ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



515 



Fccle-siaiti- 

 cal History. 



They cul- 

 tivate learn- 

 ing, and an 

 intercourse 

 with the 

 wortd. 



Cmirition 

 in point of 

 doctrine. 



whom he should choose to appoint, the reports of the 

 subordinate societies were regularly transmitted. These 

 reports were minute and circumstantial in the highest 

 degree, containing exact information respecting the 

 characters of the novices and professed members, their 

 talents, dispositions, and prevailing tendencies, and, 

 above all, their knowledge of human nature, and ex- 

 perience in affairs. And thus the general, placed at 

 the head of the whole institution, could issue his orders 

 with the most perfect propriety ; could appoint to each 

 man his station, and to each man his reward ; could 

 allot the chief duties to the highest abilities ; could ele- 

 vate or degrade, exclude or retain. 



By the fundamental principles of their constitution, 

 the Jesuits were connected with the world, and almost 

 necessarily involved in its business and trouble-. \\ hat- 

 ever tended to promote the instruction of the ignorant ; 

 to disseminate the true religion, either in countries al- 

 ready professing Christianity, or among Heathen na- 

 tions. and whatever contributed, or might be supposed 

 to contribute, to the interests of the holy see, formed 

 their peculiar province and care. Hence their chief 

 study was human nature, and their chief art lay in ma- 

 naging and directing it. Hence they allowed no pub- 

 lic transaction to take place without observation, for 

 public transactions have much influence upon religion ; 

 and hence they attached themselves to the great and 

 the powerful, for the time might come when their al- 

 liance and aid would be serviceable to the pope. 1'hey 

 cultivated learning, because they perceived its use in 

 governing mankind ; and were not only theologians, 

 but grammarians, critics, mathematicians, philosophers, 

 and poets. Within fifty years after the institution of 

 the order, they had obtained the chief direction in the 

 education of youth throughout all the Catholic countri 8 

 of Europe. The lxx>ks " in uxum De/p/iini," form a 

 jwrtion of the proofs which remain to us of their un- 

 wearied labour, and skill in the critical art. Nor were 

 they satisfied with biassing the mind in early life ; the y 

 were at the same time the spiritual guides of those 

 more advanced in years. Every prince had his con- 

 fessor, and that confessor was a Jesuit. In weak reigns, 

 this functionary was superior in influence and authori- 

 ty even to the chief minister himself; and the politi- 

 cian, with all his foresight and address, was frequently 

 ronstrained to yield to the intriguing skill and more 

 *uccesful activity of the monk. The whole sooiety 

 were closely united in promoting the interests of the 

 order : to this paramount object all their efforts were 

 directed ; they corresponded with one another usually in 

 cypher, and gave the earliest information ; they were al- 

 ways upon the spot, and always attentive, dextrous, 

 and persevering. Ambition was their fault, and the 

 of their ruin ; they had made large acquisitions 

 of territory and of Indian subjects in South America, 

 and unwisely Cooping at Independence, they provoked 

 the jealousy of the European princes, and precipitated 

 their fall. After a kern controversy with the Jonse- 

 nists, and a considerable variety of fortune, the order 

 ippressed by ( lement Xl'V. in the year 1773. 



For an account of the inquisitorial 'tribunals, see 

 DOMINICANS and INQI T ISITIO\. 



During the period which extends from the year 755 

 to the reformation by Luther, ir.:iny strange and novel 

 doctrines were introduced into the church. It would 

 l>e altogether improper to call them heresies ; for they 

 were either propounded by the j>ope himself, and de- 

 livered from the chair of infallibility, as existing arti- 

 cles, or integral parts of the catholic faith ; or they were 



generated in the schools, and growing into notice, were Ecclesiasti- 

 at length confirmed by the authority of the holy see. "^ 

 Of the doctrines alluded to, there is none more worthy 

 of a place in ecclesiastical history, than that which re- 

 lates to the presence of Christ's body and blood in the Transub- 

 sacrament of the supper. Even so early as the 1 1th stantiation. 

 century, an opinion began to be entertained, that the 

 bread and wine, when consecrated by the priest, were 

 not mere symbols or representations. In the year 1201, 

 the pope's legate enjoined the people of Cologne to 

 prostrate themselves at the elevation of the host. The 

 eucharist was no longer regarded as a commemorative 

 rite ; it was held to be sacrificial and propitiatory ; the 

 consecrated bread was represented as the victim, (hos- 

 lia,) the Saviour himself was declared to be actually 

 and substantially present, and to be really offered up to 

 God as a sacrifice for the sins of the world ; and the 

 people were commanded to adore. But lest we should 

 err in giving our account of this monstrous doctrine, 

 let us state it in the language of one of its most zealous 

 defenders : " The bread and wine," says Humbert, in 

 the confession prepared for Berenger, archbishop of 

 Angers, who had maintained the opposite doctrine, 

 " the bread and ^ inc, after consecration, are not only 

 a sacrament, but also the real body and blood of 

 Jesus Christ ; and this body and blood are handled by 

 the priests, and consumed by the faithful, and not in a 

 s u -ramental sense, but in reality and in truth, as other 

 sensible objects are." This undoubtedly is broad and 

 plain enough. It was regarded as no sufficient objec- 

 tion to the doctrine in question, that it contradicted the 

 senses ; it was a mystery, and mysteries, by their very 

 nature, are difficult to be understood. Nor was it held 

 sufficient to say, that the body of Christ was in heaven, 

 and that, if we suppose it to be a real body, tangible 

 and visible, it could not retain its qualities of length, 

 breadth, and thickness, and yet be present in many 

 places at the same time. The answer was easy, " we 

 allow that the doctrine is mysterious." The words of 

 Jesus likewise were quoted, as putting an end to the 

 controversy, '/<" is my body, broken far you; and though 

 these words might have been considered as opposed 

 and reduced in their signification, by such expressions 

 as the following : " I am the door, I am the true vine, 

 I am the way," &c. still the doctrine of the real pre- 

 sence was believed, and with certain mollifications, not 

 very easy to be discerned and understood, it remains to 

 this hour the doctrine of the Romish church. 



Another of the doctrine* which prevailed during the Purgatory. 

 period above alluded to, was that of purgatory, or a 

 temporary state of punishment in the world to come. 

 Something resembling this doctrine, appears to have 

 l>cen taught in very early times ; there are traces of it 

 in the writings of Origen ; and Gregory Nazianzen and 

 Ambrose speak still more decisively concerning it. It 

 may be inquired whether the intimations of a hades, or 

 separate state, which are given to us in the scriptures 

 themselves, ought not to be regarded as the foundation, 

 on which the doctrine of purgatory was afterward* 



rui-eil. 



In the tenth century, the fear of purgatory was car- Arguments 

 ried to an extraordinary height, exceeding even the b y 

 apprehension of final judgment, and everlasting misery. 

 And in later times, prayers and masses were continually 

 offered up for the souls of those who had passed into 

 this preparatory state : all the saints in heaven were 

 supplicated, in order to shorten or mitigate the punish- 

 ment, and rich gifts were bestowed upon the church. 

 Some of the largest bequests which the clergy ever in- 



