f the Reformation.

Wycliffe came from the obscurity of the Dark Ages. There were none who
went before him from whose work he could shape his system of reform.
Raised up like John the Baptist to accomplish a special mission, he was
the herald of a new era. Yet in the system of truth which he presented
there was a unity and completeness which Reformers who followed him did
not exceed, and which some did not reach, even a hundred years later. So
broad and deep was laid the foundation, so firm and true was the
framework, that it needed not to be reconstructed by those who came after
him.

The great movement that Wycliffe inaugurated, which was to liberate the
conscience and the intellect, and set free the nations so long bound to
the triumphal car of Rome, had its spring in the Bible. Here was the
source of that stream of blessing, which, like the water of life, has
flowed down the ages since the fourteenth century. Wycliffe accepted the
Holy Scriptures with implicit faith as the inspired revelation of God's
will, a sufficient rule of faith and practice. He had been educated to
regard the Church of Rome as the divine, infallible authority, and to
accept with unquestioning reverence the established teachings and customs
of a thousand years; but he turned away from all these to listen to God's
holy word. This was the authority which he urged the people to
acknowledge. Instead of the church speaking through the pope, he declared
the only true authority to be the voice of God speaking through His word.
And he taught not only that the Bible is a perfect revelation of God's
will, but that the Holy Spirit is its only interpreter, and that every man
is, by the study of its teachings, to learn his duty for himself. Thus he
turned the minds of men from the pope and the Church of Rome to the word
of God.

Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the Reformers. In breadth of
intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to maintain the truth, and
boldness to defend it, he was equaled by few who came after him. Purity of
life, unwearying diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity,
and Christlike love and faithfulness in his ministry, characterized the
first of the Reformers. And this notwithstanding the intellectual darkness
and moral corruption of the age from which he emerged.

The character of Wycliffe is a testimony to the educating, transforming
power of the Holy Scriptures. It was the Bible that made him what he was