under Every Saturday there is a vast Concourse of People comes to this Image from the City of Bononia and adjoyning places To make the Way more commodious for those devout Pilgrims the Bononians have undertaken to make a Covered-way which begins at the Gate of the City and is intended to be carried on to that of the Church where the Image resides Above half of this Way was already finished when I was there The Whole is compos'd of great Portiâ—â—'s of Brick very large and high Roof'd the Roofs being all curiously painted and the bottom is Paved very neatly with great square Bricks When this Portal is once finished it will be one of the most Curious pieces of Workmanship that is in all Italy Many particular Noblemen have signaliz'd their Zeal for carrying on of this Work having each of them made several Arches of it at their own Charges on which they have caused their Arms to be painted But in the mean time tho' this Work be already so far advanced yet some are afraid they shall never see it brought to perfection because the remaining part is the most difficult to compass and will cost much more than what is already done for this Portal is now to be carried on up the Mountain till it reach the Church of our Lady on the Top of it and to this end they must be obliged to Dig very deep to find firm Ground whereon to lay a solid Foundation A good Curate perceivinâ— that the Devotion of Contributing to this vast Expence began to grow cold found out a very ingenuous way to excite the Drowzy and Lethargic Charities of the People making use of the following Device He acquainted his Parishioners That he felt himself inspir'd by the Virgin to make a Procession to the Miraculous Image with Twelve Wagons loaden with Materials for carrying on this Structure he desired them to shew their Zeal in contributing to so good a Work and that for his part he would take care to range the Procession in Order according to the Model the Virgin had been pleased to give him of it in a Dream His Parishioners very punctually executed the Orders he had given them lading four Wagons with Bricks four with Lime and four with Sand. The Curate seeing their forwardness sent every where for Flowers and sweet Herbs to cover the Wagons and to make Garlands for the Oxen that drew them he got their Horns and Hoofs to be gilt and set himself at the Head of this Convoy with the Cross and Banner having procur'd several young Girls with Timbrels in their Hands to play upon them and Dance about the Wagons as David did before the Ark. In this Equipage he pass'd through all the Streets of the City He had the Approbation of the Italians who are much delighted with new and well contriv'd Inventions and especially wherein Women or Girls come to play their parts The good Success this Curate met with besides the general Approbation put all his Brethren upon doing something in Imitation of him and if possible to go beyond him So that about a Fortnight after there was to be seen a general Procession of all the Parishes with above 200 Wagons loaden with Bricks Lime and Sand drawn by Oxen with gilded Horns I never saw a more Extravagant Procession than this was nor a more pleasant one The March advanced in very good order with Crosses Banners Priests and the Girls that Danced towards our Lady of S. Luke and helpt to build a great part of that Portal As soon as it is finished they will be able to go at all Seasons and in all Weathers from Bononia to the place of Devotion without wetting or dirting themselves any more than if they were in their own Houses But that I may not wander too far from my Subject of Processions I shall further acquaint you that the Monks do far excel the Priests in their Inâ—vention on these Occasions There is scarcely an Holiday or Sunday passeth over their heads withâ—out some Procession or other made in their Monasteries The Dominicans make a Procession of the Rosary every first Sunday of the Month and the second Sundays the Carmelites make one in honour of the Scapulary the third Sundays the Soccolanti celebrate a Procession in honour of S. Anthony of Padua 'T is in these Monkish Processions that all is put in practice wherewith Lewdness and Vanity are capable of Inspiring the most loose and effeminate Souls so far are they from being Religious Employments and fitted for Devotion as they pretend them to be By the small taste I shall here give you of them you may be able to judge of all the rest I shall begin with a Procession of the Rosary which I saw at Venice made by the Dominicans of Castello which was order'd in this manner Next after the Cross and Banner went about Two or Three hundred Little Children drest like Angels and others like little He and She Saints amongst which they did not forget to place a good number of Little S. John Baptists These were followed by Thirty or Forty young Women representing so many Saints of their Sex One of them represented S. Apollina and to distinguish her from the rest she carried in her hand a Bason gilt and enamell'd in which there were Teeth another represented S. Lucia and carried in a Bason two Eyes a third S. Agnes who carried in her Arms a Living Lamb and so of the rest every one of them being Characterized by their Marks of distinction There were some of them that were prepar'd on purpose to make People Laugh and above all the rest a Saint Genevieve who had a lighted Wax-Taper in one hand and in the other a Book wherein she read or at least made shew of doing so and round about her there were Seven or Eight young Boys drest like Devils all over black as a Coal with great long Tails and very extravagant and ridiculous Countenances and great Horns on their Heads these skipped about the Saint and made a Thousand Ridlculous postures Apish Tricks and Faces to endeavour to distract and divert her from reading of her Breviary by making of her Laugh The Maiden who acted the Personage of this Saint had been chosen by them on purpose of a Melancholy Temperament who accordingly Acted her part very well she always kept her Eyes fix'd on her Hours without giving the least shew of a Smile tho' all the Spectators that were present could not contain themselves from bursting out into loud Laughter to see the Ridiculous Postures those Little Devils put themselves into and who were certainly most impudent and pickel'd Youths forasmuch as many times they made a shew of taking up her Coats This Saint was followed by another as fit to make the People Laugh as the former this was a S. Catherine of Sienna who had by her side a pretty Little Boy with a Broom in one Hand and a pair of Bellows in the other for they hold that
Transport of Joy and this too when he was upon the point of going up to the Altar to say Mass as made it evident he would have been extreamly satisfied to find himself again in the same Circumstances I have heard of another Monk who in a much like case met with a very different Success for having been brought by a Lady of Quality into her House during her Husbands absence and probably with the same design of providing him an Heir but by Mishap for him her Husband being unexpectedly return'd surpriz'd the good Fryer and took him Napping and having kept him a close Prisoner in a Chamber for about a Fortnight till a certain Holiday on which a General Procession was to be celebrated which the Gentleman knew was to pass by his Door as the Procession was approaching he caus'd his Prisoner to be stript stark Naked and after he had been soundly Slasht by four of his Lackeys just at the midst of the Procession as the Fathers Carmelites pass'd by of whose Order this Fryer was he turn'd him out of Door stark Naked with a Written Paper on his Back specâ—fying his Crime and forc'd him thus to run through the Procession This gave a very great Offence and the Fathers Carmelites who found themselves most outragiously Affronted thereby went and complain'd to the Inquisition pretending that the Gentleman who had thus horribly eâ—pos'd one of their Brotherhood could be no other than an Heretick and a sworn Enemy to all Religious Orders whom he had so outragiously abus'd in the Person of their Brother but however notwithstanding all their Rage the Honest Man made a shift to defend and justifie his Proceeding against the Diabolical Malice of these Monks I could furnish you here with an infinite number of curious Stories concerning the Amours and Intriegues of Monks and Priests if I were not persuaded That it is the Duty of every Honest Man not to speak but with great Moderation of a Vice whereof the Discovery is equally dangerous to him that makes it and to those to whom it is made And therefore shall only tell you that I may out short here That I never in my life convers'd with any one Monk or Priest of the Church of Rome for so long a time as was sufficient to penetrate a little into their Manners and Course of Life but that I found at last that they had secret Commerce with Women or which is worse and what I would not willingly name viz. That they were addicted to the abominable Sin of Sodomy And yet many or those were meer Saints to outward appearance all their Discourse was of the Blessed Virgin and of Purgatory and the only Reason why I desir'd their Friendship was because at first I took them to be very good and honest Men but sometime after I found to my great Regret that I had been deceived by my too favourable Opinion of them I was acquainted during my stay at Venice with one of them that was the Steward of a Religious House He was a Man of the most promising Physiognomy that could be and I was much edified to see how Modest and Humble he was in his Garb and Behaviour For whereas most of the Monks of Italy wear curious shining Stuffs fine Hats Silk Stockens and neat Shoes he had nothing about him but what was very plain and simple He wore a great old Hat with a brim of a Foot and an half broad which flap'd down over his Ears with a great Pater Noster of Wood hanging down from his Girdle and besides this had an Air and Port that breath'd nothing but Devotion and his Masses which others have found a way to expedit in less than a Quarter of an Hour always lasted an Hour and an Half He was also a great Lover of Books as being of some competent Learning These good Qualities I observed in him joyn'd with some others that he possess'd and the good Report he had every where tho' indeed acquir'd by his Hypocrisie were the Motives that engag'd me to endeavour an Acquaintance with him and I look'd upon my self as very happy in meeting with a great deal of Facility in the executing of this my Design During a Seventh Months Conversation I had with him I perceived nothing by him but what was good and honest Yea he seem'd to have something of a Spirit of Prophecy for what he had publickly foretold of the Raising of the Siege of Vienna and of the total Defeat of the Turkish Army very particularly came to pass It had been happy for him could he as well have foreseen the ill Consequences which the licentious and flagitious Life he led in Secret would draw down upon him in order to have prevented them This good Monk for so he was as to all outward appearance and whom I look'd upon as a Man come from Heaven was oblig'd by a troublesom Accident that hapned to him to discover to me all his Wicked Life A Lewd Woman whom he had kept for several years was resolv'd at last to ruin his Reputation She being perfectly well acquainted how great a Lover this Hypocritical Monk was of Vain-glory she had already for some Months threatned to expose him in his own Colours to the World in case he did not furnish her with the Sum of Mony she demanded of him She had already by these her Menaces drawn from him at twice an 100 Crowns and was now come for the Third time to demand the like Sum neither would he have mended himself a whit by complying with her Demand because she would not have fail'd within a Fortnight after to come with the same Threats viz. That she was resov'd to declare in presence of the Prior of the Convent and all the Religious That he through whose hands all the Mony of the Convent passed had not only ravish'd her Daughter but also abused one of her Boys in the most abominable manner imaginable The Monk own'd that he had to do with the one and the other and the Mother too but that he had not been the first forasmuch as long before his Aquaintance with them they had been Prostitutes and that besides they had been well paid for it That in the mean time to put some stop to her Impudence he desir'd me to go and warn her seriously That if she would not be satisfied with the Mony he had already given her he was resolv'd to get her Murther'd I was so far from offering him my Service in this Affair that from that time forwards I conceiv'd the greatest horrour and aversion for him and took a firm Resolution never to see him more However I had the Curiosity before I took my last leave of him to ask him What was the Reason why the went so strangely Drest and such a slouching Hat hanging over his Ears he who took such great pleasure in Courting of Women He told me That he had found the Habit he wore very advantagious and useful to him
THE FRAUDS OF ROMISH MONKS AND PRIESTS SET FORTH In Eight LETTERS Lately Written By a Gentleman in his Journy into ITALY Aud Publish'd for the Benefit of the Publick LONDON Printed by Samuel Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock at the West-End of S. Pauls 1691. IMPRIMATUR Nov. 5. 1690. C. Alston R. P. D. HEN. Episc Lond. à Sacris TO THE Right Honourable THE EARL OF NOTTINGHAM HIS MAJESTIES Principal Secretary of State c. My Lord IT would be a great Presumption in me who am a Stranger in this Country to appear in Publick manner without the Protection of some Great Name That of Your Lordships is deservedly such seeing to the Greatness of Your Birth You have added the highest Qualities of Wisdom and Vertue and discharged the Public Trusts of Your eminent Station so much to the satisfaction of all good Men. I find wheresoever I go great Numbers of those who highly Honour the Memory of Your Lordships Father and speak of him as of a Friend and an Ornament of the Church a Pillar of the State an Oracle of the Law a Judge and Patron of Learning and Learned Men an Encourager of Persons of Sound Principles and good Lives a Bountiful Support of those of our Country who have fled hither for meer Conscience sake and a Worthy Example of Sobriety Justice and Charity Your Lordship following so Excellent a Father with equal Steps I presume to make this my Humble Application to You in behalf both of my Self and of this Book which with an honest Design I have Written and Published resting secure under Your Lordships Patronage and resolving by the Blessing of God always to make good the Character of My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and most Obedient Servant G. D. E. E. A. P. TO THE READER IT must be granted That the Publick have been just in the kind Reception they have given to the LETTERS of Dr. Burnet now the Right Reverend Bishop of Salisbury concerning his Voyage to Italy The Truth of his Relations hath been own'd by all those who have had the Curiosity to Visit those Countries and given occasion to the Learned to make curious Reflections upon them But above all I have observed That the Passages He hath inserted by the By about some of their Religious Practices have particularly pleased the English Nation who above all abominate Popery 'T is this Consideration at first that begat a Desire in me to publish many other Particulars on this Subject especially upon the Lives and Practices of Romish Priests and Monks which were known to me as having been a Secular Priest of the same Church and could not come so easily to the Knowledge of others The Reason why I was so Inquisitive is set down at the Beginning of my First LETTER I shall only add That those who are acquainted with the Spirit of Rome will find no difficulty to believe the Matters of Fact here related and much less to venture their Credit in denying them since they are still expos'd to Publick View and as many as go thither may be so many Witnesses of them If at any time I make use of some Expressions which may seem to have too much Lightness in them I desire my Reader to attribute this to the Subject and to consider That as Serious Things ought not to be exprest in a Jocular Style so neither is it possible to utter Ridiculous Matters with a Becoming Gravity Nor do I believe That the Papists will have any reason to Complain of me as they commonly do of those that Leave them saying That they make it their chief business to Expose them without Bounds or Measure For the Truth is I have still Matter enough in store to fill another Volume as big as this which might serve for a Second Part But I choose to stop here and give them an occasion rather of Commending my Moderation than of Complaining of my doing Too much Lastly Forasmuch as those Observations made in my Travels have much conduced to the Change of my Religion so I trust in God the Publication of them will have a good effect upon others by Opening the Eyes of the People of the Roman Church by Discouraging those that Seduce them and by putting Protestants upon Rendring hearty Thanks to God for having delivered them from so Miserable a Slavery This Candid Reader is the principal Aim I had in Publishing this Book Farewel G. D. E. E. A. P. ERRATA PAg. 38. lin 31 read many Fir-trees p. 63. l. 17 Navona p. 155. l 11. miseri p. 174. l. 15. Vicenza p. 237. l. 20. chastest p. 246. l. 3. seipso p. 264. l. 14. Cielo p. 298. l. 5. four years l. 14. two years p. 326. l. 4. cover'd again p. 399. l. 5. who l. 7. dele h◠〈◊〉 with afterwards THE CONTENTS OF THE Principal Relations Contain'd in the Ensuing LETTERS The First LETTER p. 1 OF Relicks and the ill Vse that is made of them in the Church of Rome to deceive the People 2 Some curious Relations on this Subject 5 A description of the Famous Abby of Citeaux and of the Great Chartreuse of Grenoble 23 The Disorderly and Voluptuous Life of those Monks and the Artifices they make use of to advance their Temporal Profit by abusing the Credulity of Seculars 36 The Second LETTER 42 OF the Corrupt Ambitious and Revengful Spirit of the Roman Clergy 43 The Inquisition is a ready Means to satisfie their Cruelty and Revenge 57 Dreadful Examples to this purpose 62 The Doctrin of the Reformed Churches little known in Italy 73 Protestants represented to the People under the Name of Infidels and No Christians 76 The English Church more proper to convince the Papists of their Error than any other Reformed Church 80 The great Caution the Pope takes to prevent the Importation of Protestant Books into Italy 82 The Government of Priests insupportable 84 The Third LETTER 86 OF the Hospitals and Pilgrims of Italy 87 The Monks and Priests have converted the Revenues belonging to them to their own use 90 Superstition of the Italians at Luca Pisa and Florence and more particularly of the Famous Devotion of the Annonciade or Picture of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin 109 The Description of some Famous Monasteries viz. the Great Camaldule Valombrosa and Averne seated on the highest Mountains of the Apennine 119 The Spirit of these Three sorts of Monks 124 The Great Jubilee of our Lady of Portcuncule 136 A Story concerning the Bodies of S. Dominick and S. Francis at Assise 138 The Old Franciscan Convents compar'd with those of this Time 140 The Fourth LETTER 143 OF Journying to Loretto 144 The manner how Gentlemen and Ladies go in Pilgrimage to this place 150 Ridiculous Fables about the Chappel of Loretto 156 The Cheats that are in vogue there and the vast Gain the Popes and Jesuits draw thence 157 What properly an Italian Miracle is 165 Many curious Relations to this purpose 172 The
that manner cannot be saved by the Faith of their Parents but go down to a dark place they call Limbus which is made express for them and where they are to continue for ever without suffering the Punishment of Sense because they have never sinned by inducement of the Senses but where notwithstanding they must undergo Poenam Damni or the Punishment of loss which consists in the privation of the Beatifick Vision that being a Punishment due to Original Sin We cannot imagin that any Fathers or Mothers should be so pittiless and unnatural as rather to desire to spare their Mony than to rescue their Children from so Deplorable a Condition by having Prayers and Masses said for them at the said Altar so that this was the Trade driven by the Religious of that Abby We went therefore about 10 a Clock in the Morning to that Church where we saw the Miraculous Image of the Virgin commonly called the Little our Lady of S. Benignus and two Still-born Children who had already lain there two days being black and livid and very noisom The Parents who were of the best Families of Dijon had during these two days procured above 200 Masses to be said in that Church at a Crown a piece in order to obtain from God by intercession of the said Image and by the Prayers of the Religious of that Abby so much life for these poor Infants as might be sufficient for them only to receive the Sacrament of Baptism The Monks would very gladly have deferr'd their Resurrection for a day longer but the Bodies were already so far corrupted that it was almost impossible to abide in the Church by reason of the offensiveness of the stench that came from them so that as it happened we came in the very nick of time to see the performance of it Towards noon which was the time of the last Mass a young Fryar who served at the Altar going to carry the mass-Mass-Book to that side where the Gospel is read hit with his Arm either wittingly or by chance the Table of the Altar upon which the Still-born Infants were laid which made them move The Priest who was saying Mass and who probably was acquainted with the hour and moment of this interlude immediately breaking off his sacred Mysteries as the Papists please to expâ—â—ss it pronounced with a loud Voice the Sacramental Words over the Infants Baptizo c. casting in the mean time on their Bodies the water wherewith he had washed his hands At the same time a great noise was raised in the Church the People crying out A Miracle a Miracle My Eyes could not deceive me in a case I had so plainly discerned and I could with all my Heart have undertaken to undedeceive the poor People but that I knew how dangerous it is to oppose the blind Rabble kept and entertained in Error by Priests and Monks who knowing no other God but their own interest would soon have stirr'd them up under the pretence of Heresie or Incredulity to have Torn me to pieces However I could not refrain from hinting a Word of it in particular to some Persons who were present at that action and who owned they had observed the same thing Burgundy was always a Country fruitful in Superstition and we may see the Signs of it every where and consequently also there be very few Countries where the Priests and Monks thrive better or more abound in Riches I beg of you now Sir only to make this Observation that the Fathers of the Abby are the Reformed Religious of the Order of S. Bennet and consequently of a Congregation which you in France have the greatest Veneration for as well upon the account of their Learning as Duty both which as you have told me render them equally recommendable If then say I these Men who are so Holy and so Virtuous in your Opinion are so able and cunning to deceive and such profligate lovers of outward gain what may not we expect from so many Non-reformed Religious who live so licentiously and loosly to the very Eye as to make open profession of Trapanning Laymen by a Thousand kind of Artifices to have wherewith to maintain their Flagitious and Scandalous Debaucheries We staied some days at Dijon where I was Eye-witness to an abundance of Ridiculous Devotions that are in Vogue there and which it would be too tedious to relate to you as that of our Lady of l'Estan that of S. Bernard and of the Image of the Virgin kept at Talent and pretended to have been Painted by S. Luke and to be very Miraculous But forasmuch as the Devotion paid to these sorts of Images is used to increase or decrease according as the Priests or Monks do more or less Dexterously manage them this last mentioned has suffered very much being well nigh fallen into contempt insomuch as the Curate of that Parish despaired almost of ever bringing it into request again To bring this about he told us he knew but one way which was to publish a Miracle which lately hapned about that Image which was a more remarkable one than all the Cures it dayly performed The case is this said he having perceived about 10 years ago that the Devotion to the Image dayly decreased I began to enquire into the cause of it and finding the Picture to be in a very rueful condition by reason of the moistness of the place which had well nigh rotted the Cloth and the Rats also having made bold with some part of it and extremely disfigured the Face especially I conceived that this might be the reason of the abatement of the Peoples Devotion Wherefore to remedy this I made the old Cloth to be pasted upon a new one and sent for one of the best Painters of Dijon to draw over the defective places of it which was accordingly done with a great deal of care and exactness and on a first Sunday of the Month the Image thus drawn over and imbellished was set up in its former place with a great deal of Solemnity and a great concourse of People Since which time proceeded he I have been continually troubled with the Gout and moreover the Blessed Virgin to shew her self displeased that any Painter should be so bold as to put his hand to a piece of work which her Servant S. Luke had left to Posterity in order to the restoring of it to its first Luster she has some days since made the colours that had been superadded to it to scale away and fall down and thereby reduced the Image to the pitiful estate it was in before which however she is much more pleased with than to see her pourtraiture profaned with strange colours He added that he had already caused the Relation of the Miracle to be Printed and that he did intend to send Copies of it to all Neighbouring yea even into Foreign Countries and that he lookt upon this as a probable way to recal the Devotion of People to his
with the two French Priests to our Inn. We had an opportunity the same Evening of discoursing with Count Zamberti an Officer of his Royal Highness whom formerly I had seen in France and we could not keep our selves from acquainting him how strangely we had been surprized to see so many Religious at the publick Shews and so attentive to the lewd Fooleries of Buffoons because we looked upon it as very unworthy and scandalous and that no such thing was to be seen in France He told us that this was not that which ought most of all to suprize us for that in Italy those of the Clergy who did commonly frâ—quent the Piazza in the Evening were the most esteemed of as being ordinarily the best amongst them because the rest at the same time were for the most part either in Whore-Houses or at Taverns in company of their Wenches Here I turn'd my self to our French Priests and said well Gentlemen what say you now Do you think you concluded well from the Magnificence of the Churches of this Country that their Religion and Piety must needs be the best because their Churches were the most stately and sumptuous whereas you see that these who ought in a more especial manner to be the living Temples of the Holy Ghost abandon themselves to such execrable Profaneness and Debauchery As to that which we alledged that no such lewd deportments were to be found amongst our Ecclesiasticks in France the Count very wisely replied that for that we might thank the Protestants for that it was only their presence that mantained the Learning Modesty and reserved Carriage of the Clergy of the Gallican Church and if they once should be forced to quit the Country for the Kings design was already known here we should soon see all Sciences and Vertues exil'd with them This Sir agrees incomparably well with what some persons of Quality of the Roman Communion have of late freely owned to me That they begin already in France to perceive that since the Protestants have been Banished thence and that they believed them far enough from them the burning Zeal of the Ecclesiasticks is turnd to Lukewarmness their Devotion grown cold and their Application to their Studies become very flat and languishing So that at present they are seldom found at their Books but for the most part Ranging from one House to another upon pretence of encouraging and confirming their new Perverts and boasting themselves for great Doctors with what they have learnt at a time when they were forced upon by the learned Writings and close Arguings of the Protestant Ministers I return now to my Voyage but before I leave Turin because I have already made mention of the Church wherein is kept the Holy Shrowd or Linnen-sheet wherein they pretend our Saviours dead Body was wrapt I suppose you will not take it amiss if I tell you in short what I think of it They of your Religion suppose it to be the same Shrowd or Linnen-sheet in which Joseph of Arimathea wrapt up and buried the precious Body of our Lord Jesus Christ after that it was taken down from the Cross and that the Figure of that adorable Body remains Miraculously imprinted upon it for the Comfort of Believers I intend not to enter the Lists about the truth of that History which I never searched into but I shall only tell you Sir that there is another of them to be seen in the Cathedral of Besançon in Burgundy which they maintain to be the same in which Joseph wrapt the Body of our Saviour Several Popes according to their distinct Fancies and Humours have granted several Bulls and Indulgences some to that of Turin others to that of Besançon until that these Contestations raised such extream Feuds between the Archbishops of these two Cities that at last they fell to libelling one another whereupon to stifle the Flame from spreading further a way was found out at Rome to reconcile them by determining contrary to the express words of the vulgar Translation Matth. 27. involvit illud Sindone mundâ and wrapped it in a clean Linnen-cloth where the word Sindone is in the Singular Number that there were two and consequently that both the one and the other of them were true It cannot indeed be denied but that there was such a Shrowd or Linnen-cloth and it is possible that with great care it might have been preserved till now but to see the Church of Rome for the reconciling of two Bishops with so much easiness boldly to determin that there were two when the Scripture seems but to speak of one this is that which will not go down with men of understanding And moreover to ordain that the same Worship and Adoration be given to them both on Easter-day which is given to the Cross on Good-Friday which does not differ at all from what is given to Jesus Christ himself This is no less than down right Impiety and Idolatry After some days stay at Turin finding my self within two days Journy of Genoua the curiosity of seeing that Lofty City made me resolve to go thither However I found some strife in my self about it because of the Satisfaction I had enjoy'd in the Company of my Benedictin whose Conversation was indeed very pleasant and agreeable as finding that if I continued my Resolution it would be necessary for us to part for the Letter of Obedience which he had shewed me of his General expressed that he was without stop or stay to go directly to Rome I Communicated to him my Resolution of going to Genoua whereupon he immediately told me that he was resolved to go along with me and that he would order the matter so as his Superiors should know nothing of it and accordingly in the Letter he wrote to them from Turin acquainting them that being not not yet wholly recovered from some Fits of an Ague he had had he should he obliged to remain there still for some days which was just the very Time he took to go this Journy with me I found by this that the most reformed Monks make no great scruple of Violating the Obedience they have Vowed to observe and to transgress the Rules they profess upon the least occasion that presents it self to them of any particular Satisfaction The use of Meat was also forbid him by his Rule and yet he no sooner found himself at a distance from the Monasteries of his Order but he made bold with it and as soon as he met with another he took up his observance again as before desiring me not to divulge that ever he had Transgressed it And in the mean time I can say with truth that I never saw a more Rigorous Censor of another mans actions than he was when he was in the company of Monks who were not Reformed or who took more liberty than those of their Congregation he would undertake them in a high manner yea with Insolence it self He said he could not look
Tongues and made them suffer unexpressible Torments Can you ever believe in good earnest Sir that this is the Spirit of the Gospel Is this the way our Saviour made use of to convert Sinners Did he ever threaten the disobedient or unbelievers with Prisons Racks and Tortures Has he ever left us so much as one Example or Command to Authorize this sacred Inquisitional Method I trow no and consequently this cannot be the Spirit of Christianity Thus these very means the Popes take to maintain their Tyranny over the Consciences of men might serve and without doubt will so in time for just Motives to pull it down if the People would once open their Eyes and Vigorously oppose themselves to the effects of a most unjust and inhuman Violence T is Vertuâ— alone that stands in need of no support but Sin and Iniquity are always in the search of props and contrivances to uphold their tottering and crazy constution and what they cannot carry by the strength of the Lion they endeavour to bring about by the Foxes Craft Thus what the Popes and their Adherents cannot obtain by the Inquisition they strive to compass by Artifice and Lies One of the Chief Fetches they have to keep the People in their Obedience is to secure them in the Chains of profound Ignorance first of the truths of the Gospel very expresly forbidding them to read the Holy Scriptures as a Book very dangerous and pernicious to their Souls Their next care is to prevent any Books of Controversy written by Protestants from coming into their Hands T is an Inquisitional matter to have or read any of them or to be privy to any others having of them Moreover they take special care to charge the Preachers in their Sermons that in speaking of the Protestants who being very well grounded in their Principles must consequently be lookt up as the most formidable Enemies the Church of Rome has they be sure to represent them to their Auditors as men that have absolutely renounced the Faith of Jesus Christ and who do no more believe in him than Heathens and Infidels Wherefore also they indifferently call them Hereticks aud Infidels or to make use of the Italian word Questi non Cristiani So that indeed all the Common People yea and the greatest part of those that are learned too are of the Opinion that Protestants do not all believe in Jesus Christ no more than the Turks do A Canon once demanded of me in Rome by way of Curiosity What the Infidels did in France and why they were suffered there I desired him to tell me what he meant by that word which I did not understand and finding that he spoke of Protestants I told him that they were no Infidels but believed in Jesus Christ as well as the Roman Catholicks only that they rejected Transubstantiation the Mass Purgatory c. and in particular the power and infallibility of the Pope And having heard me discourse at this rate a good while In truth Sir said he if the case be as you say I perceive that those People are not such great Devils as they are represented to us here I have often heard it declar'd from the Pulpit that they were as unbelieving as the Jews themselves and you are the very first I ever heard say that the Protestants believed in Jesus Christ But Sir said I it is impossible but that you who have studied Divinity must needs have heard of the Opinions of Luther Calvin and Zuinglius in the Treatise of the Sacraments in general and in partilar of those of the Eucharist Penance the Sacrifice of the Mass c. I know said he that those Ring-leaders of Heresie pretended not to destroy but to reform the Church and as to some points they have very strong Arguments which even to this day we are hard put to to answer But nevertheless God who hath a particular care of his Church that he might make known to belivers that these men were in a bad way has so ordered it that their whole party came to nothing For as one Error draws on another they have still rowled from one Precipice to another till at last they are fallen into the Abyss of Infidelity They at first separated themselves from the Church of Rome upon the pretence of Reforming it but some time after their followers reduced all to the particular Spirit which is to believe what they please and that provided only they do Worship one God whosoever he be and lead â— morally good life that this is enough for them to be saved I perceived by this discourse Sir that this Canon had been ill informed as indeed most parâ— of the Italians are of the present State of Protestants and of their Doctrin and that at Rome all manner of slights and tricks are made use of against those who refuse to bow their Knees to Baal Tâ— tell a Lye with them is a Vertue as long as it is but employ'd as they think for a good end I remember that a Jesuit who was lately come from England boldly Preached in the Church of Lateran that all Religion there was reduced to the particular Spirit and having made an ample description of the Meetings of the Anabaptists and Quakers under the name of the Church of England when he came to speak of their Sighing and Groaning and their Women Preaching he made all his Auditory break forth into a loud Laughter and by this means without doubt tho' with a great deal of Injustice he made many there present conceive very Contemptuously of that August and Venerable Body of Protestants the Church of England so Zealous for the Glory of God and of Jesus Christ his only Son so exact and decent in the Worship and Obedience she renders to his Divine Majesty and so reasonable in her Orders and Ceremonies As long as those vigilant Pastors the Bishops of the Church of England and the Learned Ministers that are under them keep their watchful Eyes fixed on the Flocks committed to their Charge there is no cause to fear that ever the Romish Wolfe will be in a condition to snatch so much as any single one of them out of their Hands nor will any of her Emissaries as subtle Theeves as they be ever be able by night to steal into the Sheepfold to devour or massacre them as they have already so often endeavoured to do I have since made this Observation on this Sermon of the Jesuit which I heard from the beginning to the end and I could wish all Protestants might seriously take it to Heart viz. That to pull down the Church of Rome the great secret is not absolutely to reject as some do all that she practiseth but that the best way to compass her downfal is to retain all that is good in her only rejecting the evil If we absolutely reject all Fasts because they of the Church of Rome observe some of them as they desire nothing more than to blacken the Protestants