number, will show the extent of their Papal obedience. Clement VIII, was very anxious for the reform of the Institute, both as respected its false doctrine and its despotic government. The doctrine of the Jesuit Molina was a source of considerable disquietude to him. In order to deter him from condemning their mischievous doctrines, they maintained the following proposition in Spain as a Thesis. 'It is not proved that such and such a Pope, for instance Clement VIII, is a lawful Pope.' The restless spirit of intrigue evinced by the Jesuits, and the disturbances which they excited in all parts, induced this Pope to declare that he was so exhausted and disgusted by their perverse conduct, that he feared he should lose his mind. Paul V., renewed the affair of the Jesuit Molina. The General in the name of the whole company, carried his effrontery so far, as to present a most offensive memorial to the Pope, the object of which was at once to insult and to intimidate him. 'If your holiness, (said he to him) put this affront upon the society, (namely, the condemnation of its pernicious doctrine,) I will not answer that ten thousand Jesuits will not take up their pens to attack your Bull by writings injurious to the Holy See." Urban VIII., issued strict prohibitions to the Jesuit Missionaries, not to engage in commerce, to which they were so far from submitting, that they obliged Clement IX, Clement X, and Clement XI, to renew the same laws, and with precisely the same success. Urban VIII. might as well have kept his Bull to himself. The Jesuits so long as they exist, will be merchants and traders in spite of him. But this Society, bound by no human laws, will at least yield submission to the law of God. Doubtless-but then it must be interpreted by Jesuit casuists, and in their hands there will be no dan

ger of its interfering with the projects of the society. On the contrary it will give them the fullest liberty to break any oath they may have made, contrary to that all-governing principle, the greater benefit of the Society; and to kill any man who shall have dared to calumniate it. But we must defer for the present the consideration of their morality, suffice it to say, it contributed not a little to the success of their ambitious projects, for it was of a character so extremely convenient to corrupt members of the higher classes, whose favour was necessary to the society, that these for the peace of their consciences, found nothing so effectual as to secure the service of a Jesuit confessor.

Wealth has been called the sinews of empire; it was, therefore, clearly necessary that the order of Jesuits should be wealthy, how otherwise could they support armies, distribute large sums amongst the conclave of Cardinals a system notoriously pursued by themconciliate political powers, purchase friends, silence enemies, and influence suffrages. On the other hand, poverty has a moral influence, which might be turned to the best account, and must not be lost. To combine the advantages of the two, required all the subtlety of the Jesuit Institute; nor is it easy in a short sketch to exhibit its chicanery. The Jesuits were divided into four classes; the Novices, or first class, remaining, after they had finished their probation and taken the vows, as Jesuits indeterminate, till it should please the General to signify in which of the three following classes they should be placed. Their vows bound them to poverty; but, by a mental reservation, only implied, that they should be willing to resign their inheritance when the General saw fit; they might retain it, and even succeed to all the property of their relatives, until

they became coadjutors or professors of all four vows. This, of course, the General, in whose power alone it rested, took care they should not do, while they had any hopes of inheritance. With regard to the revenues of their estates, they are taught to dispose of nothing as their own absolute property, and only to act as becomes the religious, an expression not difficult to understand. The second class are the scholars. The colleges of the Society are ostensibly the proprietors of its enormous riches. The coadjutors and the professors of all the vows, who complete the third and fourth classes, must be poor, absolutely poor; they may receive nothing for the religious services they perform; they may enjoy no revenues; they are bound individually and collectively to depend on God alone for subsistence, in full confidence that he will find means, notwithstanding this want of all resources to provide for them. They can appropriate no part of the revenues of the colleges to their own use. How touching and edifying this example of humility! what pious Romanist can resist its influence ?-The colleges are differently circumstanced; they are houses of learning, and require endowment-endowment on a liberal scale, the richest benefices, the largest legacies. But now comes the inquiry; how do these poor professed Jesuits live, and live too so richly, for, they are never seen to beg; and we shall not suspect that their supplies fall direct from heaven? Oh, no! this is not needful; for, though the professed Jesuits can derive no assistance from the funds of the colleges, yet those funds may be applied to the wants of those of them who may be useful to the Colleges: that is, in point of fact, to one and all. Although they cannot receive any alms for their masses, confessions, preaching, or other duties; yet, when they are given, they do receive them, upon

condition, that, in so doing, they shall exercise a mental reservation, by which they shall receive them as alms in general, and not as alms applicable to those services. So much for these imaginary paupers. The Society also takes good care that, when they despoil themselves, on entering their classes, of their possessions, it shall be in her favour; the Constitutions enjoin the Jesuit to confer on this subject with one, two, or three persons, who must be Jesuits, unless the Superior should decide otherwise, and to execute blindly whatever they may judge most perfect, and most pleasing to God. Should any unexpected circumstance arise, by which a Jesuit would become heir to a property, after he has taken all the vows, the Constitutions provide for such a case: he cannot succeed as a Jesuit; but, the General has full power to dismiss any Jesuit, and release him from all his vows then, of course, he may succeed to the property, and afterwards return, enriched with spoil to the bosom of the Society.*

The missions of the Society, carried on in the richest countries in the world, and almost always the cover of an extensive commerce, pursued as we have seen in spite of all Papal prohibition, furnished a most abundant source of wealth. In their empire of Paraguay, under pretence of making the native Indians imitate the primitive church of Jerusalem in its vow of poverty, they enriched themselves by the incessant labours of from five to six hundred thousand of these religious slaves.

One thing only seems wanting to consolidate the gigantic power of this Order; namely, that it should be

* See the cases of Grebert and Count Gain, given vol. ii. p. 23, in a "History of the Jesuits, with a reply to Mr. Dallas's Defence to that Order,' a work which we have made constant use in preparing these papers.

concentrated under one head, that thus the most complete unity may be given to its counsels. This was accomplished by the despotic power entrusted to the General. Ignatius, in his letter addressed to his associates, 1553, on the subject of obedience, commands that ' every order of a Superior, without distinction, shall be regarded as a divine precept; which shall be obeyed without any discussion, and with the same blind prostration of the whole will, as is required in believing whatever the Catholic faith teaches, and as Abraham evinced in sacrificing his son Isaac.' 'We consider, (observe the Constitutions,) that to enable the Superiors to have a thorough knowledge of our subjects, is an admirable method for their good government. The more certain and perfect is the information which they acquire, the better will be their administration. It is, therefore, of primary and indispensable importance, that the General should have a complete cognizance of the propensities and dispositions of those whom he governs, that he should know the vices to which they are prone, and the sins to which they may formerly have been, or may yet continue to be subjected: he will thus be in a condition to regulate them better-to spare them such labours as are beyond their powers; and, above all, to take such measures, and issue such orders, as may best harmonize with the interests of the whole body. In general (it is added), the true way of cementing union, and securing the attachment of Inferiors, is to render them dependent on their Superiors in all things.' The Institute has completely realised this system of policy. The word of the General is absolute law: the administration of all the revenues is subject to his control : he can send a Jesuit to any part of the globe; he can dismiss them from the Society, without assigning any cause ;