Sepulchritae seu fratres Dominici Sepulchri 19 Fratres Vallischolariorum whereof some are as yet extant and some Orders quite dissolued and abolished 20 Victoriani 21 Gilbertini 22 Eremitae S. Pauli quos alij Augustinensibus annumerant 23 Fratres de Poenitentia 24 Coronati 25 Hospitalarij 26 Milites diut Iacobi de Spata And many more who doe differ both in Habit and Exercises as also in Rules and Precepts of life as Alfonsus Aluaris de Gueuarra one of their Writers witnesseth Of the Monks called Praemonstratenses THese Monks descended downe from Heauen as they themselues brag in the Bishoprick of Laudan at a place which they call Praemonstratum The Author of this Order was one Northbertus a Priest borne in Lorrain who patched vp an Order or Rule for his new begotten Monks out of Saint Augustines Rule which was afterwards approued and confirmed by Pope Calistus the second Bruschius Polydor. They weare a long white cloth Coat open before and a linnen Surplice ouer and ouer that a long white cloth Cloke a corner Cap or a Hat when they goe abroad of the same colour and vnderneath all Doublets Breeches linnen Shirts Shooes and white Stockins These Monks haue lands and reuenues to maintaine themselues and are rich wheresoeuer they liue This Sect began about the yeere 1170. and had Abbies likewise in England but at this instant I am perswaded there is not one English man of that Sect. Of the Cruciferi or Crucigeri or the Cruched Friers THis Order of Friers is more ancient than all the former Orders if ye will beleeue them For they say that Clitus Saint Peters Disciple and the third Bishop of Rome after him was warned by an Angell to build for them a house to entertaine all those that fled thither for the Christian Religion sake which he with all speed performed so that in a short time many godly men repaired thither and were entertained who for many yeeres afterwards bare a Crosse in their hands in memoriall of the death and passion of our Sauiour A thing vnlike to be true that Clytus should bee warned by an Angell to build a house for a company of lazie Friers to entertaine all those that fled to Rome for the Christian Religion sake whereas the very name of Monks or Friers was not then or many hundred yeeres after either knowne or heard of in the Church of God And withall the persecution was then so great in Rome that the Saints themselues were constrained to forsake the City and therefore it is not credible that other Christians should repaire thither for reliefe and succour in their distresse and persecution There are others of opinion that one Cyriacus Patriarch of Ierusalem and he whom they report to haue shewed S. Helen Constantine the Great 's Mother where the Crosse was whereon our blessed Sauiour was crucified was the first that instituted this order in memoriall of the inuention of the Crosse and that hee gaue order that these Monks should euer afterwards carry a Crosse in their hands And that this Cyriacus was afterwards martyred by Iulian the Apostata and therefore their Order became almost extinguished But Pope Innocentius the third about the yeere 1215. did reuiue it againe and euer since it hath flourished And Pope Pius the second commanded them to weare a skie colour Habit. But now this Order of Friers weare a Crosse of red cloth or Scarlet fixed to their Habit on their brest and weare blacke Matth. Westmonast Balaeus These Friers doe likewise liue by their Lands and Reuenues They had a Monastery heretofore at Tower-hill where you may see the ruines of it and that place is called by their names to this day Their first comming into England was in the yeere 1244. and their first Cloister was at Colchester Of the Trinitarian Friers Sabellicus Enne 9. l. 4. Polydor. l. 7. c. 4. IN the time of the same Pope Innocentius the third the Friers who are called Trinitarians began to shew themselues to the world One Iohannes Matta and one Felix Anchorita who liued a solitary life in France were warned in their sleepe as they report to repaire to Rome to the Pope to seeke for a place of him to build them a Cloister Is not this fine Iugling And this good Pope forsooth in the meane time was warned in a vision to entertaine them which he did and ordained that they should weare a white Habit with a red and a skie colour Crosse wrought on their brests in the same Their charge was to goe and gather Money to redeeme Christians that were Captiues vnder the tyranny of the Turks and Infidels and therefore they were called Monachi de redemptione captiuorum that is Monks of the redemption of Captiues But these good men so good forsooth were they they aimed at another kinde of redemption for they haue and still doe purchase Lands with the Money that they haue gathered and as for the poore Christian Captiues if they doe suffer for Christs sake they shall haue reward but let them expect no redemption from them These holy Friers scorne to haue any Saint for their Patron for they say that the blessed Trinity gaue them their Rule and Order as is to bee seene by these Verses which they write or paint in great capitall Letters in all their Couents Hic est ordo ordinatus Non à Sanctis fabricatus Sed à solo summo Deo That is Our Order was instituted By th' Eternall Lord of Host And not by Saints or mortall men As other Friers boast The first comming of these Friers into England was in the yeere of our Lord 1357. Of the Friers of the Order of our blessed Lady which they call in Spaine Los frayles de nuestra Señora de Merced ABout the yeere 1285. Martin the fourth being Pope one Philippus Tuscius a Florentine borne and a Professor of Physicke did erect this Order of Friers Pope Benedict the eleuenth and many other Popes after him did approue it and gaue them many Pardons Indulgences and Priuileges They haue many Couents in Italy and Spaine and are very rich but in France or any other Countries I thinke they haue few or none at all They weare a white Habit and are maruellously well deuoted to the blessed Virgin and haue many reuelations from her as they themselues report but all is but meere hypocrisie Sabellious saith That this Order increased so fast that within some few yeeres after their first institution they had in Italy 48. Cloisters wherein were more than 1500. Monks and Nuns Of the Order of Saint Briget SAint Briget a noble Princesse of Swethland being a widow did institute an Order of Friers and Nuns and comming her selfe to Rome obtained of Pope Vrban the fifth a confirmation of the same Order or institution that is that both Sex should liue together in one Cloister hauing a wall betweene them and that the Nuns should lie in the vppermost chambers and the Friers
are reformed forsooth and are turned either Obseruant Franciscans or Recollects In their Habit they doe differ little or nothing from the Obseruants Their Churches and Cloisters are like the Conuentuals and the Obseruant Franciscans very faire and spacious built like Christ-Church in London Recollect Friers The Recollect Franciscans are a kinde of reformed Obseruants and doe differ little or nothing at all in Habit from the Penitentiarians but in their Rule Discipline and Ceremonies they are quite contrary the one to the other This Sect began of late yeeres and yet they haue at this instant Couents in all the chiefest Townes and Cities of Italy Spaine France and Netherland There is a Couent of English Friers of this Order at Doway in the Low Countries who are maintained by the beneuolence of our English Catholikes in England It is not aboue fiue or six yeeres since it was built and yet they begin to increase apace for they haue their Prouinciall and Collectors here in England as well as the other Friers Priests and Iesuites These Recollects must handle no money but they may possesse it and receiue and dispurse it by their Collectors Receiuers and Dispencers yet our English Friers may handle and possesse money when they are in England for they haue a dispensation from the Popes holinesse to handle and possesse both gold and siluer Capuchin Friers The most holy and renowned Sect of all the Franciscan Friers are the Capuchins who weare the like Habit as the Recollect and Penitentiarians doe sauing that in stead of Shooes they patch three or foure leather soles vnder their feet tyed ouer with leather straps and on their backs vpon their Habit they weare a peece of another old Habit sewed to their Frock in token of humility because forsooth they will not weare a new Habit without that patch forfeare that the world should imagine them to be proud And yet who is prouder than these Hypocrites in heart though not in habit Moreouer in their holy greasie stinking Cowle they differ from all the other Franciscan Babes for these men weare a long Cowle or Hood sewed to the necke or collar of their Frocke very small at the end or top I neuer beheld a Capuchins Cowle but I must needs thinke of a crying Bird which some call a Lapwing that breeds and liues vpon Heaths and Moores for this Fowle hath a tuft of Feathers vpon the head standing vpright and so is the Capuchins Cowle And truly I may wel compare these Capuchins to Lapwings not only for their heads but also because the one is very subtil and crafty for to protect defend their young ones and the others for the propagation of their Order or Sect. This Sect beganne neere about the same time that the Iesuits did start vp which was about the yeere of our Lord 1540. Their Author or Institutor was one Godefridus Veraglius of Buscano in the Prouince of Piemont in Italy vnder the Dominion of the Duke of Sauoy who was the first Generall of their Order This Godefridus albeit that in his youth he had liued in the thickest darknesse of superstition yet afterwards being inspired with diuine grace forsooke Popery and embraced the truth of the Gospell for comming vpon a time in company of Cardinall Carrafa who was sent as a Legat from the Pope to the French King he forsooke him and his Religion at Lions in France and went from thence to Geneua where being instructed and confirmed in the Christian Religion he remained for a certaine time and afterwards comming backe to Buscano his owne Country as he was trauelling thence towards Angeronia where he was chosen to be their Minister in his iourney at a place called Borgesio he was apprehended and thence brought to Turino where the Duke of Sauoy keepes his Court where after such time that he had constantly professed and defended the truth of the Gospell he was burned aliue to death before the Court gate in the yeere of our Lord 1557. Martyr lib. Hiâ—…oria Eccl. refoâ—m in Gal. Reg. lib. â— â—…l 158 Gal. Edit These Capuchins nor the Recollects or Penitentiarians neuer sing high Masse but all priuate Masses neither doe they sing but onely recite their Canonicall houres or vse any Organs or Hymnes or any Copes or Surplices as the Obseruant and non Obseruant Franciscans and other Monks and Friers doe but they reade their Office or canonicall houres leisurely and distinctly yea they reade so leisurely as one may write euery word they speake and to say the truth they cry or whine when they reade much like poore French Beggers when they begge almes at mens doores Moreouer the Quire or the place where they sit to recite their Office or Canonicall houres is behind the high Altar in the vpper end of the Church with a partition wall betweene in which wall right ouer the midst of the Altar there is a great hole or a window of Crystall Glasse thorow the which they may see the eleuation of their breaden god I meane their Sacrament when it is eleuated at time of Masse Their Churches are not very spacious but very neat and most commonly they haue therein but one Chapell or two at the most wherein is but one Altar set vp to say Masse Here I would haue you to vnderstand that all these Sects of Friers formerly mentioned or to be mentioned in this Treatise haue seuerall Ceremonies or to say more plainly apish tricks in singing or saying of the Masse and other diuine Seruice as for example the Capuchin Frier that serues at the Masse that is to say he that plaies the Clarke who most commonly is a Lay-brother and no Masse-Priest doth alwaies from the time of the Sacrament vntill the Offertorium that is to say vntill the Priest doth offer it as a Sacrificium placabile pro vniuis defunctis an acceptable Sacrifice for the liuing and for the dead to wit in Purgatory yea if they be well payed for Cow and Calfe the Frier I say that serues at Masse vpon his knees must stretch out both his armes right forth crosse wise so that his body may be like a Crucifix and for his paines he shall obtaine a great reward in Heauen and doth questionlesse merit say they either the deliuery of a soule out of Purgatory or else at leastwise some relexation of the paines of the same Carolus Boromeus Arch-bishop and Cardinall of Milan was once a Capuchin Frier and afterwards by dispensation from the Pope was promoted vnto all these honours And whithin a while after his death sanctified by Pope Paul the fift He was the first man that this Pope caused to be inrolled in the Catalogue of Saints This Canonization brought into the Popes Exchequer more than twenty thousand pounds as I haue heard the Milanesses themselues credibly report I saw vpon the ground where his body had beene buried For it was taken out of the graue againe vpon the Popes command to make Reliques of
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
our Monks call themselues Monachus that is to say a solitary man but by little and little afterwards they began to gather themselues together as hereafter shall be shewed So that in those daies the Monks by their Prayers Fasting Watching Reading and studying of the holy Scriptures liuing hardly and far from the company or society of men working with their owne hands and getting their liuing with the sweat of their browes gaue a singular good example to all men to liue verruous and godly and afterwards those that were first gathered together into one Congregation for a long time following the foot-steps of their Predecessors instructed their Families and others that resorted vnto them to leade a godly and a Christian life and were admired and honoured of all good men for their doctrine integrity of life and godly zeale for as yet the Christians Common-wealth had but one Law and one Religion which now to the great griefe and sorrow of all good men is rent and diuided into so many Sects and Factions Superstitions and Ceremonies that it is a lamentable sight to see or thinke vpon the present misery and calamity of the Church There are some of our Moderne Monks and Friers which affirme that Elias and Iohn Baptist were the first that led a solitary life in the Wildernesse and were the Authors or Patrons of their Orders and therefore would perswade the world that they doe imitate them yea deriue their Rules and Orders from them of whom I shall haue occasion hereafter to speake in another place but as the one was greater than a Prophet so was the other more yea farre better than euer any Monk or Frier was as our Sauiour himselfe testifieth of Iohn saying That among the sonnes of men there was neuer any one greater than Iohn Baptist Neuerthelesse the Monks of the order of Saint Anthony hold it no lesse than Blasphemy to say that any order of Monks or Friers is more ancient than theirs and yet those of Saint Benets Order doe deny it flatly and in all Processions or solemne meetings doe take the vpper hand and place of them and of all other disordered Orders or rable of Monks or Friers whatsoeuer Others there be that think this kinde of Monasticall life to haue beene first instituted by a sort of religious men in Palestina called Essaei or Esseni a Sect in those daies very famous in great reputation among the Iewes as Philo the learned Iew cited by Eusebius testifieth saying Euseb li. 8. de Euang. Praepa Palaestinam maxima gens Iudeorum inter quos qui dicuntur Essaei c. The chiefest people of the Iewes doe inhabite Palestina among whom those that are called Essaei be as I thinke more in number than foure thousand they are called Essaei quasi Sancti that is to say Saints because they are the chiefest worshippers of God not in sacrificing of beasts but by offering vp their bodies and soules as an acceptable sacrifice vnto God There is neither boy or youth among them because of the instability of their age but all old men They dwell not in Towns or Cities imagining that as the contagion of the aire is hurtfull to the body so the conuersation of the people to be dangerous to the soule Some of them do till and manure the ground others doe exercise some peaceable and quiet trade to his owne profit and his neighbours good neither doe they lay vp in store any gold or siluer or possesse any great Farmes or Liuings but onely so much as is sufficient to maintaine them They of all other men doe contemne and despise Lands and Money holding themselues to bee richest in vertue and iudging a meane calling without any great want the greatest wealth in the world None of them doth make any kinde of weapon either Swords Helmets Bucklers or any other warlike Instrument Neither doe they exercise any Art or Trade that is noisome or hurtfull to any man they neuer trade or trafficke in Merchandise or keepe any Inne or Victualing house they know not what Nauigation meaneth they vse no manner of rapine or deceit They haue no seruants among them but all are equall and free men the one seruing and assisting the other The seuenth day they repaire to a holy place which they call a Synagogue the younger sort sit beneath the elder there they reade the Scripture diligently and expound it truly and sincerely They learne to liue godlily holily and iustly and haue a threefold rule or order the first to loue God aboue all things zealously the second to seeke after vertue diligently and the third to loue their neighbours feruently And that they loue God aboue all things we may alleage many Arguments as perpetuall chastity their hatred towards swearing and lying and especially that they confidently beleeue God to be the only Author and efficient cause of all good things and not of any euill thing And that they study Vertue may appeare because they neglect money despise honour and hate all voluptuousnesse And lastly their beneuolence society and equality are apparant testimonies of their brotherly loue and Charity for none hath a house that is not common to all the rest and their money and expences are common Moreouer their Apparell Meat and Drinke yea all that they haue is in common Hither are the words of Phylo cited by Eusebius Now let our Monks who liue like Kings who swim in all manner of delights and pleasures who affect nothing more than promotion and honour and whose chiefest care and study is to gather wealth and hoord vp Gold Siluer Pearles and precious Stones bee ashamed that their righteousnesse doth not now exceed those Essaeians or Essenians but doth rather come farre short of theirs But yet most of the learned yea they of the Church of Rome are of opinion that this Saint Anthony was the first that instituted this Monasticall life which was in Thebaica a region in Aegypt where he built a Monasterie and there together with Sarmatas Amatas and Macharius his Disciples liued many yeeres spending the residue of their time in fasting and praying their food being but Bread Herbs and Roots and their drinke Water He died in the Wildernesse in the yeere of our Lord God CCCLXI. being 105. yeeres old Whereby it seemes that this kinde of Monasticall or priuate life was very ancient and such as the time and estate of the Church required then but that which after in place thereof sprang vp among vs was of later time and being at the first farre vnlike the other the longer it stood did notwithstanding still degenerate more and more till at length it grew intolerable Of the Benedictin Monks AFterwards about the yeere of our Lord 567. being two hundred and six yeeres after the death of Saint Anthony one Benedictus Nursinus whom the English Papists vulgarly call Saint Benet a man borne in Vmbria a Region in Italy hauing led some certaine yeeres a solitary life in those desart places
at length retired to Sublâ—cum a towne distant forty miles from Rome whither many people by reason of the great fame of his integrity and holinesse of life resorted vnto him but within a while he departed thence and repaired to Cassinum an ancient City in that Region where he built a Monasterie and in a very short time gathered together all such Monks as then wandred here and there in the Woods and Desarts of Italy and gaue them certaine rules and statutes to obserue and keepe And withall bound them to three seuerall Vowes the which were neuer heard of before that S. Basil had ordained them in the East Country to his Monks which was about the yeere 383. for Basil was the first that gaue Rules or Orders vnto Monks Among other Lawes and Statutes hee ordained that after that a Monk had remained the space of one whole yeere in his Abbey if so be that he was willing to continue there still hee should make three seuerall solemne Vowes first to liue chastly but with this Prouiso Si non castè tamen cautè that is to say if he could not liue chastly he should goe about his bunesse warily Secondarily to possesse nothing And thirdly to obey his Superiours in what thing soeuer they should command him Which decree of Benet or rather of Basil but receiued and allowed of by Benet was ratified by the Church of Rome for an Euangelicall Law or Decree Againe Benet gaue his Monklings a new kinde of foolish habit appointing them also a certaine forme of praying allowing them but meane Commons and withall a new manner of Abstinence that was likewise neuer heard of before But now the world is altered with them for whosoeuer will suruay or view them well shall see that they liue like Princes and farre more like Epicures than Religious men as all those that are or haue beene acquainted with them can testifie This Congregation of Saint Benet grew by little and little to be so great that it is almost incredible Yet in the end there hapned such a Schisme among them that it was and still is diuided into many families as Cluniacenses Camalduenses Vallisumbrenses Montoliuetenses Grandimontenses Cistercienses Syluestrenses Coelestini and diuers others who are now adaies either vnited with other Orders or else quite extirpated and abolished All these seuerall Sects of Monks who apply their minds to nothing else but to sloth idlenesse gluttony idolatry whordome fornication and the like impietie vnlesse it be to inuent and bring in daily more new Sects of Monks and Friers are reported to haue proceeded from the first Family of Saint Benet Those that were first instituted by this Saint as they themselues confesse are those that now adaies weare a blacke loose Coat of stuffe reaching downe to their heeles with a Cowle or hood to couer their bald Pates which hangs downe to their shoulders and their Scapular shorter than any other of these Monks and vnder that Coat another white Habit as large as the former made of Stuffe or white Flannen They shaue the haires of their heads except one little round circle which they leaue round about their heads which they call Corona their Crowne forsooth because they would bee honoured as Kings and Princes By the rule that their Patron gaue them they are bound to abstaine perpetually from flesh vnlesse when they are sicke And therfore these immodest moderne Monks who doe eat Flesh daily except the time of Lent and other fish daies must of necessity be alwaies sicke vnlesse they will impudently confesse as indeed they cannot deny but that they obserue not the Lawes and Statutes of their Patron Saint Benet and therein haue infringed and falsified one of their vnlawfull Vowes Where you may obserue that this Monasticall Institution being but humane and not grounded or warranted by the Word of God did not continue long inuiolated the nature of men being inclined yea in the best things to wax daily rather worse than better And therefore the Benedictin Monks haue contaminated their former Piety and Deuotions with the Mammon of this world as Promotions Sloth Gluttony and all manner of Luxury which was the cause that this one Family was so rent and diuided into so many Sects and Schismes as daily experience teacheth vs. How religiously they haue liued heretofore and still liue those that are conuersant in their owne Histories and haue trauelled in forraigne Countries can best tell to their perpetuall shame although our new vpstart English Benedictin Monks would haue the world beleeue that their Order first planted the Christian Religion in this Land and that the Monks of their Order were euer godly and religious men and therefore not to be ranked with the Iesuites who are great Statesmen for they good Monks meddle not with matters of State or with Kings affaires but for all their counterfeit holinesse let me tell them in their eares that an English Benedictin of Swinsteed Abbey poisoned King Iohn for the which fact he was and still is highly honoured by all Papists in generall And one saith of him thus Iohannes Maior de gestis Scotorum lib. 4. c. 3. Cluniacenses Regem perimere meritorium ratus est he thought it a meritorious deed to kill the King The Monks that are called Cluniacenses being formerly of the Congregation of Benet were first instituted in Burgundie by one Otho an Abbot of that Congregation vnto whom William surnamed the Godly Duke of Aquitaine gaue a certaine Village called Mastick and other lands towards their maintenance which was about the yeare of our Lord DCCCCXVI Camalduenses Not long after the Camalduenses Monks started vp the Author of it was one Romoaldus who had beene formerly a Monk of Benets Order in a Cloister neare Rauenna in Italy from whence he made an escape to the Prouince of Hetruria which is now the Duke of Florence his Dominion where hauing obtained a coÌ„uenient place of one Modulus he built a Monastery on the top of the Appenine hills and there erected another new Family These Monks weare a white habite and professe to lead a very austere kinde of life but to say the truth all is but meere hypocrisie Vallis-vmbresenses In the other side of those former hilles at a place called Vallis-Vmbrosa in the yeare of our Lord 1060. one Iohn Gualbertus a Florentine instituted another new Family of Monks who did weare a purple habite Monteliuetenses The Monteliuetenses began to peepe out about the yeare 1047. at the same time when there were three seuerall Popes liuing who troubled all Christendome for the Papacie The Institutor of this Family of Monks was one Bernardus Ptolomeus they liued at the first at Sienna a Citie in Tuscan in Italy but afterwards hauing gathered their crummes together they built an Abbey on the top of an high hill not farre from thence they weare a white habite this Family was approued by Pope Gregory the twelfth Grandimontenses The Author or
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
euery man to his owne Classe and there stay till the bell rings againe and then againe at the first toll they and the Schollers come out for they must not breake the Orders and Rules of the Schoole In the morning after they haue been at Schoole an houre and a halfe or thereabout the same bell rings and then they goe to Church to heare Masse which endures halfe an houre and then they returne to their Classes againe But in some Countries when the daies are long after Masse they goe home to breake-fast and within halfe an houre after they come to schoole againe Euery day or euery other day they haue disputations in the three lowermost Classes where the boies doe challenge and prouoke one another in the declining of Nounes Pronounes Verbs or Participles or in coniugating of Verbs either in Latine or Greeke And this they doe for to get one anothers place which breeds such emulations among them that it makes them of their owne accord study both night and day some to maintaine their places seats and dignities and others of meere schoole ambition to aspire and ascend higher But none must as I haue heard challenge or prouoke the Emperour or the Senators but those that are next in dignity vnto them so that those of the Plebeyans cannot ascend to the Senate or any other place or dignity but by degree When two of them haue done disputing the Master giues his iudgement and then other boies start vp and craue leaue of the Master to challenge their aduersary to the combat who permits those two whom he pleaseth to enter into the List and thereupon these two companions stand vp and crosse themselues first before they beginne to oppose one another The Iesuits haue another pretty tricke how to make their Schollers study and bring in profit for themselues that is They will sometimes giue vnto their Schollers both a priuate or a publike Premium a reward which doth not onely animate and incourage the boies to study but also oblige and enduce their parents to recompence the Schoole-master But vnto great men or rich mens sonnes they doe vse to giue the best Premia or rewards because they doe expect in counter-exchange a great recompence to the poorer sort they giue little Pictures of Saint Ignatius their Patron of the blessed Virgin Mary or of some Saint that they most affect But on the richer sort they bestow Beads and Bookes or some costlier Pictures Euery Saturday in the afternoone all the Schollers of their seuerall Classes doe meet together in a great spacious roome to be catechized by one of the Iesuites who is appointed to expound Canisius Catechisme and to strike or infuse into their tender capacitie such damnable points of doctrine as they please as that it is a meritorious deed to murder Kings and Princes being excommunicated by the Pope To equiuocate cog lye cheat and that a Roman Catholike is not bound or tied to keepe faith with Heretikes meaning Protestants And a thousand more of their Iesuiticall positions which I for breuitie sake doe forbeare to treat of Into this catechizing Schoole none are permitted to enter but onely their owne Schollers for it seemes they are ashamed to let men of vnderstanding know what good instructions they giue vnto their Pupils But howsoeuer those points of doctrine they strike into their capacity in their tender age the same very seldome weareth away but rather increaseth with their yeeres as daily experience teacheth vs. I would to God that the Church of England which professeth the true Orthodoxall Religion would be as carefull to haue her children instructed in their nonage in the truth of the Gospell of our Sauiour Christ Iesus which leadeth them to saluation as that false Mountebanke Synagogue of Rome the Chaire of Antichrist and the sonne of perdition doth to hurle them headlong to hell and damnation And therefore I would wish all religious and painfull Schoole-masters to take a course that those Infants which are committed to their tutelage bee before all things well instructed and taught the Christian Doctrine and the Principles or grounds of the true Religion Moreouer the Iesuites Schollers must not reueale vnto any man those points of Doctrine that are taught them in their catechizing Schooles for if they doe they must confesse it to their ghostly Father who is a Iesuite and most commonly the Prefect of the Schooles when he comes to be shrift which is once euery moneth and then he is sure to haue some extraordinary penance inflicted vpon him and euer after to be branded and noted for a Tell-tale out of the Schooles But such as will swallow downe this golden poisoned bait and proue a good Proficient oh he is a good boy and shall not want his Premium for indeed this day is the ordinary time that they bestow their best Premia or Rewards vpon their Schollers Oh the subtilties and trumperies of these Loyolists to seduce these simple youths to their diabolicall and Antichristian doctrine And whereas they take vpon them to instruct and teach children freely and without any reward I dare boldly speake it they get six times more than if they would keepe a mercenary Schoole for it is but a poore Schoole that brings them not in yeerely aboue fiue or six hundred pound sterling But their Schooles in great Cities and Vniuersities are worth a great deale more for it is an ordinary thing to see seuen or eight hundred Schollers in their fiue inferiour Classes and therefore in those Colleges where they teach all the Arts and where there are twelue Classes and euery Classe a Master there are not most commonly lesse than a thousand or fifteene hundred Schollers who are still soliciting their parents and friends to be bountifull to their Masters the Iesuites and they themselues when they come to inherit their Lands Patrimony or Portions will likely be beneficiall to them and still fauour and protect their society and faction to the vttermost of their power Yea the poorest of them all that are not able to bestow any gratuity vpon them when they are young and their Schollers when they are come to age and preferment will not be vngratefull to them of whom they had their learning and education And againe the Iesuites doe speake to their Schollers whose Parents are rich if they dwell in the same Towne or City to perswade them to frequent their Churches to heare Masses and to come to them to Confession and withall to be of their sodality to the end they might the better diue into their secrets and participate of their wealth which is the maine matter they aime at And whereas all other Monks and Nuns make three Vowes that is to say Chastity Pouerty and Obedience the Iesuites to the end to giue a push beyond all other religious Orders adde one more which is that they shall at all times be ready to runne and trudge from one Country to another like poore Rogues to what part soeuer
the King of Spaine who leaue nothing vndone that they make themselues plausible vnto you and your fauourers Now these traiterous Iesuites Monks Friers and Seminary Priests who aime at nothing else than to corrupt the fidelity of England and to withdraw the hearts of his Maiesties subiects from their obedience to their Soueraigne yea finally to plucke England Scotland and Ireland from due subiection to his Maiesty and to present them to this ambitious Philip of Spaine gained first of all secretly those whom they knew to be best affected to the Spaniards as some of the Priuy Councell Nobility Gentry and of his Maiesties Officers at Court and elsewhere and withall not few of our collapsed Ladies in whose laps these holy Fathers doe often lay downe their heads to take a nap nay which is worse they suborned and peruerted many of the Clergy and Students of either Vniuersitie to ioyne with them who O horrible shame make no conscience to sell for ready money their Eloquence and Knowledge which they ought to haue imploied in preaching the Gospell and instructing the simple people in the feare of God and obedience to their King to corrupt the constancy and fidelity of England but Quid non mortalia pectora cogit aurisacra fames What is it that gold will not doe These cunning Iebusites or if you will Iudaists are the King of Spaines trading Factors and Dispensers to distribute and pay his gold to his Pentioners that lurke about the Court of England so that by this meanes he hath still notice and intelligence of the estate of the Realme and withall they seduce the subiects as Cambyses heretofore espied and deceiued the Ethiopians These I say by meanes of their mercenary tongues omit no art that may serue their purpose to suborne England but vse all meanes possible to make his Maiesty odious vnto her and him vnto his subiects in altering as much as in them lieth by their flattering discourses the sincere amity and faithfull loyalty which English men haue alwaies intirely borne towards his Maiesty and his Ancestors either aggrauating euery seeming petty imperfection aboue his great perfection blaming and accusing his gouernment or else in attributing vnto the King of Spaine the glory onely due vnto our Royall Soueraigne and withall in all their Discourses magnifying the greatnesse and vertues of this ambitious Spaniard whom they paint out accomplished with all the perfections that may be imagined and briefly they forget nothing whereby they may withdraw England if they could from her King and withall gull you of your money to enrich themselues and their Colleges Cloisters and Seminaries in those forraigne parts But some Iesuite or one of that faction perchance may obiect that nothing moueth the King of Spaine to be at such great charges to maintaine so many English Seminaries Colleges and Cloisters in those forraigne parts and to transport from thence so many Monks Friers and other religious men into the King of Englands Dominions but onely to conserue among you the Catholike Religion Ah poore senselesse soules for Gods sake giue eare to what I shall briefly recount touching him and his Predecessors actions in this point and then you shall plainly perceiue whether the zeale that he beareth towards your Religion solliciteth him to be so charitable you vnto as you imagine Hath this great King or his Father or Grandfather spent their treasures or hazzarded the liues of their subiects onely for the aduancement of the Christian Faith against vnchristian Princes nothing lesse To verifie this to be true I will produce you these two examples Pope Gregory the 13. proposing himselfe to the aid of certaine Christian Princes to make an enterprise vpon the Persian for the augmentation of the Church of Rome requested that ambitious Philip King of Spaine this Kings Grand-father to giue him some succour which he not only flatly denied but which is more would not lend any of his Gallies albeit the holy Sea of Rome offered to charge them at her owne charges Moreouer how dealt he with the late King of Portugall Don Sebastian whose death all Christendome had sufficient cause to bewaile who desiring to assist Mulei Mahumet King of Fez and Morocco against Mulei Maluco his brother who had expulsed him his Realme a worke surely worthy of so noble a Prince and aduantagious besides to the Church of Rome for the good conditions he had compounded with the stranger required Philip his Vnkle to succour him in that expedition who accorded that hee should haue fifty Gallies equipped and foure thousand fighting men which Mulei Maluco the other brother perceiuing incontinently offered Philip certaine Townes on the Sea side to desist from his promise which he speedily accepted not shaming to breake his oath sworne to his Nephew to contract alliance with a barbarous Infidell so much did auarice raigne ouer him as to cause him to violate the Lawes of God and men but he was paid with the same mony that he lent for sending his Ambassadour Vanegas to take possession of the Towne of Rarach and others promised vnto him the Barbarians mocking at his treachery and perfidiousnesse constrained the Ambassadour by force of the Cannon to retire sooner than he was willing But it may be you will say he bare himselfe politikely in these two actions to conserue and maintaine his owne estate as if humane policy were to be preferred before the Law and honour of God I but for all this he hath shewed himselfe a very zealous Catholike and hath carried a particular respect towards thoâ—e that make a strict profession of his owne Religion well but let vs see if that be true After that he had inuaded the Kingdome of Portugall and that among infinite other Ladies he had banished into Castile the wife of the Agent of Don Antonio the lawfull King thereof his children and Mother in Law he drew three of his sisters chaste and religious Nunnes out of the Monastery of Saint Clare at Lisbone and confined them likewise into Castile But he hath dealt maruellous mercifully with them in sauing their liues albeit seruile and miserable Yea but sith the women are thus dealt with the men must be handled a little more rigorously and surely herein he hath thorowly acquitted himselfe witnesse a religious Frier named Iohn of the Order of Saint Dominick who for embracing the liberty of his Country was hanged in the I le of Madera Another Frier Hector Pintus of the Order of Saint Hierome was committed to the hands of certaine souldiers in Castile where he was afterwards impoisoned Frier Iames de Noronba another Dominican Frier and brother to the Earle of Mira was so cruelly beaten by the souldiers that were of his guard that he died A Doctor named Frier Augustine of the Order of Saint Augustine and one Frier Emanuel Margues a Franciscan Frier were both chained together with Rouers and Theeues in a Galley which was afterwards taken by the Turks vnder whose crueltie I leaue it to