"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.
*Another evil against which the Reformer waged long and resolute battle was the institution of the orders of mendicant friars.
*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 prosperity 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.
By the influence of the friars many were induced to enter a cloister and devote themselves to a monastic life. Wycliffe, with clearer insight, struck at the root of the evil, declaring that the system itself was false and that it should be abolished."
E.G.W.
