full of all guyle and disceitfulnes thou enemy of all righteousnes doost thou not cease to peruert the right waies of the Lorde Take héede thou blasphemer of that which followeth in that text Darest thou say that the deuil of hel is the foundation of Christes Religion Thou callest it our Religion because we professe it and we acknowledg that in that meaning it is ours indéede we are not ashamed of it But in thy meaning we deny it to be ours for wee are not the Authors of it It is a reuerent feare and loue towards the maiestie of God which the holy spirit of Christ hath wrought in our harts whereby we are mooued to séeke to knowe his wyll and to serue him according to his wyll The foundation of this Religion is the Law of God and the Gospell of Christ For the Lawe dooth worke in vs feare and the Gospell worketh loue By the lawe we are seruants but by the Gospell we are children that is adoptiue sonnes and daughters of God himselfe and inheritors of hys kingdome and heyres annexed with Jesus Christ his onely begotten Sonne This Law did God himselfe wryte first in the hart of the first man in his first creation and after in Tables of stone and deliuered the same to Moses as his especiall and chosen Minister that by his ministration it might bee made knowne to his people the posteritie of Abraham Isaac and Iacob And the same Law is by the finger of God written in our harts in our regeneration or newe byrth wherein we are borne from aboue by water and by the holy Ghost hauing receiued the spirite of Christ which crieth in our harts to the heauenly maiesty Abba Pater Father father The Gospell also was first preached to the first man and to the first woman when God himselfe said thus to the Serpent I wyll pâ—â—enmitie betwixt thée and the woman betwixt thy séede and her séede her séede shall breake thy heade This Gospell was a gladde tydings to the first maÌ„ and his wife and they both beléeued it and by that beléefe were they discharged of the sinne which they hadde committed in tasting of the forbidden fruite which S. Paul calleth Justifying And continuing in this beléefe they had this promised séede Christ their continuall Aduocate as we haue so that so oft as they did by fâ—ailty sinne they did as we doo by faith repare vnto him and he was the propitiation for their sinnes as he is for ours when we repare vnto him by fayth Christ Jesus therefore is called and is indéede Agnus occiâ—us ab origine mundi That Lambe that hath béene slayne euen from the beginning of the world Apo. 13. This Gospell was continually preached both before the Lawe written in Tables of stone and also vnder that Law by Sacrifice as by shaddowes and figures Heb. 10 as also by the ministry of the Prophets But when Christ Jesus which is this promised séede came he preached this Gospell in his owne person first most plainlie amongst them that were his owne peculier people And afterward he preached it amongst the nations of the world by the ministry of his Apostles or messengers And thus the knowledge heere of came to al Nations of the world Amongst whom the Grecians thought good to call this Gospell which in our olde Englishe was named Gods speale that is to say Gods word by the name Euaggelion which name doth by interpretation signify Gladde tydings This Gospell or Glad tydings so called because it dooth assure vs of frée pardon and full forgiuenes of all our sinnes by the onely mediation of our onely Mediator Christ Jesus is that Gospell that Christ Jesus doth styll preache amongst vs by the ministry of them whom you call Heretickes Howe dare you now say that the foundation of our Religion is the deuill of hell Is the deuill of hell the Lawe and the Gospell But for your recreation as it may séeme it hath pleased you to vse the figure Parenthesis and therein to set downe a long Register of the names of such as you call the deuils ministers to whom you wysh either conuersion or els spéedy dispatch out of thys life This petition may wée with greater and more Christian loue both towards you and our Countrey craue at Gods hand for you and for all your societye You sette downe our names very disorderly euen as they came to your troubled memory or as some man had gathered them and deliuered them to you in some torne péece of paper It may be that neither you nor anie that hath giuen you instructions did at any time knowe many of them whom you name nor reade any thing written by them And yet like a bolde blinde Bayarde you promise to write and publish their behauiours in another Page You may perhaps doo if but with as small commendation and as great shame as others haue doone before you It is written to our comfort that if such as you did call the good man of the house Belzebub howe much more will such call them of the housholde so It is one good signe that we be of the housholde of Christe when we be for Christes cause called as Christ himselfe was and by such as called him so Math 10. The Pharesies your Auncestors in hipocrisy shamed not to say vnto him euen to his face Do not we say well in that we say thus Thou art a Samaritan and hast a deuill Iohn 8. And shall we thinke much that you backbite vs and in your slaunderous Lybels charge vs with crimes which you are not able to prooue more then the Pharesies could prooue that Christ was a Samaritane and had a deuill For mine owne part syr boy Fryer make what report you dare better experience you haue not had of any for you haue béene in my house and at my charges a long seauen yéeres but take héede that your pen scribble no lye in the report that you shall make of mee for if you doo I wyll if GOD gyue life and hability so paynt you wyth my pensell as you neuer painted your naked backe wyth your hipocrites discipline or whyp You apply vnto vs the saying of the holy Apostle S. Iohn the first Epistle Chapter 2. Ex nobis prodierunt c. If you be as you say you are a Papist of the society of Papists then you apply that saying rightly to vs so farre forth as that you say that wee came forth from you and were not of you But if that society of which you meane be the Catholicke Church whereof y e Church of Rome that was in S. Iohns time was a principall member then that saying of S. Iohn can not be rightly applyed vnto vs but to you For not we but you are gone out from them were not of them And we are gone out from you and were not of you for you are Antichristians and we are Christians as those Romaine were in the dayes of S. Iohn But wyll you sée what
thus The Fryar Consider this looke to your soules health remember the saying of our blessed Lord and Sauiour Whosoeuer loueth Father or mother Brother or sister sonne or daughter landes or goods yea or his owne soule more then me he is not worthy to be my disciple Thinke not therefore that it is so much to burne your bookes seeing God will not haue vs to loue our owne soules more then him Crovvley We haâ—e considered that which you haue wylled vs to consider as in the words that goe immediatly before you may sée Such care for our soules health as becommeth Christians wée haue had haue stil and we doo not doubt but we shall haue so long as we shall liue in thys transitory estate The saying of our blessed Lorde and Sauiour we forget not We loue not Father mother sonne daughter landes goods no nor our owne soules more then we loue him Yea we loue none of these otherwise then in him and for his cause And yet doo we not thinke our selues worthy to be his Schollers But hys holy spirite which he hath gyuen vs doth inwardly in our harts assure vs y t in mercy hee hath accepted of vs made vs not onely his Schollers but also his sons and daughters by adoption inheritours of his owne kingdom and heyres annexed with hys onely begotten sonne Christ Iesus And therefore we doo not in our dangers flée from him as you Papists doo séeking helpe in creatures but we flée to him as obedient children to a louing Father and we cry Abbapater Father Father But let vs sée what followeth in your exhortation The Fryar Beleeue me I pray you I am your sonne Beleeue not them that flatter you before your face and behind your back laugh you to scorne If your hart be turned as I beseeche God it may be if you can not finde a Priest to heare your confessyon to reconcile you and make you a member of the holy Church at the least wise burne your bookes hereticall vse not the Englysh Bible goe no more to the Protestants Sermons buy a payre of Beades and pray to our blessed Ladye to helpe you and wysh in your hart that you had a Priest to confesse you and wish so as often as you can but specially when you fall sicke or that you are like to die Purpose stedfastly if you coulde conueniently to confesse your sinnes and to goe to shryft c. Crovvley When you woulde perswade your Mother to burne her Bookes you put her in minde of thys saying of our Sauiour Christe Whosoeuer loueth father or mother c. But nowe when you laboure to drawe her from Christ to Antichrist she must beléeue you for you are her sonne A pretie point of Rhethorike and very rhethoricallie applyed If your behauiour had béene such towards your mother that she might haue had thereby some cause to thinke that you beare a childlike affection towardes her or if you had in these your Letters sought by humble and dutifull spéeches to winne agayne that fauour which by vnduetifull behauiour you haue lost then it might haue stande with some reason that you require her to giue credite to you her naturall son rather then to any other such as you speake of But sith you neyther haue nor can purge your selfe of that déepe dissimulation that you vsed at and before you slipped away from her neither of that vndutifull behauiour that hath béene in you towardes her in all the time of your absence and is still I can not shinke that you were well aduised when you woulde vse that way to perswade For what mother can beléeue any word that is spoken or written by that sonne that would hipocritically accompany her to the Sermons at Easter and with his penne take notes of them and yet on the Saterdaie following woulde goe secretely to a Romishe ghostlie Father and be by him reconciled to the Romish Catholick Church promising to be an enemie yea a mortall enemie all the rest of his life daies to the doctrine which he had so latelie hearde and in outward shewe séemed to haue allowed of yea and what credite can you hope to haue at her handes in whose company you receiued I feare me to your owne condemnation the holy Supper of the Lord the next day after you had béene reconciled to that Antichristian Church of Rome And how can you hope that your mother will beléeue you that making haste to be gone from her on the Munday in the after noone pretended to goe to heare that Hebrewe Lecture that the mischieuous Hereticke Baâ—ber as it pleaseth you to terme him did reade vnto you And doo you think that you lying so nigh London the two first nights after your departing from your mother and three wéekes after that within one mile of London and hearing what searche was made for you by your carefull parents and other fréendes would not shewe your selfe to that sorowfull mother but suffer her to continue still in that remediles care not onelie during the space of thrée monthes which was the time that you continued in Englande before you could passe ouer the Seas but also euen to the ende almost of thrée yéeres continuing in Fraunce would neuer make your place and case knowne to your mother or anie of your fréâ—ndes in England can haue anie such credite with this mother of yours as in these wordes of yours you séeme to make account of If your Mother will hearken to you she may giue no credite to theÌ„ that flatter her to her face but laugh her to scorne behinde her back And I pray you can there be any that hath or coulde deale so with her more then you haue doone Can any man thinke that you did not laugh in your sléeue when you heard that your father and mother made such enquirie and search after you and yet coulde not méete wyth you and could anie flatter your mother to her face more then you did all y t Easter time before you departed There is no cause there fore why she should either giue lesse credite to any then to you or distrust any more then you If her hart be turned from Christe to Antichrist as you doo craue of God it may be then she must séeke for a priest to heare her confession recoâ—cile her and make her a member of y e holy Church but though she can find no such priest yet she must if she wil folow your aduice burn her hereticall bookes vse the English Bible no more and refrain going to y e Protestants Sermons To pleasure your mother in this case you might haue doone very well to haue written to her where and howe she might â—inde one of these reconciling priests and by what token she might know a right reconciling prieste froÌ„ a cosening knaue least hoping to be made a member of y e holy Church she might be admitted into the society and felowship of cosoning mates that haue no authority from
I haue them to shewe in that Letter which he wrote with his owne hand not altering or leauing out or adding to my knowledge one worde sillable or letter If any amongst the learned Romish Catholickes shall vouchsafe to reade that which I haue written and shall thinke himselfe able to disproue that which I haue doone let the same deale with me as I haue dealt with Fryer John and I hope I shalbe able so to reprooue his disproofe so y t he shall in the end wysh hée had let my wrytings passe without disproofe For Fryer John hath so quickened mine aged spirits that I séeme to my selfe able to trye thys matter by wryting euen with the stoutest Champion that the Pope hath And if Fryer John or any of his Fraternitie yea if it bee the Pope Sixtus quintus himselfe which as I heare was a Franciscane Fryer shalbe able to prooue by Scriptures and probable reasons that the Romysh Relygion which nowe is professed in Rome is Catholicke and that the Religion nowe professed in Englande is schismaticall then wyll I créepe into a Minimes wéede in Nigeon and whyppe my selfe with a discipline as Fryer John doth nowe whyppe himselfe there Otherwise if any shall enterprise to disprooue my wrytinges and shall not doo it substantially to my disproofe indéede I wyll doo what I shall be able to doo in helping him to some whipping chéere in our Bridewell if euer hee may be caught in Englande Fare you well from my house without Creplegate of London the syxt of August Anno Domini 1586. Your welwiller Robert Crowley Clarke ⧠Reade all or Reade nothing Crovvley WHen your mother shewed mée your Letters of the xvii of Marchâ— last past I did call to minde that which I had tolde her more then thrée months before you departed from her Which was that I sawe in you such signes of Arrogancie that I thought you to bee a méete stocke to graffe a Papist vpon In reading of those your Letters I perceiued that I was not deceiued in that my coniecture This spirite of Arrogancie beginneth to shewe it selfe euen in the beginning of those your Letters for you disdaine to vse those duetifull spéeches that naturall children ought to vse when they wryte to their naturall Parents You séeme to be perswaded that you abase your selfe enough yea ouermuch to write thus to such Parents as they be The Fryar Welbeloued Father and mother after my harty commendations which I haue vnto you these are to certify you that I haue receiued your Letter dated the xviii of August Crovvley If you had written to the meanest amongst them that haue béen your playfellowes you must either haue passed y e bounds of ciuill honestie or els haue vsed as reuerent spéeches as these be But did your Arrogant spirit suffer you to stay héere no. For your Parents are so vile in your sight and in comparison of your selfe that you must needes write thus The Fryar Were your Prayers any thing worth I woulde thanke you for that you pray vnto God to blesse me and to endue me with the grace of his holy spirit as also to lighten my hart to the ende that I may vnderstand the troth Were as I saide before your prayers any thing worth I would thanke you hartily for these your wishinges but alas they being such as they seeme to bee scarsly can I keepe my selfe from teares Crovvley If Lucifer himselfe who is noted to be the father of pryde shold haue writteÌ„ to his damme could he haue vsed words of greater Arrogancie You haue forgotten I thinke that commandement of God which you did once knowe did acknowledge before a great congregation of Christians in my Church at Crepiegate Honour thy father thy mother c. You remember not the saying of Syrache in his 3. Chap. Quâ— timet dominum honorat parentes et quasi dominis seruiet hijs qui se genuerunt He that feareth the Lord dooth honour his Parents and doth seruice to them that begat him euen as though they were his Lordes And againe Quam malae famae est qui derelinquet Patrem est maledictus a Deo qui exasperat matrâ— How euill a report hath he that forsaketh his Father And he that vexeth his mother is accursed of God Yea and in the same Chapter he saith euen immediatlie after those wordes that I haue cited before In opere et sermone et omni patientia honora patrem tuum c. Honour thy father in déede and in spéeche and in all patience that blessing from God may come vpon thée c. The Fathers blessing doth establish the houses of the Children but the mothers cursse doth roote out the foundations thereof Yea and Salomon saith in the 15. of his Prouerbs Stultus irridet disciplinâ—m patrâ—s sui c. The folish man doth deride the discipline of his father c. And againe Stultus homo despicit matrem suam The foolishe man despiseth his mother These sayings written in the Scriptures were farre out of your minde both when you harkened to these Counsellers that first aduised you to leaue your father and mother in such sorte as you haue doone and euer since as may be gathered by that which you haue written in your Letters directed to them but I coniecture that you wyll staie your selfe vpon the words of our Sauiour Christ written by the Euangelist Math. 19. Qui reâ—querit domum vel fratres aut sorores aut Patrem aut matrem aut vxorem aut fâ—lios aut agros propter nomen mâ—um centuplum accip 〈…〉 vâ—â—am aeternam possidebit Who so shall forsake house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or childe or fréends for my name sake shall receiue an hundreth folde and possesse life euerlasting But will you knowe what Chrysostome writeth vpon this place Qui perdit animam suam propter me inueniet eam non vt nosmetipsos interimamus neque vt animam nostram violenter a corpore disiungamus sed vt religionis pietatem caeteris omnibus anteferamus It a de vxore quoque ac fratribus intelligendum est Who so looseth his owne life for me shall finde it not that we should kill our selues neither that we should violentlie seperate our owne soule from our bodie but that we should preferre the godlines of Religion before all the rest Euen so must we vnderstande that which is spoken of the wife and brethren Now if those words of our Sauiour written by S. Mathew doo not enforce you to kyll your selfe why shoulde they cause you to leaue your father and your mother in such sort as you haue doone the staffe of whose age you should haue béene if you had béene carefull to doo as once you confessed in my Church that by Gods law you are bound to doo That is to loue honour and succour your father and mother to obey them and serue them to feare and reuerence them not onely in word and déede
that they should stand in néede of greater mercy then Christ Jesus hath already shewed vnto them But more of this when I shall come to speake of these wordes of yours You say that we are fooles to pray for the deade Your Brother Aaron you say was liuing at that time when you did so vnduetifullie depart from your mother but he is nowe dead to whom as to your Father and mother you béeséeche Christ to giue life euerlasting A good and charitable petition I wysh the same to you and to all others whatsoeuer knowing that none can haue euerlasting life otherwise then by Gods frée gyft thorowe Jesus Christ our Lord. But your selfe and men of your sorte may not acknowledge anie such free gyft for that you doo by your often and long prayers your holines and austerity of life and your continuall fastinges and often scourging of your selues with your holie whyppes deserue this life euerlasting both for your selues and for others So that you are become sauiours of your selues of as many as doo or will beléeue as you doo teache others to beléeue And thus you conclude your answer to the Letter which your mother sent you written as you think by Master Kings man the Scriuner As touching y e writer of that Letter your coniecture is right You procéede and say Fryar I am now to certify you of my state welfare abyding how I am likely to liue First of al therfore I beseech Iesus Christ giue you the grace of his holie spirit vnto the inteÌ„t that this which I write may be to his honor to your coÌ„uersioÌ„ your souls health Crowley Wee shall nowe bee certified of your estate welfare c. You beséeche Jesus Christe to giue the grace of his holye spirit to your mother c. I hope she hath already receiued so large a measure of that holy spirite y t whatsoeuer you haue or shall write shall not be able to remooue her from that foundation whereon shée is builded which is the Rocke Christ that notwithstanding anie assaults that you can make she shall remaine still setled vppon that Rocke to her soules health And that your writings and mine together shalbe to the honor of Christ Jesus either in your returning againe from your Apostacie or els in your vtter confusion Nowe you enter into your discourse concerning your departing your trauell and dangers that you endured and escaped before you were brought to this blessed rest wherein you nowe remaine the manner and holines of the life that you leade there and haue vowed and so purpose to leade so long as GOD shall giue you life vppon earth Last of all you vse an earnest and as you think a pithie Oration to mooue your mother to be at destance with that Religion that she nowe holdeth and with all the teachers thereof As Crowley and the rest to burne her Bookes of Sermons to vse the English Bible no more to goe no more to the Sermons of Protestants but to praie to our blessed Ladie and to hang her faith vpon her son Samuels sléeue And thus your discourse beginneth The Fryar My departure from you was vpon the Monday as I remember after Lowe Sundaie in the after noone That night I was lodged not farre from London Two or three nights after that I went by night a mile from London The Saterday before that I departed from you I went to shrift as wee call it in Englande or in other words I was at confession in a place where I confessed my sins to a Priest who gaue me absolution penaunce The Mondaie after that I departed from you vnder pretence of the Hebrewe Lesson which the mischieuous Hereticke Barber taught me The Fridaie after that I went by night a mile from London where I remained in great feare the space of two or three weekes There I heard the first masse that euer I hearde Crovvley Concerning the time of your departing from your mother your going to shrift the Saterdaie before your lodging so nighe London for the space of two or thrée nights after your departing your going by night a mile of from London your tarrying there for the space of thrée wéekes in great feare and hearing the first masse that euer you hearde the Fridaie after you were gon from your mother I must passe ouer as matter more to be mused at then to bee entreated of in this my discourse But this séemeth something straunge to me that your ghostlie father would absolue you before he had giuen you penance By like he was some vnskilfull penitancer or els you being yet but a Nouice in Popery haue vsed the Fygure Hysteron Proteron in making the report I perceiue that I my selfe was at your age a much more skilfull Papist then you bée and was much more able to defende Popery then you are or are like to bee In poprie Contrition and confession goe before satisfaction and both must be voluntarie full and vnfained and then the ghostly father the ghostly childe must agrée vpon penance For no Popishe ghostly father will or may enioyne his ghostlie childe any other or greater penance then himself will acknowledge y t he is centented to take and to do And this séemeth to me yet more strange that hauing confessed your sinnes and receiued absolution and penance béeing reconsiled on the Saterdaie you could be partaker of our Communion on the next daie in companie of your mother whose prayers as you haue said before are nothing worth because shée is not of that societie that you were by that ghostlie father receiued into Haue Papistes nowe such a priuiledge that they may simulâ—re dissimulare counterfait and dissemble at their pleasure Christ hath said thus Whosoeuer shall denie me before men I will deny him before my heauenlie father and before all his holie Angelles You haue not therefore taken vp your Crosse to followe Christ as you séeme to be perswaded that you haue doone but you haue dissembled with Christ and Christians that you might with lesse daunger of bodie â—â—ippe from them and followe Antichrist If I might talke with you mouth to mouth I would desire to know of you what manner of sinnes they were that you confessed to that Prieste your ghostlie Father I suppose they were not the stubburnesses points of disobedience that you from time to time haue vsed in all your behauiour towards your father and mother and all other your Gouernors and betters Neither can I thinke that they were the subtill sleights that you haue vsed in deceiuing your father and mother me and your Godmother my wife others your Tutors freends and fellowes or the false lyes that you haue made and sâ—outlie faced out when due proofe of that which you had doone coulde not be made You know what I meane If you were present I woulde be more plaine and plentifull in spéeches then in writing I doo thinke if méete to bée To be briefe I
was wel viewed it was found to be the shoulder bone of a young Pig the broade and thinne part thereof beeing pared of with a knife as did moste plainely appeare In the Abbay of Hayles a Relique was kept which was said to be the blood of Christ but when the Pyx wherin it was kept was opened it was found to be a matter like very fine sande or a liquid Gumme of a sanguine coloure I my selfe being then but young did sée and reade the History of the bringing of that supposed blood thether which Historie was written in a Table fast by the entring into that Chappell where the Relique was kept The history was so doubtfull that euen then I beganne to doubt of the trueth thereof For in the History it was not plainelie affirmed to be a portion of the bloode that ishued out of the bodye of Christ but either a portion of that blood or els of blood that ishueed out of a crucifix that was found in the house of a Jewe in Jerusalem and set-vp on the Mount of Caluerie in derision into y e side whereof blinde Longius was caused to thrust his Speare whereby great plenty of bloode did ishue and was reserued by such as were present c. The Nayles that fastened our Sauiour to the Crosse were in number but thrée and they came all to the handes of Constantine the Emperour by his mother Helena He caused one of them to be wrought into the byt of his brydle that hée should vse in the warres another in the Coone of his Helmet to fasten his plume of Feathers in and the third he caried alwayes about him and being in daunger in a storme on the Adrian Sea he cast it in to the Sea to stay the rage thereof This is written by Romaine Catholikes wherefore you must not denie it to be true Now consider with your selfe whether you haue béene borne in hande that you haue kissed any of those nayles or not I coulde say something of our Ladies milke her gloues her smocke her heayre c. Of the breade that was left at Christes last supper of the I se that was frozen in that night wherein he was borne c. Well whyâ—st you were thus occupyed your hard hart was mollified with the teares of deuotion You should haue sayd of superstition desire to leade a loyterers life You determined to leaue y e life of a Scholer which in verie déede you could neuer delight in because you might not be idle in that kinde of life and sought by all meanes possible to obtaine the habite of Religion and at the last you obtained a Minimes habite The Fryar I came you say from Rhemes to Paris to aske the habite of a Religious man from thence I returned say you to Rhemes Whether after that I came I was receiued with other two EnglishmeÌ„ into the Frierie in which we stayed for the space of a moneth After which terme one of vs was receiued the other two whereof I was one being sent to the English Colledge there to stay till some other occasion might fall out Three weekes beeing passed I was sent to a Cittie in Loraine called Verdun eyght and forty miles distant from Rhemes Since which my departure from the English Colledge I sawe no more Rhemes Beeing at Verdun the Prouinciall of Lyons or as he may be called after the termes of Religion which in Catholicke time were vsed in England the chiefe Pryor of Lyons tooke me with him and paid my charges from the foresayde Cittie of Verdun to Lyons in Fraunce which are a hundred leagues that is to say two hundred miles Being there arriued after a fortnights ende I was weeded with a Fryers weede Then my sofe linnen shyâ—ts were turned into rough wollen shyrts my blacke Scholerlike garments into a browne gowne with large fleeues as the Gray Fryers haue My hatte was turned into a Fryers hood So I being chaunged in garments began also to change my life I liued so at Lyons the space of twelue month a Nouice to see if I could abide the hardnesse of life that was there necessarie to be abâ—dden At the twelue month ende I liked well of all thinges and the Fryers lyked well of me So I made my profession the sixt day of Ianuary in the yeere of our Lord. 1586. two yeeres and a halfe after I departed froÌ„ you I made as I say my profession that is to say I made a solemne vow or promise vnto God to hue all the dayes of my life in this world a Fryer And furthermore I vowed chastitie nere to haue wyfe pouâ—â—tie to be poore to haue nothing not so much as the garments on my backe for mine owne And also obedience to be obedient to the Pryor and to my superiors The Order whereof I am is called the Order of S. Frauncis of Paula It was neuer yet in Englande but we hope it shall shortly be We are called Minimes in french bone homes that is in English good men although we be not worthy of the name for no man is good except God yet by reason of our hardnes of life and of the vertuous behauiour of our brethren we are so called Crowley Sée howe intollerable trauell this Waltams Calfe endureth in following after that Bull whom he desireth so greatly to sucke He posteth from Rhemes to Paris and to Rhemes againe from thence to Verdun in Loraine from thence to Lyons in France and there he was inuested or wéeded as he termeth it with a Fryers wéede which he calleth the habite of a Religious man Thys man hath forgotten that Christian men are Religious men and that there is no Religion comparable to the Christian Religion He doth not consider that the rest which are called Religious are but superstitious and not Religious in déede In that supersticious wéede he continueth twelue monthes and then he made hys profession He hath forgotten that profession that his Godfathers and his Godmother made in his name in y e Church of Walâ—aÌ„ and hée himselfe confirmed in the Parish Church of S. Gyles at Creplegate of London He vowed then to liue a Christian but nowe he hath vowed to liue a Fryer that is to say an hypecrite He hath vowed he sayth wyueles chastity but let Fryer John Frauncis beware of buggery O Fryer John remember the words of the Apostle Qui non contineÌ„t â—â—baâ—t Let them that conteyneth not marie Et melius est nubere quà m vri It is better to marye then to burne 1. Co. 7. Consider the meaning of the Apostles wordes to the Ephesians 5. Nolite communicare operibus infructuosis tenebraruÌ„ magis autem redarguite Quae enim in occulto fiunt ab ipsis turpe est dicere Haue nothing to doo with the vnprofitable works of darknes but rather rebuke them For it is a filthy thing euen to speake of those things or actions that are wrought of theÌ„ in secret Craue of God his holy spirite to direct you
to fail downe and worship it and so make an Idoll of it Yea when in your masse you make a sacrifice of it for y e sins both of the liuing of the dead yea and in stormes tempestious wether you make it a bugge to feare the deuill withall And wheÌ„ you teache that the peace of mens consciences must not bee stayed vppon the fayth in Christ onely but vppon the worthines of the workes that are wrought by men doo ye not forsake the peace of Christe Yea when you holde some of Frauncis as you the Gray Fryers doo some of Austine as the Augustine Fryers doo some of Dominicke as the Dominicane Fryers doo some of Marye as the Carmelite or whyte Fryers doo and some of Jesus as the newe founde Jesuites doo And to bee briefe all the rable of your Religious doo ye not all forsake that peace that GOD hath giuen in his peace maker Christ and séeke it in them whose Religions you professe whose rules you followe and whose names you beare Dyd not S. Paule blame the Corinthians for that they forsaking this peace of Christ would hold one of Cephas another of Apollo another of Paule another of Christ Were you baptised in the name of Paule sayth he Was Paule Cruâ—ified for you I feare me you be rebaptised For what meaneth the chaunging of your name In your first baptisme you were called Samuell and by your Fathers progeny Debnam and by your profession a Christian But now you must be called Iohn Frauncis And what meaneth this but that the name of Frauncis hath blotted out both the name of Debnam and the name Christian also If serche shalbe made in the Register that is kept in the Parrish Church of Waltam it wyll be sound there that one Samuell Debnam was baptised there and not Iohn Frauncis So that Samuell Debnam is the Christian and Iohn Frauncis is the Fryer Iudge you whether of these is likely to be founde in Gods Register which is called the booke of life If Christ bee that life then they are written in the booke of life that be Christians If Frauncis be not that life then are not they written in the booke of life which be Franciscans and so of all other your Popish Religious Be not deceiued therefore Samuell The Corinthians whom Paule rebuked did vndoubtedly thinke as you doo That is that holding of Cephas Apollo and Paule they did not forsake y e peace of Christ For so I am assured you thinke that hauing professed the Religion of Frauncis you haue not forsaken the Religion of Christ And yet Paule doth charge them as men that in their dooinges gaue occasion to him to conceiue this opinion of them that they were become Cephasians Apollianistes and Paulists and not Christians Take héede Samuell our aduersary the deuyll is subtyll and doth oftentimes shewe himselfe in the likenes of an Angell of light You haue I thinke read the sixt Chapter of Saint Iohns Reuelations And you either haue or may reade the godlie and learned interpretations that godly learned men haue made concerning the foure horses therein mentioned The firste being white doth prefigure the time that was begunne when this Reuelation was shewed to Iohn and did continue all his dayes and hath continued euer since and shall continue euen to the ende although not so generallie and so apparantlie as at the first Thys white horse is gone forth and is not returned again but goeth forth still whether soeuer his rider will direct him And his ryder dooth with his arrowes strike the harts of such as he wyll conquere and make subiecte vnto him And thus hee goeth foorth still conquering that he might ouercome and conquere The seconde horse beeing redde doth signifie the time of bloodie persecution which was also begunne when this Reuelation was shewed to the seruaunt of Iesus Christ blessed S. Iohn And his ryder had power giuen him to take peaâ—e from the earth and he had a great sword giuen him also Whereby were signified the tenne bloodie persecutions that folowed immediatly after the white horse was gone foorth and had conquered many And those bloody perfecutions were executed by that great sword the Romane Monarchie The third horse was black whereby was signified the time of ignorance that beganne againe after the persecution was staied but not ended for it continueth to this day and so shall it continue euen to the ende The rider that rydde on this horse had a Ballance in his hand wherwith he wayed Gods Lawes and mens inuentions and déemed them to bee of like waight and héereof sprong all those horrible heresies that euer since haue and doo still trouble the Church and especially that Pelagian heresie that your sort doo still maintaine and the making of mens inuentions equall with Gods lawe yea rather proferring them before Gods lawes but wine and Oyle that rider might not hurt That is he had no power to corrupt the text either of the old or newe Testament The fourth horse was pale and signified the time that followed immediatly after this time of déepe ignoraunce and doth continue to this day wherein great swaâ—mes of pale Hypocrites eueÌ„ such as you haue professed to bee to continue to your liues ende haue béene and are still bredde The ryder of this horse is death and hell followeth after him Take héede therefore your way is not the way of life but of death They that will follow such blinde guydes shall fall into the pyt with them You are they that shall say in the last day We haue â—râ—ed from the trueth and the light of righteousnes hath not shined vpon vs neither hath y e sunne of vnderstanding risen vp vnto vs. We haue weried our selues in the way of iniquity and destruction and wee haue walked in harde wayes but the way of the Lord we haue not knowne For you bee they that haue distressed such as God hath by the mediation of hys Sonne discharged of sinne and so iustified them in his sight you haue tolde them that except they shall punish themselues as you doo your selues they can not be saued You haue taken from such their labours when by your perswasions they haue bestowed that which they haue gotten by their labours vppon you to maintaine you in idlenâ—s hoping to be saued by your holines which is nothing but méere hipâ—crisie And thus much concerning your forsaking of the peace of Christ You make warre against the members of Christe you accuse the spouse of Christ and you denie the promises of Christ as Saint Austen hath sayd to the Donatistes You proclaime open warre against all such as dare say y t they haue receiued the spirit of Christe and that they are by that spirit certified that GOD in mercy hath made them his owne children by adoption and so consequently meÌ„bers of his sonne Christ You accuse as Heretickes all such as dare say that Christ Iesus hath washed them so in the fountaine of hys owne hart