not subject to him In a word they were not at all like the Monks now adays The same Epiphanius in the same book condemns those that live an idle life and making a profession of beging get their bread at rich mens tables But to compleat their wickedness the mendicant Fryars make begging a work of supererogation that is better than what God commands in his Law and consequently better than to love God with all our hearts and our neighbour as our selves God commands us to serve him with all our strength so that the Monks serve God with more than all their strength which is impossible Abraham Isaac Jacob Samuel David c. never did works of supererogation The perfection of the Angels consists in obeying God and not in doing more than he commands Jesus Christ himself came into the world only to do the will of his Father and not to do more then his will Ask the most devout Capucin if he never commits sin and he will tell you that he is a poor linner How do these things agree they do not that which God commands and yet will do more then he commands They fail in necessary things and yet strive to do things unnecessary and which God requires not They do not what they ought and do what they ought not They are more holy than God would have them to be That man is crack-braind who exerciseth liberality when he hath not wherewith to pay his debts If this be so in reference to men how much more in reference to God It is an extream pride to endeavour to give God overplus and more then we owe him In a word I would know whether the Monks when they do works of supererogation do the will of God or their own will If they do the will of God they are obliged thereunto and do what they ought But if by doing better things then those which God commands they do their own will it follows that their will is better than the will of God Out of this same shop of pride come those superabundant satisfactions whereby the Monks would make us believe that they suffer more punishment and do more penance then their sins deserve and that the Pope gathers this overplus into his Treasury and distributes it by his Indulgences as payment for the sins of others The Monks believe that by whiping themselves by fasting and going bare-foot they expiate the sins of others Wherefore Bellarmine saith that the Saints are in some sense our Redeemers The Legends of Saint Antonine say that Saint Dominick a grand emulator of the holiness of St. Francis lasht himself three times a day with an iron chain viz. Once for his own sins which were very small once for the sins of the living and once for the sins of those Souls which are in Purgatory who no doubt received much ease thereby And it is this same Saint that once had mercy on the Devil For the Devil having transformed himself into a Sparrow and Saint Dominick catching him contented himself only with pulling off the feathers from his head whereas it was in his power to have wrung off his neck By these things God is blasphemed For such things are attributed to God which if a man should do he would be accounted either wicked or mad For what Judge would not be accounted unjust or out of his wits who should let a malefactor go because his neighbour hath whipt himself for him But things which are ridiculous in civil society are esteemed good in Religion as if a man must lose common sense to augment piety All this abuse proceeds from this viz. that men utterly destitute of the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures which are to them a book sealed and altogether unknown seek other satisfactions and other payments for sin then the death and passion of Jesus Christ For seeing Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied Gods justice to what purpose are other satisfactions presented to him Is not this to accuse God of injustice to pretend that he takes two payments for one debt when the first is sufficient Is it not to dishonour that most perfect satisfaction which Jesus Christ hath accomplished for us to joyn it with the whipings and austerities of Monks which is just as if a man should mingle coals and diamonds together For Pope Clement the VI. in his Extravagant Vnigenitus saith that the merits of the Virgin Mary and of the other Saints do help to compleat the treasure of the benefits of Jesus Christ giving us to understand that the benefits of Jesus Christ make but bare measure but that the addition of the Saints merits makes heaped measure and is an addition to the merits of Jesus Christ And for this reason the Priest in the Mass prays for salvation not only through the Saints intercession but also through their merits The Lord God take pity on so many poor people involved in so many abuses and discover the deceit of those who being themselves notorious sinners do yet by a proud humility think to expiate the sins of others CHAP. XXV Of the Fraternity of the Cord. An Extract of a Book entituled The Treasure of the Indulgencies of St. Francis's Cord Translated out of Italian into French And of the Canonization of St. Francis and Ignatius de Loyola THE Faaternity of St. Francis's Cord is a Society of superstitiously devout people both Men and Women and as well Clergy-men as Lay-men Into which Fraternity they who enter are obliged to certain Observations and for a Badge of the Fraternity wear a Cord in imitation of the Cord which St. Francis wore and do participate of all the Merits and Satisfactions of those of the said Fraternity They who have the least of merit do for all that as really partake of the merits of the others as if they were their own They lend their merits to each other and he that is asleep or at dinner participates of the merits of him that whips himself or of him that turns over the consecrated Beads of his Chaplet seven times The Fraternity of St. Francis's Cord hath great Priviledges and the Popes have granted it great Indulgences These priviledges have been set down in writing by divers but especially by Antonio Brugneto an Italian Observantin Monk whose very words in the 104. page are these The most glorious Father Francis a little before his death obtained of God the Creator three Priviledges as the defunct Pope Gregory reports them from St. Francis his own mouth viz. The first is That as the number of Monks should increase so should all things necessary be provided for them by the Divine Providence The second That whosoever shall wear the Habit of his Order shall not dye unfortunately The third That whosoever shall persecute the Religion of his Order his days shall be short and his end miserable Moreover the most glorious Father Francis a little before his death revealed to a certain Monk who is worthy of credit that he had
charitable an office I address to him this small Treatise wherein he will see the Original of his Order and the illustrious actions of the Capucins whose perfections the Apostles could not attain unto The Reader will here find very pleasant extravagances and Follies more then enough to make a Saint of the word Saint having changed its signification in this blessed age For now adays if a man would attain unto a Seraphique and supereminent sanctity he must first be out of his wits The ensuing Narrative would afford sufficient subject for laughter did it not afford much more subject for sorrow and compassion For a man cannot see without great grief the Christian Religion quite disfigured and poor people fed with empty shews in stead of true and holy doctrines The God of mercy take pity on so many poor people so grosly abused and stir up his zeal and wonted compassions to deliver so many Souls ensnared by a counterfeit holiness to whom the Holy Scriptures are a book altogether unknown and sealed with more then seven seals My design in this Treatise is not to offend these Fathers but to instruct them and to shew them how far distant they are from true holiness also to demonstrate to them that in aspiring to a degree of glory above Abraham Moses and other such petty Saints who never did works of supererogation they take the course to come behind the meanest and that some crimes are more tolerable then their sanctity The Lord open their eyes that they may see it is a dangerous thing to mock him and that they have to do with a terrible Judge who cannot be deceived who searcheth the heart and from whom nothing is hid THE MONK'S HOOD PULL'D OFF OR THE CAPVCIN FRYAR Described PART I. CHAP. I. Of the Monastick Profession in General THE Monks do generally profess works of Supererogation that is to do more good works and more perfect than those which God commands in his Law that is they profess to do works more excellent then to love and serve God with all their heart and with all their strength for it is that which God commands in his Law Therefore they serve God with more than all their strength they are more vertuous than God would have them to be Moreover they would make us believe that by their profession of austerity and severe Discipline they do more satisfactory works and suffer more punishment than their sins deserve and that the overplus serves for others For the Pope gathers this overplus into the Church-treasury and distributes it to people by his indulgencies By these works of supererogation the Monks pretend to attain unto a supereminent degree of celestial glory far above those small Saints who contented themselves to fulfil the Law of God without doing any more This degree of glory is called by the Doctors Aureolo To which degree Abraham Jacob Samuel David c. have not attained for they never did works of supererogation CHAP. II. Of the Begging Fryars and their Vows and of the difference 'twixt them and the Jesuits THere are four sorts of Begging Fryars viz. The Minors called in France Cordeliers the Preachers who are also called Jacobins and Dominicans the Carmelites and the Augustines They bind themselves by vow to three things They vow poverty so that they possess nothing in particular although they abound in common Also they vow never to Marry This they call the vow of Chastity as if there could be no chastity in a married estate The third vow is the vow of Obedience whereby they oblige themselves not to keep the Laws of God but most exactly to observe the Rule of that Saint who is their Patron and the Constitutions of their Order and to obey the commands of the Guardian or Superiour of their Convent and to obey the General of their Order and above all the Pope The Jesuits beg not and reject the austerities of the Minors and will not be called Monks They are well shod warmly clad and lie on good beds And they that are called Fathers who are the chief of their Colledg have their Table furnished with the choicest meats They labour with very great industry to gather wealth although Ignatius Loyola their Founder did beg They vow never to marry But their chief vow and which they observe most strictly is the vow of blind obedience whereby they are obliged to obey their Superiour in all that is commanded without enquiring whether the thing be good or evil for they will always have it pre-supposed that the thing is good This obedience hath cost many Kings and Princes their lives particularly that excellent Prince William of Nassaw Prince of Orange Grandfather to the Duke of Bovillon who was killed at Delft by Balthazar Gerard of the Franck County excited thereunto by the Jesuits of Treves His process and examination are to be seen at Delft in Holland They say indeed that we must do nothing contrary to the commands of God but they permit not those who are commanded by the Superiour to examine whether his command be conformable to the commands of God For as Pope Julius the third in the Bull which Ribadenera inserts in the life of Ignatius saith Christum in Praeposito praesentem agnoscant They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be present in the person of the Superior The Capucins are more moderate for they oblige themselves to obey their Superior in all things except sin For example if the Superior should commend a Capucin to plant Cole-worts with the leaves downward and the root upward or to lick up the spittle of another Capucin or to plant a straw and to water it until it grows the Monk is bound to obey these commands such actions being most proper to try the obedience of the Minors CHAP. III. Of the Excellence and Prerogatives of each Order of the Begging Fryars EAch Order of the begging Monks hath some Priviledges and Prerogatives to render it commendable The Carmelites have this priviledge above the other Orders that they remain in Purgatory but until the next Saturday after their death St. Antonin who hath written the life of St. Dominick the Patron of the Preaching Fryars tells us that St. Dominick being once in a trance saw the Heavens open and a multitude of Monks in celestial glory but saw not one of his own Order amongst them whereupon this blessed Saint wept bitterly But Jesus Christ comforted him by shewing him a multitude of Jacobin Fryars that were hid under the Virgin Maries Coats Not one of any other Order ever had this honour It is observable that this Antonin Archbishop of Florence was Canonized by Pope Clement the 7th An. Dom. 1523. and that in the Bull of Canonization the said Pope approvs of and authorizeth the Doctrine of this Antonin and gives great Indulgences to those who shall visit his reliques The same is recited by Theodorick in the life of Saint Dominick as Surius reports But the Minors surpass all the
obtained three other Priviledges of our Creator when he appeared to him in the likeness of a Seraphin and left the impression of the holy Marks on him The first is That the profession of his Monks should continue until the end of the world The second That whosoever shall live well in his Order shall live a long time in it The third That whosoever shall heartily love his Order how great a sinner he be shall find mercy from God if so be he turns from his evil ways The same Author in the 109. page hath these words First Pope Clement the Fourth hath granted to those men who on their Death-beds shall desire to be clad in the Habit of St. Francis his Order and to those women who shall desire to be clad in the Habit of of St. Clare and to be buried in it the pardon of the third part of their sins This same Indulgence was granted them by Pope Nicholas the Third and by Pope Urban the Fifth Moreover Pope Leo the Tenth confirming the said Concessions adds by way of overplus That they who should die in this Habit of St. Francis or St. Clare and should be buried therein should have a plenary Indulgence for all their sins And in the 95. page Moreover on Olive-Saturday on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist and on the other Feast of St. John Porta-Latina Pope Sixtus the Fifth he hath granted to those of the Fraternity who shall on such days rehearse the seven Penitentiary Psalms the redemption of one Soul out of Purgatory As for the Indulgence granted as the Minor Fryars say by Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary and confirmed by the Pope at Nostre Dame des Anges called Portiuncula the Rosary of Bernardin and the aforesaid book of the Indulgences of the Cord and the Chronicle of St. Francis say that St. Francis would not have the Pope's Bull for confirmation of the said Indulgence For saith he I have the glorious Virgin and Jesus Christ for Notaries and the Angels for Witnesses This Indulgence is to be had on the second day of August whereby every one who hath been confessed and is contrite and shall then go into the Church of Nostre Dame des Anges shall obtain a plenty a plenary absolution both of sin and punishment If this same person should go into any other Church with the like or greater contrition he should not have the same Indulgence It is worth our notice that St. Francis obtained this Indulgence of Pope Honorius by presenting him with three red Roses in the Winter But Pope Sixtus the Fifth who was a Cordelier hath abundantly heaped up Indulgences plenary more plenary and most plenary as they Phrase it on the Order of the Minor Fryars and upon the Fraternity of St. Francis's Cord. But of all these Indulgences of three or four hundred thousand years the Jesuits make little reckoning and have never much troubled themselves about procuring any of them from the Pope esteeming their own Order although barren in pardons and Indulgences better then that of the Minor Fryars However in one respect the Cordeliers and Capucins surpass the Jesuits viz. in that St. Francis was Canonized by the Pope immediately after his death without the least difficulty But as for Ignatius Loyola the Founder and Patron of the Jesuits who dyed Anno Domini 1556. the Jesuits were above seventy years soliciting in the Court of Rome to obtain from the Pope that he might be put into the number of the Saints and at last with great difficulty obtained his Canonization seventy years after his death So long did the sanctity of Ignatius hang in suspence which no doubt was the cause of great trouble and perplexity to him However this future Saint during all this waiting received some consolation For some years before his Canonization he was Beatified which is a fore-runner of Canonization At last the Pope having received more clear and certain proofs of the holiness of Ignatius put him into the Catalogue of the Saints and ordained that he should be invoked in the Church of Rome which had not been lawful during those seventy years that past betwixt Ignatius his death and Canonization But as in the Chappels and Colledges of the Jesuits you shall see few Images of St. Francss so in the Convents and Churches of the Capucins it is a very rare thing to see the image of St. Ignatius For the Capucins believe that St. Francis hath more credit in the Court of Heaven and that he is exalted above the Cherubins The Author to the Readers A Few days since a little Book Intituled The Capucin composed by Mr. Du Moulin coming to my view and having read it exactly I find nothing in it but what is true and practised among the Capucins But knowing that divers particulars might be added which that good man was ignorant of I thought he would not take it amiss if by way of Appendix to his Book I should publish this small Journal that so nothing might be wanting to compleat the description of the Capucin The things which I have added are so well known amongst them that they cannot be denied Besides no man can speak with so much confidence as I may having been of their Order and employed in their Affairs above twenty years THE MONK'S HOOD PULL'D OFF OR THE CAPVCIN FRYAR Described PART II. CHAP. I. The Capucins Journal THE Capucins boast that of all the Religious Orders of the Romish Church theirs is the most austere and perfect The Carthusians did formerly dispute this honour with them but since the Jesuits are started up who contend with them both and would take this honour from them by force for they will give place to none in point of perfection And they have reason for it having amongst them all those advantages by whole Sale which the rest have only by Retail viz. They beg with the Mendicants receive Rents with the Bishops Benefices with the Abbots Priviledges with the Monks they eat good Fish with the Carthusians Flesh with the Capucin's wild In Fowl with the Gentry They say short Masses as great Mens Chaplains do are clad like Popes feed like Lords and lye delicately They are Jacobins in the Pulpit Carmelites in the Kitchen but never Cordeliers in the Choire They are Confessors to Kings and of late are become Chaplains to Princes and great Ladies They govern both men and women gather wealth on all hands and if you would give a Jesuite his right name you must call him Omnis homo However the Capucin's have gained the esteem of the people and do exceed all the other Monks in rigour and austerity Their day begins at midnight a little before which time he that warns them to rise goes the round by their chamber doors with a kind of Cymbal which they call a Tarrabas being like those Instruments of Wood with which those of the Romish Communion are called to their Churches three days before Easter when the Bells