s were enabled to find their way to the fountain
of truth, which was closed to the uneducated classes. Thus already the way
had been prepared for Wycliffe's future work as a Reformer.

Men of learning had studied the word of God, and had found the great truth
of His free grace there revealed. In their teachings they had spread a
knowledge of this truth, and had led others to turn to the Living Oracles.

When Wycliffe's attention was directed to the Scriptures, he entered upon
their investigation with the same thoroughness which had enabled him to
master the learning of the schools. Heretofore he 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 before sought in
vain. Here he saw the plan of salvation revealed, and Christ set forth as
the only advocate for man. He gave himself to the service of Christ, and
determined to proclaim the truths he had discovered.

Like after-reformers, Wycliffe did not, at the opening of his work,
foresee whither it would lead him. He did not set himself deliberately in
opposition to Rome. But devotion to truth could not but bring him in
conflict with falsehood. 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 able and earnest teacher, and an
eloquent preacher, and his daily life was a demonstration of the truths he
preached. His knowledge of the Scriptures, the force of his reasoning, the
purity of his life, and his unbending courage and integrity, won for him
general esteem and confidence. 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 by Wycliffe; but the papal leaders were filled with rage when they
perceived that this Reformer was gaining an influence greater than their
own.

Wycliffe was a keen detector of error, and he struck fearlessly against
many of the abuses sanctioned by the authority of Rome. While acting as
chaplain for the king, he took a bold stand against the payment of tribute
claimed by the pope from the