BOSSUET Jacques-Bénigne (1627-1704).

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BOSSUET Jacques-Bénigne (1627-1704).
autograph manuscript, [Défense de la Tradition et des Saints Pères, 1693]; 42 pages on 22 small leaves in-4, mounted at the head of the Discours sur l'Histoire universelle, à Monseigneur le Dauphin : pour expliquer la suite de La Religion & les changemens des Empires (Paris, Sébastien Marbre-Cramoisy, 1681) ; in-4, [1 f]-561 pp.-[3 ff]; bound in red jansenist morocco, spine with 5 nerves, inner frame with triple gilt fillet, lining and endpapers in green moire, edges gilt, case. Important working manuscript for a posthumous work of controversy, bound at the head of the first edition of the Discourse on Universal History. ORIGINAL EDITION of the Discourse on Universal History, with engraved header, lettering and cul-de-lampe by Jolain. A very fine copy, with large margins, some very light foxing, small worm gallery well filled in the margin of 20 leaves. The copy is enriched by a precious manuscript of Bossuet, for eight chapters of the Défense de la Tradition et des Saints Pères (1693), where Bossuet wanted to refute Richard SIMON who had attacked the doctrine of Saint Augustin on grace and original sin in his Histoire critique des principaux commentateurs du Nouveau Testament... (Rotterdam, 1693). "Composed before the Quietism quarrel, it was taken again and increased in 1702; in 1703, Bossuet thought of giving it a new form in order to make a continuation of his two Instructions against the version of Trévoux, but death did not allow him to carry out this design. [...] The manuscript of this work is lost" (H.-M. Bourseaud, Histoire et description des manuscrits et des éditions originales des ouvrages de Bossuet, p. 26). It is Leroy who published it (without the XIIIth book) in the OEuvres posthumes de Messire Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (Amsterdam, 1753), volume II (XIXth of the "collection de Paris"). The manuscript is attached to the Second Part, Errors on the matter of Original Sin & Grace, and includes chapters XXVII to XXXIV of the twelfth Book: The Constant Tradition of the doctrine of S. Augustin on Predestination, corresponding to pages 467 to 476 of the original edition. The beginning of chapter 28 (probably 1 leaf) and the end of chapter 34 are missing. Each page (19.5 x 13.5 cm) is written in brown ink, on 10 bifoliums and 2 single sheets, on the right half of the page, with numerous erasures and corrections, .../... references and additions being noted in the left margin. The pages are numbered from 784 B 1 to 784 B 6, 784 D to 784 Z (except I, V, W, without lack), 784 &, 784 AA to 784 HH, then 785 A to H ; they are initialed LB in bottom on the left, probably by the oratorian Vivien de La Borde (1680-1748), to whom the nephew of Bossuet had entrusted the manuscripts of his uncle, at the time of their handing-over to the abbot Leroy for the preparation of the edition. Chap. XXVII. Prayers of Origene: conformity of his doctrine with that of St. Augustine. "I will now relate some prayers of Origen in which he does not show the efficacy of grace less than his master Clement Alexandrine. And first of all we can remember the prayer that he would have wanted St. Peter to have made to prevent his fall"... [Chap. XXVIII. Other prayers of Origen, & his doctrine on the effectiveness of Grace in the Book against Celsus. Missing the beginning] "And yet this is what Origen asked of God when he asked for the grace to make a good book, a useful and powerful book to convince error: he asked for the application and attention necessary for this work even though there is nothing that depends more on free will than this"... Chap. XXIX. God does what he wants in the good and in the bad: a beautiful passage from Origen to show that God kept the persecutors in check. "The power of God to govern and to lead where he wills the free will of man has been shown to be so great in the preaching of the gospel that it acted not only on Christians but also on infidels"... Chap. XXX. Great power of the doctrine and grace of J.C. how demonstrated and explained by Origen. "This learned author makes us see again the great power of the doctrine and the grace of J.C. when he teaches that the preaching will prevail one day on all the reasonable nature and will change the soul in its own perfection"... Chap. XXXI. That this grace recognized by Origen is prevenient and what relation it has to prayer. "It only remains to show that this grace, which is already so effective, is still prevenient; but this is what Origen does not allow us to doubt when he says that human nature is not sufficient to seek God in any way whatsoever and to find Him even, if it is not helped by the very one it seeks. We seek therefore, but it is useless if the one we seek does not help us, that is to say, does not seek us first"... Chap. XXXII. Prayer of
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