PREFACE. THE influx into our country of an order of men whose principle is the negation of all principle, and whose moral code is the subversion of the moral law, forms, in the author's humble judgment, a source of no small danger to the nation. Cast out of all kingdoms for their execrable maxims and their treasonable practices, the Jesuits bestow themselves upon us. They change their soil, but not their nature. They come to pursue in their new home the intrigues which drew upon them expulsion from their old. Our law denies them the unobstructed entrance and unchallenged residence which they claim. There appears, however, no intention of putting the law in force. What, then, is to be done to counteract the evils sure to arise from the presence of men who have always and everywhere been the disturbers of the public peace? We can but expose their arts, and put the unwary on their guard. "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Never was the description more applicable, or the warning that accompanies it more needful. The Jesuits come to us in the name of Him who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." They call themselves the "Companions of Jesus." The name is but "the sheep's clothing." Let us apply the test. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Their teaching is "the doctrine of devils," and their deeds are the works of " Apollyon, the Destroyer." The Jesuits themselves bid us "beware." Their own chosen symbol is a meet exponent of their character and history—a mastiff, with a burning torch in its mouth, rushing onwards to set the world on fire. come of it? The There is a parable But it may be said, "What great harm can Jesuits, after all, are but a few among many.” here much in point. There was in olden time a husbandman who had a field which he sowed with wheat. But while he slept there came an enemy who sowed tares in his field. They were, per chance but a few handfuls: nevertheless, the tares sprang up and choked the wheat. Should any reader be of opinion that the author has seen the hand of the Jesuit in certain political events, where only an oversuspicious imagination could have discovered it, he may be reminded that, since the following pages were written, it has been found that the adviser of M. Joubert, the leader of the Boer insurrection—an affair which has occasioned the loss to Britain of much treasure, and blood, and prestige-is an Irishman, who was educated by the "Society of Jesus." To humble and cripple our empire is a first object with the Jesuits at this hour. "They aim," as said one who flaunts on British soil a "red hat"—that open symbol of revolt against the sovereign of Britain-"to subjugate and rule an imperial race." The author cannot send forth this little volume without reiterating once more, most humbly, yet most earnestly, his immovable conviction that the Government of Britain and the government of God are, at this hour, proceeding on lines directly antagonistic, and that either we must change our course or the Most High must alter His if a great catastrophe would be avoided. If both keep advancing in the direction in which each is at present moving, a terrible collision is inevitable. Divine Providence is weakening and bearing down the Papacy in the world at large; we are strengthening and propping it up. Yet we seem to hope that we shall come scatheless out of the inevitable shock, or may even win the day in our struggle with the government of the Omnipotent. God raised up Britain and gave her greatness beyond the measure of all former empires. For what end? That she might subserve the interests of the Gospel, as embodied in Protestantism. This is our first duty as a nation. The neglect of it is our first sin, no matter what other duties we make ourselves busy about. The laws of God's providence being what they are, we cannot retain our supremacy, or, it may be, even our existence, and neglect our great mission. But let be what may, the fate of our empire, whether it part in twain or dissolve in ruin, one thing is certain, Protestantism shall survive and triumph. EDINBURGH, March, 1881. |