even those of S. Macaire and Marennes but they also have suffered upon their seats in their porches and corners unseemly and dishonest actions Many women and maids have been frightned in severall places to see Jesuits going presumptuously and without any fear to the Altar clad in their sacerdotall vestments after they had in their Confession-seats entertained them a long time together with Love-discourses and discoveries of the earnestness of their brutall passions O thou God of purity when wilt thou enter again with the whip of cords in thy hand into the Temples to drive out thence these buyers sellers of Doves How long wilt thou suffer these incestuous wretches to make a Brothel-house of thy Sanctuary and â—nder the mask of devotion to make a prey of chastity â—n those very places where it should find the greatest â—efuge and protection CHAP. VIII A fourth Bill of Venereall uncleannesses committed by the Jesuits in their Houses I Here is no crime so hidden saith Jesus Christ but at last it cometh to light The Order of the Jesuits â—ay be said to have been for some yeares like a spacious â—eld covered with snow the whitenesse whereof conâ—ealing equally the beauty and the dirtinesse thereof â—ut now that the Sun of righteousnesse hath darted his â—ore perpendicular rayes upon that delicate whiteâ—esse and comes to dissolve that pretended snow of â—anctimony he with the same labour discovers their â—â—hinesse and dunghills Thousands of times have heard the most tender of the reputation of the Order â—xpressing themselves to this purpose That if any â—ne of those who quitted the Society should discover â—he story of Petiot our disparagement in the world â—ould be irreparable If it so happen that the infamy â—â—ll reflect on them it shall be by accident for my â—art I have no other designe then the furtherance of â—od's glory and the edification of the publick in the â—iscovery of that crime Stephen Petiot is a person for his excellent endowâ—ents of very great reputation in Guienne and one â—hat hath ever been accounted among those of his robe â—r one of the most modest and reserved The Paneâ—yrick which he writ when he taught Rhetorick at â—ourdeaux upon the taking of Rochell gained him a â—reat fame and those employments which the Proâ—inciall have since put him upon by making him â—reacher in the most eminent pulpits have made his â—erson highly considerable I am here to intreat the Reader to take notice that the story I relate is not to discover the miscarriage of some drudging Brother or of some unfortunate student forced to caâ—â— anchor by a sad ingenistitium in the first or second yeare of his course of Theologie or yet that of some formall Coadjutor or Assistant that is such as are not oâ— any rank or reputation among them but that of a Jesuit that 's one of the Bell-weathers of the Society as they expresse it a man that had taken the fourth vow aâ— excellent Humanist and famous preacher Vices appeare with greater lustre when they are found in thâ— most eminent men of an Order This illustrious maâ— was of the professed house preach'd at the Church oâ— St. Projectus in Bourdeaux and because he would not be thought idle in the intervall between Advenâ— and Lent he sometimes went to the confession-seatâ— as others did rather out of thoughts of diversion theâ— devotion and more to fasten on some prey then to convert sinners and instruct soules A voluptuous person prosecutes his lustfull desires where ever he comes even through grates and lattices This man who in the Pulpit seemed to be a Saint and was an Asmodeus iâ— the shriving-seat cast his amorous eyes upon a little brown lass that had cast her selfe at his feet to disburthen her selfe of her sinnes and at the first sighâ— took so much fire at the eyes and eares when he look'd upon her and heard her speake that contrary to the first intention of the wench he sent her away loaden with more crimes then she had brought thither The first scene of this wanton Comedy was by câ—afty insinuations to engage the wench to give him a meeting about the time that the Jesuits are at Table that he might have the opportunity to entertaine her between two doores with more security and freedome Thâ— wench who it seems was somewhat in necessity considering she was a servant of some quality finding heâ— self so much made of by a person whom she heard every where celebrated for his great worth thought her selfe 〈◊〉 a faire way to happinesse and reciprocally conceived 〈◊〉 much tendernesse and affection for him that shee â—â—s no lesse punctuall to meet him at the place apâ—â—inted then the Sun is to blesse our Hemisphere â—ith the gladsome day at the ordinary houres To â—escribe the litle shifts that passed between these two â—overs and the mutuall caresses wherewith they enterâ—â—ined one another during that litle leisure would â—â—ke up too much time it is no hard matter to imagine â—onsidering the violence of their passions what might â—e the effects of their first meeting There needs â—herefore no more be said then that there was no â—â—nner of feeling which the wench did not freely â—â—ffer from him nor any pleasure which shee received â—ot from him even to the closest embraces One thing â—nly there was that much troubled them that is â—hey were obliged ever and anon to go and see if any â—â—ranger came neer to disturbe their enjoyments In 〈◊〉 word not to defile too much paper with so nasty a â—â—ory the wench hath since related to three or foure â—esuits that Petiot had kissed her embraced her felt â—et c. Nay so far as that effundens seman in manum â—us O excesse of abomination â— saâ—d to her See â—y dearest ex quo Luto nascuntur homines The auâ—hor of the book called the Desirer had not certainly â—ver read or heard of such stories as these when he â—aid that the Porter of Monasteries was a venerable â—ncient man whose name was The feare of God Were â—â—e to write now he would certainly except the Colâ—edges of the Jesuits which though they beare in their â—rontispieces the name of â—ESUS crowned with thornes â—r beames of light do not put those that live within â—hem ever the more in mind to imitate the purity of the Virgin 's Son Let us now go into the house and see what mischiefe they did there when they were so wicked in the Entry This great Preacher that he might have the greater opportunity to study had a chamber by himselfe at some distance from those of the rest that had a locâ— to it which the provinciall Jaquinot had purposely caused to be furnished for him Imagining with himselfe that he might easily bring the wench thither and there enjoy her without any danger he perswaded hâ—â— to disguise her selfe Shee took his advice reckoned with her Mistresse quitted her service bought a hat and a canvasse suit such as should fit
Jarrigius himself hath refuted the â—postures scattered abroad under his name Our Consistory of Rochel hath produced these originals that is to say my writing my Profession of Faith and my Letters all equally authenticated by my own hand and seale Now observe the Adversaries weaknesse Beaufes hath taken and induced others to take my writing of November 24. as that onely thing whereon the Judges might admit of an indictment against me and by a weaknesse of judgement which all humane Sophistry and invention cannot cover sayes in his book since that Monsieur Vincent writ the Letters hath fallen very foule upon him as the Author thereof and to demonstrate it can be no other he opposes not onely me to my selfe and my latter Letters to those I had written before but he opposes the pretended Letters of Monsieur Vincent to mine to refute as he sayes the Impostures scattered abroad under my name I here take no more then what Beaufes is willing to afford me and argue thus If Monsieur Vincent be the Authour of those Letters the same Monsieur Vincent Minister of the word of God is Authour also of the writing of November 24. and consequently I have no more to do with that then with the Letters and so the Judges cannot have any pretence to condemn me But if they find that the Writing authorised by my hand and seale belong to me they will also conclude that the Letters are also mine since they carry the same Authority of my hand and seal So that if I am condemned for having been the Author of the writing and that afterwards I had not forborn to say Masse there is as much reason on the other side that Beaufes should be also condemned for a publick Impostor as having in his writings and Sermons falsly affirmed that these Letters were not mine though he were satisfyed in conscience of the contrary by the publick production made thereof by our Consistory upon the Sollicitations of the Jesuits It must needs be that this judgement was very precipitate when it destroyes it self so of a sudden and it speaks an extraordinary passion in those that were the Revisers of that book to suffer such a fault to passe as discovers their malice to all those that pretend to any thing of judgement But what hath M. James Beaufes to alledge by way of vindication as to this childish and so palpable an imposture Will he say as haply he may considering the contemptible character he gives me in point of abilities that I was not able enough to write a Letter But that he cannot since he acknowledges my admission to the fourth vow which is the highest degree of preferment that the Generall can bestow on the most knowing of the Society Can it be imagin'd that the most considerable of their Body should not be able to pen a Letter No no let us not be so severe towards him passion considers not what it sayes Or is it that the style of those few lines that I writ makes a greater discovery of the style and parts of Monsieur Vincent then my own But to that there is a whole Consistory consisting of persons of honour and credit making evidence that I brought those Letters as they were produced from the Colledge Besides my stile is neither so pure so polite nor so patheticall as that of Monsieur Vincent and we must equally my quondam Brother acknowledge that both my Genius and yours what idea soever you may conceive of your selfe are very much below the excellencies of that worthy person This book which I write and that mishapen abortive issue of your braines which you have dressed up and sent abroad under your name will ever be sufficient demonstrations of the difference there is between us and him Whereto may be added that the things which I discover are of such a nature as that it was impossible Monsieur Vincent should have known them and it was necessary he should first have them from my mouth Whence may be started this question what necessity there was that to lay them down in a simple and low style as I have done I should employ the pen of that eloquent man I must therefore to your confusion and the glory of the Gospell let the world know what stumbling-block that is which makes you fall so infamously It is your ordinary custome according to the secret and mysterious rules of the Society to impose things upon the Pastors of the Reformed Church in your injurious and treacherous refutations and make the world believe that they say what never came into their thoughts This you thought a likely course to crush Monsieur Vincent by falsly attributing to him what I had written But that person much more judicious and considerate then you hath snapp'd you in your crafty designs and hath lashed you in his Refutation as a boy of the fift form And whereas God hath by the adorable secrets of his divine providence so ordered things that whatsoever happens turns to their goood that fear him so hath it been his pleasure that this very imposture which you make use of to render me contemptible hath raised me into reputation among my Brethren and hath given them occasion to suspect all the accusations you load me with to be false as thinking it no prudence to believe a man who is so palpable and notorious a Lyer which proves not a little to my advantage among those of my Religion Nor come I to examine the ridiculous refutation which the adversary hath made to my Letters and it shall be seen whether this famous Logician hath not justly deserved that the scholers of Bourdeaux should put an asse to supply his place in the seat whence he read his Lectures He hath fastened upon two Letters whereof the former and that of most consequence was written foure moneths and the Latter two moneths before my departure And by an unheard of kind of argument he takes certain broken periods of the one not relating any way to the other to weaken the credit of certain propositions that are in the second Were it lawfull according to his unperfect Philosophy to argue in that manner St. Paul may very well be in fear that some mischievous person such an other as Beaufes might take some of his Letters and mustring together contrary to all coherence certain passages straggled out of the body of his other Epistles should endeavour to make him guilty of contradiction for there is nothing more easie if this manner of disputation be allowable What can be more formally against the Laws of Contradiction then to make that competible to one time which is only to another For instance I had said in one of my Letters whereof he produces this shred I had been admitted to the fourth vow to which nine are but such as have been approved for a long and constant prosecution of vertue it being a degree which raises the person received into it to so much respect and reputation in
peremptory doctrine of Christ that the same man cannot both serve God and Mammon How they at the same time serve both God and Mammon that is seek the Kingdome of God and have his thoughts taken up with the getting of mony Ye cannot saith the Apostle serve God and Mammon Be not over-carefull as to your soule what ye shall eat nor yet as to your body what ye shall put on for these things do the Gentiles seek after But seek ye the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof Thus could neither the Apostles themselves nor can the Pope who have succeeded them seek both the Kingdome of God and mony for as our Saviour saith he who loves and bears with the one must needs hate and despise the other much less is it in the power of the Pope to favour the Jesuits with such a priviledge as that of prosecuting several things at the same time Let therefore the Jesuits take it into consideration who profess themselves but to be Janus's at least dissemble not this earnestness and pursuance of things incompatible how they can avoid incurring the deserved hatred not only of Hereticks but even of Catholicks themselves For my part it is many years since I took very much offence at their over-curiosity when I found certain young men sons to some of my friends whom I had brought to Rome to study in the Jesuits Colledge to have been very strictly examined in private about all things relating to their friends estates and fortunes For when I imagined that the Prefect of studies had taken them aside to make triall of their proficiency in learning The examination of the young men upon their first admission to the Jesuits schools they were lock'd into a certain Chamber where the Jesuit coming to them took out a great Book such as may be those of stewards Accounts and having put many Interrogatories to them writ their Answers very carefully into the said Book The Questions put to them were much to this effect what their names were what their age what Schools they had been at before who were their Parents what age they were of what estates they had whether they had any real estates and if lands where situated what kindred and alliances they had and whether they expected any estate might fall to them upon their death or otherwise whether they had any sisters whether married unmarried or marriageable and if married to whom When die young men upon their return home again gave me an account of these things I would not be thought so stupid and inconsiderate as not to apprehend what advantages the Jesuits might make of those voluminous examinations The advantages they make of the said examinations For when the Colledges came to be supplied and that the young men were to be encouraged that they would Eandem Ire viam pergant eidem incumbere Sectae There would be little difficulty in the choice of such as should be admitted For ther 's no more to be done then to consult the Books of Examinations where they finde it faithfully recorded who are the most rich who come from the best friends and accordingly who to be ensnared into the society applying to themselves that expression of Terence In Illis fructus est in his opera luditur Finding therefore that the young men had not made the proficiency in their Schools which I thought they might as being not able to give account of any thing save a sort of dull fables read to them by some pitifull Master by way of Lectures and having understood from some young Gentlemen of good quality who lived and boarded among the Jesuits The Jesuits Schools dangerous places for young Lads that the unnaturall love of Children was an ordinary and diurnal sin amongst those that conversed together which in case any one should be ignorant of he might from the words of the Rector in the exhortation he was very imprudently The impudence of the Jesuits wont to make against it take notice of as also for that I had heard from very good hands how that in Germany certain Jesuits had by their indiscreet interrogatories in Confession brought some young men into the knowledge and practice of that sin and that thereupon many Colledges were polluted for these I say and some other reasons I thought fit not to send the young men any more to the Jesuits Schools but got a Praeceptor to have the oversight of them at home There is yet another thing which brings a suspicion of an excess of curiosity upon the Jesuits especially at Rome and not unlikely at other places also which is that no small number of the chiefest Matrons resort in a manner daily to their Churches Women make diurnal confessions to the Jesuits and there sit away two or three hours at a time discoursing with their ghostly Fathers And yet it is not probable they should every day fall into so many sins as should take up so much time to make an acknowledgment thereof A Jesuitical insinuation betrayed But the truth is when we reflect that women are a sort of running vessels indefatigably talkative and not much retentive of the secrets they are trusted with it may well be thought they are not every day detained there so long out of any other designe then to sift out of them all they know especially when the Jesuits themselves stick not to discover the great earnestness they have to hear any thing that is new Upon this account is it that so many visit them The frequent visits made to them even from the least to the greatest and that they many times spend whole dayes in entertaining them nay they come upon them with so much importunity that It often falls out they are not able to give reception to all but are forced to put them off and appoint them other dayes to wait on them Insomuch that it is almost grown into a general opinion that there is not any King or Prince upon the face of the earth that hath so punctual an account of all things that are done in the Universe The great advantages of the Generall of the Jesuits in point of Intelligence even to the Antipodes as hath the Father General of the Jesuits not only because the Rectâ—rs and Provincials scattered over the world according to the Missionary oath they have taken fail not to write to him once in eight dayes but also because either out of the need they stand in of their assistance or the desire of hearing news or lastly the earnestness some are in to communicate what they have received either by discourse or Letters people will be perpetually haunting the Jesuits who as they are not all of a nation but divided into factions so they all indeavour to incline the General to do what may be most advantageous for their own Whence it comes that some stick not to attribute that to the Jesuits which Johannes Sarisburiensis writ
with the Crown of Spain do just the same with them and so with the rest From which carriage of theirs ariseth this mischief that it causes such distrusts in the hearts of Christian Princes that they cannot credit one the other which is a great hindrance to the publick peace and the universall wellfare of Christendome Besides this diffidence of theirs is that which makes it so difficult a thing to conclude a league against the common enemy and the precious enjoyments of peace to be of so little value among Princes Furthermore with these circumventing devices though they have so opened the eyes of the world and so sharpened mens wits in matter of State that they are notorious to all yet even at this very day to the great prejudice of the Church they are wholly taken up with matters of policy and ballance all their actions according to their worldly and selfish concernments But that these Jesuiticall Mysteries and Stratagems may be made yet more manifest I cannot here conceale the means whereby they inveigle Princes to their party There are some years now past since one of these Fathers called Father Parsons the Assistant of England wrote a book against the succession of the King of Scotland to the crown of England And another Father of the same Society called Crittonius with some others in a Book which they wrote defended the Title of the King of Scotland opposing the opinion of Father Parsons and pretending to be at difference among themselves But the truth was that all was cunningly contriv'd and carryed on by the command of their Father Generall onely out of this design that whosoever should succeed in the Kingdome of England they might have an excellent argument to work in him a great good opinion of their Society and so as much as may be make their advantages of him What more pertinent example can we desire to shew that Princes and their interests are the objects of all Jesuiticall actions and determinations and consequently to make good their own assertion That their Society is ae grand Monarchy Again that this truth may also be made manifest That the Jesuits regard not whether they please or displease any Prince when their own commodity lyes at the stake though the experience of infinite things past make it as clear as the Sun yet the particular instance I shall now adde wil make it somewhat the more conspicuous There is not any person in the world whom they are more bound to serve or indeed for whom they themselves pretend greater submission then the Bishop of Rome were it not for other particular reasons but out of a consideration only of the solemn vow they make to obey him Yet when Pius Quintus would have brought in something of reformation amongst these Fathers by reducing them to a performance of their duty in the Quire they submissively refused to obey him as conceiving it a notorious prejudice to their Society to be reduced to any thing suitable to the practise of other Monkes And for those few among them that conscientiously did comply with the Popes pleasure they were ever afterwards called by way of derision Quintini and made so contemptible that never any of them could be admitted to the least preferment among them After the same manner did they oppose glorious S Charles Archbishop of Millaine when in the quality of Legate à latere to his Holinesse he endeavoured to reduce them to Religious discipline But to what end do I mention these when they think it a scorn to submit to the sacred Canons themselves but contrary to the provisions made therein make merchandise of Jewels Rubies and Diamonds which they trade to the Indies for Nor is that opinion altogether groundlesse that the greatest part of the precious stones sold in Venice belong to the Jesuits since the report took its first rise from their own Agents and Brokers whom they employ'd in the sale of them But that they are no faithfull Servants to the Bishop of Rome what ever they pretend I need onely the acknowledgement of those Fathers who for no mean default were called by processe to Rome I neither can nor would if I could name them nor am I much inclin'd to wade any farther into this businesse partly to avoid the bringing of any Prince upon the stage that might take offence at my discourse it being my desire to please all and not to disoblige any and partly that it might not be said I were guilty of an humour to inveigh against the Jesuits my purpose only having been to give a short and plain account of their courses and customes For as it many times happens that we see a person afflicted with some grievous infirmity betraying the extremity of his sufferings by such lamentations and cryes as reach heaven it self and it is apparent to every one that the man suffers no small torment yet there is not any able to discern the originall cause of his indisposition So the world is full of complaints against the Jesuits some for being persecuted by them others for being treacherously served by them yet the mischief still remains among us Nor is the cause thereof easily discovered though it is conceived it does not proceed from any thing so much as from that prodigious and indeterminate desire which they have still to encrease their power This is the apple of their eye which if it be but ever so little touched they make no difficulty to disgust any man whatsoever to circumvent and over-reach Princes to oppresse the poor to force Widdows out of their estates to ruine whole Nations nay many times by their interloping into affairs of publick concernment to raise jealousies and dissatisfactions among Christian Magistrates Now as there would happen a great inconvenience if that part which according to the designe of Nature was last formed as an instrument to serve the rest that for their precedency are the more noble and should attract unto it self all the purest blood and vitall spirits for it were the way to bring the whole to destruction So is it no lesse inconvenient that the Jesuits an Institution lately graffed into the body of the Church to be instrumentall as they themselves pretend in the conversion of Hereticks and the reduction of Sinners into the ways of Repentance should grasp into their power and presume upon the management of all the most weighty and important affaires of Prelates and Princes drawing from them the very life and spirits of their interests to make their own advantages thereof From this source springs all publick and private disturbances many are depressed who were their worth consider'd should be exalted many advanc'd who were more deservedly trod under foot with thousands of other inconveniences consequent thereto Many reasons might be produc'd drawn from experience it self to make it apparent what an insatiable ambition the Jesuits have to encrease still more and more in greatnesse It shall therefore suffice to make it appeare out of
all that 's requisite to make a relation plausible Have they sifted all these and thereby discovered the inconsistency thereof and accordingly cleared themselves by retorting the infamy upon the detractor No such thing appears What then They raile at him in their Sermons make him the veriest rogue upon earth in their discourses and writings and represent him as an Apostate in Religion a Heretick a malefactor hanged in effigie and consequently a bold calumniator that is a person to whom no credit is to be given and accordingly themselves cleard of all the crimes layd by him to their charge This is the Jesuiticall way of Vindication But about two years and a half after viz. in the yeare 1650. he abjured the Reformed Religion again and went back to the Jesuits was received at Anwerp and there comes abroad a Retractation at Paris wherein he acknowledges all he did was out of animosity revenge and discontent All this is true But this is no more then another branch of Jesuiticall vindication that is signifies very little and yet they cannot but be sensible that the world is not so easily gull'd as to be persuaded they are to give more beliefe to the Retractation then to the relations of Jarrigius The Retractation is indeed so liberall that it betrayes the artifices of those that contrived it which gave a certain Clergy man occasion to tell a Father of the Society speaking of it That they had overshot themselves in it and had been better vindicated had the Retractation been more modest and raises a suspition in many others that not onely the World but even Jarrigius himselfe is impos'd upon in that piece as being therein brought to deny what he had with the greatest professions of truth and sincerity affirmed not long before Till therefore they shall take that course which all such as would deale candidly and not elude the world with apparences are wont to do let the relations of Jarrigious in the name of God ly at their doores unlesse they have the faculty to persuade men that as they assume to themselves according to their own Maximes a liberty to calumniate others so whatsoever others affirm of them though with ever so much positive evidence must give way and vanish at the first appearance of their pure denyall Thus having given an account what judgement is to be made of the first piece which onely they could make any advantage of I shall have little to say to the rest And of the second onely this that though it be but a private bickering between a reall and a revolted Jesuit Jarrigius and Beaufes yet many things relating to the government of the Society as also the violence of their prosecutions when once exasperated coming occasionally to be treated somewhat will be met with which may not haply be so obvious elsewhere The third is a piece of their own containing the SECRET INSTRUCTIONS for the Superiours of the Society and so they have nothing to quarrell at unlesse at that Providence which ordered the unexpected discovery thereof so soon All the world hath to wish is to know what Additionals they have made to these Instructions which seem calculated for the infancy of the Order before it was grown up to that confidence in Maxime and Practise it has thriven in since As to the fourth nothing need to be added to the account given thereof immediaely before it T was the advice of a Friend and should upon that account have been the more kindly entertained The fifth came also from the hands of a Friend one as may be inferred from some passages that might be an English man by his familiarity with the state and affaires of that Nation For the last I met with it at the latter end of a book called ELIXIR JESUITICUM written by the same Author as writ that entituled SPECULUM JESUITICUM The remarks of that Author I in some places confine my self to in others vary from as I thought fit Whether any thing be said by way of remark which is not pertinently derivable from the Text of the Prophecy I leave to the judgement of the ingenuous Reader and for the authentication of it he may consult the fragment of Saint Hildegard's Life which is to that purpose praefix'd before it Having thus given the Reader a short direction as to every particular piece of this Collection there remains onely a word to say to those who are brought upon the stage therein Either they are sensible of their miscarriadges or not if they are not it is a friendly and Christian work to be their remembrancers that when they are convinc'd thereof they may avoid falling into the like If they are sensible thereof yet'dreading the shame of acknowledgement persist therein no remonstrance can be two stinging nor discovery too satyricall But that there is a greater probability of the latter then the former may appeare from what is said by a Provinciall of the Jesuits in Moravia in a Letter to a certain Abbot Counsellor to the Emperour which giving an account what judgement the world had of them and consequently who are to be accountable for the mischiefs that are done it will not be amisse to insert and so conclude Venit hora saith he in qua c. The time now draws nigh wherein every one thinks he doth God good service when he suspects thinks and speaks of the JESVITS as if they were guilty of all things that are evil Nor is there any Religious man of any other Order no Politician no Heretick will be persuaded that the JESVITS either live religiously or speak the truth JESUITOGRAPHIA VEni Rythme mi dilecte Surge versus nunc neglecte Quondam lepos antiquorum Pange labes seductorum Fratres carpe Jesuitas Et perversos Hypocritas Qui pastore gloriantur Cujus gregem populantur Sancto gaudentes nomine Cujus carentes omine Non sunt Christi satellites Sed Antichristi velites Aevi nostri Legulei Renascentes Pharizaei Quae perversa sunt probantes Et quae recta sugillantes Christi legem ore sonant Jesu fidem verbis tonant Sed dictis facta dissonant Nec sunt quod esse simulant Jesus dabat cunctis pacem Sed hi subdunt bellis facem Hi principum sicarii Orbisque incendiarii Jesus regna stabilivit Legi regis obedivit Caesari tributum pendit Dum quid juris sit ostendit Hi regnorum proditores Atque legum fraudatores Reges volunt jugulare Et sic plebem subjugare Sensit magnus Rex Francorum Ictum septo labiorum Presens laethum vix evasit Quod hic sacer ordo suasit Rex Anglorum est documento Cum magnatum Parlamento Unoque ictu destinati Neci Rex Regina Nati Horum Grex hoc adornarat Et Garnetus comprobarat Cum Gerardo cum Grenwello Et cum perfido Creswello Omnes falsi proditores Miserorum seductores Qui quod piis praepararunt In se suos derivarunt Dum Romano famulantur Et Hispan is adulantur
upon the Empire and that there would have happened great revolutions if God had continued his life a little longer ita est sayes he in Latine sed per dei gratiam et bonorum curam culter obstitit That is to say 't is true but through the grace of God and the care of good men a knife prevented it Had there been a rack provided upon this hint he would possibly have said the truth not by halvs but absolutely and had discovered to posterity what France hath much suspected but never could clearly finde out May it please God to let the Grand-child of the great Henry know who these good men are who as the Jesuit said put France into mourning and sent out of this world his Grand-father of famous memory when he was preparing a triumph for his dearest spouse The Jesuits are afraid God should take them at their words if in their devotions they should say what all France does in that particular prayer which is made for the K ng Vitiorum monstra devitare hostes superare that is to say to shun the monsters of vices and to overcome his enemies The Provincial Pitard caused to be razed out of their Litanies which they say at eight of the clock these words printed HOSTES SUPERARE TO OVERCOME HIS ENEMIES the reason is for that the greatest enemy of the Crown of France since Charles the fifth being the Spanyard it would trouble them extreamly to wish any victories to the King of France to the prejudice of the King of Spain I have been my self and have seen others very grave persons reproved by the Superiours for having after the prohibition made added the fore-recited words To which these making answer that it was lawful for them as French men and according to the order of Cathedral Churches that prayed so to pray to God that the King might be victorious over his Enemies you must replied they to hide their malicious treachery under the veyl of Piety conform your selves not to the Gallican Church but to the order of Rome which does not demand victories for Kings If there be any one that out of curiosity would surprize them in this he may make speed to see the Litanies which they have in the Oratory of their Hall of recreation and he shall finde in those little books if they are still used that these words Hostes superare are dashed out with a pen. It must needs be that the wills of these Zealots are very corrupt since they distil venome even into their devotions The King of France founds Colledges for these Hypocrites to the end they may pray for the prosperity of his arms and the Superiours of Guienne by an express command forbid those that are under them to desire even in their publick prayers that he should overcome his enemies This hatred against Kings which in many among them is become another nature is not satisfied only with Blood royal but engages them further to wish ill to all those who by their wise councels and high enterprises endeavour the greatness and dilatation of the state When the news came of the general revolt of all Portugal they immediately conceiving that a revolution so fatal to the Spanyard had been brought about by the policy of the most eminent Cardinal Richelieu I have known for certain that four Jesuits discoursing of it that night very confidently and privately in a chamber on that side where Theology is taught in Bourdeaux one of them was so enraged to hear that so considerable a loss had befallen the Crown of Spain that out of madness he took a picture he had of the Cardinall 's and having run it through several times with a pen-knife at the eyes and the heart put it into the flame of the candle and burnt it The wounds given the paper did that great Polititian no great hurt but had he ever discovered the exasperated inclinations of these creatures of Spain he would have taken a little more heed of those who under the name of Jesuits would make the world believe that they live out of it Another of the same society having observed that an unskilful Graver had made a very wretched draught of that great Minister of state bought up abundance of them and having made them up into packets sent them to diverse Colledges in Spain and Germany saying that he would have his Brethren to see the Picture of that Devil These sallies do indeed speak something that is childish but they are withal conclusive Arguments of their malice against the Crown under which they live When some Bishops have ordered Te Deum to be sung and publick devotions to be made in acknowledgement of the happy success of his Majesties Arms I have often heard sometimes one sometimes another say I am content to pray heartily to God not that he would prosper his Majestie 's Arms but that he would stay the course of their bloody victories and confound the counsels and designs of the Cardinal who sets all Europe on fire to satisfie his own vain glorious humour What will all well affected French men say of those that persecute the state even in their prayers If they consider their proceedings ever since their first comming into France they will find that if this hypocritical Body ever discovered any respect to the Princes thereof it hath been meerly in order to its own concernments and is no longer dutiful and obedient to the soveraign power then it is flattered aâ—d loaden with benefits thereby From the acts of hostility which they exercise against their lawful superiours the Bishops when they are countenanced by the Court you may imagine how violent and furious they will be against the civil Magistracy when ever the Pope shall think fit in their particular quarrels to protect them I shall say more when in a book it is in my thoughts to write concerning their Institution I shall take occacasion to explicate the Rule which obliges them to stick to one or the other party in the differences that happen between Christian Princes In the mean time I wish France may open its eyes that she may take heed that this generation of Vipers which she feeds in her breast do not at last to her destruction eat out their way through her belly and her bowels CHAP. III. An enditement of Encroachments and Antidates put in against the Jesuits THose things whereof most men agree in their judgements are commonly grounded upon some truth Of a thousand people in France that shall take occasion to speak of the revenues of the Jesuits nine hundred shall accuse them of being too much inclined to the things of this world and I dare affirm without running the hazard of doing truth any injury that to procure them they make nothing to supplant Orphans and Widdows nay think it not much to oppress by false contracts tradesmen and the poorest sort of people When I was sent to preach in their Priories and was accordingly obliged to
silver in Sand and since that time when they were both seized there were found about them many new pieces like those that are but just brought from the mint I suppose the Reader is by this time satisfyed that I have not only insisted upon conjectures such as may be thought sufficient to bring these criminalls to the rack but that I have produced certaine and convictive prooffs such as might bring Barons and Marquesses to a great hazard of their necks if they were brought to tryall for such a crime The Scholer whose industry and simplicity they wrought upon to prepare the materialls was a young man named Ville-neufue borne in Rochefocaud and was a student in the second classe in the yeare aforesaid 1641. He who was the principall instrument to bring the businesse to light and put in an information against them to the Provinciall Pitard was one Michael Brunet then Regent of the fifth Classe in the Colledge of Engoulesme and now a Counseller of the King in the Presidial Court at Rochell otherwise called Monsieur de Ronsay who not able to endure there should be a crime of that nature among persons who make so great a profession of vertue thought himselfe obliged in conscience to reveale it He is a person of too much honour not to beare witnesse to the truth it being supposed that he be juridically interrogated and as in the sight of God Monsieur Guithen who was then Regent of the third classe brought me among diverse others to see the charcole and the linnen cloathes which these Coyners had made provision of and disposed under the second classe having to that purpose taken up one of the plankes Stephen du Noyer then Rector and Bertrand Valade digg'd up the instruments such as hammers bellowes and other utensills which they had buried under ground the more to conceale the crime which yet God in his justice hath found out a means to bring to light to the confusion of a Body which imposes penances upon its members for speaking at night after Letanies and yet fosters in its bosome Coyners and casters of counterfeit mony In a word though all things seeme to speake and cry out against these ungracious villaines and that the crimes wherewith they are charged be of the highest nature yet are they not only suffered to live in France but to raise up their heads above all others even in those great Cities which they defile with their abhominable attempts Whence we may well inferre that there must needs be some other Tribunal some other world some kind of life after this wherein the crimes committed here may receive their punishment and the vertues that are now slighted their recompence otherwise it is to be conceived that it is the fate of vertue to be alwayes in chaines and the Prerogative of Vice to be ever upon the Throne May it please that God who hath the hearts of Kings in his hands to illuminate the understanding of our great Monarch that when he is arrived to Majority he may cleanse the Kingdom of the Lillyes of so many filthinesses and abhominations if our incomparable Queen do not before ease her beloved Son of that trouble CHAP. XII Discovering the Ingratitude and exasperation of the Jesuits against those that had highly obliged them THat famous man who describing the ungratefull and the vindicative said of the former that the good turne made no greater impression on their apprehensions then the lightest feather does on the hardest substance and that indignation was a massy weight of lead in the minds of the latter hath in two words given a most pertinent character of the manners and dispositions of the Jesuits Revenge is a serpent that hath dispersed its venom through this Scciety to such an uncurable degree that when they have received any discourtesy they would gladly eat the flesh suck the marrow and drink the blood of their Enemies if it lay in their power The excesse of their choler does somtimes force them into such furious transportations that they would go into Church-yards were they not deterred by shame to dig out of the ground the carkases of those who had any way disobliged them in their life time for so poore a satisfaction as that of exercising their cruelty on rotten and corrupted bodies Do but consider what mercy they have had on the ashes of the Surin's and Pasquier's that had some time incens'd them and whether they have not written bookes to blast their memories after their death out of a reflection on the feare they were in of their writings while they lived Read but the book called Recherches des Recherches or the Inquisition of Inquisitions written by Garassus and you will find that it could proceed from no other dictation then that of Brutality to write to a person departed this world that he was assured of his damnation The calumnies invented by him to defame that great man are so many demonstrations of the implacability of their fury insomuch that they seeme to have an execration for all those excellent things which made their adversary so famous and their malice is equally directed against his children and his Friends Should a man but see them crowching at the feet of Bishops nay so far as to take off their night-caps to kisse their hands he might haply thence imagine that in point of respects they so much exceed all other Ecclesiasticks as their knees are bent l wer and their reverences speak more externall humility But when he comes on the other side to consider the oppositions they make to their Regulations the secret persecutions they perpetually raise against them the paines they take and the insinuations and sycophancy they make use of to bring them into an odium in the spirits of Kings he will easily find that they have no other designe then to bring them into the greatest contempt imaginable Was it not the Jesuits that egged on the Regular Orders to unite in a plot to violate the priviledges of the Clergie and to dilate the power and heighten the authority of the Pope to their prejudice Was not F. Sabbatheri Procurator of the Assembly held at La Mercy in Bourdeaux against the Arch-bishop When some Bishop or other makes choice of them to preach in his Cathedrall admits a Rector or some professed man of the Society into his congregation or haply unites some fat benefice to their house that Bishop shall be a person of some worth in their apprehensions and it is not impossible they may in ordinary discourse let fall something in commendation of him But hath the same person with ever so much right preferred before them some able Capuchin or some learned Recollect There 's an immediate degeneration of all his excellent parts into absolute ignorance Hath he deny'd his consent for the uniting of some priory to the revenues of the Colledge The same person how considerable soever â—e may be in himself is not in their esteeme any thing â—roportionably to
what he was before and they make â—o more account of him in their domestick discourses â—nd visits then if he were but an imaginary piece of â—relacy that signifies nothing in the Church I shall â—ot here make it my businesse to name those Prelates whose lives and manners they wreak their malice upon Crimes though falsly imputed may very much preâ—udice those whose lives are as it were the Looking-Glasses of the ordinary rate of men But should I undertake such a Catalogue I should bring into that number above two Cardinalls above five Arch-bishops and above twenty Bishops whose reputation though spotlesse as the Sun they have seriously endeavoured to eclipse I need say no more then that the Clergy of France is obliged to demand an honourable reparation and acknowledgement for the indignities committed by these Enemies of the Hierarchy â—gainst the most illustrious the Lord primate of Aquiâ—aine the late Arch-bishop of Bourdeaux as also against Lytâ—lfi Maroni Bishop of Bazas who having through his whole life behaved himselfe as a learned and zealous Prelate so far as to have spent some part thereof in the hardship and inconveniences of a painfull Mission among the pastors of his Episcopall charge to the edification of his whole Diocesse is neverthelesse by them accused as a Desertor of the true fâ—ith and charged with being a cruell enemy to the Pope and all upon no other ground then that he had receiv'd order to get Aurelius printed a book it seems that containes something against them The Bishop of Rochell heretofore of the same quality at Xainctes they cannot affect because he is too much a Bishop and too good a Frenchman for their designes Monsieur de Bethune Arch-bishop of Bourdeaux is not so well serv'd by these crafty Sycophants as he imagines himselfe nay he is not unacquainted with those that have wounded his reputation with their venemous discourses I say nothing of the Bishop of Poictiers whose life is a perpetuall Sermon and whose learning is generally known nor yet of the Bishop of St Papoul of whose great worth and abilities they have a great jealousy They employ the utmost of their malice to revile and disparage those that any way injure them and make all the interest and lay all the plotts they can to crush them underhand The case is the same with Vniversities Let them be never so famous or considerable they shall not be free from their attempts A man needs no more then to be a Doctor and to weare the hood to raise against him the persecutions of those who to the prejudice of Learning and learned men impudently pretend to the Empire of all Literature Who of that quality of the Inhabitants of Guienne nay indeed of France hath not heard of the Affronts they did the magnificent Rector of Poictiers during the Rectorship of Gilbert Rousseau Did they not cause him to be hissed at by the petties of their Classes O disgrace that speakes the excesse of insolence The Muses will never forget that black-pach of Jesuiticall malice Do but call to mind the complaints of Sorbonne the scandalous pamphlets that have been written the palpable cheats and foule play they make use of to bring into a certaine disesteem the excellent Books of Monsieur Arnauld and you will soone find what badgers teeth they have when they come to bite Nay when they are once exasperated they have not the least respect or tendernesse for Governours and Intendents of Provinces I know that to be revenged of the Count de Oignon Governour of Rochell who had deny'd them something which he could not justly grant them they did him at Court very considerable disservices Ungratefull men ought not only to be stript of those things which they have received from the liberality of others but should be reduced to a condition below Beasts who have all in some measure a resentment for 〈◊〉 good turne done them Monsieur de Ville Montei hath â—een at the charge of building them a very sumptuous Church furnished them with means to build magnifiâ—ent Lodgings suitable therto procured them an adâ—ition to their Revenue of two thousand Francs per â—n in Rochell made great presents to the Colledge of Poictiers maintained them against the university â—lwayes countenanced them by his authority and Inâ—erest and yet I speak it in the presence of God he â—oes not escape their bloody revilings and calumnies When the Provinces whereof he now hath the superinâ—endency petitioned the King that he might be restored â—o his former Employments I have known some Jesuits â—hat expressed a more then ordinary dissatisfaction thereâ—â— and countenanced the discourses of those that were â—dversaries to that great person and that with so much â—ndiscretion and impertinence that I went to Peter Regnier Rector of Fontenay to give him notice thereof â—hreatning him with all that if he would not stay the â—uxe in the tongue which two Fathers above all the â—est were extreamly troubled with I would give the General an account of the businesse For certainly it was a thing not to be endured that that Gentleman â—hould be spoken of every where with much honour â—hat only those whose subsistance was in a great part the â—ffect of his good offices and liberality towards them â—hould be the most violent in speaking against his reeâ—tablishment 'T is generally known all over France what extraâ—rdinary obligations were put upon the Jesuits by â—he late Duke of Espernon as having been one whose sollicitations contributed more to their reestablishment in France after they had been deservedly â—anished thence for their crimes by the most honouraâ—le parlement of Paris then any other man's whatsoeâ—er And yet all the Province of Guienne whereof that Heros of our age was Governour hath with much indignation observed that those ungratefull wretches thought it no prudence with the other Monkes not to engage themselves in the great difference that afterwards happened between him and the Arch-bishop but would needs declare themselves for the latter embarking the Society in his interests preached up the Interdiction were witnesses in the Suite and which is a thing execrable and wâ— thy death were the Authors of that mischievous Libell which treats his highnesse the Duke of Espernon as a Tyrant and persecutor of the Church with such strange sallies of infamy that his Eminence the Cardinall dela Valette thinking the insolence of the piece insupportable made diligent enquiry after the Authour but could never discover him But God who hath appointed certaine times wherein crimes should be reveal'd hath so order'd things as that this shall not any longer be hid I conceive my self obliged to make a publick discovery therof and it may be Monsieur de Candale will not be displeased to know who have been the implacable enemies of his great Father The Author of the Book is Leonard Alemay aâ— Jesuit an eloquent man who this last yeare taught eloquence with me in Bourdeaux The Superiours had laid their commands upon
and excellent parts are known to all the world When some of the lesser stars tread amisse and appear not in their ordinary places it is not perceiv'd by any unlesse it be by some cuâ—ious Mathematician but when the Sun suffers an Eclipse the people of the foure parts of the universe turn their eyes towards his globe I do not here entertain the world with the crimes of those among them whom they contemptibly call formall Coadjutors or if I have produced any they are very few in comparison of the others but I bring upon the stage the Ring-leaders of the Society guilty of the most enormous offences If the denomination of a compositum ought to be taken from the better and the nobler part let all the world judge whether that Society instead of being called â—he Society of JESUS should not be more justly â—alled the Society of MALEFACTORS REFLECTION V. and last When a man hath read and diligently examin'd what 〈◊〉 contain'd in this little book I am confident there will be no necessity of my putting him in mind that the â—esuits themselves forc'd me to this â—iscovery and that â—t very much concern'd in point of honour to endeaâ—our my disparagement as much as might be as well â—y indictment as by books in case they rationally preâ—um'd that I should not alwayes be silent and that if I â—onceal'd their crimes for some time after my coming â—rom among them so to avoid all medling with them â—nd to shun the first sallies of their exasperation yet at â—ast I should upon the perswasion of the Reverend Ministers of our Church discover them But God knowes how far they have been mistaken in their conâ—ecture and how that they have put the sword into my hand to defend my self and wherewith I have wounded them in their heart and in the apple of their eye that is in their reputation I conclude making a solemne protestation of two things the first that I have not said any thing but the naked truth The second that had they not betray'd such an implacable violence against me I should have resolved to be silent though it had been out of no other consideration then that of avoiding that shame among my Brethren which I must needs conceive at my having lived so long in an Order guilty of such horrid crimes THE END Psal XVII PReserve me Lord from hurtfull things As th' apple of thine eye And under covert of thy wings Defend me secretly From wicked men that tyrannize Let thy hand help me out And from my deadly enemies That compasse me about In their own fat they are inclos'd And bear themselves so high That with their mouth they are dispos'd To speak presumptuously They have encompassed us round In our own footsteps now And down unto the very ground They beuo their lowring brow Like th' eager Lyon that doth long To take his prey in chace And as it were a Lyon young That lurks in secret place Arise and disappoint him then And cast him down O Lord Defend my Soul from wicked men Which are thy cutting sword From worldly men thy help I crave From men which are thy hand Which in this life their portion have And do not see beyond THE CALUMNIES OF JAMES BEAVFES REFUTED By the same Author PSALME LIV. To the Reverend THE PASTORS AND ANCIENTS Of the FRENCH Reformed Churches gathered together in the united Provinces of the Low-Countries REVEREND SIRS IT is certainly an obligation of divine Providence and a favour which all my services cannot come into the least degree of deserving that it hath been pleased to permit the Persecutors of our Churches and the enemies of the Faith we professe to set upon both by indictment and by printed books the Declaration I had made with all the syncerity of my heart The seed which is sown must endure the nipping frosts and the injuries of the aire before the grain can come to maturity Roses are not gathered without some danger of the prickles they are invironed with Lillies do many times grow among herbs of evil scent It shall ever be honourable to me to suffer upon the account of vertue even flames The Lord of glory was nailed to the crosse between two thieves The servant is not greater then his Master nor the Ambassadour more considerable then he that sent him as it was necessary that Jesus Christ should suffer and so enter into his Kingdome so is it but just that through many tribulations I also should enter into the Kingdome of Heaven These words of the great Apostle I hear perpetually ringing in my ears if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him and when all is rightly summed up together it will be found that the sufferings of the present time amount to nothing in comparison of the glory that is to be revealed in us I had before some resentments of the powerfulnesse of celestiall Grace in my happy conversion but now I am to acknowledge the finger of God and the operation of his divine spirit in my persecutions That which makes my soul as it were overflow with serenity and satisfaction and fixes it in a firme and immoveable confidence is that the eternall God who hath begun his work in me will also bring it to perfection to his greater glory and that you Reverend Sirs who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world will afford me so much the greater demonstrations of your affection and tendernesse the more you find me haâ—ed by the enemies of Jesus Christ and his Truâ—h It is the main design of the Jesuits to make the world believe that the disgraces they brand me with are marks of ignominy but if you will but be pleased to consider their intentions examine the informations they have put in against me and the causes thereof and require thereupon the judgement of our Pastors and Brethren of Rochel who have been eye-and ear-witnesses of all the proceedings that have passed you will think my disparagement glorious and the pretences of my adversaries malicious and criminal One of the most religious and eloquent Ministers of the holy Gospel there hath already written in my vindication with no lesse truth then earnestnesse and his answer hath been highly approved by the defeat of my Enemies I should have pardoned Beaufe's the contumelies he had belched forth against my reputation by an obstinate resolution I had taken to be silent but those who look on the glory of God as what is most considerable in my conversion do conceive me obliged to speak I therefore vindicate my self against a pretended Religious man who seems to have made it his main businesse to do violence to the fundamental maximes of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and tramples on the lawes of charity whereof the Scriptures are full The Canons of the Church of Rome declare a Clerk irregular for having contributed any thing to the execution of a malefactor And yet Beaufes giving himself out to be
hands of the Jesuits In the mean time let us take their proceeding into examination and consider the imprudences and poore occasions they are put to therein CHAP. V. Discovering the cheats and evasions of the Iesuits in their prosecution WHen Ignatius said in the Letter he writ to the Monkes of his Order in Portugall that it was his desire that Obedience should be the ear-mark whereby the true children of the Society should be distinguished from others he had said more truly according to their Institution and ordinary practise if he had express'd himself thus it is my desire that cheats and circumventions should be the undeniable characters whereby you might be known to be right Jesuits For he that shall consider their equivocations in matter of Justice their ambiguous expressions in conversation and dealings with men the mentall reservations and restrictions which they have introduced into Morall Divinity to the great disadvantage of Truth their crafty designes to cajoll the simple in their Shriving-seats and their visits purposely to get a claw into their Estates by surreptitious donations must needs conclude that a mischievous craftinesse is the Soule which informs and gives motion to that vast Body which acts not either in things relating to Morality or civill affaires but by dissimulation and complyances To demonstrate this truth I have instances enough to make a volume but the businesse now in agitation is to shew their foule practise in their indictment against me Beaufes through whose mouth the Provincial and the Consultors cast up their choler and indignation furnishes me with an argument that cannot be answered Courteous Reader says he in the beginning of his Book you are desir'd to take notice that the prosecution against Peter Jarrigius by way of indictment is not carryed on either upon any request of the Reverend Fathers of the Society of Jesus or for any crime committed by him while he was of their Society he is onely charged with Sacriledges committed by him since his profession of the Religion pretendedly reformed And a little lower the charge they have hitherto had against Monsieur Vincent is purely civill to oblige him to produce before Monsieur the Lieutenant Generall of this City the originall copy of the book he hath published to be compared with the Letters whereby Jarrigius himself hath refuted the Impostures scattered abroad under his name And a little lower The Consistory was obliged to bring into Court those pieces which the Fathers of the Society required especially the Act of Novemb. 24. 1647. Here I desire the Reader to take notice that these Monasticall Fiends demand and that with importunity that the Act of November 24 should bee brought before the Judge and he shall find anon wherefore and to what end they desire it Lastly he saies in the conclusion of his Advertisement that the Scribes Viau and L' Erpiniere have declared that the writing and Seale of the Act of Profession of Peter Jarrigius of Novemb. 24 represented by M. Gasper Le Roy Register agreed with the writing and subscription of the beforementioned Letters Of all men Lyers ought to pray for good memories This man hath one that is so treacherous that ere he come to the midst of a discourse that takes up but a small page he destroyes what he had affirmed in the beginning of it The cheat is discovered ere the word is out of his mouth as a pick-pocket taken in the midst of the market-place with the purse in his hand I feare me the man fondly imagines that the French who will be guilty of so much curiosity as to read his book are overgrowne with such a sottish credulity that he can perswade them that they do not see what 's before their eyes He impudently affirmes that they are not my prosecutors in that indictment and two periods after he acknowledges that it was by their means the Consistory was forced to produce in Court the act of November 24. which they thought a sufficient ground whereupon to put in an endictment against me When they have thrown the stone before all the world they withdrew the hand and then confidently affirme both by word and writing that they did it not For any horrid thing such as this may be the only way is to deny it But is it possible the Inhabitants of Rochell should read this abominable lie in the very Frontispiece of the advertisement to the Reader without conceiving an indignation against the Impostor who must needs be thought to reproach the weaknesse of their understanding when he denies to their faces what they have seen with their eies Methinks it might have been enough for James Beaufes to cleare himselfe for his own part and to call for a basin of water as Pilate did and to wash hands before the people saying I am innocent as to the blood of this just person which if he had done I am confident the people of Rochell would not have cryed out His blood be upon us and upon our children No it is a priviledge proper only to the Jesuits to procure the death not only of an inconsiderable person such as I may be but that of great Princes and most Christian Kings and to say after all we have not done any such thing I referre my self to any man whether this be not to lie diabolically or rather Jesuitically The Sermons they have preached convince them the bookes they have written betray their malice and their both private and publick sollicitations generally known all over Rochell discover their violence against me and yet they are so insensibly impudent as to affirme nay were it requisite they would sweare as Jesuits that they are not my prosecutors in this businesse Let us divert our selves so far as to snap these notorious Lyers in their Sycophancy and elusions What should be the meaning of those violent and furious invectives wherein Beaufes and others were publickly employed to the great scandall of the people all the insinuations of wit and Rhetoricks and all to prove during the space of four whole months that I was guilty of sacriledge and consequently of death To what end was that Scandalous pamphlet scattered up and down under the title of The Impieties and Sacriledges of Peter Jarrigius Out of what designe was it that there was such importunity used to oblige the Consistory to bring into Court the act of the 24th of November it being the onely thing whereon they thought an enditement might be justly grounded against me as to Sacriledge In a word what 's to be inferr'd from so many consultations So many combinations against me so many designs upon me so many persons sent to seize my person so many falsities imposed upon me Must it not needs argue an absolute losse of judgement not to perceive that they are so far from being simply the adversaries that seeke my life but the witnesses that accuse me and the Advocates that plead against me in as many places as they can command pulpits in
the dreggs and drosse of the Commonwealth For confining our selves still to the Province of Guienne if we except Peter de la Brangelie John l' Estade Pontius la Devise Francis Reymond of Bourdeaux and another Reymon of Agen John Sevin Quadreils Camain Josset and hapâ—y about a dozen others who without all dispute come oâ—t of good houses all the rest to the number of above two hundred and sixty are of vulgar extraction So that Monsieur Vincent might very well say with as much truth as happinesse of conjecture that since Beaufes hath discovered the mystery those who had a good Idea of the genealogies of the Jesuits might upon very good grounds suspect and say of them when they meet them See there goes a disguised Mason or a journey-man Taylor or some discarded Serving-man who yet pricks up his ears and looks for respect and veneration upon the account of his habit It somewhat troubles me that I am forced to come to a demonstration of what that excellent wit could but give a guesse of But I see not how I can avoid it though I would I must take the staffe out of the hands of this frantick person and therewith smooth not onâ—ly his shoulders but also those of his Fraternity who have suffered him to fall into an imprudence so obvious to all the world When Ignatius came to insist on the qualifications which should make the Superiours of his Order the more respected his direction is that those should be particularly advanced to Government who were of noble extraction for besides that they are more recommendable in the sight of strangers the Religious men themselves are more willing to obey such persons then those that issue out of the peasantry If therefore there be any thing of Nobility in this Society we shall find it in the most eminent charges thereof We will limit out selves to the space of twenty years and examine the extraction of the Provincials He who commands in that quality at the present is Gilbert Rouseau son to a pitifull fellow that sold trifling commodities and among the rest Tinder-boxes about the streets one whose whole shop and estate lay in a basket that he carried upon his brest This it was that gave the Scholars occasion when this great Provinciall was Prefect in the Colledge of Bourdeaux purposely to try the patience of the man to cry Matches Matches His Predecessor in the Provinciallship was John Ricard the son of an honest Currier who lived in the very corner of that spacious place neer the Monastery of the Vâ—selines as you go to St. Andrewes over against the Colledge of Lois The third predecessor to both the forementioned was one John Pitard the sonne of a simple Atturney belonging to the Siege royal at Xaintes who for that he came from somewhat a nobler family then those of his successors was celebrated by Francis de Creux at his reception into the Colledge of Engoulesme in a Royall Poem whereof this was the intercalatory verse Clara Pitardeae canimus praeconia gentis The fourth ascending still was called Bartholomew Jaquinot sonne of a Book seller The fifth one Arnold Bohyre born in Perigueux and sonne to one that kept a tipling-house His Predecessor was Nicholas Viliers of Figeac in Quercy a person of obscure and mean parentage The Superiour of the professed house at the present is the sonne of a Botcher The most eminent of those in the same house that are designed for the pulpit is the sonne of another of the same profession his name John Adam The Rector of Poictiers is the sonne of a Currier The Preacher there the sonne of a Bastard of the house of S. Iuyre In a word persons of birth and blood are very rare nay it will be found there are among them four times as many sonnes of Catchpoles as there are of Councellors whence I leave it to any mans judgement whether Beaufes hath done prudently as things stand among them to medle with that string Can there be a greater demonstration to shew that the Jesuits for the most part are of mean extraction then to produce a catalogue of their names and to discover the poore descents of those who have managed the Government among them for the space of these nineteen or twenty yeares Or could there be a more pregnant proof of it then by naming even those who command at this day if they have not been layd aside within these eight moneths Cadiot who was my Rector when I departed from Rochel is he not the sonne of one that keeps a victualling house at Villebois And for your part Sir James who make so much â—â—ise and take occasion to bite at any thing are the decaies of your memory so deplorable as that you should not remember that your late Father nicknamed ironically Beunas in the dialect of Limousin that is to say faire nose was an honest Waggoner whose diurnall work it was to goad the mules towards the mountains of Auvergne I do not pretend my selfe to be of a better house then I am but shall presume neverthelesse that my kinred have been and are at this day in better reputation then yours and that I have not had Sister in lawes common whores upon record as you have had The whole Jesuitical Academy took it very heynously when to solve the objection made by the Author of the Academicall Questions That your Regents were not well experienced in teaching Father Ducreux made answer in his Oration that the reproach was very unjustly laid upon you for that all of you in a manner had taught children in the quality of domestick School-Masters before your admission into the Society which certainly is a notorious argument of the greatnesse of your extractions For my part I cannot blame your Collegues to be a little moved at the imprudence of the Answer for it is not either necessary or convenient that all tru hs should be known But what indignation will they not conceive against you when coming to read what I have written they shall take notice of the just ground and fair occasion you have given me to make the world sensible of wretched genealogies The truth is I had things of another nature to lay to your charge Et genus et proavos et quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco But you have cast your selves at my feet to bite me so that when I had resolved onely to treat you as a sort of people excessively malicious but withall reserv'd and considerate I am engaged further to give an account of you as arrant rogues and ragamuffins Learn to be more discreet if you think fit for I shall little value your defamatory Libels when you fall into such palpable miscarriages nay I shall need no other justification then what I derive from your own words CHAP. XV. Wherein observation is made of another imprudence of Iames Beaufes prejudiciall to the domestick peace of their houses IT is a great argument
the words of Father Parsons one of the Society as they may be found in a book of his which he writ in English entituled The Reformation of England Having in the first place blamed Cardinall Pool and then taken notice of many defects and imperfections in the Councell of Trent he concludes That when England should returne to the Roman Catholick faith He would reduce it to the forme and state of the Primitive Church making common all Ecclesiasticall Goods and assigning the oversight thereof unto seven Savii or wise men who should be Jesuits and were to make distribution of the same as they should think convenient He further thinks it fit under a grievous penalty to forbid all Religious persons of what Order soever to return into England without their Licence resolving that none should be entertained there but those that were to be maintained by Alms. But as it oft falls out that Self-love so blinds the wisest man that he betrayes his imprudence to all the world so is that a most ridiculous passage which the same Father adds in the place before cited When England saith he shall once be reduced to the true Faith it will not be convenient that the Popes at least for five years space should expect any advantage from the Ecclesiasticall Benefices of this Kingdome but remit all into the hands of those seven Savii who should dispose of them as they conceived best for the good of the Church This being his design that the first five years being past by some other invention whereof they are very full they would get the same priviledge confirmed to them for five more and so onward till they had utterly excluded his Holinesse from having any thing to coin England Now what more lively representation can there be made of the avarice and ambition of the Jesuits together with the desire they have to erect an absolute Monarchy Who sees not with what slights they endeavour to promote their own Interest not caring who are made happy who unhappy so their concernments be secured What should I say more of them Did they not in the time of Gregory the thirteenth make it there request that they might be invested of all the Parish-Churches in Rome that they might there lay the foundations of their Monarchy and what they could not get in Rome have they not at length obtained in England where not long since they have chosen an Arch-Priest one of the Jesuits in Voto who instead of protecting the Clergy like a ravenous wolf persecutes all such Priests as have no dependance on the Jesuits worrying them even to exasperation and despair and depriving them under a great penalty of mutuall communication To which may be added their forcing the English Clergy to become Jesuits in Voto not admitting any one into their Colledges who hath not made some engagement to be a Jesuit So that when that Kingdome shall returne to the ancient Faith it will give a fair beginning to an absolute Jesuiticall Monarchy when all the Ecclesiasticall Revenues all the Abbeyes Benefices Bishopricks Arch-Priestships and other dignities shall be altogether at the disposall of the Jesuits There are many other things I might have insisted on as the pretentions they make concerning other mens estates as also how jealous they are of their welfare and desirous of their prosperity What a fly way is that they have to insinuate into the favour of Princes by persuading them that their Subjects are more inclined to the Society in matters of devotion then to any other Order or Religious Institution and what must needs be consequent thereto that they of all men are the most sit and able to make them well affected towards their Prince Such obvious things as these I leave to every mans particular observation and with foure brief considerations conclude the present discourse First that men of such turbulent spirits and such reaching designes must withall be Lovers of Novelty ever searching for it ever begetting it because without some new raised motions it were impossible they should attain their ends Whence it is to be inferr'd that the Jesuits cannot be helpfull to any Prince that either loves Peace or endeavours the preservation of his own estate since they are more likely to prove the occasions of much distraction and disturbance nay to endanger the losse of his estate if he favour not their party or be not in some things guided by their advice Secondly be it taken into serious consideration if these men who though they have not yet any temporall jurisdiction are able by their stickling and bandying to occasion so great and prodigious disturbances in the world what can we imagine they would not do if it should happen that one of them were created Pope No question but he would in the first place fill up the Consistory with Jesuits and by that means perpetuate the Papacy in the Society And then making advantage of their insight and interest in State-affaires and having the arme and power of the Pope they would be in a capacity to endanger the estates of many Princes especially those that are their Neighbours and Confiners Thirdly one of them being once gotten in the chair it would be the design of that Pope if he could by any means effect it to give the Society possession of some place of importance or temporall jurisdiction by the advantages whereof they would in processe of time make way for thousands of other designes which they could never compasse but with the prejudice of other Princes Fourthly when the Consistory shall be once entirely Jesuited the whole Patrimony of Christ would be at their disposall whereof this would be the consequence that as one in a dropsie the more he drinks the more thirsty he is so their Ambition encreasing proportionably to their greatnesse would occasion a world of tumult and trouble Now since there is nothing more subject to change then matters of State it would be the aime of these Fathers with all their power and policy to alter the course of affaires that they might at length introduce the forme and project of their own Government and by that means absolutely immonarchize themselves It hath been long in their heads to cajoll into the Society the sonne of some Soveraigne Prince who should be drawn in to make an absolute resignation of his estate and Dominions to them And this they had long since effected if some others taking strict notice of their designe had not prevented them But had they once made that step no doubt but the next would have been to become Patrones of the State Ecclesiasticall and being a sort of people very subtle and much inclined to plots they would afterwards have found thousands of wayes how to enlarge it Thus would they not have omitted any thing to put their projects in execution and if nothing else would have done it the very jealousies which they would have raised in the minds of their neighbour Princes would have turned not a little to their advantage From all that hath been said it seems to follow as a thing most necessary that for the preservation of the publick peace the tranquillity of all States the advantage of the Church and the generall good of the whole world Paul the fifth together with other Princes should set bounds and limits to this Society whose desires are so extremely inordinate lest haply that come to passe which was anciently effected by the Dauidi whose courses the Jesuits seem to imitate who were not destroyed till the time of Claudius the Emperour And if ever I am commanded to write my opinion concerning an opportune remedy for the reformation of these Fathers without any prejudice or disparagement to them nay to their very great advantage as wishing them rather Monarchs of Souls which are the riches of Christ then of the World or the enjoyments thereof that are nothing but vilenesse and dung I shall be ready to do it with charity and according to the best of my skill as it shall please God to enable me FINIS
him to write it and accordingly Peter Guales his Rector and the Superiour of the professed house were the men that furnish'd him with arguments and memorialls that so the illustrious house of La Valette may be satisfied that it was not some private Jesuits that put that affront upon the late Duke of Espernon but the superiours who in law do alwayes represent their whole Society To justify what I now affirme there are many witnesses and among others Laurence Fontenay and Peter Chabanaâ— Jesuits who could never digest that presumption Besides not to mention that the said Duke having bestowed on them the Abbey of La Tenaille in Xaintoâ—g they have had another difference with hâ—m since for that he had built his faire house of Plassac upon some part of â—he lands belonging to the said Abbey and forced him â—o pay therefore seventeen thousand Livers Thus â—s it remarkeable that God hath sooner or later a punishment to be inflicted on those who further and countenance the Order of the Jesuits a generation of Vipers so destructive to the universe CHAP. XIII Reflections upon the twelve precedent Discourses REFLECTION I. IF I had taken a generall survey of all the Colledges all the Houses all the places designed for the enterâ—ainment of their Novices and all the Residences which â—he Jesuits are possessed of all over the universe and made enquiries into the crimes I charge them with â—nd convict them of in the precedent discourses the mischiefe were not inconsiderable nor the confusion â—ight to a Body which out of a pure regard of its outward profession of Sanctimony if it could not avoid â—ll disorders should not certainly have degenerated â—o far as to wallow in so great a number of crimes and â—hose so horrid But that which I would have the Reader particularly observe is that it was not my deâ—igne to give an account of all the Provinces in the world no that were too great a labour my Inquisition â—eaches not all those of France for I have not been in â—hem all but is confined only to the Province of Guiâ—nne which is the least of all nor do I search all the Colledges thereof but limit my selfe to foure or five of those wherein I have lived This considered no doubt but the inference will be That the corruption of Manners ' must needs be grown to a great height in that Society when that upon the examination of foure or five of their Residences I find in them some guilty of Forgeries others of Murthers others of Sodomies others of Coyning others of Sacriledge c. And these not guilty of the said crimes once or twice commited but twenty fifty a hundred times Let the world then judge of the whole peece by this patterne and measuring the other provinces proportionably to this conclude how prevalent the spirit of mischiefe and Villany must needs be in that Society and consequently that it is not without just ground that the world thinkes it too too burthensome to be any longer endured REFLECTION II. 'T is a monasticall Maxime that the offences which being committed by a secular or worldly person were veniall become grand sacriledges and mortall sinnes in a high Nature when they are committed by a Monk or Frier That a man may affirme an Order to be guilty of a degeneration there is no necessity he should convict the Cenobites of being Murtherers Sodomites Traytors to their King no he need say no more then that they decline from the profession of that regular severity which made their predecessors be looked on as Saints and that they are come to that degree of dissolution as not to observe in a manner any of their rules Be it therefore taken into consideration that I do not here prosecute the Jesuits for triviall offences such as they might casually commit in the observation of their Institution Of which nature are grumbling and dissatisfaction in point of obedience their shunning the inconveniences of that Poverty which they solemnly vow to embrace that they live more sumptuously and feed more delicately then the most luxurious Cittizens that they are perpetually quarrelling among themselves and impose crimes one upon another that their bell does indeed ring at four in the morning to make the world believe that they are at prayers upon their knees when in the mean time they are stretching themselves in their beds none rising unless it were two or three of the most zealous in every colledge c. But it is to be observed that I charge them with crimes no less then those of Antidates Murther of infants Treason the violation of Religious women Coyning such as are sufficient to prove not only an irregularity and deformation or degeneration of the order but such an absolute corruption as is not found in the greatest Republicks but only among those Cains and Cast-aways that are equally abominable in the sight of God and men Imagine then from this reflection what an order this is which yet fills the world with shameless brags that they outvy the Recollects in point of austerity by practising the exercises of Ignatius REFLECTION III. For a more particular understanding of the accusations I produce to the publick I desire the Reader to make yet this further reflection that I have not made an inquisition into all the horrid crimes committed by the Jesuits for these seventy or eighty years past since which time the Locusts have been scattered up and down the Province of Guienne But I have confined my self to a search only of ten or twelve years for the most part of their crimes and to fifteen or sixteen at the most for some as for instance that of the Antidate If then they are come to that height of wickedness in so few years what can be expected from that Society for the future when they are already come to these extremities And if a man consider those who within these eight or nine yeares upon very just grounds have quitted it he will find that they are the greatest wits and the most eminent of the Order REFLECTION IV. When some ordinary servant Maide yields to the violence and importunity of temptation and betraies her honour the scandall is not great in a Citty two or three of her nearest relations are a litle troubled at it and four or five of her neighbours make a stirre that any such thing should happen But when it falls out that some gentlewoman of quality parts with that whâ—ch is accounted most precious among women it raises discourse through a whole Countrey and the world is in a manner scandalised at it The Reflection that naturally arises hence is that the persons whom I produce by name and surname as Authors of the crimes before mentioned are the most eminent of the Order such as Provincials Rectors Procurators of Provinces Preachers Divines great Humanists as for instance Malescot Rousseau Pitard Sabbatheri John Adam Petiot Olive Biroat Dusresne Manian and such others in abundance as whose names