principle, to have added, that his order was peremptory to print it verbatim, or not at all. Now it is quite ridiculous to suppose, that no option should be left us with respect to the insertion of a pamphlet of 55 pages. It is obvious, that if the editor of a periodical work be denied the liberty, if not of retrenching or altering the articles which are submitted to him for insertion, at least of wholly rejecting such whose spirit would discredit his pages, his censorial office would be rendered merely nominal. The author chooses to take it for granted, that his vindication was not inserted because it convicted our Review of many blunders." If the spirit of the pamphlet had not been strikingly at variance with breathe that which seemed to through the Tour to Alet, we certainly should not have objected to its insertion, merely on the ground of its convicting us of "blunders." Our blunders we shall always be happy to confess and amend, as the best reparation for having committed them. Whether their detection in the present instance will justify the author's triumph, may be seen in the sequel of this article. In the construction of his pamphTet, the author appears to have profited by the maxim of Dr. Bentley, that to raise a cloud of dust around an opponent is one of the great arts of controversy. To no other cause can we attribute the variety of extraneous matter which swells his pages, and by means of which Alet first wrote to us on the 18th of February, stating, that an answer to our critique would be" forwarded in a few days or a week;" and, although the engagement was not exactly kept, yet the answer is actually dated the 28th of February. Is it then quite ingenuous to say, that an amicable explanation, which could not possibly have been seen by him before the 1st or 2d of March, would have precluded the necessity of an answer promised on the 18th of February, and actually dispatched on the 28th? Had he expected, as he would intimate, such an explanation, why did he not delay his answer for two days longer? the main question is often greatly Delphinum silvis ad pingit, fluctibus aprum. As we profess ourselves, however, to be of that old-fashioned school, who prize the maxim of the same great poet, sit quid vis, simplex duntaxat et unum, we shall make no apology for keeping close to the argument, leaving to more penetrating minds the task of pointing out the relations which may, perhaps, after all, connect the above subjects with the recluses of Port Royal. All the objections which we urged against the Tour to Alet, may be considered as included in these two :. First, That it protestantized the Roman Catholic religion. Secondly, That the author had completely departed, not only from the letter, but even from the spirit of Lancelot's narrative, by framing a long series of conversations between the Bishop of Alet and others, which were not only in the main wholly fictitious, but also uncharacteristic of the Port-Royal School. The author commences his an swer to the first of these charges, by censuring our use of the word "protestantize." Without trying the patience of our readers, by entering into a laboured defence of the term, we shall briefly observe, that we used it in reference to the doc trine of the first Reformers, which still continues, both in the Church of England and among the greater number of Protestants, to be the standard of appeal for the principles of Protestantism. He next supposes, that in employing this term, we allude to "the use of the Scriptures, and the doctrine of justification" (p. 31). InInstead, however, of restricting it to any one or two particulars, we would be understood as comprehending by it, not less what he has omitted, than what he has added. Not only has he maintained a guarded silence upon those absurdities and superstitions which prevailed even in the Port-Royal School, but he has been equally reserved on points of greater moment, and has not even hinted at the peculiar modification which the religious exhortations of the writers in question derived from their opinions upon penance, absolution, and the intercession of saints. He attempts to answer this charge by the plea, that he gave no expectation in his Preface of entering into such particulars. This material defect in his plan we noticed in our former critique; and it requires no argument to prove, that by their omission he has opened a wide door to mistaken views and false impressions, in the case of those to whom the original documents are not accessible. The general impression likely to result from the Tour to Alet, (and such we know has, in more than one instance, been its effect,) is to excite the question; If this be the Roman Catholic religion, why are we Protestants?" But sure we are that such a question could never have occurred to the same persons, had the portrait of that religion been faithful and characteristic. In this large and comprehensive sense, then, we would be understood as accusing the author of protestantizing the Roman Catholic religion; and the line of conduct which we have in consequence pursued has been equally due to all parties. We shall now consider the representation the author has given of the faith of the Port-Royalists upon the doctrine of justification; this being one important particular in which we conceived that his work was the vehicle of erroneous statements. The natural and obvious inference to be drawn from the theological sentiments expressed throughout the Tour to Alet, would be, that the faith of the Port-Royalists, upon the important point in question, entirely accorded with that of the Church of England. In her Xlth Article, she distinctly states, in strict harmony with the sentiments of the whole body of Reformers, that "we are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings: wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine," &c. &c. But the PortRoyal School, instead of maintaining, as our author by the tenor of both his works would lead us to believe, a similar doctrine, ascribes a meritorious efficacy to good works as uniting, with the merits of Christ, to place the sinner in a justified state. In illustration of these assertions, we shall now present our readers with a few extracts from various Port-Royal authors; beginning with De Sacy and the celebrated Nicole, the two writers to whom our author especially refers on the subject of justification. "Nothing is more essential to a Christian than the love of the poor, and the care with which we ought to assist them. Of this we may see an admirable example in the book of Tabit, where it appears that the his."-Nicole, edition of La Haye, vol. vii. p. 148. Holy Spirit refers all the virtues to this one: without which, indeed, the greatest would be useless, and by means of which we may obtain of God all the rest. We see also in the Gospel, that it will be charity to the poor which will at the last judgment open the gate of heaven; and that the kingdom of God will be the recompence of those who shall have assisted Jesus Christ himself in the persons of the poor, whom he calls his brethren, and members of his body."-De Sacy's Lettres spirituelles, vol. i. p. 254. "I doubt not you are carefully preparing yourself for the festival of the holy Virgin, which is the chief of all. It is the festival of her glory, the measure of which is that of her humility, which is only exceeded by that of her Son. She is the mother of chastity and mildness, and from her it is that we are bound frequently to ask for those great virtues which comprehend all the rest, by say ing to her with the Church, Make us who are freed from sin mild and chaste." After some remarks upon the excellence of virginity, he adds, How great, then, is this virtue (humility) which not only REPAIRS the odiousness of the greatest vices, but which alone is the ornament of the most lovely of all the virtues!"-Ib. p. 161. "As long as complaisance is merely a natural virtue in a person who is not of God, it is useless or injurious: because the principle or the end of action is defective. But when the person is of God, God sanctifies these human qualities: he then makes use of them to do good with the greater facility, and to increase the merit of our good works."-Ib. vol. ii. p. 341. "You add, that you often open to God, in the bitterness of your soul, the most secret recesses of your conscience; and that you would be overwhelmed with grief, if his goodness did not give you an entire confidence in his mercy, which has never abandoned you, and if you did not address yourself to the saints with sentiments of respect, as though you saw with your eyes what faith obliges you to believe of their blessedness, in the assurance that their charity for souls will not refuse you the assistance you ask, to obtain the mercy of God by their intercession and merits."-Ib. p. 410. "Jesus Christ humbled himself as bearing the sins of men, and we ought to humble ourselves as being in truth sinners. For Jesus Christ, in humbling himself for the sins of men, did not intend to exempt us from humility; but he chose to sanctify our bumiliations by the merit of his, and to render them capable of being received by God as a satisfaction for our sins, being united to "It is nothing more than a duty common to the most incocent, to give their superfluities to the poor. But a penitent, beyond this duty, is obligated to give his superfluities to satisfy the justice of God, and to repair the abuse which he has made of his worldly blessings."-Ib. p. 205. "But while this penitent purifies herself from her sins by the tears which her love causes her to shed on the feet of Jesus Christ, and by the good works which she practises, the Pharisee renders himself guilty by the unjust judgment both of her and of Jesus Christ, into which he is led by his temerity."—Ib. p. 207. "The darts (of our spiritual enemies) are fiery darts, according to St. Paul, which are not only capable of piercing the heart, but of burning up and reducing to ashes all that it may have amassed of merits and virtues.” Ib. vol. viii. p. 5. "The apostle Peter teaches us (1 Pet. iv. 8.) that the most efficacious method of providing against the decay of our virtues is the continual practice of charity towards our neighbours; because, this virtue covering our sins, it of course prevents these sins from injuring us, or from causing God to separate himself from us. Therefore the greatest mark of the love of God to a soul is, when he fills it with charity towards its neighbours. He may leave it subject to many faults, in order to bumble it; but they who judge it to be imperfect, because of these faults, often judge rashly: because these faults exist not in the sight of God, being continually effaced by the charity which God leads it to practise."-Ib. p. 169. It would be easy to swell the list of extracts similar to the above; but our readers will already be able to judge whether the Port-Royal divinity is the same as that of the Tour to Alet. They now can understand how far the sketches of its author are characteristic of the originals, and in what degree our assertions merit the confidence of the public. Under this head, it may be well to mention, in allusion to a singular definition of Jansenism, (Tour to Alet, p. 122,) that "in doctrine" it was "the Calvinism, and in prac tice the Methodism, of the Romish Church;" that the great Arnauld published, among many other pieces against the Calvinists, the two following:-1st, "The subversion of the moral law of Jesus Christ by the errors of the Calvinists upon justification." 2dly," Calvinism again convicted of impious doctrines." The first of these works, as is clear from the title, would serve to confirm the proofs which we have already urged in support of our censures, though we can hardly suppose that our author will regard it as equally proving the first part of the above definition. As for the latter clause, we do not very clearly understand it. That our readers may enter more fully into our meaning, when we ventured to blame the author of the Tour to Alet, for maintaining a guarded silence upon the Catholic peculiarities which occur in the Port-Royal writers; we shall now introduce a series of extracts, which will reflect light upon that criticism, and explain the modification which those peculiarities imparted to their sentiments respecting the doctrines of grace. "I entreat Saint Luce, whom the Church this day honours, to do for you what she did for her mother, through the intercession of Saint Agatha, which is to obtain for you bodily health. But I further ask her to obtain of God for you, by her prayers, that you may be of the number of those concerning whom it is said, they who live in chastity and piety, are the temples of the Holy Spirit.'"-De Sacy's Lettres spirituelles, vol. i. p. 196. "Therefore we ought to address ourselves to these holy virgins" (Saint Agnes and others) "who were the glory of Jesus Christ, of the church, and of their sex; and to say to them, Give us, by your intercession, of the sacred oil which burns in your lamps, because ours are always in danger of being extinguished, not only by the tempest of afflictious, but also by the water of indifference, and by the wind of complaisance," &c.-Ib. vol. ii. p. 139. "It seems, indeed, that nothing (he here alludes to preceding remarks) ought so much to excite us as the example of so many saints of each sex, of all conditions and ages. They were such as we are. They had the same weakness to fear, and the same enemies to combat. Had they con quered them by their own force, we might have said, that they were strong, and we weak. But since it is God who did all in them, and who promises to do all in us, let us take them for our intercessors, and God for oar refuge and strength; and let us hope all from him who can do in us all that to ourselves would be impossible, and who can do it with an almighty facility. But as it is very common to consider the saints rather (as examples) to admire than to think of imitating them, there are other saints more proportioned to us, which are those of purgatory.”—Ib. p. 265. souls was more the fruit of her" (the Holy "One may say, that the conversion of Virgin!)" prayers and the ardour of her charity, than of the words and the labours of so many great saints.”—Ib. p. 280. "The ashes of the bodies of the saints derive their principal dignity from that seed of life, which remains to them from their having touched the immortal and vivifying flesh of Jesus Christ."-Arnauld sur la frequente Communion, chap. xl. "The manner of profitably offering up the sacrifice of the mass, which is the same as that of Jesus Christ upon the cross, depends not principally upon the devotional thoughts which are present to us daring the sacrifice, nor on the prayers which we form. For even should we, by involuntary distraction, be deprived of these aids, provided God beholds in us the desire of these future good things, and of this eternal life, we co-operate in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we sacrifice with the priest."-Nicole, vol. vii. p. 126*. Though our censures of the Tour to Alet have principally related to its sketches of Port-Royal, we have to prefer against its author a similar charge, in having protestantized the sentiments of the Abbè de Rancè and his disciples. Various works are before us, from which it would be easy, did our limits allow it, to illustrate this general remark; but we shall be content with requesting, our readers to compare (Tour to Alet) page 59, 11th line, to the end of the page, with the spirit of the following extract from a work by the Abbè de Rancè, entitled, "De la Sainteté,” vol. i. p. 299:-" Ecclesiastical communities are assemblies of persons who, never having broken the sacred seal of the holy covenant which they have contracted with Jesus Christ, nor With respect to the extracts from Fontaine, &c. relative to the Holy Scriptures, they certainly prove, WHAT WE NEVER DENIED, that the Bible was allowed by the PortRoyalists, to be READ without a commentary* *. They prove also, that a few words, which we used (vide Christ. Obs. p. 34), expressive of the caution with which the Scriptures were put into circulation at the period in question, were too strong if applied to the sentiments of the Port-Royal writers. But the substance of our censure remains wholly unshaken. It was grounded upon this positive fact, that the PortRoyalists were all of one mind, in regarding the writings of the fathers, and the decrees of the councils, as "the only legitimate interpreters of the Bible in all points of faith." We, therefore, conceived the passage commencing "May we all become more and more Bible Christians," &c. decidedly improper, because it was put into the mouth of the Bishop of Alet by the author, unaccompanied by any explanation, and therefore left his readers at full liberty to imagine that the good Bishop conceived every individual was permitted to model his faith and conduct simply by his own interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, sullied the white robe which they have received in baptism from the hand of this heavenly Spouse, preserve themselves in his charity and love, by preserving this first innocence which they have never violated. They are children who, having always continued faithful in the respect and love which they owe to their Father, want not the help of their tears, nor of severe punishments, nor of humiliating mortifications, to appease his anger, since they have never irritated him." * Had this been our assertion, we could have mentioned to the author of the Tour to Alet, a fact by which he might have triomphantly refuted it: viz. that the great Arnauld was engaged in a controversy, anno 1680, with M. Mallet, the object of which was, to prove that the Church never intended to withhold from the people the Holy Scrip Lures. without any reference to the authority of tradition. The authorities to which we could refer upon this question, are so numerous, that we scarcely know which among them to select. "As to what you say about original sin (observes M. de Sacy, Lettres spirituelles, vol. ii. p. 218), it is necessary to do in this instance, as in relation to all the other mysteries inconceivable to the human mind; that is, to have recourse first to the authority of tradition. We must take pleasure in submitting the shallowness of our minds to the greatness of God, to the certitude of our faith, and to the immobility of that Rock upon which the church is established." The Bishop of Alet may be introduced upon the scene, in support of his own orthodoxy. In the document which this prelate wrote, expressive of his approbation of the celebrated work by Nicole and Arnauld, "De la Perpetuité, &c.," be alludes to the work upon frequent communion, which he expressly praises, because it proves, "by the Oracles of the Scriptures, by the sentiments of the fathers, and by the decrees of the councils," with what purity Christians ought to approach the holy Eucharist. In a piece entitled, "Quatrieme Factum pour les Curés de Paris," the joint production, according to the celebrated mathematician Bossu, of Pascal, Arnauld, and Nicole, the following passage occurs (Œuvres de Pascal, tom. iii. p. 127). "Our religion has firmer foundations. As it is wholly divine, it is on God that it rests; it holds no other doctrine than what it has received from him through the channel of tradition, which is our true rule, which distingnishes us from all the heretics in the world, and which is a guard to us against all the errors which may spring up in the church itself. Let us be tried by this rule; and should they wish to show that the church itself holds these maxims, let them shew that the fathers and the councils have held them, and we shall then be obliged to recognize them as our own." The inferences, to be deduced from the preceding extracts, are sp |