read of in the fourth and fifth centuries, among those austere recluses called Fathers of the desert, who dwelt in the desert parts of Egypt and Syria. For it was the object of them all to efface the stains upon their souls, which were either innate, or acquired by habits of sinning, by means of voluntary pains and sufferings inflicted on themselves, by silence, by hunger and thirst, by praying, labouring, watching, and enduring pain. Yet they did not all pursue the same species of labour. The more learned applied themselves to writing books; and not a few of them did great service to the cause of both sacred and profane learning. Others instructed youth in the elements of languages and the arts. But most of them, amidst rustic and servile labours, exhausted the powers of both mind and body, and wore themselves out, as it were, by a slow and lingering death. And many of these were illustrious personages and noblemen, who had before obtained the highest honours, both in the cabinet and in the field; and who were not ashamed now to assume the place, and perform the duties of the lowest servants. This celebrated retreat of Jansenian penitence experienced vicissitudes throughout this century; at one time it flourished very highly, at another it was nearly broken up. At last, as the nuns pertinaciously refused to subscribe the oath proposed by Alexander VII., which has been mentioned, and as considerable injury to the commonwealth, and much disgrace to distinguished families, were supposed to arise from this convent and its regulations, Lewis XIV., in the year 1709, by the instigation of the Jesuits, ordered the edifice to be pulled down and entirely demolished, and the nuns to be transferred to Paris; and two years after, that nothing might remain to nourish superstition, he ordered the bodies that were buried there, to be disinterred, and removed to other places.

§ 47. The other commotions which disturbed the tranquillity of the Romish church were but light clouds compared with this

The first that retired to PortRoyal, in 1637, in order to purge away his sins, was the very eloquent and highly celebrated Parisian advocate, Isaac le Maître: whose retirement brought much odium upon the abbot St. Cyran. See Mémoires pour l'His

toire de Port-Royal, tom. i. p. 233, &c. He was followed by many others of various classes and ranks, among whom were men of the noblest birth. See Vies des Religieuses de Port-Royal, tom. i. p. 141, &c.

tempest. The old quarrel between the Dominicans and the Franciscans, whether the mother of Jesus Christ was conceived without sin or depravity, (which the Dominicans denied, and the Franciscans affirmed,) gave considerable trouble to Paul V., Gregory XV., and Alexander VII. Not long after the commencement of the century, it began to disturb Spain very considerably, and to produce parties. Therefore the kings of Spain, Philip III. and IV., sent some envoys to Rome, urgently soliciting the pontiffs to decide the question by a public decree. But the pontiffs deemed it more important to follow prudence than to gratify requests from so high authority. For on the one hand, the splendour of the Spanish throne, which inclined to the opinion of the Franciscans, and on the other, the credit and influence of the Dominican family, were terrific objects. Nothing therefore could be obtained by repeated supplications, except that the pontiffs, by words and by ordinances, determined that the cause of the Franciscans was very plausible, and forbade the Dominicans to assail it in public; while at the same time, they would not allow the Franciscans and others to charge error upon the opinion of the Dominicans'. In a king or magistrate such reluctance to pass judgment would be commendable: but whether it was suitable in a man, who claims to be the divinely constituted judge of all religious causes, and to be placed beyond all danger of erring, by the immediate power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, those may answer, who support the reputation and honour of the pontiffs. § 48. Towards the close of this century, the mystics, whose

See Fred. Ulrich Calixtus, Historia Immaculate Conceptionis B. Virginis Maria, Helmst. 1696. 4to. Add Jo. Hornbeck's Comment, ad Bullam Urbani VIII. de Diebus Festis, p. 250. Jo. Launoi, Prascriptiones de Conceptu Virginis Maria, Opp. tom. i. pt. i. p. 9, &c. Clement XI., a long time after this, namely in the year 1708, proceeded some farther, and by a special bull, commanded all catholics to observe a festival in memory of the conception of St. Mary, a stranger to all sin. See Mémoires de Treroux, for the year 1709. A. xxxviii. p. 514. But the Dominicans most firmly deny, that the obli

gations of this law extend to them; and they persevere in defending their old opinion, though with more modesty than formerly. And when we consider, that this opinion is by no means condemned by the pontiff, and that the Dominicans are not molested, though they do not celebrate that festival; it is evident, that the language of the Romish edict is to be construed in the most liberal manner, and that the decree does not contradict the earlier decrees of the pontiffs. See Lamindus Pritanius, or Muratori, de Ingeniorum Moderatione in Religionis Negotio, p. 254, &c.

reputation and influence were formerly so great, were exposed to very severe treatment. The first sufferer was Michael de Molinos, a Spanish priest, resident at Rome, in high reputation for sanctity, and therefore attended by numerous disciples of both sexes. In the year 1681 he published at Rome his Way or Guide, to what the mystics call a spiritual or contemplative life; that is, Institutes of Mystic Theology: in which he was thought to recall from the infernal world the capital errors of the old Beghards and Beguins, and to open the door for all iniquity and wickedness. The substance of his system, which his friends interpret in one way, and his enemies in another, amounted to this: that all religion consists in a certain quietude of the soul, when it is withdrawn from external and finite objects, and turned towards God, and loves him sincerely, and without any hope of reward; or, what amounts to the same thing, if I mistake not; that the mind of a man, in pursuit of the supreme good, must be entirely withdrawn from the intercourse of the senses, and from corporeal objects; and the efforts of the understanding and the will being all hushed, the mind must be merged wholly in God, from whom it originated. Hence his followers were called Quietists; though the common appellation of mystics would have been more proper. For the doctrine of Molinos was accounted new, only because he expressed himself in new phraseology, which was not become trite by common use, and had arranged and digested in a better form what the ancients stated confusedly. The Jesuits, and others who watched for the interests of the Romish cause, readily perceived that Molinos' system tacitly accused the Romish church

This book was written in Spanish, and first published in 1675, supported by the recommendations of the greatest and most respectable men. In 1681, it was published at Rome, in Italian; though it had appeared in this language, some time before, in other places. Afterwards, it was translated into the Dutch, French, and Latin languages; and was very often printed in Holland, France, and Italy. The Latin translation, under the title of Manuductio Spiritualis, was published by Aug.

Herm. Franck, Halle, 1687. 8vo. In Italian, it bore the title of Guida Spirituale. Annexed to it, is another tract of Molinos, de Communione Quotidiana; which was also condemned. See Recueil de diverses Pièces concernant le Quiétisme et le Quiétistes, ou Molinos, ses Sentimens et ses Disciples, Amsterd. 1688. 8vo. In this work, the first piece is Molinos' book in the French translation; and then various epistles, relating to his affairs and his senti

ments.

of a departure from true religion; for that church, as is well known, makes piety to consist chiefly in ceremonies and external works. But it was the French ambassador especially, and his friends, who prosecuted the man. And from this and other circumstances, it has been plausibly inferred, that political considerations, as well as religious, had their influence in this controversy and that this Spaniard had opposed the wishes and the projects of the French king in some difficult negotiations. However this may be, Molinos, though he had a vast number of friends, and though the pontiff himself, Innocent XI., was partial to him, was thrown into prison in 1685; and after publicly renouncing the errors charged upon him, in 1687, he was delivered over to perpetual imprisonment; in which situation he died, at an advanced age, in 1696'. Every honest and impartial man will be ready to grant that the opinions of Molinos were greatly distorted and misrepresented by his enemies, the Jesuits and the French, for whose interest it was that he should be put out of the way; and that he was charged with consequences from his principles, which he neither admitted, nor even thought of. On the other hand, I think it obvious that his system included most of the faults which are justly chargeable upon the mystics; and that it was well suited to the disposition of those who obtrude upon others, as divine

9 [Yet perhaps, the whole may be ascribed to the power of the Jesuits over the French court, who had father la Chaise, confessor to Lewis XIV., on their side; and he controlled madam Maintenon, and through her the superstitious Lewis. And a king, who, two years before, had been induced to sacrifice to his own bigotry some millions of his loyal and industrious subjects, might easily be persuaded, from a lust for spiritual conquests to persecute a single man, who was a stranger; and to oblige the pope also, to abandon for a time, a man whom he loved and honoured, and to whom he had assigned a residence near his own palace; and especially, as the Inquisition were suspicious of the pontiff's own soundness in the faith. Schl.]

1 He was born in the vicinity of Saragossa, in 1627; according to the

testimony of Domin. de Colonia, in the Bibliothèque Janseniste, p. 469. See, on this whole subject, the Narrative respecting Quietism, which is subjoined to the German translation of Gilbert Burnet's Travels. Godfr. Arnold's Kirchen- und Ketzer-historie, pt. iii. ch. xvii. p. 176. Jo. Wolfg. Jaeger's Historia Eccles. et Polit., sæcul. xvii. decenn. ix. p. 26, &c. Charles Plessis d'Argentre's Collectio Judiciorum de noris Erroribus, tom. iii. pt. ii. p. 357, where the papal bulls are given. [The documents of the whole proceedings of the Inquisition, and of the pontiff against Molinos, are given us by Nicholas Terzagus, bishop of Narni in Italy, in his Theologia Historico-mystica ade. cet. et noros Pseudo-mysticos, quorum Historia teritur, et Errores confutantur, Venice, 1764, folio p. 8, &c. Tr.]