THE MORALITY OF THE JESUITS. "But tell me, pray," continued the monk, " do you take much wine?" "No, my dear father," I answered; "I cannot endure it." "I merely put the question," returned he, " to apprize you that you might, without breaking the fast, take a glass or so in the morning, or whenever you felt inclined for a drop; and that isal way ssomething in the way of supporting nature. Here is the decision at the same place, no. 57: May one, without breaking the fast, drink wine at any hour he pleases, and even in a large quantity? Yes, he may: and a dram of hippocrass, too.' I had no recollection of the hippocrass," said the monk; "I must take a note of that in my memorandum-book." "He must be a nice man, this Escobar," observed I. "Oh! everybody likes him," rejoined the father; "he has such delightful questions! Only observe this one in the same place, no. 38: If a man doubt whether he is twenty-one years old, is he obliged to fast? No. But suppose I were to be twenty-one tonight, an hour after midnight, and to-morrow were the fast, would I be obliged to fast to-morrow? No; for you were at liberty to eat as much as you pleased for an hour after midnight, not being till then fully twenty-one; and therefore having a right to break the fast-day, you are not obliged to keep it.'" "Well, that is vastly entertaining!" cried I. "Oh," rejoined the father," it is impossible to tear one's self away from the book: I spend whole days and nights in reading it: in fact, I do nothing else." The worthy monk, perceiving that I was interested, was quite delighted, and went on with his quotations. "Now," said he, "for a taste of Filiutius, one of the four-and-twenty Jesuits: Is a man who has exhausted himself any way-by profligacy, for example -obliged to fast? By no means. But if he has exhausted himself expressly to procure a dispensation from fasting, will he be held obliged? He will not, even though he should have had the design.' There now! would you have believed that?" "Indeed, my good father, I do not believe it yet," said I. "What! is it no sin for a man not to fast when he has it in his power? And is it allowable to court occasions of committing sin, or rather, are we not bound to shun them? That would be easy enough, surely." "Not always so," he replied; "that is just as it may happen." 66 Happen, how ?" cried I. "Oh!" rejoined the monk, "so you think that if person experience some inconvenience in avoiding the occasions of sin, he is still bound to do so? Not so thinks Father Bauny. Absolution,' says he, "is not to be refused to such as continue in the proximate occasions of sin, if they are so situated that they cannot give them up without becoming the common talk of the world, or subjecting themselves to personal inconvenience." " "I am glad to hear it, father," I remarked; "and now that we are not obliged to avoid the occasions of sin, nothing more remains but to say that we may deliberately court them." "Even that is occasionally permitted," added he; "the celebrated casuist Basil Ponce has said so, and Father Bauny quotes his sentiment with approbation, in his Treatise on Penance, as follows: • We may seek an occasion of sin directly and designedlyprimo et per se-when our own or our neighbour's spiritual or temporal advantage induces us to do 80." "Truly," said I, "it appears to be all a dream to me, when I hear grave divines talking in this man 89 ner! Come now, my dear father, tell me conscientiously, do you hold such a sentiment as that?" No, indeed," said he, "I do not." "You are speaking, then, against your conscience," continued I. "Not at all," he replied; "I was speaking on that point not according to my own conscience, but according to that of Ponce and Father Bauny; and them you may follow with the utmost safety, for I assure you that they are able men.” "What, father! because they have put down these three lines in their books, will it therefore become allowable to court the occasions of sin? I always thought that we were bound to take the Scripture and the tradition of the Church as our only rule, and not your casuists. "I declare," cried the monk, "you put me in mind of these Jansenists. Think you that Father Bauny and Basil Ponce are not able to render their opinion probable?" "Probable won't do for me," said I; "I must have certainty." "I can easily see," replied the good father, "that you know nothing about our doctrine of probable opinion. If you did, you would speak in another strain. Ah! my dear sir, I must really give you some instructions on this point; without knowing this, positively you can understand nothing at all. It is the foundation—the very A, B, C, of our whole moral philosophy." Glad to see him come to the point to which I had been drawing him on, I expressed my satisfaction, and requested him to explain what was meant by a probable opinion? "That," he replied, "our authors will answer better than I can do. The generality of them, and among others, our four-and-twenty elders, describe it thus: An opinion is called probable, when it is founded upon reasons of some consideration. Hence it may sometimes happen that a single very grave doctor may render an opinion probable. The reason added: For a man particularly given to study would not adhere to an opinion unless he was drawn to it by a good and sufficient reason." "So it would appear," I observed, with a smile, "that a single doctor may turn consciences round, about and upside down as he pleases, and yet always land them in a safe position." "You must not laugh at it, sir," returned the monk; "nor need you attempt to combat the doctrine. The Jansenists tried this; but they might have saved themselves the trouble-it is too firmly established. Hear Sanchez, one of the most famous of our fathers: 'You may doubt, perhaps, whether the authority of a single good and learned doctor renders an opinion probable. I answer, that it does; and this is confirmed by Angelus, Sylvester Navarre, Emanuel Sa, &c. It is proved thus: A probable opinion is one that has a considerable foundation. Now, the authority of a learned and pious man is entitled to very great consideration: because (mark the reason), if the testimony of such a man has great influence in convincing us that such and such an event occurred, say at Rome, for example, why should it not have the same weight in the case of a question in morals ?" " "An odd comparison this," interrupted I, "between the concerns of the world and those of conscience!" "Have a little patience," rejoined the monk; "Sanchez answers that in the very next sentence: Nor can I assent to the qualification made here by some writers, namely, that the authority of such a doctor, though sufficient in matters of human right, is not so in those of divine right. It is of vast weight in both cases." " "Well, father," said I frankly, I really cannot admire that rule. Who can assure me, considering the freedom your doctors claim to examine everything by reason, that what appears safe to one may seem so to all the rest ? The diversity of judgments is so great" "You don't understand it," said he, interrupting me; "no doubt they are often of different sentiments, but what signifies that ?-each renders his own opinion probable and safe. We all know well enough that they are far from being of the same mind; what is more, there is hardly an instance in which they ever agree. There are very few questions, indeed, in which you do not find the one saying Yes, and the other saying No. Still, in all these cases, each of the contrary opinions is probable. And hence Diana says on a certain subject: Ponce and Sanchez hold opposite views of it; but, as they are both learned men, each renders his own opinion probable."" "But, father," I remarked, " a person must be sadly embarrassed in choosing between them!"— "Not at all," he rejoined ; "he has only to follow the opinion which suits him best."-" What! if the other is more probable ?" "It does not signify.""And if the other is safer?" "It does not signify," repeated the monk; "this is made quite plain by Emanuel Sa, of our Society, in his Aphorisms: A person may do what he considers allowable according to a probable opinion, though the contrary may be the safer one. The opinion of a single grave doctor is all that is requisite." " "And if an opinion be at once the less probable and the less safe, is it allowable to follow it," I asked, even in the way of rejecting one which we believe to be more probable and safe?" "Once more, I say Yes," replied the monk. "Hear what Fililutius, that great Jesuit of Rome, says: 'It is allowable to follow the less probable opinion, even though it be the less safe one. That is the common judgment of modern authors.' Is not that quite clear ?" "Well, reverend father," said I," you have given us elbow-room, at all events! Thanks to your probable opinions, we have got liberty of conscience with a witness! And are you casuists allowed the same latitude in giving your responses ?" "O yes," said he, "we answer just as we please; or rather, I should say, just as it may please those who ask our advice. Here are our rules, taken from Fathers Layman, Vasquez, Sanchez, and the four-andtwenty worthies, in the words of Layman: A doctor on being consulted may give an advice, not only probable according to his own opinion, but contrary to his opinion, provided this judgment happens to be more favourable or more agreeable to the person that consults him-si fortæ hæc favorabilior seu exoptatior sit. Nay, I go further, and say, that there would be nothing unreasonable in his giving those who consult him a judgment held to be probable by some learned person, even though he should be satisfied in his own mind that it is absolutely false." " 66 Well, seriously, father," I said, "your doctrine is a most uncommonly comfortable one! Only think of being allowed to answer Yes or No, just as you please! It is impossible to prize such a privilege too highly. I see now the advantage of the contrary opinions of your doctors. One of them always serves your turn, and the other never gives you any annoyance. If you do not find your account on the one side, you fall back on the other, and always land in perfect safety." "That is quite true," he replied; " and accordingly we may always say, with Diana, on his finding that Father Bauny was on his side, while Father Lugo was against him: Sæpe premente deo, fert deus alter opem.' "I understand you," resumed I ; "but a practical difficulty has just occurred to me, which is this, that supposing a person to have consulted one of your doctors, and obtain from him a pretty liberal opinion, there is some danger of his getting into a scrape by meeting a confessor who takes a different view of the matter, and refuses him absolution unless he recant the sentiment of the casuist. Have you not provided | for such a case as that, father ?" "Can you doubt it ?" he replied. "We have bound them, sir, to absolve their penitents who act accord-' ing to probable opinions, under the pain of mortal sin, to secure their compliance. When the penitent,' says Father Bauny, follows a probable opinion, the confessor is bound to absolve him, though his opinion should differ from that of his penitent." "But he does not say it would be a mortal sin not to absolve him," said I. "How hasty you are!" rejoined the monk; "listen to what follows; he has expressly decided that, 'to' refuse absolution to a penitent who acts according to a probable opinion, is a sin which is in its nature mortal. And to settle that point, he cites the most illustrious of our fathers-Suarez, Vasquez, and Sanchez." "My dear sir," said I, "that is a most prudent regulation. I see nothing to fear now. No confessor can dare to be refractory after this. Indeed, I was not aware that you had the power of issuing your orders on pain of damnation. I thought your skill had been confined to the taking away of sins; I had no idea that it extended to the introduction of new ones. But from what I now see, you are omnipotent." FATAL NEGLECT. WE remember very well the face and form, and even the dress, of a child in a country Sabbath-school, whose vigorous and graceful frame has long since mouldered back to dust. The school was taught in the body of the church, the classes occupying the pews. The class to which our young friend belonged was about midway from the pulpit to the door, and one could scarcely look over the group of intelligent and happy faces assembled there, without being struck with her appearance. She had a faithful and intelligent teacher, and the pastoral instruction on which she attended was plain and impressive; and we were looking with anxiety for some evidence that she thought of her soul's affairs and her need of a Saviour. Often was she warned and entreated to seek after peace with God, and often did she try in vain to conceal the tear which the earnest expostulations of her Christian friends would force from her. Passing her class one pleasant Sabbath morning, when the school was quite full, and much interest seemed to attend the exercises, we turned aside to urge her once more to seek Christ while he was to be found, lest he should come suddenly, and find her unprepared. It was a sacred place, a blessed day, every thing favoured a decision, and every thing invited her then and there to love, and adore, and obey her God and Saviour. She listened with respect and attention to our appeal, but evidently without emotion; and SABBATH FACTS. when the school was dismissed, by singing the Christian doxology, she stood with her class, and joined in the service with apparent serious ness. Early in the week, we noticed a physician's carriage at her father's door. When an opportunity occurred, we asked who was sick there, and was told it was CATHERINE. Soon we heard she was seriously ill, and called to see her. Her chamber was darkened, but there was light enough to reveal the sad change which a brief sickness had wrought upon her. Her fair countenance was pale and haggard. Her hair, which she dressed with so much taste and propriety, had been cut off close to the skin. She was tossing from side to side, seeking in vain to alleviate a raging fever. She was told who had come to see her. The name was repeated once or twice, but it only excited a vacant gaze. We would gladly have directed her thoughts, even then, to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, but, alas! her thoughts ran wild. The season of preparation had gone, she sank rapidly to the grave, and when the Sabbath-school assembled again, Catherine, who was with them in full life and health on the previous Sabbath, was an inhabitant of the world of spirits! Her grave-stone, inscribed with the simple record of her name and age, prepared by a Sabbath-school friend, is to be seen in the old grave-yard at 91 Approach he dares not.-"Thou canst make me clean, Lord, if thou wilt ! "—this was his only plea. "I will," the gracious answer: nought between The promise and th' omnipotent decree Of" Be thou clean!" Spotless at once and free Free from thenceforth to mingle, or to rest Fancy would vainly strive to paint his grief For help, or the glad joy of his relief: But we may know and feel it; we may share Each of these varying moods-this deep despair, This earnest longing to be healed, this joy When made the subjects of His heavenly care. Who is there, gracious Lord, that might not cry, "Such leprosy is mine, such need of thee have I? "Behold me with the leprosy of sin, Tainted like him; condemned to herd with those Of saints made perfect: such my weight of woes! SABBATH FACTS. on the banks of the Connecticut. What may be her condition in the world of spirits, I know not; but would she not have been wiser, had she sought after peace with God when THE great evil of transgressing the law of the she had health and strength? She might have Sabbath is on the heart. Man is a moral, as well as served God, without abating at all the innocent an intellectual, being. His excellence, his usefulness, and joyous sports and youthful recreations ap- To the right formation and proper culture of this the and his happiness, depend chiefly on his character. propriate to childhood. The buoyant step, the Sabbath is essential. Without it, all other means merry laugh and the gleeful voice, are not for-will, to a great extent, fail. You may send out Bibles bidden to us, nor is the highest enjoyment of life inconsistent with the most sacred duties of religion. So far from cutting off a single source of pleasure, piety opens to the youthful Christian sources of enjoyment of which the world is ignorant. It sanctifies them all for our advancement in bliss, prepares for life or for death, and gives us the blessed assurance that whether they live or die, it shall be well with them. CHRIST AND THE LEPER. BY HON. EDMUND PHIPPS. LOATHSOME, an outcast, doomed to solitude, Beamed a bright ray upon his darkened state: as on the wings of the wind, scatter religious tracts like the leaves of the forest, and even preach the gospel, not only in the house of God, but at the corner business, travelling, and amusements, and attend to of every street-if men will not stop their worldly the voice which speaks to them from heaven, the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pride of life, will choke all these means, and render them unfruitful. Such men do not avail themselves of the institution which God has appointed to give efficacy to moral influence, and which he blesses by his Spirit for that purpose. On the other hand, men who keep the Sabbath feel its benign effects. Even the external observance of it is, to a great extent, connected with external morality; while its internal as well as external observance will promote purity of heart and life. Of twelve hundred and thirty-two convicts, who had been committed to the Auburn State Prison previously to the year 1838, four hundred and forty-seven had been watermen-either boatmen or sailorsmen who, to a great extent, had been kept at work on the Sabbath, and thus deprived of the rest and privileges of that day. Of those twelve hundred and thirty-two convicts, only twenty-six had conscientiously kept the Sabbath. Of fourteen hundred and fifty, who had been committed to that prison previously to 1839, five hundred and sixty-three had been of the same class of men; and of the whole, only twenty-seven had kept the Sabbath. Of sixteen hundred and fifty-three, who had been committed to that prison previously to 1840, six hundred and sixty had been watermen, and twenty-nine only had kept the Sabbath. Of two hundred and three, who were committed in one year, ninety-seven had been watermen, and only two out of the whole had conscientiously kept the Sabbath. Thus it appears, from official documents, that, while the watermen were but a small proportion of the whole population, they furnished a very large proportion of the convicts; much larger, it is believed, than they would have done had they enjoyed the rest and privileges of the Christian Sabbath. It appears, also, that nearly all the convicts were Sabbathbreakers-men who disregarded the duties and neglected the privileges of that blessed day. The watermen had been kept at work, in many cases, under the delusive plea that, should they be permitted to rest on the Sabbath, they would become more wicked-an idea which facts, under the means of grace, show to be false. On the Delaware and Hudson Canal, on which are more than seven hundred boats, the experiment has been tried. The directors were told, at first, that should they not open the locks on the Sabbath, the men would congregate in large numbers, and would become more wicked than if they should continue to pursue their ordinary business; but the result is directly the reverse. Since the locks have not been opened, and official business has not been transacted on the Lord's-day, the men have become more moral as well as more healthy, and the interests of all have been manifestly promoted by the change. Let any class of men enjoy the rest and privileges of the Sabbath, and the effects will prove that it "was made for man," by Him who made man; and who, in view of all its consequences, especially as the great means of giving efficacy to moral government, with truth pronounced it " very good." not, that they referred to the violation of the Sabbath as the chief cause of their crimes; and that this has been confirmed by all the opportunities he has had of examining prisoners. Not that this has been the only cause of crime; but, like the use of intoxicating liquors, it has greatly increased public and private immorality, and been the means, in a multitude of cases, of premature death. Another gentleman, who has had the charge of more than one hundred thousand prisoners, and has taken special pains to ascertain the causes of their crimes, says that he does not recollect a single case of capital offence where the party had not been a Sabbathbreaker. And in many cases they assured him that Sabbath-breaking was the first step in their downward course. Indeed, he says, with reference to prisoners of all classes, nineteen out of twenty have neglected the Sabbath and other ordinances of religion. And he has often met with prisoners about to expiate their crimes by an ignominious death, who earnestly enforced upon survivors the necessity of an observance of the Sabbath, and ascribed their own course of iniquity to a non-observance of that day. Says the keeper of one of the largest prisons, Nine-tenths of our inmates are those who did not value the Sabbath, and were not in the habit of attending public worship." It is not so strange, then, if human nature were the same, and the effect of Sabbath-breaking the same, under the Jewish dispensation as it is now, that God should cause the Sabbath-breaker, like the murderer, to be put to death. Sabbath-breaking prepared the way for murder, and often led to it; and it would not be possible to prove that Sabbath-breaking now, is not doing even more injury to the people of the United States than murder. The secretary of a Prison Discipline Society, who has long been extensively conversant with prisoners, was asked how many persons he supposed there are in State Prisons who observed the Sabbath, and habitually attended public worship up to the time when they committed the crime for which they were imOn the other hand, take away from man the in-prisoned. He answered, "I do not suppose there are fluence of the Sabbath and its attendant means of any." An inquiry into the facts, it is believed, would grace, and you take away the safeguard of his soul; show, with but few exceptions, this opinion to be coryou bar up the highway of moral influence, and lay rect. Men who keep the Sabbath experience the rehim open to the incursions and conquests of Satan and straining, if not the renewing and sanctifying, grace his legions. Thus man becomes an easy prey, and is of God. While they keep the Sabbath, God keeps them. led captive by the adversary at his will. When they reject the Sabbath, he rejects them; and thus suffers them to eat the fruit of their own way, and to be filled with their own devices. Of one hundred men admitted into the Massachusetts State Prison in one year, eighty-nine had lived in habitual violation of the Sabbath and neglect of public worship. A gentleman in England who was in the habit, for more than twenty years, of daily visiting convicts, states that, almost universally, when brought to a sense of their condition, they lamented their neglect of the Sabbath, and pointed to their violation of it as the principal cause of their ruin. That prepared them for, and led them on, step by step, to the commission of other crimes, and finally to the commission of that which brought them to the prison, and often to the gallows. He has letters almost innumerable, he says, from others, proving the same thing, and that they considered the violation of the Sabbath the great cause of their ruin. He has attended three hundred and fifty at the place of execution, when they were put to death for their crimes; and nine out of ten who were brought to a sense of their condition, attributed the greater part of their departure from God to their neglect of the Sabbath. Another gentleman, who has been conversant with prisoners for more than thirty years, states that he found, in all his experience, both with regard to those who had been capitally convicted and those who had A father, whose son was addicted to riding out for pleasure on the Sabbath, was told that, if he did not stop it, his son would be ruined. He did not stop it, but sometimes set the example of riding out for pleasure himself. His son became a man, was placed in a responsible situation, and intrusted with a large amount of property. Soon he was a defaulter, and absconded. In a different part of the country he obtained another responsible situation, and was again intrusted with a large amount of property. Of that he defrauded the owner, and fled again. He was apprehended, tried, convicted, and sent to the State Prison. After years spent in solitude and labour, he wrote a letter to his father, and, after recounting his course of crime, he added, "That was the effect of breaking the Sabbath when I was a boy." Should every convict who broke the Sabbath when a boy, and whose father set him the example, speak out from all the State Prisons of the country, they would tell a story which would cause the ears of every one that should hear it to tingle. A distinguished merchant, long accustomed to extensive observation and experience, and who had gained an uncommon knowledge of men, said, “When SIN HAS LED US FROM GOD, &c. I see one of my apprentices or clerks riding out on the Sabbath, on Monday I dismiss him. Such an one cannot be trusted." Facts echo the declaration-" Such an one cannot be trusted." He is naturally no worse than others. But he casts off fear, lays himself open to the assaults of the adversary, and rejects the means of divine protection. He ventures unarmed into the camp of the enemy, and is made a demonstration to the world of the great truth that "he that trusteth to his own heart is a fool." Not a man in Christendom, whatever his character or standing, can knowingly and presumptuously trample on the Sabbath, devoting it to worldly business, travelling,pleasure, or amusement, and not debase his character, increase his wickedness, and augment the danger that he will be abandoned of God, and given up to final impenitence and ruin. 1 SOME OF YOUR DUTIES TO YOUR MINISTER. ADD not to his difficulties. He has his trials as a man; and he has his trials as a Christian; and in addition to both these, he has trials peculiar to his office. Could he have foreseen all at the beginning, he would have been disheartened at the entrance; but his work is, like John's little book, a bitter sweet, and the sweet comes first. You find it hard enough to manage one temper; what must be the task of governing a multitude, including every diversity! After the engagement of years, he would yield to many a temptation to withdraw, but that necessity is laid upon him. Never successful according to his wishes, and sometimes apparently useless, he is often ready to lay down his commission at his Master's feet; to say, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain." Bound to engage at the times appointed, and knowing what is expected from him; in his perplexity arising from choice of subjects, in his barrenness of thought, in his unfitness of feeling, in the study which is a weariness to the flesh, and the exhaustion of spirits gendered by intense application, his heart knoweth his own bitterness. Death worketh in him, but life in you. Encourage him. Welcome his instructions. Yield to his reproofs. Respect that authority which he has received, not for destruction, but edification. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." A minister must be very mean-spirited, if he regards his salary as alms or benefactions from his people. What they give, they more than receive back in services; and "the labourer is worthy of his hire." Has not God ordained, that they who preach the gospel, should live of the gospel? And is not this law founded in equity and justice? Would not the same talents the Inan devotes to the service of the sanctuary provide for himself and his family, if employed in secular concerns? This is a delicate point for a minister to handle; and he surely would never bring it forward if he could do justice to 93 the part of the subject before us without it. But he will resign it as soon as possible; and leave it in the words the Holy Ghost teacheth. Let congregations compare themselves with it, and especially those individuals in them who pay more annually to the most menial of their attendants than to the shepherd of their souls. "Let him," says the apostle, "be with you without fear." And again: "Know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." He means, not only in reward of their work, but in aid of it; for unless you magnify his office, you are not likely to be impressed by it; and as your regard for the preacher declines, so will your profit by him. Your relation to him is such, that if he is degraded, you are disgraced in him; and if he is honoured, you share in his respectability. Ministers are men; and "the best of men are but men at the best." You are not required to approve of their infirmities, or even to be ignorant of them: but surely you will not be suspicious; you will not invite or welcome reflection and insinuation; nor, like too many, speak of him, or suffer him to be spoken of, before children and servants and strangers, with a levity and freedom far from being adapted to increase or preserve esteem and respect. You will consider his character not only as forming his crown, but as essential to his acceptance and success. "Receive, him, therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation.”—Jay. SIN HAS LED US FROM GOD; CHRIST ALONE CAN LEAD US BACK TO GOD. BY THE REV. JOHN FAIRBAIRN, ALLANTON. We have departed from our heavenly Father. This has made us miserable. It is only by a return to God that we can be made happy. It is written, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." It is natural for the sparks to fly upward. It is as natural for man to be in trouble. The one is as natural and certain as the other. It was not always so with man. To be in trouble was once an unnatural, an impossible thing. Man was created for glory, and honour, and immortality. He was holy, and unmingled felicity was his portion and his experience. He did not long remain in this state. He might have remained in it for ever; but he soon fell from it. His nature was changed; from a holy His condition was he became a sinful creature. changed; from possessing perfect felicity he became the heir of misery. He lost the image of God. Where that is lost, all is lost-all solid peace, all true happiness. Nothing deserves that name except what springs from the love of God, and communion with him. Adam lost this. He lost it for himself-for us also. He represented us in the first covenant. In Adam we all fell. This is painfully manifest in that inheritance of sin and misery to which every one of us is born, and which is matter of daily experience to us. |