haue any possibilitie of agreement vvith our Church of Fraunce let vs forget all the miseries and calamities that haue been brought vpon vs by their means in our last troubles and let vs not enuie theÌ„ their aboade in the principall Cittie of Fraunce It is no small aduantage for them that would plant and spread a new religion to be placed in the chiefe Cittie of a kingdome by the authority of the soueraigne Magistrate They cast in our way two great words to stoppe our mouth altogether the name of Iesus to which euerie knew must bow and the name of the Pope which wee must receiue with all submission and honour But to whom doe they sell theyr trash Are wee any other but followers of Iesus Are we any other then the children of the holy Sea 1. All of vs acknowledge by a common and generall faith that we are a part portion of the church of Iesus by the merit of his passion euer since that we haue been regenerat by the holy sacrament of Baptisme They by an arrogant name applyed entitle themselues and their sect Conference at Poissy 1561. Act of parliameÌ„t in the same yeere the societie of Iesus a title forbidden them both by our Church of Fraunce and by the Court of Parliament at Paris in the yeere 1561. 2. Wee in this country of Fraunce auow with all humilitie and readines our holy Father the Pope as Primate but not as prince of all Churches In this fayth we liue and die vnder him renewing the oath of allegiance from the day of our baptisme to the day of our death Part 7. of their const c. 1. arti 2. The Iesuit as a vassaile peculiar aboue others acknowledges him for his prince to whom hee specially renewes the oath of his allegeance at the change of euerie Pope 3. Our church of Fraunce holds that our holy father the Pope is vnder a generall oeconomicall counsell so we haue learned of our great diuine Gerson so of the councell of Constance and so when in former times any decree came out from his holines to the preiudice of our Kings or their realme our auncestors appeald from it to a generall Councell to be held afterward Cap. Noui de iudie. ext cap. ad Apostolicae de re iudie. capit vnam sanâ—tam de maior et obed The Iesuit maintaines a cleane contrarie opinion that in the same sort as the courtiers of Rome doe 4 With what dissimulation soeuer the Iesuit cloakes his writings now a dayes hee acknowledgeth the Pope prince of all kingdoms as well in matters temporall as spirituall because the Popes haue acknowledgd themselues for such in their decretall sentences and namely of late in their Bull of the great Iubile publisht for the yeere 1600. S. Peter and S. Paule whose successors they are called princes of the earth if the Iesuite doubt of this article he is an hereticke in his sect Our church of Fraunce neuer belieued that the Pope had any power ouer the temporal estate of our Kings Looke the chap. of this book where wee entreat of blindfold obedience 5 The Iesuit obayes the Pope by an obedience which he calls blindfold a proposition of a hard consequence for the King and all his subiects A proposition also which we obserue not but stoutly improue in our Church of Fraunce 6 By an auncient tradition which wee hold as it were froÌ„ hand to hand froÌ„ the Apostles euery Dioces hath his Bishop ouer whoÌ„ it is not lawful to vsurp any authority Bellam. lib. 1. de indulg cap. 11. The whole sect of the Iesuits is nothing els but a generall infringing of the authoritie of Archb. and Bish yea the hold that the Bishop hath no other iurisdiction or power then that which he holds of the Pope 7 The administring of the word of God and of the Sacra appertaines principally to the Archb. Bishop after to the Curats within their parishes to none other except a man haue permission of some of them within their charges By the Buls of 1540. 1550. The Iesuit giues to himselfe full power to preach the word of God and to administer the holy sacrament of Pennance and the Eucharist wheresoeuer it please him to the preiudice of the Ordinaries 8 Only the B. in his dioces can dispence with the vse of meats forbidden according as necessitie requires The Buls of Iulius the 3. 1552. The Iesuit acknowledges herein none but the Superiors of his order 9 We admit not to the order of priest-hood any that are borne in adultery or incest The Buls of Paule the 3. 1546. The Iesuit admits them without difference 10 By our ancient canonicall constitutions Church-men may not say Masse but before noone The Buls of Paule the 3. 1545. The Iesuit may sing Masse after none if it please him 11 Our priests are forbidden to say Masse any where but in our Churches except for the succouring of them that are sick and that by the permission of the Curat The Iesuit may make a particular oratory within his house and in all places where soeuer he comes there say Masse and haue an Altar to carry about with him 12 One of the auncientest parts of deuotion that we haue in our Church Teâ—t lib. 2. ad vâ—oâ—em Sib. Apul. lib. 5. epist are the Processions for euen Tertullian makes mention of them and we find that Mamercus Bishop of Vienna brought in the Rogation which wee obserue euery yeere in the weeke of the Ascention of our Lord Iesus Christ The Puls of 〈◊〉 13. 1576. The Iesuit doth not onely disalow of them but maintaines that they are forbidden him 13 We celebrate Anniuersaries in our Church in the remembrance of them that lately bestowed any goods on vs by way of almes The Iesuit receiues a pace what soeuer almes are giuen him to this end Part 6. of thâ—â—r const ca. 3. art 6. but yet he admits not of the Anniuersaries nor the Obits 14 We haue in our Church a certaine place neer the Altar which we call the Quire where our priests say diuine seruice Part 6. coÌ„st ca. 3. art 4. Iâ—b lib. 3. cap. 22. The bull of Gre. the 13 â—â— of Octo. 1576. apart from the common people The Iesuit hath no such place 15 We say our canonicall houres aloude in our churches of ordinary that euery man may pertake thereof The Iesuit is not bound but that he may say them in a low voyce 16 As our country of Fraunce hath alwaies abounded in deuotion aboue all other Nations so it hath had speciall priuiledge of God that all the heads of religious orders that haue been graffed vpoÌ„ the ancient orders of S. Austin S. Benet haue vowed theyr perpetuall houses amongst vs French men as the orders of Clugnie the Cistercians the Premonstratenses and Gramont There is neuer an order but that of the Charter-house Monks The Plea of the
religion in you you haue no power at all to reuoke your vow made alreadie vnto God the place the day the misteries the Church twise or thrise frequented the things you bring with you bind you without hope of dispensation As for me I neither wil nor can dispence with you the law of God and the Gospell our canonicall constitutions my fayth my religion the vniuersall Church whereof I am the head forbids mee Howe thinke you would not Pope Paule haue flatly reiected them if hee had beene aduertisd of theyr false degrees and their fained studies of diuinitie and of their vowe made at Montmarter seeing there belongs much labour to gaine it before it be consented to Heereupon I doubt not but that their order beeing receiued and allowed by a manifest surprize and obreption theyr authorising is voide Consequently that all that is built vppon thys foundation is of no effect or validitie That the Iesuits let them fortifie themselues as much as they will by the Bull obtaind of him successiuely after the first of the yeere 1540. seeing the roote it selfe it rotten the tree can beare no fruite at all Hetherto I haue shewed you what an Asse Ignace was and what notable lyers hee had to his companions men altogether ignorant in diuinitie I will nowe make plaine to you that theyr sect which they call the societie of IESVS stands vppon ignorance of the antiquitie of our Church CHAP. 14. ¶ That the Oeconomie of our Church consistes first in succession of Bishops secondly in the ancient orders of religion thirdly in the Vniuersities and that the Iesuits Sect is built vpon the ignorance of all these NOt only the religious orders allowed by our Church but true Christians by what name or title soeuer they be called are not of the Iesuits Sect Christian humilitie forbids vs to speake so proudly but follow our Sauiour and Redeemer Iesus Christ after whose example and his Apostles we ought to frame our life as neere as we can that of his great infinite mercie he may take pleasure in vs. Ignace a very nouice and young apprentise in the holy Scriptures made choise of nine companions as raw in these matters as himselfe They bringing in their Sect imagined themselues euerie way to be coÌ„formable to the first grounds of the Primitiue Church for this cause cald themselues the Societie of Iesus Let vs then examine what were the first second third sort of plants by which our Church grew and what the Iesuits institutions be that by matching confronting the one with the other we may iudge of ther title they attribute to themselues this partiall and arrogant name of the Societie of Iesus aboue all other Christians When our Sauiour was to ascend vp into heauen he commaunded all his Apostles to haue a care of his flocke This charge was three times giuen in particuler to Saint Peter as to the rocke vpon which he had before promised to build his Church After that hauing cast the fiery flames of his holy spirit vpon them their whole intent and purpose was to sow the seeds of his gospell ouer all the world Their ordinarie seat was at Ierusalem from whence they sent foorth at the beginning heere one and there another of their company into diuers parts of the East which after their trauell came backe againe to giue vp an account of their labours in a course held by them And although Saint Iames were by common suffrages chosen saith Iustus particularly to be gouernour of the Church of Ierusalem yet had Saint Peter superintendance and generall primacie among the Apostles which was not taken from him And in the whole historie of their acts written by Saint Luke the principall miracles were done by him and the generall rule of this holy company was put into his hands Among them were many persons deuoted to religion some cald Bishops some Priests of the Greeke word that signifies Elders This we learne of Saint Luke chap. 15. 16. of the Acts and in the 20. following Saint Paule who taking his leaue of the Ephesians in the end of the Oration made to them cals them Bishops whom he named Priests in the beginning T is true that this gouernment continued not long among them in so much that as well for the good of the Pastors of the Church as for the flockes the seuerall charges of seuerall prouinces were giuen to such men as were most fit they were called Bishops and to men of meaner gifts were committed Townes Villages Parishes These the Church cald Priests who exercised their ministerie by the Bishops authority they were in time cald Curates you may see a verie faire picture of all this antiquitie drawen by venerable Beda Sicut duodecem Apostolos formam EpiscoporuÌ„ praemonstrare nemo est qui dubitet Bede in 10. ca. Lâ—c. sic hos septuaginta Discipulos figuram presbyterorum id est secundi ordinis sacerdotes gessisse sciendum est Tametsi primis Ecclesiae teÌ„poribus vt Apostolica scriptura testis est vtrique Presbyteri vtrique vocabantur Episcopi Quorum vnum sapientiae maturitatem alterum industriam curae pastoralis significat As no man doubts but that the twelue Apostles represented the state of Bishops so must you vnderstand that the 70. Disciples were a figure of the Elders that is of Priests in the second place although as the holy Scripture testifies both sorts of Priests the first second were in the Churches infancie cald Bishops yet the one of them signifies soundnes of iudgement the other pastorall trauell in his Cure I haue quoted the words expresly to bewray the ignorance of a new Iesuit which affirmes Fon. ca. 27. that Bishops and Priests were at the first both equall herein renuing the heresy of Aerius Our Church general Fuseb lib. 3. Eccle. Hist ca. 1. 4. rested fifteene or fixteene yeeres in Hierusalem which was the common resort of all their missions And after the Apostles chose diuers prouinces to themselues and bestowed the others vpon Bishops among others the prouincè of Aegypt was allotted to Saint Marke Saint Peters scholler his Sea was establisht in Alexandria the eight and fortith yeere after the natiuity of our Sauiour that is about fourteene yeers after his ascention Lo here the first plant of our Church wherein you may gather agreeably to the course of times the primacie and authoritie of the holy Sea of Rome the Patriarches of Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Hierusalem the Archbishopricks Bishopricks the particular Rectories and Curates of Townes Burroughs Villages The Church continued long in this state but afterward the extraordinarie persecutions of some Emperours draue them to flye into the Deserts to saue themselues from those cruelties where beyond all expectation of the common people they deuoted themselues by vow to a solitarie life Their Patrons were two great Prophets Plias in the old Testament S. Iohn the Baptist in the beginning of the
a looking glasse of the Apostles they then succeeding in their charge make themselues successors of their merits And as for vs let vs set before our eies Saint Paule Anthonie Iulian Hilarion Macharius Captaines of our profession and not to forget what the holy scripture tels vs an Elias and an Eliseus Our Table is the ground our diet is hearbes and sometime a fewe small fishes which wee account for great banquets The same Saint Hierom beeing intreated by a good sonne to preach to his Mother Sanct. Hier. tract de vitand susp cont thereby to reconcile her to a daughter of hers you take me for a man saith hee that may croud into a Bishops chaire you vnderstand not that I am shut vp in a Cell sequestred from companie by vow deuoted onely to lament my sinnes past or shunne the sinnes present Time as I haue told you culd out two sorts of these men the one dwelt solitarily in the desartes cald Ancors the others in Couents which the Greeks cald Coenobites whose order and discipline Saint Hierome describes in that notable Epistle that begins Audi filia And although the Monkes were neither Priests nor Clarks yet by course and compasse of time their superiours were permitted to be Priested that they might administer the Sacraments to them Thus became Saint Hierom an Abbot and Priest togither Likewise Iohn Bishop of Constantinople reproouing Epiphamus Bishop of Cypres his inferiour for Priesting some Monkes in Saint Hieromes Monasterie hee made his excuse by the multitude of Monkes which then wanted Priests to minister vnto them And Saint Ambrose in a funerall Oration he made for Eusebius Bishop of Vercellis among other particularities for which he commended him Saint Amb. serm 69. this was one that he had Priested all the Monkes of his Dioces In processe of time Religious persons ioyning holy orders to deuotion became great nurseries of our Church In that some of them were made Archbishops some Bishops who by their holy liues and deepe learning promoted Christian Religion greatly Such were Gregorie Nazianzen and Basill both Monkes and both Bishops which seuerally erected an infinite number of Monasteries and religious orders the one in the Realme of Pontus the other in Cappadocia and in them begunne the discipline of Religions which is in part transmitted ouer euen vnto vs. I omit heere of purpose to touch the nouelties brought in by time contenting my selfe with shewing you the first roote of all It remaines that I speake a word or two to you of our Vniuersities erected as well for diuinitie Lectures as other humaine Sciences Neither in the Apostles times nor long after as our Church particularly charged with Lectures The Apostles office successiuely the Bishops consisted in preaching the Gospell and administring the holy Sacraments VVee are debters to the Church of Alexandria for this first institution where in the dayes of Commodus the Emperour Panthen a man of great learning first opened a Diuinitie schoole by the authoritie of Iulian the Bishop And frō that time Euseb lib. 5 hist ecclesi ca. 9.10 saith Eusebius the custome begun in the Church of Alexandria was continued vnto vs namely to haue men that excelled in all knowledge and learning to be Doctors Diuinitie Readers Clemens Alexandrinus succeeded Panthen a man verie famous for his learning among the best learned in his time After him came Origen who tooke to him Heraclas the best of all his Schollers these two parted the publique Lectures between them Origen read Diuinitie Astronimie Geometrie and Arithmatique leauing the meaner Lectures of the Church of Alexandria to Heraclas The other Bishops borrowed this commendable custome of trayning vp of youth this custome spred so farre in this manner that the Vniuersities beginning to set learning abroach the Bishops became the first and last Iudges of theyr endeuours and for this purpose haue they a Chauncelour ouer them with whom the examination of this course and these matters dooth reside As for Monkes and religious persons they haue no authoritie to read Lectures but to their own companies I haue heeretofore related what was the first and originall Oeconomie of our Church in Bishops Abbots and Vniuersities vpon which three great Pillers our religion stands Now let vs bring the Iesuits to the touch that we may know what they are They be men apparrelled like our Priests bearing no outward marke of Monks yet do they make the three substantiall vowes of Chastitie Pouerty and Obedience common with other religious persons and they ioyne pouertie with it as well in generall as particuler by them of the last vow which are called Fathers men aboue others deuoted to preach to administer the holy sacraments of Pennance and of the Altar to reade publique Lectures in all Sciences to all sorts of schollers without any subiection to the auncient statutes of the Vniuersities yea and without acknowledgement of superioritie of the Bishops ouer thē hauing their prerogatiue apart But in conclusion for the accomplishment of their deuotion they offer to goe into all quarters of the world where it shall please the Pope to commaund them to conuert Infidels and vngodly men thereby to renewe in some sort the ancient practise of the Apostles Therefore let vs now consider whether this innouation of theyrs may by the auncient order of the Church deserue any place among vs and whether they may be calld the companie of Iesus if not by priuation at the least by preuention of al other Christians CHAP. 15. ¶ That no man can tell where to place the Iesuits among all the three auncient orders of our Church and that this is the true cause for which they neuer yet durst set in theyr foote into Processions MEn say that dreames for the most part arise out of a long meditation imprinted in our heads the day before by a reflection vppon some subiect which hath presented it selfe againe in the night vnto our fantasies Thus hath it happened vnto mee of late for as one of the principall things I bent my mind vnto was the Iesuits proceedings so it fortuned that one night among the rest I dreamed this which I will rehearse vnto you And I beseech you my Maisters not to thinke I tell it you to make you merry but in the soberest manner that I can the matter is of such moment that if I should doe otherwise I should deserue to be punisht If you will not accept it for a dreame take it at the least for a heauenly vision such a one as Ignace had when God the Father appeard to him recommending him to his sonne Iesus Christ or els when hee shewed him all the tooles with which hee made this great frame of the word or when Durus Xauiers first disciple sawe in a desolate Chappell our blessed sauiour Iesus Christ in the shape of a childe come to reconcile himselfe to the virgine his Mother that was angry with him As I was a sleepe me thought I saw GOD take
but a figure of it There was no Bishop of note nor any of the auncient Doctors of the Church in all the first squadron which was not of this opinion or brought not out some matter of attainder against Ignatius Then Saint Peter by his authority and primacy ouer all the Church spake to them with an admirable Maiestie on this manner It is neither for you nor for vs to yeeld a reason of that which was done at Antioch when the Church of God gaue the name of Christians this was a worke of the holy Ghost And as it is not the seruants duty to aske any reasons of his Maister why he commaunds him this or that but he ought only to obey him so God hauing charged vs by his holy Spirit to call our selues Christians it is not fit for any man whatsoeuer to enquire the cause of it There is no speedier way to make men heretiques then to become curious questionists in such matters Therefore neuer thinke that this name was imposed vpon vs by the Suffrages of simple people As the name of Iesus came from God the Father so I may speake it for a certaine truth that by the faith and homage I yeelded to our Sauiour at the first vpon this word Christ he built his Church vpon me and gaue me the Keyes thereof among the rest For hauing asked the question of vs all what men reported of him some of the Disciples aunswered that some tooke him to be Saint Iohn the Baptist others said hee was Elias others one of the olde Prophets Math. 16. Luc. 8. But whom doe you quoth hee to vs his Apostles iudge me to bee I taking the tale out of the mouth of all the rest of my fellowes by the greatnes of zeale wherewith I was transported aunswered him Thou art the Christ the Sone of the liuing God and presently he replied that I speake not this of my selfe but by Reuelation from God his father And after this he declared me to be Peter and that vpon this Rocke he would build his Church and whatsoeuer I bound on earth should be bound in heauen Sith that vpon this confession of Christ he built his Church vpon me this was a silent lesson he taught vs of his will and pleasure that after his ascention into heauen he would haue his Church to bee called Christian and vpon this proiect all our brethren doubted not to take vp that name at Antioch I my selfe afterward making Euodius Bishop of that Sea Suidas in verb Christianus confirmed that name of Christian in the Church I maruell said Saint Peter turning himselfe to Ignace that you honouring as you say ye doe the Sea of Rome where my successours sway the gouernment and yet at the first dash you haue despised my decrees were there nothing else but this to be weighed in you you may not so be admitted into this ranke Ign. Will you not receiue vs vpon the three vowes we haue with great holinesse made of Chastitie Obedience Pouertie and that which is more of generall and particular pouertie when we became fathers of our order S. Peter This is another barre that shuts you out for although Chastitie Obedience and Contempt of the world were familiar matters with vs yet did we not this by vow that was brought into the Church after our time by those whom you see stand in the second ranke and to say the troth wee neuer tyed our deuotion to pouertie Ign. Wee minister the Sacraments of pennance and the communion as you did and we are readie to go foorth for the aduauncement of Christianitie whither soeuer it shall please your Successours to send vs. S. Peter These two Sacraments are likewise ministred by the Mendicants of which order there be many now in the Indies in Palestine and at Pera neere vnto Constantinople to conuert the Infidels yet are they not ranged in our Squadron you must go to them and let them know there is too great oddes betweene vs and you to yeelde you anie place heere Ignace finding himselfe excluded from the first station in this procession he was some-what amazed neuerthelesse he thought to speed better with the second because he should there haue to doe with S. Anthonie the honour of all the first Hermits For I know quoth he that in the heate of his holy meditations hee gloried in ignorance I am sure that if he doe but trie me therein he shall find me nothing inferior vnto himselfe Thus deuising with himselfe what might best bee doone to creepe into his fauour he shewed him that he had passed his time in heauenly contemplations and not in learning as hee had done before Yet true it was that hys ignorance had made many learned men which were all priested ministring the holy Sacraments some of them were Preachers and some Regents The holy and venerable yeeres of this good Hermite gaue Ignace this aunswere Brethren I commend your intention but it is nothing like vnto ours Our deuotion and the deuotion of all the good Fathers first founders of the religious orders was a solitarie life without schollership or priesthood our wisedome consists in continuall lifting vp the minde toward God taking all humaine learning to be meere vanitie And as for Ecclesiasticall functions we take no charge of them they depend vpon the Bishops that feede vs by theyr inferiors in the Church Your Rulers are not like ours In Gods name my good brethren goe your way in peace leauing vs to our sweet life in quietnes of conscience within our Cells Neuerthelesse it may be you shall find behinde vs some shreds and remnants of ours in in whom you may take some roote namely those which by permission of the holy Sea are called to the orders of priesthood and may both preach and minister the holy Sacraments of Penance and the Alter as you doe Ignace passing from them to the other Saint Benet perceiuing him comming by his gate tooke the speech to himselfe and said If you be of our companie you must either be Ancors and Hermits or Monks Conuentualls Your profession denies you to be Ancors we may be easily entreated to excuse you of it because that life is too painfull But if you be Monks and Conuentualls as we are where is your frock your hood your cloake For Elias the first image of our Order and after him S. Iohn the Baptist both differd from the cōmon people in apparrell VVhere is the great shauen crowne vpon your heads by which S. Hierom said that in pouertie we are like to Kings and Monarches where be the extraordinarie fasts your societie keepes not onlie beyond the cōmon people but beyond the Bishops and Curats Where be the Cloysters within your Monasteries Heereto Ignace and his companions briefely and roundly answered him that they were no Monkes but religious persons onely Is it euen so saide S. Benet then are you a kinde of quintessence of Monks And as the facultie of Phisicke
admits none of these Paracelsian abstractors of quintessences into their schooles so may not we receiue the Iesuits To reiect a Paracelsite and a Iesuite both rime and reason will beare vs out Therefore get you some whether els for as you disdaine the holy name of Monks so are you disdained by Monkes You proceeded Maisters of Art in the Vniuersitie of Paris at the least you presented your selues for such men to Pope Paule the third I counsell you to returne as Maisters of Art to the Vniuersitie you shall finde some of your acquaintance there it cannot be but that some one or other of them wil entertaine you Ignace perceiuing his case grow worse and worse mistrusted some misfortune in his attempts whereuppon turning himselfe to his companions he said Nowe we are in question to goe toward the Vniuersitie I knowe what my behauiour must be and although it will bee easie for them to goe beforme me if I come to the great Doctors yet sith at the first I tooke no course but to teach pettie schooles for children and you after me haue read Lectures to all sorts of schollers against our first institution I pray you quoth he to Father Claudius Aquauiua seeing that now all my superioritie ouer our companie rests in you that as Generall of thē all you would take the charge to sway Maister Iohn Gerson it may bee you shall find more fauour at his hands then all the rest Aquauiua not onely gaue him no deniall but thought his commaundement very fit to be obeyed Then began hee and his to bragge that they taught freely wherein he thought his companie had very much aduantage of the other Regents but his feete were intangled for he was more roughly handled by them then by the former and when they came to pell mell because both sides had beene nousled in Schoole Ergoes there was the best sport of all Nowe let vs see them beginne theyr disputations Aquauiua hauing framed his proposition and propounded his question Gerson one of the chiefest Doctors of Diuinitie that euer were in Fraunce spake thus to Aquiuaua Ger. You would faine be of our companie will you then acknowledge our Bishop for your superiour and ours especially in matters concerning the instruction of youth for hee is our chiefe Iudge in this cause And now as his substitute in the office of a Chauncellour and Chanon of the Church of Paris I cary the flagge of the Vniuersitie of Paris which is the chiefe of all others Aqua I doe not vnderstand your speech we haue a greater Maister our holy Father the Pope which hath dispenced with vs in this point against the Bishops authoritie Gers You faile in the first marke this one poynt must send you backe againe to Rome to learne your lessons and banish you out of all the Vniuersities in Fraunce But let vs proceed our Vniuersities are compounded of two sorts of men the one are Seculars the other Regulars in either of these the rule and gouernment differs The Seculars may be Maisters of Art Doctors of diuinitie Law or Phisicke and read Lectures after they haue theyr degrees to all commers as well within as without the Colledges the Regulars are permitted but to goe forth Doctors of diuinitie and to reade to the nouices of their orders onely Which of these two sorts are you Aunswere mee not I beseech you as in the yeere 1564. you aunswered the Rectors and officers of our Vniuersitie of Paris they moouing the like question to you you replied twise or thrise that you were Tales quales vos curia declarauerat For the Aduocate that pleaded against you standing vpon this poynt argued that you were such as were vnworthy to be enrolled in the Vniuersities register Aqua I maruell not at that we were at that time like vnto the Beare whose whelps seeme at the first to be but a rude lumpe of flesh but by the Dams continuall licking of them in time they recouer the shape of a Beare so was it once with vs for to tell you truth Ignace and his companions neuer prict it out perfectly what wee were but after we had many wayes exercised our wits vppon an obscure platforme of theirs we were not called Monks but regular Clarkes for so hath our great Ribadmere entiteled vs Rib. lib. 2. capit 17. and before him if I be not deceiued the Counsell of Trent gaue vs the same stile which was publisht a fewe months after our cause vvas pleaded to haue recourse to the first day of May following Gers This is not to aunswere my question you must aunswere categorically to bring you into one of these two predicaments of Seculars or Regulars Aqua Did I not aunswere you at large when I tolde you wee are Regular Clarks For beeing such we are not bound to stand to the old statutes of your Vniuersities beeing neither pure Seculars nor pure Regulars And we may with all our vowes be graduated throughout all your faculties and read publique lectures to youth in all sciences without seeking to or acknowledgement of the authoritie of your Bishops Gers Then are you a kind of Hermophroditicall order such as Pasquier hath publisht you to be in his researches of Fraunce for being Seculars and Regulars both together you are neither of both And sith you are not bound to obey our statutes we likewise are not bound to immatriculate you in our Vniuersities Aqua Why do you refuse vs that teach freely Gers Because you be verie coniecatchers The first that euer came to teach in Paris were Alcuin Raban Ian and Claudius venerable Bedaes schollers they made proclamation that they had learning to sell you quite contrary bestow it gratis Yet is it true that in three score yeeres space you haue got more treasure twice or thrice told then all the Vniuersities in France euer had since the first stone of their foundation was laid Moreouer were you not censured by the Vniuersitie of Paris in the yere 1554 Aqua You may say what you wil but of later memorie the same facultie of Diuinitie allowed vs against the old censure for some particular persons hauing abused the name of the Vniuersity of Paris in the yeere 1594. in the Court of Parliament the Sorbons made a Decree in fauour of vs by which the pursuit of our aduersaries was disalowed At this speech all the Sorbons shouted you be lying Sophisters and verie bad Grammarians We know it well that the Aduocate that first pleaded for you would faine haue beene your buckler and after him Montaignes of your companie then Fon But this is to enioy your ordinarie priuiledge you know whereof Let the Beadle bring out our Decree and read it for this is too much impudencie to be laid vpon Christian people Die nona Iulij Anno Domini 1594. viso audito a facultate Theologie Parisiensi legitimè congregata in maiore aula Sorbonae libello supplici à venerabilibus patribus sociotatis Iesu ipsi facultati
not haue beene auoyded but their Generall the Prouincialls of their Order and the Priors of their Monasteries must haue beene of the conspiracie or at the least some part of them A clause which would not haue beene forgotten in the Decree that Pope Pius the fift the holy Consistorie of Rome sent out hauing so great intention finallie to suppresse them And this is the reason the Iesuits haue layed this condemnation most falsely vppon all the Order who had in Chapter as they say conspired against Borrhomeo Let vs acknowledge a truth like the children of Christ and not like the disciples of Ignacius This Order vvas growne very infamous by reason of their incontinency and licentious life the which the good Cardinall Borrhomaeo would haue helpt if it had beene possible This was I must confesse a fault and that verie foule and scandalous yet for this it is like they should not haue beene suppressed It is a vice whereunto naturally wee are prone Insomuch that hee who would suppresse all houses of Religion where this vice aboundeth especially those which are seated in places farre from resort wee may say with Tacitus Vt antea vitijs ita tum demuÌ„ legibus laboraremus And there might be peraduenture more scandale in suppressing then in winking at theyr vices How then What caused the suppression It vvas GODS will that vnexpectedly Lignana Pryor of Versellis and some others angry with this new reformation conspired against Borrhomaeo as it is expressed in the Bull. And this ryot was the cause of the suppression and this is the cause the Bull dooth recount theyr disorders in generall but specially theyr attempt against Borrhomaeo The which is set downe verie particularlie and not the incontinencies which La Fon reciteth VVhat is there in this storie but will fit the Iesuits as well as if it were made for them They are notorious throughout the world for the troubles raised by them in Fraunce And as manifest it is that they practised and bargained with a stranger to bring in a newe King into this kingdome The detestable fact of Barriere The howlings of Commolet to the people to kill the King euen in the time of the truce The people vvith one mouth from the youngest to the most aged cried vengeance on them so soone as the King reentred Paris The cause was pleaded in the name of the Vniuersitie and as it falleth out oftentimes that in matter of iudgement where the cause is of consequence while we feare to be negligent wee growe ouer-curious so heere the cause was referred to counsaill GOD would so haue it that Chastell a disciple of the Iesuits poysoned vvith theyr damnable positions wounded the King with a knife and beeing taken hee maintained in the open face of iustice that hee might doe it lawfully The haynousnes of thys fact aggrauated with other circumstances gaue occasion of the pronouncing the processe against the whole Order Nowe I pray you tell mee if the same holie Ghost which wrought in the suppression of the Humiliati had not a stroke likewise in driuing the Iesuits out of Paris They are the same things the same proceedings vnder seuerall names Theyr difference is in these two poynts The one that the Humiliati in being too subiect to their pleasure sinned yet committed such a sinne as our corrupt nature teacheth vs but the Iesuits beeing the principall Authours of the troubles wherein two hundred thousand lost theyr liues haue sinned against GOD against nature For nature abhorres nothing more then death which is so cheape among the Iesuits to the losse of others The other difference is that the attempt of Lignana was but against a Cardinall whoÌ„ I acknowledge willingly to be one of the holiest men our age yeeldeth A Cardinall whom the Colledge would be loth to spare yet notwithstanding hee liues and liueth in as great reputation as euer hee did Whereas the attempt of Chastell endangered a King sole in his kingdome such a king as the world must yeeld to bee as valiant wise and curteous as anie before him and by whose death if the treason had sorted to effect wee were to expect nothing but horrour and confusion our olde inhabitants And yet they must be cherrished in some part of the kingdome But because some not remembring or not obseruing things past others not foreseeing lesse laboring to preuent dangers to come suffer themselues to be abused by them accounting them the Champions and protectors of the Catholick faith I wil make it manifest vnto you that their sect is as dangerous as Martin Luthers that there is nothing the Pope hath more to feare as preiudiciall to his authority and greatnes then their Generall what showes and protestations soeuer they make to the contrary notwithstanding CHAP. 24. ¶ That the Sect of the Iesuits is no lesse dangerous to our Church then the Lutherans THis position may seeme at the first sight Paradoxicall but it is true The distribution of the hierarchicall Order of our Church hath a proportion and correspondeÌ„cy with the humane body wherin the head coÌ„mandeth ouer the other members amongst the which there are certaine noble parts as the hart the liuer the lungs without which the bodie cannot consist So as hee who would take from the head to adde to the noble parts or diminish them to giue vnto the head disordering the proportion and correspondency which should bee betwixt the members hee should confound destroy the bodie So is it in our hierarchy the head of the Church is our holy father the Pope the noble parts vnder him are the Archbishops Bishoppes Cardinals Priors Abbots I will adde Princes Lords Vniuersities as for the rest of the people they represent the other members of the body Martin Luther was the first who durst traduce this head bringing in a form of Aristocratie into our Church making all the Bishops in their seueral dioceses equall to the Sea Apostolique There succeeded him Ignactius Loyhola some yeeres after who by a contrarie course defended the authoritie of the holy Sea but after such a fashion as hee no lesse endamaged our Church then theirs For pretending more zeale to the Sea and our holy Father then the rest and still intituling him to more predominant and new authoritie ouer the Ordinaries hee and his successiuely obtaynd from diuers Popes so many Priuiledges Indulgences and Graunts in disaduantage of the Prelats Monasteries and Vniuersities that suffering them to liue in the midst of vs you disfigure stain the face of the Catholique and Vniuersall Church RemeÌ„ber what the Iesuit said to you this other day you will find my words true The difference betwixt Luther and Ignace is that hee troubled our Church fighting against the head And this warring against the noble parts All extremitie is a vice vertue is â—â—â—ympiere betwixt both For mine owne part I beleeâ—â—â—hat the true Catholique Apostolick Roman faith is that which hath bin in vse euer
in synagoga Deorum And that S. Bafill said that the Praelate representh the person of Iesus Christ And S. Gregory of Nazianzene addressing his speech to the Emperour sayth Thou holdest thy Empire with Iesus Christ with him thou commaundest on earth thou art the image of God I might more strongly alledge one thing which I haue from themselues for when the Popes Paule and Iulius the fift in their Bulls of the yeeres 1540. 50. speaking of their Generall sayd In illo Christum velut praesentem agnoscant was this with any purpose that they should vsurpe ouer theyrs this great title No questionlesse but to vse it as we see in the Coūsel of Trent where it is said that our Lord ascending into heauen Sess 14. ea 15. where it speakes of confession Sacerdotes sui ipsius Vicarios reliquit tanquam praesides iudices ad quos mortalia crimina deferantur in quae Christi fideles inciderint to giue them absolution And in another place when recōmending the poore to the beneficed men he addeth Sess 24. ea 8. where it speakes of reformatiō Memores eos qui hospitalitatem amant Christum in hospitibus recipere That is to say that they remember to be hospitals to the poore for entertaining them they entertained Iesus Christ Words vttered to excite charitie not to builde an Anabaptisme which the Iesuits seeme to ground vpon these wordes that they should acknowledge Iesus Christ in their Generall as Iohn Leiden the king of Anabaptists gaue out of himselfe and would haue had others to belieue it But because already I haue heereof discoursed at large I will nowe content my selfe onely to tell you this that their Generall taking vpon him the authority of Gods Vicar hath brought in a schisme and deuision betwixt our holy Father the Pope and him And although to maintaine this authoritie Montagnes his suffragans ayde him with all the places aboue alledged they breede withall their cunning another schisme of more dangerous effect then that for that Emperours Kings and Iudges may euery one vsurpe the same state And so at vnawares wee shall slippe into the heresie of the Lutherans who would equall Archbishops and Bishops to our holy Father whom notwithstanding in their seuerall iurisdictions we acknowledge the Vicars of God and yet they take not this title vpon them neither though wee yeeld it them it is a title which belongeth onely to the Pope a title which no honest and faithfull Christian can denie him and whereof he may be iustly iealous if any endeuour to rob him of it But whether wander we There is none but knoweth that they are in their seuerall charges the true creatures and deputies of God and that such since the time of the Apostles downe to this day they haue cōtinued There is none likewise but knoweth that the Iesuits are the Popes creatures if any should assume this title the Bishops haue most interest to challenge it yet they take it not vpon them but modestly leaue it to our holy Father and the Iesuit who deriueth his reputation from him will hee be thus immodest By the Counsell of Trent so much renowned in Rome there are many articles whereby the Bishoppes are restrained of many things the which our French Church thinketh to be groūded on ordinary right yet is it so orderd that they may be knowne to be Vicars vnder the holy Sea and yet shall vvee permit that these vnderminders of our Church shall vsurpe authoritie as immediate Vicars of God and not as Vicars of the holie Sea I confesse that ordinarilie we giue the terme of most Reuerend to our Cardinalls to those which are princes most illustrious Their generall Cōsistorie hath not the title of most illustrious as we see in the great Canonist Nauarre Aduertendum est sayth he quod per solam gestionem habitus Naua com de reg num 76. per vnum vel plures annos in illustrissimo societatis Iesu ordine non videtur fieri professio tacita You must consider saith he that by wearing the habit onely for one or more yeeres in the most famous order of the societie of Iesus a man is not thought to make secret profession Nauarre liued in Rome vnder Gregory the 13 did more honour to his hypocrits then we doe to the great venerable Consistorie of Cardinals which are Counsailers in ordinarie to the holy Sea Writing to Bishops we entitle them Reuerend Fathers in God and thinke herein we honour them sufficiently there is no Father Iesuit of the great vowe who hath not this title of a Bishop The Letter written to the king of Spayne in the troubles by our Sixteene Tygers of Paris speaking of Father Mathew a Iesuit termes him in three seuerall places the Reuerend Father Mathew And in a great part of the Booke there be added to the mention of his name these two Letters R. P. When we speake vnto our holy Father we say Your Holinesse when you speake to the Generall or other Superiour of this Order yea but vnto the meanest Father amongst the Iesuits he taketh his greatnesse much wronged if you vse not this terme Your Reuerence yet wee must say they encroche not vpon the authorie of the holie seate But why should they not impeach the authoritie of his holines sith they vsurpe and insult vpon Christ himselfe vnto whom onely our Christian Church permitteth Apostles Yet suffers the Generall his in some places to be called Apostles This is not to turne our holie Father out of his seate but to put Iesus Christ out of his throne This is not to be Gods Vicar but to belieue that he is God himselfe When Ismaell afterwards called the Sophi about the yeere 1503 attempted by putting the Easterne parts in combustion to ouerthrow the Estate by that means to equal himselfe with the Othomans Emperors of Constantinople he began first to alter and trouble the auncient religion of Mahomet pretending that hee would reduce it to a farre better passe alledging that Mahomet who neuer tooke vppon him higher title then the Prophet of GOD had a brother called Hali vvho brought in vnder the Banner of his Brother a Religion more austere whereof Ismaell tooke vppon him to be the Restorer And vnder thys plausible pretext hee made himselfe to bee called a Prophet as well as Mahomet altered the auncient forme of Turban among his owne people insomuch as they beganne to adore him as the true Image of God and resolutly to follow his aduertisements So that he assembled at the first a handfull of men after added to them multitudes and shortly after like another new Mahomet so encreased his Armie that he was followed with sixe hundred thousand men both horse and foote making the East to tremble And in these his proceedings so mingling religion with state conquered a great part of the Country which his posterity enioyeth vnder the great redoubted name of Sophi The comparisons
chyldren can be excommunicated It fell so out after that time that the same Pope falling at variance with king Phillip the fayre hee needes would excommunicate him but there was neuer excommunication cost Pope so deere as that did him For his Nuncios weare committed prisoners his Buls burnt and Boniface himselfe being taken by Naugeret Chauncelor of Fraunce presently after died for very sorrow despight that he had receiued so foule a disgrace at the hands of his enemie Wherein Phillip did nothing but by the counsell and consent of the whole Cleargie of Fraunce So farre was this excommunication from falling to the preiudice of the King and his Realme that contrariwise it turned to his shame and confusion by whom it was decreed Benet the 13. otherwise called Peter de Luna keeping his sea or residence in Auignon hauing interdited Charles the sixt and his realme the king sitting in the throne of iustice in the Parliament or high Court of Paris the 21. of May 1408. gaue sentence that the Bull should be rent in peeces and that Gonsalue Conseloux the bearers thereof should be set vpon a pillorie and publiquely notified and traduced in the pulpit the meaning whereof was that the people should be taught and informed that the king was not liable to any excōmunication Which decree was accordingly put in execution in the month of August with the greatest scorne that could be deuised the two Nuncios or Legats hauing this inscription vppon their Miters These men are disloyall to the Church and to the King Iulius the second offered the like to king Lewes the twelfth his censures were censured by a Conuocation of the Clergie of Fraunce holden at Tours 1510. Not to goe too farre from our owne times the like censures came from Rome in time of our last troubles in the yeere 1591. by the sentence aswel of the Court of Parliament of Paris then remoued to Tours as of the soueraine or high chamber holden at Chalons in Champagnie it was ordered that the Bulls should be burnt by the publique Executioner as accordingly they were A Maxime so grounded in the realme of France that in the treatie of peace which was made in the towne of Arras in the yeere 1481 between king Lewes the 11 and Maximilian the Arch-duke of Austria and the States of the Low-countries the Deputies for Maximilian and the States treated with ours that the King should promise to keepe obserue this agreement and to that end he and his sonnes should submit themselues to all Ecclesiasticall censures Notwithstanding the priuiledge of the Kings of Fraunce Whereby neither hee nor his Realme might bee compeld by Ecclesiasticall censures Which treatie was afterward confirmed by king Lewes the same yeere at Plessi neere vnto Tours the confirmation carrieth these words Wee haue submitted vs and our said sonne and our Realme to all Ecclesiasticall censures for the keeping and obseruing of the saide treatie notwithstanding the priuiledge which we haue that wee nor our successours nor our Realme ought not to be subiect nor liable to censures VVhich thing hath beene since that time confirmed by a decree made in the yeere 1549. Charles Cardinall of Lorraine Archbishop of Reims to make his memory immortall by a most honourable action founded an Vniuersitie in Reims with manie great priuiledges hauing first obtained leaue and permission of the King Henry the second and next of the Pope Paule the third for so much as concerned the spiritualties who graunted forth his Buls verie large and ample contayning amongst other clauses this one Nos igitur piū laudabile Henrici Regis Caroli Cardinalis desiderium plurimū commendantes praefatum Henricum Regē à quibusuis excommunicationis suspensionis interdicti alijsque Ecclesiasticis sententijs censuris poenis à iure vel ab homine quauis occasione vel causa latis si quibus quomodolibet innodatus existat ad effectum presentium duntaxat consequendum harum serie absoluentes What greater fauour or courtesie could we expect from Rome then that our king without any suit of his should be absolued from all censures which he could incurre de iure or de facto Neuerthelesse this courtesie was by the Court of Parliament at Paris as frankly refused as it was offered Because in the verification aswell of the Buls as of the kings Letters-patents it was enacted by a decree in Court giuē the last saue one of Ianuary 1549 with this prouiso that notwithstanding this pretended absolution it be not inferd that the king hath beene or hereafter may be any way or for any cause whatsoeuer subiect to the excommunications or censures Apostolicall or thereby preiudice the rights priuiledges or preheminences of the king and of his Realme As also the sentence giuen against Iohn Chastell the 29. of December 1594. contained this peculiar clause that amongest other things he was condemned for hauing maintayned that our king Henry the fourth raigning at this present was not in the Church vntill he had the approbation of the Pope whereof he did repent and aske forgiuenes of God the king and the Court. This that I haue deliuered in this present discourse doth not proceed of any sinister affection which I beare to the holy Sea sooner let GOD bereaue me of my life but onely to make it appeare that our kings carrie together with their Crowne their safe conduct in all places and are not subiect to the trecherous practises of their enemies neere the Pope Notwithstanding you see how these accursed Iesuits enemies of our peace instruct vs in the contrarie that is kindle and prepare vs to reuolt in case our kings should stand in ill termes with the Pope which prooues that it is not without iust cause that by a Decree of the Parliament of Paris they haue beene banisht out of Fraunce CHAP. 18. ¶ The Decree of the Parliament of Paris against the Iesuits in the yeere 1594. and a Chapter taken out of the third booke des Recerches de la Farunce by Stephen Pasquier HAuing dedicated this booke saith Pasquier to the liberties of our Church of Fraunce Lib. 3. de◠Recer ca. 32 I hope I shall not digresse from my purpose if I entreat somewhat of the Sect of the Iesuits which to the subuersion of our State maintayneth principles quite contrarie to ours The Iesuits hauing got into their hands the great legacies giuen and bequeathed them by Maister William du Part Bishop of Clairmont they bought Langres place lying in Saint Iaques street in the Citie of Paris where they after their manner established the forme of a Colledge and of a Monasterie in diuers tenements and taking vpon them to instruct youth without the authoritie of the Rector they made sute sundrie times to be incorporated into the Vniuersitie Which when they could not obtayne they exhibited a petition to the same effect to the Court of Parliament in the yeere 1564. The Vniuersitie did me the honour to choose me in