des Auteurs Ecclesiast., in 19 vols. 4to, Patres Apostolici, 1672, 2 vols. fol. ; and
down to A.D. 1600. ; Prolegomena to the Mon. Eccle-s. Graecae, 3 vols. fol. TV.]
Bible ; Notes on the Psalms and the Pen- (174) [Filesac, doctor of the Sorbonne,
tateuch; de antiqua Ecclesiaa Disciplina; a and dean of the faculty of theology at Paris,
Method of studying Divinity ; and edited the died in 1638. His works were printed in
works of Optatus Milevit. and of Gcrson. 1621, 3 vols. 4to. The best is, Notes on
TV.] Vincentius Lirinensis. TV.]
(171) [Allatius or Allazzi, born at Scio (175) [Visconti, or Vicfcomcs, professor
in the ^Egean Sea, educated at Rome, teach- of Eccles. antiquities at Milan. He wrote
er in the Greek college there, librarian of the de Antiquis Baptism! Ritibus ; and de Riti-
Vatican, died at Rome 1669, aged 83. Be- bus Confirmationis et Missse. TV.]
sides editing various Greek works, he wrote (176) Whoever wishes to Icnow more o*
de Perpetua Consensu Ecclesice Gr. et Lat. ; the merits of these writers, may consult, ba
and some other works. TV.] sides the common authors of literary history
(172) [Zaccagni, keeper of the Vatican Du Pin s volumes concerning the ecclesias
libraiy, died at Rome in 1712. He pub- tical writers, vol. xvii., xviii., xix.
824 BOOK IV.CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. I.
in tl is matter, it consisted wholly in this, that they explained more clearly
and lucidly, what the fathers at Trent either left imperfectly explained or
wholly passed over, lest they should shock the rninds of the persons of
better sentiments who attended that celebrated convention. Hence also
the pontiffs, though pressed by the strongest arguments and exhortations,
could never be persuaded to pass any severe censures upon the religious
sentiments of the Jesuits ; and on the other hand have resisted, sometimes
s-scretly, and sometimes openly, such as opposed their doctrines with more
than ordinary spirit and energy ; for they looked upon such, as being in
discreet persons, who either did not or would not know what the interests
of the church required.
34. That morality was not so much corrupted and vitiated in nearly
all its parts, as subverted altogether by the Jesuits, is the public complaint
of innumerable writers of every class, and of very respectable fraternities,
in the Romish church Nor does their complaint seem groundless, since
they adduce from the books of the Jesuits professedly treating of the right
mode of living, and especially from the writings of those called Casuists,
many principles which are opposed to all virtue and honesty. In particu
lar they show, that these men teach the following doctrines That a bad
man who is an entire stranger to the love of God, provided he feels some
fear of the divine wrath, and from dread of punishment, avoids grosser
crimes, is a fit candidate for eternal salvation : That men may sin with
safety, provided they have a probable reason for the sin ; i. e., some argu
ment or authority in favour of it : That actions in themselves wrong and
contrary to the divine law, are allowable, provided a person can control his
own mind, and in his thoughts connect a good end with the criminal deed ;
or as they express it, knows how to direct his intention right : That philo
sophical sins, that is, actions which are contrary to the law of nature and
to right reason, in a person ignorant of the written law of God or dubious
as to its true meaning, are light offences, and do not deserve the punish
ments of hell : That the deeds a man commits, when wholly blinded by his
lusts and the paroxysms of passion, and when destitute of all sense of reli
gion, though they be of the vilest and most execrable character, can by no
means be charged to his account in the judgment of God ; because such a
man is like a madman : That it is right for a man, when taking an oath
or forming a contract, in order to deceive the judge and subvert the valid
ity of the covenant or oath, tacitly to add something to the words of the
compact or the oath : and other sentiments of the like nature. (177) These
(177) One might make up a whole library Samuel Rachels. [An English translation
of books, exposing and censuring the corrupt of the Provincial Letters, was published in
moral principles of the Jesuits. The best 1828, by J. Leavitt, New- York, and Crocker
work on the subject, is the very elegant and and Brewstcr, Boston, 319 pages, I2mo.
ingenious production of Blaisc Pascal, enti- Tr.~\ Against this terrible adversary, the
tied : Les Provinciales, ou Lettres e crites Jesuits sent forth their best geniuses, and
par Louis de Montalte a un Provincial des among others the very eloquent and acute
ses amis, et aux Jesuites, sur la Morale et Gabriel Daniel, the celebrated author of the
la Politique de ces peres, 2 torncs 8vo. History of France ; they also caused Pas-
Peter Nicole, under the fictitious name of cal s book to be publicly burned at Paris.
William Wcndrock, added to it learned and See Daniel s Opuscula, vol. i., p 363, who
judicious notes, in which he copiously dem- himself admits, that most of the answers to
onstrates the truth of what Pascal had stated the book by the Jesuits, were unsatisfactory.
either summarily or without giving author- But whether Pascal prevailed by the force
ties It was also translated into Latin, by and solidity of his arguments, or by thf
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
and other doctrines, not only the Dominicans and Jansenists but also the
divines of Paris, Poictiers, Louvain, and others in great numbers, so point
edly condemned in public, that Alexander VII. thought proper to condemn
some pait of them, in his decree of the 21st of August, 1659; and Alex
ander VIII., on the 24th of August, 1690, condemned particularly the phil
osophical sin of the Jesuits.(178) But these numerous and respectable
decisions and decrees against the moral principles of the Jesuits, if we may
believe the common voice of learned and pious men, were more efficacious
in restraining the horrid licentiousness of the writers of this society, than
in purging their schools of these abominable principles. And the reason
assigned, why so many kings and princes and persons of every rank and
<?ex, committed the care of their souls to the Jesuits especially, is, that
such confessors by their precepts, extenuated the guilt of sin, flattered the
criminal passions of men, and opened an easy and convenient way to heav-
en.(179)
sweetness and elegance of his style and sa
tire, it is certain that all these answers de
tracted very little from the reputation of his
Letters ; and edition after edition of them,
continued to be published. Less attractive
in form but more solid, from the multitude
of testimonies and citations from the ap
proved Jesuitical writers, was, La Morale
des Jesuites extraite fidellement de leurs
livres imprimez avec la permission et Tap-
probation des Superieurs de leur Compagnie,
par un Docteur de Sorbonne ; in 3 vols. 8vo,
Mons, 1702. This book also (which was
written by Pcrault, brother of that Charles
Pcrav.lt who began the famous dispute,
whether the moderns were inferior or supe
rior to the ancients), was burned at Paris in
1670, through the instigation of the Jesuits.
OEuvres du P. Daniel, tome i., p. 356, &c.
And there was good reason ; for whoever
shall read this single book, will there see all
the faults that were charged upon the Jesu
itical writers on morals. That the Jesuits
actually put their moral principles in practice,
especially in foreign and remote countries,
Anthony Arnauld with his Jansenist associ
ates, undertook to prove in an elaborate work
entitled : La Morale Pratique des Jesuites ;
which gradually appeared, during the last
century, in eight volumes ; and, when copies
of it became scarce, it was republished, Am
sterdam, 1742, 8 vols. 8vo, with numerous
additional proofs of the charges against the
Jesuits. Respecting philosophical sin in
particular, and the commotions that arose
from it, see James Hyacinth Serry, (or rath
er Augustus le Blanc}, in his Addenda ad
Historiam Gongregationum de auxiliis, p.
82, &c., and in his Auctarium to these Ad
denda, p. 289, &c.
(178) The history of the commotions in
France and in other places, arisi.ig from these
opinions cf the Jesuits respect ng morality.
was neatly drawn up, by the writer of the
Catechisme Historique et Dogmatique sur
les contestations qui divisent maintenant
1 Eglise ; 1730, 8vo, vol. ii., p. 26, &c. The
Bulls here mentioned, are sought for in vain
in the Bullarium Pontificum. But the care
of the Dominicans and Jansenists to preserve
every thing disreputable to Jesuits, would
not suffer them to be lost.
(179) What is here said of the very gross
errors of the Jesuits, should not be under
stood to imply, that all the members of this
society cherish these opinions ; or that the
public schools of the order echo with them.
For this fraternity embraces very many per
sons, who are both learned and ingenuous,
and by no means bad men. Nor would it
be difficult to fill several volumes with cita
tions from the writings of Jesuits, in which
a much purer virtue and piety are taught,
than that black and deformed system which
Pascal and the others present to us from the
Casuists, Summists, and Moralists of this
order. Those who accuse the Jesuits as a
body, if candid, can mean only that the lead
ers of the society both permit such impious
sentiments to be publicly set forth by indi
viduals, and give their approbation and coun
tenance to the books in which such senti
ments are taught ; that the system of religion,
which is taught here and there in their
schools, is so lax and disjointed, that it easily
leads men to such pernicious conclusions ;
and finally, that the small select number,
who are initiated in the greater mysteries of
the order, and who are employed in public
stations and in guiding the minds of the great,
commonly make use of such principles to
advance the interests and augment the wealth
of the society. I would also acknowledge,
since ingenuousness is the prime virtue of a
historian, that in exaggerating the turpitud;
of some Jesuitical opinions, some of th /
526 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. I.
35. The holy scriptures were so far from receiving more reverence
and authority from the pontiffs, that on the contrary in most countries the
friends of the papal cause and especially the Jesuits, as appears from the
best evidence, took great pains to keep them out of the hands of the peo
pie, or from being interpreted differently from what the convenience of the
church required. Among the French and the Belgians, there were some
who might not improperly be denominated learned and intelligent exposi.
tors ; but the majority of those who pretended to expound the sacred wri
tings, rather obscured and darkened the divine oracles by their comments
than elucidated them. And in this class must be placed, even the Janscn-
ists ; who, though they treated the Bible with more respect than the other
Catholics, yet strangely adulterated the word of God, by the frigid allego
ries and recondite expositions of the ancient doctors. (180) Yet we ought
to except Paschasius Quesnel, a father of the Oratory, who published the
New Testament, illustrated with pious meditations and observations, which
has in our day been the prolific cause of so many disputes, commotions,
and divisions. (181)
36. Nearly all the schools retained the old method of teaching theol
ogy ; which was dry r thorny, and by no means suited to men of liberal
minds. Not even the decrees of the pontiffs, could bring dogmatic or bib
lical theology to be in equal estimation with scholastic. For most of the
chairs were occupied by the Scholastic doctors, and they perplexed and de
pressed the biblical divines, who were in general not well acquainted with
the arts of wrangling. The Mystics were wholly excluded from the schools ;
and, unless they were very cautious and submissive to the church, could
scarcely escape the brand of heresy. Yet many of the French, and
among them, the followers of Jansenius especially, explained the principal
adversaries have been over eloquent and ve- severe circular, forbidding it to be read,
hement ; as might easily be shown if there The same thing was done by Ge. Aubusson,
were opportunity, in regard to the doctrines bishop of Embrun : the Jesuits also did not
of probability, mental reservation in oaths, remain idle: and at last, in 1668, Clement
and some others. For in this as in most IX. condemned it, as a perverse and dan-
other disputes and controversies, respecting gerous translation, that deviated from the
either sacred or secular subjects, the accused Vulgate, and was a stone of stumbling to
were charged with the consequences, which the simple. This censure, it by no means
their accusers deduced from their declara- merited : and even Moshcim s censure is
tions, their words were made to express more applicable only to the notes, which are taken
than they intended, and the limitations they chiefly from the fathers, and are very mysti-
coritemplated to their opinions, were over- cal. Schl.~]
looked. (181) The first part, containing notes on
(180) Very well known, even among us, the four Gospels, was published in 1671 :
is the Bible of Isaac le Maitre, commonly and being received with great applause, it
called Sacy ; which comprehends nearly ev- was republished, enlarged and amended, to-
ery thing, with which the heated imagina- gether with notes on the other books of the
tions of the ancient doctors disfigured the New Testament. See Catechisme Histor-
simplest narrations and the clearest state- ique sur les Contestationes de P Eglise, tome
ments of the sacred volume. [It is also ii., p. 150. Christ. Ebcrh. Wcismann s
called the Translation of Mons, because it Hisloria Eccles., saecul. xvii., p. 588, c.,
was first printed there, in 1665. It was and numerous others. [Quesnel, in hia
commenced by Sacy, a very zealous Jansen- translation, followed that of Sacy ; though
ist who died in 1664, and completed by to avoid all offence, he kept closer to the
Thomas du Fosse. It is founded on the Vulgate. Most of the notes relate entiretv
Vulgate; yet here and there deviates from to practical religion. The contests produced
H. The archbishop of Paris, Pcrcfix, soon by the work, belong to the history of th<
after it. appeared, in 1667, published a eighteenth century. Schl.]
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 327
doctrines of Christianity in a neat and lucid style. In like manner, marl]
ail that was written judiciously and elegantly respecting piety and moral
ity, came from the pens either of the Messieurs de Port-lloyal as the Jan.
senists were usually called, or from the- French Fathers of the Oratory.
Of the change in the manner of conducting theological controversies, we
have already spoken. The Germans, the Belgians, and the French, hav
ing learned to their disadvantage that the angry, loose, and captious mode
of disputing, which their fathers pursued, rather confirmed than weakened
the faith and resolution of dissentients ; and that the arguments on which
their doctors formerly placed much reliance, had lost nearly all their
force ; thought it necessary for them to look out for new methods of war-
fare, anjd those apparently more wise.
37. The minor controversies of the schools and of the religious orders,
which divided the Romish church, we shall pass over : for the pontiffs foi
the most part disregard them ; or if at any time they become too violent
a nod or a mandate from the pope easily suppresses them : neither are these
skirmishes, which perpetually exist, of such a nature as seriously to endan
ger the welfare of the church. It will be sufficient to recite briefly those
controversies, which affected seriously the whole church. Among these,
the lirst place is due to the contests between the Dominicans and the Jes
uits, respecting the nature of divine grace and its necessity to salvation j
the cognizance of which, Clement VIII., at the close of the preceding cen
tury, had committed to some selected theologians. (182) These, after some
years of consultation and attention to the arguments of the parties, signi
fied to the pontiff not obscurely, that the doctrines of the Dominicans re
specting grace, predestination, man s ability to do good, and the inherent
corruption of our natures, were more consonant with the holy scriptures
and the opinions of the fathers, than the opinions of Molina, whom the Jes
uits supported : that the former accorded with the sentiments of Augus
tine, and the latter approximated to those of Pelagius, which had been con
demned. Therefore in the year 1601, Clement seemed ready to pronounce
sentence against the Jesuits, and in favour of the Dominicans. But the
Jesuits perceiving their cause to be in such imminent peril, so besieged the
aged pontiff, sometimes with threats, sometimes with complaints, and now
with arguments, that in the year 1602 he resolved to give the whole of
this knotty controversy a rehearing, and to assume to himself the office
of presiding judge. The pontiff therefore presided over this trial during
three years, or from the 20th of March, 1602, till the 22d of January,
1605, having for assessors fifteen cardinals, nine theologians, and five
bishops ; and he held seventy-eight sessions, or Congregations as they are
denominated at Rome;(183) in which he patiently listened to the argu
ments of the Jesuits and the Dominicans, and caused their arguments to
be carefully weighed and examined. To what results he came, is uncer
tain : for he was cut off by death, on the 4th of March, 1605, when just
ready to pronounce sentence. If we may believe the Dominicans, he was
prepared to condemn Molina, in a public decree ; but if we believe the Jes
uits, he would have acquitted him of all error. Which of them is to be
believed, no one can determine, without inspecting the records of the trial,
which are kept most carefully concealed at Rome.
(182) [vSee the preceding century, sect. (183) [Congrcgationcs de auxiliis, &&
lii., ch. i., 40, 41, p. 110, &c. TV.] gratia; in the Romish f -yle. 5V. j
asS BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART 1. CHAP. I.
38. Paul V. the successor of Clement, ordered the judges in the month
of September, 1605, to resume their inquiries and deliberations which had
been suspended. They obeyed his mandate, and had frequent discussions
until the month of March in the> next year ; debating not so much on the
merits of the question, which had been sufficiently examined, as on the
mode of terminating the contest. For it was debated, whether it would
be for the interests of the church to have this dispute decided by a public
decree of the pontiff; and if it were, then what should be the form and
phraseology of the decree. The issue of this protracted business was,
that the whole contest came to nothing, as is frequent at Rome ; that is, it
was decided neither way, but each party was left free to retain its own sen
timents. The Dominicans maintain, that Paul V. and the theologians to
whom he committed the investigation, equally with Clement befoie him,
perceived the holiness and justice of their cause ; and they tell us, that a
severe decree against the doctrines of the Jesuits was actually drawn up,
and sealed by his order ; but that the unhappy war with the Venetians,
which broke out at that time, and of which we have already given an ac
count, prevented the publication of the decree. On the contrary, the Jes
uits contend, that all this is false ; and that the pontiff with the wisest of
the theologians, after examining the whole cause, judged the sentiments of
Molina to contain nothing which much needed correction. It is far more
probable that Paul was deterred from passing sentence, by fear of the
kings of France and Spain ; of whom the former patronised the cause of
the Jesuits, and the latter that of the Dominicans. And if he had pub-
lished a decision, it would undoubtedly have been not unlike those usually
promulged at Rome, that is, ambiguous, and not wholly adverse to either
of the contending parties. (184)
(184) The writers already quoted on this may be conveniently reconciled, bv means
subject, may be consulted here. Also Jo. of that divine knowledge which is ca lled sci-
le Clerc, Memoires pour servir a 1 Histoire entia media, [foreknowledge of the free ac-
des Coritroverses dans 1 Eglise Romaine sur tions of men]. See Catechisme Historique
la predestination et sur la grace ; in the Bib- sur les dissensions de 1 Eglise, tome i., p.
liotheque Universelle et Historique, tome 207. On the contrary the Dominicans,
xiv., p. 234, &e. The conduct both of the though holding substantially the same senti-
Jesuits and the Dominicans after this con- ments as before this controversy arose, yet
troversy was put to rest, affords grounds for greatly obscured and disfigured their senti-
a suspicion, that both parties were privately ments, by using words and distinctions bor-
admonished by the pontiff, to temper and rowed from the schools of the Jesuits ; so
regulate in some measure their respective that not even a Jesuit can now tax them
doctrines, so that the former might no longer with having the mark of Calvinism. They
be taxed with Pelagianism, nor the latter are also much more slow to oppose the Jes-
with coinciding with the Calvinists. For uits ; recollecting, doubtless, their former
Claudius Aquaviva, the general of the order perils, and their immense labours undertaken
of Jesuits, in a circular letter addressed to in vain. This change of conduct, the Jansen-
the whole fraternity, Dec. 14th, 1613, very ists severely charge upon them, as being a
cautiously modifies the doctrine of Molina ; manifest and great defection from divine
and commands his brethren to teach every truth. See Blaise Pascal s Lettres Provin-
where, that God gratuitously, and without ciales, tome i., lettr. ii., p. 27, &c. Yet
any regard to their merits, from all eternity, their ill-will against the Jesuits, is by no
elected those to salvation, whom he wished means laid aside ; nor can the Dominicans
should be partakers of it : yet they must so (among whom many are greatly dissatisfied
teach this, as by no means to give up what with the cautious prudence of their order)
the Jesuits had maintained in their disputes easily keep themselves quiet, whenever a
with the Dominicans, respecting the nature good opportunity occurs for exercising their
cf divine grace : and these two things, w 7 hich resentments. With the Dominicans in this
wem to clash with each other, he thinks cause at least, the Augustinians are in har-
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
39. The wounds which seemed thus healed, were again torn open to
{he great damage of the Catholic interest, when the book of Corncitux
Jansenius, bishop of Ypres in the Netherlands, was published after his
death, in 1640, under the title of Augustinus.(lQ5) In this book, (the au
thor of which is allowed even by the Jesuits to have been a learned and
solid man, and apparently at least devout), the opinions of Augustine re
specting the native depravity of man, and the nature and influence of that
grace by which alone this depravity can be cured, are stated and explained ;
and for the most part, in the very words of Augustine. For it was not
the object of Jansenius, as he tells us himself, to show what ought to be be-
lieved on these subjects, but merely what Augustine believed. (186) But aa
the doctrine of Augustine, (which differed little from that of St. Thomas
[Aquinas ] which was embraced by the Dominicans), was accounted almost
sacred and divine in the Romish church, on account of the high character
and merits of its author, and at the same time was almost diametrically op.
posite to the common sentiments of the Jesuits ; this work of Jansenius
could not but appear to them, as a silent, yet most effectual confutation of
their sentiments. Hence they not only attacked it with their own writings,
but they instigated the pontiff Urban VIII. to condemn it. Nor were their
efforts unsuccessful. First, the inquisitors at Rome in 1641, prohibited
the reading of it ; and then in 1642, Urban himself in a public decree,
pronounced it contaminated with several errors long since rejected by the
church.
40. The Jesuits and the Romish edicts, were opposed by the doctors
of Louvain. and by the other admirers of Augustine, who were always
mony : (for the opinions of St. Thomas in
respect to grace, do not much differ from