Magdalene toucht Christ the marks of it appear'd in his forehead ever after with abundance of such impertinent stuffe wherewith the doating Friers used to fill up their Sermons Upon Easter-Eve the Lecturer being returned from his Journey two of their Friends amongst the Burgesses of the City namely Mr. Martyn a Goldsmith and Mr. Luke a Glasier had a strange itching humour to see and hear the V. Mary which communicating to the Fathers and they ashamed to deny and yet afraid to grant yet importunity at last prevail'd and they were desir'd to wait the Virgins leisure At last when they had almost quite worn out their patience to the stumps as they sate with two of the Fathers big or rather bursting with expectation out comes the Novice Megerlin who for that time acted the Virgin in all his Accoutrements his first feat of activity was to put out the Lamps and then applying himself to Jetzer Commanded that the Fathers should drive on the point of the Conception with more vigour and zeal and when he or she had besprinkled them with Holy Water and after a strange fashion lighted the Lamps again that were in the cross walk of the Covent using the benefit of their surprize disappear'd without the least suspicion given to their superstitious noddles Now these credulous fools were fob'd off with a very short interlude lest too long a Vision might have produced some accident that might possibly have rub'd up some jealousie in their dull brains of Imposture and Forgery Eight dayes after Easter the four Fathers which were the main Wheels in the Engine being in close Consult the Prior of Basil made them a Visit to see the sport and that he might contribute his Mite to this blessed design he brought with him not only a fine robe of a whitish grey for a property but curious Vizards and Masks and some cunningly contrived Engines to accommodate the Puppet-play and some small Wafers which the Sub-prior could varnish and paint over with admirable artifice They waited for an opportunity wherein they might give the Spectators a trial of their skill during the time that the Prior of Basil sojourn'd with them Now for a preparation to their designed Comedy they brought the Sacrament in its Pixe and placed it on the Table together with a Treatise made by Bernardin de Bustis the Cordelier as also another Tract written by the said Prior of Basil in confutation of the said Treatise of Bernardin and advised Jetzer if ever the V. Mary should appear again he should speak thus to her If thou beest verily the mother of Jesus Christ worship thy Son here before thee carry him unto his place and tear in pieces that Treatise which is erroneous about thy Conception That night the Lecturer appeared in the shape of the Virgin and kneeling devoutly before the Sacrament worshipt it saying withall Yes yes this is my Son and then takes the Treatise of Bernardin de Bustis tears it all in pieces with indignation and then turning to Jetzer Doubt not of the Truth of my Revelations which I have now so Authentically sealed and attested And presently she carries the Sacrament away with her and conveighs it to its own place in the Chappel In the Morning the Fathers gave him a Visit to whom he gave a particular account what had passed seeming to question the truth of these apparitions for his Confessor had put this Crotchet in his head that from thence he might take an occasion to set on foot a new game To whom the Prior of Basil answer'd Brother John An evil Spirit could never worship and carry away the holy Sacrament Why replyed the Lecturer cunningly did not the Devil carry our Saviour to the top of an high Mountain The issue of this dispute was they all agreed that Jetzer should conjure the Spirit upon its next appearance by the Power of God the Father God the Son and God the H. Ghost to tell him directly whether it were a Good or an Evil Spirit And if it should answer that it was a Good Spirit that then he should command it by virtue of the aforesaid Charm to say One Pater Noster one Ave Mary and the Creed which without question would be impossible for any evil Spirit to doe Matters being thus laid the next night comes the V. Mary with great state and pomp usher'd in with Wax-candles which she brought lighted with her from Heaven and placed them very devoutly upon his Table then drawing near to Jetzer he began to Conjure her in the manner and form aforesaid To this she readily Answers Yes yes I am a good Spirit I am Mary and Jesus is my Son whom I worshipt visibly before thee the last night and then carried him away to the Altar If thou beest a good Spirit replyed Jetzer let me hear thee say distinctly thy Pater Noster Ave Maria and the Creed Hereupon she falls down devoutly upon her knees and repeats the Lords Prayers till she came to those words And forgive us our trespasses then turning to Jetzer Mark brother John says she had I not been conceived in Original Sin I had small cause to say forgive us our Trespasses but rather forgive them their trespasses This said she went on with the rest Then she begins her Ave but after an odd fashion Hail Mary I am full of Grace and Jesus Christ my own Son is with me Blessed am I amongst women and blessed is the fruit of my Womb Then she falls to her Creed And when she had repeated those words The third day be rose again from the dead she added And appeared unto me first and not to Luke and Cleophas and so finisht the remainder And when she had in short said Dear brother John do not fancy that any evil spirit thus durst appear to thee 't is I the Blessed Virgin she comforted him with Holy-Water and taking up her Candles she went and placed them before the Image of our Lady which stood in the Walk of the Cloyster The Fathers presently found them and told the Friers that the Virgin Mary had brought those Wax-candles with her from Heaven which were of such a strange nature that no power on earth could light them the Virgin her self must come down from Heaven to do it or it must never be done Several of the Burgesses of the Town were show'd these holy Reliques and their celebrated Properties and when one or two had made a trial in vain the third man it seems unhappily lighted them which put the Prior into a great chafe yet he had an Excuse ready saying That when we begin to undervalue the great favours of God it 's just with him to take away their virtue and so seem'd to come off pretty handsomly But Jetzer at the instruction of his Confessor who to make him more settled in his Faith taught him how to raise scruples not being fully satisfied in the point was resolved upon an Experiment to try the Virgins Patience
19. The Fathers plot to poyson Jetzer in the Sacrament he refuses it but receives the Potion and acts the Passion before some Lords of the Council p. 19 20. John Boursier a Curate openly questions the truth of these bloody Tears is mildly chidden by some of the Council and soundly rattled by the Prior. p. 20. The Council of Berne issue out a Commission to Advocate Derlach to examine the Truth the politick Fathers get it Adjourn'd and in the mean time prepare Jetzer how to answer the Interrogatories ibid. In order to which Jetzer is brought before the Image of the Virgin She complains Lamentably of the affront done her in questioning her Revelalations tells what dreadful Judgments God had Denounced against that City which had bin executed but that her Intercession for the sake of Jetzer had suspended them p. 21. The Lecturer who acted this part behind a Picture in a frame stirring himself imprudently gives Jetzer the Advantage to discover the fraud he rages and storms more furiously then before ibid. Another Commission is issued out from the Council to examine the truth but the Fathers insist upon the Priviledges of their Covent not to come under the visitation of the Secular Magistrate ibid. The Fathers carry these Reliques in Procession assisted by Embassadors and other great Persons then in Town ibid. The Provincial of the Dominicans at the Request of the Conuncil deputes two Doctors to inspect the affair who being privy to the cheat smooth it over p. 22. Dr. Hug one of the two Visits Jetzer and because he could not reduce him to his Will falls on him and with a bunch of Keys makes the blood run about his ears ibid. The Fathers compel Jetzer to swear upon a Mass-book that he would avow these Apparitions Revelations Miracles before all the world that he would stand to their Doctrine of the Conception that he would not reveal what had happened to him to their prejudice ibid. St. Bernard appears to him justifies the Dominicans Doctrine at his departure Jetzer discovers him by his shoes thrust him head long out at the window which almost broke his Neck ibid. The Bishop of Lausanne at the request of the Council visits the Covent is Opposed and without effect departs p. 23. The Fathers seeing they cannot gain Jetzer entirely to them plot how to take the credit of his Testimony if he should come in against them ibid. They propound six Articles to be subscrib'd by him threatning him with Excommunication in case of Refusal p. 24. The Virgin with St. Kath. of Sienne appear to him he discovers the Sub-prior by his voice draws his Knife and runs at him but missing the Virgin thrusts St. Katharine into the Thigh she falls upon him with fury Jetzer catches up a Mallet and lays at her head the Virgin le ts fly at him with a pint pot it misses him and breaks the window he being overmatch in the Counter-scuffle runs out locks the door and leaves the Fathers prisoners ibid. The Fathers consult how to make Jetzer appear guilty of Sacriledge to take away the credit of his Testimony he evades it pretty well p. 24 25. Jetzer unhappily discovers the Fathers Juncketting and Revelling with their Miss's he entraps them several times but they brazen out the matter p. 25. The Father seeing themselves in a strait betakes themselves to Conjuration The Sub-prior who was an Artist promises them Wonder but first tells them they must Abjure God Christ the Faith and give themselves up to the Devil or he could assure them of no good Success ibid. The Fathers with some reluctancy consent Jetzer will not be draw in The Sub-prior conjures up six Devils poor Jetzer is affrighted snatches the book out of the Sub-priors hand and disturbs the whole business ibid. Jetzer for his Stubbornness has Pennance imposed upon him they fasten a great Iron Chain about his naked body and force him to lie in ashes all Night and because he loosed his Chain they lock it upon him and gag him for three Days and Nights p. 26. The Sub-prior to humble his proud Heart with a red hot Iron bores his arm in three several places quite through Jetzer being overcome with these usages takes his Oath to keep secret whatever they had done ibid. The Fathers offer him the red coloured Hoste to eat he refuses it they torment him miserably and force the Hoste which was poyson'd into his mouth he spits it out it leaves an impression where it fell that they could by no Art get it out the Lecturer makes a fire and burns it at which there arose such a noyse as almost affrighted them out of their Witts ibid. The Fathers bind themselves to each other by an Oath to keep secret what had passed p. 27. The Fathers resolve to give Jetzer one Apparition more of the Virgin in the Chappel after midnight Mass she appears in a most glorious shape crowned with Stars she declares her mind with much Majesty Jetzer railes at her and spoiles the whole Pageant p. 27. Jetzer for Blasphemous sawciness is lasht with the Iron Chain p. 28. The Lecturer and Sub-prior are sent to Rome to acquaint his Holiness with those Apparitions Revelations and Miracles they visit Cajetane Vicar General of their order by the way he commands them to proceed no further in this Assair they return to Berne ibid. The clamour of the People being great the Council reassume the cognizance of the affair The Prior and Jetzer are summon'd they will confess nothing the Prior is remanded to his Covent and Jetzer sent to Lausanne to be examin'd by the Bishop Jetzer appears and upon Oath confirmes all the Priors Narrative onely be hesitates at the Doctrine of the Conception ibid. Jetzer puts a trick upon the Bishop p. 29. The Council of Berne troubled with these Delays send a Deputy to assist the Bishop before whom Jetzer confesses that he was under an Oath of Secrecy that the Fathers had mutually bound themselves by Oath for the same end that they had forged several Apparitions of the Virgin and had concontrived to poyson him c. ibid. The Bishop of Lausanne cooling in his Zeal Jetzer is commanded back to Berne where Jetzer is made a Layman he then discovers more of the Fathers Roguery he is sentenced to the Rack where he more particularly discovers the intrigue p. 30. The Council place a strong Guard upon the Covent both to secure the place from the violence of the enraged Multitude and to prevent the guilty Fathers from making their escape p. 31. The State of Berne dispatch Oubli with a petition to his Holiness that he would take Cognizance of this perplexed affair He issues out a Brief to the Bishops of Lausaune and Sion and the Provincial of the Dominicans to examine the matter ibid. These Delegates meet at Berne where they constitute Assistants Procurators Secretaries and other Officers and having formed their Court Jetzer and the Fathers are summoned before them
regard to the Displeasure and Just Indignation of God resolv'd to make a shaft or a bolt of it And knowing that if they should let the matter die it would come out at last to their shame before the World they resolv'd either to gain their design'd point in confirming their Doctrine by the credit of these Apparitions and feigned Miracles or if Jetzer were unmanageable they would rid their Hands and the World of him by Poyson In the City of Berne there was one Mr. William Diesbach an Ancient Advocate of that Town a Person of Judgment and Prudence and one that had a particular Respect to these Fathers being Honorary Patron to their Sodality his Advice they craved how they should behave themselves in this Important Affair Alleadging that our Blessed Lady complained of their remissness as often almost as she appear'd which was very frequently that they did not divulge her Commands to the Higher Powers they pray his Advice therefore whether it were not expedient to satisfie her by offering to the Council an Authentick Narrative of what has passed He being a discerning Person Counselled them not to precipitate matters but leave them to be ripened by time which would sufficiently divulge them to the World if at least Providence judg'd it expedient They Answer That the Virgin was very urgent and importunate with them and declared she would expect their demurres no longer so that they began to fear she should break out upon them with some marks of her Displeasure for their Negligence Diesbach rejoyns with a countenance between jest and earnest That if the Virgin was in such Post-haste she must take her own course which Repartee had they not been blinded might have assured them that he was no such credulous Fool as they might imagine An unbyassed Judgment might easily conclude that nothing but Judicial blindness and hardness of Heart could have been enough to strengthen the zeal of these Fathers to pursue their Project after such disappointments discouragements and disasters as they had met withall But on they went whither their own Folly led them One Night after a plentiful Collation which they had given the Friers to make them sleep more soundly the Lecturer Sub-Prior and the Receiver secretly conveyed themselves into our Ladies Chappel the Prior himself stood Sentinel for fear of surprize where with rare Artifice they taught the Image of our Lady to weep tears of Blood for which purpose they had reserved a Liquor tinctured by the afore-said Lazarus Dandalus and that so Naturally that one Mr. John Pries a Famous Painter of Fribourg could not discern the Imposture though it was put to him and by this means it became a common Fame that our Lady had shed these Bloody tears The Sub-Prior to avoid all suspicion Artificially Poyson'd one of those red-coloured Hostes whereof the Reader has sometimes before been told and the Plot was thus laid that when Jetzer could be next perswaded to Act the Passion they would immediately before give him the Sacrament which would do his Work for him effectually and then the Sub-Prior engaged by an Act of his own to convey his Body into the Quire of the Church before the great Altar where they would Worship him to cover and colour their Murder and give it out that he was an eminent Saint who dyed in the very Act of the Passion and that his Holy Soul was transported from his Body into Heaven by the Angels And then they would Bury him with all the Solemnity imaginable due to so great Merits They had provided also a Young but a crafty Novice whom they placed behind the Curtains drawn before the Image of our Lady which stood behind the Altar and this Young Knave was to Act two Parts one while to plead on the behalf of the Virgin and then to Answer in the Person of Christ her Son The Reverend Fathers having thus prepared their Matters upon Fryday being the Feast of St. Eloy Patron of the Black-smiths about three a clock in the Morning the Prior came all in haste to Jetzer's Chamber and awakening him tells him with seeming transport that he should come and see an astonishing Miracle for they could not judge other than that the Image of our Blessed Lady did plentifully weep tears of Blood Jetzer gets him out of his Bed and was glad to see Miracles wrought any where rather than upon himself and with others of the Fathers whom they met running to the Chappel to see this Miracle Jetzer made one and entring the Chappel they fall down before this wonder-working Image Look Look says one that had his Eyes a little more open than the rest here 's real drops of blood upon our Lady's cheeks and others that stand ready to fall in the corners of her eyes The Reader must have a good Imagination to give himself the contentment to see the postures of these Hypocrites at that word One beats his Breast Another stands in an amazed posture as if he had less Life in him than the Image and intended to petrifie A third lifts up Eyes Hands Voice to Heaven but all lay with infinite Devotion at her Feet Humbly recommending themselves to her Gracious Protection deprecating her displeasure begging the Pardon of their sins and beseeching her to let her poor Suppliants know what secret guilt there might be upon them which might cause such grief in her that was the Author of all their comfort Upon this the Novice that lay incognito behind the Curtain began to sob sigh and groan most piteously so that her Son which she held in her Arms for so must you conceive could not but condole with her and ask her My most dearly beloved Mother whence come these sad complaints My dear Son replyed she with a voice interrupted with frequent sobbings have I not cause to weep when this deluded World will needs Honour me to your apparent prejudice and against all Reason make it an Article of their Faith That I was born without sin which is your sole Prerogative being both their Saviour and mine Satisfie your self Mother replyed her Son and dry up those tears I will now take this cause into my own hands and determine the point so as to put it for ever out of dispute Then turning his speech to Jetzer he continued his discourse Brother John my special friend seeing thy holy Fathers apprehensive of danger are afraid to reveal and divulge my Apparitions and Miracles which I have vouchsafed their Covent for confirming this grand Truth I will now in my own person decide the Controverversie that the City of Berne if it will escape those terrible Judgements which hang over their heads may engage in this quarrel and lend their power and authority to support and vindicate my Revelations But go thy ways into the Chappel of St. John and there repose thy self a while then return and present thy self before this holy Image with the marks of thy five Wounds exposed to open view where thou
Charity as to hope the Lion is not so fierce as he is painted nor the Jesuite so profligate a wretch as he is represented For 1. Humane pity is so deeply radicated in our Beings towards those that suffer hard though deserved punishments that the Eye taken up with a lamentable Object conveys with imperceptible speed to our Hearts those impressions of Commiseration that we have no leisure to call in Aid from our Reasons to undeceive us that we may be capable of forming a right Judgment and discern between the Penalty and the Cause which indeed makes the Martyr It was a Judicious Observation made by King Charles the First in his Advice to his Son who now Reigneth That an Oppressed Party are commonly assisted by the vulgar Commiseration which attends all that are said to suffer under the Notion of Religion And though Protestants generally clear themselves of having Prosecuted these Jesuites for Religion but Treason yet I confess my self singular in that point and must beg their Pardon to assert that they suffered for a most Essential point of their Religion viz. that Principle which obliges them to unhinge and overturn all Government to Advance their Pseudoeatholicism and to extirpate Heresie or as 't is more Elegantly worded by their late Secretary and now Saint Coleman For the Conversion of three Kingdoms the total and utter subversion and subduing of that Pestilent Heresie that has Domineer'd over a great part of this Northern World a long time and of which there were never such hopes of success since the Death of their Queen Mary 2. And how many simple Souls might be drawn to judge favourably of them from their Zealous Prayers for their Gracious Prince Who can lightly believe that the poyson of Aspes should lurk under their Tongues when nothing but Honey and Butter dropt from their Lips Or that the Design of the Heart was Crucifie him Crucifie him to whom they sung such Hosannas if not Hallelujahs 3. To this we might subjoyn That the words of the Dying have commonly great force and weight upon the Hearts of the surviving 4. Add hereunto how difficult it is to conceive another should be Guilty of those Crimes to which their own sincerity and Innocency has preserved them perfect strangers And if the great Des-Cartes judg'd it an unanswerable Argument to prove the existence of a Deity because we can frame an Idaea or form a Notion of such a Being in our Minds Why may not some judge it an irrefragable Proof of the utter Impossibility of such Horrid Villanies of which we can find no tracks or footsteps in our own Souls And yet notwithstanding all this and much more that might possibly induce us to give Credence to their Oratory I can see nothing but unacquaintedness with their Principles and Practises that could contribute to our delusion into this Charity First therefore Those notorious falshoods which appear in their Protestations do utterly destroy the credibility of all the rest For if I can demonstrate the one half to be a Lye I have small encouragement to presume the other half to be a Truth I shall begin with confident Father Harcourt who when he was just Launching out into Eternity denied that he wrote the Letter concerning the dispatch of Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey this he denies with the same Confidence with which he denies the rest And yet Mr. Dugdale swears he saw a Letter from him wherein were these words This Night Sir Edm. Godfrey is dispatch'd From which Letter he Relates it to his Companions as a piece of News And a Person of unquestionable Credit swears he heard the same Reported as from Mr. Dugdal the Monday Night or Tuesday Morning and yet in London or Westminster the Protestants knew nothing what was become of him till the Thursday following I shall next urge that loud Lye of Father Gavan who tells the World at his last Gasp That not one Jesuite except Mariana holds that it 's Lawful for a private Person to kill a King with equal Truth might he have affirmed that there was never a Jesuite besides Mariana For Suarez Bellarmine c. who were Grandees of that Order held the same or worse unless he thinks it worth the while to cheat poor silly Protestants with an Equivocation in that word Private Person when he hat 's Commissioned from the Pope is a Publick Executioner I must not omit Devout Father Ireland who brazen'd out the Court and Hector'd the Kings Evidence with one Witness upon another that he was in Stafford-shire from the beginning of August till September and produces Testimony from the Coachman to the Knight and all to defeat the Evidence given in against him and yet at last Providence has given in undeniable Proof that he was in London the 19th of August by a Person that then and there conversed with him and whose Oath is so fortified with other concurrent Evidence that nothing can be Objected against it Father Whitebread was a Person whose Life and Conversation was a grand lye he could Act any Religion Personate any Sect put himself under any shape and when he had done all be a sincere Catholick Secondly It concerns all Protestants better to study the Popish Doctrine of Auricular Confession and Judicial Absolution before they pretend or presume to Judge of a Protestation That the Jesuites are as Innocent of the Crimes laid to their charge as the Child unborn For if Adultery Murder Sacriledge Incest with whatever wears the most odious Character amongst Immoralities may upon Confession to a Priest be remitted and that Remission in the Court of Heaven and Conscience imports a full discharge from Crime and Penalty what might hinder these Fathers at the Gallows to protest their own Innocency as to any Treasons when they had no Question provided for their Absolution before-hand To this purpose let it be Observed 1. That Father Blundel in his late intercepted Letter boasts that he had Absolved these Condemned Fathers in Newgate And 2. Because they might have occasion to make use of a lye or two just under the Gallows which in strictness could not be Absolved before committed It was observed that these five Jesuites laid their Heads together at their last moment and who can then once doubt but that they might Absolve one another for any Lye they had told in their dying Orations And 3. Let it be noted that Mr. Langhorn who suffered alone and therefore could not have the benefit of Absolution in the extreame moment and Article of Death durst not venture to cheat the World by an extempory Speech but referr'd to a Paper ready drawn up for which he might have easily antecedent Absolution and did perform Penance as the stripes upon his back discovered at his Execution do abundantly witness Thirdly It 's past all Dispute that the Molinists or Jesuites need not boggle so squeamishly at the killing of Kings from their own avowed Doctrine of Probable Opinions viz. That one Doctor of their
with all imaginable Industry he applyed himself to it Hereupon he calls all the Fathers before him gravely reproves them for entring into these dangerous Intrigues for though he could have applauded successful Knavery yet was he unwilling to bear the shame or punishment of what would more than probably in time come to light the Fathers had one Excuse but it was an approved one that they had a Pious and Holy intention in all they did and hoped that their zeals to the Truth and the credit of their Order would Atone as great a failing as that came to The Provincial smiled and not willing to discourage a Pious Design whilst there was any hopes of a fair Issue he went again to Jetzer and gravely exhorted him to continue constant in his Obedience to his Superiours to believe that they were Persons of severe Integrity and having as he thought somewhat sweetned his surly Humour left him to himself The next day the Prior of Basil resolv'd to have a bout with him and when he had made his Approaches with all the Art and Subtilty imaginable he found Jetzer as cross-grain'd and awkward in his Faith of the Apparitions as ever especially in the matter of the coloured Hoste so that in conclusion some of the Fathers best Friends and such as were of the most discerning Heads advised them to make sure work to dispatch this peevish Fellow with a Dose of Poyson presuming he would tell no tales in the other World And that they might the more securely do it they agreed to give him the afore-mentioned Potion mixed with something that would do the feat that so when he came to Act the Passion again the simple Spectators might believe that in his Extasie his Soul Departed and was transported to Heaven by the Angels As soon as the Fathers Strangers were gone the Sub-Prior who was hardned in his Roguery to his own Ruine fell to work again and cook'd him a Mess of Broath well seasoned with Spiders and other Poysons telling Jetzer that the Fathers would come and Dine with him and had sent him a Mess of wholsom Broth to stay his Stomack because it might perhaps be somewhat late ere Dinner was ready he falls to crumb his Pottage and as dull a Blockhead as he was yet observed that so far as the Bread was wet with the Broth it turned of a greenish colour and that there were some yellow Seeds mingled with it a confused suspicion began to dawn in his Brain that there might be mischief intended so that for all that the Sub-Prior and he that waited on him could do for their Lives he would not be perswaded to taste a spoonful This vext them and saying little went out to give their confederates an Account how ill-favouredly the Project had succeeded Jetzer as soon as they were gone throws his Broth out of a side-window which lookt into a little Yard where the Fathers for their Pleasure kept young Wolves these greedy creatures made no scruple of the Mess but hastily lapt it up who in a while turn'd up their Heels and gave Jetzer an ocular demonstration what kindness the Sub-Prior had for him At their return he gave them a round rattle and spared none of his course Eloquence to tell them their own all which the Sub-Prior would have evaded by telling him that he was an ungrateful Rascal a wicked Varlet to Reproach them with what they abhorred from their Souls and that it was no wonder if it killed the Wolves seeing some things were rank Poyson to Beasts which were wholsom Food to Man as he endeavoured to prove by some Instances and he being no great Philosopher had his Mouth stopped but his Mind not at all satisfied Towards the end of June the Provincial with his Colleagues return'd from Lyons having dispatcht no business because the Italians of their Order durst not hazard themselves in France for fear of the Wars which then were hot in that Countrey and therefore their General Chapter was Adjourn'd to Padua whither the Germans Delegated Dr. Munken and Dr. Paul in the Name of the rest As soon as these Fathers came to Berne Jetzer made a heavy complaint to them how his Life had been attempted whereupon the Provincial promis'd to Examine the matter and to do him Justice in it Upon the Meeting of all the Fathers they all pleaded for themselves what they had before done to Jetzer so that the business fell and came to nothing and Jetzer must go seek his Amends where he could get them But to give him some Satisfaction Dr. Amman of Strasburgh gave him a Gold Ring to wear on his Finger which he protested was out of meer Honour and Reverence to that Holiness which he saw so eminently appear in him But at his Departure the crafty Doctor told Jetzer that that Ring was a Relique so Sacred and Precious that it ought not to be exposed to the danger of being lost and therefore with Jetzer's good leave he would keep the Ring for him as safe if he had it in 's own possession bidding him not doubt but that the Virtue of this Consecrated Ring would reach him at a far greater distance than that was Whilst these Strangers Sojourn'd at Berne the four desperate Accomplices in the Design resolving to push forward the Project to the utmost agreed to give them another proof of their Art and accordingly after Midnight Mass The Sub-Prior in the shape of the Virgin Mary and the Lecturer Personating St. Cicily entred his Cell The V. Mary first began O blessed Brother John my Son Jesus has sent me once again unto thee charging thee to press thy Holy Fathers to pursue his Command and mine St. Cicily took her turn and said I am Saint Cicily the Handmaid of the ever blessed Virgin in whose train I have oftentimes appeared to St. Dominick the Patriarch of your Holy Order be Faithful and Obedient And as she proceeded in her Oration Mary very Officiously address'd her self to examine Jetzer's Wounds whether they were perfectly cured and as ill-luck would have it he knew the Officious hand so that not able to suppress his resentments he stamps and rages frets and fumes unmeasurably crying out What ye Rogues and Rascals will ye never leave Persecuting a miserable wretch The Sub-Prior was surprized but had an Answer ready Dear brother this was onely to prove thy sagacity in these matters compose thy Passions and do not disturb the Covent with these out-crys and so saying they disappeared The Provincial before his Departure suspecting the Issue Advised these daring undertakers to proceed no further therein but to let it die of it self and upon his Report thereof to the General of their Order and four other of their most Eminent Divines they gave their Judgment That this Affair could not be of God but was undertaken and managed by the Inspiration of the Devil however they were over the Shooes and would be over the Boots too and therefore without any
all in Arms to confute the Opponent which they managed with that bitterness and rage as gave occasion to some not otherwise suspitious to look more narrowly and impartially into the business The whole City was divided in their Judgements and great heats and animosities there were amongst them A certain Canon Henry Volfli an honest and well-meaning man in the Integrity of his heart maintained that if the testimony of our eyes could not be believed in this Cause it would call in Question the truth of the bodily Presence of Christ in the Mass but one Lewis Oubly on the other side asserted with no less vehemence That it was all but a pious fraud a grand cheat and that they ought to extort the truth of all from Jetzer by the Rack and extreme torture The prudent Senate of Bearne awaken'd with the clamours of these quarrelling parties and not knowing to what height it might grow judged it Adviseable to issue out a Commission to their Advocate Derlach to examine Jetzer whether the Virgin had really wept Blood and what was that severe Judgement she had threatned their City Derlach armed with Authority in pursuance of his powers comes to the Covent but the wary Fathers fearing least Jetzer might bolt out more of the Secret upon his Examination than was for their Interest to be known humbly entreated the Advocate to adjourn the Execution of his Commission for a few days pretending that in truth the poor Fryer was so spent with his late Extasies that he was not capable to give him a satisfactory aecount The Advocate being their real Friend condescended the Fathers now having gained some respite cast about how to prepare Jetzer to subserve their designs whereupon the Sunday following very early the Lecturer hides himself behind a large picture which hung near the Image of our Lady in her Chappel and the other three Fathers introduce Jetzer to learn whether it might not please the Virgin to declare her self more absolutely and fully upon this point whilest therefore they were all in Prayers with great Devotion before the Image the Lecturer in the Name of our Lady thus spoke to Jetzer Brother John my dear Friend The Lords of the Council of this City will certainly send their Commissioner to ask thee why I wept and lamented so heavily of late and what are those calamities which I threatned to them and their City and for what cause I thus menaced them Thus therefore shalt thou answer them That my main design is to confirm the truth of all my Apparitions and Revelations to thy self That what I have said touching my Conception ought first to be reported to his Holiness that he may make such Decree thereupon as is agreeable to the Truth That the Laity ought not to make a judgement of those things which were above their Capacity That my Image did weep for as for my Person that is above the reach of sorrow because of the unbelief both of this City and of some of the Fathers of this Covent of such gracious and evident Apparitions and Miracles That the Senate had formerly by a sacrilegious Decree banished the Teutonick Order and plac'd Secular Canons in their room that they had also rased and destroyed many Cloysters and Churches that they had taken an Oath to entertain no more foreign Pensions wherein nevertheless they had incurred the guilt and pains of Perjury and therefore the full Vials of Divine Wrath were ready to be poured out upon their City and Territories had not my Intercession with my Son diverted or suspended the execution of that dreadful Sentence which said she I have hitherto done in hopes of their Repentance and Reformation out of my true Love to thee my dear Friend and this Holy House The Lecturer all this while was in little ease behind the Picture and turning himself to shift his side for some ease he unhappily moved the Frame of the Picture as if it were just a falling Jetzer suddenly cryed out Shall I stop it The Fathers as readily Answered By no means It would doubtless take care of it self But when it totter'd the second time Jetzer verily thinking it would have fallen upon his Head could not contain himself but puts a hand to support it and thrusting it a little to set it even and fixt he unluckily spyed the Lecturer lying behind it Vexation Madness and whatever Passion might transport a Man entred him at the same time he catches fast hold on him and by his Cowl drags him backwards upon the Altar calling them all the Names he could invent Dissemblers Rogues Villains Rascals that could find themselves nothing to do but abuse a poor Innocent Fellow The Fathers being again thus entrapped yet lost not their Confidence but flying to their former Excuse added that fearing lest he should not Obey the Instructions formerly given him they had used the Name of the Virgin for his own Advantage to engage him to do his Duty which he had otherwise been sufficiently bound to and that therefore he ought to give such Answers to the Interrogatories of the Council as his former Revelations from the Virgin should enjoyn him Jetzer seem'd at present contented and in this dubious state of Affairs they waited the second coming of Derlach the States Commissioner Not long after this came Dr. Fricker a Member of the Council with Chancellour Schaller empowred with the same Commission which was formerly directed to the Advocate Derlach and when they Examined Jetzer upon the Questions he pleaded his great inability and desired the Lecturer might relate the whole Story as in his Name but the Commissioners not satisfied therewith would have him Personally to make Answer to whatever they should propose to him The Fathers did not at all like these proceedings that their Covent should be Visited by the Secular Magistrate and therefore began to Huff and Hector at a strange rate so that the Commissioners went away excusing the Matter to the Council as well as they could imputing all to the Ignorance of Jetzer rather than to any Practise and Imposture of the Reverend Fathers Dr. Fricker himself being one hugely affectionate to them and one whose Interest served them mightily in the Progress of this Affair From this time Jetzer discovered great dissatisfaction of Mind no Arguments could ever after induce him to believe the truth of these Visions and Revelations nor would he ever be perswaded to undergo the Passion any more though he was Ambitious enough of the Honour of an Enthusiast But the Fathers who had now gone too far to make an Honourable and safe Retreat set a good face on the Matter and resolving to become the Aggressors presented themselves to the Council humbly entreating to Honour them either in their Persons or by their Delegates to see those Miracles which the Divine Grace had favoured their Cloyster withall and to give them their Advice thereupon as the case should require The Council immediately Deputed some of their Number to
you must know came in at the Window which they had made to comport with their Design and as he was returning the same way Jetzer perceived he had such shooes on as the Dominican Preachers wear he said little but fell down-right upon him and thrust him out at the Window a little faster than he would have gone so that he fell with his Head forward into the Court which though the fall was not very far yet it so bruised his Reverence that the Sub-prior and Receiver who stood under the Window were forced to carry him away to his Lodgings but Jetzer thinking he had play'd a famous prank cryed after them The Devil take you for a pack of Knaves And seeing the Priors Surplice lye there which in the Scuffle he had pluck'd over his Ears he tore it in pieces and fairly burnt it that there might be no token left to Convict him of an Assault upon the Person of the Prior. The Bishop of Lausanne with his Vicar and some others were now come to Town to whom the Council joyned the Prior of Thorberg the Provost of the Chapter the Dean and some others of their own Body to examine Jetzer touching the aforesaid matter who appeared in the Covent and the Bishop demands to be admitted into Jetzers Cell where he found him lying on his Bed and the Lecturer sitting by him giving him ghostly Counsel The Bishop without more adoe waving the Ceremony of Prefaces commands the Prior and Jetzer under pain of Excommunication and by virtue of that Christian obedience to him due as Bishop of Lausanne on whom they did depend to whom they were subordinate and who had cognizance of all matters relating to the Faith and the Holy Sacraments to Confess to him the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth touching these pretended Apparitions Revelations and Miracles The Prior observing as little Ceremony as the Bishop answer'd with a loud voice and a proud look that by the Papal priviledges given to their Order they owed him no Canonical Obedience And though they did yet they owed a greater Obedience to the Queen of Heaven who had expressely forbidden them to give any Account to any person under the Sun save to his Holiness The Bishop asks him whether then he believed the Apparitions of the Virgin Mary to be a real Truth The Prior readily answers He did And that they had such unexceptionable evidences thereof as made it a Mortal sin in them to haesitate about it The Bishop then desires he might hear Jetzer himself declare his mind therein The Fathers all unanimously answer That he should discharge the Company then excepting those that were his immediate Retinue The Bishop consents so that none remained in the Cell with them but the Prior of Thorberg and Dr. Fricker a member of the lesser Council who supplyed the place of Jetzer's Interpreter They that were dismissed raised a great clamour adding many Menaces that they would make them dearly repent it if any foul play were offer'd The Bishop when the room was cleared searcht Jetzers wounds examining him of all the circumstances relating to them Jetzer answer'd very sillily and had been instructed to put on more simplicity than his own beseeching his Grace to receive the Report of the Reverend Fathers who were able to give him better satisfaction in all things than himself The Bishop being able to get nothing out of them who all hung together on a string commanded them however to proceed no further in so slippery a business waiting to see what discovery the Providence of God might make hereafter for indeed the Fathers when once the matter took wind and became town-talk prudently pluckt down Jetzers old Lodging and those of his two Neighbours that there might no foot-steps remain of the contrived Knavery so that the Bishop return'd almost as wise as he came After the Bishops departure the Fathers with all the Arguments they could muster could not perswade Jetzer to drink the Potion nor to have his wounds any more dress'd by them which they hitherto upon pretence of healing had kept raw and fresh and found in a little time that all his pain vanished and the wounds closed up of themselves which abundantly convinced him that the whole affair of his Wounds and Passion were mere contrivance and the V. Mary wholly Innocent in it speaking openly that he would divulge the truth to the world This gave the Fathers quick apprehensions of danger who were now beaten from their old shifts and were forced to have recourse to the Milder Expedients of Prayers and Tears to hold his tongue if not to justifie the things to have been reall seeing all was done for the upholding the Truth of the Conception of the Virgin and the Credit of their Order wherein he had a concern as well as they and did protest that the present healing of his wounds was not natural but an immediate Judgement inflicted upon the unbelieving Age which gave no more Credit to the Miracles of the Virgin And that he had best beware what he did seeing that if any Judgement should pass upon these Actions the greatest load would fall upon his own head and that they under the Protection of their Degrees and Dignities should more easily weather the storm Their chief design remaining was this That seeing they could not hoyste up Jetzer's credit to support their Doctrine they would take away his credit from accusing their wickedness for which end they proceeded in this fashion They put the Red-colour'd Sacrament in a Cabinet with the little Crosses of the Blood of Christ and lockt it up with four Locks Then they send for the Prior of Thorbergh Captain Hupschi Rudolph Huber and the Chancelor their great Confidents and inform them upon what account Jetzer had been discharg'd of his five wounds which Jetzer durst doe no other than confirm and the Case being thus if the Virgin Mary who had been highly provok'd should in pursuance of her just indignation fetch away from them the Sacred Hoste so miraculously colour'd and the Blood of Christ which she had deposited with them that then the world would certainly judge them guilty of some practice and that the Frier and they had invented these things merely out of their fruitful heads And therefore they had at that time desired their Honours presence who being persons of known Integrity might be able to vindicate their sincerity against all men they therefore humbly entreated them to keep three of the Keys of this Cabinet wherein the Sacred Reliques were put and the Prior should keep the fourth As these persons returned home they meet with the Burser of Wattevile to whom they relate what had passed who smiling askt them if they had no more wit than to trust to such slender security for perhaps nay without perhaps they had three other Keyes made of the same Wards which would open the Cabinet at their pleasure This single consideration made them immediately go back and civilly
Divine Presence to bear them up under all Difficulties and Oppositions This Eloquent Oration somewhat amated the poor Man and the more because he look'd for no such Glorious Appearance till recollecting himself he suspected the old Artifice and therefore with down-right scolding he Saluted her Lady-ship and treated her very rudely for all her fine Accoutrements Thou Mary said he the Devil as soon and without more words drawing his Knife which for a piece of extempory Service he always wore about him made at her with might and main But Mary who had heard of Jetzer's Rancounter with St. Cicily thought it not Prudence to come to fifty-cuffs and popping out the Candle mounted up the Organ-stairs and scaped a scowring Jetzer crys out The Virgin is too nimble for me but I shall be even with her one time or other Frier Jost Hack Answered O Profane wretch how hast thou disturb'd the Vision which after-ages will Curse thee for At this comes his Father Confessor What has the Virgin says he really now at last appeared The Virgin Replyed Jetzer with scorn no I am confident it was the Devil Come says the Prior leave off this squabble let 's return to our Devotions they obeyed and then he takes the Sacrament and with their Church-Musick marches in form of a Procession with great Gravity and Pomp the Father Confessor takes him gently by the Hand not permitting any to exchange a word with him lest his awakened Passion should blaze abroad the Cheat to all within reach of his Clamour whispering to him that without all controversie this was a most real Vision To which Jetzer return'd that he could see nothing in it but a continuaton of their former Villanies and Rogueries The Confessor for that sawcy Language and his notorious unbelief imposed this Penance on him that he should come before the High Altar and there stripping himself stark naked to his Navel should receive a competent number of Lashes with the Iron Chain to all which the poor slave with Patience perforce submitted There were present two Canons Dubi and Volfli who freely upon this occasion offer'd themselves to the same Discipline and would have rejoyced to have undergone it twice over as they said to have had the honour of Jetzer's Revelations and the Fathers hoped to make good use of their simplicity they being forward to testifie the truth of this last Vision which they readily did under their Hands and Seals Dubi protested he never saw such a glorious person in his life nor ever expected to see the like on this side Heaven and Volfli avowed that the glory of her presence so dazled his eyes that he could not perfectly see her face and that he could not refrain tears of transporting joy especially when he saw the Holy Frier so readily submit to that severe discipline The conclusion was the Fathers warned Jetzer to hold all these Revelations for the greatest Certainties and to make conscience of his Oath that he disturb'd not the affair during their Absence in their Voyage to Rome And now the Lecturer and Sub-prior leave Berne September the 24 th designing to wait on their General first to report to him the whole matter that with his Approbation they might more confidently and authentically appear before his Holiness but finding him deceased they had recourse to Cajetane the Vicar Generall who shortly after was elected Generall and not long after that was made Cardinall to him they open the whole business with all its circumstances in Ample manner from first to last but he being a Person of great understanding deputed the Procurator of their Order to examine the Affair and when he heard the Report commanded them to proceed no further in it only he promis'd them that he would procure from the Pope a Brief whereby they and their Order should be Indempnified provided they would desist and make no more words of it This Brief in a while was procured and dispatcht to the Priors of Berne and Interlacken with a recommendatory Letter to maintain the Innocence of the Order with which they return'd home in January in the year 1508. but the chief Magistrates being highly provoked by their attempted Journey they suppressed the Brief and durst not at all own it During their absence various rumours and discourses pass'd in the City some offering to lay any wager that they would procure a Confirmation of these Miracles and Apparitions Others were as confident that the Fathers were run away and that their pretended journey was but a handsome way of escaping the punishment due to their horrid Impieties but all agreed that it was an eternal dishonour to their City That they had been imposed upon to worship a sorry Taylours Boy for a Saint and a red-coloured Hoste for a God and by degrees the town-talk went so high and the dissatisfacton of the People was so great that the Council was obliged to summon the Prior and Jetzer personally to appear before them upon the first day of October They appeared but nothing could be got out of them but only this they referred themselves to the blessed Virgin for an Answer to all Interrogatories that were put to them The Council was at a loss and knew not how to deal with such refractory fellows and therefore they remitted the Prior to his Covent bidding him mind his business and for Jetzer they threatned to send him to his Competent Judge there to be further and fully examin'd about the whole Intrigue Accordingly the next day Jetzer was sent to Lausanne with Letters to the Bishop earnestly desiring him to commit him to close Durance and to examine him with all strictness requisite to sift out the bottom Upon the 8th of October Jetzer appeared before the Bishop assisted by several Doctors of Law and Canons Francis de Tabrieu Lewis de Piere Baptist Hicard Vicar Guidon de prez Michael de Sancto Cyriaco William de Mondragon and other Secular Officers The Bishop examined him strictly of all the Circumstances of the affair but Jetzer set a good face upon the matter taking his Oath by laying his hand upon the Gospels that all contained in the Narrative of the Prior was exactly true only as to the Conception of the Virgin Mary he desired to be excused On the fifteenth of the same Month he confirm'd again with the greatest vehemence the truth of his former Confession that the V. Mary had appeared to him and that all these Revelations and Miracles were true in manner aforesaid and that he would take his death upon it and being ask'd whether the blessed Virgin had ever appear'd to him since his coming to Lausanne he answer'd Yes both upon Sunday and Wednesday last and that amongst other things she had told him That during all her Sojourn upon Earth she never had a good day free from Tribulations and Afflictions but she thank'd God being now in Heaven with her Son she was fill'd with unspeakable satisfaction to which Glory he
quite tyred out with the delayes of the Bishops proceedings who began to cool in the prosecution through the suggestions of some Clergy-men who insinuated that a through discovery would reflect severely upon the Church They remanded Jetzer to Berne and sent for the most eminent Fathers of the Dominicans that were within their Call that they might seem not to have done just nothing with that mighty noyse which had raised all mens expectations The Bishop of Lausanne and the Deputy of Berne however judg'd it adviseable to transmitt a true Copy of the Cause and their proceedings thereupon to Rome to beg advice from the infallible Oracle how they might behave themselves in a matter of so great Importance In the beginning of the year 1509. Dr. Paul Hug with many other knowing Persons arrived at the Dominicans Covent in Berne who were not Ignorant of the Intrigue and were hugely concern'd in the Issue knowing that not only their whole Order but themselves in particular might suffer deeply in their Reputations if the secret were discover'd to the bottom They therefore formally took from Jetzer the Habit of his Order upon the Feast of the three Kings being the very day on which he enter'd into it Jetzer now appears before the Council in the Quality of a mere Lay-person where he stands to his Confession made at Lausanne and discover'd further how he had several times snapt these holy Fathers ranting and rioting with their Whores in the Covent and for Confirmation of what he had said desired he and they might be deliver'd up to the Secular Power but the Fathers stoutly pleaded their own Innocence alleadging that he was not a competent witness against them having formerly asserted their Innocence in full Council and because they were able to prove him a notorious Lyer and there were many evident self-contradictions in his testimony and that he had been guilty of Sacrilege of most horrid Impostures and particularly that the appearance of the B. Virgin crowned with Stars was merely a forgery of his own head wherein they had no hand The Prior denyed the whole Plott The Receiver pleaded that it was false that ever Jetzer had wounded him in the thigh with his knife and brought in the Chirurgeon to testifie that it was an old Ulcer and all the Fathers begg'd their Honours to proceed advisedly in the case that Innocence might not suffer nor Wickedness escape due punishment In conclusion Jetzer was committed to the Marshalsea and the Fathers under suspicion remanded to their Covent Eight days after upon the Return of the Lecturer and Sub-prior from Rome where they had been during this troublous affair they were all brought again before the Council Jetzer as before justified his Confession and further open'd the counterfeit Vision of St. Cicily to which though the Fathers made a zealous defence the Knavery came out daily to the satisfaction of the people But upon the fifth of February Jetzer was by order of the Council brought to be examin'd upon the Rack where he again more particularly laid open the whole villanous design humbly praying that the Fathers might come under the same way of Examination hoping that the Principals should have the same Measure with him that was but an Accessory and indeed a poor blind Tool to serve their Malice protesting that the main Reason why he had been so hardly brought to discover the whole truth was a respect he had to the Credit of that Order and some checks of Conscience about his Oaths of Secresie which they had imposed upon him And that he believed that most of the Fryers in the Covent were perfectly Innocent except the aforesaid Fathers and some few others that were their Confederates and Accomplices in the Design This last discovery set the City in such a rage against the whole Covent that the Council feared lest they should Rise and pluck down the House about their Ears and tear in pieces those Religious Persons for prevention of which they placed a strong Guard upon all the Avenues both to secure the Fathers from the Rage of the Multitude at present and that they might not escape the Punishment due to their horrid Impieties for the future And being Resolved to come to some issue they sent to the Bishop of Lausanne that he would Favour them with his Presence As also to the Vniversity of Basil to send them some of the Ablest Divines and Civilians in their City to Advice with them And that they might be fully empowred to proceed to Judgment they dispatch'd Lewis Oubli with full Instructions and a Humble Supplication to his Holiness with a Narrative of the Case depending before them who upon the 13th of March lest Berne and upon the 25th of May got a Brief from the Pope Directed to the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion the Provincial of the Dominicans of the Province of Strasburgh as Judges upon the whole Matter and one the 21st of June he return'd to Berne The Lords of Berne immediately sent their Letters to these Judges intreating them to lose no time but to meet on the 26th day in the Cathedral Church where being Assembled the Apostolique Commission with all due Reverence was presented to them and the Records of all the proceedings with Jetzer The Papal Brief being read and Jetzer Examined punctually of all his Confession these Judges Commanded their Secretaries viz. Francis de Vermettis for the Bishop of Lausanne John de Proux for the Bishop of Sion exactly to Register the Confession with all its Circumstances that from thence they might have matter from which to draw a Lagal Process or Indictment against Jetzer and the four Fathers At this Examination besides the Chief Judges there were several Assistants Baptist de Aicarde a Native of Lausanne John Grand Official of Sion Michael de Sancto Cyriaco Peter Magnus all Doctors in Law and Chanons in Lausanne with other eminent and worthy Persons The Judges constituted Lewis Oubli afore-said and Conrade Vimman Procurators of the Faith Ordering them Legally to Summon Jetzer and the Fathers to appear before them their competent Judges After a tedious proceeding Jetzer still affirming and the Fathers denying the Villanies whereof they were accused upon the 7th of August the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion Decreed that the four Indicted Fathers should be put to the Rack and there Examined Criminally upon such Questions and Interrogatories as should be drawn up A Cellar on the back-side of the Marshalsey was chosen as the fittest place for the Execution and each of them being stript of the Habit of his Order were arrayed in a Frock of coarse Cloath and so waited for the Torture And so upon the 19th of the said Moneth of August at the instance of the Procurator of the Faith the Lecturer was first put into the Rack He Pleaded hard to be Excused as that he was as Innocent as when he came out of his Mothers Womb that he was a Doctor of Divinity and did protest that all