A Curious Correspondence.

must be confirmed by a General Congregation summoned for that special purpose . From the above it will be seen that the official organisation of the Society is subject to a most carefully devised system of checks , by which every officer , from the General downwards , is placed under constant surveillance . In the words of the Jesuit , Mariana : —• " The whole government rests on the reports of informers , which spread like a poison through the mass , so that none can trust his brother . In his excessive fondness for arbitrary power the

General of our Order at once records the reports and accepts them as true , -without ever calling upon the accused for their defence . " The members of the Society are divided into four classes , viz .: 1 . The Professed ; 2 . The Scholars ; 3 . The Coadjutors ; 4 . The Novices . The first class constitute the actual rulers , ancl are those who have proved themselves most worthy . They require to have been ordained as prieststo take all the

, four vows of the Order , and to devote themselves exclusively to the furtherance of its aims . The second class take the three ordinary vows alone , not " solemnly , " but " simply before God . " They pledge themselves to belong to the Order , and are required to perfect themselves in its studies and spiritual exercises . After several years of study ancl one year more of renewed novitiate , they are either Professed or become Coadjutors . The third class

are , as we have already seen , recruited from the laity ancl clergy . The former serve in various menial capacities , as gardeners , cooks , and hospital assistants , and are incapable of rising any higher . The latter , as a rule , confine themselves to teaching , ancl are often ordained as priests . All the members of this class take a temporary vow , not only " simply before God , " but also " into the hands of their Superior . " The fourth and last class are candidates for admission into the Order . They have to pass a novitiate of two yearsduring which

, period they are closely watched . Careful inquiry is instituted into all their personal connections , capabilities , views , ancl aims . They are subjected to stringent testa as to their fitness for admission . They have to undergo six principal trials , viz .: spiritual exercises , consisting chiefly in reli gious contemplation , during one month , in the strictest privacy ; tending the sick ; travelling without funds ; serving in the most menial offices ; instructing the

young and ignorant in matters of faith ; and preaching ancl hearing confessions . At the end of their probation they are required to make a general confession . Besides these four classes , there are persons called Affiliated , who work clandestinely for the Order , but neither take any vows nor assume the Jesuit habit .

An elaborate system of the strictest discipline , requiring the most complete and unquestioning obedience , regulates the daily life of the Jesuit in its minutest details . As the Constitutions express it , each must be , " as it were , a corpse " in the hands of his Superior , who stands to him " in the place of God . " He is compelled to sever himself from all his former connections , including the closest family ties . All letters written or received by him must be first read by his Superior . His antecedentsactsemploymentsancl character

, , , , are all fully recorded in a list periodicall y furnished to the priest , who is specially appointed to receive his confession . His companions are set as spies over him , ancl he is likewise set as a spy over them . By these artificial means the tenderest feelings of our common humanity , ancl all independence both of thought and will , are , in due course , effectually crushed . In the Jesuit scheme every talent is utilised , with consummate skill , in the manner best adapted to

further the interests and aims of the Society . To each member , for example , is assigned the employment for which he is most fitted by nature . The Jesuits boast , with some show of reason , that they are self-sufficing—solipsi , as they term themselves . Unlike the members of other religious orders , they are permitted to mix freely with the world . We find them constantly engaged in the most varied pursuits — preachers , confessors , missionaries , traders , teachers , authors , men of science , secret agents , and ministers of State . Thus ,