Confession was to be used as a
convenient handle for breaking up the conference; their _refusal_, for
involving them in a quarrel with Protestant Germany; their _consent_,
for causing their expulsion from the churches they had betrayed, or
splitting those churches up into many parts.[1153] Theodore Beza opened
the discussion by reading the reply which he had carefully prepared by
common consent of all his brethren. Never had his oratorical skill been
exhibited to better advantage. He began by showing the evident
impropriety of introducing, as his opponents had done in the last
conference, a discussion of the validity of the divine vocation of the
Protestant ministers; for they had come here to confer, not to
_officiate_--much less to witness the institution of the semblance of a
penal prosecution against them. The objectionable character of such a
debate would be the more manifest, should he address any supposed bishop
with whom he was disputing and who had inquired: "By what authority do
you preach and administer the sacraments?" and retort by asking him in
turn: "Were you elected by the elders of the church of which you are
bishop? Did the people seek for you? Were inquiries first made
respecting your life, your morals, and your belief?" or, "Who ordained
you? How much did you pay him?" The answers to such questions would make
many a bishop blush. Beza next reminded the cardinal of his promise to
confute the Protestants by the testimony of the Fathers of the first
five centuries. For a discussion based upon them the ministers had come
prepared. But now he brought them a single article on the Lord's Supper,
and imperiously said: "Sign this, or we will proceed no farther!" Even
were the Huguenots prisoners brought before him for trial, they would
not be so treated. Their very office required the prelates to speak
differently, for the bishop must be "able by sound doctrine both to
exhort and to convince the gainsayers."

[Sidenote: and an amicable conference.]

Then turning to the queen mother, Beza reminded her that he and his
companions were there, not only for the purpose of submitting a
confession of their faith, but to serve God, Charles, and herself, by
laboring in all possible ways to appease the troubles that had arisen in
connection with religion. To dismiss them without giving them an
opportunity for an amicable conference would not be the means of
allaying the prevailing disturbances; and those who proposed t