What he really had at heart was the restoration of the Church of God to unity, to purer discipline and to sincere spirituality.

This reconstruction of Christendom upon a sound basis was, as he perceived, rendered impossible by the Tridentine decrees.

Yet, though the dearest hope of his heart had been thus frustrated, he set nothing down in malice, nor vented his own disappointment in laments which might have seemed rebellious against the Divine will.

Sarpi's personality shows itself most clearly in the luminous discourses with which from time to time he elucidates obscure matters of ecclesiastical history.

Those on episcopal residence, pluralism, episcopal jurisdiction, the censure of books, and the malappropriation of endowments, are specially valuable.[151] If no other proof existed, these digressions would render Sarpi's authorship of the History unmistakable.