After some little discussion on the chancellor’s speech, which had offended the Cardinal de Tournon by its liberality, the Huguenots were introduced into the chamber. They were thirty-three in number, eleven ministers and twenty-two lay deputies[244] from the Calvinistic churches. Immediately on entering the hall they knelt down in homage to the king, and taking advantage of that position, Beza implored the Divine blessing upon the assembly. As they stood below the bar at the lower end of the room, their homely dark dresses formed a striking contrast to the silks and furs, and gold and bright colors of the dignitaries of the Romish Church, who sat on the two sides of the hall. Standing a little in front of his colleagues, Beza proceeded to explain the articles of the faith held by himself and his brethren. His speech, which presents few salient points for modern readers, was a remarkable mixture of address, wisdom, and Scripture. He had gained the ear of an unwilling audience, and was listened to with many marks of approval, until he came to the doctrine of the Eucharist. He admitted (as we have already seen) the spiritual presence of Christ, but qualified it thus: “We say that his body is as remote from the bread and wine, as heaven is from earth.”[245] This so startled the Romish prelates, “that they began to murmur and make a great noise,”[246] calling him a “blasphemer.” Beza, however, took no notice of it, but continued his address, winding up by a statement of their doctrines on the obedience due to the king, appealing to their writings, to the condition of the Protestant states in Germany, and to Scripture. Such a defense would appear unnecessary in these days; but the orthodox constantly maintained that those who were rebels against the Church were also and necessarily rebels against the State. After a week’s adjournment the prelates, through their mouth-piece, the Cardinal of Lorraine, put in a reply to Beza’s statement, but would allow of no discussion except upon two points: the authority of the Church in matters of faith and the Real Presence. Beza offered to reply immediately, but the court rose, and when the turn of the Huguenot champion came, he spoke not so much with the hope of converting his antagonists as of softening them.[247] After his speech the public proceedings were discontinued, as the discussion was becoming unpopular; but at the suggestion of the queen-mother, several private conferences were held, at one of which a monk named Saintes maintained “that tradition was based on a firmer and surer foundation than Scripture;” and at another, the Jesuit Lainez, to the great scandal of all present, called the ministers “wolves, foxes, serpents, and assassins,” and declared that “women and soldiers could be no judges of points of faith.” The Reformed delegates put in a declaration on the Lord’s Supper, which the bishops rejected as heretical; and presenting a counter confession of their own, called