He was one of the first entrusted with the critical edition of the *Concilia Galliae*, of which only one volume appeared (Paris 1789). He also prepared a critical edition of all the works—even unpublished ones—of Bossuet, intended to comprise some thirty volumes. The first fifteen volumes were accompanied by notes and prefaces that provoked much criticism, so that these were omitted in the subsequent volumes; yet the edition remained incomplete (18 vols., Paris 1772–88). At the same time he composed numerous apologetic and polemical writings such as *La réfutation d’un nouvel ouvrage de J.-J. Rousseau intitulé Émile ou de l’éducation* (Paris 1762); *La divinité de la religion vengée des sophismes de J.-J. Rousseau* (2 vols., ibid. 1763); *Préservatif pour les fidèles contre les sophismes et les impiétés des incrédules* (2 vols., ibid. 1764); *L’importance et l’étendue des obligations de la vie monastique* (2 vols., ibid. 1768); *Plan de réforme motivée, présenté aux États Généraux* (3 vols., ibid. 1787–89).
When he was rumored to have favored the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, he defended himself publicly by rejecting the slander in a printed letter that cost him his life: he was guillotined on 25 June 1794.