The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 96

guide. The English monarchs, eager to strengthen their power by
securing the support of Rome, did not hesitate to sacrifice the Reformers.
For the first time in the history of England the stake was decreed against
the disciples of the gospel. Martyrdom succeeded martyrdom. The
advocates of truth, proscribed and tortured, could only pour their cries
into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth. Hunted as foes of the church and
traitors to the realm, they continued to preach in secret places, finding
shelter as best they could in the humble homes of the poor, and often
hiding away even in dens and caves.
Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, earnest,
patient protest against the prevailing corruption of religious faith
continued for centuries to be uttered. The Christians of that early time
had only a partial knowledge of the truth, but they had learned to love
and obey God’s word, and they patiently suffered for its sake. Like the
disciples in apostolic days, many sacrificed their worldly possessions for
the cause of Christ. Those who were permitted to dwell in their homes
gladly sheltered their banished brethren, and when they too were driven
forth they cheerfully accepted the lot of the outcast. Thousands, it is
true, terrified by the fury of their persecutors, 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 neighboring brook. “This brook,” says

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