has been found amongst them so near hand and not only Libells scattered abroad to justify such proceedings as Admonitio ad Regem Ludovicum xiij and Mysteria Politica but Books publikely owned and authorized by Themselves written by Mariana Aquaviva and others but chiefly by Santarel who was censured for it by all the Vniversities of France with the approbation of the Parliament of Paris as may be seen at large in the Book called The pernicious Consequences of the Iesuites new Heresie I say when we have such sufficient testimony so near home we need not make any long voyage for their discovery Now that it may appear they have all qualities alike do but consult the Provincial Letters and you will find the Morals of these men as notoriously faulty as the rest For it is plain there from the pens of their own approved Authours Tannerus Emanuel Sa Hurtado Castropalao Fagundes c. that Murder Sacrilege Intemperance Fraud or any other sin may by the small change of a thought or easy application of an intent either be turned into a virtue or at least lose its vitiousness and become an innocent action And why should we then wonder at any thing that is reported of these men For certainly of late Times the Devil has not found more effectual Instruments for the peaceable damnation of Souls than the Iesuites The great Enemy that so often foyls him is Conscience which these decoys of Satan do so sweeten and blind with religious evasions that they draw whole flocks after them into the kingdome of darkness with as much alacrity as a Saint goes to Heaven But that I may not be thought to write an Invective I do declare I have no pique against any of that Society but rather an obligation to wish their practices more open and generous and more suitable to their profession that so many great Wits as they have among them might be Conversed with without hazard of a mans being brought into some inconvenience Indeed the only reason that made me think it requisite to lay them open in English at this time is to let all men see what a pack of Knaves we should be pester'd with if ever Popery crept in But God be thanked we have a Prince knows them too well to trust them and a Government well enough fortified against their Invasions However as a restless sort of people that will compass Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and will leave no stone unturn'd to promote their Interest all the discouragement imaginable shall not hinder them from making their attempts And therefore since they are not able to break in at the fore-door they try to steal in the back way by the help of their Journey-men the Phanaticks by whose means having once wrought a Confusion they hope the more successfully to fish in troubled waters And thus they make themselves as sure of the booty as the Ape did of the Chesnut when he made use of the Cats foot to pull it out of the fire For this is that they flatter themselves with They look upon the Phanaticks as a giddy-headed rabble without any foundation or principles to establish any Religion upon Fit for any impression but the right And so they brag here abroad that if they could but once see a Toleration it should be the same satisfaction to them to find a Minister of State 's or any Great Man's Coach at a Conventicle door as if it stood at the Queens Chappel For they do not in the least despair of success if they could get the Reins of Government slackned at this rate Because say they there is none but the judiciously virtuous part of the Nation can escape our hands which will make so slender a party that it will not be very difficult to overcome them For first the Male-contents will naturally fall into our Nets or the Phanaticks Next all Knaves that either want preserment or would have more take to the Side that is for Change which we know by experience to be the Phanaticks And lastly which make up the body of most Countreys those effeminate spirits whose reasons are drowned in their fancies will as the Apostle testifies by the spiritual debauchery of those Creepers into houses be drawn into any wickedness But no doubt these Cunning Deceivers reckon without their host The Cheat is too fresh in every ones memory to take again so soon For to think the King would give up that Sword of the Unclean Spirit by which God 's Anointed and his People were destroyed into the hands not of another generation but of those very men who by open violence did for several years declare their Contempt of His Government Hatred to His Person and Rebellion against His Authority were a folly not to be exceeded but by that of Trusting them And now I have shot the Bolt of Paris Feb. 13. S N. 1669. Yours c. Imprimatur Maij 5. 1669. ROB. GROVE R. P. D. Episc. Lond. Ã Sac. Dom. THE JESUITES Intrigues THe Laws and Constitutions upon which the Order of the JESUITES is established make it plainly appear that Father Ignatius had a very holy design in it And truly in its first Infancy it gave great hopes that it would prove a very fruitful Branch of Christianity For as long as these good Fathers continued in works of Charity following the Rules of their Order They really did much good as well by an excellent Education of Youth as by converting Souls and maintaining the Faith But as the Divel would have it who is no less industrious and cunning in perverting godly designs than good men are to advance them He takes occasion from the considerableness of the Order and the mighty progress they had made in so short a time to destroy the end it was first ordained for So that by his subtlety instead of their great Charity which at present is almost wholly frozen up he has possessed them with the two most pernicious affections of the World Ambition and Covetousness Which brings so great a mischief upon Christendom that a greater is hardly to be imagined as I shall make appear by the following Discourse Only first I protest before God that it is neither Interest nor Passion which moves me to Write but only my zeal for the publick good For the advancement of which I hold my self obliged to employ the utmost of my power in hopes that their hypocrisie and practices being laid open to the Great Men of the World they will find some expedient to remedy the Abuse The first thing then to be known is That the Iesuites Order being particularly applyed to the Education of Youth of which there is no Kingdom nor Town but stands in great need it was sought to in the beginning far and near and highly favoured by many Princes Insomuch that within a few years it was got to as high a pitch as others have attained to in many Ages But this Greatness which very often is accompanyed with
manner of sedition and confusion From all this every man ought to conclude that interest of State forbids any Prince to choose for his Confessor of that sort of men who are so industrious in prying into affairs of State and make that benefit of what they are acquainted with to use it for a means to ingratiate Themselves with other Princes And much less reason have Princes to suffer Their chief Ministers and Counsellors or the Officers of Their Houshold to Confess to Them Especially since we live in an Age replenished with Persons which neither yeelding to the Iesuites in learning or piety may be as serviceable without running such a hazard being such as only concern Themselves in the Direction of Souls and Discharging Their Ecclesiastical Functions But for the better understanding of what we have said hitherto and what hereafter shall be said it must be abserved that there are three sorts of Iesuites The first consists of certain Lay-people of both Sexes which having associated Themselves with that Society live under it in the performance of a certain blind obedience steering all Their actions by the Directions of Iesuites and are ever in a readiness to execute what They command These are for the most part Gentlemen and Ladies that pass the rest of Their dayes in widowhood as likewise wealthy Citizens and rich Merchants who like good Fruit-trees bring plenty of good things to the Iesuites that is store of gold and silver Of this sort are those women which are commonly called Rigotes who being perswaded by These Fathers to despise the World are by Them in requital made a harvest of being wheedled out of rich moveables and other considerable matters The second kind takes in only men of which some are Priests and others Lay who though They live abroad in the World and many times by the Iesuites good word obtain Pensions Canonries Abbeys and other Revenues are yet under a Vow to take the habit of the Society upon the first Order from the Father General for which reason they are called Iesuites in Vow It is by these the Father Iesuites carry on their business so smoothly for the establishing Their Monarchy keeping Them in all places and in all Princes Courts and in short wherever any thing of moment passes throughout Christendom and this for such service as shall be declared in the seventh particular The third sort is of those politick Iesuites in whom all the authority rests who hold the reins of government over their Order and who being accosted by the Devil with the same temptation our Saviour underwent in the Desart All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and Worship Me have taken Him at His Word and thus in compliance with Sathan do with might and main prosecute the Universal Monarchy Now as almost all the important affairs of Christendom are passed at Rome and that There it is the chief of These noble politicians reside that is to say Their General with a great number of the Order So is it upon the same place They have determined to begin Their Dominion as They may easily perceive who will but take notice of Their behaviour There Very hardly shall you transact any thing in that Court but the Iesuites who have notice of all that passes of importance will presently meet in Counsell to determine an issue that may be favourable to Their interest There you shall find Them running to the Cardinals the Embassadours and the Prelates where bringing about the discourse to the affair Then in treaty or to be treated of They represent it as They please always considering Their own advantage and for that cause often so disguising the matter as to make White appear Black and Black White Thus the first Relation especially from men of a religious Order making the greatest impressioâ— upon the Spirit of Him that hears it falls out frequently that business of importance proposed by Embassadours and other Great men to the Court of Rome hath noâ— that success as Princes could wish and all this by having spirits prepossessed by These Worthy Iesuites witâ— partial accounts which forestalls the Credit that oughâ— to be given to others who explain Themselves with morâ— truth and sincerity Nor is this at Rome alone that The impose these Cheats but likewise in other Courts eitheâ— by Themselves or the Iesuites of the second rank Whence we may conclude that the greatest part of the Affairs of Christendom pass through the Iesuites hands and that those only succeed which they think not fit to oppose All this while I must confess that their address to engage themselves in Affairs either for the 〈◊〉 or favouring of them is so artificial that 't is imâ—â—â—ble throughly to see into it so as to give a perfect description However it shall be no hard matter for any particular Prince to discover so far as his own Concern requires if he will but take the pains to peruse this short Account that I shall give because I know it will make him reflect immediately upon what is passed by which calling to mind the several circumstances of his former Treaties by comparing them with my observations it is impossible but he must descry the subtle dealing of the Society Notwithstanding this sly and close management be the chief Engine they work with to accomplish their Monarchy which is their principal aim yet they do not omit other means now and then so has their Passion blinded them that lays open their Ambition to all the World Was it not a pleasant request they made under pretence of a publick good for the Church to Gregory the Thirteenth That he would give Order to his Legates and Nuncio's each of them to take a Iesuite for his Confident to advise in all business The fourth thing that requires our consideration is that by these devices and their understanding in Affairs of State the Principal Iesuites are struck into a great league of Friendship with many Princes Temporal and Spiritual whom they make believe that they have done them great service And from this one advantage have proceeded very great mischiefs The first is that by making ill use of the Princes kindness they take upon them to wrong a great many private Families which though Wealthy and Noble have been brought to utter ruin by the Iesuites ingrossing of Widowes Estates and by indirect means inveigling many young Gentlemen into their Order thâ—â—â—ave been sent to their Colledges for Education F 〈…〉 w often do we find it that when these young Gentlemen grow sickly or are found uncapable of performing the Duty belonging to their Order they are dismissed without ever having restitution of their Estates made to them or theirs the Iesuites having got possession before ever they would let them Profess This is far from that justice Ignatius has enjoyned them and no way consonant to that first intention their Founders had who left them not according to their insatiate avarice but enough to keep
those Universities that are our Enemies and where the Catholicks and Hereticks hinder Us from having any foundation and that as well There as in any other great Town We may have liberty to Preach When there is any design of Canonizing one of Our Order the business must be followed by Letters of Grace from Great men to His Holiness If occasion so require that the Princes must appear in person to solicit We must look to it that no Regular go along with Them or attend Them with whom we hold not Correspondence for fear they steal away the Princes affection from Us and procure our Colledges where they have any thing to do already to be joined to them to Our prejudice Therefore when any person of quality comes within Our Walls We must treat Him with all modest respect and shew of piety CHAP. IV. The Duty of Chaplains and Confessours to Princes and Great Lords THat Princes and other men of Degree may be fully satisfied that Our whole design is the Great glory of God which Our Society has chose for their particular cognisance We must pretend all the resolution and sincerity in the World And afterwards try how pliable They are to Our Instructions not all at once but by degrees screw Our selves into their politick Concerns of Government and Revenue To arrive thus far We must often inculcate that They ought not confer Honours Charges Offices or other preferments but upon such as are able and of integrity and that have merited by some notable Service Make them sensible how great a sin it is to do the contrary always dissembling our intention to meddle in any thing of that nature protesting against it with all asseverations making it only a Case of Conscience in the station We are to speak the truth If then the Prince be put to a stand what to do He must be told what endowments and capacity They ought to have who are to fill up such or such places and how they ought to demean themselves We must suffer none to come in that are not of our Intimates Therefore let the Prince hear again and again that to employ men of integrity and good lives will be highly for His honour absolutely necessary for the maintenance of true Religion and the good of His people Which persons must never be nominated by any we are not sure of but by some of our fast friends Thus we shall strike up a mutual obligation and be the more cheerfully served upon all occasions The Confessours and Chaplains must get out of our Friends what Lands or Money the eminent men have whether virtuous and bountiful and be sure to keep a Catalogue of their names and then neatly recommend them to the Prince that so the way may be laid open for preferment when any falls worthy of them But they must mark out those in the first place that by Confession they discover to be well enclined to Us. Above all they must be sure to handle Princes and others with all easiness and satisfaction and not to press them too much in their Confessions or Sermons They that retain to Princes must have very little money and be mean in their furniture contenting themselves with some poor little hole as in appearance most mortified persons and avoid the suspicion of flattery For by such a discreet carriage they may prevail easily with the Prince to do nothing in Church or State without their advice All diligence must be used to get the names of all the Officers of State to change or continue as shall be thought most expedient but without giving ground to suspect the removalls come from Us. And this must be brought about by some of our friends that are near the Prince who may effect it without mistrust CHAP. V. What must be done with those Orders that comply with ours and by that means often get what should otherwise have fallen to our share VVE must disgest this sort of people as a Medicine for a Mad Dog And therefore to remedy the mischief as much as in us lies we must possess any Prince that will give us the hearing of the perfection of our Order above all the rest and that if the other seem to excel us in the strictness of Discipline yet ours in the whole is the most glorious star in the Church's firmament and that the rule of other Orders is wholly directed by ours We must lay open the defects of other Orders and shew how they that concur with us in the same designe come fart short of us in the performance We ought to set our selves chiefly against those Orders that ape us in the education of youth Principally in those places where it depends upon our credit and where good advantage may be made Such Orders must be represented to the Prince as contentious and apt to cause tumults and seditions The Universities must be made believe that those other Orders are like to prove much more pernicious to them than ours And if such chance to have Letters recommendatory from the Pope or Cardinals We must procure the Prince to mediate on our behalf to His Holiness that we may produce more authentick authority for our selves We must get the good word of the Inhabitants of that Town where we have Colleges to confirm the excellency of our Institution uprightness of our conversation and incomparable method in teaching Scholars Besides it must be suggested that the opening diversity of Schools will be liable to breed opposition and tumults especially if under the tuition of several Orders All possible industry must be used to make our studies flourish and win applause giving proofs thereof to Prince and people CHAP. VI. How to procure the friendship of rich Widows FOr this purpose must be called out some of the Fathers of the livelyest fresh complexions and of a middle age These must frequent Their houses and if they find a kindness towards our Society impart to Them its great worth If they come to our Churches we must put a Confessour to them that shall perswade them to continue in their Widowhood representing to them the great pleasure delight and advantage will accrue to them by remaining in that state and this they must be assured of and promised an eternal reward and that this only thing will exempt them from Purgatory Set them up a little Chappel and an Altar neatly furnished the minding of which may put the thoughts of a Husband out of their heads For the better effecting of which frequent Masses must be said there and Exhortations given To facilitate the business they must be induced to lessen their family and to take Stewards and other Officers of our recommendation and place some of our Creatures about them in the House So that by degrees having got a perfect knowledge of all the circumstances of their Concerns and their devotion to our Society we may at last place what Officers we please about them The first thing that their Confessours are
to the highest sphere for his greater glory To which end the Confessours of Princes and rich Widows must be sure to tell them that since they receive at our hands spiritual good for the salvation of their souls it is but reasonable they should make us partakers of their temporal good things We must refuse nothing that is offered us And if they promise us any thing it may be committed to writing if there be any danger of giving them distaste by over-hasty importunity We must prefer no Confessours to Princes or others but such as are able and fit to prevail with them and to reprove them now and then for not being kind enough to the Society And therefore if any of them act not their part as they should do let them be called back immediately and others sent in their room For we have found to our grief that many times persons have died suddenly and by their Confessours neglect have left nothing of value to our Church And the reason was for want of being dexterous enough to make them sooner ours whilest they lived which might easily have been done had we watched to have taken them in the humour and not waited any other opportunity We must visit the Nobility and rich Widows and sift out with a Christian address whether they will leave any thing to our Churches as well to get remission of their own sins as those of their Relations and Friends After the same manner must we handle Prelates and others of their Diocess which will bring us in no small gain Our Confessours must be sure to enquire of those that come to Confession their names and sir-names allies and friends what they intend upon the hopes of any Succession how they resolve to bestow themselves how many brothers sisters or heirs they have how old what estate of what vocation or breeding and perswade them such an information imports much to the cleering their conscience Then if there be any hopes of advantage let them be enjoined for penance to Confess every week that what was omitted in the first weeks Confession may be made out in the next Thus when all is got out of a Penitent the Superiour must have notice and resolve how he shall be managed for the future What has been spoken in the Concern of Widows must as well be executed upon rich and wealthy Merchants that are married and have no heirs and upon rich Virgins that have an esteem for Us. For if we once get into their estates we shall soon make them ours But we must by no means be too forward in driving on such a design lest we spoil all To procure any mans good will we must take our measure from his Conversation and study to humour him in his inclinations And our Provincials must send discreet persons to those places where the people are rich that a good account may be given to the Superiours of a hopeful success As soon as our people find they are got into their favour they must presently cry up their great bounty and deserts which the other poor begging Fryars never think of doing Our Receivers must take an Inventory of all the Houses Gardens Quarreys Vineyards Villages and other Emoluments in and about the Town they reside in and if they can learn how we are beloved among the Inhabitants Moreover they must find out every man's Imployment and Income what Land he has and what encumbrances are upon his Estate Which may be done easily by Confessions the discourse at several meetings by way of entertainment at Visits and by the assistance of our fast Friends So soon as ever a Confessour has discovered a man to be very rich and that there is hopes of working upon him he must immediately give notice They must likewise inform themselves exactly of such as will part with any thing considerable in exchange for their sons whom we have admitted into our Society Enquire if any of those that wish us well have any inclination to be Benefactors to our Colleges or if they have made any purchace upon condition to return it to Us after their Decease Or what better advantage we are to expect from them Every body must be acquainted with our great necessity the Debts that swallow us up and the continual great Charge we are obliged to be at When our Friends bestow any thing upon us we must get it to be upon this condition that after a little time we may have power to incorporate it into the rest of our Demains If any of our Women-friends that are Widows or marryed chance only to have Daughters we must neatly perswade them to put them into a Nunnery with some small Portion that the rest of the Inheritance may be ours So for Sons when they have any we must do all we can to get them into Our Society by terrifying them first and bringing them under perfect obedience to their Parents Afterwards we must make them despise all things here below and shew them the greater Duty of following Jesus Christ who calls them than their Parents if they regard their souls It will likewise be a sort of Sacrifice to Our Order to draw in one of the younger Children unknown to his Friends whom we must take care presently to send to some Novitiate a great way off having first given notice to the General If a Widower and Widow marry that have Children by their former Marriages and likewise by the latter Those of the last Venter must first be sent into a Cloister and then the former will easily follow If a Widow has sons and daughters that will not be induced to a Monastick Life the Superiour must for the first default blame the Confessour and put another in his room that may be more likely to bring the business about But if that fail then must the good woman be perswaded to make money of all that she has in her power and give it us for the expiation of her own sins and her husbands When we meet with a Widow that has no Heirs and is wholly devoted to us and gives her self up to prayers and is in possession of Land or any other Estate we must perswade her to assign it over to our Colleges and content her self with some small yearly allowance from Us that she may have more leisure to serve God and be quit of the incumbrances of this World Afterwards take off her pension and maintain her in Common with our selves that under pretence of mortification and poverty she may become as one of our Domesticks For we must bring her thus to our Bent lest some wicked Relation of hers should take her off from so good a Work Therefore it will be very convenient to send her to some remote place to spend the remainder of her days telling her that such a course will be in the nature of an Hermitage which is held the most devout and commendable of all ways That our Friends may be the more easily induced
change of Manners stirred up in the Successors of Father Ignatius so great a love toward their own Society that perswading themselves it was of more use to the Church of God than all the rest and more proper for the Reformation of the World they concluded amongst themselves that they were to apply all their skill and endevours to the aggrandizing of it since in that they should encrease the true Militia of Jesus Christ the good of the whole Church and the ancient Patrimony of the Lord to use their own terms And here it is that I had need have Aristotle's Subtilty to discover and the Eloquence of Cicero to express the strange Method which many perchance for its novelty think it incredible by which these Fathers go on daily advancing their Society But I will content my self to observe only some particulars leaving the rest to be made out as shall seem most probable to each mans fancy So that all I intend to do is to give some certain heads and directions that may serve as I guess for good grounds to any that will make reflections or discourses upon this Subject First these Father Iesuites concluded they should never bring Their Society to that considerable pitch of Greatness as They aimed at barely by Teaching Preaching Administring the Sacraments or by their devout Offices of that nature For though from the very beginning they had gained upon the affections of a great many as I told you before yet perceiving that after a little time that kindness cooled they much question'd whether their Order had not come short in the effectual Captivating of minds And therefore they devised two other means for attaining to their Greatness First to endevour with Princes and all others to make the rest of the Orders cheap by finding some great Defects in them So that by this wicked application having set up their own Greatness by the abasing of others they have made themselves Masters of divers Monasteries and Abbeys and other considerable Revenues depriving the other Orders of Them which before were in possession by slander and calumny The next way was by insinuating themselves into affairs of State engaging to their interest the greatest part of the Princes of Christendom by so cunning and artificial expedients as are not easie to imagine Their Father General to whom they all pay an absolute obedience resides constantly in Rome He has made choice of certain Fathers who because they are always with him are called Assistants and there is at least one of every Nation from whence they take their distinction one calling himself the French Assistant the other the Spanish the third the Italian the fourth the English the fifth the Austrian and so of all the other Kingdomes and Provinces The charge of each Assistant is to inform the General of all Transactions of State that pass either in the Kingdom or Province of the which He is Assistant This He does by His Correspondents who residing in the principal City of that Kingdom or Province make a diligent enquiry of the estate nature inclination and designs of the Prince of which they advise the Assistants giving them notice especially of the discoveries they have made or any thing that falls out new Thus when all their Pacquets are come to Rome the Father General calls together His Assistants who lay open to Him the affairs of the whole World discovering to Him the interest and practices of all Christian Princes After which when they have consulted about all that is written and examined and compared the several accompts They draw the conclusion which is to assist one Prince and oppose another according as it suits with Their interest and profit And as the stander by sees more than the Gamester so These Fathers having before Them the interest of all the Princes do with much more ease contribute to the affairs of Him They know disposed to serve Them The next point best worth consideration is the great pity that Regulars should interest Themselves in affairs of State when Their Order obliges Them only to attend the saving Their own Souls and others For the Iesuites who do concern Themselves more in the Civil Government than the Seculars Themselves make it absolutely necessary that some course should be taken to prevent so great a disorder for fear of most dangerous Consequences First the Iesuites Confess a great part of the Nobility of the Popish States for the more effectual carrying on of which the poor are no longer admitted to Confession besides very often They are Confessors to the Princes Themselves By which means is it not hard for them to dive into all the designs and sift out all the resolutions as well of Princes as of Their Subjects of which immediately They give notice to the General or His Assistants at Rome How eafie is it then to judge what prejudice this may do to Sovereigns when it is by a party that drive on nothing but their own advantage For doubtless all the World will grant that nothing can be more essential to the preservation of a State than Secrecy by the disclosing of which the other frequently is broken And this is certainly the reason that all wise Princes conceal Their minds so carefully learning by experience what advantage They get by knowing the designs of others which for the better carrying on of Their affairs They spare no cost to inform Themselves of by Embassadours and Spyes though the intelligence proves oftentimes not so faithful for want of employing skilful Officers But I dare always undertake that the Father Iesuites that is the General and His Assistants have the advantage of true information one way or other of all things that pass in the most private Counsells what by Confessions and inquiries of Their Correspondents placed in all the principal Cities of Christendom and by the Mediation of other Their Complices of which we shall say more hereafter Thus They know what strength revenue expence or designs any Prince has than He Himself And all this at no more charge than the portage of Letters which indeed are something chargeable too For as I have been informed by the Post-Masters each Courier costs Them Fifty or Threescore Pounds and sometimes more to the Sum of an Hundred Pounds By which you may easily conceive having so perfect notice of the interest of each State They are likewise able to lessen one Prince to another weaken Their authority over the People raise against Them what enemies They please and make insurrections at home so much the easier because by the same means of Confession and Sifting They get into the very Souls of Subjects and so find out who are well or ill-affected For by those accounts They have of all State-affairs They may easily set Princes at variance and possess them with a thousand Suspicions and by understanding the Subjects minds so well They may with the same facility encourage Their contempt of government to the breaking out into all
them in a condition to serve the Church The second misfortune which follows from the access these Iesuites have to Princes is that the Fathers boast and cunningly make the World believe their intimacy with Great Men to be more than indeed it is And by this they awe the very Ministers of State and cause them to seek their Favour and Petition them for whatsoever they would have pass Nay their vanity is encreased to that degree as they are so impudent to boast themselves able to make Cardinals Nuntio's Lieutenants Governours and other Officers so far that some had the face to say Their General could do more than the Pope himself and others That it was better to be of that Order which could make Cardinals than be one themselves I am not at all afraid that what I have said will make me pass for a Slanderer because the Fathers speak it all so openly themselves that hardly any one who has conversed with them has not heard them say the very same thing The fifth point is after the foundation of Policy laid that the first thing they demand of those Princes into whose good opinion they are got is to obtain leave to advance or suppress whom they please always pretending Religion to make their request more acceptable And when it so unfortunately falls out that they have their will which is but too often you must not expect that they fill up Vacancies with men of desert and such as are best able to discharge the Duty of the Place quite contrary if any one recommend such Persons to the Prince they shall use all their interest to hinder it unless they prove to be some of their Intimates such as are wholly devoted to their service But those they recommend and stand for it is no matter how ill affected they are to the Prince or how great Knaves capable of the Imployment or not that does not at all concern them By which ordinarily we find that such Officers as they prefer serve for nothing but to torment their Prince and cherish the People in Discontents which in the end break out into Sedition The sixth observation cannot be made out better than by the comparison of the Captain of a Ship who perceiving a favourable Gale for his Voyage has no sooner given notice by his Whistle but all the Slaves are at their Oars to make for the Place appointed For it is almost after the very same manner when the General has concluded with his Assistants that such a person should be so preferred the first notice he gives of his purpose to those that reside upon the place has a general influence to set them all at work tooth and nail to set 〈◊〉 the Person so marked out It follows then that he which has received so signal an obligation must be very ungrateful if he does not requite it when it lies in his power By which it comes to pass many times that they esteem themselves more beholding to the Iesuites than the Prince who gives them the Office and so more devoted to their Interest than to his Honour and advantage Thus are Princes fooled who whilst they fancy they have got a faithful Servant have taken into their breast a Spy of the Iesuites who oftentimes by that means work the ruin of the Prince that raised him This and all the rest I have mentioned are so great Truths that I could easily give many Examples of them by sad experience But because I would not unnecessarily contract an odium upon my self I shall omit them and content my self to draw only this conclusion from what I have said in this last point That this Device of the Iesuites to place their own Creatures in great Charges is perchance the reason why they call their Order a Great Monarchy forasmuch as by this way they dispose of Princes and their Ministers And therefore it ought not to seem strange that one of their chief Fathers having a publick Address to make to a Great Man in the name of the Society let fall this arrogant expression You know very well Sir that our Society have alwayes held a fair Correspondence with your Highness importing no doubt that they were Monarchs as well as he In the seventh place these Fathers endevour as much as in them lies to make the World believe that all those that receive any favour from a Prince are to acknowledge it from their Intercession or some of their Creatures And this gives them a greater power over the Subject than his natural Prince which cannot certainly be without very great danger It being against all reason that such froward and ambâ—â—ous Youths as the Iesuites are should have the Will of Ministers of State at their Dispose For besides that they have an opportunity by this means to work what Treason or Distubance they please they have an infallible expedient by these Ministers their Creatures to place their Iesuites in Vow of which we spake before about Princes either in the capacity of Counsellors Secretaries or what else offers it self And no sooner these are in but that they plye the Prince night and day to perswade him to take a Iesuite for his Confessor or Chaplain at least and all to make Spies for the Father General to whom they give account of the most private passages Which is no doubt the cause that it so often comes to pass that what has been thought to have been carryed most secretly has become publick when least dreamt of and that we find undertakings of the highest importance frustrated without being able to imagine who was the Traytor and what is yet worse oftentimes they undergo the blame who least deserv'd it The eigth particular to be noted is that as it is natural for the Subject to follow the inclination of his Prince so all those who have given themselves up to the Father General when they observe his close and passionate application to State-Affairs and that he makes it his own business by this means to aggrandise and enrich his Society they like Apes immediately take after their Leaders and turn all Politicians to help in carrying on as they suppose so glorious a project To this end they set their Relations and Friends at work to get into the hearts of Princes and discover their most secret thoughts ever making report to the Assistants and General upon the first notice For being well assured that it is the only way to procure their Superiors good will and by consequence Preferment which is bestowed upon none but such as are thought capable of exalting their Society to that pitch they aim at they make it their business to recommend themselves by some politick Atchievement that they may be looked upon as fit to manage greater Affairs My ninth observation therefore shall be that as by virtue of the Alembeck Chymists know how to extract Ointments for the Cure of almost mortal Wounds and as the Bee makes her honey up of the choice of
diverse flowers so the Iesuites by strength of Reason compose their own Interest out of the faithful Intelligence they have of the Concerns of all Princes and of all Occurrences of State by which they do not only refresh that inward thirst of becoming Great but make likewise a mighty advantage in understanding their own emolument in prosecution of which they beat down all before them to accomplish their ends But what is most remarkable when as we have said before they are got into the hearts of Princes they are used to play them off by assuring them what excellent expedients they have for putting such a plot in practice and to bring about such a design But scarcely will they have begun in their assistance according to engagement but that upon consideration of some inconvenience this addition of Greatness to a Prince whom they have hitherto fed with fair hopes may bring to them they create a thousand delaies like Advocates in a Process at Law and then upon a sudden by some excellent sleight of contrivance turn all into confusion and so break the neck of that Plot themselves had laid He that will but reflect upon the League of France which being carryed on and concluded by them was likewise detected when they saw the King was like to get the better and upon England which they so often promised to the Spaniards will need no other proof to make out the truth of what I have said May we not then very justly draw this conclusion from the whole That the Iesuites having no real or sincere kindness for any nor will oblige the World beyond their own Interest neither Prince nor Prelate can make use of them without injury to themselves For at the same instant they pretend a like respect to all becoming Monsieurs with the French Dons with the Spaniard and so with all other Countreys as occasion serves and hopes of advantage They are very indifferent who it is they do harm or good to And no doubt it is that excessive Self-Interest and the little regard they have to any mans Concern else which makes few enterprises succeed in which they have a hand However I must allow that they have an incomparable art in concealing this indifference some of them still pretending a great zeal for the Crown of France others for that of Spain others for the Emperour and for all the rest of the Princes from whom they expect any favour But if it so fall out that some one of these Princes takes a Iesuite into his Cabinet-Counsels this fellow shall no sooner know any thing but that he will advise the Father General of it who presently sends back his result upon it in order to which he proceeds without consideration either of his Princes Will or Service And though these I have already declared are very great inconveniences I will shew you yet greater The first is That the Iesuites being fully informed of the several Interests and Counsels of Princes they amongst them that feign themselves to be of the French Faction propound to the King or his chief Ministers certain considerations of State which may be of some weight such as have been sent from Rome in their politick Letters Those which flatter the Court of Spain or any other Government where they have access make other propositions in these places quite contrary to the former or at least such as may keep Christian Princes at a distance to be in perpetual jealousies one of another which disturbs the common Peace more than can be imagined and brings a misfortune upon all Christendom For such a defiance hinders all possibility of joyning against the Common Enemy and indeed makes all Treaties of Peace between Princes signifie very little The second inconvenience is That by these subtle practices they have so opened the eyes of all people that no body minds any thing else but the Politicks So as nothing is done now a dayes that is not first weighed in this balance nor any business that is not directed by this Iesuitical Compass But all this would be nothing to what mischief would ensue if they of the Reformed Churches should take up this example and abuse their Interest with Princes after this manner For then in stead of Lutherans with whom some accommodation may it is hoped be found out one day we should have spring up a politick brood of irreconcilable Antichrists And to make it appear that I have said nothing but the truth when I have charged the Iesuites with such abominable Artifices and Collusions above all when they are upon insinuating themselves into the favour of Princes I must not forget what was done amongst them some years since upon the Concern of Great Britain One of their Fathers an Assistant of that Kingdom called Father Parsons having writ a Book against the Right of the King of Scots to the Crown of England Father Criton with others of the same Order defended the Kings Cause in a Book Intuled The Discourse of the King of Scots against the Opinion of Father Parsons or to that purpose And though you may suspect by this that they are divided among themselves yet I do assure you they do understand one another perfectly well For this Game was played by the directions of their General to the end that if the Scotch were disappointed of the Succession then should be shewed to whoever came in Father Parsons his Book or if otherwise Scotland should carry it then they should ingratiate themselves by presenting Criton's Work And so whatever came uppermost they were provided with that should make their Society acceptable By which you may judge how true it is that I told you Princes are the main object of all the Iesuites Designs and Actions and therefore reason good they should esteem their Order a Great Monarchy Nay is not this an undeniable argument of my assertion the small care they take to please any Prince when their Interest comes in competition We have have many experimental Examples that convince it beyond dispute if it were worth the trouble to set them down I will only give you one which shall be as good as a thousand Every one knows that there is none in the World that the Iesuites are in so high a nature obliged to and to whom they owe more fidelity than the Pope not only for the particular Vow of Obedience they make to his Person but for many other reasons besides And yet for all this Pius Quintus of blessed memory having a mind that these Fathers should officiate in the Chore and do all things after the manner of other Regulars they would never obey him but pretended still some great prejudice it would bring upon them Only there were some amongst them that submitted to His Holiness and did as they were commanded But how did the rest serve them Were they not by way of reproach called Aviatins or Starters aside And was ever any of them afterwards preferred in the least Just
so they set themselves against that worthy Person Charles Boromeo Archbishop of Milan when as Legate à Latere he would have visited their Society amongst the other Regulars But alas what is all this They break even the holy Canons by trading expresly against their injunctions in Pearls Rubies and Diamonds which are brought them from the Indies And it is generally believed that the greatest part of the Jewels which come from the Indies and are sold at Venice pass through their hands Neither is this a bare rumour spread abroad by their enemies for I have it from those very men whom they imploy as Brokers to put them off I could produce other Stories that should make it as clear how ill they serve the Pope and how dishonestly but because I can say nothing in it without mentioning a Prince who would not very well relish my discourse I will be silent For I desire to serve all the World and offend no man not so much as the Iesuites which otherwise I honour and against whom I do not in the least pretend to write an invective only a little to abate their pride and if possible make them behave themselves with more moderation than hitherto they have done For who is there almost that has not reason to complain of the Iesuites And yet just as it falls out many times with men in desperate diseases whilst they make lamentable complaints to heaven such as startle every body that hear them though each patient very well knows what kind of a Disease he is visited with yet not one in a thousand can tell from what inward cause it proceeds so notwithstanding all the World cries out upon the Iesuites some for being oppressed by them others for not being so honestly dealt with as was to be expected from men of their Robe yet the inconvenience continues few perceiving what is the original of this Mischief However if one would but look a little into the business it would appear plainly that the immoderate and boundless passion of making themselves Great provokes them to neglect the satisfaction of Princes and to deceive them to oppress the poor embezel Widows Estates ruin great Families raise suspicions and promote enmities betwixt Christian Princes to introduce themselves into their Affairs But would it not be a strange irregularity in nature if one of the meanest parts of the body which was made only as a servant to the more noble should take to itself the best blood and the greatest share of the vital spirits Could one after such a disorder expect less than a dissolution of the whole The abuse in Church and State is no less when we see the Iesuites Order which is come in one of the last and erected for the Conversion of Infidels and drawing sinners to repentance assume to itself the Concerns of Prince and Prelate drawing out the best and very life itself of their Affairs for their own use Which most assuredly cannot be done without both a publick and private disturbance by keeping under those subjects who most deserve advancement and raising none but the unworthy with thousands of other Divels such monstrous proceedings must call up I could easily bring many reasons here from experience besides those I have given to prove of what a vast extent the ambition of the Iesuites is and that there is no measure in their desires of growing Great But because I hate to be tedious I will only lay before you the project of Father Parsons upon England as he himself has set it down in his Book called The Reformation of England Where after he has fallen upon Cardinal Pole a man of singular piety and worth and has observed certain faults and defects in the Council of Trent he concludes at last that supposing England should fall back to the Church of Rome he would put it into the Condition of the Primitive Church For this purpose all the Ecclesiastical Revenues must be brought into one common Stock the care and dispensation of which he would have committed to seven discreet persons taken out of the Iesuites Society to distribute as they should think fit Moreover he would have all other Orders forbid coming into this Kingdom under severe penalties only such as they shall permit which according to his judgment must be none but the begging Orders But as it is the usual fate of self-love to blind those it has mastered and be they never so wise make them guilty of the greatest follies I do not much wonder at what this Father adds England says he being once brought back to the Truth the Pope must not for at least five years after think of making any profit out of the Church-Revenues but remit the whole entirely to the seven who shall dispose of them as they think best for the Churches advantage In good earnest a man must be very dull that should not perceive their whole design to be to amuse or rather cheat the Pope by such a proposal hoping at the five years end to find out some other trick which seldom fails them to keep it five years longer and so by degrees shut His Holiness quite out Does not this demonstrate their greedy ambition to an undeniable degree Can any man after this doubt of their aspiring thoughts of a Monarchy Do not the arts they use put it past dispute And do they not at the same time make it manifest that so they have their Ends they are indifferent as to the rest whether advantaged or ruined by it In the time of Gregory the Thirteenth they made it their request to be invested with all the Churches of Rome no doubt that they might found their Empire in the Capital City of the World But that which was deny'd them for Rome was upon their importunity granted them for England where they made him confer the Dignity of Arch-Priest upon a Iesuite in Vow who instead of protecting the Ecclesiasticks plays the Divel against all Priests that have no dependance upon the Iesuites so far as to hinder their communication one with another though but to discourse which has made them almost desperate Therefore it is no marvel if at present most of all the Priests in England are Iesuites in Vow since besides the reasons I have already given they admit none into the Colledges but such as pass their word to take the habit of the Society So that if England should slide back again there is no question of it but that it would give beginning to an established Monarchy of the Iesuites because the Bishopricks Dignities and generally all the other Benefices and Church-revenues would be bestowed upon Iesuites No wonder then if after this we hear of so few Converts especially in that Nation we last spoke of For first the old Stock of Priests which formerly made a great harvest that the Iesuites falsly attributed to themselves is near worn out And these Youths are more zealous in promotihg their own Interest than in saving of
that we may be thought poor we must search and scrape up all that can be spared in Town or the Villages adjacent Our Preaching must be directed by the humour of the people we live amongst and it must be insinuated that we are come to catechise and teach their Children And this we must do gratis without regard had to any quality and yet so as in order to serve our selves by not seeming burdensome to the people as all other Begging Orders are We must profess to be of the number of the other Begging Orders till our House has got a sufficient Income to which we must have a particular aim CHAP. II. What must be done to get the ear and intimacy of Princes and Great men THere is great care to be taken in this business To bring over any Prince to Us we must be sure to take off that prejudice of believing They have no need of Us and perswade Them what interest We have That no man dares lift up his hand against Us. Princes have always desired a Jesuite Confessour when They have been engaged in hateful practices that They might not hear of reproof but still have some favourable interpretation put upon Them This often falls out upon Matches contracted with near Relations which are very troublesome by reason of the common opinion That such Marriages never thrive And therefore when Princes are set upon such things We must encourage Them and espouse Their Concerns putting Them in hopes that We can have what we will of the Pope and alledge some reasons opinions or examples which may feed the humour by shewing how Matches of higher consequence have been approved of for a publick good and have many times been indulged to Princes for the greater glory of God Thus when a Prince attempts any thing as for example He has a mind to make War We must go along with Him fix His mind and resolution upon it without enquiring into particulars for fear if things should happen otherwise than well the fault should be laid at our door And this We may do by pretending Our Rule which forbids Us to take knowledge of affairs of that nature To confirm the good will of Princes it is good to undertake some little Embassy always provided it bring us in some advantage by which We may render Our selves as necessary as welcome and let Them see how great Our power and credit is as well with the Pope as all other Princes There is no better way in the world to win Princes and Great Men at Court than by Presents which though never so mean are better than none at all And to give Them a full testimony of Our affections manners and inclinations We must than which nothing is more acceptable to Princes discover to Them the deportment and manners of those They have an aversion to By this means we shall creep into the hearts of Princes and Grandees Now if They be not married when we receive Their Confession We must propose to Them the Matching into some noble Alliance to some beautiful Lady and a great Fortune and such as if they are not related at least are very intimate with some of Ours set out such Virgins with Commendations suitable to our End to please These Great Ones Thus We may by preferring a Wife make new friendships as we find by experience in the House of Austrich with the Kindomes of Poland and France and the Dutchies When Women of condition come over to Us We must possess Them with as great a love to Our Society as is possible and that as well by those that are Our Friends of their Relation as by Our selves to the end they may become the more liberal towards Us. Now the way to gain their affections is by little Services and trifling Presents which will make them lay open their hearts to Us. To conduct the Consciences of Noble Persons We must follow the opinions of those Authors that write in a more gentle stile against the rigorous Morals of the Monks Which will make Princes reject the latter to embrace Our advice and counsel And thus They shall wholly depend upon Us. Therefore to have the good Will of Princes Prelates and other Great Personages it is requisite that They be acquainted with Our great Deserts and that We shew Them how considerable We are in all parts of the World and that We are able in a high measure to dispense with reserved cases which other Monks cannot do as to absolve from Fasting or Paying any just Debt Untie the impediments of Marriage and a thousand other Obligations and Vows We must endevour to breed dissention among Great Men and raise seditions or any thing a Prince would have Us to do to please Him If a chief Minister of State to any Monarch that is Our Friend oppose Us and that Prince cast His whole favour upon Him so as to add Titles to His Honour We must present Our selves before Him and court Him in the highest degree as well by Visits as all humble respect CHAP. III. How we are to deal with persons of Great rank that are not rich but have great power in the Common-wealth that we may make Our advantages by Their Credit IF They be Secular Lords We must under the protection of Their assistance and kindness carry any process against Our enemies and make use of Their partiality to hook in Houses Villages Gardens Quarries of Stone for Building especially in the Towns where we have Colledges always purchasing under a strange name of some Confident of Ours We must be very careful to uphold the Bishops and Parishioners revenues for Us lest They should hinder the exercise of Our Function where They have to do For In Germany Poland and France the Bishops have great power and can with a great deal of ease obtain from their Prince any Convenience for Us as Monasteries new erected Parishes the priviledges of Serving at certain Altars places devoted to holy uses and other things which must be facilitated by stopping the Seculars mouths with some small consideration Besides We may transfer to Our own use what foundations We please where Catholicks and Hereticks inhabit together These Bishops should be made 〈◊〉 â—â—derstand that besides the meritoriousness of the act in such a case they will reap a great benefit Whereas the Secular Priests and the Monks would pay them with nothing but a Song They ought to have immortal praise for their zeal in so good a deed that are the Cause of Our getting into the foundations of some Seculars and Canons which may be effected with ease by the assistance of These Bishops We must see that when the Bishops and Princes are founding any Colledges we have a perpetual Licence conferred upon Us to assist the Vicar of the Parish-Churches in the Cure of Souls and that for some time the Superiour be a parishioner himself so to have the Church wholly at Our dispose The Bishops must be perswaded to build us Colledges in
act of resignation have obtained the kingdome of heaven and that they may one day be canonized if they will be diligent to prosecute so glorious a design promising them moreover under the Seal of Confession that they shall be sure of our interest with the Pope for the effecting of it When therefore the Widows are ready to put their Estates into our hands and to give themselves up to the directions of their ghostly Father to avoid clamour and opposition they must immediately confirm this Conveyance if they be willing and that they are fully perswaded that such counsel comes from God the Protectour of Widows who has greater care of their souls than bodies They must be likewise possessed that God takes great pleasure in good works and alms bestowed upon religious Orders and such poor people as give themselves up to devotion And this advice their Confessour must give them letting them understand that a cheerful giver is a delight to God when he acts within the bounds of obedience which is the sister of humility But they must be sure when they determine any charity to give an account to their Confessour that he may add retrench or alter as he shall think fit Above all they must be forbid the visiting of other Orders lest they intice them away from us For generally this Sex is unconstant They must therefore be made see that our Order is superiour to all the rest more necessary to the Church of greater reputation in the Cities and has greater interest with Princes So that it will be impossible for them to make a better choice For the other Monks have none of these advantages nor ever look after the salvation of their Neighbours being generally ignorant dull heavy sottish fellows that mind nothing but their bellies and voluptuous living When we have got good store of money and other things out of our Widows for fear they should take a freak to marry again we must put discreet Confessours to them who will take care that they assign us pensions and certain tributes or alms to help pay the yearly debts contracted by our Colleges and professed Houses particularly for those at Rome and such Colleges where the poorer sort of our Order study as also for the re-establishing of Novitiates who have long since been dispersed Dispose them to lay out a good sum yearly for the buying of Chasubles Chalices and other accommodations for Altars Before a Widow comes to die if she has not left us to be Executors for fear of displeasing her friends want of affection or any other cause let her be acquainted with our poverty the number of our new Colleges not as yet endowed the zeal and numerousness of our Order the great want our Churches are in and advise her to finish those buildings of our Colleges which are left imperfect and to be at the charge her self for the greater glory of God of erecting Temples Refectories and other foundations of which we poor servants of the Society of Jesus Christ stand in need And let all this be done warily and with dispatch After the same method must we treat Princes and other Benefactours that have raised us any great structures or founded any Place First letting them understand that their good works are consecrated to eternity that they are the true model of piety that they are those we make a particular remembrance of and that they shall have their reward in the next world But if they object to us that Jesus Christ was laid in a manger at his Birth and that he had not where to lay his Head and therefore that we who are in a more particular manner his Companions ought not to enjoy the perishable vanities of this world then must it be pressed home to them that indeed at the beginning the Church was in that condition but that now by divine providence she is become a Monarch she was then but a broken rejected stone but is now grown into a high rock CHAP. VIII How to draw into our Society the Sons and Daughters of our Devotes THat the Mothers may the more willingly consent to this enterprise we must perswade them gently that they must be a little harsh with Daughters that are stubborn whipping them with rods if young with mortification and threats of worse usage if more gone in years They must be chastised and denied what were otherwise befitting their quality But if they will comply with our Rules they must be cherished with all tenderness and promised a greater portion than if they should marry The Mother must lay before them the austerity of a Husband and the chargeableness of that condition represent to them the hardships and vexations of Marriage the torments and anguishes they are to endure and that nothing but sorrow is to be got by it whereas the entring into some religious Vow brings along with it all content The same doctrine must be applyed to Sons that are inclinable to marry We must get familiar with their Sons and invite them to those Colleges we think fittest to place them in carrying them into our Gardens to walk and to our Countrey-houses where we go for diversion Shew them the great content those retreats afford and how great respect all Princes pay us In short we must make it our business to draw in the youth by carrying them to our Refectories and Chambers letting them see the agreeableness of our conversation and how easy our Rule is which has the promise of the glory of the blessed Our sharpness in disputations of Things appertaining to this world or that to come the eloquent discourses that are made amongst us from delightful entertainments so heavenly pleasant which seem to be bestowed upon us in the name of the holy Virgin by way of revelation must not be omitted as so many inducements to bring them to our Order convincing them how great a sin it is to resist a call from heaven Let them likewise be present at our Exercises to see what that will do The Preceptors that teach Widows Sons in the house must be of our preferring who must be perpetually inviting them over to us and promise them rather than fail that if they will enter into our Society they shall be received gratis We must order it so that their Mothers disappoint them of their necessaries from time to time to make them consider into what troubles and difficulties their affairs are fallen CHAP. IX How to encrease the Revenues of our Colleges NOne of our Order shall be admitted to the last profession so long as they are in expectation of any inheritance to befall them unless he has a Brother amongst us younger and more likely to live than himself or for some other beneficial reason In the first place above all things we must endeavour the aggrandizing of our Order according to the will of our Superiours who alone must be acquainted with these things and must do their utmost to advance the Church of God
a little to try the strength of their resolution They must be advised to conceal their intention not to let their Relations know any thing of it nor so much as their Play-fellows at school All this while we must cherish their good purpose of coming into our Society with the best words we can give them So that by heightening their desire every day more and more they may covet their admission with more pleasure and satisfaction But if it so fall out that any change their mind and would go out again they must be remembred why they sought this admission with so much zeal and earnestness and made know that this inconstancy will turn to their Damnation Now because it is very difficult to draw in and afterwards to keep the Children of rich Magistrates and Lawyers if we have them in their own Countrey therefore in such a case we must send them privately to the Novitiate in Rome having first advertised the Provincial and General And if any Germans come to us into France with any such Design as entring into our SOCIETY they ought to be admitted without any farther Dispute We must be sure to send such as there is any danger of keeping to some Novitiate where the Governour of the place is our Friend lest the insolency of the people should prevail against us Now to reconcile the Friends and Relations of these Young-men we have admitted we must extoll the bravery of their resolution particularly in that they have put themselves into the number of the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ without any leave of Parents and that the whole drift of our Order is to live in all Holiness and good Doctrine to the admiration of all men And therefore Great Princes have been pleased to do us that honour as to enter into our Society for a retirement there to end their days Lastly we must tell them how acceptable so great a Devotion is to God when so young a man puts himself into the List to fight under the Banner of Jesus Christ. CHAP. XIII Concerning our Women Devotes OUr Confessours must have a great care to use our Nuns gently because they are our greatest Benefactrices for the endowing our Colleges and many times give us half their Estates when they enter into a Monastery We must get out of our Devout Women to vow Chastity and Obedience in our presence that we may be sure of them Let them know how well God is pleased with their vail and spiritual subjection which comprehend Chastity and Obedience and their voluntary poverty which argues their service to God to be from the whole heart and will Thus into whatever good way we put them they will certainly recompence us with all their Temporalties CHAP. XIV Of reserved Cases and Dismissions from the Society BEsides the reserves in our Instructions which our Superiour or an ordinary Confessour with leave has power to dispense with there is in the case of Sodomy Adultery Fornication a Rape or any other uncleanness or any thing committed against the honour or profit of the Society a private order to let such know that their offence amounts to a Dismission which can have no pardon without first promising out of Confession to the Superiour all the particulars of their enormity No Confessour shall accuse a Penitent once Dismissed and out of Confession But if any such acknowledge his fault freely let him be turned out and if he will not own it he must be kept up for some time When any of our Confessours take the Confession of an Extern and that they accuse themselves for having been dishonest with one of our Society let them have no absolution before they have first acknowledged their fault out of Confession Which if they do let ours be well chastised and give the others absolution If a Woman that is a stranger to us has committed simple Fornication and confesses that she has been naught with some of us let her not have absolution before she has sworn never to reveal what has been done and that upon receiving absolution she shall declare with whom she committed this folly When two of our own people have committed Sodomy one with the other he that disowns it shall be turned out and he that first confesses it shall be kept in But with such mortification as shall make him afraid ever to do the like again and presently after whether willing or no let him be dismissed Such as are lewdly given amongst us whether in word or deed we must avoid and having first acquainted the General with our reasons let us use them with all severity deny them whatsoever they desire be it never so inconsiderable and appoint such over them as shall never let them lead a happy hour put them upon all the meanest Offices till they begin to murmur that we may have occasion to set them Going And be sure we never suffer such to stay with us as rebel against their Superious or that can never agree with their Companions But chiefly if any seem to be dissatisfied with their Superiours for making unjust acquisitions for our Society cross our interest diswade people from being charitable to us or do not set themselves against those that bear us an ill will they must never be suffered For we must take this for a rule that if any scorn their obedience to their Superiours and presume to be governed by their own fancies they will have as little regard for Christ's own commands It is sufficient cause of Dismission to commend or have any esteem for a State or University that is enemy to our Society At the Dismission of any one he must be more severely and sharply reproved and have it laid home to him what a fault he has committed in forgetting his Duty He that shall be appointed at dinner shall lay open the crimes of such heinous offenders so as they themselves may be convinced of their errour and sensible of our just resentment But we must never think of keeping such fellows For they can only serve to bring a Scandal and breed Dissention among us CHAP. XV. Concerning those of the Society that are appointed for entertainment and conference SUch as have the care not only of our spiritual affairs but temporal also for the improvement of our Company as the Confessours of great Princes and rich Widows our Preachers and Directors of these private Instructions must be ranged with the first of our Society When the Confessour of a rich Widow is grown old let him be changed for one that may be more proper for the place But in the mean time let the good old man that has done us so much Service have whatever he shall demand either for meat clothing fire or any thing else that his age may require The Superiours shall not vex him with penance nor take much notice of his faults for the profits sake and good harvest he has brought into the Society by his industry and well disposing of