and their manner of thinking on all subjects, in order that the spirit of the Head may be universally that of the Body and each of its members!' It is decided by the constitutions that the General has a right in all things to rescind what the other superiors of the society have done, although they may have acted even in pursuance of his own general powers; that he is the party to direct in all cases, where he may see fit, and that obedience is always due to him, as to the Vicar of Jesus Christ; from whence it evidently appears that the General is the POPE of the society.' Well may this be called a monstrous proposition.' The General is indeed the POPE of the society,' and exercises all the power of the' POPE.

It should be added from the memorial of the Spanish and Portuguese Jesuits to POPE CLEMENT VIII. in 1598, that the power of the General is such, that, although he may have admirers, he is not bound to conform to their advice. He is the Lord of Lords, and does as he will, without being restrained by any law: he has the power of life and death: he elevates and debases whom he will, as if he were GOD, being exempt from all passion, and not liable to err.'

It has been rightly said, by the able author of the History of the Jesuits,' that it is impossible to carry blasphemy farther than in this passage.'

The General of the Jesuits is so great in the eyes of the society, that she will not endure that the Pope himself should invest him with any other dignity, at least without her consent, and the law of the Institute prevents the society from giving such consent

unless there should be actual sin in withholding it : and indeed, what dignity on earth could equal that of being the sole chief of the army of Jesus?'

And now we put our first question-Does not the second Beast "exercise all the power of the first?" Does not the General exercise all the power of the Pope? Is not the General rightly called the Pope of the Society? What can the Pope do which the General cannot? What power has the Pope which the General has not? Is the Pope THE VICAR OF JESUS CHRIST? So is the General. Is the Pope KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS ? so is the General. Is the Pope INFALLIBLE, and NOT LIABLE TO ERR? So is the General. Is the Pope in the place of GOD? so is the General. Does the Pope require unlimited obedience in spirituals and temporals? so does the General. Is the Pope the source of all power and authority? so is the General. Does the Pope act just as he pleases, and do ACCORDING TO HIS WILL? So does the General. Is the Pope RESTRAINED BY NO LAW? so is the General. Is the Pope THE LAWLESS ONE, or, as St. Paul expresses it, * Ο ΑΝΟΜΟΣ ? The General may be described as 'O ANOMOZ, THE LAWLESS ONE, likewise. Is the Pope a DESPOT ? so is the General. He regards

every Jesuit as a MERE STAFF in his hands, or as an INANIMATE BODY, whose movements he is to direct :' and 'exercises of course the most despotic empire over him.' St. Ignatius goes further than this: he commands that every order of a superior without distinction shall be regarded as a divine precept;

which shall be obeyed without any discussion, and with the same blind prostration of the whole will as is required in believing whatever the Catholic faith. teaches, and as Abraham evinced in sacrificing his son Isaac !!' Nor is it only in obligatory matters, that the obedience required by the Institute is to be perfect. In things indifferent as well as in things essential, it is not necessary to wait for a formal command from a superior. Even an intimation, and less than an intimation, of his will should render obedience as prompt, as if JESUS CHRIST himself had commanded.' Does not the General " exercise all the power of the" Pope?

As the General "exercises all the power of the" Pope, so the Jesuits, as a body, have exercised "all the power of the" Papacy. Before the expiration

of the sixteenth century, the Jesuits 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 even 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. The advantages which an active and enterprising body of men might derive from all these circumstances are obvious. They formed the minds of men in their youth. They retained an ascendant ever them in their advanced years. They possessed,

at different periods, the direction of the most considerable courts in Europe. They mingled in all affairs. They took part in every intrigue and revolution. The General, by means of the extensive intelligence which he received, could regulate the operations of the order with the most perfect discernment, and, by means of his absolute power, could carry them on with the utmost vigour and effect.' (Robertson's Charles V.) The Jesuits have not only been confessors to most of the monarchs of Europe, but have numbered some of those monarchs as members of their society, as for instance, Louis XIV. Yea, their power has been so great, that, as Pascal expresses it, they have led captive the ecclesiastical dictator of

the world.'

II. But, secondly, the second Beast not only "exerciseth all the power of the first Beast," but exercises it before him,' in other words, in his presence, and with his sanction.' That the Jesuits "exercise all the power of the" presence, is manifest from the General of the Jesuits dwells at

Pope in the Pope's simple fact, that the

Rome under the eye

of the Pope. As the Pope sits in the Dragon's Seat," which is Rome, so the General sits in the Pope's "Seat," which is Rome. As "the Dragon has given to the Pope "his power, and his seat, and great authority," so the Pope has given "his power and his seat, and great authority" to the General of the Jesuits. That the Jesuits "exercise all the power of the" Pope with the Pope's sanction, is manifest from the Papal Bulls which have been issued in their

favour.
of Paul III.

In 1540, their society obtained the sanction This Pontiff by his Bull of 1543, authorizes them "to adopt such constitutions as they might judge fit; with power, as well with respect to the constitutions already adopted, as to those which should be made in future, to alter or annul them, according to the difference of time and place, and the qualities or diversities of things, and to form other constitutions, which by special favour, shall be, ipso facto, considered as approved by the Holy See.' By another Bull of 1549, the Pope gave them leave 'to make such statutes and constitutions as they should judge necessary, and afterwards either to change them, to add to them, or to retrench them.'

Not only have the Jesuits no need of the authority or sanction of the Episcopal Diocesan for preaching, confessing, or administering the Sacrament, but they can do what no bishop can-absolve from sins reserved as peculiar cases for the Pope: their power on this head is so undoubted, that they are regarded as the hereditary agents of the Pope for such purpose, and have a right to open all the letters of the Penitentiary at Rome, without waiting for their being addressed to them in particular: having an express commission for absolution in most cases, and for dispensation in all-commissions, which are only given to the masters of a faculty; but the Jesuits are far superior to any masters.' The above power they exercise by virtue of the Bulls of 1545 and 1582. By a Bull of Pius V. they have all the privileges, past, present, and to come, which mendicants of all colours,