3 '4 4 pvelation of the Apocalyfe. CA P.9. the kinde thereof. Doth not the matter it felffpeak, and tell us that it came fo to paffe in experience ? Who were they among the Sara- cues chiefly, that did mifchief unto our men ? Namely, the tayl of the Saracens, the loweft and bafeft company ofthem, as it were the dregs and fink of all; which having no habitations of their own wherein to refl;, did courte up and down hither and thither, into C'ypres, Crete, ('icily, Sardinia, the two Ifles Baleares, Spain,France, Italy, and all to feel( out a place to dwell in. The reh ofthe rout, whole Tyrannie had been the more ruble and durable, held the countries which once theypoffeffed,withmore tranquillity,and with greater renown. The BeggingFryars Were the tayl alto, ofall?.eligiotts Orders,who were chiefly for tkis armed witha fling, and had five moneths to rage ìn. For after that they had had their beginning from Innocent the third, they grew infinitely,almofl,even till theyeer r 35o. That is,till Gerard Bidder wrote a Book againff them,which he entituled, Tears of the Church ; wherein he proved , That that kinde of life Was far from Chriflian perfellion ; that it was againfl all charity, to eat of other mens labours, When a mancouldget his living With ht oWn hands ; that they Were a fort of Hypocritical) felleWes, and filch as lived a moll filthy life; that they mingled Fables, that is, 1lpocri_ phall and moll vain Dreams Aiith the lb:eere Truth, and all for favour and filthy lucres take; that they devoured widows houfes, under a colour of longprayers ; that they didfundry *ayes trouble the whole Church With their auricular C'onfejTons, Sermons and Dirges ; and that therefore it was the duty of the BiJhops to bridle and refirain this immoderate licencioufneffe, and thefe abufes of the Monks. To this effeet wrote he : The which I have fummarily fet down, becaule it doth marvelloufly agree with this defcription of the Locufls. But I do not afcribe the breaking and battering down of this pellilent rout to this mans labours alone, but there were many other couragious men, arid lovers of true piety about that time, who did, as it were, with their joynt forces put them to flight. Hence then is that made plainer, which I fpake ofbefore upon the fifth verle : That the Whole Kingdoms, either .of the Sara- cens, or of the Papifks, are not to be thruf up into this narrowppace of thefive months : But that this is the time only ofthe Locufls, thofe efpecially Which Jbouldbe accounted as this tail of them, in that. Tonle Which We havegiven hereof 'Wife x r , dndthey Aida Kjng let over them. The two articles in Greek,
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