Part 2

It may also be observed, that he who will carefully examine this system, will see, that organized as human society has been, and without pronouncing on the merit or demerit of the system itself; it is in the highest degree clear, that if the Jesuits had adopted such rules of conduct as these, they must have produced great and lasting effects. On the other hand, if we look back at what the Jesuits have done and suffered, we see in these rules, the clearest exposition of their greatness and their overthrow. To my mind, no proofs of genuineness could be more complete, than those which thus spring up, from the very nature of the case, and stamp themselves indelibly upon it.—And this is most remarkably true, if we remember, that the production and publication of this work, occurred within less than sixty years after the origin of the order,—before the developement of its greatness, and its general infamy for its crimes; and has come down side by side with it, through successive ages crying to the world, at once with the voice of prophecy, and the undeniable truth of history!

The difficulties which must have existed in the way of any attempt to compile such a work as this, from the most abundant sources even, are so very great, that it is next to impossible any man could have done it, without committing such and so many blunders as to render detection certain. That an obscure and now forgotten person should have accomplished such a work, is not capable of belief. That such a person should have completed and issued such a work before the great mass of the publications from which they say he pretended to draw it, were written, is childish folly to assert. And that these mighty and terrible Jesuits afterwards wrote these works to confirm what the SECRETA MONITA, had before said, or to give a colour to the allegation, that it was so compiled, no one will be mad enough to pretend.

The new state of the world out of which this order arose made it different from all things that had existed before. In compiling this work, the author must know all their peculiarities, must understand their entire design, must enter into their prejudices—must see through their code of morals—must be perfect master of their grand scheme, and all the means by which it was to be compassed. See their peculiarities, their contempt of all other orders, their asserting contrary to all other orders, _that the Church was a monarchy_ (chap. ix. 16.) their devotion to the education of youth, their special intrigues with the great; their snares for widows and servants—the singular privileges, personal and social, of the order, the peculiar difficulties that they had met with, in different places, and the especial hatreds they had already conceived, their whole plan, and their whole profound, sagacious, corrupt, complicated, and secret machinery! Who could know, who could gather out of scattered volumes even if they existed, or by private industry and opportunities, such a system as this! It is out of all the bounds of belief, that such a system could be so formed, and then so fitted, as this has fitted.

But if any choose to think otherwise, then let them rest satisfied that he who should gather up, out of a thousand sources the true principles and policy of any order of men, from their own writings and actions, would thus give the most complete and comprehensive view of it, that could by possibility be produced. It would then stand forth, a living, moving, acting creature; and not, as in the naked principles, dogmatically laid down, a great, but inanimate outline. Let them rest assured moreover, that he who did this, in the case in hand, with no very ample materials, at the period the work was done, if ever, has accomplished a work, the like of which cannot be produced out of all the annals of the world, for perfect accuracy and immeasurable success. If such a man ever lived, we may safely pronounce him, the most remarkable of his race, and mourn that he has left behind no trace of his being, but this stupendous triumph.

VI. There is in this case one peculiar circumstance which gives to the authenticity of the SECRETA MONITA, the seal of absolute certainty, while it casts the darkest shade over the society. Why have the Jesuits any _secret_ rules or instructions, or principles of conduct or objects of effort? Why this secrecy? And how, at so early a period of their history, as the end of the sixteenth century, was the author of this work, supposing him to have been no Jesuit, to have known with such certainty, the existence and the nature of such secrets?

For many years they did indeed deny that any such secret rules existed; and doubtless, they will now deny, that these are the real _secret counsels_ by which their affairs are conducted. But about the middle of the last century, when the society was suppressed in Portugal for being accessory to the assassination of King Joseph I. and suddenly expelled from Spain for their complicated crimes; their constitutions and secret records fell into the hands of the public. And in the famous controversy before the great Chamber at Paris, between the merchants of Lyons and Marseilles and the French Jesuits, in the year 1761, about the immense losses in the Martinica trade, the court demanded, and in a luckless hour the Jesuits produced, their secret constitutions; thus falsifying all their former statements.

But it had been long certain, that what was now first admitted was really true. In the year 1624 the University of Paris, charged this order with being “_governed by private laws, neither sanctioned by kings, nor registered by parliaments; and which they were afraid to communicate, having done all in their power to prevent their being seen by any other than those of the society_.” (Hist. of the Jesuits p. 329 of vol. 1.) How perfectly does this accord with their own maxims, in their preface to the present work; _let no one who knows our secrets, be allowed to join any other order, except the CARTHUSIANS who preserve strict retirement and perfect silence; WHICH THE SEE OF ROME HAS CONFIRMED_? So that the allegation of the unknown libeller who the Jesuits would have us believe forged the _Secreta Monita_, is confirmed by the direct declaration of the University of Paris, and placed past doubt by the indirect confirmation of the Pope himself!

But I will produce one more witness,—PALAEOX, _Bishop of Angelopolis_, in his famous letter to POPE INNOCENT X. dated Jan. 8, 1649, writing of this society, demands “_what other Religion has a secret constitution, hidden privileges, and concealed laws of its own? And what other order has all those things which relate to its government involved in so much mystery? There is suspicion in mystery. The rules of all other orders are open to all; even the Rules and Canons of Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, and the whole clergy; the privileges, instructions, and statutes, of other religious orders may be seen and consulted in almost every library; and the lowest novice in the Franciscan order may read at one view, what his duty would be, if he should ever become the General of his Order._ BUT THE SUPERIORS OF THE JESUITS DO NOT GOVERN THEM BY THE RULES OF THE CHURCH, WHICH ARE KNOWN TO ALL, BUT BY CERTAIN SECRET RULES, (_Regles Cachees_) WHICH ARE ONLY KNOWN TO THOSE SUPERIORS.” (See p. 36, of the edition printed at Cologne, in 1666.)

VII. Such a system can of course be found nowhere else; for such another order, never was established amongst men. Indeed the only real ground for hesitation is the reluctance with which the heart allows itself to credit such things of this kind. If history were less replete with the crimes of this atrocious fraternity, if the irresistible evidence of the past, left us some room to question the utter and horrible depravity of this order; there might be some room left, to relapse into a grateful incredulity of such amazing sin. But there is not “a single hook on which to hang a doubt.” If every thing that is impartial in history, can be said to concur with irresistible light and power, upon one single point, it is that this society has been the most perfectly diabolical that ever was conceived. If there is in the wide compass of human thought, one expression, that in every dialect used amongst men, conjures up at once, all that is wicked, fearful and degraded; the supreme union of sin, activity and genius; the very essence of what is to be hated, feared, and shunned, that expression is, _a Jesuit priest_! Whence this universal execration? Whence this “_unanimous consent_,” of all countries and ages against them! The Infidel, the Catholic, the Protestant, _and the very father of the faithful_: Hume, De Thou, Mosheim, and Gongenilli, as specimens of all; Protestant England, Catholic Venice, Infidel France, Pagan China, as a committee of the universe; why have all, every where, denounced, abhored _Jesuitism_, as the sum of all evil! Reader, examine, ponder these _secret counsels_, and you will see the solution of this problem; and in that solution you cannot but find the fullest authority for asserting the genuineness and authenticity of the book itself.

Upon the whole, there cannot be a doubt on the mind of any candid man who will examine the subject, that this SECRETA MONITA, is no forgery; that it is no ingeniously deduced system; but that it is sustainable by proofs the most conclusive in its pretensions to be the _real secret counsels of the society of Jesus_, profanely so called; drawn up at a very early period of its existence; combining all its experience; revealing its grand purpose—and constantly followed by its leading spirits.

SECRETA MONITA SOCIETATIS JESU.

THE SECRET INSTRUCTIONS OF THE JESUITS.

PRÆFATIO.

Privata hæc monita custodiant diligenter et penes se servent superiores, paucisque ex professis ea tantum communicent, et aliqua de iis instruant non professos, quando nimirum et quanto cum fructu societati usui sit; illaque non nisi sub sigillo silentii, ne quidem ut scripta ab altero, sed ex professis horum secretorum sunt conscii, ideo vel ab initio cavit societas, ne ullus conscius horum posset ad alias religiones se conferre, excepta Carthusianorum, ob perpetuam vitæ abstractionem, et indelebile silentium; quod etiam sacra sedes confirmavit.

Cavendum omnino ne in manus externorum hæc monita deveniant, quia sinistre ea interpretarentur, destinationi nostræ invidentes: quod si hoc accidat (quod absit!) negentur hæc esse sensa societatis, idque per illos confirmando è nostris, de quibus certo constat, quod ea ignorent; opponanturque his monita nostra generalia, et ordinationes seu regulæ impressæ vel scriptæ.

Superiores etiam sollicite semper et caute inquirant, an alicui externo à nostris hæc monita prodita sint; nullus etiam hæc pro se, aut pro alio transcribet, nisi conscio generali vel provinciali; et si de asservandis tantis secretis de aliquo dubitetur, in contrarium illi imputetur, et dimittatur.

PREFACE.

These _Secret Counsels_, the superiors should diligently keep, and preserve among themselves; and only communicate them to a few of the professed, and instil some of them into those who are not professed, when it evidently may be done with much advantage to the society; and then only under the seal of secrecy, and not then as if prescribed by any one, but as the fruits of personal experience; and because many of the professed know these secrets, from their commencement, the _Society_ has especially provided that no one acquainted with them should remove himself to other religious orders, except to the _Carthusians_, because of their perpetual solitude of life and obligatory silence; which the Holy See has confirmed.

The utmost care should be taken that these _counsels_ should not come into the hands of strangers, because envying our destiny they would maliciously misinterpret them; but should this occur, which must be prevented if possible, let it be denied that these are the principles of the society, and this denial confirmed by those of us, whom we certainly know to be ignorant of these rules; and let our public instructions, and our rules or regulations printed or written, be set in opposition to them.

Let the superiors also, always carefully and cautiously inquire whether these _counsels_ have been made known to strangers by any of us; and also, let none transcribe them for himself or for another, unless by consent of a general or provincial; and if there be a doubt of any one’s fitness to be intrusted with such important secrets of the society, convince him that you confide in him, but drop him.

SECRETA MONITA SOCIETATIS JESU. THE SECRET INSTRUCTIONS OF THE JESUITS.

CAP. I.

_Qualem Societas præstare sese debeat, cum incipit de novo alicujus loci Fundationem._

I. Ut se gratam reddat incolis loci, multum conducet explicatio finis Societatis præscripti in regulis, ubi dicitur Societatem summo conatu in salutem proximi incumbere, æque atque in suam: quare humilia obsequia obeunda in Xenodochiis, pauperes, et afflicti, et incarcerati invisendi, confessiones prompte et generatim excipiendæ, ut insolita in omnes charitate, et rei novitate eminentiores incolæ nostros admirentur et ament.

II. Meminerint omnes facultatem ad exercenda Societatis ministeria modeste ac religiose petendam, et omnes tum ecclesiasticos præsertim, tum sæculares quorum auctoritate indigemus, benevolos sibi facere studeant.

III. Ad loca distantia etiam eundum, ubi eleemosynæ quantumvis parvæ recipiendæ, exposita necessitate nostrorum; eædem deinde dandæ aliis pauperibus, ut sic ædificentur ii, qui nondum Societatem noverunt, et sint in nos tanto liberaliores.

IV. Omnes eundem videantur spirare spiritum, ideoque eundem modum exteriorem addiscant, ut uniformitas in tanta diversitate personarum unumquemque ædificet: qui secus fecerint, tanquam nocui, dimittantur.

V. Caveant nostri emere fundos in initio; sed si quos emerint nobis bene sitos, fiat hoc mutuato nomine aliquorum amicorum fidelium et secretorum; et ut melius luceat paupertas nostra, bona quæ sunt vicina locis, in quibus collegia habeamus, per provincialem assignentur collegiis remotis, quo fiet ut nunquam Principes vel Magistratus habeant certam notitiam redituum Societatis.

VI. Non divertant nostri cum intentione residendi per modum Collegii nisi ad urbes opulentas; finis enim Societatis est imitari Christum Salvatorem nostrum, qui Ierosolymis maxime morabatur, alia autem loca minus præcipua tantum pertransibat.

VII. Summum pretium à viduis semper extorquendum, inculcata illis summa nostra necessitate.

VIII. In unaquaque provincia, nemo nisi Provincialis noverit præcise valorem redituum. Sacrum autem esto quantum corbona Romana contineat.

IX. Concionentur nostri, et ubique in colloquiis propalent, se ad puerorum instructionem, et populi subsidium venisse, ac omnia gratis, et sine personarum exceptione præstare, nec esse in gravamen communitatis, ut cæteri Ordines religiosi.

CHAP. I.

SECRET COUNSELS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.

_How the Society ought to conduct itself when it commences a settlement in a new place._

I. An explanation of the design of the society, prescribed in those rules, which declare that the society ought to labor with as great diligence for the good of others, as for its own, will render it acceptable to the people of the place; therefore the humblest duties in the hospitals ought to be performed; the poor and the afflicted, and those in prison, should be visited and the confessions of all promptly received, that by such uncommon benevolence to all, and by the novelty of the thing, the principal inhabitants may admire and love us.

II. Let all remember that the power to exercise the offices of the society is to be requested modestly and religiously, and that they should study to make all chiefly ecclesiastical, but also secular, whose influence we want, favorable to themselves.

III. Also let them take care to visit distant places, where having explained our poverty, alms, however small, may be received, which should again be given to others who are poor, so that they who do not as yet know the society, may be won, and may be so much the more liberal towards us.

IV. Let all appear to breathe the same spirit, and so learn the same exterior deportment, that by such uniformity in such variety of persons, every one may be attracted; they who do otherwise should be dismissed as injurious.

V. In the commencement, let our members be careful in buying lands; but if they should purchase for us those well situated, let this be done in the fictitious name of some faithful and confidential friend; and that our poverty may better appear, let the estates which are near to places in which we may have colleges, be assigned by the provincial to remote institutions, by which it will be impossible that rulers or magistrates can ever have certain knowledge of the society.

VI. Let not our members make any location for a college, except in wealthy cities; for the object of the society is to imitate Christ, our Saviour, who resided generally in Jerusalem, but only passed through other places of less importance.

VII. Let the utmost means be always extorted from widows, and our extreme poverty be proven to them.

VIII. In every province let no one, except the provincials, know precisely the value of the revenues. Let what is in the treasury at Rome, be sacred.

IX. Let us proclaim, and every where in conversation announce, that we have come for the education of youth, and the good of the people, and that all things will be performed _gratis_, and without respect of persons, and that we will not be a burthen to the community, as other religious orders are.

CAP. II.

_Quomodo Principum, Magnatum et Primariorum P. P. Societatis familiaritatem acquirent, et conservabunt._

I. Conatus omnis ad hoc in primis adhibendus, ut Principum et primariorum ubique locorum aures et animos obtineamus, ne sit qui in nos audeat insurgere, quin immo omnes cogantur à nobis dependere.

II. Cum autem experientia doceat Principes et Magnates tum præsertim affici personis ecclesiasticis, quando odiosa eorum facta dissimulant, sed in meliorem potius partem ea interpretantur, ut videre est in matrimoniis contrahendis cum affinibus, aut consanguineis, aut similibus, animandi sunt qui hæc aut similia affectant, spe facta per nostros istiusmodi dispensationes facile a summo Pontifice impetrandi, quod faciet si explicentur rationes, proferantur exempla, et recitentur sententiæ favorabiles titulo communis boni, et majoris gloriæ Dei, quæ est scopus Societatis.

III. Idem faciendum si princeps aggreditur aliquid faciendum non æque magnatibus omnibus gratum; permovendus nempe animus ei, et instigandus, cœterorum vero animi commovendi ad hoc ut principi sese accommodent, neque contradicant; in genere tamen tantum, nec unquam ad particularia descendendo, ne societati imputetur, si male negotium successerit; et siquidem hoc aliquando factum reprobetur, recitentur monita contraria hæc plane prohibentia, et adhibeatur auctoritas aliquorum patrum, de quibus constat quod hæc ipsa monita illos lateant, qui etiam cum juramento asserere poterunt societatem, quoad hæc quæ illi improperantur, calumniam pati.

IV. Juvabit etiam non parum ad occupandos principum animos, si nostri dextere et per tertias personas insinuent se ad legationes honorificas et favorabiles ad alios principes aut reges pro illis obeundas, præsertim apud pontificem et supremos monarchias; hac enim occasione sese et societatem commendare poterunt, quare non nisi zelosi valde et versati in instituto nostro eo erunt destinandi.

V. Alumni principum et domestici præcipue, quibus familiariter utuntur, per munuscula præcipue et varia pietatis officia vincendi sunt, ut eandem nostros fideliter de humoribus et inclinationibus principum et magnatum instruant, sic facile illis societas sese accommodabit.

VI. Experientia etiam docuit in domo Austria, aliisque regnis Galliæ, Poloniæ, &c. cæterisque ducatibus, quantum societas sese juverit tractandis matrimoniis inter principes. Quare prudenter proponantur exquisiti conjuges, qui cum parentibus vel amicis nostrorum sunt amici vel familiares.

VII. Fæminæ principes per domesticas potissimum, quæ a cubiculis sunt, facillime vincentur; quare illæ omnibus modis foveantur, sic enim ad omnia, etiam secretissima, in familia aditus patebit.

VIII. In conscientiis magnatum regendis sequentur nostri confessarii sententiam illorum auctorum qui liberiorem conscientiam faciunt contra opinionem aliorum religiosorum, ut, relictis illis, a nostra directione et consiliis toti velint dependere.

IX. Tam principes quam prælati, aliique omnes qui societati favorem extraordinarium præstare possunt, participes faciendi sunt omnium meritorum societatis, exposito illis momento hujus summi privilegii.

X. Insinuandæ etiam caute et prudenter facultates amplissimæ societatis absolvendi etiam a casibus reservatis, respectu aliorum pastorum aut religiosorum, item dispensandi in jejuniis, debito reddendo, aut petendo, matrimonii impedimentis, aliisque notis, in quo fiet ut plurimi ad nos recurrant et obstringantur.

XI. Invitandi ad conciones, sodalitates, orationes, actiones, declamationes, &c. in quibus carminibus, inscriptis thesibus honorandi, tum si expedit in triclinio mensa excipiendi, variisque et dictis salutandi.

XII. Inimicitiæ et dissensiones inter magnates ad nos distrahendæ erunt ut componantur, sic enim in notitiam familiarium et secretorum paulatim poterimus devenire, et alterutram partem nobis devincire.

XIII. Quod si monarchæ vel principi serviat aliquis societati parum addictus, invigilandum ut sive per nostros, sive potius per alios ille in amicitiam ac familiaritatem societatis inducatur, promissis, favoribus ac promotionibus per principem, aut monarcham suum procurandis.

XIV. Caveant omnes quacumque ratione dimissos a societate, et præsertim illos, qui sua sponte ab ea discedere voluerunt, apud quemquam commendare, aut promovere; quia quantumcumque illi dissimulent, semper tamen irreconciliabile odium adversus societatem gerunt.

XV. Denique ita omnes solliciti sint, principes, magnates, et magistratus cujusque loci conciliare, ut etiam contra consanguineos, et affines, et amicos suos, pro illis, quando occasio sese obtulerit, strenue fideliterque agant.

CHAP. II.

_By what method the Principal Persons of the Society may acquire and preserve the familiarity of Princes, Noblemen, and persons of great distinction._

I. For this above all things, every effort should be made, that we may gain the ears and hearts of Princes and persons of distinction, so that there may be none who will dare to rise up against us, but that all may be obliged to depend upon us.

II. Experience teaches that Princes and Noblemen are especially pleased with ecclesiastical persons when they connive at their vices, and give them a favorable interpretation; such especially of the contracting of marriages within the prohibited degrees of affinity or consanguinity, and the like; they who desire such things are to be encouraged with the hope that by our influence, dispensations can easily be obtained from the _Pope_, which he will grant if the reasons be explained, examples produced, and opinions quoted, to show that it may be done for the promotion of the common good and greater glory of God, which is the scope of this society.