Letter

they repeatedly claim it is impossible. Their offspring, the Anabaptists, pour themselves into wandering lust. They think that whatever they please is permitted, because they shamelessly boast that once they have been regenerated, they cannot sin, or that once they have received the Holy Spirit, they can never lose it. Those the ancient Gnostics corrupted the form and matter of certain Sacraments; these the modern reformers call the use of words left by Christ "magic." They either change or remove the physical matter, judging the sacraments to be only bare and ineffective signs. Finally, they write that absolutely nothing remains of a Christian except Christ alone and faith in him. Those ancient heretics stole away the true resurrection and salvation from the flesh; this, the followers of Farel William Farel, a French reformer, according to Calvin's own testimony, consider incredible, and the Anabaptists openly refuse to confess it.

I WOULD BE EXCESSIVE if I pursued in this place and order every individual head of doctrine and Christian faith violated by the earlier Gnostics and either torn away or completely undermined by these later ones. Let it be enough to have proved by the points above that the sectarians of this time yield to no impieties or portentous heresies of the Valentinians and their like, whom Blessed IRENAEUS fought in these books. Indeed, I have demonstrated that these moderns are the "bad eggs of those bad crows" original Latin: "mala corvorum mala ova," a proverb meaning bad parents produce bad offspring, the even more vicious offspring of impure parents. For Satan, the father of lies and most infested enemy of the Christian religion, is always like himself. He suborns for himself false prophets, false apostles, and all heretics in a long series of succeeding ages, fortifying his arts to attack the truth. Having routed and removed the kingdom of Christ, which is the Catholic Church, they restore their ancient, outdated tyranny over the wretched human race with these fanatic errors. Finally, these most holy and learned writings of Blessed IRENAEUS and similar ancient theologians, who fought against these monsters no less bravely than successfully, are not only beneficial but even absolutely necessary for us.

FURTHERMORE, when thinking under whose auspices these writings—corrected, enriched, and annotated by us in individual chapters—should come forth into the light again, the most celebrated splendor of your name immediately occurred to me, most ample CARDINAL and Illustrious Prince. Indeed, you are descended from the blood of that formerly imperial and royal Caroli magni Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, who ruled the West, terrified the East, tamed the North, and forced Africa to contain itself within its borders. He turned the whole world toward love and admiration for himself through the radiance of his singular piety, learning, and bravery. You are also descended from Godfrey of Lorraine and Bouillon, the Duke of Asia and Syria, who restored to Christian possession the province sanctified by the birth, life, miracles, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ our Lord and Savior by fighting the bravest battles. You should by no means think you must yield to them in assuming virtues and bearing burdens for the name of Christ. And lest I run through

Dedication.

the individual deeds of piety and the names of each of your progenitors, the Dukes of Lorraine, the most ample trophies of Duke ANTOINE, surnamed the Good, are still in the ears and on the tongues of all. He won these over the most seditious and destructive filth of the peasant Lutherans. You also have many things to admire and imitate in your excellent and illustrious Parent Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. While neighboring provinces and kingdoms—by which his own is surrounded and mixed—were falling into mutual destruction and ruin through bloody wars for many years, he not only kept his own territory intact and protected with miraculous wisdom, but even increased it. While others yielded to the storm of heresies, he has consistently retained his Lorraine in the profession of the one and only true Catholic faith and in reverence and obedience to the Holy Apostolic See. Nor was his bravery in war less than his wisdom in peace. In 1587, a huge heretic army gathered from Germans, Swiss, English, and French refugees, which was panting and hastening with incredible fury for the extermination of ancestral piety in France. With a few but very brave forces, he so wore them down that he forced them to abstain from invading his territories, and he left them nearly destroyed to be finished off by his kinsmen. Another army four years later, gathered by almost all the heretic Princes and provinces of Germany and led by the Prince of Anhalt, was sent in 1591 and 1592 to destroy the professors of the Catholic religion in Lorraine and France. Under Divine auspices, he prohibited them from both borders and scattered them, so that they performed no memorable deed. They were forced to return to their own lands in small groups, full of confusion and ignominy. Although such ornaments of virtue received from parents might be considered someone else's rather than one's own, no one will doubt that they contribute much to the descendants either equaling those virtues or surpassing them with even more famous deeds. Come then, let us briefly weigh some things which are your own, since it is not within our power to number them all.

NO ONE IS IGNORANT that the antiquity, excellence, and authority of the Lords CARDINALS of the Holy Roman Church is greatest among Christians. You have attained this for your outstanding merits to the state. For in the acts of the second Council of Rome, collected 1370 years ago, seven Cardinals are read to have been present. For besides the office common to other prelates of the Church, the election of the Supreme Pontiffs is now committed to these alone. They are to be, as St. Bernard says, Chapters 6 and 7. Book 4 on Consideration, Letter 188. diligent helpers original Latin: "collaterales," meaning side-by-side advisors in serious matters by their counsel. They must remove scandals rising from the kingdom of God with special industry. They must cut down thorns, settle complaints, and solve questions emerging about faith, doctrine, and discipline.