of the Mendicant Friers which the Romish Antichrist hath set forth as the last proppe and stay of his tottering and ruinous kingdome for he perceiuing that as Saint Paul hath foreshewed Christ hath begun to consume it with the breath of his mouth and abolish it with the brightnesse of his comming that is the preaching of the Gospell And seeing moreouer the world to grow to a disliking contempt of the ignorance sluggishnesse lewdnesse of the other Orders of Monks and Friers taken from men as Benet Dominick Francis and such like hath sent abroad into Christendom this new Sect hypocritically adorned with the name of Iesus and furnished with more shew of learning holinesse and godlinesse than their other Popish fraternities to the intent that Iesus Christ may be the sooner betrayed while these holy Iesuits giue him a Iudas salutation and kisse Because hee is in good hope that they are the men by whom he shall recouer againe that so large a circuit of ground which he hath lost in France England Germany Scotland Ireland Denmarke Swethland and other Countries of Christendome Furthermore he vseth this speciall policy to cause them by all meanes priuily to allure and entice the youths of the Vniuersities and Countries where the Gospell is preached to depart from the places where they are vnto his Colleges Seminaries and Cloisters to the end that being there for a time nuzled and trained vp vntill they bee hardened in hypocrisie obstinacie and malice against the truth and poisoned with the pestilent errours of the Romish Synagogue they may be sent out as new false Apostles into their owne countries or else thither where it is thought they may doe most harme Wherein they follow their forefathers the Scribes and Pharisees the like hypocrites who as Christ saith compassed both sea and land to make one Proselyte or of their profession and when he is made they make him two-fold more the childe of hell than they themselues Now to the intent my Country-men who as yet are not throughly acquainted with these Monks Friers and Iesuits or with their profession doctrine and purposes and therefore are in danger the sooner to be deceiued by them may be the better admonished yea armed and prouided against them I haue compiled this ensuing discourse or Treatise of their Genealogie Proceedings and present estate my purpose being at this time in some sort to vnmaske these monsters wherein I doe vse such modestie as the subiect can beare to reproue their errours the which the loue of the truth and vertue enforceth me and not to cauill or to slander any one of them which I detest and abhorre Moreouer I doe craue of the Readers that they bring with them to the reading hereof a loue and zeale of the truth ioyned with godlinesse and desire of their owne saluation Farewell Thine in the Lord LEWIS OWEN GEntle Reader I pray thee if thou seest some literall faults escaped in this Discourse correct them but especially I must admonish thee of these viz. Page 74. line 27. for vniuis reade viuis p. 93. l. 11. for 1504. r. 1540. codem p. l. 12. r. in stead of Paul the 5. Paul the 5. or Gregory the 15. p. 98. r. Catulos in some bookes for Catulo p. 160. l. 34. for you vnto r. vnto you THE VNMASKING OF ALL POPISH MONKS FRIERS AND IESVITES ALbeit that the Apostle Saint Paul saith Coloss 2.2.3.4 vnto the 22. verse That in Christ Iesus and in the knowledge of him all the treasure and wisdome of God lieth hidden so that the faithfull ought not to receiue any institution or doctrine of men Yet many hundred years after the Apostles decease the Church of Rome hath found out a wonderfull and vnspeakable hoord of wisdome and knowledge through which a man may come to perfect Iustification and to an Angelicall life and withall get a store and a heape of merits and good workes to helpe a good friend withall at a pinch and to release a dozen or twaine of silly soules out of Purgatory And these are they especially the holy Orders and full perfections of Monkes and Friers especially of Saint Francis Saint Bernard Saint Dominick Saint Ignatius and many more of the same stampe which the Apostles knew not of when men were satisfied with the pure and vnmingled milke of God Word Like new-borne children as Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.2 Iohn 14.29 15. yea these rich treasures were not yet reuealed to Christ himselfe who taught nothing but that which he had receiued of his Father and the same did he fully and wholly deliuer to his Disciples and Apostles This is plainly written in the fifth booke of Sexti Decret in Bulla Nic. 4. beginning at Exit qui Sem. nec his 1. de Verb. sign And in their Legends and in the booke which Almas made in the Inspiration of Mary the Aegyptian Vid. Conformitat S. Francisci 83. and established with the Popes Bulles But this as it seemes was too daintie a dish for his mouth and therefore must be kept for the last course against the time that the holy Fathers Saint Francis Saint Dominicke and Saint Alane who sucked the blessed Virgins brest as well as Christ himselfe and walked about the towne with her as the Bridegroome with the Bride and many more of that rable should appeare I dare giue them a paire of siluer Eyes to be offered to the blacke woodden Lady of Loretto if they can finde in the Bible that either Christ or his Apostles did euer know or teach that whosoeuer should die in a Gray-friers habit should neuer come into Purgatory or that Saint Francis is placed in Lucifers seat in heauen aboue all Angels at the vpper end and that he did liue a more perfect life than Christ and that the Angels are not to be compared with him or what knew they that he that should die in a White-friers Scapularie should be saued as they say the blessed Virgin did declare to Frier Symon Stocke In hoc moriens saluabitur that is Who so dies in this shall be saued as in their Churches euery where is painted forth Or what knew they that Frier Alanus should make the Rosary of our Lady which must be esteemed as the Gospell as Tarthemius Leander and others their Diuines haue written and their famous great Champion Blindasinus in his book called Panopolie or his full furniture of Weapons and harnesse saith that Saint Francis his Vineyard the Golden Legend the booke of the Conformitie of Saint Francis and the Masse-booke must be as much esteemed in all respects as the holy Scripture yea in the booke of the Conformitie of Saint Francis made by Frier Bartholomew of Pisa Anno 1389. and allowed by the Chapter generall of Assyso is written that the same booke is better than the Gospell And therefore to maintaine these errors and blasphemies the Church of Rome and the Popes her holy Vicars haue at sundrie times erected seuerall
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
and the concupiscence thereof but they carry it with them into the Monasteries for without doubt it is not possible to see the world better than in the Monasteries where a man shall behold nothing else but affections and passions of minde quarrels discords ambition pride hypocrisie and the like Oh that men will suffer themselues to be thus mocked and deluded by these Frierly shauelings that endeuour as much as they may in deceiuing the people with their counterfeit holinesse to liue like Epicures and to bee esteemed like Lordlings Oh that men should credit these Pharisaicall hypocrites that more regard the pampering of their bodies than the saluation of the soules of men which is the end of our hope and faith yea the very end of our life in this life Oh that men cannot see how they fight against the Gospell and seeke to ouerthrow faith with superstition couered with the cloake of true piety Why do not men open their eyes and perceiue how these Masse-mongers daily studie to inuent and finde out some new toy or bable therewith to draw the common people vnto them who are so simple and ignorant that they are straight way bewitched with euery new foolish and apish Ceremony that these Iuglers represent to their view What Christian is he that seeth not their hypocrisie that vnderstands not their fraudulent superstition wherewith the foolish people is inueigled Is there any but blinde buzzards that thinke that to weare the weed or habit of Saint Francis or to goe cloathed in that colour is good against the quartane ague and other diseases and to be buried in that habite is the right way to goe to heauen And therefore the Emperour Charles the fitt and his sonne that ambitious King Philip the second of Spaine the Count of Arrenbergh the Lord Albertus of Carpi Rodulphus Agricola Longolius a Noble Roman and many other great personages haue beene perswaded by the Franciscan Priers to die in Saint Francis his frocke But what need I to vse so many words These Monks Friers Iesuits and Popish Priests are come to that point with that opinion of holinesse that they haue rid themselues out of all other mens hands and aurhoritie and haue brought all other men vnder their feet They know not Christ whom the Gospell doth plainly set forth vnto vs which they keepe in prison And since they only had the handling of the booke of peace and libertie the common people thought they had taken all their doctrine out of that booke and with cursed and abominable lyes they take out here a peece and there a peece and with strange and fearfull false miracles and fained dreames of Purgatory they keep the people in so great feare and awe that they are constrained to beleeue their blasphemous and wicked lyes and deceits And withall if we consider their lawes and the waight and heauie burthen they lay vpon mens shoulders we may truly say that the Iewes law is farre more easier than theirs Thus haue they turned Christian liberty into slauery and bondage worse than that of Aegypt if worse could be What a presumptuous boldnesse is it to vsurpe the name of Saints yea of the most glorious and blessed Trinity and that sweet name Iesus which signifieth a Sauiour and vnder those godly and most blessed names to deceiue the world vnder the formes of Angels to worke all their deceits and trumperies Verily I beleeue that their cowles and ridiculous party-coloured habits were inuented by the Deuill to deceiue the world withall for if they were the same they pretend themselues to be and would be accounted for what need they weare such foolish disguised habits or garments more like women than men the which say they doe signifie that which they ought to be And therefore I say vnto euery hypocriticall Monk Frier and Iesuite Appare quod es vel est◠quod appares Appeare to be what thou art or else be such a one as thou seemest to be for it is a cleare case that where there is but a shew or signification of a thing the thing it selfe is not there If they were so in deed what need they to be in shew Praestat esse quam videri It is better to be than to make a glorious shew of being and againe Quid simio prodest leo si creditur Outwardly they are one thing and inwardly another of whom our Sauiour forewarneth vs in the Gospel saying That there should come wolues to deuoure vs clad in sheep skins because they would not be knowne The Deuil is craftie and he knowes how prone men are to beleeue euery toy or trifle euery counterfeit holinesse and superstitious hypocrisie hee oftentimes transformeth himselfe in his members to an Angell of light he informeth and teacheth his children to frame themselues after the manner of Hypocrites he maketh his seruants learned and expert in that art he maketh them to goe bare foot and bare leg'd to weare shirts of haire that by meanes of their outward austerity in apparell and food although all but meere deceits the people may proclaime and extoll them as Saints and honour them as Gods omnipotent and finally beleeue whatsoeuer they teach them their words to bee Euangelicall Much more could I say but because I am perswaded these few examples may suffice any iudicious and indifferent Reader I passe them ouer and referre him to the Histories of euery age since their first creeping into the world yea when Antichrist chiefly raigned in the hearts and consciences of most men and when his doctrine repugnant to Gods Word flourished most in all quarters of Christendome yet God raised vp some that spake boldly in publike assemblies and wrote against him and his Monks and Friers and their impious doctrine In their owne bookes one may reade how wickedly and hypocritically the papisticall votaries liued and daily experience teach vs how incontinently they liue at this present I will shew you what nine famous and eminent men in the Church of Rome wrote of them in a booke and exhibited it to the Councell of Trent and to Pope Paul the third desiring the Pope to haue certaine abuses corrected and amended in the Clergy men which booke is extant in Tom. 3. Concil per Crab. editionis Colon. Anno 1551. but in all other impressions through the thefts and deceits of the Monks Friers and Iesuites left out and suppressed In that Booke among many other things the Monks and Friers were taxed in these words Alius abusus corrigendus est in ordinibus Religiosorum quod adeò multi deformati sunt vt magno sint scandalo secularibus exemploque plurimum noceant Conuentuales ordines abolendos esse putamus omnes non tamen vt alicui fiat iniuria sed prohibendo ne nouos possint admittere sic enim sine vllius iniuria citò delerentur Nunc verò putamus vt omnes pueri qui non sint professi ab eorum Monasterijs repellerentur that is to say Another abuse
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
to build them a stately Church all the Pillars Arches and the Porches being of fine Marble and the whole Church couered ouer with fine Copper adorned within without with many curious and costly Images Pictures Tablets and the Vtensels belonging to the Altars of gold and siluer Copes and Vestments of cloth of gold cloth of tissue and curious imbroideries And withall to infeoffe whole Townes Castles and Mannors vpon their new College his sonne and heire being constrained to liue in a meane house in the same towne with such small pension as his father had formerly assured vpon him And albeit the old Iesuited Duke had surrendred this gouernment of the Country vnto him at his first entering into their Society yet he durst not doe any thing without the Iesuits aduice and approbation The old Duke being a silly zealous simple well minded Prince was wont to entertaine into certaine Chambers or Lodgings in his Court appointed for that purpose all such Pilgrims as trauelled that way with meat drinke and lodging of the best for three daies and three nights and this was the manner of their entertainment At the gates of the Towne among the Souldiers that had the guard for it is a Garison Towne there were certaine Officers to receiue all such Pilgrims as had good Letters of commendation or testimony that they were Romish Catholikes and bound to Rome or any other place of pilgrimage vpon deuotion or else returning homewards which Officer was to conduct these Pilgrims presently vpon their arriuall to a certaine lodging in the Dukes Court where was another man of purpose to receiue them but before that they entred into their lodgings they were brought into a roome where euery man had deliuered vnto him a cleane Shirt a long Wastcoat made of red Cotton a paire of new blacke Canuasse breeches a paire of new linnen Stockins a paire of Slippers a blacke Gowne a Girdle a blacke Cap and a little sticke in his hand for they were to put off all their owne clothes and to put on these which being done they were shewed the way to the Church there to say a few Aues and Paters and then to returne to their lodging to dinner or supper according to the time of the day that they came thither These poore men had meat sent them from the Dukes owne Table and serued in by his seruants and the best Wine and Beere that the Country did yeeld besides euery man lay alone in a good Feather-bed with sweet fresh linnen more like a noble man than a Pilgrim where they remained for the space of three daies and so many nights Moreouer the Duke came himselfe sometimes and washed these poore mens feet in warme water with sweet herbs and dryed the same with sweet damaske Napkins when they were to depart they had Shirts Shooes those Stockins and Breeches which they had formerly worne a Pilgrims staffe and money in their Purse according to their wants and quality And when the Duke became a Iesuite it was agreed betweene them that the Pilgrims should haue the selfe same entertainment there for euer which indeed they had as long as he liued But as soone as euer the breath was out of his body albeit they had meanes giuen vnto them by the Duke not onely for their owne maintenance more than that was sufficient but also to entertaine the Pilgrims these vnconscionable Machiuillians who can neuer abide any poore body gaue straight order at euery gate of the Towne that no Pilgrim or any other poore man should come in but send their Letters vnto them the which if they like of they marke with a priuate marke that they may know if they come thither againe and then they write their names and Country in their bookes of Record and perhaps send these poore creatures three pence or a groat after such time that they make them attend three or foure houres for it The Polonians and some Netherlanders that did vse to goe that way to Rome doe giue them many a bitter curse for their vncharitable dealings with them but they care not for there is none there that can controll them nay this Duke dare not offend them and whatsoeuer they doe or say is a Law They haue at Bourdeaux in Aquitania built their College vpon the land belonging to an Hospitall that appertained to the Pilgrims that goe to Saint Iames of Compostella and in the end because they would enlarge their College they pulled downe the Hospitall and got into their hands all the reuenues thereof vndertaking to the Magistrates of the Towne and ouerseers of the Hospitall to maintaine the same in farre better manner than it was kept before But now these Vsurpers will admit none to haue a nights lodging there but such as haue speciall Letters of recommendations from some of their Society All which I know to be true for I haue beene told by more than a hundred poore Pilgrims of seuerall Nations of these their vnchristian-like dealing with them The Magistrates and Clergy of Turnay in the Low Countries would not by any meanes receiue them into their Towne albeit they had the King of Spaines Letters Patents In the end vnder hand they got one of their Factors an Antwerpian Merchant to buy them one of the fairest houses in the Citie and a whole rew of houses besides where they built their Schooles and taught maugre all the Magistrates the Bishop and all the Monks Friers and Clergy men whatsoeuer Yea they haue there now two Colleges and a Seminary where they lodge and boord Noblemen Gentlemen and rich mens children which brings them in no smal profit The Magistrates and Citizens of the Towne of Isle or Rissel alias Insula in the confines of Flanders receiued the Iesuites into their City with such honour and respect as is to be admired at and yet they required their kinde courtesies most basely First the Magistrates and the inhabitants assured vnto them an annuall rent of about two hundred pounds sterling And because that there was no spare place in the Towne that the Iesuites did like of to set vp their rest the Magistrates with the common consent and charges of all the Citizens about the yeere 1608. brake downe a great part of of the wall rampier and a great bulwarke of the towne and damped or filled vp the Mote and tooke in aboue a hundred acres of ground into the Towne inclosing and fortifying it againe with a high strong brick wall rampiers bulwarkes and another mote and there built them vpon their proper cost and charges a goodly sumptuous College magnificent Schooles furnished with fine pleasant Gardens Orchards and walkes yea with all necessary offices in so much that they brought water into euery office in the College I omit to speake of a maruellous faire Church adorned with all necessary vtensills thereunto belonging And all this in lesse space than two yeares Moreouer this new plot which was thus taken in was diuided among the chiefest
and Obedience but how well they performe and keepe these Vowes God and all those that are well acquainted with their Iuglings doe know full well Now if a man enter into any Order of Monks or Friers no man dare trouble him for all his debts are payed though he owed ten millions for then he is a holy man though neuer so wicked a knaue before and to arrest him is no lesse offence than sacrilege Now let vs speake a word of all these in order First of all these Monks Friers Iesuites and Priests doe get a world of money by their Masses for they haue men that sit all day long in some place in their Churches especially in Spaine and Italy with a great paper-booke like a shop-shop-book vpon a table to write downe the names of all such that bring money to haue Masses said and how many Masses they would haue said and wherefore whether for the liuing or for the dead or for their good successe in their iourney or to obtaine their desire against their enemies or for their good intents or for their friends either liuing or for their soules in Purgatory or for their health or for their cattell heards or flockes or for the Popes Holinesse and the extirpation of the Gospell which they call Heresie and the exaltation of their Catholike Religion or for a woman that is great with childe that she may haue a speedie deliuerance and sometimes that the childe may proue to be a boy and a thousand such matters for they will say Masse or at least-wise they will promise to doe it for any thing if you will giue them money If your head doe ake or if you haue paine in your teeth or in your belly or if one be in danger to lose his eye-sight or his hearing or if you are troubled with the cholike the gowt the dropsey or the French P. or the like bring Monks Friers Iesuits or any other Popish Priests money and they will mumble a Masse for you nay they will doe you more good as they say than all the Doctors of Physicke Montebancks or Chirurgeans in the world can performe The price of the Masse is set downe by the Popes holinesse In Spaine and Italy it is two shillings in France a shilling in the Low Countries Germany and Poland eight pence or nine pence and in some poore Countries six pence for the Protestant Ministers haue spoiled their market In England now adayes the ordinary price is a shilling neuerthelesse none or few at all will offer them so little because that our Monks Friers Iesuites and other Popish Priests are in more danger than those forraigne Clergie men and withall haue no other maintenance but their Masse and breaden god vnlesse it be such as are entertained by noble and rich personages and therfore they do vse to giue them a peece or halfe a peece to say as many Masses for them as they please And indeed our English collapsed Ladies and others of their sex are more bountifull vnto these holy men for they giue these busie hornets ten or twenty pounds at a clap to say a Trentall or two of Masses for them and for their friends that are in Purgatory Secondly it is worth the obseruations vpon what sleight pretence they ground the necessitie of Auricular Confession deceiuing the ignorant people with their smooth and plausible impostures wherein they say the Priest cannot remit sinnes vnlesse men will confesse them vnto him Then which Proposition nothing can bee more false for the Priest may preach and publish Remission or Retention of sinnes to those whose faults he knowes not and those men by a faithfull application of what they heare may receiue the Remission of their sins who neuer reuealed them to the Minister but confessed them vnto God alone Ric. à Sancta vict de Clauibus Sola enim cordis confessio poenitenti ad salutem animae sufficit veraciter Which kinde of Confession is truly and only necessary vnto Saluation for as Cassander saith there had beene no controuersies about this point of Confession had not some ignorant and importunate Physitian corrupted this wholesome Medicine with their drugs of Traditions Est enim multis inutilibus traditiunculis infecta c. quibus conscientijs quas extricare leuare debebant laqueos iniecerunt tanquam tormentis quibusdam excarnificarunt By which meanes they haue made it only a snare to entangle and inuolue the simple and ignorant people and an engine to entrap and torment not to ease the conscience of all those that seeke vnto them And thereby they diue into the secrets and drifts of all men acquainting themselues with their humours and imperfections making as time and occasion serues their owne vse and best benefit And it is most certaine that manifold absurdities and abuses are committed vnder the colour of Auricular Confession It being a thing which the Church of Rome without any warrant of Gods Word and quite contrary to the practise of the Primitiue Church hath taken vp at her owne hand Distinct 5. de Poenitentia Petrus Oximensis sometimes Diuinity Reader in Salamanca And Bonauenture and Medina were of the same mind Histor Tripart lib. 9. cap. 35. Socrat lib. 5. c. 9. Zozom l. 7. c. 16. Niâ—…pher lib. 12. cap. 28. For their Canon Law in the Glosse saith That Auricular Confession was taken vp only by a certaine tradition of the Church and not by any authoritie of the old or new Testament Yea their owne Diuines haue taught that not many yeares agoe That Auricular Confession had the beginning from a positiue law of the Church and not from the Law of God And withall that the Primitiue Church did not vse it is most apparant as appeares by the act of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople who when as Auricular Confession did first begin to creepe in put it downe in his Church and all the Bishops of the East did the like in theirs as being not only a Noueltie but also so far from being a soueraigne medicine for sin as the Papists doe hold it that it was found rather to be a nurse for sin Churches being conuerted into Stewes Confession playing the Pandor vnto the Priest and his Penitents there to parle and consult I meane vnder Confession how to effect and practise their carnall affections and designes which indeed was the chiefest cause that moued Bishop Nectarius to thrust it out of Constantinople to preuent such wickednesse For in truth there is nothing that openeth a wider gap or way vnto sinne than Auricular Confession because there are very many that care not what they doe or say but thinke it sufficient be they neuer so great swearers slanderers or blasphemers or whatsoeuer actuall sinnes they commit to goe once a yeare to Confession And moreouer all the villanies conspiracies which are either intended or practised against either Princes or Countries are for the most part opened and consulted vpon in Confession for men not daring
to open such things out of Confession and being desirous to haue aduice and direction in them propound such businesse in Confession and then vnder pretence of confessing their sinnes they maliciously consult how to effect and practise their sinfull purposes so that it is an vsuall thing among them for men and women to turne their Confession into bablings and curiosities mingling prophane talke therein about vile and absurd things as one of their owne Writers saith Biâ—… Canon Lect. 77. Now besides these absurdities and notwithstanding that there is no warrant of Scripture for it neither was there any vse of it in the Primitiue Church there be diuers and those very learned that hold it not necessary at all And among others Michael Bonon in his Exposition vpon the 29. Psalme saith Pag. 256 Edâ—… Venet. 160â— That seeing Iustification is the infusion of grace whereupon sinne is remitted it followeth that Confession is not necessary either for the obtaining of pardon for sinnes or for our Iustification for according to the true order of things Confession in time followes Contrition and therefore seeing Contrition in it selfe is not without Iustification the said Iustification may be had without Auricular Confession Of this minde was Caietan Tom. 3. quest 8. art 4. saying That a man truly contrite and sorrowfull for his sinnes standeth cleane in the iudgement of God and is a reformed member of the Church Militant And Peter Lumbard in his fourth booke Distinct 18. and diuers others with him hold that the Priest hath no power to forgiue sin or to work any spirituall effect by vertue of the Keyes which is the Tenet of the Church of England which not disallowing Confession vpon iust occasion notwithstanding holdeth that the Priest cannot giue the penitent any spirituall grace neither absolue him otherwise than declare the penitent vpon his true Contrition to be absolued through the mercies and merits of Iesus Christ This consideration of the little necessitie men haue of Auricular Confession and likewise of the great absurdities and abuses committed vnder Confession should serue as a sufficient motiue to withdraw any discreet and iudicious mans affections from the Church of Rome Againe if these Bald-pates doe intend any Treason murder fornication or the like crime they will be sure not to deale with any man but in Confession as I said before and then if the party be content and willing to yeeld his ghostly father ministers vnto him the Sacrament vpon those articles agreed vpon between them so that the partie must not reueale this intended treason murder or any other villany to any creature vpon paine of euerlasting damnation I need not to insist much vpon this point or trouble you with any farre fetched examples Garnet the Iesuite shall serue for all who hauing first of all perswaded and drawne in yea fashioned and framed the hearts of the other Traytors in the Gun-powder-treason to put that hellish plot in execution First he heard their Confession then he absolued them of all their sins and afterwards ministred the Sacrament vnto them Where you may perceiue how their Sacrament of Confession or Penance as they call it serued him for a cloake to couer his treacherie or rather a net to catch such wicked Traytors and the other Sacrament which they affirme to be the very body of Christ to be as it were a Signet wherewith he sealed their mouthes vp close like so many Firrets from euer reuealing the same Now if Garnet our Straw-saint had beene a true subiect or had any pity at all in him much more had he been innocent as the Iesuites very impudently affirme him to be he would haue either diuerted the other Traytors his Gun-powder companions from their pretended deuillish purpose or else reuealed the Treason to some of his Maiesties Officers or Magistrates for no Priest by their owne law must minister the Sacrament of the Eucharist to any person whatsoeuer before such time that such persons doe first confesse his or their sins to a Priest and receiue full absolution and forgiuenesse of the same from the Confessors owne mouth I wonder with what conscience the Papists account Garnet a Martyr Eudaemon Iohannes Apol. pro Garneto and defend his damnable cause when his owne conscience forced him to confesse that it was for Treason and not for Religion that he died Againe when their wanton lasciuious Dames come to confesse their sweet sinnes of Lechery vnto them I make no question but these ghostly fathers will haue one bit for themselues vnlesse their father-hood be ouer-cloyed with such diet I sate many a time in their Churches and haue seene with mine eyes their vnchaste and wanton gesture and behauiour in their confessions for when their female mates haue any extraordinary matter to acquaint their ghostly fathers withall they will first of all come to the Porter of the Cloister or College and desire him to intreat such a father to come to the Church to heare her confession who presently comes to the Church and sits downe very demurely in his Confessing seat or chaire where he couers his face with a hand-kerchiefe and thorow a little lettice window which is right opposite to the side of his face in the side of the seat they whisper together sometimes a whole houre and appoint where to meet together and in the end to make the standers by beleeue that all their discourse is spirituall vnder colour to absolue her he lifts vp his right Paw and mumbles a Misereatur ouer her head and so sends her away and thus they make the Church which ought to be the house of prayers a Den of whore-mongers and theeues yea a Sanctuary for murderers Moreouer none must repaire to Confession without an offertory And all such that haue committed any hainous crime as murder periury Sodomie or the like must offer largely and liberally or else the father Confessor will giue them no absolution for where there is no peny there is no Pater noster as the old saying is Of this abuse among many others certaine Cardinals and other Prelats writ vnto Pope Paul the third in the yeare 1538. for a reformation in these words Vide Tom. 3. Concil per Crab. Editionis Colon. 1551. Diximus Beatissime Pater non licere aliquo pacto in vsu clauium aliquid lucri vtenti comparari est in hac re firmum verbum Christi Gratis accepistis gratis date But in all other Editions this and all these abuses which were printed and inserted in that place were by other Popes commandement left out O the Iugling trickes of the Pope and his Monks Friers and Iesuites Againe they doe perswade their Penitents that they can with their supererogations or superabundant merits prayers and intercessions satisfie the Iustice of God for other mens sinnes and that they haue in themselues full power and authority to forgiue them all their sinnes of what nature soeuer they be whether mortall or veniall actuall