The.xx. chapyter

ANd therfore they say, that all spyrytuall men, as to the multytude, be more dylygent to enduce the people to such thinges, as shall bryng ryches to the chyrche, as to gyue money to trentals, & to founde chaunteryes and obytes / and to obteyne pardons, and to go vpon pylgrymages, and such other: then they be to enduce them to the payment of theyre dettes, to make restytucyons for such wronges as they haue done, or to do the workes of mercy to theyr neyghbo[…]s that be pore & nedy / and that somtyme be also in ryght extreme necessyte.

Nowe in good fayth for oughte that I se, suche as so murmur agaynst chaūteries, trentals, obytes, pardōs, and pylgrymages, as wold haue them all for done / haue an inward hatered vnto the profyt of mens soules, besyde the en […]e that they bere to prestes. For some of these thynges be suche that they make not the prestes so very ryche, that all the clergye shold for the great lucre so sore bend vnto the settynge forth therof.

For as for chaunteryes, though ther be many, no one man can haue any greate lyuynge therby / & that a preste sholde haue some lyuynge of suche a meane thynge as comonly the chaūtryes be, there wyll I wene no good man fynde great faute that all the clergy wolde haue it so / for so wolde I suppose euery good lay man to.

And as for pylgrymages, thoughe the shrynes be well garnysshed, and the chapell well hanged wyth wex: fewe men I fere me nede myche at thys daye to grudge and cō playne of very chargeable offrynges / but those menne make moste a do that o[…]re no thynge at all.

And perdons haue bene purchased not onely by the spyrytualty, but in dyuerse places by the good fay[…]hfull deuocyon of vertuouse temporall prynces / ass was to westmynster and vnto the Sauoy, greate perdon purchased by the moste noble prynce of famouse memory kynge Henry the seuenth, father to pu[…] moste dere souerayne lorde the kynge that now is. And in good fayth I neuer yet perceyued the peple make so great offerynges at a […], that we sholde eyther pytye greatly theyr coste, or enuy the prestys that profyte.

But than the trentallys lo, they be the thynges ye wote well wherby the multitude of the clergye and specyally the […]lates, ge[…]e euery mā among theym an infinyte treasure in a yere / so y• it is no meruayle though the whole clergye seculare and relygyouse, what variaunce so euer they haue amonge them selfe bysyde, cō cernynge the preemynence of theyr perfeccyon as thys pacyfyer sayth, agre togyther for all that […]n thys poy[…]t, to kepe and holde faste the tren […]a[…]ys, bycause of the grea[…]e encreace of the rychesse that they brynge in by hepes vnto euery man amonge them. I that nothynge can gete by them, beseche god to kepe in mennys deuocyons towarde trentallys & towarde obytes to. For as myche as he sayth that seculare and relygyouse both, stycke to these profites / yet yf religiouse Lutheranys maye procede and prospere, that caste of theyr abytes and walke out and wedde nonnys and preche agaynste purgatory, and make mockes of the masse: many men shall care litle for obitis within a while and set no more by a trentall then a ruffyane at Rome setteth by a trent v[…]e.

How be it where thys pacyfyer sayth, that some saye that all spyrytuall men as to the multytude, do rather induce the people to p[…]lgrymages, perdons, chaunteryes, obytys, and trentallys, then to the paymēt of theyr dettes, or to restytucyon of theyre wronges, or to the dedys of almoyse and mercy to theyr neyghbours that are poore & nedy, & somtyme to in ryghte extreme necessite: for my part I thanke god I neuer herde yet of any one that euer wold geue that counsayle / nor no more hath I se well thys pacyfyer hym selfe, for he sayth it but vnder hys comon fygure of some saye. But therfore thys wolde I saye, that eyther he byleued those some that so sayd vnto hym / or els he byleued them not. If he byleued them not / it hadde bene well done to haue lefte theyr tale vntolde, tyll he hadde byleued them better. And on the tother syde if he byleued them well / he myghte as well with conscyence haue be lesse lyght of bylyefe, or boldely myghte haue byleued that they lyed / rather then lyghtely byleue y• lewde wordes of some, and vppon the malycyouse mowthes o[…] some, blow abrode in bokes so false a tale hym selfe agaynst not a smale somme, but as hym selfe sayeth as to the multytude agaynste all spyrytuall men.