Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 12.djvu/267

 V.- PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE JESUITS. By FEANCIS WINTEETON. IN the plan of the Order founded by Don Inigo de Loyola, philosophical instruction occupies only a secondary place ; still it underwent developments and took directions, in the course of the Society's career, that are worth a close study. I will at present try only to sketch out rapidly the main stages of the history, from the constitution of the Order about 1540 till its dissolution in 1773. What is the fundamental idea that underlies the whole of Jesuit philosophy ? To answer this question, we must first of all ask the previous one : What is a Jesuit ? A Jesuit may be denned as ' a Eoman Catholic profoundly and practically convinced that all things in this world (science and philosophy of course included) are but means for him to work out the salvation of his soul V A Eoman Catholic starts from the assumption, regarded by him as indubitably sure, that his Church is in possession of absolute truth, and is accordingly the very best means of salvation in the world. This once admitted, the greater the number of souls saved by any man, the surer that man is of his own salvation ; and the more zealously he upholds the Catholic Church, the greater number of souls he is sure to save. It follows logically that every effort of the Jesuit ought to tend towards upholding his Church ; that every possession, every talent, every affection, even life itself, ought to be consecrated to that end alone. Every force, every influence, every tendency in the world antagonistic to the Church, must be unswerv- ingly resisted : the Church cannot do wrong. Any specula- tive doctrine, any philosophical system, any scientific hypothesis hostile to the Church, must be relentlessly opposed : the Church cannot ~be wrong. St. Ignatius had nothing whatever of the speculative philosopher in his nature ; he was, on the contrary, intensely and overwhelmingly practical. Those who paint him with the romantic colours of chivalry, and make of the first Jesuit a sort of Christian Don Quixote, only caricature one side of his many-sided character. His dreams, visions and ecstasies never interfered with his knowing what he wanted and 1 See the Exercitia Spiritualia ; Principium et Fundamentum.