and in the mean time Sir I beseech you to believe that I shall continue all my Life Your c. The Sixth LETTER Of the deplorable Abuse of Preaching in Italy c. YOu know Sir That that which supports the Church of God and is as it were the Life and Soul of it are the Sacraments and the Word of God wherefore it is of the highest Consequence that both these be faithfully and decently Administred and I shall always take the due and faithful Dispensation thereof for a sure Mark of the True Church This Motive engag'd me whilst I was at Rome particularly to inspect the Practices of the Church of Rome in reference to both these I suppos'd I could not meet with any place more favourable to this my design than this Great City which boasts her self if we will believe her not only to contain within her Precinct the Principal and Mother Church of the whole World but over and above doth attribute to Her self tho' it be hard to say upon what good ground the Name of HOLY Roma Sancta As for what concerns the Administration of the Sacraments I cannot deny but the same is performed there both very orderly and solemnly and indeed with an overplus of Ceremonies even to Superstition Here I should give you an account of those Ceremonies which are observed at the Consecration of Priests the Celebrating of the Eucharist and of the Pompous Preparations that are made against Easter the Week before called The Holy Week which by their Splendour and Magnificence draw an infinite Number of Strangers to Rome towards the End of Lent to be Spectators thereof It is a common Saying That he who would pass his Time most agreeably in Italy must be at Venice at Shrovetide and Ascension-day the Octave of the Holy Sacrament at Bononia and the Holy Week at Rome Here also I should have occasion to Relate to you an infinite Number of Fopperies that are practis'd here on certain Feasts in the Year as at Christmass Ascension and Pentecost but because this would take up a great deal of Time I shall pass them by in Silence at present to enlarge my self on a more considerable Subject wherewith my intent is to Entertain you particularly at this time which is their Way and Manner of Preaching Asmuch as there is of Superstition and Excess in the pompous Administration of their Sacraments so great a Deficiency Negligence and Unfaithfulness do we meet with in their Dispensing of the Word During the space of the Seven Years that I was in Italy in all the Cities where I have been at the Times of Advent and Shrovetide I have heard a vast Number of Sermons but I have never seen or known any Curate or Secular Priest to Preach except once a Canon at S. John of Lateran and a Cardinal on Easter-day in the Cathedral Church of Milan So that in case the Word of God be corrupted and abus'd as indeed it is very considerably every day we cannot charge the Secular Priests of Italy therewith who do not Preach at all or who indeed are for the most part so Ignorant that they cannot if they would but the Fault is wholly to be laid at the Door of the Monks and other Religious who have in a manner wholly engross'd the performance thereof Methinks it is enough said when I tell you That the true Pastors who are the Curates take no pains to â—eed their own Flock but recommend that Care to Strangers I mean to Monks who are more sollicitous to satisfie their own Interest and Vain-glory than to procure the Salvation of Souls Yea the Monks have so absolutely possess'd themselves of this Ministry that they will not suffer a Secular Priest to Preach in his own Church and if any of them should undertake so to do and they should find that they could not supplant him they would maliciously employ all manner of Means to blacken and misrepresent him in the Eyes of the People and rob him of his Credit and Reputation True it is that on the other hand the Curates being generally lovers of Ease and Idleness make no great endeavours to reclaim their Right to the Pulpit They declare openly That it is the Business of the Monks to Preach forasmuch as not being engag'd in the Business and Trouble of the World they have leisure enough in their Monasteries to Study and Cun their Sermons but that as for them being wholly employ'd in the Administration of the Sacraments in hearing of Confessions and assisting at Funerals they have no spare Time to turn their Thoughts that way So that we seldom meet with any Quarrels on this occasion between them and the Monks Whilst I was at Rome I often went to the Minerva to hear Sermons They are the Father Dominicans that Preach here who are also called The Preaching Brothers because in the sharing and division of the Gifts and Graces of God the Monks have made amongst themselves these have boldly appropriated to themselves the Gift of Preaching But we find that this is nothing but an arrogant Usurpation of theirs without the Consent of the Holy Spirit for I have scarcely found any Monks more unsuccessful in this Ministry than themselves God will never permit the Pride of Men to dispose of those Gifts which belong to him alone The Jesuits have arrogated to themselves the Gifts of Tongues and of Informing Youth and yet Experience shews that they are indeed very ignorant and unskilful in both these and that the Scholars who have Studied in the Universities under other Masters are incomparably better grounded in Learning than theirs are The Monks of S. Bennet have appropriated to themselves the Character of Retirement and Silence and yet we find no People more Gadding up and down in Cities and Country than they But to return to my Discourse It was one of these Old Dominican or Preaching Brothers that Preâ—â—â—ed at the Minerva but he did it in so unworthy and indecent a manner that I wonder how I could resolve to go and hear him more than once All that was attractive in him was That notwithstanding he was very Old yet he was extreamly Comical and an egregious Buffoon so that he made his Auditors Laugh with open Throats He walked in his Pulpit for in Italy they have them very long and wide he Thump'd the Pulpit with his Hands and Feet he Roll'd his Eyes in his Head and put himself into an Hundred ridiculous Postures I shall give you here a small scantling of one of his Sermons which I still remember that by the Pattern ye may judge of the Whole Piece He had a mind it seems to make a Moral Application of the History set down in the XXI Chapter of the Book of Genesis where Abraham turn'd his Maid Hagar out of Doors He begins thus Sirs said he come follow me and take a Walk with me in the Holy Scripture Then fetching three Steps in the Pulpit having one of his Arms a
related as the Reason of his Retirement is rather a Fable than an History which notwithstanding is maintain'd by a great deal of heat as a great Truth by the Fathers of this Order who have caus'd the Story to be Painted at large and hung up in their Cloisters but on the other hand it is denied by the Doctors of the Famous University of Paris This Fable tells us That Bruno who had a long time frequented that University being present at the Interment of a Doctor who had been a Member of the same a person of an irreproachable Life to outward view and who died with the odour of Sanctity when the Office for the Dead was reciting in the Church for him and that they were come to those Words of the Lessons Responde mihi quantas habeo iniquitates Answer me How many Sins I have the Dead-Body raised himself on the Bier and sitting upright with a terrible Voice pronounced these Words Accusatus sum I am Accused At which astonishing Accident when all that were present were extreamly amazed it was thought fit to put off the Obsequies till the next day at which time they began again the Office for the Dead and when they were come to the same Words Responde mihi c. the Dead answered with a Tone much more terrible than at first these two Words more Judicatus sum I am Judged which increasing the horrour and amazement of all those that were present made them resolve to delay the Burial one Day longer at which time a vast Crowd of People being assembled the Office was begun again and at the same Words the Dead raising himself the third and last time said with a pitiful and mournful Accent Condemnatus sum that he was Condemned to Hell without Recovery This so strange and terrible a Spectacle saith the Fable had that effect on the Spirit of Bruno that from that instant he resolved to quit the World and to retire into some Solitary place for to live there wholly to God solitary and separate from the view of the World and by his perswasion engaged seven Students of the University of Paris his Companions with him in the same Resolution who being all of one mind went and cast themselves at the Feet of the Bishop of Grenoble to beg of him the Desert called Chartreuse which belonged to him and having obtained their Request they retired there and built themselves Cells The Truth of the matter is That this Saint did indeed retire with his Companions into this place but all the Story of the Doctor is evidently false as has been incontestably proved by the Doctors of the University of Paris there being none of the Contemporary Writers or any that were Two Hundred Years after that make the least mention of it and is indeed nothing else but an Invention of the Papists very fit to be joyned with the rest of their Stories concerning the Apparitions of Souls in Purgatory Probably Sir your Curiosity will incline you to desire I should give you a description of this Place and its Situation which without doubt is the most Desert place Nature could form and yet notwithstanding is at this day become a very pleasant Seat by means of the immense Expences which these Fathers who are extreamly rich have been at to make it more pleasing to Sense Wherefore Sir I shall endeavour in order to your Satisfaction to set down what comes to my Mind concerning it This Desert called Chartreuse which has given the Name to the Order that is thence denominated is a place situate in the Bosom of an exceeding high Mountain the Top of which parts it self into Four others leaving in the midst of them a place of a Mile in length and above a Quarter of a Mile in breadth in which space the Cells of these Fathers are built The Waters gushing forth from these Mountains make a most impetuous Torrent which bears the Name of St. Lawrence This was a place altogether unfrequented and almost inaccessible when St. Bruno first retired thither tho' at present by a vast profusion of Mony the Religious of the place have made the access to it not only easie but pleasant having cut out large Steps in the Rock and by that means made as it were many Stairs to get up to it However such is the situation of the place that neither Coaches nor Carts no nor Horses neither can come up to it but they make use of Mules accustomed from their Youth to go up and down those Steps to convey their Provisions to them We got up to the place by means of the same Conveniences and found the Snow in several places lying still on the Eminences of the Rocks notwithstanding that it was in the midst of August and that at the Foot of the Mountain the Heat was almost insupportable The Building of the Monastery was not yet quite finished when we arrived there having been reduc'd to Ashes some short time before There was a Suspicion that the Religious themselves had been the Incendiaries because their Cells displeased them as being too mean and Old-fashion'd and besides too much pinch'd of room so that they could not enjoy themselves in them with that ease and convenience they desired It hapned at a time when the Wind extreamly favour'd their design and the Fire began in a Quarter where so much Combustible matter was lodged and so far from the places where any Fires were made that it was easie to judge That it was not a thing hapned by accident but contrived on purpose Besides the delays and indifferency shewed in quenching of it gave a sufficient Testimony That the Fryers desired nothing more than to see it with all expedition burnt down to the ground Yea some have averred it for a certain Truth That the News of it was known many days before in Forein Countries which was related to us by one of the Fathers of that Society for a Miracle saying That without doubt the Tutelary Angel of the place foreseeing what was to happen to it had communicated the knowledge of it to so far distant Countries But not to insist on this any longer certain it is that the whole Building was reduc'd to Ashes and in less than six Months in a manner quite Rebuilt again a good part of the Materials having been prepared before-hand and as it were by a Divine Providence as the said Father exprest himself in places adjacent to the Mountain It is to be noted That their General Chapter having some Veneration for those Ancient Buildings of their First-Fathers and to prevent Lay-men from Taxing them with Niceness and Luxury had refused them their permission to Build But what is capable to restrain the Longing of Monks whenas by direct or indirect means by Hook or by Crook they are in a condition to effectuate it In a word These New Buildings were brought to perfection with a Magnificence very unbeseeming the Modesty of Hermits and more becoming the Palace of
shone forth so illustriously in the Lives of the Ancient Romans who inhabited the same Country and who rendred themselves every where as amiable by their Clemency as formidable for their Valour I soon found that I was rather to seek for a Moral Cause of it than a Natural and as far as I can reach it is this That the greatest part of Italy in process of time being fallen under the Domination of the Bishops of Rome they sent Priests to be their Lieutenants in the several Provinces of their Dominions a sort of People equally ignorant in matters of Commerce and War which are the two Sinews of State and without which the Government is like a Body afflicted with the Palsy without either action or motion This Idleness joyn'd to the great Heat of the Country and to the corrupt Examples of the said Governours as being Men that only minded their pleasures at last introduced an entire dissolution and effeminacy In Rome of old the Sword sometime gave way to the Robe and Arms to Letters Cedant Arma Togae But at present all veils to the Love of Women This Love being excessive and unbounded is the inseparable Companion of Jealousie and the fruit of Jealousie inexorable Revenge which are the two great Vices which do stain the Reputation of the Italians From this great easiness of Revenging themselves when affronted in their Amours they are now arriv'd to that point as not to suffer the least Word or the least Injury to fall to the ground without taking so it be in their power a most pitiless Revenge This Vice which had its Birth in the Pope's Dominions has inâ—ensibly dispers'd it self into those of the Neighbouring Princes and at present miserably infected all Italy It has been observed that Bononia and Ferrara who were the last that have submitted their Necks to the Roman-Yoke have since that time doubled their Revengeful Spirit But that which is most of all to be condemned in their way of Revenge is That they do commonly execute it in the basest and most cowardly manner imaginable that is either by Poyson or treacherously Stabbing their Enemy in the Back They deride our Duels and say It is the greatest Folly in the World to put the Sword in our Enemies Hand and by this means state him in as fair a condition of being Reveng'd of us as we our selves are of being aveng'd of him When we have an Enemy say they we are not such Fools to cry to him at a distance Stand upon your Guard but endeavour to kill him with the first occasion without putting our selves to the hazard of being kill'd by him However Sir tho' the Italians have their Faults yet on the other hand I must own they have also some very good Qualities they are very prudent in the conduct of their Affairs very discreet in their Discourse civil and handsom in their Carriage amongst themselves or towards Strangers they are good Counsellors and very ready to render Service constant in their Friendship and of a very obliging Humor provided it cost them nothing They are very Witty and I dare say that if their Priests and their Monks had not corrupted them in their Morals and had not so strangely spoil'd and chang'd their Religious Worship as well as the best Country in Europe they would be some of the best Men in the World Indeed Popery is grown to that prodigious excess of Idolatry Superstition and Folly that I am astonish'd they are so backward in casting off that Yoke I know there are a great many amongst them that begin to open their Eyes and see their Errors but they dare not declare their Minds to any one whatsoever for fear of falling Victims to the barbarous and inexorable Cruelty of the Inquisition This Tribunal was set up more particularly for a Curb to the Italians amongst whom many began to waver and to debate the Doctrin of Rome And in order to make it the more fierce and terrible the Popes thought they could not trust it in better hands than those of the Dominicans a cruel and pitiless sort of Fellows and more than any other Order engag'd to maintain the Popes Interest And to encourage them to a rigorous discharge of that barbarous and butcherly Function they have found it convenient from time to time to confer the Episcopal Dignity upon the most Zealous Inquisitors and even to raise many of them to the Eminence of Cardinals Throughout all the Dominions of the Great Duke of Florence this Employ has always been attributed to the Franciscans many of whom likewise have been elevated to Bishopricks and Cardinals-Caps The end in dividing the Inquisition thus between two different Orders was only in order to the more vigorous maintaining of the same by the Emulation of both the Pretenders The main design at first intended for the erecting of the Inquisition was by ways of Blood and Violence to put a stop to the progress of Heresie or to speak in their own Terms Contra Haereticam pravitatem Against Heretical Pravity But the Clergy having since considered the great advantage the Inquisition gave them above the Laity have learnt so dexterously to serve themselves of it that at present there is scarce any thing which they have not brought within the Verge of that Court in order to bring about their private Self-ends If you fail of paying your Tithes without troubling them to examine Whether you be able or not they Argue That the Reason why you do not pay them is because you don't believe they ought to be paid and consequently that you are an Heretick If the least word chance to drop from you reflecting upon the Licentious Lives of the Bishops and Clergy whether Regular or Secular they accuse you as one whose design is to vilisie the Episcopal Dignity and consequently the Church it self in the Eyes of the People that in so doing you have done the Hereticks work for them and served their Interest and therefore must be lookt upon as being one your self If a Man be known to have an Estate and in the mean time shews himself cold and indifferent in contributing to the Collections that are made for the saying of Masses and other Prayers for the repose of the Souls of the Dead tho' it be well known that there is never a Priest or Monk that will so much as say one without Mony he is presently accused as one who doth not believe Purgatory and consequently a downright Heretick Nay moreover if any one be frequently observ'd to refuse putting somethiâ—g into those Boxes that continually run up and down the Streets to help to celebrate the Festivals of such an He or She Saint towards such a Procession in such a Church towards the Chappel of the Rosary towards the Scapulary of the Blessed Virgin or for the Cord of St. Francis these Fellows have the impudence to tell you That they see well enough you have no Devotion for Holy Things and consequently believe
Tongues and made them suffer unexpressible Torments Can you ever believe in good earnest Sir that this is the Spirit of the Gospel Is this the way our Saviour made use of to convert Sinners Did he ever threaten the disobedient or unbelievers with Prisons Racks and Tortures Has he ever left us so much as one Example or Command to Authorize this sacred Inquisitional Method I trow no and consequently this cannot be the Spirit of Christianity Thus these very means the Popes take to maintain their Tyranny over the Consciences of men might serve and without doubt will so in time for just Motives to pull it down if the People would once open their Eyes and Vigorously oppose themselves to the effects of a most unjust and inhuman Violence T is Vertuâ— alone that stands in need of no support but Sin and Iniquity are always in the search of props and contrivances to uphold their tottering and crazy constution and what they cannot carry by the strength of the Lion they endeavour to bring about by the Foxes Craft Thus what the Popes and their Adherents cannot obtain by the Inquisition they strive to compass by Artifice and Lies One of the Chief Fetches they have to keep the People in their Obedience is to secure them in the Chains of profound Ignorance first of the truths of the Gospel very expresly forbidding them to read the Holy Scriptures as a Book very dangerous and pernicious to their Souls Their next care is to prevent any Books of Controversy written by Protestants from coming into their Hands T is an Inquisitional matter to have or read any of them or to be privy to any others having of them Moreover they take special care to charge the Preachers in their Sermons that in speaking of the Protestants who being very well grounded in their Principles must consequently be lookt up as the most formidable Enemies the Church of Rome has they be sure to represent them to their Auditors as men that have absolutely renounced the Faith of Jesus Christ and who do no more believe in him than Heathens and Infidels Wherefore also they indifferently call them Hereticks aud Infidels or to make use of the Italian word Questi non Cristiani So that indeed all the Common People yea and the greatest part of those that are learned too are of the Opinion that Protestants do not all believe in Jesus Christ no more than the Turks do A Canon once demanded of me in Rome by way of Curiosity What the Infidels did in France and why they were suffered there I desired him to tell me what he meant by that word which I did not understand and finding that he spoke of Protestants I told him that they were no Infidels but believed in Jesus Christ as well as the Roman Catholicks only that they rejected Transubstantiation the Mass Purgatory c. and in particular the power and infallibility of the Pope And having heard me discourse at this rate a good while In truth Sir said he if the case be as you say I perceive that those People are not such great Devils as they are represented to us here I have often heard it declar'd from the Pulpit that they were as unbelieving as the Jews themselves and you are the very first I ever heard say that the Protestants believed in Jesus Christ But Sir said I it is impossible but that you who have studied Divinity must needs have heard of the Opinions of Luther Calvin and Zuinglius in the Treatise of the Sacraments in general and in partilar of those of the Eucharist Penance the Sacrifice of the Mass c. I know said he that those Ring-leaders of Heresie pretended not to destroy but to reform the Church and as to some points they have very strong Arguments which even to this day we are hard put to to answer But nevertheless God who hath a particular care of his Church that he might make known to belivers that these men were in a bad way has so ordered it that their whole party came to nothing For as one Error draws on another they have still rowled from one Precipice to another till at last they are fallen into the Abyss of Infidelity They at first separated themselves from the Church of Rome upon the pretence of Reforming it but some time after their followers reduced all to the particular Spirit which is to believe what they please and that provided only they do Worship one God whosoever he be and lead â— morally good life that this is enough for them to be saved I perceived by this discourse Sir that this Canon had been ill informed as indeed most parâ— of the Italians are of the present State of Protestants and of their Doctrin and that at Rome all manner of slights and tricks are made use of against those who refuse to bow their Knees to Baal Tâ— tell a Lye with them is a Vertue as long as it is but employ'd as they think for a good end I remember that a Jesuit who was lately come from England boldly Preached in the Church of Lateran that all Religion there was reduced to the particular Spirit and having made an ample description of the Meetings of the Anabaptists and Quakers under the name of the Church of England when he came to speak of their Sighing and Groaning and their Women Preaching he made all his Auditory break forth into a loud Laughter and by this means without doubt tho' with a great deal of Injustice he made many there present conceive very Contemptuously of that August and Venerable Body of Protestants the Church of England so Zealous for the Glory of God and of Jesus Christ his only Son so exact and decent in the Worship and Obedience she renders to his Divine Majesty and so reasonable in her Orders and Ceremonies As long as those vigilant Pastors the Bishops of the Church of England and the Learned Ministers that are under them keep their watchful Eyes fixed on the Flocks committed to their Charge there is no cause to fear that ever the Romish Wolfe will be in a condition to snatch so much as any single one of them out of their Hands nor will any of her Emissaries as subtle Theeves as they be ever be able by night to steal into the Sheepfold to devour or massacre them as they have already so often endeavoured to do I have since made this Observation on this Sermon of the Jesuit which I heard from the beginning to the end and I could wish all Protestants might seriously take it to Heart viz. That to pull down the Church of Rome the great secret is not absolutely to reject as some do all that she practiseth but that the best way to compass her downfal is to retain all that is good in her only rejecting the evil If we absolutely reject all Fasts because they of the Church of Rome observe some of them as they desire nothing more than to blacken the Protestants
other place for us to bestow our selves The Fathers seeing no remedy granted our request but with so much Aversness and ill will that we could not but wonder to see that persons who for the most part live upon the Alms that are abundantly contributed to them by Seculars should refuse to assist them upon occasion They shewed us a Chamber where we might lye but as for affording us any thing to Eat they desired our excuse telling us that they had none for themselves being thus resolved to leave us without either Meat or Fire tho' the nights be exceeding cold there upon the pretence of the trouble they had in getting their Wood as being oblig'd to fetch it from the Foot of the Mountain We desired them at least to be so kind to give us leave to enter their Kitchin for to warm our selves a little at their common Fire but they being very loath that we should see the good Provisions they had there prepar'd for themselves told us that they could not grant our request because they had some of their Fathers that were Sick about the Fire saying of their Office One of the Florentine Gentlemen that was in our Company knowing that the Convent was never destitute of Provisions broke out into a Passion against the Guardian and reproaching him with his base Incivility told him That he constantly three times a Week sent a good quantity of Bread and Wine to their great Convent at Florence but that he was resolv'd to stop his Hand for time to come and give them the bag and that moreover he himself would acquaint them with the Reason moving him so to do This advertisement made the Guardian presently change his note and having excused himself for what was past in consideration of the Benefactor of his Order he himself conducted us into the Kitchin where in stead of these Sick Fathers and mumblers of their Offices we found there four or five fat and bonny Fryars playing at Dice a great Pot Boyling over the Fire besides several Joynts of Meat a Roasting One of these Fryars seeing us come in very nimbly snatch'd up the Dice and Boxes into his Gown but a while after forgetting himself rose up and let all tumble down on the Ground The Father Guardian perceiving the mischance had hapned excused them the best he could telling us that having been that day a great way off a Preaching to refresh themselves they had made bold with a little Recreation In fine they made us Sup with them and we were very well Treated After Supper they conducted us to our Chamber where we found a very good Fire The next day one of these Fathers accompanied us to shew us the Holy Places of Mount Alvern We were extreamly surprized to see the surface of this Mountain which we had not had the time the night before to take notice of because it was very late when we arrived The whole Mountain is nothing else but a company of Rocks heaped one upon another and all cleft asunder forming as many hideous Precipices which cannot be viewed without Horror Some believe that these Rocks were Rent asunder at the Death of our Lord S. Francis was of this mind when he pitched upon this place for his Retirement to Meditate upon the sacred Misteries of the Passion They shewed us the place where the History of his Life tells us that Jesus Christ appear'd to him in the form of a Seraphim on the Cross and imprinted in his Hands his Feet and his Side the Five wounds were given him on the Cross to the end it might be said that S. Francis had suffered as much as he But indeed according to this account he would have suffered much more for the same Legend adds that he suffred even till his Death the Pains of Jesus Christ as sensibly as Jesus Christ felt them when he received them on the Cross and that from that time forward the Life he lived was continued by a perpetual Miracle which preserved his Life in the midst of a continual Death For my part I find this pretended Apparition of Jesus Christ like a Seraphim with Wings extreamly improper not to say Ridiculous why not rather in his human form He that would not take upon him the nature of Angels shall we believe that he would ever take their Figure And would not this highly favour the Opinion of those Ancient Hereticks who maintain'd that the Son of God had only taken upon him an Aery and Phantastical Body And to speak my mind I believe that this Impression of the Wounds was only perform'd in the strong Imagination of S. Francis much like some others have imagin'd that they had Feet of Wax and a Head of Glass The place where it is said that this Miraculous Operation was Celebrated is under a great Stone whereof the one end only is wedg'd into the Rocks yet so as according to my Understanding is sufficient for its Support Nevertheless these Fathers every where proclaim this for a great Miracle and that it cannot be conceived but that naturally the Stone must needs fall Near to this they shew us a little Pathway very narrow upon the Brink of a vast Precipice which was the way by which S. Francis went to pray under that Rock The Devil envying his great Devotion Attempted upon a time to cast him down Headlong but he seeing the Enemy of Mankind coming towards him leand himself against the Rock which made way for his Body softning like Wax to receive him They still shew this Impression of his Body left in the Rock but which may as well have been done with a Chizzel as the way they tell us As for the Devil sure it is that the Roman Catholicks make many pretty Stories of him that are not always very Authentick I remember to have seen in France in the Church of S. Colombe neer Sens a very pleasant History represented En relief upon an Holy-Water Basin Marble near the Door of the Church concerning an Holy Hermit called Beat. The Devil being come on a certain time to distract his Thoughts whilst he was saying of his Office the Saint laying hold of him lift him up by the Ears and put him into the Basin and having laid his Breviary upon it kept him a Prisoner there for ten days together Nothing can be imagined more Comical than to see the Representation of this Devil who as far as he is able lifts up his great Asses-Ears above the Holy Water with the marks of an extream Rage in his Countenance for say they he fears the Holy Water many degrees beyond the Fire of Hell The Monks of this Abby thought good to be at the charge of this work ad perpetuam rei Memoriam But I return to Mount Alvern The Fathers afterwards shewed us many other places in the Rocks where S. Francis performed his Religious Exercises and amongst others that where he wrote the Constitutions of his Order whereof I have seen the
Pilgrimage except they be pleased to change the Vow they have made into a Pecuniary Mulct for in that case they are very readily discharged by the Priests The Pilgrims which I saw upon their arrival at Fane were all of them drest in Vests of the same Colour and had already run one Stage on their Asses Their Vests were all New and of very sine Linnen and forasmuch as in all appearance they were not mov'd to put on that Garb from a Penitent Spirit they had taken care to tuck them up high enough in several places to make their sine Cloaths of Gold and Silk they had under them to be seen which made me also believe that probably they must be Persons of Quality Their Girdles were of Silk of the same colour with their Vests and extreamly well wrought Upon my Enquiry Who they were it was told me They were the Company or Society of our Lady of Life of Bononia which is the Name of a very richly Endow'd Hospital for the Relief of poor Sick People and where the Priests have Erected a Congregation or Society of Noble Persons who have their daily Masses aud Prayers there Upon their entring into this Society they oblige themselves to assist the Poor of that place with their Estates and best Endeavours The greatest part of the Gentlemen of Bononia are of this Society they go every year by way of Procession to Loretto towards the end of Autumn when Vintage is past which is likewise observ'd by most other Companies As soon as they were come near to the Great Church the Priests came out to meet them with the Cross and Banner by way of Reception and bidding of them Welcom and made a short Speech to them to which the Prior of the Company being a Bononian Earl return'd an Answer in few words After this they entred into the Church where they made some short Prayers and then dispers'd themselves throughout the best Inns of the City whither Orders had been sent over-Night to provide a good Dinner It was about Ten of the Clock in the Morning when these Pilgrims arrived and near half an Hour after they were follow'd by about some Twenty Caleches full of Ladies These were She-Pilgrims who had left Bononia upon the same design and who were all of them either Kinswomen or Mistresses of the foresaid Pilgrim-Gentlemen They were all of them most sumptuosly Attired and with an Air of Wantonness and Gaiety that very ill became persons who went a Pilgrimaging out of Devotion They had Little Pilgrims-Staves fastned to the Bodies of their Gowns some of them were of Gold others of Ivory all beset with costly Pearls and Diamonds some had them made up of Orange-flowers or of those Artificial-flowers which are in so great esteem at Bononia and which make the greatest part of the Traffick of the Nuns of that City Others again had them all wrought of Needle-work to that height of Curiosity that one of them might probably have been the Work of many Years And lastly Others had them of other precious and costly Matter The Pilgrims had no sooner taken possession of their Inns and given Order to have all things in a readiness but they went forth to meet their Ladies and having bid them Welcom they conducted them with a great deal of Honour and Ceremony into the Apartment prepared for them My Curiosity to observe these Proceedings prompted me to Return to mine Inn where I had already taken notice of the great Preparations that were making for them And finding that the Gentlemen wanted a Chamber more to accomodate them I offered them mine and in Recompence thereof they very civilly entreated me to Dine with them The Table was cover'd with many Dishes and all Dinner-time their Discourse was nothing but a continual Raillery upon their Ladies Pilgrim-Staves It was not any hitting or pinching Raillery but such as consisted only of some pat Allusions full of Wit and certain ambiguous Words which these Italians knew to be for the Tooth of their Ladies As soon as Dinner was done every one of them put themselves in order to prosecute their Journy The Pilgrims mounted on their Asses and the Ladies into their Caleches As for my part I joyn'd my self with a very honest Man born at Parma who did not go on Pilgrimage but Travell'd out of Curiosity We follow'd this Troop of Pilgrims at a small distance being Mounted in the same manner as they tho' we could not joyn our selves in company with them because we had no Pilgrims Habits I demanded of the Italian Why those Gentlemen who were all Persons of Quality and who probably had their Coach and Horses at Bononia did make use of these Asses in their Journy He told me That some made use of them out of a Frolick and to make themselves Mirth on the Road others by way of Humility and to obtain more Merit And moreover that these Asses by carrying so many Devout persons to Loretto had by that means obtain'd a very particular kind of Blessing which was That never any Mischance hapned to those that rid on them for if by chance any did fall from them or were cast by them into any Slough they always escap'd very happily without receiving any hurt By this Discourse I began to perceive that this honest Gentleman believed these Asses also to be Miraculous He told me That some Algier-Pirates having lately made a descent in the Marquisate of Ancona could not with all their Endeavours overtake a Company of Travellers that were Mounted on these Holy Asses tho' they pursued them very close and that having Fired very thick at them they neither kill'd nor wounded any one of the Company As we Rid on thus Discoursing together we ever anon cast an Eye towards our Pilgrims that were before us and found they made it their only business on the Road to divert the Ladies that Rid in the Caleches Some of them Crossing the Way before them strove to put themselves into Comical and Ridiculous postures to make them Laugh others fell from their Asses on purpose and in a word as the Italians have a very pleasant and ready Wit their Behaviour all along the Road was nothing but Mirth and Comedies The Ladies without doubt were not wanting to bestow a Thousand Blessings on the Day and Moment wherein they were so happy to make a Vow to go to Loretto forasmuch as probably they had never in all their Lives been better diverted Every Body knows the Humor of the Italians That no sooner have they Married a Wife but they make her a Slave However their Jealousie hath never yet been able to hinder them from going to the Church on Sundays and Holy-days or to the places of Pilgrimage when they have made a Vow to that purpose The Church of Rome have declar'd it a Mortal Sin not to go to Mass on those days or not to accomplish the Pilgrimage one has Vowed and hath depriv'd Husbands of the Power to
the other two I have seen these three Pellets but so far are they from suffering one to try the Experiment that they will not suffer you to touch it with your Finger to feel whether it be Flesh or no. Every one knows that a strong Imagination is capable of producing strange effects in the Body We see every day Children that come into the World bearing the Marks of their Mothers Longings which are the effects of their Imagination It may be that this Saint did so strongly Imagin the Instruments of the Passion as to leave them Engraved in her Heart but it seems to me that this is a Violence done to Nature which can no way be pleasing to God who is the Author of it As for S. Catharine of Bononia she more particularly render'd her self famous by her Abstracted Life The History of her Life tells us That she was in a continual Union with God Doctor Molinus was no stranger to this Unitive Life for this is that he calls his Prayer of Rest I doubt not at all but that one day he would have been one of the Saints of Rome had not Obedience to Superiors and particularly to the Pope been concerned in the case The Pope will suffer you to Unite with God as much as you please provided always that this Union do not hinder you from obeying him more than God himself I doubt not indeed but that there may be even to this day perfect Souls amongst them that are Ravished even into the third Heaven but these are extraordinary Graces which do not depend on any Natural endeavour we can exert to obtain them But when I consider that the Roman Catholicks have made a fixed State of this Union that they prescribe Rules to attain it and it is sufficient according to them to put themselves into the Hands of one of these Mystical or Unitive Doctors and follow their Directions in-order to arrive at this State When I consider this I say I cannot but condemn their Error T is a piece of Impiety to make the Divine Operations dependent on the Humours of Men to give Rules for the obtaining of that by way of Merit which is the meer Gift of Grace and to make one's self the Dispenser and Disposer of the Gifts of Heaven as these sorts of Doctors pretend to do Moreover the ill Consequences that follow from hence are very Pernicious to Souls First of all this assurance only received from these Mystical Masters of once being advanced to the Unitive Life whilst so many others are left behind in the Contemplative and Active Lives which are so far below it is very proper to inspire the parties concern'd with Pride and vain Glory Secondly This may prove a very great Discouragement to those who are necessarily engaged in an Active Life to consider that there are such perfect States beyond them which it is impossible for them ever to attain to because these Doctors do not think them fit to be admitted thereto Thirdly This opens a Door to manifold Superstitions and Errors for they who are engaged in the Active Life never take the pains to examin what the Contemplative say nor these what the Unitive or Mystical do alledge for Truth So that the two first do both of them rely upon these last who for the most part are persons of weak Brains and most extravagant Thoughts who believe that whatsoever they speak or act is from God It is evident that the Opinion of Transubstantiation is only an effect of their Whimseys by the Impropriety Abuse and Confusion of the Terms they make use of to explain themselves For in like manner as they call their Mystical Life sometimes Union Unity Identity Confusion or mingling of the Soul with God sometimes the Loss of the Soul in God the pure sight of God Peaceable possession of God and many more which may be in the Books that Treat of the Mystical Life whereof some are very False and Impious as those of Unity Identity Confusion and Losing of ones self in God and all the others do only belong to the Future Life Now in like manner say I as they make use of these Terms to signifie a simple adherence complyance and acquiescence of our Souls in the good pleasure of God which cannot produce Identification so of old Times they called the Holy Supper The real Union of Jesus Christ with our Souls and the Bread we partake therein the Truth Reality and Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ which notwithstanding is only there in a Figure And afterwards when this Errour had taken good Rooting it brought forth this big word of Transubstantiation which at this day makes the chief difference between Papists who maintain it Tooth and Nail and the Protestants who oppose it Neither is it any great matter of wonder that an Error of such Consequence is crept into the Church of Rome without making any great Noise for in the first place there was nothing in it contradictory to the Popes Authority And again it was not lawful for the People to examin what the Mystical Tribe asserted insomuch that even to this day in Italy if you chance in discourse with a Contemplative or Unitive person to contradict them in any thing they tell you very freely That these are Matters too high for your Capacity and that you are to believe them in the things they assert as being better acquainted than you with the ways of God and as having already spent a considerable time in tracing the Mystical Paths of a Spiritual Life I have scarce ever seen any of these Mystical persons but were very Proud They look upon themselves as Eagles who take their Flights in the highest part of the Air and upon other men as Beasts creeping upon the Earth A common and humble Life full of Affability Benignity and Sweetness towards ones Neighbour shall always be more desirable to me than all these great Sublimations of Spirit which are apt to inspire Men with so much Pride And if ever it shall please God to raise me to the high degree of Contemplation or Union it shall be His work and not the effect of any Rule or direction which Men can afford me In Italy they make a kind of Trade of it and if a Man doth not put himself into the Hands of some of these Mystical Doctors who pretend to be old Travellers and throughly well acquainted with the Way to Heaven and who profess the Art of Guiding Souls thither he can never hope of arriving there These Professors are ordinarily old Jesuits old Capuchins or old Fathers Missionaries who being no more able to Scout it up and down in strange Countries in Holland and in England to pervert Protestants apply themselves in their Convents to play the Seraphick Fathers to the end they may be followed by a Company of He and she Votaries whom they Discourse to Morning and Evening in their Churches When they are met together in their Assemblies you