John Wycliffe
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and that it should be abolished. Discussion and inquiry were awaken-
ing. As the monks traversed the country, vending the pope’s pardons,
many were led to doubt the possibility of purchasing forgiveness with
money, and they questioned whether they should not seek pardon from
God rather than from the pontiff of Rome. (See Appendix note for
page 59.) Not a few were alarmed at the rapacity of the friars, whose
greed seemed never to be satisfied. “The monks and priests of Rome,”
said they, “are eating us away like a cancer. God must deliver us, or the
people will perish.”—D’Aubigne, b. 17, ch. 7. To cover their avarice,
these begging monks claimed that they were following the Saviour’s
example, declaring that Jesus and His disciples had been supported
by the charities of the people. This claim resulted in injury to their
cause, for it led many to the Bible to learn the truth for themselves—a
result which of all others was least desired by Rome. The minds of
men were directed to the Source of truth, which it was her object to
conceal.
Wycliffe began to write and publish tracts against the friars, not,
however, seeking so much to enter into dispute with them as to call the
minds of the people to the teachings of the Bible and its Author. He
declared that the power of pardon or of excommunication is possessed
by the pope in no greater degree than by common priests, and that no
man can be truly excommunicated unless he has first brought upon
himself the condemnation of God. In no more effectual way could
he have undertaken the overthrow of that mammoth fabric of spiritual
and temporal dominion which the pope had erected and in which the
souls and bodies of millions were held captive.
Again Wycliffe was called to defend the rights of the English
crown against the encroachments of Rome; and being appointed a
royal ambassador, he spent two years in the Netherlands, in conference
with the commissioners of the pope. Here he was brought into com-
munication with ecclesiastics from France, Italy, and Spain, and he
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had an opportunity to look behind the scenes and gain a knowledge of
many things which would have remained hidden from him in England.
He learned much that was to give point to his after labors. In these
representatives from the papal court he read the true character and aims
of the hierarchy. He returned to England to repeat his former teachings
more openly and with greater zeal, declaring that covetousness, pride,
and deception were the gods of Rome.