age, and occupations. The Cardinal of Lorraine, after some well-turned compliments, declared that the difference in the Christian churches on transubstantiation and consubstantiation were not in his opinion a sufficient cause of schism. Beza replied: “We hold the bread to be the sacramental body, and we define _sacramentaliter_ by maintaining, that though the body be now in heaven and nowhere else, and the signs on earth with us, yet it is as truly given and received by us, through faith in eternal life, as the sign is given naturally by the hands.” The cardinal, turning to the queen-mother, observed: “Such is my belief, madam, and I am satisfied.” Beza took advantage of this unexpected concession to add, “And these are the Sacramentarians who have been so long and so cruelly persecuted and slandered.” Early on the morning of the 9th of September, 1561, Beza left St. Germain’s for Poissy (a small town about four leagues from Paris), escorted by a brilliant train of gentlemen, among whom must have been many of his old friends.[242] The members of the council, or colloquy as it was termed, in order not to wound the susceptibility of the papal court, assembled in the refectory of the great convent. The king, then only eleven years of age, presided, and around him were gathered the princes of the blood royal, with the officers and ladies of the court. On the two sides of the hall were ranged, according to their rank, six cardinals with archbishops and bishops to the number of forty and more, besides a vast array of doctors and lawyers who accompanied these prelates, all in scarlet or purple robes. Along the lower part of the room ran a bar, but the space beyond it was empty, the Protestants not being as yet admitted into the presence of the king. Charles IX. opened the proceedings by reading a formal speech, in which he said that he hoped “they would inquire into the things necessary to be reformed, without passion or prejudice, but solely for God’s honor, the discharge of their consciences, and the public peace.”...“What I desire,” he continued, “is that you will not separate until you have put matters into such good order that my subjects may live together in peace and unity.”[243] He was followed by Chancellor de l’Hopital, who, by the king’s express order, kept his seat while speaking. After a formal explanatory introduction he went on, “I caution you against subtle and curious questions that lead to nothing. We do not require many books, but only to understand thoroughly the Word of God, and to live in conformity with it as well as we can. The ministers of the new sect have been invited hither by his majesty to confer with you. I pray you receive them as a father receives his children, and graciously teach and instruct them, so that they can not hereafter say, they were condemned unheard.”