is in all the Benefices wherein the Iesuites are installed Pursuant to this they wrought the Arch-Duke so fit for their designs that he was perswaded for colouring their usurpation to write to Rome to obtain an Union for them not only of the Priory of St. Iames but of the Abby of Val-Dieu the Priories of Froidâ—fontaine and St. Nicolas of the same Order and the Commandery of St. Anthony of Isenheim without the consent or knowledge of the parties concerned the Titulars or Collators of the said Benefices and without shewing the estate or nature thereof which they ought to have done before the passing of the Grant In the mean time they entertain the good Prior Nicâ—lin with Letters of complement and counterfeit amity which may be produced The better to induce the Arch-Duke to interpose and prosecute the business in their behalf they propose an agreement somewhat extraordinary That every of the said five Benefices being respectively worth between two and three thousand Florins should yield the Arch-Duke five hundred Florins apiece in deduction of so much of the three thousand Florins assigned them for their foundation This was easily agreed to by the Arch-Duke though he had no power to do it and decreed they should enjoy them in Commendam during the dependance of the matter of the Union with charge to satisfie the obligations of the foundations which was impossible for them by reason of the inconsistence and repugnancy of their institution and Rules with those of the foundations By this means the Divine Seâ—vice and communities of five good Monasteries were supprâ—ssed â—o â—ound a Colledge almost useless as being environed on all sides with other Colledges more considerable at Potentrut Fribâ—urg Selestat Mâ—lsheim and Haguenâ—u so that they have in the said Colledge but forty or fifty Schollars in six Classes under three Regents But this design was not approved of by the Holy See which refused the union as appears by another letter of the Arch-Duke of Inspâ—uch written to Rome Decemb. 9. 1651. on the same subject and to as little purpose as the former nevertheless these good sub-farmers who fancied that the Arch-Dukes Authority would never fail them and that the Scripture meant them where 't is said to the Iesuites Every place you set your foot on shall be â—oâ—rs disposed of the Priory as their own In the mean time the Abbot of Cluny advertised of the death of Nicolin bestowed the Priâ—ry of St. Iames on a â—ryar called Guillâ—t who having taken possession by Atturney dâ—signed to go in person to establish good Orders there but both he and they who assisted in taking the possession were so frighted by the threats of the Iesuites and all the Peasants of the village so deeply fined by the Sir Derlach at their instigation for having suffered an entry to be made that the Prior menaced with imprisonment durst not go further but returned into France So the Iesuites continued as farmers to usurp the mean profits in hopes the Arch-Duke recovering his Estates by a treaty of peace would maintain them by absolute Authority But F. William established by the Prince of Conty Vlâ—ar Generall of the Order of Cluny in Almaigne being provided of the said Priory 15 Iuly 1651. by the single device of Guillott and authorized by the Kings Letters addressed to the Governour of the Countrey went upon the place took possession thereof according to Custome the 7 of September the same year and established there a community of Reformed Fryars having found the Priory abandoned and almost all ruined without a Curate without Prâ—est without Fryar as it had continued ever since the usurpation of the Iesuites though the Church thereof was Parochial All which he caused to be presented by Information at Law An Abby of St. Benedict coveted and almost taken away by the Jesuites This Artifice of F. Weinhard hath no small relation and resemblance to another feat which one of his Brethren whose name for some reasons shall be concealed made use soon after against a good Abbot of the Order of St. Benedict in Almâ—igne after the death of the Emperour Ferdinand the 2 d. This Father went to the new Emperour and informed him of a design he had to write the Life of the deceased Emperour Ferdinand the 2 d his Father but it was his desire to compose a piece worthy the subject and for that purpose to retyre into some pleasant place where he might have good Aire and refreshment and named a fair Abby of the Order of St. Benedict excellently seated as a place fit for his designs Which the Emperour approving of gave him Letters of recommendation to the Abbot who made him all the welcome and good entertainment imaginable while he sojourned there The Iesuite was so taken with the pleasantness of the place that he was enamoured of it and resolved to begg it of the Emperour To compass this design he made it his business not only to watch narrowly and accurately observe but amplifie the smallest defects and imperfections of the Fryars and having finished his double work took his leave with all the marks of greatest satisfaction from the Abbot and Fryars who believed their Guest would serve them for the future as a powerfull Advocate with the Emperour upon occasion The Iesuite Arrived at Court and having presented his Majesty the Book he had composed of the life of Ferdinand the 2 d told him with unparallel'd ingratitude that he had been much deceived in the choyce he had made of the place to write in for whereas he thought it a House of Religion he found it a House of scandal and debauchery and had seen examples of a most dissolute life amongst men professing Religion but having nothing of it but the habit That his Majesty was obliged in Conscience to remedy it speedily The good Emperour answering that disorders must be reformed The Iesuite replyed that these disorders were arrived at such excess that he saw no other remedy but a total expulsion of those debauched Monks and that if his Majesty pleased to give the Society the management of it such good Order should be taken that the Change would quickly appear The Emperour taking this for a fit means to gratiâ—ie and reward the work of this Author granted his request And it was resolved in Councel that all those Monks and their Abbot should avoid the place within eight dayes and leave it to the Iesuites Another Abbot of the Order who by good Fortune was by the Councel immediately dispatched an express to the poor Abbot to advertise him of the Resolution taken against him The affair being communicated in the Chapter as usual it was concluded that the Abbot accompanyed with one of the ablest of his Monks should go to Court to seek a remedy for this misfortune and to prevent their total ruine When they presented themselves to the Emperour they found him so prepossess'd that he presently rejected them telling them his word was engaged and he could
least a Legacy very considerable â—esides what they hook in by a thousand Artiâ—â—es in the life-time 33. Proudly humble Humble in appearance but really proud abasing themselves outwardly while their thoughts are employed to exalt themselves above all the world 34. Piously hard-hearted in the necessities of others This we see in their dealings with the Children and Kindred of some persons who have left their Estates in their hands in confidence of a compassionate and pious regard from them to the necessities of the Orphans but they have deceived the hopes of the Parents and miserably frustrated the expectations of the Children The poor receive almes from the Superiours of other Orders so often that they are ashamed to begg of them but who ever saw the Iesuites give away a penny they could make use of In short they are better Preachers than practisers of that Precept in the Gospel Give Almes for they get every day more and more wealth retain tenaciously what they have gotten and hardly part with other mens Estates in their hands on what Accompt soever they are possessed of them but though they see the owner perish for want they 'l not spare him a farthing The world is full of instances of this kind 35. Sugred Slanderers With what sweetness do they express al the evil they please of other men and to shew their compassion for the misfortunes of other Orders they will recount the fall of some Fryar and covering their malignity with some specious pretence will write things to the disparagement of Religion and its professors or any other persons who are not in their books Ribadeneira their founders Companion in the book he writ of Tribulation produces the Example of Savanarola only that he might say he was a Dominican to cast odium on the Order by the miscarriages of a particular person 36. Peaceable Persecutors They persecute so gently that they seem not to touch men and in the mean time make so cruel a warre against those they love not that no secret poyson kills more infallibly It is their Maxime Never to forgive but to dissemble a while to gain opportunity of a severer revenge 37. Lovers of the World The truth of this Prophecy is demonstrated by the Iesuites care to root themselves in the world to settle themselves in the Palaces of Kings and Princes Ecclesiastical and Secular exalting themselves by degrees of favour till they render themselves Masters of all and how hardly they are gotten out of a Palace where they have once put their foot in though but a moment We see the same in their buildings their Churches and the Artifices they use to draw into their houses the most considerable persons of the places they live in their Balconies their Galleries their half-Paces their Foot-clothes their Canopiâ—s their Foot-stools and other things never used by other Orders who studied more to undeceive then to deceive the world consider further how they have undertaken the instruction of youth how they prefer in their Classes the Sons of Gentlemen and rich Tradesmen â—carrying them in triumph to be Emperours and Captains of their Schools though not perfect in the Alphabet not regarding the poor who are excellent Schollars and deserve the honour bestowed on the illiterate Their principal intention is not the instruction of youth but to gain by any means the amity of the rich and favour of the powerful to exalt themselves and become Masters of the World which they intirely love and at the same time most slavishly serve 38. Sellers of Indulgences The Pâ—â—phecy speaks not of the favours and indulgences of the Popes which their Order hath not as the Mendicants but is to be understood of their facility in granting large permissions to sinners by their loose opinions whereof their books are fuâ—l which never fail to sell well as being a Mine of convenienceies for wicked men and a magazine of means to accommodate sinners some to keep in their possession the Estates of other men other to break the fasts and â—light the abstinences and other laws of the Church and others for matters of greater infamy 39. Disposing all things for your convenience The whole world may learn of them the course they are to take for profit and convenience they think of all things foresee all things provide and dispose all things at a thousand leagues distance that nothing may scape them and though this appear impossible 't is said of them that they reason of things impossible to render them possible This may be well understood in another manner for whereas the devout Founders of Religious Orders imployed all their care to root out thence all sensual delights and pleasures of life as the principal enemies of a Religious Estate and of the Cross of Christ the Iesuites seem to bend all their thoughts for good accommodations good Linnen good Stuffs good Beds good Chambers good Horses and good Provisions for their Voyages good Victuals besides extraordinaries which they want not the best Fruits the whitest Bread and the best baked and old Wine of all which they have in their Constitutions a Law which they observe punctually and peradventure more then the Law of God so that you may strictly call them with St. Hildegard Ordinatores Commodi a name most proper for them for they have reduced carnal worldly enjoyments under rules and recalled them into Monasteries whence the Saints had carefully banished them 40. Admirers of Luxury Which denotes their inclinations to sensuality and the pleasures of the palate and other irregular passions 41. Ambitious of Honour We may fill a volumn on this Articles for they pretend to a Supremacy in Knowledge in Vertue in Sanctity c. In the time of Gregory the 13 th they attempted to take from the Order of St. Dominique the Mastership of the sacred Palace and were so importunate with that Pope that they engaged him to propose it in Consistory and had obtained their desires had not the Cardinals represented the great services done the Church by the Dominicans Ribadeneira the Iesuite in the last Book he writ giving an account of the Customes of his Order saith that though they have neither Quires nor Fasts nor Discipline nor Penance c. yet they deserve higher esteem than all other Orders whereupon he tells us admirable stories For instance when he gives the reason why the Iesuites assist not at Procâ—ssion he saith It is because they ought to have a 〈◊〉 Hâ—nâ—urable Rank than any other Order and out of humility absent themselves To back this strong reason he invents a Fable which I understand not how other Orders can endure That it was declared in the Council of Trent That the General of the Iesuites ought to have a place more Honourable then the Generalls of other Orders 〈◊〉 impudent lye they publish not to the world but disperse in private among their Confidents the Book that contains it till the lye gather force and then the Book shall be publick in
THE Moral Practice OF THE Jesuites Demonstrated by many remarkable Histories of their Actions in all parts of the World COLLECTED Either from Books of the greatest Authority or most certain and unquestionable RECORDS and MEMORIALS By the Doctors of the Sorbonne Faithfully rendred into English LONDON Printed for Simon Miller at the Star at the West-end of St Pauls 1670. THE PREFACE Of the Design of this BOOK THere 's no doubt but all who love the purity of the Moral Doctrine of Christ are very sensible of the Corruption the Jesuites labour to introduce thereinto by the Opinions they have invented But it may be said That nothing is more dreadful in the Conduct of these Fathers than to see them pursue those corrupt maximes in their Practice and that of the many things they allow in others contrary to the Law of God and the principles of the Gospel there is not any they commit not themselves to satissie their Avarice or to promote the Grandeur and Glory of their Society To prove this is the business of the present Collection of those Learned and Pious Doctors of the Sorbonne to inspire the World and the Jesuites themselves with horror at their detestable Morality there being no better way to demonstrate the danger of the looseness they authorize that latitude and remisness whereof they are Patrons than by discovery of that abyss of Injustice Avarice Lust and Other Vices wherein they have plunged them Let none imagine we were moved to gather the different pieces that make up this Collection with design to decry or prejudice the Society God is our witness we have undertaken it out of the Charity we have for them and the grief we are sincerely affected with to see them so unhappily engaged We sigh to â—ind them the causes of the loss of so many souls they seduce and draw with themselves into the precipices of Errour and Vice We deplore their obstinacy in shutting their eyes against the Light held forth by the Pastors of the Church to guide them out of their wandrings into the right wayes of Piety and Truth and tremble when we consider that every day they literally fulfil the Prophesies delivered of them in the infancy of their Society For is it not a terrible judgement of God not only on the Jesuites but the whole Church that almost in all parts of the world providence hath raised persons wise illuminated and full of the Divine Service who from the first establishment of this Company have foreseen all those mischiefs it hath wrought in the Church its turning topsie turvy the Ecclesiastical Discipline its troubling and disordering all Estates and Conditions and that in the mean time the same Company hath been permitted to mount to that degree of Power and Authority that they have laid at their feet almost all that is Great in the World that those of their Order are Masters of almost all the Consciences of Christendom that they resist all Bishops and very often attempt against their Soveraigns Melchior Canus Bishop of the Canaries that Great Luminary of the Church of Spain in these last ages no sooner discovered their appearance in that Kingdome but he believed the end of the world drew nigh and that Anti-Christ would forthwith appear for that the Fore-runners and Emissaries the Titles they confess he calls them by began to walk abroad He published every-where not only in particular discourses and private Conferences but in his Sermons and publick Lectures that he discovered in them all the marks which the Apostle declared should be seen in the followers of Anti-Christ And when Turrien one of his Friends who waâ— turned Jesuite desired him to forbear persecuting his Order and alledged on that occasion the approbation given him by the Holy See he made him no other Answer but that he held himself obliged in Conscience to advertise the people as he did that they might not peâ—mit themselves to be seduced by the Jesuites D. Jerome Baptista de Lanuza Bishop of Albarazin and Balbastro a person admirable for Holiness and Piety and particularly endowed with the gifts of Prophesie of Wisdome and Vnderstanding composed an expresse work to make it appear that the prophesie of St. Hildegard ought to be understood of the Jesuites and that it was easie to discern all the lineaments of the Society in the pourtraite she had made Tarvisius Patriarch of Venice confirmed by an Oath upon the Holy Evangelists his prediction that they should one day be expelled that City for their Factions and Politique Genius which happened accordingly five hundred years after for their having raised strange factions and seditions in the bosome of that Republique All the Catholique Vniversities particularly those of Cracovie Lovaine and Padua those of Spain and France the Bishops the Clergy all the Orders of Religion and the Courts of Parliament almost every where opposed their establishment as contrary to the good of the Church and the security of States And in particular The faculty of Theology at Paris in their Famous Decree which we cannot too much Commend Declared Unanimously THAT THIS SOCIETY APPEARED DANGEROUS AS TO THE FAITH APT TO TROUBLE THE PEACE OF THE CHURCH TENDING TO THE OVERTHROW OF THE MONASTIQUE ORDERS OF RELIGION AND MADE MORE FOR DESTRUCTION THAN FOR EDIFICATION GOD hath not only permitted that all those Great Men of Spain Italy Almaigne Flanders Poland and France should predict the mischiefs this Society would do in the Church but hath raised many of the Society iâ—self even Generals of their Order to represent and set forth with that Energy and Liberty wherewith Charity and Truth do inspire men the corruptions crept in amongst them and by their means spread through the whole body of the Church The learned Mariana hath made an express Treatise Of the Defaults he had observed in their Government and makes it appear That at the time he writ their Society was so much disfigured That had St. Ignatius their Founder come again into the world he would not have known it Mutius Vitteleschi their sixth General reflecting upon that criminal facility wherewith those of his Congregation embraced All the New Opinions that â—ended as his phrase is to corrupt and ruine the Piety of the Faithful sayes in a Letter addressed to the Superiours of all their houses That there was reason to fear the latitude and liberty of Opinion of some of the Society especially in the matter of manners would not only utterly ruine the Company but cause very great mischiefs in the whole Church of God So many Voices and Oraâ—les ought â—ertainly at least to have inclined the Jesuites to examine themselves and reform in their Doctrine and Conduct what so many Great Men judged capable to destroy their Society and annoy the whole Church But by a just judgement of God what St. Paul the Apostle declares to be the condition of every one Who doth not embrace the Holy Instructions of Christ and the Doctrine which is according to
is an indubitable proof of their truth it being impossible that the Jesuites would have absolved him having published against them so many Calumnies without obliging him to a publick acknowledgement that they were false if the facts he had reported had not been true But we were willing to pass by these and many other enormities as well to avoyd offence to the Reader by writing things which cannot with modesty be made publick as for that what openly appears in the visible conduct of the Society affords too clear proofs of the perfect Conformity between their Practices and their Maxims And that having abandoned the Rules of the Gospel to follow their vain Ratiocinations God hath delivered them up to the wandrings and errours of a depraved and corrupt spirit which hath engaged them in Actions unworthy not only of Priests and of Fryars but of Vertuous Pagans The benefit we propose in publishing this Collection is to confirm the faithfull in the abhorrency they ought to have of the Moralls of the Jesuites which as a poysoned spring convey venome into the hearts of all that approach them and to perswade the people to avoyd their detestable Maxims which having corrupted the understanding engage the will in dissoluteness and debauchery and to encline the Jesuites to give better attention to the Iudgement past of them by so many great persons particularly those of the Faculty of Theology at Paris in 1554. the accomplishment of whose sentence is cleared by the Historical Relations reported in this Collection 'T is our hearty desire the Jesuites may reap the benefit of our Labour for whatever they say we love them and have for them all the Charity we ought But we dare not hope they will profit by what we have done for that these Fathers never return from the Abysse they are plunged in but as they are invincibly obstinate in the defence of their greatest enormities we are to resolve upon an inflexible firmitude and indefatigable constancy to reproach them therewith and press them to amend with incessant sighs for their errors and miscarriages and prayers to God to mollifie the hardness of their hearts Qui enim ista non dolent non est in eis charitas Christi qui autem etiam de talibus gaudent abundat in eis malignitas Diaboli St. August Epist. 137. Of the Pieces contained in this First Part. ALl the Pieces whereof this Collection is composed are reduced to two things we have undertaken to justifie that is That the Jesuites are animated with a spirit of Pride and of Avarice The first is made appear by the Extracts we report from a Book Entituled The Image of the first Age of the Society of Jesus which the Jesuites caused to be printed in Flanders in 1640. The reason of the Title was their design to represent in that Book all the different Events happened to their Society since their establishment in 1540 which they have pursued with so much affectation executed in a manner so full of vanity and pride that we cannot open the Book without abhorring the impudence of these fathers in turning all things to their advantage and labouring to draw Glory from that which ought rather to humble and confound them It might have been necessary to have translated the whole Book to make known their folly at large and to discover their extravagancies in their perfect dimensions but we have been content to make only some Extracts to which a person of Piety hath added reflections no less solid than ingenious the Light whereof renders their Vanity more ridiculous We doubt not but the Readers will judge that we ought to have refuted them thus since as Tertullian says there 's nothing more due to the vanity of men than to be railed at We hope that these Extracts will servs to demonstrate the utility and necessity of the present Collection for that this Society having affected to give the world such false Ideas of themselves and representations quite different from what they really are it was but just to present men with the true pictures of these Fryars and give them the occasion To know them by their Fruits Mat. 7. 16. The other pieces of this Collection serve to prove they imploy all sorts of means to inrich themselves and that nothing escapes the claws of their avarice The first stories we report are taken out of works so authentique that to name them will be sufficient to exempt their credit from question as being Extracts out of a Memorial presented to His Majesties Council by the Vicar-General of the Order of Cluny in Almaigne others out of a book of a famous Benedictine Fryar in Almaigne and others from an arrest of the Parliament of Metz. The residue are Extracts of a Spanish Book Intituled The Theatre of Jesuitisme or the Jesuitique Theatre being an Apology for other Orders of Religion against the Jesuites addressed to Pope Innocent the 10 th and Printed at Conimbre in 1654 But because this book is not well known to the world and men may possibly serâ—ple to give it the credit it deserves without a more particular knowledge of the Author and occasion that moved him to write we shall endeavour in few words to satisâ—ie their doubts To begin with the Occasion that gave birth to the Theatre of Jesuitisme we are to observe that the licentiate Esclapes having made a Book Intituled A manifest addressed to all the Faithful in Jesus Christ of the wicked maximes taught maintained and practised by the Jesuites Another Author under the name of Doctor Aquila answered it by a Book which appeared with this Title Ladreme el Perro y no me muerda Let the Curr bark at me but not bite me This pretended Doctor undertook in this work to justifie all that Esclapes had reproved and to shew â—e understood not the matter he Treated of when he affirmed the Jesuites to have been sole Authors of those Maximes whereas they had only followed the Authors who preceded them and especially the Dominicans in whose Books they had learnt them The Author of the Theatre of the Jesuitisme undertakes by that Book the refutation of Aquila and the defence of all the Authors he had attaqued The Book is divided into two parts The first comprehends the refutation of Aquila upon the Maximes reported by Esclapes We have taken nothing out of this The Moral Doctrine of the Jesuites not long since published containing large Entracts made of that part We have confined our selves principally to the second as conducing most to the design of this Collection which is to demonstrate the practice of that doctrine in the Conduct of the Jesuites We shall observe here onely two things 1. That this passed in Spain the same time when the pernicious Morals of the Jesuites were attaqued with such zeal and success in France 2. That the Author sayes he affirms not any story in his Book but what concerns the Society intire or some particular person whose protection and defence
the smallest matters and added thereto in his practice frequent Fasts and instead of cords made use of chains of iron in acts of Penance and Mortification his constant exercises were Prayer and Reading of Godly Books he had the gift of Prophecy was of great Wisdome and excellent Understanding whereof his Master St. Lewis Beltram and his Books give ample testimony and a clear evidence He spent fifty years in the Ministry of the Word and when he preach'd his face was often seen to shine with extraordinary lustre his Charity when Bishop made him very poor for he gave all his Goods even the Bed he lay on in Almes his Confessor assures us he never sinned mortally and in the seventieth year of his Age died at Albarazin reputed a Saint The Holy Woman speaks of a sort of men to come in the last Ages And 't is observed in the Life of St. Engelbert the Martyr Arch-Bishop of Cologne written by an Author his Contemporary That in the life of that Prelate when the Domiâ—iâ—ans and Franciscans came to Cologne to Found for themselves Houses of Religion the Ecclesiasticks murmured and endeavoured to perswade the Arch-bishop to expel them alledging for reason their fear that these were the men of whom St. Hildegard had Prophesied to which the Prelate made answer that there was no cause of complaint against those Orders for that till then they had not given other than good Examples but the time would come when the Prophecy should be fulfilled which in the Margent of this Prophecy in the Annals of Baronius is observed to be these latter dayes I shall relate the Prophecy as I find it recited in Bzovius a famous Author for though the Copy the Bishop of Albarazin followed in his Commentary differ somewhat from that Bzovius made use of yet both agree exactly in sense The Marvellous Prophecy of the Abbess Hildegard Reported by Bzovius in the 15th Tome of his Ecclesiastical Annals Anno Dom. 1415. Q. 39. under Pope John 23. THere will arise men without a Chief who shall feed and grow fat upon the sins of the people but profess themselves of the number of Beggars shameless in their behaviour studious to invent new wayes to do mischief a pernicious Order odious to all wise men and those that are faithful to Jesus Christ healthy and strong but lazy and idle that they never work pretending beggery busie antagonists against the Teachers of the Truth by their Credit with Great Ones opposing the Innocent having four principal Vices rooted in their hearts by the Devil Flattery to gain gifts from the World Envy to make them impatient to see good done to others and not to them Hypocrisie to please by dissimulation and Detraction to render themselves commendable by dispraising others Preaching incessantly to Secular Princes to procure themselves applause from the people and to seduce the simple but without Devotion or Example of true Martyrdome robbing true Pastors of their Rights to administer the Sacraments and depriving the Poor the miserable and the sick of their Almes cajoleing the populace and courting their favour familiar with Ladies and other women and â—eaching them to cheat their husbands and give away their goods to them in private receivers of ill gotten goods saying give them to us and we will pray for you and obtain pardon for all your sins making these they Confess to forget their kindred receiving goods from â—obbers on the high-way extortioners sacrilegious persons usurers fornicators adulterers hereticks schismaticks apostates lewd women perjured tradesmen corrupt Judges cashiered souldiers tyrants and all other miscreants led by the Devil living deliciously passing this transitory life in society and at last falling together into damnation having the world at will but the people will by degrees grow cold towards them and having by experience found them seducers cheats and impostors will hold their hands from further gifts then will they run about their houses like famished or mad dogs with their eyes to the ground shrinking their necks like 〈◊〉 seeking bread to satisâ—â—e their hunger but the people will cry out Woe be to you ye children of desolation the world hath deceived you the devil is seized of your hearts and mouths your minds are gone astray in vain speculations your eyes were delighted with beholding vanities your delicate palates have searched out the most pleasant wines your feet were swift in running to mischief and you may remember you never did good you were the fortunate malignants pretending poverty but very rich and under colour of simplicity of great power devout flatterers hypocritical saints proud beggars offering petitioners wavering and unstable teachers delicate martyrs hired confessors proudly humble piouâ—ly hard-hearted in the necessities of others sugred slanderers peaceable persecutors lovers of the world sellers of indulgencies disposing all things for your convenience admirers of luxury ambiâ—ious of honour purchasers of houses sowers of discord building still higher and higher but not able to attain a height equal to your desires and now ye are fallen as Simon the Magician whose bones were bruised and his body struck by God with a mortal plague upon the Apostles prayer so shall your Order be destroyed by reason of your impostures and iniquities Go then you teachers of sin the Doctors of disorder Fathers of corruption Children of wickedness wee 'l no longer follow you for Guides nor give ear to your doctrine An Expository Comment upon this prophecy by the Right Reverâ—nd Don Jerome Baptista de La Nuza Lord Bishop of Albarazin and afterwards of Balbastro whereby it appears that 't is â—o be applyed to those who call themselves the Society of Jesus though their actions and opinions bâ—speak them his enemies being conâ—radictory to His which they profess with their month but deny in their works Reported by the Author of Theatrum Iesulâ—iâ—um pag. 183. as a true Copy of the Original under the Prelates hand remaining in the Convent of Dominicans at Saragosa 1. There will arise men withoâ—t a Chief who shall feed and grow far upon the sins of the people but profess themselves of the number of Beggars FIrst It appears this is spoken of Ecclesiasctical persons for of them the Prophet said That they did eat the sins of the people which is the same with the Holy womans expression in the Prophecy Secondly They must be of a begging Order which she confirms on another occasion by express words to that purpose Assumentes potins exemplum mendicandi And though the Iesuites are not comprehended in any of the four Orders of Fryers Mendicant yet have they Brieves like theirs whereof they glory in their Books and make use upon occasion Thirdly That they shall be an Order which shall not bear the name of their Founder or chief which is the meaning of those words Sans Chef and denotes what is afterwards intimated in the name La Companie which Hildegard uses where she saith That they shall live deliâ—iously in the Company or Sâ—ciety a
all most partial for the ancient enemies of your Crown used the advantage of being in your Countrey to act more maliciously against your interest Otho one of their Society being chosen for chief by the 16 Conspirators And if I may be allowed to interweave among our own a passage taken from foraign affairs it shall be that lamentable one in the History of Portugal When the King of Spain attempted the usurpation of that Kingdom all the Orders of Religion stood firm in the obedience due to their King the Iesuites only deserted him to advance the Dominion of Spain and caused the death of two thousand Fryers and other Ecclesiastiques for which they had a Bull of absolution Their Doctrine and Deportment in time past caused that when De Chastel rose against you there followed an Arrest as well against him as against those of their Society condemned by your mouth An Arrest which we have consecrated to the memory of the happiest miracle of our time judging from thence that if they continued to bring up Youth in that mischievous Doctrine and Damnable instruction your life could not be in safety which made us pass over those formalities which oblige us to judge of Causes in our Conusance by regular instances which we postposed to the safety of the publick by sentencing them who being peculiarly subject to the Jurisdiction of your other Courts might in ordinary cases have claimed exemption from ours But We had not any malice envy or ill will against them in general or particular if we had God had punished us for being their Judges though the atrocity of the Crime and the affection we had for your Majesties preservation for the future invited us to give this Arrest though executed within the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of Roven and Dijon by your commandement and met with no resistance from any but them who were not well setled in their obedience to your Majesty and could not but with difficulty part with their ill will and disaffection to your Government They complain by their writings that the whole Society ought not to be charged with the faults of three or four But their enormities are such that had they been reduced to the condition of those called the Humble Fryers they had not had just occasion to complain one Fryar of that Order had plotted only the Assassinate of Cardinal Borromâ—o about thirty years since and the whole Order was suppressed and for ever abolished by Pope Pius the fifth pursuant to a resolution of the Colledge of Cardinals notwithstanding all the instance of the King of Spain to the contrary our judgement is not so severe if they say there is no comparison between their Order and that of the Humbled Fryars their 's being far greater we shall tell them that there is less comparison between a Cardinal and the greatest King of the world exalted far higher above a Cardinal then their Order above the meanest that may be That the Humbled Fryars were in less fault then they for one only of them was author of the Assassinate of the Cardinal but they all are guilty of your parricide by means of their instruction We do therefore most humbly beseech you that as you approved of the arrest so justly given and then necessary to deter so many traytors from conspiring against you so it may please you to maintain it and cast your eye back on the danger we then were in to see the life of our Common Father taken away which is dearer to us than our own and we could not but expect the shameful reproach of disloyalty and ingratitude did we not keep in perpetual memory the danger you were in since 't is you have restored us our lives our peace and our estates Tâ—e remembrance of the past ought to serve us for precaution to take such Order that we be not for want of foresight buried in the abyss of a second ship-wrack I cannot omit a particular petition on the behalf of the university that you would have pity and compassion for it which cannot but dread the consequences that may ensue upon the admission of so pernicious an Order as those we have spoken of These are in short our humble Remonstrances and Reasons that have stayed us from causing your letters to be published fearing least we might be justly reproached to have proceeded with too much facility to the verification Extracts out of the Book intituled An Image of the first age of the Society of the Jesuites wherein is seen that spirit of pride and self-esteem that reigns in this Society even to extravagance THere need not any great researches to evidence that the Iesuites practise those maximes of pride they teach other men That one book they composed to give the world an image and representation of their Society is sufficient to demonstrate that ambition vanity and presumption inspire men with nothing which these fathers believe not allowable and that the desire of Honour and Glory they take for the object of their conduct in all things hath transported them even to the utmost extravagances The Society is the fiery chariot of Israel a troop of burning and shining Angels The Society say they is that fiery chariot of Israel which sometimes made Elisha weep over that in which he ascended and that now by the particular favour of God this and the other world rejoyce to see it brought back in the necessities of the Church wherein if you inquire for Armies and Soldiers which every day multiply by new victories their triumphs of the militant Church you will find them in this society being a choyce Troop of Angels who in Animal forms execute in this warfare the desires of their Soveraign head Lib. 3. Orat. 1. Pag. 401. As the Angels illustrated with the brightness of the Divinity shine as streams of light and perfection so the Companions of Iesus imitating the purity of Angels are closely united to their Origin that is to God from whom they derive those quick and ardent motions those clear and bright rayes of vertue loosing all impurity of pleasures in that furnace of Soveraign and most chaste love that consumes them and attaining such degrees of clarity and perfection that they have sufficient not only to trim their own lamps but to communicate to others a light mingled with heat being no less illustrious by the splendour of their vertues than divinely inflamed by the ardour of charity ibid. They are all eminent in learning and wisdome 't is the Society of the Perfect They are Angels like St. Michael in their combates against hereticks like Gabriel in the conversion of infidels like Raphael in the consolation of Souls and conversion of sinners by their Sermons and Confessions they all express as much promptitude and fervency to confess and catechize the poor and the ignorant as to govern the consciences of great Men and of Princes and are all no less famous for their learning and wisdom than those who direct
said more of Christ who saith in the Gospel that he hath overcome the world of whom the Church sings that he hath subdued all the Earth not by the edge of the sword but the wood of the Cross whom David compares in the 18 Psal to the Sun who sets out from one end of the Heavens and continues his course to the end of it again nothing being hid from the heat thereof Were Ignatius at this day raised from the dead his humility would be offended with words so full of vanity and pride The Epitaph of Ignatius You thâ—t by the felicity of wit and excâ—llence of conceit can represent in your fancyes the images of Pompey the Great Caesar or Alexander â—open your eyes tâ— truth and you shall read on this Mâ—â—ble that Ignatius was greater than all these Conquerours Lib. 2. p. 180. The Epitaph of Xavier Stay a while you Heroes Great spirits and Lovers of vertue You are not to do or undertake any thing more since Xavier is buryed under this tombe But I am deceived There 's nothing in a manner here of that Great Apâ—stle of the East câ—uragious beyond nature illustrious beyond imitation admirable beyond envy the companion of Jesus the Son of Ignatius that immâ—rtal Angel in a mortal body There 's nothing here I sâ—y of him that could be corrupted since he had not any thing subject to corrupâ—ion who subdued more peopâ—e to the Church than the Romans and Greeks did to their Empires in several Ages We may with good reason say to the Jesuiâ—es in the words of Christ 〈…〉 Wo be to you Lawyers and Pharisees hypocrites who build the tombs of the Prophets and garnish â—he Sepulchers of he righteous For methinks they mock these Saints when on the one hand they praise them to excess to draw thence glory for themselves and on the other hand follow another spirit and contrary Maxims To shew the difference between the conduct of the Jesuites and that of Xavier it will be sufficient to report what themselves say of this Saint that though he was Nuntio from the Pope yet when he arrived at Goa he went to prostrate himself at the feet of the Bishop to inform him for what end the Pope and the King of Portugal had sent him into that Countrey he presented to him and left in his hands the Popes Brieves promising never to make use of his Authority as the Apostolical Nuntio further than it should please the Bishop to allow To which the Author of the history addes that he alwayes kept inviolable his custom of submitting to the Prelates of the Church of what degree soever These are the words of F. Daniel Bartoli lib. 1. dellâ— 1. part dell 〈◊〉 della Comp. de Iesus â—ell Asia But the Jesuites no otherwise qualified than as brethren of the Society do every day exalt themselves against the power of Bishops and pretend to preach and administer the Sacraments in spite of them which hath obliged a great number of the best Bishops of France to interdict them Vain and false Elegies of other Authors Lessius say they hath gotten eternal reputation not only by the works of his wit but the renown of his Vertues and was consulted as an Oracle from all parts of the world Lib. 1. Dissert 5. pag. 17. When Laine's spake in the Councel of Trent for the Conception of the Virgin withâ—ut Original Sin the whole Councel gave ear to him not as a man speaking out of a Chair but as a Prophet descended from heaven for pronouncing of Oracles declaring of mysteries and publishing of secrets And he by his eloquence preserved the Virgin from receiving a spot in the purity of her conception and fetched but that stain she had received before by the opinion of many he means the Dominicans lib. 1. Or. 5. p. 139. 'T is principally from Spain those great men issued who by the excellence of their parts and depth of their learning have extended the limits of Sacred knowledge have been the Ornament of our age and will be the admiration of posterity lib. 11. c. 4. p. 211. He means Suarez Vasquez Molina and others to whom they may now add Escobar Guimenius c. infamous for errours and ignorance as the others celebrated for learning and knowledge What shall I say of those Ramparts of sacred learning Suarez and Vasquez Who in the great heap of difficulties opposed to their scrutiny and the vigour of their wit believed and with reason that they could penetrate through all and that nothing could be inaccessible to them What vaste thoughts had Cornelius de la Pierre who hath comprehended in his Commentaries all the Holy Scripture What shall I say of Sanchez and Lessius those men â—f knowledge so pure and so perfect they should have added Virginal and Maidenly for Alegamb gives their knowledge that title of honâ—ur lib. 5. c. 6. p. 644. Sâ—arez whom the most knowing persons have not doubted to call the Vniversal Mâ—ster of this Age p. 438. It must be confessed that there are in the Society of the Iesuites some knowing persons but when they take occasion from thence to extoll themselves above all the world they give just cause of complaint that the knowledge of those few serves only to blow up the rest with pride and vanity even to the meanest conducters and ministerial officers they all have great opinions of themselves though no right to the praises of the Society so that when they hear the magnificent Encomiums they give Vasquez Suarez and some others they easily perswade themselves that they are considerable members of so illustrious a body and that one day they shall have their badge of dignity and a more honourable place in the Records of the Society Theiâ— vain and prâ—â—ended Conformity with Iesus Christ. 'T is not enough for the ambition of the Iesuâ—tes to compare their Society with the Church the spoâ—se of Christ and to represent him working on an anvil a ring to be given them in token of an indissoluble marriage with the Society but all the great volumn of the Image of their first age consists only of comparisons of themselves with Christ making the resemblance to lye in Five points which are the subjâ—cts of the five Books of that work which they have abridged and placed in the beginning of their first Book as followeth 1. Iesus Christ made himself of no reputation Ignaâ—ius descended of an Illustrious Family was reduced to beg his bread Hence sprang this little Society so they call it here They persevered well in the humility of their Founder when in China they quitted their ordinary habit and went as Gallants to prevent as they affirm the contempt that attends a poor appearance 2. Iesus Christ increased in wisdom in age and in grace in the sight of God and of mâ—n This is the Image of the Society Crâ—scent 't is strange that notwithstanding the knowledge men have of the irregularities of the Iesuites they have
make for their Glory to end all they compare this great body to Christ Iesus himself as if all other perfections but that of God-man were unworthy of them They are strongly possest with a fancy that their Company is like unto Christ and that as there is nothing in Christ but what is Holy it follows in their imagination that all is holy among them too There is nothing so corrupt in their manners so extravagant in their devotion so false in their Theology which they maintain not as the Sentiments of the Church Many of their Divines invent fanatick opinions and the Universities have been often obliged to censure their Authors But these Fathers persist in their principles and thinking it necessary to maintain themselves to be infallible as the Church they never recant and have all in their hearts what one of them sometime stuck not to pronounce That the opinion of a Iesuite is alwayes Catholique dogma Catholicum Iesuiticum convertuntuâ— And thus supposing alwayes this Society to be all holy all luminous all perfect without spot without infirmity without malady they believe it impossible to praise it excessively as a work of God beyond all praise and that these holy companions of Iesus Christ are so united to him that all that may be said to their advantage returns unto God In so great a measure doth he partake of all that concerns them But while they admire themselves in this manner they perceive not the misery of the condition they are fallen into which we cannot better express than to say that the extream desire they have had to pass for the wisest and most illuminated in the world hath rendered them foolish and senseless that they have lost themselves in their vain Ratiocinations that their minds and their hearts having been covered with darkness they have transferred the honour due only to the incorruptible God unto their Society full of corruption and misery and as the Pagans having chosen for Gods men subject to all sorts of passions and vices were in pursuance of that folly obliged to sanctifie those disorders so the Iesuites alwayes supposing themselves Saints take no care to purifie themselves from those faults which are common to them with other men but labour to sanctifie those faults in giving the greatest vices of a Iâ—suite the golden titles of vertue and goodnâ—ss so that though they are ambitious covetous interâ—ssed revengeful as other men they are still innocent for considering themselves under no other notion than that of one of the most excellent works of God they fancy that in praising themselves they but praise God that in exalting themselves above the world they do but establish the Empire and Authority of Christ that in heaping up riches and scraping wealth together all the wayes they can devise they serve not their interest but Iesus Christ for as for them though they lodge in magnificent houses and amass all the estate they possibly can by â—eâ—â—aments and donations by trafick by borrowing money and then proving bankrupts they pretend to be poor and alwayes without money because they have nothing whereof they devest not themselves speculatively into the hands of Iesus Christ. As they pretend they have no enemies but those of God they think it permitted them to oppress them as they please and as if their power were as Gods inseparable from Justice they never shew the least scruple or repentance for any evil they do them who oppose their most wicked designs Lastly though their Authors are guilty of almost infinite errours and fill their books with detestable maximes they forbear not to regard them with such respect and submission as if they alone were the Rule of the Truth and as if every opinion written in their books must of necessity be holy and good St. Augustine teaches us that God serves himself sometimes of the most shameful miscarriages of proud men to make them see their corruption to humble them and oblige them to have recourse to repentance but it seems this remedy is of no use for the Iesuites those remarkable and most shameful falls so frequent in their Society having not been yet able to open their eyes nor to perswade them that they are not impeccable So great is their passion to make their Society pass for a Virgin without blemish that they have intirely abolished repentance amongst them and all the marks of it as a superfluous thing I cannot but report on this occasion the complaint made to me by one of their brethren for some few there are who mourn for these horrible disorders and begin to open their eyes He told me that as soon as any of them is Priest if he be unhappy enough to fall secretly into a mortal sin he must of necessity dye in impenitence for they are indispensably obliged to say Mass every day which supposeth them all saints or that a simple confession can in a moment re-establish them in the sanctity they had lost and restore them to the dispositions necessary in them who approach the Altar what crime soever they have committed I enter not the secrets of the heart and of the consciences of particular men but if we may be allowed to guess in general at their weakness and infirmities by those of many who publickly fall into infamous Actions I think it may be said without passing rash Judgement that 't is very possible that some of them fall into sins that oblige them to repentance and that it is so much the more possible that they are of a very great number that they live without any Austerity and great liberty of converse with all sort of people besides that their ordinary imployments their Preaching Confession and Classes are oftentimes neer dangerous occasions of falling into sin so that it being very probable that some fall into those precipices which all are so neer 't is strange that the passion they have for their Glory should so harden them in their Crimes that it hath never been seen that any of them that have fallen came out of that state by a true and compleat repentance This love of Glory is so great amongst them that it hath not only made them abolish repentance for fear of giving any colour to think they need it but hath carry'd them sometimes to the doing of extreme violences and great injustice for covering those faults whereby they might receive any dishonour and the better to conceal them they labour with all Artifice to justifie the persons who have committed them We have an instance of this Excess in the Theatre of the Jesuites p. 396. so horrible that the Author durst not report it But the world knowes it by other means and Mariana acknowledges that it is their custom when they fear the fault of any Father not yet discovered may come to light to transport him presently into another Province And when some disorder appears in a Superiour whose reputation they would maintain in the world whom notwithstanding
the validity of the Absolution should come into question they are furnished with revelations to confirm them But he that hath care of the health of his Soul will not rely on these broken reeds of pretended miracles which serve only to beget a false confidence in sinners And the charity of these Fathers who charge themselves so freely with the most horrible crimes committed by others may assure us they have artifices to exempt themselves from repentance as they have devices to excuse others from it The great advantages of their Congregations in Christendome The Distinction between their Nobles and others The happiness of Kings Princes and Bishops which are in their lists THe honour of the Son and Reverence due to the Mother were neglected and layd aside in most Provinces of Christendome Who then presented Offerings in the Temples of the Virgin who gave her their hearts and affections which she hath ever loved above all offerings in the world When Gregory the 13 th had confirmed them the same ardour of piety inflamed the Universe Lib. 3. c. 7. We mingle not Noblemen and persons of quality with Tradesmen and Mechanicks it being impossible equally to procure the salvation of Souls without this inequality in our Assemblies pa. 361. In the Church of Christ the rich and poor are mingled together or rather in Christ there remains no distinction of Rich men and poor being all one body and one Spirit in him But the Church of the Iesuites hath another custom these Fathers separate and treat them with very great difference they flatter the one and domineer over the other and deal equally with them in nothing but this that they endeavour to make their advantage equally of both They give extrordinary prayses to Ferdinand the 2 d and Ferdinand the 3 d because their names are Registred in their Congregations Posterity say they shall see in these Registers the piety of Ferdinand marked with those Letters that compose his Name engraven in characters drawn by the hand that holds the Scepter of the Empire whereof every one stands for an evidence of his veneration and respect to his spiritual Souldiers of the Society of Iesus To this they adde the magnificent Inscription in their Register where they put into the mouth of Ferdinand the 3 d the Expressions they thought fittest for extolling their Order by commending his Devotion They are ravished at the recital of the names of Sigismund the 3 d King of Poland the late Cardinal Infant the late Duke of Savoy the Mother of the Emperour Rudâ—lphus and the Wife of Charles the 9 th of France registred in their books 'T is hard to determine whether the brethren of the Society rejoyce more for being members of this body whereof those August persons the prime Agents and Intelligents in the Spheres of Christendom are their fellow-members or those Kings and Queens for being inrolled in their Registers They esteem their other titles titles of Dignity but this they reckon the title of their Happiness which gives them clearer right to the supreme dignity of being a Christian This is so true that a Bishop publickly declared he gloryed more in that he was one of the Brethren of the Society than in the title of Bishop and accounted it a greater Ornament than his Cross and his Mitre Pa. 363. These Fathers should have supprest the Book of Father Bary called Paradise opened by the hundred Prayers and some others of Rinet and Posa before they had â—oasted their Devotion for the Virgin the books being as full of impertinencies and impious questions on that subject as the practices of their Worship are vain and ridiculous The good effects publick and private of their Congregations All Christendome hath received benefit from these fraternities as having supprest the licentiousness of Vice and brought to light examples of eminent vertue the Officers of Justice have declared in several towns that the boldness of offenders hath been more restrained by these Societies than by fear of punishment and that after the introduction of those exercises of Religious Devotion to the Virgin into Cities they have found few criminals on whom to execute the severity of the Laws which upon accurate and exact observation they have solemnly declared and among other praises of these assemblies asfirmed their establishment a publick good Ibid. The Iesuitical Casuists pretend that they and not the Congregations have banished Sin from the World But 't is as credible of the one as the other for the truth is neither have done it A man above seventy years old yet more wise than aged complained he had lived only two years being those elapsed since his Name had been entred in the Roll of our Congregation Ibid. The Duke de Popolo sick of a mortal distemper having sent â—or one of our Fathers told him he died chearfully and full of hope but that the confidence he had he owed intirely to the Congregation and the same time commanded his Son to give them his Name and his affection proteâ—ting he could not leave him a nobler Title or Richer inheritance than his succession in the good opinion of the Society And what could have been bequeathed him by his Father of more advantage than the favouâ— of the Virgin a sure pledge of Eternal Salvation Ibid. It is impossible the Society should think on those multitudes of Souls saved by these fraternities which have preserved so many from burning in hell as victims of Divine Vengeance and not at the same time to find such satisfaction and pleasure in so good a work as serves for a sharp spur to quicken her in her course for propagating and encouraging those fraternities that the saving Standards of Iesus Christ and the Virgin the Mother as well as the Son may be set up in all parts of the Earth and that they who justly fear the rigour of a severe Judge may be invited by the amiable indulgence of the Virgin Ibid. You hear their Rodomantades but the use they make of their Congregations is to draw the people to them from their lawful pastors to bring into contempt the parochial mass to make themselves masters of mens spirits and consciences and in a word to serve their interest That the frequent use of Confession and Communion grown obsolete is re-established wonderfully by the Society What an excellent priviledge and beyond all hope and expectation of mankind is it that God hath established man in his place not only to remit their crimes who are guilty of treason against Heaven but to restore them to their first dignity and familiarity with him and in a moment by one words speaking to make them of guilty men favourites of God of Enemies Friends and of condemned Traytors heirs of a Kingdom That Criminals obtain pardon as often as they offend and receive remission by the absolution of man though the sins they commit merit the angeâ— of heaven and just punishment from God lib 3. c. 8. It appears this Author was
and take from the Proprietors some of these Abbyes To effect this they make use according to their custom of the credit their Father Lancorman had in the Court of the Emperour Ferdinand the 2 d whose Confessor he was This Iâ—suite animated by his Brethren made great instance to two Abbots the one of St. Benedict and the other of the Cisteaux Deputed by their Orders to hasten the Execution of the Emperours Edict and was very importunate with them to quit unto the Society all the Nunneries to be restored by the Protestants and some of the less considerable Abbies These Abbots who had no power to consent to so unjust and extraordinary a demand against their Conscience râ—turned him Answer in generall words of Câ—mplement that they were ready to serve him in any thing but what concerned the interest of their Orders F. Lamormam seeing them leave the Court presently suggested to his friends and gave out in Speeches That these two Abbots had made a voluntary Cession of several Abbies to the Society And on this fiction whereof he was afterwards convicted by publick and authentick Acts he grounded a Memorial which he presented to the Emperour desiring that in pursuance of the voluntary Cession of these two Abbots his Imperial Majesty would send Commissioners into several Provinces of the Empire to put the Society in possession of those Abbies Having by this means surprized the good Prince and his Councell who took this Imposture for truth they obtained Letters addressed to the Commissaries Generall of the Circles to three Provincials of the Society and to the Generals of the Imperial Army the Duke of Friesland and Count Tilly forthwith to sequester the said Abbies All the world was astonished sayes learned F. H at this sudden and unjust Change of the Emperours former Orders not knowing what cause could possibly incline this Prince to Râ—voke so soon his publick Edict for restitution of these Abbies to the ancient Orders which had been so highly commended by the Hoâ—y See and to out men of Religion of their Estates unheard against the Law of Nations and common right But the Iesuites raised a report that this Change proceeded from the voluntary Cession the two Abbots had made of their Abbies in the name of their Orders So that the two Abbots were obliged to make a solemn protestation against this notorious falshood both by Letters to the Confessor and by publick Acts insisting that they had not so much as thought of a promise to consent to the translation of their Abbyes to the Iesuites nor had any power so to do And a famous Benedictine who was of the Emperours Councell and created at that time Bishop and Prince of Vienna being brought in as a witness by F. Lamormâ—n declared the quite contrary to what the Iesuites alleadged as appears by a writing reported by F. Hay The Iesuites Writings their Intrigues at Rome their Confidence to dâ—cry the Edict and Councel of the Emperour The common experience that the Iesuiâ—es once engaged in a lye will not easily unsay it was conâ—rmed by an instance in the pâ—esent affair â—or all these Acts and solemn protestations could not hinder them from continuing the spreading of this Impâ—sture even by Printed books But seeing their fictions and falsities discovered they resolved for maintaining their unjust usurpation openly to confront and attaque the Edict of the Emperour and the right of the ancient Orders This they did by two Writings wherein the Emperours instructions to his Ambassadour at Rome suitable to his Edict executed already in several Abbyes whereof the Monks of the Order of St. Benedict and others were in possession were censured and dishonoured as containing Things contrary to Truth the holy Canons and Immunityes Ecclesiastical and the Emperour himself charged to have exceeded his power in the restitution of these Abbyes to their ancient Orders But seeing that all the Ministers of State of the Emperours Councel had discovered the artifice of the Confessor and opposed their unjust pretensions they changed the Scene and plyed amain their intrigues at Rome and besides their private solicitations published a Book entituled Remarques in the Cause of Estates Ecclesiastical and Monasteries supprest in Almaigne And though F. Layman their Casuist at Dilingue justifies and highly commends this book calling the Author An illustrious person and â— Divine well informed of the affairs of Almaign though he durst not own him a Iesuite yet 't is incredible how it slanders and vilifies the Ministers of State of the Councel Imperiall what odium it casts on them as having attempted against the Pontiâ—ical Authority by the restitution of these Abbyes to the lawfull owners For saith the Author you are to observe first of all that the design of the Councel Imperial is absolutely to debarr the Pope from â—aving any part in the râ—stitutiâ—n of the Catholique Religion in Almaigne This is evident in that the Emperour published his Edict fâ—r restitution of Ecclesiâ—stical Estates without acquainting the Pope or taking his advice to whom to restore them This Councel tends not only to exclude the Pâ—pe from the Re-establishment but to shake off the yoke of the Apostolick Iurisdiction throughout the Empire And the reason why this Councel doth with so much â—emerity and impâ—eâ—y attaque the Holy See is that there are in it some persons ill affected to the Apâ—stolical Chaire some who as mâ—er Politiques to ingratiate themselves with their Prince by flattery labour the exaltation of his Authority in all things And some perhaps who under a Vizard of Catholique profession are Hereticks in their hearts And as for the Abbot of the Monastery of Cremounster of the Order of St. Benedict and of â—he said Councel he is a man full of pride Who nevertheless for his merits and suffâ—ciency was soon after promoted to the Dignity of Prince and Bishop of Vienna See here how the Councel Imperial by a sudden Metamorphosis is from Catholick turned Schismatick and an enemy to the Holy See as soon as the Jesuites have discovered that Justice had a stronger influence over the spirits of these Ministers of State to maintain what the Emperour had so religiously ordained by his Edict than their Solicitations for accommodating themselves with other mens Estates Two books were about the same time published in defence of the rights of the Ancient Orders whereupon the Jesuites gave charge to their F. Laymâ—n who had formerly written a book on this subject intituled Placida Disceptatio to imploy his pen against the two Books and handle them which he did as infamous Libels Because the Authors approved not of the Jesuites intentions to take away the Abbyes from the ancient Orders but had refuted those injurious suggestions and falsities they made use of to that purpose and because the Jesuites would have usurped other mens Estates without incurring the infamy inseparable from an usurpation so unjust and so violent as theirs The Jesuite entitles his book The just Defence of
the Passages in the strange Discovery made by D' John De Santelices Guevara Councellor in the Councell Royall of the Fraud and Cheat whereby the Jesuites of the Colledge of St. Hermenigilde of Sevil concealed and detained for above 39 Years from D. Rodâ—rick Barba Cabera de Vaca Inhabitant of the said City Three thousand three hundred Ducats Rent left him by John de Monsalve his Vnkle one of the 24 of Sevil which all that time they enjoyed to thâ—ir own use and behoof giving him only 300 Ducats yearly by way of Almes THE Councel Royall of Castille having granted a Commission to the Siâ—ur D. Iohn De Santelices Councellor in the said Councell and President of the Audience Royall of Sevil for taking cognizance of the Process and causes of the Assembly of the Creditors of the Iesuites of the Colledge of St. Hâ—rmenigilde of the said City to seize all the Goods and Rents of the said Iesuites to search for such Goods as they had concealed and laid out of the way and to recover them and to give intire satisfaction to the said Creditors by payment the said Sieur D. Iohn caused all the books of Accompts of the store and Chest of the said Colledge to be brought before him for the better execution of what was enjoyned him Among others he found a book intituled A Book of secret works of piety Reading it leaf by leaf he saw the manner how the Accompts were to be kept of the imploy and distribution of the said secret works of piety so called because the Fathers were Masters thereof as also the Accompts given by the Provincials at their Visitations by the Stewards or Procurators of the Colledge all â—igned with the hands of the Provincials There he findes written these very words We must temporize with Don Roderick Barba Cabeca de Vaca till the death of the Beneficiary John Segner de Velasco and when he is dead shut the door against Roderick Barba as a person we have nothing to do with And a little lower another advertisement importing That no person ought to have Cognizance of this Booke nâ—r of the Estate and Revenues of the Colledge but only the Procurators the Rector the Provincial and Consultors of the Province The said Sieur D. Iohn having taken great notice of this Title and the two advertisements and Articles of the Book cited before him the said De Villar formerly Procurator of the Colledge but then in the Convent of St. Francis D. Rodrick Barba and the Beneficiary Iohn Segner de Velasco And having given them their Oaths and demanded what they could say to these Articles and what this pious work was they declared as followeth and confirmed it by Oath Nine and thirty years agoe a Gentleman one of the 24 of Sevil called Iohn De Monsalve returned very rich from the Indies He was not marryed nor had any Childe but a woman sued him who pretended to be his Daughter and that he had not only begotten her before marriage but that afterwards he privately married her mother so that she was his daughter and could not be debarred from inheriting his Estate Iohn de Monsalve falling sick of the sickness whereof he dyed while this suit depended for clearing his Conscience sent for a Iesuite of the Colledge of St. Hermenigilde with whom he settled what concerned his Conscience and Testament and told him the Action this woman had brought against him was altogether unjust and the matter of fact she had alleadged utterly false and that he was obliged to dispose of his Testament so as this woman might not know after his death what he should leave behind him in Money and Moveables Whereupon this Father ordered his Testament as followeth Iohn De Monsalve hath disposed of his Immoveables which could not be concealed nor conveyed out of the way by right of eldership Heritable and made D. Roderick Barba Cabeta de Vaca his Nephew heir thereof and as to his Moveables and Money which amounted to eighty five thousand Ducats he made a Writing signed by himself and the said F. Jesuite his Confessor whereby he declared he would leave the said sum by way of Depâ—situm in the hands of the said Father that in case after his death judgment were given for him in the suit or that on any occasion this woman would dâ—sist from her pretensions all the Estate he left in the Iesuites hands should descend by right of Eldership excepting only 800 Ducats per Ann. which he reserved out of this Revenue to be imployed in the marriage of a certain number of Maidens in the redemption of such a number of Captives and to buy provision oâ— Victuals for the Prisons for certain dayes Ordaining further that if any of those to whom this right of Eldership should descend had Children those works of piety should cease but so as provision should be first made for giving and founding an endowment for portions suitable to the Condition and quality of a number of maidens to be marryed and the heirs by right of eldership to be Patrons and Administrators of this work of piety Pursuant to this disposal the said summe of 85 thousand ducats and the writing were put into the hands of the F. Iesuite who assured Monsalve they should be used according to the declarations above-mentioned Iohn De Monsalve being dead his Heirs and Executors of his will soon after agreed with the woman who for ten thousand Ducats of Billon or black Money a sort of Base Coyn cry'd down surceased her proceedings and quitted her pretensions And the Woman within a short time after dyed without Heirs which had been sufficient alone to end the suit so that the Iesuite was obliged as the case stood to haâ—e published the writing and have paid the money to Monsalve's heirs But all this was too little to incline the Iesuites to discover the Money and Writing either in the life-time of this Confessor or after his death And thus they detained for above 39 years this summe out of which they raised a Rent of three thousand three hundred Ducats per ann which they have enjoyed to this present when Providence hath so ordered the matter that the scandalous and lamentable Banquerupt of their Colledge hath caused the discovery of this particular Business The Sieur Iohn De Santelices forthwith caused a Copy to be made of Monsalve's Testament and annexing it to the other Papers Declarations and Verifications transmitted them to his Majesty and his Councell Royall of Castille where the suit of the Creditors of the Bankrupt Colledge depends See the Process No. 3. and 60. The Councel having seen all these pieces of Obedience ordered they should be communicated to the Attorney Generall who gave his opinion thereof On the other side D. Roderick Cabeca sent a procuration to demand from the Councell a Councellor to be named Commissioner for determining this Process The Councell thereupon sent a special Commission to the Sieur D. Iâ—hn de Santelices to