BOOKS.

SEYMOUR'S MORNINGS AMONG THE JESUITS.* IN his Pilgrimage to Rome, the Reverend Mr. Seymour confined himself to observations on general manners and society, the expression of opinion as developed in the intercourse of pleasure or business, and an account of the impression left by the ancient classical and modern ecclesiastical fea- tures of Rome. That book, in fact, was the lay view of things; but its author had a further object. It was his wish "to see and study the true genius of the Church of Rome, and judge for himself as to her nature and character." One obvious mode of doing this was by personal observation ._an attendance upon her services and ceremonies : and of these matters he gave some description in his Pilgrimage. Another was to enter into close and free discussion with the leading ministers of the Roman Church, and endeavour to elicit their views upon the subject of religion. The apparent schism in the Church of England, and the leanings of the Tractarians towards Rome, favoured this object. In addition to that desire for proselytes which animates all religionists, the Romish clergy at the time of Mr. Seymour's visit appear to have been on the watch for all Englishmen, especially clergymen, who seemed to discover a liking for their worship. Mr. Seymour's constant attendance at their services attracted notice ; and the ambitious idea of his conversion was indulged. We do not say that Mr. Seymour held out any hopes that such a result was likely to follow. He appeared in the guise of an inquirer after truth, anxious to have certain doubts resolved ; and the wily Jesuits fell into the snare spread for them. They attended him frequently ; they suffered him to some extent to lead the conversation and direct the topics ; if they suspected the controvertist and hardened heretic was concealed in the guise of the unsettled inquirer, they gave no sign of such suspicion, ex- cept perhaps upon one occasion ; in the topics selected, and not unfre- quently in the management of the controversy, they exhibited but slender proofs of that art and subtlety which are generally ascribed to the Jesuits, when they are judged by the standard of English common sense. Of a report of these conversations the bulk of Mornings among the Jesuits consists. The reports were always committed to paper immediately after the departure of the reverend gentlemen ; sometimes they were reported to their face. "While actually in conversation, I often made it a point to make a note of what they said ; and my mode of doing so was not dis- courteous, but seemed at the time to be giving importance to their words, as if they appeared to me deserving of an accurate record." As the Oriental courtiers say, "What wisdom ! what words ! oh that they were written in a book I"

The result of these conversations is a very elegant, curious, and inte- resting volume. The elegance is not shown so much in any particular refinement or graces of diction, as in a mild spirit, a perfect lucidity of statement, and a logical clearness of reasoning; though the reasons on the part of the Jesuits were none of the best, at least to Protestant and English minds. The accomplished scholar and gentleman is visible throughout, with traces of the Roman priest flashing out occasionally, where the inquirer for a brief space forgot his position and trespassed too closely upon the claims of Romish infallibility, when religion in connexion with political topics became a subject of discourse. The reports them- selves are models of their kind. The pith of the matter and the charac- teristics of the manner are evidently retained ; while the dialogue is re- lieved by the author's account of his own feelings when any circumstance occurred tending to excite him or throw him off his guard, or by his sketches of the manner of his opponents.

The topics and matter of the conversations are very curious. They tend to show that in matters of religion Rome is still unchangeable at Rome, whatever she may be in other places, where public opinion ope- rates even upon her priesthood. They also indicate that this unchange- ableness has thrown her behind the age, and rendered her, like an effete sect among the Jews, blind to "the signs of the times." Daring a conversation on the Tractarians, in which a reverend Jesuit indulged in a triumphant feeling as to the probable return of England to the bosom of the Church, and touched upon the "power" of Rome, Mr. Seymour

was provoked into the utterance of some home truths.

"I replied, that the people of England did not like to be interfered with, and might be disposed to resent it. I then said boldly to him, that I was fully aware that a large portion of the people of the Roman States were anxious to separate the ecclesiastical authority of the Pope from the civil sovereignty; that they desired to leave the Pope as the spiritual head of the Catholic Church; but, as far as I could learn their sentiments, they were desirous to divest him of his tem- poral sovereignty; that they had expressed themselves in very many instances, speaking freely to me as a stranger and as an Englishman loving free institutions, as anxious that the Pope should be reduced simply to the state of a Christian bishop, ruling the Church as such, but by no means ruling the state as a tem- Poral sovereign; that this feeling seemed to me so general, that all that was re- quired was that some bold man should lift the standard of revolution, and that the people would follow. "He smiled, and asked how this, supposing it to be true, could affect the ques- tion as concerning the Anglican Church. "I answered, that if Rome interfered too much with the Church in England, perhaps England might interfere a little with the Church at Rome; that there Was a liowerful sentiment, an enthusiastic feeling for Protestantism, and an un- hesitating hatred of &monism, among a large portion of the people of England ; and if these persons were once roused, they might evoke public feeling, subscribe large funds, influence the Government, and encourage those Italians and es- pecially those Romans who desired to raise the standard of revolution at Rome, and thus separate the temporal from the spiritual power of the Pope. It were Wise, therefore, not to intermeddle too much with the Church of England. "This elicited a display of irritation and anger for which I was scarcely pre- pared. I felt however, that I was speaking on good authority, as the feeling to which I referred was general among some of the most respectable of the citizens at Rome; that it was shared by some of the most influential persons, and by a ye large portion of the tradesmen; that they all spoke with especial dislike sac hatred of the order of Jesuits, saying, that as sure as any Jesuit was per- * Mornings among the Jesuits at Rome. Being Notes of Conversations held with certain Jesuits on the subject of Ibligion in the City of Rome. By the Reverend M. Hobart Seymour, M.A. Published by Seeleys. mitted to enter any house, there was as surely destined to follow in his wakes series of family disputes, so as that there could be no peace in any family into which they were admitted; that in consequence of this there was a growing feel- ing at Rome, against not only the order of Jesuits, but against the monks of every other order; that this feeling was extending itself rapidly against all ecclesiastical government, and especially against ecclesiastics holding government appointments and conducting the temporal and civil affairs of the state; that the whole body of the laity, excluded as they were from all important, influential, and lucrative offices, were dissatisfied with such exclusion, and were predisposed to any revolution which, by excluding ecclesiastics and confining them to spirit- ual matters, might lay open all the civil offices of? the state to the fair and ho- nourable ambition of the laity. Feeling all this, and knowing that my reverend friend must be well aware of it, I could not be much surprised that he felt an- gered or irritated at the use which I made of it—namely, as a warning to him and his friends among the Jesuits not to interfere too much in the affairs of the Church or State of England.'

Poor men! instead of the dream of reclaiming England for the Church, and establishing an universal "Holy Roman Empire," they had better have taken Mr. Seymour's hint and set their own house in order.

The topics of the conversations are curious, not only as indicating the state of mind in the Romish priesthood in Italy, but as showing what a notion they must entertain of the general mind in England. Christianity scarcely formed an item of their discourse ; or those mooted doctrines deduced or de- ducible from Scripture which constitute the main difference in the theology of the churches ; or those practices which, mingling with the daily conduct and thoughts of people, must to some extent influence their lives,—as confession, and the celibacy of the priesthood. The main topics were the worship of saints, and especially of the Virgin Mary' miraculous pic- tures or images • and the infallibity of the Romish Church ; the probable seat of this infallibility, if the infallibility existed, Mr. Seymour conceding to the Pope ; and a Jesuit, at our author's own desire explaining the seven tests of infallibility—that is, how we may know whether a bull is really delivered ex cathedra. Something was said of the perusal of the Scriptures, and there were two arguments on the mass ; but one was too technical and learned to report, and the other turned on the contra- diction, as alleged by Mr. Seymour, between the unbloody and the bloody sacrifice. The only topic really, as it seems to us, involving Christian doctrine, was the question of faith and works : but here too the Jesuits were not satisfied with maintaining the efficacy of works as contributing to or even securing the salvation of the individual doer. They put prominently forward the dogma of works of supererogation ; by which an individual is supposed to do more than is necessary to save himself,

leaving a favourable balance of merits to be carried to the account of the Church.

On occasions of this kind, Mr. Seymour had considerable difficulty to maintain his character of an inquirer, when some dogma startling, and in a Christian sense even blasphemous was brought forward. But by thought and mental prayer he was able to preserve a self-control. Some of the assertions or views are indeed startling; showing that Mariolatry and image-worship is not a mere practice tolerated for its effects, but a cherished doctrine and belief among the most educated and accomplished of the Roman clergy. The following is from a conversation on this topic in which a preference for certain pictures was defended on account of their miracles.

"To this he replied with frankness and decision, saying that he had no doubt, and that there could be no doubt whatever, as to the miraculous powers of some images and pictures; and he explained the matter thus. It sometimes occurred, he said, that some persons were affected—specially affected or moved—by some pictures or images more than by others; that in praying before these, their feelings were more touched, their sensibilities more excited, and their devotional affections more drawn out in prayer; that in answer to such prayer, God not unfrequently gave responses which were more marked than ordinary, and were to be regarded as miraculous answers to prayers made before miraculous pictures or images.

"I could not avoid showing my incredulity as to all this; and I certainly was as surprised as I was incredulous.

"He observed this, but only continued to express himself more strongly,• stating, that there was no doubt whatever as to the reality of many miracles of this nature in answer to such prayers; and that when the report of these miracles spread abroad, when the public heard of them, when the minds of the devout were excited by the fame of them, then multitudes of persons naturally flocked to such pictures and images to pray before them; and their feelings being excited, and their affections being the more drawn out by the circumstance, there were yet again other miracles wrought by God, and so these images and pictures became miraculous. He added that the picture of the Virgin at S. Maria Maggiore was such; that the image of Mary at the church of the Augustinians was snob; and that the picture of St. Ignatius praying to the Virgin in the Church of Germ was, with many others, also miraculous.

"I must frankly confess that I was wholly unprepared for this.

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"His explanations led me to advance a step in our argument, and to say that his statements seemed to imply that there was something peculiar to those images and pictures, something inherent in them as compared with others, something

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not n the saint or angel represented, but in these very pictures and images them- selves. I endeavoured to illustrate my meaning by suggesting two pictures of the Virgin Mary placed side by side, and asking whether, one being supposed to be miraculous, the people would pray before that one rather than the other; and whether he believed the Virgin Mary would interfere with a miraculous answer for those who prayed to her before that one rather than the other? I added, that if such was the case, it went to prove a belief that there was something peculiar, some virtue or power, something miraculous in such a picture in one rather than the other ; and that the distinction proved that the people did look for something in pictures and images more than the persons whom they were designed to re- present. "He gave the fullest assent to this; saying, that they looked first of all to the saint represented in the picture or image, and that then, in case there was a miraculous character, they looked also to that power or virtue. He added, that his fall belief was that the Virgin Mary was more partial to some representations of herself than to others; and that in order to induce the devout to pray before these her favourite ones, she heard and answered the prayers so offer while she neglected those that were offered elsewhere, answering the prayers offered before one picture which she liked, and refusing those offered before a picture which she did not like!"

The whole of this conversation is well worth perusing, as is indeed the whole of the book ; the dialectics being well varied by anecdote and oc- casional description. But we must stop here, and recommend all who take an interest not so much in religious controversy as in the display athe views and feelings of an influential order of the Romish Church, to make themselves acquainted with Mornings among the Jesuits.