ANTI-JESUIT MYTHS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 37, 12 September 1901, Page 6

ANTI-JESUIT MYTHS.

In the columns of the N.Z. Times of Friday last ' Bluegrass,' in the course of a further able contribution, completely demolishes a few more of the stock arguments of a calumniator of the Jesuits. In his third article ' Bluegrass ' completely disposes of his opponent's slanders as follows :—: —

History, like science, is the synthesis of proven facts. The reliance to be placed in any writer treating of an historical theme mußt necessarily depend on the truthfulness of his statements. A certain ' M.C.P.N.Z., 1 in the valuable columns of the Times, has, on August sth and 14th, and September 2nd, laid the following charges against the Jesuits :— ' They were the cause of the Catholic persecution under Elizabeth — they were adepts at regicide ; they were the authors of probabilism and of the nefarious doctrine of the end justifying the means.' These are the grave misdemeanors of whioh my old masters, and one of the ablest body of men in the Catholic Church, are supposed to be guilty. To refute these slanderous accusations I (on August 9th and 23rd) gave proofs and historical data to tbe contrary. To none of these has 'M.C.P.N.Z ' answered, but with a cool sang froid he continues his calumnious outpourings.

His charge re the cause of the persecution under Elizabeth, as I proved, was based on

A Proclamation Historically Incorrect, and not against the Jesuits solely. Yet what wots ' M.C.P.N.Z ' ? He suavely moves along, although his veracious sense must admit that he has been pilloried in the stocks of historical mendacity. Yet ' M.C.P.N Z. is not convinced ; he ia waiting ' for futher data. 1 Let him then take the 27 Elizabeth, cap, 2, and read the following : — ' Jesuits, seminary priests, and other ecclesiastical persons, born in these realms, and ordained by the pretended authority of the See of Rome, coming into, or remaining in the Queen's dominions, are guilty of high treason. Their receivers, aiders, and mail tuners, knowing them to be such, are guilty of felony without benefit of clergy.' 'Ifit be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye' (Acts, iv., 19), was tbe rejoinder of two of the Apostles to the Sanhedrin ; and when, later on, they and the others, for preaching Christ were stourged, they left the ' council rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus ' (Act-, v.. 41). Thus, too, for a like fidelity to the Catholic Church, to tbe Apostles' teaching of Christ, the Catholics, both priests and people of England under Elizabeth, were persecuted and bore the reproach of being branded as guilty of felony and treason, on account of their faith. If ' M.C.P.N.Z.' wants still 'further data ' I freely refer him to the work entitled The Church Under Queen Elizabeth, by Rev. F. G. Lee, L\D. The author was, at the time of editing his works, the Church of England vicar of All Saints', Lambeth ; hence he cannot be considered as a biassed champion of Catholics and Jesuits. The work, too, is for the most part a compilation of the ' State papei i, Elizabeth,' and is well worth the serious perusal of such an ardent seeker after truth as 'M.C.P.N.Z.' has Bhown himself. In my last I chalk n^ed my opponent 'to adduoe

' A Proven Historical Regicid9 committed by the Jeeuiti".' Needless to say, that not the deed demanded, but the bald statement of Lecky, is all that is given. Let me remind ' M.C.P.N.Z.' that the 'obiter dicta' of even a Leoky do not constitute history, but the proven facts from which these 'dicta 'come, as conclusions. If 'M.C.P.N.Z.' has these facts, let him ' trot them out.'

Very thankful, too, is 'Bluegraes' to 'M.C.P.N.Z.' for the friendly warning to 'be careful how he praises a Jesuit.' Why, 'MC.P.N.Z.' has actually unearthed 'a mare's nest I' Here it is, ' In 1614,' says T. H. Dyer, ' the Parliament in Paris ordered to be burnt a book of the Jesuit Saurez, entitled "Defense de la Catholique Apostolique contre les erreursdelaSecte d'Angleterre." ' There was no Jesuit theologian by the name of Saurez, The title given above is not even French. . The date, too, is wrong. This is too bad. It actually begets in one a feeling of pity for poor

1 M.O.P.N.Z.' What, though, oan yoa do with a man who will not bake the trouble to verify his authorities ? The facts of the case as narrated by M. Le Baton Henrion in his ' Histoire Generate,' t. 8, p. 860, are as follow : — ' On August Ist, 1626, the Parliament ordered the work of a Jesuit named Santarelli to be burnt in the pnblio square of Grere, but King Louis XIII. expressly forbade the Court to exeoute the order.' There was a Jesuit named Suarez, who at the request of Pope Paul V., wrote his famous 'Defensio Fidei Oatholicae adversns Anglicanae sectae errores,' and for this he was complimented by the Sovereign Pontiff in a laudatory brief. Yet another work on the regicide question. According to 'M.O.P.N.Z.' on August 14th, the Jesuits ' were adepts at regicide, and there is no reason to suppose they would hang back at killing an obnoxious Pope,' and, on September 2nd. ' Whether the Pope died by poißon or not, the Jesuits rejoiced beyond measure at the event.' Mark well the difference in the two charges. To maintain his charge, against the Jesuits, of the end justifying the means, ' M.C.P.N.Z.,' relying on the authority of Anton Gindeley, tells us that the ' Thirty Years' War ' was instigated by the Jesuits, and ' has since been called the Jesuits' war.' This was, indeed, news to me, and perhaps for many a whilom professor of history. Wolfgang Menzel, the famous Protestant historian, in his ' Galerie dee Personnes 3tc., t. 6, o. 14,' assures us that the Oalvinist Count Thorn, the opposer of Ferdinand 11. to the Empire, began at Prague, May 23rd, 1618, The 'Thirty Years' War,' by ordering three of the Catholio members of the regenoy to be thrown out of the windows of the oollege Charles IV. Hence, in reality, the war originated, not with the Catholios, but with the non-Catholics. Has ' M.C.P.N.Z. ' forgotten that Louis XIII. was the ohief ally of Gustavua Adolphue in that same war ? Mind you, he was the monarch who forbade the book of the Jesuit Saularelli to be burnt. Political policy, and not Jesuit influence, was in reality the motive for kings taking sides, even against those of their own faith in that awful war. Where will ' M.C.P.N.Z.' stop next? He says : ' Clearly they (the Jesuits) acted on the principle that the end justifies the means,' and to his own stultification proves it with ' They hated Presbyterianism, yet, because the end was good in their eyes, helped to set it up in the hope of making gain by creating discord.' Were there a competition for the most barefaced mendacious fabrication, ' M.C.P.N.Z.' would easily get it for the above statement. That the Jesuits helped to set up Presbyterianism will indeed be a revelation to the elders the whole world over. Calvin himself, though, thought otherwise, as I had occasion to point out ia mine of August 9. Surely the attempt of ' M.C.P.N.Z.' to show that the Jesuits ' acted on the principle that the end justifies the means' is proven false, and can't be even bolstered by his own hare-brained utterances. When ' M.C.P.N.Z.' will name the work from which he takes the excerpt of his ' Fiiiutius,' I will deal with the quotation. Let me ask him not to blunder again, but to show the public that there is in him some scholarship. Anent probabilism, Layman is quoted as giving the following principle : 'To whom the end is permitted, the means adapted to that end are permitted also.' Alas, for ' M.C.P N.Z ' and Dr. Littledale I The truth is not in them, for the above is but A Garbled Text. Layman, in his ' Moral Theology,' treatise 4, 8.1., eh. 15, p. 102, says : ' Cvi conceesus est finis huio etiam media ad finem necessaria conoessa sunt.' — 'To whom the end is allowed, to him also are allowed the means necessary for that end.' Unlawful meanß may be adapted to attain a good end, but they are never necessary, and therefore they are never permitted, but always forbidden. Layman himself, furthermore, clearly explains this in the same chapter : ' The fact of being directed towards a good end does not make good an action which is in itself evil, but leaves it simply and entirely evil, . . . and therefore it would be sinful to tell a lie in order to help your neighbor, as it would be likewise wrong to ateal from a rich man in order to give an alms to the poor.' Thus speaks the Jesuit himself, and with him this very principle •ia sanctioned by every law and taught by every moralist ' The readers have in this yet another proof of ' the ways that are dark ' by which ' M.C.P.N.Z.' strives to slander the Jesuits. My reference to John xv., 19, as context proves, waß not intended for the Jesuits only, but for all Catholics who, according to M.C.P.N.Z., are so • vulgarly regarded.' To them, as the inheritors of the faith of the Apostles, it is applicable. Whilst, I opine, that 11. Peter ii., 2, can no more be applied to the Jesuits nominally than the two collated texts, Matthew xxvii., 5, and Luke x , 37, can to the lawfulness of suicide. These texts are : He (Judas) went and hanged himself,' and ' Go, and do thou likewise.'

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