strictness with which these rules were enforced, that Francis Borgia, Duke of Candia, afterward one of the saints of the Society, was at first refused admittance into it, because he delayed the settlement of the affairs of his dukedom, and refused to renounce all intercourse with his family; and although, by a special rescript from the Pope, he was enrolled as a member, Ignatius, for three years, sternly denied him access to the house of the community, where he was not admitted, till he had renounced all intercourse with the external world.

But not only is all friendly communication forbidden to the Jesuit, but he is also placed under constant espionage. He is never permitted to walk about alone, but, whether in the house or out of doors, is always accompanied by two of his brothers. Each one of this party of three acts, in fact, as a spy upon his two companions. Not, indeed, that he has special instruction from his Superior to do so, but knowing that they, as well as himself, have been taught that it is their duty to inform the General of every suspicious or peculiar expression uttered in their hearing, he is under constant fear of punishment, should either of them report anything regarding the other which he omits to report likewise. Hence it is very seldom that a Jesuit refrains from denouncing his companion. If he does not do so at once, his sinful neglect becomes revealed in the confessional, to the special confessor appointed by the Superior.

Then, in order that these members, so submissive in action to their General, should not differ in opinion among themselves, and so occasion scandal in the Catholic world, and to oppose a uniformity of doctrine to that of the free examen of the Protestants, the Constitution decrees as follows: "Let all think, let all speak, as far as possible, the same thing,

Let not any reader accuse me of inaccuracy on this point upon the ground that Jesuits actually walk about the streets in this country single, or even in disguise. They must take notice that every rule of the Constitution is this clause "Except the General order otherwise, for the greater glory of God, and the benefit of the Society." It is not "for the greater glory of God, and the benefit of the Society," that the Jesuit, to escape suspicion, should go alone?-that he should be introduced into your family circle as a Protestant gentleman ?-that he should, to gain our unsuspecting confidence, enact the part of your gay companion at theaters, concerts and balls?-that he should converse with you upon religious matters, beginning always by cursing the Pope, etc.?

according to the apostle. Let no contradictory doctrines, therefore, be allowed, either by word of mouth or public sermons, or in written book, which last shall not be published without the approbation and the consent of the General; and indeed, all difference of opinion regarding practical matters should be avoided." Thus, no one but the General can exercise the right of uttering a single original thought or opinion. It is almost impossible to conceive the power, especially in former times, of a General having at his absolute disposal such an amount of intelligences, will and energies.

At a glance how terrible seems this postulate. "No one but the General can exercise the right of uttering a single original thought or opinion." How ludicrous! a man-God!

the infallible mated with the fallible!

The physical bonds of feudalism, of absolute slavery, repulsive as they are, seem the merest silken ties, compared to this monstrous despotism, this double tyranny! What then is left of the man?-surely not the soul! It must then, indeed, be a corpse-" cadaver"-with a fearful realization.

•Const. pars iii, cap. i 18.

CHAPTER XXI.

Insidious cunning of the Jesuits-Death extortions-Robbery and Ruin of their Devotees-Scandalous scenes in the interior-Life of JesuitismLoyola entangled with the "Sisters "-Secret Jesuits.

BUT in no part of the Constitution is the diabolical cunning of the insidious spirit of Loyola more conspicuously exhibited than in the rules he has established concerning what he calls the vow of poverty and gratuitous performance of the duties of the sacred ministry.

The discredit and hatred which weighed upon the clergy and the monastic orders was in great part due to the ostentatious display of their accumulated wealth and to the venality of their sacred ministry. To guard against this evil, Ignatius ordained that "poverty should be loved and maintained as the firmest bulwark of religion." The Jesuit was forbidden to possess any property, either by inheritance or otherwise. He was required to live in an inexpensive house, to dress plainly, and avoid all appearance of being wealthy. The churches and religious houses of the order were to be without endowments. The colleges alone were permitted to accept legacies or donations for the maintenance of students and professors. No limit was assigned to these gifts, the management of which was intrusted entirely to the General, with power to appoint rectors and administrators under him. These functionaries, generally chosen from among the coadjutors, and very rarely from the professed Society, although debarred by their vow of perpetual poverty from the possession of the smallest amount of property, are yet, by this ingenious trick, enabled to hold and administer the entire wealth of the Society. We shall afterward see, and especially

in the famous process of Lavallette, in what a large sense they understood the word administer. So much for the display of wealth. With respect to the venality of the sacred ministry, they declared that no Jesuit shall demand or receive pay, or alms, or remuneration for mass, confessions, sermons, lessons, visitations, or any other duty which the Society is obliged to render, and to avoid even the appearance of covetousness, especially in offices of piety which the Society discharges for the succour of souls, let there be no box in the church, into which alms are generally put by those who go thither to mass, sermon, confession, etc. Thus the Jesuit refuses to accept a few paltry sixpences for performing mass, or a fee of some shillings per quarter for teaching boys. He disdains to appear mercenary. He would much rather be poor. He looks for no reward. Yet those little boys whom he instructs gratuitously and with such affectionate tenderness that he cannot bring himself to chastise them, but must have the painful though necessary duty performed by some one not belonging to the Society; these boys, I say, will become men, many of them religious bigots, strongly attached to their kind preceptors, to whom they will then pay the debt of gratitude incurred in their youth.

Alas for such gratitude! How many families have had cause to deplore it! How many children have been reduced to beggary by it! How many ancient and noble houses has it precipitated from the hight of affluence and splendor into the depth of poverty and wretchedness! Who can number the crimes committed in the madness of despair occasioned by the loss of the family inheritance! That the parent may suffer a few years less of purgatory, the child has been too often condemned to misery in this life, and perhaps to eternal punishment in the next. But all this is of no consequence. The man who has been led thus to disregard one of his most sacred parental duties, in order to found a Jesuits' College or endow a professorship, will be saved, because they promise him: "In every college of our Society let masses be celebrated once a week forever, for its founder and benefactor, whether dead or alive. At the beginning of every month, all the priests who are in the college, ought to offer the same sacri

• Const. pars iv, cap. 1, § 1, 6.

fice for them; and a solemn mass, with a commemorative feast, shall be celebrated on the anniversary of the donation, and a wax candle offered to the donor or his descendants." Beside this, "the donor shall have three masses while alive, and three masses after his death, by all the priests of the Society, with the prayers of all its members; so that he is made partaker of all the good works which are done, by the grace of God, not only in the college which he has endowed, but in the whole Society."

By such allurements do these crafty priests, with diabolical cunning, snatch princely fortunes from the credulous and superstitious believers. And so assiduous and successful were they, even at the very beginning, that, only thirteen years after the establishment of the Order, during Loyola's lifetime, they already possessed upward of a hundred colleges, very largely and richly endowed.

Now, let not my Protestant readers wonder how sensible men can be induced, by such ephemeral and ill-founded hopes, to disinherit their families to enrich these hypocritical monks. They must remember that the Romish believer views these matters in quite a different light from that in which they see them. Masses and prayers are, in his belief, not only useful, but indispensable. For lack of them he would writhe for centuries amid the tormenting fires of purgatory, the purifying pains of which are described by his priest, with appalling eloquence, as being far more excruciating than those of hell. According to the doctrine of his Church, every soul (one in a million only excepted) who is not eternally damned, must, ere it enter heaven, pass a certain time in this abode of torture for the expiation of its sins. And let him not take comfort from the fact that his conscience does not reproach him with the commission of any heinous crime. The catalogue of sins by which he may be shut out from eternal blessedness is made fearfully long, and detailed with great minuteness. The most upright and pious of men must condemn himself as a presumptuous sinner, if he for an instant harbors the hope of escaping the purifying fire. So he becomes quite resigned to his fate, and all his care in this life is, how to appease the Divine anger and shorten the period of

Const. pars iv, cap. 16, § 3.