on them does not hinder the five Propositions taken out of Jansenius and presented to the Pope by my Lords the Bishops of France from being condemned by the Holy See Nor does it hinder those who now follow the Doctrine of the five Propositions from being as much Heretiques as the Calvinists of Charenton or their Benifices if they have any from being vacant whether they have charge of Souls or no which they have now lost by Heresie Nor if the Jesuits should be proved to erre in Morals is it therefore forbid to say the Jansenists are excommunicated and that those who know them to be Jansenists cannot in conscience receive the Sacraments from their hands Nor does it hinder their Books from deserving the fire and fagot as well as their Persons if the Primitive severity of our Laws were yet in use and there were not some hope of their amendment This the Readers of those Letters ought to consider reflecting on the quality of their Authors who being Jansenists are Heretiques and as such mortal enemies of the Jesuits who have still this advantage that all those who are enemies to the Church at the same time become theirs like that which the Roman Oratour once said of himself 'T was the happiness of his destiny that never any became his Enemy who was not at the same time an Adversary likewise to the Common-wealth This made a great Person of our times and one who was a scourge of Jansenism say One should give no other answer to those wicked Letters then these three words Jansenists are Heritiques In the second place consider likewise with how little discretion or conscience the Writers of those detestable Letters have cunningly published and authorized to the whole world certain pernicious Maximes whilest they charge the Jesuits for having writ them in their Books The Jesuits Opinions whatsoever they were remained in their own Volumes unknown to any but Schoolmen and Doctors to whom such Writings could do no harm since they are the Censurers of them and even in the same Volumes the Jesuits propose the different opinions and the 〈◊〉 Judgements of Authours the one being the Correctour of the other whereas our Jansenist gathers all that he can make seem extravagant out of many severall places and puts all together exposed to the eyes of ignorant Readers in the vulgar Language to persons uncapable of judging betwixt the false and the true the profitable and dammageble that which is to be received and that which is not casting a stumbling-block in the blinde mans way to make him fall and opening a Cistern without covering it contrary to the prohibition made us in Exodus I know well enough the malice of his intention was to create a Horror of the Jesuits by the malignity of the Doctrine which he imposes on them but let him know there is great danger lest he perswade these untruths and wicked Maximes to many under the authority of the Jesuits name to which the greatest part of the world will give more credit then to such petty Buffoons as he is who hath neither sense conscience nor authority Whereas on the contrary the Jesuites are in the universal good opinion of all except onely Heretiques and some others who malice them so that thinking to cry down such Doctrines they render them probable by the Authority of the Jesuits who have another manner of repute in the world then the Jansenists whom every body knows to have been condemned as Heretiques and it is no lesse known that the Jesuites have been the first who opened their eyes against the Errours and Heresies both of Jansenius and the Jansenists being of the number of those in the Church who have most of all fought against Heresies Liberti nisme and Vice in their Books in their Pulpits and Sermons in their Disputes and Conversation Insomuch as it is commonly believed that to be of the same judgement with the Jesuites is to be Orthodox even so far that many will be easily perswaded to receive for a lawfull Opinion and for an unblamable Resolution in respect of their moral life and conduct that which they shall understand to be the common opinion and universall tenet of the Fathers of that Society Therefore the Writer of those pernicious Letters cannot excuse himself from having brought into the whole Church of God and especially into France a horrible scandall and which deserves punishment slandering learned and vertuous Persons by opprobious speeches falsifications lies and calumnies and seducing the ignorant the weak and licentious by a wicked Doctrine By attributing this Doctrine to the Jesuites he has rendred it probable through the credit these Fathers have with the greatest part of the word who will believe it upon their score and by casting it in a vulgar Language among the people he hath thrown a stone of offence at which the weak will stumble and the wicked authorize their unlawfull enterprizes through this belief that they can commit no sin whilest they follow the judgement of so many so knowing and so vertuous Persons as are the Fathers of the Society Thirdly you must know this scraper and patcher up of Calumnies alledges almost nothing in his Letters that is new but makes us read a second time the work of one of his Brethren written near twelve years since against the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to which Work the Author gave this Title The Divinity of the Jesuites Out of this he has taken all the grand reproaches which he makes against those Fathers quoting the very same Authors and Places and using the same Forgeries multiplying his Letters according to the shreads he picks up that he may be able to make many Books out of that one all that is his is that now and then he addeth the names of two or three Auâ—hors not cited in the former Pamphlet and withal dilateth himself in the Narrative of a Romance fit for Jan Potage that he may render the Jesuites ridiculous to the Wits of his gang by such ways of answering which he attributes to them as are childish and foolish the best part of his Boyish Dialogues and which deserve not to go unpunished For the rest he is careful enough not so much as to mention the three Books which were then written in answer to that supposed Moral taking no notice of the answers which were made to the calumnies it contained nor the entertainment that pernicious Book met with which was a condemnation to the flames to be burnt by the hand of the Hangman and this by the sentence of one of the wisest and most August Parliaments in France Fourthly do but cast your eye on his Rhapsody of Passages and Quotations you shall finde nothing but untruths and calumnies the Author of it falsifying the greatest part of those places he alledges and many times lying most boldly and impudently making Authors say that which they never dreamt croping and hacking their words and not producing them entire to the end that
teach However I am confident there are not many that would willingly trust to that secret of these Doctours but would rather prefer that of Jansenius who had found a method how to take secretly as much of the money belonging to the Colledge of Saint Pulcheria as would maintain Barcos without any mans discovering it by the yearly accounts he was to make thereof Behold how opposite the Maximes of the Jesuites are to those of the Jansenists The Jesuites say you approve of crimes in speculation and condemn them in practice The Jansenists commit crimes in practice and condemn them in speculation The Jesuites according to your visions seek distinctions to secure themselves against Judges and the Iansenists invent calumnies to secure themselves against the Popes But which is much resented by those who have a reall love for that reformed Church whose re-establishment you project the Iesuites for the zeal they bear to the good of the State are welcome to the Iudges whereas the Iansenists by reason of their rebellion against the Church finde no favour from the Popes Behold the true Source of all your calumnies and reproaches This it is that makes you fret with envy and which begets this third observation That the Jesuites imagine that the esteem they have in the Church will hinder men from punishing their attempts against the Truth Do you not fear they will be stung at this reproach and offended that you publish the credit they have in the Church Had all the Jansenian Sect laboured as long a time to justifie the sound Doctrine of the Iesuites as it hath done to calumniate it could it have suggested to you a more pregnant clear and invincible proof then this For if they have credit in the Church which is holy and wise on what else can it be grounded but on the purity of their manners and doctrine Can vice have esteem where sanctity reigns Or unsound Doctrine subsist with honour where verity Presides Recall to minde what you practis'd at Rome with Pope Innocent the Tenth and the arts you us'd to purchase credit in the Church Have you prevail'd therein Have you by all your Intrigues procur'd approbation of any one of your pernicious Maximes The very name of Iansenist is it not equally suspected of Church and State Have not all your Books been blasted by an opprobâ—ious Censure Finde you not above forty of them in the list of prohibited Books And have they not lately condemn'd at Rome the two last Letters of Monsieur Arnauld which made so great a noise in Sorbon Who sees not this disgrace to be an infallible maâ—k of your errours and a penalty necessarily annext to Heresie Now therefore argue thus by the Law of contraries The Jesuites have reputation in the Church Councels approve their Institute Popes make Bulls in favour of their sound Doctrine and good life The Bishops honout them with employment in their Diocesses to labour for the salvation of souls and instruction of the people The good and vertuous that know them love them there are none but Heretiques and Libertines that persecute them Men must therefore conclude that the Iansenists are much to blame for decrying their Morality since it is universally approv'd that those scandalous Letters which fly over all France are fill'd with nothing but Impostures Falshoods and Disguisements Really Sir this onely consideration might serve as a generall Apology for all you have hitherto said which though you should repeat a thousand severall wayâ—s men might content themselves with seâ—â—ing you to Rome and desiring you to presenâ— youâ— grievances to the Pope who is the sovereign sudge as well of the Doctrine of Manners as of Faith For men begin here to be weary of your repetitions How often have you tired our ears with the Doctrine of Probable Opinions Must I again make you blush at your absurdities therein I should willingly forbear to give you that confusion but that I evidently perceive you want light as well as Charity and have need of instâ—uction Learn therefore Sir seeing you will make us dwell upon the subject of Homicide that there are opinions in this matter openly repugnant to Faith which they call Hereticall as that of the Waldenses who held it was never lawfull to kill a man for any cause whatsoever no not by the Laws of Iustice There be other opinions covertly repugnant to Faith which we call suspected and dangerous as is the opinion you propose without reservation That there is an infinite distance between Gods prohibition of killing and the speculative permission that is given therein by Authours For seeing you never explain your self what prohibition or what permission you mean men have cause to doubt whether or no to seem more holy then the Laws you affect not this error m A Castro Minor verb. Occidere Haeres 1. That it is never lawfull to kill a man no not by publique Authority nor to defend ones life cum moderamine inculpatae tutelae Wherefore speak again and that clearly for there is a precipice on either hand be it in too much remisnisse which corrupts the Doctrine of manners or in an excesse of rigoâ—r which ruines the Doctrine of Faith There be other that are against good manners which we term scandalous as those of Monsieur de St. Cyran n 'T is a part of his Indictment to be seen in Clermont Colledge who taught that one was oblig'd to kill a man when incited thereto by inspiration though it were contrary to the exteâ—iour Law that forbids it There are some that contradict common sense which we call Extravagant and temerarious as that of the same Abbot who proves in his Royall question which you acknowledge for the first of his works that men are oftentimes oblig'd to kill themselves and that as this obligation is one of the most important and difficult so there is required a great courage and an extraordinary strength of minde to perform it There be other opinions that are receiv'd by the whole Church from which it is not lawfull to recede and which for that reason we term Orthodox Catholique Indubitable For instance that he who kills a Thief whom he findes in the night forcing the doors of a house or breaking through the walls ought not to be questioned for it for the Scripture it self declares as much There be yet other opinions that are not so clear and evident which the Church leaves to be disputed by Divines permiting them to hold what they think good and these are they we call probable among which we must yet distinguish opinions probable in practice that is such as one may practise with a safe conscience from those which are onely probable in speculation that is to say in the subtle precisions of the mind which contemplates things lawfull in themselves though in practice they are ever accompanied with such dangerous circumstances as render them unlawfull You see the reason why Divines affirm them probable in speculation
to the contrary by his approbation given to the Answers of the Provinciall Letters which are translated in this Book as may be seen in the end of a Book intituled Responces aux Lettres Provinciales publices par le Secretaire du Port-Royall printed at Liege 1657. The last piece of these Additionalls is a Catalogue of all the names of the Casuists cited in the Provinciall Letters and Additionals A man would think that in a catalogue of Names there should not be any thing to be reprehended yet that this piece might be suitable to the rest of the Book the Authour hath found a way to declarâ— either his grosse ignorance or malice in putting diverse Authors as Jesuits whom all the world know not to be such For example Basilius Pontius is writ in great Letters as one whose Cases this Additioner judgeth specially criminall and that all may redound on the Jesuits he is in this catalogue called a Jesuit yet Basilius Pontius is known to be of Saint Augustins Order Sancius is also called a Jesuit who was a Secular Priest Angelus is also reckoned a Jesuit though he were a Franciscaâ— Frier and Navarre is by no little mystery become a Jesuit in this Catalogue and very ignorantly under one name are confounded two very eminent men For there is Martinâ—s Aspilcueta Navarrus an admirable Canonist and most famous Caâ—uist of the Order of the Canons Regulars of St. Augustin and there is Petrus Navarrus or à Navarrâ a very gallant man who was a Secular Doctour All these this ignorant Additioner calleth Jesuites that the blame which he imagineth they lye under may fall on the Society But if they were Jesuites they would prove a credit to the Society their Doctrine being far above the censure of such an ignorant Additioner who hath so little examined what is cited that he doth not so much as know the Authors that are cietd The like impudence and ignorance is shewed in the Index put in the beginning of the First English Edition where the Translatour endeavouring to fasten upon the Jesuites the names of horrid crimes maketh rather an Index of his own blindenesse malice and passion then of the Book For example under the letter K. he hath this A man may be killed for six or seven Duckats or a Crown and a little after A man may be killed for an Apple By which he would give the Reader to understand That the Jesuites are strangely prodigall of mens lives and their Doctrine guilty of unheard of crueltiâ—s But if we look on the places cited we shall see the case is quite altered and that the Authour of this Index hath made it his businesse to encrease the Fourbe and out-lye the Provinciall Letters for to make the Jesuites more odious The first of these Maximes for which Molina is cited pag. 151. is in that pag. so set down that Moâ—ina is notoriously falsified by the Authour of the Provinciall Letters yet he retains something by which it is clear That Molina speaketh of a Thief who hath robbed you for he hath these words Who hath taken from you the value of six or seven Duckats or a Crown Now because the Doctrine that alloweth to kill a Thief who hath taken from you though but a Crown would not have sounded ill enough for this mans purpose therefore he leaveth out both the term Thief and the other words which the Authour of the Provinciall Letters was not bold enough to suppresse to make it passe for a Maxime of the Jesuites That a man may be killed for six or seven Duckats or a Crown Which Maxime carrieth all that malice in it which this man would shew he beareth the Iesuites whom he would have thought the most despicable and abominable thing of the world whereas the Doctrine of Molina is blamelesse as appeareth in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Impostures The other Maxime is That a man may be killed for an Apple By this the Index-maker would have it thought That the Iesuites value mens lives so little that for an Apple one man may kill another which if it were true you might kill a man that would steal an apple out of your Oâ—chard But turn to the place cited and you will read the malice or ignorance of this Index-maker It is page 343. where Lessius speaketh thus It is not lawâ—ull for a man to kill another to preserve a thing of little value as for a businesse of a Crown or for an Apple which words dâ—râ—ctly contradict the sense intended to be understood in the Index There follow in the words of Lessius in the place cited these words Unlesse it should be a great dishonour to lose it For in such a case a man may recover it nay if need be kill the person that hath it because this is not so much to defend ones goods as ones honour In which place Lessius doth not teach That you may kill for an apple but that a Person of Honour is not bound to stand still and receive an affront though the thing in which he is affronted be of no value For example a Gentleman carrieth a Rose in his hand or an apple an insolent Fellow who would affront that Gentleman snatcheth at the Rose the Gentleman is not bound to let the Rose go but he may safely hold it fast and if the other proceed in his insolency the Gentleman may endeavour to repell him and if in the end of the strife the insolent fellow lose his life the Gentleman shall not be guilty saith Lessius of his blood provided that he keep that which all Divines exact in such cases moderamen inculpatae tutelae the moderation of a blamless defence that is do no more then is necessary for his own defence as Lessius requireth Now this Doctrine which gives the Honourable and Innocent Person a just right to defend himself is very far from teaching That one may kill another for an Apple which Lessius never dreamt of The Authour of the Provinciall Letters would impose it on him but because he doth it not plain enough the Index helps him out in bâ—lying Lessius And this he doth in all the other crimes imputed to the Iesuites which I call to make an Index of hâ—â— own malice blindenesse and passion Now then having run over all the other points of the Additionalls let 's come to the Factums or Representations of the Curâ—z Of these also I say that they ought not to be answered My reason is because that the Pope hath already erected a particular Congregation of Learned men at Rome to examine the Book called the Apology of the Casuists and the Writings of the Curâ—z against that Book Which being so both parties are â—o expect their judgement from that Court and to address their Complaints or Defences to Rome And for my part I will expect their Censure before I give mine as I think it is the duty of every Catholique to do and not to forestall the Popes judgement whom
of Confession and Communion is oftentimes more hurtfull then profitable That the calling on the Name of Jesus is as efficacious as the receiving of the Holy Eucharist These and many other like these are the Maximes of San-Cyran which are Authentically set down in the Information taken of him and to be seen in the Progresse of Jansenisme Now that which gave this unfortunate man credit and made all that he said to be esteemed good and holy was his Exteriour appearance which seemed to breath nothing but Sanctity He was a person of a sad look stern countenance austere carriage and disposition Hypochondriaâ—all which the ignorant people interpreted to be the rigour of Penance attributing that to a profound Sanctity which in him was nothing but either Nature or Hypocrisie The esteem which the world held in him bred in him such a height of pride as made him contemne all that was ordinary His usuall saying was That the ordinary way was for ordinary people For himself he dream't of nothing and talk't of nothing but the Ancient times the Fathers the Primitive fervour of the Church to which he would reduce the World whose universall Darknesse and Errours he did often bemoan presuming himself to be the onely man able to redresse all that was amisse He was so bold as to assever to the Abbot of Prieres that if he would give him Fifteen or Twenty young men who had never received impression from other Masters if they would follow his Instructions in the space of six moneths he would make them compleat Divines And of his Book called Petrus Aurelius he was so vainly conceited that he said It was the best Book that had been made in the Church these six hundred Years past though it be a condemned Book in which among other grosse absurdities he reaches That a Priest loseth his Priest-hood by committing a mortall Sin which is one of Wiclif's Heresies and as great a foolery as if one would teach that a Christian is unchristned by a mortall sin Thus his Austerity which was partly naturall partly affected got him the opinion of Sanctity and that bred in him a pride and arrogance fit for an Arch Heretique All this and much more concerning this Abbot of St. Cyran is to be seen in the Information above-mention'd § 2. Of Jansenius Cornelius Jansenius of whom the late Heresie took its name was by birth a Hollander of Leerdam but Student of the University of Lovain where in the Year 1619. Octob. 24. he proceeded Doctor He was ligued with the Abbot of San-Cyran of whom we have spoken in a most strict amity and kept perpetuall correspondence with him giving him continuall account of his affairs and making him sole Arbiter of all his Thoughts all his Studies and all his Designes He oftentimes visited San-Cyran and conferred with him he both helped San-Cyran in furnishing him with matter for his Aurelius and was also helped himself by him in his Sermons and publique Speeches which San-Cyran as being the abler Preacher sent him out of France upon every occasion All this appears by his Letters to this Abbot which make up a main part of the Book called The Birth of Jansenisme and were found in the Abbots chamber when he was seized on Out of the same Letters it also appears that Jansenius had suck'd in all the poison of that Heretique for he also deâ—piseth School-Divines as Bablers is disgusted with St. Thomas no lesse then St. Cyran and relisheth nothing but Antiquity But above all he hates the Jesuits against whom he laboured almost perpetually writing Libells against the Society that it is not to be wondred if his Disciples follow the same train carping at their Doctrine defending such as apostatized from their Order incensing and exasperating all men against them that possibly he could and lastly not forbearing even to censure the Pope himself for having canonized St. Ignatius and St. Xaverius Furthermore it appears by the same Letters that he had no small inclination to favour Heresie For of Marcus Antonius de Dominis one whom all the world knows of an Arch-bishop of Spalato to have become an Apostata and pernicious enemy of the Church first in Holland and afterwards in England he writeth that his Doctrine was in a manner Catholique save onely where he touched on the oeconomy of the Church and shews how much he was afraid lest the University of Lovain should have required him to write against the said Archbishop Besides he speaketh very favourably of the Synod of Dort where although rigid Calvinisme was established yet he feareth not to pronounce of the Doctrine of that Synod that it was almost all Catholique But that which is most of all remarkable and likewise most apparently discovered in these Letters is the Grand Design concerted betwixt Jansenius and San-Cyran in opposition to the Jesuites to the School-Divines and to the Catholique Church This design was the reproving of those Catholique Tenents which were maintained by the Society and in effect by the whole Church concerning Grace Free-will Predestition c. To compasse this design 't is manifest that from the year wherein he proceeded Doctour even to his dying day this man made it his study to read St. Augustin and interpret the many hard places of this great Saint in such manner as to make St. Augustin teach his own private Heresies He knew well enough that his Work would never please the Pope as he oftentimes hinteth in his Letters wherefore his chief labour was first to keep it secret fearing that if it were discovered it might be choaked in the womb and never come to see light And secondly to dispose mens mindes so by himself and by his Friend San-Cyrans means that it might finde some great Persons of Authority or Interest who should favour and maintain it And in effect they got what they aimed at For their secret was not discovered and whereas Jansonius died before his Work was printed being taken away by the Plague in the second year of his Bishoprique at Ipres on the 7. of May 1638. his Book notwithstanding found many Patrons both in Flaunders and in France In Flaunders many of the University of Lovain the Archbishop of Machelen the Bishop of Gaunt and divers others stood stifly for defence of this new Augustinus for so he called his book In France some Bishops also many Gurez a very considerable part of the Sorbon with divers of the Oratorian Priests of Cardinalll Berull's Institution did the same The reasons why these Persons engaged so far against the Truth I will not here dive into I believe many were deceived by the very Title of the Work For he calling his Book Augustinus they imagined that a Doctour of Lovain and Bishop of the Catholique Church would not give any thing for St. Augustius Doctrine but what was truly his But it is also known that not a few of these Defenders of Jansenius had a tooth against the Order of the Jesuites so as
it was more then probable that many of them upon that account were easily drawn in and made to embrace the defence of the Book which they esteemed to have given so fatall a Blow to the Jesuits Doctrine that one of the Sorbonists called it the Jesuites Tomb. As for the Oratorians their speciall Obligations to San-Cyran and Jansonius drew them in before they well knew what was intended For it was a plot of Jansenius and San-Cyran which they had practised of a long time to raise up these Oratorians in opposition to the Jesuites in hopes as Jansenius expresses in his Letters that they might in a short time get all the Jesuites Scholars to them and being but Clergy-men at the Bishops Disposall they imagined they should carry the universall good-will of the Clergy so that the Jesuites should at last be quite deserted This made those poor Oratorians drink so deep of the Doctrine of San-Cyran and Jansenius that divers of their Books were condemned as namely Gibieufs and Seguenots which I do not say to censure them universally or the major part of them but it is certain that they were looked on as a party and many of them becoming Curez did in their Parishes as well as many other Curez broach Jansenius's Doctrine in Flaunders under the shelter of the University of Lovain and the forenamed Bishops and in France under the name of Sorbon of which as I said a very great part sided with Jansenius and also under the favour of some Bishops of France This animosity appeared greater when Pope Urban who was soon advertis'd of these practises put out his Bull which he did in March 1642. to suppresse Jansenius his Book for then many unmaskt themselves and spoke plain even against his Holinesse Orders in defence of Jansenius though as Pope Urbans Bulls speak Jansenius had renewed condemned Heresies and had incurred Excommunication by writing his Book and treating in it matters forbidden to be treated of in print that is the matters called de Auxiliis forbid by Paul the Fifth to be treated of under pain of Excommunication Pope Urban therefore sent redoubled Briefs to suppresse the rising Faction of the Jansenians as in one of his Bulls he termeth them Many submitted to their duty Yet all Pope Urbans time the Faction was very strong and though it decayed something in Flaunders yet it strengthened daily in France where it least ought to have been received For whereas Jansenius had writ a most bitter Invective against the Crown and Kings of France called Mars Gallicus it was to have been expected that all faithfull Subjects of that Crown ought rather to have sided against Jansenius then for him And this Monsieur Marande presseth much against the French Jansenists in his Book dedicated to the King of France in the Year 1654. which we formerly mentioned where a good part of his discourse tendeth to shew that Innovations in Religion are promoted by those chiefly who aim at Innovation in State Things therefore being come to so great a height in France that now Jansenisme was formed into a considerable body which might in time prove formidable both to the Church and Crown the Bishops in their generall Assembly or Synod at Paris took the matter into their consideration and having well examined the Book of Jansenius they collected Five Propositions out of it which seemed to them to deserve a censure The Propositions were these 1. Some of Gods Commandments are impossible to the Just according to their present forces though they have a will and do endeavour to accomplish them and they want the Grace that rendreth them possible 2. In the state of Nature corrupt men never resist Interiour Grace 3. To merit and demerit in the state of Nature corrupted it is not necessary to have the liberty that excludes necessity but it suffices to have that liberty which excludes coaction or constraint 4. The Semipelagians admitted the necessity of Interiour preventing Grace to every Action even to the beginning of Faith But they were Heretiques in this that they would have that Grace to be such as the will of man might resist it or obey it 5. It is Semipelagianisme to say that Jesus Christ dyed or shed his Blood generally for all men These Propositions the Bishops drew out of Jansenius his Book yet knowing themselves to be but a Nationall Synod they would not lay any censure upon them but in the Year 1650. sent them to Pope Innocent the Tenth then sitting humbly requiring him that through his Paternall care of the Universall Church he would determine what ought to be held it belonging onely to him to define in this cause This Letter was signed by eighty five Bishops then present at the Assembly The Pope thereupon took the matter into Examination and deputed divers Divines to examine the Propositions whom he often heard himself the Deputies of the Jansenists being also present at Rome and having liberty to speak for themselves as they often did At length after two years examination of the matter and many Prayers Fasting and Supplications to God Innocent the Tenth proceeded to censure and defined the said Five Propositions to be Hereticall by his Bull given on the last day of May 1653. This Bull is inserted into the Bull of Pope Alexander the Seventh which by and by I shall produce But all this was not enough to make many of the Jansenists submit Upon sight of the Bull they changed their note and whereas before they had owned the Five Propositions to be in Jansenius but maintained them to be Catholique Tenents and the true Doctrine of St. Augustin now they acknowledged the said Five Propositions were justly censured by the Pope but defended that they were not in Jansenius yet whosoever taught them or wheresoever they were to be found the Jansenists professed to condemn them By this means they thought both to clear themselves from the censure of defending Hereticall Propositions and withall still to maintain the Doctrine of Jansenius as they had done before and so all the fault was to redound on the Pope and the Synod of France as the Jansenists would have it thought â—â— on those who had informed them wrong That the Propositions were in Jansenius which indeed said they were not there at least in the sense in which they were condemned This Discourse though never so frivolous prevailed with many for their constant maintaining of Jansenius so as it was feared the whole endeavour of the Bishops of France and also the Constitution of the Pope would at length come to nothing To prevent this mischief the Bishops of France who were yet remaining in their Assembly at Paris wrote this following Letter to the rest of the Archbishops and Bishops that were absent from the said Assembly and that it might be publique caused it to be printed which for the same reason I have thought fit here to set down translated into English To the most Reverend and Religious the Lords Archbishops
and Bishops of France their most Respected Brethren the Cardinalls Archbishops and Bishops residing at Paris Health and Happinesse in Christ That which long agone hapned to S. Augustin and the other Fathers of the Councels of Carthage and Milevet those great Maintainers of Divine Grace now seemeth to have happened unto us They hoped but in vain that after a certain Book of Pelagius had been condemned and anathematized by Pope Innocent the First the Pelagians would yield to the Authority of so great a Prelate a a August Epist 92 95. and would not dare to trouble the mindes of the Faithfull by speaking perversely of Divine Grace And we hoped also that those men who professe themselves friends and followers of Cornelius Jansenius Bishop of Ipres after that his Five Opinions were condemned and anathematized by Innocent the Tenth would desist from trouble or moving any thing more and whereaâ— Pope Innocent had by his Decree commanded the Windes we hoped a Calm would follow in the Church But it happened quite contrary to what we expected Nor can we cease from wondering how that 't is possible that those men should after the most just and holy Constitution in which our most Blessed Father Innocent the Tenth hath condemned the foresaid Five Propositions in most clear and expresse terms affirm and even perswade others two most vain and groundlesse things The one is that those Five Propositions are not Jansenius's The other that they are not condemned in Jansenius's sense For can there be any thing more absurd then to maintain that for the refuting whereof there is not required any reasoning any enquiry or any thing else then meerly the reading of the Popes Constitution which decideth all the matter And although these two Allegations seem such that they will fall of themselves to nothing and so might justly be contemned and neglected yet we finding them to do hurt to the weak and ignorant for whom in duty we are to provide that we may take all Scandall out of the House of God thought fit to remedy this evil and prevent in time this poison wherewith some are already infected Which that it might be done exactly we the Cardinalls Archbishops and Bishops residing in Paris for Ecclesiasticall Businesses being gathered together judged that this businesse was to be commended to the care of the most Illustrious and most Reverend the Archbishops of Tours Ambrun Roan and Tolouse and of the Bishops of Autun Montauban Rennes and Chartres Yet this we did so commend to them that they should refer unto us what they had read observed and thought They having looked upon the Popes Constitution which alone was enough and moreover read Jansenius as much as was necessary and weighed all diligently found it plain and manifest that the said Propositions are truly Jansenius 's and that they are condemned in their true and proper sense and that very sense in which they are delivered and explicated by Jansenius And when they had shewed us again gathered together what they had found and we found and seen the same We Declared and do hereby Delare that it is truly and undoubtedly so and that these who defend those Five Propositions or approve of them are of the number of those whom Pope Innocent the Tenth in that Constitution calleth Contradictours and Rebellious and whom he will have punished by the Patriarchs Archbishops and Bishops with the Censures and Penalties of Heretiques and their Abbettours expressed in the Canon Law and by other opportune remedies juris facti invâ—king if need be the Secular arm And this we all as much as lieth in us are resolved to do And we entreat all our most Loving and Religious Brethren of the Gallican Church that are absent to do the same that so we may all think the same thing according to Jesus Christ unanimously with one mouth glorifie God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ â—difie the Church of God and save our selves and those who hear us and are committed to our charge JUâ—IUS Cardinal Mazarini President of the Assembly VICTOR Archbishop of Tours LEWIS Archbishop of Sens. GEORGE Archbishop of Ambrun ANNE DE LEVY DE VANTADOUR Archbishop of Bourges FRANCIS Archbishop of Roan PETER Archbishop of Tholouse LEBERON Bishop of Valence and Die GILES Bishop of Eureaux LEWIS Bishop of Autun DOMINICK Bishop of Meaux JOHN Bishop of Bayonne ANTHIMUS DENYS Bishop of Dole GABRIEL Bishop of Nantes PETER Bishop of Montauban JAMES Bishop of Toulon HENRY Bishop of Rennes FERDINAND Bishop of St. Malo JAMES Bishop of Charires PHILIBERT EMMANUEL Bishop of Mans. JAMES DE GRIGNAN Bishop of St. Paul de Trois Chasteaux GILBERY Bishop of Comenges BALTAZAR Bishop and Count of Treguier CLAUDE Bishop of Constances JAMES Bishop and Count of St. Flour HARDWIN Bishop of Rhodes NICOLAS Bishop of Beauvais FRANCIS Bishop of Madaure and Coadjutor of Cornovailles HENRY DE LAVAL Bishop and Count of Leon. FRANCIS FAURE Bishop of Amiens CHARLES Bishop of Cesarce and Coadjutor of Soissoins CYRUS Bishop of Perigueux LEWIS Bishop of Toul LEWIS Bishop of Grasse MICHAEL Bishop of St. Pons de Tomiers The Abbot of Estree nominated Bishop of Laon. The Abbot of Servient nominated Bishop of Carcassonne Frier JOHN DOMINICK nominated Bishop of Glandeves BERNARD DE MARMIESSH Agent Generall of the Clergy of France nominated Bishop of Conserans HENRY DE VILLARS Agent Generall of the Clergy and Secretary of the Assembly Given at Paris March the 28. 1654. Here they notifie to all the world that they deputed Eight of their Body Four Archbishops and Four Bishops to re-examine the Propositions and the places of Jansenius from whence they are taken which the Deputies having found to agree in all things they shewed the places to the whole Assembly who being fully satisfied of the verity though they never doubted of the Popes Desinition have given it under their hands that the Propositions are truly Jansenius's and condemned in his sense Yet all this was not enough The proud spirit which bred the Heresie maintained it still Though their discourse had no reason in it yet their will had so blinded their understanding that they would not submit to their Duty Pope Alexander therefore who succeeded Innocent the Tenth seeing his Sovereign Authority necessary in the year 1656. decided the whole matter by this following Bull. The Bull of Pope Alexander the Seventh touching the Five condemned Propositions of Jansenius Alexander Bishop SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD To all Faithfull Christians Health and Apostolical Benediction The Divine Providence having by an inscrutable Dispensation and without any merit on our part raised us to the Sacred Throne of St. Peter and to the Government of the whole Church we have judg'd it to concern the Duty of our Pastorall Charge to make it our principall endeavour by vertue of that Power and Authority which God hath given us seasonably to provide for the Safety and Integrity of the Holy Faith and of its Sacred
the memory of the dead If Sorbon do justice on it self and couragiously cut off its own members where they see inflamation and corruption to be gather'd by the contagion of your errours the Jesuits say you are the Corrupters of Discipline and it is necessary to exterminate them for the good of Souls and Glory of God What ever advantage they may have in the Doctrine of Faith yet must they still be attaqued in the point of Manners Their Writers must all be racked and nothing left intire in any of their Books they must be falsified by infamous forgings they must be altered by unfaithfull suppressions a false aspect must be given them by malignant interpretations some passages of them must be shortned others lengthened those must have that cut off which justifieâ— them and these must have something added which may make them appear blameable Divines will soon discover these illusions but the People who are not â—o clear-sighted will be apt to take such apparitions for solid bodies and so you will still finde your account The wise will admire that you take upon you such a wretched employment and that after you have spoken so long like Oracles the language of the Ancient Fathers you are now reduc'd like Moaths to eat the Books of the new Casuists But the wise are not the greater number for one Person of Honour that will be afflicted at this disorder you will make a hundred Libertines laugh who are so pleas'd with detractions of this nature that even the false do often delight them more then the true In fine the Jesuites will not fail to defend themselves and make you blush at your gulleries But you are ready to welcome them if they presse you with the force of reason you will â—ire them with your importunities and repeat so often those words mentiris impudentissime that they will be forc'd to hold their peace perceiving plainly that you have nothing to lose and that they can get nothing of you but injuries Truly Sir you are fallen upon a very commodious way of defending your self and assaulting others since all your dexterity consists in lying impudently which is not hard to do and in giving others the Lye with impunity which is yet more easie in aspersing the Innocent with hideous Calumnies to make them criminall and calling them Calumniators to vindicate your self of all your crimes Let us take a view of your proceeding and see how you reduce to practice the method of Port-Royal You make Father Alâ—y say that Monsieur Puys is an Heretique excommunicate and worthy of the sire You quote his first and second Book and assure us that he confirms in the latter what he had said of him in the former This is an apparent falshood For it is to be seen that from the third page of his second Book he declares to the contrary That men are much to blame to accuse him of having call'd that Pastour Heretique that there is no man of judgement who examines the terms of his first Apology for he assaults not but defends himself but will judge this glosse too violent and that complaint very tender You are therefore an Impostour and that a signall one But what does it avail me to convince and presse you to an answer As your accusation is onely a lie so all your Apology will be to give me that complement You who made no consciâ—noe to lye in imposing upon that Father will have no shame to give me the lie in justifying your self and say Mentirls impudontissimé You accuse Father Bauny of having taught That it is lawfull directly primo per se to seek out the next occasion of sinning for the Spirituall or Temporall good of our selves or neighbour This is a palpable falshood Those words primo per se are none of that Divines I advertis'd you of it in my answer to you ninth Imposture I told you that decision was capable of two contrary senses the first that one may expose himself to an occasion of sinning upon reasons important to the conversion of Souls and welfare of the State as St. Ambrose and many other Saints have done yet so as he have hope by the help of Heaven to overcome the danger and be firmly resolved in himself to overcome it and this is the opinion of F. Bauny and of the famous Basilius Pontius which is not rejected in the Schools The second sense is that one may temerariously expose himself to those occasions and even formally seek them out upon light grounds And this Doctrine the Abbot of Boisic who passes with you for F. Pinthereau calls detestable As to the first sense I accus'd you of ignorance for making a crime of an opinion common in Divinity and for the second I convinc'd you of malice in regard there is not so much as the least print or foot-stop thereof in F. Bauny's Book and consequently cannot be imputed to him as F. Caussin said but by an instrument of the Devill Neverthelesse as though you had quite forgotten it you take me for Surety against your Creditours and make me an Approver of what you say against them that accuse you was there ever seen such a piece of knavery as this But you may do any thing you have a dispensation generall from Port-Royall which â—xempts you from speaking truth and impowers you to give the lye to all that reproach you with unfaithfull dealing See yet another example for you are very â—ruitfull in Impostures as having in you an inexhaustâ—ble Source of them You impute to F. Bauny this Proposition That Priests ought not to deny absolution to those that remain in the habits of Crimes against the Law of God Nature and the Church though they discover not any hops of amendment And you assuâ—e us that F. Pintherâ—an and F. Brisaciâ—r are fallen into a contradiction about the answering your Imposture This is a falâ—hood more evident then the day the answer of the one destroyes not the answer of the other they are both of them alike good and satisfactory to all such who are not sick of envy like your self One answers that Absolution cannot be given to that sort of Sinners when they shew no desire of amendment and denies that ever F. Bauny taught the contrary all this is true The other answers that in the apprehension which a Priest may have of his Penitents relapses considering the frailty of men he is to rely upon the promise of the Penitent and to content himself with his sincere and resolved will to live better testified by his words and regrets without expecting extraordinary revelations to ascertain him of the good disposition of the Sinner and of the infallible effâ—ct that is to follow his present protestations and resolutions which the greatest Saints cannot promise themselves and this he avowes for F. Bauny's opinion This is also true Where is then that imaginary contradiction you accuse them of Where is that streit which is so difficult to get
Decisionâ— of the Church another while dissembling and palliâ—ting that contradiction acting as St. Bernard sayes now the Wolf and anon the Fox The Church â—ells us that the Five Propositions taken in Jansenius's sense are Hereticall the Jansenists affirm That the Five Propositions taken in Jansenius's sense are the most constant verities of Catholique Doctrine This is acting the Wolf and declaring point-blank against the Church which is Christs Flock Yet they say withall they condemn the Five Propositions where ever they finde them Now that 's to play the Fox to wit by a mentall reservation and exception of Jansenius's sense which neverthelesse is that sense which is condemned by the Church I say nothing of their acting the Sheep by that Innocence and Sanctity of life which they vaunt of and which they endeavour to confirm even by Miracles And to say but the truth they work Miracles to prove their Sanctity far greater then any man is able to believe For what greater Miracle in persons that regard onely the love of God thenthen the accord which they make betwixt that love and the hatred of their Neighbour which they have shown from the beginning and that even before they could pretend to have receiv'd any displeasure from men 'T is well known that when Jansenius's Book was first brought into France one of their Patriarchs who laboured to engage many Doctors of the Sorbon in the defence of that Doctrine and begg'd their Approbations having met with one of those Doctours who would not be perswaded by his other reasons to approve the Book without reading it as some of his Colleagues had done he had recourse to his last reason which he thought so prevalent that he could not but submit to it and shewing him the Book Behold saith he the Jesuites Tomb. He is fallen himself into it and I pray God he may rise happily from it But is it not a great miracle to reconcile so charitable an intention as this with that purified Zeal for the love of God whereof they make profession And is not that another great Miracle which appears in their Letters viz. The attonement of Justice which is so dear to them with the liberty of calumniating Their Calumnies are so clearly display'd inâ—â—ur Answers that it will bâ— a new Miracle of boldnesse or rather impudence if any man that looks but in the Books shall engage himself to defend them Which Miracle involves a Third viz. The agreement of that faithfull and sincere dealing of which they make profession with the imposture and falsity of their Allegations This illustriously appears in the same Letters And after I had particularly shown it in Seventeen severall Citations they had the candour to affirm in lieu of a full answer that I had noâ— touch'd their six last Letters Which is in effect to say that 't is but a Peccadillo a small matter to have been taken upon seventeen severall occasions in Imposture and Falsifying I thought it had been sufficient to have prov'd it in one onely instance as it suffices to make a man infamous for his whole life to be but once convinc'd of bearing false witnesse But seeing this is not enough for the Jansenists I must entreat them to tell me near about what number of Impostures will go to the making of a Jansenist be declared an Impostor seeing that to be taxed of seventeen is counted but a triâ—le and not sufficient However their Writings are so â—uxuriant in fruits of this nature that require as many as you will it will be no hard matter for them to make up their account I should be over tedious if I meant to relate all the other Miracles of the Jansenists It shall suffice me to adde onely that which is the most visible one in all their conduct viz. The reconciling of the true Doctrine of Christianity with the war they make against the Church of Christ I call war against the Church of Christ their combating against the Decisions of the Holy Sea receiv'd and approv'd both by the Bishops and Doctors I speak not here of Sorbon onely or apart by it self which is yet Body considerable enough to prevail against the authority of certain particular Doctours whose number is much lesse and whose quality to speak modestly is no wayes preferrable to that of Sorbon Neither speak I of the Bishops separately whose judgement yet in Causes Ecclâ—siasticall is far more considerable then that of single Doctors No nor do I speak of the Holy Sea apart by it self which yet in the judgement of all Antiquity was believ'd to be sufficient to make those acknowledg'd for Heretiques who were declared such by the Pope and those also reputed Catholiques whom the Pope receiv'd into his Communion and declar'd to be such I conâ—oyn all three together and 〈…〉 to whole establishment the Pope Bishops and Doctors do unanimously concurre is to make war against the Church whose Sentiments neither ought nor can â—e be better represented then by the common consent of the Head and principall Members which compose it And since that whole united body conspiringly informs us that the Five Propositions are condemn'd in Jansenius's sense and his Opinions and Doctrine condemn'd in the Five Propositions it is undeniable that the Jansenists who hitherto make a practice of contradicting it do work so great a Miâ—acle as not any Faith save that of the Arians Nestorians Euâ—ychiaâ—s Monothelites adde likewise Luthâ—rans Zuinglians Calvinists c. is able to believe which is The agreement of the true Doctrine which they bâ—ag to be taught by them in its purity with the war against the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Church Judge Reader whether one ought to require any other Miracls then these in proof of what I have affâ—rted That the Jansenists are Heretiques An ANSWER to the JANSENISTS Sixteenth Letter addressed to the Directors of Port-Royall Argument 1. THat the Authour of the Provinciall Letters not deserving an Answer for his Rudenesse Calumny and Ignorance this is addressed to the Port-Royall meaning thereby the whole Party of the Jansenists 2. That Port-Royall holdeth Intelligence with Geneva and Charenton whilest the Jesuites are maintained by Popes Councells Kings and Nobles 3. Port-Royall 's greatest Happinesse is not to be known on the contrary the Jesuites when they are known are made happy in the Love and Respect of all and none despise them but such as know them not 4. That they pretend Reforme and set upon the Jesuites Moralls as giving scope to Liberty whilest really they aim not at a Reforme but Destruction of the Church which they see is much maintained by the Jesuites and the establishing the Heresies of Geneva impugned by the Jesuits 5. A Parallell betwixt Port-Royal and Geneva in points of Faith 6. That all other Heretiques cry up Port-Royall as consenting with them 7. Apostata's profess to have learnt Calvinisme in Jansenius his Books and Jansenisme in Calvin's Works 8. The Book of Arnauld of Frequent Communion commended at
Five Propositions condâ—mned by Pope Innoâ—ent X. are Hereticall which you are at this day constrain'd to avow And that they are in Jansenius's Book which you maintain'd with so great confidence before they were censured and now deny so stoutly You know it Sirs and cannot deny it you have defended it by a publique writing inâ—ituled Propositiones Gratiae wherein you exactly noted the places of Jansenius whence they were drawn Abuse not I pray the credulity of the simple 'T is in value to personate the blinde and protest since the censure that you never read them in his Bock You your selves have told us they were there when you were not oblig'd to it and now that Popes and Bishops assure you as much you seem to have lost your sight Heretofore they were there because it was no shame to confesse it but now they are not because they have been condemn'd This art serves onely to proclaim you no lesse deceitfull then temeratious temerarious to deny what has been decided by a sovereign authority deceitful to dissemble what you have so solemnly publish'd in your Works But as to the point of Intelligence though you had not discovered your selves it is but opening your Books to finde the articles of that criminall League that is betwixt you and Geneva interchangeably signed and thereby to shew the injustice of your accusations and the charity of them that advertise you of your fall to withdraw you from that precipice or at least to hinder others from following you in your exorbitant courses Port-Royall h Jansenius Tom. 3. l. 3. c. 13. teaches That there is nothing more certain nor better grounded on the Doctrine of St. Augustine then this Proposition That there are some Prâ—cepts which are impossible not onely to the unfaithfull blinde and hardened but likewise to the faithfull and the just even when they have a will and do endeavour according to their present forces and that Grace is wanting to them whereby they may be rendred possible These are the very words of Jansenius which have been condemn'd by the Pope as Hereticall full of Blasphemy and Impiety Geneva agreeing to this article i Gravier Art 18. of Free-will assures that what the Papists were wont to object that God commands not things impossible is of no force because though his Commandments be impossible to man corrupted by the sin of Adam they were not so to man in the state of Innocence before he became criminall Port-Royall holds That the old Law made justice more difficult and impossible as if it had set a wall betwixt k Jansen Tom. 3. l. 1. c. 8. Lex justitiam reddit disficiliorem quasi muro interposito impossibilem that before the coming of the Son of God the Grace of accomplishing what was commanded was given to very few much lesse the Grace sufficient to Salvation But contrariwise That that kinde of Grace was absolutely repugnant to the institution of the Law and Gods design l Idem l 3. c. 5. Talis gratia lationi Legis ac scopo Dei capitaliter repugnabat In fine That they who lived under the yoke of the old Law had not sufficient Grace to performe it but rather an impeding Grace m Idem tom 3. l. 3. c. 8. in ipso titulo capitis Status veteris Testamenti non afferebat Judaeis gratiam sufficientem sed potiùs impedientem Geneva quickned with the same spirit believes n Calvins 2. Instit c. 7. § 2. 10. that the Jewes had never Grace sufficient for their conversion that it was not in their power to believe the word of God o Luther in Ep. ad Gal. c. 5. that he spake not to them but to make them deaf that he enlightned not them but to blind them p Contra Remonstrantes in speciem Amst a. 52. 57. that he instructed them not but to render them more blockish and that he gave them remedies but to the end they might never be cured Port-Royal laughs at the proximate Power and sufficient Grace as a Grace that is monstruous q Jansenius lib. 3. de Gratia Christi â— 3. Qâ—â—m monstruosa sit gratia sufficiens monstruosa Gratia as a Grace that sufficeth and sufficeth not r Letter 1 2 3. as a Grace which the Devils would willingly bestow if theâ— had it sayes Jansenius's Apologist in his first Apology Geneva likewise speaks of it as a Dream s 〈◊〉 in Antidoto ad c. 6. sess 6. Conâ—â—â— Triâ— which has nothing of solidity as a deceitfull trap that makes men fall into Pelagianisme callidum Pelagianismi operculum as an Illusion t Du Moulin in his Traditions and elsewhere that beguils us promising what it gives not and never saving any man Port-Royal u Jansenists Catechisme q. 66. assures us That God will save none but his Elect because if he willed to save all men in particular since he does what he pleases in Heaven and Earth he would save them all Geneva also embraces the very same opinion and sayes it is the common belief of all the Churches of France that are united to her x Genevenses in Synodo Dordracena pag. 561. Haec est simplex fidelis sententia nostra fides Ecclesiae nostrae fides omnium Ecclesiarum Gallicarum quae confessioni Gallicae adhâ—rent Port Royal maintains That they who dye in their infidelity have reason to say that Christ is not their Redeemer they are the terms of the Apology for Jansenius pag. 217. y Jansenius tom 3. l. 3. c. 21. That God by his Counsels most secretly just and most justly secret hath predestinated to give Faith Charity and finall Perseverance in the same charity to some persons whom we call Predestinate to others Charity without perseverance to others Faith without Charity As to the first sort that he gave and delivered himself up for them as his true Flock and People that he was a propitiation to abolish their sinnes and bury them in everlasting oblivion that he dyed to revive them â—ternally that he prayed to his Father to deliver them from all evil and not for the others who losing Faith and Charity dye in their Iniquity Geneva pretends that it is an Article of Faith that Christ dyed not for those that are damned the Calvinists have printed above sixty Volumes to mitigate the horrour which all Christians conceiv'd at the first broaching of a Doctrine so injurious to the Divine Goodnesse and having cloak'd with St. Aâ—gustine's name and authority they have moulded it into one of the undoubted Maximes of their Synods of Charenton Alets and Dort to oppose it to the Council of Trâ—nt z Et si ille pro omnibâ—s mortuus est non omnes tamen mortis â—jus beueficium recipiunt Council Trid. seff 6. cap. 3. which assures us that though Christ dyed for all men yet all receive not the benefit of his death Port-Royal complains of Pope Vrban VIII who
great conformity of those two Authors in matters of Grace what ever attempts have been made to prove the contrary by the sharpest wits amongst those they call Jansenists who indeed were much to blame for avoiding the Jesuites clamours to term Hereticall the opinions oâ— Calvin upon this Subject which after all are no other then their own Thus much by the way to give testimony to the truth Behold Sirs you of Port-Royall I mean behold the strait alliance that unites you with Geneva and the great advantage your Doctrine gives you bâ—ing assur'd to be associated with the little Flock when you please without abjuring your Faith or changing one sole arâ—â—â—le of your belief touching matters of Grace Nay which is no lesse true then it seems horrid without altering any proposition of the Book of Frequent Communion which the Romane Church rejects but Geneva receives and approves h Third Part. Port Royall holding intelligence with Genâ—va against the Blessed Saâ—rament Be not angry I pray you temper your choâ—er and frame the motions of your Spirit to moderation while I make proof of it to you which is the last thing that remains for me to make good I will not judge you since you think it not fit upon the deposition of Monsieur â—â—lleaâ— whose name and merit neverthelesse is too well known to suffer the least reproach unlesse it be from the mouthes of Criminalls I will not condemn you no not upon your refusall to use the terms of locall Presence to justifie your belief on the subject of the Eucharist I will not tell you that the Councel of Trent teaches i Nâ—qâ—e 〈◊〉 inter sepugnant ut Salvator â—oâ—â—er â—â—mper ad dexteram Patris in coelis assidâ—at juxta modum existendi naturalem ut â—â—ultis aliis in locis Sacramentaliter praesens suâ— substantiâ— nobis aâ—sit Concil Trid. Seff 13. c. 1. what you pretend to be ignorant of That there is no repugnancy in this that our Saviour be alwayes sitting at the right hand of his Father according to his naturall manner of being and yet be Sacramentally present by his own substance in many other places multis aliis in locis which is the onely thing that Father â—iâ—cau urges you to acknowledge and which you cannot refuse without rendring your self guilty of errour Neither will I reproach you that you abuse the authority of St. Thomas to â—lude the auâ—hority of the Councâ—ll and that if the Angelicall Doctour sayes that the Body of Christ is not locally in the Blessed Sacrament Alexander de Hales should have given you the meaning of those words when he affirms in his fourth part That k Dupliciter continetur Corpus Christi sub Sacramento uno modo continetur sub signo illo quod est Sacramentumâ— alio modo continetur à loco continente ipsum signum Alensis 4. par q. 10. membro 7. a. 3. § 7. Et ruâ—sum Mirabilis est continentia illius in quantum est sub signo in quantum est in loco Ibidem the Body of Christ is in two manners contain'd in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar the first under the Species of the Sacrament sub signo the second in the place where the Species are in loco Now 't is true as to the first way that Christ's Body is not locally under the Species but is there as a substance is under its accidents though after a more divine and miraculous manner and this is the sense of Saint Thomas in the place by you cited in your Letter As to the second manner it may be said to be a kinde of locall presence Illa continentia habet modum continentiae localis and is like that of bodies which are not in the accident of quantity as in their place but are in place by their quantity yet with this difference That bodies are in place by their proper dimensions mediantibus propriis dimensionibus as St. Thomas sayes l 3. p. q. 76 a. 5. whereas the Body of Christ is there but by the dimensions of another Body mediantibus dimensionibus alienis and this is F. Meyniers sense which is agreeable to the language of the Fathers and Councells when they teach That Christ's Body is at the same in many places multis in locis by the ineffable presence he hath in the Sacred Mysteries which gave them occasion to say That the Altar is the seat of the Body and Blood of Christ m Optatus Milevitanus l. contra Parmen Quid est Altare nisi sedes corporis sanguinis Christi I need not these Scholasticall subtleties to judge of the purity of your Faith my aim is not to convince you of Intelligence with Geneva by any thing you have omitted in your Writings but by what you have dared to affirm I passe by your sins of omission and judge you by your Woâ—ks I shall set you down out of the sole Book of Frequent Communion which is the principall subject of this Dispute five Maximes for the most part contrary to the honour and reverence of the Blessed Sacrament which the Roman Church rejects and that of Geneva approves See if my proceeding be not sincere You have presumed to say pag. 25. of the Preface That St. Peter and St. Paul are two Heads of the Church which make but one Is not that a Maxime condemn'd by the Catholick Church and receiv'd by that of Geneva What have you to reply How can you vindicate your self of so criminall and publique a Conspiracy You have dared to affirm page 628. of that Book n Book of Frequent Communion of the 1. Edit That the most usuall practice of the Church in the Administration of the Sacraments favours the generall impenitence of all the world Carry this Proposition to Rome it will there be reprov'd Carry it to Geneva it shall there be receiv'd How can you defend your self from so just an accusation You have dared to say o In the Preface pag. 33. 34. That there are Souls which would be ravished to testific to God their regret for having offended him by deferring their Communion till the end of thâ—â—r lives Without all question the Roman Church detests this Maxime and if Geneva approves it not it is not because 't is Orthodox but because it is â—oo impious You have presumed to say p Pag. 680. of the Book of Frequent Communion That as the Eucharist is the same food that is caten in Heaven so is it necessary that the Faithfull who eat it here below have such a purity of heart as may hold agreement and proportion with that of the Blessed and that there be no greater difference then there is between Faith and the clear Vision of God on which alone mark that word alone depends the different manner of eating it on Earth and in Heaven Excuses will not serve you this is not the languâ—ge of Rome men speak not thus any where but at Geneva In
City Is it of the Canonicall Hours of Port-Royall which were condemn'd at Rome Is it of the Defence of the secret Rosary which undertakes to justifie the impieties and extravagances of that Libell Is it of those he esteems so profiâ—able to the publique and recommends withouâ— naming them for fear the people should be infoâ—med that there is hardly any work set forth by Port-Royal which is not ranked in the number of prohibited Books taking up a great deal of room in the Roman Catalogue Have you no other proofs wherewith to justifie your Faith then that which gives us cause to suspect it Can you alledge no other Writings to prove your opinions Catholique save those which the Roman Church has prohibited because full of Hereticall Maximes Be it that all the Texts you have drawn out of them appear most Orthodox it follows not that those which I have quoted render you not suspect of Intelligence with Geneva All that can be gather'd from that diversity is that you are contrary to your self that in your Books are found many conradictions but no appearance of your justification that they all have two faces which you shew or hide according to the time the one Catholique the other Calvinist If men cry heretick when you shew the Geneva-face you make it vanish and dexterously turning the Medall shew the Catholique face in an instant So you never publish an Heresie but you have your Apology ready made you couple together Truth and Errour Poyson and its Antidote and by an artifice common to all the enemies of the true Faith you employ one part of your works to defend the other excusing the crime at the same time that you commit iâ— This craft I confesse may surprize the ignorant but cannot justifie you before the wise You are accus'd for instance of this Maxime of Aurelius That every â—in that violates chastity destroyes Priesthood which differs in nothing from the Heresie of the Husâ—ites and you answer that he sayes in the same Book That the Church cannot take away the power of Order because the Character is Indelible Behold indeed a manifest contradiction but that is no justification You are tax'd for saying That Christ admits us in time to the participation of the same food which the Blessed enjoy in eternity without other difference save that here be affords us not the senâ—ible sight and taste of it which is the language of the Calvinists and you answer That the Author of the Letters to a Provincial says that there are many other differences between the manner of his communicating himself to Christians here and to the Saints above I know not whether he be avowed by you for he averres that he has no establishment at Port-Royall fearing least you should be oblig'd to warrant all his Letters But in fine though he were his testimony would be at most but a manifest contradiction not a just defence You are accus'd of saying that the practice of the Church favours the generall impenitence of all men and to divert the blame you answer in your Apology that you condemn not the ordinary practice of Penance which is now in the Church 'T is clear that this is only to crosse and contradict not to purge and justifie your selves You are charg'd with writing in the Book of Frequent Communion that the Church is corrupted in her Doctrine of Manners and you answer the contrary is also found in your Apology to wit that the Church is in corruptible not onely in her Faith but even in her Doctrine of Manners Thâ—s evidently shews the truth of what I say that you fill your Books with contradictions But it proves not what you pretend that men ought to receive them for justifications 'T is not enough to shew for your defence that of two contrary Propositions whereof one is Orthodox the other Hereticall the former is in your Books It must be shewn that the latter the Hereticall one is not there which done you will have right to burst out in reproaches and say to every one of your Accusers mentiris impudentissimè But if effectively it be there if of all the Hereâ—ies I have tax'd you with there is not one but what is faithfully extracted out of your Works who sees not that all the opprobâ—ious accusations you return men for their good advice fall upon your selves and that instead of evincing your divorce from Geneva they prove you culpable not onely of the Errours but even of the Insolence of Heretiques Think on it Sirs I conjure you and if you would have us entertain more favourable thoughts of your Faith brag no more as Mr. Arnauld does that you never fell into errour Acknowledge that you are subject to failings yet that as you have the weaknesse of men to be mistaken so have you their docility to be undeceiv'd and admit of purer lights Retract your errours re-enter Sorbon by a generous disavowment of your evill opinions and submit your private judgements to the Pope What ever else you do that is lesse then this I may say without Raillery You will never be good Catholiques An ANSWER to the JANSENISTS Seventeenth Letter By Father Annat of the Society of Jesus Argument 1. THat the Jansenists quitting the defence of the other Accusations and Impostures laid to their charge endeavour to clear themselves in their last two Letters onely of the crime of Heresie and therefore by their silence are convicted of the other crimes viz. Imposture and Calumny 2. That the Summe of their excuse is reduced to two Mediums The first is the Pretext of Difference betwixt Decisions of Fact and of Right which is answered fully in the Tract called The Answer to the Jansenists Complaint of being called Heretiques 3. The second Medium which is by the Tomists opinion of Efficacious Grace which is Catholique to defend the Jansenian opinion is here refuted and it is shewed that Jansenius neither explicateth nor defendeth his opinion as the Tomists do but as the Calvinists do asserting what Geneva asserteth and denying what Geneva denieth Therefore Calvins Disciples allow of Jansenius as hath already been shewen and again is recapitulated but the Church condemneth him Consequently his Opinions are Heresies Dear Reader THe seventeenth Letter of the Secretary of Port-Royall is now newly arriv'd dated the 23. of January and published the 29. of February All the Interim was but requisite for its journey from Osuabruck where he affirms it was Printed the Jansenists being unwilling to put it to the Press at Paâ—â—s so obedient they are to the Civil State and to the Ordinances of the Magistrate It is a long Letter of the size of the other sixteen which like the precedent by me newly answered tends to prove that the Jansenists are no Hereticks For as to their merited title of Impostors and Falsifiers in their Letters to the Provincial which was all I pretended to demonstrate in my Book of The fair dealing of the Jansenists their Secretary yields us
and laid your ignorance open to the world and by this means he would have saved your labour saved your credit and saved your conscience But your having no dependance on any body made you leap headlong into the precipice into which your passion lead you blindefold On the contrary the Jesuites by the dependance which they have from their Superiours have stood firm and their Doctrine like a rock in the Sea hath received the boisterous waves of your calumnies and contradictions without being ever shaken in the least point I do not say this to averre that all their Writings are irreprehensible I know some Jesuites have writ things which the Pope hath censured as that which you take notice of of Father Halloix and they have willingly submitted to his Holiness's censures Some opinions also have been unanimously impugned by all the rest of their Order and forbid by their Generall This is allowed Yet that which I say is that their Doctrine as to all your Objctions hath stood unshaken and irreprehensible And as I did in the Preface to the Impostures so again I defie you according to the conditions which there are set down to shew me any one point of the Morall Doctrine of the Society which is reprehensible If by the Popes admonition or of themselves they discover any errour in any particular Authour of theirs they presently correct it So for example that which you alledge of Father Amicus in your Eighteenth Letter was long since commanded by Father Generall to be razed out of the Book though Amicus were not the first nor the onely Authour that had taught that opinion Now that in a great number of Writers it should sometimes happen that an unallowable opinion should escape correction for a time is a pardonable errour of humâ—ne frailty On the contrary it is laudable vertue that maketh them renounce any such errour assoon as it is known This advantage then Subordination to their Superiours brings to them that their errours are soon corrected nor can they be taxed for what they themselves endeavour to redresse in the frailty of particulars much lesse are their Superiours criminall if perhaps some one or two opinions chance to displease For that which you bring concerning the Obligation of the Superiours is too frivolous to need an Answer It is senselesse to think that the Generall of the Society from whom all authority of Printing is derived can view all the Books written by the whole Order If we should allow their Generall that which is never heard of in one man abilities enough to judge of all the Books writ by the severall Authours of the Society in all the severall Sciences at least we cannot think that he knoweth all the languages in which they are written nor can he possibly have time to read them all no nor is it practically possible to conveigh them all to him from the severall places of the world over which the Jesuites are spread These are fabulous dreams fit for you Sir to make matter of a Calumny with but not to be believed by any rationall man All that he can do is this He deputes some able men three or four to view every Work that is to be printed and then he regulates himself according to their judgement Now when this is done as it is among the Jesuites very exactly it seldom happeneth that their Books need the Popes Censure if they do then assoon as the errour is perceived it is their desire to correct it All this I have said to satisfie the Reader who by this will judge that as it cannot easily happen that the writings of the Jesuites should be scandalous so it may happen that the three or four Revisours whose judgement must carry it for the present may be overseen such is the nature of humane frailty And if any man can sinde a better way the Jesuites will thank him for it But I go on The second thing concerning the Jâ—suites that I intend to take notice of I finde in the Râ—ply made to Father Annat upon occasion of a Piece published by him called The fair dealing of the Jansenists pag. 326. It is that Father Annat and the same is understood of the rest produces the Piety and Zeal of their Adversaries as a mark of their Heresie I answer that it is not their true piety but their false piety their Hypocriticall Mummery which the Jesuites take as a mark of their Heresie That which Christ noted in the Pharisees That they strained a Gnat and swallowed a Camell For example whilest you will not allow a Penitent to follow his Ghostly Fathers opinion for fear of the Monster of Probability you will and do allow those poor Souls of Port-Royall to abstain Fifteen Moneths from Communion contrary to the express precept of the Church Whilest you will not allow that a man may defend his goods or honour from an unjust Invasour you will allow with the Abbot of St. Cyran that a man may and must sometimes kill himself Whilest you cry out against Revenge you teach that to follow the interior Inspiration so you call it a man may though contrary to the exteriour Law kill his Neighbour Whilest you cry out against the Jesuites admitting men unworthily to the Sacraments you commend it as an act of great Humility to be content to abstain from Communion all ones life long till the last hour 'T is this impious Doctrine that you call Piety which the Jesuites take for a mark of Heresie These and the like Maximes of you Jansenists are cited in the Impostures and in the Answers to your Letters and justly taken by the Jesuites for marks of people fallen from the way of Truth The third thing which you say concerning the Jesuites is very often inculcated by you but most largely in the Eighteenth Letter pag. 343. c. and Letter 17. pag. 312. That the Jesuites have by false Representations deceived the Pope and got of him a condemnation of Jansenius This is no small fault and wherein though the Jesuites are chiâ—fly accused yet the Synod of all the Bishops of France and Three Popes and their Divines are involved the Jesuites for being the Deceivers the rest for being lead blinde so long in a matter which they ought and might easily have examined But what probation do you bring Sir None at all but your bâ—re aâ—â—ertion and so you need no answer but a flat deniall Shew when where and how the Jesuites did thus deceive the world All the world knoweth that Pope Urban when he first forbad the Book of Jansenius though not then as Hereticall forbad also the Theses of Lovain made by the Jesuites in defence of their Doctrine against Jansenius Did the Jesuites procuâ—e this All the world knoweth that Pope Innocent the Tenth was moved by the Bishops of France to examine the Five Propositions which they presented him taken out of Jansenius Were there any Jesuites in that Synod All the world knows that among those
not setting a number of hands to a Bill which ought to sway but Reason Authority and Learning that must be heard The third Thought concerneth the Apologist that writ the Book which most of these Curez are so violently set against and which maketh so much noise in France The man whosoever he be for he is unknown to me is a very learned man and I believe they that censure him will never be able to disprove him And therefore I could wish they would leave the censure to him to whom it belongeth that is to the Pope and that Judicature which the Pope hath erected for that purpose at Rome whither the Apologist hath appealed He cannot be condemned but that very many of the main Doctours of all Universities and Religious Communities must be condemned with him For he is so wary that he advanceth nothing without great Authority and rather delivereth the opinions of others then his own I will not say but that there may be some fault in him I know divers have condemned him and divers also maintain him and unlesse a greater authority intervene then what one private Academy or any single persons verdict can give he hath and will alwayes have the greatest part of Universities and Divines for him The opinions which he delivereth as probable are so and will be so till he that hath authority to decide and teach the universall Church in matters of Faith and Manners shall be pleased to teach us the contrary When that is done I suppose the Authour of the Apology will submit and all good Catholiques with him Till then if I think the Apology is a learned Book and containeth solid Doctrine I think so with the Archbishop of Tholouse and the Bishop of Reâ—nes in Bretagne whose Faith Doctrine and Life are such that no man can call them in question and this every person may think till Higher Powers dispose otherwise This maketh it clear that all these Factums or Writings of these Additionalls ought not to prejudice the Apologist much lesse can they as they are here intended in England any wayes Patronize the Provinciall Letters which are argued of manifest Impostâ—re in so many and so notorious falsific â—ions Yet he that hath turned the Provinciall Letters into Latine and calleth himself Willelmus Wendrockius supposeth that all these Curez are for him and that they joyn issue with the Jansenists The fourth and last Thought is That I conceive we may justly with due respect ask some Questions of the Cuâ—ez which will breed occasion of wonder First then I ask why the Curez are so much against the Apology of the Casuists That Book was made to vindicate the credit of all Casuists against the scofâ—ing Irrisions of a Pamphleter So that it seemeth That to oppose the Apology may be construed to a â—â—sire of defending a Buffoon against a Religious Order and against all Casuists which I will not suspect of such Persons Secondly I ask why the Curez taking their Cases which they would have condemned out of a Book which containeth Jansenisme never take notice of the greater errors I mean the Heresies contained in that Book I know they endeavour an answer yet it is such as doth not satifie For still the wonder remaineth why the Curez should not shew as much zeal in desiring that Hereticall Opinions which daily spread in France should be suppressed as they do that the Morall Doctrine which they esteem bad should be condemned Thirdly I ask why do not these Curez point us out some body whom we may safely follow in resolving of Cases By taking the authority from all Casuists they leave us in the dark and wholly guidelesse in the many doubts which daily arise Is there no body who may safely be followed in matter of Cases Is there in the Church no means to clear up doubts in Morality Fourthly to end these Queries doth not this way of proceeding prejudice the Curez themselves and take away all their authority in deciding any doubt which may arise in every one of their respective Parishes For if Bonacina if Sanchez if Navarr if Lessius if Suarez if Sylvester may not be believed if their authority must not be heard though Two or Three or Ten or as Wendrockius saith ten thousand agree in a case upon what account shall the Cure be believed Allow the Cure as much vertue and learning as you will yet he cannot expect to be generally esteemed more vertuous or more learned then Navarr And so if one man though never so learned cannot decide a doubt and appease a fearfull conscience then all Curez and all Ghostly Fathers may sit still and shall have no authority in settling consciences and taking away doubts And at length Spirituall Directours shall in matter of conscience have lesse credit then a Physician or Lawyer in their Profession Nay these if they be able and conscientious men shall have more credit even in matter of conscience then a Ghostly Father For the Physician shall be believed if he tell his Patient that he may eat Flâ—sh on a Friday or that he is not obliged to fast and the Lawyer shall be credited if he warrant his Client that he may justly keep the Land which the Client doubted of But the Curâ— shall have no authority left him in any doubt for feare of the Monster of Probability For whatsoever he saith his Parishioners will tell him that he is but one Divine and that one Divine according to his own Doctrine cannot safely be followed All this in my opinion doth evidently inferre that we cannot upon the Curez complaints condemne the Apologist and those Casuists whom he citeth and followeth Yet my intention is not to dispute against the Curez nor do I undertake to defend the Apologist But as I begun so I conclude that since the Pope hath Evocated the Cause of the Curez and the Apologist to himself it is the duty of every good Catholique to expect those censures and not to precipitate his own But whatsoever be the event of the Apology this is sure that the Provinciall Letters are condemned by his Holinesse and that they are convinced of manifest Imposture Slaunder Ignorance and Heresie which being so the Doctrine of the Jesuits and other School-Divines whom those Letters inveigh against ought not to be prejudiced on that account which is all that these Answers intended to shew An Appendix in Answer to a Book entituled A further Discovery of the Mystery of Jesuitisme I Thought to have ended here having answered all that belongeth to the Provinciall Letters and their Additionalls But I am uâ—ged by severall Friends to take notice also of another Pamphleâ— called A further Discovâ—ry of the Mystery of Jesuitisme For my own opinion I conceive it to be so senslesse a Piece that it deserveth not to be taken notice of yet to condescend to the desire of others I will do as I have done in the Additionalls that is I will shew that nothing in that Book
condemned the Errours of Jansâ—nius by an expresse Bull and his Scholars protest in their observations upon that Bull a See the Observations upon that Bull published by the Jansenists That it is proper onely to scandalize the world because it condemnes the Doctrine of St. Austine as the most blinde say they are constrain'd to avow Geneva sayes no lesse against the Council of Trent protesting with Calvin that all the Anathema's of that Council fall upon St. Austin and that the Authours of them understood not the Doctrine of that great man Melancthon quarrels with Sorbon and having said that those Doctours condemne St. Augustine under the name of Luther he cryes out with astonishment b Melancthon in his Apology for Luther Is it not strange that in all Sorbon there is not a man that understands St. Augustines opinion In fine Port-Royal crecting a Trophy to the memory of Jansenius as the learnedst man of his time whose minde was enrich'd with the knowledge both of Scripture and also Tradition c See the first Apology for Jansenius pag. 10 15 91. calls him the Hercules of our Age who vanquish'd that Monster Sufficient Grace brought St. Austin down from Heaven re-establsh'd his Doctrine and clcar'd it twelve hundred years after the decease of that excellent Father in a time when it was contâ—mned and obscured Geneva gives the same Elâ—gium to d Beza in the life of Calvin Calvin which Melancthon does to Luther affirming almost in the same terms that he has as it were reviv'd St. Augustine in these last Ages re-establish'd and marvellously clear'd his Doctrine which was for so long a time obscured Who could have believ'd Siâ—s that the Eccho of Port Royal would have been so faithfull to repeat verbatim what it had learn'd of Geneva to publish the same Maximes to defend them by the same reasons to explain them with the same expressions to ground them on the same passages even to the citing as Jansenius does of one sole Text of St. Augustine a â—undred and seventy times which Calvin had alledg'd but twenty Who would have imagin'd that the Jansenian Heresic which appears so young under the trim ornaments of a new language had been an Age old That the most remarkable lines of its beauty should be but the wrinkles of a face burn'd and blasted with lightning from the Vatican which has been seen to fall above twice upon its head Who would have been perswaded that Genâ—va could have com'd so close to Paris as to make a part of its Suburbs Or that Port-Royal should in so short a time have gotten as far as Geneva and that those pious Solitaries who make themselves invisible in the Roman Church should be so well known in all the Lutheran and Calvinian Churches scattered over Europe Passe the Sea when you please Sirs and go visit your friends in Great Brittain you will there finde great support yea even though your onely Credentials were the London Mâ—rcury of the third of January 1656. who has every where given you this testimony That your Doctrine is in many things the same with that of the Reformed Churches Descend into the Low-Countreys and all the Schools of Holland will be opened to you all Calvins Disciples will give ear to you as Oracles all the Ministers will subscribe to your Catechisme of Grace condemned by the Pope all their Oratours will labour to set forth your Panegyrick and will charm your ears with the sweet harmony of your praises which Mr. Marsh Professor of Groiuing has already made resound over the whole Earth e In Sinopsi verae Catholicaeque doctrinae Where he defends the Jansenists Catechisme condemned at Rome Macte illa vestrâ vertute viri docti quod audeatis in os resistere impio illi Pontifici qui in suorum Jesuitarum gratiam damnatâ Orthodoxissimâ sententiâ puri puti Pelagianismi putidam impiam protectionem susceperat Take courage you generous and learned men who durst openly oppose that impious Prelate who to gratisie his Jesuits undertook the defence of pure Pelagianisme by condemning a most Orthodox Opinion Go into Switzerland there the Protestant Cantons will give you great entertainment your Deputies were feasted there in their return from Rome your selves will be far more regarded and making Victorious Grace triumph in despiâ—e of the Pope and Jesuits as f In confesso est ipsis novatoribus vestris Jesuitis ultro hoc largientibus quod victricis gratiae propugnatores Jansenistae in maximiâ— ac fundamentalibus Fidei articulls in castra transierunt nostra Henry Ottius Professor and Minister of Zuric in his Speech printed 1653. after the Catechisme of Grace was censured sayes one of their famous Ministers in the Academies of Zuric Basil and Berne you will be â—avished to behold your selves covered with Laurâ—ls in the Zuinglians camp for having generously defended the fundamentall Maximes of their Doctrine Now if you hold so good Intelligence with these strangers what may you not hope from the Hugenots of this Kingdom among whom you have two remarkable Disciples L' Abadie and Le Masson who being turned Calvinists without leaving to be Jansenists do publiquely set forth in their preachings at Montauban what they have heard in your Assemblies testifying by an acknowledgement worthy of those Ministers that they learned Calvinisme in the Books of Jansenius and Jansenisme in the Books of Calvin Hear Sirs what the latter of them sayes who violating the honour of his Character and the dignity he not long since bore of a Pastour while he exercis'd its Functions in a Parish of Normandy findes no better excuse to justifie his perfidiousnesse then to say that being a Disciple of Jansenius he changed not his Party in coming to that of Calvin and had done no more but declar'd exteriourly what he already was in the interiour of his soul and manifested to the eyes of men what had appeared before to the eyes of God g Lewis le Masson an Apostata Priest in his Apology printed at Montauban 1656. It was written me from Paris sayes that wretched Runaway that some of my Friends did attribute my change to an effect of Jansenisme and a just judgement of God who had forsaken me in my errour to punish my curiosity for being a little too examining of Things whereas I ought to have kept my self submissively in the Commmnion of the Church and have had a better Opinion of Rome and believ'd her infallible in decisions of Faith Forasmuch as concerns Jansenisme I answer That before Jansenius was known in France I was a Jansenist as I may say that is I had the same Sentiments twenty years ago touching matters of Grace Free-will and Predestination that I have at this day And could a man acknowledge any other Master of the Celestiall Mysteries then Jesus Christ I might adde that the Book of Calvin 's Institutions had made me a Jansenist before the Book of Jansenius by reason of the