Jesuits in Conflict. By a Member of the Society of
Jesus. (Barns and Oates.)—Tho editor here gives us the lives of three Jesuits who suffered in the reign of Elizabeth what any Protestant teacher would have suffered fifty years ago in Spain, and twenty years ago in Rome, but did not suffer what would certainly have befallen any such person from the hands of Philip of Spain. Very strong language is used about the penal laws of those days, and the way in which they were enforced. Here the editor's zeal carries him a long way beyond the truth. Deplora- ble as were these proceedings, they did not constitute "a persecution of Christians as barbarous and inhuman as any that was over inflicted in Pagan times on the Spouse of Christ." Has the editor ever read of what was done under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius, Docius, and Diocletian ? Can he match what happened during what he calls the "three hundred years of open persecution against Catholics in Eng- land" with what was done at Lyons in A.D. 177? But this may pass. The righteous feeling that revolts against religious persecution may be pardoned even when it exaggerates. It is more important to ask, Has the "Member of the Society of Jesus" any such feeling? Will he con- demn ex animo with equal fervour the barbarities of Philip IL and of Alva, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the atrocities of the Dragon- nados ? We know the ready answer. These were severities with which the secular power sought to crush the enemies of the Common- wealth. But if he will be candid enough to disown this miserable pretence, will he also go a step further, and own that Englishmen who had seen Smithfield ablaze, who heard of what the Inquisition was doing wherever the Church of Rome was free to act, and knew that their turn would come next, if these Jesuit missionaries could have their way, may have some allowance made for them ? If these "con- fessors" could have converted England, would there not have been another story to tell of "three hundred years of open persecution "?- unless, indeed, the work had been done, as it was done in Spain, so thoroughly, that no one should be left to tell it.
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