f like
tenor followed.[1144] At last, with great reluctance,[1145] the
twenty-fourth of September was selected for a third conference. The
obstinate resistance of the Romish ecclesiastics gained them one point.
The public character of the colloquy was abandoned.[1146] The large
refectory was exchanged for the small chamber of the prioress. The king
was not present. Catharine presided, and Antoine and Jeanne d'Albret,
with the members of the royal council, replaced the more numerous
assemblage of the previous occasions. Instead of the crowd of prelates
whose various and striking dress formed a notable feature of the
colloquy, there appeared five or six cardinals, about as many bishops,
and fifteen or sixteen theologians of the Sorbonne, laden with thick
folios--the writings of the Fathers of the first five centuries, with
which the Cardinal of Lorraine still professed his ability to confute
the Reformed.[1147] Again the twelve Huguenot ministers were admitted;
but the lay deputies of the churches were excluded.[1148] The
discussion was long and desultory. Beza began by replying to the first
part of the cardinal's speech, and showed that there is an invisible as
well as a visible church, and that the marks of the true church are the
preaching of God's Word and the right administration of the sacraments.
Not a succession of ministry from the apostles, but a succession of
doctrine is essential.[1149] He was followed by a theologian of the
Sorbonne, Claude D'Espense, who, after making the gratuitous admission
that he wholly disapproved of the persecutions to which the Protestants
had been subjected,[1150] attempted to prove that the Protestant
ministers had no "calling" to their office, and that recourse must be
had to tradition to explain and supplement the Holy Scriptures. When
Beza was about to reply, the floor was seized by a coarse Dominican
friar, one Claude de Sainctes, who in a scurrilous speech went over much
of the same ground, and, waxing more and more vehement, did not hesitate
to assert that tradition stood on a firmer foundation than the Bible
itself, which could be perverted to countenance the most opposite
doctrines.[1151] An hour and a half of precious time was wasted by this
unseasonable interruption, which had disgusted friend as well as foe.
Then Beza, after remonstrating against the long and irregular character
of the discussion, proceeded, amid frequent interruptions, to set forth
the views of the reform