the liberty to build Colâ—dges in Universities whereof the Inhabitants opâ—ose our Foundations in their Cities They shall also â—ocure us pulpits in the chiefest Churches of their â—incipall Cities If any one of ours be to be beatified or canoniz'd shall be the businesse of some Noblemens sonnes to â—flicite it at the Apostolick See If it happen that â—y of those great men be designed for an Embassie 〈◊〉 some place without any notice taken of other Reâ—gious men who may haply have the same designe â—ith us let it be given out as if he were a favourer of â—em and be brought into those Provinces where we â—e most considerable Wherefore if any illustrious â—en passe through the Provinces where any of ours â—e let them be entertained in our Colledges and â—eated with a respect had to Religious modesty SECT IV. Of the principall design of such as are Preachers and Confessors to Princes and Great men FOr the better Institution of Kings Princes and persons of Honour our Fathers are to direct them in all things with that circumspection and prudence that their direction may seem to tend to the quiet regulation of their consciences whereof they have trusted them with the management and disposall Their direction therefore ought not immediately but by insensible degrees to incline towards things relating to externall policy They are to that end often to inculcate to Princes that the distribution of Honours and dignities in the Common-wealth is to be moderated according to Justice and to persuade them that they never offend God so highly as by a contempt thereof But these things are to be represented with this caution that it is not without some violence to themselves that they any way meddle with the administration of the Commonwealth and that they are in a manner forced to speak out of a consideration of their duty This when Princes are once made sensible of let them have lectures read to them of the Vertues wherewith those persons ought to be endued who are to be advanced in the Commonwealth But let the maine design of the recommendation reflect on such as are Friends of our Society and such others whose admission to Government may prove advantageous to the Society whom yet it is not fit for the Confessors and Preachers to name to the Prince but to leave that to be done by such as are assured Friends to the Society and have an interest in the Prince To this end are â—he Confessors and Preachers to have an account from â—he Society of what Men there are in all parts of the â—rinces Dominions of their qualities power interests â—ealth and particularly of their liberality towards us They are to have a list of their names that they may â—ccordingly give a character of them to the Prince â—o whom they are to be dextrously commended that 〈◊〉 he may be the sooner induc'd when occasion serves 〈◊〉 preferie those whom he shall call to mind to have â—een long before recommended to him by his Confesâ—rs and Preachers The Confessors and Preachers to Princes are furâ—er to remember that they are to deal very mildly â—d tenderly with them by all means to forbear being â—o much given to reproof and censure in their Serâ—ons and private conferences Let them be very hardâ— prevail'd with to accept of Sweet-meats Spirits c. and content themselves in order to their priâ—te use with little money When they are in Palaâ—s let them not think it any dishonour to make viâ—s to the most obscure Lodgings Let them prudentâ— inculcate to their Princes that there is nothing so â—ngerous as in the least measure to slight the advice 〈◊〉 their ghostly Fathers Be they can full with the â—onest to get notice of the death or removall of the â—ficers of the Commonwealth that so timely provisiâ— might be made for the supply of their places But â—t no imputation of being over pragmaticall in the â—aires of the world might be fasten'd on them let â—em not undertake the sollicitation even of their â—ends causes to their Princes but rather recommend â—em to the management of others SECT V. How we are to behave our selves towards those Religious Orders which pretending to the same designe with us do very much derogate from us 'T Is impossible to humour all mankind and therefore some things must with constancy be endured Men are to be persuaded that our Order is the consummation of all Religious Associations and that if there be any thing for which other Religious Institutions are remarkable the Society is much more venerable for the same as making a greater light in the Church Setting aside singing and austerity of life wherein indeed we differ from Monkes there is a better regulation of all other things in the Society even to the meanest that have any relation thereto Let there be an aggravation of those defects whence it may be inferred that other Religious men cannot so well go through those employments wherein they any way intrench upon us We must bandy with the greatest violence possible against those Religious Orders which have Schooles erected for the education of youth especially in those places where our Society undertakes the same thing with reputation and advantage Let it be hinted to Princes that such men are likely to prove disturbers of the Common-wealth Let it be proposed to forraine Universities that it is more probable those Religious men should prove their ruine then we Let it be suggested to Princes that the Society alone is sufficient to carry on the education of youth If they have Letters from the Pope or recommendations from some Cardinals let their sollicitations to the Pope be mannaged by the interests of Princes that He also may be satisfied that the Society is not any way blameable but acquits it self of the charge lying upon it They shall procure from the Cities wherein they have Colledges Testimonialls of their good conversation It is of no small concernment to persuade the said Cities that it is much to be feared that a diversity of Schooles and Teachers might occasion some disturbance Be it supposed they are Religious men it matters not let ours in the mean time endeavour the assiduity of Study and exercise to the admiration and with the applause of the rest SECT VI. How to cajoll rich VViddowes into a veneration of the Society LEt there be chosen to carry on this design Fathers that are about midle-aged and of a fresh and lively complexion Let some of ours make frequent visits to them If any one of that condition expresse an affection for our Society it is but just on the contrary that the assistances of our Society should be profferred her If she accept thereof and thereupon begin to frequent our Churches let such a Confessor be assigned her as may direct her well and encourage her to continue still a widow by representing to her the advantages of a single life as such as it observed would prove extreamly meritorious to her That the
God derives from its endeavours the great esteem men have of it as to strictnesse of life and soundnesse of doctrine That thence it comes to passe that ouâ— Fathers are entertaind for Confessors and Preachers to Kâ—ngs Princes and Magistrates Leâ— them make appear how zeâ—lous we are for the good of our neighbour and therefore much greater must be the tendernesse we have for any one â—f our own Society Let those be invited to dinners in whom the dismissed person seems to have any interest and this out of a design to â—ersuade them not to countenance the discarded party and that they are obliged â—n conscience to presume that a Society of Religioâ—s meâ— are rather in the right then one discontented dismissed person Upon that they are to take occasion to give an account of the causes of his dismission convincing them with as much probability as may be making all the discoveries they can of the frailties and imperfections of the person dismiss'd omitting nothing contributory to their design But be it suppos'd that some things are doubtfull let them beware how they admit dismiss'd persons to any Ecclesiasticall Benefices or employments unlesse they give a considerable summe of money or make over their estates to us or after some extraordinary manner express the great affection they have towards our Society The Confessors are in like manner to suggest the same thing to Kings and Princes that when they are to advance any one to honours they may look on as a great motive to do it the liberality and good affection of such towards our Society as having founded us a Colledge or done something of that nature for us If it happen that the persons who are dismiss'd find much favour in the sight of men let there be a diligent enquiry made into their lives dispositions and defects and let them be divulged by some secret Friends of our Society and by the devout Matrons of a lower ranck Let not these latter any way countenance the dismiss'd and if they afford them any entertainment at their houses let them be terrifi'd with Censures and if they persist to do it let them be deny'd absolution If the dismiss'd person be commended for any thing we must on the contrary as much as may be endeavour his disparagement to which end though we make use of subtle and ambiguous propositions yet must it be so done as that they may alienate the inclinations of men from the dismissed person and bring him to some remarkable discredit The unfortunate accidents that happen to such as are dismiss'd are to be discover'd in our Exhortations with much commiseration that others may be terrify'd and remain in the Society though not without some indignation SECT XII Of the choice of young Lads for the Society and the wayes whereby they are to be retained THis is an affair requires the greatest care and industry imaginable There are four qualifications which we would gladly have in those who embrace our Institution that they be of good wits of allowable beauty of a noble extraction and rich That such may be the more easily drawn in let the Praefects shew them all the favour they can let them not be persecuted by the Praeceptors let them be often commended let presents be made them let them be permitted to go into the Vineyard and there entertained with fruits upon solemn occasions let them be treated in the Refectory For others let them be perpetually terrify'd with rods let them be charg'd with crimes though there be only some flight conjectures of their being guilty thereof let them always be entertained with an angry countenance they are to be sharply reprov'd and put upon things that are most displeasing to them Let it be shewn how inclinable youth is to that which is evill if they embrace not a Religious life let them be terrifi'd with eternall damnation But when they make it their suit to be admitted into the Society let them be put off for a time In the interim let them be cherish'd and encourag'd in the conferences that are had with them let the easinesse of the Institution be much insisted upon By this means will their desires be heightned to a greater earnestness for their admission And if it comes to passe afterwards that any one of those that have been thus dealt with chance to leave the Society let him have cast in his dish his former importunity to be admitted into the Society But whereas the main difficulty lyes in cajolling the sons of Senators and the wealthiest men in the Country if there be any such recommended to our Colledges let them be sent to the Novitiat at Rome but let the Generall or Provinciall of Rome have notice thereof beforehand If they come into Germany France Italy and seem to have some inclinations to enter into the Society let them without any scruple be entertained in those Dominions where in the-supreme Magistrate is our Friend For under such a Governour the precedent instructions or some thing suitable thereto is to be put in practise for his Subjects finding it much to their advantage that they are countenanced by us will not easily rise up against us and if they do they shall get nothing by it And if any occasion offer it self to draw in the sons of those who in order to their studies come to our Schooles out of other Provinces let it not be neglected especially when they are arrived to the understanding to lose and squander away their mony and so partly by reason of the shame they conceive at their prodigality partly out of a fear of their Parents and Friends displeasure and the inconveniences they are likely to run into are the more easily prevailed with To prevent the inconstancy of those we entertain according to the severall qualities of the persons we are to insist very much on the miâ—fortunes that happen to those that are dismissed And that the Parents and Relations of those thâ—t embrace our Institution may in some measure be satisfied let them be made sensible of the transcendency of our Order above all others and what a veneration the world hath for our Order as also let them be entertained with something concerning the great respects which Kings and Princes â—ear the Society Nay further let our Fathers insinuate themselves in otheir familiarity and humour them as much as may be if there be any necessity or that the worthinesse of the person require it SECT XIII Of the Nurnes LEt our Confessors be vâ—ry carefull that they do not any thing whereat the Nuâ—s may be dissatisâ—ed because they have prâ—vâ—d such great Benefactresâ—es to us that some of them have very much contributed to the foundations of our Colledges many of â—hem giv n hall their dowry with the coâ—sent of the Monastery and Abbesse Wherefore were it only â—or that they are retired out of the world let them â—ot he molested but resiâ—ned over to the Bishops On the contrary let us hold
peremptory doctrine of Christ that the same man cannot both serve God and Mammon How they at the same time serve both God and Mammon that is seek the Kingdome of God and have his thoughts taken up with the getting of mony Ye cannot saith the Apostle serve God and Mammon Be not over-carefull as to your soule what ye shall eat nor yet as to your body what ye shall put on for these things do the Gentiles seek after But seek ye the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof Thus could neither the Apostles themselves nor can the Pope who have succeeded them seek both the Kingdome of God and mony for as our Saviour saith he who loves and bears with the one must needs hate and despise the other much less is it in the power of the Pope to favour the Jesuits with such a priviledge as that of prosecuting several things at the same time Let therefore the Jesuits take it into consideration who profess themselves but to be Janus's at least dissemble not this earnestness and pursuance of things incompatible how they can avoid incurring the deserved hatred not only of Hereticks but even of Catholicks themselves For my part it is many years since I took very much offence at their over-curiosity when I found certain young men sons to some of my friends whom I had brought to Rome to study in the Jesuits Colledge to have been very strictly examined in private about all things relating to their friends estates and fortunes For when I imagined that the Prefect of studies had taken them aside to make triall of their proficiency in learning The examination of the young men upon their first admission to the Jesuits schools they were lock'd into a certain Chamber where the Jesuit coming to them took out a great Book such as may be those of stewards Accounts and having put many Interrogatories to them writ their Answers very carefully into the said Book The Questions put to them were much to this effect what their names were what their age what Schools they had been at before who were their Parents what age they were of what estates they had whether they had any real estates and if lands where situated what kindred and alliances they had and whether they expected any estate might fall to them upon their death or otherwise whether they had any sisters whether married unmarried or marriageable and if married to whom When die young men upon their return home again gave me an account of these things I would not be thought so stupid and inconsiderate as not to apprehend what advantages the Jesuits might make of those voluminous examinations The advantages they make of the said examinations For when the Colledges came to be supplied and that the young men were to be encouraged that they would Eandem Ire viam pergant eidem incumbere Sectae There would be little difficulty in the choice of such as should be admitted For ther 's no more to be done then to consult the Books of Examinations where they finde it faithfully recorded who are the most rich who come from the best friends and accordingly who to be ensnared into the society applying to themselves that expression of Terence In Illis fructus est in his opera luditur Finding therefore that the young men had not made the proficiency in their Schools which I thought they might as being not able to give account of any thing save a sort of dull fables read to them by some pitifull Master by way of Lectures and having understood from some young Gentlemen of good quality who lived and boarded among the Jesuits The Jesuits Schools dangerous places for young Lads that the unnaturall love of Children was an ordinary and diurnal sin amongst those that conversed together which in case any one should be ignorant of he might from the words of the Rector in the exhortation he was very imprudently The impudence of the Jesuits wont to make against it take notice of as also for that I had heard from very good hands how that in Germany certain Jesuits had by their indiscreet interrogatories in Confession brought some young men into the knowledge and practice of that sin and that thereupon many Colledges were polluted for these I say and some other reasons I thought fit not to send the young men any more to the Jesuits Schools but got a Praeceptor to have the oversight of them at home There is yet another thing which brings a suspicion of an excess of curiosity upon the Jesuits especially at Rome and not unlikely at other places also which is that no small number of the chiefest Matrons resort in a manner daily to their Churches Women make diurnal confessions to the Jesuits and there sit away two or three hours at a time discoursing with their ghostly Fathers And yet it is not probable they should every day fall into so many sins as should take up so much time to make an acknowledgment thereof A Jesuitical insinuation betrayed But the truth is when we reflect that women are a sort of running vessels indefatigably talkative and not much retentive of the secrets they are trusted with it may well be thought they are not every day detained there so long out of any other designe then to sift out of them all they know especially when the Jesuits themselves stick not to discover the great earnestness they have to hear any thing that is new Upon this account is it that so many visit them The frequent visits made to them even from the least to the greatest and that they many times spend whole dayes in entertaining them nay they come upon them with so much importunity that It often falls out they are not able to give reception to all but are forced to put them off and appoint them other dayes to wait on them Insomuch that it is almost grown into a general opinion that there is not any King or Prince upon the face of the earth that hath so punctual an account of all things that are done in the Universe The great advantages of the Generall of the Jesuits in point of Intelligence even to the Antipodes as hath the Father General of the Jesuits not only because the Rectâ—rs and Provincials scattered over the world according to the Missionary oath they have taken fail not to write to him once in eight dayes but also because either out of the need they stand in of their assistance or the desire of hearing news or lastly the earnestness some are in to communicate what they have received either by discourse or Letters people will be perpetually haunting the Jesuits who as they are not all of a nation but divided into factions so they all indeavour to incline the General to do what may be most advantageous for their own Whence it comes that some stick not to attribute that to the Jesuits which Johannes Sarisburiensis writ
the generall report are sufficient attestations of the truth delivered To avoid tediousnesse therefore I shall conclude this point saying that this haply is the cause why the Jesuits are wont to call their way of Religion A Grand-Monarchy as if they governed all Princes and their Ministers at their pleasure Not is it long since that one of the chief among them being ro treat publickly with an illustrious Prince in the name of the Society began with these words full of arrogance and grounded upon a conceit of their Monarchy Our Society hath alwayes maintained good Intelligence with your Grace c. Seventhly those Fathers make a great stir to let the world know that all those that are any way in the favour of their Prince were sometimes Creatures of theirs and are oblig'd for their advancement to them Hence it must follow that they have a greater command of the subjects affections then the Prince himself upon whom this must needs bring great inconvenieniences For it is in the first place an affront to the publick Interest that a sort of Religious Persons that pretend to have abjur'd all commerce with the things of this world yet so ambitious and politick should have such an influence over Ministers of State that when ever it pleases them they can cause Treasons and insurrections Secondly it is dangerous since that by the mediation of the Ministers their Adherents they induce into the Princes service for Counsellors or Secretaries some of the Jesuits in Voto of whom mention is made before and these again perswade the Prince to take some Jesuit for his Confessor or Chaplaine Thus do they all combine together to serve as Intelligencers to the Father General to whom they give an exact account of all the transactions of the most secret Councells Whence it comes that many times we see designes prevented and secrets of the greatest importance discovered and yet things are carried so cunningly that no man can fasten on the true Author but it commonly happens that the greatest suspition lies on those that are most innocent Eightly 'T is a common observation that Subjects are naturally much given to imitate and comply with the inclinations of their Prince In like manner those who give obedience to their Father Generall perceiving that his thoughts are wholly taken up with matters of State as indeavouring by that means to improve and enrich their Society do also apply themselves that way and thereupon making use of their Relations and friends would penetrate into the very hearts of Princes so to discover their most secret designs only to betray them to the Assistants at Rome or the Father Generall out of a confidence by that means to get into their favour and be advanc'd into some employment which otherwise they could never have expected For among them none are ever preferr'd to any Office of consequence and trust but only these whom they have observ'd mosi inclined to advance their Society to that height of Greatnesse whereto they aspire and consequently none but such as are known to be able and expert in the management of State-affairs Ninthly as from divers Flowers and Herbs by the means of an Alembick a man may extract such an ointment as shall have the Vertue to heal a mortall wound and as from several blossomes Bees draw that which afterwards becomes honey so these Jesuits from the infallible account which they have of all Princes affaires and of all the emergencies of every State do by the power of their discourse extract from them what makes for their own advantage which is in some measure a remedy for their insatiable avarice and ambition And they are excellent Masters in a certain Art unknown to others whereby they effect their designes equally from other mens either good or ill but more often from their misfortunes then happinesse Nor is it unusuall with them to ensnare the unwary Prince into whose secrets they have dived proposing to him that they have in their hands the onely excellent means to make him master of his desires But when by these pretences they have made their advantages of him if it do but come into their imagination that the spreading greatnesse of that Prince may one day prove prejudiciall to them they do as Lawyers in their causes prolong the successe of the businesse what lyes in their power till at last with strange juggling and an imperceptible kind of Legerdemaine they utterly ruine those designes to which they had given birth The Ligue of France treated and concluded by them they not long after basely renounc'd all medling with when they saw things prosper on the Kings side and England so often promised by them to the Spanyards yet in such manner performed so confirms the present discourse that there needs no further proof Tenthly from what hath been already alledged it necessarily follows that the Jesuits have no sincere affection towards any Prince whatsoever either temporall or spirituall but onely comply with them so farre as stands with their own convenience and advantage Nay it may be yet further inferr'd that no Prince much lesse any Prelates of an inferiour degree can make any effectuall use of them because they seem at the same time to be equally affected to all complying with the French as if they were French with the Spanyards as if they were Spanyards and so with all others as the occasion requires from all which the onely rule of their Chymistry is to exact their own profit and accommodation They never regard the prejudice of one more then another and thence it comes that those enterprises wherein they have intermedled have seldome succeeded well because they are no further embarqu'd therein then their own interest advises them And as to this particular the artifices they use are notorious some of them pretending great inclinations for the prosperity of France others of Spain others of the Empire and others of some other Princes of whom they desire to be favoured And if any of these Princes be desirous to make use of some Jesuit whom he imagines to be very much his Friend he immediately acquaints the F. Generall by Letter with the businesse which he hath to treat and expects his Answer together with order what he shall do and suitably to the commands he receives he proceeds in his affair Never regarding whether that Order of the Generall be conformable to the intention of the Prince who hath entrusted him with the management of that businesse But so the Society be served and comply'd with he matters not what disservice it may be to the Prince To this may be added that the Jesuits understanding the severall interests of all Princes and being acquainted with all things daily treated in secret Councels those who pretend an inclination for France propound to the King and his principall Ministers certain Memorialls of State and important considerations sent to them from their politick Fathers at Rome On the other side those who pretend to hold
with the Crown of Spain do just the same with them and so with the rest From which carriage of theirs ariseth this mischief that it causes such distrusts in the hearts of Christian Princes that they cannot credit one the other which is a great hindrance to the publick peace and the universall wellfare of Christendome Besides this diffidence of theirs is that which makes it so difficult a thing to conclude a league against the common enemy and the precious enjoyments of peace to be of so little value among Princes Furthermore with these circumventing devices though they have so opened the eyes of the world and so sharpened mens wits in matter of State that they are notorious to all yet even at this very day to the great prejudice of the Church they are wholly taken up with matters of policy and ballance all their actions according to their worldly and selfish concernments But that these Jesuiticall Mysteries and Stratagems may be made yet more manifest I cannot here conceale the means whereby they inveigle Princes to their party There are some years now past since one of these Fathers called Father Parsons the Assistant of England wrote a book against the succession of the King of Scotland to the crown of England And another Father of the same Society called Crittonius with some others in a Book which they wrote defended the Title of the King of Scotland opposing the opinion of Father Parsons and pretending to be at difference among themselves But the truth was that all was cunningly contriv'd and carryed on by the command of their Father Generall onely out of this design that whosoever should succeed in the Kingdome of England they might have an excellent argument to work in him a great good opinion of their Society and so as much as may be make their advantages of him What more pertinent example can we desire to shew that Princes and their interests are the objects of all Jesuiticall actions and determinations and consequently to make good their own assertion That their Society is ae grand Monarchy Again that this truth may also be made manifest That the Jesuits regard not whether they please or displease any Prince when their own commodity lyes at the stake though the experience of infinite things past make it as clear as the Sun yet the particular instance I shall now adde wil make it somewhat the more conspicuous There is not any person in the world whom they are more bound to serve or indeed for whom they themselves pretend greater submission then the Bishop of Rome were it not for other particular reasons but out of a consideration only of the solemn vow they make to obey him Yet when Pius Quintus would have brought in something of reformation amongst these Fathers by reducing them to a performance of their duty in the Quire they submissively refused to obey him as conceiving it a notorious prejudice to their Society to be reduced to any thing suitable to the practise of other Monkes And for those few among them that conscientiously did comply with the Popes pleasure they were ever afterwards called by way of derision Quintini and made so contemptible that never any of them could be admitted to the least preferment among them After the same manner did they oppose glorious S Charles Archbishop of Millaine when in the quality of Legate à latere to his Holinesse he endeavoured to reduce them to Religious discipline But to what end do I mention these when they think it a scorn to submit to the sacred Canons themselves but contrary to the provisions made therein make merchandise of Jewels Rubies and Diamonds which they trade to the Indies for Nor is that opinion altogether groundlesse that the greatest part of the precious stones sold in Venice belong to the Jesuits since the report took its first rise from their own Agents and Brokers whom they employ'd in the sale of them But that they are no faithfull Servants to the Bishop of Rome what ever they pretend I need onely the acknowledgement of those Fathers who for no mean default were called by processe to Rome I neither can nor would if I could name them nor am I much inclin'd to wade any farther into this businesse partly to avoid the bringing of any Prince upon the stage that might take offence at my discourse it being my desire to please all and not to disoblige any and partly that it might not be said I were guilty of an humour to inveigh against the Jesuits my purpose only having been to give a short and plain account of their courses and customes For as it many times happens that we see a person afflicted with some grievous infirmity betraying the extremity of his sufferings by such lamentations and cryes as reach heaven it self and it is apparent to every one that the man suffers no small torment yet there is not any able to discern the originall cause of his indisposition So the world is full of complaints against the Jesuits some for being persecuted by them others for being treacherously served by them yet the mischief still remains among us Nor is the cause thereof easily discovered though it is conceived it does not proceed from any thing so much as from that prodigious and indeterminate desire which they have still to encrease their power This is the apple of their eye which if it be but ever so little touched they make no difficulty to disgust any man whatsoever to circumvent and over-reach Princes to oppresse the poor to force Widdows out of their estates to ruine whole Nations nay many times by their interloping into affairs of publick concernment to raise jealousies and dissatisfactions among Christian Magistrates Now as there would happen a great inconvenience if that part which according to the designe of Nature was last formed as an instrument to serve the rest that for their precedency are the more noble and should attract unto it self all the purest blood and vitall spirits for it were the way to bring the whole to destruction So is it no lesse inconvenient that the Jesuits an Institution lately graffed into the body of the Church to be instrumentall as they themselves pretend in the conversion of Hereticks and the reduction of Sinners into the ways of Repentance should grasp into their power and presume upon the management of all the most weighty and important affaires of Prelates and Princes drawing from them the very life and spirits of their interests to make their own advantages thereof From this source springs all publick and private disturbances many are depressed who were their worth consider'd should be exalted many advanc'd who were more deservedly trod under foot with thousands of other inconveniences consequent thereto Many reasons might be produc'd drawn from experience it self to make it apparent what an insatiable ambition the Jesuits have to encrease still more and more in greatnesse It shall therefore suffice to make it appeare out of
the words of Father Parsons one of the Society as they may be found in a book of his which he writ in English entituled The Reformation of England Having in the first place blamed Cardinall Pool and then taken notice of many defects and imperfections in the Councell of Trent he concludes That when England should returne to the Roman Catholick faith He would reduce it to the forme and state of the Primitive Church making common all Ecclesiasticall Goods and assigning the oversight thereof unto seven Savii or wise men who should be Jesuits and were to make distribution of the same as they should think convenient He further thinks it fit under a grievous penalty to forbid all Religious persons of what Order soever to return into England without their Licence resolving that none should be entertained there but those that were to be maintained by Alms. But as it oft falls out that Self-love so blinds the wisest man that he betrayes his imprudence to all the world so is that a most ridiculous passage which the same Father adds in the place before cited When England saith he shall once be reduced to the true Faith it will not be convenient that the Popes at least for five years space should expect any advantage from the Ecclesiasticall Benefices of this Kingdome but remit all into the hands of those seven Savii who should dispose of them as they conceived best for the good of the Church This being his design that the first five years being past by some other invention whereof they are very full they would get the same priviledge confirmed to them for five more and so onward till they had utterly excluded his Holinesse from having any thing to coin England Now what more lively representation can there be made of the avarice and ambition of the Jesuits together with the desire they have to erect an absolute Monarchy Who sees not with what slights they endeavour to promote their own Interest not caring who are made happy who unhappy so their concernments be secured What should I say more of them Did they not in the time of Gregory the thirteenth make it there request that they might be invested of all the Parish-Churches in Rome that they might there lay the foundations of their Monarchy and what they could not get in Rome have they not at length obtained in England where not long since they have chosen an Arch-Priest one of the Jesuits in Voto who instead of protecting the Clergy like a ravenous wolf persecutes all such Priests as have no dependance on the Jesuits worrying them even to exasperation and despair and depriving them under a great penalty of mutuall communication To which may be added their forcing the English Clergy to become Jesuits in Voto not admitting any one into their Colledges who hath not made some engagement to be a Jesuit So that when that Kingdome shall returne to the ancient Faith it will give a fair beginning to an absolute Jesuiticall Monarchy when all the Ecclesiasticall Revenues all the Abbeyes Benefices Bishopricks Arch-Priestships and other dignities shall be altogether at the disposall of the Jesuits There are many other things I might have insisted on as the pretentions they make concerning other mens estates as also how jealous they are of their welfare and desirous of their prosperity What a fly way is that they have to insinuate into the favour of Princes by persuading them that their Subjects are more inclined to the Society in matters of devotion then to any other Order or Religious Institution and what must needs be consequent thereto that they of all men are the most sit and able to make them well affected towards their Prince Such obvious things as these I leave to every mans particular observation and with foure brief considerations conclude the present discourse First that men of such turbulent spirits and such reaching designes must withall be Lovers of Novelty ever searching for it ever begetting it because without some new raised motions it were impossible they should attain their ends Whence it is to be inferr'd that the Jesuits cannot be helpfull to any Prince that either loves Peace or endeavours the preservation of his own estate since they are more likely to prove the occasions of much distraction and disturbance nay to endanger the losse of his estate if he favour not their party or be not in some things guided by their advice Secondly be it taken into serious consideration if these men who though they have not yet any temporall jurisdiction are able by their stickling and bandying to occasion so great and prodigious disturbances in the world what can we imagine they would not do if it should happen that one of them were created Pope No question but he would in the first place fill up the Consistory with Jesuits and by that means perpetuate the Papacy in the Society And then making advantage of their insight and interest in State-affaires and having the arme and power of the Pope they would be in a capacity to endanger the estates of many Princes especially those that are their Neighbours and Confiners Thirdly one of them being once gotten in the chair it would be the design of that Pope if he could by any means effect it to give the Society possession of some place of importance or temporall jurisdiction by the advantages whereof they would in processe of time make way for thousands of other designes which they could never compasse but with the prejudice of other Princes Fourthly when the Consistory shall be once entirely Jesuited the whole Patrimony of Christ would be at their disposall whereof this would be the consequence that as one in a dropsie the more he drinks the more thirsty he is so their Ambition encreasing proportionably to their greatnesse would occasion a world of tumult and trouble Now since there is nothing more subject to change then matters of State it would be the aime of these Fathers with all their power and policy to alter the course of affaires that they might at length introduce the forme and project of their own Government and by that means absolutely immonarchize themselves It hath been long in their heads to cajoll into the Society the sonne of some Soveraigne Prince who should be drawn in to make an absolute resignation of his estate and Dominions to them And this they had long since effected if some others taking strict notice of their designe had not prevented them But had they once made that step no doubt but the next would have been to become Patrones of the State Ecclesiasticall and being a sort of people very subtle and much inclined to plots they would afterwards have found thousands of wayes how to enlarge it Thus would they not have omitted any thing to put their projects in execution and if nothing else would have done it the very jealousies which they would have raised in the minds of their neighbour Princes would have turned not a little to their advantage From all that hath been said it seems to follow as a thing most necessary that for the preservation of the publick peace the tranquillity of all States the advantage of the Church and the generall good of the whole world Paul the fifth together with other Princes should set bounds and limits to this Society whose desires are so extremely inordinate lest haply that come to passe which was anciently effected by the Dauidi whose courses the Jesuits seem to imitate who were not destroyed till the time of Claudius the Emperour And if ever I am commanded to write my opinion concerning an opportune remedy for the reformation of these Fathers without any prejudice or disparagement to them nay to their very great advantage as wishing them rather Monarchs of Souls which are the riches of Christ then of the World or the enjoyments thereof that are nothing but vilenesse and dung I shall be ready to do it with charity and according to the best of my skill as it shall please God to enable me FINIS
hear the complaints and lamentations of those afflicted people whom the Agents of the society had by pure quillets and surprises in the Law deprived of those little inheritances which had quietly passed from Father to son I could not forbear blushing insomuch that the confusion wherewith my face was covered proved an argument to those innocent souls that I had no hand in their rapines But not to insist upon the particular proof of a truth which the tears of so many that suffer thereby sufficiently confirms it shall be enough to produce one example by way of argument that shall take away all answer and further objection The Jesuits having taken possession of the Priory of St. Macaire upon the Garonne at a time when it was worth but five hundred Crowns per ann they have found out so many inventions to improve it that it is at this day very well worth twelve thousand Livers a year which how it could be brought to that height without the destruction of houses and ruine of Families I leave it to be considered The Mannor book which Francis Souiller made of the tenements of that Benefice heretofore so little and now so big discovers much of their earnestness in dispossessing the Tenants And if the Parlement of Bourdeaux take no course to curb their insatiable avarice they are in some thoughts to dig up all the posts on which are fastened the Tolls and customes of the old Dukes of Guâ—enne or to set up new ones if need be so to grasp all the estates of the Country Hence comes it that when they have once found out by their subtle insinuations that some poor Labourer hath nothing to defend his title they desire no more they presently fall upon him they produce some old manuscript and presently devour him But to press this point more home we will make it appear how they grasp at other men's estates by manifest forgeries Monsieur Dedie a person of very good quality and a Cittizen of Bâ—urdeaux will haply think himselfe obliged to me for the Secret I shall now reveale which must needs bring him in a round Summe of mony if he will but call these Forgers to account and I shall â—â—gage the Parlement of Bourdeaux by entertaining them with a piece of Forgery which it concernes them to see punished The wolves when they have devoured the Lambes are ready to eate up one another If the Provinciall Malescot had not been so eager to persecute Peter Dubois a Priest of their Society and brought him almost to the point of being cast out of the Order for having discovered to the Sieur Bosquet Rector of the Colledge of Bourdeaux that the said Malescot and Sabbatheri Procurator of the Province for the Jesuits had committed an Antidate in the businesse of Till c against Monsieur Dedie that peece of Forgerie had been kept as secret as a many others which they are guilty of and a falsification of so high a nature hâ—d not so prodigiously broke forth among them It is then possible that the crafty may be snapped in the webbe of their own craft The revengefull Provinciall was extreamly deceived when he took Peter Dubois for a fearfull man and a person unable to mannage an affaire of any consequence for hâ— afterwards found by experience that he though a Limousin borne was none of the weakest kind of men Had Malescot used any thing of dissimulation the other good man had stirred no further in the businesse but having sent for him partly to frighten him by menaces partly to be informed how he came to understand that he and his Procurator Sabbatheri had antidated the Deed to possesse the Society of the Tillac an estate that had thâ—s priviledge that it was repurchaceable within a certaine number of years by the next of kinne Dubois began to mistrust there was something in the wind by the interrogatories that were put to him and having made him answer that he had it from one named Riviere some time Clerk of the Colledge but at present a Curè between the two Seas in the Archbishoprick of Bourdeaux who was fully acquainted with the whole businesse he perceived by the reply of the Provinciall that it stood him upon to look well to himselfe To avoid therefore being surprised and declared an Impostor by the cunning practises of Malescot he took three Priests of the most considerable of the house hid them in his Closet to the end hey might be witnesses Having so done he got the taid Riviere to his Chamber and intreating him to selate to him with the same confidence as formerly â—how the falsification aforesaid was carried the other thinking himselfe alone with Dubois clearly discovered the order they had observed in the antedating of the Deed as also the reasons for which it had been done in that manner All which past he engaged him to secrecy for feare said he that some one of us may come 〈◊〉 be hanged for it And yet for all this the crime had not come abroad but that God who of many forgeries is pleased that some should come to light so ordered things that the Provincial must needs persecute the said Dubois and that with so much injustice that those who heard the bloody rebukes he caused to be given him during the whole time of Dinner he having caused him to kneele down at that which they call the low table to receive them could not forbeare the shedding of teares thereat but above all those who had been secret witnesses to the verification of the Antedate by the said Rivere perceiving the implacable fury of a guilty Provinciall treating with so much indignity an innocent subject gave the glory unto God and formally proving to the generall Mutius Vitteleschi the truth of the falsification demanded justice The discovery was now gone too farre and mens minds too much exasperated to be denyed it However to prevent it from coming abroad especially to the knowledge of Monsieur Dedie the party concerned therein an information was received in and to satisfy in some sort not so much Peter Dubois a Monsieur Dedie who seemed to be very much inscensed it was ordered â—y a personated piece of justice that Sabbateri should be sent to some other place Dubois was honoured with the Procuratorship of the Colledge of Bourdeaux and the Provinciall Malescot when his time was expired instead of being sent to the Gibbet or at least according to the Monasticall orders to perpetuall imprisonment as convicted of Forgery was sent out of the Province in appearance as if it had been to banishment but indeed to be Rector at Tournon Good God what kind of Goevrnment is this that raises crimes into the Throne and puts the vertues into chaines If the civill Magistrate justly condemne a man to death for an Antidâ—te what kind of justice is that which is observed by the Generall of the Jesuits who bestowes Rectories on those that are canonically convicted of having falsified a publick contract And yet
peccadillo's The history of Father Olive a famous preacher among them might very well passe for an absolute Romance were it not as notorious and well known in the Order as the Sun is in the Firmament A certain wayting gentlewoman whom he had cajoll'd into the profess'd house of Bourdeaux and had often seen in some corner behind a doore gave him a meeting at Port de Sainte Marie about two Leagues from Agen where he was wont to preach in the Lent time Love who is many times guilty of childish inventions the more to conceal himself put it into his head to give out that she was his Neece and to the end he might have the enjoyment of her with more freedome to pretend that she was come to give him an account of some affairs of consequence relating to their Family and to entreat him to go along with her into the Countrey after he had made an end of preaching to take some order about the division and setling of certain Inheritances The Lay-Brother John Testis by name but not such in effect was not sensible of the personation but thought it a great matter of edification to see that the Gentlewoman was disposed into a chamber by her self though in the same Lodging and submitting his judgement by a blind obedience to that of his superiour imagined that all the familiarity he saw between them was no more then might be between Vncle and Neece To give an account of all the triviall businesses and Embassies wherein this crafty companion employed the poore Brother that he might with more freedome prosecute his enjoyments with his dear Neece The journeyes he put him upon thence to Paravis whither he could not go without crossing the River to the end the Preacher might have the more leisure to discharge himselfe in the afternoons of the burden of his Sermons into the bosome of that impudent strumpet the commands he layd upon him to go to bed betimes under pretence of Charity that he might slip the more imperceptibly into the chamber of his minion these I say were shifts and evasions that were mysterious to the poore ignorant Brother till that being questioned by the Superiours at his return where he had left him he began to comprehend them and was satisfied the Neece was no better then she should be that is to say a common Wench What do you imagine Readers of these stories whereof you had not the least suspicion If you have been so mistaken as to think the Jesuits much to be celebrated for their chastity be undeceived as to that errour and assure your selves that they by their insinuations and complyances seduce more women and maids to naughtinesse then all other Monks and Friers besides I have understood from one of the Order that had been admitted to the profession of the fourth vow that a woman addressed her self to him saying that she was much courted to a carnall kindnesse by certain Priests but that she was resolved not to affect any but Jesuits for they are more discreet and circumspect I know the wife of a Lieutenant Generall of a Maritime place whom for the respect I beare him I name not who hath had some secret dealings with a Jesuit a great Philosopher I know that of a Kings Atturney in the same City who takes occasion too too often to invite into the Countrey her ghostly Father a Jesuit a person infamous for his uncleannesses in Limoges and Perigueux Were it as pardonable in me to name the great Ladies as it is for me to give the names and sirnames of these zealous stallions I should make Gentlemen tremble Presidents shake with indignation Counsellours blush beyond their Robes Advocates change colour nay Treasurers and Governours of Frontier-places look pale upon the businesse But I must here do that out of discretion which the Persians do in their ceremonies put my finger upon my mouth and admire these inexpressible Mysteries CHAP. VII A third Bill of villanies committed by the Jesuits in their Churches T Is a wise saying of the great Augustine because God is every where by reason of his immensity there is a happy necessity lyes upon us to live according to the rules of Justice and right reason since that whatever we doe is done in the presence of a God who is a just judge and sees all our works There is not any place either sacred or profane where men may take a permission to defile their bodies but a filthy action which were simply a sinne done â—n some places becomes an enormous crime and a monstrous sacriledge committed in the Church That man whatever he be who is guilty of any thing of insolence in the Temple is a criminall but the Romanists are much more reproachable as to this point then we are when they prophane their Sanctuary For since it is the generall belief among them that Jesus Christ resides presentially in body and soul under the species of bread which are preserv'd upon their Altars it must needs follow that when they come to commit uncleanesses in those holy places they are not simply thought to have sinn'd in a Temple where God is ador'd but also in the very sight and in defyance of Jesus Christ who in flesh and in bones is in their Tabernacles I have already satisfi'd the Reader that the Colledges of the Jesuits are so many Cages ful of the uncleannest sort of birds I shall by the ensuing stories discover how farre they are chargeable with sacrilegious villanies I cannot medle with these common-shores of lewdnesse but that the more they are stirr'd the more they stink but I must run the shame and inconvenience of it that people may take the more heed thereto Let it then be observ'd that the most ordinary place where they act their more lascivious parts is the Church when they are any where else they have companions and their presence racks their wits to find out a thouand shifts and inventions to avoid suspicion and elude the observations of those Aristarchus's But in the Church they are alone with their sweetings the founder of their Sect having it seems been of a pious perswasion that the veneration of the Altars would be a sufficient preservative against all abominations in that place Thence hath it happened thence does it dayly happen that of the house of Prayer they make a denne of Thieves for there lyes the scene of their lascivious discourses venereall embraces and feelings and the mutuall pledges of reciprocall affections insomuch that were there a necessity their temples should be sanctify'd by new consecrations according to the Canons of the Church of Rome when any uncleannesse hath been committed therein it were but requisite the Churches of the Jesuits should be new consecrated once every eight dayes Of above fifty instances I could produce hereof I shall insist but on three that so I may the sooner disengage my self from these polluted and infectious places and come into a little fresh and wholsome aire
that time that they may not wan whereupon to exercise their liberality The same course is to be taken with Benefactours and Princes who are at the charge of some sumptuous Edifice for us If it be to get jewels let it be suggested that they are consecrated to Eternity if the Widdows bestow them on the Sepulchers of our Saints at Rome Let all this be confirmed by the examples of other Matrons that had done the like Let it be shewn how that by those courses they shall arrive to the height of perfection when by discarding the love of the things of this world they quit the possession thereof to the Lord Christ in the servants of his Society If they have any children who they intend shall embrace a Religious life their liberality is by all means to be accepted if any thing be offer'd but for those Widdows whose children are so disposed of as to continue in the world they are not to be so much pressed to liberality as the others SECT VIII Of certain expedients whereby it may be effected that the Sons and Daughters of such women as have resigned themselves to the conduct of our Society may embrace a Religious condition of life THis designe is to be carried on by a confederacy with the Widdow their Mother For the Daughters she is to treat them with all harshnesse to persecute them with chastisement threats and abstinences not to allow them cloaths suitable to their quality and the mode and she may sooth them up with hopes of greater portions if they will go into Nunneries Let her aggravate the insupportable humours of the husbands they may meet with as also the grievances and inconveniences of Matrimony in generall Let the Mother pretend no small regret that she had not been a Nunne In a word let her behaviour be such towards her daughters that wearied out with the insufferable cruelties of the Mother they may entertain some thoughts to rest themselves in a Monastery For their Sonnes let our Fathers make frequent visits to them Let them be civilly treated in our Colledges where they are to be entertained with those things which may induce then to come into our Society Such are the Gardens adjoyning to our Colledges where we take out recreations c. When they are brought into the Refectories let them be made acquainted with our cleanlinesse as to all things relating to those places as also with the externall conversation among out Fathers Let them not spare for litle presents and facetious discourses yet such as favour something of the Spirit Let there be plac'd neer and about such Widdows sons such instructors as are very good Friends to our Society nay such as are resolved to be members of it Let not the Mother be over-ready in supplying her sons with necessaries at certain times let her pretend extraordinary expences and incumbrances in her estate If they are sent to study into Provinces that lye at a great distance from the place where she resides let them be kept as short as may be of money to the end that cast down with a consideration of their exigences in strange Countries they may earnestly make it their businesse to fasten on some Religious kind of life SECT IX Of the wayes whereby the Revenues of our Colledges may be improved THe principall instruction to be given the Confeffessors of Princes great Men and Matrons is that while they supply them with spirituall things they may receive of them temporall things for the good and advantage of the Society To which end they are to have a care they do not let slip the occasions of accepting of any thing while it is offered and if it be delayed let them be put in mind of it yet so as that it may appear to be done with much indifference Whoever among the Confessors shall not discover themselves very industrious as to this particular let them be remov'd from their charge over Princes and condemned to a domestick obscurity as such as endeavour not the advancement of the common good It is with no small regret that we have understood how that some Widdows suddenly snatch'd hence by unexpected death have meerly through the neglect of our Fathers for born to leave us in their Wills abundance of rich and precious things belonging to the Church our Fathers it seems making some difficulty to accept of them while the Widdows were alive whereas indeed to get things of that nature there ought not to be so much consideration of the opportunity as of the will of the person that makes the proffer thereof The Confessors are further enjoyn'd to make their visits to the houses of the wealthiest Citizens and richest Widdows as also to the Courts of Noble men At such places are they prudently to make enquiry whether out of a desire to further their souls welfare they themselves their Friends or kinred or any others whatsoever are resolved to leave any thing at their death to the Churches The same thing is also with no lesse circumspection to be sifted out of the Pastors of parishes and Prelates such as had before been drawn in to some intentions to do works of charity Things may be so ordered that we may be no small gainers by the bargain With all the forementioned the Confessors are to ingratiate themselves by persuading them into a belief of the Gratitude of the Society and their faithfull performance of whatever they undertake to do in relation to the places which are bestowed on them by their Benefactors much beyond what other secular Priests and Monks do They are further to have a particular account of the Gardens Quarreys of Stone Vine-yards of the Cities wherein they reside of the villages adjoyning of the Farms thereunto belonging They are further to take notice whose possession they are in upon what contracts they are held what incumbrances they are liable to and lastly they are to find out whether those estates may be gotten either by contract or by a reception of their sons into the Society or by deed of gift It will not be amisse sometimes for those that have devoted themselves to our Society whether sex they are of it matters not to make over their estates to the Colledge with a proviso that after a short time all shall be made sure to the Society If it happen that the Widdows so qualifi'd as aforesaid have only Daughters let them by all means be thrust into Monasteries that so with a certain dowry allow'd them they may be dispatched out of the way For the rest that is their Mannors jewells and the whole reall Estate we shall make a shift some way or other to hedge in But if the Widdow at our devotion have only one son or more and that there be no hope they will come into our Society let it be suggested to the Matrone that it is sufficient if she leave the Estate in Fee to her Son or Sons and make over the summe of money which she