The.xiiii. Chapter. Of the doughter of pusillanimitie a scrupulous conscience

THys Pusillanimytie bryngeth forthe by the nyghtes feare, a verye tymerous daughter, a sely wretched Gyrle and euer puling, that is called scrupulosytie or a scrupulous conscience. Thys gyrle is a metely good pussell in a house, neuer idle, but euer occupied and busy, but albeit she haue a verye gentle maystres yt loueth her wel, & is well content wyth that she doeth, or if it be not all well (as all can not be alwayes wel) content to pardon her as she doeth other of her felowes, and so letteth her knowe that she wyll: yet can this peuishe Gyrle neuer cease whining and puling for feare leste her maystres be alwaye angry wyth her, and yt she shal shrewdly be shent. Were her maistres wene you lyke to be cōtent with this condicion? Naye verely, I knewe such one my selfe whose maystres was a verye wyse woman, and (whiche thing is in women, rare) verye mylde and also meeke, and liked verye well suche seruice as she dyd her in her house, but this continuall dyscomfortable fashiō of hers she so much misliked, y• she woulde sometyme saye. Eygh, what ayleth this gyrle. The eluishe vrchyn weneth I were a deuill I trow: suerly if she did me.x. times better seruice thē she doeth, yet wyth this fantastical feare of hers, I woulde be loth to haue her in my house.

Thus fareth loe, the scrupulous persō, which frameth him selfe many tymes double the feare that he hathe cause, & many tymes a great feare where there is no cause at al, and of that whiche is in dede no sinne, maketh a veniall, and that y• is no venial, imagineth to be deadlye: and yet for all that falleth in them, beyng namely such of theyr own nature, as no mā long liueth without, & thā he feareth that he be neuer ful confessed nor neuer full cōtryte, and than that his sinnes be neuer full forgeuen him, and than he confesseth and confesseth agayne, and cumbreth hym selfe and hys confessor both, and than euery praier that he saieth, though he saye it as wel as the frayle infyrmitie of ye man wyl suffer, yet is he not satisfied, but if he saye it agayne, and yet after that againe: and when he hath sayed one thyng thryse, as litle is he satysfied wyth the la[…]te as wyth the first, and than is his heart euermore in heauines, vnquiet, and in feare, full of doubt and dulnes, wythout comforte or spyrytuall consolacion.

Wyth this nyghtes feare, the deuill sore troubleth the minde of many a ryghte good man, & that doeth he to bring him to some great incōuenience, for he wil if he can, driue hym so much to the fearefull mindinge of goddes rigorous Iustice, yt he wyll kepe hym from the cumfortable remembraunce of goddes greate mercy, and so make him doe all his good workes wearilye, and wythout consolacion and quicknes.

Moreouer, he maketh hym take for sinne, some thinge […]hat is none, and for deadly, some such as are but veniall, to the entent that when he shall fall in them, he shal by reasō of his scruple sinne, where ells he should not, or sinne deadly (whyle his conscience in the dede doing so gaue him) where els in dede he had but offended venyally. Yea & farther the deuil lōgeth to make all his good workes and spirituall excercise so painfull and and so tedious vnto him, that wyth some other subtyll suggestion or false wyly doctryne of a false spirituall libertie, he shoulde for the false ease & pleasure that he shoulde sodeinly finde therin, be easily conueied from that euill fault into a muche worse, & haue his cōscience as wide & as large after, as euer it was narrowe and strayte before. For better is yet of trueth, a conscience a lytle to strayte, then a greate deale to large. My mother had, whē I was a litle boye, a good olde womā yt toke hede to her childrē, they called her mother Maude[…] I trowe you haue heard of her.

Vincent. Yea, yea, verye much.

Antony. She was wonte when she sate by the fyre wt vs, to tel vs yt were children many chyldyshe tales. But as Plinius sayth, yt there is no boke lightly so badde, but that some good thing a man may pyke out therof: so thinke I there is no tale so foolishe, but yt yet in one matter or other, to some purpose it may hap to serue. For I remembre me[…] yt amonge other of her fonde chyldyshe tales, she tolde vs one that the Asse and the woulfe came on a tyme to cōfession to the foxe. The poore Asse came to shryft in ye shroftide, a daye or two before Ashewednesdaye, but ye woulfe would not come to cōfessiō vntil he saw first Palme Sonday pas[…], & thā foded yet forthe farder vntyll good Frydaye came. The Foxe asked the Asse before he beganne Benedicite. wherefore he came to confession so soone before lente began. The poore beast answered hm againe: for feare of deadly sinne, and for feare he shoulde lese his part of any of those prayers that the priest in the clensinge dayes prayeth, for them that are confessed alreadye. Than in his shryfte he had a meruelous great grudge in his inwarde conscyence, that he had one daye geuē hys maister a cause of angre, in that, yt with hys rude roaring before hys maister arose, he had awaked hym out of hys slepe, and bereued hym of his reste. The foxe for ye fault[…] lyke a good dyscrete cōfessor, charged him to doe so no more, but lye still & slepe lyke a good sonne him selfe tyll hys mayster were vp, and readye to goe to worke, and so shoulde he be sure that he should not wake him no more.

To tel you al the poore Asses confessiō, it were a long worke: for euery thing that he dyd was deadly synne wyth him, the poore soule was so scrupulous.

But his wise wyly cōfessor accoumpted thē for trifles, as they were in dede, and sware afterwarde vnto the bageard that he was so weary to syt so long and heare him, that sauing for the maner sake, he had leuer haue sytten all the whyle at breakefaste wyth a good fatte goose. But when it came to the penaunce geuing, the foxe found that the most waighty sinne in al his shrift, was glotonye, and therefore he discretly gaue hym in penaunce, that he shoulde neuer for gredines of hys owne meate doe anye other beast anye harme or hinderaunce, and then eate hys meate, and studye for no more.

Nowe, as good mother Maude tolde vs, when the Woulfe came to confession to father Raynarde (for that was, she said, the foxes name) vpon good frydaye, his confessor shooke his greate payer of beades vpon him, almoste as bigge as bowles, and asked hym wherefore he came so late? Forsoth father Raynarde quod the woulfe, I muste nedes tell you the truth, I come you wote well therefore, I durst come no sooner for feare lest you woulde for my glotonye haue geuen me in penaunce to fast some parte of thys lent. Naye naye, quod father foxe, I am not so vnreasonable, for I fast none of it my selfe. For I may say to the sonne betweene vs twayne here in confession, it is no commaundement of god this fasting, but an inuencion of man. The priestes make folke faste and put them to payne aboute the moone shyne in the water, and doe but make folke fooles, but they shal make me no such foole I warraunte thee sonne. For I eate fleshe all this lent my self I: howebeit, because I wil not be in dede occasion of slaunder, I therefore eate it secretlye in my chāber out of sight of al such foolishe brethren, as for theyr weake scrupulous conscience would waxe offended wythall, and so woulde I counsayle you to doe. Forsoth father Foxe quod the woulfe, and so I thanke god I doe as nere as I can, for when I goe to my meate, I take none other cōpany wyth me, but such sure brethren as are of my owne nature, whose cōsciences are not weake I warraunt you, but theyr stomake as strong as myne. Wel thā, no force quod father foxe. But when he heard after by hys confessiō yt he was so great a rauenor yt he deuoured & spent somtyme so muche vytaile at one meale, as the pryce therof woulde finde some poore man wyth hys wyfe and his children almost al ye wieke, than he prudently reproued yt poynte in hym, and preached hm a processe of his owne temperaunce, which neuer vsed as he said to passe vpon him selfe the valure of.vi.d. at a meale, no nor yet so much neither. For when I bring home a Gose, quod he, not out of ye poulters shoppe where folke fynde them out of theyr feathers ready plucked, and se which is the fattest, & yet for.vi.d. by & chose the best: but out of the houswifes house at the first hand, whych maye somwhat better cheape aforde them you wote wel than the poulter maye, nor yet can not be suffered to se them plucked and stande and chose thē by daye, but am fayne by night to take aduenture, and when I come home, am fayne to dooe the laboure my selfe & plucke her. Yet for all this, though it be but leane, & I wene not well worth a grote, serueth it me somtime for all that both dinner and supper to. And therfore, as for that you liue of rauen, therin can I finde no fault: you haue vsed it so longe, that I thinke you can dooe none, o[…]her, and therefore were it folye to forbydde it you, and to saye the trueth against good consience to, For lyue you must I wote wel, and other craft can you none, and therfore as reason is, must you lyue by that. But yet you wote well, to much is to much, & measure is a merye meane, whiche I perceyue by your shrifte you haue neuer vsed to kepe, and therfore suerly this shall be your penance: that you shal al this yere neuer passe vpon your selfe the price of.vi.d. at a meale, as nere as your conscyence can gesse the pryce.

Their shrifte haue I shewed you as mother Maude shewed it vs. But nowe serueth for our matter the cō science of them bothe, in the true perfourminge of theyr penaunce. The poore Asse after hys shrifte, whē he waxed an hungred, sawe a sowe lye wyth her pigges well lapped in newe strawe, and neare he drewe and thought to haue eaten of the strawe, but anon his scrupulous cōscience begā therein to g[…]udge him, for while his penaunce was for gredines of his meate, he should doe none other bodye no harme, he thought he might not eate one strawe[…] lest for lacke of that strawe, some of those pigges mighte happe to dye for colde: so helde he still his hungre tyll one brought hym meate. But whē he should fal therto, then fel he yet in a farre farther scruple, for then it came in hys mynde that he should yet breake hys penaunce if he should eate any of ye either, syth he was cōmaūded by his ghostly father that he shoulde not for his owne meate hyndre any other bea[…]te, for he thoughte that if he eate not that meate, some other beast might happe to haue it, and so shoulde he by the eatyng of it, paraduenture hyndre some other, and thus stode he styll fasting, tyl when he […]olde the cause, his ghostly father came aud enformed hym better, and then he caste of that scruple, and fell manerly to his meate, and was a right honest Asse many a fayre daye after.

The woulfe nowe comming frō shrift, cleane soyled from his sinnes, went about to doe, as a shreude wyfe once tolde her husbande that she would doe when she came from shrifte. Be mery man, quod she nowe, for this daye I thanke God was I well shryuen, and I purpose nowe therfore to leaue of al mine olde shrewdnes and begin euen afreshe.

Vincent. Ah, well vncle, can you reporte her so: that worde harde I her speake, but she saide it in sporte to make her good mā laughe.

☞Antony. In dede it semed she spake it halfe in sporte, for that she sayde she woulde caste awaye all her olde shrewdnes, therein I trowe she sported: but in that she sayde she woulde begynne it all afreshe, her husbande found that good earnest.

☞Vincent. Wel, I shal shewe her I warrant you what you saye.

Antony. Than wyll you make me make my worde good: but what soeuer she did, at leastwise so fared now this woulfe, which had cast out all hys olde rauen in confession, and than hungre pricked him forward, that (as the shrewde wyfe sayed) he dyd in dede begynne al afreshe. But yet the prycke of conscience wythdrewe and helde hym backe because he woulde not for breaking of his penaūce, take any praye for his meale tide that should passe ye price of.vi.d. It happed him thā as he walked prolling for his geare about, he came where a mā had in fewe daies before, cast of two olde, leane, & lame horses, so sycke, that no fleshe was there almoste leaft on them, and the one when the woulfe came by, could scant stande vpon his legges, and the other alreadye dead, and hys skynne rypped of and caryed away. And as he loked vpon thē, sodeinly he was first aboute to fede vpon them, and whette hys teethe on theyr bones, but as he looked asyde, he spied a fayre cowe in a close walking wyth her younge calfe by her syde: and as soone as he sawe them, hys consceince began to grudge hym againste bothe those two horses, and than he syghed & said vnto him selfe. Alas wicked wretch that I am, I had almost broken my penaunce ere I was ware, for yonder dead horse, because I neuer sawe no dead horse solde in the market, and I shoulde euen dye therfore by the waye that my sinfull soule shal to, I can not deuise what price I should set vpon him, but in my conscience I set him farre aboue vi.d. & therfore I dare not medle wt him. Now thā is yōder quicke horse of likelihode worth a great deale of money, for horse be deare in this coūtrey, specially such softe aumblers, for I see by his pace he trotteth not, nor can scāt shift a foote, & therfore I may not meddle with him, for he very farre passeth my vi.d. but kine, this countrey here hath inough[…] but noney haue they very litle: & therfore considering the plenty of ye kyne, and the scarcitie of the money, as for yonder peuishe […]owe semeth vnto me in my conscience worth, not past a grote, and she be worth so much. Nowe than as for her calfe, is not so much as she by halfe, and therefore, whyle the cowe is in my conscience worth but foure pence, my conscience cannot se[…]ue me for sinne of my soule to prayse her calfe aboue two pence, and so passe they not.vi.d, betwene them both, and therefore them twayne may I wel eate at this one meale, & breake not my penaunce at all, and so thereupon he dyd withoute any scruple of cōscience. If such beastes could speake nowe, as mother Maude sayd they could than[…] some of them would, I wene, tel a tale almost as wyse as this: wherin saue for the minishing of old mother Maudes tale, els would a shorter […]rocesse haue serued: but yet as peuishe as the parable is, in this it serueth for oure purpose, that the nightes feare of a conscience somewhat scrupulouse, though it be painfull and tro[…]blous to him that hath it, lyke as this poore asse had here, is les[…]e harme yet, than a conscience […]uerlarge, or suche as for his own fantasie the man lust to frame himself, now drawing it narrowe now stretching it in breadth, after the maner of a cheuerel pointe, to serue on euery syde for hys owne commoditie, as did here the wylye […]oulfe: but suche folke are out of […]ribulacion, and cō forte nede they none, and therfore are they out of our matter: but those that are in the nightes feare of their owne scrupulous conscience, lette them be well ware as I sayed, that the deuill, for wearines of the one, drawe them not into the other: and whyle he woulde flee from Scylla, dryue him into Charibdis. He muste dooe as doth[…] a shippe that shoulde come into a hauen, in y• mouth wherof lie secret rockes vnder ye water on both sides, if he be by missehappe entred in among thē that are on the one syde, and cannot tell how to geat oute, he must geat a substaunciall cunning pilote that so can conduce hym from the rockes on that syde that yet he bryng him not into those that are on the other syde, but can guide hym in the midde way: let them I saye that are therfore in the troublouse feare of theyr own scrupulous conscience, submitte the rule of their owne conscience, to the counsayle of some other good man, whiche after the varietie and the nature of the scrupulous, may temper his aduise: yea although a mā be very well learned him selfe, yet let hym in this case learne the custome vsed among phisicions: for be one of them neuer so cunning, yet in his owne disease and sickenes, he neuer vseth to trust al to himselfe, but sendeth for suche of his felowes, as he knoweth mete, and putteth himselfe in their handes for many consideracions, wherof they assigne the causes, and one of the causes is feare, wherof vpon some tokens he may cō ceyue in hys own passion, a great deale more then nedeth: & that were good for his health, that for the time he knewe no suche thyng at all. I knewe once in thys towne, one of the most cunning men in that facultie, and the beste experte, and therwith the moste famous to[…] and he that the greatest cures did vpon other men, and yet when he was him selfe once very sore sicke, I heard his fellowes that than loked vnto hym, of all whiche, euery one woulde in their owne disease, haue vsed his helpe before any other men, wishe yet that for the tyme of hys owne sickenes, being so sore as it was, he had knowen no phisicke at all, he toke so great hede vnto euery suspicious token, and feared so farre the worste, that his feare did him some tyme muche more harme thā the syckenes gaue him cause. And therfore as I say, whoso hath such a trouble of his scrupulouse conscience, lette him for a while forbeare the iudgemēt of hymselfe, and folowe the counsayle of some other whom he knoweth for well learned and verteous[…] and specially in the place of confession, for there is god specially present with his grace, assisting his holy Sacramente, and lette hym not doubte to acquiet hys mynde and folowe that he there is biddden, and thinke for a whyle lesse of the feare of Goddes iustice, and be more mery in the remembraunce of hys mercye, and perseuer in prayer for grace, and abyde and dwell faythfully in the sure hope of his helpe, and than shal he find withoute any doubte, that the pauyce of Goddes trouth shall, as the Prophet saith, so compasse him about, that he shal not nede to dreade this nightes feare of scrupulositie, but shall haue afterwarde his conscience stablysshed in good quiet and rest.