The church of the evil men and women/ whereof Lulyfer is the heed/ and the membres is all the players dissolute and sinners reproved.  
  

¶ The church of the evil men.  
My lord saint Bernardyn desiring the honour of god/ and procuring the salute of the poor soul's/ considering the horrible blasphemes and sins innumerable that is committed every day in playing at the dice and cards/ and other devilish plays/ after that he hath preached fervently/ and sufficiently declared the great evils and scandals that proceedeth thereby/ he hath composed a treaty by the which he showeth from whence these cursed plays are comen. And how god is offended grievously and in many manners by them/ and that by the same divers go unto damnation. The which treaty hath been extraught out of his book entituled the christian religion/ and hath been translated out of latin in to Frensshe/ and visited at Paris by four venerable doctors in the faculty of Theologye/ which have added and dymynysshed that the which they saw serve unto the matter. For the which I Henry Watson simple of understanding/ have submitted me under correction to translate this little treatise in to our maternal tongue of Englysshe for the salutation of the souls of them the which playeth/ praying all the readers or hearers of the same to have my robust language devoid of undepured eloquence for excused.  
O Divi ecclesiam malignantium et cum impus non sedebo. psalmo vicesimo. v God the creator speaking by the mouth of the prophet royal david against the sinners sayeth in this manner I have hated the church of the maly●cyous or evil men/ and I shall not be with men unpyteable or without mercy. For the declaration of the which words it is to note that in the holy scripture is made mention of two churches. ¶ The first is the church catholic/ of the which my lord saint Poule in his pistle. ad collocenses primo. saith Ipse est caput corporis ecclesie. Ihesu christ saith he i● the heed and lord of the church of the catholyques. Th● second is the church of the cursed or evil of the which the prophet in the authority aboved specified to●●cheth three points or mysteries.  

¶ The first is invention.  
¶ The second offensyon.  
¶ The third obligation.   

¶ At the first point or mystery he toucheth the for●● and the manner how that same cursed & unhappy church hath been founden. And for to have of this knowledge the holy doctor above named saith that the enemy of the christian faith/ prince of hell and of darkness/ Lucifer saying that the blessed Jesus' had construct and edified the said holy church catholic by the which divers on the se of this miserable world was drawn and conducted to the port of salute/ and to the blessed realm of paradise. asmuch by the predication of the apostles & disciples of our lord as in receiving worthily the holy sacraments of the same holy church our mother/ and in hearing devoutly the divine service he shall have by conspiration and envy dyabolyke make convoke and assemble all his subjects principals and worst complices/ for and to the end to declare unto them that which he had by his obstinate malice imagined in his heart. In saying unto them this the which followeth. Children of malediction & replete with malice your iniquity knoweth that of my nature and condition I am busy about the perdition of souls/ & appertaineth also by mine office to procure the destruction of the christian faith/ & find new inventions for to bring the souls unto damnation eternal. And after this that I have longly & profoundly thought I have imagined and found amongst the other a subtle invention by the which we may easily win and draw unto us the most part of the world that we have lost in the baptism of christ. you wot and I also by your report dyabolyque that our adversary christ hath constituted in the earth a church for the good by the mean of the which we lose our men that were almost all ours/ and now they diminish greatly/ for the which it behoveth me to constitute & raise up a church contrary for the evil/ by the which I may win them. And unto the end I will that all the things ordained in his said church for wealth and to the honour of god and salute of the souls be ordained in mine for ill/ in despite of god/ and for the perdition of souls. And therefore I considering that the world desireth joyous things pleasant and delectable that more easily draweth the hearts of men & women than he shall leave all the work that he hath enterprised for to run to play. Item in like wise in the church of god there is a manuel/ also in our cursed church full of iniquity the manuel shall be that the player shall rob his father or mother/ or some other of his kin/ or if his wife have some good jewel he shall take it/ and the dimes and the debts abide unpaid/ and the testaments of the deed are not accomplished. Item there lacketh the stole/ that is that after that the unhappy player shall have pilled and rob his kinsmen & friends he shall rob some stranger/ by the which shall be given unto him a halter for to be hanged and strangled. There lacketh yet said lucifer a chasuble that is the iactaunce of the players that sometime shall say sw●re and vaunt them in glorifying them in their malice and sin by the blood and by the death. etc. I have well wrungen him/ weeneth he to win of me. and right often shall blaspheme god in saying unto their wives that they have won for fere to have noise ● layeth with open mouths. The cloth of the altar shall be the green tapyssery or other cloth/ and the chalice shall be the box that the part of them that snoffeth the candle is put in. As for the messes & sacrifices. Even so said lucifer as in the church of our adversary the priest beginneth Introybo and maketh his confession Also mine introybo and my confession shall be the inventor of them that goeth play. One unhappy player and hasardoure shall come in the morning invent his semblable saying unto him wilt thou not come/ knoweth thou not that the other are before. Ha' ha' answereth the other I have not herd mass. Care not therefore sayeth the inventor thou shalt go another time/ And right often the unhappy wretches maketh their parties on the saturday for the sunday/ to the end that all the journey be given unto my damnable service. Then after the priest goeth unto the altar for to say the introyte/ and there is known whereof the mass shallbe Also the introyte of my service damnable is that the players shall say/ play we at the romfle/ the other shall say play we at the triumph. And even so as in the church of god there is seven masses more common than the other as afore is said. Semblably in my church there is seven specyalles/ which is/ the mommom/ the gleke/ the flusshe/ the torment/ the regnet/ one and thirty/ and the triumph. Item there is also at the mass of christ Kyrieleyson that is asmuch for to say as who said unto god/ lord give us mercy/ which is a song & orison right fair that is said and pronounced thrice. iij times that is ix times/ in the name and reverence of the trinity and of the ix ordres of angels. But at the Kyrie of my church shall be spoken & pronounced blasphemes upon blasphemes. For the one shall swear by the blood of god/ the other by the flesh/ the other by the womb/ the other by the heed/ the other by the body/ the other by the death/ and consequently of the other. And right so as in the church of god all the priests when they have song the Kyrye alone they end all together with one accord and tune/ evenso right often the players renyeth god/ or blasphemeth horribly all together in such wise that it seemeth to be mine hell/ as it is for to speak properly. For right so as paradise is there as god is/ in like wise there as that devil is/ is hell. Item said lucyfer in the mass of god there is Gloria in excelsis in divers tunes after the diversity of the feasts. Even so I will if it be the feast of god that he be renayed/ & if it be the feast of his mother that she be blasphemed/ if it be the feast of any saints that they be dyspyted and injuried. Item even so as there is orisons that is said heartily/ also the orisons of the players shall be sighs that they shall make heartily when they have lost/ & in weeping is almost in despair. Item there is the pistle that is said in remembrance of the good men of the time passed Also the pystyll of my church shall be the recordation of the player's of the time paste/ for often my players shall say. By the death such one was a nimble player/ for when he came to play he had but five shillings and wan a rial/ such one could nothing like him for he lost ten nobles & his gown in one night. Nor such one in like wise that lost a hundred and his heritage. Even so happen it to the my fellow/ but to y●. Now let see who shall have aught/ look there the devyllyshnes Moore over there is the grayll of my fendysshe church. That shall be the sins that the players committeth from degree to degree/ from avarice to rapine/ from rapine to usury/ from usury to laying/ from laying to blaspheming/ and so of the other/ in such wise that I have made fifteen pits for to make the cursed players descend in to my hells. Item there is the gospel that is asmuch for to say as good messenger. The player prayeth god sometime saying/ I pray god my fellow that thou mayst lose. The other answereth I pray our lady the which is above in heaven that I may win O how the unhappyes are cursed to pray god that he help them to win to their damnation/ and in serving the devil. Item said Lucyfer there is the Crede. That is that the players believeth that they shall not die. There hath been divers that hath been seek unto the death/ but with great pain they were heeled when they returned unto the play again. And sometime in their sickness for to recover health they find not more greater consolation for to pass the time than to play at dice and at cards/ or to go from tavern to tavern/ or from brothel to brothel there as it noyeth them not as to pray for their sins/ or say dirge for/ all christian souls. As it appeareth by a man of the church that was seek which demanded counsel of a doctor if he were not excused for to say his divine service/ for because said he that his heed ached when he saw his portoys. And every day he was three or else four hours playing at dice and at cards/ and doing the service of lucifer. After following there is at the mass the offering when the priest offereth to god the breed & the wine. Also in my church dyabolyque all that the which is brought to the plays prohybytes and defended is offered in my name & for my service. Now how many may be founden that would not offer five shillings to god ● and offereth well ten nobles or more unto the devil. Faders and moders ought for to keep them well from giving their children aught to offer to the devil Item in my church said Lucyfer there is secret orisons. That is the great ire/ despite/ and sorrow that the players have which knaweth their consciences. The preface shall be the lamentations that the players make after that they have lost. Alas shall one say I am well unhappy I have lost a noble as much as I have won this fortenyghte. And the other answereth him. proficiat vobis. without having pity on his fellow no more than on a dog. Item the priest at the mass of god maketh crosses. Also the cursed player sō●tyme with his dagger smiteth upon the tables or pierceth the cards and casteth down all to the earth. Item for the presence of the angels that assisteth at the sacrament of the altar shall be the presence of the devils my subjects that environeth the cursed players. jeremy quintodecimo sayeth. Non sedi in consilio indencium. That is for to say said god the creature by th● mouth of jeremy. I shall not be in the company of th● that playeth/ Item in the mass they make three part●●● of the holy hostye/ also the players loseth their bodies souls/ and temporal gods. Item the priest sayeth three times Agnus dei in remembrance of the three manner of folks that were converted at the death of our lord Semblably at the service of lucifer there is three manner of folks that converteth them to the devil of hell first the players. Secondly they that assist & behold play. thirdly they that minister the instruments for to play. finally said lucifer my post common/ that is assembling by every player that which he hath won and put it in his purse. And the last orisons are dronkerdnes/ gluttonies/ and lecheries that ensueth. The one shall say in his orison go we to drink/ By the womb I die for thirst. The other shall say go we to the brothel/ or to the hot house. And the other shall say go we sleep/ and shall be in bed unto none/ The priest returneth to the people saying Ite missa est and giveth leave to the people giving them his blessing. Also my leave of my service damnable is that the souls of all players are given in to the hands of sathan & other my tormentors. The merit of the assystentes/ is partners of all the sins that are there perpetred. And the blessing is malediction eternel/ because that the winners & the lesers are cursed of god. And if they do not penance they go unto hell with all the devils. For they that lose/ loseth paradise/ & they that win/ winneth hell. From the which peril & danger the sweet Jesus' deliver us. Amen.   

¶ The second mystery.  
THe second mystery that the prophet david toucheth of the said church of the cursed dicitur offensio. That is of the great evils and horrible sins that proceedeth of these unhappy plays. Some cursed blind folks say that it is none ill for to play/ & that it is but a sport/ & that it is great folly for to preach it/ & that they play but for to pass the tyme. But & they will think & behold diligently they shall find xu evils that proceedeth of those damnable plays/ of the which xu evils there is not one but it is sufficient for to make one lose paradise. Alas what shall it be than of them that committeth three or four together/ & sometime all the xu And of these xv Alexander of alles in the fourth part of his some in the question xlviij putteth the first ix Master johan Gerson in exposing the commandments of god putteth twelve Master Anthony of Florence in the second party of his some putteth xxj And the holy saint bernardyn that treateth this matter putteth xu that is xu pits for to descend in to hell/ as xu spears that lucifer gave unto the players for to make war against Ihesu christ. If you demand which are the xu spears. Saint bernardyn answereth.  

¶ The first is desire to win the goods of other.  
The second is the will to dyspoyse his fellow.  
The third is usury right great.  
The fourth abundance of losings.  
The fifth is fountain of forswearing & blaspheming▪  
The sixth is corruption & destruction of youth.  
The seventh sclaundring of good folks.  
The eight dispraising of the prohibitions & defence● of the church.  
The ix loss of tyme.  
The tenth frauds and falseness.  
The eleventh anger and debates.  
The twelfth desperations and madness.  
The thyrtynth foolish adoration.  
The fourtynth nourishing of osyvyte.  
The fyftynth vile life and dishonest.   
¶ The first spear that is how he hath great desire for to win the goods of the other/ it is avarice and cupidity root of all evils which is commonly in the players. Some say I had as lief lose as win. But it is not truth. How well that he be a great lord and that he playeth but a penny or a groat yet would he not lose/ either by pride disdain/ or shame or some other vice but desireth for to win. And thus it is avarice and couety●e to have the goods of other/ that is right against the commandment of god that saith. Non concupisces rem proximi tui. That is for to say. The gods of other thou shalt not covet for to have unjustly It is another thing of the desire of a good labouring man that desireth to win his journey/ for thou hath his pain and his labour. But at the play thou doth thy pelowe no profit/ but great damage/ as well unto the soul as unto the body/ and goods temporals first as unto the soul/ for oftentimes for the play he loseth the divine service/ and the things that appertaineth unto his salute. Secondly as unto the body/ for he consumeth him night & day/ and yieldeth him inutile for to work. thirdly as unto the goods temporals for sometime he loseth his goods and others also. How then mayst thou covet his silver than with a clean conscience. And therefore sayeth my lord saint Poule prime and thimothe● sexto. Radix omnium malorum cupiditas. covetise sayeth he is the rote of all ills and of all sins. Certainly it is commonly in the players/ by the which it will procure in them the branches of sin/ as a rote of a quick tree. That is for to wit rapine/ usury/ losing swearing/ blaspheming and the other that ensueth of cupidity and avarice. And of this covetise as it is rote of all evils is singularly written by saint Gregory and saint Ambrose in the decrete that beginneth bonorum. And in the decrete following in the xlvij distinction.  
¶ The second spear is voluntas spol●ādi. For thou would despoil him that thou playeth with/ this is rapine domestic those that seem hard and difficile. We shall call our said church under the name and title of game. And by this mean we may recover in to our damnable subjection them and they that were escaped from our hands with divers other. These things said all the satalytes and complices dyabolyques answered in this manner/ in crying and howling with high voices/ we will and consent to all this which thou sayeth/ & we rejoice us/ and with all our power we shall enforce us for to help the to accomplish thy damnable purpose. For we demand nothing but to do ill. Then said lucifer to the end that more unhappily the thyn●ge come out in effect it behoveth in this church after our malice achieved to edify three things.  

¶ The first is the offices and benefices.  
¶ The second the instruments and apparel.  
¶ The third solemnities and sacrifices.   
¶ first said lucifer I will ordain in my church the offices and benefices. And even so as in the church of christ our adversary there is one chief that hath all puissance/ that is for to wite the 〈◊〉/ in likewise I will that there be one heed in my church/ And that shall be I that shall be the heed of the players and of the other unhappy dampened.. And then answered all his supposts it pleaseth us/ it pleaseth us. After said lucifer I will have cardinals/ and ordain that they shall be the great lords the officers and all the prelate's that taketh away these plays whereof proceedeth so many evils/ and sins/ as bailies/ the judges/ the provosts/ the levetenauntes/ the mayors/ and all them that may take them away/ how well that theyrselfe play not. Quia qui facet consentire videtur. That is for to say who that is still & may punish seemeth to give his consenting to the thing that he seethe done. The most greatest lords are the cardinals the which is by my side. Their names are registered in the books of the dampened. And then after I will have bishops in my church. Thomas shall be the gentlemen/ burgess/ and merchants that have the great halls/ gardens/ and courts there as is tenysplayes/ closshe/ berlan/ free square/ and divers other semblable plays that scoles be holden of. Item there is the house episcopal beside the church. And also in this manner I will that beside mine be bordels taverns sellers/ and hot houses dissolute there as is committed so many horrible sins. After even so as in the church of our adversary there is canons/ and curates I will that the hostlers & taverners be our curates there as our subjects may go drink/ laugh/ and make good cheer. Our canons shall be they that assist & behold the play and wage/ or lend money for to have part of the butyn or winning that the same unhappy players shall make/ Iten more over I will have chapels even so as there is in the church of our adversary cryst/ and that shall be the barber's shops and such manner of folks there as is tables for to pass the time when they have nothing to do. Item I will have oratories and places to pray in/ for there is in the church of our adversary. That shall be the houses of some burgesses merchants/ where as secretly & not openly they resort and play together three or four/ or five or two hazarders and other miserable men & women And shall be there unto midnight playing at dice or at cards. And unto all the abovesaid players for their service/ dystrybutions & wages we shall receive them with us/ and promise them the wages of everlasting damnation. Item yet will I that there be diverse men and women for to come and see the service in our church/ as at the service of our adversaries church/ And that they keep great silence/ and behold the players affectuously swear/ and blaspheme/ and wrong each other. It shall be they the which beholdeth the players play at dice or cards/ the which shall be well by the space of three or four hours or more in looking/ & beholding the players/ enduring cold/ hunger/ and other necessities. And shall not annoy and weary them so much as to be one hour in the church of god. Also to the end that my church fail not/ and because that divers of our officers may happen die I will that the children look upon their faders that play and servants their masters/ & so of other degrees as well the ancients as other/ to the end that they take pleasure in it/ and that they may learn and continually uphold it. Right so as in the church of god the children learn of the ancient men for to uphold the service of christ after their deaths. And yet better to the end for to have young folk among the old I ordain that the first day of the new year they give unto the children maidens & bachelors newe●yeres gifts/ as pins/ points/ and money for to buy lekerous things/ for to go to the tavern and other places dissolute and ill. to the bordels and other unthrifty places/ by this we may win moche. Unto the which answered all the devils of hell his complices with one voice/ be it done be it done/ be it done we consent thereto.   

¶ The second party.  
COme we now unto the second party in the which it behoveth to see and speak of the instruments and apparel of the church diabolyke in the which is the ordinance that followeth. And Lucyfer said. I ordain the instruments and apparel of my church. And first because that in the church of our adversary cryst there is a mess book for to say mass/ even so in ours there lacketh one/ & I ordain that it shall be the dice. For right so as in the mess book of the church of god there is xxi letters by the which the christian men and women knoweth the will of their creator/ also in the dice that is our mess book there shall be xxi points by the which all my servants the players shall know my will. Upon this point one may demand how one may know the cursed and damnable will of lucifer and to whom he hath revealed it. Answer that to a Senator of Rome the which was of so perverse and evil governing/ that by his gluttony and lubrycyte he become lazar and pudacre. And when he saw that they separed him from the company of the other he was so unpatient that he swore that he should venge him on god. And one day after divers blasphemes he thought how he might do some thing in despite of god and of christendom/ anon came the devil of hell to him in the form of a black man and demanded him what him ailed. He answered that he was half mad & that he thought and sought how he might do any thing against god for the perdition of souls. Then the devil presented him a dice and said unto him. If thou wilt do that the which I shall tell the thou shall be cause of the damnation of innumerable souls. And what said he. It is that thou play with this dice here & learn the other for to play. And when that in playing there cometh one point thou shall say in despite of god. When there cometh twain/ thou shalt say in despite of god and of his mother. When there cometh three/ thou shalt say in despite of the trinity. When there cometh four/ thou shalt say in despite of the four evangelists. When there cometh five/ thou shalt say in despite of the five wounds of christ. When there cometh two/ thou shalt say in despite of the six solemn feasts of the church of god. There is the invention of the dice. And after lucifer said even so as in the mess book of our adversary there is many and divers messes/ for all that there is seven most common that the ignorant priests say. The sunday of the trinity/ the mondaye of all souls/ The tewesdaye of angels. The wednesday of all saints. The thursday of the holy ghost. The friday of the cross. The saturday of mary our adversary. Thus said lucifer to sathan. Thou shalt have in despite of all the souls in purgatory the mass of monday Thou belzebub in despite of the angels thou shalt have the mass of tuesday. Thou astaroth in despite of all the saints in paradise thou shalt have the mass of wednesday. Thou asmodeus in despite of the holy ghost thou shalt have the mass of thursday. Thou mammona in despite of the passion of christ our enemy thou shalt have the mass of friday. Thou belphegor in despite of mary our adversary thou shalt have the mass of saturday. And I said lucifer will retain that of sunday in despite of the trinity of paradise. For unto me appertaineth the most solempnell. Upon this point is to be noted that when one will make a mass to be said he aught to make it to be said of the day/ or else let the priest do it after his devotion. And here is as of the mess book. ¶ After said lucifer even so as there is in the church of christ a portoys for to say matins and evensong. Also I will have one in my church/ and ordain that it shall be the cards. And right so as in the portoys of our adversary there is divers histories/ as the history of the nativity/ of the resurrection/ of kings and divers other/ in like wise will I that there be pompous histories in ours/ as kings/ queens/ and varlets. I will more over that my stories have great significations also well as they of christ. They that are painted within signifieth the avarice and cupidity of the cursed players. And those of the kings signifieth pride inobedience & arrogance. They of the queens lechery and lubrycyte. Those of the fools the great folly of the players that weeneth to win a thing transitory/ and loseth the richesses eternalles. And those of the varlets signifieth that the players are servants of me Lucyfer. Upon this point is to be noted as sayeth saint Ambrose. He is reputed servant of the master that doth his operations. The cards with painted hearts signifieth that they which play have given their hearts unto the play & unto the devil. And those there as is the trafles signifieth the foolish joy that they take in serving lucifer. They of picks signifieth the noises and debates the proceedeth. And those of diamonds signifieth that the church infernal shall be paved with their souls. Loo here as touching the portoys. And is to be noted that divers say when they are rebuked for playing at cards that they do it but for to pass the time/ and for to take recreation. But thou player I demand the if thou found a book in thy chambre/ and were well sure that the devil had composed it if thou would pass the time for to read in that book. I believe that nay/ & that thou should not be well till that it were out of thy house Be ye sure & certain that the devil of hell hath made and composed the dice and the cards. And my lord saint Bernardyn would not have said and preached it/ nor left it by writing if he had not been well informed. And therefore evenso as they that make/ sell/ & buy books for to say the divine service may be called the lybrayres of god. Semblably they and those that ma●ke cell and buy the cards wherewith they do make the service of the devil may be called the lybrayres of the devil. And if they say that we will confound them and dishonour. Answer. But clean the contrary/ we will raise/ honour/ and save them. It appeareth. if o●ne were in the service of a hangman/ and that his friend purchased him an honest office in the court of the king/ he should do him great pleasure and honour./ Right so will we draw them out of the service of the hangman of hell such maker's/ cellar's/ & buyers of cards and purchase and put them in to the service of the king eternal the which reigneth in heaven. And after that Lucyfer said unto his complices infernalles/ the which were about him making great joy. In the church of christ there is the altar/ also for our altar shall be the tables. And as afore the altar of our adversary there is a little window for to put the relics in/ in likewise shall we have a satchel tied to the tables for to put the dice and the table men therein. And also as there is altar's portatyves in the church of god Semblably we shall have table's portatyves for the ladies when they go on sporting. And after said Lucifer in the church of christ there is the vestments. first there is an amyt that they put on the heed/ right so the amyt of my church shall be ignorance and blindness of the players/ for they have no conscience of nothing and careth not for any thing that is told them. It is certain semblable that they confess them not/ in so much as they return after their confession unto it again. And sometime it happeneth that the father and the mother reproveth their child/ and for all that they do but mock them/ and have no conscience nor fere of god. Item said lucifer there is a white aube by the which is signified that divers oftentimes playeth their gowns/ and weareth because of the play their shirts knotted upon their shoulders. Item there is a girdle that holdeth the aube. This girdle here in my church is the great affection that draweth the players to the play and that holdeth my servants for to do my service. It is a great thing of the disordinate affection of a player/ sometime he shall rise out of his bed/ or shall depart from the church and leave the divine service when his fellow maketh him any sign. ¶ And how well that the said player hath moche work on hand and that he hath promised to yield it at a certain For whiles that they play if one cried take the thieves none of the players would flee/ for they are thieves domestics. But for to speak more properly this rapine is mixed with treason/ for it is committed oftentimes in eating & drinking the one with the other. This cruelty is right often among the players/ for the one wold● have despoiled the other unto their shirts/ more than doth the outlaws. And divers times he whitche weeneth to despoil his fellow is despoiled himself. And of such is verified the holy scripture the saith Ue qui predaris nonne et tu predaberis ipse. That is to say/ cursed player that robbeth the other shalt thou not be rob. There is divers that hath played their wives gowns and kyrtylles/ and other good jewels that they might get. And would have played more if they might have gotten more/ in which they have not less sinned. Because that god looketh not alonely at the work of the sinner/ but at the will of the sinner the which is reputed for the deed. And therefore as unto god that knoweth the hearts and voluptuous wyl●les reputeth it for rapine. Unde. xiiij.q.u.c. Si quis. is said that god interrogeth not alonely the hand but the heart. ¶ The third spear is usury right great/ for it abideth not a year nor a half/ nor a month/ nor also a hole day. if one receive for a hundred nobles that he hath lente/ a hundred and ten or a. C.u. at the years end is said and reputed an usurer. What shall one say of him that goeth to play with ten nobles/ & in playing receiveth thirty that same day. Certainly it appeareth that it is a great usury. For the which he may not retain it for him/ but is holden to restore it in certain things/ or give it unto poor folks as it shall be declared. And if he lose he aught to take him to himself and to his folly/ an usurer sayeth Crysostome is cursed above all the other. Sometime at the play one lenneth silver for to have profit/ but they say it is but for to laugh/ how well that it is a great sin as toward god. Of this we have the decretal of excessibus prelatorum/ that beginneth. Inter dilectos/ where as is made mention how the 〈◊〉 condemned a man of the church that lent xi peits at the play for to have twelve. & was judged an usurer/ it is not a little sin.  
¶ The fourth is multitudo mendaciorum pernisiorum At the plays is many losings and specially mortal For to deceive and beguile his next fellow. Players have no conscience. Unde ambrosius. Et haber. xx.ij. q.u. the chapiter. Cavete. Omnes qui dicunt mendacium filij sunt diaboli. All they sayeth he that telleth losings are the children of the devil. And to the end that they believe the better their leasings they confirm than by oaths. And in that wise they are forsworn. the which is always deadly sin/ at the least when they swear voluntarily. For sometime they swear against truth by god by my faith. etc. there is as much and as of ten in reckoning of their game. And all this it behoveth to tell at the article of the death/ and at the judgement of god evenso as it is written mathei twelve de omi verbo ocioso quod locuti fuerint homines reddent racionem in die judicij. If it be so that we must yield account of the pronounced words/ what shall it be of the losings/ swerynges/ blasphemings/ of mockynges detractions/ and so forth of the other. And more over not alonely they that play telleth losings/ but also they that behold them. As in the place of the tenysplay there shall be well a hundred persons during the evensong and sermon. And god unoweth how many leasings/ detractions/ swerynges and blasphemings there is said and done/ they are innumerable. And the players shall say it is above the cord/ another shall say I report me unto such one. And they shall judge wrong sometime for hate/ or for covetise because that they have waged on their hedes. It is no marvel if the players damn them/ for oftentimes they that beholdeth them offendeth god the creator/ alonely in so much as they lose the time/ and becometh negligent & slothful in good operations/ and will go to the tavern. ¶ The fifth spear dicitur fons blasphemy atque perni●riorum. It is the fountain of all blasphemes and of all forswearings. In none excercite is god blasphemed so moche and all the court celestial as in these plays diaboliques. O how many and what blasphemes issueth out of the cursed players against god/ the blessed virgin mary and all the saints of paradise. The which sin is not alonely mortal/ but so horrible and so grievous that god hath commanded in the law in the xxiv. chapter of levitiq. Who somever blasphemeth sayeth he the name of god let him be put to death/ as to the body death corporel/ and as of the soul if he do not penance death infernal▪ And sometime against such folks god hath made horrible judgements. For oftentimes the eyen of the miserable and cursed players are issued out of their hedes and fallen upon the table. Sometime tormented and posseded of the devil of hell. Sometime the mouth turned arseverse/ and other like. And for all that the good Jesus' complaineth him and saith. Nomen meum iugiter blasphemar. That is for to say my name is continually blasphemed. Who that will know the grievousness of the sin of blaspheming he needeth not but for to behold the punition that is ordained of our mother holy church agyenst them in the chapter statuimus. extra de maledicis. Alas also/ how many other works execrable & horrible proceedeth of such plays. Sometime the cursed players beateth and breaketh the images of our redemptor/ of the blessed virgin mary/ and of the other saints/ cry/ yell/ despise/ reproach/ fight & murder the one the other. By the things above said play may be called heresy for asmuch as it is an art/ or a work by the which they that exercise it fall in to foul and abominable sins. Thou wilt say that the tenysplaye is lycyte. Certainly god is there marvelously and right often blasphemed as every body knoweth. And the most greatest lords and rich men are the most greatest blasphemers and swearers. Good christian men that loveth well their salute and health should be right sorry if they were constrained for to abide in a tenysplaye/ or serve & fournysshe them of balls. if thou say I win my living. Saint Austen answereth the. The winning is in thy coffre/ but the damage is in thy conscience & therefore they aught to take away tenysplayes and bouling alees. For who that would take away the fountains the channels should not run. The closshebankes/ bouling alees/ tenysplayes/ and other semblables is the boucheryes where as is dismembered the precious body of the blessed son of the virgin mary and his precious blood shed. And therefore such p●ayers blasphemers are worse than the jews that hath crucified our lord/ for at y● jest they left the body ho●e But these here breaketh it & pulleth it in pieces. They will say that keepeth such plays/ houses/ and places of sin that they are not cause of the evils that is committed. I demand the thou that holdeth a tenysplay/ peraventure thou hath twenty year to keep it/ and is certain that god shall be blasphemed during that term one only tyme. Tell me in conscience if thou may ryghtwylly keep the said play. I believe if thou be a good cryven man that thou shalt answer that for to win all the gods of the world thou would not plumet that god were blasphemed in thy house. And for all that thou art well certain that not alonely during this twenty year/ but or it be a month passed he shall be blasphemed more than thirty. times. Thou wilt say that thou knoweth nothing thereof/ & yet thou seethe it by experience every day. For the which the philosopher sayeth. Quicquio v●get s●su non indiget probatione. It is no necessity to prove that/ that is seen with the eye. But and it were defended that they should not play during the divine service/ that is during the mass/ matins/ evensong/ & the sermon. Secondly that they should not play by avarice and covetise to win/ but alonely for the dinner or souper the one of the other/ and by recreation. thirdly if it happened any for to swear/ blaspheme/ or despise god or his saints that he were incontinent accused unto the justice for to make the punition. These three things here well observed and kept/ it should be another thing. But so as they use it/ it is a play & work dyabolyque.  
¶ The uj spear is corruption and marring of youth Will ye well break and corrumpe a young person send him unto the plays/ be they also well ordained as you would/ veritably they shall be changed & become evil and disobedient unto god/ and rebels against their friends. prime add corinthios quintodecimo. Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia prava. Super quod bernardus. Quamtomagis ergo opera prava. Sayeth my lord saint Paul the evil words corrumpeth the good conditions. By more stronger reason sayeth saint Bernardyn/ the evil works. And therefore it is written uj question prima. in the chapter ex merito.. Deteriores sunt qui vitam moresque bonorum corrumpunt his qui substantias aliorum prediaque diripiunt. Thou would think great conscience for to go steel twenty nobles out of the coffer of thy neighbour. Be sure that thou do the more greater ill without comparison when by thy plays and evil examples thou art cause to corrumpe the good conditions and life spiritual of them that beholdeth the play.  
¶ The seventh spear is scandalum virorum justorum. It is slander by the which good folks are ill edified of players and are dissolute/ displeasant/ and stirred to evil. This vice is as sickness courageous/ for when one seethe another play where as he thought not for to play/ he is incited and stirred for to play as the other. And in the self wise when the children are inclined for to ensue and follow the meurs and conditions of their kinsmen/ in saying their father play/ blaspheme/ cry/ and do other evils that proceedeth of the play/ without refraining they custom them in things semblable. And thus the father dommageth his children/ servants/ and other by his evil example in playing. Know that it is not a small thing for to slander his neighbour/ nor a little sin/ for our lord sayeth. Mathei decimo octavo. Qui scandalizaverit unum de pusillis istis qui in me credunt expedit ei ut suspendatur molla asinaria in collo eius et demergatur in profundum maris. Saith our lord. It shall not be so great hurt miserable that giveth evil examples to other if one put a millstone about thy neck and cast the into the deepest of the see as it is to slander and give occasions of sin by evil works and evil examples to them that believeth in me. Sometime the mother saying her son a player and a ryottour she shall be displeasant unto the death/ and shall say I am well unhappy and miserable to have such a child that goth in to hell verily it is so/ and goeth with all the devils where as perpetually he shall be beaten & tormented And all the players if they do not penance and leave these plays dyabolyques. Thou sayeth that it is nothyn for to slander the simple folks/ here yet what our lord & redemptor jesus christ saith Ue homini illi per quem scandalum venit. Certainly sayeth our lord. malediction be given to him by the which cometh slander. O cursed and unhappy player I demand the if thou died make a hole upon the bridge/ or upon some other perilous and dangerous passage/ and the first man or woman the which shall pass thereby by case of adventure falleth therein in to the said river or water/ should thou not be cause of his evil/ and worthy of great punition only after the legystes. Now answer/ which is greater evil to make a body fall in to the river or be cause to make him fall in the peril of his soul. It is evident and manifest that the second is the most greatest evil. And therefore leave these plays cursed & damnable and put pain to redyfye by good works those and them that by your slander have been ill edified. ¶ The eight spear is contemptus matris ecclesie seu inobedientia. These hazarders and cursed players are inobedient to our mother holy church the which defendeth the play at the tables/ not alonely to the men of the church/ but also unto the lay people/ in such manner that when he is correct if he amend him not he aught to be cursed/ even so as it is written in the decrete in the chapter. Episcopus. in the xxxv distinction that is taken in the canon of the apostles where as it is said. Episcopus aut presbiter aut diaconus alee aut ebrietati deseruiens aut desinat aut certe dampnetur. Subdiaconus autem aut lector aut cantor similia faciens aut desinat aut communione privetur similiter et laicus hec ibidem in forma. That is for to say a bishop or a priest or a deacon that continueth at the play of the tables/ cards/ or dice or riot if he leave not such plays he ought to be deposed if he be subdeken/ lectour/ or singer/ or a lay man he must cease also or else be cursed/ these are the proper words in the place declared. And ye must note principally these words opposed in the said canon. Scilicet deseruiens desinat dampnetur & communione privetur. For by the first word that is said deseruiens is given us to understand that if they be not accustomed they shall not bear the said pain after the gloze./ How well that they sin mortally in playing as sayeth master Raymon/ and master Anthony of Florence/ in his some sayeth that how well that some hath willed to say that it is no mortal sin to play save when they accustom them/ which is not true. For how well sayeth he that the custom grieveth the sin/ for all that it moveth not the spice or gender of sin. For it maketh not of a sin venial a sin mortal as sayeth saint Thomas. As the sin of drunkenness/ to the which the play is compared as unto the said pain/ the which is deed●y sin for to commit it one time wittingly/ how be it that he hath not yet the pain/ save when one is accustomed for to be drunken and use the same. By the second word scilicet desinat is given us to understand that how well that he is accustomed for to play he aught to be admonested/ and after that he hath been warned if he will cease he shall eschew the pain. But he aught to do penance for the sin that he hath done in playing. By the other words dampne●ur & communione privetur/ is given us to understand the playing at the plays above said is deadly sin and well grievous. One may prove it in this manner/ none may be deposed or cursed save for deadly sin. By the chapter. Nemo episcoporum. xi.q.iij. Now it is so that the player at the tables aught to be deposed or accursed after the canon above said. Ergo it followeth that it is deadly sin/ saying also that such play is defended in likewise by the law civil/ and laws of the paynims and infidels. As it appeareth in the dygestes in the title of alee lusu & aleatoribus. And sith by new constitution made by the emperor justynyan the which beginneth. Alearun usus written in code in the end of the rubrysshe of religiosis et sumptibus funerun. And not content with this defendeth it yet again in the volume & book of autentyques in the title of sanctissimis episcopis at the paragraph interdicimus in the ix collation/ and that is also put and alegged in the said code in the title of episcopis et cle. And beginneth also the said autentyque interdicimus where as it is textually defended not for to play/ and not to be partaker of the play/ and that more is for to behold play. It is semblably defended by the droyt canon and holy decrete in divers passages. And in likewise in the chapter clerici officia. at the paragraph. Ad aleas et taxillos non ludant nec huiusmodi ludis intersint de vita & honestate clericorum in antiquis. And upon this pace is to be noted after the doctors that the play of tables may be called all game that is joined and subgecte to fortune principally. How well that it is meddled with craft as the play of dice and the play of cards/ and other like. And therefore the text in the said autentyque interdicimus/ useth of this term and word. tabulas/ & the other droyts above alegged of this word alea. Note that our lord sayeth in the gospel luce decimo. Qui vos spernit scilicet prelatos ecclesie in suis ordinationibus me spernit. Sayeth our lord in speaking to his disciples and to their successors/ they that which myspryseth you that is for to say the prelate's of the church in their ordeynaunces/ they myspryse me & contempneth/ What is it for to myspryse & contemn the commandments of our mother holy church. Certainly it is a great sin as it appeareth clearly in the holy decrete Si qui lxxxi. distinctione ubi dicit gregorius. Paganitatis peccatum incurrit quisquis dum cristianum se esse asserit sedi appostolice obedire contemnit. Sayeth saint gregory that in every body runneth the sin of a paynim when he sayeth he is christian not obeying the church.  
¶ The ix spear is perditio temporis. That is that the players loseth their time inutylly and all the goods that they might do. How well that divers rioters not caring for their salute make not great estimation. For all that the prudentes that beholdeth the evil that is done/ and the wealth that is left undone/ hath thereof great conscience/ & such manner of folk considereth not the valour of the time/ the shortness of it irrevocable. The precyousnes of the time is so great that in little space a man may have remission of his sins/ purchase the grace of god/ and acquire the glory of paradise. And therefore sayeth seneca. Nulla maior iactura quam temporis amissio nam recuperari non potest. In the world said he is not so great damage as the losing of the time/ for asmuch as it may not be recovered. Ha' poor and miserable sinner affusked how shalt thou yield accounts of the time that god hath lent and given the for to do penance and good works. The which thou haste evilly employed in serving the devil of hell as well on the day as on the night festes and holidays. Certainly thou shalt answer therefore grievously. For as sayeth saint bernard. Omne tempus tibi impensun reqirer̄ a te qliter sit expensun. & yet. quam sicut nec capillus de capite. sic nec momentum peribit de tempore de quo scilicet non oporteat reddere rationem. this putteth he here. That is for to say that we must yield accounts of the time that hath been given us in this world here. job the holy man considering this/ & how the men abusing them of the time that is ●ente them for to save their souls said in weeping. Sedit homini locum penitency et ipse abutitur eo in superbiam. job viceumoquarto. God sayeth he hath given unto the man the time present/ not for to play and lose it viciously/ but for to do penance. And he wasteth it in pride/ invanyte and in all sins. Item these folks think not on the shortness of the time of this present life. Of the which job speaketh quartodecimo capitulo. breves dies hominis sunt. The days of man are short and soon passed. Certainly they are right short/ for when we shall be at the death it shall seem us to have lived less than an instant And therefore sayeth saint Austyn. Omnia tempora eternitati comparata quan punctus sunt. All the time sith the beginning of the world till unto the end compared to the eternity that we shall have after this life present is but one point. Item they consider not also that the time passed is irrevocable and shall never return. O if the unhappy dampened & reproved sinners might recover one hour of their time lost after that they have talled and felt the right horrible/ intolerable/ and eternal pains of hell from which they shall never depart. What diligence thinkest thou that they would make to think on their sins/ to testefye them/ & confess them/ and to cry mercy/ and for to reconcile them unto god in purpose to be sooner casten in to a furnace brenning/ than ever to return to play defended/ or return to sin. But as sayeth the proverb. Foles do not believe/ till they receive grieve. And therefore after the doctrine of saint poule ad gala ii Operemur bonum non dicit ludum dum tempus habemus. Make we said he good works/ he said not play we at the cards whiles that we have the tyme. Thou sayeth that thou must pass the tyme. Alas the dampened that are in hell wherewith pass they the tyme. Certainly to bain them within the furnace of fire of hell. Think that & the souls of purgatory were in this life how they would occupy the time in weeping their sins and doing penance. We take no regard thereto wherefore ill shall come to us.  
¶ The ten spear is frauds et falsitates. Commonly there is but frauds and deceits in these cursed plays. jeremy nono. Loquitur pacem cum proximo & in occulto ponit insidias. They shall say play we truly. But in their hearts they have will for to beguile each other in hiding the cards/ in casting away the dice/ in reckoning/ in giving false money the which is mortal sin. As it is said extra de furtis et vicesima quinta distinctione in the chapter unum orarium propterea jeremias dicit unusquisque a proximo suo se custodiat. the prophet jeremy sayeth every body beware of his neighbour and have no trust in his brother. For at this day the father will beguile the son/ and the mother the father/ and so consequently of the other.  
¶ The xi spear sunt ire et rixe. It is noises & debates. one shall say such one hath won my money/ shall I never love him/ he is cause that I am a poor man. And reproaches so many that it is marvel with noises that of it proceedeth. Sometime they shall pull them-demaunded forgiveness of our lord/ and died so moche by weepings & lamentations that he found mercy anent god/ and was delivered from the enemy. And then incontinent he came unto the priest that saw these three things by experience as he recounted to the said saint Bernardyn/ in many feasting and declaring the case as it was happened him. And in witness thereof he showed him his shoulders grievously wounded/ and his confession heard died two days after. In this manner divers have fallen in despair.  
¶ The xiij is adoratio stulta. This is a foolish adoration/ for the player maketh of the play his god/ in so much as he hath liefer lose the grace of god than to leave playing. And often for the love that he hath to play he is content to transgress the commandments of god. For as sayeth my lord saint Austyn in the book named de doctrina cristiana. Illud ab homine colitur quod preceteris diligitur. That is for to say that the which thou loveth most/ and to whom thou obeyeth sovereignly thou maketh it thy god. The dice saith when thou playeth that thou hast lost/ pay/ leave thy money with such one/ and thou doth it. And in likewise of cards when thou loseth thou payeth. I demand the if thou obey unto god so liberally. God biddeth the that thou make restitution of that which thou hath of others/ that thou give alms to the poor/ and thou do the nothing. Will ye know the great folly of the players/ and how promptly they obey to the dice and to the cards their idols. The blessed saint Martin that was right liberal for the love of god gave but half of his mantle. But the cursed players giveth it hole for the dice and the cards. And sometime gown and doublet/ and to the end that he be known that he is of the livery of the devil he goeth all naked as his master that is all naked. And that worse is he giveth often y● that is not his/ for he borroweth by usury that the which he hath not/ and robbeth his neighbour/ and more over one may know how the players are fools and unwitty. For as it is thus that the understanding of the man is right noble/ for all he submitteth him to obey to the bone of a dog/ and believe his judgement. And notwithstanding he would not believe the sentence of johan-andrewe/ or some other well famed doctors without appellation/ as he doth at the sentence of his judge the dice/ or the cards/ which seethe not/ heareth not/ nor speaketh not. And yet he doth more greater honour to three dice/ or to a pair of cards than he doth to the humanity of our lord/ for often at the play he is usurped & blasphemed. And therefore our lord in complaining him of the players sayeth in this manner by the mouth of the prophet royal david. Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos. etc. They have pierced my feet & my hands/ and have put me in such estate that one may tell all my rib and bones. Note poor miserable player if thou were a good christian man when there should be nothing else to withdraw the from such play save only the gown of thy redemptoure that was played at the game of sort as it is written. Supervestem meam miserunt sortem./ it should be a sufficient cause to abstain you from such plays/ and to have abomination to play/ make/ sell/ or buy dice and cards/ or other like.  
¶ The fourtynth spear is ocij nutrimentum. That is nourishing of unlustiness/ under the umbre too be not vacabunde. if a man will be perfitly unthrifty ye need not but to put him to follow the plays/ for sith ever after he shall be unthrifty at the work/ you see it by the experience of divers/ they can not abide half a day at work. Semblably of the children that will not learn no craft. Osyvyte is tho that divers have but little conscience of after saint Bernarde nutrix viciorum et totius inimica virtutis. The plays are the nourishing of slothfulness & enemy of all virtues as it is written in the twelve chapter of the proverbs. He is right foolish the followeth slothfulness/ & in ezechiel in the xuj chapter. The cause of the iniquity of Sodom was pride/ gluttony/ avarice/ and sloth/ as rote of all the evils that is proceeded.  
¶ The xu & last spear is turpis et infamisvita. This life is vile and abominable. For they that accustom them for to play becometh drunkards and harlots and have no cure of their wives nor of their children And shortly they are in the indignation of god and opprobyte of the men as sayeth the psalmist. Opprobrium hominum & abiectio plebis And consequently they do against the first commandment of droyt. That is for to wit to live honestly without hurting of other/ in yielding unto his neighbour and even christian that the which appertaineth to them. As biddeth the droyt vulgaryes.  
THe prophet after that he hath said odivi ecclesiam malignantium it followeth cum impiis non fedebo. That is for to say I shall not set me with the evil/ or men without pity. When the men are assembled for to do some good god is in the mids of them And when they are assembled for some evil god is not there but the devil of hell. The players commonly are not assembled save for evil intention/ and also the devil governeth them and helpeth them to fight without pity against our redemptor. For there is found but few palyes there as our lord is not offended/ and the mortally/ or at the least venially. And right often that the which is mortal we repute often for venial. And also the contrary. And for the venial one shall be tormented in the fire of purgatory. Uenyell sin disposeth to mortal and dymynyssheth heat in the body. For all that it putteth him not out of the charity of god. And rially there is so moche sin committed at the play that one may well say that it is a dispraising of Ihesu christ And when there should be none other sin but vain swearing and blaspheming yet is it a great thing/ For in as much as is in the blasphemers they crucefye our redemptor and putteth him to death. And for this third mystery we have to behold which are the folk that damneth them by the plays above said. Answereth my lord saint Bernardin that there is xij manner of folks/ that is for to wit.  
¶ Their faders and moders.  

The players.  
Their wives and children.  
They that giveth the houses for to play  
They that make/ sell/ or buy/ give/ or lenne the dice/ the cards/ the tables/ or other plays.  
They that serve the players or give them either fire or candle.  
They that beholdeth them.  
They that lenne them money for to play.  
The judges and prelate's that suffereth them & might et them.   
¶ The first are the unhappy players that are in the first place and offendeth god mortally/ and damneth their souls when they play at any play defended/ as the play of dice/ of cards/ of tables. & other plays of chance & hazard. Secondly when god is offended by swearing/ losings/ blasphemes and so of other. thirdly when they play by avarice and covetise to win./ Fourthly when they observe not the time/ as when that they say the mass/ sermon/ or the evensong/ or that they play or dance in holy ground/ they think to win and loseth moche. And if the players will make due penance they are bounden to two things. first to confess their sins & purpose never to return again Secondly they are bounden to make restitution of all that which they have won at these cursed plays./ And that it is true we shall put ten witnesses worthy of credence and believe/ that is for to wit Astexanus libro quinto. ti.xxx. Master johan of Gerson in his preceptorye upon this passage. Non furtum facies. master Ambrose sphyera in his quadragesimal of the flower of sapience/ master johan consobrim white freer in his treaty of justice commutative. Innocent. Hostiense Raymon master Nycole de lyre/ saint Bernardyn/ & master richard of meiville in his quart in the distinction xu in. the .v. article/ the question uj The which doctors sayeth that the play of dice/ and of cards and other semblables are in such wise defended that that which they win is unjustly gotten/ and that they may not with hold it. This proveth master Nycole de lyre upon these words non furtum facies. Thou shalt make no theft/ and sayeth that the reason therefore that none may with hold that that he hath won at the play is for the play of the dice/ of the cards/ and of the tables is defended and foreboden by the laws and by the droits written. And therefore in things so won one must have good title/ good faith/ and just cause. Which are the three things necessary in the same who that will have right and possede any good temporal. This confirmeth master johan Gerson in exposing the vij commandment of god/ and sayeth in this manner. Against this commandment thou shalt commit no theft. they and those sin that by playing at the dice/ car●des/ tables/ or other plays forboden win the goods of other and retaineth them. For one may not by right withhold that which he hath won at those plays But behoveth to restore it again to him that he hath won it of/ or give it to the poor folk after the most common opinion And we must dystyngue it after the said doctor. For if thou have won of any that are not able to help themself/ as is ydyottes/ unreasonable men/ children not of great age/ unthrifty/ religious wedded women/ servants/ men of the church that playeth the goods of poor folks and other like/ or if thou have induced and tyced any for covetise of winning or if thou haste beguiled any in playing in giving false dice/ false cards/ or mysrekening. In these cases thou art bounden to restore unto them that which y● hast won/ and aught not to make none alms/ but yield it unto them. But if any that hath puissance for to forbear it that hath lost at play/ and that thou have won it without fraud or deception/ thou art not holden to restore it him. For he that hath lost it is not worthy to receive it. And that notwithstanding thou can not withhold it with right. But aught for to depart it unto the poor people. And so should the winner put the gains in his purse/ for otherwise it is against the commandment of god. non furtum facies. These things sayeth master johan Gerson. But how is the understonden that it aught to be given to the poor folk Shall the player say I wan yesterday ten shillings and to day I returned and have lost ten. For to wit if I am holden for to give unto the poor folk that the which I had won yesterday/ how well that to day I have lost it. Sayeth the doctors that ye. For thou mayst not play the goods of the poor folk/ it is not thine. For conclusion always the player loseth his time his soul and his temporal goods/ wherefore keep them therefro that will.  
¶ The second that damneth them by the plays are the kinsmen of the players. As the father and the mother ● the master the mistress ● and principally for three reasons. The first is when they chastise them not as they aught and are holden ● and therefore they are the cause of the evil that they do. Secondly when they are party fellows at the play. It happeneth oftentimes that the mother and her children are nourished with the winning of the plays & is culpable of the sin/ for they set them on work to the end that they make good cheer. And such manner of folks is bounden to make restitution of that which they have received/ as it is written in the decretal de iniurus & damno dato in the chapter. Si culpa.  
¶ The third reason when they are unpatient. divers times thou shalt see that the kinsmen is so replete with unpatience that they curse them and give them unto the devil/ and sweareth and blasphemeth/ & angreth them against their children that is players/ Not for the love of god/ nor for the salute of their souls. But because they waste and destroy the goods of the house. And so they fall in unpatience and desireth the deaths of their children and theirs also/ which is clean against the commandment of god.  
¶ The third that damneth them by the plays are the wives and their children. first when they part of the profit of the play/ and restoreth it not. Right often the wife shall bear a pledge for to make good cheer on/ which aught not to be done. For it is comen of devilishness/ if she had not great necessity. Secondly when they are unpatient. For divers curseth the hour and the day that they were married on. And oftentimes becometh noughtypackes for the play of their husbands. And thirdly when the children play by the example of their father and mother/ specially when the play is holden in their house. In like wise the daughters becometh harlots. When they play in a house/ I demand the what manner of folk are they that resorteth thither. None but knaves and rioters/ which shall speak of ribaldry whiles the other playeth/ And the maidens that are great the spynneth on their rocks beside them shall here all this. And there shall be made divers dishonest and villain approachings and occasions of innumerable sins. I speak not of the master of the house. Certainly they shall come often in to thy house under the colour of wayging/ but it shall be to deceive thy wife. For they shall abide drinking and playing unto midnight/ and than they will say it is to late to go unto their lodgings let us have a chambre/ and all the night god wot what they do. Thou knoweth not all/ if thou be wise take good keep that of thy house be not made the church of the devil And know for a truth that there is divers that careth not for to lose their money to the end that they may come unto their enterprise.  
¶ The fourth are they that giveth the houses/ the places/ the courts there as is made the plays. As tennis plays/ and closhbankes/ such houses buyeth our great masters/ for they have more greater rents because of the plays that is made there sayeth saint Bernardin It seemeth me that one may not find profit in the place that is so full of iniquytes. How is it that the burgesses winneth/ in letting forth their houses there as is excercised these plays dyabolyques. And that the causeth the merchants to win in selling the dice and the cards the tables and other plays. For they are partakers of all the evils that followeth. Because that they give cause and place for to commit the sin in of the which they must yield accouncte before god And all they also the which keepeth sellers where as is plaing at the dice and cards early and late at all times to the end for to cell their drink/ or to have some gains. And for to understand the great ill that it is to suffer playing in their houses it behoveth to look the first law in the title above alegged de alee lusu et alcatoribus. in the old digest where as is thus said. Si quis illum verberauerit in cuius hospitio lusum est in alea. vel si dolo aliquid subtractum fuerit judicium ei non datur. This law that is made by a paynim to the detestation of the play saith that when a person holdeth players in his house/ if it happened that the mean while that the players is in his house that he be beaten or hurt or that his money be stolen out of his coffer or other gods/ and that he complain unto the justice/ this law sayeth that the judge shall give him none audience. because of the detestation of his sin. What shall we say of them that holdeth the plays in his house. Of the which followeth so many evils and scandals. And sometime goeth for to fetch the players for to play all the night. They play not against their will/ for they may put them out. It should be another thing of an ho●tel ere that lodgeth men of arms/ & the kings servants/ to whom they dare not bid go out for fere of beating. But his wife may speak hardly/ for they will be ashamed to smite her. And therefore among you wives if you be good christian women you aught for to cry and rather cheese to die than to suffer that god be offended in your houses when you may let it. For a good child may not suffer that his father be wronged in his proper house. In some place of this realm was a gentleman that led a harlot in to a house that he had let to a crafty man. When this man saw this harlot he said unto the gentleman/ my lord if it please you/ ye shall have her out of this house. For if you do not I promise you by my faith that I shall put the fire in the house. And thus the lord was constrained to put her out. But what shall we say of divers/ they desire not that their houses be brent/ for they have profit and the grace of the lord. ye but for all that they are in the indignation of god the creature. Tell me what profiteth it the to be in the grace of this lord that is a ribald/ harlot/ and thief. If thou be in his grace it may be that thy wife is his whore for all retribution.  
¶ The fifth that do damn them by the plays are they that make the dice/ cell/ buy/ give or lenne.  
¶ The sixth are they that make the cards/ that sell them buy them/ give them/ or lenne them.  
¶ The seventh are they that make the tables/ sell/ buy/ give/ or lenne.  
¶ The viij: are they that make the berlans/ though the sell them buy them/ give them/ or lenne them/ though that giveth the stuff for to make them. As the bones/ the paper/ the colours/ the moules/ and things like. All these here are cause of the evils/ blasphemes/ slanders/ and unhappiness that followeth/ and shall yield accounts at the judgement of god. For as sayeth the doctors. and amongst the other master Anthony of Florence. part secunda titulo primo capitulo vigesimo tertio. Saint Bernardyn in the treaty that he hath made of the religion christian master Ange of clavasio in his some in vocabulo ars master Henry herp in exposing the commandments of god. The some of rosel invocabulo negociatio de floribus sapientie sermon tricesimo quinto. Such manner of folk is not in the estate of grace but damneth their souls. And that more is they may not be assoiled but if they leave their crafts. De penitentia distinctione quinta/ the chapter falsas the chapter fratres/ and the chapter negocium. And they aught to deny them the body of our lord Ihesu cryst as they do in Almaigne/ and in the city of Milan For when Ester day cometh they are expulsed & cast out of the church as the common harlots of the bordel And after when they are deed they are sent in to the filthy dunghill/ and there is buried with the horses and caryens. There is some that sayeth/ if I knew that it were deadly sin for to make/ sell/ or buy the dice and the cards for nothing would I meddle therewith. understand what our lord sayeth. In ore duorum vel trium stat omne verbum. That is for to say one aught to believe the witness of two or three. I ask the if thou go thirty or forty mile far and that thou came to the entering of a wood finding there a little shepherd that said unto thee/ my friend pass not thorough the wood wherefore good son/ for because that there is four murderers that even now hath cut the throat of a merchant or twain. Tell me truth would thou pass forth/ pass/ I shall keep me well therefro. And how though it is but a little shepherd that hath told it thee/ in effect thou shalt say for all that I will not put me in danger. Now if it be so that thou believe a little shepherd for thy life corporal wherefore than believeth thou not so many notable and holy doctors and preachers the which showeth and declareth the the salute and health of thy soul/ and thou to be so negligent to put it in forgetting./ And for to declare this matter more largely we shall take a preposition that is written in the pystyll that my lord saint Poule sent unto the romans/ where as he sayeth. Providentes bona non solum coram deo sed etiam coram omnibus hominibus. ad ro. twelve That is to say that for to have paradise it sufficeth not to be good before god/ but to do good works before the people. Upon the which words say we one preposition general and note it for it toucheth every estate/ and specially them that meddle with dice and cards. I believe if you understand it well you shall know the great perils that you are in/ and the evil that you do. The preposition is such. Every body that hath desire for to die well and that hath will for to come unto the glory of paradise is holden and bounden upon the pain of mortal sin to live so virtuously that it give none occasion nor knowledge to his christian brother to offend god mortally. Providentes bona non solum coram deo sed etiam coram omnibus hominibus. One might speak here to the bawds that stealeth the souls of Ihesu christ from faders and moders/ masters or mistresses that showeth evil examples to their main/ to the tayllers that maketh the dissolute garments/ to the crafty men that showeth their children & servants to make frauds and deceits/ and maketh them work on the holy days. But come we unto them that meddleth them to make dice and cards. I pray you tell me by your conscience if a boy or a ryottour buy a pair of cards of you or a pair of dice is it not wittingly matter for to offend god mortally/ it is manifest. If you say that you can not tell the experience showeth it openly at the eye the great evils and horrible blasphemes and sins innumerable that is committed every day. In such manner that if you were by them sometime till midnight and wrote all the words that issueth out of their cursed mouths/ you would say that with great pain the devil might find so many. Who is cause. It is the cards that thou haste sold. Now imagine how many souls is dampened in hell for the dice and for the cards that hath been made at Paris/ at Lyon/ at Roen/ and in other places. And think you not that it crieth vengeance to god the creature against them that is cause of their damnation/ certainly yes. Will ye know perfitly the evil that followeth of dice and cards Our lord answereth. A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. you shall know them by the fruit that they bear One knoweth not the bounty or malice of a tree by the branches or leaves/ but by the fruit that it beareth. Now take we two trees. The first shall be a harlot the which hath been in a chambre by the space of twenty year committing her lechery with her ribald. And the other tree shall be a maker of cards or dice/ or tables/ and other instruments of play of chance/ the which sith xx. year hitherward hath always made dice & cards/ now demand we our lord and redemptoure. Lord god tell us if it please you of which of these two you have been most offended/ of the harlot/ or of the dice & cards made by this man here. I believe if it pleased him for to speak that he would say. A fructibus eorum potestis cognoscere. you may know it shall our lord say by the fruit that is issued thereout. I will not compare the operation of this harlot to the operation of this card maker/ or maker of dice/ but the evil that is followed/ and will prove that god hath been more offended by the cards that hath been made in the house of this cardmaker/ or dice maker/ than of the lechery of this harlot for four reasons. The first for this wretched harlot hath not offended our lord but in her chambre where as she was present. But the cardmaker/ & maker of dice is occasion that our lord is offended/ not alonely in one house and one street: in one parisshe/ but in all the town. And not alonely in one town/ but in Paris/ in Roen/ in Lion/ and in all France as well as here in this country/ and through all christendom far and near.  
¶ The second reason for this harlot offendeth god but only in her life/ but the cardmaker and maker of dice is occasion that god is offended in his life in his death and after his death. Note cardmaker and maker of dice when thou shalt be in the article of death and the one shall hold the candle in thy hand/ and that the priest shall cry Jesus' my friend Jesus'/ it may be that some playeth with the dice or cards that thou hast made and for asmuch as he loseth his money in renaying and blaspheming god and breaking the cards shall say. All the devils of hell take the soul of him that hath made these dice or cards. And peradventure he shall be a man of the church/ or religious/ or an abbot or a bishop.  
¶ The third reason is that this harlot offendeth god only when she waketh/ but this cardmaker/ and maker of dice are occasion that god is offended when they wake/ when they sleep/ when they take their refection when they are in the church to pray god/ and the mean while the players giveth him to the devil and curseth him. And right so as a good christian he may say unto god. Particeps factus sum omnium timentium te. Lord god I thank the of that thou maketh me perteyner of all the goods that your servants maketh. Semblably he that meddleth him to make/ sell/ and buy the dice and the cards may say unto the devil that he is perteyner of all the evils and sins that is committed by the players.  
¶ The fourth reason is that the lechery of this harlot hath not been occasion save only to make two persons too sin/ she and her leman. But the cards of this cardmaker/ and the dice of this dice maker have not been only cause that two persons hath offended god/ but. xx.xxx.xl. C.M.x. thousand. C.M. and innumerable of all estates. For it is one of the greatest abusings that domyneth to day in christendom.  
¶ There is divers abusings particularly in all estates/ as in the estate of the church where as simony reigneth/ in religion propriety and inobedience/ amongst the nobles rapine/ in justice pilling/ scratching and fleeing of poor people/ among the burgesses usury/ avarice/ and inhumanyte/ in merchandise frauds and deceptions/ among the crafty men losings forswearings/ breaking of holidays & so of other. But there is an abuse general the which toucheth every estate great and little/ rich and poor/ whereof speaketh the prophet zacharye octavo. That is the abuse to play at the dice and cards from which proceedeth so many evils and sins that as the doctors sayeth they transgress and break the ten commandments of god/ they contemn the five commandments of holy church. By this blindness they commit the seven deadly sins/ they adnychyll the seven gifts of the holy ghost. By this abuse they make irreverence to the holy sacrament of the church/ they run in the indignation of god. By this abuse cometh often wars/ pestilences/ famynes/ and mortalytes/ by this abuse they lose the realm of paradise and goeth unto damnation eternal. Now think how many souls there is damned in hell for the abuse of playing at the dice and cards. And generally all the evils that may be thought proceedeth and cometh of this abuse. I demand from whence cometh at this day so many blasphemings against god and the blessed virgin mary/ and against all the saints of paradise. Answereth zachary. Civitas replebitur hominibus ludentibus. The city is replete with evil and damnable players/ contrary to good policy and things public/ the which perverteth the good conditions/ and purchaseth the abuse to play at the dice and at the cards. Fro whence cometh so many homicides/ murders/ fighting/ killing/ murmuring/ cutting of legs and arms/ and casting in to the river. Answereth zachary. Civitas replebitur. etc. It is the abuse to play at the dice and cards. Fro whence cometh so many avaryces/ rapines/ usuries/ and thefts. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse of playing at the dice & cards. Fro whence cometh it that so many youngmen robbeth their kinsmen/ the servants their masters and mistresses/ the men of the church the goods of the poor people. Answereth zachary. Certainly it is the abuse of the plaing of the dice and cards. What is the cause that so many good houses is lost/ the daughters abide unmarried/ the children unpurveyed. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse at the playing of the dice and cards. Fro whence cometh it that there is so many poor widows in great necessity/ the orphelyns all naked that hath not breed for to eat. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse to play at the dice and cards. What is the cause of so many glotonyes/ dronkenshippes'/ lecheries/ advoutries/ fornications/ violations of young maidens/ & leading unto perdition. Answereth zachary. Civitas replebitur. etc. Certainly it is the abuse to play at the dice/ and cards. What is the cause of so much defiling & setting at naught god our creature and our mother holy church/ to break the holidays/ and the fasts comemaunded/ losing the mass and evensong/ and the sermons. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse of playing at the dice & cards. Fro whence cometh so many noises and debates/ and dissensions in marriage between the husband and the wife/ it seemeth that it is an hell Answereth zachary. It is the abuse to play at the dice & cards Wherefore is it that they leave to do alms to pay their debts/ and accomplish the testaments of their kinsmen deed/ and to pay the dimes and rents of the church. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse to play at the dice and cards. Fro whence cometh it that so many wives are beaten and hurt/ ill clothed & that some of them dieth for hunger with their children. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse of playing at the dice and cards. Fro whence proceedeth so many hates/ envies/ ires/ iniuryenge the other. Answereth zachary. It is the abuse to play at the dice and cards What is the cause that so many youngmen and sons of good houses are taken of the justice/ put in prison/ & hanged to the confusion of their friends. Answereth zachary. It is the abusing to play at the dice or at the cards. Fro whence cometh it that many young children are so dissolute and given to unthriftiness/ gluttons/ saucy/ liars/ and will do nothing/ are rebels and inobedients to their friends/ & sometime leaveth in necessity their faders and moders/ and without taking leave goeth far and near. Answereth zachary. Civitas replebitur hominibus ludentibus. It is the abuse to play at the dice and cards. And thus you see manifestly that this abusing maketh horrible wounds in christendom/ and how it is cause of the perdition not alonely of the goods temporal/ but also of the bodies & souls. What remedy/ what is to be done/ will not my lords of the church and governors of the common welfare do for the love of their god/ lord/ and judge sovereign/ and for the wealth and prosperity spiritual and corporel of their subjects as they are straightly bounden after the duty of their estates & offices/ they aught for to lose both eating drinking and sleeping for to think & purvey therefore/ for it toucheth them right near/ and aught to be right joyous to find some mean to deject & he'll this horrible pestilence & abuse damnable. Now understand if it please you/ there is but one thing as it is said in the decretal depenitentus et remissionibus in the chapter. Cum infirmitas Remota causa removetur effectus. Will you make an ill tree for to die in your garden/ cut the rote of the same evil tree and it shall bear no more ill fruit Will you take away all the evils and slanders of the which we have spoken/ take away all the dice & all the cards in your cities bourghs and towns and brenne them/ for it is a general rule. A destructione cause sequitur destructio effectus. ye must destroy the dice and the cards and the play shall cease/ and consequently the evils that followeth. There is not he but that they know it. And it is that the which my lord saint Poule sayeth in the authority above spoken. Providentes bona non tamen coram deo s etiam coram omnibus hominibus. That is for to say that for to have paradise it sufficeth not to be good before god/ but also to do good works and operations before the people for to show and teach them the right way unto paradise as they are bound.  
¶ The ix that damneth them for the plays are they that lenneth money to a hasardoure for to play at the dice or at the cards. One shall find sooner a man that will lenne silver unto a ryottour or hasardoure/ than they will do unto a good man in his necessity/ the which is an evident and open sign that they are the ministers and servants of the devil. Shall a player say go we to play. His fellow shall answer I have not a halfpenny. Take no thought shall the other say I have enough for us both. And thus for the devil he shall sooner lenne ten nobles than he would do for the love of god ten shillings to a good man in his great necessity if he should die for hunger. O how it is great ill for to confound money to the players.  
¶ The ten that damneth them by the plays are they that serveth the player's giving them fire and candle There is that serveth the players all the night being before them/ and shall take sometime a noble for a candle/ and yet the tapster will not be ashamed to say that it is for to mary her daughter. And the unhappy players shall let her take it with a good will/ in saying within their hearts/ she will condescend more sooner to our request/ she shall let her be kissed and groped/ or if that she may not intend she shall send her great daughter/ lo here is a fair beginning for to be a good wife.  
¶ The xj that damneth them by plays are they that abideth for to behold the players/ they do more greater hurt than they ween/ and believe that all the blasphemings/ deceivings/ losings/ and other sins that is committed there is transported to them that beholdeth them. For they prove the games. How is it possible that one may stand beside the fire without warming him And therefore sayeth the wise/ ecclesiastici xiij. Qui tetigerit picem inquinabitur ab ea. That is for to say/ who that toucheth rosin he shall be spotted or maculed And sayeth after. Qui communicat superbo induit superbiam. Who that haunteth a proud man shall become proud also. I demand you sayeth saint Bernardyn who may behold them that committeth actuelly the sin of lechery without being spotted with sin. What is he that doubteth that he that beholdeth the player's runneth not in more greater sin than they that beholdeth them that committeth lechery. How be it/ it is so that they are parteyners of all the sins that is done and committed there/ as sayeth saint Poule the apostle. ad Ro. primo. Digni sunt morte non solum qui ea faciunt sed etiam qui consentiunt facientibus. That is for to say that not alonely they that committeth the sin are worthy death eternal/ but also they that consent to them that do the evil/ for the prophet david sayeth. Cum perverso perverteris. With the evil sayeth he thou shalt become evil. Of this speaketh the holy scripture in the third chapter in the book of Thobye/ where as is made mention of a good maiden/ god will that there be many such ones/ that said in this manner. Nunquam cum ludentibus me miscui neque cum his qui in leuita●te ambulant particitem me tribui. She was in great tribulation and desolation this good virgin. For unjustly they had done her a great reproach. And even so as she should she put her in orison to appease god and said. Lord god I have done you this little service it is that I never meddled me with the players Ha' my lord god I have done this for the love of the I have not been in the dances with the light maidens. It seemed her that she had done a great service to god/ and therefore that god should give her that which she demanded/ and also she obtained it. For she was married unto a good man the son of the good Thobye. And at this day they vaunt them. Shall my burgess say. It was I that they came for too fetch to the banquet. I have found such a fashion of a gown I have worn it first I have found such a play/ and shall vaunt her/ and the daughter shall say. My mother I am the first that hath song this song. O miserable thou rejoiceth the of the evil that thou hath done/ weep/ weep/ & demand pardon of god. Of the evil that they do that beholdeth play the players/ behold also that the which the law civil. In predicta autentica interdicimus/ here above aleggued. Which is argument that such sinneth mortally/ where as it is expressly defended to be boty fellows with the players/ and not to behold them play. And mark well the punition that he aught to have after the said law that doth the contrary. He aught to be closed in a minster by the space of three year to do penance. And if he have a benefice he aught to be suspended from his benefice. Lo here an argument that they sin mortally/ for/ for sin venyell they give not such penance. And this is confirmed in the said decretal. Clerici officia. de vita et honestate clericorum that was made at the consyle general. What shall we say of them that playeth openly in the street/ & of them that beholdeth them. But at this time we make no conscience thereof for asmuch as there is no correction done. And right often they that play are the greatest/ & they that aught to chastise the other. Alas we see every day that they the which should be the example to live well to the simple folk/ are the spectacle of unthriftiness. ¶ The twelve that damneth them by the plays are they that might let them and have authority to do it/ as the prelate's of the church/ the men of justice/ the governors of cities/ the lords terryens/ and all they that by their offices or by their oaths are bounden for to punish the open sinners. For the which god punished a hole commonalty. And therefore it was said & answered by the crucifix to king Robert praying god at orleans for the peace of his realm of France that he should have none if he chastised not the blasphemings in especial/ and all other open sins of his realm in general/ as is found in the chronicles and stories. And consequently aught to for do these players and take away the occasions to play sith that there proceedeth so many evils and sins/ and if they labour not to take them away they consent to the evil. For it is written. lxxxv●. distinctione. capi. Culpam. ubi dicitur. Culpam facientis procul dubio h qui quod potest corrigere negligit emendare. and followeth Negligere cum tu possis deturbare ꝑuersos nihil aliud est quam fovere: & proba●odisse sevicia qui condēnat errantes. We say marvels that we shall do none evil. Certainly at the hour that we shall punish the sins we shall show that we hate the evil. But and we make dissimulation/ it is sign that we give favour. It followeth in this chapter. Nichil prodest alicui non puniri proprio que pumendus enalieno peccato. Suppose that thou art not a harlot/ nor player what shall that profit that if thou be dampened for the sin of other/ as hely is dampened for the sin of his children/ for all that he was good himself/ of the which speaketh saint Iherome. Hely pro iniquitate filiorum suorum damnatus est corripuit qui dē eos sed levitate patris non auctoritate pontificis. hec hieronimus. And to the end that this great good may issue in effect/ and the better to take away the occasions of playing I counsel and require every body that desireth to be saved/ and to give none occasion to other for to sin nor of damnation/ that hath the dice/ the cards/ & the tables/ with other plays/ that you bren/ them in a fire/ and sacryfye them to our lord. So as they were deputed for to do sacrifice unto the devil of hell/ For god commandeth in his law right so as it is written primi paralipomenon decimo quarto. ca et deutero nomij vij that the things that hath been dedicate to the devil of hell should be destroyed and brent with in the fire. And so died the king david of the idols of the Phylystyns/ how well that they were of great valour. And if that you do so/ the good lord for the fere love and honour of whom you do it/ he shall reward you well and not for that in so doing I make you partners of all the messes that I shall sing hereafter Halas none aught to be withdrawn from doing so good a work for three considerations. The first as unto god. The second as unto himself. The third as unto his neighbour. The ●yrste consideration as unto god is that even so as god hath been injuried with such instruments and openly offended by the great destruction of the same be the devil confounded and god honoured as it is written in the decretal. de penitentus et remissionibus. ca primo. Manifesta peccata non sunt occulta correctione purganda. That is for to say the sins manifest aught to be punished openly The second consideration as unto himself is to the end that the occasions to play which is the instruments of the devil be taken away for so as we have said before. Remota causa removetur effectus. Take away the instruments and they shall play no more. And if you will not brenne them it is sign that you are not contrite of your sins and that you have no purpose to leave these plays dyabolyques. The third consideration is as unto his neighbour for even so as by the plays and sins that hath been committed by these instruments they have been slandered and diminished/ thus by the destruction they shall be edified and have the said play in abomination. And take good keep that by avarice and by the suggestion of the devil there abide none in your houses/ and in like wise of the tables that they be not converted in too some profits of the house/ as it is so that a true penitent hath not alonely abomination of his sins/ but also of all the things by whom the divine majesty is offended. For the child showeth not to have loved his father that voluntarily and wittingly usrth & serveth him with the knife that his father hath been slain with. By the things above said the church of the cursed folks shall be destroyed/ and the players through the grace of god chastised/ and the sins of the play to be confounded with the devil of hell. And the virtues and good conditions shall take augmentation & increasing in the people. The which thing pleaseth it the mercy of god to utter unto us of his benign grace and pity. Amen.  
THe king saint Joys considering the evils that followeth of such manner of plays forbade & defended throughout all his real me even so as it appeareth by his constitutions and ordeynaunces made and pronounced at paris/ the year of grace. M. two hundred & four and fifti in the month of december. Out of the which constitutions hath been extract the articles that followeth.  

¶ The first article.  
¶ We will and command that all the bailiffs of our realm/ and all other having office under them/ and that receiveth wages of us be not so hardy to pronounce any injurious word against the honour of god of the virgin mary or his saints. Moore over that they abstain them from all plays of dice and cards/ and from fornication/ & from frequenting of the taverns   

¶ The second article.  
¶ More over we defend straightly that none be so hardy to play in any manner at the dice and cards.  
¶ Item we will and ordain that all they that keepeth such manner of instruments to play/ or for to make to play to be grievously punished. In like wise that through all our realm it be defended to all workmen to make such cards and instruments.  
¶ At the beginning of the above said ordeynaunces royal is thus written. We will and ordain that all bailiff's provosts vycountes and mayors of towns and all other constituted in offices under them be constrained & sworn that they shall keep and make to be kept to their power the said ordeynaunces and constitutions. And if by adventure our bailiffs are transgressors of the said swearings/ we ordain that they be punished in their goods/ or in their bodies if need be reserving for all that the punition to ourself/ or to some body committed and deputed by us to do the same. But if the provosts/ mayors/ vycountes and other officers under the said bailiffs vyoleth their said oaths we will that they be punished by the bayllyfe with the counsel of the justice in taking witness of some good men.   
¶ The abovesaid constitutions are written among other in a book written in parchment being in the library of the rial college of Navarre founded at Paris entitled the book of customs of divers countries and the ordeynaunces of saint Louis.  
¶ Here after followeth some opinions of holy & venerable doctors upon the matter of the dice and of the cards.  

¶ The first is of saint Bernardyn in the book that he hath made of the christian religion in the sermon xlij article three cha. ij.  
BY the opinion of the said saint Bernardin and of the other doctors here after named is appearing that they and though that maketh dice and cards/ and they that by them and cell them sinneth mortally/ for they are all consenting of the evil/ and doth it together/ so as sayeth the rule of droit of them that are occasion of the evil. Qui occasionem damni dat: damnum dedisse videtur. That is for to say. He that giveth occasion of ill seemeth to do the evil. And also such art aught to be defended/ reason is/ for it is against the wealth of the soul/ and against the utility and profit of the thing public/ and to the damage of the same in asmuch as it undothe the good universal/ beholding the good particular. Iten it is against the right in asmuch as it beguileth other the which thing is defended of three laws/ ye of the law of nature/ of scripture and of grace/ and also by the law human as it is noted in the first of the instytutes at the paragraph juris precepta sunt hec. etc.  
¶ Item sayeth the said holy doctor in the opinion above specified that all the persons above named are partners of the evils that proceedeth of the said dice and cards/ that is blasphemings against god ● & forswearings/ thefts/ beguilings/ and other evils and great slanders. And finally the fruit that cometh of players is but evil. And if you will know it Jesus' our redemptor showeth to know them in the vij chapter of saint Mathewe. A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos. That is for to say by their fruit you shall know them.  
¶ Item the said art and other like are defended because that sort concordeth in them as sayeth the laws cyvyles and also the droit canon▪ And all they that occupieth them shall yield accounts before the judgement of the holy trinity. And this may be understand of the other plays of chance.   

¶ The second opinion is of master Anthony of Florence in his second party/ in the first title/ in the xxiij chapter/ and xiij pa. The opinion of this doctor is that the said persons above named sinneth mortally saying thus. To speak of the makers of dice and of cards & sellers of the same they sin mortally/ because that the men useth them most in sinning mortally/ wherefore it must be said that the said personages above named may not be excused from deadly sin saying that there is none that careth for the evil end of the art/ and may not be assoiled save that they leave the said arte● as sayeth the droyt cano/ as it is noted in the party in ●tytled de penitentia distinctione .v. in the chapter. Falsas/ in the chapter. Fratres. And in the chapter. Negocium. etc.   

¶ The third opinion is of master Ange de clavasio in his some in the title ars/ & paragraph two  
SAyeth this doctor/ all they and tho that marks dice and cards and other curyosites by which oftentimes is in deadly sin those that occupy them/ may not be assoiled but if that they leave their craft.   

¶ The fourth opinion is of master baptist in his some called roselle in the title/ Negociatio.  
ANd he sayeth thus. They that make dice & cards are not excused/ for the most often the men in playing abuseth them with the same/ and is stirred unto avarice/ and not for cause of recreation as one aught to do in all plays without any malice or deception.   

¶ The .v. is of master Henry Herp in the book that he hath made of the commandments of the law upon this word. Non furtum facies.  
THis venerable doctor sayeth as the other/ and also sayeth more over. Such folk are not excused by ignorance. For they aught to know it. As divers knoweth well that such plays may not be made without abusing/ reason is. For every body aught for to know to what end the art draweth that he winneth his living by/ That is for to wit if it be honest or not/ or to the prejudice of the common welfare/ or of his neighbour or otherwise. He the which ygnoreth this is culpable of sin as it is noted in the droit canon. extra de iniu. et dam. da. in the chapter. Si culpa. And it is to be noted that every art and human office aught not to be excercised but if that they be well proved to be necessary and utile after reason and human equity to the life of men the which thing god the creator signifieth in genesis in the third chapter saying to Adam. In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo. That is for to say In the sweet of thy body thou shalt win oh Adam & shall use thy breed. In showing us clearly that we aught not to intend to no labour/ nor to none art save unto that the which is to the sustaining of the life human ordained and established. To this purpose sayeth Crysostome upon saint mathewe. Eas solas oportet artes vocare que necessariorum et eorum que continent vitam nostram sunt distributive et constructive. That is to say. It behoveth only to call and name that sciences & arts to be sciences by the which we may have and win the things necessary and profitable to the sustaining of our lives corporal. Whereby if any crafty man abused with his science as we see oftentimes / how well that by him the science is not evil notwithstanding it aught to be exturped and defended by the authority of the prince after the documents of Plato in his politics that he hath made de regime of the common wealth.   

¶ The uj opinion is of master Ambrose Sphiera in his quadragesimal de floribus sapienty in the xxxuj sermon/ in the second party/ in the third conclusion towards the end.  
THe opinion of the said master is such./ All they that selleth/ buyeth/ or lenneth dice tables/ cards/ and other semblable instruments sinneth mortally/ and are partners of all the crimes and evils that issueth by the rule above rehearsed. Qui occasionem. etc. Example positive. I demand sayeth the said doctor/ what evil should it be if some workman made/ or sold/ lenned/ or gave a knife to some evil body murderer/ to the end that the true innocentes and good men were killed & slain To answer truly it should be a great evil. And by more stronger reason it is more greater evil without comparison to play at the dice and cards/ for there the soul is wounded unto death spiritual/ and god is there offended and blasphemed/ his glorious mother/ and the blessed saints of paradise/ piteously & detestably dyspyted and perjured/ fightings homicides/ and divers outrages amongst the one and the other. And finally evil and right unhappy examples whereof divers goeth unto damnation eternal without remedy. And for conclusion the world is all full of this abusion that is cause of divers great punitions that god sendeth in chastising. O unhappy & damnable invention for the which without remission divers goeth in to hell in damnation losing the salute of their souls. And this is spoken to every body as well makers as buyers/ priests/ officers/ and lords of lands/ and generally to them that hold the instruments of such plays. selfly they that make the things above said/ & that occupieth them/ the which may not be assoiled without doing open penance/ so as sayeth the text. Extra de penitentus et remissionibus. in the first chapter. And the gloze in like wise sayeth that the sins done openly ● aught to be amended and chastised openly. So sayeth the droit canon in the second cause/ first question in the chapter. Si peccaveris. Be the sins of little blame or of great. Reason. It is for to take away the slander that might fall among divers other. The open penance of such folk is such that even so as they have occupied the said craft and plays openly that right so they bear the instruments of these cursed plays in to the mids of the common place & that the officers of towns and cities make all together too be brent or else they are culpable of the damnation By the which appeareth clearly by the opinions of the said doctors and authorities above spoken that the said art of dice and of cards and other plays are defended & foreboden. And they that make them that sell them they that buy them they that lenne them or they that hireth them and they the which keepeth them in their houses chambers or other places or manoyres/ knowing and witting the evil end and abusion that by the same followeth sinneth mortally. And if they do not penance and satisfaction they are culpable of eternal damnation.   
¶ The opinions above said have been visited at Paris by twelve venerable doctors of the faculty of theology the which have found the said opinions good/ and reasonable/ and sayeth that such men is not in the estate of grace but goeth unto damnation if they do not penance and leave that damnable craft. And ensigneth and teacheth a reason among the other evident to confirm all the things above said/ the which is such.  
¶ Also often and many times as of an operation/ or of a craft the which one may well forbear issueth as many evils or more than goodness/ they aught to be taken away & divided from the common wealth. Now it is so y● out of the plays of chance & instruments for to play the which one may well forbear issueth innumerable evils and finally no goodness as the expe●ryence showeth/ wherefore it is necessary for the health of the souls/ and the peace and utility of the common welfare that they be condemned and foreboden with all the instruments that appertaineth to such plays of chance and hazard/ as is the dice/ cards/ tables and other like or semblable.  
¶ In like wise we have asked the opinion in this matter of four lords counsayllers in the parliament of Paris/ the which hath answered evenso as the doc●tours/ and is of their opinion. This aught the confessors to note well/ and all they that have souls in governing and keeping.   

¶ Uysyon horrible and marvelous showed to my lord saint Cyrylle disciple of the glorious saint Jerome.  
My lord saint Cyrylle in a book entitled the book of the death of my lord saint Iherome/ in the xvij chapter of the pistle contained in the said book the which wrote unto saint Austyn where as he maketh mention of the miracles of the glorious saint Iherome/ he reciteth one amongst the other moche horrible of them that are given to playing. And the said saint Cyrylle sayeth/ I had a nephew named Ruffus the which was given me in governing because that his father & mother died when he was but a year of age/ by my will I would that he had never issued out of the womb of his mother to the end that he had not suffered that the which he suffer now. I had governed him with as great diligence as I might. The poor unhappy waxed in age and not in very sapience/ he waxed also in beauty corporal and not in the beauty of the soul in such wise that for his beauty honest bounty/ and sapience moundayne he was honoured of every body humaynly. At the age of xviij year the poor unhappy & miserable creature died/ of the which they that knew him were so sorrowful in weeping and bewaylling him that a month after his death with great pain were they appeased. But certainly te weepings and lamentations were not sufficient for that which was happened him. And for as much as I had loved him entirely/ divers times I have made my request to the glorious saint Iherome that it pleased him for to show unto me what was become of my nephew. And by the merits ot the said saint Iherome I have obtained that which I have demanded. For one day among the other as I was in prayer at the hour of ix of the clock I felt so great a stink that I might not suffer it. And as I thought in myself fro whence proceeded ● so great a stink in lifting up mine eyen I saw above my heed my poor nephew in a semblance and figure much horrible/ in such manner that I durst not behold him once again/ for he was bound with great chains ardent full of fire/ and as a furnace cast stinking flames out. At this vision horrible suddenly took me such an incomparable fere that when I would have spoken unto him I might not in no manner. finally at the last a little after I began for to take spirit to me/ and all trembling began for to speak in demanding if it was my nephew. And then with great sighs & howlings he began for to say in this wise. A mine own will that I had never been created upon the earth/ to the end that I had not been delivered to the grievous pains and torments that I endure. Alas mine uncle know that I am eternally condampned to be in the pains and prisons perpetual of hell/ there to abide and remain for ever with all the devils and cursed dampened men and women. And then when the blessed and holy saint Cyrylle had heard the great weepings complaynets and lamentations that his nephew had made there before him/ and considering his inestimable pains and torments and how he was perpetually condemned in to the pains of hell began for to say. Halas what shall I say Certainly after that I had heard my nephew I have had so great dolour that divers times I have been sore abashed that my soul departed not fro my body. And after that I had spoken long to him I demanded him why he was so grieved/ & he answered that it was because that he had taken delectation in playing in the world/ without confessing it/ wherefore I am deprived from the mercy of god. And after these things he vanished away leaving such a stink behind him that never after none entered therein. By this example none ought for to play/ for it displeaseth god much grievously. These things considered of the holy saint Gregory he said O petonr momentaneum est quoth delectat scz in hoc mundo: eternum vero quoth cruciat scz in inferno. Alas sayeth saint gregory poor moundayne all the delectations that thou taketh in this miserable world in these plays dyabolyques in thy body in clotheses dissolute and other vices it is but a moment. Eternun vero qd cruciat but the torments of hell are eternal without end. Of the which pains the holy man job rehearseth twain in the xxiv. chapter of his book where as he sayeth. Transibunt ab aquis minun ad calorem minum. job sayeth that among the great pains that is in hell there is two horrible & marvelous the one is of fire ardauntly burning & the other is of icy water the which two pains no tongue can express. And therefore sayeth saint gregory all the strengths of the bodies & souls of the wretched sinners are in though two pains before them in augmenting of all their pains and torments.  
Item if there were a stone a thousand times more greater than all the earth/ & that there came a bird from a C.M. year. to a. C.M. year & no sooner/ and that for every time he took of the stone also great alonely as the ten part of a corn of wheat/ so that m.x. C.M. year he had not taken but a piece also great as a corn: and that god had made promise to a dampened that when the said stone should be all eaten/ & no sooner he should have not the glory of paradise/ but releasing of his pain. The said dampened should be already discharged of one of the greatest pains of hell. That is that he should have release when the stone were eaten. But alas alas alas & a. M. times alas when should it be. And for all that all the dampened are devoid of such trust/ for they know well y● that they shall never depart from thence. And this pain that is despair none can comprehend. O piteous hearts think profoundly where becometh your age/ & your time/ think where is your love and your understanding. Think whether you are in the way of glory or in the way of torment. And imagine that there is a hundred milions in hell that if they had half an hour of the time that you have/ they would make such diligence & such penance that they should never return thither again. Alas who may think the great complaints and lamentations that they make without ceasing for the time that they have lost/ wherein they might have won paradise. How little hath lasted our joy and pleasance moundayne. Alas what hath profited us honours/ richesses/ and delights/ great castles/ houses/ dignities/ offices/ all is passed sooner than the wind/ & there is left us but malediction of god misery and torment. Cursed be the hour that we were ever borne of our mother/ we have lost the merit of the passion of the saviour/ we have lost paradise & eternal benediction. Alas god wherefore haste y created us cursed be the creator/ the creature/ and the hour also of the creation. We are well cursed and confounded we may cry long/ curse/ and blaspheme/ one can not comfort another/ but we'll dysconforte O how it is an horrible thing ● cruel/ and to be redoubted to offend god and break his commandments/ it is to late to repent him there. Such lamentations and other like is in the song of the unhappy dampened/ of the estate of whom and of their pains none can speak nor write plainly in comparison of that which they suffer/ but this notwithstanding who that well beholdeth and considereth in his heart this that is spoken in this little treatise/ he aught to conceive fere if ever by scripture or other manner he had any And to this purpose is found by writing that a man excessively moundayne and full of all vanity named Fulkes. One's among the other he lay in a bed right soft and delicious/ but he might not sleep as he desired/ and annoyed him that the day came not not for to go to the mass or do some good but for to exercise his follies and worldly vanities. And he being in such annoy thought profoundly in himself what dolour he should have if he were condemned for to abide there in bed by the space of two or three years without other light or body. And conceived in himself that for no some of gold nor silver he would not endure that pain and torment. And after he thought more deeply what it might be of them that were in purgatory by the space of a hundred year in sharp fire/ & what grief they endured in abiding the joys of paradise. But as god would he thought more over on them that were dampened in hell perpe●tually in great torments/ whereof he had so great fere and dread that anon after he entered in to the religion of Cistersien. where as he profited so moche in meditation and perfection thinking on the pains of hell that he was chosen to be the bishop of Tholouse in the which dignity he finished his days right holily and went unto the glory of paradise. By this example appeareth clearly the great profit that cometh from holy meditation and thinking on the pains of hell and of the long continuing of the same the which profit declareth the prudent. Ecclesi vij ca in saying. In omnibus operibus tuis memorare no●ussima tua et ineternum non peccabis. That is to say. O poor sinner in all thy works and operations have remembrance of the hour of thy death/ of the judgements of god of the pains of hell/ and of the joys of paradise and thou shalt never offend god. so be it. Amen.   
¶ This present treaty hath made to be printed two venerable doctors of the faculty of theology at Paris master thomas Uarnet curate of saint Nycolas of the fields/ and master Nowell beda principal of the right ruled college of Mountagu The year of our lord. M. CCCCC.xj. the xxij day of August.