Yet it treateth more of Machomet.
ALSO Machomet badde in his boke Alkaron, that euery man shoulde haue two wives or three or foure, but now they take nine and as many lemmans as them liketh, & if any of their wives doe amisse against their husbandes, he may driue hir out of his house, and take another, but he must giue to hir part of his goodes. Also when men speake of the Father, and the Sonne, and holy Ghost, they saye they are three persons, but not one God, for their boke Alkoran speaketh not thereof, nor of the trinitie, but they say that God spake or else he was dumb, and that God hath a ghost,1 or else he were not alive, & they say Gods word hath great strength, and so saith theyr Alkaron & they say that Abraham and Moyses were greatly in favor with God, for they spake with him, & Machomet was right messenger of God. And they haue many good articles of our faith and some understand the scriptures, profites, gospels, and the Bible, for they haue them written in theyr language, in this maner they knowe holy writ, but they understande it not, but after the letter and so do the Jewes, for they understande it not, but after their letter ghostly, and therefore saith Sainct Paule, Litera occidit: Spiritus vivificat—that is to say, Letter dieth, and ghost maketh quicke. And the Sarasins say yt Jewes are wicked, for they kepe not ye lawe of Moyses the which he toke to them, & also chrysten men are yll, for they kepe not the commaundments of the gospels that Jesu Christ sent unto them & therefore I shall tell you what the Soudan tolde me upon a daye in his chamber, voiding2 out all other men, as Lordes, Knightes & other, for he woulde speke with me in counsel, and then asked he me how christen men governed them in our countrey and I aunswered him & sayd, right well thankes be to God; & he sayd, secretly nay, for he sayd that our priestes made no force of gods service, for they shoulde giue good example to men, to doe well, and they giue ill example, and therefore when the people should go on the holy daies to church to serve God they go to the taverne to sin in glotony both day and nighte, and eate and drink as bestes, that wot not when they haue had ynough, and also Christen men he sayde, inforced them to fight together & eche to begile other and they are so proude, that they wot not how they may cloth them, now short, now long, now straite now wyde, of all manner of fassions. They shoulde be simple, meke and softe, and doe theyr almes as Jesu Christe dyd, in whome they beleve, and he sayde they are so covetouse, that for a lyttle money they sell theyr children, theyr systers, and theyr wyves, and one taketh another mans wife, and none holdeth his fayth to other, therefore sayde he, for theyr sinnes hath God given these landes to our handes, and not through our strength, but all for your synnes. For we wot well, that when that ye serve well your god, that he wyll helpe you, so that no man shall winne of you, if that ye serve your god as ye oughte to doe, but while they lyve so sinfully as they doe, we have no dread3 on them, for theyr God shall not helpe them. And then I asked him how that he knew the state of Chrysten men in that maner, & he sayde that he knewe well both of lordes and of commons, by his messengers which he sent through all the countreys as it were merchants with precious stones & other marchandise to know the manner of euery countrey. And then he did call againe all the lordes into his chamber to us & then shewed he unto me iiii persons that were great lordes of that countrey, that shewed me the maner of my countrey, and of all Christendome, as though they had bene men borne in the same partes, and they speak french right well and the Soudain also, and then I had greate marvaile of this slaunder of our faith and so they that should bee turned by our good examples to the fayth of Jesu Christe, they are drawen away through our evyl living, and therefore it is no wonder if that they call us evyll, for they saye soth, but the Sarasins are true for they kepe truly the commaundements of their Alkaron that God sent them by his messenger Machomet, to whome they say, Gabryell the Aungell spake often, and tolde to him the will of God.
