The Origin of the Jesuits. 4 1 



debarred this indulgence of his military propensities only by his not 

 overtaking the object of his displeasure.* 



In the year 1523 he undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, 

 having visited the sacred places around Jerusalem, he formed a de- 

 sign of taking up his abode there and devoting himself to the con- 

 version of the infidels. Having been, however, dissuaded from this 

 new project, he returned to Spain and commenced a course of school 

 learning at Barcelona. A large portion of his time was spent in at- 

 tending the sick, begging from the rich, and exhorting the poor. But 

 the extraordinary mode of life that he adopted caused him to be thrown 

 into prison twice and to undergo an examination by the inquisitors. 



The obstacles he met with in his own country to the dissemination 

 of his peculiar doctrines of religion induced him to resort to Paris, 

 where he arrived in the year 1528. Here he set about making con- 

 verts with better success than he had met with in Spain. His first 

 disciples were Peter Le Fevre and Francis Xavier. These were fol- 

 lowed by James Lainez, Alfonso Salmeron, Nicholas Bobadilla, and 

 Simon Rodriguez. After a time they were joined by three more, 

 namely, Claudius Le Joy, John Cadur, and Brouet.f On the day of 

 the Assumption, in the year 1534, he proceeded with these disciples to 

 the church of Mont Martre ; and there, having confessed and taken the 

 sacrament, they bound themselves by a vow to renounce the world, 

 to live in perpetual poverty and celibacy, and at an appointed time 

 to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the purpose of converting the 

 infidels to Christianity ; and if this project should not be attended 

 with success, they offered their services to the Pope for the conver- 

 sion of heretics, whose numbers and zeal began to be formidable to 

 the holy see.]: 



It may not be altogether unworthy of remark, that Luther wrote 

 his " Treatise against Monastic Vows,'' and publicly renounced his 

 own at the diet of Worms, about the same period that Loyola con- 

 secrated himself to God in the church of Mont Serrat, and wrote at 

 Mauresa his" Spiritual Exercises," on which were afterwards formed 

 the rules of the order he founded. Thus while one light was pro- 

 duced, which shed^its influence over a large portion of Europe and il- 

 lumined the darkness in which mankind had been held by the Romish 

 church, a pillar was yet added to support its mass of superstitious ob- 

 servances and extravagant doctrines. 



Having arrived at Rome, and finding the obstacles to their visiting 

 Jersualem greater than even the enthusiasm which excited them 

 could induce them to encounter, and being desirous that their union 

 should be established on some more permanent footing, they at last 

 determined on the institution of an Order. Being all collected in the 

 same place, they proceeded to form a set of rules, to obey which they 

 made a formal vow. These were, that in addition to the usual oaths of 

 poverty and chastity, they should promise perpetual obedience to one 

 of their number elected by themselves as chief of their order, and 

 furnished with the most ample power over them, and to whom they 



* Baillet, on the authority of Maffoeus, as quoted by Poynder. 

 t Hospinian. Chap. I. Ibid. 



