THE JESUIT INVASION, 53 To dreamers such as these, the Order of Jesus be- came an object of ecstatic admiration. The Jesuits had come into existence to combat the Reformation, as the Templars and the Knights of St John to be the warriors of the Cross against the Crescent. Their discipline and their devotion were absolute alike. They had no law but the will of -their superior, no purpose but what they called the cause of God. They appeared a legion of angels, with weapons tempered in celestial orthodoxy, sent down to earth to smite the hydra of heresy. In this order therefore the choicest of the English converts instantly enrolled themselves. Campian and Parsons went first, and the best of the rest were allowed to fol- low them. Through the lax police system of England and the connivance of secret friends in high places, they corresponded with their companions whom they had left behind at the University. They visited their old haunts when they pleased, undiscovered by officials who did not* wish to see them ; and whenever a new man was wanted Oxford could always supply some young enthusiast, eager to venture his life in the service of God and Mary Stuart. From these sources, as the Marian priests died off, Allen supplied their places. ' The number of Catholics/ wrote Mendoza, on the 28th of December, 1578, to Philip, ' increases daily, the instruments being mission aries from the seminary which your Majesty founded at Douay. A hundred of those who went to study either there or at Rome have returned in this past year. They travel disguised as laymen, and young as they are, the
