第 43 节
作者:乐乐陶陶      更新:2021-02-24 23:08      字数:9322
  dignity of man amid the seductions and impediments of a gilded
  material life。
  AUTHORITIES。
  Todd's Life of Cranmer; Strype's Life of Cranmer; Wood's Annals of
  the Oxford University; Burnet's English Reformation; Doctor
  Lingard's History of England; Macaulay's Essays; Fuller's Church
  History; Gilpin's Life of Cranmer; Original Letters to Cromwell;
  Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury; Butler's Book of the
  Roman Catholic Church; Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical biography;
  Turner's Henry VIII。; Froude's History of England; Fox's Life of
  Latimer; Turner's Reign of Mary。
  IGNATIUS LOYOLA。
  A。D。 1491…1556
  RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE JESUITS。
  Next to the Protestant Reformation itself; the most memorable moral
  movement in the history of modern times was the counter…reformation
  in the Roman Catholic Church; finally effected; in no slight
  degree; by the Jesuits。  But it has not the grandeur or historical
  significance of the great insurrection of human intelligence which
  was headed by Luther。  It was a revival of the pietism of the
  Middle Ages; with an external reform of manners。  It was not
  revolutionary; it did not cast off the authority of the popes; nor
  disband the monasteries; nor reform religious worship: it rather
  tended to strengthen the power of the popes; to revive monastic
  life; and to perpetuate the forms of worship which the Middle Ages
  had established。  No doubt a new religions life was kindled; and
  many of the flagrant abuses of the papal empire were redressed; and
  the lives of the clergy made more decent; in accordance with the
  revival of intelligence。  Nor did it disdain literature or art; or
  any form of modern civilization; but sought to combine progress
  with old ideas; it was an effort to adapt the Roman theocracy to
  changing circumstances; and was marked by expediency rather than
  right; by zeal rather than a profound philosophy。
  This movement took place among the Latin races;the Italians;
  French; and Spaniards;having no hold on the Teutonic races except
  in Austria; as much Slavonic as German。  It worked on a poor
  material; morally considered; among peoples who have not been
  distinguished for stamina of character; earnestness; contemplative
  habits; and moral elevation;peoples long enslaved; frivolous in
  their pleasures; superstitious; indolent; fond of fetes;
  spectacles; pictures; and Pagan reminiscences。
  The doctrine of justification by faith was not unknown; even in
  Italy。  It was embraced by many distinguished men。  Contarini; an
  illustrious Venetian; wrote a treatise on it; which Cardinal Pole
  admired。  Folengo ascribed justification to grace alone; and
  Vittoria Colonna; the friend of Michael Angelo; took a deep
  interest in these theological inquiries。  But the doctrine did not
  spread; it was not understood by the people;it was a speculation
  among scholars and doctors; which gave no alarm to the Pope。  There
  was even an attempt at internal reform under Paul III。 of the
  illustrious family of the Farnese; successor of Leo X。 and Clement
  VII。; the two renowned Medicean popes。  He made cardinals of
  Contarini; Caraffa; Sadoleto; Pole; Giberto;all imbued with
  reformative doctrines; and very religious; and these good men
  prepared a plan of reform and submitted it to the Pope; which
  ended; however; only in new monastic orders。
  It was then that Ignatius Loyola appeared upon the stage; when
  Luther was in the midst of his victories; and when new ideas were
  shaking the pontifical throne。  The desponding successor of the
  Gregorys and the Clements knew not where to look for aid in that
  crisis of peril and revolution。  The monastic orders composed his
  regular army; but they had become so corrupted that they had lost
  the reverence of the people。  The venerable Benedictines had ceased
  to be men of prayer and contemplation as in the times of Bernard
  and Anselm; and were revelling in their enormous wealth。  The
  cloisters of Cluniacs and Cisterciansbranches of the
  Benedictineswere filled with idle and dissolute monks。  The
  famous Dominicans and Franciscans; who had rallied to the defence
  of the Papacy three centuries before;those missionary orders that
  had filled the best pulpits and the highest chairs of philosophy in
  the scholastic age;had become inexhaustible subjects of sarcasm
  and mockery; for they were peddling relics and indulgences; and
  quarrelling among themselves。  They were hated as inquisitors;
  despised as scholastics; and deserted as preachers; the roads and
  taverns were filled with them。  Erasmus laughed at them; Luther
  abused them; and the Pope reproached them。  No hope from such men
  as these; although they had once been renowned for their missions;
  their zeal; their learning; and their preaching。
  At this crisis Loyola and his companions volunteered their
  services; and offered to go wherever the Pope should send them; as
  preachers; or missionaries; or teachers; instantly; without
  discussion; conditions; or rewards。  So the Pope accepted them;
  made them a new religions Order; and they did what the Mendicant
  Friars had done three hundred years before;they fanned a new
  spirit; and rapidly spread over Europe; over all the countries to
  which Catholic adventurers had penetrated; and became the most
  efficient allies that the popes ever had。
  This was in 1540; six years after the foundation of the Society of
  Jesus had been laid on the Mount of Martyrs; in the vicinity of
  Paris; during the pontificate of Paul III。  Don Inigo Lopez de
  Recalde Loyola; a Spaniard of noble blood and breeding; at first a
  page at the court of King Ferdinand; then a brave and chivalrous
  soldier; was wounded at the siege of Pampeluna。  During a slow
  convalescence; having read all the romances he could find; he took
  up the 〃Lives of the Saints;〃 and became fired with religious zeal。
  He immediately forsook the pursuit of arms; and betook himself
  barefooted to a pilgrimage。  He served the sick in hospitals; he
  dwelt alone in a cavern; practising austerities; he went as a
  beggar on foot to Rome and to the Holy Land; and returned at the
  age of thirty…three to begin a course of study。  It was while
  completing his studies at Paris that he conceived and formed the
  〃Society of Jesus。〃
  From that time we date the counter…reformation。  In fifty years
  more a wonderful change took place in the Catholic Church; wrought
  chiefly by the Jesuits。  Yea; in sixteen years from that eventful
  nightwhen far above the star…lit city the enthusiastic Loyola had
  bound his six companions with irrevocable vowshe had established
  his Society in the confidence and affection of Catholic Europe;
  against the voice of universities; the fears of monarchs; and the
  jealousy of the other monastic orders。  In sixteen years; this
  ridiculed and wandering Spanish zealot had risen to a condition of
  great influence and dignity; second only in power to the Pope
  himself; animating the councils of the Vatican; moving the minds of
  kings; controlling the souls of a numerous fraternity; and making
  his influence felt in every corner of the world。  Before the
  remembrance of his passionate eloquence; his eyes of fire; and his
  countenance of seraphic piety had passed away from the minds of his
  own generation; his disciples 〃had planted their missionary
  stations among Peruvian mines; in the marts of the African slave…
  trade; among the islands of the Indian Ocean; on the coasts of
  Hindustan; in the cities of Japan and China; in the recesses of
  Canadian forests; amid the wilds of the Rocky Mountains。〃  They had
  the most important chairs in the universities; they were the
  confessors of monarchs and men of rank; they had the control of the
  schools of Italy; France; Austria; and Spain; and they had become
  the most eloquent; learned; and fashionable preachers in all
  Catholic countries。  They had grown to be a great institution;an
  organization instinct with life; a mechanism endued with energy and
  will; forming a body which could outwatch Argus with his hundred
  eyes; and outwork Briareus with his hundred arms; they had twenty
  thousand eyes open upon every cabinet; every palace; and every
  private family in Catholic Europe; and twenty thousand arms
  extended over the necks of every sovereign and all their subjects;…
  …a mighty moral and spiritual power; irresponsible; irresistible;
  omnipresent; connected intimately with the education; the learning;
  and the religion of the age; yea; the prime agents in political
  affairs; the prop alike of absolute monarchies and of the papal
  throne; whose interests they made identical。  This association;
  instinct with one will and for one purpose; has been beautifully
  likened by Doctor Williams to the chariot in the Prophet's vision:
  〃The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; wherever the
  living creatures went; the wheels went with them; wherever those
  stood; these stood: when the living creatures were li