Fathers, treating of larceny, should be burnt by the same hand; forbidding all persons, at the same time, on pain of death, to teach, in future, any of the doctrines in question. "While they were awaiting the sequel of this decision, which was much approved, circumstances occurred which had the effect of postponing judgment upon the proceedings. In the mean time, however, the prisoner disappeared, no one knew how, and without restoring the dishes. This was the sum of our informant's statement; and he further told us, that the judgment of M. de Montrouge is still in the register of the Châtelet, and may be seen by any one. The anecdote afforded us much amusement." Pascal's intention, in publishing the Lettres Provinciales, was evidently to make an appeal to the classes of society generally without the reach of theological argument. He meant to write for the million; and we have already seen that his endeavours met with a most signal success. But another Port-Royalist, Nicole, bethought himself of enabling the literati and divines throughout the whole of Europe to appreciate Montalte's wit, and to pronounce between Jesuitism and public morality. Under the pseudonymous designation of Wilhelmus Wendrockius, a thick octavo was issued from the press, containing Pascal's text, elegantly translated into Latin, together with a variety of notes, and a learned commentary.* Wendrock's præloquia are not the least interesting parts of his work. In the third, quæ post editas in vulgum provinciales epistolas consecuta sunt breviter perstringuntur; and we have the whole history of the course followed by the Gallican Clergy in the affair of the Jansenists. The fourth præloquium gives full particulars of an episode which marked this contest. It seems that the worthy inhabitants of the city of Bordeaux knew as yet nothing either of Pascal or of Nicole, when the Jesuits, all-powerful in the place, obtained from the King's Counsel an order to the purpose that the Provincial Letters should be burnt. The sentence, however, was not immediately carried into execution: the Magistrates thought, most wisely, that before a censor condemns a book, he is bound to examine it carefully, and to form an impartial opinion of its contents. It soon struck the Jesuits that they had acted most imprudently in endeavouring to precipitate matters their friends told them so, pointing out to them the necessity of keeping at least an outward conformity to the rules of equity. But it was too late; and the sole resource which remained was to bribe the Judges, if possible, and to frighten them into a sentence of condemnation. * Placcius's article (2,883) on Wendrock is curious :- Wilhelmus Wendrockius qui personati Montaltii Literas Provinciales ex Gallico idiomate in Latinum vertit notisque illustravit quod sit P. Pierre Nicole, indicat l'Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans, Novemb. 1694, p. 131, et Bailletus in indiculo des auteurs déguisez, p. 612. Faber tamen quem sub Stubrockii nomine has notas confutasse supra innuimus, in præfatione apologetici, eumdem Blasium Paschalem, qui sub Montaltii personâ latuit, et sub Wendrockii larvá se occultare suspicatur..........adde quod hic margo Diecmannianus suppeditat: Wilhelmi Wendrockii Salisburiensis theologi nomen præscribitur Latinè ex Gall. linguâ versioni Litterarum Provincialium Lud. Montaltii, de quo supra, p. 227, et notis theologicis, quibus illustrate sunt, cujus operis novam editionem Sam. Bashilius Hebras. 1664, in 4to procuravit. Sed sub eo tot elegantibus scriptis maximam partem Gallicè et àvwvýμws editis, et ad theologiam tum moralem, tum polemicam, pertinentibus, celebrem, eumdemque genuinum Antonii Arnaldi, discipulum et intimum amicum Petrum Nicolle vel Nicole (utroque enim modo scribi vides) Anno 1695, mortuum latere certissimum est. V. Hist des Ouvr. des Savans, Nov., 1694, p. 131. Bayle, Diction. hist. et critiq., tom. ix., p. 660—740, qui eum, p. 659, l'une des plus belles plumes de l'Europe late judicat. All that stir and bustle about a few printed sheets could not but have occasioned some degree of sensation in Bordeaux. Thus came to pass precisely what the Jesuits had ardently wished to avoid. People resolved to judge for themselves; and all the copies of the Provincial Letters which had found their way as far as Bordeaux were speedily disposed of. Meanwhile, the Jesuits pursued the attack in various ways. They published a libellous pamphlet against Wendrock; they threatened the Judges with excommunication; they vainly endeavoured to get one of their own side among the theological examiners of the obnoxious book; they thundered from the pulpit against Pascal, Armand d'Andilly, St. Cyran, &c., attributing to these gentlemen the earthquake which had lately visited the city of Bordeaux. The worthy Councillors of the Parliament seem to have enjoyed more than one good joke at the expense of the reverend Fathers. "One, in particular," says Wendrock, "applied to the parish Priests, asking if it was true that those who defended Nicole were worthy of excommunication. Quite the reverse,' was the general reply. Well, we, Burdigalensian senators,' retorted the Magistrate, are in a most woful plight, if, wherever we turn, we must needs meet with the wrath of the Church."" The Bordeaux decision was quite favourable to the Port-Royal writers. We give it from Wendrock's volume: it is dated the 6th of June, 1660.* But this partial triumph could not insure the complete success of Jansenism. In the year 1657, all the Provincial Letters had already been condemned by the Pope, and burnt by the hands of the public executioner, in compliance with a decree of the Parliament of Aix, the same having been also done at Paris, by a decree of the Council of State, held coincidently with a convocation of Prelates and Doctors. When the Latin translation was published, "Montalte and Wendrock were examined by royal order; for which purpose a commission was appointed of four of the most eminent Bishops, and six learned Doctors. They gave an opinion upon the two works, to the effect, that the heresies condemned in Jansenius were openly maintained in them; and that they abounded in sentiments injurious to the Pope, the Bishops, the sacred person of the King, his Ministers, the Faculty of Paris, and the religious orders. Accordingly, they were remitted, by decree of the Council of State, on the report of M. Balthazar, to the Civil Lieutenant, to he burned by the common executioner. The decree is dated the 23d of September, 1660; the sentence of the Lieutenant, the 8th of October; and they were carried into execution at the Croix-du-Trahoir, on the 14th of the same month, 1660. They added to these two works one entitled, Disquisitions of Paul Irénée;' which shared the same fate." The Jesuits were at that time gradually, but surely, creeping into influence and favour. They might be found throughout the whole of French society, spreading in all directions their baneful doctrines, and sowing the seeds of tyranny and of death. This explains to us an interesting circum * Nos Doctores, Theologi, et in Academia Burdigalensi regis sacra theologiæ professores, infra scripti; cum decreto amplissimi senatûs Burdigalensis libri cui titulus est Ludovici Montaltii Litera Provinciales de morali et politica Jesuitarum disciplina, ad nos perlatus esset, ut bona illius vel mala doctrina e nobis expenderetur, et si quæ in eo hæresis contineretur sententiam diceremus: nos, Patre luminum in auxilium prius invocato, prædictum librum studiosè perlegimus, habitisque inter nos de hujus libri doctrina deliberationibus, collatisque in unum suffragiis, nullum in eo hæresim a nobis repertam fuisse declaramus. Actum in æde Carmelitarum die sexta mensis Junii, anno Domini, 1660. stance; namely, that several writers of the seventeenth century not only allude to Jesuitical practices, but describe them in full length, holding them up to the hatred and indignation of posterity. Molière's name has, more than once, been put side by side with Pascal's. His "Tartuffe" is a poetical translation of the Provincial Letters, and a practical exposition of casuistry. Eh quoi! says Cleante to Orgon : Eh quoi! vous ne ferez nulle distinction Entre l'hypocrisie et la dévotion ? Vous les voulez traiter d'un semblable langage, Et rendre même honneur au masque qu'au visage ; Egaler l'artifice à la sincérité, Confondre l'apparence avec la vérité, Estimer le fantôme autant que la personne, Et la fausse monnai à l'égal de la bonne ?' (Act. i., scene 6.) "Why! will you, then, make no distinction between hypocrisy and devotion? Do you treat both alike? Do you pay the same respect to a mask as to a real countenance? Is trick equal to sincerity in your eyes, and the shadow to the substance? Do you esteem a phantom as if it was a living person, and false coin as genuine money?” And, a little further : Aussi ne vois-je rien qui soit plus odieux Que....... Ces gens qui, par une âme à l'intérêt soumise, Et veulent acheter crédit et dignités A prix de faux clins d'yeux et d'élans affectés ; Ces gens, dis-je, qu'on voit, d'une ardeur non commune, Qui, brûlants et priants, demandent chaque jour, those men "Therefore do I see nothing more hateful than who, sold to interest, make a trade of devotion; purchasing credit and dignities with winks and affected aspirations. You see them uncommonly eager, whilst they run to heaven through the road of fortune. Burning and praying, they preach seclusion in the midst of the court; they know how to make their zeal chime in with their vices; forward, vindictive, faithless, full of deceit, if they wish for the destruction of their neighbours, they will cloak their resentment under a pretended interest for Heaven's cause; their fierce anger is the more dangerous, because they direct against us weapons which we revere, and because their passions, for which some thank them, wield a sacred dagger!" This passage might be illustrated by a running commentary taken from the Provincial Letters. We shall give two or three instances : Ces gens qu'on voit.........par le chemin du ciel courir à leur fortune."I have only as yet spoken of piety in general; but to show how our Fathers have taken pains to lighten its difficulties, is it not a most comfortable thing for the ambitious to find that they may maintain true devo tion, together with an unlimited love of aggrandizement ?' What, my Father!' I exclaimed, to whatever extreme they may carry it?'-' Certainly,' he replied." (Lett. ix., p. 144. Seeley's edition.) Sont prompts, vindicatifs.—“ To see how far this damnable doctrine might be carried, I said, 'But, my good Father, is it not allowed to deprive of life for less serious causes? Might not the intention be so regulated, for example, as that death might be inflicted for giving another the lie?' Certainly.'. 'And, in the same manner, life may be taken for defamation.' (Lett. vii., p. 108.) Sans foi, pleins d'artifices.—“And do you not allow that it would be then highly convenient to have a conscientious dispensation from keeping your word?' 'The greatest convenience in the world.' Then hear the general rule laid down by Escobar, tr. 3, ex. 3, n. 48: Promises are not obligatory, when we do not intend to bind ourselves in making them. Now we never can be held to have such intention, unless we confirm it by an oath or an agreement; to wit, when we say, simply, I will do so, we mean, unless we change our mind; for no one ought to have his free-will fettered.' He gives other cases, which you can see for yourself, and concludes: All this is taken from Molina, and our other authorities: Omnia ex Molina et aliis; and so no doubt can remain on the subject."" (Lett. ix., p. 148.) Molière had continued the work begun by Pascal and Nicole : he shared the fate of Nicole and Pascal,-persecution. DUTY OF PEOPLE TO PASTORS. AGAIN, the present is a time of rest and peace throughout the land and the church. Such a season has its duties on the part of Ministers,-even to have their loins girt and their lamps burning, and be ready to let all go the moment their Lord commands: it has duties also on the part of the people, -to share with their Ministers the temporal blessings of a time of quiet so long as it endureth. It is written of all the members of the visible church, that "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." Now, we grieve to think that your spiritual teachers are not always in circumstances to observe this rule for their present means are often inadequate to enable them to provide for their families in a time of sickness, or to furnish a suitable education for their children. There are many other duties which a Christian Minister must discharge, not only in common with the members of his flock, but as an example of the believers, such as remembering the poor, and supporting Missions at home and abroad. To take a single instance out of these the word of God sets it forth as one of the indispensable characteristics of the Bishop or Pastor of a Christian church in a settled condition, that he must be given to hospitality. We would, then, affectionately, yet earnestly, inquire of you, brethren, if you are all placing your Pastors in circumstances to discharge the duties of hospitality, without infringing the fundamental law of owing no man anything, but to love one another? If those who watch for your souls are not so provided for in a time when the churches have rest, then assuredly in you the whole word of God has not free course and is not glorified. Still farther, from the days of your fathers, the humblest amongst you have prized a well-educated ministry, provided it be also godly, and you have inherited the healthy feeling, that your whole mental, moral, and religious condition is thereby elevated; but such a boon you cannot hope to retain, unless you shall conscientiously and zealously aid in supporting and augmenting the great Central Fund of our Church, so as to raise the annual income of your Ministers to the lowest sum secured to them when you were united to the State. But this present period of calm may be only a breathing-time before the storm and if so, you shall now do wisely to give a portion to seven and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If in your own or your children's days, as in the days of your fathers, a time of distress should overtake the church, when there shall be a famine of the word of the Lord, and you be found wandering from sea to sea to seek it, your Ministers will the more cheerfully abide with you, and endure all things for your sakes, if you have first proved your kindly affection towards them, and you will receive from them, without sorrow, ministrations, for which you may be able to offer no return, when you remember that you had freely shared with them your abundance. We have spoken thus frankly, dear brethren, not because we desire a gift, but because we desire fruit that may abound to your account; but we cannot forget that all our givings and receivings, our ministrations and our waitings on the ministry, our words and our works, are sadly mingled with imperfection and with self; and we would, therefore, pass from all these, and lift our eyes to Him, who though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich, and unite with you in saying, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”—Pastoral Address of the Free Church General Assembly. REMINISCENCES OF DR. CHALMERS. (To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.) In the year 1816, shortly after my appointment to Glasgow, I had the honour of being introduced to the acquaintance of the late celebrated Dr. Chalmers, through the kindness of the venerated James Sword, Esq., of Ann's-Field, in the vicinity of that city, the friend and patron of Methodism in Glasgow at that time. Mr. Sword, being anxious to promote a friendly intercourse between Ministers of different sections of the church, sent me an invitation to meet Dr. Chalmers, and several other Ministers and lay-friends, at his table. I was greatly delighted with the Doctor's condescending and affable manners, and the lively interest which he appeared to take in whatever pertained to the welfare of religion in other communities. At that time the Doctor was in the vigour of his days, and engaged in the delivery of a series of discourses periodically on a weekday in the Tron church of that city, on "The Christian Revelation, viewed in connexion with modern Astronomy;" discourses which raised him to an unrivalled popularity among his brethren, and which rendered his place of worship the centre of attraction among all classes of the community; a popularity which led a grave Presbyterian Minister, on his return home, after witnessing one of those delightful exhibitions, humorously to say, that he "saw the city wholly given to idolatry!" During the period of my sojourn in Glasgow, our society was favoured with a more than ordinary revival of religion; the principal instrument of which, under God, was the late Rev. George Thompson, Superintendent of the Ayr Circuit. It pleased the Most High graciously to pour out his VOL. III.-FOURTH SERIES. 3 P |