this first head. I accuse them of having adopted a morality very inferior to that which is suited to Christians in their present state of civilization.
The public opinion of Europeans being favourable to Protestantism, whilst it is opposed to Catholicism, I ought to establish the demonstration of the heresy of Protestantism with great strictness, which obliges me to treat this question in a very general manner.
Jesus had given to his apostles, and to their successors, a mission to organize the human race in the way most favourable to the amelioration of the condition of the poor. He had recommended, in the mean time, to his church to employ only gentle means, persuasion and demonstration, to effect this great object.
Much time and much labour were necessary before this great task could be accomplished. Thus one cannot at all be surprised to see that it is not yet accomplished.
What is the part of this task which has devolved upon Luther? How has Luther acquitted himself of it? These two points I am now about to explain.
To do this, I must examine, successively, four great facts:
First. What was the state of social organization when Jesus gave to his apostles the mission to re-organize the human race?
Second. What was the state of social organization when Luther accomplished his reform?
Third. What was the complete reform of which the Papal religion stood in need at the epoch of the reformation, in order to re-enter upon the line of direction given by Jesus to his apostles?
Fourth. In what consisted the reformation of Luther?
It will be from the analysis of these four great questions, that we shall naturally deduce the conclusion that the Protestants are heretics.
At the epoch when Jesus entrusted to his apostles the sublime mission of organizing the human race for the interest of the poor, civilization was yet in its infancy.
Society was divided into to great classes, masters
