14.03.2019 Views

Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

th<strong>in</strong>k wrong; not how to reason out truth, but how<br />

to reason out falsehood; not how to cast away<br />

prejudice, break the shackles of authority, <strong>and</strong> rise<br />

to the <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>and</strong> noble freedom of a<br />

rational be<strong>in</strong>g, but how to cleave to error, hug one's<br />

fetters, hoot at the light, <strong>and</strong> yet to be all the while<br />

filled with a proud conceit that this darkness is not<br />

darkness, but light; <strong>and</strong> this folly not folly, but<br />

wisdom. Thus metamorphosed this once noble<br />

nation came forth from the schools of the Jesuits,<br />

the light of their eye quenched, <strong>and</strong> the strength of<br />

their arm dried up, to f<strong>in</strong>d that they were no longer<br />

able to keep their place <strong>in</strong> the struggles of the<br />

world. They were put aside, they were split up,<br />

they were trampled down, <strong>and</strong> at last they perished<br />

as a nation; <strong>and</strong> yet their rema<strong>in</strong>s were not put <strong>in</strong>to<br />

the sepulcher, but were left ly<strong>in</strong>g on the face of<br />

Europe, a melancholy monument of what nations<br />

become when they take the Jesuit for their<br />

schoolmaster.<br />

This estimate of Jesuit teach<strong>in</strong>g is not more<br />

severe than that which Popish authors themselves<br />

have expressed. Their system was admirably<br />

120

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!