them haue done they doe peruert the effect of this infinite obligation and of a most solemne vow they make a simple one and giue leaue vnto him which hath promised to obserue their rule and by consequence that which depends thereupon to violate the same which is so strange that Nauarrus in his commentaries De Regularibus tom 1. saith hoe est nouissimum admirabile concessum praefatae societati This is an admirable noueltie granted vnto the aforenamed societie If it had beene any where else but at Rome he would not haue stucke to haue said that this was repugnant to the Diuine and Canon law And although that there be nothing more natural in all obligations and bonds yea the chiefest and most precise of all then to be reciprocall and mutuall that as the people are bound to yeeld fidelity and obedience vnto their Prince so is he bound likewise to giue protection vnto his subiects God himselfe would not be exempted when he saith assemble me the people of the earth that they may iudge beweene my people and me what thing I ought to haue done for them and haue not done it And more apparantin the gospell which is full of sweetnes and mildnes whence it proceedeth that there is no religion in the world receiuing the Vow and submission of a religious man which doth not bind it selfe to keepe and maintaine him in his greatest extremities and infirmities they on the contrary as if they were bound to nothing at all do expell and may turne out at their pleasure yea though they haue beene thirty yeeres of their society those which are weake and sickly Whom they either cannot or will not make vse of any longer Another thing quite contrary to Ecclesiasticall discipline is this By the Buls of Paul the third of the yeere 1543. and of Iulius the third in the yere 1550. they are permitted to change all their rules and constitutions as often as it shall please their Generall and he shall thinke it to be expedient for the good of his company these are the very words Et tam hactenus fact as quam in posterum faciendas constitutiones ipsas iuxta locorum ac reruÌ„ qualitatem mutare alter are seu in totuÌ„ cassare alias de nouo condere possâ—nt valeant And that they haue full power and authoritie according as the condition of the places and the estate of the affaires doe require to change alter or vtterlie to abolish all constitutions either heretofore made or hereafter to bee made and to make new in their stead So that as they say themselues they are neither regular nor secular nor are bound to any rule hauing no other excuse for this dissolution but the designe of the absolute power which they continuallie point at that the temporal power may giue place to the spirituall for the greater glory of God as it is saide in the ninth part of their constitutions the third chapter and ninth article poterit in omnibus ad maiorem Dei gloriam vt senserit procedere Hee may proceed in all things as hee shall see cause so it be to the greater glorie of God The end of their fourth vow is the most exact obedience to the Pope concerning their missions which they will make vs beleeue is only in regard of Infidels but on the contrary they themselues haue written that this obedience ought to be measured and referred vnto the motion and will of him to whom it is promised So that at the instant that the Pope shall purpose that the Bull in coena Domini should bind the French men and that he would leauie that which they call and terme sufferance the Iesuites are obliged by their vow to execute it according to his meaning without any other temper or moderation but the will of their Generall on whom the estate and the life of all our Kings by this meanes shall depend an effect of their blind obedience for the perfection whereof they adde Imperfecta est ea obedientia in qua praeter executionem non est haec eiusdem voluntatis sententiae inter eum qui iubet eum qui obedit consensio That obedience is vnperfect wherein besides the execution there is not the selfe same consent both of will and opinion in him that commandeth and the other who obeieth hauing no other guide but the meaning and will of their Generall which they ought to execute from point to point and say that they are bound to effect it without any knowledge or discretion after the manner perchance as we reade in Victor in the third booke of the persecution of the Vandales that Hunneric King of the Vandales being set on by the perswasion of the Arians would that all Catholiques should sweare to that which was conteined in a paper which was sealed vp euen as the Prouincials of the Iesuites often times in their assemblies doe cause the important commands of their Generall to be executed And that which is wondrous strange to the end that they may make the power of their company absolute and the power of their Generall more ample then that of the Pope in that which concerneth their vowes and missions is this that by the permission of their Generall they may cause that to be performed by others which is enioined them by the Pope and it may be reuoked by their Generall yea without the knowledge and consent of the Pope in the ninth part of their Constitutions chap. 3. art 3. And that which tendeth rather to lay the foundation of a particular greatnes then to the good of the Vniuiuersall Church they haue obteined Bulles wherein all men are forbidden without excepting any no not my Lords the Cardinals to take vpon them any knowledge in the secrets of their rule or to sound them although it were to no other purpose but to know the truth thereof as if that from henceforth the discourse and iudgement of men were bound to become slaues to their vnderstanding and direction alone by the Bull of Gregory the 13. decreed in the yeere 1584. Ne quis cuiuscunque status gradus praeeminentiae existat dictae societatis institutum constitutiones vel etiam praesentes aut quemuis earum aut supradictorum omnium articulorum vel aliud quid supradict a concernnes quouisdisputandi veletiam veritatis indagandae quaesito colore directè vel indirectè impugnare veleis contradicere audeat That no man of what estate degree or preheminence whatsoeuer be so bold as vpon any fained colour either of disputation or of searching out the truth directly or indirectlie to impugne or contradict the ordinances and constitutions of the said societie or these presents or anie article of them or of all the aforesaid premisses or anie other thing which may concerne the said premisses And that which surpasseth all beleefe it attributeth vnto their Generall only power to explaine and interpret it as hee shall thinke good which was inuented in fauour
hath beene adored The King of France I say who by the testimony of the Greeke and Latine Historiographers and since their time by the Italian writers and doctors is amongst other Kings as the glorious starre of the daie in the middest of a cloude comming from the South bearing the crowne of glorie and libertie Contrary vnto this the Iesuits doe submit vnto the absolute and infallible Monarchie which they seeke to establish the temporaltie of all Kings and Princes to the end that the spirituall power may reforme rule and correct them when they abuse their authority that is to say when they doe not as the Pope would haue them and behold their sophistrie indeed say they the spirituall power ought not to meddle directly in secular affaires prouided that they hinder not or bee no obstacle to the end and designe of the spirituall power or that they cannot serue aide or aduance the same for if it be so and that there be any aduantage to be gotten spiritualis potestas potest debet coercere temporalem omni ratione via quae ad id necessaria esse videtur The spirituall power may and ought to correct the temporall by anie way or meanes whatsoeuer shall seeme necessary thereunto the proper tearmes of Cardinall Bellarmine in the 5. booke de Rom. Pontif. cap. 6. This is the Vniuersall doctrine of all the Iesuits before cited and others who haue written there being scarcely any one that hath omitted to handle this subiect which is the principall scope and end of their instruction This is the euill doctrine whose fallacious manner of arguing and contrary to all the rules of discourse and disputation hatched the troubles of the yeere 1584. in which time the bookes of Cardinall Bellarmin were published and preached in all corners of France a doctrine of correction which constrained King Henry the third of happie memory who had hazarded his life a thousand times for the zeale of the Catholique religion to vse the remedy which he so many times found by experience to be mortall and deadly forced him to reuoke the Edict of peace vnder which his kingdome and Estate of France did quietly liue for to cicatrize to his great griefe so dangerous a wounde Let vs not any more deceiue our selues the false opinions in religion as they are diseases of the soule so ought they to be cured by spirituall remedies the substance of soules which is incorporall and inuisible cannot be constrained to receiue or reiect any thing by force and therefore those who thinke to establish religion by force as the Iesuits doe wholy forsake and abandon the law and will of God who would not in the building of the materiall Temple of Ierusalem the figure of his Church any one stroke should bee giuen with the hammer or any other toole of iron or that the pretext of religion should driue men into extremities so farre different from all religion let vs not attribute vnto ciuill warre the like effect as vnto the word of God which alone hath power to confirme mens hearts in the truth and to direct them from the contrary so hath there nothing else arisen from thence but that the strong potion of this Circe of ciuill warre made vs to forget our selues and all humanitic And although that both by the law of God and nature and by humane institution all subiects owe faithfull obedience to their Kings and naturall Princes without that any one of what quality soeuer or by reason of any priuiledge whatsoeuer can be freed or exempted Rom. 13 5. Non solum propter iram sea propter conscientiam Not only for feare but for conscience as saith the Apostle this being prescribed both by the scriptures by the doctrine of the fathers and by the Canons of the Church the very bond and ciment of peace betweene the two powers the influence of the perfect and accomplished harmonie of all command and rule here on earth wherein the best and first Christians being instructed haue alwaies made it their glory to serue their Kings cheerefully whatsoeuer they were and to accomplish their commandements in all humble obedience euen vnto the death yet notwithstanding all this vpon the doctrine of this absolute authority of correcting the temporall power by the spirituall are founded the excommunications against Kings interdictions of their Kingdomes discharging of their people from the oath of fidelitie and obedience in case that their naturall and liege Princes should vndertake any thing in temporall matters contrary vnto the will of the Popes a doctrine adiuged to be schismaticall by our Church the maintainers thereof condemned by the Magistrates conformably vnto that which the French Church resolued in the time of Lewis the Debonnaire vpon whom Gregory the fourth would needs make triall of excommunication the which resolution was susteined and vpheld by Hinemarus Archbishop of Reims whose writings are canonized and confirmed in the time of Lewis the Grosse against Pope Paschal of King Philip Augustus against Celestine the 3. of Philip the faire against Boniface the 8. and likewise by the Councell of Tours in the time of Lewis the 12. Notwithstanding the Iesuits haue taken no other pretext but this to iustifie the vsurpation of the Kingdome of Nauarre made by Ferdinand King of Spaine vpon Iohn of Albret for no other occasion but because hee affisted the King of France against the will of Iulius the 2. whom Master Iohn du Tillet Bishop of Meaux calleth perfidiosus sceleratus vecors perfidious wicked foolish in stead that Mr. Gilbert Genebrard a Doctor brought vp in the schoole of the Sorbonne in his Chronologie hath written Ferdinandum Hispaniae regem nullo meliore iure quam quod sibi vtile commodum esset regnum Nauarrae expulso loanne Albreto occupasse That Ferdinand King of Spaine had no better right to possesse himselfe of the Kingdome of Nauarre by expelling Iohn Albret but that it was fit and commodious for him If the Frenchmen hath perseuered in this nourishment they had neuer sucked this outlandish poison which afterward was diffused into their veines wee had not seene the rebellion stirred vp against our good King Henry the 3. by this doctrine confirmed by the booke whereof Bellarmin was the Author intituled Franciscus Romulus published in the yeere 88. by which the mindes of the French men being at that time as they reported sufficiently disposed and prepared it was perswaded that the taking of armes against a Soueraigne Prince was lawfull wee had not seene so many fellowe-Citizens cruelly bent one to the ruine of the other the heart of this poore Estate oppressed with so many calamities the brest thereof so surcharged with anguish and endurances and the skinne so dried vp and withered vpon the bones that there was neither muscle nor sinew of this great body which could discharge his function and our Country of France a thousand times as it were at the last gaspe But more then this it had
of them then when father Claude Matthew shewed at Rome the memories and remembrances for the hastning and aduancing of our miseries and troubles and they hauing proceeded so cunningly that of 37. Bulles which they haue obteined they neuer shewed any but those which least seemed to fauour them because they would not discouer the great recompences which they receiue for endeuouring to bring the Papal dignity to this height that there should be nothing either in the spiritualty or temporalty which should not become subordinate vnto it excepting only their Generall for the better effecting whereof their Bulles containe in them absolution from all excommunications which they might incurre a iure vel ab homine to the end that no respect of duty or of any obligation whatsoeuer might retaine and withhold them in setting forward this businesse And as the Iesuites in excuse of themselues alleadge that they were not the first authors of this absolute power Otho Frisingensis hauing obserued that it began vnder Gregorie the 7. vpon occasion of the inuestitures and was continued vnder Gregorie the 9. so are we to admire the sage prouidence of the Almighty who preserued in the schoole of Sorbonne founded about the same time the treasure of the truth contrary vnto that which the Iesuites propose vnto vs as the first and chiefe article of our faith The schoole of Paris hath alwaies taught that the primacie of Saint Peter and his successours Popes of Rome is by the law diuine in honor and reuerence whereof the Church antiquity the Christian Princes haue granted and attributed vnto the holy Sea many great priuiledges prerogatiues which are by the law humane that Iesus Christ immediatly after him and proportionably sending forth his Disciples and Apostles gaue vnto them all equally and indiuidually the power of the keies and that this mission is a reall conferring of power and iurisdiction euen as all the members of a naturall body although they are inequall in dignity doe proceed immediatlie from nature by reason whereof the estate of the Church is Monarchicall tempered with an Aristocraticall gouernement of Bishops and Priests as it were a Senate the most free and perfect estate which that can be imagined Whence it ariseth that the certaine and infallible authority for the resolution of points of religion doth reside in the whole Church and not in the head alone that by reason hereof Councels are necessarie for the gouernment thereof the conclusion of whose decrees and Canons by reason of the plurality of voices the Pope himselfe is bound to obserue without being able to dispence therewithall but in case where the Church being assembled in councell would haue giuen dispensation namely where it concerneth the good of the vniuersall Church and not of particulars which is the solide foundation whereon the liberties of our Church of France are grounded Hence it ariseth likewise that the decrees Buls censures and excommunications of the Popes yea the Bull in coena Domint and the counsell of Trent as farre as they concerne the ciuill gouernment do no way binde nor may be executed before they haue beene first approued receiued and published by the Councell and Aristocraticall order of the Ordinaries of the places which ought to put them in execution and cause them to be obserued that the sacred elections which succeeded the mission and vocation immediatlie made by our Sauiour Christ do appertaine vnto the Church both by the law of God and nature as it appeareth in the 1. and 6. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles by the counsels of Nise and Basil and by the ordinances of our King S. Lewes and Charles the seuenth That the Pope is the dispensator and Steward and not Lord of benefices that he cannot trouble the ordinaries in their functions nor depriue them of their benefices without lawfull cause and without the Counsell of the Church according vnto that which Saint Gregorie hath written and is inserted in the bodie of the Canon law can ecce dist 99. and S. Bernard lib. 3. de consideratione cap. 4. and Gersson in his booke of the Ecclesiastical power consid 12. and in the treatise which hee hath made concerning the Estates of the Church Contrartwise the Iesuites teach that it suffiseth not to beleeue that the primacie of Saint Peter is by the law of God but that for a more accomplished gouernment of the Church we must acknowledge a Monarchicall vniuersal absolute and infallible power ouer all Christians yea in that which concerneth the temporalty for to giue them lawes and directions yea in Ciuil matters no otherwise then doth the reasonable soule rule the body and affections of man this is the doctrine of Cardinall Bellarmin in his booke de Rom Pontifice of Salmeron in his fourth Tome and the third part the fourth treatise explaining that place of Saint Matthew Dabo tibi claues regni caelorum I will giue thee the keies of the Kingdome of heauen of his commentaries vpon the 13 chapter of the Romains and in the fourth disputation of Ludouicus Molina the 2. treatise de iustitia iure the 29. disputation of Azorius in the second part of his morall institutions the 4. book and 19. chapter and of his 21. booke the 3. and 5. chapter of Gregorius de Valentia in his commentaries of Magallianus in the beginning of his commentaries of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie to which absolute power their principall and most secret vow the first foundation and motion of their institution and Order being tied we haue small reason to doubt but that this is the common and certaine receiued doctrine of all their society They adde moreouer that Iesus Christ hath giuen the keies with all Ecclesiasticall power to S. Peter alone and to his successors for to distribute the same amongst the Apostles Bishops and Priests according as they shal thinke it fit whence it followeth of necessity that the institution of Bishops and Curats is not by the law diuine and that the Church is a pure soueraignty which ought to depend on the will of the Pope alone whereupon the Iesuits found their great power to the preiudice of Bishops Curats and Prelates taking vpon them more authority ouer the flockes of other men then the Pastors themselues And indeed by the Bulles of Gregory the 13. of the yeere 76. and 84. besides that they are exempted from the iurisdiction of all Ordinaries as well secular as regular all command is attributed vnto them and they are constituted to be as it were superintendents in the Church whence it ariseth that they vsurpe vpon the charges of all Ecclesiasticall persons bee it either in administring the sacraments or in any other function whatsoeuer at this day the Penitentiary of my Lord the Bishop of Paris although it be furnished with three most sufficient doctors in diuinity renowned for their integrity yet is it in a manner forsaken abandoned in respect of the Oratory of the Iesuits and the Catholike
Church of England being destitute of Bishops by their monopoly is depriued of the holy sacrament of confirmation Where it is easie to be knowne whether those of the Sorbonne of Paris who haue alwaies mainteined hierarchical order and the dignity of Bishops haue from the yeer 1554. rightly coniectured of their design which is to withdraw from the ordinaries the obedience and subiection due vnto thē if the Iesuits may be sēt forth as Bishops and Curates and by this fulnesse of power haue more authority then the lawfull pastors the Bishops should be but as Vicars destituable at their pleasur S. Paul saith that the power was giuē him not to destroy but to edifie and made scruple to preach the Gospell where Christ should haue bin already preached ne superalienū fundamentū aedificaret Ro. 15. Rupertus interpreting the words of S. Iohn 4. chap Vt cognouit Christus c. saith that the great Mr. of Humility hath taught all the doctors of the Church of the houshold of faith not to intermeddle with nor pester the charges cures one of another although that he were the sun the light it selfe yet he would not manifest himselfe nor shine there where Saint Iohn had first begun to shewe his borrowed light can it be imagined that it is possible to substitute one in the place of the father of the familie with the same power and authority as hee hath to whom nature hath appointed it or as Gerson saith that the ordinarie Pastors which are accountable and answerable before God for their flocke should not haue the guiding and gouernment thereof to conclude that a stranger should haue more priuacie with the wife then the lawfull spouse This is against the aduise of Saint Gregory Non ego honorem esse puto saith he in quo fratres honorem suum perdere cognosco meus namque honor est honor vniuersalis Ecclesiae meus honor fratrum meorum solidus vigor tune ego vere honoratus sum cum singulus quibusque honor debitus non negatur I doe not thinke any honor to bee done vnto mee in that whereby I know that my brethren loose their honour for my honor is the honor of the vniuersall Church my honour is the soliderigour and courage of my brethren then am I truly honored when euery one in particular hath not his due honor and respect denied him Bern. 3. Consid cap. 5. And S. Bernard saith honorū ac dignitatū gradus ordines quibusque suos seruare positi estis nō inuidere You are apointed to preserue maintain the degrees orders of eueryone in his particular place dignity not to enuy them Moreouer the Iesuits doe teach propose and maintaine that the Pope only is infallible the celebration of Councels is but for decencie onely vt facilius canones recipiantur That the Canons may bee more willingly receiued that the Synodall resolutions doe depend not only of the will of the Pope but that hee may dispence with them change and abrogate them when hee thinketh good that the sacred elections are neither from the law of God or nature and appertaine only to the Pope Cardinall Bellarmine in the first booke De clericis chap. 8. and that hee may dispose of benefices yea to the preiudice of the Patrons and of those vpon whom they are conferred etiam sine causa yea without any cause the proper tearmes of Emmanuel Sa in verbo Papa That the Buls constitutions censures and excommunications yea the Bull in coena Domini and the Councell of Trent in that which concerneth the ciuill Policie doe oblige the French men in conscience although the French Church neuer gaue consent thereunto nor did euer receiue them Azorius in the 5. booke the 3. chap. of his morall institutions If that the councels doe depend entirely of the authority and approbation of the Pope as they mainteine and the author of the Catholike institution perswadeth when as in reckoning vp those which are legitimate hee omitteth those of Constance and of Basil which can bee vpon no other ground but for want of being approued and allowed by the Popes as Mariana his Colleague hath written it followeth and see the mischiefe they runne headlong into that all the liberties of the French Church founded vpon the authoritie of the Councels are schismaticall since there is an higher ascendent then that of the Councels that the appellations which are interposed vpon this foundation are grosse abuses and are abhominable it followeth moreouer that the sacred elections haue not their beginning from the law of God that the Primitiue Church the Church of France haue beene in an error vntill the concordate King Frances betweene the first and Leo the fift that you my Lords doe vsurpe vpon the greatest part of the iurisdiction which you haue and the iustice which you sincerely exercise which the Councell of Trent attributeth to Ecclesiasticall persons As the doctrine of the Iesuits peruerteth the Hierarchicall order of the Church so doth it annihilate the authority of Princes and of politique lawes and drowneth it in the spirituall power and is herein as opposite and contrary to that which our Theologie doth beleeue as white is vnto blacke nor the sensuall appetite to reason and if that calamities past haue not wholy bereft vs of our memorie we may thinke it to be at this time the miraculous hand of God which when wee least thought vpon it seemed to lay open this occasion not only to make vs see but also feele and touch the cause of our sorrowes The Vniuersitie of Paris teacheth that the spirituall power is no lesse separated from the temporall then heauen is from earth The raigne of the sonne of God and of his Vicar our holy father is not of this world the Church ought not to vse beside the Ecclesiasticall censure and that for lawfull causes and in such forme and manner as is prescribed any other meanes but persuasion and not constraint her proceedings which ought to draw vs to eternall beatitude are simply aduise and direction and not force and rigor that it can in no sort appertaine vnto Ecclesiasticall men to meddle in secular affaires all their intermedling ought to be tied vnto the soule and conscience and their iurisdiction vnto those actions which follow and depend on the administration of the sacraments That by the law of God and nature Kings holding amongst men the highest place next and immediately vnder God haue all politique and ciuil power and that they alone haue power ouer all that which concerneth the temporalty and amongst all Princes of the earth our thrice christian Kings to whom it seemeth that God hath communicated the most liuely markes and representation of his image who doe not auow nor acknowledge that they hold of any one but God alone their scepter and their crowne which he hath had in his speciall protection well nigh from the time that the crowne of the Sauiour of the world
their Order they kept close this secret from vs by the which they thought themselues to be dispensed with from all that which was required of them and from that which they promised not being able to be bound without the consent and will of the Generall they being more bound vnto him then vnto God the Church or Pope or to all the world beside They were reestablished in the moneth of Ianuary 1604. and a little before their brethren of Doway had managed the enterprise vpon the person of Duke Maurice and had sent their Purueior named Panne to execute it And a short time after was discouered another designe of their good intentions to wit the conspiracy of the which three of their fathers Tesmond Gerard and Garnet had the managing against the King of England and all the Estates and Magistrates of the country the most prodigious that euer could enter into the heart of man and which surpasseth and confoundeth all the excesse and villany of former times The Estates of England were summoned the place and day appointed and the ouerture prepared the conspirators had found meanes to fill the vault vnder the roome where the assembly should haue beene with such a quantity of gunpowder hidden and couered with wood that with the least artifice frō as far off as they listed they could haue blown vp ouerthrown a whol kingdom at one instāt they themselues haue thus described it and part of those which were guilty haue confessed it It is not the meane to establish the Catholique Religion to fill an Estate with murders and horrible combustion it is rather the way to giue cause vnto heretikes stifly to bend themselues against proceedings so contrary to moderation and mildnes which God hath left as a marke of his light and to make that the Christian verity neuer returne more thither from whence it hath beene expelled and that it come to passe that infidelity and paganisme shall rather succeed heresie then that euer there should be any amendment or restoring of that which is better From this establishing of the spirituall power aboue the temporall proceedeth this other proposition of the doctrine of the Iesuits to wit that Ecclesiasticall men are neither subiects nor vnder the iurisdiction of any Prince but of the Pope alone yea in that which concerneth temporall matters that liuing in the Estate of any one whatsoeuer they are not bound by the lawes nor policies be they fundamentall and most supreme and therefore Bellarmine in his treatise de Clericis from the 28. chapter to the 30. Emmanuel Sa in his Confessionary vpon the word Clericus Gretserus in his writings against the common-wealth of Venice doe concurre together with all the rest of their society that although Ecclesiasticall men should conspire against the Estate or person of the Prince yet they cannot encurre the danger of Treason because he is neither King nor Prince as to them neither are they subiects in respect of him The schoole of Paris on the contrary hath alwaies held and taught that Ecclesiasticall men as naturall subiects of the Princes and common-wealths in the which it hath pleased God they should be borne are bound in the selfe same manner as other men are to obey the lawes of direction and constraint and are exempt only in regard of that which concerneth Gods diuine seruice and the competent maintainance of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and as to this point the Iesuits dispute fallaciously going from the declaration of a very speciall and particular exemption to an entire generall and absolute immunity contrary vnto the doctrine of the Church who teacheth vs that as the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome so the feare of the Magistrate is the beginning of discretion that as this life is the shadow of the life eternall so the lawes of Princes and Kingdomes are a figure of the eternall law so that he that loueth not the figure sheweth that he loueth yet lesse the thing figured This exemption continuing it is not to bee doubted but that Ecclesiasticall men should be as it were so many garrisons of strangers in an Estate and if the Prince or magistrate would constraine them to anie thing for the good of his Estate it ariseth from the same learning that in as much as they are not his subiects he should be a tyrant and an vsurper which might be deposed and killed by any one whosoeuer This was the foundation of the trouble which we haue seene stirred vp against the common-wealth of Venice euer most Catholique and deuoted to the holie Sea which cannot bee attributed to any but the Iesuits whom the Senate of that common-wealth in honor of the Catholique religion had carefully cherished fifty or threescore yeeres in such sort that foure or fiue yeeres before they had bestowed a great Pallace vpon them for their Colledge where they had aboue three hundred schollers children of the best houses of Venice and possessed in this Estate twelue or fifteene thousand crownes a yere reuenues During the Papacie of Pope Clement the Venicians had published an ordinance by the which Ecclesiasticall men were inhibited from acquiring any immoueables this holy father knew it well inough without taking offēce therat And how could he take it in euil part since that in the Estate of Milan there was the like prohibitiō strictly obserued that the Pope that now is vpon his first comming vnto the Popedome had forbidden the house of Loretta to purchase any more immoueables the Iesuits being desirous neuerthelesse to purchase a Pallace of pleasure vpon the riuer of Brent neere vnto the City were hindered by this law so as the gentlewoman which was owner thereof drew backe and said that she had been seduced by her Confessor This nourished in their minds an euill will towards the State so that two Ecclesiasticall men of Vincence being imprisoned for most horrible crimes the Iesuits taking their time gaue aduertisement vnto the Pope that these were enterprises vpon his authority and of those who depended immediately on him that the Venetians had no power to make lawes which should concerne Ecclesiasticall men although they were necessary for their Estate and conseruation without the will and consent of the Pope neither to decree any thing without making him first acquainted therewithall thus doing they tooke from them all soueraigntie they perswaded the excommunication with all earnestnesse whereunto Cardinall Zapata protector of Spaine subscribing for confirmation of their counsell said that this action done for the greatnes of the Church merited a statue of gold dedicated to immortalitie This first breach gaue apprehension of great calamities to ensue so that the Pope naturallie desirous of mild and gentle courses and enclined thereunto by the counsell of the Princes of Christendome and specially of that of our great King was againe exasperated by the Iesuits and by letters which they wrote vnto their Generall who hath no shew of a religious man besides his habite and behaueth