Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	france_n	king_n	league_n	5,193	5	8.9854	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31633	The cabinet of the Jesuits secrets opened in which there are many things relating to the church and clergy of England : as also the ways by which they encrease the number and wealth of their society on the ruines of kingdoms and families : in part began by Dr. Oats from an Italian copy, but now more largely discovered from a French copy printed at Colon, 1678 / made English by a person of quality.; Monita Secreta Societatis Jesu. English.	Person of quality.; Zahorowski, Hieronim.; Oates, Titus, 1649-1705.	1679 (1679)	Wing C189; ESTC R18321	39,724	49

both become the Spies of the General to whom they give an exact account of the most secret Affairs And from hence it comes to pass that what was thought most secret is become most publick when the means of its so being can not be discovered and Designs of the greatest import are prevented when it is impossible to conjecture who hath discovered them and which is worse they are most often suspected who are least guilty VIII The eighth thing which we should consider here is That as Subjects do naturally follow the Inclination of their Princes so all that pay obedience to the General observing his Affection and Application to State-Affairs and that he useth his utmost endeavour to enlarge and enrich by this means the Society they by his example study Politicks that they may be able to serve him in this glorious Design as they esteem it And to this purpose they employ their Kindred and Friends to search the Hearts of Kings to discover their most secret Intentions never failing to give advice of them to the General and his Assistants so soon as they can learn the least particular For as they know this is the only way to gain the good-will of their Superiours and bring themselves to preferment which is never given amongst them to any but what are known to be fit to elevate the Society to that Grandure they aspire to So they do what they can to render themselves recommendable by some Politick Act and so gain the esteem of being thought capable of the Management of greater Affairs IX So that as by the force of Fire the Chymists can draw Oils which can cure almost mortal Wounds and as the industrious Bee extracts her Honey from the Juice of most different Flowers so the Jesuits by the force of their Reason extract their own Interest out of the assured Relations are made them of all the Interests of the Princes no less than from the several Accidents which happen in the several States by means of which they not only allay for the time the Head of their Thirst after Greatness but gain an exact knowledg of their own Interest by the help of which they obtain their end by the good or evil Fortune of others But that which is yet more remarkable is that having thus stollen into the heart of any Prince they have a custom of bringing them into play or as others say setting them a dancing telling them they have excellent Abilities of doing such a thing or effecting such a Design or finishing such an Enterprize But so soon as they have began to employ themselves in favour of these Jesuits in conformity to their Promises coming at last to consider that such an increase of Power in that Prince they had thus encouraged may be disadvantageous to them they then retard as much as they are able the Conclusion of that Affair just like Lawyers who prolong as much as they are able the Suits of their Clients and then on a sudden by a surprising Artifice and malicious Address they perplex the Court and entirely ruin those Designs themselves had inspired Whoever shall reflect on the League of France which was treated and concluded by them and yet was abandoned when they saw Fortune favoured that King and upon England which they have promised so often to the Spaniard shall be so convinced of the truth of this that he shall never need a stronger proof May we not then draw hence this Conclusion That the Intention of the Jesuits being neither right nor sincere towards any they serving the World no further than their own Interest will permit them neither Princes nor Prelates can employ them as Counsellors without great dammage because pretending themselves to be equally affected to all feigning themselves French with the French and Spaniards with the Spaniards and so with all the other Nations as occasion serves and as the hopes of making advantage puts them on they care not in the interim to help or hinder the one any more than the other It is without doubt their irregular Attention to their private Interest and the Neglect they have of the advancement of any other Person which are the Causes why all those Enterprizes wherein they are concerned have rarely succeeded But then we must confess they have a rare Art in dissembling this Indifference some feigning themselves very zealous Partizans of the Crown of France others of that of Spain others of the Empire and so of all the other Princes whose favour they seek But if among these Princes any one makes choice of a Jesuit for his Confident this man can no sooner learn a Secret in any Affair but he gives the General advice of it who thereupon sends him order how he shall proceed without any regard had to the intention of that Prince or whether they be for or against his Service Now though all the Inconveniences I have hitherto set forth be extremely dammageable to the Publick yet there are others much more so As first is That the Jesuits being thus exactly informed as I have said of the Interest and what ever else passeth in the most secret Counsels of Princes those that pretend to be of the Party of France propose to the King or to his principal Ministers certain Reasons of State of great import which have been sent them from Rome by their great Masters of Policy Those that pretend to be of the Party of Spain or in any other Court where they have any access propound others there directly contrary to the first or at least which can serve to no other purpose but to entertain distrust amon●st the Christian Princes so that they are kept in perpetual fear of each other which disturbs the Publick Peace more than can be expressed and causeth great Miseries in all Christendom such a Distrust being almost an invincible Obstacle to the Conclusion of a League against the common Enemy and rendring those Treaties of Peace which are made among Princes very uncertain The second is That by their cunning way of acting they have so enlightned the World that every Man seems to apply himself mostly to the points of State Policy so that now there is no Action which is not poized in this Ballance nor scarce any ordinary Affair which is not managed according to the Jesuits Subtilty But that which is yet worse the Hereticks perceiving and imbibing the Maxims of this Society use them to our great dammage with those Princes which protect them So that whereas heretofore there were great hopes the Lutherans at least should one day acknowledge their Errors now there are excellent States-men among them and Politicians hard to be converted And now that I may make it appear that I have said nothing but the Truth when I attribute extraordinary Craft and Dissimulations to the Jesuits especially when they designed to gain the favour of any Prince I must not omit what they did on that account in relation to Great-Britain One of that

great a Love to their Society that persuading themselves it was of greater use to the Church of God then all the rest and better fitted for the Reformation of the World they concluded amongst themselves that they ought to imploy all their care and craft in the enlarging of it because with it they augmented the Militia of Jesus Christ the good of the whole Church and the antient Patrimony of our Lord if I may thus speak their Language And here it is that I shall need the Subtilty of Aristotle and the Eloquence of Tully to unfold the strange manner which these Fathers use in a constant increase of their Society which perhaps will seem impossible to many by reason of its Novelty but it will be sufficient for me to remark some few things only leaving a spacious Field for every one to form such an Idea of it as shall appear most reasonable to him and to this purpose I will content my self with the proposing some Heads or Points rather which may serve my design of affording a certain Foundation to the Reflections and Discourses of those who will exercise themselves in the Contemplation of this Subject I. The Jesuites foresaw they could never raise their Society to that heighth of Grandeur they aspired to by doing nothing but Teach Preach and Administer the Sacraments or by the sole performance of other such like Religious Offices For although at first they were entertain'd by many with a very great affection as I have said before yet at length they perceived that time diminished this Love which made them suspect their Religion had made its greatest efforts in its infancy and therefore they were put to the necessity of inventing two other means to aggrandise it the first of which was to discredit with Princes and in consequence with all others they could all the other Orders pretending great imperfections in them So that by this malicious address having raised their own greatness upon the ruine of others they possest themselves of a great number of Monasteries and Abbies and other great Revenues by their Slanders dispossessing the former Owners The second was by insinuating themselves into the Affairs of State ingaging in their Interest the greatest part of the Christian Princes in such a subtile and artificious manner that as it is difficult to penetrate so it is almost impossible to explain it perfectly Their General to whom all the rest pay a very exact Obedience recides continually at Rome he hath made choice of some Fathers who because they are alway with him are called Assistants and there is at least one of every Nation from which they take their Name one calling himself the Assistant of France the other of Spain the third of Italy the fourth of England the fifth of Austrich and so of all the other Provinces and Kingdoms The duty of each Assistant is to give advice to the General of all those events of State which pass in the Kingdom or Province he represents which he is inabled to do by means of the correspondence he holds there who making their abode in the chief Town of that Kingdom or Province inform themselves carefully of the State Nature Inclination and Intentions of Princes with which in conclusion they advertise the Assistants every Post giving them advice of what hath been discovered or what hath lately happened so that all these Pacquets arriving at Rome the General calls to his Counsel all his Assistants who present him as it were with an Anatomy of the World telling him the Interests and Designs of all the Christian Princes After which having considered all those things were written to them and having examined and compar'd them one with another at length they raise the Conclusion which is that they ought to favour the affairs of one Prince and hinder those of another according to their own Interest and Profit So that as Spectators see the blots better than the Gamesters so these Fathers having in view the Interests of all the Princes apply with the greater facility the necessary means to improve the affairs of him that is most desposed to their Interest II. The second Point which deserves to be chiefly considered after this is That it is extreamly mischievous that Religious Persons should meddle with State Affairs their duty obliging them to attend wholly the Salvation of their own Souls and those of their Neighbours So that the Jesuits intrieguing in the Civil Government more than the very Seculars themselves it is absolutely necessary for the avoiding many most dangerous Consequences to provide some remedy against so great a disorder For in the first place the Jesuits take the Auricular Confession of a great part of the Nobility of the Catholic States so that to get leisure for this they will no longer admit the Poor into their * These are certain private places in Churches made for that purpose like our Reading-Desks with Pewes on either side of the same height Confessionals and very often they are the Confessors of Princes too So that by this means it is easy to penetrate into all their Designs and learn all the resolutions as well of the Princes as of their Subjects of which they presently give advice to their General or to the Assistants which remain at Rome Now any Man that hath the least Judgment may perceive the damage which this sort of People bring to Soveraign Princes who have no other end in any thing but their own Interest for all the World knows that there is scarce any thing more necessary than Secresy for the Preservation of States so that if this thing be once lost they ordinarily fall to ruine which without doubt is the reason why all wise Princes are so careful to preserve it and keep their Intentions from being known whereas on the other side having often observed that they become the wiser by the knowledg of the designs of others and that thereby they govern their own Affairs the better they endeavour by all ways to attain the knowledg of them entertaining for that purpose Ambassadors and Spies with considerable expences though for the most part without a considerable advantage because the Reports which are made by their † Ministers Ambassadors are for the most part not very faithful But I can assure any Man that the General of the Jesuites and his Assistants have this advantage that they are truly and very particularly informed of what ever passeth in the most secret Consultations both by means of Confessions and of the Inquiries which their Correspondents make who live in all the chief places of Christendom and also by the aid of their other Adherents which I will speak of hereafter So that they do better understand as I may say what are the Forces the Revenues the Expences and Designs of Princes than the Princes themselves And all this without any other expence than the charge of Letters which in truth amounts to a considerable Charge seeing that every