Of the state of his soule

AFter his deth (and not longe after) one hieronimꝰ a frere prechour of […]errare a man aswell in cōnynge as holynes of lyuynge moost famous. In a sermone whiche he reherced in the cheyfe chyrche […] all florence sayd vnto the people in this wyse. O thou Cyte of florence I haue a secrete thynge to shewe the which is as true as ȳ gospell of saynt Iohn̄ I wolde haue kept hit secrete but I am cōpelled to shewe hit. For he that hathe auctoryte to commaunde me / hath byd me publysshe hit. I suppose veryly that there be none of you but ye knewe Iohn̄ Picus erle of Mirandula / a man in whom god had heped many grete gyftes and synguler graces / y• chyrche had of hym an inestymable losse / for I suppose yf he myght haue had the space of his lyfe prorogyd: he sholde haue excelled (by suche workes as he shold haue lefte behynde hȳ) all them y• dyed this.viij.C. yere before him / he was wonte to be conuersaunt with me and to breke to me y• secretes of his herte in whiche I perceyued that he was by priuey inspyraciou called of god vnto rely giō. wherfore he purposed oftentymes to obey this inspyracyō and folowe his callynge. howbehit not beynge kynde ynoughe for so grete benefices of god: or called bak by the tendernes of his flesshe (as he was a man of delicate cōplexion) he shranke frome the laboure / or thinkynge happely y• the religion had no nede of hym differred hit for a tyme / howbehit this I speke onely by coniecture. But for this delaye I thretened hym two yere togyther: ȳ he wolde be punysshed yf he for slowthed that purpose which our lorde had put in his mynde / & certeynely I prayed to god my sefe (I wyll not lye therfore) that he myght be somwhat beten: to compell hym to take that waye whiche god had from aboue shewed hym. But I desyred not this scourge vpon hym y• he was beten with: I loked not for that: but oure lorde hadde so decreed that he sholde forsake this present lyfe and leue a parte of that noble crowne that he sholde haue had in heuen. Notwithstondyng y• most benygne iuge hath dalt mercyfully with him: and for his plentyouse almes gyuen out with a free and liberall hande vnto poore people & for the deuout prayers whiche he moost instantly offred vnto god this fauoure he hath: thought his soule be not yet in the bosome of oure lorde in the heuenly Ioye: yet is hit not on y• other syde deputed vnto perpetual payne but he is adiuged for a whyle to the fyre of purgatory there to suffre payne for a season / which I am y• gladder to shewe you in this byhalfe: so the entent y• they which knewe hym: & suche inspectally as for his many folde benyfy[…]s are singulerly beholden vnto him: sholde now with theyr prayers almes & other suffrages helpe hym. These thynges this holy mā hierom this seruaunt of god openly affermed / and also sayde that he kn[…]w wel if helyed in that place: he were worthy eternall dāpnacion. And ouer y• he sayd ȳ he had knowen all those thinges wythin a certain tyme / bu[…] y• wordes which Picus had sayde in his sykenes of y• aperyng of our lady caused him to doubt & to fere lest Picus had be deceyued by some illusyon of y• deuyll[…] In as moch as the ꝓmyse of our lady semed to haue ben frustrate by his dethe / but afterward he vudersode y• Picus was deceyued in the e[…]ocacyon of y• worde whyle she spake of y• secōde deth & euer lastȳg: & he vndertoke her of y• fyrst deth & temporall. And after this y• same hierom shewed to his acquayntaūce y• Picꝰ had after his deth apered vnto him all […]paced in fire & shewed vnto him y• he was such wise ī purgatorye punyshed for his neglygence & his vnkyndnes. Now syth hit is so that he is abiuged to y• fyre from which he shal vndoubtedly deꝑt vnto glory & no man is sure how longe hit shalbe fyrst: & may be y• shorter tyme for our intercessyons. Let euery chrysten body shewe theyr charite vpon hym to helpe to spede hym thyder where after the longe habitacion wt y• inhabytauntes of this derke worlde (to whom his goodly cō uersaciō gaue grete lyght) & after y• darke fyre of purgatory (in whiche venyall offences be clēsed) he may shortly (yf he be not all redy) entre y• inaccessible & īfinite light of heuen where he may in y• […]sence of y• soue raygne godhed so praye for vs y• we may y• rather by his in[…]cessiō be perteyners of y• inspecable Ioy which we haue prayed to bryng hȳ spedely to. Amē.