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Bible Dictionaries
Jesuits
Spurgeon's Illustration Collection
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The cat having a long time preyed upon the mice, the poor creatures at last, for their safety, contained themselves within their holes; but the cat finding his prey to cease, as being known to the mice that he was indeed their enemy and a cat, deviseth this course following, namely, changeth his hue, getting on a religious habit, shaveth his crown, walks gravely by their holes; and yet perceiving that the mice kept their holes, and looking out, suspected the worst, he formally, and father-like, said unto them, 'Quodfueram non sum, frater, caftul aspice fonsum: O brother, I am not as you take me for; I am no more a cat; see my habit and shaven crown.' Hereupon some of the more credulous and bold among them were again, by this deceit, snatched up; and therefore when afterwards he came, as before, to entice them forth, they would come out no more, but answered, 'Talk what you can, we will never believe you; you bear still a cat's heart within you.' And so here the Jesuits, yea, and priests too, for they are all joined in the tails, like Samson's foxes: Ephraim against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, and both against Judah.: Sir E. Coke.
JOY: at Finding Salvation.
We are told of some Turks, who have, upon the sight of Mahomet's tomb, put out their eyes, that they might not defile them, forsooth, with any common object, after they had been blessed with seeing one so sacred. I am sure many gracious souls there have been, who, with a prospect of. heaven's glory set before the eye of their faith, have been so ravished by the sight, that they desired God even to seal up their eyes by death, with Simeon, who would not by his good-will have lived a day after that blessed hour in which his eyes had beheld the salvation of God.: W. Gurnall.
JOY OF OUR RELIGION: as an Evidence of its Truth.
How I long for my bed! Not that I may sleep: I lie awake often and long! but to hold sweet communion with my God. What shall I render unto him for all his revelations and gifts to me? Were there no historical evidence of the truth of Christianity, were there no well-established miracles, still I should believe that the religion propagated by the fishermen of Galilee is divine. The holy joys it brings to me must be from heaven. Do I write this boastingly, brother? Nay, it is with tears of humble gratitude that I tell of the goodness of the Lord.': Extract from a Private Letter from Bapa Padmanji, one of the Native Converts in India.
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Spurgeon, Charles. Entry for 'Jesuits'. Spurgeon's Illustration Collection. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fff/j/jesuits.html. 1870.
