jority of Italian cardinals, that the chair may not be removed from Rome, as it was once to Avignon in France, the then pope being a Frenchman. In promoting foreign prelates to the cardinalship the pope regulates himself according to the nomination of the princes who profess that religion. His chief minister is the cardinal patron, generally his nephew or near relation, who improves the time of the pope's reign by amassing what he can. When met in a consistory, the cardinals pretend to control the pope, in matters both spiritual and temporal, and have been sometimes known to prevail. The reign of a pope is seldom of long duration, being generally old men at the time of their election. The conclave is a scene where the cardinals principally endeavor to display their parts, and where many transactions pass which hardly shew their inspiration to be from the Holy Ghost. During the election of a pope in 1721, the animosities ran so high, that they came to blows with their hands and feet, and threw the inkstand-dishes at each other. We shall here give an extract from the creed of pope Pius 4th, 1560, before his elevation to the chair, which contains the principal points wherein the church of Rome differs from the protestant churches. After declaring his belief in one God, and other heads wherein Christians in general are agreed, he proceeds as follows.

"I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions of the church of Rome.

"I do admit the holy scriptures in the same sense that holy mother church doth, whose business it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of them; and I will interpret them according to the unanimous consent of the fathers.

"I do profess and believe that are there seven sacraments of the law, truly and properly so called, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary to the salvation of mankind, though not all of them to every one, namely, baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and marriage, and they do confer grace; and that of these, baptism, confirmation and orders, may not be repeated without sacrilege. I do also receive and admit the received and approved rites of the catholic church in her solemn administration of the abovesaid sacraments.

"I do embrace all and every thing that hath been defined and declared by the holy council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification.

"I do also profess that in the mass there is offered unto God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood, together with

the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is a converson made of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood: which conversion the catholic church calls transubstantiation. I confess that under one kind only, whole and entire, Christ and a true sacrament is taken and received.

"I do firmly believe there is a purgatory; and that the souls kept prisoners there do receive help by the suffrages of the faithful.

"I do likewise believe that the saints reigning together with Christ are to be worshiped and prayed unto: and that they do offer prayers unto God for us, and that their relics are to be held in veneration.

"I do most firmly assert, that the images of Christ, of the bles sed virgin the mother of God, and of other saints, ought to be had and retained and that due honour and veneration ought to be given unto them.

"I do likewise affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by Christ to the church, and that the use of them is very beneficial to christian people.

"I do acknowledge the holy, catholic, and apostolical Roman church to be the mother and mistress of all churches: and I promise and swear, obedience to the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ.

"I do undoubtedly receive and profess all other things which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and œcumenical councils, and especially by the holy synod of Trent. And all other things contrary thereto, and all heresies condemned, rejected and anathematized by the church, I likewise condemn, reject, and anathematize.

Archbishopricks.-There are thirty-eight archbishopricks in Italy, but the suffragans annexed to them are too indefinite and arbitrary for the reader to depend upon, the pope creating or sup pressing them as he pleases.

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE ORDER OF JESUITS.

THIS is the most political and, best regulated of all the monastic orders, and from which mankind have derived more advantages and received greater injury, than from any other of those religious fraternities.

In defending the citadal of Pampeluna, Ignatis Loyola, a Biscayan gentleman, was dangerously wounded. During the progress of a lingering cure, Loyola happened to have no other amusement than what he found in reading the lives of the saints. The effect of this on his mind, naturally enthusiastic, but ambitious and daring, was to inspire him with such a desire of emulating the glory of these fabulous worthies of the Romish church, as led him into wild and extravagant adventures, which terminated at last in instituting the society of the Jesuits.

Prompted by this fanatical spirit, or incited by the love of power and distinction, from which such pretenders to superior sanctity are not exempt, Loyola was ambitious of becoming the founder of a religious order. The plan which he formed of its constitution and laws, was suggested, by the immediate inspiration of heaven. But, notwithstanding this high pretension, his design met at first with violent opposition. The pope, to whom Loyola had applied for the sanction of his authority to confirm the institution, referred his petition to a committee of cardinals. They represented the establishment to be unnecessary as well as dangerous, and Paul refused to grant his approbation of it. At last, Loyola removed all his scruples, by an offer which it was impossible for any pope to resist. He proposed, that besides the three vows of poverty, of chastity, and of monastic obedience, which are common to all the orders of regulars, the members of his society should take a fourth vow of obedience to the pope, binding themselves to go whithersoever he should command for the service of religion, and without requiring any thing from the holy see for their support. At a time when the papal authority had received such a shock by the revolt of so many nations from the Romish church, at a time when every part of the popish system was attacked with so much violence and success, the acquisition of a body of men, thus peculiarly devoted to the see of Rome, and whom it might set in opposition to all its enemies, was an object of the highest consequence. Paul, instantly perceiving this, confirmed the institution of the Jesuits by his bull; granted the most ample privileges to the members of the society, and appointed Loyola to be the first general of the order. The event has fully justified Paul's discernment in expecting such beneficial consequences to the see of Rome from this institution. In less than half a century the society obtained establishments in every country that adhered to the Roman Catholic church; its power and wealth increased amazingly; the number of its members became great; their character as well as accomplishments were still greater; and the Jesuits were celebrated by the friends and dreaded by the enemies of the Ro

mish faith, as the most able and enterprising order in the church. The primary object of almost all the monastic orders is to separate men from the world, and from any concern in its affairs. In the solitude and silence of the cloister, the monk is called to work out his salvation by extraordinary acts of mortification and piety. He is dead to the world, and ought not to mingle in its transactions. He can be of no benefit to mankind but by his example and by his prayers. On the contrary, the Jesuits are taught to consider themselves as formed for action. They are chosen soldiers, bound to exert themselves continually in the service of God, and of the pope, his vicar on earth. Whatever tends to instruct the ignorant, whatever can be of use to reclaim or oppose the enemies of the holy see, is their proper object. That they may have full leisure for this active service, they are totally exempted from those functions, the performance of which is the chief business of other monks. They appear in no processions; they practice no rigorous austerities; they do not consume one half of their time in the repetition of tedious offices; but they are required to attend to all the transactions of the world on account of the influence which these may have upon religion; they are directed to study the dispositions of persons in high rank, and to cultivate their friendship; and, by the very constitution and genius of the order, a spirit of action and intrigue is infused into all its members.

As the object of the Jesuits societies differed from that of other monastic orders, the diversity was no less in the form of its government. The other orders are to be considered as volunteer associations, in which whatever affects the whole body, is regulated by the common suffrage of all its members. The executive power is vested in the persons placed at the head of each convent or of the whole society; the legislative authority resides in the community. Affairs of moment, relating to particular convents, are determined in conventual chapters; such as respects the whole order, are considered in general congregations. But Loyola full of the ideas of implicit obedience, which he had derived from his military profession, appointed, that the government of his order should be purely monarchial. A general chosen for life, by deputies from several provinces, possessed power that was supreme and independent, extending to every person and to every case.

This general by his sole authority nominated provincials, rectors, and every other officer employed in the government of the society, and could remove them at pleasure. In him was vested the sovereign administration of the revenues and funds of the order, every member belonging to it was at his disposal;

and by his uncontrolable mandate, he could impose on them any task, or employ them in what service soever he pleased, To his commands they were required not only to yield outward obedience, but to resign up to him the inclinations of their own wills, and the sentiments of their own understandings. They were to listen to his injunctions, as if they had been uttered by Christ himself; under his direction they were to be mere passive instruments, like clay in the hands, of the potter, or like dead carcasses, incapable of resistance. Such a singular form of policy could not fail to impress its character on all the members of the order, and to give a peculiar force to all its operations. There is not, in the annals of mankind, any example of such a perfect despotism, exercised, not over monks, shut up in the cells of a convent, but over men dispersed among all the nations of the earth.

As it was the professed intention of the order of the Jesuits to labour with unwearied zeal in promoting the salvation of men, this engaged them, of course, in many active functions. From their first institution, they considered the education of youth as their peculiar province; they aimed at being spiritual guides and confessors; they preached frequently in order to instruct the people; they set out as missionaries to convert the world. The novelty of the institution, as well as the singularity of it, procured the order many admirers and patrons. The governors of the society had the address to avail themselves of every cir cumstance in its favor, and in a short time the number as well as the influence of its members increased wonderfully.

Even before the expiration of the sixteenth century, they had obtained the chief direction of the education of youth in every Catholic country in Europe. They had become the confessors of almost all its monarchs; a function of no small importance in any reign, but, under a weak prince, superior to that of minister. They were the spiritual guides of almost every person eminent for rank or power; they possessed the highest degree of confidence and interest with the papal court, as the most zealous and able champions for its authority; they possesed, at different periods, the direction of the most considerable courts in Europe; they mingled in all affairs, and took part in every intrigue and revolution. But while they thus advanced in power, they increased also in wealth; various expedients were devised for eluding the obligation of the vow of poverty. Besides the sources of wealth common to all the regular clergy, the Jesuits possesed one which was peculiar to themselves.-Under the pretext of promoting the success of their missions, and of facilitating the support of their missionaries, they obtained a