. ii, p. 94. A.L. Masson, _Jean Gerson, sa vie, son temps,
ses oeuvres_, Lyon, 1894, 8vo.]

[Footnote 1130: _Par une cruaute misericordieuse._ Du Boulay,
_Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 270.]

[Footnote 1131: Gerson, _Opera_, vol. iv, pp. 668-678.]

Now, crushed by suffering and sorrow, he was teaching little children.
"It is with them that reforms must begin," he said.[1132]

[Footnote 1132: Gerson, _Adversus corruptionem Juventutis_. A.
Lafontaine, _De Johanne Gersonio puerorum adulescentiumque
institutore...._ La Chapelle-Montligeon, 1902, in 8vo.]

The deliverance of the city of Orleans must have gladdened the heart
of the old Orleanist partisan. The Dauphin's Councillors, eager to set
the Maid to work, had told him of the deliberations at Poitiers, and
asked him, as a good servant of the house of France, for his opinion
concerning them. In reply he wrote a compendious treatise on the Maid.

In this work he is careful from the first to distinguish between
matters of faith and matters of devotion. In questions of faith doubt
is forbidden. With regard to questions of devotion the unbeliever, to
use a colloquial expression, is not necessarily damned. Three
conditions are necessary if a question is to be considered as one of
devotion: first, it must be edifying; second, it must be probable and
attested by popular report or the testimony of the faithful; third, it
must touch on nothing contrary to faith. When these conditions are
fulfilled, it is fitting neither persistently to condemn nor to
approve, but rather to appeal to the church.

For example, the conception of the very holy Virgin, indulgences,
relics, are matters of faith and not of devotion. A relic may be
worshipped in one place or another, or in several places at once.
Recently the Parlement of Paris disputed concerning the head of Saint
Denys, worshipped at Saint-Denys in France and likewise in the
cathedral at Paris. This is a matter of devotion.[1133]

[Footnote 1133: Gallia Christiana, vol. vii, col. 142. Jean Juvenal
des Ursins, year 1406.]

Whence it may be concluded that it is lawful to consider the question
of the Maid as a matter of devotion, especially when one reflects on
her motives, which are the restitution of his kingdom to her King and
the very righteous expulsion or destruction of her very stubborn
enemies.

And if there be those who make various statements concerning her idle
talk, her frivolity, her guile, now