The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-05-09
TIE ORDER OF JESUITS.
BY MACAULAY

listed an hundred years, it had filled til,
whole world with memorials of grca
things done and suffered for the faith
No religious community could produce
list of men SO variously distinguished
none had extended its operation owe,
80 vast space; yet in none had there
ever been such perfect unity of feeling
and action. There was no region O
the globe, no walk Of speculative or o.
active life, in Jcsui.s were not to be
found. They guided the councils Of
Kings. They dcciphered Latin inscrip
tons. They observed the motions OF
Jupiter's satellites. They published
whole libraries, casuistry, history, treat
ise on optics, Alcaicodes, editions Of
the fathers, madrigals, catcchisms and
lampoons. The liberal education of
youth passed almost entirely into their
hands, and was conducted by them with
conspicuous ability. They appear to
have discovered the precise point to
which intellectual culture can be carried
without risk ofintellccual emancipation.
EnInity itself was compelled to own
that in the art Of managing and form
ing the tender mind, they assi'luons|y
and successfully cultivated the clio.
qucncc of the pulpit. With still great
er assiduity and still greater success
they applied themselves to the ministry
of the confessional. Throughout Cath.
olic Europe the secrets of every gov-
ernmcnt, and Of almost every family
were in their keeping. They glidcd
from one Protestant country to another
under innumcrable disguiscs, as gay
cavaliers, as simple rustics, as Puritan
preachers. They wandered to coun-
tries which neither mercantile avidity
nor liberal curiosity had ever imnclcd
any stranger to explore. They were
to be found in the garb of Mandarins,
experimenting the observatory of Pc
kin. They were to be fund, spade III
hand, teaching the rudimcnts Of agri-
culture to the savaScs Of Paraguay.
Yet whatever might be their residence,
whatever might be their employment,
their spirit was the same: entire dcvo-
ton to the common cause, implicit obc.
dicncc to the central authority. None
of them had chosen his dweling-placc
or his avocation for himself. Whether
the Jcsuits should live under the artic
circle or under the equator, whether lie
should pass his lie in arranging gems
and collating manuscripts at the Nati-
can. or in pcrsuading naked barbarians
i'll the southern hemisphere not to cat
each other, were matters which lie left
with profound submission to the decision
Of others. If he vas wanted at Lima,
he was on the Atlantic in the next fleet.
Ifhc was wanted at Baglal, he was
toiling through the desert with the next
caravan. lfhis ministry was needed
in some country where his life was
moro insecure than that of a wolf; where
it was crime to harbor him, where the
heads and quarters Of his brclhcn, fix
cd in public places, showed him what
he had to cXpcct--hc went without re-
monstrancc or hesitation to his doom.
NOR Is Tins heroic spirit yet extinct.
When in our own time new and ter
riblc pcstilcncc PASS around the globe;
when in some great cities fear had dis
solved all the ties which hold society to-
gcthcr; when the secular clergy had
deserted their ilocks; when medical suc.
cor was not to be purchased by gold;
when the strongest natural affections
had yielded to the love OF life, even
then the jesuit was found by the pallet
which bishops and curatc, physician
and nurse, father and mother had de
serted, learning over infected liIs TO
catch the iaintcst accents Of confession
and holding up to last before The cxpi.
ring penltcnt the image Of the expiring
Rcdccmcr.
CURIOUS FAcT..-An Indian, says