them Let some favour be also shewen those young men who have not yet made over their estates to the Society But when that is once done where they had before bread and milk bread alone may then serve the turn Nor are those to be dispos'd into the lowest rank who prove excellent Decoyes to bring in many choice youths into the Society for in that they expresse the greatnesse of their affection and respects for our Institution SECT XVI Of the contempt of Wealth THat the world may not imagine that we mind nothing but our own advantages and think us too much inclin'd to avarice it will contribute some thing thereto if we do not admit charities for the ordinary offices that are done by our Fathers Let not the meaner sort of people be allow'd buriall in our Churches For the Widdowes who have devoutly exhausted themselves by their liberality towards us let them be harshly dealt withall by the Fathers The same course is to be taken with those persons who have made over any thing to the Society nay though they should come to be dismiss'd let it be done so as that nothing may be returned them or at least let the Society be sufficiently allow'd for the charge and trouble it hath been at about them Let it be the especiall care of the Superiours to keep those secret Instructions in their own custody and that if there be any occasion they should be communicated â—it be done to very few and those the gravest among the Fathers They are also to gather out of them those directions which may prove most advantageous to the Society and let them not be communicated as things written by another but as the observations of their own prudence and experience And if it come to passe which God forbid it ever should that these admonitions fall into the hands of strangers or any that aâ—e not members of our Society that is such as are likely to take them in the worst sence let it be absolutely deny'd that the Society makes any such advantage thereof and let such men be confirm'd in that apprehension by those of our Fathers who it is well known are ignorant thereof To oppose the credit might be given these Secret Instructions let our generall Directions be produced and those Rules of ours either printed or written that are contrary thereto Lastly let strict enquiry be made whether the discovery of them happened through the treachery of any of our own for it is impossible any Superiour should be so negligent in the safe custody of Secrets of so great concernment to the Society and if any one be suspected though upon ever so groundlesse conjectures let him be charged therewith and dismissed out of the Society THE END OBAD. Chap. 1. Vers 6 7. How are the things of Esau searched out How are his hid things sought up The men that were at peace with thee deceived thee and prevailed against thee They thaâ— eat thy bread have layd a wound under thee A DISCOURSE of the REASONS Why the JESUITS are so generally hated Originally written by FORTVNIVS GALINDVS Printed for Richard Royston and Thomas Dring 1659. To the READER FRom some passages in the ensuing Treatise it may easily be inferred that the Author thereof was a Roman Catholick thas is me who though dissatisfied with the Jesuits â—et seems to deal with them as mercifully and with as much tendernesse as might be So that â—t is to be imagined the Piece was written rather â—ut of designe to bemoan their miscarriages that they might thence take occasion to reform them then out of any pique that the Author seems to have against the Society whose serviceablenesse to the Church upon their first Jnstitution he sufficiently acknowledges and celebrates Whence if a man reflects on the time it was written in that is while the Society had yet somewhat of its first purity and zeal left before the Canonisation of S. Ignatius and Xaverius he must withall imagine that it began to degenerate in a manner as soon as it began And what is consequent to this that if some zealous Christian should in these dayes undertake to give an account why the Jesuits are so generally hated since the discovery made of their horrid and extravagant Tenents and the abominations they have introduced into Christian Morality he would be so far from confining himself to the shortnesse of such a Discourse as this that he would haply take it as a favour to sit down and breathe a little after a second or third Volume A Discourse of the REASONS WHY THE JESUITS Are so generally HATED THat the Jesuits are so odious every where and that where there happens any discourse of them they are evil spoken of not onely by Hereticks but also by the greatest part even of Catholicks themselves I am for my part inclined to believe it done in some measure undeservedly and that in some measure also it may come to passe through the miscarriages of some of the Society Vndeservedly I say in some measure How serviceable the Jesuits have been to the Church and Catholick Religion because as it is notoriously known to all the world if the Jesuits by the miraculous providence of God raised up in this last age had not with might and main bestirred themselves Germany had been over-run with Protestantisme and the Catholick Religion clearly turned out of doores For the Fathers of the Society were the men that found out the secret of bringing youth under the yoke of Religion A Character of the Jesuits at their first Institution those instructed the Priests no lesse in good manners then sound doctrine they animated the Princes in the cause they waged a holy war against the Hereticks both by word and writing They are as it were the choice forces of Israel commanded by their Captain-Generall JESUS fighting against the Amalekites did they not attribute to their own valour the good successe they have whereas indeed it is due only to the Moses on the top of the Mountain whose earnest addresses to Heaven gives them the victory over their enemies For when Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed but when he let down his hand Amaleck prevailed Exod. 17. And that this was also a figure of the manner whereby the Enemies of the Church of God were to be destroyed we have a hint in the book of Judith Chap. 4. Moses overthrew Amalec who put his confidence in his own strength by fighting against him not with a sword but by holy prayers So shall it be to all the enemies of Israel which is as much as to say as that they were to be overcome not indeed by humane force or a transcendency of Learning and eloquence but by the pious addresses or men that have absolutely resigned up themselves to the service of God Now one miscarriage of the Jesuits They are odious for their Aulicisme and monopolising the favours of God and Princes which makes them so generally odious
and authority nay to make up the measure of their infamy they have cast out pious and devout men for discovering a certain satisfaction at that piece of reformation so important in order to an abatement of their insolence whose ambition it was to perpetuate their charges and employments There is yet a more intolerable injustice committed by them in the abuse of their usurped authority The most eloquent Preachers are not those that preach in the most eminent places nor are they the most acute Divines that teach in the most famous Schools nor yet those the greatest Rhetoricians that are the most considerable in their chiefest Colledges No it is the prudence of the Superiours to advance their own favourites to the disparagement of those of greater abilities Hence comes it that Learning is not attended by reward excellency carryes not the honour of the day deserts are discarded and there is hardly any one admitted to employments of consequence but those tha can crowch and adore them This is the reason thâ— great Wits are cast down and discouraged for peceiving it will cost them so much to arrive at some eâ—inency they content themselves with a mediocrity â—nd the consequence of that is that humane Learnâ—ng is neglected Philosophy growes despicable and Divinity is not studied by many but a little for fashion â—ake Preferment depends absolutely on the favour â—nd countenance of the superiours vertue is the oneâ—y way to be trod under foot This kind of unjustice will discover it self much more to our observation if we do but consider the saâ—isfactions required by such as are injured If any one makes his complaint to the General against the violence of some immediate Superiour what just ground soever he may have to demand reparation he shall never obtain it nay though he should suffer persecution for the Faith yet shall the guilt still lie on his side To mutter at a palpable fault committed by the Rector is a crime to make any stirre about it or to charge him therewith is to be over censorious and disobedient For a man to behave himself towards them as they expect he must be like those Idols that have eyes and see not that have eares and heare not that have mouths and speak not But on the other side to converse among the Brethren hee must be all eyes to take notice of their miscarriages all eares to hear what they say and all tongue to give an account thereof to the Superiours to the end that all the faults of the former should be concealed and all the imperfections of the latter should be discovered This erroneous kind of Politicks grinds and crushes the Inferiou s and makes those that command ouâ—rageous and insolent They are confident let them do what they will that they shall carry the cause and that the Generall and the Provincials will discountenance the accusers that so they may not allow their Subjects the liberty which Galley slaves have to complain I know three or four persons of very great worth that have lately left their Province for having demanded justice against some Superiours that accused them and never could have the favour of so much as a hearing of the difference Monsieur Baud made a just complaint to the Vicar of the whole Society against John Ricard and had no other answer then a glorious Panegyrick in commendation of the person he accused I believe that that eminent Preacher whom they persecute for his having deserted them hath the Letter yet to produce which is such as that there needs no more then the bare reading of it to fill the hearers with indignation This discourse is so demonstrably true that often Jesuits there shall be nine to confirm what I say And to make it further apparent that this kind of Government must needs burst asunder there have been some overtures already made to the Pope thaâ— there may be appointed in every Province a certain number of discreet persons to do justice to those that demand it and there is some likelyhood it may be obtained But the businesse concernes me not CHAP. XI Producing severall reasons of discontent â—rising from the Syndications among the Jesuits I Come now to the Syndications that are among the Jesuits and the unjustice consequent thereto Ignatius the better to lay the foundations of a tyrannicall government rather then a Religious left his disciples two rules which under pretence of augmenting charity prove the bane thereof In the former he injoyns all to be ready to discover themselves when they shall be called to account by the Superiour In the latter he obliges every one to inform the Superiour of the faults which he may have observed in the lives and manners of his companions I shall not here presse how that it is observable in the Romane History that in the times of wicked Emperours such as for instance Nero and Domitian infamous Informers were very much countenanced but that under good Emperours such as were Vespasian Titus Trajan and Antoninus Pius they were beaten banish'd and many times put to death All I have now to do shall be to make it appear that these Rules are two Sources of injustice and discontent Of injustice they are for that these Syndications are a â—ort of secret informations made of the faults or offences of another given in to the Superiour without proof or hearing the parties concerned There cannot be a fairer opportunity then this for the mischievous to oppresse the good by their secret accusations which the other never come to the knowledge of The envious have the like advantage to put a rub in their way whose endeavours are fortunately contributory to the publick good when they least think of any such thing and the Superiours who have not an equall affection for all their Subjects are not a litle glad to have in their Reading-Seats articles and informations to put a slurre upon knowing men and such as any way eclypse their reputation Now I leave it to the consideration of any judicious man from the generall inclination which we have to take notice rather of that which is evill then that which is good and the impression that an obligation which they imagine lyes upon them to discover all things rather then break their Rule may make in weak minds whether such a government be not destructive and without any difficulty chargeable with injustice it being an ordinary acknowledgement that the omission of some triviall circumstance may make a good action bad or a bad action good In the second place I affirm these Rules to be a sourse of discontents for it will be found by the perusall of the Archivi of the Superiours that of three hundred such that now live in Guienne there shall not be one that may be called a vertuous man that is hath not been accused of severall offences The informations such as are those of diverse of them are contradictory one saies white another black In the greatest part there
a fair corres oâ—dency â—ith the Nuns lest they bring any trouâ—le upon the â—ociety foâ— the half dowries we have received from â—hem and upbraid us therewith SECT XIV Of reserved Cases and other causes of Dismission out of the Society then what have been mentioned before BEsides the cases elsewhere assign'd in these Instructions wherein it is only in the power of the Superiour or an ordinary Confessor by a priviledge derived from the Superiour to give absolution that is to say in the cases of Sodomy Fornication Adultery rapes unchast embracings of man or woman as also if any shall upon any account whatsoever attempt any thing against the Society what zeal soever his action may proceed from be it known that there are other causes of dismission out of the Society and that accordingly the persons therein concerned are not to be absolved till such time as they have promis'd out of Confession to discover either of themselves or by their Confessor what they have done to the Superiour Who being acquainted therewith if he find there were severall persons engag'd in the sin confessed or that it is a thing tending very much to the dishonour and prejudice of the Society he shall not absolve the Penitent unlesse he promise either that he will write of it himself to the Generall or give his Confessor or the Superiour to write concerning it If he make any difficulty to do either of these he shall be look'd on as absolutely incapable of Absolution Now the General having taken cognizance of the penitents case and consulted with the Secretary shall make that provision therein which he shall conceive to be most for the advantage of the Society and so shall order the Penitent to be dismissed out of the Society Which sentence if he shall refuse to submit to he can never be effectually absolv'd The same course we have concluded to be taken with our Divines in reserved cases and the approbation of the Apostolick See notwithstanding the fruitless endeavours of some to the contrary The Confessor however is not to reveal that the Penitent is to be dismiss'd out of the Society for the reason aforesaid If the penitent shall of himself out of Confession discover his fact let him be dismissed If he shall refuse to discover let him be dealt with according to the provision made against feigned cases In the mean time as long as he shall refuse to declare the businesse out of confession so long let him be accounted unworthy to receive absolution If it happen that any of our Confessors shall come to hear that some person that is not of our Society whether of the two Sexes the party be of is not materiall hath committed some act of abomination and uncleanness with one of the Society they shall not absolve the former till such time as ours hath out of Confession acknowledg'd the crime But if he will acknowledge it let ours be dismiss'd the other absolv'd If two of the Society chance to commit Sodomy together let him who shall not reveal it be dismissed let him who made the first discovery thereof be continued in the Society but let him be so persecuted with acts of mortification as that he may be glad after a short time to follow the other It is further a certain prerogative of the Society as it bears an analogy with a Body to disburden it self of such persons as in processe of time it shall find unciviliz'd as to point of Morality and ordinary discourse Nay it is left to the Superiours to dismiss any one assigning what causes they think fit for their so doing having first acquainted the Generall with the businesse And somewhat to hasten their dismission let all things be done contrary to their inclinations let them be purposely vex'd let all their desires be answered with denials though they be for things ever so inconsiderable let them not be admitted to the more worthy studies let them be disposed under such superiours as they cannot comply with but with regret and indignation If any discover so much of their exasperation as to oppose the superiour or make complaints of him before the lay brothers let them be wormed out of the society Let the same course be taken with those who shall express any dissatisfaction at what is done in the society in relation to widdows and the management of common wealths or shall speak favourably of the Venetians who banish'd the society out of their territories Immediately before the dismission let the person to be dismissed be sharply reproved let him be removed from a certain employment and be put one while upon one thing and another upon another But whatever he is employed in let some fault or other be found that he doth not discharge his duâ—y as he ought According to the excess of his miscarriages let him be assigned more grievous penances Let a recital be made of hiâ— failings and miscarriages out of the reading-place in the refectory while the rest are at table to put him into the greater confusion And so at that very time while he betâ—ayes a remarkable impatience in the sight and hearing of the rest let him be dismissed as one that is a scandal and gives evil example to others But before hand let there be notice taken what things he hath and let him be commanded to go to some place as into the Vineyard or the next adjoynâ—ng colledge to the end that in the place where he least expects it the irrevocable decree of his dismission may be served upon him SECT XV. What persons of the Society are the most to be cherished and encouraged IN the first place are to be numbred those indefatigable labourers in the harvest who make it their business to improve not only the spiritual but also the temporal good of the society Such are the confessors of wealthy widdows who when by the decayes of age they are no longer able to discharge those places to the satisfaction of the Matrons are to be removed and others that are more vigorous and full of spirits appointed to supply their places Let not these want any thing of accommodation in what relates to meat cloa hs or ought else and let them not be persecuted by the Ministers of Penances Agâ—inst such the confessors are not easily to admit any complaints or informations Let there be also a great tenderness expressed towards those who having observed the least miscarriages in others put up secret informations thereof to the superiour or being appointed Ministers sub ministers Beadles are very â—ngenious in finding w ys to mortifie others not out of any affection they have for them but a love of Religious discipline Let those young men be chrished who are any way rel ted to our Benefactors and Founders to which end let them be sent to Rome Iâ— they study in their own Provinces let them be so far complied with in all things that they may be sensible of the indulgence of the society towards
makes most for their interest so far as if need be to shew black in stead of white And whereas the first representations of a businesse made by men pretending to sincerity and the strictnesse of a Religious life cannot but make the more remarkable impression in the mind of him that they are addrest to the consequence is that Affaires of very great importance treated by the Ambassadors of Princes and other grave persons in the Court of Rome have not carried on with the successe expected by the Princes therein concern'd meerly through the sycophancy of the Jesuits who by their adulterate relations had so shuffled things that there was but little credit left for what might be alledged by the Ambassadors and other Agents employ'd therein The same tricks they play the Prelates of Rome they also put upon other Princes either by themselves or by the means of their Pensionary Jesuits out of Rome So that it may well be concluded that the greatest part of what is done all over the Christian world passes through the hands of the Jesuits and those only take effect against which they make no opposition Stupendious and inexpressible are the artifices and insinuations they make use of in this kind which though it is impossible for me to decypher yet may it not haply be so obscure to those Princes who shall seriously observe the slight Character I have here given of them For if they do they presently reflect on the things that are past and as they must needs be more and more convinc'd of the truth of my discourse the more they call to mind with what Art things have been handled so will it still further them in the discovery of what seem'd so strange and marvellous to them Nay not content with this close artifice whereby they insensibly thrust themselves into the Affaires of the world out of a confidence that it is the only means to attain that Monarchicall Super-intendency at which they aime they were so insolent as to petition Pope Gregory XIII That for the time to come he would publickly countenance their Project And thence taking occasion to commend it to him under pretence of the publick good of the Church they required that he would command all his Legates and Apostolicall Nuncio's to take to them every one for his Companion and confident some Jesuite by whose Counsell he should be governed in all his actions Fourthly by these crafty insinuations and their infight into Affairs of publick concernment the most eminent among the Jesuits have gain'd the love of many Princes as well Temporall as Spirituall whom they have the confidence to perswade that they have said and done many things for their advantage and this proceeding of theirs is the Damme of two very considerable inconveniences The first is that abusing the favour and friendship which the Princes had for them they have made no difficulty to disgust many private though otherwise rich and Noble Families usurping the wealth of Widowes though with the exposing of their Retinue and Relations to extreme misery enticing to embrace their Institution and to frequent their Schools persons of the noblest and most hopefull Inclination who yet if they prov'd unfit for the employments they design'd them for were under some pretence or other dismiss'd the Society which though it parted from their persons yet could not be got to part with their Estates And while they did thus they absolutely excluded the poor from their Schooles forgetting quite the pious provisions for such of their Founder Ignatius and the intentions of those patrons of theirs who endowed them with large Revenues not that they should mind only their own conveniences but be serviceable to the Christian Commonwealth The Second Inconvenience is that these Jesuits omit no occasion whereby they would make the world sensible of the familiarity and influence which they have over Princes making the people by their crafty representations of it look thereon as through a magnifying glasse to the end they may ingratiate themselves with their Ministers and so bring things about that all that stand in need of favour may make their applications to them Thus they stick not to make their braggs that it is in their power to make Cardinals Nuncio's Governours of Places and other officers of the publick Nay some of them have roundly stood upon 't that their General could do more then the Pope himself Others have added that it is better to be of that Order which makes Cardinals then to be a Cardinal These and such like expressions of their insupportable insolence are obvious to all that converse with them Fiftly having thus laid the foundation of their interloping into State affaires the first thing they build upon it is a pretence of power to raise or ruine whom they please And indeed making Religion a meer stalking horse to their own Reputation they many times effect their designes But when they recommend any man to the Prince in order to advancement they never make choice of the most fit and deserving but rather if any such appear oppose him especially if he be one they know to be no favourer of them So that they make it their design to preferre those that are likely to countenance their interest never minding his good affection to the Prince or his capacity to go through the Employment he is advanced to whereof the consequences are to the Prince Exasperation at his being eluded to the people disgust and insurrections Sixtly as the Master of a Galley when he finds the wind faire for his voyage with once whistling makes the slaves handle their Oares and set the Vessell to her full speed so when in the Assemblyes and consultations which these Fathers continually hold by their Generall and his Assistants at Rome it is concluded that it makes for their advantage that such a person should be promoted to dignity the Father-Generall signifies so much to those that reside elsewhere and all those immediately joyn together and with united forces bring him to the honour intended him Which having gotten he were an insufferable example of Ingratitude if he should not afterwards indeavour to serve the Jesuits with a zale suitable to that of theirs when they advanc'd him And hence indeed does it proceed that such a man nay many such men for it is not to be imagin'd the dependants on the Jesuits of this kind are few acknowledging themselves more oblig'd to the Jesuits then to their Prince for the honour and greatness they are rais'd to do accordingly serve the Jesuits with farr greater affection then they do the Prince himself Thus are their Princes fool'd and deluded by them when imagining they have got a trusty servant they have only made way for a Spie of the Jesuits who only make their advantages of him to the great prejudice of the Prince that advanced him There are many examples might be brought to confirm the present discourse but indeed it needs not daily experience and
the generall report are sufficient attestations of the truth delivered To avoid tediousnesse therefore I shall conclude this point saying that this haply is the cause why the Jesuits are wont to call their way of Religion A Grand-Monarchy as if they governed all Princes and their Ministers at their pleasure Not is it long since that one of the chief among them being ro treat publickly with an illustrious Prince in the name of the Society began with these words full of arrogance and grounded upon a conceit of their Monarchy Our Society hath alwayes maintained good Intelligence with your Grace c. Seventhly those Fathers make a great stir to let the world know that all those that are any way in the favour of their Prince were sometimes Creatures of theirs and are oblig'd for their advancement to them Hence it must follow that they have a greater command of the subjects affections then the Prince himself upon whom this must needs bring great inconvenieniences For it is in the first place an affront to the publick Interest that a sort of Religious Persons that pretend to have abjur'd all commerce with the things of this world yet so ambitious and politick should have such an influence over Ministers of State that when ever it pleases them they can cause Treasons and insurrections Secondly it is dangerous since that by the mediation of the Ministers their Adherents they induce into the Princes service for Counsellors or Secretaries some of the Jesuits in Voto of whom mention is made before and these again perswade the Prince to take some Jesuit for his Confessor or Chaplaine Thus do they all combine together to serve as Intelligencers to the Father General to whom they give an exact account of all the transactions of the most secret Councells Whence it comes that many times we see designes prevented and secrets of the greatest importance discovered and yet things are carried so cunningly that no man can fasten on the true Author but it commonly happens that the greatest suspition lies on those that are most innocent Eightly 'T is a common observation that Subjects are naturally much given to imitate and comply with the inclinations of their Prince In like manner those who give obedience to their Father Generall perceiving that his thoughts are wholly taken up with matters of State as indeavouring by that means to improve and enrich their Society do also apply themselves that way and thereupon making use of their Relations and friends would penetrate into the very hearts of Princes so to discover their most secret designs only to betray them to the Assistants at Rome or the Father Generall out of a confidence by that means to get into their favour and be advanc'd into some employment which otherwise they could never have expected For among them none are ever preferr'd to any Office of consequence and trust but only these whom they have observ'd mosi inclined to advance their Society to that height of Greatnesse whereto they aspire and consequently none but such as are known to be able and expert in the management of State-affairs Ninthly as from divers Flowers and Herbs by the means of an Alembick a man may extract such an ointment as shall have the Vertue to heal a mortall wound and as from several blossomes Bees draw that which afterwards becomes honey so these Jesuits from the infallible account which they have of all Princes affaires and of all the emergencies of every State do by the power of their discourse extract from them what makes for their own advantage which is in some measure a remedy for their insatiable avarice and ambition And they are excellent Masters in a certain Art unknown to others whereby they effect their designes equally from other mens either good or ill but more often from their misfortunes then happinesse Nor is it unusuall with them to ensnare the unwary Prince into whose secrets they have dived proposing to him that they have in their hands the onely excellent means to make him master of his desires But when by these pretences they have made their advantages of him if it do but come into their imagination that the spreading greatnesse of that Prince may one day prove prejudiciall to them they do as Lawyers in their causes prolong the successe of the businesse what lyes in their power till at last with strange juggling and an imperceptible kind of Legerdemaine they utterly ruine those designes to which they had given birth The Ligue of France treated and concluded by them they not long after basely renounc'd all medling with when they saw things prosper on the Kings side and England so often promised by them to the Spanyards yet in such manner performed so confirms the present discourse that there needs no further proof Tenthly from what hath been already alledged it necessarily follows that the Jesuits have no sincere affection towards any Prince whatsoever either temporall or spirituall but onely comply with them so farre as stands with their own convenience and advantage Nay it may be yet further inferr'd that no Prince much lesse any Prelates of an inferiour degree can make any effectuall use of them because they seem at the same time to be equally affected to all complying with the French as if they were French with the Spanyards as if they were Spanyards and so with all others as the occasion requires from all which the onely rule of their Chymistry is to exact their own profit and accommodation They never regard the prejudice of one more then another and thence it comes that those enterprises wherein they have intermedled have seldome succeeded well because they are no further embarqu'd therein then their own interest advises them And as to this particular the artifices they use are notorious some of them pretending great inclinations for the prosperity of France others of Spain others of the Empire and others of some other Princes of whom they desire to be favoured And if any of these Princes be desirous to make use of some Jesuit whom he imagines to be very much his Friend he immediately acquaints the F. Generall by Letter with the businesse which he hath to treat and expects his Answer together with order what he shall do and suitably to the commands he receives he proceeds in his affair Never regarding whether that Order of the Generall be conformable to the intention of the Prince who hath entrusted him with the management of that businesse But so the Society be served and comply'd with he matters not what disservice it may be to the Prince To this may be added that the Jesuits understanding the severall interests of all Princes and being acquainted with all things daily treated in secret Councels those who pretend an inclination for France propound to the King and his principall Ministers certain Memorialls of State and important considerations sent to them from their politick Fathers at Rome On the other side those who pretend to hold