practice , no disguise too difficult for them to assume . Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility , it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power , to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism , and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy .
When appearing as members of their order , they wore a garb of sanctity , visiting prisons and hospitals , ministering to the sick and the poor , professing to have renounced the world , and bearing the sacred name of Jesus , who went about doing good . But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were often concealed . It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means . By this code , lying , theft , perjury , assassination , were not only pardonable but commendable , when they served the interests of the church . Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state , climbing up to be the counselors of kings , and shaping the policy of nations . They became servants to act as spies upon their masters . They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles , and schools for the common people ; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites . All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind and dazzle and captivate the imagination , and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons . The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe , and wherever they went , there followed a revival of popery .
To give them greater power , a bull was issued re-establishing the inquisition . Notwithstanding the general abhorrence with which it was regarded , even in Catholic countries , this terrible tribunal was again set up by popish rulers , and atrocities too terrible to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons . In many countries , thousands upon thousands of the very flower of the nation , the purest and noblest , the most intellectual and highly educated , pious and devoted pastors , industrious and patriotic citizens , brilliant scholars , talented artists , skillful artisans , were slain or forced to flee to other lands .
Such were the means which Rome had invoked to quench the light of the Reformation , to withdraw from men the Bible , and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages . But under God ' s blessing and the labours of those noble men whom He had raised up to succeed Luther , Protestantism was not overthrown . Not to the favour or arms of princes was it to owe its strength . The smallest countries , the humblest and least powerful nations , became its strongholds . It was little Geneva in the midst of mighty foes plotting her destruction ; it was Holland on her sandbanks by the northern sea , wrestling against the tyranny of Spain , then the greatest and most opulent of kingdoms ; it was bleak , sterile Sweden , that gained victories for the Reformation .
For nearly thirty years Calvin laboured at Geneva , first to establish there a church adhering to the morality of the Bible , and then for the advancement of the Reformation throughout Europe . His course as a public leader was not faultless , nor were his doctrines free from error . But he was
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