A world of vvonders: or An introduction to a treatise touching the conformitie of ancient and moderne wonders or a preparatiue treatise to the Apologie for Herodotus. The argument whereof is taken from the Apologie for Herodotus written in Latine by Henrie Stephen, and continued here by the author himselfe. Translated out of the best corrected French copie.

CHAP. XXIX. Of the grosse and blockish ignorance of the Popish Cleargie, especially of the Masse-priests.

IN the former Chapter we might plainly see the grosse and palpa∣ble ignorance of the former Age. Notwithstanding though it had bene ten times greater then it was (if it had bene possible,) yet so long as the Cleargy had not their parts therein, in being as blind bayards as the rest, the poore peoples case had not bene halfe so la∣mentable: whereas the most brutish and blockish ignorance was to be found in Friers cowles, especially in the Masse-monging priests. Which we are the lesse to wonder at, considering that which Men••t twits them in the teeth withall, that in stead of bookes, there was nothing to be found in their chambers but a sword, or a long bow, or a crosbow, or some such weapon. Sed nunc (saith he) quid in ca∣meris Sacerdotum reperietis? An expositionem Epistolarum, aut Postillam super Euan∣gelia? Non: Faceret eis malum in capite magister Nicolaus de Lyra. Quid ergo? Vnum arcum, vel balistam, spatham, aut aliud genus armorum. But how could they send ad ordos such ignorant asses? You must note (Sir) that they which examined them were as wise woodcocks as themselues, and therefore iudged of them as pen-men of pike-men, and blind men of colours. Or were it that they had so much learning in their budgets, as that they could make a shift to know their insufficiency; yet to pleasure those that recommended them, they suffered them to passe. One is fa∣mous among the rest, who being asked by the Bishop sitting at the table, Es tu dig∣nus? answered, No my Lord: but I shal dine anon with your men. For he thought that dignus (that is worthy) had signified to dine. It is reported also of another, who going to the Bishop for his orders, and being asked this question (to try his lear∣ning and sufficiency) Who was father to the foure sonnes of Aymond? and know∣ing

not what to answer, was refused as insufficient. Who returning home againe, and shewing the reason why he was not priested; his father told him that he was a very asse, that could not tell who was father to the foure sonnes of Aymond. See I pray thee (quoth he) yonder is great Iohn the smith, who hath foure sonnes: if a man should aske thee, who is their father, wouldst thou not say that it were great Iohn the smith? Yes (quoth he) now I vnderstand it wel. Thereupon he went againe, as hauing learned his lesson better. And being asked the second time who was father to the foure sonnes of Aymond, answered, that it was great Iohn the smith. Many such pleasant questions were asked them for sport and pastime sake, & to make my Lord Bishop merry (who sate by;) as also to take triall of thē, whe∣ther they were plaine noddies and cockscombs or not. As when one being asked what was the daintiest morsell in a pig, and hauing answered that it was the pigs coate; for this so good and fit an answer was thought worthy to haue the order of priesthood. Whereas another (which came after) being demaunded what was the best bit in a calfe, and hauing answered that it was the skinne (for he thought he wold be sure to answer as the former had done) was holden vnworthy to be made a parish Priest, as hauing made a caluish answer; thereby shewing that he had not wit enough to be of that trade.

2 But I am ashamed to employ my pen and paines about such sottish questi∣ons as were asked them, to try whether they were bons compagnons or not: asked (I say) onely pro forma, to the end they might say they had bin examined. Now if there be any so hard of beliefe as wil not credit it, I shal desire him to consider how euer it was possible to get from these Priests (which were as blind as beetles) a per∣tinent answer to any demaund touching their place and office: I meane the office into which they most of all desired to be inuested. How blind and ignorant were they? (may some say.) Surely so blind that they could hardly see to reade. And if this shall seeme yet more incredible, I referre my selfe to their Canon law, where it is recorded that a Priest baptizing a child vpon a time, vsed these words: Baptiz•• te in nomine patria, & filia, & spiritua sancta. But because it is a very memorable fact I will set downe the words at large. Marke then what is recorded word for word in the third part of the Decrees De consecr. dist. 4. canone 84. Zacharias Papa Bonifa∣cio Episcopo: Retulerunt mihi nuntij tui quòd fuit sacerdos in eadem prouincia, qui Lati∣nam linguam penitus ignorabat, & dum baptizaret, nescius Latini eloquij, infringens linguam, diceret, Baptizo te in nomine patria, & filia, & spiritua sancta: & per hoc tua reuerenda sanctit••s considerauit eos rebaptizare: sed sanctissime Frater, si ille qui bapti∣zauit, non errorē inducens, vel haeresin, sed pro sola ignorantia Romanae locutionis, infrin∣gendo linguam (vt suprà diximus) baptizans dixisset, non possumus consentire vt denuò baptizetur. Which Canon hath done Peter Lombard knights seruice; for it hath ser∣ued his turne excellently well: Lib. 4. sen. dist. 6. For, for a full and finall resolution of this question, Si baptismus sit verbis corruptè prolatis▪ he alleadgeth nothing but this Canon. Quaeri etiam solet (saith he) si corruptè proferantur verba illa, an baptis∣mus sit? De hoc Zacharias Bonifacio scribit. Retulerunt, &c. For my part, I remem∣ber well I haue heard some Priests administring baptisme say Abrinuncio, in stead of Abrenuncio. And in consecrating (as they speake) hoc est corpum meum.

3 But some aduocate may haply stand vp in defence of them, and say, that all of them neither are nor haue bin so ignorant, but that there are some which are but simple priests, who can not only legere vt Clerici, that is, readily and distinctly, but also vnderstand what they reade. I grant indeed that all are not such ignorant asses: but this I say, that the most ignorant are least dangerous. For proofe hereof:

who corrupted the text of the new Testament, but they that had a little smattering in learning? Who was he that corrected the place in S. Luke, which speaketh of a womā who hauing lost a groat, swept the house to find it? Who put euertit domū, she ouerturned the house, in stead of euerrit domū, she swept the house? but he who had read ouer so many classicke authors, that in some blind corner he met with euertit in stead of euerrit. They haue also serued the place in the Acts of the Apostles with the same sawce. For in stead of demissus per sportam, they haue put demissus per por∣tam. In honour of which correction, these foure verses were made by one that heard a Popish preacher follow that translation in his Sermon:

Par ici passa deuant hier Vn tres-notable charpentier, Qui besongn•• de telle sorte, Que d'vn panier fit vne porte.

That is,

This way the other day did passe, A iolly Carpenter as euer was: So strangely skilfull in his trade, That of a basket a doore he made.

4 There be sundry other places corrupted after the same manner, in the first impression of the old translation. And I remember a Printer was in danger to fry a fagot for putting euerrit into the text in stead of euertit. And as for sundry words of the New Testament, they haue either changed their writing and orthography, or at leastwise their signification, in framing vnto them significations according to their owne coniecturall imaginations. As in the place of Saint Paule, in stead of haereticum deuita, that is, Shunne or auoide an hereticke: they (like profoūd diuines) haue diuined the sense to be this, Put an heriticke to death. Yet all this is nothing to the interpretation of this place, Inuenimus Messiam. Iohn. 1. We haue found the Masse. Nor of this, Signa autem eos qui crediderint, haec sequentur &c. Signe them with the signe of the Crosse, &c. Amongst which braue interpretations, this may not be for∣gotten which was made by a Curat of Artois, who suing his parishioners for not repairing the Church, and namely for not pauing it, tooke the 17. chapter of the Prophet Ieremie for his aduocate to pleade for him, where it is said, Paueant illi & non paueam ego, &c. Whereas (quoth he) Ieremie saith expresly, Let them paue it, and not I, doth he not giue you to vnderstand, that it belongs not to the Curate to paue the Church, but to the parishioners? But what shall we say to this interpretation, Confitemini alterutrum, Confesse your selues to the priest? For here I cannot see how the Latine word soundeth any thing neare to the English, as in the former. And veri∣ly I do heare ingeniously confesse my ignorance, that I know not how such in∣terpretations could euer come into their heads.

5 But hauing discoursed sufficiently of simple Priests or monkes; let vs in the next place come to Prelats; who (doubtles) haue seconded the single soled Priests: witnes that profound clerk, who hearing some alleadge certain lawes called Clemē∣tina & Nouella, fell into a pelting chafe, for that they vrged him with the testimony of whores, and harlots. And as for Prat the Chancellor of France (if I may speake of him without offence, considering he was a clergy man in his dayes) he shewed he had some learning, though no more then would serue his turne; when hauing read the letter which king Henrie the eight had sent to the French king Francis the first, wherein this clause was: Mitto tibi duodecim molossos: I send you twelue ma∣stiue dogs; he expounded it, I send you a dozen mules. And being confident in this

interpretation, went (accompanied with another noble man) to the king, reque∣sting his highnesse to bestow vpon him the present which the king of England had sent him. The king (who as yet ••ad heard nothing of this present) maruailed that Mules shold be sent him out of England, affirming that it was a rare nouelty indeed; and being desirous to see the letter, (〈◊〉〈◊〉 that others also might reade it,) they found them to be duodecim molossos, twelue mastiue dogs. Wherupon the Chā∣cellour seeing himselfe made a laughing-stocke (and you may well imagine how) found out a starting hole, which notwithstanding made him more ridiculous thē before: for he said he had mistaken the word, in taking mol••ssos for muletos.

6 And lest any should take exception against their Latine for want of con∣gruitie, let him know that herein they are dispensed with by their father S. Grego∣rie, who saith, Non debent verb•• caelestis oraculi subesse regulis Donati. And therefore one of the foresaid Preachers was greatly to blame, to lay this in the Priests dish, that they vnderstood not their Donate. And he that should vrge them to render a reason of their pronuntiation, shold presse them too far, and sift them too narrow∣ly. And I perswade my selfe, it was the least part of Saint Gregories meaning, that euer they should trouble their heads about it. For he thought their masse was as effectuall with Dominu vobiscon, as with Dominus vobiscum, and Peronnia saecula, as Per omnia saecula; which maketh me lesse to wonder that a Channon should be called into question, because he would be singular and haue his pronuntiation a∣part by himselfe, in saying Per omnia saecula. They found fault also with those that pronounced Kyrie eleison, in stead of Kyrieleison, as by and by we shall heare.

7 And as for the Greeke, you must pardon them, though they vnderstand not one iot; seeing greater Clearkes then they (I wisse) haue not bene ashamed to say, Graecum est, non legitur: & Transeat, Graecum est. And if any man accoūt this their ig∣norāce an euil thing, let him take this withal (for it may be truly affirmed) that this euill is the cause of some good. For by this meanes the number of men and wo∣men Saints hath bene increased. Saint Lonchi (otherwise called Longi) may testi∣fie for men Saints: and Saint Typhaine for women saints; for this Saints name co∣meth of the Greeke word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifying a lance, or speare (albeit it was long since giuen to him that pierced our Sauiors side with a speare. And the name of the wo∣man Saint, viz. Typhaine, cometh of the greeke word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (as a man would say, The appearing of God.) And as true it is likewise on the contrary, that this ignorance hath augmented the number of diuels. For of Macrobius and such like names, they haue coined new names of diuels. But as for poore Malchus (who had his eare cut off, and afterward his name taken from him, and giuen to a kind of sword) I wil leaue him to pleade his own cause, lest it should be said, that I were the Iewes aduocate. Besides, there is another benefit which accrewes to the Church by this meanes. For their ignorance in not vnderstanding the true and proper Etymolo∣gies of Greeke words, no not so much as whether they were Greeke words or not, hath made them ••••ke out many subtil notations which otherwise had neuer bene dreamed of. For example, if it had bene knowne, that presbyter had bene all one with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an old man; certes, they wold neuer haue dreamed of the Etymolo∣gie which we find in the booke called Stella Clericorum, in the chapter beginning Quos ergo praelati & presbyteri, &c. viz. presbyter dicitur quasi praebens iter. And (as some wits are quicker and sharper then others, besides, Facile est addere inuentis) they haue not staied here, but haue found out a more subtil notation, namely this, Presbyter quasi prae aliis bibens ter. Albeit this, I must needs confesse, is not so gene∣rally receiued. The like may be said of the word Diabolus, that is, Diuell. For had

they knowne that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 had signified a standerer, or backbiter, we had bin yet to seeke for this Etymologie proceeding from a most profound and deepe specu∣lation, Diabolus▪ ex dia, quod est duo: & bolus, id est, morcellus. Quasi faciens duos bolos, de corpore & anima: that is, This word Diabolus cometh of dia▪ which signifieth two, and bolus a morcel; as making but two morcels of a man; one of his body, another of his soule. And this (as I remember) is the Etymology giuen by Hugo Carrensis, but followed by the foresaid preachers, and namely by Oliuer Maillard. fol. 176. col. 2.

8 Moreouer, if we pardon them the ignorance of the Greeke tongue, there is greater reason we should pardon their ignorance of the Hebrew, considering it hath (as we know) bene alwayes lesse common. And we must remember withall, that it hath bene as a whetstone to sharpen the wits of many doctors, to finde out plea∣sant Etymologies and to draw them out of the very words themselues. Thus we reade that the name Iesus hath two sillables, which signifie the two natures of Christ: it hath further, fiue letters, three vowels, and two consonants, the three vo∣wels signifying the Trinitie, the two consonants the two substances of Christs humanity, his body and soule; which subtil speculation is taken out of the book of conformities of Saint Francis with Christ fol. 193. where Pope Innocentius in his Sermons is said to be the author of it. But what? shall we say nothing of the notati∣on of Cephas? which they haue made Greeke, Latine, French; rather then either E∣brew, or Syriacke. Let vs here what Baralete saith to proue that Saint Peter ought to be preferred before S. Paul▪ Quod ad praelationem verò, Petrus est maior quàm Paulus, quia Papa maior est quā Legatus. Petrus fuit vniuersalis Christi Vicarius, cui dixit Chri∣stus, tu es Petrus, tu es Simon: tu vocaberis Cephas, quod Gracè dicitur maior & primus, quià scilicet fuit Papa. As for those who maintaine (for proofe hereof) that it was a French word which our Sauiour then vsed (because Chef in French, is as much as head in English, or Chieftaine and principall commander in any enterprise or employment) they haue gone cleane against the haire. For they might with grea∣ter reason haue fetched it from the Greeke (if they had vnderstood it) in cutting off the two last syllables from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, whēce the French borowed their word Chef.

9 See here (gentle Reader) how they played and sported themselues with the interpretation of Greek, and Ebrew words in the Bible. And seeing the Greek and Ebrew tongues are further remote from the common vse; no maruell if they which were offended with the Channon for pronouncing per omnia and not pe∣ronnia (so offended I say, as that they were ready to haue had him into the Court) would haue bene much more offended if they had heard him pronounce Kyrie eleison in stead of Kyrieleison; especially if they had heard him say Allelulah (ma∣king therein an I consonant) in stead of their Alleluya. For whereas they said that this his pronunciation made them suspect him of Lutheranisme, it was because he maintaining it to be good, alleadged certaine reasons whereby he gaue suffici∣ent testimony that he had studied the Greeke and Latin tongue, which this long time haue bene thought to infect men with Lutheranisme and heresie. Wit∣nesse our good Maister Beda who in the presence of king Francis the first, obiected to the late William Bude (who laboured by all meanes to hold the king in his good resolution, and to draw him on to a greater forwardnes, for the establishing of the professors of those languages) that the Hebrew and Greeke would be the foun∣taine of many heresies. But Bude stoutly withstood the foresaid Beda, prouing him forthwith to be but a bedlam, and that it wa•• not for him to iudge of such things, wherof he had no more knowledge then a blind man of colours. And so the kings most godly enterprise was happily atcheeued in despite of Beda, and to the great infamy of him and his fusty fellows, as also to the great contentation and singular

honor as well of the King as of Bude. And (no doubt) if these iolly Rabbins which withstood this good motion, durst haue spoken the truth, they would haue con∣fessed that which a French Poet shortly after did finely flap them in the mouth withall, that it was to be feared lest the Latine, Greeke and Ebrew would (in the end) lay open all their trumperies.