With such an organization at his command, it is clear that the General can rarely be at a loss for agency. Whatever be the required service, it is an easy thing to select the best adapted instrument, and to despatch him without delay.

But to describe their mode of action is almost impossible, for it varies with every circumstance, and is different in every locality.

When they are permitted to locate themselves in any country, their two chief means for the attainment of their object appear to be, education and the confessional. They will then go boldly forth, generally two and two, in the long black cloak, with which I grieve to say our English eye is becoming too familiar. They will publicly found their seminaries and colleges, supplying them with first-rate professors, so securing to themselves the early education of the great majority of the rising generation. It is stated, that in France the colleges and educational establishments have been all turned over to them by the Government of Louis Napoleon. [15]The second, and most influential avowed method of securing influence has always been the confessional. For this, the Jesuit priest is carefully instructed at the time of his profession, and by it he wields, of course, an almost unbounded power. The great aim is to obtain the office of confessor to kings, statesmen, and men of influence; and it is stated, that before their suppression, they had thus secured the ear and conscience of almost every Roman Catholic king in Europe. It is very fearful to contemplate the course of conduct by which this influence has been attained. The confessional is bad enough at all times; but what must be its effect, when the priest is instructed, instead of checking sin, to adapt his treatment to the inclinations and vices of his penitent? But this has always been the charge urged against the Jesuits. Pascal charges them most powerfully with lowering down the maxims of the Gospel, so as to accommodate them to the maxims of the world. He represents the Jesuit priest as saying, “We are forced to allow some liberty, because men are at present so corrupted, that, being unable to make men come to us, we are obliged to go to them. It is to hold them fast, that our casuits have taken into consideration the vices to which a person is most exposed in all stations, so as to establish mild maxims, without affecting truth, with which it would be difficult not to be content.”

The charge of Pascal has been completely verified, by the discovery of the “Secreta Monita,” or private manual of the Jesuit Confessor. Of course the authenticity of this remarkable book has been denied; for the Jesuit, as we shall soon learn, can deny anything; but yet it has been found in so many independent Jesuit institutions, that it is almost impossible to doubt the evidence of its authenticity. In these secret instructions may be found such passages as the following:—“Princes and distinguished persons must by all means be so managed, that they (the Jesuits) may gain their ear, which will easily secure their hearts . . . Since ecclesiastics secure the greatest favour, by winking at the vices of the great, as in the case of incestuous marriages, &c., such persons must be led to hope, that through their aid, a dispensation may be obtained from the Pope, which he will no doubt readily grant,” &c. Again, “Their confessors must allow greater latitude than those of other orders, in order that their penitents, being allured by such freedom, may relinquish others, and entirely depend on their direction and advice.” [17]

By such awful practices have they sought to secure the ear of the great in the confessional; nor can we wonder if a power so gained is used in many cases for the foulest purposes. Duller asserts that the confessions of sovereign princes are at all times communicated to the General, and something nearly approaching to this is directed in the ordinances of the Society, where it is said that “the confessors of princes should consult with their Superiors in doubtful cases,” [18a] a regulation which, of course, enables them to lay anything they please before the General. The use made of the information, when obtained, may be gathered from the “Secreta Monita,” where, amongst other similar passages, it is said, “The Society will contribute much to its own advantage by fomenting and heightening (but with caution and secresy) the animosities that arise amongst princes and great men, in order that they may weaken each other.” [18b] Such are the maxims of this professedly Christian institution, which claims to be pre-eminently devoted to the service of God, and even calls itself the “Society of Jesus.” Is it possible to imagine a more flagrant insult to that holy name by which we live?

But the Jesuit does not depend on any open agency alone: and he is the most dangerous when the long cloak is laid aside, and there is nothing apparent to distinguish him from ordinary men. Then it is that he can secretly worm his way into the confidence of a wholly unsuspecting public. It was stated by Mr. Sheil, in the House of Commons, that there were swarms of Jesuits in England. But who has seen them? and who has been conscious of their presence? It is asserted by different historians, that they even fought in Cromwell’s army; and, in order to gain their object, assumed the garb of rigid Puritans. [19a] Their principles render any such deception probable, as will be seen when we proceed to investigate their morality. It will then appear, that there is nothing in their conscientious scruples to prevent their assuming any character, or personating any principles. Their object is to insinuate themselves amongst their opponents, like the fluid soaking into the flax, and then, when the time is come, to blow up the whole, and split into a thousand shreds the strong and well-compacted fibres. In the pursuit of such ends they appear to be bound by no oaths, and to be regardless of all legislation but their own. They can fight on both sides in the same engagement; some in the army of the Cavaliers, and some under Cromwell amongst the Roundheads. They may sign the Articles, though they do not believe them; and even bear the sacred office of the ministry, although their only object is to betray the Church. One man may empty the parish church by disgusting the people with Romish ceremonial; while his brother breaks up the Dissenting congregation by the artful revival of some forgotten grudge. They can mix with the Anti-State-Church League in a crusade against establishments, and then give their right hand to the exclusive Churchman, and join with him in railing against Dissent. They can stir up the Voluntaries, by exciting their horror against the iniquity of State patronage, and the evil of endowments, while at the same moment they are sneaking down to Downing-street, and there whispering into the ear of the Minister, that it is essential to Ireland’s prosperity that an endowment be voted for Maynooth. In short, wherever there is truth to be assailed or friends to be separated—wherever there is the slightest hope of strengthening the Company, by weakening existing forces or breaking up existing ties—wherever there is a prospect of turning aside an honest man by the insinuating suggestions of a subtle friend,—there is the sphere for the unhallowed agency of Loyola’s disciples. [20]Thus the steps of the Company have always been traceable by the disunion, the intrigues, the plots and counterplots, the factions, and separations which have invariably sprung up under their influence. I am anxious to state nothing that I cannot prove; and, therefore, having made this assertion, I will conclude this portion of the subject by calling one witness, whose testimony will be admitted, at all events, by Romanists. It shall be none other than the infallible head of the infallible Church—none other than the Pope himself. Pope Clement XIV. thought little better of the Jesuits than we do; and on July 21, 1773, he issued a Bull, of which the following passages are extracts:—

“We have seen with the grief of our heart that neither these remedies, nor an infinity of others since employed, have produced their due effects, or silenced the accusations and complaints against the said Society. Our predecessors, Urban VII., Clement IX., &c., &c., employed, without effect, all their efforts to the same purpose. In vain did they endeavour, by salutary constitutions, to restore peace to the Church, as well with respect to secular affairs, with which the Company ought not to have interfered, as with regard to the Missions, which gave rise to great disputes and oppositions, on the part of the Company, with the ordinaries, with other religious Orders, about the holy places and communities of all sorts in Europe, Africa, and America, to the great loss of souls, and great scandal of the people; as, likewise, concerning the meaning and practice of certain idolatrous ceremonies, adopted in certain places in contempt of those justly approved by the Catholic Church; and further, concerning the use and exposition of certain maxims which the Holy See has with reason proscribed, as scandalous and manifestly contrary to good morals; and, lastly, concerning other matters of great importance and prime necessity towards preserving the integrity and purity of the doctrines of the Gospel, from which maxims have resulted very great inconveniences and great detriment, both in our days and in past ages, such as the revolts and intestine troubles in some of the cathedral States, persecutions against the Church, &c. . . .

“After so many storms, troubles, divisions, every good man looked forward with impatience to the happy day which was to restore peace and tranquillity. But under the reign of Clement XIII., the times became more difficult and tempestuous, complaints and quarrels were multiplied on every side, in some places dangerous seditions arose, tumults, discord, dissensions, scandals, which, weakening or entirely breaking the bands of Christian charity, excited the faithful to all the rage of party hatreds and enmities. Desolation and danger grew to such a height, that the very sovereigns whose piety and liberality towards the Company were so well known as to be looked on as hereditary in their families,—we mean our dearly-beloved sons in Christ, the Kings of France, Spain, Portugal, and Sicily,—found themselves reduced to the necessity of expelling and driving from their states, kingdoms, and provinces these very companions of Jesus, persuaded that there remained no other remedy to so great evils, and that this step was necessary in order to prevent the Christians from rising one against another, and from massacring each other in the very bosom of our common mother, the Holy Church.

“Actuated by so many and important considerations, . . . after a mature deliberation, we do, out of our certain knowledge, and the fulness of our apostolic power, suppress and abolish the said Company. We deprive it of all activity whatever, of its houses, schools, colleges, hospitals, lands, and, in short, every other place belonging to the said Company in any manner whatever, in whatsoever kingdom or province they may be situated. We abrogate and annul its statutes, rules, customs, decrees, and constitutions, even though confirmed by oath and approved by the Holy See, or otherwise; we declare all and every kind of authority, the General, the Provincial, the Visitor, and other superiors of the said Society, to be annulled and abolished for ever, of whatsoever nature the said authority may be, as well in things spiritual as temporal,” &c.