vnderneath them and the Church to be diuided in like manner But I am afraid that the Friers doe sometimes lie vppermost and the Nuns vndermost if that be true as I feare it is which I haue read in that little Pamphlet which is intituled The Anatomy of the English Nuns of Lisbon These Friers and Nuns weare a gray Habit and abound in wealth They haue a Couent at Monachum in Bauaria another in Collen another neere Calcar at a place called Maria in Bosco or Marie in Busse in Cleueland another in Isle or Insula in Flanders and another of English Nuns in Lisbon in Portugall who had heretofore a great Couent in Midlesex at a place called Sion which is now the Right Honourable the Earle of Northumberlands house and another they had in Swethland before the reformation but now they are expulsed thence I neuer knew or heard of any more Couents that they haue or had Their Rule is patched out of Saint Augustines Rule Of the Minorite Friers otherwise called Boni homines or Good men THese Friers doe challenge for their Patron Saint Anthony of Paula they weare a moorish colour Habit and neuer eat Flesh Butter or Cheese but feed on the best Fish and Oile the finest Bread and purest Wine the best Spices Fruits Herbs and Roots that they can buy for money They are infinite rich in Lands Reuenues and Money Their Superiour they call father Guardian and haue many Monasteries in Italy France Spaine and some in Germany Richard Duke of Cornwall and brother to King Henry the third being elected King of the Romans by the Electors of the Empire tooke his Sonne Edmund with him into Germany who vpon his returne into England built a Cloister for these Monks at Barkamsteed three and twenty miles from London which was in the yeere 1257. Of the Carthusian Friers I Am now come to the Carthusian Friers whose first beginning was in the yeere 1130. their first Founder was one Bruno borne in Collen in high Germany and a Professor of Philosophy at Paris in France at which time it hapned as they say that a certaine friend of his who was reputed to be a godly man and famous for his learning and preaching in that City hapned to die and as they were singing of the office for the dead as the manner is among the Papists when they came to repeat these words Dic mihi quot habes iniquitates this Bruno being then and there present the dead man cryed out Iusto Dei iudicio damnatus sum that is I am damned through the iust iudgement of God Whereupon this Bruno being strucken with such a feare beganne to consider that if such a good man as that was in the iudgement of the world was damned through the iust iudgement of God what would become of him and many thousands more that were farre worse than that man was in mans iudgement and therefore with all speed left Paris and tooke his iourney together with six of his Schollers to liue solitary in some Wildernesse and not long after came to the Prouince of Dolphinè in France neere to the City Gratianopolis or Grenoble where he obtained a place to build him a Monasterie on the top of a high stupendious hill called Carthusia from whence this Family tooke name This place one Hugo then Bishop of Grenoble gaue them who afterwards became a religious Frier of that Order They weare a long white cloth Coat loose with a Cowle and a long blacke Cloke ouer when they goe abroad which is but seldome white cloth Stockings and a haire Shirt as they say but credat qui vult let him beleeue that will for mine owne part I beleeue it not The Lay-brothers for so they call all those that are religious men and no Priests weare a short Coat or Iacket of a reddish coloured cloth downe to their knees They neuer eat Flesh Butter or Cheese but the best Fish Egges Oile Honey Fruits and the purest Wine that they can get They fast as they say the sixt day of the weeke with Bread and Water to bring the flesh in subiection to the spirit They are enioyned I meane the Priests to a perpetuall kinde of silence for they must not talke or conuerse one with another but at certaine daies in the yeere none of them are permitted to goe abroad out of their Monastery but the Prior and Procurator vnlesse it be some of the Lay-brethren who goe abroad now and then about the affaires of their Cloister for they are very rich and haue great store of lands corne cattell flocks of sheepe and heards of goats and swine and many seruants They permit no woman kinde to come within their Monasteries or Churches lest with the sight of them they should bee tempted to lust for them Truly it is an excellent thing if they can keepe the affection of their mindes correspondent to their outward gestures and tame the flesh by liuing idle and solitary the which Saint Ierome who tooke great paines and liued a farre more austere life than they do could hardly performe as he himselfe testifieth They neuer eat together but on Sundayes or Festiuall dayes and then euery man hath his seuerall portion but all alike as the fashion is among all Monks and Friers Euery Priest Deacon or Subdeacon among these Carthusians hath a little house or Cell and a little garden to himselfe where his bed and study is and where hee is alwaies but when he is at Church There is a partition-wall between euery Friers house and garden and another When they are in their houses or Cels they must locke their doores fast that no man can come at them but some of the Lay-brethren that haue libertie to goe vp and downe the Cloister at their pleasure for they are the vnder-officers who bring them their portions of meat and drink and do deliuer it in at a window or hole that is by their doores in the wall but they must not goe into the Cell nor speake together vnlesse it be vpon extremitie This Order was instituted about the yeare 1080. as I told you before and confirmed by Pope Alexander the third about the yeare 1178. since which time they haue beene spread ouer all Christendome and still are vnder the Catholike gouernment Balaeus Cent. 2. cap. 63 de Scrip. Brit. eâ—… Tho. Scropâ— They came into England about the yeare 1180. and at Witham neare Bath built their first Cloister Afterwards they came to London and had a faire sumptuous house at the Charterhouse and another at Sein neare Brainford They began very poore but now they are as rich as Princes They should not by their rule bee more in one Couent than twelue Religious men besides the Prior and the Procurator and eighteene Lay-brothers and a conuenient number of hyndes or seruants who neuer come into the Quire where the Prior the other Religious men that are present sit to heare Masse or any spirituall exercise but sit in
Orders of Monks and Friers like so many bulwarkes or strong forts to oppose all batteries and assaults whatsoeuer her Aduersaries shall plant or set against her As the Benedictins Carthusians Ieromites Bernardins Augustins Carmelites Dominicans Franciscans Capuchins Recollects Iesuites Theotines Oraterians Fullians Barnabists and an hundred more of these bald pates Also Nunnes Beghins close Nunnes loose Nunnes Sisters Canonesses And Hermites as those of the Orders which they attribute to Saint Anthony Hilary Macarius S. Theon S. Frontinian S. Paul the Heremite S. Apollonius and many more Now hath the Popes added to these the holy Gildes or Confraternities of Saint Roch Saint Hubricht S. Sebastian S. Coronna who are clad in blew Saint Anthony in blacke Saint Martin in white Saint Dominicke in blacke Of the Iesuites and Capuchins c. Yea moreouer holy Orders of Knights as those of the Rhodes or Malta Teutonickes or Dutch Knights Templers Knights of Saint Iames Our Ladies Knights Knights of Ierusalem Knights of the Order of Calatraua and many more whom for breuitie sake I omit for truly I had need of six hundred tongues and two hundred pens yea a mouth of steele with a brazen voice if I should declare all the diuersities of Orders and Religions which the holy Popes haue set vp not only without but also against the holy Scripture And yet I name not the Popes themselues their Cardinals Prelates Patriarkes and such like beasts whereof neither the Apostles or Prophets euer heard of nay I dare boldly say that if the Apostles or Prophets had but once seene or heard the hundreth part of these new Religious Orders named they would haue beene afraid of them For seeing that Saint Paul could not suffer that among the Corinthians some should call themselues the disciples of Peter others of Paul and others of Apollo how would he haue been then afraid and out of quiet to haue seene and heard of such an innumerable company of new and diuers names Professions Religions and Rules of perfection some clad in black some in white some in gray greene blew some in red and some in furres c. And euery one to esteeme his owne Order and Rules for the best and most worthy to be regarded he would surely haue thought himselfe to be in a new world Therefore the holy Father the Pope and his Monks and Friers yea all his Clergie men will not haue men to found themselues or depend only vpon that which the Prophets and Apostles haue written and taught for say they the world is now altered and the Popes haue found out and established new Religions new Commandements and new Articles of Faith whereof the Apostles neuer heard or knew of For otherwise beleeue me if nothing else were esteemed but the bare Scriptures and writings of the Prophets and Apostles then should the Decrees Decretals and Ordinances of the Church of Rome and all the Councells which haue beene kept and holden by the Order and Commandements of the Popes yea all the before specified Orders and Religions of Monks Friers Nunnes Heremites Gildes and Knight-hoods be vtterly ouerthrowne yea all their pretended Merits and Supererogations Prayers to Saints Purgatory and such like trumperies would not be worth a rotten Apple If men I say would begin to esteeme the holy Scripture alone for a true and sufficient rule and direction to attaine to saluation then should Luther be commended and praised for causing the Decrees and Decretalls of the Pope to be burned in Germany when his bookes were burned at Rome Now because there are many Monks Friers and Iesuites sent and transported into England out of the English Seminaries Colleges and Cloisters that are in forraigne parts as trading Factors for the Pope and the King of Spaine to extoll the sanctitie of the one and the power of the other I haue according to my bounden duty to my natiue Country and out of the zeale and reuerence I beare to Gods Church and true Religion vndertaken to write this ensuing Discourse my purpose being to discouer the beginning and in some manner the proceedings and present estate drifts and impostures of all Monks Friers and Iesuites in generall and of our English in particular and as well to instruct all those my louing Country men that are not as yet thorowly acquainted with their Impostures Hypocrisies Fornications Murders Idolatries Blasphemies many other abominable Impieties and inaccessible Mysteries as also to informe those that are carried away with the blind loue of these busie Hornets that they will not be perswaded that they are such wicked Hypocrites and impious Traitors as they are indeed to the end that the truth being knowne it may appeare in the face of the world what they are who in stead of the wholsome milke of the Word of God doe feed them who are committed to their charge with the poison of detestable Blasphemies and humane Traditions applying vnto the Virgin Mary and others their Saints many passages of holy Scriptures which are only proper vnto the Diuinity with their impious and abhorred doctrine of killing and murdering of Kings and Princes that are excommunicated by the Pope and Church of Rome We reade that many religious men heretofore contemning the world and all the pompe pride and vanity thereof withdrew themselues into Wildernesses and desart places in Syria Egypt and other Countries to the end they might the better being not troubled with worldly cares and incumbrances bestow their time in reading and studying the holy Scriptures fasting praying meditating and such diuine exercises Whereof Paul surnamed the first Heremite Anthony Hilarion Basil and Ierome were the first and chiefest among the Christians who for their sanctity of life were in those daies had in great honour for then this kinde of life was simple and free and not bound or tied to such vnlawfull Vowes and ridiculous Ceremonies as our moderne Monkes and Friers now adaies pretend to obserue and keepe Their Habit was then homely and yet decent as euery man best pleased to weare Neither were they bound to abide or remaine in any one particular place or Couent nor tied to one kind of life by vow but free to stay there where they liked best or to goe vnto any other City or Country where they would at their owne pleasure if that at any time it repented any of them to haue vndertaken or entred into that kind of life it was in his owne proper power to recant and withall to returne to his former vocation or calling againe without any note or signe of inconstancy or scandall which kind of life if the Monks of our time would imitate we should hold them farre more holy than we doe or to say the truth than they are indeed They sought out the most desart places they could find that is in the Wildernesse and therefore were called Heremites quasi eremum colentes inhabiting in the Wildernesse which the Grecians call Anchorites because they liued alone without any company and therefore
Institutor of the Grandimontensian Monks was one Stephen a Noble-man borne in Auernia in France who gaue them much about that time large possessions and reuenues to maintaine themselues withall The Cistercienses or Bernanardin Monks And about the very selfe-same time one Robert Abbot of Molismenia perceiuing how the old Benedictin Monks had then almost quite left and forsaken the ancient rule and discipline that Benet had giuen them accompanied with more than twentie other Monks repaired to a place called Sistercium in Burgundie being an horrible stupendious place and not inhabited and there erected another new Family and called them Sistercienses of the place he built his first Abbey In the yeare of our Lord MXCVIII The Bernardin Monks Saint Bernard being a man nobly descended in Burgundie and one that before that time had vndertaken this Monastical life at Cistercium aforesaid became very famous as wel for his learning as for his sanctitie of life and therefore was chosen to bee Abbat of the Abbey of Claranallensis which Abbey one Robert a Noble-man of that Countrey had then lately built and then began the Order of the Monks of Saint Bernard but to say the truth the Cistercensian Monks and the Bernardine are all one sauing a little in their habite for the Bernardins weare a blacke gowne ouer a white coat and the Cistercians all white and yet the Bernardins weare most commonly euery festiuall day the habite of the Cistercians to shew the beginning of their Order as Seb. Franckin witnesseth Seb. Fran. Chron. folio 470. These Bernardine Monks haue their Abbeyes for the most part in some pleasant valley neare to some riuer side accommodated with woods and groues as an ancient Poet well obserued in these verses Semper enim valles Syluestribus vndique cinctos Arboribus Diuus Bernardus amaenaque prata Et fluuios c. amabat That is to say In valleyes and groues neare some riuer side The Bernardine Monks doe loue to reside The Celestine Monks About some fourescore and foure yeares after one Petrus Moronēus who had beene formerly an Anchorite and afterwards Pope and called Caelestinus the fift erected an Order of Monks and called them Caelestini His Order was confirmed in the Councell of Lyons by Pope Gregory the tenth who gaue them many priuileges and indulgences they obserue the rule of Saint Benet An. Dom. 1294. This Sect or Family did afterwards increase so fast that within few yeares hee himselfe did consecrate six and thirty Cloisters for them in Italy wherein were six hundred Monks afterwards they came to inhabite all Christendome Their first comming into England was in the yeare 1414. Surius in Caelestino tom 3. de vitis Sanctorū Vide Tho. Walsingham George Lilyus and Balaeus Centuria 7. cap. 50. in Appendice There is also a Confraternitie or Brotherhood of this Order Their Institutor gaue his Monks among other things this caueat Tunc Caelestinus eris si caelestia mediteris that is to say Thou shalt be a Caelestin in deed that is a heauenly man if thou wilt alwaies meditate vpon heauenly things They weare a kinde of a Skie-coloured habite ouer a white coat and doe neuer or seldome eat flesh and haue their Monasteries in some fertile and pleasant soile and most commonly a mile or two from any Towne or Citie Of the Gilbertin Monks and Nuns THe Institutor of this Sect was one Gilbert of Sempringham a Knights sonne borne at Sempringham in Lincolne-shire his fathers name was Iocelin This Gilbert was a man very deformed in his body but very studious and learned and withall very superstitious as most men then were After such time that hee had spent some certaine yeares in France in study he repaired backe to England vnto whom many people resorted by reason of the great fame of his holy life And in a very short time he erected thirteen Cloisters of Friers and Nunnes whereof the chiefest was at Sempringham Anno 1148. wherein were as Balaeus witnesseth seuen hundred Friers and eleuen hundred Nunns Capgrauus Scropus in Chron. And about the yeare 1148. he went againe into France to Pope Eugenius the third who then liued at Auignon to haue his Order confirmed who admiring much at his deuotion and forwardnesse confirmed his Order From thence he came backe to England and gaue his Friers and Nunns a Rule which he had formerly taken out of Saint Benet and Saint Augustines Rules Of these Religious Votaries chastitie one Nigellus Wireker an ancient Poet wrote these ensuing verses Nigellus in speculo stultorum Quid de Sempringham quantùm aut qualia dicam Nescio nam nouares me dubitare facit Hoc tamen ad presens nulla ratione remittam Nam necesse nimis fratribus esse reor Quod nunquam nisi clam nulla sciente sororum Cum quocunque suo fratre manere licet Thus I finde these Verses of Sempringham Englished many yeares since What should I much prate An order it is begun of late Yet will I not let the matter so passe The silly Friers and Nunnes alasse Can haue no meeting but late in the darke And this you know well is a heauie warke The same Poet wrote likewise these Verses Canonici Missam tantùm reliquumque sorores Explent officij debitajura sui Corpora non voces murus distinguit in vnum Psallant directo Psalmatis absque mero That is to say The Monks sing the Masse the Nuns sing the other Thus doe the Sisters take part with the Brother Bodies not voices a wall doth disseuer Without deuotion they sing together And of the Nunnes he wrote thus Harum sunt quaedam steriles quaedam parientes Virgineo tamen nomine cuncta tegunt Quae pastoralis baculi dotatur honore Illa quidem melius fertiliusque parit Vix etiam quaenis sterilis reperitur in illis Donec eius aetas talia posse negat That is to say Some Nunnes are barren and some bearing best Yet all are Virgins at principall Feasts She that is Abbesse as doth her befall In fruitfull bearing is best of them all Scarce one shall you finde among the whole rout That is vnfruitfull till age comes about But now adaies God be blessed this Sect among others is quite extinguished for since the dissolution of the Abbeys here in England which was in the reigne of King Henry the eight or to say the truth since the beginning of the Reigne of Queene Elizabeth these Gilbertins were neuer heard of Of the Bethlemit Friers Balaeus in Appendice ABout the yeare of our Lord 1257. the Bethlemit Friers began to peepe into the world Their first dwelling was at Cambridge and their habite was like the Dominican Friers sauing that these did weare a starre in their brest wrought vpon their habite in memoriall of the Starre that did appeare at the time that our Sauiour was borne in Bethlem There were so many Sects of Monks Friers and Nuns at that time vpon a sodaine
Crudum delitias saepe vocamus olus That is to say From loose Franciscans we distinguisht are Not one iot in our habit but our fare To feed on flesh in flesh-daies are their wishes Gammons of Bacon are their daily dishes Venison they deuoure both sod and rost And bak't meat of all sorts them pleaseth most With herbs we stay our stomacke when it barkes And raw thin broth our Capons is and Larkes But they did not long perseuer in this austere kinde of life for now adaies all their delight is to fare deliciously and to cram their fat guts with the best dainties the Country yeelds and weare Shooes and Stockins These Cormorants and fat-bellied Mates will preach Christ crucified poore naked and hungry and command fasting and other Christian exercises but themselues will neuer practise any one of them This Order of the Obseruant Minorite Friers was confirmed by the Councell of Constance the Sea of Rome being vacant and afterwards by Pope Eugenius the fourth Pius the second Paul the third Sixtus the fourth Innocentius the eighth and Alexander the sixt Petrus de cruce in Antiâ—… inorâ—…a Afterwards through the opinion that men had of their singular sanctity or holinesse they beganne to increase wonderfully in so much that within a short time they had in Italy twenty Cloisters wherein were six score Friers and in the latter time of Bernardin who was of their Order and a very famous man in those daies they had three hundred Cloisters and were more than fiue thousand Friers From Italy they came to dwell in all the Townes and Cities of Christendome yea out of Christendome among Turkes and Iewes in all quarters King Edward the fourth brought them into England and King Henry the seuenth augmented their number in whose time they had six famous Cloisters in England whereof Christ-Church in London was one Baleus Polydor lib. 7. cap. 4. This Schisme betweene the Minorite Friers was prophesied as I haue read by one Guido a Frier of their Order long before that it began Their Habit is of a more darker gray than the Conuentuall Friers But now there are many other Sects of Friers that challenge Saint Francis for their Patron whereof the Capuchins Recollects Penitentiarians and the French Franciscans whom they report Saint Lewis King of France to haue erected are the chiefest Euery one of all which doth challenge to be of the institution of Saint Francis and to liue according to his Rule and Discipline And doe exclaime one against another most shamefully in so much that there is no more loue and amity betweene them than betweene Christians and Turkes no not so much for Christians and Turkes will conferre and trafficke yea sometimes eat and drinke together But Saint Francis his holy ghostly children will not so much as speake a good word one of the other The other Sect of Friers that claimed Francis for their Patron and Instituter who were called Amadeani Minimi Reformati fratres de Euangelio Chiacini Paulini Bosiani Gaudentes fratres de portiuncula c. are now for the most part either vnited to the Obseruants Recollects Penitentiarians or Capuchins or else quite dissolued and abolished Those Friers that Francis did institute as I finde in their owne Bookes were inioyned to labour for their liuing as appeareth by his last Will and Testament but now a daies these lazy Lubbars scorne to worke and liue by begging yea it is no lesse than Heresie to say that Friers must worke Their Patron among other things commanded them to weare but one Frocke or Coat and not to carry either Bag or Wallet and yet these holy men neuer goe abroad without a great Wallet ouer their shoulders as big as a Sack I speake not of their sleeues which are as wide as they may well carry a dozen of white bread in either of them And besides the Capuchins Recollects and Penitentiarians doe weare short Clokes ouer their Frocks And withall euery one of them all hath two Coats or Frocks to shift himselfe withall when he pleases Those Friers that are called Conuentuales or non obseruantes doe weare a long whitish gray Coat or Frocke close before downe to their heeles with a Hood or a Cowle to couer their heads the lower part reaching downe round about their shoulders and brests and ouer this Habit they weare a Girdle made of a Cord with many knots tied on it which they call Saint Francis Girdle which is a holy thing as they say Vnderneath this Habit they weare Doublets Breeches Shirts gray Stockins and Shooes They haue Couents in Italy and Germany and in no other Countrie and Lands and reuenues to maintaine themselues and doe very seldome beg publikely but priuately and therefore haue all things that they want brought vnto them The obseruant Franciscans doe weare the selfe same kinde of Habit sauing that it is a little a more darke gray and professe as I told you before to leade a more austere life than the Conuentuals for they haue no Lands or Reuenues other than the Wallet or Scrip neither will they touch any money but they can command money at their pleasure as I haue formerly told you They flourish in Italy Spaine France Netherland and many other Prouinces The Penitentiarian Franciscan Friers doe affirme that Saint Francis did institute three Orders that is to say The Obseruant Franciscans themselues and an Order of Nuns which are called Clarissae or Claristae who take their names of one Clara that was a very superstitious woman and Francis his Mate These Penitentiarian Friers haue but very few Couents and those in Italy and France They pretend to doe penance for themselues and for others especially for their Benefactors and such as are married folkes They weare no linnen as they say neither doublet breeches or hose but only a little paire of linnen drawers to saue their priuy members from their course Habit in stead of Shooes they weare woodden clogs vnder their feet bound ouer with leather straps Their Habit is made of a very course cloth and close before reaching downe to their heeles with a Cowle close to their head made of the same and a gray Rope made of haire full of knots in stead of a girdle about their loines They neuer ride when they trauell but goe a foot Withall they haue a great woodden paire of Beads with a woodden Crosse at the end tyed to their Girdle before them There is another Order of Franciscan Friers in France which they call the third Order of Saint Francis which as they say was erected by Saint Lewis King of France after his returne from the warres of the holy Land These Friers haue no lands but may possesse money and of all the Franciscan Friers these are the most dissolute for they are common Whoremongers Gamesters and Drunkards They haue no Couents but onely in France where they liued for a long time in no great reputation but now of late many of them
is to bee corrected in religious Orders because that very many of them are become so deformed in life and behauiour that they are a great scandall to the secular people and doe much hurt by their lewd and ill examples and therefore we thinke it meet that all conuentuall Orders be quite abolished and supprest not that we would haue any of them iniured but to prohibit them to admit any new men into their Orders so that by this meanes they may be all soone suppressed And wee thinke it fit that all boies who are not as yet professed Friers be expulsed out of their Monasteries And againe Alius abusus turbat Christianum Populum in Monialibus quae sunt sub cura fratrum conuentualium vbi in plerisque Monasterijs fiunt publica Sacrilegia cum maximo omnium scandalo auferat ergo S. V. omnem curam à conuentualibus eamque det ordinarijs aut alijs prout melius videbitur Another abuse doth trouble the Christian common wealth and that is in the Nuns who are vnder the custody and charge of the Conuentuall Friers who in most of their Monasteries doe commit publike Sacrilege to the great scandall of all men Let your Holinesse therefore take away this charge from the Conuentuall Friers and giue it to the Ordinaries or some others as you shall see best Now the names of these great personages that presented that Booke to the Councell of Trent and the Pope were these Gasper Cardinalis Contarenus Iohannes Petrus Card. Theatinus who was afterwards Pope Paul the fourth Iacobus Card. Sadoletus Reignaldus Card. Auglicus otherwise called Cardinall Poole Fredericus Arch. Salernitanus Hieronymus Arch. Brundusinus Ioh. Matthaeus Episcopus Veronensis Gregorius Abbas Sancti Georgij Venet. F. Thomas Magister Sacri Palatij Now you poore abused Romish Recusants vnmaske pull away the veile which the Monks Friers Iesuits and other Seminary Priests haue put before your eyes turne away your eares from their crafty illusions breake the bonds wherewith they haue captiuated you and purge your braines with some good Antidote against their charmes and then not till then shall you perceiue in what darknesse in what error and in what captiuity you haue beene so long detained whilest these cursed Hispaniolized Bald pates haue gouerned you then you your selues shall bee Iudges how much you haue lost of your beauty of your authority of your wisdome and of your lands reuenues and riches yea of your honour and estimation in the common wealth so that if you would I say looke backe vpon your selues you should see that your visages are so changed that you could not know your selues nay you would be afraid to behold your owne faces and withall your neighbours who were wont to pity your folly doe now hisse at you pointing with their fingers and mocking at your desperate rage and miserable stupidity which hath made you more sauage than Medea against your owne innocent children whom you most cruelly and without any humanity banish and transport ouer into forraigne Countries thereto be mewed vp like so many Hawkes in Colleges and Cloisters and withall wasting and consuming your lands and riches to maintaine these Impostors and cheating Copesmates who delude and deceiue you with their charmes and feed you with hope of the restauration or at least a toleration of the Romish Religion the which you haue long wished and expected for but I hope that you are as neere now to obtaine it as you and your fore-fathers were in Queene Elizabeths raigne Take patience a while and hearken vnto one that wisheth your welfare in the Lord and one who hath nor will relate vnto you any thing which shall be vnreasonable but wholly to your aduantage and profit Imitate therefore that vertuous Prince Antigonus who freely hearkned vnto a plaine country man whom he met with by chance reprehending the vices wherewith he was attached and albeit he felt himselfe pricked to the quicke yet he tooke all in so good part that it turned greatly to his profit correcting afterwards that which the good man had noted to be vicious in him and being returned home to his Court he said vnto his Minions that he had learned that of a Peasant which he neuer knew before namely the truth which his flatterers had kept hidden and disguised In like manner poore deceiued Country-men depart but a while from these fraudulous and traiterous Monks Friers Iesuits and Seminary Priests to learne not of your domesticall flatterers and deluders but of a stranger that is desirous for your owne good and safety to make you know the sincere verity which this long time you haue not heard of for that you would neuer giue eare to any discourse but those of your deceiuers who continually entertaine you with faire words and great hopes and all not worth a rotten Figge The King of Spaine seeing himselfe inriched with the spoiles of other Kings and Princes not contenting himselfe with the prey imagineth that it should serue him but as a Ladder to mount to the top of an absolute Monarchy And being as it were drunke with the greatnesse of his happy successe he beganne to plot higher attempts in his spirit as ambition neuer wants matter proposing England for the marke of his other enterprises but knowing well that hee might not attempt openly vpon it and that herein force of armes might turne rather to his damage than profit as it did in the yeere 1588. and likewise in the latter end of Queene Elizabeths raigne when he sent forces into Ireland to ioyne with the Rebell Tyrone he resolued to follow the aduice of Lisander namely Where the Lions skin is not strong enough to patch it with a peece of the Foxes But then he imagined that nothing could more securely and more soone eleuate him to the top of this greatnesse than a forcible Ladder of gold vnderpropped with a more than Punick subtilty and masked with a false semblance of integrity and religion First of all he had a recourse vnto a company of cunning Magicians who had beene ingendred here in England and other places of our Kings Maiesties Dominions but brought vp trained and instructed in the proud and Magnificent Palace of Rome at the foot of the sonne of Perdition or in some other of his Seminary Colleges or Cloisters whom hauing furnished in abundance with all that was requisite for for their affaires recommending vnto them all his designes but with this prouiso that they should especially keep themselues disguised and lurke vnder the maske of the Catholike Religion then he presently sends them into England And these are those mischieuous and traiterous brood which you call the holy Fathers the Iesuites a name truly fatall and pernicious to euery well ordered Monarchy and Common-wealth These Sorcerers together with a whole regiment of Monks Friers and Seminary Priests as their Coadiutors and fellow-helpers were presently receiued and entertained with great applause of you and all others the Partakers and Pentioners of
the King of Spaine who leaue nothing vndone that they make themselues plausible vnto you and your fauourers Now these traiterous Iesuites Monks Friers and Seminary Priests who aime at nothing else than to corrupt the fidelity of England and to withdraw the hearts of his Maiesties subiects from their obedience to their Soueraigne yea finally to plucke England Scotland and Ireland from due subiection to his Maiesty and to present them to this ambitious Philip of Spaine gained first of all secretly those whom they knew to be best affected to the Spaniards as some of the Priuy Councell Nobility Gentry and of his Maiesties Officers at Court and elsewhere and withall not few of our collapsed Ladies in whose laps these holy Fathers doe often lay downe their heads to take a nap nay which is worse they suborned and peruerted many of the Clergy and Students of either Vniuersitie to ioyne with them who O horrible shame make no conscience to sell for ready money their Eloquence and Knowledge which they ought to haue imploied in preaching the Gospell and instructing the simple people in the feare of God and obedience to their King to corrupt the constancy and fidelity of England but Quid non mortalia pectora cogit aurisacra fames What is it that gold will not doe These cunning Iebusites or if you will Iudaists are the King of Spaines trading Factors and Dispensers to distribute and pay his gold to his Pentioners that lurke about the Court of England so that by this meanes he hath still notice and intelligence of the estate of the Realme and withall they seduce the subiects as Cambyses heretofore espied and deceiued the Ethiopians These I say by meanes of their mercenary tongues omit no art that may serue their purpose to suborne England but vse all meanes possible to make his Maiesty odious vnto her and him vnto his subiects in altering as much as in them lieth by their flattering discourses the sincere amity and faithfull loyalty which English men haue alwaies intirely borne towards his Maiesty and his Ancestors either aggrauating euery seeming petty imperfection aboue his great perfection blaming and accusing his gouernment or else in attributing vnto the King of Spaine the glory onely due vnto our Royall Soueraigne and withall in all their Discourses magnifying the greatnesse and vertues of this ambitious Spaniard whom they paint out accomplished with all the perfections that may be imagined and briefly they forget nothing whereby they may withdraw England if they could from her King and withall gull you of your money to enrich themselues and their Colleges Cloisters and Seminaries in those forraigne parts But some Iesuite or one of that faction perchance may obiect that nothing moueth the King of Spaine to be at such great charges to maintaine so many English Seminaries Colleges and Cloisters in those forraigne parts and to transport from thence so many Monks Friers and other religious men into the King of Englands Dominions but onely to conserue among you the Catholike Religion Ah poore senselesse soules for Gods sake giue eare to what I shall briefly recount touching him and his Predecessors actions in this point and then you shall plainly perceiue whether the zeale that he beareth towards your Religion solliciteth him to be so charitable you vnto as you imagine Hath this great King or his Father or Grandfather spent their treasures or hazzarded the liues of their subiects onely for the aduancement of the Christian Faith against vnchristian Princes nothing lesse To verifie this to be true I will produce you these two examples Pope Gregory the 13. proposing himselfe to the aid of certaine Christian Princes to make an enterprise vpon the Persian for the augmentation of the Church of Rome requested that ambitious Philip King of Spaine this Kings Grand-father to giue him some succour which he not only flatly denied but which is more would not lend any of his Gallies albeit the holy Sea of Rome offered to charge them at her owne charges Moreouer how dealt he with the late King of Portugall Don Sebastian whose death all Christendome had sufficient cause to bewaile who desiring to assist Mulei Mahumet King of Fez and Morocco against Mulei Maluco his brother who had expulsed him his Realme a worke surely worthy of so noble a Prince and aduantagious besides to the Church of Rome for the good conditions he had compounded with the stranger required Philip his Vnkle to succour him in that expedition who accorded that hee should haue fifty Gallies equipped and foure thousand fighting men which Mulei Maluco the other brother perceiuing incontinently offered Philip certaine Townes on the Sea side to desist from his promise which he speedily accepted not shaming to breake his oath sworne to his Nephew to contract alliance with a barbarous Infidell so much did auarice raigne ouer him as to cause him to violate the Lawes of God and men but he was paid with the same mony that he lent for sending his Ambassadour Vanegas to take possession of the Towne of Rarach and others promised vnto him the Barbarians mocking at his treachery and perfidiousnesse constrained the Ambassadour by force of the Cannon to retire sooner than he was willing But it may be you will say he bare himselfe politikely in these two actions to conserue and maintaine his owne estate as if humane policy were to be preferred before the Law and honour of God I but for all this he hath shewed himselfe a very zealous Catholike and hath carried a particular respect towards thoâ—e that make a strict profession of his owne Religion well but let vs see if that be true After that he had inuaded the Kingdome of Portugall and that among infinite other Ladies he had banished into Castile the wife of the Agent of Don Antonio the lawfull King thereof his children and Mother in Law he drew three of his sisters chaste and religious Nunnes out of the Monastery of Saint Clare at Lisbone and confined them likewise into Castile But he hath dealt maruellous mercifully with them in sauing their liues albeit seruile and miserable Yea but sith the women are thus dealt with the men must be handled a little more rigorously and surely herein he hath thorowly acquitted himselfe witnesse a religious Frier named Iohn of the Order of Saint Dominick who for embracing the liberty of his Country was hanged in the I le of Madera Another Frier Hector Pintus of the Order of Saint Hierome was committed to the hands of certaine souldiers in Castile where he was afterwards impoisoned Frier Iames de Noronba another Dominican Frier and brother to the Earle of Mira was so cruelly beaten by the souldiers that were of his guard that he died A Doctor named Frier Augustine of the Order of Saint Augustine and one Frier Emanuel Margues a Franciscan Frier were both chained together with Rouers and Theeues in a Galley which was afterwards taken by the Turks vnder whose crueltie I leaue it to