this in the Present time too qui ludis c. who Doest play or sport in thy mothers arms For the verb can be rendered no otherwise If it be so sure St. Paul was much to blame to teach us that even the man Iesus Christ after he offered Sacrifice for our Sins sitteth for ever at his Fathers right hand Heb. 5. 10. 10. 12. And what is he doing not playing in her arms not sucking her Breasts but there he ever liveth to make Intercession Compared with 1 Cor. 5. 16. Heb. 1. 3. Psal. 120. 1. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Luke 24. Why dost thou view me with that look of scorn T is forceless envy that gainst thee is born Jews Turks Pagans Infidels assemble your selves here 's matter enough to astonish you The great God of Heaven and Earth the Supream Creator and the Governour of all things will never Condemn any of you for laughing that Religion to scorn that durst vent such Impious blasphemies If you can have patience with me but this once hearken with the best attention that your alarum'd Conscience will give you leave that so you may be confirmed how much nearer the Kingdom of Grace and Glory you are than these Iesuits and all who know them such and yet adhere to their Impieties if you gain but this one step forwarder to Heaven viz. In fixing an Eternal hatred against their Doctrine and Practises not against their Persons tho they could find in their hearts to murder dam and sink us all at once for Heretick dogs who do but so much as question the truth of their Divinity I say if you advance no further than this aforesaid Step it is abundantly worth your time hearken then Oft hast thou said being angry at my Sin Dar'st thou desire the teats My food lies in I will not O I dare not golden Child My mind from fear is not so far exil'd But one even one poor drop I do implore From thy right hand or side I ask no more The substance of the two former verses compared with these last six is easily seen at first glance and plainly speaks thus much and would to God they could not speak one syllable Asking why Christ is angry with them and chides them for desiring that Milk wherewith he himself is fed and not only so but as if he greatly Emulated such a happiness and dignity as they notwithstanding had the presumption to demand viz. to touch His Mothers paps and to desire to be fed with that food which she reserved for her Son to feed upon as if this was such an Honour that Christ himself would envie them for who gave his own hearts blood to redeem the World and to purchase for mankind a compleat happiness in and by their actual enjoyment of the same Glory which he had with his Father before the foundation of the World Iohn 17. not to be once compared to the childish handling of a creatures Paps or sucking the Virgins Milk O Romish Synagogue is this the fowlest Crime our Lord and Saviour will take notice of If thou hadst no greater Sin whereof thou stoodst indited at the Tribunal Seat of this thy Judg no wonder then thou makest so light of his most precious Blood for I dare say thou wouldest not need it much Was this it that cost him tears of Blood that made him in such an Agony that made his very Soul as well as Body an Offering to satisfie his Fathers wrath Couldest thou find no higher Crime but thy Presumption in offering or desiring to play with the blessed Virgins Paps What foolery what mockery is this Hell stands astonished at this unparrallel'd Abomination the Angels and Saints tremble at it and Pagans for this very reason may do deride the very name of Christians for your sakes and will rise up in judgment at the great day against this monstrous Generation of Vipers who call themselves by the name of Iesus and yet thus daily Crucifie him and trample under foot his most precious Blood But to go on they have told us the great quarrel that Christ hath unto them but what is their answer hereunto They plead at last not guilty all edging for themselves that they are not so bold nor will not be so rude and presumptious as to dare to entertain any such thought or to attempt any such thing as to touch her sacred Paps or to drink of that most powerful Antidote or Cordial viz. her Milk no their ambition reached not so high they will therefore content themselves with a part of his Blood and Wounds as being a thing of an inferior nature and not comparable to the other I will not O I dare not golden Child c. I dare be bold to say the Devils fear and tremble at this horrid Atheism and stupendous Blasphemy of these Herodians who under pretence of worshipping Christ designed to embrue their murderous hands in the pure and innocent blood of their Redeemer And now by this time patient Reader I am persuaded thy ears have sent their sad message to each of thy astonished senses therefore I shall not further detain thee in thy horror but close up here altho I have not nigh ended this their detestable Poem which I intended to have passed thro when I began to write because we have read too much in that that 's past and he that desires to see more may satisfie his sinful curiosity in reading the Author himself or if he cannot easily come by it let him but peruse the Romish Psalter a book too common amongst all Papists and with which I shall close up this discourse Printed at Paris in the year 1520 or thereabouts and the same word for word is Reprinted in 1569 wherein every of the 150 Psalms are in whole or in part turned from God our Christ to our Lady As in the 19th Psalm The heavens declare thy glory O Virgin Mary c. And Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me O Lady thou that art called the Mother of mercy and according to the bowels of thy mercy cleans me from all my sins pour out thy grace upon me and take not thy wonted mercy from me c. In the 57th Psalm Have mercy upon me O Lady for my heart is ready to search out thy will and in the shadow of thy wings will I rest In the 68th Psalm Let our Lady arise and her enemies shall be scattered c. In the 72 Psalm Lord give thy judgment to the King and thy mercy to our Lady his Mother In the 94. Psalm God is the God of revenge but thou O Lady the Mother of mercy dost bow him to take pity c. In the 96 Psalm O sing unto our Lady a new song for she hath done marvellous things c. In the 110 Psalm The Lord said to our Lady Sit thou Mother at my right hand c. Thus I might go over all the Psalms but as he began so he ends in the last words of the
not direct them or if he did the furnace is too hot for all the world can witness they are not purged from their Ambition Covetousness Treacheries Deceitfulness and in special from their Blood and Cruelties which appears in that this is their Maxim Nisi Religio Lutherana ferro igne tollatur Eccles. Romana pacem tranquillitatem habere non poterit Unless the Religion taught by Luther be removed by the Sword and Fire the Church of Room will never enjoy peace and quietness See the book called Epistolar Iesuiticar Libellus Agab Bariaco 99 in Epist. art 11. pag. 66. I come now to shew the world the Occasion of this Jesuitical Blasphemy Iustus Lipsius a man of learning enough but too much levity having run over all Religions and at last set up his rest in Popery fell in his declining and doting days to open Idolatry and as he never troubled himself much with Christ in his life whose name a man shall seldom find if ever in his Books so at his end wanting matter it seems to magnifie Christ he writes 2 Books in praise and honour of 2 Idols viz. 2 old rotten or 2 new forged Pictures of a woman with her Child in her arms which must needs be taken for Pictures of our Lady wherein the prophane wretch blusheth not to write that at these 2 Images there are more and greater Miracles wrought than the Scriptures speak of to be done by Christ himself A learned Low Country Divine wondring that such Owles durst flie abroad at Noon light and such trumpery be set to sale in these days of knowledg wrote a short reproof of the Impieties utter'd in the first of these books which is De Virgine Hallensi of the Lady of Hall wherein because the Jesuits were also touched as being the Fathers of such fooleries and the makers of those bolts which such fools as Lipsius do shoot thereupon a Jesuit of Antwerp calling himself Clarus Bonarscius but his true name being Carolus Scribonius taking upon him in a Jesuitical pride the general quarrel of the whole Order of the Jesuits undertakes to defend their innocency and their honour against all the world and to that end writes a book and calls it The great Theater of the Iesuits Honour Amphitheatrum Honoris in quo Calvinistarum in Societatem criminationes jugulatae Wherein after many blasphemies against Christ and slanders against Princes all kind of lyes against our Ministers and Professors he comes at last to defend their friend Lipsius and his Legend of our Lady of Hall And after he hath abused him that wrote against it with all despightful terms and rail'd most artificially wherein he excells all other Jesuits Parsons excepted as far as they all other Papists he makes a transition from rayling on men to playing with God and from disgracing Princes to dallying with Iesus Christ and not only defends the Legend of Hall written by Lipsius but farther to shew his own devotion he makes a Poem not to the honour of God or of Christ the Mediator but to our Lady of Hall and the Child Jesus Wherein whether the Verse be better or the matter worse is hard to tell but whether his Devotion therein is greater to a Creature or his Blasphemy against the Blood of the Mediator let the Cristian Reader judg by the Poem it self which shall be manifested word for word after I have shewn you the Approbation of the Author and given you the discourse of the Ladies of Hall and Sichem shewing you particularly the occasion of this their New Gospel In the next place I will shew you how highly the Author of this Poem is Approved Clarus Bonarscius otherwise called Carolus Scribonius is a Jesuit now living at Antwerp and of much account amongst them he writ the Iesuits Theater of Honour before mentioned and spewed this Blasphemy out of his unclean heart and whereas both the Author and his book deserved the Fire and Halter it was so far from being misliked in the Romish Synagogue or any way censured that since the book hath been reprinted and the Author and his book stand enrolled approved and commended in their great Volumes set out for that purpose for good and Catholick Clari Bornarscij Amphitheatrum Honoris Iesuitici in quo Calvinistarum in Societatem Iesu criminationes jugulatae Prostant Palaeopoli 1605 postea 1606. Palaeopoli hoc est Antuerpiae Haec Possevinus Iesuita in Apparatu Sacro Tom. 1. lit C. pag. 357 Editionis ultimae And it is to be noted that these Volums of Possevine contain only an Inrolement and Approbation of no other other writers save such as are approved Romish Catholicks and are set out with great and publick allowance of the Romish State Besides let all men know the Book stands yet uncensur'd and the man lives still unpunish'd nay unreproved or rather commended and rewarded for it therefore this cannot be called an obscure or private fact of the Romish Church Now follows a Discourse of the Ladies of Hall and Sichem shewing particularly the occasion of this New Gospel The blessed Mother of Our Lord as the Church in all ages hath done so doth ours willingly honour as the most blessed of Women yet as a Creature and as one Saved by her Son that Saviour in whom her Spirit rejoyced We know and acknowledg that not she but the Holy Ghost hath said that all generations shall call her Blessed yet we must confess we are of that Fathers Religion who said her Spiritual bearing of Christ was happier than her carnal and Her self more blessed by Conceiving Christ in her heart than in her woomb and by believing in him than by bearing him for her bearing him in her body would not have Saved her soul if she had not more happily have born him in her heart August lib. de Virg. And in another place She was happy and blessed not because in her The Word was made flesh but because she heard the Word of God and kept it This her blessedness far be it from us to impeach and who would not yield her all blessedness and honour that a Creature may have of whom GOD vouchsafed to take the flesh of Man And if any of our Religion hath spoken any thing of Her that may in the least blemish her blessed State it was not done in any the least contempt of her but in the zeal they bear to the honour of their Saviour whom they held dishonoured by the unequal comparing of her with HIM For what will not a Christian's zeal cause him to do when he seeth his GOD dishonoured Who would have thought that Moses would so carelesly have cast out of his hands so precious a Jewel as were the Two Tables written with the finger of God And yet when he heard the Name of THE LORD Blasphemed he forgot himself and Them and as though he remembred none but GOD he threw them away and brake them in pieces If Mose's zeal makes his hastiness
by Seven of their own Rank weekly and in course and according to Seniority each man hath first brought him a mess of Broth which is the Antipast afterward half a pound of Beef which they call their Portion afterward an Apple or piece of Cheese which they call their Post-past Bread and Beer as they call for it When they have ended the Meal the Rector enjoyns silence to the Disputants and then rising from the Table himself stands and says Grace which said the Students first go out one by one each making his reverence with hat in hand to the Rector next after himself goes forth to hear them play their Musick which is in a great Hall over the Refectory thence until one of the Clock they recreate themselves in the Garden thence each man to his Study till two then again to the Schools so until four and a half as in the morning at their Greek and Latin Exercises then again to their Studies until six which is Supper-time and in the same manner spent as Dinner saving that six others go into the Pews and after some short Disputations one of one side reads the Latine Martyrology and another after him the English which contains the Legend of our English Martyrs and Traitors together The Students hear out the Relation with admiring and cap in hand to the memory of Campian Garnet Thomas Becket and Moor. After this until seven and a half Musick until eight they recreate themselves together thence to their Studies again until half an hour be past so to their Litanies and to provide themselves to bed But before they do it for the most part they demand on their knees all the Praefects Benedictions otherwise they take not themselves blessed then while they are disrobing themselves one amongst them reads some Miracle or new Book until sleep close up all and Father Thunders noise awake them in the morning Discipline is here enough were it well bestow'd Thus pass they their days and years save Tuesdays and Thursdays when on the afternoons they are licensed to the Recreation of the open fields on this wise Dinner ended we march forth out of the Colledg by two and two Father Thunder himself carrying up the Rear until we are distant about a mile from the Town where we walk or play at Ball or Bowles or other such Games till the Clock or our Stomachs strike Supper-time then repairing to the Colledg rost Mutton is our provision not being ordinary Now let us touch Sabbath affairs unto which on Saturday in the afternoon from four till six and after Supper till eight all the Students confess themselves to their Ghostly Fathers above named On Sunday-morning at six of the Clock they hie to their Studies where they read Sacred Letters until seven from thence to the Chappel and Congregation of our Lady which is kept in one of the Schools Father Darcy aforesaid being Praefect of that place where sitting in a Chair he exhorts all to the honour of the Virgin Mary declaring to them her great Power and Miracles All the Schools are not admitted hereunto but onely those whom the Praefect and his Twelve Consultors approve of which Twelve Consultors are ordinarily termed his White Boys The priviledg of this Sodality is That they have Graces Rosaries Beads Indulgences Medals and hallowed Grains from his Holiness in vertue whereof as the Praefect tells them being once admitted into the same Society they may obtain Pardon of all their sins past and at the hour of their death saying or but thinking on the Name of Iesus Mary Ioseph they are actually pardoned and freed from the pains of Purgatory which otherwise had they not been of this Society they should have endured With one of the aforesaid Grains saying one Ave Mary they may by the vertue of each deliver a Soul from Purgatory Besides on the day any that are in this Sodality established their sins are remitted swearing fidelity and stiling themselves the Virgins Slaves On this manner each Sunday between seven and eight they spend their time and they all go to Mass and receive the Communion thence to Breakfast afterward to the Study busying themselves in reading Divine Stories as they stile them till Dinner anon after Dinner they hie to their Church where they sing Vespers and Litanies to our Lady for England's Conversion having written on their Church and Colledg doors in great Golden Letters Iesu Iesu Converte Angliam fiat fiat O Iesu Convert England let it be done let it come to pass These are onely the outsides of their Profession if you desire to rip up the heart guts and bowels of these treacherous Wolves or holy Fathers you have it in these two Particulars I. Their Interrogatory or Confessions II. Their Doctrine or Gospel Touching the first because I will not spend time in this particular already published I refer you to Peter du Moulin which is entituled Novauté de Papisme where you may at large read those abominable abuses committed in their Interrogatories Touching the latter viz. their Doctrine I shall onely give you a taste some having written largely on this subject and not of every particular but onely some droppings each whereof are no less than deadly poisons but we will not fear to be infected by any of them because blessed be God this Age is provided with Antidotes and precious Preservatives against that Contagion CHAP. II. Their Order of the Virgin Mary unbowell'd with the Garbage of intolerable Blasphemies in that their New Gospel THe Reader must note that in this latter Age the Cup of Abominations was almost drunk up and emptied even to the very dregs viz. the Idolatries and Superstitions of the Church of Rome that Scarlet Whore having made drunk many of the Inhabitants of the Earth therewith but in this exigent and extremity other Locusts came flying out of the bottomless Pit to repair the ruines of the Romish State and to replenish her golden Cup with a new supply of Spiritual Fornications to which end they have first revived many devilish Doctrines half dead and damned in the former Ages and what in former times were scarce mentioned in converse by the worst of their Predecessors is now by them preached on the house-tops And secondly not so content the better to fill her Cup brim-full with the Quintessaence of most refined abominations they have hatched many horrible Doctrines and hellish Opinions never heard of in the elder Ages which are such exquisite Infections to a mans Soul that the Purple Whore hath willingly thrown away a great part of her old Drugs to make room for the new and more precious poisons confected by the Jesuits Popery being much altered since the Jesuits started up which Luther call'd the Devils last Fart both in their Service as may be seen in their Missals and Breviaries and in their Ceremonies as appears in their Pontificals and Ceremonials comparing the old and new together Of the first sort of Poisons are these 1.
for as great a Truth that a Parrat who had got out of Her Cage and was sporting abroad seeing a Hawk coming to seize on her presently cryed out St. Thomas of Becket save me and instantly the Hawk fell down dead and the Parrat was Saved See the old Legend in Folio of the Life of Thomas of Canterbury And also those Miracles of St. Francis so far beyond Christ or his Apostles that he tamed wild beasts that he preached to a Woolf in Specie and converted him from his Cruelty c. I wish they could convert themselves And if we Hereticks will not believe this look in the holy Book of Conformities and there you shall find all this and a great deal more and thither will we refer our Reader not worth spending time and Paper to enumerate them except it be to raise our laughter and drive away present Melancholy but we have other business and so we will pass on vide lib. Conformitatum Sancti Francisci Only take notice that I alledg these or may aledg others but that I blush for shame out of the book of Conformities lately corrected from the impieties and follies that crept in 100 or 200 years ago and printed in Italy within these 20 years Nay the Book hath been twice printed at Antwerp and once at Paris with allowance of Authority in both places not only of the Censors of books and the Archbishop of the place but the matter and Miracles in the Book are confirmed with the Bulls of 2 Popes one of Pope Nicolas in 1451. the other of Pope Clement the 8th within these few years Nay Possevine the Jesuit in his Apparatus Sacer hath published to the world that Lipsius in the year and at the place aforenamed did put out such a work and gives him special commendations for his labours in that and the like in the Catholick Cause And so far was Lipsius from recanting or the Romish Church from reforming this that he published another Pamphlet a more ridiculous Legend and fraught with more improbabilities and impossibilities it bears this Title Iustus Lipsius his History of our Lady of Sichem or of our Ladies Picture of the Craggy Rock or Sharp hill and of her new Miracles and benefits at Antwerp 1605. At this Image saith he are wrought Miracles of all sorts Apoplexies Epilepsies Gouts and all kind of diseases are healed It cures the Lame the Blind the Deaf by heaps not seldom and extraordinarily but yearly monthly daily But what credit hath the Story of our Lady of Sichem even the same that our Lady of Hall hath else let the Reader judg Near to the little poor but old Town of Sichem saith Lipsius there is a mount barren craggy and rough on one side thereof is a little Hillock on it grows an Oak and in it or fastened to it is a little Image of our Lady which hath done great Miracles in times past and therefore was worshipped by the people in those parts but how is that proved thus about 100 years ago a shepherd found that Image and put it in his bosom intending to carry it home to worship it but musing thereon he was suddenly struck and astonied and his whole body benummed in such a manner that he could not stir one limb but stood like a dead trunk not knowing what to think of it nor how to help himself his Master wanting both his Shepherd and his sheep as he was searching found them and found him so standing who told him the whole matter his Master taking the Image went with great devotion and set it up in the Oak again and forthwith the Shepherd had his limbs restored again and went and worshipped it and so by their reports all the Country heard of it who came thick and threefold and so were healed of all diseases except Agues and so it continued saith he till within these 20 years about which time the blessed Image was stoln or lost no man can tell how But is it not strange that if it could do these Miracles they would let it be lost so carelesly that seems as great a wonder in my mind well lost it was But what then people went as fast afterwards as before and still as great cures were there done as when the Image was there and for want of the Image the people worshipped the Oak and why might they not saith Lipsius for the holy Image had hallowed the Tree so that it might lawfully be worshipped behold Popish devotion yet saith he we worshipped not the Tree but the Image that formerly stood there and in it our Lady and in her God Pray observe good Reader God gets his worship at last tho it be at the fourth hand they tender it to the Tree the Tree yields it to the Image the Image conveys it to our Lady and she presents it unto God O Heavens and Earth blush But to return to the story Our Lady of Sichem is lost but what then must the poor Town lose her traffick and living No no they will make another rather than so for that is no hard or unlawful thing in that Religion and so saith he 7 years after an honest devout Alderman of Sichem perceiving how his and his neighbours gain came in and how the poor Town lived like a good Townsman made another Image put it in a Box of wood and fastened the box to the Oak that so their Lady might not be lost so carelesly as before This new Image thus made did as many Miracles as the other for it was perhaps more curiously carved and received of the virtue of the hallowed Oak unto which it was fastened Thus it continued certain years till at last the Parish Priest perceiving they had a great Trade bestowed some cost on their Lady which got them so much that they built her a little Chappel of boards and there placed her But still their custom growing greater every week they shewed themselves thankful to their Patroness and as she fill'd their purses so they bespoke her more and more Honour and at last built her a fair Chappel of Stone very lately and in that now resteth the Image working Miracles every day But mark what became of the holy Oak it was cut away by pieces and carried away by devout Persons and at last it was so hack'd and hewn thatit was in great danger of falling and a Councel was called in the Town what was best to be done with it and after serious consideration it was gravely Concluded that it should be cut up by the roots and with a great deal of Solemnity brought into the Town of Sichem Where when it came happy was he that could get a piece of the holy Wood whereof saith Lipsius and blusheth not to write diverse made them little Images and with much piety do worship them others that were sick of grievious diseases shaved it into their drink its great pitty it had not been Harts-horn and so were healed See what an excellent
parrallel so that it may be justly accounted one of the greatest wonders in the World Besides the charges of rich Vestiments massy Vessels of gold and silver and other precious furniture it stood the King of Spain according to his book of Accounts in 1200 Sesterces which makes according to somes computation about 9 millions of money or pounds sterling Likewise it is credibly reported that when the work was finished and the Officers brought the book of Accounts the King hearing the total of Accounts said I have taken great care many years and troubled my head much heretofore to have that finished I will now trouble my head no longer with the Charges wherefore he commanded the Book of the Accounts to be cast into the fire The whole Fabrick is built in a square except on that side towards the Kings Palace and on the back side of the Church looking towards Madrid which seems to resemble a Cradle or Gridiron upon which St. Laurence was broiled Every side but this extending 220 paces Some account the whole length of it from North to South no less than 720 feet and from East to West according to common measure 570 paces Each corner of the Building is guarded with a fair Tower made more for neatness than strength and beautified from the bottom to the top with many fair Windows The whole Fabrick may be divided into three parts On the South side stands the Monastery of the Monks of St. Ierom which takes up almost one half of it Towards the North side stands the Colledg for younger Novices of the same Order and foreign Children chosen and maintained by the King at a common table amongst themselves Somewhat Eastward stands the Kings own Palace being his Mansion in the Summer time Before you come to this stately Edifice you may first observe on the outside lying before it an open walk beginning from the West side of the Monastery and thence compssiang all the North side being 200 foot broad on the West part between the Monastery and the Partition and 140 foot broad on the North all beautified with a fair pavement of small square stones In the midst according to the length of the Building on that side where the adjoyning mountain overlooks it a fair great Gate opens it self between 8 huge Pillars on both sides of it one above another upon which are four other lesser Pillars and in the midst of the front stands a curious Statue of St. Laurence This great Gate opens to the Church the Monastery and the Colledg on both sides of it are other lesser gates that on the right hand affords a passage to the Shops of Mechanical arts for the use of the Colledg that on the left opens a way to the lodgings of the younger Students or Novices On the same side also is a lesser gate through which you may pass into the Kings Palace In a fair front over the entrance to the Church stand the Statues of 6 Kings of Israel upon their Pillars and Bases each of them 18 foot high whose heads and hands are of white Marble the rest of a courser stone Let us now enter into the inside of this goodly Fabrick and first when you are up the stairs that lead to the chief entrance of the Church a large open walk offers it self to your view separating the Monastery from the Colledg In this walk are broad steps all along which lead to the entrance of the Church and thence to another open Plain and so to a narrow Alley through which those of the Monastery on the one hand and those of the Colledg on the other may pass to the Church and from thence into the lower station of the Quire Now the place where this Quire stands is 4 square have 3 which are accounted for the body of the Church Adjoyning to this place of the lowermost Quire is an open Court on both sides from which the lower Quire it self and 2 Chappels situated towards those 2 Courts receive their light Above this lower Quire stands the Church it self with its proper Quire also which Church besides the upper and lower stations of the Quire and the great Chappel is 4 square of it self and is sustain'd by 4 Pillars and other necessary props and it hath 3 collateral Alleys and Cloysters after the manner of the former In this Church are 2 pair of Organs having each of them 32 registers or keys this Church also hath no less than 36 Altars and a stately Dore by which they go into a large vault at the time of divine Orisons This Church is higher then the inferior Quire by 30 foot and the Quire of that is so much higher then the Church The pavement of the Church as likewise of the upper and lower Quires is chequered with white and black Marble In the roof of the Quire is painted the Sun Moon and Stars with all the hoste of Heaven in a most glorious manner and on the Walls the portraitures of diverse vertues and some histories of St. Laurence and St. Hierom The seats are all made of precious wood of diverse kinds and colours in Corinthian work On the South side of the Church is a fair Porch arched and beautified with diverse pictures in this Porch is a clear fountain built about with Iasper and Marble having 7 cocks and cisterns where the Monks use to wash their hands when they go to celebrate their divine Service the pavement also of this Porch is chequered with white and black Marble The Vestry is next a stately place all arched and paved as the former The Chests and Presses and other places where they keep their holy Vests and Ornaments of the Altars are all made of precious wood and the walls covered with historical pictures From this Vestry they ascend up many steps unto the high Altar The place where this Altar stands is 4 square and paved with Iasper of diverse colours in the same place are certain Oratories built for great Princes to hear Mass in which Oratories are distinguished into 4 little Chappels and adorned both on the walls and pavement with chequer'd Iasper This place where the Altar stands is 10 foot higher then the Church and they go down from thence to the Church by certain steps before the great Chappel all of Iasper Through this Holy Place as they call it they go into the Reliquary where are kept diverse precious reliques of the Saints forsooth and shut up in their Boxes The like Reliquary is on the South side also full of rare monuments On the one side of the High-Altar is a little house wherein is distributed the holy Eucharist a place of great holiness and devotion surely on the walls are curiously painted 4 histories out of the old Testament shadowing out this holy Sacrament in the roof is portrayed the Rainbow in the Clouds with many Cherubins and Seraphims about it Between this House and the High-Altar stands the Sacrista within which is the Custodia of the holy
with Fillets of Silver or Gold and as for such whereof there is daily use they are laid in order upon Desks fastned with Chains upon a long Table But as for the Inner Library that is onely reserved for the Fathers of the Society it is free for none but them to go in thither and to borrow thence what Books they think good Those ordinary Books are onely free for the Iuniors of the Society nor may they take a Sentence out of the rest without special leave obtained from the Regent Moreover in this first Library are no Heretical Books as they call them but onely the Writings of most approved Authors and Catholicks all for they hold any other unworthy to be placed amongst them as fearing perhaps they should infect the rest Look therefore upon thy left hand and there thou shalt see the wretched Books of Hereticks as they term them standing all in Mourning for the faults of their Authors bound up in black Leather or Parchment blacked over with the very leaves thereof died in black Of these not one of the Fathers themselves may make choice or use without leave obtained from the Regent before-hand but your inferiour Iesuits and younger Novices may not be so bold as to desire the sight of any one of them except he will before-hand with all virulency and bitterness rail upon and disgrace the Author whom he desireth to see by some infamous Libel and scurrilous satyrical Verse or Writing In the midst of these several Libraries is placed a Study being divided into many Seats distinct and seperate one from another with a blue covering On the right side whereof sit the Fathers on the left the Under-Graduates who have already taken some Degrees upon them The other Novices or Fresh Men as we call them sit mixt with the Fellow-Commoners that they may take notice of them and every man in his turn beat into them by continual discourses the sweetness and excellency of the Order of Iesuits especially into such as are of the richer sort or wealthy Heirs I will say no more at this time as touching their Studies but I will describe briefly the manner of the Visitations which every Provincial maketh because it is a point which as I think and for any thing that I ever read or heard hath been never hitherto divulged by any Now every Provincial taketh his denomination from the Province or Kingdom rather which is committed to his Charge and Oversight His Place is to visit the several Colledges to take an account of their Revenues and oversee their Expences exactly and punctually to take notice what Noble Personages commit their Sons to the tuition of the Society and how many they are in number Whether there be not yearly an increase of Scholars as also of their Means and Revenues Whether there be any converted from Protestantism and how many such If there be no such thing or if the Popish Religion have lost ground or if there be any decrease of their Wealth he sharply reproveth their sloath and neglect and chargeth strictly that they make an amends for the wrong they have done and loss they have received in this case But if they have bestirred themselves bravely and converted as they call it or rather perverted many Souls to Popery if they have been frugal and scraped wealth together he praiseth them very highly and extolleth them to the skies Moreover he demandeth what is the opinion of the neighbouring Hereticks concerning them What be the projects of the Nobles What meetings they have How many and where What they consult upon What they resolve to do Whether the Heretical Princes as they term them delight to live at home or abroad To whom they resort most frequently What is the several disposition of every one of them In what things he is observed to take most delight Whether he take any care of his People or not Whether he be a Religious Prince or not Or rather whether he be not a man who delights to take his pleasure in Drinking Wenching or Hunting Whether he have have any Catholicks about him or that are near unto him What the People report abroad concerning their own Princes Whether the Churches of the Adversaries be full of resort or not Whether the Pastors of those Churches be learned and diligent men in their Place and Calling or otherwise lazie Lubbers and unletter'd Whether the Profession of Divinity thrive in the neighbouring University of Hereticks Whether their Divines maintain frequent Disputations and against whom principally What Books they have published of late and upon what Subject To these and sundry such questions if the Regent and the rest of the Fathers do answer punctually he doth wonderfully commend their industry and vigilancy If he find them defective in answering to these or any such demands he reproveth them sharply saying What mean you my Masters Do you purpose like lazie Companions to undo the Church of Rome How do you suppose your slothfulness in these weighty affairs can be excused before his Holiness How is it that you presume to take these Places upon you and to manage them no better What or whom are you afraid of Why do not you buckle up your selves better to your business and perform your places like men These things if you had been such men as you ought to be had not been to do now These things should have been done long before this time Do you observe the incredible watchfulness of the Hereticks and can you be lazie And with these or the like speeches he wheteth them on to their duty At the last he enquireth as touching the Scholars Fellow-Commoners Novices and the rest How many they are in number How much every one hath profited To what study or delight each one is inclinable Whether there be any one amongst them that is scrupulous or untractable or not a fit subject to be wrought upon For he adjudgeth every such an one sitting to be removed from the Study of Divinity except he have been very well exercised in the Disputations in Schools and have a very great and good conceit of their Religion beaten into him Moreover he enquireth if they have any one in the Colledge who can be contented for the advantage of the Catholick Cause to undertake any laudable attempt and to spend his blood in the Cause if at any time necessity shall seem to require it And at last he sendeth away all these Informations being sealed up unto the Father General at Rome by whom they are immediately made known to the Pope himself and his Conclave of Cardinals And so by this means an order is taken that there is no matter of action set on foot nothing almost consulted upon throughout the whole Christian World which is not forthwith discovered unto the Pope by these Traitors that lurk in every State and Kingdom Also it is not to be omitted that the Iesuits are translated by their Provincial from one Colledge to another and that