the same for they ought not allway to liue in this hesitation but must be cleared from the sinister impressions which they may haue conceaued by reading these infamous lybells The reputation likewise of the late King her Maiestyes deare spouse the great Henry their Lord and good Maister is engaged herein which is stained with the calumniations that are imposed vpon him whome his Maiestie did not onely choose loue and fauour but honour also with the office of his Preacher and ordinary Confessarius Likewise her Maiesty her selfe hath part herein since that she imployeth Fa. Coton in the same charges and offices about her sonne which he exercised for his Father The honour of the Lords of the Counsell is touched also since that they ought to represent vnto her Maiesty the euills and daungers which ensue by the Societyes stay in France if they be such as they are accused to be Finally it importeth Fa. Coton much who certainly hath not deserued to be handled in this sort Innocēcie is the sister of truth truth is syrnamed the daughter of God and God himselfe is called the God of truth by whose loue my Author beseecheth her Maiesty that she will cause the truth to appeare that it may deliuer them they will beseech him so much the more that he will be pleased to increase his graces in her Maiesty to make her Regency peaceable the wils of her Subiects vnited and the Scepter of the King her Sonne happy and of long continuance The Conclusion THVS I haue run ouer the whole answere to the Anti-Coton And though I haue omitted many things of good importance yet I feare least in some I may seem to haue been too tedious especially writing to you my Reuerend dearest Fathers to whom I may iustly suppose that neither these Calumniations of your Societie nor the solutions or answers can be strang or new But I hope you will pardon my prolixitie accept of my good will and hereafter in like occasions I shall learne to be more warie For which cause I will omit all other relations though this Cittie of Paris be no lesse fertile in this kind then London it selfe For I suppose you know long ere this how the Treatise of Cardinal Bellarmine De potestate Sūmi Pontificis in temporalibus aduersus Gulielmū Barclaiū was prohibited by this Parlament of Paris the 26. day of Nouember last past that this Decree of theirs was recalled foure daies after by the King himself in his Counsell assisted by the Queene Regent his Mother the Prince of Conde Earle of Soissons Princes of the bloud the Duke of Maienne the Lord Chancellor the duke of Espernon of Lauardin Boisdaulphin Mareshall of France Admiral great Maister of the horse in France giuing large Cōmission for the Executiō of this his Decree reuocation to al Baylifs Sherifes Prouosts Iudges their Leiutenants and other his Maiesties Iustices Officers to whom it might appertayne as appeareth by the Decree it self the Cōmission dated in Paris the last day of Nouember in the yeare 1610. and of his Maiesties Raigne the first By the King in his Counsell Signed Delomenie And with this I will humbly take my leaue wishing you all happinesse and desiring somtime to be partaker of your holy Sacrifices and Praiers And so I euer rest Your Fatherhoods most assuredly to commaund F. G. From Paris this 20. of February 1611. THE CONTENTS OF the aforesaid Letter § I. Concerning the Doctrine of the Society impugned by the Anti-Coton pag. 12. § II. The Solutions to the personall obiections against the Fathers of the Society pag. 22. § III. The Solutions of the obiections against Fa. Coton in particuler pag. 50. § IIII. A briefe note of the doctrine and proceedings of Anti-Coton and other Hugonots pag. 61. § V. Certaine Obseruations and Instructions for the Catholicks in France which may easily be applied to those in England pag. 70. § VI. A Briefe Relation of Fa. Cotons and the Societies proceedings togeather with a Chalenge to the Hugonots and a Supplication to the Queene Regent pag. 81. FINIS
Pyramidem Rex stare vetat ne quaerito causam Indicta causa pulsus ordo fuit But he will only say that he had rather yeeld to the iudgment of the Court then censure it and that there cannot too much rigour be vsed to make the crime of treason detestable And he addeth that the King himselfe had a different iudgment from this Calumniator when treating of their Institute and discoursing of the vtility therof he sayd in presence of the Lord Condestable and many others who may remember it that if the Iesuits had known him sooner they would haue loued him sooner and if he had knowne thē sooner he would haue reestablished thē sooner And another time that if he were to be a Religious-man and liue a contemplatiue life he would be a Carthusian and if he were to liue religiously in the world and imploy himselfe in action he would be a Iesuite This was at Bourgfontaine in the presence of Monsieur du Perron Lord de la Guette and after of his priuy Counsell a personage whome his Maiesty honoured with a singular goodwill togeather with a great estimation of his iudgment and wisdome Much more might be sayd to this purpose there being as many proofes of this great Princes good opinion of the Society as there haue bin Panegyrikes and Apologyes heard made by him for this Order yet my author contenteth himsefe with a piece of a letter written by his Maiestie to the Mayor Magistrats of Rochell in these wordes Chers bienaimeZ ayant experimenté en plusieurs villes de nostre Royaume la probité suffisance modestie des Peres Iesuits lesquels en leurs moeurs doctrine commune conuersation font veoir qu'ils n'ont rien deuant les yeux que l'honneur de Dieu Nous auons trouué bon d'enuoyer en nostre ville de la Rochelle pour y prescher le Pere Seguiran Predicateur de leur Compagnie reuestu de toutes les qualiteZ qui peuuent rendre vn homme digne de cette charge En date du 17. de Septembre 1606. signé HENRY plus bas Ruzé Deare and welbeloued hauing experienced in many Cittyes of our Kingdome the vertue sufficiency and modesty of the Fathers of the Society who in their behauiour learning and common conuersation doe declare that they haue nothing before their eyes but the honor of God We haue thought good to send to our Citty of Rochell to preach F. Seguiran a Preacher of their Society endued with all the qualityes which may make a man worthy of this charge or office c. Dated the 17. of Septembre 1606. signed HENRY and vnderneath Ruzé Now saith my Author who is so blind that seeth not or so wicked that graunteth not that this onely iudgment ought to be of more force then all the calumniations of the world For this was written after he had heard a thousand times in a manner all the euill of the Society which is sayd at this day after he had exactly and carefully made triall of them For conclusion of this point I must not omit to tell you that the decree against Chastel was not absolutly censured at Rome Pag. 42. as Anti-Coton obiecteth for the late king was certified by letters from thence that they censured nothing belonging to the fact which they detested as much as any in France but that which they censured was a clause of the Decree defining and determining what was heresie which appertayneth not to the Parliament of Paris but to the Church of God and the chiefe Pastor thereof Thus much for Chastell after whom Anti-Coton returneth to one Barriere who intended to haue murthered the late King before he was admitted to the Crowne by Paris and other Cittyes And it seemeth Pag. 116. that he imparted this his designe among others to F. Varade Rector of the Colledge of the Society at Paris which Citty being at that time in warre with his Maiesty the Father could not by any meanes giue aduise yet my Author doth not altogether excuse him in this as his Maiestie himself seemed to do causing him to be warned that he should depart from Paris whē he was to come thither and neuer calling him in question for it afterward This is the most that can be probably belieued against this Father For the rest which Anti-Coton affirmeth of his perswading and adiuring Barriere by the Sacraments of Confession Communion conteyneth many absurdities contradictions and falsifications as my Author sheweth and it is certayne that the R. Father Seraphin Banqui who went to his Maiestie expressely to discouer this plot auouched that Barriere himselfe had told him that a Father of the Society at Lions affirmed that he could not enterprise the killing of the King without damning himselfe And his Maiestie himself often testifyed that he had first word of that attempt from one of the Fathers That which followeth of the Iesuits rūning from chāber to chamber crying Pag. 119. Surgefrater agitur de religione Rise brother our Religion is in daunger is euidētly conuinced to be false by the circumstance of the time since it is sayd to haue byn betwixt 8. and 9. of the clock at night when the Iesuits vse not to be in bed And besydes if it had bin true what could Anti-Coton or any other calumniator haue made of it But he wanteth matter which maketh him goe to the grāmer schollers and accuse them for making compositions against the King before he was admitted in time of the league which may very well be true in part but it is false that after the reduction of Paris to the Kings obediēce there was any such matter and much lesse that any was forbidden to pray for him but many are yet liuing who can testify that there was earnest prayer made for his prosperity and in particuler the R. Father Clement du Puy their Prouinciall in the Prouince of France ordayned that the Pensioners of the colledg of Clermōt who were about 200. should euery day in the morning say the prayer Quaesumus omnipotens Deus vt famulus tuus Henricus Rex noster c. Pag. 121. All the obiections which are made against Alexander Hayus a scottish Father appeare sufficiētly to be fictions by his deliuery out of prison as likewise that which he addeth of the Fathers sending children into farre countreys since that he whom he nameth dealt with no Iesuit for the party charged as the seducer was not of the Society at that time That which followeth were of more importance if it were true and therfore no meruayle though it be so euidently cōuinced of falshood Anti-Coton bringeth the Duke of Sully for a witnesse that this Noble man himselfe perswading the late King not to recall the Iesuits was answered by him Giue me then security for my life which my author not without cause calleth a slaunder died in crimson For the sayd Duke hath testified both before the Queene herselfe and the
Lord Chancellor and the Lord Villeroy and many others and in particuler to F. Coton that he remembreth nothing of that which the Anti-Coton maketh him say to the King or the King to him After some other obiections concerning England Pag. 123. which I am resolued to omit at length he commeth to the Reuerend Father Baldwin now in the Tower and is not afraid to affirme that he had some intelligence with Francis Rauaillac who sayth he had byn in Flanders somewhat before his cursed enterprise Wheras my Author sheweth that Rauaillac was particulerly asked whether he had byn at Bruxels to which he answered that he was neuer out of the Kingdome and that he knew not where Bruxels was From England he goeth to Polonia affirming pag. 124. that the Iesuits haue perswaded that King to vse such violēce that he hath byn in danger to loose his Kingdome which my Author calleth a manifest falshod for Polonia was neuer in the memory of man so prosperous nor euer King more beloued and respected or more peaceable in his Estates yea he hath entred into Moscouia where at this present he obteyneth very great victories And as for Sweden euery man knoweth that his vncle Charles withholdeth it against all right iustice not in respect of the Iesuits about whome there was neuer any question but by reason of the Dukes heresie and ambition shewing by his proceeding which is most certaine that out of the Catholicke Church there is no true fayth at all Ibidem That which followeth of Transiluania is a meere fiction neyther can he produce any such letter as he feigneth of the Baron of Zerotin neyther were the Fathers euer suspected of any conspiracy against that Prince yea F. Alfonsus Carillo was his Confessarius vntill he sent home the Lady Catherine of Austria and did put his cosen Balthazar Battorius to death And at this present al besides the heretikes do much desire that the Fathers of the Society may returne to Coluswar otherwise called Claudiopolis to Fayrwar otherwise called Alba-Iulia By all which this slander is made manifest but by nothing more thē by that which is added of putting one of the Fathers to death for neuer any heard of any such besides F. Martin Laterna Confessarius to King Steuen Battorius who being sent by his Maiesty into Transiluania was taken vpon the sea and put to death by the Pyrates of Duke Charles who styleth himself King of Sweden Because this calumniator could find no colour to charge the Society with any thing against the house of Austria he taketh a new course and will needes giue the reason therof to be because their Generall is a Spaniard to whome they vow blind obedience Pag. 78. 81. 125. But my Author sheweth that it is false that the Generals of the Society are always Spaniards as appeareth by the last who was of Liege and although this who is now be a Neapolitan yet he is of the noble house of Aquauiua sonne to the Duke of Atri Vncle to the Cardinall Aquauiua now liuing which family hath alway byn esteemed to fauour the French It is also vntrue that in the Society the first vowes are made to F. General but immediatly to the Superiours of that place which in France are Frenchmen who cannot be thought lesse faythfull to their King then the Spaniardes to theirs and how their vow of obedience is to be vnderstood hath bin already declared There remayneth yet Venice Pag. 126. concerning which Anti-Cotō chargeth the Iesuits to haue byn the beginners of the last troubles betwixt that Commō-wealth the Pope wheras it is manifest out of the bookes of Friar Paul the rest of that crew that the cause of those difficulties were for that his Holynes would not permit the reall libertyes and personal immunities of the Church to be infringed and violated for which cause he had imposed a locall personall interdict vpon that State Neither did the Fathers of the Society proceed any further then the Capuchins and Theatins who tooke it not to belong to them to censure the Popes proceedinges but rather to obey his Decrees vntill the Common-wealth had made their remonstrations and supplications to his Holynesse And wheras this calumniator addeth that the Iesuits wrought against the Common-wealth at Rome my Author sheweth that the late King of France in all mens iudgments a most iudicious Prince commāded the proofes of this and other obiections to be examined but nothing could be gotten but silence as that renowned Prelate the Cardinall of Ioycuse to whome this whole affaire was committed by his Maiesty can witnesse Finally the Society can be no more blamed for hauing legacies and lands in that State then in any other or then all other Religious Orders Yea if we speake of their house in Venice it selfe it was not capable of any rent or land whatsoeuer And here my Author hath iust cause to wish all men to informe thēselues throughly of the truth before they giue eare to the calumniations and fals reports which the enemies of the Society are wont to raise This sayth he was the lesson which our great Henry gaue to all those whome he saw ill affected vnto them saying often That it was sufficient to know the Iesuites for to loue esteeme and defend them In so much as all the Princes and great Lords of France can testifie that they haue often heard him speake of the Society with such great affection and such honorable commendation as could be giuen to any Religious Order Hauing thus wandred vp and downe forraine Countreys Pag. 128. this Libeller returneth home to France and for conclusion of his second Chapter heapeth vp ten lyes in one narration concerning the erection of a Colledge of the Society in Orleans First that they sent one of their Fathers to preach in that Citty the time of Lent wheras it is manifest that this prouision of Preachers belongeth to the Bishops themselues besides he mistaketh Lent for Aduent Secondly he affirmeth that the Cittizens were not well content nor satisfied with the Fathers preaching wheras it is certayne that his Auditory was very great and his sermons much applauded in so much that he could hardly excuse himselfe from preaching the next Lent also although there was another very eloquent and learned man appointed Thirdly saith Anti-Coton in steed of studying this Fa. busied his braines in searching out and intertayning such as had yet in their hartes any remainder of the old leuen of the league This is a most malicious lye and such an one as only the Hugonots will belieue whom the late King called the leaguers of his time And the truth is that the Father was alwaies ordinarily eyther in the Church or els in his chamber as those of the Lord Bishops of Orleans house where he had his lodging will testify Fourthly sayth this calumniator this Iesuite gaue out that it was the Kinges will that they should