Selected quad for the lemma: order_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
order_n	church_n	pope_n	rome_n	3,776	5	6.5276	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26001	Some generall observations upon Dr. Stillingfleet's book, and way of wrighting with a vindication of St. Ignatius Loyola, and his followers the Iesuits, from the foul aspersions he has lately cast upon them, in his discourse concerning the idolatry, &c. : in four letters, written to A.B.	Ashby, Richard, 1614-1680.	1672 (1672)	Wing A3942; ESTC R7040	65,474	73

proper devise was Ad majorem Dei gloriam to Gods greater glory which he fixt upon all his actions to inflame himself to do yet more and more for Gods honour and service 28. Now because the Authors of his Life take notice that his Visions and Revelations which were nothing so frequent in time of his studies as they had been at Manresa began to be as frequent as ever He most malitiously attributes it to the hope he had of obtaining a confirmation of his Order as if he had had them at command as well as Mahomet or in plain English as if he had play'd the cheat and onely pretended to receive such favours from Heaven which he forg'd to bring about his ends He only mentions two of these Visions The first was in his way to Rome where entring into a Church to pray he was rapt into an Extasie and saw God the Father commending him and his Companions to the favour of his blessed Son who also appeared at the same time with his Cross upon his Shoulders and spake unto him these comfortable words I will be favourable to you at Rome Which was the chief Cause that in the confirmation of his Order it was call'd the Society of Iesus The other was at Monte Cassino where he saw the Soul of Hosius one his of Companions lately dead enter into Heaven and a little after amongst many other glorious Saints 29. Notwithstanding all this saies the Dr. they met with great difficulties at Rome It is very true they did but he does not tell us how they came off by the favourable assistance which our B. Saviour had promised them The story is to be seen at large in Orlandinus and Ribadeneira Orlan l. 2. n. c. 47. Ribal l. 2. c. 14. The short of it is this One Austin of Piedmont an Austin Fryer by profession but a conceald Lutheran had been blam'd by the Fathers for preaching false doctrine He conspires with one Michael and this wicked fellow gives out that Ignatius had been condemned for an Heretick first in Spain then at Paris and lastly at Venice This upon examination was found to be a meer slander and Michael was sent into banishment and S. Ignatius and his companions were by a publick sentence which is to be seen in the Authors juridically declar'd innocent persons And that you may see what a hand Gods providence had in their defence and that he had not forgot his promise to S. Ignatius of being favourable to him at Rome in the very ni●k of time that they lay under this cloud of Persecution Figueroa the Vicar general of Toledo who upon a like slaunder at Alcala had cast Ignatius into Prison and sound him innocent comes to Rome and the other two also who had been his Judges at Paris and Venice and all these gave testimony of his innocen●y beyond all exception And not long after this Austin of Piedmont who was the chief projector in framing the false accusation publickly professed himself a Lutheran and the rest of his instruments grew to be of such wicked lives that one was burnt in effigie at Rome and another was condemn'd to perpetual imprisonment though he afterwards repented and was assisted at his death by one of the Fathers 30 Pope Paul the 3. being throughly satisfyed of their being serviceable to the Church saies the Dr. ve●y truly which is a wonder the Order was confirmed 3 d. Octob. An. D. 1540. And the Pope himself saies he became enthusiastical too for having read the Formula of the institute of the Society o● the first draught of the rule penn'd by S. Ignatius he cryed out The spirit of God is here One of the Ca●dinals had oppos'd himself at first but was soon gained by the Saints pennance and prayers and three thousand Masses which he and his friends offerd up for that intention and suddainly chang'd his mind publickly professed that although it was a thing much against his dictamen to multiply religious orders yet as to the institute of S. Ignatius he neither durst nor could oppose it I would gladly here omit the Drs. prophane jest upon the Masses and Prayers that were offer'd and not sully my Paper with it that it must be a hard heart indeed that would not yeild with so much suppling Where you see he is not content to jeer the only Christian sacrifice we have but to deliver himself as if the Masses had been offer'd up to the Cardinal and not to God the only Ruler of mens hearts 31. Soon after S. Ignatius was chosen General of the Society which he accepted with as many Teares and protestations and intreaties saies the Dr. till he plainly saw it was the will of God as ever any Usurper took the Government into his hands which he had most eagerly sought for Fy upon 't this is rudeness in a high degree A civil person would hardly give a dog such language if any person of quality had a kindness for him as he gives S. Ignatius who has the esteem of a great Saint in the opinion of most of the greatest Princes and Monarchs of the Christian world Had it not been sufficient to express his ambition to have said that he long'd as much for the Generalship as a hungry Minister newly come from the University does for a good Benefice or as a friend of his does for a Bishopprick but he must compare him to a p●oud Usurper But where is his Author for this calumny he does not produce so much as a Schioppious to justify it Let any indifferent person take but the pains to read over the Saints life and I am very confident he will find that no man could labour more to decline Superiority than he did nor to shake it off when it was in his hands so far was he from seeking it He must have been a prodigious Hypocrite that could preach and profess so much humility and bind his followers by express vow not to seek any such honour directly or indirectly and yet seek it himself with such eagerness as the Dr. expresses But he may do well to tell us how he saught it was it openly or covertly if openly it was the certain way to lose it and we have no record of any such thing if covertly how comes the Dr. to smell out his knavery which no body has yet discovered besides himself and those of his privy Counsel 32. He concludes his Libel with a whole peal of injuries Take them as they lye Let the world judge saies he whether there has appeared a greater Enthusiastick or pretender to revelations then Ignatius was since the dayes of Mahomet and S. Francis I will not here dispute ho● unworthily he couples Mahomet and S. Francis together that is a Turk and a Christian a Divel and a great Saint Those of his holy Order will not fail to vindicate their glorious Patriark Nor will I quarrel with him for comparing S. Ignatius with that Seraphical Saint in point of

or refuse to be guided by his Superiours and spiritual Directors nay do not the Authors of his Life take notice that he had recourse to his ghostly Fathers and followed their Directions in the change of his Life in his Scruples in admirting the Generalship in all doubtful occasions and particularly at the hour of his death Did he ever profess himself to be Christ as Iames Nayler did Again what Quaker ever followed him in leaving all to follow the Counsels of Christ in voluntary poverty chastity and obedience What Quaker ever took so much pains to get learning as he did or thought it necessary to do good with his Neighbour What Quaker lead such an austere penitential Life as he or spent so much time in Pray'r on his Knees and in the Night or beg'd from Door to Door in a poor Pilgrims habit What Quaker ever suffered so many Persecutions and came off so clear in the judgement of his Persecutors What Quaker converted so many millions from Paganisme as he has done by his Disciples Lastly what Quaker had such illustrious marks of Sanctity as he attested upon Oath by Witness beyond Exception and approved by the See Apostolick Let us follow him I know not whether any of that Innocent and Religious Order of Iesuits had any hand in forming this new Society he means Quakers among us as has been frequently suggested I know not whether the Dr. were in his wits when he writ this which no sober Person can any more believe then that it was a Jesuite that taught the Serpent in Paradise to pull a curse upon all mankind by cunningly circumventing our first Parents The thing was merrily said by a Person of quality in France when he heard the Jesuites slandred but the Dr. if he please may object it in his next Book unless he had rather leave it to his Freind the Author of the Answer to the Papists Apology who it seems is putting out another terrible knocking Book against the Jesuites for it will come in well there But have patience to hear him out If one may guess the Father by the Child's likeness Ignatius Loyola Founder of the Iesuites was at least the Grandfather of the Quakers I have already shew'd you how like or rather how unlike they are I am quite weary of such pittiful Stuff Let the World now judge how well the Dr. has acquitted himself of his promise pag. 262 of making St. Ignatius appear as great a Fanatick as ever has been in the World and whether according to the same promise he is to be contented to be upbraided with the charge of Fanaticisme At least I laid it at his Door in my first Letter and there it is like to lie together with Idolatry till he know how to remove them without changing his Principles Let this suffice to vindicate St. Ignatius in my next Letter you shall hear of his Followers THE THIRD LETTER That the Jesuits Doctrine and Practises are not destructive to Government SIR 1. THe Jesuites had no reason to expect that after Dr. Stillingfleet had dealt so rudely with St. Ignatius their holy Founder as you have seen he would use them with more civility And they are wise enough to bless God for it For they take it for a great argument of his Love to their Order to permit it to be abused by malitious Tongues as well as to be cried up by a good People as a seasonable recruit and support in the Church in these later times They adore Gods Providence and know it is the style of his infinite Wisdom to expose his own works to rough tryals to render them more illustrious that the Devil uses all his Engines to destroy them and that the world follows the method and intention of the Devil his Master There is not a holier Society upon Earth then Christs Church nor was there ever any which suffered greater slaunders then She has done both in her Head and Members Christ was traduced for an Imposter a Seducer an Enemy to Caesar a seditious Fellow a very Divel and was crucified between two Thieves to take away his life and reputation at one blow Christians have ever since met with the like treaty From the beginning they were every where contradicted Acts 28. St. Paul saw a great Door open to his labours in the conversion of Souls but he also discovered a great many Adversaries 1 Cor. 16. others that followed him were accused for Murtherers of Infants devourers of mans Flesh Enemies to the State incestuous and abominable Wretches and for such were put to cruel deaths Sacred and profane History is full of Examples of this Nature and no body can question what I have said that is not a meer Stranger to them Yet could there be a juster or holier man then the Son of God the Holy of Holies and Justice it self were there ever Persons more estranged from Cruelty Sedition and Impurity or greater Lovers of Peace Meekness and Chastity then those Christians Why then did God permit the Divel and the World so furiously to misuse his Son and his Servants To give their Vertue a greater lus●re after such hard tryals to shew that truth triumphs over all the Powers of Hell and to Crown their sufferings with immortal Laurels That which happened to Christ and his Church in general has befaln all Religious Orders in their first rise The Benedictines Carthusians Dominicans Franciscans have all had their share in sufferings they have all been filed and polished with the sharp Teeth of wicked Slaunderers nor will our Adversaries yet let them be quiet as you see The Society of Jesus as it came last into the World so has it been more persecuted then all the rest for as much as the World is grown more inveterate in malice and the Divel more enraged at the good which he sees dayly wrought by their pious endeavours What mischief has there been in this last age whereof the Jesuits have not been made the chief Authors and Contrivers as if they had opened Pandora's Box and let all evils into the World But for their comfort they can be treated no worse then their dear Master who has read them this Lesson as they have persecuted me so will they persecute you And they may well apply that of Origin to themselves Hom. 11. Iosua He that seeks the Freindship of Iesus let him know he shall have many Enemies Though you be of the least merit in the Church yet if you belong to Iesus you shall be sure to be persecuted 2. It is not my intention at present to make my self Protectour or all those illustrious Religious Orders as the Dr. seems to have made himself Champion of the English Protestant Church They are able to defend themselves against all their Adversaries Nor do I mean to engage in all the Jesuits quarrels but onely for your satisfaction wipe off that Dirt which the Dr. has lately cast upon them I reduce all his Calumnies to three Heads

whole Herd of Iesuits as the miscalls them had taught it and no body in the world but they Beleive it Sir there is no man that has a grain of judgement but will acknowledge that the Jesuits of all others can be the least charged with it not only because it was the common doctrine before they came into the world but also because whatsoever others have done they have taught it nor writ one word of that subject these fifty or sixty years For no sooner was the doctrine cryed down and condemn'd in France but their General Cladius Aquaviva to take away all occasion of complaint forbad it to be taught any more and his Successor Mutius Vitelleschi A. D. 1626. not content with a bare prohibition commanded all his Subjects in vertue of obedience that is under pain of damnation never to treat more of the Popes power of deposing Princes either in word or in writing And this precept was afterwards confirmed by the whole Order in the 8 general Congregation and runs thus We ordain in vertue of holy obedience that no body hereafter treat the question of the Popes power over Princes to depose them c. in any publick or private writings disputations or School lessons that all occasion of offence and complaint may be quite cut off This decree has been ever since inviolably observed by the Jesuits let the Dr. either name the persons that has transgressed or let him forbear hereafter to make the Jesuits odious for a doctrine which they have so solemnly renounced He would take it ill to have all the Protestant Ministers Tenets layd at his door Henry the 4th said well in his speech to the Parliament I am certain that in averring and defending the Popes authority the Fathers of the Society differ not from other Catholick Divines 6. A third and yet more dangerous and desperate Principle which the Dr. fathers on the Jesuits is the lawfulness to kill Kings I cannot name the person that ever taught it in these termes I know Dominious Soto a Dominican Charles 5 Confessor taught it lawful to take away the lifo of a Tyrant l. 1. de jure just and Mariana followed him in a book dedicated to Philip the second King of Spain and neither of those Princes took themselves to be concern'd in the opinion or shew'd their displeasure against the book no more than the Royalists were offended at Killing no Murther But it seems Marcan's book gave great offence in France And all the Jesuits sinned in him as we all did in Adam otherwise his doctrine which they disown would not be imputed to them The French Fathers were the first that discovered it in Mariana's book and condemn'd it in their Provintial Congregation four years before the Sorbon censure was passed against it And their General Claudius Aquaviva gave order to suppress the book till that place were corrected and more than this forbad all those of the Society under pain of excommunication and other penalties as is to be seen in the 8 Congregation Tit. censurae not to write or teach in publick or private or advise that it is lawful to kill Kings or imagine their death upon pretence of Tyranny so that very probably this extravagant opinion of Mariana by the Jesuits industry would have been so smothered in its first birth as not to be revived had it not been for the covetousness or malice of the Protestant Heirs of Wechel who reprinted the Book at their own charges I owe this Observation to Father Cotton who in his Letter to the Queen Regent of France brings in a whole Jury of Jesuits who in their Writings have all rejected the opinion and practise of attempting any thing against the Life of a Prince though he should abuse His Princely Power These are all grave Writers Tolet Bellarmin Valentia Salmeron Delrio Heissius Becanus Gretser Lessius Serarius Azor Richcome All other Jesuits side with these and are ready to seal it with their Blood that the Decree of the Council of Sess 15. Constance ought to be received by all and maintained inviolably This being the constant judgement of the whole Society what prejudice can one roving Pen bring to the whole Order Iohn Wicklef is a rubricated St. in Foxe's Protestant Calendar and yet the said Council condemn'd him for teaching that every Tyrant ought to be kill'd and that it was both lawful and meritorious for any of his Vassals or Subjects to kill him and that by any fraud or deceit notwithstanding any Oath or Agreement made to the contrary and that without any Sentence of Iudgement Luther Calvin Beza Buchanan did not only teach the same Propositions but most impudently applied them to Princes then living namely to Charles the 9th King of France Queen Mother with all her Whelps as they call'd her Children Queen Mary of England c. and yet the Dr. with Reason would think himself much injured if these mad Propositions of Wicklef and others were lay'd to his Church of England for all they were Protestants and some of them cannonized for Saints by Mr. Fox with what Face then can he lay the fault of one Jesuit to the whole Order as if it were an original Sin which were to descend to all Jesuits though their wills were so far from being united with his that they have expresly renounced and condemned his rash assertion According to this method it were no hard matter to ruin the reputation of the best Families and Communities in the World by making them guilty of their misdemeanours of some one of their Body contrary to the judgement of Almighty God Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that shall sin the same shall die the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father 7. The Jesuites practises are conformable to the Doctrine and Practise of the Catholick Church but the Dr. supposes them guilty of most abominable crimes I say supposes for he brings nothing to prove it besides his Ipse dixit or bare assertion which as you have seen is not only fallible but has been often found tripping First he supposes them to have had a hand in the massacre at Paris and Rebellion in Ireland which is as true as that they were the Plotters and Contrivers of the late Rebellion in England where their penitents and best Freinds lost their Goods or their Lives in the defence of His Majesties Power and just Rights The Massacre at Paris was an intrigne of State or Cabinet plot as appears by all the Transactions faithfully Recorded by D. Avila and never was laid to the Jesuites charge who hate such unchristian like Proceedings They are as innocent of the Irish Rebellion for what Jesuit can the Dr. name that appeared in it certainly they had not play'd their Cards well to raise a Rebellion in Ireland and at the same time promote to their uttermost His Majesty's interest in England I confess Catholicks in that Kingdom were highly to blame but they stirr'd not before