offer to abandon the said house And in the Suit by conversion of Appeal into opposition that the Seizures made at the Defendants request be declared null injurious and wrongful and an Ousterlemain granted thereon with costs damages and interest DE CLOS for the parties intervenant being the Fathers Mothers and next Kin of the Nuns said It may not be thought strange these parties intervene in the cause as being of no less concern than the destruction of a Monastery and tending to the famishing of their Children the Nuns That the Defendant or F. Fâ—rrest his Predecessor in the Office having by a fraududent Contract surprized the Nuns of St. Vrsula of Mascon had the dexterity to conceal this Contract ten or twelve years till he had apprehension of the letters of Rescision that to secure his debt by sufficient morgages of the Dowers which from time to time should be brought by new Nuns into this Monastery having published abroad that this house had been given the eight Nuns come from Mascon to establish the Monastery for their Dowries he proceeded at last to the Seizure of all the Revenues of these Nuns and had caused the Rents and Pensions of the Nuns and Pensioners to be seized to draw from them the payment of the sum of twelve thousand Livres pretended residue of the price of the house in question and nine years arrerages That this unexpected rigour reduced the Nuns to the necessity of begging contrary to the rules of their Order and the tenour of the permission of their establishment at Metz or falling again into the hands of their kindred That the Dowries of Nuns were sacred and not subject to Commerce That the Church tollerated no other use of them than only for the Alimony of Nuns That they could not be diverted to the payment of debts much less of debts lyable to question secret and fraudulent as this yet it appeared that by the Contract of Sale of the said house F. Forget had the boldness to stipulate a particular morgage to secure his debt upon the Nuns Dowries who should make profession in this Monastery and so the Dowries of these Nuns should be aliened along time before their profession which cannot be judged to be other than Simony that the monies of these Dowries having been stipulated for Alimony could not be seized for the Defendants debt That the new Nuns who alone made up the Monastery had never signed any of the Contracts made use of by the defendant against them which were alwayes kept secret so that they were at their full liberty to accept them or not That the Nuns of Mascon had been so grosly surprized in this that they were excessively damnified That these parties had a notable interest and were concerned to take care that their Daughters the Nuns should not long continue in an unhealthy and infected place therefore he concluded That having regard to their intervention it would please the Court to grant the Appellants and Demandants their Fines and Cenclusions LE FEVRE for the Rector of the Iesuites said That he could not admit the Appâ—llants to be parties that they were not qualified to sue that being Nuns profest of the Monastery of St. Vrsula of Metz aforesaid they were incapable to proceed at Law without their Superiour the particulars which compose the body having no power without their head That all the Convent ought to have been parties or audience denied to the particular Nuns whose proceeding was so unjust that they were forsaken by their Superiour that though the Contract had been past by the Vrsulines of Mascon who were not profest of the Monastery of Metz it was good notwithstanding for that it was passed for and to the profit of the Monastery to be established at Metz That new establishments were made no other way that if such Contracts should not oblige houses newly estabished and the Nuns that should make profession there the Sellers should be alwayes cheated that they should give away their estates without any assurance to receive the price for them That the Committy of the Monastery of Metz begun on the day when the first Nuns sent from Mascon were encloystered and continued and was increased by the profession of such as were newly received that though the Nuns newly profest were not named in the Contract nor had ratified it yet they were obliged by it as the new Monks of a Monastery are bound to pay the debts of their predecessors in the same house That the Dowers of the new Nuns coming by acquisition to the Convent were from thenceforth subject to the discharge of priviledged debts as the price of the said house which was their habitation and part of their Alimony That the juniority they alledged could stand them in no stead because the purchase was made with all formalities requisite and by the Authority and Counsel of their Superiours who had contracted and therefore the Contract must stand otherwise no person will Contract for like establishments nor with Nuns That the desire of an object came as well by the ears as the eyes so that it was not necessary the buyer should see the thing he would buy but it sufficed if he knew its condition and value by the report of another That there had not been any deceit fraud surprize or trapan on F. Forgets part who in his Important Avisoes delivered nothing but what was true concerning the description of this house That the platforms and models of that house which he gave them were true if the places were measured by the foot of Metz according to the custom of the Countrey where they were drawn That the Nuns had the liberty to cause it to be viewed before they took possession that they had perused it six weeks ratified the Contract and declared it agreeable to the model received of F. Forget in the City of Mascon and that they had found it fair and more convenient for regularity and the functions of their institution than they conceived or imagined at the time of the purchase that if F. Forget had been their Director Spiritual and Temporal it was an extraordinary favour received of him who deserved other acknowledgements than those they made and that for this reason they could not annul the ratification for otherwise they who intermedled with their direction and should take care of their temporalities and affairs could make no Contract with them that the intervention of their Parents and Kindred was precarious and useless Therefore he concluded that without regard to their Letters of Rescision and restitution or to their opposition the Appâ—llants and Opposants should lose the benefit thereof and pay costs to the Defendant Ioly was heard for the Kings Atturny Generall and said That the business depending was of great importance as well in respect of the parties contesting as the Grounds of the Suit That the Court was possessed of the Cause by an Appeal put in by the new profess'd Vrsulines of Metz for seisures made
the Offerings and Liberalities of the people upon the occasion of the Great Miracles wrought by the Martyr Bishop of Soissons when those Monks in their return from Pilgrimage to Rome arrived at Ruffach enriched with his Reliques by hte Gift of the Abbot of St. Potentience of the same Order in the City of Rome so that in a short time they built that Priory which continued alwayes in the possession of the Monks and Abbot of Chesy though the Iesuites have not omitted any artifice from the beginning of their institution to make themselves masters thereof contrary to the Bulls of the Popes Lucius and Alexander 3 d who excommunicated all those that should attempt any thing concerning the said Priory in prejudice to the rights of the said Abbot and Monks For after the year 1578. they procured and obtained from time to time Bulls upon Bulls but so voyd and null they durst not produce them And in 1618. they huddled up all the nullities and obreptions of the precedent Bulls into one suggested by them to have been obtained for the benefit of the Colledge of Selestat founded some 3024. years before wherâ—in they set forth contrary to the truth that it was a simple Priory without a Convent and aliened long since from the said Order with the usual formalities and consent of all parties interessed In pursuance of this Bull these Fathers having by strange precipitation and extraordinary haste outed the Prior Nicolas Verdot Monk of Chesy with unheard of vexations possessed themselves timely of the said Priory in 1618. without any form of Justice and 18 years before the time prescribed by the pretended Bull that is before it became void by the death or cession of the said Prior who was Canonically possessed of it ever since 1610. and never juridically deprived thereof Letters gained by surprize from the King aâ—d â— Mandamus from the Bishop of Strasbourg The dependance of the three Priories This violent intruâ—ion notwithstanding the Oppositions complaints Protestations and pursuits of the said Prior with the interposition of the Authority of the Crown of France endured till God himself brought the remedy by a change of the State in 1634. when the Iesuits upon the arrival of the French Armies having quitted the Priory the said Prior was re-established by his Majesties Authority and dyed in peaceable possession thereof in 1636. whereupon Iames Boescot of the Order of St. Dennis succeâ—ded him and possessed it till 1644. though the Iesuites in 1638. had obtained Letters Patents from the said King in Confirmation of their right if any they had which they got by surprize upon false suggestions that the said Priory ever since 1578. had been Canonically united to the Colledge of Selestat which had not been founded before 1615 and that the said Verdot of Chesy whom death had deprived of power to defend his Cause had been an usurper Intruder and illegally possessed of the said Priory as if he had been a Lutheran seized of it by main force But the Letters Patents were of no use to the Iesuites for Boescot seeing that the continuance of the Warre in Germany made the place not habitable in the year 1644 resigned the said Priory into the hands of the Abbot of Chesy who bestowed it on Paul William a Fryer of the strict Observance of the Congregation on of S. Vanne who by the Kings Order took possession thereof and peaceably enjoyed it with those of his Order till the 2 d of Iune 1651. on which day in pursuance of a Mandamus issued from Archduke Leopold Bishop and Lord of Strasbourg under pretence of executing some Articles of the Treaty of peace but really in breach thereof the Arch-dukes Officers re-established there some Iesuites strangers and by force and violence outed the said Prior and his Fryers of the reformed Order of St. Francis notwithstanding all their oppositions Appeals and Protestations of force which the said Officers refused to enter of Record among the Acts of their Courts though it was afterwards granted them upon renewing their suit at Brisac Now these three Priories depending as to their spiritualty and right of Collation upon the Abbyes of Chesy and Cluny have ever been subject and answerable for their temporaltyes to the Archdukes Chamber of Iustice of Ensiâ—heim belonging to the house of Austria though this of St. Valentine be situate in the Territories of the Bishop of Strasbourg and that by the Treaty of Munster in 1648. all the rights of the House of Austria in the higher and lower Alsatia were granted in Soveraignty to the Crown of France and consequently the said Priory being at present under the Jurisdiction of the most Christian King and his Justice to whom alone belongs the cognizance thereof and the maintenance of the said Prior in his possession it followes that the intrusion of the said Iesuites strangers into the place of the said Prior outed without cause or lawfull Authority in 1651. is an unjust attempt against the tenor of the said Treaty of peace Nor is the Kings interest less engaged for keeping the two other Priories of St. Iames and St. Morand which the Iesuites would have taken away from the Order of Cluny and consequently from France to alien them to perpetâ—ity and unite them to the Colledges of strangers to the great prejudice of his Majesties Subjects and the order of St. Benedict False suggestions to pope Gregory XIII to obtain a Bull of Vnion of the said Priory False Charge of Crimes on the Prior. That it may the better appear what artificâ—s the said Fathers make use of for want of right to usurp the said Priories observe that in 1578. Iohn Sancey being Prior of that of St. Valentin they obtained from Popoe Gregory xiii by the procurement and Authority of Iohn Bishop of Strasbourg a Bull of Union of the said Priory for founding a Colledge in the Town of Molsheim and that they should enjoy it upon the first vacancy upon the false suggestion that it was a Priory only without a Convent without declaring that it depended on France and the Abby of Chesy without an information Super commodo incommodo of the convenience and inconvenience which according to Custome ought regularly to have been first exhibited without the consent of the Prior or his Convent the Abbot of Chesy the Bishop of the Diocese or of the King though all interessed partyes These Iesuites being otherwise sufficiently founded at Molshâ—im not knowing how to betake themselves to execute their Bull so full of nullities and void Clauses left it dormant without the least mention 31 years in which time two vacancies incurred by the decease of Sancey in 1589. and of Adrian Verdâ—t his Successor in 1598. which they let pass without stirring at all or giving the least notice or hint of their pretensions So that the said Bullby this means lay superannuate and useless At last in 1609. they pitched on an expedient very disagreeable to the Charity of Christians
forced them away though no violence had been used Whereupon the Assembly resolved to make their address to the Apostolical Nuncio at Lucerne to desire him to inform himsâ—lf of the pretended violences fancying that upon the rumours they had spread they should â—ind persons enough to depose the fact they alledged and that in the mean time their F. Grandmâ—nt Rector of Fribourg in Swizzerland should carry their complaints to the Court of France The information taken by the new Nuncio discovered nothing more than the fictions the arâ—iâ—ices and malignity of the Iesuites But the voyage of F. Grandmont to Paris took effect for having by the mediation of F. Paulin then confessor to the King represented to his Majesty all the falsiâ—ies of advantage to their Cause as that the Iesuites were expelled the said Priories unjustly and by force contrary to the tenour of the Treaty of Peace and in prejudice of the Canonical Union of the said Priories to their Colledges they obtained Orders by surprize for their re-establishment without hearing the other side in confidence to have them executed blindfold and that if they were once established by the Authority of the King no man durst molest them for these two Priories or that of St. Valentin to which they would with equal boldness and falshood aver that they had been restored in pursuance and execution of the Treaty of Peace The Jesuites 〈◊〉 to the Pope and Estates of the Empire to surprize them As soon as F. Grandmont had the Kings Letters one for M. de la Barde Ambassadour in Swizzerland and the other for M. de Charlevois Commander at Brisâ—ch he sent to F. Schorrer the Provincial to supersede his demands from the Emperour and Arch-Duke to the Pope for that he had obtained letters from the King for their re-establishment in the Priories in question This appears by Cardinal Colonnas Answer of the 5 th March 1652. to the Letters of the Emperour and the Arch-Duke But the Father though he thought the Orders would be executed without taking any cognizance of the Cause was deceived in his account for neither the Governour nor the Ambassadour judged it in their power to obey them for many reasons both of State and of Law declaring frankly to the Iesuites that they were willing to serve them and that the Letters were very good but their Cause worth nothing This obliged the three Rectors to reassume their first course and continue their pursuit in the Court of Rome by the favour of the Emperour to procure from the Pope a confirmation of the Union of these three benefices artificially suggested in all their addresses But the success here proved worse than in France For the Pope judiciously refused it telling them that if they had such an Union as they pretended they needed no confirmation and to grant one were to derogate from the Authority of the Holy See To omit nothing that artifice or ambition could suggest they had recourse at last to the Imperial Diâ—t at Raâ—isbonne where they made a great noise complaining loudly but â—alily that they were outed of the Priories of St. Morâ—nd and St. Iames against Right and were troubled and disturbed in their possession of St. Valentines in prejudice of the Treaty of Peace and the Canonical Union obtained from the Holy See Endeavouring thus to engage the States of the Empire to re-establish them or to break with France But M. de Vautorce his Christian Majesties Ambassador in that Assembly being well informed of the Truth and of the Justice of the Benedictines Cause inseparable from that of the Abbies of Cluny and Chesy and the interâ—sses of France rendred these new attempts of the Iesuites ineffectual and vain Their recourse to Heretical Officers of War and of Iustice their Calumnies and recommendations to promote their injustice They were not daunted for all this but though their Cause was so unjust that they failed of their hopes in Germany and in Italy from the Emperour the Apostolical Nuncio and the Arch-Duke of Inspruch they resolved to try the French King once more and sollicited new Orders from him on the same suppositions they had procured the former and because they could not incline the Siâ—urs De la Bard and de Charlâ—vois to favour their injustice they laboured with all their might to have these second Orders dispatched and directed to Major General Rose their particular friend though an Heretick judging him proper for the execution they needed having disposed him before by the great treats they had made him in their Colledge of Ensishâ—im where they had lodged and entertained him with all Almaign Civilities in the beginning of the year 1652. the â—â—rrain Troops being then in their winter quarters in Aâ—sâ—â—ia But they could never obtain at Paris the Orders they desired this made them play other pranks to compass their designs They slandered F. Paul William the Benedictine for defending himself against their unjust usurpations as a villain a cheat and notorious impostor These are the very terms in the Latine Letter from the Rector of Fribourg to the Warden of the Capucines of Brisach dated Iuly 25. 1652. and inserted at large in the memorial abovementioned By the same letter it appears that they procured from several persons of Quality their friends at Paris Letters of Recommendation to Madam the Countess of Hâ—rcâ—ur to M. the Count of Serny and to the Baron de Mele at Brisach to desire their favour for the Jesuites But their Cause was generally judged so bad upon the place that no person would be perswaded to undertake their dâ—â—â—nce except the Auditâ—r General who not able to maintain them in possession of the Pâ—iories of St. Iames and St. Mâ—rand granted them a sequestration in August 1652. without taking any cognizance of the Cause without hearing or summoning the defendants to the prejudice of the Suitors and against the prohibitions of the Privy Council who had retained to themselves the whole cognizance of this affair Their Rapine and Dilapidation of Benefices By the favour of this Judge and several artifices the Iesuites turned the deaf ear to the frequent demands made for restitution of the Deeds Evidences Reliques Plate and Ornaments they had carried away from the said Priories though obliged to restore them not only in Conscience but by an express Article of the treaty of Peace pag. 82. importing That all Records and Wriâ—ings whatsoever and other moveables found in the said place at the time of the possession taken should be restored so that their refusal obliged the Benedictines to commence new Suits and obtain judgements against them for recovery of their goods That which is most lamentable is that while they were in possession of the three Priories of St. Iames St. Morand and St. Valentin they left nothing intire but what respect hindered them to demolish or interest obliged them to preserve And they who so often pretend to the injury of others that the Divine Service is ill managed or
neglected and object against theâ— great imperfections and disorders in their manners as grounds for their usurpation and account them Canonical Titles for intruding into the Rights of other men ought to have been confounded for these real enormities which though committed by them they have the impudence to own in the face of the world to the scandal of Christianity You have heard before that upon their entring St. Morand they demolished the Cloyster and caused the materials to be conveyed to St. Vlrich At St. Valentines every one knows that they changed into a hey-house and stable for the Arch-Dukes horses a fair and large Hospital magnificently built and with extraordinary charge by D. Iohn Sancey the Benedictine Prior at the gate of the Monastery for receiving and lodging poor Pilgrims and that they dissipated and imbezelled the Reliques and a quantity of Plate and Ornaments which the Priors had provided by their frugality But the Priory of St. Iames of Veldbach though let them in good condition and at a great undervalue in the Rent fared worst of all and was used with least respect as situate in a village where they held themselves at liberty to act those abuses which in Cities and great Towns they durst not attempt for they not only permitted the Dormitory of the Fryars adjoyning to the Church and the Founders Chappel beside the High Altar to decay and run to ruine but pulled down the Steeple and threw great pieces of timber on the Founders Tombs which were in the middle of the Quire and by this Barbarisme broke all to pieces Thus they demolished part and spoyled the residue of this poor Church that there was not left one ornament for saying Mass of twelve they found there which they carryed into Swizzerland with all the Plate of the Priory And 't is probable they had not spared the rest of the Church from utter destruction but that it was Parochiall which notwithstanding they leâ—t in extreme disorder Of the Priory of Maizere of the Order of St. Benedict changed into a Farm by the Jesuites What you have heard is no more than what their brethren of the Colledge of Porentrâ—t who pretend no less Veneration for sacred places than the rest of the company had given sufficient cause of credit and belief to having three years before ruined the Church of another Priory of the same Order called Maizere formerly famous for Pilgrimage in the Countrey to the great scandal of the Hereticks who carefully maintain and preserve their Churches and to the great regret of the Countrey adjacent who deplored the profanation to see the materials of the House of God imployed to repair the houses Barns and Stables of a Farmer so that there remained no sign of a Priory nor any thing else but a plain Farm Such is the condition to which the Iesuites reduce the benefices they usurp whereof they consider nothing but the revenue beginning alwayes as soon as they enter them to abolish the Divine Service and all those marks which might make it appear they once belonged to the ancient Orders of Religion without any regard to the intention of the Founders nor the Charges they imposed which is the Iesuitical way to promote the glory of God Their taking away Evidences and Registers Another Detriment and injury done by the Iesuites to these three Priories for which the Priories were obliged to seek their remedy in the Great Councel was their taking away the Evidences and Registers concerning the Rights and Revenues of these Monasteries which the Iesuites could make no other use of but to accommodate themselves in case of a re-entry there which nothing but an unjust Ambition could give them any hopes of or to deprive the right owners of the enjoyment of them to which nothing but an extreme malignity could incline them or lastly to conceal and suppress some debts to which their Goods might be lyable which though it denotes a malicious avarice yet is not strange in the Jâ—suites practice For the Iesuites of the Colledges of Novices at Nancy have 40 years since used the like practice against the Friars of Senon of the Order of St. Benedict in Lorrain when the Abbot of St. Vanne of Verdun having given them the Lordship of Barbonville being a dependant on his Abby charged with the ancient rent of 22 quarters of Corn to the Abby of Senon they craftily embezled all the Evidences thâ—y could light on that made mention of that duty And when the Fryars of Senon sent to demand the Rent as accustomed the Iesuites who thought all the Evidences that concerned that duty were safe in their hands pretended ignorance and refused payment telling the demanders thâ—y thought nothing due A suit was thereupon commenced in the Councell of Lorrain and the Fryars for want of their Evidences to make out their title were cast But some years after the reformation of the said Abby the reformed Fryars made so diligent search that they found three Registers wherein the said duty was charged in pursuance whereof they brought a new Action which the Iesuites stifly defended but the Registers being produced they submitted to pay what they could no longer dispute The Iesuites proceeding in three several Tribunals and three Distinct Countreyes at the same time for the same Priories and other petty foggeries We have cause to believe that on the same dâ—sign the Rectors of the three Colledges of Selestat Enssheim and Fribourg carryed away the Deeds and Evidences of the three Priories above-mentioned And when the Priors of the Benedictines sought restitution by Law it is incredible how many artifices and petty foggeryes they used to detain them To give an instance when they saw themselves pressed by the Benedictines to restore them they procured a prohibition from the Privy councel to prevent proceedings in the inferiour Courts interdicting the ordinary Judges the cognizance of the Cause The Councell being thus intirely possessed of the Cause at the instance of the Iesuites the Prince of Conty and the Abbot of Nesmond interposed in behalf of the Benedictines the former as Generall of the Order of Cluny the later as Abbot of Chesy and Collators of the Priories The Iesuites hereupon fearing their success in the Councel while the matter depended there prosecuted the Benedictine Priors at the same time both at Rome and Brisach and obtained of the Auditor Generall at Brisach whom we spake of before a sequestration of the Priories of St. Iames and St. Morand without any form of Justice and without hearing or summoning the Defendants And at Rome they procured a Monition to cite the Benedictines thither with an Excommunication against all that should oppose the execution of their Bull which they durst never produce And caused the Monition to be printed throughout And the Benedictines of St. Morand to be cited by the Bishop of Basle for which as an injury and abuse the Fryars were forced to make an Appeal In pursuance of this they used all the
Gospel should come they would ruine all by Warres and Seditions But we are to take notice that to that time and afterwards till 1593. they saw no other Preachers but Iesuites This Fryar speaks not this of himself but hath taken the words out of the General History of Iapan printed at Alcala in 1601. which the Author Lewys Gusman the Iesuite sayes He had gathered out of Relations of certain truth or ocular testimonies The same Author Cap. 3. Lib. 2. reports the persecution raised against them by the Emperour of Iapan and the cause alledged by the Emperour to have been that the Iesuites were Cheats and Impostures who made pretence of preaching salvation came to raise the people and plot some treason against him and the Kings of Iapan and that had he not taken heed of them they had long since deceived him as they had done many other Kings and Princes so that in six years they had discovered the end they had in preaching the Gospel and made it appear to have been the destruction of Princes It cannot be said the Emperour did this out of hatred to the Christan Faith who gave permission in writing in 1593. to the Order of St. Francis to enter his Empire to found there Churches Hospitals and Convents and appear publickly in their poor habit All which notwithstanding the persecution continued against the Society who had but one Church left at Nangazaqui a Port town and a place of great Commerce This Church the Emperour permitted to stand because of some Iesuites Inhabitants there who took care of merchandizes one of whom named Iohn Roderick was the Emperours Interpreter This shews how fâ—r the Iesuites were engaged in trade that some of them were necessary to be left to uphold it when the rest were expelled and that they were not chased away for their Faith since the the Order of St. Francis who laboured more effectually the Conversion of Infidels were admitted the same time but for the horror and detestation of the Iapanois conceived against them for their double dealing and falsehood The Avarice and Ambition of the Jesuites cause the destruction of two Christian Kings of Japan Their Treason against the King of Omura makes the Ministers of the Gospel to be accounted Traytâ—rs P. 311. I could not in silence pass by two cruel Treasons which the Ambition of the Iesuites produced in these Countries by policies most repugnant to the maximes of Christianity The King of Omura received the Christian Faith with very great devotion and for that reason and because he reputed the Iesuites Ministers of the Gospel favoured and protected them in his Realm Nangazaqui is one of thâ— principal Cities there and capable to enrich all the Countrey being a Port well frequented as we hinted before The Iesuites thought to draw more advantages to themselvâ—s from another person whom they designed to make Master of a Port so considerable though not without the brâ—ach of all the Laws of Fidelity due to a Catholick King their friend They went to the Emperour and represented to him the conveniencies of the Port the various Merchandizes brought thither the commodiousness of its situation for security of his Vessels and at last assured him that as a Soveraign Lord he might take it away from the King of Omura giving him something else equivalent to it The Emperour followed their advice and took away the Port from the King of Omura but as soon as he had done it he banished the Iesuites from all parts of that Kingdom saying with much wisdom That having betrayed their Benefactor they would with more reason betray him the Emperour who had far less obliged them than the King of Omura Thus they lost the amity of the King and gained not that of the Emperour they affected but left the Ministers of the Gospel the reputation of being Traytors This hath been assured upon the oaths of above fifty Christian villages in a Memorial presented originally to his Catholick Majesty in his Councel of the Indies and to the Pope in the Congregation de Propaganda â—ide A Mischievous Counsel given the King of Arima which cost him his life and â—aused a bloody persecution against the Christians P. 312. There happened another thing equally strange to the King of Arima a Christian and great Benefactor to the Iesuites whose Seminaries and Colledges flourished in his Realm They put a chimera into the head of this Prince and perswaded him to demand of the Emperour the restitution of some Lands which his Predecessors had lost by war The Iâ—suites design in this was to enlarge their Power by extending the Dominions of the King of Arima their friend beyond the ordinary limits to attain their desires they made use of a man who was intirely at their devotion his name Dayfaqui a Secretary to one of the Emperours Ministers but though they gained him to their side he forbore not to discover the whole intrigue which cost the lives of the one and the other for the Emperour caused the King to be beheaded and Dayfaqui burnt and Morejon the Iesuite escaped but narrowly the same flames This King is charged with the killing of a Son he had by a former wife to make way for the succession of one by a second wife as a person from whom the Iesuites hoped more favour in his Reign than they could expect from the other The Emperour hereupon conceived a very ill opinion of our Religion and its Ministers for that all who acted in this Tragedy were Fryars or Christians and this moved him to the second persecution which was much more bloody than the former He chased away all Fryars from his Empire so that the Conversion of this people was extreamly obstructed by the ill Counsels and Flatteries of the Iesuites Is not the Ambition of the Iesuites very strange and their flattery a horrible thing who to extend their Dominion and please the King of Arima though they were setled in very good condition proposed to him the design of re-entring these Lands his Predecessors had possessed though then in the hands of another Master In a Contribution made by all the Religious Orders of Spain the Jesuites give three advices instead of money P. 392. The King of Spain wanting monies at the beginning of the War with France demanded of all the Orders of Religion a succour by way of Contribution The Collector applyed themselves presently to the Iesuites not doubting but they who were Labourers Burgers Usurers Bankers Merchants Mint-men Exchangers Victuallers Intelligencers Emissaries into China Legatees and executors of Testaments throughout the world would on this occasion make appear to the world their affection for the publick good and their Power and would give the King a considerable sum to help him out of the great straits he was in The Fathers answered them who made the proposal that when they had demanded the Contributions of other Religious Orders the Sâ—cieâ—y would give as much as they who gave most yea