id not see all things clearly,
they were enabled to perceive many long-buried truths. As Heaven-sent
messengers they went forth, rending asunder the chains of error and
superstition, and calling upon those who had been so long enslaved, to
arise and assert their liberty.

Except among the Waldenses, the word of God had for ages been locked up in
languages known only to the learned; but the time had come for the
Scriptures to be translated, and given to the people of different lands in
their native tongue. The world had passed its midnight. The hours of
darkness were wearing away, and in many lands appeared tokens of the
coming dawn.

In the fourteenth century arose in England the "morning star of the
Reformation." John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England
alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it
was permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened
the struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of
churches, and of nations.

Wycliffe received a liberal education, and with him the fear of the Lord
was the beginning of wisdom. He was noted at college for his fervent piety
as well as for his remarkable talents and sound scholarship. In his thirst
for knowledge he sought to become acquainted with every branch of
learning. He was educated in the scholastic philosophy, in the canons of
the church, and in the civil law, especially that of his own country. In
his after-labors the value of this early training was apparent. A thorough
acquaintance with the speculative philosophy of his time enabled him to
expose its errors; and by his study of national and ecclesiastical law he
was prepared to engage in the great struggle for civil and religious
liberty. While he could wield the weapons drawn from the word of God, he
had acquired the intellectual discipline of the schools, and he understood
the tactics of the schoolmen. The power of his genius and the extent and
thoroughness of his knowledge commanded the respect of both friends and
foes. His adherents saw with satisfaction that their champion stood
foremost among the leading minds of the nation; and his enemies were
prevented from casting contempt upon the cause of reform by exposing the
ignorance or weakness of its supporter.

While Wycliffe was still at college, he entered upon the study of the
Scriptures. In those early times, when the Bible existed only in the
ancient languages, scholar