French Reformation
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submission? How could it stand against the armies of the world’s great
conquerors?
Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by
formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome
summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this
time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupu-
lous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from every
earthly tie and human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection,
reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but
that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of
Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering,
undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of
truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these
forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled
them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all
the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to
commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too
difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility,
it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to
the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal
supremacy.
When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of
sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the
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poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred
name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless
exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were concealed. It was
a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By
this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable
but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under
various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of State,
climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of
nations. They became servants, to act as spies upon their masters. They
established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for
the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn
into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display
of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind, and
dazzle and captivate the imagination; and thus the liberty for which
the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits