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
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
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
a Saint by Pope Gregory the ninth and his worship was the first inuentor or founder of the Inquisition and the Friers of his Order are as yet the Inquisiters in all Italy Saint Dominick if you will beleeue his Friers wrought more miracles than Christ for they write many blasphemous and ridiculous things of him in his Legend whereof I could recite many but for feare that I should rather surfet than satisfie you I will produce here one or two and so passe ouer the rest La vida de San. Domingo A certaine man was possessed with Deuills whereupon Saint Dominick bound about his necke certaine Reliques whereof some of them were no better than shitten clouts at the least whose perfume the Deuills could not abide and therefore cried out that they would depart But good Saint Dominick would not beleeue the Deuils vntill the Reliques became sureties for them Ibidem Another time as the holy man preached certaine women were amazed at his doctrine and cried out that if he said true they had serued a strange Master the holy man bade them be quiet and they should see what strange Master they had serued Whereupon comes in an vgly Cat with fiery eyes shewing her hinder-parts vnto them which was very filthie to behold at last he leapes into the Belfrie and left such a smell behind him that had almost choak'd them all Ibidem It fortuned also vpon a time that a Nun called Mary had a sore thigh for which she prayed to S. Dominick because she durst not pray to God who pitying the Religious Votary that was so well deuoted vnto him came vnto her when she was asleepe and annointed the place and healed the sore But now leauing the Saint I will proceed to suruey his spirituall babes the Dominican Friers Ouo prognatus eodem In the yeare of our Lord 1470. one Allen of the Frocke a Frier of this Order was the first that deuised and composed the Rosarie of our Lady who neglecting the Gospell of our Lord and Sauiour he preached it abroad and so his booke was published wherein are related many miracles of the Virgin Mary wrought by vertue of this Rosarie wherein he saith That vpon a time the blessed Virgin Mary came vnto his chamber or Cell and hauing a ring made of a locke of her owne haire she by deliuery of it betrothed her selfe vnto him kissed him and offered to him her paps to be handled and sucked by him and finally conuersed with this sweet Frier Allen as familiarly as a spouse is wont to do with her mate O sweet Iesus what true Christian is there that is not astonished at the hearing of these horrible blasphemies These Dominican Friers doe make a great benefit of this foresaid Rosarie for in euery Towne or City that they haue a Couent there is a fraternity of the Rosary consisting of the Lay people of either sex who doe pay to them a good sum of money at their first entrance into the same fraternitie and a yearely pension besides to say Masses for them and the soules of the Brethren and Sisters of the fraternity that are in Purgatorie Of all other Begging Friers these are the Richest and best schollers And therefore the Iesuites and they can neuer agree for they wrote many railing books and libels against each other and in their Sermons especially they doe exclaime and raile the one on the other A certaine Iesuite preaching vpon a time told his Auditors that he had seene a Vision which was thus He thought that he had beene in Hell and that he saw there some of all sorts of men and women as Popes Cardinals Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Monks Friers Priests Abbesses Prioresses and Nuns yea Emperours Kings Princes Noble-men Knights Gentlemen to conclude all manner of men women and children but hee saw there neuer a Iesuite And therefore praised God that had giuen him grace to be of the Societie of Iesus and not of any other Order of Friers or of any other vocation profession or calling whatsoeuer So that all his Sermon was in commendation of the Iesuites These two learned Sermons were preached in the yeare 1600. as a Student of Padua in Italy witnesseth in a Pamphlet which he writ in the Italian tongue about the yeare 1607. it is intituled Condolenza de vn Studente de Padua a 1. Patri Iesuiti par 2. The next Sabbath day a Dominican Frier came and preached in the selfe-same place and told the people that he had likewise dreamed or seene a strange Vision and that hee thought he had beene in Hell and saw there the soules of all sorts of men and women yea of Friers of his owne Order but saw neuer a Iesuite there whereat he wondered and was so amaz'd that he could not say an Aue Maria or a Pater noster and repented him a thousand times that he had not beene a Iesuite In the end he demanded of a little Deuill what was the reason there was neuer a Iesuite there seeing there was some of all other men women and children yea of all other Orders of Religious men The Deuill told him that the Iesuites were by themselues in another hell vnderneath that for said he they come hither so fast and are so many that Pluto and the rest of the Deuills could scarce rule them The Frier replied saying I would wish Pluto to haue a great care to search them with speed for feare that they haue conueyed hither some gun-powder with them for they are very skilfull in Mine-workes and in blowing vp of whole States and Parliament-houses and if they can they will blow you all vp and then the Spanyards will come and take your Kingdome from you whereat the Deuill laughed and the Frier awaked out of his sleepe And was not this good sound doctrine I pray you to edifie their Auditors withall In Spaine the Dominican Friers beare a great sway for the Kings Confessor is alwaies a Dominican Frier yet a Iesuite is the Queenes Confessor both their Patrons were Spanyards and therefore so much the greater Saints It was my fortune about nine years ago to come vpon a Holy-day I think it was S. Isidors day to heare a Sermon which a Dominican Frier preached in commendation of this Spanish Saint who extolled him so much that he preferred him before S. Peter This Saint was as he said once King of Andaluzia in Spaine and forsooke his Kingdome and became a Bishop Others doe write that he was driuen out of his Kingdome by the Moores and then became a Bishop This Frier citing that place of the Gospell where our Sauiour saith Whosoeuer shall forsake father or mother wife or children for my name sake shall haue it a hundred fold in heauen then Peter said Master we haue left all to follow thee what shall we haue Our Sauiour told him that they should sit vpon twelue seats and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israel The Frier cried out
it which was within the Cathedrall Church of Milan before the high Altar more than two bushels of gold and siluer in a great heape inclosed with in a great high iron grate where no body could come at it which was the offering of simple ignorant people all which and much more was for his Holinesse To be briefe this was the first as I thinke of all the Capuchins that haue beene as yet sanctified But Pope Paul perceiuing the profit to be so great did afterwards canonize halfe a squadron more whereof limping Ignatius the Author or Instituter of the Sect of the Iesuites was one Is it not an absurd and a base thing for Dukes Princes Noble men Gentlemen and other wealthy men without any want or compulsion to become begging Friers Would you not thinke such men mad and those that giue them almes no better than fools I know there are some that will not beleeue this to be true and yet it is most certaine for I will name you two or three that I knew The first is Duke Ioyeux a French man a great enemy to the Professors of the Gospell and one that for many yeeres had borne armes against King Henry the fourth of France our gracious Queenes Father in the ciuill warres of France who when the warres was ended became a Capuchin Frier being then aboue fifty yeeres old leauing all his estate to his only daughter and heire I haue seene him in his Habit with a Wallet ouer his shoulder in company of another Capuchin begge from doore to doore in his owne Country in that Prouince wherein he was borne But what is it that Monks and Friers cannot bewitch men to doe They made him change his Christen name and call himselfe Frier Angell afterwards he was made a Masse-Priest In the end this Father Angell and one Father Arch-Angell otherwise Father William Barlow an English Capuchin Frier who is now liuing in Paris went to Rome to the Chapter Generall of the Capuchins about some nineteene yeeres agoe and in their returne home this Duke-like Capuchin fell sicke of a burning Feuer and died about Sauoy Alas good Frier he was not vsed to goe such a voiage on foot as Roan in Normandy is from Rome being aboue a thousand English miles The other is the Duke of Ascots brother a very proper young noble man who together with another noble mans sonne of Spaine whose name I forget by the perswasions of the Capuchin Friers priuately departed from the Arch-Dukes Court at Bruxels and without the consent or priuity of their friends became Capuchins I could relate here many such examples if it were not for breuity sake There are many English men of this Order both in France and Netherland and most of them Gentlemens sonnes of good reckoning and some of them now lurking about the Court and City not in their foolish Capuchin Habit but like Gallants endeuouring to seduce his Maiesties subiects from their duty to God and their allegeance to their Soueraigne And one aboue all the rest is too much frequent in the Court but I would wish him to walke more narrowly or else depart quickly There is almost neuer a Towne or City in those popish Countries but the Obseruants Recollects and Capuchin Friers haue Couents and in some great Cities the Capuchins haue two or three as in Rome Milan Paris and other Cities And yet they haue neither Lands or Reuenues but what they get by begging Neuerthelesse they fare more like Princes than such men as they professe themselues to be for albeit they touch no money yet haue they their Collectors Receiuers and Dispencers to receiue and dispurse money for them and to buy any thing that they want For if any man or woman will bestow any money vpon them they will send for their Receiuer to take it and to write downe in a Booke how much it is for he must make them an account once euery yeere of all that he hath receiued and dispursed And as for Bread Wine Wood and other things that they stand in need of for the prouision of their Couents they haue more bestowed vpon them than they can well spend Besides this they haue in euery Towne or City where they dwell particular benefactors who giue them a monthly stipend and doe still procure them more for they are of their Fraternity and partakers forsooth of their super-abundant merits These men haue a stocke in money which they doe priuately and vnder hand employ and put out to vse for the good of these holy Friers Withall they begge twice or thrice a weeke in some Cities daily with Wallers and Bottles ouer their shoulders all that is giuen them whether it be Fish Flesh Bread Fruits Herbs Roots Spice sweet Oile or any thing else they bring home either on their shoulders or else vpon an Asse Where you must note that these and all other begging Friers receiue no scraps but whole Loaues of the purest Bread and of the best Wine and the best prouision in the house Neither doe they begge in any humble manner as other poore people but in an imperiall arrogant sort and without any reuerence they rather command than craue and vnlesse it be good almes and giuen them with cap and knee they care not for it for all these Monks Iesuits and Friers rich or poore are as proud as Lucifer though not in their Habit yet in their gesture and behauiour and if any man passe by them or speake vnto them without his hat in his hand and with a low reuerence yea in Spaine and Italy vnlesse they honour them and kisse the sleeues of their Habits they hold them little better than Lutherans and Heretikes Except they be some great Personages who indeed are more ceremonious and obsequious and doe flatter them more than the common people And also that their Copes Vestments Chalices and other their Church Vtensels are farre from temperature yea exceeding in sumptuousnesse let all those that haue seene them beare me record if this be not true Moreouer all Mendicant Friers at their first comming to inhabite in any Towne or Citie will in outward shew seeme to be Saints humble meeke and good to the poore the which doth purchase them such reputation among the common people that they will contribute very liberally towards the building of their Couents and all other things that they need In the meane time these vnsanctified Fathers like so many Emmets while the season serues them will bestir themselues as being not ignorant of that saying of the Poet Dum aestas annique finunt componite nidos They will be sure to cramme their coffers with gold and siluer and to prouide against a rainy day as the old prouerb is while the good market lasteth and while their counterfeit sanctitie is blasted vp with the vaine breath of the doting vulgar who are bewitched with their hypocrisie and pretended holinesse for if you will beleeue these hypocriticall Friers and all other Friers of what
who liued among them many yeeres vpon whom the Emperour Charles the fifth bestowed the Arch-bishoppricke of Brundusium the which he refused to accept of chusing rather to leade his life among those religious men in praying fasting and contemplation than to trouble himselfe with any worldly promotion Within a short time after three other famous men in those daies ioyned with this Carrafa viz. Caietanus a Gentleman borne at Vicentia who was Protonotarius Apostolicus Bonifacius a Gentleman borne in Piemont and a noble man of Rome whose name was Paulus These foure men considering how the Roman Clergy men did then erre and go astray yea so absurdly degenerate from their ancient and primate sincerity and purity to the great detriment and scandal of the Christian Religion consulted together how they might preuent the future danger that houered ouer the Church and how they might restore the dignity of the Clergy to its ancient splendor and credit and afterwards keepe and preserue it and therefore they gaue and put all the wealth that they had to be spent in common among them as euery one of their society should haue need or occasion to vse the same with a full resolution hauing cast away all worldly cares to spend the residue of their liues in the seruice of God by fasting praying meditating singing of Psalmes and diuine Hymnes to the praise of God imagining that to be the best way to restore all things to their ancient purity and integrity and therefore they were called Presbyteri Regulares But because that this Carrafa had reiected that Arch-bishoppricke and vndertaken such a course of life to the great admiration and wonderfull amazement of all men they were called in the Italian tongue Theotini This Carrafa with his dignity and authority gaue them their first institution and did greatly increase this Society Afterwards this good man was created a Cardinall by Pope Paul the third which great dignity this great despiser of worldly wealth and refuser of Bishoppricks most willingly and gladly accepted and comming to Rome receiued the selfe same Arch-bishopprick which he had formerly refused And so this Fox refusing meane promotions because vnder colour or pretence of holinesse and austerity of Religion he aimed at greater first was created Senator of Rome and within a short time after Pope and called by the name of Paul the fourth Panauinus This egregious fellow of the Society of the Diuine Loue this contemner and despiser of the world and restorer of the splendor of the ancient order of the Clergy studied all the rest of his life no other thing but to hoord vp gold and siluer all his cares and meditations were how to extirpate and root out all peace and concord out of the world to moue wars betweene Christian Kings and Princes and to set all Christendome in a combustion To be briefe these Theatines doe differ very little in Habit from the Iesuits for their shirt bands are scarce to be seene so are the Iesuites and likewise in all the rest of their Habit they concurre one with another They are very rich for they heare Confessions as the Iesuites doe and thereby delude the people to giue them money and all things else that they want and yet they begge neuer or seldome publikely but haue all things necessary for prouision brought vnto their Couents Neuerthelesse this Order or Sect is as yet very obscure and not knowne in no other Country than in Italy for ought that euer I saw or heard of and therefore I will speake so much the lesse of them Of the Friers that are called the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory THese irregular Priests that call themselues Fathers of the congregation of the Oratory sprang vp of late yeeres and liued likewise very obscure vntill about some six or seuen yeeres agoe that they beganne to flourish in France In their Habit they differ but a little from the Iesuits and Theatins and in some townes where the Iesuits haue no College these Oratorians doe teach young children Their congregation doth for the most part consist of rich Rectors or Pastors of parish Churches vnlesse it be those that are the Lay-brethren yea I haue knowne some Bishops of this Congregation But most of their Priests haue Benefices They haue a maruellous great house in Paris not farre from the Kings Palace which did heretofore belong vnto one of the Peeres of France whither the King Queene and many Princes and Lords doe often repaire to heare Masse and Sermons in so much that they are very rich and in great reputation thorowout all France And therefore the Iesuites doe haâ—e them the more and not without a cause for since that they beganne to be so gracious with the King Prince and commons the Iesuits beganne to lose a great part of their former credit and reputation To conclude they are as superstitious and as idolatrous as any other Friers whatsoeuer yea they maintaine the selfe same position for murdering of Kings and Princes as the Iesuits doe and therefore no lesse dangerous than they are But howsoeuer vnder colour of humility sincerity and sanctity of life they deceiue the world cram their purses and enrich themselues There are both English Scots and Irish of this Order Of the Barnabists THese Barnabists or rather Barrabists are a company of poore Priests that wanting meanes gathered themselues together and called themselues Fathers of the congregation of Saint Barnabie they are as yet very obscure but in time I make no question but they will be as famous as the Iesuits or Oratorians But I wonder why they call not themselues Paulists of Saint Paul as well as Barnabists of Saint Barnabas seeing Paul was the great Saint in my opinion But the truth is all popish Priests loue not Saint Paul because his Doctrine is quite repugnant to theirs otherwise they had erected an Order of Friers vnder his name and patronage long agoe Their Habit differs little or nothing from the Oratorians Theatines and Iesuits and they keepe Schooles in some Townes as well as the Iesuits The vulgar people beginne already to dote vpon them for as I told you before euery new Sect of Friers or Nuns is at the first in great request Ouid lib. 3. de Ponto Est quoque cunctarum nouitas gratissima rerum This Sect is not yet often yeeres standing neither is their Order as yet confirmed Of the Fullians Friers THese Friers are called by the name of Friers of our blessed Lady of the Fullians They weare a course Habit of white cloth This Congregation beganne about that time that King Henry the third of France was murdered by Iacques Clement a Dominican Frier which was about the yeere 1587. they are of the Order of the Cistercensis whereof I formerly spake They liued very obscure vntill such time that King Henry the fourth of France was likewise murdered by Francis Rauillac in the yeere 1610. since which time they built them sumptuous Monasteries and
men of the Towne where they built the goodliest houses in all the Citie because forsooth they would be neare these holy Fathers to haue their spirituall comfort and consolation in time of need The Iesuits being thus seated and setled like Princes the first thing was that they did to requite the Citizens great loue and extraordinary charges They procured vnto themselues from the King of Spaine the Archduke the Archduchesse Letters Patents that they should haue for euery barrell of beere that is drawn within that Town two shillings nine pence farthing which is for euery quart pot two Liards or halfe a Stiuer which is about an halfe-peny halfe farthing English and doth amount to a great summe of mony yearly considering the greatnesse of the Towne and the multitude of the people that are the Inhabitants thereof Albeit the Assise which they were constrained to pay before that time for their beere was as much in equall portion to the King and the Archduke as they did pay to the Brewer from which the poore begger was not free but if he did drinke he paid so much vnto the King as he did to the Victualer And yet these vnconscionable and couetous Iesuites did for their benefit and better maintenance procure this other imposition to be laid vpon the Inhabitants notwithstanding the former extraordinary loue and kindnesse which they receiued from them Both which assise of the beere the poore inhabitants haue beene constrained to pay euer since as well to the King as to the Iesuites by means whereof and other their politike cheating and cosenage they are become not only exceeding rich but also odious to all the Townes and Countrey there adioyning And besides whereas the inhabitants of this Towne had been for many hundred yeares free and exempt from all forfeiture or confiscation of their lands and goods to the King if any of them had committed any felony murder treason or the like their bodies being only liable to the Law and not their lands or goods Now these Iesuites perceiuing that the State-house the Towne Charter and all the ancient Records of the Towne had beene some certaine yeares before burnt by occasion of fire procured vnder-hand a Patent to be granted to their College of all forfeitures and confiscations whatsoeuer that should happen to fall due to the King within that Towne and the liberties thereof and hauing so done they began to seize vpon the land and goods of all such as were conuicted for any of these or the like crimes or offences The Magistrates of the Towne and all the rest of the inhabitants with one consent did oppose the Iesuites as intruders vsurpers and common perturbers of their Priuileges and Liberties whereupon the Iesuites commenced their sute against the Magistrates and all the inhabitants of the Towne in the higher Courts wherein the Iesuites would haue surely preuailed if that a certaine Religious man as I thinke a Canon Regular of the Order of S. Augustine that liued in an Abbey about six miles from the Towne and yet in the territories of the same had not found out in the Library there an old booke of Histories or Antiquities in Manuscript written many hundred yeares since wherein was contained among other things a Copie of the Charter of this Towne of Lysle which being shewed vnto the Councell of State the Iesuits with much shame disgrace had a definitiue sentence giuen against them neuer afterwards to intermedle with the Priuileges and Statutes of the Towne and to pay cost and charges besides Oh the honestie of these holy men of the society of Iesus Iohn Chastell was taught and perswaded by the Iesuites to murder Henry the fourth of France and yet some Papists would deny it if they could because they are loth to make the Iesuites odious and yet others did helpe to erect a pillar of stone neare to the Kings Palace in Paris whereby so much was signified But the Iesuits when they were recalled againe into France from their banishment got leaue of the King vpon the Queenes request to deface it some few yeares before the King was murdered by Rauillacke In the yeare 1607. The Iesuites procured the Emperour Rodulphus to prescribe that ancient Imperiall City Donawert in high Germany and to giue it in prey vnto the Duke of Bauaria who came priuately with foure or fiue thousand men and tooke it and ransacked it and afterwards put a strong garrison therein altering their Lawes and Customes and debarring them of all their former Priuileges whatsoeuer in so much that the chiefest men in the Citie were constrained to abandon both house and home and to seeke after another place to inhabite I came thorow this Citie within three moneths after that the Duke of Bauaria had taken it and it grieued my heart to see into what miserable bondage the poore Citizens were brought and all through the deuillish practise of these irreligious Machiauills who then did tyrannize ouer them like so many Turks or Infidels for they managed the whole affaires of the Citie the Gouernour which the Duke had placed there ouer the souldiers stood but for a cipher for he durst doe nothing without the consent of the Iesuits The Magistrates were all put out of their charge offices other base poore mechanicall fellowes appointed in their places farre vnworthy the high dignitie of Consuls or Burghemasters in such an ancient free and noble City as that is The souldiers were billeted in all the Protestants houses and not in any Papists house where they dominierd like so many deuills making hauock of all that they could come by and yet the Protestants were constrained to pay them their wages besides What shall I say The Iesuites in effect did command and controll the whole Citie as they pleased They banished their Ministers and compelled the inhabitants either to goe to heare Masse contrary to their consciences or else forsake the Citie and liue in exile And yet this is nothing in comparison to that the Protestants of Aquisgranum haue endured and yet doe suffer The Emperour Charles surnamed the Great hunting vpon a time in the Forest of Arden found out certaine Bathes or hot waters in which place he built a very faire Citie and called it Aquisgranum and gaue it many priuileges and great freedome among other things he ordained that all other Emperours his Successours should be crowned there and that the Imperiall Diadem which is now kept at Franckfurt vpon Main should be kept in this Citie Here likewise hee built among other Churches a very faire Collegiat Church endowing it with great reuenues within a Chappell of this Church the craftie Clergie men obseruing the ignorance of the people in those daies set vp an Image of the blessed Virgin Mary which they affirmed to worke great miracles by meanes whereof and of the hot Bathes this Citie came to be very famous and haunted by many people for many that were visited with sicknesse and diseases came from farre
it shall please the holy Father the Pope and their Father Generall to send them yea though it were to the worlds end and murder Kings and Princes to merit Heauen And withall all other Monks and Friers doe make these three Vowes but once which is after that they haue beene in the Habit one whole yeere which they call the yeere of approbation or nouiceship at which time they make their profession yet the Iesuites will haue their Nouices to serue them two yeeres in their nouiciat before they make their Vowes which first Vowes they call Vota simplicia single Vowes because they can as they say dispence with them for after a man hath beene a Iesuit twenty or thirty yeeres they may if they please put him away and exclude him out of their society whereof I haue knowne many yea among our English Iesuites I haue knowne some namely one who went by the name of Master Floyd who liued at Paris not long agoe and is now but a Secular Priest albeit he was for many yeeres a Iesuite the reason is as I thinke because he and those that they put out of their society were not wicked enough to keepe them company or else doe put themselues out of the society of the Iesuites when they perceiue their villany But when one hath beene trained vp many yeeres in their Machauillian Schoole if he be for their turne then he makes those Vowes again and then he is a professed Iudaist which is not without a long proofe and triall of his integrity and deuotion to their Order and to the rearing vp of the Spanish Monarchie and then and not before they will acquaint him with the hidden mysteries of their Order For in some Colleges there are threescore or fourescore Iesuites and yet not aboue three or foure professed Iesuites yea albeit they weare all one kinde of Habite and fare all alike And in many great Cities they haue three Houses First their Domus Professa wherein liue none but professed Iesuites secondly their College where they haue their Schooles wherein the Rector and one or two more of them are Professed and none else And lastly their Nouiciate where all their young Nouices are kept and mewed vp vnder the gouernment of a Rector and two or three more professed Machiauills HAuing treated of all Monks Friers and Iesuites and of their beginning proceedings present estate in particular It remaines now for me to speak a word or two of their impostures cozenage in generall but more specially of the Mendicant Friers and Iesuites which may serue as a Caueat or Premonition to shew with what brasen faces and palpable lyes and grossenesse they proceed to subuert and ouerthrow True Religion and yet iustifie themselues to the world to countenance their wickednesse though neuer so foule and hainous I omit to speake of their Doctrines Schoole-questions Ceremonies the Popes Supremacie and many other such matters of controuersies which haue beene so often disputed by many and confuted by our learned Diuines But leauing those matters vnto others far more sufficient than my selfe I will speake no more than I haue seene and knowne of my knowledge to be true or can bring sufficient authoritie and then I will draw to a conclusion First I would haue you to vnderstand that these Monks and Friers doe most ambitiously and arrogantly bragge that this or that holy Saint was the first Institutor or Founder of their Order or Religion As the Ieromite Monks bragge of their pretended Patron S. Ierome the Benedictins of S. Benet the Austen Friers of S. Austen the Dominicans of S. Dominick the Franciscans of S. Francis and so of the rest Others more ambitious than they haue mounted vp a little higher as the Trinitarians who would make the world beleeue that their Order was first instituted by the blessed Trinitie who gaue them their Rule by a diuine reuelation whereof they brag not a little as may be seene by this Rithme which is written in capitall letters ouer the doore of their Cloister in the Suburbs of Arras in the Prouince of Artois in the Low Countries and many other places as I told you before Hic est ordo ordinatus Non à sanctis fabricatus Sed à solo summo Deo The Carmelite Friers doe boast that the blessed Virgin Mary gaue them their Habite vpon Mount Carmell together with a Scrowle wherein was written their Rule and Order of life and manners The Iesuites scorne to deriue their Order from any Saint no not from lame Ignatius their Founder but from Iesus whose Companions they are if you will beleeue them for they style themselues Patres Religiosi Societatis Iesu Fathers and Religious men of the Society of Iesus his companions and play-fellowes but they play foule play with him for they hitherto haue and do still play the theeues with him in robbing him of his honour and glory the which they attribute vnto the blessed Virgin Popish Saints Images and the like trash O horrible blasphemy Horresco referens These great titles serue them for a cloake to couer their hypocrisies and abominable impieties But let vs returne to the matter I doubt not but I shall make it yet a little more manifest vnto you how far the Iesuits do differ from the Lord Iesus likewise the other rable of Friers from their pretended Patrons for these borrowed titles of honours are none of their owne Ouid. lib. 3. Metamorph Nam genus proauos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco Iuuenal Satyr 8. Stemmata quid faciunt quid prodest Pontice longo Sanguine censeri pictosque ostendere vultus Maiorum c. Si coram Lepidis malè viuitur Ausonius in Solonis Senten Pulchrius multò parari quam creari nobilem Senec. in Herc. furente Qui genus iactat suum Aliena laudat These Iuglers haue many wayes and trickes to cheat men of their money besides that which they get by begging as by sale of their priuate Masses Confessions lying Miracles Pardons and Indulgences Reliques Confraternities and the like And withall by perswading other men that are rich to become Friers of their Orders and sometimes they doe seduce young Merchants and shop-keepers to breake with their Creditors and vnder-hand to purloine and sell away other mens goods and to offer or giue them all the money which they haue or can borrow and then they will entertaine them into their Orders and perhaps send them away priuately vnto some other Monastery of their Order in some other Prouince to be taught and instructed in their Rule and discipline for one whole yeare which they call the yeare of Approbation or Nouice-ship for after that one hath beene a yeare in any Cloister either of Monks or Friers the Iesuites only excepted who haue two yeares of Approbation if he be willing to perseuere and to leade a Monasticall life he makes his profession and those three Vowes of Chastitie Pouertie