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catholic truths, he allowed, were mingled with the mass of corrupt doctrine: but, as the insidious and seductive manner in which the errors were brought forward, had occasioned a neglect of the sourd portion of the work, it was necessary to separate the tares from the wheat. He and his counsellors, therefore, had extracted a hundred and one propositions from the book; and these he now condemned as false, captious, scandalous, pernicious, rash, seditious, impious, blasphemous, schismatic, and heretical. Not content with censuring these passages, he subjoined a prohibition of the whole performance, and cautioned the people, on pain of excommunication, against the perusal of any vindication or defence of it, which had been, or might be, offered to the public.

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This bull, perhaps, the good sense of Clement would have forborne to promulgate, if the zeal of the bigoted and domineering Louis had not overawed or perverted the pontiff; though it may with equal plausibility be supposed, that the pope's zeal was sufficient for the object, without any solicitation whatever. The Jansenists, persecuted by that intolerant prince for disregarding the new papal constitution, expected less rigorous treatment when Philip duke of Orleans became regent of France. The cardinal de Noailles, who had warmly supported their cause, was introduced into the cabinet: those who had been banished were recalled: the resolutions which the Sorbonne had adopted in favor of the bull, were annulled, as the effect of constraint; and the conduct of the court of Rome was publicly and acrimoniously condemned. The pope remonstrated against these proceedings, and urged the propriety of submitting to the holy see but the Jansenists called for a general council, calculated to heal the disorders of the church. The Jesuits denied the necessity of such a convocation, and complained of the arrogance of the demand. The regent at length began to listen to the persuasions of the bigoted party,

and menaced the opposers of the bull with his resentment. He banished M. Ravechet, syndic of the Sorbonne, into Roussillon; but he would not consent to the deposition of that resolute academic, who died in the midst of these disputes. An assembly of prelates, convoked by Philip, in vain endeavoured to reconcile the parties; and twenty commissioners, nominated for the same purpose, were not more successful in their exertions. The parliament of Paris took cognisance of the affair, in consequence of an appeal from some priests whom the archbishop of Rheims had excommunicated for their opposition to the will of his holiness. The spiritual sentence was declared null and void, and the prelate who had pronounced it was condemned in costs and damages. The Jansenists now became more bold in their attacks, until the regent, alleging the inutility of these disputes, imposed silence by a royal declaration %.

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An edict which confounded the advocates of truth and of sound doctrine with misguided zealots, displeased both parties. The pope accused the regent of insincerity and injustice, and of enmity to that church which he was bound to protect. To the cardinal de Noailles he sent a letter, mingling expostulation with entreaty, which did not subdue the firmness of that prelate. The cardinal's appeal from the bull or constitution of the holy father to the pope better "advised, and to a future general council," was condemned by the court of inquisition at Rome as a scandalous libel; and its circulation and perusal were strictly prohibited. A papal brief afterwards ap-peared, commanding all Christians throughout the world to withhold their favor and regard from the opposers of the constitution, and threatening these unworthy sons of the church, in case of prolonged contumacy, with a forfeiture of all ecclesiastical privi

8 October 7, 1717, N. S.-Guarnacci, Vit. Pontificum et Cardin. tom. ii. p. 21, 22.

b Dated August 28, 1718.

leges. This brief, exciting the indignation of the Parisian parliament, was suppressed by an arrêt.

In the progress of the contest, the pope's adherents strengthened their party; and the Jansenist leaders assumed a more conciliatory tone. The cardinal declared his readiness to accept the constitution, according to his own explanation of it; and, with this qualification, he condemned the work of Quesnel. Some of the clergy disapproved the explanations, as being almost equally objectionable with the bull itself; and, on the other hand, the chief promoters of that act or decree insisted on an absolute and unreserved submission to its obvious import. Many of the French bishops condescended to explain it, in the hope of removing the scruples of the conscientious Jansenists: but the pope, while he commended the zeal and good intentions of those prelates, denied the necessity of their exertions, as the wisdom and authority of the head of the church, who was allowed to dictate to the faithful, did not require, from any of its members, explanatory aid or argumentative enforcement.

The pope ultimately prevailed in the contest. The regent resolved to gratify the majority of the higher clergy by giving the sanction of the court to the papal edict, after it had been for seven years an object of dispute. It was ordained, that the constitution Unigenitus, received by the bishops, should be observed by all orders of people in the French dominions; that no university or incorporated society, and no individual of any description whatever, should speak, write, maintain or teach, directly or indirectly, any thing repugnant to the ordinance, or to the explanations given of it by the dignitaries of the Gallican church; that all appeals and proceedings against it should be deemed void; and that the courts of parliament, and all judges,

* August 4, 1720.

should assist the prelates in the execution of spiritual censures. The parliament of Paris at first refused to register this decree, which, said some of its members, not only derogated from the dignity of the crown, but militated against the rights of the subject, and the liberties of the Gallican church; but it was confirmed by the great council, and promulgated as an operative law. Even the cardinal de Noailles at length acquiesced in it; and a parliamentary registration was procured by menaces of removal or of exile ".

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The exertions of the cardinal Du-Bois were of signal service in subduing the spirit of the principal Jansenists, and, after the registration of the edict, he made occasional use of lettres de cachet against refractory individuals, and revived the oath introduced by Louis XIV. which all candidates for holy orders, and for academical degrees, were obliged take, importing that the five propositions of Jansenius, respecting grace and free-will, were justly condemned.

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Clement was highly pleased at this accommodation; but his joy was allayed by the consideration of his declining health. He died in the spring of the following year, at the age of seventy-one years, during twenty of which he had occupied the pontifical throne. His catholic biographer ascribes to him an acute understanding and a tenacious memory, an unwearied zeal in the pursuit of learning, a firmness of mind united with benevolence of disposition and courtesy of manners, and a freedom from anger and resentment: but this writer is evidently partial to him. We admit that he was a man of considerable merit; but he sometimes evinced the narrowness of bigotry, was not always so grateful for services as he ought to have been, and cherished in particular instances a spirit of revenge.

* Memoires de la Regence.

Guarnacci, Vit. Pontificum et Cardinalium, tom. ii. p. 36.

His secretary, cardinal Paulucci, would have been chosen to succeed him, if the intrigues of the Austrian faction had not baffled the views of the Italian members of the conclave, whose advantage in point of number yielded to imperial tyranny. After a vacancy of seven weeks, the pontifical chair was filled with Michael Angelo Conti, son of the duke of Poli, who assumed the designation of Innocent XIII. Being in a weak state of health at the time of his election, he did not long preside over the church, his government not being extended by Providence to the end even of the third year.

It was one of the first cares of this pontiff to accommodate the dispute respecting the investiture of the kingdom of Naples. The emperor and the king of Spain had in vain solicited that favor from the late pope: but it was now granted to the former prince, on the acknowlegement of tributary subjection to the holy see. Another object of Innocent's attention was the maintenance of the papal claim to the sovereignty of Parma and Placentia; but he did not, in that respect, succeed to his wish. In the mean time he exercised his authority at Rome with mildness, and sometimes with that severity which appeared to be necessary. To other parts of Christendom he also extended his care and vigilance: and Spain, in particular, felt his corrective hand. Observing with serious concern, and indeed with strong disgust, the dissolute manners both of the clergy and laity in that country, he issued an admonitory and threatening edict for the repression of irregular, disorderly, and vicious practices. He had no doubt of the religious zeal and decorous behaviour of his catholic majesty m, but lamented, on this occasion, the insufficient influence even of royal example ".

Amidst the cares of spiritual and temporal government, Innocent found his health seriously declining.

m Philip V.

n Guarnacci, Vit. Pontif. tom. ii. p. 384, 385.

VOL. VI.

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