RELIGION.
IT seems strange to mention the holy name of religion in connexion with
such principles as those of probability and intention, and the first
feeling of the heart is to rise up in holy indignation, and to declare it
is utterly impossible that religion can have anything to do with such a
system. But such a conclusion would be clearly incorrect; for not only
do the facts prove that there is a certain religious principle in action,
but I believe it may be shewn that such results could not be produced
except through the power of a debased and perverted Christianity. The
assertion may startle some, but I believe that upon investigation it will
be found true, that there is less power in bare, barren, blank
Infidelity, to break down the morality of a man, than there is in a
Gospel, debased and defiled to suit his purposes. Infidelity gives no
sop to the conscience, no chloroform to destroy the sense of sin, nor can
it altogether root out the moral sense, however mournfully it may sear
and deaden it. But the case is different with a debased religion. It
overpowers conscience, by setting off against it the spurious principles
of a pretended Christianity. It produces certain maxims, for which it
claims pre-eminence, because it says they come from Christ; and, by the
very authority which they derive from the misappropriation of that holy
name, it tramples the moral sense under foot, and leaves the pervert
ready for any enormity that it may require. I have no doubt, therefore,
in my own mind, that a large proportion of the Company of Jesuits are, in
one sense, religious men; nor can we look at the history of Jesuit
missions, at their indefatigable zeal, untiring self-denial, patient
endurance, and, in some instances, cheerful martyrdom, without the
conviction that a deep religious feeling has been more or less their
actuating power. But more than this,—you may see it even in their
crimes; you may there obtain the most perfect illustration of the
statement just made, that a perverted religion may be called in to give
its sanction to those crimes which an Infidel without religion dare not
commit. Look, for example, at the letter of Sir Everard Digby to his
wife, written when he was under sentence of death for the Gunpowder Plot,
in which he says,—“Now for my intention, let me tell you, that if I had
thought there had been the least sin in the plot, I would not have been
of it for all the world, and no other cause led me to hazard my fortune
and life but zeal for God’s religion.” {59} Look again at the remarkable
fact, that those conspirators received a solemn mass from a Jesuit father
of the name of Gerard, when they solemnly swore to do their part in the
conspiracy; and that the whole scheme was known to Garnett, the
Provincial of the Society. {60} So that the solemn sanction of the
Lord’s death and sufferings was thrown over all the enormous guilt of
that long-premeditated and wholesale murder.
But then the question arises, What can be the perversion of Christianity
which can lead to such an abandonment of the moral sense? The full
answer to the question might occupy volumes; but there is one root to
which, I believe, the whole may be traced; and although it may seem at
first scarcely sufficient to produce so vast a Upas-tree, yet I believe
it will be found in fact that the whole plant has sprung from it;—I mean,
the substitution of man for God in the great business of the soul’s
guidance and salvation.
The passages already quoted prove this substitution very clearly, with
reference to the guidance of the Jesuit; but if there were any doubt of
it, it would be removed by the oath of profession, in which it is
sworn,—“I, N., make profession, and promise Almighty God, before his
Virgin Mother, and before the heavenly hosts, and before all bystanders,
and you, Rev. Father, General of the Society of Jesus, _holding the place
of God_.” There is, therefore, a double transfer of Divine authority.
The Pope stands between the General and God, and the General between the
Jesuit and the Pope. There is a double delegation of Divine powers, the
Lord being said to confer them on the Pope, the Pope conferring them on
the General, and the Jesuit then swearing, in the most solemn moment of
his life, that the General “holds the place of God.” And what must be
the necessary result? That moral truth is no longer learned from the
fountain of truth, but from the corrupt, the designing, the human
authority that stands between the Creator and the soul. The Divine law
is obscured, the human will is adopted in its place. The result of such
a change must obviously be, that the character of the body must become
the mere reflection of the character of the head; that his corruptions
take the place of Divine perfections; and his schemes, whatever be their
nature, are regarded as identical with the glory of the Lord. Hence the
very religion of the Jesuit prepares him for any desperate measures
provided only that his Superior gives his sanction to them; and the more
that his soul feels in earnest, the more ready will he be to plunge on in
any course of action, if only his head, a man quite as fallible as
himself, and perhaps more corrupt, gives the word of command, and
sanctions the foul act by his authority.
There is obedience, but, being transferred to a wrong object, the right
principle produces a depraved and corrupt result. There is zeal, but it
is all put out for the furtherance of the plans of a scheming man,
instead of rising high to the blessed end of seeking God’s glory. There
is some fear towards God, but it is directed not by God himself, but the
Superior; and hence it follows that the Jesuits, whilst they set aside
the practical use of Scripture, do in fact confirm its truth; for they
stand out as living witnesses to the unfailing truth of that remarkable
passage which connects alienation of heart with the substitution of human
for Divine instruction, and says,—“This people draw near me with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far
from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” {62}
There is just the same substitution of man for God in the great work of a
sinner’s salvation; and from this, as the root, may be said to spring the
whole remainder of the system. Loyola, as is well known, struggled hard
for peace. Deeply convinced of sin, he passed through an agony of soul
in search of life; and, failing to find it as God has revealed it, in
free grace and full redemption, he made a desperate plunge into Jesuitry,
and the creation of the Order was the result. His book of “Spiritual
Exercises,” written shortly after the time of his conflict, is still the
standing work for the Jesuit’s personal religion. The reader has been
already informed of the high authority by which it has been introduced to
the British public, but few who are not acquainted with the mechanical
character of the whole Romish system will be prepared for the mournful
substitution of man’s action for God’s grace, which pervades both the
preface and the book. The book contains a plan for passing a novice
through a kind of spiritual manufacture in twenty-eight days; or rather,
it used to be twenty-eight days in the time of Loyola; but we travel now
by railroads, and everything moves quickly, so that Cardinal Wiseman
states in his preface that the twenty-eight days may now be reduced to
ten. {63a} Now, learn what may be accomplished in these ten days. The
Cardinal says,—“It is not a treatise on sin, or virtue; it is not a
method of Christian perfection; but it contains the entire practice of
perfection, by making us at once conquer sin, and acquire virtue.” {63b}
Now, it is a question of the deepest interest to ascertain the process by
which sin is to be conquered in twenty-eight, or by us moderns in ten
days. It is a secret that many a sin-burdened conscience would give
worlds, if it had them, to discover. But really it is most deeply
affecting to turn to the book, and see the utter emptiness of the whole
scheme. According to the Cardinal, “it is divided into four weeks, and
each of these has its specific object, to advance the exercitant an
additional step towards perfect virtue. If the work of each week be
thoroughly done, this is actually accomplished.” {63c}
The aim of the first week, according to the same authority, “is the
cleansing of the conscience from past sin, and of the affections from
their future dangers.” And how is this mighty result to be accomplished?
how is the conscience to be cleansed from the past, and the affections
guaranteed for the future? How is the frail and wavering heart of man to
be so purified in a single week, that it shall go out into a world of
trial and temptation, “cleansed against future danger?” Really it makes
the heart sad to read the miserable and mournful absence of all that the
Gospel has provided for a sinner. Loyola knew what sin was, and had
bitterly felt its sting, so that there are touching signs of the
sincerity of the deep inward conflict which passed within his soul. But
the melancholy part of the whole matter is, that there is no hint at the
only remedy. There is not a single passage in which the troubled
conscience is directed to the atonement, as God’s provision for man’s
free pardon; not a single allusion to the Lord’s advocacy, and no mention
of either the name or the office of the Holy Ghost. But in the place of
all this, there are certain rules to be observed during the retreat. If
the inquirer is in business, he must be satisfied with the devotion of an
hour and a half daily to the work. {64a} If he has more leisure, he is
directed “to migrate from his former habitation into some more secret
house or cell;” {64b} being there, he is “to deprive himself of all the
brightness of the light, shutting the doors and windows as long as he
remains there, except while he has to read or take his food.” {65a} He
is “to direct his eyes on no one, unless the occasion of saluting or
taking leave require it;” {65b} “he is to do penance by fasting, by
limiting the hours of his sleep, and by the use of hair-cloth, ropes,
iron bars, and whips;” but, “in preference, whips of small cords, which
hurt the outward parts, and not those within, so as to injure the
health.” {65c} He is provided with a manual to assist him in meditation,
and self-examination; and, above all, he places himself under the
guidance and authority of a director, “for,” says Dr. Wiseman, “the life
of a good retreat is a good director.” {65d}
With this apparatus complete, he sets to work, and is directed to draw a
diagram, like the following, containing seven pairs of lines, one pair
for each day. {65e}
[Picture: Diagram of seven pairs of lines]
These are to be employed for the measurement of his sins. He is to
remember and enumerate the number of times he has been in fault, and
twice every day mark the same number of points on the proper line of the
series. Now what is the result of the first week’s discipline? The
lines, the reader will observe, become shorter and shorter daily, till at
length, at the end of one single week, according to Dr. Wiseman, “sin
_is_ {66a} abandoned, hated, loathed. At the conclusion of the painful
task, the soul finds itself prostrate and full of anxieties. The past is
remedied; but what is to be done for the future?” {66b}
Such is the description given by this high authority of this miserable,
mechanical counterfeit of Christianity. What becomes of the deep-seated
corruption of the human heart? Where is the work of the Spirit? And if
the conscience could be cleansed, and the past remedied by such a paltry
human artifice, where, Oh, where was the necessity for atonement? and
what need was there that Emanuel should shed his precious blood upon the
cross?
But does it not verify the charge which I brought against the system, of
substituting man for God in the salvation of the sinner? What is it that
conquers sin in the first two days and a half of the retreat? Is it the
Saviour? Is it the Spirit? Or is it the man? Wiseman says,—“It is the
work of each week, thoroughly done.” {66c}
To this one leading principle all Jesuitry may without any difficulty be
traced; and if so, we may surely learn the one weapon by which it may be
resisted and overcome. The evil originates in the substitution of man
for God, and therefore the weapon by which it must be opposed is the
exaltation of the Lord himself, as the only author of the soul’s
salvation. “Be thou exalted, O God, in thine own strength, so will we
sing and praise thy power.” There is a great conflict raging. There are
swarms of these subtle adversaries filling the land; there is a vast
power arrayed against us; the enemy is active, well combined, and
unscrupulous; but they must not be met by their own weapons; for we had
rather have all that is dear to us trodden under foot in the lowest dust,
than gain the most brilliant triumphs through the use of a single weapon
adopted from their armoury. We give them the exclusive use of all their
probabilities, and are ready to meet them, without either subtlety or
disguise, but with the plain, honest, frank, and open bearing of
honest-minded servants of the Lord; we must be satisfied to struggle in
the Lord’s strength, and to employ the Lord’s weapons. Nor need we be
afraid in the conflict. Their human machinery, I freely grant, is
superior to ours; their agency more complete, and their combination more
perfect. “But the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses
flesh, and not spirit.” They in all their system have been guilty of the
substitution of man for God; but our joy is to exalt God on his own
throne; and our certain expectation is to triumph through the might of
his own right hand. It is true, indeed, that they can summon to their
assistance the countless contrivances of human subtlety, but our weapon
is far superior to all, for it is from the Lord himself, it is the sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. There is no denying that they
can assume any guise, and worm their way into the unsuspecting family;
but our hope is in the power of the Spirit, to whom the heart itself is
open as the day. They can meet us, indeed, and perhaps over-match us, in
their varied appliances for intellectual education, they may be powerful
in the pulpit, and attractive in the confessional, but they have no
message that has one thousandth part of the loveliness of ours, for,
unless they are false to their own principles, they can never proclaim to
anxious sinners a finished atonement, and free pardon through the blood
of the Lamb. There is much, indeed, to be apprehended in their close
combination under the able conduct of a well-appointed General; but no
general upon earth is to be compared to the Captain of the Lord’s hosts,
whom God himself has set apart from the beginning to be “the leader and
commander of the people.” Only let us be faithful to that blessed
Master, honouring his word, leaning on his Spirit, at all times setting
forth his grace; and the time will come, as certainly as God’s word is
true, when the whole fabric of Jesuitry shall be split into shivers; when
the prophecy shall be fulfilled, “Associate yourselves, and ye shall be
broken in pieces when the triumphant cry shall originate in heaven, and
shall swell back in a vast echo from a regenerate world, ‘We give thee
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, because thou hast taken unto thee thy great
power, and hast reigned.’”
* * * * *
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Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.
* * * * *
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FOOTNOTES.
{10} Exam. cap. i.
{11a} Exam. cap. vi. 3.
{11b} Exam. cap. vi. 4.
{11c} Exam. cap. vi. 1.
{12a} Duller’s Jesuits.
{12b} These privileges are of no ordinary value, as is proved by the
fact that any persons of either sex, who shall once a-year visit any
church or pious place of the Society on a given day, appointed by the
General for the time being, between the first vespers and sunset, and
shall then repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the angelic salutation, may
obtain a plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins.—“Letter
Apostolic of Pope Paul III.,” p. 49. Antwerp edition.
{15} Circular of Foreign-Aid Society.
{17} “Secreta Monita,” ch. ii., 2, 8.
{18a} Ord. cap. xi., § 2.
{18b} “Secreta Monita,” chap. xvii. 8.
{19a} Neal gives the following curious extract from a letter from an
English Jesuit to the Rector of the College at Brussels:—“I cannot choose
but laugh to see how some of our own coat have accoutred themselves; and
it is admirable how in speech and gesture they act the Puritans. The
Cambridge scholars, to their woful experience, shall see we can act the
Puritans a little better than they have done the Jesuits. They have
abused our sacred patron in jest, but we will make them smart for it in
earnest.”—Neal’s “Puritans,” vol. i., p. 515.
{20} The following circumstance was recently mentioned to the author by
the Rev. Hugh Stowell:—A gentleman named Bridge settled at Salford with
three daughters. He appeared to be an intelligent and active man, and
being a decided Conservative, was, after a time, made Secretary to the
Manchester Conservative Association. From that time there was reason to
believe that the plans of the Association were betrayed, when one morning
another gentleman named Bridge, also residing in Salford Crescent, whose
Christian name commenced with the same initial as that of the other,
received a letter from the College of Jesuits at Rome, giving him full
directions as to the manner in which he should conduct the business of
the Association. The Mr. Bridge who received it forwarded it to his
neighbour, and the Conservative Secretary disappeared from Salford
Crescent that afternoon.
{24} “Pilgrimage to Rome,” chap. vii.
{25} Primum ac Generate Examen, chap. IV., §§ 9, 10,11, 12.
{26} Examen, chap. IV., § 30.
{27} Taylor’s Loyola.
{29} In the translation the word “white” is most ingeniously substituted
for “black” in flat contradiction both to the sense and to the Latin.
The sentiment as really expressed was probably considered too atrocious
for the honesty of the English character.
{30} Pilgrimage to Rome.
{31} Part VI., cap. i., §. 1.
{32} The reader will see in a moment that the translation given above is
not correct, according to the ordinary rules of the Latin language. The
words “obligare ad aliquid” mean “to oblige a person to do a thing,” and
so the author of the Constitutions has employed them in the 3d chap. and
5th sec. of the “Examen,” where the expression, “Obligare ad
matrimonium,” is clearly “to oblige to marry.” The translation,
therefore, which was given in the first edition, viz., “can lead to an
obligation to sin mortal or venial,” is undoubtedly correct. But there
are passages in the book, and in some other scholastic authors, in which
the phrase, “obligatio ad peccatum,” is employed to convey the idea that
the obligation is of such a character as to render disobedience a sin;
and as it is possible that the phrase may be so employed in this passage,
I have given the version which the friends of the Society desire. I
cannot, however, think that the ordinary rules of scholarship are to be
wholly set aside, or the real meaning of the words excluded altogether
from the translation; and I am confirmed in this opinion by the reference
to the decree in the index of a copy recently procured, which was
published at Rome in the College of the Society, in the year A.D. 1615,
and which may be supposed to convey the true meaning of the Constitution.
In this index the passage is referred to in the following words:
“Superiores possunt obligare ad peccatum in virtute obedientiæ, quando id
multum conveniat.” The natural antecedent of the “id” is clearly
“peccatum,” in which case the translation must be, “The Superiors may
oblige to sin in virtue of obedience, when it (the sin) is particularly
convenient.” If this be not the meaning, what occasion would there be
for the “_multum_ conveniat?” But, translated either way, the decree is
so bad, that the question is scarcely worth discussion.
{35} Examen, chap. iv. 6.
{36a} Exam. iv. 7.
{36b} 2 Tim. iii. 2, 3.
{36c} Exam. iv. 2.
{37a} Exam. iv. 5.
{37b} Sec. 2.
{40a} Examen, iv. 8.
{40b} The rule is as follows: “If any one has failed in giving
unquestionable proof of his obedience, an associate should always be
united with him, who has been more conspicuous therein.”—_Const._, P.
viii., chap, i., sec. 3.
{41} Ordinance of the Fifth General Congregation.
{42a} Examen, iv. 35.
{42b} “Which confessor ought not to be at a loss what cases should be
reserved for the Superior. Those, then, shall be reserved which shall
seem necessary or _highly expedient_ to be known by him.”—_Const._, Part
III., Chap. I.
{44} Sec. Mon. xiii. 9.
{45} Examen, T. G.
{48} The rule is as follows:—“If any one is endowed with the talent of
writing books conducive to the common good, and shall compose any
such,—he ought not to publish any writings unless the General shall first
see them, and cause them to be read and examined, so that they may come
before the public if they seem good for edification, and not
otherwise.”—Const. vii. iv. 11.
{49} For this and many similar passages see Dalton’s “Jesuits.”
{55} Pope Clement XIV. said, “Our will and pleasure is that these our
letters should, _for ever and for all eternity_, be valid, permanent, and
efficacious, . . . and be inviolably observed by all and every whom they
do or may concern, _now or hereafter_, in any manner whatever.”—21st
July, 1773.
Pius VII. reinstated the Order, “notwithstanding any apostolical
constitutions and ordinances, especially the Brief of Clement XIV., of
happy memory . . . which _we expressly abrogate_, as far as contrary to
the present order.”—7th August, 1814.
{57} Some good illustrations of the morality of the Jesuits are given in
a book called “Cases of Conscience by Pascal the younger.”—_Bosworth_.
{59} Hume’s History.
{60} Dalton on the Jesuits.
{62} Isaiah xxix. 13.
{63a} “The Spiritual Exercises.” Dolman, 1847. Pref., p. 21.
{63b} Ibid, p. 14.
{63c} Ibid, p. 14.
{64a} P. 12.
{64b} P. 13.
{65a} P. 42.
{65b} P. 42.
{65c} P. 44.
{65d} Pref., p. 20.
{65e} P. 19.
{66a} The italics are the Cardinal’s.
{66b} “The Spiritual Exercises,” Pref., p. 15.
{66c} Ibid., p. 14.