19 APRIL 1845, Page 14

JESUITS.

MEPH/STOPHELES, in Faust, forbids the Witch to call him " Satan " : the name has ceased to inspire terror—it has long been transferred to the fable-book. The name of" Jesuit" has retained its bad preeminence longer : it is still a name 'that strikes with awe—a bugbear. "There is a Jesuit teacher at 'Maynooth" de- ters many a stout Englishman from supporting the additional grant ; "the Jesuits are teachers at Lucerne" excuses its lawless invasion by a Free Corps of refugees and aliens.

No doubt, the Jesuits have stood in a relation of more direct and immediate hostility to Protestantism than any other regular order of Romish clergymen. Benedictines and 'Carmelites, monks and friars, were before Luther ; but one main object in founding the Society of Jesus was to watch and oppose the pro- gress of the doctrines of Luther. It was thought then, that superior scientific and literary acquirements 'were frequently linked with Protestant, as it has since been believed that they are frequently associated with Infidel opinions. The new order set itself to place Roman Catholic literature and science and Roman Catholic education on a footing of equality with the Protestant, in much the same spirit that at a later day set .up Bell in opposition to Lancaster, and the Saturday in opposition to the Penny Magazine. But, strange to say, the Jesuits are as much disliked by many professing Catholics as by Protestants. Unfortunately for the Jesuits, metaphysics were in fashion-when they were first organized; and their most accomplished Members plunged deeply- into metaphysical speculation. Then, as now, the practice of casting odium on opinions which could not be logically refuted, by exaggerating the possible practical conse- quences of admitting them, was resorted to. This weapon was frequently used against Suarez, and Pascal's exquisite Letters of a Provencal are mainly an enumeration of bad actions that might be defended by speculative notions incidentally thrown out in Jesuit writings. Voltaire and his associates found that they might attack Christianity with comparative safety under the name of Jesuitism ; and they assumed that the opinions whith Pascal maintained might be used to vindicate or palliate crime, had been used for that purpose. The example set by Voltaire in his Camdide, of making Jesuits the conspirators of a fiction, was followed by a host of German romancers, in whose hands the Society of Jesuits furnished a desirable variety to the palled horrors of the-Secret Tribunal. Unscrupulous ministers of needy princes availed themselves of popular prejudice to appropriate the wealth of the order.

There are indeed two sets of Jesuits—the Jesuits of fact, and the Jesuits of fiction ; and as there are more readers of romances than students of history, the latter are more familiar to the public. The Jesuits of fiction will be admitted on all hands to be terrible fellows ; but their proper place is in the circulating library, not in polemical and far less in political discussions. The Jesuits of fact closely resemble all other respectable Romish clergymen, except in so far as their order has long supplied the most accomplished members of that body. In the history of every branch of science and literature distinguished Jesuits are met -with ; the practice and theory of education are deeply-indebted to their experiments; among the earliest and most ably-planned missions to the Heathen were those of the Jesuits. If the leaders of Exeter Hall, who seek to civilize savages by- keeping them from all intercourse with civilized men, read history, they would learn that their fanciful theory has been tried, and has failed, in the hands of a more ac- complished and self-denying agency than they have beeii able to command. At the present moment it is most desirable to strip the Jesuits of the nimbus with which imagination has surrounded them, and present them to the public in the commonplace light of day.