inform himself concerning them by an exact assiduous calm and compos'd Reading of the Scriptures and Fathers Here it is indeed that the Abbot my Fellow-Traveller had still more reason to exercise his Faith of the Will or to speak more plainly his blind Faith to induce to believe That these Men in spight of all their Ignorance and Negligence could pronounce nothing but Words of Life and Eternal Truth Nay what is more he believ'd that the more ignorant they were the more the Holy Ghost was pleased to speak by their Mouths For the Sy 〈…〉 he had formed in describing to me the great Ignorance of the Conductors of the Church of Rome was not so much to undervalue them as to exalt the profound Secrets of the Wisdom of God who formerly having made use of poor Fisher-men that had no acquired Parts or Learning wherewith to confound the Wise-men of the World in the Preaching of the Gospel did still continue to make use of these poor Ignorant Souls the Pope and his Cardinals to maintain the Truth of the same Gospel against the false Wisdom and seeming Doctrin of Hereticks The Zeal wherewith he urg'd this System of his seem'd to me to be somewhat extravagant for he proportionably extended the same to all Bishops Curats and Monks in a word to all the Clergy of Rome whom in a manner he dipt in the same Sawce treating them as so many Asses and Ignoramus's I told him That I had conversed with several Persons of Wit and Parts who according to the Principles of the Doctrin of the Church of Rome did Reason tolerably well and that some Indulgence ought to be allowed them in this Point because the Doctrin of Rome was exposed to abundance of Contrarieties which it was not an easie Task to reconcile As for Example That Accidents are separable from the Substance and exist without a Subject That one Body can at the same time be in several places and a vast number of such like Absurdities which they are fain to maintain in defence of their Mystery of Transubstantiation However notwithstanding all that I could say to him he persisted always in his Opinion and tho' he appear'd to me somewhat too rigorous yet I cannot say that he was altogether unjust in his Censure For if the manner and method of ordering ones Studies be the measure of the Knowledge one acquires I don't believe there is a Country in the World where their Studies are worse conducted than in Italy and where consequently there must needs be less Learning than there I suppose it will not be unpleasing to my Readers if I present them with a view of the Particulars thereof In the first place The Italians have too much Indulgence for their Children and the fear they have of putting them upon any thing that might be too laborious for them in their Tender years makes them have no thoughts of putting them to School till very late They ordinarily keep them two or three Years in the Inferior Schools where they only learn to Read and Write Italian and a Boy who at the Age of Twelve Years begins to Read and Write is already look'd upon as forward enough in his Studies Afterwards they change their Masters and are sent to a Latin School where they spend two or three years more only in learning the first Rudiments of Grammar and some Latin words to dispose them for the prosecuting of their Studies with the Jesuits These Fathers have almost engrost all the publick Colleges in all the Cities of Italy as making a most particular Profession of instructing Youth But in the mean time experience teacheth that God seldom accompanies their undertakings with his Blessing and that indeed they are the very Men notwithstanding all the Noise they make to the contrary who make Youth to lose their time For in the first place they chuse young Jesuits to be their Masters or Regents of their Scholars whose wit is not yet setled and who are not sufficiently grounded themselves in the Latin Tongue so that it is in a manner impossible they should be capable of instructing others But the design of the Society herein is that these young Jesuits may perfect themselves in their Latin by teaching others according to that Maxim Optimus modus Discendi est Docendi the best of Learning is that of Teaching This method is indeed for the profit of the Masters but is as disadvantageous to the Scholars whereas when those that teach others are already perfect in their Art and skill'd in all the ways and turnings of it this is a great advantage to the Scholars and a kind of loss of time for the Masters who learn nothing by teaching others but what they are already perfectly acquainted with That it is a very ill boding for the Scholars to see these young Jesuits take possession of the Masters Chairs who are not able to explain an Author themselves Another reason why the Scholars advance so little under the Conduct of the Jesuits is because these Fathers being too great Lovers of their pleasures give too much leave for Pastime to their Scholars They have two whole days leave to play in every Week viz. Tuesday and Thursday without reckoning the extraordinary days of Vacation for when-ever the Weather is fair and inviting to walk abroad it is a very hard Task to keep a Jesuit within Doors The young Regents address themselves to the Rector or Provincial and are so importunate with them for leave to take their Recreation that it is not possible to deny them And besides all this the Holy-days are so frequent in Italy that sometimes you meet with three or four in one Week Moreover every year in Autumn they have two Months of vacancy so that all this being well considered and laid together we shall find but a small proportion of time left for Study The Youth as every where else are very well pleas'd with it tho' sooner or later they are made sensible of the bad effects of it for ignorant they come to the Jesuits and ignorant they leave them and having lost the most precious part of their time they for the most part continue Ignorants all the rest of their Lives Neither is this all that there are only a few days allotted for Study but also very few hours in those few days for the Morning School only lasts two hours and the Afternoon an hour and an half Some Jesuits have endeavoured to maintain to me that it was not possible in Italy to study for a longer time together But as to that I answered them that I had continued my Lectures four hours together in the Morning and three in the Afternoon when I taught at Milan in the Abby of Great St. Victor and that my Scholars who were all of them Italians became at length accustom'd to it Thus I made it appear that they had no lawful excuse for their carelesness and neglect and that it was only their love of pleasure and
and had been Secretary to several Cardinals And forasmuch as I had already conceived a sufficient aversion for the Romish Religion the Corruption whereof I had a fair occasion to discover during my long abode in Italy I was very desirous to understand the Sentiments of a Person of so great Age and Experience Wherefore after having discoursed him about indifferent Matters I insensibly put him upon the Point of the Capacity and Learning of the Clergy of Rome He sufficiently satisfied me on that Subject and in the Account he gave me he observed something of a Method For in the first place he spoke to me of the Head of that Church viz. the POPE and from him passed to the Principal Members thereof which are the CARDINALS the ARCHBISHOPS and ABBOTS and concluded his Discourse with the Common PRIESTS and MONKS As for the first of these I mean the Pope he told me That it was a lamentable thing to see in what gross Ignorance many Popes lived of the most important Truths of the Christian Religion and that he himself had been fain to inform Pope Innocent the Xth of the true sense of this Passage of the Creed Qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto who was conceived by the Holy Ghost for he instead of understanding them of the Temporal Conception in the Mystery of the Incarnation did attribute them to the Eternal Generation of the Word and according to his Apprehension these Words Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary afforded this meaning Jesus Christ who was Conceived from all Eternity by the Holy Spirit was Born in time of the Virgin Mary So that if this Pope should have undertaken to have determin'd the Sense of them according to his Notion he would have given us a fine Instance of his Infallibility His Successor wish'd the same Abbot to Explain to him the Nature of Original Sin and how the Blessed Virgin came to be exempt from it Now it is worth our Observation that they were just these very Popes the most Ignorant that of a long time had appeared in the Church of Rome who undertook to decide the most important Controversie which ever was determin'd in the Church since the Council of Trent the Propugnators of the Efficacious Grace of S. Austin being of one side and the Defenders of Sufficient Grace on the other I mean the Dispute was maintain'd between the Augustinians or Jansenists and the Jesuits otherwise call'd Molinists The former of these two Popes had at the first no great mind to determine any thing concerning those Points For he declared one day to Luke of Holstein his Library-Keeper That the Solicitations he had from France to pronounce his decision concerning the Propositions of Jansenius drawn from S. Austin gave him a great deal of Trouble because the Question was concerning Points that he did not understand neither had he ever studied them Luke of Holstein answer'd him That his Holiness would do well not to begin at the Age he was of to trouble himself about the understanding and much less about the deciding of them because they were very perplex and intricate of themselves and that they had not only been the occasion of great Disputes amongst the Christians but also amongst the greatest Philosophers of Ancient Times by reason of the difficulty they found to reconcile the Liberty of Mans Will with the Decrees and Fore-knowledge of God whereupon some of them embraced one Opinion Others another as was done still to this day and would so continue as long as there should be Men in the World Whence he inferr'd That forasmuch as it was impossible for him to pronounce a decision that might satisfie both Parties it would be better for him not to meddle with it at all but to leave things in the state he found them till they should drop of themselves as they would without doubt whenever the one or other Party or both of them together should be weary of the Disputing and forcing their Opinions upon their Antagonists 'T is said The Pope was extreamly pleased with this Advice In the mean time it was observ'd that by his frequent Assisting at many Congregations which were held on this Subject he at last took a great deal of pleasure to hear these different Doctrins discust notwithstanding the great Repugnance he had for them at the first and he attributed this change in himself to an extraordinary assistance of the Holy Spirit On a time the Lady Olympia his Sister asked him What Matters were treated of in those Congregations that were so very pleasing to his Holiness The Pope Answer'd That they were certain Subtilties which she did not understand but that probably she might come to comprehend them in case she were present there whilst one of the Consulters Discoursed who explain'd those Points with the greatest clearness and perspicuity In a word All these Consultations were held on purpose to give his Holiness a true Notion of these Points in question But it seems to me that persons who pretend to Infallibility ought to be in possession of the Key of Knowledge or at least do their utmost endeavour to obtain it For can any thing be imagin'd more ridiculous than that a Pope to whom Application is made by the whole Church for the ratification of the Doctrins of Faith should be fain to treat with others and to demand time and opportunity to inform himself by consulting his Doctors and afterwards hear him tell you That the very same Point of Doctrin which a while ago he was ignorant of is an infallible Truth and which he alone hath the Authority to determin I entreated the Abbot to tell me in good earnest Whether he himself who had been witness of so much Weakness and Ignorance in those who are seated in S. Peter's Chair could receive all their Decisions for Infallible To which he Answer'd That he rather believ'd them such by a Faith of his Will than by a Faith of Understanding I requested him to explain this distinction which seem'd to me to be somewhat obsure and in which I saw that he plac'd something of Mystery He told me That the Faith of Understanding carried along with it some kind of Evidence that its Motives were so agreeable with the Principles of Reason or had so close a dependance upon Matters revealed that they could not be resisted without acting contrary to good sense and that by this Intellectual Faith we believe there is a God and that this God must be feared and worshipped That he will reward those that are Good and punish the Wicked That Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World foretold by the Prophets c. But as for the Faith of the Will continued he that is altogether obscure we find nothing in it to satisfie our Reason and we believe it only because we will believe it 'T is by this Faith said he that I believe the Infallibility of the Pope and a vast number
idleness that had reduc'd Study to the condition in which it was Again of these few hours that are destinated for Instruction there are but few moments employ'd as they ought These young Jesuits are never unfurnisht of some ridiculous conceit or story to tell their Scholars to shorten the time and 't is obvious for them to start occasions of Mirth and Pastime when ever they please amidst that great number of Scholars that surround them But of all the time they squander away there 's none lost with a more specious pretext than that which they bestow upon Declamations whereby they endeavour to dispose and fit their Scholars to appear with applause upon their Theaters The Jesuits take much pains themselves in making of Comedies and Tragedies and every Regent is bound to compose two at least every year To this end as soon as they have finished some piece of Elaborate Folly or Boufonery they distribute the Personages thereof to those of their Scholars they judge most proper to represent them and they spend a great part of the time of their Classes or Morning and Afternoon Lectures in exercising them two or three months before the Drama is to be acted publickly This loss of time would not be altogether so great in case these Comedies or Tragedies were in the Latin Tongue but excepting only some few sprinklings of Latin words here and there they are all Italian Their end herein is to make them the more Intelligible to the Ladies that are invited to them Amongst the rest they take care not to forget the Mothers of their Scholars who are ravished to see their Children declaming upon the Theater of the Reverend Fathers the Jesuits and conceit their Children have profited greatly in being so dextrous at playing the Jack-Pudding Neither is all this ado without some profit to the Reverend Fathers for this gives them an occasion of putting their Scholars upon a liberal Contribution towards the Decoration of their Theaters and Machines There are many Italians who are very sensible of the loss of their Childrens time caused by these methods of the Jesuits but they are fain to smothet it not daring to mention the least word of it to them for if they should they would presently call them ingrateful as not acknowledging the favour that is done them in teaching their Children gratis and after these reproaches would not fail shamefully to expel them their Colledge I cannot but take notice here with what a stock of Impudence the Jesuits pretend and boast themselves to teach Youth for nothing for indeed every City where they have their Schools provides a Fund that is more than sufficient to maintain them and this Mony is raised by new Impositions laid upon private Persons The only good effect their teaching produceth is this that there are no Persons how poor soever they are but may send their Children to the College but on the other hand it gives occasion to a great Evil which is that this vast number of Students whereof the greater part are of very mean Extraction and ill Educated do greatly corrupt and spoil one another Yea it is in a manner impossible that the Regents should ever be able to teach them well because of their excessive Numbers there being sometimes no less than three hundred in one and the same Classis or Form as we call it and who have but one Master to teach them all These Classes are not distinguished by the number of Scholars but by the degrees and progress of their Studies and there are Seven of these in every College where the Latin Tongue is taught They commonly count them backward for that which receives the Petits at first is called the seventh Classis and those who are the most forward in Latin such as the Rhetoricians are in the first They continue a year in each Classis so that the Jesuits do not undertake to teach Latin in less than seven years whereas I have known Masters who in two years time have advanced their Scholars further than the Jesuits do in all that time Whence we may take an estimate of the extraordinary Talent and Capacity they have to teach and the great Blessing of God that accompanies their Institution But at this time of day that which they affect most is not at all the Information of Youth they much more please and pride themselves in Politicks and the Intrigues of State than in their Schools and in giving Law to Princes than in setting Children their Lesson But this Subject would draw me too far from what I am upon and my design is not at present to stray from the matter of Studies After they have finished their course of seven years to obtain the Latin Tongue the Jesuits have besides these some other Classes where they teach Philosophy and Theology but after a very poor manner and such as is not admir'd by any but themselves 'T is commonly about this time that Scholars begin to determine their thoughts for some particular Profession some go to the Universities others retire themselves into Convents others dedicate themselves to the Church and become secular Priests and Lastly others embrace other Callings and Employments To represent to my Reader in what manner they continue their Studies in Italy and to what degree of Perfection they arrive I shall endeavour to give him the most exact description thereof that possibly I can in all these different Stations And in the first place to begin with the Universities every one knows that of all those that are found in Italy those of Bononia of Padua and of Pavia are the most famous If a man hath but set his Foot in one of these Universities it is sufficient to raise him to the Esteem of a Learned man in the minds of the Italians tho' it may be he knows no more than he did the first day of his Entrance such is the prevalency of a vulgar Error and to speak the truth it is not very common for a man to become truly Learned there and that for these four reasons In the first place the Climate of Italy is so sultry hot that it is not very pleasing to apply ones self a long time to one thing A too obstinate and continued application doth so agitate the Spirits and puts them into such an Effervescency say they that many of them would fear the over-heating of their Brains should they apply themselves to any serious Meditations for two or three hours together But it must be own'd as I have observed before that the Italians are somewhat too nice and delicate in this point Which is the reason why the Italians not having the patience to examine a question to the bottom chuse rather to suppose it such as it is given them than to take the pains to penetrate it themselves The second reason is because they are not made to Write that is to take Dictates The Readers of Philosophy or Theology content themselves to take some printed
a Youth say they that will fit the Cordeliers and Minimes Others that are of dastardly mean and cowardly Spirits they turn over to the Capucins for they are very well acquainted what Spirit Reigns in each Order Lastly If they chance to meet with any poor ignorant and simple Youth and whose mind has no Elevation at all they hope that such a one may by their means come to be a good Country Curate They make no difficulty in the Class of Rhetorick to take every one of their Scholars apart and declare to them the Calling to which God seems to have called them But as for themselves if they find one that is of a keen and subtil Spirit brisk and active full of Fire daring and undertaking these are the Youths forsooth that are for their Society these are the Persons fit for their Tooth and such they endeavour to gain to their Number After some years past in their Novitiat and Travels they set them to Teach Latin and make them Regents over the seven Classes in Order one after another which is their Employment for seven years and during all this time they do not suffer them to mind any other thing but what concerns their Classes no nor so much as to read any Book but those that are design'd for that use When they enter into the Society they commonly are about 21 or 22 years of Age so that before they have finished their Regency over all the seven Latin Classes they are above Thirty years of Age. Then it is they are put upon the Studying of Philosophy and afterwards of Theology in the first of which they spend two years and in the latter three 'T is about this time that the Fathers make another Scrutiny or Tryal of the Spirits of their younger Jesuits Those who have kept all their Fire and make themselves remarkable for their Boldness and Resolution are design'd to be Missionaries and the rest are left to their liberty to apply themselves to some particular Study for which they have most Inclination or else they make Preachers of them whilst the Old Jesuits are the Doctors of Fraternites or hear Confessions But all of them generally are Educated in a Spirit of refined Policy which doth not shake hands with them till Death And those in whom this Spirit is most rife and pregnant are advanced to the Charges and Employs of the Society or else means are found out to please them in the Courts of Princes and if any one be found that is not Baptized into this Spirit tho' otherwise he be endowed with the most promising Talents that may be he is sure to be expell'd the Society of Jesus Now the Conclusion we may draw from what I have here represented concerning the Conduct of the Jesuits is this viz. that it is in a manner impossible they should ever attain to any great degree of Learning for the very prime of their Youth and the Age that is most proper to apply themselves to Sciences is wholly employed in Learning and Teaching Latin so that we have reason to believe that to be the only thing they are good at and yet the truth is that even herein they make themselves ridiculous The Proverb tells us that the Corruption of the best things is the worst Corruptio optimi pessima and it may be said also that the Jesuits who probably read none but the best Authors of the Latin Tongue do make a kind of mixture of them in their Spirits to which they superadd an intolerable kind of Affectation that utterly spoils all the good that could be in it All their Latin is commonly thick larded with Enimveros Quidems and Ergo's I can no better parallel this their Folly than by comparing it with the Vanity of some Women who from an excess of desire they have to appear Beautiful dawb their Faces so thick with Paint and Patches that quite contrary to their design they make themselves ugly and abominable All the honour that is rendred to their Latin is this that in all the Societies where they speak good Latin as with the Gentlemen of Port Royal and in all the Schools of Physicians it is termed pitiful Jesuits Latin As for what concerns their Philosophy and Divinity which they are made to Study after that they have Taught Latin that we may discover the nature thereof we are first to know that the Society of Jesuits having been instituted at Rome by Ignatius Loyola had at first no other Schools besides the publick Schools nor any other Opinions but such as are commonly Taught there In their general Assembly held in the year 1550 they made some Constitutions by which their Founder oblig'd them to follow the Doctrin of St. Thomas Aquinas as to their Divinity and consequently in all Questions of Philosophy that necessarily depend upon it There are to this day some of their Theses to be seen publickly defended by them in their College at Rome in the years 1560 and 1562 a short time after the Death of their Founder and at the sitting of the Council of Trent where they defend the Opinions of St. Thomas concerning Grace directly opposit to those they maintain at present In the mean time James Lainez being chosen General in 1558 two years after the Death of Ignatius Loyola he caused a Statute to pass at the same Assembly where he had been Elected by the which it was resolved that they should Teach also the Master of Sentences but in case afterwards it should be judged that some other Author would be more profitable to the Students as if they should think fit to compose a new Sum of Theology or any other Work that might better comport with the Times Temporibus accommodatior that then the same might be made use of after a mature Deliberation Lainez having thus left the Jesuits at liberty to find out a method of Teaching Philosophy more accommodate to the latter Times than that which had been followed ever since the Schoolmen were known in the World for it was about this time that they resolved to set up for great Politicians and to be the Depravers of Science and Morality the better to please the corrupt age in which their Lot was fallen and the very same year several Instances were given of this Corruption In the University of Salamanca Prudentius of Monte Major a Jesuit publickly maintained a Thesis wherein he rejected all the absolute Decrees of God with respect to acts of human Liberty and particularly all Predestination gratuitous and independent on any foresight of good actions with some other like Doctrins The Divinity Faculty of that University condemned them but they pleased the Society well enough who gave permission to their Divines to teach them according as occasion and Time should seem favourable for it Now in order to their finding out a way intirely to shake off the Yoak of St. Thomas's Doctrin Claudius Aqua Viva General of the Jesuits in the year 1584 called to Rome six
of the most able Divines of the Society with â—â—der to consult beforehand the most Learned of each Province to make a choice of those select Opinions which were to be taught in their Society These Divines being come to Rome they there compos'd a Book with this Title Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu The way and Institution of the Studies of the Society of Jesus which was Printed in 1586. Here it was that they absolutely cast off S. Austin and S. Thomas upon the Points of Predestination and Physical Predetermination which they were allow'd the Liberty to maintain till then They established their mediate knowledge the Foresight of future Contingents and they explain'd the Efficacy of Grace after the manner of the Pelagians and Semipelagians as if the same were intirely dependent on the Free-will of Man which they do not suppose to be so corrupt as the most Venerable Doctors of Antiquity and particularly S. Austin took it to be It will not be besides our purpose to represent to you here a brief Reflexion upon a short Sentence I met with in the same Directory of the Studies of the Society where it is said that it is for the honour of the Society of Jesus that a new Theology be introduc'd with Liberty of Spirit That is to say without being too strictly tied up to the Opinions of the ancient Fathers or to the Decisions of the Modern Doctors Besides it implies that they had a terrible Itch of Pride to joyn to their Novel Institution a novelty of Doctrin and Morals that might distinguish them from all others For it seem'd somewhat hard and grating upon them that being Jesuits they were fain to be Thomists in their Opinions Molina a Spanish Jesuit was one of the most bold and venturous in Publishing the new Doctrin of the Society and publickly boasted that the greater part of it was of his own Invention He Published in the year 1588 his Work intituled The Concord of Grace and Free-will The Opinions he there vented were the same with those of other Jesuits but proved by Metaphysical Reasons after the manner of the Schools He made no bones to say that S. Austin had been involved in a kind of Darkness as to what concerns the Doctrin of Grace and that he had believ'd that Gratuitous Predestination was necessarily joyn'd with it The design of the Jesuits herein was this that conformably to the Resolution they had taken to distinguish themselves by abandoning S. Thomas and finding as yet no means they had a mind cunningly and under other Terms to restore Pelagianism which seem'd to them more plausible to be maintain'd than the efficacious Grace of S. Austin which too openly favoured the necessitating Grace of Luther and Calvin as they are pleas'd to call it which had been condemned at the Council of Trent or rather which seem'd to be one and the same with it To the end therefore they might more dexterously obtain this their end and the more sweetly engage the minds of Men to receive it they were not wanting from time to time to make their Disciples publickly to maintain the Doctrin of S. Austin and S. Thomas that by this means they might appear to be disinterested Men and that searched after nothing but the Truth But all this their address and cunning did not hinder the Dominicans being incensed by Molina's Book openly to oppose themselves against their Innovations and succeeded so well in their Pursuit that Clement VIII established a Congregation at Rome to hear the Reasons of both Parties They began with the Examination of Molina's Book and they reduc'd his Doctrin to four Principles which they explained in divers Propositions And forasmuch as they make a part of the Theology of the Jesuits I do not think it a wandring from my Subject to give you here a short account of them The first Principle of Molina is That the general Concourse of God doth not consist in acting upon second Causes as if they stood in need of being moved by God in order to produce their effect but that God acts immediately in the Action together with the Cause and that if God should push on the Will to act he would thereby ruin the Liberty thereof From which Principle Molina drew these Consequences 1. That Man by the strength of Nature can believe Supernatural Mysteries 2. That having performed what lies in him according to his natural Strength and Ability God comes in and bestows his Grace and that God foreseeing who those are that will make use of these Abilities when the Gospel shall be Preached unto them he is ready to bestow upon them the Grace that is necessary for their total Conversion 3. That a man by his natural Strength can form a resolution of never offending God for time to come 4. That natural Light may be sufficient to keep the Law of Nature whatsoever trouble or difficulty there may be in the doing of it The Second Principle of Molina is that God doth not refuse to any grown Person the assistance that is necessary for him to persevere in that which it good so that it is the fault of him who doth not persevere in Godliness and not the want of Grace that makes him to fall away The Third Principle is that we are to distinguish in God three sorts of Knowledg the one purely Natural the other altogether free and the third Mediate or partaking of both according to which latter God by the intimate knowledg he hath of the Free-will of every man knows what he would do supposing such or such a thing tho' it be in his power to do the contrary Under this Principle are comprehended these Propositions 1. That there is but one exciting Grace and none that is Efficacious in it self 2. That it is not Grace that determines the Free-will but that the Free-will determines it self The Fourth Principle is That God Predestinates those who he foresees by his mediate knowledg will make good use of the strength of Nature and of Grace The Consulters of the Congregation de Auxiliis for so they call'd them because they therein treated concerning the assistances which God affords Men in order to apply themselves to that which is good had couched the Sentiments of Molina in Twenty Propositions whereof the most are the very same or to the same Sense of those we have here set down They censured every one of them as may be seen in the abridgment of the Acts which is still in being and declared that Molina and his Adherents which are the Jesuits had espoused the Opinions of the Pelagians and the Semipelagians as well in the Principles of their Doctrin as in their Proofs and Objections They tell us that hereupon the Jesuits joyned Threats with their Prayers to hinder the Publication of this Censure and that out of very Rage they publickly maintain'd in Rome that it was no part of the Faith that Clement VIII was Pope and that he was
by the Priests of the Church of Rome but because I fear keeping you too long upon one and the same Subject I shall chuse rather to diversifie it by some other Relation I shall take my Subject from a Remark I made at the Abby of Fossa Nova whither I Journyed from Veletre after having seen the Baptizing of the Bell which I have already described This Abby is not far from Terracine and it was here that S. Thomas Aquinas died on his Way to the Council of Lions The Curiosity I had to see the Place where he was Buried made me alight and the Monks of that Abby who are Bernardines shew'd me a great deal of Civility They led me to a Little Chapel under-ground where they told me that S. Thomas was laid after his Death I desired them to shew me his Relicks but they told me They could not answer my Request because his Body had never been taken up out of the Ground and that the Altar of the Chapel was built upon his Tomb. But for all this fair Story I knew very well that Pope Urban the Fifth had bestowed his Body upon the Religious of S. Dominicus who had translated it to their Convent at Tholouse and what I enquir'd concerning it of these Monks was only to discover their Honesty in the case I told them also That I had seen a Capucin at Rome who had shewed me a considerable piece of S. Thomas his Arm which he said the Fathers of Fossa Nova had bestowed upon him I gave them a description of this Capucin from Head to Foot which made them at last call to mind one that was a German who after he had Fudled himself in their Monastery had with so much Importunity requested of them some Relick of S. Thomas telling them He was resolved not to leave their Monastery till they had given him one that at length they were fain to shew him a great heap of Dead-mens Bones which was in a Corner of the Chapel amongst which he had chosen the Relick which he had shewed me They told me That they themselves question'd whether there might not be some Relicks of that Saint amongst all their Bones because the Earth of the Chapel had been stirred several times and tho' it was precisely believ'd that the Body of S. Thomas did rest under the Altar yet they were not absolutely sure of it This is the Reason said they why many Persons have made no difficulty to take some of these Bones in the Conceit that they might probably be some of his or at least in hopes that the Presence of the Body of the Saint near whom they had the Honour to Rest might have communicated to them some Heavenly Vertue To speak the truth these are the very Reasonings which the Gentlemen of Rome I mean the Pope and Cardinals make use of every day with reference to the Holy Bodies which they fetch out of the Catacombes and which they send so boldly and so frequently to places of their Communion to be Worshiped there These Catacombes in the Sense they take them in are Subterranean Places where Believers assembled themselves in the times of Persecution and where they Buried the Corps of their Martyrs but they also indifferently Buried there the Bodies of all Christians so that as these places served them for Temples or places to meet in so they served them also for Church-yards to bury their Dead The Popes having in these last Ages taken into mature Consideration the great gain they reaped from the Bones of their Saints had recourse to these places as to inexhaustible Mines and indifferently seized all the Bones they met with there Yea their Avarice lasht out to that degree that either not knowing or not being able to distinguish the true Catacombes they have gone to search for dead Bodies in the Common Sewers or Subterranean Vaults which were the Sinks to carry off the filth of the City and where in ancient times they were used to fling the Bodies of Malefactors after their Execution True it is that amongst them were sometimes found the Bodies of Martyrs which escaped the knowledge of Christians The Popes not having the power to distinguish the one from the other and to spare themselves a trouble which besides would have been pure labour lost by the Power of God himself which they profess themselves to have metamorphos'd them all dictum factum into Saints The Heathens had also Caves and Vaults where they caused themselves to be Interr'd with their whole Families and the greatest part of all these Bones are now upon the Altars of the Papists under the name of Saints taken up out of the Catacombes And forasmuch as the Popes are ignorant of their Names they baptize them anew and give them a Name as best pleaseth them which is the cause why there be found so many Saints of the same Name This is also the true cause of so many Contests and Trials between the Priests and the Monks who all pretend in good time to be the sole Possessors of the Primitive Saint of this or the other Name These Trials are to be determined at Rome by means of Mony which still inflames the Popes with a greater Zeal to send as many as they can of these Saints into all parts which one day or other will not fail to furnish them with matter for Trials so gainful to them yea we may affirm that there be almost as many Trials at Rome about Relicks as about Beneficial matters Now the Doctrin which serves to quiet the Consciences of the Romanists from the checks that might torment them for having exposed and still daily exposing such abominable Filthinesses upon their Altars is this that they believe that what S. Paul saith that the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the believing Husband ought also to be understood of their Relicks forasmuch as all the Bones which are found in one Vault are sanctified by their Neighbourhood with those of one Saint Or at least if this won't do they betake themselves to their last shift which is this That a good intention is an abundant excuse for all these petty irregularities in those who continue in the bosom of the Church of Rome so that it is enough according to them to have a right intention of honouring such a Saint or she Saint and to receive with Reverence and Obedience the Instruments proposed to them for to honour them They have propounded such like Arguments to the Protestants of France to persuade them to go to Mass Why do you fear say they to adore the Host as long as you direct your intention to Jesus Christ who in it is worshiped For by this means it will be Jesus Christ whom you shall adore and not the Bread supposing it to be so Only be obedient to the Church of Rome and your good intention shall save you And they have discoursed them at the same rate about Relicks Now the use that the Priests and Monks of
the Holy Name of JESUS by appropriating it to themselves Of all the Popes that the Church of Rome has had there is not one to be found that ever durst take to himself the Name of S. Peter out of the respect they had to that Apostle and yet these Wretches have had the Effrontery to take to themselves that of our Adorable Saviour insomuch that I cannot name the Name of JESUS but these Wretches immediately come to my mind Yea they are the cause why many People whom they give occasion to Curse them pronounce that Holy Name most Irreverently mingling it with the wicked Words and Revilings they bestow upon I don't pretend to any thing of a Prophet yet durst I almost venture to Prognosticate thus much That like as this Order of the Jesuits hath in a very short time raised it self to a prodigious Greatness so it won't be long before it take a Fall equal to its Elevation It s own weight shall sink it Mole ruet suâ and its Ruin shall drag the Dissolution of the Church of Rome along with it For then Peoples Eyes will be opened to see how shamefully they have been abused and gull'd by a Company of Men who pretending to be the Pillars of the Church and professing the outside of Vertue rejected the Substance thereof God grant that Atheism may not thrive by the approaching Wreck of that Church but that all at that time may terminate in a holy Reformation whereof the Church of England hath already given so perfect a Model The Jesuits are they who have the fairest and richest Churches not only at Naples but also throughout almost all the other parts of Italy and they are also the best Men of the World according to the Sense I have already explained After having taken a view of their Colleges and Churches in this Noble City I had a favourable occasion offered me of seeing the Relicks of S. Januarius which are kept in the Cathedral and where the Roman Catholicks boast of having a perpetual Miracle For they shew you a Vial full of Blood averring it to be that of S. January which as soon as it is brought near to his Body turns to Liquor The Reverend Doctor Burnet now Bishop of Salisbury has in his Letters given us his Opinion concerning this Relick which is very probable As for my part tho' I was a Priest of the Church of Rome yet they did not so far Honour me as to let me handle the Vial that contains the Blood notwithstanding my earnestness to obtain that favour This indeed made me somewhat Suspicious of the Relick for if a Priest hath the Power and Authority of handling the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist after Consecration he may very well I should think be allow'd to touch all other sorts of Relicks which are so far inferiour to that I imagined therefore and not without reason that there might be some Concavities in the Glass which contain'd a reddish Liquor which the Priests who knew the Trick of it could when ever they pleas'd cause to be diffused over the middle of the Glass They declare to all Persons that come to see this Relick that a Heretick was once Converted at the sight of this Miracle so that here is now a Second Miracle produced to confirm and prove the first I saw since at Milan a Minister of Geneva who was turned Papist at Turin and after that he had Travelled over all Italy and amongst the rest had seen the Relick of S. January I asked him What he thought of it He desired me in the Name of God not to speak to him about it for fear it should raise those thoughts in him that might encline him to turn Heretick again For he told me that when the Priests were about to shew it him they fell into the greatest Confusion imaginable because the Spring of the Machin would not Play but at last they shak'd the Bottle so long till they made a shift to shew him something that was Reddish and Liquid He added that another Minister who had abjur'd with him at Turin and who was there at the same time present with him protested to him at their coming out of the Church that for his part he had seen enough and was resolv'd to return to Geneva So that we see here a Saint that is an Ambo-dexter and Works Miracles both ways by making Protestants turn Papists and the Papists Protestants The same Gentleman protested to me that if he had no other Reasons to believe the Roman Catholick Religion that Miracle would never have had the Efficacy to persuade him of the Truth of it as they pretended it had done others I had also another Question to ask of this New-Papist which was How the Hereticks liv'd at Geneva Because being a New-Convert and having been a Minister there I hoped he would discover something Extraordinary concerning their Practices He told me that he could not tell me of any Superstititious Practice that they had nor of any Fraud or wicked Action that they Committed to Engage the People to their Party and that almost all their publick Acts of Religion consisted in these four things the Reading of the Holy Scripture the Singing of Psalms Preaching and Celebrating the Lord's Supper I prayed him also to tell me sincerely Whether what I had heard reported of them from my first Youth were true or no viz. that they have the Figure of a Devil in their Churches and that as soon as the Sermon is Ended all the Hugonots went and Prostrated themselves before it and Worship'd it This is that Story the Jesuits so often tell to their Scolars in their Schools to inspire them with Horror against the Hereticks His Answer was that it was a very great Lie and that the Hugonots had so great an Aversion for all sorts of Images in their Churches that they never suffer'd any to be there neither of God nor of the Angels nor of the Saints nor of the Devil So that it seems he could tell me nothing that might give me any Disesteem for the Protestants but on the contrary he very much Diminished the false Idea they had given me of them He only declared that the sole Reason that had inclin'd him to leave them was because he believed their Doctrin not to be Sound and that they put a false Interpretation on the Scriptures In a word he did not believe said he that their Divinity was good But indeed he could not say less to make Men believe he was a Papist I have since made this Reflection that it is some kind of Proof of the true Religion when those who leave it have nothing to object against the Manners or Practices of those who profess it I defie a Protestant that leaves the Church of England to turn Papist to Ridicule or Disapprove the least Ceremony that is practised in the same for should he do this he must either Scoff at the Preaching of the Word or the
of other things I indeed can find nothing that in a human way can perswade me of the Truth of them but at the same time do perceive in my Soul a secret Byass swaying my Will to believe them and this Byass or secret Inclination is nothing else but that Baptismal Grace which is infused into all Christians at their Baptism I perceived that this good Abbot took that for a Baptismal Grace which indeed is no other than an Inclination proceeding from Education and which disposeth him as much to Error as to Truth according to the anticipations this Inclination be it good or evil hath formed in us Moreover at this rate of Arguing he was oblig'd to believe after the Italian manner That the Protestants are no Christians for granting their Baptism to be good and effectual they must be supposed to have the same Grace infus'd disposing them to believe the Popes to be Infallible Behold here the wonderful Engin that is made use of at Rome to tye the Papists to their Good Behaviour and this was the sum of all the goodly Satisfaction the Grand Penitentiaries of Rome could give me during the abode I made amongst them I went often to Confession to them about some Doubts that rack'd my Conscience with respect to the Point of Transubstantiation in hopes to rid my self of them When I told them That my Reason rose in perfect opposition to it They answer'd That I ought not to hearken to it And when I reply'd That it was every whit as impossible for me to go contrary to my Reason as to believe it Midnight at High-Noon They had recourse to their last Shift which was to demand of me Whether I was not really sensible of a secret Motion which inclin'd me to a willingness of believing that which according to Reason seem'd incredible to me To which I answer'd That indeed I should find my self somewhat moved if any one should go about to force me immediately to abjure Transubstantiation but withal told them That this might as well proceed from a Habit I had acquired and from those Opinions which the Romish Religion had instill'd into me But they always obstinately persisted in assuring me That the cause of this difficulty in the practice of what my Sense and Reason seem'd to lead me to did not at all proceed from what I imagin'd but indeed from that Habit of Faith which had been infused into me in my Baptisin and which then did operate in me as it always doth in time of danger and when there is any likelyhood of falling under some grand Temptation And when this sort of People have once declar'd their Judgment upon a Case of Conscience you must believe them or at least assure them that you submit to their Reasonings for otherwise notwithstanding all the Noise is made about the Secret of Confession they would soon find means to oblige you to a very uncomfortable Pastime by lodging you in the Inquisition before you ever could be aware of it I shall have occasion hereafter to inform my Reader further concerning their Confessions and therefore for the present shall continue to relate what this Abbot declar'd to me about the Ignorance of the Clergy of Rome For after having discours'd of the Popes at the rate I have told you he passed over to the Cardinals whom he distinguish'd into three Classes The first was of those who are raised to that Dignity at the solicitation of Princes and to favour the Interest of Crowns These are either Princes themselves or great States-men whose entire study consists in advancing their own glory or that of their Masters and who have other Fish to fry than to break their Heads with the study of Philosophy or Divinity The second sort of Cardinals are those who are beholding for their promotion to the good luck they have had of being the Nephew near Relation or Friend of some Pope It 's of small concern to these whether they be Learned or not for tho' the Nephew or Friend of a Pope should chance to be the most Ignorant person in the World he needs not fear that this will prove the least obstacle to him in arriving at the Sacred Purple for the Odescalci's that is to say the Popes that abhor Nepotism are very scarce nowadays and indeed Experience teacheth us that these sort of People are commonly at a very low ebb of any extraordinary Attainments Lastly The third Classis of Cardinals consists of those who have distinguish'd themselves amongst the Crowd by some Talent that hath made them to be taken notice of above others Thus we meet with some Preachers who having got the knack of that Ability after the Italian manner do arrive to this high Degree of Honour as likewise some Generals of Orders and some Bishops of the most refined Parts and Accomplishments Now in this very last rank continued the Abbot we meet with some persons that pretend to be Learned tho' to speak truth there 's very little of any excess of it to be found in them for if you come once to press them home upon some Points you soon find the dimensions of their Knowledge and that it bears small proportion with the Conceit they have of themselves All the World knows that the Cardinals are the Pope's Grand Council and the very persons who are his Assistants in constituting those Decrees which afterwards become the Dogma's of the Papists When it happens therefore that an Ignorant Pope fills the Chair and that his Cardinals partake of the same Qualification what can be hoped for as the result of all their Consultations but Ignorance It was observed that at the Congregation which was granted to some Doctors of the Sorbonne who were come to Rome to solicit the Condemnation of Jansenius his Propositions all the Cardinals who were Commissioned to hear them very fairly took a Nap upon it whereupon one of the Consultors finding them all in that posture could not refrain himself from reflecting upon it by saying to one of his Colleagues Al meno se fosse qualcheduno che facesse la Sentinella At least there should have been one to stand Sentinel the while One of the Jansenist Deputies makes this Reflection upon it But whether they Nodded saith he or were awake the manner of their managing of things upon the Information of One Party only was very insufficient to inform them of the Points they were to determine This is that which made us often to lock upon the Condition of these Cardinals with the Eyes of Pity and Compassion who having for the most part spent their Lives in Employments rather Secular than Ecclesiastical and being besides overstock'd with Business do notwithstanding find themselves engaged to declare their own Sentiments and to form that of the Popes about the most knotty and intricate Questions that can be met with in all Theology and of which no Judgment can be given without rashness if a Man have not taken care aforehand to