when, through the darkness and torpor of the times, men ceased almost to think at all. But voluntary societies, instituted for particular objects, and embodying only the friends of such objects, will be far less likely to become divided. And if divisions ensue, as they sometimes will, they will be far less likely to be permanent. For as disaffected individuals can withdraw at any time, they will not be likely long to remain to divide the counsels of the society. In conducting extended charitable operations, this tendency to union in the voluntary societies is a very great advantage, since in these matters, more than in almost any other, is felt the need of steady, harmonious, consistent action. Without such action, little can be done; but with it, there is scarcely any thing which benevolence can desire, which may not be successfully attempted.

7. The adaptedness of the voluntary societies for conducting successfully religious charitable operations, has been abundantly tested by experience. They have been already in extended and successful action for the greater part of half a century. They have operated efficiently and favorably, in reference to most of the important objects to which they have been applied. They have been a means, in the hands of God and his church, of accomplishing a vast amount of good. The results of all this experience should not be lightly thrown away; more especially, since the form which the religious voluntary societies have taken, and the manner in which they are now conducted, are to a great extent the fruit of experience. They did not arrive at their present state of organization and efficiency at once. Under the guidance of some of the best and wisest men with whom this or any country has ever been blessed (the most of whom, alas! are no longer with us), and fostered by the good providence and grace of God, these societies have arisen from small beginnings, feeling their way along an untravelled path, tracing and sometimes re-tracing their steps, and profiting at every stage by experience, till they have arrived at their present state of comparative maturity, and are now scattering their blessings all over the earth. They have been pre-eminently the offspring of experience; their growth and form are the result of experience; their efficiency, as a means of good, has been abundantly tested by experience; and we insist, that this testimony must not be disregarded. The church

must not consent to part with it in exchange for any theories, however pleasing or promising they may at first view appear.

8. It is an argument in favor of the voluntary societies, that the divine blessing has so evidently rested upon them. These societies originated in prayer, and they have been nurtured by prayer, through the whole course of their history. And the prayer which has been offered for them has not been in vain. It has come up into the ears of the God of Israel, and his blessing has been richly and signally bestowed. I know we are not infallible in the judgments we form, with reference to the favors and the frowns of Heaven. We are liable to be deceived. Still, the book of providence is not altogether an unintelligible record. Something, certainly, may be gathered from it. And nothing is more evident to my own mind, than that the societies of which I speak, such as the Bible, Tract, Education and Missionary societies, have enjoyed, and are enjoying, in a pre-eminent degree, the favor and blessing of almighty God. In the wise and prudent manner in which these societies have been conducted; in the almost universal confidence which they have inspired; in the extent to which they have spread themselves; and in the manifold benefits which they have dispensed to the world, God has evidently marked these institutions for his own. He has set visibly upon them the seal of his blessing. If they had been (what some persons represent them to be) a "usurpation of the rights of God and his church, and at war with the spirit and letter of the gospel," would they have been got up by such men, and in such a manner, and been sustained and carried forward to such an extent, and been productive of so vast an amount of good? To my own mind, the supposition is altogether inadmissible.

9. I urge, once more, the importance of continuing the voluntary societies, from the disastrous consequences which must necessarily result from their suppression and overthrow. These are such as cannot be contemplated without absolute consternation. Take away from this country and from Europe the great religious charitable societies,-the Bible societies, the Tract societies, the Education and Missionary societies, and societies for the support of Sunday schools,— shut up their depositories, dismiss their beneficiaries, crush their agencies, abolish their stations among the heathen and elsewhere, wind up their multifarious and important concerns,

and what is there left? Where is the hope, and what the prospects of the world? What can be substituted in their place, which will meet the object in any comparison so well? What can be substituted on the continent of Europe, where the churches are not half awake, and where (bound, as they are, hand and foot to the state) they would not be in a situation for action, in their organized capacity, even were they so disposed? What can be substituted in England, where a great majority of the Established Church oppose and reproach the efforts of "the Evangelicals," and could by no means be induced to unite with them in efficient labors for the diffusion of the gospel? What can be substituted in place of those great and excellent societies, in which Christians of different denominations are now harmoniously and extensively laboring together? It seems to me, truly, that those who lay their hands on our great voluntary societies, and labor to effect their overthrow, cannot be aware of the consequences of their efforts. The most charitable supposition is, that they know not what they do. My own belief is, that, could their plans succeed (which may God in his infinite mercy prevent), within five years, the amount of charitable efforts for the spread of the gospel would be diminished at least one half; and that, within the next five years, there would be a diminution of half the other half. And by that time, the few laborers that remained would become thoroughly discouraged, and the church would be prepared for another long and guilty slumber over the woes of a world lying in wickedness.

On the whole, I think that Christians of the present day, and especially those of our own country, have every reason to be satisfied with their religious voluntary societies. They have reason to be thankful, that they have been led, in providence, to found and sustain such noble institutions, which, like the tree of life in the paradise of God, yield their fruits every month, and scatter far and wide their leaves for the healing of the nations. May the resources of these societies, and their usefulness, be increased many fold. May heavenly wisdom be imparted at all times to those who guide their counsels and direct their movements. May these societies continue to deserve and to enjoy the undiminished confidence of the churches; and may Christians of every name come up to their help, in that great work which divine

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providence has devolved upon them. And through their instrumentality, may the world's redemption be hastened -may it be speedily consummated. May those great events, of which the inspired prophets so often spake, and for which the people of God have so long prayed, be fully realized,when "the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it ;"-when "the kingdom, and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”

ARTICLE II.

PRINCIPLES AND POLITY OF THE JESUITS.

THE Society of Jesus was an absolute monarchy. Its general was chosen for life, and his control over the lives and fortunes of its members was more supreme than that of any despot in Europe. It extended even to the thoughts and motives. It exercised an authority over the mind and will of every member, so complete as to destroy all individuality, and to merge the man in the society. He became only a component part of one great machine; and to whatever object that was directed, thither the whole force of his physical and intellectual energy was turned. Surrendering, by his own voluntary act, all those privileges which law and reason assign as the prerogatives of manhood, the member, on taking the vow of the professed, from that moment was no longer a man, but a Jesuit. At the head of this powerful body sat the general, like a king in the field, guiding the movement of his troops, and directing the artillery of the church against the bulwarks of heathendom. Now, secretly and noiselessly, with the cunning of statesmen, sapping at the foundation of half the thrones of Europe; and, at the same moment, with the zeal of iconoclasts, hurling down the idols of India and America. The hidden cause which produced these amazing results, will be found in the principle of obedience. This most essential requisite for great achievements was imperatively demanded of every member. The novice or pupil

was early taught, that the word of his teacher was the rule of his actions; and thus he readily acknowledged in the vow of the professed, that the command of the general was the law of his life.

This system of implicit obedience, Loyola enforced on every occasion. His letters and his precepts abound in maxims inculcating the virtue of this quality. "Obedience," says he to his followers, "is the daughter of humility, the nurse of charity, the sister of justice, the mother of brotherly concord, and the enemy of self-opinion; it is a guide which never wanders, an oracle that cannot deceive, the port of salvation, and the mark which distinguishes you from all other religious orders. There are two sorts of obedience, the one, imperfect, the other, perfect. The imperfect considers if what is commanded be just and reasonable, and submits but in appearance to orders which shock the understanding; the perfect, on the contrary, is nearly blind, believes, without examining, that all the orders it receives are just, complies internally with the execution of them, and adds to the execution the sacrifice of its own will to that of the superior."

Many instances are recorded of the blind submission which he required and received from his subjects, and of the humiliation to which they willingly subjected themselves, for any fancied violation of this rule. On one occasion, Ignatius commanded a young disciple to speak to a woman of ill fame, and request her to desist from throwing rubbish in front of the Jesuit church, which she was in the habit of doing, much to the annoyance of the company. The young man, not liking the task, committed it to another person to perform. Loyola approved of the modesty which prompted his pupil to disobey in this trifling matter, but imposed on him a severe penance, because he had violated, though with good intention, the orders of his superior. He compelled him to stand at the door of the refectory, with a little bell hanging to his neck, and every day, for six months, to repeat with a loud. voice this fundamental maxim, "I will and I will not do not dwell in this house."

With a form of government thus absolute, Ignatius controlled his society. He lived to see it surmounting all the difficulties which had first checked its progress, and rising on the ruins of other and rival orders, whose antiquity had given them honor, but whose monastic rules, opposed to the spirit