The enthusiasts of Port-Royal

Preface

" Croyez-moi, il faut choisir entre Dieu et le monde, entre la beaut6 6temelle et la vaine apparence. . . . C'est quelque chose de vrai et de s6rieux qu'il nous faut pour vivre et pour mourir."

La Duchesse de Broglie

AFTER the lapse of centuries, when Pain, Sorrow, Struggle, Disappointment, and Weariness have been swallowed up in the Eternal Abyss, the picturesque side of a religious movement stands out to the impartial student of history in all the glory of prismatic colours. And, regarding it from a sociological and literary point of view, that which lends it interest and sympathy — is Enthusiasm. Nor is Enthusiasm used lightly in connection with religion, for the very etymology of the word justifies the application. Derived from the Greek evOov^, or evdeo^, that is, " full of the god," it may be interpreted to mean having a god within.

It was one of the phases of this creative emotion which produced the society of solitaires or recluses who in the early seventeenth century associated themselves with the Abbey of Port-Royal, and formed with the original convent of nuns an organization which assumed a vast significance in the religious history of France.

In an age of the extreme of earthly pomp and grandeur, the high ideals and unselfishness of these " Aristocrats of Catholicism," as they were called, were doubly conspicuous ; but, aside from any religious point of view, a chronicle of the extraordinary ardour, both collective and individual, of men who, searching after a higher spirituality, left brilliant positions in the world to go into the Desert to meditate and pray, inspires viii THE ENTHUSIASTS OF PORT-ROYAL

human interest still. For, thinking to lose their social significance, they were in reality, both through their spiritual, literary, and pedantic sway, drawn back into the active life of their country. To them the profane history of the time of Louis XIV is indissolubly linked.

Theologically, their religion was based on a dogma, called in derision by the outside world, Jansenism. Joseph de Maistre, in his book, Du Jansenisme ; portrait de cette secte, wrote sarcastically :

** II n'y a point de Jans6nisme — c*est une chimere, une phantome cree par les Jesuites " ;

and Mere Angelique for one always denied the term. In 1650 she spoke of the continued slanders against " those whom they call Jansenists," and five years later wrote to the Queen of Poland :

" If it please your Majesty, in writing to His Holiness you might say that you have particular knowledge of the persons whom they call Jansenists, that they are no other than very Catholic and very much attached to the Holy See."

In reality, while the dogma was a lifeless thing locked up in the Halls of the Sorbonne, the working out of the peculiar system of religion which the name Jansenism stands for went on regardless of theological disputes, alive and pulsating with vital fire in the Monastery of Port -Royal. Here, even in the midst of later trouble there was, says Sainte-Beuve,

*' in spite of everything, almost without interruption, the cloister, the sanctuary, the cell, and the grating for alms, the Christian practice of morals and the inviolable home of certain souls: the poor and silent study, the desert and the Grotto of Conferences near the Fountain of Mere Angelique, not far from the trees planted by the hand of d'Andilly."

The Necrologe of Port-Royal and its Supplement are full of the most uncomplimentary allusions to the age itself, to which they attribute all the ills that happen to mortal flesh and blood, alluding constantly to the "press of the century"; the ** unhappiness of the century " ; the " distractions and

PREFACE ix

corruption of the century " ; etc. Racine relates that Jacqueline Pascal early renounced the "vain amusements of the century"; while in one of her letters Mere Ang Clique declares that

" In this miserable century, it seems that the Devil has

had the power to snatch away the Gospel, or at least its practice, from almost all Christians."

Thus, it was not strange that in contrast with the unrest, vice, and unreality which the time, age, and France itself exhibited, the Port-Ro37al of the Solitaires, as distinct from that of the nuns, with its simplicity, love of truth, lack of excitement, and quiet seemed a harbour of peace. Its Enthusiasts looked upon it, indeed, as an asylum or port — a sort of quiet backwater, where, after having solved life's enigmas, one could retire and spend the remaining years in contemplation of weathered storms.

" M. de Bascle," says the Necrologe, " after having escaped the shipwrecks of the century, retired to Port -Royal as to a port, there to find his salvation in penitence."

On the one hand, therefore, it was, in common with other religious movements, a spiritual balance-wheel; on the other, an economic and social lever. Here the world ; there, the gifts of the spirit : Peace, Contentment, Heavenly Aspiration. But the condition attached to the acquirement of Peace, Contentment, and Heavenly Glory was Solitude — long hours of absolute loneliness, relieved by no earthly presence, no human touch, no conversation where mind sets fuse to fellow -mind to produce living thought, or to generate the electric current of sympathy.

" The pleasure of solitude," exclaimed Pascal, " is an incomprehensible matter. I have discovered that all the misfortune of man comes from one thing, which is not to know how to remain in repose in one room."

And only those who loved solitude could find at Port-Royal its heritage — Truth. It was love of Truth which in the beginning inspired Jansenius to create his interpretation of the Word in

X THE ENTHUSIASTS OF PORT-ROYAL

the quiet and isolation of the old town of Ypres in Belgium ; love of Truth again induced the Abb6 de St. Cyran, on his part, to go out into the world, to gather together and practically direct the realization of the brain aspirations of both himself and his friend.

Studying the history of Port-Royal, we marvel to-day in the twentieth century, as did P^re Quesnel in the beginning of the eighteenth, that after having sustained the monastery for a hundred years, God should have permitted " this sanctuary of Truth and Charity to have been destroyed like a nest of error by the first ministers of the Church." Yet, though the Enthusiasts of Port-Royal ostensibly failed in their object of reforming the Roman Church from the inside, their attempt went far toward advancing the progress of humanity. A knowledge of their successes and failures should, therefore, be both a lesson and an inspiration. For Art and Religion are, after all, the things that eternally endure. Ever far away from kings and politics, ministers and functionaries, ideals and springs of character lie deep down in the heart of creation where, undisturbed by change of race or dynasty, the Earth Spirit weaves the garment of human life and history.

L. R.

Part I Embryonic Port-royal

1610-1636

CHAP. PAGE

I. The Infancy of Jansenism — How a Friendship brought

FORTH A Religion . . . . .3

II. The Letter of the Law — The A ug us tin us of Cornelius

III. Port-Royal and the Arnaulds— Port-Royal a Three-

fold Force . . . . . .22

IV. MfeRE ANGlfeLIQUE'S CONVERSION AND THE REFORM OF

Port-Royal des Champs . . . -34

V. Meeting with St. Cyran — Foundation of Port-Royal

VI. The Rule of St. Cyran begun . . . .48

Part II Port-royal In Its Greatness

1636-165 3

I. The First Solitaires and their Enthusiasms . • 57

II. Return of the Solitaires to Port-Royal des Champs,

AND Early Days there . . . -71

III. Death of Jansenius and St. Cyran . . .80

IV. A Trio of Devotes at Port-Royal de Paris— I. La

PrINCESSE de Gu^MlfeNE . . . . 90

V. A Trio of D:6votes at Port-Royal de Paris— II. Marie

DE Gonzague . . . . . -99

VI. A Trio of Devotes at Port-Royal de Paris — III. La

Marquise de Sable . . . . .106

VII. The Letter of the Law again. Beginning of Persecution. The "Book of the Frequent Communion" . 117

VIII. Immediate Effect of the "Book of the Frequent

Communion" on Port-Royal . . . .125

IX. Les Petites !6coles — I. History, Masters, and xii THE ENTHUSIASTS OF PORT-ROYAL

V. Effect of the Provincial Letters on Port-Royal- Death OF Antoine Le Maitre

VI. Persecution— Death of Mere Ang^lique

VII. Culmination of Pascal's Religious Life

VIII. A Fortunate Result of the Persecutions — Interest OF LA Duchesse de Longueville

IX. Other Worldly Sympathizers .

X. The Visits of the Archbishop .

XI. Captivity ......

Part IV Page

X. Les Petites ifecoLES— II. End: Results, Pupils . 143

XI. The Return of the Nuns to Port- Royal des Champs 152

XII. The Fronde . . . . . .161

PART III

THE SECOND PORT-ROYAL

1653-1669

I. The Enthusiasm of Jacqueline Pascal, and its Effect

ON iter Brother Blaise . . . • i/i

II. Letter of the Law again — The Effect of the Condemnation of the Five Propositions said to be contained in the Augustinus

III. The Provincial Letters ....

IV. Miracles and Signs ....

193 204

214 221

233 241 251 259

PORT-ROYAL DECADENT

1669-1712

I. The Peace of the Church — Death of Madame de

Longueville . . . . . .269

II. Racine's Quarrel and Reconciliation with Port- Royal ....... 276

III. Persecution resumed ..... 288

IV. Port-Royal in Conflict with Philosophy . .295

V. Arnauld's Death — His Successors : Quesnel, Du Guet,

and Boileau ...... 303

VI. The Literary Glory of Port-Royal— Pascal and

Racine: The PensAes and Athalie . . .311

VII. Last Struggle against Persecution, and the Passing

OF Port-Royal . . . . . -319

VIII. Port-Royal of To-Day . . . . .329

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres .... Frontispiece

From au Engraving by W. A. Does, after the Portrait by Philippe de Champagne

FACING PAGE

M^RE Ang^lique, Abbess and Reformer op Port-Royal . 34

From Van Schuppen's Engraving of the Portrait by Philippe de Champagne

The ABBt de St. Cyran . . , , .50

After the Portrait by Philippe de Champagne

Antoine Le MaItre, Port-Royal's First Solitaire . . 58

After the Portrait by Philippe de Champagne

Antoine Arnauld . . . , . .118

From a Bronze Bust in the Louvre

Arnauld d'Andilly

From an Engraving by Jacques Lubin

Plan of Port-Royal des Champs . . , .154

From an Engraving by Magdeleine Hortemels

Blaise Pascal . , , , . , .174

From Edelinck's Engraving of the Original Portrait by Quesnel xiv THE ENTHUSIASTS OF PORT-ROYAL

FACING PAGE

M&RE Agn&s and Sceur Catherine de Sainte-Suzanne . 212 From the EX'Voto of Philippe de Champagne in the Louvre

Anne GEN^vifevE de Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville 274

From an Engraving by Waltener

Pasquier Quesnel . f . . . . 304

From an Engraving by N. P^tau

Two Views of Port-Royal des Champs . . . 332

I. The £^ Solitude"

II. The Cloister

From Engravings by Magdeleine Hortemels r

Chapter I The Infancy Of Jansenism— How A Friendship Brought Forth A Religion

" 11 faut travailler a realiser en nous-memes notre id^al ; sans quoi la vie est una degringolade continue ; et comme les orangs, aprds avoir commencer par la gentillesse, nous finissons par la brutalite."

Prudhon

IN the latter days of Henri iv two students, whose friendship was to mean much in the religious history of France, were studying theology in the Belgian town of Lou vain. The elder, born in 1581 at Bayonne in Southern France, of distinguished and wealthy parents, was no other than Jean du Verger de Hauranne, afterward famous as the Abbe de Saint-Cyran ; the younger, born in 1585 at Arkoy in Holland,^ near Leerdam, the son of poor and humble people, was Corneille Janssen, no less noted as Jansenius.

Most unlike both in fortune and character, these two young men seemed framed each to complement the other. It is not quite certain when their friendship began, or whether they had more than a casual acquaintance in Lou vain, but in this little University centre each of them experienced the influence which decided his later development ; here, by different means, both were directed into similar paths of thought.

Even as a youth, Jansenius showed a marked desire for study, and although very poor, managed to get to the University of Utrecht, where he began his higher education under both Catholics and Protestants, studying the Humanities under the former. Rhetoric and Dialectic under the latter,

^Or'Acquoy. Clemencet in his Histoire G&nirale de Port-Royal {ni. 225) says Jansenius was born at Leerdam itself.

thus early learning the principles and habits of thought of each sect.

Unfortunately, after some time these studies were interrupted by lack of means. To augment his resources, Jansenius was forced to leave Utrecht and work at the first thing that offered — a carpenter's bench. As soon as he had earned enough for his purpose, he went back to Utrecht, and eventually to Lou vain, where he continued his studies. At this period he first took the name of Jansenius — i.e, son of Jean ^ — ^and became acquainted with the Jesuits. Tremendously interested in their methods and principles, he begged to be taken into the Order. What was his surprise, however, when, after having accepted his friend, Othon Zilly, whom he himself had converted to Jesuitism, the Society refused his membership, alleging that he was adapted by neither mind, health, disposition, nor constitution to become one of them.^ While this seeming injustice enraged Jansenius, it was at the same time the means of attracting to him the notice of a learned doctor of Louvain called Jacques Jonsson, a bitter enemy of the Jesuits, and a friend of Baius, the great champion of Grace ^ in the Schools. Through Jonsson and Baius, Jansenius was thenceforth turned from the Jesuits, and interested in St. Augustine, whose tenets these two professors

1 Clemencet, iii. p. 225.

2 Rapin, Histoire de Jansinisme (Abbe Domenech), p. 8.

3 " Grace " being the corner-stone, as it were, of Port-Royal, it may be well at the outset to try to explain its meaning. The strict dictionary definition is : "A supernatural gift of God freely bestowed upon man for the merits of Christ " (Blunt, Dictionary of Theology, p. 746).

According to St. Augustine, it is : " that which heals the soul from the vice of sin " {De Spiritu et Letter a).

St. Fran9ois de Sales said : " Inasmuch as Divine I.ove embellishes our soul, it is called Grace, rendering us agreeable to His Divine Majesty" {Introduction d, la Vie devote).

In his Traits sur la PauvretS, St. Cyran thus expressed himself : " One could not define Grace in abridgement better than to say it is an empire and a sovereignty over all the things of the world,"

Following out this idea, one of the Confessors of Port-Royal defined Grace as " The sovereignty of God over men and the submission of men to God " {Recueil de Plusieurs Pieces pour servir A V Histoire de Port-Royal, p. 199).

M6re Ang6Uque declared : " Grace is humble and the principle of humiUty. And humility is inseparable from gentleness " {M&moires et Relations, p. 191).

Lastly, according to Pascal, Grace was the second birth of the^soul {Penshs, p. 359).

THE INFANCY OF JANSENISM 5

taught. Jacques Jonsson is said to have given Jansenius three things which influenced his life :

1. A profound aversion for the Jesuits.

2. An enthusiastic admiration for the Doctor of Grace, St.

Augustine.

3. A sympathy for Baius, whom he looked upon as

a defender of St. Augustine, and a victim of the Jesuits.^

It was after this disappointment with regard to the Jesuits that, being advised on account of poor health to try the milder air of France, in 1604 Jansenius left Louvain and went to Paris.

De Hauranne's experience was quite other than that of Jansenius, principally because his material circumstances were more fortunate. At the age of twenty or twenty-one, he had already had a varied course of study, and was fully embarked on his theological career, having become acquainted with the Humanities in his home at Bayonne, before spending some time at the Sorbonne in Paris. Under these conditions, it was conceivable that his object in visiting Louvain was uniquely because of its University, at that time conceded to be the foremost in Europe. But instead of joining any of the forty-three colleges, in which were assembled over four thousand students from all over the world, or taking advantage of its very noted Faculty of Theology, De Hauranne entered the College of Jesuits. Here he soon gained distinction by his attainments, and when in 1604 he delivered an Essay on Scholastic Philosophy, he attracted the notice of one of the Judges, the celebrated Juste Lipse.

The salient quality of this " King of Humanism," who represented at Louvain the element hostile to the traditional philosophy, was a tremendous depth and breadth of thought, which carried him out and away from orthodox beliefs of his day into the realms of creative imagination. While recognizing the value of Aristotle and the Peripatetics, then considered the only guides in Ethics, or without combating Christianized Aristotelianism or Scholastic

* Jansenius, ses Dernier s Moments, p. 91.

Theology,^ Lipse wished to introduce the comparative study of all schools :

" If," he exclaimed, *' it is necessary to belong to any school, there is but one which I wish to enter, and that is the Eclectic."

A warm friendship gradually grew up between the famous philosopher and the young theological student from Bayonne, and although by some critics the teaching of Lipse is thought to have seduced the latter, Pere Rapin tells us that as Lipse himself was affable and civil, he endeavoured to soften and refine his rather uncouth pupil, to sweeten his character as it were by inculcating in him an affection for the humanities " which polish manners."

Lipse's advice was cast on broad lines. Above everything he counselled De Hauranne to curb the native fire of his disposition by the study of the " Divine Science," and to embellish his spiritual life by the wealth of belles lettres furnished by the Ancients. In other words, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful were to be combined, and the Early Fathers of the Church to be consulted for principles both of Reform and Renaissance, as well as for a basis of Theology .^

In 1605, De Hauranne also left Lou vain and went to Paris in pursuit of further knowledge. On arriving there, he and Jansenius met again, and through his influence Jansenius became tutor to the son of a high official, thus earning enough to keep himself while continuing his studies at the Sorbonne. On his part, De Hauranne, not exposed to the same necessities, had leisure for literary and other experiences. The details of the life of neither student at this period are well known, but an incident told of Port- Royal's future director is interesting as marking a contrast in his character and mental development.

The story brings us in familiar contact with Henri iv, who, talking one day with some of the cavaliers of his court, in reminiscence of past experiences in war, put the question

1 Hallam defines Scholastic Theology as an " endeavour to arrange the orthodox system of the Church such as authority had made it, according to the rules and methods of the Aristotelian dialectics, and sometimes upon premises supphed by metaphysical reasoning " {Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 30).

^ Rapin, Histoire du Jans&nisme, p. 36.

THE INFANCY OF JANSENISM 7

as to what they would have done if, losing the battle of Arques, and obliged to put to sea with their leader in a small boat, they had been carried off by the tempest and left to starve. One of the cavaliers replied that he would have killed himself rather than let his liege lord die of hunger. This statement raised a grand debate on the subject of suicide. One of the courtiers, called the Comte de Cramail, brought the matter to his friend De Hauranne for his opinion, and was so charmed by the answers given that he begged their author to write them down. In 1609, therefore, De Hauranne published a pamphlet called :

" Question royale et sa decision,"

in which he not only said that under certain circumstances it is permissible to take one's own life, but that sometimes it is obligatory.^

This pamphlet was afterwards unearthed by enemies, and cited against its author. In reality it was simply a youthful indiscretion, such a doctrine as the justification of suicide being entirely contrary to the teachings of St. Augustine. In his Cite de Dieu, the latter says expressly that it is not allowable to kill oneself, for thereby one opens the way to the greatest of all evils, sin. It is not known what Jansenius thought of this his friend's first publication, but as it was written before their mutual exhaustive studies, he probably paid no attention to its character.

In any case, each student continued in Paris the tendencies begun in Louvain, and it was a similarity of ideals which finally drew them closely together. In the University of the metropolis they found the teaching less broad than at the Belgian town, and were struck with the fact that the most learned Doctors there did not go back to the Fathers, but were still holding to and teaching the Scholastics. The unsatisfactoriness of this method induced in both Jansenius and De Hauranne a growing desire to revive the true doctrine. Each, therefore, prepared himself to combat the old school, and De Hauranne was about to hold a conference on the "Summary of St. Thomas," when the assassination of Henri iv, by exciting public opinion against the Jesuits, turned thoughts in another direction.

^ Question Royale, p. 32. 2 Book i. p. 29.

This event also determined the future movements of the two friends. De Hauranne decided to return to Bayonne, where the death of his father made his presence necessary at the moment ; and on arrival there, secluding himself in the neighbouring family country house of Champire or Champirat, on a height overlooking the sea, he devoted himself body and mind to the study of Antique Christianity in general and St. Augustine in particular. It was not long, however, before he felt the need of a congenial companion to share his solitude, and learning of the breakdown in health of Jansenius, he wrote begging the Belgian to come and visit him. On this invitation, Jansenius at once went to Bayonne (1611), and for six years he and his host carried on there an exhaustive study of the Fathers of the Church with the hope of discovering the real sources of the old Christian spirit .^

Soon their attention was concentrated on St. Augustine, in whom they felt they had discovered all they had sought; and so great was their enthusiasm for this Saint that they finally determined to devote their lives to the explanation and dissemination of the Augustinian doctrines, which to them seemed to incorporate the whole teaching needed for the regeneration of mankind.

De Hauranne was of course the dominant spirit. His was indeed a rough nature — a characteristic product of that Basque country from which he sprang. In the Jesuit colleges where he was educated, his schoolmates considered him a restless spirit, vain and presumptuous, somewhat fierce and uncommunicative : at best, very eccentric in his manners and habits. ^ Of fine health, great vigour, filled with an insatiable desire for knowledge, regardless of the ill-health and impaired vitality of his companion, he acted on Jansenius like a relentless schoolmaster, prodding his pupil on to more and more labour.

But, in spite of peculiarities w^hich seem the reverse of genial, Jansenius was not, as he himself said, one of those men who are made to be pedants all their lives. Although a somewhat weaker character than De Hauranne, he was at the same time infinitely more human, albeit also distinguished by rugged perseverance and obstinacy. His talent, we are told, lay not so much in Divine illumination as in a peculiar

^ Clemencet, Histoire G&nirale de Port-Royal, iii. p. 227. 2 Rapin, Histoire du Jans^nisme, p. 30.

THE INFANCY OF JANSENISM g

assiduity in making the most of the light which he had. At times his temper and impetuosity were those of a raging lion :

" I am like inflamed saltpetre, which burns up for an instant, and then dissipates without leaving either odour or smoke," ^

he said humorously.

The life of the two students was sedentary in the extreme, their only exercise being the game of battledore and shuttlecock, in which they grew very expert, and in which they indulged between two Chapters of the Fathers ! Jansenius' enthusiasm, in fact, became so great that he scarcely ever went to bed at all, but spent his days mostly in an old chair which De Hauranne had had fitted up with cushions and a writing-desk for him.^ In this seat, he read, wrote, ate, and slept — ^that is, between times, rarely more than four hours out of the twenty-four. Madame de Hauranne used to say to her son that he would " kill this good Fleming by dint of making him study." ^

. It was therefore fortunate when after a time both scholars became engaged in the world about them, the former being made Canon of the Bayonne Cathedral, the latter Principal of a College founded by the bishop of the town. Even then, they had little intercourse of any kind in the world outside their work, and although neither was a monk, both apparently shunned female society. At first in his own family, and afterwards in his active life as a priest, De Hauranne was necessarily brought into contact with women, all of whom adored while they feared him, but at no epoch of his life did the feminine element seem to have entered into the environment of Jansenius. He indeed fled any personal relationship with the sex, trying even when he was dying to refuse the ministrations of sisters of charity, and confessing that since the age of fifteen he had never been in need of any service from a woman.* His idea of the utility of women was evi-

^ Ellies Du Pin, Histoire EccUsiastique du XVII Steele, ii. p. 12.

2 Clemencet, Histoire Litteraire de Port-Royal, p. 14.

^ Clemencet, Histoire GhiSrale de Port-Royal, p. 228.

* Sainte-Beuve, Port-Royal, vol. ii. p. 93.

Clemencet says in his Histoire Ginirale de Port-Royal (iii. p. 232) : " On ne lui a jamais reproche sur ses mceurs," and this in spite of Pdre Rapin's scandalous stories of Jansenius' connection with a fascinating devote in Brussels {Histoire du Jansinisme, p. 268).

dently akin to that embodied in plain words by the Jesuit Pere Garasse :

" Of my fashion of writing I shall say but one word : I try to write concisely, and without disguise of metaphor as much as possible. I know that the thing is not easy, for I believe that it is with metaphors as with women — ^they are a necessary evil." ^

In 1617, Jansenius left Bayonne, and went back to Louvain, where he was made Principal of the new College of Holland called " La Pulcherie," and where in 1619 he received his doctor's degree. Leaving Bayonne at the same time, De Hauranne went to Poitiers, where he became Canon of the Cathedral, after which he was made Prior of Bonneville, and finally in 1620 he obtained the Abbey of St. Cyran in Brenne on the frontier of Touraine, Berry, and Poitou. From thenceforth, De Hauranne, Twentieth Abbot of the Monastery, was known as the Abbe de St. Cyran.

As a last remembrance of Jansenius' personality, a comparison has been drawn by Sainte-Beuve between him and St. Frangois de Sales and St. Cyran.^ If asked, says the historian, what attribute of God struck him most, St. Fran9ois might characteristically have replied :

'' Charity of the Son, Charity, Humility ! "

while St. Cyran's answer would have been :

" Power — that terrible power of the Father ! Abyss ! Eternity ! "

Actually confronted with this question one day, it is chronicled that Jansenius exclaimed :

" Truth ! "

1 Port-Royal, i. p. 303.

The feminine influence was generally shunned by the solitaires at Port- Royal, even the Great Arnauld, who upheld Boileau in his Satire on Women, felt with the Satirist that virtuous women were rare, and that it was better to avoid the sex altogether.

" Sans doute, et dans Paris, si je sais bien compter, II en est jusqu'^ trois que je pourrais citer."

Satire X. (Euvres, Boileau.

2 Port-Royal, vol. i. p. 302.

THE INFANCY OF JANSENISM il

" Truth is what he meditated continually : he sought it night and day in study ; and in rare moments of laxness, when he walked in his garden, one could sometimes hear him cry aloud, as with a deep sigh he raised his eyes to heaven : ' O truth ! O truth r "^

1 Clemencet, Histoire Ginirale de Port-Royal, iii. p. 231.

Chapter II The Letter Of The Law— The Augustinus Of Cornelius Janssen

[^"TheLetterkilleth, but the spirit giveth life," said St. Augustine. " . . . O ye sages of the Academy, is there no certainty that men may grasp for the guidance of Hfe ? Nay, let us seek more earnestly and never despair."

" Le Jansenisme est I'heresie le plus subtile que le Diable ait jamais tissue."

TO understand the ideas of Jansenius and St. Cyran, we must consider for a moment the circumstances which caused their revolt, and the events of the troubled sixteenth century which preceded them — of that epoch which saw the birth of both Renaissance and Reform, and which has been called the most dramatic in history :