The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 82
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.
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