Their next step was to procure a pastoral from the archbishop of Paris.

This document not only condemned the heretical propositions of De Prades, but referred in sombre terms to unnamed works teeming with error and impiety.

Every one understood the reference, and among its effects was an extension of the vogue and notoriety of the Encyclopaedia.[128] The Jesuits were not allowed to retain a monopoly of persecuting zeal, and the Jansenists refused to be left behind in the race of hypocritical intrigue.

The bishop of Auxerre, who belonged to this party, followed his brother prelate of Paris in a more direct attack, in which he included not only the Encyclopaedia, but Montesquieu and Buffon.

De Prades took to flight.