The.xxix. chapyter

BUt this pacyfyer perceyuynge that what one man doth in secretenesse, a nother can not se / is therfore bolde to saye they do not all those thynges which he wold haue theym do / that is wytte, faste, & pray, were heare, and geue almoyse. For he sayth that they do al[…] these thynges yt appereth not.

As for prayenge, yt appereth perdye they do. And that so myche they dayly pray, as some of vs lay men thynke yt a payne ones in a weke to rise so sone fro slepe, and some to tarye so longe fastynge as on the sonday to come and here oute theyr matens. And yet is not the matens in euery paryshe neyther, all thynge so erly begonne nor fully so long in doynge, as yt is in the chartrehouse ye wote well. And yet at our slouth and glotony that are lay people, this pacyfyer can wynke & fayne hym selfe a slepe. But that the clergye prayeth not, that can he shortely spye, as sone as theyr lyppes leue styrynge.

Howe be yt bycause he is peraduenture of the clergye hym selfe / therfore leste he sholde seme parcyall to hys owne parte, he rather speketh of theyre defautes then oures: wherin I wyll not myche stryue wyth hym. But surely as he may be bolde to preache beynge a prest / so yf I were a preste to, I wolde be bolde to preche thus mych agayne to hym, that for any wynnynge of the glosse and fame of indifferēcy, though he leue y• fautes of vs lay peple vntoucheth, yet of his owne parte the clergye, for no laye mennys pleasure he neuer sholde say more then treuth.

For nowe as towchynge of almoyse / is there none geuyn troweth he by the spyrytualtye? If he saye as he sayeth here, that it appereth not y• they do gyue almoyse / I myghte answere agayne that they folow therin the coū sayle of Cryst, whyche sayth lette not thy lefte hande se what thy ryghte hande doth / as I myght in prayeng haue layed those other wordes of Cryst, Thou whan thou wylt praye entre into thy chamber & shette the dore, and pray to thy father priuely. But like wyse as god for all that counsayle was content that men sholde bothe praye and gyue to the nedy, and do other wurkes bothe of penaunce and of cheryte, openly abrode in cō pany where there be no desire of vayn glory, but y• the people by the syghte therof, may haue occasyon to gyue therfore laude and glory to god: so dare I boldely lay that as they both secretely and opēly to, do vse & accustome to pray so do they both secretely and openly to, gyue no lytell almoyse ī the yere what so euer thys pacyfye saye. And I somwhat meruayle that syth thys pacyfyer goth so bysyly abrode, y• there is no Some saye any where all most in all the whole realme, but that he hereth it and can reherse it / I meruayle I saye not a lytell that he neyther seeth nor hereth any some saye, that there is in the spyrytualty gyuen any thynge in almoyse. I vse not myche my selfe to go very farre abrode, and yet I here some say that there is / and I se somtyme my selfe so many poore folke at westmynster at the dolys, of whome as farre as euer I harde, the munkes vse not to sende awaye many vnserued, that my self for the preace of them haue ben fayn to ryde another waye.

But one answered me to thys onys, and sayed that it was no thanke to them / for it was landes that good prynces haue gyuen them. But as I than tolde hym agayne / it were than myche lesse thanke to them, that wold now gyue good prynces euill counsayle for to take it fro them.

And also yf we call it no gyuynge of almoyse by them, bycause y• lādes whereof they gyue it, other good men haue gyuen them / wherof wyl you haue them gyue almoyse, for they haue none other.