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 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 . 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 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 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 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
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