68
The Great Controversy
inhumanity,” as Luther afterward styled it, “savoring more of the wolf
and the tyrant than of the Christian and the man,” were the hearts
of children steeled against their parents.—Barnas Sears, The Life of
Luther, pages 70, 69. Thus did the papal leaders, like the Pharisees of
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old, make the commandment of God of none effect by their tradition.
Thus homes were made desolate and parents were deprived of the
society of their sons and daughters.
Even the students in the universities were deceived by the false
representations of the monks and induced to join their orders. Many
afterward repented this step, seeing that they had blighted their own
lives and had brought sorrow upon their parents; but once fast in the
snare it was impossible for them to obtain their freedom. Many parents,
fearing the influence of the monks, refused to send their sons to the
universities. There was a marked falling off in the number of students
in attendance at the great centers of learning. The schools languished,
and ignorance prevailed.
The pope had bestowed on these monks the power to hear confes-
sions and to grant pardon. This became a source of great evil. Bent
on enhancing their gains, the friars were so ready to grant absolution
that criminals of all descriptions resorted to them, and, as a result,
the worst vices rapidly increased. The sick and the poor were left to
suffer, while the gifts that should have relieved their wants went to the
monks, who with threats demanded the alms of the people, denounc-
ing the impiety of those who should withhold gifts from their orders.
Notwithstanding their profession of poverty, the wealth of the friars
was constantly increasing, and their magnificent edifices and luxurious
tables made more apparent the growing poverty of the nation. And
while spending their time in luxury and pleasure, they sent out in their
stead ignorant men, who could only recount marvelous tales, legends,
and jests to amuse the people and make them still more completely
the dupes of the monks. Yet the friars continued to maintain their
hold on the superstitious multitudes and led them to believe that all
religious duty was comprised in acknowledging the supremacy of the
pope, adoring the saints, and making gifts to the monks, and that this
was sufficient to secure them a place in heaven.
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Men of learning and piety had labored in vain to bring about a
reform in these monastic orders; but Wycliffe, with clearer insight,
struck at the root of the evil, declaring that the system itself was false