But then the question arises, What can be the perversion of Christianity which can lead to such an abandonment of the moral sense? The full answer to the question might occupy volumes; but there is one root to which, I believe, the whole may be traced; and although it may seem at first scarcely sufficient to produce so vast a Upas-tree, yet I believe it will be found in fact that the whole plant has sprung from it;—I mean, the substitution of man for God in the great business of the soul’s guidance and salvation. The passages already quoted prove this substitution very clearly, with reference to the guidance of the Jesuit; but if there were any doubt of it, it would be removed by the oath of profession, in which it is sworn,—“I, N., make profession, and promise Almighty God, before his Virgin Mother, and before the heavenly hosts, and before all bystanders, and you, Rev. Father, General of the Society of Jesus, _holding the place of God_.” There is, therefore, a double transfer of Divine authority. The Pope stands between the General and God, and the General between the Jesuit and the Pope. There is a double delegation of Divine powers, the Lord being said to confer them on the Pope, the Pope conferring them on the General, and the Jesuit then swearing, in the most solemn moment of his life, that the General “holds the place of God.” And what must be the necessary result? That moral truth is no longer learned from the fountain of truth, but from the corrupt, the designing, the human authority that stands between the Creator and the soul. The Divine law is obscured, the human will is adopted in its place. The result of such a change must obviously be, that the character of the body must become the mere reflection of the character of the head; that his corruptions take the place of Divine perfections; and his schemes, whatever be their nature, are regarded as identical with the glory of the Lord. Hence the very religion of the Jesuit prepares him for any desperate measures provided only that his Superior gives his sanction to them; and the more that his soul feels in earnest, the more ready will he be to plunge on in any course of action, if only his head, a man quite as fallible as himself, and perhaps more corrupt, gives the word of command, and sanctions the foul act by his authority.