C A P.9. al. epelatiwt ofthe Apocalyp1ç. 303 wars ; For during this time, all they did, was rather upon a minde to raven and prey, than upon any hope to poffeffe thofe placee, which they fa upon. I have related thefe matters with more words then ordinary, but it is becaufe I &fire to make this pro- phecie more lightfome and cleare, which to doe, I care not what labour I put my felfe unto. The other kinde ofLoçufts, are our Weferne Religious pnes, who carne not to their ripeneffe while the Saracens were in their vigour. Therewere indeed fwarmes of thefe drones before, but as yet they were not come to their hot Summer time, wherein they fhould moft ofall beoirre them, till the Doanintcans,Francifcans,BeggingFriars, Penitents. The Obfervants, the Trinitaries, the Friars of the Uol7 Ghoft, andan infinite fcumoffuch fcoundrils arofe up in the dayes of Innocentisu the third,and that with full power to torment men as they lifted. There was never anyAge that was fo fertili in hatching new Religions : as Polydore Virgil, andother learned men have obferved. And there are Tome Writers, who thought it not fit to reckon up all the orders, bothbecaufe they laboured to be briefe, as alto becaufe they were wont to fpring up fuddenly like Mufhromes : as Polydore Virgil fpe4keth, Booke 7. 3. And indeed, now was the power of darkneffe, when the Locsfftts were armed every one with his fling to do his mifchievous worke. Hildegardis the .4bb,attefe, faw by reve- lation, and bewailed a few veeres before, that myfterie that was to comeupon the world by the'begging Friars, thofe hunger-bitten Lo- cults, and experience taught the world, not long after, that her pi- tiful, complaint was not in vain. Thispeftilence indured,and left no- thing that was not quite confumed, till that about the yeere r36o. That is, an.hundred and fifty from the time that they had received their power,a morevehement Wff-wind thenufuall,began toblow by meansofwicklife, andother godly men,which fhaking thefe Lo- cults from the boughs, ceafednot to blow, till it lent them all backe againe to theirpurpleFathers, and fo, as it were, pitched themhead- long into the red Sea. And let not any man objea,that their oinking carcafcs doe infect the ayre Lill unto this day ; for noman can de- ny it, but that they loft their flings from that time,which is the onely thing that this Prophetic aymeth at. And theirpaine fhouldbe as thepine of a Scorpion. Not that they did kill as Scorpions, (for that was forbidden them before) but that they fhould makea wound that should be as painful! as the ftrokeof a Scorpion. It is probable, that forme great (welling inflammation that
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