard of Protestantism, predating Martin Luther (1483-1546) by a century.