Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/81

Rh L Nistoire abreyee de la France ; La Politique sacree ; Traite de la connaissance de Dieu et de soimeme ; and most celebrated of aL, Le Discours sur I histoire iiniverselle. This work, originally meant to be a mere abridgment for use in tiie royal schoolroom, grew as he wrote into a mag nificent historical narrative. It consists of three parts : (1), a sketch of history from Genesis to the birth of the modern world under Charlemagne; (2), an account of the Mosaic and Christian economies ; (3), a series of reflections on tho vicissitudes of human government, the whole being characterized by splendour of colouring and vast range of plan, although this latter feature is less striking in iate editions than in the earliest, which was not broken up into chapters. In the composition of it Leibnitz greatly helped him, by forwarding from Germany every book bear ing on the subject on which he could lay hands. Its central thought is that of all changes in history being overruled with sole reference to the progress and universality of true religion ; but Bossuet s treatment of this theme, notwith standing a host of striking and unchallengeable observations, is vitiated by his identification of the Christian faith exclu sively with the Papal form of it, and by the way in which he ignores the place and value of pagan antiquity in the world s development, so as to invite, if not to justify, the sneer of Voltaire : &quot; II parait avoir e crit uniquement pour insiuuer que tout a ete fait dans le monde pour la nation juive. It was not until the close of 1679 that Bossuet s official duties as preceptor came to an end, but in the interval his industry otherwise did not slacken. He was elected a member of the Academy of France in 1G71. About this time, too, he gave to the world the most frequently revised, most bitterly attacked, and most widely translated of all his books, U Exposition de la doctrine catholiqiie. Com posed in 1669, and originally circulated in manuscript, it had been credited with effecting in this shape not a few conversions, among others that of Turenne. But Jean Daille&quot; and other Reformers having charged it with toning down the harshness of Roman dogma with the purpose of ensnaring their flocks, Bossuet resolved to publish it. The book created a wide-spread flutter of excitement, as may be inferred from the terms employed in speaking of it by Jurieu, perhaps the ablest of Bossuet s opponents, &quot;Every body is gone mad over the Exposition ; everywhere one hears of the most disgraceful perversions.&quot; It twice received the imprimatiir of the Pope in despite of the author s undisguised opinions with respect to infallibility. Curiously enough, it was this treatise that brought about in 1678 the conference between Bossuet and Claude, the learned pastor of Charenton. Floquet informs us that wherever he could obtain a face to face encounter, Bossuet preferred it to controversial writing. On the present occasion the discussion lasted five hours, turning on the authority of the church, with what result is, perhaps, not unfairly described by Bayle in the pithy remark &quot; That as at the battle of Seneff, both sides claimed the victory.&quot; During the latter years of the preceptorship Bossuet, with a few genial associates, busied himself with Notes and Annotations of the Books of Scripture. Many pleasant hours were spent in these round-table studies, and it is proof of his inexhaustible energy that he did not hesitate, even so late in life, to acquire a knowledge of Hebrew, though there may be a touch of exaggeration in what was said of him by an admirer,&quot; that he was not less familiar with the language of Moses than with that of Homer.&quot; His life at court was not without its shadows. His very position involved him unwillingly in the miserable transac tions springing out of the unhallowed relation in which the king stood to his successive favourite?. But Bossuet never forgot the bishop in the courtier. He remonstrated often and seriously with the profligate Louis. As spiritual adviser of the beautiful but unhappy La Valliere, his Christian gentleness and wisdom shine out conspicuously in the interviews and correspondence which issued in her retirement to the convent of the Carmelites. If, in tho case of Madame de Montespau, his actions are more open to misconstruction, yet further investigation tends towards his acquittal of the charges advanced by various historians. Appointed in 1681 to the bishopric of Meaux, Bossuet had scarcely been installed when he was summoned to take part in the memorable assembly of the French clergy with which his name will always be associated. This council was convoked by royal edict, at the instance of the clergy themselves, for the purpose of finding a way out of the conflict, yearly growing fiercer, between Louis and Borne. The strife arose about the regalia, or claim of the Crown to administer the affairs of a vacant see until such time as its new occupant should take the oath of fidelity. But in the course of its discussions the council was agitated by questions far wider than that in which it took its rise, and embracing eventually the whole subject of the extent and limits of Papal authority. Bossuet preached the opening sermon. He gave fearless utterance to his cherished opinions. Referring to the aggressive dispo sition of the Papacy he declared &quot; Ocean itself, immense though it is, has its limits, and to break through at its own caprice would be to lay desolate the world.&quot; At the same time, seeing the heated state of the public mind, he counselled moderation, occupying a middle place between Ultramontanists and ultra-Gallicans, arid was even opposed to any formal declaration of the Gallican position. Being overruled in this chiefly through the influence of Harlay, archbishop of Paris, he next directed his efforts towards issuing the assembly s decision in the most temperate and conciliatory form. He was himself appointed to draw it up, and there resulted the famous four articles which were in substance these : I. The civil authority is not subject to the ecclesiastical in temporal things ; II. As decreed by the Council of Constance, a general council is superior to the Pope ; III. The exercise of the apostolic power ought to be tempered by the usage of particular churches; IV&quot;. Except with the consent of the church the judgment of the Pope is not unalterable in matters of faith. Being virulently attacked, these pro positions were defended by Bossuet in his great Defense de la doctrine clu clcrge de .France, which, however, was not printed until 1735. Bossuet applauded the shameful revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), but his English biographer reminds us that, stern as was his character, he did his utmost to secure to Protestants as much liberty as was possible under the existing law ; and, further, that no military execution took place during his episcopate at Meaux. In 1688 there appeared LHistoire des Variations des Fc/lises Protestantes, a review and analysis, in fifteen books, of the confessions of faith emitted by Protestant churches during the epoch of the Reformation, in which Bossuet aims at demonstrating their incoherency and self-contra diction, even on cardinal points, as contrasted with the doctrinal stability of Rome. Forcible and learned as it undoubtedly is, this work is grievously lacking in candour, and in the paramount love of truth, the treatment of Luther and his writings being especially unscrupulous and vindictive. Indeed, from first to last, it is executed in the spirit less of an upright judge than of an unprincipled partisan. These less attractive features of Bossuet s char acter, over which one would gladly throw the veil, became still more prominent when in 1689 there broke out the bitter quarrel on the subject of &quot; Quietism,&quot; the melancholy and fluctuating history of which may be best embraced 