The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 87

proceedings were for the time suspended, and he was allowed to go his
way in peace. A little later, Edward III, whom in his old age the prelates
were seeking to influence against the Reformer, died, and Wycliffe’s
former protector became regent of the kingdom.
But the arrival of the papal bulls laid upon all England a peremptory
command for the arrest and imprisonment of the heretic. These measures
pointed directly to the stake. It appeared certain that Wycliffe must soon
fall a prey to the vengeance of Rome. But He who declared to one of
old, “Fear not: ... I am thy shield” (Genesis 15:1), again stretched out
His hand to protect His servant. Death came, not to the Reformer, but to
the pontiff who had decreed his destruction. Gregory XI died, and the
ecclesiastics who had assembled for Wycliffe’s trial, dispersed.
God’s providence still further overruled events to give opportunity
for the growth of the Reformation. The death of Gregory was followed
by the election of two rival popes. Two conflicting powers, each
professedly infallible, now claimed obedience. (See Appendix notes for
pages 50 and 85.) Each called upon the faithful to assist him in making
war upon the other, enforcing his demands by terrible anathemas against
his adversaries, and promises of rewards in heaven to his supporters.
This occurrence greatly weakened the power of the papacy. The rival
factions had all they could do to attack each other, and Wycliffe for a
time had rest. Anathemas and recriminations were flying from pope to
pope, and torrents of blood were poured out to support their conflicting
claims. Crimes and scandals flooded the church. Meanwhile the
Reformer, in the quiet retirement of his parish of Lutterworth, was
laboring diligently to point men from the contending popes to Jesus,
the Prince of Peace.
The schism, with all the strife and corruption which it caused,
prepared the way for the Reformation by enabling the people to see what
the papacy really was. In a tract which he published, On the Schism of
the Popes, Wycliffe called

86