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 neighbouring brook . " This brook ," says an old writer , " hath conveyed his ashes into Avon , Avon into Severn , Severn into the narrow seas , 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 ." -- T . Fuller , Church History of Britain , b . 4 , sec . 2 , par . 54 . Little did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act . It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss , of Bohemia , 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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