Letter LVII. To a Protestant who had asked to have a Conference with Him

Sir, — My design was not to enter into any conference with you; the necessity of my near departure entirely took away the opportunity of it. If conferences are not well regulated, and accompanied by leisure and convenience for carrying them through to the eud, they are without fruit. I only look at the glory of God, and the salvation of my neighbour. When this cannot be procured, I hold no conference.

You well know what I mean when I speak of the Book of Machabees. There are two; and two make one volume. I will not take the trouble to say more, for I do not quibble.

It is true that we say and insist on it, and you deny and regret it. The Church has always been fought against in the same way; but your negations ought to be proved by the same sort of proofs as you demand from us; it is for the denier to prove, when he denies against possession, and when his negation is to be the foundation of his argument. Jurisconsults testify it to you; the maxim is taken from them; you will not refuse its application.

Prayer for the dead has been used by all the ancient Church, Calvin himself acknowledges it; the Fathers have proved it by the authority of the Book of Machabees, and the general usage of their predecessors. See the end and the beginning of St. Augustine's book on this subject: we walk in their steps and follow their traces.

Neither the book of Machabees, nor the Apocalypse were recognized so soon as the others; both, however, were equally so at the Council of Carthage, at which St. Augustine assisted. Some canonical books were lawfully doubted of for a time, which may not be doubted of now: the passages I have cited are so express, that they cannot be turned to another sense. I conjure you by the bowels of Jesus Christ, to

D D be willing henceforth to read the Scriptures and the ancient Fathers with a mind dispossessed of prejudices; you will see that the principal and essential features of the face of the ancient Church are preserved in that which is now.

I am told that God has placed in you many gifts of Nature; do not abuse them so as to keep away those of grace; and consider attentively the true bearing of the matter about which you want to confer. If opportunity allowed, be sure that I would not refuse, any more than I would refuse Messieurs of Geneva, my neighbours, if they desired it on proper terms.

It would not be possible with profit to have conferences in writing; we are too far apart. And further, what could we write that has not beeu repeated a hundred times? Give, for your salvation's sake, attentive meditation to your reasons and to the ancient Fathers; and I will give my poor and feeble prayers; these I will present to the mercy of our Saviour, to whom and for whose love I offer you my service, and am your, &c.