girded his anathema with the declaration of yon stern and eloquent oracle of modern Papism, de la Mennais, who has observed, "that it could never enter into his head to affirm, that the Jesuits' institution in our days is unspotted by incurable vices, or reconcileable with the actual state of society, or the wants of the present day."

Out of the mouths of their co-religionists have we, in these few words, stamped the character of a society, which catholic France has fostered to the undoing of its credulous prince, and to which protestant England holds out the right hand of its fellowship!† Do we need further enlightenment?-Let us seek it, and learn what they are by the book of their own legislation. The "Instituta Societatis Jesu" shall be our primer; for there is no other source from which we may derive so notable a sample of auto-portraiture. "Ignatius, the founder of the order, has given the preference to the monarchical form for the administration of the society; accordingly, all power centres in the will of one chief-the general of the order. Though he may assign his authority to other members of the association for certain purposes, nevertheless he possesses the right, in respect of any act they have done by virtue of such delegation, either to ratify that act, or wholly to revoke it. The individual members of the order shall not only yield unconditional obedience to the general in whatever concerns it, but shall acknowledge and dutifully honour Christ as present in his person. (!) They are to receive that, which the general commands, as the will and dictate of God, and to execute that which he directs, blindly, uninquiringly, and with unflinching submissiveness. They are to feel assured that, in obeying their superior, they are ruled by the Divine Providence through the instrumentality of their chief, as if they were a caput mortuum, which is turned and moved about, hither and thither, as the will of the mover chooseth. Not only in that which they do, but in whatever they will or think, the members of the society shall render unswerving obedience to the general; by suppressing in their hearts whatever sentiment or judgment may be at variance with the will of their superior, and living in the conviction, that whatever he wills or commands, is fitting and just."

After this brief specimen of the spirit in which this sect has been conceived, it is almost superfluous to ask, whether it be possible for any society to exist which can be more dangerous to the peace and well-being of the community that receives it into its bosom? To allege, that this spirit has been modified by time and circumstance, is to foist a hollow pretext upon vulgar credulity, which one single fact shall abundantly expose. It is scarcely a twelvemonth since Rootham, who is currently said to have been a Protestant in earlier years, was elected general-superior of this order: and what was the first public act of his accession to its sovereignty? On the 14th of April, 1829, he promulgated an edict, commanding his minions "to make a return of all heretics, and of all individuals, suspected even of heresy, and prohibit the holding communion with Jews, or the eating

At this time (1829) the Jesuits possessed 1538 colleges, and the avowed brethren of their order were in number 22,500.

Few readers will suspect how many of this fraternity live, and move, and have their reprobate being, at our own doors. The analysis of a Parliamentary Return, in which they occupy the vantage ground, is therefore submitted for the Christian's investigation at the close of this article.

with them, or the maintaining or educating of their children!" For our own parts, until proof be adduced of the degree and quality of the reform which these, our times of change, have introduced into the animus of Jesuitism, we shall obstinately hold faith with its own soldiers, and class its institutes with the laws of the Medes and Persians.

Before we quit the subject, however, we must be allowed to advert to a discovery, in the importance of which both friend and foe are equally interested. It is well known, that the "monita secreta," or "secret instructions for the Jesuits," have, until this moment, been universally rejected, as a satire of the basest order on their society, whose members have not failed in every diligent endeavour outwardly to repudiate them. And with good reason, seeing the machiavelic genius which presides over every line in this detestable code, and of which we must here content ourselves with quoting a specimen or two by way of illustration. In domestic affairs, for instance, care is recommended "to remove such servants particularly as do not keep a good understanding with the society; but let this be done, little by little; and when we have succeeded in working them out, let such be recommended as already are, or willingly would become, our creatures; thus shall we dive into every secret, and participate in every affair transacted in the family." And again,-" Should there be an only son, let no means be omitted to bring him over to the society, and free him from all fear of his parents; let him be persuaded that it is a call from above, and shewn how acceptable a sacrifice it would be to GOD (!!!) should he desert his parents without their knowledge or consent." And when the sufferer is stretched on the bed of sickness, what is the conduct enjoined to the ghostly visitor? "At this time it may be advisable to move him by apprehensions of hell, or at least of purgatory; and to tell him, that, as fire is quenched by water, so sin is extinguished by acts of charity; and that alms can never be so well bestowed as for the nourishment and support of those who by their calling profess a desire to promote the salvation of their neighbour." No wonder, that the adherents of a society thus nurtured to pursue the most atrocious of careers, should have evinced, at all times, the most extraordinary anxiety to have these instructions accepted as spurious and calumnious. And so they have universally been regarded. "But here" (we use the very words of a Catholic writer*) are facts which dissipate all uncertainty on this point. At the suppression of the order in the Low Countries, in 1773, there were found in one of its houses, the college of Ruremonde, (for in every other spot they were carefully destroyed at the first intelligence of the bull fulminated by Clement the Fourteenth,) documents of a most important and confidential nature; such as the correspondence between the general and the provincial fathers, and those directions with which they alone could be made acquainted. Among these papers were the Monita Secreta. A translation of them was made by order of the government, under the care of de Berg, the deputy attorney-general of Brabant; it is extant among the archives of the kingdom, and I dare assure the reader that it does not differ, in any essential respect, from that which has been published." S.

66

"Analectes Belgiques," par Gachard, deputy conservator of the National Archives at Brussels. No. 1, for February, 1830.

Abstract of Return of Members of Religious Orders; laid before the

House of Commons, 14th June, 1830.

Independently of the preceding "members of religious orders," who have come forward to register themselves under the act 10 Geo. IV. c. 7, there is a class of laymen, who evidently profess their vows to be "monastic or religious," by seeking to be registered; these are the "brothers of the Christian schools," of whom there are in Lancaster 6, and Middlesex 9; in Clare 4, Cork 8, Dublin 16, Limerick 4, Tipperary 6, and Waterford 8: forming a total of 55.

We had always considered the sisters of monastic communities to be "members of religious orders" under the Papal dispensations; but either they have seen fit to rely upon the mercy of the ruling powers in England, or else they do not account themselves to come within the meaning of the act. If otherwise, they have failed to comply with it.

With respect to the return before us, we will simply ask the reader, what is his opinion of a Protestant government which has permitted the existence, in this Protestant land, of 176 members of an association, whose object has been shewn, by the anathemas of their own church and princes, as well as the text book of their community, to be destructive of domestic peace and virtue, and subversive of social order and public morals? We refer him to the able tract, "The Expiring Viper," which was appended to our number for March, 1829, and should be reprinted, for a further exposure of these artful men.*

THE LONDON UNIVERSITY AND ITS CHARTER.

To the Right Honourable Earl Grey, First Lord of the Treasury, &c. &c. MY LORD,-Having been, from the first moment I could comprehend the meaning of the term statesman, an attentive observer of your Lordship's public life, and, though rarely coinciding with your Lordship's opinion on public matters, or views of national policy, yet, nevertheless, observing with great respect and admiration the high integrity, the manly consistency, the open and noble line of conduct which have marked your Lordship's political career, your Lordship will readily believe that, in thus venturing to obtrude my opinion through the medium of the public press, I am actuated by no feeling inconsistent with that esteem with which all men who have any sense of religion or honour regard conscientious and veracious dealing, whether in political opponent or ally. I address your Lordship as a man of religious impressions, patriotic wishes, and most responsible station; as a man rather regarding the authority of an argument than that of its propounder; and with whom even myself will be sure of a favourable consideration, if I succeed in making out a case deserving deliberate reflection.

This premised, I would most respectfully call your Lordship's attention to the endeavour which the Council of the London University are now making to obtain from government a formal recognition of their incongruous and mischievous establishment. Such, I will

* We are informed, and that upon no slight authority, that a society of Jesuits is forming, or formed, very near to the metropolis; will any of our readers tell us the precise spot?

call it; for such, before I repose my pen, I shall endeavour to demonstrate it. I think it of little comparative consequence how far the recognition goes. At present it is only a private company, trading in education; give it the form of an incorporation, and its influence is incalculably magnified

Parva quidem primò; mox sese attollit in auras,

Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.

It is surely, therefore, I would respectfully represent, a case demanding the most mature consideration, whether his Majesty shall be recommended to take a step in so influential an affair.

The London University (as it is called) was the first spectacle in England of an establishment professing to embrace the education of youth to the exclusion of religion. The legislature has, for some time, recognized the College of Maynooth; but here Christianity was still taught, however overlaid with fraud, sophistry, and superstition. To your Lordship, a churchman, I might reasonably urge the inconsistency of expending the public money in the furtherance of dissenting objects of any kind, and the natural distrust with which an Established Church would view a ministry thus disregardful of her interests reposed in them; but, not being too abundantly provided with leisure at present, I will prefer to stand only on a more elevated ground-the general ground of religion. I would even scarcely rest the question on Christianity. I insist on the political danger of any establishment for purposes of education, where the recognition of a Superior Power, and of his moral relation to mankind, is not supreme; of course I insist more emphatically on the duty of a government utterly to discountenance all modes of instruction which exclude such subjects, and leave the human mind in utter ignorance that there exists a GOD. Some governments have disavowed all interference with religion, as such; but no government has declined to interfere with MORALS. The morality of a people is, indeed, a primary object of good government. "The good of the governed," so often stated to be the "end of all government," is only compatible with a sense of moral obligation. Take this away, and you take away not only happiness, but order, which is the very essence of civil society. You cannot exterminate, you cannot decimate : when immorality is the law of the heart, it will be in vain to talk of the law of the land. Nay, the laws themselves must be relaxed in obedience to the law which makes them, and at whose bidding they fluctuate, THE LAW OF PUBLIC OPINION. Vice will triumph unrestrained the few remaining outworks of social order will be speedily carried-and the body politic dismembered altogether. Now, my Lord, however tender legislators may have commonly felt of interfering with men's religion, they have rarely forgotten its connexion with MORALS. The French National Assembly did forget it; the consequences we know. They severed the bond of religion from morality, and sent men for instruction to their "Reason," who laid them in adoration at the feet of a prostitute, and made France one great Aceldama. Even allowing, for argument sake, that laws would stand where opinion did not, experience shews that penalties, however severe, have a very disproportionate influence to

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