4. The Third Harangue
The Third Harangue The Third Oration of Master Theodore Beza, Minister of the Holy Gospel, delivered at Poissy before the Queen, the Princes of the Blood [Royal], and the Lords of the Council, in the presence of the Cardinals, Prelates, and Doctors:
The said Beza, being assisted by Twelve Ministers and twelve Deputies of the Reformed Churches of this
Kingdom: the twenty-sixth day of the month of September.
*** T o the Reader This third Oration, previously printed with great omissions and errors, was put forth as though it were the second, as you may recognise by the very date of the true second Oration, which is now presented to you.
***
THE THIRD ORATION OF MASTER THEODORE BEZA,
delivered at Poissy, the 26th day of September, 1561 *** M adam, at the last time it pleased you to grant us audience, we made a declaration—according to the grace our Lord has given us— concerning the article that had been brought forward touching the Church, its marks, and its authority. In this matter, we followed the Word of God so closely that each person, as we believe, had reason to be satisfied with our answer.
But instead of approving what had been said by us, or of showing from Holy Scripture what might deserve correction, we have been asked by what authority we administer the Word of God and the holy Sacraments. And on this point, nothing has been spared to make our cause appear more odious.
We do not know with what intention this has been brought forward. For, first of all, we have not presented ourselves here in order to administer either the Word of God or the holy Sacraments; therefore, there was no need to ask us by what authority we intended to do so. If it is said that this is to make us give an account of what we have done in the past, it ought to be considered that our company consists of two sorts of persons.
Some are Ministers outside this Kingdom, in places where their calling is received. Of these, one cannot demand why they are Ministers. Others preach within this Kingdom, but you have not summoned them to make them give account of their calling in times past, but only to confer
concerning their doctrine. Otherwise, this would be the beginning of putting them on trial — something, Madam, we are assured you have not intended.
If this is meant as a manner of conference, with all due respect, it was not well proposed, and could serve only to draw us into a matter from which we cannot emerge without offending and provoking the Lords Prelates — something we have not intended, nor do we wish to give anyone occasion to interrupt this holy and Christian work now begun.
And so that it may be known that we do not speak without good reason: whenever two parties agree to enter into conference, if one asks, by what authority do you do this? The other will ask the same in return. And thus it will be difficult, upon such reciprocal demands, lest some quarrel arise.
Now, leaving aside the Lords Prelates of this Kingdom — whom we do not wish to offend — let us imagine a Bishop who should ask us, under what title do you preach and administer the holy Sacraments? We would, in turn, ask him whether he has been elected by the Elders of the Church to which he is appointed as Bishop; whether he has been called by the people; and whether there has been prior inquiry into his life, his morals, and his doctrine. He would say yes, but everyone knows the contrary, and we leave it to the conscience of those who hear us, who know how matters stand.
And if he were to say to us, you are not Ministers, because you have not received the laying on of hands, we would answer him, you are not a Bishop, because in your institution the substantial and divinely commanded points have been omitted — points concerning which no one may dispense.
And if the dispute went further, we could go on and use such words as these: You have only one of the points required for institution, namely, the laying on of hands. If the lack of that point (as you judge) deprives us of the
power to be Ministers, then by the lack of the other two, you are less a Bishop than we are Ministers.
The Council of Chalcedon — one of the four general Councils — orders that the ordination of a priest who has not been appointed specifically to the service of some Church shall be void: void, it says, to the injury of the one ordaining. With far greater reason could we say this to the Bishop who would dispute with us, when the two essential points fail him, contrary to the ordinance of the Apostle (1 Tim. 3; Titus 1).
Now here is another point which pains us greatly to utter, and yet we are constrained to do so, in order to show this whole assembly that if this dispute about vocation were once opened, it would be exceedingly dangerous. If we were to ask such a Bishop from whom he received this laying on of hands, and whether it cost him nothing, what would he say? He would say no. If we asked him who laid hands upon him, he would say, The Bishops, by the authority given to them. And if we asked him, How much did you pay for this authority? He would say that he did not buy it, but that he gave so many thousands of coins— that is to say, I did not buy the bread, but I bought the wheat.
Now this dispute, if one wished to decide it by the Councils and Canons of the Church, would make an infinite number of Bishops blush, and as many parish priests. Into such a matter, Madam, we have not wished to enter, so as not to offend anyone. And let this be said not in order to enter into it, nor for revenge, but only to show you, Madam, that if we were brief in our answers, it was out of the desire we had to treat these affairs with all gentleness.
As for the article of the holy Supper of the Lord, we did not wish last time to speak further of it, having regard to many in this company who are not
accustomed to hear it treated so fully, and who are easily scandalised when they hear something that seems new to them. And we would prefer that they hear the language of the ancient Doctors of the Church rather than ours — especially since my Lord the Cardinal of Lorraine was publicly obliged by promise to instruct and teach us, particularly on this article, by the words of the Doctors who wrote in the first five hundred years. So much so that we had prepared ourselves — before God and before our own consciences — to receive the light, if it were shown to us that until now it had been hidden from us.
But to satisfy our expectation, and that of a part of Christendom, the article concerning the holy Sacrament was proposed to us stripped of its most principal and necessary points, and we were told, Sign this, otherwise we will not proceed further. If we had been presented to you as prisoners to undergo trial, still you would not say, Sign this, or else we condemn you.
Your office, Sirs, obliges you to speak otherwise, and commands you to show us our errors, if there are any, and wills that you be potentes exhortari in doctrina sana — able to exhort in sound doctrine — those who have need of doctrine, and who are ready to give an account of their faith from Scripture. And if the manner of condemning us is new, the means that have been used seem even more strange, as we shall say shortly.
Madam, we are here before you for two principal ends. The first is to give account — to God, to you, and to the whole world — of our faith. The second is to serve God, the King, and you, in every way possible to us, in order to calm the troubles that have arisen concerning religion. If you send us away without having given us anyone with whom we may confer amicably, nothing will have been done that will not be published throughout
all Christendom. This will not be the means to appease the troubles, and those who put this course forward know it well.
If you had to do only with us who are here present, there would not be great danger, according to the world's judgment, in treating us as one pleased. But it will please you to consider that we are here on behalf of a million persons who are in this Kingdom, in Switzerland, in Poland, in Germany, in England, and in Scotland — all of whom await some good resolution from this Assembly. And they will hear that, instead of a conference as had been promised, we are given the tenth part of an article and told, Sign this, otherwise we will not proceed further.
And even if we had signed it, what would have been gained? Those who have sent us here will wish to know whether we were constrained by force or convinced by good and certain arguments. Therefore, we beseech you,
Madam, not to interrupt this good work, and to give us persons who will not make a matter of conscience of conferring with us. Your Majesty may judge for yourself how many scandals this manner of proceeding, which some wish to introduce, will bring forth.
And yet, so as not to remain without answer to what has been proposed to us: we declare that we approve all that has been said by Monsieur d'Espense from the book of Master John Calvin, which he gave us, without further conference upon it.
And as for the article which my Lord the Cardinal has given us, it is certain that it is only an extract and declaration of the Augsburg Confession.
In this, there are many things to consider: namely, that the whole Confession ought to be communicated to us, for it would not be reasonable to present us with one line of an article and leave all the rest aside.
Furthermore, we must know whether my Lord the Cardinal presents it on his own behalf (which, however, we do not presume, but we desire to be assured), or whether it is by the authority of the Lords Prelates that the Augsburg Confession is proposed to us, and that we may rely upon it so that we may freely confer together. For by this at least we shall thank God that my Lord the Cardinal of Lorraine and the others will thereby pass condemnation upon Transubstantiation, which is rejected by the common agreement of all the Reformed Churches, both in Germany and elsewhere.
And if it is desired that we sign something, it is reasonable that my Lord the Cardinal of Lorraine also sign what he presents to us in the name of the company, so that our Churches, which have sent us here, may see and know that we do not confer in the air and in vain.
And if my Lord the Cardinal of Lorraine continues in this desire to approach the Confession of the Germans in its entirety, we hope that God will bring us nearer and join us together at so good a point that you will be satisfied, and that His name will be glorified throughout the world.
Meanwhile, Madam, we say that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the use of the holy Supper, in which He truly presents, gives, and exhibits to us His body and His blood by the operation of the Holy Spirit; and that we receive, eat, and drink spiritually and by faith that very body which died for us, and that very blood which was shed for us, so that we may be bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh, so that we may be made alive by Him and receive all that is required for our salvation. And if this does not satisfy you, Madam, and if a fuller declaration is needed (for indeed it is dangerous and difficult to speak of so great a mystery with few words): if it please my Lord the Cardinal of Lorraine to keep what he has promised — namely, to examine together the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Doctors of the Church, insofar
as they agree with the same — and if it please Your Majesty to establish (as you may do by your authority) a good form of conference, with certain deputies disputing in order, having the books before them, with secretaries to record and set everything down in good and authentic form: then we shall make you know, Madam, with God's help, that we have not come here to trouble the world, but to bring agreement in sound doctrine.
For having first restored this holy Sacrament to that from which it has been stripped, and having relieved it of so many things that have been added to it, we intend nothing else, and desire nothing more earnestly, than that it be re-established in its entirety. And to attain this end, Madam, we dedicate and consecrate in all humility to God, to Your Majesties, and to the peace of Christendom — and especially of this Kingdom — our minds and even our very lives.
Praise be to God.