Had the Roman Catholic Church been susceptible of a thorough reformation, it is reasonable to think that it would have been effected by the enlightened, zealous, self-sacrificing, and persevering efforts of the Jansenists. They were true sons of the Church — they sincerely de- sired its inward and outward prosperity — they cherish- ed an almost servile devotion to it. Though their sys- tem of faith and morals was essentially Augustinian, and thus in substantial agreement with that of the Re- formers, yet they had no sympathy ^vith the Eefonners, and their minds were filled with prejudice against them. But they made common cause with these in their appre- ciation of the New-Testament Scriptiues, in their efforts to promote their use among the people, and in their in- cidcation of holiness of heart and life. To their praise it should be mentioned that a Bible Society was estab- lished by the Jansenists of France as early as 172G, which flourished for thirty years. Though the Jansenistic movement was unsuccessful in reforming the Romish Church, yet it tlid good service to the cause of Christ by counteracting the prevalent spirit of corruption, and by promoting a spirit of sincere piety. The piety which it fostered was never, it is true, as enlightened as that which prevailed in the Protestant Church : the piety of even its most enlightened advocates was not wholly free from certain admixtures of superstition, fanaticism, mysticism, and asceticism. We add, in conclusion, that Gallicanism, as revived and formulated in the four fa- mous propositions adopted by the Council of French Clergy in 1G82, was also under great obligations to the Jansenists.
Jansenists in Holland. — Although the fanatical ex-
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cesses to which Jansenism had gone in France for a time darkened its prospects of ultimate success, it must be conceded, even by Koman Catholics of the most ul- tramontane class, that Janseuists in the 18th and IDth centuries "preserved a close association with greater purity of morals and a deeper faith" than their oppo- nents the Jesuits, who for the last 200 years have ap- peared in behalf of the infallibility of the pope only to strengthen and to preserve their own existence as an order. It was this characteristic feature of the Jan- seuists that "everywhere smoothed the way for them." When persecution had driven them from France, "we find traces of them in Vienna and in Brussels, in Spain and in Portugal, and in every part of Italy" (Ranke, Jlist. Papac;/,London, 1851, ii, 293). Everywhere they now disseminated their doctrines, but it is especially in Protestant Holland that the sect has been most suc- cessful, and has maintained itself to our own day. In the days of Philip II of Spain, Utrecht had been raised to the dignity of an archiepiscopal see (A.D. 1557). The other United Provinces, on throwing off the Span- ish shackles, became Calvinists, but Utrecht and Haar- lem continued faithful to the Roman hierarchy. To this part of a country, where the evangelical life had taught even the Roman Catholic commiuiist a spirit of toleration, the Janseuists directed their stejjs, and it is here alone that they still appear as a definite, tangil)le body. Their organization in Holland dates jiartly from the forced emigration of the French Janseuists under king Louis XIV, and partly from the controversy about Quesnel at the opening of the last century ; but their success as an independent sect (if we may thus style adlicrents of the Roman Catholic communion, but de- fenders of the evangelical doctrine) dates from the day when the vicar apostolic, Peter Codde, an intimate friend of Arnaald, was suspended by Clement XI in 1702 from his position on account of his firm adherence to Jan- senistie principles, was allured to Rome, treacherously detained there for three years in defiance of all canon-' ical regulations, and a certain Theodore de Cock, a friend of the Jesuits (so a Jesuit sometimes designates himself), appointed in his stead. The chapter of Utrecht, thus deprived of the man of their choice, re- fused to acknowledge the new vicar named in Codde's place, and angrily joined themselves to the Appellant party in France, many of whom had come thither. The government of Holland also interfered in 1703, suspend- ed the oiieration of the papal bull, and deprived De Cock of the archbishopric. Codde, on his return, did all that he could to repair the injuries sustained by the Janseu- ists during the incumbency of De Cock, who had made many changes, had deprived many priests, some even of thirty years' standing, of their livings, and had ap- pointed his Jesidtical friends instead. At length, in 1723, they elected .an archbishop, Cornelius Steenhoven, for whom the form of episcopal consecration was obtain- ed from the French bishop Vorlet (titular of liabylon), who had been suspended for .Jansenistic opinions. A later .Jansenist archbishop of Utrecht, Meindarts, estab- lished in 1742 Haarlem and in 1758 Deventer as his suf- fragan sees; and in 17G3 a synod was held, which sent its acts to Rome, in recognition of the primacy of that see, which the Church of Utrecht professes to acknowl- edge. Since that time the formal succession has been maintained, each bishop, on being appointed, notifying the pope of his election, and craving confirmation. The popes, however, have uniformly rejected all advances, except on the condition of the acceptance of the bull Uiw/cnitus. But the Janseuists have steadfastly re- fused to comply with this demand, and have even refused to be bought over to the Church of Rome, as was at- tempted in 1823. The recent act of the Roman see in defining as of catholic faith the dogma of the immacu- late conception of the blessed Virgin Marj' has been the occasion of a new protest. Their language is firm and explicit : " We owe it to ourselves, to the Catholic faith," say they, "and to the defence of the truth, to njed