In the year 165G Pascal brought out his Provincial Letters, and shortly after Arnauld directed to Pavil- ion a pamphlet on the Jan- senistic propositions which had just been condemned by the Jesuitical interpre- tation. The result was that Pavilion was so impressed with the justice of the Jan- senistic complaints that, when Pascal was replied to in the Apnlogi/for the Cas- nists, he felt constrained to call a provincial council (in 1658), and by it caused the Apology to be condemned as containing "doctrines false, precipitate, scandalous, and calculated to corrupt the manners and to injure the discipline of the Church" — a censure which the clergy of Paris approved. Of course such a step forever sealed the fate of the bishop of Alet. In 1661, by request of the king, an assembly of the clergy of France pronounced it incumbent upon all bishops to sign the formulary which condemned the five propositions supposed to be contained in the Jansenistic heresy. Pavilion saw in this measure not onh' injustice to the Jansenists, who rightly claimed that none of Jan- Bcnius's true views were embodied in it, but also against the bishops whose authority was thereby impaired. All the bishops of France looked to Pavilion to take the lead. He was not long in deciding. Aware that the king must have been moved to the measure by the intriguing Jesu- its, he wrote to the king in remonstrance, but in all kindness, explaining the inconsistent action of a state like France, which had recognised the supremacy of the
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Church in things spiritual, yet directing her bishops how to judge of and deal with heresy. The king, un- able to free iiinisclf from the influence that surrounded liim, was only the more decided in his course, and in 1G62 issued a royal edict for the immediate signature of the formulary. Still years passed on. In 1GG4 the new- archbishop of Paris also demanded compliance with the king's edict. Now Pavilion could no longer hesitate as to his future course. The courageous bishop, disdain- ing to equivocate under such circumstances, published a mandenient, June 1, 1GG5, in w^hich his views as to the limits of Church authority were set forth with trans- parent clearness. Truths revealed b_y God, of which the Church is the ordained guardian, must be accepted on licr testimony, with an entire subjection of the reason and of all the faculties of the mind ; but with regard to other truths, not so revealed, (Jod has not provided any infallible arbiter; so that when the Church declares that certain propositions are contained in a given book, or that such and such is the meaning of a particular au- thor, she acts only by human knowledge, and may be mistaken. For decisions of this kind the Church can- not require positive internal belief; nevertheless the faithful are not permitted to impugn her judgments, which in all cases must be treated with submission, for the preservation of due order and discipline. The high character and saintly life of Pavilion added immense weight to his pastoral instructions. His sentiments were shared by other prelates, particularly by Henri Arnauld, bishop of Angers; Nicolas Choart de Buzan- val, bishop of Beauvais; and Franc^ois de Caulet, bishop of Pamiers; these issued mandements of precisely sim- ilar import, as did also the bishops of Noyon and Laon ; but the two latter, on receiving notice of the displeasure of the court, retracted, and adopted a tone of exact ac- cordance with the papal bull. An arret of the council of state, July 20, cancelled the mandements of the four refractory bishops, and forbade the clergy to obey them. It was determined to take judicial proceedings against the 'prelates who had thus boldly constituted them- selves the apostles of Jansenism ; but this was an affair of considerable delicacy and difficulty. According to Koman jurisprudence, the pope was the sole judge of bishops; on the other hand, it Avas one of the most cherished of the Galilean liberties that bishops in France could only be tried, in the first instance, before their metropolitan and his comprovincials. Application having been made to the pope on the subject b}^ the French ambassador at Rome, his holiness proposed to name the archbishop of Paris and two other prelates as delegates for hearing the cause ; but the king decidedly objected to this method of adjudication, as an invasion of the privileges which he was bound to defend. After a tedious negotiation, it was at length arranged that the pope should nominate a commission of nine prelates to proceed to the trial of their colleagues; that seven should be competent to act; that the president should have power to appoint substitutes in the room of those who might decline to act; and that the accused should not be at liberty either to challenge the judges or to appeal from their decision. The mandements of the four bishops were at the same time denounced by a de- cree of the Congregation of tlie Index ; upon which the bishops of Languedoc wrote to the king in terms of en- ergetic remonstrance against the encroachments of the court of liomc on the rights of the episcopate, and Louis replied by assuring thein that he would always uphold their lawful jurisdiction and thclibertios of the Galilean Church. The prosecution of the bishops was suspended by the death of Alexander VII, which occurred May 20, 1667. Cardinal Giulio Hospigliosi, who succeeded him under the name of Clement IX, was known to be of moderate opinions, and disposed to a pacification ; and measures were immediately corvcerted in France for taking advantage of this favorable change of circum- stances. It was jiroposed that the bishops, without beinr; required to retract their mandements, should sign