He advanced rapidly towards the first dignities of the church; but his mind had imbibed the spirit of the times.

He was not a destructive, but a reformer of the church, in whose bosom he was born.

His work, entitled _De l'Eglise Nationale_, proves in him as much respect for the principles of the Christian faith as boldness of desire to change its discipline.

This philosophic faith, which so closely resembles the Christian Platonism which was paramount in Italy under the Medici, and even in the palace of the popes themselves under Leo X., breathed throughout his sacred discourses.

The clergy was alarmed at these lights of the age shining in the very sanctuary.