I a carnall synner, ought to haue baptyme of the,
My Lorde and Sauer, And dost thu axe it of me?
Perdon me, swete Lorde, for I wyll not so presume.
Iesus Christus.

I

Without presumpcyon, that offyce shalt thu adsume.
Ioannes Baptista.

The baptyme of me, is but a shaddow or type,
Soch is thy baptyme, as awaye all synne doth wype.
geue but water, the sprete Lorde thu dost brynge,
Lowe is my baptyme, thyne is an heaueuly thynge.
Now thu art present, it is mete my baptyme cease,
And thyne to florysh, all synners bondes fo releace.

Me thy poore seruaunt replenish here with grace, And requyre me me not, to baptyse the here in place. Iesus Christus.

Johan, suffre me now, in thys to haue my wyll, For vs it behoueth all righteousnesse to fulfyll. That is to saye, me, as wele as these my seruauntes, The great graunde captayne, so wele as hys poore tenauntes I come not hither to breake the lawes of my father, As thy baptyme is one, but to comfirme them rather. If by the lawe in yewth was circumcysed, Why shuld I dysdayne thys tyme to be baptysed? The Pharysees abhorre, to be of the common sort,、 But I maye not so, whych come for all mennys confort. I must go with them, they are my bretherne all, He is no good captayne that from hys armye fall.

Ioannes Baptista.

They are sinners Lorde, and from good lyuyinge wyde Iesus Christus.

The more nede is theirs, to haue me for their gyde.

I wyll go afore, that they maye folowe me, Whych shall be baptysed, and thynke me for to be Their mate or brother, hauynge their lyuerye token, Whych is thy baptyme, as thy selfe here hath spoken. Take water therfor, and baptyse me thys houre, That thy baptyme maye take strength of hyghar poure.

The people to marke, vnto my kyngedome heauenlye.
Ioannes Baptista.

Then blessed sauer, thy seruaunt here sanctyfyc.
Iesus Christus.

The man whych haue fayth, lacketh no sanctyfycacyon Necessary and mete, for hys helth and saluacyon.

Thyne oflyce therfor, now execute thu on me.

Hic Ioannem subleuat Iesus, ac eius baptismo se submittit.
Ioannes Baptista.

I baptyse the (Lorde) by soch autoryte

As thy grace hath geuen to my poore symplenesse,
Onlye to obeye the hygh request of thy goodnesse.

In terram procumbens Iesus, tunc dicit, Deo gratias.
Iesus Christus.

Thys offyce father, which I in thys mortall nature,
Do take vpon me, at thy most hygh appoyntment,
For mannys saluacyon, here to appeyse thy hature,
So prospere forewarde, that it be to thy intent,
And to thy people, fytte and conuenyent.

And that thu wytsaue, by thy most fatherly poure,
Thy sonne to commende, vnto the worlde thys houre.

Descendit tunc super Christum spiritus sanctus in columbæ specie, & uox patris de cælo audietur hoc modo:

Pater cælestis.

Thys is myne owne sone, and only hartes delyght,
My treasure, my ioye, beloued most inteyrlye;
Thys is he whych hath procured grace in my syght,
For man that hath done most wylfull trayterye ;
Alone is it he, that me doth pacyfye.

For hys only sake, with man am I now content,
To be for euer, at a full peace and agrement.

I charge ye, to hym, geae dylygent attendaunce,
Heare hys monycyons, regarde hys heauenly doctryne.
In mennys tradycyons, loke ye haue no affyaunce,
Nor in Moses lawe, but as he shall defyne,
Heare hym, beleue hym, drawe only after hys lyne.
For he alone knoweth my purpose towardes yow,
And non els but he, heare hym therfor only now.

Tunc cælum inspiciens Ioannes, incuruat genua.
Ioannes Baptista.

O tyme most ioyfull, daye most splendiferus ;
The clerenesse of heauen now appereth vnto vs.
The father is hearde, and the holy Ghost is seane,
The sonne incarnate, to puryfye vs cleane;
By thys we maye se, The gospell ones receyued,
Heauen openeth to vs, and God is hyghly pleased.

Lete vs synge therfor, togyther with one accorde, Praysynge these same thre, as one God and good Lorde. Et expansis ad cælum manibus canit Ioannes.

Glorye be to the Trynyte,

The father, the sonne and sprete lyuynge,
Whych are one God in persones thre,
To whom be prayse without endynge.

BALEUS PROLOCUTOR.

Thys vysyble sygne, do here to yow declare,

What thynge pleaseth God, and what offendeth hys goodnesse.
The worlde hath proude hartes, hygh myndes, with soch lyke ware,
God only regardeth the sprete of lowlynesse.

Marke in thys Gospell, with the eyes of symplenesse.

Adam, by bys pryde, ded Paradyse vp speare,

Christ hath opened heauen, by hys great mekenesse heare.

Iohan was a preacher, Note wele what he ded teache,
Not mennis tradycyons, nor hys owne holye lyfe;
But to the people, Christ Iesus ded he preache,
Wyllynge hys Gospell, amonge them to be ryfe,
Hys knowledge heavenly, to be had of man and wyfe.
But who receyued it? The sinfull commynalte,
Publicanes and synners, but no paynted Pharyse.

The waye that Iohan taught, was not to weare harde clothynge, To saye longe prayers, nor to wandre in the desart,

Or to eate wylde locusts. No, he neuer taught such thynge.
Hys mynde was that faythe shuld puryfye the hart;
My ways (sayth the Lorde) with mennys ways haue no part.
Mannys ways are all thynges, that are done without fayth,
God's waye is hys worde, as the holy scripture sayth.

If ye do penaunce, do soch as Iohan doth counsell,
Forsake your olde lyfe, and to the true fayth applye;
Washe away all fylth, and folowe Christes Gospell.
The iustyce of men, is but an hypocresye,

A worke without fayth, an outwarde vayne glorye.
An example here, ye had of the Pharysees,

Whom lohan compared to vnfruteful wythered trees.

Geue care unto Christ, lete mennys vayne fantasyes go,
As the father bad, by hys most hygh commaundement;
Heare neyther Frances, Benedy ct, nor Bruno,
Albert, nor Domynyck, for they newe rulers inuent,
Beleue neyther Pope, nor prest of hys consent.
Folowe Christes Gospell, and therin fructyfye,
To the prayse of God, and hys sonne Iesus glorye.

Thus endeth thys brefe Comedy or Enterlude of Iohan Baptystes preachynge in the wyldernesse, openynge the craftye assaultes of the hypocrytes, with the gloryouse Baptyme of Iesus Christ.

Composed by Johan Bale, Anno M.D.XXXVIII.

THE VERY

BEGGARS PETITION AGAINST POPERY;

Wherein they lamentably complain

ΤΟ

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

OF THE CLERGY.

1. Of their abominable covetousness and oppression, in several particulars, from § 3, to § 13. 2. Of their insatiable lechery, being devils at women; and how they apply themselves, by all sleights they may, to have to do with every man's wife, daughter, and maid (as well ladies, as meaner persons, when they come in their way) from § 13, to § 17. 3. They brought in theft with them, and nourished it under them, § 17. 4. That they baffled all laws, that none could take hold of them, though they ravished men's wives and daughters (which that cursed crew would be at again, tho' not in that seeming holy method, but now in an open, odious, debauched way, like infernal incubusses, who now have naturalised succubusses for their turn, &c.) for the law was too weak to hold them; they making such as begin with them quickly to cease prosecuting them, § 18. 5. An example hereof, see in the Bishop of London, 19. 6. Tho' the statute of mortmain was made to prevent giving them any more, yet still they got more than any duke, § 20 and 21. 7. Their yearly exactions came by cursed pretensions of praying people's souls out of purgatory, &c. § 22. 8. This doctrine of purgatory was always opposed by godly, learned men, § 23 and 24. 9. Their hellish policy, in not suffering the New Testament to be translated in the mother-tongue, lest their hypocrisy and cheating should be discovered, § 25, 26. 10. The impudence of Dr. Allen, and Dr. Horsey, fined to the King, but afterwards therefore amply rewarded by the clergy, § 27. 11. The reason of this was, because the Chancellor was one of them, viz. a clergyman § 28. 12. That of giving lands, or money, to the church for the poor, or masses, § 30. 13. They petition to turn these bloodsuckers out to labour and get them wives of their own, § 1, 32. These arguments, and the like, prevailed with this King to cast off the Pope's authority, and why any should be so foolishly wicked as to think to return us to it, I know not; most certainly they will find themselves deceived, with a vengeance, &c. Presented to King Henry the Eighth, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, anno dom. 1538, eight years before his death, and now printed, verbatim, from a very old copy, only mending the auto

graphy, for the ease of the reader, marking the several sections, and collecting the foregoing contents. Worth perusing by both Papist and Protestant, for the one to see how his forefathers and he have been, and are, gulled; and the other to see how he is like to be eternally abused, if he either through fear of death, or otherwise, embrace Popery, Folio, containing six pages, with a wooden cut in the title, representing King Henry the Eighth on his throne, and a Committee of Beggars presenting their petition.

M

To the KING our Sovereign Lord,

OST lamentably complaineth, their woful misery unto your monsters (on whom scarcely for horror any eye dare look) the foul, unhappy sort of lepers, and other sore people, needy, impotent, blind, lame, and sick, that live only by alms; how that their number is daily so sore increased, that all the alms of the well disposed people of this your realm is not half enough to sustain them; but that, for very constraint, they die for hunger.

2. And this most pestilent mischief is come upon your said poor bede-men, by the reason that there is (in the times of your noble predecessors passed) craftily crept into this your realm another sort+ (not of impotent but) of strong, puissant, and counterfeit-holy, and idle beggars, and vagabonds, which, since the time of their first entry, by all the craft and wiliness of Satan, are now increased under your sight, not only into a great number, but also into a kingdom.

3. These are not the herds (or sheep) but the ravenous wolves, going in herds-clothing, devouring the flock; the bishops, abbots, priors, deacons, archdeacons, suffragans, priests, monks, canons, friars, pardoners and somners: and who is able to number this ide, ravenous sort, which (setting all labour aside) have begged so importunately that they have gotten into their hands more than the third part of all your realm: the goodliest lordships, manors, lands, and territories are theirs. Besides this, they have the tenth part of all the corn, meadow, pasture, grass, wool, colts, calves, lambs, pigs, geese, and chickens. Over and besides the tenth part of every servant's wages, the tenth part of the wool, milk, honey, wax, cheese, and butter. Yea, and they look so narrowly upon their profits, that the poor wives must be accountable to them for every tenth egg, or else she getteth not her rights at Easter, shall be taken as an heretick; hereto have they their four offering-days.

4. What money pull they in by probates of testaments, privy tithes, and by men's offerings to their pilgrimages, and at their first masses. Every man and child that is buried must pay somewhat for masses and dirges to be sung for him, or else they will accuse the dead's friends

This is an ancient word, signifying a poor alms-man, who pray daily for their benefactors, derived from the Saxon word bidden, to pray.

+ See them described in the second $.

The dead office in the church of Rome, which begins with dirige me, Domine, &c.