XVIII.

indignation of LEWIS XIV., made a noble stand CENT. against the despotic proceedings of the court of Rome. These defenders of the ancient doctrine. and liberties of the Gallican church were persecuted by the Popes, the French monarch, and the Jesuits, from whom they received an uninterrupted series of injuries and affronts. Nay, their entire ruin was aimed at by these unrelenting adversaries, and was indeed accomplished in part, since, some of them were obliged to fly for refuge to their brethren in Holland; others forced, by the terrors of penal laws, and by various acts of tyranny and violence, to receive the papal edict; while a considerable number, deprived of their places, and ruined in their fortunes, looked for subsistence and tranquillity at a greater distance from their native country. The issue of this famous contest was favourable to the bull, which was at length rendered valid by the authority of the parliament, and was registered among the laws of the state. This contributed, in some measure, to restore the public tranquillity, but it was far from diminishing the number of those who complained of the despotism of the pontiff; and the kingdom of France is still full of Appellants [b], who reject the authority of the bull, and only wait for a favourable opportunity of reviving a controversy, which is rather suspended than terminated, and of kindling anew a flame that is covered without being extinguished.

cumstances

XII. Amidst the calamities in which the Jan- The cirsenists have been involved, they have only two that conmethods left of maintaining their cause against tribute to their powerful adversaries, and these are their support the writings and their miracles. The former alone Jansenism

[b] This was the name that was assumed by thofe who appealed from the bull and the court of Rome to a general Council.

cause of

in France.

have

XVIII.

CENT. have proved truly useful to them; the latter gave them only a transitory reputation, which, being ill founded, contributed in the issue to sink their credit. The writings in which they have attacked both the Pope and the Jesuits are innumerable; and many of them are composed with such eloquence, spirit, and solidity, that they have produced a remarkable effect. The Jansenists, however, looking upon all human means as insufficient to support their cause, turned their views towards supernatural succours, and endeavoured to make it appear, that their cause was the peculiar object of the divine protection and approbation. For this purpose they persuaded the multitude, that God had endowed the bones and ashes of certain persons, who had distinguished themselves by their zeal in the cause of JANSENIUS, and had, at the point of death, appealed a second time from the Pope to a general council, with the power of healing the most inveterate diseases. The person whose remains were principally honoured with this marvellous efficacy, was the Abbe PARIS, a man of family, whose natural character was dark and melancholy; his superstition excessive beyond all credibility; and who, by an austere abstinence from bodily nourishment, and the exercise of other inhuman branches of penitential discipline, was the voluntary cause of his own. death []. To the miracles which were said to be wrought at the tomb of this fanatic, the Jansenists added a great variety of visions and relations, to which they audaciously attributed a divine origin; for several members of the community, and more

[i] The imposture that reigned in these pretended miracles has been detected and exposed by various authors; but by none with more acuteness, perspicuity, and penetration, than by the ingenious Dr DOUGLAS, in his excellent Treatise on miracles, entitled, The Criterion, which was published by MILLAR in the year 1754.

especially

XVIII.

especially those who resided at Paris, pretended c E N T. to be filled with the Holy Ghost; and, in consequence of this prerogative, delivered instructions, predictions, and exhortations, which, though frequently extravagant, and almost, always insipid, yet moved the passions, and attracted the admira. tion, of the ignorant multitude. The prudence, however, of the court of France put a stop to these fanatical tumults and false miracles; and, in the situation in which things are at present, the Jansenists have nothing left but their genius and their pens to maintain their cause (k).

the Eastern

XIII. We can say but very little of the Greek The state of and Eastern churches. The profound ignorance church. in which they live, and the despotic yoke under which they groan, prevent their forming any plans to extend their limits, or making any attempts to change their state. The Russians, as we had formerly occasion to observe, assumed, under the reign of PETER the Great, a less savage and barbarous aspect than they had before that memorable period; and in this century have gi ven some grounds to hope that they may one day be reckoned among the civilized nations. There are, nevertheless, immense multitudes of that rugged people, who are still attached to the brutish superstition and discipline of their ancestors; and there are several in whom the barbarous spirit of persecution still so far prevails, that, were it in their power, they would cut off the Protest+ ants, and all other sects that differ from them, by fire and sword. This appears evident from a

() Things are greatly changed since the learned author wrote this paragraph. The storm of just resentment that has arisen against the Jesuits, and has been attended with the extinction of their order in Portugal, France, and in all the Spanish dominions, has disarmed the most formidable adversaries of Jansenism, and must consequently be considered as an event highly favourable to the Jansenists. VOL. VI.

C

variety

CENT. variety of circumstances, and more especially XVIII. from the book which STEPHEN JAVORSKI has

the Luther

composed against heretics of all denominations.

The Greek Christians are said to be treated at present by their haughty masters with more clemency and indulgence than in former times. The Nestorians and Monophysites in Asia and Africa persevere in their refusal to enter into the communion of the Romish church, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties and alluring offers that have been made from time to time by the Pope's. legates, to conquer their inflexible constancy. The Roman pontiffs have frequently attempted to renew, by another sacred expedition, their former connexions with the kingdom of Abyssinia; but they have not yet been able to find out a method of escaping the vigilance of that court, which still persists in its abhorrence of popery. Nor is it at all probable that the embassy, which is now preparing at Rome for the Abyssinian emperor, will be attended with success. The Monophysites propagate their doctrine in Asia with zeal and assiduity, and have not long ago gained over to their communion a part of the Nestorians who inhabit the maritime coasts of India.

The exter- XIV. The Lutheran church, which dates its nal state of foundation from the year 1517, and the confesan church. sion of Augsburg from the year 1530, celebrated in peace and prosperity the secular return of these memorable periods in the year 1717 and 1730. It received, some years ago, a considerable accession to the number of its members by the emigration of that multitude of Protestants which abandoned the territory of Saltzburg, and the town of Berchtolsgaden, in order to breathe a free air, and to enjoy unmolested the exercise of their religion. part of these emigrants settled in Prussia, another in Holland, and many of them transplanted themselves and their families to America, and other

One

distant

distant regions. This circumstance contributed c ENT. greatly to propagate the doctrine, and extend the XVIII. reputation of the Lutheran church, which thus not only obtained a footing in Asia and America, but also formed several congregations of no small note in these remote parts of the world. The state of Lutheranism at home has not been so prosperous, since we learn, both from public transactions, and also from the complaints of its professors and patrons, that, in several parts of Germany, the Lutheran church has been injuriously oppressed, and unjustly deprived of several of its privileges and advantages, by the votaries of Rome.

XV. It has been scarcely possible to introduce Its internal any change into the system of doctrine and dis- state. cipline that is received in that church, because the ancient confessions and rules that were drawn up to point out the tenets that were to be believed, and the rites and ceremonies that were to be performed, still remain in their full authority, and are considered as the sacred guardians of the Lutheran faith and worship. The method, however, of illustrating, enforcing, and defending the doctrines of Christianity, has undergone several changes in the Lutheran church. Towards the commencement of this century, an artless simplicity was generally observed by the ministers of that communion, and all philosophical terms and abstract reasonings were entirely laid aside, as more adapted to obscure than to illustrate the truths of the Gospel. But, in process of time, a very different way of thinking began to take place; and several learned men entertained a notion that the doctrines of Christianity could not maintain their ground, if they were not supported by the aids of philosophy, and exhibited and proved in a geometrical order.