Throughout
Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first
triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to
accomplish its destruction. At this time the order of the Jesuits was
created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions
of popery. Cut off from earthly ties and human interests, dead to the
claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they
knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to
extend its power. (See Appendix.)
The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and
endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to
uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the
stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a
fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to
the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too
great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no
disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty
and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be
devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of
the papal supremacy.
When
appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity,
visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor,
professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of
Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the
most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed. It was a
fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By
this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only
pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the
church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into
offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping
the policy of nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their
masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles,
and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant
parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward
pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse
the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination, and thus the liberty
for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The
Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went,
there followed a revival of popery. Great Controversy pp. 234
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