CENT. PART I. VIII. The greatest part of the first legates and missionaries of the court of Rome treated with SECT. III. much severity and injustice the Christians whom they were desirous of gaining over to their communion. For they did not only require that these Christians should renounce the particular opinions that separated them from the Greek and Latin churches, and that they should acknowledge the Roman pontiff as Christ's sole vicegerent upon earth: their demands were still farther; they opposed many of the opinions of this people, some of which are at least worthy of toleration, and others highly agreeable to the dictates both of reason and scripture; they insisted upon the sup. pression and abolition of several customs, rites, and institutions, which had been handed down to them from their ancestors, and which were perfectly innocent in their nature and tendency; in a word, they would be satisfied with nothing less than an entire and minute conformity of the religious rites and opinions of this people, with the doctrine and worship of the church of Rome. The papal court, however, rendered wise by experi ence, perceived at length that this manner of proceeding was highly imprudent, and every way improper to extend the limits of the papal empire in the East. It was therefore determined to treat with more artifice and moderation a matter of such moment and importance, and the missionaries were, consequently, ordered to change the plan of their operations, and confine their views to the two following points: to wit, the subjection of these Christians to the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, and their renouncing, or at least professing to renounce, the opinions that had been condemned in the general councils of the church. In all other matters, the Roman envoys were com manded to use a perfect toleration, and to let these people remain unmolested in following the sentiments XVI, SECT. III PART I. sentiments, and observing the institutions, they CENT. had derived from their ancestors. To give the greater credit and plausibility to this new method of conversion, certain learned doctors of the church endeavoured to demonstrate, that the religious tenets of Rome, when explained according to the simplicity of truth, and not by the subtilties and definitions of the schools, differed very little from the opinions received in the Greek and the other eastern churches. But this demonstration was very far from being satisfactory, and it discovered less of an ingenious spirit, than a disposition to gain proselytes by all sorts of means, and at all events. Be that as it may, the cause of Rome received much more advantage from this plan of moderation, than it had derived from the severity of its former counsels; though much less than the authors of this reconciling plan fondly expected. nal consti IX. While the Roman pontiffs were using their The inter utmost efforts to extend their dominion abroad, tution of they did not neglect the means that were proper the church to strengthen and maintain it at home. On the of Rome strengthcontrary, from the dawn of the Reformation, ened in va they began to redouble their diligence in defend-rious ways, ing the internal form and constitution of the church of Rome against the dexterity and force of its adversaries. They could no more have recourse to the expedient of crusades, by which they had so often diminished the power and influence of their enemies. The revolutions that had happened in the affairs of Rome, and in the state of Europe, rendered any such method of subduing heretics visionary and impracticable. Other methods were, therefore, to be found out, and all the resources of prudence were to be exhausted in support of a declining church. Hence the laws and procedures of the inquisition were revised and corrected in those countries where that formidable court is permitted to exert its dreadful power. N 4 Colleges, CENT. Colleges, and schools of learning were erected in XVI. various places, in which the studious youth were PART I. trained up, by perpetual exercise, in the art of SECT. 111. Ignatius Loyola the disputing, that thus they might wield, with more dexterity and success, the arms of controversy against the enemies of Rome. The circulation of such books as were supposed to have a pernicious tendency, was either entirely prevented, or at least much obstructed, by certain lists, or indexes, composed by men of learning and sagacity, and published by authority, in which these books were marked with a note of infamy, and their pe rusal prohibited, though with certain restrictions. The pursuit of knowledge was earnestly recom. mended to the clergy, and honourable marks of distinction, as well as ample rewards, were be stowed on those who made the most remarkable progress in the cultivation of letters. And, to enlarge no farther on this head, the youth, in general, were more carefully instructed in the principles and precepts of their religion, than they had formerly been. Thus it happens, that signal advantages are frequently derived from what are looked upon as the greatest evils, and much wisdom and improvement are daily acquired in the school of opposition and adversity. It is more than probable, that the church of Rome would never have been enriched with the acquisitions we have now been mentioning, had it continued in that state of uninterrupted ease and undisputed authority that nourish a spirit of indolence and luxury; and had not the pretended heretics at tacked its territories, trampled upon its jurisdic tion, and eclipsed a great part of its ancient majesty and splendor. X. The Monastic orders and religious societies founder of have been always considered by the Roman pontiffs as the principal support of their authority and docuits. minion. It is chiefly by them that they rule the the order called Je church, XVI. SECT. III. PART I. church, maintain their influence on the minds of cent. the people, and augment the number of their votaries. And, indeed, various causes contribute to render the connection between the pontiff and these religious communities much more intimate, than that which subsists between him and the other clergy, of whatever rank or order we may suppose them to be. It was therefore judged necessary, when the success of Luther, and the progress of the Reformation, had effaced such a considerable part of the majesty of Rome, to found some new religious fraternity, that should, in a particular manner, be devoted to the interests of the Roman pontiff, and the very express end of whose institution should be to renew the vigour of a declining hierarchy, to heal the deep wound it had received, to preserve those parts of the papal dominions that remained yet entire, and to augment them by new accessions. This was so much the more necessary, as the two famous Mendicant societies [r], by whose ministry the popes had chiefly governed during many ages, and that with the greatest success and glory, had now lost, on several accounts, a considerable part of their influence and authority, and were thereby less capable of serving the church with efficacy and vigour than they had formerly been. What the pontiff sought for, in this declining state of his affairs, was found in that famous and most powerful society, which, deriving its title from the name of Jesus, were commonly called Jesuits, while they were stiled by their enemies Loyalites, and sometimes Inighists [s], from the Spanish name of their founder [t]. This [r] These two orders were the Franciscans and the Dominicans. [s] The Spanish name of the founder of the order of Jesuits was Don Inigo de Guipuscoa. [t] The writers who have given the most particular and circumstantial accounts of the order of the Jesuits, are enumerated by Christoph. Aug. Salin. in his Historia August, Confessionis, tom. ii. p. 73. CENT. This founder was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish XVI. knight, who, from an illiterate soldier, became an PART I. unparalleled fanatic; a fanatic, indeed, of a fer SECT. III. The nature and institu tile and enterprising genius [u], who, after having passed through various scenes of life, came to Rome, and, being there directed by the prudent councils of persons much wiser than himself, was rendered capable of instituting such an order as the state of the church at that time essentially required [w]. XI. The Jesuits hold a middle rank between of the order the monks and the secular clerks, and with respect tion of the to the nature of their institute, approach nearer Jesuits. to the regular canons than to any other order. For ' [u] Many Jesuits have written the life of this extraordinary man; but the greatest part of these biographers seem more in. tent upon advancing the glory of their founder, than solicitous about the truth and fidelity of their relations; and hence the most common events, and the most trivial actions that concern Ignatius, are converted into prodigies and miracles. The his tory of this enterprising fanatic has been composed with equal truth and ingenuity, though seasoned with a very large por tion of wit and pleasantry, by a French writer, who calls him. self Herculus Rasiel de Selve *. This work, which is divided into two volumes, is entitled, Histoire de l'admirable Don Inigo de Guipuscoa, Chevalier de la Vierge, et fondateur de la Monarchie des Inighistes, and it has passed already through two editions at the Hague. [w] Not only the Protestants, but also a great number of the more learned and judicious Roman Catholics, have unanimously denied, that Ignatius Loyola had either learning sufficient to compose the writings of which he is said to be the author, or genius enough to form the society of which he is considered as the founder. They maintain, on the contrary, that he was no more than a flexible instrument in the hands of able and ingenious men, who made use of his fortitude and fanaticism to answer their much more and that purposes; persons learned than he, were employed to compose the writings which bear his name. See Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. iii. p. 429.The greatest part of his works are supposed to have proceeded from the pen of his secretary John de Palanco; This is a feigned name; the real author was Monsieur Le Vier, an ingenious bookseller, who lived fornierly at the Hague. |