FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  
in the seventh volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, page 432, in the following words: "He (Louis XIV) was so blinded by flattery, that he arrogated to himself the _divine honours_, paid to the pagan _emperors of Rome_." The circulation of this fact by Laicus, would at one stroke have crushed the Jesuits, and would have conciliated immortal {301} honour and credit to the TIMES. Who can contemplate the historical labours of these three worthies, the historian of the Encyclopedia, the editor of the TIMES, and the incomparable Laicus, without thinking of the fate of their predecessor Prynne? It is remarkable, that while the Jesuits were thus insulted by Prynnes and De Thous, and their numerous disciples, they were everywhere befriended by princes and states, who freighted them to foreign missions at the public expense, and who multiplied their colleges and settlements throughout Europe, in which they quietly assisted the clergy in the functions of religion, and successfully conducted those schools, which our famous Bacon so much admired: _Consule scholas Jesuitarum_, is his well known text; _nihil enim quod in usum venit, his melius_.--De dign. et augm. Scient. l. 6. He had already said (l. 1) of the Jesuits, "_Quorum cum intueor industriam solertiamque, tam in doctrina excolenda, quam in moribus informandis, illud {302} occurrit Agesilai de Pharnabaso: Talis cum sis, utinam nostor esses_." The testimony of Bacon overbalances ten thousand Encyclopedists, and all their servile transcribers. To cover them with confusion, I finish with citing two of the most celebrated names, that have ever graced any of the various sects, known by the common appellation of protestants--I mean the great Grotius and Leibnitz. The latter maintained a constant correspondence with Jesuits, even with the missioners in China. His letters, which yet exist, prove that he was, and that he gloried in being, their friend; that he rejoiced in their successes, and was grieved by their afflictions and sufferings. The Latin text, which I would wish to transcribe from the learned Grotius, is rather long, and it would be enervated by translation. (See Grotius Hist. 1. iii, p. 273. edit. Amstelod. an. 1658.) Here he employs the nervous style of Tacitus, to describe the origin of the Jesuits, the purity of their morals, their zeal to propagate {303} Christianity, to instruct youth, the respect which they had justly acquired, their disinterestedness, their p
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Jesuits
 

Grotius

 

Laicus

 

Encyclopedia

 

informandis

 
celebrated
 
graced
 

common

 
moribus
 

Leibnitz


appellation

 

protestants

 
testimony
 

Agesilai

 
overbalances
 

nostor

 
utinam
 
Pharnabaso
 

thousand

 

Encyclopedists


confusion

 

finish

 

citing

 

transcribers

 

maintained

 

occurrit

 

servile

 

employs

 

nervous

 

Tacitus


Amstelod

 
describe
 

origin

 

respect

 

justly

 
acquired
 

disinterestedness

 
instruct
 

Christianity

 
morals

purity
 

propagate

 
translation
 
enervated
 

excolenda

 

gloried

 
friend
 

letters

 
correspondence
 

constant