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.
CHAPTER III.
THE CONNECTING TIE.
Such being the organization and plan of action of this mysterious Society, the next subject for inquiry is, the connecting principle of its vast machinery. This may be briefly stated to be, unhesitating and blind obedience to the authority of the General or his subordinates. To impregnate the mind with this one principle of obedience, appears to be the leading object of Jesuit education. One of the learned Jesuits with whom the Rev. H. Seymour conversed at Rome, stated that their “great and cardinal principle was, that obedience was the greatest Christian duty, and humility the highest Christian virtue, and that this principle was the grand element of their power.” He added, moreover, that it was “so deeply fixed and rooted, that it were as hard to uproot it as to uproot the belief of a God, or of religion.” [24] Accordingly, when a novice is a candidate for admission, he has to undergo six methods of probation, some of which can have no other purpose than effectually to try the completeness of his surrender. He must first pass through the spiritual exercises to be described hereafter; he must next spend a month in a hospital, or amongst any other sick to whom he may be appointed. The third trial is, that he should set out destitute of money, for a whole month, to beg his bread from door to door. The fourth, that on his return to the house he should there execute the most menial and abject offices. The fifth, that he should employ himself for a time in the instruction of the young or ignorant. And the sixth, that, if thus approved, he should act for a time as preacher or confessor. [25] Now, it is obvious that of these trials the third and fourth can have no other object than to break down all respect for private will and judgment, and to test the extent to which the unfortunate victim will submit his soul to the will of his wily captors. There is no moral or religious end to be thus accomplished; the common footboy would clean shoes better than the accomplished historian or philosopher; and it is quite impossible to imagine any other motive for imposing such tasks upon the novices, (many of whom are accomplished gentlemen, and some, I fear, once clergymen from our own Church and universities,) than the desire utterly to crush them at the outset of their career, to eradicate all individuality of will and judgment, and to bring them out from the preparatory process prepared to act out the will of their Superior, though his requirements may be revolting to their taste, repugnant to their judgment, and in direct violation to their conscientious conviction of right and wrong.
Thus, e.g., when the novice has returned from his month of mendicancy, to discharge the menial offices of the establishment, there is provision made in the printed documents of the Order, that the nauseous dose shall take full effect upon the constitution; for as it would be very natural that, when the cook should find some man of rank and learning appointed to his kitchen as the scullion, he should show towards him some small measure of respectful courtesy, the rule of the Examen has expressly directed to the contrary. “It were better,” it says, “that the cook should avoid a softened style of request towards the novice; let him rather, with modesty, command him to do this or that. For if he speaks as a request, it is then a man addressing a man; thus it will be a cook—a layman, asking a priest to wash an earthen pot, or to do anything of this kind, which would seem neither decent nor proper. Whereas if he uses the style of command,—‘Do this,’—‘Do that,’—then it is at once understood that he speaks as in the name and person of Christ: it is not the voice of the cook that is heard, nor even that of the Superior, but of the Lord.” [26]
When a man has once submitted to such a process, there is no difficulty in perceiving that he must come out from it an abject slave. Once convinced that he is to regard the order of the cook as the voice of the Lord, he is obviously prepared to receive the directions of the General as the expressions of the same Divine and holy will. Thus Loyola, in his letter on Obedience, addressed to the Portuguese houses, in the year 1553, and only three years before his death, says, “I would that every true and genuine son of the Society should be known by this very mark, that he looks not to the person to whom he yields obedience, but that he sees in him the Lord Christ, for whose sake that obedience is rendered.” A moment’s glance at such a passage shows clearly that the obedience due to a perfect, spotless, and unchangeable Redeemer, is transferred, without qualification, to an imperfect, short-sighted, and fallible Superior. The Superior “sits in the temple and shows himself as God.” Accordingly, in the same letter he adds, “Obedience is to be rendered to the Superior, not on account of his wisdom, goodness, or any other such-like qualities with which he may be endowed, but solely because he is in God’s place, and wields the authority of Him who says, ‘They that hear you, &c.’” [27]