Letter from a Doctor of ***

To a Jesuit of the Gallo-Belgian Province

MY REVEREND FATHER

In reply to the letter with which you did me the honor of writing to me concerning the censure of Gobat’s book by His Lordship of Arras, I shall tell you, as a friend, first, that the propositions as they are reported in the censure are not tenable, nor even excusable for the most part. Secondly, supposing it is judged appropriate in your parts to publish some writing in order to defend yourselves, it must contain nothing offensive against the Prelate; and should you address it to him himself, it cannot be too respectful. The note signed by the bookseller of Douai which you sent me appears essential to your justification. In it he declares that Gobat’s book was not reprinted in the Diocese of Arras, but at Cologne; that it was neither on the advice nor at the solicitation of the Jesuits that he entered into partnership with the German printer; that he does not believe they had knowledge of this new edition otherwise than through the distribution he made of it; and that he is ready to maintain this testimony before anyone. This shows that His Lordship of Arras was misled when he was made to understand that this book had recently been reprinted in his Diocese; and yet this fact seems to be the principal motive of his censure. If you had foreseen this new thunderbolt, I am persuaded that by such a clarification you would have prevented it from falling upon you, at least with so much éclat, and that your Bishop’s equity would not have permitted him, on the occasion of the work of a German written thirty or forty years ago, and in which you had no part, to load you with the infamous names of corrupters of morals, persecutors of Bishops, enemies who ravage the portion of the Lord’s inheritance, and above all to accuse you of preparing within his Diocese a refuge for the wicked doctrine exterminated in France, so as to make it reappear one day. Perhaps he would have exercised his zeal against the German Jesuit without attacking you; as one sees in fact that he adopts an altogether different conduct toward the French Jesuits of his Diocese from that which he adopts toward the Flemings, and that he honors the former with his good will at the very time when he gives the latter such great marks of his indignation. It is unfortunate for you that he should have allowed himself to be so badly prejudiced; but after all, this makes me think that, had he been better informed concerning this particular fact, he would have done you greater justice. What you propose to me, informing the world of the origin of the misfortune you have had of falling into this Prelate’s disfavor, might have a good effect. People would be edified to learn that it was because you had not wished to condemn this proposition of a Dominican, that absolution ought not to be refused or deferred propter relapsum praecise [solely because of relapse]. This Thesis appears Catholic to me, and the contrary opinion has with reason appeared dangerous to you. Thus, given the notion people have of the rivalry alleged to exist between the Dominicans and the Jesuits, they would be persuaded that the love of truth alone had prevented you from condemning the Thesis. The approval which the Universities of Louvain and Douai have since given it would be very favorable to you; but it would be a very delicate matter to touch this chord, and I should fear that this means of defense would bear too much the appearance of reproach and insult, which you must above all avoid. The respect owed to dignity must constitute for inferiors a weighty reason not always to make use of all their advantages; and this same reason must perhaps prevent you from descending into the detail of all the affairs that have been stirred up against you since this unfortunate Thesis. In a word, I would rather suffer everything patiently than depart in any manner from the bounds of moderation and respect. Here is an expedient that occurred to me and that some very wise persons and friends of yours have found good. It would be that, after having declared that you in no way approve the opinions contained in the censured propositions, as I know you do not in fact approve them; after having declared that you leave to the German Casuist’s compatriots the task of examining whether some of them can be defended, whether the extracts of the others are faithful, and whether what follows or precedes does not modify them; it would be, I say, that you address yourselves to His Lordship of Arras himself, not in order to refute his censure, for if you had such an object before your eyes when writing, I should fear that you would not be sufficiently masters of your resentment, but in order to offer him, in general, an Apology for the doctrine of your Society. He is your Pastor; and neither he nor anyone else can find fault with your rendering to him an account of your opinions and those of the Body to which you belong. Or, if you prefer, in this Apology you could simply explain your doctrine without addressing the Prelate. This subject would be less embarrassing for you and would exempt you from the greatest difficulty you would encounter in a work of this nature, in which it would be necessary so carefully to measure your discourse when speaking to His Lordship of Arras that there should not be one expression or one word of which he could complain. I incline more to this course for that reason; and I advise you to take it without even making any other writings on the matters of the censure, or on the intentions with which it was published, or on those who are known to have induced the Prelate to it. The sole end at which you ought to aim is to regain his good graces by your moderation and your respect. I would therefore set forth in this kind of Apology only the conduct your Society has always observed in its manner of teaching, the principles it has followed, the precautions it has taken to maintain sound doctrine in its Schools, the malicious and unjust procedure which its enemies have employed to discredit it in this matter, and the disposition in which it is, and in which it has always been, to follow in Moral Theology the rules of the Church and to condemn everything that this Mother of the faithful condemns. He has enough uprightness perhaps to relinquish his prejudices upon reading such an exposition. You act wisely in despising an infinity of writings published against you; but concerning some that may have greater effect, I have often thought that the plan of which I speak ought to be executed, and that you should make such a declaration to the public once and for all. For it is always necessary to begin again: you have obstinate adversaries who, on every occasion and upon the slightest incident, renew without wearying themselves and without fear of wearying the world all their former calumnies; and if it were necessary to answer everything, there would not be enough writers in the Society, extensive as it is, to do so. The occasion presented to you by the censure of M. of Arras, in which this Prelate treats you in so strange a manner, seems a natural one to me. Everyone will agree that you are being compelled to defend yourselves; and when it is seen that you do so without offending him himself, everyone will be edified by it. Once more, I believe that you ought to take this course. The matter is urgent, because people make a point of spreading everywhere the Censure of M. of Arras, in order to stir up against you persons who are poorly informed or already ill disposed. I am, etc.