The Conclusion.

BEcause the Jesuits are justly look'd upon as having a Grand influence on the forementioned designs, I shall close this dicourse with a Scholastical velitation, which, I hope, will not be unacceptable to the learned; for it is worthy of a Pen far superiour to mine: The question I would discusse, is this,

Whether that Order of men, in this our Age, may be suppo­sed to be at their vertical, or highest Exaltation? Whether they stand at a stay, or verge towards their declension?

I Take the more boldness to propound such a question, be­cause a secular Priest hath led me the way: for Watson in his first quodlibet, hath these two queries.

1. Whether the Jesuits, having gone astray from their first institution, there be any likelihood of their continuance? or if not, of their downfall; and he inclines, perhaps prophetically, to this latter. Artic. 9.

2. Whether any danger to God's Church to erre, and utterly to be Overthrown by the Jesuits ruin, (if it happen) or no dan­ger at all? which he resolves in the Negative. Artic. 10.

I Know the Jesuits are much for Probable opinions; where­fore in consideration of their Rise, Progress, and the Ways, and Methods they have taken to advance themselves, together with their immoral and unlawful practices; I shall propound the reasons, why some men suppose, that they are at their height, or rather declining.

Arg. 2. Their Original is affirmed by some of their own Church to be by surprize, and imposition upon the See of Rome. For upon the first coming of Ignatius, and his Partners to Rome in the time of Paul the third, the Rules of their order being presented to him, he committed them to three Cardinals to examine, who thought good to refuse them, because their O­bedience to their General, was seemingly Superiour to their Subjection to the Pope; for Maffaus, speaking of their General, says, without controversie one must be chosen, to whom all must be obedient, as if it were to Christ, to his word they must swear, and esteem his beck, and his will, as an Oracle of God, Lib. 2. vit. Ignat. Cap. 9. I pray what greater obedience could the Pope himself claim? hereupon being repuls'd, they reform­ed their Rule, and made their Obedience to the Pope, and their General both alike; for these be the words of Ribadeneira, who also afterward wrote the life of Ignatius. Lib. 2. Cap. 7. The order of these Clarks must be, that by their institution, they be ready to obey the Pope at a beck, and live by such a line, as he shall well consider, and determine off. Upon the insertion of which passage, the Pope, having (as he thought) secured his own Authority, lent a more favourable ear to them, and [Page 26] confirmed their Order; yet with some jealousie, and with ma­ny scruples of Conscience, as some of their own Authors speak; for at first, he allowed them not to exceed the number of Sixty, and therefore well may their Constitutions begin with this little Congregation, &c.

To improve this Argument, if there be a worm in the Root, the verdure of any plant will in time decay. An Errour com­mitted in the first concoction, is never remedied in the second, as Physicians say, no marvel then, if homebred-jealousies do increase upon this Body of Men, now grown numorous, if not formid­able to the Pope himself; ab origine fuit Sic; and therefore not­withstanding their pretended submission and vow to the Papal Chair; when the Pope Crosses their purposes, as Xistus quintus did, he incurred their great displeasure and hatred, to the short­ning (as some think) of his life. After whose death, they most Maliciously depraved him, and preached against him openly in Spain: yea one of their Faction proceeded publiquely to main­tain, that Homo non Christianus possit esse Romanus Pontifex, which Tenet amongst them argued bitter spight, and unchristian dis­dain against their acknowledged Head, Watson quodl. pag. 100.

It is the worst thing in the world to serve a jealous Master; for at one time, or other, his dissatisfaction (though cover'd for a season) will appear to the disgrace, if not ruine, of his ser­vant: Let the Provincial of the English Jesuits, in the room of Mr. Whitebread, apply this to himself, and his Order, they are not quite secure on the otherside the water. Besides, Beneficia cóus (que) grata, dum exsolvi possunt, as the Historian speaketh. The ex­traordinary Merit, which the Jesuits pretent to, from his Holi­ness, as voting themselves to be the Chief, if not only suppor­ters of the Papal Chair, is but an upbraiding of him, who sits therein; especially in doubtful and suspicious times, great deserts in some Circumstances render a man as obnoxious, as the high­est guilt; some give an instance in Marshal Byron of France, in the days of their Henry the fourth; in the Duke of Bucking­ham, in Richard the third's time, and in the Old Earl of Essex, in Queen Elizabeth's days here in England. All which (say they) were deprest, and broken under the weight of their merits to their respective Princes.

If benefits procure such requitals, what shall injuries do? For the Author of the Jesuits Catechisme, Chap. 25. Book. 3. says, That the notorious interprize, or usurpation of the General of the Jesuits over the Holy See, is such, that there is no new Sect, which in time may be more prejudicial to it than this.

Arg. 2. It is ominous and fatal to break a setled Consti­tution, on which an Order of Religion is grounded; for the O­riginal Sanction is as the sacred Bond or tye, which keeps that Order together. I will not trace the Conversation of the Je­suit, [Page 27] throughout all his Vows; but certainly in that of Poverty, and of not intermedling in secular Affairs, they have much deviated from their Primitive Institution, and consequently have made forfeiture of their Interest in the Priviledges of that Soda­lity.

It is observed, That the eldest Children of Parents are more strictly educated, than those, which are born in their riper years; because then the severity of their Discipline melts into Lenity; and their Love, not guided by Reason, turns to fondness. The like probably may be affirmed of the first Institutors of this Or­der, who perhaps were strict to their Rules; but the declining therefrom of their posterity, argues an old and doting Age, in the Masters of that Family. Now that those two Constitutions of theirs, have been sufficiently broken, small skil in History, or in Conversation will demonstrate.

1. Their VVealth amassed, and that wrongfully too, as some of their own say, is a sufficient Argument how well their Vow of Poverty is observed; for as the Prefacer to the Moral. Practice of the Jesuites, speaks, There is not any Artifice, Injustice, or Violence they imploy not to enrich themselves, by the spoils of all sorts of persons, Secular and Religious; Soveraign and pri­vate. And while after, Nothing escapes the claws of their Ava­rice.

2. All England knows, as well as other Countries, how far they have complyed with that Rule of their own making, That none of them should immix themselves with the Secular business of Princes: for who greater Intermeddlers in State matters, than they? Hinc illae lachrymae.

Arg. 3. The Practices and Methods, which the Jesuits have committed and used both here and in other Countries, have been the overthrow of other Religious of their own Church, and how then can they themselves expect better Quarter? It is clearly prov'd against them here in England, that they have endeavour'd to destroy His Majestie's person by a violent death: Now there was formerly an order of the Humiliati in the Roman Church, and they had divers Convents spread over Italy; they were to spend their time in strict Exercises of Piety, and of selfe-abasements, (as the Jesuits pretend,) whence they had their Name. But, in­stead thereof, growing loose and wanton, and swerving from their first Austerity, Cardinal Borrhomeo, a grave Prelate, undertook to be their Protector and Reformer both, who entering upon his Office of Reformation, did so curb their licentious Wickednesses, that some of them conspired to take away his life, which accord­ingly was attempted by them, whiles he was at his Prayers, by the discharge of a Pistol; (was not the like Method of Assassina­tion designed against our King?) which by Gods providence did pierce his garments, and not wound his Body, to the hazard of his life. This Fact did so inrage Pope Pius the fifth then sitting, that [Page 28] he sent out a Bull for the utter extirpation of that whole Order, notwithstanding the King of Spain's Intercession to the contrary, Anno 1577. which Bull is recited verbatim in Toscanus his Book entituled, Summa constitutionum & rerum in Ecclesiâ Romana ge­starum à Gregorio Nono usque ad Sixtum Quintum.

If an Attempt upon a single Cardinal can work the dissolution of an whole Order, what shall those many Attempts upon seve­ral Princes do, some having been actually murdered, others de­signed to the slaughter by the Council and Contrivances of the Jesuits; certainly their Case equals, if not exceeds that of the Humiliati: Wherefore let them look to themselves; for when Christian Princes are incensed, the storm must light somewhere, and why not on the most guilty? Neither can the Pope himself, in such Circumstances, secure their Interest (no more then Paul the Fifth could prevail upon the Venetian, to hinder their Non-exclusion from that City.) For to save himself and his Conclave, he will doubtless sacrifice any particular Order of Religious what­soever.

I know the Jesuit doth labour to elude that Instance, by alleadg­ing the disparity of Cases.

1. Say they, 'twas not one, or two single persons that con­spired against Cardinal Barrhomeo, but the whole Order of the Humiliati in general, and therefore the Guilt being diffused over all the whole Sodalty, was justly suppressed.

Answ. They prevaricate in this Allegation; for there were se­veral Convents of that Order spread over Italy, who cannot be pre­sumed so much as to have known any thing of that particular Fact, till after the Notoriety thereof by the Event: So that it was the At­tempt only of a few particular Members, which redounded to the prejudice and overthrow of their whole Body; for when the minds of Rulers are exasperated against any Society of men, for the Enormities of some few of their number, then that saying of Tacitus takes place, Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exem­plum, quod in singulos utilitate publicâ rependitur. Yet I am apt to think, that if the whole Body of the Jesuites could be put to the Test, there are very few of them, of any consideration, which did not know and approve the late Bloody Designs against England, though few of the Actors therein, in comparison, have been called forth to suffer.

2. It was the viciousness of their lives, say they, which was the cause of their dissolution, and not their Attempt against the Cardinal.

Answ. The Bull it self speaks to the contrary, where, although the looseness of their lives be instanced in, yet all is summ'd up into that Bloody Undertaking against their Patron, grounded on their Impenitency and Hatred of the Instrument of their Refor­mation. I judge, that the Jesuits are as much concerned, to be reproved, regulated, and reformed by Princes, or Prelates, as [Page 29] any of the Humiliati, unless perhaps they disguise themselves more, and work more under ground in their Contrivan­ces.

Arg. 4. In Scripture Decision, Pride goeth before Destruction, and a haughty look before a fall. This Increpation will much concern that Order of men, if we may believe many Writers of their own Church: For who more aspiring? Who more superci­lious, than they? VVho greater undervaluers and underminers of others, even of their own Religion. Neither are these faults ob­jected to them by the Envy of a Contrariant, but they are al­ledged by Members of the Roman Communion; if it were fit for me to enlarge the number of Quotations, I could cite ma­ny Authors to this purpose; but I shall content my self with one or two Instances. 1. In the year 1640. they printed a Book in Flanders, entituled, The Image of the first Age, of the Socie­ty of Jesus, wherein they represent all the differing Events, hap­pening to their Society, since their establishment in 1540. which they pursue with so much Affectation, Vanity, and Pride, that as the Prefacer to the Moral Practice of the Jesuits doth speak. We cannot open the Book without abhorring the Impudence of these Fathers, in turning all things to their advantage, and labouring to draw glory from that, which ought rather to humble and con­found them.

2. There is a Book written Originally in the Spanish Tongue, by a Bishop of that Nation, which contains an Apology for o­ther Orders of Religion against the Jesuits, addressed to Pope Innocent the Tenth, and printed at Conimbre, in the year 1654. called, The Theatre of Jesuitism; which, if it were commonly to be had, it would so display the Haughtiness, Avarice, and other Enormities of that Order, that the time of their expira­tion, without Repentance, may be judged to be near at hand especially considering,

Arg. 5. The high disgust they have raised against themselves amongst most of their other Ecclesiasticks, which is a great Prog­nostick of their fall. I have given an hint of this before; it is not to be questioned, but that other Religious Orders of the Roman Church, were in being long before the Jesuits were thought of, neither are they now so fond of them, but they can as easily part with their Society; for no man in his right wits would court that which is a prejudice and inconvenience to himself; yea that, which would labour to supplant and ruine him? This is the present case, the Seculars have been put to defend them­selves against the Jesuits, and to evince their own usefulness in the Church; that was the design of Watson's Quodlibets, and al­so of the aforementioned Book, called the Theatre of Jesuitism; certainly then they look'd on the Jesuits as their Supplanters and Underminers, so that unless they are willing to court their own diminution, yea, total Abolishment, they cannot have much [Page 30] respect for that Order: I say, total Abolishment, because Parsons, the Jesuite, in a Book published heretofore, entituled, The Reformation of England, concludes with this saying, That if England ever return to the Romish Religion, all Ecclesiastical E­states must be put in common, and the care of them committed to seven Sages of the Society of Jesus, to distribute them as they shall think fit, and that no Fryer of any other Order, must be permit­ted to pass into England, and the Pope himself, for five years at least, must not present to any Benefice, but refer himself wholly to those seven persons of that Company.

If that Project of his aspiring mind had taken place, then farewell all Seculars in England, yea, and all other Orders of Regulars too, unless such as would have turn'd Pensioners to the Jesuits, and have truckled under them.

To close this Argument, he that shall consider what is said in the beginning of the Preface to the Book called, The Moral Practice of the Jesuits, in these words, ‘There's do doubt, but all who love the purity of the Moral Doctrine of Christ are very sensi­ble of the corruption the Jesuits labour to introduce thereunto, by the Opinions they have invented; but it may be said, That nothing is more dreadful in the Conduct of these Fathers, than to see them pursue those corrupt Maximes in their practice, and that of the many things they allow in others contrary to the Law of God and the principles of the Gospel, there is not any they commit not themselves to satisfie their Avarice, or to pro­mote the Grandeur and Glory of their Society.’ And a while after; ‘All the Catholick Universities, particularly those of Cracovie, Lovanie, and Padua, those of Spain and France, the Bishops, the Clergy, all the Orders of Religion, and the Courts of Parliament almost every where, opposed their E­stablishment, as contrary to the good of the Church and the security of States.’

I say, he that shall consider these passages, will conclude that Order not to be very acceptable to that Church, of which they are Members; and consequently that other Orders would be glad to rid their hands of them, if they knew how: These Re­flections, made upon the Jesuits, have reach'd the hearts of some of their own Members; for though in that Book, which I men­tion'd before, call'd, The Image of the first Age, &c. they crown themselves with many glorious Epithets, discovering a self-e­steem, even to the Nauseation of the sober; yet Mariana, the Spanish Jesuite, (he, who is most criminated for his King-killing Doctrines,) hath written an express Treatise of the faults and de­fects of their Society, ‘which (he says) was so much changed, that if Ignatius himself came again into the World, he would not know it.’ And in ch. 14. he says, ‘That their Conduct is in some things capable to precipitate the Society into the Abyss of destruction.’

Hence also it was, that Mutius Vitteleschi, their sixth General, [Page 31] reflecting upon that Criminal facility, wherewith those of his Congregation embraced all the new Opinions, that tended (as his Phrase is) to corrupt and ruin the Piety of the Faithful, says in a Letter addressed to the Superiors of all their Houses, That there was reason to fear, the latitude and liberty of Opinion of some of the Society, especially in the matter of Manners, would not only ut­terly ruine the Company, but cause very great mischiefs in the whole Church of God.

The impressions, which the matter of the former Arguments, or at least some equivalent considerations, have made upon the two last mentioned Members of their Society (who doubtless had some more Partizans amongst them, of the same sentiment) is no good Omen of their long continuance: For as in an Army, if the Gross thereof be routed, yet a particular Regiment or Brigade, if stand­ing close and compact together, are with difficulty broken though charged in Front, Flank and Rear, but when once an Entrance is made in any part thereof, then all further resistance is of no avail for their safety; so it hath been hitherto the great advantage of the Jesuit, that he continues, in great part, intire, since his first erection, and hath not admitted of those breaches, sub-divisions and reforms, which other Orders have, for the Benedictines have been reformed into Cluniacks, Cistertians, &c. to their diminution and loss; such sub-alter [...] purgations do carry more than a Tacit intimation of ill humours, errors and defects, which the Body of the Jesuitical Order by no means will admit; Tis true, Sabelli­cus, tells us, That about the year 1366. there was an Order of Reli­gious at Siena in Italy, called Jesuati, but the Historian destribes these to have been a fort of Lay Hermits, which wrought for their li­ving, and not being in Ecclesiastical Orders, did celebrate no Mass, but spending their time in Prayer, and often repeating the Name of Jesus, had thence their denomination; I do not find any continu­ance of this Order, though probably the Ignatian Jesuit might from them borrow his Title, with some small variation, but their appearance in the World was many years before the Ignatian Or­der, as now established, did peep abroad; so this doth not affect the Loyolists.

Of late years indeed, there hath been a design to supersete a Fe­male English Order, under the Name of Jesuitesses; and as the first Preacher of the actual Resurrection of Christ, was a Mary, so (they say) that the first of the Jesuitesses had the same Name; but upon serious consideration of their graver Ecclesiasticks, the Iti­neraries of the Men, and the Lady Errantrys of the Women, com­pared together, being likely to have more of the Romance th [...]n the Evangely therein, I do not find it did succeed. So that the present Order of Ignatius remains intire without any succeeding alteration, as to their Rules and Government, more than what was allowed unto them by the Gr [...]ts of Paul the third, and Ju­lius the third their Establishers; and indeed there was Liberty [Page 32] enough granted them by those two Bulls; for thereby they had power to alter their Constitutions, as they pleased, so that Pope Paul the third might seem to evacuate his own Grant, and instead of prescribing Rules to them for their Government, by the latitude allowed they might change and cast of his, and so govern them­selves as they pleased, for the words in the Bull, Englished, are, That they may make particular Ordinances, which they shall judg fit for the Society, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the profit of their Neighbours; And such as are already made, or shall be made hereafter, they may change, alter or abolish according to the variety of place, time, and occasion, and instead of them, make new. The which so changed, revoked, or new made, we will that they be confir­med by the foresaid Authority of the Apostolick See, And by the same Authority of our special Grace and Favour we confirm them. Well then, the Jesuit in respect of his Order remains unbroken, let us now see, how he carrys himself within doors, if no errors or mis­carriages there, then surely there appear no symptoms of his De­clension.

Arg. 6. But if the contrary be manifest, then it may serve as a sixth Argument, That their Order, unless reformed, is not long-liv'd.

Let us hear then what opinion Melchior Canus, Bishop of the Canaries, had of this Order; when he heard of the first appearance of the Jesuits in Spain, he believed that the end of the World did draw nigh, and that Antichrist would forthwith appear, for that his Fore-runners and Emissaries (so he called the Ignatians) began to walk abroad;

But if he be excepted against by them, as a partial Author, be­cause a Dominican, let us call in their own Mariana again, for he tells us in his fore-cited fourteenth Chapter, That if any one have but boldness enough, what fault so ever he be guilty of, he remains in the Society, if he have but the wit to frame an excuse, or any pretence for what he hath committed; I pass by (saith he) gross Crimes, a great number whereof is winked at under colour of want of sufficient proof, or fear to have them noised, and so become publick; for our Govern­ment seems to aim at nothing else, but covering of Faults, like them that rake the Ashes uppermost, as if the Fire, that lyes under, would not sooner or later send forth some smoak, &c. And a while after, A Provincial or Rector shall turn all upside down, violate the Rules and Constitutions of the Order, squander away the Estate belonging to their Houses, or give them to his Kinred, without any punishment after several years miscarriage, but the rendring his condition bet­ter than ever by discharging him of his Office; does any man know a Superiour chastised for such excesses, as these? And afterwards, a­mongst us the Good are afflicted, yea put to Death, and the Wicked up­held, because they are feared.

Thus we see, by the judgment of one of their own, Evils and Miscarriages do abound amongst them. The impression then be­ing [Page 33] made upon their Body, they may well fear a Total rout. And indeed the rest of the Fraternity, are so incensed against this Spaniard, for exposing them so much, that they more freely except against (and seem to condemn) the King-killing Doctrines in him, then in any other Jesuit; Yea Mr. Ga­van, lately executed, in his dying Speech did (though mistakingly) im­pute that Doctrine unto him alone, of all their Sodality: The Core of the Matter lay in Mariana's free increpation of their other Evils, which gave them occasion to recriminate his opinion in that wherein they might most plausibly except against him; and this may probably be the reason, why (as I said before) the Jesuits turned Advocates for the Order of the Hu­miliati; and would cast the intended murder of Cardinal Borrhomeo, only upon two or three of them, because that Cardinal was no Friend of theirs, and against whom they had a picque, because he had banished their Or­der out of Millain, where he was Archbishop, and preferred Seculars in their rooms.

Let us hear what Watson says in this matter, This good Cardinal (says he) speaking of Cardinal Borromeus, whose rare Virtues all Europe talked of, observing well the pride of the Jesuits, their practices for inriching, advancing, and bringing of themselves to be admired of all men, Lucifer like, and their Cony-catching devices for the alluring of the fresh-wits, Chrildren of most toward­ness, and those of rarest aspects, and great of hopes, having intelligence how they held the like course and state, under colour of teaching and bringing up of Youth, in the Dutchy of Millain, he thought them no fit men to remain within his Ju­risdiction; whereupon he banish'd them out of all those places, esteeming it far more necessary to have such apt men, and those of the finest wits, quickest spirits, and likelist to prove great Clerks, to become secular Priests, as those appointed by institution divine to take upon them the care of Souls; This he prudently conceited was more convenient, and the bounden duty of them, that were indiffe­rent what state of Life they took them unto in the Church of God, rather to have them Secular Priests, than intruded into any other Order of Religion or Mona­stical Life whatsoever, which intermedleth not ex professo with any such Charge, but live after the prescript Rules of their Orders, private to themselves, as their Vow and Profession bind all them to. Thus he, and the same Watson, makes it one Article in his fifth Quodlibet, Whether the Jesuits, or the Seminary Seculars, be fitter for Government in the English Colledges beyond the Seas, and whe­ther of the two is more necessary, either respecting Gods Church, or the Weal of our Country (England) to have the bringing up of English Youths there? Which question he resolves on the part of the Seculars.

And indeed, the Education of Youth is one of the prime Artifices of the Jesuite, whereby he labours to advance himself, and depretiate other Orders of Religion. For this young Fry is, as it were, the Nursery of their Society, which they study earnestly to maintain. And indeed, in the Ad­mission and Institution of youths into their Colledges, they use a great deal of exactness and care; for the Rectors usually inform themselves of the Parentage, of the Estate, or hope and prospect thereof; of the natu­ral Complexions, Dispositions, and Genius, of their promptness of wit, of the proficiency in Learning, in their Novitiates and Scholars; all which they enter in their Adversaria, or Leiger-Books, (like good Ac­comptants) in distinct Columns; and they make this use of these particu­lar Enquiries, that they may apply sutable Baits to engage their Novices to the love of their Rules and Order, beyond any other sort of Religions; so that if any should admire how so many able and learned men, and such great Writers (as Alegambe hath reckoned them up in his Book called Bibliotheca Societatis) should as it were dote upon this Order, and esteem it their priviledge and [Page 34] honour to be cooptated or admitted thereunto. It doth much abate our wonder, when we consider the Philtre of Education, and the principles in­fused into them at their first admission, with the charming and ingratiating Allurements, used to them afterwards, especially if noble, rich, and wealthy: It is reported of the Irish, that when they grow up, they love their Nurses, and Foster-Fathers, better than their own natural Parents, —a Teneris assuescere multum est, says the Poet, herein the Jesuit resembles them, continuing to be so highly affected with his Gremial and Nutritious Order.

Those who do more strictly Anatomize this Order of Men, do divide them principally into three Ranks; the knowledge of the division will not be unuseful to Protestants.

1. There are some Gentlemen, ordinarily of good houses, and fair Estates, who live wholly after a Secular way, as Lay-Brethren of the Society; they are not actually obliged to the observation of the Rules of their Order, but enter into a Vow, to put on the Habit, when it shall please the Father-Ge­neral to command them; and therefore these are called, Jesuits in voto; of such they make mighty advantage, in order to the setting up of their Monarchy, or rather Pambasileia, or Ʋniversal Dominion over all other Or­ders. For some of this Class are usually maintained in the Palaces of all great Princes, and in the houses of Noble men, who by the Mediation of their Adherents, are many times induced into the Prince's or Noble-man's service, as Counsellours, Secretary, or the like; these again perswade that Prince or Great-man respectively to take some actual Jesuite for his Con­fessor or Chaplain; and by this means the secret Consultations of Princes are discover'd, and their Designs prevented; and yet things are so cunning­ly carryed, that no man can fasten on the true Author, but it commonly happens, that the greatest suspicion lyes on the most innocent. Thus an Au­thor of their own Church.

2. The second sort is of those who are actually resident in their Mona­steries and Colledges, as Priests, Clerks, or Converts, who of themselves have no power to leave the Order, but at the pleasure of their General and Superiours may be dispensed with; these are mostly busyed in the Exer­cises of those Colledges to which they relate.

3. The third rank is of those who are mainly given up to Policy, for the aggrandizing of their Society, and enlarging the Power and Priviledges thereof; these are not always chosen out of the most deserving and best learned of their Society, but out of the most confident, bold, or daring, as most likely to serve their end, by insinuating themselves into the Affairs and Councils of Secular Princes, that from thence they may fish out what is contributary to their Designs.

The first and last sort are those who are chiefly excepted against, and to whom Claudius Aquaria, one of their own Generals, did formerly im­pute two great Evils, which he calls Secularity and Aulicism: The occa­sion was this, Their said General having observed (as well as Mariana) the Defects and Errours in their Government, wrote a Book, printed at Rome, A. D. 1615. wherein he lays open the Diseases of the Society, and his Essays for the healing of them; take his Reproof in his own words. Saecularitas & Aulicismus insinuans in familiaritates & gratiam externorum, morbus est in Societate & intra & extra periculosus, & istis, qui eum patiuntur, & nobis fere nescientibus paulatim subintrat, specie quidem lucrifaciendi Principes, Praelatos, Magnates, conciliandi ad Divinum obsequium hujusmodi homines So­cietati, juvandi proximos, &c. sed re vera quoerimus interdum nos ipsos, & paulatim ad saecularia deflectimus. Secularity (says he) and Aulicisme insi­nuating [Page 35] into the acquaintance and favour of those without, is a Disease in the Society, dangerous within and without, to those who undergo and suffer it, and it creeps in upon us almost un-a-wares; the pretence is to gain Princes, Prelates, and Noble-men, to the esteem of the Society, for the Service of God, and the good of our Neighbour, &c. but the truth is, we seek our selves, and by little and little revolt to a Secular Life.

The same Author in another Tract, intituled Institutiones pro Superiori­bus Societatis, published at Rome also the same time, further describes that mischief.

Est & alia malorum Radix longe periculosissima, eo (que) periculosior, quo minus vulgo noxia conseri solet, rerum, scilicet, externarum occupatio, in quam su­periores ferri, ac variis nominibus supra modum effundi solent. Sunt enim qui naturae quadam propensione ad distractiones proni, non solum oblatas occasiones cupide arripiunt, ut operam suam impendant, sed eas ipsimet ultro quaerunt, & nasci quodammodo ac succrescere faciunt. Alii per speciem proximos lu­cri faciendi, multis sese visitationibus implicant, iis (que) non modo non necessariis, sed paerum etiam utilibus, at (que) in his ita versantur, ut a saecularium moribus parum abscedant. The sense is, That their mixing themselves in secular affairs is a dangerous evil in their Society, of which their superiours are much guilty, some of which being naturally prone to raise distractions, do not only greedily apprehend all occasions offered to promote them, but also do their endeavour to create more opportunities to raise, foment, and Cherish them. Others entangle themselves in many visits (on pretence of gain­ing their neighbours) needless, and unuseful, and demean themselves so therein, that they little or nothing differ in their manners from Seculars.

The cure which he prescribes for the healing of this disease, which I wish all of the Society would observe the method of, is, Instruct. 14. Cap. 7. in these words.

Praecidantur initio istae familiaritates cum Principibus, ante quam adoles­cant & radices agant, quae societati nostrae, nisi fortiter obsistamus, graviter minitantur, praefertim cum superiores connivent, (i.) Let all those familia­rities with Princes be discarded at the beginning, before they be setled or take root, which threaten a great mischief to our Society, unless we strong­ly resist, especially our Superiours winking at it.

It seems this General was more sober and honest than the rest of his pre­decessors; or else the censure of their Mariana aforementioned was ill grounded (which we can hardly imagine) for he having in one Chapter laid to the charge of their Society, That in distributing of rewards and pu­nishments, there was more equity amongst Thieves and Robbers, than amongst them. And moreover that Vertue and Learning in their So­dality were rather an hindrance to preferment than a step thereunto: In his 10th Chap. of the Regiment of the Society, he imputes the cause of these evils to the Ambition, Pride, and Arbitrariness of their Generals. I shall repeat his own words, Pervenimus nunc ad fontem & Originem nostra­rum turbarum ac molestiarum, quas in Societate experimur singularis ferus depastus est eam. Monarchia ista, meâ sententiâ, nos humi affligit ac pro­sternit, non quia sit Monarchia, sed quia non sit bene temperata: Haec enim bellua est, quae quicquid attigit, populatur ac vastat quam nisi vinculis com­pescamus, non est, quod ullam nobis quietem polliceamur, &c. Et si leges ha­bemus, eas (que) plures numero, quam necesse est, Generalis tamen nihil in Gu­bernatione leges moratur, ne (que) in dandis officiis, ne (que) admittendo socios ad professionem, ne (que) in Constituendis Collegiis, ne (que) innumeris in rebus aliis. Nam si leges sint, ille in omnibus, aut prope in omnibus dispensandi ac legi­bus quem libeat solvendi auctoritate utitur. (i.) We are now come to the O­riginal [Page 36] and Fountain of all the Troubles, which we experiment in our So­ciety, One single Ravager hath eat it quite up. Our Monarchy, in my O­pinion doth quite overthrow us, not because it is a Monarchy, but be­cause it is not well tempered. This is the Beast, which wastes what­soever it lights upon, and unless we fetter and restrain it, we can pro­mise our selves no rest, &c. It is true, we have Laws, and those more than enough, yet our General regards them not at all, in his Government, neither in bestowing of Offices, nor in admitting Fellows to the Professi­on, nor in Constituting of Colleges, nor in many other things; for al­though we have Laws, yet he, almost in all things, useth his Authority to dispense with the Laws, as he pleaseth. And a little after to this ef­fect.

Thus Our Monarchical General, with a Provincial, and two or three Con­fidents, to the grief of others more deserving, do govern all things in every Province at their Pleasure.

To draw towards a Conclusion, 'Tis no acceptable work to me to dive into the evils of men; or to pore so intently on their defects, as to over­look what good may be in them. The worse I wish to all, is Repentance and Amendment of life; Nevertheless, if I should enumerate all the par­ticular Miscarriages, Injuries, Frauds, Impostures, Obscenities, Treasons, and other Villanies imputed to this Order of Men, by Members of their own (Church, many of them circumstantiated as to time, place, and per­sons) I should swell my Tract a little too much: I know the Jesuits have replyed to some of those Accusations, and that, in most things, leanly e­nough, for when the punctuality of Time and Place is given in Evi­dence, upon unquestionable credit, 'tis beyond the Effrontery of humane Nature, to expect credit upon a bare denyal. He who desires to know more of these Men, Let him read the Provincial's Letters, otherwise cal­led, the Mystery of Jesuitisme, with a Second part thereof, called, A fur­ther discovery of the Mystery of Jesuitisme; Let him also consult those o­ther two Books, one called, The Jesuits Morals, Translated by Dr. Tongue; The other Entituled, The Moral Practise of the Jesuits, composed by the Doctors of the Sorbon; And then no doubt, he will receive ample satis­faction.

I shall close all with the Abridgment of one pleasant story, taken out of the last mentioned Book. It is this, A Smith at Madrid in Spain, placed his Son amongst the Jesuits there, giving them for his reception, the sum of 2000 Ducats, (for entertainments, you must know, are very dear, so near the Court.) The young man being admitted, was a while after strip'd of his habit, and returned home, but the Money refused to be repai'd; The Smith sues them at the Law, They by favour obtain sentence against him; The poor man betook himself to his shifts, and resolved, because his Sons habit had cost him so much, he would so order the matter, that it should regain him part of his Money: Whereupon cloathing his Son in the Garb of a Jesuit, he made him work daily at his Anvil, the quick-sented Fathers, having notice of it, lest their Cheat should be publickly known amongst the Common people, immediately sent for the Smith, paid him his Mony, and redeemed their Habit from a Mock-shew: But if they could have bought silence, as well as the Robe and Hood, This story doubtless had never come to our Ears.