them viz. To view themselves in a Fryingpan To make a cross with the tongue in the ashes To combe the beard with a rake To chop off the beard on a block with a hatchet To stand upon one legg in the midst of the dining-room To kiss the feet of all those who are at dinner To make a Monk dance before them all To make him fence To blindfold him with a dirty clout To go about upon all four like a beast To carry about on the head a basket like a head-piece To put upon the nose a pair of spectacles made of felt To ride about upon a stick like a child c. But the absurdest penance of all is when the Superior commands a Monk who having filled his belly leaves some part of his dinner behind him to eat it up all So that he must break his belly in humility and mortification In the life of St. Felix de Cantalice an almes-begger at Rome Canonized by the Pope about 16 or 17 years ago this is put amongst his vertuous actions that being at Rome in the street he met Philip de Neri founder of the Priests of the Oratory and made him drink off his bottle and that Philip in requital put his hat on Felix his head Whereupon the Children in the street cryed out Fra Felice a un capello Thus did these Saints by a great self denial mutually communicate their holiness to each other In the Chronicles of St. Francis's Order it is recorded that Fryar Juniperus who is Canonized for a Saint boiled a hen with her guts feathers and all And that being in a certain Castle he left his dung in the bed where he lay Another Fryar Minor named Jacobo in humility leapt into a house of office CHAP. X. Of the names which the Capucincs takâ— when they enter into this profession WHen the Capucins enter into the Order after the year of Probation they take another name then that which they had given them at their Baptisme For as I have already said St. Francis's habit is accounted another Baptism One is called Hilary another Joseph another Basil c. Some of them take Sublime and Caelestial names One is called Father Angel another Father Archangel another Father Spirit another Father Cherubin another Father Seraphin c. which names are very unsuitable to the profession of humility To be a Fryar Minor that is to be the least and yet to be an Archangel are things altogether inconsistent Besides the nature of their vow is to do works of Supererogation but the Angels do no such works for they content themselves with obeying the commands of God Those who say the Capucins are called Angels because they imitate the Angels in that they marry not nor receive mony do great wrong to the Order of these Monks for by the same reason they may be said to imitate the Devils because they neither marry nor possesse wealth any more than the Angels It is a mockery to say that they are called Angels and Seraphins because they take the Angels and Seraphins for their Patrons and Protectors For by the same reason a married woman who hath taken the Virgin Mary for her Patroness may be called the Virgin Mary And he who takes God for his protector may be called God But sith the Capucins have St. Francis for their Protector who is as they say of the Order of the Seraphins and exalted above the eight Orders of Angels what need have they to take the Angels for their Patrons Besides they who choose Angels or Saints for their Patrons choose one certain Angel or Saint for their Patron and not the Angels and Saints in general CHAP. XI The form of making their Vow WHen a Capucin will enter into the Order after the year of probation he is admitted to make the vow which is done in the presence of the Superior and his brethren in these terms I A. B. do Vow and promise to God the Father Almighty and to thâ— Blessed Virgin Mary to the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul to the Blessed St. Francis my Patron and to you my Father to observe the Rule of the Fryars Minors living in Poverty Obedience and Chastity He that receives this Vow answers And I if thou observe it do promise thee in the name of God life eternal CHAp XII Some observations upon this Vow Divers things are remarkable in this vow which being rightly understood we shall finde that many abuses yea impieties are therein covered with the cloak of religion In the first place this vow is made to God the Father to the Virgin Mary to Saints and to the Superior of the Convent without making any mention at all of Jesus Christ In the Second place he who makes this â—ow to Saints departed presupposeth that â—hose Saints do see him and that they know â—he intention of his heart This is contrary â—o the Holy Scripture which saith that the dead have no more a portion for ever in any â—hing that is done under the Sun Eccles 9.6 And that God onely knows the hearts of the Children of men 2 Chron. 6.30 This vow is repugnant to all the examples contained in the Holy Scriptures wherein there is no vow made to creatures but to God onely as God himself commands in Psal 50.14 Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High Here sacrifices and vows are linked together as things equally due unto God But the Church of Rome holds that we must offer sacrifices to God onely Ergo. But that in the holy Scripture not one example is to be found of vows made to Saints Bellarmine freely confesseth in his book De cultu Sanctorum Chapter 9. in these words When the Holy Scriptures were written the custome of making vows to Saints was not begun The same Jesuit in the same chapter saith that a vow is an action of religion due to God onely even as swearing and sacrificing are as appears by the holy Scriptures These are his own words Thomas Aquinâ— the Prince of School-men Thomas 2.2 quâ—st 28. art 5. saith the sanâ— A vow saith he is to be made to God oâ—ly but a promise may be made to a mâ— And in the same place A Vow is an actâ— of Religion or Divine Worship Wheâ—fore Cardinal Cajetan in his notes up this place of Thomas to defend vows mâ— to Saints saith that the Saints are Gods aâ— that vows are made to them ut sunt Dij 〈◊〉 participationem as they are Gods by partiâ—pation The same saith Bellarmine in 〈◊〉 afore-mentioned chapter A Vow beloâ— not to the Saints but onely as they are Gods 〈◊〉 participation But we are certaine that tâ— Saints who raigne with Christ are such Eâ— go c. According to what Pope Gregorâ— 2. saith in his Epistle to the Emperour Leâ— viz. that all the Kingdomes of the Weâ— owne St. Peter for a God upon Earth But these Doctors consider not that if 〈◊〉 vow be a worship of Latria and
due 〈◊〉 God onely and that if we make vows 〈◊〉 Saints because they are Gods by participation it follows that we give to Saints the worship of Latria by participation Also they consider not that by the samâ— reaosn it may be said that the Superior oâ— Guardian who receives this vow is God toâ— by participation For when the Fryar Minor â—ath said I vow unto God and to the Virâ—in and to the Saints he adds and to you â—ny Father vowing to the Guardian in the â—â—me termes in which he vows to the Saints â—nd to God This needs not seem strange â—or in the Church of Rome the Priests â—re called Gods and Creators of their Creator having a Divine power yea a power over Jesus Christ Mr. Beste a famous Preacher in his book of the Priestly-Office chap. 3. saith The Priest-hood and the Deity have I know not what of common and are almost of an equal grandeur for they have the same power Item Seeing that the Priest-hood is equal to the Deity and that all Priests are Gods therefore it far exceeds the Kingly Office and Priests are much more than Kings And a little after he saith that God obeys the Priests as often as they pronounce the words of consecration A Sorbonist named Petrus Aurelius hath lately written a book with the approbation and by the authority of the Colledge of Sorbon which refutes a treatise of the Jesuits entituled Spongia and in the 75 page this Aurelius saith Data est Sacerdotibus potestas Christum hoc est Deum ipsum producendi that is A power is given to Priests to produce Christ that is to say God himself He adds that the power oâ— the Priests hath in it a certain emulation of the eternal operations whereby the Divine persons are produced Qui creavit me si fas est dicere dedit mihi creare se qui creavit me creatur medainte me Gabriel Biel famous among the Schoolmen in his first Lesson upon the Canon oâ— the Mass speaks thus The Priest hath greaâ— power over both the bodies of Christ That is over the Church and over the consecrated hoste which he calls God And in hiâ— fourth Lesson Whoever saw the like Hâ— that created me if I may so speak hatâ— given me power to create him And he that created me without my help is createâ— by my means Simeon Dunelmensis lib. 2. Chro. Vigner in his Ecclesiast History p. 300. This manner of speech is not new Foâ— Anno 1097. Urban II. called a Council aâ— Rome against the Emperor Henry IIII. and all other secular Princes who should claim a right to the investiture of Bishops and Abbots and to the Collations of Benefices and Prebends alledging that it is an abominable thing that those hands which create God should be obliged to so much ignominy as to do homage to those hands which night and day are defiled with filthy and dishonest touches Wherefore you must not wonder if a Monk that is admitted into the Order makes a vow to the Superior who is a Priest and gives him that honour which belongs to the worship of Latria seeing the Priests are called Gods and Creators of their Creator and that they have a power over Jesus Christ To these testimonies of the Doctors of the Romish Church who say that a vow belongs to the worship of Latria and ought to be made to God only we must adde the testimony of that Jesuit Cardinal Tolet. in Book 4. Of the institution of Priests chap. 17. A vow is a promise made to God by a deliberate purpose and will By these things it appears that a vow made to Saints or to a Superior of a Convent is pure Idolatry for thereby that honour which is due to God only is communicated to the creature Our adversaries cannot escape by saying that in vowing to Saints they vow mediatly to God for the worship of Latria ought not to be given to the creature either mediately or immediately In all worship of Latria we must address our selves to God directly The Monk that makes this vow addresseth himself to God directly by saying I vow to almighty God c. Having thus addressed himself to God directly what need is there that he should afterward address himself to him mediately and by oblique ways It is certain that he who says to his Superior or Guardian I Vow to you my Father speaks not to God and by these words vows not to God Consider the words of this vow and you shall find that a Monk who is admitted into the Order speaks to God to the Saints and to his Superior in the same terms and vows not in two different manners But when Bellarmine confesseth that the custome of making Vows to Saints was not begun when the holy Scriptures were written he should have mentioned the time when it began and not have cheated the Reader with false allegations as his usual manner is For he alledgeth these words of Eusebius in his 13. book of Evangelical preparation chap. 7. Honouring the souldiers of true piety as the friends of God we come to their monuments and make vows to them Which passage is false and altogether forged He also alledgeth Theodoret in his 8. book against the Greeks which book is falsly attributed to Theodoret. In one point Bellarmine besides his error discovers his ignorance in the Greek tongue in not knowing that the Greeks have no proper word to express the word Vow And the Latine Interpreter to whom Bellarmine trusts hath falsly translated Votorum rei dona persolvunt Which words are not in the Greek Text of the book attributed to Theodoret. It is in honour of the Pope that the Monks vow to St. Peter and St. Paul and not to St. John and St. James for they make the two former the Founders of the Church of Rome The things to which this Monk obligeth himself are poverty chastity and obedience Of poverty I shall speak hereafter As for chastity the Jesuit Emanuel Sa in his Aphorisms upon the word votum saith that the vow of Priesthood is not a vow of chastity and that the Bishop can dispence with it Whereupon we demand whether a Monk or a Priest that commits fornication doth not violate the vow of Chastity and whether by this Vow he doth not oblige himself not to commit fornication If he doth not oblige himself to it he shews that he will not be obliged by vow to obey the command of God which saith Thou shalt not commit adultery But by this vow he only obligeth himself to abstain from a thing which God permits and not from that which he forbids But if this Monk by vowing Chastity vows not to commit fornication it is evident that by commiting fornication he violates his vow and besides he transgresseth the command of God which obligeth us much more than any voluntary vow So that he commits two evils viz. He breaks his vow and violates the law of God Why then when
but untill the next Saturday after their death St. Antonin who hath written the life of St. Dominick the Patron of the Preaching Fryars tells us that St. Dominick being once in a trance saw the heavens opened and a multitude of Monks in celestial glory but saw not one of his own Order amongst them whereupon this blessed Saint wept bitterly But Jesus Christ comforted him by shewing him a multitude of Jacobin Fryars that were hid under the Virgin Maries kirtle Not one of any other Order ever had this honour It is observable that this Antonin Archbishop of Florence was Canonized by Pope Clement the 7th An. Dom. 1523. and that in the Bull of Canonization the said Pope approves of and authorizeth the doctrine of this Antonin and gives great Indulgences to those who shall visit his reliques The same is recited by Theodorick in the life of St. Dominick as Surius reports But the Minors surpass all the other Orders in the greatness of their Indulgences granted by the Popes to St. Francis's Order Read a book entituled The treasure oâ— the Indulgences of St. Francis 's Cord Printed at Rouen by Tho. Dare in the Jew's street near the Palace 1614. and you shall find these words in p. 119. Item every day untill the nativity of our Lady there is eight hundred sixty five thousand and one hundred sixty two years and one hundred days of indulgence and a remission of the third part of sins granted to divers Churches The Jesuits laugh at this and care not to obtain of he Pope such Indulgences This may be seen in the book of the Indulgences of the fraternity of the Cord printed at Paris by John le Bouc at St. Hillarys Mount Pope Sixtus 5. Anno. 1586. on May 7 graunted to those of the fraternity of St. Francis's Cord who shall say five Pater nosters as many Ave Maries on Palm-Saturday and on the feast of St. John the Evangelist and that before Porta Latina the pardon of all their sins and power to free one soul out Purgatory And these priviledges are confirmed by the letters Patents of the same Pope dated at St. Marks Aug. 9. 1587. But the most memorable Indulgence is that which as the Rosary of Bernardin saith St. Francis obtained for the Church of Sancta Maria Angelorum Francis was born in this City which is in the Dutchy of Spoleta called Portiancula in the City of Assise viz. that all they who shall go into that Church shall receive the remission of all their sins However Jesus Christ would not grant this to St. Francis but on condition that he should get a confirmation of this Indulgence from the Pope Antonin in vita Dominici c. 1. sect 1. Statum regularem sub Didaco Episcopo apprehendit ut alterum baptismum Th. 2. 2 q. ult art 3. in 4. sent dist 4. q. 3. art 3. sect ad tertium Bell. lib. de Monachis c. 8. sect denique Eman. Sa. Aphor. in verb. Religio sex alae eorum sunt sâ—x perfectiones qui bus ornatus suit beatus Franciscus This also is one of the prerogatives of St. Francis's Order and of St. Dominick's Order that the habit of St. Francis or St. Dominick is as good as a second Baptism and that by vertue of this habit all our sins past are cancelled And this is the reason why many Princes and persons of quality on their death-beds have been clad in the habit of a Cordelier or Capucin that their sins may be pardoned Of all the Patrons of the Monastique Orders no one is exalted to so high a degree of celestial glory as St. Francis for he is placed in the highest degree of Angelical glory The Church of Rome makes nine Orders of Angels differing in glory The highest Order is that of the Seraphins The second is the Order of the Cherubins c. But St. Francis is placed in the Order of the Seraphins above the Cherubins as St. Antonin tels us in the life of St. Francis in the first Chapter where he saith that those words of the 18. Psalm He rode upon the Cherubins and did flie upon the wings of the winds are spoken not only of Jesus Christ but may also be applied to St. Francis who is exalted above the Cherubins And in the same Chapter he saith that the Six wings of the Seraphins are the Six perfections wherewith St. Francis was adorned In this high degree of Glory he sees eight Classes of Angels and all the Saints farr beneath himself St. Bonaventure a General of St. Francis's Order and a Cardinal saith the like as I shall shew you hereafter De Verborum signif in b. Aliud mite Cor et docile terra bona suscepit hoc est fratrum Minorum religio Pope Nicolas 3. in the Decretal Exiit qui Seminat saith that when Jesus Christ speakes of the fourth prrt of the seed which fell on good ground by this good fourth part is meant the Religion of the Minors In the same place this Pope commending the poverty and perfection of St. Francis observes he had no bagg and that he findes not those actions of infirmity which were in Jesus Christ Christus egit etiam infima sicut interdum ut in sugae paetet in loculis who had two actions of infirmity viz. he had a bagg and he fled In these two things Holy Francis surmounted Jesus Christ CHAp IV. Of the words Minor and Minime and of the observation of the whole Rule THe Monks of St. Francis's Order are called Minors that is to say Less than others in token of Humility But there is sprung up another Order of Monkes whereof St. Francis of Paula a Calabrian is Patron and Author This Saint lived in the time of Lewis 11. who dyed Anno Domini 1483. The Monks of this Order not thinking it humility enough to be called Minors call themselves Minimes that is to say Least of all The Life of these Monkes is altogether Quadragesimal that is a continual Lent By vertue of this title they pretend a right to begging because Jesus Christ in the 10. of Matthew saith Whosoever shall give to drink to one of the least of these or to one of these Minimes a cup of cold water onely shall not lose his reward However this hinders them not from receiving an alms of wine although Jesus Christ speaks of cold water onely It is observable that in the Masse of thâ— said St. Francis of Paula which is celebrated on the second of April the Priest reads aloud this verse of the Gospel Quoâ— uni ex Minimis fecistis mihi fecistis Alleluja What you have done to one of thesâ— Minimes you have done it to me For the presuppose that Jesus Christ will speak oâ— them in the day of the general Judgment This Masse which is peculiar to the Ordeâ— of the Minimes they have caused to bâ— printed But to return to the Fryars Minors therâ— are divers sorts of
a Monk or Priest marries for fear of violating the Law of God by committing fornication is he accounted to have committed a greater sin than when he commits fornication Why then is not a Priest that commits fornication made irregular and incapable of the Priesthood but if he marries is presently degraded yea and declared punishable with death To this they answer that it is because he hath broken his vow and yet he remains unpunished and ceaseth not to sing Mass for all that For the commands of God do not bind so strongly as voluntary vows do which are made without yea contrary to the word of God which saith If they cannot contain let them marry And to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband 1 Cor. 7. But that a Priest who commits fornication yea hath divers Concubines is not thereby rendred irregular and incapable of the Priest-hood not onely experience shews examples of this being numberless but we have also the determination of Pope Innocent the III. Thereupon in the first book of the Decretals in the twelfth Title in the Chapter Quia circa His words are these Thou desirest to be instructed by the Apostolique See Whether Priests that have divers concubines ought to be counted bigamous To which we think fit to answer that seeing they have not incurr'd the irregularity of bigamy thou mayest dispence with their exercising of the Priestly Office they being stained only with simple fornication But for marrying of one wife according to the Apostles rule a Priest is degraded yea punished with death But which is much more one that is a notorious Sodomite is not made irregular but may sing Mass for all that as Navarre Navarr in caput ad inferendam 23. quest 2. De defensione proximi the most knowing of all the Canonists and the Popes Penitentiary teacheth A man saith he doth not incur irregularity but for the cases specified in the law of which number Sodomie is none And this he proves by the authority of Pope Innocent And he adds that in Italy which is more troubled with this evil than it should be they demand no dispensation for it In fine how binding soever the vow of not marrying may be yet the Pope can dispence with it and may permit a man to marry contrary to his vow Emanuel Sa in the same place saith that the Bishops may also dispence with this vow and permit a man to marry Methinks also to vow to St. Peter never to marry is to pretend to be wiser than he for he was a married man It is just as if one should say to him I do vow to thee not to follow thy example I do promise to be wiser and holier than thou It is evident that he who burns with filthy lusts and yet vows never to marry does like a sick person that says to God Lord I am sick but I promise thee that I will not make use of the remedies which thou offerest me and hast ordained in thy word for I will be wiser thaen thou CHAP. XIII The Impiety of the Superiours Answer IF there be Superstition and Impiety in this Vow whereby a Monk vows to the Creature and obligeth himself to things which God commands not yea to things which he forbids there is no less in the Answer which the Superiour or Guardian makes him saying And I if thou keep this vow do promise thee in Gods name life Eternal These words duely considered will make a man ttemble for fear For one that is neither sent nor authorized by the King comes to a man and sayes I have order from the King to promise you such a Preferment if you do such a thing is a Cheat and a perfidious person and deserves to be punished because he speaks without order and without being sent by the King But the Superiour who makes this promise to the new Monk in God's name cannot shew his Commission or Warrant from God for the making of this promise He abuseth the poor Monk by making him believe that he is sent by God to make him this promise in Gods name viz. That if he lives in beggery if he never marries and if he be obedient to the Guardian of his Convent he shall have Eternal life For these three things are things which God commands not in his Word and to which he hath made no Promise yea these are observations whereby God is more often offended then served These are things which a Heathen or Hypocrite may do But to serve God according to his Word and to believe in Jesus Christ as he is proposed to us in the Gospel are things to which God hath promised Eternal life and cannot be done by any but by those that are the true Children of God These are things for which the Superiour should say not I promise thee but God promiseth thee Eternal life For a man ought not to promise that which he cannot give CHAP. XIV That corporal Austerities and Whippings and tormenting of the body are not marks of Holiness HE is very much deceived who takes the severitie and torments which a man inflicts on his body for proofs or signs of Holiness The Apostle St. Paul 1 Tim. 4. saith Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come All that the Capucins do is nothing 1 K n. 18.28 in comparison of what Baal's Priests did for they did cut and mangle their bodies with knives and imbrued themselves in blood for the service of their Idol There are Mahometan Monks called Dervis who live very austerely and do even roast their bodies upon the hot scalding sands and with buckles and rings of Iron make themselves incapable for generation The Cynick Philosophers did beg Diogenes lay in the street in a tub having no other houshold-stuff then a woodden dish and yet he brake that too when he considered thar Nature had given him one in the hollow of his hand Read Apulejus his eighth Book of the Milesians and you will there see the description of the Priests of the Syrian Goddess who did cut and slash their bodies Arrepto flagro indidem se multimodis mulctat ictibus Avidis amimis corradentes omnia in sacculos huic quaestui de industria praeparatos farcientes He describes one of those Priests that did whip himself with a whip full of knots being armed with obstinacy against the smart of the strokes untill the blood streamed down his body Moreover he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That when these Priests had done whipping themselves they went about a begging and one gave them a piece of Mony another Wine another Cheese c. which Alms they put into Wallets In a word the description which he gives of these mad Priests doth very much resemble the lives of the Capucins Lucian in his Book intituled The Ass
the common people do by working Many turn Monks in spight or to shakâ— off the yoke of their parents or in a Melancholy and desperate humour or to defraud their creditors who press hard upon them or because they will not take pains to work or have not wherewith to subsist at home They turn beggers that they may not be poor They are poor by vow for fear of being so by necessity Wherefore Bellarmine speaks very gracefully â—h de Monaâ—his cap. 46. secunda when he saith That to these begging Monks belongs that saying of Jesus Christ in the nineteenth Chapter of St. Matthew Centuplum accipiet c. That is He shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit eternal life But when our adversaries call begging a a work of supererogation they do thereby acknowledg that God commands it not The Prophets and Apostles never vowed poverty neither were they beggars Those of them who were poor were not â—o by vow but by necessity which God â—mposed on them Joh. 21.3 Joh. 19.27 Phil. 4.16 The Apostles had â—heir Fishing Vessels after our Lords Reâ—urrection And St. John had his house â—t Paul received with thankfulness the reâ—ief which the Philippians sent him Being at Corinth he got his living by making of Tents choosing rather to work â—han to beg For he well knew that begâ—ing is a shamefull thing and that it makes men both idle and impudent He â—hat leaves his own estate to eat anoâ—her mans bread hath no reason to say to God Give us this day our dayly bread For God might answer him I gave thee â—herewith to buy bread but thou hast despised it And now by thy begging thou takest from them that are â—eally poor those Almes which are due 〈◊〉 them And so far is begging from being a work of supererogation and better then what God commands in his Law that â—n the contrary God will have us prevent it as much as we can Omnino non erit indigiens mendicus inter vos saying in Deut. chap 15. verse 4. To the end that there â—ay be no poor among you The Hebrew word signifies a Beggar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgaâ— translation so renders it Not that it is 〈◊〉 sin to beg when a man hath no other waâ— of subsistence But God commands thâ— rich so to relieve the poor that they maâ— not be constrained to beg The Scripture often speaks of begginâ— as an evil and a punishment yea a curse In the seven and thirtieth Psalm Daviâ— saith I have been young and now am olâ— yet have I not seen the righteous forsakeâ— nor his seed begging bread And in thâ— 109. Psalm he makes this imprecation Let his Children be vagabonds and beg He speaks indeed of involuntary poverty but there is no likelyhood that that whicâ— is a curse to some can be a blessing tâ— others and that which to one is a grievous affliction can be to another a holâ— Profession As for examples we have already see the description which Lucian and Apuleius give of the Priests of the Syrian goâ—dess who did whip themselves and beg To which we shall adde the Massaliâ— Heretiques Epiphan haeret 80. cap. 3. of whom Epiphanius saith they went about begging as not havinâ— wherewith to subsist neither possessing anâ— thing Examine Antiquity and try if you can find so much as one example of Monks that made begging a Profession There was no such thing as a Profession of beggary for abovte welve hundred years after the nativity of our Lord. Camus Bishop of Bellay who is yet living hath written a great book of the labours of Monks in the Preface whereof you shall find these words The ulcer of idleness is crept into Monasteries under the name of holy und meritorious beggary His whole book is imployed to prove that Monks should be obliged to labour with their hands especially those that do not preach nor have any other painfull employment in the Church So far is he from placing beggary amongst those pieces of perfection whereby God is made a debtor to man And this Prelate's book bears in its front the Approbation of the Doctors of the faculty of Theologie of Paris St. Augustine hath written a book De opere Monachorum wherein he obligeth them to labor Epiphanius teacheth the same in the Heresie of the Massalians where he saith that in all the Monasteries of Egypt the Monkes did labour with their hands even as Bees do labor to make hony and wax In those days the Monks were poor Hermits living in deserts labouring with their hands to get their living and carrying their workmanship to the neighbouring Towns to sell bought bread with the mony They did not beg the approbation of their Rule from the Bishop of Rome for they were not subject to him In a word they were not at all like the Monks now adays The same Epiphanius in the same book condemns those that live an idle life and making a profession of begging get their bread at rich men's Tables But to compleat their wickedness the mendicant Fryars make begging a work of supererogation that is better than what God commands in his Law and consequently better than to love God with all our hearts and our neighbour as our selves God commands us to serve him with all our strength so that the Monks serve God with more then all their strength which is impossible Abraham Isaac Jacob Samuel David c. never did works of supererogation The perfection of the Angels consists in obeying God and not in doing more than he commands Jesus Christ himself came into the world onely to do the will of his Father and not to do more then his will Aske the most devout Capucin if he never commits sin and he will tell you that he is a poor sinner How do these things agree They do not that which God commands and yet will do more then he commands They fail in necessary things and yet strive to do things unnecessary and which God requires not They do not what they ought and do what they ought not They are more holy than God would have them to be That man is crack-braind who exerciseth liberality when he hath not wherewith to pay his debts If this be so in referrence to men how much more in reference to God It is an extream pride to endeavour to give God overplus and more then we owe him In a word I would know whether the Monks when they do works of supererogation do the will of God or their own will If they do the will of God they are obliged thereunto and do what they ought But if by doing better things then those which God commands they do their own will it follows that their will is better than the will of God Out of this same shop of pride come those superabundant satisfactions whereby the Monks would make us believe that they suffer more punishment and do more pennance then their
sinnes deserve and that the Pope gathers this overplus into his Treasury and distributes it by his Indulgences in payment for the sins of others The Monks believe that by whipping themselves by fasting and going bare-foot they expiate the sinnes of others Wherefore Bellarmine saith Bell. lib. 1. de Indul. r. 4. s sex that the Saints are in some sense our Redeemers The Legends of Saint Dominick and Saint Antonine say that Saint Dominick a grand emulator of the holiness of Saint Francis lasht himself three times a day with an iron chain viz. Once for his own sins which were very small once for the sinnes of the living and once for the sinnes of those souls which are in Purgatory who no doubt received much ease thereby And it is this same Saint that once had mercy on the devil for the devil having transformed himself into a Sparrow and Saint Dominick catching him contented himself onely with pulling off the feathers from his head whereas it was in his power to have wrung off his neck By these things God is blasphemed For such things are attributed to God which if a man should do he would be accounted either wicked or mad For what Judge would not be accounted unjust or out of his wits who should let a malefactor go because his neighbour hath whipt himself for him But things which are ridiculous in civil society are esteemed good in religion as if a man must lose common sense to augment piety All this abuse proceeds from this viz. that men utterly destitute of the knowledg of the holy Scriptures which are to them a book sealed and altogether unknown seek other satisfactions and other payments for sin then the death and passion of Jesus Christ For seeing Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied Gods justice to what purpose are others satisfactions presented to him Is not this to accuse God of injustice to pretend that he takes two payments for one debt when the first is sufficient Is it not to dishonour that most perfect satisfaction which Jesus Christ hath accomplished for us to joyn it with the whippings and austerities of Monks which is just as if a man should mingle coals and diamonds together For Pope Clement the VI. in his Extravagant Unigenitus saith that the merits of the Virgin Mary and of the other Saints do help to compleat the treasure of the benefits of Jesus Christ giving us to understand that the benefits of Jesus Christ make but bare measure but that the addition of the Saints merits makes heaped measure and is an addition to the merrits of Jesus Christ And for this reason the Priest in the Mass prays for salvation not onely through the Saints intercession but also through their merits The Lord God take pity on so many poor people involved in so many abuses and discover the deceit of those who being themselves notorious sinners do yet by a proud humility think to expiate the sins of others CHAP. XXV Of the Fraternity of the Cord. * Printed at Rouen by Tho. Daré in the Jews street near the Palace anno 1614. An Extract of a Book entituled The Treasure of the Indulgences of St. Francis 's Cord translated out of Italian into French And of the Canonization of St. Francis and Ignatius de Loyola THe Fraternity of St. Francis's Cord is a Society of superstitiously devout people both Men and Women and as well Clergy-men as Lay-men Into which Fraternity they who enter are obliged to certain Observations and for a Badge of the Fraternity wear a Cord in imitation of the Cord which St. Francis wore and do participate of all the Merits and Satisfactions of those of the said Fraternity They who have the least of merit do for all that as really partake of the merits of the others as if they were their own They lend their merits to each other and he that is asleep or at dinner participates of the merits of him that whips himself or of him that turns over the consecrated Beads of his Chaplet seven times The Fraternity of Saint Francis's Cord hath great Priviledges and the Popes have granted it great Indulgences These priviledges have been set down in writing by divers but especially by Antonio Brugneto an Italian Observantin Monk whose very words in the 104. page are these The most glorious Father Francis a little before his death obtained of God the Creator three Priviledges as the defunct Pope Gregory reports them from St. Francis his own mouth viz. The first is That as the number of Monks should increase so should all things necessary be provided for them by the Divine Providence The second That whosoever shall wear the Habiâ— of his Order shall not die unfortunately The third That whosoever shall persecute the Religion of his Order his dayes shall be short and his end miserable Moreover the most glorious Father Francis a little before his death revealed to a certain Monk who is worthy of credit that he had obtained three other Priviledges of our Creator when he appeared to him in the likeness of a Seraphin and left the impression of the holy Marks on him The first is That the profeffion of his Monks should continue until the end of the world The second That whosoever shall live well in his Order shall live a long time in it The third That whosoever shall heartily love his Order how great a sinner soever he be shall find mercy from God if so be he turns from his evil wayes The same Author in the 109. page hath these words First Pope Clement the Fourth hath granted to those men who on their death-beds shall desire to be clad in the Habit of St. Francis his Order and to those women who shall desire to be clad in the Habit of St. Clare and to be buried in it the pardon of the third part of their sins This same Indulgence was granted them by Pope Nicolas the Third and by Pope Urban the Fifth Moreover Pope Leo the Tenth confirming the said Concessions adds by way of overplus That they who should die in this Habit of St. Francis or St. Clare and should be buried therein should have a plenary Indulgence for all their sins And in the 95. page Moreover on Olive-Saturday on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist and on the other Feast of St. John Port-Latine Pope Sixtus the Fifth he hath granted to those of the Fraternity who shall on such dayes rehearse the seven Penitentiary Psalms the redemption of one Soul out of Purgatory As for the Indulgence granted as the Minor Fryars say by Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary and confirmed by the Pope at Nostre Dame des Anges called Portiuncula the Rosary of Bernardin and the aforesaid book of rhe Indulgences of the Cord and the Chronicle of St. Francis say that St. Francis would not have the Pope's Bull for confirmation of the said Indulgence For saith he I have the glorious Virgin and Jesus Christ for Notaries and the Angels for Witnesses This Indulgence is to be had on the second day of August whereby every one who hath been confessed and is contrite and shall then go into the Church of Nostre Dame des Anges shall obtaine a plenary absolution both of sin and punishment If this same person should go into any other Church with the like or greater contrition he should not have the same Indulgence It is worth our notice that St. Francis obtained this Indulgence of Pope Honorius by presenting him with three red Roses in the Winter But Pope Sixtus the Fifth who was a Cordelier hath abundantly heaped up Indulgences plenary more plenary and most plenary as they Phrase it on the Order of the Minor Fryars and upon the Fraternity of St. Francis's Cord. But of all these Indulgences of three or four hundred thousand years the Jesuits make little reckoning and have never much troubled themselves about procuring any of them from the Pope esteeming their own Order although barren in pardons and Indulgences better then that of the Minor Fryars However in one respect the Cordeliers and Capucins surpass the Jesuits viz. in that St. Francis was Canonized by the Pope immediately after his death without the least difficulty But as for Ignatius Loyola the founder and Patron of the Jesuits who dyed Anno Domini 1556 the Jesuits were above seventy years solliciting in the Court of Rome to obtaine from the Pope that he might be put into the number of the Saints and at last with great difficulty obtained his Canonization seventy years after his death So long did the sanctity of Ignatius hang in suspence which no doubt was the cause of great trouble and perplexity to him However this future Saint during all this waiting received some consolation For some years before his Canonization he was Beatified which is a forerunner of Canonization At last the Pope having received more clear and certain proofs of the holiness of Ignatius put him into the Catalogue of the Saints and ordained that he should be invoked in the Church of Rome which had not been lawful during those seventy years that past betwixt Ignatius his death and Canonization But as in the Chappels and Colledges of the Jesuits you shall see few Images of St. Francis so in the Convents aâ—â— Churches of the Capucins it is a very rarâ— thing to see the image of St. Ignatiuâ— For the Capucins believe that St. Francâ—â— hath more credit in the Court of heaven and that he is exalted above the Cherubins FINIS