like a madde man as sometimes their fashion is in their Sermons Pedro Pedro que aveys dexado vna barca podrida c. Peter Peter what hast thou forsaken to follow Christ an old rotten boat and a few torne nets But our Spanish Saint forsooke a kingdome Calla Pedro hold thy peace Peter and giue the vpper hand to our Saint a certaine English Gentleman standing by me told me in my care this Saint forsooke his Kingdome when he could not keepe it any longer Being in my lodging in the Citie of Valencia in Spaine vpon Shroue-sunday in the after-noone there came in two Dominican Friers and a man that carried a great paper-book and an inkhorne in his band The Friers demanded of the good-wife if shee would haue her name written in their booke The woman told them that her husband had beene taken twice prisoner by the Moores and that she had spent almost all that she had to pay his ransomes and therefore desired them to excuse her for that time whereupon the Friers departed away in a great rage I maruelling to see them depart so discontented asked her the reason she told me that these Friers had in their Cloister a viall full of the milke of the blessed Virgin and that the most part of all the women of that Citie and Countrey neare adioyning did vse to write their names in their booke and in the lent-Lent-time to come to them for a little of the milke And why said I would you not let them write your name in their booke she answered me because shee was not able to giue them money for said she the poorest woman doth giue them two crownes and yet they haue not aboue a little thimble-full of milke Then I began to question with her and demanded of her how long had these Friers this milke and how much might it be in quantitie that could serue so many women what was it good for and withall I told her that I did much wonder that it consumed not and how they could get enough to serue so many persons for the Citie is very great and in my conscience sixteene of the best kine in Cheshire cannot giue at one milking so much milke as would suffice to giue euery woman in that Citie and the Countrey thereunto adioyning a thimble-full of milke Then she began to tell me how that these Friers had a little viall full of the milke of the blessed Virgin for many yeares ago and in the time of Lent they vsed to powre one drop of it into a great quantitie of white goats-milke the which it sanctified being stirred together and yet the milke in the viall doth not waste or diminish The Poet perhaps meant this milke when he said Ouo prognatus eodem Mille licet sumant deperit inde nihil Though thousands take and none say nay Yet nothing wastes or weares away This milke say they is good for a thousand diseases and for young children when they are new borne before such time that they did sucke of their mothers brest Moreouer whosoeuer tooke of this milke must spend the same within the space of one whole yeare next after the receiuing of it from the Friers vpon paine of excommunication And that it was worth vnto the Friers of that Cloister one yeare with another aboue foure or fiue thousand crownes And is not this I pray you fine cheating and cousening And yet in Spaine and Italy it is death to speake against their impostures and iugling trickes and are not these simple ignorant people in a miserable and lamentable bondage and slauery that liue in those Countries I dare say that there are more than fortie Cloisters of Monks Friers and Nuns that pretend to haue of the milke of the most blessed Virgin Mary which they keepe as a holy relique and shew it in a viall to be adored and worshipped of such ignorant fooles as will bring a good offertorie with them but I neuer heard of any that made sale of it in this fashion but those Friers of Valencia I wonder how they came by this Milke or the like Reliques of our Sauiour his Mother and the Apostles which they and other Friers and Nuns pretend to haue for there was neither Monk Frier or Nun in the world for many hundred yeeres after the time of our Sauiour his blessed Mother and the Apostles I know what they will say Forsooth the holy Angels of God did bring it them as they did transport the house of the blessed Virgin out of Palestina into Dalmatia and thence to Loretto in Italy Oh horrible lies doe not these impudent and brazen fac't liers deserue the Whetstone of all other men And yet it is heresie to contradict them A learned Doctor saith Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati the custome of sinning takes away the sense or feeling of sinne In like manner all Monks Friers Iesuites popish Priests and Nunnes yea the Pope and all his Cardinals and Prelates because it is their common trade to cogge cheat and lie make no scruple of it because I say it is their profession and the profession of their grand Master the Deuill Nay I imagine that some of them do thinke they speake truth when they lie according to the old Prouerbe Vsus promptus facit Practise makes a man expert What an infinite number of Mony doth that Idoll which they call La Virgien Santissima de Atocha by Madrid in Spaine bring yeerely to these Dominican Friers in whose Church it is to be seene I meane the goodly Image of the blessed Virgin Mary I make no question but some of our curious English Gentlemen that did attend his Maiesty in his voiage into Spaine haue seene this rich Lady let them then report how many great siluer Lamps hanged vp with siluer Chaines some worth one hundred pound some more some lesse with Oile of Oliues still burning in them what store of siluer yea golden Chalices siluer Patents Candlesticks Basens Ewers and other Church-furniture of gold siluer veluets silkes and sattens great Torches made of pure Bee wax some of them of one hundred pound weight What siluer Ships siluer Armour Eyes Hands Armes Thighs Legs Feet and whole bodies are there to be seene I omit to speake of woodden Crutches that lame Beggers offer and leaue there to honour this goodly woodden Lady and all to cheat fooles of their mony Haue they not in euery great city or towne of the old and the new Castile yea and Toledo men of purpose that go vp down the streets all day long with a box in their hands fast lock't with the picture vpon it of this holy Image of our Atocha Lady and a little hole in the lid of it for men to put in their deuotion crying like so many Costermongers or Oister-women in London Para Alumbrar la Virgien Santissima de Atocha por amor de Dios as if they would say Good people bestow your charity to buy Oile and Wax to burne
men of the Towne where they built the goodliest houses in all the Citie because forsooth they would be neare these holy Fathers to haue their spirituall comfort and consolation in time of need The Iesuits being thus seated and setled like Princes the first thing was that they did to requite the Citizens great loue and extraordinary charges They procured vnto themselues from the King of Spaine the Archduke the Archduchesse Letters Patents that they should haue for euery barrell of beere that is drawn within that Town two shillings nine pence farthing which is for euery quart pot two Liards or halfe a Stiuer which is about an halfe-peny halfe farthing English and doth amount to a great summe of mony yearly considering the greatnesse of the Towne and the multitude of the people that are the Inhabitants thereof Albeit the Assise which they were constrained to pay before that time for their beere was as much in equall portion to the King and the Archduke as they did pay to the Brewer from which the poore begger was not free but if he did drinke he paid so much vnto the King as he did to the Victualer And yet these vnconscionable and couetous Iesuites did for their benefit and better maintenance procure this other imposition to be laid vpon the Inhabitants notwithstanding the former extraordinary loue and kindnesse which they receiued from them Both which assise of the beere the poore inhabitants haue beene constrained to pay euer since as well to the King as to the Iesuites by means whereof and other their politike cheating and cosenage they are become not only exceeding rich but also odious to all the Townes and Countrey there adioyning And besides whereas the inhabitants of this Towne had been for many hundred yeares free and exempt from all forfeiture or confiscation of their lands and goods to the King if any of them had committed any felony murder treason or the like their bodies being only liable to the Law and not their lands or goods Now these Iesuites perceiuing that the State-house the Towne Charter and all the ancient Records of the Towne had beene some certaine yeares before burnt by occasion of fire procured vnder-hand a Patent to be granted to their College of all forfeitures and confiscations whatsoeuer that should happen to fall due to the King within that Towne and the liberties thereof and hauing so done they began to seize vpon the land and goods of all such as were conuicted for any of these or the like crimes or offences The Magistrates of the Towne and all the rest of the inhabitants with one consent did oppose the Iesuites as intruders vsurpers and common perturbers of their Priuileges and Liberties whereupon the Iesuites commenced their sute against the Magistrates and all the inhabitants of the Towne in the higher Courts wherein the Iesuites would haue surely preuailed if that a certaine Religious man as I thinke a Canon Regular of the Order of S. Augustine that liued in an Abbey about six miles from the Towne and yet in the territories of the same had not found out in the Library there an old booke of Histories or Antiquities in Manuscript written many hundred yeares since wherein was contained among other things a Copie of the Charter of this Towne of Lysle which being shewed vnto the Councell of State the Iesuits with much shame disgrace had a definitiue sentence giuen against them neuer afterwards to intermedle with the Priuileges and Statutes of the Towne and to pay cost and charges besides Oh the honestie of these holy men of the society of Iesus Iohn Chastell was taught and perswaded by the Iesuites to murder Henry the fourth of France and yet some Papists would deny it if they could because they are loth to make the Iesuites odious and yet others did helpe to erect a pillar of stone neare to the Kings Palace in Paris whereby so much was signified But the Iesuits when they were recalled againe into France from their banishment got leaue of the King vpon the Queenes request to deface it some few yeares before the King was murdered by Rauillacke In the yeare 1607. The Iesuites procured the Emperour Rodulphus to prescribe that ancient Imperiall City Donawert in high Germany and to giue it in prey vnto the Duke of Bauaria who came priuately with foure or fiue thousand men and tooke it and ransacked it and afterwards put a strong garrison therein altering their Lawes and Customes and debarring them of all their former Priuileges whatsoeuer in so much that the chiefest men in the Citie were constrained to abandon both house and home and to seeke after another place to inhabite I came thorow this Citie within three moneths after that the Duke of Bauaria had taken it and it grieued my heart to see into what miserable bondage the poore Citizens were brought and all through the deuillish practise of these irreligious Machiauills who then did tyrannize ouer them like so many Turks or Infidels for they managed the whole affaires of the Citie the Gouernour which the Duke had placed there ouer the souldiers stood but for a cipher for he durst doe nothing without the consent of the Iesuits The Magistrates were all put out of their charge offices other base poore mechanicall fellowes appointed in their places farre vnworthy the high dignitie of Consuls or Burghemasters in such an ancient free and noble City as that is The souldiers were billeted in all the Protestants houses and not in any Papists house where they dominierd like so many deuills making hauock of all that they could come by and yet the Protestants were constrained to pay them their wages besides What shall I say The Iesuites in effect did command and controll the whole Citie as they pleased They banished their Ministers and compelled the inhabitants either to goe to heare Masse contrary to their consciences or else forsake the Citie and liue in exile And yet this is nothing in comparison to that the Protestants of Aquisgranum haue endured and yet doe suffer The Emperour Charles surnamed the Great hunting vpon a time in the Forest of Arden found out certaine Bathes or hot waters in which place he built a very faire Citie and called it Aquisgranum and gaue it many priuileges and great freedome among other things he ordained that all other Emperours his Successours should be crowned there and that the Imperiall Diadem which is now kept at Franckfurt vpon Main should be kept in this Citie Here likewise hee built among other Churches a very faire Collegiat Church endowing it with great reuenues within a Chappell of this Church the craftie Clergie men obseruing the ignorance of the people in those daies set vp an Image of the blessed Virgin Mary which they affirmed to worke great miracles by meanes whereof and of the hot Bathes this Citie came to be very famous and haunted by many people for many that were visited with sicknesse and diseases came from farre
truth and fidelity they may assuredly rely and depend for the Porter must be a smooth tongu'd fellow and as true as steele or else he is not for their turne neither will they put him into that office before such time as they haue had a long triall and experience of his wit and fidelity for he knowes more of their knauery than all the rest of the society except it be the Rector and two or three more besides what gift or message soeuer is sent vnto any of the College it must come first to his hands for the College gate is alwaies locked fast and he hath the key tied to his girdle Euery Iesuite in their Colleges hath some imployment or office as for example some are imployed in writing books of controuersies or otherwise whose workes neuer come to the Presse till the father Prouinciall and the best Diuines and the best learned men of their society of that Prouince yea of the next Prouince and most commonly their Generall who liues alwaies at Rome doe peruse correct and amend the same so that they neuer print any booke in any of their names without the mature counsell and aduice of their superiours Which in my opinion would not doe amisse if the Diuines of the reformed Church would doe the like among themselues Some of them that haue the gift of preaching doe study their Sermons the Fathers and Schoole Diuinity and attend to heare Confessions and say Masses albeit all those that are Priests are Masse-mongers others doe trot here and there abroad about the College affaires and others who are Lay-brethren haue imploiments enough either at home or abroad for some of them are Tailors and are euer making of new Habits or else mending of old for the other Fathers and Lay-brethren They haue Physicians Apothecaries Chirurgians Barbers Printers Tailors Shoomakers Cookes Washers Bakers and Brewers if they liue in a beere Country of their owne order and society And so haue all or the most part of the other Orders of Monks and Friers in all popish Countries especially in Spaine and Italy and therefore poore Trades-men get little or nothing by the Iesuites or any other Monks Friers or Nuns whatsoeuer The younger sort of them doe teach children the Latine and the Greeke tongues except it be in Spaine where neuer or seldome the Greek is taught in the Iesuits Schools or elsewhere except it be in some Vniuersities And they diuide their Shools into fiue Classes that is to say in the first the Accidence or Introduction to the eight parts of speech and the declination of Nounes and Verbes which they call Figures the second the Grammar the third the Syntax the fourth Poetry the fifth Rhetoricke But if it be in an Vniuersity then they haue other Classes and Lectorers for Logick Philosophy Diuinity and all the other Arts. Now in euery Classe there is a Iesuite that teacheth The Schollers doe remoue or proceed once euery yeere which is after their vacation about Michaelmas from one Classe to another for they are ordinarily no longer than one yeere in one Classe And euery Schoole-master is appointed by the Prefect of the Schooles how much he must reade and expound vnto his Schollers euery day for he must giue them no more nor no lesse than the ordinary Lesson And withall hee teacheth Greeke Grammar and other Greeke Authors together with the Latine The Iesuites doe euery other yeere extract out of such Authors as they like best as well Latine as Greeke such selected places as is most commodious and fitting to reade to young youths and doe print the same in their owne Colleges and sell them at a very deare rate to their Schollers appointing to euery Classe such other bookes besides the Grammar as is fit for their tender capacity Their Grammar and all the rest of their schoole bookes are of the Iesuites owne collections They teach still the selfe same Grammar in all their Schooles in what Country soeuer they be but in the other bookes whether they be in prose or verse they differ and euery second yeere they alter all their schoole bookes except the Figures Grammar and Syntax of meere policy to vtter the more bookes and consequently to gaine the more money for they haue very many Schollers because they doe not permit any Latine Schoole besides their owne in any towne or City where they reside In the three lower Classes they appoint two seuerall Emperours the one they call the Emperour of the East the other of the West as it was heretofore in the time of Charles the Great and others when the Empire of Rome was diuided into two parts betweene two Emperours whereof the one was called the Emperour of the East kept his Court at Constantinople and the other the Emperour of the West who commonly now adaies resides at Prague in Bohemia Now the Iesuites that are the Schoole-masters doe diuide their Schollers in euery Classe equally betweene these two Emperours appointing vnto euery one his owne subiects who are likewise diuided into seuerall offices or callings as Consuls Senators Patricians Knights Plebeyans and the like These Emperours who most commonly are some great mens sonnes doe sit Maiestically in very faire Chaires or Stats hauing their Scutchions Banners and Mottos drawne out very curiously at the end of a lance fastened to the wall ouer their heads And the Consuls Senators and the rest of the chiefest men doe sit according to their dignities places and offices euery one hauing his Scutchion ouer the place where he sits In euery Classe the Schoole-master doth appoint eight or ten and sometimes more or lesse according to the number of the Students Schollers whom they thinke fit for extraordinary pregnancie of wit and learning to be Prefects ouer the other Schollers who beare no dignity or office in that Classe and to heare them recite their Lessons and to giue vp the names of such as are not perfect therin to the master who inioynes them to some publike or priuate penance as to sweepe the Schoole to stand vpon his feet for a certaine time in the Schoole to say so many Paster Noster or Aue Maria vpon their knees in the open street before their Church doore to copie out of some booke so many lines or pages and the like penance for they whip them neuer publikely in the Schoole but send them to the Father Prefect who giues them correction priuately in a little roome which is by the Schoole for that purpose for the boies had rather vndergoe priuate correction than a publike penance because those that passe by will laugh and hush at them neither will they either correct them or impose any publike penance vpon any vnlesse he be a meere block-head that will not learne or one that hath committed some extrordinary offence or crime Moreouer the Porter at the time appointed that they should come to the Schooles rings a bell and at the very last toll all the Schoole-masters come out together and goe
wounds and diseases than all the Physitians Chirurgians and Montebancks in Europe These Monks Friers Iesuits and popish Priests will when any come to confession vnto them demand of them if they are Witches Sodomites or the like because they do imagine others to be as bad as themselues and therefore many times in asking them that which they vnderstand not and neuer heard of before they teach them to practise some hainous crime or sinne the which in former times they were not acquainted withall Baltazar Earle of Castiglon a man renowned in Italy both for birth and learning among many others his merry iests of Monks and Friers wrote in one of his bookes how a Frier by asking an Ostler some foolish impertinent questions in his confession taught him more knauery than al the Monks and Friers of Europe could make him forsake for hee gaue him directions how to make euery horse Mule or Asse that came into his stable so sicke that they should not be able to eat any grasse hay or prouender and to cure them againe by meanes of a Smith whom he afterwards made his partner in that mysterie so that by this meanes he got more money for himselfe his Master and the Smith in one yeare than they had gained in ten yeares before for one load of hay and one quarter of prouender was more than his Master could spend in a whole yeare And he and the Smith whom he recommended to his guests for an extraordinary good Farrier crammed their purses for curing the poore â—ades whom he had formerly infected and abused I would haue inserted here the whole historie at large if it were not for feare that I should imitate that good Frier and to teach our English Ostlers more knauery than they haue alreadie Moreouer in the time of confessing or shriuing they entice or seduce honest women and maids to yeeld to their carnall concupiscences For in the holy time of Lent in the yeare 1623. one of the Canons or Prebends of the Cathedrall Church of Euereaux in Normandy in France as he was hearing a womans confession entised her to yeeld to his carnall desire so went presently both together to a priuate chamber in his owne house where as they were in the very act her husband and the Officers came and apprehended them whereupon the woman confessed her fault and asked her husband forgiuenesse and was at the earnest intreatie of her neighbours receiued into his house as before And the Priest committed to prison by the Bishops Vicar Generall I was then in Euereaux in company with another English man and many Irish men and saw it and yet within a moneth after I met him at Chambery in Sauoy going to Rome for a Pardon as I imagined for his offence it seemes he had forgotten the old lesson Si non castè tamen cautè And yet that was but a veniall sinne and but a trifle if it had not come to light which euery petty Priest could forgiue and absolue him of Vide Decret cap. dilectissimus causa 12. quaest 1. 4. lit Clement in prima parte concil for the Church of Rome hath concluded many yeares agoe that it is better and a lesser offence for a Monk or Priest to vse another mans wife than to marry Oh the chastity of these Votaries and the wholesome doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon and the sonne of Perdition Now let euery discreet and iudicious indifferent man iudge if it be good to fill the world with these idle and slothfull bellied persons who vnder colour of praying for others doe liue most dissolutely and withall to nourish such idle and lazie mates only to howle in the Churches and to mumble not only the Psalmes as the ancient Heretikes named Eutiches Psalliens and Messaliens did of whom the histories make mention but also other superstitious prayers full of heresie trumperies and deceits which are altogether contrary to the holy Scriptures For we doe not finde it written in the holy Scripture that there should be any Order of people ordained only to pray for others and at their charges and to be maintained and releeued by them without doing any other thing and to sing when others weepe and withall to make merchandize of prayers For this office to pray for himselfe and for others was giuen to all the Church and principally to the Ministers whom our Sauiour Iesus Christ hath ordained not onely to pray for the Church and to leaue the preaching of his Word to others or only to preach and to put the charge of praying to others but enioyned them to doe the one and the other as he himselfe did without vsing any Vicars in that that they could or ought to doe as the Disciples themselues haue well vnderstood and practised We haue the winesse thereof in the Apostles themselues Acts. in the election of the Deacons for they said there manifestly that their office was to preach and to pray And therefore it is very hurtfull and pestiferous to all Christendome to nourish and feed so many fat hogges in idlenesse vnder colour and pretext of prayer and of those Canonicall houres and Masses for I thinke that none of the ancient Fathers and Doctors did euer allow of these fat bellies and such howlings and mumbling and Canonicall houres nor of such begging Monks and Friers as the Church of Rome now doth and that in such great number and diuersitie the one emulating and hating the other like so many Beares and Dogges as daily experience teacheth vs and as their owne Quodlibets doe shew Truly those Locusts of whom S. Iohn makes mention Reuel 9.3 doe well expresse the Monks Friers and the Popes Clergie-men for those were engendered of the smoake of the pit so were these of heresies ignorance and superstition they destroyed the fruits of the earth so these spoile the Church and the Christian Common-wealth And the Frogs mentioned by him in the sixteenth Chapter and thirteenth verse doe well resemble the Iesuits who feeling the Riuer Euphrates which is meant by the Church of Rome to drie vp bestirre themselues with all their might and are croaking like Frogs in euery corner labouring day and night to maintaine the Popes authoritie and that stincking Synagogue of Antichrist But the best way and the best remedie to correct their spirituall fornications and to learne them to keepe a good diet and to vse sobriety is in my opinion to damme vp the mouth of Purgatory and take it quite from them for if they lose that they are all quite vndone As certaine souldiers heretofore answered some of these Bald-pate fathers who saluted them with a Pax vobis Peace be vnto you they answered them in stead of Amen Dominus auferat vobis Purgatorium Holy fathers said they doe you pray that souldiers may haue peace and we on the other side pray to God to take from you your Purgatorie which is your Bull-begger that you frighten fooles withall
these Franciscan Friers doe affirme that the Virgin Mary by the merit of her Virginitie saued all women to the time of Saint Clare who was the first Nun of Saint Francis Order and his most deare Companion as Christ saued all men vntill the time of Saint Francis as appeares in that booke which is intituled Flosculi Sancti Francisci which blasphemous booke Vergerius did answer But what followed his Answer was condemned as hereticall in three seuerall Indices of bookes prohibited by the Popes sweet holinesse and last of all by Pope Clement the eight Vide annot Vergerij in Iudic. lib. prohibit Anno 1559 pag. 9. And Discorsi sopra gli fiorreti di S. Francisco lit D. another Italian booke And is not this horrible blasphemie to make not only the Virgin Mary but also Saint Francis and Saint Clare equall to Christ Neither doe the Iesuites come short of these wicked blasphemers for they attribute as much vnto lame Ignatius their Patron as hereafter shall be declared when I shall come to treat of the Iesuites There was printed at Bononia in Italy An. 1590. a booke intituled Liber Conformitatum vitae Beati ac Seraphici Patris Francisci written by one Bartholomëus Pisanus and published by one Hieronymus Bucchius of which booke it is affirmed in the title page that it is Liber Aureus a golden booke In this golden booke is written that a Copia literae à Pisano generali Capitulo directa ad mitium lâ—b Conformitat Christus ipsum Patrem Franciscum sibi per omnia similem reddidit conformem Christ made Frier Francis like and conformable to himselfe in all respects And that b Lib. 3. Conformitat 31 fol. 303. col 3. fol. 306. col 4. In monte Aluernae Franciscus cum Deo Domino Iesu Christo vnius spiritus efficitur In the mount of Aluerna Frier Francis was made one Spirit with God the Father and his Sonne Iesus Christ And that Frier Francis said that the words of Christ c Matth. 25 40. Quod vni ex minoribus meis fecistis mihi fecistis That which you haue done to one of these my little ones you haue done it vnto me were spoken by Christ first Literally and secondly Particularly of his d Lib. 1. Fruct 1. fol. 13 col 3. Minorite Friers And that e Lib. 3. Conformitat 31. fol. 300. col 3. Beatus Franciscus titulatus fuit titulo Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Frier Francis had the title of Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes And that f Lib. 1. Fruct 1. fol. 13. col 2. Nemo fuit Minister seruus Christi vt Franciscus ipsius perfectus imitator Christ had neuer such a seruant as Francis there was neuer any man who imitated Christ in so perfect a manner as Frier Francis Againe g Lib. 1. Fruct 9. fol. 112. col 4. Similis Beato Francisco suo ordini non est inuentus qui seruauit ad literam legem excelsi There was neuer such a person heard of as sweet Saint Francis and his lazie disordered Friers who kept Gods Law literally Yea h Lib. 2. Conformitat 17. fol. 228. col 1. Conformitate 25. fol. 272. col 2. B. Franciscus totum Euangelium ad literam obseruauit Saint Francis kept the Gospell literally Nec apicem vel vnicum transgreditur nec iota He brake not a tittle of it nor a iod These and many more fooleries and blasphemies are in that booke Againe i Director Inquisit par 2. q. 8. teste Capuccino in Euchirid Eccles fol. 236. Quod B. Franciscus est ille Angelus de quo dicitur in Apocalypsi vidi alterum Angelum habentem signum Dei vini That Frier Francis was that Angell of whom it is written in the Reuelation I saw another Angell which had the seale of the liuing God And also Quod Prophetia Apoc. 7. fuerit ad literam de B. Francisco diuinitus Domino Bonauenturae Cardinali ostensum They affirme likewise l Capuccinus lib. citato Quod B. Franciscus semel in anno descendit ad Purgatorium extraxit indè animas illorum qui in hac vita fuerunt de ordine suo seu de ordinibus per cum institutis ducit ad Paradisum That Frier Francis descends once a yeare down to Purgatory and brings thence all the soules of them who in this world were of his Order or any other Order instituted by him and caries them to heauen with him Moreouer they bring Christ in speaking to Frier Francis in these words m Lib. 3. Conformit 31. fol. 306. col 2. Sicut ego in die obitus mei ad limbum accessi meritis ac virtute stigmatum Passionis meae omnes animas quat inueni extraxi Sic volo quod tu vt fis mihi conformis in morte sicut es in vita in die Natalitij tui vadas quolibet anno ad Purgatorium omnes animas trium ordinum scilicet Minorum Sororum Sanctae Clara continentium 3. ordinis quos ibidem inueneris in virtute efficacia tuorum stigmatum eruas ad gloriam Paradifi perducas That is to say Euen as I meaning Christ at the day of my death went to Lymbum that is the place where they say the soules of the Patriarkes were and by the merits and vertue of the markes of my passion brought thence away with me all the soules that I found there so is it my will and pleasure to the end that you should be conformable vnto me in all things when you are dead as well as when you are liuing that you would vpon the day of your natiuitie euery yeare go downe vnto Purgatory and bring thence all the soules of those of your three Orders that is to say of the Minorite Friers of the Nuns of Saint Clara and of the Chaste and of the third Order by the vertue and effect of the markes that you haue receiued from me in your body and so bring them all to the ioy and glory of heauen Also they affirme n Capuccin lib. citato Quod nullus potest damnari qui deserat habitum B. Francisci No man can be damned who weares the habite or liuery of Saint Francis And that Christ himselfe reuealed it to Frier Francis o Lib. 1. Fruct 9. fol. 130. col 4. Quod nullus qui moreretur in tuo habitu esset damnatus Yea Quod Ordo B. Francisci in perpetuum durabit That Saint Francis his Order should continue till doomes day And againe this Frier Francis is by them highly commended for three notable acts 1 Antonin hist part 3. tit 24. cap. 2. sect 8. First for gathering worms out of the way that they should not be trodden on 2 Pisan Conformit lib. 1. Fruct 10. lib. Conformit 13. fol. 140. col 1. Secondly for calling all manner of beasts as Wolues and Asses c. his brethren 3 Vide Canum
it which was within the Cathedrall Church of Milan before the high Altar more than two bushels of gold and siluer in a great heape inclosed with in a great high iron grate where no body could come at it which was the offering of simple ignorant people all which and much more was for his Holinesse To be briefe this was the first as I thinke of all the Capuchins that haue beene as yet sanctified But Pope Paul perceiuing the profit to be so great did afterwards canonize halfe a squadron more whereof limping Ignatius the Author or Instituter of the Sect of the Iesuites was one Is it not an absurd and a base thing for Dukes Princes Noble men Gentlemen and other wealthy men without any want or compulsion to become begging Friers Would you not thinke such men mad and those that giue them almes no better than fools I know there are some that will not beleeue this to be true and yet it is most certaine for I will name you two or three that I knew The first is Duke Ioyeux a French man a great enemy to the Professors of the Gospell and one that for many yeeres had borne armes against King Henry the fourth of France our gracious Queenes Father in the ciuill warres of France who when the warres was ended became a Capuchin Frier being then aboue fifty yeeres old leauing all his estate to his only daughter and heire I haue seene him in his Habit with a Wallet ouer his shoulder in company of another Capuchin begge from doore to doore in his owne Country in that Prouince wherein he was borne But what is it that Monks and Friers cannot bewitch men to doe They made him change his Christen name and call himselfe Frier Angell afterwards he was made a Masse-Priest In the end this Father Angell and one Father Arch-Angell otherwise Father William Barlow an English Capuchin Frier who is now liuing in Paris went to Rome to the Chapter Generall of the Capuchins about some nineteene yeeres agoe and in their returne home this Duke-like Capuchin fell sicke of a burning Feuer and died about Sauoy Alas good Frier he was not vsed to goe such a voiage on foot as Roan in Normandy is from Rome being aboue a thousand English miles The other is the Duke of Ascots brother a very proper young noble man who together with another noble mans sonne of Spaine whose name I forget by the perswasions of the Capuchin Friers priuately departed from the Arch-Dukes Court at Bruxels and without the consent or priuity of their friends became Capuchins I could relate here many such examples if it were not for breuity sake There are many English men of this Order both in France and Netherland and most of them Gentlemens sonnes of good reckoning and some of them now lurking about the Court and City not in their foolish Capuchin Habit but like Gallants endeuouring to seduce his Maiesties subiects from their duty to God and their allegeance to their Soueraigne And one aboue all the rest is too much frequent in the Court but I would wish him to walke more narrowly or else depart quickly There is almost neuer a Towne or City in those popish Countries but the Obseruants Recollects and Capuchin Friers haue Couents and in some great Cities the Capuchins haue two or three as in Rome Milan Paris and other Cities And yet they haue neither Lands or Reuenues but what they get by begging Neuerthelesse they fare more like Princes than such men as they professe themselues to be for albeit they touch no money yet haue they their Collectors Receiuers and Dispencers to receiue and dispurse money for them and to buy any thing that they want For if any man or woman will bestow any money vpon them they will send for their Receiuer to take it and to write downe in a Booke how much it is for he must make them an account once euery yeere of all that he hath receiued and dispursed And as for Bread Wine Wood and other things that they stand in need of for the prouision of their Couents they haue more bestowed vpon them than they can well spend Besides this they haue in euery Towne or City where they dwell particular benefactors who giue them a monthly stipend and doe still procure them more for they are of their Fraternity and partakers forsooth of their super-abundant merits These men haue a stocke in money which they doe priuately and vnder hand employ and put out to vse for the good of these holy Friers Withall they begge twice or thrice a weeke in some Cities daily with Wallers and Bottles ouer their shoulders all that is giuen them whether it be Fish Flesh Bread Fruits Herbs Roots Spice sweet Oile or any thing else they bring home either on their shoulders or else vpon an Asse Where you must note that these and all other begging Friers receiue no scraps but whole Loaues of the purest Bread and of the best Wine and the best prouision in the house Neither doe they begge in any humble manner as other poore people but in an imperiall arrogant sort and without any reuerence they rather command than craue and vnlesse it be good almes and giuen them with cap and knee they care not for it for all these Monks Iesuits and Friers rich or poore are as proud as Lucifer though not in their Habit yet in their gesture and behauiour and if any man passe by them or speake vnto them without his hat in his hand and with a low reuerence yea in Spaine and Italy vnlesse they honour them and kisse the sleeues of their Habits they hold them little better than Lutherans and Heretikes Except they be some great Personages who indeed are more ceremonious and obsequious and doe flatter them more than the common people And also that their Copes Vestments Chalices and other their Church Vtensels are farre from temperature yea exceeding in sumptuousnesse let all those that haue seene them beare me record if this be not true Moreouer all Mendicant Friers at their first comming to inhabite in any Towne or Citie will in outward shew seeme to be Saints humble meeke and good to the poore the which doth purchase them such reputation among the common people that they will contribute very liberally towards the building of their Couents and all other things that they need In the meane time these vnsanctified Fathers like so many Emmets while the season serues them will bestir themselues as being not ignorant of that saying of the Poet Dum aestas annique finunt componite nidos They will be sure to cramme their coffers with gold and siluer and to prouide against a rainy day as the old prouerb is while the good market lasteth and while their counterfeit sanctitie is blasted vp with the vaine breath of the doting vulgar who are bewitched with their hypocrisie and pretended holinesse for if you will beleeue these hypocriticall Friers and all other Friers of what
or originall c. neuerthelesse say they if they be hainous and notorious mortall sinnes the Confessor if he absolues the partie must by his owne superabundant merits that is to say his good workes which he hath in store ouer and aboue that which is sufficient and necessary to saue his owne soule satisfie Gods diuine Iustice and take vpon him to discharge his Penitents sinnes and to free and acquite him of all sins and the penalty and guilt for the same Oh horrible blasphemie Doe not these Impostors as much as in them is annihilate the Passion and Merits of Christ Doe they not animate and encourage men to perpetrate any villany or wickednesse whatsoeuer For if one bring them money all shall be forgiuen all the score shall be wiped cleane out of Gods bookes of accounts by these Ball-pates But let them trust to the Popes and his Shauelings pardons and absolutions that will I for my part will make my confession to God and desire his Diuine Maiestie for Christs sake to pardon and forgiue me all my sinnes and iniquities for I am assured hauing obtained this absolution I need not feare and as for the Pope and his Clergy mens pardon I doubt that it will not passe currant at that day when all men yea the Popes worship himselfe and all his Clergy must reddere rationem although Pardons are sold in Rome for Sodomy Incest Treasons Sacrilege Murders and all other abominable sinnes as ordinary as Hogs at Rumford yea oftner for at Rumford there is but one market day in the weeke and in Rome euery day in the yeere is a free Mart for these Pardons Absolutions and Indulgences Bishoppricks and Benefices nay Heauen and God himselfe are there to be bought and sold for money for the Popes Treasury or Shop like hell gate is alwaies open and the price of Pardons some to be granted to priuate persons others for whole Families Kingdomes and Nations are there registred and set downe by his sweet Holinesse in capitall Letters as by the bookes of Taxes printed many yeeres agoe by the Popes owne commandement and approbation may appeare O is not this a goodly Mart where all manner of spirituall wares are vendible as Baptista Mantuanus a Carmelite Frier long agoe witnesseth in this Distick Eglog 5. Templa Sacerdotes Altaria Sacra Coronae Ignis thus preces Coelum est venale Deusque Temples Priest-hood and Altars so holy Frankincense prayers heauen and its glory Yea holy Fryers nay God himselfe is sold By the Pope of Rome for siluer and gold Moreouer if any be sicke especially of the richer sort for the poore are none of their Clients these shauelings will speedily repaire thither to administer vnto them some spirituall but to say truth spightfull food for it is their ordinary custome to bring the sicke parties almost to desperation because they would gull them of their mony the only comfort or consolation that they will bestow is to tell them that there is no other way for them to expect but damnation vnlesse they will deale liberally and giue good store of money to good vses to whom I pray you in good sooth to them to pray for their soules when they be broyling in Purgatory and to sing Masses Ad requiem de profundis and such like popish prayers to free them from thence For this hot scalding furnace or Purgatory is the best possession that the Pope and his Monks Friers and other his Clergy men haue for it yeeldeth them more profit gaine rent and reuenues than all the other benefices whatsoeuer Neither is there any Realme Lordship Land or Heritage that yeeldeth more profit vnto their Lords and owners than Purgatory â—oth vnto them And therefore it is no maruell if they feare so much to lose it for if that should be taken away from them they were quite vndone and ouerthrowne horse and foot O all their care and chiefest study is to describe this famous Country vnto the common people Verily I thinke there is neuer a Geographer be he neuer so learned that can so well paint and describe the earth with all the parts thereof as these Mountebanks I meane Monks and Friers and popish Clergy men doe draw out these infernall Regions and those Low Countries but I wonder whether they speake by heare say or that they haue beene there in proper person for they can tell of euery little creeke or corner Howbeit we see that the best Cosmographers doe faile oft times in the descriptions of the earth and of many Countries and Regions which are most familiar and best knowne vnto vs. As for example there is not almost a Country better knowne than France and England neuerthelesse we often times see great errors in those Cards in which they are described And therefore we may coniecture that it may so chance in other Tables Maps or Cards containing the description of the Heauen Earth and many other Countries vnknowne But Monks and Friers haue the spirit to compose and make a Table or Map of these low infernall Regions yea better than the Painters haue painted them out in their Churches or the Printers in the Shepherds Callender And therefore I would aduise all that intend to trauell into the Kingdome of Purgatory to take a Monk a Frier or a popish Priest for their guide as Circes guided Vlysses to bring him to speake with Elpemenor and as Sybilla brought Aeneas to the speech of his father Anchises Homer Odyss 1. 11. Virgil. Aeneid lib. 6. Ouid. Met. l. 14. But would you know who was the first that found out this hot Region or Kingdome of Purgatory haue but patience and I will tell you Mine Author is Peter of Amiens who wrote in a booke of this discouery in the time of Pope Iohn the eight 1000. yeeres after the passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ that one Odillus Abbot of the Monks of Cluny being in Sicilia and hearing oftentimes the noise cries and bewailings which were made continually about the hill Aetna which now is called in the Italian tongue Gibello monte did imagine that it came from the Deuils lamenting that the soules of the faithfull deceased were deliuered from torments through the Masses Vigiles Prayers Sacrifices and Offerings of the liuing Christians he presently declared the same to his Monks and they all decreed together that after they had offered their Offerings the first day of Nouember and celebrated the Feasts of All Saints in their honour they would in like manner the next day make prayers and supplications for the soules of all the faithfull deceased And afterwards in succession of time others receiued and allowed that manner of doing as good and holy The reason was as I thinke because the Poets and the foolish common people imagined that there was a place there to descend into hell and the place in which the soules of the wicked were tormented for their sinnes because that in the same Mountaine there is a perpetuall fire