PLAN OF ACTION.
WITH such an organization at his command, it is clear that the General
can rarely be at a loss for agency. Whatever be the required service, it
is an easy thing to select the best adapted instrument, and to despatch
him without delay.
But to describe their mode of action is almost impossible, for it varies
with every circumstance, and is different in every locality.
When they are permitted to locate themselves in any country, their two
chief means for the attainment of their object appear to be, education
and the confessional. They will then go boldly forth, generally two and
two, in the long black cloak, with which I grieve to say our English eye
is becoming too familiar. They will publicly found their seminaries and
colleges, supplying them with first-rate professors, so securing to
themselves the early education of the great majority of the rising
generation. It is stated, that in France the colleges and educational
establishments have been all turned over to them by the Government of
Louis Napoleon. {15}
The second, and most influential avowed method of securing influence has
always been the confessional. For this, the Jesuit priest is carefully
instructed at the time of his profession, and by it he wields, of course,
an almost unbounded power. The great aim is to obtain the office of
confessor to kings, statesmen, and men of influence; and it is stated,
that before their suppression, they had thus secured the ear and
conscience of almost every Roman Catholic king in Europe. It is very
fearful to contemplate the course of conduct by which this influence has
been attained. The confessional is bad enough at all times; but what
must be its effect, when the priest is instructed, instead of checking
sin, to adapt his treatment to the inclinations and vices of his
penitent? But this has always been the charge urged against the Jesuits.
Pascal charges them most powerfully with lowering down the maxims of the
Gospel, so as to accommodate them to the maxims of the world. He
represents the Jesuit priest as saying, “We are forced to allow some
liberty, because men are at present so corrupted, that, being unable to
make men come to us, we are obliged to go to them. It is to hold them
fast, that our casuits have taken into consideration the vices to which a
person is most exposed in all stations, so as to establish mild maxims,
without affecting truth, with which it would be difficult not to be
content.”
The charge of Pascal has been completely verified, by the discovery of
the “Secreta Monita,” or private manual of the Jesuit Confessor. Of
course the authenticity of this remarkable book has been denied; for the
Jesuit, as we shall soon learn, can deny anything; but yet it has been
found in so many independent Jesuit institutions, that it is almost
impossible to doubt the evidence of its authenticity. In these secret
instructions may be found such passages as the following:—“Princes and
distinguished persons must by all means be so managed, that they (the
Jesuits) may gain their ear, which will easily secure their hearts . . .
Since ecclesiastics secure the greatest favour, by winking at the vices
of the great, as in the case of incestuous marriages, &c., such persons
must be led to hope, that through their aid, a dispensation may be
obtained from the Pope, which he will no doubt readily grant,” &c.
Again, “Their confessors must allow greater latitude than those of other
orders, in order that their penitents, being allured by such freedom, may
relinquish others, and entirely depend on their direction and advice.”
{17}
By such awful practices have they sought to secure the ear of the great
in the confessional; nor can we wonder if a power so gained is used in
many cases for the foulest purposes. Duller asserts that the confessions
of sovereign princes are at all times communicated to the General, and
something nearly approaching to this is directed in the ordinances of the
Society, where it is said that “the confessors of princes should consult
with their Superiors in doubtful cases,” {18a} a regulation which, of
course, enables them to lay anything they please before the General. The
use made of the information, when obtained, may be gathered from the
“Secreta Monita,” where, amongst other similar passages, it is said, “The
Society will contribute much to its own advantage by fomenting and
heightening (but with caution and secresy) the animosities that arise
amongst princes and great men, in order that they may weaken each other.”
{18b} Such are the maxims of this professedly Christian institution,
which claims to be pre-eminently devoted to the service of God, and even
calls itself the “Society of Jesus.” Is it possible to imagine a more
flagrant insult to that holy name by which we live?
But the Jesuit does not depend on any open agency alone: and he is the
most dangerous when the long cloak is laid aside, and there is nothing
apparent to distinguish him from ordinary men. Then it is that he can
secretly worm his way into the confidence of a wholly unsuspecting
public. It was stated by Mr. Sheil, in the House of Commons, that there
were swarms of Jesuits in England. But who has seen them? and who has
been conscious of their presence? It is asserted by different
historians, that they even fought in Cromwell’s army; and, in order to
gain their object, assumed the garb of rigid Puritans. {19a} Their
principles render any such deception probable, as will be seen when we
proceed to investigate their morality. It will then appear, that there
is nothing in their conscientious scruples to prevent their assuming any
character, or personating any principles. Their object is to insinuate
themselves amongst their opponents, like the fluid soaking into the flax,
and then, when the time is come, to blow up the whole, and split into a
thousand shreds the strong and well-compacted fibres. In the pursuit of
such ends they appear to be bound by no oaths, and to be regardless of
all legislation but their own. They can fight on both sides in the same
engagement; some in the army of the Cavaliers, and some under Cromwell
amongst the Roundheads. They may sign the Articles, though they do not
believe them; and even bear the sacred office of the ministry, although
their only object is to betray the Church. One man may empty the parish
church by disgusting the people with Romish ceremonial; while his brother
breaks up the Dissenting congregation by the artful revival of some
forgotten grudge. They can mix with the Anti-State-Church League in a
crusade against establishments, and then give their right hand to the
exclusive Churchman, and join with him in railing against Dissent. They
can stir up the Voluntaries, by exciting their horror against the
iniquity of State patronage, and the evil of endowments, while at the
same moment they are sneaking down to Downing-street, and there
whispering into the ear of the Minister, that it is essential to
Ireland’s prosperity that an endowment be voted for Maynooth. In short,
wherever there is truth to be assailed or friends to be
separated—wherever there is the slightest hope of strengthening the
Company, by weakening existing forces or breaking up existing
ties—wherever there is a prospect of turning aside an honest man by the
insinuating suggestions of a subtle friend,—there is the sphere for the
unhallowed agency of Loyola’s disciples. {20}
Thus the steps of the Company have always been traceable by the disunion,
the intrigues, the plots and counterplots, the factions, and separations
which have invariably sprung up under their influence. I am anxious to
state nothing that I cannot prove; and, therefore, having made this
assertion, I will conclude this portion of the subject by calling one
witness, whose testimony will be admitted, at all events, by Romanists.
It shall be none other than the infallible head of the infallible
Church—none other than the Pope himself. Pope Clement XIV. thought
little better of the Jesuits than we do; and on July 21, 1773, he issued
a Bull, of which the following passages are extracts:—
“We have seen with the grief of our heart that neither these
remedies, nor an infinity of others since employed, have produced
their due effects, or silenced the accusations and complaints against
the said Society. Our predecessors, Urban VII., Clement IX., &c.,
&c., employed, without effect, all their efforts to the same purpose.
In vain did they endeavour, by salutary constitutions, to restore
peace to the Church, as well with respect to secular affairs, with
which the Company ought not to have interfered, as with regard to the
Missions, which gave rise to great disputes and oppositions, on the
part of the Company, with the ordinaries, with other religious
Orders, about the holy places and communities of all sorts in Europe,
Africa, and America, to the great loss of souls, and great scandal of
the people; as, likewise, concerning the meaning and practice of
certain idolatrous ceremonies, adopted in certain places in contempt
of those justly approved by the Catholic Church; and further,
concerning the use and exposition of certain maxims which the Holy
See has with reason proscribed, as scandalous and manifestly contrary
to good morals; and, lastly, concerning other matters of great
importance and prime necessity towards preserving the integrity and
purity of the doctrines of the Gospel, from which maxims have
resulted very great inconveniences and great detriment, both in our
days and in past ages, such as the revolts and intestine troubles in
some of the cathedral States, persecutions against the Church, &c. .
. .
“After so many storms, troubles, divisions, every good man looked
forward with impatience to the happy day which was to restore peace
and tranquillity. But under the reign of Clement XIII., the times
became more difficult and tempestuous, complaints and quarrels were
multiplied on every side, in some places dangerous seditions arose,
tumults, discord, dissensions, scandals, which, weakening or entirely
breaking the bands of Christian charity, excited the faithful to all
the rage of party hatreds and enmities. Desolation and danger grew
to such a height, that the very sovereigns whose piety and liberality
towards the Company were so well known as to be looked on as
hereditary in their families,—we mean our dearly-beloved sons in
Christ, the Kings of France, Spain, Portugal, and Sicily,—found
themselves reduced to the necessity of expelling and driving from
their states, kingdoms, and provinces these very companions of Jesus,
persuaded that there remained no other remedy to so great evils, and
that this step was necessary in order to prevent the Christians from
rising one against another, and from massacring each other in the
very bosom of our common mother, the Holy Church.
“Actuated by so many and important considerations, . . . after a
mature deliberation, we do, out of our certain knowledge, and the
fulness of our apostolic power, suppress and abolish the said
Company. We deprive it of all activity whatever, of its houses,
schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place
belonging to the said Company in any manner whatever, in whatsoever
kingdom or province they may be situated. We abrogate and annul its
statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though
confirmed by oath and approved by the Holy See, or otherwise; we
declare all and every kind of authority, the General, the Provincial,
the Visitor, and other superiors of the said Society, to be annulled
and abolished for ever, of whatsoever nature the said authority may
be, as well in things spiritual as temporal,” &c.