may obtain the grace of justification, in bringing

"the dispositions which I have mentioned, still he "cannot merit them; so that he is justified, gra

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tuitously, by the pure mercy of God, and solely, "in the view of the merits of Jesus Christ. I explain myself:-the sinner, after he has lost the 66 grace of God, can do nothing, which is sufficiently "agreeable to God, to entitle him to be restored to "his friendship. All the good works which he "does, in such a state, are dead; and of too little "value to exact from the divine justice, that the 66 grace of reconciliation should be restored to him, "as the fruit of his works. When God justifies us, by restoring his friendship to us, it is not in con

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sequence of the goodness of our works; it is solely "in consequence of the infinite price of the passion "and death of Jesus Christ; it is gratuitously; it "is from the pure effect of his mercy, that he applies to us the fruit of the merits and the infinite "satisfaction of his Son. It is true, that God requires certain works, without which he does not justify the sinner; and in consequence of which, "he does justify him: but he does not require them "as meritorious works; he requires them as con❝ditions, or as necessary dispositions, without which, "he does not receive the sinner into favour, or ad"mit him to participate in the merits of Jesus "Christ, as to their effects in the remission of "sins. According to the doctrine of the council "of Trent †, nothing that precedes justification,

Sess. vi. c. 8.

"either of faith or works, can merit the grace of justification.

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Fourthly,-We believe, that though the sinner I can only owe his justification to the merits of "Jesus Christ, yet the merits of Jesus Christ are "not the formal justice of the person justified :"he is not just of the justice of Jesus Christ; that "is extrinsic to him. He is just, by an inherent

justice, a justice which, at the same time, is the 'justice of God, and the justice of man ;-the jus"tice of man, because, having obtained it of the "Divine liberality, it is within him, and not out "of him ;-the justice of God, because it comes "from God alone; he alone gives it to the sinner, by a pure effect of his mercy, gratuitously, and

only in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the "sinner being altogether unable, on his part, to "merit the justice by any imaginable work, what"ever it may be."

We leave the reader to his own reflections: if he be a roman-catholic, he must concede to the protestant, that he believes no sinner to be justified without good works; if he be a protestant, he must concede to the catholic, that he believes no good works of the sinner, entitle him to justification; and whether he be a roman-catholic or a protestant, he must concede, that both equally believe, that, where either faith or good works are wanting, the sinner will not be justified, and that when he is justified, his justification is not owing either to his faith or his good works, or to both for though both

abound, still would not the sinner be justified, if it were not for the infinite mercy of God, and the infinite merits and satisfaction of his Son *.

CHAP. LXXV.

SUPPRESSION OF THE JESUITS.

IN the history of the society of Jesus, all English catholics have an interest: invaluable and numerous are the services which the English members of it have rendered them, by their colleges, their missionary labours, their excellent writings and their exemplary lives.

The rise and first progress of the society have been noticed :-we shall now briefly mention, I. Its progressive extension: II. The mode of instruction and education used by the members of the society: III. Their missions in Paraguay: IV. Their mission in China: V. Their antichristian and anticatholic adversaries: VI. Their catholic adversaries: VII. Their alleged advocation of the pope's divine right to temporal power in spiritual concerns: VIII. Their alleged exemption from the civil power in consequence of papal bulls and briefs: IX. The dissolution of the society: X. And their restoration.

The author of the letters, to which the writer has referred in this article, was father Scheffmacker, a jesuit, at Strasburgh, The reader of them, whatever be his creed, will be delighted with their truly christian politeness, their elegance, and their perspicuity.

LXXV. 1.

The progressive Extension of the Order.

ST. IGNATIUS Survived the approbation of his institute no longer than sixteen years: but, during this short period, St. Francis Xavier, and his companions, had converted thirty nations to the faith of Christ, and baptised, with their own hands, a million of idolaters: above one hundred schools, under the direction of the jesuits, had been founded in Italy, in Germany, in Portugal and Spain; and incessant applications were received for others. The whole catholic world was delighted with the good that was done, and the good that was promised: "Let us not despair," said cardinal Commendon, one of the brightest ornaments of the sixteenth century, on his return from his German legation,"all difficulties that impede the progress of religion "and virtue, may be overcome by the means of the "fathers of the society of Jesus. This is the opi"nion of his imperial majesty, of the princes, and "even of the people of Germany. What these "fathers have already done, shews, what may be "expected from their zeal. Their exemplary lives, "their sermons, their colleges, have supported and "will ever support religion. Multiply then the jesuits, multiply their colleges and their acade"mies; you will find that the fruits, which religion "will gather from them, will exceed your expec"tations." The advice was universally accepted; the church and state of every catholic nation called

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for the jesuits. In 1537, when St. Ignatius presented himself and his companions to the pope, their number did not exceed six ; at the expiration of the first century of the order, it reached 19,000.

LXXV. 2.

Their Mode of Instruction and Education.

OF Socrates, it was said, that he brought down philosophy from the heavens to common life: of the jesuits, it may be truly said, that, in imitation of their divine model, they made the knowledge of religion and the practice of it familiar to every rank and order of society. They spread themselves over towns and over villages, to teach the catechism to children, in their very earliest days; to afford them more solid instruction, as their years increased; and to prepare them at a more advanced age, for the sacrament of the holy table. To excite them to devotion, and to confirm them in their good resolutions, they established certain devotional practices, which impressed them with religious feelings; and formed religious associations, which, by uniting several in the observance of the same pious exercises, excited emulation, restrained the wandering, animated the tepid and inflamed the fervent.

All

Their schools were equally open to the noble and the ignoble, to the wealthy and the poor. were subject to the same discipline; rose at the same early hour, were fed by the same plain diet,received the same instruction, might attain the same rewards, and were subject to the same punishments.