ARTICLE VI.

THE HISTORY AND MERITS OF JANSENISM.

By REV. S. M. SCHMUCKER, Germantown, Pa.

IN examining the history of any remarkable movement which has occurred in the church of God, it is well to go to the fountain head, whence it issued, and ascertain the causes to whose operation it directly owes its existence. This process, which we imagine to be useful in any other case, is especially so in discussing the history and merits of Jansenism.

The various abuses which exist among men, are apt to find a remedy in their own insupportableness. A power and energy seem to pervade the world of mind and of matter, which serve as potent antidotes to those evils and perversions by which they may be afflicted. Thus, when the physical frame of man becomes overloaded with impurities, and clogged in its functions by accumulated obstructions, nature makes an effort to throw off the foreign bodies, and attain a state of purity and equilibrium. When the evils of social life become intolerable, when rulers become tyrannical, when laws become unjust, when extortioners become cruel, beyond human endurance, the result is, that the harassed and afflicted mass becomes desperate, puts forth frantic efforts for relief; and these must result, from their very violence, either in liberty or death, in deliverance or in dissolution. This is doubtless the philosophy of most of the revolutions which have occurred in human society. Like a ceaseless pendulum, abuses lead to diseases, these produce efforts after convalescence, this, when attained, occasions a repetition of undue indulgences, these produce the old abuses again, which, in their turn, lead on to the old revolutions.

This remark is eminently true in regard to the church of Christ. She has been established in a sinful world, and has ever been intimately associated with the weaknesses and sinister tendencies of the human heart. She will, indeed, exert a plastic power upon every spirit over which she is permitted to exercise an untrammeled sway; but the experience of all past ages has taught us, that men more frequently succeed in bending the genius of that religion to themselves, in impressing upon it their own spirit, and in moulding its outward development according to their own preferences, than the contrary. Accordingly Christianity exhibits different aspects to the student of its history, at different stages of its progress. At one period we find it enjoying the blessings of spiritual health; heresy is unknown, or

hides its head; unbroken harmony and holy enterprise prevail; security, opulence, the favor of the great, and the benignant smiles of heaven, cheer it onward in its triumphant way. While at another period, we behold it sadly and feebly struggling through the gloom, torn by factions and heresies within, harassed by implacable enemies without, coldness and formalism depressing its spirit, despair and coming disasters foredarkening the future.

Under such circumstances, the church of God, when pervaded and vivified by his Spirit, has ever exhibited an inherent energy, which has successively retrieved her falling fortunes; ever rising like the phoenix from its ashes, to soar with increased splendor and invigorated pinion, in the clear sunshine of the divine favor. During its past career in the world, the church has been called to pass through a variety of such revolutionary struggles, of greater or less importance, in proportion to the magnitude of the evils to be removed, and the power of the purifying element employed. In the progress of time, tyranny and corruption, the consequences of its connexion with human things, deform the church, until they endanger the existence of the whole. Then it is, that the first, faint mutterings of contemplated struggling are heard, until the pent-up elements can no longer be controlled, and an explosion occurs, which rends the heavens, shakes principalities and popedoms to their centre, tears asunder the massive chains of tyranny which have bound the truth, purifies the spiritual atmosphere, and then enables the Church to enter on a new career, to feel the ecstasy of a new life.

Such an event, the greatest in the history of the Church, was the Reformation. Other ecclesiastical revolutions, of similar nature, but of less extent, have frequently occurred. These, doubtless, ever will occur, until the church has completed her earthly career. Each such revolution teaches us new lessons, and developes new phases of truth; and when the church shall have learned all those which Providence designs to teach her, she will be prepared to be merged into another and a heavenly element. Such a movement, as those in question, was Jansenism, the subject of our present investigation.

The existence of Jansenism, and the fact that it was called into being, and developed, to some extent, in the Romish church, is a proof that there is still some redeeming element even remaining in that church. It proves that God has not entirely deserted it; that it still possesses some seeds of truth, which, though surrounded by a luxuriant growth of noxious weeds, He still cares for and cultivates. It proves that God had a church in the world, from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries; that his word was not entrusted, during that wide waste of ages, to heathens; and it gives a rational surety, that portions of that church, after

all their purifications shall have been accomplished, will be eventually united with the company of God's redeemed. Those revolutions which have occurred in the church of Rome, have all been shaped by the peculiar circumstances in which they happened, and the peculiar evils which they were designed to obviate. This remark is illustrated by that interesting movement, which we now propose to examine. By the origin of Jansenism, by the struggles through which it passed, by the character of its men. and its principles, by the character of those who opposed it, and by the very grounds of that opposition, we shall be taught truths of importance, which are not so clearly developed by any other revolution which has transpired within the pale of the Romisli church.

In consequence of the great rent which occurred in that church in the sixteenth century, by which she lost one-half of her choicest domains, the hierarchy was taught the absolute necessity of organizing some bodies of bold, adventurous, and compact militia of the church, by whose ceaseless encroachments on Protestantism, as well as on Heathenism, these losses might be repaired. The fanatical zeal of one enthusiast, most opportunely supplied, what the coolest heads of the sacred conclave could have devised. The ardor of Loyola, rivalling that of Adalbert and Xavier, expended itself in the organization of an extensive society of able men, who were to become illustrious throughout the world, by their unexampled devotion to the apostolic see. The usual abuses which are connected with extensive ramifications, in any such religious associations, soon appeared. Secret crimes, fearful conspiracies, bloody tragedies, extortions, and assassinations, soon began to disgrace the annals of the Society of Jesus. The attention of the nations was beginning to be attracted toward it. They had just reason for alarm; inquiries were started, fears were expressed, protests were sent in to the highest authorities of the church, demanding investigation and light on the subject. It was to the general distrust of the doctrines and measures of the Jesuits, which began to prevail extensively in the earlier portion of the seventeenth century, that Jansenism, to a great extent, owes its origin. But it is to be observed, that Jesuitism, in all its aspects, is a legitimate development of Romanism, generated by its genius, and fostered by its spirit. Hence, Jansenism, in originating from opposition to Jesuitism, originated from an opposition to pure Romanism, and, as such, doubtless deserves the greater confidence and respect.

The doctrines which are usually termed Augustinian, have frequently been made the occasion of the most virulent controversies in the church. Upon them, and their defence, great events have depended. The sects of Christendom, both ancient and modern, have often split upon them; and upon them, too,

as distinctive bases, have been founded some of the purest portions of the Redeemer's fold, which have ever existed. Thus, in Augustine's day, they were the distinguishing badge between Orthodoxy and Pelagianism. In the era of the scholastic theology, the two great orders of Thomists and Scotists, Dominicans. and Franciscans, were arrayed against each other in reference to them. In the Reformation, those who sought for a purer church and a better religion, in opposition to the old mass of established corruption, espoused them. In the German, Swiss, French, and Scotch reformed churches, they were, at first, universally prevalent. In the Church of England, the more pious and spiritual portion of the establishment, ever since the days of Laud, have been known as entertaining such sentiments, in opposition to Semi-Pelagianism, worldly formality, and stupid pomp. It is remarkable, that nearly every movement for reform, of any radical and thorough nature, which has occurred in the church, has espoused these doctrines, and given them a permanent position in their system and symbolical books.

It was thus also, on these doctrines that the sect or school of the Jansenists was established. The first period of its separate existence was the most commendable; for then its leaders were eminent and holy men; and then its friends were composed of the most spiritual and enlightened members of the Romish church. Then its doctrines were most pure; its disciplinary observances were best calculated to crush the world, and foster devotional feelings in the heart. Afterward, as will appear, when this school had run a career of persecuted purity, and commendable excellence, unwarrantable excesses crept in, which greatly detracted from its standing among its contemporaries, and make the perusal of its history less interesting to us. But these evils are incident to humanity. No system of opinion, possessed of so many excellent ingredients, and of so much which is creditable, is responsible as a system, for the perversions which may be engrafted upon it, by ignorant fanatics, who may have subsequently obtruded themselves into connexion with it. If this be any just ground for reprehending, or condemning any institution altogether, we would find it very difficult to exculpate genuine Christianity itself.

Cornelius Jansen, or Jansenius, from whom this movement takes its name, was a Hollander, born in 1585. Subsequently he pursued his studies at the University of Louvain, in intimate association with a friend of religious and intellectual tendencies with his own, Jean du Verger, from Gascony. They afterward retired together to Bayonne, subsisting on the means of the latter person, which, fortunately for them, were ample. There they pursued together their favorite studies, and entered deeply into the works and spirit of Augustine. Jansenius afterward

became Professor of Theology in Louvain, and also Bishop of Ypres. Here he died in 1638, with a great reputation fo ability and sanctity. His friend Du Verger, was promoted to the Abbey of St. Cyrau, and carried out into more practical life, yet in a somewhat ascetic form, the principles so forcibly discussed by the more intellectual Jansenius.

The most remarkable event in the life of Jansenius, was the production of his principal work, his "Augustine," in which his peculiar views are contained and developed, which are simply a reproduction of the sentiments of that great luminary of the early church. So nearly are the views of both allied, that the theologians of Paris were in the frequent habit of speaking of the Augustine of Ypres, as being the perfect counterpart of the Augustine of Hippo. The doctrines which are set forth in this celebrated work, may be thus epitomized: Jansenius starts out with the principle, that the human heart is not naturally in a state of moral freedom; that it is confined and constrained by sinful tendencies; nor has it the power, when unaided from above, to throw off that bondage. The grace of God must operate upon the soul; and his influences will impart a capacity for spiritual enjoyments. The soul will then seek after such enjoyments, and will thus be brought, more and more, under moral and purifying influences, and make advances in the attainment of holiness. This holiness is found in God himself. He must be regarded as the centre of all purity, as the dispenser of all moral excellence. His law forms the standard of all holy living; and to love God, is to love and to obey his law. These two he regards as inseparable. In this love the freedom of the will consists; the heavenly influence of which extinguishes all our natural lusts. Thus is produced an inexpressible delight in holy things, and in spiritual exercises; which deliver the soul, by the influence of grace, from the desire and necessity of sinning, while it produces the contrary tendency to virtue.

Though this work is chiefly remarkable for its practical and moral excellence, yet this is not its only merit. It treats of some of the most abstruse dogmas of theology with remarkable clearness and philosophical acumen, which prove its author to have possessed rare intellectual endowments."

Du Verger, or St. Cyrau, as he is usually called from the name of his convent, enjoyed abundant leisure, in the retirement of the cloister, to carry out into more practical application, the opinions which he and his friends had espoused. The ordinary penances, and the usual disciplinary observances of the church, were not sufficient for him. Extraordinary exercises of a devotional nature, were commended and observed. The world was to be entirely crushed within the heart, and the all-transforming