The venerable company had some difficulty to recover from their alarm. What! really, not in a dream, not figuratively, heresy is at the gates of the Church of France, introduced by the king ... who courteously offers her his hand!... The terrified Sorbonne raised a cry of horror, and mustered all their forces to prevent the _heretic_ from entering. They turned over the volumes of the doctors; they opposed the _Summa_ of St. Thomas to the Epistles of St. Paul; they sought by every means in their power to defend stoutly the scholastic doctrine in the presence of Francis. A fireship had been launched by the guilty hand of the king: did that prince imagine he would see the glorious vessel, which had so long been mistress of the seas, in a hurry to lower her flag? The crew were valiant, determined upon a deadly resistance, and ready to blow themselves into the air with the ship, rather than capitulate. The struggle between the king and the corporation was about to begin. Alas! Beda was no longer there to support them, and recourse must be had to others. 'Master Balue was elected to go to court, carrying the registers, and Master Jacques Petit was given him as his associate.'[665] The Sorbonne was poor in resources: the strong men were in the camp of Luther, Calvin, and Melanchthon. [Sidenote: THE MINISTERS AND THE SORBONNE.] What was said at court between Master Balue, Master Petit, and the King of France, has not been recorded; but we have the memoir sent by the king to the Sorbonne, and the answer returned by that body to the king. These documents may enlighten us as to what passed at the conference, and we shall allow them to speak for themselves, arranging the former under the name of the king's ministers. William du Bellay, his brother the Bishop of Paris, and others probably were the persons empowered by the king to confer with Master Balue and Master Jacques Petit. They were champions of very different causes—the men who then met, probably at the Louvre, in the presence of Francis I., and whom we are about to hear. THE KING'S MINISTERS. 'To establish a real concord in the Church of God, we must all of us first look at Christ; we must subject ourselves to him, and seek his glory, not our own.'[666] SORBONNE. 'We have heard his Majesty's good and holy words, for which we all thank God, praying him to give the king grace to persevere.'[667] This was doubtless a mere compliment. [Sidenote: QUESTIONS DISCUSSED.] MINISTERS. 'Above all things, let us remember that the doctors of the Word of God ought not to fight like gladiators, and defend all their opinions _mordicus_ (tooth and nail);[668] but rather, imitating St. Augustin in his _Retractations_, they should be willing to give way a little to one another ... without prejudice to truth.' SORBONNE.