"and that wise economy, which preserve peace "and harmony in families, and assure the pros"perity of empires. The principal towns of France "still remember, that there never was more order " and tranquillity, more probity in dealings, fewer "failures, or less depravity, than while these congregations lasted. The jesuits had the merit of attracting honour to their religious and moral "character, by a severity, a temperance, a nobleness " of manners, and an individual disinterestedness, "which even their enemies could not deny." These expressions of the cardinal are particularly remarkable, as they were written more than thirty years after the destruction of the order; and many years before the slightest expectation of its renovation was entertained. Learning has not been more ably cultivated or more actively diffused than by the jesuits. They possessed, in the supreme degree, the art of unfolding talent, and directing it to the object, in which nature designed its owner to excel. Did a young jesuit possess a talent for the pulpit-his masters were sure to discover it, and he became a Bourdaloue, a la Rue, a Segaud, a Neuville, or a Beauregard. Did he discover a turn for serious studies, for literary discussion, for philosophy, for mathematics, for theology, for profound researchto these he was directed, and became a Petau, a Sirmond, a Cossart, a Bougeant, a Tournemine, a Rossweide, or a Papebroch. Was he enamoured with classical lore, or with poetry-he was consigned to the muses, and became a Brumoi, a Cerçeau, a Bouhours, a Rapin, a Commire, a Casimir, a Vanier, a Juvençi, or a Berthier; and the fruits of his pen, always elegant, but always chaste and always moral, found their way into the hands of every man of taste and letters. 66 But they had no philosophers! So said d'Alembert, and so said la Châlotais. "When I read this "assertion," says la Lande, the celebrated astronomer, "I was employed in framing the index to my History of Astronomy. I immediately drew up a list of jesuits eminent in that science; I was "astonished at their number. Afterwards, in 1773, "I met la Châlotais at Saintes; I reproached him "with his injustice, and he admitted it. But the jesuits were then no more! Two men, Cavalho "and Choiseul, had destroyed the most beautiful "edifice constructed by man! An edifice, to which "no establishment under heaven will ever ap 66 proach! The eternal object of my admiration, my gratitude, and my regrets.' Such is the candid language of la Lande." Men of learning!" a true and impartial friend of the jesuits*, once exclaimed, "whatever be your pursuits, your "country, or your creed, ask your own hearts if you "have not some obligation to the jesuits? Have 66 they not opened to you some door to knowledge? "Some to science? Some to taste? Have they not abridged to you some literary labour? Soothed "to you some scientific toil?--Men of learning !- 66 The writer of a Letter signed S. in the Catholic Gentleman's Magazine of August 1818. ' wherever you are,-love the jesuits;-to all of you they have been friends.” It should be remarked, that the system of educating children, in graduated bands, taught and inspected by one of themselves, for which Lancaster and Bell enjoy so much rival fame, was in universal use among the jesuits before the seventeenth century. Nor should it be forgotten, that they had preceded this country, in noble efforts for the abolition of the slave trade. No friend to that measure can read the twenty-third chapter of Mr. Southey's History of Brazil, without venerating the exertions of father Lorenzana in this glorious cause. LXXV. 3. Their Missions in Paraguay. BUT, to appreciate justly the merits of the jesuits, we must traverse the ocean, and contemplate the jesuit missioner with his breviary under his arm, his beads fastened to his girdle, and his crucifix in his hand, presenting himself to the barbarous, suspicious, and cruel inhabitants of the Indian woods or morasses. Sometimes, he is immediately massacred*; sometimes, the savages fly from him :-he • From two works of character,-Societas Jesu, usque ad sanguinem et vitæ profusionem militans, pro Deo, fide, eccleșiâ, pietate:—sive vita et mors eorum, qui ex societate Jesu, in causâ fidei et virtutis propugnatæ, violentâ morte sublati sunt: auctore, R. P. Matthiâ Tanner, e soc. Jesu, s. s. theologiæ doctore, Pragæ, 1675: and Fasti Societatis Jesu; opera et studio, R. P. Joan. Drewe, s. s. Pragæ, anno 1750;-it ap runs after them, and, by words or signs, points at the heavens, and announces to them his wish to render them worthy of being the inhabitants of that better world. He shows them his crucifix; he informs them that the Son of God, whose image they behold on it, died on the cross for them, to free them from darkness, and to obtain for them everlasting life. He makes them little presents, or sings to them a pious canticle: by degrees, he obtains their affection and confidence. Then, he pro pounds to them the saving truths of the gospel; these penetrate their hearts.-Finally, like the eunuch, in the Acts of the Apostles, they pray for the sacred water of regeneration: one after another they flock to the sacred fount; by degrees, the whole community becomes christian. Their rudeness, savageness, barbarism, and immorality disappear; they become mild, benevolent, humane, and holy. Other communities join them. Thus were 300,000 Indian savages, collected in Paraguay, reclaimed from barbarism and vice, and exhibited, in the simplicity of their manners, and the purity of their minds, the mild and unpretending virtues of the primitive christians. To the happiness and piety of this fortunate portion of humanity, several writers of the first eminence, a pears that, in Africa 68,-in Asia 131,-and in America 55 jesuits, had, before that time, suffered death, often after grievous. torments,-for propagating the faith of Christ.-The number of those who have since suffered death in the same cause, cannot be inconsiderable.-See also Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, livre iv. c. 6. Muratori, Montesquieu, Raynal, and Leibniz, bear ample testimony.-Mr. Southey, the poet laureat, though generally hostile, in his writings, to the catholic religion and to catholic institutions of every kind, observes, that the Indians could not con"template without astonishment the conduct of "the jesuits; their disinterested enthusiasm, their "indefatigable perseverance, and the privation and "danger which they endured for no earthly reward. “They, who had only heard of these wonderful men, "became curious of seeing them; but they, who "once came within the influence of such superior "minds, and felt the contagion of example, were "not long before they submitted to the gainful "sacrifice of their old superstitions." In a subsequent part of the same work, Mr. Southey notices the pomp, with which the secular year of the foundation of the society of Jesus was solemnized in South America. "At one place," we are told by him, "six hundred triumphal arches were erected by the Indians, and decorated with all the orna"ments and good things which they possessed: a "display of the benefits which they, above all "men, derived from the society: the centenary of "their institution could not be celebrated by these "tribes with more gratitude and joy than were justly duet." * History of Brazil, vol. ii. p. 299, 300. |