[322]. Pascal might say this with truth, for his only relatives being nuns, the tie of earthly relationship was considered by him as no longer existing; and beyond personal friendship, he had really no connection with Port-Royal. There is as little truth as force, therefore, in the taunt of a late advocate of the Jesuits, who says, in reference to this passage, “Pascal was intimately connected with Port-Royal, he was even numbered among its recluses; and yet, in the act of unmasking the presumed duplicity of the Jesuits, the sublime writer did not scruple to imitate it.” (Hist. de la Comp. de Jésus, par J. Cretineau-Joly, tom. iv. p. 54. Paris, 1845.)
[323]. “This book of the Holy Virginity was a translation from St. Augustine, made by Father Seguenot, priest of the Oratory. So far, all was right; but the priest had added to the original text some odd and peculiar remarks of his own, which merited censure. As the publication came from the Oratory, a community always attached to the doctrine of St. Augustine, an attempt was made to throw the blame on those called Jansenists.” (Note by Nicole, iv. 332.)
[324]. “M. Jacques de Sainte-Beuve, one of the ablest divines of his age, preferred to relinquish his chair in the Sorbonne rather than concur in the censure of M. Arnauld, whose orthodoxy he regarded as beyond suspicion. He died in 1677.” (Note by Nicole.)
[325]. This work was entitled “On the Victorious Grace of Jesus Christ; or, Molina and his followers convicted of the error of the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians. By the Sieur de Bonlieu. Paris, 1651.” The real author was the celebrated M. de la Lane, well known in that controversy. (Note by Nicole.)
[326]. Réponse a quelques demandes, pp. 27, 47.
[327]. These judgments, or Vota Consultorum, as they were called, have been often printed, and particularly at the end of the Journal de M. de St. Amour—a book essentially necessary to the right understanding of all the intrigues employed in the condemnation of Jansenius. (Note by Nicole.)
[328]. This was Francis du Bosquet, who, from being Bishop of Lodeve, was made Bishop of Montpelier in 1655, and died in 1676. He was one of the most learned bishops of his time in ecclesiastical matters. (Note by Nicole.)
[329]. Cavill, p. 35.
[330]. M. de Marca, an illustrious prelate, who was Archbishop of Toulouse, before he was nominated to the see of Paris, of which he was only prevented by death from taking possession. (Nicole.)
[331]. Nestorian heresy—so called from Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, in the fifth century, who was accused of dividing Christ into two persons; in other words, representing his human nature a distinct person from his divine. There is some reason to think, however, that he was quite sound in the faith, and that his real offence was his opposition to the use of the phrase, which then came into vogue, the Mother of God, as applied to the Virgin, whom he called, in preference, the Mother of Christ.