A Curious Correspondence.

they did much to civilise the Indian tribes . The means they employed , however , were often more than questionable . The Fathers did not scruple , in many instances , to avail themselves of intrigue , deceit , and violence to secure converts . The Inquisition , for example , performed its cruel work . Priests , like Nobili , pandered to native suijerstition by permitting the retention of

idolatrous practices and beliefs . Internal dissension and civil war were stirred up by others , in order to profit by political changes . It can , therefore , be hardly surprising , that such wholesale conversions were either onl y transitory , or , if permanent , were , for the most part , superficial . The Society , also , filled its coffers by carrying on an extensive trade in colonial produce under cover of its numerous missions . Such enterprises could not fail to affect its character

unfavourably ; ancl , in the end , were productive of disaster . The Jesuit Order has shown characteristic astuteness in its endeavours to secure its influence over the masses and the rising generation . It attracted the people by enhancing the splendours of ecclesiastical Ceremonial . It stimulated their superstition by encouraging the veneration of saintly relics and the observance of fasts , and in organizing processions and pilgrimages to holy p laces . It ensured their active co-operation by the establishment of lay religious Societies of both sexes . It neglected no means calculated to fan their fanatical hatred of heretics . It founded schools for the young , where a useful

education was imparted gratuitously by able ancl competent teachers . The progress of Modern Thought in the Universities was combated by establishing Colleges for the study of Catholic Theology , by enforcing the Papal prohibition of all scientific works containing views opposed to those of Rome , and by issuing carefully-planned text-books of its own . Its power , also , was vastly increased by the aid of the Confessional . Every care was taken not to drive out the sinner from the Catholic pale . To himthe yoke of Christ was made

, as light as possible . His sin , as we have seen , was either entirely explained away , or reduced to the smallest dimensions . The penitent was never expected to probe his conscience very deeply . He was not required to confess a sin , if from " invincible ignorance , " he did not deem it one ; nor if he feared to vex the priest , or injure his own reputation or that of a co-sinner . To meet all eases , the most minute instructions were laid down for the guidance of the

Father Confessor . One need onl y refer to the work by Sanchez , entitled " De Sacramanto Matrimoni " to learn their utterl y repulsive nature . According to Macaulay : —The priest was all things to all men .... So strangel y were good ancl evil intermixed in the character of these celebrated brethren , and the intermixture was the secret of their gigantic power . That power could never have belonged to mere hypocrites . It could never have belonged to ri gid moralists . It was to be attained onl y by men sincerel y enthusiastic in the pursuit of a great end , and , at the same time , unscrupulous as to the choice of means . "

The extraordinary power and privileges enjoyed by the Society early aroused the bitter jealousy , not only of the monastic orders , but also of the bishops , the clergy , and the universities . Being originally excluded b y their rules from rank and office in the Church , its members sought compensation in appointments as confessors to kings ancl nobles , and thus obtained immense political influence . Their incessant interference in politics naturally excited amongst the rulers and statesmen of Europe feelings of the growing enmit y and alarm

. Everywhere they fostered and directed the spirit of persecution , t yranny , treason , and rebellion , which distinguished the Catholic Reaction . The active part they took in the political , intellectual , and religious struggles of modern Europe can onl y be briefly referred to here . In France , they were the prime movers in the Wars of the League , The Massacre of St . Bartholomew , the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes , and the persecution of the Huguenots were prompted and approved of b y them . They were morally responsible for the murder of Henry III . by Jacques Clement , for the attempted murder of