The enthusiasm of the church of Rome demonstrated in some observations upon the life of Ignatius Loyola.

The enthusiasm of the church of Rome demonstrated in some observations upon the life of Ignatius Loyola.

Table of contents

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Title page

THE CONTENTS.

THE PREFACE.

THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHURCH of ROME, &c.

ERRATA.

Books Printed for Richard Chiswell.

THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHURCH of ROME, &c.

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SO great and venerable an Idea of God is by nature imprinted in the minds of men; so visible and convictive are the Arguments of his Omniscience and Veracity, that all Divine Revelations are no sooner proposed, than admitted; and esteemed to command, no less than to deserve our assent. The infinite desires of our Will, and visible imperfections of our Understanding, sufficiently convinceth mankind of the necessity of such Revelations. The desire of happiness is natural to all, and impossibility of attaining it in this life is no less evident. The nature and immateriality of our Soul demonstrates that we were created for greater and more noble ends than the mean and inconsiderable enjoyments of this life; that we cannot but exist for ever, and are capable of Eternal Happiness; and then our Will naturally prompts us to desire that this future Happiness may be commensurate to the infinite duration of our existence, and not inferior to the capacity of our Nature. Yet these ardent desires, and possibility of obtaining them, would but enhance our misery, [Page] and augment our wishes, unless the means of attaining them were assured to us. This Divine Revelation alone can do; since God alone can confer that happiness upon mankind; and that he will do it, can no otherwise appear than by some external Revelation. The sense and evidence of these undoubted Truths have excited mankind in all Ages to enquire after such Revelation, and obliged them to found all their hopes of future Happiness upon it. Their Hopes and Desires induced them to attend to the proposal of it, and then their Reason commanded them to acquiesce in it. The assurance of the Divine Infallibility excluded all doubts and scruples; and the sense of their Interest engaged in it, banished even all desire of doubting.

Thus Divine Revelations easily gained belief and obedience in the World; and if at any time they were rejected or disbelieved by men, it was because their Judgment and Assent was prepossessed with some either real, or feigned Revelation. But then it could not be avoided but this natural reverence for Divine Revelations, and proneness of believing them, would produce some ill effects prejudicial to the Reason and Interest of mankind. A fatal credulity would creep into the World, and possess the minds of more ignorant Persons, and induce them blindly to believe every bold Pretender to Revelation. After a laborious and fruitless search of future Happiness, men were apt to embrace any System of Religion presented to them, if it flattered their hopes of future felicity; they were loth to discover the error and illusion of any pleasing Revelation: they wished it might be true; and what at first they wished, they at last believed. But not only did the desires and hopes of [Page] mankind create this credulity; the natural reverence of God and all divine Oracles, when not rationally directed, advanc'd and increas'd it. Many feared they should be injurious to the Divine Majesty, and incur the guilt of Atheism, if they should scrupulously examine what pretended to carry the stamp of his Authority, and to have been revealed by him. To entertain scruples in this case, was thought no less than Sacrilege; and every doubt was esteemed an affront to God. To which may be added, that most imagined they should contract no small merit, and even lay an obligation upon God, if they immediately resigned up their judgment to his supposed Revelation, and blindly received it without any doubt or hesitation.

This in all Ages opened a wide gate, and prepared the way for Error and Superstition: while the whimsies of every foolish Enthusiast, and fables of every bold Impostor were proposed under the venerable name of Divine Oracles, and securely believed by the credulous multitude. Hence all the follies and absurdities of Pagan Religion found belief and entertainment in the World; and the most extravagant Impostors never wanted Proselytes. Hence the most pernicious Errors of Hereticks found admission into the Church; and the pretence of new Revelations in every Age, seduced some part of the Christian World. All the present corruptions of the Faith are owing to it; on which side soever any Errors at this day are entertained, a scrupulous examination would discover them to be entertained chiefly for the precedent reasons; and all modern additions to genuine Christianity will be found either to flatter the hopes, or raise the admiration of the common People.

[Page]To this fatal credulity, and danger of illusion arising from it, God and Nature have assigned an excellent remedy, the use of our Reason; which may examine the grounds and testimonies of all pretended Revelations, inquire into their truth, and after a scrupulous trial pass sentence on them. This the interest of Truth, and the honour of our Nature requires us to perform, that we may neither prostitute the former, nor depreciate the latter by submitting our Understandings to the Pretensions of every bold Impostor. Without this precedent enquiry, our belief would be irrational, and far from being meritorious, would become unlawful. For to violate the rules of conduct prescribed to our understanding, were to overthrow all the Laws of Nature, to debase the dignity of mankind, and efface the Image of God imprinted in us. These Rules assure us that God cannot reveal any thing foolish or ridiculous, much less contrary to the testimony of our Senses, or repugnant to the first principles of Reason. No greater injury can be offered to the Deity, than to believe him the Author of any Religion which prescribes or encourageth foolish and superstitious Practices, or opposeth Sense and Reason. All such Revelations would imply repugnant Attributes to be in God; which if it did not destroy his existence, would at least oblige us to form dishonourable Ideas of him. And therefore Seneca truly saith, Superstitio error insanus est, quos colit, violat. Quid enim interest utrum Deos neges an infames? Epist. 123. Superstition is a most senseless Error, which affronts that Object it pretends to worship. For what doth it matter, whether you deny or dishonour God? Justly also doth Plutarch wonder [...]. De Superstitione. why Atheism should be rather accused of [Page] Impiety than Superstition, since few of are moved by any defect in the Order or Government of the World to call in question the Existence of God; but the Tricks and Cheats of superstitious Persons, their Enthusiastick Motions, Ridiculous Actions, Exorcisms, Lustrations, and such like, give them occasion to believe it better, and more rational, there should be no God, than such a God, as the Author of such a Superstitious Religion must necessarily be. So that wise Heathen.

If Christianity in the first and purer Ages of it, had laboured with these difficulties, or been obnoxious to these Objections; it could never have convinced the World of its Truth, or surmounted the resistance of Heathen Philosophy. It would have been highly irrational and unworthy the learning of those Ages to have deserted one Superstition to embrace another so much more absurd, than the former, by how much the one was repugnant to Reason alone, the other both to Sense and Reason. It is the unhappiness of latter Ages, to lye open to the force of this Objection, which after so many Superstitious Practices and Opinions introduced into a great part of the Christian Church, is thereby become unanswerable. For, whosoever considers the Fictions of Transubstantiation, Purgatory and Infallibility, the Impertinence of Prayers in an unknown Tongue, the trifling Actions of their most illustrious Saints, and fond Superstitions practiced in their several Monastick Orders, Processions, Worship of Images, Saints and Relicks; and indeed, in every individual Office of the Church of Rome, cannot but conclude without descending into the merits of the Cause, That the complex Religion of the Church of Rome, is not of Divine [Page] Institution, and deserves not, either to have been revealed by God, or to be believed by Men; and if he believeth these opinions and practices to be inseparable from Christianity, he may justly reject it, and rationally conclude it to be a Cheat, and the Author of it to have been an Egregious Impostor. That these Reasons have really tended to the Prejudice of Christianity, and made innumerable Apostates from it, the sad Experience of Italy, and other Romish Countries beyond the Seas demonstrates, where, if the Relations of modern Travellers do not deceive us, few real Christians can be found out of the credulous Multitude, whose Ignorance disableth them from perceiving the Follies, and discovering the Falseness of their Religion.

It is therefore the peculiar Glory of the Christian Religion, that it was revealed and proposed to the World in the most Learned of all the precedent Ages; That it did not take shelter in the Ignorance of Mankind, nor confine its Mysteries to the more remote and ignorant Part of the World. The Learning and Philosophy of the Heathens was then raised to the highest Perfection; and the Knowledg of all Arts and Sciences had gained equal extent with the Roman Empire; so that we may truly affirm the World to have been then more universally Learned, than in any Age, either before or since. At this time especially, God chose to publish his Revelations to the World, and made the more Learned part of it the Stage of his Promulgation; that so in future Ages, Christianity might not be subjected to any just Suspicions of Fraud and Imposture, nor the precedent Reception of it be ascribed to the foolish Credulity of ignorant and illiterate Proselytes. The Doctrines of it were proposed, and Miracles in testimony of it, wrought in all the [Page] more famous Cities of the Empire, in their publick Schools and Synagogues, in their Theaters and Universities, in Rome and Athens, the great Centers of Learning; and, which deserveth to be observed, more especially in Greece, and Asia Minor, the most Learned part of that then Learned Empire. This secured the Christian Religion from all possibility of Error and Illusion; since, if either the Doctrines of it had been ridiculous and irrational, or the Miracles fictitious and pretended; the Learned Auditors and Spectators of those times, who were not in the least prepossest in favour of it, would soon have discovered the Cheat, and vehemently decried the Error. This consideration also tendeth no less to the Advantage and Reputation of the Reformation, that it was advanced and undertaken in a most learned and knowing Age; That all the Authors and Promoters of it, were Persons of extraordinary Knowledg; and that purity of Religion, and success of Learning, as they decreased proportionably in all Ages; so they returned into the World at the same time. Whereas Popery oweth all its Triumphs and Success to the Ignorance of Mankind; began with the decrease of Learning, and was well nigh ruined with the Restauration of it. All the peculiar Articles of Popery, were founded in the dark and ignorant Ages of the Church; their most illustrious and admired Saints, were rude and illiterate Idiots, devoid of all Learning, and oft-times of common Sense; their Miracles are ever acted either in barbarous and credulous Ages, or in remote Corners of the World; (we poor Hereticks, who have the greatest need of them (for their Arguments being so often baffled, nothing but Miracles can now convert us) can never be blessed with the sight of them) and at this day, [Page] it flourisheth proportionably to the Knowledg or Ignorance of all Countries. In France, the most Learned of all the Popish Countries, it is forced to put on a new Masque, and by many subtil and nice Expositions, Qualifications and Interpretations, is almost lost and refined into nothing. In Italy (if we may believe the Reports of modern Travellers) it hath few Proselytes, besides the ignorant and unlearned Multitude; the more intelligent sort being become either Atheists,Vid. Histoire de l' Inquisition de Goa, chez Hortemels, Paris, 1688 cum Privilegio. Scepticks or Molinists. In Spain alone, and the Indies, doth it flourish in its full Vigour; where so gross an Ignorance hath possessed the minds of Papists, that they believe their Inquisitors no less Infallible than the Apostles; and imagine that their Images can both hear and see them. So necessary and useful is Learning to Mankind, which may fix Rules to distinguish true from pretended Revelations, discern real from feigned Miracles, and discover the Illusions of Impostors, that the decay of it hath in all Ages and Countries been accompanied with a deluge of Error and Superstition.

But in nothing is the use and necessity of Learning, and its subservience to the interest and purity of Religion, more conspicuous and apparent, than in preventing the Dangers and Follies of Enthusiasm; to which, in the present Constitution of mankind, all revealed Religions cannot but be obnoxious. I do not hereby imply the necessity of any extraordinary Learning, or accurate Knowledg of all Sciences, in all Ranks and Orders of Christians; but an ordinary Prudence, and right understanding of the nature and genius of Christianity; which if assisted by the Direction of more learned Guides and Pastors, as God in the first Institution of Christianity intended it should be; will abundantly [Page] secure all Persons from the delusions of designing or ignorant Enthusiasts. However, a great part of Mankind will continue to want this Prudence, and neglect this Direction; especially, when the means of Knowledg are studiously kept from them, and no Instruction to be obtained, but from external Ceremonies, or the Dictates of a Confessor, as it is in all Popish Countries. Such Persons profess Christianity, not out of any Conviction of the Truth or Divinity of it, but induced by the Prejudices of Education and Authority of Example, understand not the true Principles of their Religion, and instead of a rational Faith, possess only a blind Credulity. This affords a fair opportunity of success to the Frauds and Artifices of Impostors, who will never want Proselytes in an ignorant and credulous Auditory; and if upheld, and favoured by the publick Applause of the Church, may draw Multitudes of Admirers after them. The great Engines of these Religious Juglers, were ever Enthusiasm, and the pretence of Miracles. The latter have long since ceased, and could never really be performed by Impostors: It remains therefore, that they betake themselves to Enthusiasm; possess the People with a belief of extraordinary Revelations communicated to them, of an inward Familiarity with God, of continual Divine Inspirations, of acting solely by the impulse of the Spirit, and following the infallible Dictates of an inward Light.

This Opinion must be raised, and continued by bold Pretences, extatick Motions, severe Austerities, and Macerations of the Body, a mortified Look, extraordinary Acts of apparent Humility, ridiculous Actions, which may imply a contempt of the World, perpetual canting about Spiritual Matters, and delivering [Page] them in such a manner, as may seem to proceed from the immediate Revelation of God; and withal, in impenetrable Nonsense. Such Pretences and Actions, will excite the Admiration of foolish Persons, and by amusing their Judgment with specious Shews, create in them an extraordinary Veneration for their Enthusiastick Prophet. All the Whimsies of his disturbed Phantasy shall then pass for Oracles, and his foolish Austerities for so many certain Indications of a real Sanctity. When this Opinion is once entertained, then the pretence of Miracles may securely be set on foot, and the grossest Cheat may pass undiscerned among credulous Spectators, who will be deterred by a religious Awe from examining the Truth of the Miracles of their admired Impostor, whose own Word shall without Scruple be received for Miracles pretended to be done by him in Secret; or at least, the single Testimony of one credulous Woman, or fanciful Ideot, shall be esteemed an undoubted Certainty. Whosoever examines the Miracles of the Romish Saints, will find them all to have been at first believed upon such slender Motives, and afterwards amplified and increased by the Writers of their Lives; at least, that this was the case of the Miracles pretended to be done by Ignatius Loyola, I doubt not to demonstrate.

Thus the Folly and Credulity of Mankind, hath opened the way, and facilitated success, even to designing Impostors, who are conscious of the falsity of their own Pretences, and are disquieted with a perpetual fear of Discovery. But, then the way is more open, and success more easy to such Enthusiasts, who imagine they really enjoy and receive from God those Illuminations and Impulses which they vent [Page] to their deluded Followers. Such Persons are inspired with a false Zeal; and in proposing the Phrensies of their disturbed Brains, imagine themselves to act in Obedience to Heaven, and for the benefit of Mankind; which renders all their Actions vigorous, and themselves unwearied in the Prosecution of them. That there have been, and are still, many such Enthusiasts in the World, the History of all times, and our own Experience demonstrates beyond all doubt; and that there should be such, we shall cease to wonder if we consider the nature of things. Such Persons are commonly endued with weak Brains, and diseased Bodies; often suffer irregular motions of the Blood, which creates gross and turbulent Spirits, and fills the Brain with strong and active Vapours. These continuing a violent motion in the Brain, will reproduce so strong and lively Images of those things, which have been the most frequent Objects of their Meditations, and made deepest Impression in them, that they will really believe themselves to act those things which they only imagine; and to see, hear, and feel all those Objects, which are so lively represented to them. This is manifest even in Melancholly and Hypochondriack Persons, who are so far deluded by the Action of the undigested Vapours of their Bodies upon their Brain, that they frequently believe the reality of those things, which their disturbed Imagination representeth to them. If the motion of the Spirits be very irregular, and their action upon the Brain exceeding strong, it will produce various effects upon the Body, according to the different Constitution of it, or peculiar irregularity of the motion and disorder of the Spirits. Sometimes violent and extraordinary motions of the Body shall be effected; [Page] at other times, all the Spirits flowing to the Brain, the Nerves will be emptied, and thereby all the visible Actions of Life will be suspended, and both ways an Extasy will be produced. And all this may happen involuntarily without, or even against the consent of the Will. All these Effects will be much more sensible and apparent, when the Enthusiasm is affected, and contracted by a long habit of distempered Imagination. This frequently happens in ignorant and melancholy Persons, whose Thoughts are not serene and calm, but accompanied with vehement Passions and turbulent Motions. Such are wont to affix their whole Thoughts to certain Objects, and employ all their Spirits in continuing their Ideas of them; which being gross, and hurried with an irregular Motion, create a mighty Fermentation in the Blood, whence new Clouds and Vapours are transmitted into the Brain, and render the Imagination more intense and strong. The Spirits being put into this irregular and rapid Motion, various Effects will follow in the Body, according to the different Constitution of it, or present Disposition of the Spirits. Either violent and extraordinary Motions of the whole Body will be produced, or all the sensible Actions of Life will be suspended. And all the while the Mind amuseth it self with monstrous and extravagant Ideas of things, which are often rendred pleasing and delightful by their infinite Variety. When once the Art is obtained, of exciting the Passions, and disturbing the Spirits of the Body at the Meditation of certain Objects, no sooner will the Ideas recur to the Mind, but the same Motions will return into the Body, and all the aforementioned Effects will naturally be produced. Thus a habit of Enthusiasm at [Page] last is formed; and extasies may be produced as often as the convenience or whimsies of the Enthusiast shall require it. In this state the Soul is detained with unaccountable Notions, and monstrous Ideas of things, which enables even the most ignorant Persons to talk boldly and fluently of those things, whose imagination then disturbs the mind, which are commonly Divine Matters, but withal in an incoherent and unintelligible manner. However, the Enthusiast himself believes all this to proceed from a Divine influence, and mistakes the phrensies of his Brain for the dictates of the Holy Ghost; and the credulous Multitude, which ever refers those things to a Divine original, whose causes it cannot comprehend, proclaimeth his Dreams to be Inspirations, ascribeth the extatick motions of his Body to the operation of the Spirit acting in him, and admireth his high-flown Nonsense as Divine Sublimity.

These Enthusiasts, as they are commonly Persons of weak understandings, and narrow capacities, are easily led away with false appearances of Religion, and grosly mistake the nature and genius of Christianity. They imagine Religion to consist in a rigorous and severe exercise of those external actions, which in the Countrey they live in, are generally esteemed the indications of Piety and Christian Vertue; and fancy, that the farther they carry these practices, the more nearly they approach to the utmost degree of perfection. Thus in the Church of Rome, the profession of Evangelical poverty, a beggarly habit, a severe mortification of the Body, continual telling over of Beads, going in pilgrimage, and other childish actions, are at least by the common people esteemed the best characters of a refined [Page] and exalted Vertue. Hence Enthusiasts of that Communion, corrupted with these prejudices, while they aim at an extraordinary perfection and purity, propose to themselves long pilgrimages, terrible austerities, continual prayer, and a thousand other ridiculous actions, which their deluded fancy suggests to be meritorious. They employ their thoughts in the perpetual meditation of these imaginary perfections; and in their extasies and raptures are amused with them, and form pleasing Ideas of them, arising from the apprehension of any exceeding merit or veneration to be obtained by the practice of them. In this religious phrensy they imagine to have received the Divine approbation of them, mistaking a foolish satisfaction of a deluded judgment for the suffrage and voice of the Holy Spirit acting in them: and at last proceed so far, as to fancy the reception of a Divine Command for the commission of these extravagancies. No wonder then, if after such a false perswasion they proceed to act all the whimsies and follies which a disturbed brain and violent imagination can suggest; if they put off all sense of shame and modesty, and setting no bounds to their extravagance, deliver themselves up to the conduct and direction of an irrational fancy, which inciteth them to commit such follies and trifles, as are beneath the dignity of a rational Being, and contrary to the dictates of common sense; such ridiculous fopperies and elaborate extravagance, as may justly provoke the laughter of sober Heathens, and indignation of wiser Christians.

Such ridiculous Fanaticism is the utmost degeneracy of Christian Religion, than which nothing can be more contrary to its Genius, and destructive of its Principles. Christianity was intended to exalt and [Page] perfect the Reason of mankind, to create true notions of the nature of all moral and religious Actions, and introduce the practice of a manly and rational Piety. Whereas this Enthusiasm debaseth the Reason and Understanding of mankind, introduceth false Ideas of Religion and Piety, and exposeth both to the scorn and derision of the more judicious and intelligent World: as if none but Fools and Ideots could be perfect Christians; and the highest degree of madness were the most certain mark of piety. Such absurd Opinions cannot but scandalize all considering Persons; and cause them to conclude, that either these absurdities are gross corruptions and deviations from Christianity, or else Christianity it self is a grand Imposture, unworthy the belief and veneration, or even attention of mankind. The former is not easily discernible by those who have no other notions of Christianity, than what they receive from the general practice and currant opinions of their Countrey; and are from their infancy prepossest, that there is no true Christian Society besides their own; where if such Fanaticism be publickly practised or countenanced, it cannot but create in them a detestation of all Christianity. But as for those who are convinced of the truth of Christianity in general, and enquire after the true Doctrines of it among so many divided Communions of the Christian World, they may rationally and infallibly conclude that particular Church which favours or promotes this Superstitious Enthusiasm, to be infinitely corrupted and degenerate from the true Spirit and Principles of Christianity.

If we view the several Churches and Communions of the Christian World, we shall find no Society of Christians more free from Fanaticism than the Church [Page] of England, or more guilty of it than the Church of Rome. It hath been the peculiar happiness of the Church of England to create a right sense of Religion and Piety in all her Communicants, and secure to them the practice of a rational Devotion. She makes no pretensions to private Inspirations, and extraordinary Illuminations of the Holy Ghost; and all her Children are more apt to deride, than admire the follies and extasies of Enthusiasts. If any of her Members have at any time through ambition or ignorance embraced Fanaticism, they have at the same time departed from the Communion of the Church, and becoming Schismaticks, proclaimed themselves her Enemies. Yet so far hath the sober and judicious practice and example of the Church of England influenced even their conduct, that the most extravagant among them have been less Fanatical than the most admired Saints of the Church of Rome: and whensoever the sense of their Duty, and Providence of God shall induce them to return to the bosome of the Church, which we heartily wish, they can do it no otherwise than by deserting even all Reliques of Fanaticism. Not so the Church of Rome, which in all her Offices and publick Ceremonies promotes and foments it, hath on many occasions given publick applause and approbation to it, and oweth the greatest part of her peculiar Doctrines, and present prosperity to the Enthusiasm of her Followers. If we consult the publick Offices of that Church, we shall find nothing intelligible directly proposed to the common People, but the Prayers performed in an unknown Tongue, and their Senses in the mean while amused with antick Gestures, Images, Processions, and pompous Representations. The first enforceth [Page] the minds of ignorant Persons to betake themselves to the entertainment of their own thoughts, and direct their Devotion according to their own crude and indigested Ideas; and then the latter inspires them with childish and absurd notions of Religion, and Divine Matters, and both together cause them to form wild and Enthusiastick Apprehensions of Religious Actions, and direct their Conduct according to those Apprehensions. If we examine the peculiar Doctrines of the Church of Rome, we shall find many of them to derive their original from Enthusiastick Visions and Revelations. I will instance only in Purgatory and Transubstantiation; whereof the former, however at this day defended, was at first set a foot upon the sole Authority of these Fanatick Visions; which imaginary Visions of this kind were so frequent among the Enthusiastick Monks of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth Ages, that large Volumes might be compiled of them: as indeed I have seen several voluminous Collections of them in Manuscript, composed before the Reformation, in proof of Purgatory. As for Transubstantiation, as it was first forged in the Cell of a Visionary Monk; so it chiefly gained credit and belief in the World from the pretended Visions of supposed Saints; for whose sake God divested the Sacramental Elements of their usual Accidents, and offered them to their sight under the very Species of an Humane Body. Scarce a Monkish Saint of any eminence after the ninth Age can be found, in whose life such a Vision is not related. Lastly, if we view the Religious Orders of the Church of Rome, where Religion and Piety is supposed to flourish in its utmost perfection, and which are esteemed the grand Patterns of refined Christianity; we shall find them to be so many Societies of Fanatical [Page] Enthusiasts, who, if we except vicious and irreligious Persons among them, wholly busie themselves in wild Imaginations, and ridiculous Ceremonies. If any religious Persons among them escape this contagion, and surmount this imperfection, it is owing to the excellency of their Genius, and advantage of their Learning, not the Rules of their Order, which naturally lead them to it.

But in nothing is the Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome more apparent, than in her approbation and veneration of Enthusiastick Saints. The Church of Rome in her Calendars, Offices, Legends, and Bulls of Canonization hath placed such a rabble of Saints in Heaven, that if a Lucian or Iulian should arise anew to write Satyrs againts the Inhabitants of Heaven, and criticise upon the vulgar conceptions of them, I fear they would find greater matter of laughter among the Christian Saints, than the Heathen Gods. Of these Saints no small part had never any existence; and many no such existence as is commonly ascribed to them; I mean, acted no such things as their Legendary Lives relate. Of those which remain, many were vicious and wicked Persons, Traytors to their Prince and Countrey, or furious Persecutors of the supposed Hereticks of latter Ages; whom nothing but a blind zeal for the Interest of the Court of Rome caused to be canonized. As for the Saints of latter Ages, who were canonized by solemn Bulls and Ceremonies (For the Ancient Saints never enjoyed that honour) they were generally chosen out of the Monastick Orders; and were either downright Enthusiasts, or chiefly admired for those Actions which included somewhat of Enthusiasm. In these Canonizations it is enquired, not whether the [Page] Candidate of that sacred Character exercised all the offices of Piety, Temperance and Charity in the highest perfection; not whether he procured some illustrious benefit to the Church, or was ever ready to suffer Martyrdom for the Profession of Christianity; but whether he ran about the World barefoot, and professing Evangelical Poverty, begged his bread from door to door; whether he wore an iron Chain, an hair Shirt, or a knotted Cord, and affected to appear ridiculous in all his Actions; whether he macerated his Body with prodigious Austerities, and went in Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and other famous Shrines; whether he enjoyed extraordinary Illuminations of the Holy Ghost, acted by the sole impulse of the Spirit, and had frequent extasies and raptures of mind: lastly, whether any of his credulous Followers would adventure to testify any Miracles done by him, either seen by themselves in secret, or received from others by Tradition. What a miserable corruption of Christianity must this needs be, to give such solemn and publick approbation to the extravagances of Fanaticks, to applaud their Follies, admire their Phrensies, and propose them as the great Objects of imitation, not to say of worship, to the People; to solemnize Festivals in their memory, and invoke them in the publick Liturgies; and give thanks to God for the great and glorious Examples of those, who were fitter for Bedlam, than the Blessed Society of Apostles, Prophets and Martyrs! Such fond Credulity and irrational Conduct might be somewhat excusable in the common People, whose ignorance and inexperience might plead their pardon. But when the representative Church of Rome commit such Follies, and deliberately form such Canonizations, [Page] which are afterwards approved and received by the whole Roman Communion, we cannot but conclude that Church to have grosly perverted the Design of Christianity, and widely deviated from the primitive Purity of that most Rational as well as Holy Religion.

That the Charge of Enthusiasm upon the Saints of the Church of Rome is most just and deserved, will appear from a particular view of their Lives and Actions: and that not only of those who lived in the more barbarous and ignorant Ages of the Church, but of those who flourished in these last more learned and refined Ages, after so many Reformations of Ecclesiastical Discipline, and so great improvements of Reason. For in those Countries where Popery is freely professed, and without fear of Heretical Observers, Fanaticism retains as great applause as ever; and by a fatal Contagion, whether of pernicious Examples, or prevailing Ignorance, the latest Saints are the greatest Enthusiasts. This might be abundantly demonstrated from the Lives and Actions of St. Philip Neri, of St. Teresa, St. Mary Magdalen Pazzi, and St. Rosa; but I chuse rather to prove it from the Conduct of St. Ignatius Loyola, as well because he is one of the most eminent and illustrious Saints in the Roman Calendar, as because he was Founder of the most celebrated and learned Order of the Church of Rome. If after a strict examination he shall appear to have been a most extravagant Enthusiast, we cannot hope to discover a more rational Devotion in the obscure and more inconsiderable Saints of that Church.

In forming this Enquiry, I shall begin with the Qualities necessarily required to constitute and compleat an affected Enthusiast; among which an ardent [Page] desire of Glory, and immoderate Ambition, obtains the first place. For none would prostitute the Dignity of his Nature to the Follies and Impertinencies of Enthusiasm; deny to himself the common benefits of Life, and undergo Poverty, Nakedness, Hunger, and a thousand other Inconveniencies incident to that Profession, if he were not transported with a violent Ambition, and sustained with the pleasing hopes of obtaining thereby unusual Glory, and extraordinary Admiration. Ignatius was in a most particular manner indued with this Heroick Quality, and that both natural and acquired. That he was by nature ambitious, all the Writers of his Life assures us. Thus Bouhours De la vie de St. Ignac. lib. 1. Vid. Orlandin. Hist. Soc. Jesu l. 1. num. 9. &c. tells us, That above all, he had an ardent Passion for Glory; that he was naturally Haughty, and his Fancy wholly filled with Gallantry and Vanity; and in all his Actions, he only followed the false Maxims of the World. This, as the same Father relates, naturally incited him to the love of Poetry, and made him keep a kind of Decency even in his Irregularities. They pretend indeed, that Ignatius was possest with this ambitious Temper, only before his Conversion, when it was abolished by a particular gift of God; but besides, that even that is sufficient for our purpose; if we may judg from his subsequent Actions, we have no great Reason to believe them, as shall be shown hereafter.

This natural Ambition of Ignatius, was fomented and increased by his extraordinary Addiction to read Romances, and the Lives of Saints. The same Historian Ibid. relates of him, That he was a diligent Reader of Romances; and in particular, a great Admirer of Amadis de Gaul, and such Books of Knight Chivalry, and wonderfully tickled with Adventures and [Page] Feats of Arms related in them. This filled his Head with false Ideas of Glory, and heated his Brains with vehement desires of Imitation. Thus Don Quixot began his Knight-Errantry with the reading of such Romances, which even made him run Mad with ambition and desire of Glory: And as it happens most unluckily, Ignatius and Don Quixot were both inspired with reading the same Book, the Adventures of Amadis de Gaul, whom the Don always proposed to himself, as the grand Pattern of all his Exploits; and Ignatius imitated as far as the difference of Saint-Errantry would give him leave. But it was the reading the Legends of Saints, which finally compleated the Disease, and rendred it incurable. This excited in him a passionate desire of obtaining an equal Reputation in the Church, and Degree in Heaven with them; and after envying their Glory, perswaded him to imitate their Follies. It was necessary, as well as natural, for such an ignorant Bigot, who designed to acquire to himself esteem, by the repute of extraordinary Sanctity, and yet understood little of the true Principles of Christianity, to take his Pattern from the Lives of Saints, and direct his conduct by the Imitation of their most celebrated Actions, related in the ordinary Legends of the Church; which affixing most ridiculous Follies to the venerable Names of Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors, and not undeservedly relating them of the latter Saints, who are commonly held in the greatest Esteem, betrayed his weak Judgment to the Imitation and Practice of the same Extravagances. All the Writers of his Life, ascribe his Conversion to his accidental reading of the Lives of Saints; and Maffeius De vita Ignat. l. 1. c. 2. particularly relates of him, That in reading these Legends, he [Page] would often stop, and in a transport, whether of Zeal or Ambition, cry out, What if I should imitate this Illustrious Exploit of St. Dominick? What if I should undertake this celebrated Action of St. Francis? This procured to them little less than Divine Honours, and may make me be accounted somewhat more than Human.

Somewhat extraordinary, therefore, he was resolved to do, which might immortalise his Name, and give occasion for new Legends; but how to direct his Ambition, he was yet uncertain; being desirous of the Honour of a Saint, yet loth to forfeit the Triumphs of a Knight-Errant. He was ravished indeed with the reading the Life of Christ, and Legends of the Saints; Bouhours, l. 1. Was set on fire with the wonderful things he read; and being astonished at the Austerities of the Anchorets, resolved to imitate them, to visit the Holy Sepulchre, and shut up himself in an Hermitage. But these good Motions lasted but for a while, and he quickly relapsed into his former Weakness. He wisely considered, That the Imitation of these Anchorets might procure him the Admiration of ignorant Devoto's; but Feats of Arms alone, could secure to him the Favour and Applause of more Polite Ladies. For it must not be dissembled, That our Saint Id. ibid., besides his innate Passion for Glory, had a secret Inclination for a Lady of Quality; and now his Head was full of Military Exploits, to make himself worthy of that Ladies favour. Then he fell again to read, and anew to imagine somewhat more wonderful in the Actions of Saints, than in all the Exploits of those Romantick Heroes, which had formerly filled his Imagination. This rekindled in him a desire of Solitude; but still, when he was upon the point of taking a good Resolution, the[Page]World with all its Charms so powerfully assaulted him, that he fell back, and lingred after Military Honour. Many days were spent in this Fluctuation of Mind, till at last he resolved to become Saint-Errant. And not imprudently. For as Sancha Pancha unanswerably disputed to his Master Don Quixot, since the attainment of Glory was his only aim, Saint-Erranty was a much easier, and more certain way than Knight-Errantry. For from the first, nothing but Blows and Wounds were to be expected, and perhaps a sudden Death in the first Encounter, which might blast all the hopes of Honour; whereas a Saint-Errant might sleep securely, unless disturbed with the Phrensies of his own Brain; be lodged in Palaces, and attended with crouds of admiring Followers; might survive the Fruits of his Labour, and after his Death be inrolled among the Favourites of Heaven; might be honoured with an Anniversary Solemnity, have his Bones enchased in Gold, and his Tomb frequented with crouds of devout Clients; might have Churches and Images erected to his Memory and Worship; and if the Writers of his Life be endued with fruitful Inventions, have innumerable Miracles ascribed to him. Besides, Ignatius wisely remembred that his Lameness, and the visible deformity of his Leg, remaining after his Wound received in the Siege of Pompelona, would eternally hinder him from appearing a compleat Courtier, or attracting the Favour and Affections of Ladies, without which a Knight-Errant cannot subsist. He had used indeed all imaginary Remedies to cure this Deformity,Bouhours l. 1. as passionately affecting to appear every way compleat, without the least Blemish. But Heaven had designed him for a more noble Profession.

[Page]The Order of Knighthood being thus resolved on, it remained to chuse some illustrious Saint, whose Actions he might imitate, and propose as a Rule to his Conduct. Don Quixot sat not longer in Councel to chuse a Pattern for his Military Atchievements, than Ignatius did to find out a fit Exemplar for his intended Bigottry.Maffeius, l. 1. c. 2. At last, most luckily he pitcht upon St. Francis, than whom latter Ages have not produced a greater, or more extravagant Enthusiast, if we except his Ape Ignatius. How well he performed his undertaking, and how nearly followed the footsteps of this great Master, we shall often by comparing their Actions, have occasion to shew. However Ignatius, to manifest that he was no Dastard, sometimes ventured a little higher, and had no inconsiderable flights in imitation of Christ himself, having a very ardent desire to be as much as possible, the lively Image of Iesus Christ, Vie de St. Ignace. l. 2. c. 5. as Bussieres expresseth it. Thus after he had perswaded his first six Disciples to submit themselves to his Direction; he calls them together, and opens to them his design of imitating Christ in the most perfect manner;Bouhours, l. 2. tells them, that Christ went about saving Souls, and thence perswaded them to go into Palestine upon the same employment. St. Francis was not altogether so hasty;Bonaventura de vita. Fran. cap. 3. he staid till he got twelve Disciples about him, that so himself might resemble Christ, and they the Apostles; altho none can easily discover any resemblance between them, save only in this, that they were illiterate.

But Ignatius was not so wholly taken up in the Imitation of Saints, but that he still kept an eye to the Laws of Chivalry, and as much as possible, directed his Actions by those Ideas which the reading [Page] of Romances had created in him. And in this he degenerated not from the Example of his Master St. Francis, Id. cap. 1. who in the beginning of his Conversion, was inclined to exert his vigorous Ambition in Feats of Arms. These Military Ideas so far possessed Ignatius's Imagination, that he could not forget them, in forming the draught of his Order, and writing his Book of Exercises. The first design of his Order, was revealed to him by God in his Meditation of the two Standards,Bouhours, l. 3. in which were shewed to him the first Lineaments, and general Scheme of his Order, by Military Representations. Afterwards intreating the Pope that no Preferments might be conferred on any of his Order, he represented to him, that the other Orders were like so many Squadrons of Cuirassiers to stand fast in their Post;Id. l. 4. but his Order like Light-Horsemen, to be always in a moving Condition. In like manner, his Book of Meditations is formed in a Military way, where he represents to us, our Saviour as a King, inviting his Subjects to accompany him in a Military Expedition, for the Conquest of the whole Earth, and assures them of their share in the Booty and Glory of the Conquest in Proportion to their Fatigues in War. He describes Christ coming to Preach his Doctrine to the World, with the Devil standing in the Front before him, and both under the resemblance of Generals, who raise Troops, spread their Ensigns, take the Field, and exhort their Men to follow them. It seems, the Propagation of the Gospel by force of Arms, is connatural to the Order of Jesuits; only the Wisdom of latter Years hath changed these Spiritual, into carnal Weapons. But to come a litle nearer; one of the most necessary Ingredients of Knight-Errantry, is a Lady, who by the auspicious Charms [Page] of her Beauty may protect the Knight, and receive the Trophies of all his Victories. The choice therefore of Dulcinea del Toboso, cost Don Quixot no less than the serious Consultation of eight Days; and the choice of the Blessed Virgin cost Ignatius a tedious Preparation at his first setting out; when at last, he prostrated himself one night before her Image,Bouhours, l. 1. and consecrated himself to the Service of the Son and the Mother; vowed inviolable Fidelity to her; made her his Protectress, and ever after esteemed himself to be obliged to her by the Laws of Knighthood. Another necessary Qualification of Knight-Errantry, is to be solemnly dubbed Knight, and watch a whole Night in Armour, before the undertaking of that Profession. And therefore Don Quixot at his first setting out, had a terrible scruple of Conscience, because he was not yet dubbed Knight; whereupon he immediately caused himself to be dubbed by the Inn-keeper, and kept his Vigils in his imaginary Chappel. Ignatius was not forgetful of this Ceremony, and therefore in Imitation of it, he watched a whole Night in his Pilgrims Weeds, the Armour of Saints, before the Altar of our Lady at Montferrat, praying and devoting himself to Jesus and Mary, according to those warlike Ideas, which were still in him, as Bouhours Ibid. expresseth it. Departing, he hung up before the Altar his Sword and Poniard. For whereever a Knight-Errant performs his Vigils, his Arms are forfeited to the use of the Chappel, and must be redeemed if he will have them. But to proceed, Don Quixot carried no Money about him, because no Knight-Errant ever did; ordered Sancha Pancha to provide no Necessaries aforehand, saying Knights-Errant ought to rely on Gods Providence; and ever [Page] pleaded that by the Priviledg of his Order, he was exempted from paying any Reckonings, or any other Debt whatsoever. So Ignatius thought it a Crime to carry Money with him; relied so far upon the Providence of God, that he would accept of no Provivisions for a Journey, altho offered to him; and in his Journey to the Holy Land by Sea, pleaded always, that as a Saint he ought to be excused from paying any Fraight, and would never pay it, tho Money were given to him for that purpose. Don Quixot believed every one bound to confess, believe, and maintain whatsoever he avouched, whether they had seen it or no. So Ignatius established it for the primary Rule of his Order, that every one should obey the General, that is, himself while alive, with the same implicite Faith as they would God himself. Lastly, to omit many other Instances of this nature, As the Inn-keeper excused Don Quixot when he had done many outragious Injuries, as a Fool and distracted Coxcomb; so the Spanish Captain excused upon the same account the Extravagant Incivilities of Ignatius, when he was brought before him.

But the most remarkable Instance remains behind. Don Quixot in Obedience to the Laws of Knight-Errantry, in all his Exploits left it to the Discretion of his Horse whether he would go, believing the essence and being of all his Adventures to consist in that. In like manner, Ignatius ever submitted himself blindly to the Dictates of his Confessor; and when he was wanting, to the Direction of his Horse; as may appear from this Story.Maffeius, l. 1. c. 3. Bouhours l. 1. Ignatius presently after his Conversion, made a Pilgrimage to Montserrat. By the way, he fell in Company with a Moor, [Page] and disputed with him about the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. The Moor stifly opposed it, and as it should seem, was too hard for Ignatius upon the point, as well he might, arguing against an ignorant Disputant, and being on the righter Side. At this Ignatius, transported with anger and zeal, was in doubt with himself, whether his Faith and Allegiance due to the Blessed Virgin ever since his solemn dedication of himself to her, did not oblige him to revenge her honour by the death of the Mahometan. Not being able to resolve the Doubt, and fearing to be wanting in his Duty, he resolved to follow the Moor, and do what God should inspire him. Thus riding on, he came where the Road parted. One way led to Montserrat, the other the Moor took. No Divine Inspiration yet appearing, and the Case admitting no longer delay, he abandoned all farther expectation of Divine Impulse, and committed himself to the direction of his Horse, although all will not allow him to have rid upon so learned a Beast; Maffeius saith,L. 1. c. 3. It was a plain Ass, or at least a Mule. Ignatius, therefore, coming to the Division of the Road, stopt his Horse, and loosned the Reins, resolving if the Beast took the same way which the Moor had done, to set upon him, and kill him; if the other, to let him pass unrevenged. The Beast by good luck took the way leading to Montserrat; whereupon Ignatius most rationally concluded, that God did not require at his hands that he should revenge the Blasphemies of the Moor. This the Writers of his Life call a Miracle, tho an honest Heretick would rather call it Chance. Now the Romish Saints may well be impeccable, if God must work Miracles to perserve them from sin; tho a sober Casuist would not [Page] fear to conclude, that Ignatius by making such an irrational Resolution, was really guilty of Murther. It is well his Countryman St. Dominick did not live in his time. For he denying the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgn, if Ignatius had met him in this mood, and his Ass had not been wiser than himself, the two Saints must have fought a Duel about the Immaculate Conception; and then surely by the common Privilege of Saints each would have fought for Truth.

That Ignatius in his Conversion was acted with these ambitious Principles, and reformed his Life not out of any sense of Piety, but meerly through an immoderate desire of Vain-glory, is so undeniable, that even the Writers of his Life cannot dissemble it. This appears from the account given by them of the motions excited in his Imagination by reading Romances and the Lives of Saints at his first Conversion, which was before mentioned; and may be farther demonstrated from what Bouhours L. 1. adds, that in exercising all his Religious Austerities, he had at first no other aim than to imitate those holy Penitents, whose Lives he had read, and to expiate his Sins. This last clause was annexed only to save the Credit of the Saint. For in his Life, Cap. 2. Rome, 1629. [...] vo published by order of Mutius Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits, it is freely confessed, that Ignatius his first Resolutions were to exercise great Austerities, and perform extraordinary Penance, not so much to expiate his Sins, which then presented themselves to his view, as because he imagined that in these rigours the utmost perfection of Christianity consisted, having no higher Idea of it, and desiring with passion to acquire that perfection, as the only means of obtaining the repute of Sanctity. And indeed if we [Page] examine his first Adventure after his Conversion, we hear of no extraordinary acts of real Piety and Devotion, but only Pilgrimages, Sackcloth, Fasting, Whipping and Begging, the effects of an Ambitious Desire to imitate the Actions of the most Renowned Saints, which then wholly possest his Imagination;Maffeius, l. 1. c. 3. and with the thoughts of which he continually amused himself, so far as to employ his whole time in painting the famous Actions of Christ and his Saints upon a Book, and then admiring the glory of them. However, this was somewhat better employment, than that wherewith St. Francis at first busied himself, to make Crucifixes in Mortar with his own hands; although both equally proceeded from Childish Notions of Religion and Devotion.

If then Ambition had so great a part in the Conversion of Ignatius: if an excessive desire of Glory, and foolish emulation of the Honour of other Saints, chiefly induced Ignatius to embrace a Religious Life: with what pretence or shew of truth can the Writers of his Life ascribe his Conversion to the Providence of God, and operation of the Holy Ghost? A Conversion which themselves cannot deny to have been the effect of Ambition, and other unruly Passions; and in which, without any breach of Charity, the Devil had far more influence than God. Divine Conversions never proceed from such unlawful Principles; and correct the Errors of the Judgment, as well as purge the Corruptions of the Will; whereas Ignatius, after his Conversion, continued in the same Ignorance of all Divine Matters and true Piety, and retained his former Ambitious Inclination, which alone may create a reasonable suspicion of insincerity in the whole conduct of his Life.

[Page]It cannot be pretended that Ignatius was at first induced by motives of Ambition and Vain-glory to undertake the Severities of a Religious Life, but afterwards proceeded wholly upon Principles of disinteressed Piety. The Writers indeed of his Life assure us, that immediately after his Conversion, all Reliques of Ambition were by an immediate operation of the Holy Ghost extinguished in him; but the subsequent conduct of his Life demonstrate the contrary. The ambition of founding a new Order in the Church, had strongly possest his Imagination, and was the grand motive of all his Austerities. To this all his Actions were directed; and by this he was encouraged to undertake and conquer the greatest Difficulties. Orlandinus Hist. Soc. Jesu, l. 1. plainly confesseth, no man would have taken so much pains as he did, unless he had carried such a Design in his head; and Bouhours, Lib. 3. that he had designed to institute an Order under the name of the Society of Iesus, ever since his retirement at Manreza, immediately after his Conversion. The Ambition of instituting a peculiar Sect was ever the chief Motive of all Heresiarchs and Impostors; who thought nothing more glorious than to acquire an arbitrary command over the Understandings of their deluded Followers. This incited Apollonius Tyaneus, St. Francis, and Ignatius to gather to themselves Disciples as soon as they had obtained a popular repute of sanctity; and that the World might take notice of their great success, they all agreed to lead their Disciples as it were in triumph into the Capital City of the World:Philostratus de vit. Apoll. [...]. [...]. c. 12. Ignatius and Francis on pretence to receive the Pope's Blessing and Commands, but Apollonius upon a more generous Design to brave the Tyant Nero, and let him know that he detested his Actions, and scorn'd [Page] his Threats. No wonder the supposed Merits of the Design, and sanctity of the Profession which Ignatius had undertaken, should raise his Pretensions; since he might rationally promise to himself an extraordinary veneration on Earth, and a more exalted Throne in Heaven. Don Quixot fancied that all Knight-Errants went to Heaven, or at least to Purgatory; and surely Saint-Errants deserved to be placed in an higher degree than they.Id. l. 3. c. 15. The Indian Philosophers had assured Apollonius, that both dead and living he should be esteemed a God.Bonaventura, cap. 15.6. A pious Frier had seen St. Francis's Soul in the shape of a bright Star carried in a Cloud upon many Waters into Heaven; and another holy Brother being wrapt into an extasy had seen an empty Seat prepared in Heaven, more eminent than the rest, shining with great splendor, and adorned with precious Stones; and at the same time heard a Voice from Heaven, saying, that it was kept for St. Francis. Bonaventure De vita Fr. cap. 14., who was himself a Saint, had stiled him the Angel ascending from the East, having the Seal of the Living God; and might not Ignatius reasonably expect a Place of equal dignity in the Court of Heaven?Bussieres, l. 2. c. 16. yes surely; and that we may not doubt of it, St. Mary Magdalen Pazzi in an extasie saw his Soul in a glorious Seat in Heaven.Philostrat. l. 1. c. 15.9. As for reverence to be obtained by them whilst alive, Apollonius was commonly saluted by the People with the Title of Divus, and esteemed so great a Favourite of the Gods, that crouds of Clients daily flocked to him, desiring him to intercede with Heaven for them.Bonavent. cap. 8. St. Francis enjoyed the Title of Christianissimus Pauper, or the Most Christian Beggar, and thereby stood in competition with the Most Christian King;Vitelleschi, cap. 7. but Ignatius being more ingenious, assumed the Title of Pauper [Page]Pauperum; and thereby emulating that of Servus Servorum, exceeded St. Francis, as much as the Pope exceeds all Secular Princes. However, both are now attended with crouds of devout Supplicants; altho in this Apollonius hath the advantage of them in point of Judgment and Learning. For they favoured such Invocations while alive, and are now supposed gladly to receive them when dead:Philostrat. l. 1. c. 9. whereas the Heathen Philosopher wisely rejected the Petitions of those who desired his Intercession with God, telling them, that if they were really devout Persons, they needed no Intercessor, but might themselves boldly approach to God, and offer up their Petitions to him.

I might instance in several other Actions and Circumstances, which clearly manifest an immoderate desire of Vain glory. His Resolution of preaching the Gospel among the Infidels in the Holy Land, the great stage of Knight-Errantry in former Ages, without any probability of success, arose from this principle of Ambition.Philostrat. l. 7. c. 6. Thus Apollonius affecting the honour of dying a Martyr for Philosophy, went boldly to Domitian, and reprehended his Tyranny; and Saint Francis went twice into Asia, and once into Africk to convert the Soldan of Babylon, and Miramolin of Morocco, not so much out of desire to propagate Christianity, as that by his Impertinence provoking those Princes to cruelty,Bonavent. cap. 8. he might obtain the Crown of Martyrdom. The singularity of habit used by Ignatius ▪ and Apollonius was directed to the same Design. By this they distinguished themselves from the rest of mankind, and drew crouds of Admirers after them; who at first drawn together by the novelty of their Habit, might at last be deluded with their Jugling Artifices. But a most certain argument of Ambition in [Page] Sacred Matters is to envy to all others the acquisition of Reputation by the same method. That must needs be an impious as well as extravagant Ambition, which cannot endure any Rivals or Competitors in Sanctity, and would engross to it self all the veneration of Fools, and credulity of Mankind. This Philostratus L. 3. c. 3. and Bonaventure cap. 5. particularly observe of Apollonius Tyaneus, and St. Francis, that they approved not those Austerities in any other, which they practised themselves.Bouhours, l. 2. In like manner, Ignatius represented to two Ladies of Alcala his Disciples, who had resolved to go in pilgrimage to our Lady of Gvadalupe, profess Evangelical Poverty, and serve the Sick in Hospitals, the folly of their Design; and asserted, that without an evident Inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they must not take such extraordinary courses to advance in Perfection; that Sanctity did not consist in Pilgrimages or Evangelical Poverty; and earnestly dissuaded them from their Intentions. Now if Ignatius did truly practice and pursue Evangelical Perfection, he ought not to have diverted these Ladies from their Resolutions, who had proposed to themselves the practice of those very Actions which they had before admired in Ignatius. He might perhaps plead for himself Inspiration of the Holy Ghost: but besides that such a Plea is downright Enthusiasm, it might have been with equal reason pretended by the Ladies;Id. l. 6. since all such Inspirations are purely interrnal, and known only to the Person who receives them. Thus also he expressed great dislike of long Prayers in others, altho himself frequently bestowed whole days in Prayer; and at his first conversion did nothing else but pray. The affectation of the name of Saint is a no less evident mark of a violent Ambition; and therefore we [Page] may reasonably conclude Apollonius to have been extremely guilty of this Vice,Philostr. l. 8. c. 2. in that while alive he not unwillingly received the title of God from the common People. The Notions which the Heathens had of their Inferior Deities was the same which the Papists usually entertain of their Saints. This Title Ignatius upon all occasions ambitiously courted; and by cunning Artifices endeavoured to procure.Bouhours, l. 1. Thus at Manreze having with many incredible Austerities and severe Mortifications once acquired among the credulous Multitude the Title of a Saint, as if he had got his Aim, he immediately gives over all solitude, changed his deformed Penitential Dress into a more decent Habit, and moderates his Austerities. At Barcelona meeting a company of Beggars,Id. l. 2. he distributed all his Money to them, and then immediately in their sight began himself to beg: whereupon they cryed out,Gloria S. Ignatii, Rothomagi, 1630. cap. 8. A Saint, a Saint. His Confessor Eguia was wont to give it out, that he was more than a Saint; and he to return the Complement, and secure the continuation of it, gave Eguia a great character of extraordinary Piety.Id. c. 14. Ribadeneira in vit. ejus. He betrayed no less Vain glory, when in an affected extravagance of humility he prayed to God, and wished publickly on all occasions, that his Body, when dead, might be exposed in the open Fields to be devoured by Beasts and Fowls, or at least might be buried in a Dunghill. Such Wishes were frequent in the Mouths of Cynicks, who were ever esteemed the most ambitious of all Philosophers.

If any thing be still wanting in Ignatius to compleat the Character of Ambitious, it must be arrogant Boasts, and high Pretences of his his own Sanctity; which indeed is the utmost degree of Vain-glory, than [Page] which nothing is more intolerable or inexcusable. Ignatius was never wanting to his own praise, always endeavouring to excite and continue great Ideas of his own Merits in the minds of men: following herein the common Artifice of all Impostors, who supply their own want of merit by an arrogant ostentation of it.Philostrat. l. 1. c. 13. l. 7. L. 1. l. 7. Thus Apollonius Tyaneus gloried that he knew all things, penetrated the most secret thoughts of others, understood all Languages, tho he had never learned them; and bragged to Domitian that he could not hurt him,Bonaventur. c. 7. Golden Legend, fol. 262. London, 1527. since he was immortal. Saint Francis boasted that he was daily fed with the Bread of Angels; and published every-where, that after his death he should be worshipped as a Saint through all the World. As for Ignatius, he conceived so great an opinion of his own merit, that presently after his Conversion, before he had performed yet any thing extraordinary, being seized with a violent Fever, and lying in a desperate condition, he fancied to hear an inward Voice repeating to him, that he need not be troubled to die,Bouhours, l. 1. because he died a Saint; and that being arrived at so great a degree of Perfection, he needed not fear either the Temptation of the Devil, or the Judgment of God. On the one side he saw represented to him his Meritorious Austerities; on the other side Heaven open, where the Angels, with Palms and Crowns in their hands, invited him to enter in. That he might create in others the same apprehension which he had formed to himself, he sometimes talked publickly of his Raptures and Extasies,Id. l. 6. and spread abroad a Report that he had an Archangel for his Angel Guardian. This perhaps might be somewhat pardonable in a Spaniard, but what follows is intolerable. Polancus asked him one day, as he was boasting [Page] of his wonderful Gifts,Gloria S. Ignatii, cap. 7. Whether he did not fear to be guilty of Vain-glory? Ignatius answered in these words: Polancus, I do assure you that I do not relate the thousandth part of the Divine Gifts conferred on me, by reason of the incapacity of those who hear me, to conceive them: and added, that he would not change Merits or Divine Gifts with any one of all the Saints, if they had not greater than what are commonly related of them in their Lives. It might perhaps be imagined that a more exquisite Flattery could not be invented; yet thanks to a Politick Brain, the Reputation of Ignatius his Merits must be rais'd yet higher. Eguia, his Confessor, often wished that he might outlive the Saint,Bouhours, l. 6. at least, some few hours, that he might reveal without Scruple, what he knew of the Sanctity of Ignatius, and he pretended that he had things to tell, which could not be heard without astonishment. The cunning Saint fearing that if the Matter came to a Trial, it might end in Smoke, or at least, not answer Expectation, prayed earnestly against his Wish; and by good fortune the Confessor died before him. Alas, What a loss did the immature Death of Eguia bring to Christendom? Such a loss no doubt the World had before suffered in the case of Don Quixot; a great part of whose most noble Adventures were not mentioned in the Records of Mancha.

Ambition is the chief and fundamental Quality of an affected Enthusiast; that Ignatius was eminently endued with it, we have now proved. Other accedaneous Qualities are required to constitute a compleat Fanatick, which were not wanting in our Saint; I shall instance only in two, weakness of Body, and want of Judgment. The first is commonly antecedent [Page] to, and in some measure the cause of Enthusiasm, but must necessarily be contracted by those immoderate Fermentations and Commotions of the Blood, which attend the Extasies of Enthusiasts; which may for a time confer an unusual Vigour upon the Body; but when the Heat is expired, and the Tempest calmed, leave it languid and dejected. The Production and Conservation of a strong and irregular Imagination, by gross and impure Spirits, supposeth a vehement Indisposition of the Body, and general Corruption of Blood, which also that very Imagination promotes and augments. And this alone might unanswerably detect all the Illusions and Impostures of Enthusiasts, who pretend to intellectual Visions and divine Raptures. For if those Visions were indeed purely intellectual, no extraordinary motion of the Body would attend them; whereas the violent Ebullition of the Spirits, which accompany these pretended Visions of Enthusiasts, demonstrate them to be wholly owing to their Imaginations and disturbed Brains. Thus Vite ejus per Jac. Baccium Romae 1645. St. Phillip Neri being often overflowed with celestial Pleasures, was forced to fall flat upon the Ground, and rowl himself to and fro: And in praying, his whole Body was wont so much to Quake and Tremble, as would cause the Chamber to shake, and the Stools in it to dance about. Nay, once this shaking proceeded so far, that the poor Saint broke two of his Ribs by it. Ignatius began his fits of Devotion in a violent Fever, and ever after maintained them in a weak and crazy Body. In his Retirement into the Vale of Paradice,Bouhours, l. 1. where he enjoyed such extraordinary Raptures, he impaired his Health so far in a few days, that his Friends searching for him, found him in a Swound, which wmmediately followed [Page] by a desperate Fever. In his Meditations and Raptures, he poured forth so great an abundance of Tears, that he was often very near blinded by it. In all his Extasies, Gloria S. Ignatii, cap. 8. his Body was wonderfully weakned. By reciting Mass, (wherin he always pretended to receive a flood of Consolations) he often became so languid, that he was forced to be carried to his Chamber upon the Shoulders of other Men, not being able to stand upon his own Legs for weakness. Sometimes in praying or celebrating Mass, he burned with such vehement Heat, that all the Parts of his Body seemed to be on Fire, his Face grew red as Scarlet, his Pulse beat violently, and all his Veins swelled through the extraordinary Fermentation of his Blood, and the hair of his Head stood upright. Or as another Author expresseth it, Bouhours, l. 6. His Countenance was inflamed in praying; and commonly in the heat of his Devotion, he had very violent Palpitations of Heart, and frequent Raptures; withal, he poured out a Torrent of Tears, till he obtained of God by Prayer, that he might be able to restrain his Tears; but when they were kept in, he felt in his Soul an Inundation of spiritual Delight. From which last words, it is manifest, That he mistook the extraordinary motion of his Blood (which commonly produceth a grateful sentiment of Pleasure) for spiritual Delights; since, from the restrainment of his Tears, no other effect could follow, than that the motion not being allayed by an Evacuation of Tears, should continue longer in its first Vigour. To mention no more, our Saint, Whensoever he thought of Death, Vitelleschi, c. 20. and the Love of God, had such furious motions in his Heart, that his Health was exceedingly injured for a long while after. After so many manifest Indications of a violent and disturbed Imagination, we cannot with any shew of reason ascribe [Page] his spiritual Delights and Visions, to the serene and calm Operation of the Holy Ghost, but must impute them to the Phantomes of his Brain; an effect which naturally followed his method of Devotion and Meditation; insomuch, as Peter Faber having wholly resigned up himself to his Conduct, and to the Rules prescribed in his Book of Spiritual Exercises, felt such fervour in his Meditations, that he was forced often to go down from his Chamber into a little Court, to take fresh Air, and cool his Brains.

Ignorance and Weakness of Understanding, is so necessary a quality to those Enthusiasts, who are perswaded of the truth and reality of their Dreams and Visions, such as Ignatius seems to have been, at least, in the former part of his Life; that without it, Enthusiasm could gain neither Admission nor Belief, even in their own Breasts. For this reason St. Philip Neri, Above Jac. Baccius in Vit. ejus, l. 2. c. 19. all things endeavoured that his Disciples should suppress in themselves the too nice Inquisitions of the rational Intellect, and often said it was the Abridgment of all Spiritual Life, to lay aside Reason and Arguings. This affected Ignorance not only disposeth them to submit their Judgment to the Direction of an irrational Imagination, and resign up their Conduct to the fortuitous Impulse of irregular Motions in the Body; but also disables them from discovering the Folly and false Ideas of Enthusiasm, from perceiving that nothing can be more contrary to the genius of Christianity, than Fanaticism; that right Reason is the greatest Ornament, as well as Perfection of Mankind; that whatsoever violates the Laws of Decency and Sobriety, cannot be Divine; and instead of merit, that God is dishonoured by ridiculous Actions and irrational Austerities. The great Founders of Monastick Orders, are observed to have been Ignorant [Page] and Stupid to a Prodigy; and Ignatius far from being Ambitious to surpass them in Learning, thought it meritorious to be more ignorant than them all.Vitelleschi, c. 19. He judged it a great Perfection to be esteemed a Fool; and made it one of his chief Maxims,Bouhours, l. 6. that whoever would do great things in Gods Cause, must have a care of being too wise. Nature it seems, had taken care that he should not be too wise, if the Writers of his Life do not foully misrepresent him; Vitelleschi Cap. 3. saith plainly, That he was an Ideot. Bouhours L. 1., That he was but meanly instructed in the Mysteries of the Faith. Maffeius L. 1., That he had scarce learning enough to preserve him from Heresy. Orlandinus Hist. Soc. Jesu. l. 1. num. 7., That he was devoid of all Learning. He was so far indeed conscious of his own Ignorance, that he put himself to School, and bestowed many years in learning Philosophy and the Latin Tongue; but all his Labour met with small success; his natural Stupidity was too prevalent for the greatest Industry. In the Grammar-School at Barcelona, Bouhours, l. 2. he made so small Proficience, that in many Months he could not learn to Conjugate the Verb Amo; and was forced to beg of his Master to whip him severely, and treat him equally with the meanest Boy. After two years Study at Barcelona, he goes to Alcala, where he learneth Logick, Physick and Divinity,Id. ibid. And studieth Night and Day without Intermission; but so many different Notions so confounded his Vnderstanding, that all his Labour ended in learning nothing. Next he removes to Salamanca, leaves off begging, and mitigates his Austerities, that he might imploy his whole time in Learning. Yet finding but small Progress, he quits Spain for shame, and betakes himself to the University of Paris, Maffeius, l. 1. c. 18. wisely driving an Ass laden with Books before him. For himself, before he got to Paris, had lost all his Learning, insomuch, [Page] as coming thither, he was forced to begin all a new, and return even to the first Elements of Grammar. After he had studied there several years, by the help of Friends, and many Petitions, he gets a Degree; but still continues so Ignorant, that after he had enticed Faber into his Society, he was forced to desire him privately to explain Aristotle to him;Bussieres l. 2. c. 1. to whom he in requital explained the Secrets of a Spiritual Life, and Mystical Divinity. But perhaps all this is to be ascribed to a singular Providence, which hindred his Progress in Learning, as knowing it to be destructive to the very being of a Romish Saint. That little smattering which he had of Learning, did no small Prejudice to his Sanctity; for after that, his Visions, Extasies and Illuminations, became infinitely less frequent. The very reading of a learned and rational Book, lessened his Devotion, and quenched his Spiritual Consolations. For being advised once by some learned Men, to read the Books of Erasmus, he perceived that the reading of him diminished his Devotion; and the more he read, the less fervour he had in Prayer: He thereupon threw them away;Bouhours, l. 2. and when General of his Order, commanded that none of his Followers should read Erasmus's Writings, or at least, not without great Precaution. Nothing but the reading of Thomas a Kempis, or other unintelligible Enthusiasts could keep alive his first fervour, which grew faint and expired at the least appearance of solid Learning. If the Jesuits have since conceived a greater esteem for Learning, and not unsuccessfully employed their Labour in the attainment of it, they have perhaps deservedly obtained a Reputation to themselves; but, as I fear, have thereby forfeited the Protection and Intercession of their Founder Ignatius, who continues even [Page] after his Death, to be the professed Enemy of Learning. For ten years after his Death, appearing to Iames Terry, a young Scotchman of his Society, who with diligence and fervour had applied himself to the Study of true Learning, he sharply reprehended him, recommending to him,Bussieres, l. 3. c. 8. Less Knowledg, and more Virtue.

Having thus manifested, That Ignatius wanted no Qualities necessary to an Enthusiast; I shall next enquire, whether he were really guilty of Enthusiasm. This consisteth in pretending to divine Visions and extraordinary Illuminations, after Christianity is once fully setled, and all Christians left to learn their Religion by natural and ordinary means from the Rule of Faith, whether Scripture or Tradition; in boasting of infused Knowledg and inward Lights, in pretending to have received all the Articles of Faith by particular Inspiration, to do all things by the private Impulse of the Spirit, and act solely by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost; in venting these pretended Revelations, without any respect to the Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline fixed by Christ, much less of Decency; in perpetual talking of Divine Matters in an unintelligible Jargon, and impertinent Canting, and boasting of a mighty Familiarity with God and Christ. To which, if frequent Extasies and Raptures of mind be added, the Enthusiast is become compleat, and his Disease little less than Madness. These Pretences are not only apt to raise the Admiration, and excite the Veneration of the Vulgar, who ever admire what they cannot Penetrate; and having crude Notions of Religion and Piety, are easily led away with Pretences of it; but raise the Ambition, and augment the Folly of the Enthusiast himself, who thence formeth vast Ideas of his own Merits and Perfection; is delighted with his own Illusion, hates to be convicted; [Page] and flatters himself with the thoughts of being the familiar Friend of God, and Favourite of Heaven. That Ignatius was guilty of all these Extravagances and Follies in the highest degree, a particular Examination of his Actions, will abundantly demonstrate.

First, Therefore, as to the pretence of Divine Visions and Illuminations, his whole Life after his Conversion, if we may believe the Writers of his Life, was a continued Series of them. His Conversion was at first produced by such imaginary Visions. The Holy Virgin descended from Heaven, and brought down with her the Child Jesus in her Arms (one would wonder how our Saviour since his Ascension,Gloria St. Ignatii, c. 4. l. 1. should dwindle into a Child) to convert this maimed Soldier. She appeared to him all invironed with Light, while he was awake, (tho Bouhours L. 1. implieth the contrary) and continued with him some while. At this Vision, Ignatius felt his Soul replenished with such a spiritual Vnction, as ever after rendred all Pleasures of the Senses insipid to him. During this Apparition, it seemed to him that his heart was purified within him, and that all Images of sensual Delights were quite razed out of his mind. Soon after he imagineth St. Peter to appear to him, to touch him, and cure his Wounds. Being recovered, he goeth to Manreze, where he receiveth innumerable Visions and Illuminations; but the most remarkable, was an Extasy, which lasted eight Days;Id. ibid, during all which time he had no use of his Senses. Some thought him Dead, and would have buried him. But some motion of his Heart being at last perceived, diverted that Resolution. No Body ever knew the Secrets which were revealed to him in that long Rapture; and all the account which he would give, was, that they were inexpressible. [Page] Travelling thence through Italy, in his way to the Holy Land, and praying in the open Plain before the Gates of Venice, Id. l. 2. Jesus Christ appeared to him, gave him inward strength, and promised him Protection in all his Journey. Coming to Ierusalem, he was seized with a religious horror, and imagined that he saw Jesus Christ in every place, born in the Manger at Bethlehem, teaching in the Temple, crucified in Mount Calvary, and triumphing on Mount Olivet: Vitelleschi, cap. 4. or as another Author expresseth it, Iesus Christ appeared to him often, and enriched him with a thousand Benedictions. Travelling from Mount Olivet to the Convent,Id. cap. 5. Christ appeared to him in the Air, and accompanied him along, encouraging him with his presence. Afterwards at Paris he saw clearly in a Vision that God had appointed to establish a Company of Apostolick men, and found a new Order in the Church. A year after journeying from Spain through Valentia into Italy, Bouhours, l. 3. he happened on Iohn de Castro, a Religious Hermit, to whom he made known his Intention of going into the Holy Land. Castro spends all the Night following in Prayer, comes out of his Cell next Morning in a transport of joy, and tells Ignatius that he was commissioned by Heaven to let him know, that his Design should succeed, and turn to the good of all Christendom; and for a sign that he did not speak at random, offered himself to be his Companion and Disciple. Ignatius received this Testimony of Castro as an Oracle of the Holy Ghost, but would not suffer him to accompany him. Whence Bouhours concludeth, that Persons inspired from Heaven in behalf of others, are not always so for themselves. He might more reasonably have concluded that the whole Inspiration was fictitious, and a meer whimsie of the [Page] Hermites Brain, with which both Parties were not unwillingly deluded. For Ignatius his Design did not succeed. He never went after that to Palestine, as he intended, and consequently his Design was not in the least beneficial to the Cause of Christianity: and then Castro equally pretended a Divine Inspiration for his entrance into the same Design, as for Ignatius his success in it: so that either Castro received no real Inspiration, or Ignatius resisted the Holy Ghost. But to proceed,Vitelleschi, cap. 14. Bouhours, l. 3. Ignatius travelling from Venice to Rome, he stept alone into a little ruinous Chappel upon the Road, following the motion of the Spirit which possest him, to recommend his Company to God. Scarce had he begun his Prayer, but he was wrapt in spirit, environed with a great brightness, and saw the Eternal Father, who presenting him to the Son, who stood before him laden with an heavy Cross, recommended him to his protection; who receiving him graciously, said, I will be propitious to you at Rome. Removing soon after to Monte Cassino, he saw the Soul of Hozez, one of his Companions,Id. ibid. who at that time died at Padua, at the very moment of his expiring, in a glorious and shining Habit, enter into Heaven: and thereby had the good fortune to equal St. Benedict, Golden Legend, London, 1527. par. 2. fol. 103. who in that very place saw the Soul of his Sister Scholaria in form of a Dove; and the Soul of Germanus, Bishop of Capua, environed with exceeding light, ascending into Heaven. But now for the Honour of Ignatius, whereas St. Benedict had but a transient view of the ascending Souls, our Saint had the same Vision more than once. For presently after hearing Mass, he saw Heaven open, and his Companion in the middle of the Saints (See the Merits of the Society) more resplendent than the rest.Bouhours, loc. cit. However, it must be remembred in favour [Page] of St. Benedict, that in his time Enthusiasm was but in its infancy, which in latter Ages was advanced to greater perfection. St. Ignatius scorned to draw his model from an imperfect Copy; but chose rather to imitate St. Francis a more Illustrious Visionary. He assured his Companions,Bonaventura, cap. 8.13. that he often enjoyed the Corporeal Presence of Jesus Christ; who appeared to him in his private Prayers nailed to the Cross, and at other times under the form of a Cherub having six wings, bearing a Crucifix in his Breast, and fluttering before him for a long while in the Air. Not only were Divine Visions of this nature frequently by Heaven granted to them, but also liberally communicated to others, whensoever their Interest or Advantage required it.Bouhours, l. 2. Vitelleschi, cap. 4. Thus Ignatius coming to Barcelona to take Ship for the Holy Land, a certain Lady, called Isabella Rosella, saw him at Church, and heard a Voice within her, crying, Call him, Call him. Hereupon she invites him to her House, and desires him to lodge there. But he declared that he was called by Heaven to another place, and so denied her Request. Certainly one of these Calls must have been an Illusion. For if the Lady was indeed commanded by God to invite him, he ought to have accepted the Invitation; if he was sent by God to another Place, she ought not to have diverted him. But not to be too critical upon the Actions of the Saints, since it is the peculiar privilege of the Church of Rome that no Contradictions can prejudice the truth of its Assertions. From Barcelona Ignatius travelled to Venice, where entring late, he takes up his Lodging upon the stones in the Piazza. Heaven thought this too mean a Lodging for so great a Saint; and therefore Marco Antonio Trevisani, a Senator, was immediately commanded [Page] by a Voice in a Vision to rise and invite him into his House.Id. ibid. When Rodriguez, one of his chief Disciples, was tempted by the Devil to leave Ignatius, and become an Hermite, God, to prevent so great a loss, sent an Angel from Heaven, who taking a Gigantick Body, and putting on a terrible Aspect, met him going out of Town, with a naked Sword in his hand, and brandishing his Sword against him, forced him to return with all speed; altho the Countrey People, who admired the precipitate, and as they imagined,Bouhours, l. 3. Vitelleschi, cap. 13. causeless flight of Rodriguez, could see neither Sword nor Giant. To produce but one Instance more: A Recluse near Vicenza slighting Ignatius, and esteeming him a Madman, God to vindicate the honour of the Saint, appeared to him, and told him, (or as Bouhours hath it, he understood by a Light from above) that Ignatius was a Vessel of Election, filled with the Spirit of God. In like manner a Priest of Assisium, Bonavent. cap. 3. who despised Saint Francis, was assured by a Divine Vision, that he was some great and venerable Person. Hitherto their Visions are pretty equal: but St. Francis had one adventure, which Ignatius could never equal.Id. cap. 2. Being prostrated one day before a Crucifix, he received exceeding consolation of spirit in praying; and with his bodily Ears thrice heard a Voice proceeding from the Cross, saying, Francis, go and repair my ruined House. This was wonderful indeed! but Ignatius never attained to this perfection. For as the Devils and Oracles vanished and disappeared at the coming of Christ; so the Romish images ceased to speak at the first appearance of the Reformation. The last, which we can hear of, is that of Bern in Switzerland, which performed the Miracle few years before the Reformation.

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[Page]These Visions and Apparitions are so plainly owing to the whimsies of a disturbed Imagination, that no art can palliate the Delusion. The Ideas which these Enthusiasts conceived of God, Christ, and Angels, were so gross and corporeal, and by long habit attended with such violent motions of the Spirit, that every cloud in their Brain was mistaken for that Object, whose Idea did then accompany it. This is evident in the case of Ignatius, who in Mount Cassino remembring the famous Vision of St. Benedict in that place, and then hearing the death of Hozez, imagined he saw a Vision of the like nature; and in visiting the holy Places in Palestine always fancied to see Christ before his eyes in that habit, which the remembrance of the Place suggested to his Imagination, born in the Grotto at Bethlehem, crucified in Mount Calvary, and ascending in Mount Olivet. This was solely to be ascribed to the delusion of a violent and strong Imagination, wherewith all the precedent Actions and Arguments demonstrate Ignatius to have been endued. To which may be added this following Circumstance. When Ignatius first set himself to learn Grammar at Barcelona, he found his Spirits by long habit so stongly enclined to these Enthusiastick Imaginations, that he could not divert them any other way. Whence instead of conjugating the Verb Amo, Bouhours, l. 2. he did nothing but form Acts of Love. I love thee my God (said he) thou lovest me: he could think of nothing else for many months. However, if this Illusion had stopt in his own Breast, it had been no great loss; but when it imposeth upon multitudes of credulous Believers, and draws them into pernicious mistakes; when after a juridical Inquiry the reality of such Apparitions is allowed and attested by the publick suffrage [Page] of a large Christian Church in the Canonization of the Visionary, we cannot but deplore the Credulity of Mankind, and Corruption of that Church. If the truth of all Christian Religion depended upon the attestation of such a Church, as is pretended, well might all sober Heathens suspect the Miracles of Jesus Christ, or even deny the existence of such a God, who chooseth the greatest Fools for his highest Favourites, and obsequiously attendeth the Motions of every petty Visionary. More rationally did Philostratus proceed in writing the Legend of Apollonius Tyaneus;De vita Apoll. l. 4. c. 5. l. 8. c. 13. to whom he ascribes no more than two Visions, and both of them undertaken for the improvement of Knowledge; the first an Apparition of Achilles's Ghost to him for the resolution of divers Critical Questions; the other of himself after death to a company of Friends, to assure them of the Immortality of the Soul.

If the external Visions of Ignatius were rare and wonderful, the internal Illuminations of his Understanding were more extraordinary. From these he pretended to have received a more perfect knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion, than could have been drawn from the ordinary Rule of Faith; to have learned all the Secrets of the Trinity, and seen the very Essence of God. The pretence of this Infused Knowledge is the chief and most essential Character of Enthusiasm; others may be properties or effects of it,Philostratus, l. 1. c. 13. l. 2. c. 10. l. 3. c. 7. but this constitutes the very nature of it. Thus Apollonius pretended to know all things by Divine Inspiration, to act by a particular Illumination, to know the state and adventures of his own Soul before it was united to his Body, (according to his notion of Transmigration) and to discern the Souls of [Page] Ancient Heroes imprisoned in the Bodies of Beasts.L. 5 c. 15. [...], l. 7. c. 4. By this Divine Illumination he knew Domitian had laid snares for him; and if we may believe Hierocles Apud Euseb. adv. Hierocl. in in [...]., performed all his Miracles, not by Enchantments or Spells, as was commonly believed, but by an hidden and preternatural knowledge of Divine Matters. Saint Francis understood many secret things by the Spirit; knew all the Mysteries of Scripture, not by the help of Learning,Bonavent. in vit. ejus c. 11. Cap. 4. but by Divine Revelation: unfolded many things to his Disciples by the assistance of Divine Visions, which transcended Humane Capacity: preached always Sermons to the People not composed by his own Industry,Cap. 12. but ex tempore, suggested by the Spirit; and lest you should suspect these Discourses to have been highly impertinent, Bonaventure assures you,Cap. 3. they were not empty or ridiculous, but full of the vertue of the Spirit, piercing the very marrow of the Heart, and ravishing all his Hearers with mighty admiration. But to raise your Opinion yet somewhat higher of the wonderful Illuminations of this Saint, Christ corporally appearing to him, revealed to him many things, which it was unlawful for him, while he lived,Cap. 13. to publish: and the great and wonderful Mystery of the Cross, wherein all the gifts of Graces and treasures of Wisdom lay hid, In fine. concealed from the Wise and Learned Men of the World, were at once fully revealed to St. Francis. Yet all this is inconsiderable, when compared to the infused Knowledge of Ignatius. Bouhours, l. 4. Iohn de Avila, a famous Spanish Doctor, declared that he knew no man more interiour, nor filled with more supernatural Wisdom than Ignatius: and Oviedo, one of his Disciples, out of a long experience of him, gave his Opinion,Id. ibid. when Ignatius desired to be eased of the Office of General, that he ought not to be opposed; [Page] since being a Saint he had Lights which ordinary Christians had not. Soon after his Conversion, at Manreze he began to receive Visions and Illuminations: Id. l. 1. He was hitherto meanly instructed in the Mysteries of the Faith; but now he is elevated in the Spirit, and hath all, particularly the Trinity, so clearly represented and revealed to him by an internal Light, that he can speak of nothing but the Trinity, and that with so much unction and light in such proper and sublime Expressions, that the most Learned admired him, and the most Ignorant were instructed by him. Vitelleschi, cap. 16. The Illustrations which were communicated to him upon this Subject, cannot be expressed; how often our Lady, and the three Persons of the Holy Trinity appeared to him, and taught him what was their will touching this Article; how many internal Consolations he received, and how great Secrets were revealed to him. In one of his Visions he saw the Blessed Trinity,Orlandinus, l. 1. n. 27. as plainly as we do one another, under a corporeal representation. The very notions of his Institute were obtained by Illumination,Bouhours, l. 3. and all the rules of his Order composed by the assistance of an internal Light. Immediately after his Conversion in time of Mass, at the elevation, he had an intuitive knowledge that the Body and Blood of Christ were truly contained under the Elements,Id. l. 1. and in what manner they were there:Vitelleschi, c. 3. nay, He saw with his bodily Eyes Iesus Christ and his Blessed Mother, which kindled in his Soul new desires of following the Cross. Bouhours, l. 1. One day he had a profound knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion together; and at another time praying before the Cross, all which he had formerly learnt were set before his eyes in so full a light, that the verities of Faith seemed to him to have nothing obscure in them; and he remained so enlightned and convinced of them, that[Page]he hath been heard to say, that had they never been recorded in Scripture, he should still have believed them; and that had the Scriptures been lost, no part of his Faith had been diminished. Gloria S. Ignatii Rothomagi, 1630. 240. But none raiseth the Merits of Ignatius in this respect so high, as the Anonymous Author of his Glory, who relateth his Divine Illuminations in these words. Before he had yet learned any thing, he was so fully instructed in a sublime manner by an intellectual Vision of the unity of the Essence and Persons of the Trinity; Cap. 4. that being but an Idiot, he was enabled to write a Book concerning the Trinity in the beginning of his Conversion. His mind was frequently illuminated with Visions of Divine Persons, sometimes altogether, sometimes every one separately, and of the Divine Essence it self. Cap. 3. The whole design of his Order was by him ascribed to this divine and admirable illustration of mind. Wherefore he might justly assume those words of St. Paul, For I neither received it of man, nor was I taught it but by the revelation of Iesus Christ. For in the very first year of his Conversion, when he thought least of it, a Divine Light arose in his mind, so great, and so wonderful, that he clearly perceived many things without any Master in a moment of time, not only concerning matters of Faith, but also other things, even the most subtil Questions and Determinations of Philosophers; and manifestly perceived, as in a most bright Glass, those things which men are scarce able ordinarily to understand after long and accurate reading, many labours, and great study. This is even a degree above the Infallibility of Pope or Councils; for they never pretended to be infallible, or to receive Divine Inspiration in the determination of Philosophical Questions. Certainly the World would have been infinitely obliged to the Memory of Ignatius, if he had [Page] published a System of his Revealed Philosophy. But the cunning Saint would not trust his Revelations to the examination of the Virtuosi.

But to represent more evidently the Enthusiastick Spirit of Ignatius, his pretence of Infused Knowledge, and perpetual enjoyment of Divine Illuminations; I will present the Reader with an account of his Transactions for some few days only, written by his own hand; which the Writers of his Life pretend to have been preserved by a particular Miracle and extraordinary Providence, when all his other Papers, relating to the same Subject, were by him committed to the Flames. If the whole Journal of his Life had been preserved, it had mightily conduced to the glory of Ignatius; since none could then have denied him to have surpassed infinitely all the Enthusiastick Follies of the other Romish Saints, or English Visionaries. However, it appears from this Fragment, that he was no puny in this Art; but only was either more cunning, or less charitable than the rest, in not blessing the World with the publication of his Revelations. Let us hear him then speaking in his own words.

‘The tears of this day seemed to me very different from those of other days;Bussieres, lib. 3. cap. 2. they poured down more gently, they were less violent and impetuous; they were in a manner internal, and carried a certain sweet languor along with them, which I cannot express. I heard Speeches within and without me, which all excited me to the love of God by an internal sound, with a concert and harmony so touching, wherewith God spoke to me, that I want words to express it. The next day I was overwhelmed with my tears, during Mass, as on other days, and even after Mass; and all the while I heard with great joy this internal [Page] Discourse. It seemed to me, as it was pronounced, that it was the Musick of Heaven, which I then heard. With these tears I perceived my devotion and love towards God to increase; as knowing that I understood what was revealed to me by an extraordinary and divine manner. The day after I had yet a great abundance of tears, as also of internal Discourses extraordinary and wonderful. Praying to the Holy Virgin, and desiring her to intercede for me to the Son, and to the Eternal Father; and addressing my self to the Son, I implored the intercession of himself, and his Mother, to obtain for me the assistance of his Divine Father. In doing this, I perceived that my hairs stood aright, that I was elevated before the Father, and that an extraordinary heat was dispersed through my whole Body: after which my tears began anew, together with a very ardent devotion. I began my Prayer with great abundance of tears, with a very sensible devotion, and among lofty perceptions of the Holy Trinity. Amidst these so sublime Ideas, so often reiterated, so sweet and so touching, I saw very well, that I had no memory which could represent them to me, nor understanding which might furnish to me words wherewith to express them. I had so great an abundance of perceptions, illuminations and spiritual sentiments, with so many tears, that I could not speak, could do nothing else but name God and my Saviour: and it seemed to me, that as often as I named them, I found my self pierced to the very bottom of my Soul with a plenary submission, and a profound respect, and a desire of obedience, which is impossible to be expressed. After prayer I felt yet extraordinary motions, tears and palpitations, burning all over with the love of God, and saying to [Page] him, that I desired rather to die with him, than live with any other. While I prepared my self for the Altar, meditating on Jesus Christ, I found my self moved by impulse to follow him. It seemed to me internally, that to accept an extreme poverty, the greatest motive which I could have, was to consider my Saviour as the Chief of the Society. Remembring then that the Father had formerly remitted me, and as it were, delivered me to the Son, I renewed my Design to imprint more than ever in my heart the Name of Jesus. After I had well fixed my Resolution, tears and palpitations returned as before. Speaking to the Divine Majesty, I was surprised with a torrent of tears; and was elevated to so flaming a love of God, that it seemed to me I was extraordinarily united with his love. I do not remember ever to have received any Illumination so excellent, so luminous, so sweet, and in so admirable a manner. Being afterwards in the Chappel, my tears began anew, and my Devotion renewed, being wholly terminated upon the most Holy Trinity. Being at the Altar, and habited to say Mass, my tears, palpitations and most ardent love were redoubled, thinking of nothing else but the adorable Trinity. Afterwards I said Mass with so tender a sentiment of devotion, and among such abundant tears, that the continuation of them, together with a great pain, which they caused in one of my eyes, made me fear the loss of it, if they ceased not. At those words, Placeat tibi Sancta Trinitas, I was surprized with an emotion of excessive love, and a great inundation of tears. This Illumination and all others were terminated in the most Holy Trinity, which led me to it self, and drew me to its love. After Mass, having put off [Page] my Habits, and praying near the Altar, I began anew to sob and renew my weeping, all inflamed with the love of the Trinity; and the sweetness of this love was so great, that I could neither divert my self from it, nor rise from that place. The rest of the day, either in the House, or in the Streets, at the remembrance of the Adorable Trinity, these violent emotions of love were renewed, with a great inclination of melting into tears. Disposing my self to say Mass, and speaking to the Holy Ghost with the same tears, and in the same devotion, it seemed to me that I saw him in a singular brightness, in the colour of a flame of Fire, in an extraordinary manner, and that he spoke to me. While the Altar was prepared, and while I put on the Habits, and while I celebrated Mass; I had great interior Commotions, strong Tears, and vehement Palpitations, which often hindred my Speech. Afterwards I had a powerful Commotion, and I saw the Holy Virgin near the Eternal Father, who seemed to me mightily disposed to assist me. Insomuch, as in the Prayers addressed to the Father, and at the Consecration, it seemed to me that I comprehended, and saw evidently, that the Mother of God hath a very great share in the distribution of Grace; and that she is the gate whereby to arrive at Glory. I saw moreover at the Consecration, that her Flesh was contained in the Flesh of her Son, which I saw with so clear a perception, and so tender a sentiment, that it is not possible to express it. In the ordinary Prayer, from the beginning to the end, I had a very great devotion, and all full of light. Without doors, in the Church, and in saying Mass, I saw the Heavenly Countrey in its Sovereign Monarch, as it were by [Page] knowledge of the three Divine Persons, seeing the Second and Third Persons in the Father. Entring into the Chappel to pray, I received an illumination and supernatural assistance; by the help of which I knew, or to speak more properly, I saw the most Holy Trinity, and Jesus Christ, who served me in quality of a Mediator, and disposed me to this Intellectual Vision. In this Sentiment, and in this Vision I was overwhelmed with a torrent of tears, and filled with an extraordinary love. Saying Mass with the same tears, and in the same devotion, I had on the sudden the same Vision of the Holy Trinity, my love for the Divine Majesty continually increasing. In beginning the Te igitur, I knew and saw, not obscurely, but with a vey clear light, the Divine Existence or Essence, as the Sun, but much more luminous than that Sun which we see; and it seemed to me that the Father proceeded from this Divine Essence, yet so, that the Essence appeared to me with the Father. And in this representation of the Divine Existence, without any distinction of Persons, I felt a very ardent devotion for the thing represented, with great emotions, great effusion of tears, and a great love towards the Holy Trinity. After which having finished Mass, and praying before the Altar, I saw a-new the same Essence in the similitude of a Globe; and I saw in some manner the three Persons, to wit, the Father on one side, on the other the Son, and on the third side the Holy Ghost, which took their original from the Essence, without being yet divided from the Globe which I saw. And in this Vision I had new emotions, and new tears.’

[Page]He proceeds to relate other Visions and Representations of the Trinity, his clear perception of its Essence; and being swallowed up in the love of it, his union with the Divine Majesty, and fresh Visions of the Trinity, sometimes with, and sometimes without any distinction of Persons; his wonderful Illuminations which gave him in a moment greater knowledge of Divine Matters than could have been obtained by the study of many years; his elevated and innumerable perceptions in Spirit, and those so clear, that there remained nothing further to be comprehended in the Holy Trinity: his flaming love towards the Person of the Father, because in him the other Persons were especially contained: his frequent sight of Jesus, whithersoever he turned himself, accompanied with abundant tears, inexpressible sweetness, and strong internal motions. In short, it appears from this extravagant Account of his Visions and Illuminations, that no Enthusiast in any Age hath exceeded him either in the number or extravagancy of his Imaginary Visions. That they were indeed imaginary, and no other than the effects of a disturbed Brain, I need not insist to prove, since the very nature and constitution of Christianity requires it; which would be dissolved, if after a determinate Rule of Faith were setled, extraordinary Revelations in matters of Faith should be admitted, or Religion were to be learned not from that Rule, but from private Inspiration. Besides the absurdity and impertinence of these Pretended Revelations of Ignatius, the crude and indigested Notions contained in them, demonstrate them to have proceeded from a Principle of Disorder, not the Divine Omniscience. But since the Writers of his Life contend these Inspirations to have been real and Divine, and the Church [Page] of Rome in the process of his Canonization alledgeth them as the grand argument of his Sanctity: I will oppose one reason to the truth of them. If indeed Ignatius received a perfect knowledge of the Christian Religon by extraordinary Illumination; if in these inward Inspirations he obtained distinct Notions of all Matters of Faith,Vid. supra. and was enabled to publish his Inspirations in such proper and sublime Expressions, that the most Learned admired him, and the most Ignorant were instructed by him, as is pretended; how came it to pass that for many years after, he was still esteemed a Fool and an Ideot? that in learning of any Science whatsoever, he was so insuperably dull and stupid, that after some years study,Bouhours, l. 2. upon a particular examination by the Inquisitors of Alcala, and Archbishop of Toledo, he was adjudged not to have been sufficiently instructed in Matters of Religion, and therefore ordered by them to continue his studies of Divinity some years longer; but above all, how can it be imagined that after so many, and so clear Illuminations, any Learning should be necessary to him? yet after all Bouhours Ibid. tells us, that being conscious to himself of his Ignorance, and convinced that Learning was necessary to his intended purpose of Conversion, he applied himself to study.

But to proceed, when once the belief of Divine Illuminations is received by the deluded Enthusiast, and he imagines himself to be frequently inspired by God, it is natural for him to resign himself wholly to the supposed conduct of that inward Light, and act solely in obedience to it. Thus he mistaketh every whimsie of his Fancy for the Dictate of the Holy Ghost, and every motion of his Brain for the Impulse of the Spirit. Then he believeth himself infallible, and pretends [Page] to act always by Divine Inspiration. This indeed is an high degree of Fanaticism, but which above all is apt to draw the admiration, and delude the Judgment of the common People, who being not willing to undertake the labour necessary for discovery of truth, greedily embrace every pretence of infallibility, which may ease them of a laborious search, and in appearance secure them from all error. Philostratus Vid. l. 1. c. 5. l. 5. c. 10, &c. ascribes the Actions of Apollonius, and Bonaventure In Vit. ejus passim., of St. Francis, to Divine Impulse. The latter founded his Order by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was incited by Divine Visions to write the Rules of it; to which end retiring to a Mountain by the guidance of the Spirit,Cap. 4. he composed it not by his own industry and invention, but writ down every thing, as it was divinely revealed to him, according as the Holy Ghost suggested to him in prayer, as if he had taken the very words from the mouth of God. He never prayed but by the Impulse of the Spirit;Cap. 10. and whensoever that Impulse came, he forthwith kneeled down, whether in the Road, in the Street, or in the Dirt. But all this is inconsiderable to the Merits of Ignatius. In him, if we may believe Busssieres L. 2. c. 14., Reason never commanded, but by the motives of Grace, and the dictates of the Spirit. Gloria S. Ignat. c. 9. In all acts of Religion he was rather passive than active. Particularly Bouhours, l. 6. his manner of prayer consisted in passively receiving the Impressions of the Divine Spirit; and he told Laynez, that God acted in him much more than he acted himself. Id. l. 2. When he went to Paris to re-commence his Studies, he acted in obedience to a strong Inspiration; and when he waited on the Principal of his College,Id. ibid. there to deprecate his punishment of being whipt publickly, he followed the inward Light which directed him. His very playing Pousse de l' Esprit de Dieu. Bussieres, l. 1. at Billiards must be ascribed to [Page] the Impulse of the Divine Spirit: and that the Rules of his Order, as well as those of St. Francis, might obtain a Divine Original, Bouhour [...], l. 3. being about to write them, he confulted God with the simplicity of an Infant, as if he had nothing to do but to write down that which God should dictate to him. When he had written it, he laid it on the Altar after he had said Mass, desiring that God would correct it himself, and miraculously blot out all which should not be Orthodox. After many Prayers the interior Answers which the Holy Ghost made to him, gave him at least an intire assurance and perfect quiet in his Vnderstanding concerning the Resolution he had made. Not only were the Constitutions of each Order divinely inspired, but the Pope and whole Conclave must be compelled by particular impulse to confirm them.Bonavent. cap. 3. Innocent III. refused to approve St. Francis's designed Order, till he was overruled by a Divine Vision. When Ignatius first presented the project of his Institute to the Pope, Paul III. he gave it to the Cardinals to be examined.Bouhours, l. 3. Most opposed it, and Cardinal Guidiccione, the chief Commissioner, writ against it. To remove these Obstacles, Id. ibid. the Pope was powerfully incited by an inward Impulse: Vitelleschi, cap. 15. the Holy Ghost changed the heart of the Cardinals; and Guidiccione being at the last on the sudden changed, he knew not why, Ribadeneira, cap. 9. was forced to say, I cannot indeed approve new Religious Orders, yet this I dare not disapprove. For I find my self so disposed in mind, that whither my Reason doth not lead me, thither the Divine Will inclines me; and I am driven thither by Inclination, whither before I could not be brought by Arguments. Indeed no memorable Action of Ignatius was performed without a particular Impulse; and as if he had derived an eternal contagion of Fanaticism upon St. Peter's Chair, [Page] many years after his death Paul V. found within himself a strong impulse to have him honoured as a Saint among all the Faithful. Bouhours, l. 6. Lastly, to advance the Merits of Ignatius beyond all possibility of comparison, or even comprehension, contrary Impulses of the Holy Ghost acted in him and his Disciples at the same time. Some Ladies of Alcala, his Disciples, had resolved to profess Evangelical Poverty, and go in Pilgrimage to Guadalupe. Id. l. 2. Ignatius earnestly dissuaded it, and drawing Arguments from Truths divinely revealed to him, laid before them the folly of their Undertaking; yet the Ladies pursued their Design; and no wonder, for Maffeius, l. 1. c. 17. they were moved to it by the impulse of the Spirit.

This Enthusiastick Pretence of Divine Impulse proceeded so far in the College of Jesuits at Conimbria, while Ignatius was yet alive,Bouhours, l. 5. that every one took upon himself to be his own Director in matters of Piety and Mortification, only consulting his own Spirit, and following the heat of his Devotion. Ignatius, who never approved in others the same methods of Perfection which he embraced himself, and could endure no Competitors of Divine Inspiration, writ an Epistle of Obedience to them, wherein he layeth down three Rules of Perfection. The first and lowest consists in doing what we are commanded. The second in not only executing the Orders of our Superior, but also conforming our Will to his. The third, to believe that what he orders us is best, and most reasonable, and upon this ground alone, because the Superior doth judge it so to be. However, this Advice of Ignatius may seem to check the Fanaticism of his Followers, yet it infinitely tendeth to promote his own. For if the Commands of the Superior must be judged best [Page] and most reasonable for this Reason alone, because the Superior judgeth them so to be; it must necessarily be supposed that the Superior in giving all his Commands, is acted by a Divine Inspiration, which renders him infallible. This not only created in others the belief of a Divine Impulse perpetually acting in him, but conduced to feed his Ambition, and augment his Glory. And indeed the whole design of his Order, and practice of his Life, tended to produce in others a belief of his own Infallibility, and thereby create to himself a little less than Divine Authority.Bouhours, l. 3. Summoning all his Companions to Rome in the Year 1538. to treat with them about the constitution of his intended Order, he perswaded them besides their Vow of Poverty and Chastity, which they had before made at Paris, to add a third of Obedience; and resolve to this end to elect a superior General, whom they must all obey as God himself. He knew very well, that the Election would most certainly fall upon him; and accordingly after he was chosen, his Companions made their vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience; to which they added a fourth Vow of a Blind-obedience to the Pope,Id. ibid. with this difference, that Ignatius the General made his promise immediately to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and the rest made theirs to him as to their General and Chief. Afterwards sending twelve Disciples into Sicily, he required them to subscribe to this Article among others,Id. l. 4. That they did believe whatever their Superior should prescribe to them was most proper for them, and most conducible to their eternal good. Lying upon his Death-bed, among other Rules left as a Legacy to his Order, he requireth them to believe all things which the Superior enjoyns,Id. l. 5. to be good for them, even altho their own judgment should [Page] suggest the contrary. This is a degree of Infallibility beyond whatever the Pope claimed. For however many have asserted him to be infallible in defining Matters of Faith; none ever yet denied that he might publish Constitutions prejudicial to the real Interest of the Church. But Ignatius ever affected somewhat extraordinary;Maffeius, l. 3. c. 8. and therefore taught that none did perfectly perform his Vow of Obedience, who were not like a Statue, which doth not in the least resist any motion: a Position which he had learned from his Master St. Francis, Bonavent. cap. 6. who affirmed none to be truly obedient, who were not like a dead Body, which remaineth in whatsoever situation it is placed. An Opinion, which indeed deserveth to be chiefly urged and recommended by designing Impostors; who, when they have once possest their Credulous Disciples with the belief of it, have obtained their Design, and may securely propose their Erroneous Doctrines. Therefore Apollonius above all things took care to teach his Disciples,Philostrat. l. 5. c. 7. that they ought in all things to pay a blind obedience to his Commands:Id. l. 1. c. 13. told them that he had received Inspirations from God, and was taught by him whatsoever he revealed to them; that he acted by Divine Impulse, and expected that they should follow his Directions, as he followed God's.

This pretence and belief of Divine Inspiration and Impulse in Enthusiasts, is usually accompanied with so great a diffidence of their own Reason and Judgment, that no matters of moment must be left to their direction; Heaven must be importuned, and extraordinary Revelations demanded to satisfy the meanest Scruples, and regulate their Actions; as if no Reason had been given to Mankind to guide their Conduct, and determine their Resolutions. St. Francis upon [Page] any undertaking was wont to retire into solitary Places,Bonavent. c. 2. and there incessantly beg of God with inexpressible groans, and importune him with continual prayer to reveal to him what he should do.Id. cap. 4. In all emergent Difficulties he neither trusted himself, nor his Friends; but by instant prayer searched out the good pleasure of the Divine Will, till he were illustrated by the Oracle of supernatural Revelation. Being tormented with a great Scruple, whether he should employ his whole time in Prayer, or betake himself to preach the Gospel, he could not resolve the question by his own Reason, but resolved to expect the Divine Revelation. He commands St. Clara to inquire the Will of God by Prayer.Id. cap. 12. It is revealed to her that he should undertake the Office of Preaching. It is impossible to imagine any thing more irrational or Enthusiastical than this Conduct; but what follows is an unpardonable Superstition, which in the Ancient Church would have been punished with Excommunication. Whensoever he undertook any thing of moment,Id. cap. 3. he was wont to consult the Bible, and take his Resolutions from that place, which upon a sudden opening of the Book first presented it self to his view. Ignatius having got together six Companions at Paris, Bouhours, l. 2. calls them together, causeth each in particular to pray, and fast, and beg of God his light to direct them; and then opens to them his Design. He prescribed to them the same method in forming the Constitutions of his Order, and choosing a General. When Borgia, one of his Disciples, was chosen Cardinal, to find out the Will of Heaven in that matter, he shut up himself for three days, and communicated only with God in prayer. Id. lib. 4. The first day he found himself wholly indifferent, inclining to neither side. The second day he found[Page]in himself an inclination rather of breaking the Design, than permitting it to go on. But the third day he was convinced that it was not the Will of God, that Borgia should be made Cardinal; and therefore opposed the Election. I will produce but one Passage more, which demonstrates both the Enthusiastick Diffidence of Ignatius, and the intolerable Flattery of his Disciples. Upon occasion of his seeking God by Prayer so much, when he was to write the Constitutions of his Order, Vitelleschi hath these words. Cap. 16. It seems there was upon this Subject an agreeable debate between the Master and the Servant; the latter judging himself incapable of making any Constitution, and resolving not to make any, without consulting the Oracle of the Eternal Wisdom; and the former taking pleasure in communicating to the other the sublime and resplendent Lights of his Treasures, which he had reserved from before the beginning of time for the conduct and regulation of this Society, which he conceived, and gave to his Church. What pity is it, Ignatius should be unhappily reserved to such a learned ungrateful Age? Otherwise his Disciples might have offered somewhat to his memory, answerable, and in nothing inferior to the Eternal Gospel of St. Francis.

When the Enthusiast is advanc'd so far as to believe the Phrenzies of his Brain to be Divine Illuminations, and himself on all occasions to be divinely inspired, he will not fail to pretend a mighty familiarity with God; and from the sentiment of any grateful motion in the Blood or Spirits, imagine together with his inward Lights to have received great abundance of inward Consolations. He will fancy himself to be the familiar Acquaintance of God, and Favourite of Heaven; and thence conceive a spiritual Pride greater and [Page] more intolerable than any which ariseth from the pomp or grandeur of the World.Philostrat. l. 3. Apollonius boasted that he enjoyed a personal familiarity with the Gods; and, as a Philosopher, conversed with them every morning.L. 1. c. 12. St. Francis was commonly filled with great consolation of Spirit in praying; and boasted that he could defend himself from the cold of Winter by the fervour of the Divine Spirit acting in him.Bonavent. cap. 5. What large Conceits Ignatius entertained of his own Merits, and published without all sense of modesty, we before shewed. The pretence of extraordinary Divine Consolations in his Prayers and Raptures, runs through the whole fragment of his Journal before published. To these we may add what the Authors of his Life relate of him;Bouhours, l. 1. That sometimes such a flood of Consolations would suddenly come upon him, that he was even overwhelmed, and transported out of himself; that by reason of these overflowing Consolations,Id. l. 3. such abundance of tears would follow, that his sight was endangered by it: that by the great affluence of these Consolations, and tears ensuing from them, in reciting the Divine Office,Gloria S. Ignatii, cap. 9. he was forced to stop and interrupt his Prayers at almost every word, and employ a great part of the day in reading the Psalms only. That he continued sometimes two or three whole days together without taking any thing, Vitelleschi, cap. 3. feeding himself only with the honey of Celestial Consolations: That all the favours which God bestowed on the Society, are to be attributed to the love which he bore to the Soul of St. Ignatius,Id. cap. 22. in which his Divine Majesty was well pleased. That he burned inwardly with the fire of Charity; Id. cap. 7. and the Heart of Iesus was a soft Bed to him, whereon he took his repose. Such impertinent Jargon and unintelligible Cant is the natural effect of Enthusiasm. [Page] For when the turbulent motions of the Brain are mistaken for Divine Inspirations, and the Judgment willingly acquiesceth in that delusion, the outward expressions, which are ever conformable to the Ideas of the Mind, cannot but be involved in the same obscurity. And this, however it deserves the scorn and contempt of judicious Persons, tendeth not a little to raise the Reputation of the Enthusiast among ignorant men, who ever admire what they cannot penetrate, and suppose the obscurity of his Discourse to proceed from the Divine Mysteriousness of it. If we consult the Writings of Ignatius, we shall find them full of this foolish Canting. His Book of Spiritual Exercises talks much of the love of Christ in a most unintelligible manner;Vid. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 4. and his Letter to a Religious Person of Barcelona concerning the two manners whereby God teacheth us, is most remarkable upon this account.Id. l. 2. c. 1. While he was yet a Novice in Philosophy, he professed the knowledge of Mystical Divinity, and indeed never knew any other. In prescribing the duty of the General of his Order, he saith that all Learning is necessary for him; yet the Science of the Saints is that which is far most necessary for him, to discern the divers interior Spirits of men. This Science of the Saints is commonly too mysterious for Learned men;Bouhours, lib. 5. and therefore Barth. Torrez, writing in defence of Ignatius's Book of Spiritual Exercises, accused of Heresie in Spain by the Learned Melchior Canus, saith, there is a great difference between the Sciences learnt in Schools, and the Sciences of the Saints. Id. l. 3. Vitelleschi, cap. 19. His Followers pretend his Constitutions to be filled with the Spiritual Vnction of Grace; and himself to have drank largely of the Wine of Heaven, which is too strong and heady for the Vessels of the Earth. Thus St. Francis is said to have been [Page] wholly absorpt in God in time of prayer; Bonavent. cap 2.8. and all swallowed up in the flame of the Divine Love, as it were a burning coal. And indeed it may be affirmed in general of all the Romish Saints, that their Writings are wholly unintelligible, and nothing else but a rhapsody of sublime Nonsense. The grossest and most impertinent of our English Fanaticks come far beneath them, and were never able to equal their Mysterious Follies. We may indeed hear them talk of being Christed with Christ, and Godded with God; but the Science of the Saints was never among the [...] [...] vanced to that perfection which it obtaineth it [...] Church of Rome.

There remains nothing to compleat the Enthusi [...] but to fancy himself commissionated by God to pu [...]lish his Imaginary Revelations to the World; and thereupon, without any respect to the Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline instituted by Christ, to invade the Office of preaching. This is indeed the last and highest degree of Fanaticism, not to contain the whimsies of their disturbed Fancy within their own Breasts, but imagining them to be necessary Truths for all Christians, to propagate them with a blind and unwearied zeal; to believe that Christ hath not openly and plainly delivered to the Church in the rule of Faith all necessary Articles of Religion, or that sufficient means were not provided for the propagation of them, unless they intruded themselves into the Holy Office against all the Rules of Decency and Ecclesiastical Policy. The Author of the Lawful Prejudices against the Calvinists, affirms the guilt of this disorder alone to be a sufficient argument why all their Pleas should be rejected without any farther consideration. Whether, and how far the Calvinists are guilty of this [Page] irregularity, I will not enquire; but affirm that the most Illustrious Saints of the Church of Rome have been inexcusably guilty of it. Particularly the supposed Merits of St. Francis and Ignatius are chiefly founded upon this apparent zeal for Souls, and preaching their wild notions to the People without any ordinary mission from Christ, or delegation from the Church.Bonavent. cap. 3. St. Francis immediately after his Conversion, while he was yet an ignorant Layman, fell to preach repentance to the People in the Streets and Markets: and being asked by some Robbers, setting upon him in the Road, who he was, as if he were another Iohn Baptist, Cap. 2. he answered, I am the Preacher and Messenger of the Great King. As soon as he had got together seven Disciples, he sends them forth to preach the Gospel in these words,Cap. 3. Go ye, and declare peace unto men, preaching repentance for the remission of sins. Then taking one Companion to himself, he proceeds to one part of the World, sending the other six by couples into the other three parts of the World. This was a phrenzy beyond the power of Hellebore, and which exceeds even the Follies of our English Fifth-Monarchists. Surely, whatsoever Bonaventure may pretend, the Holy Ghost had no share in this Undertaking: and therefore no wonder it met with no better success. St. Francis himself prepares to preach the Gospel to the Sarazens in Syria; but by contrary Winds is driven upon the Coast of Sclavonia, and forced to return back.Id. cap. 8. The Spirit still moving him, he disposeth himself to convert the Moors and Miramolins of Africk; but detained in his Journey by sickness, loseth his Courage, and quits the Design. At last he resolves firmly to convert the Soldan of Babylon. Away he goeth to Syria ragged and barefooted: and [Page] yielding himself Prisoner to the Soldan's Guards, boldly demands to be brought to his presence. The Soldiers, after they had soundly beaten him, bring him to their Emperor. He asketh him who he is. Francis answers, That he is sent by God to preach Salvation to him and his People; and for proof of the Christian Faith, undertakes to enter into the fire. The Soldan laughs at him; and having made sufficient sport with him, dismisseth him for a Fool. Ignatius at his very first conversion proposed to himself to preach the Gospel in the Holy Land. Accordingly, in the Year 1523. he enters upon the Journey,Bouhours, l. 2. guided by that inward motion which had first prompted him at his conversion. Coming thither, the Guardian of the Franciscans, whom he had acquainted with his Resolution, disapproved such irregular usurpation of the Holy Office, and commands him to be gone upon pain of Excommunication. The poor Saint is forced to return without success: however, he quits not his Design. Studying at Barcelona, Id. ibid. he began to preach conversion to his Neighbours. Removing to Alcala, he falls to reform the dissolute Manners of Scholars, Clergymen, and others, and to Catechize Youth. But being suspected of Sorcery, he is clapt into the Inquisition. To free himself from Prison, he professeth himself willing blindly to obey his Ecclesiastical Judge. At last the Inquisitors dismiss him, but withall forbid him to explain to the People the Mysteries of Religion upon pain of Excommunication and Banishment. Ignatius, notwithstanding his promise of blind obedience, would not readily submit to this Command, doubting whether it were a lawful Command, and fearing that in not preaching, he should be wanting to his Call and Vocation. To get rid of this difficulty, [Page] he removes to Salamanca, Id. ibid. and there preacheth openly to the People in the Streets and Fields; altho many good men were scandalized at it, saying, it was never heard that a simple Layman should instruct the People, and perform the whole Office of a Pastor in directing their Consciences. Upon this he and his Companions are thrown into Prison by the Inquisitors; where they do nothing but sing Psalms,Ribadeneira, cap. 6. and preach to the People flocking to them, through the windows and chinks of the doors. Being examined by the Inquisitors, he pretends that he did not preach, but only hold forth to the People,Maffeius, l. 1. cap. 17. sitting on Horseback, or getting upon the Stalls in the Market, concerning Vertue and Piety. Being driven from that Plea, he flieth to the pretence of an Extraordinary Vocation.Bouhours, l. 2. Being confuted in that, he refuseth to give any farther account of his Authority to preach, till his Ecclesiastical Superiors should command him. At last he is absolved upon condition to preach no more. He dislikes the Condition, and therefore resolves to leave Spain. Coming to Paris, he falls upon his old work of preaching and converting. Upon this he is accused to the Inquisitor, but upon intercession of Friends dismissed. Now he falls hard to study, and wholly omits preaching: but soon after begins to talk of Heaven and Hell so vehemently to the Scholars, that he forced them to intermit their studies; and was thereupon condemned to be publickly whipt in the Hall by all the Regents, as a Disturber of the Colledge. However, soon after his zeal for conversion of Souls mightily increased upon him; and he clearly saw that God had appointed him to establish a company of Apostolick Men to that end.Id. ibid. Hereupon he begins to gather Disciples, and first sets upon Peter [Page]Faber, a poor Spanish Youth, acted with sentiments of Vain-glory, and after a deal of Cant, acquaints him with his Resolutions to go into the East, and employ himself wholly in the conversion of Infidels. Faber takes fire at this, and resolves to follow him through all dangers. After he had gained five other Disciples by the like Artifices, he calls them together, opens his Design, and perswades them to vow a Journey into the Holy Land to preach the Gospel there, altho none of them were yet ordained, except Faber. The Design being resolved on, Ignatius takes a progress into Spain; and there preacheth every Sunday, and two or three days in the Week, with great concourse of People. The Church not being able to contain the multitude of his Auditors,Id. l. 3. he holds Field-Conventicles; and there inveighs powerfully against Cards and Dice (I suppose Mince-pies were not yet in fashion) perswading the People to throw them all into the River. Coming to Venice, he waits for his Companions, and in the mean while employs himself in preaching. When his Companions were all met, they most unhappily could get no passage to the Holy Land; and therefore go to Rome to receive the Directions of the Pope. Here they obtain to be ordained Priests; yet that they may as much as was possible continue their Enthusiasm, refuse to preach in a regular way; but dispersing themselves through the great Cities of Italy, commonly get upon some Stone in the middle of the Market-place,Maffeius, l. 2. c. 4. and whirling their Caps over their heads, invite the People to hear them with a loud voice; when having got a confluence of People about them, they vented their undigested Notions of Religion in a canting and mysterious stile; altho for the most part with such ill success,Bouhours, l. 3. that many of them [Page] were clapt into Prison by the Inquisitors. We have long since deplored, and our Adversaries of the Church of Rome have upbraided to us, the Divisions of our Church arising from the unlawful usurpation of the Pulpit by Enthusiastick Preachers. Yet could we never charge them with such gross follies and irregularities as those now mentioned; nor can the Papists justly accuse them of any; since in acting this Disorder and Enthusiasm, they imitated the Great Ignatius and his Disciples, and perhaps learnt it from them. At least our Adversaries cannot now deny, that Jesuits have sometimes preach'd in Conventicles.

Thus we have past through all the chief and most essential Properties of Enthusiasm, and demonstrated Ignatius to have possest them all in an high degree. I will next consider some of the more ordinary effects and consequences of it, and compare them with the Actions of our Saint. For these essential Errors of Enthusiasm, in mistaking the turbulent Motions of the Spirits for the Dictates of the Holy Ghost, and the Tempests of the Brain for Divine Inspirations, cannot but betray the Judgment of the Enthusiast to a thousand other Errors and Absurdities; inspire him with false notions of Religion, misguide his Zeal, and corrupt his Devotion: Every immoderate excess of Vertue will then appear an extraordinary Perfection; and the foulest Superstition shall be accounted meritorious. Hence, among other follies, the Enthusiast will imagine it no small Perfection to pray continually, suppose it to be a sign of a nearer familiarity with God; thence flatter himself with the belief of his own extraordinary Merit, and by gratifying his mistaken Ambition, create to himself even a sensual pleasure in the performance of it. Thus St. Francis was wont to [Page] pray incessantly,Bonavent. cap. 4. if not vocally, at least mentally; and in praying, used to receive great caresses from the Holy Ghost, to be ravished in his mind, and wholly swallowed up in a certain wonderful light;Cap. 3. and ofttimes in an excess of contemplation to be put beside himself;Cap. 8. insomuch, as being wrapt in Spirit, and perceiving somewhat beyond humane sense, he was ignorant of what was done before his Eyes. Ignatius, after his conversion, spent seven hours every day in the Church in prayer upon his knees; and was immediately so recollected,Bouhours, l. 1. that he often continued many hours together without any motion. In his long retirement at Manreze, not satisfied with his seven hours of prayer, he did nothing but pray. When he was ordained Priest, he retired to a poor solitary Cottage; and living like an ancient Hermit, fasted daily, prayed incessantly, and there received such overflowing Consolations,Id. l. 3. that through, the abundance of tears his sight was endangered. To produce no more Instances, all the Actions of his Life were directed by the Illuminations of the Spirit, supposed to be received in prayer, as we before shewed. Yet himself, when the Reputation of any other devout Enthusiast was to be diminished, could alledge against it,Vid. Bouhours, l. 6. that such as made long Prayers, ought to take great care not to abuse that commerce which they have with God. That there are a sort of People, of a wilful nature, who by much praying, without observing the rules of discretion and found judgment, dry up their Brains, and are so possest with their own Imaginations, that there is no getting them out of their head. That others there are, who perswaded that all comes from God which enters into their thoughts in time of prayer, take their own Fancies [Page] for their conduct; and so by following only the impulse of Nature, which they mistake for that of Grace, fall into most gross Errors.

Another ordinary effect of Enthusiasm is the expectation of extraordinary assistance from God in all emergent Difficulties. The supposed experience of frequent Supernatural Illuminations makes the Enthusiast believe that God is ever ready to engage in his quarrel, and for his sake to violate the Laws of Nature no less than the established Rules of Christianity: that as he informs his Soul with Supernatural Inspirations, so he will protect his Body, and provide it necessaries by continual Miracles.Bonavent. cap. 8. Thus St. Francis offered to the Soldan of Babylon to throw his Body into the fire in proof of Christianity, and decide the Controversy by the operation of the flames upon it. St. Dominick was more cunning, when preaching against the Albigenses in France, he would not trust his Body to the fire, but drawing up his Faith and Arguments in a Schedule,Golden Legend. London, 1527. fol. 190. used to cast it into the fire together with the like Schedule of the Albigenses. The Legend tells you, that the first was always untoucht, the latter always burnt.Philostratus, l. 7. Thus Apollonius, when brought before Domitian to be tried for his life, scorned the Threats, and braved all the Power of that Tyrant; telling him, that God would certainly interpose in his behalf, and not permit him to touch his Body. Ignatius indeed was never guilty of so great Courage, yet the belief of his endearment to God made him often presume upon the Favour of Heaven. Undertaking his Pilgrimage into the Holy Land, he would take no Companion along with him, Bouhours, l. 1. no Money, nor provision of necessaries for the Iourney; that he might have no comfort but from God, and no dependance but on [Page]Providence. Maffeius, l. 1. c. 5. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 3. Yet with all this Self-resignation, the cunning Saint dared not to come near Barcelona, because it was infected with the Plague. Being accused of Sorcery, Sedition and Heresy to the Inquisition of Alcala, and some Ladies offering to him an Advocate to plead for him,Bouhours, l. 2. he refused their kindness, thinking that he ought to leave himself to Providence, and not distrust God so far as to make use of any Humane means for his preservation. In his Voyage to Ierusalem he would give no Money for his Passage, for that he thought utterly unlawful. Free Passage he could obtain no otherwise than upon condition of providing necessaries for himself.Id. ibid. This he scrupled at, and esteemed it a kind of diffidence of Providence, and deviation from Evangelical Poverty, to carry any thing along with him in the Ship. Touching in the way at Venice, some endeavoured to discourage him from the Journey, by representing to him the dangers of it, and impossibility of getting any farther passage at that season of the Year; he told them, that if he could not get a Ship, he would pass the Sea upon a Plank with the succour of Heaven.Cap. grave Legend. Nov. London, 1516. fol. 197. I suppose he had read how Iosefes, the Son of Ioseph of Arimathea, sailed from France to Britain, with 150 Companions, upon his Shirt.

Not in these respects only doth Enthusiasm betray the Judgment to false notions of Piety and Perfection; but in all other Christian Vertues infuseth the same Error, especially if it may tend to ostentation, and procure to the Enthusiast the admiration and reverence of the deluded Vulgar. In that case it will be accounted an improvement of Vertue to run into extremes; and the most extravagant Superstition shall be esteemed an exalted degree of Piety. Thus if Christ [Page] hath commanded us not to set our heart upon Riches, but to be ready to forsake all Worldly Possessions, when they stand in competition with the profession of true Religion; the Enthusiast will believe all propriety of Goods to be unlawful, and account Evangelical Poverty a Christian Perfection. If a temperate diet, and sometimes fasting, be recommended to us, the Enthusiast will fall in love with immoderate Austerities and Mortifications; and imagine the Merits of his Abstinence to be then infinite, when the practice of it exceeds all bounds. If we be admonished not to be deterred from our Duty by the contempt of the World, or scoffs of men, the Enthusiast will by all means court this contempt, and perform a thousand ridiculous actions to obtain the laughter of Mankind; and then applieth to himself all the Beatitudes of the Gospel as rewards of his Folly. Evangelical Poverty is one of the most specious pretences, that can be made use of by Fanatick Visionaries, to raise an opinion of extraordinary merit either in themselves or others. This was ever the grand Engine of the Monastick Orders of the Church of Rome; altho the World knows what vast Treasures and Possessions they have appropriated to their Monasteries and Colledges. Certainly Reason doth not teach us that it is any great perfection to put on rags, and beg from door to door; and if Christ had taught so, Mankind would have had sufficient reason to reject his Religion as irrational and absurd. But he proposeth no such thing. These are only the Whimsies of Brainsick Enthusiasts, who have abandoned themselves to the conduct of a depraved Imagination. When Apollonius boasted to Phraates, Philostratus, l. 1. c. 10. King of Media, of his own voluntary Poverty (for he had distributed all his Inheritance [Page] and Possessions to his Kindred and the Poor) and that of other Greek Philosophers; Phraates truly answered him,Id. l. 3. c. 9. that they were bigotted Enthusiasts, contumelious and seditious, unfaithful and rebellious, asserters of Fables and monstrous Stories; who made an ostentation of Poverty, not out of any sense of modesty or frugality, but that they might have the better pretence to steal and cheat. How far this Character may agree to St. Francis, Ignatius, or their Followers, I will not now determine. I will only shew that they far exceeded these Greek Philosophers in the pretence and extravagant practice of voluntary Poverty. St. Francis immediately after his conversion, changed his fine Cloaths with the Rags of a Beggar, whom he met; and soon after hearing that Gospel read,Bonavent. cap. 3. wherein our Saviour sending forth his Disciples to preach, commands them to take neither Staff nor Scrip, put off his Shoes, laid aside his Staff, threw away his Money, girded on a Rope, and fell a begging; which practice he continued all his life with such superstition, that he thought it unlawful to possess any thing in particular, and himself to be defiled with the sole touching of money. If he were invited to dinner by any great Men,Id. cap. 5. he would first beg pieces of Bread from door to door, and then sitting down to dinner, draw out his Pouch, and feed upon the fragments of it, which he called the Bread of Angels, refusing to tast of any other Dish.Bouhours, l. 1. Ignatius in his first Pilgrimage to Montferrat, meeting a ragged Beggar, stript himself to his Shirt, and changed Habits with him. Having performed his Vigils, in conformity to the Laws of Knight-Errantry, he puts on his Pilgrims Weeds, that is, a rugged and course Canvas Coat reaching down to his Feet, wicker Shoes, a knotty Rope for a Girdle,Ribadeneira, cap. 2. with a bottle of Water hanging at his Girdle, a Crabtree Staff in his Hand, his Head bare, and his left Leg naked; and in this Habit marched to Manreze, intending to take Ship for Palestine. Coming [Page] to Manreze, Bouhours, l. 1. he imagins his Habits to be too costly, and Sackcloth to be far more Evangelical than Canvas. Being at last equipped to his satisfaction, for a specimen of his Humility, he begs from door to door; and to that end disguiseth himself in the most slovenly manner, his Face all covered with dirt, his Hair clodded and uncombed, which with his Beard and Nails grown out to an horrible length, made such a Figure, as seemed at once both frightful and ridiculous: so that whenever he appeared in the Town, the Children laught at him, threw stones at him, and followed him in the Streets with shouts and outcries.Id. l. 2. Coming to Barcelona, he would not engage in any Ship, but upon condition of free passage, thinking it unlawful to make use of Money upon any pretext, altho a Lady proffered to deposit the Money for him. At last obtaining free passage, but upon condition of providing for himself necessaries to the Voyage, he thinks even that prejudicial to Evangelical Poverty. Being overruled by his Confessor, he accepts of some Money to buy necessaries. But being at the point of departure, a fit of Conscience returns: he dares not make use of the Money, nor carry it along with him; and yet would not give it to the Seamen, lest they should use him the better for it in his Voyage, for to permit that, would be a distrust of Providence. At last he very learnedly decides the case, He layeth down his Money upon the shore for the next Comer to take, and so enters into the Ship. The same scruples urge him at his return; he begs free passage in the notion of a Saint, and upon no other condition will enter the Ship. The same scruple had possest St. Francis Bonavent. cap. 8. and St. Dominick before; who would sooner trust themselves to the Waves, than pay any fraight for their passage. The latter being once asked by the Master of the Ship for his fraight,Golden Legend, London, 1527. told him he was a Preacher of the Gospel, [Page] and consequently carried neither Gold nor Silver with him; however to make some kind of payment, he freely bestowed the Kingdom of Heaven on him.Bouhours, l. 2. But to return to Ignatius; returning to Barcelona with a sum of Money, which he had lately received, he distributes it all to a company of Beggars, and then immediately falls a begging himself. While he studieth at Barcelona, Alcala and Salamanca, he will not accept of any allowance, which was often offered to him, but pursueth the trade of begging. At Barcelona he is by importunate perswasions induced to wear Shoes; yet to satisfy his Enthusiastick Phrenzy at least in secret, he cuts large holes in the soles of his Shooes,Vitelleschi, cap. 7. that he might not wholly lose the honour of a discalceate Beggar. Being at last convinced that his small progress in Learning proceeded from spending his time in begging; he thought he might in Conscience raise a small Fund,Bouhours, l. 2. wherewith to subsist at Paris, whither he now removes. Coming to Paris, his Conscience grows somewhat squeamish, and he thinks it unlawful to keep his Money himself, out of the old Principle of Evangelical Poverty. He trusts all therefore with one of his Chamber-fellows, who runs away with it. Ignatius is forced to retire himself into the Spanish Hospital; and when they grew weary of him, betakes himself again to begging. Finding Charity to be cold at Paris, he travels to Antwerp, Brussels, and (that England alone might not be unhappy in the want of his presence) at last to London. Returning to his native Countrey, he puts on his ragged Weeds, which he had for some years left off, throws off his Shooes, resumes all his former Austerities; and lodging in an Hospital, begs his Bread from door to door,Vitelleschi, cap. 12. Bouhours, l. 3. refusing to accept the earnest Invitation of Brother and Kindred. Coming to Venice, and sending forth his Disciples through Italy to preach, he chargeth them strictly to lodge in Hospitals, [Page] and beg their Bread; and afterwards forming Constitutions for the Order, resolves with the unanimous Consent of them all, that the Professed of his Order should possess nothing, either in common, or in particular. How well the Jesuits have observed this Constitution, concerns not me to enquire. I fear most believe them to have broken their Founder's Will. I am sure they have palpably violated it in intruding themselves into the Courts of Princes, courting their Favour, seeking the acquaintance of Great Men,Id. ibid. and intermedling in Secular Matters; Practises which Ignatius esteemed the greatest Plagues which could befall his Society, and therefore earnestly begged of God for ever to avert them.

Immoderate Abstinence and Austerities contribute no less to raise the admiration of ignorant Persons, and excite in the Enthusiast an extraordinary opinion of his own Merits. The former are led away with all apparent Mortifications which may strike their Senses; the latter continually triumpheth in his Imaginary Conquests over his own Body; and both imagine it to be an high degree of Vertue, and near approach to Angelical Perfection, to deny to the Body the most natural Pleasures and Conveniences, and by an excessive maceration intirely subdue it to the government of the Soul; whereas Reason and true Philosophy would rather teach us, that by such rigorous Mortifications the energy of the Soul is weakned, the Body is disabled from performing her Commands, and her Thoughts are disordered by continual tempests and irregular motions of the Body. The Heathen Philosophers imagined that an austere Diet would procure a personal sight and familiarity of the Gods: and therefore Apollonius would never tast any Flesh or Wine,Philostratus, l. 1. c. 5.15. feeding only on Herbs and Water; and affecting all squallid impurities which might disgust the Body. Christianity giveth no incouragement to such irrational Conduct: [Page] yet the common Prejudices of Mankind, and false Ideas of Religion, have in all Ages induced Enthusiasts to admire and practice the same Follies.Golden Legend. London, 1527. St. Dominick began early. For while he was yet an Infant, he would often rise out of his Cradle, and lay himself naked upon the cold ground. St. Francis used to call his Body Brother Ass, because of the rigorous Severities, continual Whippings,Bonavent. cap. 5. and course Diet, wherewith he treated it: and particularly, sprinkled all his Meat with Ashes. However, this might be pardoned in St. Francis, who was grievously tormented with temptations of the Flesh. But for Ignatius, whom the Writers of his Life assure us to have been by a particular favour of the Blessed Virgin reprieved from all such Temptations, to practice the same Austerities, could be nothing else but an Extravagant Phrenzy.Bouhours, l. 1. He imagined all Christian Perfection to consist in the maceration of the Body. And therefore his first Resolutions were to perform great Austerities, to do Penance in good earnest, not so much to expiate his Faults, Vitelleschi, cap. 2. as because he imagined that in these rigors Perfection consisted, having then no higher Idea of it, and passionately desiring to acquire it. Immediately after his Conversion he puts himself incognito into an Hospital, fasts whole weeks with Bread and Water, except Sundays, when he eat a few boiled Herbs,Bouhours, l. 1. but sprinkled over with Ashes, girded his Reins with an Iron Chain, wore an Hair Shirt, disciplined himself thrice a day, slept little, and lay upon the ground; resolveth to continue these Austerities all his Life, to go barefoot to the Holy Land, and then choose a wild Desert for his Abode. Removing to Manreze, the Spirit grows more violent. He adds to his Hair Shirt and Iron Chain a Girdle of certain Herbs full of little thorns and prickles: and remembring that Knights-Errant use not to eat sometimes in two or three months together, he lengthens his Fasts as far as [Page] Nature will permit, and continueth sometimes two or three days together without taking any thing,Vitelleschi, cap. 3. feeding only on the Honey of Celestial Consolations. This was indeed a considerable advance towards the imitation of Romantick Heroes; but not comparable to the following Adventure. Ignatius had read in his beloved Romance, how the admired Amadis de Gaul being once despised by his Mistress Oriana, retired to the Poor Rock, like an Hermit; where he snivelled and whined, and cried, and shed tears unmeasurably, till Heaven took pity of him, spent most of his time in Prayer, made a Rosary of Acorns, and confessed himself to an Hermit. In imitation of this Heroick Penance, Ignatius resolves upon a retreat; and having found out a dark and deep Cave in the hollow of a Rock (opening into a solitary Valley,Bouhours, l. 1. called the Vale of Paradice) so hideous, that none would ever venture into it; dark and obscure, the Mouth overgrown with bushes and brambles; he enters into it, and makes his Abode. The horror of the Place inspired him with a new Spirit of Penance:Bussieres, l. 1. c. 4. he whips his Body five times a day with an Iron Chain, beats and cuts his Breast with a Flint-stone, fasts unmeasurably, and prays without ceasing; till his Friends finding him, draw him out of his Den by force. He was then reduced to a very weak condition: but as a Knight-Errant must not complain, tho his Guts be coming out of his Belly; so neither must a Saint-Errant, tho his Bones be coming out of his Skin.Vitelleschi, cap. 19. Ignatius will not renounce his Austerities, but continueth all his life to sprinkle his Meat with Ashes. To produce but one Instance more of this extravagant Mortification; Ignatius, when he first began to gather Disciples at Paris, and had gained Peter Faber to him,Bussieres, l. 2. c. 1. used with him to lye abroad in Winter Evenings upon the Snow and Ice, gazing upon the Heavens; and then stripping themselves to their Shirts, [Page] lay the remaining part of the Night upon the Coal-heap. If to be bedawbed with Coaldust be so great a Perfection; when the granting of Indulgences comes next in fashion, we may hope to see erected an holy Confraternity of Catholick Chimney-sweepers.

If it be irrational to mortify the Body with excessive Austerities, and deny to it the common benefits of Nature; it is no less folly to court the laughter, and industriously procure the contempt of Mankind; much more to be ambitious of Afflictions and Sufferings, or refuse to be delivered from them. This is the utmost degeneracy of Humane Reason, to imagine that our Nature receiveth any perfection from contempt or misery; an Opinion which overthroweth the very Laws of Creation, and is highly injurious to the Honour of God; as if God in creating us had not intended some benefit and happiness to Mankind even in this World; or afterwards, in revealing Christianity, had resolved to render us miserable and ridiculous. Such fatal Mistakes doth Enthusiasm introduce, while it affecteth excesses in all Actions, and disliketh all sober Vertue. Yet no wonder even these gross Mistakes should be admitted, which so naturally tend to inflame the Pride, and foment the Ambition of the Enthusiast; who hence imagins himself dear to Heaven, assumes the title of Martyr, conceives a vast opinion of his own Merits, and misapplies to his Follies all the Blessings and Rewards promised to those who suffer for Righteousness sake.Bonavent. cap. 6.2. S. Francis desired nothing more than to be reviled; and when by his extravagant Actions he had acquired in his own Countrey the character of a Madman, and was thereupon usually persecuted with a train of Boys flinging dirt, stones, and jeers at him, he sought not to undeceive the opinion of the Multitude, or avoid their importunate Clamours by withdrawing himself; but ravished with joy, walked along as it were in triumph, [Page] blessing himself that he was thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.Bouhours, l. 1. Thus Ignatius also thought it highly meritorious to be on any account derided; and if by chance any insolent Person threw stones at him, while he preached,Vitelleschi, cap. 19. or rotten Oranges, he returned to his Lodging so contented and satisfied, as cannot easily be imagined. Being accused of heinous Crimes to the Inquisitors of Alcala, he would not accept of an Advocate, which was offered to him,Bouhours, l. 2. that so he might not lose, through his own fault, so fair an occasion of partaking in the Ignominies of the Cross. Upon his refusal to plead, the Inquisitors clapt both him and his Companions into Prison, and load them with Chains, as Hereticks and seditious Persons. Hereupon they sing Psalms, and give thanks to Heaven all night long, for being thought worthy to suffer for Righteousness sake. The other Prisoners brake Prison; and binding the Guards, make their escape. Ignatius and his Disciples will not make use of this opportunity, but stay in the Prison. This is exaggerated by the Writers of his Life as an extraordinary mark of Christian gallantry; altho we shall have no great reason to admire it, if we remember that their Legs were chained. However, it cannot be denied, to the honor of Ignatius, that he never blushed at any Reproach, nor was ashamed of the most ridiculous Action.Bussieres, l. 2. c. 15. When he preached at Rome in Italian, that he might obtain the laughter and scorn of his Auditors, he would often intermix Spanish words, talk Gibberish, use Solecisms, and break the Rules of Grammar. But of all his Actions of Humility, the most illustrious was his Adventure at Bologna. Going over the Draw-bridge there, he fell into the Ditch, and crept out soundly drencht and bedaubed with dung. In this condition he entred into the Town;Id. l. 2. c. 3. and that he might the better triumph over the vanity of the World, and obtain the happiness of an universal Derision, he walked [Page] through all the larger and more frequented Streets of the City, begging of Alms, all covered with dung, as he was. This no doubt procured the desired effect, diverted the Rabble, pleased Ignatius, loaded him with merit, and made him proof against all shame.

These effects of Enthusiasm, which I have already mentioned, however they be highly irrational, and contrary to the simplicity of the Christian Religion, yet at least they carry some shew of Piety, Abstinence, Humility and Mortification along with them, which may dazle the eyes of unwary People, and in an Ignorant Age pass for real Sanctity. But there are other Actions of Enthusiasts so extravagantly absurd and ridiculous, that they can be ascribed to no other cause than the unaccountable Phrensies of a disturbed Brain; to whose irregular Motions the Enthusiast yielding a blind obedience, is betrayed to the commission of all those Follies and Absurdities which an heated Imagination can invent or suggest. These above all other Actions give the greatest scandal to the unthinking part of Mankind, as not to be palliated with any pretence of Piety; and do infinite prejudice to the common Cause of Christianity, while unlearned Persons taking their measures of it from the Actions of reputed Saints, accuse it of Folly and Superstition, and believe it rather to have been designed for the Sport, than the Salvation of Mankind. St. Philip Neri often caused Iac. Baccius in vit. ejus, l. 2. c. 19. his Disciples, and among them the Great Baronius, to do many Ridiculous Actions, and walk the Streets in Antick Habits on purpose that they might be derided. St. Francis, as soon as he was converted, being drunk with the Spirit, putting off his Breeches and all his Cloaths before a Multitude, said to his Father,Bonavent. cap. 2. Hitherto I have called you Father here on Earth; but now I may securely say, Our Father which art in Heaven. Passing into Hospitals, he kisseth the Hands and [Page] Mouths of Lepers, waits upon them, washeth their Feet, kisseth their Ulcers, and sucks out the filth of them. Meeting a company of Beggars; he tears and cuts his Cloaths in pieces to distribute them to them, not being able to stay till he could pull them off. Travelling in the Road, he sings Psalms all along with a loud voice; and whensoever the Spirit moves him,Cap. 10. kneels down in the Streets, or dirt, to pray. Imagining himself commanded by God to repair his decayed House, he serves the Masons gratis in repairing of Churches. Retiring alone into the Woods, he fills them with sighs and groans, and bedews them with tears; beats his Breast with his fist, and continually talks to God, as he were present with him. Whensoever he hears the name of Christ, he licks his lips, as if he felt some sweetness in the sound. He gives the title of Brother or Sister to the meanest Beasts, even Worms and Flies; and thinks it meritorious to redeem Lambs from slaughter. A Lamb being presented to him, he daily reads lessons of Instruction to it, and enjoins to it great attention in praising God.Cap. 8. The Lamb in a little while becomes illuminated, kneels reverently in time of Divine Service, bleats before the Altar of the Blessed Virgin in an humble posture; and (to the eternal conviction of all Hereticks) kneels down at the elevation of the Host.Cap. 12. Finding a flock of Birds or Grashoppers, he preacheth to them; then sets a Psalm, and invites them to joyn with him in praising God. On Christmas Eve he gets a company of Asses and Oxen into a Stable,Cap. 10. reads Mass at the Manger, and makes a Sermon to them. He feareth to touch Lights, Lamps or Candles, because he would not defile them with his hands.Golden Legend. fol. 264. Walks gingerly upon the stones, in honour of him who was called Stone. Gathers the small Worms out of the way, that they may not be trod on by Passengers: and feareth even to kill the Vermin of his Body. [Page] Saint Macarius had done penance by going naked six months in the Desert,Id. in vita Macarii. and suffering hmself to be stung of Flies, for having killed a Flea. Not only Animals, but the very Elements did St. Francis imagine to be endued with understanding. For being in a grievous sickness necessitated to admit a Cauterism,Bonavent. cap. 5. he thus bespeaks the Fire. My Brother Fire, God hath created thee beyond all other things, handsome, and vertuous, and fair, and useful; Be thou kind and courteous to me in this moment. Now see the force of an eloquent Complement; the Fire is applied, but doth not burn him. Being one day full of the Spirit, he calls together the People of Assisium, enters into the great Church, causeth a Rope to be fastned to his Neck, and commands himself to be drawn naked in the sight of all to a Stone, on which Malefactors were wont to be placed before their Execution.Cap. 6. Getting upon this, he preacheth naked to the People in a cold Season, confesseth himself to be a very great Sinner, a carnal Man, and a Glutton. This Phrenzy could not be ended but with his Life: in the last period of which, he commands himself to be carried into the Church, and to be there laid naked upon the ground, that he might expire in the sight of all the People,Cap. 15. and boast before them that he left the World as naked as he entred it, disburdened of all Possessions. Those many ridiculous Actions, which I have already related of Ignatius, might justly supersede any farther labour; yet at least to equal the Merits of St. Francis, I will produce some few Instances of a no less extravagant Folly.Bouhours, l. 1 In his retirement at Manreze, feeling some temptations of Vain-glory, he enters into an Hospital,Vitelleschi, cap. 11. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 4. and applies himself to serve the sick Persons, licks their Sores, and sucks out the filth of their Ulcers. As soon as he was made General of his Order, the first thing he did, was to serve in the Kitchin in quality of a Scullion;Vitelleschi, cap. 16. where for some while he executed the most [Page] vile and sordid Offices. Sending for his Companions from France to Venice, he instructs them to sing Psalms as they travelled in the Road, and when the Spirit moved, to kneel down and pray.Bouhours, l. 3. They punctually perform his Instructions, travel through Heretical Countries with Beads about their Necks; and out of the abundance of their zeal, refuse to eat with any Lutheran Minister, as fearing some Contagion from him. While he studied at Paris, Bouhours, l. 2. Vitelleschi, cap. 20. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 14. he had often in vain employed his Reason to convert a Fornicator, who held an unlawful commerce with a Woman living in a Village near the City. Ignatius watcheth his walk by a Ponds side in a frosty Morning. Perceiving him coming, he strips himself, and runs into the Water up to the Chin. The Man coming by, he calls to him, thunders out damnation against him, tells him, that he there did penance for him, and intended by the cold, which he voluntarily undertook, to temper the ardent heat of his Lust, being resolved to continue this practice every day till he should be converted. To produce no more examples, the constant Flouts and Derisions of the Rabble, which for many years after his conversion attended him at his entrance into any Town, demonstrate that all his Actions had somewhat ridiculous in them, which might excite and deserve the laughter of the Vulgar. Certainly Folly may be advanced to a great perfection, when it is affected and elaborate; and the Enthusiast is ambitious of being ingeniously ridiculous.Vitelleschi, cap. 19. Bussieres, l. 2. c. 15. Our Saint thought it a great perfection to be esteemed a Fool: and therefore often resolved, and earnestly desired to cover himself with horns, and in that equipage march through the Streets of Rome. But whether it were that the Fates envied his happiness, or he were afraid to provoke the Roman Citizens by so significant a Ceremony, he never enjoyed the honour of that glorious Procession.

[Page]These are the most natural and ordinary effects of Enthusiasm, which I have already mentioned. However, because in England we have a race of Enthusiasts, who are chiefly taken notice of for denying to give to any the titles of their Dignity, or usual ceremonies of Respect introduced in all civil Countries; I will consider Ignatius even on this account, and therein demonstrate that he was in nothing inferior to the most ridiculous Enthusiasts of any denomination whatsoever. Among other Errors, into which he was carried headlong by a violent, and as himself thought, infallible Imagination, none of the least was his false notion of a Christian Simplicity; which he imagined to consist not in a sober deportment, and unaffected gravity, but in acting publickly all the Follies of an unthinking Ideot,Orlandin. Hist. Soc. Jesu, l. 1. num. 44. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 7. Maffeius, l. 1. c. 15. in manifesting a morose behaviour, and declaring open war against the innocent Civilities of the Polite World. Hence he never gave to others in discourse any titles of Respect; but in talking with Persons present, treated them with the friendly compellation of Thou and Thee; and in speaking of Persons absent, called them only by their Common Names: nay, studiously endeavoured ever after his Conversion to converse with Great Men and Princes in a rude and clownish manner.Vitelleschi, cap. 8. As for Oaths, he was so far from making use of them, that out of a scrupulous concern for Truth, he thought it unlawful even to use superlative words. To give one memorable Instance of this Enthusiastick Behaviour.Maffeius, l. 1. c. 15. Orlandinus, num. 44. Returning from Venice to Spain, his way lay through the Spanish and French Camps, which had then declared war against each other (tho Maffeius saith he might have taken another way, and escaped all danger, if he had not been led with the ambition of being esteemed a Fool.Vitelleschi, cap. 6.) The Spanish Guard apprehended him, took him for a Spy, treated him rudely, stript him naked, whipt him soundly, and then [Page] carried him to their General. As he was leading away, he bethought himself, (or as the Writers of his Life say, was tempted by the Devil) to make himself known who he was, that so he might escape Reproaches and Stripes. But immediately correcting himself for his base Cowardise,Orlandin. Hist. Soc. Jesu, l. 1. num. 44. and desertion of his magnanimous Resolution to take up the Cross of Christ, he resolved to punish himself for it, and to counterfeit the Fool and Ideot, that he might be beaten the more severely. He doth so, plays the Fool before the General, denieth to him the civility of his Hat, and the common terms of respect due to a Person of his Quality, and dreaming out his words, denies himself to be a Spy. The General takes him for a Fool, and is angry with the Soldiers for bringing such an Ideot to him. The Soldiers revenge themselves upon him by beating him unmercifully. Next he passeth through the French Guards; but is there treated somewhat better. I suppose the Spanish Discipline had by that time perswaded him to pull off his Hat. In the midst of all these Sufferings he was taken up with a profound meditation of the Contumelies which our Saviour suffered, when he was carried from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, and from Pilate to Herod; and congratulated to himself the similitude of his Sufferings. O happy Ignatius, if the Spanish Soldiers had hanged him up! For then no doubt he would have more nearly imitated the Sufferings of Christ, and thereby outdone even the Conformities of St. Francis. When our Adversaries shall hereafter charge the Reformation of England to have given occasion to the rise of all those Sects, wherewith we are now divided; I hope they will at least make some exceptions, as remembring that the Sect of the Quakers began in Spain, and was founded by St. Ignatius.

I might produce many other properties and effects of [Page] Enthusiasm; and among these the perpetual inconstancy which attends their Actions and Resolutions. For since the Enthusiast wholly resigns up himself to the directions of an irregular Imagination, which is often disturbed with various, and sometimes contrary motions of the spirits, it cannot be avoided that his Thoughts and Resolutions should be no less fortuitous than are their motions; that while the motion continueth violent and rapid, he should feel a sensible pleasure, and imagine himself overflowed with Divine Consolations; when it grows languid and ceaseth, he should be reduced to extreme despair, and exchange his sublime Raptures with melancholly Ideas of his own Condition: that what at one time is accounted a vertue, and no small perfection, shall at other times be contemned, and perhaps esteemed unlawful; and that the motions of his Will should be no less variable than the conceptions of his Understanding. This alone might abundantly refute all pretences of Divine Impulse; since the Dictates of the Holy Ghost are constant and invariable, and can no more be altered, than can the reason and nature of things. Ignatius soon after his conversion began to be afflicted with Scruples, Bouhours, l. 1. and wants his former interior Consolations. Sometimes in his Prayer he found nothing but driness and anxiety. Sometimes such a flood of Consolations would suddenly return, that he was even overwhelmed and transported out of himself. But these had no continuance. He found himself often precipitated from an illuminated state into desolation and darkness. At his first conversion, being led, as he imagined, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he resolved to clothe himself in rags, to beg his Bread, to go barefoot, preach the Gospel in the Holy Land, and continue these Austerities and Employments all his life. Many months had not passed before he changed his austere penitential Dress into a more decent Habit, put on Shooes, and suffered [Page] his Resolutions of preaching in Palestine, Id. l. 2. at first to cool, and at last to vanish. The itch of begging continued longer. In his Voyage to Palestine he dared not so much as to carry Provisions with him, laid down his Money at the Sea-shore; and touching at Cajeta, when some Spaniards bestowed some Money on him, he presently was troubled in Conscience for having taken it, and accused himself of it to God in his Prayer, and gave it all away to the next Poor he met. Finding his Studies to go on slowly at Barcelona, he diminisheth his Austerities yet farther, leaves of his fantastick Habit, and Iron Chain, and retrencheth his seven hours of Prayer, Following the Light which he then had, that we may and ought on some occasions leave God for God. Retiring to Paris, he is satisfied in Conscience, that he may quit his Evangelical Poverty, and lawfully raise a fund of Money. Soon after he grows perfectly weary of his begging Life, doubts whether it is lawful; and proposed this question to the Sorbon, Whether a Gentleman renouncing the World to follow Iesus Christ, and wandring through several Countries to beg Alms, doth any thing against Conscience. He acquiesced indeed in the negative Determination of the Sorbon; yet remitted his first ardor so far, that he, who had thought it a diffidence of Divine Providence, to make any Provisions for himself in a long Voyage, was content to take a Journey into Spain, to settle his own, and his Companions Affairs. For many years after his Conversion, he had ambitiously courted the Contempt of the World, and esteemed Disgrace his greatest happiness; yet when he came to Rome, Id. l. 3. he renounced this Self-resignation, and thenceforth stood upon his Punctilios of Honour; insomuch, as being accused by a Piemontese Priest, of Heresy and Sorcery, and at last beyond hope acquitted, he sollicited earnestly, to have a sentence juridically passed to remain [Page] upon Record, and after long Sollicitation obtained it. Lastly, however he placed his supreme happiness in those imaginary Consolations, which he believed himself to receive from God in Prayer, and was wont to despair when he found himself to want them;Id. l. 6. he sometimes prayed to our Lord, not to give him any inward Consolations, that so his Love might be more pure and disinteressed. Such frequent changes of Resolution, argue that the Principle of his Actions was no other than a volatile and disturbed Imagination, no fixed and stable Judgment founded on true Notions of the Nature of moral and religious Actions; much less the impulse of an infallible Spirit.

There remains one Phrenzy peculiar to the Enthusiasts of the Church of Rome, which deserveth some Observation, before we close this Argument; I mean their imaginary fighting with Devils, whom these visionaries Fancy to appear frequently before their Eyes, to put on divers Shapes, and play a thousand antick Tricks. This indeed is natural to those Enthusiasts, who propose to themselves the imitation of Legendary Saints, who in their Lives are represented to fight with Devils, no less continually than Knights Errant are in Romances to fight with Giants. Ignatius raised the whole Model of his imaginary Perfection from reading the lives of Saints; and therefore may be pardoned if he were transported with a furious Ambition of fighting Devils, or rather the Phantasms of his own disturbed Brain. The Devil it seems used to persecute both him and St. Francis most terribly; yet to spare the infirmity of these puny Saints, he never appeared to them under those monstrous shapes wherewith he was wont to terrify the ancient Saints. To them he presented himself under the shape of a Lyon, a Dragon, a Bear,Golden Legend, f. 70. or a Crocodile; and to St. Macarius, under the shape of so tall a Giant, that he reached Heaven; but [Page] to our latter Saints he presents himself under a more amiable shape (as knowing their weak side) either of a handsom Woman, or a purse of Money. Thus the Devil peeping one evening into St. Francis Cell,Bonavent. cap. 5. with a pretty Face and glancing Eye, excited in the poor Saint an horrible Commotion of the Flesh. Another time casting himself in his way, in the shape of a large purse of Money, he would have tempted him to the Violation of his Evangelical Poverty,Cap. 7. by taking up the Purse; but here the Saint was too cunning for the Devil. He is aware of the Stratagem, forbids his Companions to take up the Purse, unless with Intention of abusing the Devil in it. The Devil smells out their design, turns into a Serpent, and runs away. Upon which St. Francis made this worthy remark; Beloved, Money is nothing else but the Devil. One Night the Devil got into his Pillow, and disturbed the good mans sleep;Cap. 5. but St. Francis soon made him weary of that, for he ordered the Pillow to be taken away, and the Devil to be shaken out into no very wholesom place. Nothing without doubt can be more edifying, than to read the stratagems and counterstratagems of the Devil, and the Saints. But above all, recommend me to our Countryman St. Guthlac, who when the Devils disturbed the Workmen in building the Monastery of Croyland, Capgrave Legend. Nov. London, 1516. fol. 172. Bussieres, l. 1. c. 2. forced them in part of Penance to build the whole Abby Church with their own hands. As soon as Ignatius was converted, the Devils endeavoured to bury him in the ruins of an Earthquake; and when that would not succeed, deluded him in appearing often in the Air before his Eyes, in a sensible Image, under the shape of a Body composed of many Stars. Ignatius for a long while knew not what this Apparition meant.Vitelleschi, c. 16. But one day kneeling before the Cross, he received an internal Light, which assured him that it was no other than an Illusion of the wicked Spirit. Afterwards, whensoever Ignatius [Page] saw it, he took his staff and brandishing it in the Air, beat the Apparition, which thereupon disappeared. For you must know,Ribadeneira, cap. 18. The Devil feared no Mortal like Ignatius; he trembled at the very sight of his staff, with which Ignatius was wont to drive him away,Gloria S. Ignatii, cap. 7. when he appeared to him, as he often did, under monstrous shapes. Lodging in an haunted Chamber at Barcelona, his Presence so terrified the Spirits which appeared to him,Bouhours, l. 2. that they never after dared to approach that Chamber. In Demoniacks, his very Name would scare the Devils,Id. l. 6. and make them fly before him. Nay, his very Picture at last grew terrible to the Powers of Hell, and made them fly without resistance. Even his Letters drave away evil Spirits from a Colledg, which was haunted by them, when the ordinary Exorcisms of the Church could not. As soon as the Letter was publickly read in the House, the Noise ceased, and the Spectres disappeared. St. Francis enjoyed so unlimited a Power over Devils,Bonavent. cap. 12. that if he commanded them in Virtue of their Obedience, to go out of possest Persons, they dared not to disobey. Particularly coming to Arezzo, which was greviously disturbed with intestine Seditions; he saw a company of Devils leaping and sporting in the Air over the City, and inciting the Citizens to mutual Slaughter. He commands Brother Sylvester, Cap. 6. to command the Devils in Virtue of their Obedience to be gone quickly. Sylvester goes to the Gate, and makes Proclamation with a loud Voice. The Devils without expecting a second Summons, run away; whereupon the Citizens are presently reconciled. Poor Apollonius was forced to go farther about, when he had to do with the Devil, whom he could dislodg no otherwise than by opprobrious Contumelies and Railings; or at least, by making him soundly Drunk.Philostratus, l. 2. c. 2. l. 4. c. 6. l. 6. c. 13. Yet this may be alledged to the Honour of the Heathen Philosopher, that he once killed [Page] the Devil, which is more than ever our Christian Saints could perform. For aspying a little sorry Fellow to walk in the Market of Ephesus, he assured the People it was the Devil,Id. l. 4. c. 5. and perswaded them to stone him. They do so, and then removing the Stones, instead of a Man, find only a great black Dog lying dead. However, if all which our Historians relate of Ignatius and St. Francis, be true, they exercised an arbitrary and unlimited Power over the Devils, save only in the case of Life and Death. But see how a goodly Story is like to be marred by the Imprudence of the Relators. The Devil it seems, owed them a turn, and revenged himself upon their Memory. For the same Historians relate, that the Devil, far from being afraid at their Names, their Pictures, or their Letters, sometimes seized upon their very Bodies, and handled them very roughly. Thus St. Francis being once perswaded to betray his Humility so far,Bonavent. cap. 6. as to accept a Lodging in a Cardinals Palace, was at night most unmercifully beaten by the Devils, and left for dead. Ignatius was often most cruelly scourged by the Devil; more especially, one Night at Rome, Ribad. c. 18. Gloria S. Ignati [...], cap. 7. when the Devil catch't him by the Throat, and squeezed him so hard, that the Saint straining himself to call upon the Name of Jesus, continued hoarse many days after. However these Bastinadoes might for a while mortify the Saints, and intirely blast the repute of their arbitrary command over the Devils; yet at least they conferred this benefit upon them, that hereby they more nearly resembled the ancient Heroes of the Legend; among whom the Great St. Antony underwent the same fate. For unadvisedly peeping into the hole of a Rock,Golden Legend in vita S. Antonii. and discovering there a whole nest of Devils, the Devils sallied out upon him, and beat him so unmercifully, that his Servant carried him away for dead.

[Page]Not only in this respect were the Writers of his Life injurious to the Memory of Ignatius, in not telling their Story plausibly, and without any repugnance between the several parts of it; but also by their improvident zeal to raise the Honour and Grandeur of their Saint, have so imprudently represented many of his most illustrious and wonderful Actions, that we might justly suspect the concurrence of evil Spirits in the performance of them, if we either believed the truth of those Actions, or were ready to admit any such suspicions. When he first dedicated himself to the Blessed Virgin, as soon as he had ended his Prayer, he heard a mighty noise, the House trembled, all the Windows of the Chamber were broke, and a rent made in the Wall, which remaineth to this day.Lib. 1. This Bouhours would gladly attribute to God, testifying thereby the acceptance of Ignatius his Prayers, as formerly of the Prayers of the Apostles, by a like sign. However he doth not deny that it might possibly have been caused by the Devil, who by that Earthquake endeavoured to put a period to Ignatius his Life.L. 1. c. 2. Bussieres makes no doubt of it, but confidently affirms it to have been caused by the Devil.Bouhours, l. 1. A little after the Devil excited in him an extraordinary nauseousness of the Hospital, into which he had voluntarily entred, and shame to see himself in the company of Beggars.Vitelleschi, cap. 3. At Manreze he appeared to him in the Habit of an honest Young man, disswading him from the use of so great Austerities. While he learned the Latin Tongue at Barcelona, Bouhours, l. 2. the Devil, to hinder his Learning, instigated him to practices of Piety, filled him with Consolations, raised in him such tender sentiments of God, that all the time of his study was spent in devout Thoughts. Id. l. 6. Id. l. 2. Of the Demoniacks, which he dispossessed, some were lifted up into the Air; and himself, in time of Prayer, was often seen to be raised from the ground, and be elevated in the Air. From this pendulous posture [Page] Procopius Hist. Arcan. concludes that Iustinian the Emperor was a Devil, and no man. That Apparition of the Devils hovering in the Air before his Eyes in form of Stars,Vitelleschi, cap. 16. he mistook a long while for an Angelical Vision, and effect of the Divine Favour to him. When a Spanish Maid was brought to him under the notion of a Demoniack, raging with violent contortions over all her Body;Bouhours, l. 3. he asserted she was not possest, and that those extraordinary motions proceeded from a natural cause; and that if the Devil had any part in it, it was only in disturbing the Imagination of the sick Person.Id. l. 6. Lastly, being told of a Religious Woman at Bologna, endued with an extraordinary gift of Prayer, and having frequent Raptures and Extasies, during which she had no sense of feeling, altho fire were applied to her: he assures Ribadeneira, that God indeed did operate in his Soul, and abundantly infuse into it the Vnction of his Spirit; but that this happened rarely, and only to Persons much in favour with God: whereas the Devil, who could act nothing upon the Soul, (I know not how this can be reconciled with the former assertion) was wont to counterfeit externally Divine Operations, and by such appearances impose upon the Credulous. That this was the case of the Nun; as in effect it was afterwards found out, that all her pretended Holiness was but an Illusion of a Wicked Spirit. If then the Devil can externally counterfeit Divine Operations, suspend the Senses, and cause extraordinary Extasies and Raptures of the Soul; and by these Impostures procure to any one a great repute of sanctity and devotion in the Church of Rome; If he can disturb the Imagination of Men, without possessing their Bodies, or taking from them the liberty of their Will; If Ignatius actually mistook an Illusion of the Devil for a Divine Favour; and was often observed in the same pendulous posture with Demoniacks; If the Devil sometimes inspired him with good Thoughts and Resolutions, [Page] as well as at other times diverted him from them; Lastly, if it be uncertain which miraculous Actions of Ignatius are to be ascribed to God, and which to the Devil: it cannot but remain infinitely doubtful, whether God or the Devil had the greater share in the Actions of Ignatius; whether he acted by the power and impulse of the former, or by the assistance and suggestion of the latter.

It cannot be pretended that the Church, by giving attestation to the sanctity of his Life, and the truth of his Miracles in his Canonization, hath removed all suspicions of this nature, and vindicated the Memory of Ignatius from all possibility of disadvantageous Scruples. For till the late Jesuits of Clermont proposed their Theses, it never was pretended that the Church, much less the Pope, is infallible in determining matters of fact; and that the Pope in attesting the sanctity of Ignatius was actually deceived, and imposed upon the credulous World,A sua conversione nullum in eo deprehensum est dictum factumve, quod censeri posset esse peccatum mortale. Bulla Canonizat. I will undeniably demonstrate. In the Bull of his Canonization the Pope affirmeth, that from the time of his Conversion no word or action proceeded from him, which can be accounted a mortal Sin. Despair of the Divine Mercy is by Divines commonly accounted the greatest of all Sins; and even this may receive greater or less aggravations as it is more or less unreasonable. Ignatius committed this sin in the most aggravating circumstances, some while after his Conversion, when he had received frequent Illuminations from Heaven, had enjoyed infinite Raptures and Extasies, performed stupendious acts of apparent Charity, and undergone the most severe exercises of external Mortification; which if they be indeed acceptable to God, as the Admirers of Ignatius, and the Church of Rome imagine, might reasonably recommend him not only to the Mercy, but even the Favour of God. Yet notwithstanding all these Advantages,Lib. 1. he fell into a most horrible Despair, which Bouhours thus describeth. [Page] Soon after his penitential Austerities performed at Manreze, he began to be afflicted with Scruples, and want his former interior Consolations; and he finds himself precipitated into a state of desolation and darkness. His Scruples and Despair increase; He doubteth whether he had confessed all his Sins, and with all their circumstances, (altho his Confession had lasted three whole days.) To dissipate these Doubts, he hath recourse to Prayer; but the more he prays, the more his Doubts and Fears increase upon him. Every step he made, he thought he stumbled and offended God, imagining there to be sin, where there was not the least shadow of it; and always disputing with himself about the state of his Conscience, not being able to decide what is sin, and what not. In these conflicts of mind he groans, he sighs, he crieth out, he throws himself upon the ground like a man tormented with pain, but for the most part keeps a mournful silence. Being wont to communicate every Sunday, it now happened to him more than once, that being ready to communicate, his troubles of mind so redoubled upon him, that he retired from the Holy Table full of confusion and desolation. After many unprofitable debates, wherein his Understanding was lost, it entred into his thoughts, That obedience only could cure him; and that his pains would cease, if his Confessor should command him entirely to forget all things past. He doth so; but his Scruples continue. He redoubleth his Exercises of Piety; but finding no relief either from Earth or Heaven, he believeth that God had forsaken him, and that his Damnation was most certain. The Dominicans out of pity take him into their House, but can give him no comfort. He falls into a dark melancholly, and being one day in his Cell, he had the thought of throwing himself out of the Window to end his misery. But Heaven by force restrained [Page] him against his will. Then remembring the precedent of an old Hermit, he set himself to fasting; and resolved to eat nothing till God should hear him. Accordingly he fasted seven whole days without eating or drinking, but without success. His Confessor at last commanded him to break his fast. He doth so; and is on the sudden for ever freed from all his Scruples. Certainly if all irregular conducts of the Will, be Sins, and an irrational Despair the greatest of all Sins; this of Ignatius was such a complicated Sin, as few examples can equal. But, it seems, Heresie alters the nature of Vertue and Vice. Such a Despair in a Protestant would have deserved damnation; whereas in a Romish Saint it was so far meritorious,Ibid. that if we may believe Bouhours, God in reward of it bestowed upon him the gift of curing Scrupulous Consciences.

Upon occasion of this ready obedience paid by Ignatius to the Commands of his Confessor, I will take farther notice of the same blind submission observed by him through the whole course of his Life. Whether the Principles of the Church of Rome do not naturally lead to such a blind obedience to the dictates of every private Confessor, and thereby resolve the Faith of all particular Christians into the private opinion of an ignorant, and perhaps Heretical Priest, I will not now enquire: but certainly Ignatius practised this blind submission in the utmost extravagance; insomuch, as if he had adhered to his own Principles, or we may judge from his other Actions, he must have renounced Christianity, and even natural Religion, if his Confessor had so commanded him. His notion of a perfect obedience, which we before mentioned, sheweth this; and his Actions put it beyond all doubt.Bouhours, l. 2, 3. He declared upon all occasions his resolution blindly to obey his Ecclesiastical Judge; and [Page] when he preached at Venice, he proposed this as a first principle to all,Id. l. 2. That true Christians ought to submit themselves to the decision of the Church, with the simplicity of an Infant. Being tried before the Inquisitors for no less than a capital Crime, he refused to answer till his Ecclesiastical Superiors should command him. Apollonius in a like case had refused to move his Tongue after a Vow of five years silence,Philostrat. l. 1. c. 11. when he was falsly accused of an horrid Crime, and in great danger of being executed. However, if it be a venial Sin for a Man to sacrifice his Life to his Folly; it is no less than a mortal one deliberately to commit an action, which he is perswaded in his own Conscience to be unlawful. Ignatius in his Voyage to Ierusalem thought it utterly unlawful, and contrary to Evangelical Poverty, to carry any Provisions along with him. Yet being resolved by his Confessor to the contrary,Bouhours, l. 2. he boldly did that out of obedience, which he durst not do of himself, and made provision for his Voyage. This Folly at last proceeded so far, that renouncing the liberty of his Will, and use of his Reason, he would not venture upon any indifferent Action without consulting his Confessor: as if with St. Francis he wanted a Guardian,Bonavent. cap. 6. who might in all things direct his Actions, and command his Will. When an unskilful Physician in his sickness administred to him hurtful remedies, and proceeded contrary to the nature of his Distemper,Maffeius, l. 3. c. 7. Bussieres, l. 2. c. 15. Bouhours, l. 3. and Ignatius fully knew all this; he would not once open his mouth against it, because he esteemed it meritorious, and a point of Religion, to obey in all things. When he was unanimously elected General of his Order by a method of Election which himself prescribed; he refused to accept the Office, unless he should be commanded by his Confessor. So the Iew refused to go on Shipboard on the Sabbath-day, till he was [Page] beaten thither by the Janizary whom he had hired to do it.

If then an irrational despair of the Mercy of God, and an intire Renunciation of the use of Reason, may be accounted Sins; we have abundantly demonstrated the Pope to have been widely mistaken in celebrating the Sanctity of Ignatius. If we should carry our Enquiries yet farther; we might perhaps discover other no less Infirmities, which would ruin the supposed Sanctity of Ignatius, and the Truth of the Papal Assertion of it, at the same time. We might suspect him to have been guilty of many other Vices after his Conversion: For before it,Bouhours, l. 1. Maffeius, l. 1. c. 1. all Writers allowed him to have been abandoned to the utmost degree of Debauchery and Immorality. His mean and unworthy thoughts of the Nature and Excellency of God, appear from many Actions before related, and may be farther manifested from his frequent imagining to see God and the Holy Trinity, before his Eyes, in a corporeal Representation; from his endeavouring to bribe him in favour of his Order, by offering up to him three thousand Masses,Maffeius, l. 2. c. 12. and from his seeking to acquire the favour of God, by the practice of foolish Superstitions. We cannot but suspect him to have been inclined to Revenge and Cruelty, if we remember that all the Ships,Bouhours, l. 2. Passengers and Mariners, which refused to carry him gratis, going and returning from the Holy Land, were cast away; that Lopez Mendoza, for slightly reviling him, was in a few hours burnt to Ashes. That when General of his Order, he frequently chastised the Novices so severely with his own hands, that some of them died of the blows, by the Attestation of Hoffoeus

Apud Ludov. Lucium, Hist. Jesuitic. l. 1. c. 1. in init.

Basil. 1627. 4 to.

, a professed Jesuit in his own Colledg, and an Eye-witness; and that all this is confirmed by the Testimony of Salmanassar, a Jesuit of [Page] Naples, who describes Ignatius to have been of a fierce, severe, and cruel Disposition. His turbulent and unquiet Temper appears from his being condemned in the Colledg at Paris, Bouhours, l. 2. to be whipt publickly for disturbing his Fellow-Students; and from his valedictory form, wherewith he dismissed all the Fathers of his Society, whom he sent in Mission,Vitelleschi, cap. 16. Ite omnia accendite & inflammate. Go, put all in Flames, and set the World on Fire: Words, which I suppose he used in Emulation of St. Dominick;Golden Legend, fol. 190. whose Mother, while yet with Child, dreamed She had a Whelp in her Belly, carrying a Torch in his Mouth, which set the whole World in Flames. That Ignatius was addicted to Lying and Equivocation, may be suspected from his behaviour to his own Brother, who perceiving him fallen into a religious Phrenzy at his first Conversion, was resolved by all means to divert it. Ignatius not knowing how to leave his Brothers Castle of Loyola handsomely,Bussieres, l. 1. c. 3. without discovering his Intentions, borrows a Horse, and a Servant of him, assuring him that he went only to visit the Duke of Naiara, their Neighbour. Being at some distance from the Castle, he sends back the Servant, and rides away to Montserrat, where he enters upon a religious Life. After many years, returning in triumph to Loyola, he takes up his Lodging in an Hospital; but at last being overcome by the earnest Importunities of his Brother, promiseth to him faithfully to lodg with him in the Castle.Vitelleschi, cap. 12. He goeth thither, lodgeth there one Night, and next Morning betimes steals back to the Hospital, thinking he had now fully satisfied his Promise; and refuseth ever after to return. Lastly, however the Writers of his Life pretend him to have been by a special priviledg freed from all carnal Concupiscence,Bouhours, l. 1. c. 10. (which Philostratus L. 1. c. 10. also reports of Apollonius;) [Page] we have no small reason to suspect the contrary; For from his Conversion to his Death,Bouhours, l. 6. he never dared to look any Woman on the Face; which argues him to have been conscious of his own Infirmity, and to have feared the Temptations of their Beauty: And even after that Vision of the Blessed Virgin, wherein this extraordinary gift of Continence is pretended to have been conferred on him;L. 1. Bouhours confesseth him to have had a secret Inclination for a Lady of Quality.Bonavent. cap. 5. St. Francis had the same bashfulness. He never durst look upon a Woman; and no wonder; for the very thoughts of them so terribly tormented him, as created to him no small perplexity: in proof of which I will crave leave to present the Reader with this following Story.Id. Ibid. The Devil one night putting on a handsom Face, peeps into Saint Francis's Cell, and calls him out. The Man of God presently knew by revelation, that it was a trick of the Devil, who by that Artifice tempted him to lust: yet he could not hinder the effect of it. For immediately a grievous temptation of the flesh seizeth on him. To shake off this, he strips himself naked, and begins to whip himself fiercely with his Rope. Ha, brother Ass, saith he, I will make you smart for your rebellious lust: I have taken from you my Frock, because that is sacred, and must not be usurped by a lustful Body. If you have a mind to go your ways in this naked condition, pray go. Then being animated with a wonderful fervour of spirit, he opens the door, runs out, and rowls his naked Body in a great heap of Snow. Next, he makes seven Snowballs, and laying them before him, he thus bespeaks his outward man. Look you, this great Snowball is your Wife, those four are two Sons and two Daughters; the other two are a Man and a Maid, which you must keep to wait on them. Make hast and clothe them all, for they dye with cold: But if you [Page]cannot provide for them all, then lay aside all thoughts of marriage, and serve God alone. This was honestly said: no expedient of Fornication thought on, when Marriage was rejected. Now see the merits of rowling naked in the Snow. The Tempter being conquered, departs, and the Saint returns into his Cell with triumph; that is in plain English, his Courage was cooled; and Brother Ass benummed with cold.

Not only may the Immunity of Ignatius from all mortal sin after his Conversion be denied; but even his Sincerity through the whole conduct of his Life may be called in question. We before observed him to have been acted with an ambitious Spirit, which might prompt him to undertake any Artifices tending to increase his Reputation; and if any thing was wanting to render him a compleat Impostor, it was only defect of Wit. Yet in many of his Actions we may plainly discover the footsteps of an Impostor, who designed to raise his Honour upon the credulity of Mankind: Thus it may be observed, that for many years after his Conversion he applied himself to infuse his Notions into Women and Young men, taking advantage from the weakness of Sex, or inexperience of immature Judgment. Agnes Pascall, Isabella Rosella, and some Ladies of Alcala, were in a manner his only Disciples before his remove to Paris. These were the only Witnesses of his Miracles, and Admirers of his Sanctity. At Paris he sets upon, and after a long canting and earnest sollicitations gains, to him Peter Faber, Bouhours, l. 2. a poor Spanish Youth, in whom were sentiments of Vain-glory. Xaverius, a generous Soul, but who was naturally vain, and loved ostentation; a Young man, who filled with an innate tumour of vanity and pride, fed himself with Chimeraes after the custom of ambitious Men, and framed to himself the obtaining of great advantages [Page]upon the least appearances: Nicholas Bobadilla, a poor Young man, whose necessities forced him to cast himself upon Ignatius: Rodrigues, who had been long possest with the same ambition of preaching in the Holy Land: Iames Laynez, and Alphonso Salmeron, the first 21. the other 18 years old. These were the only Disciples he gained at Paris, and the first six Companions of his Order. To this we may add his resuming his discalceate Habit after a long intermission at his return into Spain; which tended only to raise to himself an opinion of extraordinary sanctity among his credulous Countreymen; his artifice of framing his Countenance, as himself pleased, and occasion required:

Vultum pro sua voluntate fingebar, Ribadeneira, cap. 9.

Haec verba, ad majorem Dei gloriam, uti symbolum in ore semper habebat. Bulla Canonizat. Bussieres, l. 2. c. 14.

his canting upon the greater glory of God, which served as a preface to all his Words and Actions: his pretended desire of resigning the Generalty of his Order, when he knew that it would not be permitted; his flattery of Great Men, whom he continually praised, but winked at their faults, and never blamed them, altho their Actions and Behaviour were condemned and decried by the unanimous consent of all men. Lastly, to produce one Instance of a just suspicion of Imposture in performing Miracles, I will represent it in the words of Vitelleschi. Cap. 12. At his last Voyage into Spain, one night the Saint did a great Miracle. The People flocking to his Chamber, and staying with him late, he desired them to withdraw, and carry away the Candle with them, saying, God can enlighten the darkness of the night. When they were gone, Ignatius fell to praying loud. The People after some while return; and peeping through the Keyhole, see a light in his Chamber. He that will not suspect some artifice in this matter, may safely believe all the Fables of the Alcoran. If Ignatius wanted a light in his Chamber, why did he order the People to carry away the Candle with [Page] them? If he intended to perform a Miracle, why did he not suffer the People to stay, and be spectators of it?

But, what if after all, Ignatius should be found an Heretick? He would ill deserve the dignity of a Saint; and at the next reformation of the Calendar, might be perhaps expunged out of it It seems St. Francis was somewhat inclined to Heresie, and no thorough Catholick. For his Epistle to the Priests of his Order is prohibited in the Index Romanus: Ind. Rom. libr. prohibit. Romae 1607. p. 211. and he is known to have laid those Principles of Evangelical Poverty, which afterwards founded the Heresies of the Fratricelli and Beguini, or Beguardi. This Opinion of the perfection and excellence of Evangelical Poverty, was common both to Ignatius and St. Francis; and was condemned as erroneous and heretical by Pope Iohn XXII. But the charge of Heresie falls much more heavy upon Ignatius. For he believed Scripture to be the only Rule of Faith: a Doctrine which passeth among our Adversaries for a rank Heresie. For magnifying the greatness and perspicuity of the Divine Illuminations and Revelations conferred on him,Vitelleschi, c. 3. and boasting that he received the knowledge of Christianity not from the ordinary Rule of Faith, but by extraordinary Illumination, he was wont to use these words:Bouhours, l. 1. That if the Articles of Faith had never been recorded in the Scriptures (or as another Author Gloria S. Ignatii, c. 3. expresseth it) altho no Monuments or Testimonies of the Christian Religion had remained, he should still have believed them; and that even had the Scriptures been lost, no part of his Faith had been diminished. Which manifestly supposeth him to have believed that the knowledge of the Christian Religion must necessarily be received either from the Scripture, or from extraordinary Illumination, and that there was no medium, [Page] which might serve the ends of a Rule of Faith. Besides all this,Vid. supra. Ignatius pretended that in Prayer his Soul acted passively, not actively, and did nothing but receive the influences of the Spirit; and upon the authority of a personal Apparition,Gloria S. Ignatii, cap 4▪ believed that the Flesh of the Blessed Virgin was contained in the Eucharist in the Flesh of her Son there substantially present. Now among the Articles of Molinos, condemned last year in the Inquisition at Rome, one is, that in contemplation the Mind acts purely passively, not actively: and one of the pretended Opinions of Signior Burrhi, Vid. Supplement to Dr. Burnet's Letters. condemned of Heresie by the Inquisition, and which he was forced to recant in the Year 1668. was, That the consecrated Host hath in it the Body of the Mother, as well as of the Son. If Ignatius had lived at this time, I do not see how he could have escaped being condemned for an Heretick by the Inquisition.

It will be no small confirmation of the truth of whatsoever I have hitherto observed or advanced concerning Ignatius, if it be proved, that in his life-time he was esteemed an Enthusiast, an Impostor, and a Heretick, by many sober, indifferent, and learned Men of the Church of Rome; if he was censured as such by the publick Tribunals of the Church; and suspicions of this nature often entertained of him by whole multitudes of his Hearers. Saint Francis at his first conversion was esteemed to be a Mad-man by his Father, who therefore put him in Chains, and shut him up in a dark Room, to cure his Distemper. His Townsmen of Assisium entertained the same opinion of him, where the Rabble commonly persecuted him [Page] whensoever he appeared in publick, with stones and dirt,Bonavent. cap. 2, 4. and followed him with loud outcries; Civilities which both himself and his Disciples often received in other Cities of Italy, when they first began to preach. Ignatius fared no better. His own Brother, far from esteeming his Conversion a work of Heaven, told him it was only the effect of a melancholy distemper, Bouhours, l. 1. which betrayed him to extravagant courses. The People of Manreze, where he vented the first heat of his Devotion in wonderful Austerities, thought him a Fool and a Madman; insomuch, as whenever he appeared in the Town, the Children pointed at him, threw stones at him, and followed him in the Streets with shouts and outcries.Id. l. 2. Going into the Holy Land to preach the Gospel, the Franciscans, far from believing him to have received a Divine Mission, charged him to depart on pain of Excommunication. At Alcala he was suspected by some of Sorcery, by others of Heresie, and put into the Inquisition for a Visionary; but at last acquitted on condition of deserting his extravagant methods of Religion. Soon after, he is clapt into the Inquisition a second time, for instilling foolish Principles into his Hearers; and when he removed to Salamanca, both he and his Disciples were put in Chains by the Inquisition there, as Hereticks and Seditious Persons; and not absolved, but upon condition of preaching no more. Soon after his arrival at Paris, Id. ibid. he is accused to the Inquisitors for seducing Young Scholars; but by the intercession of Friends dismissed. After some time he is sentenced to be whipt publickly in the Hall by the Regents of his Colledge upon the same account; and before his departure accused a second [Page] time of Heresie to the Inquisitors, chiefly for his Book of Exercises, which his Enemies called the Mysterious Book.Id. l. 3. At Venice he was decried as an Heretick, and a dangerous Impostor; and by some accused to have a Familiar,Bussieres, l. 2. c. 4. which informed him of all things. At Rome both himself and his Companions were accused of Heresie by a famous Piemontese Priest;Bouhours, l. 3. and were esteemed by the People to be Hypocrites and false Prophets.Id. ibid. No body, for a while, dared to appear in the company of such miserable wretches, whom they thought to be destined to the Stake. When he first proposed the erection of his Order to the Pope; the Cardinals generally disapproved and opposed it. After it was approved, it met with great opposition in France, in his lifetime. Many decried it as monstrous, Id. l. 4. and said, that he who had set it on foot, was a little Spanish Visionary. Lastly,Id. l. 5. his Book of Exercises was accused of Heresie in Spain by the Learned Melchior Canus; who asserted it to be the work of a Brainsick Enthusiast. From this universal contempt of Ignatius in his life-time, and frequent suspicions of Heresie, Enthusiasm and Sedition, entertained of him by the Governours of the Church, it may be farther evinced that all the Reports of his Miracles are absolutely false, and either not yet invented, or generally disbelieved at that time. For it is not credible that such contempt should attend him, or such suspicions be entertained of him, if he had indeed performed so many and so great Miracles.

It remains that we examine the truth of these Miracles more particularly by some general Observations, which may be framed of them. It might [Page] indeed be sufficient to oppose to them, what Eusebius [...]. Adv. Hierocl. prope fin. doth to the Miracles of Apollonius, that we are not inclined to believe them: but because our Adversaries are not ashamed to produce them as undoubted arguments of the truth of their Cause, I will oppose some few Considerations to them. And first, it may be enquired, To what purpose should God work so many Miracles in the midst of Christian Countries, many Ages after the Faith had been fully setled in them? Were those Countries devoid of true Religion? This is not pretended. Was the Church of Rome at that time grieviously corrupted with Errors and Superstition? This our Adversaries will by no means allow. Or lastly, Did the Evangelical Counsels of Poverty, Abstinence, Humility and renunciation of the World, which were the grand Topicks of Ignatius, want the recommendation of Divine Miracles?Gloria S. Ignatii, cap. 22. This Ignatius himself would not approve: For he was wont to say, that if Miracles were to be desired of God, they were much rather to be desired in confirmation of the Precepts, than of the Counsels of the Gospel. It remains therefore that God should perform all these Miracles meerly in testimony of the extraordinary Sanctity of Ignatius, to manifest his favour to him, and procure to him honour and esteem among all Christians; a Design so unworthy of God, and contrary to the excellence of his, and imperfection of our Nature, that the very pretence of it is an unpardonable boldness, and a manifest argument of Imposture and immoderate Ambition; and that even altho we should allow Ignatius to have been indeed as great a Saint, as the Writers of his Life do represent him. And [Page] therefore the Author of the Opus Imperfectum upon St. Matthew, Homil. 49. argueth excellently, that there is no way now left to find out the true Church, or the true Faith, but only the Scripture; that at the first Institution of the Gospel, it was known indeed by Miracles, who were true, and who false Christians; since the latter could either perform no Miracles, or none such as the former did: For the Miracles of true Christians were perfect, and tended rather to the use and Interest of the Church, than to procure the admiration of the World; whereas the Miracles of false Christians were imperfect, and of no use, and tended wholly to raise admiration. By this means true Christians might formerly be discerned from false: But now all working of Miracles is ceased, and is found only among false Christians, among whom Miracles are yet feigned to be wrought; as St. Peter (cited by St. Clement) assureth us, even the Power of working true Miracles shall be given to Antichrist. This Passage is so offensive to our Adversaries, that it is ordered to be expunged in the Indices Expurgatorii, and was accordingly left out in all subsequent Editions, till it was restored by Fronto Ducoeus.

If yet the Church of Rome will pretend her Miracles to be true and real; we are content, provided she assumeth the title affixed by St. Peter, and this Author, to the Workers of true Miracles in latter Ages. If She refuseth the Title, She renounceth her claim to Miracles. But the Temptation of lying and feigning Miracles for the Reputation of an Order, is in that Church far more perswasive than the evidence of Reason. A Catalogue of Miracles is as necessary to a Romish [Page] Saint, as a list of wonderful Cures is to a Mountebank; no Canonization can be obtained without them. When Ignatius therefore was to be promoted to the dignity of a Saint, his Disciples set their Inventions on the rack, to raise a Fund of Miracles; every flying Report was taken up, and every Old womans Tale advanced into a Miracle: and the most Illustrious wonders of his Life then first feigned without any ground. This the Honour of the Order required, to which all considerations of Truth and Honesty were betrayed, that so the Founders of it might be rendred no less Illustrious, than those of other more Ancient Orders by an equal number of Miracles and Prodigies.Cap. 23. Vitelleschi produceth a Catalogue of 140 Miracles wrought by Ignatius in divers parts of the World, drawn from the Registers and Process of his Canonization; He cured Twenty five Persons of divers Mortal Diseases; Ten of Diseases apparently incurable; Thirteen of Blindness; Nineteen of Collick, Head-ach, Tooth-ach, and Belly-ach; Four of the Stone; Ignatii majorem necessitudine contubernii cognitionem hausimus prope fin. One of the Plurisie, &c. That the far greatest part of these Miracles were feigned many years after his Death, we have just reason to suspect; for when Ribadeneira, who was his familiar Companion, first published his Life, in the Year 1572. he made a long Apology in it, in defence of Ignatius; maintaining that it was no way derogatory to his Sanctity, that he had performed no Miracles: Afterwards in the Year 1610, publishing a second Edition of his Life, he was so far enlightned in this matter, that he giveth to us a long Catalogue of the Miracles of Ignatius, but withal confesseth, That the Reason why [Page] he had not inserted them in the first Edition,Utpote haud satis certa & explorata. was because they were not then sufficiently certain and uncontested. Now it cannot be imagined, how the Miracles of Ignatius, who died in the Year 1556, should be unknown, or at least uncertain, Sixteen years after, when the Memory of them was yet fresh, if any such indeed there were; and after Fifty four Years, when the greatest part of the Witnesses must be supposed to have been dead, should be advanced to undoubted Certainty? In like manner, Maffeius writing the Life of Ignatius, in the Year 1605, when his Canonization was not yet thought on, relates very few Miracles performed by him;Haud satis explorata sunt. L. 3. c. 14. in fine. and concludes in these words, Beside these, many other wonderful actions are related of Ignatius, which because they are not sufficiently certain, I thought not fit to insert; especially, since the holiness of famous men consists not so much in Signs and Miracles, as in the Love of God, and Innocence of Life. In Prefat. And after all, Bussieres confesseth, That many wonderful things related of Ignatius in his Life, written by Nierembergius, are by no means testified with incontestable Proofs; and that we may justly doubt of the Truth of them: But however Ribadeneira and Maffeius knew very few Miracles of Ignatius; later Writers had abundant Information of them. At the Examination preceding his Canonization, in the Year 1609, Bouhours Lib. 6. tells us, That 660 (Bussieres Lib. 3. c. 5. 665) Witnesses, juridically interrogated, deposed concerning the Holiness of his Life; and that 200 Miracles well attested, were produced at the same time; altho Vitelleschi Cap. 23, 24. assures us, That 13 Years after, at his Canonization, no more than [Page] 140 Miracles could be heard of, when he saith that 175 Witnesses were examined by order of Gregory XV. Two or three years after Vitelleschi, comes out the Glory of Ignatius Cap. 16, 17, 7., which enlargeth the number of the Miracles to above 200. and the Witnesses to 675. Now even altho we should take the lesser Account, it is utterly incredible, that so many Witnesses of the Miracles and Holiness of Ignatius should be alive in the year 1622. 66 years after his Death. If it be a merit to believe Contradictions in Faith, it is none to believe lies in History. The Miracles of St. Francis and Apollonius, labour with the same difficulties; for to mention no more of St. Francis, than the Miracle of the Five Wounds of Christ imprinted in his Body, which however Bonaventure, proposeth it as a thing past all dispute, and attested by Infinite Multitudes of Spectators; it is certain, that presently after his Death, Pope Gregory IX. would not believe one word of it;Bonavent. c. 15. insomuch, as the poor Saint was forced to appear to him in the Night, and draw a whole Porringer of Blood out of the Wound in his side, to convince him of the Truth of it.Philostrat. l. 1. c. 3. As for Apollonius, Moeragenes, who was Contemporary to him, and writ his Life immediately after his Decease, knew little of his Miracles; Philostratus comes a hundred years after, and giveth a large Legend of them; altho at last, he confesseth himself to be so far ignorant of his Actions, that he knows not whether he died Eighty, Ninety,Id. l. 8. c. 12. or an hundred years old, and by what kind of Death. Philostratus himself pretends no more than one Person to have been raised from the Dead by Apollonius;L. 4. c. 16. and even relates that so doubtfully, that he delivers it as his own Opinion, that the [Page] Person was not really dead. An hundred years after him,In Aureliano Caes. Vopiscus doubted not confidently to assert, that Apollonius raised to life many dead Persons. But Miracles may so easily be obtruded upon the World, after a long distance of time, and are so securely received by the credulous Multitude, that nothing less than a strict Examination can defeat the hopes of Impostors, and confute the Lies of their devoted Historians.

If all the Miracles of Ignatius in general, want a sufficient Attestation, much less will those deserve our Belief, the Truth of which was never attested by any Spectators, but depends upon his own sole Credit and Authority; and that, not only because it is unreasonable to believe a Person witnessing in his own Cause; but chiefly, because it is foolish to imagine that God should concur with Ignatius, to work Miracles in secret, which could tend to no other end, than to foment his vain glory by increasing in him an Opinion of his own Merits. Yet if we examine his Miracles, we shall find many of them attested by his own sole Authority. All his Illuminations and Visions were of this Nature; of which none could be conscious besides himself. When in his Journey to Rome, he stept alone into a little ruinous Chappel, and there enjoyed that wonderful Vision of the two first Persons of the Trinity,Cap. 14. Vitelleschi tells us, that he was environed with a great brightness. This could depend only upon his own Testimony; as also the hovering of a flame of Fire over his Head, like the Cloven fiery Tongues of the Apostles, while he writ the Constitutions of his Order in his private Chamber; and indeed,Lib. 3. Bouhours pretends to no other Testimony [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] of this Miracle, but only saith it appears from a Paper-Book, writ with his own Hand. His driving away Devils from an haunted Chamber, and producing a light in his Chamber, when he had commanded the Candle to be carried away, which we before mentioned, are of the same nature. Thus St. Francis, while he prayed alone in Woods, or solitary Places, was wont to be raised from the Ground, and continue in that pendulous Posture, environed with a bright Cloud.Bonavent. c. 10. His five Wounds in the likeness of Christ's, he received in secret, and would never shew them to any but his own Confidents. St. Mary Magdalen Pazzi, was yet more careful to prevent any discovery of her Imposture.Id. cap. 14. She pretended to have the five Wounds of Christ engraven in her Heart. It is more than probable, that if her Heart had been opened, they would have disappeared, and must have been searched for in her disturbed Brain.

It would be no less irrational blindly to believe those Miracles of Ignatius, which are delivered to us upon the Testimony of one single Witness; who possessed perhaps with a vast Opinion of his Sanctity, fancied somewhat extraordinary to be in all his Actions, and mistook every Motion for a Miracle, to which himself could not assign a Cause. Not to say, That in some Persons the Vanity of lying and spreading wonderful Reports, surmounts all considerations of Shame and moral Honesty. That he was often raised from the Ground in Prayer, and continued in that pendulous Posture in the Air, is delivered to us upon the sole Authority of Iohn Pascal, a poor ignorant Youth, his Chamber-fellow at Barcelona;Bouhours, l. 2. who thought sometimes, that [Page] he saw him elevated from the Ground, and surrounded with Light, when he arose in the Night to pray. The Widow and Children of this Pascall deposed upon Oath,Vitelleschi, cap. 7. that they had heard their Husband and Father say, that he had often seen Ignatius in an Extasy, environed with Light, raised from the Ground five or six Yards high. This was admitted as an undoubted Testimony, and most certain proof of a prodigious Miracle;Cubiculo semper usus est perangusto humili, longo 29. lato 14. alto 10. Palmis. Gloria S. Ignatii, c. 10. altho, if we remember that Pascall's house was a poor Cottage, and that another Author assures us, that he always lodged in a low Chamber, which could not admit any such Elevation of his Body; we shall have great reason to suspect the Miracle. However it is irrational to imagine God the Author of so unuseful a Miracle, which could tend only to make the foolish Saint believe that God heard him better hanging in the Air, than kneeling on the Ground. That Miracle was more notorious, which Lucian De Dea Syra. assures us, he saw publickly performed in the Temple of Hierapolis, of the Image of Apollo, hanging for some while, and caried about in the Air; yet must we ascribe it to any thing else, rather than the Divine Omnipotence. The same Pascall being reduced to great Necessity after the Death of Ignatius, and imploring his Assistance one morning in a Church,Bouhours, l. 6. heard a melodious sound, and saw Ignatius appearing attended with a beautiful train of young Clergymen. After a while, the Canons enter to sing Mattins, see no Apparition, but find Pascall transported into an Extasy with the Imagination of it. The frequent Splendor and supernatural Brightness of his Face is no better attested.Gloria S. Ignatii, c. 6. Isabella Rosella, a credulous Woman, fancied she often saw it at Barcelona, [Page] while standing amidst a croud of People, he heard Sermons in the Church; altho no other Person present could perceive any such thing. In Spain, two Women of his Kindred peeping through the Keyhole, while he prayed, saw his Countenance enflamed, as with a Fever; for it shined with such a Light, that it dazled their Eyes. Bouhours, l. 3. Being once at the point of Death, as he expected Extreme Unction, his Health was miraculously restored to him. Vitelleschi Cap. 7. confesseth that this Miracle would never have been known, had not his good Hostess by great fortune been in the Chamber with him, at that very juncture of time. This consideration also defeats the credit of the greatest part of Apollonius his Miracles, being known only to his confident Damis; with whom being chained in Prison, he drew his Leg out of the Chain, and shewing it unchained to Damis, Philostratus, l. 7. c. 16. immediately put it in again; by which Miracle he was first convinced, that somewhat Divine, and more than Human, was in Apollonius. The Miraculous Splendor of his Face, was better attested, if we may believe Philostratus L. 7. c. 13., for while he was led to the Tribunal of Domitian, the whole People of Rome saw and admired it. This also ruins the Authority of St. Francis's Miracles, the far greater part of which were performed by him after his Death, in Apparitions to sick Persons; Apparitions which are owing only to the disturbed Imagination of the foolish Votaries,Vid. Bonavent. first desiring his assistance, and then fancying him to be present.

Such Miracles as these have nothing extraordinary in them, and are fitted only to amuse the ignorant part of Mankind, who not knowing their natural cause, recur to the Divine Power. Many [Page] Miracles of Ignatius lay open to the same Objection; and may be rationally solved without any deep Philosophy. All his Apparitions after death, and Cures of sick Persons making their application to him, and other like Miracles, which fill up the far greater part of his Legend, are of this nature. The former may be ascribed to the whimsies and vapours of a disturbed Brain; the latter to the effect of Chance, altho even the strength of imagination may not a little concur to the happiness of the effect. If among a thousand Persons, which implore the assistance of Ignatius in any sickness, danger, or undertaking, one hundred recover, escape, or obtain their desire; a blind Credulity shall ascribe the whole event to the miraculous Power, and wonderful Benignity of the Saint; altho in all appearance the Invocation of Aesculapius, Mahomet, or Don Quixot, had produced the same effect. As for the remaining nine hundred which obtain not the grant of their Petitions; their unhappiness shall be ascribed to their want of Faith, to the coldness of their Devotion, and perhaps to the multiplicity of business wherein the Saint was then engaged. Thus Miracles can never be wanting to a Romish Saint, when once the People are perswaded to offer up their Petitions to him Many even of the most illustrious Miracles performed by Ignatius in his life-time, may be resolved into the same cause; and when examined, will be found to have nothing worthy admiration in them. I will instance but in one, the raising of a man from the dead at Barcelona, which all the Writers of his Life magnify as a great Miracle. The case was this. A Man had hung himself in [Page] the House where Ignatius lodged. Ignatius comes hastily into the Chamber, and cuts the Rope. The Man revives, but had already so far weakned the union of Soul and Body, that his life could be continued no longer, than while he confessed, and commended his Soul to God. Here is nothing extraordinary in all this; but only an impertinent Story magnified and exalted into a Miracle in imitation of those frequent Fables of Legends, which to aggrandize the Power of Priests, represent them saving the Souls of Men by some pretty Artifice performed in a minute, without any concurrence of themselves, and sometimes even against their wills. Thus Pope Gregory by one short Prayer translated the Soul of Trajan the Emperor from Hell to Heaven; and St. Dunstan did the same kindness to King Edgar, when they least thought of it.Capgrave, fol. 262. But St. Patrick did somewhat more majestick, when he raised from the dead Glasse a Pagan Giant in Ireland, an hundred foot high, after he had been dead one hundred years; and having baptized him, sent him back to his Grave with assurance of Salvation. St. Benedict used a more compendious way; who, when any of his Monks died in a doubtful state, as to their future Happiness, laid the consecrated Host upon the Breast of the dead Body,Golden Legend▪ fol. 103. which immediately opened it self to receive it; and then all was safe.

There are other Miracles ascribed to Ignatius, which may be evidently convinced of falsehood and forgery; and if this Charge be once proved, the credit and authority of all his other Miracles is intirely overthrown. It would be highly unreasonable in a Cause of so great moment to admit the [Page] testimony of a Witness once convicted of Perjury, since all his Miracles are equally founded upon the same Authority; and a voluntary Fraud proved in one case, will subject the whole Relation to a just suspicion of the like Imposture. Thus it is sufficient to oppose to all the Miracles of Apollonius, that Damis his Companion, from whose sole Authority Philostratus professeth to receive them, hath wilfully obtruded an evident Fable upon the World, in relating that the Constellation of the Bear cannot be seen in the Red Sea,Philostrat. c. 3. [...]. 15. where he remained with Apollonius many months, and could not be ignorant of the truth of that matter. To this we may add, that whereas Apollonius pretended, and Philostratus Lib. 1. relates of him, that by an extraordinary gift of God he understood all Languages, and as Porphyry De abstinent. l. 3. sect. 3. would perswade us, even the Language of Beasts and Birds; yet when he came into India, he was forced to make use of an Interpreter, by the confession of the same Historian Lib. 2.. That the History of Ignatius ▪ his Miracles receiveth the same prejudice from the disagreement and contrariety of the Historians, I will briefly demonstrate in some few Examples.Bussieres, l. 1. c. 2. His Conversion is commonly represented to have been begun by a Vision of Saint Peter touching his Wounds, and healing them immediately.Lib. 1. Yet Bouhours confesseth the Cure was not yet performed of many weeks after this supposed Vision, and at last so performed, that a visible deformity and perpetual lameness remained in his Leg:Cap. 7. altho Vitelleschi proposeth it as a certain rule of Miracles, that they are ever perfect, and in nothing deficient. At Barcelona Ignatius was so grievously beaten by some Ruffians, that he underwent [Page] great danger of his life. His recovery is ascribed to a glorious Miracle by Vitelleschi;Id. ibid. who relates, that after thirty days sickness, being now at the point of death, he was miraculously in a moment restored to perfect health. In opposition to this Bouhours L. 2. and Bussieres L. 1. c. 8. maintain, that he hardly recovered his health after fifty three days sickness and pains. Ribadeneira Cap. 19▪ &c. relates many Miracles performed by the Reliques of his Garments, which Vitelleschi Cap. 19. saith that the People with great reverence and devotion divided among them. Maffeius L. 2. c. 23. and Bouhours L. 5. on the contrary assure us, that the Fathers of the Society would not suffer the least part of his Garments, nor any other Relique, to be carried from his dead Body. To name no more, the Case of Ignatius his Horse, which carried him from Paris to Spain, is much to be lamented, the poor Beast having suffered great loss of reputation from this disagreement of Historians.Maffeius, l. 2. c. 1. For however one relates, that being left by Ignatius to an Hospital, the People looked on him with so much reverence, that no man dared to use him afterwards, but that as a sacred Horse he was preserved in ease and good pasture all his life;Bussieres, l. 2. c. 3. another degradeth him to the everlasting drudgery of carrying Wood for the poor People of the Hospital of Aspeitia.

Those Miracles, which I have hitherto mentioned, may be justly rejected, as wanting that due attestation and authority, which are necessarily required to create a rational belief of them. But there are others, which the greatest Authority upon Earth, even the united testimony of the whole World, cannot render credible; I mean such as include [Page] contradictions in them, and are destructive of those evident Ideas of created beings, which are common to all Mankind. Such Miracles, while we act rationally, we cannot believe, even altho ten thousand other Miracles should be wrought in confirmation of them.L. 1. c. 2, 5. If Philostratus tells us, that Apollonius standing before the Tribunal of Domitian rendred himself invisible,Golden Legend. London, 1527. disappeared, and in a moment removed himself to Puteoli; if the Legend relates how the Soul of St. Benedict was seen ascending into Heaven by the Bishop of Brixia, and a Priest of Tibur at the same moment. If Baccius Vit. ejus, l. 3. c. 11. pretends that St. Philip Neri was frequently present in distant Pla [...] at the same time; or if Bonaventure Cap. 4. writeth that St. Francis was bodily present at Assisium in Italy, and at Arles in France, in the same moment; that he could turn himself into the shape of a Cross,Cap. 11. and be present at several Chapters of his Order at the same time; and that his Soul was seen flying into Heaven in Mount Garganus, Cap. 15. and Terra di Lovoro, at the very same point of time; and other Miracles of this nature be obtruded on us; it is sufficient to oppose to them their absolute impossibility, and not descend into a particular examination of the Authority which attests them.Illo ipso, quo Romae obiit, momento. Gloria S. Ign. cap. 17. Eo temporis puncto. Ribadeneira. Thus the Soul of Ignatius is reported at the very same instant, in which it was separated from the Body at Rome, to have appeared to a devout Widow, called Margaret Gigli, at Bologna. A Soul can no otherwise appear, than by moving matter, whereby it may strike the Senses of living Persons. Now that a Soul should move matter in two distant Places at the same time, is no less [Page] impossible, than that a Body should be in two places at the same time. That the Soul should in a moment remove its Operation from Rome to Bologna, is no less inconceiveable; not to say that it is contrary to the Philosophy of the Schools, which Ignatius, who received Gloria S. Ign. cap. 3. his Philosophy from Divine Illumination, so far embraced and admired, that he accounted the least opposition of it no less than Heresie; and threatned Bouhours, [...]. 4., that if he lived a thousand years, he would never give over crying down all novelties in Divinity, in Philosophy, and even in Grammar. I know not what Philosophy taught these Historians,Ribad. c. 18. that the Devil knows future Contingencies; but surely no Divinity will allow it. Yet are we told a goodly Story, how the Devil, after Ignatius his death, but before his Canonization, cryed out of the Body of a Doemoniack;Uno eodem (que) tempore in spectabili corpore duobus in locis, &c. Gloria S. Ign. c. 6. that Ignatius his greatest Enemy now led a blessed life in Heaven, and should shortly be Canonized on Earth. But to compleat the absurdity of Ignatius his Miracles, and advance their contradiction to the Laws of Nature beyond all comparison; the Writers of his Life pretend him to have been bodily present in two places more than nine hundred miles distant at one and the same time:Vitelleschi, cap. 16. and produce this one Example of it. Leonard Kesel, a Jesuit of Colen, passionately desired to see Ignatius while yet alive; and therefore writing to him earnestly, desired him to give him leave to come to Rome. The Saint forbid him to come, assuring him, that if his sight was necessary, God would provide a way for it, without putting him to the trouble of undergoing so long a Journey. This Answer [Page] seemed enigmatical to Kesel; yet he contented himself, and expected the event. Upon a day then, when he least thought of it, Ignatius entred into his Chamber at Colen; and having talked with him for some while, disappeared, leaving him wonderfully comforted with this prodigious visit. It seems, Romantick Negromancers, our Modern Witches, and Romish Saints,Bonavent. cap. 11. Capgrave Legend, Nov. fol. 89. are all alike famous for making themselves invisible, and flying in the Air. Saint Francis frequently rid through the Air in a fiery Chariot; and Saint Dunstan, while yet a Boy, flew down from the top of Glastenbury Church: but Abaris, the Disciple of Pythagoras, and Priest of Apollo, among the Scythians, outdid them all; who taking an Arrow out of Apollo's Temple, rid upon it in the Air over all the World,Iamblichus de vit. Pythag. cap. 19. past Seas, Rivers and Deserts; performed Miracles, and did such Wonders, as no Romish Saint-Errant did ever equal.

Miracles including such contradictions, as that one individual Body can exist in two distant places at the same time, ought in no case to be believed; but there are others, which however implying no contradiction, include somewhat monstrous in them, and carry such an air of incredibility, that nothing less than the utmost evidence of sense can induce the mind to assent to them. The Miracles of Christ and the Apostles were indeed beyond the ordinary power of Nature; but yet were not so extravagantly stupendious, as might affright no less than perswade Mankind. But the Legendary Writers of the Church of Rome, while they calculated their [Page] Miracles, not for the benefit of the Church, or information of the World, but the honour and admiration of their Saint, scorned to stoop at ordinary Prodigies, or take measures from the more sober Miracles of the first Founders of Christianity. It was not sufficient for Saint Francis to turn Water into Wine,Bonavent. cap 5, 7, 8.2, 7, 12, 18. to draw Water from the Rock, and feed great multitudes with a little Bread, in emulation of Christ (whose Miracles the Romish Legends have so far transcribed, that not even those have been omitted, which argued a Divine Nature to be in Christ. Thus Iac. Baccius, in vir. ejus, l. 3. c. 8. l. 5. c. 4. St. Philip Neri is said to have understood the most private thoughts of Men; and his Disciples pretended frequently to cure Diseases in his Name. Yet these satisfied not the Ambition of St. Francis) but higher flights must be taken, and greater Miracles invented. Beasts, Birds, and Insects, must admire and reverence him; the Cross must speak to him, Stone-walls must move at his command, Ships must voluntarily attend his motions without any Pilot, and his Votaries must walk under water no otherwise than upon dry ground. Lastly,Id. cap. 11. to exceed the glory of all Prophets and Apostles, and even the Humanity of Christ himself; he must know the secret thoughts of Men; a privilege in like manner challenged by Apollonius, Philostrat. l. 1. c. 13. l. 7. c. 4. and Ignatius Gloria S. Ign. cap. 3. Philostrat. l. 4. c. 12. Bouhours, l. 2. Vitelleschi, c. 16. Philostrat. l. 5. [...]. 10. l. 8. c. 10.; altho the former recommended Euphrates the Philosopher to Vespasian the Emperor as a most vertuous and religious Person, whom he afterwards accused of many horrid Crimes before Domitian; and the latter, by the Confession of his Historians, was often ignorant of the Intentions of the Popes concerning his Order; and both chose to [Page] themselves at first Disciples who apostatized from them: Both equally pretended to know whatsoever was done in any absent part of the World; and Dio [...], apud Xiphilin. in Domitiano. asserts confidently, that Apollonius knew at Ephesus, what was done in the same moment at Rome, altho we should ten thousand times disbelieve it But we have learned not to resign up our Judgments to confident Pretences; and do not envy to the Church of Rome, the Example and Authority of the Ancient Heathens in inventing prodigious Fables, and requiring a blind Belief to be given to them. It were too tedious to reckon up all the fabulous Prodigies ascribed to Ignatius; how many Miracles were performed by his Name written in a piece of Paper; How many Legions of Devils were driven away by his Staff, and Cures performed by the parings of his Nails. But that Miracle is more especially observable, which he acted at his last return into his own Country.Vitelleschi, c. 12. Preaching there in Field-Conventicles, surrounded with a great Auditory, his Voice, tho naturally very low, and weakned with many Diseases and Infirmities, was heard distinctly above a Quarter of a Mile round. In framing of Miracles for the Reputation of an Order, it seems dishonourable to Copy out from one another. No greater Curse can befal an Order, than not to invent some Miracles more Stupendious, than any pretended to by other Orders. Yet in this case of Preaching, the Dominicans have been so successful in their Miracles, that they have left no room for future Invention. They tell us, that Vincentius Ferrerius of their Order, preaching to People of many Nations, and different Languages at once, [Page] was understood by all at the same time, as well as if every one had heard him Preaching in their own Language. This was so high a flight, that it must be a very fruitful Invention which can exceed it. The Jesuits therefore at least, to offer somewhat in Comparison to it, have represented Ignatius dilating his Voice in Preaching beyond the ordinary Power of Nature; and when they were conscious that this was too mean a flight, have ascribed to Xaverius the gift of Tongues; a Miracle in their esteem so great and unexceptionable, that of late it hath been thought worthy to be produced and employed in the Conversion of English Hereticks.Epist. ad sodales. inter Epist ex India select. l. 1. Ep. 3. p. 16. Antwerp. 1605. 8o. But see the unhappiness of the Project. There is yet extant an Epistle of Xaverius, wherein he complains of his small success in the East Indies, proceeding from his want of the Tongue; and tells us, how coming to Iapan, he employed himself for some Months, with great labour and industry to learn the Tongue. To which we may add, what Orlandinus Hist. Soc. Jesu. l. 3. num. 87. Colon. 1615. 4o. relates of him, That, when in the Island Socotora, he could not teach Christianity to the People by word of Mouth, for want of the Tongue, he taught them by Nods, and the motion of his Fingers.

Lastly, There are some Miracles so foolish and unuseful, and performed upon such frivolous occasions, that the proposal of them would deserve our Indignation, rather than belief; such as are injurious to the Honour of God, and repugnant to his Wisdom, and look rather like the effects of Vanity, or a trifling petulant Humor, than the Works of Omniscience; as if God would condescend to exert his [Page] Omnipotence in Trifles, and give sport to Mankind. It would be unworthy his infinite Perfection, to violate the ordinary course of Nature, for any other than great and noble Ends, or to prostitute his Power of working Miracles to the Whimsies an Capricio's of every petty Devoto. When we are told, therefore, that an Elm saluted Apollonius with an articulate Voice,Philostrat. l. 6. c. 5. l. 3. at the command of an Indian Philosopher: That when the Brachmans entertained him at Dinner, the Earth of its own accord rose up in a gibbous excrescence in form of a Table; Leaves and Flowers raised themselves into Seats for the Guests, and Cups and Dishes placed themselves on the Table without any mover; and that after the Dinner, the Brachmans diverted their Guests by hanging in the Air. When we hear of St. Dunstans setting his Shoulder to the Church of Macclesfield, Capgrave, f. 94. Golden Legend. London, 1527. which was not placed towards the East, and crouding it into a right Position. That Jac. Baccius in Vit. ejus, l. 3. c. 1. l. 2. c. 13. St. Philip Neri could smell the Devil, could see Souls, while they were yet in the Body; and by the smell, distinguish who had kept their Virginity, and who not. That St. Dominick, and St. Vrsula, with her Army of Virgins, marched through the Rain without being wetted. That St. Benedict, Id. fol. 103. while yet a Child, repaired the broken Platter of his Nurse.Id. fol. 68. That when St. Fremyns Body was translated to Amiens, the Trees put on Leaves, and the Sun ascended to the Tropick of Cancer in the middle of December; we cannot so far betray our Reason, as to believe such Trifles, which [...]ould be even unworthy the gaiety of a Theatre, much more the Majesty and Wisdom of God. St. Francis [Page] and Ignatius were no less remarkable for such miraculous Freaks, than any other Saint whatsoever. The former being invoked after Death,Bonavent. c. 24.19. set the broken Legs of Oxen, restored stollen Cattel, mended crackt wooden Dishes, and repaired broken Plowshears; and as if Saints were freed from all Obligations of Moral Justice, broke the Prison-doors to set Debtors at Liberty.Bouhours, l. 2. Ignatius was taught to play at Billiards by an extraordinary Miracle; and which will for ever engage the Devotion of the softer Sex to him, is reported to have conferred Beauty upon deformed Children,Gloria S. Ign. c. 17. at a single Invocation. His Companions march through a deep Snow;Bussieres, l. 2. c. 4. but wheresoever they set their foot, the Snow presently dislodgeth: A Father and Mother dispute whether their little Son of three Months old,Gloria S Ign. c. 16. should be named Ignatius, or Irenoeus. The Controversy is committed to the Arbitration of the Child, who presently gives Sentence for Ignatius in an articulate Speech. Lastly, That nothing may be wanting to the Perfection of these Theatrical Miracles, Musick must be introduced to complement the Saint, and divert the Reader. When St. Francis one Night earnestly desired to hear some Musick,Bonavent. cap. 5. a Concert of Angels appeared to him, and played most melodiously. While Ignatius writ his Constitutions, He often heard, Gloria S. Ign. c. 4. not only in his Imagination, but with his outward Ears, most sweet Lessons of the heavenly Musick. And when his Body was exposed after Death,Vitelleschi, c. 19. Ribad. c. 21. divers Stars were seen upon his Sepulchre, and a very harmonious Concert of Musick was heard about it, for two whole days together. But St. [Page] Dunstan was more modest in procuring to himself this miraculous Musick.Capgrave Legenda Nova, London, 1516. fol. 89. He scorned to put the Angels to any trouble; and therefore his Harp usually played of its own accord, as it hung upon the Wall.

Such are the Miracles, which in former Ages advanced the Doctrines of the Church of Rome, and at this day continue to be none of the least Arguments of their truth to credulous and injudicious Persons. Upon these is founded the honour of their Saints; and upon their truth depends one of the most glorious Notes of their Church. From the Miracles of Saint Francis alone, Surius pretends,Not. ad Bonavent. Vit. S. Francisci ad IV. Octob. that, whatsoever Hereticks may prate, it is abundantly proved, that the departed Saints know our Concerns on Earth, and hear our Petitions. Thus the Controversie of the Invocation of Saints is decided. Add to this the Visions of Ignatius, and devotion of Saint Francis's Lamb, and Transubstantiation will be irrefragably demonstrated: and so in all other Articles peculiar to the Church of Rome, Miracles will not be wanting to demonstrate their truth. And indeed Miracles are now become the only refuge to which our Adversaries can recur, when Reason and Learning runs so low among them, and their Arguments have been so often baffled. But by an unhappy incredulity we are no more inclined to believe their Miracles, than Doctrines; the latter we imagine to be false, but the former both false and foolish. It remains therefore that we receive a conviction of the truth of the Romish Religion, as Ignatius did, by supernatural Illumination, and extraordinary Impulse, [Page] which may be hoped for, when God shall lose his Attribute of Immutability, and Christianity cease to be Rational. But to pass by that; From what hath been hitherto said, it appears that the Church of Rome is in the highest degree guilty of Enthusiasm; and that Ignatius, and (whom he imitated) Saint Francis, were the greatest and most foolish Enthusiasts of any Age; Persons so far unworthy the Glories of Heaven, and Society of Angels, that they deserved rather to be excluded from the number of rational Beings, and upon that account be placed one degree beneath Fools and Madmen. Yet to these are publick Prayers addressed in the Church of Rome, Festivals celebrated, Churches dedicated, and Vows directed; and as if all this were not sufficient, God must be desired to save us through their Merits. Thus Bonaventure concludes the Life of Saint Francis in these words.Fol. 266. May Iesus Christ bring us unto Heaven by the Merits of his Servant Francis: and the Golden Legend thus. Let us pray to Saint Francis that he would aid and assist us, that by his Merits we may come to everlasting life. Vid. Tres insignes Conciones pronuntiatas die festo glorific. B. Ignatii excusas Pictaviae 1611. And that somewhat more than humane may be conceived of them; we are told of Ignatius, that only by his Name writ in a piece of Paper, he did more Miracles than Moses, and not fewer than the Apostles; that the Founders indeed of other Religious Orders were formerly sent by God for the benefit of the Church; but that after all, in these last days, God hath spoken to us by his Son Ignatius, whom he hath made Heir of all things, and to whom nothing else was wanting to the utmost perfection, but the following[Page]Attribute, By whom also he made the World. This was spoken of Ignatius before he was yet Canonized. I know not whether his Canonization qualified him to receive that Attribute; but I am sure it excused not his Memory from the just imputation of Folly and Enthusiasm, nor the Church of Rome from the Charge of a most deplorable Fanaticism in celebrating his Memory, and applauding his Folly.

FINIS.

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THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CHURCH of ROME.

§

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Imprimatur, Liber cui Titulus, The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome.

Guil. Needham, RR. in Christò P. ac D. D. Wilhelno Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Domest.

Mart. 16. 1687/8.

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THE ENTHUSIASM OF THE Church of Rome Demonstrated in some OBSERVATIONS UPON THE LIFE OF IGNATIVS LOYOLA.

LONDON: Printed for Ric. Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCLXXXVIII.

THE CONTENTS.

[Page]

[Page]

AN irrational Credulity the occasion of Enthusiasm,

Page 2

The causes of this Credulity,

p. 1, 2

The ill effects of Enthusiasm,

p. 3

The true remedy of it,

p. 4

How fatal it is to Christianity,

p. 5

That Christianity rightly understood, cannot be charged with it,

p. 6, 7

That the Church of Rome is most guilty of it,

p. 7, 8

That Learning tends effectually to prevent it,

p. 6, 7, 8, 9

The Artifices of Enthusiasts,

p. 9, 10

That the constitution of the Body, and disposition of the Spirits, may very much promote Enthusiasm; and these either natural or acquired,

p. 11, 12, 13

The mistakes in Religion arising from Enthusiasm,

p. 13, 14

That to promote Enthusiasm is a certain mark of a corrupted Church

Page 15

That the Church of England doth not in the least encourage it,

p. 16

That the Church of Rome doth many ways promote it,

p. 16, 17, 18

Especially in her approbation and veneration of Enthusiastick Saints,

p. 18, 19

Particularly of Ignatius Loyola,

p. 20

Ambition the first necessary quality of an Enthusiast,

p. 20, 21

Ignatius in an eminent manner guilty of it,

p. 21, &c.

First induced to undertake a Religious Life by reading Romances, and the Lives of Saints,

p. 22, 23, 24

His apish imitation of Christ and St. Francis,

p. 25

His imitation of Romantick Heroes,

p. 26, 27, 28

[Page]His Dispute with the Moor in his Pilgrimage to Montserrat,

Page 28, 29

His Ambition, confessed by the Writers of his Life,

p. 30, 31

That his Conversion proceeding from Ambition, could not be the effect of a Divine Operation,

p. 31

That this Ambition continued after his Conversion,

p. 32

That an Enthusiastick way of life was an effectual means to procure to him his desired Glory,

p. 32, 33, 34

Other Arguments of Ignatius his Ambition,

p. 34, 35, 36

His great conceit and boasts of his own Sanctity,

p. 37, 38

Weakness and violent commotions of Body necessary to Enthusiasts, and eminent in Ignatius,

p. 39, 40

His Ignorance, and weakness of understanding, stupidity and hatred of Learning,

p. 41, 42, 43, 44

The essential Properties of Enthusiasm,

p. 44

His pretence of Divine Visions,

p. 45, 46, 47, 48, 49

That these Visions were wholly owing to his disturbed Imagination,

p 50, 51

His pretence of internal supernatural Illuminations, and infused Knowledge,

Page 51, 52, 53, 54

His own Account of his Divine Visions, Raptures and Illuminations,

p. 55, 56, 57, 58, 59

That these Illuminations were false and fictitious,

p. 60, 61

His pretence of acting by Divine Inspiration, and an inward Light,

p. 61, 62, 63, 64

His requiring a blind obedience and submission from his Disciples,

p. 64, 65, 66

His diffidence of his own Reason, and irrational expectation of a Divine Direction and Assistance upon all occasions,

p. 66, 67, 68

His pretence of a mighty familiarity with God, and receiving wonderful internal Consolations,

p. 68, 69

His canting about Spiritual Matters,

p. 70, 71

His irregular Preaching without receiving any Commission from the Church,

p. 71, 73, 74, 75, 76

In imitation of St. Francis,

p. 72

The ordinary effects of Enthusiasm, and that Ignatius was guilty of them,

p. 76, &c.

His perpetual praying,

p. 77

His foolish expectation of extraordinary assistance from God in all difficulties,

p. 78

[Page]Other mistakes in Religion arising from Enthusiasm,

p. 79, 80

The foolish pretence and gross practice of Evangelical Poverty used by Ignatius,

p. 80, 81, 82, 83, 84

His immoderate and irrational Abstinence and Austerities,

p. 84, 85, 86

His desire of contempt, contumelies and derision,

p. 87, 88

The ridiculous Actions of Enthusiasts,

p. 89

Of St. Francis,

p. 89, 90, 91

Of Ignatius,

p. 91, 92

His denying to pay the usual ceremonies of Civilitiy,

p. 93, 94

The inconstancy and irregular Conduct of Enthusiasts,

p. 95

Of Ignatius,

p. 95, 96, 97

The pretence of fighting with Devils common to the Enthusiasts of the Church of Rome,

p. 97, 98

More especially to Ignatius and St. Francis,

p. 98, 99

That all these Pretences may be justly suspected of falshood,

p. 100

That the Actions related to Ignatius by the Writers of his Life, might give just occasion of suspecting the concurrence of Evil Spirits in them,

p. 101, 102▪

That the Pope hath erred in affirming him never to have committed any mortal Sin after his Conversion,

p. 103

That he was most grosly guilty of the Sin of Despair,

p. 103, 104, 105

That his blind submission to the Dictates of his Confessor was sinful, at least foolish,

p. 105, 106

That he may be justly suspected of many other Vices, of entertaining unworthy thoughts of God, of revenge and cruelty, of lying, equivocating and incontinence,

p. 107, 108, 109

St. Francis's temptation to Incontinence,

p. 109, 110

That Ignatius may be justly suspected of Imposture,

p. 110, 111

Of Heresie,

p. 112, 113

That both he and Saint Francis were, while alive, generally esteemed Fools, Madmen, Impostors and Hereticks,

p. 113, 114, 115

Of his Miracles,

p. 115, &c.

That it is incredible that God should in these latter Ages exert his power of Miracles so frequently,

p. 116, 117

That the Miracles of Ignatius were forged after his Death,

p. 118

[Page]That by the Confession of the Writers of his Life they are highly uncertain,

p. 119, 120

That they want due attestation: many of them depending upon his own single Testimony,

p. 121, 122

Others upon the Testimony of one single credulous Witness,

p. 122, 123, 124

That many of his Miracles have nothing extraordinary in them, and may be solved by natural Causes,

p. 124, 125, 126

That some of them are evidently false, proved from the Testimony of the Writers of his Life,

p. 126, 127, 128

From the absolute impossibility of them, and contradictions included in them,

p. 128, 129, 130, 131

From their monstrous incredibility,

p. 131, 132, 133, 134

From their frivolousness and impertinence,

p. 134, 135, 136

The Conclusion,

p. 137, 138, 139

THE PREFACE.

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AMong other Artifices, wherewith the Romish Emissaries recommend their Religion to ignorant and unwary Persons, none hath been more specious and successful, than the pretence of an excellent Ecclesiastical Policy, fitted to preserve Vnion in the Church, and prevent the Illusions of a private Spirit. The badness of their Cause permits them not to descend into a scrupulous examination of the merits of it. Every single Controversie hath been so often handled, and so demonstratively determined against them, that it would be rash and disadvantageous to resume the debate of those particular Questions. It was therefore found necessary to advance some general Considerations, which might amuse the Ignorant, and divert the Inquisitive from the examination of particular Controversies. Prejudices have been published against the Reformed Religion; and pompous Arguments of external Convenience daily urged in favour of the Church of Rome. The principal of these is the pretended excellence of the Constitution of that Church, tending to preserve an intire unity of Faith, and universal decency of Discipline in the Church, and free all private Persons from the danger of entertaining any pernicious Error, or at least infusing it into others continuing in the Communion of the Church; while every one submits his private Reason to the Iudgment of the Church, and with a blind obedience receives [Page] directions from the Living Rule of Faith, whether Pope or Council.

This supposed Advantage hath been often, and with great ostentation produced in behalf of the Church of Rome; and a natural tendency to Disorder, Heresie and Schism, with great vehemence charged upon the Church of England. It is objected that she allows to every man an unlimited power of using his own Reason in deciding matters of Faith; that she constitutes every Person a supreme Iudge of the most momentous Controversies, from whom lyeth no Appeal to any Visible Iudge on Earth; That she subjects the Faith of all private Christians to infinite uncertainty and fluctuation, since the Infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost is promised only to the Representative Church; and the Iudgments of men may be as various as are their Humours and Vnderstandings; That hereby a door is opened to infinite Heresies and Errors, and the Christian Religion exposed to the danger of being divided into as many several Systems as it contains Proselytes: That by this disorder all Rules of Faith are rendred useless, since whatsoever they may propose in their genuine sense, men will adapt them to their own pre-conceived Notions▪ and frame to themselves a belief from the Dictates and Inclinations of their private Spirit: whereby unity of Faith will be totally destroyed, and Religion will degenerate into downright Enthusiasm.

Indeed the danger of Enthusiasm, when rightly understood, is so fatal to Christianity, and destructive to the Reason of Mankind; that we cannot but conclude any Church, which is guilty of it, to be grosly corrupted and degenerate; and shall willingly put the whole Controversy upon this issue. But then Enthusiasm consists not in allowing to every private Person the power of judging for himself in matters of Religion. For this the Nature as [Page] well as Interest of Mankind requireth, which received the use of Reason chiefly for this end; and even our Adversaries themselves must at last recur to this principle; but it consists in pretending to receive the Articles of Faith by extraordinary Illumination, and in irrational and extravagant actions of Devotion and Piety, which a fond Imagination mistaketh for the Impulses and Dictates of the Divine Spirit. Such Pretences and Actions, as they are most remote from the Genius and Constitution of the Church of England; so they naturally flow from the Principles of the Church of Rome, and are fomented and promoted by her.

This appears upon many accounts, but chiefly from the consideration of her most Illustrious Saints, whom she admired when living, and reverenceth when dead; consulted them then as Oracles, and proposeth them now to her Followers as Patterns of the most consummate Perfection, and by canonization of them, and solemnizing their Memories, hath set a publick stamp of authority and approbation upon their Life and Conduct. The most eminent of these were extravagant Enthusiasts, who distinguished themselves from the rest of Mankind by nothing else but the continued exercise of a blind Fanaticism. The proof of this Charge is the design of this present Treatise; which hath therefore assumed for the Subject of it the Actions of Ignatius Loyola, as the greatest and most illustrious of all the latter Romish Saints.

If our Arguments shall be convictive, and the most admired Saints of the Church of Rome shall be found to be in the highest degree guilty of Enthusiasm; many considerable Conclusions may be drawn from thence in relation to other Controversies, which I shall not here insist to prove; The so much boasted Order and Discipline of the Church of Rome will be intirely ruined. For if the [Page] pretence of a private Impulse be once publickly admitted and countenanced in any Church, all Impulses whatsoever must be allowed without distinction, whether agreeable or contrary to decency and the established Discipline of the Church, which will open a wide door to all licentious Disorders, since it is the nature of Enthusiasm ever to affect somewhat extravagant and irregular. The certainty of Oral Tradition will be overthrown; since if Persons of so great authority and repute, as Saints are supposed to be, received not the Catholick Faith from any precedent Tradition, but from extraordinary Inspiration, that is in truth, the whimsies of their own Brains, and so delivered it to vast multitudes of credulous Hearers; Oral Tradition will be interrupted, and the grossest Heresie might be easily introduced in the Church.

But to omit other Consequences prejudicial to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome; the Invocation of Saints will hence receive a fatal blow. For it would be highly irrational to address our Prayers to any Saint to desire his intercession in Heaven, unless we were probably assured that the Saint hath already obtained a place in Heaven. But if the Church can so far err in the Canonization of Saints, as to bestow that sacred Character upon, publickly address Prayers to, and exhort the People in their private Devotions to desire the intercession of such foolish Enthusiasts, as are utterly unworthy the lowest seat in Heaven, and perhaps never got so far as Purgatory; then Invocation of Saints, altho we should grant it to be lawful in the Theory, cannot but be infinitely unsafe in the practice of it.

If the imputation of Enthusiasm renders the Invocation of these Saints unsafe and dangerous; much more will the evidence of some notorious Crime unrepented of incapacitate other Romish Saints from receiving our Addresses. [Page] That there have been such, the Examples of St. Thomas Becket and St. Dominick put past all dispute; the first of which violently opposed the lawful power of his Prince over the Clergy; the last employed his whole life in inciting Armies of holy Pilgrims to the slaughter of the innocent Albigenses. Vid. 2d part of the Vindication of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England. But what, if after all, great numbers of Saints, placed in the Roman Calendar, and invoked in the publick Offices of the Church, had never any existence, and are the meer Inventions of Romantick Legends? A Learned Person hath lately instanced in some few of them, as St. George, St. Sebastian, St. Longinus, St. Viarius, &c. to which perhaps some hundreds might be added. I will instance but in one, but him most remarkable, and not yet observed by any, as being such a Monster of a Saint, as Pagan Superstition would have never thought of, and which may perhaps at the first sight seem incredible.

The Church of Rome hath taken the Almanack into the number of the Saints, and canonized it under the name of St. Almachius, solemnizeth its memory on the first day of January, and giveth to it an illustrious Character in the Martyrology. This probably proceeded from the mistake of some ignorant Monk about the seventh or eighth Age, who finding the word S. Almanacum, Sanctum Almanacum written in the front of the Calendar, and not knowing what to make of that barbarous term, with which he was before unacquainted, imagined it to be some ancient obscure Saint, who took up the first place in the Calendar. Being possessed with this Error, it was no hard matter to make S. Almachius of S. Almanacum written in the old way of Abbreviation. Having thus framed the Saint, out of good manners he placed him after the Circumcision of our Lord, the memory of which is celebrated upon the same day; but yet to keep the former [Page] Order as much as possible, immediately after it, as it now continueth in the Roman Martyrology. This unhappy mistake was thence transcribed into many other Copies, and so encreased the Rabble of the Romish Saints with the addition of St. Almanack. Afterwards a goodly Story was framed of him; that he suffered Martyrdom at Rome under the Presecture of Alipius, where reprehending the Gladiators in the Amphitheater for their bloody sports, he was killed by them. That my Conjecture is just, manifestly appears from the constant silence of all ancient Writers concerning any such Martyr. None makes mention of him before Alcuinus De Divin. Offic. c. 4.; and he doth it in such a manner as sheweth that he knew not what to make of him. For as for the Martyrologies of Beda, Usuardus and Ado, they have received so many Interpolations from latter hands, that no Arguments can be drawn from them. Baronius is grievously perplexed about this S. Almachius. One while Not. in Martyrolog. Rom. p. 3. Edit. Paris, 1645. he makes him to have suffered under Honorius; another while Annal. ad an. 395. n 20. under Theodosius; and supposeth him to have been the same with the Martyr Telemachus, of whom Theodoret Hist. Eccl. l. 6. c. 26. makes mention. But so prodigious a change of Telemachus into Almachius is somewhat incredible; and that Telemachus was stoned, whereas Almachius is said to have been stabbed. Add to this universal silence of the Ancients, that S. Almachius is placed exactly in the beginning of the Calendar, on the first of January, immediately after the Circumcision of Christ; and the matter will be rendred highly probable. The only Objection, which with any shew of reason can be opposed, is, that the word Almanacum seems not to have been so ancient as the time of Alcuinus, as being received from the Arabians. But this is no other than a vulgar Error. For Porphyry Ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 3. c. 4. Paulo post princip. used the word 1400. years since, where [Page] speaking of the many different Horoscopes, he saith of them, [...] whose names are contained in the Almanacks: which may also give a probable reason how the letter h crept into Almachius. For as anciently in spelling words derived from the Greek, they kept much more closely to the Greek Orthography, than we now do; it is not unlikely that when this word was first adopted by the Latins, it was writ Almanachum.

These Arguments will at least create a probability of my Assertion, that this fictitious Saint arose from the unhappy mistake of some ignorant Writer. If our Adversaries of the Church of Rome shall yet persist to defend the honour and truth of their Calendar; it will concern them to produce better Arguments for the existence of St. Almachius, than I have now proposed against it: But to return from St. Almanack to St. Ignatius; it cannot be pretended by our Adversaries, that the Character of Enthusiasm or Falsity, which I have affixed to him, and the Miracles attributed to him, may equally be fastned on the Actions and Miracles of Christ and his Apostles; altho both Ignatius and St. Francis in acting their Extravagances flattered themselves with the thoughts of a perfect imitation of Christ. As for the reception of the Faith by extraordinary Illumination, and in many cases acting by Divine Impulse; that in the first propagation of Christianity (when it was both necessary and convenient) was no argument or character of Enthusiasm: but only in subsequent times, after the Faith had been once published; and an ordinary Rule, whether Scripture or Tradition, was fixed, which by natural means might divulge the knowledge of it. Nothing childish or ridiculous can be discovered in the Actions of Christ and his Apostles; none of those frantick Motions, or irrational Extravagances, which are so eminently [Page] conspicuous in the whole Conduct of Ignatius. At least none of their Miracles are subject to those Objections, which intirely ruine the credit of those ascribed to Ignatius. They were all well attested, performed before whole multitudes of Enemies as well as Friends, delivered to us by Eye-witnesses, and that without any fluctuation, or mutual repugnance of their Testimony, were not destructive of the Laws of Corporeal Beings, nor included any contradiction, contained nothing monstrous or indecent in them, and were in all respects intirely conformable to the Majesty of that God, who wrought them; and the gravity of that Religion, which was confirmed by them.

It will perhaps be pretended with greater shew of reason, that the actions and Histories of many famous Monks and Anchorets of the Ancient Church give no small countenance to the Conduct of Ignatius, and by the authority of their Examples rescue it from the force of our Objections; that consequently the Ancient Church is no less subject to the Charge of Enthusiasm than the Church of Rome, and both equally concerned in it. Altho the deformity of Enthusiasm cannot be palliated by any Authority whatsoever; yet the regard which I have to Truth, and the great reverence which the Church of England not unjustly beareth to the more pure and ancient times of Christianity, obligeth me to remove this prejudice, and preclude the force of any such Objection, before I dismiss the Reader.

First then, however it cannot be denied that many Persons, who obtained to themselves an extraordinary repute of sanctity in the Ancient Church, committed many gross irregularities in the conduct of their Devotion, practised immoderate Austerities, and were sometimes guilty of ridiculous Actions; yet the Ancient Vniversal Church is not in the least concerned in all this, nor receiveth any prejudice from the indiscreet Zeal of these private Bigots. [Page] She gave no countenance to their Extravagances, never recommended them to the practise or imitation of her Children, much less approved them by any solemn and publick Act. Whereas the Church of Rome hath in the highest and most solemn manner espoused the Follies and Whimsies of her Enthusiastick Saints by canonizing them, celebrating their Memories with Festivals and pompous Ceremonies, invoking them in her publick Offices, and recommending their Examples to the World as the best and greatest Patterns of Christian Perfection.

This alone might suffice to overthrow all pretence of Antiquity in this case. Yet to clear the matter somewhat farther, I will observe that these indiscreet Actions and Childish Irregularities were the products of latter and degenerate Ages in the Ancient Church, unknown to the first four Ages, when Christianity flourished in its greatest purity. In the three first Ages not the least footstep or shadow of them can be found; and in the fourth Age they were very rarely practised, and wholly confined to the Desarts of Egypt or Palestine. As for the Follies related of St. Antony in his Life, ascribed to St. Athanasius, and those of other Saints in the Vitae Patrum, said to have been writ by St. Hierom, all Learned Men are now agreed that the former Work is miserably corrupted, the latter wholly spurious. After the fourth Age, many Childish Impertinencies and trifling Superstitions began to be practised by the Monks and Hermits, whose Follies are celebrated and magnified by injudicious Writers of the same Order and time, such as Palladius, Heraclitus, Sulpicius Severus, Cassian and Moschus; but augmented with a large addition of Fables and absurdity, by the latter Legendary Writers of the Church of Rome.

In the next place it deserveth farther to be considered, that in the Ancient Church none but obscure and inconsiderable [Page] Persons, confined to a Mountain or a Desart, who obtained neither authority nor reputation in the Church, were guilty of such foul mistakes and irregularities. The great and famous Doctors and Fathers of the Church, who drew the eyes of the whole World upon their Actions, and acquired to themselves an universal veneration, cannot be accused of such fatal miscarriages, which were so far unworthy of them. On the contrary, they sharply opposed the misguided Zeal of these ignorant Devotoes, censured their imprudent Actions, slighted their external shews of apparent Piety, and deplored the evil consequences of their irregular Practices. What the wisest of the Ancients disowned, deserve not to be excused and defended by us. And indeed the trifling Devotions and wild Impertinencies of the Monastick Order were the greatest blemish to those latter Ages of Antiquity; and laid the foundation of all Corruptions, whether of Faith or Manners, which infected succeeding Ages.In vita Aedesii prope fin. Towards the beginning of the fifth Age, Eunapius, the Heathen Historian, could find no more plausible or rational objection against Christianity, than the sordid Actions and ridiculous Conduct of the Monks: certainly no objection was then more visible, or less capable of a refutation. But then the Actors of these Follies never obtained that respect and admiration from the publick suffrage of the Ancient Church, which Enthusiastick Saints have received from the Church of Rome. The former commemorated none in her publick Offices but Martyrs, Confessors and famous Persons, who had been eminently instrumental in the service of the Church; and filled not her Diptychs with Monks and Anchorets. The latter hath scarce canonized any other than such as were chiefly eminent for Enthusiasm.

Lastly, to say no more, Even the highest Extravagances of these Ancient Bigots come far beneath the Enthusiasm [Page] of Ignatius and other admired Saints of the Church of Rome. They might perhaps commit many gross absurdities and indecent actions, and entertain Childish notions of Religion; but never proceeded so far, as to pretend to extraordinary Illuminations, reception of the Faith by supernatural Revelation, and continual Impulse of the Divine Spirit; nor took upon them to publish their own Whimsies by preaching to the People without any commission from the Governours of the Church; which are the genuine and most essential Characters of Fanaticism. If the Miracles related of them be sometimes found to lye open to the same Objections, which are opposed by me to those of Ignatius; the honour of the Ancient Church suffers no prejudice thereby; which far from building her Authority and Reputation on them, hath frequently disowned and rejected them; as appears among other Arguments, from that Passage of the Learned Author of the Opus Imperfectum, which I have produced in the following Discourse. None will be concerned in the truth of these ancient Monkish Miracles, but that Church only, which hath proposed them to the People in her publick Offices and Ecclesiastical Legends.

In representing the Actions of Ignatius, I have chiefly made use of the Authority of F. Dominick Bouhours, a French Iesuit▪ altho one of the latest Writers of his Life; because in publishing the Life of Ignatius of late among us, that Author was thought fit to be preferred before all others, and his Relation of him translated into our Language. However, in whatsoever he proposeth, he wants not the attestation of more ancient and authentick Writers. For he seems to have taken his whole Relation from Orlandinus his History of the Society of Jesus, printed at Colen in the Year 1615. with the approbation of Claudius Aquaviva the General. I have seldom produced any [Page] other Writers of Ignatius his Life; but when the first is either wholly silent, or giveth a different Relation. If I have sometimes inserted Observations from the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus; that tendeth as well to illustrate the nature of Enthusiasm in general, as to do justice to the common Cause of Christianity against the pretences of an Impostor, whom the latter Heathens set up in opposition to our Blessed Saviour.

To conclude, I hope our Adversaries will not pretend that I have misrepresented or falsified the Actions of Ignatius: since I have all along to every particular Action so carefully annexed in the Margent the Author who relates it, and the place where it may be found. The pretence of misrepresentation is the last refuge of a baffled Cause; and therefore made use of by our Adversaries as the only remaining expedient upon all occasions; particularly by the Author of the Monomachia, who not being able to answer the Objections brought by a Friend of mine against the Authorities of his Speculum Ecclesiasticum, pretended to overrule the concurrent Testimonies of Labbé, Oudin, Du Pin, and other Romish Criticks; because the particular places of their Books, to which those Passages related, were not adjoined; and insinuated a suspicion of some insincerity, as if that omission had proceeded from a fear, lest the truth of those Citations should be examined. What the ignorance or artifice of this Author will not permit him to do▪ at least all judicious Persons will allow, that it were both unuseful and impertinent to stuff the Margents with particular mention of the places of such Critical Writers, who in giving their Censures upon Ancient Authors, proceed either Alphabetically, or in order of time, and may consequently be immediately recurred to without any difficulty. But a lame excuse must serve the turn, when the badness of the Cause will admit no better.

ERRATA.

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Books Printed for Richard Chiswell.

[Page]

Dr. CAve's Lives of the Primitive Fathers, in 2. Vol. Folio.

Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time. fol.

Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity. fol.

Sir. I [...]hn Bu [...]l [...]ce's History of the Irish Rebellion. fol.

The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits, Seminary Priests, Recusants, the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Iudges; with other Observations thereupon. By Willian Cawley, Esq. fol.

Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed, the Commandments, and Lords Prayer, in 3 Vol. fol.

Bishop Nicholson on the Church-Catechism.

Mr. Iohn Cave's seven occasional Sermons. 4to.

Bishop Wilkins Natural Religion. 8o.

— His Fifteen Sermons 8o.

Mr. Tanners Primordia: Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described. 8o.

Spaniards Conspiracy against the State of Venice. 8o.

Dr. Caves Primitive Christianity, in three parts. 8o.

Certain genuine Remains of the Lord Bacon, in Arguments Civil, Moral, Natural, &c. with a large account of all his Works. By Dr. Tho. Tenison. 8o.

Dr. Henry Bagshaws Discourses on select Texts 8o.

Mr. S [...]liers State of the Church in the three first Centuries.

Dr. Burnets Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester. 8o.

— History of the Rights of Princes in the disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices Church-lands 8o.

— Relation of the present state of the difference between the French King and the Court of Rome; to which is added, the Popes Brief to the Assembly of the Clergy, and their Protestation, published by Dr. Burnet. 8o.

Dr. Combers Companion to the Altar. 8o.

Dr. Sher [...]ocks Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies. 8o.

— Defence of Dr. Stillingfleets Unreasonabless of Separation. 8o.

— A Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet, in answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob about Catholick Communion. 8o.

Sir Rob. Filmers Patriarcha, or natural Power of Kings. 8o.

Bishop Wettenhalls method and order for private devotion. 24o.

Valentines private devotions. 4o.

Dr. Spencer de Legibus Hebr [...]orum Ritualibus & earum Rationibus, fol.

Dr. Iohn Lightfoots Works in English, in 2 Vol fol.

Sir Tho. Browns Vulgar Errors, with all the rest of his Works, fol.

Patris Simoni [...] D [...]squisitiones Criticae de Variis per diversa Loca & Tempora Bibliorum Editionibus. Accedunt Castig. Opusc. IJ. Vossii de Sybil. Orac. 4o.

The Case of Lay-Communion with the Church of England considered, 4o.

Two Letters betwixt Mr. R Smith, and Dr. Hen. Hammond about Christs descent into Hell, 8o.

Dean Stratfords Disswasive from Revenge, 8o.

[Page]Dr. Hez. Burtons first Volume of Discourses, of Purity and Charity; of Repentance, and of seeking the Kingdom of God. Published by Dean Tillotson. 8o.

— His Second Volume of Discourses on several Practical Subjects. 8o.

Sir Thomas Mores Vtopia, newly made English by Dr. Burnet. 8o.

Mr. Sellers Devout Communicant; assisted with Rules, Meditations, Prayers and Anthems, 12.

Dr. Towerson of the Sacraments in General.

— Of the Sacrament of Baptism in particular. 8o.

The History of the COVNCIL OF TRENT, in which, besides the ordinary Acts of the Council, are declared many notable occurrences which hapned in Christendom for 40 Years, and particularly the Practices of the COVRT of ROME to hinder the R [...]formation of their Errors, and to maintain Their Greatness; Written by Father Paul of the Servi. To which is added, the Life of the Author, and the History of the Inquisition.

Dr. B [...]rnets History of the Reformation of the Church of Eng. in 2 Vol Fol.

A Collection of sixteen several Tracts and Discourses, written in the Years, from 16 [...]8. to 1685. inclusive; by Gilbert Barnet. D. D. To which is added, A Letter written to Dr Barnet ▪ giving an Account of Cardinal Pools secret Powers. The History of the Powder Treason, with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon. An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuits dying Speeches, who were Executed for the Popish P [...]ot, 1679. 4o.

A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church; more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees, By WILLIAM CAVE, D.D. 8vo.

An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's [Sure Footing in Christianity] concerning the Rule of F [...]ith. With some other Discourses. By WILLIAM FALKNER, D. D. 4o.

A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England; in An [...]wer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome, to prove the Nullity of our Orders. By GILBERT BVRNET. D D.

An Abrid [...]ment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England, By GILB BVRNET, D D. 8vo.

The APOLOGY of the Church of England; and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio. a Venetian Gentleman, concerning the Council of Trent. Written both in Latin, by the Right Reverend Father in God, IOHN IEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury; Made English by a Person of Quality. To which is added, The Life of the said Bishop; Collected and written by the same Hand, 8vo.

The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL, D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland. Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and Iames Waddesworth (a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil) in Matters of Religion, concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience. 8vo.

The Decree made at ROME the Second of March, 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Iesiuts, and other Casuists. 4o.

A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation, with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome. 4o. First and Second Parts.

A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue. 9o.

[Page]A Papist no Misrepresented by Protestants. Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to [A Papist Misrepresented and Represented] 4o.

An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England, in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM, [in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church] 4o.

Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England; against the Exceptions of the Mons. de Meaux, late Bishop of Condom, and his Vindicator, 4o.

A CATECHISM, explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome. With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England. 8vo.

A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented, being an Answer to the First, Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the [Papist Misrepresented and not Represented]; and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM, truly Representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome. 4o.

The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures. 4o.

The Plain man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries. 24o.

An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed, concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in matters of Faith, and the Reformation of the Church of England 4o

A Vindication of the Answer to the said THREE PAPERS. 4o.

Mr Chillingworths Book, called [The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salv [...]tion] made more generally useful by omitting personal contests, but inserting whatsoever concerns the common cause of Protestants, or defends the Church of England; with an exact Table of Contents, and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworths, never before Printed, viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church, Transubstantiation, Tradition, &c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist, with his confutation of the said motives.

An Historical Treatise written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome, touching Transubstantiation. Wherein is made appear, That according to the Principles of that Church, this Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith, 4o.

The Protestants Companion, or an Impartial survey, and comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established, with the main Doctrines of Popery. Wherein is shewn, that Popery is contrary to Scripture, Primitive Fathers and Councils; and that proved from Holy Writ, the Writings of the Ancient Fathers, for several hundred Years, and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves. 4o.

The Pillar and Ground of Truth. A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be that Church, and the Pillar of that Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy, chap. 3. ver. 15.4o.

The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scriptures Asserted. 4o.

A short summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of Engl. and the Church of Rome, being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines, in Answer to a late Pamphlet, intituled, [Protestancy destitute of Scripture proofs] 4o.

An Answer to a late Pamphlet, intituled, [The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special Branch of the Kings Prerogative, viz. [In dispensing with the Penal Laws.] 4o.

[Page]A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence, and the Adoration of the Host; in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject: To which is prefixed a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument.

Two Discourses; Of Purgatory, and Prayers for the Dead.

The Fifteen Notes of the Church, as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted. 4o. With a Table to the Whole.

Preparation for Death: Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France, in a dangerous Distemper of which she died. by W. Wake, M. A 12o.

The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome ▪ in opposition to a late Book, Intituled, An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome.

A Private Prayer to be used in difficult Times.

A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London, Sept. 29. 1687. between A. Pulton, Jesuit, and Th. Tenison, D. D. as also of that which led to it, and followed after it. 4o.

The Vindication of A. Cressener, Schoolmaster in Long-Acre, from the Aspersions of A. Pulton, Jesuit. Schoolmaster in the Savoy, together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith.

A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side, notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of Adversaries; and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven. 4o.

Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist, wherein is shewed, that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion.

A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction; with an Account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church. In Three Parts. With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom.

A Second Letter from the Author of the Discourse concerning Extreme Unction to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom.

The Pamphlet entituled, Speculum Ecclesiasticum, or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass, considered, in its False Reasonings and Quotations. These are added, by way of Preface, two further Answers, the First, to the Defender of the Speculum; the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six Conferences.

A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England, against the new Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux, late Bishop of Condom, and his Vindicator. The FIRST PART. In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition, is fully Vindicated; the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted, and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome, in Point of Image-worship, more particularly considered. 4o.

A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England, against the New Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux, late Bishop of Condom, and his Vindicator. The SECOND PART. In which the Romish Doctrines concerning the Nature and Object of Religious Worship, of the Invocation of Saints, and Worship of Images and Relicks, are considered, and the Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome, upon the account of them, made good, 4o.

The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome. By the Author of the [Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist.] 4o.

[Page]Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity, Reasonings Authorities: Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto published in his True Account; his True and Fu [...] Account of a Conference, &c. His Remarks; and in them his pretended Confutation of what he [...] Dr. T [...] Rule of Faith. By Th. Tenison, D. D.

A Full View of the Doctrine and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist, wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church, and inconsistent with the belief of [...]. B [...]ing [...] sufficient Confutation of Consensus Veter [...], N [...]bis [...], and other late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary. 4•

An Answer to [...] Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy; With [...] V [...]dicator's F [...]ll Answer shewing; that the Vindicator has utterly ru [...]d the New Design of Expanding and Representing Popery. 4o.

An Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England, 4o.

Popery not founded in Scripture, or the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible for Proofs of the Points of their R [...]i [...]i [...]n, examin'd and shew'd to be alledged without Ground. In twenty Discourses, Four whereof are published, the rest will follow weekly in their Order.

An Abridgment of the Perogative of St. Ann, Mother of the Mother of God, with the Approbations of the [...] of Paris, thence done into English, with a PREFACE concernining the O [...]igin [...]l of the Story.

The [...]nitive Fathers no Papi [...]t [...], in Answer to the Nubes Testium, to which is added, a Discourse concerning I [...]v [...]cation of Saints, in Answer to the Challenge of F. Sabran the Jesuit; wherein is shewn, that the Invocation of Saints was so far from being the Practice, that it was expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers. 4o.

An Answer to a Discourse concerning the Celibacy of the Clergy, lately Printed at Oxford. 4o.

The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church, In the Traditions of that Church concerning her Life and Glory, and in the Devotions paid to her as the Mother of God. Both shewed out of the Offices of that Church, the Lessons on her Festivals, and from their allowed Authors.

Reflections upon the [...]oks of the Holy Scripture, in order to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion, in 3 Parts. 8vo.

[...]

Dr. Tenisons Sermon of Discretion in giving Alms. 12o.

A Discourse concering the Merits of Good Works.

The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome, demonstrated in some Observations upon the Life of Ignatius Loyala, (Founder of the Order of Jesus).

A Vindication of the Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England. 4o.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

The enthusiasm of the church of Rome demonstrated in some observations upon the life of Ignatius Loyola.

Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695.

Edition statement

1688

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Date

2003-05 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A65590

ID [STC]

Wing W1562

ID [STC]

ESTC R29269

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

11061870

ID [OCLC]

ocm 11061870

ID [VID]

46195

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A65590)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 46195)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1433:8)

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— The enthusiasm of the church of Rome demonstrated in some observations upon the life of Ignatius Loyola., Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695..

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[19], 139 p.

Printed for Ric. Chiswell...,. London :: 1688.. (Attributed by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints to Henry Wharton.) (Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library.)

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