OCR Text |
Show 1 r- j Bishop Ludden "Calls a Bluff." I Bishop Ludden of Syracuse created no little ! interest this week by issuing a challenge in the ! form of a generous offer to any student in the I Methodist university of that city who will find in j any of the writings or teachings of the Jesuits that j they ever advocated the doctrine' that "the end jus- lines the means' i The offer of lhe bishop was brought about by j reports which came to him from unhorsiry stu-j stu-j dents tln.t it had recently been publicly stated by I one of lhe professors in that institution that the j Jesuits taught the doctrine that 'Mho end justifies the means." In making the offer the bishop says: I "Now, I know that the learned and esteemed faculty of Syracuse university will feel grateful lo me for calling attention to what, they call the Jesuif principle, and I hereby solemnly assert that 110 Jesuit ever held such a principle, and would not be tolerated lo hold, much less leach, such a principle. prin-ciple. And to emphasize my assertion I hereby state that I shall pay to any student of lhe university uni-versity the expenses of his board and tuition during i the remaining years of his studies there, if he can can in any of the writings or teachings of lhe Jesuits, or from any authentic source whatever, that they ever taught the doctrine that the 'end justifies the means.' " On a recent occasion the professor of mental philosophy at the university, in explaining his thesis, the-sis, wrote upon the blackboard the alleged Jesuit; doctrine and said ihat he was about to refute the system. Some of .the students thought it strange that such a theory would be advocated by any religious re-ligious society in the Catholic church, and they discussed the matter among themselves. The question ques-tion was finally brought to the attention of Bishop Ludden, and he exploded the alleged doctrine. The Bishop further said: "It (the alleged doctrine) is found in dictionaries diction-aries and cyclopedias, in anti-Catholic tracts and j in pulpits. A common text for preachers is to hob! j j the Jesuits up to public execration. But a learned ! j professor of a great university ouaht to be more I i cautious and critical lhaii to accept on such au- thority accusations so opprobrious to a noted and j i learned body of men who differ from him in re- ligion. j "Religious tracts are always open lo euspieion. ! and cyclopedia articles have no higher sanction ! than the knowledge, accuracy and truthfulness of the writer. A cyclopedia is useful for reference, j but. no scholar will rely on it as final arbiter on j disputed matters. j i "Had not the gifted Robert Louis Stevenson j flayed the Rev. Hyde of Honolulu, his calumnies ' of Father iDamien would have passed into cyelo- ' j j pedias and anti-Catholic tricts and scattered broad- j cast to propagate religious hate and religious slan- I ! dor. I I "The burden of prophecy seems to be on the j Jesuits. They seem to inherit from the Master, i whose name they bear, a legacy of hate and false witness. Xo body of men ie more loved and hated. Hated by those who do not know them; loved by those who know their great learning, their self-denial and exemplary lives. "I freely invite the student in his research to seek the assistance of the learned faculty, and if he and they do not succeed 1 ask further for the.honor ?nd candor and honesty of the university, that whenever again shall appear on that blackboard thr.t ihesis. it will be qualified by staling that it is nowhere t; be found in the leaching of the Jesu- j its. but is falsely ami calumniously imputed to j them.' j |