of the admiral, however, kindled to a brighter flame
the courage of others. Strange as it may appear, toleration and reform
found their warmest and most uncompromising advocates on the episcopal
bench.[891] Montluc, Bishop of Valence, drew a startling contrast
between the means that had been taken to propagate the new doctrines,
and those by which the attempt had been made to eradicate them. For
thirty years, three or four hundred ministers of irreproachable morals,
indomitable courage, and notable diligence in the study of the Holy
Scriptures, had been attracting disciples by the sweet name of Jesus
continually upon their lips, and had easily gained over a people that
were as sheep without a shepherd. Meanwhile, popes had been engrossed in
war and in sowing discord between princes; the ministers of justice had
made use of the severe enactments of the kings against heresy to enrich
themselves and their friends; and bishops, instead of showing solicitude
for their flocks, had sought only to preserve their revenues. Forty
bishops might have been seen at one time congregated at Paris and
indulging in scandalous excesses, while the fire was kindling in their
dioceses.[892] The inferior clergy, who bought their curacies at Rome,
added ignorance to avarice.[893] The ecclesiastical office became odious
and contemptible when prelates conferred benefices on their barbers,
cooks, and footmen. What must be done to avert the just anger of God?
Let the king, in the first place, see that God's name be no longer
blasphemed as heretofore. Let God's Word be published and expounded. Let
there be daily sermons in the palace, to stop the mouths of those who
assert that, near the king, God is never spoken of. Let the singing of
psalms take the place of the foolish songs sung by the maids of the
queens; for to prohibit the singing of psalms, which the Fathers extol,
would be to give the seditious a good pretext for saying that the war
was waged not against men, but against God, inasmuch as the publication
and the hearing of His praises were not tolerated. A second remedy was
to be found in a universal council, or, if the sovereign pontiff
continued to refuse so just a demand, in a national council, to which
the most learned of the new sect should be offered safe access. As to
punishments, while the seditious, who took up arms under color of
religion, ought to be repressed, experience had taught how unavailing
was the persecution of those who