John Wycliffe
67
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.
[82]
Wycliffe was a keen detector of error, and he struck fearlessly
against many of the abuses sanctioned by the authority of Rome. While
acting as chaplain for the king, he took a bold stand against the payment
of tribute claimed by the pope from the English monarch and showed
that the papal assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary
to both reason and revelation. The demands of the pope had excited
great indignation, and Wycliffe’s teachings exerted an influence upon
the leading minds of the nation. The king and the nobles united in
denying the pontiff’s claim to temporal authority and in refusing the
payment of the tribute. Thus an effectual blow was struck against the
papal supremacy in England.
Another evil against which the Reformer waged long and resolute
battle was the institution of the orders of mendicant friars. These friars
swarmed in England, casting a blight upon the greatness and prosper-
ity of the nation. Industry, education, morals, all felt the withering
influence. The monk’s life of idleness and beggary was not only a
heavy drain upon the resources of the people, but it brought useful
labor into contempt. The youth were demoralized and corrupted. By
the influence of the friars many were induced to enter a cloister and
devote themselves to a monastic life, and this not only without the
consent of their parents, but even without their knowledge and contrary
to their commands. One of the early Fathers of the Roman Church,
urging the claims of monasticism above the obligations of filial love
and duty, had declared: “Though thy father should lie before thy door
weeping and lamenting, and thy mother should show the body that
bore thee and the breasts that nursed thee, see that thou trample them
underfoot, and go onward straightway to Christ.” By this “monstrous