at all and two others Lainez and Bobadilla hauing gone forth Maisters in Spaine were not adopted in the Vniuersitie of Paris so consequently were incapable of admission Notwithstanding the tenor of their vow they neuerthelesse to the preiudice therof left France in the yere 1536. and in 37. they were at Venice where when they had rested a fewe months at mid-lent they went to Rome as well to get leaue of the Pope to take holy Orders of priest hoode Maff. lib. 2. cap. 3. as also to goe to Ierusalem to preach the Gospell faining themselues not onely to be Maisters of Arts of the chiefe Vniuersitie of Europe but to haue studied diuinitie there for many yeeres Ribad lib. 2. ca. 7. The Pope entertaind their request without any great sifting the cause forasmuch as they confined themselues to Palestine that without charge to his holinesse coffers many of the Spaniards themselues contributing to this matter in fauour of them Thus these newe Pilgrims receiued 210. Ducats by bills of exchange at Venice to set their new pilgrimage afoote I haue portraied out Ignace to you for one of the cunningest worldlings in our age Finding his cause drawne vp to such a head he beganne to forget his first vowe and to feede many townes in the state of Venice with new assemblies There it was coÌ„cluded among theÌ„ to diuert their voiage backe againe to Rome to shewe Pope Paule that newes was come of warre between the Venetians and the Turke vvhich vvas a great barre to their pretended pilgrimagâ— In the Cittie of Rome they erected a new frame of their societie much different from the former and they followed it two whole yeeres in which space Pope Paule coulde not by anie meanes finde in his hart to graunt them theyr peticions although he were vrged and importuned by many and by Cardinall Contarer himselfe for neuer was yet noueltie destitute of a Patron Now let me â—ell you an expresse miracle of God that happened about the same time to discouer these tenne newe enterprizers to be very cheaters They reported that the Seas were stopt by reason of the warres against the Turke that by this meanes they could not effect theyr first dessigne Behold here a new way beyond all expectation opened to them for the conuersion of Insidels to our religion without any danger All that I haue spoken of in this place concernes their two Euangelists and doubtlesse this historie deserues to be sent by sound of Trumpet through all the world I remembred vnto you before that Iohn the third of that name King of Portugall possest a great part of the East Indies ill peopled which he desired to haue conuerted to the truth The fame of the deuotion of this newe companie that said they had vowed these conuersions was spred ouer many Nations the King summoned them by Letters to come to him that vnder his protection they might be dispatcht into the Indies But Ignace beeing subtile whilie turnd the deafe eare to this motion remembring no more his first vowe made at Montmarter nor his second vowe renued at Rome by which hee got a good sum of money and sent forth Xauier and Roderic onely keeping the other seauen about him Doe not you see by this that Ignace was a states man no religious man who dalied with his vowe made at Montmarter By the matters heere discoursed you haue heard what was their vow at Montmarter to goe for the conquest of soules after their doctorship in Diuinitie That some of them said they were Maisters of Arts in Paris that they had bestowed many yeeres in the studie of Diuinitie meere fables The pause Iulius the third made in their allowance euen when hee tooke them at theyr word to be such men as they reported themselues to be and that he was verie much pressed by Cardinall Contaren their Solicitor and Protector what would hee haue done then think you if his holines had receiued any true intelligence of their history Me thinks that with admirable maiestie of those venerable yeeres hee carried I see him speake to them in this manner All new orders of Religion are to be suspected and for this cause were they forbidden by two generall couÌ„sels the one held at Rome the other at Lyons you present vs a new religious Order vnder the name of the societie of Iesus as true followers of him and his Apostles Your intention is derogatorie to your profession or to speake more properly your profession is contrarie to your petition and implies a contradiction For if you be the Apostles Schollers one of the first lessons they taught vs was that looke what hath beene ordred in a generall Counsell by the heads of the Church ought to be kept inuiolable vntill it be repeald by another Counsell vppon iust occasion As if all did shoote out of one stocke of the holie Ghost Placuit spiritui sancto et nobis they spake in such cases as men that diuorced not the holy Ghosts cause froÌ„ the Churches nor the Churches cause from the holy Ghosts If you trace after the Apostles so precisely as you protest how comes it to passe that by a new found order you goe about to breake the auncient canonicall coÌ„stitutions of the Church I know it well that beeing Christes Vicar I may dispence with you and I much commend your obedience to the holy Sea But setting aside that which hath beene decreed in generall looking in particular toward you all things degenerate from that you now intend I perceiue that your beginning had some taste of God your proceeding sauours much of man and your end smacks three or foure times more of the deuill Betaking your selues to a deuotion full of perrill you made choice of the Martirs Church neer Paris to shew you would all be ready to shed your blood for the truths sake as oft as occasion serued A braue and holy resolution which cannot be praised enough Vpon this point you went to confession all of you heard Masse deuoutlie after that you receiued the Sacrament vpon the day of the Assumption of our Lady the most solemne feast of hers desirous that the blessed virgine should bee a witnesse to your vow you continued it two yeeres after the selfe same day and place Heere be holy circumstances enow to tie you to the vow you made then Let vs consider nowe what this vowe was You promised to God that when euery one of you had ended his diuinitie course you would renounce the world and goe to Palestine to conuert the enemies of our fayth and that if you should within one yeere after your Doctorships be any way hindered of your voyage you should seeke vnto me to receiue my direction For the first execution of so faire a plot you made choice of the Citty of Venice for the generall Rende-vous of these Pilgrims that were to goe to Ierusalem Before you proceeded any further thou Ignace for to thee I speake in particular
did proceed onely from their folly accompanied alwaies with one of these sixe lying spirits For example and to vse his owne words From their manifest folly bad spirit from their folly passionate spirirt from their folly and presumptuous spirit from their folly and vnshamefast spirit from their folly and malignant spirit and from their folly and deceiued spirit With this folly and these sixe wicked spirits he raiseth vp tempests against vs by Sea and land and playeth the Exorcist in such sort throughout his whole discourse as if hee had beene Frier Weston another Pidgeon of the same Doue-coate at Denham when the time was whereof wee feare a straunge relation and so dealeth with our said brethren as though eyther hee himselfe or they good men were diuels indeed And shall wee say that this man hath no gall in him but in mildnesse of his speech and simplicitie of his heart is like a Doue Hee that shall with anie iudgement read his said treatise will rather thinke he was brought vp in a Crowes-nest Some men are much deceiued if both he and many of his crue might not for their stinging and poysoned writings be better resembled to Hornets and Dragons then to so milde a fowle as a Doue is reported to be by all that write of her But certaine persons will say vnto vs you see not that part of the wallet that hangs at your owne backes It is true that wee are not ignorant how greatly some of our said brethren are blamed and Maister Watson chiefely by many of you how iust soeuer their cause bee for the bitternesse of their stile and we wish with all our hearts that they had tempered their pennes better not in respect of the Iesuits but of your weakenes God forgiue vs all our sinnes In multis enim offendimus omnes For in many things wee offend all Si quis in verbo non offendit hic perfectus est vir If any offend nor in his speeches he is a perfect man But yet some further defence may be made of our brethrens said bitternes mens generall imperfections alwaies considered wherwith we often stayne euen our best actions It must bee confessed by all men that are of any vnderstanding that sharpenesse eyther of speech or style is not alwaies to bee disliked The olde Prophets Christ himselfe his Apostles many holy Saints and Fathers haue vsed this kind of bitternes and sharpe writing when they saw cause To which purpose much might be alleadged as also to shewe that oftentimes wounds are better then kisses fretting tents corasiues and incisions more needfull then gentle milde lenitiue and ouer hastie skinning plaisters So as hereof there being no question amongst vs or any other of discretion the doubt then is whether the Iesuits or we haue the better cause and consequently whether of vs may better pretend the testimonie of Gods Spirit a good conscience true zeale perfect charitie and the practise of Christ of his Apostles and of many auncient fathers for the sharpenes of our writings Maister Parsons speaketh in his said manifestation of his owne long and accustomed practise and experience where he saith That an euill argument may sometimes by cunning and smooth handling or by shewing wit learning of zeale or modesty be made plausible to the vulgar Reader And indeed therein he hath an especiall gift aboue all men that we know For no mans writings are generally more spightfull and galling then his But it is mixt with such stoods of Crocodils teares when he guirdeth most as that he then alwaies pretendeth such deuotion and charitie as though euerie hard word he vseth went to his verie heart and that hee would not deale so roughly with any of his brethren for his life were it not that for their good and amendement hee were driuen thereunto of meere necessitie And with these fayre pretences the simpler sort are greatly blinded But by his leaue it is also as certain that if a true cause be cleerely and at the full deliuered although it be done with no such hypocritical skill but with some choller and heat of humour as zeale sometime is tearmed he is but likewise a verie vulgar Reader and of a shallow reach that will therefore be led to discredit the truth vpon so light a ground Men of sound iudgement will alwaies looke to the issue of the matter in question and not to the manner of pleading More therefore of the cause it selfe wherevpon this doubt before mentioned doth arise Wee hope we may truly say it as in the sight of God and without all pharisaical ostentation that we are not ambitious that we seeke no exemptions from our lawfull superiour that we honour discipline and embrace it that we craue to haue Bishops to ouer-see punish control vs whē we doe amisse and that we labour chiefly in these disastrous quarrels to withstand so great an innouation general disgrace to all the Seculer Cleargie in Christendome as neuer yet hapned if we should yeeld to be at the checke and direction either of Frier Garnet Frier Parsons or any or all the Iesuits in the world And wee are the rather so earnest against both them and their plottings to this purpose because we likewise know their further practises and most wicked designements against both our Prince and country how they ingaged thēselues with the Spaniards her Maiesties professed enemies So as might the Iesuits once beare rule ouer al both Priests people as let the state look to it in time for they haue further preuailed here in alreadie then we are glad of it would not be long before this kingdom were brought into a general cōbustion Is our cause then so iust and theirs so impious and should we be silent Doe they say vnto vs with Tobias the Ammonite That do what you can a Foxe shall be able to ouerthrow all your opposition z. Esdras 4. The Infanta of Spaine shall be your Queene and that sooner then you looke for and shall we not say as it is there in the Text Auds Deus noster quia facti sumus despectui conuerte opprobrium super caput eorum da eos in despectionem in terra captiuitatis Heare vs O our God heare vs and because they doe despise vs and our endeuours to maintayne both the Church and our countrey against their machinations giue them ouer that they may be a despised and contemptible generation throughout all the world if in time they repent not Can any true harted English Catholick seeing how the case nowe standeth betwixt vs and these men be iustly offended with this our zeale Hath God made vs annoynted priests here amongst you and shal we see a sword drawne out against this Land and not sounde out our trumpet to sumon you to battell One telleth you verie plainlie in his Latine Appendix and we suppose it is our R. Arch-priest him selfe that Cardinall Allen and Father Parsons as Moses and Iosue iam diu
in die Coenae Domini solita est legi ac eis pro commissis poenitentiam salutarem iniungendis That is we giue leaue and permission to as many of you as are Priests to heare the Confessions of the faithfull of the one and the other Sexe from what part soeuer they come vnto you and them being diligently heard to absolue from all and singuler their sinnes crimes excesses and offences how great and enormous soeuer yea euen those that are reserued to the Sea Apostolique and all circumstances thence arising by sentence censure or paines Ecclesiasticall those excepted which are contayned in the Bull accustomed to be read on Maundie Thursday and to ordayne to the Penitents for the faults by them committed wholesome and profitable penaunce As the priuiledges which they perswade themselues haue beene graunted them for the Catechising and instructing of youth haue peruerted all the auncient order of famous Vniuersities so this large and extraordinarie licence permitted them in matter of Confession hath beene the cause that the greatest part of the people haue in great and haynous sinnes forsaken the auncient custome of resorting to the Penitentiaries of Cathedrall Churches and had recourse to the Iesuits whom wee see by vertue of this Bull to be all of them authorized for Penitentiaries And God knowes how farre these holy and blessed Fathers haue abused it The first breaking forth of our troubles was in the yeere 1585. at which time all that resorted to them to be confessed if they affirmed themselues to be good subiects and loyall seruitors to the King for they were questioned vpon that article they were sent backe by the Iesuits without receiuing absolution Which beeing obiected against them by Arnauldus marke I beseech you the cold aunswere which they make in their defence against his accusations For in the 17. article it is obiected saith Arnauldus that the said Defendants haue at diuers sundry times denied absolutiō to them that stoode for the late King from the yeere 1585. The said Defendaunts aunswere that the article is vntrue although themselues know that it hath beene often by sundrie persons auouched yea and deposed against them in the presence of the late King in his closet and what witnesse could there be produced against them in this case saue only those who had been by them denied absolutiō There is no smoak without some fire Read their annuall letters of the yeere 1589. when griefe rage and furie of the last troubles beganne you shall find that the number of their confessions was infinitely encreased and specially in the Colledge of the Iesuits at Paris Totius vitae confessiones auditae trecentae Wee haue heare 300. totall confessions wrote the Substitutes of the Colledge to their Generall Aquauiua If you aske me whence this new deuotion of the common people to them proceeded I wil tell you Our Kings represent the true image of God Against whom this yeere there hapned three straunge and vnusuall accidents first the rebellion against the late king which they coloured with the title and pretext of tyrannie for the fairest title they could affoord him was the name of Tyrant secondly the parricide committed vppon his person by a Munke and lastly the continuance of that rebellion against the King that now is for his religion Be you assured that all such as did not hold their consciences at as low a rate as many of the Cleargie doe found themselues much disquieted vpon these accidents Which was the cause that during these troubles they went to be confest by these vpstart Penitentiaries some were to be resolued by them whether it were sin not to yeeld obedience to their King others to be absolued for the same But this was to commit the Lambe to the Woolues custodie for their confessions were as many instructions or rather destructions to teach Rebellion refusing to absolue them which eyther were not in their consciences fully confirmed in their reuolt from the two Kings or had any inclination to acknowledge them for their Soueraignes And which is full of horrour and detestation their ordinarie course was before they would absolue them to make them sweare by the holy Gospell contayned in their breuiaries neuer to take these two Kings for their lawfull Soueraignes That which I speake I haue by good information from many that were fayne to passe through that strait and I know one amongst the rest more neere mee then the rest who rather then hee would giue credit to their doctrine departed from his Confessour without receiuing absolution This teacheth to the whole bodie of the Realme But as concerning priuate Families the Iesuits make a double vse of ministring Confession One is to take information from the Penitent not onely of his owne sinnes but of their demeanour likewise that dwell with him or with whom hee dwelleth nay of the whole neighbourhoode as if it were a sinne in him not to discouer an other mans sinne in confession eyther if hee know it or suppose that he knowes it Which is as much in effect as to make so many spies and carrie-tales in a Towne as there be Iesuits Confessors The second vse which toucheth them in a neerer respect is that in sucking by the eare the soule of a timorous conscience they sucke or rather swallow there-withall his goods and possessions by promising abundance of Spirituall goods in the world to come after their death to those that shall in their life time be charitable to them out of their temporall goods A course whereby they haue carried away an infinite masse of wealth if you beleeue those that haue taken vppon them to write their Legend for I know not by what other name to in title the liues of these holy Fathers One point more I will adde whereof I desire to be resolued by our auucient Doctors in Diuinitie they haue a rule in practise that men are bound to accuse themselues to their Confessour and not themselues onely but all their confederates likewise and as for the Magistrate the malefactor being condemned to die after he hath once made confession of his sinnes to his ghostly father is not tyed to reueale it to his Iudge nay it is lawfull for him to stand in stiffe deniall thereof at the time of his execution as being cleere before God although he persist in a lie after he hath once discharged the depth of his conscience to his Confessor A thing that breedeth much scruple in the minde of a Iudge who otherwise is greatly quieted in conscience when an offender adiudged to die howsoeuer he haue before time stood in deniall of the fact yet at the time of his death confesseth the truth CHAP. 13. ¶ Of a generall assemblie of the Iesuits holden in Rome in the yeere 1593. wherein they are prohibited to entermedle in matters of state I Haue formarly in this discourse charged the Iesuits to haue beene both the first sparkes and the chiefest flames of our last troubles for proofe whereof
choler of those which prosecuted the cause against them might in time coole and asswage as the manner of French men is The Iudges neuer stirre in any cause but as they are vrged thereunto otherwise they should doe themselues wrong and men might say they were rather soliciters then Iudges In this pause the iudgement of your cause was likely to haue beene forgotten when on a sodain beyond all imagination this fact of Chastels came to paste whereby the humors both of the Iudges and of the parties are stirred a fresh This was the houre of Gods wrath who hauing long temporized with your sinnes thought it good to make Chastell a spurre in the hearts of the Iudges to incite them to doe iustice aswell vpon you as vpon him and that you might all serue for an example for posteritie to wonder at To the accomplishing of this worke he permitted that Chastell who had beene nurtured and brought vp in your schoole should assay to put in practise your deuout Lectures and exhortations against the King not in the countrie but in the Citie of Paris and that his dwelling should be not in any obscure corner of the Town but in the verie hart of the City standing as it were in the midst of two other Townes moreouer in a house right opposit to the gate of the Palace the ancient habitation of our Kings of the supreme and soueraigne Iustice of Fraunce This house belonged to the father who was so infortunate as not to reueale to the Magistrate the damnable intention of his sonne wherof he had knowledge as himselfe confessed God made speciall choise of that place of purpose to make the punishment more notorious For in like offences of high Treason the Iudges are in dutie bound to their Soueraigne to cause the habitations of the malefactors to be raced and pulled downe and there to be engrauen a memoriall of the whole proceeding for which cause this house was ruinated raced by order in the place thereof a Pyramis or piller raised bearing the memoriall not onely of Chastells offence but of the Iesuits also and this to stand in opposite view of this great and Royall Pallace To the end that our posteritie may know hereafter how highly Fraunce is beholding to this holy Societie of Iesus Was there euer I say not in Fraunce but in the whole world a more famous or notorious punishment then this CHAP. 20. ¶ Of the Pyramis which is raysed before the Pallace of Paris and of the sentence giuen in Rome by the renowmed Pasquill concerning the restauration of the Iesuits sued for by themselues TEll me Marble saith the hypocriticall Iesuit in his most humble petition speaking of the Pyramis to record and testifie to posteritie the happines of a great King and the misfortune of a great offender what hast thou to doe with a poore guiltlesse Societie hast thou not inough of thy iust burthen but thou must charge thy selfe with his slaunder and defamation that had no hand at all in this fact But sith thy backe hath a tongue to vtter falshoode let thy tongue aunswere me and speake the truth Who hath engrauen vpon thy backe that the Iesuits did prouoke or perswade an vnhappie Frenchman to murther the most Christian King of France what witnes what deposition what confirmation hast thou hereof seeing thou doest take vpon thee to witnesse it to depose it to confirme it so assuredly to all the world Hast thou heard more without eares seen more without eyes then fiue twentie thousand eares as many eyes were able to heare or see at that executiō of iustice in the place of the Greue Dost thou in a brauerie say more then that offender durst say being vrged therunto with such rigorous tortures Assuredly the force of a strong fancie or imagination is great and wonderfull not only to cause these prodigious effects in our minds but euen in our bodies themselues For so we read that Craesus his sonne beeing dumbe recouered speech seeing his father in daunger to be slaine and Cippus a King of Italy sitting to behold the fight of the Buls with a fixt and stedfast apprehension fell a sleepe and when he awaked he felt his forehead planted with a paire of hornes One Lucius Cossitius greedily and furiously apprehending the pleasure which he expected of his wife that should be the first night of his mariage was chaunged into a woman Which makes me greatly feare least this honest Iesuit reading in this Pyramis the generall condemnation of his brother-hood should be transformed into a stone as Niobe was when she saw her children slaine For I alreadie perceiue by him that he hath lost the eyes both of his bodie and mind setting forth with such eagernes the innocencie of his Order and bearing vs in hand that this sentence was builded vpon no other ground but Chastels offence Seing therefore that of a wilfull blindnes thou art ignorant euen in that which the walles themselues can testifie and teach and that thou framest thy speech to a stone I thinke it best that thou shouldest be aunswered by a stone but a most auncient and authentique stone the great and venerable Pasquils of Rome who suiteth and resembleth you in many poynts For as you iudge Kings and Princes by certayne texts of Scripture wrested and misunderstood so hath Pasquill beene allowed from all memorie to do the like by Popes and Cardinals vpon the same texts ordered after his owne liking and appetite And as you by meanes of confession come to to the knowledge of a thousand secrets as well of the publique State as of priuate families so is be priuiledged by aunciēr foundation to receiue intelligence from all countries whereby he layeth open to the world that which men presumed to be hidden from all knowledge Considering which sympathie argreement betwixt you him I make no doubt but you will be the rather inclined to beleeue him For do not think but this cause hath beene by him handled in Rome and with mature deliberation adiudged that for the interest you haue in him he hath left nothing vndone aswell to disanull the sentence and deface the Pyramis as to restore you into Fraunce howsoeuer his endeuours haue wanted successe Heare therefore what he hath written to thee in Italian which I haue translated into French as faithfully as I could it may bee thou wilt rest satisfied thereby Thrice reuerend Father I haue perused at large the humble remonstrance and petition preferred by you to the Most Christian King Henrie the fourth of that name as also the notes and instructions deliuered to Father Magius to present vnto his Maiestie for your re-establishment which wrought in me great pleasure and displeasure both at one instant Pleasure to see the choise and varietie of good words that abound in you displeasure to vnderstand in what euill manner your Fatherhoods haue beene entreated If I mistake not the chiefe marke you ayme at is to