and haue procured a terrible Arrest against these cursed heretickes of Merindoll now then resteth no more, but only the same to be put in execution. Let vs therfore employ our whole endeuour that nothing happē which may let or hinder that we haue so happely begon, & let vs take good hede, that our gold & siluer do not witnes against vs at the day of iudgement, if we refuse to bestowe the same, that we may make so good a sacrifice vnto God. MarginaliaThe day shal come when mē shal think they do a good sacrifice to God, in putting you to death. Iohn. 16.And for my part, I offer to wage and furnishe of myne owne costes and charges, a 100. men, well horsed, with all other furniture to them belonging, and that so long, vntill the vtter destruction and subuersion of these wretched and cursed caitiffes, bee fully performed and finished.

This Oration pleased the whole multitude, sauyng one Doctor of Diuinitie, a Frier Iacobine, named Bassinet, who then aunswered agayne with thys Oration.

MarginaliaThe oration of Baßinet answering to the bishop of Aix.This is a weghty matter (sayd hee) and of great importaunce: We must therfore procede wisely and in the feare of God, and beware that we do nothing rashely. For if we seeke the death and destruction of these poore and miserable people wrongfully, when the king and the Nobilitie shall heare of such an horrible slaughter, we shalbe in great daunger, lest they do to vs, as we read in the Scriptures, was done to the Priestes of Baal. For my part, I must say and vnfaynedly cōfesse, that I haue too rashly and lightly signed many processes agaynst those, which haue bene accused of hereticall doctrine: MarginaliaThe godly repentaunce of Baßinet.but nowe I do protest before God, whiche seeth and knoweth the hartes of men, that seyng the lamentable ende and effect of myne aßigmentes, I haue had no quietnes in my conscience, consideryng that the secular Iudges, at the report of the iudgement and sentence giuen by me, and other Doctours my companions, haue condemned all those vnto most cruell death, whom we haue Iudged to be heretickes. And the cause why in conscience I am thus disquieted, is this, that now of late, since I haue giuen my selfe more diligently to the readyng and contemplation of the holy Scriptures: MarginaliaThe testimony of Baßinet for Lutherans.I haue perceiued that the most part of those articles, whiche they that are called Lutherans, do mainteine, are so conformable and agreyng to the Scriptures, that for my part, I can no longer gaynesay them, except I should euen wilfully and maliciously resiste and striue agaynst the holy ordinaūces of God. Albeit hetherto, to maintaine the honour of our holy mother the Churche, and of our holy father the Pope, and of our order, I haue consented to the opinions and doyngs of the other Doctours, as well through ignoraunce, as also because I would not seme to attempt any thyng agaynst the will and pleasure of the Prelates and Vicares generall. But now it semeth vnto me that we ought not any more to procede in this matter, as we haue done in tymes past: It shal be sufficient to pūish them with fines, or to banish them, which shall speake too intemperatly, or rashely agaynst the constitutions of the Church, or of the Pope: and such as shall be manifestly cōuicted by the holy Scriptures to be blasphemers or obstinate heretickes, to be condemned to death, accordyng to the enormitie of the crimes or errours, or els to perpetuall prison. And this my aduise and coūsaile I desire you to take in good part.

With this counsaile of Bassinet, all the company was offended, but especially the Byshop of Aix, who liftyng vp his voyce aboue all the rest, sayd thus vnto hym: O thou man of litle faith, wherof art thou in doubt? Doest thou repent thee of that thou hast well done? Thou hast told here a tale that smelleth of fagottes and brimstone. MarginaliaGod and the Pope, and the obedience to them two togetherIs there any difference (thinkest thou) betwene heresies and blasphemies, spoken and mainteined against the holy Scriptures: and opinions holden agaynst our holy mother the Churche and contrary to our holy father the Pope, & most vndouted and true God in earth? Art thou a Maister in Israell, and knowest not these thynges? MarginaliaIohn. 3.Then sayd the Byshop of Arles, could any man entreat better of the litle Barke of Christ Iesus, thē my Lord of Aix hath done? Then stode vp Bassinet againe, and made this Oration.

MarginaliaAn other Oration of Baßinet.Is it true, that my Lord the Byshop of Aix hath very well set out the maners and state of the Clergie, and hath aptly reproued the vices and heresies of this present tyme: and therfore so soone as mētion was made of the Shippe of Christ Iesus, it came in my minde first of all, of the high Byshop of Hierusalem, the Priestes, the Doctours of the law, the Scribes and Phariseis, whiche sometime had the gouernaunce of this Shippe, beyng ordeined Pastours in the Church of God. But when they forsoke the lawe of God, and serued him with mens iniūctions & traditions, he destroyed those Hipocrites in his great indignatiō: and hauing cōpassion & pitie vpon the people, which were like shepe without a Shepheard, he sent diligent fishers to fishe for men: faythfull workemen into his haruest, and labourers into his vineyard, which shall all bryng forth true frutes in their season. Secōdly, cōsidering the purpose & entent of the reuerent Lord B. of Aix, I called to mind the saying of the Apostle in his first Epistle &. 4. chap. vnto Timothe: That in the later dayes, some shall fall away from the fayth, folowyng after deceitfull spirites, and the doctrine of deuils. And the Apostle giueth a marke wherby a man shall know them. Likewise our Lord Iesus Christ, in the 7. chapter of Mathew sayth, That the false Prophetes shall come, clothed in shepes skinnes, but inwardly they are rauenyng wolues: and by their frutes they shalbe knowen. By these ij. and diuers such other places, it is easye to vnderstand, who they are that go about to drowne this litle Barke of Christ. MarginaliaFalse pastors in Christes church described.Are they not these which fill the same with filthy and vncleane things? with myre and dirt? with pudle & stinking waters? Are they not those which haue forsaken Iesus Christ, the founteine of liuing water, and haue digged vnto them selues pittes or sisternes whiche will holde no water? Truly euen those they are, which vaunt them selues to be the salte of the earth, and yet haue no sauour at all: which call them selues pastours, and yet are nothing lesse thē true pastours, for they minister not vnto the shepe, the true pasture and fedyng, neither diuide and distribute the true bread of the word of life: And (if I may be bold to speake it) would it not be at this present, as great a wonder to heare a Bishop preach, as to see an Asse flye? Are not they cursed of God which glory & vaunt thē selues to haue the keyes of the kingdome of heauē, and neither enter in thē selues, nor suffer thē that would enter, to come in? MarginaliaMath. 23.They may be knowen right well by their fruites: for they haue forsaken faith, iudgement & mercy, & there is no honest, cleane, or vndefiled thyng in thē, but their habite, their rochet, & their surples, & such other: Outwardly they are excedyng net and trymme, but within their are full of all abomination, rauine gluttony, filthy lust, & all maner of vncleanes. They are like paynted sepulchers, whiche outwardly appeare bewtifull and fayre, but within they are full of filth and corruption. A man shall know (I say) these rauenyng wolues, Marginalia Take hede of those that come to you in sheepes skinnes, but inwardly they are rauening Wolues. Math. 7.by their frutes, whiche deuour the quicke and the dead, vnder the pretence of long prayer. And for so much as I am enforced to giue place to the truth, and that you call me a Master in Israell, MarginaliaThe popes Pilotes in Christes Ship, are become Pirates.I will not be afrayde to proue by the holy Scriptures, that your great Pilot and patron the Pope, and the Bishops the mariners, and such others, whiche haue impudently forsaken the Shyppe of Christ Iesus, to embarke them selfe in Pinises and Brigandines, are pyrates and robbers of the Sea, false Prophetes, deceiuers and not true pastours of the Churche of Iesus Christ.

When Doctor Bassinet had thus frely and boldly vttered his minde: the whole multitude beganne to gather about him, and spitefully railed at him. But the Bishop of Aix aboue other, raging and crying out, as he had ben madde: get thee out sayd he, from amongest vs, thou wicked Apostata: thou art not worthy to be in this cōpany. We haue burned dayly a great many, which haue not so well deserued it, as thou hast. MarginaliaA cōmendation for Doctors of the Canon law.We may now perceiue that there is none more stedfast and feruent in the fayth, then the Doctours of the Canon law. And therfore it were necessary to bee decreed in the next generall Councell, that none should haue to do in matters of religion, but they alone: For these knaues and beggerlye Monkes and Friers will bryng all to nought. Then the other Doctours of the same order, boldely reproued the Byshop of Aix, for the iniury that he had done vnto thē. After this, there rose a great dissension amongst thē: in so much that there was nothing at that tyme, determined. After dyner all these reuerent Prelates assembled together agayne,  

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For this meeting, and the background in Avignon, see Marc Venard, Réforme protestante, Réforme catholique dans la province d'Avignon au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1993). The Vice-Legate in Avignon was Philibert Ferrier, bishop of Ivrea.