[332]. This was James Sirmond (the uncle of Anthony, formerly mentioned), a learned Jesuit, and confessor to Louis XIII. He was distinguished as an ecclesiastical historian. (Tableau de la Litt. Fran., iv. 202.)
[333]. The Monothelites, who arose in the seventh century, were so called from holding that there was but one will in Christ, his human will being absorbed, as it were, in the divine.
[334]. See Letter i., [p. 74].
[335]. The persecution here supposed was soon lamentably realized, and exactly in the way which our author seemed to think impossible.
[336]. Cavill, p. 23.
[337]. This postscript, which is wanting in the ordinary editions, appeared in the first edition at the close of this letter. From this it appears that, in consequence of the extreme desire of the Jesuits to discover the author, and their increasing resentment against him, he was compelled to send this letter to Osnabruck, an obscure place in Germany, where it was printed in a very small and indistinct character. The privileges referred to were official licenses to print books, which, at this time, when the Jesuits were in power, it was difficult for their opponents to obtain. Annat had published against the miracles of Port-Royal. Pascal was not permitted to publish in self-defence. At the same period, no Protestant books could be printed at Paris; they were generally sent to Geneva or the Low Countries for this purpose, or published furtively under fictitious names.
[338]. Decrees of the pope.
[339]. The papal constitution formerly referred to.
[340]. The Council of Trent is meant, when Pascal speaks of the council, without any other specification.
[341]. The reader may well be at a loss to see the difference between this and the Reformed doctrine. Some explanations will be found in the Historical Introduction.