LETTER XVIII

P. 229, 1. 2. erreur — “ heresy

P. 229, 1. 5. des Decrets , loosely used for the Bulls of 1653 and the Brief of 1654 and the Bull of 1657. See above, note on p. 212, 1. 11.

P. 230, 1. 27. que si Jansenius, etc. See above, Letter XVII., p. 220.

P. 230, 1. 32. p. 21, i.e. of Annat’s Response à la XVIIme Lettre. Pascal summarizes the argument.

P. 231, 1. 2. je n'examine pas icy, etc. He does so at length on p. 233 ff.

P. 231, 1. 22. le Concile, i.e. of Trent.

P. 231, 1. 42. effectivement = “ effectually, successfully ”.

P. 232, 1. 8. un fond malheureux. Gf. “dans le fond, le vilain fond de l’homme, ce figmentum malum n’est que couvert ”. Pensées, No. 453. figmentum = irKaa/xa. Cf. “ He knoweth whereof we are made ”. Ps. cii . 14.

P. 232, 1. 20. Dieu change le cœur, etc. A complété statement of the Augustinian theory of Grâce. See Introduction, p. xiii. ff.

P. 232, 1. 35. quod enim amplius, etc. Cf. Aug., Epist. ad Gai. expositio, c. 49.

P. 233, 1. 3. contre l'opinion de Calvin. Pascal’s brilliant dialectic in the pages which follow reposes on a false basis. His distinction between the Jansenist and the Calvinist view of Grâce will not stand. He claimed that the Jansenist allows Free-Will to man, whereas the Calvinist déniés it, looking upon man as a mere machine moved by an irrésistible power. Jansen, following St. Augustine, admitted that man has the power to resist Grâce, if he will. But so did Calvin. What Calvin maintained was that man cannot will to resist Grâce, since it is Grâce itself which détermines his will. But this is the position of Alvarez, St. Thomas, and St. Augustine himself. And the Council of Trent in condemning a mechanical theory in the Reformers, condemned a fiction. See Mozley, Augustinian Doctrine of Prédestination (1855), note xxi., and before Mozley, Pierre Bayle, in his Dictionnaire (1695), s.v. Jansenius.

P. 233, 1. 4. Clement VIII. Cf. Historia congregationum de auxïliis divinae gratiae (Antwerp, 1709), appendix. Arnauld has already quoted Clement’s words in his appendix to the Seconde Apologie pour Jansenius (1645). Pascal here simplygives thetitlesof someof Clement’s address to the Congrégation.

P. 233, 1. 14. comme dit S. Paul. Cf. Heb. xiii. 21.

P. 233, 1. 15. comme dit le Concile de Trente, in Sess. VI., cap. 9.

P. 233, 1. 15. le mesme Concile , in Sess. VI., canon 4.

P. 233, 1. 27 ff. The scriptural passages are from Ecclus. xxvii. 21 ; Ps.

lxxix. 4, 8, 10 ; Jer. xxxi. 18; Ezek. xviii. 31 ; Ps. lxxxiv. ; Matth. iii., 8 ; Is. xxvi. 12 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

P. 233, 1. 36. est de reconnoistre. Cf. Haase, § 19, D, Rem. I.

P. 233, 1. 37. nos actions sont nostres ... les produits. These lines are not marked as a quotation by Nicole, and they appear indeed to be not a translation of any particular passage of St. Augustine but an accurate summary of his general teacbing.

P. 234, 1. 6. Alvarez. See above, note on p. 6, 1. 11.

P. 234, 1. 7. son livre , i.e. de auxiliis divinae gratiae , etc. (1610). Also quoted by Nicole in Pauli Irenaei disquis. tertia (26 March, 1657).

P. 234, 1. 11. S. Thomas son Maistre. Cf. Summa, Ia IIae, 112 , a. 3 ; IIa 7Jae> 24, a. 11.

P. 234, 1. 18. t. 1, p. 602, i.e. of Theolog. dogm., 1. ix. c. 7.

P. 234, 1. 23. C'est la ... la doctrine constante , etc. Cf. “I see no substantial différence between the Augustinian and Thomist, and the Calvinist doctrine of Prédestination ” (Mozley, op. cit., note xxi.).

P. 235, 1. 3. le prix du sang de son Sauveur , i.e. “ bought with her Saviour’s blood ”.

P. 235, 1. 38. assortis à vostre dispute, “ suitable to the dispute ”.

P. 236, 1. 2. Pour sçavoir, dites vous, etc. Annat’s exact words in his Response à la XVII Lettre are : “ Pour sçavoir donc si la doctrine de Jansenius est à couvert par le profession qu’il fait de defendre le grâce efficace par elle-mesme, il faut sçavoir de quelle maniéré il la defend : si c’est la maniéré de Calvin ou celle des Docteurs Catholiques ”.

P. 236, 1. 9. qu'on a toûjours le pouvoir, etc. This first quotation is made up of passages from ch. xx. (quoted by Nicole, Paulus Irenaeus), and ch. ix. (quoted by Arnauld).

P. 237, 1. 28. Saint Hierôme ... à Jean, etc. Cf. Hier., Epist. ad Pammachius, quoted by Arnauld, Seconde Lettre.

P. 237, 1. 40. ailleurs, i.e. in Letter XII., ad fin.

P. 238, 1. 16. débiter fidèlement. Cf. Pensées, No. 929. But Annat had given chapter and verse in his Response à la XVIme Lettre and in his Response à la plainte que font les Jansénistes, etc.

P. 238, 1. 17. les Curez de Paris, in their Avis aux aiUres curez de France of October, 1656.

P. 238, 1. 20. P. L'Amy. See above, note on p. 78, 1. 1.

P. 238, 1. 38. vos Cavilli. See above, note on p. 217, 1. 12.

P. 239, 1. 6. sans marquer le lieu. Annat gives his references in the Response à la plainte.

P. 239, 1. 8. Je sçay ... le respect, etc. See above, note on p. 213,

P. 239, 1. 17. au commissaire du Saint Office. See above, Letter XVII., p. 219.

P. 239, 1. 24. Que plus de soixante Docteurs, etc. See Letter I., p. 28. Cf. Pensées, No. 929.

P. 239, 1. 33. qu'ils peuvent calomnier, etc. See above, Letter XV.

P. 239, 1. 33. dontrils se croient attaquez. Cf. Haase, § 113.

NOTES

P. 239, 1. 37. de faire examiner, etc. Arnauld, in his Considerationes (1649), solicited a conférence.

P. 239, 1. 39. qu'on assemble, etc. This passage of St. Basil is quoted by Arnauld in his Seconde Lettre.

P. 240, 1. 7. S. Grégoire in Job, i.e. Moral., viii. 2, in cap. vi. B. Job ( MPL , lxxv., col. 803).

P. 240, 1. 14. Le Siégé apostolique, etc. This passage had already been cited by Arnauld in his Seconde Lettre.

P. 240, 1. 20. ils peuvent estre surpris. Cf. Pensées, No. 882.

P. 240, 1. 42. Ce n'est pas une chose estonnante, etc. Bernard, Ep. 339, ad Papam Innocentium pro Alviso Atrebatensi episcopo (MPL, clxxxii., col. 544).

P. 241, 1. 15. De Consid., i.e. De Consideratione, St. Bernard’s last work ( ca . 1148), written at the invitation of his friend and disciple Pope Eugenius III. Already quoted by Arnauld in his Réflexions sur un Decret de l'Inquisition de Rome (1651).

P. 241, 1. 22. duquel si vous estes exempt. Cf. Haase, 29, C.

P. 241, 1. 28. vostre livre, i.e. Response a le plainte des Jansénistes.

P. 241, 1. 31. un nommé Athanase, a Jacobite patriarch.

P. 241, 1. 34. en faisant le bon valet. The expression had already been used iby St. François de Sales. Cf. Epîtres spirituelles, vii.,

P. 241, 1. 41. Alexandre III. Pope from 1159-1181.

P. 242, 1. 1. inseree dans le droit canonique. Cf. Decr. Greg., ix., lib. i., t. 3 (“ de rescriptis ”), cap. 5.

P. 242, 1. 3. Si quelquefois. For this rescript of Alex. III., cf. Kehr, Regesta Pontif. Rom., t. 5, p. 67.

Alexander’s letter is quoted by Arnauld, Seconde Lettre.

P. 242, 1. 13. S. Pierre et S. Paul. Cf. 1 Peter v. 2-3 ; Titus i. 7-8.

P. 242, 1. 34. fides ex auditu. Cf. Rom. x. 17.

P. 242, 1. 37. S. Thomas remarque. Cf. Officium de Festo Corporis Christi ( Opusc . v. al. lvii.) , which contains, inter alia, the hymn “Lauda, Sion”. Pascal is beginning to appreciate St. Thomas.

P. 243, 1. 33. Genese. Cf. Gen. i. 16.

P. 244, 1. 2. parce , comme dit S. Augustin. Cf. De Gen. ad lit., i. 18.

P. 244, 1. 23. un Decret solennel. . . . This Bull is apocryphal. It may be read in Mansi, Concil., xix., 674, and in Léo, Opéra (MPL, cxliii., col. 791 ff.).

P. 244, 1. 42. Vous obtintes. Pascal could fairly say “vous” if only for the fact that the great Jesuit Bellarmin, as a member of the Congrégation of the Holy Office, had no small share in procuring the condemnation of the Copernican theory. Cf. next note.

P. 245, 1. 1. Ce Decret de Rome. The Copernican theory that the earth revolves round an immovable sun was condemned by a Decree of the Inquisition of 5 March, 1616. Galileo was not mentioned in the decree, but he was known to hold the theory. Bellarmin, who was his Personal friend, conveyed to him news of the condemnation, which,

doubtless by his advice, Galileo promised to observe. Notwithstanding this Galileo published in 1632 a Dialogo sopra i due massimi Sistemi de mondo, in which he contrasts the Copernican and Ptolemaic Systems, to the great disadvantage of the latter. The Dialogo was at once condemned by the Inquisition, i.e. in 1633, but the Decree embodying the sentence was not issued until 1634.

It is to be observed (1) that Pascal does not make the mistake into which Protestant critics hâve often fallen of ascribing to the Pope the Decree against Galileo ; (2) that the Decrees of 1616 and 1634 were never received in France, and that in 1711 a Jesuit, Père André, maintained a public thesis, “ Systema Copernicanum defendimus tanquam hypothesim ingeniosam si non veram,” refusing to adopt the Censor’s alteration of si into etsi ; (3) that Pascal does not commit himself on the right or wrong of Galileo’s theory. Elsewhere he says : “ Je trouve bon qu’on n’approfondisse pas l’opinion de Copernic” . . . ( Pensées , No. 218), and in his Lettre au Père Noël he is ready to give equal weight to the théories of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, and Copernicus.

P. 245, 1. 7. Zacharie. Pope from 741 to 752. Cf. Epist. Zach. Papae ad Epist. Bonifacii , 82 (MPL, lxxxix., col. 946). A greater than Pope Zachary had denied the existence of the Antipodes. St. Augustine argued that, there having been only one pair of original ancestors, it is inconceivable that such distant régions should hâve been peopled by Adam’s descendants.

P. 245, 1. 23. depuis si longtemps, i.e. since 1649, when Arnauld wrote his Considérations sur V entreprise de M. Cornet.

P. 245, 1. 34. pro nihilo. See above, p. 241, 1. 21.

P. 246, 1. 34. J'ay de la peine a comprendre, etc. This seems to shew that Paseal was not at one with Port-Royal.