Although they were but a handful among the hundreds of devoted priests who laboured and laid down their lives for their religion in the reigns of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, yet they were the objects of the special hatred of the persecutors, and the search for them was carried on with relentless vigour. Even when other priests were tolerated, they were not, and in the present day they still remain an illegal corporation, who are liable at any moment to be expelled from England if the existing laws were put in force. All this engendered a certain policy of caution and concealment, the traces of which linger on even when the necessity of it has happily passed away.

But if this accounts in some measure for their supposed system of secrecy, it does not at all account for the extraordinary influence that they are believed to exert, not in England only, but all the world over. Here the intelligent Protestant is, we think, fairly nonplussed. He cannot but know that the theory that attributes their alleged power in the world to a system of unscrupulous intrigue and deception cannot possibly be maintained. Societies, like individuals, are in due course of time discredited if they violate the fundamental laws of morality. No man of honour and integrity would look with favour on a society which taught that 'The end justifies the means,' (in the sense that means in themselves unlawful are justified by the fact that the end which they are intended to promote is a good one), or which habitually practised deceit and employed underhand means to attain its object. Still less would any man of virtue or high principle dream of belonging to such a body. No parent would think of entrusting his children to be educated by its members. No one who valued his own reputation would have anything to do with such a band of moral lepers. They would be scouted in every civilised community. If Jesuits were what the vulgar Protestant supposes them to be, they would long ago have been crushed out of existence by the just indignation of mankind.

We may therefore dismiss without further comment the absurd supposition that Jesuits owe their influence to deceit and an unscrupulous policy of Machiavellianism, and must look elsewhere for the secret of their power in the world. If they are influential, it must needs be because they employ means that are in themselves calculated to impart influence to those who are willing to adopt them. It will be the object of the following pages to try and explain what these means are.

But first of all I must premise that as I am writing for nonCatholics as well as for Catholics, I shall omit, or pass over very lightly, the supernatural element in their success. Many of my readers will smile if I recall the prayer which their founder, St. Ignatius, used to offer continually for his children. He used to beg of God that they might always be the object of the world's hatred

and enmity. He told them that they should wish to suffer contumely, false accusations and insults, so long as they themselves gave no sort of occasion for it, and no offence is thereby committed against the Divine Majesty.' He knew from Holy Scripture and from the history of the Church that this has been an essential condition of success in all great works done for God by saints and missionaries, and a mere process of induction taught him to regard persecution and misrepresentation as a necessary accompaniment of every victory won for the sacred cause of Christianity. I should, therefore, be omitting a prominent feature in the history of my Order if I were to pass altogether unnoticed the reproach which always has been attached, and I pray God may always be attached, to the name of the Society of Jesus.

But my object in my present article is rather to dwell on the natural causes that have contributed to gain for us the place of honour which we occupy in the ranks of the Christian Church. And among these marks of honour I include not only our position as theologians, missioners, preachers, confessors, and educators of youth, but still more the invariable selection that is made of the Society as the chief object of the hatred of those who are the foes of the Catholic Church. Whether it be the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth or the sectaries of Germany, the Communists of Paris or the Revolutionary party in Italy, the Bonzes of Japan or the fanatical followers of Mohammed, all who hate the name of Catholic concentrate their deadliest animosity on the unfortunate Jesuit. Even within the pale of the Catholic Church we have sometimes found strenuous opponents. The Jansenists of France were our bitter enemies. Those who rejoice in the name of Liberal Catholics have invariably stood aloof from us. At times even bishops and archbishops have looked coldly on us. Sometimes, indeed, it may be that individual Jesuits have, by their unfaithfulness to the principles of their Order, deserved the ill feeling with which they have been regarded. But in a large majority of cases it is due either to prejudice or defective knowledge on the part of their adversaries, or else to an imperfect grasp of the Catholic system (as was the case with the Jansenists), or to a false impression that the Jesuits exercised an influence which interfered with their own lawful authority, and were a rival power in the government of the Church.

I have still left untouched what I believe to be the real secret of Jesuit influence, regarded, as I desire my readers to regard it, from a purely natural point of view. Not that it can ever be really separated from the supernatural, any more than the ivy can be separated from the oak to which it clings. But as we can consider the growth and means of cultivation of the ivy in itself, so I propose to consider the Society of Jesus in itself, as an organised system of 1 Summarium Constitutionum Soc. Jesu, R. 11.

means, adapted, in accordance with the principles that govern human society, to the end that it has in view. After a quarter of a century spent in its ranks, I can speak with great confidence from my own personal experience of the training given to its members. The study of the training of a Jesuit appears to me to throw a very clear light on the position which the Society occupies in the modern world.

But there is something preliminary to the consideration of its training. No system of education can produce a well-educated man unless the original material is good. The first requisite for those who are to do the work of the Society efficiently is that it should select as its members only those who are capable of receiving the Jesuit form.' The statue, however deftly carved, will not be a success if the marble have serious defects. All possible care is taken to admit into the ranks of the Society only those who are naturally qualified to carry out the end that it sets before itself, and who show a capacity for imbibing its spirit and submitting to its discipline.

When any one applies for admission to the Society, he has first of all to satisfy the Head of the Province that he is a likely subject; and he is then handed over to four of the Fathers to be examined by each of them separately. This examination is no mere form; the candidate for admission has to answer the most searching questions, and is submitted to a somewhat rigorous scrutiny. He is asked about the age, health, and position of his parents in the world; whether they are Catholics; whether they are likely to need his help in their old age. He has also to give a full account of himself; whether he suffers from ill-health or other infirmity, hereditary or acquired; whether he owes money, or is under any other obligation; what studies he has made and what are his literary attainments, whether he has lived a virtuous life; how long he has been entertaining the idea of entering the Society, and what is his motive for wishing to do so; whether it has been suggested to him by any one else or springs entirely from himself. The examiner has meanwhile to try and ascertain from personal observation what talent he possesses; what is his natural disposition; whether he seems to be a man likely to persevere, and to prove a useful member of the Society. He is not to be admitted if he has any notable bodily defect or mental infirmity; if he is deficient in intelligence; if he is in debt; or if he has worn the habit of any other religious body, even for a single day. Each of the four examiners has to write out at length his report on the above points, and to state in writing his opinion as to whether it is expedient to admit him or not, with any further remarks that he may choose to add. The four reports are sent in to the Provincial, who after carefully reading them decides whether the candidate is to be accepted or rejected.

In every province of the Society of Jesus there is a day in each year on which candidates are ordinarily received, though exceptions

are made in special cases. The new-comers are not at once admitted to the ranks of the noviceship; they spend their first week or ten days separate from the rest, and during that time the rules of the Society are put into their hands, and are explained to them; they are instructed as to the kind of life they will have to live, and the difficulties that they will have to encounter. They have to study the 'Summary of the constitutions,' in which is set forth the end and object of the Society, the spirit that must animate its members, the obedience they must be ready to practise, the sacrifice of their own will and judgment that they must be prepared to make; in fact, they have every possible opportunity given them of ascertaining what it is that they are undertaking when they declare their intention of serving God in the Society according to its laws and constitutions. Of course, there are but few who realise at first all that is involved in the sacrifice they are making; but this must be the case with all who are entering on a new and difficult career. After they have spent a few days in studying the obligation they are going to accept, they are put into retreat for a short time, during which they are kept in perfect silence, and have to spend their time in listening to a series of instructions on the fundamental truths of religion given by the master of novices, each instruction containing a number of suggestive thoughts, on which they have to meditate for an hour after the instruction is finished.

When this time of retirement is over, they are duly received as novices, and are clad in the Jesuit habit. Often one or two fall away during this first probation, discovering that the kind of life is beyond their courage, or requires a higher degree of virtue than they possess. But, generally speaking, those who have made their first probation pass into the ranks of the noviceship as soon as it is over.

From that moment the real process of sifting begins. The new novices enter at once on the routine prescribed by the Society for all who desire to fight under her standard. They rise at 5.30, make a short visit to the chapel at 6, in order to make their morning oblation of the day to God, and from 6 to 7 make their meditation. According to Jesuit rule, the points of this meditation have to be studied for a quarter of an hour before retiring to rest on the previous evening. On these points the Jesuit is taught to dwell during the hour devoted to the morning meditation, ending the consideration of them with some good resolution arising out of them, and a short prayer that he may keep it during the ensuing day. As this is a very important element in the training of the Society, I think it may be interesting if I give an example of the points as given to the novices during my own novitiate by the then master of novices, whose holy teaching and loving care will always dwell in the grateful hearts of those who had the privilege of being trained by him.

Subject of the Meditation: 'Let us make haste to enter into our eternal rest' (Hebrews iv. 11).

Point 1.-How are we to make haste towards eternal rest with God? It is certain that he who during the hours of the day most frequently does the very thing that his Father in Heaven wishes is he who during that day makes most progress. Penance will not advance us if we do it when our Father in Heaven wishes us not to do penance. Prayer will only retard us if prayer is not our Father's will at the moment. Resting when He wishes us to rest, labouring when He wishes us to labour, speaking and being silent just as He wishes-this is the short and direct road to our eternal repose.

Point 2. This life is a time of traffic. 'Traffic till I come,' our Lord says. He who traffics most wisely is the one who is making most haste to enter into his eternal repose. St. Paul tells us how to carry on our spiritual business. 'Some,' he

says, 'build with gold and precious stones and silver on the foundations of faith. Others with wood, stubble, and hay.' We build with gold and precious stones when our intention is very good; with hay and stubble when our intention is unworthy. Two men read the same book or work together; how different the value of their work according to their intention!

Point 3. Of all the ways of making haste to heaven and to God, there is none so rapid as the way of charity and love. Many sins are forgiven, because she loved much.' How slow and how weary a task it is to conceal sins by any other process!

Beg very earnestly for an increase of Divine love, in order that you may run in the way of God's commandments.

At 6.55 the bell rings for Holy Mass, and all the novices repair to the chapel. After Mass, which occupies half an hour, another quarter of an hour is assigned to a reconsideration of the meditation and the care with which it was made, and to the writing down of any thoughts that may have suggested themselves in the course of it. Breakfast is at 7.45, and at 8.30 the novices have to be present, each at his little desk, for half an hour's reading of Rodriguez on Christian Perfection. At 9 an instruction on the rules is given by the master of novices, after which they have to make their beds and arrange their little cells, and, when this is done, to repair to some appointed place, where one of their number, appointed for the purpose, assigns to each a certain amount of manual labour-dusting, sweeping, washing up dishes and plates, laying the refectory for dinner, sometimes cleaning and scrubbing, and other menial offices of the humblest description. At 10.15 they have to learn by heart, for a quarter of an hour, some portion of the rules of the Society, or such prayers, psalms, or ecclesiastical hymns, the knowledge of which may be useful to the young ecclesiastic. After this they have some free time, during which they can walk in the grounds, pray in the chapel, or read some Life of the saints or other spiritual book. At 11.30 they assemble for out-door manual works,' which consist in chopping and sawing wood for fuel, sweeping up leaves, picking up leaves, weeding the flower beds, or some similar occupation allotted to them by one of the older novices, who is termed master of outdoor works.' At 12.30 they return to the house, and at 12.40 the