2. The First Harangue
The First Harangue HARANGUE
OF THE MINISTERS
OF THE WORD OF GOD,
Made in the Assembly of Poissy, the ninth day of September,
[Theodore Beza] Psalm 119 All the wicked, for lack of inquiring Into thy statutes, are far from the hope
Of their salvation, and all ready to perish.
*** T o the King, SIRE, since the outcome of all enterprises, both great and small, depends upon the assistance and favour of our God — and especially when the matter concerns what pertains to His service, and rises above the
capacity of our understanding — we hope that Your Majesty will find it neither ill-taken nor strange if we begin with the invocation of His Name, beseeching Him in this manner:
Lord God, eternal and almighty Father, we confess and acknowledge before Thy holy Majesty that we are poor and miserable sinners, conceived and born in iniquity, inclined to do evil, and unfit for any good; and that we do not cease, without end or measure, to transgress Thy holy commandments. In doing so, we draw upon ourselves, by Thy just judgment, ruin and perdition. Nevertheless, Lord, we are grieved within ourselves for having offended Thee. We condemn ourselves and our vices with true repentance, desiring that Thy grace may come to our calamity.
And furthermore, that this day it may please Thee to favour Thy poor and unworthy servants so far as to grant them the means to speak freely, in the presence of the King whom Thou hast set over them, and before the most illustrious and noble company in the world, declaring what Thou hast given them to know of Thy holy truth.
May it please Thee — continuing the course of Thy goodness and mercies — O God and Father of lights, so to illuminate our understandings, to guide our affections, and to form them unto all docility, and so to govern our words, that in all sincerity and truth, after having conceived, according to the measure it has pleased Thee to impart to us, the secrets Thou hast revealed to men for their salvation, we may both in heart and mouth set forth that which may serve to the honour and glory of Thy holy Name, to the prosperity and greatness of our King and all who belong to him, together with the peace and consolation of all Christendom, and especially of this Kingdom.
Lord and almighty Father, we ask Thee all these things in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Savior, as He Himself has taught us to ask them, saying: Our Father, who art in heaven…
SIRE, it is a very great happiness for a faithful and devoted subject to behold the face of his Prince, since that face represents, as it were, the visible Majesty of God; it cannot be otherwise than that he is greatly moved when he considers the duty of obedience and subjection that he owes Him.
For, being such as we are, that which we behold with our eyes — provided the eye be sound, and the thing itself corresponds to what one has conceived — has far greater effect than what we consider by a bare and naked apprehension of the mind. And if it happens not only that he may see his Prince, but also that he is seen by him, and what is more, heard by him, and finally received and approved: then indeed he receives a very great satisfaction and singular contentment.
Of these four points, Sire, it has pleased God — according to His secret judgments — that a part of your very humble and very obedient subjects has long been deprived, to its very great regret, until, using His infinite mercy and giving place to our continual tears and groanings, He has so favoured us that this day brings us the good which until now we have rather desired than hoped for: namely, to see Your Majesty, Sire. And what is more, to be seen and heard by you, and that in the most illustrious and noble company that is in the world. So that, even if we had never received any other good, nor should receive any hereafter, the remainder of the course of our years could not suffice to thank our God enough for it, nor to render fitting thanks to Your Majesty.
But when we consider with this that the same door which has been opened to us has not only been opened, but that you invite us, and, so to speak, in a
manner so gracious, so benign, and so conformable to your royal kindness, constrain us to testify unanimously the duty we have to confess the Name of our God and to declare the obedience we bear to you — we are forced to confess, Sire, that our minds are not capable of conceiving the greatness of such a benefit, and our tongues still less sufficient to express what our affection commands them to utter. So that, seeing such favour surpassing all human eloquence, we would rather confess our weakness by a reverent silence than diminish so great a good by the defect of speech.
Nevertheless, Sire, we still desire the fourth and principal point: namely, that our speech today may be received by Your Majesty as agreeable — which also we hope to obtain, if it happens (and God grant it so!) that our coming may bring an end, not only to our past miseries and calamities, whose memory seems almost extinguished by this happy day, but also to that which has always seemed to us more grievous than death itself: that is, the troubles and disorders which have arisen in this Kingdom concerning the matter of Religion, to the ruin and perdition of a great multitude of your poor subjects.
Now, there are several occasions which until now have hindered us from enjoying so great a good, and which even today would make us lose all courage, were it not that on the other side several things strengthen and assure us. There is, first, a persuasion rooted in the hearts of many — by a certain misfortune and by the iniquity of the times — that we are people turbulent, ambitious, given over to our own sense, enemies of all concord and tranquillity. There are also some who presume that, even if we are not altogether enemies of peace, nevertheless we demand it with conditions so harsh and severe that we are in no way to be received — as though we pretended to overturn the whole world in order to make another after our
own fashion, or even to despoil some of their goods and possessions to enrich ourselves.
There are yet several other such or even greater impediments. But we prefer that the memory of them be buried, rather than to reopen old wounds by touching them again, now that we are at the point not of making complaints and lamentations, but of seeking the most fitting and profitable remedies.
And what then gives us such assurance in the midst of so many hindrances? Sire, it is no support from anything that is in us, seeing that we are in all respects among the least and most contemptible of the world. It is not, thanks be to God, any vain presumption or arrogance, for our poverty and low condition do not permit it. It is rather, Sire, our good conscience which assures us of our good and just cause, of which also we hope that our
God, by the means of Your Majesty, will be the defender and protector. It is also the kindness already remarkable in your face, your speech, and your bearing. It is the equity which we see and experience to be imprinted in your heart, Madam. It is the uprightness of you, Sire, and of the other most illustrious Princes of the blood. It is also the manifest occasion we have to hope that you, our most honoured Lords of the Council, conforming yourselves to one and the same will, have no less affection to grant us so holy and necessary a concord than we have to receive it.
And moreover, there is yet one point which maintains us in good hope: it is that we presume, according to the rule of charity, that you, Gentlemen, with whom we have to confer, will strive rather with us — according to our small measure — to clarify the truth than to obscure it; to teach rather than to dispute; to set forth reasons rather than to contradict; in short, to prevent
the evil from going further rather than to render it altogether incurable and deadly.
Such is the opinion we have conceived of you, Gentlemen, praying you in the Name of that great God who has assembled us here, and who will judge our thoughts and our words, that notwithstanding all things said, written, or done during the space of forty years or thereabout, you would strip yourselves, as we do, of all passions and prejudices which might hinder the fruit of so holy and laudable an enterprise. Hope from us, if you please, what — by the grace of God — you will find in us: namely, a tractable spirit, ready to receive all that shall be proved by the pure Word of our God.
Do not think that we have come to maintain any error, but to discover and amend whatever shall be found defective, whether on our side or on yours.
Do not imagine that we are so presumptuous as to intend to overthrow what we know to be eternal — that is, the Church of our God. Do not think that we seek means to make you like unto us in our poor and low condition, in which nevertheless, thanks be to God, we find singular contentment.
Our desire is that the ruins of Jesus Christ may be repaired; that this spiritual Temple may be raised up; that this house of God, built of living stones, may be restored in its entirety; that these flocks, so scattered and dissipated by the just vengeance of God and the negligence of men, may be gathered and brought back into the fold of this sovereign and only
Shepherd. This is our design; this is all our desire and intention, Gentlemen.
And if you have not believed it until now, we hope that you will believe it when we shall have, in all patience and meekness, conferred what God shall have given us.
And would to our God that, without going further, instead of arguing [with] our adversaries, we might all with one voice sing a Canticle unto the
Lord, and stretch out our hands to one another — as has sometimes happened even between armies and battle-lines fully arrayed, among unbelievers and infidels themselves — a thing greatly shameful for us, who make profession of preaching the doctrine of peace and concord, and yet are the most easily divided, and the hardest and most difficult to reunite. But what then? Such things may be hoped for and ought to be desired by men; but it is God who must grant them, as He will do when it shall please Him to cover our sins by His goodness and to chase away our darkness by His light.
And on this subject, Sire, in order that it may be known that we intend to proceed in good conscience, simply, clearly, and straightforwardly, we shall declare in summary — if it please Your Majesty to grant us leave — what are the principal points of this conference, in such manner nevertheless that,
God helping, no one shall have just occasion to take offense.
There are some who think, and who would willingly persuade others, that we differ only in matters of small consequence, and rather in things indifferent than in substantial points of our Faith. There are others, on the contrary, who, for lack of being well informed of what we believe, presume that we agree in nothing whatsoever, no more than Jews or Mahometans.
The intention of the former is as much to be praised as the opinion of the latter is to be rejected, as we hope will appear by the unfolding of our discourse. But certainly neither the one nor the other opens the way to a true and firm concord: for if the latter are believed, one of the parties cannot subsist except by ruining the other — a thing inhuman to think and most horrible to execute. And if the opinion of the former is received, it will be necessary that many things remain undecided, from which would arise a discord more dangerous and harmful than ever.
Thus, then — we confess what we can scarcely utter without tears — we confess, I say, that just as we agree in some of the principal points of our
Christian faith, so also we differ in a part of them.
We confess one only God, in one and the same infinite and incomprehensible essence, distinguished in three persons, consubstantial and equal in all things and through all things: namely, the Father, unbegotten; the Son, eternally begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son.
We confess one only Jesus Christ, true God and true man, without confusion or separation of the two natures or of their properties.
We confess that, insofar as He is man, He is not the son of Joseph, but was conceived by the secret power of the Holy Spirit, born of the blessed
Virgin Mary, a virgin — I say — before and after the childbirth.
We confess His nativity, His life, His death, His burial, His descent into hell, His resurrection, and His ascension, as they are contained in the holy
Gospel.
We believe that He is above in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, from whom He shall not move until He comes to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us, consoles us, and sustains us.
We believe that there is one holy catholic — that is, universal — Church, which is the company and communion of the saints, outside of which there is no salvation.
We are assured of the free remission of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, by the virtue of which, after our bodies — raised again — shall have
been reunited to our souls, we shall enjoy with God the blessed and eternal life.
How then, someone will say, are not these the articles of our faith? In what, then, are we at variance? First, in the interpretation of a part of them.
Second, in that it seems to us (and if we are mistaken here, we shall be very glad to know it) that men have not been content with the aforesaid articles, but that for a long time they have not ceased to add article upon article, as though the Christian religion were a building never yet finished.
We say further that what has been built anew — so far as we can discern — has not always been built upon the ancient foundations, and consequently disfigures the edifice rather than serves it for ornament and adornment. And yet men have far more often stopped at these accessories than at the principal points.
Such is a summary of what we believe and teach, but in order that our intention may be still better understood, we shall unfold these points in detail.
We say then — and hope to maintain in all sobriety by the testimonies of Holy Scripture — that the true God, in whom we must believe, is stripped of His perfect justice if one thinks to oppose to His wrath and just judgment any other satisfaction or purgation, in this manner or in that, than that entire and complete obedience which shall be found in none other than in one only
Jesus Christ. And likewise, if we say that He forgives us only a part of our debts, because we pay the other part, He is stripped of His perfect mercy.
From this it follows (so far as we can judge) that when the question is to know by what title we have Paradise, we must wholly rest upon the death and Passion of one only Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer; otherwise,
instead of worshiping God, we would worship a strange god, who would not be perfectly just nor perfectly merciful.
From this also depends another point of very great consequence, touching the office of Jesus Christ: for if He alone is entirely our salvation, the most precious Name of Jesus Christ — that is, Saviour — which was announced by the Angel Gabriel, would not properly belong to Him. Likewise, if He is not our only Prophet, having fully declared the will of God His Father for our salvation — first by the mouth of the Prophets, then afterwards in person in the fullness of time, and consequently by the faithful Apostles — if He is not also the only spiritual Head and King of our consciences; if He is not our only eternal Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, having by one single offering of Himself, once made and never to be repeated, reconciled men to God, and now alone interceding in heaven for us until the consummation of the world; in short, if we are not wholly complete in Him alone, then this Name and title of Messiah or Christ — that is, anointed and consecrated by God His Father for this purpose — would not belong to Him.
If then one will not be content with His Word alone, faithfully preached and afterwards recorded by the Prophets and Apostles, He would be dispossessed of His estate of Prophet. He would also be degraded from His estate of Head and spiritual King of His Church, if one would make new laws for consciences. And from His estate of eternal Priest, who would undertake to offer again the remission of sins, and who would not be content to have Him alone for their intercessor in heaven between God and men.
In the third place, we are not agreed either on the definition, or on the origin, or on the effects of that faith which, following Saint Paul, we call
justifying, and by which alone we believe that Jesus Christ, with all His benefits, is applied to us.
As for good works, if there are any who think that we despise them, they are very ill-informed. For we no more separate faith from charity than heat and light are separated from fire. And we say with Saint John in the First
Epistle, that he who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments convicts himself of lying by his own conscience, and in all his conduct shows himself hateful.
But beyond this, we confess plainly that we differ in three principal points on this matter. The first concerns the origin and the first source from which good works proceed. The second is what they are. The third, to what end they serve.
As to the first, we find no other free will in man than that which is set free by the grace alone of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we say that our nature, being such as it is fallen, has need before all things not merely to be aided and supported, but rather to be slain and mortified by the power of the Spirit of God; because grace teaches us that we are not only poor and weak, but altogether destitute of strength, contrary to all good, indeed dead and rotten in sin and corruption. And we render this honour to God, that we will not share anything with Him: for we attribute both the beginning, the middle, and the end of our good works to His grace and mercy alone working in us.
As to the second point, we receive no other rule of righteousness and obedience before God than His commandments, as they are written and recorded in His holy Word; to which we judge that it is not lawful for any creature to add or diminish in order to bind the consciences of Christians.
As to the third point — namely, to what end good works serve — we confess that insofar as they proceed from the Spirit of God working in us,
since they come from so good a source, they ought to be called good, although if God would examine them with strictness, He would find far too much to condemn. We say also that they are good for other uses: in that by them our God is glorified, men are drawn to His knowledge, and we are assured that the Spirit of God being in us (which is known by His effects), we are of the number of His elect and predestined to salvation.
But when the question is to know by what title eternal life belongs to us, we say with Saint Paul that it is a free gift of God, and not a recompense due to our merits. For Jesus Christ in this regard justifies us by His righteousness alone, imputed to us; sanctifies us by His holiness alone, imparted to us; and has redeemed us by His unique sacrifice, which is applied to us by a true and living faith, through the grace and liberality of our God. All these treasures are communicated to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, who uses for this purpose the preaching of the sacred Word of God and the administration of His holy Sacraments — not that He has need of them (since He is almighty God), but because it pleases Him to use these ordinary means to create and nourish in us that precious gift of faith, which is as the only hand to apprehend, and the only vessel to receive, Jesus Christ unto salvation with all His treasures.
But we receive as the Word of God only the doctrine written in the books of the Prophets and Apostles, called the Old and New Testaments. For by whom shall we be assured of our salvation, if not by those who are witnesses without reproach? And as for the writings of the ancient doctors and the Councils, before receiving them without any contradiction, it would be necessary first that they be entirely agreed with Scripture, and then also among themselves, since the Spirit of God is never contrary to Himself.
And we believe, Gentlemen, that you will not undertake otherwise.
And if you should undertake it, you will pardon us, if it please you, but we do not believe it can be done unless we see it in effect. What then? Are we of the race of that unhappy Ham, son of Noah, who uncovered the shame of his father? Do we esteem ourselves more learned than so many ancient doctors, Greek and Latin? Are we so presumptuous as to think that we have been the first to discover the truth and to condemn the whole world universally of ignorance? God forbid, Gentlemen, that we should be such.
But you will grant us, in our opinion, that there have been Councils and Councils, doctors and doctors, since it is not only now that there have been false prophets in the Church of God, as the Apostles warn us in many places, and especially in the First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 4, and in Acts
20.
Secondly, as to those who are received and approved, since all the truth that can be found in them must necessarily be drawn from Scripture, what more certain and profitable means shall we find to benefit from their writings than by testing everything upon this touchstone, and considering the testimonies and foundations of Scripture upon which they will be found to have grounded their interpretation? Certainly, no one can or ought to attribute more to them than they themselves have required.
Now these are the very words of Saint Jerome on the Epistle to the Galatians: The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is that which is declared in the canonical books. Against which, if the Councils ordain anything, it is unlawful. And Saint Augustine, writing to Fortunatian, says: We ought not to place the disputes of men — however catholic and great they may have been — on the same level as the canonical Scriptures, so that it should not be lawful for us (saving the reverence due to such persons) to reprove and reject something in their writings, if perhaps it is found that they have
judged otherwise than the truth requires, being understood by the grace of God either by us or by others. Such am I toward the writings of others; and I wish likewise that the readers of mine should behave. He writes the same in the 112th Epistle, and likewise in the twelfth book, chapter 37, against Cresconius.
Saint Cyprian also has written no otherwise, saying that we must not look so much at what this man or that man has done before us, but at what Jesus
Christ has done, who is before all. Such also is the rule given by Saint Augustine writing to Saint Jerome. And in another place, when he disputes against those who wished to support themselves by the Council of Ariminum, he says: Let neither me rest upon the Council of Nice (which is nevertheless the most ancient and approved), nor you upon the Council of Ariminum; but let us rest upon the Holy Scriptures. And Saint Chrysostom was of no other opinion in his exposition on Saint Matthew, Homily 49. For the Church also is built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles.
Thus then, to conclude, we receive Holy Scripture as a complete declaration of all that is required for our salvation. And as for what may be found in the Councils or in the books of the Doctors, we cannot nor ought to hinder you from making use of them — nor ourselves either — provided that what is drawn from them be founded upon the express testimony of Scripture. But for the honour of God, do not bring us their bare authority, unless the whole be examined upon this touchstone. For we say with Saint
Augustine, in the second book On Christian Doctrine, chapter 6, that if there is any difficulty in the interpretation of a passage, the Holy Spirit has so tempered the Holy Scriptures that what is said more obscurely in one place is said elsewhere very clearly.
So much for this point, which I have set forth somewhat more fully, in order that all may understand that we are not enemies either of the Councils or of the ancient Fathers, by whom it has pleased God to instruct His
Church.
There remain yet two points: namely, the matter of the Sacraments, and the discipline or polity of the Church. As to the first, it is true that it would well deserve to be treated at greater length, because of the difficulties that exist today in Christendom. But since we have not now undertaken to dispute, but only to set forth the principal points of our conference, we shall content ourselves with declaring in summary what we hold.
We are agreed, in our opinion, on the definition of this word Sacrament: namely, that the Sacraments are visible signs, by means of which the union that we have with our Lord Jesus Christ is not only signified or figured to us, but is also truly offered to us on the part of the Lord, and consequently ratified, sealed, and as it were engraved by the power of the Holy Spirit in those who by a true faith apprehend what is thus signified and presented to them. We use this word signified, Gentlemen, not to weaken or annihilate the Sacraments, but to distinguish the sign from the thing signified, with all its virtue and efficacy.
We agree, therefore, that in the Sacraments there must necessarily intervene a heavenly and supernatural change. For we do not say that the water of holy Baptism is merely water, but that it is a true Sacrament of our regeneration and of the washing of our souls in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Likewise, we do not say that in the Holy Supper of our Lord the bread is merely bread, but a Sacrament of the precious body of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which was delivered for us; nor that the wine is merely wine, but a Sacrament of the precious blood which was shed for us.
Nevertheless, we do not say that this change is made in the substance of the signs, but in the use and in the end for which they are ordained. And we do not say that it is made by the virtue of certain words pronounced, nor by the intention of him who pronounces them, but by the power and will alone of Him who has ordained this action so divine and heavenly; whose ordinance also ought to be recited aloud and clearly, in a language understood and plainly explained, so that it may be understood and received by those who hear it.
So much for the outward signs. Let us now come to what is testified and exhibited by the Lord through these signs.
We do not say what some, for lack of having well understood us, have thought that we teach: namely, that in the Holy Supper there is nothing but a simple commemoration of the death of our Lord Jesus. We do not say either that we are made partakers therein only of the fruit of His death and passion; but we join the inheritance with the fruits that come to us from it, saying with Saint Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 10, that the bread which we break according to His ordinance is the communion of the true body of Jesus Christ, which was delivered for us; and the cup which we drink is the communion of the true blood which was shed for us
— indeed, of that very substance which He took in the womb of the Virgin, and which He has carried with Him from us into heaven.
And I pray you, Gentlemen, in the Name of God, what can you seek and find in this holy Sacrament that we do not also seek and find? The answer is ready: for some will demand that we confess that the bread and wine are changed — I do not say into Sacraments of the body and blood of Jesus
Christ, for we have already confessed that — but into the very body and the very blood of Jesus Christ. Others, perhaps, will not press us so far, but will
require that we agree that the body and blood are really and corporally either in, or with, or under the bread.
But on this point, Gentlemen, for the honour of God, listen to us patiently, without being scandalised, and lay aside for a time all the opinion you have conceived of us.
When either one or the other of these two opinions shall be shown to us by Holy Scripture, we are ready to embrace and hold it even unto death. But it seems to us — according to the small measure of knowledge we have received from God — that this transubstantiation does not correspond to the analogy and agreement of our faith, because it is directly contrary to the nature of the Sacraments, in which it is necessary that the substantial signs remain, in order to be true signs of the substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And likewise, it overturns the truth of His human nature and of His ascension. I say the same of the second opinion, which is that of consubstantiation, which, besides all this, has no foundation in the words of Jesus Christ, and is in no way necessary for us to be partakers of the fruit of the Sacraments.
If someone then asks us whether we make Jesus Christ absent from His Holy Supper, we answer that we do not. But if we consider the distance of places, as must be done when the question concerns the bodily presence and His humanity distinctly considered, we say that His body is distant from the bread and wine as far as the highest heaven is distant from the earth, since as for us, we are on earth, and the Sacraments also; and as for Him, His flesh is in heaven, so glorified that glory (as Saint Augustine says) has not taken from it the nature of a true body, but only its infirmity.
And if someone wishes to conclude from this that we make Jesus Christ absent from His Holy Supper, we answer that this is ill concluded. For we
render this honour to God, that we believe, following His Word, that although His body is now in heaven and nowhere else, and we on earth and nowhere else, nevertheless we are made partakers of His body and blood in a spiritual manner, and by means of faith, as truly as we see the Sacraments with our eyes, touch them with our hands, put them to our mouths, and live by their substance in this bodily life.
Such in sum, Gentlemen, is our faith on this point, which — as it seems to us (and if we are mistaken, we shall be very glad to learn it) — does no violence to the words of Jesus Christ or of Saint Paul, does not destroy the human nature of Jesus Christ, nor the article of His ascension, nor the ordinance of the Sacraments; raises no curious or inexplicable questions or distinctions; does not in any way diminish the union we have with Jesus
Christ, which is the principal end for which the Sacraments were ordained, and not to be adored, nor kept, nor carried about, nor offered unto God. And finally (if we are not deceived) it gives much more honour to the power and Word of the Son of God than if one should think that His body must be really joined to the signs in order that we may be made partakers of it.
We do not touch upon the rest of what concerns the administration of holy Baptism; for we believe that none of you, Gentlemen, wishes to rank us with the Anabaptists, whose most severe enemies we are. And as for certain other particular questions on this matter, we hope, with God's help, that the principal points being settled in this amiable and gentle conference, the rest will conclude itself.
As for the other holy Sacraments (as they are called), it is true that we cannot give them that name until we have been better taught by Holy
Scripture. But meanwhile, we believe we have restored true confirmation, which consists in catechising and instructing those who were baptised in
their infancy, and generally all persons, before admitting them to the Holy Supper.
We also teach true repentance, which consists in a true knowledge of one's faults, in satisfaction toward the parties offended — whether publicly or privately — in the absolution which we have in the blood of Jesus Christ, and in amendment of life.
We approve marriage, according to the ordinance of Saint Paul, for all those who do not have the gift of continence; to which also we do not think it lawful to bind anyone by a perpetual profession. And we condemn all fornication and uncleanness, in word, in gesture, and in deed.
We receive the degrees of ecclesiastical offices according as God has ordained them in His house by His holy Word.
We approve the visitation of the sick as a principal part of the sacred ministry of the Gospel.
We teach with Saint Paul not to bind anyone in the distinction of days and meats, knowing that the Kingdom of God does not consist in such corruptible things; but nevertheless we condemn all dissoluteness, exhorting men without end and without ceasing to all sobriety, to the mortification of the flesh according to the necessity of each, and to continual prayers.
There remains the last point, concerning the outward order and polity of the ecclesiastical estate, in which we think it our duty, Gentlemen, to say — with your consent — that everything is so perverted, everything so confused and ruined, that scarcely could the best architects in the world
(whether one considers the order as it is now established, or whether one looks at the life and morals) recognize the traces and marks of that ancient building so well ordered and proportioned by the Apostles. Of this, you yourselves can be good witnesses, having laboured in it these past days. In
short, we shall leave these things, well enough known, and better left unspoken.
To conclude this matter, we declare before God and His angels, before Your Majesty, Sire, and the whole illustrious company that surrounds you, that our intention and design is nothing else than that the form of the Church be brought back to its native purity and beauty, in which it once flourished so greatly in the time of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And as for the things that have since been added, that those which shall be found superstitious or manifestly contrary to the Word of God be wholly abolished; the superfluous be cut away; those which experience has shown to draw men to superstition be removed; and if there be others useful and proper for edification, that after mature consideration of the ancient canons and authorities of the Fathers, they be retained and observed in the Name of God, according as shall be fitting to the time, the place, and the persons — so that all with one accord may serve God in spirit and in truth, under your obedience and protection, Sire, and under the persons whom God shall establish under Your Majesty for the government of this Kingdom.
For if there are still any who think that the doctrine we profess turns men away from the subjection they owe to their kings and superiors, we have,
Sire, enough to answer them in good conscience. It is indeed true that we teach that the first and principal obedience is due to our God, who is the King of kings and Lord over all lords. But as for the rest, if our writings are not sufficient to clear us of such a crime imputed to us, we shall allege, Sire, the example of so many lordships and principalities, and even of kingdoms reformed according to this same doctrine, which, thanks be to God, may serve as good and sufficient testimonies for our discharge.
But we rest here upon what Saint Paul says in the 13th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where, speaking of temporal government, he expressly commands that every person be subject to the higher powers. Yea, says Saint John Chrysostom on this passage, though thou be an Apostle or an Evangelist, because such subjection does not derogate from the service of God. And if it has happened, or shall hereafter happen, that some, covering themselves with the cloak of our doctrine, be found guilty of rebellion against the least of your officers, Sire, we protest before God and Your Majesty that they are not of us, and could not have more bitter enemies than we, according as our poor condition permits.
To conclude, Sire, the desire we have to advance the glory of our God, the very humble obedience and service due to Your Majesty, the affection we bear to our country, and especially to the honour of God, has brought us to this place, where we hope that our good God and Father, continuing the course of His goodness and mercies, will grant you, Sire, the same grace He granted to the young King Josiah, now two thousand two hundred and two years ago. And that under your happy government, Madam, assisted by you,
Sire, and by the other most illustrious Princes of the blood and Lords of your Council, the ancient memory of the renowned Queen Clotilde will be refreshed, who once served as an instrument to our God to give His knowledge to this Kingdom.
Such is our hope, for which, Sire, we are ready to employ our own lives, so that, rendering you very humble service in a matter so laudable and holy, we may see the true golden age, in which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shall be served and honoured by all with one accord — to whom belongs all honour and glory forever. Amen.
*** SIRE, may it please Your Majesty not to regard the rudeness and poor polish of our language, but rather the devotion that is wholly dedicated to you. And since the points of our doctrine are clearly and more fully set out in this present confession of faith, which we have already presented to you, and upon which the present conference is to be held, we most humbly beseech Your Majesty to grant us once again the favour of receiving it from our hands.
Hoping, by the grace of God, that after having conferred upon it with all sobriety and reverence for His name, we shall find ourselves in agreement.
But if, on the contrary, our iniquities hinder such a good outcome, we do not doubt that Your Majesty, with his good council, will know well how to provide for everything, without prejudice to either of the parties, according to God and reason.