AN EXACT and sound Discouery of all the chiefe Mysteries of Iesuiticall Iniquity With the whole Body of their Statisme and Diuellish Policy Composed and published in Italian by a most graue and learned Papist and faithfully translated by I. B. Gods vnworthy Minister Printed for Peter Paxton and are to be sold at the signe of the Crane in Pauls Church yard 1619. To the right Honourable GEORGE Marquesse Buckingham Viscount Villiers Baron of Whaddon Lord High Admiral of England Iustice in Eyre of all his Maiesties Forrests Parkes and Chases beyâ—â—d Trent Master of the horse to his Maiesty and one of the Gentlemen of his Maiesties Bed-chamber Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter and one of his Maiesties most Honourable Priuy Counsell of England Scotland THat I dare imitate His Maiestie in dedicating a Booke vnto your Lordship since neuer Subiectes had such a King to imitate I hope your goodnesse will be as gracious to pardon my presumption as it is powerfull to conquer all enuy The quantity of this Treatise is according to his Maiesties happy praescription t is short and will I hope rather direct then distract greater employments nor will the quality I trust bee displeasing though differing from that of his Maiesties Booke That containes Prayer heauenly Meditation this a Discouery of Iesuiticall policy and hellish Ambition As that cannot but enlighten your Deuotion towardes God for which your Honors so royall testimony of the King so this cannot but enlighten your zeale to the Common-wealth which is so generally acknowledged by the people That among all other kingdoms the Iesuites fish especially for this Island no man doubteth and I dare promise that in this litle Bark which is steered by one of their owne Mariners your Honour may plainly discouer all the maine baytes they lay for vs. In my forreine seruice to his Maiesty I haue found many such Pylates euen among themselues our profest enemies all which by your Honourable command encouragement shall bee ready to conâ—uct vs in the way of truth against this prodigeous Armado of Ignatian Furies let them saile where they will wee will beate them with their owne Weapons In the fighting of which good fight for the truth of Iesus Christ we shall all glorie to haue so deuout an encourager as your Lordshippe but none shall be more ready to venture his little all in so good a cause then Your Lordships deuoted Beadsman Isaac Bargraue To the Reader THis short ensuing Treatise wil serue as the key to let thee in to the whole treasury of Iesuiticall villany It was lent me by one of the most Learned Graue and Wisest Papistes that breaths that Ayre He will tell vs that all diuision and distraction is not found in Amsterdam or in our Church since all other orders are here against the Iesuites and the Iesuites against the Pope He though a stranger will inform our miserably-seduced Country-men what good Angels the Iesuites are whom they so much adore and to what trusty shepheards they commit their souls whose blind obedience and deuotion being made a sacrifice to Iesuiticall ambition and their religion an onely meanes to betray the cause of God their King and country haue had their merite thus Crowned with an Italian Prouerbe Achimanca vn asino faccia metter la sella adosso vn Catolico Inglese He that wants an Asse let him set the saddle vpon an English Catholike Poore Iesuite-ridden soules whome we cannot but pitty while Romanists thus deride theÌ„ God so shine into their hearts by the light of his Spirit that euen the pen of this Papist may work in them their own soules conuersion and the confusion of their Enemies And that it may teach them to consider how monstrous the whole Body of Poperie must needs bee when these cheefe heads thereof the Iesuites how euer outwardly shewing so strict Discipline and Deuotion yet are inwardly composed of nought but damned Matcheuilisme and vnhallowed Ambition AN Impartiall Discouery of Iesuiticall Policie ¶ Written in Italian by a Papist and faithfully Translated by I. B. THat the Religious Order of the Iesuits was at the first planted in the Vineyarde of Christ as a Tree which should produce an Antidote against the poyson of Heresie and such blossoms of Christian and religious workes as by the sweet sauor of them sinners might be constraind to bid adieu to the corruption of sinne and to prosecute the sweet smell of Repentance wee need no clearer demonstration then the lawes orders on the which this plant was grouÌ„ded by the first Founder thereof This Exordium will make you know that the Author was a papist Father Ignatius And surely so long as by those first fathers that gaue it life it was cherished with the dew of Charity and cultiuated conformable to the intention of the first planter It brought forth two braunches the one of loue towards God the other towards their Neighbor Insomuch that it was a wonder to consider the plentie of fruites which it brought forth in the excellent education of Children the sauing of soules and the encrease of the Catholique Faith But the Diuell who makes vse of all good inuentions but as a Whetstone grewe as eager and cunning to destroy this worke and enterprize as the other to promote it tooke occasion euen from the greatnesse it self of this religious order and from that admirable progresse which in small time it had made to peruert the first institution of it with an artificiall subtilty in sted of those two first branches of Charity now vtterly dryed vp hee hath ingrafted two other the one of self-loue and the other of profit from which the Christian Republique receyues such damage that haply a greater cannot bee imagined as I am now about to demonstrate in this Discourse In the which I protest before God I haue no motion either of Interest or passion but an innocent zeale of the Publique good for the which I do assure my selfe I was borne and that Princes knowing their Artifice may preuent them by opportune remedies Now we are to know that the Religious orders of these Fathers the Iesuites being enlarged especially by the education of Children of which there is neither Citty nor Kingdome but hath need was euen from the beginning thereof by verie manie much desired and by diuers Princes so fauoured that in few yeeres it diffused it selfe as far as other orders had done in manie hundreds This greatnesse which almost alwayes induceth into mens minds a change of Custome raised vp in the heires of Father Ignatius such a loue towards their Societie that esteeming that more profitable vnto the Church of God and more helpefull in the reformation of the world then all other Orders they concluded among themselues to endeuour with all Art and industry to giue encrease to it and in that to giue groweth to the cause of Christ the good of the Church nay to vse their owne words to the onely
with strange dexterity and wondrous iugling they vtterly ruine those designes to vvhich they had giuen a beginning The league of Fraunce treated and concluded by them not long after they abandoned when they saw things prosper on the Kings side and England so often promised by them to the Spaniardes yet in such manner perfourmed so confirmes this my Discourse that there needs no farther proofe Tenthly from what hath beene already sayde it necessarily followes that the Iesuites haue no good intention towardes anie Prince what euer eyther temporall or spirituall but onely serue them so farre as they may serue theyr owne commodity Nay it followeth yet further that no Prince much lesse any vnder Prelates can make the like vse of them because they shew themselues at the verie same time equally affected to all making them selues French with French men Spaniards with Spaniardes and so with all other according as the occasion requires frō which they do intend to extract their profite They haue no regard of the preiudice of one more then of another and therefore those enterprizes in which they haue intermedled haue seldome times succeeded well beecause they haue no purpose to serue further then their owne interest dictates to them And in this the Artifice which they vse is most notorious some of them faining themselues to be partiall to the crown of France others to Spaine others to the Emperour and some to other Princes of whom they desire to bee fauoured And if any of these Princes please to make vse of some Iesuite whom he holdes for his confident friend hee immediately writes to the Father Generall the businesse which hee hath to treate and expects his answere together with order what hee shall doe and conformable to that Commission he rules himselfe neuer regarding whether that Order be conformable to the intention of the Prince who commits the care of that businesse to him but if the society be serued he takes little care what seruice hee doeth vnto the Prince Besides this because the Iesuites vnderstande the interest of all Princes and are most knowing in all thinges daylie treated in secret Counselles those who pretend to hold with France propound to the King and his principall Ministers certaine conditions of State and important considerations which are sent to them from their Politicke Fathers at Rome And those that pretend to hold with the Crowne of Spaine doe iust the same with them and so with the rest From which course of theirs there ariseth such a diffidence in the hearts of Christian Princes that none giue credit to other which is a maine preiudice to the publike peace and vniuersall welfare of Christendome the which diffidence of theirs is that which makes it so difficult a thing to conclude a league against the common enemy precious peace to be of so little valewe a mongst Princes Furthermore vvith these artificious deuices they haue so opened the eyes of the world and so sharpened mens wittes in matter of State that this day to the notable preiudice of the holye Church they attend to nothing els but matter of policie and poyse all their actions in that ballance But to the end that these Iesuiticall stratagems may yet appeare more plainly I cannot here conceale the meanes by which they in ueigle Princes to their party There are some yeares nowe past since one of these Fathers called father Parsons the Assistant of England wrote a booke against the succession of the King of Scotland to the Crowne of England And another Father called Crittonius with some others of the same order in a Book which they wrote defended the Title of the King of Scotland opposing the opinion of Father Parsons and faining to be at discord amongst themselues although all this was indeede cunningly done and by the command of their Father Generall onely for this purpose that whosoeuer shold succeede in the Kingdome of England they might haue an excellent Argument to worke in him a great good opinion of their Society and to extract their own ends from him A faire example to shew vs that Princes are the obiects of all Iesuiticall actions and determinations and by consequence to make good their own saying That their Societie is a Grand Monarchy Againe that the trueth of this may appeare that the Iesuites haue no regard whether they please or displease any Prince where it toucheth vppon their owne commoditie although the experience of infinite things past maketh it as cleare as the Sun it selfe yet the particular which I shal here subioyn will render it euerie way most euident There is no person in the Worlde whom they are more bounde to serue and obey then the Byshoppe of Rome not only for many other reasons but especialy because they make a particular vowe to obey him Yet when Pius Quintus went about to reforme some of these Fathers reducing them vnto the performance of theyr dutie in the Quire they would not obey him esteeming that a notorious preiudice to their society and those fewe of them who yeelded themselues to the Popes pleasure accepting that profession were alwayes afterwardes in mockery called by their fellowes Quintini nor could euer any of them get the least preferment among them In the same kinde they opposed glorious Saint Charles Arch-byshoppe of Millain who as Legate alatere to his Holynesse endeauoured to reduce them to a Religious Discipline But what should I speake of these since they obey not the Sacred Cannons them-selues but agaynst their Decrees make Merchandize of Pearles Rubies and Diamondes the which they bring from the Indies and there is an opinion that the greatest part of precious Stones which are solde in Venice belong to the Iesuits The ground of which opinion hath beene receiued from their owne brokers whom they haue emploied in the sale of them But that they are no faithfull seruants vnto the Byshoppe of Rome those Fathers knowe well who for defaulte of theyr seruice were called by processe to Rome I neyther will nor can name them nor will I wade farther into this matter as wel that I may not bee compelled to speake of some Prince whom my Discourse will not very well please my selfe desiring to do seruice to all and to offend none as beecause I intend not here to make an inuectiue against the Iesuites but onely to giue a shorte and plaine draught of theyr courses and customes For as many times we behold one afflicted with some greeuous infirmitie sending forth such lamentable cryes as reach heauen it selfe and euery one perceyues that the man is terribly indisposed but no man is able to discerne the originall cause of his euill so the whole worlde complaines of the Iesuites some for beeing persecuted others for being treacherously serued by them but the mischiefe still remaines among vs. Nor is the cause therof easily discouered which is nothing else but a prodigeous and immense desire which they haue to encrease their owne power in respect whereof they
esteeme in nothing to distast any mā to deceiue Princes to oppresse the poore to extort from Widdowes their estates to ruinate most noble Kingdomes nay many times by their intermingling with alimportant businesse to cause iealousies and despight among Christian Princes Now as there woulde follow a great inconuenience if that part which were last formed by Nature as an instrument to serue the rest that are more noble should attract vnto it selfe all the purest blood and vitall spirites because this were the way vtterly to dissolue the whole So it is as inconuenient that the religion of the Iesuites planted into the bodye of the holye Church as an instrument for the conuersion of Heretickes and the reduction of sinners to Repentance should bring within theyr owne power all the most waighty and important affayres of Princes Prelates and extracting from them the verie life and spirit of their interest should conuert them vnto their owne commoditie Because from hence both priuate and publike peace is disturbed manie deprest which were worthy to bee exalted and many exalted which were worthy to bee deprest with a thousand other inconueniences that would follow vpon it I could adduce many Reasons taken from experience it selfe to demonstrate what an ingordgious ambition the Iesuites haue to encrease their greatnes but it shall heere suffice to make it knowne from Father Parsons owne words recorded in a Booke of his composed in the English tongue and intituled The Reformation of England Where hauing first blamed Cardinall Poole and hauing also obserued many wantes and imperfections in the Councell of Trent at length hee concludes That when England should returne to the Romish Catholike Fayth he would reduce it to the forme and state of the Primitiue Church making common all Ecclesiastical goodes and assigning the charge of them vnto seauen Sauij or Wise men which should bee Iesuites and who should make distribution of goods at their pleasure Nor is it his will nay he forbiddes it vnder a greeuous penaltie that any religious person of what order soeuer should return into England without their License resoluing that none should enter there but those who should bee maintained by Almes But as it ofte falls out that selfeloue so blinds the wisest man that hee beecomes the vnwisest it is most ridiculous which the same Father subioynes in that place When England sayth hee shal once bee reduced to the true Faith it will not bee conuenient that the Pope at the least for fiue yeares space should looke to receyue any fruite from the Ecclesiasticall Benefices of this Kingdome but remit all into the hands of those seuen Sauij who shoulde dispense them as they conceiued best for the good of the Church This being his designe that the first fiue yeares being past by some other inuention of which they are verie full they woulde re-confirme the same priuiledge for fiue yeares more and so onward till they had vtterly excluded his Holynesse from England Now who seeth not heere as in a Table the Couetousnesse and the Ambition of the Iesuites naturally described together with the desire they haue to make themselues Monarches And who seeth not with what cunning they endeauor to promote their own interest procuring it eyther from others good or ill What should I say more of them In the time of Gregory the thirteenth did they not make it their request that they might bee inuested of all the Parish Churches in Rome That they might there lay a foundation of their Monarchy And that which they could not get in Rome haue they not finally obtained in England where not long since they haue chosen an Arch priest one of the Iesuites in Voto who in sted of protecting the Clergy like a rauening Wolfe persecutes all such Priestes as are not dependent vppon the lesuites driuing them to termes of desperation and depriuing them vnder a great penaltie of mutuall communication so that by this time almost all the English Romish Clergy are Iesuites in Voto nor do they accept any into their Colledges who hath not past his worde to become a Iesuite so that when that kingdome shall returne to the Auncient Faith England will bee like to giue a beginning to an absolute Iesuiticall Monarchy because al the Ecclesiastical reuennews all the Abbeyes Benefices Bishopprickes Archpriestships other dignities shall be conferred only by the Iesuites I here let passe manie things as the pretentions which they make concerning other mens estates howe iealous they are of their welfare and desirous of their prosperitie as the fauour which they endeauour to gaine from Princes by making them beleeue that their subiectes are most deuote to theyr religion and consequently that they are able to make them well affected to the person of theyr Prince Such euident thinges as these I leaue for euery one to obserue and with four brief considerations I will conclude this present Discourse First that men of such high spirit and such reaching designes are alwayes louers of noueltie euer searching for it and begetting it because without some new raised motions it is impossible they should attaine their ends And therefore the Iesuits cannot be helpfull to anie Prince that eyther loues peace or the conseruation of his own estate since they are more likely to be the cause of much trouble and commotion nay haply to put in compromize his whole state if he fauor not their party or bee not partially gouernd by their counsell Secondly if these who haue not temporall iurisdiction are able to cause such great and so prodigious disturbance in the World what thinke you would they doe if one of them should by chance be created Pope First hee would stuffe the Consistory with Iesuites by that meanes perpetuate the Popedome to them and then directing themselues by their insight and interest of State and hauing the Arme and power of the Pope they would be enabled to put in danger the estate of many Princes especiallie of those who are neigh bors and confiners Thirdly it would be the design of that Pope if he could by any meanes to inuest their order of some Citty or temporall Iurisdiction with the which they would afterwardes make way for a thousand other designes whichthey could neuer effect without the damage of other Princes Fourthly when the Consistorie shoulde be entirely Iesuited the whole patrimony of Christ wold be in their hands and as one that hath the dropsie the more he drinkes the more he thirsts so their Ambition growing with their greatnes wold occasion a world of trouble Now because ther is nothing more subiect vnto change then matter of State these fathers with all their power and cunning would endeuour to alter the course of affairs that they might finally in duce the forme and proiect of their own gouernment and by that means absolutely immonarchize thē selues They haue had it long in their heads to gaine into theyr society the sonne of some Prince vvho should absolutely inuest the companie of his state and this they had long since attained if some others wisely spying out their design had not preuented them But hadde they once obtained that they would without anie difficulty haue made themselues Patrones of the state Ecclesiasticall and as they are very inuentiue subtle they woulde afterward haue foud out a thousand waies howe to enlarge it Thus they wold haue wanted no meanes that might make thē masters of their proiects and if nothing els would haue done it the ielousies which they would haue raised in the mindes of their confining princes would haue don thē no small seruice It is therefore most necessary that for the preseruation of publike peace for the maintainance of states for the increase of the holye Church and for the common good of the vvhole world that Paul the fifts Holinesse together with other Princes shold set bounds and limits to this society whose desires are so extremely inordinate least haply that followe which was anciently effected by the Dauidi whose courses the Iesuites seem to imitate who were not destroyd til the time of Claudius the Emperor And when I shall bee commaunded to write my opiniō concerning an opportune remedy howe to rectifie these fathers without anie hurt to them but indeede to their great good desiring rather to make them Monarches of soules which are the treasurie of Christ then of the world or of the profite of the world which is nothing else but vile dung J am readie to perform it with charity and with all that ability which it shal please God to bestow vpon me Laus Deo FINIS