ve the order
partly as subalterns, partly as confederates, and may be regarded as the
people of the Jesuit state. Distinguished laymen, public officers, and
other influential personages (e.g., Louis XIV., in his old age), were
honored with admission into this class, to promote the interests of the
order. Higher in rank, stand the _scholars_ and _spiritual coadjutors_, who
are instructed in the higher branches of learning, take upon themselves
solemn monastic vows, and are bound to devote themselves particularly to
the education of youth. These, as it were, the artists of the Jesuit
community, are employed as professors in academies, as preachers in cities,
and at courts; as rectors, and professors in colleges, as tutors and
spiritual guides in families which they wish to gain or to watch, and as
assistants in the missions. Finally, the nobility, or highest class, is
made up of _the professed_, among whom are admitted only the
most-experienced members, whose address, energy, and fidelity to the order,
have been eminently tried and proved. According to one statement, they make
profession, that is, take the vows of their order, by binding themselves in
addition to the common {98} monastic vows by the fourth vow, to the
undertaking of missions, among whom they consider heathen and heretics, as
governors in colonies in remote parts of the world, as father-confessors of
princes, and as residents of the order in places where it has no college.
They are entirely exempt, on the other hand, from the care of the education
of youth. None but the professed have a voice in the election of a general,
who must himself be of their number, and who has the right of choosing from
them the assistants, provincials, superiors, and rectors. The general holds
his office for life, and has his residence in Rome, where he is attended by
a monitor, and five assistants or counsellors, who also represent the five
chief nations: the Italians, Germans, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. He
is the centre of the government of the whole order, and receives monthly
reports from the provincials, and one every quarter from the superiors of
the professed-houses, from the rectors of the colleges, and from the
masters of the novices. These reports detail all remarkable occurrences,
political events, and the characters, capacities, and services of
individual members, and thereupon the general directs what is to be done,
and how to make use of tried and approved membe