controuersies which they would haue referred to him at what time he distinguisht the power of God from the power of the Romane Emperour saying That wee must yeeld vnto God that which belonged vnto God and vnto Caesar that which was due vnto Caesar And being demaunded of Pilate whether he were a king or no he made him aunswere that his kingdome was not of this inferiour world The second was the time of his glorie whereunto all those excellent sayings of the prophet Dauid are to be referred as when he said that the earth was the Lords Aske of mee and I will giue thee nations and heritages and they shall be vnto thee for a possession vnto the vttermost bounds of the earth And in another place that hee was Lorde of Lordes and King of Kings Let vs not falsifie the holie Scripture For the more you ambitious Iesuits apply out of it to the Pope to authorise not his greatnes but your owne the more you take from him At what time did Christ assigne Saint Peter to be his Vicar Surely while hee was yet on earth and at the poynt to finish his pilgrimage that he might represent his person heere below in his estate of humilitie and so gaue him the keyes of heauen not of earth to signifie vnto vs that he gaue him the charge of spirituall matters without mingling there-withall temporall busines And certainly our auncient Popes were very ignoraunt if giuing them-selues the title of Seruus seruorum they meant to represent Iesus Christ as hee is in the fulnesse of his glorie and after hee ascended into heauen to sit on the right hand of GOD his Father In like manner was it an heresie in Luther to teach his folowers that the Pope was wrongfully termed head of the church Vicar general to Iesus Christ no lesse heresie was it in Ignacius when to oppose Luther hee affirmed that the Pope was Christs Vicar not onely in his estate of humility but euē in his estate of glory likewise Hee then is a true Catholique liegeman to the Pope who doth acknowledge and approue his authoritie according to the originall institution thereof without any augmentations or additions from men Iesuit I now come vnto thee let vs weigh how ful of danger this position of thine is Our Kings know best what is expedient for the maintenance preseruation of their estate and like skilful Pilots are faine somtimes to strike sayle in a tempest This course the Pope being carried away with other respects will not like of will perhaps summō our kings to cōform their proceedings to his mind After some two or three admonitiōs if they obey not he wil proceed to censure thē consequētly to make a diuorce between them their subiects or if not so to interdite the Realm expose it for a pray to any Prince that shal be first able to possesse himselfe of it Good God! into what a confusion dost thou bring our State Iesuit learne this lesson of me for I wil not suffer either our countrimē to be infected with thy poysonous propositions or straungers that shal read this booke of thine to conceiue that the Maiestie of our kings is by thy comming any whit empayred First we maintayne and vphold it for an article inuiolable in Fraunce that the Pope hath no authority to be liberal of our Realme for any mans aduantage whatsoeuer what fault soeuer our king shall be found culpable of none excepted The Pope hath no power but what is giuen him by commission from God he is neither that Samuel nor that Iehoiada who were commaunded by God to doe what they did vnder the olde law for vnder the new which we call the new Testament there is no mention of any such matter The Pope cannot by the power of his spirituall sword controule the temporall I say not therefore that any king of Fraunce should forget himselfe eyther in the Catholique Religion or in the gouernment of his subiects to whom he ought to be a second father for if he doe let him be assured that God will sooner or later forget him and auenge himselfe by some meanes vnexpected and vnthought of but that we are to seeke this redresse at Rome I flatly denie For this first position I hold it to be cleere that which now I will deliuer may seeme more questionable We hold it for another article firme and indubitable in this Realme of Fraunce that our kings are not subiect to the Popes excommunication A thing which we haue receiued from all antiquitie I remember I haue read that Lothaire king of Austracia deceasing left Lewes his brother who was Emperour and King of Italy to be his successor King Charles the Bald vncle to them both seazed on it by right of occupation as lying fit for his hand Lewes had recourse to Pope Adrian who vndertooke the quarrel for him and summoned Charles to do his nephew right vpon payne of excommunication but Charles would giue no eare to him By reason wherof the Pope went on to interpose his censures with bitter curses and comminations and knowing the high authoritie which rested in Hingmare Archbishoppe of Reims he enioyned him not to admit the king to communicate with him vpon paine himselfe to be depriued of his Holinesse his communion There was neuer Popes Iniunction more iust holy then this For what colour could there be for an vncle to intercept his nephewes right in succeeding his owne brother Yet neuer was I niunction worse entertayned then this For Hiagmare after he had imparted the letters Apostolical to diuers Prelats and Barons of France to be aduised by them how to carry himselfe in the matter he wrote backe to Pope Adrian what he had drawn and collected out of their aunsweres namely that all of them were much offended agreeued with that his Decree alledging that the like proceedings had not beene seene no not when the kings were Heretiques Scismatiques or Tyrants and maintayning that kingdomes were purchased by the edge of the sword and not by the excommunications or censures of the Sea Apostolique or of Prelates And when I vrge them said Hingmare with the authoritie which was delegate by our Sauiour to Saint Peter and from him deriued by succession to the Popes of Rome they aunswere me Petite Dominum Apostolicum vt quia Rex Episcopus simul esse non potest Et sui antecessores Ecclesiasticum ordinem quod suum est non Rempublicam quod regum est disposuerunt Non praecipiat nobis habere regem qui nos in sic longinquis partibus adiuuare non possit contra subitaneos frequentes Paganorum impetus nos Francos iubeat seruire cui nolumus seruire Qua istud iugū sui antecessores nostris antecessoribus non imposuerūt Quia scriptum in sanctis libris audimus vt pro libertate haereditate nostra vsque ad mortem certare debeamus That is Tell our Apostolicall Lord that he
wee learne of Optatus That religion hath beene comprehended in state not state in religion Euery one of vs should wish to haue the Gouernours of Common-weales religious that is men of fayth integritie not playing with theyr consciences to fauour theyr affaires But for a religious Order to manage state matters in the midst of theyr prayers is great irreligion or rather heresie Ies That which you alleage was Optatus his oppinion not Ignatius Gent. What say you to Saint Paule teaching that Nemo militans Deo implicat se negotijs secularibus If it be fit so to doe why did you of late yeres forbid your companie to meddle therein hereafter Ies That was a statute onely for the time For perceiuing that in the end of the yeere 93. all Fraunce was enclined to peace beyond our expectation wee made that constitution to curry fauour with the state Yet for all this I would not haue you thinke that wee haue here stakt our feete into the ground and goe no farther For the same constitutions permit vs to resolue in particuler as occasion coūsels vs. Gent. A fearefull permission But what meane you by the worde State affayres Ies The day would be too short to vtter it Let it content you that the greatest and surest counsell we take is of our owne consciences which we know to be guided by the line and leading of our Sauiour By this scrue somtime we remoue Kingdoms punish Kings and Princes whose manners we mislike and all for the glory honour of God and of his holy Church Gent. All the Christian vvorlde should haue you in wonderfull reuerence for this and I am sorry you should proue so vnthankfull now as to abrogate such a holy lawe Ies It is not so repeald but that it liues in our soules continually For within these three yeeres we practisd to kill the Queene of England and the Countie Maurice of Nassau and howsoeuer by misfortune we faild of those two strokes yet we are readie to reach at them againe there and else where as wee thinke good and as opportunitie shall be offered Gent. Then you mixe mercenary murders with state matters call you this ioyning of State Religion both together Ies Why doubt you of it Heresie is a maladie whereto fire and sword should be applyed as Empiriks deale with desperate diseases Gent. You could not haue pickt out a more fit phrase of speech than to liken your religion to Empiriks medicines which the arte of Phisicke condemnes To vse fire and sworde against an Heretique is the Magistrates office into whose hands God hath put the sword to punish them that are worthy to be punisht not yours who as religious men are called to another function Ies What Magistrate dares proceede against Kings but we which are inspird with the holy Ghost Gent. Is this a poynt of your first institution Ies Wee haue put in this our selues by a rule of Christian-good to relieue our neighbours And to shewe you with what pietie wee goe forward when wee haue by our holy exhortations gaind any man of worth to execute our dissignements before hee depart we confesse him and imploy one part of his penance to confirme him in that holy enterprise wee make him heare Masse with deuotion Wee minister the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to him this done we giue him our blessing for a sure pasport to goe directly to Paradise VVas there euer a more sacred and meritorious course than this For to be briefe it is in defence and protection of our Christian Catholike Church Gent. O christian company indeed I would be glad to learne why our Sauiour Christ beeing apprehended was so sore displeased with S. Peter when hee had cut off Malchus eare For at the first blush it seemeth that a man could not haue drawne his sword in a quarrell of greater merit Ies You say well but you doe not weigh the text Our Sauiour did not forbid Saint Peter to betake him to his weapon but after the blow was giuen he cōmaunded him to put it vp againe Gent. Pardon mee this aunswere hath I know not what smack of Machiauell Ies Adde this vnto it that S. Peter prouoked with an vndiscreet zeale would haue hindered a misterie that tended to the redemption of mankind and wee employ the sword for the maintenaunce of the Church without which man-kinde would perrish Gent. O braue and holy exposition are you of opinion that this course is well pleasing vnto GOD Ies None but the Heretiques of our time euer doubted it Gent. I am none of them neither haue I at any time enclined so to be yet I doubt much of this matter Is there any thing in your Statutes commaunding you to goe farther Ies There is Gent. What is that Ies We professe to obey the Generall of our Order blindfolde for those be the expresse words of our Constitutions and wee are bounde to pinne our consciences to his sleeue to suffer him to rule vs like a boate hauing no motion but that which they giue to it that row it to leaue off our worke alreadie begun to obey him and acknowledge the presence of Iesus Christ in him as if Christ cōmaunded vs. Gent. Pertaines this to your Order Ies Yes I assure you Gent. O admirable paradox of obedience like that of Abraham Ies So it is That example was euer in the mouth of Ignatius teaching vs that obedience is more acceptable to God then sacrifice Gent. O blessed Fathers the Iesuites nay rather true and onely Patriarches of our Church Doubtlesse it is not without reason that you be called Fathers after the accomplishment of your last vow Well then the case so standing if your Generall should commaund you to procure the death I will not say of a Prince for I doubt not but you would obey him therin but of our holy Father the Pope would you doe it Ies I would take time to deliberate Gent. If you should do so this were not to tie your conscience any longer vnto his sleeue Ies You take me vnprouided I craue respite to make you an aunswere Gent. Your Order beeing grounded vpon all these godly and holy resolutions surely our Church is much bounde to you I meane not the auncient Doctors of the Church onely but the Apostles themselues whom you haue taught their dutie Nay what speake I of the Apostles you haue taught the great Maister of the Mould wherein wee ought to fashion all our actions when contrarie to the expresse cōmaundement giuen S. Peter you procure the death of Kings and Princes But what reward haue you got by this Ies As much as wee can desire or hope for And amongst others we are allowed to giue absolution of all sinnes and offences howe foule soeuer they be except such as are reserued to the holy Sea wholly extreated issuing out of Iudgements Censures and Ecclesiasticall paines beside that which is comprised in the Bull vsually read vppon Maundy-Thursday And for all that that
not haue beene auoyded but their Generall the Prouincialls of their Order and the Priors of their Monasteries must haue beene of the conspiracie or at the least some part of them A clause which would not haue beene forgotten in the Decree that Pope Pius the fift the holy Consistorie of Rome sent out hauing so great intention finallie to suppresse them And this is the reason the Iesuits haue layed this condemnation most falsely vppon all the Order who had in Chapter as they say conspired against Borrhomeo Let vs acknowledge a truth like the children of Christ and not like the disciples of Ignacius This Order vvas growne very infamous by reason of their incontinency and licentious life the which the good Cardinall Borrhomaeo would haue helpt if it had beene possible This was I must confesse a fault and that verie foule and scandalous yet for this it is like they should not haue beene suppressed It is a vice whereunto naturally wee are prone Insomuch that hee who would suppresse all houses of Religion where this vice aboundeth especially those which are seated in places farre from resort wee may say with Tacitus Vt antea vitijs ita tum demuÌ„ legibus laboraremus And there might be peraduenture more scandale in suppressing then in winking at theyr vices How then What caused the suppression It vvas GODS will that vnexpectedly Lignana Pryor of Versellis and some others angry with this new reformation conspired against Borrhomaeo as it is expressed in the Bull. And this ryot was the cause of the suppression and this is the cause the Bull dooth recount theyr disorders in generall but specially theyr attempt against Borrhomaeo The which is set downe verie particularlie and not the incontinencies which La Fon reciteth VVhat is there in this storie but will fit the Iesuits as well as if it were made for them They are notorious throughout the world for the troubles raised by them in Fraunce And as manifest it is that they practised and bargained with a stranger to bring in a newe King into this kingdome The detestable fact of Barriere The howlings of Commolet to the people to kill the King euen in the time of the truce The people vvith one mouth from the youngest to the most aged cried vengeance on them so soone as the King reentred Paris The cause was pleaded in the name of the Vniuersitie and as it falleth out oftentimes that in matter of iudgement where the cause is of consequence while we feare to be negligent wee growe ouer-curious so heere the cause was referred to counsaill GOD would so haue it that Chastell a disciple of the Iesuits poysoned vvith theyr damnable positions wounded the King with a knife and beeing taken hee maintained in the open face of iustice that hee might doe it lawfully The haynousnes of thys fact aggrauated with other circumstances gaue occasion of the pronouncing the processe against the whole Order Nowe I pray you tell mee if the same holie Ghost which wrought in the suppression of the Humiliati had not a stroke likewise in driuing the Iesuits out of Paris They are the same things the same proceedings vnder seuerall names Theyr difference is in these two poynts The one that the Humiliati in being too subiect to their pleasure sinned yet committed such a sinne as our corrupt nature teacheth vs but the Iesuits beeing the principall Authours of the troubles wherein two hundred thousand lost theyr liues haue sinned against GOD against nature For nature abhorres nothing more then death which is so cheape among the Iesuits to the losse of others The other difference is that the attempt of Lignana was but against a Cardinall whoÌ„ I acknowledge willingly to be one of the holiest men our age yeeldeth A Cardinall whom the Colledge would be loth to spare yet notwithstanding hee liues and liueth in as great reputation as euer hee did Whereas the attempt of Chastell endangered a King sole in his kingdome such a king as the world must yeeld to bee as valiant wise and curteous as anie before him and by whose death if the treason had sorted to effect wee were to expect nothing but horrour and confusion our olde inhabitants And yet they must be cherrished in some part of the kingdome But because some not remembring or not obseruing things past others not foreseeing lesse laboring to preuent dangers to come suffer themselues to be abused by them accounting them the Champions and protectors of the Catholick faith I wil make it manifest vnto you that their sect is as dangerous as Martin Luthers that there is nothing the Pope hath more to feare as preiudiciall to his authority and greatnes then their Generall what showes and protestations soeuer they make to the contrary notwithstanding CHAP. 24. ¶ That the Sect of the Iesuits is no lesse dangerous to our Church then the Lutherans THis position may seeme at the first sight Paradoxicall but it is true The distribution of the hierarchicall Order of our Church hath a proportion and correspondeÌ„cy with the humane body wherin the head coÌ„mandeth ouer the other members amongst the which there are certaine noble parts as the hart the liuer the lungs without which the bodie cannot consist So as hee who would take from the head to adde to the noble parts or diminish them to giue vnto the head disordering the proportion and correspondency which should bee betwixt the members hee should confound destroy the bodie So is it in our hierarchy the head of the Church is our holy father the Pope the noble parts vnder him are the Archbishops Bishoppes Cardinals Priors Abbots I will adde Princes Lords Vniuersities as for the rest of the people they represent the other members of the body Martin Luther was the first who durst traduce this head bringing in a form of Aristocratie into our Church making all the Bishops in their seueral dioceses equall to the Sea Apostolique There succeeded him Ignactius Loyhola some yeeres after who by a contrarie course defended the authoritie of the holy Sea but after such a fashion as hee no lesse endamaged our Church then theirs For pretending more zeale to the Sea and our holy Father then the rest and still intituling him to more predominant and new authoritie ouer the Ordinaries hee and his successiuely obtaynd from diuers Popes so many Priuiledges Indulgences and Graunts in disaduantage of the Prelats Monasteries and Vniuersities that suffering them to liue in the midst of vs you disfigure stain the face of the Catholique and Vniuersall Church RemeÌ„ber what the Iesuit said to you this other day you will find my words true The difference betwixt Luther and Ignace is that hee troubled our Church fighting against the head And this warring against the noble parts All extremitie is a vice vertue is â—â—â—ympiere betwixt both For mine owne part I beleeâ—â—â—hat the true Catholique Apostolick Roman faith is that which hath bin in vse euer
proculdubio occupassent promissionis terram had long since out of doubt possessed this Realme of England nisi quorundam inobedientia atque ingratissimum obstitisset murmur had not the disobedience of some and theyr most displeasing murmuring hindred it It is the manner of our English Iesuits and of such as are Iesuited neuer to mention Frier Parsons trecheries but they ioyne that good Cardinall with him to mittigate the odiousnes of his proceedings But howe coulde they haue gotten this land of Promise into their fingers Meane they by their attempt 1588 or had they before this time layd violent hands vpon her Maiestie or what had they else doone if some such impediment as they speake of had not hapned Blessed was that disobedience and happy was that murmuring that deliuered this kingdome from such vncatholick and most trayterous designements Rather content your selues deere Catholicks to goe dwell in Babilon then euer seeke to obtaine the Land of Canaan by such cruell barbarous and Turkish stratagems Are not such Iesuits or persons whatsoeuer Iesuited worthy to be detested that dare publish their dislike of such disobedience and murmure as hath preuented such a Chaos of all mischiefes as the conquering of our little land of promise would haue brought with it Or if we haue been too sharpe in our encountering of the Gyants as they falsly terme vs are we not to be excused And as wee woulde haue you to iudge of vs and the rest of our brethren that whatsoeuer they haue written it proceeded of theyr loue and zeale both to our Church and Countrie so our hartie desire is that you would thinke and iudge the like of those right zealous Catholicks of other Countries that haue written against the Iesuits in the like respect much more sharply then any of our brethren hetherto haue done For howe highlie soeuer the Iesuits are yet in our bookes because you know them not throughlie yet are they alreadie become an odious generation in manie places In the kingdome of Swecia their verie names are detested The Cleargie of Spayne is in great dislike of them The religious men generallie in all countries doe hate them At this instant there is a great most dangerous contention in particuler betwixt them and the Dominicans about a speciall point of grace At their first attempt to come into Fraunce it was fore-seen by the graue Sorbonists of Paris what mischiefe they would work if they were admitted there Afterwards they crept into that countrie like Foxes by little and little and so in processe of time behaued thēselues as not long since they haue been banished thence as men of most pernitious wicked and dangerous conuersation You haue heard in a word or two out of Osorius the Spaniard what the Iesuits thinke of themselues it woulde make a large volume to recount the praises which they haue else-where heaped vppon their founder their societie their fellowes according as the saying is Claw me and I will claw thee You also vnderstand as well by the premises as by our bretherens seuerall treatises what estimation we haue of them and some haue beene offended vvith them for their plainenes therein But now wee humbly intreate you to obserue howe roundly they haue beene taken vp in Fraunce for halting by men of no small credite in that State for theyr yeres verie auncient for their experience verie wise and for their soundnes in the Catholicke Romane religion neuer impeached by any but Iesuits who condemne all men eyther for Newters or schismaticks or hereticks or at the least for cold and luke-warme Catholicks that disclose their impieties Maister Anthony Arnold counsellour in parliament and heeretofore counsellor and Atturney generall to the late deceased Queene mother a man throughlie acquainted with the proceedings of the Iesuits in Fraunce writeth as followeth both of them By this the Iesuits are discouered to be not onely the fore-runners but also the chiefe captaines of Antechrist out of whose societie or sect it is very probable homo peccati that man of sin shall rise ere all be ended betwixt the secular priests them the saide sectarie Iesuits though for the present they remaine catholicke and somwhat of their Founder Ignatius saith he through the help of the deuill hatched this cursed conspiracie of the Iesuits who haue beene the causes of such ruine as Fraunce hath receiued They are a vvicked race borne to the ruine desolation of mankinde In their fourth vowe to their Generall they goe thus farre that in him they must acknowledge Christ present as it were If Iesus Christ should commaund to goe and kill they must doe so The Generall of the Iesuits is alwayes a Spanyard and chosen by the King of Spayne Loyola their first Generall was a Spanyard Laynes the second a Spanyard also The third Euerardus was a Fleming a subiect of the King of Spayne Borgia the fourth was a Spanyard Aquauiua the fift now liuing is a Neopolitane subiect to the King of Spayne If their Spanish Generall commaund them to murther or cause the King of Fraunce to be murthered they must of necessity do it They shoote at no other matter but to establish the tyrannie of Spaine in all places All the Iesuits in the world are bound to pray for the King of Spayne and that once a day as his affayres doe require They haue stirring fellowes to be placed in all quarters to execute whatsoeuer may tend to the good and aduauncement of Spayne They had no other marke during the warres in Fraunce but to make the King of Spaine Monarch ouer all Christendome The common prouerbe of these hypocrits is one God one Pope and one king of Spaine the great King catholick and vniuersall All their thoughts all their purposes all their Sermons all their cōfessions haue no other white they ayme at but to bring all Europe vnder the subiection of Spanish gouernment The Ambassadour of Fraunce when hee was in Spayne and Italie neuer found matter of weight wherein they had not an oare There was neuer Letter intercepted during the warres wherein there was anie pernicious point but a Iesuits singer was in it In their confessions and without witnesses they paint not the faces but the harts of their schollers with the tincture of Rebellion against their princes and naturall Soueraignes Mathew a Iesuit was the principal instrument of the League 1585. And from that yeere 1585. they would giue no absolution to the Gentry of Fraunce vnlesse they would vow promise to band themselues against their Soueraigne Henry the third being a most catholick King Barnard and Commolet the yere before the sayde League called the King Holofornes Moab and Nero maintaining that the kingdome of Fraunce was electiue and that it belonged to the people to establish kings alledging this text of the old Testament Thou shalt chuse thy brother for King Thy brother say they that is to say not of the same linage or of the selfe same Nation but of
the same Religion as is this great catholick king this great King of Spaine The said Commolet was so impudent and bold as to say verie blasphemously that vnder these words Deliuer me O Lord out of the myer that I may not sticke in it Dauid vnderstood prophetically the rooting out of the house of Burbon The same Iesuit also Commolet preaching at the Bastile before the Gentlemen that were then prisoners in the beginning of the yeere 1589 saide vnto them after a thousand impudent blasphemies that he that had been their King was not their King plotting from thence the murther which they executed afterwards What voyce is sufficient to expresse the secrete counsells the most horrible conspiracies more dangerous then the conspiracies of Cateline which were holden in the Iesuits Colledge in S. Iames streete Where did the Agents and Embassadours of Spayne Mendoza Daguillon Diego Dinarra Taxis Feria and others hold their secret meetings and assemblies but among the Iesuits Where did Lowchard Ameliue Cruce Crome such like notorious manquellers and murtherets build their conspiracies but amongst the Iesuits Who made that bloody aunswere to the catholick Apologie but the Iesuits Where did the two Cardinals which termed themselues Legats in Fraunce assemble theyr counsels but onely amongst the Iesuits Where was it that Mendoza the Embassadour of Spayne vpon All-hollow day in the yeere 1589. at what time the King entred the Fauxburges helde his counsaile of Sixteene but in the Colledge of the Iesuits Who was President of the counsell afterwards of those Sixteene murtherers but Commolet Bernard and Father Ode Pickenar the vilest Tygar in all Paris Commelet preaching in S. Bartholmewes church after the murther of the King exalted and placed among the Angels this Tyger this deuill incarnate Iames Clement the murderer Who imployed all their studies to speake against the person and right of his Maiestie that now raigneth as false and slaunderous matters as possibly their wicked heads could deuise but the Iesuits Commolâ—s the Iesuit when he preached at Saint Bartholmes as is aforesaid tooke for his theame the third chapter of the booke of Iudges where it is reported that Ehud slew the king of Moab and escaped away and after that he had discoursed at large vpon the death of their late king and commended Iames Clement he fell into a great exclamation saying we haue neede of an Ehud we haue neede of an Ehud were he a Frier were he a souldier were he a lackie were he a shepard it made no great matter Needs wee must haue an Ehud One blowe would settle vs fully in the state of our affaires as we most desire Alas their purpose and burning zeale is to murder the King liuing Was it not in the Colledge of Iesuits at Lyons and also in the Colledge of Iesuits in Paris that the resolution was last taken to murder the King in August 1593 Are not the depositions of Barriere executed at Melun notorious to all the world Was it not Varade Principall of the Iesuits that exhorted and incouraged this murtherer assuring him that he could not do a more merritorious worke in the worlde then to murther the King though hee were a Catholick and that for this deede he should goe straight to Paradise And to confirme him the more in this mischieuous resolution did hee not cause him to be confessed by an other Iesuit Did not these impious godlesse and execrable murderers giue this Baerriere the blessed sacrament imploying the most holy most precious and most sacred misterie of our Christian religion towards the murthering of the chiefest King in Christendome As long as the Iesuits remaine in Fraunce the king of Spaines murtherers may be exhorted confessed housled and incouraged Their minds are bloodie altogether imbrued with the blood of the late murthered king They filled the pulpits with fire with blood with blasphemies making the people belieue that God was a murtherer of kings attributing to heauen the stroke of a knife forged in hell The highest poynt of their honour standeth in executing of murthers terming them Martyrs which haue spent their liues therein They are mischieuous counsailors traytors wicked inchauntors firebrands of mischiefe hypocrits monsters watchfull in mischiefe diligent in wickednes wretched caytiffes manquellers serpents pernicious and dangerous vermine and haue no fellowes in all sorts of wickednes And hetherto Maister Arnold dispersedly Vnto whom wee may adde a short but a notable description of the Iesuits ordinary sermons as we take it out of Petrus Gregorius Tholossanus Pet. Greg de Repub. lib. 13. cap. 14. a great Lawier and a sound Catholick which doth so expresly and pithilie set them out vnto vs nay to all posteritie and that in so few words their dispositions pride and furie as hee that shall diligently reade them and throughlie digest them may euer carrie with him if his memorie be not verie dull the right Idea of a perfect Iesuit But before he coÌ„meth to this description he first setteth downe the iudgments of God against all such kinde of persons out of king Salomon and the prophet Ezechiell Abominatio est Domini omnis arrogantia All that are arrogant without exception are abhominable vnto our Lord. Prou. 16. Contritionem praecedit superbia c. Pride goeth before contrition or destruction and a high minde before vtter ruine Vae pastoribus Israell Ezech. 34. woe be to the Sheppards of Israell c. That which was weake ye haue not strengthened that which was sicke ye haue not healed that which was broken yee haue not bound vp That which was abiected yee haue not brought againe and that which was lost ye haue not sought sed cum austeritate imperabatis eis et cum potentia but ye did rule ouer them with austeritie and force or potencie Secondly hauing made this way plaine to his purpose then hee sheweth further what manner of men the Cleargie by the testimonies of S. Peter S. Paule should be and how farre from such haughtines of minde such pride and crueltie and with what diligence mildnes gentlenes they ought to proceede in the actions and proceedings which doe belong to their calling Feede saith S. Peter the flocke of Christ which is amongst you ouerseeing them not by constraint but willingly according to God neither for filthie lucre sake but voluntarily And S. Paule The seruaunt of God must not wrangle but be mild towards all men apt to teach patient with modestie admonishing them that resist the truth least sometimes God giue them repentance to knowe the truth c. Against which Apostolicall rules hee declareth that the Iesuits of whom we thinke he speaketh be great practitioners rather sorting themselues in the ranke of those that Salomon and the prophet Ezechiell before spake of then of the true Pastors of Gods people These are his words In quo hodie maxime peccant noui quidaÌ„ Theologastri et zelo se traduci mentiuntur qui in cathedris non verba modestie
comes after to giue such order of penance as liketh vs as in workes of pietie vowes of Pilgrimage except in three cases of Ierusalem of Rome of Saint Iames of Compostella Also to sing Masse as well before day as after twelue a clocke at noone-tyde when our Superiours shall thinke it necessary To confesse and administer the Sacrament of the Eucharist to build Chappels Oratories and Churches in all places where our Generall will and all this without leaue of Bishop or Curat Trauelling thorowe Countries to haue portable Altars to say Masse on in euery house except places interdicted by the holy Sea That no Bishop in his owne Diocesse may giue priestly Orders to any of our Company though he be fit for it without demissory Letters from our Generall who may also dispence with forbidden meates without sute to the Bishops in briefe to absolue all those from censures which are attainted of heresie Gent. Heere is a heape of priuiledges giuen you indeed to the preiudice first and chiefely of the Bishops next of the Curats and lastly peraduenture of the holy Sea it selfe Furthermore this is a sollemne feast to draw the Common people to you and pull them from theyr true naturall and lawfull Pastors yea this is to bring a newe Schisme into the Church of Christ Ies Hee that shall come euery yeere to performe his deuotions one whole day in our house shall haue plenary indulgence of all his sinnes though hee say but one Pater noster and an Aue Marie Gent. Another bayte to make men seeke after you Ies We enioy all the priuiledges graunted to all the foure Orders of Mendicants Gent. They may iustly be discontented seeing you gorged with good things vp to the eares and enioying all their priuiledges Ies If it be so all other religious Orders haue cause to repine as well as they for wee enioy all theyr graunts and fauours Gent. Yet are not you any way tied to theyr vowes and abstinences Pius 5.7 of Iuly 1571. Greg. 13.3 of May 1575. this is ill proportiond for this Aduocate can tell you the olde Lawyers hold it Secundam naturam esse vt quem sequuntur coÌ„moda eundem sequantur incoÌ„moda And to say truth this is another ground of iealousie grudge between them and you Ies All that I haue yet deduced concernes Gods seruice that which I meane to tell you now lookes backe towards our Colledges and Lectures It is lawful for our Generall or for such as are by him authorized Greg. 13.10 Octob. 1576. Paul 3 1549. Iulius 3. 22. Octob. 1552. Pius 4. 19. August 1561. Pius 5. 10 May 1571. Grego 13. 1598. Greg. 13 11 Feb. 1576. to build Colledges to set vp Lectures euen Lectures of Diuinitie and other Readers in euery Towne without the Bishops leaue yea and our company may as well out of the Vniuersities as in them take theyr degrees of Bachilars Licentiates Masterships and Doctors without examination and be found capable by two or three Commissioners appointed for that purpose by our Superiors which are not bound to seeke to any Chauncellor or Rector of other Vniuersities In stronger termes we may haue whole Vniuersities of our owne company onely where the Chauncellor or Rector is a Iesuite as appeares in the Towne of Pontumousson We are also allowed to practise Phisique by the authoritie of our Superiors if they iudge vs to be capable Gent. And craue you no other testimony then theirs that neuer studied Phisick Ies No. Gent. I thought your Generall might haue made a Iesuite but no Phisitian and I would be loth to put my life into your hands vpoon any such warrant Behold what a fearefull diuision you make betweene the Vniuersities especially betweene the great famous and ancient Vniuersitie of Paris and your selues Ies What would you more We may geld correct and reforme all manner of bookes wherein wee finde the least suspition of heresie Gent. What after the Diuines of Paris haue allowed them Ies Yea euen so Gent. I euer tooke this to be theyr office and not to haue appertayned to any other Ies Doe you thinke that wee care a poynt for them Long agoe except it were in the nonage of our Company wee had learnd to set them at naught True it is that in the yeere 1554. it so fell out that they censurd vs when wee were but beginning to creepe out of the shell yet were wee speedilie reuenged on them for we made theyr censure to be ouer-waighed by the Spanish Inquisition Therefore in Spaine saith a braue Historiographer of ours Seeing the Sorbons decree was against the Sea Apostolique by which our Religion is approued and confirmed Ribaden li. 4. c. 11. the Inquisitors of faith haue by their decree forbidden that to be read as false and offensiue to religious eares Gent. You confesse you sent to the Inquisition to coÌ„trole this good and holy facultie of the Diuines of Paris the auncient pillar proppe and support of our Catholique and Apostolique Romane Church and you make a Trophee of it as of a great victory Ies Let not this offend you for at a pinch wee will grapple with the Pope if we take him swaruing neuer so little from his auncient dutie Wâ—e held oppinion a little before King Henrie the fourth came to the Crowne whom we now call the man of Bearne that Pope Sixtus the fist did erre a little in fauouring him and God knowes wee spared him not in our Pulpits some likewise sought to perswade the world that we gaue him a dram to send him packing Gent. Regard you not the Pope whose creatures you are and haue no authoritie but from him If it be so I take my leaue of you and lay my hand vppon my mouth Onely I wish wee had some Cneius Flauius among vs to lay open your secrets vnto Fraunce or some Tacitus to set them downe in writing with as great libertie as your put them in execution The Aduocate was som-what silent vntill vve came thus farre but then hee began to breake out You shall hold your peace quoth hee as long as you please so will not I I will be that Cneuis Flauius you desire for as hee discouered to the Romanes the perfumes which their chiefe Priest solde them at so high a rate in acknowledgement whereof hee was created Tribune of the people that is to say A preseruer of the peoples libertie So will I vncase by peece-meale that doctrine which the Iesuites haue sold vs heere-to-fore by golden weight And I perswade my selfe that gratefull posteritie finding it by me recorded will account mee a Protector of the liberty of the Church of Fraunce And it may bee it will come to passe that as antiquitie made a Prouerbe of Cneius Flauius saying that he hit the birds eye so will succeeding ages report of mee that I haue peckt out the eyes of those Crowes that pray vppon the carkasses and carrion of other beastes and of the Iesuits who now liue
name which they had once giuen as they thought vnto the truth Nay the matter proceeded so farre that this name grew to be imposd vppon the rest of that societie almost throughout all Portugall Trust me this passage is of such desert that I should deceiue these good men if I should not translate it into French to discouer with howe great pietie they haue purchast this title For Fraunces Xauier is honoured for a great Saint among all the Iesuits Was there euer any impietie or imposture greater then this that these two hypocrits to be counted Apostles bruted it abroad that two new supplies were added to their Sect to make vp the number of twelue Apostles and that vpon this false alarum they were called Apostles This was against theyr will saith Turcelline belieue the reporter For Xauier tooke speciall care not to loose his tytle when hee came into the Indies Tincel 2. booke of Xauiers life cap. 3. Therefore as before in Portugall so in India he began to be commonly calld an Apostle and the same title afterwards flowed from Francis as from the Head to the rest of his fellowes Tell me I beseech you whether this be not to renue the heresie of Manes whose followers were cald Manichees he naming himselfe the Paraclet had twelue Disciples whom he cald Apostles and for such he sent them abroad one by one to other prouinces to spread abroad the poyson of his heresie through their preaching To say the truth Ignace neuer tooke on him the name of Paraclet yet was he willing inough to be accounted for another Iesus by his company As I wil discourse to you in his proper place when I come to speak of their blind obedience He did not only take this authority power vpon himselfe But resigned it ouer also to all the Generals of his order that succeeded him who in like manner haue embraced the title of Apostles wherewith their inferiours were endowed in Portugall This is apparant in Rome and yet no man sees it but quite contrarie this Family is there had in honourrable regard vpon a wrong conceit men haue entertained touching their absolute obedience whereof these my Maisters make semblance vnto the Pope And shall we hereafter haue any maruaile to heare a barking at the holy Sea by diuersities of new opinions that fight against it Pardon me I beseech thee O holy Sea for it is the heat of my zeale deuoted to thee that inforceth me to vtter this speech Great and vnspeakable are Gods iudgements to suffer that in the Citie of Rome in your sight and knowledge there should bee a Manes continued by successions from one to another which hath not twelue onely but infinite Apostles dispersed here and there God will reuenge it early or late though it be by his enemies The Aduocate as a man much wounded in heart was desirous to prosecute this in a chafe when the Iesuit interrupting him said Verie well sir you are in daunger to be drawen drie Marking your discourse you put me in mind of those young Historiographers which imputed it for folly to Alexander the great that he would haue all men thinke him to be Iupiters sonne they attributed this to his immoderate ouer-weening neuerthelesse it was an excellent wise drift of his Can you imagine why so long as the country of king Darius was the marke he shot at he was too wise to take that title vpon him and chose rather to thrust forward his fortune by ordinarie meanes of armes But as soone as he plotted to passe into India a kind of new world deuided from ours he would haue the people perswaded by the great Priest of Aegypt that he was Iupiters sonne and from that time he would be adored as such a one not by the Macedonians his natural subiects bred in the liberty of a Greeke spirit But by the barbarous people with such respect and beliefe that from that time forward they should take him not to be a meere Prince but a great God that came to the conquest of the Indies this deuice tooke so good effect that he made himselfe Lord of the country without striking stroke The Kings Potentates and common people saying that their countrey was first vanquished by Bacchus then by Hercules both sonnes of Iupiter and that the whole rule and Dominion was reserued for the comming of Alexander a third sonne of his Thinke you our Societie followes not this plot you see we neuer tooke the name of Apostles any where but in Portugall but when we were to go to the same Indies where Alexander had beene we thought as he did that it was fit we should be authorized beyond others by a more ample sacred and maiesticall title which was to be called Apostles It had beene ill for vs to challenge it in Portugall if Xauier had not continued it by an entercourse of his companie after his arriuall in the Indies to the end he might be reputed another Saint Thomas sent thither after the passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ And it were impossible to recount what conquests of soules we made there vnder this holy perswasion Ha quoth the Aduocate verily if this be your fashion I haue nothing to do with you for as when you entred Italy you borrowed I know not what of their Mountebanks so would you do the like of Machiauell in Portugall and the Indies Meane while you my maisters that haue bragged much of your knowledge in Diuinitie haue verie ill turnd ouer the history of the kings in the the Bible from whence you gather by a continued ranke that God tooke away the crownes of all the Kings of Israel as oft as they became Idolaters eyther while they liued or in all time to come neuer suffered them to descend vnto their children How thinke you I pray ye that God hath left the true Kings of Portugall without heires and that their Realme came into the hands of the first Prince that caught it That one Don Anthonio a bastard one Katherine de Medices Queene-mother of our King pretended title to it and last of all that one Philip King of Spaine became maister of it without any great resistance I will not discourse in partriculer of the goodnes of his title for mine one part I thinke that the best title he had was the iustice of God whō it pleased in reuenge of the giddie Idolatrie and blasphemie of the kings and people to make this realme without triall of the cause passe from one family to another by this holy title of Apostles attributed to these hypocrites And I perswade my selfe that the King of Spayne now raigning will one day fall into the like mischiefe if he suffer this impietie CHAP. 10. ¶ The impieties of William Postell a Iesuits BVt why should we thinke this blaphemie strange in them if within few yeeres after they tooke the title of Apostles on them some one of them was found so abhominable in the sight of God and man
Mass lib. 2. capit 2. as to the ring-leader of them all didst wisely take thy iourney into Spayne to take order for your affaires and fellowes And after that with great zeale you tooke shippe at Valentia to goe for Venice without any feare of Barberosse the Turks scouring of the Seas all of you met at Venice you came after that to me to receiue my blessing and passe for your trauell and inhabiting Palestine You obtained at my hands all that you craued you receiued much gold and siluer giuen you by diuers men for your first earnest of the voyage vpon this blessing you returned back to Venice with a purpose to performe your promise I would saine know who diuerted you You say the warre suddenly made betweene the Venetians and the Turke What Gallies mand what ships rigged what preparation sawe you for this exployt The Turke and wee are continuall enemies yet doth hee not refuse to giue pasport and safe conduct to poore Pilgrims paying him his auncient trybute did this warre driue away the religious persons that dwell neere the holy Sepulcher Furthermore who compeld you to alter your vow for that which is prolonged from one yeere to another Paul Ioui lib. 32. hist is not quite broken off Likewise the Venetian and the Turk are now vpon entreatie of peace the matter either already concluded or at a point so to be Besides if the passages be stopt that way they lie open for you to the Indies there is no feare in that passage the King him selfe leades you by the hand why doe you draw back You that so late made shewe to goe to Palestine a voyage subiect to a thousand dangers of your liues go now in Gods name to this new world and come not heere to plant a new world in our old Church It is not the warre betweene the Venetian and the Turke that driues you froÌ„ your first vow it is your selues that vow what you lust This sauors of man more then I would it did At your first comming froÌ„ Venice to my Court you little knowe what cheere was made you by me and mine and whether good or bad which of the two I haue no leasure to tell you you founde more fauour then you looked for good countenaunce kinde entertainement gold siluer to spend by the way For this cause you returned to Venice you tooke your shortest cut to recoyle back againe to Rome with more promises of submission to the holy Sea forgetting your originall vowe But let vs yeelde a little to you as you are men let vs take your new excuse for payment How can I winke at the lies you flap me in the mouth withall to circumuent mee and betray mee You say you are all Maisters of Arts of the great famous Vniuersitie of Paris I find three of you neuer tooke degree You say you haue studied diuinitie many yeeres where shall I finde these manie in two of the companie that vvere but Maisters in the yeere 1534. two others in the yere 1535. and these came to Venice in the yeere 1536. Where shal I find then I say these many in Ignace that forsooke Paris three yeeres before he was Maister or in that other that neuer tooke degree To be short I see but two of your companie Faure and Xauier that euer could haue any leysure to follow this studie I knowe it well that if you make any lie on your part you will say it is to be borne withall because it is done to a good end A ghostly deceit and I tell you at a word that Chistianiâ—e brookes no fraudulent pietie Set these two particulers apart let vs come to the naked truth Howe can I dissemble the breach of your vow wherein it cannot be but the deuill had a finger You promised and swore to God that you woulde goe no further with your enterprizes before you had ended your Diuinitie course where is the end nay where is the beginning of it Prick mee out the time when euery one of you seuerally began it If you began it who hindered your finishing of it for there was nothing in Paris to feare you The vvarre betweene the Emperour and the French King God be thanked is ceased Nothing constrained you to make such a hote vow at Montmatter it proceeded from your zeale which tied you to nothing at the first but now the vow is made you are bound to keepe it Before it was made was not this worke necessarie for the winning of soules which you promise to performe You like auriculer confession in our Ministerie a most holie thing the transsubstantiation of the bodie of our Sauiour Christ in the Sacrament a most holy thing If the word most import no more These be meanes to keepe the Catholiques to theyr old religion yet are they not sufficient to conuert men of a long time nousled vp in Idolatry and Mahometisme Euery one of them hath in his impious superstition certaine Maximes contrarie to the Christian fayth Besides this doe not you know that the deuill Martine Luther so I meane to call him as an impe of the deuil of S. Martins is in complet Armour against the two Sacraments by an infinite sort of Sophistications ill deduced from the holie Scripture if you learne of him to dosse out your hornes as you haue promised this is no young Schollers worke nor for a simple Maister of Arte but for one of the wisest and best learned Diuines to take in hand For otherwise while you thinke to defend our cause you will betray it What weapons must you haue to foyle these miscreants The foure Euangelists with the Commentaries of the good Doctors of the Church S. Hierom S. Ambrose S. Augustine S. Gregory Nazianzen Gregory the great the first Pope of that name S. Iohn Chrisostome S. Bernard and many others whom the Church hath enroled in the Kalender of Saints All these hold a course of morrall Theologie a verie trenchant sworde to destroy the euill life of Christians but that blade which I meane to speake of now is fittest to bring you to close fight with poynt to poynt One Peter Lombard maister of the Sentences and S. Thomas of Aquine men worthy to be followed in Schoole learning These be two Champions by whose help we may be sufficiently armed to buckle with our enemies this is no studie of two or three yeeres ancient discipline requires at the least sixe yeres trauell in them for publique exercise besides all the rest of our life in particular Sith you haue vowed to GOD to distill your wits through this Limbec why would you haue me dispence with you You that haue dedicated your selues as wel to conuert Infidels as Hereticks why haue you not doone it It became you to doe it except you meant to present vs with Phaetons fable of newe Coach men who vndertaking to driue the horses of the Sunne cast the whole earth into a combustion Had you any sparke of
God by making a vowe to liue a Munks life Thou Iugler in matters of Christian religion which playest tricks of passe and repasse to make a child passe by inuisibilities it is it is not to the end thou maist withdraw him both froÌ„ his Fathers presence and also froÌ„ the Magistrats And when thou hast thus done thou hast vp thy generall prouerbe These be the works of thy holy spirit whom thou hast alwaies in thy mouth as harlots are alwaies prating of their chastitie Doost thou thinke thou wrâ—tch though my first proiect was to bring him vp in mine owne calling yet if after he was come out of thy house and come to yeeres of discretion he would haue forsaken the world that I would haue enuied him that felicitie Not to make him a Gypsie to rogue about as thou doost all ouer the world feyning that hee can tell euery man his fortune wheÌ„ he cannot tell his own but to frame him after the mould of our auncient orders of religion and at once to shut him vp in a Cloyster there to leade a solitarie lyfe to giue himselfe to fasting and prayer to weare hayre-cloth so to behaue himselfe that his Cloyster should be a Pallace to him fish as Manna from heauen and hayre-cloth more soft then the finest Holland shirt of Linnen And that after hee had employed his solitarinesse in long watchings and deuotions hee might come out of his Cloyster as a worthy and valiant warriour not to murder Kings not to conquer Realmes and to sel them to him what would offer most but to kill sinne to subdue disordered soules by preaching in the midst of the churches that which appertaines to euerlasting blessednesse I call not to the Iudges of this world for reuenge of this wrong thou detestable coosner the great Iudge of Iudges shall be my auenger euen then when after he hath chastizd the Magistrate either for his feare or for his long winking at thy lewdnes he shall cast thee into the fire as the Father doth the rod when he hath beaten his childe there-with I saw a poore Father in the Iesuits Colledge in Paris play hys part in this sort and to say the truth I coulde haue wished that the good olde man had some-what brideled his choller which me thought past the bounds of modestie but what modestie can a man looke for in a Father that hath his sonne stolne from him There is no remedie but he must needes be out of patience In a worde consider I pray you the first griefe of a poore desolate Father who complaines not that his sonne is become a religious person but that it is wrought by the Iesuits seducing alluring and coosning Did you neuer heare it sayde that it is a great burden to our conscience when wee marry our Chyldren vnder age because it is to teach them to hate theyr vviues before they can vnderstand what it is to loue them So stands the case with these young youths enticed to this spirituall marriage For howe soeuer at theyr first entraunce euery thing laughs vppon them by reason of the charmes and sweet entertainment of theyr ghostlie Fathers yet afterward there settles an imperfection in theyr mindes of a long repentance for their hastinesse and they fall to curse the yere the month the weeke the day the houre and the moment in which they were so deceiued And if there be any that scape this repentance alas they are very few To conclude as long as wee mingle the bringing vp of our youth with this pretended Munkerie wee shall neuer be able to saue our selues from this vnhappy confusion wherof the Cittie of Paris thankes be to God is at this day discharged But I speake to them who being coozned protect as yet this new monster with their authoritie CHAP. 9. ¶ Of the vow of the Iesuits which they call the simple vow INtending to entreate now from henceforward of the Iesuits simple vowe I heere vow not to deale with them but at their owne weapons They haue bin alwaies hetherto so cunning that fewe men haue had any knowledge of theyr dealings Their Bulls and their statuts are to this day printed within their Colledges so that no man knowes the Printers name neither can they easily com into any strangers hands which hath beene the cause that no man heeretofore durst speake so boldly of them But as the force of truth is such that in time it wil be discouerd so the Caball of these Rabbines could not be kept so secret but that in tract of time their bookes haue gotten out of their Colledges vpon which I haue framed thys present discourse I will begin with their simple vowe a vow which I may say is new and monstrous and which cannot be tollerated in our Church without the ouerthrowing thereof at the least in regard of religious Orders and Monasteries By the Lecture which the Iesuit read vs yesterday you vnderstand that the first vow of their Order is that which they call the simple vow by which hee that will vow himselfe to their Societie makes at the first the 3. ordinarie vowes of all other religious Orders namelie of Chastitie Pouertie and Obedience And although in respect of himselfe hee may not after this vow giue ouer his profession yet is it in the power of the General when he will to dismisse him though hee haue beene a Iesuit 25. yeeres and which is more as long as he goes no farder then this simple vow he is capable of all inheritances direct and collaterall notwithstanding the vowe of pouertie hee hath made Let vs not detract any thing from the honour due to the one and to the other but let vs see what discourse Montaignes hath made of these matters By this discourse saith he Montag ca. 50. de sa verite defendue speaking to Arnault two lyes that you haue made shal be refuted The one is that no man euer makes this vow of pouertie but that thereby all hope of succession is lost For it is made in the end of the Nouiceship as hath been said Now if notvvithstanding this vow of Pouertie they retaine sometimes for many yeeres the proprietie of their goods by theyr Superiors leaue and are capable of inheritances be not offended thereat neither call the Iesuits couetous therefore For this retayning is not for them who haue renounced this right as I said before but for the benefite and commoditie of those that are vnder theyr gouernment For if it should chaunce that vpon iust cause they were to be dismist out of the Societie according to the priuiledges thereof they shoulde thereby receiue no wrong but bee able to liue of themselues whereas otherwise beeing depriued thereof they should be driuen eyther to begge or to continue in the Societie not onely to the hurt and preiudice thereof but also to the endangering of their owne bodies yea and theyr soules to It is a nevve Lavve you will say true It is new and vvonderfull sayth
the great Canonist Nauarre It is a new Lawe as also the simple vow of Chastitie is which this Societie makes vvhich hinders marriage to be contracted and disanuls it after it is contracted But it ceaseth not to be right by beeing newe as long as it is ratified by the Prince and head of the Church who made the Lawes of other religious Orders and the rest of the Canon Law The newnes of a thing hinders not the nature of it The newe Raisins are Raisins as well as those of the Vine that Noe planted All right was nevve in the beginning and yet ceast not thereby to be right Sixteene hundred yeeres hence this will bee more auncient then the Canons of the Apostles are at this day which were as young fifteene hundred yeeres a goe as this is now The other lye which is also refuted by this discourse is that the Iesuits cast men off when they are spent with trauaile For as they are not retayned for hope of theyr goods so are they not cast off by reason of theyr pouertie but for some other iust cause Otherwise at the last they must needes dismisse all that make profession because they are depriued of all their goods and they should receiue none that is not rich neither of which they doe If there be any of so obstinate a nature that he wil not be amended after that he hath beene lookt to and medicind a long time it is reason that hee should beare the punishment of his stubbornnesse and that the societie should vse their right VVhich notwithstanding is not done but very sildome and that by the authoritie of the Generall onelie and almost alwaies with the liking of them that are dismist whom we haue not so much emploied as endured and waited for their amendment 10. and sometimes 20. yeeres With such griefe of hart doe they vse this remedie and so deerely loue they the saluation of those that are damageable to thē And so it is plaine that you are in all things altogether vniust to the Iesuits in slaūdering thē that they seduce men by receiuing thē into their society dismissing them out again Some man more scrupulous Chap. 51. of better vnderstanding then you will demaund vvith what conscience they can be dismist and absolued that haue once made vow of religion since the vow is a bond to God which he onely can release as a right belonging properly to him To that I aunswere that a vow binds according to his intent that makes it If any make a vow to fast after the order of the Chartehouse Munks he binds himselfe to fast as the Charterhouse Munks do not as one of an other order who obserueth no such fast They that make vowes in this Societie make them according to the intent and fashion thereof the intent is that they should be in such sort bound to abide in it as that when there shall be any iust occasion they may be dismist and acquited of their bond Wherefore hee that is bound hath no wrong done him if he be constrained to keepe his promise or if hee be dismist because he cannot or will not doe his endeauour to amend himselfe and accomplish it For he hath made his vowe with such a condition volenti non fit iniuria and he that forsakes the Societie without leaue is an Apostata and beares reproach and the marke of his sinne But he that departs by the aduise or good pleasure of his Generall who thinks it meete vpon some necessitie of minde or bodie or of his parents or for the publique good or for some other iust cause that hee should be licenced to giue ouer is thereby absolued from his vowes CHAP. 10. That it cannot be excused but that there is heresie and Macchiauelisme in the Iesuits simple vow THus much the Iesuit Montaignes Now I instantly beseech out holy Father the Pope and adiure all Kings Princes Potentates and Lords which fight vnder his banner in our militant Church that they would open their eies and euerie one particularly examine his conscience for the good of our Christian world With whom haue I here to do with the Iesuits who making aunswer to Arnaults Plea would haue thought they had wrongd their holinesses if according to the ordinary simplicity of others they had intitled their discourse thus A defence against Arnaults Plea but with a proud title they haue set on the front of their booke The truth defended for the Catholik religiō in the Iesuits cause against the Plea of Anthony Arnault I take them at their word wil labour for the Catholike religion with them there is nothing more commaunded vs by God his Church then the performance of our vowes I should abuse both the time my pen if I would proue this by texts out of the old and new Testament and by the authorities of the auncient Doctors of the Church sith deuotion first brought into our Church the orders of Religious Monasteries by which wee enter the three substantiall vowes of Pouertie Chastitie and Obedience This rule hath beene so strictly obserued that the Pope himselfe though hee haue fulnesse of power ouer our consciences yet neuer gaue liberty to himselfe to dispense wholly with a religious person vnlesse it be in fauour of some soueraigne Prince for the succouring of some verie vrgent necessitie in his estate And our Lord being desirous to shew that such dispensations please him not sometimes interposes the rigour of iustice verie manifestly That was seene long since in the Realme of Naples where when all the royall line was ended in Constance who had beene a long time a professed Nun the publique necessity seemed to claime that she should be disuayld that the blood royall might be renewed by her She was absolued from her vow by the holy Sea and presently married to the Emperour Fredericke the second of which marriage Manfrey was borne and of him Conradin But neuer marriage brought greater ruine to Italy then this because the Pope and the Emperour were thereby in continuall diuisions vnder the names of the Guelfes and Gibbilins which lasted an infinite while And as for the children that came thereof Manfrey was slaine in a pitcht field afterward Conradin his sonne taken by Charles of Aniow king of Naples who causd him to be beheaded vpon a scaffold I haue purposely toucht this example to shew how little God likes these vnmunkings what authoritie soeuer he haue giuen to our holy father the Pope who also hath beene drawne thereto with an infinite number of respects before be yeeld But aboue all it is a generall rule in Rome that in all other families not soueraigne the Pope neuer makes a religious man lay but only changes the rigour of the first vow into an other more easie to beare as we saw of late in this our country of France When as the Lord of Bouchage comming of a verie noble house had made himselfe a Capuchin and that after
of him in these words Well let him liue yet ioyfully and write and raue if he will against the Iesuits hee shall doate at last in his old age vntil some one of this Societie or if they disdain it some other for the publique good take agenerall suruey of that which he hath printed and a collection of his follies rauings asscheadnes spightfulnes haresies and Machiauelismes to erect a Tombe of baâ—â—full memorie wherein he shall be coffind aliue whither the Rauens and Vultures may come a hundred leagues by the sent and to which no man may dare to approch by a hundred paces without stopping his nose by reason of the stinck where brambles bâ—yers may grow where Vipers and Cockatrices may nestle where the Skriech-howle and Bitter may sing that by such a Monument they that now liue and they that shall liue hereafter may know that the Iesuits had for their accuser and slaunderer a notorious lyer a capitall enemie to all vertue and all that are vertuous and that al slaunderers may learne by the losse of one proude ignorant fellow to bethinke theÌ„selues better of that which they write against religious Orders not impudently to slaunder the holy church of God by their infamous blasphemous writings Doe you aske mee quoth I to the Iesuit what Pasquier saide of it I will tell you Hee said to mee in fewe words that this Pasport did well beseeme a Iesuits soule and he was desirous it might be engrauen ouer the gates of all theyr Colledges as a true portraict of theyr charitie that euery man might know that they did not name themselues the Societie of Iesus without great reason who vppon the Crosse prayed to God his Father for them that crucified him I and the Iesuit past the afternoone in these such like discourses by which I perceiued that this honest man had many good parts in him not coÌ„mon to other Iesuits Also I found that there is great difference betwixt him that being shut vp in his chamber hath all his wisedome from his bookes and him that besides his bookes pertakes of wise mens discourses by word of mouth The studie of the former hath his times of breathing but the latter that studies without studying hath great aduantage ouer the other For my part I was willing to be in his company and I think I had spent the rest of the day with him but that ill hap enuious of my content depriued me of it by the comming of two or three foolish fellowes who began to iest at mee saying they saw well my intent was to become a Iesuit You may be sure of that quoth I if all Iesuits were of thys mans temper So wee walkt and talkt one thing or an other till supper time during which there was nothing but iesting and merry talke all carnest matters beeing layd aside till next morning when all of vs beeing met together in the Hall euery one cast his eyes vppon the Aduocate whom the Gentleman requested to make an end of his carriere which hee did in such sort as you shal presently vnderstand The end of the second Booke The third Booke of the Iesuits Catechisme CHAP. 1. ¶ Touching the Anabaptistrie which is found in the vowe that the Iesuits make concerning their blinde obedience to theyr Superiors also that by the meanes thereof there is not any King or Prince that can defend himselfe from theyr stings I Haue saith the Aduocate discoursed vnto you touching the Iesuits doctrine and theyr coggings as also how that obtayning theyr priuiledges they haue maliciously circumuented the holy Sea Apostolick But I haue reserued this morning time to treat of the affaires of the state which they haue adioyned to theyr doctrine within which by meanes of their abounding pietie that raigneth amongst them they haue also intermingled that lesson which we learne out of Machiauell in his Treatise touching a Prince in the Chapter of wickednes For the murthers and killings of Kings Princes are as common among them in their consultations as amongst the most vvicked murtherers that are in the world Besides they haue giuen themselues libertie to trouble those Realmes and Kingdoms wherein they haue once had anie footing It may be euery one amongst vs will much meruaile at it but if you will examine and that without passion that blinde obedience which they vowe vnto this Superiors it shall be an easie matter for you cleerely to see the truth thereof And marke I pray you that I doe expresly say vnto theyr Superiors because though they likewise vow the same vnto the Pope yet it is not with so precise a declaration And that it is so you may well perceiue by this that in the Article which yesterday I read vnto you they speake but once of the Pope and many times of their Superiours So great a desire had Ignatius Loyola their first founder and Law-maker to teach how much this obedience ought to be esteemed of in regard of themselues and their owne respects Concerning which poynt I wil freely say thus much that though in Fraunce wee admit not this particular obedience of the Iesuits towards the Pope yet is it without comparison much more tollerable then the other For in respect of my selfe I will easily belieue this that the opinions of these great Prelats are so well ruled and grounded that though one should vow vnto them â—he most exact obedience that can be yet they would not abuse it Those Prelats are the men the greatest number whereof comming from meane place which were for their vertues merrits and sufficiencies at the first made Bishops afterwards Cardinalls and at the last aduanced to that high throne of the supreme Pastor In so much that theyr faithfulnes holines great experiences and auncientie haue as it should seeme drayned and dryed vp in them all those foolish passions which commonly transport and carry vs away But to speake the truth I cannot I dare not I will not giue the like iudgement touching the Superiors of the Iesuits â—â—â—leâ— because the honour reuerence and respect that I beare to the holy Sea forbid me so to doe Yet notwithstanding in their Chapter of obedience as I haue alreadie said after that they haue once mentioned the Pope they speake of nothing but theyr Superiours that is to say of their Generall their Prouincials their Rectors for these are they who euerie one of them in regard of their Order beare the name of Superiours ouer others And you haue alreadie heard that by the obedience that the inferiour oweth them they are enioyned to beleeue that by their meanes the commaundement floweth from Iesus Christ himselfe and that therefore they ought euen at the twinkling of an eye not onely to obey in such things of their Order as binde them but in all others yea that without loâ—â—ing or bidding as wee say they should obey and tie the will to the execution and the iudgement to the will to the end that the inferiour
may beleeue that the commaundement is verie iuâ—â— seeing that is was giuen vnto him And who seeth not that this may well be resembled to a dead bodie or to staffe that receiueth no motion but by an other mans hand yea to be short that this commaundement or law is wâ—â—hout eies And that therefore to commit this absoâ—â—â—â— comaundement to an Vsher or vnder officâ—â— and that vnder the maske of Gods supposed presence is properly to put a sword into a madde mans hand And when I consider this vow me thinkes I see the Anabaptists who said that they were sent from God to reforme all things from good to better and so to reestablish them And as men that hammer such matters in their heads they caused a booke of reformation to be published and dispersed And they had for their king Iohn Luydon and vnder him certaine false Prophets who were their Superiours who made the people beleeue that they â—â—lked and conferred with God sometimes by dreames sâ—metimes by lies and forgeries and that they vndertooke nothing but by Reuelation from him Afterwards they breathed their holy Ghost into the mouthes of those whom they found best fitted for their furious opinions distributing and diuiding thâ—â— thorow their Prouinces as their Apostles to draw and bring vnto them the most simple and easie to beleeue By meanes whereof they brought to their lure and whistle almost all Germanie especially within the tâ—â—â— of Munster where they had established and set vp their monstrous gouernment one while commaunding murthers and massacrings and an other while executing them with their owne hands in which they pretended nothing but inspiration from God And going about to make as a pray vnto themselues all the Kings Princes and Potentates of thâ—â— part of the world they published that they were expresly sent from GOD to driue them away Whâ—â—â—upon they made account to murther them if men had not preuented their purposes and practises Now then tell 〈◊〉 prâ—y you what doth the great vowe of the Iesuites towardâ— their Superiours else import but the obedience of the Anabaptists For further proofe whereof let vs set before vs a General of their Order who eyther thoroâ—â—â— certaine vnruly passion or particular ignoraunce went but verie ill fauouredly to make himselfe a Reformer as well of our religion as of all politique states who also being in the middle of his companions spake vnto them after this manner My little children you know that I being here present with you to commaund you our Lord Iesus Christ is in my mouth and therefore that you ought thorowly and in euerie respect to yeeld obedience God powred out his holy Spirie vpon out good Father Ignace the better therby to sustaine c vpholde his Church which was readie to fall by reason of the errours of the Lutherans errors I say which are spred thorow al Europe to the great griefe of al good Catholicks Now then â—ith iâ— hath pleased God to make vs the Successors of that holy-man so it behâ—â—â—â—â—th vs that aâ— he himselfe so we also should be the first workemen vneâ—ly to root out the same Wee see heresies raigne in many Realmes where also the subiect armeth himselfe against his King In some other places we behold Princes tyrannizing ouer their Subiects Here a Queene â—â—â—ogither hereticall not farre from her A King professing the same thing and other some feeding vs with farre shewes allurements the more deeply to deceiue vs. It belongeth to vs yea to vs I say to defend the cause of God and of poore subiects not in some small sâ—â—â—blance as our forefathers haue done but in good earnest They that in former time occupied themselues therein haue drawen a false skinne ouer the wound and by consequent haue marred all But we shall doe a meritorious work to vnburthen countries kingdomes therof We must needs become executione of the soueraigne iustice of Almightie God which will neuer be grieued or offended with any thing that we as Arbitrers and Executors of his good will and pleasure shall doe to the preiudice of such Kings as rule wickedly and suffer their kingdomes to fall vnto them whom in our consciences we shal know to be worâ—me thereof How be it you thinke not your selues strong inough in your selues to execute my commaundements yet at least let this be a lesson vnto you that you may teach in the midst of Gods Church Wherein also you must imploy all the best meanes you haue least the danger disease and Gangrene get so deepe a roote that it will not easily be remooued Wee shall at the length finde good store of workemen and Surgions to helpe vs forward herein But aboue al things apply refer to this all holy and necessarie prouision of ConfessioÌ„ of Masse of CoÌ„municating to the end that we may with greater assurance of their consciences proceed on in this holy worke and busmes The necessitie of the affaires of Christendome commaundeth it and the dutie of oâ—â— charge bindeth vs thereto These are the aduices and councels that I haue receiued from our Sauiour and Redeemer Iesus Christ who suffered his death and passion for vs and for whose sake as it were in counterchaunge we ought rather to die then not to ridde our selues of these wicked Princes And these euen these I say are the aduises which I haue from God whose Vicegerencie I exercise and execute ouer you though I be vnworthie I leaue heere to your owne considerations the places examples and authorities of holy Scripture which are mistaken and this Monsiure might alleage For of this assure your selues these Atheologians or maimed Diuines will no more faile therein then the Negromancers do in the inuocation of their spirits and diuels or in their healing of diseases And yet all these matters tend but to Anabaptistrie or else to the commaundements of that old dotard of the Mountaine mentioned in our Chroniclers and called the Prince of the Assasines who charmed and charged his subiects to kill handsmooth our Princes that went into the East to recouer the holy Land Whereupon also there hath remayned amongst vs and that euen to this day the word Assasine as proper against all murthering Traitors But is not all this found in our Iesuits And is not this doctrine scattered in the midst of that holy Order Haue we not seene the splintors shiuers of it When the last Prince of Orange was not at the first time slaine in Antwerpe was not this by the instigation of the Iesuits And when at the second time he was slaine in the yeere 1584. by Balthazar Girrard borne in the countie of Burgundie And where also Peter Pan a Cooper dwelling at Ipres vvas sent to kill Maurice Prince of Orange and Earle of Nassaw the other princes sâ—â—â—ue of whom I pray you did they take counsell As 〈◊〉 Girrard before hee was examined he confessed that he went to a Iesuit whose name hee knew not but that he was of a
red haire Regent in the Colledge of Trers who also assured him that hee had conferd touching that enterprise with three of his companions who tooke it wholy to be from God assuring him that if he died in that quarrell he should be enroled and registred in the Kalender of the Martirs And the second confessed that the Iesuits of Doway hauing promised him to procure a Prebend for one of his chyldren the Prouinciall gaue him his blessing before he went about it said vnto him Friend goe thy wayes in peace for thou goest as an Angell vnder Gods safegard and protection And vpon this confession he was put to death in the Towne of Leyden by solemne sentence giuen the twentie-two of Iune in the yeere 1598. Neither am I ignorant of this that the Iesuits will say that they gaue that councell to kill two Princes who had armed theÌ„selues against their King But I tell them that then the King himselfe must put them to death be they neuer so many because they were the first enterprisers and attempters of our last troubles in Fraunce as well against the King that dead is as against the King that presently raigneth But their murthers haue a further reach then that For minding to stirre vp Robert Bruse a Scottish Gentleman eâ—â—her himselfe to kill or to cause to bee killed by some other my Lord Iohn Metellinus Chauncellour to the King of Scots euen of hatred towards him because hee was the Kings very faithfull subiect they caused the said Bruse because hee would not condiscend yeelde vnto them to be summoned and sore troubled at Bruxelles And were they not pertakers with the Iacobin in the assault and murther that was committed against the last French King And haue they not at sundry times and by sundry meanes attempted to take away the 〈◊〉 of the Lady Elizabeth Queene of England And to be short haue they not doone the like against ouâ— King both by the meanes of Peter Barrier and Iohn Caâ—â—ill froÌ„ which God hath miraculously preserued him To euerie of which particularities I will allow his proper discourse and begin the storie of their assaults and murthers that should haue been committed by the Scottish Gentleman CHAP. 2. ¶ Touching an extraordinarie processe and course that was held in the Low-countries against Robert Bruse Gentleman of Scotland vpon the accusation and information of Father William Chrichton Iesuit because he would me cause the Chauncellour of Scotland to be murthered MEn ordinarily giue out and grant extraordinarie processe against such as murther or consent to murther but to procure it or make it against one that would not consent thereto this is the first of that qualitie that euer was heard of And this is the very argument of this present chapter A little after the death of Mary Queene of Scots the late King of Spaine coÌ„maunded the Duke of Parma who was then Gouernour for him in the Low-countries to send Robert Bruse a Gentleman of Scotland to the Scottish King with Letters in the which he promised him men money enough to reuenge him selfe for the death of the Queene his Mother vnto who he protested that hee bare alwaies a singuler affection because she had vowed and so declared herselfe to the last gaspe of her life to be of our Catholique Religion which affection hee would continue to the King her sinne by successiue right but yet so as hee should promise to become the inheritour of the vertues and religion of that good and worthy Princesse My purpose is not largely and by peece-meale as me say to meat and declare howe this matter proceeded though I haue good and faithfull Intelligences of it This onely I will tell you that the said Gentleman had at the same time charge of certaine great sums of money for the fraight of threescore shipps to the end that they might first serue for transporting of victualls and munitions into the Low-countries and afterwards for men of war which the Spanyard resolued to send into England hoping that the Queene of England should be assaulted on both sides A short time after Bruses arriuall in Scotland he hauing beene all his young dayes brought vp and nourished with the Iesuits there came thether Father William Crichton a Scottish man who some-time had berne Rector of the Colledge of the Iesuits at Lyons And he was in the company of the Bishop of Dumblaine who was sent by Pope Sixtus the 5. to the King of Scotland to make him offer of a marriage with the Infant of Spaine so that hee would become a Catholique and ioyne with them against the English My Lord Iohn Metellenus set himselfe against thys negotiation and for sundry good and weighty reasons councelled his Maister not to regard it Insomuch that the Bishop returned thence without effecting any thing leauing Crichton in Scotland who ioyned himselfe with Bruse and was his companion And because hee conceiued that Metellenus alone had turned the King from accepting the offers made him he purposed to shew him a Iesuits â—â—ick indeed And that was this A catholick Lord had inuited the King his Chauncellour to a banquet Crichton solicited Bruse if it would please him to lende him soâ—â— mony to compasse thys Lord that should giue order for procuring the slaughter of the Chauncellor assuring himselfe that by 〈◊〉 of the mony he should make him doe whatsoeuer hee would Bruse flatly refused and that not onely because hee was sent to another end as hee made it appeare to him by the iustructions and memorials which hee had from he Duke of Parma but also and that much the rather by reason of the shame that would fall out vpon the execution of that enterprise especially he hauing before made shew of friendship familiarity with the Chauncellor Yea that that murther would neuer be thought good and lawfull beeing committed in the midst of a banquet and in the Kings presence against whom the iniutie should specially be performed as well by reason of the small account they made of his Maiestie as for the slaughter they should commit vpon a person whoÌ„ he entirely affected for his fidelitie and wisedome And that if he did this deede they should minister matter to the King to exasperate him against the Catholicks as murtherous infamous and trayterous persons to God and the world who to that present houre had receiued all bountifull kindnesses curtesies from their King Crichton seeing he had missed of this his match weâ—â— to moue him to another and to perswade Bruse to giue fifteene hundred crownes to three Gentlemen that did offer to kill the Chauncellor after some other lesse flauÌ„derous and offensiue manner But Bruse answered him that as in respect of the fault or sin it was all one to kill a man with his owne handes and to giue money to procure such a purpose and act to be doone And that for his part hee was a priuate person that had not anie authoritie ouer the
one towards another then began this newe counfell to proceede This Iudas had neuer any purpose to kill the King before hee became a Catholicke because they deemed that as long as hee was plunged in his error the people whom they helde in theyr rebellion would neuer be drawne to liue subiected vnder his obedience But as soone as he was conuerted they doubting of theyr fortunes fearing least his reconciliation might reduce them beeing his subiects to theyr accustomed dutie they hereuppon endeuoured with all their power to preuent it and thought by one meanes or other hee should be slaine to enioy afterwards that priuiledge which they vse and likewise to place such a Monarch in the kingdome as esteemed himselfe most strong and one that should stand to theyr deuotion My intent meaning is that this matter be handled not onely before our holy Father the Pope his Consistorie but also that it should come before the meanest person in the world if he haue any sparke of religion iudgement For was there euer impietie more abhominable then this That our Iesuits should haue charmed such a weake spirit as this was by the holy Sacraments of the Church haue inticed him to murder the king Not because that he was an heretick but by reason that they suspected there was dissimulation in his conuersion Be it that they suspected hee was but dissemblinglie conuerted which I beleeue not But admit that they had suspected it yet is it therefore of necessitie that the life of so great a King should depend vppon theyr vaine imagination and that vppon this pretence they should counsell such a detestable murther and barter likewise to haue compacted with those that would vndertake it to giue them Paradise for a counterchange Besides in giuing more scope to theyr wickednes they haue abused the holy Sacrament of the Altar O God was there euer a wickeder Atheisme since the world was a world It was not onely a simple King of Nauarre whom they shot at but the greatest King that euer Fraunce enioyed It was not a Prince of a contrary fayth to ours but rather him vvho vvith all humble submission had reduced himselfe into the bosome of the Church Now will we giue care to this cogging Iesuit I deceiue my selfe but wee will heare him to the end that that which hee hath handled may serue for a condemnation against him and all his But behold what fruite had our Catholick Apostolick and Romaine Church brought forth if this hateful counsell had come to an effect Doubt you not but that the conuersion of our King was vnto the Hugonots a great cut in their harts So that if any mischance had hapned vnto him as touching his life by the Clergie good God how would they haue set vp their banners against vs in their assemblies What subiect might their Ministers haue had to haue thundred out yea euen in their Pulpets bringing heauen and earth together and to haue said that it was a blowe come from heauen by reason that the King hauing forsaken their Church these be the wordes which they would haue vsed God had permitted it that hee should be so soone taken out of the world yea by those religious Priests vnto whom hee yeelded himselfe Mighty they not haue had great occasion to haue said vnto them Our Preachers in theyr Pulpits handle a thousand matters with lesse losse then that was Had it not beene a meanes to maintaine them in their errours in stedde of preuenting them Did not all thys turne to the ruine and desolation of the holy Apostolicall Sea of Rome of which our Iesuits say they are Protectors Theyr proposition is not Catholicke but rather Anabaptisticall the which they reuiue againe in minding to take away the life of Kings CHAP. 8. ¶ Of the murther which Iohn Chastell brought vp at Paris in the Iesuits Schoole sought to attempt against the King in the yeere 1594. IT happened vpon Saint Iohn Euangelists day beeing the 27. of December 1594. after the reducing of Paris vnder obedience to their Soueraigne that the King going to his Chamber accompanied with many Princes and Lords founde himselfe vnlookt for suddenly strooken in the mouth with a knife so that neither he nor those that were with him could perceiue it for assoone as Iohn Chastell who was the Traytor but nineteene yeeres of age had giuen the stroke he dropped downe the knife and sette himselfe in the midst of the prease He was but young and none would haue deemed this furious enterprise to haue beene in so tender yeeres Euerie one was in a maze and busie to thinke who had done that traiterous deed and it wanted not much but that this yong youth had made an escape Notwithstanding God would not permit that this detestable act should remain vnpunished By chance it was that some one casting his eyes vpon him he became as one sore affrighted and appald with feare But as he promised himselfe to haue the Paradice of Iesuits if he died one of their maytyrs so also he confessed this fact more readily and promptly then was looked for at his hands Whereupon by decree of the Court of Parliament in Paris he was condemned to die Now here the Iesuits make a great boasting of their innocencie saying that in his examination and out of it also he neuer charged any one of them but all that he had done proceeded of his owne will and that in this confession he perseuered vntill the last gaspe of his life As for my part I haue no greater argument then this to shew that the trade of murthering was lodged within their Colledges And where there was any exercise of good education and studie no scholler would haue vndertaken such a damnable determination but such a one as was brought vp vnder them Wherefore we remayne all in one minde that he had there studied and passed his course in Philosophie True it is that it was reported that he had not beene conuersant there for the space of eight moneths past The reason of this diuersitie is most easie for in the other Colledges they know not what it meant to instruct schollers how to murther Kings and specially in ours But in the Iesuits Colledges it is contrarie and preached in their owne assemblies nothing so much as that alone Of the which indeed they were but too prodigall in their Sermons so as this young boy hauing as yet his soule infected with their poyson being newly departed from their schooles was not altogether healed Quo semel est imbuta recens soruabit adorem Testa diu Behold how that vpon the auncient instructions and memories of the Iesuits their Disciples suppose to offer a holy sacrifice vnto God in committing murther yea and that of Princes The same hapned sometime in Italy where there was one Cola Mentcuan who taught they youths of Millan in studies of humanitie and amongst the chiefest discourses of his Dictates he treated ordinarily of no other
long detayned in Castile takes his way to Arragon where hee recounts the wrongs that had beene done him to the preiudice of the auncient priuiledges and liberties of their countrey His complaint was generally applauded by all and especially by the Iesuits who inwardly reioyce at any occasion of trouble and commotion They begin by their confessions one of their chiefe weapons to winne the hearts of diuers subiects against their King in Sarragossa the mother Citie of the Realme giuing thē counsell to rise vp in armes in this heat euerie man betakes himselfe to his weapons The king of Spayne on his part armeth himselfe in like manner The Iesuits seeing the forces of the Arragonians on foot readie to put themselues into the field to encounter the kings power they turning their coates began by their sermons and confessions to runne a new course There was no more talking of priuiledges they made no reckoning of the world but of their consciences towards God who commaunded them precisely to liue in obedience to their King that if they would submit themselues vnto him he would take them to mercie a thing whereof they were well assured hauing Letters signed by him to that effect Vpon this promise of theyrs some particuler persons retyre themselues to the Kings Lieutenant generall and obtaine their pardon By whose example manie others doe the like By this meanes the Armie of the Arragonians is dissolued of it selfe The King of Spaynes forces enter Sarragossa without any stroake strooken where they beginne to play theyr parts they pull downe diuers houses to the ground as well of the Cittie as of the Countrie put the chiefe of the Nobility to death raise a Citadell within the Towne and put a garrison into it And since that time the King of Spaine hath commaunded there absolutely as hee doth in the rest of his dominions Those that are ill affected to the Iesuits giue out that they sowed the first seedes of this rebellion by a double carriage of the matter vnderhand which kinde of dealing is very common and familiar with them If that be true they are the more to be condemned I for my part who am enclined to iudge the best impute it wholy to theyr simplicitie and that in medling in matters of state wherein God wot they are but Nouices they ouerthrow those that fondly giue eare vnto them Wherunto the gentleman replying I am not saith he of their number that wish them ill for they neuer deserued ill of me yet I make no question but when they incited the Arragonians to reuolt it was but a iugling trick to further the King of Spaines intendments For as you know much better then my selfe Kings are manie times well pleased with such rebellions that they may thereby take occasion to suppresse and restraine the auncient priuiledges of theyr subiects and to reduce them into euen ranke with theyr fellowes And this leades me persisting in my former opinion to conceiue more and more that the Iesuit beares a Spanish hart that is a hart naturally deuoted to the King of Spaine Besides if you take this Arragonian historie euen in that sence yet should your rule fall short for this practise of theirs fell out most successefully vnto them The Aduocate made aunswere to the Gentleman saying The matter is not great you may conceiue of it as please your selfe as for mee I am of another minde I am perswaded my opinion comes neerer the truth But not to digresse from the matter in hand you shall finde no historie more strange as touching the argument in question then that which of late memorie hath happened to the King of Poland Stephen Batori beeing also King of Sweden This Prince being altogether Iesuited and hauing beene mightily importuned by them to be admitted into his Realme of Sweden at last resolued to satisfie their desire His ordinarie residence is in Poland and for Sweden Duke Charles his Vncle is his Lieutenant generall The King desirous to accomplish what the Iesuits requested signified his pleasure directly to his vncle Charles made him aunswere that the people would neuer be brought to like of that Societie and besought the King his nephew not to grow into termes with his subiects to whom he had giuen his promise at the time of his coronation neuer to receiue the Iesuits into his Realme wherunto the chiefe States of the Land had likewise subscribed But he that saw not but by their eyes heard not but by their eares resolued to goe thorow withall notwithstanding these humble admonitions and to enter his realme with an Armie to make his subiects belieue that he meant good earnest for preuenting whereof they arme themselues likewise on their part The matter was so carried that the Prince was first ouerthrowne by sea afterwards discomfited by Land and taken prisoner within a while after he was set at libertie and restored to his Crowne vnder promise to call a Parliament and to obserue what should therein be concluded and agreed vpon The States were summoned he in time of the Parliament conueyed himselfe away leauing garrisons in certaine places which were at his deuotion Beeing returned backe againe to Polande by the instigation of the Iesuits who wholy possest him hee gathered together the scattered boordes of his shipwrackt Armie implores ayde of the States of Poland to reuenge the wrong which he sayd was done him In the meane time while hee was about his preparations as yet he is the Polanders lending a deafe eare to the matter his vncle tooke frō him those places which were remaining in his subiection within Sweden and is at the poynt to put him quite besides his kingdome which was gotten by the prowesse of Gustaue his grandfather and kept by the wisedome of his Father Poland beeing not very firme to him withall And for all thys his fall and ouerthrow he may thanke none but the Iesuits whose protection he would needs vndertake After I haue trauailed into all these farre Countries I will returne to mine owne The Iesuits raised troubles in the state of Fraunce vnder pretence to roote Caluinisme out of the land In this quarrell the Spaniard was called to for assistance who entertained no meane hopes seeing himselfe commaund within Paris with open armes and aboue all other fauoured by the Iesuits who had the whole rule and superintendencie ouer that Anarchie or confused gouernment of the sixteene Tyrants set vp by the multitude I will not say what the departure of the Spaniard was this I will say that the Kings entrance into Paris was so tryumphant as the Spaniard thought himselfe happie that he might hold his life of him by fealtie homage Moreouer the trayterous practises of the Iesuits which vanished into smoake were the occasion that by a decree made in the high court of Paris themselues vvere banisht and expelled as well out of the good Cittie of Paris as out of the iurisdiction of that Court. To conclude I see not
choler of those which prosecuted the cause against them might in time coole and asswage as the manner of French men is The Iudges neuer stirre in any cause but as they are vrged thereunto otherwise they should doe themselues wrong and men might say they were rather soliciters then Iudges In this pause the iudgement of your cause was likely to haue beene forgotten when on a sodain beyond all imagination this fact of Chastels came to paste whereby the humors both of the Iudges and of the parties are stirred a fresh This was the houre of Gods wrath who hauing long temporized with your sinnes thought it good to make Chastell a spurre in the hearts of the Iudges to incite them to doe iustice aswell vpon you as vpon him and that you might all serue for an example for posteritie to wonder at To the accomplishing of this worke he permitted that Chastell who had beene nurtured and brought vp in your schoole should assay to put in practise your deuout Lectures and exhortations against the King not in the countrie but in the Citie of Paris and that his dwelling should be not in any obscure corner of the Town but in the verie hart of the City standing as it were in the midst of two other Townes moreouer in a house right opposit to the gate of the Palace the ancient habitation of our Kings of the supreme and soueraigne Iustice of Fraunce This house belonged to the father who was so infortunate as not to reueale to the Magistrate the damnable intention of his sonne wherof he had knowledge as himselfe confessed God made speciall choise of that place of purpose to make the punishment more notorious For in like offences of high Treason the Iudges are in dutie bound to their Soueraigne to cause the habitations of the malefactors to be raced and pulled downe and there to be engrauen a memoriall of the whole proceeding for which cause this house was ruinated raced by order in the place thereof a Pyramis or piller raised bearing the memoriall not onely of Chastells offence but of the Iesuits also and this to stand in opposite view of this great and Royall Pallace To the end that our posteritie may know hereafter how highly Fraunce is beholding to this holy Societie of Iesus Was there euer I say not in Fraunce but in the whole world a more famous or notorious punishment then this CHAP. 20. ¶ Of the Pyramis which is raysed before the Pallace of Paris and of the sentence giuen in Rome by the renowmed Pasquill concerning the restauration of the Iesuits sued for by themselues TEll me Marble saith the hypocriticall Iesuit in his most humble petition speaking of the Pyramis to record and testifie to posteritie the happines of a great King and the misfortune of a great offender what hast thou to doe with a poore guiltlesse Societie hast thou not inough of thy iust burthen but thou must charge thy selfe with his slaunder and defamation that had no hand at all in this fact But sith thy backe hath a tongue to vtter falshoode let thy tongue aunswere me and speake the truth Who hath engrauen vpon thy backe that the Iesuits did prouoke or perswade an vnhappie Frenchman to murther the most Christian King of France what witnes what deposition what confirmation hast thou hereof seeing thou doest take vpon thee to witnesse it to depose it to confirme it so assuredly to all the world Hast thou heard more without eares seen more without eyes then fiue twentie thousand eares as many eyes were able to heare or see at that executiō of iustice in the place of the Greue Dost thou in a brauerie say more then that offender durst say being vrged therunto with such rigorous tortures Assuredly the force of a strong fancie or imagination is great and wonderfull not only to cause these prodigious effects in our minds but euen in our bodies themselues For so we read that Craesus his sonne beeing dumbe recouered speech seeing his father in daunger to be slaine and Cippus a King of Italy sitting to behold the fight of the Buls with a fixt and stedfast apprehension fell a sleepe and when he awaked he felt his forehead planted with a paire of hornes One Lucius Cossitius greedily and furiously apprehending the pleasure which he expected of his wife that should be the first night of his mariage was chaunged into a woman Which makes me greatly feare least this honest Iesuit reading in this Pyramis the generall condemnation of his brother-hood should be transformed into a stone as Niobe was when she saw her children slaine For I alreadie perceiue by him that he hath lost the eyes both of his bodie and mind setting forth with such eagernes the innocencie of his Order and bearing vs in hand that this sentence was builded vpon no other ground but Chastels offence Seing therefore that of a wilfull blindnes thou art ignorant euen in that which the walles themselues can testifie and teach and that thou framest thy speech to a stone I thinke it best that thou shouldest be aunswered by a stone but a most auncient and authentique stone the great and venerable Pasquils of Rome who suiteth and resembleth you in many poynts For as you iudge Kings and Princes by certayne texts of Scripture wrested and misunderstood so hath Pasquill beene allowed from all memorie to do the like by Popes and Cardinals vpon the same texts ordered after his owne liking and appetite And as you by meanes of confession come to to the knowledge of a thousand secrets as well of the publique State as of priuate families so is be priuiledged by aunciēr foundation to receiue intelligence from all countries whereby he layeth open to the world that which men presumed to be hidden from all knowledge Considering which sympathie argreement betwixt you him I make no doubt but you will be the rather inclined to beleeue him For do not think but this cause hath beene by him handled in Rome and with mature deliberation adiudged that for the interest you haue in him he hath left nothing vndone aswell to disanull the sentence and deface the Pyramis as to restore you into Fraunce howsoeuer his endeuours haue wanted successe Heare therefore what he hath written to thee in Italian which I haue translated into French as faithfully as I could it may bee thou wilt rest satisfied thereby Thrice reuerend Father I haue perused at large the humble remonstrance and petition preferred by you to the Most Christian King Henrie the fourth of that name as also the notes and instructions deliuered to Father Magius to present vnto his Maiestie for your re-establishment which wrought in me great pleasure and displeasure both at one instant Pleasure to see the choise and varietie of good words that abound in you displeasure to vnderstand in what euill manner your Fatherhoods haue beene entreated If I mistake not the chiefe marke you ayme at is to