John Wycliffe
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foes of the church and traitors to the realm, they continued to preach
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in secret places, finding shelter as best they could in the humble homes
of the poor, and often hiding away even in dens and caves.
Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, earnest,
patient protest against the prevailing corruption of religious faith con-
tinued for centuries to be uttered. The Christians of that early time
had only a partial knowledge of the truth, but they had learned to
love and obey God’s Word, and they patiently suffered for its sake.
Like the disciples in apostolic days, many sacrificed their worldly
possessions for the cause of Christ. Those who were permitted to
dwell in their homes, gladly sheltered their banished brethren, and
when they too were driven forth, they cheerfully accepted the lot of the
outcast. Thousands, it is true, terrified by the fury of their persecutors,
purchased their freedom at the sacrifice of their faith, and went out of
their prisons, clothed in penitents’ robes, to publish their recantation.
But the number was not small—and among them were men of noble
birth as well as the humble and lowly—who bore fearless testimony
to the truth in dungeon cells, in “Lollard towers,” and in the midst of
torture and flame, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to know
“the fellowship of His sufferings.”
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. By the decree of the Council of Constance, more
than forty years after his death his bones were exhumed 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 Bohemia,
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was led to renounce many of the errors of Romanism, and to enter upon
the work of reform. Thus in these two countries, so widely separated,
the seed of truth was sown. From Bohemia the work extended to other
lands. The minds of men were directed to the long-forgotten Word of
God. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great Reformation.
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