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the truths which he had discovered.
He commenced with great prudence, but as he discerned more
clearly the errors of the papacy, he taught more earnestly the doctrine
of faith. His knowledge of theology, his penetrating mind, the purity
of his life, and his unbending courage and integrity, won for him
general confidence and esteem. He was an able and earnest teacher,
and an eloquent preacher, and his daily life was a demonstration of
the truths he preached. He accused the clergy of having banished the
Holy Scriptures, and demanded that the authority of the Bible should
be reestablished in the church. Many of the people had become
dissatisfied with their former faith as they saw the iniquity that
prevailed in the Roman Church, and they hailed with unconcealed
joy the truths brought to view in these discussions; but the papist
leaders trembled with rage when they perceived that this reformer
was gaining an influence greater than their own.
Wycliffe was a clear thinker and a keen detector of error, and he
struck boldly against many of the abuses sanctioned by the authority
of Rome. Thus he brought upon himself the enmity of the pope
and his supporters. Repeated attempts were made to condemn and
execute him for heresy; but God had given him favor with princes,
[88]
who stood in his defense. While acting as chaplain for the king, he
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had taken a bold stand against the payment of the tribute claimed
by the pope from the English monarch, and had declared the papal
assumption of authority over secular rulers to be contrary to both
reason and revelation. A few years later, he ably defended the rights
of the English crown against the encroachments of the Romish
power. The people and the nobility of England sided with him,
and his enemies could accomplish nothing against him. Upon one
occasion, when he was brought to trial before a synod of bishops, the
people surrounded the building where the synod met, and, rushing
in, stood between him and all harm.
About this time, strife was caused in the church by the conflicting
claims of two rival popes. Each professed infallibility, and demanded
obedience. Each called upon the faithful to assist him to make war
upon the other, enforcing his demand by terrible anathemas against
his adversaries, and promises of rewards in Heaven to his supporters.
This occurrence greatly weakened the power of the papacy, and
saved Wycliffe from further persecution.
God had preserved his servant for more important labors.
Wycliffe, like his Master, preached the gospel to the poor. As a
professor of theology, he presented the truth to the students under
his instruction, and received the title of “The Gospel Doctor.” In his
parish he addressed the people as a friend and pastor.
But the greatest work of his life was the translation of the Scrip-
tures into the English language. This was the first complete English
translation ever made. The art of printing being still unknown, it
was only by slow and wearisome labor that copies of the work could
[89]
be multiplied; yet this was done, and the people of England received
the Bible in their own tongue. Thus the light of God’s word began
to shed its bright beams athwart the darkness. A divine hand was
preparing the way for the Great Reformation.
The appeal to men’s reason aroused them from their passive sub-
mission to papal dogmas. The Scriptures were received with favor
by the higher classes, who alone in that age possessed a knowledge
of letters. Wycliffe now taught the distinctive doctrines of Protes-
tantism,—salvation through faith in Christ, and the sole infallibility
of the Scriptures. Many priests joined him in circulating the Bible
and in preaching the gospel; and so great was the effect of these
labors and of Wycliffe’s writings, that the new faith was accepted by
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The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
nearly one-half of the people of England. The kingdom of darkness
trembled. Mendicant friars, who swarmed in England, listened in
anger and amazement to his bold, eloquent utterances. The hatred
of Rome was kindled to greater intensity, and again she plotted to
silence the Reformer’s voice. But the Lord covered with his shield
the messenger of truth. The efforts of his enemies to stop his work
and to destroy his life were alike unsuccessful, and in his sixty-first
year he died in peace in the very service of the altar.
The doctrines which had been taught by Wycliffe continued for
a time to spread; but soon the pitiless storm of persecution burst
upon those who had dared to accept the Bible as their guide and
[90]
standard. Martyrdom succeeded martyrdom. The advocates of truth,
proscribed and tortured, could only pour their suffering cries into the
ear of the Lord of Sabaoth. The hunted reformers found shelter as
best they could among the lower classes, preaching in secret places,
and hiding away even in dens and caves. Many bore fearless witness
to the truth in massive dungeons and Lollard towers.
The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe during
his life, and their hatred could not be satisfied while his body rested
quietly in the grave. More than forty years after his death, his bones
were disinterred and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into
a neighboring brook. “The brook,” says an old writer, “did convey
his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas,
and they into the main ocean, and thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the
emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.”
Little did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act.
It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss of Bo-
hemia was led to renounce many of the errors of Romanism, and
to enter upon the work of reform. Like Wycliffe, Huss was a no-
ble Christian, a man of learning and of unswerving devotion to the
truth. His appeals to the Scriptures and his bold denunciations of the
scandalous and immoral lives of the clergy, awakened wide-spread
interest, and thousands gladly accepted a purer faith. This excited
the ire of pope and prelates, priests and friars, and Huss was sum-
moned to appear before the Council of Constance to answer to the
charge of heresy.
[91]
A safe-conduct was granted him by the German emperor, and
upon his arrival at Constance he was personally assured by the pope
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that no injustice should be done him. In a short time, however, he
was placed under arrest, by order of the pope and cardinals, and
thrust into a loathsome dungeon. Some of the nobles and people
of Bohemia addressed to the council earnest protests against this