Wycliffe’s Work Appointed of God

Concerning Wycliffe’s work of reform, Mrs. E. G. White makes this significant statement:AGP 217.2

“God had appointed to Wycliffe his work. He had put the word of truth in his mouth, and He set a guard about him that this word might come to the people. His life was protected, and his labors were prolonged, until a foundation was laid for the great work of 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 Controversy Between Christ and Satan,” p. 93.

While the Reformation was under way in England during the time of Wycliffe, seeds of reform were springing up also in Bohemia. Of the beginnings of the work there, Neander says:AGP 217.3

“The great reformatory movement in Bohemia dates back to Militz, the individual who gave the first impulse to it. We see his influence continuing still to operate through his disciples, Matthias of Janow and John Huss.” “General History Of the Christian Religion and Church,” Vol. IX, part 1, p. 250, para. 1. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1858.

The experience of these early reformers is thus summed up:AGP 218.1

“Before the days of Huss, there were men in Bohemia who rose up to condemn openly the corruption in the church and the profligacy of the people. Their labors excited widespread interest. The fears of the hierarchy were roused, and persecution was opened against the disciples of the gospel.” “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan,” p. 97.

Rome had decreed that the light of God’s word should be extinguished, and forbade the conduct of worship in the Bohemian tongue. In the Chapel of Bethlehem in Prague, John Huss denounced these and other evils unsparingly, and appealed to the word of God to enforce the principles of truth and purity. Another citizen of Prague, Jerome, made a visit to England and brought with him the writings of Wycliffe. These had a profound influence on the work of Huss and Jerome as they later became intimately associated in the work of reform, in defense of which they both yielded up their lives in the flames of Romish persecution.AGP 218.2