I hope that I have sufficiently justified the statement made in 1867, that the Gallican opinions have no warrant in the ancient traditions of the illustrious Church of France.
III. First formal Enunciation of Gallicanism.
We must now enter upon a less pleasing part of our subject, the revival of the opinions of the 'Old Sorbonne,' and their fabrication into the Articles of 1682.
It would be out of place to recite the details of the contest which arose from the thesis in the College of the Jesuits. The Jansenists attacked the infallibility of the Pope, because they were condemned by two Pontifical constitutions. They had influence enough with the Government to persuade the ministers of Louis XIV. that the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope was dangerous to the Regale, and even to the Crown of France. The Government and the Parliament prohibited the theses. The Sorbonne resisted the dictation of Government in theology. The Parliament insisted on its obedience, and commanded the Faculty to register its decrees respecting the infallibility of the Pope. Out of this arose a conflict which required seventeen decrees of Parliament to reduce the Sorbonne to obedience. Finally, the expedient of the Assembly of 1682 was decided on as a means of giving a doctrinal and authoritative character to the theology of the Court and Parliament. The history of this policy of Colbert and his colleagues shall be
