destroy and pull downe the Pyramis for what boote were it for you to be restored vnlesse this stone be taken away whereby you are charged with sundry crimes which you esteeme false and calumnious Seeing therefore your intent was to commence suite against a stone I presumed that the hearing of the cause belonged absolutely to my selfe and to none other And that you may vnderderstand with what diligence and iustice I haue proceeded in the examination thereof I remembred that your cause had been twise pleaded and twise referred to counsell First in the yeere 1564. wherein you were plantiues suing to bee incorporated into the Vniuersitie of Paris Secondly in the yeere 1594. wherein the Vniuersitie of Paris were plantiues requiring that you might be instantly banished and expelled the land To be throughly informed of the first I required a Copie of Pasquier his declaration against you Versoris his Plea for you as also of the latter by Mesmll the Kings Aduocate By all which I found that the onely matter in question at that time was the noueltie and straunge rule of your Order being contrarie to the auncient liberties of the Church of Fraunce And being desirous to be yet further instructed in the matter behold certaine mutinous spirits present me with three bookes on your behalfe In the first were contained the Buls by you obtayned for your commoditie and aduantage In the second were your orders or constitutions diuided into tenne parts In the third the Examen or if I may so terme it the Abstract or abridgement thereof Out of which I collected many poynts which before time were to me altogether vnknowne a simple and absolute vow which your enemies alleage to be full of subteltie and heresie many extraordinarie vsurpations vppon the Ordinaries and Vniuersities a rich kind of pouertie professed by vow a blinded obedience to your Supâ—â—ion for as for that to the Pope I meddle not ther withal your principall Buls wherein it seemes you haue surprised and abused the sanctitie of the holy Sea Whereupon I said that that villaine whatsoeuer he was that brought these bookes out of your Colledges deserued to be hanged for his paynes It is not meet the world should know the secrets of a profest Societie It doth but open mens mouthes to scanne and descant thereupon at their pleasures to the discredit and disgrace of the whole Order But seeing the offender cannot be discouered I thinke it best that these three bookes be sent backe into one of your Colledges there to receiue open discipline for this offence This is not the first time that sencelesse things haue beene dealt withall For in that manner doe we read that the Sea hauing trespassed against Zerxes that wise and prudent king of Persia who had purposed to passe ouer into Greece vpon a bridge of cordes was by him condemned to be whipt As contrariwise the Signiorie of Venice to flatter and infinuate with the Sea is wont yeerely vpon Ascension day to espouse and wed it with a Ring which they present vnto it I assure you when I compared the priuiledges of the Church of Fraunce with yours I stood greatly perplexed what to thinke holding this with my selfe for a law inuiolable that housoeuer all lawes were wauering and vncertaine according to the chaunge and alteration of times yet this stood firme stedfast and immutable that we are to liue according to the lawes of that countrey wherein we defire to liue And finding your Buls and constitutions to goe slat against the liberties of the Church of Fraunce it bred no small scruple in my mind howsoeuer I was inclined or deuoted to fauour your cause Hauing viewed and reuiewed the bookes and euidences concerning the first cause which was referred to counsel I passed ouer to the second instance of the yere 1594. wherin I employed all the powers of my braine Herein you were not called in question for your doctrine or profession any more but for your attempts and practises made aswell against Princes and Princesses as against the seuerall countries wherein you are resident and especially against the Realme of Eraunce A matter full of waight difficultie and of daungerous consequence which caused me for the discharge of my place and conscience to interpose my selfe in this cause contrarie to that custome which I haue hitherto learned and practised For in other cases I receiue such packets as my Vassels and Subiects list to impart giuing credit thereunto vpon their bare relations But in this I haue taken a farre other course For hauing perused your petitionarie booke full of pittie and compassion I sent forth summons to all quarters without exception to come in and speake their knowledge in the matter I directed out Commissions ouer all countries according to the prerogatiue which from all antiquitie hath beene graunted me through the whole state of Christendome to informe me aswell by letters as by witnesses of what I thought requisite for your iustification commaunding all Iudges of what qualitie foeuer vpon payne of a grieuous fine at my pleasure to send me the whole processe aswell criminall as extraordinarie which had passed in your cause being resolued your innocence once verified and confirmed to cast downe this Pyramis and to preferre this sentence into the Inquisition As your selues sometimes caused the censure and determination of the Sorbone pronounced against you in the yeere 1554. to be censured by the Inquisition of Spayne For it is not for euerie man to iustle with your holy Fatherhoods And that which pronoked mee the rather hereunto was your booke wherein reading to my great discomfort the hard measure which hath beene shewen you by the Court of Parliament of Paris yet you acknowledge the said Court to excell all other in knowledge iustice and religion Vpon my summons I must confesse the truth there appeared at the first dash a great troope of French English Scottish Arragonians Portugalls Polanders Flemings Swethlanders who reported much more then I desired to heare And albeit the peoples voyce be the voyce of God if you belieue the coÌ„mon prouerbe yet would not I for the sequell build my iudgment thereon Your owne booke increased my scruple doubt much more then before when for your iustification you say that in the yeere 1593. by a generall Synode holden by your Societie at Rome those of your Order were forbidden to entermeddle henceforward in matters of State which poynt I could not well conceiue They are prohibited said I to entermeddle hence-forward in State matters therefore it is presupposed that heretofore they haue medled therein I cannot be perswaded that these deuout and holie men did euer apply themselues that way because such is the calamitie of our times that in our State affaires wee harbour commonly more impietie then Religion to bring our designements to passe And standing thus in suspence one rounded me in the eare and bad mee be cleere of that poynt for he that made The Defence of the Colledge of Clairmont in
complaines of great wrong that was done to him by our Society Qui cùm sibi soli sapere saith he speaking of vs soli benè viuere Iesumque propius insequi comitari videantur at que id palam professi iactitent me qui minimum atque adeo inutilem Iesu Christi discipulum ago odiâ— bâ—â—â—â— guâ—â—ie Atque hi quod â—â—â—â—tem 〈◊〉 â—â—as baâ—â— audiat improbarâ— audent aliorum quos ad cam roâ— occulteÌ„ inducere possins ingenijs nominibus abutuntur Who thinking themselues onely wise saith he speaking of vs that they onely liue well and seeme to follow Iesus verie neere and strictly and openly make profession thereof with boasling hated me without any cause that am a poore vnprofitable seruant of Iesus Christ And these men because they dare not mislike any man that is otherwise â—el spoken of abuse the names wits of other whomsoeuer they can vnder hand perswade to such a course His meaning is that we abuse other mens pens against him not daring to deale with him by our owne That was our our practise at that time but since wee haue found a new course to make bookes vnder supposed names such as those two bookes that goe vnder the name of Frances Montagines and Rene de la Fon which I was not able to read without choller And touching that book that is said to be made by Montaignes I find that the author made choise of a name fit for his booke Parturient montes nascetur ridiculus mus See what a goodly peece of worke he hath made by discouering the secrets both of our simple vow and that of chastitie and into what daunger he hath brought vs amongst Kings by committing their Crownes to the ful and bare disposition of the holy Sea I will adde herevnto that as our fingers are still itching this booke is translated into Latine by one of our order who hath called Montaignes Montanus which was the name of a notorious old heretique that he might still giue our enemies occasion to speake euill of vs. As for la Fon he that deuised that name should rather haue termed him Foole so many follies and flatteries are there in that booke Stephen Pasquier hath writter many bookes which are wel liked both in Fraunce and in other countries Montaignes in his booke Of Truth defended maketh fauourable mention of him This little foole la Fon to supply his companions default breaks out with rayling on him worse theÌ„ a strumpet out of the stewes And I am afraid Pasquier that hath not the gout in his hand will not let him be long without an aunswere And so there will be one good â—â—rne for another Thinke not so quoth I to the Iesuit for when I spake with him of it he aunswered me thus Sir my good friend this disguised Iesuit is like one of the Shrouetuesday Maskers who by the libertie of the day carry blacking about them with which they marke euery one that comes in their way who should be but a laughing-stocke to the people if they would be angrie at it My collections of Fraunce amongst which my Plea is carrie their safe conduct in their faces If a man will read them they wil answer for me If any man will not read them let him come to me I will answer for them If any man of learning finde any obscuritie in them I will thinke my selfe honoured by him if it will please him to let mee cleere the doubt to him For in few words I perswade my selfe that this Mountebank thinking to accuse me accuseth sometime Saint Paule sometime Saint Luke one while Lactantius Firmianus an other while Saint Bernard and venerable Bede and which is more their owne fellow Bellarmine whose authoritie is of greater worth with them then Saint Pauls It is a singular vertue that Iesuits haue that the further they goe the more fooles thy proue Would you know the reason of it The first lesson that is taught theÌ„ when they enter into their nouiceship is absolutely to acknowledge Iesus Christ not onely in the person of their Generall but also in all other theiâ— Superiors Now as soone as euer any of them commeth to any degree he maketh account that he is to other such as his Superiours were to him Insomuch that hee beleeues that his fâ—nâ—asâ—â—â—ll imaginations 〈◊〉 articles of our faith and vpon this vaine beliefe he powreth out himselfe into a thousand fooleries Let it suffice you that I meane not to giue life to this abortiue booke by my answer When their Librarie was fold at Paris they â—â—â—d my Latin Epigramâ— in the sâ—â—t booke wherof they shall find these foure verses which I giue for a full aunswere to this foole Carmine nescio quis not corrodente lacessit Respondere sibi me cupit haâ—d facâ—am Rursus at ecce magis magis insectatur vrget Respondere sciat me sibi dum taceo VVith biting verse I know not who prouokes Me to make aunswere but I meane to cease Yet more and more he followes me with strokes I make him aunswer when I hold my peace You see quoth I to the Iesuit what I can report to you of Pasquiers aunswere whereby you may perceiue that he despiseth your la Fon. Whereunto the Iesuit answered He may deceiue himself For do not think that our Societie is engaged in all the bookes that I named The pollicie wee obserue in publishing our bookes is this The Author is like the Quiristers in Cathedrall Churches which carrie the bookes before others and after that one of them hath sung a verse he is followed by the whole bodie of the Quire So is it with our company He that is the bearer of his booke sings first imparting it to the Prouinciall the Rector Fathers and Regents as well of the house as of the Colledge where they abide All which by a common consent contribute thereto particularly so that the generall frame is the Authors but the most part of the seuerall peeces are many other mens This is the first shape we giue to this matter after which followes another For we are expresly for bidâ—â— by the constiâ—â—â—â—â—â— to set out any booke without our Generals leaue The booke is viewed by him or by his foure Assistants or by other deputed by him In briefe hold it for a most certaine ground that all the bookes mentioned by â—â—â—â—â—ning had this course are approued by our whole ordâ—â— If it be so quoth I your order is merâ—â—aiâ—ous ignorant to suffer all these furious bookes to run vp downe the streets And there need but a few of these to make your order come backe to the wallet whence your Historiographers say it had the beginning That is the thing quoth he that greeues me most of all to see that out Superiours should be so set vppon a blind reuenge that thereby they became fooles with fooles But in the meane while what said Pasquier to that noble Epitaph which our De la Fon makes
of him in these words Well let him liue yet ioyfully and write and raue if he will against the Iesuits hee shall doate at last in his old age vntil some one of this Societie or if they disdain it some other for the publique good take agenerall suruey of that which he hath printed and a collection of his follies rauings asscheadnes spightfulnes haresies and Machiauelismes to erect a Tombe of baâ—â—full memorie wherein he shall be coffind aliue whither the Rauens and Vultures may come a hundred leagues by the sent and to which no man may dare to approch by a hundred paces without stopping his nose by reason of the stinck where brambles bâ—yers may grow where Vipers and Cockatrices may nestle where the Skriech-howle and Bitter may sing that by such a Monument they that now liue and they that shall liue hereafter may know that the Iesuits had for their accuser and slaunderer a notorious lyer a capitall enemie to all vertue and all that are vertuous and that al slaunderers may learne by the losse of one proude ignorant fellow to bethinke theÌ„selues better of that which they write against religious Orders not impudently to slaunder the holy church of God by their infamous blasphemous writings Doe you aske mee quoth I to the Iesuit what Pasquier saide of it I will tell you Hee said to mee in fewe words that this Pasport did well beseeme a Iesuits soule and he was desirous it might be engrauen ouer the gates of all theyr Colledges as a true portraict of theyr charitie that euery man might know that they did not name themselues the Societie of Iesus without great reason who vppon the Crosse prayed to God his Father for them that crucified him I and the Iesuit past the afternoone in these such like discourses by which I perceiued that this honest man had many good parts in him not coÌ„mon to other Iesuits Also I found that there is great difference betwixt him that being shut vp in his chamber hath all his wisedome from his bookes and him that besides his bookes pertakes of wise mens discourses by word of mouth The studie of the former hath his times of breathing but the latter that studies without studying hath great aduantage ouer the other For my part I was willing to be in his company and I think I had spent the rest of the day with him but that ill hap enuious of my content depriued me of it by the comming of two or three foolish fellowes who began to iest at mee saying they saw well my intent was to become a Iesuit You may be sure of that quoth I if all Iesuits were of thys mans temper So wee walkt and talkt one thing or an other till supper time during which there was nothing but iesting and merry talke all carnest matters beeing layd aside till next morning when all of vs beeing met together in the Hall euery one cast his eyes vppon the Aduocate whom the Gentleman requested to make an end of his carriere which hee did in such sort as you shal presently vnderstand The end of the second Booke The third Booke of the Iesuits Catechisme CHAP. 1. ¶ Touching the Anabaptistrie which is found in the vowe that the Iesuits make concerning their blinde obedience to theyr Superiors also that by the meanes thereof there is not any King or Prince that can defend himselfe from theyr stings I Haue saith the Aduocate discoursed vnto you touching the Iesuits doctrine and theyr coggings as also how that obtayning theyr priuiledges they haue maliciously circumuented the holy Sea Apostolick But I haue reserued this morning time to treat of the affaires of the state which they haue adioyned to theyr doctrine within which by meanes of their abounding pietie that raigneth amongst them they haue also intermingled that lesson which we learne out of Machiauell in his Treatise touching a Prince in the Chapter of wickednes For the murthers and killings of Kings Princes are as common among them in their consultations as amongst the most vvicked murtherers that are in the world Besides they haue giuen themselues libertie to trouble those Realmes and Kingdoms wherein they haue once had anie footing It may be euery one amongst vs will much meruaile at it but if you will examine and that without passion that blinde obedience which they vowe vnto this Superiors it shall be an easie matter for you cleerely to see the truth thereof And marke I pray you that I doe expresly say vnto theyr Superiors because though they likewise vow the same vnto the Pope yet it is not with so precise a declaration And that it is so you may well perceiue by this that in the Article which yesterday I read vnto you they speake but once of the Pope and many times of their Superiours So great a desire had Ignatius Loyola their first founder and Law-maker to teach how much this obedience ought to be esteemed of in regard of themselues and their owne respects Concerning which poynt I wil freely say thus much that though in Fraunce wee admit not this particular obedience of the Iesuits towards the Pope yet is it without comparison much more tollerable then the other For in respect of my selfe I will easily belieue this that the opinions of these great Prelats are so well ruled and grounded that though one should vow vnto them â—he most exact obedience that can be yet they would not abuse it Those Prelats are the men the greatest number whereof comming from meane place which were for their vertues merrits and sufficiencies at the first made Bishops afterwards Cardinalls and at the last aduanced to that high throne of the supreme Pastor In so much that theyr faithfulnes holines great experiences and auncientie haue as it should seeme drayned and dryed vp in them all those foolish passions which commonly transport and carry vs away But to speake the truth I cannot I dare not I will not giue the like iudgement touching the Superiors of the Iesuits â—â—â—leâ— because the honour reuerence and respect that I beare to the holy Sea forbid me so to doe Yet notwithstanding in their Chapter of obedience as I haue alreadie said after that they haue once mentioned the Pope they speake of nothing but theyr Superiours that is to say of their Generall their Prouincials their Rectors for these are they who euerie one of them in regard of their Order beare the name of Superiours ouer others And you haue alreadie heard that by the obedience that the inferiour oweth them they are enioyned to beleeue that by their meanes the commaundement floweth from Iesus Christ himselfe and that therefore they ought euen at the twinkling of an eye not onely to obey in such things of their Order as binde them but in all others yea that without loâ—â—ing or bidding as wee say they should obey and tie the will to the execution and the iudgement to the will to the end that the inferiour
1594 hath inserted saith he the whole article in Latine I called for the booke found it true as he told me Another brought me Montaignes his booke reade this place saith he heere you shall find the foundation and originall of our last troubles In this booke I finde that Father Claudius Mathew and Aimond Auger were sometimes in high fauour with Henry the third in so much as oftentimes hee tooke them into his Coach after hee addeth That sathan hauing cast into the Realme the Apple of strife suspition and ielousie all things changed their course and then was brewed that vineger and gall of ciuile dissentions which since that time wee haue seene and tasted As to all texts there want no comments so in the reading of this place thys fellow said vnto me that two words sufficed to a good vnderstander and that this alteration fell out by meanes of the repulse which these two blessed Fathers receiued of the King when he saw them begin to set their hands to matters of State and that they played as did Narses the Eunuch whom the Empresse commaunding to goe and spin her distaffe he made aunswere that he would spin her such a quill as shee or her husband should neuer be able to vnwind And indeed kept promise with her by bringing the Lombards into Italie Euen so these two honest Iesuits beeing estranged from the grace and fauour of the King would let him know they could skill of somwhat else then to say ouer our Ladies Psalter And to speake freely what I think I neuer knew mon of a better conscience then are those of your Societie nor that lesse feared to incur the censures of Rome First Father Henrie Sammiere a stirring pragmaticall fellow confessed that about the yeere 1580 or 81 if I mistake not he was sent by you into diuers Countries to treate or commune about the generall reuolt which you intended to stirre vp against the late King of Fraunce And albeit I maintained that it was neyther true nor probable in as much as you had no cause at that time to attempt it he bad me seeing I beleeued not his words to looke but vpon the arraignment and triall of William Parry an Englishman vvho was executed the third of March 1584. that there I should finde at the latter end of a certaine Letter which he wrote to the Queene during his imprisonment That shee should finde the King of Fraunce had enough to doe as home when shee neede of his helpe Parry as Sammiere told me departed out of England in 1582 and came into Fraunce where hee was dealt withall by our Societie to destroy the Queene of England and to make an innouation in the State and when he obiected that it would hardly be brought to passe in as much as she were like to be ayded and assisted by the King of Fraunce we made him aunswer that we would cut out the King of Fraunce so much worke that his hands should be full of his owne busines without stirring to ayde or succour another Whereby it appeares that euen in those daies our web was on the loome I had not at that time the acts of Parry his tryall but hauing since procured them I haue read the Letter haue found all true that Sammiere reported Who in a good meaning proceeded further and confessed that himselfe and Roscieux were sent in 1584. to the King of Spaine and Father Claudius Mathew to Pope Gregorie the 13. to vnderstand what summes of mony they were willing to contribute towards the charges maintenaunce of the holy League whereunto Roscieux replyed Yea but this honest Munk telleth you not what a cast of his office he shewed me For hee and I riding post together he perceiuing one night that I beeing wearied with trauaile was buried in a dead sleepe caused fresh poast-horse to be brought him and away hee went leauing me in bed for a pawne and such speede and diligence he vsed as that our whole busines was by him almost dispatched with the King of Spayne before I could ouertake him To bring this processe to a conclusion I caused to be brought vnto me the pleadings of Arnauld Aduocate for the Vniuersitie and Dole who was retaind for the Curats of Paris The aunswere to the same vnder the name of the Colledge of Clairmont Frauncis de Montaignes his booke De la veritè Defendue against Arnauld and certaine other bookes or euidences seruing to the state of the cause I belieued Sammier for so much as concerned himselfe but as for Father Claudius Matthew I would not the memorie of him should be touched vpon another mans confession Wherefore I had recourse to the litterall proofe and read Arnauldus his pleadings wherein he toucheth him to the quick and the aunswere thereunto contained in that Plea which is as followeth And whereas Arnauldus alledgeth that Claudius Matthew of the Order of the said Defendants hath beene the Authour and contriuer of the League the said Defendants aunswere that Claudius Matthew hauing spent his whole time in their Colledges amongst children liuing euer in the course of a Scholler could not haue iudgement policie industrie and authoritie requisite for the contriuing and knitting of so great strong a League And be it that the saide Mathew endeuoured to fortifie the sayd League as many others of all estates cōditions haue likewise doone that prooues not therefore that he was the Authour or beginner thereof Besides this is but one particular And fiue or sixe lines after There was not one of them at the first acquanted with his actions and had they beene yet could they not haue hindered them inasmuch as hee vvas their Superiour Comparing Arnaulds obiection with this colde and faint solution mee thought you were agreed that Fraunce should thinke her selfe beholding to none but your selues for her last troubles And desiring more fullie to informe my conscience as touching the Reuolt which happened in Paris euen in the Sorbon it selfe the seauenth of Ianuarie 1589 there came a crew of Diuines beeing men of credit and reputation who certified me that in truth they were at that time assembled to debate the matter that all the auncienter sort were of a cōtrarie opinion howsoeuer the younger were not the greater part whereof had beene schollers to the Iesuits of Paris So as the voyces being numbred and not weighed it was carried away by pluralitie Neuerthelesse they did not as yet altogether loose the reynes to rebellion but determined to suspend the effect of thys their conclusion vntill such time as it were confirmed and ratified by the Sea Apostolick But the day following Father Iames Commolet a Iesuit sounded the drum within Paris And that I might be assured if not of the whole yet of the greatest part of the premisses by the annuall Letters of the Iesuits of the yeere 1589 and moreouer by their Pleas I went directly to theyr Letters and found in those which were written from your Colledge of
then they may cassiere their promises when they can doe them no further seruice And that this is their practise I can verifie by infinite instances They were vowed to GOD as they say in the Church of Mont-Marter in the yeere 1534. and promised to goe to Ierusalem to conuert the Turks to the Catholique Religion And to this purpose they came to Venice in the yeere 1537. resolute to take their iourney after they had receiued the blessing of Pope Paule the third by whom they were well receiued by the mediation of some who brought them thether and there they receiued money for the voyage Nothing hindred their enterprise saue only the fauour of some Lords with whom they grew acquainted in Rome by whose meanes they hoped to set vp an easier Sect excusing the breach of their vow vnder pretense that the passage was stopt by reason of the wars betwixt the Turke and the Venetian Yet certaine it was that the verie yeere of their approbation which was in the yeere 1540. there was not onely truce betwixt the Turke and the Venetian but a firme peace What then altered their resolution Marrie euen their ease and some other busines they had at home In the same Church of Mont-Marter they swore to vndertake the coÌ„quest of lost soules after they were proceeded Doctors of Diuinitie That was a promise made before the face of God very wise reasonable Whereunto besides ther synceritie of conscience there was further required soundnes of iudgement knowledge to conuert the Infidels When they found a better bargaine at Rome they remembred to forget their promise These two first assayes made them afterward Maisters in matter of deceit trechery vpon all occasions that were offered them for the aduancement of their designes In the assembly of Poissy the yeere 1561. they promised to renounce their vowes and to submit themselues to the ordinarie discipline of other Colledges A promise which afterward they renewed in open Parliament Whereupon they were admitted onely vnder the title of the Colledge of Clairmont in Paris Notwithstanding in the same yeere they obtaynd Buls of Pope Pius the fourth altogether contrarie and derogatory to all the ancient priuiledges of our Vniuersities In 64. when they preferred a petition to the Parliament to be matriculated or incorporated into the Vniuersity forgetting the decree of the French Church confirmed by processe they entitled themselues the Societie of Iesus an order forbidden them Pasquier hauing at the first beginning of the cause obiected that the title they tooke vpon them disabled their petition they denied themselues by the meanes of Versoris their owne Aduocate auouching that this hapned by the fault of Pons Congordon who was their first principall soliciter in the cause insomuch that Congordan was driuen to deny himselfe In Rome they obey the holy Sea in all things by a blinde obedience as I haue showed you by their constitutions In Fraunce if you beleeue it by the vow of Mission onely as you may find in their defence made in 94. for the Colledge of Clairmont and by Montaignes his booke and by the humble petition exhibited to the King by a namelesse Iesuit In Rome they acknowledge the Popeto be Lord spirituall and temporall ouer all Christian Princes Else they must directly contradict all the extrauagant decretals which impose the same vpon all Monarchies It is a proposition verie familiar in the Courâ—e of Rome And in the Buls appoynted for the publication of the Iubily in the yeere 1600. Saint Peter and Saint Paule are called Princes of the earth In Fraunce they are of another opinion for in their pleading in the yeere 94. and in the booke of Montaignes they giue out that the Pope hath no title to temporalties but such as he hath by long succession of time gotten in Italy Ribadinere in the life of Ignace acknowledgeth that all their order prayed particularly for the health of the deceased King of Spayne now read their bookes they know nothing but this particularity yet pray they generally for all Princes vnder whose protection they haue built their nestes In the verie heat of our troubles there was no Cardinall so much withstood the Duke of Neuers and the Marquesse of Pisani sent by the King to his Holines as the Cardinall of Toledo a Iesuit the troubles drawing to an end none was so forward as he to further our affayres During our last troubles none did so much michiefe as they if you credit men of great integrity reputation who were beholders of their tragedies Read their humble request and remonstrance preferred to the King there is nothing which this poore innocent people hath in greater detestation then that which they sometimes so much adored This is called among chiefe Pragmaticall fellowes a fayre pretence for a foule exploit They neuer made question to mingle their holy deuotions with affaires of State as they made vs feele to our payne Seeing our troubles vpon the poynt of appeasing and the Kings affayres successefull and prospering they called in anno 39. a general assembly in Rome wherin it was forbidden that any of them should intermeddle yet they did it But wil you haue a better and more euident example then this If you will beleeue them there is nothing they abhore more then the Hugonots Religion inasmuch as they inhibit their bookes of what argumeÌ„t soeuer forbidding expresly their scholers to read them Oh holy men Notwithstanding wheÌ„ they presented their request to the king to be established they chose a Hugonot to be their spokseman that by this retaining him they might be assured not to haue him against them These are states-men temporisers who hold all things honest and lawfull which serue their turne As in former times wheÌ„ they spake of a perfidious people they named the Carthagenians whereof the common prouerbe grew Fides Punica The like we may now say of the Iesuit Fides Iesuitica and apply that to them which Liuie speaketh of Hanniball Perfidia plusquam Punica nihil veri nihil sancti nullus Deûm metus nullum iusiurandum nulla religio They priuately among their friends make a iest of perfidiousnes trecherie for if you aske them What is a Iesuit their answere is Euery man Implying that they are Creatures which varie their colours like the Camelion according to the obiect A verie fit comparison for them for no more then the Camelion can they borrow the colour of white which in holy scripture figureth vertue innocencie A little before the King entred Paris Father Alexander Hays a Scot seeing the affayres of the League very much decline it was his chaunce to disgorge out of the aboundance of his heart these words in a great audience in the Colledge of Clairmont where hee read the principall lecture Hetherto to saith he we haue beene Spaniards but now we are constrained to be French it is all one we must formalize vntill a fitter season Cedendum erit tempori These were the words
that he cald the power of our Sauiour Iesus Christ in question vpon the point of our Redemption The man I speake of is William Postell against whom Pasquier declaimed in his Plea on this manner For so much as they buz nothing in the cares of simple women but their pietie which they fasten to their Robes with a claspe and a poynt marke whether they they be such indeed as they protest in words We haue the Benedictines Barnardines Dominicans Franciscans and other like orders At the beginning of these professions the authors therof were found to be men of so holy life that by common consent of the Church they were registred in the Kalender of Saints Wherevpon many drawen by their good life desired to trace after them Peraduenture we shall likewise find that the first of the Iesuits sect were men of so holy and austere life that we ought to be so farre of from any dislike of them as on the contrary we should rather wish to be incorporated into them About ten or twelue yeeres ago one of your old Factors came to this towne a man as farre exceeding you in knowledge as you do the simple handy-crafts man This was Maister William Postell we heard him preach read and write He had a large Cassack reaching down to the middle leg a long Robe girt about him an Episcopal bonnet accompanied with a pale withered face which bewraied nothing but great austeritie and he said Masse with manie nice ceremonies not common in the Church All this while what did he bring forth One mother Iane an impietie an heresie the most detestable that euer was heard of since the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ The Donatists the Arians the Pelagians neuer did such a thing VVhere preached hee Not in mountanie or desert places where men are wont to plant new religions it was in the fayre hart of Fraunce in the Cittie of Paris Of what Order was hee Of thys venerable Societie of Iesus Ha beleeue mee if your societie bring such monsters foorth if you ingender so damnable effects God graunt wee neuer be of this societie The Iesuits to this day deny it very stoutly that Postell was euer of their societie and not onely deny it but as soone as Pasquier obiected it when he pleaded the cause against them they said it was a new addition put to his olde Plea when he printed it Chap. 42. Pasquier shewes himselfe saith the wisard Fon to haue lost all the faculties of his soule his vnderstanding his vvill and his memorie his vnderstanding is full of darkenes his will full of gale his memory fraught with obliuion For when the cause was pleaded in the yeere 64. Postell was then aliue confined to the Monasterie of S. Martine of the fieldes at Paris where hee liued vntill the yeere 1580. Neuerthelesse this good pleader speakes of him as if he had beene dead long before And a little after last of all you must note that Pasquier spake not this when he pleaded for he had beene checkt for so impudent a lie and hissed at by the whole world that saw Postell then present but this was written one and twentie yeeres after when he defierd to publish it And so is he contrary to himselfe forgetting to take that counsell the Prouerb giues Oportet mendacem esse memorem to the end he may draw vp the peeces of falshood so close that no body might perceiue the seame And if you will belieue me it was not without cause the Iesuits plaid this Pauin to this Perric dauncer for if Postell were a Iesuite they are vndone Therefore I beseech you let vs examine three things The first whether Pasquier made this obiection The second whether Postell were of their companie And thirdly what vvas that impietie which he sought to bring into our Religion vnder the name of his mother Iane For as good fellowes vse to say The sport is worthy of a candle Concerning the first Pasquier neuer spake of Postell as of a dead man to prooue it the beginning of the passage is thus About tenne or twelue yeeres agoe one of your companie came to this Towne a man that passeth you as much as you doe the meane Artificer By these words you see he spake as of a man then liuing but hee added afterward This was Ma. William Postell carrying backe all the coherence of this discourse to the time of tenne or twelue yeeres past when Postell built vp an heresie vppon his Mother Iane as you may gather from the same passage which shewes that the Iesuits haue neither vnderstanding iudgement nor memory stumbling in this manner vpon Pasquier and this is it which in the yeere 1594. they caused to be imprinted in Versoris Plea of the yeere 64. which was an answere to Pasquiers Plea if you take vp the booke and reade it in the 36. leafe you shal finde these wordes Jt is obiected against vs that Postell vvas likewise of our company that by these bad fruites you may see what the tree was I aske them what were the fruites of Iudas must we for them condemne our Lord and his Apostles And a little after Postell was neuer professed in our house he was a very Nouice and sent away Would you haue a more euident demonstration then this to proue both that Pasquier spake of Postell liuing and that he made this obiection For otherwise Versoris had fought with his owne shadow Let vs nowe consider whether Postell were of their order And to make it good that hee was I apply that which I euen now read vnto you Versoris Pasquier were two braue Champions brought to combate in the Lists before the chiefe Senate of Fraunce at the foyles The blow deliuered against Postell offended all the order in respect of the place he helde among them Had not hee beene one of them that great Aduocate Versoris had neuer winded himselfe away from this stroke as he did but rather had denied it roundly as the Iesuits now doe thinking that the distance of time hath raced it out of remembrance but knowing that the truth then apparant would haue complained of him hee was not so hardie By meanes whereof swimming between two billowes he acknowledged him to be a Nouice of theyr Companie but afterward shut out of doores Of this expulsion you shall not be able to quoate any time For after hee printed his booke of Mother Iane that stunke in the nose of all the world they would neuer haue suffered him to become a Nouice as likewise that is verified that a little after his booke was condemned and the Authour confined to the Monasterie of S. Martins As before this hee was too great a man in all kinde of learning and of the tongues to shut him out of theyr company so was he seene publiquely apparrelled after the Iesuits maner in Paris in the Colledge of Lombards with Father Pasquier Broet and the other Iesuits in which house they had theyr
lessons euerie day but that which is much more when you consider that he was compeld to craue almes at mens houses for his reliefe his dinner was not readie for him To quite himselfe of this inconuenience he was forst to serue a Colledge a state wherein he might more easily find sustenance for his bodie but not for his soule for being come out of a hospital from a kind of beggerie to seruice neuer doubt but that he was employed in the most base and vile offices of a Colledge seruant which are to make the beds to sweep the chamber to brush his Maisters apparrell and to beate out the dust to hang the pot ouer the fire to runne fr wine to wash the dishes and other small duties depending vpon this charge Iudge you what breathing time hee could haue for his booke In fine during these 18. monthes he made many voiages in the vacations as well into the Low-Countries as into England to recouer exhibition I would be very glad Maffee should tell mee what time of vacation was giuen vnto the Schollers for it is newes to me These voyages coulde not be made but by long iournies by a foote-man driuen to begge his liuing and the very cut ouer the Sea to passe into England is somwhat to be considered Put all these circumstances together howe much time had he left him for his Grammer studies of the 18. monthes at the end whereof they make him leape with a pitch-forke into Phylosophy which was vnfit for it and beyond all hope he grew a great Phylosopher and afterward a profound Diuine Such Schollers as haue past the streights of Grammer and Rethorique haue thereunto ioyned the reading of Oratory Historiographers Poets Greeke and Latine become in fiue or sixe yeeres space hardly able to enter the course of Phylosophie and would they haue vs thinke this man who neuer had sixe monthes free leysure to learne his Grammer among chyldren becam a great Phylosopher All these things giue the lye openly to this hystorie For the same man during the time of the three yeeres a halfe of his course was put into the Inquisition beefore Fryer Mathew Ory Inquisitour of the fayth And he was to be whypt in the Hall of the Colledge of S. Barbe by the hands of Maister Iames Gouea Principall of the house Maff. lib. 1. cap. 20. Rib. lib. 1. cap. 3. vpon the complaint of Ma. Iohn Penna his Tutor because he put his fellowes out of theyr ordinarie course of studies And I know not with what emptie shewe of holines he peruerted the excellent state and discipline of that Schoole Ribad lib. 2. cap. 3. saith Ribadener Furthermore in the three yeeres of his course he intangled in his net one Faure Xauier Lainez Salmeron Bobadilla Roderic his first companions or rather to say truth his first Disciples with whom he afterward made the first stampe of his Societie at Montmarter I learne all this specially of Maffee yet is this braue calculator so vnaduised to tell vs that to make himselfe capable of Philosophie hee forgot all the old illusions of the diuell to giue himselfe the better leasure to studie without consideration calling that the diuels illusion which Ignace auouched to be deuotion Lay aside his Philosophie and call to mind his studie in Diuinity He proceeded Master of Arts in March 1532. then he fell into a long and tedious sicknes by the Phisitions counsell he changed ayre and went into Spayne in the moneth of Nouember 1535. Can you make him a great Diuine in three yeers which neuer laid any foundation in Grammer or Philosophie And to shew you that he was a great Asse I meane in respect of all kind of learning and not concerning the wisedome of the world wherein no bodie came neere him this is couertly acknowledged by the Iesuits themselues who feed you with no fables When Painters draw the picture of S. Hierom they lay a booke open in his hands to shew he was a man reputed the most learned of all our Church Doctors And when the Iesuits represent the figure of their Ignace they giue him a paire of beads in his hand in token of his ignorance for vpon these silie womeÌ„ say their praiers which can neither read nor write So shall you find him portraied by a sweet Ingrauer before a Crucifix in the forehead of Ribadiners booke printed at Lions by Iames Roussin in the yeere 1595. Reue de la Fon with a kind of synceritie of conscience a matter very familiar with him â—â—n lib. 1. cap. 38. frankly acknowledges the like when he saith That neuer any disgraced Saint Anthonie nor Saint Frances nor the Apostles a speech surely worthie of so deuout a Iesuit to set the Apostles behind hind Saint Anthony and S. Frances Were the Apostles studied saith he they drew their Diuine knowledge from the holy Ghost also Ignace fet his from the same holy Ghost though it were lesse in quantitie yet was it deriued from the same fountain And trust me I know in good earnest that Fon is a conscionable man to auouch his Ignace to be learned like Saint Anthonie who gloried that he knew nothing It is not so with Ignace of whom I take hold for his ignorance but with these two ignorant Iesuits Maffee Ribadiner which would make vs beleeue he was a great Philosopher and Diuine not considering that by publishing this in grosse they belye him by retayle in reckoning vp the parcels of his studies Neuerthelesse I would euerie man should vnderstand after what fashion the holy Ghost was lodged in Ignace and his companions when they put vp a supplication to Pope Paul the third for the approbation of their order CHAP. 12. ¶ That when Ignace and his companions came before Pope Paul the third they were plain Mounte-banks and that the titles they gaue theÌ„selues were false WHich way soeuer I turne me I find nothing but trecherie in this Iesuiticall Family euen from the beginning of their order when Ignace his fellowes preferd their requests to Pope Paul the third for the authorizing their holy company to take the name of Iesus the promise they made to him was to bring the heretikes backe againe into the bosome of the Church and to conuert the Turks and other miscreants vnto our faith A worke that not onely required they should bring a willing mind with them but sufficiencie and capacitie to performe it For this cause they were euer carefull not to be counted simple schollers for then men would haue mockt them and neuer haue called them Diuines They were too weak to grace themselues so far hauing no ground therfore after a smoother manner they tearmed themselues Maisters of Arts not of Spaine or Italy but of the great famous Vninersity of Paris And in the neck of it they added that they had studied Diuinity many yeeres The Pope to be resolued what fruite this newe order might bring forth committed the matter to
three Cardinals Of these three one was of Luca Barthelmy Guidicion a very learned holy man by the Iesuits own testimony who a little before this had made a booke against new orders of religion This man standing as it were vpon his own ground became a puissant aduersary of theirs drew the two others to his opinion But in fine Ignace won thē al as wel by long importuning them as also by a million of Masses which he made his fellows say These Cardinals did but dispute the question in general touching noueltie of orders without sounding the bottom in particular to know whether these great votaries issued out of Horace mountaine that was brought a bed of a Mouse Let vs now supply their want Montaignes speaking of their comming saith thus First I answere that this company of Iesus began in Paris Mont. ca. 30 and that it tooke the first roote there in ten Maisters of Arts of the said Vniuersity of which Maisters one was a Biscaian Ignace de Loiola one a Nauarean Frances Xauier two were French men Pasquier Broet Iohn Codury Three were Spaniards Iames Lainez Alphonse Salmerō Claudius Iaius one a Portugall Simon Roderic It pleased them all to go forth Maisters of Arts in the Vniuersitie of Paris And that you may learne by reading the first Buls of Pope Paul the third the tenor of which was this For we haue beene of late informed that our beloued sonnes Ignatius de Loyola and Peter Faber and Iames Lainez also Claudius Iaius Paschasius Broet and Frances Xauier with Alphonsus Salmeron and Simon Roderic Iohn Codury Nicholas Bobadilla Priests of the Cities Dioceses of Pampilon Gebennen Seguntin Toledo Visen Ebredune and Palestine respectiuely maisters of Arts graduated in the Vniuersitie of Paris many yeers exercised in the studie of Diuinitie long since departing out of diuers regions of the world by the inspiration of the holy Ghost agreed in one I leaue that that remaines containing the admirable vow of these wandering Knights and that which they obtained of the Pope All these were also inspired touching the life comming of Pope Iulius the third to the Supream sea of whom they obtained their confirmation in the yeere 1550. By the same quality also you shal find in Ribadiner his 3. booke 12. chapter where the Bull is all at large inserted all of them say they proceeded Maisters of Arts in the Vniuersitie of Paris all studied Diuinity many yeers and all were inspired by the holy Ghost I neuer vnderstood that the holy Ghost taught vs to be liers but by these vndertakers To proue them to you to be such I will haue no recourse but to their two great historigraphers For if you beleeue Maffee neither Lainez nor Salmerō nor Bobadilla went forth maisters of Arts in Paris but in a Vniuersity bordering vpon Spain which they call Complutensem Academiā in the Spanish tongue Alcala Let vs heare what Ribadiner saith Rib. lib. 2. cap. 4. Iames Lainez a yong man hauing gone through his course of Philosophie came to Paris from the Vniuersity of Alcala with Alphonsus Salmeron also a verie stripling that came both to study to seeke out see Ignace In this passage I cannot perceiue that Iames Lainez was made Ma. of Arts at Alcala as for Salmerō he was a yong boy that cam to Paris as wel to studie as to see Ignace yet Maffee more aduēterous in this point thē his cōpanion hath declared thē to haue taken their Maisterships of Arts in Spain Iames Lainez who next after Ignace gouerned our Society Maff. lib. 1. cap. 4. Alphonsus Salmeron of Toledo very expert in the Greek Latine tongues each of thē hauing ended his course of Phylosophie at Alcala trauaild to Paris partly to studie Diuinitie partly to see Ignace Make these two passages agree Ribadiner makes Salmeron a young lad not promoted to any degrees at the least hee makes no such mention of him as he did of Iames Lainez and Maffee publisht him to be accōplisht in al knowledge of Greek and Latine and to haue receiued his degree of Maistership in Spayne Let vs dwell vppon this opinion for I take no pleasure to make them lyers but vpon good gages The same Maffe puts after these two heere Nicholas Bobadilla and Simon Roderic saying Vnto these came Nicholas Bobadilla a Palestine a learned young man that had publiquely professed Philosophie in Pintia a towne in Spayne and also Simon Roderic a Portugall a man of excellent wit I will therefore place Bobadilla among the Spanish Maisters of Artes because hee read a Phylosophie Lecture before he came into Fraunce but not Roderic whom he makes to be a young man of great hope and no more in these wordes Praestanti indole I know it well that Ribadiner speaking of these 7. all at a lumpe faith that after they were Maisters of Artes they made theyr first vowe at Montmartire in the yeere 1534. vppon the Assumption of our Ladie but he saith not that they were all made Maisters of Arts at Paris The truth is then if you belieue them that foure of these seauen proceeded Maisters of Art at Paris Loyola Faure Xauier Roderic Fod cap. 4. and the three others in Spayne Lainez Salmeron and Bobadilla And a yeere after Claudius Iay Iohn Codury Pasquier Broet ioynd themselues to their societie You shall not finde eyther in Maffee or Ribadiner that any of these tooke any degree of Schoole Thus if you giue any credit to them of these tenne companions 4. were Graduats in Paris three in Spaine and the three other without degree of Maistership And I will shew you as I passe along that Pasquier Broet was a great Asse for all his porredge I speake of him because I once turnd wound him and put him out of breath when he in the house of Clairmont in Harpe-streete at Paris was President of the Iesuits This fellowe was a great Idole of whom a man may say as in old time Ausonius said of Ruffus the Rethoritian Haec Ruffi tabula est nil verius ipse vbi Ruffus In cathedra quid agit hoc quod et in tabula Is Ruffus picture heere most true where 's he He 's in his chayre what doth he that you see And for all this I deceiue my selfe for he neuer durst come into a pulpit to preache or read a Lecture knowing his own insufficiencie Behold now what time these ten Champions spent in the study of Diuinitie for they tolde Pope Paule that they had studied it many yeeres Maffee testifies vnto vs that when they made theyr first vowe at Montmartir the greatest part of them had now gone through theyr course of Diuinitie and the others had begunne it with a good minde to finish it that they might march forward together to the conquest of Turkish soules in Palestine by our holy Father the Popes leaue The passage deserues to be viewed here
at length Ignatius hauing by the goodnes of God gotten these cōpanions speaking of the sixe first companions determined to put that in practise with al speed which he had long hamered cast in his mind that by the Popes permission he might goe to Ierusalem either call the bordering Nations which in time past sincerely profest Christianitie after were deceiued by Mahomets wicked superstition frō their miserable error to the truth of the Gospel or take that which followed shed his blood and loose his life in so holy and glorious a cause Neither was it hard for him to bring the rest to the bent of his bow which came forward already of their own accord and were inflamed with the loue of God And because most of them had not yet finisht their studies in Diuinitie that the zeale now begun in them might not coole againe and also that their obedience might be so much the more acceptable to the maiestie of GOD by how much the greater necessitie of seruitude religion they imposed vpon themselues calling vpon the blessed Virgine for her protection vpon S. Denise the Areopagite the Parisians Patron in a Church in the suburbs called Montmarter by the misteries of confession of the Eucharist euery one bound himselfe that at the end of his diuinity course when he should goe forth Doctor of Diuinitie presently he should forsake the world and seek the saluation of soules in perpetuall pouertie by an appointed time saile to Ierusalem with an intent to imploy all theyr endeuours to conuert the Infidels and with care and studie purchase a crowne of martirdome If this resolution should any way be hindered they should goe to Rome at the yeeres end offer their trauaile to the chiefe Bishop Christes Vicar for the spirituall good of their neighbors without any contract for reward or exceptions of times or places This vow they made in that Church with great consent alacritie in the yeere after Christes natiuitie 1534. 18. Kalends of September vpon which day the anniuersary gratulation of the virgin Maries assumption is celebrated And they celebrated the same vow in the same place the same day together the next and the third yeere after T is fit this should be translated into French for it is necessary for my discourse that euery man shoulde vnderstand it I haue translated these words Emēso Theologiae cursu at the end of their course when they had proceeded Doctors of diuinity For I see Maffee in like maner desirous to shew that Lainez Salmeron proceeded masters of Arts in Spaine vseth the same form of speech vterque cōfecto Philosophiae curriculo And Ribadiner reporting Ignace and his companions to haue taken the like degree in the yeere 1534. Confecto saith he philosophiae cursu From this passage you may gather that in the yere 1534. the most part of these 7. companions were now Doctors in Diuinitie and that the others had a purpose to finish their course That any one of thē was a Doctor at this time is too loude a lie for if it had been so indeed this title had neuer beene smothered when they put vp their supplication to Pope Paulus in respect of those which had already taken this degree they would haue taken good heede to challenge no other stile then Maisters of Arts. I wil goe farther with you for I wil make it appeare that none of these 7. or of the other 3. that after came to them had euer studied diuinitie For if they had euer begun the course as Maffee auoucheth studied it many yeeres this word many imports not two or three yeeres onely but foure or fiue at least we neuer say that a man is in companie of many persons which is accompanied but with 2. or three The manner of the Diuines of Paris is when a man hath begun his course at the 2. yeeres end hee must defend publiquely in the diuinitie Schooles appointed for this purpose where he answers vnder a Doctor his moderator to helpe him when he is hard driuen by the Opponent Hauing plaid his schollers prizes which is called his probation he is made Bacheler and from that day allowed to were a hood vpon his shoulders when he goes into the towne and a redde habite of Bachelers in Schooles When our ten Iesuits came to Pope Paule the third they neuer told him they were Bachelers in diuinity they had not thē begun their course nor studied diuinitie so much as 2. yeeres where shall we now finde these many yeeres they speake of There can be no answer to this obiection but one that is to cōfesse freely that Maffee lies when he saith som of them were Doctors of diuinity some had begun their course It may be some will say that without matriculation in their Diuinitie course in the Colledge of Sorbons euerie one of them particularly had studied it some more some lesse after they were Maisters of Arts. For my part I striue not for the victory but for the truth and I doubt not but that Maffee Ribadiner also haue made no bones to lye in this point Let vs then examine what time Ignace and his companie could spend in Diuinitie without entering into this course Maffee and Ribadiner talke of this matter as blind men speake of colours I will deliuer you the true historie I haue searched the old Registers of Paris for those that proceeded Maisters of Art in and after the yeere 1520. vntill the yeere 1556. when Ignace his companions went out of Fraunce to meet him at Venice I searched the records of du Vale the Vniuersities Register and Violet the beadle of Fraunce for they two keepe the bookes This did I in the presence of other men of account And marke what I found according to the order of the Alphabet which they obserue Peter Faure and Frances Xauier went forth Maisters of Arts in the yeere 1529. so saith the Register booke Petrus Faber Geben Franciscus Xauier Pampil Ignace in the yeere 1532. Ignatius Loyola Pampil Claudius Iay◠and Simon Roderic in the yeere 1534. Claudius Iayus Gebon Simon Rodericus Visensis Alphonse Salmeron Iohn Codure in the yeere 1535. by these words Alphonsus Salmeron Tolet Iohannes Codure Ebrun I haue faithfully drawn all this out of the Register of the French Nation where in the matter of Licentiats are comprehended Spaine Sauoy Prouence and Italy As for Maffees and Rabadiners speech auouching Pasquier Broet to be of the Dioces of Amiens were that true they would haue remembred it in their supplication to Pope Paul where no mention is made of this Dioces The truth then is that among three of them two without doubt neuer tooke degree in Fraunce but in Spayne Lainez and Bobadilla and Pasquier Broet which is the third proceeded in neither of both For that that remaines touching the studie of Diuinitie what is become of those many yeeres of Iay and Roderic who proceeded but Maisters in March
crosse that these men haue abused the name of Iesus nor by their counterfet mortification that I may speake as William of Lorrey doth vnder the false shew of poperie is the authority of the holy Sea encreased or diminised it is strong enough to beare vp it selfe without any helpe of this new seruice or rather of this new deuice of the deuill to surprize vs by the name of Iesus so ruinate turne topsie turuie all religious orders and the holy Sea it selfe You shall neuer be inhibited by me saide the Aduocate nor by any in this company for ought I know for if to folow your proposition a Papelard be such a one as makes a faire shew outwardly vpon his stall but hath a false shop behind within his soule where all is contrarie you haue proceeded master of the Art of hipocrisy making vs vnderstand that of Iesuitisme which wee neuer knew and you are able to read a lecture of it And fith I see you forward enough to second me let mee end that which I haue begun and when I haue spoken of the Iesuits sect in generall let mee like an Aduocate speake a word or two of good Father Ignace who is the marke I shoote at CHAP. 17. ¶ Of the fabulous visions of Ignace and the miraculous fables of Xauier NO body durst write the life of Ignace after his death which hapned in the yere 1556. it was too great a taske The first that euer attempted it was Iohn Peter Maffee a priest of that societie that dedicated 3. bookes of this argument to Claudius Aquauiua theyr Generall This flesht Peter Ribadiner another priest of the same societie to make a reflection vppon his fellow with fiue other bookes ten yeeres after wherein at the first setting out hee endeuours to make his historie appeare to be without check because that before the establishing of their company he beeing not yet 14. yeeres of age followed Ignace at Rome so throughly deuoted to him that he brags he could speake of many things he sawe himselfe and faithfully reckon vp others vvhich Lewes Gonsalua a man to whom Ignace discoursed them at large a yeere before had reported to him Both the one the other were diuersly instructed in the Latine tongue the first by Christopher Seuere the other by Christian Simon Liton both men of an other religion whom I may not belieue more then the Iesuits which be naturally lyers in whatsoeuer they thinke wil serue to aduance their sect perswading themselues that it is no fraude offerd vnto God when they beguile the world with a lie for aduantage I will rip vp heere the most famous visions which they say theyr great Sophy had Ignace by theyr computation descended of the noble house of Loyhola was in his tender yeeres sent by his Father Mother to the Court of King Fardinand surnamed the Catholique in the yeere 1522. put in trust to keepe the towne of Pampelune then besieged by the French where one of his legs was shiuerd with a shot and the other verie sore hurt the towne deliuered and hee taken prisoner our Nation sent him away with much kindnesse to his owne house And beeing so sicke that the Phisitions and Surgions almost dispaired of his recouerie in the night of his great crisis Maff. lib. 1. capit 2. Saint Peter in whom hee did euer put his trust appeared to him promising to cure him as he did indeede for from that time his sicknes beganne miraculously to decline and hee grewe better and better And when hee was recouered spending his time in reading amorous discourses because he could get no other bookes one gaue him the life of our sauior Iesus Christ and the Legend of the Saints which he read and from that time grew admirable deuout desirous to change his old life into a more austere religious course where-vpon the virgine Mary appeared to him night by night with a smiling countenaunce holding her little babe in her armes vpon this vision hee forsooke the world for euer after But Ribadinere goes farther and hee reports that Ignace being at his pravers and Orisons vppon his knees before the Image of our Ladie there happened a great earth quake in the house where he prayed Now while he was drownd in his deuotion the deuill appeared to him Mâ—ff lib. 1. capit 6. Râ—bad lib. 1. capit 6. sometime faire and beautifull to looke vpon sometime gastly hideous seeking to diuert him from his purpose now by faire promises anon by feare and terror presented to his eyes Entring the Dominicans Church Maff. lib. 1. capit 7. Rib. lib. 1. capit 7. he was so rauisht that rapt into heauen he saw the holie Trinitie in three persons and one essence a matter that ministred argument vnto him to write a booke of the Trinitie Quoquo modo potuit stilo here was not the end of his miraculous visions saith Maffee for GOD shewed him the patterne he laid before him when he made the world Maff lib. 1. capit 8. Moreouer hearing Masse in the Dominicans Church as the Priest lifted vp the host Ignace saw Iesus Christ in it in body and flesh iust as he was when he liued vpon the earth Maflee sets it downe better in Latine Dum à sacerdote de more salutaris hostia attollitur vidit Ignatius tllaspecie Christum Deum eundem et hominem verissime continere Ribadiner saith that Ignace being very attentiue to a sermon he heard in Barcellona Ribad lib. 10. ca. 10. Isabel Rousset a Lady of honor saw his head crowned with glistering beames like vnto the sunne And in another place that he continued 7. daies together and would eate nothing Rib. lib. 1. capit 6. and hee spent seuen houres euery day in continuall prayers and in the meane while whipt himselfe thrice euerie day Hee would haue held on this course with the expence of his life if his Confessor the Sonday following had not commaunded him to take sustenaunce or els he would giue him no absolution as a murtherer of himselfe This he did broad waking but harken to another history more admirable then this Vpon a Saturday at euen-song hee fell into such an extasie Rib. lib. 1. capit 7. for the space of seauen vvhole houres without moouing hand or foote that euery man iudged him to bee dead at the last some one or other perceiuing his heart to beate a little they resolued to waken him And the next Saturday about the same time of Vespers as if he had beene rouzed out of a dead sleepe he began to open his eyes calling vpon the holy name of God Maff. lib. b. ca. 5. Ribad lib. b. ca. 11. Both the one and the other Historiographer speakes of the apparitioÌ„ of God the Father Iesus Christ his Son beaten and wounded bearing his crosse and that God the Father recommended him to his sonne entreating him to take the Iesuits cause in Rome into his
protectioÌ„ which accordingly he promised to doe And that Ignace being retired into the Monasterie of Mount Cassin to spend forty daies togither in deuotion Maff lib 2. cap. 6. Rib. lib. 2. ca. 12. as soone as he had said Masse Ozius one of his companions that died at Padua appeared vnto him mounting vp to heauen with some other coÌ„panie Splendidiore quam reliqui habitu gloriaque multó illustriore Ignace hearing that Simon Roderic one of his crue was sick going to visit him Rib. lib. 2. ca. 9. he was certified from heauen that he should recouer wherin he was not deceiued He assured Peter Faur of this matter one that gaue much credit to him See here in effect the visions and miracles of Ignace nothing inferiour to those that are spoken of in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles nay rather in some points far exceeding them To make vs way to Paradice we passe through the Sacrament of Baptisme when our Sauiour was baptized by Saint Iohn the Baptist at his comming out of the water he saw the heauens open and the holy Ghost descending in the shape of a Doue and resting vpon his head and therewithall a voice was heard Thou art my deere sonne in whoÌ„ I am well pleased When Ignace deuised to open a way to his company he saw God the Father Iesus Christ his son who said to him Go in peace for I wil take thy part in the citie of Rome WheÌ„ the holy Ghost was represented by the shape of a bird it was inough but me thinks it is more that Ignace saw God the Father and God the Son also in his proper body Iesus Christ was tempted but once one maner of way by the diuel Ignace twice tempted diuersly by very perswasiue speech Iesus Christ fasted fortie daies in the wildernes without meat or drink Ignace fasted only seuen daies to counterpoize the rest of Christs fasting he disciplind himself thrice a day spent seuen houres of the day vpon his knees in praier The man whom our Sauiour singled out for a chosen vessel to himselfe was S. Paule when he wrought his conuersion he appeared not to him but assaulted him only with sharpe speeches Saul Saul why dost thou persecute me and he was three daies blind did neither eate nor drink This miracle is nothing in comparison of Ignace whose soule was caried into heauen where he saw the Trinitie in three persons and one essence and after that was in a traunce seuen whole daies together without sight meat or drinke Beside all this he had one thing in particular shewed to him beyond all that is spoken of in the olde Testament he saw the tooles God himselfe occupied when he fashioned fitted this great frame of the world A blessing neuer bestowed vpon any man but Ignace All we confesse the transubstantiation of the body and bloud of Christ in the SacrameÌ„t of the Alter a matter we cannot see with bodily eies but by the eies of faith Ignace herein passed vs all when at the eleuation of the host he saw Iesus Christ there God man I leaue the shaking of the house where he was by an earth quake like vnto that of Paule and Silas I omit many other visions specified by me heretosore and credit me when I had read ouer Ribadiner I found nothing in his sir-name and his booke but baldarie And as for Maffee I thinke he is transformed into Morpheus which presents sundry shadowes to men a sleepe I doubt not but that God was able to worke all these miracles by Ignace and much greater to if it had so pleasee him he is the same God now that he was in the Apostles daies God without beginning and without end but that he hath done any such thing I â—tterly denie and auouch these to be blasphemous impostures dropt by the Druell himselfe out of the pennes of two Iesuits to snare simple people with their cursed superstition I will make this matter cleare and euident The most pregnant proofes of all are those which we call presumptions of law and of fact which arise out of manie particularities when they meet together and when they do not agree with them this is to deceiue against the common sence and vnderstanding of the people The greatest iudgement that euer was giuen was that of Salomen betweene the true and the supposed mother for which hee was called Salomon the wise yet was this grounded vpon presumption For my part I thinke I haue greater presumptious than that Salomon had to proue that the pretended visions wherewith these two hypocrites bleare your eyes are mists and illusions I will make this matter manifest and omit the scruple tucht by me before that the writers hereof be Iesuits no this is not the point whereupon I meane to rest I could be content to tell you that I make no reckoning of Maffee He hath written so therefore it is true I denie it desire to be enformed who told it him and I will shew you my reason hereafter The reason is because in the historie I build more vpon Ribadiner who saith he was in his young yeeres in Ignace company at Rome and that whatsoeuer he reports he heard it of Lewes Gonsalua to whom Ignace imparted it a yeere before he died Therefore this honest man the Iesuit might well speake of all those things which Ignace did at Rome after he was chosen Generall of their order and of that which fell out before I should be a scrupulous gaine-sayer if I should say that you may not beleeue Ribadiner when he tels you Gonsalua spak it neither is Gonsalua if he were aliue any Saint but such as for whom we keepe no holy-day although he auouch he heard all these tales of Loyola I will tread all these matters vnder foot I do beleeue that Ribadiner heard it of Gonsalua and Gonsalua receiued the newes of all these miracles from Ignace Let vs now giue credit to Ignace in his own cause for none but he can say that Saint Peter appeard to him first and then the Virgin Marie that he was two seuerall times visibly tempted of the diuell that he saw the Trinitie in heauen Christ Iesus in flesh and bodie in the host the soule of Hozius his companion caried to heauen that God shewed him how he made the world that Christ promised him to assist him in Rome all this rests vpon Ignace onely none but he can giue vs testimony of it and this makes me say that if we should beleeue it we were verie heauie headed If I were to rest vpon this point I should haue inough to prooue you ought neither to receiue nor reiect all these miracles but I will proceed When I asquier pleaded the cause one of the fairest parts of it was that with which he stoutly chalenged the Iesuits to choake him with any one miracle that euer Ignace wrought he said that all the holy Fathers Saint Benet
degree of licence of his owne priuate authoritie he tooke the Doctors Chare which being forbidden him he went and read at Corbueil afterward at Melun from thence he came backe to Paris where he read in the Suburbs A certaine space after he studied Diuinity vnder Anselm wherein he profited exceedingly and vpon like extraordinarie confidence in himselfe as before he vndertooke to teach without the approbation of the Vniuersitie to the great mislike of all the auncients yet not of the younger sort who commonly take pleasure in such nouelties As he grew wonderfully in all things so there befell him a verie great mishap For he got a maide of good sort with child called Heloise whom he was constrained to marry priuily to satisfie her vncle being a Canon of the Church of Paris Afterward being desirous to conceale the marriage and hauing put his wife into a cloyster of Nuns at Argētueil her vncle taking offence thereat caused him a little while after to be taken at vnawares and those parts to be cut off by which he had offended In the end ouercome with shame his wound being perfectly whole he became a Monke in the Abby of Saint Denis in Fraunce and Heloise a vailed Nunne in the Nunnery of Argentueil yet could not this working spirit be restrained by the auncient discipline of our Church For he began to set open a schoole as well of Philosophy as of Diuinitie within his Monasterie drawing to him an infinite sort of schollers This thing made the Vniuersitie of Paris to stirre against him by complaint to the Prelates Which himselfe also conceales not in a long Epistle being the generall storie of his life out of the which I haue copied this passage Cum autem in diuina Scriptura non minorem gratiam quam in seculari mihi Dominus contulisse videretur coeperunt admodum ex vtraque lectione scholae nostrae multiplicari caeterae vehementer omnes attenuari Vnde maximè Magistrorum inuidiam atque odium aduersum me concitaui Qui in omnibus que poterant mihi derogantes duo praecipuè absenti semper obijciebant quod scilicet proposit◠Monachi valdè sit contrarium secularium librorum studio detineri quod sine Magistro ad Magisterium diuinae lectionis accedere praesumpsissem vt sic inde omne mihi doctrina scholaris exercitium interdiceretur Ad quod incessantur Episcopos Archiepiscopos Abbates quascumque poterant Religiosi nominis personas incitabant This passage I especially note vnto you as seruing meruailous fit to be employed in this my discourse As he made his fame to grow by reading so did he also by writing for hee wrote a booke De Vnitate Trinitate diuina◠in fauour of his schollers as he saith Qui humanas Philosophicas rationes requirebant plus quà m intelligi quâm quae dici possint efflagitabant Dicentes quidam verborum superfluam esse prolationem quam intelligentia non sequeretur nec credi posse aliquid nisi prius intellectum ridiculosum esse aliquem alijs praedicare quod nec ipse nec illi quos doceret intellectu capere possent Domino ipso arguente quod caeci essent ductores caecorum This booke offended all the Cleargy of France Whervpon there was a Councell assembled in the Towne of Soissons where Conan Bishop of Preuoste and Legate in Fraunce for the Sea Apostolique was President Abelard being heard speake for himselfe and his booke being read that was condemned as heriticall and appointed to be burnt in open market and he the author of it was confined for euer into the Monastery of S. Medard and expresse charge giuen him not once to come abroad He had many schollers whereof some were become Cardinals and were neere about Pope Innocent the second Insomuch that by their intreatie he found means to be receiued again into the Monastery of Saint Dennis where again he plaid the foole though he scapt punishment for it Thus he continued till at last hee had leaue of the king to withdraw himselfe into Champaigne and there he built an Oratory which he dedicated to the trinitie rather for reuenge then deuotion that he might set himselfe against them that had condemned his booke But percerceiuing that it displeased the Prelates and that he brought himselfe into danger to be censured againe he changed his name into Paraclet which signifies Comforter a name particularly consecrated to the holy Ghost meaning that this place had beene the Hauen of his comfort after he had past many tempests and stormes Which againe offended our Church as he himselfe confesseth For although all Churches as I gather out of of him had beene consecrated in the name of the Father of the Son and of the holy Ghost yet there neuer was any consecrated to God the father to God the Sonne or to the blessed Spirit To this obiection he being a great Sophister aunswered that if Saint Paule to the Corinths commaunded that euery man should build in himselfe a spirituall Temple to the holy Ghost no man should thinke ill of it that he had made a materiall temple In this place as he that sought for nothing but nouelties he opened publique schooles of Philosophie and Diuinitie Whereof many schollers that were curious being aduertised they left the Townes to come to him and to stay with him building themselues little Lodges and Cels where they lay vpon the straw et pro delicatis cibis saith he herbis agrestibus pane pro cibario vtebatur This indeed was for him to set vp a new Sect who had beene condemned by the Church and Vniuersitie The preachers declaimed against him as a principall heretique that displeased by his meanes the Lords Temporall and Spirituall but aboue all other Saint Bernard tooke this quarrell in hand as we see in his Epistles For perceiuing that notwithstanding the sentence of condemnation giuen by the Councell Abelard continued opinionatiue in the teaching of his error vnder the shadow of supports and fauours he had in the Court of Rome writing to Cardinall Yues Damnatus est Suessione Bern. Epist 193. cum opere suo coram Legato Romanae ecclesiae sed quasi non sufficeret illi illa condemnatio iterum fatit vnde iterum damnetur iam nouissimus error peior est priore Sequutus est tamen quoniam Cardinales Clericos Curie se discipulos habuisse gloriatur eos in defensione praeteriti praesentis erroris adsumit à quibus iudicari timere debuit damnari And further Magister Petrus Abelardus sine regula Monachus sine solicitudine Praelatus nec ordinem tenet nec ab ordine tenetur Homo sus dissimilis est intus Herodes foris Ioannes totus ambiguus nihil habens de Monacho praeter nomen habitum And writing to Pope Innocent the second Habemus in Francia nonum de vtere Magistro Theologum qui ab incunte aetate sua in arte Dialectica lusit nunc in
scripturis sanctis insanit Olim damnata sopita dogmata tam sua videlicet quà m aliena suscitare conatur insuper noua addit Qui dum omnium quae sunt in coelo sursum quae sunt in terra deorsum nihil praeter nescio quid nescire dignatur point in coelo os suum scrutatur alta Dei rediensque ad nos refert verba ineffabilia quae non licet homini loqui ET DVM PARATVS EST DE OMNIBVS REDDERE RATIONEM contra rationem praesumit contra fidem Quid enim magis contra rationem quam rationē transcendere Et quid magis contra fidē quam credere nolle quicquid non possis ratione attingere Denique exponere volens illud Sapientis Qui credit citò leuis est corde Citò credere inquit est adhibere fidē ante rationem Cùm hoc Salomon non de fide in Deum sed de mutua inter nos dixerit credulitate Nam illam quae in Deum est fidem B. Papa Gregorius plane negat habere meritum si ei humana ratio praebeat experimentum Laudat autem Apostolos quod ad vnius iussionis vocem sequuti sint Redemptorem Scit nimirum pro laude dictum in auditu auris obediunt mihi Increpatos è regione discipulos quod tardius credidissent Denique laudatur Maria quod rationem fide praeuenit punitur Zacharias quod fidem ratione tentauit Et rursum commendatur Abraham qui contra se in spem credidit At contra Theologus noster Quid inquit ad doctrinam loqui proficit si quod docere voluimus exponi exponi non potest vt intelligatur Doth not Saint Bernard heare bring proces for our new Iesuits when by their naturall reasons they prooue and disproue pro conta concerning the Dietie Saint Bernard I say whom in this the Archbishop of Reims followed and the Bishops of Soissons Challons and Arras who in the end of their letters write thus to the Pope Qui ergo homo ille multitudinem trahit post se populum qui sibi credas habet necesse est vt huic contagio celeri remedio occurratis In the end Pope Innocent interposed his decretall sentence in these words Communicato fratrum nostrorum Episcoporum Cardinalium consilio destinata nobis à vestra discretione capitula vniuersa ipsius Petri dogmata sanctorum Canonum authoritate cum suo authore damnauimus eique tanquam haeretico perpetuum silentium imposuimus Vniuersos autem erroris sui sectat res defensores à fidelium consortio sequestrandos excommunicationîsque vinculo innodandos esse censemus The Iesuits say that Pasquier impiously accuseth Maldonat the Iesuit of impietie these are the words they vse because in one of his Lectures Fon. ca. 36. he had proued to his schollers by naturall reasons that there is a God in another that there is none And they themselues are wholly heretiques by the proposition they maintaine when as thinking by the wings of their wits to lift themselues vp aboue Heauen they fall downe into the bottomlesse pit of Hell or else Pope Innocent the second Saint Bernard and our whole Church of Fraunce are deceiued But because this is not the marke I ayme at my intent being onely to examine the likenes and vnlikenes that was betwixt Ignace and his fellowes vpon the one part and Abelard that great heretique and disturber of our Vniuersitie of Paris on the other I will put you in mind that both the one and other came of great and noble houses The difference between them was that Abelard was the eldest of his brethren Ignace the yongest he learned of a great spirit Ignace vtterly ignorant of all good learning Thence it came that the one would violently set vp his Sect like a Lion and thereby sunke vnder the waight of his hope the other like a Foxe who by that meanes enlarged his But if you take away these differences they were very like in many other things Abelard writ a booke of the Trinitie which was condemned by the Church Ignace made another of the same matter which he himselfe condemned shewing himselfe therein more wise and aduised then the other Abelard without any degree of licence would needs at the first marry himselfe to the Chair to read in the Vniuersity of Paris The very same thing did not Ignace who was a meere ignorant fellow but his followers the Iesuits So that you shal neuer find any one of their first Regents which read in the Vniuersity of Paris to be a Graduate Abelard being a religious person of the Abbey of S. Dennis taught both Philosophie and Diuinitie the verie same that our religious Iesuits do The Vniuersitie at that time tooke it ill that Philosophie was read by a Munke to forraine schollers and strangers and it is also one of the principal articles of controuersy with the Iesuits Abelard read Diuinitie without any degree of licence whereof the Vniuersitie complaind to the Prelats of Fraunce yet did he nothing which the Iesuits did not afterward and do euen to this day and it is one of the principall complaints of the Vniuersity against them Abelard was condemned by our Church of France Ignace his fellowes first by the facultie of Diuinitie in Paris afterward by our Church assembled at Poissy Abelard brought in the heresie to proue that by natural reasons which depends vpon our Christian faith the Iesuits not only follow this damnable opinion but maintaine that he is an Athiest impious who beleeues in God with all humility likes not that a man should by naturall reasons proue to boyes that there is a God that there is none Abelard was greatly supported in the Court of Rome by Cardinals and that is it which spoiles vs at this day For the Iesuits finding all fauour there abuse it and call all thē heretiques that rely not vpon their heresies Abelard was a religious not religious hauing indeed nothing of a religious but the habit Which gaue Saint Bernard occasion to say that hee was Sine ratione Monachus qui nec ordinem tenebat nec tenebatur abordine I pray you tell me what order the Iesuits keepe and by what order they are held True it is that Abelard was in his habit religious and these men know not what it meanes Saint Bernard said that Abelard represented Iohn Baptist outwardly and inwardly Herode As for our Iesuits I neuer could acknowledge any thing of Saint Iohn Baptist in their sermons but much of Herode in their cruelties to make Princes be murthered and to driue them out of their Realmes and Dominions Yet there is one difference for these fellowes liue fat and faire and are not bound by their constitutions to keepe extraordinarie fasts as other orders doe contrariwise Abelards schollers and followers lay vpon the straw in little cabins and for their dyet contented themselues with bread and hearbs To
but onely their Colledges are Nowe so it is that vnder theyr Generalls authoritie they haue all the care and gouernment of their Colledges These are the old Cincinnati of Rome that bosted they had no gold but commaunded them that had In like sort these Maisters though they may haue no proper reuenews but theyr wallet yet doe they gouerne them that haue good store This foundation presupposed you may easily iudge what will follow For it is reason that being fathers they should be fed and maintained by their chyldren and it is more honestie for theÌ„ to aske almes of their Colledges where they coÌ„maund then to straggle vp downe the Townes to craue it See howe carefully they make sheaues of Fearne for God as Caine did And yet heerein they are the true lawfull children of their good Father Ignatius who in all his actions reserud for himselfe the principall care of his Kitchen Rih dinere teacheth vs that he Iames Lainez Ribad ca. 2. lib. 2. Peter Faure soiourning in the Venetians territorie while the other two went about the Towne to begge for theyr liuing Ignatius tarried at home to make ready dinner of that little they had gotten And that afterward when he was created Generall of his Order hee began first of all with this charge Atque vt quò altius ascenderat eò se gereret submissius Ribad c. 11. lib. 3. exemploque suo omneis ad pietatis studium prouocaret culinam statim est ingressus in eaque per mulios dies coquum agens alia vilia ministeria obire â—â—pit And to shewe saith Ribadiner that the higher Ignace was aduaunced the more he would debase himselfe to prouoke all to pietie by his example hee betooke him presently to the Kitchin where he playd the Cooke spent many daies in meane and homly offices Well among these matters you see the Kitchen goes first This was to teach his Disciples that in the house of godlines which he was desirous to build aboue al things they must begin with the Kitchen a lesson which they haue learned and obserued very well Nothing is more familiar to them by their Bulls and Constitutions then beggerie yet neuer had any men better skill to scrape vp coyne that they might liue at their ease In this occupation they played more tricks of legier du maine then Maister Peter Patelin or Frances de Villon or Panurge de Rabelais for all that these three worshipfull Doctors did was but in matters of trifles But to doe as our reuerend Fathers the Iesuits doe is to fish for Whales not for Gudgins for which purpose they haue first the instructing of youth which is their first hooke viz. the allurements they vse to theÌ„ theyr auriculer confessions which they know how to employ to the benefit of their house the visiting of the sicke the wayting vpon them to the very last gaspe that they may neuer bee out of sight the extraordinarie absolutions which they say they can giue them wherewith they feede their humor that they may drawe some rich legacie from them the deuises of their simple vowe and a thousand other hypocriticall shyfts which they call charitie but with this condition that their charitie begin at them selues because the Predicament Ad aliquid is not an accident to them but wholly the substance of their Sect. So that one may iustly call them not the Order of Iesuits but the ordure of Iesuits onely by taking one letter from the one word and putting it to the other For although they make shewe not to meddle with retayling yet they sell by whole sale the administration of the holy Sacrament deerer then Giesie Elizeus man would haue solde the spirituall gifts to Naaman And I neuer read so braue a passage as this notable sentence of Montaignes the Iesuit If God saith he loue to be importund by them that pray vnto him rich men which haue a desire to good Chap. 58. de la verite defenduâ— and to imitate so good an example must haue patience when the poore doe to them as he that giues riches desires that one should doe to him The blessing of God light on thee thou Iesuitish soule For my part I find this short instruction so worthy of a Iesuit a Maister proceeded in the Art of beging that falling froÌ„ his mouth into the eare of a poore patient it may bring forth meruailous effects to the behoofe of this holy Order At once so it is that within these threescore yeres they haue raked together more treasure by this their sophisticall beggerie then all the Monasteries of France haue done in two or three hundred yeeres CHAP. 15. ¶ That the Iesuits vow of Chastitie containes a newe heresie and withall a briefe discourse of the title of Father which the Iesuits of the graund vow giue themselues PErusing ouer all the vowes of our Iesuits I found something to be reprooued as you haue perceiued by my former discourse and shall by that which followes in due place But in the vow of Chastity me thought there was nothing new at the least I found no new thing either in their Bulls or in their constitutions Yet reading Montaignes in his 50. chapter of his booke called Truth defended I perceiue they haue a misterie that is not yet come to the knowledge of the holie Sea or of the Church no more theÌ„ their simple vow which they vsed by the space of fortie yeeres without anie lycence For see I pray you what Montaignes saith when hee would excuse the simple vowe It is a newe Lawe as well as the vow of Chastitie which they of this Societie make which hinders marriage not yet contracted and dissolues it being contracted Sith Montaignes affirmes it I holde it for very true For although it be not so thought yet so it is that the authour of this booke the Prouinciall of Paris was a botbomlesse Fountaine of the Iesuits doctrine At the first I thought that his meaning had been that after the vow of Chastitie made by them none might marry vnder paine of hauing his marriage disanuld and the children that shall come thereof declared to be incestuous But afterward when I had bethought my selfe that this law was not new but very ancient and that this Iesuit calld their vow of Chastitie a newe one by which marriages alreadie made were dissolued and disanuld I assured my selfe that by this new vow a married man becomming a Iesuit breakes the holy bond of mariage which cannot be dissolued but by naturall death VVas there euer any heresie more preiudiciall to Christendome theÌ„ this It is Gods law that they which are married by him that is to say by his Church may not be seuerd put a sunder by man except in the case of adulterie Which ordinaunce hath been so strictly obserued in all times of old that when the woman for her fault is shut vp in a Monasterie though there bee no fault at all on
mee wee shall be vndone and whereas many in former time honoured vs heereafter they will abhorre vs. And this is a poynt wherein I can not sufficiently praise our Ignatius his wisedom For although he had not onely deuâ—sd but put in practise his Constitutions for the gouernment of our Order along while in his life time yet would he neuer publish them neither came they abroad till after his death namely till after the assembly that wee held in Rome in the yeere 1558. We made account then that we shewed our selues worthy men but indeed there was neuer any thing doone more foolishly as the euent beateth witnesse He had besides another very wise rule that he would neuer at any hand suffer that any of our Order should set pen to paper to defend or iustifie vs when wee were accused It may be he did it in Christian charitie it may be also in wordly wisedom Spreta saith the wise Tacitus exolescum Si irascare agnita videntur There neuer was any thing that seemed to be so preiudiciall to our Societie as the censure of the Diuines of Paris in the yeere 1554. Some whose fingers itcht at it woulde needes haue aunswered it and those of the most woorthy and sufficient of our Order who perswaded themselues that they should get the better of them But Ignace more subtile and wise then they Rib. lib. 4. cap. 11. forbad them very expresly And it is not to be doubted but that by this aduise he got more aduantage by silence then all our blotters and scriblers of paper since haue done by wryting For it is certaine that this censure by length of time was buried in the graue of forgetfulnes if we had not giuen occasion to renew it by pushing as wel at the generall estate as at some particuler men in Fraunce While Ignace liued as I told you wee were not permitted to set out our conceits lightly to the view of the world how well so euer wee were perswaded of them Now adaies there is none of our Societie so meane but abuseth both his pen and his wit without considering what good or hurt may redound to the whole order by his writings They please themselues in their own conceit by a certaine itching desire to write which afterward costs vs deere while they set abroch many false erroneous propositions squared by the rule of their owne follies And God wot our ill-willers knowe too well how to make theyr aduantage of them One Iohn Peter Maffee first in the yeere 1587. and after him one Peter Ribadinere in 1592. did set out the life of our good founder Ignatius and Horace Turcelline the life of Fraunces Xauier with so many flatteries I must needs say so to my great griefe absurdities and contrarieties that I assure my selfe I shall see some man or other ere long that is full of leysure and spight make an Anotomie thereof to the disgrace of the memorie of those two holy Fathers and the confusion of our Order You may thinke he is as wise a Priest as our Emanuell Sa who entiteld himselfe Doctor of Diuinitie of our Societie vvhen hee caused his Aphorismes of confession to be printed wherein he bragges hee had labourd fortie whole yeeres How many Articles find you among them that tend not to the desolation of Kings kingdoms If hee had beene as wise as our first Fathers these had beene good lessons to whisper into the eares of these Idiots that take vs to be the great Penitentiaries of the holy Sea and to such as ordinarily come to vs to confesse theyr great sinnes but by blowing abroade all these circumstances of sinnes ouer all his Booke it teacheth vs that this Emanuell Sa hath labourd fortie whole yeres to make all the world in the end perceiue that hee is none of the wifest As for our reuerend Father Robert Bellarmin I acknowledge him to be a very sufficient man as one that by his writings hath found meanes to purchase a Cardinalls hat But I may say to you as a thing too true that he marrs our market in making his owne as you may perceiue by his bookes of the Translation of the Empire Of the Indulgences of Rome In the latter of which he hath toucht many particulars which concerne not pardons and for which he had need aske pardon of Kings Bishops It is not my meaning to offend him by thys speech but if euer he and I meete together alone I will speake two or three words to him in his eare request him to write a little more modestly heereafter as I assure my selfe hee will doe hauing now attayned to that which made him write so were it not that perhaps he hopes to be Pope one day But I thinke him so wise that hee will not tie his thoughts to such an impossibilitie For the wise Consistorie of Rome will neuer suffer a Iesuit to come to that high degree of the Popedome for an infinite number of reasons which I had rather conceale then vtter Since the sentence pronounced against vs 1494. in Paris I find fiue bookes set out by our men the rules whereof are these 1. The Plea of Maister Peter Versoris Aduocate in the Parliament for the Priests and Schollers of the Colledge of Clairmont founded in the Vniuersitie of Paris plaintiues against the said vniuersity being defendant 2. The defence of the Colledge of ClairmoÌ„t against the Complaints Pleas printed against them heretofore 3. A most humble remonstrance supplication of the religious of the Societie of Iesus to the most Christian King of Fraunce and Nauarre Henrie the fourth of that name 4. The truth defended for the Catholique Religion in the case of the Iesuits against the Plea of Anthonie Arnault by Frances Montaignes 5. An aunswere made by Rene de la Fon for the religious of the Societie of Iesus against the Plea of Simon Marion made against them the 16. of October 1597. With other notes vpon the Plea and other matters concerning Stephen Pasquiers Researches Assure your selfe there is neuer a one of these gentle Writers that in defending vs accuseth vs. And although you shall find some tough-points here and there in others yet I cannot tell how euerie where they sauour of a Scholler When I haue said this I haue said all Our company pleaseth not all No not many French Catholiques It is a misfortune that accompanies vs in the midst of the blessings we receiue of God But such a misfortune as we make well the worse by an other For if we find any man that doth not like vs by and by we pronounce him an heretique It is a new Priuiledge that we haue giuen our selues to turne cursing into religion and we thinke our selues acquitted of it if we father our iniuries vpon some counterfait name Benot Arias a Spaniard a man that neuer erred from our Catholique Religion caused the Bible to be printed in Antwerpe 1584. with some points of importance wherein hee
by the Controller of the kings household and since finished at the requisition and demaund of the Kings Atturney generall plaintise against Iohn Chastell of the Citie of Paris student hauing made the course of his studies in the Colledge of Clairmont prisoner in the prison called the Conciergerie of the Pallace by reason of the most execrable and abhominable parricide attempted vpon the person of the King The examinations and confessions of the said Iohn Chastell the said Iohn Chastell being heard and examined in the said Court touching the said parricide there being heard also in the same Iohn Guâ—ret Priest calling himselfe of the Companie and Society of the name of Iesus abiding continuing in the said Colledge and sometimes Schoolemaister of the said Iohn Chastell Peter Chastell and Denise Hazard the father and mother of the said Iohn Chastell the conclusions of the Atturney generall all waighed and considered BE IT KNOWNE that the said Court hath declared and doth declare the said Iohn Chastell attaynted and conuicted of the crime of treason against God and man in the highest degree by the most wicked and detestable patricide or murther attempted vpon the person of the King For repayring of the which crime it hath condeÌ„ned and doth condemne the said Iohn Chastell to make an honourable amends before the gate of the principall Church of Paris naked in his shirt holding a Torch of waxe burning of the waight of two pounds and there on his knees to say and declare that accursedly traiterously he hath attempted the said most barbarous and abhominable parricide and wounded the King in the face with a knife and through false and damnable instructions he hath said in his said triall or processe that it was lawfull to murther Kings and that the King Henrie the fourth now raigning is not in the Church vntill he haue the approbation of the Pope whereof he is heartily sory and asketh forgiuenes of God she King the Court This done to be drawn in a doung-cart to the place of execution called the Greâ—eâ— there to be pinched with hotte pincers on his armes thighs and his right hand holding in it the knife wherewith he attempted to commit the said murther or parricide to be cut off after that his bodie to be dismembred and drawen in peeces with foure horses and his quarters bodie to be cast into the fire and consumed to ashes and the ashes to be cast into the winde and it hath declared all his goods to be forfeyted and confiscate to the King Before which execution shall the said Iohn Chastell be brought to the racke or torture as well ordinary as extraordinary to know the truth of his confederates and of certaine cases arising out of the processe Hath made and doth make inhibition and restraint to any persons of what qualitie or condition soeuer vpon paine of being guiltie of high Treason not to speake or vtter the said speeches which the said Court hath pronounced doth pronounce to be scandalous seditious and contrarie to the word of God and condemned as heretical by the sacred decrees It doth ordaine that the Priests and students of the Colledge of Clairmont and all other calling themselues of that Society as corrupters of youth and disturbers of common quiet enemies of the King and State shall auoid within three daies after the publication of this present sentence out of Paris and other Cities and places where their Colledges are and fifteene daies after out of the Realme vpon paine wheresoeuer they shall be found the said terme expired to be punished as guiltie and culpable of the said crime of high Treason The goods aswell moueable as immoueable to them belonging shal be employed to charitable vses and the distribution and disposing thereof to be as shal be ordained by the Court. Moreouer it forbiddeth al the kings subiects to send any schollers to the Colledges of the said Societie being out of the Realme there to be instructed vpon the like payne to incurre the crime of high Treason The Court doth ordaine that the copies of this present sentence shall be sent abroad to the Bayliages Shriualties of this iurisdiction to be executed according to the forme tenor therof It is enioind to the Baylifs Shriefs their deputies general and particular to proceed to the execution therof after the terme or respite thereni contained to the deputies of the Atturny generall to further the said execution to giue information of all lets or hinderances thereof and to certifie the Court of their dilligence heerein performed vppon paine to be depriued of theyr seuerall places and offices Signed by Tillet Pronounced to the said Iohn Chastell executed the 29. of December 1594. During these proceedings whereupon this sentence ensued certaine Barons of the Court were appointed to goe vnto the Colledge of Clairmont who hauing caused diuers papers to be seazed they found amongst others certaine bookes written by the hand of Maister Iohn Guignard a Iesuit priest containing many false seditious arguments to proue that it was lawful to murder the late king Henry the third and instructions for the murdering of King Henry the fourth his successor In conclusion this was the end both of the Iesuits beeing the Schoolemaisters and theyr vnhappy schollar ¶ Another sentence against Iohn Guignard Priest Regent in the Colledge of the Iesuits in the Cittie of Paris BEeing viewed by the Court the great Chamber the Tournell assembled the triall or processe criminall commenced by one of the Councellors of the said Court at the requisition or demaunde of the Kings Atturny generall against Iohn Guignard priest Regent in the Colledge of Clairmont of the Cittie of Paris prisoner in the prison of the Conciergerie of the Pallace for hauing beene found seazed of diuers bookes containing amongst other matters the approbation of the most cruell and barbarous parricide of the late King whom God pardon and inductions to cause the King nowe raigning to be murdered Examinations and confessions of the sayd Guygnard the said bookes openly shewed acknowledged to be framed composed by himselfe and written with his own hand conclusions of the Kings Atturny generall the sayd Guignard being heard and examined vppon the matters to him obiected and contained in the said booke and all weighed considered BE IT KNOWNE that the said Court hath declared and doth declare the said Guignard attainted and conuicted of the crime of high treason and to haue composed and written the sayd bookes contayning many erroneous and seditious arguments to proue that it was lawfull to commit the said parricide and was allowable to kill the King nowe raigning Henry the fourth For repayring whereof it hath condemned and doth condemne the said Guignard to make an honourable amends naked in his shirt a haltar about his neck before the gate of the principall Church of Paris there kneeling holding in his hands a Torch of wax burning of the weight of two pounds to say
King He aunswered that he had heard in many places that it was to be held for a most true principle that it was lawfull to kill the King and that those who said so called him Tyrant Being demaunded whether that argument of killing the King was not ordinarie with the Iesuits Hee aunswered that hee had heard them say that it was lawfull to kill the King and that he was out of the Church and that they ought not to obey him or hold him for theyr King vntil such time as he was absolued by the Pope Againe beeing demaunded in the great Chamber my Lords the Presidents and Counsellours therof and of the Tournel being assembled he made the same aunswers and did in especiall propound maintaine that Maxime that it was lawfull to kill princes by name the king that now raigneth who was not in the church as he said because he had not the Popes approbation The truth is this poore seduced fellow doth not particularly designe or note any of your Societie to haue taught him this damnable lesson yet doth hee not spare the whole bodie of your Order And musing somwhat thereat this controller of your actions that stood neere vnto me told me it was a thing not to be wondred at because the Iesuits lesson when they would procure any prince to be murdered consisted of two braunches the first was to giue an assured promise of Paradise to whomsoeer could atchiue this high peece of seruice that they should not spare to kill him though hee were in a Church in the midst of diuine seruice The second that if the partie that should attempt this were intercepted and deliuered into the hands of the Magistrate to be made an example he ought aboue all things to beware of discouering or reuealing theyr names by whoÌ„ hee vvas set on worke vppon paine of eternall damnation certainly in Barrieres processe it appeared that these instructions had beene giuen him albeit not hauing beene bred vp in the schooles of the Iesuits as Chastell was hee did not obserue them before his Iudges After I had examined this processe I lookt vpon the triall of Robert Bruce a Scottish gentleman who was appeacht and accused by Father William Crichton a Iesuite because he would not procure Metellinus Chauncellor to the King of Scots to be murdered I enquired from whence all these tricks of Matchiauelisme Anabaptisme might arise Whereupon they shewed mee your Constitutions which enioyne you a blinded obdience to your Superiours and with as constant resolution to follow their commaundements as if they had issued out of the mouth of our Sauiour Christ And therwithall they bring me The Aphorismes of confession made by your Emanuell Sa a booke composed by the Principall of the Seminarie at Reims wherein they maintaine that in certaine cases it is lawfull for the subiect to kill the King But aboue all Father Iohn Guignard his Booke one of your Priests wherein he laboureth to prooue as well that the late King Henry the third was iustly slaine as also that hee who now raigneth ought to be serued in the same manner The wordes of his booke are these That cruell Nero was slaine by one Clament and that counterfet Munke was dispatched by the hand of a true Munk. This heroicall act performed by Iames Clement as a gift of the holie Spirit so termed by our Diuines is worthilie commended by the Priour of the Iacobins Burgoin a Confessor and Martyr The Crowne of Fraunce may and ought to be transferred froÌ„ the house of Bourbon vnto some other And the Biarnois although conuerted to the Catholick fayth shal be more mildly dealt withall then he deserues if rewarded with a shauen crowne he be shut vp into some strict Couent there to doe penance for the mischiefes which he hath brought vppon the Realme of Fraunce and to thanke GOD that he hath giuen him grace to acknowledge him before his death And if without Armes he cannot be deposed let men take Armes against him if by war it cannot be accomplisht let him be murthered These are the scandalous and if I durst so call them the blasphemous words of a booke sprinckled with an infinite number of others In conclusion I read with all diligence your Petition made to the King full of pretie flourishes whereby you condemne all those attempts as forbidden by all lawes both of God and man While I was beating my braines about these euidences meaning to rest vpon the Sentence of the Parliament of Paris pronounced as well against Chastell as against the whole Societie one of the companie said vnto me Remember that notwithstanding this Sentence the prints of rebellion remaine still in their harts And to prooue that this is so you shall see Montaignes a Iesuit extoll Iames Commolet Claudius Mathew Hanniball Coldrettâ— Bernard Rouiliet Ambrose Varade And after Montaignes you shall see his Ape La Fon increase that number by many more which are notoriously knowne to haue proceeded Doctours in the profession of murder and rebellion You shall see the booke of miracles composed by Richeome their Generall of Aquitania wherein amongst other things hee saith that our Ladie of Buy wrought many miracles during the troubles to preserue the Cittie against her enemies that is against the King for this Citty was of the contrary partie But as for the miracles that S. Geneâ—iefue shewed for the King hee is not too hastie to recount them Yet were they most euident in three cases The first wheÌ„ the League being to set forward towards Diepe this Saints shrine was taken downe to carrie in solemne procession the second was when the Chenalier d' Aumalle the night of this Saints feast attempted to surprise the Towne of Saint Denys the third when the said shrine was againe taken downe in March anno 1594 and generall procession made for the withstanding of the Kings forces Notwithstanding all these vowes prayers and purposes turned to the coÌ„fusion of his enemies For about Diepe he obtained a famous victorie beyond all hope or expectation The Chenalier d' Aumalle was slaine within the cittie of Saint Denys vvhen hee thought himselfe Maister of it and all his Companie put to flight And in conclusion Paris yeelded vp to the King within two or three dayes after the taking downe of the said shrine S. Geneâ—iefue is the holy Patronesse of Paris The Cittie of Paris did in right appertaine to the king and was therefore by her miraculously preserued in the preuenting of these three chaunces These miracles this worthie reporter Richeâ—me is far enough from mentioning hee makes a conscience of that seeing it is in fauour of the King Furthermore read Montaignes who maintaineth that the Pope may translate kingdoms from one to another in his booke De la veritè Defenduâ— A plausible and true position in this Cittie of Rome but scandalous in Fraunce and subiect to corporall punishment These three bookes were printed since the Sentence of the Court of Parliament