with all imaginable Industry he applyed himself to it Hereupon he calls all the Fathers before him gravely reproves them for entring into these dangerous Intrigues for though he could have applauded successful Knavery yet was he unwilling to bear the shame or punishment of what would more than probably in time come to light the Fathers had one Excuse but it was an approved one that they had a Pious and Holy intention in all they did and hoped that their zeals to the Truth and the credit of their Order would Atone as great a failing as that came to The Provincial smiled and not willing to discourage a Pious Design whilst there was any hopes of a fair Issue he went again to Jetzer and gravely exhorted him to continue constant in his Obedience to his Superiours to believe that they were Persons of severe Integrity and having as he thought somewhat sweetned his surly Humour left him to himself The next day the Prior of Basil resolv'd to have a bout with him and when he had made his Approaches with all the Art and Subtilty imaginable he found Jetzer as cross-grain'd and awkward in his Faith of the Apparitions as ever especially in the matter of the coloured Hoste so that in conclusion some of the Fathers best Friends and such as were of the most discerning Heads advised them to make sure work to dispatch this peevish Fellow with a Dose of Poyson presuming he would tell no tales in the other World And that they might the more securely do it they agreed to give him the afore-mentioned Potion mixed with something that would do the feat that so when he came to Act the Passion again the simple Spectators might believe that in his Extasie his Soul Departed and was transported to Heaven by the Angels As soon as the Fathers Strangers were gone the Sub-Prior who was hardned in his Roguery to his own Ruine fell to work again and cook'd him a Mess of Broath well seasoned with Spiders and other Poysons telling Jetzer that the Fathers would come and Dine with him and had sent him a Mess of wholsom Broth to stay his Stomack because it might perhaps be somewhat late ere Dinner was ready he falls to crumb his Pottage and as dull a Blockhead as he was yet observed that so far as the Bread was wet with the Broth it turned of a greenish colour and that there were some yellow Seeds mingled with it a confused suspicion began to dawn in his Brain that there might be mischief intended so that for all that the Sub-Prior and he that waited on him could do for their Lives he would not be perswaded to taste a spoonful This vext them and saying little went out to give their confederates an Account how ill-favouredly the Project had succeeded Jetzer as soon as they were gone throws his Broth out of a side-window which lookt into a little Yard where the Fathers for their Pleasure kept young Wolves these greedy creatures made no scruple of the Mess but hastily lapt it up who in a while turn'd up their Heels and gave Jetzer an ocular demonstration what kindness the Sub-Prior had for him At their return he gave them a round rattle and spared none of his course Eloquence to tell them their own all which the Sub-Prior would have evaded by telling him that he was an ungrateful Rascal a wicked Varlet to Reproach them with what they abhorred from their Souls and that it was no wonder if it killed the Wolves seeing some things were rank Poyson to Beasts which were wholsom Food to Man as he endeavoured to prove by some Instances and he being no great Philosopher had his Mouth stopped but his Mind not at all satisfied Towards the end of June the Provincial with his Colleagues return'd from Lyons having dispatcht no business because the Italians of their Order durst not hazard themselves in France for fear of the Wars which then were hot in that Countrey and therefore their General Chapter was Adjourn'd to Padua whither the Germans Delegated Dr. Munken and Dr. Paul in the Name of the rest As soon as these Fathers came to Berne Jetzer made a heavy complaint to them how his Life had been attempted whereupon the Provincial promis'd to Examine the matter and to do him Justice in it Upon the Meeting of all the Fathers they all pleaded for themselves what they had before done to Jetzer so that the business fell and came to nothing and Jetzer must go seek his Amends where he could get them But to give him some Satisfaction Dr. Amman of Strasburgh gave him a Gold Ring to wear on his Finger which he protested was out of meer Honour and Reverence to that Holiness which he saw so eminently appear in him But at his Departure the crafty Doctor told Jetzer that that Ring was a Relique so Sacred and Precious that it ought not to be exposed to the danger of being lost and therefore with Jetzer's good leave he would keep the Ring for him as safe if he had it in 's own possession bidding him not doubt but that the Virtue of this Consecrated Ring would reach him at a far greater distance than that was Whilst these Strangers Sojourn'd at Berne the four desperate Accomplices in the Design resolving to push forward the Project to the utmost agreed to give them another proof of their Art and accordingly after Midnight Mass The Sub-Prior in the shape of the Virgin Mary and the Lecturer Personating St. Cicily entred his Cell The V. Mary first began O blessed Brother John my Son Jesus has sent me once again unto thee charging thee to press thy Holy Fathers to pursue his Command and mine St. Cicily took her turn and said I am Saint Cicily the Handmaid of the ever blessed Virgin in whose train I have oftentimes appeared to St. Dominick the Patriarch of your Holy Order be Faithful and Obedient And as she proceeded in her Oration Mary very Officiously address'd her self to examine Jetzer's Wounds whether they were perfectly cured and as ill-luck would have it he knew the Officious hand so that not able to suppress his resentments he stamps and rages frets and fumes unmeasurably crying out What ye Rogues and Rascals will ye never leave Persecuting a miserable wretch The Sub-Prior was surprized but had an Answer ready Dear brother this was onely to prove thy sagacity in these matters compose thy Passions and do not disturb the Covent with these out-crys and so saying they disappeared The Provincial before his Departure suspecting the Issue Advised these daring undertakers to proceed no further therein but to let it die of it self and upon his Report thereof to the General of their Order and four other of their most Eminent Divines they gave their Judgment That this Affair could not be of God but was undertaken and managed by the Inspiration of the Devil however they were over the Shooes and would be over the Boots too and therefore without any
assure him that they for their parts would not be wanting to pray for him as if the case had been their own Telling him that they knew not but God might make use of him to discover to the world matters of great Importance and if God should own him to be the Instrument to bless the Age with some remarkable Revelations it was nothing but what his former Methods did render usual to reveal that to Babes which he concealed from the wise and prudent promising him moreover that they would have a special eye upon and care over him and did expressely recommend the care of his person to the Cook They reinforced his overthrown Lamp recruited his Holy-water gave him new Candles and the better to strengthen his weak faith they placed some Reliques of incredible virtue and infinite value upon a little Table or Altar which he had in his Cell and in short shewed themselves very officious and serviceable in his behalf During those eight dayes wherein the Spirit promised to return the Sub-prior taught Jetzer the best way of Conjuring him on purpose that if he returned as if he had leave no doubt he would he might strictly Catechize him What he was Whence he came What was his business In what state he was In order to which they severely charged him to Discipline himself to Confess to Pray and Fast that he might be able to deal with a Spirit so unruly and procure the desired ease and rest for him Nay the whole Covent was solemnly exhorted to put up their Prayers for a poor Soul grievously tormented in Purgatory as was conceived that it might please him to deliver the Soul from its pains and their Covent from the present trouble and inquietude Upon the Eve of the Eighth day the Fathers and Friers Confessed themselves and having put on their Holy Garments every man fortified himself as well as he could in his Cell with consecrated Candles Holy-water and some precious Reliques that they might stand their ground against the assaults of this furious Spirit Only the Cook being nearest to danger by the special advice of the Fathers provided himself of the Holy Sacrament to keep the Spirit at Arms-end for he doubted much whether he should be able to close with him and come to handy-gripes The Sub-prior for the same Reason hung about Jetzer's neck a little Purse wherein was a small Cross made of the true Cross upon which Christ suffered and taught him how to exorcise the Spirit so as to make him fly with a vengeance and thred the Doors double Things being in this posture presently after Midnight the Spirit returns with a pack of infernal Beagles and breaking into Jetzer's Cell were so hardy as to fall upon his Person notwithstanding all his fortifications of Holy-Water Holy Candles and holy Reliques Jetzer raising up himself in his Bed falls a Conjuring the Spirit as he had been taught I conjure thee thou outragious Spirit in the Name of the blessed Trinity that is by the Father by the Son and by the Holy Ghost by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Blessed Virgin and all the Saints that thou tell me Whether thou art a good Spirit or no Who thou art and whether thou mayst be relieved or no These terrible words did so amate the Spirit that he recoyl'd to the other side of the Room four times he attempted to assayl Jetzer and as often was repuls'd but the Charm abating in its vigour upon the fifth Attack he came close up to his Bed and with a menacing voice thus accosted him Rascal If thou hast no need of me I have no need of thee and immediately down he kicks his Cruet of Holy-Water adding That he valued not these Baubles for they had none sincere and pure these eleven years the Church-warden always dashing it with common water and following on his discourse Conjure me these Dogs says he that haunt and torment me night and day without pity without ease or intermission though I am at Present out of Purgatory Jetzer presently falls to work with these Hell-hounds and belabour'd them so effectually that the whole pack of them quitted the tormented Soul giving thereby leave to him to open his wofull case in these words Frier John I am now by thy Intercession and that of thy holy Fathers permitted to speak Know therefore that I am a good Spirit I was formerly Prior of this Covent my Name was Henry Halbourg of Soleure Priest and Doctor of the Order but having unfaithfully managed my trust I was forced to fly to Paris after I had obtained my Absolution There I followed my Studies till one night going out with a Companion of mine we both met with a mischance that cost us our lives He because he had purloyned some Books out of the Library was doom'd to Hell and wretched I because I had quitted the Habit of my Order was sentenc'd to Purgatory where for this hundred and sixty years consult the Register and you 'l find it so long since to a Year I have endured a Martyrdome nothing short of Hell save the Eternity And now by the permission of God have got this liberty to seek some Relief in this Covent though still I am in unconceivable anguish and inexpressible Torments Hereupon the Spirit discovered its face all sliced and slasht the flesh and skin hung down in long Collops and Labels his Nose slit his Ears shred and the colour of his face was as if it had been newly Carbanadoed and laid upon a Gridiron Jetzer demands of him in virtue of his former Charm by what means he might be releas'd from this miserable condition The Spirit replyed That if every Priest in the Covent would sing three Masses for his Soul and if they would all in generall Discipline themselves every day of that ensuing week and if he in particular would receive the Discipline thrice till the blood ran down And if every Lay-Frier would say one Psalm five hundred Pater-nosters and as many Ave Maria's with seven Credo's And if he whilest the Priest was singing Mass would lye flat on the ground stretching his Arms in the form of the Cross and at every Pater-noster would kiss the ground in remembrance of the treacherous Kisses of Judas and lastly if the Fathers should precisely record all these passages in their Registers that he hoped he might obtain the Pardon of his sins and especially his grand neglect to Conform himself to the Rules of that holy Order And therefore would return after the Octaves to see what effect his miserable Case had had amongst them He added that the Friers had done very wisely to furnish themselves with the holy Sacrament and particularly that it was advisedly done of him to hang about his neck the Cross made of the wood of Christs Cross without which there 's not a man of them had escaped some dreadful mischief nor had he been able to have open'd his Case being under the custody of
tears which I shed when I received my dear Son from the Cross The little Crosses denote the Certainty of what I now reveal to thee The three drops of blood denote those three hours during which I continued under Original Sin after my Conception the other five signifie those five sorrows wherewith my very Soul was then pierced and are the infallible marks of my special good will These things are not shewed thee for thy own merits sake but for the merits of those thy Holy Fathers in the Covent which are partakers of eternal blessedness And for this unspeakable favour which is vouchsaf'd thee let it be thy Care to fear God and own his signal Condescensions Keep this Revelation secret and lay it up in thy heart declare it to none besides thy Father Confessor and the three Fathers his Associates that they may take Order that the greater of the two Crosses with the five drops thereto annexed may be honourably set in a Locket and with Letters testimonial from this Covent and that of Noremberg and also the attestation of this City of Berne may be transmitted to Rome and presented to the hands of Pope Julius by the Provincial of your Order in his proper person attended by one of your Fathers and all this precisely upon Good-Friday And charge his Holiness privately with himself to consider of this grand affair in these words Our blessed Lady who appeared unto Jetzer hath sent this inestimable present to Pope Julius the Lieutenant generall of her Son all over the World That his Holiness was called of God to the Soveraign Chaire for this special reason that he might determine definitively concerning the Conception of the B. Virgin in Original sin And that therefore he ought to confirm and establish this point of Faith by Feasts Indulgences and Processions and thereby render it famous That he ought to condemn the Adversaries of this Doctrine to disannull their Festivals and all Pardon 's annexed to them to expunge their infamous Scotus out of the Calender of Saints as a person eternally damned And that he should not listen to the suggestions nor be seduced by the Artifices of their Enemies Which things if he the said Julius should exactly perform he should then merit a more glorious Crown of Immortality and Blessedness otherwise he should with accursed Scotus unavoidably incur the vengeance of God As for the other Seal with the five drops of Blood on it let be laid up as an inestimable Relique in this Covent There being upon the face of the earth no more of the true blood of Jesus Christ save what is in the New Cloyster at Cologne and that at Marseilles which last indeed Mary Magdalene gather'd devoutly with the earth and all on which it dropt from the Cross But assure thy Father Confessor that in all this there 's not a word contrary to his Ticket and by the whole procedure of the affair he may perceive and shall be more fully clearly inform'd by thy self She began at last to discourse with him of many other trivial matters as that the Robe which she now wore was the same wherein Christ appear'd to her after his Resurrection That St. John was locally in Heaven and not in any earthly Paradise as some fancied and that she her self was there too both in Body and Soul Jetzer having with amazement hearkned to this Oration replyed as he was instructed O blessed Virgin There 's not one in a thousand will believe a word of all this to be true Hereupon she commands him to stretch out his right hand And now says she in pursuance of the Command of my Son thou shalt receive a Seal so Authentique and unquestionable that never a Saint before thee received the like Hereupon she gripes his hand and clapping it suddenly to the Bed-post thrust it quite through with a three-edged Dagger adding immediately Behold the most dreadful of my Sons sufferings which thou oughtest to take patiently in testimony of the truth of those things which by thee shall be accomplisht spend thy time well speak little be humble and obedient to thy Superiours Confess thy self and Receive the Sacrament every Sunday fast every Friday following for six weeks with Bread and Water and if I find that thou art affectionately devoted to my Service I will honour thee with the four other wounds which are yet behind as soon as I have miraculously healed that which I have already given thee Only what has already passed between us let it be declar'd this day in open and full Council The young Martyr who never expected such treatment cryed out most horribly upon the wound given O blessed Mary you hurt me grievously she mildly return'd Rejoyce and be exceeding glad that my Son hath accounted thee worthy to be conformed to his sufferings yet a little while and I will come again to instruct thee more at large in this matter Peace be with thee Hereupon she sprinkled him with Holy water and immediately withdrew with her waiting Gentlewoman St. Barbe personated by the Sub-prior and her two wooden Angels This Scene of Roguery so happily acted The Sup-prior runs to Jetzer's Cell which was now as dark as pitch our Lady having for the convenience of retirement put out the Candles and akt him very soberly what ail'd him to cry out so hideously He answer'd he was very well and ailed nothing The Sub-prior presently lights a Candle and spying some blood upon the ground starts back astonisht and asks him what was the matter Jetzer having told him the Naked truth which he knew without his telling he presently falls down upon his knees and catching his wounded hand with a seeming transport of zeal cryes out O blessed hand that has been honour'd with a Mark so precious by our blessed Lady And at once anoints the wound with a proper unguent to prevent the inflamation and to heal the wound he dresses and binds it up with the Cotton Lint which our Lady had brought with her on purpose telling him that there would come one of the Fathers to bind up his wound and whilst he was thus officiously doing his Devoyre to this young Saint and Martyr in came the other Fathers and courteously saluted Jetzer The Sub-prior whilest he was playing the Chirurgeon casts his eye as at unawares upon the Table or little Altar before mentioned and there he spies the shreds of Cloath with the Seals Crosses and drops of Blood He asks Jetzer In the Name of God what are these Hereupon Jetzer begs their patient attendance and directing his Speech to his Confessor opens to them the whole Mystery They all express an extraordinary Ravishment of Soul and that they might the more extoll these Divine Miracles they called in some other of the Friers forthwith every one retires and arrays himself in his Sacerdotal habiliments the Sub-prior with a Consecrated Lamp in his hand and in this Equipage they come from the Vestry and fall down before Jetzer's Table
Magdalene toucht Christ the marks of it appear'd in his forehead ever after with abundance of such impertinent stuffe wherewith the doating Friers used to fill up their Sermons Upon Easter-Eve the Lecturer being returned from his Journey two of their Friends amongst the Burgesses of the City namely Mr. Martyn a Goldsmith and Mr. Luke a Glasier had a strange itching humour to see and hear the V. Mary which communicating to the Fathers and they ashamed to deny and yet afraid to grant yet importunity at last prevail'd and they were desir'd to wait the Virgins leisure At last when they had almost quite worn out their patience to the stumps as they sate with two of the Fathers big or rather bursting with expectation out comes the Novice Megerlin who for that time acted the Virgin in all his Accoutrements his first feat of activity was to put out the Lamps and then applying himself to Jetzer Commanded that the Fathers should drive on the point of the Conception with more vigour and zeal and when he or she had besprinkled them with Holy Water and after a strange fashion lighted the Lamps again that were in the cross walk of the Covent using the benefit of their surprize disappear'd without the least suspicion given to their superstitious noddles Now these credulous fools were fob'd off with a very short interlude lest too long a Vision might have produced some accident that might possibly have rub'd up some jealousie in their dull brains of Imposture and Forgery Eight dayes after Easter the four Fathers which were the main Wheels in the Engine being in close Consult the Prior of Basil made them a Visit to see the sport and that he might contribute his Mite to this blessed design he brought with him not only a fine robe of a whitish grey for a property but curious Vizards and Masks and some cunningly contrived Engines to accommodate the Puppet-play and some small Wafers which the Sub-prior could varnish and paint over with admirable artifice They waited for an opportunity wherein they might give the Spectators a trial of their skill during the time that the Prior of Basil sojourn'd with them Now for a preparation to their designed Comedy they brought the Sacrament in its Pixe and placed it on the Table together with a Treatise made by Bernardin de Bustis the Cordelier as also another Tract written by the said Prior of Basil in confutation of the said Treatise of Bernardin and advised Jetzer if ever the V. Mary should appear again he should speak thus to her If thou beest verily the mother of Jesus Christ worship thy Son here before thee carry him unto his place and tear in pieces that Treatise which is erroneous about thy Conception That night the Lecturer appeared in the shape of the Virgin and kneeling devoutly before the Sacrament worshipt it saying withall Yes yes this is my Son and then takes the Treatise of Bernardin de Bustis tears it all in pieces with indignation and then turning to Jetzer Doubt not of the Truth of my Revelations which I have now so Authentically sealed and attested And presently she carries the Sacrament away with her and conveighs it to its own place in the Chappel In the Morning the Fathers gave him a Visit to whom he gave a particular account what had passed seeming to question the truth of these apparitions for his Confessor had put this Crotchet in his head that from thence he might take an occasion to set on foot a new game To whom the Prior of Basil answer'd Brother John An evil Spirit could never worship and carry away the holy Sacrament Why replyed the Lecturer cunningly did not the Devil carry our Saviour to the top of an high Mountain The issue of this dispute was they all agreed that Jetzer should conjure the Spirit upon its next appearance by the Power of God the Father God the Son and God the H. Ghost to tell him directly whether it were a Good or an Evil Spirit And if it should answer that it was a Good Spirit that then he should command it by virtue of the aforesaid Charm to say One Pater Noster one Ave Mary and the Creed which without question would be impossible for any evil Spirit to doe Matters being thus laid the next night comes the V. Mary with great state and pomp usher'd in with Wax-candles which she brought lighted with her from Heaven and placed them very devoutly upon his Table then drawing near to Jetzer he began to Conjure her in the manner and form aforesaid To this she readily Answers Yes yes I am a good Spirit I am Mary and Jesus is my Son whom I worshipt visibly before thee the last night and then carried him away to the Altar If thou beest a good Spirit replyed Jetzer let me hear thee say distinctly thy Pater Noster Ave Maria and the Creed Hereupon she falls down devoutly upon her knees and repeats the Lords Prayers till she came to those words And forgive us our trespasses then turning to Jetzer Mark brother John says she had I not been conceived in Original Sin I had small cause to say forgive us our Trespasses but rather forgive them their trespasses This said she went on with the rest Then she begins her Ave but after an odd fashion Hail Mary I am full of Grace and Jesus Christ my own Son is with me Blessed am I amongst women and blessed is the fruit of my Womb Then she falls to her Creed And when she had repeated those words The third day be rose again from the dead she added And appeared unto me first and not to Luke and Cleophas and so finisht the remainder And when she had in short said Dear brother John do not fancy that any evil spirit thus durst appear to thee 't is I the Blessed Virgin she comforted him with Holy-Water and taking up her Candles she went and placed them before the Image of our Lady which stood in the Walk of the Cloyster The Fathers presently found them and told the Friers that the Virgin Mary had brought those Wax-candles with her from Heaven which were of such a strange nature that no power on earth could light them the Virgin her self must come down from Heaven to do it or it must never be done Several of the Burgesses of the Town were show'd these holy Reliques and their celebrated Properties and when one or two had made a trial in vain the third man it seems unhappily lighted them which put the Prior into a great chafe yet he had an Excuse ready saying That when we begin to undervalue the great favours of God it 's just with him to take away their virtue and so seem'd to come off pretty handsomly But Jetzer at the instruction of his Confessor who to make him more settled in his Faith taught him how to raise scruples not being fully satisfied in the point was resolved upon an Experiment to try the Virgins Patience
done his best it would rise no higher than a pallid whitterish colour whereupon they all avow with most dreadfull Oaths and Curses that the aforesaid Hoste could be no other than the very Body and Blood of our Lord which the B. Virgin had brought with her from Heaven and that he was now bound in Conscience to believe it and to hold for reall all the aforesaid Apparitions and to own the Fathers for persons of honour and integrity Whilest this pleasant Comoedy through the ill management of some of the chief Actors had like to have had a tragical end the wicked Varlet Dandalus show'd 'em a fair pair of heels and honestly ran away The Prior of Basil with one of his Friers Bernard Sangar prudently retired to their own Covent under pretence of fitting themselves for their Journey to Pforcheim waiting till the Fathers of Berne should call on them that so in one Company they might meet at the Chapter The Prior and the Lecturer being just upon their departure they committed the grand affair in hand during their absence to the Sub-prior and the Receiver and April the 20th set forwards The Sub-prior for a Specimen of his Art after his Midnight Mass came in the shape of the V. Mary to give Jetzer a short Visit and a short one it was for when she had saluted him and through the hole in the wall wisht a good journey to the good Fathers that were now upon the road she disappeared rejoycing that she had come off so handsomly The Fathers being now arrived at Pforcheim with the Prior of Basil related to their most intimate Confidents namely to their Provincial to the Prior of Cologne and Dr. Servatius Frankel the Priors of Heidelberg Stutgard and Pforcheim what progress they had made in the Design with their good and evil success therein craving their advice and what was to be done further And in full Chapter the matter was reported to those Venerable Fathers as a most holy and miraculous Providence of God yet could they not so colour the business but that the greater part of that Assembly perceiv'd there was some sleight of hand in the thing Much debate there was about it some advised that the whole of it should be supprest and never brought to light least coming to be scanned by curious eyes and prying heads the forgery should appear to the world others on the contrary advised only to let it rest for the present and wait what might further fall out and that from the issue of things they might proceed as they found occasion In fine it was agreed that the affair should be committed to those Fathers who should have suffrage in the Chapter generall not long after to be held at Lyons to enquire more amply into the Intrigue as they pass'd by Berne and from the circumstances which they should find to make a full report to the General Consult and from thence to take due measures in their proceedings But the Sub-prior all this while at Berne stoutly pursued the project according to the Instructions left him by the Prior at his Departure And on the sixth of May reminded Jetzer of that Promise the Virgin had made him of honouring him with the other four wounds which he yet wanted to accomplish his happiness though the poor fellow thought he had ene enough and too much of the former The Sub-prior in order to this with much address and devotion washed his feet that they might be clean and so meet for so great a favour received his Confession gave him punctual Instructions how to behave himself in the sequel and for his Supper gave him a Mess of broth which composed him to a sweet sleep and when he was well in bed bestow'd on him good store of Holy-water and for the present bad him good night Not much after Midnight he returned disguised like the Virgin and thus salutes him Behold I am the V. Mary thy Protector who have hitherto preserved thee from all cheats and frauds Thy holy Fathers are perfectly innocent whose only design was to prove thee that hereby my real Apparitions and Revelations might be rendred more conspicuous and glorious and so they shall in the issue appear if thou behavest thy self tractable to my good pleasure I am now sent to thee by my dear Son who prizes thee as a special friend of God to honour thee with the four remaining wounds of his Passion to convince this Incredulous Age that he is really in Heaven and to give Faith and Credit to those wonderful Signs and Miracles which in thy sight have already been performed Receive therefore with an obedient and zealous heart these wounds in honour of my Son and for the confirmation of the Truth Jetzer was loath to undergoe any further penance of this nature had no great Ambition to be a Martyr and therefore answer'd Alas sweet and dear Virgin why dost thou thus trouble thy self with me She replyed Come come no more of this reluctancy against the Divine pleasure Well says Jetzer seeing it must be so Thy will be done The Virgin with great expedition and dexterity pierces his other hand both his feet and his side with the aforementioned Dagger which so conquer'd his Resolution and Devotion that he could not contain himself at every wound from crying out bitterly Alas alas pretious Mary the Mother of God why dost thou thus torment thy poor servant Jetzer in the midst of his Dolours observed that the Virgin did not pierce his feet quite through as she had done his hands and being desirous to know the Reason she answer'd O dear brother 't is because thou mightest not tread upon such tremendous and sacred marks In conclusion she exhorted him to all due obedience to God and her self who had accounted him worthy to partake of the sufferings of the Son of God she charged him moreover to exercise patience to be much in the acts of piety to be conscientious in obeying his Superiours and to be fruitfull in good works to fast pray and receive the Sacrament often And when she had blessed him with holy Water she departed leaving him this sweet consolation that she would revisit him in a few dayes And presently all the Candles were miraculously lighted and the Bells rung of their own accord to the great astonishment of all the other Friers This was a happy advance towards the retrieving of the Design which was almost grown desperate and now flusht with hope the Sub-prior the Receiver and Master-Cook came in and askt him what ayled him to cry out so grievously and so often upon Mary He answer'd Be content at present and perhaps to morrow you may know more But the Cooke who had the charge and care of his Bed making as if he had accidentally taken up the Rug suddenly espying his wound told the rest of his companions who after their first amazement cast themselves down upon their knees and with profound groans and sighs kissed his pierced hand
that are quoted in confirmation of the Christian Doctrine are equally to be suspected and rejected 7. Lastly Observe we hence how unmovably constant the Papists have been to their main Design who though they produce Miracle against Miracle Revelation against Revelation the Franciscans striving to out-vie the Dominicans and these again to out-do those yet all agree in Calculating their spurious Miracles and Apparitions for the abetting some of their Superstitions and Heresies Worshipping of the Virgin Mary Saints and Angels the Doctrine of Purgatory and the Mass above all which because they cannot be Justified from Heaven must be Justified as they can and rather than left Naked to shift for themselves shall be warranted from Hell But the Reader will find these with many other particulars through this ensuing Narrative wherein the Translator has kept so Superstitiously to the Text of his Author that he fears nothing more than to be Condemned for spoiling the Language whilst he has bound himself up to a rigid and Exact Rehearsal of the Truth The Contents of this History THe Quarrel between the Dominicans and the Franciscans about the Immaculate Conception Page 1. The Dominicans meet at Wimpten where they propound and agree to the Counterfeiting of certain Miracles Apparitions c. for the supporting of their Doctrine ibid. John Jetzer a Taylor comes to Berne is admitted into the Covent of the Dominicans he is judged by the Fathers a fit subject to practise upon p. 2. Jetzer is haunted with a Spirit in the shape of a Prior persecuted and tormented with Devils in the shape of Monks which ceases during the time he is in the Infirmary ibid. The Fathers meet in close Consult to advise how to carry on their Design the Sub-prior promises them a trial of his Skill how well he can Act the part of a Ghost p. 3. He appears to Jetzer followed with mad Dogs Jetzer makes use of Holy Water and Reliques to resist the Devil ibid. He appears a second time with great Terrour throws down his Holy Water yet promises to come again within eight days if he could get leave p. 4. The Fathers teach him how to conjure the Spirit they hang about his Neck a small Cross made of the wood of the true Crose of Christ to fortifie him against the Assaults of the Devil ibid. The Spirit confesses himself to be a Soul tormented in Purgatory that he had been once Prior of the same Covent he tells him by what means he might be deliver'd p. 5. The whole Covent Fast Pray receive the Discipline the Spirit appears again giving further directions for his final release ibid. The Spirit appears the last time in a Glorious shape give the Covent thanks with some hints that the V. Mary would appear also p. 6. St. Barbe appears to him to give Notice of the appoach of the Virgin p. 7. The Virgin her self appears declares her displeasure against the Doctrine of the Franciscans about the Immaculate Conception Shee gives him some drops of the true Blood of Christ shed on the Cross ibid. Shee peirces his right hand through with a dagger telling him it was the first of the five Wounds of Christ and that in due time she would honour him with the rest p. 8 These Miracles are divulged and the Fathers shew great Veneration to this great Saint Jetzer The Lecturer in a Sermon magnifies these Miracles as Vnparallel'd p. 9. The Virgin appears a second time opens and condemns the Doctrine of the Franciscans and justifies that of the Dominicans condemns the Council of Basil and tells how she got the blood of Christ for the Covents of Cologne and Berne ibid. The Prior of Ulm is acquainted with the Intrigue he Advises to Caution the Prior of Berne undertakes to Act the Virgin Appears to Jetzer in the presence of two Citizens p. 10. The Prior of Basil comes to Berne he furnishes the Confederates with properties and rare Engines to carry on the Design ibid. They bring the Sacrament into Jetzer's Cell and lay it with a Treatise of the Cordeliers upon the table The Virgin appears worships the Hoste tears in pieces the Treatise as containing Heretical Doctrine p. 11. The Virgin appears again Jetzer desires her to say the Lords Prayer Ave Maria and the Creed which she does after an odd fashion ibid. For a final proof that this was really the Virgin Mary Jetzer spits in her Face three times which she approves and commends as done to try the Spirits ibid. Dandanlus a Jew but a pretended Convert colours wafers of so exact a dye that they represent Flesh and Blood these are laid on Jetzer's Table p. 12. The Virgin appears again shuffles a red Wafer in the room of a white one Jetzer leaps out of bed catches hold on the Virgins hands and finds her to be the Lecturer he stormes and rages ibid. The Confederates are put to their shifts how to reconcile Jetzer many Artifices are used by his Confessor and the Prior of Basil but all in vain p. 13. To satisfie him in the Truth of the red colour'd Hoste they make an experiment to colour a white wafer with a Chickens blood Dandalus runs away The Prior of Basil of Berne and the Lecturer go to Pforcheim and in the Interim the Sub-prior appears in the shape of the V. Mary p. 14. The Sub-prior prepares Jetzer Ceremoniously to receive the other four wounds of Christ appears like the Virgin peirces his other hand his side both his feet with the same dagger p. 15. The Sub-prior Conjures up a Devil who instructs him to make a potion that should work strangely upon Jetzer and forces him to Act all the parts of the Passion of Christ he renounces God the Mass and gives himself to the Devil Body and Soul by a Deed under his hand written with his own blood ibid. Jetzer receives the Potion is in a stranges Extasie Acts all the parts of Christs passion before witnesses one of them at the horrid sight falls into a swoon p. 16. Jetzer continuing incredulous in the matter of the red coloured Hoste the Fathers resolve to poyson him p. 17. They provide him a mess of broth he suspects refuses throws it secretly out of the window where some young wolves lick it up and are poyson'd but they endeavour to heal and salve all again ibid. The Virgin appears again to dress Jetzer's wounds Jetzer knows the hand falls into a rage and spoils the sport ibid. The Fathers contrive how to make the Virgins Image weep tears of blood he is brought after midnight into the Chappel A young Frier is placed behind the Image to counterfeit the voices of Christ and Mary p. 18. The Virgin complains of the worlds Vnbelief about her Revelations and Apparitions her Son in her Arms comforts her and promises to take the matter into his own hands ibid. Jetzer is convinced of the truth of this last Revelation Company is called in to see the Virgin weep tears of blood p.
19. The Fathers plot to poyson Jetzer in the Sacrament he refuses it but receives the Potion and acts the Passion before some Lords of the Council p. 19 20. John Boursier a Curate openly questions the truth of these bloody Tears is mildly chidden by some of the Council and soundly rattled by the Prior. p. 20. The Council of Berne issue out a Commission to Advocate Derlach to examine the Truth the politick Fathers get it Adjourn'd and in the mean time prepare Jetzer how to answer the Interrogatories ibid. In order to which Jetzer is brought before the Image of the Virgin She complains Lamentably of the affront done her in questioning her Revelalations tells what dreadful Judgments God had Denounced against that City which had bin executed but that her Intercession for the sake of Jetzer had suspended them p. 21. The Lecturer who acted this part behind a Picture in a frame stirring himself imprudently gives Jetzer the Advantage to discover the fraud he rages and storms more furiously then before ibid. Another Commission is issued out from the Council to examine the truth but the Fathers insist upon the Priviledges of their Covent not to come under the visitation of the Secular Magistrate ibid. The Fathers carry these Reliques in Procession assisted by Embassadors and other great Persons then in Town ibid. The Provincial of the Dominicans at the Request of the Conuncil deputes two Doctors to inspect the affair who being privy to the cheat smooth it over p. 22. Dr. Hug one of the two Visits Jetzer and because he could not reduce him to his Will falls on him and with a bunch of Keys makes the blood run about his ears ibid. The Fathers compel Jetzer to swear upon a Mass-book that he would avow these Apparitions Revelations Miracles before all the world that he would stand to their Doctrine of the Conception that he would not reveal what had happened to him to their prejudice ibid. St. Bernard appears to him justifies the Dominicans Doctrine at his departure Jetzer discovers him by his shoes thrust him head long out at the window which almost broke his Neck ibid. The Bishop of Lausanne at the request of the Council visits the Covent is Opposed and without effect departs p. 23. The Fathers seeing they cannot gain Jetzer entirely to them plot how to take the credit of his Testimony if he should come in against them ibid. They propound six Articles to be subscrib'd by him threatning him with Excommunication in case of Refusal p. 24. The Virgin with St. Kath. of Sienne appear to him he discovers the Sub-prior by his voice draws his Knife and runs at him but missing the Virgin thrusts St. Katharine into the Thigh she falls upon him with fury Jetzer catches up a Mallet and lays at her head the Virgin le ts fly at him with a pint pot it misses him and breaks the window he being overmatch in the Counter-scuffle runs out locks the door and leaves the Fathers prisoners ibid. The Fathers consult how to make Jetzer appear guilty of Sacriledge to take away the credit of his Testimony he evades it pretty well p. 24 25. Jetzer unhappily discovers the Fathers Juncketting and Revelling with their Miss's he entraps them several times but they brazen out the matter p. 25. The Father seeing themselves in a strait betakes themselves to Conjuration The Sub-prior who was an Artist promises them Wonder but first tells them they must Abjure God Christ the Faith and give themselves up to the Devil or he could assure them of no good Success ibid. The Fathers with some reluctancy consent Jetzer will not be draw in The Sub-prior conjures up six Devils poor Jetzer is affrighted snatches the book out of the Sub-priors hand and disturbs the whole business ibid. Jetzer for his Stubbornness has Pennance imposed upon him they fasten a great Iron Chain about his naked body and force him to lie in ashes all Night and because he loosed his Chain they lock it upon him and gag him for three Days and Nights p. 26. The Sub-prior to humble his proud Heart with a red hot Iron bores his arm in three several places quite through Jetzer being overcome with these usages takes his Oath to keep secret whatever they had done ibid. The Fathers offer him the red coloured Hoste to eat he refuses it they torment him miserably and force the Hoste which was poyson'd into his mouth he spits it out it leaves an impression where it fell that they could by no Art get it out the Lecturer makes a fire and burns it at which there arose such a noyse as almost affrighted them out of their Witts ibid. The Fathers bind themselves to each other by an Oath to keep secret what had passed p. 27. The Fathers resolve to give Jetzer one Apparition more of the Virgin in the Chappel after midnight Mass she appears in a most glorious shape crowned with Stars she declares her mind with much Majesty Jetzer railes at her and spoiles the whole Pageant p. 27. Jetzer for Blasphemous sawciness is lasht with the Iron Chain p. 28. The Lecturer and Sub-prior are sent to Rome to acquaint his Holiness with those Apparitions Revelations and Miracles they visit Cajetane Vicar General of their order by the way he commands them to proceed no further in this Assair they return to Berne ibid. The clamour of the People being great the Council reassume the cognizance of the affair The Prior and Jetzer are summon'd they will confess nothing the Prior is remanded to his Covent and Jetzer sent to Lausanne to be examin'd by the Bishop Jetzer appears and upon Oath confirmes all the Priors Narrative onely be hesitates at the Doctrine of the Conception ibid. Jetzer puts a trick upon the Bishop p. 29. The Council of Berne troubled with these Delays send a Deputy to assist the Bishop before whom Jetzer confesses that he was under an Oath of Secrecy that the Fathers had mutually bound themselves by Oath for the same end that they had forged several Apparitions of the Virgin and had concontrived to poyson him c. ibid. The Bishop of Lausanne cooling in his Zeal Jetzer is commanded back to Berne where Jetzer is made a Layman he then discovers more of the Fathers Roguery he is sentenced to the Rack where he more particularly discovers the intrigue p. 30. The Council place a strong Guard upon the Covent both to secure the place from the violence of the enraged Multitude and to prevent the guilty Fathers from making their escape p. 31. The State of Berne dispatch Oubli with a petition to his Holiness that he would take Cognizance of this perplexed affair He issues out a Brief to the Bishops of Lausaune and Sion and the Provincial of the Dominicans to examine the matter ibid. These Delegates meet at Berne where they constitute Assistants Procurators Secretaries and other Officers and having formed their Court Jetzer and the Fathers are summoned before them
this Chapter one Dr. Warner Prior of Basil invited to a Collation in his Chamber the most eminent Fathers of their Order in that Assembly There was Peter Palmer Prior of Wimpten Vlrich Koli Prior of Vlm Wigandus Wert Prior of Stutgard with the Prior and Divinity Reader of Berne with many others to whom he sadly complained how by the Policies and Artifices of the Cordeliers their Order was declined in its Reputation their Doctrine scandalized to the apparent prejudice of their Honour and that therefore it was incumbent upon them to repair their own Credits and give some check to the proceedings of their Adversaries In the Issue of this debate they could find no better expedient to answer these ends than a neat Contrivance of some Apparitions and thereupon some Revelations which being well seconded by specious Miracles might advance their Doctrine all over Christendome and thereby abate the imperiousness of the Franciscans which without such timely Rebuke would grow intolerable This Proposal was well relisht by all the grave Fathers but when they came to Advise upon a convenient place where they might put the Project in execution with Secresie and Security it was Resolved upon that the City of Berne was the most Agreeable because the People were very simple and so more capable to receive those Impressions and besides great Bigotts and would therefore if occasion served maintain and justifie them with their Swords in their hands being no less stout and valiant than superstitious And a while after the Rising of this Chapter these Fathers now in Cabal for the more effectual execution of the said Resolution privately met together at Basil where they rigg'd out the Vessel in which they embarqued and ventured and afterwards wreckt their Honours and Lives This very year there offer'd it self to these Confederate Fathers a smiling opportunity for the accomplishing their design by the Arrival of one John Jetzer at Berne A poor young man he was the Son of a mean Peasant of the same Name born at Zurzach who having served a year with Mr. Erhard a Tailour of Lucerne and returning to his native Town in order to his travelling to Constance one of his Kinsmen there press'd him hard to go to Berne wherein he was seconded by Mr. Nicholas Herteâ—stein a Taylor of the same City who invited him to come and work with him upon his Trade which without much difficulty he was perswaded to doe But having had from his youth a violent though groundless inclination to Admit himself in some Religious House he entreated the Fathers of the Dominican Order at Berne to Receive him into their Covent At his first Instance he was Rejected but when he gave them privately to understand that he intended not to come empty handed the Prior sent to him one John a Novice in that Priory and easily admitted him where at his first Reception he wrought upon his Trade sawed and cleft out Wood carryed Stones and did other odd Chairs from the Feast of St. Bartholomew to the Festival of the Three Kings which makes up about twenty weeks And then at the earnest sult of this Jetzer he was honour'd with the Habit of the Order having first made his way by presenting the Prior with fifty Florens of Gold nine Ells of Damask a Sword richly hatch'd with Silver a piece of Crimson Velvet and an embroydered Surplice which things he pickt up honestly or otherwise I know not by working upon his Trade whence he might have learnt that the Silver Key will open the strongest Gates of the strictest Monastery Jetzer is now become a Religious person and at his first entrance is lodged in the Strangers Chamber where both before and after his Reception into the Order he was strangely terrified with hideous noyses and sometimes with dreadfull Apparitions of Ghosts and Hobgoblins so that once he was drawn out of and thrust under his bed But his greatest vexation was from the Appearance of a Spirit in the shape of a Prior who was unmercifully persecuted by other Spirits in the shape of Monks His face was as black as Soot his hands of the same Complexion his voice hoarse and broken and complain'd most miserably of the torture which for his Sins he was forced to endure He drove before him two or three black Dogs which as he said were Devils but that he did not much regard their furious barking because he had fortified himself against them with the omnipotent Sign of the Cross This persecution meeting with a fresh-water Souldier had so harrass'd him that he had soon quitted both the Cloyster and the Order if he had not been over-perswaded by the Reasonings of the afore-mention'd John who was both his Name-sake and fellow-craftsman and a Novice though a crafty Knave in the same Covent Not long after he was seized with a Pestilential Feaver and after his Recovery would gladly have admitted himself amongst the Carthusian Monks of Thorberg but that was not allowed because he had already profest himself of the Order of St. Dominick And the holy Fathers by this time had cut out other work for our poor Taylor who must go through-stitch with it e're he departed One thing is observable that all the time he lodg'd in the Infirmary he had a perfect Truce from all these Persecutions whether it were that these Spirits do not love to come within the sound of the dismal groans of the Sick or dying or that it was not judg'd Adviseable by the chief Engineers to venture these young and raw Apparitions amongst the many prying eyes that might there have looked a little more narrowly into the matter whereas they might presume more confidently upon Jetzer a fellow of an huge thick skull I shall leave it to the Determination of the Reader but so it was All the time of his Sickness he was as fully at rest as if he had sued out his Quietus est or a Supersedeas de non molestando but no sooner had he reassum'd his former Lodging but he was tormented more frequently and more cruelly than before This evil Treatment compell'd him to sue hard for a change of his Appartment fancying that by the shifting of his quarters he should shake off these importunate and unwelcome Visitants And his request was as easily granted not so much because more safe for him but as more commodious for the managing their projects A new Cell thefore is assign'd him in the great Cross Walk of the Cloyster between that of the House-keeper and that of Frier Oswald the Cook He had no sooner taken possession of his new Lodging but his old Tormenters gave him new Trouble and therefore he renews his Complaints to the holy Fathers with bitter tears that they would take him into their special Care and holy Protection Towards the end of February the Fathers had a meeting one night after Supper in their common Chamber where were present Hantz-watter of Marpach the Prior Dr. Stephen Boltzhorst of Oftenbourg Lecturer
thanks to all the Religious in this Covent for what they have contributed to my Deliverance assuring thy self and them that I shall be always ready prest to do them any service at the Throne of Divine grace Thus far matters succeeded well to and beyond expectation but Success is a great flatterer and teaches men to transgress all bounds of Modesty For the Fathers not content either with what they had atchieved or this poor wretch endured were resolv'd to push hard for a more Authentick proof of their Opinion and to make Jetzer a second St. Francis which they hoped to accomplish by the Appearances of St. Barbe and the V. Mary for which they had sufficiently prepared him by the former Revelation Having therefore taken a particular account from his own Mouth of what passed between him and the former Ghost they gave him ample Instructions how he should demean himself in the following Visions They enjoyned him to be Earnest in humble Prayer and all acts of Piety they exhort him to be of a good Courage and told him withall that for their better inspection over him and whatever accident might happen to him they had made a Hole in the Wall that divided his Chamber from the Receiver's which was very true but upon another design namely that the Novices in the Neighbouring Cells who understood not the Intrigue might not chance to smell some knavery nor discover this mystery of Iniquity That very evening before this designed apparition his Father Confessor brought to his dear Son Jetzer a Ticket which he laid upon his Table with this Instruction that when the Virgin should appear he should humbly tender it to her hands saying If thou beest really and indeed the Virgin Mary take this Ticket and carry it before the Hoste which is upon the great Altar of the Church Now this Ticket you must know contained divers sophistical Questions as whether St. Bernard Anselme Alexander of Hales Bonaventure and St. Thomas had taught the truth in this point or no Whether St. Katherine of Sienne St. Lucie of Ferrara both of the Order of the Dominicans had really and indeed received the Five wounds of our Lord and whether they had publisht the true Doctrine of her Conception And lastly what we ought to judge concerning the Council of Basil All things being now ready between Ten and Eleven at Night enters the Lecturer in the shape of a very fair young Lady cloathed as white as Innocence it self her flaxen hair dishevelled and playing upon her shoulders in this Equipage she finds Jetzer and thus with courteous words salutes him Frier John the Friend of God! I am St. Barbe for whom thou hast always had a singular Devotion since the day I drew thee out of the Rhine when thou thoughtest thou shouldest have been drowned I am a Martyr of Jesus Christ and servant of the V. Mary who will condescend to visit thee to illuminate thee in many secrets whereof that blessed Spirit which late appeared to thee and who now enjoys eternal happiness gave thee some hints See here is a Ticket I know well what thou art enjoyn'd to do with it I will goe and carry it to the blessed Virgin and they shall find it in that very place which thy Father Confessor desir'd And with that word she withdrew and entring the Quire of the Church laid it before the Hoste upon the great Altar having first put to it a Seal of five drops of Blood which was his own and the Sub-prior's contrivance Hereupon the Candles and Lamps in the Walk of the Covent and those in the Church were all lighted and the Bells in Jetzers and the Receivers Cell rung in a miraculous manner of their own accord which was the common trick in all the former Apparitions since the deliverance of the poor Prior's Soul out of Purgatory This feat being so neatly carried the Lecturer retreats to his Cell where he strips himself of his borrowed properties The Sub-prior runs in all haste to Jetzer whom he found wholly transported between fear and joy and Asks him what discourse he had with St. Barbe who gave him no other Answere but desir'd him he might speak with his Father Confessor To whom he rehearsed all the particular occurrences of their enterview A needless labour to acquaint him with what he knew as well as himself His Confessor gave him no other Return but some serious exhortations but presently he taking the Sub-prior Frier Osweld the Cook and Jetzer along with him went into the Church to find out the foremention'd Ticket which they found in the assigned place with the precious Seal of five drops upon it whereupon they return magnifying and exalting all that had happen'd to Jetzer as a thing wholly miraculous charging him at their departure to wait for the Apparition of the blessed Virgin with Devotion About one a Clock at night the Lecturer personating the Virgin Mary with one St. Barbe to wait on her made another Visit to Jetzer and for the greater credit of the Cause she was introduced by two Angels who supported her by both her feet aloft in the Aire all in Mourning habit as to the form but yet pure white to keep Decorum for so we must suppose the Saints above do mourn Her Vail trail'd decently on the ground and the upper part did so Muffle the best part of her face and half her Arms that they hoped the whole of the Knavery would be hidden also And thus accoutred she addresses her self to poor Jetzer Frier John be not afraid I am Mary sent to thee by my Son Jesus to assure thee of the Truth of whatsoever that good Spirit told thee concerning this my Appearance Know therefore that my Son can no longer endure that the Honour to be Conceived without Original Sin which is his sole Prerogative should upon my account be sacrilegiously ravisht from him Nor can I own this gross error of the Cordeliers as an honour to my self which tends so visibly to the reproach of my Son Nay I am thereby highly provoked and that thy holy Fathers may be assured that they are in the right in this weighty point and that they may have undoubted proofs that I was conceived in Original Sin by my Mother St. Ann in common with the rest of Mankind Behold here I have placed with the Ticket which St. Barbe delivered lately to me two Seals made of the shreds of Cotton which I scrap'd from that pure fine linnen with which my Son was wrapt when he lay in the Manger upon each of which is form'd a little Cross of that very blood which he shed when he hung upon the Tree which Blood I gather'd up my self and have carefully kept it to this hour in memory of his Passion Vpon the greater of these two Seals thou seest here are three drops of this precious blood upon the lesser there are five drops of the same blood although mingled as thou wilt easily believe with my own
and thereby to gain if possible and unquestionable demonstration of the reality of her appearance The next time therefore she appeared He very confidently spits three times in her face and that it might be more effectual he added In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Thinking wisely that the Devil being a passionate Spirit he would never endure such a high affront But the Virgin answer'd him with singular mildness Dear brother It becomes us to try the Spirits whether they be of God and therefore thou hast not sinned by this thy act Now though Jetzer was abundantly satisfied in this matter fully believing that this was indeed the V. Mary yet they had cunningly put it into his head to know the true difference between good and evil Spirits The four Engineers therefore with the Prior of Basil to put all things for ever out of question and that Jetzer might arrive at a plerophory in the case had provided them of a Wafer so artificially died of a flesh colour by one Lazarus Dandalus a crafty young knave of their own Order that might have imposed upon a more discerning person than such a Blockhead as Jetzer This Dandalus you must understand was originally a Jew but at last was baptized and enter'd into the Order of the Dominicans under which Mask he practised his Villanies more securely till the Civil Magistrate in the end at Lipsick burnt him for his Rogueries At present he was a proper tool for these holy Fathers The Prior of Basil for his share in the Plott had sent to his Covent for some Wafers made twice as thick as the ordinary ones which this Dandalus coloured so artificially that the Fathers promised themselves rare success in their designed enterprize And now they address themselves once again to Jetzer telling him that for a final determination of the reality of these matters they would bring the holy Sacrament and place it in his Cell upon the Table counselling him that if ever the Blessed Virgin should appear again which they resolved she should he should more effectually conjure her by the power of the blessed Trinity by the Passion by the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to tell him in plain terms whether she were really the very Mother of God whether her Revelations were of indubitable Truth And if she answered affirmatively that then he should reply If thou art the Mother of God shew me which is thy Son and carry him hence to his place The project thus contrived upon Wednesday the 14 of April they brought the Sacrament into his Cell and placed it decently and reverently upon the Table and on each side thereof placed a Wax-candle in the very Candlesticks which were consecrated for and used at the Mass but that night all was quiet no Mary appear'd But the night after being the 15 of April the Prior and the Father Confessor entertain'd Jetzer with many flattering discourses mixing Instructions and Directions for his Behaviour in all future occurrences whilest the Sub-prior and the Receiver were fitting their Tools Properties and Engines for the Show All things being ready their Pulleys Wheels Screws Wires and Devices for the management of their Puppets orderly placed in the Receiver's Chamber to give life and motion to the Opera that was to be acted in Jetzers these Fathers conduct Jetzer to his Chamber and having worshipt the Hoste sprinkled him with Holy-Water drawn his Curtains close about him they civilly bad him Good Night and departed Not much after Ten a Clock the Lecturer in the Habit of the Virgin comes in and having put out the Candles on each side of the Sacrament and the Lamp which stood in a corner of the Chamber which was usually the Prologue to the Play and the first feat of activity shew'd by the Virgin she marches up and down the room with great state and majesty and without speaking one word good or bad she draws the Curtains and giving him a dash or two of her Holy-water she withdraws but not long after returns with a little bag in her hand and putting out a Candle which remain'd yet lighted in the room there appeared in the place five other Candles miraculously lighted at a clap that is one on each side the Sacrament the Lamp and two others in the hands of two Angels which under the Rose were the Prior and Sub-prior Jetzer now lying with his eyes wide open to make observations saw to his astonishment the Virgin hanging in the Aire between the two Angels directly over the Hoste and presently he falls a conjuring her as he had been instructed Art thou the Virgin Mary then let me see thy Son and carry him hence and set him in his proper place Hereupon she with much Devotion kisses the Hoste and opening the Pixe takes out the two consecrated Wafers the one white and the other red Jetzer knew nothing all this while of the red Wafer The red one she kept secretly in her hand and holding up the white one Behold said she brother John my dear Son my own flesh and blood born of my body and that thou mayst now be assured that both I and all men descended from Adam by ordinary generation are born in Original Sin excepting only my beloved Son whose sole Priviledge it is and that thou mayst know that thy holy Fathers ought to preach and maintain this grand Article yea and advertise the Pope himself of it Behold I say this Hoste yea this my Son shall in the twinkling of an eye be transubstanstiated into the reall and true-body of Christ and become visible Flesh And with that she dropt the red Hoste which she had kept close in her hand upon the Table Jetzer at this was so surprized that forgetting the Commands of the Fathers not to stir out of his place whatever he saw or heard by a strange Providence hastily puts on his Morning-gown and starting out of his Bed runs directly to our Lady They that managed the Engines standing in the Receivers Chamber that is Megerlin and the Cook seeing this action through the hole in the wall whisper'd one to the other See! see by the blood of God this young Rascal is got out of bed The Angels in the mean time aware of the danger had put out their Candles and Mary endeavouring to do as much by those two that stood upon the Table Jetzer being very nimble seized one of them and with his other hand at the same time laid fast hold upon her hand so that she was forced to drop the other white Host upon the Pixe Jetzer at this having discovered something of the knavery fell a weeping storming and raging most furiously crying out O ye Rogues and panderly Rascals and all the ugly Names he could think on are ye not ashamed thus to prophane the holy Sacrament and blaspheme the Name of God! to Abuse our Lady only to gull a sorry wretched young man And immediately opening the door
he there finds the Prior of Basil he desires him to come in and see the Knavery and devilish Subtilty of these Villains but the Prior between fear and shame desir'd to be excused and so retired Jetzer comes back and there he saw the disguised Fathers coming down from their Engines plainly now perceiving how the roguery had been carried on But the Fathers who were never wanting to themselves and knew how to make Impudence supply the place of policy addrest themselves to him thus Come come dear brother John be not so transported with passion what has been done was out of an honest and pious design as you shall see evidently in a moment compose your self a little that you fall not into mortal sin by sinister interpretations of the fact of your most innocent Fathers This said they withdrew themselves into the Receivers Cell there they quitted their Properties their Masks Visors and all their Accoutrements and so went to a Midnight Mass leaving poor Jetzer tossed with the storms and tempests of his own breast After Mass the Actors in their Religious Habits came to seek for the two Wafers which in the scuffle dropt down these they placed on the Altar magnifying amongst their friends in the Neighbourhood these great Miracles and by this means made a shift to pick the Pockets of these superstitious Bigotts of no inconsiderable summes Nevertheless the Fathers being thus surprized and taken in the very Manner though they set a good face on 't yet thought it adviseable to use more precaution for the future and after mature deliberation in a full Consult the management of the design if possibly it might be retrieved was committed to the Confessor who early next morning stealing into Jetzer's Cell found him fast asleep tyred out with the turmoils of the former night He ask'd him very kindly how it was with him hoping to sweeten and gain him over to them with good words But Jetzer's Choler awakening with him flatly told the Confessor that he was now abundantly satisfied that this whole business was nothing but pure Legerdemain and Knavery that he knew very well who the Rascals were that had abused him and that though he had no friend to right him he believed there was a God who would vindicate his Cause and take signal vengeance upon them The Father Confessor saw himself in a wrong box and had no defence but to protest and swear by whatever was sacred that they were perfectly innocent and that he ought not once to entertain a thought so scandalous that persons of their Character were capable of such gross impiety which would infallibly draw upon their heads the wrath of a just God And that indeed whatever they had done in this last Scene was for no other end but to prove whether he could distinguish between counterfeit Apparitions and true And seeing he had entertain'd some unwarrantable suspicions about the truth of the former Miracles it was a righteous thing with God to try him with this one fallacy which yet was in mercy to him and to them all seeing at the same time he had got a sight of the Sacrament so wonderfully transubstantiated which the very night before our Lady had placed upon the great Altar of the Church During these discourses came in the other Fathers who found him in Passion yet beginning a little to come to himself which they perceiving and that his main pike bore directly against the Lecturer they began to mollifie him with the most sugred words imaginable protesting and assuring him that whatever they had herein done was meerly upon this account to try his Discerning skill their whole discourse aiming at the same mark with that of his Confessor Amongst others the Prior of Basil with vehemence asserted That he now evidently saw that our Blessed Lady would not suffer a person of his sincerity ever to be imposed upon in a matter of that weight and concernment which plainly demonstrated to him that all the former Apparitions were of unquestionable reality seeing this one pretended Vision was by divine power discovered And that from this time forward the Fathers might confide in his honesty and integrity who was so highly favour'd from Heaven But still Jetzer stuck at it and could not so easily be beaten out of it but that all was a Juggle and particularly that the red Wafer which they so much magnified was no better than a piece of forgery At these words the Fathers were in a peck of troubles they saw themselves in a snare which they could neither break nor loosen at last one of the Company since they fared no better by Argument went to down-right humiliation For Gods sake Dear brother John said he speak not such a word if you love us you will utterly ruine us all if you persist in your obstinate incredulity you are bound to believe upon the Credit of your Superiours that the thing is reall otherwise we assure you we shall not give you the Sacrament and then wo be to you you are lost for ever you ought rather to return most humble and hearty thanks to God for his special Grace and Favour towards you to Abide firm and sixt in your obedience both towards God and your Fathers who are not a little pleased I can tell you to see the faithfulness of the Blessed Virgin to you in not permitting her dear servant to be cheated Therefore be wise Dear Brother repent seriously of your rash Censures and beg of God pardon for your unseemly behaviour And without more adoe they rose up and lest the poor wretch to his Meditations The Saturday following these loving Fathers invited Jetzer to Dinner at one of their Chambers but he was still sick of the sullens and saying if they gave him Roast-meat they would beat him with the Spit he flatly refused to accept their Invitation Well if Jetzer would not come to them out of Pride they out of Humility would wait upon him though some may suspect that other motives were at the bottom The Prior therefore carries with him a good Number of Wafers the Sub-prior takes with him a Bason the Blood of a Pullet newly killed which yet for more sureness they had mingled with a little water now the design was to assure Jetzer that the red Wafer about which such a stir had been made was really transubstantiated and no Art of man could imitate it They therefore pretending that they question'd the truth of the thing as well as he and that there might possibly lye hid some Imposture in it which they could not discover told him they were come to make such an experiment before his eyes as should one way or other put him and them out of all further doubt Then every man takes a plain Wafer and with a Feather applies the Chickens blood to it but it would fix no colour then they desir'd Jetzer with his own hands to try the same experiment with the other remaining Wafers and when he had
regard to the Displeasure and Just Indignation of God resolv'd to make a shaft or a bolt of it And knowing that if they should let the matter die it would come out at last to their shame before the World they resolv'd either to gain their design'd point in confirming their Doctrine by the credit of these Apparitions and feigned Miracles or if Jetzer were unmanageable they would rid their Hands and the World of him by Poyson In the City of Berne there was one Mr. William Diesbach an Ancient Advocate of that Town a Person of Judgment and Prudence and one that had a particular Respect to these Fathers being Honorary Patron to their Sodality his Advice they craved how they should behave themselves in this Important Affair Alleadging that our Blessed Lady complained of their remissness as often almost as she appear'd which was very frequently that they did not divulge her Commands to the Higher Powers they pray his Advice therefore whether it were not expedient to satisfie her by offering to the Council an Authentick Narrative of what has passed He being a discerning Person Counselled them not to precipitate matters but leave them to be ripened by time which would sufficiently divulge them to the World if at least Providence judg'd it expedient They Answer That the Virgin was very urgent and importunate with them and declared she would expect their demurres no longer so that they began to fear she should break out upon them with some marks of her Displeasure for their Negligence Diesbach rejoyns with a countenance between jest and earnest That if the Virgin was in such Post-haste she must take her own course which Repartee had they not been blinded might have assured them that he was no such credulous Fool as they might imagine An unbyassed Judgment might easily conclude that nothing but Judicial blindness and hardness of Heart could have been enough to strengthen the zeal of these Fathers to pursue their Project after such disappointments discouragements and disasters as they had met withall But on they went whither their own Folly led them One Night after a plentiful Collation which they had given the Friers to make them sleep more soundly the Lecturer Sub-Prior and the Receiver secretly conveyed themselves into our Ladies Chappel the Prior himself stood Sentinel for fear of surprize where with rare Artifice they taught the Image of our Lady to weep tears of Blood for which purpose they had reserved a Liquor tinctured by the afore-said Lazarus Dandalus and that so Naturally that one Mr. John Pries a Famous Painter of Fribourg could not discern the Imposture though it was put to him and by this means it became a common Fame that our Lady had shed these Bloody tears The Sub-Prior to avoid all suspicion Artificially Poyson'd one of those red-coloured Hostes whereof the Reader has sometimes before been told and the Plot was thus laid that when Jetzer could be next perswaded to Act the Passion they would immediately before give him the Sacrament which would do his Work for him effectually and then the Sub-Prior engaged by an Act of his own to convey his Body into the Quire of the Church before the great Altar where they would Worship him to cover and colour their Murder and give it out that he was an eminent Saint who dyed in the very Act of the Passion and that his Holy Soul was transported from his Body into Heaven by the Angels And then they would Bury him with all the Solemnity imaginable due to so great Merits They had provided also a Young but a crafty Novice whom they placed behind the Curtains drawn before the Image of our Lady which stood behind the Altar and this Young Knave was to Act two Parts one while to plead on the behalf of the Virgin and then to Answer in the Person of Christ her Son The Reverend Fathers having thus prepared their Matters upon Fryday being the Feast of St. Eloy Patron of the Black-smiths about three a clock in the Morning the Prior came all in haste to Jetzer's Chamber and awakening him tells him with seeming transport that he should come and see an astonishing Miracle for they could not judge other than that the Image of our Blessed Lady did plentifully weep tears of Blood Jetzer gets him out of his Bed and was glad to see Miracles wrought any where rather than upon himself and with others of the Fathers whom they met running to the Chappel to see this Miracle Jetzer made one and entring the Chappel they fall down before this wonder-working Image Look Look says one that had his Eyes a little more open than the rest here 's real drops of blood upon our Lady's cheeks and others that stand ready to fall in the corners of her eyes The Reader must have a good Imagination to give himself the contentment to see the postures of these Hypocrites at that word One beats his Breast Another stands in an amazed posture as if he had less Life in him than the Image and intended to petrifie A third lifts up Eyes Hands Voice to Heaven but all lay with infinite Devotion at her Feet Humbly recommending themselves to her Gracious Protection deprecating her displeasure begging the Pardon of their sins and beseeching her to let her poor Suppliants know what secret guilt there might be upon them which might cause such grief in her that was the Author of all their comfort Upon this the Novice that lay incognito behind the Curtain began to sob sigh and groan most piteously so that her Son which she held in her Arms for so must you conceive could not but condole with her and ask her My most dearly beloved Mother whence come these sad complaints My dear Son replyed she with a voice interrupted with frequent sobbings have I not cause to weep when this deluded World will needs Honour me to your apparent prejudice and against all Reason make it an Article of their Faith That I was born without sin which is your sole Prerogative being both their Saviour and mine Satisfie your self Mother replyed her Son and dry up those tears I will now take this cause into my own hands and determine the point so as to put it for ever out of dispute Then turning his speech to Jetzer he continued his discourse Brother John my special friend seeing thy holy Fathers apprehensive of danger are afraid to reveal and divulge my Apparitions and Miracles which I have vouchsafed their Covent for confirming this grand Truth I will now in my own person decide the Controverversie that the City of Berne if it will escape those terrible Judgements which hang over their heads may engage in this quarrel and lend their power and authority to support and vindicate my Revelations But go thy ways into the Chappel of St. John and there repose thy self a while then return and present thy self before this holy Image with the marks of thy five Wounds exposed to open view where thou
quite tyred out with the delayes of the Bishops proceedings who began to cool in the prosecution through the suggestions of some Clergy-men who insinuated that a through discovery would reflect severely upon the Church They remanded Jetzer to Berne and sent for the most eminent Fathers of the Dominicans that were within their Call that they might seem not to have done just nothing with that mighty noyse which had raised all mens expectations The Bishop of Lausanne and the Deputy of Berne however judg'd it adviseable to transmitt a true Copy of the Cause and their proceedings thereupon to Rome to beg advice from the infallible Oracle how they might behave themselves in a matter of so great Importance In the beginning of the year 1509. Dr. Paul Hug with many other knowing Persons arrived at the Dominicans Covent in Berne who were not Ignorant of the Intrigue and were hugely concern'd in the Issue knowing that not only their whole Order but themselves in particular might suffer deeply in their Reputations if the secret were discover'd to the bottom They therefore formally took from Jetzer the Habit of his Order upon the Feast of the three Kings being the very day on which he enter'd into it Jetzer now appears before the Council in the Quality of a mere Lay-person where he stands to his Confession made at Lausanne and discover'd further how he had several times snapt these holy Fathers ranting and rioting with their Whores in the Covent and for Confirmation of what he had said desired he and they might be deliver'd up to the Secular Power but the Fathers stoutly pleaded their own Innocence alleadging that he was not a competent witness against them having formerly asserted their Innocence in full Council and because they were able to prove him a notorious Lyer and there were many evident self-contradictions in his testimony and that he had been guilty of Sacrilege of most horrid Impostures and particularly that the appearance of the B. Virgin crowned with Stars was merely a forgery of his own head wherein they had no hand The Prior denyed the whole Plott The Receiver pleaded that it was false that ever Jetzer had wounded him in the thigh with his knife and brought in the Chirurgeon to testifie that it was an old Ulcer and all the Fathers begg'd their Honours to proceed advisedly in the case that Innocence might not suffer nor Wickedness escape due punishment In conclusion Jetzer was committed to the Marshalsea and the Fathers under suspicion remanded to their Covent Eight days after upon the Return of the Lecturer and Sub-prior from Rome where they had been during this troublous affair they were all brought again before the Council Jetzer as before justified his Confession and further open'd the counterfeit Vision of St. Cicily to which though the Fathers made a zealous defence the Knavery came out daily to the satisfaction of the people But upon the fifth of February Jetzer was by order of the Council brought to be examin'd upon the Rack where he again more particularly laid open the whole villanous design humbly praying that the Fathers might come under the same way of Examination hoping that the Principals should have the same Measure with him that was but an Accessory and indeed a poor blind Tool to serve their Malice protesting that the main Reason why he had been so hardly brought to discover the whole truth was a respect he had to the Credit of that Order and some checks of Conscience about his Oaths of Secresie which they had imposed upon him And that he believed that most of the Fryers in the Covent were perfectly Innocent except the aforesaid Fathers and some few others that were their Confederates and Accomplices in the Design This last discovery set the City in such a rage against the whole Covent that the Council feared lest they should Rise and pluck down the House about their Ears and tear in pieces those Religious Persons for prevention of which they placed a strong Guard upon all the Avenues both to secure the Fathers from the Rage of the Multitude at present and that they might not escape the Punishment due to their horrid Impieties for the future And being Resolved to come to some issue they sent to the Bishop of Lausanne that he would Favour them with his Presence As also to the Vniversity of Basil to send them some of the Ablest Divines and Civilians in their City to Advice with them And that they might be fully empowred to proceed to Judgment they dispatch'd Lewis Oubli with full Instructions and a Humble Supplication to his Holiness with a Narrative of the Case depending before them who upon the 13th of March lest Berne and upon the 25th of May got a Brief from the Pope Directed to the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion the Provincial of the Dominicans of the Province of Strasburgh as Judges upon the whole Matter and one the 21st of June he return'd to Berne The Lords of Berne immediately sent their Letters to these Judges intreating them to lose no time but to meet on the 26th day in the Cathedral Church where being Assembled the Apostolique Commission with all due Reverence was presented to them and the Records of all the proceedings with Jetzer The Papal Brief being read and Jetzer Examined punctually of all his Confession these Judges Commanded their Secretaries viz. Francis de Vermettis for the Bishop of Lausanne John de Proux for the Bishop of Sion exactly to Register the Confession with all its Circumstances that from thence they might have matter from which to draw a Lagal Process or Indictment against Jetzer and the four Fathers At this Examination besides the Chief Judges there were several Assistants Baptist de Aicarde a Native of Lausanne John Grand Official of Sion Michael de Sancto Cyriaco Peter Magnus all Doctors in Law and Chanons in Lausanne with other eminent and worthy Persons The Judges constituted Lewis Oubli afore-said and Conrade Vimman Procurators of the Faith Ordering them Legally to Summon Jetzer and the Fathers to appear before them their competent Judges After a tedious proceeding Jetzer still affirming and the Fathers denying the Villanies whereof they were accused upon the 7th of August the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion Decreed that the four Indicted Fathers should be put to the Rack and there Examined Criminally upon such Questions and Interrogatories as should be drawn up A Cellar on the back-side of the Marshalsey was chosen as the fittest place for the Execution and each of them being stript of the Habit of his Order were arrayed in a Frock of coarse Cloath and so waited for the Torture And so upon the 19th of the said Moneth of August at the instance of the Procurator of the Faith the Lecturer was first put into the Rack He Pleaded hard to be Excused as that he was as Innocent as when he came out of his Mothers Womb that he was a Doctor of Divinity and did protest that all
or however to delay it that time might cool the zeal of the Prosecutors or the excessive charge weary out their Purse or their Patience All this Practise could not so far obstruct the Affair but that the Process was read in the Consistory and referred to the Cardinal of Sengall one of the Order of the Discalceated Friers a Worthy Person and Doctor in Divinity to make a Report thereof in a full Assembly of the Cardinals when and where it was Decreed to dispatch a Commissary to Berne who with the Assistance of the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion might by final Judgment and Sentence put an end to this Affair The Negotiation meeting with so happy Success Conrade Vimmau the Envoy return'd to Berne in the Moneth of March 1509. and in April following Achilles de Grassis of Bologn Bishop of Castel Commissary for his Holiness a Person of great Age and as great Learning arrived there also By the way the Reader may know that this Person was afterwards created Cardinal and some are of Opinion that he had been Elected Pope at the next vacancy but that the Cardinals in the Conclave judged the multitude of Bastards that he had then alive would eat up the Revenues of the Papacy and establish a most ruining Nipotismo However he was a back-friend to the Dominicans and was over-heard once to say to the Bishop of Lausanne Hi fratres toti quanti quanti sunt Poltroni Ecclesiae Sanetae devoratores These Friers are every Mothers Son of them great Rogues and the Devourets of the Holy Church This Commissary being now at Berne Lodged at the Crown where Attended him the Bishops of Lausanne and Sion to whom he shewed the Papal Commission whereby he was empowred to hear and determine the depending cause non obstante whatever Exemption Priviledge or pretence of Right given to the Order in general or to that Covent in particular might be pleaded to the contrary The Guild-Hall of the City was appointed for the place of the Session and they first swore their Clerks or Notaries For the chief Commissary Salvator de Meligotis for the Bishop of Lausanne Francis de Vermettis for the Bishop of Sion George Collet Priest of Geneva all three Publick and sworn Notaries by Papal and Imperial priviledge The Court being set The new Prior Elect for the Dominican Covent of Berne John Ornant and the new Sub-prior George Sadler Humbly prayed that Letters of safe conduct might be granted to some of the Fathers of their Order and others to appear on the behalf of the prisoners and they shewed a Missive from Frier Paul of Vlm in favour of this petition to the Bishop of Castel The Judges easily granted their petition and yet Resolved to make them exemplary in punishment whoever should be found to have had a finger in this accursed design Then was Conrade Vimmau aforesaid sworn Procurator of the Faith John Murer a Prior was also sworn Interpreter to whom as Deputies were added John Dubi Sacristane and Martin Lairer both Chanons and also Petrus Magni of Sion so that two of them at least were always to be present in the Court. The same day was Jetzer Examined upon Oath touching each Article of his confession which he Explained and added some Remarkable matters to them without retracting a word and appear'd before the Judges upon this point the second fourth and fifth of May on which last day the four Accused Fathers now in hold appear'd before them and after the Reading of the Commission and their charge they were ask'd what they had to say for themselves They prayed that they might be allowed their Procurators and Advocates and the Court assigned them Docter Paul Hug Doctor Jacob and Doctor Heintzman The Lecturer was first set to the Bar who freely acknowledged that he had nothing to oppose to his former Confession and when he had Explained several of the Articles and opened the whole Intrigue to the Satisfaction of the Court he was set aside and his process finish'd on the seventh of that Moneth Upon which seventh day the other three Fathers appeared who all continued to own their particular Confessions and the Process of the Receiver was concluded on the eighth and ninth of the said Moneth The Judges then issued out a Warrant to Balthazar de Catancis of Bologne Humbert Praroman of Fribourgh and to Marshall Schaller to seize the person of the Novice Megerlin but this crafty Knave aware of the danger had a year before made use of his heels and was reported to lye lurking about Noremberg Upon the 10th and 11th of May the Process of the Prior was finisht but he the last day of his Examination began to boggle and would fain have eaten his words and particularly being examin'd about the red-colour'd Hoste he was so off and on so inconstant and uncertain in his Answers that the Judges knowing they had already enough against him promised that whatever he should now further discover should not come in Judgement against him Hereupon he falls down on his knees begging their Grace and Mercy saying that indeed he had but two of those red-colour'd Hostes in all which he had consecrated one of which was for ought he knew in the Cabinet where he put it in the room of that which the Sub-prior threw in the fire that for those Druggs wherewith they attempted to destroy Jetzer by Poyson they had them of one Nicholas Alber an Apothecary That the Sub-prior had such a rare Art in Poysoning that he could leave one part of a Wafer free from poyson that he could both touch and if need were eat the innocent part without the danger to himself when all the rest should be mortal Poyson On the 14th day the Sub-prior was examin'd upon the former Confessions who answer'd That his first Confession which he made without torture was the truth that the second which he had made was false and only extorted from him by the Rack That the Fathers and Jetzer perhaps were conscious to themselves of wickedness but for his part he was perfectly Innocent of their contrived Villanies and hoped his Judges would not look upon him as an Accomplice or Accessary in such a foul and odious matter Upon this the Officials of Lausanne and Sion were order'd to deal seriously with him and this good effect it had that it brought him to himself again and falling down on his knees he humbly begg'd mercy and so his Process was concluded the 15 and 16 of the same Month. Before and after the conclusion of their Processes divers Witnesses were sworn and their Testimonies received upon several particulars relating to the Cause depending before the Court. As Anthony Noll Martyn Franck Goldsmith William of Dirsbach Knight and Advocate Peter Miller a Carthusian John Miller Procurator of the discalceated Friers John Frisching one of the Council Thomas Peters Chanter of the Cathedral Bennet Vingarten Captain and one of the Council Nicholas Armbroster Nicholas d' Arm Lewis