the smallest matters and added thereto in his practice frequent Fasts and instead of cords made use of chains of iron in acts of Penance and Mortification his constant exercises were Prayer and Reading of Godly Books he had the gift of Prophecy was of great Wisdome and excellent Understanding whereof his Master St. Lewis Beltram and his Books give ample testimony and a clear evidence He spent fifty years in the Ministry of the Word and when he preach'd his face was often seen to shine with extraordinary lustre his Charity when Bishop made him very poor for he gave all his Goods even the Bed he lay on in Almes his Confessor assures us he never sinned mortally and in the seventieth year of his Age died at Albarazin reputed a Saint The Holy Woman speaks of a sort of men to come in the last Ages And 't is observed in the Life of St. Engelbert the Martyr Arch-Bishop of Cologne written by an Author his Contemporary That in the life of that Prelate when the Domiâ—iâ—ans and Franciscans came to Cologne to Found for themselves Houses of Religion the Ecclesiasticks murmured and endeavoured to perswade the Arch-bishop to expel them alledging for reason their fear that these were the men of whom St. Hildegard had Prophesied to which the Prelate made answer that there was no cause of complaint against those Orders for that till then they had not given other than good Examples but the time would come when the Prophecy should be fulfilled which in the Margent of this Prophecy in the Annals of Baronius is observed to be these latter dayes I shall relate the Prophecy as I find it recited in Bzovius a famous Author for though the Copy the Bishop of Albarazin followed in his Commentary differ somewhat from that Bzovius made use of yet both agree exactly in sense The Marvellous Prophecy of the Abbess Hildegard Reported by Bzovius in the 15th Tome of his Ecclesiastical Annals Anno Dom. 1415. Q. 39. under Pope John 23. THere will arise men without a Chief who shall feed and grow fat upon the sins of the people but profess themselves of the number of Beggars shameless in their behaviour studious to invent new wayes to do mischief a pernicious Order odious to all wise men and those that are faithful to Jesus Christ healthy and strong but lazy and idle that they never work pretending beggery busie antagonists against the Teachers of the Truth by their Credit with Great Ones opposing the Innocent having four principal Vices rooted in their hearts by the Devil Flattery to gain gifts from the World Envy to make them impatient to see good done to others and not to them Hypocrisie to please by dissimulation and Detraction to render themselves commendable by dispraising others Preaching incessantly to Secular Princes to procure themselves applause from the people and to seduce the simple but without Devotion or Example of true Martyrdome robbing true Pastors of their Rights to administer the Sacraments and depriving the Poor the miserable and the sick of their Almes cajoleing the populace and courting their favour familiar with Ladies and other women and â—eaching them to cheat their husbands and give away their goods to them in private receivers of ill gotten goods saying give them to us and we will pray for you and obtain pardon for all your sins making these they Confess to forget their kindred receiving goods from â—obbers on the high-way extortioners sacrilegious persons usurers fornicators adulterers hereticks schismaticks apostates lewd women perjured tradesmen corrupt Judges cashiered souldiers tyrants and all other miscreants led by the Devil living deliciously passing this transitory life in society and at last falling together into damnation having the world at will but the people will by degrees grow cold towards them and having by experience found them seducers cheats and impostors will hold their hands from further gifts then will they run about their houses like famished or mad dogs with their eyes to the ground shrinking their necks like 〈◊〉 seeking bread to satisâ—â—e their hunger but the people will cry out Woe be to you ye children of desolation the world hath deceived you the devil is seized of your hearts and mouths your minds are gone astray in vain speculations your eyes were delighted with beholding vanities your delicate palates have searched out the most pleasant wines your feet were swift in running to mischief and you may remember you never did good you were the fortunate malignants pretending poverty but very rich and under colour of simplicity of great power devout flatterers hypocritical saints proud beggars offering petitioners wavering and unstable teachers delicate martyrs hired confessors proudly humble piouâ—ly hard-hearted in the necessities of others sugred slanderers peaceable persecutors lovers of the world sellers of indulgencies disposing all things for your convenience admirers of luxury ambiâ—ious of honour purchasers of houses sowers of discord building still higher and higher but not able to attain a height equal to your desires and now ye are fallen as Simon the Magician whose bones were bruised and his body struck by God with a mortal plague upon the Apostles prayer so shall your Order be destroyed by reason of your impostures and iniquities Go then you teachers of sin the Doctors of disorder Fathers of corruption Children of wickedness wee 'l no longer follow you for Guides nor give ear to your doctrine An Expository Comment upon this prophecy by the Right Reverâ—nd Don Jerome Baptista de La Nuza Lord Bishop of Albarazin and afterwards of Balbastro whereby it appears that 't is â—o be applyed to those who call themselves the Society of Jesus though their actions and opinions bâ—speak them his enemies being conâ—radictory to His which they profess with their month but deny in their works Reported by the Author of Theatrum Iesulâ—iâ—um pag. 183. as a true Copy of the Original under the Prelates hand remaining in the Convent of Dominicans at Saragosa 1. There will arise men withoâ—t a Chief who shall feed and grow far upon the sins of the people but profess themselves of the number of Beggars FIrst It appears this is spoken of Ecclesiasctical persons for of them the Prophet said That they did eat the sins of the people which is the same with the Holy womans expression in the Prophecy Secondly They must be of a begging Order which she confirms on another occasion by express words to that purpose Assumentes potins exemplum mendicandi And though the Iesuites are not comprehended in any of the four Orders of Fryers Mendicant yet have they Brieves like theirs whereof they glory in their Books and make use upon occasion Thirdly That they shall be an Order which shall not bear the name of their Founder or chief which is the meaning of those words Sans Chef and denotes what is afterwards intimated in the name La Companie which Hildegard uses where she saith That they shall live deliâ—iously in the Company or Sâ—ciety a
him thereof but told him at the same time that the Iesuites had quickly supprest it and dextrously substituted another very like it As to the Apologists reproaching the Author of the Extract that he understood not Latine the Author of the Reply makes this reparty That perhaps he had studied Grammar in the Schools of the Iesuites This sayes he was the answer of a Divinity Professor of a Religious Order who pressing a Iesuite extreamly in dispute and in the heat of his Argument slipped into a Solecisâ— the Jesuite who was in perplexity how to extricate himself from the ill consequences of his opinion which the professoâ— urged very much would have diverted the dispute by reproaching him with having committed a fault against Grammar I confess it sayes the Professor but not against Divinity and the reason is clear for I have studied Divinity in my Order but Grammar in your Colledge But our Author adds The Spiritual Exercises I have in Latine and Spanish differ as much the one from the other as Yea and No and 't is not extraordinary with the Iesuites to make intire impressions of Books to take away those words which make against them Thus they did in the time of the Congregation de Auxiliis making an express impression of St. Augustine and cutting of what was contrary to their assertions that Valentia might maintain their sentiments by the words of that Holy Doctor by taking from him his own and putting into his writings words purely Pelagian They were convicted of this before Pope Clement the 8 th For Lemos the Dominican having quoted St. Augustine in defence of a position which he maintained against the Iesuites Valentia denied there was any such expression as Lemos cited in the works of St. Augustine Lemos desired the Books might be brought the Iesuite had in readiness those he had printed and falsifyed and read the quite contrary to what Lemos affirmed But the Dominican desired they would fetch the works of St. Augustine out of the Popes Library and the Pope himself read there the passage as Lemos had cited it and having thereby discovered the cheats of the Iesuites he said to Valentia Is it thus you pretend to deceive the Church of God These words were like a thunder-bolt to strike down Valenâ—ia and made him fall in a swoone before the Pope and die two dayes after By this it appears that they had made an intire Edition of the works of St. Augustine only to leave out the words cited by Lemos Their interessed and extravagant devotion under pretence of honouring the Virgin P. 7. What passed at Alcala whereof Doctor Aquila speaks makes it appear that the Devotion of the Iesuites to the immaculate conception of the Virgin is proportioned to their interests and increases according to the account of the profits they draw from it in pleasing Princes or gathering money from the people to keep the feast They have at Alcala as in their other houses Congregations for their Schollars and other persons who frequent their Colledges They assembled on a Saturday to make a vow to defend the purity of Mary in her Conception after which they told them now you cannot be Dominioans for they make a vow quite contrary which is quite false this done they gathered money from all them that were to make the vow which was the principal part of the Ceremony under pretence of the Charges they were to be at and made some artificial fires which were like to burn an Image of the Conception which served as a Crown to the Machine When the Congregationists had supped the Iesuites gave them in their hands a standard of our Lady and having many in company very far on their way the squadron arrived between ten and eleven a clock in the evening at the Colledge of St. Thomas D' Alcala with fearful cryes and a horrible bustle mixt with scurrilous foul and unhandsome expressions calling the Dominicans Jews Hereticks and enemies of the Virgin they threw stones and discharged pistols against the gates and the windows brake down the glass and wearied at last and hoarse with crying they went with their standard which they let fall more than once to the Convents of St. Catharine and the mother of God where they play'd the like pranks F. Oquete the Iesuite preached the next day and perswaded them to defend the Conception of the Virgin with the sword with the poinard with their blood and with fire and that if any opposed them St. Iago c. which is a Spanish Oath by St. Iames or a menace He forgot only which some say was done of malice to call those of old Castile to the Assembly who provoked by the neglect went the night following to throw stones at F. Oquetes Chamber exalting the Virgin St. Thomas and his Doctrine From hence proceeded the challenge between the Captains of the Castellines and the Navarrâ—is who carried the Standard the night of the Congregationists triumph of which Captains the one was killed and died without confession F. Oquete said in this Sermon that the Virgin had rather be eternally in Hell deprived of the vision of her Son to see Devils there than to have been conceived in original sin P. 114. 'T is not out of Piety but hatred to the Dominicans and to render them odious to the people that they teach the immaculate conception of the Virgin The Cardinal of Lugo a Iesuite in a letter to one of their Fathers at Madrid writes Your Reverence may do well to order things so that those of the Society apply themselves diligently in your quarters to revive the Devotion of the Conception to which they are well affected in Spain to see if by this means we may divert the Dominicans who press us here in the defence of St. Augustine And I believe they will surmount us in the principal points De Auxiliis if we oblige them not to imploy their force another way Their Artifices towards vain wâ—men P. 247. The Iesuites make use of several Artifices to surprize them with whom they have to do and especially women They speak of nothing but magnificence and liberality to those who are vain telling them that by these vertues they establish reputation and cite examples to that purpose and having puft up their hearers with such vain conceits they represent their necessities that they have no Ornaments in their Vestries and some of the Fathers want shirts to shift them Their Artifices towards women having Children under their care Ibid. There are other women well affected to the Iesuites but obliged to take care of the children they have To these they represent the sanctity of a Religious Estate or the advantages that attend the service of the King and so engage the children in Armes or Monasteries and so render themselves Masters of the Family Their Artifices to procure gifts from simple people a cruel example of this kind Ibid. Some people are melancholique and scrupulous and to these the
is an indubitable proof of their truth it being impossible that the Jesuites would have absolved him having published against them so many Calumnies without obliging him to a publick acknowledgement that they were false if the facts he had reported had not been true But we were willing to pass by these and many other enormities as well to avoyd offence to the Reader by writing things which cannot with modesty be made publick as for that what openly appears in the visible conduct of the Society affords too clear proofs of the perfect Conformity between their Practices and their Maxims And that having abandoned the Rules of the Gospel to follow their vain Ratiocinations God hath delivered them up to the wandrings and errours of a depraved and corrupt spirit which hath engaged them in Actions unworthy not only of Priests and of Fryars but of Vertuous Pagans The benefit we propose in publishing this Collection is to confirm the faithfull in the abhorrency they ought to have of the Moralls of the Jesuites which as a poysoned spring convey venome into the hearts of all that approach them and to perswade the people to avoyd their detestable Maxims which having corrupted the understanding engage the will in dissoluteness and debauchery and to encline the Jesuites to give better attention to the Iudgement past of them by so many great persons particularly those of the Faculty of Theology at Paris in 1554. the accomplishment of whose sentence is cleared by the Historical Relations reported in this Collection 'T is our hearty desire the Jesuites may reap the benefit of our Labour for whatever they say we love them and have for them all the Charity we ought But we dare not hope they will profit by what we have done for that these Fathers never return from the Abysse they are plunged in but as they are invincibly obstinate in the defence of their greatest enormities we are to resolve upon an inflexible firmitude and indefatigable constancy to reproach them therewith and press them to amend with incessant sighs for their errors and miscarriages and prayers to God to mollifie the hardness of their hearts Qui enim ista non dolent non est in eis charitas Christi qui autem etiam de talibus gaudent abundat in eis malignitas Diaboli St. August Epist. 137. Of the Pieces contained in this First Part. ALl the Pieces whereof this Collection is composed are reduced to two things we have undertaken to justifie that is That the Jesuites are animated with a spirit of Pride and of Avarice The first is made appear by the Extracts we report from a Book Entituled The Image of the first Age of the Society of Jesus which the Jesuites caused to be printed in Flanders in 1640. The reason of the Title was their design to represent in that Book all the different Events happened to their Society since their establishment in 1540 which they have pursued with so much affectation executed in a manner so full of vanity and pride that we cannot open the Book without abhorring the impudence of these fathers in turning all things to their advantage and labouring to draw Glory from that which ought rather to humble and confound them It might have been necessary to have translated the whole Book to make known their folly at large and to discover their extravagancies in their perfect dimensions but we have been content to make only some Extracts to which a person of Piety hath added reflections no less solid than ingenious the Light whereof renders their Vanity more ridiculous We doubt not but the Readers will judge that we ought to have refuted them thus since as Tertullian says there 's nothing more due to the vanity of men than to be railed at We hope that these Extracts will servs to demonstrate the utility and necessity of the present Collection for that this Society having affected to give the world such false Ideas of themselves and representations quite different from what they really are it was but just to present men with the true pictures of these Fryars and give them the occasion To know them by their Fruits Mat. 7. 16. The other pieces of this Collection serve to prove they imploy all sorts of means to inrich themselves and that nothing escapes the claws of their avarice The first stories we report are taken out of works so authentique that to name them will be sufficient to exempt their credit from question as being Extracts out of a Memorial presented to His Majesties Council by the Vicar-General of the Order of Cluny in Almaigne others out of a book of a famous Benedictine Fryar in Almaigne and others from an arrest of the Parliament of Metz. The residue are Extracts of a Spanish Book Intituled The Theatre of Jesuitisme or the Jesuitique Theatre being an Apology for other Orders of Religion against the Jesuites addressed to Pope Innocent the 10 th and Printed at Conimbre in 1654 But because this book is not well known to the world and men may possibly serâ—ple to give it the credit it deserves without a more particular knowledge of the Author and occasion that moved him to write we shall endeavour in few words to satisâ—ie their doubts To begin with the Occasion that gave birth to the Theatre of Jesuitisme we are to observe that the licentiate Esclapes having made a Book Intituled A manifest addressed to all the Faithful in Jesus Christ of the wicked maximes taught maintained and practised by the Jesuites Another Author under the name of Doctor Aquila answered it by a Book which appeared with this Title Ladreme el Perro y no me muerda Let the Curr bark at me but not bite me This pretended Doctor undertook in this work to justifie all that Esclapes had reproved and to shew â—e understood not the matter he Treated of when he affirmed the Jesuites to have been sole Authors of those Maximes whereas they had only followed the Authors who preceded them and especially the Dominicans in whose Books they had learnt them The Author of the Theatre of the Jesuitisme undertakes by that Book the refutation of Aquila and the defence of all the Authors he had attaqued The Book is divided into two parts The first comprehends the refutation of Aquila upon the Maximes reported by Esclapes We have taken nothing out of this The Moral Doctrine of the Jesuites not long since published containing large Entracts made of that part We have confined our selves principally to the second as conducing most to the design of this Collection which is to demonstrate the practice of that doctrine in the Conduct of the Jesuites We shall observe here onely two things 1. That this passed in Spain the same time when the pernicious Morals of the Jesuites were attaqued with such zeal and success in France 2. That the Author sayes he affirms not any story in his Book but what concerns the Society intire or some particular person whose protection and defence
Confessor was one being consulted with about an Abby which having been long in the possession of Lutherans and Secular Persons the Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Prague would have procured for himself by gift from the Emperour had delivered their opinion in writing That it could not be done with a safe Conscience and that the Abby being Benedictine ought to be restored to the Order of St. Benedict and that the Emperour in giving it to the Cardinal had committed the same injustice as if after winning the battel of Prague he had given away the land of some Catholick Lord recovered from the enemy to another Catholick Lord having no right thereto the Iesuites not able to deny this opinion delivered at large in writing agrâ—â—d that the Iesuites were then of that judgment buâ— answered that since they had changed their Opinion This rare priviledge have these â—xcellent Casuists to alter their sentiments and their conscience upon any occasion when it may be for their profit to change So when the question was about giving an Arch-Bishopâ—a Benedictine Abby their judgement was the Emperour was in justice obliged to restore it to the Order of St. Benedict but when there is hopes they may procure them for themselves by their shifts and artifices they presently maintain that the Abbies of St. Benedict are Abbies supprest and the Estates that belong to them at thâ— disposal of the Emperoâ—â— and the Pope who may give them whom they please without any injustice to the Fryars of the Order who are the lawful proprietors when an Arch-Bishop desires to have one but have no Title at all when the Iesuites would have many of the same Abbies for the use of their Society 9. Imposture That F. Lamorman in cheating the Emperour did well i. e. according to the rules of the Society In vain did the Benedictines reproach them that all the trouble had been raised for taking from them these Abbyes against the Edict of the Emperour proceeded only from their F. Lâ—â—â—man who had the boldness to write to his Imperial Majesty that his Edict and Instructions given his Ambassadour contained things not agreeing with the Principles of the Catholique Faith And that it were fit his Majesty should name some person to examine the whole business aâ—ew with him his Confessor To this the good Fathâ—â—s made answer in these express words The prudent sage and devoâ—t Readâ—r haviâ—g well considered of all things will doubtless observe that the Confessor eâ—gaged not hastily in an affair of such moment but after long deliberation how to remedy this evil which was the restitution of the Abbyes to their several Orders without allowing the Iâ—suites to alienate any from the Lawfull Proprietors and that it must be avowed the Father had done well and ought not to have done otherwise and that if he had not advertised his Imperial Majesty thereof he had deserved thâ— blame of not dischargeing the duty of a Good Confessor according to the light of Nâ—tural reason and the rules of our Society to which the Fryars of St. Benedict with good reason replyed That from hence we are to conclude that the hinderance of justice is the duty of a good Confessor That we are required by the light of Nâ—â—â—ral Reason to allow that for Iust which is really against the known rules of Iustice and that the Rules of the Society Ordained that such of their Fathers as are Confessors to Princes must earnestly endeavour that the Abbies which those Princes have Ordered to be restored to their Orders may fall into the hands of the Society against the Authority of the most legal Edicts 10. Imposture That these Abbiâ—s bâ—lâ—ngeâ—â— not 〈◊〉 any and that they deâ—â—red them not of the Princes but Princes demanded them for the Society In vain did the Fryars object the Commandment of God Not to 〈◊〉 other mens goods for the Iesuiâ—es answered That they coveted not other mens goods in coveting these Abbies which belonged not to any and than it was not they demanded these Abbies but the Princes of the Empire demanded thâ—m for the Society that as they could not have demanded these Estates without envy so they could not refuse them without injury to the honour of God when the Powers thought fit to bestow them on their Company for promoting the Glory of God and the salvation of the people of Almaigne So that the Society desired not these Abbies but only submitted to the pleasures and dispositions of the Soveraign Powers of Christendom Adding with equal sincerity in the same Book That when they built themselves they built not so sumpâ—uously but that Princes against the will of the Society built for them great Colledges and magnificent Churâ—hes To the first point where the good Fathers suggest that the Fryars had not title to the Abbies They Answer That the Iesuites denying that the Abbies did belong to the Ancient Orders of Religion did not cover their injustice but render it more visible and that they did as a Robber who taking another mans purse should tell him Friend I do you no wrong I desire not your goods this purse belongs not to you And as to the second point of their pretended moderation and their perfect disinteresment The Fryars answered with astonishment That having written so many Books and published such Volumes to destroy the Edicts of the Emperour having sent so many Letters to the great Lords of Almaigne to engage them to solicite from his Majesty Imperial a gift of these Abbies to the Society of Iesus they feared not to say That the Soveraign Powers of Christendom constrained them by force to accept of these Abbies and that they were not ashamed to call themselves Children of Obedience who could not resist the Soveraign Pastor of the Church whom they were obliged to obey by a quadruple vow In the mean time to inform the world with what Faith these Fathers proceed in their Actions the Benedictines produced a letter of the late Cardinal Richeâ—ieu to the Congregation of Cardinals in 1630 wherein as the Abbot of Cluny he complains That the Emperour having Ordained That all the Monasteries which had been possessed by the Protestants should be restored to the same regular Orders on which they depended before the usurpation It was informed nevertheless That the Provost-ship of Colmar being a dependant on the Abby of Cluny to which his Prodecessor had presented an Abbot was claimed by the Iesuites who disputed his Orders and desired to possess themselves of it on pretence to found a Seminary there But because these solemn testimonies and their violent actions publickly done in the face of the Sun made it visible to all that they had a passionate desire to take away these Abbies from the owners they thought fit to confess their desire but with this trim and pleasant distinction That the Fathers of the Society coveted the Estates of these Abbies not for the Estates but for the conveniency of entertaining a greater number of persons to
that his Auditors trembled and so he gained the respect and esteem of a Saint but it was observed he made his Sermons before the exercise of the Discipline of Penance practised by many in that Colledge for which this good Father seemed to have no great affection or Devotion though none needed it more Among many others who confessed to him there was a devout woman who was very simple to whom he said that God by Revelation had signified to him that it was his will he should marry her and that they should live together as marryed persons but it must be kept secret and no person to know it The woman would not be perswaded without seeing the opinions of some learned persons in approbation of Mena's assertions And as one Crime easily drawes on another the Iesuite used this Artifice to make the poor woman believe that several persons of Learning agreed with him in opinion he spoke with the ablest Doctors of the University and told them he confessed a person very spiritual and pious but withall very scrupulous and to that degree that she Rested not assured in following the directions he gave her without confirmation from other Learned men therefore he intreated them that if they had a good opinion of him and his long experience in the conduct of Souls they would appease this unquiet spirit by assuring her she might safely follow what F. Mena advised her The Doctors who had alwayes observed the modesty of this mans behaviour had often heard him preach and knew his discourses were powerfull that he spoke of nothing but eternity that he repeated almost every day that Iudas fryed in Hell above 1600 years for one mortall sin and should burn there for ever with a thousand other expressions of like nature granted his request The Iâ—suite having their testimony went to his holy Sister and having made use thereof to deceive the poor wretch who thought the Doctors had approved the pretended Revelation of her Confessor she consented to marry him the circumstances of this infamous marriage reported by the Author are so abominable that we thought fit to omit them The Iesuite continued a long time the commission of his Villanies before and after Mass and forbore not at the same time to continue his discourses of piety in the Colledge but leaving us to perform the Discipline of Penance we used in the Church he retyred to his pleasures with his holy sister in an Ermitage where he kept her The Inquisition was advertised of all this and caused Mena to be imprisoned at Valladobid The taking of him made as much noise as his pretended vertue had gained him reputation The Society undertook his defence and by their credit and Certificates that F. Mena was sick and by extenuating his Crime they obtained leave to take him into their Colledge where he might be in custody of the Officers of the Inquisition But they were so desirous to set him at liberty that while the Officers of the Inquisition who were ordered to attend the sick man went to dinner the Jesuites sent to tolle the Bell and gave it out that Mena was dead And to cover this Lie they made a face and hands of past-board and having fagotted up a kind of body of Sticks and old Clouts they put this wooden Mena on a Biere and in the mean time mounted the true Mena on a good Mule which rested not till he came to Genes where he hath within these twenty years publiquely read the Law of Moses to the Iawes He married there and had Children and a friend of mine told me he had spoken with them at Genes and asked them news of their Father who was not long before dead And those he had by his holy Sister I have seen Students in the Iesuites Colledge of Salamanca and very well used As for the she-Saint she appeared no more That a Fryar profest may marry upon a probable Reâ—elation It was upon the occasion of F. Mena that the Iesuite Salas lib. 2. tract 8 Disp. unicâ Sect. 5. Nunt. 51. teaches That a Fryar proâ—est of an Order approved who shall have a probability of a Divine Revelation that God dispenses with his Vow to enable him to marry may marry and make use of this probable though doubtfull dispensation I know very well that Doctor Aquila answers that Salas changed his opinion before they had printed the Leaf that contains this proposition But if that be true why did he not tear off those that were printed already But it is a known and ordinary Artifice of the Iesuites for evading the reproaches justly due to them for any proposition cited out of their Books to produce a corrected Copy where it hath been expunged But 't is not so here for there are several Copies of Salas in print which are not corrected and Salas who should have corrected the Proposition hath maintained it and three of the gravest Fathers according to the practice of the Society have approved and three thousand had done it had the book been read by so many A Thesâ—s of the Jesuites That they are not obliged to say the Breviary And that it is but â— Customary Error P. 43. I have seen sayes the Author when I was at Ocagna in 1636. a Thesis maintained by the Iesuites wherein they affirmed that the Ecclesiastiques Secular and Regular were not obliged neither on pain of sin mortall nor venial to say the Breviary That there was no Law in the Church to command it but that it was a Custom derived from common Error I assisted in person at these Theses upon this token that three dayes after the Jesuite was cited by the Inquisition but what became of the business I know not The extravagancy of the Jesuites in the matter of Revelations and self-conceit falsifying Books Valentia confounded on this occasion before Pipe Clement the 8th and died Pag. 43. In the first Edition of the Spiritual Exercises of the Iesuites there is this proposition pâ—g 31 and 32 of the Impression at Burgâ—s 1574. It is the great perfection of a Christian to keep himself indifferent to do what God shall reveal to him and not to determine himself to do what he hath already revealed and taught in the Gospel This is the source of many other maximes of theirs and particularly of that affirmed by a Iâ—suite named Eusebius in a Book Intituled Of the Love of Iesus and Mary that St. Ignatiâ—s had more wisdome and spiritual prudence than St. Paul and that if the Apostles were now in the world they would regulate their lives according to thâ—se of the Iesuites He that answers for the Iesuites sayes this is not true and that these words are not in the Book which the Authors of the Extracts quotes and that he understood not Latine The Author of the Reply doubts not but the words of Eusebius are to be found in the first Edâ—tion of his Book as having been read there by persons of good credit who assured
the Community undertook and for whom by consequence they are responsible To which he adds that 't is visible that among the Jesuites 't is not so much the particular persons that offend as in other Orders of Religion who correct and expell them that are guilty but that a general dissoluteness hath seized the whole body which he justifies by the words of Azeuredo and Villa Sante Iesuites of Spain who renewed the Sect of the Illuminated Heretiques and having been imprisoned and interrogated upon their abominable Tenets answered the Magistrates That if they were imprisoned for them they might have as well imprisoned the Society As for the Author of the Theatre of Jesuitisme the name of La Pietaâ— which he assigned was not his truâ— Name He was a Natural Son of the deceased King of Spain and hath been alwayes reputed very considerable in the Court at Madrid Nor was it his intention by that assumed name to conceal his composure of that work which he hath alwayes publickly owned as the true Author thereof and had it been feasible to have confined the Book to the Kingdome of Spain he had prefixt his Name since none in that Realm but knew it his work but his modesty and humility inclined him to hide his name from those of forreign Countries who were ignorant of it He was a Dominican when he composed the Book his name is Ildefonso de S. Thomas a Sancto Thoma And though his Book by the Credit of the Jesuites hath been condemned and put into the Index Expurgatorius it hindered him not from being named successor to John de Pallafox in the Bishoprick of Osme and presently after in that of Placentia worth fifty thousand Crowns annual rent and lastly in that of Malaga which he is new possessed of having preferred it before that of Placentia though it be worth but twenty thousand Crowns which is thirty thousand Crowns less than the other to justifie this choice he said that the Monastery where he made his profession was in the City of Malaga though the more probable cause may be that being a person of most accomplished piety having past all the Offices and Dignities of his Order he gladly embraced the occasion by his dis-interesment on this occurrence to ediâ—ie the Church and lessen his account to be rendred to God which would have been increased had he continued in charge with a Bishoprick so considerable as that of Placentia being one of the richest of Spain after Toledo The King of Spain hath acknowledged him his Son and he was made Bishop in the Life of the King The three Bishopricks mentioned were all void in less than three months so that he hath stood charged with no other Church but only that of Malaga and is highly esteemed in his Diocess He is reputed one of the greatest and most zealous preachers this day in Spain and applies himself much to Confession and the direction of Souls committed to his care His Mother was Maid of Honour to Isabel of France late Queen of Spain and was Sister to the Marquesse Mortara Governour of Milan but being with Child the King to save his Honour married her to the Marquess Quintana one of the greatest and richest Lords of his Court The Marquess had that passionate love for this Lady and gave her those Evidences of real affection that she held her self obliged to testifie her acknowledgements by revealing the secret of her being with Child by the King before her Espousals with the Marquess her Husband But all the Protestations she could make of inviolable sidelity to him could not save the poor Marquesse from receiving in this news his mortal wound for though he gave his Wife no testimony of it he was seized with such grief upon the report that it brought him to his end within two months after The Marquesse having lain in retired into a Monastery whence she took great care of her Sons education and afterwards became a Nun and died there But having before told her Son who he was he took a resolution to take the habit of St. Dominique in the City of Malaga about which is scituate the Estate he quitted to become a Fryar of that Order wherein he lived ever since and continues at present with the dignity of Episcopacy and a high reputation of singular piety The Merit and Piety of the Author of the THEATRE of JESUITISME takes away all doubts of the truth of the facts he reports What remains but to add a word of those pieces that immediately follow this PREFACE and to observe that they are common to all parts of the Collection being Prophesies whose accomplishment is seen in all the Stories whereof the work is composed which are but effectual Comments and Explications of what hath been predicted It is not our purpose in this Treatise or others to heap all the â—xamples that might be brought on the Subject which might require an infinite number of Volumes but to pick out the most Authentique and proper to justifie that we undertake to prove Mar. 31. 1670. Licensed and Entred according to Order THE Moral Practice OF THE IESVITES The words of St. Paul taken out of the third Chapter of the second Epistle to Timothy Interpreted of the Iesuites by the Pious and Learned Bishop of the Canaries Melchier Canus the Famous Divine of the Order of St. Dominique Acknowledged accordingly by Oâ—landin the Iâ—suite in the History of the Society 1. KNow then that in the latter dayes perillous times shall come 2. For there shall be men whâ— shall be lovers of themselves covetous boasters prâ—ud blasphemers disâ—bedient to parents unâ—hankfull unboly 3. Without natural affection truce-breakers false-accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good 4. Traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures mâ—re than lovers of God 5. Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away 6. For of this sort are they that creep into houses and lead capâ—iâ—e silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts 7. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth 8. Now as James and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith 9. But they shall proceed no further for their â—olly shall be made manifest to all men as theirs also was 12. Yea and all that will live Godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution 13. But the evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived The Prophecy of St. Hildegard ADVERTISEMENT THe Prophecy of St. Hildegard hath been applyed to the Iesuites by many persons and among others by D. Ierome Baptista de la Nuza of the Order of St. Dominique afterwards Bishop of Albarazin and Balbastro whose Elegy may be seen in the Acts of the Chap. General of that Order Celebrated at Rome in 1629. 'T is said of him that all his life he observed exactly the rules of his Order even in