almost identical with that of the followers of Calvin, only differently col-
oured and displayed), but there were many other things in them, which
the defenders of the Romish church cannot approve and tolerate. For it
was under Jansenist leaders, that all those contests in the Romish church
which we have mentioned above, originated, and have been continued down
to our times, in numberless publications printed in the Low Countries and
in France. (197) But there is hardly anything in them, which the Jesuits
and the loyal subjects of the Roman pontiffs regard as more intolerable,
than the system of morals and of practical piety which they inculcate. For
in the view of the Jansenists, there is nothing entirely sound and uncor-
rupted in the practice and institutions of the Romish church. In the first
place they complain, that the whole body of the clergy have forsaken al.
together the duties of their office. They moreover assert, that the monks
are really apostates ; and they would have them be brought back to their
pristine sanctity, and to that strict course of life which the founders of the
several orders prescribed. They would also have the people well instruct
ed in the knowledge of religion and Christian piety. They contend, that
the sacred volume and the books containing the forms of public worship,
should be put into the hands of the people in the vernacular tongue of each
nation, and should be diligently read and studied by all. And lastly, they
assert, that all the people should be carefully taught that true piety towards
God does not consist in external acts and rites, but in purity of heart and
divine love. These things considered in a general view, no one can cen-
*ure, unless he is himself vicious or a stranger to the principles of Chris.
Vanity. But if we descend to particulars, and inquire how they trained
their people for heaven, it will appear that Jansenian piety leaned greatly
towards insupportable superstition and the harsh and fanatical opinions of
the so-called Mystics ; and therefore, that it is not entirely without reason,
they were branded by their adversaries with the title of Rigorists.(l9Q)
(197) See above, Century xvi., History of a frank, ingenuous man, sincere in his inter-
the Romish church, 31, &c., [p. 105, &c., course with God, superior to most teachers
of this volume.] of piety among the Romanists ; he may also
(198) Those who wish fora fuller knowl- be called a learned man, and very well ac-
edge of that gloomy piety which the Jansen- quainted with the opinions and the affairs of
ists commonly prescribed to their people, and the ancients; but, with the Jansenists, to
which was indeed coincident with the pat- pronounce him the greatest and best, the per-
terns set by those that anciently inhabited feet pattern of holiness, and the most correct
the desert parts of Egypt, Libya, and Syria, teacher of true piety, is what no one can do,
but was equally remote from the prescriptions unless he affixes new meanings to these
oi" Christ and of right reason, may read only terms, and meanings unknown in the sacred
the Letters and the other writings of the ab- writings. That we may not seem to do in-
bet of St. Cyran, whom the Jansenists re- justice to FO great a man, we will confirm
garl almost as an oracle. He may be called these remarks by some specimens of his wis-
336 BOOK IV. CENT XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. I.
Their doctrine respecting penitence especially was injurious both to church
and state. They made penitence to consist principally in voluntary pun
ishments, which a sinner should inflict on himself in proportion to his of
fences. For they maintained, that since man is by nature most corrupt
and most wretched, he ought to retire from the world and from business,
and to expiate, as it were, his inherent corruption, by continual hardships
and tortures of the body, by fasting, by hard labour, by prayer, and by med-
itation ; and the more depravity any one has, cither by nature, or contract
ed by habit, the more distress and anguish of body he should impose on
himself. And in this matter they were so extravagant, that they did not
hesitate to call those the greatest saints, and the sacred victims of penitence,
consumed by the fire of divine love, who intentionally pined away and died
dom and virtue. This honest man undertook
.a a long work, to confute the heretics, that
is, the Protestants. And for this purpose, it
was necessary for him to examine the books
written by this wicked class of men. But
before he proceeded to read any of them,
with Martin de Bar cos his nephew, a man
very like to his uncle, he was accustomed to
expel the devil out of them by the sign of the
cross. What weakness did this manifest ?
This very holy man, forsooth, was persuaded
that the enemy of mankind had taken up his
residence in these writings of the heretics :
but it is difficult to tell, where he supposed
the arch fiend to lie concealed, whether in the
paper, or in the letters, or between the leaves,
or lastly in the sentiments themselves. Let
us hear Claude Lancelot, in his Memoires
touchant la vie de Mr. 1 Abbe de S. Cyran,
tome i., p. 226. lie says ; II lisoit ces livres
avec tant de piete, qu en les prenant il les
exorcisoit toujours en faisant le signe de la
croix dessus, ne doutant point que le Demon
n y residoit actuellement. He was so charm
ed with Augustine, as to receive for divine,
all his sentiments without discrimination, and
even those which all good men among the
Catholics themselves, regard as faults in that
father. Among others may be mentioned
that dangerous doctrine, that the saints are
the legitimate proprietors of the whole world,
and that the wicked unjustly possess accord
ing to the divine law, those things of which
they are lawful proprietors according to hu
man laws. Thus, in Nicholas Fontaine s
Memoires pour servir & 1 Histoire de Port-
Royal, torn, i., p. 201, he says : Jesus Christ
fc est encore entre dans la possession de son
Hoyaume temporel et des biens du monde,
qui luy appartiennent, que par cette petite
portion qu en tient 1 Eglise par les benefices
de ses Clercs, qui ne sont que les fermiers et
les depositaries de Jesus Christ. So then,
if we believe him, a golden age is coming, in
which Jesus Christ will dethrone all kings
and princes, and seizing upon the whole
world will transfer it entire to his chun h, of
which the leaders are the priests and monks
Will the Jansenists now come forth and pro
claim, that they make it their greatest care
to secure civil governments against the ma
chinations of the Roman pontiffs ! Respect
ing prayer, he philosophizes entirely in the
spirit of those who are called Mystics. For
he denies that those who would pray, should
consider beforehand what they would ask of
God ; because prayer does not consist in the
thoughts and conceptions of the mind, but in
a sort of blind impulse of divine love. Lan
celot, Memoires touchant la Vie de l Abb
de S. Cyran, tome ii., p. 44, says : II ne
croyoit pas, que Ton dut faire quolque effort
pour s appliquer a quelque point ou & quelque
pensee particuliere par ce que la veritable
priere est plutot un attrait de son amour qui
emporte notre co3ur vers lui et nous enleve
comme hors de nous-memes, que non pas une
occupation de notre Esprit qui se remplisse
de Tidee de quelque objet q-aoique divin. He
therefore prays best, who asks for nothing,
and excludes all thoughts from his mind.
Jesus Christ and his disciples knew nothing
of this sublime philosophy : for he directs us
to pray in a set form of words ; and they, the
apostles, frequently acquaint us with the sub
ject matter of their prayers. But of all his
errors this undoubtedly was the worst, that
he had no doubts but that he was an instru
ment of God, by which the divine Being op
erates and works ; and lhat he held general
ly, that a pious man should follow the impul
ses of his mind, suspending all exercise of
his judgment. And the opinion was most
deeply fixed in the minds of all the Jansen
ists, that God himself acts and operates on
the mind and reveals to it his pleasure, when
all movements of the understanding and the
will are restrained and hushed. Hence,
whatever thoughts, opinions, or purposes oc
cur to them in that state of quietude, they
unhesitatingly regard as oracular mannesta-
tions and instructions from God. See Me
moires de Port-Royal, tome iii., p. 246, &e
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH.
33?
under these various kinds of sufferings and hardships ; nay, they taught
that this class of suicides were able to appease the wrath of God, and to
merit much for the church and for their friends before God, by means of
their pains and sufferings. This appears from numerous examples, but
especially from that of Francis de Paris [or the A ~b~be de Paris ], the worker
of so many miracles in the Jansenist school, who brought on himself a
most cruel death, in order to appease the wrath of God. (199)
46. A striking example of this gloomy and extravagant devotion, was
exhibited in the celebrated female convent called Port-Royal in the fields
[Port-Royal des Champs], situated in a deep and narrow valley not far
from Paris. King Henry IV. in the very commencement of this century,
gave the superintendence of it to Jaqueline, (one of the daughters of the
celebrated jurist, Anthony Arnauld], who afterwards bore the name of
Maria Angelica de S. Magdalena. She at first led a very dissolute izie,
such as was common at that time in the French nunneries ; but in the year
1009, the fear of God came upon her, and she entered upon a very differ
ent course of life : and afterwards, bf coming intimate first with Francis de
Sales, and then in 1623, with the abbot of St. Cyran, she conformed both
herself and her convent to their views and prescriptions. The consequence
was, that this religious house for nearly a century excited in the Jesuits
the highest disgust, and in the Jansenists the highest admiration ; and its
fame spread over all Europe. The consecrated virgins inhabiting it, fol
lowed with the utmost strictness the ancient, severe, and almost every where
abrogated rule of the Cistercians ; nay they imposed on themselves more
rigours and burdens than even that rule prescribed. (200) A great propor-
(199) See John Monti s Comment, de
Poenitentia, Prosf., p. iii., &c., in which there
is a tacit censure of the Jansenian notions of
penitence. On the other hand, see the Ab*
be de S. Cyran, in the Memoires de Port-
Royal, tome iii., p. 483. The Jansenists
reckon the restoration of true penitence,
among the principal merits of S. Cyran ;
and they call him the second father of the
doctrine of penitence. See Memoires de
Port-Royal, tome iii., p. 445, 504, &.c. Yet
this very penitence of his, was not the least
of the causes for which he was thrown into
prison by order of cardinal Richelieu. See
ibid., torn, i., p. 233, &c., 452, &c.
(200) There are extant a multitude of
noo of various kinds, in which the Jansen
ists describe and deplore the fortunes, the
holiness, the regulations, and the destruction
of this celebrated scat. We shall mention
only those that are at hand and more recent,
as well as more full than the others. First,
the Benedictines of St. Maur present a
correct but dry history of the convent, in
their Gallia Christiana, torn, via., p. 910,
&c. A much neater and more pleasing
history, though imperfect and somewhat
chargeable with partiality, is that of the noted
French poet, John Racine, Abrege de 1 His-
toire de Port- Royal ; which is prmted amono-
the works of his son, Lewis Racine, sixtn
VOL. III. U u
edition, Amsterd., 1750, 6 vols. 8vo, and is
in vol. ii., p. 275-366. The external state
and form of this convent, are formally de
scribed by Moleon, Voyages Liturgiques, p.
234. To these add, Nicholas Fontaine s
Memoires pour servir a 1 Histoire de Port-
Royal, Cologne, (that is, Ulrecht), 1738, 2
vols. 8vo. Peter Thomas du Fosse s Me
moires pour servir a 1 Histoire de Port- Royal,
Cologne, 1739, 8vo. Recueil de plusieurs
pieces pour servir a 1 Histoire de Port-Royal,
Utrecht, 1740, 8vo. The editor of these
papers promises in his Preface more Collec
tions of the same nature ; and he affords no
slight indication, that from these and othei
documents, some one may compose a perfect
history of the Port-Royal, which so many
Jansenists regarded as the gate of heaven.
Claude Lancelot has also much that relates
to this subject, in his History of the Abbot
St. Cyran. These and other works describe
only the external state, and the various for
tunes of this celebrated convent. The in
ternal state, the mode of life, and numberless
events that occurred amomr the nuns them
selves and among their neighbours, are de
scribed in the Memoires pour servir a 1 His
toire de Port-Royal et a la Vie de Mario
Angelique d Arnaud, Utrecht, 1742, 5 tomes,
8vo. Vies interessantes et edifiantes des
Religieuses de Port-Royal et des plusieurs
338 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II. PART I. CHAP. I.
tion of the Jansenist penitents of both sexes and all ranks, built for them-
selves cottages without the precincts of this cloister ; and there they led a
life not unlike that which we read of in the fourth and fifth centuries, as
led by those austere recluses called Fathers of the Desert who lived in the
desert parts of Egypt and Syria. For it was the object of them all, to ef.
face from their souls the stains which were either innate or acquired by
habits of sinning, by means of voluntary pains and sufferings inflicted on
themselves, by silence, by hunger and thirst, by praying, labouring, watch
ing, and enduring pain. (201) Yet they did not all pursue the same spe
cies of labour. The more learned applied themselves to writing books ;
and not a few of them did great service to the cause of both sacred and
profane learning. Others instructed youth in the elements of languages
and the arts. But most of them exhausted the powers of both mind and
body amid rustic and servile labours, and wore themselves out, as it were,
by a slow and lingering death. And many of these were illustrious per
sonages and noblemen, who had before obtained the highest honours both
in the cabinet. and in the field ; but Who were not ashamed now to assume
the place and perform the duties of the lowest servants. This celebrated
retreat of Jansenian penitence experienced vicissitudes throughout this cen
tury ; at one time it flourished very highly, at another it was nearly bro
ken up. At last, as the nuns pertinaciously refused to subscribe the oath
proposed by Alexander VII. which has been mentioned, and as considera
ble injury to the commonwealth and much disgrace to distinguished fam
ilies were supposed to arise from this convent and its regulations, Lewis
XIV. in the year 1709, by the instigation of the Jesuits, ordered the edi
fice to be pulled down and entirely demolished, and the nuns to be trans
ferred to Paris ; and two years after, that nothing might remain to nour
ish superstition he ordered the bodies that were buried there, to be disin-
terred and removed to other places.
47. The other commotions which disturbed the tranquillity of the
Romish church, were but light clouds compared with this tempest. The
old quarrel between the Dominicans and the Franciscans, whether the
mother of Jesus Christ was conceived without sin or depravity, (which the
personnes qui leu r etoient attachees. Of worthy of their high reputation. I readily
this work, four volumes have already been give to Isaac le Maitre commonly called
published ; the first appeared, Utrecht, 1750, Sacy, the praise of a most polished genius,
8vo. They all contain various documents, while reading his orations or his other lucu-
of no inconsiderable value. The last for- brations ; but when I meet him at Port-
tunes and overthrow of the convent are de- Royal, with a sickle in his hand, in com
scribed especially, in the Memoires sur la pany with rustics cutting down the corn, he
destruction de 1 Abbaye de Port-Royal des ir.akes a comical figure, and seems not alto-
Charnps ; without place, 1711, 8vo. If I gether in his right mind.
do not wholly mistake, these waiters add (201) The first that retired to Port-Royal
much less to the reputation and glory of this in 1637, in order to purge away his sins,
noted convent, than the Jansenists suppose, was the very eloquent and highly-celebrated
When I read their writings, Anthony Ar- Parisian advocate, Isaac le Maitre ; whose
nauld, Tillemont, Nicole. Isaac le Maitrc, retirement brought much odium upon the
and the many others who are known by the Abbot St. Cyran. See Memoires pouf
name of the Authors of Port-Royal, appear 1 Histoire de Port-Royal, tome i., p. 233,
to me great and extraordinary men. But &c. He was followed by many others oi
when I iay aside their bocKS, and turn to various classes and ranks, among whom were
those just mentioned in which the private men of the noblest birth. See Vies des Re
lives of these great men are described, they ligieuses de Port-Hova!, tome i , p. 141 , &c
%ppea* io cie small men, fanatics, nd un-
HISTORY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 339
Dominicans denied, and the Franciscans affirmed), gave considerable trou
ble to Paul V., Gregory XV.. and Alexander VIJ. Not long after the
commencement of the century, it began to disturb Spain very considera
bly, and to produce parties. Therefore the kings of Spain, Philip III.
and IV., sent some envoys to Rome, urgently soliciting the pontiffs to de-
cide the question by a public decree. But the pontiffs deemed it more
important to follow prudence, than to gratify requests from so high author
ity. For on the one hand, the splendour of the Spanish throne which in
clined to the opinion of the Franciscans, and on the other, the credit and
influence of the Dominican family, were terrific objects. Nothing there
fore could be obtained by repeated supplications, except that the pontiffs
by words and by ordinances, determined that the cause of the Franciscans
was very plausible, and forbid the Dominicans to assail it in public ; while
at the sams time, they would riot allow the Franciscans and others to
charge error upon the opinion of the Dominicans. (202) In a king or ma
gistrate such reluctance to pass judgment, would be commendable ; but
whether it was suitable in a man, who claims to be the divinely-constitu
ted judge of all religious causes, and to be placed beyond all danger of
erring by the immediate power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, those
may answer, who support the reputation and honour of the pontiffs.
48. Towards the close of this century, the Mystics, whose reputation
and influence were formerly so great, were exposed to very severe treat
ment. The first sufferer was Michael de Molinos, a Spanish priest resi
dent at Rome, in high reputation for sanctity, and therefore attended by
numerous disciples of both sexes. In the year 1681, he published at Rome,
his Way or Guide to what the Mystics call a spiritual or contemplative
#/e,(203) that is, Institutes of Mystic Theology ; in which he was thought
to recall from the lower world the capital errors of the old Beghards and
Beguins, ami to open the door for all iniquity and wickedness. The sub-
(202) See Fred. Ulrich Culixtus, Historia ton, de ingeniorum moderatione in religioms
irnmaculatae conceptionis B. Virginis Marias, negotio, p. 254, &c.
Helmst., 1696, 4to. Add Jo Hornbeck s (203) This book was written in Spanish
Comment, ad Bullam Urbani VIII. de diebus and first published in 1675, supported by the
festis, p. 250. Jo. Launoi, Praescriptiones recommendations of the greatest and most
de conceptu Virginis Marioe, Opp., torn, i., respectable men. In 1681, it was published
pt. i., p. 9, &c. Cicment XI. a long time after at Rome in Italian ; though it had appeared
this, namely in the year 1708, proceeded in this language some time before, in other
some farther, and by a special bull com- places. Afterwards it was translated into
manded all Catholics to observe a festival in the Dutch, French, and Latin languages;
memory of the conception of St. Mary, a and was very often printed in Holland,
stranger to all sin. See Memoires de Tre- France, and Italy. The Latin translation
voux, for the year 1709, A. xxxviii., p. 514. under the title of Manvductio spiritualis,
But the Dominicans most firmly deny, that was published by Aug. Herm. Franck, Halle,
the obligations of this law extend to them; 1687, 8vo. In Italian, it bore the title of
and they persevere in defending their old Guida Spirituale. Annexed to it, is an-
opinion, though with more modesty than other tract of Molinos, de communione quo-
formerly. And when we consider that this tidiana; which was also condemned. See
opinion is by no means condemned by the Recueil de diverses pieces concernant le
pontiff, and that the Dominicans are not Quietisme et les Quietistes, ou Molinos, ses
molested though they do not celebrate that sentimens et ses disciples, Amsterd., 1688,
festival ; it is evident that the language of 8vo. In this work, the first piece is Moli-
he Romish edict is to be construed in the nos book in the French translation, and
most liberal manner, and that the decree does then various epistles relating to his affairs
not contradict the earlier decrees of the pon- and his sentiments,
ti^fs. See Lanv^us Pritanius, or Mura-
340 BOOK IV. CENT. XVII. SEC. II.- PART I.- CHAP. I.
stance of his system, which his friends interpret i: one way and his ene.
mies in another, amounted to this : that all religion consists in a certain
quietude of the soul, withdrawn from external and finite objects and turn
ed towards God, and loving him sincerely and without any hope of reward ;
or, what amounts to the same thing, if I mistake not : that the mind of a
person in pursuit of the supreme good, must be entirely withdrawn from
intercourse with the world around him, or from corporeal objects ; and
the efforts of the understanding and the will being all hushed, the mind
must be merged wholly in God, from whom it originated. Hence his fol
lowers were called Quietists ; though the common appellation of Mystics,
would have been more proper. For the doctrine of Molinos was account
ed new, only because he expressed himself in new phraseology which was
not become trite by common use, and because he arranged and digested
in a better form, what the ancients stated confusedly. The Jesuits and
others who watched for the interests of the Romish cause, readily perceiv
ed that Molinos system tacitly accused the Romish church of a departure
from true religion ; for that church as is well known, makes piety to con
sist chiefly in ceremonies and external works. But it was the French
ambassador especially, and his friends, who prosecuted the man. And
from this and other circumstances, it has been plausibly inferred, that po
litical considerations as well as religious, had their influence in this con
troversy ; and that this Spaniard had opposed the wishes and the projects
of the French king, in some difficult negotiations. (204) However this
may be, Molinos, though he had a vast number of friends, and though the
pontiff himself Innocent XL was partial to him, was thrown into prison in
1685 ; and after publicly renouncing the errors charged upon him in 1C87.
he was delivered over to perpetual imprisonment ; in which situation, he
died at an advanced age in 1696. (205) Every honest and impartial man
will be ready to grant, that the opinions of Molinos were greatly distorted
and misrepresented by his enemies, the Jesuits and the French, for whose
interest it was that he should be put out of the way ; and that he w r as
charged with consequences from his principles, which he neither admitted
nor even thought of. On the other hand, I think it obvious that his system
included most of the faults, which are justly chargeable upon the Mystics ;
(204) [Yet perhaps the whole may be as- of Domin. de Colonia, in the Bibliotheque
cribed to the power of the Jesuits over the Janseniste, p. 469. See, on this whole sub-
French court, who had father La Chaise ject, the Narrative respecting Quietism,
confessor to Louis XIV. on their side ; and which is subjoined to the German trarrs!a-
he controlled madam Maintenon, and through tion of Gilbert Burners Travels. Gtidfr.
her the superstitious Louis. And a king, Arnold s Kirchen-und Ketzerhistorie, part
who two years before had been induced to iii., ch. xvii., p. 176. Jo. Wolfg. Jccgcr .i
sacrifice to his own bigotry some millions of Historia eccles. et polit, ssccul. xvii., de