blasphemously affirming that the abominations of the Church of Rome needed a reformation. This successive friendship of Popes to them increased their convents to a number not inferior to that of any other order, and they made such good use of the Virgin Mary's favour, in exempting them from the guilt of sin, that Nicolaus* of Narbona, General of their Order, after having reproached them with their hypocrisy and abominations, in the year 1270, retired from their society, being no longer able to bear with their scandalous lives. They came over into England about the year 1265, and took for their General St. Symon Stock, so called for his living in a hollow tree. The Austin Friars derive their original from the same person with the Regular Canons of that name, which hath sufficiently been proved a forgery by Erasmus,† and Hospiniant. In short, their beginning was founded upon this ridiculous story, which I have taken out of their own legends :-It happened on a certain occasion, as Pope Alexander the Fourth lay half asleep and half awake, that the great St. Augustine, though dead and rotten some hundred years before, appeared to him under a dreadful figure, having a head as big as a tun, and the rest of his body as small as a reed; by which mysterious form, His Holiness immediately knew the saint, and concluded that he ought to found an order to this Holy Father, whose head could not be at rest in the grave, for want of a body. And this gave rise to these mendicant Augustinian Friars, who, being confirmed by following Popes, increased so prodigiously as to have in a few years above two thousand convents of men, and three hundred of women. § They passed from Italy into England, in the year 1252, and at their arrival, a raging sickness broke out in London, and spread over the whole Kingdom, as a presage of the destruction and plague which these vermin would in time bring upon this nation. Thus, we have gone through a short historical account of the Nic Gallus Ignee Sagittæ, cap. 5. + Erasmi Ind. de St. Aug. Mon, et Rag. § Balacus, cent. 4, cap. 17. original rise and progress of all those religious orders which flourished most in this island; among which number we shall not reckon the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, nor the Knights Templars, their institution being chiefly military. Let it suffice, then, to observe of them, that they followed the rule of St. Augustine in many points, but were wholly excluded from the exercise of the canonical office; that their vow was to receive, to treat, and defend pilgrims, and also to maintain with force of arms the Christian religion in their country; that none were admitted amongst them but those who were of noble extraction, whilst the religious societies were for the most part composed of the dregs of the earth: and, lastly, that they acquired to themselves such immense treasure as procured them the envy and hatred of all other Orders, which was the true cause of the total extirpation of the Templars, and contributed to the diminution of the power and revenue of the Hospitallers, who are now called "Knights of Malta." Not inserting therefore these two military societies, we shall find that our number of religious Orders amounted exactly to twelve-two plagues more than ever Egypt felt, and of a much more dreadful nature. For Moses only turned their rivers into blood; whereas our Monks, by their persecutions, converted our whole nation into a sea of blood. He sent frogs, lice, and flies into all their quarters, much less troublesome vermin than those mendicant friars, who swarmed into all our private families. He called for murrian upon the Egyptian cattle, and for boils upon the flesh of their inhabitants; and what were our religious orders, less than the consumers of our substance, and the corruption of our people? He commanded hail and locusts, which destroyed only one season's crop; but these sanctified caterpillars devoured our land for ages together. He caused a darkness which soon passed away; but the eclipse which these men brought upon the light of the Gospel endured for more than twelve hundred years. And, lastly, the first born only were slain by an angel of God; whereas in our (then much more miserable) country, those messengers of the devil sacrificed whole families to their covetousness and lust. That men should desire the onions of Egypt is no wonder: but that they should long for its very plagues, is a folly peculiar only to this generation. We have hitherto said nothing concerning the Nuns, whose rules were exactly the same with those of their brethren the Friars in each respective order, to whom they served only as an appendix, or house of case. All that may truly be affirmed of them is, that they were a set of silly, superstitious women, who thought it a piece of spiritual devotion to be subservient to the monks, though it were against morality, and bore to the world the face of chaste Christian sisters, whilst, like a Turkish seraglio, they carried in private * of their ghostly fathers. CHAPTER VI. The first rise, progress, and character of the Jesuits. Besides the religious Orders which we have mentioned, had it not been for the glorious Reformation, wrought by Prince Henry the VIII., we might have expected to feel one plague more, much exceeding all the rest; I mean the Jesuits, who sprang up in the year of our Lord 1540. Their first founder was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish soldier, who collected together all the different Monastic rules of preceding orders, added thereunto some extraordinary ones of his own, particularly this,* "that the General, Provincials, and Superior of his order, may dispense with all laws human and divine, dissolve all oaths and vows, and free men from the obligation of all rules and decrees." They were called Jesuits from pretended visiont of God the Father, who appeared visibly to St. Ignatius Loyola, and desired his Son Jesus Christ, who stood by, laden with a heavy cross, to take a special care both of him and his companions, which Christ promised he would not fail to do at Rome. This pestiferous sect multiplied so fast that, in the year 1608, Ribadiniera reckons that they possessed thirty-one provinces, twenty-one professed houses, thirty-three noviciates, ninety-six residential houses, and two hundred and ninety-three colleges, besides their first college, which they pretend was in the womb of the Virgin Mary. These Jesuits are much the most dangerous vermin of all those who pretend to the name of Religious, inasmuch as they declare no villany, no treachery, nor cruelty to be criminal, provided it tends to the benefit of their society. And, by this means, whenever a nation is so unfortunate as to be overrun with this diabolical crew, no one member of the community can promise himself a security, either to his life, honour, or estate. Nay, the sacred * Hospinian de Virg, Jesuit lib. 1, 2. † Ribadin vit. St. Ignat. Petrus Mnffacus, vit. St. Ignat, lib. 2, cap. 5. person of a monarch is not exempted from danger when he is once under Jesuitical spleen; as was notoriously manifested in the whole series of the reign of King Henry the IV. of France, whose life vas many times attempted by these ghostly fathers, before they accomplished their wicked ends. To pass over many others, we shall only mention three of their most remarkable conspiracies. The first was that of Peter Barriere,† a soldier, engaged to commit the murder of Christopher Abre, Curate of St. Andre des Ares, and by Verade, the Rector of the Jesuits' College. The former told him "that by such an act, he would gain great glory and paradise." The latter, "that the enterprise was most holy, and that for good constancy and courage, he ought to confess himself, and receive the blessed sacrament," which he accordingly did; and, being thus Jesuitically prepared, he embarked in the attempt, but, whilst he was watching an opportunity to put his bloody design in execution, was timely discovered, and received the due reward of his villiany. The second conspirator was Jean Chastel, son of a draper in Paris, and, by his own confession, ‡ bred up among the Jesuits in their king-killing doctrine; and, being persuaded by them that the murder of King Henry IV. would atone for all his past sins, and merit Heaven, he attempted it by stabbing that monarch in the mouth with a knife, which occasioned this remarkable saying of § the King's-"It seems, then, that it is not enough that the months of so many good men have testified against the Jesuits as my enemies, if they be not condemned by my own mouth." It was for this fact, that these ghostly fathers were banished France, and a column was erected on the very * Charles Ridierra, of Ghent, Peter Anger, Clement Odin, Nicholas Anglois, were all of them engaged at different times to murder this king. +Vide Thuanus. Memoir de la Ligne, vol. 6, Jesuit fol, 205. § Memoire du Sully, tome 1, page 250. This decree of Parliament runs thus: "The said Court doth likewise ordain that the Priests and Students of the College of Claremont, and all others calling themselves the Society of Jesus, shall, as corruptors of youth, disturbers of the common peace, and enemies to the king and state, within the space of three days after the publication of this decree, depart out of Paris and all other towns of France, &c., under the penalty of high treason. (Signed,) "Dated December 29th, 1591. "DE TILLET." K |