92 The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan
[ 093 ] to accomplish his ruin, and it seemed certain that a few months at most would bring him to the stake. But his courage was unshaken.“ Why do you talk of seeking the crown of martyrdom afar?” he said.“ Preach the gospel of Christ to haughty prelates, and martyrdom will not fail you. What! I should live and be silent?... Never! Let the blow fall, I await its coming.” 122
But God ' s providence still shielded His servant. The man who for a whole lifetime had stood boldly in defense of the truth, in daily peril of his life, was not to fall a victim to the hatred of its foes. Wycliffe had never sought to shield himself, but the Lord had been his protector; and now, when his enemies felt sure of their prey, God ' s hand removed him beyond their reach. In his church at Lutterworth, as he was about to dispense the communion, he fell, stricken with palsy, and in a short time yielded up his life.
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 movement that Wycliffe inaugurated, which was to liberate the conscience and the intellect, and set free the nations
122 D ' Aubigné, b. 17, ch. 8.