Paris, he wrote _Pensees Chretiennes sur les quatre Evangiles_, which was
the germ of his later work. In 1684 he fled to Brussels, because he felt
himself unable to sign a formulary decreed by the Oratorians on account of
its acceptance of some of the principles of Descartes to which Arnauld and
the famous writers of the school of Port-Royal always offered vehement
opposition.

A second edition of _Reflexions Morales_ appeared in 1694 with the
approval of De Noailles, then Bishop of Chalons, afterwards Archbishop of
Paris. But a few years later, by the intrigues of the Jesuits, and by the
order of Philip V., Quesnel was imprisoned at Mechlin. In 1703 he escaped
and retired to Amsterdam, where he died in 1719. But the history of the
book did not close with the author's death. It was condemned by Pope
Clement XI. in 1708 as infected with Jansenism. Four years later an
assembly of five cardinals and eleven theologians sat in judgment upon it;
their deliberations lasted eighteen months, and the result of their
labours was the famous Bull _Unigenitus_, which condemned one hundred and
one propositions taken from the writings of Quesnel.

The unreasonableness and injustice of this condemnation may be understood
from the following extracts:--

Proposition 50.--"It is in vain that we cry to God, My _Father_, if it is
not the Spirit of love that cries."

This is described as "pernicious in practice, and offensive to pious
ears."

Proposition 54.--"It is love alone that speaks to God; it is love alone
that God hears."