PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Purchased by the 
 |W- R^Kort I pnox Kennedy Church History Fund. 
 BX 5092 .L9 1896 
 Lupton, Joseph Hirst, 1836- 
 1905. 
 
 Archbishop Wake and the 
 oroiect of union (1717- 
 
ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF 
 UNION (1717— 1720) BETWEEN THE 
 GALLICAN AND ANGLICAN 
 CHURCHES. 
 
ARCHBISHOP WAKE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PROJECT OF UNION 
 (1717— 1720) 
 
 ISETWEEN THE 
 
 GALLICAN AND ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. H. LUPTON, B.D., 
 
 Surmaster of St. Paul's School, and Preacher of Gray's Inn ; formerly 
 Fellcno of St. Johns College, Cambridge. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK ST. COVENT GARDEN. 
 CAMBRIDGE; DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. 
 1896, 
 
CHISWICK PRESS ! — CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
TO 
 
 THE MASTERS OF THE BENCH 
 OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF GRAY S INN 
 THIS DISSERTATION, 
 WRITTEN FOR A DEGREE SOUGHT AT THEIR DESIRE, 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
 A 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN choosing the subject for a Dissertation required by the 
 statutes of the University of Cambridge, I was attracted to 
 the present one from several causes. As a former Preacher of 
 Gray's Inn, the life and writings of Archbishop Wake had a 
 natural interest for me. Moreover, the frequent discussion, 
 during the past year, of proposals for reunion among separated 
 bodies of Christians tended to recall a period of Wake's life, 
 when his thoughts were much occupied by similar proposals. 
 
 It seemed, accordingly, that it might not be useless or 
 inappropriate to relate, in fuller detail than had hitherto been 
 done, a project in which he was once engaged for the reunion 
 of two national Churches. The fact that the scheme to out- 
 ward appearance proved abortive does not deprive it of its 
 value. The correspondence between two such representative 
 men as an Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most 
 learned jurists of France, cannot but be instructive. We may at 
 least gain from it a clearer conception of the difficulties that 
 must beset us, when we attempt to reach an end, in itself 
 confessedly good, but towards which the road has not yet 
 been sufficiently levelled and prepared. 
 
 The published works of Dr. Wake, like those of his great 
 correspondent Du Pin, afford ample evidence of his learning 
 and industry. But our admiration of these qualities is in- 
 creased when we survey what he has left unpublished. We 
 marvel how one immersed in public business could have 
 found time to keep up an unceasing correspondence with 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 foreign Churches, and with learned persons in every country 
 of Europe. The manuscripts bequeathed by him to the 
 Library of his old College of Christ Church, Oxford, including 
 books with his annotations in the margin, amount to fully 
 one hundred volumes. And many of these are bulky folios 
 and quartos, filled with letters addressed to him, and with the 
 carefully-prepared drafts of his own replies, in Latin, French, 
 and English. 
 
 For permission to transcribe from these manuscript treasures 
 (a permission most courteously conveyed to me by the Rev. 
 T. Vere Bayne, Keeper of the University Archives) I am 
 indebted to the Wake trustees. Several unpublished letters 
 have also been gained from a manuscript formerly in the 
 possession of the Beauvoir family, now numbered " Additional, 
 22,880" in the Library of the British Museum. 
 
 Part of the correspondence here printed was used by Dr. 
 Maclaine for an Appendix to the last volume of his transla- 
 tion of Mosheim's History. Wherever I have reproduced any 
 of these letters, I have been careful to give the reference to his 
 work. He appears to have obtained the papers from the 
 Rev. Osmund Beauvoir, a son of Wake's correspondent in 
 Paris ; but what has since become of them I have not been 
 able to learn. Short extracts from the letters are also found 
 in two other well-known works, — the Eirenicon of Dr. Pusey, 
 and the History of the Church of Frattce of the Rev. W. H. 
 Jervis, with its supplementary volume, The Gallican Church and 
 the Revolution. To this excellent history I have been much 
 indebted, in writing the two preliminary chapters, which it 
 seemed desirable to prefix as as introduction to the cor- 
 respondence itself. Scarcely less useful has been the La France 
 et Rome of M. Albert le Roy, with its copious extracts from 
 the Jansenist archives at Amersfoort. The older authorities, 
 Pithou, Dupuy, and others, have of course not been neglected. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 In a concluding chapter I have tried to indicate briefly 
 how some of the great landmarks of the controversy have 
 shifted their bearings during the century and three-quarters 
 that have elapsed since Wake laid down his pen. But for 
 the fear of unduly enlarging my subject, I should have been 
 tempted to extend the inquiry in the opposite direction as 
 well, by discussing the possibility of a closer union between 
 the Churches of England and France, as it presented itself to 
 the minds of Francis I. and Henry VIII. about the year 1527. 
 In that case also the idea was never realized ; the scheme of a 
 Western Patriarchate under Wolsey proved visionary ; a partial 
 revival of the negotiations in 1546 came to nothing. To some 
 of the more sanguine spirits among us the result of such 
 inquiries may seem disappointing ; the method pursued to 
 be out of sympathy with the ardent aspirations we have 
 heard. If such be the case, I can only plead the necessity 
 of caution, of not letting sentiment intrude into the province 
 of fact. In the words of an eminent Bishop of Blois : " La 
 charite a ses droits ; mais la verite n'a-t-elle pas aussi les 
 siens? sur lesquels jamais on ne doit transiger." 
 
 J. H. L. 
 
 St. Paul's School, 
 Michaelmas, 1895. 
 
AUTHORITIES. 
 
 To avoid repetition, the full titles are here given of some of the 
 authorities most frequently cited in the notes. 
 
 Wake Corresp.— The manuscript Letters and Papers of Archbishop 
 Wake in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford. The Roman numerals 
 are those by which the volumes are denoted in Kitchin's catalogue. 
 
 Beauvoir Corresp. — A thin volume of manuscript letters, chiefly to or 
 from the Rev. W. Beauvoir, numbered 22,880 in the "Additional MSS." in 
 the British Museum. 
 
 Projet d' Union. — A little work, in i2mo, published in 1864 by the 
 Anglo-Continental Society, in French, with the title : D'un Projet d' Union 
 entre les Eglises Gallicane et Anglicane. Correspondance entre Wake, 
 archeveque de Cantorberi et Dupin, Docteur de Sorbonne. It contains a 
 French translation of most of the letters given by Maclaine, but does not 
 say whence they are taken. 
 
 Maclaine. — The sixth volume of Dr. Archibald Maclaine's translation 
 of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, ed. 181 1. The letters are in Appendix 
 IV. 
 
 Lafiteau. — Histoire de la Constitution ' Unigenitus,' par Messire Pierre- 
 Francois Lafiteau, eveque de Sisteron. 2 torn., a Liege, 1738. 
 
 Guettee. — Histoire de PEglise de France, sur les documents originaux 
 et authentiques, par l'abbe Guettee. Tomes xi., xii., a Paris, 1855. 
 
 Jervis, i., ii. — A History of the Church of France, from the Concordat 
 of Bologna, a. d. 1516, to the Revolution, by the Rev. W. Henley Jervis, 
 M.A., Prebendary of Heytesbury. 2 vols. Lond. 1872. 
 
 Jervis, iii. — The Gallican Church and the Revolution, a sequel to the 
 preceding, by the same. London, 1882. 
 
 Le Roy. — La France et Rome, de 1 700 d 1715/ Histoire diplomatique de 
 la Bulle ' Unigenitus' jusqu' a la mort de Louis XIV., par Albert Le Roy, 
 a Paris, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. pag E 
 
 On Gallicanism. 
 
 National Characteristics of Churches — How far in accordance with 
 the spirit of Christianity — Principle of Centralization — The 
 enemy of national independence — Conflict between the two 
 principles — The former encouraged under Louis XIV. — Histori- 
 cal Sketch of Gallicanism — Louis IX.— The Concordat — Schism 
 in the Papacy — Council of Pisa — Droit de Rtgale — Influence 
 of Bossuet— Articles of 1682— Compared with those of 1663 — 
 Arbitrary conduct of Louis XIV I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 State of the French Church at the time of the Project. 
 
 Events tending to increase the influence of the Papacy — Fenelon 
 and the Quietists — The Reflexions morales — Character of De 
 Noailles — The Probleme ecclesiastique — The Cas de Con- 
 science — The Bull Vineam Domini — Its reception — Fate of 
 Port-royal — The Bull Unigenitus — Acceptance of it disputed — 
 Assembly of Clergy — Parliament — The Sorbonne — Scheme of a 
 National Council 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Correspondence between Archbishop Wake and others. 
 
 Account of William Wake — The English Chaplaincy at Paris — 
 Position of Du Pin and others — Speech of De Girardin in the 
 Sorbonne — Letters of Beauvoir, De Girardin, Du Pin, Harris, 
 Wake— The Coinmonitorium of Du Pin — His opinion of the 
 Articles of the English Church 44 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The French Church in Modern Times. 
 
 State of the French Church at the eve of the Revolution — Effect of 
 the Revolution upon it — The Constitution Civile du Clergd — The 
 Concordat — The Bourbon Restoration — The Vatican Council of 
 1870— Present prospects 118 
 
 Index 
 
 137 
 
ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT 
 OF UNION BETWEEN THE GALLICAN 
 AND ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 
 
 HEN the ties which bind together a people of the same 
 
 V V race exert their force in religious matters, a Christian 
 Church, if founded among that people, will bear characteristics 
 that we call national. In proportion to the strength of those 
 ties, compared with any allegiance that may be demanded of 
 it to an external authority, will be the depth and permanence 
 of the characteristics impressed upon its Church. 
 
 It may be granted at the outset that the genius of Christi- 
 anity is adverse to the continuance within it of distinctions of 
 race or nation. In its all-embracing fold it would include alike 
 Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, bond and free. It was 
 designed, we may freely confess, to apply a corrective to that 
 strongly-marked tendency of the ancient world, which would 
 intrench each state or nation within its own fixed limits. It 
 had to assert the brotherhood of man against the religious 
 exclusiveness of the Jew, the political exclusiveness of the 
 Greek or Roman. 
 
 But it does not therefore follow that a national character, 
 impressed upon a nation's Christianity at any given period, 
 would in itself be a wrong thing. Institutions may have their 
 use, may deserve and even demand preservation, though we 
 are conscious that their existence cannot be perpetual. Like 
 sandy cliffs, crumbling before an ever-advancing sea, they are 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On Gallicanism. 
 
 B 
 
2 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 serviceable for a time ; and prudent men will endeavour to 
 secure and strengthen them as long as possible. 
 
 Older writers loved to see this principle of nationality in 
 religion, of the demarcation of Churches by civil boundaries, 
 foreshadowed in Holy Scripture by the distribution of guests 
 at some great banquet. When King Ahasuerus made a feast 
 for his princes and nobles, for his servants and the people of 
 Shushan, "doubtless," writes Bishop Stillingfleet, 1 "the King 
 did equally respect them all as a body in the feasting of them, 
 and did bestow his entertainment upon them all as considered 
 together ; but by reason of the great multitude of them, it was 
 impossible that they should all be feasted together in the same 
 room ; and therefore, for more participation of the King's 
 bounty, it was necessary to divide themselves into particular 
 companies, and to associate as many as conveniently could in 
 order to that end. So it is in the Church. Christ in donation 
 of priviledges equally respects the whole Church ; but because 
 men cannot all meet together to participate of these priviledges, 
 a more particular distribution was necessary for that end." A 
 like inference, but a more cogent one still, was drawn from the 
 grouping of the multitude by companies, when our Lord fed 
 the five thousand. From all which these writers drew the concep- 
 tion of a National Church, not as something dismembered or 
 incomplete in itself, but as a complete and organic whole, a 
 "national union in one ecclesiastical body in the same com- 
 munity of ecclesiastical government." 2 
 
 If we apply the principles here laid down in general terms 
 to the case of a particular nation — in the present instance, 
 France — we shall understand what is meant by Gallicanism. 
 While admitting that the true theory of a Christendom on 
 earth is that of a body with many members and but one head, 
 it denies that in any earthly head there resides despotic 
 authority over the whole. The government of the Church in 
 
 1 Irenicum, ed. 1662, p. 155. 
 
 a lb., p. 157, quoting Hudson: Of the Church, cap. i., § 3. [The 
 Essence and Unitie of the Church Catholike Visible, by the Rev. S. 
 Hudson, Lond. 1645. 4 t0 -] 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 3 
 
 this world is not an absolute, but a limited, monarchy ; a 
 monarchy which, in fact, is still so far an aristocracy, that the 
 monarch is rather primus inter pares than a lord paramount. 1 
 This, it must be remembered, is the conception of a universal 
 Church formed by a Gallican, one who recognises the Pope as 
 the visible head of that Church, but denies to him any absolute 
 or autocratic power. It will be observed also that while, in the 
 preceding remarks, we have taken the term "Gallicanism" to de- 
 note the application to one particular Church of certain general 
 principles, narrowed down in passing from the genus to the 
 species, French writers themselves choose rather to regard the 
 term as expanding outwards to denote the cognate principles 
 in their wider application. " If the principles of religious 
 liberty," says one of them, " took the name of gallicanism, 
 it was because France kept possession of the common rights 
 more successfully than other Catholic countries." 2 
 
 It is obvious that to this theory of a co-ordination and inde- 
 pendence, within certain limits, of the National Churches com- 
 posing Christendom, the natural enemy is the principle of 
 centralization, or, as it is now commonly called, ultramontanism. 
 It is among the nations north of the Alps that, as a rule, the 
 opposition to the claims put forth by the Court of Rome is the 
 strongest. Hence the name, though a clumsy one, may be 
 allowed to stand for the line of policy followed by those who 
 would draw to the south of the Alps the supreme control of the 
 Church throughout the world, and vest it in the Bishop of 
 Rome. The contest between these two spiritual forces has 
 been an almost interminable one, with many fluctuations of 
 success. In the reign of Louis XIV. Gallicanism reached its 
 
 1 " On voulait, parmi nous," says the Abbe" Puyol, " que l'etat chretien 
 fut non-seulement distinct, mais encore completement independant de 
 l'Eglise : on affirmait que la monarchic ecclesiastique etait, non pas une 
 monarchic pure, mais une monarchic aristocratique. Cette conception fut 
 designe du nom de Gallicanisme, parce que l'eglise gallicane s'y attacha 
 avec une particuliere passion."— Edmond Richer: Etude historique, 
 1876, torn, i., p. 6. 
 
 2 Essais sur la Reforme Catholique, par Bordas-Demoulin et F. Huet, 
 1856, p. 217. 
 
4 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 zenith. It is now, some think, at its lowest, practically extinct ; 
 except that, as others believe, principles founded in right, 
 though dormant for a while, never can be extinguished. At 
 any rate, the language used by the spokesmen of the two 
 parties shows the feud to be irreconcileable, and proves how 
 idle is the boast of unity among those, whose favourite argu- 
 ment against Protestants is the diversity of their religious 
 opinions. A Cardinal Archbishop of Paris suspended the 
 licenses of many Jesuits in his province, and inhibited them 
 from administering the sacraments, regarding them " as in 
 rebellion against the Gospel and the Fathers of the Church." 1 
 The Jesuits, it need not be said, were the foremost champions 
 of the ultramontane cause. " The whole design of the Roman 
 Court," says another Cardinal, 2 writing during the pontificate 
 of Clement XI., " has ever been, and still is, to strive to increase 
 its power, and to trample, as much as possible, on our liberties 
 and customs." 
 
 Contrast with this the language used by an organ of modern 
 ultramontanism. " Those who were called Gallicans have been 
 condemned as heretics, and none except those formerly called 
 Ultramontanes can now be reckoned as Catholics." And 
 again : " They (the Gallicans) are as much aliens from the 
 Church or commonwealth of Christ as are Arians, Lutherans, 
 Calvinists, Anabaptists, Methodists, Spiritists, or Devil-wor- 
 shippers. It is a great mistake to regard Gallicans and 
 Ultramontanes as two parties existing in the Church. Only 
 Ultramontanism is Catholic." 3 
 
 The study of such discordant opinions can never be pleasant, 
 but it may be useful, as showing the justification there was 
 for the projet d' union about to be described. In the eyes of 
 the Jesuit writer Lafiteau, that project was only an " abomin- 
 able complot." So it would have been, if the Gallican Church 
 
 1 Le Roy, 506, quoting State Papers. 
 
 2 Cardinal de Janson. Ib., p. 171. 
 
 3 Brownsoris Quarterly Review (New York), 1874, p. 313. A little 
 less intemperate in its language, but still to the same general effect, is an 
 article in The Catholic World (New York), vol. x., pp. 527-541. 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 5 
 
 in those days had been united in itself, and in perfect accord 
 with a mother Church which was, as it professed to be, the 
 depositary of all Christian truth. But if the real state of 
 things was more like civil war than unbroken peace, 1 the 
 aspect of the case is altered. An intermediary in the negotia- 
 tions may then be rather compared to a Major Andre, who, 
 though hanged as a spy on one side of the Atlantic, has a 
 monument in Westminster Abbey erected to him on the 
 other. 
 
 Before we come to the projet itself, it may be well to trace 
 briefly the growth and development in France of the principles 
 known as Gallicanism, and after that to notice in what posture 
 affairs were in the French Church, at the time when Arch- 
 bishop Wake began to take part in them. 
 
 To reach the source of Gallicanism, if what has been said 
 before is true, we should have to go to the very origin of 
 Christian life in France. So remote an exploration is for.-, 
 tunately not needful for our present subject. It will suffice 
 if we touch the stream of history at a point just seven hundred 
 years above the opening of the Vatican Council. None will 
 deny to St. Louis the title of Catholic. Yet by the well- 
 known " Pragmatic Sanction " of 1 269 he obtained for his 
 country privileges now said to be subversive of Catholicism : 
 (1) "The right of election in cathedral and other ecclesiastical 
 institutions was secured from Papal influence. (2) The patron- 
 age of benefices and other clerical offices was made subject to 
 the common law {droit commuii), by which was meant the 
 old Catholic ground-principle of the whole Church. (3) The 
 prelates, and so before all the bishops, were to hold their 
 rights undiminished. (4) Only in the most extreme cases, 
 and not without permission of the Church and the King, was 
 money to be taken out of France by the Pope." 2 
 
 1 " On se demande sans cesse : ' Comment la France, en temps de 
 
 conflit avec la Papaute, a-t-elle echappe au schisme definitif ? ' Par une 
 
 benediction speciale de la Providence." — L'abbe Puyol, as before, i. p. 9. 
 
 2 See an article by Dr. J. A. Dorner, of Berlin, in the Contemporary 
 Review, July, 1871, p. 595. Bossuet, after quoting the words of the 
 Pragmatique, exclaims : " Ne demandez plus ce que c'est que les 
 
6 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 The importance of the rights thus established is soon per- 
 ceived. They affirmed the principle that bishops, whether of 
 the French or any other Church, are not mere delegates of 
 the Pope, but have an authority co-ordinate with his own. It 
 is not his to choose or nominate them. They may accept at 
 his hands confirmation or investiture when nominated ; but 
 they remain officers of the National Church to which they 
 belong. By the last clause a check was put on the inter- 
 ference of the Popes in the secular administration of a State. 
 
 Early in the next century, the battle was fought out over 
 again between Philip le Bel and Pope Boniface VIII. The 
 quarrel had arisen over an attempt made by the French king 
 to tax the clergy, as well as laity, of his realm. In this he 
 was technically in the wrong ; but the Pope, by the extra- 
 vagance of his demands, put himself equally in the wrong. 
 It was thus a fair trial of strength between two well-matched 
 powers, and the lay potentate triumphed. " On the ioth of 
 April, 1302, the King held a Grand Parliament, or meeting of 
 the three estates of the kingdom, in the Cathedral of Notre 
 Dame, and frankly asked the advice of his people in the 
 critical state of his relations with the Holy See. Was it their 
 opinion that the sovereign was subject to the Bishop of Rome, 
 not only in spirituals, but as to the conduct of his temporal 
 government? Was the kingdom of France an independent 
 Monarchy, or was it held in feudal vassalage from the Pope ? 
 To these questions the nobles and the deputies of the commons 
 responded, with unanimous enthusiasm, that the crown was 
 held of God alone, and that they were ready to sacrifice both 
 property and life, rather than submit to the outrageous usur- 
 pations of Pope Boniface, even if the King himself were not 
 disposed to withstand them." 1 The clergy wavered, but 
 ultimately their representatives sided with the rest, after they 
 had written to warn the Holy See of the danger of a schism 
 
 libertes de l'Eglise gallicane. Les voila toutes dans ces precieuses 
 paroles de 1'ordonnance de Saint-Louis." — Sermon fireche d Vouverhtre, 
 etc., 1681 (CEuvres, 1816, xv. 534). 
 1 Jervis, i. 63. 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 7 
 
 between France and Rome. This did not end the strife, 
 which only ceased, for a time, with the melancholy death of 
 Boniface in October of the following year. But it is enough 
 for our present purpose, as showing the continuance, in full 
 vigour, of the spirit of Gallicanism in France. 
 
 The great schism in the Papacy, a century later, served not 
 only to strengthen the Gallican principles in France, but also 
 to diffuse them through other countries. That the supreme 
 governing power of the Church on earth resided in a General 
 Council, not in any individual Pope, was a theory .that many 
 had held, but had not seen exemplified in practice. Boniface 
 had ridiculed the notion of a General Council being called 
 without him, or by any other than himself. Whether this 
 ridicule was well-timed was now to be seen. On March 25th, 
 1409, the Council of Pisa began its sessions. That it deposed 
 both the rival popes, and declared the Holy See vacant, is 
 one of the most familiar matters of history. It should be 
 noticed, however, how large and powerful was the French 
 element in this Council. Cardinal D'Ailly and Chancellor 
 Gerson were its master-spirits. So that, whatever discredit 
 may be attempted to be thrown on its claim to the title of 
 general, the work of the Council may be regarded to a great 
 extent as directed by France ; its results a triumph of 
 Gallicanism. 
 
 A further advance in the same direction was marked by 
 the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. That measure, says' 
 Jervis, was a protest " against the crying evils of Medievalism. 
 It denounced the ' reservations,' ' devolutions,' ' expectatives,' 
 by means of which the richest benefices of France were often 
 conferred upon unknown foreigners, who never resided among 
 
 their flocks, and could not speak their language It prescribed 
 
 canonical election, and confirmation by the Metropolitans. 
 It abolished the ' annates.' It regulated the system of appeals 
 to Rome, and enjoined that all ecclesiastical causes should 
 pass through the various gradations of local jurisdiction." 1 
 
 1 Gallican Church, ii. 420. See also Gregoire : Discours pour 
 I'ouverture, etc., 1801, p. 9. 
 
8 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 This second Pragmatic Sanction was registered by the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris, July 13th, 1439; and thus for a while longer 
 the " liberties " of the Gallican Church continued to be part of 
 the law of the land. 
 
 We now approach the time when Gallicanism exposed 
 itself to the reproach, since then so freely poured upon it by 
 its enemies, of being only Erastianism under another name. 
 The suspicious and arbitrary mind of Louis XI. was worked 
 upon to revoke the Sanction, soon after his accession in 1461. 
 For a while the Parliament of Paris treated this revocation as 
 null, and a state of disorder in things ecclesiastical ensued, 
 which lasted through the reigns of Louis XII. and of the 
 martial Pope Julius II. With the accession of Francis I. the 
 contest was resumed on less unequal terms. The young " Roi 
 chevalier " was flushed with the recent victory of Marignano. 
 Leo X. was more anxious for peace than his predecessor had 
 been, and so an agreement was come to in the Concordat 
 of Bologna, August 18th, 15 16. By this instrument the pro- 
 visions of the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges were formally 
 repealed. The right of nomination to bishoprics and other 
 " consistorial benefices" was transferred from the capitular 
 bodies to the Crown. " The King was to present, within six 
 months after the vacancy, a doctor or licentiate in divinity to 
 the Pope, who was thereupon to confirm the appointment and 
 confer canonical institution." 1 By the designed omission of 
 any clause forbidding it, the claim of the Papacy to the 
 annates was allowed to be revived. 
 
 Throughout the French nation a strenuous opposition was 
 raised to the new enactments, and especially to the resus- 
 citated demand for annates. The Parliament of Paris, the 
 magistrates, the doctors of the Sorbonne, were united in 
 their condemnation of it. A Bull of Leo and a Royal 
 Message from Francis were alike powerless to lay the storm. 
 In deference to the King's mandate, Parliament did at last 
 accept and register the Concordat, March 22nd, 15 17; but 
 this was done with an ill grace, while the great body of the 
 1 Jervis, i. 106. 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 9 
 
 clergy still continued their protest. At Melun, in 1579, and 
 again at the synod held in 1588, they renewed their remon- 
 strances. They felt that the change from nomination by the 
 Chapter to nomination by the Crown was not only an in- 
 fringement of the ancient rights of the Church, but was 
 certain also to produce an inferior type of prelates — men 
 who would be courtiers first and bishops afterwards, dis- 
 qualified for making any stand against the encroachments of 
 the monarchy. Such were those against whom Racine directed 
 his scornful epigram : 
 
 "Un ordre, hier venu de St. Germain, 
 
 Veut qu'on s'assemble : on s'assemble demain. 
 
 Notre Archeveque, et cinquante-deux autres 
 
 Successeurs des Apotres, 
 S'y trouveront. Or de savoir quel cas 
 S'y traitera, c'est encore un mystere. 
 C'est seulement chose tres-claire 
 Que nous avons cinquante-deux Prelats 
 
 Qui ne resident pas." 1 
 
 The events of the Reformation era did not shake the 
 Gallican Church so deeply as might have been expected. 
 More important in its permanent influence upon it was the 
 birth of that great power which dogged the Reformation like 
 a Nemesis, the order of Ignatius Loyola. These " perturbateurs 
 du repos public," as the Abbe Guettee calls them, were the per- 
 sistent, relentless enemies of Gallicanism. Its continuance 
 was a standing protest against the one object for which they 
 strove — the subjection of all things to the Pope. To compass 
 its destruction, they ceased not to work upon the minds of 
 the French kings till Louis XIV., on his deathbed, could 
 solemnly call to witness Cardinals Rohan and Bissy, in 
 presence of his confessor, le Pere Tellier, that he had acted 
 throughout under their guidance : " C'etait a eux de repondre 
 devant Dieu pour lui de tout ce qui s'etait fait, de trop ou du 
 trop peu, qu'il y etait parfaitement ignorant." 2 
 
 1 CEttvres, ed. 1769, torn, v., p. 303. 
 
 2 Le Roy, p. 690, on the authority of Saint-Simon : Memoircs, 
 viii. 67. The king's words, according to Dorsanne (ib.), were: "Si 
 
IO ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 In spite, however, of the control exercised by Le Tellier, 
 and others of his order, over the mind of Louis XIV., the 
 force of circumstances threw him, towards the latter part of 
 his long reign, into antagonism with the Pope, and thus 
 identified more closely the cause of the Gallican Church with 
 the Monarchy. The contest arose about the exercise of the 
 droit de regale ; a subject which may need a few words of 
 explanation. 
 
 The right in question was one of great antiquity in France, 
 and seems to have had its origin in the feudal system. By 
 virtue of it, the King claimed the reversion to himself of the 
 temporalities of vacant sees, just as, on the decease of a feudal 
 tenant, the land he had held reverted to the seigneur. 1 But 
 more than that. As the temporalities and the spiritual 
 functions both appertained to the occupant of the see, he who 
 had assumed charge of the one, sede vacante, was bound to 
 provide for the fulfilment of the other. Hence, according to 
 one theory, the King might lawfully exercise the ecclesiastical 
 patronage of the bishopric, the temporalities of which he had 
 for the time resumed. Some Churches, chiefly in the south of 
 France, claimed to be exempt from this droit de regale and 
 a determined opposition had been offered to attempts to 
 enforce it. 
 
 Things were in this state when Louis XIV. issued his well- 
 known Declaration, February ioth, 1673, " alleging that the 
 droit de regale belonged to him, in all the archbishoprics 
 and bishoprics throughout the kingdom, with the exception 
 of those which were exempt a titre onereux ; that is, in virtue 
 of distinct cessions or exchanges formerly effected at their 
 cost, and to the advantage of the Crown." 2 What made this 
 Declaration more galling was that it was retrospective in its 
 effects. Bishops of dioceses hitherto considered exempt were 
 required to submit to certain forms, to obtain restitution of 
 
 vous m'avez trompe, vous etes bien coupables, car je ne cherche que le 
 bien de Peglise." 
 
 1 This is the view taken by Jervis, ii. 24. 
 
 2 Jervis, ii. 25. 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 1 1 
 
 their temporalities, as though they had before held them 
 without any lawful title. Most complied ; but two out of the 
 number — Nicolas Pavilion, Bishop of Alet, and Francois de 
 Caulet, Bishop of Pamiers — absolutely refused. On the death 
 of the former of these, in 1677, the resistance to the King's 
 mandate was kept up with undiminished fervour by the 
 Bishop of Pamiers. The Pope of that day, Innocent XL, 
 was also unflinching in support of the Bishop ; while the 
 Jesuits, influenced, it is said, by motives of private enmity to 
 De Caulet and his late colleague, 1 threw the weight of their 
 support on the side of the King. A curious re-arrangement 
 of parties was thus for a time formed, and complications 
 resulted, from which there seemed no way of escape but by a 
 General Assembly of the Clergy. A committee of three arch- 
 bishops and three bishops was appointed to draw up a report 
 on the subject ; and in accordance with their recommendation 
 such a General Assembly was called for October 1st, 168 1. 2 
 
 At this gathering there was present one destined to exercise 
 a powerful influence on the fortunes of Gallicanism, and 
 whose memory was to be inseparably associated with it. 
 Jacques Benigne Bossuet, late Bishop of Condom, had just 
 been translated to the see of Meaux, 3 and he was the one now 
 chosen to preach the sermon at the formal opening of the 
 Assembly. For this responsible task Bossuet made the most 
 careful preparation. He submitted his sermon before delivery 
 to the Archbishops of Paris and Rheims, and also to Cardinal 
 d'Estrees, a charge - d'affaires at Rome. It was worthy of 
 the occasion. Taking his text from Numbers xxiv. 5, Quam 
 pulchra tabernacula tua, Iacob, et tentoria tua, Israel, he 
 enlarged on " the beauty and glory of the Church Catholic." 
 The love of peace, which is disclosed in his correspondence, 
 
 1 Guette"e, xi. 38. 
 
 2 The formal opening of the Assembly, according to Guettee, was on 
 Oct. 30th. The Mass of the Holy Ghost, at which Bousset was the 
 preacher, was on Nov. 9th. 
 
 3 He was nominated May 2nd, 1681. Innocent XI. sent him the Bull 
 of Investiture in October of the same year. 
 
12 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 animated him in this eloquent discourse. For the attainment 
 of that peace he saw no hope but in mutual concessions of 
 the two powers, the kingly and the papal. Hence he pleaded 
 with equal impressiveness for " the unity of the Church, of 
 which the Holy See is the centre ; and for the tradition of the 
 Church of France, touching episcopal authority and the 
 independence of the temporal power." 1 
 
 The part Bossuet had to play was a difficult one. There is 
 no doubt that he held the principles embodied in the four 
 Declarations to be presently described. But he thought the 
 expression of them at that time was inopportune, and likely 
 to increase the tension of feeling existing between the King 
 and the Pope. Each of these potentates, moreover, had a 
 claim upon his gratitude for many marks of favour. It has 
 been not unnatural to suppose that a letter addressed by the 
 Assembly to the Pope, in January, 1682, explaining and 
 defending the line they had taken in the matter of the regale, 
 was drawn up by Bossuet. But he himself attributed it to Le 
 Tellier, Archbishop of Rheims. 2 The letter was temperate and 
 respectful in its language. But unfortunately Innocent XI. 
 deferred his reply to it, and in the interval the Assembly 
 had proceeded to its great work of framing the Declarations. 
 The Pope's impetuous temper was not rendered more placable 
 by this. He reproached the assembled bishops in his Brief of 
 April 1 ith with cowardice and servility. If they had not fallen, 
 it was because they had never stood upright. If they had not 
 been vanquished, it was because they had not fought. Which 
 of them had set himself as a wall to protect the house of their 
 spiritual Israel ? The King's ministers had lifted up their 
 voice for the royal prerogatives : they, with a better cause to 
 
 1 Guettee, xi. 67. A full analysis of the sermon is in Jervis, ii. 38-43. 
 It was printed, by request of the Assembly, in December, 1681, and pub- 
 lished in the beginning of 1682. The Assembly itself is known as that of 
 1682, because it did not formulate its declarations till March in that year. 
 
 2 This was Charles Maurice Le Tellier, an opponent of the Jesuits, not 
 to be confounded with Michel Le Tellier, confessor to Louis XIV., or with 
 the Chancellor Le Tellier, who died within a month after affixing the 
 great seal to the document revoking the Edict of Nantes. 
 
ON GALLICANISM. 
 
 13 
 
 defend, had been silent, when the honour of Christ was at 
 stake. " Not without a feeling of horror," the Brief went on, 
 " have we read that part of your letter in which you inform us 
 of the abandonment of your rights, and of your transfer of 
 them to the King : as if you were the owners, not the 
 guardians only, of the Churches intrusted to you ; as if the 
 very Churches and their spiritual rights could be abandoned 
 to the temporal power by the Bishops, who should rather have 
 submitted to be made bondsmen themselves, than endanger 
 the liberty of the Churches." 1 
 
 Nearly a month before this letter would reach the Assembly 
 — with sufficient space, therefore, to allow of the news of their 
 proceedings reaching Rome, and further exasperating the 
 Pontiff — its members had passed their four famous Declara- 
 tions. These bear date March 19th, 1682. That Bossuet drew 
 them up is certain. That it was on his recommendation that 
 the Assembly entered on the task at all, is contradicted, not 
 only by what we know of his sentiments, but explicitly by an 
 entry in the journal of his secretary, L'abbe Le Dieu. 2 It is 
 there distinctly stated, on Bossuet's own authority, that the 
 prime mover was M. Colbert, at that time Secretary of State. 
 He represented to the King that the time was propitious for 
 ascertaining the sense of the Church of France on the justice 
 of the Papal claims, which, at a less disturbed season, men 
 might be afraid to raise, for fear of disturbing the existing 
 calm. 
 
 The very argument used points to an unsettled state of 
 opinions on Church matters. It was indeed a critical moment 
 in France. The splendour of the French throne, not yet 
 dimmed by losses abroad, must have tended to exalt its 
 strong-willed occupant, as a prcesens divus, over the remoter 
 majesty of Rome, in the eyes of those prelates, at least, who 
 owed their exaltation to him. The offence given by the 
 tone of Innocent's letter, when it arrived, was in fact so great, 
 that the two powerful Archbishops of Paris and Rheims (De 
 
 1 See the extracts in Guettee, xi. 77. 
 
 2 Under January 19th, 1700. Ib., p. 81 11. 
 
14 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Harlai and Le Tellier) " would not have hesitated a moment," 
 we are told, " to take their stand by the King, in a contest 
 with the Pope, even to the extent of creating a schism ; while 
 others, like Gilbert de Choiseul, though they would not have 
 made an open breach with Rome, were so aggrieved by what 
 it had done during the last century to lay the yoke of ultra- 
 montanism upon them, that they would not have hesitated to 
 raise a barrier against the encroachments of the Papacy, and 
 to enter on a struggle so determined, that a schism might 
 have been the result in this case no less than in the other." 1 
 
 It will thus be seen that the task set before the new Bishop 
 of Meaux, in drawing up the Declarations, was no easy one ; 
 and the reader will be prepared to find that they represent, 
 not the high-water mark, so to speak, of Gallicanism in France 
 at that period, but rather the temperate opinions of one who 
 felt bound to maintain the traditional rights and franchises of 
 his country's Church, but yet was none the less anxious to 
 avoid any estrangement from the See of Rome. 
 
 The preamble of the Declarations sets forth the fact that 
 there are two opposite parties, one of which "labours to 
 subvert the Gallican decrees and liberties which our ancestors 
 defended with so much zeal, and their foundations which 
 rest upon the sacred canons and the tradition of the Fathers ; " 
 while the other, " under the pretext of those liberties, seeks to 
 derogate from the primacy of St. Peter and of the Roman 
 Pontiffs his successors." With a view to remedy such evils, 
 " we, the archbishops and bishops assembled at Paris by the 
 King's orders, representing, together with the other deputies, 
 the Gallican Church, have judged it advisable, after mature 
 deliberation, to determine and declare as follows : 2 
 
 I. "St. Peter and his successors, vicars of Christ, and like- 
 wise the Church itself, have received from God power in things 
 
 1 Guettee, xi. 79. 
 
 2 The Declarations will be found, in the original Latin, in Libertis 
 de VEglise Gallicane, Paris, 1826, p. 12; in a French translation in 
 Guettee, xi. 80, sqq. ; and in English, in Jervis, ii. 49-51, which is the 
 translation given in the text. 
 
ON G ALLICAN ISM. 
 
 IS 
 
 spiritual and pertaining to salvation, but not in things temporal 
 and civil ; inasmuch as the Lord says, My kingdom is not of 
 this world ; and again, Render unto Ctzsar the things wJiich be 
 Cesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. The Apostolic 
 precept also holds : Let every soul be subject unto the higher 
 powers ; for there is no power but of God ; the powers that be 
 are ordained of God ; whosoever therefore resisteth the power, 
 resisteth the ordinance of God. Consequently kings and princes 
 are not by the law of God subject to any ecclesiastical power, 
 nor to the keys of the Church, with respect to their temporal 
 government. Their subjects cannot be released from the duty 
 of obeying them, nor absolved from the oath of allegiance ; and 
 this maxim, necessary to public tranquillity, and not less advan- 
 tageous to the Church than to the State, is to be strictly 
 maintained, as conformable to the word of the Fathers, and 
 the example of the Saints. 
 
 2. "The plenitude of power in things spiritual, which 
 resides in the Apostolic See and the successors of St. Peter, 
 is such that at the same time the decrees of the CEcumenical 
 Council of Constance, in its fourth and fifth sessions, approved 
 as they are by the Holy See and the practice of the whole 
 Church, remain in full force and perpetual obligation ; and 
 the Gallican Church does not approve the opinion of those 
 who would depreciate the said decrees as being of doubtful 
 authority, insufficiently approved, or restricted in their appli- 
 cation to a time of schism. 
 
 3. " Hence the exercise of the Apostolic authority must 
 be regulated by the canons enacted by the Spirit of God, 
 and consecrated by the reverence of the whole world. The 
 ancient rules, customs, and institutions, received by the 
 realm and Church of France, remain likewise inviolable ; 
 and it is for the honour and glory of the Apostolic See 
 that such enactments, confirmed by the consent of the 
 said See and of the Churches, should be observed without 
 deviation. 
 
 4. " The Pope has the principal place in deciding questions 
 of faith, and his decrees extend to every church and all 
 
1 6 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 churches ; but nevertheless his judgment is not irreversible 
 until confirmed by the consent of the Church." 
 
 " These articles," it was added, " expressing truths which 
 we have received from our fathers, we have determined to 
 transmit to all the Churches of France, and to the bishops 
 appointed by the Holy Ghost to preside over them, in order 
 that we may all speak the same thing, and concur in the same 
 doctrine." 
 
 The studied moderation and conciliatory tone in which 
 these articles were framed becomes more apparent when 
 they are placed side by side with an earlier code, framed in 
 1663, which it had even been the wish of Coquelin, Chancellor 
 of Notre Dame, to issue afresh on the present occasion, as 
 an adequate statement of the Gallican tenets. These articles 
 of 1663, it should be premised, had been drawn up by the 
 Theological Faculty of the University of Paris, at the request 
 of Louis XIV., with a view to checking the spread of ultra- 
 montane teaching, then fostered by the Queen Mother, Marie 
 de Medici, and Cardinals Du Perron and Mazarin. They were 
 as follows : 1 
 
 1. " It is not the doctrine of the Faculty that the Pope hath 
 any authority over the temporal power of the King : on the 
 contrary, it hath always opposed even them who assign to 
 him an indirect authority alone. 
 
 2. " It is the doctrine of the Faculty that the King owneth 
 not and hath not any superior in temporal things save God 
 alone. This is its ancient doctrine, from which it will never 
 depart. 
 
 3. " It is the doctrine of the said Faculty that the King's 
 subjects do owe him fidelity and obedience in such wise 
 that they cannot be dispensed from it, under any pretence 
 soever. 
 
 4. " The said Faculty approveth not, nor hath ever approved 
 any propositions contrary to the authority of the King, or the 
 
 1 Guettee, xi. 82, quoting Du Pin: Histoire Eeclesiastique du xvii e 
 Steele, torn. ii. 
 
ON GALLIC AN ISM. 
 
 n 
 
 true liberties of the Gallican Church, and the canons received 
 in the realm : for example, that the Pope hath power to 
 depose bishops, contrary to the disposal of the said canons. 
 
 5. " It is not the doctrine of the Faculty that the Pope is 
 above a General Council. 
 
 6. " It ia not the doctrine or a dogma 1 of the Faculty that 
 the Pope is infallible, when no consent of the Church inter- 
 venes." 
 
 But, notwithstanding the more precise and scholastic form 
 of the earlier articles, it is evident that on two most important 
 points they are at one with the later Declarations : that is, on 
 the independence of the temporal power, and the non-residence 
 of infallibility in the Pope. 
 
 After the formal adoption of the four Declarations on the 
 19th of March, the heads of the Commission repaired to St. 
 Germain's, and presented their report to the King. The royal 
 edict, issued in accordance with it, was registered by Parlia- 
 ment on the 23rd, and became part of the law of the land. In 
 some quarters a violent opposition was raised. Bossuet was 
 assailed by a number of ultramontane writers ; among whom 
 Roccaberti, Archbishop of Valencia, was conspicuous for his 
 bitterness. 2 These invectives drew from him a work of lasting 
 value, his Defensio Declarationis Clcri Gallicani, on which he 
 was working at intervals till his death, but which did not see 
 the light till 1730, nor, in its complete form, till 1745. 3 
 
 1 That is, "it neither is, nor hath been held :" owre Soku oiVf StSoKrai. 
 
 2 Roccaberti's work, De Pontificia Potestate, was in three folio volumes ; 
 but its title was modest compared with that of a treatise by the Marquis 
 Ceroli cle Carreto : Antigraphum ad clcri Gallicani de ecclesiastica potes- 
 tate declaratwnem, Optimo, maxima, summoque Pontifici, Christi Vicarlu, 
 Innocentio XL, urbis et orbis Domino, Ca'lornm, Terrariem, Infcroriimqiie 
 Janitori tuiico,fideique oraculo infallibili, humiliter dicat, consecrat, ftra- 
 scntat Nicolaus Ceroli ex Marchionibics de Carreto. 
 
 :i Owing to this postponement of publication, and to the difference 
 between the editions of 1730 and 1745, attempts have been made to dis- 
 prove the genuineness of the work. But the Abbe Le Dieu has shown 
 that Bossuet was engaged upon it to the time of his death in 1704. Dr. 
 J. A. Dorner, writing in the Contemporary Review, vol. xvii., p. 604, assumes 
 that Bossuet "was not at liberty to publish his defence of the Gallican 
 C 
 
1 8 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 One indirect result of the Convention of 1682, interesting as 
 regards our present purpose, was that an effort was made to 
 win back the affections of English and other Protestants. It 
 was felt that one insurmountable barrier to the reunion of 
 foreign Protestants with the See of Rome was the teaching of 
 such writers as Dubois and Ceroli de Carreto. 1 If they were 
 the true and legitimate exponents of the Catholic doctrine, 
 then the monstrous proposition that princes might be deposed 
 at the will of the Pope, and their lives be placed at the mercy 
 of their subjects, would have to be accepted by those seeking 
 reunion. To the fierce reaction against such teaching was 
 ascribed, by no less thoughtful a man than Antoine Arnauld, 
 the cruel treatment experienced by Catholics in Protestant 
 countries ; as an example of which was adduced the execution 
 of Strafford in this country. Accordingly, when the work of 
 the Declarations of 1682 was finished, the Assembly set itself 
 to compose a circular letter to Protestants in general, holding 
 out inducements to them to return to the bosom of the Church, 
 and condemning the moral teaching of the Casuists. 2 Whether 
 anything would have come of these endeavours, it is impossible 
 to say. But Louis soon put a stop to them by dissolving the 
 Assembly : at whose instigation, may be easily conjectured. 
 
 As we pause at this period in the history of the Gallican 
 Church, and try to estimate its gains and losses, we have to 
 guard against the tendency to be carried away by its imposing 
 aspect, and by the greatness of the names that still adorned it. 
 It is evident that the result of recent conflicts had been, not so 
 much to extend or consolidate its liberties, as to give it a 
 change of masters. What the Pope had surrendered, the King 
 had gained. The enforcement more widely than ever of the 
 rights of the Regalia tended to produce a subservient episcopate, 
 a race of courtier prelates, who, as the century went on, proved 
 of little avail to stem the growing tide of revolution, 
 clergy during the lifetime of Louis." The identical manuscript of the 
 work, which Bossuet bequeathed to his nephew, afterwards Bishop of 
 Troyes, was discovered, in 1812, in the Royal Library at Paris. 
 
 1 See the last note but one. 
 
 - Guett^e, xi. 87. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 State of the French Church at the time of the Project. 
 
 AFTER this brief survey of what is known as Gallicanism, 
 we must proceed to notice the position of affairs in the 
 French Church during the years immediately preceding the 
 Project of Union. Anything like a full view of so wide a field 
 will be, of course, impossible. Our chief object must be to 
 ascertain what causes of dissatisfaction with Church doctrines 
 or Church government were to be found, which might account, 
 if only in some measure, for the advances made toward such a 
 union. 
 
 One of the first events of importance in the religious history 
 of France, after the transactions of the Assembly of 1682, was 
 of a nature to enhance the dignity of the See of Rome, and in 
 so far to arrest the growth of any desire to fraternize with 
 Churches not in communion with it. This was the rise 
 of Quietism, and the final submission to the Papal decrees 
 of Fenelon, its most illustrious convert. That the appeal for 
 final decision in the dispute had to be carried, or at any rate 
 was carried, to Rome, was a circumstance which markedly 
 strengthened the cause of Papal supremacy, as against 
 Gallican independence. 
 
 The mystic, or contemplative, form of piety, which on one 
 side developed into the excesses of a Molinos or a Lacombe, 
 had from the earliest times found a congenial home in France. 
 The arch-mystagogue, Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagita, was by 
 many identified with the patron saint of France. It was in 
 that country that the writings of Dionysius found their earliest 
 translators, their ablest exponents : John Scotus Erigena, 
 Hugh and Richard of St. Victor, St Francois de Sales : names 
 
20 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 worthy to rank beside Bonaventura, a Kempis, or John Tauler 
 of Strasbourg. But when Madame Guyon, reducing to an 
 absurdity the principles of Molinos, had infected, not merely 
 the impressionable nuns of St. Cyr, but an Archbishop of 
 Cambrai, it was felt by the more rational members of the 
 Church in France that a stand must be made against the 
 spread of such disorders. This led to examinations of Madame 
 Guyon, which need not be related here, and to a direct chal- 
 lenge to Fenelon to acknowledge, or publicly disavow, his 
 approbation of her principles. Bossuet, in his Instruction sur 
 les /tats doraison, which occupied him during parts of 1695 and 
 1696, submitted the doctrines of the Quietists to a searching 
 examination ; and, having done this, sent the manuscript of his 
 work to Fenelon for him to subscribe his approval to it. 
 Fenelon, resenting the application, either as being too im- 
 perious in its tone, or as involving a desertion of his old friend 
 Madame de Guyon, declined to endorse the work of Bossuet, 
 and, as his best justification, brought out in the beginning of 
 1697 his Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la Vie inte- 
 rieure. The publication of this work was hastened, by inju- 
 dicious friends, that it might anticipate the appearance of 
 Bossuet's Instruction, which it did by about a month. 
 
 Whatever the merits or demerits of the Maximes, it was 
 evident that the circumstances of its publication so increased 
 the offence given by the author, that there was little prospect 
 of the work being fairly judged in France. The King, who 
 had no capacity for understanding the Quietist doctrines on 
 their better side, and no personal liking for Fenelon, was 
 further prejudiced against him by the all-powerful Bishop 
 of Meaux. Episcopal conferences showed no indulgence 
 towards the author. And so, not unnaturally, Fenelon re- 
 solved to appeal to Rome. He wrote to Innocent XL, and 
 sought permission to go in person, to plead his cause ; but 
 this the King refused. 1 
 
 " The Roman Court," in Guettee's words, " eagerly accepted 
 
 1 Guettee, xi. 159. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 21 
 
 the Archbishop of Cambrai's reference of his cause to it. It 
 was well-pleased on this occasion to be made the final court 
 of appeal in the case of a Bishop, and to have at its feet those 
 who were lately the most active in denying the judicial 
 authority that it claimed as a right." 1 It is no part of our 
 purpose to follow the arguments used on either side in this 
 memorable appeal, or to mark the wearisome delays which 
 attended it in its successive stages. Suffice it to say that on 
 March 12th, 1699, Innocent at length issued a Brief, condemn- 
 ing as erroneous twenty-three propositions from the Maximes 
 des Saints. The result was a triumph to the French King 
 and to Bossuet, and this was generally received with favour 
 throughout the kingdom. None the less, the fact of such 
 a decision being asked and delivered at all was a concession 
 to the claims of the Papacy, and in so far a diminution of the 
 liberties of the Church of France. The government tried to 
 break the fall, by directing the metropolitans to summon the 
 bishops of their provinces to debate on the acceptance of the 
 Brief, and thus to show themselves " to be assessors of the 
 Pope, not mere followers and servants. The Avocat-General, 
 d'Aguesseau, used all his eloquence before the assembled 
 Parliament, when the document was finally to be registered, 
 August 14th, 1699, to make it appear that the Gallican 
 liberties had not been invaded ; that the Pope, " though the 
 most exalted, was yet not the sole judge of the faith ; " that 
 the French bishops had their seats after' him, but yet with 
 him ; and that the Brief would be registered with the saving 
 clause : salva priscorum canonum auctoritate? A fatal defect 
 had been acknowledged, when theological disputes between 
 Frenchmen could not be decided in France. " Every suc- 
 cessive instance of such weakness," says Jervis, 3 "damaged 
 the cause of Gallicanism ; and hence we must not be sur- 
 prised to find that the aggressions upon it became bolder and 
 more offensive, and that, although there was not wanting 
 a firm front of resistance, that resistance was made with 
 
 1 Guettee, xi. 160. 
 
 2 Jervis, ii. 157. 
 
 3 p. ' 59- 
 
22 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 diminished resources, and with less and less prospect of 
 victory." 
 
 The condemnation of the Maximes brings us very nearly 
 to the close of the seventeenth century. The succeeding 
 century opens with brilliant prospects lying before the Church 
 in France, but with clouds gathering that soon overcast the 
 sky. 
 
 The mischief that threatened lay in the revival, or supposed 
 revival, of Jansenist doctrines. Cornelius Jansen, made 
 Bishop of Ypres in 1636, and dying prematurely of the plague 
 in the following year, was one of those men whose works live 
 after them. His Augustinus^ did not see the light till 
 after his death, being published at Louvain, by the help of 
 friends, in 1640. It was condemned soon after its appearance 
 by a Bull of Urban VIII., In Emincnti, but was upheld by 
 Antoine Arnauld in his De la frcqucnte Communion, in 
 1643. It was from a distinction drawn by the legally-trained 
 intellect of Arnauld, that the terms de facto and de jure 
 came into vogue in the Jansenist controversy. When the 
 Sorbonne, being divided in their decision on five propositions, 
 alleged to be drawn from Jansen's writings, had allowed the 
 matter to be referred to Rome, Innocent X., by his Bull Cum 
 Occasione, in 1653, formally condemned them. The distinc- 
 tion de facto and de jure was now pressed into the service of 
 the disputants on one side. The Bull had not named Jansen ; 
 and it was open to his disciples to assert, that while the Pope 
 might de jure condemn the five propositions, they were not 
 de facto contained in his writings. The controversy, as all 
 are aware, soon became much more exciting by the inter- 
 vention of Pascal ; and there appeared no prospect of the 
 storm being laid to rest till 1668, when Clement IX. allowed 
 the validity of the distinction. This was regarded as a cessa- 
 
 1 Augustinus : Doctrina S. Augustini de Humana Natures sani- 
 tate, (Bgritudine, medicina; etc. Tom. i. in quo Hareses et Mores Pelagii 
 ex S. Augustino recensentur et refutantur. Tom. ii. in quo geuuina 
 sententia profundissimi Doctor is de auxilio gratia; . . . proponitur. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 23 
 
 tion of hostilities, and a medal was struck to commemorate 
 the peace. 1 
 
 But within three years a little, book was published by 
 Savreux in Paris, which was again to let loose the elements 
 of strife. The book, in its earliest form, was to all appearance 
 a very inoffensive one. It took its rise in a short collection of 
 " Pensees pieuses," made by a Father Jourdain, Superior of the 
 Congregation of the Oratoire in Paris, inserted in a collection 
 of the words of Jesus Christ. M. de Lomenie, who had been 
 Secretary of State, but had quitted worldly cares and entered 
 the brotherhood of the Oratory, prevailed on Father Quesnel, 
 newly made director of the institution, to translate these 
 " Pensees " from the Latin, and add to them a preface. When 
 some few additions had been further made, the whole was 
 published, in 167 1, under the title: Abre'ge de la morale de 
 I'Evangile, 011 pensees chretiennes sur le texte des quatre 
 cvangclistes, pour en rendre la lecture et la meditation plus 
 facile a ceux qui commencent a s'y appliquer.- 
 
 The author, or rather editor, of it, was a disciple of Arnauld. 
 It may not be improper to give a few particulars of a life 
 which St. Beuve calls " la preface indispensable et l'ouverture 
 de ce jansenisme du xviii 6 siecle." 
 
 Pasquier Quesnel came, it is said, of Scotch extraction. 
 His father, Jacques, was a bookseller ; his mother was Gene- 
 vieve Paulery. 3 Before entering the Oratory, which he did in 
 1657, he had studied for seven years in the Jesuit College of 
 Clermont, Paris. He was ordained priest in 1659, at the age 
 of twenty-six. The confidence his Society felt in him was 
 shown, as mentioned above, by his being appointed Director 
 of the Congregation in Paris. 
 
 Such was the author, and so unpretending the book, issued 
 at first with the approval of the excellent Felix Vialart, 
 Bishop of Chalons, from which such troubles were to arise. 
 
 1 See the article " Jansenists" in Blunt's Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, 
 etc., 1874. 
 
 2 Le Roy, pp. 4, 5. 
 
 3 Id., p. 6 n., quoting an entry in the Archives of the Oratory at Paris. 
 
24 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 As if to make the palinode more marked, the Jesuit confessor 
 of the King, Pere la Chaise, is said by Saint-Simon 1 to have 
 kept the Reflexions always on his table, as " an admirable 
 mine of learning and piety ; " and even Pope Clement himself, 
 who ultimately condemned the work, is said to have exclaimed, 
 after reading it, that " there was no one in Rome capable of 
 such writing." 
 
 It is a complicated story, how so innocent-looking an off- 
 spring of the press came to raise the storm it did. One cause 
 is doubtless to be found in the growth and enlargement of the 
 work itself. By 1693 it filled four octavo volumes. But even 
 in that form it bore the endorsement of De Noailles, who had 
 succeeded Vialart in the see of Chalons. During the interval, 
 however, its author had become more and more a marked 
 man. In 1684 he had left the Oratory, owing to a refusal to 
 subscribe some form condemnatory of Jansenism, and had 
 soon afterwards retired to Holland, where he attached himself 
 devotedly to Antoine Arnauld. On the death, August 8th, 
 1694, of that "simple-hearted child of the Church," as Racine 
 calls him, 2 Quesnel became the acknowledged head of the 
 party that had looked to Arnauld as its leader. Hence, by 
 the time that a new edition, following that of 1693, was in 
 contemplation, prejudices had been raised both against the 
 author and his work, which made episcopal approval of the 
 Reflexions more difficult. 
 
 Moreover, in the archbishopric of Paris a change was made, 
 just about this time, which involved important consequences. 
 In August, 1695, just a year after Arnauld, De Harlai died at 
 the age of seventy. It was expected that Bossuet would be 
 chosen to succeed him, 3 but the King was fastidious on the 
 
 1 Memoi?-es, v. 412, quoted by Le Roy, p. 12 n. But Le Roy 
 admits that these may be but the commirages of history. 
 
 2 " Sublime en ses ecrits, doux et simple de coeur, 
 
 L'Eglise n'eut jamais, m£me en ses premiers temps, 
 De plus zele vengeur ni d'enfant plus docile." 
 
 3 Jervis, ii. 89. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 25 
 
 score of high birth, and nominated Louis Antoine, brother of 
 the Due de Noailles. De Noailles had been consecrated 
 Bishop of Cahors in 1680 ; but in half a year's time had been 
 translated to Chalons-sur-Marne, where he succeeded Vialart. 
 His elevation to the arch-diocese of Paris raised the hopes of 
 the Jansenists, whose opinions De Noailles had always been 
 supposed to regard with indulgence. 
 
 Unfortunately, the new archbishop was a man in whom 
 good intentions were unsupported by strength of will. He 
 was well-meaning, but irresolute ; weak, where he should 
 have stood firm ; obstinate, when it would have been wiser 
 to yield in time. His wavering, undecided character was well 
 caught by one of the versifiers of the day : 
 
 " Et Noailles jusques au bout 
 Sera semblable a la pendule, 
 Qui vient, qui revient et recule." 
 
 He was, in fact, styled " notre reculante Eminence." 1 More 
 than once, the helm of the Church of France was absolutely 
 in his grasp, but he had not the nerve to steer, and was 
 drifted with the current. If he had possessed the calm 
 resolution and settled judgment of his contemporary Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the result, not merely of the project for 
 union, but of other movements then going on in the Gallican 
 Church, might have been very different. 
 
 It chanced that about this time a Jansenist, Father Gerberon 2 
 published a work by one of the old school of Jansenists, Martin 
 de Barcos, nephew of the well-known Abbe of St. Cyran, du 
 Vergier de Hauranne. De Barcos had been dead seventeen 
 years, and the publication of his work was an uncalled-for 
 
 1 See Le Roy, pp. 8, 9. 
 
 2 Dom Gerberon, first an Oratorian, then a Benedictine of St. Maur, 
 was described by the Abbe Legendre {Memoires, 232) as " the most eager 
 and determined of Jansenists, as well as one of the most learned." His 
 life was a stormy one. Louis XIV. tried to have him arrested at Corbie 
 Abbey in 1682, but he escaped to Holland. In 1703 he was imprisoned 
 at Amiens, at the instance of the Bishop of Malines, and afterwards at 
 Vincennes. There he remained six years, not regaining his liberty till 
 1710. He died in 171 1, at the age of eighty-three. See Le Roy, pp. 24-25. 
 
26 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 attempt to re-open old controversies, and to disturb the existing 
 settlement. But the dream of these " Calvinists saying mass," 
 as the Jesuits called them, was to bring about a Reformation 
 of the Gallican Church, in which individualist doctrines of 
 grace might thrive side by side with the rites and ceremonies 
 of Catholicism, both fostered by an unbroken hierarchy. 1 
 
 It was inevitable that Gerberon's work, which appeared 
 under the title of Exposition de la Foi catliolique touchant 
 la Grace et la Predestination, should draw upon itself hostile 
 criticism. The copies of it found in Paris were ordered to be 
 seized, and the Archbishop was applied to, to pronounce a 
 formal condemnation of it. This he could not refuse to do ; 
 and accordingly, on August 20th, 1696, he issued an Instruction 
 pastorale, in which it was duly censured. Then, when too late, 
 he became aware of the trap that had been laid for him ; of 
 the horns of the dilemma on which he had impaled himself. 
 If, as Bishop of Chalons, he had sanctioned the Reflexions of 
 Quesnel, with what conscience could he now, as Archbishop of 
 Paris, censure the Exposition of De Barcos ? The enemies of 
 De Noailles had not failed to spy their opportunity. Towards 
 the end of 1698, there was printed surreptitiously at Brussels, 
 for circulation in Paris early in the new year, a pamphlet of 
 twenty-four pages, the title of which was out of all proportion 
 to its size. It was, in full : Problcme ccclesiastique propose 
 a M. I' Abbe Boileau, de VarchevecJie, a qui Von doit croire de 
 
 1 Le Roy (p. 27 ») thinks that their aspirations may be seen realised, 
 partly in the English Episcopal Church, and partly in the Old Catholic 
 Church of Holland. This latter Church, known in Holland as the " oud- 
 Roomsch," is, according to a recent writer, " in many ways an interesting 
 body. Unlike most other sects, they remain just where they were on their 
 separation from Rome. They have retained valid orders, the celibacy of 
 the clergy, the Mass and other services in Latin. . . They profess to be 
 not only Catholics, but Roman Catholics, and they acknowledge the Pope 
 as the visible head of the Church, out of which there is no salvation." 
 See the article on the "Jansenist Church of Holland" in Addis and 
 Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, 1893. It will be remembered that it was 
 from this Church that the first Bishop of the modern "Old Catholics," Dr. 
 Joseph Hubert Reinkens, received his consecration. This was on August 
 nth, 1873, the consecrating Bishop being Dr. Heydekamp of Deventer. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 27 
 
 Messire Louis-Antoine de Noailles, eveque de Chalons en 1695, 
 ou de Messire Louis-Antoine de Noailles, archcvcque de Paris 
 en 1696. The object of the brochure is clear from the title. 
 But behind the first " Probleme " lies a second : who was the 
 author ? From which camp was the missile thrown ; from that 
 of the Jesuits ? or from that of friends, from whom De Noailles 
 might well have prayed to be saved, the more hot-headed 
 Jansenists ? Suspicion at first naturally pointed to the Jesuits. 
 The Archbishop himself to the last believed the blow to have 
 come from them. Saint-Simon, not very rationally, thought 
 the author to be the Abbe J. J. Boileau himself, a friend of the 
 Archbishop's. Jervis 1 thinks the writer was certainly Dom 
 Thierri de Viaixne, whom DAguesseau calls a " Janseniste 
 des plus outres." But Le Roy has shown from the archives 
 at Amersfoort that Dom Thierri, in a letter of October 20th, 
 171 2, absolutely denies all knowledge of the Probleme, and 
 he comes to the conclusion, by arguments which we have not 
 space to follow in detail, that the writer was a Jesuit, Pere 
 Doucin. 2 
 
 The fate which immediately befel the Probleme was to be 
 publicly burnt in front of Notre Dame ; and the Archbishop 
 was cautioned by the King as to his relations with Quesnel. 
 The impression naturally left on the popular mind was that 
 De Noailles was an undoubted supporter of the Jansenists, and 
 that any seeming coldness on his part towards them was the 
 result of political necessity. As if to make compensation for 
 any pain caused to De Noailles in this matter, Louis, before 
 the end of the year, wrote a pressing letter to Innocent XII., 
 recommending the Archbishop for advancement to the car- 
 dinalate. And when the hat came on July 22nd, 1700, the King, 
 we are told, after hearing mass, took it from the hand of the 
 Abbe de Barriere, and himself placed it on his favourite's head, 
 with the words, " Je vous la donne de bon cceur, et je souhaite 
 que vous en puissiez jouir longtemps." 3 In the course of this 
 
 1 Gallican Church, ii. 93. 
 
 2 La France ct Rome, p. 59. 
 
 ' Mc moires du Marquis de Sourches, vi. 275, quoted by Le Roy, p. 71 n. 
 
28 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 same year, Innocent XII. died, and his successor, Clement XI., 
 though naturally disposed to favour the Jesuits, had a kind 
 feeling for the new Cardinal. The summer of 1700 must have 
 been a season of hopeful anticipations for De Noailles. 
 
 But at the very time when he was absent at Rome for the 
 conclave, an intrigue was being formed to entangle him in 
 Paris. The plotters, on this occasion at least, are agreed to 
 have been not Jesuits but Jansenists. But in this case, as in 
 the one before mentioned, the implement of mischief was an 
 anonymous pamphlet. Then it was the Probleme, now a Cas 
 de Conscience. The subject of the Cas, which was composed 
 in 1 70 1, but not published till the end of 1702, was briefly this : 
 
 A priest in the town of Normandy had been accustomed to 
 hear the confessions of a brother ecclesiastic, and give him 
 absolution, as being in a right state of heart and mind. But, 
 suspicions having been raised as to the penitent's orthodoxy on 
 points of Jansenism, he had questioned him closely under that 
 head, and to his consternation had found that he was unsound 
 on the five articles condemned by Innocent X. and Alexander 
 VII. That is to say, he professed to condemn, ex animo, the 
 propositions condemned ; but, as to assigning the erroneous 
 propositions to Jansenius as their author, he thought it sufficient 
 to maintain a " respectful silence," not showing more obedience 
 than this to the decision of the Popes. 1 When the confessor 
 submitted the matter to the Doctors of the Sorbonne, asking 
 their advice as to the way in which he should proceed, the 
 general opinion was that the holding such tenets in the manner 
 described did not present a bar to absolution; and the document, 
 setting this forth, was signed by some forty of the Doctors. 2 
 
 1 Guette, xi. 203 ; Le Roy, 94. Jervis adds some other tenets, as that 
 " he did not believe the Pope to be infallible in matters of fact," and " upon 
 several other controverted topics ... he flatly contravened the favourite 
 notions of the Jesuits." 
 
 2 The form adopted was : " Les docteurs soussignes, qui ont vu 
 1'expose, sont d'avis que les sentiments de l'ecclesiastique dont il s'agit ne 
 sont ni nouveaux, si singuliers, ni condamnes par PEglise, ni tels enfin 
 que son confesseur doive exiger de lui qu'il les abandonne pour lui donner 
 l'absolution. Delibere en Sorbonne, ce 20 juillet, 1701." 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 ^9 
 
 When this became known, by the publication of the Cas 
 de Conscience at the end of 1702, as was said, or possibly a 
 little later, fresh uneasiness was caused in the minds of French 
 Churchmen. Jansenism had been thought dead, but here it 
 was breaking out in fresh life in unexpected quarters. If 
 forty Doctors of the Sorbonne could decide that the holding 
 such opinions " did not matter," to what end were all the 
 struggles and sufferings of the past half century ? As the 
 best way out of the difficulty, Bossuet suggested that the 
 Doctors should be requested to recall their decision, and this 
 suggestion was followed. Out of the forty, all but five were 
 found to be accommodating. Of these five, the names of two 
 will meet us in the correspondence, later on : — Ellies Du Pin 
 and Nicolas Petitpied. 1 
 
 The King, however, through the advice of his Jesuit coun- 
 sellors, Pere la Chaise and others, was becoming more and 
 more convinced that nothing short of a fresh papal Bull would 
 suffice to settle these disturbances once for all, and put a final 
 stop to Jansenist heresies. Negotiations for this purpose went 
 on through the year 1704. While foreign aid was thus being 
 sought for the settlement of its home disputes, the French 
 Church lost its brightest ornament, its staunchest defender, by 
 the death of Bossuet. The venerable Bishop of Meaux 
 breathed his last on April 12th, 1704, at the ripe age of 
 
 1 Of Du Pin some account is given in the next chapter. Nicolas 
 Petitpied was born in 1665. An uncle of the same name, who was himself 
 a doctor in theology, brought him up in Gallican principles, and in due 
 time sent him to the University of Paris. There he graduated with dis- 
 tinction, and rose, in 1 701, to occupy a chair in the Sorbonne. It was 
 from this post that he was now expelled, as a result of the part taken by 
 him in the Cas de Conscience. From 1705 to 1718 he shared the exile 
 of Quesnel. After being recalled to his native country at the last-men- 
 tioned date, he was banished a second time, in 1728, and finally died, 
 though not in exile, in 1747. The Bishop of Senez, writing in 17 18, bore 
 witness to the attractive qualities of the " pieux pelerin " : — " Dieu vous a 
 donne le talent de dorer ce que vous touchez, et de porter le jour parmi 
 les tenebres." In the archives at Amersfoort there is said to exist a volu- 
 minous correspondence of Petitpied, ranging over a number of years from 
 1703 onwards. — See Le Roy, pp. 11 5- 11 6. 
 
30 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 seventy-seven years. With his death, as his biographer truly 
 observes, begins a new epoch in the history of the French 
 Church. 1 His learning, his blameless life, his force of character, 
 joined to his paramount influence with the King, had enforced 
 the respect of both the great parties in that Church, and 
 compelled them, to some extent, to an armistice. When this 
 powerful control was removed, the suppressed jealousies broke 
 out into open war. 
 
 The appeal to Rome, which Bossuet, had he lived, might 
 have been able to avert, came to an issue in the following 
 year, by the publication, July 17th, 1705, of the Bull Vineam 
 Domini Sabaoth. It may seem strange that at such a period 
 of foreign wars the mind of the French King should have 
 been so absorbed in ecclesiastical affairs ; that in the very 
 year of Blenheim he should have been busy in gaining the 
 opinions of his law officers on the draft of this Bull. Some 
 writers have loved to trace in it the work of an avenging 
 nemesis ; an infatuation which followed on the harsh treat- 
 ment of the Protestant communities ; a weakness caused by 
 the draining away of the best blood of the country at the 
 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 2 
 
 Be this as it may, the King must have thought his efforts for 
 the consolidation of the Church crowned with success, when, 
 on the 3rd of August, at the meeting of the Assembly of the 
 Clergy in Paris, he was able to lay before them the Bull 
 Vineam Domini. It had cost much to obtain it. The Pope 
 had been compelled to use such caution in drawing it up, for 
 fear of offending Gallican sensibilities, that it seemed at one 
 time as if the scheme would have to be abandoned altogether. 
 
 1 " Un nouveau siecle s'ouvroit ; et deja se repandoit cet esprit inquiet 
 et novateur, dont le nom de Bossuet avoit pu seul jusqu'alors contenir 
 l'audace et les temerites. Deux partis divisoient alors PEglise de France. 
 Tous les deux, en affectant de respecter 1' autorite de Bossuet, ctaient 
 impatiens de se soustraire a l'espece de dictature que 1'opinion publique 
 lui avoit deferee. II avoit toujours su reprimer leurs ecarts, et les 
 contenir dans les bornes qu'ils n'auroient jamais du franchir pour leur 
 propre interet." Bausset : Histoire de Bossuet, 18 19, torn, iv., p. 426. 
 
 2 Comp. La Refonne en Saintonge, par E. Moutarde, 1892, pp. 16, sqq. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 31 
 
 Louis, on his side, had thought it so needful to persist in the 
 demand, as to assure the Pope, that, if the document were not 
 ready by the next meeting of the Clergy, the Assembly might 
 take the law into its own hands, and itself frame the decision 
 which had in vain been waited for from Rome. 1 Great, then, 
 must have been the vexation, both of King and Pope, when 
 the Assembly, with the Archbishop of Paris at its head, 
 instead of humbly and gratefully accepting the Bull as it was, 
 spent a week or ten days in debating upon it, and ended by 
 laying down certain articles, conditional to their acceptance. 2 
 After the Bull had been accepted, subject to these provisos, 
 the Assembly concluded its session with a letter to the Pope, 
 in which ceremonious language only half concealed the chafing 
 under dictation from without. 
 
 To punish De Noailles, who was looked upon both at the 
 French Court 3 and in Rome as the head and front of the 
 resistance, he was required . by the King's express order to 
 tender the Bull, thus received by the clergy, to the sisterhood 
 of Port Royal for their acceptance. It was a cruel and 
 arbitrary measure. The sisters of that community had done 
 nothing to deserve any severity, and if punishment must be 
 inflicted on them, it was doubly hard that the hand of De 
 Noailles should be chosen to inflict it. 
 
 The Convent of Port Royal des Champs, near Chevreuse, 
 had been an example of an institution sinking to the lowest 
 
 1 Le Roy, 176. 
 
 2 These were : " i° Que les evcques ont droit, par institution divine, de 
 juger des matieres de doctrine ; 2 0 Que les constitutions des papes 
 obligent toute l'eglise, lorsqu'elles ont ete acceptees par le corps des 
 pasteurs ; 3 0 Que cette acceptation de la part des eveques se fait toujours 
 par voie de jugement." 
 
 3 Madame de Maintenon, from being a warm friend of the Archbishop's, 
 had by this time become his active enemy. He was connected with her 
 by the marriage of his nephew, the Comte d'Ayen, with her niece, 
 Francoise d'Aubigny. The Life of Mine, de Maintenon was written by her 
 grand-nephew, the Due de Noailles, and an interesting review of the work 
 by J. J. Ampere appeared in the Revtte des deux Mondes, Nov. 15th, 1848, 
 and was afterwards included in Ampere's collected works. See his 
 Melanges, 1867, torn, ii., pp. 491-523. 
 
32 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 depths, but mercifully raised again, and restored to fresh beauty 
 and fresh usefulness. At the close of the sixteenth century 
 it was " like the majority of the religious houses in France, 
 in a state of scandalous degeneracy. Its professed rule was 
 ignored ; the nuns had ceased to observe even the law of 
 seclusion ; the prescribed routine of daily devotion and ascetic 
 exercises was exchanged for habits of frivolous amusement 
 and luxurious indulgence." 1 In 1599, Marie Angelique 
 Arnauld, a child of eight, was made coadjutrix to the Abbess. 
 In 1602, when just eleven, she was herself consecrated Abbess. 
 Yet this event, which must have seemed but an accumulation 
 of abuses, was destined to be, humanly speaking, the salvation 
 of the community. Six years later, Angelique experienced a 
 profound change in her religious feelings. She was convinced 
 that her vocation was to purify and reform the body over 
 which she had been called to preside. In brief, she restored 
 the Benedictine rule in all its integrity in the Abbey of Des 
 Champs, and lived to see the example followed through many 
 a religious house in the north of France. In 1627 the convent 
 was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Citeaux, 
 and placed under that of the Archbishop of Paris, — a step 
 destined, as we shall see, to produce the most serious mischief. 
 So far the sisters of Port Royal had not been distinguished by 
 any peculiar religious opinions ; but circumstances, which it 
 would be too long here to relate, brought Angelique into con- 
 nexion with Du Verger de Hauranne, the famous Abbot of St. 
 Cyran. St. Cyran obtained from Jansenius a formal approba- 
 tion of a work drawn up for use at Port Royal, and in 1636 was 
 himself made director of the institution. Thus it was that a 
 suspicion of Jansenism came to hang over the convent. But in 
 1668, when a compromise between contending parties had been 
 arrived at in what was known as the " Peace of Clement," 
 Port Royal had escaped molestation, being allowed to declare 
 its adhesion to orthodoxy in a qualified sense. 
 
 Unhappily for the sisterhood, the King coveted their endow- 
 
 1 Jen-is, i. 339. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 33 
 
 merits, and his mind had been prejudiced against them by the 
 foes of Jansenism. De Noailles, therefore, was to take the 
 preliminary step of requiring their acceptance of the provisions 
 of the Bull Vineam Domini ; a humiliation to himself, a snare 
 to them. They replied by offering to subscribe it, with the 
 reservation that had been allowed them in the time of Clement 
 IX. This was refused. Nor would they have been in better 
 case, had they subscribed unconditionally. It was the old 
 story of the wolf and the lamb. In 1706 the abbess was 
 prohibited by royal mandate from receiving novices for the 
 future. 1 Step by step, resistance was crushed. In March, 
 1708, Clement XI. himself joined in the work of destruction 
 by a Bull, suppressing the Abbey of Port Royal des Champs, 
 and annexing its property to the sister institution in Paris. 
 This was but making the two morsels into one, to be swallowed 
 together. On the representations of Le Tellier, successor to 
 Pere la Chaise in the office of King's confessor, Louis was 
 persuaded that no wholesome rule could be maintained in the 
 joint community, and that the nuns had better be dispersed 
 through other convents, and the " nest of heresy " scattered to 
 the winds. The King's mandate was issued accordingly ; 
 and, as if the task would be a perilous one, a force of 300 
 armed men supported the Marquis d'Argenson, lieutenant of 
 police, in the execution of it. The nuns were hastily con- 
 veyed away to other religious houses, there to be kept in a state 
 of penance. The conventual buildings, in 17 10, were levelled 
 to the ground, and the very graveyard of the sisterhood rifled, 
 the remains of those interred there being hurriedly and in- 
 decently removed. The churches of neighbouring parishes 
 contain memorials of the spoliation. The Marquis de Pom- 
 ponne was able to save the remains of some of his relatives, 
 the glory of Port Royal, the Arnaulds, and re-inter them in 
 the Church of Palaiseau. There may still be seen, over their 
 changed resting-place, the pathetic epitaph : Tandem requies- 
 cant? 
 
 No wonder that Cardinal de Noailles, though he had been 
 1 Jervis, ii. 188. 8 Le Roy, p. 288 ; Jervis, ii. 191 ; Guette'e. xi 24?. 
 D 
 
34 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 more sinned against than sinning, felt weighed down by the 
 consciousness of the part he had taken in this heinous work. 
 " Few scenes in history " writes Jervis, " are more affecting 
 than that drawn by the annalists of Port Royal of the Cardinal's 
 pilgrimage to the ruins of the desecrated sanctuary. Scourged 
 by ceaseless remorse, he resolved to seek relief by an act of 
 solemn penance performed on the spot. He proceeded thither, 
 attended only by his secretary Thomassin, a faithful monitor, 
 who had earnestly laboured to dissuade him from the policy 
 which now weighed so intolerably on his conscience. On 
 reaching the site of the abbey, he became completely unnerved 
 by emotion ; his lamentations were piteous ; he was convulsed 
 by tears and sobs. Wringing his hands in an agony of grief, 
 he cast himself upon the ground, and cried aloud to heaven for 
 mercy. ' O,' said he, ' all these dismantled stones will rise up 
 against me at the day of judgment ! O how shall I ever endure 
 this vast, this heavy load ! ' It was with difficulty that the 
 secretary succeeded in replacing him in his carriage, and bring- 
 ing him back to Paris. Nor does it appear that the poignancy 
 of his compunction was much assuaged by the lapse of time. 
 He was heart-broken ; sinking at times into a settled gloom 
 not far removed from despair." 1 
 
 The whole episode is a painful one ; but it is instructive for 
 our present purpose, as showing to what depths of bitterness 
 religious partizanship could proceed, and as helping to explain 
 the strong aversion with which the Jesuits before many years 
 came to be regarded in France. A sense of the cruel way in 
 which he had been entrapped was doubtless fresh in the mind 
 of De Noailles, when, in the next year, 171 1, he refused to 
 renew the certificates for preaching and hearing confessions 
 held by Jesuits in his diocese, — at least, by those who had 
 made themselves specially obnoxious. 2 
 
 1 Gallican Church, ii., p. 193, quoting Pontain and the Abbe Gregoire. 
 Soanen, Bishop of Senez, used to say that in the troubles which soon 
 gathered thickly about De Noailles, he saw the stones of Port Royal 
 hanging over his head. 
 
 2 Le Roy, p. 365. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 35 
 
 But we must hasten to the event which, more than any- 
 other, prepared the way for the temporary contact of the 
 French and English churches. This was the publication of 
 the Bull Unigenitus. 
 
 According to Father Lafiteau, whose evidence will not be 
 suspected of any partiality for Jansenism, the renewal of dis- 
 sensions on that subject was due to the action of two Bishops, 
 De Lescure of Lucon, and Champfiour of La Rochelle, who 
 published conjointly, in July, 1710, an Ordonnance et In- 
 struction Pastorale, containing fresh denunciations of the 
 Reflexions Morales of Quesnel. 1 According to some, the 
 real instigator of the movement was a Capucin monk, Timothee 
 de la Fleche by name, known afterwards as the " courrier de la 
 Bulle." The Instruction was printed at La Rochelle, and, 
 as soon as it was ready, copies were dispersed about the 
 kingdom, Paris, of course, receiving its full share. The book- 
 seller who acted as publisher's agent in the capital, posted up 
 notices of the publication in the usual places, and also on the 
 gates of the Archbishop's palace. Lafiteau labours to show 
 that there was nothing irregular in this last proceeding, but 
 admits that it would have been in better taste, under the 
 circumstances, not to placard the Archbishop's gates. That 
 the proceeding was improper, if not wantonly insulting, seems 
 clear from what followed. De Noailles fired up at the affront, 
 and took the unfortunate course of insisting on the expulsion 
 from the Seminary of St. Sulpice of two young students there, 
 whose only fault was that each was a nephew of one of the two 
 Bishops. So unjust and impolitic a step would have gone far 
 to turn the tide of public favour away from the Archbishop, 
 but for his two opponents putting themselves almost equally 
 in the wrong by an intemperate and unwarrantable accusation 
 of him in a letter to the King. 
 
 The acrimony with which the dispute was carried on, 
 helped to convince Louis that no permanent settlement of it 
 
 1 " II est vraisemblable quil donna lieu a la querelle qui divise aujourd'- 
 hui l'Episcopat." Hist, de la Constitution, i., p. 99. 
 
36 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 could be obtained without having recourse to the Holy See. 
 He was himself now old and infirm, more capable of holding 
 tenaciously to a purpose than of originating anything fresh. 
 And the question has hence been raised, from what quarter 
 the suggestions came which had now taken possession of the 
 royal mind. Lafiteau strives to show that the first move was 
 made by De Noailles, or, at least, that it was made with his 
 consent. 1 But St. Simon is probably right in pointing to Le 
 Tellier and his party as the real originators : — " What he 
 desired was, to make it an affair of so much embroilment and 
 dissension, that it should be of necessity carried to Rome, 
 contrary to all the laws and usages of the Church, which 
 provide that such questions shall be decided judicially on the 
 spot where they originate, saving the right of appeal to the 
 Pope." 2 
 
 Whatever motives may have prompted the King's action, he 
 went on with settled determination in the course he had 
 chosen ; and it is interesting for our purpose to notice the way 
 in which the " Gallican liberties " came to be more and more 
 infringed. In November, 171 1, the further sale and circulation 
 of Quesnel's book was prohibited by an arret of the Council of 
 State. D'Aguesseau, the Avocat-General, and Pontchartrain, 
 the Chancellor, both ventured to argue against the measure as 
 unconstitutional ; seeing that the papal Brief, previously con- 
 demning the alleged errors of the Reflexions had been held 
 to violate the liberties of the Gallican Church. The present 
 arret would be considered to sanction that Brief. But this 
 remonstrance had no effect, and in December of that year, the 
 King, through his charge" d'affaires at Rome, Cardinal 
 Tremoille, made formal application for a Bull, "distinctly 
 
 1 " Ce fut done du consentement, ou meme parle conseil de M. le Car- 
 dinal de Noailles, que le Livre du P. Quenel fut porte au Tribunal du St. 
 Siege." Histoire, i., p. 116. 
 
 2 Me'moires, torn, vi., p. 412, quoted by Jervis, ii. 207. It should be 
 added that St. Simon goes on to explain the last clause by saying that the 
 "judicial form " in which the Pope on appeal can correct or affirm a judg- 
 ment appealed against, is by a Council, at which the accused person can 
 appear. Quesnel constantly asked for this. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 37 
 
 specifying and condemning the errors contained in the Nou- 
 veau Testament of Quesnel, which the decree of 1708 had 
 only censured in general terms." 1 
 
 It is alleged by St. Simon, on the authority of M. Amelot, a 
 councillor of state despatched by the French Government to 
 Rome, that it was from the first not the wish of Clement XI. 
 to put forth any constitution on the subject. It is said that 
 he even went so far as to declare that the specification of so 
 many errors was forced upon him in order to satisfy Cardinal 
 Fabroni, and sustain the credit of Le Tellier. 2 But whether 
 this was so or not, the task was undertaken in compliance 
 with the French King's request, and Quesnel's work was 
 exposed to a searching investigation. After it had been sifted 
 at seventeen conferences of theologians, and at twenty-four 
 congregations, at which the Pope himself and nine Cardinals 
 were present, the unhappy subject of the inquest was found 
 guilty of containing no fewer than a hundred and one heretical 
 or erroneous propositions. 3 Accordingly, on September 8th, 
 171 3, with all due formalities, 4 the Bull beginning with the 
 words Unigenitus Dei Filius was launched in condemnation 
 of them. 
 
 It would be beside our purpose to discuss the doctrines here 
 condemned, or the soundness of the theology with which they 
 are declared to be inconsistent. It may suffice to say that 
 the most serious error pronounced against appears to be the 
 Jansenist tenet of the irresistible nature of Divine grace. 
 What we have to observe is the way in which the Bull was 
 refused acceptance by defenders of the rights of the French 
 Church. 
 
 When the Bull was received in France, the King consulted 
 with his advisers as to the proper mode of bringing it before 
 
 1 Jervis, ii. 209. 2 lb., ii. 226. 
 
 3 The text of the Bull itself, with a schedule of the propositions con- 
 demned, has been often reprinted, and need not be given here. It will be 
 found prefixed to the first volume of Lafiteau's Histoire, and also at the 
 end of Le Roy's France et Rome. 
 
 4 Lafiteau, i. 144. 
 
38 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 the clergy for their acceptance. The constitutional way, 
 which De Noailles and others recommended, was by provincial 
 synods. But Louis seems to have thought it would be more 
 expeditious to summon to an Assembly all such prelates as 
 were in or near Paris at the time. 1 Accordingly, on October 
 4th, this method was agreed to by the Council, and the notices 
 sent out. The meeting was called for the 16th ; Cardinal 
 de Noailles was to be the president. At the first sitting, 
 twenty-nine bishops or archbishops were present. Twenty- 
 three more subsequently joined them, making, as Le Roy 
 computes, rather more than a third, but less than half, of the 
 French episcopate. 2 
 
 Though it had been fondly hoped that the Assembly would 
 be unanimous, it soon became evident that there were serious 
 differences of opinion in it on the subject of the reception of 
 the Bull. The main body would have accepted it without 
 question, out of respect for the Holy See, and in deference to 
 the King's wishes. But right and left of this were two wings, 
 one of which would have submitted to the Pope's decision in 
 the matter, as to an infallible authority, while the other, 
 headed by the president, did not feel conscientiously able to 
 accept the Bull, unless certain qualifications or explanations of 
 it were first made. They would have repeated, in short, 
 what had already been done in case of the Bull Vineam 
 Domini. A committee, to which the matter was referred, 
 reported, on January 13th, 17 14, that the Bull should be 
 accepted, with the addition of an " Instruction pastorale," 
 to be drawn up and approved in common, in which the 
 explanations desired should be given. Naturally, De Noailles 
 and those who thought with him declined to subscribe to this 
 
 1 Le Roy, p. 479. The suggestion is there ascribed to Le Tellier. 
 
 2 lb., p. 485. Fenelon, writing to his nephew the Marquis de Fenelon, 
 September nth, 1713, speculates with eager interest on the reception the 
 bull would have. " II est fort a desirer," he says, " qu'on voie une accep- 
 tation unanime de tous : mais enfin, quand meme il arriverait qu'une 
 douzaine d'eveques refuseraient d'accepter sans quelque clause restrictive, 
 le torrent prevaudrait." — (Euvres, 1857, iii., p. 712. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 39 
 
 until the " Instruction " was forthcoming ; and when it was 
 produced, on February 1st, the same party refused their 
 assent to it, and the whole matter was brought to a standstill. 
 
 The subject of the Bull was now becoming a topic of 
 excited discussion in Paris, and many a passing epigram was 
 shot at 
 
 " Ce brief qui fait tant de fracas." 
 
 On February 5th the protesting bishops addressed a long 
 letter to the King, explaining the reasons of the course they 
 had adopted. It suited his purpose best, however, to take but 
 very slight notice of this, and to affect that the Assembly had 
 earned his thanks and compliments for their unanimous 
 compliance with his wishes. By an exercise of pressure 
 reminding us of an earlier Tudor sovereign, Louis secured the 
 registration of the Bull in Parliament, and then proceeded to 
 take the Sorbonne in like manner by storm. 
 
 Here, however, he met with an unexpected resistance. 
 Cardinal de Noailles was " Provisor " of the Sorbonne as well 
 as Archbishop of Paris ; and a mandement from him to the 
 doctors caused them to hesitate seriously before complying with 
 the King's desire. The usual monthly meeting of the Faculty 
 came on the 1st of March ; and thereupon, at half-past eight 
 in the morning, two hundred Doctors of Divinity assembled. 
 The full number should have been over two hundred and fifty, 
 but apprehension of future troubles might probably keep many 
 away. 1 Proceedings began by the reading of the lettre de 
 cachet, and a fervid address from the Syndic Le Rouge, adjuring 
 the members to reject the pestilent stock (la damnable souche) 
 of heresy. But the assembly was by no means enthusiastic 
 in the cause. The votes were divided, and at adjourned 
 meetings on the 3rd and 5th no greater unanimity prevailed. 
 The Molinist faction resorted to threats, interruptions, almost 
 to actual violence. Cries of " Laesa Majestas," " Ejiciatur," 
 " Manifesta rebellio in regem " resounded through the hall. 2 
 
 1 Le Roy, p. 575, quoting Relation des Deliberates, p. 20. 
 
 2 Petitpied of Vaubreuil, writing on March 3rd to his brother Nicolas 
 (of whom see above, p. 29), cannot find words to describe the scene in the 
 
40 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 The Jesuit Gaillande was found eavesdropping in the building, 
 and was summarily expelled. To quell opposition to the 
 King's mandate, the secretary was ordered to register the votes 
 under two headings, those of " acceptants " and " adversaries 
 to the King." Any remonstrance was met with a chorus of 
 " Mentiris." But it was not till after a sixth meeting, on 
 April 17th, 1 7 14, that the Sorbonne finally gave in. On 
 May 1st the Bull was accepted by the Faculty, with only 
 fourteen dissentients ; and from that day till the death of 
 Louis XIV. " silence weighed heavy on the Sorbonne." 1 
 
 Even this success had not been obtained without the 
 banishment of a number of the members ; a step which did 
 not tend to make the Bull more popular in France. Outside 
 the bounds of the kingdom the interest taken in it was very 
 languid. Of 466 archbishops and bishops in other Catholic 
 countries, Le Roy calculates that only twenty two or twenty- 
 three helped to promulgate the constitution. It was ignored 
 by the Orthodox Greek Church. " Among Protestants and 
 among Eastern Christians alike, the appearance of the Bull 
 called forth renewed hostility to Rome, from which had come 
 so unexpected a justification of the schism of Photius, and the 
 Reformation of Luther." 2 The learned Church historian, 
 Basnage, when asked his opinion of the measure, replied : " If 
 will be a matter of triumph for us, and we shall find in it 
 proofs of several arguments hitherto employed by us to justify 
 our separation, and to establish the defection of the Church of 
 Rome." 
 
 In face of the strong opposition to the Bull — for, though the 
 Bishops, Parliament, and the Sorbonne had been coerced or 
 won over, it was still most unpopular with parish priests, many 
 religious orders, and the laity at large — the Jesuit party were 
 perplexed what course to take. Their great supporter, Fenelon, 
 was using the brief remainder, as it proved, of his life, to 
 
 Sorbonne on that day. " Je sors de l'enfer," he says : " la salle de 
 Sorbonne etait aujourd'hui l'enfer." Le Roy, p. 577, from the archives 
 at Amersfoort. 
 
 1 Le Roy, p. 586. 2 lb., p. 595. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 41 
 
 advocate the calling of a National or a General Council. 1 
 His friends made no secret of their conviction that, in case 
 such a Council could be held, none else would be so fit as 
 he to take his seat at it as Papal legate. But for such an 
 anticipation, they would hardly have welcomed a scheme, 
 which, as one says, 2 might have proved " an emancipation big 
 with results ; one that might have inspired the ecclesiastical 
 organization of France with fresh life, fresh youth, and been 
 a step on the road towards the establishment of national 
 churches." 
 
 The scheme of a National Council of the Gallican Church 
 was taken up by the King. Louis thought he had found a 
 most promising envoy to the Papal Court, to obtain the 
 sanction of Clement XL, in M. Amelot, "one of the best 
 heads in France," as he is called by Mathieu Marais, a friend 
 of the Jesuits, but a man of honour, one who had been a 
 successful charge d'affaires at Venice, Madrid, Lisbon, and 
 elsewhere. But two causes proved fatal to the mission. 
 Amelot set off on December 12th, 1714, and arrived in Rome 
 on January 9th in the new year. But two days before that, 
 the Archbishop of Cambrai had breathed his last. This 
 materially lessened the interest of the Jesuits in the project of 
 a Council, as they felt that there was no one to take Fenelon's 
 place. 
 
 At Rome, moreover, Amelot met with nothing but dis- 
 appointment. Le Pere Timothee, of whom mention has been 
 made before, 3 had, or pretended to have, the Pope's ear. The 
 French envoy, Cardinal de Tremoille, was jealous of this 
 person, and both alike were distrustful of Amelot. By a 
 master-stroke of policy, Amelot succeeded in getting the 
 
 1 The title of one tract written by him was : Me'moire sur la necessity 
 et les moyens de ramener le cardinal de Noailles et les autres pre"lats re- 
 fractaires a I' avis de I 'assemble du clergej of another : Sur les motifs 
 qui doivent engager le Saint-Siige d envoyer la constitution Unigenitus 
 d toutes les eglises catholiques. 
 
 2 Le Roy, p. 613. 
 8 Supra, p. 35. 
 
42 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Capucin monk made Bishop of Berytus, and Coadjutor of the 
 Bishop of Babylon, which at any rate got him away from 
 Rome. But there still remained to be dealt with the imprac- 
 ticable temper of the Pope. Between him and Cardinal 
 Fabroni, even the experienced Amelot found himself baffled, 
 and the year 17 15 was wearing away in fruitless negotiations. 
 The lowest point of De Noailles's fortune seemed to be reached 
 in April, 17 15, when "a brief was addressed to him, through 
 the Nuncio, commanding him to notify his acceptance of the 
 Constitution, ' pure et simple,' within fifteen days, under pain 
 of being degraded from the Roman purple, and proceeded 
 against according to the canons." 1 But it is doubted whether 
 this letter was ever, in fact, delivered by the Nuncio. 
 
 Impatient of further delay, Louis XIV. had determined, 
 like another Henry VIII., to take the law into his own hands, 
 and summon a National Council of the French Church himself, 
 when death intervened. On July 24th, 171 5, the Chancellor 
 Voysin officially notified the King's intention. On August 1 ith 
 came the news from Marly that the King was " not so well." 
 On the morning of September 1st, as all know, the long reign 
 of Louis Quatorze was ended by his death. 
 
 With the faults or the virtues of the Grand Monarque we 
 are not now concerned. The Jesuits had good cause to lament 
 his death, for of late years, at any rate, his counsels had been 
 almost exclusively guided by them. To content them, and 
 to enforce the acceptance of the Unigenitus, he had banished, 
 or sent to the Bastille, Bishops and Doctors of the Sorbonne. 
 With the Regency, under the Due d'Orleans, came a sudden 
 change. De Tellier and his party found themselves looked 
 coldly on at Court. The smiles of royal favour shone for a 
 time again on De Noailles. 
 
 1 Jervis, ii. 227. The expressive French terms were, that he should be 
 denaturalise in France, and de'cardinalisi at Rome. Le Roy, p. 632. 
 There are among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum (No. 20,310, 
 etc.), many volumes of letters to and from the Papal Nuncio at the French 
 Court about this time, Cardinal Antonio Filippo Gualterio, the one 
 referred to in the text. 
 
STATE OF THE FRENCH CHURCH. 
 
 43 
 
 It was at this juncture, when the wind had shifted, but the 
 sky was still overcast, that the course of affairs in the French 
 Church was brought for a short time into contact with that of 
 our own. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Correspondence between Archbishop Wake and others. 
 
 WHILE such was the state of things in France, a corre- 
 spondence began between Wake, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and friends in that country, which seemed likely 
 at one time to lead to important results. We might almost 
 dignify the correspondence, in its later stages, with the title of 
 negotiations, but for the distinct understanding, more than 
 once expressed by the English representative, that what he 
 wrote must not be taken to bear any official character. As 
 the highest ecclesiastic, however, in the Church of England, it 
 was impossible for the words of Archbishop Wake to be 
 regarded as merely private or informal ; and the weight 
 attaching to them from his official position was increased by 
 the knowledge of his previous career. 
 
 William Wake, a native of Blandford in Dorsetshire, had 
 entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1672, being then only in his 
 sixteenth year. After graduating at the usual time, and 
 choosing divinity as his profession, he was ordained, and in 
 1682 accompanied Viscount Preston, another old Christ 
 Church man, to Paris, in the capacity of chaplain. Lord 
 Preston had been appointed English envoy at the Court of 
 France. Wake would thus enter the French capital in the 
 very year when a synod of the clergy there assembled per- 
 formed, to use Dr. Dorner's words, 1 " the most celebrated act 
 of Gallicanism," in putting forth the Declaratio Cleri Gallicani. 
 Resides having his attention thus turned to the French 
 Church, at an exciting moment of her history, Wake became 
 favourably known as a scholar to many of the French savants, 
 
 1 Article in the Contemporary Review, vol. xvii., p. 601. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 45 
 
 and was applied to by Bishop Fell to collate some MSS. of 
 the Greek Testament in Paris for the use of Mill's intended 
 edition. He had even ventured to break a lance with no less 
 redoubtable an opponent than Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. In 
 1671, appeared Bossuet's Exposition de la Foi Catholique, a work 
 esteemed of so much importance, as to be afterwards incor- 
 porated in the great Recueil des Actes . . . du Clerge' de France. 
 But when examined, on its first publication, by the Doctors of 
 the Sorbonne, so many points in it were marked for censure, 
 that the whole impression was withdrawn, as far as practicable, 
 and a fresh one issued before the end of the same year. In 
 this no notice of the original edition was taken. Wake, into 
 whose hands a copy of that first impression had fallen, was 
 thus able to retort upon the author of the Histoire des 
 Variations des Eglises Protestantes. This he did in the 
 preface to his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of 
 England, which appeared in 1686. He recurred to the same 
 subject afterwards, in a sermon preached before William and 
 Mary at Hampton Court, in May, 1689, when he took occasion 
 to point out the variations of doctrine among Roman Catholics 
 themselves. " How vain, then," he added, " must that argu- 
 ment be, which a late Author of the Church of Rome has with 
 so much pomp revived against us." 1 
 
 Before this, in 1688, soon after his return to England with 
 Viscount Preston, Wake had been chosen Preacher of Gray's 
 Inn. It was in keeping with the encroaching spirit shown by 
 James II., in this last year of his reign, that he sent a message, 
 we are told, 2 to the Benchers of Gray's Inn, desiring them not 
 to proceed to an election till they heard from him. They 
 were fortunate in being able to answer, " that they had already 
 chosen Dr. Wake." 
 
 It is worthy of notice that Dr. William Claget, whom Wake 
 succeeded in the Preachership of this Inn, was himself known 
 
 1 Sermon on Rom. xv. 5-7, Lond. 1689, p. 9. 
 
 2 See the art. WAKE in the Biographia Britannica. The authority 
 there given for this statement, is " Mr. Beauvoir of Canterbury," a son of 
 the Archbishop's correspondent in France. 
 
46 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 as a writer in the controversy with the Church of Rome. In 
 1687 he had published an account of the books written on 
 both sides, under the title of The Present State of the Con- 
 troversie between the Church of England and the Church of 
 Rome ; and this, which was itself a continuation of a work 
 begun by Tenison, was taken up and enlarged by Wake in 
 1688, under the heading, A Continuation of the Present 
 State of the Controversy. That one who was to succeed 
 Tenison in the highest office of the English Church should 
 succeed him in this earlier task, seems worthy of remark. 
 
 In 1693 Wake published his translation of the Epistles of 
 the Apostolical Fathers} chiefly with the view of exhibiting 
 the state of Church government in primitive times. In the 
 same year he was made Rector of St. James's, Westminster, 
 and began now to take a prominent part in the disputes about 
 Convocation. In support of the control exercised by the 
 sovereign, in this country, over the meetings of Convocation, 
 he published, in 1697, The Authority of Christian Princes 
 over their Ecclesiastical Synods ; and, in 1703, in opposition 
 to Atterbury, his great work, the State of the Church and 
 Clergy of England. In this year he was made Bishop of 
 Lincoln, and in January, 1716, on the death of Tenison, was 
 translated to the see of Canterbury. 
 
 For an apparent inconsistency of conduct in his discharge 
 of these two high offices, Wake has been often censured. 2 
 As Bishop of Lincoln, he had " distinguished himself by a 
 long and learned speech in favour of a comprehension with 
 dissenters." But in 1718 he voted and spoke in the House of 
 Lords against the repeal of the Schism and Conformity Bill, 
 and in the following year, on the same principle, he opposed 
 the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts. To ascribe this 
 change to the difference in his own rank or position is emi- 
 
 1 The Genuine Epistles of St. Barnabas, St. Ignatius, St. Clement, 
 St. Poly carp, the Shepherd of Hernias, etc. Translated and published in 
 English. London, 1693, 8vo. 
 
 2 " The inconsistency," say the authors of The English Church in the 
 Eighteenth Century, " is a blemish in his character." 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 47 
 
 nently unfair. 1 At no time of his life was his pen busier in 
 fraternal correspondence with the representatives of foreign 
 Protestant communities. 2 It is not likely that he would have 
 voted against the relaxation of legal restrictions on the non- 
 conformists of his own country, if he had not discerned some 
 dangers in the spirit in which that relaxation was now sought. 
 
 Whatever we may think of the judgment shown by Arch- 
 bishop Wake in this matter, it will be clear, from what has 
 been said, that he was specially qualified, by study and 
 inclination, to be the spokesman of the English Church in 
 the negotiations, if such they may be called, that were about 
 to be opened with divines of the Church of France. The cir- 
 cumstances which led to this interchange of opinions must 
 now be briefly related. 
 
 The chaplain to Lord Stair, English ambassador at the 
 French Court during the years with which we are concerned, 
 was the Rev. William Beauvoir, M.A., of Christ's College, 
 Cambridge. 3 As occupying the same position that Wake had 
 occupied thirty years before, it was natural that he should be 
 known to the Archbishop, with whom we find him in corre- 
 spondence in 1 7 17. He enjoyed, moreover, the friendship of 
 Du Pin, 4 De Girardin, 5 and other distinguished members of 
 
 1 See Perry, History of the Church of England, iii. 309. It is notice- 
 able that a like inconsistency was laid to the charge of Cardinal de Noailles, 
 with regard to his opinion of Quesnel's work, when Bishop of Chalons 
 in 1695, and when Archbishop of Paris in 1696. This gave rise to a jcu 
 d'esprit, on the question " a qui l'on doit croire." — See Jervis, ii., p. 92. 
 
 2 Compare his letter to Le Clerc, April 8th, 1718: "Unionem inter 
 omnes Reformatos procurare quovis pacto vellem. . . . Sed abripuit me 
 longius quam par esset, hasc semper mihi dulcis de pace ac unione Eccle- 
 siarum Reformatarum cogitatio." Wake Corresp., vol. cclviii., No. 9. To 
 the same effect a letter to Turretin, a little earlier, ib., No. 6. 
 
 3 Rector of Bocking, in Essex, 1719; died 1723. 
 
 4 Louis Ellies Du Pin is said to have been born June 17th, 1657, of a 
 noble family in Normandy. He took his Bachelor's degree in 1684, and 
 his Doctor's in 1686. He is best known by his great work, the Nouvelle 
 Bibliotheque des Auteurs eccldsiastiques , of which thirty-five volumes 
 appeared between 1698 and 171 1. Some additional volumes are mentioned 
 in the course of this correspondence. He died June 6th, 17 19. 
 
 5 This Doctor of the Sorbonne is said to have originally borne the 
 
48 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 the Gallican Church. On the 8th of April, 17 17, Du Pin 
 wrote to Beauvoir a letter, in which, after commending to him 
 a M. du Bussy, he adds, as a piece of information that will 
 interest his correspondent, the fact of four bishops having 
 appealed against the Bull Unigenitus, and of their appeal 
 being concurred in by the Theological Faculty of Paris. 1 
 
 "Je ne scais," he writes, "si vous scaues que quatre Eueques, 
 scauoir M grs de Mirepaux [Mirepoix], de Senez, de Montpelier et de 
 Boulogne, ont appelle de la Constitution Unigenitus; qu'ils sont 
 venus le 5 e mars dernier apporter leur acte d'appel a lassemblee de 
 notre facultee; quelle la approuve et y adhere. . . . Voila des 
 nouuelles que ne vous seront pas indifferentes." 2 
 
 The earliest letter of Beauvoir to the Archbishop, that 
 appears to have been preserved, is one dated December 1 ith 
 (O. S.), 17 17. It is in answer to one from Wake, dated 
 Lambeth, November 28th (O. S.), of the same year, in which 
 the subjects referred to are simply literary. Beauvoir, after 
 acknowledging what the Archbishop had written under this 
 head, adds that Du Pin and some other doctors of the 
 Sorbonne, with whom he had been dining, 
 
 " talked as if the whole kingdom was to appeal to the future general 
 council, etc. They wished for an union with the Church of England, 
 as the most effectual means to unite all the western churches. Dr. 
 Du Pin desired me to give his duty to your Grace, upon my telling 
 him that I would send you an arret of the Parliament of Paris relat- 
 ing to him, and a small tract of his." 3 
 
 name of Patrick Piers only, and to have added the surname of De 
 Girardin " to denote his extraction from a family of that name in Ireland." 
 — See the Oxford edition of Courayer's Dissertation, 1844, p. xiv n. 
 
 1 One effect of the favour shown to De Noailles by the Regent was to 
 encourage the appellant bishops and their party in the opposition to the 
 Bull. "The spirit of resistance," says Jervis (ii. 234), "showed itself in a 
 formidable shape in March, 17 17, when four bishops, De la Broue of 
 Mirepoix, Soanen of Senez, Colbert of Montpellier, and Delangle of 
 Boulogne, executed a solemn act of appeal to a future General Council 
 against the Bull Unigenitus." 
 
 1 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 4. The spelling of the French has not been 
 modernized. 
 
 3 Dec. 1 ith (O. S.)j I7'7- Quoted by Maclaine, p. 174. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 49 
 
 Wake appears to have replied to this, in a letter not preserved, 
 making courteous reference to Du Pin. 1 In acknowledging 
 this courtesy, Du Pin wrote, on February nth, 171 8, ex- 
 pressing an ardent desire for union between Churches so little 
 separated as the Anglican and Gallican : 
 
 "Unum addam cum bona venia tua, me vehementer optare, ut 
 unionis inter Ecclesias anglicanam et gallicanam ineundae via aliqua 
 inveniri posset. Non ita sumus ab invicem in plerisque dissiti, ut 
 non possimus mutuo reconciliari. Atque utinam Christiani omnes 
 essent unum ovile." 2 
 
 As this letter appears to have been forwarded to the Arch- 
 bishop by Mr. Beauvoir, inclosed in one of his own, it was to 
 the latter that Wake addressed his reply. The first overtures, 
 as we see, had come from the French side. Wake, with every 
 disposition to welcome them, felt that caution was necessary. 
 His letter shall be given entire : 3 
 
 " Feb. 14 (5. V.) 1 7 1 7 [in New Style, 17 18]. 
 
 "Reverend Sir, 
 
 " When I received the favour of yours, with that of M r Du Pin 
 enclosed, I was confined to my Chamber with a painfull distemper, 
 which, bringing a feavour along with it, has very much broke my 
 spirits, and made me altogether unfit hitherto for businesse. But 
 that I may not seem to neglect such a friendly invitation as that D r 
 made me to a future Correspondence, I have by the enclosed 
 answered it, rather as I was able under my present circumstances, 
 than as I would otherwise have wish'd to do. The D r mentions 
 one Volume already publish'd of Protestant writers criticised by him, 
 to the year 1600, and of another ready to come out." I must get 
 them as soon as he has finish'd what he designs in that Argument. 
 
 1 " En repondant a cette derniere lettre, Mgr Wake fait une mention 
 honorable de M. Du Pin, qu'il regarde comme un auteur de merite, et il 
 exprime le de"sir de lui rendre service."— D'un Projet d'union, p. 1. 
 
 2 Maclaine, p. 146. 
 
 3 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 3. 
 
 4 This refers to the volumes of the Bibliotheque des Auteurs separez de 
 la Communion de I'Eglise Romaine, of which torn, i., in two volumes, 
 appeared in 1718, and torn, ii., also in two volumes, in 17 19. Seethe 
 note above, p. 47- 
 
 E 
 
50 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Pray make my compliments and excuses to the D r , and assure him 
 that whatever else he may exceed me in, he shall not do it in a true 
 respect for his person, nor in a hearty zeal for the peace and unity of 
 the Church of Christ. 
 
 " The Church of England, as a national Church, has all that power 
 within herselfe over her own members, which is necessary to enable 
 her to settle her doctrines, government, and discipline, according to 
 the will of Christ and the edification of her members. We have no 
 concern for other Christian Churches more than that of charity, and 
 to keep up the unity of the Catholic Church in the Communion of 
 Saints. The Church of France, if it would once in good earnest 
 throw off the Pope's pretensions, has the same right and indepen- 
 dence. She may establish a different worship, discipline, &c, and in 
 some points continue to differ from us in doctrine too, and yet main- 
 tain a true communion with us, so long as there is nothing either in 
 her worship or ours to hinder the members of each Church to com- 
 municate with the other, as they have opportunity. 
 
 " I make no doubt but that a plan might be framed to bring the 
 Gallican Church to such a state, that we might each hold a true 
 Catholic Unity and communion with one another, and yet each con- 
 tinue in many things to differ, as we see the Protestant Churches do ; 
 nay, as both among them and us many learned men do differ in 
 several very considerable points from each other. To frame a 
 common confession of faith, or liturgie, or discipline, for both 
 Churches, is a project never to be accomplish'd. But to settle each 
 so that the other shall declare it to be a sound part of the Catholic 
 Church, and communicate with one another as such; — this may 
 easily be done without much difficulty by them abroad, and I make 
 no doubt but the best and wisest of our Church would be ready to 
 give all due encouragement to it. 
 
 " You cannot err in encouraging them to draw a plan for themselves, 
 but such as we may so far come into as is requisite for the ends of 
 peace and fellowship and communion with one another. 
 
 " I write this in haste, and not with a very clear head. Therefore I 
 desire you to keep it only for your own information, in answer to your 
 question how to behave yourself on such an important occasion. If 
 need require, I will think farther of this matter, and be ready to give 
 my judgment on any scheme the D 1 shall please to communicate 
 to me. 
 
 " You assure him that nothing he intrusts me with shall go any 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 51 
 
 farther than he himselfe allows it to do. I am, with great esteem, 
 Reverend Sir, your assured Friend 
 
 "W. Cant. 
 
 * # * " You should show the D r the Forms of our Consecration of 
 Bishops and Deacons." 
 
 Of the inclosed letter to Du Pin, mentioned in the fore- 
 going, we have only, so far as I can discover, two short 
 fragments, preserved by Maclaine. 1 This is to be regretted. 
 But we can discern from them that Wake was upholding the 
 purity of the English Church in faith and discipline, and 
 expressing a conviction that little would be found in it that 
 Du Pin would desire to see changed : 
 
 " Aut ego vehementer fallor, aut in ea pauca admodum sunt, quse 
 vel tu immutanda velles .... Sincere judica, quid in hac nostra 
 Ecclesia invenias, quod jure damnari debeat, aut nos atra hsereticorum, 
 vel etiam schismaticorum, nota inurere." 
 
 Again, referring to the disputes about the Constitution 
 Unigenitus, he forecasts the opportunities that may thence 
 arise : 
 
 " Si exhinc aliquid amplius elici possit ad unionem nobiscum 
 ecclesiasticam ineundam ; unde forte nova qusedam reformatio 
 exoriatur, in quam non solum ex Protestantibus optimi quique, verum 
 etiam pars magna ecclesiarum Communionis Romano-Catholicae una 
 nobiscum conveniant." 
 
 Du Pin sent a courteous reply on April 6th to the Arch- 
 bishop's letter, applauding his sentiments, and the style in 
 which they were expressed ; and forwarded at the same time 
 for Wake's acceptance, a newly-published volume of his 
 Bibliotheque : 
 
 " II est de mon deuoir de vous rendre de tres humbles actions de 
 graces de la belle & obligeante lettre, dont votre Excellence m'a 
 bien voulu honorer. Je n y ai pas moins admire la beaute du style 
 que les sentimens eleves et dignes d'un grand Prelat. Tout y respire 
 l'amour de la paix, la douceur, la moderation, la charite Chretienne ; 
 en un mot l'esprit de l'Euangile. II n y a que les eloges que vous 
 
 1 P. 147- 
 
52 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 m' y donnes, 1 que je regarde comme vn effet de votre pure bonte, 
 sachant combien je les merite peu. J'ai remis entre les mains de 
 M r de Beauuoir vn exemplaire de mon premier Tome de la 
 Bibliotheque des aideiirs Ecclesiastiques separcs de la communion 
 Romaine? Je vous prie dagreer ce petit temoignage de ma recon- 
 noissance, & d'etre persuade que je suis auec un tres profond respect, 
 " Monseigneur, 
 
 " De Votre Excellence 
 
 " Le tres humble & tres obeissant seruiteur 
 " Du Pin docteur de Sorbonne. 
 "a. Paris le vi auril 171 8." 3 
 
 So far the correspondence had not gone beyond mutual 
 expressions of goodwill. But an event presently occurred 
 which tended to bring matters to a head. This was the 
 delivery by De Girardin of an address to the Doctors of the 
 Sorbonne, at a special meeting called on March 28th, 17 18. 
 After encouraging them to proceed with a plan which had 
 been formed for drawing a line of distinction between the 
 essentials and non-essentials of the faith, he added, that such 
 a course would satisfy the members of the English Church 
 that they did not hold all papal decisions to be articles of 
 faith. The English Church, he said, moreover, might be more 
 easily reconciled to them than the Greek. The very dissen- 
 sions existing between themselves and the Roman Court 
 would at least dispel the fear of papal domination with which 
 the English were possessed, and would make their return to 
 the bosom of the Church a speedier matter than their separa- 
 tion in former times had been. The oration in full is as 
 follows : 4 
 
 " Venerande Domine Decane, 
 
 Vosque Patres sapientissimi, 
 Etsi nihil est quod Ego adjiciam tot Eruditissimorum hominum 
 sententiis, liceat tamen per vos, Patres sapientissimi, quae sentio 
 
 1 Either for "avez donnes " or " donnez." 
 
 2 See note above, p. 49. 
 
 3 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 66. 
 
 4 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 67. A short extract from it is given by 
 Maclaine, p. 148. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 53 
 
 breviter eloqui; ne aut doctoris parum esse functus officio, aut 
 patriam videar deseruisse : quorum alterutrum aut esset naturae con- 
 trarium, aut religioni, si minus noxium, at certe in hoc tam illustri 
 Doctorum ccetu non honorificum nec gloriosum. 
 
 " Sacra Facultas Parisiensis fidei suae fundamentis ad capita quaedam 
 revocandis, atque in unum volumen redigendis, hactenus idcirco 
 allaboravit, ut et quam profiteatur ipsa religionem aperiret, et populo 
 veritatem inter erroremque fiuctuanti, quod tute sequatur ex instituti 
 pietate monstraret. 
 
 " Quo igitur, cum sibi praestanda proposuerit sacer ordo, et doctis 
 fidem probare suam et indoctis sanae doctrinae facem praeferre ; huic 
 duplici muneri, meo quidem judicio, non satisfaciet rectius, quam si 
 scriptis suis ipsam theologiae mandaverit medullam, neglecto cortice, 
 id est, intempestivarum quasstiuncularum farragine, in qua nonulli, 
 quibus id suppetit otii scilicet, operose nugantur. Quid quod metus 
 est, ne leviores quaedam rei ecclesiasticae leges, quibus potest ad 
 Ecclesiae arbitrium derogari, cujusmodi sunt diversa Liturgiarum 
 idiomata, intentio Ministri, casus reservati, ccelibatus — et alia quam- 
 plurima, quae prudens praetereo — metus inquam est ne ipsis fidei 
 dogmatibus a plerisque accenseantur ; cum, omnibus his in unum 
 librum promiscue congestis, imperitum vulgus unum etiam eundemque 
 honorem habendum esse plerumque existimet. 
 
 " Huic malo si volueritis occurrere, Patres sapientissimi, omnes 
 singulosque doctrinae vestrae articulos novae incudi refingendos polien- 
 dosque committetis, praescindite quicquid redundat, quidquid prae- 
 cipuum atque adeo rei cardo est, breviter dilucideque exponite. Hac 
 via Christiana? gregis disciplinae non consultetis modo, sed et Fratri- 
 bus nostris, infelicissimarum insularum incolis, excutietis tenebras, 
 quarum delusi caligine dictitant nobis pro fidei dogmate haberi 
 quidquid vel in rebus levissimis summo Pontifici, quidquid Ecclesiae 
 etiam ad tempus servari placuerit. 
 
 " Opinionem hanc ex eorum animis evellite : sternite viam, qua 
 gentes, non tam sua quam aliena culpa transfugae, ad nostra possint 
 remeare castra. Nostis enimvero luctuosum Brittanniae fatum ; nec 
 vos latet earn, ex quo est ab Ecclesiae parentis avulsa corpore, velut 
 ramus ab arbore abscissus, non suo sed adulterino succo ita nutriri, 
 ut infinita propemodum produxerit haereseon genera, Deo asque ac 
 sibi ipsis pugnantia. 
 
 " Posset tamen exortum inter utramque Ecclesiam dissidium vobis 
 arbitris componi, et gratia ab aliquot annis intermissa denuo iniri 
 
54 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 feliciterque redintegrari. Est quidem ingens malum, sed non insana- 
 bile. Maxima? sunt occursura? difficultates, sed vobis dignissimae. 
 Qui enim fontes, olim puri atque illimes, malesana Principum iniqui- 
 tate, in impuras a recto cursu voragines sunt detorti, ii jam antiquos 
 qurerant alveos, in oceanum unde fluxerunt vobis deducentibus 
 redituri : imo crediderim Anglos in Ecclesise consortium comunio- 
 nemque reduci posse facilius quam olim Grseci sunt reducti ; et, ut 
 hie negotii minus, ita plus utilitatis et gloriae, futurum. 
 
 " Per earn igitur scientias gloriam, quam estis toto terrarum orbe 
 consecuti ; per earn flagrantissimam charitatem, cujus pio ardore 
 accensi ad extremos hominum Jappones,' propaganda? religionis 
 studio convolatis; per majestatem sanctitatemque doctrina? Christiana?, 
 cujus vos constantissimi semper prascones, saepe etiam defensores vel 
 cum vita? periculo extitistis acerrimi ; concipite animis, et aggredimini 
 tarn pulchrum opus. Habetis in hoc augustissimo doctorum ccetu 
 legiones fortissimorum pugilum, qui praelientur pra?lia Domini. 
 Facient profecto offensiones, quae vos inter et senatum Capitolinum 
 videntur intervenisse, ut Angli, deposito servitutis metu, in Ecclesia? 
 gremium revolent alacrius quam olim inde, quorumdam exosi tiran- 
 nidem, avolarunt. Meministis ortas Paulum inter et Barnabam 
 dissensiones animorum eo tandem recidisse, ut singuli propagandas in 
 diversis regionibus fidei felicius insudarint sigillatim quam junctis 
 viribus fortasse insudassent. 
 
 Itaque, Patres sapientissimi, induite vos, sicut electi Dei, sanrti et 
 dilecti, viscera misericordice : a super omnia autem Charitatem habete, 
 quod est vinculum perfectionist comunionis, et consortii : plantate et 
 rigate; Deus autem incrementum dabit* 
 
 1 Girardin may be alluding to the achievements of Xavier, the friend 
 of Ignatius Loyola, deservedly one of the glories of the Jesuit order. It 
 was in 1547 that his meeting with the Japanese Anger took place, which 
 resulted in the first Christian missions to Japan. At the time when 
 Girardin spoke, the missions of the Jesuits to China had been much more 
 in the public mind. It was about the year 1700 that the subject of the 
 " Chinese Ceremonies " was hotly debated in the French Church. The 
 Jesuit missionaries, it was asserted, had compounded for success in the 
 apparent number of conversions, by allowing many heathen rites and 
 practices to remain unchallenged. Hence, perhaps, Girardin prefers to 
 name Japan as a scene of missionary enterprise rather than China. See 
 Kurtz : Hist, of the Christian Church, ed. 1881, ii. 173. 
 
 2 Col. iii. 12. 3 lb. v. 14. 4 1 Cor. iii. 6. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 55 
 
 " Deus noster refugium et virtus? qui regis Israel, qui deducis velut 
 ovem Joseph? qui avertisii captivitatem Jacob, 3 respice in testamentum 
 tuum,* et animas pauperum tuorum ne derelinquas in finem? Exurge, 
 Domine ; judica causam tuamf et ne obliviscaris voces qucerentium te? 
 Excita potentiam tuam, et veni, ut salves populum tuum. 3 Ecce nunc 
 tempus acceptabile ; 9 conturbatce sunt gentes, et inclinata sunt regna. 1 " 
 Domine Deus virtutum, Pater misericordiarum, et Deus totius con- 
 so/ationis, n usquequo irasceris super orationem populi tui." Posuisti 
 nos in contradictionem vicinis nostris, et inimici nostri subsannaverunt 
 ?ws. Vi Deus virtutum convertere : 14 ne memineris iniquitatum nos- 
 trarum antiquarum : 13 ne reminiscaris delicta nostra, vel parentum 
 nostrorum. Respice de calo, et vide et visita vineam istam et perfice 
 earn, quam plantavit dextera tua. ie Cito anticipent nos misericordia 
 turn. 11 Reduc captivatem nostram de cunctis locis, et Icetabuntur omnes 
 qui sperant in te : in ceternutn exultabunt, et habitabis in eis. ls 
 
 "Prononce en sorbonne le 17 de mars, 1718, dans une 
 " assemblee extraordinaire de la faculte 
 " par Piers de Girardin 
 
 " Docteur en theologie de la 
 " Faculte de Paris." 
 
 A copy of the address was sent by its author to Wake, 
 along with the following letter, dated April 30th, 17 18. He 
 mentions in the course of it that he had seen the Archbishop's 
 letter to Du Pin, as had also Cardinal de Noailles. To be a 
 fellow-worker in the great work of promoting peace and 
 concord among Christians, he declares that he esteems a great 
 privilege. Nor are the flames of dissension between the 
 Gallican Church and the English so fierce that they cannot be 
 extinguished. 
 
 1 Ps. xlv. 1. 2 Ps. lxxix. I. 3 Ps. lxxxiv. 2. 
 
 4 Ps. lxxiii. 20. 5 Ps. Ixxiii. 19. 6 Ps. lxxiii. 22. 
 
 7 Ps. lxxiii. 23. 8 Ps. lxxix. 3. 9 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
 10 Ps. xlv. 7. 11 2 Cor. i. 3. 12 Ps. lxxix. 5. 
 
 13 Ps. lxxix. 7. 14 Ps. lxxix. 15. 15 Ps. lxxviii. 8. 
 
 16 Ps. lxxix. 15, 16. 17 Ps. lxxviii. 8. 18 Ps. v. 12. 
 
56 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OE UNION. 
 
 " Illustrissimo ac Reverendissimo Domino 
 Domino Guilielmo Wake, Cantuariensi 
 Archiepiscopo, Brittanniarum Primati, 
 
 Patricius Piers de Girardin, Presbyter, sacree facultatis Parisiensis 
 theologiae Doctor, S. P. D. 
 
 " Quam ad Dominum du Pin scripsisti Epistolam, earn ego ita legi 
 non semel, ut, si nomen non praetulisset tuum, e stili tamen dignitate, 
 sententiarum gravitate et pietate, rerumque difficillimarum com- 
 pendiosa facilique dilucidatione, certo colligerem, aut a doctissimo 
 Praesule esse exaratam, aut qui exarasset esse principe mitra quam 
 dignissimum. 
 
 " Senserunt hoc idem viri probi, praesertim eminentissimus Noallius ; 
 qui utrum animi perspicaciam, an mansuetudinem charitatemque in 
 scribendo tuam magis suspexerit, difficile judicium est. Expressisti 
 enim calamo, quam pectore geris pacem, concordiae studium, et 
 Christiana; charitatis dilectionem, quam Christus Dominus quo suis 
 imperavit enixius, eo nos, progenies degener, videmus impensius 
 aversari. 
 
 " Hanc ego concordiam, et redintegrandam cum Ecclesia Anglicana 
 fidei religionisque societatem, cum in Concione Sorbonica extra 
 ordinem nuper indicta suasissem fusius, protulit litteras tuas Dominus 
 du Pin, mihique legendas obtulit, ratus se non posse mihi gratulari 
 magis, quam si ostendisset, quod dixerim, litterarum etiam tuarum 
 auctoritate fulciri. 
 
 " Quare cum summo mihi honori esse ducerem, in eandem cum 
 tanto tamque illustri Praesule sententiam, quasi dedita opera, conspi- 
 rasse, statui habitam tunc temporis a me qualemcunque orationem 
 tuae Celsitudini offerendam ; non quia dignam arbitror quae tuis 
 manibus alio nomine teratur, quam quod conciliandae Christianos 
 inter paci voluntatumque consensioni a me fuit consecrata. Neque 
 enim discordiae fax nos inter et ecclesiam Anglicanam ita videtur esse 
 accensa, ut non possit opera atque pietate Prsesulum tui similium 
 feliciter extingui : immo si quo ccepisti pede perrexeris ipse, non 
 dubito quin susceptum quodamodo a Celsitudine Tua et cum laude 
 inchoatum opus gloriose sis absoluturus. 
 
 "Non deerunt qui tanti ducis auspiciis strenue rem gerunt. Conscri- 
 bunt tuae Celsitudini turmas imprimis Dominus du Pin et siqui sunt 
 verse religionis asseclae. His accedet dominus de Beauvoir, cujus ea 
 est industria, quae tua; in promovenda re Christiana pietati et famulari 
 gestiat, et possit cum laude fructuque subvenire. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 57 
 
 "Precor Deum Optimum Maximum ut Celsitudinem tuam, religionis 
 bono, diu servet incolumem. 
 
 " Datum Parisiis pridie Calendas Maii, An. 1718." 1 
 
 It might have been thought that the matter was now in a 
 fair way of progress, having been discussed in the Sorbonne 
 with no sign of disapproval. A letter received a little while 
 before from Du Pin, also enclosing a copy of his friend's 
 address, would strengthen such an impression. But Wake 
 was of too cautious a disposition to form any sanguine expec- 
 tations from a momentary success. He wrote to Beauvoir on 
 April 15th, 17 18, expressing his conviction that neither the 
 Cardinal nor the Regent would go so far as to break with Rome. 2 
 
 Du Pin, however, did not let the matter rest, and in the 
 summer of 1718 drew up a tentative scheme, showing on what 
 bases of agreement the two Churches might be re-united, to 
 which he gave the name of a Commonitorium, or paper of 
 instructions. 3 On August 18th, Beauvoir writes to the Arch- 
 bishop that he has at last got a copy of Du Pin's Commoni- 
 torium and letter for his Grace. " Tis fear'd," he says, 
 " Cardinal de Noailles is at the bottom no friend to an Union ; 
 and perhaps it had been better if the Procureur-general Jolly had 
 not as yet been inform'd with the design in hand." 4 To this 
 the Archbishop replied at some length, on August 30th, 171 8 : 
 
 " I told you in one of my last how little I expected from the present 
 pretences of such a union with us. Since I received the papers you 
 sent me, I am more convinced I was not mistaken. My task is pretty 
 hard, -and I scarce know how to manage my selfe in this matter. To 
 go any farther than I have done, even as a divine only of the Church 
 of England, may meet with censure ; and as Archbishop of Canterbury 
 I cannot treat with those Gentlemen. 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 65, 
 
 2 D'un Projet, etc., p. 4. 
 
 3 The word is used in Ammianus Marcellinus in this sense : — " Commo- 
 nitorium cum Augusti litteris tradidit." Lib. xxviii. c. I. 
 
 4 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 2. On the back of this is the rough 
 draft of the Archbishop's reply, as given in the text. The crossings out 
 and interlineations show that the writer felt it necessary to be careful in 
 what he wrote. 
 
58 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 " I do not think my character 1 at all inferior to that of an Archbishop 
 of Paris : on the contrary, without lessening 2 the authority and dignity 
 of the Church of England, I must say that it is in some respects 
 superior. If the Cardinal were in earnest for such a union, it would 
 not be below him to treat with me himselfe about it. I should then 
 have a sufficient ground to consult with my Brethren, and to ask his 
 Majestie's leave to correspond with him concerning it. But to go 
 any farther with these Gentlemen will only expose me to the censure of 
 doing what in my station I ought not without the King's knowledge ; 
 and it would be very odd for me to have an authoritative commission 
 to treat with those, who have no manner of authority to treat with me. 
 However I shall venture at some answer or other to both their letters 
 and papers, and so have done with this affair. 
 
 " I cannot tell what to say to M. du Pin. If he thinks we are to take 
 their direction what to retain and what to give up, he is utterly mis- 
 taken. I am a friend to peace, but more to Truth ; and they may 
 depend upon it, I shall always account our Church to stand upon an 
 equal foot with theirs ; and that we are no more to receive laws 
 from them, than we desire to impose any upon them. In short, the 
 Church of England is free, is orthodox : she has a plenary authority 
 within her selfe. She has no need to recur to others, to direct her 
 what to believe or what to do ; nor will we, otherwise than in a 
 brotherly way, and with a full equality of right and power, ever consent 
 to have any treaty with that of France. And therefore, if they mean 
 to deal with us, they must lay down this for a foundation, that we are 
 to deal with one another on equal terms. If, consistently with our 
 own establishment, we can agree upon a closer union with one 
 another, well : if not, we are as much, and upon as good grounds, a free, 
 independent church, as they are. And for myself, as Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, I have more power, larger privileges, and a greater 
 authority, than any of their Archbishops ; from which, by the grace of 
 God, I will not depart, no not for the sake of a union with them. 
 
 " You see, Sir, what my sense of this matter is, and may think, 
 perhaps, I have a little altered my mind since this affair was first set 
 on foot. As to my desire of peace and union with all other Christian 
 Churches, I am still the same. But with the Doctor's Commonitorium 
 
 1 Here used in the literal sense of the word, which means a stamp or 
 impress, and so the rank denoted thereby, as in Burns's well-known line. 
 Comp. Rogers: Naaman (1642), "What Characters are in your seale will 
 soon be seen by your wax." 
 
 a That is, except I lessen. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 59 
 
 I shall never comply. The matter must be put into another method ; 
 and, whatever they think, they must alter some of their doctrines, and 
 practices too, or a union with them can never be effected. Of this, 
 as soon as I have a little more leisure, I will write my mind as in- 
 offensively as I can to you, but yet freely too. If anything is to come 
 of this matter, it will be the shortest method I can take of accomplish- 
 ing it, to put them in the right way. If nothing (as I believe nothing 
 will be done in it), 'tis good to leave you under a plain knowledge of 
 what we think of ourselves and our Church ; and to let them see that 
 we neither need nor seek the union proposed, but for their sake as 
 well as our own : — or rather, neither for theirs nor ours, but in order 
 to the promotion, as far as possible, of a Catholic Communion among 
 all the Churches of Christ. 
 
 "I have now plainly opened my mind to you. You will communicate 
 no more of it to the two D rs , but keep it as a testimony of my sin- 
 cerity in this affair ; and that I have no design but what is consistent 
 both with the honour and freedom of our English Church, and with 
 the security of that true and sound doctrine which is taught in it, and 
 from which no considerations shall ever prevail with me to depart." 1 
 
 This is plain speaking indeed ; and the tone adopted by 
 Wake is in striking contrast to that of some later seekers for 
 reunion, who seem as if they could not grovel too abjectly 
 before the Bishop of Rome. Yet his apprehension of incur- 
 ring censure, even though he had gone so far short of half-way 
 to meet the French theologians, was not unfounded. Arch- 
 deacon Blackburne, in the Confessional, 2 so misrepresented 
 the Archbishop's action, as to state that this " pretended 
 champion of the Protestant religion had set on foot a project 
 for union with a Popish church ; and that with concessions in 
 favour of the grossest superstition and idolatry." The only 
 excuse that can be made for this writer is, that he could not 
 have, as we have, the actual correspondence before him. But 
 to return. Reserving till afterwards a discussion of the 
 
 1 The above is given, with some slight verbal alterations, by Machine, 
 pp. 174-177 ; and a portion of it by Jervis, ii. 438. The first section of the 
 letter has been omitted, as not bearing on the matter in hand. 
 
 2 Pref. p. lxxvi (2nd ed.). It was, in fact, to rebut these charges, that 
 Machine printed the copious extracts from the Wake correspondence 
 which he has done. 
 
6o ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 contents of the Commonitorium, or of the portion of it which, 
 unfortunately, is all that can be found, we will follow the 
 course of events as reflected in the Letters. 
 
 On August 27th (O.S.), 17 1 8, which would be September 7th 
 (N.S.) — in any case subsequent to the letter last cited — Beau- 
 voir wrote from Paris to the Archbishop. Referring to Du Pin 
 and Girardin, he says : 
 
 " The two D rs express'd their due sense of gratitude for the honour 
 your Grace is pleas'd to do them ; and desir'd me to present their 
 duty and respects to you, my Lord. . . . Your Grace hath perfectly 
 convinc'd me that there is little hope at this time of an Union. The 
 state does not seem in a condition to do it, if it was design'd ; and 
 the Drs. and Divines here are as yet too full of prejudice. But a 
 friendly correspondance may in time open insensibly their eyes, and 
 perhaps afterwards incline the Court to shake off the yoake of Rome. 
 These thoughts I keep to myself, and, according to your Grace's 
 wise commands, I conceal from them." 1 
 
 But events in Paris were now taking a turn which seemed 
 likely, by loosening the adherence of part of the Gallican 
 Church to Rome, to render it more inclined to an alliance, 
 if not a reunion, with the Church of England. 
 
 On the same day as the last, August 27th, Girardin also 
 wrote to the Archbishop, mentioning incidentally that the 
 correspondence was known to Cardinal de Noailles, who had 
 desired his hearty thanks to be conveyed to Wake for the 
 manner in which he wrote. Girardin had written in the same 
 tone of the interest taken in the matter by De Noailles, in his 
 letter of April 30th (above, p. 56). Beauvoir, writing on 
 September 14th, just afterwards, states that Du Pin assured 
 him that the project had been communicated to De Noailles, 
 " who approved of it." 
 
 What special conference with his brethren of the Sorbonne 
 Girardin refers to in what he says of their " deliberations," I 
 am not aware. But the modifications of ritual and doctrine 
 he is prepared to accept are striking. The use of images ; 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 3. The latter part is quoted by Jervis, 
 ii. 438. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 6r 
 
 prayers to saints ; Communion of the laity under one species 
 only ; papal supremacy ; elevation of the Host — are all things 
 which he says may be regarded as non-essential. 
 
 He is evidently disposed to think that the Procureur-general, 
 Joly de Fleury, will be a valuable ally. 
 
 "... Grates igitur te dignas cum tibi solvere non sit meum, 
 patiare quaeso, Praesul illustrissime, ut eminentissimi Noallii nomine 
 gratias agam tibi quam maximas ; quern tu virum, etsi nunquam 
 fortasse vidisti, novisti profecto, cum religionis v-rrepaa-iriaTiiv appellas." 
 [Litterarum ab Archiepiscopo conscriptarum urbanitatem inde 
 laudat, ipsiusque humanitatem, qui Doctores Sorbonicos 
 fratrum nomine sit dignatus.] 
 
 " Haec cum legerunt, exclamarunt a te jacta esse concordiae funda- 
 menta ; suum quoque symbolum in tam pulchri operis partem esse 
 conferendum. Deliberantibus unde potissimum auspicarentur, quidve 
 in medium nunc temporis afferrent, author fui ut a sequentibus incipe- 
 rent propositionibus, quae a vobis nobisque communi fide verissimae 
 esse creduntur. Atque ut a charitate, quae propria videtur esse 
 tuae Celsitudini virtus, exordiar, illud pro praecipuo atque adeo 
 fundamentali principio statuendum est : — 
 
 " i°. Charitas Christiana postulat, ut quae sunt uhidtyopa, quaeque 
 in utramque partem salva fide possunt agitari (quemadmodum fusius 
 doctiusque habetur in Commonitorio eruditissimi du Pin), ea non 
 aequo modo sed et fraterno vicissim animo feramus, ne mutuae di- 
 lectionis inter nos interturbetur commercium. 
 
 " 2°. Non peccat qui Deum adorat, nulla praesente Numinis 
 imagine. 
 
 " 3°. Unicuique Christiano liberum est, nullo prius implorato 
 sanctorum patrocinio Deum ipsum precari. 
 
 "4°. Nemo duxerit nefas esse, intermissam a pluribus saeculis 
 Laicorum sub duabus speciebus communionem redintegrari. 
 
 " 5°. Sacrosancta Episcoporum potestas a Deo solo, salva tamen 
 ut aiunt subordinatione, proficiscitur. 
 
 " 6°. Denique, ad sacram ovvafyv sacratissimamque Eucharistiae 
 mensam accedere possunt fideles, sine praevia, ut aiunt, hujus sacra- 
 menti elevatione. 
 
 " His recte et ut par est utrinque perpensis stabilitisque proposi- 
 tionibus, non video quomodo pacis ineundae obices sublati esse non 
 intelligantur. Et stabilientur illae quidem, unionisque in nos vinculum 
 
62 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 eo stringetur facilius, quo crebriores ad nos invicem littcras ultro 
 citroque hunc in finem miserimus .... 
 
 " Habemus hie virum divinitus oblatum, D. B. de joly de fleury, 1 
 Procuratorem regium, qui ut est loco et dignitate spectabilis, ita huic 
 promovendo negotio utilem prsestare poterit operam, et pie certe 
 quidem volet .... 
 
 "Dat. Parisiis, sexto Kal. Septembr. S.N." 2 
 
 Ever since the appeal of the four bishops, in March of the 
 previous year, 3 party spirit had been growing more dangerous 
 and threatening in the Gallican Church. The Sorbonne had 
 applauded their action ; the Inquisition at Rome had con- 
 demned it. A weak head swayed the destinies of the Church 
 in Paris ; one indifferent to all religion swayed the destinies 
 of the State. The opportunity for decided action was thus 
 presented to the Pope, and he availed himself of it. On 
 August 28th, 171 8, he promulgated the Bull Pastoralis Officii, 
 in which those who had refused submission to the Constitution 
 Unigenitus were pronounced no longer fit to be regarded as 
 children of the Church, but as " disobedient, contumacious, 
 and refractory." " Since they have departed from us and 
 from the Roman Church," the sentence ran, " if not by 
 express words, at least in fact, by manifold proofs of hardened 
 obstinacy, they must be held as separated from our charity 
 and that of the Church, and communion can no longer subsist 
 
 1 M. Joly de Fleury, according to Le Roy, "Connaissait fort bien les 
 matieres ecclesiastiques, les ayant etudiees dans sa jeunesse. II dtait 
 tonsure, quoique avocat general (lisons-nous dans les notes manuscrites 
 d'Adrien le Page). II se maria secretement et conserva quelque temps 
 ses benefices, sans doute pour les resigner a un de ses parents ; mort 
 depuis chanoine de Notre-Dame." — La France et Rome, p. 663 «. Else- 
 where (p. 562) Le Roy praises his veracity ; and Wake, in a subsequent 
 letter, speaks kindly of him. Guillaume Francois Joly de Fleury was born 
 November nth, 1675, and died March 25th, 1756. His capacity for 
 work was extraordinary. In the office of Procureur-general he succeeded 
 D'Aguesseau, who had been made Chancellor. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., eclviii., No. 92. The year is not given, but it must 
 have been 17 18. 
 
 3 See above, p. 48. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 63 
 
 between them and ourselves." 1 Let Beauvoir describe the 
 reception which this Bull met with in Paris, and the effect it 
 had on the schemes for comprehension. 
 
 In a memorandum, not signed, but in his writing, dated 
 Paris, September 14th (O.S.), 17 18, he notes that 
 
 "A Brief is lately come from Rome, not properly excommuni- 
 cating the non-acceptants, but to separate from their communion. 
 It was not receiv'd. However, it hath had this effect, that Cardinal 
 de Noailles, who hitherto declined publishing his appeal, and owning 
 it in an authentick manner, requir'd the adherence of his Chapter to 
 this Appeal, Friday last." 2 
 
 And in a letter to Wake, dated three days later : 
 
 " D r Du Pin is now out of town .... I thought the Commoni- 
 toriutn very deficient, and only the opinion of a private Doctor, yet 
 such as gave up several errors of the Romish Church. D r Dupin 
 assur'd me that he communicated his design to Cardinal de Noailles, 
 who approv'd of it. But as what hath been hitherto transacted is 
 only matter of speculation, and a charitable wish of a Christian 
 union, it can never be look'd upon as a Treaty. I was once invited 
 to wait upon the Cardinal, but I declin'd it ; as also upon the Pro- 
 cureur-General. 3 I once had a conference with D r Leger, 4 one of 
 their most eminent Divines, and told him that all that cou'd at 
 present be wish'd [was] that the Divines of both Churches might 
 correspond one with another in a friendly way, to prepare matters for 
 an Union, when God wou'd think fit to effect it. . . . The Pope's 
 late Brief to separate from those that have not receiv'd his Constitu- 
 tion Unigenitus hath oblig'd Cardinal de Noailles to own publickly his 
 appeal. Cardinal de Rohun 6 hath sent a mandate to his diocese, 
 
 1 Jervis, ii. 239. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 4. 
 
 3 M. Joly de Fleury. See note above, p. 62. 
 
 4 Described as one of the heads of the moderate Gallican party. His 
 way of formulating the vote of the theological faculty, in the debates in 
 the Sorbonne on the acceptance of the Constitution Unigenitus, was the 
 one finally accepted. See Le Roy, p. 579. He must not be confused 
 with Claude Leger, also a Doctor of the Sorbonne, who was Cure of 
 Saint Andre-des-Arcs, Paris, in 1738. 
 
 5 De Rohan, Bishop of Strasbourg, the great opponent of De Noailles. 
 For a description of him see the Me" moires of St. Simon, vi. 417. 
 
64 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 excommunicating all those that should appeal from the Constitution ; 
 and so have the Cardinal de Bissi 1 and the Bishop of Evreux 2 into 
 theirs. So that we are like to see a formal schism in France, which 
 may induce the Appellants to seek the protection of the Church of 
 England. I am assured that Cardinal de Noailles seems now earnest 
 for an Union. But that time is to discover. But I most humbly 
 presume that the only way for them to come to an Union is sincerely 
 to reform their Church. For then the Union is of course made, 
 without the formality of perhaps impracticable treaties." a 
 
 The likelihood of " a formal schism," as Beauvoir expresses 
 it, must have begun to seem not wholly imaginary. As the 
 Archbishop of Paris had appealed against the Constitution 
 Unigenihis, so he now protested against the Pastoralis Officii, 
 and in his protest had a large following. The Pope's patience 
 was exhausted. 4 What the state of feeling was in Paris and 
 in the provinces is vividly described by Beauvoir, in a letter 
 to Wake, dated October 4th, 17 18 : 
 
 "... The Sorbonne hath appeal'd in its own name from the 
 Pope's last letter, [and] confirm'd their adherence to the Cardinal of 
 Noailles' mandates. The curez of Paris, Les Peres de l'Oratoire, 
 les Carmes dechaussez, les B^nedictins de S' Germain de Prez, les 
 Augustins, the whole University, Les Chanoines de S te Genevieve, 
 and ceux de S l Victor, have also adher'd to them. Several Bishops 
 order'd [that] their mandates, excommunicating all those that had 
 already, or wou'd for the future appeal, shou'd be affix'd to the gates 
 of their palaces. But they were torn down by order of the civil 
 Magistrates." 5 
 
 1 Henri de Thiard de Bissy, who succeeded Bossuet as Bishop of 
 Meaux. He and Cardinal de Rohan were "les deux oracles de la Con- 
 stitution." 
 
 2 Le Normant : " un cuistre de la lie du peuple," as St. Simon calls 
 him. See Le Roy, p. 514. 
 
 3 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 5. The latter part of this extract is quoted 
 by Jervis, ii. 439. 
 
 4 "Mille fois," writes Lafiteau, "je vis le Saint Pere sur le point 
 d'eclater contre quelques Parlemens. . . . Je lui repre"sentai les dangers 
 d'un Schisme declare." — Histoire, torn, ii., pp. 128, 129. 
 
 8 Wake Corresp., as before, No. 6. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 65 
 
 Such being the state of things in France, the time seemed 
 to have come, even to the cautious mind of Archbishop Wake, 
 for reciprocating more openly the friendly advances made to 
 him by Drs. Du Pin and De Girardin. He accordingly wrote 
 to each of them a long and carefully-considered letter ; and 
 as the packet, being heavy, was to go with the next 
 despatches to Lord Stair, he sent notice of it to Beauvoir in 
 the following, dated October 8th, 17 18 : 
 
 "Whatever be the consequence of our corresponding with the 
 Sorbonne Doctors about matters of religion, the present situation of 
 our affairs plainly seems to make it necessary for us so to do. Under 
 this apprehension I have written, though with great difficulty, two 
 letters to your two Doctors, which I have sent to the Secretary's 
 office, to go with the next pacquet to my Lord Stair. I beg you to 
 enquire after them : they made up together a pretty thick pacquet, 
 directed to you. In that to D r Du Pin, I have, in answer to two of 
 his MSS., described the method of making bishops in our Church. 
 I believe he will be equally both pleased and surprised with it. I 
 wish you could shew him the Form of Consecration, as it stands in 
 the end of your large Common-Prayer Books. 
 
 "The rest of my letters, both to him and D r Piers, 1 is a venture, 
 which I know not how they will take, to convince them of the 
 necessity of embracing the present opportunity of breaking off from the 
 Pope, and going one step farther than they have yet done in their 
 opinion of his authority j so as to leave him only a primacy of 
 place and honour; 2 and that merely by ecclesiastical authority, as 
 he was once bishop of the imperial city. 
 
 ' " I hope they both shew 3 you my letters : they are at this time 
 very long, and upon a nice point. I shall be very glad if you can 
 any way learn how they take the freedom I have used, and what they 
 really think of it. I cannot so much trust to their answers, in which 
 they have more room to conceal their thoughts, and seldom want 4 to 
 
 1 That is, Dr. Piers de Girardin. See above, p. 47 n. 
 
 2 The Archbishop's language here should be noticed. It agrees with 
 what Pusey described as the primitive custom, " when the Bishop of Rome 
 had a precedence of dignity, not of power." — Eirenicon, 1865, p. 236. 
 
 3 The word " may " or " will " appears to be omitted. 
 
 4 That is, " seldom fail." 
 
 F 
 
66 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 overwhelm me with more compliments than I desire, or am well able 
 to bear. 
 
 " Pray do all you can to search out their real sense of, and motions 
 at the receipt of these two letters. I shall thereby be able the better 
 to judge how far I may venture hereafter to offer anything to them 
 upon the other points in difference between us : though after all I still 
 think, if ever a reformation be made, it is the State that must govern 
 the Church in it. But this between ourselves." 1 
 
 The first letter in the inclosure was to Du Pin, dated October 
 ist, 1718. In it the Archbishop acknowledges the receipt of 
 some manuscript treatises by him, referring in particular, we 
 may suppose, to the Commonitorium ; hopes that the events 
 now taking place in Rome may induce the members of the 
 Gallican Church to assert their rights ; in England they had 
 an example of freedom from the Papal domination ; the 
 Bishop of Rome, as having his see in what was anciently the 
 seat of empire, had inherited a certain prerogative, but not 
 such as to destroy the rights of kingdoms, or the standing of 
 other bishops : let them once secure in common a state of 
 independence of Rome, and unity in other matters, or at least 
 freedom to differ, will be the result. As to the Commonitorium, 
 he will only say for the present, that the very fact of Du Pin's 
 considering there to be no insuperable difference between the 
 two Churches is encouraging. If they had only full authority 
 to confer together, a way for an honourable agreement might 
 be discovered. 
 
 " Spectatissimo Viro, eruditorum sua gentis, si non et sui sozculi principi, 
 Domino L. Ell. Du Pin, Doctori Parisiensi, Gul. prov. div. Cant. 
 Arch 1 , in omnibus ebcfipovelv kw. tvTrpurTEiv.' 2 
 
 " Diu est, amplissime Domine, ex quo debitor tibi factus sum ob 
 plures tractatus MSS., quos tuo beneficio a dilecto mihi in Christo D. 
 Beauvoir accepi. Perlegi diligenter omnes, nec sine fructu ; plurima 
 quippe ab iis cognitu dignissima vel primum didici, vel clarius intel- 
 lexi : beatamque his difficillimis temporibus censeo ecclesiam Galli- 
 canam, quae talem sibi in promptu habeat doctorem, in dubiis 
 
 1 Maclaine, p. 177. 
 
 a The Greek words are so written, though the compounds thus formed 
 have, as far as I am aware, no authority. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 6 7 
 
 consiliarium, in juribus suis tuendis advocatum, qui et possit et 
 audeat non modo contra suos vel erroneos vel perfidos symmystas 
 dignitatem ejus tueri, sed et ipsi summo Pontifici, ut olim B. Apos- 
 tolus Paulus Petro, in facie m resistere, quia reprehensibilis est. 1 Atque 
 utinam haec quae jam Romae aguntur, tandem aliquando omnibus 
 vobis animum darent ad jura vestra penitus asserenda ; ut deinceps 
 non ex pragmaticis, ut olim, sanctionibus, non, ut hoc fere tempore, 
 ex concordatis, non ex praejudicatis hominum opinionibus, res vestras 
 agatis; sed ea authoritate qua decet ecclesiam tarn illustris ac prae- 
 potentis imperii, quae nullo jure vel divino vel humano alteri olim aut 
 ecclesiae aut homini subjicitur, sed ipsa jus habet intra se sua negotia 
 terminandi, et in omnibus, sub rege suo Christianissimo, populum 
 suum commissum propriis suis legibus et sanctionibus gubernandi. 
 
 " Expergiscimini itaque, viri eruditi, et quod ratio postulat nec refra- 
 gatur religio strenue agite. Hoc bonorum subditorum erga regem 
 suum officium, Christianorum erga episcopos suos, heu ! nimium 
 extraneorum tyrannide oppressos, pietas exigit, flagitat, requirit. Ex- 
 cutite tandem jugum illud, quod nec patres vestri, nec vos ferre potuistis 2 
 Hie ad reformationem non praetensam, 3 sed veram, sed justam, sed 
 necessariam ecclesiae nostrae primus fuit gradus. Qua Casaris erant, 
 Casari reddidimus ; qua Dei, Deo. Coronae imperiali regni nostri 
 suum suprematum, episcopatui suam u&av, ecclesiae suam libertatem 
 restituit, vel eo solum nomine semper cum honore memorandus, rex 
 Henricus VIII. Haec omnia sub pedibus conculcaverat idem ille 
 tunc nobis, qui jam vobis inimicus. Saepius authoritas papalis intra 
 certos fines legibus nostris antea fuerat coercita ; et iis quidem legibus, 
 quas si quis hodie inspiceret, impossibile ei videretur eas potuisse 
 aliqua vel vi vel astutia perrumpere. 
 
 "Sed idem nobis accidit quod illis, qui daemoniacum vinculis ligare 
 voluere. Omnia frustra tentata ; nihil perfecere inania legum repagula 
 contra nescio quos praetextus potestatis divinae, nullis humanis consti- 
 tutionibus subditae. Tandem defatigato regno dura necessitas sua 
 jura tuendi oculos omnium aperuit. Proponitur quaestio episcopis ac 
 clero in utriusque provinciae synodo congregatis, an episcopus 
 
 1 Gal. ii. 11. 
 
 2 Acts xv. 10. 
 
 3 In allusion to the epithet " pretendue," joined to " religion," " reforma- 
 tion," etc., in the language of French anti-reformers. Thus, in an ordon- 
 nance of the Regent, published in June, 17 16, there was forbidden the 
 practice of " la religion pretendue reformee." — La Reforme en Saintonge, 
 1892, p. 105. 
 
68 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Romanus in Sacris Scripturis habeat aliquam majorem jurisdictionem 
 in regno Anglise quam quivis alius externus episcopus? In partem 
 sanam, justam, veram utriusque concilii suffragia concurrere. Quod 
 episcopi cum suo clero statuerant, etiam regni academiae calculo suo 
 approbarunt, rex cum parliamento sancivit : adeoque tandem, quod 
 unice fieri poterat, sublata penitus potestas, quam nullse leges, nulla 
 jura, vel civilia vel ecclesiastica, intra debitos fines unquam poterant 
 continere. 
 
 " En nobis promptum ac paratum exemplum, quod sequi vobis 
 gloriosum, nec minus posteris vestris utile fuerit. Quo solo pacem 
 absque veritatis dispendio tueri valeatis, ac irridere bruta de Vaticano 
 fulmina ; quae jamdudum ostenditis vobis non ultra terrori esse, utpote 
 a Sacris Scripturis edoctis quod maledidio absque causa prolata non 
 superveniet. (Prov. xxvi. 2.) 
 
 " State ergo in libertate qua Christus vos donaverit. Frustra ad Con- 
 cilium generale nunquam convocandum res vestras refertis. Frustra 
 Decretorum vim suspendere curatis, quae ab initio injusta, erronea ac 
 absurda ac plane nulla erant. Non talibus subsidiis vobis opus est. 
 Regia permissione, authoritate sua a Christo commissa, archiepiscopi 
 et episcopi vestri in concilium nationale coeant ; academiarum, cleri 
 ac prsecipue utrorumque principis, Theologicas Facultatis Parisiensis, 
 consilium atque auxilium sibi assumant. Sic muniti quod aequum et 
 justum fuerit decernant ; quod decreverint etiam civili authoritate 
 firmandum curent; nec patiantur factiosos homines alio res vestras 
 vocare, aut ad judicem appellare, qui nullam in vos authoritatem 
 exposcere debeat, aut, si exposcat, merito a vobis recusari et poterit 
 et debuerit. 
 
 " Ignoscas, vir ToXvftadiaTarf, indignationi dicam an amori meo, si 
 forte aliquanto ultra modum commoveri videar ab iis quae vobis his 
 proximis annis acciderint. Veritatem Christi omni qua possum animi 
 devotione colo. Hanc vos tuemini : pro hac censuras pontificias 
 subiistis, et porro ferre parati estis. 
 
 " Ille, qui se pro summo ac fere unico Christi vicario venditat, veri- 
 tatem ejus sub pedibus proterit, conculcat. Justitiam veneror : ac 
 proinde vos injuste ac plane tyrannice, si non oppressos, at petitos, at 
 comminatos, at ideo solum non penitus obrutos, subversos, prostratos, 
 quia Deus furori ejus obicem posuit, nec permiserit vos in ipsius 
 manus incidere, non possum non vindicare, et contra violentum 
 oppressorem meum qualecunque suffragium ferre. 
 
 "Juraaclibertates inclyti regni, celeberrimae ecclesiae, praestantissimi 
 cleri cum honore intueor. Haec Papa reprobat, contemnit ; et dum 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 69 
 
 sic alios tractat, merito se aliis castigandum, certe intra justos 
 fines coercendum, exhibet. Si quid ei potestatis supra alios 
 episcopos Christus commiserit, proferantur tabulae, jus evincatur : 
 cedere non recusamus. Si quam praerogativam ecclesiae concilia 
 sedis imperialis episcopo concesserint (etsi cadente imperio etiam ea 
 praerogativa excidisse merito possit censeri), tamen, quod ad me 
 attinet, servatis semper regnorum juribus, ecclesiarum libertatibus, 
 episcoporum dignitate, modo in caeteris conveniatur, per me licet suo 
 fruatur qualicunque primatu. Non ego i Hi locum primum, non in- 
 anem honoris titulum invideo. At in alias ecclesias dominari ; epis- 
 copatum, cujus partem Christus unicuique episcopo in solidum 
 reliquit, tantum non in solidum sibi soli vindicare ; si quis ejus 
 injustae tyrannidi sese opposuerit, caelum ac terram in illius perniciem 
 commovere : haec nec nos unquam ferre potuimus, nec vos debetis. 
 In hoc pacis fundamento si inter nos semel conveniatur, in caeteris aut 
 idem sentiemus omnes, aut facile alii aliis dissentiendi libertatem 
 absque pacis jactura concedemus. 
 
 "Sed abripit calamum meum nescio quis ivdovariaer/ios, dum de vestris 
 injuriis nimium sum solicitus : et forte liberius quam par esset de his 
 rebus ad te scripsisse videbor. 
 
 " Ego vero uti ea omnia, quae tu in tuo Comtnonitorio exaraveris, 
 etiam ilia in quibus ab invicem dissentimus, grato animo accipio ; ita 
 ut aperte, ut candide et absque omni fuco porro ad me scribere pergas, 
 eaque -Ka^uLq. qua amicum cum amico agere deceat, imprimis a te 
 peto; eo te mihi amiciorem fore existimans, quo planius quicquid 
 censueris libere dixeris. 
 
 " Nec de Commonitorio tuo amplius aliquid hoc tempore reponam ; 
 in quo cum plurima placeant turn id imprimis, quod etiam tuo judicio 
 non adeo longe ab invicem distemus, quin si de fraterna unione 
 ineunda publica aliquando authoritate deliberari contigerit, via facile 
 inveniri poterit 1 ad pacem inter nos stabiliendam, salva utrinque 
 ecclesiae catholicae fide ac veritate. 
 
 " Quod ad alteros tuos tractatus de constitutione episcoporum in 
 ecclesiis vacantibus, siquidem Papa legitime requisitus facultates suas 
 personis a rege nominatis obstinate pernegaverit, 2 in iis sane reperio 
 
 1 This should rather be " possit." 
 
 2 The reference is plainly to a difficulty which had arisen in the previous 
 year, from the refusal by the Pope of canonical institution to prelates who 
 had been nominated to French sees. No fewer than twelve were in this 
 predicament. "Boldly confronting the difficulty," says Jervis, "the 
 
/O ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 quod non tua eruditione et judicio sit. 1 Quare ne prorsus daO^oXoc 
 discedam, ordinem tibi breviter delineabo constituendi episcopos in 
 hac reformata nostra ecclesia. 2 Tu judicabis an aliquid magis cano- 
 nice vel excogitari vel statui potuerit. 3 
 
 The tenor of the letter to De Girardin, which forms the 
 second inclosure, is similar to that of the other. The great 
 point is, that the usurped authority of the Pope must be 
 rejected. The language of Firmilianus to Pope Stephanus 
 was applicable again. If Clement XI. has declared them to 
 be separate, let them take him at his word. He congratulates 
 the Gallican Church on having such men at the head of affairs 
 as Cardinal Noailles and the Procureur-general De Fleury. 
 With leaders like them what might not the Church in France 
 accomplish ? 
 
 " Prcestantissimo viro, consummatissimo Theologo, Domino Patricio 
 Piers de Girardin, sacra Facilitate Parisiensis T/ieologice Doctori, Gul. 
 pi-ov. div. Cant. Arch* gratia m, pacem et saluiem in Domino. 
 
 "Post prolixiores epistolas eruditissimo confratri tuo, Domino 
 Doctori Du Pin, hoc ipso tempore exaratas, quasque ego paulo minus 
 tuas quam illius existimari velim, facilius a te veniam impetrabo vir 
 spectatissime, si aliquanto brevius ad te rescribam : et in illis 
 quidem animi mei vel amori vel indignationi libere indulsi, eaque 
 simplicitate, qua decet Christianum et maxime episcopum, quid vo- 
 
 Council of Regency appointed a commission of laymen, with the Due de 
 Saint Simon at its head, to inquire into the means of supplying these 
 vacancies in the episcopate without the intervention of the Roman 
 Pontiff. It was an enterprise which had already more than once terrified 
 the Vatican ; and in the present instance its result was eminently 
 successful. The tidings no sooner reached Rome, than the bulls for the 
 twelve bishoprics were dispatched with such precipitate haste, that the 
 courier who brought them expired from the effects of fatigue on reaching 
 Paris."— Gallican Church, ii. p. 239, quoting Lemontey and Picot. 
 
 1 Something appears to be wanting here. We should perhaps read : 
 " In iis nihil sane reperio quod non tua . . dignum sit." 
 
 2 Unless the Archbishop's letter was prolonged beyond what Maclaine 
 has preserved, the description here promised was meant to be supplied by 
 Beauvoir's pointing out to Du Pin the form of consecration in the Book of 
 Common Prayer. See the request made to him in the letter above, p. 65. 
 
 3 Maclaine, pp. 178-183. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 bis mea saltern sententia factu opus sit, aperte exposui. Si quid, vel 
 tuo vel illius judicio, asperius quam par esset a me exciderit, cum 
 vestri causa adeo commotus fuerim, facile id homini tarn benevole 
 erga vos animato, uti spero, condonabitis ; unaque reminiscemini 
 nullam unquam vobis stabilem inter vos pacem, aut catholicam cum 
 aliis unionem, haberi posse, dum aliquid ultra merum honoris prima- 
 tum ac irpo&piav Pontifici Romano tribuitis. 
 
 " Hoc nos per aliquot sascula experti sumus : vos jam sentire debetis, 
 qui nescio quo insano ipsius beneficio adeo commodam occasionem 
 nacti estis, non tarn ab illius decretis appellandi, quam ab ipsius 
 dominio ac potestate vos penitus subducendi. Ipse vos pro schisma- 
 ticis habet, qualem vos eum censere debetis. Ipse a vestra commu- 
 nione se suosque separandos publice denunciat. Quid vobis in hoc 
 casu faciendum ? Liceat mihi veteris illius Csesareae episcopi Firmi- 
 liani verbis respondere. 1 Sic olim Stephanum Papam acriter quidem, 
 sed non ideo minus juste, castigavit : Vide qua imperitia reprehetidere 
 audeas eos qui contra mendacium pro veritate nituntur . . . Peccatum 
 vero quam magnum tibi exaggerasti, quando te a tot gregibus scidisti : 
 excidisti enim te ipsum. Noli te fallere. Siquidem tile est vere schis- 
 maticus, qui se a communione ecclesiastics unitatis apostatam fecerit. 
 Dum enim putas omnes a te abstineri posse, solum te ab omnibus ab- 
 stinuisti. — Cypr. Op. Epist. 75. 
 
 " Agite ergo, viri eruditi, et quo divini providentia vocat, libenter 
 sequimini. Clemens Papa vos abdicavit ; a sua et suorum commu- 
 nione repulit, rejecit. Vos illius authoritati renunciate. Cathedrae 
 Petri, qua? in omnibus catholicis ecclesiis conservatur, adhaerete : 
 etiam nostram ne refugiatis communionem ; quibuscum si non in 
 omnibus omnino doctrinae Christianas capitibus conveniatis, at in 
 praecipuis, at in fundamentalibus, at in omnibus articulis fidei ad 
 salutem necessariis, plane consentitis ; etiam in ceteris, uti speramus, 
 brevi consensuri. Nobis certe eo minus vos vel haereticos vel 
 schismaticos confidite, quod a Papa ejecti pro haereticis et schisma- 
 ticis Romae aestimemini. 
 
 " Sed contrahenda vela, nec indulgendum huic meo pro vobis zelo, 
 
 1 The reference is to along letter from Firmilian, Bishop of Neo-Caesarea, 
 to Cyprian (Cypriani Opp. Ep. 75 ; in Fell's edition, p. 288), written, accord- 
 ing to Bishop Fell, in a.d. 256, in which he gives utterance to severe 
 strictures on the line of action taken by Pope Stephanus I., on the rebaptism 
 of heretics. The genuineness of the letter, which has been attempted to 
 be called in question, is supported by a strong consensus of MSS. 
 
72 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 etsi sit secundum scientiam. Prudentibus loquor ; vos ipsi quod duo 
 judicate. 
 
 " Ad literas tuas, prasstantissime Domine, redeo, in quibus uti tuum 
 de mediocritate mea judicium, magis ex affectu erga me tuo quam 
 secundum merita mea prolatum, gratanter accipio, ita in eo te nun- 
 quam falli patiar, quod me pacis ecclesiastical amantissimum credas, 
 omniaque illi consequendae danda putem, praeter veritatem. Quan- 
 tum ad illam promovendam tu jamjam contuleris, ex sex illis pro 
 positionibus, quas tuis inseruisti Uteris, gratus agnosco : ac nisi 
 ambitiose magis quam hominem privatum deceat me facturum 
 existimarem, etiam eruditissimis illis confratribus tuis doctoribus 
 Sorbonicis, quibus priores meas literas communicasti, easdem per te 
 gratias referrem. Sane facultas vestra Parisiensis ut maximum in his 
 rebus pondus merito habere debeat, sive numerum, sive dignitatem, 
 sive denique eruditionem suorum membrorum spectemus, ita a vobis 
 exordium sumere debebit unio ilia inter nos tantopere desiderata, 
 siquidem earn aliquando iniri voluerit Deus. 
 
 " Interim gratulor vobis post illustrissimum Cardinalem Noaillium, 
 alterum ilium ecclesise catholicae, fidei catholicae, columnam et 
 ornamentum, procuratorem regium D.D. Joly de Fleury ; 1 quem 
 virum ego non jam primum ex tuis Uteris debito prosequi honore 
 didici, verum etiam ob ea quae vestri causa his proximis annis publice 
 egerit, antea suspicere et pene venerari consueveram. Sub his duci- 
 bus, quid non sperandum in publicum vestrum ac catholicae ecclesiae 
 commodum ? Intonet de Vaticano Pontifex Romanus, fremant inter 
 vos ipsos conjurata turba, Romanae curias servi magis quam suae 
 Galliae fideles subditi. His praesidiis ab eorum injuriis tuti vanas 
 eorum iras contemnere valeatis. 
 
 " Ego vero, uti omnia vobis publice fausta ac felicia precor, ita tibi, 
 spectatissime vir, me semper addictissimum fore promitto. De quo 
 quicquid alias senseris, id saltern ut de me credas jure postulo : me 
 sincere veritatem Christi et amare et quasrere, et, nisi omnino me 
 fallat animus, etiam assecutum esse. Nulli Christiano inimicus 
 antehac aut fui aut deinceps sum futurus. Sic de erroribus eorum, 
 qui a me dissident, judico, ut semper errantes Deo judicandos relin- 
 quam. Homo sum; errare possum. Sic vero animatus audacter 
 dicam : haereticus esse nolo. Te vero, siquidem id permittas, fra- 
 trem ; sin id minus placeat, saltern id indulgebis ut me vere et ex 
 animo profitear, excellentissime Domine, tui amantissimum. 
 
 "W. C." 2 
 
 1 See note above, p. 62. 2 Maclaine, pp. 183-186. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 73 
 
 The way in which these letters were received by Du Pin and 
 De Girardin is notified in the following communication of 
 Beauvoir to Wake, dated Paris, October 22nd, 17 18 : 
 
 " I have deliver'd your Grace's letters to the two Doctors, who 
 think themselves highly honour'd by them . . . They are extreamly 
 satisfy'd with the account of the succession of the English Bishops. 
 For before they were in an errour about it. D r Dupin had several 
 months ago the Form of Consecration, 1 and hath it still. . . . The 
 Sorbon hath appointed twelve Doctors to prove the truth of every 
 Proposition, condemn'd by the Constitution Unigenitus, by Scripture 
 and the writings of the Fathers. They hope that the Pope will 
 excommunicate them by name, that they may have a better oppor- 
 tunity to shake off his yoake." 2 
 
 Beauvoir further writes to the Archbishop, November 5th 
 (O.S.), 1718: 
 
 "Your Grace's letter to D r Dupin hath been communicated to 
 the Cardinal de Noailles, who hath a copy of it. The Procureur- 
 General is also to have one, when he comes to town, and he is 
 expected this day. Tis blaz'd about that there is a correspondence 
 carry'd on still to unite the Gallican with our Church, and that this 
 correspondence is carry'd on with your Grace. I find that the anti- 
 constitutionists 3 industriously spread this rumour for their advantage 
 here. Your Grace's vindication of the succession of the Bishops of 
 the Church of English [sic] is allow'd by the two Doctors satisfactory." 
 
 After referring to the proceedings in the Sorbonne, Beauvoir 
 continues : 
 
 " However, D r D. is firm in trying to pass the fourth part, 4 which 
 is designed to circumscribe the exorbitant power of the Pope. I 
 conjecture, your Grace's last letter hath wrought this good effect upon 
 him, tho' he hath not declar'd it. . . . An Archbishop, tho' trampl'd 
 
 1 This refers to the request of Archbishop Wake that Beauvoir would 
 let Du Pin see the Form in the Book of Common Prayer. See above, p. 65. 
 
 2 Wake Corresft., cclxii., No. 7. 
 
 3 That is, those opposed to the acceptance of the Constitution Unigeni- 
 tus. 
 
 * This refers to the last of the four propositions submitted to the 
 Sorbonne, given afterwards at full by Du Pin in his letter to Wake, 
 December 1st of this year. 
 
74 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 upon by Rome, when tinctur'd with the purple of that Court, 1 is 
 hardly induc'd to assert his proper rights and Priviledges." 2 
 
 A little later De Girardin himself writes to the Archbishop. 
 The letter is a short and somewhat mysterious one, evidently- 
 leaving more to be explained by the bearer : 
 
 "Paris, the 7th 9 b,e , 3 N.S. [17 18]. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "Mr. Haris 4 the bearer has entered into the secret. Your Grace 
 may confide in him, as far as prudence and discretion can goe. The 
 attourney general, M r de Joly de Fleury's absence occasions my 
 silence. Your Grace shall hear from me next month. I leave the 
 rest to the discretion of Mr Haris j and am, with a most profound 
 respect and perfect veneration, My Lord, 
 
 " Your Grace's most humble and most obedient servant, 
 " P. Piers de Girardin." 3 
 
 The same feeling that some secrecy was still needful shows 
 itself in the next letter of Wake to Beauvoir. The date of it 
 is November 6th ; but as this is Old Style, it was written later 
 than De Girardin's : 
 
 "Your last letter 6 gives me some trouble, but more curiosity. I 
 little thought, when I wrote to your two Doctors, that my letters 
 should have been read, much less copies of them given to any such 
 great persons as you mention. I write in haste, as you know, and 
 trust no amanuensis to copy for me, because I will not be liable to be 
 
 1 De Noailles had been made a Cardinal in 1700. See above, p. 27. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 8. The first part of this letter is printed 
 by Jervis, ii. 439. The date there given, November 8th, is incorrect. 
 
 3 That is, November. 
 
 4 A pencilled note in the Bemivoir Corresp. indicates that this was 
 Dr. John Harris, author of the History of Kent, and other works. He 
 was born about 1667, educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where 
 he graduated B.A. in 1687 ; M.A. in 1691, and D.D. in 1699. About 1702 
 he was living in Amen Corner, in the City of London, where he taught 
 mathematics. His Lexicon Technicum, 2 vols., 1708, is regarded as 
 the progenitor of scientific encyclopaedias. He died, in destitution 
 brought on by his own imprudence, in 1719. 
 
 5 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 9. 
 
 6 The one dated November 5th.— See above, p. 73. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 75 
 
 betrayed. And upon a review of my foul 1 and only copy of them, 
 since I had your account from Paris, I find some things might have 
 been more accurately expressed, had I taken more time to correct 
 my style. But I wish that may be the worst exception against them. 
 I fear the freedom I took in exhorting them to do somewhat in 
 earnest, upon so fair a provocation, with regard to the papal authority, 
 though excused as well as I could, will hardly go down so effectually 
 as I could wish with them. 
 
 "This raises my curiosity to know truly and expressly how that part 
 of my letters operated on both your Doctors ; which, by a wary 
 observation, you may in good measure gather from their discourse. 
 I cannot tell whether they shewed my letters to you. If they did, I 
 am sure you will think I did not mince the matter with them in that 
 particular. 
 
 " Of your two Doctors, D r Piers seems the more polite. He writes 
 elegantly both for style and matter, and has the free air, even as to the 
 business of an union. Yet I do not despair of D 1 ' Du Pin, whom, 
 thirty years ago, in his collection of tracts relating to church disci- 
 pline, 2 I did not think far from the kingdom of God." 3 
 
 It is plain from what Beauvoir wrote above, that, in spite of 
 any precautions which Wake and De Girardin might think 
 fit to observe, the matter had begun to be publicly talked of 
 in Paris. The services at the Chapel of the English Embassy, 
 probably in consequence of this, were thronged by French 
 people. Beauvoir writes to Wake, November 14th (O.S.), 1718 : 
 
 " Last Sunday we had a prodigious crowd, and tho' I was oblig'd 
 to perform in English, in duty to My Lady Stair, who was at Church, 
 it being our English day, yet, after the English Prayers and Sermon 
 
 1 We should now say a " rough " copy ; but we retain the use of its 
 opposite, " fair," in this connection. 
 
 2 In 1686 Du Pin had published at Paris, in 4to, a volume of Latin 
 essays, under the title : De antiqua Ecclesia disciplina Dissertationes 
 historica. The general tendency of the writer may be inferred from a 
 few entries in the Index. Under " Romanus Episcopus" we find : "Non 
 ordinabat Patriarchas in Oriente, nec Metropolitanos in Gallia, Hispania, 
 Africa"; "Primatum habet jure divino " ; "Non habebat olim jus 
 admittendarum appellationum in judiciis Episcoporum " ; " Rejicitur ea 
 quae ipsi tribuitur infallibilitas " ; "Eum Concilio subesse ostenditur" ; 
 " Ipsum non posse reges deponere." 
 
 3 Maclaine, p. 186. 
 
76 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 were over, I directed a Psalm to be sung in French, and preach'd 
 afterwards in that language for the benefit of the numerous brethren 
 that had not understood what I said before ; and gave the Com- 
 munion afterwards to about thirty persons, most from the country." 1 
 
 Wake paid little attention to these tokens of passing excite- 
 ment, and went calmly on, shaping out in his own mind the 
 course he thought needful for the great object in view. To 
 Beau voir he writes, November 18th, 171 8 : 
 
 " Good Sir, 
 
 " Tho' I wrote to you so lately by the post, yet I cannot let Mons' 
 d'Artis 2 go from me without taking some notice of him, and recom- 
 mending him to your favour, for the little time he tarries at Paris. I 
 do also embrace this opportunity of sending a new edition of S 1 
 Clement's Epistle to M r du Pin, which he will find more carefully 
 collated with the Alexandrine MS., and more accurately set forth 
 with all the annotations (some never before printed) of learned men 
 upon it, than in any other edition before made of it." 3 
 
 Then, after alluding to the addresses in the Houses of 
 Parliament : 
 
 " But these are matters for our Politicians to consider of. They 
 no further concern us, than as we are members of the State, as well 
 as ministers of the Church, and ought to desire the welfare of the one 
 no lesse than of the other. At present, my more particular curiositie 
 leads me to know the sentiments of the leading men in France with 
 regard to the Court of Rome ; from which if we could once divide 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 10. 
 
 2 This is probably Gabriel d'Artis, the author of a work now very rare : 
 La maitresse cli du royaume des cieux, enrichie de perles du plus grand 
 prix ; ou Dissertation contre le Papisme, published anonymously in 
 London, without date. See Brunet's Manuel. D'Artis was a Protestant, 
 and, it would seem, somewhat of a rolling stone, having been for some 
 years a journalist in Holland, as well as pastor of a French church at 
 Berlin. He is said to have died in London, about 1730. 
 
 3 In the preface to the second edition of his Genuine Epistles of the 
 Apostolical Fathers, 17 10, Wake speaks of having carefully collated 
 Young's edition of St. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians with the 
 Alexandrine MS. The annotations referred to in the text are the 
 marginal notes, in which Wake had the assistance of Dr. Grabe, the 
 editor of the Septuagint. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 77 
 
 the Gallicane Church, a reformation in other matters would follow of 
 course. 
 
 " The scheme that seems to me most likely to prevail is : to agree 
 in the independence (as to all matters of authority) of every national 
 Church on any other ; of their right to determine all matters that 
 arise within themselves ; of a union with one another by circular 
 Letters, whereby a person (for example) who is excommunicated in 
 one Church shall not be received into communion by any other : and, 
 for points of doctrine, to agree as far as possible in all articles of any 
 moment (as in effect we either already do, or easily may) ; and for 
 other matters to allow a difference, till God shall bring us to a union 
 in those also. One only thing should be provided for, to purge out 
 of the public offices of the Church all such things as hinder a perfect 
 communion in the service of the Church; that so, whenever any 
 come from us to them, or from them to us, we may all join together 
 in prayer and the Holy Sacraments with each other. In our Liturgie 
 there is nothing but what they allow of, save the single rubric 
 relating to the Eucharist : 1 in theirs nothing but what they agree may 
 be layd aside, and yet the public offices be never the worse or more 
 imperfect for want of it. 
 
 " Such a scheme as this I take to be a more proper ground of peace 
 at the beginning, than to go to more particulars. If in such a 
 foundation we could once agree, the rest would more easily be built 
 upon it. 
 
 " If you find occasion, and that it may be of use, you may extract 
 
 1 This is the one placed at the end of the Communion Service, com- 
 monly called " the black rubric," as not being printed in red like the 
 others. It is really not a rubric at all, but a Declaration of Council, 
 hastily added in 1552, to explain the rubric directing Communicants to 
 kneel. Bishop Thirlwall, who will not be suspected of excessive attach- 
 ment to rites or ceremonies, condemned it in one of his Charges : — " It 
 must be admitted," he says, " that in the Declaration or Protestation, at 
 the end of the Communion Office, the Church of England has deviated 
 from her own vantage-ground to that of her adversary, and has stated the 
 question in the way most favourable to the doctrine of the Church of Rome ; 
 for it is made to turn on a purely metaphysical proposition as to the nature 
 of ' body ' : — it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at 
 one time in 7nore places than one. This is virtually to fall into the 
 Romish error, and to stake the truth of her doctrine on the soundness of 
 a scholastic speculation, which, as a Church, she has no more right to 
 deny than the Church of Rome to affirm."— See Procter : Of the Common 
 Prayer, ed. 1892, p. 383 n. 
 
78 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 this project, and offer it to their consideration, as what you take to be 
 my sense in the beginning of a treaty : not that I think we shall stop 
 here, but that, being thus far agreed, we shall the more easily go on 
 to a greater perfection hereafter. 
 
 " I desire you to observe, as much as you can, where it is that I may 
 the most properly write to your Doctors. 1 I took the subject of the 
 Pope's authority in my last, as arising naturally from the present state 
 of their affairs, and as the first thing to be settled in order to a union. 
 How my freedom in that respect has been received, I desire you 
 freely to communicate to, Good Sir, your assured friend, 
 
 W. Cant." 2 
 
 Du Pin was not hasty in replying to letters. What follows 
 is his answer, written on December ist, 171 8, to the Arch- 
 bishop's of just two months before. That this was a direct 
 reply, and that no earlier one had intervened, is obvious from 
 the reference with which it begins to the Greek salutation in 
 the Archbishop's letter. 
 
 Du Pin disclaims in it all merit for being an upholder of 
 the Gallican liberties. That, he says, is the traditional 
 principle of the Sorbonne, and had lately been stoutly main- 
 tained by his colleagues in the Faculty. He then shortly 
 reiterates the positions they were prepared to maintain ; 
 which are, in fact, almost the theses he had propounded in 
 his treatise De antiqua Ecclesice doctrina. I have not 
 transcribed the whole of the letter. It is dated : " Parisiis, 
 Kalendis Decembris, secundum stylum nostrum, anno 1718." 3 
 
 " Illustrissime ac Reverendissime Praesul : 
 Quibus in Epistolae tuae titulo me ornas laudibus, id benignitati 
 tuas, non meis meritis tribuendum existimo. Quod vero mihi appre- 
 caris ev<ppoveiv Kal ev-n-parTeiv* moniti loco esse vis ; idque tanto 
 
 1 On December 14th, 17 18, De Girardin writes to Wake, desiring him 
 to address " a M. l'abbe Piers de Girardin, Docf de Sorb., vis a vis le 
 caffe de la Providence, Rue de Betizy." — Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 1 5. 
 
 2 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 5. The latter part of the letter is printed by 
 Maclaine, p. 187. 
 
 :t Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 98. 
 4 See the note above, p. 66. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 79 
 
 auctore et auspice quantum in me erit adimplebo. Nihil est quod 
 mihi gratuleris de suscepta ssepe ssepius a me Libertatum Ecclesiae 
 defensione. Hoc et olim Gersonius, 1 Richerius, 2 aliique complures 
 majores nostri egregie praestiterunt, et nunc Theologi omnes Galli 
 paucis exceptis profitentur. Id sacra Facultas Theologiae Parisiensis 
 adversus Romanorum Pontificum vsurpationes et vltramontanorum 
 Theologorum errores prsestitit. Quid dicam quam fortiter, quam 
 gnaviter, novissime adversus Constitutionem quae incipit Vnigenitus 
 insurrexerit. Haec te docebunt acta appellationis ejus, quae ni fallor 
 D. Beauvoir ad te transmitti curavit. 
 
 " Libertates ecclesiae Gallicanae non sunt privilegia 3 ipsi peculiaria, 
 sed jus antiquum, quod retinet, et quo regitur. Ad illud firmandum 
 tendunt Pragmaticse Sanctiones S. Ludovici, et Bituricensis conventus. 1 
 Has strenue tutantur et leges regni, et regum edicta, et innumera 
 supremorum apud nos senatuum decreta. 
 
 1 For Jehan le Charlier, commonly called, from his birthplace, Gerson, 
 see A. L. Masson's Jean Gerson, sa vie, son temps, ses oeuvres, 1894 ; 
 and L esprit de Gerson, par E. le Noble de Tenneliere, 1801. The 
 great Chancellor was born at Gerson, a little hamlet, no longer existing, in 
 the parish of Barby, about four or five miles from Rethel. He was the 
 eldest of twelve children of poor parents ; born December 14th, 1363 ; 
 died July 12th, 1429. His work in upholding the independence of the 
 Gallican Church, and in healing the schism in the Papacy, by getting the 
 Council of Pisa convened, is too well known to need mention. 
 
 ' Edmond Richer was born September 30th, 1560, at Chaource, or 
 Chource, a little village in the diocese of Langres, and studied at the 
 Sorbonne, of which he became doctor in 1590, and in 1608 was elected 
 Syndic of the Faculty of Divinity. His publishing works of Gerson, and 
 (in 161 1 ) his Libellus de Ecclesiastica et Politica Potestate, drew upon 
 him the ill-will of the Ultramontane party. He was deprived of his office 
 in the Sorbonne, and afterwards imprisoned. He died November 28th, 
 1630 (according to other accounts, 1631), and was buried in the Chapel of 
 the Sorbonne. A portrait of him is prefixed to the Libellus before 
 mentioned, a work which, in spite of its name, fills two closely-printed 
 quarto volumes. See La Vie d'Edmond Richer, docteur de Sorbonne, 
 par Adrien Baillet, 1715, and Mosheim's History, tr. by Maclaine (ed. 
 181 1), iv., p. 201. 
 
 3 So le citoyen Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, when preaching in Notre 
 Dame at the opening of the National Convention, June 29th, 1801, 
 speaking of the rights of the Gallican Church, said : " Faut-il repeter 
 que ce ne sont pas des privileges ? C'est le droit commun de toutes les 
 eglises." 
 
 4 See above, p. 7. 
 
8o ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 (i.) " Si 1 Pontifex recuset electo a Rege consuetas dare litteras, jus 
 nobis est secundum ipsa Concordata ordinationes in Gallia a Metro- 
 politano juxta morem antiquum peragi. 
 
 (2.) "Circa causas Ecclesiasticas, quae ex Gallia emergunt, nulloe 
 Romas judicantur, sed ab Episcopis regni, a quorum judiciis pro- 
 vocatur ad Metropolitanum. 
 
 (3-) " Quod Romani Pontificis jurisdictionem in regnum spectat, ea 
 coercitur [sic] tarn arctis limitibus, ut nihil nobis obesse possit ; nec 
 enim potest quidquam in temporalia, et in spiritualibus intra Canonum 
 antiquorum regulas continetur. 
 
 (4). " Primatum ejus, id est, inter Episcopos primum tenere locum, 
 ut tota antiquitas affirmat, et ipsi Graeci (licet a Romana ecclesia 
 diuulsi) fatentur, agnoscimus. Sed primatus ille non ei dat superiorem 
 gradum inter Episcopos : eorum tantum coepiscopus est, licet inter 
 Episcopos primus." 
 
 The extract which follows was thought by Dr. Pusey to be 
 of special interest to the readers of his Eirenicon? " as 
 illustrating how earnest the good old man was in his love for 
 peace and union, and on what terms he thought it might be 
 effected." It shall therefore be given in his version : 
 
 " In these days 3 I have read the book of William Forbes, 4 Bishop 
 of Edinburgh, entitled Considerationes modestoz et pacificoz Con- 
 troversiarum, etc., London, 1658. The Bishop seems to be of the 
 same mind as you and I ; for the whole subject of the work turns on 
 
 1 In this and the following sections are the four propositions referred 
 to by Beauvoir in his letter to Wake (see above, p. 73). For clearness, I 
 have prefixed the numbers to them. 
 
 2 Ed. 1865, p. 235. 
 
 3 Too literal a rendering of the Latin idiom for "within the last few 
 days," or " lately." 
 
 4 William Forbes, born 1585, died 1634, was the first Bishop of Edin- 
 burgh, the see having been almost created for him, so high did he stand in 
 the estimation of Charles I. His principles made him obnoxious to the 
 Scottish Presbyterians ; but all admitted that he was a men of great learn- 
 ing and piety. In his Bibliotheque des auteurs separez de la Communion 
 de PEglise Romaine, torn. ii. (1719), pp. 583-591, Du Pin analyses the 
 opinions advanced in Forbes's Considerationes, quoted in the text, and 
 adds that " ce livre peut etre tres utile pour contribuer a la reunion de 
 l'Eglise Anglicane avec la Romaine." See also the article by the Rev. 
 James Cooper in the Diet. 0/ National Biography. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Si 
 
 this, to show that the controversies between us may easily be settled, 
 if only the fairer Theologians are heard on both sides, if dictating is 
 avoided, and we are led, not by party spirit, but by love of seeking the 
 truth. 1 The posthumous works of Lancelot [Bishop Andrewes], 
 published a.d. 1629, aim at the same end.' 2 I propose to transcribe 
 from these and other works of the like sort, and from those of the 
 more peace-loving on our side, testimonies to each Article, side by 
 side, and to send them to you." 
 
 From the beginning of the next letter, it would seem that 
 Beauvoir had found some opportunity of carrying out the 
 Archbishop's desire, and submitting his " project " to the con- 
 sideration of his friends at the Sorbonne. But both began to 
 feel that, unless more decided counsels prevailed, little progress 
 would be made. The indecision of Cardinal de Noailles, above 
 all, was fatal. That " honnete pusillanime," as Le Roy calls 
 him, had been threatened by the Regent with the terrors of 
 the Canon law, if he held out longer against the wishes of the 
 
 1 In the Latin : "Utostendat facile conciliari posse eas qua? sunt inter 
 nos controversias, si modo asquiores audiantur, ab injuriis abstineatur, 
 nec partium studio sed quaerendse tantum veritatis amore ducamur." 
 
 With this may well be compared the closing words of a contemporary 
 writer, Sir Peter King, who, towards the end of his Enquiry (1713), says, 
 in a kindred spirit : — " Our disputes are only about lesser matters, about 
 modes and forms, about gestures and postures, and such like inferior 
 matters ; about which it should grieve a wise man to quarrel ; and which 
 •with the greatest ease in the world might be composed and settled, if 
 managed by men of prudence and moderation." 
 
 2 The xcvi Sermons of Bishop Andrewes (b. 1555, d. 1626) were not 
 published till after his death, when, by the King's command, they were 
 edited by Bishop Laud and J. Buckeridge. But Du Pin may be rather 
 thinking of the Opiiscula quadam posthuma, which were published in 
 1629 ; especially as in the Bibliotheque des auteicrs separez, ii., p. 593, 
 he says of Andrewes : " II avoit encore fait plusieurs discours sur differens 
 sujets importans, prononcez et ecrits en Anglois, qui ont e'te traduits en 
 Latin, et imprimez apres sa mort a Londres en 1629." Du Pin was 
 evidently impressed by the learning and moderation of the Bishop of 
 Winchester. He concludes his account of him with the words : " II etoit 
 bon Theologien, parloit sagement et methodiquement, etoit fort modere 
 dans ses sentimens, et plus ennemi des Calvinistes que des Catholiques 
 Romains. Son style est simple, mais male, et tel qu'il convient a un 
 Docteur en Th^ologie et a un Eveque." 
 
 G 
 
82 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Pope in the matter of the Pastoralis Officii ; 1 and he had bent 
 before the storm. As the safest way of extricating himself, he 
 had, about this time, resigned his seat in the Council of 
 Conscience. 2 A less hopeful tone is now perceptible in the 
 letters of the English correspondents. The following, of Wake 
 to Beauvoir, is dated December 2nd, Old Style, 171 8, and may 
 therefore possibly be later than Beauvoir's next, the date of 
 which is not so described : 
 
 " I am glad the two Doctors seem to receive my last letters so well. 
 The truth is that, while they manage as they do with the Court of 
 Rome, nothing will be done to any purpose, and all ends in trifling at 
 the last. We honestly deny the Pope any authority over us. They 
 pretend, in words, to allow him as much as is consistent with what 
 they call their Gallican privileges : but, let him ever so little use it 
 contrary to their good liking, they protest against it, appeal to a 
 general council, and then mind him as little as we can do. 
 
 " In earnest, I think we treat his Holiness not only with more 
 sincerity, but more respect than they. For to own a power, and yet 
 keep a reserve to obey that power only so far and in such cases as we 
 make ourselves judges of, is a greater affront, than honestly to confess 
 that we deny the power, and for that reason refuse to obey it. But 
 my design was partly to bring them to this, and partly to see how they 
 would bear at least the proposal of totally breaking off from the Court 
 and Bishop of Rome. 
 
 " What you can observe or discover more of their inclinations in 
 this particular will be of good use ; especially if it could be found out 
 what the Court would do, and how far that may be likely to coun- 
 tenance the clergy in such a separation. In the mean time, it cannot be 
 amiss to cultivate a friendship with the leading men of that side, who 
 may in time be made use of to the good work of reforming in earnest 
 the Gallican Church. I am a little unhappy that I have none here I 
 yet dare trust with what I do; though I am satisfied most of our 
 high-church bishops and clergy would readily come into such a design. 
 But these are not men either to be confided in, or made use of, by 
 your assured friend 
 
 "W. Cant." 
 
 " P.S. Did Cardinal de Noailles know what authority the Archbishop 
 
 1 Lafiteau, ii. 129. See also above, p. 62. 
 
 2 Jervis, ii. 240. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 83 
 
 of Canterbury has gotten by the Reformation, and how much greater 
 a man he is now than when he was the Pope's Legatus natus, 1 it might 
 encourage him to follow so good a pattern, and be assured, in that 
 case, he would lose nothing by sending back his cardinal's cap to 
 Rome. I doubt your Doctors know little of these matters." 2 
 
 Beauvoir writes in much the same strain, December 9th, 
 1718 : 
 
 " They labour under great difficulties, which yet with God's bless- 
 ing may easily be overcome. It is as clear as the day, that, unless 
 they honestly and without prevarication assert broadly the authority 
 of their Church, they'll labour still under as great inconvenience as 
 formerly, and that the Court of Rome will be at last too hard for 
 them, and contrive heavyer chains to load them with, when a fit 
 occasion offers." 3 
 
 What Wake had said about "having none here whom he 
 yet dare trust with what he did," is incidentally confirmed by 
 what Dr. Harris writes to Beauvoir. Harris, it will be re- 
 membered, was the bearer of a letter from De Girardin to the 
 Archbishop. 4 
 
 "Dec. 11 th 1 7 18. Soho Square. 
 "... I visited lately the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, with a 
 letter from D r Pierce : 5 who made a very honourable mention of 
 you, and make no doubt has it in his heart to find some recompence 
 suitable to so ancient and considerable a merit as yours. 6 I had some 
 discourse with his Grace upon the affairs of the Sorbonne, to which 
 he is disposed to concur with his utmost assistance ; though as yet 
 
 1 A Legatus natus was a legate not specially appointed {legatus datus), 
 but ex officio. According to Walcott, the Archbishop of Canterbury was 
 the Pope's Legatus natus from 1 195 till the Reformation. " The one relic 
 of this office is his power of giving Lambeth degrees." — Sacred Archaeology, 
 1868, p. 347. 
 
 2 Maclaine, pp. 188-189. 
 
 3 Jervis, ii. 439. 
 
 4 See above, p. 74. 
 
 5 That is, Dr. Piers de Girardin. 
 
 6 Though I have not thought it necessary to trouble the reader with 
 them, it is only fair to add, as completing a true picture, that many of 
 Beauvoir's letters to the Archbishop contain reminders of his claim to 
 some preferment. 
 
84 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 he has communicated no part of that great and valuable design to 
 any of his brethren the Bishops, finding, as I'm afraid, some indis- 
 positions at home ; which, like deformities in a fair body, 'tis our 
 prudence to hide, and throw a mantle over them as decently as we 
 can." 1 
 
 So far as there was any necessity for reserve, Wake appears 
 to have succeeded better in keeping his proceedings unnoticed 
 in England, than his correspondents had done in France. 
 
 " The business of the Union of the two Churches," writes Beauvoir 
 to him on the last day of the year, " hath made a noise both here 
 and at Rome." 
 
 And again, on the 14th of February following : 
 
 "All the town rings of an Union, and many declare openly that 
 they wish it." " I could wish," he adds in the previous letter, "that 
 Mr. Barbe, chaplain to the Dutch ambassador, had not given Cardinal 
 de Noailles and the curez of Paris grounds to be dissatisfied. He 
 hath acted with a great deal of zeal, but did not consider he was in 
 Paris." 2 
 
 We may perhaps infer from this, that curiosity about a 
 leading topic of the day in Paris had impelled numbers to 
 attend the chapels of the embassies of the Protestant states, 
 and that the chaplain at the Hotel d'Hollande had either 
 indiscreetly encouraged this, or had brought into prominence 
 topics on which he and the English chaplain would not be at 
 one. 
 
 Writing on February nth, 1 7 19, Beauvoir mentions that 
 " the women put in prison for going to the Dutch ambassador's 
 chappel are intirely oblig'd to my Lord Stair for their inlarge- 
 ment." 3 Even a year later he speaks of " seven Protestants 
 imprison'd the day before, coming from his Excellency's 
 Chappel." " They threaten," he adds, " to suffer no French 
 to resort to our Congregations, and to place Guards within 
 
 1 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 6. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclxii., Nos. 15, 17. 
 
 3 lb., No. 16. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 85 
 
 twenty paces of our Hotel, to take up those that come to it 
 upon Sundays." 1 
 
 Whatever interest these details might have for the Arch- 
 bishop, he did not suffer his attention to be diverted by them 
 from the main actors. Writing to Beauvoir, January 23rd 
 (O.S.), 1718-19, he says : 
 
 " When you see my letter (for I conclude the Doctor will shew it 
 you), 2 you may do well to bring on the discourse of our episcopal 
 rights and privileges in England ; and particularly of the prerogatives of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, which I believe are greater than those 
 of the Archbishop of Rheims, or of all the Archbishops in France. 
 This may raise in them a curiosity to know more of this matter : 
 which if they desire, I will take the first little leisure I have to give 
 them a more particular account of it. 
 
 " We must deal with men in their own way, if we mean to do any 
 good with them. They have been used to a pompous ministry ; and, 
 like the Jews heretofore, would despise the Messiah himself, if he 
 should come in a poor and low estate to them. And therefore, 
 though, for myself, I account all temporal grandeur as nothing, and 
 am afraid it has rather hurt the Church of Christ, and the true spirit 
 of piety and religion, than done any real service to either ; yet it may 
 be the means of disposing these gentlemen to a more favourable 
 thought of and inclination towards a reformation, to convince them 
 that they may return to the truth of Christianity, and leave the 
 corruptions of Rome, without losing any honour, any power, that a 
 servant of Christ would desire to be troubled withal. 
 
 " Had the first reformers in France yielded to this scheme, as we 
 in England shewed them an example, the whole Gallican Church 
 had come in to them, and been at this day as we are now. We must 
 therefore hit off the blot which they made, and satisfy their ambition 
 
 ' Wake Corresp., ib., No. 77, dated February 3rd, 1719-20. The numbers 
 attending may be inferred from his mention of "about 210 communicants " 
 the Sunday week before ; and again, under date May 19th, 1719, " I gave 
 four times last week the Communion privately, and last Sunday to above 
 150 persons. We had about 400 hearers. The Dutch about 800, and 
 400 communion [sic], and yesterday about 150." Ib., No. 30. 
 
 2 The letter referred to is probably the inclosure in one dated January 
 18th, spoken of in the next of February 5th. If so, it does not appear to 
 have been preserved. 
 
86 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 so far as to shew them that they may reform, without giving up either 
 their authority or revenues, and be still as great, but much better, 
 bishops, under our circumstances than under their own. 
 
 " As to the Pope's authority, I take the difference to be only this : 
 that we may all agree, without troubling ourselves with the reason, to 
 allow him a primacy of order in the episcopal college. They would 
 have it thought necessary to hold communion with him, and allow 
 him a little canonical authority over them, as long as he will leave 
 them to prescribe the bounds of it. We fairly say 1 we know of no 
 authority he has in our realm. But, for actual submission to him, 
 they as little mind it as we do. 
 
 " At present he has put them out of his communion. 2 We have 
 withdrawn ourselves from his. Both are out of communion with him ; 
 and I think it is not material on which side the breach lies." 3 
 
 The publicity, which the correspondence between Du Pin 
 and the English Archbishop was rapidly gaining, now com- 
 pelled the French government to interfere. De Noailles, 
 when questioned on the subject, would give no definite 
 answer ; and so an order was given to seize the letters and 
 papers connected with it in the possession of Du Pin. The 
 date of the order, as we learn from Lafiteau, was February 
 ioth. The proceedings described by Beauvoir, in a letter 
 written two days earlier, must, therefore, have been only 
 preliminary. His use of initials for the names of the Abbe 
 du Bois and others, suggests an affectation of mystery. 
 
 "Paris, 8 th Feb ry 17 19, (S. N.) 4 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I flatter myself that Your Grace hath receiv'd D r Dup's 
 letter, and the Books sent by M r Smith, and likewise those directed 
 to M r Vaillant. 
 
 "Since I have acquainted you, My Lord, that the Procur 1 Gnll 
 
 sent for D r D to have exact account of his correspondance in 
 
 England, Mons r 1' abbe du B by the Regent's order summon'd 
 
 1 That is, " say outright." 
 
 2 By the Bull Pastoralis Officii. See above, p. 62. 
 
 3 Maclaine, pp. 190-191. 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. no. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 87 
 
 him to appear at his Hotel, and seem'd satisfy'd with what had been 
 transacted therein ; but desir'd he might see the original letters the 
 D r hath received, which the D r hath transmitted. Mons r l'abbe" 
 
 du B spoke with due respect and veneration of Your Grace. 
 
 Some of the chief of the Sorbon have intreated Lord Stair to wait 
 
 upon M r L'abbe du B. to state this matter right, fearing D r Dup 
 
 might have made some mistake. For it is perceiv'd his unweary'd 
 labours have very much impair'd him. 
 
 " D r P hath been several times to wait upon Mr L'a. du B , 
 
 and hath even writ to him to shew what steps have been made for 
 an Union. Some people believ'd that D r P. would soon be sent 
 for, if the Court was angry, and that my Lord Stair wou'd speak to 
 me about that affair. But neither hath D r P. been cited nor spoken 
 to. Which makes some friends believe that the Puissances are not 
 displeas'd, and that those who wish the peace and concord of all 
 Christian Churches need not despair." 
 
 Then follows an account of the prodigious crowds at Lord 
 Stair's public entry into Paris on the preceding Sunday, and 
 of the writer himself, as chaplain, " in a silk gown and cassock 
 of Raa 1 de S* Maur." 
 
 " The Dutch ambassador's Chaplain's zeal hath hurt those people. 
 Last Sunday sennight six women were carry'd to Prison, coming 
 from the Dutch ambassador's House. One is relas'd, because she 
 is a Genevois's wife, but the others are still in prison " 
 
 As the Jesuit Father Lafiteau was present at the Palais- 
 royal when Du Pin's papers were brought in for examination, 
 it will be interesting to compare his account of the matter 
 with Beauvoir's. 
 
 "Autre entreprise," he writes, 2 "que j'aurois eu de la peine a 
 croire, si je n'en avois vu les Actes originaux, c'dtoit le projet d'unir 
 le Parti des Oposans a l'Eglise Anglicane. Le Docteur Dupin, si 
 connu en Sorbonne par ses exces, 3 en avoit fait un Traite entier. II 
 
 ! "Ras de Saint-Maur" was a kind of silk stuff, the name being formed 
 like " Ras de Saint-L6," " Ras de Chalons." St. Maur was noted for its 
 mulberry trees. Why Beauvoir should spell the word " Raa," I cannot tell. 
 
 2 Histoire, ii., pp. 138-139. 
 
 3 This description of the " good old man," as Pusey calls him, shows to 
 what lengths party-spirit will go. In a Lettre adressce a VAuteur de la 
 
88 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 y avoit long-tems qu'on le s^avoit dans une dtroite liaison et dans une 
 relation continuelle avec M r l'Archeveque de Cantorbdry, c'est a dire, 
 avec l'homme que l'Eglise Anglicane a de plus distingue par le rang. 
 D'abord on suposa que ce commerce de lettres etoit un devoir de 
 pure civilite. Dans la suite on y soupgonna du mistere. II en tran- 
 spira quelque chose. On y eut l'ceil. Enfin, on parvint a la connois- 
 sance du plus abominable complot qu'un Docteur Catholique ait pu 
 tramer en matiere de Religion. L'Apostasie n'eut jamais rien de plus 
 criminel." 
 
 This " abominable complot ! " Such is the language used 
 on one side. But let Lafiteau continue : 
 
 " Le 10 Fevrier l'ordre fut donne en ma presence, d'aller chez le 
 Sieur Dupin et de saisir les papiers. 1 Sur l'heure ils furent tous enlev^s. 
 Je me trouvai au Palais Royal au moment qu'on les y aporta. II y 
 etoit dit, que les principes de notre Foi peuvent s'accorder avec les 
 principes de la Religion Anglicane. On y avan^oit que, sans alterer 
 l'integrite du Dogme, on peut abolir la Confession auriculaire, et ne 
 plus parler de Transubstantiation dans le Sacrement de FEucharistie, 
 aneantir les Vceux de Religion, permettre le Mariage des Pretres, 
 retrancher le Jeune et l'Abstinence du Careme, se passer du Pape, et 
 n'avoir plus ni commerce avec lui, ni e"gard pour ses Decisions." 
 
 Waiving for the present the question whether the summary 
 of doctrines here given as held by Du Pin is correct, we shall 
 now be able to follow the Archbishop better in what he 
 writes to Beauvoir on February 5th (that is, 16th in New 
 Style), 17 19: 
 
 "I do not doubt that mine of the 18th of January, with the two 
 
 nouvclle Relation de ce qui s'est passe dans les assemblies de Sorbonne, au 
 sujet de I'enregistretnent de la Bulle Vnigenitus, 1 7 1 6, Du Pin had to 
 defend himself from charges of personal violence more suggestive of 
 modern electioneering proceedings than of a meeting of "grave and 
 reverend signiors." " Faussete," No. xxiii., which he rebuts, was that 
 " Monsieur Du Pin s'avanca vers M. Humbelot, en lui montrant le poing, 
 pour l'empecher de passer outre et d'aller du Bureau." " Ce fait," Du Pin 
 shortly observes, "est absolument faux." — P. 134. 
 
 1 In the article on Wake in the Biographia Britannica, Girardin is 
 said to have been the one whose papers were seized. The mistake is 
 repeated in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 8 9 
 
 inclosed for my Lord Stair and D r Du Pin, are before this come 
 safe to you. I should not be sorry if, upon this late transaction 
 between the Doctor and the ministry, you have kept it in your hands, 
 and not delivered it to him. I had just begun a letter to D r Piers, 
 but have thrown aside what I writ of it, since I received your last ; 
 and must beg the favour of you to make my excuse to him, with the 
 tenders of my hearty service, till I see a little more what the meaning 
 of this present inquisition is. 
 
 " I am not so unacquainted with the finesse of courts, as not to 
 apprehend that what is now done may be as well in favour of the 
 Doctor's attempt, as against it. If the Procureur-general be indeed 
 well affected to it, he might take this method, not only to his own 
 security, but to bring the affair under a deliberation, and give a 
 handle to those whom it chiefly concerns, to discover 1 their senti- 
 ments of it. But the matter may be also put to another use, and 
 nobody can answer that it shall not be so ; and till I see what is the 
 meaning of this sudden turn, I shall write no more letters for the 
 French ministry to examine, but content myself to have done enough 
 already to men who cannot keep their own counsel, and live in a 
 country where even the private correspondence of learned men with 
 one another must be brought to a public enquiry, and be made the 
 subject of a state inquisition. 
 
 " I am not aware that in any of my letters there is one line that 
 can give a just offence to the Court. I always took it for granted, 
 that no step should be taken towards an union, but with the knowledge 
 and approbation, and even by the authority, of civil powers ; and 
 indeed, if I am in the right, that nothing can be done to any purpose 
 in this case but by throwing off the Pope's authority, as the first step to 
 be made in order to it, it is impossible for any such attempt to be 
 made by any power less than the King's. All therefore that has 
 passed hitherto stands clear of any just exception as to the civil 
 magistrate : it is only a consultation, in order to find out a way how 
 an union might be made, if a fit occasion should hereafter be offered 
 for the doing of it. 
 
 " Yet still I do not like to have my letters exposed in such a manner, 
 though satisfied there is nothing to be excepted against in them ; and 
 think I shall be kind to the Doctors themselves to suspend, at least 
 for a while, my farther troubling of them. I hope you will endeavour, 
 
 1 That is, for them to uncover, or disclose, their sentiments. Comp. 
 Psalm xxix. 9. 
 
go ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 by some or other of your friends, to find out the meaning of this 
 motion : from whom it came, how far it has gone, what was the 
 occasion of it, and what is like to be the consequence of it ; what the 
 Abbe du Bois says of my letters, and how they are received by him 
 and the other ministers. I shall soon discover whether any notice 
 has been taken of it to our ministry ; and I should think, if the Abbe 
 spoke to your Lord about it, he would acquaint you with it." 1 
 
 In reply to the request for information here made, Beauvoir 
 wrote on February nth, telling the Archbishop that "the 
 Cardinals of Rohan and Bissi complain'd, in a memorial to 
 the Regent, that Cardinal de Noailles was inducing the Sor- 
 bonne to join with the Church of England, and withdraw 
 from the Church of Rome ; and had employ'd D r Du Pin to 
 manage that affair, and a correspondence with your Grace." 2 
 
 The news did not surprise the Archbishop. 
 
 " I do not at all wonder," he writes to Beauvoir, February 24th, 
 1 7 18-19, "that the Cardinals Rohan and Bissi should do all they 
 can to blacken the good Cardinal De Noailles, and in him the party 
 of the Anti-Constitutionists ; but especially the Sorbonne, their most 
 weighty and learned adversaries : and I am sensible that such a 
 complaint is not only the most proper to do this, but to put the 
 Court itself under some difficulties, which way soever it acts upon it. 
 But I am still the more curious to learn, if it were possible, not only 
 the proceedings of the Ministry above-board hereupon, but their private 
 thoughts and opinions about it. I am under no concern upon my own 
 account, farther than that I would be unwilling to have my letters 
 scanned by so many great men, which will scarcely bear the judgment 
 of my very friends. 
 
 " You must do me the favour to get out of your Doctors, what will 
 be most obliging to them ; whether to continue to write to them, or 
 to be silent for a while, till we see what will be the effect of this 
 enquiry. 
 
 " In the mean time it grows every day plainer, what I said from the 
 beginning, that no reformation can be made but by the authority and 
 with the concurrence of the court \ and that all we divines have to 
 
 1 Maclaine, pp. 191-193. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 16. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 91 
 
 do is to use our interest to gain them to it, and to have a plan ready 
 to offer to them, if they would be prevailed upon to come into it. 
 
 " I am at present engaged in two or three other transactions of 
 moment to the foreign protestants, which take up abundance of my 
 time. God knows what will be the effect of it. Nevertheless, if I 
 can in any way help to promote this, though I am at present without 
 any help, alone, in this project, I shall do my utmost, both to keep 
 up my poor little interest with the two Doctors and their friends, and 
 to concert proper methods with them about it. The surest way will 
 be, to begin as well, and to go as far, as we can, in settling a friendly 
 correspondence one with another ; to agree to own each other as 
 true brethren, and members of the Catholic Christian Church ; to agree 
 to communicate in every thing we can with one another : which on 
 their side is very easy, there being nothing in our offices in any degree 
 contrary to their own principles ; and, would they purge out of theirs 
 what is contrary to ours, we might join in the public service with 
 them, and yet leave one another in the free liberty of believing 
 transubstantiation or not, so long as we did not require anything to 
 be done by either in pursuance of that opinion. 
 
 " The Lutherans do this very thing. Many of them communicate 
 not only in prayers but the Communion with us ; and we never 
 enquire whether they believe consubstantiation, or even pay any 
 worship to Christ as present with the elements, so long as their 
 outward actions are the same with our own, and they give no offence 
 to any with their opinions. 
 
 "P.S. — Since this last accident, and the public noise of an union in 
 Paris, I have spoken something more of it to my friends here ; who, 
 I begin to hope, will fall in with it. I own a correspondence, but 
 say not a tittle how far, or in what way, I have proceeded, more than 
 that letters have passed, which can no longer be a secret. I have 
 never shewn one of my own or the Doctors' to anybody." 1 
 
 The " transactions of moment to the foreign protestants," to 
 which the Archbishop alludes in this letter, were probably the 
 efforts made, in which he took an active part, to obtain tolera- 
 tion for Protestants abroad, especially in Hungary and Pied- 
 mont. 
 
 As far back as 1699, 2 when preaching on a Fast-Day at 
 
 1 Maclaine, pp. 193-195. 
 
 2 The Sermon was published the same year. See also above, p. 47. . 
 
92 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 St. James's, Westminster, he had publicly pleaded the cause 
 of the suffering Vaudois. His interest in them, and in other 
 persecuted adherents of the reformed faith abroad, never 
 slackened. In consequence, he was looked up to with wide- 
 spread affection and respect by Protestant communities on the 
 Continent. This feeling showed itself strikingly on his appoint- 
 ment to the Archbishopric in 1716, when letters of congratu- 
 lation poured in upon him from Poland, Geneva, and many 
 other parts. 1 What he had specially in his thoughts, when 
 writing as above to Beauvoir, was no doubt an application, 
 in which he had got the prime minister, Lord Sunderland, to 
 join him, to interest the King on behalf of suffering Protes- 
 tants in the dominions of the Emperor and the King of 
 Sardinia. In a Latin letter to the ministers and professors at 
 Geneva, dated April 8th, 17 19, Wake expresses a confident 
 hope that George I. may have already instructed his ambas- 
 sadors to those powers to use their influence for gaining the 
 desired toleration. 2 
 
 An event was now fast approaching, which, more perhaps 
 than any other single thing, brought the negotiations with the 
 Doctors of the Sorbonne to a fruitless end. This was the 
 death of Du Pin. He was not yet quite sixty-two years old, 
 having been born in June, 1657. But laborious study had aged 
 him beyond his years ; and the trouble and disgrace into which 
 he had fallen, by having his papers seized, may well have 
 
 1 See vol. cclviii. of the Wake Corresp., which is largely filled with 
 letters of this description. No. 15,521 of the Additional MSS. in the 
 British Museum also contains a letter of his on behalf of the Reformed 
 Churches of Poland and Transylvania. 
 
 2 The letter is given at full in Maclaine, pp. 201-205. The way in which 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury was looked up to as a friend and patron by 
 foreign Protestants, at this time, comes out incidentally in the life of 
 Antoine Court. Speaking of his efforts to satisfy those who had opposed 
 the Assemblies, he says : " J'ecrivis, par leur ordre, une lettre a l'archeveque 
 de Cantorbery, qui contenoit un detail abrege des eglises sous la croix, et 
 que milord archeveque presenta au Roy, qui en parut touche et promit sa 
 protection a nos eglises. Sa Majeste ne tarda pas de nous en donner 
 quelque marque." — Mc'moires a" 1 Antoine Court, 1885, p. 194. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 93 
 
 preyed on his mind. Beauvoir, writing to the Archbishop, 
 April 13th (O.S.), 1719, while able to inform him that the per- 
 secution of the Reformed in Paris was abated, and that " many, 
 God be praised, were added to the Church of England from 
 popery," has to admit that " the business of an union is sus- 
 pended. D r Dupin and D r Piers appear very easy about that 
 matter. The first visibly decays, and the other hath much 
 abated of his courage." 1 
 
 The news, as might be supposed, was painful to the Arch- 
 bishop to receive. He writes to Beauvoir on April 29th : 2 
 
 " I am much concerned to hear that D r Du Pin decays so fast : I 
 fear'd by his last letter that he was sinking. Pray, is there any good 
 print of him taken these last years ? for I have one that was made 
 when he was a young man. 
 
 " I am sorry D r Piers grows faint-hearted. I never thought anything 
 could be done as to a reformation in France without the authority of 
 the court ; but I was in hopes the Regent and others might have 
 found their account in such an attempt ; and then the good disposition 
 of the bishops, clergy, and Sorbonne, with the Parliament of Paris, 
 would have given a good deal of spirit and expedition to it. 
 
 " I have done what was proper for me in that matter. I can now go 
 no farther, till the abbot Du-Bois 3 is better disposed. Yet I shall 
 still be pleased to keep up a little esteem between those gentlemen, 
 which will do us some good, if it does not do them any service. I am 
 apt to think the good old man does not think us far from the kingdom 
 of heaven. 
 
 " I have with this sent a letter of friendship to U r Piers, which you 
 will be so kind as to send him, with my kind respects." 
 
 To Du Pin himself, Wake addressed the following touching 
 letter. It is dated May 1st, 17 19, but from some unexplained 
 delay was not sent in time to reach Du Pin before his death on 
 June 6th. On that account it was returned to the writer, who, 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 25. 
 
 2 Maclaine, who quotes the letter (p. 196), gives the year as 17 18, but it 
 should undoubtedly be 1719. 
 
 3 For this would-be Richelieu, see Jervis, ii. 242-44. 
 
94 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 however, allowed Beauvoir first to take a copy of it. It is this 
 copy that is here reproduced : 1 
 
 " Praestantissime Domine, Frater in Christo colendissime, 
 
 " Quanto maerore ultimae tuse literse animum meum affecerint, nescio 
 quibus verbis pro amore in te meo satis exprimere valeam. Etsi enim 
 nihil in se novi accidisse putandum sit, cum audiamus hominem 
 fragilem languescere, infirmum aegrotare, etiam mortalem mori ; est 
 tamen aliquid in amicitia, quod in his quae animum concernunt aegre 
 se rationi submittat, nec absque gravi mentis contentione patitur ut ea 
 in illis facile perferamus, quae in aliis vulgaria, nec sapientis viri aesti- 
 matione digna esse putaremus. 
 
 " Ego sane jam sexagenario major, 2 sanitatis toto vitas meae tempore 
 dubiae ac plerumque infirmae, morbis atque doloribus assuetus, saepe 
 in confinio mortis positus, etiam nunc ex nupero accessu Cholico 
 plurimum debilitatus, neque adhuc ad pristinas vires restitutus, 
 minime omnium ad haec appropinquantis ultimi hujusce vitae termini 
 praesagia et quasi praeludia perturbari debeo. Et tamen, quamvis haec 
 quotidie experior, in his exerceor, ad haec animum meum quantum 
 fieri potest compono, quae mea est vel propria infirmitas, vel in amicos 
 affectus, non possum non in illis lugere, quod in se adeo non dolendum 
 scio, ut potius optandum esse judicem. Tibi certe tali viro mors 
 minime invidenda ; cujus ut spes, corona, merces est in caelo, ita turn 
 demum perfecte beatus es futurus, ubi ab hac terrena corporis mole 
 liberata anima tua in caelum recipietur. 
 
 " Speraveram equidem tua auctoritate, constantia, eruditione,pietate, 
 moderatione, quag omnia adeo in te perfecta esse noscuntur ut vix in 
 aliis singula, praeclare aliquid ad Dei gloriam ecclesiaeque Gallicanae 
 utilitatem perfici potuisse. Crediderim advenisse tempus in quo, excusso 
 Romanae tyrannidis jugo, una nobiscum in eandem communionem 
 coalesceretis. 
 
 " In dogmatibus, prout a te candide proponuntur, non admodum 
 dissentimus ; in regimine ecclesiastico minus ; in fundamentalibus, sive 
 doctrinam sive disciplinam spectemus, vix omnino. Quam facilis erat 
 ab his initiis ad concordiam progressus, modo animos haberemus ad 
 pacem compositos. Sed hoc principibus seculi non arridet, unionis 
 
 1 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 8. A portion of it (from speraveram to amplec- 
 tamur) was printed by Maclaine, p. 197. 
 
 2 Wake was born in the same year as Du Pin, but survived him nearly 
 eighteen years. His faculties had failed him some time before his death. 
 See Cole's Colleciiotis, vol. xL, p. 21 (Additional MSS., No. 5,841). 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 95 
 
 inimicis etiam plurimum displicet : neque nobis forte dabit Deus esse 
 tam felicibus, ut ad hujusmodi unionem nostram qualemcunque 
 operam conferamus. Relinquamus hoc Illi, in cujus manu sunt 
 rerum omnium tempora et occasiones. Sufficiat voluisse aliquid in 
 tam insigni opere ; forte et semina in terram projecisse, quse fructum 
 tandem multiplicem proferant. Interim, quod nemo nobis denegare 
 possit, nos invicem ut fratres, ut ejusdem mystice corporis membra, 
 amplectamur. Amemus non vulgari illo amore, quo alii solebant, 
 quibus non affulsit Evangelii lux, sed ea charitate quam relligio nostra 
 docuit, cujusque umbram tantum philosophi olim in suo etiam 
 arctissimo amicitias exercitio nobis exhibuerunt. 
 
 " Ipse vero Deus pacis et amoris utrumque [e] nobis in sua et 
 Ecclesiae suae pace atque unitate conservet in hoc saeculo, et ad 
 ccelesiem suam Hierusalem, civitatem Dei viventis, ecclesiam primitivorum 
 qui conscripti sunt in cceiis, 1 perducat in future. Ibi nulla erit sapien- 
 tibus hujus mundi autoritas, nulla illis potentia, quorum omnis est in 
 ore religio, ad cor rare descendit. Ibi omnes passiones, omnia 
 praejudicia, paci ac concordiae inimica, penitus ex animis nostris 
 eximentur. Idem sentiemus, idem quaeremus omnes. Illuc jam 
 oculis mentis prospiciamus per fidem ambulantis non per speciem. 
 Illinc animum ilium caelestem derivemus, qui etiam in beatis illis 
 sedibus nobiscum permanebit, nosque ad accessum in beatas illas 
 oras praeparabit. 
 
 " Ego pro te, frater dignissime, non desinam orare, ut hunc in se 2 
 animum magis magisque efheere dignetur S. Dei Spiritus. Tu pro me 
 interpella ad Thronum Gratiae, ut eandem in me mentem efformare 
 velit; utque mortali hac vita, quod brevi net ab utroque peracta, 
 amicitia nostra, sero hie nimis inchoata, in caelis permaneat, vigeat, 
 augeatur, perficiatur. In hoc voto desinit, vir clarissime, tuus in 
 Domino frater, omni officio conjunctissimus, 
 
 "W. Cant." 
 
 (" Ex cedibus nostris Lambethanis, I" die Maii, a.d. 17 19. 
 A monsieur, Monsieur du Pin, Docteur de la Sorbonne 
 et Professeur de Theologie d Paris.") 
 
 Having been deprived of his papers, Du Pin would naturally 
 wish to leave behind him some account of his correspondence 
 
 1 Heb. xii. 23. 
 
 2 If se be right, the sense will be : " this disposition towards Him " (the 
 Holy Spirit). But it may be a slip of the pen for te : " this disposition in 
 you." 
 
96 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 with the English Archbishop, which might represent his 
 conduct in a true light for posterity. Such a one he drew 
 up, so far as his strength would allow, and intrusted it to 
 Beauvoir for transmission to the Archbishop. For certain 
 reasons, Beauvoir considered the account defective, and kept 
 it back till the defects could be supplied. The letter, dated 
 Paris, May 19th (O.S.), 17 19, in which he relates this, is further 
 interesting as showing the difficulties besetting the attempt to 
 make the principles of the English Church a via media between 
 Gallicanism and Protestant nonconformity : 
 
 "... D r Du Pin put into my hands an account of his corre- 
 spondence with England, to be communicated ; but I have stop'd it, 
 and kept, as finding it deficient ; and when rectify'd to be convey'd 
 to your Grace for approbation, before it appears to anybody else. 
 That G. 1 Man grows very weak every ways. Age and hard labour 
 hath worn him out. 
 
 " The minds of the Clergy seem more and more averse to the Papal 
 power ; yet, intoxicated with their former prejudices, they can't yet bear 
 the thought that he should only be Primus inter pares. For they 
 would allow him some sort of authority over all the Church ; as that 
 of seeing the Canons put in execution, &c, with a sort of jurisdiction 
 in point of discipline. They may be as yet ashamed to own, that 
 they have so long submitted to his imaginary power. However, I 
 observe that those I converse with are not angry that the usurpations 
 of the Pontif of Rome should be run down and exploded, and do not 
 decline the company of one that doth it modestly and freely. 
 
 "The Dutch chaplain, 2 tho' he hath been assur'd of the contrary, 
 
 1 An abbreviation for either " great " or " good " ; probably the former, 
 as Beauvoir, writing on June 7th, speaks of " the great D r Du Pin." 
 
 2 I am not sure whether this person, of whom Beauvoir has complained 
 before (p. 87) was named Horner. If so, he was himself in corre- 
 spondence with Wake a few years later on. Writing on April 22nd, 1722, 
 he describes the kind of service he held : " J'ay cru ne pouvoir mieux faire 
 que de me servir de la Liturgie que M. Osterwald a compose, puisqu'il 
 l'a tire [sic] en partie de celle dAngleterre .... ayant vu que ce peuple 
 aime la lecture de la Parole de Dieu, de meme que les Pseaumes en vers, 
 mais qu'il a pour ainsi dire une plus haute opinion des Sermons que de la 
 pure Parole de Dieu." On the 29th of the same month he expresses to 
 Wake his regret that the enforcement of the Consensus on the Vaudois 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 97 
 
 persists to affirm that no reform'd foreign minister is admitted to 
 receive ordination in the Church of England, unless he owns his 
 former ordination null. 1 This notion hath given great offence, and 
 made a vast many of these people doubt whether we are of the same 
 religion. And what confirms them in their opinion is that I do not 
 allow their ministers, that preach in my Lord Stair's Chappell, to 
 make use of our Liturgy, or to help me at the Communion ; but only 
 to say the Lord's Prayer before Sermon ; and that after their Sermon 
 I conclude and give the Blessing. 
 
 " If I am in the wrong, I beg pardon and further instructions from 
 your Grace. It would very much reconcile the minds of the Protes- 
 tants here to the Church of England, if foreign ministers were 
 allow'd to officiate among us, and I to officiate among them. This 
 would remove an unhappy stumbling-block, which is industriously 
 put in our way. I can by no means believe I have authority to 
 remove it ; and therefore I earnestly intreat your Grace's commands 
 in this particular, that I may govern myself accordingly." 2 
 
 What Beauvoir's objections were to the first draft of the 
 Relation will be seen more clearly from a letter written by him 
 to the Archbishop, when over in England a few months later : 
 
 " Clapham, 24 th July, 17 19. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " About the beginning of May last, D r Du Pin, designing to 
 communicate to a very great man 3 the enclosed Relation, written by 
 
 "n'arrete tout court la Reunion, que vous avez si bien avancee." — Wake 
 Corresp., cclxii., Nos. 27, 29. 
 
 1 The difficulty, if it is one, seems to solve itself. The applying for 
 ordination would in itself be an admission that ordination had not 
 previously been received. There appear, however, to have been occasional 
 instances in which persons who found obstacles in the way of their being 
 ordained to the pastorate of reformed communities abroad, came over to 
 England, to seek for orders there. See the Correspondance frate?-nelle 
 de FEglise Anglicane avec les autres Eglises Re/or me'es, par Claude 
 Groteste de la Mothe, ministre de l'Eglise de la Savoye, 1705, p. 99. 
 From this scarce little book, and its sequel, Entretiens sur la Corre- 
 spondance, 1707, much light is gained on the relation between the Church 
 of England and foreign Protestant Churches, in the early part of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 30. 
 
 3 No doubt, Cardinal de Noailles. 
 
 H 
 
98 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 his usual Amanuensis, put it then into my hands, requiring my 
 opinion. As I conceiv'd it defective, I desir'd it might be more full, 
 by adding that your Grace's first Letter to him was an answer to one 
 he had sent to You, my Lord, to return thanks for the honourable 
 mention you was pleas'd to make of him in a letter dated 2 Jan y , 1717, 
 O.S., wherewith I was honour'd, to express his desire of an union 
 between the Church of England and that of France, and to beg the 
 favour of a Correspondance. 
 
 "The D r readily promis'd to supply that defect, but was prevented 
 by Death ; and therefore his Relation remains as he first com- 
 pos'd it. 
 
 " I most humbly beg your Blessing to, 
 " My Lord, your Grace's 
 
 " most humble and most obedient servant, 
 " Wm. Beauvoir. " 2 
 
 The draft of the Relation itself, composed, as Beauvoir says, 
 about the beginning of May, is as follows. It has all the 
 appearance of being left unfinished. 
 
 " Relation 
 De ce qui s'est passe entre Monsieur 
 Du Pin et M r L'archeveque de Cantorbery 
 au sujet des lettres qu'its se sont mutuellenient ecrites. 
 
 "En 17 1 7 L'archeveque de Cantorbery fit l'honneur a M r l'abbe" 
 du Pin de lui e"crire une lettre obligeante de complimens, et lui marqua 
 en meme terns qu'il souhateroit que 1'eglise Anglicane fut reunie avec 
 l'eglise Gallicane. M r du Pin repondit a cette lettre avec le respect 
 du a vne personne de cette consideration, et lui marqua en meme terns 
 que nous n'etions pas si eloignes que nous ne pussions nous reunir ; 
 qu'il y avait plusieurs articles, dont nous convenions, et qu'il y en 
 avait d'autres, qui ne regardoient que la discipline, sur les quels il ne 
 pouvoit y avoir aucune contestation de part et d'autre ; et qu' a l'egard 
 des autres articles, en petit nombre, en s'eclaircissant on pourroit 
 convenir. L'archeveque de Cantorbery temoigna qu'il ne s'eloignoit 
 point de cette union ; au contraire, qu'il la desiroit ; et envoya a 
 M r l'abbe du Pin la confession de foi et la liturgie de Peglise Angli- 
 cane. M r Du Pin dressa sur ces pieces vn memoire contenant les 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 140. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 99 
 
 articles dont on convenoit ; ceux qui etoient indifferens ; et ceux sur 
 les quels il falloit entrer vn conference pour les eclaircir : articles qui 
 se reduisent a peu. II l'envoya avec vne lettre a l'archeveque de 
 Cantorbery, qui lui fit vne response, dans la quelle, sans entrer dans 
 le detail des articles, il justifioit la succession des Archeveques et 
 eveques d'Angleterre, dont M. du Pin sembloit avoir doute. 
 
 " Depuis ce terns la il y a eu commerce de lettres entre l'archeveque 
 de Cantorbery et M r du Pin, dans l'esprit de paix et d'vnion. En 
 france des esprits malins ont regards cela comme vne negocia- 
 tion prdjudiciable aux interets de l'^glise catholique, et en ont fait 
 courir divers bruits tres faux. Cela a meme e"te jusqu'aux oreilles de 
 M r le Re"gent, qui a ordonne a M r l'Abbe du Bois de prendre 
 connoissance de l'affaire. 
 
 "Au reste, M r l'archeveque de Cantorbery et M r Du Pin ont 
 toujours regards cela comme vn projet qui ne pouvoit s'executer sans 
 Pautorite' des Puissances souveraines. 1 Monseigneur le Cardinal de 
 Noailles, ni Monsieur le Procurateur General du Parlement de Paris, 
 n'y sont point entrez ; mais M r l'abbe" du Pin leur a communique" ses 
 lettres et ses reponses. Si ce projet pouvoit reussir, il en reviendroit 
 vn grand bien aux deux Eglises, qui se soutiendroient mutuellement." 
 
 On Tuesday, June 6th, 17 19, Du Pin died. Beauvoir, 
 writing the day after, sends the intelligence to the Archbishop : 
 
 "The great D r Dupin dy'd Tuesday last, as he had liv'd, pen in 
 hand for the instruction of mankind and the good of the Christian 
 Church : which might prove an irreparable loss, if Dr. Petitpied 3 
 did not again appear in the world, and likely to be the leading man 
 of Sorbon. A man fit to carry on the great work of Union, and, as 
 I am inform'd, inclin'd to do it." 4 
 
 1 In a letter written to Wake on January 13th of this year, 17 19, Du 
 Pin had expressed the same conviction : — " Ex iis aliisque meis [literis] in- 
 telligere potes quantum mihi cordi sit Ecclesiarum pax et concordia. 
 Utinam ejus ineundae via quasdam certa afifulgeret : quod fieri, vt arbitror, 
 nequaquam potest, nisi consentientibus sce<,n/i potestatibus et Regnorum 
 episcopis. Ad hoc allabora : ego pro meo modulo (nam quis sum ? ) in id 
 etiam incumbam." — Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 99. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 139. 
 
 * See the note above, p. 29. 
 
 * Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 31. 
 
100 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Again, writing to Wake on June 24th (N.S. = 13th, O.S.), 
 1 7 19, Beauvoir says : 
 
 " I have joyfully made use of the liberty you condescended, my 
 Lord, to give, to open D r Dupin's letter, 1 and have shew'd it to 
 D r P[iers], who is very earnest to have a copy : but I will not 
 presume to give it without leave. I most humbly beg I may be 
 allow'd to take one for myself. I am labouring to get an exact 
 catalogue of D r Dupin's writtings, and one of the two pictures of 
 him in Paris, drawn from the life. 2 ... I do not hear of any project 
 to print any account of &c. If any body can do it, it is D r P[iers], 
 who will make no steps without a proper approbation." 3 
 
 With the death of Du Pin, the interest of the correspond- 
 ence in which Wake was engaged practically ceases. What- 
 ever prospect of success the project of reunion may have had 
 in his lifetime, it was now, at any rate, at an end. De Girardin 
 seems to have been content with a friendly disposition towards 
 it. Petitpied, according to Lafiteau, had taken the law into 
 his own hands, and established at Asnieres, the suburban 
 village where he was allowed to reside, a form of Divine 
 Service after his own devising, of which that writer gives 
 a minute description." Dr. Lambert, Dr. Leger, and others 
 of known Gallican principles, were chafing under the yoke 
 of ultramontanism ; but there was no leader forthcoming to 
 concert any plan of action with Wake. A few more letters 
 may be added, chiefly as showing the unsettled condition of 
 the Church in France, before the curtain falls on this act of 
 the drama. 
 
 The first, from De Girardin to Wake, dated August 16th, 
 1 7 19, gives a lively picture of the state of feeling in the 
 Sorbonne : 
 
 "Vendredy dernier, M. de Mesmes, 5 premier President du Parle- 
 
 1 See above, p. 94. 
 
 2 This was agreeable to the request in Wake's letter of April 29th 
 
 (above, p. 93). 
 
 3 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 32. 
 
 4 Histoire, ii. 151. 
 
 5 Jean Antoine de Mesmes was born in Paris, November 18th, 1661, 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 IOI 
 
 ment de Paris, manda Messrs. les Doien et Syndic de la Faculte, 
 avec d'autres Docteurs, pour leur annoncer, tant de la part de M. le 
 Due Regent, que de celle du Parlement, qu'on s'dtoit appercu que 
 les Professeurs et les Bacheliers de la licence-courante 1 paroissoient 
 affecter de ne plus soutenir les prerogatives et les libertez de l'Eglise- 
 gallicane ; que M. le Regent, et tout ce qu'il y a de bons Francois 
 dans le Roiaume en etoient tres indigne's ; et qu', en un mot, on eut 
 a changer incessamment de conduite, si on vouloit eviter d'encourir 
 l'indignation de la Cour. 2 
 
 " ' Comment voulez-vous, Monseigneur, que nous soutenions les 
 Libertez de l'Eglise, repliqua M. le Doien, puisqu' on nous a depouilles 
 de notre propre liberte ? On nous force, le pied sur la gorge, d'en- 
 registrer la declaration du Roy, qui defend expressement de toucher 
 de prh ni de loin, directement ni indirectement, les matieres contestees 
 et renfermees dans la Constitution 3 — bulle aussi etendue que toute 
 la Theologie ensemble ; et on s'etonne, apres cela, que nous parois- 
 sions abandonner la doctrine de l'Eglise-gallicane ! En vdrite', 
 Monseigneur, ajouta le bon vieillard, l'irregularite de la conduite, 
 qu'on nous a force de tenir, fait bien sentir l'injustice du reproche 
 qu'on nous a fait' 
 
 " ' Les intentions de la Cour, repartit M. le premier President, ne 
 tendoient qu' a procurer la paix de l'Eglise, et non a detourner le 
 cours ordinaire de la saine doctrine. Ainsi, Messieurs, continua-t-il, 
 on m'a charge" de vous dire que vous alliez le meme train, et que 
 
 and educated for the law. He was Deputy Procureur-ge"neraI in 1679 
 and President of Parliament, January 5th, 1712. He opposed the eleva- 
 tion of Dubois to the Archbishopric of Cambrai. He died August 23rd, 
 1723. See the Biographie Universelle. 
 
 1 That is, those who were completing the two years' probation before 
 being admitted to the degree of D-D. "Licence en Sorbonne," says a 
 writer in Buisson's Dictionnaire de PJdagogie, "est un temps de deux 
 annees, que les Bacheliers passent a assister aux actes, et a y disputer, 
 pour se mettre en etat d'etre recus Docteurs." 
 
 2 " The Court had now inclined to the side of the ' Constitutionnaires ' ; 
 and upon the strength of this change of policy, the accepting bishops 
 fulminated mandement after mandement, insisting upon absolute sub- 
 mission to the Unigenitus." — Jervis, ii. 241. 
 
 3 This was by way of enforcing the decree of the Inquisition, obtained 
 in the present year (1719), in which the faithful were forbidden "to print, 
 read, or possess " the Constitution, under pain of being ipso facto excom- 
 municated. 
 
102 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 vous teniez la meme route que vous avez tenue avant Parrivee de la 
 Constitution. On vous prie, neansmoins, poursuivit-t-il, de ne point 
 attaquer de front les propositions de cette Bulle, afin que vous ne 
 paroissiez pas vouloir rompre-en-visiere avec sa Saintete" : et il suffit 
 pour cet effet, ajouta-t-il, que la sterilite" de la langue Latine ne soit 
 pas si grande, pour qu'on ne puisse pas s'exprimer en d'autres 
 termes.' " 1 
 
 " Apres quoi il renvoia 1'assemble'e, fort satisfaite de son entretien, 
 et du sujet de son veniat." 2 
 
 Early in the following year, February 3rd, 1719-20, Beauvoir 
 writes to Wake, reporting the result of some further efforts he 
 had made : 
 
 " I have had at last some frequent opportunities of seeing D r Piers, 
 who appears zealous still for healing the divisions in the Church. 
 M r Lullin is not only zealous, but very capable of promoting the 
 great work. D r Quinant, ex-syndic about two years ago, seems 
 inclined to write to your Grace. He is a very leading man, a good 
 head, and full of expedients ; but, as he hath shifted twice, deserves 
 perhaps more to be manag'd than trusted. D r Hideux's 3 great 
 reputation in his Faculty makes him more considerable than his 
 present abilities, which are much decay'd by age. D r Jollin, the 
 present syndic, who hath succeeded D r Hideux, is [a] man of wit, 
 and loves too much his own ease to run the least risq. However he 
 is a stanch Jans[enist]. 
 
 " The Sorbon hath done nothing of late worth mentioning. Last 
 Monday D r Piers was to introduce me to D r Petitpied ; but I cou'd 
 not go, because my Lord Stair had commanded my attendance about 
 seven Protestants, imprison'd the day before, coming from his 
 Excellency's Chappel. 4 They threaten to suffer no French to resort 
 to our congregations, and to place guards within twenty paces of our 
 Hotel, to take up those that come to it upon Sundays. The Com- 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 37. 
 
 2 A legal term, defined in the dictionaries as "ordre donne par le juge 
 superieur a un juge inferieur de se presenter en personne, pour rendre 
 compte de sa conduite." 
 
 3 Hideux was cure" of Saints-Innocents in Paris. See Le Roy, p. 108. 
 He took the same side as Du Pin and Petitpied in the debates on the 
 Cas de Conscience. 
 
 1 See above, p. 84. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 munion was administer'd last Sunday was senniglit, and we had 
 about 210 Communicants. The Dutch chappel us'd also to be full 
 twice on Sunday mornings ; but this unexpected blow will slacken 
 people's zeal, and keep them within doors." 1 
 
 To this period seems to belong an undated note of De 
 Girardin's to Beauvoir, inviting him to meet at dinner some 
 of the persons mentioned in the preceding letter, and there to 
 discuss a matter, the nature of which is indicated somewhat 
 mysteriously : 
 
 "Savez-vous bien, cher ami, qu'il me tarde d'avoir l'honneur de 
 vous voir. J'ay lieu d'esperer que vous ne manquerez point de vous 
 trouver demain, Samedy 27°, a midy-precis, chez M. l'Abbe Quinot, 
 ou nous devons diner avec Messrs. Lullin, le syndic, Hideux, etc. 
 Si vous etes engage ailleurs, degagez-vous. Si vous ne pouvez pas 
 venir a pied, venez en carrosse ou en chaize-a-porteurs. Car en un 
 mot la compagnie ne peut pas se passer de vous. L'affaire est d'une 
 assez grande delicatesse pour que vous preveniez le zele et l'empresse- 
 ment qu'on a de vous voir. 
 
 "J'ay l'honneur d'etre avec respect, Monsieur et tres cher Confrere, 
 votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur. 
 
 "De Girardin." 2 
 
 The " affaire d'une grande delicatesse " seems to have been 
 the " project," whatever it was, referred to by Wake in the 
 following reply to Beauvoir, dated February 9th (O.S.), 1719-20. 
 If so, it is evident that Wake did not expect much from it. 
 
 " I heartily wish there were either spirit or inclination enough in the 
 Sorbonne to go with our friend the Abbe's project. But the fire 
 decays ; men's inclinations cool ; the Court will do nothing ; and you 
 are very sensible that without the Court nothing can be done in any 
 such affair. 
 
 " Nevertheless, their good opinion of the Church of England should 
 be kept up as much as possible. We should encourage them all we 
 can to account of us as of brethren, who have only thrown off, what 
 they are weary of, the tyranny of the Court of Rome, without any 
 change in any fundamental article either of the doctrine or govern- 
 
 1 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 77. 
 
 2 Beauvoir Corresp., No. 12. 
 
104 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 ment of the Catholic Church. And upon this ground I shall be ready 
 to continue a brotherly correspondence with any of their great men, 
 provided it be done with such caution as may not expose my letters 
 to be made prisoners to a Secretary of State ; a thing which can never 
 become my character, and may carry an ill aspect, even in our own 
 Court, till the thing be rightly understood." 1 
 
 Beauvoir seems to have dutifully followed out the wishes of 
 his superior, in paving the way to a " brotherly correspondence " 
 with leading men of the French Church. 
 
 "We went some days ago," he writes to Wake, February 15th, 
 1719-20, "to visit D r Lambert, 2 a very leading man of the Sorbon, 
 who hath a great deal of spirit and vigour, and seem'd pleas'd with my 
 freedom in deploring the hardships so great a part of the Latin Church 
 lyes under, [under] the oppression of the Court of Rome. 
 
 " D r Leger, 3 another very leading member of the Sorbon, happen'd 
 to come in, and receiv'd me very kindly. Both appear inclinable to 
 peace and unity, and the greatest sticklers against the Constitution 
 Unigenitus. The latter is pretty well worn out by age. However, 
 his opinion is of very great weight in the Faculty." 4 
 
 On March 23rd, 1720, De Girardin writes to inform the 
 Archbishop of the submission of De Noailles to the Papal 
 Court, which was about to be made by his signing a qualified 
 acceptance of the Unigenitus : 
 
 " L'on parle encore fort diversement de l'acceptation future de M. le 
 Card, de Noailles. Les jesuites crient tolle, tollel parceque, disent ils, 
 il recoit, il adopte plutot son propre Corps de Doctrine que la Consti- 
 tution," 5 
 
 De Girardin goes on to describe the terms in which the 
 acceptance was to be couched : 
 
 "'A ces causes nous recevons avec soumission et avec respect la 
 Constitution de notre Saint Pere le Pape Clement XL, qui commence 
 
 1 Maclaine, p. 198. 
 
 2 Lambert, according to Le Roy (p. 577), was the one who discovered 
 the way out of the difficulty, at the stormy meeting of the Sorbonne, related 
 above (p. 39), in the formula : Censeo obtemperandttrn, non deliberandutn." 
 
 3 Described as "un des chefs du parti gallican modere." Ib., p. 579. 
 
 4 Wake Corresp., cclxii., No. 81. 
 3 16., No. 22. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 105 
 
 par ces mots : Unigenitus Dei Filius, selon les explications cy-dessus 
 mentionn^es, qui en contiennent le vray sens ; 1 lesquelles explications 
 n'ont dte uniquement donne"es, que pour prevenir les abus qu'on en 
 pouroit faire 
 
 This was not the only letter on the subject written by 
 Girardin ; and Wake acknowledges them in a letter to Beau- 
 voir, April 19th (O.S.), 1720, with which this correspondence 
 may fitly close : 
 
 "... I perceive, by some late letters from him [Dr. Piers] that he 
 begins to despair of the business of the Constitution. He has reason. 
 The Cardinal de Noailles is ensnared, and has gone too far to retire. 
 The new Archbishop of Cambray will be a Cardinal ; and this affair of 
 the Constitution must procure the calot for him. The Regent himself 
 is afraid of the Spanish party and the Jesuits ; and he will gain, or at 
 least appease them. 
 
 " For all these reasons, the doctrine of the Church, and the Gallican 
 liberties, must be abandoned ; and on the slight pretence of a comm', 2 
 of no esteem with the opposite party, an accommodation will certainly 
 be made, and those who will not voluntarily go shall be driven into it. 
 
 " If our poor friend 3 be one of those who must hereby suffer, why 
 may he not consider of a retreat hither? and, since he cannot yet 
 bring on an union with the two Churches, unite himself with ours, 
 from which, I am sure, his principles and, I believe, his inclinations, 
 are not greatly distant ? But this must be managed very tenderly, and 
 rather by a kind of rallying than a direct proposal of it. If he inclines 
 to it, he will easily understand your meaning : if not, 'tis best not to 
 go on far with him in a matter in which you will have no good success." 4 
 
 With these words, ominous, or rather descriptive, of failure, 
 the series of letters ends. The want of success in the negotia- 
 
 1 " Quel mensonge," interpolates Girardin, after this word. 
 
 2 A commandment (?) " mandement." 
 
 3 The reference appears to be to De Girardin. If so, he afterwards became 
 a guest of the Archbishop, as here suggested. Writing to Father Courayer, 
 December 9th, 1721, Wake speaks of " our good friend the Abbe Girardin, 
 being still here." ..." While the Abbe has been here," he adds, " he has 
 had the opportunity of seeing the confirmation of one Bishop, and the 
 consecration of two. When he returns, he will give you a full account of 
 what he observed in both." 
 
 4 Maclaine, p. 199. 
 
106 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 tions — a success of which Wake, to do him justice, never appears 
 to have been sanguine — was due to a combination of causes ; 
 the death of Du Pin, the vacillation of Ue Noailles, the sudden 
 energy of the self-seeking Dubois. Those who admit no possi- 
 bility of unity in the Church of Christ except through submis- 
 sion to the see of Rome, will, of course, point with triumph to 
 the result of the whole transaction, as one more instance of the 
 failure of all attempts to shake the immovable Rock of Peter. 
 Whether they are wholly in the right or not, will be the subject 
 of some remarks later on. For the present, we must conclude 
 this chapter with a short examination of the Commonitorium of 
 Du Pin. 
 
 Considering what a mass of letters and papers has been 
 preserved from the correspondence of Archbishop Wake, 1 it is 
 somewhat remarkable that neither Du Pin's original draft of 
 the Commonitorium, which is known to have been sent to him, 
 nor any copy of it, has been discovered. One such copy is 
 probably to be found among the archives of the Vatican, as Du 
 Pin's papers, after being impounded and examined by the 
 French government, were sent to Rome. The loss, if it prove 
 final, is, as Dr. Pusey says, " exceedingly to be regretted." We 
 possess, however, a tolerably full abstract of the document made 
 by Maclaine, and with this we must be content. 
 
 1 These have never yet been thoroughly examined and catalogued, so 
 that it is difficult to say what may not be in them. In 1758 an inventory 
 of them was begun by Edward Bentham, and continued for some years, 
 being completed in 1766 by an Index drawn up by Dr. Ducarel, the 
 Librarian of Lambeth. But the work was superficially done. Bentham 
 expresses the opinion that "had the collection been made by Archbishop 
 Wake himself, instead of by his Librarian, I am persuaded he would have 
 burnt half of the Letters, and would thereby have given a greater dignity 
 to the Collection." Ducarel seems to have done the best he could with 
 Bentham's materials ; but the incompleteness of the Index (numbered in 
 the Lambeth Library 1,133) will be obvious, when it is mentioned that the 
 items " Du Pin," " Gallican Church," " Girardin," are not found in it. In 
 1867 a catalogue of the MSS. in the Library of Christ Church was com- 
 piled by the Rev. G. W. Kitchin, M.A. This includes the Wake MSS., 
 but gives only a general description of the contents of each volume. I was 
 at one time in hopes that the Commonitorium might have been found in 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 I07 
 
 According, then, to Maclaine, the author of the Commoni- 
 torium, after beginning with some reflections on the Reforma- 
 tion, and the present state of the Church of England, proceeded 
 to reduce the controversy between the Churches to three 
 heads: (1) Articles of Faith ; (2) Rules and Ceremonies of 
 Ecclesiastical Discipline; (3) Moral Doctrine, or, Rules of 
 Practice. With these to guide him, Du Pin entered on an 
 examination of the XXXIX. Articles of the English Church. 
 
 The result of that investigation is thus summed up by Dr. 
 Pusey : 1 — He " approved unconditionally of twenty-three of 
 our Articles ; passed over that on the Homilies (No. XXXV.) 
 as not knowing them ; proposed slight explanations of ten ; 
 so that there remained a difficulty in regard to five only : and 
 on these also he mostly offered explanations of the Roman 
 doctrine." 
 
 The first class, those to which he took no exception, were 
 L-V. (Of the Trinity, etc.); VII. (Of the Old Testament); 
 VIII. (Of the three Creeds) ; IX. (Of Original Sin); XII. (Of. 
 good Works) ; XV. (Of Christ alone without Sin) ; XVI. (Of 
 Sin after Baptism) ; XVII. (Of Predestination and Election) ; 
 XVIII. (Of obtaining Salvation only by the Name of Christ) ; 
 XXIII. (Of ministering in the Congregation); XXIV. (Of 
 speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People 
 understandeth) ; XXVI. (Of the Unworthiness of Ministers) ; 
 XXVII. (Of Baptism); XXX. (Of Communion in both 
 Kinds); XXXII. (Of the Marriage of Priests) ; XXXIII. (Of 
 excommunicate Persons); XXXIV. (Of the Traditions of the 
 
 Archbishop Tenison's Library ; since Wake, we are told, sent many papers 
 relating to the English Church to Courayer, and Courayer "gave his books 
 to the Library of St. Martin's Parish in London (Archbishop Tenison's 
 Library)." See the Introduction to the Oxford edition of the Dissertation, 
 1844, p. ix. But Mr. E. M. Borrajo, of the Guildhall Library, has kindly 
 taken the trouble to ascertain for me that Archbishop Tenison's Library 
 was sold, under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, in 1861 ; and that 
 the Sale Catalogue, preserved in the British Museum, does not contain 
 any entry likely to have included the desired papers. The MSS. were 
 sold on July 1st, 1861. 
 1 Eirenicon, 1865, p. 213. 
 
108 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Church); XXXVIII. (Of Christian Men's Goods, which are 
 not common); XXXIX. (Of a Christian Man's Oath). 
 
 Dr. Pusey does not specify which he considered to be the 
 ten accepted by Du Pin with qualifications, and which the five 
 objected to by him ; but I think we shall be right in group- 
 ing them as follows. 
 
 The second class, those conditionally admitted, were : 
 VI. (Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures) ; X. (Of Free 
 Will); XI. (Of the Justification of Man); XIII. (Of Works 
 before Justification) ; XIV. (Of Works of Supererogation) ; 
 XIX. (Of the Church) ; XX. (Of the Authority of the Church) ; 
 XXI. (Of the Authority of General Councils); XXXVI. (Of 
 Consecration of Bishops and Ministers); XXXVII. (Of the 
 Civil Magistrates). 
 
 The remainder, about which alone any serious difficulty was 
 raised, consisted of: XXII. (Of Purgatory); XXV. (Of the 
 Sacraments); XXVIII. (Of the Lord's Supper) ; XXIX. (Of 
 the Wicked, which eat not, etc.) ; XXXI. (Of the one Oblation 
 of Christ finished upon the Cross). 
 
 Beginning with the last, and most important class, we will 
 note what the points were to which the Gallican doctor took 
 exception. 
 
 With regard to Article XXII., Du Pin is represented 1 as 
 observing (i) " that souls must be purged, that is, purified from 
 all defilement of sin, before they are admitted to celestial 
 bliss ; (2) that the Church of Rome doth not affirm this 
 to be done by fire ; (3) that indulgences are only relaxations 
 or remissions of temporal penalties in this life ; (4) that the 
 Roman Catholics do not worship the cross, or relics, or images, 
 or even saints before their images, but only pay them an 
 external respect, which is not of a religious nature ; and that 
 even this external demonstration of respect is a matter of 
 indifference, which may be laid aside or retained without 
 harm." 
 
 1 It must be remembered that we have only Maclaine's version to 
 depend upon, as he rarely gives the original Latin. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 109 
 
 In spite of Maclaine's comment upon this, that " the Doctor 
 endeavours to mince matters as nicely as he can, to see if he 
 can make the cable 1 pass through the eye of the needle," as 
 though to imply that here agreement was hopeless, I cannot 
 see that in the first of these propositions any insuperable 
 barrier is raised. At present, indeed, we stand as on the 
 widely-separated banks of a broad river : but if we could re- 
 ascend the stream, past the writings of Bellarmine, past the 
 decrees of the Council of Trent, up to the Platonic theories of 
 Origen, we might find little to divide us. As to (2) Du Pin 
 admits that the purgatorial cleansing is not to be by fire — 
 meaning, I suppose, material fire. If so, he differs in this from 
 Bellarmine. In affirming (3) that " indulgences are only 
 relaxations or remissions of temporal penalties in this life" he 
 contradicts the modern doctrine of the Church of Rome, which 
 retains, indeed, the word temporal in this connection, but 
 includes under the term the pains of purgatory. 2 With regard 
 to (4) it is obvious that if such was the language of Du Pin, 
 there is nothing to keep him aloof from us. 
 
 In his comments on Article XXV., Du Pin " insists that 
 the five Romish sacraments be acknowledged as such, whether 
 instituted immediately by Christ, or not." To this the reply 
 would be, that all turns on the right definition of terms. Two 
 of these seven mysteries were " ordained by Christ Himself." 
 These, therefore, we distinguish from the rest, just as Cardinal 
 Bessarion did in 1436. 3 There can be no objection to the 
 word sacrament being used to designate each of the remaining 
 five, so long as it is understood to be used, for the reason just 
 stated, in a lower and secondary sense. 
 
 As regards the crucial Article XXVIII., and its corollary 
 XXIX., our account of what Du Pin wished to have altered is 
 too brief to be satisfactory : — " He proposes expressing that 
 
 1 The unauthorized various reading for camel in Matt. xix. 24. 
 
 2 Browne : Exposition of the Thirty -nine Articles, ed. 1894, p. 503. 
 
 3 Pusey : Eirenicon, p. 218. Dr. Pusey breaks off into a long discussion 
 of the " Anointing of the Sick," in its practical working ; but this does 
 not affect the main argument. 
 
IIO ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 part of the XXVIII th that relates to Transubstantiation (which 
 term he is willing to omit entirely), in the following manner : 
 ' That the bread and wine are really changed into the body 
 and blood of Christ ; which last are truly and really received 
 by all, though none but the faithful partake of any benefit 
 from them.' This extends also to the XXIX th Article." 
 
 As to the first part of this statement, it would seem that all 
 turns on the meaning of the word "changed." Such a "change " 
 may cover what Romanists mean by Transubstantiation. 1 
 Otherwise, in what follows as to the reception, there is nothing 
 diverse from the language of our Catechism, except in the 
 last clause. We say that " the Body and Blood of Christ are 
 verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the 
 Lord's Supper." Du Pin, agreeing in this with the majority 
 of believers in Transubstantiation, 2 held that all did " truly 
 and really " receive, though not to their benefit. On the 
 whole, as long as the ambiguous " changed into " remains, we 
 cannot say that we are brought much nearer to agreement by 
 this statement of Du Pin ; except, indeed, that the debateable 
 ground is narrowed by the very conciseness of the statement. 
 
 " On the XXXI st Article," according to Maclaine, Du Pin 
 " is less inclined to concessions ; and maintains that the 
 sacrifice of Christ is not only commemorated, but continued, in 
 the Eucharist, and that every communicant offers Him along 
 with the priest." 
 
 In this case also the difference may at the bottom be one 
 of words and names. Dr. Pusey 3 quotes from Bishop Cosins 
 a sentence almost identical with this of Du Pin : " We still 
 continue and commemorate that Sacrifice, which Christ once 
 made upon the Cross." "In a certain sense," wrote the late 
 Bishop of Winchester, "we may be said to offer His all-pre- 
 
 1 Dr. Pusey sums up his remarks on this subject in the words : " My 
 own conviction is, that our Articles deny Transubstantiation in one sense, 
 and that the Roman Church, according to the explanation of the Catechism 
 of the Council of Trent, affirms it in another." — Eirenicon, p. 229. 
 
 2 Browne : as before, p. 726. 
 " Eirenicon, p. 230. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 I I I 
 
 vailing sacrifice before the mercy-seat of God, when, with the 
 consecrated symbols of His Body and Blood before us, we 
 approach the Table of the Lord, to be fed by Him with the 
 food of everlasting life." 1 " We may be said to offer," says 
 the Church of England expositor. " Every communicant 
 offers Him," says the French theologian. Both alike shut 
 out the idea of a sacrificing Hiereus, and suggest rather the 
 presenting to the Father, the pleading before Him, on the 
 part of the worshippers, of the one all-sufficient oblation and 
 satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. 
 
 If such be the difficulties raised by Du Pin, we shall not 
 expect to find anything very formidable in the qualifications 
 with which he would accept the ten Articles assigned to the 
 second class. 
 
 The first of these is Article VI., which affirms the sufficiency 
 of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. On this he remarks : 
 " This we will readily admit, 2 provided that Tradition be not 
 excluded, which does not exhibit new articles of faith, but 
 confirms and explains what is contained in the Sacred 
 Writings, and fortifies it with new safeguards against those 
 who are otherwise minded ; so that there is no statement of 
 new things, but of old things in a new way." 
 
 None would wish to exclude Tradition, so long as the claim 
 made on its behalf is not one for equal and concurrent 
 authority, but only for the subservient office of a handmaid. 
 " It is not true," says the writer we have before quoted, 3 " that 
 the Church of England rejects the proper use of tradition, 
 though she will not suffer it to be unduly exalted. She does 
 not reject the testimony of antiquity, and cut herself off from 
 the Communion of the Saints of old." 
 
 1 On the Articles, as before, p. 743. 
 
 2 Here we have the Latin to fall back upon: "Hoc lubenter admit- 
 temus, modo non excludatur Traditio, quae articulos Fidei novos non 
 exhibet, sed confirmat et explicat ea quae in Sacris Literis habentur, ac 
 adversus aliter sapientes munit eos novis cautionibus ; ita ut non nova 
 dicantur, sed antiqua nove." 
 
 3 On the Articles, p. 175. 
 
112 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNIOtf. 
 
 As regards the list of apocryphal books appended to this 
 Article, Du Pin is of opinion that they will not occasion much 
 difficulty. He is inclined to decide that "they ought to be 
 deemed canonical, as those books concerning which there 
 were doubts for some time : " 1 yet, since they are not in the 
 first, or Jewish, canon, " he will allow them to be called Deutero- 
 canomcal." 
 
 The reservation attached to Article X. is a purely scholastic 
 one. " He consents to the X th Article, which relates to 
 Freewill, provided that by the word power be understood 
 what School divines call potentia proxima, or a direct and 
 immediate power ; 2 since, without a remote power of doing 
 good works, sin could not be imputed." 
 
 The wording of the next comment, on Article XL, is not 
 clear in the Latin. 3 Maclaine translates, but not very exactly : 
 " We do not deny that it is by faith alone that we are justi- 
 fied ; but we maintain that faith, charity, and good works, are 
 necessary to salvation : and this is acknowledged in the follow- 
 ing (XII th ) Article." 
 
 The only reserve Du Pin has in approving Article XIII., is 
 that he thinks it " somewhat harsh to affirm that all the 
 actions which are not done in pursuance of the grace of 
 Christ, are sins." 4 At the same time he would not have 
 discussions on the subject, except among divines. Our 
 Article, in point of fact, does not declare such acts to " be 
 sins," but to " have the nature of sin." 
 
 On Article XIV., which treats of Works of Supererogation 
 (" undoubtedly," according to Maclaine, " one of the most 
 
 1 The sentence as it stands is hardly logical. Unfortunately, the Latin 
 is not preserved. 
 
 2 " Which plainly it does," is Dr. Pusey's comment on this. 
 
 3 " Fide sola in Christum nos justificari, quod Articulo XI rao exponitur, 
 non inficiamur ; sed fide, charitate, et adjunctis bonis operibus, qua? 
 omnino necessaria sunt ad salutem, ut articulo sequenti agnoscitur." 
 
 4 "De articulo XIII mo nulla lis erit, cum multi theologi in eadem ver- 
 sentur sententia. Durius videtur id dici, eas omnes actiones, quae ex 
 gratia Christi non fiunt, esse peccata. Nolim tamen de hac redisceptari, 
 nisi inter theologos." 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 113 
 
 absurd and pernicious doctrines of the Romish Church "), 
 Du Pin remarks that " Works of Supererogation mean only- 
 works conducive to salvation, which are not matters of strict 
 precept, but of counsel only : that the word, being new, 1 may 
 be rejected, provided it be owned that the faithful do some 
 such good works." 
 
 In the definition of "The Church," in Article XIX., he 
 would have inserted the words " under lawful pastors " (after 
 the words "a congregation of faithful men"?). It was also 
 his opinion that, "though all particular Churches, even that 
 of Rome, may err, it is needless to say this in a Confession of 
 Faith." 
 
 He agrees, with Article XX., that the Church may not {non 
 licet) " ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word 
 written ; " but adds that " it must be taken for granted that 
 the Church will never do this in matters quce fidei substantias 
 evertant." 
 
 " It is in consequence of this notion," says Maclaine, " that 
 he remarks on the XX 1st Article, that General Councils, 
 received by the Universal Church, cannot err ; and that, 
 though particular Councils may, yet every private man has 
 not a right to reject what he thinks contrary to Scripture." 
 The caveat is an important one. It amounts to affirming, as 
 Dr. Pusey points out, 2 that " No General Council, received by 
 the Universal Church, has erred." It is a statement of a fact 
 in the past, not of a present or future possibility. The latter 
 part of Du Pin's sentence only affirms in other words our own 
 statement, as against the uncontrolled liberty of private 
 judgment, that "the Church has authority in matters of faith." 
 
 Article XXXVI. is one on which we should have been 
 glad to possess Du Pin's words more exactly. According 
 
 1 I have not been able to trace the first appearance of the word siepere- 
 rogatio, as an ecclesiastical term. Tyndale uses it {Doctrinal Treatises, 
 Park. Soc, p. 86). The verb supercrogare is found in the Vulgate of 
 St. Luke, x. 35, as a rendering of the Greek word for " to spend more," 
 " to pay over and above." 
 
 " Eirenicon, p. 216. 
 
 I 
 
114 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 to Maclaine, "he would not have the English ordinations 
 pronounced null, though some of them, perhaps, are so ; but 
 thinks that, if an union be made, the English clergy ought to 
 be continued in their offices and benefices, either by right or 
 indulgence : sive ex jure, sive ex indulgentia ecclesice" 
 
 The language used, so far as we can judge of it in this con- 
 densed form, seems at first to imply doubt, coupled with a 
 willingness to give us the benefit of the doubt. But on closer 
 examination it implies more than this. If the English clergy 
 were to remain in their benefices, in the event of a reunion, 
 we must assume that Du Pin was satisfied with the validity of 
 their ordination. No " indulgence of the Church " could make 
 valid that which was ab initio invalid. 1 
 
 But we have other evidence on this point. Before le Pere 
 Courayer published, in 1723, the first edition of his well-known 
 Dissertation, he had been in frequent correspondence with 
 Archbishop Wake, who put into his hands various " original 
 papers " and letters which had passed between him and the 
 theologians on the Continent* The author of the article 
 " Wake " in the old edition of the BiograpJiia Britannica had 
 before him, when he wrote, no fewer than forty-five letters 
 from the Archbishop to Courayer, bearing date 1721 to 1727. 3 
 Though the probability is only slight, it is more likely that 
 the " original papers " furnished by Wake to Courayer would 
 contain favourable opinions on the validity of English Orders, 
 than the reverse. And, among these papers, none were more 
 likely to be included than what had been written by Du 
 Pin. 
 
 There is no need, however, to be content with mere pre- 
 sumptions. Du Pin and De Girardin, as Beauvoir writes, 4 a 
 few months after the date of the Commonitorium, are " ex- 
 tremely satisfied with the account of the succession of the 
 
 1 The argument is Dr. Pusey's.— Eirenicon, p. 231. 
 
 2 Bowyer's Anecdotes, 1782, p. 84. 
 
 3 Courayer: Dissertation on the Validity, &c, 1844, Introd. p. xvii n. 
 See also the note above, p. 107. 
 
 4 See above, p. 73. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 115 
 
 English bishops. For before they were in error about it." 
 And Du Pin himself wrote to Wake : 1 
 
 " I was exceedingly pleased with what you were so good as to 
 write to me so elegantly and accurately about the election and 
 consecration of the Bishops in England. It does not seem to me to 
 differ much from the customs which nourished in the time of Charle- 
 magne, as is clear from the Capitulars of this and the following 
 Emperors, and the formula? of Marculfus. And I cannot sufficiently 
 praise the precautions which you use to prevent any unworthy person 
 from stealing into the Episcopate. Would that Bishops were proved 
 in the same way everywhere, before they were consecrated ! " 2 
 
 Lastly, as to Article XXXVII., Du Pin "admits it, so far 
 as relates to the authority of the civil power ; denies all 
 temporal and all immediate spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope ; 
 but alleges that, by virtue of his primacy, which moderate 
 Church of England men do not deny, he is bound to see that 
 the true faith be maintained, that the Canons be observed 
 everywhere ; and, when anything is done in violation of either, 
 to provide the remedies prescribed for such disorders by the 
 Canon Laws {secundum leges canonicas, ut malum resarciatur 
 procurare). As to the rest, he is of opinion that every Church 
 ought to enjoy its own liberties and privileges, which the Pope 
 has no right to infringe. He declares against going too far 
 in the punishment of heretics, against admitting the Inquisition 
 into France, and against war without a just cause." 3 
 
 To some of Du Pin's proposals in the Commonitorium Wake 
 
 1 I give the translation from the Eirenicon, p. 232. The original is in 
 the Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 98. 
 
 2 I have given more space than is perhaps needful to this subject, 
 owing to the interest of late raised in it afresh. A writer in a Roman 
 Catholic monthly periodical, called 6". Luke's has recently drawn attention 
 to two documents found by Father Gasquet among the archives of the 
 Vatican ; one being a copy of a Bull issued by Paul IV., June 12th, 1555, 
 and the other a copy of a Brief, October 30th of the same year ; in both 
 of which the orders of those ordained in England by the Edwardine 
 ordinal are declared invalid. See the No. for August, 1895, pp. 122-125. 
 Except to believers in Papal infallibility, this will not appear decisive of 
 the question. 
 
 3 Maclaine, p. 155. 
 
1 1 6 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 declared, almost with warmth, that he would never submit. 1 
 Possibly one of these was that with which we are now con- 
 cerned. To admit that it was the Pope's duty, or prerogative, 
 to see that the canon laws be observed everywhere, and to 
 provide the remedies prescribed by the same laws, might have 
 seemed an infringement of the rights of each bishop in his 
 own diocese. If so, any misunderstanding was cleared up by 
 a further interchange of opinion. On December ist, 17 1 8, 
 Du Pin wrote to Wake : 2 
 
 " In regard to the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, as regards the 
 State, it is restricted within narrow bounds, so that it can be of no 
 prejudice to us. For as to temporals he has no power ; and in 
 spirituals he is held within the rules of the ancient Canons. He can 
 do nothing in those things which relate to the government of the 
 Bishop in his own Diocese ; he cannot ordain or enact anything 
 pertaining to discipline ; he cannot excommunicate anyone, or claim 
 anything else to himself. 
 
 " His primacy (namely, that he holds the first place among Bishops, 
 as all antiquity affirms, and the Greeks themselves, although rent 
 from the Roman Church, confess) we acknowledge. But that Primacy 
 does not give him a higher grade among Bishops : he is only their 
 fellow-bishop, though first among Bishops." 
 
 Wake's reply shows how much they were at one on this 
 subject : 3 
 
 " The honour which you give to the Roman Pontiff differs so little, 
 I deem, from that which our sounder Theologians readily grant him, 
 that, on this point, I think, it will not be difficult, on either side, 
 either to agree altogether in the same opinion, or mutually to bear 
 with a dissent of no moment." 
 
 We have now seen, so far as the means at our disposal 
 allowed, what was the deliberate judgment of one of the most 
 learned men of the Gallican Church in those days on the 
 doctrines of the Church of England. Even in our Articles, 
 
 1 See above, p. 58. 
 
 2 Wake Corresp., cclviii., No. 98. The translation is Dr. Pusey's. 
 
 3 lb., No. 100 ; Eirenicon, p. 234. 
 
THE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 117 
 
 to which the Puritan feels himself nearer than he does to our 
 Liturgy, there has been shown to be but little to which Du 
 Pin took serious exception. More than that, his calm, un- 
 dogmatizing temper, and his true catholicity of spirit, enabled 
 him to allow for what might be good in what was unfamiliar 
 to him, and to distinguish between trifles and essentials. Wake 
 met him in the same liberal spirit. While " a staunch assertor 
 of the orthodoxy of the Anglican formularies," while " insisting 
 that any doctrinal reforms necessary to reunion must come 
 from the side of Rome," he was anxious " to remove from the 
 Service-books whatever might be a hindrance to intercom- 
 munion in religious offices ; ' that so, whenever any one 
 comes from us to them, or from them to us, we may all join 
 together in prayers and the holy sacraments.' " 1 
 
 It is difficult to refrain from the belief, that had the 
 matter rested with Du Pin and Archbishop Wake alone, the 
 differences left to separate the Gallican and Anglican Churches 
 would have all but disappeared. The union they both sought 
 after was denied them, at least in outward form, on this side 
 the grave. But their work has not been lost. It has shown, 
 more convincingly than ever, that, in Du Pin's own words, 
 " the controversy between us may easily be settled, if only 
 the fairer Theologians are heard on both sides, if dictating is 
 avoided, and we are led, not by party spirit, but by love of 
 seeking the truth." 
 
 1 Jervis, ii. 441. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The French Church in Modem Times. 
 
 AT the eve of the Revolution, the French Church was in a 
 state of outward grandeur, but with fatal signs of inward 
 decay. According to an authority 1 which we have no desire 
 to call in question, a fifth part of the soil of France was in its 
 possession, with an income arising from this and other sources of 
 upwards of ,£9,000,000 sterling. The number of those supported 
 by these revenues was equally imposing. The latest researches 
 show an array of 27,000 monks and 37,000 nuns ; while 70,000 
 bishops, priests, and beneficed abbes formed the secular clergy. 
 
 But the state of the religious houses in many parts, as at the 
 eve of the Reformation in the sixteenth century, gave a sure 
 presage of the changes impending. Monasteries dying out for 
 want of inmates, a general lukewarmness among the professed, 
 laxity in many institutions, scandals in some : — such are the 
 summaries under which M. Taine groups together the facts he 
 cites. 2 The personal character of the clergy, as a body, is 
 declared, at least by some writers, to have been at this period 
 good. De Tocqueville doubts " if there was ever a body of 
 clergy in the world more remarkable [for their virtues and 
 religious faith] than the Catholic clergy of France at the 
 moment when they were surprised by the Revolution." 3 Yet 
 for all this they were intolerant and blinded with the pride of 
 power. "In 1780 the Assembly of the Clergy declares that 'the 
 
 1 See a paper by the Abbe Martin in the Nineteenth Century, December, 
 1879, pp. 1093-1117, on "The Present State of the French Church." 
 
 2 Les Origines de la France Contemporainc, par H. Taine. La Revolu- 
 tion, torn, i., 1878, p. 212. 
 
 3 See an article in the Saturday Rcviexu, July 8th, 1882, p. 58. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 119 
 
 altar and the throne would equally be in danger, if heresy were 
 allowed to throw off its shackles.' Even in 1789, the clergy, in 
 its memorials, while consenting to the toleration of non- 
 Catholics, finds the edict of 1788 [1787?] too liberal. They 
 desire that they should be excluded from judicial offices, that 
 they should never be allowed to worship in public, and that 
 mixed marriages should be interdicted." 1 The immunities 
 and privileges enjoyed by an order which was thus intolerant 
 of others helped to swell the accusations against them. It was 
 an act in which some saw a retributive justice that the first 
 blow struck at them came from one of themselves, Talleyrand, 
 Bishop of Autun. 
 
 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord was a man of keen 
 insight into the course which affairs about him were taking, 
 and of no high principles that would restrain him from turning 
 them to his own account. An unbeliever and a libertine, he 
 played a part not unlike that of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of 
 Essex, with the added reproach of being himself not a layman 
 but a cleric. He it was who, in a speech in the National 
 Assembly, on October 10th, 1789, advocated the right of the 
 State to confiscate the property of such religious houses as it 
 thought desirable to suppress, and in other ways to appropriate 
 the revenues of the Church. " It was a strange phenomenon," 
 says Jervis, 2 " a prelate of the Church, a man born in the highest 
 ranks of the aristocracy, the possessor of rich preferment and 
 enviable worldly position, standing up in the Legislature to 
 propose a measure for disinheriting his own order, destroying 
 their independence, and degrading them to the level of mere 
 hirelings of the State." 
 
 Within the short compass of an essay it is impossible to do 
 more than indicate very briefly the course of these events. It 
 was, as has been said, a reaping of the dragon's teeth sown by 
 Louis XIV. The harsh measures adopted in his reign against 
 
 1 Taine : The Ancient Rt'gime, tr. by Durand, 1876, p. 63. For the 
 edict of November, 1787, see Felice: Histoire des Protestants de France, 
 1880, p. 576. 
 
 2 Gallican Church, 1882, p. 30. 
 
120 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 the Jansenists now brought their retribution. Martineau, 
 a Jansenist, followed up the proposals of the Bishop of 
 Autun by bringing forward a measure for the suppression of 
 sinecure benefices, and for the extinction of religious houses 
 with fewer than twenty inmates — a measure that only led the 
 way to far more sweeping confiscations. Camus, another 
 member of the same party, had a chief hand in formulating the 
 Constitution civile du Clerge. By this notorious enactment, 
 drawn up by the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Assembly, 
 in pursuance of an order of February 6th, 1790, 1 it was decreed, 
 among a number of articles, that every Department should form 
 a single diocese, coextensive with the Department (Article 
 I.), that, " without prejudice to the unity of the faith and of the 
 communion maintained with the visible head of the Universal 
 Church," no French church, or parish, or individual citizen, 
 should acknowledge the authority of any ordinary or metro- 
 politan seated within the territories of a foreign power (Article 
 V.) ; that stipends, at a fixed rate, should be paid to the clergy, 
 according to their degree, making them thus salaried officers of 
 the State (Titre III., Articles iii.-vi.). These and other pro- 
 visions, by which the Church of France was delivered up, bound 
 hand and foot, to the civil government, produced, as might be 
 expected, the most violent disorders. Fifty bishoprics were 
 suppressed at a blow. Cathedral and collegiate chapters were 
 dissolved. The old boundaries of dioceses and parishes were 
 disturbed, and old associations wantonly shocked. The 
 covenanted stipends, it is needless to say, were not long paid. 
 
 Harder to bear than the loss of livelihood was the imposition 
 of an oath upon the clergy of France that they would maintain 
 the Constitution civile to the utmost of their power. This was 
 in the beginning of December, 1790. The effect of the oath 
 was at once to divide the clergy into two hostile parties, the 
 jurors and non-jurors, the minority who accepted, and the 
 great majority who refused it. In case of a number of the 
 bishops the acceptance implied their acquiescence in the sup- 
 pression of their sees. If they, or any of the inferior clergy, 
 1 Guette'e, xii. 221, where the full text is given. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 121 
 
 refused, the punishment was to be forfeiture of stipends, depri- 
 vation of civil rights, incapacity for any public office, with 
 heavier penalties still looming in the background. 1 The 
 numbers of those who submitted, and of those who set the 
 Assembly at defiance and braved the consequences, are 
 variously given. The Abbe Martin declares 2 that out of a 
 hundred and forty-eight bishops, to whom the oath was tendered 
 in 1791, a hundred and forty -one refused, and only seven 
 accepted. There is no need to enter into details of the suffer- 
 ings and persecutions endured by the French clergy for the 
 next ten years ; the scenes of violence and bloodshed in 
 churches; the sentencing to the galleys, to execution; the 
 flight to other countries, which brought many a poor cure as an 
 emigrant to our own shores. However bitter the cup which the 
 French Church, in the days of its power, had made the despised 
 nonconformists drink of, there was no denying that the retribu- 
 tion brought upon itself was bravely borne. The beginning of 
 the present century beheld it in one sense humbled to the dust, 
 but in another emerging purified and chastened from the fire 
 of persecution, and endeared to the people by the very spec- 
 tacle of its suffering. 
 
 Our chief object in referring to this dark picture is to show 
 by what ties the Church of France became drawn more closely 
 to the Papal See, and gradually lost something of its old 
 national character. It was in the Pope that it found a friend, 
 in the hour of its utmost need, who could give it help, and, 
 when that failed, could at least give it sympathy. On March 
 10th, 1791, Pius VI. issued a brief, condemning the principles 
 of the Revolution in general, and the obnoxious articles of the 
 Constitution civile in particular. 3 This was followed up by 
 
 1 Jervis, iii. 96. 2 Article before quoted, p. 1093. 
 
 3 Jervis, iii., pp. 137-139. The Abbe Guettee (xii., p. 218) thinks that 
 Pius VI. might have guided the acts of the Assembly, in their earlier 
 stages, had he possessed the requisite knowledge, instead of thwarting and 
 thereby making them more bitterly hostile. He regards the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission as composed of men " sincerement devoues a l'Eglise ; mais, 
 per malheur, on lui fit voir des ennemis en ceux qu'il eut du considerer 
 comme des enfants." 
 
122 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 another, dated April 13th of the same year, in which the chief 
 agents of the attack upon the Church were excommunicated, 
 and suspension from their spiritual functions was pronounced 
 against all ecclesiastics who had submitted to the state Con- 
 stitution, unless within forty days they retracted their oath of 
 allegiance to it. Whether the Pope was wise and far-sighted 
 in this, or not, it is certain that many retractations followed ; that 
 the non-jurors felt themselves strengthened and encouraged in 
 their resistance ; and that the eyes of the French clergy in 
 general became more turned to Rome, as the quarter from 
 whence they might look for spiritual support. 
 
 Pius VI. died in exile at Valence in Dauphine, August 29th, 
 1799, in his eighty-second year, but his successor, Pius VII. 
 kept up the same line of policy. But with the new century 
 the prospect of affairs began to lighten. Bonaparte was now 
 First Consul, and his sagacious eye perceived the accession of 
 strength that would come to him, if he could have the clergy 
 on his side, or at least disarm their hostility. Hence the 
 negotiations begun with the Pope, negotiations broken off and 
 resumed again and again, but which finally resulted in the 
 Concordat, settled on July 15th, 1801, and of which the ratifi- 
 cations were exchanged on September 18th 1 following. 
 
 The most important of the seventeen articles included in the 
 Concordat was the first : — " La religion catholique, apostolique 
 ct romaine sera librement exercee en France. Son culte sera 
 public, en se conformant aux reglements de police que le 
 gouvernement jugera necessaires pour la tranquillite publique." 
 The wording of the last clause had been fiercely contested ; 
 but on the whole, if we consider through what a chaos of dis- 
 ordered opinions and infidel excesses the country had passed 
 during the ten years preceding, it will seem an immense 
 advance towards the restoration of the peace of the Church, 
 that the free exercise of the Catholic religion should be per- 
 
 1 So the Abbe Martin. Guettee (xii. 413) says Sepember 10th. The text 
 of the " Convention " is given in full by Guettee. I have not had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the work of Georges Raux, published this year : La Rcpub- 
 lique et le Concordat de 1801. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 
 
 123 
 
 mitted in France, even under these restrictions. Nominations 
 to vacant bishoprics were to be made by the First Consul, but 
 canonical institution thereto was to be given by the Pope 
 (Article V.). Before entering on their office, all bishops were 
 to take a prescribed oath of obedience and fidelity to the 
 government established by the constitution of the State (Article 
 VI.). The bishops were to nominate to parochial cures, but 
 their choice was limited to persons accepted by the govern- 
 ment (Article X.). The Pope, on his part, agreed not to disturb 
 the possessors of alienated ecclesiastical property (Article 
 XIII.). The government was to provide a suitable stipend for 
 the bishops and the parochial clergy (Article XIV.). The 
 Holy See recognized, in the person of the First Consul of the 
 French Republic, the possessor of the same rights and privi- 
 leges as had been held by the old government (Article XVI.). 
 
 It is clear that by this last stipulation what had been known 
 as Gallicanism was formally recognized, if not re-established, 
 in France. But, as though that were not enough, the govern- 
 ment endeavoured to strengthen its own hands still more by 
 appending to the Concordat a string of no fewer than seventy- 
 seven " Articles Organiques," the heading of the first eight of 
 which, Du regime de I'Eglise catholique dans ses rapports avec 
 les droits et la police de I'Etat, sufficiently indicates their 
 general purpose.' The excuse, or justification, for adding these 
 Articles, was found in the language of the first and sixteenth 
 Articles of the Concordat, which provided that the restored 
 public worship should conform to the police regulations of the 
 government ; and that the First Consul, as representing the 
 State, should enjoy the rights and privileges in ecclesiastical 
 matters enjoyed by the government before the Revolution. It 
 was easy to expand these provisos into a fresh code of regula- 
 tions. In this way powers were claimed for the civil govern- 
 ment, exceeding anything that Louis XIV. would have insisted 
 on. No Bull, or other instrument, emanating from the Court 
 of Rome, was to be published, printed, or put into execution in 
 France, without the sanction of the government (Article I.). 
 1 They are given in full by Guettee, xii. 416-422. 
 
124 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 All cases of abuse on the part of the superior clergy were to be 
 referred to the Council of State (Article VI.) j and these cas 
 d abus were made to include a number of acts which the clergy 
 might have supposed to be within their own proper jurisdiction. 
 Even the nomination and institution by bishops of persons to 
 hold parochial cures were to be first approved by the head of 
 the State, before they could take effect (Article XIX.). No 
 church fete might be instituted, without leave of the government 
 (Article XLL). In towns where there were churches of other 
 denominations than the Catholic, no out-door ceremonies 
 (including, of course, processions) were to be permitted to the 
 Catholics (Article XLV). The very dress of the clergy was 
 prescribed. Public prayers might be directed by government ; 
 in which case the bishops must confer with the prefects and 
 commandants of the district. In a word, the most jealous care 
 was taken that there should be no infringement of " the rights, 
 franchises and customs of the Gallican Church" (Article VI.) ; 
 but no anxiety was shown to avoid trenching on what the Pope 
 had been used to regard as his rights. 
 
 The Concordat, with these Organic Articles appended to it, 
 was brought before the Assembly on April 5th, 1802, recom- 
 mended to their acceptance in a brilliant speech of the 
 Minister of Public Worship, Portalis ; and two days later was 
 passed with acclaim by both houses of the legislature. 1 On 
 Easter Monday, April 19th, a solemn service was held in 
 Notre Dame, to commemorate the restoration of peace in 
 Europe, and the reconciliation of France with the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 In Rome, as might be expected, the news of this equivocal 
 proceeding of the French government was received with 
 irritation and alarm. Pius VII. had made repeated con- 
 cessions, for the sake of peace, that the Concordat pure and 
 simple might be agreed upon. Now, to his unspeakable 
 vexation, he found that he had been outwitted, and that what 
 had just been enrolled as part of the statute-law of France, 
 was not the mere text he had assented to, but the text glossed 
 1 Jervis, iii. 384. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 1 25 
 
 with the commentary of the opposing party. His indignation 
 showed itself in an allocution in Consistory, delivered on May 
 20th following ; 1 but his remonstrances produced little effect, 
 and Bonaparte went on unchecked in his course. 
 
 We must pass rapidly over the events preceding the fall of 
 Napoleon, which may be said to have begun with the occupa- 
 tion of Rome by the French troops in the early part of 1808. 
 The Pope was kept a prisoner at Savona, a small town in 
 Northern Italy, under the government of France. There he 
 resorted for defence to one of the few weapons left him, the 
 same which had been used by Innocent XI. in his dispute 
 with Louis XIV. He was entitled, by the fifth Article of the 
 Concordat, without taking count of what he would have held 
 to be his right, to confer canonical institution on all Bishops 
 of the French Church, after their nomination by the govern- 
 ment. No provision had been made as to the length of time 
 which might expire before this was done, or as to the course 
 to be pursued if the Pope refused such institution altogether. 
 Accordingly, an increasing number of newly-appointed French 
 bishops found themselves in the painful dilemma of either 
 siding with the civil power, and entering on their episcopal 
 office without receiving the Papal sanction, or of showing 
 canonical obedience to the Pope, at the risk of offending the 
 civil government. Cardinal Maury, in accepting the Emperor's 
 nomination to the Archbishopric of Paris, was an example of 
 one line of conduct ; Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's own uncle, 
 who had previously refused that elevation, was an example of 
 the other. The schism among the clergy thus produced 
 threatened to become dangerous ; and still more so when 
 Napoleon, under pretence of removing the Pope from a spot 
 whence the English fleet might have carried him off to Sicily 
 or Malta, had him hastily conveyed, at the risk of his life, to 
 Fontainebleau. There he extorted from him the Concordat 
 
 1 Jervis, iii. 388. The Abbe Martin, in the article before quoted, p. 1096, 
 says that, if the Organic Articles were now put in force, " it would become 
 the inauguration of the most violent persecutions to which the Catholic 
 Church has ever been subjected." He cites in evidence Articles I., III., XI. 
 
126 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 of Fontainebleau, January 25th, 1813. By virtue of this, pro- 
 vision was made for the institution by the metropolitan of any 
 bishop, nominated by the government, whom the Pope refused, 
 or delayed for more than six months, to institute. 1 Pius VII. 
 bitterly repented the concessions he had made, almost as soon 
 as they had been wrung from him, and showed his grief in an 
 agony of self-reproach. But it is a singular testimony alike to 
 his forgiving temper, and to the power of fascination exercised 
 by Napoleon on all with whom he came into personal contact, 
 that the aged pontiff treasured up no feeling of resentment 
 against his captor. When the fallen Emperor was pining on 
 the rock of St. Helena, Pius, who had given shelter to several 
 members of his family at Rome, wrote in touching terms to 
 Cardinal Consalvi concerning the exile : — " The pious and 
 courageous initiative of i8oi,"he said, "has caused us long 
 ago to forget and forgive subsequent injuries. Savona and 
 Fontainebleau are merely faults of the understanding, aberra- 
 tions of human ambition ; the Concordat was an act of 
 Christian and truly heroic restoration." 2 
 
 After the Bourbons had been reinstated, a Convention was 
 settled between the plenipotentiaries of the French government 
 and of the Pope, by which the Concordat of 1801 was to be 
 set aside, and that of 15 16, between Francis I. and Leo X., 
 taken as the basis of agreement. The property of the clergy 
 before the Revolution, so far as it was capable of recovery, was 
 to revert to its former uses. The Organic Articles were to be 
 repealed, " in so far as they were contrary to the laws of the 
 Church." 3 Here, however, an unexpected difficulty arose. 
 The Pope had duly signed the new Concordat. But when it 
 was presented to the French legislature, so many objections 
 were taken, that the scheme had to be finally abandoned. For 
 a time the clergy in France were left in a state of unsettlement 
 between the two Concordats, one of which had been repudiated 
 by the Pope, and the other rejected by the legislature. Matters 
 
 1 Jervis, iii. 487. 
 
 2 Jl>., p. 495, quoting the Mdtnoires du Cardinal Consalvi, Introd. p. 78. 
 
 3 lb., p. 498. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 1 27 
 
 were partially adjusted by a Bull of October ioth, 1822, in 
 virtue of which thirty new dioceses were created, raising the 
 total number to eighty. The Bull itself was accepted in 
 France with a saving clause, exempting from approval any- 
 thing in it which might be " contrary to the constitutional 
 Charter, to the laws of the kingdom, or to the franchises, 
 liberties, or maxims of the Gallican Church." 1 
 
 The great mistake made at the Bourbon restoration was the 
 same, though in another form, as that which had been made 
 by Napoleon himself. In both cases it was clearly shown 
 that the great object of the civil power was to use the Church 
 as a buttress for itself. Napoleon would have made the 
 papacy a French patriarchate, with the Pope at Paris. Louis 
 XVIII., in his charter of 1 8 14, proclaimed the freedom of 
 public worship, and the toleration of all forms of religious 
 belief. But he declared the Catholic religion to be that of the 
 State, and his conduct throughout his reign showed that he 
 regarded it as, more than all else, a counterpoise to the 
 principles of the Revolution. Its spirit must now be essentially 
 conservative, reactionary. This line of policy, it need hardly 
 be said, was sure to weaken the ties of restored affection in 
 which the Church had begun to be held by the nation at large. 
 Louis had offended the veterans of the Consulate by affecting 
 to grant a charter, as of his own gracious condescension, 
 instead of admitting that he came to the throne by virtue of 
 it. 2 His adherents increased this ill-feeling by widening the 
 breach between the Revolution and the religion of the State. 
 The clergy, to their own loss, were but too ready to follow 
 this lead. It was natural that men who had suffered, or whose 
 immediate predecessors had suffered, so much in those political 
 convulsions, should look back upon them with dislike. And 
 so they became reactionary. They viewed with favour the 
 re-establishment by Pius VII. of the order of the Jesuits, in 
 1814, which had been suppressed by Clement XIV. in 1773. 
 They became active in interdicting public amusements on 
 
 1 Jervis, iii. 499. 
 
 2 Bonnechose : Hist, de France (tr. by Robson), p. 648. 
 
128 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 Sundays and Holy-days, talked of recovering their tithes 
 and domains, and inveighed against the owners of their 
 former possessions. 1 This was hardly to be wondered at, 
 but it tended to make the Church of the Restoration un- 
 popular. The obstinacy of Charles X., and his blind in- 
 sensibility to the wishes of the nation, intensified this feeling, 
 till, as persons still living can remember, "in 1830, a Catholic 
 priest could scarcely show himself in the street." 2 
 
 From the danger thus threatening it, the Church was saved 
 by the efforts of a knot of ardent politicians, ultramontane 
 at heart, but advocating the cause of civil and religious liberty. 
 These men — Lacordaire, Lamennais, Montalembert, and others 
 — strove to show that the Catholic religion was compatible 
 with republican principles as well as monarchical, in fact, with 
 political liberty of every kind. In this they carried their 
 doctrines too far, and had to be called to order by an encyclical 
 of Gregory XVI., August 15th, 1832. 3 The revolutionary pro- 
 ceedings of February, 1848, so far seconded the efforts of 
 these writers that the wealthier classes, afraid of the spread of 
 socialism, if not of another Reign of Terror, were driven back 
 to conservatism, and to a closer alliance with the Church. 4 
 How serious had been the danger, during the years preceding 
 that outbreak, of the French Church becoming the Church of 
 the rich and well-to-do alone, is strikingly shown by the 
 Diary in France, 1845, of Dr. Christopher Wordsworth. At 
 the fashionable churches, says that writer, " all the well-know n 
 evils of our own pew-system are repeated over again with 
 chairs, with even a little extra disorder and confusion, to be 
 
 1 Bonnechose, p. 649. 
 
 2 M. Prevost-Paradol : France (two Lectures delivered in Edinburgh 
 1869), p. 49. The writer adds that "the time of the bitterest opposition 
 of our middle classes against the Catholic Church is the time of the 
 Restoration — that is, when the royal government was seen in close 
 alliance with the Church, and when both seemed about to wage a common 
 and deadly war against the most legitimate interests issuing from and 
 connected with the Revolution." 
 
 3 Jervis, iii., 501. 
 
 4 Prevost-Paradol, as before, p. 50. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 
 
 129 
 
 ascribed to the payment at the time, and to the continual 
 passing and repassing of the person who collects it." 1 For 
 the luxurious, the front rows of chairs have velvet paddings. 
 This picture had its almost inevitable counterpart. In the 
 country, the small peasant-proprietor would not go to church 
 himself, but would " wait for his wife outside, talking and 
 marketing with his neighbours." 2 Yet M. Prevost-Paradol, 
 whose words these last-quoted are, writing some five-and- 
 twenty years after Dr. Wordsworth, bears witness that, in 
 France, " the power of the Catholic Church has been on the 
 increase for thirty years or so, and the clerical influence has 
 wonderfully progressed, during that same period, among that 
 same French bourgeoisie, upper and lower, which had formerly 
 thrown off so decidedly its allegiance to the Catholic Church." 
 
 Passing onwards over another interval of nearly a quarter of 
 a century, we find the Abbe de Broglie confirming the fact 
 of this growing influence, and speaking of it, as is natural, with 
 much more enthusiasm. The bishops have now, he says (in 
 1892), an authority over their clergy, and exercise a control in 
 their dioceses, much greater than they had before the Revolu- 
 tion. 3 The growth and development of religious orders, which 
 were in many instances dying out before the end of the 
 previous century, have been spontaneous and rapid. In 1871, 
 out of the 750 members composing the National Assembly, 
 600 were men avowedly religious. 4 When we compare the 
 composition of this with that of some previous Chambers, we 
 are forced, as the Abbe de Broglie justly says, to admit the fact 
 of a great increase of faith in the country, and of attention to 
 the discharge of religious duties. At the same time, this 
 writer, equally with M. Prevost-Paradol, admits the estrange- 
 ment from the Church of " la grosse masse rurale," to use 
 M. Taine's expression, " qui s'ecarte de la foi," and the avowed 
 hostility to it of great bodies of the artisans, hardly relieved by 
 
 1 See the Christian Remembrancer, vol. x. (1845), P- 3 01 - 
 7 Prevost-Paradol, p. 35. 
 
 ' Le Prfcent et PAvenir fit Catholicisme en France, 1892, p. 17. 
 4 lb., p. 236. 
 
 K 
 
130 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 the formation of a nucleus of better material — " un noyau, peu 
 nombreux encore, mais solide, d'ouvriers chretiens." 1 
 
 If we seek for the causes of this great, though, as we see, 
 not unchequered expansion of the Church in France in modern 
 times, we are met, at every step, with evidence of the increasing 
 activity of the ultramontane body, — in other words, of their 
 leaders, the Jesuits. 2 Through the Empress Eugenie, they 
 exercised an unbounded influence over the counsels of the 
 Second Empire. The more moderate principles of the old 
 Gallicanism were fast being forgotten, or were put con- 
 temptuously aside. Here and there a stray voice was raised 
 to plead for them, but to no purpose. " Napoleon I.," urged 
 one petitioner to the Emperor in 1861, "re-enacted the four 
 Articles of the French clergy among the laws of the state. 
 May your Majesty continue and complete his work ! That 
 will be one of your best titles to renown." 3 The answer to all 
 such petitions was heard in the roar of the guns of Civita 
 Vecchia. 
 
 It has been pointed out by more than one writer as an 
 ominous circumstance, that the event, which more than all 
 others was taken by those who brought it about to be a 
 triumph of ultramontane principles, coincided with another, 
 which heralded the greatest disaster the arms of France have 
 sustained since the fall of the First Empire. On the 18th 
 July, 1870 the dogma of Papal infallibility was proclaimed in 
 Rome ; and on the same day the declaration of war by France 
 against Prussia was published in Berlin." " As the Pope read 
 aloud the decree of his own infallibility," says the author 
 
 1 Le Prese?it et VAvenir du Catholicisme en France, 1892, p. 238. 
 
 2 De Pressense, writing in 1874, after giving the statistics of Jesuit 
 institutions in France ten years previously, adds : " Cette statistique a peu 
 d'importance depuis que l'Eglise elle-meme est devenue une immense suc- 
 cursale, ou, pour mieux dire, le vaste diocese de la Societe de Jesus." — La 
 Liberty religieuse, p. 96. The Jesuit colleges were closed in France in 
 1880. 
 
 3 Memoire sot/mis d VEmpereur Napoh ! on III., sur la Restauration de 
 rEg/ise Gallicane, 1861, p. 6. 
 
 * Dr. J. A. Uorner, in the article before quoted, p. 591. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 131 
 
 writing under the name of " Theodorus," " a storm which had 
 long been gathering broke over St. Peter's ; and the decree 
 was read by the aid of a taper, and to the accompaniment of 
 thunder and lightning." 1 It need not be set down as a mark 
 of a weak or superstitious mind, to regard this coincidence of 
 the two events as something more than fortuitous. Both were 
 in fact, hastened on by the same designs. Prince Bismarck, 
 addressing the Prussian Chamber of Deputies on December 5th, 
 
 1874, declared himself possessed of conclusive evidence to 
 show that " the war of 1870 was the combined work of Rome 
 and France." " I know from the very best sources," are his 
 words, " that the Emperor Napoleon was dragged into the war 
 very much against his will by the Jesuitical influences rampant 
 at his Court ; that he strove hard to resist these influences ; 
 that in the eleventh hour he determined to maintain peace ; 
 that he stuck to this determination for half an hour, and that 
 he was ultimately overpowered by persons representing 
 Rome." 2 How France suffered by her rulers yielding to the 
 influences here spoken of, we all know. How Rome — so far 
 as that is synonymous with the temporal power of the Pope — 
 suffered also, was shown in its annexation by Victor Emmanuel 
 to the kingdom of Italy, three months after the war broke out. 
 
 As the material prosperity of France has recovered in a 
 marvellous manner from the shock, so the Church in France, 
 as we have seen, has of late years advanced with unabated 
 success. But whether this success is real and spiritual, or 
 only superficial and external, remains to be proved, and the 
 result will be watched by many with anxious interest. That 
 there is greater discipline and subordination among the clergy 
 is certain. But there are those who think that this result has 
 been reached by a system of intimidation, which has crushed 
 out the free expression of opinion on religious matters. 3 That 
 
 1 The New Reformation, 1875, p. 90. 
 
 2 lb., p. 91 n. 
 
 3 See L'Eglise Catholique-romaine en France, par M. L'Abbe Michaud, 
 
 1875, p. 31, where the writer speaks of " l'absolutisme odieux exerce" par 
 les eveques sur le clerge" inferieur." The bishops are tyrannized over in 
 
132 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 there is a vast increase in the number of religious fraternities 
 and sisterhoods of various kinds, is equally undeniable. But 
 some might reply that this greater devoutness is alloyed by a 
 corresponding increase of superstition. The Catholic religion 
 seems to burn with an intenser flame, but the darkness outside 
 its borders seems blacker by the contrast. To those who are 
 content with this state of things, the system of centralization 
 \vhich has been going on, under Jesuit management, in France 
 and other countries, is a " mouvement de concentration de 
 l'Eglise catholique autour de son chef." 1 To others it will 
 seem rather a persistent attempt on the part of one division of 
 an army to make its own general commander-in-chief ; an 
 attempt in keeping with the whole policy of the advisers of 
 Pio Nono, of those who prompted the Syllabus of 1864, as 
 well as the Infallibility dogma of 1870. 2 
 
 While the Church of France has thus shifted its moorings, 
 our own has not remained stationary. The views of Arch- 
 bishop Wake as to what ought to be done to restore communion 
 between the two Churches — "to purge out of the public offices 
 of the Church all such things as hinder a perfect communion 
 in the service of the Church ; that so, whenever any come 
 from us to them, or from them to us, we may all join together 
 in prayer and the Holy Sacraments with each other " (p. 77) — 
 would now be very probably pronounced to be latitudinarian. 
 The great object of many of our writers, since the Oxford 
 movement of 1832, has been to show, not that anything 
 needed to be " purged out " of our public offices, but that these 
 
 their turn, the Jesuits making "tous les efforts possibles pour aneantir les 
 droits des pretres et des e'veques, pour paralyser completement la 
 hierarchie de l'Eglise de France" (p. 33). See also an article in the 
 Quarterly Review, said to be by the late Bishop Wilberforce (vol. cxviii., 
 1865, pp. 498-529), in which evidence is produced as to the number of 
 interdicted priests in Paris, reduced to miserable shifts, such as cab- 
 driving, for earning a subsistence. 
 
 1 L'Abbe de Broglie, as before, p. 15. 
 
 2 For some strong observations on this paving the way for the final 
 decree, by the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, see the Abbe" 
 Michaud : Le Mouvement contemporain des Eglises, 1874, p. 5. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 1 33 
 
 rather required to be stretched to a higher tension, to be kept 
 up to their original pitch. The Church of England and the 
 Church of Rome were as two musical instruments side by- 
 side. The strings of the former had become relaxed, and the 
 notes they gave were flat. The instrument only needed 
 retuning, for both to make one harmony together. " Let the 
 inquiry be once instituted," urged one, 1 who may be taken as 
 a representative of this spirit, " in regard to the status of the 
 Church of England : Has she retained or lost the elements of 
 Catholicity? Let this inquiry be made first by the Pope, and 
 then by a council of the Church to which we willingly refer the 
 determination of our differences. . . . True, we are separated 
 from the visible communion of the Catholic world, but not 
 willingly. We pray, we protest against such separation, and 
 it is our comfort to know that ' it is not separation which 
 makes schism, but the cause.' . . . Before, then, the Bishops of 
 the Catholic Church condemn us, let them feel the heart which 
 now beats in the Church of England. Let them judge her as 
 to her motive — and what is that? To live and labour on in 
 internal communion with all true Catholics, until such time as 
 God will restore the external communion which she desires." 
 
 It must, of course, be borne in mind that such spokesmen do 
 not by any means represent the whole of the Church of 
 England. But they represent an active, increasing party, one 
 from which, moreover, the appeal for reunion with the Latin 
 and Greek communions chiefly comes. Can we safely say that 
 between the Anglican Church, moving on these lines, and the 
 Gallican, merged as it now is in the Roman, any close approxi- 
 mation is likely— more likely than it was in Wake's time ? I 
 
 1 See a Sermon signed " N.", on Acts vii. 1, 2, in Sermons on the 
 Reunion of Christendom (First Series), 1864, pp. 159-174. The years 
 1864-1867 were prolific of Reunion literature. In 1867 appeared a volume 
 of Essays on the Reunion of Christendom, with an Introductory Essay by 
 Dr. Pusey. Many passages from this might be quoted in support of the 
 statements in the text. See especially the Essay on The Difficulties of 
 Reunion (pp. 88-117), by the Rev. W. Perceval Ward, Rector of Compton 
 Valence, Dorsetshire: — "England then must be Catholicised before her 
 Church can be restored to Unity " (p. 91), etc. 
 
134 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND THE PROJECT OF UNION. 
 
 think he would be a bold man who should venture to predict 
 it. We may now almost cease to speak of Gallicanism, 1 and 
 accept it as inevitable that we have to deal with a Church do- 
 minated by the spirit of the Vatican decrees. With this, even 
 the writers we have referred to as most desirous of a return to 
 Catholic unity, see no prospect of reconciliation. 
 
 " It is absolute waste of time," writes Mr. Ward, 2 "to talk of 
 Reunion, while Ultramontanism is the governing principle at 
 Rome." If any further evidence were wanted, the remarkable 
 letter of Pope Leo XIII. to the English people, dated Easter 
 Day last, would be sufficient. The benevolent tone of that 
 letter has been often and justly praised. But the serious fact 
 remains, that in all the yearning expressed for the return of 
 the people of this country to union with the Catholic Church, 
 as that term is understood by the writer, there is no allusion 
 whatever to the existing Church of England. The Bishops of 
 that Church are silently ignored ; the rank and file of an army 
 are addressed, without any notice taken of the officers. Nor is 
 
 1 A pastoral letter of Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, dated July 
 2nd, 1874, may be taken as expressive of the change thus brought about- 
 In it he glories that it has been given to him "se prosterner devant 
 Pie IX. captif et persecute." Michaud : EEglise Catholique-romaine, p. 33. 
 Compare this with the language of Cardinal Noailles, or even with that of 
 Archbishop Darboy, in his Derniere Heure dn Concile. 
 
 2 Essays, as before, p. 107. The writer goes on to say that this " dis- 
 heartening truth " has of late been brought home " in a more than usually 
 painful way by the Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Manning." I presume 
 that this refers to the Charge of Archbishop Manning reviewed with a 
 profusion of praise in the Dublin Review for January, 1868. The 
 Archbishop, who was soon to be an ardent supporter of the dogma of In- 
 fallibility at the Vatican Council, there denounces Gallicanism as "the 
 spirit of egotism, worldliness, and avarice, which caused whole nations 
 of Europe to apostatize from the Divine Will, from the Unity of the 
 Church, and to erect Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism on the 
 schismatical basis of national churches " (p. 46). It was worthy of the same 
 authority to pronounce that " the Protestant Reformation has reached its 
 three-hundredth year. It has run the career which is usually permitted to 
 a heresy." — Essays on Religion and Literature, 1865, p. 31. Compare, 
 with this way of speaking of his antiqua Mater, the tender language of 
 Cardinal Newman, in a passage too well known to need quoting. 
 
THE FRENCH CHURCH IN MODERN TIMES. 1 35 
 
 there the least hint that the Papacy is disposed to make any 
 concessions ; to treat with the present leaders of the English 
 Church as Urban VIII. would have treated with their fore- 
 fathers. 1 
 
 This mistake — for such we must consider it to be — was 
 pointed out in a dignified manner by our own Primate in a 
 Pastoral Letter dated from Lambeth on the 30th of August 
 in this year. 2 At the same time the Archbishop vindicated for 
 the English Church a position like that which his predecessor 
 William Wake had forecast more than a century and a half 
 before. " History," he said, " appears to be forcing upon the 
 Anglican Communion an unsought position, an overwhelming 
 duty, from which it has hitherto shrunk. It has no need to 
 state or to apologize for this. Thinkers, not of its own fold, 
 have boldly foreshadowed the obligation which must lie upon 
 it towards the divided Churches of East and West." 
 
 I do not know whether among the " thinkers, not of its own 
 fold," the Archbishop had specially in view Count Joseph de 
 Maistre. But his words are so akin in their prophetic spirit, as 
 to deserve quoting here ; and with them we may fitly close : 
 " Si jamais les chretiens se rapprochent, comme tout les y 
 invite, il semble que la motion doit partir de l'eglise d'Angle- 
 terre. Le presbyterianisme fut une ceuvre francoise, et par 
 consequent une ceuvre exageree . . . Mais l'eglise anglicane, 
 qui nous touche d'une main, touche de l'autre ceux que nous 
 ne pouvons toucher. . . . Elle est tres-precieuse sous d'autres 
 respects, et peut etre considered comme un de ces intermedes 
 chymiques, capables de rapprocher des elemens inassociables 
 de leur nature." 3 
 
 1 See an essay by the Rev. Frederick George Lee, in the Essays on 
 Reunion, before quoted, p. 121. 
 
 2 See the Times, September 6th, 1895. The Archbishop there refers 
 to " a certain friendly advance made from a foreign Church to the people 
 of England, without reference or regard to the Church of England." 
 
 3 Considerations sur la France, 1 797, p. 32. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abre'ge' de la morale de VEvangile, 
 (or Reflexions morales), by 
 Quesnel, 23, 35 ; its circulation 
 prohibited, 36 ; heretical proposi- 
 tions in, 37. 
 
 Alexander VII., Pope, 28. 
 
 Amelot, M., a councillor, 37 ; envoy 
 to the Papal court, 41. 
 
 Amersfoort, archives at, 29 n. 
 
 Ampere, J. J., 31 n. 
 
 Andre, Major, 5. 
 
 Andrewes, Bishop, Du Pin's opinion 
 of, 81 n. 
 
 Apocryphal Books, the, Du Pin on, 
 112. 
 
 Arnauld, Antoine, 18 ; draws the 
 distinction, de facto and de ju?-e, 
 22 ; friend of Quesnel, 24 ; 
 Racine's lines on, 24 n. 
 
 Arnauld, Marie Angelique, Abbess 
 of Port Royal, 32. 
 
 Articles of the Church of England, 
 discussed by Du Pin, 107- 115. 
 
 Articles organiques, the, 123, 126. 
 
 Assembly, of French clergy, 168 1 -2, 
 1 1 ; articles of, 13-16. 
 
 Augustinus, the, of Jansen, 22. 
 
 Barbe, M., chaplain to the Dutch 
 Embassy, 84. 
 
 Bausset, Cardinal de, 30 n. 
 
 Beauvoir, Osmund, 45 n. 
 
 Beauvoir, William, chaplain to Lord 
 Stair, 47, 87 ; letters from, 48, 57, 
 60, 63, 64, 73, 75-76, 83, 84, 90, 93, 
 96, 97, 99, 100, 102 ; letters to, 49, 
 57, 65, 74, 76, 82, 83, 85, 88, 93, 
 103, 105. 
 
 Bissi. See De Bissi. 
 
 Blackburne, Archdeacon, 59. 
 
 Bologna, Concordat of, 8. 
 
 Bonaparte, Napoleon, seeks the 
 support of the clergy, 122; his 
 relations with Pius VII., 125-126. 
 
 Boniface VIII., Pope, 6; death of, 
 7- 
 
 Bordas-Demoulin, quoted, 3«. 
 
 Borrajo, Mr. E. M., 107 n. 
 
 Bossuet, Jacques-Be"nigne, Bishop 
 of Meaux, cited, 5 n. ; sermon of, 
 1 1 ; draws up the articles of 1682, 
 13; his Defensio Declarationis, 
 17 ; his Instruction, 20 ; expected 
 to be Archbishop of Paris, 24 ; 
 death of, 2g. 
 
 Bourbons, restoration of the, 126, 
 127. 
 
 Bourges, Pragmatic sanction of, 7 ; 
 
 repealed, 8. 
 Browne, Dr. Harold, on the articles, 
 
 109 n., and often. 
 Brownson's Quarterly Review, 4 n. 
 
 "Calot" (p. 105), "la calotte," the 
 
 cardinal's hat. 
 Canonical institution, withheld by 
 
 the Pope, 69 n. 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, 135. 
 Canterbury, See of, its dignity, 83, 
 
 85. 
 
 Cas de Conscience, the, 28. 
 Catholic IV orld, the, 4 n. 
 Charles X., mistaken policy of, 128. 
 China, missions to, 54 n. 
 Christianity, national type of, 1. 
 Church of England, Wake on the, 
 
'38 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 50; ordinations in the, 97; articles 
 of the, 107-115; mediating posi- 
 tion of, 135. 
 
 Claget, Dr. William, 45. 
 
 Clement, St., 76. 
 
 Clement IX., Pope, 22, 33. 
 
 Clement XL, Pope, 28, 41 ; issues 
 the Bull Unigenitus, 37; issues 
 the Pastoralis Officii, 62. 
 
 Clergy, state of, in France, 131, 
 132 n. 
 
 Commonitoriiim, the, of Du Pin, 57, 
 58, 98-99 ; Beauvoir's opinion of, 
 63 ; Wake on, 69 ; examined, 106. 
 
 Concordat, the, of 15 16, 126. 
 
 Concordat, the, of 1801, 122; passed 
 in the Assembly, 124. 
 
 Concordat, the, of 18 13, 126. 
 
 Consecration of Bishops, in the 
 English ordinal, 73. 
 
 Constitution, the. See Unigenitus, 
 the Bull. 
 
 Co?istitution civile du Clerge, the, 
 120. 
 
 Controversy, the, with the Church 
 
 of Rome, 46. 
 Council, national, contemplated by 
 
 Louis XIV., 42; advised by Wake, 
 
 68. 
 
 Councils, general, 113. 
 Courayer,le Pere, 105 n. ; his library, 
 
 107 11. ; in correspondence with 
 
 Wake, 114. 
 Court, Antoine, writes to Wake, 
 
 92 n. 
 Cyprian, St., 71. 
 
 D'Aguesseau, Avocat-general, 21, 
 
 36 ; Chancellor, 62 n. 
 Darboy, Auchbishop, 134^. 
 D'Artis, Gabriel, 76 n. 
 Ue Barcos, Martin, work by, 25. 
 Ue Bissi, Cardinal, 64, 90. 
 De Broglie, 1'Abbe, 129, 132 n. 
 De Caulet, Francois, Bishop of 
 
 Pamiers, 11. 
 
 Declarations, of 1682, the, 14-16, 
 44; of 1663, 16. 
 
 De Felice, G., 1 19 11. 
 
 De Girardin, Piers, account of, 47«.; 
 his oration in the Sorbonne, 52, 
 102 ; matters considered by him 
 non-essential, 53, 61 ; Wake's 
 opinion of, 75 ; becomes a guest 
 at Lambeth, 105 n. ; letters from, 
 to Wake, 56, 61, 74, 78 n., 100, 
 104; to Beauvoir, 103; letter to, 
 70. 
 
 De Harlai, Archbishop of Paris, 
 
 13 ; death of, 24. 
 De Hauranne, Du Verger, Abbot 
 
 of St. Cyran, 32. 
 De la Mothe, Claude Groteste, 
 
 97 n. 
 
 De Lomenie, M., 23. 
 
 De Maistre, Count Joseph, 135. 
 
 De Mesmes, Jean Antoine, 100. 
 
 De Noailles, Le Due, 31 n. 
 
 De Noailles, Louis Antoine, 24; 
 made Archbishop of Paris, 25 ; 
 his character, ib., 81; issues the 
 Instruction pastorale, 26; made 
 Cardinal, 27, 74 ; his grief at the 
 suppression of Port Royal, 34; 
 expels students from St. Sulpice, 
 35 ; in favour at court, 42, 48 «. ; 
 aware of the correspondence with 
 Wake, 60, 63, 99; accepts the 
 Unigenitus with qualifications, 
 104, 134;/. 
 
 De Pressense, E., 130/;. 
 
 De Rohan, Cardinal, 63/2. 
 
 De Tocqueville, Alexis, 118. 
 
 De Viaixne, Dom Thierri, 27. 
 
 Dionysius, Pseudo-Areopagita, 19. 
 
 Dorner, Dr. J. A., quoted, 5 n., 17 
 44, I30«. 
 
 Droit de regale, what, 10. 
 
 Du Bois, l'Abbe, 86-7, 93, 99, 101 n. ; 
 Archbishop of Cambrai, and 
 Cardinal, 105, 106. 
 
 Du Pin, Louis Ellies, a doctor of 
 
INDEX. 
 
 139 
 
 the Sorbonne, 29; account of, 
 47 «. ; works of, 49#., 52, 75 
 80 «. ; Commonitorium of, 57, 
 115; Relation of, 96-8; portrait 
 of, 93, 100; his opinion of the 
 Pope's supremacy, 75 n. ; of the 
 thirty-nine articles, 107-115; his 
 letters and papers seized, 86, 88 ; 
 death of, 92-93, 99 ; letters from, 
 48, 49, 51, 78, 99«., 115, 116; 
 letters to, 51, 66, 94. 
 
 Embassies, chapels of the, in Paris, 
 84, 96 n. 
 
 England, Church of. See Church. 
 English Chapel, in Paris, 75 ; 
 
 services at the, 76, 85, n. 
 Eucharist, rubric relating to the, 
 
 77- 
 
 Eugenie, the Empress, 130. 
 Explication des Maximes des Saints, 
 
 par Fenelon, 20. 
 Exposition de la foi catholique, the, 
 
 26, 45 ; first edition of, withdrawn, 
 
 45- 
 
 Exposition of the Doctrine of the 
 Church of England, the, 45. 
 
 Fabroni, Cardinal, 42. 
 
 Felice. See De Felice. 
 
 Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, 
 19; his Explication, 20; letter of, 
 to his nephew, 38 n. ; advocates 
 the calling of a general Council, 
 41 ; death of, 41. 
 
 Fesch, Cardinal, 125. 
 
 Firmilianus, Bishop of Neo-Caes- 
 area, 71. 
 
 Forbes, William, Bishop of Edin- 
 burgh, 80. 
 Francis I., 8. 
 
 French Church, the modern, state 
 of, 118 ; increased power of, 129, 
 
 m- 
 
 French Clergy, sufferings of the, 
 121. 
 
 Gallican liberties, set at naught by 
 the Pope, 68-69 J DuPin's estimate 
 of, 79. 
 
 Gallicanism, what, 1,3; dominant 
 under Louis XIV., 3 ; modern 
 ultramontane opinion of, 4 ; early 
 history of, 5 ; charged with being 
 Erastian, 8 ; revived by Napoleon 
 I., 123 ; whether extinct, 134 ; 
 denounced by Cardinal Manning, 
 134 n. 
 
 Gasquet, Father, 115 n. 
 Gerberon, Dom, a Jansenist, 25. 
 Gerson, Jean, Chancellor, 7 ; 
 
 account of, 79 n. 
 Gray's Inn, and James II., 45. 
 Gregoire, le citoyen, cited, 7 
 
 79 «• 
 
 Gregory, XVI., Pope, 128. 
 Gualterio, Antonio F., Cardinal, 
 42 n. 
 
 Guettee, 1'Abbe, quoted, 9, and 
 often. 
 
 Guibert, Cardinal, 134 n. 
 Guyon, Madame, 20. 
 
 Harris, Dr. John, 74, 83. 
 Hideux, le Docteur, 102, 103. 
 Holland, Old Catholic Church of, 
 
 26 n. 
 Horner, (?) 96 n. 
 Hudson, S., on the Church, 2 «. 
 Huet, F., quoted, 3 n. 
 
 Immaculate Conception, dogma of 
 
 the, 132, n. 
 Indulgences, Du Pin's opinion of, 
 
 109. 
 
 Innocent X., Pope, 22. 
 InnocentXI., Pope, 11, 12; Fenelon 
 
 appeals to, 20. 
 Innocent XII., Pope, 27. 
 
 Jansen, Cornelius, 22. 
 
 Jansenists, 23 n. ; " Calvinists say- 
 ing mass," 26 ; numerous in the 
 French Assembly, 120. 
 
14-0 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Jansen, de, Cardinal, 4 ft. 
 Japan, missions to, 54 n. 
 Jervis, W. Henley, quoted, 6 and 
 often. 
 
 Jesuits, champions of ultramon- 
 tanism, 3; enemies of Gallicanism, 
 9 ; growing feeling against, in 
 France, 34 ; suppressed by Cle- 
 ment XIV., 127; restored by Pius 
 VII., ib. ; influence of, at the 
 court of Napoleon III., 130 ; their 
 colleges closed, ib. n. ; policy of, 
 132. 
 
 Joly de Fleury, Guillaume Frangois, 
 Procureur - general, 57, 61 ; 
 account of him, 62, »., 63 n. ; 
 Wake's praise of, 72 ; to have a 
 copy of Wake's letter to Du Pin, 
 73, 74, 86, 89, 99. 
 
 Jourdain, le Pere, 23. 
 
 King, Sir Peter, on disputes about 
 
 non-essentials, 81 n. 
 Kitchin, G. W., catalogue of the 
 
 Wake MSS. by, 106 n. 
 
 La Chaise, Pere, 24. 
 Lafiteau, Messire Pierre-Frangois, 
 quoted, 4, and often ; his opinion 
 ■ of the correspondence, 87-88. 
 Lambert, le Docteur, 104. 
 Lambeth degrees, origin of, 83 ». 
 Lee, G. F., 135. 
 " Legatus natus," what, 83. 
 Leger, Dr., 63 ft. 
 
 Le Normant, Bishop of Evreux, 
 64. 
 
 Leo X., Pope, 8. 
 
 Leo XIII., Pope, letter of, to the 
 
 English people, 134. 
 Le Roy, Albert, 4 and often. 
 Le Tellier, Charles-Maurice, 12 n. 
 Le Tellier, Michel (confessor to 
 
 Louis XIV.), 9, 12 ;z., 36. 
 Le Tellier, j Michel, Chancellor of 
 
 France, 12 n. 
 
 " Licence Courante," 101. 
 Liturgy, the English, in what ob- 
 jected to by Gallicans, 77. 
 Louis, Saint, 5. 
 
 Louis XIV., under Jesuit influence, 
 9, 42 ; claims the "droit de 
 regale," 10; enforces the accept- 
 ance of the Bull Unigenitus, 37- 
 40; contemplates a National 
 Council, 42 ; dies, ib. 
 
 Louis XVIII., mistaken policy of, 
 127. 
 
 Lullin, M., 102, 103. 
 
 Maintenon, Madame de, 31 
 Manning, Cardinal, 134 n. 
 Marculfus, Gallic monk, 115. 
 Martin, l'Abbe, on the French 
 
 Church, 118 «., 121, 125 n. 
 Maury, Cardinal, 125. 
 Maximes des Saints. See under 
 
 Explication. 
 Melun, 9. 
 
 Michaud, l'Abbe, 131 132 «., 
 
 134 n. 
 Molinos, Michael, 20. 
 Monasteries, state of, in France, 
 
 118. 
 
 Moutarde, E., 30 n. 
 Mysticism, finds a home in France, 
 19- 
 
 Napoleon I. See Bonaparte. 
 Napoleon III., 130, 131. 
 Newman, Cardinal, 134 n. 
 Noailles. See Ue Noailles. 
 
 Old Catholics, the, 26 n. 
 Orders, the English, 1 1 5 n. 
 Ordinations, in the English Church, 
 114. 
 
 Organic Articles, the. See Articles. 
 Orleans, le Due d', Regent, 42, 99, 
 101. 
 
 " Oud Roomsch " church, the, 26 n. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 I 4 I 
 
 Papal claims, resisted in England, 
 67 ; Papal infallibility, dogma of 
 the, 130. 
 
 Pastoralis Officii, the Bull, 62, 86 n. ; 
 reception of, in Paris, 63; ap- 
 pealed against by De Noailles, 64. 
 
 Pavilion, Nicolas, Bishop of Alet, 
 11. 
 
 Pensdes pieuses, the, 23. 
 
 Petitpied, Nicolas, account of, 29 «., 
 
 99 ; form of religious service used 
 
 by, 100. 
 
 Petitpied, of Vaubreuil, brother of 
 
 the preceding, 39 n. 
 Pew-system, the, 128. 
 Philip le Bel, 6. 
 
 Piers, Patrick. See De Girardin. 
 
 Pisa, Council of, 7, 79 n. 
 
 Pius VI., Pope, 121 ; death of, 122. 
 
 Pius VII., Pope, 124; a prisoner, 
 125; kind feeling of, for Napo- 
 leon, 126. 
 
 Pius IX., Pope, 131, 134 n. 
 
 Pomponne, Le Marquis de, 33. 
 
 Pope, primacy of the, 65, 68-69, 86, 
 116; excessive claims for, to be 
 proved, 69; to be resisted, 71. 
 
 Port Royal, Convent of, 31 ; sup- 
 pressed, 33. 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, of 1269, the, 
 5, 79; of Bourges, 7, 8, 79; re- 
 voked by Louis XL, 8. 
 
 Preston, Viscount, 44. 
 
 Prevost-Paradol, M., quoted, 128 n., 
 129. 
 
 Problbne eccldsiastique, the, 26; 
 publicly burnt, 27. 
 
 Protestants, stumbling-block to, 18 ; 
 severities towards, in Paris, 84; 
 toleration for foreign, 91 ; rela- 
 tions of the English Church to, 
 97 n. 
 
 Purgatory, Du Pin's opinion con- 
 cerning, 108. 
 
 Pusey, Dr. E. B., his Eirenicon 
 quoted, 65«., 80, 109 n., no, 113, 
 
 114 «., 115 n6«.; essay by, 
 133 »• 
 
 Puyol, l'Abbe, quoted, 3 n., 5 n. 
 
 Quesnel, Pasquier, 23; attaches 
 himself to Arnauld, 24 ; draws up 
 the Abrdgd de la morale, 23. 
 
 Quietism, rise of, 19. 
 
 Quinant, le Docteur, 102. 
 
 Racine, quoted, 9. 
 
 Ras de St. Maur, 87. 
 
 Reflexions morales, the, of Quesnel. 
 
 See under A brdgdde la morale, etc. 
 Reform, " pretended," 67 n. 
 Reformation, the English, Wake's 
 
 outline of, 67-68. 
 Regent, the. See Orleans, le Due d'. 
 Relation, the, of Du Pin, 98. 
 Reunion, lectures and sermons on, 
 
 133 n., 134. 
 Revolution, the French, 118. 
 Richer, Edmond, 79 n. 
 Roccaberti, Archbishop of Valentia, 
 
 17 n. 
 
 Rohan, Cardinal, 9, 90. 
 Rubric, " the black," 77 n. 
 
 Sacrament, definition of, 109. 
 Saint-Simon, Mdmoires of, quoted, 
 
 9 n., 24 n. 
 Scriptures, the Holy, sufficiency of, 
 
 III. 
 
 Sorbonne, the, proceedings of, in 
 1701, 28; discusses the bull 
 Unigenitus, 39 ; violent scenes 
 in, z'3.,88 n., 104 n. ; De Girardin's 
 oration in, 52 ; its reception there, 
 61 ; appeals against the Pastoralis 
 Officii, 64. 
 
 Stair, Lord, 65 ; intercedes for Pro- 
 testants, 84 ; public entry of, into 
 Paris, 87. 
 
 Stephanus I., Pope, 71 n. 
 
 Stillingfleet, Bishop, quoted, 2. 
 
 Supererogation, works of, 112-113. 
 
 Syllabus, the, 132. 
 
142 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Taine, Henri, on the French Church, 
 
 118, 119 n., 129. 
 Talleyrand-Perigord, Charles 
 
 Maurice de, 119. 
 Tellier. See Le Tellier. 
 Tenison's Library, 107 n. 
 " Theodorus," 131. 
 Thirlwall, Bishop, 77 n. 
 Timothee, le Pere, 35, 41. 
 Tradition, III. 
 
 Transubstantiation,DuPin's opinion 
 
 of, 110. 
 Tremoille, Cardinal, 36, 41. 
 
 Ultramontane, origin of term, 3. 
 
 Ultramontanism, language of mod- 
 ern, 4 ; Louis XIV. attempts to 
 check, 16; increase of, 130. 
 
 Unige?iitus, the bull, 35, 37 n. ; its 
 reception in France, 38 ; regis- 
 tered in Parliament, 39 ; discussed 
 in the Sorbonne, 39 ; amount of 
 interest shown in, 40; appealed 
 against, 48 ; objected to by the 
 Sorbonne, 73, 101. 
 
 Union between the Gallican and 
 Anglican Churches, Wake on, 
 50, 58, 77, 94, 117 ; De Girardin 
 on, 56; Du Pin on, 98; failure of 
 attempts for, 106 ; other writers 
 on, 133, 134. 
 
 Urban VIII., Pope, condemns the 
 Augustinus, 22, 135. 
 
 Variations of doctrine, 45. 
 Vaudois, the, 92. 
 " Veniat," what, 102 n. 
 Vialart, Felix, Bishop of Chalons, 
 23- 
 
 Vineam Domini, the bull, 30 ; con- 
 ditionally accepted, 31. 
 
 Wake, Dr. William, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, early life of, 44 ; 
 weak health of, 94 ; his trans- 
 lation of the Epistles of the Apos- 
 tolical Fathers, 46 ; other works 
 of, ib. ; his position in relation to 
 dissenters, ib. ; his correspon- 
 dence with foreign noncon- 
 formists, 47 ».j 91-92 ; his opinion 
 of the dignity of his see, 58, 83, 
 85 ; decides to meet the advances 
 of Du Pin and De Girardin, 65 ; 
 papers left by, 106 n. ; letters 
 from, 49, 57, 65, 66, 70, 74, 76, 
 82, 85, 88, 93, 94, 103, 105 ; letters 
 to, 48, 49, 56, 57, 61, 63, 64, 73, 
 74, 75-76, 78, 78 n., 83, 84, 90, 93, 
 96, 96 97, 99, 99 n., 100, 102, 
 104, 115, 116. 
 
 Ward, W. Perceval, 133 n., 134. 
 
 Wilberforce, S., Bishop, 132 n. 
 
 Wordsworth, Dr. Christopher, 128. 
 
 Xavier, St. Francois, 54 n. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 P. 23, line 21, for S' Beuve, read S le Beuve. 
 P. 42, line 3 from bottom,/<?r De Tellier, read Le Tellier. 
 
BY THE SAME EDITOR OR AUTHOR. 
 
 IOANNIS CO LETT OPUS DE SA CRA MENTIS ECCLESIM. 
 
 A Treatise on the Sacraments of the Church, in Latin, by John Colet, D.D., 
 Dean of St. Paul's, now first published, with an Introduction and Notes. 1867. 
 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 IOANNES COLETUS SUPER OPERA DIONYSII. Two 
 
 Treatises, in Latin, on the Hierarchies of Dionysius, with a Translation, Intro- 
 duction, and Notes. 1869. 8vo. Price 1 2s. 
 
 IOANNIS COLET/ ENARRA TIO IN EPISTOLAM S. PA ULI 
 
 AD ROMANOS. An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in 
 Latin, delivered as Lectures in the University of Oxford about the year 1497, 
 with a Translation, Introduction, and Notes. 1873. 8vo. Price ioi. 6d. 
 
 IOANNIS COLE TI ENARRA TIO IN PRIMA M EPISTOLAM 
 
 S. PAULI AD CORINTHIOS. An Exposition of St. Paul's First Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, in Latin, with a Translation, Introduction, and Notes. 1874. 
 8vo. Price ios. 6d. 
 
 IOANNIS COLETI OPUSCULA Q UjEDA M THE OL OGICA. 
 
 Letters to Radulphus on the Mosaic Account of the Creation, to which is added 
 a Treatise on Christ's mystical Body the Church, and an Exposition of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans (cc. i.-v.), all in Latin, with a Translation, Introduction, 
 and Notes. 1876. 8vo. Price 12s. 
 
 THE LIVES OF JEHAN VITRIER, WARDEN OF THE 
 
 FRANCISCAN CONVENT AT ST. OMER, AND JOHN COLET, 
 DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S, LONDON. Written in Latin, by Erasmus of 
 Rotterdam, in a Letter to Justus Jonas. Translated, with Notes and Appen- 
 dices. 1883. Sm. 8vo. Price 4s. td. 
 
 %* The above are out of print. 
 
 A LIFE OF JOHN COLET, D.D., DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S, 
 
 AND FOUNDER OF ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, WITH AN APPENDIX 
 OF SOME OF HIS ENGLISH WRITINGS. Portrait. 1887. 8vo. 
 Price 12*. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF DEAN COLET UPON THE RE- 
 
 FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. A Dissertation for the 
 degree of B.D. in the University of Cambridge. 1893. 8vo. Price is. 6d. 
 
 {The above all published by G. Bell and Sons.) 
 THE UTOPIA OF SIR THOMAS MORE, in Latin from the 
 
 Edition of March, 1518, and in English from the First Edition of Ralph Robyn- 
 son's Translation in 1551, with additional Translations, Introduction, and Notes. 
 Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1895. 8vo. Price iof. td. net. 
 
CHISWICK PRESS :— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
■