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Chapter 5—The Light Breaks in England
God had not suffered His Word to be wholly destroyed. In
different countries of Europe men were moved by the Spirit of God
to search for truth as for hid treasures. Providentially guided to the
Holy Scriptures, they were willing to accept light at any cost to
themselves. Though they did not see all things clearly, they were
enabled to perceive many long-buried truths.
The time had come for the Scriptures to be given to the people
in their native tongue. The world had passed its midnight. In many
lands appeared tokens of the coming dawn.
In the fourteenth century the “morning star of the Reformation”
arose in England. John Wycliffe was noted at college for his fervent
piety as well as his sound scholarship. Educated in scholastic phi-
losophy, the canons of the church, and civil law, he was prepared to
engage in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty. He had
acquired the intellectual discipline of the schools, and he understood
the tactics of the schoolmen. The extent and thoroughness of his
knowledge commanded the respect of both friends and foes. His
enemies were prevented from casting contempt upon the cause of
reform by exposing the ignorance or weakness of its supporter.
While Wycliffe was still at college, he entered upon the study
of the Scriptures. Heretofore Wycliffe had felt a great want, which
neither his scholastic studies nor the teaching of the church could
satisfy. In the Word of God he found that which he had sought in
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vain. Here he saw Christ set forth as the only advocate for man. He
determined to proclaim the truths he had discovered.
Wycliffe did not, at the opening of his work, set himself in
opposition to Rome. But the more clearly he discerned the errors
of the papacy, the more earnestly he presented the teaching of the
Bible. He saw that Rome had forsaken the Word of God for human
tradition. He fearlessly accused the priesthood of having banished
the Scriptures, and demanded that the Bible be restored to the people
and that its authority be again established in the church. He was an
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