BOOK V. OR, SALMERON.

of Trent.

Its presiding genius, the vigilant Ignatius, beheld the enlarging scope of his enterprise; events aided in its development. The Council of Trent super- The Council vened. An appeal had been made by the Protestants, to a General Council of the Christian Church, for a judgment on the doctrines in litigation. Other motives, in other quarters, as the reader is aware, urged the measure on the pope in spite of his reluctance. He feared for his prerogatives. With regard to the Protestants, the decisions of such a council must be condemnatory. There could be no compromise in favour of litigants whose cause of contest-whose protest had been already judged, already condemned, by the very authority which would preside in a "Council of the Christian Church." Pope Clement VII. had announced his acquiescence in 1530; he died and left the fulfilment to Paul III.

The Council opened on the 13th of December, 1545, in the cathedral of Trent. It was destined to prolong its sessions, or sittings, for the space of eighteen years. Its object was to define, from the arguments and opinions of the bishops and other

Its object.

dignitaries, the fathers and doctors of Roman Catholic Christendom, past and present, the doctrines and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. Its decisions would be final; anathema would be superadded to every clause against the presuming dissentient.' It would be the utter annihilation of heresy, as was fondly imagined. In a speech delivered at the opening of the Council, Bishop Cornelius Musso told the prelates assembled that they "should come into that city like as the worthy and valiant Greek captains went into the wooden horse wherewith Troy was taken by surprise."

The infant Company of Jesus had flung into the controversial arena wrestlers of nerve and agility—an

Two Jesuits sent as the Pope's guns to the Coun

cil. Ignatius

earnest she had given of the coming epoch, when her arsenal would send forth the armaments which blazed to the world as fire-ships primes them. of equivocal destination: only results would prove whether they destroyed the enemies of Rome, or damaged the cause for which they were fighting. Two Jesuits, Lainez and Salmeron, were selected by the pope as theologians of the Holy See; another Jesuit, Lejay, represented the Cardinal Bishop of Augsberg. This distinguished honour rivetted the eyes of the "religious" world on the young Society, so fondly rocked and cherished by the Father of the Faithful. Lainez and Salmeron were young; the former numbered but thirty-four years, the latter not quite thirty-one; but both were old in experience, and that constitutes the maturity of man. Ignatius gave them a preparatory lecture adapted to the occasion, and similar

See the "Canons" following the Sessions. Each begins with "Si quis dixerit-if any one shall say," and ends with "Anathema sit-let him be anathema."-Il Sacro Conc. di Trento.

2 Peignot, Predicat. p. xix. and elsewhere.

to that which he addressed to the Irish legates. After becomingly insisting on the standard preliminaries, the greater glory of God, the good of the universal church, and due regard for their own spiritual advancement, he proceeds to display his habitual tact and dexterity as follows:

"In the Council you must be rather slow than eager to speak-deliberate and charitable in your advice on matters doing, or to be done; attentive and calm in listening-applying yourself to seize the mind, intention, and desires of the speakers, so that you may know when to be silent or to speak. In the discussions which shall arise you must bring forward the arguments of the two opinions in debate, so that you may not appear attached to your own judgment. You ought always to manage, according to your ability, so that no one leaves, after your speech, less disposed to peace than he was at first. If the matters which shall be discussed are of a nature to force you to speak, express your opinion with modesty and serenity.

Always conclude with these words: Better advice, or every other equivalent, excepted.

"In fine, be well persuaded of one thing, which is, that befittingly to treat the important questions of the divine and human sciences, it is very advantageous to discourse seated, and calmly, and not hastily, and, as it were, superficially. You must not, therefore, regulate the order and time of the discussion by your leisure and convenience, but take the hour of the party who wishes to confer with you, so that he may more easily advance to the point to which God wishes to lead him. . . . In hearing confessions, think that all you say to your penitents may be published on the house-tops.

By way of penance, enjoin them to pray for the Council. In giving the Exercises speak as you would in public. You will visit the hospitals by turns every four days, each once a-week, at hours not inconvenient to the sick. You will soothe their afflictions, not only by your words, but by carrying to them, as far as you will be able, some little presents. In fine, if to settle questions, brevity and circumspection are necessary, so to excite piety, we ought, on the contrary, to speak with a certain degree of diffuseness and in a kindly manner.

"The third point remains, which concerns the care of watching over yourselves, and guarding against the shoals to which you will be exposed. And though you ought never to forget the essential of our Institute, you must nevertheless remember, above all, to preserve the strictest union and most perfect agreement of thoughts and judgment among yourselves. Let no one trust to his own prudence: and, as Claude Lejay will soon join you, you will fix a time every day to confer on what you shall have done during the day, and on what you are to do on the morrow. You will put an end to your discussions either by the vote of the majority, or in any other way. In the morning you will deliberate in common on your line of conduct during the day: moreover, you will examine your consciences twice a-day.

"You will put these points into execution, at the latest, on the fifth day after your arrival at Trent.”1

The conclusion of this document reminds us of those haughty mandates of Spain's proud royalty, signed with the whelming YO EL REY-I the king-the sign manual of the kings of Spain. Nothing but this is

Cretineau-Joly, Hist. t. i. p. 252; Orland. v. 23.

wanting to prove how fully Ignatius began to feel his sovereignty. These documents are useful: they are the full-length portrait of Ignatius, displaying, as the documents of Cromwell, that deep shade of religionism which renders more striking the prominent light of policy. And how completely is the general convinced of his power, his influence. He defines the conduct of his men as though he were dangling and adjusting the limbs of a doll. Again, mark the curious injunction that they should make "small presents" to give more effect to their spiritual consolations-one of those trivial facts in appearance, which we overlook, until the knowledge of mankind and the secret of success flash on the mind from the eyes of experience. In truth, seldom have the Jesuits said to the needy-A pater-noster you are welcome to, but neither gold nor silver: seldom have they said so, because seldom it was that they could afford to lose an opportunity of making friends. From first to last, I unhesitatingly assert, they have given some real or seeming equivalent to the body, the brain, or the stomach, in return for the soul of their proselytes. "All these things I will give you if

said the Jesuits; and poor humanity, ever fooled, ever wretched, ever guideless, could scarcely be expected to say: "Get thee behind me, Satan." The Jesuits made them happy, comfortable in body and soul, at least they thought so; and men were justified in being grateful to their benefactors, as long as they believed them suchuntil they discovered the tail of the devil somewhere protruding.

The general's instructions were fulfilled to the letter. Surrounded by princes, ambassadors, prelates, and abbots -all in gorgeous habiliments, with prodigal display,