It is matter of thankfulness to God, then, father, that there is
in reality no heresy in the Church. The question relates entirely to a
point of fact, of which no heresy can be made; for the Church, with
divine authority, decides the points of faith, and cuts off from her
body all who refuse to receive them. But she does not act in the
same manner in regard to matters of fact. And the reason is that our
salvation is attached to the faith which has been revealed to us,
and which is preserved in the Church by tradition, but that it has
no dependence on facts which have not been revealed by God. Thus we
are bound to believe that the commandments of God are not
impracticable; but we are under no obligation to know what Jansenius
has said upon that subject. In the determination of points of faith,
God guides the Church by the aid of His unerring Spirit; whereas in
matters of fact He leaves her to the direction of reason and the
senses, which are the natural judges of such matters. None but God was
able to instruct the Church in the faith; but to learn whether this or
that proposition is contained in Jansenius, all we require to do is to
read his book. And from hence it follows that, while it is heresy to
resist the decisions of the faith, because this amounts to an opposing
of our own spirit to the Spirit of God, it is no heresy, though it may
be an act of presumption, to disbelieve certain particular facts,
because this is no more than opposing reason- it may be enlightened
reason- to an authority which is great indeed, but in this matter
not infailible.
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