nts 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 confessions 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, denouncing 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.

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, and that it
should be abolished. Discussion and inquiry were awakening. 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.(112) 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."(113) 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 whi