# indx_content

c0: A46857
c1: Compton, Henry, 1632-1713.
c3: 1669.0
c6: 20604
c7: 609
c8: 60
c9: A46857.xml
c10: A46857.txt
c2:
  The Jesuites intrigues with the private instructions of that society to their emissaries : the first, translated out of a book privately printed at Paris : the second, lately found in manuscript in a Jesuites closet, after his death : both sent with a letter from a gentleman at Paris to his friend in London.

c4:
  In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

c5:
  advantage; affairs; chap; church; father; friends; general; god; good; iesuites; interest; means; men; order; people; place; princes; society; state; thing; world

c11:
   The Jesuites intrigues with the private instructions of that society to their emissaries : the first, translated out of a book privately printed at Paris : the second, lately found in manuscript in a Jesuites closet, after his death : both sent with a letter from a gentleman at Paris to his friend in London. 1669 Approx. 117 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 39 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A46857 Wing J717 ESTC R18023 13165371 ocm 13165371 98227 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A46857) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98227) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 423:4) The Jesuites intrigues with the private instructions of that society to their emissaries : the first, translated out of a book privately printed at Paris : the second, lately found in manuscript in a Jesuites closet, after his death : both sent with a letter from a gentleman at Paris to his friend in London. Gentleman at Paris. Compton, Henry, 1632-1713. [14], 62 p. Printed for Benjamin Tooke ..., London : 1669. Original title for "The Jesuites intrigues" undetermined. Second part of work is a translation of: Monita Secreta Societatis Jesu. Translated by Henry Compton. Cf. DNB. Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Jesuits -- Controversial literature. 2003-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2003-09 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2003-09 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Jesuites Intrigues : WITH THE PRIVATE INSTRUCTIONS OF THAT SOCIETY To Their EMISSARIES . The First , Translated out of a Book privately printed at Paris . The Second , lately found in Manuscript in a Iesuites Closet , after his Death . Both sent with a LETTER from a Gentleman at Paris , to his Friend in London . LONDON , Printed for Benjamin Tooke in Duck-lane next dore to the Anchor . M.DC.LXIX . A LETTER sent from a Gentleman in Paris , to his Friend in London . SIR , I have taken this opportunity of my Friends going over , to send you the enclosed Papers : which , if you think to find your account by it , you may publish , only I would have you by no means to disclose my name , while I continue abroad , for reasons you may easily guess . THE first of these two little Tracts ; I met with here at Paris , printed in French. If it be not so quick and smart , as should Answer the reproof of so great Offenders : at least I am sure the length of it cannot be tedious . It is in a manner but a Table of the Iesuites Conduct in managing their Worldly Interest : and so you ought rather to expect truth in it , than wit. The Other is what I met with in Manuscript , and ( I believe ) never yet Printed . The Copy I made use of , was written in French , and not very Correct : But however there may be mistakes in some little words ; I dare undertake in the whole it is true ; not to be denyed , but by an impudence whose practice will give it self the Lie at the same instant . It was found amongst the Papers of a Iesuite , that Died not so near his Friends , as he might have wished . And therefore he that found it , placed this Text under the Title of it : There is nothing covered , that shall not be revealed ; and hid , that shall not be known . It may be some , who either have not so well Considered the general Transactions of the World , or are partially devoted to the Society , will judg these accounts too extravagant for the Iesuites ever to undertake . But if they please to go along with me a little further , I make no doubt but they will change their minds . Let us then but look round Christendome , and see in what posture these good Fathers stand . The Emperour is by the confession of all men beset with them : whose head they fill so full of Musick , That by their good will they would leave room for nothing else . The King of Spain is a Child , but his Mother ( the Queen Regent ) has taken care that the Iesuites shall not lose their share in him , having placed Father Nidard her Confessour the first in her Council , as Chief Minister . How well he has answered that Trust , let the Revolt of Don Iohn , and the high discontent of all the Nobility witness : now in a time when the lowness of Spains fortune lays them open for a prey to all their Neighbours . The King of France his last Confessour was Father Anat , whose peaceable and quiet behaviour appears sufficiently out of the Writings of the Iansenists . Flanders is wholly rid by the Iesuites . England gives as great a Testimony of their busy spirit , as any other Countrey : where by their Rule of not suffering any of another Order to succeed Confessour in the room of one of them , they have almost thrust out all other , Regulars as well as Seculars . Of which there is no small complaint made in these and other parts . Nay , the late Pope himself had a Iesuite his Confessour , Cardinal Palavicino , without whom he would resolve nothing of Religion or Conscience , which were managed accordingly , as may be seen in several Accounts of his Worthy Deeds . It would be too much to set down their present Condition in every little Court and Common-wealth ; since it is manifest by what has been said , that they insinuate themselves into Princes and other Great Men , for no other good , but their own . I had forgot the King of Poland , who was brought up a Novice among them . However , to give light into their particular actions , I will only make bold to hint at two or three passages . The first shall be that of their dealing with the Dominicans in Spain , concerning the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary . The Dominicans as more addicted to truth , denied the thing : upon which the Iesuites took occasion to shew that hatred they had always bore them , under pretence of their zeal for so considerable a Superstition . And therefore they have recourse to the Pope , pressing him to decide the Controversie on their behalf . He not willing to determine a point that had so little reason , and no Antiquity for it ; would not resolve ; but only in some measure to gratifie their importunity , sends a kind of Declaration into Spain — That though it was true , The Immaculate Conception could not be made out , so as to enjoyn the Believing of it : yet he esteemed it as the more reverend Opinion , and could wish all Christians rather to be of it . But though his Holiness would not speak out himself , the Iesuites made him . For upon these very words they raise a persecution against the Dominicans , telling the people , that though the Pope had not in express terms Condemned the Dominicans , yet Implicitly he had , by declaring his own sense so much for the other : Thus did they put the cheat upon the peoples understandings . But that their Industrious influence may appear the more ; you shall see they will not forbear to pick pockets when time serves . For in Sivil they set up a Bank , where any man might put in his money , to be remanded again at pleasure . This they kept in great credit , and maintained by their Trade in the West-Indies . At last , when they perceived most of the stock of City & Country was got into their hands , presently they returned all over into the Indies , and broke . The people came upon them for their money , They as Church-men pretend exemption from the Civil Courts : and have so baffled the deceived people , that I believe e're this they are in despair of recovering one farthing . And now I have taken notice of their traffick in India , let me refer you to the Letter of Iohn Palafox de Mendoza Bishop of Angelopolis in America , &c. to Pope Innocent the X. dated the 8 th . of Ianuary , 1649. And the Memorial presented to the King of Spain , in Defence of Don Bernardino de Cardenas Bishop of Paraguay in the West-Indies , &c. against the Iesuites , both put out in French. In both which , the insolence , ambition , and wickedness of the Iesuites is so discovered , that were it not recorded upon such publike Acts , the proceedings would be Incredible . For it appears there , that to serve their own ends , they made use of Pagans to shed Christian blood , endevoured to murder their Bishop , and such other horrid attempts , as must , no doubt , render them odious to all posterity . The Eighteenth Canon of the Council of Calcedon was so little in their minds , that they did not so much as observe the common dictates of Humanity . But when a Raviliac has been found amongst them so near hand ; and not only Libells scattered abroad to justify such proceedings , as Admonitio ad Regem Ludovicum xiij , and Mysteria Politica ; but Books publikely owned and authorized by Themselves , written by Mariana , Aquaviva , and others , but chiefly by Santarel , who was censured for it by all the Vniversities of France , with the approbation of the Parliament of Paris , as may be seen at large in the Book called , The pernicious Consequences of the Iesuites new Heresie . I say , when we have such sufficient testimony so near home : we need not make any long voyage for their discovery . Now , that it may appear they have all qualities alike , do but consult the Provincial Letters , and you will find the Morals of these men , as notoriously faulty , as the rest . For it is plain there , from the pens of their own approved Authours , Tannerus , Emanuel Sa , Hurtado , Castropalao , Fagundes , &c. that Murder , Sacrilege , Intemperance , Fraud , or any other sin , may by the small change of a thought , or easy application of an intent , either be turned into a virtue , or at least lose its vitiousness , and become an innocent action . And why should we then wonder at any thing that is reported of these men ? For certainly , of late Times , the Devil has not found more effectual Instruments for the peaceable damnation of Souls , than the Iesuites . The great Enemy that so often foyls him , is Conscience : which these decoys of Satan do so sweeten and blind with religious evasions , that they draw whole flocks after them into the kingdome of darkness , with as much alacrity , as a Saint goes to Heaven . But that I may not be thought to write an Invective ; I do declare , I have no pique against any of that Society : but rather an obligation to wish their practices more open and generous , and more suitable to their profession ; that so many great Wits , as they have among them , might be Conversed with , without hazard of a mans being brought into some inconvenience . Indeed the only reason that made me think it requisite to lay them open in English at this time , is to let all men see , what a pack of Knaves we should be pester'd with , if ever Popery crept in . But , God be thanked , we have a Prince knows them too well to trust them : and a Government well enough fortified against their Invasions . However , as a restless sort of people , that will compass Sea and Land to gain Proselytes , and will leave no stone unturn'd to promote their Interest : all the discouragement imaginable shall not hinder them from making their attempts . And therefore , since they are not able to break in at the fore-door , they try to steal in the back way , by the help of their Journey-men , the Phanaticks ; by whose means , having once wrought a Confusion , they hope the more successfully to fish in troubled waters . And thus they make themselves as sure of the booty , as the Ape did of the Chesnut , when he made use of the Cats foot to pull it out of the fire . For this is that they flatter themselves with . They look upon the Phanaticks as a giddy-headed rabble , without any foundation or principles , to establish any Religion upon : Fit for any impression , but the right . And so they brag here abroad , that if they could but once see a Toleration , it should be the same satisfaction to them , to find a Minister of State 's or any Great Man's Coach at a Conventicle door , as if it stood at the Queens Chappel . For they do not in the least despair of success , if they could get the Reins of Government slackned at this rate . Because , say they , there is none but the judiciously virtuous part of the Nation can escape our hands : which will make so slender a party , that it will not be very difficult to overcome them . For first , the Male-contents will naturally fall into our Nets , or the Phanaticks . Next , all Knaves , that either want preserment , or would have more , take to the Side that is for Change , which we know by experience to be the Phanaticks . And lastly , which make up the body of most Countreys , those effeminate spirits , whose reasons are drowned in their fancies , will , as the Apostle testifies , by the spiritual debauchery of those Creepers into houses , be drawn into any wickedness . But no doubt these Cunning Deceivers reckon without their host . The Cheat is too fresh in every ones memory to take again so soon . For to think the King would give up that Sword of the Unclean Spirit , by which God 's Anointed and his People were destroyed , into the hands , not of another generation , but of those very men , who by open violence did for several years declare their Contempt of His Government , Hatred to His Person , and Rebellion against His Authority : were a folly not to be exceeded , but by that of Trusting them . And now I have shot the Bolt of Paris , Feb. 13. S N. 1669. Yours , &c. Imprimatur , Maij 5. 1669. ROB. GROVE R. P. D. Episc. Lond. à Sac. Dom. THE JESUITES Intrigues . THe Laws and Constitutions upon which the Order of the JESUITES is established , make it plainly appear , that Father Ignatius had a very holy design in it . And truly in its first Infancy it gave great hopes , that it would prove a very fruitful Branch of Christianity : For as long as these good Fathers continued in works of Charity , following the Rules of their Order : They really did much good , as well by an excellent Education of Youth , as by converting Souls , and maintaining the Faith. But as the Divel would have it , who is no less industrious and cunning in perverting godly designs , than good men are to advance them , He takes occasion from the considerableness of the Order , and the mighty progress they had made in so short a time , to destroy the end , it was first ordained for . So that by his subtlety , instead of their great Charity , which at present is almost wholly frozen up , he has possessed them with the two most pernicious affections of the World , Ambition and Covetousness . Which brings so great a mischief upon Christendom , that a greater is hardly to be imagined , as I shall make appear by the following Discourse . Only first , I protest before God , that it is neither Interest nor Passion , which moves me to Write ; but only my zeal for the publick good : For the advancement of which , I hold my self obliged to employ the utmost of my power , in hopes that their hypocrisie and practices being laid open to the Great Men of the World , they will find some expedient to remedy the Abuse . The first thing then to be known is , That the Iesuites Order being particularly applyed to the Education of Youth , of which there is no Kingdom nor Town , but stands in great need ; it was sought to , in the beginning far , and near , and highly favoured by many Princes : Insomuch that within a few years it was got to as high a pitch , as others have attained to in many Ages . But this Greatness , which very often is accompanyed with change of Manners , stirred up in the Successors of Father Ignatius so great a love toward their own Society ; that perswading themselves it was of more use to the Church of God , than all the rest , and more proper for the Reformation of the World ; they concluded amongst themselves , that they were to apply all their skill and endevours to the aggrandizing of it , since in that they should encrease the true Militia of Jesus Christ , the good of the whole Church , and the ancient Patrimony of the Lord , to use their own terms . And here it is , that I had need have Aristotle's Subtilty to discover , and the Eloquence of Cicero to express the strange Method ( which many , perchance for its novelty think it incredible ) by which these Fathers go on , daily advancing their Society . But I will content my self to observe only some particulars , leaving the rest to be made out , as shall seem most probable to each mans fancy . So that , all I intend to do , is , to give some certain heads , and directions that may serve , as I guess for good grounds to any , that will make reflections , or discourses upon this Subject . First , these Father Iesuites concluded they should never bring Their Society to that considerable pitch of Greatness as They aimed at , barely by Teaching , Preaching , Administring the Sacraments , or by their devout Offices of that nature . For though from the very beginning they had gained upon the affections of a great many , as I told you before : yet perceiving that after a little time that kindness cooled , they much question'd , whether their Order had not come short in the effectual Captivating of minds . And therefore they devised two other means for attaining to their Greatness ; First , to endevour with Princes , and all others to make the rest of the Orders cheap , by finding some great . Defects in them . So that by this wicked application having set up their own Greatness , by the abasing of others , they have made themselves Masters of divers Monasteries and Abbeys , and other considerable Revenues , depriving the other Orders of Them ( which before were in possession ) by slander and calumny : The next way was , by insinuating themselves into affairs of State , engaging to their interest the greatest part of the Princes of Christendom by so cunning and artificial expedients , as are not easie to imagine . Their Father General , to whom they all pay an absolute obedience , resides constantly in Rome . He has made choice of certain Fathers , who , because they are always with him are called Assistants ; and there is at least one of every Nation , from whence they take their distinction , one calling himself the French Assistant , the other , the Spanish , the third , the Italian , the fourth , the English , the fifth , the Austrian , and so of all the other Kingdomes and Provinces . The charge of each Assistant , is to inform the General of all Transactions of State that pass , either in the Kingdom or Province , of the which He is Assistant . This He does by His Correspondents , who residing in the principal City of that Kingdom , or Province , make a diligent enquiry of the estate , nature , inclination and designs of the Prince : of which they advise the Assistants , giving them notice especially of the discoveries they have made , or any thing that falls out new . Thus when all their Pacquets are come to Rome , the Father General calls together His Assistants , who lay open to Him the affairs of the whole World , discovering to Him the interest and practices of all Christian Princes . After which when they have consulted about all that is written , and examined and compared the several accompts , They draw the conclusion , which is to assist one Prince , and oppose another , according as it suits with Their interest and profit . And as the stander by sees more , than the Gamester ; so These Fathers having before Them , the interest of all the Princes , do with much more ease contribute to the affairs of Him , They know disposed to serve Them. The next point best worth consideration is the great pity , that Regulars should interest Themselves in affairs of State , when Their Order obliges Them only to attend the saving Their own Souls and others . For the Iesuites , who do concern Themselves more in the Civil Government , than the Seculars Themselves , make it absolutely necessary that some course should be taken to prevent so great a disorder , for fear of most dangerous Consequences . First , the Iesuites Confess a great part of the Nobility of the Popish States , for the more effectual carrying on of which , the poor are no longer admitted to Confession , besides very often They are Confessors to the Princes Themselves . By which means is it not hard for them to dive into all the designs , and sift out all the resolutions , as well of Princes , as of Their Subjects , of which immediately They give notice to the General or His Assistants at Rome . How eafie is it then to judge , what prejudice this may do to Sovereigns , when it is by a party that drive on nothing but their own advantage ? For doubtless all the World will grant , that nothing can be more essential to the preservation of a State , than Secrecy , by the disclosing of which the other frequently is broken . And this is certainly the reason that all wise Princes conceal Their minds so carefully , learning by experience what advantage They get by knowing the designs of others , which , for the better carrying on of Their affairs , They spare no cost to inform Themselves of by Embassadours , and Spyes : though the intelligence proves oftentimes not so faithful for want of employing skilful Officers . But I dare always undertake that the Father Iesuites , that is , the General and His Assistants have the advantage of true information one way or other , of all things that pass in the most private Counsells , what by Confessions , and inquiries of Their Correspondents placed in all the principal Cities of Christendom , and by the Mediation of other Their Complices , of which we shall say more hereafter . Thus They know what strength , revenue , expence or designs any Prince has , than He Himself . And all this at no more charge , than the portage of Letters , which indeed are something chargeable too . For , as I have been informed by the Post-Masters , each Courier costs Them Fifty or Threescore Pounds , and sometimes more , to the Sum of an Hundred Pounds . By which you may easily conceive , having so perfect notice of the interest of each State , They are likewise able to lessen one Prince to another , weaken Their authority over the People , raise against Them , what enemies They please , and make insurrections at home so much the easier , because by the same means of Confession , and Sifting , They get into the very Souls of Subjects , and so find out , who are well , or ill-affected . For , by those accounts They have of all State-affairs , They may easily set Princes at variance , and possess them with a thousand Suspicions : and by understanding the Subjects minds so well , They may with the same facility encourage Their contempt of government , to the breaking out into all manner of sedition and confusion . From all this every man ought to conclude , that interest of State forbids any Prince to choose for his Confessor of that sort of men , who are so industrious in prying into affairs of State , and make that benefit of what they are acquainted with , to use it for a means , to ingratiate Themselves with other Princes . And much less reason have Princes to suffer Their chief Ministers and Counsellors , or the Officers of Their Houshold to Confess to Them : Especially since we live in an Age replenished with Persons , which , neither yeelding to the Iesuites in learning , or piety , may be as serviceable , without running such a hazard , being such as only concern Themselves in the Direction of Souls and Discharging Their Ecclesiastical Functions . But for the better understanding of what we have said hitherto , and what hereafter shall be said : it must be abserved , that there are three sorts of Iesuites . The first consists of certain Lay-people of both Sexes ; which having associated Themselves with that Society , live under it in the performance of a certain blind obedience , steering all Their actions by the Directions of Iesuites , and are ever in a readiness to execute , what They command . These are for the most part Gentlemen , and Ladies that pass the rest of Their dayes in widowhood , as likewise wealthy Citizens , and rich Merchants , who like good Fruit-trees bring plenty of good things to the Iesuites , that is , store of gold and silver . Of this sort are those women , which are commonly called Rigotes , who being perswaded by These Fathers to despise the World , are by Them in requital made a harvest of , being wheedled out of rich moveables , and other considerable matters . The second kind takes in only men , of which some are Priests , and others Lay , who though They live abroad in the World , and many times by the Iesuites good word obtain Pensions , Canonries , Abbeys and other Revenues , are yet under a Vow to take the habit of the Society upon the first Order from the Father General , for which reason they are called Iesuites in Vow . It is by these , the Father Iesuites carry on their business so smoothly , for the establishing Their Monarchy , keeping Them in all places , and in all Princes Courts , and in short , wherever any thing of moment passes throughout Christendom , and this for such service , as shall be declared in the seventh particular . The third sort is of those politick Iesuites , in whom all the authority rests , who hold the reins of government over their Order , and who being accosted by the Devil with the same temptation our Saviour underwent in the Desart , All these things will I give Thee , if Thou wilt fall down and Worship Me , have taken Him at His Word , and thus in compliance with Sathan do with might and main prosecute the Universal Monarchy . Now as almost all the important affairs of Christendom are passed at Rome , and that There it is , the chief of These noble politicians reside , that is to say , Their General with a great number of the Order ▪ So is it upon the same place They have determined to begin Their Dominion , as They may easily perceive , who will but take notice of Their behaviour There . Very hardly shall you transact any thing in that Court , but the Iesuites who have notice of all that passes of importance will presently meet in Counsell to determine an issue that may be favourable to Their interest . There you shall find Them running to the Cardinals , the Embassadours , and the Prelates , where bringing about the discourse to the affair Then in treaty , or to be treated of They represent it , as They please , always considering Their own advantage , and for that cause often so disguising the matter , as to make White appear Black , and Black White . Thus the first Relation , especially from men of a religious Order , making the greatest impressio● upon the Spirit of Him , that hears , it falls out frequently that business of importance proposed by Embassadours and other Great men to the Court of Rome , hath no● that success , as Princes could wish : and all this by having spirits prepossessed by These Worthy Iesuites wit● partial accounts , which forestalls the Credit , that ough● to be given to others , who explain Themselves with mor● truth and sincerity . Nor is this at Rome alone that The impose these Cheats : but likewise in other Courts , eithe● by Themselves , or the Iesuites of the second rank Whence we may conclude , that the greatest part of the Affairs of Christendom pass through the Iesuites hands , and that those only succeed which they think not fit to oppose . All this while I must confess , that their address to engage themselves in Affairs , either for the 〈◊〉 or favouring of them , is so artificial , that 't is im●●●ble throughly to see into it , so as to give a perfect description : However it shall be no hard matter for any particular Prince to discover so far as his own Concern requires , if he will but take the pains to peruse this short Account that I shall give ; because I know it will make him reflect immediately upon what is passed , by which calling to mind the several circumstances of his former Treaties , by comparing them with my observations , it is impossible but he must descry the subtle dealing of the Society . Notwithstanding this sly ▪ and close management be the chief Engine they work with , to accomplish their Monarchy , which is their principal aim ; yet they do not omit other means now and then ( so has their Passion blinded them ) that lays open their Ambition to all the World. Was it not a pleasant request they made , under pretence of a publick good for the Church , to Gregory the Thirteenth , That he would give Order to his Legates and Nuncio's , each of them to take a Iesuite for his Confident , to advise in all business ? The fourth thing that requires our consideration , is that by these devices , and their understanding in Affairs of State ; the Principal Iesuites are struck into a great league of Friendship with many Princes , Temporal and Spiritual ; whom they make believe , that they have done them great service : And from this one advantage have proceeded very great mischiefs . The first is , that by making ill use of the Princes kindness , they take upon them to wrong a great many private Families , which though Wealthy and Noble , have been brought to utter ruin by the Iesuites ingrossing of Widowes Estates , and by indirect means ▪ inveigling many young Gentlemen into their Order , th●●●ave been sent to their Colledges for Education . F 〈…〉 w often do we find it , that when these young Gentlemen grow sickly , or are found uncapable of performing the Duty belonging to their Order , they are dismissed without ever having restitution of their Estates made to them , or theirs , the Iesuites having got possession before ever they would let them Profess ? This is far from that justice Ignatius has enjoyned them ; and no way consonant to that first intention their Founders had , who left them not according to their insatiate avarice , but enough to keep them in a condition to serve the Church . The second misfortune , which follows from the access these Iesuites have to Princes , is , that the Fathers boast , and cunningly make the World believe , their intimacy with Great Men to be more , than indeed it is . And by this they awe the very Ministers of State , and cause them to seek their Favour , and Petition them for whatsoever they would have pass . Nay , their vanity is encreased to that degree , as they are so impudent to boast themselves able to make Cardinals , Nuntio's , Lieutenants , Governours and other Officers , so far that some had the face to say , Their General could do more , than the Pope himself ; and others , That it was better to be of that Order which could make Cardinals , than be one themselves . I am not at all afraid , that what I have said will make me pass for a Slanderer ; because the Fathers speak it all so openly themselves , that hardly any one , who has conversed with them , has not heard them say the very same thing . The fifth point is , after the foundation of Policy laid , that the first thing they demand of those Princes , into whose good opinion they are got , is to obtain leave to advance or suppress whom they please , always pretending Religion , to make their request more acceptable . And when it so unfortunately falls out , that they have their will , which is but too often ; you must not expect that they fill up Vacancies with men of desert , and such as are best able to discharge the Duty of the Place ; quite contrary , if any one recommend such Persons to the Prince , they shall use all their interest to hinder it , unless they prove to be some of their Intimates , such as are wholly devoted to their service . But those they recommend and stand for , it is no matter how ill affected they are to the Prince , or how great Knaves , capable of the Imployment or not , that does not at all concern them . By which ordinarily we find , that such Officers , as they prefer , serve for nothing but to torment their Prince , and cherish the People in Discontents , which in the end break out into Sedition . The sixth observation cannot be made out better , than by the comparison of the Captain of a Ship , who perceiving a favourable Gale for his Voyage , has no sooner given notice by his Whistle , but all the Slaves are at their Oars , to make for the Place appointed . For it is almost after the very same manner , when the General has concluded with his Assistants , that such a person should be so preferred ; the first notice he gives of his purpose to those that reside upon the place , has a general influence to set them all at work , tooth and nail , to set 〈◊〉 the Person so marked out . It follows then that he which has received so signal an obligation , must be very ungrateful , if he does not requite it , when it lies in his power , By which it comes to pass many times , that they esteem themselves more beholding to the Iesuites , than the Prince who gives them the Office , and so more devoted to their Interest , than to his Honour and advantage . Thus are Princes fooled , who whilst they fancy they have got a faithful Servant , have taken into their breast a Spy of the Iesuites , who oftentimes by that means work the ruin of the Prince , that raised him . This and all the rest I have mentioned are so great Truths , that I could easily give many Examples of them by sad experience . But because I would not unnecessarily contract an odium upon my self , I shall omit them , and content my self to draw only this conclusion from what I have said in this last point , That this Device of the Iesuites to place their own Creatures in great Charges , is perchance the reason why they call their Order a Great Monarchy ; forasmuch as by this way they dispose of Princes and their Ministers . And therefore it ought not to seem strange , that one of their chief Fathers , having a publick Address to make to a Great Man in the name of the Society , let fall this arrogant expression , You know very well ( Sir ) that our Society have alwayes held a fair Correspondence with your Highness ; importing , no doubt , that they were Monarchs , as well as he . In the seventh place , these Fathers endevour , as much as in them lies , to make the World believe , that all those that receive any favour from a Prince , are to acknowledge it from their Intercession , or some of their Creatures . And this gives them a greater power over the Subject , than his natural Prince ; which cannot certainly be without very great danger ▪ It being against all reason , that such froward and amb●●ous Youths , as the Iesuites are , should have the Will of Ministers of State at their Dispose . For besides that they have an opportunity by this means to work what Treason or Distubance they please , they have an infallible expedient by these Ministers ( their Creatures ) to place their Iesuites in Vow , of which we spake before , about Princes , either in the capacity of Counsellors , Secretaries , or what else offers it self . And no sooner these are in , but that they plye the Prince night and day to perswade him to take a Iesuite for his Confessor , or Chaplain at least , and all to make Spies for the Father General , to whom they give account of the most private passages . Which is , no doubt , the cause that it so often comes to pass , that what has been thought to have been carryed most secretly , has become publick when least dreamt of ; and that we find undertakings of the highest importance frustrated , without being able to imagine who was the Traytor ; and what is yet worse , oftentimes they undergo the blame , who least deserv'd it . The eigth particular to be noted , is , that as it is natural for the Subject to follow the inclination of his Prince ; so all those who have given themselves up to the Father General , when they observe his close and passionate application to State-Affairs , and that he makes it his own business , by this means to aggrandise and enrich his Society , they , like Apes , immediately take after their Leaders , and turn all Politicians to help in carrying on , as they suppose , so glorious a project . To this end they set their Relations and Friends at work to get into the hearts of Princes , and discover their most secret thoughts , ever making report to the Assistants and General upon the first notice . For being well assured , that it is the only way to procure their Superiors good will , and by consequence Preferment ( which is bestowed upon none but such as are thought capable of exalting their Society to that pitch they aim at ) they make it their business to recommend themselves , by some politick Atchievement , that they may be looked upon as fit to manage greater Affairs . My ninth observation therefore shall be , that as by virtue of the Alembeck , Chymists know how to extract Ointments for the Cure of almost mortal Wounds , and as the Bee makes her honey up of the choice of diverse flowers ; so the Iesuites by strength of Reason , compose their own Interest out of the faithful Intelligence they have of the Concerns of all Princes , and of all Occurrences of State ; by which they do not only refresh that inward thirst of becoming Great , but make likewise a mighty advantage in understanding their own emolument , in prosecution of which , they beat down all before them to accomplish their ends . But , what is most remarkable , when , as we have said before , they are got into the hearts of Princes , they are used to play them off , by assuring them , what excellent expedients they have for putting such a plot in practice , and to bring about such a design . But scarcely will they have begun in their assistance according to engagement , but that upon consideration of some inconvenience this addition of Greatness to a Prince , whom they have hitherto fed with fair hopes , may bring to them , they create a thousand delaies , like Advocates in a Process at Law , and then upon a sudden , by some excellent sleight of contrivance , turn all into confusion , and so break the neck of that Plot themselves had laid . He that will but reflect upon the League of France , which being carryed on , and concluded by them , was likewise detected , when they saw the King was like to get the better ; and upon England , which they so often promised to the Spaniards ; will need no other proof to make out the truth of what I have said . May we not then very justly draw this conclusion from the whole , That the Iesuites having no real or sincere kindness for any , nor will oblige the World beyond their own Interest , neither Prince nor Prelate can make use of them without injury to themselves . For at the same instant they pretend a like respect to all , becoming Monsieurs with the French , Dons with the Spaniard , and so with all other Countreys , as occasion serves , and hopes of advantage . They are very indifferent who it is they do harm or good to . And , no doubt , it is that excessive Self-Interest , and the little regard they have to any mans Concern else , which makes few enterprises succeed , in which they have a hand . However I must allow , that they have an incomparable art in concealing this indifference , some of them still pretending a great zeal for the Crown of France , others for that of Spain , others for the Emperour , and for all the rest of the Princes from whom they expect any favour . But if it so fall out , that some one of these Princes takes a Iesuite into his Cabinet-Counsels , this fellow shall no sooner know any thing , but that he will advise the Father General of it , who presently sends back his result upon it , in order to which he proceeds , without consideration either of his Princes Will or Service . And though these I have already declared , are very great inconveniences ; I will shew you yet greater . The first is , That the Iesuites being fully informed of the several Interests and Counsels of Princes , they amongst them that feign themselves to be of the French Faction , propound to the King , or his chief Ministers , certain considerations of State , which may be of some weight , such as have been sent from Rome in their politick Letters . Those which flatter the Court of Spain or any other Government , where they have access make other propositions in these places , quite contrary to the former , or at least such as may keep Christian Princes at a distance to be in perpetual jealousies one of another , which disturbs the common Peace more than can be imagined , and brings a misfortune upon all Christendom . For , such a defiance hinders all possibility of joyning against the Common Enemy ; and indeed makes all Treaties of Peace between Princes signifie very little . The second inconvenience is , That by these subtle practices they have so opened the eyes of all people , that no body minds any thing else but the Politicks : So as nothing is done now a dayes , that is not first weighed in this balance , nor any business that is not directed by this Iesuitical Compass . But all this would be nothing to what mischief would ensue , if they of the Reformed Churches should take up this example , and abuse their Interest with Princes after this manner . For then in stead of Lutherans ( with whom some accommodation may , it is hoped , be found out one day ) we should have spring up a politick brood of irreconcilable Antichrists . And to make it appear , that I have said nothing but the truth , when I have charged the Iesuites with such abominable Artifices , and Collusions , above all when they are upon insinuating themselves into the favour of Princes , I must not forget what was done amongst them some years since upon the Concern of Great Britain . One of their Fathers , an Assistant of that Kingdom , called Father Parsons , having writ a Book against the Right of the King of Scots to the Crown of England ; Father Criton with others of the same Order defended the Kings Cause , in a Book Intuled , The Discourse of the King of Scots against the Opinion of Father Parsons , or to that purpose . And though you may suspect by this , that they are divided among themselves ; yet I do assure you , they do understand one another perfectly well . For this Game was played by the directions of their General , to the end , that if the Scotch were disappointed of the Succession , then should be shewed , to whoever came in , Father Parsons his Book ; or if otherwise , Scotland should carry it , then they should ingratiate themselves by presenting Criton's Work : And so whatever came uppermost they were provided with that should make their Society acceptable . By which you may judge how true it is , that I told you , Princes are the main object of all the Iesuites Designs and Actions , and therefore reason good , they should esteem their Order a Great Monarchy . Nay , is not this an undeniable argument of my assertion , the small care they take to please any Prince , when their Interest comes in competition ? We have have many experimental Examples that convince it beyond dispute , if it were worth the trouble to set them down : I will only give you one , which shall be as good as a thousand . Every one knows , that there is none in the World , that the Iesuites are in so high a nature obliged to , and to whom they owe more fidelity , than the Pope , not only for the particular Vow of Obedience they make to his Person , but for many other reasons besides . And yet for all this Pius Quintus of blessed memory , having a mind that these Fathers should officiate in the Chore , and do all things after the manner of other Regulars ; they would never obey him , but pretended still some great prejudice it would bring upon them : Only there were some amongst them that submitted to His Holiness , and did as they were commanded . But how did the rest serve them ? Were they not by way of reproach called Aviatins , or Starters aside ? And was ever any of them afterwards preferred in the least ? Just so they set themselves against that worthy Person Charles Boromeo Archbishop of Milan , when , as Legate à Latere , he would have visited their Society amongst the other Regulars . But ( alas ! ) what is all this ? They break even the holy Canons by trading , expresly against their injunctions , in Pearls , Rubies and Diamonds , which are brought them from the Indies . And it is generally believed , that the greatest part of the Jewels which come from the Indies and are sold at Venice , pass through their hands . Neither is this a bare rumour spread abroad by their enemies ; for I have it from those very men , whom they imploy , as Brokers to put them off . I could produce other Stories , that should make it as clear , how ill they serve the Pope , and how dishonestly ; but because I can say nothing in it , without mentioning a Prince , who would not very well relish my discourse , I will be silent . For I desire to serve all the World , and offend no man , not so much as the Iesuites , which otherwise I honour , and against whom I do not in the least pretend to write an invective ; only a little to abate their pride , and , if possible , make them behave themselves with more moderation , than hitherto they have done . For who is there almost that has not reason to complain of the Iesuites ? And yet , just as it falls out many times with men in desperate diseases , whilst they make lamentable complaints to heaven , such as startle every body that hear them , though each patient very well knows what kind of a Disease he is visited with , yet not one in a thousand can tell from what inward cause it proceeds ; so , notwithstanding all the World cries out upon the Iesuites , some for being oppressed by them , others for not being so honestly dealt with , as was to be expected from men of their Robe ; yet the inconvenience continues , few perceiving what is the original of this Mischief . However if one would but look a little into the business , it would appear plainly , that the immoderate and boundless passion of making themselves Great , provokes them to neglect the satisfaction of Princes , and to deceive them , to oppress the poor , embezel Widows Estates , ruin great Families , raise suspicions and promote enmities betwixt Christian Princes , to introduce themselves into their Affairs . But would it not be a strange irregularity in nature , if one of the meanest parts of the body , which was made only , as a servant to the more noble , should take to itself the best blood , and the greatest share of the vital spirits ? Could one after such a disorder expect less , than a dissolution of the whole ? The abuse in Church and State is no less ; when we see the Iesuites Order , which is come in , one of the last , and erected for the Conversion of Infidels , and drawing sinners to repentance , assume to itself the Concerns of Prince and Prelate , drawing out the best , and very life itself of their Affairs for their own use : Which most assuredly cannot be done without , both a publick and private disturbance , by keeping under those subjects who most deserve advancement , and raising none , but the unworthy , with thousands of other Divels , such monstrous proceedings must call up . I could easily bring many reasons here from experience , besides those I have given , to prove of what a vast extent the ambition of the Iesuites is , and that there is no measure in their desires of growing Great . But because I hate to be tedious , I will only lay before you the project of Father Parsons upon England , as he himself has set it down , in his Book called The Reformation of England . Where after he has fallen upon Cardinal Pole ( a man of singular piety and worth ) and has observed certain faults and defects in the Council of Trent ; he concludes at last , that supposing England should fall back to the Church of Rome , he would put it into the Condition of the Primitive Church . For this purpose , all the Ecclesiastical Revenues must be brought into one common Stock , the care and dispensation of which , he would have committed to seven discreet persons , taken out of the Iesuites Society , to distribute , as they should think fit . Moreover , he would have all other Orders forbid coming into this Kingdom under severe penalties , only such as they shall permit , which according to his judgment must be none but the begging Orders . But as it is the usual fate of self-love to blind those it has mastered , and be they never so wise , make them guilty of the greatest follies : I do not much wonder at what this Father adds , England ( says he ) being once brought back to the Truth , the Pope must not , for at least five years after , think of making any profit out of the Church-Revenues , but remit the whole entirely to the seven , who shall dispose of them , as they think best for the Churches advantage . In good earnest a man must be very dull , that should not perceive their whole design to be to amuse , or rather cheat the Pope by such a proposal , hoping at the five years end to find out some other trick , which seldom fails them , to keep it five years longer , and so by degrees shut His Holiness quite out . Does not this demonstrate their greedy ambition to an undeniable degree ? Can any man after this , doubt of their aspiring thoughts of a Monarchy ? Do not the arts they use , put it past dispute ? And do they not at the same time , make it manifest , that so they have their Ends , they are indifferent , as to the rest , whether advantaged or ruined by it ? In the time of Gregory the Thirteenth , they made it their request , to be invested with all the Churches of Rome , no doubt that they might found their Empire in the Capital City of the World : But that which was deny'd them for Rome , was upon their importunity , granted them for England , where they made him confer the Dignity of Arch-Priest upon a Iesuite in Vow , who instead of protecting the Ecclesiasticks , plays the Divel against all Priests , that have no dependance upon the Iesuites , so far as to hinder their communication one with another , though but to discourse , which has made them almost desperate . Therefore it is no marvel if at present most of all the Priests in England are Iesuites in Vow ; since , besides the reasons I have already given , they admit none into the Colledges , but such as pass their word to take the habit of the Society . So that if England should slide back again , there is no question of it , but that it would give beginning to an established Monarchy of the Iesuites ; because the Bishopricks , Dignities , and generally , all the other Benefices and Church-revenues would be bestowed upon Iesuites . No wonder then , if after this we hear of so few Converts , especially in that Nation we last spoke of . For first , the old Stock of Priests which formerly made a great harvest , that the Iesuites falsly attributed to themselves , is near worn out . And these Youths are more zealous in promotihg their own Interest , than in saving of Souls . And then besides the Protestants observing the tyranny of the JESUITES over other Priests of their own Religion , and how they juggle in all their dealings , have taken so great an aversion , that for fear of coming under the same lash themselves , they think of nothing less , than a change . I will say nothing here of their imaginary pretences to a certain State , nor the discourses they continually buz in a Princes ears of the great share they boast to have in the hearts of his people , by which they make him believe , they keep them in their Allegiance and Loyalty towards him . It shall suffice for conclusion of my Discourse , only to propose four Considerations . I. That Men so ambitious , and that drive on such Designs , must needs be lovers of change and novelty . And therefore being able to create them , when they please , by putting men in Arms , the Conduct of which I have shewed you , how good they are at , it is in a manner impossible they should forbear ; Hence you may easily judge , That no Prince ought to have any kindnes● for them , who loves Peace and the preservation of hi● State. For I have already made it appear , they can do him no more service , than what may , as well be don● by others : But then they may ingage him in a thousand troubles , and it may be , promise his Dominions to another , if he entertains them in his Territories , and does not shew them respect enough , by governing himself after their Directions , which is of equal danger . II. If without any temporal Jurisdiction they make suc● a bussle in the world ; what would become of us , if unluckily any of them should happen to be Pope ? No doubt , h● would fill the Consistory with Iesuites , and so entail th● Papacy upon themselves . Going on then , as they have done and setting their Interest for a Rule , and having a Pop● with all his power to back them ; were it not to b● feared that the Dominions of many Princes would be in jeopardy , especially those that bordered upon St. Peter'● Patrimony ? III. Such a Pope , chose out of their own Society , would certainly do his utmost to invest them with some Town and temporal Jurisdiction , which could not be done without injury to some Prince . IV. If the Consistory were filled with Iesuites , the whole Patrimony and Revenue of the Church would be in their hands ; and as we see a man that has a Dropsie , the more he drinks , the dryer he is ; so doubtless , these Fathers with such an addition of greatness , would be but the more covetous of Riches and Honour , in prosecution of which , the whole world should be disquieted . Now , all the world knows , nothing is so liable to change as States , especially where there are those , that never want boldness to attempt . So that it is very likely the Iesuites in the case we suppose them , would quickly alter the present state of Affairs , to bring it to their fashion , and thus to confirm their absolute Monarchy . For , though hitherto they have done their best to make themselves acknowledged Monarchs , by drawing into their Company the Sons of Free Princes , who were to give up their Rights to them ; yet could they never compass it , because still some other power perceiving their aim , has crossed their purpose . But if a Iesuite once came to be Pope , then would be their time , after full possession of the Church-revenues , by their crafty methods to attain to that so long wished for Condition . However I hope , though such an accident might not prove so fatal , yet the apprehensions of what may fall out , will be so well considered in behalf of all Free Princes , that the Conclave will never run the risk of so dangerous an importance . From what I have said we may gather this general Consequence , that it is necessary for the preservation of the publick peace , and the security of Government , that His Holiness and other Christian Princes give some check to this Society , whose ambition is got up to that excessive pitch , as without some speedy prevention will become remediless . When my advice shall be asked for the effecting of this , I am confident they shall be so far from taking it amiss , that they will give me thanks for it . All I would have , being only to make them Monarchs of their Souls , which are the Elect of Jesus Christ , and leave off the thoughts of this World , which is but Dirt : And I offer in Charity to contribute all the help God has inabled me with the power of . THE JESUITES PRIVATE INSTRUCTIONS . CHAP. I. How they must behave themselves in any place upon their first entrance into a New foundation . TO make our Order acceptable and welcome to the Inhabitants , amongst whom we are to settle , it is very requisite to make them understand the rule of our Constitutions ; that it is to no other end , but as much as in us lies , to procure the Salvation of our Neighbour and our selves . For that reason we ought with all submissive and humble deportment frequently to visit the Hospitals , the Sick , and those that are in Prison , to Confess them ; that by a Charity to the Poor not known to other Orders , and being New-comers , we may have the reverence , and respect of the best , and most eminent persons in our Neighbourhood . Care must always be had to remember that written Rule , to request , with all modesty and shew of piety , leave to perform our Functions , and to make sure of the good will both of Clergy and Laity within the Parish , whose favour or power may avail us any thing . We must go far and near , and beg the little Collections for the Poor ; that the Inhabitants , taking notice of our necessities , may be the more liberal . We must appear to have but one soul , and one design amongst us all ; that by the shew of a submissive compleisance , every body may approve of it : And if any be obstinate in this point , let him be thrust out of the company . We must inform our selves of the value of all Estates personal and real , but seek our acquaintance with them rather through liberality , than purchase . And if we get any thing that is considerable , let the purchase be made under a strange name by some of our friends , that our poverty may still seem the greater . Such revenues as we have near any Town , in which there are any Colledges of ours , let our Provincial assign them to some other Colledges more remote , that neither Prince nor people may discover any thing of our profits . We must never settle in a Town that is not rich and wealthy . And this must be pretended in imitation of our Saviour , who went not up to Ierusalem , or any other place , but to save Souls . And doubtless he understood Iudea much the better by so often frequenting it with his Disciples . And this more is to be said for a populous place ; If our Society design the saving of Souls , They have the Proverb their own , Where the people is , there must the prey be made . As well for our advantage , as that we may be thought poor , we must search and scrape up all that can be spared in Town or the Villages adjacent . Our Preaching must be directed by the humour of the people we live amongst ; and it must be insinuated that we are come to catechise and teach their Children . And this we must do gratis , without regard had to any quality ; and yet so , as in order to serve our selves , by not seeming burdensome to the people , as all other Begging Orders are . We must profess to be of the number of the other Begging Orders , till our House has got a sufficient Income , to which we must have a particular aim . CHAP. II. What must be done to get the ear and intimacy of Princes and Great men . THere is great care to be taken in this business . To bring over any Prince to Us , we must be sure to take off that prejudice of believing , They have no need of Us , and perswade Them , what interest We have , That no man dares lift up his hand against Us. Princes have always desired a Jesuite Confessour , when They have been engaged in hateful practices , that They might not hear of reproof , but still have some favourable interpretation put upon Them. This often falls out upon Matches contracted with near Relations ; which are very troublesome , by reason of the common opinion , That such Marriages never thrive . And therefore when Princes are set upon such things , We must encourage Them , and espouse Their Concerns , putting Them in hopes , that We can have what we will of the Pope , and alledge some reasons , opinions , or examples , which may feed the humour , by shewing how Matches of higher consequence have been approved of for a publick good , and have many times been indulged to Princes for the greater glory of God. Thus when a Prince attempts any thing ; as for example : He has a mind to make War ; We must go along with Him ; fix His mind and resolution upon it , without enquiring into particulars , for fear , if things should happen otherwise than well , the fault should be laid at our door . And this We may do by pretending Our Rule , which forbids Us to take knowledge of affairs of that nature . To confirm the good will of Princes , it is good to undertake some little Embassy , always provided it bring us in some advantage : by which We may render Our selves as necessary , as welcome , and let Them see how great Our power and credit is , as well with the Pope , as all other Princes . There is no better way in the world to win Princes , and Great Men at Court , than by Presents , which though never so mean , are better than none at all . And to give Them a full testimony of Our affections , manners and inclinations , We must , than which nothing is more acceptable to Princes , discover to Them the deportment and manners of those They have an aversion to . By this means we shall creep into the hearts of Princes and Grandees . Now if They be not married , when we receive Their Confession , We must propose to Them the Matching into some noble Alliance , to some beautiful Lady , and a great Fortune , and such , as if they are not related , at least are very intimate with some of Ours , set out such Virgins with Commendations suitable to our End to please These Great Ones . Thus We may by preferring a Wife make new friendships , as we find by experience in the House of Austrich with the Kindomes of Poland , and France , and the Dutchies . When Women of condition come over to Us , We must possess Them with as great a love to Our Society as is possible , and that as well by those that are Our Friends of their Relation , as by Our selves , to the end they may become the more liberal towards Us. Now the way to gain their affections , is by little Services and trifling Presents , which will make them lay open their hearts to Us. To conduct the Consciences of Noble Persons , We must follow the opinions of those Authors that write in a more gentle stile against the rigorous Morals of the Monks : Which will make Princes reject the latter , to embrace Our advice and counsel : And thus They shall wholly depend upon Us. Therefore to have the good Will of Princes , Prelates and other Great Personages , it is requisite that They be acquainted with Our great Deserts , and that We shew Them , how considerable We are in all parts of the World , and that We are able in a high measure to dispense with reserved cases , which other Monks cannot do : as to absolve from Fasting , or Paying any just Debt , Untie the impediments of Marriage , and a thousand other Obligations and Vows . We must endevour to breed dissention among Great Men , and raise seditions , or any thing , a Prince would have Us to do to please Him. If a chief Minister of State to any Monarch that is Our Friend , oppose Us , and that Prince cast His whole favour upon Him , so as to add Titles to His Honour ; We must present Our selves before Him , and court Him in the highest degree , as well by Visits , as all humble respect . CHAP. III. How we are to deal with persons of Great rank , that are not rich , but have great power in the Common-wealth , that we may make Our advantages by Their Credit . IF They be Secular Lords , We must under the protection of Their assistance and kindness , carry any process against Our enemies , and make use of Their partiality to hook in Houses , Villages , Gardens , Quarries of Stone for Building , especially in the Towns where we have Colledges , always purchasing under a strange name of some Confident of Ours . We must be very careful to uphold the Bishops and Parishioners revenues for Us ; lest They should hinder the exercise of Our Function , where They have to do . For , In Germany , Poland , and France , the Bishops have great power , and can with a great deal of ease obtain from their Prince any Convenience for Us , as Monasteries , new erected Parishes , the priviledges of Serving at certain Altars , places devoted to holy uses , and other things , which must be facilitated by stopping the Seculars mouths with some small consideration . Besides , We may transfer to Our own use , what foundations We please , where Catholicks and Hereticks inhabit together . These Bishops should be made 〈◊〉 ●●derstand , that besides the meritoriousness of the act in such a case , they will reap a great benefit : Whereas the Secular Priests and the Monks would pay them with nothing , but a Song . They ought to have immortal praise for their zeal in so good a deed , that are the Cause of Our getting into the foundations of some Seculars , and Canons , which may be effected with ease by the assistance of These Bishops . We must see , that when the Bishops and Princes are founding any Colledges , we have a perpetual Licence conferred upon Us to assist the Vicar of the Parish-Churches in the Cure of Souls ; and that for some time the Superiour be a parishioner himself , so to have the Church wholly at Our dispose . The Bishops must be perswaded to build us Colledges in those Universities that are our Enemies , and where the Catholicks and Hereticks hinder Us from having any foundation ; and that as well There , as in any other great Town , We may have liberty to Preach . When there is any design of Canonizing one of Our Order ; the business must be followed by Letters of Grace from Great men to His Holiness . If occasion so require , that the Princes must appear in person to solicit , We must look to it , that no Regular go along with Them , or attend Them , with whom we hold not Correspondence , for fear they steal away the Princes affection from Us , and procure our Colledges , where they have any thing to do already , to be joined to them to Our prejudice . Therefore when any person of quality comes within Our Walls , We must treat Him with all modest respect , and shew of piety . CHAP. IV. The Duty of Chaplains and Confessours to Princes , and Great Lords . THat Princes and other men of Degree may be fully satisfied that Our whole design is the Great glory of God , which Our Society has chose for their particular cognisance ; We must pretend all the resolution and sincerity in the World. And afterwards try , how pliable They are to Our Instructions , not all at once , but by degrees , screw Our selves into their politick Concerns of Government and Revenue . To arrive thus far , We must often inculcate , that They ought not confer Honours , Charges , Offices , or other preferments , but upon such as are able , and of integrity , and that have merited by some notable Service . Make them sensible , how great a sin it is to do the contrary , always dissembling our intention to meddle in any thing of that nature , protesting against it with all asseverations , making it only a Case of Conscience , in the station We are to speak the truth . If then the Prince be put to a stand what to do : He must be told , what endowments and capacity They ought to have who are to fill up such or such places , and how they ought to demean themselves . We must suffer none to come in , that are not of our Intimates . Therefore let the Prince hear again and again , that to employ men of integrity and good lives , will be highly for His honour , absolutely necessary for the maintenance of true Religion , and the good of His people . Which persons must never be nominated by any we are not sure of , but by some of our fast friends . Thus we shall strike up a mutual obligation , and be the more cheerfully served upon all occasions . The Confessours and Chaplains must get out of our Friends , what Lands or Money the eminent men have , whether virtuous , and bountiful , and be sure to keep a Catalogue of their names , and then neatly recommend them to the Prince , that so the way may be laid open for preferment , when any falls worthy of them . But they must mark out those in the first place , that by Confession they discover to be well enclined to Us. Above all , they must be sure to handle Princes , and others , with all easiness and satisfaction , and not to press them too much in their Confessions , or Sermons . They that retain to Princes must have very little money , and be mean in their furniture , contenting themselves with some poor little hole , as in appearance most mortified persons , and avoid the suspicion of flattery . For by such a discreet carriage they may prevail easily with the Prince to do nothing , in Church or State without their advice . All diligence must be used to get the names of all the Officers of State , to change or continue , as shall be thought most expedient , but without giving ground to suspect the removalls come from Us. And this must be brought about by some of our friends , that are near the Prince , who may effect it without mistrust . CHAP. V. What must be done with those Orders that comply with ours ▪ and by that means often get , what should otherwise have fallen to our share . VVE must disgest this sort of people , as a Medicine for a Mad Dog. And therefore to remedy the mischief , as much as in us lies , we must possess any Prince , that will give us the hearing of the perfection of our Order above all the rest , and that if the other seem to excel us in the strictness of Discipline , yet ours in the whole is the most glorious star in the Church's firmament , and that the rule of other Orders is wholly directed by ours . We must lay open the defects of other Orders , and shew how they that concur with us in the same designe , come fart short of us in the performance . We ought to set our selves chiefly against those Orders , that ape us in the education of youth , Principally , in those places , where it depends upon our credit , and where good advantage may be made . Such Orders must be represented to the Prince , as contentious , and apt to cause tumults and seditions . The Universities must be made believe , that those other Orders are like to prove much more pernicious to them , than ours . And if such chance to have Letters recommendatory from the Pope , or Cardinals : We must procure the Prince to mediate on our behalf to His Holiness , that we may produce more authentick authority for our selves . We must get the good word of the Inhabitants of that Town where we have Colleges , to confirm the excellency of our Institution , uprightness of our conversation , and incomparable method in teaching Scholars . Besides it must be suggested , that the opening diversity of Schools will be liable to breed opposition and tumults , especially if under the tuition of several Orders . All possible industry must be used to make our studies flourish , and win applause , giving proofs thereof to Prince and people . CHAP. VI. How to procure the friendship of rich Widows . FOr this purpose must be called out some of the Fathers of the livelyest fresh complexions , and of a middle age . These must frequent Their houses , and if they find a kindness towards our Society , impart to Them its great worth . If they come to our Churches , we must put a Confessour to them , that shall perswade them to continue in their Widowhood , representing to them the great pleasure , delight and advantage will accrue to them by remaining in that state : and this they must be assured of , and promised an eternal reward , and that this only thing will exempt them from Purgatory . Set them up a little Chappel , and an Altar neatly furnished , the minding of which may put the thoughts of a Husband out of their heads . For the better effecting of which , frequent Masses must be said there , and Exhortations given . To facilitate the business they must be induced to lessen their family , and to take Stewards , and other Officers of our recommendation , and place some of our Creatures about them in the House . So that by degrees , having got a perfect knowledge of all the circumstances of their Concerns , and their devotion to our Society , we may at last place what Officers we please about them . The first thing that their Confessours are to do , is to get into their Counsels , and to let them understand how necessary it is for the good of their souls to give themselves wholly up into their hands . They must be advised to Receive often , to assist at Divine Service , to repeat the Litanies over , to take a daily examination of themselves , and their Confessours must assist them in choosing out some Men and Women-Saints for their Tutelaries , especially recommending the Founder of our Order . Let them be exhorted to make an entire Confession , that knowing their faults , humours , and instructions , from beginning to end , it may serve them as a direction to bring them about to our purpose . Twice or thrice a week must be given them a Lecture in commendation of a Widows life , and how many thousand vexations and charges a second Marriage incurrs . Being thus induced to continue in Their Widowhood , presently they must be put upon entring into some religious Order , not in a Cloister , but after the manner of Paulina . Thus when they are caught in the Vow of chastity , all danger of their Marrying again is over . They must then be earnestly pressed not to admit young people into their Court , such as are given to Courting of Ladies , Play , Musick or Poetry ; That they avoid much company . But let all this be done with such a moderation , as may prevent any complaint of our rigour towards them , for fear of a just repriment . All Presentations , Chaplains , and the like , in their gift , must be disposed of by us . By this we shall insensibly get ground upon them , perswading them to deeds of charity , and giving alms , without which they can never gain the Kingdome of Heaven . Always provided , they never bestow any charity without the advice and consent of their ghostly Father : because it is very material to be assured upon whom , or how a charity is placed to make it acceptable to God. For they must understand , that alms ill-bestowed will rather do hurt , than good . And if they do not believe , how much it contributes to the expiation of their sins ; they must neither be allowed so much liberty nor liberality . CHAP. VII . How to keep Widows to our selves , so far as concerns the disposing of their Estates . VVIdows must be frequently minded of continuing in their devotion , of performing charitable offices , to let no week pass without doing some good work of their own voluntary motion , to the honour of the holy Virgin , cutting off all superfluous expences , and distributing something extraordinary to the poor , and the Churches of Jesus Christ. Now , if besides this general good disposition , they give any testimony of a particular bounty towards us , whether by any great sum of money , or otherwise : we must make them entire partakers in the merits of our Company , and to set the better gloss upon it , let it be confirmed by the Provincial , or if need be , by our General . If any of our Widows break their Vow of chastity , they shall be shrived by their Confessours twice a year with a renewing of their Vow , that the freshness of the memory of it may oblige them the more to us . And upon the day of their reconciliation , they may have leave to recreate themselves with any civil divertisement . It must be proposed to them to live after our Rule , and if they think fit , that all their Attendants and Domesticks do the like . They ought to be perswaded to come to Confession every month , as well upon the Feasts dedicated to our Saviour , as Those to the holy Virgin ; The Apostles , the Patron they have made choice of , and principally St. Ignatius , and St. Xavier . Place Syndikes with them to have an eye upon both men and women in their Court , and to discover their miscarriages , for our better information , but not to take any notice of the Widows vow of Chastity . The Domesticks must be forbid to look scornfully , or talk of things behind peoples backs , which grows ordinarily into contempt . And therefore offenders in that kind are to be severely chastised , or else by the Widows leave turned out of doors . These Widows must be served by civil Maids of our recommendation , such as have skill in working several ornaments for our Churches , which may be a means to give their Ladies a pious divertisement . We must place a Governess over these Maids of our own choosing , that may keep them constantly at work , and have a strict eye over them . Visit the Widows , as often as we may be welcome , entertaining them with pleasing discourses , and godly stories , and keep up the cheerfulness of their humour , and never be too severe with them in Confession , lest they take distaste at us : unless there be no hopes left of making any advantage by them . We must comfort them , and advise them to go often to Confession , that in relyance upon this consolation , They may be wholly ours , body and goods . If there be any hopes of frighting them into good nature , we may be a little more rough with them : But a Confessour must do this with great caution , and not before he hath consulted with the Superiours . It is of great importance for the gaining a Widow's friendship , to give Them a particular privilege of coming into our Colleges upon some solemn performances , as the acting a Tragedy , or such like : and not to let Them go abroad in extreme cold weather : and to dispense with Their Fasting , or wearing Sack-cloth , which may be taken off by Alms. That thus They may be satisfied we are not less sollicitous for the health of their bodies , than their souls . We must hinder Them , as much as in us lies , from going to the Churches of other Orders , upon their Festival days : and convince them , that all the indulgencies of other Orders are comprised in Ours . Let them be as sensual as they please , provided they are liberal , kind to our Society , and handle the matter so , as not to give scandal . When they are in consideration , how to dispose of their Estates : they must have laid before them the perfection of the Saints , who have forfeited their blood , parents and friends , and cheerfully relieved the poor Members of Christ. Here it is , that we must represent that Crown they shall receive , if they give themselves , and theirs , up to us . To induce them the more willingly to this mind , we must let them see the 123 Articles in the 4 th chap. of our Constitutions , That by this means they may be informed of the drift of this perfection , and may be weaned from that fondness after their Relations . So that their whole affections may be set upon the glory of God , by the advice of their ghostly Father ; who must therefore lay home to them the great hazard of death worldly grief carries along with it , which does constantly attend the too great tenderness for near kindred . The escaping of this danger wholly proceeds from that sincere resignation of themselves up into our hands : which nevertheless was wrought by our importunity ; A thing all other Orders are strangers to ; Then tell them of others , who for this only act of resignation have obtained the kingdome of heaven : and that they may one day be canonized , if they will be diligent to prosecute so glorious a design ; promising them moreover under the Seal of Confession , that they shall be sure of our interest with the Pope for the effecting of it . When therefore the Widows are ready to put their Estates into our hands , and to give themselves up to the directions of their ghostly Father ; to avoid clamour and opposition , they must immediately confirm this Conveyance , if they be willing , and that they are fully perswaded that such counsel comes from God , the Protectour of Widows , who has greater care of their souls , than bodies . They must be likewise possessed that God takes great pleasure in good works and alms bestowed upon religious Orders , and such poor people , as give themselves up to devotion . And this advice their Confessour must give them , letting them understand , that a cheerful giver is a delight to God , when he acts within the bounds of obedience , which is the sister of humility . But they must be sure , when they determine any charity , to give an account to their Confessour , that he may add , retrench or alter , as he shall think fit . Above all , they must be forbid the visiting of other Orders , lest they intice them away from us . For generally , this Sex is unconstant . They must therefore be made see , that our Order is superiour to all the rest , more necessary to the Church , of greater reputation in the Cities , and has greater interest with Princes . So that it will be impossible for them to make a better choice . For the other Monks have none of these advantages : nor ever look after the salvation of their Neighbours , being generally ignorant , dull , heavy , sottish fellows , that mind nothing but their bellies , and voluptuous living . When we have got good store of money and other things out of our Widows , for fear they should take a freak to marry again , we must put discreet Confessours to them , who will take care that they assign us pensions , and certain tributes , or alms , to help pay the yearly debts contracted by our Colleges , and professed Houses , particularly for those at Rome , and such Colleges where the poorer sort of our Order study ; as also for the re-establishing of Novitiates , who have long since been dispersed . Dispose them to lay out a good sum yearly for the buying of Chasubles , Chalices , and other accommodations for Altars . Before a Widow comes to die , if she has not left us to be Executors , for fear of displeasing her friends , want of affection , or any other cause , let her be acquainted with our poverty , the number of our new Colleges not as yet endowed , the zeal and numerousness of our Order , the great want our Churches are in , and advise her to finish those buildings of our Colleges which are left imperfect , and to be at the charge her self , for the greater glory of God , of erecting Temples , Refectories , and other foundations , of which we poor servants of the Society of Jesus Christ stand in need . And let all this be done warily and with dispatch . After the same method must we treat Princes , and other Benefactours , that have raised us any great structures , or founded any Place . First , letting them understand , that their good works are consecrated to eternity , that they are the true model of piety , that they are those , we make a particular remembrance of , and that they shall have their reward in the next world . But if they object to us , that Jesus Christ was laid in a manger at his Birth , and that he had not where to lay his Head ; and therefore that we who are in a more particular manner his Companions , ought not to enjoy the perishable vanities of this world : then must it be pressed home to them , that indeed at the beginning , the Church was in that condition , but that now by divine providence she is become a Monarch ; she was then but a broken rejected stone , but is now grown into a high rock . CHAP. VIII . How to draw into our Society the Sons and Daughters of our Devotes . THat the Mothers may the more willingly consent to this enterprise , we must perswade them gently , that they must be a little harsh with Daughters that are stubborn , whipping them with rods , if young ; with mortification , and threats of worse usage , if more gone in years . They must be chastised , and denied what were otherwise befitting their quality . But if they will comply with our Rules , they must be cherished with all tenderness , and promised a greater portion , than if they should marry . The Mother must lay before them the austerity of a Husband , and the chargeableness of that condition : represent to them the hardships and vexations of Marriage , the torments and anguishes they are to endure , and that nothing but sorrow is to be got by it ; whereas the entring into some religious Vow , brings along with it all content . The same doctrine must be applyed to Sons that are inclinable to marry . We must get familiar with their Sons , and invite them to those Colleges we think fittest to place them in , carrying them into our Gardens to walk , and to our Countrey-houses , where we go for diversion . Shew them the great content those retreats afford , and how great respect all Princes pay us . In short , we must make it our business to draw in the youth , by carrying them to our Refectories and Chambers , letting them see the agreeableness of our conversation , and how easy our Rule is , which has the promise of the glory of the blessed . Our sharpness in disputations of Things appertaining to this world , or that to come , the eloquent discourses that are made amongst us , from delightful entertainments so heavenly pleasant , which seem to be bestowed upon us in the name of the holy Virgin , by way of revelation , must not be omitted , as so many inducements to bring them to our Order : convincing them how great a sin it is to resist a call from heaven . Let them likewise be present at our Exercises , to see what that will do . The Preceptors that teach Widows Sons in the house must be of our preferring ; who must be perpetually inviting them over to us , and promise them , rather than fail , that if they will enter into our Society , they shall be received gratis . We must order it so , that their Mothers disappoint them of their necessaries from time to time , to make them consider into what troubles , and difficulties their affairs are fallen . CHAP. IX . How to encrease the Revenues of our Colleges . NOne of our Order shall be admitted to the last profession ; so long as they are in expectation of any inheritance to befall them : unless he has a Brother amongst us younger , and more likely to live than himself , or for some other beneficial reason . In the first place , above all things we must endeavour the aggrandizing of our Order according to the will of our Superiours , who alone must be acquainted with these things , and must do their utmost to advance the Church of God to the highest sphere , for his greater glory . To which end , the Confessours of Princes and rich Widows , must be sure to tell them , that since they receive at our hands spiritual good , for the salvation of their souls ; it is but reasonable , they should make us partakers of their temporal good things . We must refuse nothing that is offered us . And if they promise us any thing , it may be committed to writing , if there be any danger of giving them distaste by over-hasty importunity . We must prefer no Confessours to Princes , or others , but such as are able and fit to prevail with them , and to reprove them now and then for not being kind enough to the Society . And therefore if any of them act not their part , as they should do , let them be called back immediately , and others sent in their room . For we have found to our grief , that many times persons have died suddenly , and by their Confessours neglect have left nothing of value to our Church . And the reason was , for want of being dexterous enough to make them sooner ours , whilest they lived : which might easily have been done , had we watched to have taken them in the humour , and not waited any other opportunity . We must visit the Nobility and rich Widows , and sift out with a Christian address , whether they will leave any thing to our Churches , as well to get remission of their own sins , as those of their Relations and Friends . After the same manner must we handle Prelates , and others of their Diocess , which will bring us in no small gain . Our Confessours must be sure to enquire of those that come to Confession , their names and sir-names , allies and friends , what they intend upon the hopes of any Succession , how they resolve to bestow themselves , how many brothers , sisters , or heirs they have , how old , what estate , of what vocation , or breeding , and perswade them such an information imports much to the cleering their conscience . Then if there be any hopes of advantage , let them be enjoined for penance to Confess every week : that what was omitted in the first weeks ▪ Confession , may be made out in the next . Thus when all is got out of a Penitent , the Superiour must have notice , and resolve how he shall be managed for the future . What has been spoken in the Concern of Widows , must as well be executed upon rich and wealthy Merchants , that are married , and have no heirs , and upon rich Virgins that have an esteem for Us. For if we once get into their estates , we shall soon make them ours . But we must by no means be too forward in driving on such a design , lest we spoil all . To procure any mans good will , we must take our measure from his Conversation , and study to humour him in his inclinations . And our Provincials must send discreet persons to those places , where the people are rich , that a good account may be given to the Superiours of a hopeful success . As soon as our people find they are got into their favour , they must presently cry up their great bounty and deserts : which the other poor begging Fryars , never think of doing . Our Receivers must take an Inventory of all the Houses , Gardens , Quarreys , Vineyards , Villages , and other Emoluments , in and about the Town they reside in ; and , if they can , learn how we are beloved among the Inhabitants . Moreover , they must find out every man's Imployment and Income , what Land he has , and what encumbrances are upon his Estate . Which may be done easily by Confessions , the discourse at several meetings , by way of entertainment at Visits , and by the assistance of our fast Friends . So soon as ever a Confessour has discovered a man to be very rich , and that there is hopes of working upon him ; he must immediately give notice . They must likewise inform themselves exactly of such , as will part with any thing considerable , in exchange for their sons , whom we have admitted into our Society . Enquire if any of those , that wish us well , have any inclination to be Benefactors to our Colleges ; or if they have made any purchace , upon condition to return it to Us after their Decease : Or what better advantage , we are to expect from them . Every body must be acquainted with our great necessity , the Debts that swallow us up , and the continual great Charge we are obliged to be at . When our Friends bestow any thing upon us , we must get it to be upon this condition , that after a little time , we may have power to incorporate it into the rest of our Demains . If any of our Women-friends , that are Widows , or marryed , chance only to have Daughters , we must neatly perswade them to put them into a Nunnery with some small Portion , that the rest of the Inheritance may be ours . So for Sons , when they have any ; we must do all we can , to get them into Our Society , by terrifying them first , and bringing them under perfect obedience to their Parents . Afterwards we must make them despise all things here below , and shew them the greater Duty of following Jesus Christ , who calls them , than their Parents , if they regard their souls . It will likewise be a sort of Sacrifice to Our Order , to draw in one of the younger Children , unknown to his Friends ; whom we must take care presently to send to some Novitiate , a great way off , having first given notice to the General . If a Widower , and Widow marry , that have Children by their former Marriages , and likewise by the latter . Those of the last Venter must first be sent into a Cloister , and then the former will easily follow . If a Widow has sons and daughters , that will not be induced to a Monastick Life ; the Superiour must for the first default , blame the Confessour , and put another in his room , that may be more likely to bring the business about . But if that fail ; then must the good woman be perswaded to make money of all that she has in her power ; and give it us , for the expiation of her own sins , and her husbands . When we meet with a Widow that has no Heirs , and is wholly devoted to us , and gives her self up to prayers , and is in possession of Land , or any other Estate : we must perswade her to assign it over to our Colleges , and content her self with some small yearly allowance from Us , that she may have more leisure to serve God , and be quit of the incumbrances of this World. Afterwards take off her pension , and maintain her in Common with our selves , that under pretence of mortification and poverty , she may become as one of our Domesticks . For we must bring her thus to our Bent , lest some wicked Relation of hers should take her off from so good a Work. Therefore it will be very convenient to send her to some remote place to spend the remainder of her days ; telling her , that such a course will be in the nature of an Hermitage , which is held the most devout and commendable of all ways . That our Friends may be the more easily induced to beleeve our poverty , our Superiour must borrow of the moneyed men , giving Bond before a Scrivener . Perchance , when they lie a dying , they will send to the Scrivener , for the good of their souls , to deliver us up the Bonds . And a piece of paper is easier given up , than the counting over a heap of money . For the same reason , we should take up all the money we could of our Friends , though we put it out again : that so being sensible of our great indigency , this may be a more ready way to provoke them in compassion at the hour of death , to leave us the whole , or a good share , for the erecting some new College . We must not fail to be in Fee with the Physicians , that they may recommend us to their Patients upon all occasions . Our Confessours must be sure not to neglect visiting the sick , especially those that are in despair , laying before them the pains of Purgatory , and Hell , which are no ways to be avoided without Charity . They which have been formerly covetous are used for the most part to be very liberal to our Society : and , it may be , put all their Estates presently into our hands ; which our people must press , as much as they can , for fear the opportunity should slip by . If a Woman in Confession , blames the vitious and harsh humour of her Husband , that hinders her from observing our Discipline , and that she be rich , and well inclined towards us : She must be convinced , that she can do nothing more pleasing to God , than to lay out a good Sum of Money unknown to her Husband , or else spare it out of her own allowance , as being the only means to procure her quiet for the future , and remission both of her , owns sins , and her Husbands . And we find many times by experience , that this course has abated much of the Husband's rigour . CHAP. X. Of the Rigour and Discipline within Our Society . THe Superiours shall declare the rigour of this Discipline to be such , that , excepting some reserved Cases , whosoever among us , of what age or condition soever , shall have taken off any of ours , or our Friends , from doing us good , or put them upon entring into any other Order , but Ours , or upon bestowing their Patrimony on Us shall shew a coolness and backwardness , and rather perswade them to give it to some other Order ; or if any that receive Confessions , shall perswade their Penitents to bestow their Charity upon their poor Kindred : such ought to be esteemed mortal Enemies to the Society . And though they must not be dismissed immediately , yet let them be forbid hearing any Confessions , and mortified by undergoing the most vile and abject Offices , be put to teach the lower Forms in the School , hindred from taking any Degree , and as well in private , as at Meals , let them be perpetually jobed , grumbled at , debarred of all recreations , and solemn Meetings ; whatever they value most in their Chambers , let it be taken away ; that being thus hard put to it , they may first complain themselves ; Which is the best way to get rid of such incorrigible Fellows . They which scruple the procuring any manner of advantage for the Society , shall be turned out without any more to do . In short , the Superiour must never stick at dismissing any , that continue not in perfect obedience and submission . CHAP. XI . How to order a Dismission . TO the end , that they we turn out , become not irreconcileable to us : we must handle them after this manner . Before they are dismissed , they shall give it under their hands , and confirm it over the Sacrament that they will never speak , nor act any thing against our Society . Hinder their access to Great Men , whether of the Spiritualty , or Tempralty : for fear they should curry favour with them to our prejudice . Lay open their Vices , and Miscarriages , and ill Conditions ; with a testimony of our great resentment , that they should so far forfeit themselves with us , past hopes of reconciliation . Write word to all our Colleges of their names , and sirnames , we have dismissed , with a large account of their Mis-demeanours . In whatever power or credit he may be , that is turned out ; we must still be before-hand with him , in our address to the sober , and powerful Men , letting them understand , what hainous Offences he has committed , that were the cause of his Disgrace . Then lay before them the love , power , reputation and advantage , our Society has brought to the Church of God , by the approbation of all men ; the great esteem is had of our Learning , for which Kings , and other Great Princes , take us for their Confessours and Chaplains , and admit us into their most secret Counsels . And besides , if we acknowledge our selves obliged in Christian zeal , to have a particular love for our Neighbour ; how can it be imagined , that we should do the least wrong to any we have admitted Companions under the same Rule with us . We must have a great care , how we let any of those , we have dismissed , into a Benefice , before having first cried Peccavi , given us a good sum of Money , and assigned all they have , over to our Society : or at least given some particular and sufficient testimony that they are ours , body , and soul. CHAP. XII . What choice ought to be made of those Novices we take in amongst us , and how to keep them . VVE must be very careful in choosing Youths well-disposed , of good parts , and comely persons , well born , and rich . To intice them , they must be carryed into our Gardens , or into our best appartments , by the Prefect of the Classes , who shall satisfie them , how acceptable an undertaking it is to God their coming into our Society . The Governours of our Colleges must be very gentle with them , to let them see what an affection we have for them ; which to manifest the more , when any others chance to be in the same fault with them , we will pardon them meerly for their sakes , and then let them privately understand as much . We must tell them with some seeming kind of passion , that Youth is always ill-disposed : and if they render not up themselves upon such warning , they must be threatened with eternal Damnation . For the more easie winning upon them , we must present them with some small trifles , little Images , Books , or the like ; walk with them in the Gardens , and there give them some of the best Fruit , sweeten them up with good words , place them in the best seats upon any publick Solemnity , and sometimes entertain them in our Refectories , giving them a tast of our best and choicest Wines . We must perswade them that God has designed them for us , and that we are most assured of it , by the revelation of our Holy Fathers . But they must have a care not to speak of it again to any body . Then must we threaten them , that they are eternally Damned , if they despise the Call of the Holy Ghost , who has inspired them to enter into our Order . When they come to desire to be admitted , it must not be granted them presently , but put off a little , to try the strength of their resolution . They must be advised to conceal their intention , not to let their Relations know any thing of it , nor so much as their Play-fellows at school . All this while we must cherish their good purpose , of coming into our Society , with the best words we can give them . So that by heightening their desire every day more and more , they may covet their admission with more pleasure and satisfaction . But , if it so fall out , that any change their mind ; and would go out again : they must be remembred , why they sought this admission with so much zeal and earnestness ; and made know , that this inconstancy will turn to their Damnation . Now , because it is very difficult to draw in , and afterwards to keep the Children of rich Magistrates and Lawyers , if we have them in their own Countrey : therefore in such a case , we must send them privately to the Novitiate in Rome , having first advertised the Provincial and General . And if any Germans come to us into France , with any such Design , as entring into our SOCIETY ▪ they ought to be admitted without any farther Dispute . We must be sure to send such , as there is any danger of keeping , to some Novitiate , where the Governour of the place is our Friend ; lest the insolency of the people should prevail against us . Now , to reconcile the Friends and Relations of these Young-men we have admitted : we must extoll the bravery of their resolution , particularly in that they have put themselves into the number of the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ , without any leave of Parents , and that the whole drift of our Order is to live in all Holiness , and good Doctrine , to the admiration of all men . And therefore Great Princes have been pleased to do us that honour , as to enter into our Society , for a retirement there to end their days . Lastly , we must tell them , how acceptable so great a Devotion is to God , when so young a man puts himself into the List , to fight under the Banner of Jesus Christ. CHAP. XIII . Concerning our Women Devotes . OUr Confessours must have a great care , to use our Nuns gently : because they are our greatest Benefactrices for the endowing our Colleges , and many times give us half their Estates , when they enter into a Monastery . We must get out of our Devout Women to vow Chastity and Obedience in our presence , that we may be sure of them . Let them know , how well God is pleased with their vail and spiritual subjection , which comprehend Chastity and Obedience , and their voluntary poverty , which argues their service to God , to be from the whole heart and will. Thus into whatever good way we put them , they will certainly recompence us with all their Temporalties . CHAP. XIV . Of reserved Cases and Dismissions from the Society . BEsides the reserves in our Instructions , which our Superiour , or an ordinary Confessour , with leave , has power to dispense with : there is in the case of Sodomy , Adultery , Fornication , a Rape , or any other uncleanness , or any thing committed against the honour , or profit of the Society , a private order to let such know , that their offence amounts to a Dismission , which can have no pardon without first promising out of Confession to the Superiour all the particulars of their enormity . No Confessour shall accuse a Penitent once Dismissed , and out of Confession . But if any such acknowledge his fault freely , let him be turned out : and if he will not own it ▪ he must be kept up for some time . When any of our Confessours take the Confession of an Extern , and that they accuse themselves , for having been dishonest with one of our Society : let them have no absolution , before they have first acknowledged their fault out of Confession . Which if they do , let ours be well chastised , and give the others absolution . If a Woman that is a stranger to us , has committed simple Fornication , and confesses that she has been naught with some of us : let her not have absolution before she has sworn never to reveal what has been done , and that upon receiving absolution , she shall declare with whom she committed this folly . When two of our own people have committed Sodomy one with the other : he that disowns it , shall be turned out , and he that first confesses it , shall be kept in . But with such mortification , as shall make him afraid ever to do the like again : and presently after , whether willing or no , let him be dismissed . Such as are lewdly given amongst us , whether in word or deed , we must avoid ; and having first acquainted the General with our reasons , let us use them with all severity , deny them whatsoever they desire , be it never so inconsiderable , and appoint such over them as shall never let them lead a happy hour , put them upon all the meanest Offices : till they begin to murmur , that we may have occasion to set them Going . And be sure , we never suffer such to stay with us , as rebel against their Superious , or that can never agree with their Companions . But chiefly if any seem to be dissatisfied with their Superiours , for making unjust acquisitions for our Society , cross our interest , diswade people from being charitable to us , or do not set themselves against those , that bear us an ill will : they must never be suffered . For , we must take this for a rule , that if any scorn their obedience to their Superiours , and presume to be governed by their own fancies : they will have as little regard for Christ's own commands . It is sufficient cause of Dismission to commend , or have any esteem for a State or University , that is enemy to our Society . At the Dismission of any one , he must be more severely , and sharply reproved , and have it laid home to him , what a fault he has committed in forgetting his Duty . He that shall be appointed at dinner , shall lay open the crimes of such heinous offenders , so as they themselves may be convinced of their errour , and sensible of our just resentment . But we must never think of keeping such fellows . For they can only serve to bring a Scandal , and breed Dissention among us . CHAP. XV. Concerning those of the Society that are appointed for entertainment and conference . SUch as have the care not only of our spiritual affairs , but temporal also , for the improvement of our Company , as the Confessours of great Princes and rich Widows our Preachers and Directors of these private Instructions , must be ranged with the first of our Society . When the Confessour of a rich Widow is grown old , let him be changed for one that may be more proper for the place . But in the mean time , let the good old man that has done us so much Service , have whatever he shall demand , either for meat , clothing , fire , or any thing else that his age may require . The Superiours shall not vex him with penance , nor take much notice of his faults , for the profits sake , and good harvest he has brought into the Society by his industry , and well disposing of Souls . And as to their Servants and Under-waiters , Bedels and others , they must not be roughly handled , lest their decrepit age become more chargeable to us . It would not be handsome for us to send away the old knaves that have taken so much pains in our behalf , for faults , which the infirmity of old age makes them liable to . Their Relations , that wish both them and us well , would never forgive us . All incouragement must be given to our young Jesuites that are noble and rich , and bring us in , Benefactours and Founders : they must have all they can desire . We must be kind to those that have not yet given their estates to us , and that expect large inheritances ; and not forget those that have been instrumental in drawing in such youths , or have any way shewed their affection to our Society . CHAP. XVI . Of the Devotion of the Society . VVE must all of us take up this opinion , that the Rule of our Society is much more excellent , than that of other Orders , and therefore particularly press this to all our friends , that they follow the Doctrine of our Fathers , and that our Society is that foretold by Vincentius Ferrerius , as has been proved out of the Revelation by Abbat Ioachin , our whole design being to pursue the prescription of the Son of God , Jesus Christ Crucified , and that it is our business to avoid giving any Scandal in the least , so that we are the paterns of all government , and are they that make learning flourish , and give education to most people of quality . For it is our sense , that whosoever shall do or say the contrary must not stay with us : Because a Kingdom divided against it self must needs fall . And therefore we are the more zealous in keeping up these Principles by which we expect to prosper . Our people must be sure to take all occasions of declaring , that it is impossible the Church should flourish under any Monarchy without the concurrence of the Temporal power : that by this means we may win upon the Great Ones , ever making appearance of living after the strictest rules of any upon the place we are . This shall be sure , not only to make us welcome to Princes , but procure us a reputation of Wisdom , which in time will bring us into their most secret Counsels . Where though we serve the Society , all must be pretended for the publike good , which will advance our Credit . Above all things we must still lay before us the glory of God , and good of our Society . Following the proverb , that bids us love our selves in the first place , and afterwards our neighbours . Therefore no matter what mischief we create ; since the advance of our Society is above all other considerations . For we see by experience , what a help the Dissention of Princes is to us , as likewise their ordinary follies and weaknesses . But we must be cautious not to be suspected as the fomenters of War , or to meddle in State-affairs : though we avoid no means to serve our Society . When we are got into good credit : We must teach , that learning is needless in a Parish-Priest , being only requisite for Regulars , that write controversies : and that if they understand the Gospel , it is sufficient : Thus shall we at last make them beholding to us for Doctrine . So soon as our reputation is got to the height , and that we are well advanced in Riches , Learning and the favour of Great Men : Then is our time to enter upon Canonical Cures and Abbies . Which other Orders are never able to attain to , for want of parts , and discretion . Thus we may be in hopes one day to govern the whole Church ; which would be our golden age , and is a blessing we may expect from God , as Protectour of our Society in a more peculiar manner . For we have so ordered it ; that for the time to come , if we look well about us , nothing can fall out but peace and tranquility : Since our Society has taken Jesus Christ for its Shepheard , who will not fail to make it flourish in all respects . CHAP. XVII . Concerning the contempt of Riches . THat we may not seem too greedy after gain , it will sometimes do well to omit taking up the lesser alms , that are given to discharge our ordinary expenses : though on the other side , we must not refuse the least thing that is profered us by our good friends . But when we are in pursuit of a great sum , we must now and then let slip a less . There shall be no Monuments or Epitaphs set up in our Churches , though it were for any of our best friends ; lest the number of them should make people mistrust how rich we are ▪ — Nay we must not permit it so much as to a Widow , that we have drained to the last Mite . Our Society being made up of choice persons ; if any of them grow Scrupulous , and effeminate in their devotion : let them be dismissed . Also , he that conceals any thing from us , or that is dull , or sickly , or becomes mad by over-studying himself , though he has given us all he had : we must not give him a farthing back again . But to make his Dismission the more Plausible , we must pretend to keep what he brought to us for defraying the great charge we have been at with him . Those that are rich we must avoid being rude with in the least : but send them away quietly , as out of Compassion , and great kindness . For by this means , when they die , they may leave us all they have . Therefore we ought to cherish their devotion , and if they seem inclined to a Monastick life , advise them to make choice of St. Francis. As for such as are very rich and nobly born , we must not dismiss them for any fault whatsoever : For it is an easy matter within our own Walls to conceal their miscarriages . And therefore we must do it , for fear their wealthy Relations should take it ill , if we handle them so rudely . CHAP. XVIII . What the Superiours ought carefully to observe . THe Superiours must keep these Instructions very private , and look upon them , as the true directions they are to observe : Nor may they impart them but to very few of us , and those such as have occasion to make use of them . Now , forasmuch as the greater part of our Order , that have made the last vow , is acquainted with these Private Instructions : Therefore the Society has provided , that none that are capacitated to know these things , shall have it in their power , to enter into any other Order but the Chartreux , whose austerity , and perpetual silence will keep them safe enough . We must be very careful they fall not into the hands of our enemies , who may make an ill interpretation of them . But if it should happen , which God forbid ; we must absolutely renounce them , and deny that ever our Society so much as dreamed of them . And therefore in their stead we must produce our general Rule , that is in Print , and which is quite contrary to these Private Instructions : Our Superiours must be very inquisitive to find out , whether any of our people have given a Copy of them to an extern . No Superiour shall have them transcribed without leave from the General : And if the Society find that any Superiour has been backward in executing these private Instructions ; let him be sent straight to the Chartreux . No man must know what revenue we have in the several Provinces : Nor what advantages we make of the Church-revenue . FINIS . 


c0: A50897
c1: Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691.
c3: 1683.0
c6: 15603
c7: 483
c8: 60
c9: A50897.xml
c10: A50897.txt
c2:
  A vindication of His Majesties government and judicatures in Scotland from some aspersions thrown on them by scandalous pamphlets and news-books, and especially with relation to the late Earl of Argiles Process.

c4:
  A Vindication of His Majesties Government , and Judicatures , in SCOTLAND , &c. ALL wise and sober Men in Scotland , do with a just mixture of pity , and contempt , Read those infamous Pamphlets , wherein this Kingdom is so maliciously traduced by some in our Neighbour-Nation ; and when they consider that the Licentiousness of the Press , does so much weaken all Government , corrupt all Intelligence , and blast so unavoidably the Reputation of the best , and most Innocent : They conclude justly , that to deny their King the necessary priviledge and prerogative of restraining the Press , were to refuse to the Master of a Ship , the power to prevent its Leaking : To deny the Magistrat the power of punishing these , who corrupt the Springs and Fountains of a City : And to refuse to the Master of a Family , the Power of Chastising his Servants when they rail at one another . And how dare men be so dissingenuous , as to own themselves the only Protestants , and yet to inveigh against Statutes made to hinder Jesuites , Socinians , and others to pervert the people ; as we certainly know , they did for many years together , at those meetings , and how could this be prevented , since the poor commens know not what is Orthodox .

c5:
  church; design; earl; government; king; law; laws; man; oath; parliament; people; power; religion; self; sense; state; test; treason; words

c11:
   A vindication of His Majesties government and judicatures in Scotland from some aspersions thrown on them by scandalous pamphlets and news-books, and especially with relation to the late Earl of Argiles Process. Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 1683 Approx. 88 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A50897 Wing M211 ESTC R31147 11780927 ocm 11780927 49047 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A50897) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 49047) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1487:3) A vindication of His Majesties government and judicatures in Scotland from some aspersions thrown on them by scandalous pamphlets and news-books, and especially with relation to the late Earl of Argiles Process. Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 52 p. Printed by the heir of Andrew Anderson ..., Edinburgh : 1683. Attributed to Sir George Mackenzie by Wing and NUC pre-1956 imprints. "Reflections on the Earl of Argil's Process" begins on p. 18. Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Jesuits -- Scotland. Church and state -- Great Britain -- 17th century. 2004-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-05 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2004-05 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A VINDICATION OF His Majesties GOVERNMENT , & IUDICATURES , IN SCOTLAND ; From some Aspersions thrown on them by scandalous Pamphlets , and News-books : and especially , with Relation to the late Earl of Argiles Process . EDINBURGH , Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson , Printer to His most Sacred Majesty , Anno DOM. 1683. A Vindication of His Majesties Government , and Judicatures , in SCOTLAND , &c. ALL wise and sober Men in Scotland , do with a just mixture of pity , and contempt , Read those infamous Pamphlets , wherein this Kingdom is so maliciously traduced by some in our Neighbour-Nation ; and when they consider that the Licentiousness of the Press , does so much weaken all Government , corrupt all Intelligence , and blast so unavoidably the Reputation of the best , and most Innocent : They conclude justly , that to deny their King the necessary priviledge and prerogative of restraining the Press , were to refuse to the Master of a Ship , the power to prevent its Leaking : To deny the Magistrat the power of punishing these , who corrupt the Springs and Fountains of a City : And to refuse to the Master of a Family , the Power of Chastising his Servants when they rail at one another . I am very desirous also to be informed , how the King can by the Priviledge and Prerogative of His Crown , have the absolute power of making Peace and War ? Calling and Dissolving of Parliaments , and a Negative Voice in them ? and yet should be denyed the far less priviledge of restraining the Press : Especially after so many proofs of its having been so dangerous , and Seditious . How the Magistrats of the meanest Hanse-Town should enjoy this priviledge , and yet that it should be deny'd to the King of Great-Britain . Or how he should have the power to punish Lybels , and yet should want the power of stopping them , it being both much safer , and easier , to prevent , then to punish . Nor can I dissemble , that our Nation has found the happy Effects of discharging all Printing without Licence by an express Statute , whereby we find the publick Government , and every privat Mans Reputation most happily secured : Whilst on the other hand , It is very observable , that that Peer , who told it was not yet time to restrain the Press in England , has liv'd to see a famous Library of Libels and Pasquills against himself , for the Conviction of this Age , and the Information of those who shall succeed us . We glory also in the justice of our Law , that has by a special Statute , Ordained all such to be severely punished , who by Word , or Writ , Devise , Utter , or publish any false , slanderous , or reproachful Speeches , or Writs against the State , People or Countrey of England , or to the Dishonour of any Privy Councellour thereof : and therefore , we hope , that so wise and just a Nation as England , which punishes those who injure a privat Peer , will not suffer them to go unpunished , who rail at a Nation , that is obliged to hazard their Lives and Fortuns for their preservation . Unhappy Liberty which consists in the priviledge of doing ill , and which serves for nothing , but to make the Authors be contemn'd for want of Breeding , and despis'd for want of Sense : Nor does this Crime want a sufficient punishment , since it has convinced us , that the Enemies of the Monarchy are such liars , and so malicious , that they deserve neither to be believed , nor followed ; and how can any amongst us believe these in Matters of Right ? who every day lie so scandalously in Matters of Fact. Upon this Ground , I confidently believe , that no honest man , will think we in Scotland have owned his Royal Highness , because England had an aversion for him , as a late Pamphlet has maliciously asserted ; for as their worthy Peers did wisely reject the Bill of Exclusion ; so our Predecessours were obliged to this by so many Oaths , and through a Series of so many Ages , and GOD had so severely punished us in the last Age , for having joyned with our Rebellious Neighbours against our Native Prince , that we had been the greatest Fools and Rogues upon Earth , to have Relaps'd so soon into the fame Errors ; and especially in following the Example and Advice of those very Rebels , or their impenitent Heirs , who had in ten years Exercised that Arbitrary Government over us , against which themselves had Exclaimed , and to a hight , that we had never known , and as it is very well known , that every honest Man in Scotland rejoyces , when they hear of the prosperity of the Royal Family in England , and esteem highly ▪ and love passionatly all such as have , or do contribute to it ( an Union in Principles , being stronger then that of the Kingdoms ) So Scotland being the less powerful Nation , what can they gain in the contest ? Or why should they envy that which is their greatest Security , as well as Honour . The delivering of the best of Kings at Newcastle was no more a National Act in us , than the Murdering him after a Mock-Tryal , was a National Act in the Kingdom of England Rebels in both committed those Crymes , whilst honest Men suffer'd , with him , and for him ; and it is undenyable , that the honest Party of Scotland , were at that time fighting under the Great Montrose , against that pretended Parliament , which Voted his Delivery , and that even our Rebellious Countrey-men delivered him only up to such of our Neighbour Nation , as did Swear upon Oath , that they should preserve Him and His Crowns , and when they found that these Sectarians , neither regarded their Oath nor their King : they rais'd an Army immediatly , to Expiat their Cryme ; Nor wanted ever our Nation an Army , even under the Usurpers , to appear for the Monarchy , and from us , and Encourag'd by us , went that Army that Restor'd our present King : Let then no honest Man remember those National Errors , except either in his Prayers , when he Interceeds with GOD , For diverting the Curse which those Crimes deserve ; Or in Judicatures , when such are to be punish'd , as would lead us back into those Confusions . But why the Authors of these Pamphlets should condemn the very Actions , which they so very faithfully Copy , seems very wonderful , as it does how our Fanatick Countrey-men , should wish success to those who Rail at their Nation and their Principles . Open then your Eyes , my dear Countrey-men , and let not your own Fanaticism , nor their Cheats perswade you , that such as endeavour to lessen and asperse the Monarchy in our Neighbour . Nation , will be ever Faithful to you , who are sworn , even in your Covenant , to maintain it in this , to you who opposed them in the last War , in their grand Designs for a Common-wealth , and the Extirpation of the Scottish Race , to you who think that Presbytery jure divino , which they laugh at , and never use it as an useful Government in the Church , though they do some times as an useful Tool to Rebellion in the State , and to you whom they cheated so far , and opprest so dreadfully in the late Rebellion , that they know you cannot trust them . Was it the Church of England , or Sectarians that Sold you to be Slaves in their Plantations , that fill'd your Pulpits with Buff-Coats , and your Churches with Horses ; and did not they turn all your own Arguments against you , that you had us'd against Episcopacy ; for as you said the Bishops should not have Revenues , so they said your Ministers should not have Stipends , as you contended , that Lawn Sleeves were Popish ; they contended , that Gowns were so too ; they in Enimity to Ceremony , would cover their heads at Prayer , as you did in Churches ; and by the same Rule that you taught that Subjects might Reform Kings , they concluded against you , that they might Execute them . I shall likewise refer to your consideration , that it is the Duty of every good Subject , to obey the Laws of that Nation wherein he lives , since they must either obey the Magistrate , or overturn him ; and a Schism does breed so much Un-christian Heat , and so many Civil Wars , that no pious or reasonable Man should Engage in it , except he be necessarly Obliged to separate from the the Church , as absolutely Anti-christian : But so it is , that the Differences betwixt our Episcopacy and Presbytery , which have occasioned all these dangerous Disorders , are founded upon no express Text of Scripture , else Forraign Churches would not acknowledge ours to be a True Church , as they universally do ; nor had the Fathers of the Primitive Church owned a Government , which stood in direct opposition to the Word of God. And it seems strange , that God Almighty should have designed to express a thing in Scripture , as necessary for Salvation ; and yet we who are obliged to obey the same , should not be able to find it out . It is also very fit to be considered by you , that the Reason why Monarchy has always preferred Episcopacy to Presbyterian Government , proceeds not only from an aversion to Presbytery , as neither Establisht by Scripture , us'd in the Primitive Church , nor recommended by the Holy Fathers ; but because it has been observed , that your Government being founded on Equality amongst Presbyters , resembles more a Common-wealth ; and that you have always in this Isle , Reformed without the Monarchs approbation , if not against it , and so have Interwoven with your Religion , Principles opposit to Monarchical Government , resolving to ballance Establisht Authority , with pretences of Religion , from which necessity has at last forced many of you to oppose all Government . And it is still observable , that whatever opposes the Government of the Countrey where we live , must at last end in Anarchy and Confusion . Those great Idolizers of Parliaments , in speaking so much against our last , shew that they care no more for Parliaments , then they do for Kings , and think them only Infallible when they are such as themselves . For where was there ever a Parliament so unanimous as ourswas in the matter of the Succession , not one Man having proponed any one Argument against it . And what a Villanous thing is it to assert , that the Test is a Popish Contrivance , when in it we Swear expresly to own the Protestant Religion , and breed up our Children in it . And that without all mental Reservations , or Equivocations . And to shew how well contriv'd that Oath is , in opposition to Popery : Not one Papist in all our Kingdom has taken the Test. What more could his Majesties Commissioner have done , to show his willingness to have honest and loyal Protestants enjoy their own Religion . And who after this should believe these lying Authors ? Who would Impose upon the World , that , as a mark of Popery , which is the strongest Bulwark imaginable against it . And though we make not the Protestant Religion , the Instrument of Cruelty , the Stirrup of preferment , a Cloak for all manner Knavery , and a Trumpet of Rebellion : nor admire avowed Atheists , nor pay Salaries to such as deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ , if they be usefull to other Hypocritical designes , as some do ; yet our Nation has reason to suspect such as will have them passe for Popishly inclined , ( as if all Duty , when it pleases not them were Popery , ) for in our Chief City , and it's Suburbs , we have not 14 Popish Families , in the whole Diocess of S. Andrews , the far largest of Scotland , we have not three , and there are not 60. upon a sworn Report , to be found in the Diocess of Aberdeen , which is the most suspected of all others . These wise States-men , who think insolently , that they though privat men may reform our Laws , as well as their own Religion ; we appeal still to that Parliamentary Insallibility , which they here deny : And therefore we justly contemn these Pamphlets , which inveigh against the 25 Act of the third Session of His Majesties first Parliament , whereby the Estates of this Kingdom oblidge themselves , to send 22000 Men , into any part of His Majesties Dominions , wherever His Authority , Honour , or Greatness may be concerned , which was certainly their duty ; for if they defend it only at home , their defense may prove useless , both to themselves and Him , and since he is our King every where , we should assist Him every where : And that the King may call his Subjects , even without his own Territory , is clear by all Lawyers , and amongst whom ; I shall only cite , Castallio de Imperatore quest . 159. Where the question is expresly treated , and this decided from the Law of Nations : Nor need any honest Subject fear our assisting their King , and Traitors should be terrified . But in all this , we were much Loyaler then that Peer of England , who , when our Rebellion rose , in 1679 , affirmed , that His Majesty could not send down Forces into Scotland , without consent of Parliament ; because , by the Treaty of Rippon , it was declar'd , that the Subjects of one Kingdom , should not in vade the other , without the consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms , which Treaty is Rescinded with us , and we believe England will not think that a mutual Treaty can stand , when one side is free : nor consider we Parliaments , as the Arbiters of Peace and War , that being the Kings incommunicable Prerogative , but this shews why our Acts are rail'd at , and what Loyal Men they are who do it . As also , since all lawfull Parliaments have ever since the Reformation , both Here , and in England , made very severe Laws against non Communicants , or Schismaticks ; either no respect is to be had to those Parliaments , or these Laws are Just , and fit : ard why the Laws should have been so severe to them in Queen Elizabeths Reign , before they had rebelled , and should now remit their severity , when by frequent rebellions , and extravagant Sermons , Books , and Assemblies , they have incorporated so many dreadful principles , inconsistant with all Government , into the bodie of their Divinity : I see not , and shall be glad to be informed , and if it be pretended , that their numbers having infinitly increased since that time , should prevail with a wise Magistrat to lessen his severity , we conclude just the contrary , especially , since we find , that an exact and firm , though moderat execution of the Law , is abler to lessen their fury , then an indulgence , there being now very few , who go not to Church , and almost all repenting , that they went not sooner , and I desire to know from these Authors , if their Partie in England thinks : that the true way of using Papists or if the Presbyterians allowed that way of arguing , when they prevail'd , and was it not that lenity , which drew on the last Rebellion , and our Slavery . A short view of our Laws , made on that Subject , with the occasion of them , will best clear this point . In the last Rebellion , defensive Armes , and that the people had power to Depose , or Suspend Kings , were the great foundation , and in defence whereof , several Books have been lately written , and therefore these were declared Treason , and it is admir'd , how any can be called good Subjects , who maintain them . The Parliament did see ; that the not going to Church , occasioned much Atheism and Ignorance : and that the hearing such as were not Authorized , was a certain inlet to all Sedition and Herisie : since every man might preach what he pleased , and therefore they discharg'd House Conventicles , and declar'd , that meetings in the Fields were formall Rebellion ; since Rebellion is only a rising in Armes , without , and contrary to the Command of Authority , and that sometimes there would be gathered together several thousands of people in Armes , who might joyn when they pleased ; and from a Conjunction , meerly of those , proceeded the Rebellions 1666. and 1679. and they punished these with moderat Fynes , far below the guilt . And how dare men be so dissingenuous , as to own themselves the only Protestants , and yet to inveigh against Statutes made to hinder Jesuites , Socinians , and others to pervert the people ; as we certainly know , they did for many years together , at those meetings , and how could this be prevented , since the poor commens know not what is Orthodox . And since they were perswaded not to ask who was to Preach , least they should be oblidged to Witnesse against him , and as the dangers on the onehand were great , so on the other , they were desired to go to that Church , which the greatest and soberest of their own Ministers did , and do still frequent . Some Ministers fearing , that their hearers might be led as Witnesses against them , infused in them , a dangerous and ridiculous principle , that no man was oblidged to depone , when he was called to be a Witness , and that no man was oblig'd to Depone , when the being at such illegal Meetings , was referred to his Oath : and this was called the accusing of ones self ; whereas all Laws under Heaven , oblige a man to be a Witness , else no Crime could be prov'd . And if this were allowed , we might have as many Masses as we pleas'd ; and when any thing is referred to a mans Oath , he does not accuse himself , for the Fiskal accuses him ; and do not all Nations prove Injuries and Misdemeanours by the Oaths of the Committers , if these are not to be capitally punished . And therefore the Parliament was forced to make a Statute , obliging them to Depone as VVitnesses . I need not tell the dreadful Equivocations lately invented to secure Rebels , as when a Witness Depones he saw a Hilt , and a Scabbart , but yet knows not if there was a Sword. The Pia fraus of Ignoramus Iuries , and a hundreth other Cheats , rather to be lamented , then related . And which tended to unhing all Property , as well as Religion , if God and zealous Magistrates had not prevented it . And yet the opposing these , which is a Duty , must be represented as a Crime , for deluding ignorant people . The Parliament then having for the necessary Defense of the Kingdom , by reiterated Laws , commanded those things to be put to Execution . Laws which did not only at first seem to be just , but were thereafter upon experience , found to be so . Are not they promoters of Arbitrary Government , who think , that the Judges and Magistrats of the Nation , should dispense with such Laws ? And whoever thinks he may dispense with the Law , must certainly think , that he is ty'd by no Law ; and that is to be truly Arbitrary . And it is most observable , that these who are Enemies to His Majesties Government , and His Servants : are of all men alive , most guilty of that Arbiltariness , which they would fix upon others . It cannot be imagin'd , that the King will contemn the Laws , since they are his own Creatures , as well as His Support , whereas such as oppose Him , or Rebell against Him , must first trample under foot , the Laws by which the King is Secur'd , and by which they are to be punish't , and it is not the Masters , but Robbers who break the Fences . 2ly , Are not these honest and good Countrey-men , who think it cruelty to punish such as did take up Arms twice in an open Rebellion ? and who own all the Cruelties that were committed in the late Civil Wars , who burn publickly the Acts of Parliament , and who joyn with Murderers . 3ly . Albeit those Crymes be very attrocious , horrid in themselves , and dreadful in the preparative , inconsistent with humane Society , and a Scandal to Religion . Yet have not His Majesties Judicatures offered Remissions to all such as have been accus'd , providing they would disown those Rebellious Principles ; so that such as dy , are the Martyrs of their own Crymes , and justifie their Judges , even whilst they are Exclaiming against them . And as no Government under Heaven , did ever shew so many Instances of Clemency , offering Indemnities when there was no necessity for them , Renewing and Pressing those Indemnities , when they were twice or thrice slighted ; and Remissions , when all those gentle Offers were contemn'd : so , has any man dy'd amongst us , by malicious Juries , or false Witnesses . 4ly , Has not the Privy Council in their Fyning such as were guilty , proceeded with such moderation , that albeit for many years , the Laws were absolutely contemned , after many Reiterations by the Parliament , and Proclamations from the Council , pressing Obedience to them : Yet they have Ordered Execution to be Suspended , as for bypast times , to all such as would Obey for the Future . And I must beg leave to Observe , that it has been upon an exact Review , found , that the Rebellious Parliament , 1647. did Impose more by way of Fyne in one day , than the Privy Council has done since His Majesties happy Restauration : Such as differ'd from their Government , Intreated for those Pardons , which are now refus'd . And it would have been then thought very ridiculous , to offer a man his Life ; who had been in Arms for the King , upon his offering to live peaceably . 5ly . If the Differences amongst us , upon which all those Rebellions were founded , were Matterial and did proceed from Conscience ; somewhat might be said to lessen , though not to justifie the Guilt , for Conscience should neither be a Cryme , nor a defence for Crymes . Yet what can now be said ? When all men willingly go to Church , which certainly they would not do , if their Conscience did not allow them . And it being now clear , that the former contempt of the Law , proceeded from Humor , and not from Conscience : who can blame Magistrats for preferring the Law of the Kingdom , to the Humor of particular Persons . Somewhat might be likewise said for those Differences , if we did not find , that they necessarly , and naturally produced Principles of Rebellion , Assassination , contempt of Magistracy , and of Masters , with a thousand other Impieties , and Immoralities : Whilst it is very remarkable , that Episcopacy never bred a Rebel , nor inspir'd a Murderer ; but gentle , like the Christian Religion which it professes , it Preaches Obedience under the pain of eternal Damnation , and practises mercy to that height , that it is now become the Temper of the Men , as well as the Doctrine of the Church . 6ly , In Matters of Government , We must Ballance the Safety of the whole , with the Punishment of a few . And in our Case , We must consider that a Civil War would be much more severe , then a few Executions , or Fynes can be . And we need only remember the vast Subsidies , the extraordinary Cruelties , and boundless Arbitrariness of the last Age to be convinc'd , that it is not Severity ; but kindness in the present Government , which forces them , as a Physician , rather to draw a little Bloud , than to suffer their Patient to run into a Frensie ; especially when they know the Patient has been lately inclin'd to it : and when they see the usual Symptoms that foretel the approaching fit , to grow very remarkably every hour . This may be further clear'd , by comparing a little the condition , wherein His Royal Highness found this Kingdom ; with that State to which it is now brought , under his happy Influence . It cannot be deny'd , but that before His Royal Highness came to Scotland , the Fields were every Sabbath cover'd with Arm'd-men , upon the pretext of hearing Sermons : Which Sermons were so far from being a legal Defense against Rebellion , that they were most Efficacious Incentives to it . His Majesties most undenyable Prerogatives , were upon all Occasions contraverted . Masters were contemn'd by their Servants , and Heretors by their Tennents . And it was very just , and consequential , that these Masters should have been contemn'd by their Servants , who did themselves learn them this Lesson , by contemning the King their Superiour , and Master . The Ministers of the Gospel were Invaded , Wounded , and Assassinated . Churches were either left Waste , or insolently Perturb'd , when they were frequented . Principles of Assassination were Preach'd and Practis'd . All such as own'd , or Serv'd the Government were affronted , and menac'd . Pasquils and Defamatory Libels , vvere publickly vented and prais'd . Dreams , Visions and Prophesies , portending the Ruine and Overthrovv of the Government vvere spread abroad to amuse the People , and fill the Heads of the vveaker sort vvith Fears and Jealousies . Lying vvas become all our Wit , and Hectoring of the Government all our Courage : Whereas novv , People are gathered in from the Fields to Churches . God Almighty is served with Reverence ; and the King as his Vicegerent with Respect . The Royal Prerogative is neither streatch'd , nor basi'd . The Privy Council have learn'd by his Royal Highnesses sitting so long amongst them , to shevv as much Clemency , as may consist vvith firmness : and to sustain their Justice by their Courage . All Animosities and Differences among our Nobility are Compos'd and forgot : and Thefts and Robberies in the Highlands , vvhich vvere formerly so great a Reproach to the Government , and a Ruine to the People ; are novv not only Secur'd against , by present Punishments , but prevented by suitable and proportional Remedies , such as Commissions of Justiciary , Security taken from the Heretors and Chiftains of Clans ; setling of Garisons in convenient places , and giving Money for Intelligence to Spy's . Ministers are so much Protected and Encourag'd , that one can hardly think , if he had not knovvn their former condition , that ever the People had had any unkindness for them : Men do not novv lust after Nevvs , nor Conventicles : But Employ those Thoughts , and that Time upon their privat Affairs , vvhich they formerly mispent , in follovving Expensive Field Preachers : Securing themselves and their Estates , by a pleasant peaceableness , from the Fears , as vvell as the Damnage , of Fines and Punishments . We have no Pasquils , nor hear of no Visions . Men honour the Lavvs by vvhich they are Protected , and those Magistrats , by whose Ministry they enjoy this Peace and Quiet : Whilst their Magistrats on the other hand , remember that His Majesty and His Royal Highness , hate the insolence of their Servants , though they may for some time suffer it : And that the preparatives they make to the prejudice of the People , will be lasting Snares and Burdens on their Posterity . Magistrats should pity the frailties to which themselves are subject , and the misfortuns which themselves cannot shun , and should cover rather than punish Escapes , which have more of mistake in them than of Guilt . By which paralel , our Countrey-men and Neighbours , may judge , whether His Royal Highness be so undesirable a Governour , that the Law of God , of Nature , and Nations should be brok , to Exclude him from his Right of Succession . Whether we Enjoy greater , and truer Liberty , under his Protection : than we did under our usurping Parliaments . And whether those Expressions of our Thankfulness , proceed from flattery , or from gratitude . REFLECTIONS ON The Earl of ARGIL'S Process . NExt to our Laws , our Judges are arraigned , and though all Nations presume , that Judges understand , and that we should presume them Just , being ordinarly men of Integrity , who are ingadg'd upon Oath , and have both Soul and Reputation at Stake ; And who know their Children are to be Judg'd by the preparatives they make . Yet our Phamphleters , who neither understand matter of Law , nor matter of Fact , stick not most soveraignly to decyde , that our Sentences , even in Criminals ( in which men cannot Err wilfully , without murdering deliberatly ) are absurd , ridiculous and inhumane ▪ And yet these same men ( the great Patrons of Iustice ) are the Secretaries of that Party , who after they had murdered Strafford , made an Act that none should dy by that preparative ; in imitation of which horrid Injustice , our Rebellous Zealots did Execute Sir Iohn Gordon of Haddo , upon a Statute made by them , after they had Condemn'd him as a Traitor , for bearing Arms against the three Estates , tho he had a special Commission from the King their Soveraign . And hang'd the great Marques of Montrose , with his Declaration , Emited by His Majesties Authority about his Neck , though they had Treated and concluded with the King that gave it , by whom so many Noble-men and Gentle-men fell for doing their Duty : and so many innocent Cavaleers were Massacr'd after they got Quarters . Then it was , That an Oath was taken by our States-men , not to spare the lives of either kin , Friend nor Ally . That three hundred were expos'd on a Rock to be starv'd , and as many murdered in cold Bloud after Quarter . And a Scaffold being Erected at the Cross of Edinburgh , on which in six Weeks time , multitudes of generous Gentle-men having dy'd , a Zealous Minister Thanked GOD for that Altar , on which so sweet smelling a Sacrifice was offer'd . Whereas our Merciful King , having had his Father Martyr'd , and being himself Banish'd ; Pardon'd even His Fathers Murderers . And granted not only Pardons , but Indulgences after two inexcusable Rebellions . And it was very wonderful , to see His Royal Brother ( this formidable Tyrant in our Pamphlets ) pleading for Pardon even to such as owned a hatred against all the Royal Family . Nor can it be deny'd , but there is a gentleness in the old Cavalier Party , which demonstrats that they are in the Right . And which is infinitly preferable to that soure Cruelty , and morose bitterness , which make the insolent Republicans , and bigot Fanaticks , humourous and dangerous . And as a Monarch the true father of his Subjects , thinks it generous to Pardon , so Republicans must be Cruel , to shew a Zeal for the Rabble which they Serve . Nor do I ever hear that any of those publick Spirited Authors , do turn the Edge of their Zeal against Ignoramus juries , false Witnesses , lying Scriblers against the Government , assassinats , &c. I am now come to take notice of a late Pamphlet , called The Scots-mist , wherein , because the late Earl of Argyl's Process is founded upon Points in jure , and consequently not so obvious to the consideration of every Unlearn'd Man , the Author takes pains to make it appear an unanswerable Instance of the Arbitrariness of our Judges . But before I answer his weak Reflections in Law , I must take notice of some few Particulars in Fact : As first , His Judges were not Judges in a Packt Commission ; but the learn'd and Ordinary Iudges of the Nation . 2ly , What Temptation could the King , or any who Served Him have to streatch Law in that case ▪ for that , as to his Life there was no design , is clear from the express Order His Royal Highness gave , not to keep him strictly after he was found guilty . Though great presumptions were offered to that generous Prince of a design'd Escape . And himself ordour'd in Council , that the most Learned Advocats in Scotland , should be prest to appear for him . Nor was ever a Prisoner us'd , either by Judges , or by the Kings Advocat , with so much discretion and respect . 3ly , His Jurisdictions , nor Estate could be no Temptation , for the late Advocat had Represented such Reasons against his Right to these Jurisdictions and Superiorities , as no man under Heaven could answer with any shadow of Reason : And the King got not one farthing of his Estate , for His Royal Highness by his generous Interposition , procur'd more of it for his Children , then belonged to the Family , Debts being payed . And the remainder was gifted by our gracious and inimitable King amongst the Creditors . And the Tithes possest by that Earl , returned to the Church . Happy Kingdom , wherein the greatest Instance of Arbitrary Government , is a Person , who having nothing to lose , save what the King gave , had a fair Tryal by sworn Judges and Jurors : and lost upon the Event , neither Life nor Fortune . And whose Family after three capital Sentences , two by Parliaments , and one by a Solemn Iustice Court , is left without envy in a better condition , then almost any who Serv'd the King in His great Extremities . 4ly , All these Narratives and Apologies are founded on great mistakes , as if the Earl had been desired to take the Test ; for we desire no man , but men in Office desire it , because they cannot enjoy their Offices till they take it : And that the Council was once pleased with the Explanation he gave , as if he had given in an Explanation : and the Council being pleased with it , allowed him to take it in these Terms : Whereas the true cas was , that the Earl had assured both His Royal Highness , and many others , that he would not take the Test. Notwithstanding whereof , coming in abruptly to the Council , he spoke something with so slow a Voice , that none say they heard him , and then clapping down-on his Knees , took the Test ; but some Copies being dispersed of what he said , all Loyal Men murmured at the preparative , as tending to destroy , not only the Parliaments design in the Test , but to unhing all Government . And the greatest Fanaticks in Scotland , owned they would take it in that Sense ; without prejudice to their Principles : and so they might , being allowed not to bind up themselves from endeavouring any alteration they should think fit for the advantage of Church and State : Which made the Oath no Oath , and the Test no Test. And therefore the next day , when he offered to take the Test , as a Commissioner of the Thesaury , he was desired first to give in his Explanation , which when he gave it in , it was enquir'd , if any man had heard that Explanation made in Council : and no man did remember he heard or understood it so . And thereafter it was Voted not satisfactory . And albeit His Majesties Advocat allowed the Earl to prove that the Council heard and approved it ; yet his Lordship failed in the Probation : and it is absurd to think the Council would have allowed an Explanation , which would have Evacuated the whole Act , and the design of the Parliament in it : as shall fully hereafter be prov'd . Whereas if the Earl had only designed to Exoner his Conscience , he might either have abstained , for no man is obliged to take the Test ; or if he had resolved to know if his meaning would have been acceptable , he might have given his Sense , and petitioned to know if that was acceptable , which had been a fair and sure way , both for Takers and Rulers . Whereas , first to take , and then give in his Explanation , is a certain way to secure ones own Employments , and a preparative to let in any , let their Principles be what they please , if they have the Wit to Salve their Principles by apposit Explications : and the dispersing Copies of that Paper , before it was presented in Council , cannot be said to have been done for Exonering his own Conscience , but is the ordinary way that men take , when they resolve to Defame the Government . Nor is our Government so unreasonable , as not to desire to satisfie such as scruple , without ill Designs . And this they shew in satisfying some of the Orthodox Clergy , who offered modestly some Scruples against the inconsistency of the Confession of Faith , with Episcopacy : And which Scruples being easily cleared , they all obeyed save nineteen or twenty , in the whole Kingdom at most , some whereof had also inclinations however to the good old Cause . Nor can I pass by here a strange abuse put upon the World in that Pamphlet , as if those scruples there set down , were only the Scruples of the conform Clergy , whereas many Papers bearing that Title , were drawn by the Presbyterians , and found amongst their Papers ; and the Paper ascryb'd to them in that Book , wants the chief Objection they stuck at , viz. That the Compylers of that Confession of Faith were Enemies to Episcopacy ; and in place thereof , it asperses our present Episcopacy , the Kings Supremacy , and the Act of the Succession , which the conform Clergy never did . For clearing this Process , modestly and meerly in defense of our Judges , I shal first set down the Earls Explanation , which runs thus , I have considered the Test , and am very desirous to give Obedience as far as I can — I am confident the Parliament never intended to Impose contradictory Oaths , and therefore I think no body can Explain it but for himself , and Reconcile it , as it is Genuine , and agrees in his own Sense . I take it as far as it is Consistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion . And I do Declare , I mean not to bind up my self in my Station , and in a lawful way to wish , and endeavour any Alteration , I think to the advantage of Church , and State. Not Repugnant to the Protestant Religion , and my Loyalty , and this I understand as a part of my Oath . The first Cryme Charged upon the Earl from this Paper , is , that albeit by the 107. Act of Parliament 7. I. 1. It be Statute , that no man Interpret the Kings Statutes , otherwise then the Statutes bears , and to the Intent and Effect they were made for . And as the Maker understood , and whosoever does the contrary , shall be punished at the Kings will. Yet the King and Parliament having appointed an Oath to be taken for Securing the Protestant Religion , and the Kings Prerogatives . And having to evite the old Fanatick Juglings ; and Evasions of the Covenanters on the one hand ; and the Equivocations and Mental Reservations of the Papists on the other . The Oath does expresly bear , these Words : And finally I affirm and swear , That this my solemn Oath is given in the plain and Genuine Sense and meaning of the words , without any Equivocation , Mental Reservation , or any manner of Evasion whatsoever . The said Earl did , notwithstanding of that Statute , and the foresaid Clause in the Oath it self , take the said Oath in such a Sense , as did not only Evacuat his own taking of it , but did teach others how to swear to it , without being thereby obliged ; and path a Way to Posterity , for Evacuating all the Acts that ever can be made for Security of Religion , King and Government , in so far as he declares , that he did take the Oath with these Qualifications only . First , I will give Obedience as far as I ean . 2ly . I think no body can Explain it but for himself , and reconcile it as it is genuine , and agrees in his own Sense . 3ly , I mean not to bind up my himself in my Station , from making any alteration , I think to the advantage of Church or State , &c. Which is not to take it in the Imposers Sense , but his own , which will the more easily appear from these Reasons . First , That the Design of all Laws , but especially the making of Oaths , is that the Subjects should be bound thereby , according to the Sense of the Legislator . Which is very clear from the express words of the former Statute , and by the Reason whereon it is founded , which is , that the Legislator may be sure of Obedience , and may know what to expect from those who are to obey . And who have taken the Oaths prescrib'd . And in which , Divines agree with Lawyers , for they tell us , that verba ju ▪ ramenti intelliguntur secundum mentem & intentionem ejus cul sic juramentum , Sande : pag : 173. But this sense in which the Earl takes the Oath , does Evacuat all the designs of the Oath : For , first , Whereas the Oath design'd that this Act of Parliament should be simply obey'd , as a sure Foundation for the Security of Church and State ; the Earl promises only to obey it as far as he can , without telling in what he will obey . 2ly , Whereas the Oath is to be taken in the plain genuine Sense of the Words ; the Earl declares , that no body can Explain it but for himself . And reconcile it as it is genuine , and as it agrees in his own Sense . Which implys , that it had no plain genuine Sense , in which it could have been taken . 3ly , Whereas the Parliament design'd it as a Security for the Protestant Religion ; he declares he takes it only in as far as it is consistent with the Protestant Religion . Which implys , that in some things it is not consistent with the Protestant Religion . 4ly , It cannot be pretended , that the Parliament design'd to make an Act that had contradictions in it ; and yet the Earl says , he takes the Oath in so far as it is consistent with it self , which imports necessarly , that in some things it is not consistent with it self . 5ly , The design of this Oath was , to preclude all the Takers from reserving a Liberty to rise in Arms upon any pretext whatsoever ▪ but by this Explication , the Earl reserves to himself a power to make any alterations that he shall think , for the advantage of Church and State. By all which , I conclude , that the Earl has interpret this Oath otherwise than it bears , and to the Intent , and Effect it was made for . And otherwise than the Maker understood . And therefore this Explication does clearly fall under the foresaid Satute . 2ly . If this were allowable , no Member of Parliament needs hereafter propose any doubts in Parliament , but let the Parliament make what Oath they please , the Taker vvill Reform , and alter it as he pleases . When he takes the Oath . And I desire to knovv from any man of Sense , if the Earl would have obtained from the Parliament at the passing of it , that every man should have been allowed to take it as far as it was consistent with it self , and the Protestant Religion . Or if they would have suffered the other Qualifications in that Paper to have been adjected , as a part of the Act. Which does demonstrat ▪ that he did not only not take it in the Legislators Sense , as the former Statute Commands . But that he did not at all take the Oath that they made , but made a new Oath of his own . 3ly , If a man should oblige himself simply upon Oath , to make me a Right to such Lands , could this Sense be consistent with it , 〈◊〉 make it as far as I can . Or would the making such a Right , with that quality , satisfie the Obligation . Or could he who receives the Obligation , be sure of a good Right , if the Person Obliged were bound to no further than he could perform . 4ly , All Oaths must be so taken , as that the Taker may be pursued for Perjury ; but so it is , that when it is not known what the Taker is ty'd to , it cannot be known wherein he has fail'd . And consequently in how far he is Perjur'd . 5ly , I would willingly know , if the Covenanters would have allow'd any to have taken the Covenant with a Qualification that he should observe it as far as it was consistent with his Loyalty . And do not generally the greatest Enemies to the Kings Supremacy declare , that they are content to take the said Oath , in as far as it is consistent with the Word of God , and the Protestant Religion . 6ly , If this were allow'd , every man should take the Oath in a particular Sense , and upon his own Terms , nay and upon contrary Terms , according to mens contrary Interests . So that it would not be the Parliaments Test , but every mans own Test. And there should be as many different Oaths , as there are different Takers . 7ly , Former Statutes having discharged the Leidges to Convocat , or Assemble , or to enter into Bonds and Leagues without the Kings consent , the Covenanters did protest , that their taking the Covenant was not against these Acts ; because these Acts could not be mean'd against any Leagues , or Meetings holden for Preservation of the King , Religion , and Laws . And yet the 4 : Act Par : 1 : Ch : 2 : does positively declare , that all such Glosses are false and disloyal , and contrair to the true and genuine meaning of these Acts. And therefore this Glosse must be so too , because this Glosse is the very same , both in Words , and Design with those Glosses . But though this Poynt be very clear , and undenyable . Yet Mr. Mist ( for so I must call the Author for distinctions sake ) makes those three answers : First , That if the Authority which is to administer the Oath , do's accept the Takers Sense , the Taker is only bound in the Sense he gives , and no other . But so it is the Council accepted his Sense . And if they had refused , the Earl had not taken the Oath , nor had his refusal been a Cryme . To which it is replyed , That first , If it be a Cryme to Interpret the Kings Laws otherwise than they bear , and to the Effect for which they were design'd : Then certainly it may be debated with very good Reason , that though the Council had conniv'd at the Earls misinterpreting the Law , neither their negligence , nor their mistake could have prejudg'd the King ; nor have been in place of a Remission . For though the Council be a more eminent Judicature than others , yet they cannot pardon Crymes , when committed . And consequently their allowance , cannot make that to be no Crime which is a Cryme . And we have a particular Statute in Scotland , That the negligence of the Kings Officers shall not prejudge Him. Nor is that Statute so Reasonable in any Case as in this . For since this , and all other Oaths are oft times administred by very ignorant Persons , we should have them a thousand times cheated , and impos'd upon , by the adjecting of such Qualifications as these ; if the adjecting of such Qualifications as these were not punishable . Because he who did Administrat the Oath , did once allow them . And I put the Case , that if a man who had many Friends in Council , should have given in an Explication that was uncontravertedly Treasonable , by saying that he was content to take the Oath , but that he design'd not by it to preclude himself from rysing in Arms , when he thought fit , for the Defense of the Protestant Religion . Would it have been a sufficient Defense , that the Council did not challenge it in the mean time . And therefore it this was a Cryme in it self , the Councils allowing the Explication , did not at all in strict Law take off the Cryme . But the Judges ( resolv'd to do him all possible favour ) were more merciful then to straiten the Earl upon this Point . For if the Earl had given in an Explication to the Council , and told that he subjected that Paper to their Consideration , and that he would take the Oath upon these Termes , and no otherwise , the Judges would have Interpos'd for the Kings Favour , if he had been so ensnared by the Councils connivance , or mistake . Nor would the King have pursued it . But the true matter of Fact is , that the said Paper was not given in , till the next day after the Earl had sworn the Test. And though the Judges allowed him to prove that he had adjected these Words at his first Swearing of the said Test , and that they were allow'd , yet he fail'd in the Probation , and so the Judicature is no way to be blam'd . The second Defense is , that all that can be inferr'd from the above-cited Law is , that no man should put a Sense upon any Law that should bind another , or be the publick Sense of that Law to all the Subjects , which is most false , for the Words of the Law are general . That no man shall Interpret the Kings Laws , but to the Intent and Effect for which they were made . And consequently this must be Extended to all Cases , where the Law is abus'd , and the Legislator disappointed by a misinterpretation . Et ubi lex non distinguit , nec nos . And there is as great Reason to Punish such as take Oaths under such wrested Senses , contrair to the Design of the Legislator , as there is for punishing any Cryme . And much more then for punishing such as misinterpret the Law to others in other Cases . Since if this be allow'd every man may by misinterpreting the Oath as to himself , evacuat all Oaths , and make them ridiculous : And so not only enjoy Employments contrair to the Legislators Design . But likewise cut down the greatest Fence of Government , such as Oaths are now esteemed to be by all Christians . The third answer made to this Point is , that the Legislator is surest of those who give Explications of their Oaths ; for they deal honestly : And it is impossible that any man can take an Oath , but he must take it in his own Sense . But neither is this of any moment ; for if this Answer prove any thing , it will prove that no man can be challenged for adjecting any Quality . And consequently the Act of Parliament could take effect in no case . And so not only were this Act useless , but we would want an excellent Remedy for curbing such as resolve to abuse the Government , in rendring all Oaths that are invented for its Security , altogether ineffectual . And it is strange to see what absurd things men will run to , when they are put to Defend an Absurdity . And though every man must have a Sense when he takes an Oath , it does not therefore at all follow , that men must be allowed to adject Senses that are inconsistent with the Oath , or render the Oath useless . And since this is not an Oath , that all the Subjects must take , it having no other Penalty adjected to the not taking , but the loss of the Employment , they possess by the Kings meer Favour . Every good Christian ought either to be satisfied of the design of the Legislator , in the Oath , or else to abstain from it . And though the Mind of the Legislator might secure the Taker , yet that can only be when the Sense is previously offered to , and accepted by him , which cannot at all be said in this Case . And whatever favour may be pretended , where the Taker of the Oath condescends upon what he will oblige himself to ; yet that cannot be pretended in this Case , where the Earl does not condescend how far he can obey . And does not specifie how far he thinks it consistent with the Protestant Religion , or with it Self . But only that he will obey it as far as he can ; and as far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion . So that the Legislator is still unsecure , and the Earl himself still the only Judge . And I am desirous to know in what part of Europe such qualities were ever allowed . It is also very absurd to contend , that the adjecting of these qualities can put the Taker in no worse case , then if he had refused the Test. And since that cannot amount to a Crime , so neither can this . For it is contended , that these qualities do infer a misinterpreting of the Kings Laws , and a Defaming of the Parliament . And it is most absurd to think , that such things as these should be suffered , because they are thrown in into Explications : For else under the pretence of Explaining Oaths , we should have virulent Libels dayly against King and Palliament . Nor can I see why Equivocations and Mental Reservations should be condemned if this be allowed , for such as take the Test or any other Oath , may at the taking of them , Evacuat the Obligation of the Oath , by adjecting such qualities . And it is all one to the Legislator , whether he be openly or secretly abas'd . Only this I must observe , that the open Abuse is the greater , because it adds publick Contempt to the design'd Cheat : And whereas it is pretended , that the Magistrat may choose whether he will admit of the quality or not , which he cannot do in mental Equivacations . To this it is answered , that that could only hold if the qualities adjected to the Oath , were first offered by way of Petition to the Magistrat , that it might be known whether he would allow of them , which was not done in this Case , wherein without ever applying to the King or Council : The Earl did by his own Authority Swear in his own Terms . Though the Council and the Reverend Bishops took pains to satisfie some scrupulous Ministers ( whose Scruples were in Favours of the Government ) and got them the Kings Sense , and told them their own . And which indeed was the genuine Sense of the Parliament . Yet that did not at all allow the Earl , or any privat man to take it , in a Sense Inconsistent with the Oath . And that too without previously offering his doubt to the King and Council : And geting their Approbation as said is . Nor were they allowed to take it in such general Terms , as did ●●●ecure the Legislator , and admit the Takers to be Judges . The second Cryme fixt'd upon the Earl from this Paper , is , That albeit by the 10 : Act Par : 10 : Ia : 6 : It is Satute , That none of His Majesties Subjects , presume nor take upon hand , publickly to Declaim , or privatly to Speak , or Write any purpose of Reproach , or slander of His Majesties Person , Estate , or Government ; or to Deprave His Laws , and Acts of Parliament ; or misconstruct His Proceedings , whereby any misliking may be mov'd betwixt his Highness and his Nobility , and loving Subjects , in time coming , under the pain of death . Certifying them that do in the contrair , they shall be repute as seditious and wicked Instruments , enemies to his Highness , and the common well of the Realm ; and the pain of death shall be Execute against them with all rigour , in example of others . Yet true it is , that the said Earl did endeavour all that in him lay , to Defame the King , and Parliament , and Test , in so far as he did declare , That he would give Obedience to it as far as he could ; Which imported that the Parliament had made an Oath which could not be absolutely obeyed . And though the Parliament never intended to impose contradictory Oaths , yet no body can Explain it but for himself . Which did clearly import , that though the Parliament design'd not to make an Oath that was contradictory : yet they had made one that was indeed contradictory . And could not be made Sense without privat Reconciliations , and Explications . And by saying that he took this Oath only as far as it was consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion ; he did clearly declare to all the world that he thought it in some things inconsistent with it self , and the Protestant Religion . And since there is nothing concerns Governours more than to have themselves esteemed by the people , without which , or numerous Armies , Government cannot subsist . And therefore our Parliaments , have in place of Armies , consented in the former excellent Statute , that whosoever shall endeavour to deprave the Laws , or misconstruct the proceedings of King and Parliament , shall be punished to the death . And what can be a greater reflection upon King and Parliament , in the age wherein we live , than to have made Laws which cannot be obeyed , and which are inconsistent with the Protestant Religion . And there was no man that ever hear'd that Paper , except this Author , but did conclude , that upon the matter , the people would from it entertain those scruples . Nor are these the inferences of people that live far from the Sun , as the undiscreet Author does object against this Nation . But men must be as disingenuous , as he , not to confess that these are most just and natural Inferences . And the Inferences are so much the stronger , that both this Author , and all such as were enemies to the Test , did take pains to make the People believe , that the Contrivers of the Test , were in so far , friends to Popery , and consequently , there was nothing drawn from this Paper by Inferences , but that which was too publickly owned by all , who were in the same Circumstances with him who gave it in . Mr. Mist in answer to this part of the Accusation , does first cry out , that Crymes must not be inferred by Inferences , and Insinuations , seing these may be unjustly drawn against the design of the Party accus'd . And no man could be secure , if men could be made Criminal upon Insinuations , and Inferences . And this Paper having been given only for the Exoneration of his Conscience , it is not capable of any such Misconstruction , nor ought any such Construction be made , except where a malitious Design can be proved , in the Person accused . To which it is answered , That the Parliament having been very jealous of the honour of the Government , which ought to be Sacred . They discharg'd in general , all such Words , and Papers , whereby any mislyking might be mov'd betwixt the King and his Subjects . And therefore since the effect was the thing they lookt to , and that it is all one to the Government , what the Authors design was , if the effect was wrought , and the dislike moved . They therefore ordained the effect to be punished , without adding , as they do in other cases , that whosoever shall malitiously , or upon design , Write , or Speak , and it is very well known , that there are no Papers so dangerous , nor no Satyre so bitter as these , which are coloured with specious pretexts of Conscience , Respect and Kindness . And upon this accompt it was , that by the 9 : Act Par : 20 : Ia : 6 : All Papers that tend to renew the remembrance of the former feeds betwixt the two Nations , shall be punishable . And what can be more justly called Insinuations , and Inferences , then Tendencies are . And if the people be abus'd , and inflam'd , what advantage is it to the Government , that the Author design'd it not . And therefore it is much safer for the Government , as it is sufficiently safe for every Subject , that men rather secure their own innocence , by not medling in publick Matters of State , then that they should be encouraged to meddle , upon hopes , that they could not be reacht : since their design could not be prov'd . And which design and malice being latent Acts of the mind , can never be otherwise prov'd , than by the nature of the Action it self : And therefore , the dolus malus , or design , needs not in this case be otherwiseprov'd , than from the Nature , and whole strain of the Paper it self . Which was so fit to Inflame the people , and abuse the Parliament ; that dole and premeditat malice , could not have done more prejudice . But if it were necessary to clear the Earls Design , further then from the Paper it self . These Circumstances might be conjoyn'd with what results from the Paper . First , That the Earls Father and Family , had owned eminently the Principles against which this Oath was taken , viz. The Rising in Armes , for Reforming without the Kings Authority , and did still own the Covenant . Secondly , The Earl himself had taken the Covenant . Thirdly , The , Earl had all along opposed the Test in Parliament . Fourthly , The Earl had positively told his Royal Highness , he would not take the Test. Fifthly , Neither the Ministers , nor any other within his Countrey , upon whom he could have Influence , had taken the Test. Sixthly , I am affraid that the kindness shew'd to the Earl by the Fanaticks during his Tryal , and the noise they have made for him since that time : may clear too convincingly , that he design'd in that Paper to own that Interest , for they never manifest any concern , save for those of their own perswasion . And where have we ever heard them resent the injustice done to any Cavaleer , or shew more resentment than in this Earls Case ? So that this Author do's himself prove that design , which he desiderats , and add to the guilt , which he designs to lessen . All which Demonstrat , that he had an aversion for the Test , and so what he did against it , was done dolo malo ; and whoever writes for him , writes against the Test. 2ly , What juster measures could this Judicature take , then by considering what the Supream Judicature of the Nation , formerly did upon the like occasion . But so it is that the Lord Balmerino being accused for having misinterpreted the Kings actions , in a Petition given in to himself ; in which , against this Statute , he endeavoured to raise jealousies in the Peoples mind , of designs to bring in Popery , and that by far remoter Inferences than these now insisted on . He was found guilty , though his Lawyers Pleaded for many dayes together , that there could be no Cryme , but where there was a Design . And there could be no design of Defaming the King , in a Paper that was meerly a humble Petition presented to himself , and accepted , and Read once by him , without any show of displeasure ; and wherein nothing could be challenged , but by way of Inserence , and Implication . As also , this same Earl of Argyle being accused before the Parliament , in anno 1662 : for Leasing making , betwixt King and People , upon the Acts mentioned in the Earls Inditement . He was found guilty upon that Expression , viz. That that storm would blow over , and then the King would see their Tricks . Which Words , he pretended did relate to privat Persons formerly mentioned in the Letter , and not to the Parliament . And that every man should be allowed to Interpret his own Words , Which Interpretations being refus'd then , ought much less to be allow'd now , nam semel malus semper praesumitur malus , in eodem genere malitiae . In the next place , Mr. Mist endeavours to justifie the particular Expressions , against the Consequences drawn from them , by the Lybel : And as to the first , He tells us , that in that Expression , I will give Obedience as far as I can . He did not at all imply , that the Law was unjust , but only that he could notgiv Obedience to it : which cannot be Treason , since the refusing it absolutely would not be Treason . To which it is answered , that the Authors mistake is very grosse , for it was never design'd that Treason should be inferred from these Words : but that which was inferred from it was , that it was a gross Evacuating of an Oath , and a making it ineffectual , to say that a man should swear by way of quality , that he will obey as far as he can , and that he declares , this is a part of his Oath . For there is no man , but will take any Oath with that quality : and whatever he takes with that quality , is no Oath , nor Obligation at all , that can bind him in the Legislators Sense : and though we look upon it as no fault , nor Cryme , not to Take the Test ; yet to Take the Test so , as not to remain bound by it ; and so as to Teach others how to Evacuat it , and so as to defame it , as this Expression do's , is certainly an abusing , Evacuating , and Swearing to an Oath in express contradiction to the Act of Parliament , and to the Oath it self . And though it be no Reproach , not to Take the Oath at all , for then a man expresses no Opinion concerning it ; yet certainly , that with the subsequent Expressions being Dispersed among the People , could not but raise in them Jealousies , and a Contempt of the Government . For having made Oaths which men could not Take , though they were desirous ; and for which afterwards he Insinuats this Reason , viz. That though the Parliament designed not to make contradictory Oaths , yet he thinks , That no man can Take that Oath , lut in his own Sense . And whereas Mr. Mist pretends , that these Words are no Reflection upon the Parliament , since he do's not formally say , that the Parliament has made an Oath that has contradictions in it ; but on the contrair , That the Parliament did not Designe to make Contradictory Oaths . To this it is answered , That the Words are a very plain Reflection upon the Parliament ; for no man can hear one refuse to take an Oath simply , because , though the Legislator Designed not to Impose contradictory Oaths ; yet de facto , the Oath is such , as that no man can Take it but in his own Sense , and without a particular Reconciliation of his own . But the Hearer will certainly conclude , that the Parliament has been so Weak , Malicious , or Inadvertent , as to have contrived an Oath , which has in it self Contradictions . For else to what purpose was it said , That he believed the Parliament designed not to Impose Contradictory Oaths . And it is an extraordinary affront to a Parliament , to have made contradictory Oaths , though they did not design it ; and to have made made such an Oath especially ; That no man could Take it but in his own Sense : Whereby the whole Security of the Government is Evacuted . For the Security of the Government , as well as the Nature of Oaths , requires that an Oath should be Taken in the Legislators Sense . And can there be a greater moving of the People to Sedition , than to tell them that no man that Takes that Oath is bound by it farther , then he pleases , and further then his own Sense leads him . And that the Legislator is Ridiculous in having made Contradictory Oaths , which without Debating whether it be true or false , is a Reflection upon the State ; and is unlawful for any privat Subject . And if any such thing were suffered upon pretence that it were possible , or true . It should be lawful for every privat man to accuse the Government . As to these Words , I Take it in so far as it is Consistent with it Self , and the protestant Religion . Do's so far openly import ; That in some things it is Inconsistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion ; that whosoever would perswade us to the contrary , must think us Fools and Idiots . And I almost charge my Self with Folly , for taking pains to clear this . Since , why should the Earl have Scrupled , to Take this Oath simply , and have thought it necessary to adject , that , He Took it only in so far as it was Consistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion . If he had not thought it Inconsistent : and either he must say , he thought it Consistent , or not . If he thought it Consistent , why did he not Take it simply : and if he thought it not Consistent , then he owns that He thought the Parliament made an Oath which was Inconsistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion . And this was to Inflame the People , who are so reasonably jealous of any thing that is Inconsistent with the Protestant Religion . Beside that it is a great Reflection upon their Prudence , and Conduct . And so every Expression in this Paper , do's clear up one another : and do's clear unanswerably , to all the World , that this Paper is a Defaming of the Parliament , and a depraving of its Laws , and a moving of the People to a Dislike of it . Which are the Words of the above cited Statute . And what can be a greater Depraving of a Law , then to make it pravam legem , a pernicious Law. And what can be more pernicious , then that Law which is Inconsistent with the Protestant Religion ? and which Tyes men to Swear things which are Contradictory ? and having affirmed all this upon Oath , and having dispersed these his Explications amongst the People , he did thereby shew a firm , and passionat Design , to make the People believe all these ill things of the Parliament . For no man uses to Swear any thing to another , without a great Design to have him believe it . Nor do's any man disperse Papers amongst the People , for the Exoneration of his privat Conscience . Nor could he have any Design in that , save to Poison them with those Jealousies against the Test , to which he himself had shown such an aversion in the whole Tract of the affair . I cannot but smyle at Mr. Mists Critical Learning , when he contends that the ' Earles Paper does only bear , that the Earl did Take the Oath in so far as it was Consistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion . But did not adject the Word Only , as the Libel does . For he who Takes it in so far as it is Consistent , does Take it only in so far . And certainly the Author must confess , that either he Designed to Take it further then it was Consistent with the Protestant Religion : or , as far only as it was Consistent with the Protestant Religion , there being no midst betwixt these two : and so our Critick may choose any of the two he pleases . The third Cryme , is , Treason , which is Inferred from these Words ; I do declare I mean not to b●●d up my self in my station , and in a lawful way , to wish , and endeavour any alteration , I think to the advantage of Church , and State. No● Repugnant to the Proestant Religion , and my 〈…〉 this I understand as a part of my Oath . Which Treason may be founded upon many Reasons ; yet to convince any Reader , in a plain , familiar , and unanswerable way ; I lay down for a Position which I hope no man will deny ; that all Nations have made it Treason , for any privat man to assume , or reserve to himself , the power of Reforming Church and State. For that is the highest Point of Government . Which how soon any privat man arrogats to himself , he becomes presently Governour of that Kingdom , and Superiour both in Church and State , therein . And therefore by the 1 : Act 2 : Sess : Par : 1 : Ch. 2 : and 1 : Act 2 : Par : Ch : 2 : The power of Reforming is declared His Majesties sole Prerogative : and all the Civilians agree with us in this . Inter caeteras sollicitudines ( verba sunt Theodosi ) & Valentiniani in Novel : de Iudaeis sam : haer : & pag : ) quas amor publicus pervigili cogitatione nobis indixit , praecipuam Majestatis curam esse perspicimus , veram religionis indaginem . Cujus si cultum tenere potuerimus , iter prosperitatis humanis aperiemos inceptis . vid. Ziegler : de jur : Majest . cap : 13 : num : 1 : Arnis : de jur : Majest : cap : 6 : num : 15 : And which is most reasonable , for whoever pretends to have power of Reforming , must be greater then he who is Reformed . And we have found by woful Experience , that such as have endeavoured to Reform , have withdrawn themselves from the subjection of the Supream Power , under which they liv'd . And except they resolve to force the Supream Power as to this Point , there is no necessity of reserving a Power to themselves . From all which , I form this Argument ; First , It is Treason to any man to reserve to himself the power of Reforming Church or State , that being the Priviledge and Prerogative of the Prince , both by the Common Law , and the above-cited Statute : But so it is the Earl does reserve to himself , in this Explication , a power of Reforming . And therefore he commits Treason . The first Proposition is founded upon the Nature of the Monarchy , and the Reasons and Citations above-mentioned . The second Proposition is likewise very clear , because he who reserves to himself a Power to make any alteration , reserves a Power to make all Alterations in Church and State. And consequently reserves a Power to Reform , in Matters of the greatest Importance . For in all Languages , Any , comprehends All. As for Instance , Does not he who sayes he 'l do any thing for the King , say as much , as if he said , I will do all things for him . Or does not he , who confesses he believes any thing that is in the Scripture , Imply that he believes all things that are in the Scripture . And consequently , that Proposition of the Earls , viz. I întend not to bind up my self from endeavouring any alteration , I think to the Advantage of Church and State. Resolves in , and is equivalent to this Proposition . I intend not to bind my self up from making all alterations , that I shall think to the advantage of Church or State. And if that be not Treason , nothing can be Treason . The second Argument is , That all Lawyers are clear , that it is Treason to attempt against the Security of the Government , l 2. ff . ad l. Iul. Majest . But so it is , that he who reserves to himself a Power to Reform ; attempts against the Security of the State. Which is clear by all the Civilians , Amongst whom I shall only cite Arniseus , ad securitatem Majestatis & Reipublicae quietem nihil excogitari potest efficacius quam si summa religionis inspectio Majestati reservetur . My third Argument in Fortification of the Statutes , formerly insisted on at the Debate . And for farther clearing the extent of that Alleadgance , that is required by the common Law , is founded upon Act 2. Ses. 2. Par. 1. Ch. 1. The very words whereof are , Therefore the Kings Majesty and Estates of Parliament , Declare that these Positions , That it is lawful to Subjects , upon pretence of Reformation , or other pretence whatsoever , to enter into Leagues or Covenants , or to take up Arms against the King , or that it is lawful to Subjects , pretending his Majesties Authority , to take up Arms against his Person , or these Commissiona'ed by him : Or to suspend him from the Exercise of His Royal Government : Or to put limitations on their due Obedience , and Alleadgance , are Rebellions and Treasonable . In which Words it is observable , that it is not the doing of these Deeds , but the very asserting of these Positions , that it is Treason . 2ly , That no pretence or caution adjected to these Positions , can defend them from being Treasonable . 3ly , That the Parliament thought it not sufficient to acquiesce in the special Enumeration ; But so Jealous were they of such Tricks , that they subjoyn this general Clause , That it shall be Treason to put Limitations , on their due obedience , and alleadgance . From which Words , I infer most clearly , that for a Subject , to declare he is not Tyed up , To wish or endeavour any alteration , is Treason , whatever pretence it be done upon . For any alteration , comprehends all alterations : and what man of common Sense , or Ingenuity can deny , but this is a putting Limitations upon his Obedience , and Alleadgance , which is here declared Treason . For what is a greater Limitation , than to reserve to himself to be Judge how far he is Tyed ? And what Expression or Limitation can be Treason by this general Clause , if this be not ? Or of what use can this general Clause be , if it secure not against such Limitations as this ? Nor do I think this Limitation , wherein the Earl still reserves to himself to be Judge , a greater Security to the King , or Kingdom , than if a man should tell me , that he would lock my Money in a secure place , but would keep the Key of it himself , In which case . I am sure , he , and not I , were Master of that ney . 2ly , It being then Treason for any man to reserve to himself the Power of making such alterations as he shall think for the advantage of Church and State , viz. not repugnant to my Loyalty , and the Protestant Religion . The adjecting these Cautions cannot hinder this Paper to be Criminal ; else , 1. The Covenant had not been Criminal , for the very Words of this Caution are in Covenant ; The very Words of the Covenant being , Art. 1. That we shall endeavour in our several Places and Callings , the Preservation of the reformed Religion . And , Art. 3. We shall with the same sincerity , reality , and constancy , endeavour to preserve and Defend the Kings Majesties Person ; and Authority : In the Preservation , and Defense of the true Protestant Rèligion . That the world may bear witnesse with our Consciences , of our Loyalty , and that we have no Thoughts , nor Intentions to diminish His Majesties just Power , or greatness . Here are the very same Expressions , accompanied with many moe , in favours of the King. 2ly , That cannot be a sufficient Caution against Treason , which never hindred any man to commit Treason ; but so it is , that notwithstanding of these Words , all the Covenanters own'd that they might lawfully rise in Arms , hold Parliaments , impose Taxes , and Oaths , enter into Leagues with forraign Princes , Hang and Head for Serving the King , &c. Ergo , These Words are not a sufficient Caution , when subjoyn'd as a Caution to the power of Reforming . Which is uncontraverted Treason in its self . And did the great Protestations of Loyalty annexed to the Lord Balmerino's Petition , defend it from being condemn'd . 3ly , Do we not see dayly , that these who Rebelled in anno 1666 : and 1679 : did openly own , That they lov'd the King as well as their Accusers did . But when he was in opposition to Religion , it was lawful to rise in Arms against Him. So litle Security has the King in flowrishing Professions , when the Prosessors are to be Judges . 4ly , The adjecting of this Protestation , is called by Lawyers , protestatio contraria facto . Which kind of Protestation , all Lawyers under Heaven reject , as inconsistent with the thing , to which they are adjected . And thus the League of France , was Treason , though they did assert under the deepest Protestations , the sincerest Loyalty . 5ly , By the foresaid 4. Act Par. 1. Ch. 2d . All Glosses put upon the Laws of this Nation , in the late Rebellious Parliaments , to the prejudice of their Alleadgance , are declared to be false , and disloyal ; and contrary to the true , and genuine meaning of these Acts. And particularly that Gloss , or Explanation , that what they did , was for the Preservation of Religion . Which is the very Explanation put by the Earl upon this Oath . And from which it clearly follows by a demonstrative consequence , that Explanations and Glosses put upon Oaths , and Acts of Parliament , contrary to the meaning of the Acts themselves , are not to be respected . And being in Law holden and repute , as unlawful , they are so far from defending the Contraveeners , that they are themselves lookt upon as new Crymes . From all which , it clearly follows , that the Earl having reserved to himself in this Explanation , a power to endeavour what he should think to the advantage of Church and State. He did thereby commit Treason , and that this Treason is not taken off by the Cautions adjected , viz. The not Repugnancy to the Protestant Religion , and his own Loyalty . Whereas it is pretended ; First , That Treason requires a special Law from , which it ought to be inferred , I deny this Position , for our Lybels are oftimes found Relevant on the common Law , and the Laws and Customs of Nations , and the nature of the Monarchy . There was Treason before there was Law , for how soon Kings were Elected , it was Treason to rise in Arms against them , or to Murder or Betray them ; and many of our Laws being but lately made , declare oft times what has been Treason , not for necessity , but for the better Information of the Leidges . And though we have Laws declaring it Treason , to seek Benefices at Rome ; yet we have none declaring it Treason to assume the Title , or Power of the King in general , that being inherent in the nature of the Monarchy it self , Treason is the Fense of the Government , as Murder is of privat mens Lives ; and to rise in Arms was Treason before the Statute , King Ia. 1. Nor have we yet any clear Statute against Murder : and if special Statutes were requisit in every case of Treason , the greatest Treason should often escape unpunished . For Law thought it unnecessary to provide against these , and every age produces new kinds of Treasonable Extravagancies ; and Traitors would easily elude and cheat the express Words of a Statue , if that were all that were necessary . But who can deny that the Justices condemned a man justly for Treason , for saying , when he was askt if the King was a Tyrant : let his Coronation Oath , and his Actions , and particularly his usurping over the Church of Christ be compared : and that will be soon known . And yet here was no explicite assertion ; but yet what all men easily understood , and which reproacht , and mis-represented the King as much , as any open Expression : and there was no Statute condemning that Expression , expresly . nor can there be a Law for every Expression : But yet the Earls Treason is founded upon the express Statute abovementioned . And whereas it is pretended , 2ly , That the Earl might have as a Privy Counsellor , propos'd any thing to the King : and so a Reservation was necessar upon that account . To this it may be easily answered , that no Oath does hinder a man from doing what is Lawful ; and so there needed be no Reservation nor Exception upon that , or the like Consideration . For an Exception must be of some thing that could oppose the Rule . But so it is the Oath which is the Rule in that Case , did not exclude any lawful Endeavours , at the desire , or command of the Prince : and so there needed no Exception as to these . But the former argument still Recurs , viz. He that will not bind himself up , as to any thing , reserves a power as to all things , or at least it must be Interpret of unlawful things : For lawful things need no exception . And if this were sufficient , then the Parliament did unjustly , in declaring that it is Treason , to put limitations on our alleadgance : and that notwithstanding of any pretence whatsoever . Nor could any man commit Treason , if that were allowed ; for he himself would be still Judge . And whereas it is pretended , 3ly , That he disclaims the Covenant , and rising in Arms expresly in this Oath ; and so he could not reserve any thing , as to these . It is answered , that this were undenyable , if he took the Oath simply ; but having taken the Oath only , In so far as it is consistent with it Self , and the Protestant Religion . This Oath does not tye him , if he think the Protestant Religion shall require rising in Arms. And having taken the Covenant , if he still thinks the Covenant binds him , he renunces it not by his Oath : For this Oath tyes him only as far as he can ; that is to say as far as he is free : and no man is free who thinks himself bound . And taking it only , as far as it is consistent with it self , God only , and the Earl knows how far that is ; for he has not told us , how far it is consistent with it self ; and very probably , such as have taken the Covenant , think not that Oath consistent with the Protestant Religion , in so far as it binds us not to take up Arms , if the Protestant Religion be in danger : and the Antitesters Papers , Printed by Mr. Mist , tell us plainly , that it is not consistent with it self , in so far as we swear to own the Successor , though differing in Religion from us . And yet we swear to the preservation of the Laws , of which the Coronation Oath is one . But whatever might have been said in defense of such Limitations , before we saw what dreadful effects they had produced , both in the last age , and this . And that Parliaments had so severely condemned them as Treason . It is the duty of Judges to be severe to such as use them , and they have only themselves to blame , who split on a Rock , when they see a Beacon set up to them . And it is much safer for the Common-wealth , that such Papers be punished , then that it should be in danger by such Reservations , as leave every man Judge how far he is oblieged to Obey . And as there is great danger to the State on the one hand , if it passe unpunished . So there is none on the other , seing men may be secure in abstaining from such Expressions , and Papers . And there was never any so unnecessary as this was . And might not Strangers , and our own Posterity , think all the miseries that should fall on us by Rebellions , and Civil Wars , very just punishments of our senselesse Security , if after we had not only seen , but felt the mischief of such Glosses . We stood still unconcernedly , as men seing their own House set on fire , by the same hands which had help't to burn it formerly . If any by Ignorance , or Error , stumble into a Legal ; tho undesign'd Crime . The Law allows not Judges , by an insolent pity to justifie the Guilt , but suffers the King by a Judicious Clemency , to mitigat , or remit the Punishment . In which the Subjects under Monarchy , are much happier than these of a Common-wealth , where , in many cases the Law must be cruel , or Judges must be Arbitrary . This is that sure City of Refuge , into which , no man who flees , perisheth . And if the Earl of Argile , had come in Will during the Debate , as use is . I am sure he had been Securer there , than by his Defenses . But why should I admire , that this Author , and those of his Principles , do not see that this Paper is Treason . Since I dare say , they will not acknowledge that it is Treason to oppose the Succession , and to say that it can be altered by a Parliament : and yet our Parliament unanimously thought that to be Treason . And in the last age , they thought it not Treason , but duty to rise in Arms against the King , and to Call Parliaments without him . Though all the World abhorr'd us for it . So that the fault is not in our Parliaments , and Judges ; but in the depraved Sense , and debauched Intellectuals of such , as have ( by a long Custom of hating Authority ) bred in themselves also , a hatred of every Person , and thing that can maintain it . Since then GOD Almighty amongst the other Miracles which he has wrought for his Darling , as well as Representative CHARLES THE MERCIFUL , begins to open the Eyes of the Blind , and to make some who were Crooked Walk Straight : Let us who Serve this gracious Monarch , Reason whilst His Enemies Rail ; and be Just , whilst they are Extravagant : but withal , let us be asham'd , that they dare do more for Humour and Errors , than we for Duty and Law ; and we may expect amongst other Rewards , which the Rabble has not to bestow ; that we will get also that Applause which is alwise the Slave of Victory ; and which of late seem'd to Fan them so pleasantly , meerly because they were like to prevail . And for which , too many of late sacrific'd their Honour , and Loyalty . VVithout remembring that tho just Applause , is an Elogie VVritten by the Hand of Vertue , and a Monument Built of solid Merit . Yet that Applause which is unjust , is only a sweet Poyson , a plausible Cheat , and the Dream of one who is Drunk . FINIS . 


c0: A52328
c1: Arnauld, Antoine, 1612-1694.
c3: 1666.0
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c9: A52328.xml
c10: A52328.txt
c2:
  The pernicious consequences of the new heresie of the Jesuites against the King and the state by an advocate of Parliament.

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  The Iesuite Cardinal (b) Bellarmine , under the feign'd name of Sculkenius , writing against Widrington , proves in the same manner by this Gregorian Decree , that the Pope's Superiority over Kings is an Article of Faith , 'T is an Heresie ( saies he ) to affirm that the Pope , as Pope , and ex jure divino , has not the power to depose Secular Princes of their States , as oft as the publick good or some urgent necessity of the Church does require it . Spondanus durst not be altogether so bold with the Truth , nor deny these words of Martin the Vth to have been spoken upon occasion of the Polonian's demand : But he suppresses the protestation of Appealing to the future Council ; because that had too evidently shew'd how false that which he imagines is , That it was on design , and in collusion with Martin the V●h , that these Embassadors deferr'd their demand till this last Session , that so they might have an opportunity to observe what Decrees of the Council he did approve by his Apostolical Authority , and what he did not approve ; lest if they had mov'd it before , they might have excited some murmure and trouble among the Fathers , by reason of that which had been decided after an ambiguous manner touching the Authority of a Council above a Pope , and their power of reforming the Church both as to its Head and Members , which Pope Martin would not receive nor approve by taking these Decisions absolutely , and in the precise significations of terms .

c5:
  authority; bishop; book; bull; cardinal; catholick; christ; church; constance; contrary; council; court; decrees; doctrine; est; faith; france; god; holy; iesuites; infallibility; kingdom; kings; matter; men; navarre; new; opinion; persons; pope; power; princes; reason; religion; right; rome; saies; state; subjects; superiority; temporal; thing; time; truth; world

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   The pernicious consequences of the new heresie of the Jesuites against the King and the state by an advocate of Parliament. Pernicieuses conséquences de la nouvelle hérésie des Jesuites contre le roy et contre l'estat. English Nicole, Pierre, 1625-1695. 1666 Approx. 218 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 89 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A52328 Wing N1138 ESTC R16118 12858558 ocm 12858558 94639 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A52328) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 94639) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 722:4) The pernicious consequences of the new heresie of the Jesuites against the King and the state by an advocate of Parliament. Pernicieuses conséquences de la nouvelle hérésie des Jesuites contre le roy et contre l'estat. English Nicole, Pierre, 1625-1695. Evelyn, John, 1620-1706. Arnauld, Antoine, 1612-1694. [32], 144 p. Printed by J. Flesher, for Richard Royston ..., London : 1666. Translated by John Evelyn from Nicole's Les pernicieuses conséquences de la nouvelle hérésie des Jesuites, 1664. Sometimes wrongly ascribed to Antoine Arnauld. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Jesuits -- England. 2002-10 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-12 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-12 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Pernicious Consequences OF THE New Heresie of the Iesuites AGAINST The KING and the STATE . By an Advocate of Parliament . LONDON , Printed by I. Flesher , for Richard Royston , Bookseller to His most Sacred MAJESTY . 1666. THE Dedicatory Preface . My LORD , THE title your Honour has 〈◊〉 these ensuing Papers , and to the Person who makes them English , defends him from being thought presumptuous , that now they are publish'd and come abroad in the World : They wear this Cypher in front , as a Periapta or Amulet to protect him from all malevolent Influenences . And he had need have a seven-fold Buckler , that has to doe with an Host against whose assaults and stratagems even Kings themselves are not safe from danger . The Pens and Tongues of their sworn Adversaries have sharpned the Swords and Poniards , to say nothing of the Knives , the Poison , and the Gun-powder , which have so often been prepared for their destruction . Much of this is indeed stifly deny'd : but is 't not then a wonder , if the Villanies are so detested , there should be found so few of the Party who renounce it in their Writings ? I speak not here of the Jesuites alone , but ( as our Author has well observ'd ) of their other Church-men too , who would certainly more decry it , were there not some other Mysterie in it , which we understand not , and they artificially conceal ; when one poor Widdrington and some few others ( 'till of late the Jansenists ) have been charg'd with no less Crime then Heresie , for disowning their pernicious Doctrines : Nay , it has gained that Ascendent in France , ( a Country where these Holy Fathers have stood so long on their good behaviour ) that they have even dar'd to justifie the Excommunication of one of their Kings in the King 's own Printing-house , at his own Palace , proper cost and charges , and under his very nose ; prevailing with his facility by an unbeard-of and unparallel'd insolence : not to mention here Coriolanus's Abridgment , so destructive to the Gallican Liberty , and other their late practices , sufficiently detected and perstringed by the Author of this ingenuous Piece . Methinks it were impossible that Princes , who either lov'd their People or the glory of the Crown , should truckle under such Impostors , to gratifie a sort of Phanaticks thirsting after their bloud and ruine , to subject it to a forein and unreasonable pretence , by the wild and novel interpretation of I know not what Infallibility , which even those of their own Party deride them for , who have but a grain of Sobriety . But what may not they pretend to who can create new Symbols and Articles of Faith with an unerring Faculty , as well as Confidence ? which can make men believe 't is for the Interest of Religion , how flagitious soever their designs and practices are ? 'T is but calling for the Chair , and his Holiness dubbs himself Infallible , and that sufficiently to consecrate the most nefarious and prodigious of Doctrines : and I doubt not but when the Devil himself tempts men to the most detestable Treasons , he gilds it also with this Religious Bait. We have had ample testimony of this , even in Those who amongst our selves had sucked in the Principles of that Roman Wolf ; and which puts me in mind of what that Hypocrite Rouse ( a Partizan of the late Rebellion and long Parliament ) reply'd to a seduced , but worthy , Person , when near the Catastrophe of our Liberties he was one day press'd with an evident conviction by what unjust waies they had pursu'd the Destruction of that Glorious and Excellent PRINCE who fell into their Snares , That indeed he could not altogether excuse the procedure ; but this he knew , there lay Honesty in the bottom of it . Papa post mutare Regna , & uni auferre , atque alteri conferre , tanquam summus Princeps Spiritualis , si id sit necessarium ad animarum salutem , say the Roman Champions : And would not one swear the men were Confederates , and understood one another , whose actions and replies are so near of kindred ? Santarel the Jesuite gives for one of the Reasons why the Pope might depose Kings ; Because their Persons were burthensome to the State : Compare this with the very expression and words of our late Republicarians . And again , That they have their Authority not from God , but the Civil Law onely , and ex arbitrio Populi , as Creswell words it : Nay , that Kings may be deposed by their Subjects for sundry Causes , a Nolumus hunc regnare is sufficient . The whole Council of Trent free'd Subjects from their Obedience : So did the Rump-Parliament . What an harmony of Confessions is bere ! I 'le be bold to affirm , there were never any two Doctrines more conformable , then that of the Fathers ( as they will be called , forsooth ) and that of these Novellists , who have so improv'd the Zeal of their Predecessors , as if the Aphorisms of Emanuel Sà , Bellarmine and Mariana , were not the suggestion of a Diabolical , but the Dictates of the sacred Spirit . And who of either Sect can have the forehead to deny this , that shall but look into their Writings or Practices , and the solemnity of their several Approbators and Apologists ? A man needs but to turn over the Persecution of Monsieur Arnald , to find how these poor men are treated that but offer at the vindication of the Sovereignty of Kings . I appeal to the horrid Murther committed on those Sacred Heads by Clement , Chastel , Ravillac , &c. if after those crimson Tragedies they had not each of them more then one Compurgator ; The Mariana's , Veruna's , Guignard's , in our Milton's , our Goodwin's and our Ascham's , another spawn of these holy Cleremontanians . The thunder of Paul the III d against Henry the VIIIth , even before his more signal Defection , and that he but at first scrupl'd the Supremacy , may be parallel'd with their branding our most Religious of Kings as inclining to Popery , who died to defend the most Orthodox Faith in the World. The Bull of Pius Quintus against Queen Elizabeth is notorious , as well as the Catastrophe of those who plotted against her Royal Successor by the instigation of Clement the VIIIth : and what hand they may have had in fomenting our late Disorders both in Church and State from 37 to 60 , let the World judge , when they seriously reflect upon what Principles the Brethren proceeded , and what were the Consequences ; since nothing save Hell and Rome , could have inspired so horrid a Rebellion . But to number the Heads and Authors of this holy Fraud , begun by Mahomet , Phocas , and Boniface the III d , almost Contemporaries ; to shew that Turcism , Universality and King-killing are of an Age , we may hear it justified , as well as practised , out of their own Mouths and Writings , ( after a Thousand years that all the World had condemn'd it ) not as a Probable , but Infallible Doctrine , if but the Catalogue of their Citations would consist with the limits of a Preface ; since our Author might have fill'd another Volume with their Names and Numbers onely : Alvarez , Ariana , Augustine Triumphus , Azoride , Baronius , Becanus , Bellarmine , Bonarsius , Bozius , Campianus , Capistranus , Carrerius , Catena , Chirlandus , Creswell , Doleman , Duval , Eudaemon , Fevardentius , Gabulius , Garnet , Greg. of Valentia , Gretser , Guignard , Kellerus , Lessius , Molina , Pacensis , Parsons , Pelagius , Richeome , Ribadeneira , Rosseus , Sà , Sadlerus , Santarel , Scribanius , Stapleton , Symancha , Tesmond , Veruna , Wendeckius , Zodoricus , and thousands more , who have dipp'd their Pens in the bloud of Kings , with a Praeclarè cum rebus humanis ageretur , si multi , &c. as one of these Gallants does not blush to say publickly and in print . Velim sciatis ( says Campian ) quod ad Societatē nostrā attinet , omnes nos , qui per totum orbem longè latéque diffusi sumus , quorum est continua successio & magnus numerus , sanctum foedus iniisse , neque quamdiu vel unus nostrûm supererit , studiū & consilia nostra de salute vestra ( meaning the Subversion of the Government , and the Religion profess'd in it ) intermissuros : Jampridem inita ratio est , & inchoatum certamen ; nulla vis , nullus Anglorum impetus superabit : and 't is bravely resolved . Nor are these all of one , but of several Nations also ; to shew that 't is not the Vote of private Doctors onely , ( as Creswell would bear us down ) but of their whole College , Divines and Lawyers too . Et certum est , & de Fide , That if any Christian Prince deflexerit , shall but warp a little , he is immediately deposeable ; & possunt & debent eum arcere ( like another Nebuchadnezzar ) ex hominum Christianorum dominatu : and who shall say nay ? Nos , nos Imperia , Regna , Principatus , & quicquid habere Mortales possunt , auferre & dare posse . I could not forbear a smile at the pretty Interpretation which Father Creswel gives to a place of Scripture upon this Deflexerit which we mentioned : Such a Prince ( says he ) does ipso facto forfeit his right of Government , according to that of the Apostle , Si Infidelis discedit , &c. If the Unbelieving depart , let him depart . A Brother or a Sister ( suppose a Subject , He or She ) is not under bondage in such cases . But all this is no news , My Lord , to those who shall observe how happily they apply that Concession to S. Peter to invade the unclean Beasts , whenever his Holinesse's stomach serves him ; Occîde & manduca . Christ must reign 'till he have put all his Enemies under his feet : That is , as one inferrs , 'till the Pope have serv'd all Heretical Kings as Barbarossa was . To which we adde that of Jer. 1.10 . See , I have constituted thee over the Nations and over Kingdoms , to root out , and to pull down , to destroy , and to throw down , to build , and to plant ; for so they interpret that passage of the Prophet , as our Author observes . And what of all this ? We must know that the Pope has a faculty beyond any Prophet or Apostle of them all , as Antonius Maria blushes not to affirm : and Hosius once for all ; Unless the sense of Scripture ( says he ) be expounded juxta sensum Ecclesiae Romanae , according to the sense of the Roman Church , 't is not the express word of God , but the express word of the Devil . My hand trembles to proceed to the rest : and it was high time , My Lord , for the Gallican Church , as it is for us , to lay their hand to the Buckler , and to look after these Monsters , who have felt the effects of these bold and perverse spirits , from their Childeric to their darling Henry his Majestie 's renowned Grandfather ; not to mention that Henry of our own . It would fill an Iliad but to repeat the sad consequences of this exauctorating Doctrine since Gregory the VIIth degraded that Proto-Martyr-Emperor ( as we may style him ) to this Idol the Pope . And what befel our John of England , whose Crown was given away to Philip Augustus K. of France , and received again on condition of a sordid Vassalage ? Nor did Innocentius the IVth pretend less to the Emp. Frederic the II d ; Bonifacius the VIIIth on King Philip the Fair ; Julius the II d , who deposed John of Navarr ; Sixtus V tus Henry the III d , as a fore-runner of the Knife . Who can with patience reade the insolent treatment of Celestine the III ● crowning an Emperor with one foot and spurning it off with the other ? And where the neck of a Frederic was proudly trod on , we have beheld the very Marble and Inscription justified by that perverted Scripture , Super Leonem & Aspidem — to shew their contempt of Kings . Dr. Parry was encouraged to murther Q. Elizabeth from his Holiness , by an express Letter of the Cardinal of Como's extolling the design : and Perron has celebrated the like pretences , to palliate the Odium , or , at best , leaves it problematical ; when after all that the Third Estate had declared in abhorrence of it , and the Parricide committed on the person of the French Henry , he tells us , the Doctrine which renders Kings indeposable is a Doctrine which opens a gap to no less then Schism and Heresie , and is wholly unnecessary , advising his Auditors to submit to the Judgment of the Pope , as the onely Moderator in the Case ; and what that is , we have in part declar'd . Woe be to that Prince whom our Holy Father resigns to Chastisement propter Haeresin ; or that the Eruditi & Graves pronounce for a Tyrant and burthensome to the State ; as Pope Bradshaw and his Assessors not long since with us . Would one think the action of Jehoiada upon Athaliah should be suborn'd to justifie a Popish Regicide ? But 't was done zelo matris Ecclesiae , says Tolet. I omit to speak of the Decrees of the Council of Constance against this accursed Doctrine , so worthily vindicated by our illustrious Author , and of the Practice as well as Precept of our Blessed Lord himself , the Apostles , Primitive Fathers , and the Ages they liv'd in ; because they are written with the beams of the Sun. And if Tertullian had not long since assured us they wanted neither Strength nor Numbers , the duty of our Obedience had been sufficiently described to teach us subjection to our Princes , good or bad , 'till our modern * Fathers did open the eyes of the superstitious World , forsooth , and obtained a Brief of his Holiness , by which subjects were dispens'd withall , ut servirent tempori — or until ( as our Country-man explains it , ) they should have vires idoneas , sufficient force , which * Ribadeneira styles Christian Prudence : For then , Omnium Catholicorum sententia , 'T is universally agreed upon , that Subjects are not onely to rebell against Heretical Princes , but are by divine precept , & conscientiae vinculo arctissimo , and under pain of damnation , obliged to it . That which I would evince is , the peril Kings are in , who stop their ears to the Trumpets which are daily sounded to alarm them against a sort of Sycophants and Roman Pensionaries , who swarm in their Courts and Kingdoms , watching onely for this bloudy signal . Let our own incomparable PRINCE but consider , how often his Dominions have been claim'd as Feudataries to the holy See , and how difficult it would be to wrest it out of these Harpyes talons , had they power equal to their will , or to the Right they have so insolently forg'd . The King of England ( says Bellarmine ) is a Vassal to the Bishop of Rome ratione directi dominii . What can be more directly said to prove what I assert ? Nay , and , as a learned Prelate of ours well observes , Masconius transferrs the Title of Fidei Defensor to the Pope also : though 't is well known , our Princes have a right of more antiquity to it then any Pope's donation , and that jure Coronae ; as were easie to evince , though we admitted Leo the Xth to have prophesied that year , as his brother Caiaphas had done before him . But this is fortified , say they , by the authority of the Canonists , Decretals , and , what is yet more formidable then all this , by the subjects and properties of a new Obediential Vow of an whole Order of King-killers . Let us produce a specimen or two , to shew with what Secrecy and Religion they proceed . The Jesuite Binet told Casaubon at Paris , that 't were better all the Kings in Christendom were kill'd , then that a Confession should be reveal'd in which the life of a Prince might be concern'd : and Emanuel Sà , that the Confessor potest jurare se nihil scire , may swear and lie too , whatever he heard , rather then detect the Villany of such a Traitor : Eodémque modo potest penitus jurare se nihil tale dixisse , &c. And upon this it is that Bellarmine celebrates our Garnet for his laudable Obstinacy ; though the less-perverted Monks of the other Orders have made no scruple to reveal the Treason , and prosecute the Traitors to the Gallows . I tremble almost to repeat the Instance , but 't is his Majestie 's Grandfather of Glorious Memory who affirms it of them , That there was not long since a French Jesuite so impudent as to assert , That if our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ himself were now conversant on Earth , passible and obnoxious to death , should any man confess to him that he design'd to murther him , he would suffer Jesus Christ to be kill'd , rather then reveal the Confession . To this Perron's Reply is so impertinent and superficial , as one would even blush to see how he shuffles it over . The Confessor ( says he ) needs not reveal the manner of his Treason , 't is enough he give the King warning to take heed of himself . So , 't is reported , did the Augurs to the great Caesar ; but it prevented not one Stab of the two and thirty : nor did their Garnet so much as this , nor any one of those reverend Fathers , that ever I could learn. But let us have a tast of their Politicks . — Caeso Rege ingens sibi nomen fecit , says one of Henry the Third's Murtherer ; and Emanuel Sà , Clerici Rebellio in Regem non est crimen laesae majestatis , quia non est Subditus regi , The Rebellion of a Church-man against his Prince is no such thing as Treason , for he is none of his Subjects . An excellent argument to make Kings in love with Jesuites . But this is not all : Summus Pontifex ( says Bellarmine ) Clericos exemit à subjectione Principum : plainly , Non sunt ampliùs Reges Clericorum superiores , Kings are no more their superiors ; so that upon the matter , how many Priests and Jesuites in a State , so many Kings and Emperors . Who art thou ( speaking to Princes ) that judgest another man's servant ? Domino suo stat aut cadit , says the Cardinal . And Santarel goes farther yet ; Papa sine Concilio — the Pope does in spite of a Council depose an Emperor ; quia Papa & Christi unum est tribunal , they are Collegues in Office : but which is more then Bozius it seems allows , who speaking in the person of Popes alone , says , Per me Reges — By me Kings reing ; he may remove them , yea and mulct them too with death , not for Heresie onely , but if they so much as favour it . I cannot affirm that all our Roman Catholicks are of this Belief ; but then I can hardly call them Roman Catholicks ; indeed , ( my Lord ) they are not through-pac'd . We see how Barclay , Watson , Widdrington , Sheldon , Bekinsaw and others have been censur'd , hated and reproch'd for maintaining the contrary ; as of old the more loyal Sorbonists , now sinking under this prodigious Tyranny , to their everlasting reproch , as well as prejudice of the poor Jansenists , who with the Church of England are the onely Confessors amongst all the Christian Professors now extant , that I could ever reade of or discover . And though one might instance in some few honest Papists who were in times past of this Opinion too ; yet when I seriously reflect how many are now-a-daies devoted to the Jesuite , I am amaz'd to consider to what disloyal temptations they are expos'd , even by their very Institution . Indeed Cardinal Perron denounces severely against any who shall dare to perpetrate the Crimes ; but in the same breath he ingenuously tells us , that he means it whilst they are Kings , since being once Excommunicated they are no more so , but become Plebeians , or but Wild beasts rather , made to be taken and destroy'd : and therefore that their new Saint Clement , who murthered Henry the Third , did not kill the King , because he was depos'd . Which Lesson was well took forth in our late Holy Warr at home , when they were by no means to kill the KING , forsooth , but to shoot at CHARLES STUART : For thus have all the malicious Topics and devilish Arguments been made use of by our late Fanatics , as if this Cardinal had inspir'd them : witness what they borrow of him from the Prophet Abias's deposing Roboam ( as they call it , ) Azarias's outing Ozias , &c. Bellarmin affirms that Kings are not only subject to Popes , but even to the most inferior Deacons . We have a Pack , My Lord , amongst us , that would think themselves much injur'd to be call'd Jesuites ; yet speaking of the Consistorian Discipline and power of Eldership , are bold to say , — Non hic excipitur Episcopus , aut Imperator : to omit the famous T. C. and the many others I could bring on the Stage , suffragans of this Doctrine , had we no worse experience of it . But it is not their Passion for God , but for the World , which makes these men defend their Interest by such pernicious Consequences . Adde to these the Crue of Anabaptists , and those other truculent Champions of the Fifth Monarchy , who have improv'd their Principles to that notorious height and danger , that God forbid their Dominion should ever be founded in his Majestie 's Grace : For let us but examine what they Teach , and what they have practis'd , from that infallible Dictator in S. Peter's Chair , to the meanest Sectarian ; their Writings and their Actions , from Knipperdolling to Venner , from Pope Hildebrand to Pope Henderson , are sufficiently instructive what Princes are to expect . One would think the divine right of Kings as Superiors , Obedience to Governors , Relative duty of Subjects , and Primitive Example , had been so positively describ'd and secur'd by that admirable Institution of Christianity , that all who profess themselves of that Belief , Disciples of that Religion , and who pretend so much to extraordinary Illumination , ( from the fatal examples of the Event of all Rebellions since the very first defection of Lucifer to this period of ours ) should be sufficiently convinc'd of their duty to Kings as God's Vice-gerents on Earth , and of that irrefragable Truth , That those who resist shall receive to themselves Damnation . But since a sort of Monsters there are , who neither believe Moses nor the Prophets , no nor God himself , who rose from the dead to assert and plant the Doctrine of Obedience to the Civil Magistrate , by the Preaching of his holy Apostles and their Successors , till of late ; what moral Confidence can a Prince repose in the Pretences of any who are thus sworn and addicted to their Tenents ? I speak here as to the Jesuites in particular , and to those who of late lay at his Majestie 's feet , out of that Religiou● pretence , the Tenderness of Conscience , without ever shewing either Religion or Conscience in any their Actions or Writings hitherto relating purely to his Majestie 's Interest , the Church of England , or her Friends , whiles the years of her most barbarous Persecution continu'd ; but which if they had done , I would here turn Apologist in their Cause , and plead it with affection . But , say those of the Church of Rome , what is the Disloyalty you lay to our charge ? Name us the Persons , and produce the Instances . The Answer is short : That whiles the Doctrine of Deposing Kings , ( whatever is pretended , remembring that of Charles the Vth , Vocem esse Jacobi , manus autem Esau ) abetted by so many late Decrees of Popes , remains uncondemn'd , there is reason sufficient for Princes to be jealous of favouring a Party who suck in those Principles with their Milk , as many of them at least as are Alumni of the Jesuites , and who by the Papists own acknowledgment are not worthy to be consider'd , no , not as to Exemption from the most rigorous of our Laws against them . 'T is the same Author who frankly confesseth that F. Parsons did most deservedly draw it upon that whole Order , by his continual and intolerable Practices against the Crown'd heads of this Nation ; from whence he inferrs , that neither can his Majestie be safe , for reasons unanswerable to any that shall take the pains but to survey their Tenents , and the voluntary Obligation into which they have precipitated themselves , Slaves to the Pope as they are , and to that Theological Bawd , the Doctrine of Probability . But would they now cut off this Objection at once , and give just satisfaction to the Charge , ( as , most assured I am , divers of his Majestie 's loyal Subjects , of their persuasion in many other things , earnestly contend for , though with the sacrifice of that whole pragmatical Order , which thus has set the World in Combustion ) let them , and the intire Party , subscribe to all Doctrines which deny the Pope's authority of Deposing Kings , and releasing Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance ; and let the Pope himself approve it , and cause an Index expurgatorius to be made of all those Authors we have enumerated , and the Books that more lately maintain and favour it : since even all this were little enough to secure his Majestie from too just apprehension , whiles that sacrilegious Thesis , asserting the Pope's Dominion over Temporals , and Infallibility , ( even extra Generale Concilium ) is yet publickly cherish'd , which enables him to rescind all this in a moment , and Absolve to morrow what he Obliges to day , and make that to pass for the undoubted Word of God , which is in truth the very Doctrine of Devils . For if ( as a most pious and learned Prelate of our Church has explain'd it ) truly and ex animo they are otherwise affected , they should doe well to unsay what hath been said , and declare themselves by publick Authority against such Doctrines , and say whether or no their Determinations shall be de Fide. If they be , then all those famous Catholick Doctors , Tho. Aquinas , Bellarmine , Creswel , Mariana , Emanuel Sà , &c. are Hereticks , and their Canons teach Heresie , and many of their Popes to be condemned as Heretical , for practising and teaching Deposition of Princes by an Authority usurped against , and in prejudice of , the Christian Faith. But if their Answers be not de Fide , then they had as good say nothing ; for the danger is not at all decreased : because if there be Doctors on both sides , by their own * assertion they may without sin follow either ; but yet more safely , if they follow the most receiv'd and the most authoriz'd : And whither this Rule will lead them , I will be judged by any man that hath consider'd the Premisses : Briefly , either this thing must remain in the same state it is , and our Princes be still expos'd to so extreme hazards : or else let his Holiness seat himself in his Chair , condemn these Doctrines , vow against their future Practice , limit his Ordo ad spiritualia , contain himself within the limits of Causes directly and merely Ecclesiastical , disclaim all power so much as indirect over Princes Temporals ; and all this with an intent to oblige all Christendom . Which when I see done , I shall be most ready to believe , that nothing in Popery doth either directly , or by necessary consequence , destroy Loyalty to our lawfull Prince ; but not till then , having so much evidence to the contrary . Thus far this reverend Prelate . And that this is likewise the sense and ( as I affirmed ) earnest desire of all the honest men of the Romish Church , is most convincingly , as well as boldly and loyally , asserted by that learned Remonstrant * R. Carron ; whose Vindication of what I here produce against the Jesuites and other Popish Errors ( that * zizania ( as he truly styles it ) of Infallibility , &c. the subject of the ensuing Treatise ) I find publish'd since this Preface was finish'd : and I heartily wish it may produce an Effect sutable to the attempt of that candid and ingenuous Person ; that so , though we have many other failings to charge them withall , they may yet lessen by degrees , and as God shall please to enlighten them , till we come to a perfect and consummate Reconciliation . In the mean time , with what forehead , my Lord , can this Faction cry out against us as cruel , or at our Sanctions as unjust , whilst his Sacred Majestie has a faculty commensurate to his Piety , and a Prerogative which can gratifie his merciful nature , without reversing what his Predecessors have enacted , who reign'd in such prosperity , not so much because they executed the Penalties , as for that they had the power to doe it , and did use it prudently : and I confess I was infinitely pleas'd to find it avow'd by a Romanist , that they were themselves the occasion of those Sanguinary laws , ( as they would brand them ) and to justifie them too , as the forecited Author has most ingenuously acknowledged . And how indeed can that Party exclaim against his Majestie or his Laws , accusing the Regulars as the persons culpable , and the Seculars as the persons accidentally and for their sakes onely obnoxious and punish'd , whose demerits were the cause ? It is for these therefore , my Lord , I would sooner plead for mercy , and in earnest I wish it might consist with the Wisdom of the Legislative power to state a difference between them . But we have already described the Expedient : Let them first renounce their dangerous Opinions , by some such publick , irreversible and authentick Act , as may totally cancel the just presumption which lies at their doors , and at once remove that intolerable scandal which the World does universally charge them withall , and which even one of their own acknowledges to be their due , after a thousand notorious Examples , Proprium esse Ecclesiae , odisse Caesares , That Popes have even a natural Antipathy to Kings . It is the Reverse ( my Lord ) of these Doctrines , and of all those fatal Images of Jesuitical Disloyalty , for which the Church of England alone will have the honour to be deservedly celebrated to Posterity . And if his Majestie do not love and cherish her above all the Churches and Professions under Heaven , a Church which has so constantly maintained a Truth so ancient , so pure , and so obliging to Kings , even in the sense and interpretation of her very Adversaries , who have the least grain of true Illumination and ingenuity ; the Miracle of His and Her stupendious Restauration will rise up in Judgment against us . But He has already done it to his eternal renown ; and I have no more to adde , but that God Almighty would still maintain what he has so signally wrought amongst us . And for those heroick Assertors of what not onely concerns the French Kings , but indeed all the Crown'd Heads of Christendome besides ; mine Option and Augure is , That , as God gave Aegypt to the King of Babylon for his hire and reward in having chastiz'd those wicked Nations he was angry with ; so it may please him to give these sincere Defenders of Jansenius , and other Truths , in opposition to the Errors of the Roman Court , the Light ( in fine ) of his divine Truth , and to emerge out of that Aegyptian Darkness in which the rest are so miserably involv'd . These , with my Prayers for your Lordship 's consummate Felicity are the Votes of , My Lord , " Your Honour's most obedient and most obliged servant . THE PERNICIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF THE New HERESIE of the IESUITES AGAINST The KING and the STATE . Advice to the Reader . THis Treatise being written two years since , and several Copies thereof dispers'd among divers persons of Condition ; it was deemed the conjuncture of the present Affairs might render the Publication of it necessary for the benefit both of the Church and the State : But it is thought fit to advertise , that the Author of this Piece having made use in it of some Memoires concerning Infallibility , which he had before prepar'd ; these Notes happening to fall into the hands of a person of small Iudgment , he caused them to be printed under the Title of A Defence of the Liberties of the Gallican Church , &c. adding of himself a great many impertinent and indiscreet particulars , which have exceedingly disfigur'd these Memoires . IT does not suffice that our Divines have represented to the Church the Exorbitances of the New Heresie of the Iesuites in what concerns Religion and the honour of God , to whom they would equal a mortal man by a most sacrilegious impiety ; the faithful servants of the King find themselves oblig'd likewise to elevate their voices , and to represent those pernicious Consequences as to what regards the safety of his Sacred Person , and the good of his Estate . The Apostle S. Peter establishes for the two principal parts of Piety , the Fear of God , and the Honour which is due to Kings : Deum timete , Regem honorificate . If these Divines have satisfied the first of these obligations , by the just aversion they have stirr'd up in all pious persons to the pernicious adulation of the Iesuites , which they have discover'd to be no less then a kind of Idolatry : it were but reasonable that others should satisfie the second , by inspiring all those who bear any love or affection to their King , with the horrour which they ought to have of a Doctrine which may prove to funest to his Person , and is in danger of ravishing from him the most august and supreme Quality that he has receiv'd from God , which is to depend on him alone in Temporals , and to be independent of all other Powers upon the face of the Earth . True it is , that his Majesty has already been advertis'd of it , and has clearly perceiv'd by that light and vivacity of spirit which all Europe admires in a Prince so young , of what pernicious Consequence this novel Doctrine was which they would introduce into his State , and the advantage which they might take to establish their pretensions , who design nothing more then to reach the Heads of Kings , and even subject them in Temporals . It were fit therefore that all the world knew as much , that those who are not sensibly touch'd with the prospect of an Error so prejudicial to Religion , ( as falsly imagining it to concern the Divines onely ) may at least be affected with the consideration of the prejudice which it may bring to the State , and to the sacred and inviolable rights of the Crowns of our Kings . But since the address which has been made use of by the Partisans of those corrupt Opinions has been to infuse it into the minds of the people masked under the vizor of Religion and respect to the Pope , and to decry the opposers of it as enemies to the holy See ; it is necessary we should defeat their artifice by discovering it to the world , and by teaching them to distinguish ( as our fathers have done before us ) the Apostolical See from the Court Politick of Rome , which are things totally different : For that which we are to understand by the Apostolical Seat is , that Spiritual Authority of the Head of the Church which Iesus Christ gave to S. Peter , residing in the Pope , and which all Christians are oblig'd to acknowledge and reverence , by an inseparable union with it , as the very center of the Communion of the Church . But the Court Politick of Rome is nothing else but that Swarm of Courtiers who are about the Pope's person to advance their fortunes , and thrust themselves into Church-Dignities ; and the person of Popes consider'd not as Popes , but as Men , who being as obnoxious as others to their Ambition and other humane passions , suffer themselves to be often transported by the adulation of their Courtiers , to attribute to themselves , without reason , Rights and Prerogatives which God never gave them , and that are equally prejudicial to the Sovereignty of Kings , the repose of the People , the tranquillity of the Church , the good of the Catholick Religion , and , in fine , to the true and solid grandeur of the holy See it self . In this sense it is we shall speak of the Court of Rome in the present Treatise , as so many great persons and Saints have already done , by opposing themselves to their unjust pretensions , without at all thinking they did thereby in the least violate the respect which they ow'd the Pope as Head of the Church ; to which they , on the contrary , believ'd these Opinions must needs be most disadvantageous . And we have so much the more liberty to doe it now , since the moderation of the present Incumbent speaks him very far from these ambitious thoughts . Now amongst all these illegitimate Usurpations of the Court of Rome thus considered , there has none of them proved more funest to Christian Princes , the Church , and even to Popes themselves , then that by which some of them have been transported to domineer over Kings , to make themselves their Superiours and Judges in the administration of their Kingdoms , and by pretending of a right , when they fansied it for the cause of Religion , to depose them of their Empires , and give their Estates to others , or to abandon them to the first Usurper who had power to make himself Master . It 's impossible to describe those horrid Confusions which this pretence of theirs hath brought forth in Italy and in Germany for so many Ages together , the Warrs it has kindled , the Bloud it has made to be spilt , the Provinces it has rendred desolate , the Cities it has ruin'd , the Scandals and Disorders which it has filled the Church with : But one of its worst effects is , that it has render'd the holy See ( which should as well be the centre of the love of Catholicks , as of the Unity of the Church ) odious both to Kings and People , by making them to look upon the Vicar of Iesus Christ not as a common Father , full of tenderness for all his Children ; but as a Temporal Prince , that would trample all other Princes under his feet , and render himself absolute Master of all the Kingdomes of the Earth . This is one of the main causes which has made so many people revolt against the Church of Rome , and the most usual pretence which they have taken to hinder many Christians from paying that observance to Popes which they are oblig'd to render them , by confounding it with these odious excuses . For having once anticipated the People with this erroneous opinion , That one could not acknowledge in the Pope that real Authority which Iesus Christ has given him , without owning that also which these Sycophants attribute to him over Temporals and States ; they have by an hateful Schism kept them from acknowledging the Pope as Head of the Church , for fear lest they should be bound likewise to own him for their King and Master . It concerns the Church therefore to take away this color from Schism , which is the greatest of all mischiefs , by separating the Spiritual power of the Sovereign Bishop , as it has been instituted by Iesus Christ , and acknowledg'd by all Catholicks , from this false and exorbitant power , which Ambition and Flattery would adde to it , repugnant to the spirit of Iesus Christ and the Doctrine of the Apostles . And therefore we must needs confess , that the Zeal of the Parliaments of France for the maintenance of the Sovereignty of Kings against the enterprises of those who , subverting the Order of God , would have it to depend upon this Spiritual Jurisdiction , is no less advantageous to the Church then to the State ; and that , on the other part , there is nothing more prejudicial to them both , then that low and fleshly prudence of these Theologues , who think to exalt the divine Grandeur of the prime Minister of the new Law , which wholly consists in the love to eternal good things , and in the despising of the things of this World , by secular and temporal advantages which God did never annex to him ; or that seek to enlarge their fortunes by this pretended Zeal for the enlargement of the Authority of the Pope . 'T is known to the whole World , that the Iesuites have within these hundred years been the chief defenders of these ambitious pretences , and that their Society has employ'd the most renown'd of its Writers to disseminate this Doctrine every-where : It is this which has been taught by (a) Iohn Mariana , (b) Gregorie de Valentia , (c) Alphonsus Salmeron , (d) Ludovicus Richome , (e) Louys Molina , (f) Robert Bellarmine , (g) Iohannes Osorius , (h) Carolus Scribanius , (i) Andrew Eudemon , (k) Iohannes Azor , (l) Robert Parsons , (m) Francis Suarez , (n) Gabriel Vasquez , (o) Leonardus Lessius , (p) Iacobus Gretserus , (q) Martinus Becanus , (r) Antonius Santarellus , (s) Vincentius Filiutius , (t) Stephen Bauny , &c. On the contrary , it is well known what extraordinary care the Parliaments of Paris and the Universities of France have taken to repress the Authors of these pernicious Opinions ; the one by their Arrests , and the other by their Censures . It 's above an hundred years since , that the Parliament of Paris gave a famous Arrest upon this Subject , the 4 of December , 1561. against a certain Bachelour in Divinity , who had put it into his Thesis , That it was in the Power of the Pope to excommunicate Kings , to give away their Kingdoms , and to absolve their Subjects of their Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity . This Proposition was declar'd seditious ; the Bachelour being not to be found , it was order'd that the Bedel of the Sorbon vested in a red Hood should disavow it before a President of the Court , and the chief of the Faculty of Divinity ; and that during four years space there should no publick Disputation be permitted in the College where it was defended . This whole affair is twice told us in the Bibliothec du Droit , under the words Interdictions , p. 4478. and Effigies , p. 1110. And Bouchel , who is the Author of this Bibliotheca , in reciting of this History adds this Remark ; The plain truth is , that within these fifty years past there is come a certain new Sect to be planted amongst us , called by the name of Jesuites , who maintain Propositions quite contrary to ours , to the very ruine of the State. The same Parliament testifies its zeal for the Interests of the King and Crown upon several other occasions ; as when it condemn'd to the fire the 8 of Iune 1610. the Book of the Iesuite Mariana , intituled , De Rege & Regis institutione ; and that after the same manner Iū . 26. 1614. it treated that of Suarez , intitul'd , Defensio Fidei Catholicae . But there was never any thing more celebrious upon this subject then that which pass'd 1626. in the censure of Santarel . This Iesuite had written a Book of Heresie , Schism , Apostasie , &c. printed at Rome 1625. permissu superiorum , in which ( following the common sentiments of his Society ) he taught , That the Pope might punish Kings and Princes with temporal pains , depose and deprive them of their Kingdoms and States for the crime of Heresie , and for other causes ; as when they were culpable of any fault , if he find it expedient ; when they become negligent of their duties ; when they are incapable to govern , and their persons burthensome to their Kingdoms : He adds , That the Apostles were not subject to the secular Princes but de facto onely , not de jure ; and in summe , that since the Pontifical Majesty had been establish'd , all other Potentates were become but his Vassals . So soon as ever this Book appear'd in France , the Sorbon , knowing that the Doctrine was invented and publish'd for the universal destruction of Civil Polity , and particularly the Monarchy of France , which was at that time governed by the most Christian , most clement and just King Lewis the XIIIth , that in treading the steps of their Ancestors , she might testifie her zeal and affection as well towards this Religious Prince , as towards the whole most Christian Kingdom , and at the same time satisfie that which all honest men requir'd of her ; resolv'd to examine the two Chapters of this Book of Santarel , 30 , and 31 , where this matter was treated of : And on the 1 of April 1626. having first heard the Deputies report , and consider'd the several Opinions of all the Doctors , she condemn'd the Positions ( being the common Opinion of the Iesuites ) for a novel , false and erroneous Doctrine , repugnant to the Word of God , and that renders odious the dignity of the Pope , opens a gap to all Schism , derogates from the Supreme Authority of Kings , ( which depends on God alone ) disturbs the publick tranquillity , tends to the ruine of Kingdoms , States and Republicks , debauches Subjects from that Obedience and Submission due to their Sovereigns , inciting them to Factions , Rebellions , Seditions , in summe , to commit Parricides against the persons of their natural Princes . This Censure approved by the whole Body of the University of Paris , and the rest of the Universitics of France , was authoriz'd also by a famous Decree of Parliament of the 13. March 1626. which declared the Propositions contain'd in this Book of Santarel false , scandalous and seditious , as tending to the subversion of Sovereign Powers , ordain'd and establish'd by God , and to the stirring up of Subjects against their Princes , withdrawing their Obedience , inducing them to attempt against their Persons and States , disturbing of the publick peace ; and order'd that the Book should be torn and burnt , and that the Iesuites should be oblig'd to disavow and detest it , and to approve the Censure of the Sorbon . This vigorous resistence of the Parliament and Sorbon has of late render'd the Iesuites a little more reserv'd in producing to the world this pernicious Doctrine . But as they never abandon what they have once undertaken , they have invented a way of establishing it after a more dextrous , but more dangerous , manner : for daring no more to propose it grossly and in terminis , they work more subtily to introduce the Principles on which it depends by necessary consequence ; wisely judging , that if once by their artifice they can but deceive the vigilancy of our Magistrates and the Sorbon , they shall easily make the People swallow it when-ever they please , and that as a Truth indubitable , which they will shew by a necessary consequence from what they have already made pass for a most Catholick Verity . This is that which the Iesuites have done in maintaining that famous Thesis of the 12 December 1661 ▪ as a Catholick Truth repugnant to the Greek Heresie concerning the Primacy of the Pope , namely , That Jesus Christ hath given to all Popes ( whenever they shall speak è Cathedra ) the same Infallibility himself had , as well in matters of Right , as in those of Fact. And that we might not imagine there were any great mystery in this condition , When they should speak out of their Chair , Cùm loquerentur ex Cathedra , they expresly declare , that this Condition does not concern the Pope's speaking in the head of a General Council : And in proposing for example , for one Constitution made ex Cathedra , the two Constitutions on the Five Propositions , they give us clearly to understand , that they do not pretend , that to the end the Pope should speak from his Chair , it were necessary for him to assemble so much as a Council of the Bishops of his Province , as the other Popes did ; or that he should consult the College of Cardinals , as they have since done , ( enterprising nothing ( how inconsiderable soever ) but by the advice of their Brethren , De consilio Fratrum ; ) but that 't is sufficient for him to speak in his Bulls , or from the Constitutions and Decrees which use to be pasted up on the Gates of S. Peter and in Campo de Fiori ; this being the onely solemnity which at Rome they pretend does render them sufficiently authentick , and that without so much as thinking it necessary they should be receiv'd and publish'd in the Provinces . See now to what a height the Iesuites pretensions are come . All that the Popes say in their Bulls and Constitutions , as well on matters and questions of Fact as those of Right , is to be look'd on as indubitably true as if Iesus Christ had himself avow'd it ; the Pope's Infallibility being still the same , ( according to their reckoning ) on these occasions and incounters , as that of the Son of God himself . Now how little so ever one knows of the Fundamentals of Santarellism , that is to say , of the Doctrine which affirms the Pope has power to depose Kings , it must needs be acknowledged that it is establish'd by this Thesis of the Iesuites , and that it is after a sort made more pernicious and criminal then ever it has hitherto been . For the defenders of this Doctrine , so prejudicial to Kings , were contented to establish this temporal power in Popes , by shewing that they themselves did attribute it to themselves by several Bulls and Decrees ; and that so we were bound to believe them , as being infallible in matters concerning Faith. But there was none of them that yet durst deny but that Popes might fail and be mistaken in the exercise of this power , because none of them did ever think them infallible in Questions which concern'd the Fact ; whereas the Iesuites now presume on both : They render Popes absolutely Masters of Kings , in attributing to them ( who by so many Bulls have defin'd their Superiority over the Temporalty of Kings ) the very same Infallibility with Iesus Christ , even in matters of Right ; so as they leave a King whom a Pope had deposed no place of appeal , or so much as to complain that the Pope might be mistaken in the matter of Fact , upon which they had judged him worthy of so severe a punishment : since by this new Doctrine of the College of Clermont he is equally infallible , whether he judge in general , that he has this power to depose Kings , which is the Question de jure ; or in particular , that such a King merits to be so us'd , which is the Question de facto . We must therefore clear these two points ; One , that the Infallibility of the Pope in matters of Right is , according to the Iesuites , the establishment of his Power over Kings ; the other , that his Infallibility in matters of Fact takes away all means from the Kings they please to depose , to complain of so rigorous a Sentence . For the first , 't is an easie matter to convince all the world of it : nor ought we to imagine it a Consequence held onely by those who profess themselves enemies to the Iesuites Doctrine , and which the Iesuites disavow ; 't is a Consequence which they themselves derive from it , which they every-where acknowledge must needs follow , and which does so indeed naturally and of necessity . For Popes ( as Iesuites themselves have learn'd us , ) have so many waies decided that they have power to degrade Kings , and dispose of their Kingdoms when-ever they judge it for the interest of Religion ; that if to be Catholick one is oblig'd to consider all that Popes say in their Chair , that is , by their Bulls , as Decisions of infallible authority , and Oracles pronounc'd even by Christ himself , Kings , their Ministers and Parliaments , must either renounce the quality of Catholick , or else tamely acknowledge that Kings are Sovereigns independent in respect of their own Subjects and other Princes , but nothing so in regard of the Pope , but that he has power to make them descend from their Throne , and to resolve them into their simple Originals ; so as exercising a Royalty superiour to theirs , it may be said of his Empire as an heathen Poet said of that of God , Omne sub regno graviore regnum est . All this is an infallible consequent of Infallibility , as the Iesuites well prove . For who can chuse but believe that Popes have the power to depose Kings , if once he be persuaded that their Decisions are so many Articles of Faith ; when it shall be shew'd him that Gregory the VIIth has decided it in express terms in a Council held at Rome , Anno 1067 , according to Onuphrius , Baronius , and all the Iesuites , Quòd Papae liceat Imperatores deponere ; quòd à Fidelitate iniquorum subditos potest absolvere ? Whence (a) Lessius the Iesuite concludes ( supposing the Principle of Infallibility ) That this Doctrine is no problematick Doctrine , but a constant Truth , not to be deny'd without violation of our very Faith. We must absolutely believe ( says he ) that this Doctrine ( viz. that the Pope may depose Kings , ) is an undoubted truth , and not such as we may believe what we please of ; but such an one as is intirely certain , not to be contradicted without wounding our Faith. And this I prove , first , Because these Propositions are defin'd in proper terms in the Roman Synod under Gregory the VIIth , where it is affirm'd , that the Pope may depose Emperours , and absolve the Subjects of wicked Princes from their Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity . Now a Definition made by a Pope in Council is matter of Faith. This is clear now without mincing , nor can it be more expresly declar'd that the power to depose Kings is a necessary consequent of Infallibility ; so as those Iesuites must needs be very impudent who shall after this dare to affirm , that they are their Enemies who derive this sequel from their Doctrine . The Iesuite Cardinal (b) Bellarmine , under the feign'd name of Sculkenius , writing against Widrington , proves in the same manner by this Gregorian Decree , that the Pope's Superiority over Kings is an Article of Faith , 'T is an Heresie ( saies he ) to affirm that the Pope , as Pope , and ex jure divino , has not the power to depose Secular Princes of their States , as oft as the publick good or some urgent necessity of the Church does require it . I prove this Conclusion . An Opinion becomes heretical when its contradictory is de Fide : But it is de Fide that the Pope has power to depose Princes ; since it has been defin'd and concluded by Gregory the VIIth in a Roman Council , where it saies expresly , That the Pope may depose an Emperour . Now who can deny this Conclusion that holds but the Principle , which is , That what has been defin'd and concluded by a Pope is de Fide ? Is not this Argument of the Cardinal invincible , supposing the Maxime to be true ? By consequent then , who can doubt but that , according to the Iesuites opinion and the truth it self , the power of deposing Kings is in the Pope a certain Consequence of his Infallibility ? The same Gregory the VIIth has so often decided the same Point , that no man questions his pretence of making it an Article of Faith ; as may yet be seen in the Bull of the Deposition of the Emperor Henry the IVth , made likewise in Council , where , addressing his speech to S. Peter and S. Paul , he thus expostulates . Now therefore exert and vindicate your power , O great and most holy Princes of the Apostles , that all the world may take notice and acknowledg , that if you can bind and loose in Heaven , you can also on Earth dispose of Empires , of Kingdoms , Principalities and Marquisates , in summe , of all mens goods and fortunes whatsoever , by taking them away from those who deserve them not , and by bestowing them on others . — For if you judge things Spiritual , shall we believe you have not the power to judge of Temporal and Secular ? Let all the Kings and Princes of the Age learn what your grandeur is and your power , and not dare to despise the Commandments of your Church : and be sure to leave such prompt and lasting marks in the judgment which you exercise against Henry , that his ruine be not attributed to the fate of arms or fortuitous accidents of War , but to your sole and almighty power . In consequence of this he denounc'd to the Emperor , as from God , that he should never win battel . But if Popes are infallible according to the Iesuites in actions past , 't is certain , at least , that they are not in those which are to come . For never did Prince gain so many , remaining Victor in more then 50 pitch'd Battels , and having at the very first slain the person whom his Holiness had design'd to make Emperor in his place . I could recount a number more of Passages relating to the same Pope , where he argues for the same Doctrine , as visibly founded in the Scripture , and annex'd to the Papal dignity . For 't is not imaginable that he should pretend onely this right over Emperors , because the Popes had so much contributed to the re-establishment of the Western Empire . On the contrary , 't is perspicuous that his pretence was over all Kings , and that it was built on that Supposition of his , viz. that the power of the Keys contain'd in it the Temporal Superiority , which made him set upon the Crown he sent to Rodulphus , Usurper of the Empire , this Latin Verse , Petra dedit Petro , Petrus Diadema Rodulpho . To shew that he believ'd he had power to dispose of Kingdoms by a right pretended to be given S. Peter by Iesus Christ himself . 'T is likewise on the same basis he threatned Alphonsus King of Arragon , to stir up his Subjects against him , if he gave him not speedy satisfaction concerning a certain affair : As , according to Cardinal Bellarmine , he brav'd Philip the I st King of France , to shew that he exempted none . But nothing does so evidently discover that one cannot acknowledge the Pope to be infallible , but that at the same moment we must acknowledge him likewise above Kings in Temporals , as that famous Decision of Pope Boniface the VIIIth has done in the Bull Unam Sanctam , approv'd by Leo the Xth in the Council of Lateran ; and the use which the favourers of the Roman Court make of this Bull to establish its pretensions . There this Pope defines , That both the one and the other Sword appertains to the Church , and to the Pope : That the Temporal Sword is subordinate to the Spiritual , and the Temporal Authority to the Authority Spiritual : That if this Spiritual power deviate from the right , it must be judg'd by the Spiritual authority : That this power was bestow'd on S. Peter and his Successors : and That whoever resists this Subordination of Power , resists Order , in establishing two Principles like the Manichees . Whence he concludes , that it is necessary to Salvation , that every humane power should submit it self to the Bishop of Rome . Cardinal Bellarmine , a Iesuite , in his Book against Barclay concerning the Power of the Pope , proves by this Bull , that Kings are subject to the Pope in Temporals ; and this Doctrine is certain and most indubitable . Now that it is ( saies he ) a thing constant and evident , that the Sovereign Bishop may for just causes be Iudge of Temporals , and sometimes depose Temporal Princes , we prove by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam de majoritate & obedientia , which shews us that Sword is subordinate to Sword ; that is , that the Temporal Authority is below the Spiritual : and that if the Temporal neglect his duty , it shall be judged by the Spiritual . And for fear it should be objected , that Clement the Vth seems to have revok'd this Bull by the Extravagant Meruit de privilegiis ; he prevents the Objection by saying , that Clement the V●h did not revoke the Bull of Pope Boniface , but advertis'd onely that this Bull of Boniface had defin'd nothing new , and had onely reviv'd the ancient obligation which men have to obey and submit themselves to the Apostolicall See , in the manner he had before declar'd , and which this Bull does observe ; that is to say , as well in Temporal things as Spiritual . Alexander Carrerius of Pavia , in a Book intituled De potestate Primi Pontificis adversus impios Politicos , Of the power of the Sovereign Bishop against the impious Politicians , ( which is the name he gives to the French , and particularly the Parliament , ) proves by the same Bull , that the Superiority over Kings in Temporals is an Article of Faith. This Power of the Pope ( saies he ) over the Temporals of Kings is confirm'd by the testimony of Jeremiah ; See I have this day set thee over the Nations and Kingdoms to pull down and to destroy , &c. as 't is also decided by the Extravagant Unam Sanctam ; where 't is said , that if the Temporal power deviate from the right , it shall be judged by the Spiritual , declaring that every humane creature is subject to the Bishop of Rome , and that this is necessary to Salvation . Therefore Boniface writ to Philip King of France in these terms : Know that you are subordinate to us both in the Temporal and Spiritual ; and we do hold and declare them Hereticks who maintain the contrary . For there are three marks whereby to distinguish matters of Faith. The first is , When the Decrees of a Synod are couched in these terms , If any one affirm such or such a thing , let him be accursed . The second , when it saies that those who maintain the contrary shall be Excommunicate ipso facto . And the third , when those of the contrary opinion are reputed and held for Hereticks . In fine , Cardinal Baronius having in a certain place mentioned the very Bull , concludes , that none do deny this Determination of Boniface , unless such as are excluded from the Church : Haec Bonifacius , saies he , cui assentiuntur omnes nisi qui ab Ecclesia excidit . And very well argu'd it were , if to be a member of the Catholick Church it were necessary to believe the Pope infallible ; since there is nothing more trifling and absurd then those Subterfuges which some Authors retire to , to put themselves under covert from this Bull , because they would fain support the Pope's Infallibility , but dare not maintain his Temporal Sovereignty in France . The chief of these is Doctour Duval , who , in his Treatise of the Power of the Pope , avows that Boniface the Eighth did establish his Superiority over the Temporalty of Kings through the whole body of his Bull ; but saies , that in all the Bulls there is nothing save the Conclusion which is of Faith , and that the Conclusion of this in particular imports onely , that every creature is subject to the Pope : which is true ( saies he ) as it relates to Spirituals . Certainly , if the Authority of Kings had need of so pitiful a Reply , one would conclude it built on a very weak foundation , Nullas habet spes Troja , si tales habet . For what appearance of Reason is there in this learned Doctor 's Solution ? 1. How does he pretend we should believe that a Pope , who makes a Bull onely to establish his Superiority over Temporals , ( which is the thing contested , and not over the Spirituals , which no body does dispute ) and that he who speaks throughout his whole Bull of this Superiority in Temporals , should in the last line form a Conclusion different from the Principles which he has establish'd , and that we are onely to regard this last line ? 2. The word subesse indifferently signifying a subjection in Temporals as well as in Spirituals , is it not clearly express'd and determin'd to Temporals by all that precedes it ? 3. How shall we ever comprehend what a Bull means but by the way it was then understood when it was made , as well by those who oppos'd it , as those who defended it ? and do not we know the troubles which then disturb'd all France and the Church caus'd by this pretence of the Pope , maintain'd by his Partisans , and contested by all the French ? 4. In fine , has not Boniface himself explain'd his own words by another Bull shorter then this , which he sent to King Philip in these terms , Scire te volumus , quòd in Spiritualibus & in Temporalibus nobis subes ; aliud credentes , Haereticos deputamus ? Whence Carrerius , as we have already seen , concludes well , ( supposing the Pope infallible ) that those who disagree concerning the Pope's Superiority over the Temporals of Kings are Hereticks . And the French of those times , without amusing themselves with Monsieur Duval's Sophistry , answered after another manner , and sufficiently testified , that the opinion of Infallibility was not so much as known in France . See an Act of the whole Kingdom against these Bulls of Boniface VIIIth , as 't is inserted in the first Tome of the Liberties of the Gallican Church . Of You , Sir , our most Noble Lord , by the Grace of God King of France , the people of Your Kingdom supplicate and desire , ( because it behoves them so to doe ) that You preserve the Sovereign Freedom of your Kingdom , which is , that You own and acknowledge no Sovereign on the Earth over Your Temporals , but God alone ; and that You give all the World to understand , that Pope Boniface does manifestly erre , and commit a most notorious mortal sin , in sending You word by his Letters and Bulls , that himself was Sovereign of Your Temporals , &c. and those who should believe the contrary , he esteem'd as Hereticks . Also that You cause to be declared , that we are bound to hold the Pope himself an Heretick , and not You , good King , and all the liege people of Your Kingdom , who have ever believed and do believe the contrary . The same Protestation is to be seen in several Acts inserted in that Collection which Mons. du Puy has made of the difference between King Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface ; where you 'l see how Pope Boniface's Bulls were then explain'd , and what was the opinion of France touching Infallibility . 'T is in vain to strive to make any other replies to these kind of Popes Decrees , then such as the French of that Age did before us . For as there 's nothing to which the Court of Rome aspires with greater passion then to this Temporal Empire ; so neither is there any thing which the Popes have establish'd with so much industry . Cardinal Bellarmine summs up no less then 18 since Gregory the VIIth to our times , who manifestly attributed to themselves this right ( as they call'd it ) of deposing Kings , and chastising them temporally , even to the privation of their States ; viz. Victor the III d , Urban the II d , Paschal the II d , Gelasius the II d , Calixtus the II d , Alexander the III d , Innocentius the III d , Honorius the III d , Gregory the IXth , Innocent the IVth , Boniface the VIIIth , Clement the VIth , Paul the II d , Iulius the II d , Paeul the III d , Pius the Vth , Gregory the XIIIth , and Sixtus the Vth . He counts to 16 or 17 Kings and Emperours against whom Popes have pretended this right of Sovereignty as a debt due to them ; amongst which there are 5 French Kings , Philip the I st , Philip the Fair , Lewis the XIIth , Henry the III d , and Henry the IVth . Baronius mentions also the Excommunication of a world of Germans , who are not yet well agreed concerning the Pope's Power : by which it appears that they alwaies pretended to make it an Heresie when at any time they were the strongest party . Nor is there any thing more frequent in these Bulls then their menacing Kings and Princes to deprive them of their States , in case of Disobedience . Which universally betraies that Passion which the Court of Rome has to infuse this belief into the minds of the People . But if one could forget those other enterprises of Rome against our Kings , which are founded upon this pretented Superiority , as this Superiority is upon Infallibility , since France has so universally hindred their effects ; yet we cannot but remember that which made us lose Navarre , because the wound is yet bleeding . Ferdinand had no other pretext to swallow it up from Iohn d' Albret , Great-Grandfather to Henry the Great , besides a Bull which he obtain'd of Iulius the II d against the King and Queen of Navarre , importing Privation of their Kingdom for having assisted Lewis the XIIth , whom it call'd Schismatick , and as having denied passage to the Army which Ferdinand King of Arragon would have sent into France to assist the King of England in the conquest of Guienne . I know very well that Cardinal du Perron , to render this Doctrine of the Power of Popes over the Temporals of Kings less odious to the French , tells us , that the real cause of the loss of the Kingdom of Navarre was the breach of the Alliance which the King of Navarre had with Ferdinand King of Arragon , which Ferdinand pretended to have been establish'd on condition , that if the Kings of Navarre should violate it , the Kingdom of Navarre should again revert to the Spaniards , who had render'd it by deed in Writing to the race of Albret ; and that Pope Iulius's Excommunication was neither the true Cause , nor real Pretence , but a certain tail of a Pretence , which though Ferdinand had made no use of , he had notwithstanding pretended that the Kingdom of Navarre appertain'd to him , and consequently possess'd it . But I know as well too , that there is nothing worse founded then this answer , as Mons. du Puy has made appear by most invincible proofs in his Treatise of the Right of the King to the Kingdom of Navarre . For he does there prove by the Spanish Historians themselves , that Ferdinand during the Usurpation , and whiles he liv'd , had onely the Title by the Pope's Excommunication to justifie his Arms. He shews how Ferdinand having swallow'd up this Kingdom 1512 , and being press'd by the King of Navarre 1513 to doe him reason , defended his possession by no other right but by that of the Excommunication ; and that in the two most authentick Acts on this subject , one whereof is the Will and Testament of Ferdinand , by which he bequeaths the Kingdom of Navarre to his Daughter Iane Queen of Castile , and the other of the Union of that Kingdom to that of Castile , it is expresly signified , that Iohn d' Albret and Catharine his Wife had been depriv'd of it by the Pope , for having adher'd to the Schism of the French Kings against Pope Iulius the II d ; and that the Pope had given him this Kingdom to dispose of as he pleas'd . I omit the other proofs . Which sufficiently shews that the Pope's Bull was no tail of Pretext , but indeed the onely and sole Pretence of that unjust Usurpation which continues to this very day . In the second place , there is nothing more absurd then to say that the Spaniards had never rendred the Kingdom of Navarre to the race of Albret , but with this written Caution , That if their Successors should violate the Alliance , the Kingdom should revert to the Spaniards . For Iean d' Albret ( on whom was the Usurpation ) was the first of Albret's race who possess'd the Kingdom . How then could it be said that the Spaniards had render'd it to Albret's race , who before never enjoy'd it ? And supposing we did take the word render'd for given ; it is no less false that the Spaniards ( were they of Arragon , or Castile ) gave this Kingdom to the race of Albret , who in no sort held it of the Spaniards but by the Marriage of Catharine , who succeeded King Francis Phoebus his Brother , and Francis Phoebus to Elianor his Grandmother , wife of Gastion de Foix , and sole superviving Daughter of Blanch Queen of Navarre , which Lady had espous'd Iohn King of Arragon the Father of Ferdinand , who being born of another Venter had nothing to doe with Navarre : So as this pretended Caution can be no other then a mere impertinent Fable without any foundation , since the Spaniards having neither render'd nor given the Kingdom of Navarre to the race of Albret , they could never appose any caution or condition either in rendring or bestowing it . Thirdly , The Spaniards themselves could never yet produce any Treaty of Alliance between the Kings of Arragon and those of Navarre where this Condition was appos'd : though , besides all this , it be beyond the power of Kings to annex any such Condition , since they are not so Masters of their Kingdoms , as to transfer them to any others then those who are their legitimate Successors . Fourthly , In fine , 't is plainly false that ever Iohn d' Albret broke any Alliance with Ferdinand ; but , on the contrary , Ferdinand it was who invaded Navarre in the month of Iuly Anno 1512 , and who made himself master of Pampelona , the capital City of that State , before there were any French in Navarre ; which compell'd Iohn d' Albret to throw himself into the arms of Lewis the XIIth , with whom he was before but in ill intelligence , to endeavour to maintain himself against this unjust Usurper , who four months before this Treaty of Iohn d' Albret with Lewis had obtain'd a Bull of Excommunication of the Pope against the King of Navarre , as falsly representing , that being joyn'd with the King of France excommunicated by the holy See , he deny'd the English free passage to enter into Guienne . It is therefore evident that it is onely this pretended Power which the Flatterers of the Pope have of late Ages attributed to him , to dispossess Kings , and make Donations of their Kingdoms to him that can obtain them , which has cost our Kings the Kingdom of Navarre ; since Ferdinand had but this pretence onely to invade it ; and all that the Spaniards would add to it since , was never so much as in their heads , because it was out of all probability . And it is still true , that this right is annex'd ( by all those who defend it ) to this Infallibility . We see likewise that ever since this , Popes have alwaies favour'd the Usurpation of Navarre , as a mark of the Power which they pretend to have for the deposing of Kings . This is evident by their shunning as much as possible the qualifying our King with the Title of the King of Navarre ; as in the Bulls of Barberin's Legation 1625 , wherein the King being but simply styl'd King of France , it was ordain'd by Parliament , that it should be declar'd by the Pope , that the quality of the King of Navarre had been omitted by inadvertency in the said Bulls , and that till that were rectified the Arrest of Verification should not be delivered , and the Bulls continue without execution in France . But what they could not then obtain by the wise resistence of the Parliament , they have now found an Expedient to obtain by the credit which the Iesuites have at Court : for finding they had there wrought so great an aversion against the Iansenists , that there was nothing more desir'd then their condemnation ; they believ'd they could make it be purchased with the loss of the Quality of King of Navarre : nor were they at all mistaken in their expectation . For Pope Innocent the Xth address'd his Bull to the King by a Breve , wherein he onely styles him King of France ; and all who lov'd the State saw with grief that they receiv'd this Breve so injurious to the King with open arms . You see how well the Roman Court knows how to profit on occasions and take her advantage , she never lets any escape which she does not manage with a singular address . But this Breve will one day prove one of its most memorable examples : since under colour of ruining the poor Iansenists , she has open'd a gap to establish two of the most considerable points of her Grandeur , and which have indeed been the most contested in France : The one is , That the Pope alone may decide Poins of Faith with an infallible Authority ; the other , That he may give Kingdoms away at pleasure , as Iulius the II d gave that of Navarre to the Spaniards . By all these proofs 't is evident that the Superiority of Popes above Kings in Temporals is an inseparable Position of Infallibility , as to the pretence of all those Theologues who are married to the Interest of the Court of Rome , especially the Iesuites : 'T is also clear that the subtilty of those who have made as if they would separate them hath so little basis , that it were an unworthy and dangerous prevarication in those who are oblig'd to maintain the Supreme Authority of their Prince , but to reduce the Right of Kings , which is certain and indubitable , to so shallow and trifling a defence . So as the onely means of hindring the establishment of this pernicious Consequence is , to stop that so dangerous a Principle ; and above all , not to permit the Iesuites the impudence of making it an Article of Faith , and the carrying it even beyond all sorts of bounds , and to an Infallibility in Questions de facto ; which is , in summe , to have given the fatal blow to the ruine of the Royal Throne . This is easie to prove . For Popes being once establish'd superiour to Temporal Princes in Temporals , as we have shew'd they cannot fail of obtaining , if once we allow them infallible in Questions de jure ; what defence remains there to a Prince against the stratagems of this Power , but the pretence of its being possibly miss-inform'd , and that it was mistaken in the grounds on which it proceeded to despoil him of his State ? But what means is there of opposing that pretence against a person who shall be in possession of the same Infallibility with Iesus Christ in matter of Fact ? What Christian is there who should dare oppose to Iesus Christ that he is mistaken ? and what were there more easie for a Pope then to ruine this defence ; since for that he had onely to declare by a Bull that he has well examin'd the Prince's Cause , and that he deserves to be Excommunicated and Depos'd , to oblige all the World to believe that he did merit it indeed ? Nor let any pretend that 't is not in these kinds of Facts that Popes are infallible : For both the Principles and Reasons of the Iesuites tend to it : And the benefit of the Church ( which is the sole foundation of this Imagination ) will rather incline to believe , that God is bound to make the Popes as infallible in affairs so important as the subversion of Kingdoms , the consequences whereof are so terrible to Religion it self ; as in the judgments which they make , whether there are or are not Errours in a particular Book , which is of it self but of very little consequence . Now if the Iesuites , without any reason , and from an humane apprehension and fear , should except these Facts , they would not in the least diminish of the pernicious subjects of their Doctrine ; because the spirits of those who are once imbu'd with their Opinions would easily break through these weak restraints , in which they made believe they would keep them , and maugre these groundless exceptions carry their corrupt principles to all their natural consequences . So as there is nothing able to oppose the funest effects of this Doctrine , which subjects Kings to a forein Power , whiles they permit this double Infallibility of Fact and Right to subsist , from which 't is impossible to divorce it . I very well know that there are some who seek several pretexts to charm the vigilance of Kings and their Ministers , that so they may not perceive how this Doctrine of Infallibility is prejudicial to States . One of these Pretences is , the affirming that this Infallibility relates to Faith and Doctrine onely , which are things Spiritual , and that have nothing of common with the Temporals of Kings , and the rights of their Crowns . But there is nothing more unreasonable then this adulterate Colour . For 't is true , that indeed this temporal is not of Faith it self , nor is the Doctrine the immediate Object of Infallibility : But one cannot without Heresie deny that it may not be the subject and matter of Faith ; since 't is an Article of Faith establish'd both by Gospel and the Apostles , that we ought to pay Tribute to Caesar , which is a temporal thing ; and that we owe Obedience to Temporal Princes , not onely to escape the punishment which they may inflict on us if we transgress , but because we are in Conscience also oblig'd to it . Non solùm propter iram , sed etiam propter Conscientiam . So as to persuade Kings that their Temporal is so far remote from Faith , that it can be no matter of Faith , is to dissolve and break the most sacred bond which unites their Subjects to their Empire , to wit , that of Conscience and Religion . Faith is in it self a thing intirely spiritual and divine ; but that does no way hinder things humane and temporal from being very often both the subject and matter of it . Warre is a secular thing ; yet 't is matter of Faith to know whether a Christian Prince may make warre : And the Anabaptists erre in matter of Faith , when they maintain that it is unlawful . The power which Magistrates have to put Malefactors to death is a temporal thing ; and yet it belongs to Faith to decide whether Iesus Chirst has left this power to Christians or no : and the same Anabaptists , who deny it , are esteem'd Hereticks by the Church . Usury is a temporal thing ; yet is it matter of Faith to resolve whether or no it be a sin . In like manner the Power of Kings is temporal ; but it concerns Faith to determine whether the power of the Keyes , which Iesus Christ has given to S. Peter , does extend to the breaking of that Obligation and Tie which Subjects have to their Sovereign , by absolving them from their Oaths of Allegiance . It concerns the interpretation of the words of I. Christ , and by consequent has relation to Faith : It imports the extent of the power that Iesus Christ has given the Pope , as his Vicar ; which we can know nothing of , but by divine revelation preserv'd in the Scriptures , and by Tradition ; and by consequence it is matter of Faith. It is no way then to be doubted , but the Question whether the Pope have any right to punish Princes with temporal pains , and to devest them of their States , by virtue of that Authority pretended to be given to S. Peter , is no concernment of Faith ; and therefore 't is in earnest a mere mockery , to persuade Kings , that the Pope's Infallibility does not extend to them , whenas in truth there are none whom it so nearly concerns as they ; since Popes having so often decided this Right to be theirs , if once the people be suffered to hold them infallible as to what they determin touching Faith , none can hinder them from acknowledging also that they do not erre in their explication of the words of the Gospel touching the Primacy of S. Peter , as of an Empire and Monarchy which extends it self even over the Temporals of Kings . But , besides this , the question is not of what the thing is in truth , but what 't is in the opinion of the Iesuites , and that the strive to infuse into the World ; seeing from thence it is the ill effects proceed which this unlucky Doctrine may produce : Errour and Superstition being infinitely more capable then either Truth or Religion to engage an abus'd people to Insurrections and disorders more nefarious . Now the Iesuites , as we have already seen , maintain that this Infallibility of the Pope reaches even to the making their Sovereignty over Princes an Article of Faith. It is of Faith ( say Bellarmine and Lessius ) that the Pope may depose Kings , because Pope Gregory the VIIth has decided it , and that the Decision of a Pope is a point of Faith. It were to take away all humane Reason , to hinder men from thus arguing ; and by consequent to sleep on the point of a Precipice , to suffer the Doctrine of Infallibility to creep into a State , from whence it is impossible but the other must needs spring . For having once permitted the people to be season'd with this Opinion , and that they are but accustom'd to receive all that Popes pretend in their Bulls , as well concerning matters of Right as of Fact , as if Iesus Christ himself had pronounc'd it ; if a Pope please to apply the Infallibility acknowledg'd to be in him , for the determining ( as they have frequently done ) that by virtue of the power which Iesus Christ has given him to bind and loose whatsoever is on Earth , he has power to depose Kings and absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity , and that such a King merits to be depos'd ; it is not to be thought 't will prove so easie a matter to defend ones self from these Fulminations , by altering the minds of the people in a moment , and persuading them that he whom they took to be then so infallible , is now no such thing , or is not at least in that matter ; that is to say , that he is infallible when what he affirms does not concern us , but ceases to be so when it imports us he should not be so . This were to make an ill estimate of the mindes of men , and of the force which custome has over them , to suffer one's self to be dazzled with these vain confidences . Those Opinions which do by little and little establish their authority in the minds of men , are weak and tender in their infancy and beginning ; nor is it then so difficult a matter to extirpate them : but when once time has rooted and confirm'd them , they get dominion of Reason , and discover a tyrannous look against which it dares not so much as lift up its eyes . Capable they are to precipitate it into all manner of excess , and make men violate the rules of very Nature , and the most sacred obligations of civil Society ; especially when they happen to be Opinions which possess the spirit by the way of Religion . For men being once persuaded , ( and with reason ) that they ought to prefer Religion before their lives , their goods , and whatever else they injoy , if in that they chance to be prepossess'd by an errour of dangerous consequence to the Civil state , they maintain and defend it to the utmost . Nulla res multitudinem efficaciùs regit quàm Superstitio . The League , the Guelphs and Gibelines are sanguinary examples of it : so as there is not a more mistaken and wicked policy , then that of those who , minding onely the present Age and their own interest , suffer these Opinions to root themselves ; without considering that it is infinitely more easie to hinder their establishment , then to stop their accurs'd effects when once they are confirm'd . The next Pretence is , to make the world believe that there is no such great reason to apprehend even the Opinion it self of the Pope's Sovereignty over the Temporals of Kings ; because , say they , Popes can exercise in so few Instances , that they seldom happen ; as in case a Prince fall into a formal Apostasie from the Faith and the Church , to embrace a false Religion . But 't is in vain these Authors endeavour to excuse this pernicious Doctrine by this false Colour ; since those whom they would defend loudly disavow them , as not induring that any should prescribe such narrow bounds to this Temporal Monarchy . On the contrary , there is nothing ( with these Divines ) so ordinary , as the Occasions for which they give the Pope this right to depose Kings ; so as there is not one in Europe whom they may not justly depose , according to their Maximes , had they but as much power in effect as they conceive themselves to have in right . Is there any thing more frequent then not to pursue the Pope's intentions in making Warre or Peace ? It suffices the Pope ( according to the Iesuites ) to dispossess a King , whenever he shall conceive Peace or Warre necessary for Religion . This is what Bellarmine teaches in express terms , in his Book against Barclay , cap. 19. And what ( saies Barclay ) if the Emperour refuse to draw his sword at the command of the Pope , or draw it against his will ? I answer , ( saies Bellarmine ) that if the Emperour will not draw his sword at the command of the Pope , or draw it against his will , and it shall be requisite for the Spiritual weal , he shall force him to doe it by the spiritual Sword ; that is , by his Censures , to draw the material Sword , or to sheath it again : and if the Emperour be not concern'd with these Censures , he shall absolve his Subjects from their obedience , the necessity of the Church so requiring , and even take away his Empire from him . 'T is thus he shall make him know that the Sword is subordinate to the Sword , according to the Bull Unam sanctam ; and that they both belong to the Church , though not after the same manner . We see likewise in * Raynaldus , Continuator of Baronius , a famous example of this manner of proceeding in Popes . For he reports , Anno 1458. n. 36. That Calixtus the III d , desiring to hinder the Warre 'twixt the King of Navarre and the Prince de Viana Heir of that Kingdom , sent them a Legate with order , if he could not reconcile them to Peace , to dispose them as from the Pope to lay down their arms , by menacing them with an Anathema , and arming their neighbour - Kings against him that should disobey . Is not this to subject Kings in the noblest right of their Crowns , which is to conclude Peace or Warre as themselves think fit ? Nor is there any thing more ordinary with the most Catholick Princes , then to have Alliances with Princes either Hereticks or Infidels . The example of Iohn d' Albret , depos'd from the Kingdom of Navarre by Iulius the II d , declares again that this pretence is sufficient for a Pope to depose Kings ; since this King had not been sold , but on pretence of an Alliance which he was accus'd to have contracted with Lewis the XIIth , whom this Pope pretended to be a Schismatick , because he was in warre with him for Temporal interests . 'T is a thing of no great consequence to molest a few Monks in the possession of their Privileges ; yet was that enough to depose a King , and deprive him of his State. For so it is that Bellarmine explicates the Privilege of S. Medard of Soissons , falsly-attributed to S. Gregory , and conceiv'd in these terms . If either King , Prelate , Iudge , or other Person whatsoever , shall violate these Decrees of our Authority Apostolical , or but contradict , disquiet or trouble the Friers , or shall ordain any thing contrary hereunto ; let him be depriv'd of his Dignity , of whatsoever quality he be , separated from the Communion of the Faithful , and condemn'd to eternal pains in the judgement of God. Though there was never any thing more false then this Privilege , as all knowing persons understood ; and albeit it had been true , one might say that it only contain'd a menate of God's displeasure , very frequent in those Ages , and not a severe sentence of downright Deposition : yet did this serve the Iesuites turn in favour of Popes , to establish them a right of dispossessing Princes and Iudges upon like occasions ; and they extort this very interpretation from Gregory the VIIth , who takes in the same sense certain expressions somewhat resembling them , of this Saint , concerning the Hospital of Autun . The interpretation of the words of S. Gregory ( saies Bellarmine de Potest . Roman . Pontif. in Temp. c. 40. ) is not mine , but of another Gregory , equal in Dignity , and not much inferiour for Sanctity . For S. Gregory VIIth , in his Epistle to the Bishop of Mets , which is the 21 of the 8 Book , cites this place of S. Gregory , to shew that the Emperour Henry was justly depos'd . S. Gregory ( saies he ) declares that Kings are fallen from their dignity , when they have the boldness to violate the Decrees of the Apostolical See , writing in these terms to an Abbot nam'd Senator ; Si quis verò Regum , &c. So although one may , and with great reason , destroy that foundation which is alledg'd from S. Gregory ; yet one cannot doe it against the testimony of Gregory the VIIth , who was no whitless infallible then he , if all Popes be infallible ; and , by consequent , it must be acknowledg'd , that by the Doctrine of Infallibility Popes have right to pronounce Kings to be fallen from their Dignity , as often as they molest Monks and Religious men in the injoyment of the Privileges that have been given them by the holy See : à fortiori therefore may it suffice to dispossess Chancellors , Presidents , Councellors and other Magistrates , when they have given any judgment or sentence prejudicial to their Privileges . But Innocent the III d , in the chapter Novit . de judiciis , has open'd a door that leaves no considerable errour of Princes , for which the Pope may not depose them , at least if they persist in them . For he pretends , that granting he had no right to meddle in Secular affairs , yet he was to judge of all such wherein there might be any mixture of sin ; Ratione peccati , cujus ad nos pertinet ( saies this Pope ) sine dubitatione censura , quam in quemlibet exercere possumus & debemus . And as in all contests there is commonly some sin on the one side or the other , especially when there is Warre , there being none of either part just , according to the Divines ; so by this means the Pope becomes sovereign Arbiter of all the Secular differences of Christian Princes . Now menaces of Deposition and Privation of all Dignity alwaies march with the judiciary Sentences of Popes against those who do not obey them ; and so , unless Kings were impeccable , or blindly resolv'd to obey whatever the Roman Court shall ordain them , it is hard if they ever want a pretext to depose a King when they have a mind to undertake , and have strength enough to execute it . It must then be acknowledg'd , that if once Infallibility be establish'd , the Pope will alwaies find reasons enough to dispossess a Prince , which if he do not put in practice , it must be when he wants either will or power . But were it reasonable that Kings , who are establish'd by God , should suffer Maximes to be introduced , according to which the acknowledgment of them for Kings by their subjects should depend upon the will of another ? Does not Christian Prudence and Policy oblige them to banish from their States all the seeds of Division and trouble , and not onely to consider the present , but enlarge their vigilance for the time to come ? It is true , that by the Grace of God , he who now sits on S. Peter's Chair is so wise and moderate , that we can expect from him nothing save actions of goodness and sweetness towards all Christian Princes ; but we have no assurance that it will alwaies be so ; and the past examples shew us sufficiently how easily things change at the Courts of Princes in a little time , which changeing so often their Princes , change also their Interests with them . I will onely recite what I find recorded in the History of King Henry the Great , so judiciously written by my Lord Bishop of Rhodes . This Prelate remarks , that the League ( which took birth from the time of Henry the III d , and which , with reason , he styles A powerful Faction which thought to introduce the Spanish dominion in France , and which strove to subvert the order of the Succession of the Royal Family under the most specious pretence in the world , viz. the maintenance of Religion ) would needs at first sustain it self by the authority of the holy See , which they carried to Rome , and presented to Pope Gregory the XIIIth , to obtain his approbation ; but he never would consent to it , but as long as he liv'd did altogether disavow it . Had Henry the III d any reason for all this to be confident that Rome would never joyn with these Factious persons , who desir'd nothing more then to dethrone him themselves ? If he did believe it , he was strangely abus'd . For the same Bishop acknowledges , that Gregory the XIIIth was no sooner dead , but Sixtus Quintus , who succeeded him , approv'd of the League , and fulminated terrible Bulls against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde , declaring them Hereticks and Apostates , &c. and , as such , obnoxious to the Censures of the Church , and the pains denounc'd in the Canons ; depriv'd both them and their Descendents of all lands and dignities , rendred them incapable to succeed in any Principality whatsoever , especially that of the Kingdom of France , absolving their Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance , and forbidding them to obey them . Notwithstanding this Prelate notes , that Sixtus the Vth was shortly after displeas'd with the League , and could never be brought to furnish any thing towards the expence of the War , which plainly abortiv'd the greatest part of their enterprises . But Urban the VIIth , holding the Seat but 13 daies after Sixtus , Gregory the XIVth succeeded him , who being of a vehement spirit , and by inclination a Spaniard , ardently embraced the party of the League , prodigiously lavishing the Treasures which Sixtus Quintus had amass'd , to levy an army of twelve thousand men , which he put under command of Count Hercules Sfondrati his Nephew , and accompany'd it with a Monitory or Bull of Excommunication against the Prelates who follow'd Henry the Great , which he sent by Marcellino Landriano his Nuntio , with a world of mony to be distributed to the Sixteen of Paris , and amongst the Heads of the Caballs in every great City . To which this Bishop addes , That the Parliament of Tours , ( that is to say , that party of the Parliament of Paris which was at Tours ) having receiv'd intelligence of the Monitory , caus'd it to be torn in pieces by the hand of the common Hang-man , and decree'd seisure of body against the Nuntio ; and that on the contrary those of Paris annull'd this Arrest , as being given ( saies he ) by people without authority , ordaining , that they should obey his Holiness and his Nuntio . These Examples produc'd by a famous Bishop , and one whom we cannot doubt to have been most affectionate to the holy See , makes us judge , that a Wise Politician will never neglect betimes to suppress these strange Opinions , which both the Parliament and Sorbon have so often pronounc'd so pernicious to States , as tending to the subversion of Sovereign Powers ordain'd and establish'd by God , and to the stirring up of Subjects against their Princes , under pretext that the present state of the Court of Rome would appear very far from such like enterprises . It belongs also to the wisedom of a King so illuminated as ours is , and affection'd to the prosperity of this Kingdom , not to confine his cares within such narrow limits as the present Age. His own so wonderful Birth , and that of a Dauphin which God has so early bless'd his Marriage with , should make him hope that his Race ( which is that of S. Lewis ) shall reign to the end of the World over this great Monarchy : 't is this which yet obliges him farther to extend the thoughts of his Royal providence beyond the bounds of common prudence , to prevent the source of those evils which may possibly happen in the Ages long to come , and to permit nothing which may one day shake a Throne upon which all his Descendents ought to sit hereafter . And truely it were highly necessary that great Kings should labour for themselves and their Successors to establish their Authority , since they have to doe with the most crafty and able Politicians in the world , who perpetually watch all occasions of more and more amplifying that of their Master ; who with infinite diligence manage the least occasions of advancing them ; who take for well-grounded all that escapes and is let pass , changing as soon Favours into Right ; who are not repuls'd at every resistence which sometimes opposes their undertakings , but , giving place for a while , are by the next opportunity ready to make fresh assaults ; which often succeeds , either by change of some Minister of State , or the humour of our Nation , whose vigour being but of a short continuance , yields that with the greatest facility to day , which she never resolv'd to agree to yesterday . We have an Example of this in that possession which the Pope's Nuntio's have gotten , of receiving the Attestations of the Life and manners of those persons who are nominated by the King to Bishopricks and Abbies . The late Mons. du Puy has compil'd a Treatise concerning this subject , where he shews , That by the Ordinance of Blois , Anno 1576 , by advice of the States General conven'd at Paris 1615 , and by the Assembly of the Notables Anno 1627 , this information ought to be made by the Ordinaries , as conformable to the Council of Trent , Sess. 22. ch . 2. and Sess. 24. ch . 1. That notwithstanding those of Rome had alwaies striven to put the Nuntio's in possession of this Right ; That they had vainly attempted it when Henry the Great prosecuted his Absolution there ; That they had begun to usurp this possession during the late King's Minority ; and that by little and little they had reduc'd things to such a point , as to oblige all those who were nominated to have recourse to them , till in the year 1639. it happen'd that the Sieur Hugues de l' Aratut , nominated to the Bishoprick of Cominges , making his Information before the Ordinary , and the Pope refusing to admit him , the late King of glorious memory resolv'd to oppose this violence and stop its course ; so as the affair having been sent to the Parliament , there was an Arrest given the 12 of December 1639 , by which 't was ordain'd That these informations concerning Life and manners should for the future be made by the Diocesan Bishops of the places , and not by the Nuntio's . Notwithstanding the Nuntio's have still continued to maintain their pretensions in despite of this Arrest , nor is there a person of them that does yield obedience by his addressing to the Ordinary ; because those who are dispos'd to doe it apprehend ( and not without reason ) lest their Bulls should be denied them . Well known is that famous Arrest given Anno 1648. upon the Remonstrances of the late Advocate-general Mons. Talon against those who would have valid in France the Censures of the Inquisition and Index ; in the interim they were never more in reputation then since that time : and it is hard to comprehend how the Clergy of France ( which has ever been so generous ) could endure it , without once complaining , that the Episcopal Decrees of the Prelates of France have been treated by the Inquisitors of Rome with so much indignity ; that they have rang'd them amongst the damned Books which they esteem so disgraceful , without vouchsafing either to clear it with the Bishops before Censure , or to render them any account of what they found amiss therein afterwards . See but how they bear all things before them with a perseverance indefatigable ; and by degrees how the pretences of the Roman Court ( which have formerly been so odious among us ) establish themselves in the Kingdom , and the ancient Maxims that our Fathers have conserv'd with so much zeal and jealousie are chang'd and come to nothing . 'T is not alwaies done at once , but sometimes by degrees and insensibly ; and to give an Instance of it , we need goe no farther then to that of the Infallibility of the Pope onely . 'T is certain that in the time of the Councils of Constance and of Basil they acknowledg'd no other Infallibility in the Church then that of the Church Universal , and the General Council which represented it , and that it went for current among all learned men , that the Pope might erre in point of Faith. It is what may be seen not onely in the Works of the greatest persons of those times , as of Gerson , Peter d' Ailly Cardinal of Cambray , the holy and knowing Carthusian Dionysius Rikel , Cardinal Cusa , the Abbot of Palermo , the Cardinal of Florence , Iohn Patriarch of Antioch , Alphonsus Tostatus surnam'd the Prodigy of the world , Iohannes de Parifiis , and of many more ; but likewise by the contest which sprung up in those times , Whither a Council were above a Pope , or the Pope above the Council ; which was decided in favour of the Council by the Fathers of the Council of Constance and Basil , who maintaining the Preeminence of the Council , made use of this Principle as certain and indisputable , That a General Council could not erre in Determinations which regard Faith and good Manners , and that the Pope therein might erre . So the Council of Basil , minding to establish this Preeminence of Oecumenical Councils in its Synodal Letter published after the third Session , speaks in this manner . This holy Church has receiv'd so great a Privilege of Jesus Christ our Saviour , which he has founded by his Bloud , that we most firmly believe she cannot erre . This is what is agreeable to God alone by nature , and to the Church by privilege . Nor was this gift imparted to the Sovereign Bishop , of some of whom we reade that they fell into Heresie . 'T is the Church alone which is without spot or wrinkle , which cannot erre in things necessary to Salvation . And afterwards , If the Council might erre ( it being certain that Popes may erre ) all the whole Church would be in an Errour : Si errare posset Concilium , cùm certum sit Papam errare posse , tota erraret Ecclesia . See the Voice of the whole Church legitimately assembled by the H. Spirit in General Council : For 't is not to be doubted but that then the Council of Basil was Oecumenical , since Pope Eugenius the IVth acknowledged by an Authentick Bull ( recited in the 16 Session , ) that the Council was legitimate and General from the beginning of it to that very moment . But what clearly testifies that no body in those times doubted of the preeminence of a Council above a Pope in things concerning Faith , which cannot be establish'd but on this of the Council's not erring and that the Pope may , is what Pope Eugenius ( what time he chiefly strove to set himself above a Council ) was notwithstanding oblig'd to acknowledge , That in matters of Faith the opinion of the Council ought to be preferr'd before that of a Pope . This we see in the last of the 3 Bulls , which he revok'd when he rejoyn'd himself to the Council , 1434. in these terms . Suppose a Pope or his Legate would doe one thing , and that a Council would doe the contrary ; we ought to follow not the Sentence of the Council , but the opinion of the Pope , or his Legate who represents him , because the Pope 's Iurisdiction is above that of all Councils ; unless it happen that the things in controversie concern'd the Catholick Faith , or that they were such as without the determination thereof the whole State of the Universal Church would be in disorder . In such a case there must be had more regard to the opinion of a Council then to that of Popes . Nisi fortè quae statuenda forent Catholicam Fidem respicerent , vel si non fierent , statum universalis Ecclesiae principaliter perturbarent ; quia tunc Concilii Sententia esset potiùs attendenda . This Pope you see acknowledg'd that in things concerning the Catholick Faith , the Pope being of one opinion , and the Council of another , that of the Council was to be chosen . Now this were ridiculous if the Pope were Infallible in Decisions touching Faith ; since there is no opinion which we ought to prefer before a man that is Infallible . And therefore Pope Eugenius , what-ever he pretended to place himself above all Councils , durst never arrogate that of Infallibility . Dionysius Rikel Carthusian , ( term'd the Extatick or Illuminated Doctor , as having through all his Works joyn'd an illuminated and inflamed Piety with his profound skill in Divinity ) in his Treatise of the Authority of the Pope and Councils , having in several passages spoken highly of that of the Pope , does notwithstanding acknowledge that in Council one cannot dispute the having this advantage above the Pope , That a Council cannot erre in matters which pertain to Faith and good manners , and that the Pope may erre there . The power of a Council ( saies he ) is in this greater then the Pope's , that Iesus Christ has promis'd to his Church , or the Council ( which is her Representative , ) an infallible direction and divine assistance which shall never fail . So as a Council can neither erre in matters of Faith , nor in what regards good manners ; forasmuch as it is immediately led by the Holy Spirit in the Determination of these things . And therefore the Pope himself is in these things to adhere to the Churche's Determination , that is , to the Decrees of the Council , as to an Oracle , and regulation of the Holy Ghost ; whereas the Pope being obnoxious to erre in points of Faith , good manners , and other matters necessary to Salvation , methinks men should not acquiesce in his judgement as the onely certain opinion , because he is not an infallible rule , nor yet a foundation so establish'd , but that it may deviate from the Truth . This holy Monk saies the same thing in a Sermon upon S. Hilarie ; and excepting onely those Authors who are notoriously ingag'd in the Interests of the Roman Court , all the knowing Divines of that Age spake the same Language . I observe onely Pope Adrian the VIth , who having taught the same Doctrine before he was exalted to the Pontificate , did not onely not retract it afterwards , but caus'd his Works to be printed at Rome , in which we may yet reade these words , namely in his fourth Book of Sentences : If by the Roman Church ( saies he ) you understand him who is the Head of it , 't is certain ( pray mark the term ) that this Head of the Roman Church , viz. the Pope , may erre even in things appertaining to Faith , by defending an Heresie by his Determination or Decretal . Si per Ecclesiam Romanam intelligatur Caput ejus , certum est quòd possit errare , etiam in iis quae tangunt Fidem , Haeresin per suam Determinationem aut Decretalem asserendo . See what this holy and knowing man has written , being then a private person ; and what it was he so approv'd when he was Pope : so little did his Advancement blind him , as it has done many others , or make him forget what he ow'd to Truth , to gratifie his new Dignity with advantages which he believed Iesus Christ never imparted to him . It is not here necessary to alledge the Parisian Doctors opinions , so well known to the World , and to the Iesuites themselves , who term the opinion against Infallibility Sententia Parisiensium : but we must not omit the sense of the whole Faculty in a Body , in this celebrious Declaration of the Faith which she made by order of Francis the I st , and which was afterwards verified in Parliament ; so as in France it held a particular force of a Law and a publick Ordinance : Having therefore receiv'd a command of the King to reduce into Articles the principal Points of Faith attacqu'd by Hereticks , she declares , That General Councils cannot erre in Points of Faith and regulation of good manners . Certum est Concilium Generale legitimè congregatum , universalem Ecclesiam repraesentans , in Fide & morum determinationibus errare non posse . But for the Pope , see what she saies of it all ; It is no less certain , that there is one Sovereign Bishop by divine right in the Militant Church , to which all Christians ought to submit , and who has likewise power to conferre Indulgences : Nec minùs certum est , unum esse jure Divino Pontificem in Ecclesia Militante , cui omnes Christiani parere tenentur , qui quidem potestatem habet Indulgentias conferendi . This different manner of speaking of Councils and the Pope in two Articles which immediately follow , attributing Infallibility to the Council , and none to the Pope , sufficiently states the different sentiments which these Doctors had both of Councils and Popes upon this subject . For I think not my self oblig'd to refute the extravagancies of a certain Writer of these times , who pretends to prove by the Obedience which these Doctors teach is due to the Pope , as if by that we acknowledg'd his Infallibility . By the same argument he may prove , that not onely all Bishops in particular , but that all Abbots , and Abbesses , Priors & Prioresses are infallible , because they are promis'd obedience . But he should have learn'd that in promising obedience to the Pope , men are so far from acknowledging an entire submission of belief to his Decisions , that the Divines say expresly , and amongst others Mons. Duval , Summo Pontifici parendum esse , sive errare possit , sive non : Which signifies but this , That men should not Dogmatize the contrary to what he has decided , and with this caution yet , nisi Error sit intolerabilis , as Gerson affirms . Such as has been the common sentiment of our Parisian Divines , till Mons. Duval , who would have introduc'd Opinions into the Sorbon totally repugnant to these ancient Maxims : But , as 't is customary with those who engage in quarrells against what is universally receiv'd , it has hitherto been with much wariness ; For he did in that manner assert the Pope to be infallible in matter of Faith , that in the same breath he likewise taught , 't was no matter of Faith to believe it : Non est de fide Summum Pontificem esse infallibilem . He holds moreover , that the Opinion of his not being infallible is neither rash nor erroneous . Non est erroneum , neque temerarium temeritate opinionis , dicere , Summum Pontificem in decernendo errare posse . And speaking concerning the Decision of a Pope against a Doctor of Paris , he saies , That this Definition of Sixtus the IVth is not of Faith , but onely very certain ; because , saies he , the Definitions of the Sovereign Bishops have not the certitude of the Catholick Faith , till they be first received by the Universal Church , or a General Council . And thus , whatever the Doctor 's design be and those of his gang to advance the Authority of the Pope , they have been yet oblig'd to acknowledge , that a Divine who should doubt , or not believe what has not been decided but by a Pope , should neither be accus'd of Errour or Temerity , provided he did not contradict the Pope publickly and with Scandal . Behold here the very first breach which has been made , at least in the Sorbon , against its ancient Doctrine . But in the mean time this has not hinder'd those very Persons who incourag'd this Doctor , and that were ingag'd by Interest with the Court of Rome , to reject this personal Infallibility of the Pope , whenever they had any regard of their reputation amongst learned men . This is evident by Cardinal Perron , who in his Reply to the King of Great Britain , l. 6. p. 1083. expresly acknowledges , that the onely expedient to determine Disputes of Religion with a certainty of Faith is by a General Council . Were the Service ( saies he ) taken away from the Original Tongue , and transferr'd into another , all means of celebrating universal Councils , and having any certitude or assurance of matters of Faith , would cease . For there being no certitude of the genuine sense of Scripture by our particular Interpretation , since no Interpretation of Scripture is of private inspiration , and we having no way left us of resolution with certitude of Faith in debates which rise about Religion upon the meaning of Scripture , besides the voice of the Church speaking in General Councils ; evident it is that whatever it be which takes away from the Church the means of holding General Councils , takes away from it all means of deciding the Disputes of Christian Religion with certitude of Faith. Cardinal de Richelieu , in his Book of Controversies , which has been approv'd by the late Mons. Lescot Bishop of Chartres , and divers other Divines exceedingly devoted to the Court of Rome , acknowledges the same thing , Lib. 3. c. 5. p. 424. Since there is ( saies he ) no Oecumenical Council which injoyns the use of the Images of the Divine Persons ; it is evident that 't is no Article of Faith : supposing that for the Principle , That onely General Councils can frame Articles of Faith. Thus we see that the Doctrine of Infallibility , which had been promoted by Mons. Duval with some kind of fear and reserve , was abandon'd by the most knowing persons of the Church , and chiefly by those who defended it against the Hereticks ; because they would not engage the cause of the Catholick Religion in defence of an Opinion so insupportable : and therefore the Favourites of the Roman Court were then contented that this Opinion should pass for problematick onely . Whence it came to pass that Mons. Duval ( who had but just propos'd it in this manner ) was all his life in so great esteem at Rome , that he was look'd upon there as the person in the world who had render'd the greatest services to the holy See ; and that all the Nuns had order not to doe any thing here without his advice . But finding this tentative succeed so happily , and that the Iesuites ( having gain'd the Catholick Universities ) had fill'd all mens thoughts with this infinite power of the Pope , which was highly advantagious to them for the withdrawing of them from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops , they no longer remain'd in this moderation . They pretended that it was not enough for the French to permit them to say the Pope was infallible ; but so order'd the matter , that no man was suffered to acknowledge him for less . They were contented that Mons. Duval should say that it was no matter of Faith to believe the Pope infallible , because this reserve was necessary at that point of time , for the currenter passage of the Doctrine ; but having first begun to distribute it in this manner , they did not long rest there ; the design is to make men believe that the Doctrine of the Faculty of Paris ( opposite to this Infallibility , which in Mons. Duval's daies was neither an Errour , nor any rash Opinion ) is since that time ( though the Church never thought of any change ) become a manifest Heresie . This is what the Iesuites have exceedingly farther'd : For 't is about 5 or 6 years past that Father Theophile Raynaud , a Iesuite of Lions , publish'd a Book with this Title , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Ipse dixit , to shew not onely that the Pope is infallible , but that it is matter of Faith that he is so , and , by consequent , those that doubt of it Hereticks ; and he treats Mons. Duval very ill in his Book , whom in contempt he calls a certain Doctor , for his caution in not so openly venting this false Doctrine as a new Article of Faith. And because they saw this enterprise of theirs was not punished as it deserv'd , growing daily more insolent , they proceeded to that extravagant impiety of their Theses of the College de Clermont , which is now the object of the indignation of all France , daring publickly to maintain , ( even in the midst of Paris it self , and in face of the Parliament ) That the Catholick Truth which opposes the Heresie of the Greeks concerning the Pope's Primacy is , That Jesus Christ has given to all Popes the very same Infallibility which himself had , not onely in Questions de Jure , but in those also de Facto . By this 't is visible to what their boldness may aspire , if not timely prevented and repress'd , and what progress these monstrous Opinions are like to make , to the total destruction of the Liberties of the Gallican Church so precious to our Ancestors , unless we be more vigilant in stopping its carreer . And in earnest it is very hard it should not be so , if we but consider a little those three Expedients which the abettors of the Court of Rome make use of to establish their Maxims . The First is , the Company of Iesuites spread over the face of the Universe , and got to be Masters of the greatest part of the Colleges ; so as all the World being imbu'd with these Principles from their infancie , as 't were , Opinions not advantageous to the Church , but the Court Politick of Rome , they are receiv'd with respect , as if they constituted a part of our Religion ; so as it is quite against the hair of any other , because the Iesuites accustom those who have once plac'd their belief in them , to look upon men as persons suspected of their Faith , who in this are not of their opinion . There is the hands of many persons a Treatise of the late Father Eustachius Gault , a very knowing and pious Father de l' Oratoire , nominated by the late King for Bishop of Marseilles , wherein he mentions how dangerous it is for this very reason , lest all the Colleges should in time , and by degrees , fall into the hands of the Iesuites . The Second means is , the care they take concerning Books ; blasting all that they find containing any thing of the ancient Maxims of the School of Paris , suppressing them all that they can ; or at least so ordering the matter , as to retrench whatever is not in their favour : as they have done by a large Discourse of Guicciardin , treating of the politick Incroachment of the Court of Rome , which is no more to be found in the late Italian Editions , but conserv'd in the old ones , as may yet be seen in an ancient French Translation of that famous Historian . In the mean while they give all manner of liberty to such Books as maintain their own pretensions , and that establish the Opinions on which they are supported . It must be acknowledg'd that there 's nothing has more advanc'd their Interest : for 't is almost impossible but the minds and spirits of Students should be fill'd with the sentiments of those Authors which they reade most . Now without speaking of the less considerable Authors , who are infinite , those who would more deeply apply themselves to the Ecclesiastical Science do commonly addict themselves to Church-History and the Councils ; and for the first , they goe to seek it in Baronius and his Continuators . This person had doubtless very many excellent qualities , and deserves great commendations for having by his indefatigable labour disintangled an infinite many of things which before lay in a strange confusion : But withall it must not be deny'd that the Zeal which transported him for the Grandeur of the H. See made him commit very many excesses , which might be pardon'd in a person so commendable on some other occasions , but by no means be defended : For how can we possibly excuse him all those fabulous imaginations of his , where he engages himself to make the world believe that Pope Honorius was never condemn'd by the 6th Council ; but that what we see of his Condemnation in the Acts of that Council has been maliciously inserted by the order of a most pious Emperour , whom he affirms to have consented to the Falsification of the Originals which he had in his hands ? And yet for all this , because F. Cambefis ( a very learned Dominican ) thought himself oblig'd , for the honour of Truth and of the Church , to refute this Fiction , which is of most pernicious consequence , ( since there is not an Act of General Council which one may not with as much likelihood say to be forg'd ) it has pleas'd F. Theophile Raynaud , a Iesuite forsooth , in a Book intituled An Cyriaci immunes à Censura ? a most bloudy Satyre against the whole Dominican Order , most outrageously to rend and tear this learned Frier , as if he had perpetrated the hainousest sin in the world , for having shew'n that Baronius engag'd himself into very great Absurdities , in not acknowledging that a Pope had been condemn'd as an Heretick in a General Council . A strange piece of tyranny it would be , to take away all liberty from Divines that love the Truth , to defend it against whomsoever when 't is thus wrong'd , and to interpret it a Crime to take notice of the excesses of Baronius , when he endeavors to advance the Authority of the Holy See. He is not then himself , and he sometimes saies such things seriously on this subject , that 't is hard to reconcile them to sense ; as when he attributes a kind of Infallibility to the Pope , which is not well applicable to God himself , viz. that the Pope can make new Articles of Faith , and change them again when they are made . Ut planè appareat , saies he on the business of the Apollinarists , An. 373. n. 22. ex arbitrio pependisse Romani Pontificis Decreta sancire , & sancita mutare . This is prodigiously strange ; and yet we find something like this of Baronius in the Preface of F. Sirmondus upon Facundus : For ( saies he ) this Bishop is not to be blam'd for having maintain'd the three Chapters , since Pope Vigilius was ever more dispos'd to defend them , as it was in truth reasonable , saies the Iesuite : * Vigilius ad defendenda , ut par erat , & probanda Capitula propensior . Save onely that he was not blamable but for blindly adhering to Pope Vigilius , in changing his opinion as often as it pleas'd the Pope to change ; defending the three Chapters when this Pope defended them , and condemning them when the Pope condemn'd them , undertaking to maintain when the Pope undertook it . After this guise it is F. Sirmond ( quatenus Iesuite ) would have us conform our Conscience to the Will of the Pope , without troubling our selves with the truth of the thing . But I say , quatenus Iesuite ; for as F. Sirmond , 't is well known to all his Friends , that there are few Divines who have less believed this blind Obedience then himself . But to return to Baronius : It must be acknowledg'd that his Annals being in other places fill'd with many very good things for the confirmation of Catholick Verities , and the purity of Discipline , contain also very many pernicious Maxims , and false Reflexions as to what concerns the pretences of the Court of Rome : and 't is that which makes these last to be receiv'd and swallowed , because they are mingled with the first . The Continuators follow all of them the same spirit , and do but tread in his steps ; but without coming near him in that which he did well , they infinitely surpass him in what he did ill . This is truth , especially of the last and most ample , which is Raynaldus . There can be nothing more weak of one part , or more insolent on the other ; and 't is a shame to the Church , that a Writer so little able should presume to compile its History . He is a man without discernment , without the spirit of an Ecclesiastick , without style , without judgment , without sincerity , without credit , and who delivers with an insupportable boldness , and as if they were forsooth so many Articles of Faith , the most indefensible pretensions of the Court of Rome ; who alledges Authors the most partial and least worthy of credit , such as Poggius , Blondus , Turrecremata , and the like , as the most authentick Testimonies , and after whom one were oblig'd to condemn the honestest men , and those whose sanctity it has pleas'd God to make known even by their Miracles , as the Cardinal d' Arles ; in fine , who upon all occasions , where he wants proofs , overflows with injuries and outrageous declamations , unworthy an Historian , who should never be transported with passion . For all this , he has had the boldness to dedicate his eighteenth Tome , containing the History of Five Popes , and two Councils , viz. that of Basil and Florence , to the French Clergy ; and 't is easily seen by his Epistle , that his design was onely to engage the Church of France , by the glozing Elogies he gives it for its steady obedience to the Holy See , to approve , or , at least , dissemble , all that his Tome contains advantages for the interests of the Roman Court , and prejudicial to the Liberties of the Gallican Church . But the design did not altogether succeed ; for having made an offer of his Book to the Assembly of the Clergy 1660 , thereby to obtain some Letter of Thanks , and so in time to make it pass for an Approbation of his Book through all the French Churches ; the Bishop to whom 't was referr'd found the Book so repugnant to our Liberties , that he would doe nothing in it : and with this repulse was his unworthy Present repay'd . But the Abettors of the Court of Rome believe with great reason that they have however gain'd a main Point , that there has been nothing positively done against a Work presented to the whole Clergy , Where the * Doctrine of the authority of a Council above a Pope , which is the prime foundation of the Liberties of the Gallican Church , and the first Article of the Pragmatick Sanction , is every-where styl'd Heretical and Schismatical , though it has been decided for a Catholick Truth by no less then two General Councils : Where the (a) Council of Basil , ( so rever'd of all France ) is rent and torn the most outragiously in the world , and that in a time when Popes have declar'd it for Oecumenical : Where a (b) trifling Scribbler imperiously presumes to decide a difference upon which the Church would never yet pronounce , making those to pass for Anti-popes who possess'd the Seat in Avignon during the Schism , who are yet the onely ones which France has acknowledg'd ; though God himself seems to have been willing that this Question should have remain'd undecided , since he has permitted very holy Persons to maintain the parties of both these Popes ; Saint Catharine that of Urban , and S. Peter of Luxemburg that of Clement , from whom he receiv'd even his Cardinal's Hat , as S. Vincent Ferrier , who also adhered to the Avignon Popes : (c) Where , by an abominable Lie , they impute to Charles the Seventh , that he knew the Gallican Church had made a detestable Schism by pronouncing an impious Sentence in behalf of Clement the VIIth against Urban the VIth : (a) Where the Pragmatical Sanction , which was contriv'd at Bourges , following the Decrees of the Council of Basil , by the French Bishops , which King Charles the VIIth had assembled there , with the Princes , Lords and great Persons of the Kingdom of all degrees and qualities is unworthily styl'd the Opprobrium of the King , because it declares the Pope inferiour to a Council , many waies limits his power , and re-establisheth Canonical Elections . (b) Where the Mandate de Providendo , Expectative graces , Reservations , Regresses , and other like Abuses , so justly condemn'd by the Council of Basil , and by the whole French Church , are maintain'd as legitimate Rights from this strange pretence of a Bull of Eugenius the IVth , That the Church of Rome does what she pleases with all Church-Dignities , without wrong to any man ; because she may alledge this word of the Holy Gospel , Friend , I doe thee no wrong , is it not lawful for me to doe what I will with mine own ? and that the same Pope writing to Alphonsus King of Portugal saies , That the free disposition of all Churches appertains to the Apostolical See , and that the Popes dispose of them as best they like , to which even Kings and Princes submit themselves . (a) Where the most Sacred Canons of the Church are so subdued to the Pope's will , that he makes a Pope writing to a King of France , to say , That 't is a ridiculous thing to alledge them to him , or demand of him their observation , as if he knew nothing of them ; whereas if he acted aganst the Canons , we are not to believe that 't was done out of ignorance , but because it pleases him to have it so : That he is so far Master , that according to his pleasure he might not onely interpret , suspend , and mitigate them , but alter and abolish them likewise as pleased his fansy . The whole Book is stuffed with like excesses , and greater then these too : notwithstanding the fautors of these pernieious Opinions have this advantage , that no body having complain'd of them , they will one day take this silence for a tacit Approbation ; beside the gain which they receive , when they who would be learned in the Church-History , studying it in these Books , shall at the same time suck in all these dangerous Maxims . Nor have they less perverted the other source of Ecclesiastical Science , to wit , the study of the Councils . The last Collector of them , Binnius , being but a small Copier of Baronius , Bellarmine and Suarez , who has stuffed his Notes with all that he thought proper to inspire these new Opinions . And what is altogether prodigious , is , that whereas the King of Spain has never permitted that any man should print in his Dominions any passage of Baronius's Annals prejudicial to his pretences ; they have in the Louvre it self printed the Collection of the Councils of Binnius : and that the Iesuites , who have ever had all the government of this Royal Press , have left there in the life of Boniface the VIIIth these outragious words against all France ; Philippum pulchrum , Galliae Regem , justè excommunicavit , This Pope did justly excommunicate Philip the Fair , King of France : As much as to say , that all France was Schismatical in that Age , for opposing ( as she did ) the Excommunication , as judging it very unjust , and appealing to the future Council ; and that she yet continues so , for having never since chang'd her opinion . You see in the mean time what the Iesuites think fit to print in the King's house , under his own nose , and at his charges , that so they may give the Enemies of France the advantage to reproach her for owning in this period the justice of an Excommunication of one of her Kings , against which she has heretofore so vigorously opposed herself . The Abridgment of the Councils by Coriolanus , printed at Paris , and revised by a Doctor of the Faculty , is yet in some sort worse ; all the contrary Maxims to the Liberty of the Gallican Church being set at the Head of the Book , as if they were so many Catholick Opinions . Nor is there any thing better to be hop'd for from that new Edition of the Councils which they are undertaking now at Paris , if the Iesuites continue Masters ; seeing we find well enough by the Plan which Father L' Abbé has caus'd to be printed , that besides all Binnius's Notes , if any thing be added , it shall be rather more and more to ruine the Liberties of the Gallican Church , then to defend them : and in effect we see , that whereas in Binnius the Council of Basil is call'd , Concilium Oecumenicum ex parte reprobatum , a General Council in part reprov'd ; Father L' Abbé in his new project totally suppresses this quality of Oecumenick , by simply calling it Basileense Concilium ; though he be exceedingly exact in giving the title of Oecumenick to all the other General Councils , and even to those also which as yet France has never acknowledg'd for such ; as that of Florence for instance , which he styles Florentinum Oecumenicum sive Universale Concilium , and that of Lateran under Iulius the II d and Leo the Xth , which he calls Lateranense quintum Oecumenicum , seu Universale decimumseptimum . You see how little they respect the judgment of the Gallican Church , degrading the Councils which our Ancestors have ever had in such singular veneration , as that of Basil ; and magnifying those which our Fathers would never receive for Oecumenical , as that of Florence , concerning which the Cardinal of Lorrain writ to Pope Pius the Vth , That in France 't was never receiv'd for Legitimate or General , and that all the French would sooner die then affirm the contrary . Much more that of Lateran , which Bellarmine himself durst not assert Oecumenical , as not compos'd but of a few Italian Bishops , who had no other mark but the ruine of our Canonical Elections , and against which the French have alwaies protested , as 't is to be seen by the History of the Concordate de Mons. du Puy ; and , in effect , the Council of Constance having decided that a Council is superiour to a Pope , and the Council of Lateran the contrary , one of the two must necessarily be in an Errour , and , by consequent , one of the two is not Oecumenick : and so all the world avowing , and the Iesuites themselves , that the Council of Constance was General , Father L' Abbé calling it Constantiense Concilium Oecumenicum decimum-sextum , that of Lateran , which is repugnant to it in a certain Decision concerning Faith , has not been so . But be it what it will , we may judge from hence that the Iesuites design is in this new Edition of the Councils to favour the pretences of the Court of Rome in all that possibly they can ; there being nothing she so much desires as to hinder the Council of Basil from being reputed General ; insomuch as those of the party have presum'd to falsifie a List of the General Councils at the beginning of the Epitome of Augustinus's Canon Law , leaving out that of Basil , which this learned Arch-bishop had set down , as may be seen , where , after these words , Constantiense sub Martino V , there is in these falsified Editions , Florentinum sub eodem , which is ridiculous , that of Florence , not having been held under Martin the Vth ; but it sufficiently shews what there was in the uncorrupted Copies after that of Constance , Basileense sub Eugenio IV , and then , Florentinum sub eodem . There are a world of other things in this draught of Father L' Abbé , which ought not to be suffered in France ; but above all , 't is a thing insupportable , that these Disciples of Santarel should dare to treat as Hereticks and persons suspected for their Faith both Priests and Divines , better Catholicks then themselves , for defending onely the Sovereignty of Kings establish'd by God , against those who would subject them to the Spiritual power . Thus this Iesuite injures Roger Widdrington , an English Priest , whom we may believe a very firm Catholick , since some temporal Interests might have else been able to make him quit his Religion , had he not held it by a divine obligation . But because he had several contestations with Bellarmine in favour of Kings , L' Abbé is pleas'd to rank him in the same design with Blondel , and to speak of him in these terms ; Non ignoro Davidem Blondellum , Rogerum Widdringtonum , & quosdam alios aut Haereticos , aut de Fide saltem suspectos , &c. The Third means which the Court of Rome makes use of to establish her Pretensions is , to defend and gratifie all those who favour her , and to decry , yea persecute upon all occasions , those that are any waies averse and contrary . 'T is so meritorious an action in their judgment to maintain that which they call the Rights of the Holy See , that even those whom otherwise they have no esteem of for any sense of Piety , become recommendable ; and 't is on the other side so great a sin to prescribe Canons for a limit of this infinite power , that whatever Vertue or Piety one might be acknowledg'd to have had before , he becomes wicked and Heretical upon an instant . I find two memorable examples of both in the 18 Tome of Raynaldus . The one is of Laurentius Valla , whom he affirms in a certain place to have been an impious fellow , and whom in another place he extolls for having exceedingly praised Eugenius the IVth , who is one of those Popes that endeavour'd to advance his Authority to the utmost . The other is of an Arch-bishop of Mentz , a person of great worth and Piety , that had some contest with Calixtus the III d touching Canonical Elections . This Arch-bishop complains that the Pope did not observe the Concordate which Eugenius the IVth and Nicolas the Vth his Successor had made on this subject with the Princes of Germany ; and Aeneas Sylvius , who was then Cardinal , and who writ about it to this Arch-bishop's Chancellor , was not able to deny it , since what he saies is , that if the Elections were Canonical , they ought to be confirm'd in virtue of the Concordate , and that they were not to be rejected ; unless ( saies he ) the Pope in Council with his Brethren the Cardinals conceive it fit to put in a Person more advantagious to the Church : as if this last Clause were not a visible infraction of the Concordate , which this Arch-bishop had great reason to complain of ; since the right of Elections had no more any thing solid , if the Pope refusing to confirm them had been acquitted , by saying , he onely did it to constitute a more fitting person for the Church in place . Be it what-ever , 't is certain this Contestation concern'd one onely Point of Church-Discipline , and another in which the Pope was visibly in the wrong . See yet what Raynaldus teaches us Anno 1457. n. 49. That Pope Calixtus the III d wrote to this Arch-bishop of Mentz upon the complaint he made of the non-observance of the Concordate touching Elections : * I cannot conceive that you should doe any thing against the Authority of the Sacred Roman Church and Apostolical See , knowing you to be a learned and prudent Pastor , and one that fears God , which are contrary to those who offend the Authority and Power of the Holy Church of Rome , and of the Sovereign Bishop ; since whoever presumes to commit this attempt incurrs not onely the pains ordain'd by Divine and humane right , but does also commit the most hainous crime of Heresie . Thus a man becomes an Heretick , and ( as he saies ) a wicked Heretick , how knowing , prudent or fearing God soever he be , if he opposes the Pope in any thing which does purely concern the Discipline of the Church , whatever reason he may have so to doe . Those of Rome have alwaies pursu'd the same course ; and Bellarmine ( though one of the most moderate of them ) forbears not to speak most outragiously against those who defend the Sovereignty of Kings , and to treat them as Calvinists , Pagans , Publicans , and Parasites of Kings , to the loss of the Kingdom eternal , under pretence of conserving to them their Dignity which is temporal . And an Italian Author , who styles them in the Title of his Book impios politicos , addresses these words to them at the conclusion of his Book : Away then with these modern insipid Politicians , who , led with envy and ambition , would derive the Authority of States from that of Pilate ; and of whom those Saints of God have thus prophesied , The Kings of the Earth and the Princes are met together against the Lord , and against his Anointed . That is to say , The Pope is Iesus Christ , and all Christian Kings who maintain their Sovereignty against the Usurpations of Rome are the Herods and the Pontius Pilates . This publick decry yet in the Books of these Writers is nothing so considerable as the particular and clandestine traverses that the Court of Rome excites upon all occasions whatsoever against those whom she believes not favourable to her Interests . By that it is she stops the mouths and stays the Pens of almost all Learned persons , who cannot really possess themselves of that Title , that they are not inwardly persuaded of the Hypocrisies of these ambitious pretensions ; but they chuse rather to be silent , then to speak of it : Because there are but a very few persons so in love with Truth , as , in resolving to maintain it , will endure to be tormented and barretted all their life-time , and to be torn in pieces when they are dead . They see that Kings and their great Ministers take not for the most part that care to protect those who maintain and defend their Right , by some testimony of their acknowledging it , as the Court of Rome does to persecute them , or at least to deny them all kind of favour . They must be touch'd with an extraordinary Zeal , and very disinteress'd , to surmount all these considerations , and to sacrifice themselves for the Interest of their Prince and Countrey , without any hope of advantage , or , to speak more properly , with reason to apprehend all sort of disadvantage by it . All those principally who are ty'd to any Community are thereby oblig'd to a silence , which they believe to be just , as holding themselves responsable for the conservation of their Body . And 't is true , these vast Bodies have stricter bonds which tie them to Rome , and are more expos'd to Persecution , because they have more places which expose them to seisure ; to which one may adde , that almost all the Religious and Communities have their Generals resident at Rome , who will never permit that the Divines of their Orders should undertake to teach things which would not be well receiv'd there , and from which there may lie a grudge against the whole Order . They are therefore Private persons onely who are fit upon these encounters to engage for the Truth : but then it is necessary that they be furnished with Light to know it , with Zeal to love it , with Steadiness , not to fear the ills it may produce , and with Sincerity and Disinterest , that so they may have no occasion to be in danger of being thwarted . And when there were onely this last , how rare a thing it is to be found ! Well therefore has Iohn Major , that renowned Doctor of Paris , long since observ'd , That it was not to be wonder'd at , if they were fewer who declared for a Council then for the Pope , since Councils met but seldom , and gave no Benefices , whereas the Pope does , and thence 't is ( saies he ) men flatter him with an omnipotent power , as well in Spiritual things as temporal : Hinc homines ei blandiuntur , dicentes quòd solvere potest omnia , quadrare rotundata , & rotundare quadrata , tam in Spiritualibus quàm in temporalibus . Hence it proceeds that the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the ancient Maxims of the Sorbon are now-a-daies hardly vindicated but by secular persons , such as We that have less relation to the Court of Rome then Ecclesiasticks have ; whereof the wisest of them are rather satisfied to approve them in their heart , without defending them in their Books : such power have fear and interest upon the spirit of those who should be more free from them by the Sanctity of their Profession . But if there be persons disinterested , so as not to be touch'd by these temporal considerations , it often falls out that having little judgment and less science , their Piety it self engages them into these new Opinions ; because they are publish'd in the World under this artificial veil , That 't is , forsooth , to violate and wound Religion to contest the Pope's Infallibility and temporal Sovereignty over Kings . Those in the mean time who have no relation to it but this pretext , without any mixture of humane interest , may easily be disabus'd , if once they but consider that the most pious of all our ancient Doctors , as the illustrious Gerson ( wihtout mentioning Dionysius the Carthusian , and the blessed Cardinal d' Arles ) have oppos'd with greater vigour those ambitious pretences of the Court of Rome , and that they have judg'd that , on the contrary , 't is the sincere Zeal for the Catholick Religion which ought to oblige all judicious Divines , courageously to resist this temporal Superiority over Kings and Infallibility , as two inseperable Maxims one from the other , either of them capable to raise very great mischiefs to the Church . For in effect , what is there more opposite to the real benefit of the Catholick Religion then this Doctrine of the Pope's Superiority over Kings in Temporals , which is a necessary consequence of Infallibility , and of the power which they give him to depose them ? Is not this to render Religion abhorr'd and suspected of all Princes , as the Sorbon has judiciously remark'd in the Censure of Santarel , to give them cause to believe that 't is impossible they should have Subjects at the same time good Catholicks and faithful to their King ? What Infidel Prince indeed would permit men to preach Faith in the Countries under his obedience , if he knew that all those who embrace it think themselves by that dispens'd with for obedience to him farther then another Sovereign pleases , who can at any time cause them to take up arms against their lawful King ? Were this for example a proper expedient to incline the Americans to receive our Faith , to say to them , as some Spaniards did , that the Pope had bestow'd their Country on the King of Castile ? And however Barbarians as they were , had they not reason to reply , as they did , That they knew no such thing as a Pope , but that if there were , he must needs be a wicked man , to give away that which was none of his own ? Were not this also to dispose Heretical Princes not to suffer Catholicks in their States , when they shall behold them but as so many subjects to another Prince , who has power to command them to depose him in the Country where they live ? And do not we know , that 't is this has so imbitter'd the King of England against the Papists , and the almost sole cause of the disturbance which they suffered in Iames's time , as being to this day the greatest obstacle to the progress of Religion in that Kingdom ? In fine , what Catholick Prince would be willing that his Dominion , which he takes so much pains to preserve both in Peace and War , should continually depend upon the judgment of one sole Person , who may be possess'd perhaps by his Enemies , or transported by his proper passions ? For 't is a weak confidence to resolve they will give the Pope no occasion to Excommunicate or deprive them of their Kingdoms . What occasion had Iean d' Albret given , that for all this was despoil'd of his Estate ? Really one cannot offer a greater injury either to the Church or Pope himself , then this attributing of so odious a power to him : And the Church will have reason to say to these preposterous defenders of her Interests , as Iacob said to his Children Simeon and Levi upon the Sack of Sichem ; Turbâstis me , & odiosam fecistis me Chananaeis & Pherezaeis habitatoribus terrae hujus , You have troubled me , to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the Land. Besides , in celebrating the first Advent of the Son of God himself , she testifies , that all the Kings of the Earth , and even the most fierce of Tyrants , had no reason to have been jealous of the coming of this new King , for that he who gives to his the Kingdom of Heaven , ravishes not from Princes the Kingdoms of the Earth : Non eripit mortalia , Qui Regna dat coelestia . But our Popes take it for an honour done them , when men attribute to them praises quite contrary to what the Church gives Iesus Christ ; and Kings are in danger of their Empires , since they can take from Princes both their States and Kingdoms . But doubtless , when they shall have consider'd how unfortunate these pretences have prov'd to them , and how odious they still are , they will easily themselves acknowledge the truth of these excellent words which the Advocate general Mons. du Mesnil has , in those Memoirs of his upon the procedures of Rome against the Queen of Navarre , inserted amongst the Liberties of the Gallican Church . Whilest the Popes of Rome pursu'd the footsteps of Charity and Christian Humility , confining their power to the Spiritual Government establish'd by God in his Gospel , without arrogating to themselves a magisterial , temporal or worldly Dominion ; so long they received universal reverence and sincere obedience from all men : But no sooner did they or any of them exalt themselves by assuming an Authority not onely as Peers , but Superiours to Kings , but they became in danger of losing their own Authority , and that too which they would have usurped from others , and have created trouble both to the Kingdom of God and of his Church . Certainly those Popes who shall but consider these Christian and pious Reasons , will never suffer themselves to be surpris'd with the Flatteries of those about them ; and will understand that 't is not the Interest of the Holy See which these Sycophants look after , but their particular profit . Nor do they alwaies dissemble their low and unworthy pretences ; nor are they afraid sometimes to sooth the Pope , as one would do the Turk or great Mogul , by those profusions of mony which he spends on his Courtiers . Let the Italians ( saies that Italian Carrerius ) lift up their heads above all Nations of the Earth , for that singular grace and favour which God has done them in bestowing on them a spiritual Prince , namely the Bishop of Rome , who has chased great Kings and mighty Emperours from their Thrones , to set others in their places ; to whom so many potent Kingdoms pay'd tribute so long , as never any thing has been seen like it ; and who divides such riches amongst those of his Court , as never any King or Emperour hath done before . But these so lofty Elogies in the eyes of these base and interested spirits appear but Sacrilegious to those who truely honour the grandeur of the Spiritual Authority of the Pope . It is the very same in the matter of Infallibility ; the politick Theologues thinking to procure a great advantage to the Pope by publishing this Doctrine : never considering that on one side they put a very great obstacle to the re-uniting of Hereticks , who are more scandaliz'd with this pretension then with all those Points of our Faith in which we disagree ; and on the other , that by this Doctrine they make the Pope in danger to deceive himself , and expose the Church to Schisms and Divisions . For 't is this pretence of Infallibility which may induce Popes to neglect to take the legitimate and ordinary waies of deciding Points of Faith , who , by the consent even of Cardinal Bellarmine himself , ought to assemble Councils , and there onely regularly examine Controversies of Religion ; which they will hardly ever be brought to doe , so long as they are persuaded that they are Infallible , without obligation to any other forms . Nor let them alledge how great an advantage it is , the having an infallible Authority in the Church , to which there is so easie an access ; as if the verity of things depended upon their commodiousness . Were this so , we must also conclude that Popes are impeccable too , at least in the Government of the Church ; for who would question but that were likewise very commodious , for hindring the Damnation of so many persons by these unlawful Dispensations , which persuade them that what-ever the Pope permits is as truely lawful as if God himself had said it ? whereas really there is nothing more true then what an Ancient has affirm'd , namely , That the greatest part of Dispensations are nothing else but a more easie descent into Hell with the Pope's permission : Facilis descensus ad inferos cum bona venia Papae . But as this Impeccability would be exceedingly advantagious if indeed God had bestow'd it upon Popes ; so , on the contrary there can nothing be more pernicious then the Flattery of those who goe about to attribute it to him , since it the more imboldens them blindly to pursue their own Passions , without fearing to offend God. And this is what those Cardinals and Prelates ( chosen by Paul the III d for the Reformation of the Church ) affirm'd really to have succeeded by means of * some Persons , who would needs persuade some Popes that their Wills were a sufficient Rule for their Actions ; whence it follow'd , that what they pleas'd was lawful ; and hence ( say they ) have ( as from a source and spring ) flow'd such an infinity of abuses and intestine maladies as have reduc'd the Church to such a condition , as her recovery seems in a manner to be desperate . We may affirm the same of Infallibility : It would be an extraordinary Priviledge ; but the Scripture having assur'd us that Every man is a Lier , unless some Authority not inferiour to it have exempted us from that Rule , 't is a great unhappiness to believe one's self Infallible ; because there is nothing that we are more propense to then the falling into Errour by presuming we cannot erre . And on the other side it may truly be said , that the likeliest means of rendring Popes infallible were , to persuade them that they are not so ; to the end a holy fear may alwaies preserve them in an humble and salutary diffidence of their own sense , and incline them to a diligent research of those waies and expedients which God has established to assure them of his divine Truths . Paris the 1. of February , 1662. FINIS . An ADVERTISEMENT upon the following DISCOURSE . IT has been long said , that in the precedent Discourse there have been laid the grounds of pernicious Consequences , &c. that divers things have been taken out of the Notes upon the Pope's Infallibility formerly made by the same Author : But since there has been nothing alledg'd against what was solidly discussed in these Notes touching the Authority of the Councils of Constance and Basil , it is thought pertinent to adde it here . A REFUTATION OF Certain Cavils with which some Theologues endeavour to elude the Authority of the Councils of CONSTANCE and BASIL . THE Sense of the Church upon the point of Infallibility did never more perspicuously appear then in the times of the Councils of Constance and Basil , so venerably esteem'd by all France . 'T is well known that the Doctrine of the Superiority of a Council above the Pope does necessarily destroy his pretended Infallibility ; because all Authority which is inferiour , seeing it may be corrected , 't is impossible it should be infallible ; since an Authority that is infallible cannot be corrected : It follows then of necessity , that if the Pope be inferiour to a Council , he is not infallible . All Divines are agreed upon this consequence ; and there is none who maintain the Infallibility of the Pope , but they likewise maintain that he is superiour to a Council . Moreover , if Popes be inferiour to Councils , it follows clearly that they are not onely fallible , but it is also as evident that they have actually erred : seeing Leo the Xth has defin'd the contrary in the Council of Lateran . It is therefore certain , that the Superiority of a Council above a Pope does by necessary consequence involve his Fallibility . Now this Superiority was clearly decided in the 4th Session of the Council of Constance , where the Council declares , Concilium Generale habere à Christo immediatam Authoritatem , cui omnes obedire tenentur , etiam si Papalis dignitatis existat . And thus the Fallibility of the Pope was defin'd by this Decree . The novel defenders of the Superiority of Popes above Councils exceedingly torture themselves about this Decree of the Council of Constance . For they cannot deny but that Pope Martin the Vth ( elected by this Council ) did confirm it in all things which had relation to Faith : Now the Authority of General Councils is matter of Faith ; which forces them thus to precipitate themselves upon Solutions so ridiculously weak , that it is strange any Divines should be found who durst propose them . In the first place they affirm , that the Council of Constance is approv'd by Martin the Vth in his quae Conciliariter gesta sunt ; but that this Decree was not made Conciliariter , because ( say they ) it was made without Examen , and therefore was not approved . 'T is easie to see how dangerous an Answer this is : since if men be once permitted to distinguish in Councils after this manner between Decrees examin'd and not examin'd , the way is open to weaken all their Authority . For how many matters are there which , having been very well examin'd before Councils have been call'd , have no need of being re-examin'd for a long time after , whilst all Prelates and Divines remain agreed concerning them ? But there is no necessity of insisting upon this , since this Solution is founded onely upon manifest Falsities ; there being in the world nothing more untrue then the pretence of those Authors , that the Decrees of the 4th and 5th Session about the Superiority of Councils were not of the number of those things which were decreed Conciliariter . For 't is remarkable that the order of the Council of Constance was , first to propose and examine matters in the particular Congregations of the principal Nations of Christendom , and then they were said to have been decreed Nationaliter . After that they were propos'd again in the publick Sessions ; and when they were concluded there , then they were pronounc'd to have been determined Conciliariter . Whereas that which had onely been decreed by the Nations , and not in the publick and general Session of the Council , was never said to be determin'd Conciliariter , but Nationaliter onely . This is the true explication of these two words , as appears by the place it self which these Authors would pervert . For they have not any thing to alledge on this subject , save what we reade in the conclusion of the Council , which was in the 45th Session . A Cardinal having said , according to the custom , Domini ite in pace , and a Dominican gotten up into the Pulpit to preach ; the Embassadors of the King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania asked the Pope in the name of their Masters , That before the Council were dissolv'd , he should cause to be condemn'd in a publick Session , or else declare for condemn'd , the Book of a certain Frier , one John Falkenberg , which notoriously maintain'd divers horrible Errours and Heresies , and which had already been lawfully condemn'd for heretical by the Deputies as to what concern'd the Faith ; and which had likewise been concluded by all the Nations of the Council , and by the College of Cardinals : That unless this were consented to , they did protest denial of Iustice in the name of their Masters , and would appeal to the next Council . Which being done , ( the Acts added ) Our holy Father the Pope replying , said , That he would inviolably hold and observe all and every the things which had been determin'd , concluded and decreed in matters of Faith by the present Council Conciliarly , and that he would never in any kind contradict it : That so he approved and did ratifie all that had thus Conciliarly been done , and no otherwise whatsoever . Dixit respondendo ad praedicta , Quòd omnia & singula determinata , conclusa & decreta in materiis Fidei per praesens Concilium Conciliariter tenere & inviolabiliter observare volebat , & nunquam contraire quoquo modo : Ipsáque sic Conciliariter facta approbat & ratificat , & non aliter , nec alio modo . See here the onely foundation of Cajetan's distinction , and the sole reason which he alledges to pretend that Pope Martin the Vth did not approve the Decrees touching the Superiority of Councils , as not done Conciliariter . But by the very same he evidently approves that he has approv'd them : since the Pope includes in his Approbation whatsoever had been determin'd Conciliariter , and excludes but what having been concluded by the Nations , had onely been determin'd Nationaliter , and not Conciliariter , forasmuch as it was not propos'd in the publick and general Sessions of the Council ; so as had been the condemnation of Falkenberg's Book , which he refus'd to ratifie for reasons not known to us . Now it is evident , and no waies doubtful , but the Decrees touching a Council's Superiority were first examin'd and concluded by the Nations , and afterwards establish'd and determin'd in two publick and general Sessions of the Council , that is to say , in the 4th and 5th , where 't is noted , that these Decrees were first of all deliberated and concluded by all the Nations : Certa Capitula per modum Constitutionum priùs per singulas quatuor Nationes conclusa & deliberata legit & publicavit . And 't is said at the end of the Session , that the Council had uniformly approv'd and concluded them : Quibus Articulis sive Constitutionibus lectis , dictum Concilium eos & eas uniformiter approbavit & conclusit . Were it not then altogether shameful and most impudent to presume to deny that Martin the Vth had approv'd these Decrees , since he has so expresly approv'd whatsoever was determin'd in the Council Conciliariter ? and that 't is as clear as day , the Decrees were determined Nationaliter & Conciliariter ? In like manner we see that the two latter Annalists of the Church , Spondanus and Raynaldus , to give some colour to this Cheat , change either in the whole or in part the subject and occasion which caus'd Martin the Vth to say , that he onely approv'd that which had been done Conciliariter . For Raynaldus Anno 1418. n. 2. falsly supposes that Martin the Vth speaks these words upon the Fathers of the Council demanding a confirmation of the Acts : Cùm veteri more ( saies he ) à Patribus Martinus rogatus esset , ut Concilii Acta Apostolicâ authoritate confirmaret , ità ipsum respondisse tradunt Acta ; S. D. N. Papa dixit , respondendo ad praedicta , nimirum postulata , quòd omnia & singula determinata , &c. Which is a notorious Forgery , since one need onely reade the Acts to see , that the Fathers of the Council did not ask for a Confirmation of the Acts , and that it was not to answer this demand that he saies what is reported by Raynaldus ; but that he might not consent to what was requir'd by the King of Poland's Embassadors concerning the condemnation of Falkenberg's Book : so as it is not to be deny'd but this Historian has committed a shameful Falsification , in feigning the Pope to answer what was never demanded of him , and in adding those two words , nimirum postulata , in Italick Characters , to the word praedicta , to make that agree to the demands of the Fathers of the Council , which has relation onely to the words of the Polonian Embassadors . Spondanus durst not be altogether so bold with the Truth , nor deny these words of Martin the Vth to have been spoken upon occasion of the Polonian's demand : But he suppresses the protestation of Appealing to the future Council ; because that had too evidently shew'd how false that which he imagines is , That it was on design , and in collusion with Martin the V●h , that these Embassadors deferr'd their demand till this last Session , that so they might have an opportunity to observe what Decrees of the Council he did approve by his Apostolical Authority , and what he did not approve ; lest if they had mov'd it before , they might have excited some murmure and trouble among the Fathers , by reason of that which had been decided after an ambiguous manner touching the Authority of a Council above a Pope , and their power of reforming the Church both as to its Head and Members , which Pope Martin would not receive nor approve by taking these Decisions absolutely , and in the precise significations of terms . All which is but a pure imagination , without any manner of ground : For besides that the Polonians , who appeal'd from the Pope to the Council , could not be suspected to have conspired with him , since there is nothing which Popes more abhorre then these Appeals to Councils ; the answer of Pope Martin the Vth puts no distinction between the Decrees which are found amongst the Acts of the Council , as if he had approv'd the one without the other , but shews on the contrary , that he approv'd all these Decrees , and that he did not deny his Approbation , but as to what did not appear in these Acts as concluded in the Council , for having been determin'd onely by the Nations ; such as was the condemnation of this Book of Falkenberg . It cannot therefore be maintain'd with the least pretence of likelihood , that Martin the Vth did not approve the Decrees of the Council of Constance touching the Superiority of General Councils . And that which makes it yet more evident is , that Pope Eugenius the IVth , though he continually strove to preferre himself above Councils , durst not yet openly oppose those Decrees of Constance , nor reject them as not approv'd by Martin the Vth his Predecessor ; but pretends onely that the Council of Basil had abus'd them by applying them to an ill sense , Quòd Concilium Constantiense in malignum sensum pertraxerint ; because it had taken occasion upon this Definition to depose him , and to create another Pope . But towards the latter end of his life the Emperour Frederick and the Princes of Germany , who kept themselves in a Neutrality between the Council of Basil and this Pope , being willing to come to an agreement with him , one of the Conditions of the Accord was , That Eugenius should by a Bull make the same profession which had already been made in Germany by his Legates , concerning the Power , Authority and Preeminence of General Councils , representing the Catholick Church militant . These are the very terms of the Harangue which was made by Aeneas Sylvius in the name of these Princes . Alterum est , ut professio Potestatis , Authoritatis & Praeeminentiae Generalium Conciliorum , Catholicam Militantem Ecclesiam repraesentantium , per tuos Oratores facta , tuis Literis approbetur . To which the Pope consented by his Bull , as 't is recited by Raynaldus , Tom. 18. ad ann . 1447. n. 15. where he declares , That he embraces and reverences the General Council of Constance , its Decree FREQUENS , ( by which this Council took upon it an action of Superiority over Popes , in ordaining them to convoke and assemble Councils every ten years , and disabling their power of retarding this term , but onely to advance it ) and all its other Decrees ; as likewise all other Councils representing the Catholick Church militant : That he did acknowledge their Power , their Authority , their Honour and their Eminence , as his other Predecessors had done , from whose foot-steps he would not deviate : Concilium autem Generale Constantiense , Decretū FREQUENS , & alia ejus Decreta , sicut caetera alia Concilia Catholicam Militantem Ecclesiam repraesentantia , ipsorum Potestatem , Authoritatem , Honorem , Eminentiam , sicut & caeteri Praedecessores nostri , à quorum vestigiis deviare nequaquam intendimus , suscipimus , amplectimur & veneramur . But the reflection which Raynaldus makes upon these words of Eugenius shews us what the faith and candor of those persons is : 'T is a thing ( saies he ) that deserves observation , that Eugenius by those Letters gives no more Authority to the Decree of the Council of Constance , beginning with the word Frequens , but what Martin the Vth had done before . Now this very Author pretends , An. 1433. that Martin the Vth had not approv'd the Chapter FREQUENS of the Council of Constance ; but that on the contrary he had abridg'd it by the Dissolution of the Council of Siena : so as according to this Author the sense of the words of Eugenius were , That he receives , embraces and reverences the Decree FREQUENS , as far as his Predecessors ; and that his Predecessor having neither receiv'd , embrac'd nor reverenc'd it , neither did he receive , embrace , or reverence it . Could one offer a greater injury to Pope Eugenius , then to take the words of his Bull in a sense so estranged from Christian sincerity , and think that he would juggle with the whole German Church by so gross a Delusion ? But that which does yet farther ruine all these Sophisms is , that Pope Pius the II d , in the same Bull where he retracts that which he had written for the Council of Basil against Pope Eugenius , formally approves the Council of Constance , and in particular that Decree touching the Authority of General Councils . Cum his ( saies he ) & Generalis Concilii Autoritatem & Potestatem complectimur , quemadmodum & aevo nostro Constantiae , dum ibi fuit Synodus Universalis , declaratum definitúmque est : Veneramur enim N. Constantiense Concilium , & cuncta quae praecesserunt à Romanis Pontificibus nostris praedecessoribus approbata . So that if it be pretended that Pius the II d would maintain that the Pope were superiour to a Council , one must also necessarily pretend that he manifestly contradicted himself . But it is enough to refute this false Distinction , that he not onely authorizes the Council of Constance in general , but particularly in that which it has defin'd concerning the Authority of Councils . The Second Reply whereof these modern Authors make use is , That the Council of Constance does not define the Authority of all General Councils , but that onely which it has during a Schism , when there is no lawful Pope in the Church . But this Solution ( as novel as the former ) is manifestly ruined by the same words of the Council of Constance , which expressly particularize that it defines the Authority of all General Councils , and not onely its own in particular . Item declarat , ( saies the Council in the Article immediately following after what I have cited ) quò quicunque , cujuscunque statûs & dignitatis , etiam Papalis , existat , qui Mandatis , Statutis , seu Ordinationibus aut Praeceptis hujus Sacrae Synodi , & cujuscunque alterius Concilii legitimè congregati , super praemissis seu ad ea pertinentibus factis vel faciendis , obedire contumaciter contempserit , nisi resipuerit , condignae poenitentiae subjiciatur , & debitè puniatur . There can be nothing then imagin'd more frivolous then such an imagination , that the Council of Constance spake onely of its own Authority , and not of that of other Councils ; since it clearly decides , that the Popes who despis'd the Determinations of any General Councils whatsoever are worthy to be punish'd . Moreover Pope Pius the II d , in the fore-alledg'd passage , formally acknowledg'd that this Council has determin'd the Authority of Councils in general , and not its own in particular : Generalis Concilii Authoritatem & Potestatem complectimur , quemadmodum & aevo nostro Constantiae , dum ibi fuit Synodus Universalis , declaratum definitúmque est . In like manner the whole Church in receiving the Council of Constance has uniformly understood , that it has defin'd the Superiority of a Council above the Pope . Therefore France , and the Faculty of the Parisian Divines , which have particularly adher'd to this Council , have likewise alwaies embrac'd this Doctrine , nor have ever admitted any other , as Major affirms in c. 18. Matt. Superiùs ( saies he ) ostensum est , quòd Augustinus & alii Doctores tenent partem quam insequimur , ( nempe Concilium esse supra Papam : ) hanc tenuerunt varii Cardinales , & Ioannes Patriarcha Antiochenus , Petrus de Aliaco Cardinalis Cameracensis , Nicolaus de Cusa Doctor vocatus Christianissimus , Ioannes Gerson Cancellarius Parisiensis nunquam satìs laudatus , nostra Facultas Parisiensis à diebus Concilii Constantiensis , in qua plures habebis exercitatos Theologos quàm in duobus vel tribus Regnis , quae sic hanc partem fovent , quòd nulli licuit asserere oppositum probabile . See here what has been the Iudgment of the Faculty of Paris , till Mons. Duval appear'd on the stage . The Council of Basil ( held 12 years after ) renew'd these Decrees of the Council of Constance of the second Session , Anno 1432. And because Eugenius the IVth would remove it to Bologna , the Council having maintain'd that it was not in the power of the Pope , ( because a Council was above him ) Eugenius was fain Anno 1434. to revoke all that which had been done against the Council , and to declare by a Bull , that it had been lawfully continu'd from the beginning till then ; whereupon he sent new Legates thither ( besides Cardinal Iulian , who had continu'd all the while there ) which in the 17th Session swore to maintain the Decrees of the Superiority of a Council , which were yet farther renew'd in the 18th Session . All this shews that Bellarmine had no reason to affirm that the Superiority of a Council above the Pope was not defin'd till the 33th Session , when Eugenius had broke the Council by adjourning it to Ferrara ; it being evident that the Decrees of Constance were there several times renew'd , during the time that the Council was acknowledg'd for Oecumenick by Eugenius himself ; and , by consequence , certain it is , that the Decisions of the former Sessions are the Decisions of an Oecumenical Council , representing the Church universal , and approv'd by a Pope . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A52328-e110 Ouid interest an Ferro , an Veneno perimas ? Mariana l. 1. c. 7. See the Life of P. Boniface in Binnius's Collect . of Councils . Bellarm. de Pontif. Ro. l. 5. c. 6. Adversus Edicta Reg. p. 145. Cap. 7. sect . 14. Mariana de Rege , l. 1. c. 6. In Concert . Eccles. Catholic . Anno 1583. Treveris excusâ , p. 22. In Philopat . 106. See also Bellarm. cont . Barcl . to prove the Doctrine Catholick . Platina in vita Greg. 7. p. 67. 1 Cor. 7.15 . Act. 10.13 1 Cor. 15.25 Carolus Rufinus , Consil. 109. ● . 1. Henry II. Henry IV. In Mark 's Church at Venice . Psal. 91.13 . De Inst. Sacerd . c. 13. In Apol. c. 37 Vestra omnia implevimus , &c. * Cunradus Brunus , de Haeret. l. 3. c. ult . n. 13. Creswel ad Edict . Regi . Ang. p. 151. & sect . 2. n. 160 , &c. * De Princip . l 1. c. 26. p. 178. Vide Fr. Bozium Eugub . de Temp. Eccles. Monar . l. 2. c. 1. p. 264 , 265 , &c. Bell. Apol. advers Reg. Ang. cap. 3. Vide English statutes , 24 H. 8. c. 12. and the very first words of Magna Charta . John 11.52 . In Verbo Clericus . Baronius in Paraenesi ad Venetos , pag. 47. Tractat. de haeres . de Temp. Eccles. Monarch . l. 1. c. 3.11 . De Laicis , c. 7. In Pact . Car. V. cum Clem. VII . See the Book intituled , The Jesuites reasons unreasonable , p. 2. published by a Roman Cath. p. 9 , 10 , &c. Brunus de Haeret. l. 3. cap. 15. Bishop of Down and Conner Ser. on 5. Nov. * Charity maintained by Cath. c. 7. * Remonstrantia Hibernorum contra Lovanienses , Ultramontanásque censuras , de incomparabili Regum Imperio , subditorum que Fidelitate & Obediētia indispensabili , ex SS . Scripturis , Patribus . Theologis vindicata , 1665. * Querimonia ad Alex. vij . ibid. Guicciard . Hist. l. 2. Notes for div A52328-e10540 (a) In his Book of the King , and his Institut . (b) Tom. 3. disp . 1. q. 12. puncto 2. (c) Tom. 4. par . 3. tr . 4 par . 411. (d) In his Truth defended under the name of Francis des Montaignes , p. 70. (e) Of Iustice and Right , tom . 1. tr . 2. disp . 19. (f) In his Controversies , tom . 1. of the Pope , l. 5. c. 6. and in his Book against Barclay . (g) In his Sermons of Saints , Sermon of the Charity of S. Peter , pag. 70. (h) In his Amphitheatre of honour , lib. 1. ca. 12. (i) In his Letter to a French Friend , approv'd by the general Aquaviva , pag. 11. (k) Moral Instructions , tom . 2. l. 4. c. 19. (l) In his Treatise of mitigation towards the Catholicks of England . (m) Tom. 5. of Censures , disp . 15. sect . 6. num . 7. p. 270. and in-his Book intituled , The Defence of the Catholick Faith , &c. l. 3. c. 22. and 23. and l. 6. c. 4. and 8. where he teaches prodigicus things against the life of Kings , as this detestable Position , Rex talis post depositionem incipit esse tyrannus titulo , quia non est legitimus Rex ; nec justo titulo regnum possidet : Ergò extunc poterit tanquam omnino tyrannus tractari , & consequenter à quocunque privato poterit interfici . (n) In par . disp . 87. resp . ad 3. rat . & tom . 2. in c. 2. disp . 169. c. 4. n. 43. Edit . Antuerp . an . 1621. (o) Of Iustice and Right , l. 2. c. 1.33 . dub . 2. and in other Books , one of which is intituled An Apologetical Dispute for the Power of the high Priest. (p) In his Book Heretic Chauvesouris , or Vespertilio , concerning the excellency of the Iesuites Order , pag. 158 , & 159. (q) In his Controversie of England 1. edit . p. 108 , 125 , 127 , 136. and 2. edit . p. 122 , 140 , 142 , 152. (r) Of Apostasie and Schism , c. 30 , and 31. (s) In his Treatise of Controversies in particular , c. 6. q. 10. (t) Tractat. 2. disput . 2. q. 5. art . 102. (a) In Apol. pro potest . sum . Pontif. part . 2. sect . 3. fol. 396. Planè tenendum est hanc doctrinam non esse ambiguam , ità ut utrumque opinari liceat ; sed omnino certum , ità ut absque injuria fidei negari non possit . Primò igitur id probo , Quia hae Propositiones in terminis definitae sunt in Concilio Romano , Quòd Papae liceat Imperatores deponere , quòd à Fidelitate iniquorum subditos potest absolvere . Atqui definitio facta à summo Pontifice cum Synodo ad Fidem pertiner . (b) Bellarminus sub nomine Sculkenii adversus Widringtonum . Haereticum est dicere Pontificem , ut Pontificem , & ex jure divino , non habere potestatem Principes seculares suo Principatu exuendi , cùm id bonum spirituale sive ingens Ecclesiae necessitas requirit . Probatur Conclusio . Ista sententia est haeretica cujus contradictoria est de Fide : Sed Pontificem habere potestatem deponendi Principes est de Fide : est enim definitum & conclusum à Gregorio VII . in Concil . Rom. Quòd Papae liceat , &c. Jer. 1.10 . * Odorious Raynaldus , tom . 18 ad an . 1458. num . 36. Novum Legarum mittit , ut si ad Pacem redintegrandam dissentientes inducere non posset , propositâ anathematis poenâ , illos ab armis juberet Pontificis nomine absistere , ac finitimorum Regum arma conjungeret in eum qui jussis non pareret . Duvallius de supr . aut . Rom. Pontif. l. 2. c. 1. * Sirmondus Lectori . Nec verò fraudi esse posse ( Facundo ) trium Capitulorum causam quam defendit : in qua si verum loqui placet , honestius fuerat cum Vigilio cadere , quàm vincere cum Iusiiniano . Quòd si Vigilium perpetuò ducem sequi maluisset , quam Vigilium postquam Iustiniano cedendum fuit cum Afris suis reprehendere , nemo illum de suscepta Capitulorum defenfione , ad quam Vigilius ipse ultro postea rediit , jure accusandum judicaret . And afterwards , Usus est ( Vigilius ) libertate quam causa concedebat , semper alioquin ad defendenda , ut par erat , & probanda Capitula propensior . * Ad an . 1423. n. 8. and in the Table , Verbo Constantiense Concilium . (a) Ad an . 1432. n. 9.12 . & ad an . 1433. n. 9 , &c. (b) In his Letter to the Clergy . (c) Ad an . 1440. n. 4. (a) Ad an . 1438. n. 14 (b) Ad an . 1436. n. 4. & ad an . 1439. n. 40 & ad an . 1440. n. 2. (a) Ad an . 1436. n. 10 & ad an . 1439. n. 37 In the Collection of the Memoires and Acts of the Council of Trent , published by Mons. du Puy . * In mentem nostram cadere non potest , te contra Autoritatem S. R. E. Sedis Apostolicae atque nostrae , aliquid perpetrare ; cùm te sciamus Pastorem scientificum , & prudentem , & Dei timoratum , quae sunt contraria offendentibus Autoritatem & potestatem S. R. E. & summi Pontificis ; cùm quicumque hoc attentare volens nedum in poenas à jure divino & humano institutas inciderit , sed etiam crimen Haeresis atrociter committeret . Alexander Carrerius , de potest . Rom. Pont. Abeant moderni illi infipientésque Politici , qui invidia & ambitione jus Statûs ad jus Pilati referunt ; de quibus Sancti Dei ità prophetârunt , Astiterunt Reges terrae & Principes convenerunt in unum adversus Dominum & adversus Christum ejus . Gen. 24.30 * Coacervavcrunt sibi non-nulli Pontifices Magistros ad desideria sua , non ut ab eis disecrent quid facere deberent , set ut corum studio & calliditate inveniretur ratio qua liceret id quod liberet : Ità quòd Voluntas Pontificis , qualiscunque ca fucrit , sit regula quā ejus operationes & actiones dirigantur . Ex quo proculdubio efficitur ut quidquid libeat id etiam liceat . Ex hoc fonte , Sancte Pater , tanquam ex equo Trojano , irrupere in Ecclesiam Dei tot abusus & tam gravissimi morbi , quibus nunc conspicimus cam ad desperationem fere salutis laborâsse . 


