XVIII.

CENTURY of that communion that live under the jurisdiction of the United Provinces, embrace the principles and doctrines of Jansenius. Those that inhabit the United Provinces have almost renounced their allegiance to the pope, though they profess a warm attachment to the doctrine and communion of the church of Rome; nor are either the exhortations or threatenings of the holy father sufficient to banish the obstinacy of these wayward children, or to reduce them to a state of subjection and obedience.

The debates

occasioned by

Testament.

x. The cause of the jansenists acquired a pecuQuenel's New liar degree of credit and reputation, both in this and the preceding century, by a French translation of the New Testament, made by the learned and pious Paschasius Quenel, a priest of the oratory, and accompanied with practical annotations, adapted to excite lively impressions of religion in the minds of men. The quintessence of jansenism was blended, in an elegant and artful manner, with these annotations, and was thus presented to the reader under the most pleasing aspect. The jesuits were alarmed at the success of Quenel's book, and particularly at the change it had wrought in many, in favour of the theological doctrines of Jansenius; and to remove out of the way an instrument which proved so advantageous to their adversaries, they engaged that weak prince Louis XIV. to solicit the

This assertion is too general. It is true, that the greatest part of the Roman catholics in the United Provinces are jansenists, and that there is no legal toleration of the jesuits in that republic. It is nevertheless a known fact, and a fact that cannot be indifferent to those who have the welfare and security of these provinces at heart, that the jesuits are daily gaining ground among the Dutch papists. They have a flourishing chapel in the city of Utrecht, and have places of worship in several other cities, and in a great number of villages. It would be worthy of the wisdom of the rulers of the republic to put a stop to this growing evil, and not to suffer in a protestant country a religious order which has been suppressed in popish one, and declared enemies of the

state.

XVIII.

condemnation of this production at the court of CENTURY Rome. Clement XI. granted the request of the French monarch, because he considered it as the request of the jesuits; and, in the year 1713, issued out the famous bull Unigenitus, in which Quenel's New Testament was condemned, and an hundred and one propositions contained in it pronounced heretical. This bull, which is also known by the name of The Constitution, gave a favourable turn to the affairs of the jesuits; but it was highly detrimental to the interests of the Romish church, as many of the wiser members of that communion candidly acknowledge. For it not only confirmed the protestants in their separation, by convincing them that the church of Rome was resolved to adhere obstinately to its ancient superstitions and corruptions; but also offended many of the Roman catholics, who had no particular attachment to the doctrines of Jansenius, and were only bent on the pursuit of truth and the advancement of piety. It must also be observed, that the controversy relating to jansenism was much heated and augmented, instead of being mitigated or suspended, by this despotic and ill judged edict.

XI. The dissensions and tumults excited in France by this edict were violent in the highest de

To show what a political weathercock the infallibility of the holy father was upon this occasion, it may not be improper to place here an anecdote which is related by Voltaire in his Siecle de Louis XIV. vol. ii. under the article Jansenisme. The credit of the teller weighs but light in the balance of historical fame; the anecdote however is well attested, and is as follows; "The abbe Renaudot, a learned Frenchman, happening to be at Rome the first year of the pontificate of Clement X1. went one day to see the Pope, who was fond of men of letters, and was himself a learned man, and found his holiness reading father Quenel's book. On seeing Renaudot enter the apartment, the pope said, in a kind of rapture; 'Here is a most excellent book! We have nobody at Rome that is capable of writing in this manner; I wish I could engage the author to reside here!" And yet this same book was condemned afterward by this same pope.,

Commotions casioned by

in France oc

this bull.

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CENTURY gree. A considerable number of bishops, and a large body composed of persons eminently distinguished by their piety and erudition, both among the clergy and laity, appealed from the bull to a general council. It was more particularly opposed by the cardinal De Noailles, archbishop of Paris, who, equally unmoved by the authority of the pontiff and by the resentment and indignation of Louis XIV. made a noble stand against the despotic proceedings of the court of Rome. These defenders of the ancient doctrine and liberties of the Gallican church were persecuted by the popes, the French monarch, and the jesuits, from whom they received an uninterrupted series of injuries and affronts. Nay, their entire ruin was aimed at by these unrelenting adversaries, and was indeed accomplished in part, since some of them were obliged to fly for refuge to their brethren in Holland; others forced by the terrors of penal laws, and by various acts of tyranny and violence, to receive the papal edict; while a considerable number, deprived of their places, and ruined in their fortunes, looked for subsistence and tranquillity at a greater distance from their native country. The issue of this famous contest was favourable to the bull, which was at length rendered valid by the authority of the parlia ment, and was registered among the laws of the state. This contributed, in some measure, to restore the public tranquillity, but it was far from diminishing the number of those who complained of the despotism of the pontiff; and the kingdom of France is still full of appellants," who reject the authority of the bull, and only wait for a favourable opportunity of reviving a controversy, which is rather suspended than terminated, and of kindling anew a flame that is covered without being extinguished.

h This was the name that was assumed by those who appealed from the bull and the court of Rome to a general council.

XVII.

The circum

that

support the

senism in

XIL Amidst the calamities in which the jansenists ENTURY have been involved, they have only two methods left of maintaining their cause against their power-tances ful adversaries, and these are their writings and contribute to their miracles. The former alone have proved truly cause of jan useful to them; the latter gave them only a tran- France. sitory reputation, which, being ill founded, contributed in the issue to sink their credit. The writings in which they have attacked both the pope and the jesuits are innumerable; and many of them are composed with such eloquence, spirit, and solidity, that they have produced a remarkable effect. The jansenists, however, looking upon all human means as insufficient to support their cause, turned their views toward supernatural succours, and endeavoured to make it appear, that their cause was the peculiar object of the divine protection and approbation. For this purpose they persuaded the multitude, that God had endowed the bones and ashes of certain persons, who had distinguished themselves by their zeal in the cause of Jansenius, and had, at the point of death, appealed a second time from the pope to a general council, with the power of healing the most inveterate diseases. The person whose remains were principally honoured with this marvellous efficacy, was the abbe Paris, a man of family, whose natural character was dark and melancholy; his superstition excessive beyond all credibility; and who, by an austere abstinence from bodily nourishment, and the exercise of other inhuman branches of penitential discipline, was the voluntary cause of his own death. To the miracles which were said to be wrought at the tomb of this fanatic, the jansenists

1 The imposture that reigned in these pretended miracles has been detected and exposed by various authors; but by none with more acuteness, perspicuity, and penetration, than by the ingenious Dr. Douglas, in his excellent Treatise on Miracles, entitled, The Criterion, which was published by Millar in the year 1754,

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CENTURY added a great variety of visions and relations, to which they audaciously attributed a divine origin; for several members of the community, and more especially those who resided at Paris, pretended to be filled with the Holy Ghost; and, in consequence of this prerogative, delivered instructions, predictions, and exhortations, which, though frequently extravagant, and almost always insipid, yet moved the passions, and attracted the admiration, of the ignorant multitude. The prudence however of the court of France, put a stop to these fanatical tumults and false miracles; and, in the situation in which things are at present, the jansenists have nothing left but their genius and their pens to maintain their cause.k

The state of the eastern charch.

XIII. We can say but very little of the Greek and eastern churches. The profound ignorance in which they live, and the despotic yoke under which they groan, prevent their forming any plans to extend their limits, or making any attempts to change their state. The Russians, as we had formerly occasion to observe, assumed, under the reign of Peter the Great, a less savage and barbarous aspect than they had before that memorable period; and in this century have given some grounds to hope that they may one day be reckoned among the civilized nations. There are nevertheless immense multitudes of that rugged people, who are still attached to the brutish superstition and discipline of their ancestors; and there are several in whom the barbarous spirit of persecution still so far prevails, that, were it in their power, they would cut off the

Things are greatly changed since the learned author wrote this paragraph. The storm of just resentment that has arisen against the jesuits, and has been attended with the extinction of their order in Por. tugal, France, and in ail the Spanish dominions, has disarmed the most formidable adversaries of jansenism, and must consequently be consid ered as an event highly favourable to the jansenists.