It may assist us, at this stage of our inquiry, to ask, What is meant by the term "great men?" and in what their greatness consists ? Men who are distinguished by the amount of their wealth, or the exaltedness of their social position, are sometimes designated great; but surely it cannot be to such that our question relates; but if it does, the millionaires and autocrats of the present day throw into the shade "Touchstone's" "notables" of the past. By "great men" may be meant men distinguished by the massiveness of their learning, the profundity of their knowledge, or the extent of their abilities; but surely it cannot be maintained that an age of general intellectual culture is unfavourable to the development of such men as these. That which fosters intellectual culture in the multitude cannot impede it in the few. There is another class of men to whom the term great may be applied-and this by the common consent of mankind-I mean those mighty geniuses who occasionally cross our horizon with comet-like splendour, gaining the attention and admiration of all. These men no age can be said to develop; they are God's nobility, who come to us fresh from the hand of their Creator, to dazzle us with their brilliancy, and awe by their amazing powers. If an age of general intelligence is not favourable to the development of such men, surely an age of ignorance or barbarism cannot be ! There is yet another order of men to whom the term great may certainly be applied, because they excel in the worth of the moral 'characters, and in the extent and purity of their christian and philanthropic zeal. None of our readers will, we feel sure, dispute the honour we claim for these moral heroes, because thoughtful men have ever been the first to do them homage. Sir William Jones has well said,-"If I am asked who is the greatest man? I answer, the best; and if I am required to say who is the best? I reply, that he who has deserved most at his fellow-creatures. Whether we deserve better of mankind by the cultivation of letters, by obscure and inglorious attainments, by intellectual pursuits calculated rather to amuse than inform, than by strenuous exertions in speaking and acting, let those consider who bury themselves in studies unproductive of any benefit to their country or fellow-citizens. I think not"-and so think we. That an age like our own is unfavourable to the production of such men, few will assert. The question may, however, again present itself, How is it that so few men in modern time attain to the apparent greatness of some of the ancients? The remarks of our friend "Raphael" suggest the only correct answer, in which he says, "The respect which real merit at all times commands, is raised by antiquity into veneration, and the faults and shortcomings which qualify the esteem of contemporaries are suffered to sink into oblivion, and form no, or at least a very slightly esteemed, element in the judgment of posterity." It has been ever thus, for as Campbell has declared, ""Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." But there is another circumstance which is worthy of consideration. There are certain states of the atmosphere which always alter our estimate of the size of objects. How much larger, for instance, the sun appears when rising or setting in a fog, than when he has attained his meridian splendour in a clear blue sky. It is even so with our great men; in an age of darkness their light appears unusually brilliant, and among a race of dwarfs, any tall fellow looks of gigantic proportions. Milton well understood this when he said, "Our greatness will appear Then most conspicuous, when great things of small, We can create, and in what place soe'er Thrive under evils, and work ease out of pain; There is only one other reason in favour of the negative of this question which we will state, or, rather, re-state, as "Raphael" has mentioned it in his excellent anticipatory article; and it is this,if any condition of society is more favourable to the development of great men than a condition of general intellectual culture, seeing that all other conditions may be found in various parts of the globe, even to real barbarism and very cannibalism, how is it that our friends on the opposite side do not fix upon some country in which that proportion of ignorance and intelligence exists which is preeminently favourable to the development of greatness, and cite the men of that country as unanswerable evidences of the correctness of their views? But as the debate is yet in its early stages, perhaps they will do this before it is brought to a close; and, in the meantime, we shall with great interest for this wait and watch. History. J. M. S. IS THE CHARACTER OF IGNATIUS LOYOLA WORTHY OF ADMIRATION AND RESPECT? AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-II. "CANONIZATION shuts the door against authentic history," says a modern writer. To an assertion so sweeping we may with reason demur; but yet it is true that great difficulty lies in the way of obtaining reliable materials for an impartial estimate of the character and labours either of a reputed saint, or of a pre-eminently bad man. And if this be the case with regard to an average saint (no disrespect to any one in particular being meant), how much more will it not apply to the heroic man who, either personally and by his disciples, led such a reaction of opinion, as not only stayed the floodtide of nominal Protestantism, but rolled it backwards from the countries it had submerged? On the one side we find extravagant and unreasonable eulogies; and on the other side abuse, almost as extravagant and unreasonable. To those of his own creed, and to the followers of his system, Ignatius Loyola shines as a star, his glory eclipsing many of the real saints of old; and to Protestants, more especially to those of his own time, he seems an emissary of Satan, sent forth specially to hinder the holy work of the purifying of God's temple. At this distance of time, and especially in a magazine like the British Controversialist, devoted to free thought, we should be able, impartially and candidly, to discuss the character and estimate the works of this great man, free from those prejudices born in our fathers, by fears of Jesuitism, often just and reasonable, but such as can in modern days only linger in the minds of those poor souls who are afraid to air their theology or their faith, lest too rude a breath might cause its gossamery film to disappear,-who tremble at inquiry, and shudder at debate. 66 We premise that we do not intend to treat of Loyala's Institution, "The Company of Jesus," any further than is strictly needful for the discussion of our thesis, and the establishment of our opinions, That the character of Loyola is worthy of admiration and respect." And this for two reasons. I. Because, as will be shown, Loyola's associates in the foundation of the Company, and his immediate successors in its chief councils, had a very large share, not only in the development of its peculiar principles, but in the determination of the practical bearing of the same. II. Because a man's character and aim may be, and often is, a matter distinct from the ultimate beneficence (or the reverse) of his work. We are aware that the latter proposition may be disputed, but we cannot now stay to defend it. Our object in penning this paragraph is to disabuse (if needful) our readers or opponents of any idea that, in defending the character of Loyola, we for a moment approved of Jesuitism. Shades of honesty and free discussion, forbid ! Permit us to occupy your attention for a few moments with a summary of the main points in Loyola's life, which we have endeavoured to pen as correctly and impartially as possible. Loyola was born in 1491, in Spain, of noble parents; thus in an age and in a country pre-eminently favourable to aristocratic notions of the importance and distinction conferred by blue blood. He became court page to Ferdinand and Isabella, and afterwards courtier and soldier, distinguished among his many companions and rivals (so we are told) only by sobriety of demeanour, truthfulness, sagacity in apprehending other men's minds, and tact in bending them to his service, similar to that so wonderfully displayed in later years. Of literary accomplishments he had none, and his knowledge of literature consisted only of knightly romances, saints' lives, and the gospels, probably through the medium of a fiction book. We can easily imagine what day-dreams of honour, love, and renown flitted through the brain of this young Spanish noble, brave and accomplished as a soldier, and dexterous as a courtier, accustomed to move in the highest circles of Christendom. But whatever they may have been, a wound received at the siege of Pampeluna when 29 years of age rudely put them aside, and stretched him, helpless, on a couch of agony. When almost at the point of death, his excited imagination lead him to believe in the miraculous intervention of the Prince of the Apostles." Peter's cure was, however, less complete than those wrought by him in the flesh, for his patient only recovered after many weary months of inaction and suffering, and, in fact, he never regained the proper use of his damaged limbs. 66 A great change passed over Loyola during the months of his convalescence. The miracle of grace exhibited (as he doubted not) towards him, and an acquaintance with religious works, had led him to instal the infinite, unseen, and eternal, in the place of the mortal, the visible, and perishable. How much of the change was due to his deformity, and its effect in disqualifying him, in a large measure, from shining in his previous pursuits, we can never know; we only know that a great change had passed over his mind, and that, in soldier's phrase, he had "faced about." At this period his chief literary work, the "Spiritual Exercises," was composed. In 1522,-that memorable year for the German Reformation,-Loyola, by a formal act, devoted himself, body and soul, to the service of the "Blessed Mother of God." In the course of an arduous and fruitless pilgrimage to the Holy Land, intended as the first step towards the realization of a vast project of converting to Christianity the nations of the East, a large and settled purpose must have developed itself in his mind, for at thirty years of age we find him at Montmartre submitting to the drudgery of acquiring those elements of learning with which he had formed no acquaintance in his boyhood. If we may believe one half only of that which is related by his disciples, the humiliations he underwent, and the assiduity he displayed at this period, prove a wonderful strength both of purpose and mind. When his course of theological study in the University of Paris was drawing to a close, he began to cast about for some who should be his coadjutors and companions in a grand scheme for reforming the Catholic world. Without a doubt Loyola possessed in an eminent degree the rare power of attracting to and retaining in his service minds of superior strength and varied accomplishments. Peter Faber, Francis Xavier, James Laynez, Alphonso Salmeron, and others, men superior to Loyola in many points and most gifts, were content to be controlled by, and to lose all individuality in, him. From this time we can trace no farther Loyola's individual mind as the mainspring of the Society. These great men by whom he was surrounded bent all the forces of their minds to the advancement of the cause, without any conditions as to a share of the fame, or any visible influence. On August 15, 1634, memorable also as "the date of the rise of 1863. I a Protestant power in Europe," this band of earnest men solemnly devoted themselves to the service of the Saviour, under the protec tion of Mary, Queen of Virgins, but it was not until 1640 that they were legally constituted a religious order by Bull of Paul III. The vows which they took on this occasion, besides the usual ones of obedience, poverty, and chastity, included one of unqualified submission to the Papal will, and a dedication of themselves specially to the service of the Church, and to the maintenance of the Papal authority, then threatened by the spread of Luther's "heresy." It is somewhat remarkable that the offered services of these men and their infant society should have been so reluctantly and hesitatingly accepted by the Roman authorities, knowing, as in this later age we do, that, humanly speaking, these very men and that very institution saved the Papacy from total extinction or great decline. Loyola, although virtually recognized previously as "General" of the order, was now first formally elected for life; and in his administration of the affairs of the Society, his eminent talents for organization and "engineering men" had full scope for development. Within a few years from the date of the Papal Bull the Society had established itself in almost every country of the Old, and many parts of the New World. 66 Loyola's letters on Obedience," addressed to the Portuguese Fathers, deserve more notice than we can bestow. They were written three years only before his death, and embodied the whole principle of Jesuit internal government. The only sin a Jesuit could commit, according to these productions, was disobedience; or a thought only which impelled him to call in question the orders or wishes of his superiors. Such obedience, exercised, not between cloistered walls, as was the case with other orders, but in the everyday world, enabled this order to compass such mighty ends, and break down barrier after barrier that stood between the Papacy and Papal aims. Besides the gigantic task of regulating the affairs of the order, Loyola was actively engaged in the cure of souls, and he founded several foreign missions. After sixteen years of incessant toil and much anxiety, he tranquilly expired in July, 1556, sixty-five years of age. In this very brief sketch of Loyola's life we have endeavoured to select those incidents best calculated to throw light on his character, and which are also best verified. We now pass on to the more immediate object of our paper, in which we affirm that "the character of Ignatius Loyola is worthy of our admiration and respect.” Admiration alone we extend to many great but not good men. We admire the characters of Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, Napoleons I. and III., Voltaire, and Cardinal Wolsey. But in order that we may respect as well as admire, we require something beyond mere greatness, and this something we take to be an honest |