reached the goal. Then followed the scholastic divines. Their theorisings, their speculative interpretations of Scripture, their bold subtle casuistries, in short, their attempt to master supernatural truth by an intellect which, in the conceit of its fancied strength, refused to accept the aid, or submit to the authority of the Divine Word, quickened the seeds which the early doctors had sowed. Under the divines of the middle ages Jesuitism flourished as a theology, or rather as a philosophy. One of the greatest Jesuits who lived before the age of Jesuitism, was Thomas Aquinas. He elaborated the principles which Loyola and the casuists of his school formulated into a system. But it was not till the sixteenth century that the harvest was reaped. In that century a fully developed Gospel and a matured Popery came together. The clear effulgent unveiling of the first, necessitated a corresponding development of the last. The Reformers went to the source of truth in the Scriptures, and by their full and systematic exhibition of what God has therein been pleased to make known, they led Christianity forward into the light, and showed to men the divinity of her origin, and the beauty and strength of her principles; so, in like manner did the Romanists fall back on the fundamental principles of their system, till then only partially known to themselves, and stating and defining them more clearly than heretofore, they disclosed to the world the blackness and deformity of Popery, and the tremendous destructive power that is wrapped up in it. Loyola, of all men, helped to this issue. He came to this Vine of Sodom, and gathering the clusters of her now fully ripened, grapes,. he expressed their juice into his cup, and presenting that deadly wine to the nations, he bade them drink and lie down in their moral and spiritual stupefaction.

CHAPTER III.

Luther and Loyola.

As the two systems, the good and the evil, a developed Christianity and a matured Popery, come together, so, too, did the two men who were to stand at the head of these respective systems. Luther came first into the world, Loyola arrived only three years later. Their births, so near in point of time, were separated by a vast social distance. Luther was a miner's child, and drew his first breath in an humble cottage on the Thuringian Plain. Loyola, whose proper name was Don Inigo Lopez de Recaldo, was the son of a Spanish grandee, and first saw the light in the castle of Loyola, on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, where his father kept court, with the customary ceremonial, of the feudal barons of these days. This was in the year 1491. Nature had endowed these two men with qualities not unlike. Both felt the stirrings of a great enthusiasm,—the miner's son under the cold sky of Germany not less than the young grandee in the warm and impulsive air of Spain. But the renown which the future was to bring them was to be of a kind, and achieved in a way wholly different from that which either pictured to himself. It was through darkness, discipline, and great suffering that both were to come to the fulfilment of their early dreams.

There are few contrasts in history so striking and instructive as that which is seen in the lives of these two men. Its study would repay a longer consideration than we can here give it. It places us beside the fountain heads of the two mighty movements-the Reformation and Jesuitism-which continue to this day, beyond all other influences, to mould the condition of the world. Far separated by distance of place, and totally unaware of the existence of each other, as were these two men, there was, nevertheless, a secret link establishing a certain relationship

between them, and a Power shaping for both an apparent similarity of destiny. Their careers were wonderfully alike, up to a certain stage, when they diverged-diverged not for time only, but for the eternities also.

To begin, each chose that particular path of life that fell in with his genius. Wisdom, or what was then reputed wisdom in the schools, had the chief attraction in the eyes of Luther. What more exquisite pleasure could be his than to fathom the depths or soar to the altitudes of the scholastic philosophy, that wondrous product, as he then esteemed it, of the intellect of the past ages. How would his genius revel in this vast field, where each new day would bring a fresh discovery and a richer delight! And then to leave his name inscribed among the teachers of mankind and the lights of the world! This was glory! And compared with such glory how stale was all that riches or rank or conquest could bring him.

Arms was the choice of the young Spaniard. In the battles of the warrior only could he hope to find those fierce delights that should have power to stir his spirit. Spain was then engaged in the effort of expelling from her soil the warlike but infidel Moor. Here was a field which promised to Loyola enough of toil, and tumult, and danger to warm his blood, and afford scope for the display of his military daring. Forsaking the soft delights of Ferdinand's court, at which till now he had lived, he clad himself in armour and went forth to seek adventures. A more fiery and fearless soldier there was not in all the armies of Spain. His feats of valour were the admiration and the boast of his countrymen. The court, the camp, the city resounded with them. Each new battle brought an addition to the laurels with which he was already crowned, and spread yet wider the fame of his name. The aspirations of both-Loyola and Luther -were in course of being fulfilled. Loyola was rapidly rising to the proud position of the first soldier in Spain, and to be the

first soldier in Spain was to occupy no second place among the champions of Christendom. And Luther, in like manner, hiving knowledge night and day through the studious years, had gained for himself brilliant distinction in the schools. His was

the first name in the university of Erfurt; and now he saw opening to him the gate which led to the offices of the State and the dignities of the Church, where he hoped to leave a name that would shine like a star in the future of his country's history. All was going well with the two. The goal was near; in a little it would be reached, and their dream of earthly glory and happiness would be realised.

CHAPTER IV.

Discipline and Divergence.

It was at this stage of their career that a hand was put forth, and a sudden arrest was laid on both. Each became the subject of a solemn and awful dispensation, which said to them plain as articulate speech, "No farther can you proceed on this path. Henceforward the current of your life must be diverted into another channel." As Luther, one day, was returning to Erfurt, from a journey which he had made into the country, the heavens suddenly grew black; an awful tempest broke over him, the thunders rolled through the sky, and flashes of unwonted brightness blazed all round him, and to add to the horrors of the scene, a bolt struck a companion who was journeying with him, and laid him dead at his feet. Luther expected every moment to appear before the great tribunal. Trembling and horror fell upon him, and he stood riveted to the spot. When he emerged from the cloud his whole thoughts and purposes had undergone a change. He had been baptised in the cloud and in the fire.

It was in the battlefield that Loyola underwent his great change. He was fighting at the siege of Pampeluna, the capital of Navarre, and whilst contending against fearful odds he was wounded, and laid senseless, and almost lifeless on the field. He was carried to a hospital to be cured, where he endured months of excruciating pain, relieved by periods of intense mental excitement and visionary rapture, produced by the "Lives of the Saints," which were given him to read, and which he greedily devoured in the solitude of his chamber. Thus were both men, in the full tide of their success-their honours on the point of blossoming-laid hold upon, and brought in a moment to the grave's brink.

For some time longer the lives and experiences of the two continued to run in a similar channel. To Luther the contest of the schools shut out, and to Loyola the din of battle hushed, how changed were now their views! The honours of learning and the reward of arms, contended for but yesterday as brilliant prizes, were to-day, the gilding rubbed off, despised as baubles. In the stillness of their cells they were brought face to face with the realities of that eternal world, to the boundary of which they had been so suddenly and unexpectedly brought. If the lightning's bolt or war's missile had strayed but a hair's breadth from its appointed path, as might easily have happened, and they had, in very deed, passed over that boundary, where or what would they have been now-now and for ever? This was the thought that forced itself upon them. They had looked Death in the face. And the image of death had called up the remembrance of sin: and the remembrance of sin had awakened conscience. "Oh! now began the tempest in their soul." Night, dark night came down upon them. In the blackness of that darkness they could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. As they listened there was something that told them that these were the steps of a Being of unspeakable