FRIAR

Is to you / that have no literature Is to say / in our english tongue As depart your goods / the poor folk among And God shall than / gyve unto you again This in the gospel / so is written plain Therefore gyve your alms / in the largest wise Keep not your goods / fie fie on covetise That sin with God is most abominable And is eke the sin / that is most damnable In scripture eke / but I say sirs how What a babbling makes yonder fellow In scripture eke / is there many a place Which shows that many a ma ̄ so farforth lacketh grace That when to them / God hath abundance sent They woe de dystrybute none to the indygent Whereat God having / great indygnacyon Punished these men / after a dyuers fashion As the gospel / full nobly doth declare How dives Epulus / reigning in welfare And on his board / dishes delicate Poor Lazarus / cam begging at his gate Desiring some food / his hunger to relieve But the rycheman / nothing would him gyve Not so Much as a few crommys of bread Wherefore poor lazarus / of famine strayth was deed And angels his soul / to heaven did carry But now the rich man / of the contrary When he was deed / went to misery and pain Where for evermore / he shall remain In brenning fire / which shall never cease But I say thou pardoner / I bid the hold thy peace What standest thou there / all the day smatterynge ¶Marry fellow I come hither / to preach the word of God Which of no man / may be forboden But harden with silence / and good intent For why / it teacheth them evident The very way / and path that shall them lede Even to heaven gatys / as Straight as any thread And he that lettyth the word / of God of audience Stands accursed / in the great sentence And so art thou / for enterruptynge me ¶Hold thy peace knave / thou art very bold Thou pratest in faith / even like a pardoner ¶My masters / he doth but gest and rave It forceth not / for the words of a knave But to the word of God do reverence And here me forth / with dew audience ¶Masters I swewed you / ere while of alms deed And how you should gyve poor folk at their need And if of your parts / that thing ones were done For why without confession or contrition ¶By this shall you have / clean remission ¶And forgiven of the sins see n Who be these poor folk that should have your reward Who be those poor folk / of whom I speak & name Certes we poor freres / are the same We frears daily / do both fast and pray We freres travail / and labour every hour We freres take pain / for the love of our saviour We freres also go on lymytacyon For to preach / to every Christian Nation But I say thou pardoner / thou Wilt keep sylens (soon) Marry therefore the more knave art thou I say That parturbest / the word of God I say neither thy self / Wilt here gods doctrine suffer other / their earys to incline herfore our saviour in his holy scripture Clyueth the thy judgement / thou cursed creature Speaking to the / after this manner Maledictus qui audit verbum dei negligenter Woe be that man say our lord / that gyveth no audien Or heryth the word / of God with negligens ¶Now my friends / I have afore showed you That good it is to gyve your charity And further I have / at length to you told Who be these people / that you receive should That is to say / us freres poor That for our living must beg from door to door For of our own proper / we have no proper thing But that we get / of devout peoples getting And in our place / be friars three score and three Which only live / on men's charity For we friars / wilful charity profess We may have no money / neither more nor less For wordly treasure we may nought care Our souls must be rich / and our bodies bore And one thing I had almost left behind Which before / cam not to my mind And doubtless it is none other thing But when you will gyve / your alms & offering Look that you / dystrybute it wisely Not to every man / that for it will cry For if you gyve / your alms in that wise It shall not both to them and us suffice But I say / thou lewd fellow thou Hadst none other time to show thy bulls but now Canst not tarry and abide till soon And rede them than when preaching is done For my pleasure? nay I would thou knewest it well It becometh the knave / never a dell To prate thus boldly in my presence And let the word / of God of audience Leave thy realynge I would the advise I would thou knewest it knave / I will not leave a (whyt) It is not thou / shall make me hold my peas For I will speak / whither thou Wilt or no Wherefore hardly / let us both go to What should you gyve ought to prating pardoners What should you gyve ought to these bold beggars Let them hardly labour for their living It Much hurtyth them / good mennys gyving For that makes them idle / and slothful to work That for none other thing they will cark Hardly they would go both to blow & carry And if of necessity ones they felt the smart But we freres be nat in like estate For our hands with such things we may nat macu (late) We freres be nat in like condition we may have no prebends ne exhibition Of all temporal service are we forboden And only bound to the service of God And therewith to pray for every Christian nation That God witsafe to save them from damnation But some of you so harden be of heart You can nat weep though you full soar smart wherefore some man must you hire needs which must entreat God for your misdeeds You can hire no better in mine opinion Than us gods servants / men of religion And specially God heareth us poor freres And is attentife unto our desires. For the more of religion / the more herd of our lord And that is / so should / good reason doth accord Therefore doubt nat masters / I am even he To whom you should part with your charity we freres be they that should your alms take which for your souls he that do both watch & wake we freres pray / God wot when you do sleep we for your sins do both sob and weep To pray to God for mercy and for grace And thus do we daily with all our hold place wherefore distribute of your temporal wealth By which you may preserve your souls health I say Wilt thou nat yet stint thy clap Pu l me down the pardoner with and evil happen I say one pull the knave of his stole Leave thy railynge and babbelynge of freres Or by Iys Is lug the by the sweet ears By God I will nat miss the Much thou slouch And if thou play me such another touch Is knock the on the costarde / I would thou it knew Well I will Begin / and than let me see whither thou darest again interrupt me And what thou would ones to it say And to go forth where as I left right now ¶By gogges soul knave / I suffer the no longer But I shall leave the never and ere or I go ¶Loose thy hands / away from mine earys You whoreson / Wilt thou scrat and bite ¶Master parson / I maruayll you will gyve licence To this false knave / in this audience To publish his ragman rolls with lies I desired him ywys / more than ones or twice To hold his peas / till that I had done ut he would here no more than the man in the moan ¶Marry that shall we try / even strait way I defy the chur e Priest / & there be no more than thou I will not go with the / I make God a vow We shall see First which is the stronger God hath sent me bonys I do the not fere ¶Nay churl I the defy I shall trouble the First Thou shalt go to prison by and by Let me see now do thy worst Will you leave than / and let us in peace depart Worser Eus hic / the holy trinity Preserve all / that now here be Dear brethren / if you will consider The cause why / I am come hither You would be glad / to know my intent For I come not hither / for money nor for rend I come not hither / for meat nor for meal But I come hither / for your souls heal I come not hither / to poll nor to shave I come not hither to beg nor to crave I come not hither / to gloze nor to flatter I come not hither to babble nor to clatter I come not hither / to fable nor to lie But I come hither / your souls to edyfye For we freres / are bound the people to teach The gospel of Christ / openly to preach As did the appos else / by Christ their master sent To turn the people / and make them to repent But sith the appostels / from heaven would not come We freres now / must occupy their room We freres are bound / to search men's conscyens We may not care for grotes / nor for pens We freres have professed / wilful poverty No penny in our purse / have may we Knife nor staff / may we none carry Except we should / from the gospel vary For worldly adversity / may we be in no sorrow We may not care to day / for our meat to morrow Bore foot and bore legged / must we go also We may not care / for frost nor snow We may have / no manner care ne think Neither for our meat / nor for our drink But let our thoughts / from luche things be as free As be the birds / that in the air flee For why our lord / clyped sweet Jesus In the gospel / speaketh to us thus Through all the world / go you say he And to every creature / speak you of me And show of my doctrine / and conning And that they may / be glad of your coming If that you enter / in any house any where Look that you salute them / and bid my peas be there And if that house / be worthy and elect Thylke peace there / than shall take effect And if that house / be cursed or parvert Thylke peace than shall to your self revert And furthermore / if any such there be Which do deny / for to receive you And do despise / your doctrine and your lore At such a house / tarry you no more And from your shoes / scrape away the dust To their reprefe / and I both true and joust Shall vengeance take / of their sinful deed ¶Wherefore my friends / to this text take you heed Beware how you / despise the poor freres Which ar in this world / christ's ministers But do them with and hearty cheer receive Lest they happen / your houses for to leave And than God will take vengeance in his ire Wherefore I now / that am a poor frere Did inquire / were any people were Which were disposed / the word of God to here And as I cam hither / one did me tell That in this town / right good folk did dwell Which to here the word of God would be glad And as soon as I / thereof knowledge had I hither hied me as fast as I might Intended by the grace of God almyght And by your pacyens / and supportation Here to make / a simple colation Wherefore I require all you in this prese For to abide / and gyve Due audience ¶But First of all Now here I shall To God my prayer make To gyve you grace All in this place His doctrine for to take. ¶ And than kneeleth down the frere saying his pray ers / and in the mean while entereth the pardoner with all is rely ves / to declare what eke of them been / and the hold power and virtue thereof. ¶Date et dabitur vobis ¶Good devout people / this place of scripture By God a little thing might make me to do it Our lord in the gospel shows the way how