Transcribed from the 1852 J. H. Jackson edition by DavidPrice,
BYTHE
REV. EDWARD HOARE, MA.,
INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH,RAMSGATE.
SecondEdition.
LONDON:
J. H. JACKSON, ISLINGTON GREEN,
AND PATERNOSTER-ROW;
HATCHARD, PICCADILLY; AND SEELEYS, FLEETSTREET.
1852.
p.ivProtestant Associations, or other parties,desirous of circulating large numbers of this pamphlet,may obtain them at a considerable reduction, byapplying to the Publisher.
The first edition of the followingpages was prepared as a Lecture for the Islington ProtestantInstitute. The delivery of that Lecture has led to a morecareful study of the subject, so that in this second editionthere is a considerable quantity of additional information, whichI trust may be found important.
One gentleman has done me the honour of noticing the firstedition, and publishing a pamphlet in order to show that theconstitution quoted on page 32 should be rendered as the readerwill find it there. It is a matter of great regret to methat he should have thought it right to say of the remainder ofthe lecture, that “statements which few surely can believe,will, he trusts, produce in the minds of readers an effect thevery reverse of that intended.” If he had pointed outany inaccuracy, I should have been only too happy to correct it;and any proof of error on my part would have been much moresatisfactory to his readers than a general and unsupportedinsinuation. p.viIn the present edition he will find, I believe, a clearreference to every important extract; and abundant opportunity isafforded him, if possible, to disprove my statements.
E. H.
Ramsgate, Feb. 12, 1852.
Of all the various humancombinations that have ever risen to adorn or to disgracehumanity, the Society of the Jesuits is perhaps the mostremarkable. The great men of the world have constructedmighty schemes for its government, and the utmost powers of thehuman mind have again and again been called out in order tocombine men for the attainment of some given end; but of allthese varied schemes, I believe it may be safely affirmed thatthere never yet has been known one so admirably suited to itsend, so beautifully adjusted in its parts, so wonderfully adaptedto the real condition of society, or possessing so extraordinarya capability of applying its movements, so as to meet the waysand wishes of all those countless characters upon whom its actionis employed. The question whether such an institution is acurse or a blessing to the human race must, of p. 8course, dependon two things, viz., the object to which its efforts aredirected, and the principles by which they are controlled. If that object be the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ifthose principles be in harmony with the Word of God, then,clearly, so varied and effective an instrumentality must act mostpowerfully for the benefit of m