JESUITS. 



235 



Omnia ad majorem Dei gluriam. Severe trials, 

 constant inspection, unconditional obedience in per- 

 mitted things, ensured the intimate union of the soci- 

 ety, as well as the ability and purity of its members. 

 A strictly decorous exterior was enjoined. No Je- 

 suit was allowed to confess a woman, except in the 

 presence of another Jesuit. Money a Jesuit never 

 was allowed to take for masses. The seat of the 

 society was in so far in Rome, as the general of the 

 order resided there, with the committee of the society, 

 and the monitor, who, totally independent of him, 

 controlled the general as if he were his conscience. 

 The order was divided into provinces, each of which 

 was superintended by a provincial. Under the care 

 of these officers were the professed-houses, with each 

 a prcepositus at its head, and the colleges, with each 

 a rector. In the latter, there were also novices. 

 The mutual dependence of all parts of the system 

 resembled the structure of a well-built fabric : the 

 relations of subordination were so ordered that the 

 society was simplex duntaxat unum, without inter- 

 rupting the free will of the individual, who only had 

 to obey in permitted things. The Jesuits were active, 

 first, as teachers of youth. Lord Bacon says of them, 

 that, when he considered the assiduity with which 

 they gave themselves to the cultivation of science 

 and the maintenance of pure morals, he always 

 thought of what Agesilaus said to Pharnabazus, " As 

 thouart such, I wish thou wert one of ours ;" and 

 that, in regard to the method of teaching, the Jesuit 

 schools ought to be taken for models, because, of 

 every mode which had been attempted, none was so 

 good as theirs. Thus far Bacon. But what gave 

 the greatest value to their mode of education was, 

 that with them, religion ruled over every thing : they 

 formed Catholic Christians of a sound mind, not 

 unsettled spirits, like the youth of our times. Their 

 care for the purity of youth was remarkable ; and 

 ought they to be reproached because, with this view, 

 they mutilated the classics ? A chief object of the 

 Jesuits was the defence of the church against Protes- 

 tantism. There is no doubt that the reformation 

 would have spread much farther, had not the Loyo- 

 lites fought for the church. If they were thus anxious 

 to preserve Catholic souls, on the other hand they 

 were not less active to propagate the gospel in dis- 

 tant countries. They took the usual vows of the 

 orders chastity, poverty and obedience ; the latter 

 in so extended a sense, that they were willing to go 

 on any missions. With apostolic zeal, they devoted 

 themselves to the task of converting the heathen. In 

 the heart of Asia, in Japan, and in the Moluccas, 

 they erected the sign of the crucified Redeemer, and 

 preached the doctrines of the gospel : they taught it 

 in China, in both the Indies, in Ethiopia, and among 

 the Caffres. When the church was persecuted in 

 Japan, the Jesuits all became martyrs. One only, 

 Christopher Ferreira, wavered. Exhausted by long 

 continued torments, and by the expectation of still 

 greater ones, he, in a weak hour, was induced to 

 sacrifice to the Japanese gods. But hardly had the 

 news of this deplorable event arrived in Europe, when 

 Jesuits from all the provinces offered themselves as 

 missionaries to Japan, and begged for permission to 

 go there as a favour. Their object was either to 

 bring back Ferreira to the church and the order, or 

 to wash out, with their own blood, the stain of his 

 ignominy. All who were now sent to Japan suffered 

 martyrdom immediately. Ferreira's conscience was 

 soon awakened again : he repented, and went before 

 the magistrates, acknowledging himself a Christian. 

 He was tortured for eight days, in every possible 

 way, and was at last sunk into the Japanese den of 

 death, where, after seven days, death put. an end to 

 his torments mid repentance. In the other hemi- 



sphere, the Jesuits penetrated into the north. The 

 Hurons were civilized, and Canada ceased to be the 

 residence of barbarians only. Others civilized other 

 tribes in the inclement California, and united them 

 into Christian communities.* At the same time, 

 others traversed the regions north of Mexico, inhab- 

 ited by wandering tribes, whom no missionary had 

 ever visited before. Others continued the work of 

 conversion in South America, in Brazil, Paraguay, 

 &c. In this region, where the Spaniards had done 

 nothing but murder and pillage, the Jesuits restored 

 humanity to its rights, and brought the European 

 name once more to honour. Their state, Paraguay, 

 was one of the most beautiful creations in history. 

 Whatever poets and philosophers have fabled of the 

 golden age and the world of innocence, the Jesuits, 

 as Raynal says, realized in a distant zone. Raynal, 

 certainly an unsuspected witness, observes, " Perhaps 

 so much good has never been done to men with so 

 little injury. The people of Paraguay had no civil 

 laws, because they knew of no property ; nor had they 

 criminal ones, because evtiy one was his own accuser, 

 and voluntarily submitted to punishment. Their only 

 laws were the precepts of religion. There was no 

 distinction of stations, and it is the only society on 

 earth where men enjoyed equality. None were idle, 

 or fatigued with labour. The food was equal, in 

 wholesomeness, plenty, and quality, for all the citi- 

 zens ; every one was conveniently lodged, and well 

 clothed ; the aged and the sick, the widows and 

 orphans, were assisted in a manner unknown in other 

 parts of the world. Every one married from choice, 

 and not from interest, and a number of children was 

 considered as a blessing, and could never be burden- 

 some. Debauchery, the necessary consequence of 

 idleness, which equally corrupts the opulent and the 

 poor, never tended to abridge the duration of human 

 life ; nothing served to excite artificial passions, or 

 contradicted those that are regulated by nature and 

 reason. The people enjoyed the advantages of trade, 

 and were not exposed to the contagion of vice and 

 luxury. Plentiful magazines, and a friendly inter- 

 course -between nations united in the bonds of the 

 same religion, were a security against any scarcity 

 that might happen from the inconstancy or inclem- 

 eri(!y o'f the seasons. Public justice had never been 

 reduced to the cruel necessity of condemning a single 

 malefactor to death, to ignominy, or to any punish- 

 ment of long duration; and the very names of taxes 

 and lawsuits those two terrible scourges which 

 everywhere else afflict mankind were unknown.'"' 

 It will not now surprise us, that Montesquieu, in his 

 Esprit des Loix (liv. iv. ch. 6), Buffon, in his Con- 

 templations on the Variety of Human Races, Albert 

 von Haller, in his miscellaneous treatises on several 

 subjects of politics and morals, Robertson, in his 

 classical History of Charles V. and Muratori, men- 

 tion, with enthusiasm, the services of the Jesuits as 

 missionaries. Respecting the service which they 

 have rendered to science, there is almost but one 

 voice. No branch was excluded from their care. In 

 theology, they were distinguished teachers : yet their 

 enemies and they had many, not only among the 

 Protestants, but among the Catholics, and among 

 these latter the most vehement, because of their great 

 privileges, their freedom from the monkish spirit, 

 and their great acquirements have reproached them 

 with maintaining many odious opinions. They are 

 said to have defended the murder of tyrants. No 

 charge could be more false. Even 126 years before 



* The well-knowu barbarous state of the above-mentioned 

 tribe* will lead foe reader to qualify the meaning of the 

 word* civilization and conversion in other parts of the abovt- 

 article. ED. 



