Page:The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe Volume 3.djvu/603

 The sixth article is, That they are full of pride and of high mind; which is manifestly known by their long, costly, and superfluous garments, wherein they walk very unlike to Christ our Lord, who had a garment without a seam, and to the well-beloved John Baptist, who had a garment of camels' hair; and they will be honoured and worshipped; and they preach and say that priesthood ought to be honoured (and so it ought indeed to be); but there are none that do so much slander and abase it, as they themselves, with their evil works and gay apparel, and with their evil words, wherein they pass all other men. St. Paul saith [ 1 Tim. iii.], 'Let the elders that govern well, be honoured with double honour; chiefly, they that labour in the word and doctrine of the Lord.' Consider what he saith, 'They that govern well.'

The seventh article is. That they are covetous, from the highest to the lowest and for covetousness they preach many foolish deeds and manifest lies, and sell the holy sacraments, which is a great heresy; for God commanded that they should give freely. St. Paul writeth [1 Tim. i.], 'Covetousness is the root of all mischief, whereunto many have been given; and, therefore, they are separated from the faith, and have denied the truth.'

The eighth article is. That they commonly are called 'Notorious whoremongers,' This is manifestly seen in their concubines and children, who walk with openly in all men's sight, and make many men's wives adulterous, or corrupt their daughters being virgins, and make them priests' harlots, and ribalds.

The ninth article is, That they are full of devilish envy; and especially in all monasteries they have great envy and hatred amongst themselves, because when any thing is given or disposed to one monastery or college, then there are others that hate it, and envy at it, and would more gladly have it themselves: like as among dogs, when any thing is given to the one and not to the other, which the other seeing, envieth his fellow, and the other likewise will rather devour all himself, than give any part to his fellow. Wherefore it were well that they were brought from that great sin of envy, by giving nothing unto them; and it were better that their possessions were taken from them, and that they should do that which the Lord spake to his disciples, saying, 'Go ye and preach the gospel to all men.'

The tenth article is. That they are idle, and chiefly the bishops, canons, and other prelates, who will not labour diligently in the holy Scripture, wherewith they might cure the miseries of Christendom, whereto they have bound themselves; and they eat the bread thereof in idleness, because when other men watch and labour to maintain themselves and their little ones, then are they with their lemans; or else they walk in some city, carrying hawks on their fists; or else they sit at their good wine with their concubines, and there they sing and play the Lucians, and eat of the best: and therefore all that willingly bring and give to them, shall be made partners of that curse which is given them of God, because they eat their bread unjustly, whereof St. Paul writeth [ 2 Thess. iii.], 'He that laboureth not, let him not eat.'

The eleventh article. That they are notorious liars; because, to the end that they may please men, they tell many tales and lies, which have no foundation nor proof in the holy Scripture. Of such writeth John in the Apocal. xxi.

The twelfth article is, That they do not rightly give or minister to the people the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they give it not as God hath instituted it and commanded. This is a great and devilish sin, and too great malapertness. Herein we would overcome them, with the testimonies of the evangelists; I say, we would overcome the pope, and all his priests, with the authorities of Mark, Luke, and Paul [Rom. xiii.], and we would suffer that kings, princes, lords, and all that are willing to hear, should hear it.

The thirteenth article is, That they sit in spiritual judgment, and then, many times, they judge according to favour, and not according to the righteousness of God; that they take bribes, giving sentence for him, who, in God's sight, hath the wrongful cause. Woe be to such sentencers, as it is written in Isaiah v., 'Woe be to you that,' &c.

The fourteenth article is, That they sit hearing confessions, and when there come to them usurers, raveners, and thieves, they take bribes of them of their ill-gotten goods, to spare them; and they willingly suffer them in cities and towns. And likewise of adulterers and other notorious whoremongers and whores: and they neither let nor stay them in their great sins; to the end that