Professor Kern of the University of Göttingen, a Protestant, wrote years ago: "The Jesuits attack the evil at its root: they educate boys in the fear of God and in obedience. Has it ever been heard that from Jesuit schools doctrines come forth similar to those of our modern schools? History has proved that irreligious and anarchistic doctrines spread rapidly after the suppression of the Society. Faith and science were no longer united. Reason with all its errors,—and what error is so absurd that has not had its defenders—was given the preference, faith was abandoned, ridiculed, and spoken of only under the name of superstition."[1]
By what means do the Jesuits endeavor to effect the moral training of their pupils? We may classify the means they employ under four heads: the example of a virtuous life, reasonable supervision, ethical instruction, and certain means provided by the Church, especially the sacraments. As to the first we all know that example is much more powerful than words, particularly so with the young. There is a great truth in the old Latin adage: "Verba movent, exempla trahunt". Every teacher, therefore, should lead such a life as to be able to say with the great teacher of the Gentiles: "Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ."[2] Above all ought this to be the case with teachers who make a profession of religion. The life of a religious is one of continual self-denial. St. Ignatius seems to have thought that daily contact with men of this stamp would be good for boys. He seems to have thought that in course of time they would assimilate some of that spirit of conscientious devotion