_Yet it treateth more of Machomet._
ALSO Machomet badde in his boke Alkaron, that euery man shoulde
haue two wives or three or foure, but now they take nine and as many
lemmans as them liketh, & if any of their wives doe amisse against
their husbandes, he may driue hir out of his house, and take another,
but he must giue to hir part of his goodes. Also when men speake of
the Father, and the Sonne, and holy Ghost, they saye they are three
persons, but not one God, for their boke Alkoran speaketh not thereof,
nor of the trinitie, but they say that God spake or else he was dumb,
and that God hath a ghost,[1] or else he were not alive, & they say
Gods word hath great strength, and so saith theyr Alkaron & they say
that Abraham and Moyses were greatly in favor with God, for they spake
with him, & Machomet was right messenger of God. And they haue
many good articles of our faith and some understand the scriptures,
profites, gospels, and the Bible, for they haue them written in theyr
language, in this maner they knowe holy writ, but they understande it
not, but after the letter and so do the Jewes, for they understande it
not, but after their letter ghostly, and therefore saith Sainct Paule,
_Litera occidit: Spiritus vivificat_--that is to say, Letter dieth,
and ghost maketh quicke. And the Sarasins say y^t Jewes are wicked,
for they kepe not y^e lawe of Moyses the which he toke to them, &
also chrysten men are yll, for they kepe not the commaundments of the
gospels that Jesu Christ sent unto them & therefore I shall tell you
what the Soudan tolde me upon a daye in his chamber, voiding[2] out
all other men, as Lordes, Knightes & other, for he woulde speke with
me in counsel, and then asked he me how christen men governed them in
our countrey and I aunswered him & sayd, right well thankes be to God;
& he sayd, secretly nay, for he sayd that our priestes made no force
of gods service, for they shoulde giue good example to men, to doe
well, and they giue ill example, and therefore when the people should
go on the holy daies to church to serve God they go to the taverne to
sin in glotony both day and nighte, and eate and drink as bestes, that
wot not when they haue had ynough, and also Christen men he sayde,
inforced them to fight together & eche to begile other and they are
so proude, that they wot not how they may cloth them, now short, now
long, now straite now wyde, of all manner of fassions. They shoulde
be simple, meke and softe, and doe theyr almes as Jesu Christe dyd,
in whome they beleve, and he sayde they are so covetouse, that for a
lyttle money they sell theyr children, theyr systers, and theyr wyves,
and one taketh another mans wife, and none holdeth his fayth to other,
therefore sayde he, for theyr sinnes hath God given these landes to
our handes, and not through our strength, but all for your synnes. For
we wot well, that when that ye serve well your god, that he wyll helpe
you, so that no man shall winne of you, if that ye serve your god as
ye oughte to doe, but while they lyve so sinfully as they doe, we have
no dread[3] on them, for theyr God shall not helpe them. And then I
asked him how that he knew the state of Chrysten men in that maner,
& he sayde that he knewe well both of lordes and of commons, by
his messengers which he sent through all the countreys as it were
merchants with precious stones & other marchandise to know the manner
of euery countrey. And then he did call againe all the lordes into his
chamber to us & then shewed he unto me iiii persons that were great
lordes of that countrey, that shewed me the maner of my countrey, and
of all Christendome, as though they had bene men borne in the same
partes, and they speak french right well and the Soudain also, and
then I had greate marvaile of this slaunder of our faith and so they
that should bee turned by our good examples to the fayth of Jesu
Christe, they are drawen away through our evyl living, and therefore
it is no wonder if that they call us evyll, for they saye soth, but
the Sarasins are true for they kepe truly the commaundements of their
Alkaron that God sent them by his messenger Machomet, to whome they
say, Gabryell the Aungell spake often, and tolde to him the will of
God.
[Footnote 1: Spirit.]
[Footnote 2: Turning.]
[Footnote 3: Fear of.]