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HISTORY

OF

THE REFORMATIO!^ IN EUROPE

IN THE TIME OP CALVIN.

/^ 6.^^

HISTORY

OF THB

REFORMATION IN EUROPE

IN THE TIME OF CALVl

.iNEMl ^,

oi

BY

J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D.D.,

AOTBOm OF TBB *H]STOmT OF THB BXfOBKATIOir OF THX SIZnOHTH OSRTUBT,* XN.

*Les chosM de petite dnrte ont ooatame de devenlr Ikn^ea, qnuid ellee ont pMs6 leur tempe.

* An rdipie de Christ, il 11*7 a que le nopvel homme qui soit floriisaat, qui ait de U Tlgiiear, et dont il fidlle flure cas.*

Caltot.

VOL. II. aENEVA AND FRANCE.

NEW Y 0 E K : BOBSBT CARTER & BROTHERS,

No. 6S0 BBOADWAT.

1 8 80.

CONTENTS

Of

THE SECOND VOLUMB.

S

<i I

J

I

i BOOK IL

^ FRANCE. VAVOBABLE TIMBS.

CHAPTER Xm.

JOHH CALYIN, A STUDENT AT THE UNIYSRSITT OF ORLEANS.

(1527-1528.)

rASM

GalTin*8 Friend— The Stadents at Orleans— Pierre de I'EtoOe— Opinions oonoerning Heretics — Calvin reoeived in the Heard Nation-— Calvin nominated Proctor — ^Procession for the Maille de Florence — ^Distinguished by the Professors— His Friends at Or- leans— ^Daniel and his Family — ^MelcfaoirWolmar — Calvin studies Gk^eek with him— Benefit to the Church of God ... 1

CHAPTER XIV.

CALVIN, TAUGHT AT ORLEANS OF OOD AND MAN, BEGINS TO

PROPAGATE THE FAITH.

(1628.)

Wolmar teaches him about Grermany — Orleans in 1022 and 1528— Calvin's Angnii^h and Humility — ^What made the Beformers triumph — Phases of Calvin's Conversion — ^He does not invent a sew Dootrine— •! sacrifice my Heart to Thee— His Zeal in Study

IT CONTENTS OF

FAOa

—He supplies Pierre de I'Etoile's place— Calyin sought as a Teacher — He seeks a Hiding-place for Study — ^Explains the Gk>8pel in Private Families — His first Ministry • . • .10

CHAPTER XV.

CALVIN CALLED AT BOUBOES TO THE EYANGBLICAL WORK.

(1628-1629.)

Calvin at his Father's Bed-side — ^His first Letter — Bern airivqs at Orleans — Calvin goes to Bourges — Brilliant Lessons of Xldst^-*- Wolmar and Calvin at Bourges — ^Wolmar calls him to the EinA^ gelical Ministry — ^Tbe Priest and the Minister — Calvin's Hesita- tion— He evangelises — ^Preaches at Ligni^res — ^Recalled by his Father's Death— Preachings, at Bouiges— Tumult •! • •20

CHAPTER XVL

BEBQUINy THE MOST LEARNED OF THE NOBILITY, A MABTTR FOB

THE aOSPEL.

(1529.)

Margaret's Begret — Complaints of Erasmus — ^Plot of the Sorbonne against Berquin — ^His Indictment prepared — ^The Queen inter- cedes for him — ^Berquin at the Conciei^rie— Discovery of the Letter — He is imprisoned in a strong Tower— Sentence — ^Re- course to God-— Efforts of Budseus to save hinh— His Earnest Appeals to Berquin — Fall and Uprising of Berquin— Margaret writes to the King — Haste of the Judges— Procession to the Stake— Berqum joyous in the presence of Death — ^His Last Moments — Effect on the Spectators— Murmurs, Tricks, and In- dignation— Effect of his Death in France — The Martyr's Hymn —The Reformer rises again from his Ashes . . . .30

CHAPTER XVIL

FIBST LABOBS OF CALVIN AT PABI8.

(1529.)

Calvin turns towards a Christian Career— His old Patrons — Cal- vin's Sermon and Hearers — Determines to go to Paris — ^Focus of Light — Coiflfart's Invitation — ^Professcn: Cop goes to see him—

THB SECOND YOLUMX. V

Viat to a NonnerT— An Ezcmsioii on honeback— Devotes himself to Theology— Speaks in the Secret Assemblies— Move- ment in the Quartiar Zotin— Writings pat into circulation— Cal- vin endeavors to bring back Bri9onnet — Fills the vessels witii costly Wine-^E£fort8 to convert a yoong Bake— Beda attadcs the King^s Professors — Calvin^s Scriptural Principles — Small Beginnings of a great Work 41

CHAPTER XVm.

MABGABEt's SORBOWS and THB FESTIYITIBS OF THB COUBT.

(1530-1531.)

Margaret promotes Unity-^Progress of the Beformation — ^Deatb of the Queen's Child— Orders a Tr Deum to be sung-— Marriage of Francis I. and Eleanor — Crowd of learned Men— Mai^garet in the Desert — ^The Fountain Pure and Free— Fatal Illness of Louisa of Savoy — Margaret's Care and Zeal— Magnificent but diimerical Project 61

CHAFIER XIX.

DIFLOMATISTBy BACKSLIDERS, MABTTBS.

(1531.)

Cbarl^ y. accuses the Protestants— The Gtorman Protestants to Frands I. — ^The King sends an Envoy to them — ^The Envoy's Imprudence and Diplomacy — Queen Mai^garet's Prayer-book — Leooq's Sermon before the King — Sursum Corda — ^Leooq's In- terview with the King — ^Lecoq's Fall — Fanaticism at Toulouse- Jean de Caturce finds Christ — Twelfth-night Supper — Caturce arrested — His Degradation— He disputes with a Monk-^Two Modes of Beformation 70

CHAPTER XX.

Calvin's bepabation fbom the hiebabcht : his hbst

wobe, his friends.

(1532.)

Daniel tries to bind Calvin to the Church — Calvin resists the Temptation — ^His Commentary on Seneca's Clemency — His Mo- tiyea — ^His Difficulties and Troubles — Zeal m making his Book

H CONTBNTS OF

PAQS

known— Calvin's Search for Bibles in Paris— An unfortunate /h>ndettr— Calvin receives him kindly — ^Various Attacks — The Shop of La Forge^Du Tillet and his Uncertainty — Testimony rendered to Calvin — Relations between Queen Margaret and Calvin — ^He refbses to enter the Queen's Service— The Arms of the Lord 82

CHAPTER XXI. 8malkalde and calais,

(Maboh to Ootobeb, 1532.)

William dn Bellay and his Projects — ^Luther opposed to War^ Alliance of Smalkalde— Assemblies at Frankfort aod Schwein- Airt — Luther's Opposition to Diplomacy — "So Shedding of Blood — Du Bellay 's Speech — ^Du Bellay and the Landgrave— The Wur- temberg Question — Peace of Nuremberg — Great Epochs of Re- vival— ^Francis L unites with Henry YIIL — Confidential Inter- course at Bologna — ^Plan to emandpate his Kingdom fix>m the Pope— Message sent by Francis to the Pope— Christendom will separate from Rome 94

CHAPTER XXIL

A CAPTIVE PBINCS BSCAPBS FROM THB HANDS OF THE EM«

PSROB.

(Autumn, 1632.)

Alarm occasioned by this Conference — Christopher of Wurtem- berg— His Adversity — The Emperor and his Court cross the Alps— Christopher's Flight — ^He is sought for in vain — Claims the Restoration of Wurtemberg 106

CHAPTER XXin.

THE GOSPEL PREACHED AT THE LOUVRE AND IN THE METRO- POLITAN CHURCHES.

(Lent, 1533.)

Roossel invited to preach in the Churches — His Fears— Refusal of the Sorbonne — ^Preachings at the Louvre — Crowded Congre^a-

• •

THE SECOND VOLUME. Vll

FA«a

tioDS — Effects of these Preachings— Margaret again desires to open the Churches — Couraolt and Berthaud preach in them— Essence of Eyangelical Preaching — Its Effects— Agitation of the Sorbonne — ^They will not listen — ^Picard, the Firebrand — Sedi- tion of Beda and the Honks— The People agitatedr-God holds the Tempests in his Hand 112

CHAPTER XXIV.

DEFEAT OF THE BOMISH PARTT IS PARIS, AND KOMElfTART

TRIUMPH OF THE OOBPSL.

(1633.)

The Ghie& of the two Parties imprisoned — ^Beda traverses Paris on his Mnle— Indignation of the King — ^He insults the Deputies of the Sorbonne— Duprat imprisons Picard — ^Priests and Doctore summoned — ^Francis resolves to prosecute the Papists — Condem- nation oi the three Chie& — ^Is the CSause of Rome lost 7 — Grief and Joy — Illusions ci the Friends of the Kefoim — ^A Student from Strasburg — The four Doctors taken away by the Police^ Belief that the Reform has oome— The Students' Satire— Their Jokes upon Oomu — Appeal of the Sorbonne— Fresh Placards — Progress of the Reform — If God be for us, who can be agamst us? — Agitation — Siderander at the Gate of the Sorbonne— De- sires to speak to Budseus — Fresh Attacks prepared , . . 124

CHAPTER XXV.

COIiTFEREirOE OF BOLOGNA. THE OOUKCIL AND CATHERINE DE

MEDICI.

(Winter, 1532-1533.)

The Parties &oe to face — The Emperor demands a Council— Reasons of the Pope against it— ^Moral luertia of the Papacy— The Pope^s Stratagems — ^Italian League — ^Toumon and Gramont arrive— They try to win over the Pope— A great but sad AfGEuir — Catherine de Medici — Offer and Demand of Francis I. — The Pope's Joy — Thoughts of Henry VUL on the proposed Harriage— Advantages to be derived from it ... . 142

Till C0NTSKT8 OF

CHAPTER XXVL

INTBIOiTES OF CHARLES Y., FRANCIS I., AND CLEMENT YIL

AROUND CATHERINE.

(WiNTBB, 1532-1633.)

FAOS

l>oabt8 insiimated bj Charles Y. — ^Let the FuU Powera be de- manded— ^The King's Hesitation — ^The Full Powers arriye— The Emperor's new Manoeuvres — His Yezation — Charles Y. de- mands a General Council — Francis I. proposes a Lay Council— Importance of that Document — ^True EvangelicaL Councils — Charles condemns and Francis justifies — Secularisation of the Popedom — ^The Pope signs the Italian League— Cardinals' Hats demanded — ^Yexation of Charles Y, — Projected Interview be- tween the King and the Pope— -The Marriage will take place • 162

CHAPTER XXVn.

STORM AGAINST THE QUEEN OF NAVARRE AND HER MIRROR

OF THE SOUL.

(SulOfER, 1633.)

Uneasiness and Terror of the XTltramontanes — Plot agamst the Queen of Navarre— 2%e Mvrror of Ike Sinfui Soul — Beda dis- covers Heresy in it — Denounces it to the Sorbonne— Assurance of Salvation — ^The Queen attacked fix>m the Pulpits— Errors of Monasticism — ^The Talea of the Queen of Navarre — Search after and Seizure of the Mirror — Bage of the Monks against the Queen — Margaret's Gontleness — Comedy acted at the College of Navarre — ^The Fury Me^rsera — ^Transformation of the Queen-— Montmorency tries to ruin her — Christians made a show . . 164

CHAPTER XXVm. triumph of the queen of navarre.

(Autumn, 1633.)

Montmorency — ^The Prior of Issoudun — ^The Police at the College —Arrest of the Principal and the Actors— Judgment of the

THB BSCOND YOLUMK. IZ

Soibonne deDoanoed to the Rector — Speech of Bector Cop— The SorboQDO disavows the Act — ^Le Glerq'a Speech — ^The UniTer- sity apologises — Beform JCoyement in Franoe — }Lea of Mark — New Attacks It7

CHAPTER XXTX.

OATHSltnnE DS MXDICI GIYXIT TO FBAITOX.

(OCTOBKB, 1533.)

The Marriage announced to the Cardinals — Stratagems of Hie Im- perialists to prevent it — ^The Swiss — The Moors— The Pope de- termines to go — Catherine in the Ships of France — ^The Pope sails for Franoe — Yarions Feelings — ^The Pope's Arriyal at Mar- seilles— ^Nocturnal Yisit of the King to the Pope— Embarrass- ment of the First President— <k)nferenoes between the Sling and the Pope— The Boll against the Heretics— The Weddmg^— Cath- erine's Joy — What Catherine brings — ^The Pope's Health de- clines-—Tbe Modem Jaans • 181

CHAPTER XXX.

ADDRESS OF THB BBCTOR TO THB UKIYBB8ITT OF FABI8.

(NOYEMBEB, 1533.)

OalTin and Cop ^baxe the Work — ^Inaugural Sitting of the IJniyer- sity in 1533— Calvin's Address— The Will of Qod is manifested — ^Effect of the Address — Indignation of the Sprbonne— One only- Universal Church — ^The University divided — ^Interest felt by the Qoeen— Calvin sommoned by the Queen — ^No one shall stop the Renewal of the Church — ^The Bector going in State to the Parliament — Stopped by a Messenger— Cop's Flight— Order to arrest Calvin— He is entreated to flee-<:;alvin's Flight— Dis- guise — Probability of the Story — Goes into Hiding — Many Bvangelicals leave Paris — ^Margaret's Farewell . . • • 198

OONTSNTS OF

CHAPTER XXXI.

CONTESENCB AND ALUAKCB BETWEEN FRANCIS L AND PHILIP

OF HESSE AT BAB-LE-DUC.

(Winter, 1633-1634.)

Christopher applies to Fraads — Will the King tmite with the Protestants? — ^Du BeUaj urges him — ^Du Bellay passes through Switzerland — ^His Speech to Austria — Christopher's Friends — Du Bellay pleads for him — His Threats — ^The French Envoy triumphs-^The Landgrave's Projects — Luther opposes them— Conversation between Luther and Melancthon — Their Efforts with the Landgrave-— Conference between the Landgrave and the King — Philip and Francis come to an Understanding — Francis asks for Melancthon — ^The Treaty signed — Contradic- tions in Francis I . . . . , • . . • 9U

CHAPTER XXXII.

TRIUMPH AND MARTYRDOM. (WiNTEE, 1633-1634.)

The Churches of Paris closed against the Gospel — Private Assem* blies — Dispersed by Morin — ^New Attack against the Faculty of Letters — Lutherans , threatened with the Stake — Three hundred Evangelicals sent to Prison— Disputation between Beda and Boussel — Beda's Book exasperates the King — Margaret intercedes for the Evangelicals — They are set at liberty — Alexander at Geneva and in Bresse — He preaches at Lyons — His Activity and Prudence — He is believed to possess Satanic Powers — ^Margaret at Paris — ^The Populace hinder Boussel fix)m preaching — Alexander preaches at Lyons at Easter — Seized and condemned to Death — Journey from Lyons to Paris— Appears before the Parliament — ^Put to the Torture — Sacer- dotal Degradation— Martyrdom— Testimony rendered to Al- exander 227

THE SECOND TOLUMX, zi

CHAPTER XXXm.

WURTBMBBBO OIYXIT TO PBOTBSTANTiail BT TBX KIHO OF

TBANCS.

(SPBlka, 1634.)

FAGS

Inteiriew between Da Bellay and Buoer — ^The great Fuaioii is preparing — ^Francis L aids it — Hia Hopea — Fears and Predio- tions in Grermany — ^Austria invokes the Help of the Pope— San- chez's Interview with Clement YIL — Consequences of the Tem- poral Power — ^The Landgrave advances with his Army — Melano- thon's Trouble — ^The Landgrave's Victory — ^Terror at Bome — J07 at the Louvre— -Wurtemberg restored to its Princes— Re- ligious Liberty established by the Treaty — ^Accessions to the fiefbrm 245

CHAPTER XXXIV.

BrrriNG at thb louvre for the union of truth and

catholicism.

(Summer, 1634.)

A Stadent of Nismes arrives at Wittemberg— Melancthon's Letter to ilargaret — Conversation between Margaret and Baduel— Francis L sends Chelius into Germany — Melancthon's Anguish — Chelius received with Joy — Melancthon's Zeal — Diverse Opinions on the Union — Bucer's. Approval and Sincerity — Memoirs of the three Doctors — Sitting at the Louvre— Bucer aDd Melanctbon denounce the Blemishes of Popery — Moderation — The Church must have a Government— One Single Pontiff — Justification and the Mass— The Sacraments — ^Protest against Abuses — ^Melancthon's Prayer 257

CHAPTER XXXV. the ghost at orleans.

(Summer, 1634.)

Death of the Piovostess of Orleans— The Provost and the Friars — Vengeance invented by the Cordeliers — ^First Appearance of the Ghost— -Seoond Appearance — ^The Provostess tormented for

Xll CONTENTS OF

PAOB

her LutheranisoQ— The Official's InyesUgatioii — The Students in the Chapel — ^The Provoet appeals to the King — Arrest of the Monks — ^Thej are taken to Paris — The Novice oon&ases the Trick — Condemnation — £nd of the Matter .... 2Y2

CHAPTER XXXVL

FRANCIS L PB0P08S8 A REFORMATION TO THE 80RB0NNB.

(AUTUICN, 1534.)

I^ancis acknowledges his Mistakes in Religion — ^Promises Help to the German Protestants — French Edition of the Articles com- municated to Bome and the Sorbonne— Alarm of the Sorbonne — The French Spiril— -Discussion between the King's Ministers and the Sorbonne— The Bishops and the Roman Pontiff — Indifferent Matters — ^Prayers to the Saints and Saints' Days — ^The Mass- mongers — Restoration of the Lord's Supper — Communion with Christ by Faith — ^Transubatantiation and the Monasteries — An Assembly of Laymen and Divines — ^Peril of Catholicism — ^Eng- land and France— Freeh Efforts of the Sorbonne^Is Protestant- ism to be feared by Kings 7 — ^Uneasiness of Calvin^s Friends- Dangers of these Conciliations — ^An Event about to change the State of Thmgs ; . 282

BOOK IIL

FALL OP A BISHOP-PRINCE, AND FIRST EVANGEMCAi

BEGINNINGS IN GENEVA.

CHAPTER L

THX RENAISSANCE, THE REFORMATION, THE MIDDLE AGES.

(1526.)

The Crisis — The Means of Salvation — ^The Nations behindhand** New Position of Greneva — ^The Castles and the neighboring Seigf^ neorg— Pontverre against the Swiss Alliance— The Gentlemen

THB SECOND YOLUME. xiil

OD the Highway — ^Violence and Contempt — Sarcasms and Threats ^— The Geneyaos onder arms — Moderation of the Genevans to- wards the Disloyal — ^Favre's Mission to Berne— Gartelier's Con- demnation— ^Pardoned bj the Bishop— The Bishop's Hesitation and Fear , . 299

CHAPTER II.

THIS GOSPEL AT GENEVA AND THB BACK OF ROMS.

(Januabt to June, 152*7.)

Laymen and Ecdesiastios — Councillor Ab Hofen, the Friend of Zwingle, at Geneva — Bia Christian Conversations — ^The Priests — ^The Politicians — ^Zwingle's Encouragement — ^He cheers up Ab Hofen — Opposition and Dejection — ^Ab Hofen's Departure, Death, and Influence—- The Sack of Rome— Effects of this Catas- trophe—The Genevans compare the Pope and their Bishop- Union of Faith and Morality 310

CHAPTER m.

THE BISHOP CUNOS TO GENEVA, BUT THE CANONS DEPART.

(SUMMEB, 152Y.)

The Bishop desires to ally with the Swiss — ^The Swiss refuse— Plot of the Duke against the Bishop — ^The Duke's Scheme— Prepara- tions and Warning — ^The Bishop escapes — Failure of the Plot — Terror of the Bishop — ^The Huguenots wish to get rid of the Canons — The Bishop puts the Canons in Prison — ^The Bishop desires to become a Citizen — ^The Syndics call for Lay Tribunals —The Bishop grants them — Joy of the Citizens — Prerogatives of the Bishop questioned — ^The Duke's Irritation — A Ducal En- voy releases the Canons — ^They quit Geneva — ^Various Opinions about their Departure ........ 319

CHAPTER IV.

the bishop-prince flees from geneva.

(July and August, 1627.)

Bishopers and Commoners — Complamts against the Priests — A Yoong Woman kidnapped by the Bishop-^The People compel

XIV CONTENTS OF THE

him to restore her — Right of Eesistance — Quarrels of the two Parties— The Duke's Threats— The Bishop's Fears— He deter- mines to quit Geneya — His Night Escape— He arrives at St Claude— Hugues returns in safety — ^The Hireling abandons his Block . . . . 333

CHAPTER V.

EXGOMMITNICATION OF OENBYA AND FUNERAL PBOGE8SI0N OF

POPERY,

(August, 152T, to Pbbruabt, 1528.)

The Duke tries to gain the Bishop — Tlie State of Geneva consti- tuted— The Ducal Arms fall at Greneva — Greneva excommuni- cated— Greneva interdicts the Papal BuUs — ^Funeral Procession of Popery — Complaints of the Priests — Attempt to deprive Boni- vard of St Victor's — ^Bonivard on Excommunication — ^The Duke diums Authority in Matters of Faith — ^Resolute Answer of the Grenevans — Canons sharply reprimanded by the Duke— Inten- tions of Charles 342

CHAPTER VI.

THE KNIGHTS OF THE SPOON LEAGUE AGAINST GENEYA AT THE

CASTLE OF BURSINEL.

(March, 1528.)

Complaints of Bonivard about Greneva — Certain Huguenots go to St. Victor's — ^Bonivard's Address to them — Faults to be found in it — Huguenots eat Meat in Lent — ^The Meeting at Bursinel — Pontverre and the Spoon — The Fraternity of the Spoon — Alarm in Geneva — ^Rights of Princes and Subjects — Bonivard defends Cartigny — The Savoyards take the Castle— Bonivard £tiis to re- take it — Progress of the Gospel in Geneva — ^Duke and Bishop reconciled— The City looks upon the Bishop as an Enemy . 352

CHAPTER Vn.

INTBiaUES OF THE DUKE AND THE BISHOP.

(Sprxng and Summer, 1528.

The Bishop desires to withdraw the Criminal Administration fix)m the Syndics— Noble Answer of the Genevans — ^The Bishop's Ir-

SECOND VOLUME. _ XV

FAGS

ritation — Wa fbrions Becepticxi of a GtenQyan Envoy— Calm of the Genevans — ^The Duke oonyokes a Synod — Speech of Bishop Gazzini — C!oldnefiS of the Swiss — ^Ducal Intrigues in the Convents The Order of the Keys — ^The Syndics at the Dominican Gcn- vent . , • . 563

CHAPTER Vm. death of fontyerbe,

(October, 1628, to Januaby, 1529.)

Pontvene plunders Bonivard — Convokes the Fraternity at Nyon— Insolence of Pontverre when passing through Geneva — Confer- ence at the Castle of Nyon — Resolutions adopted there — Pont- verre desires to take Geneva by Treachery — Again attempts to pass through Geneva — ^His Insolence, Jests of the Grenevans — Struggle on the Bhcme Bridge— Pontverre flees — Last Struggle and Death — Act of Divine Justice— Honors paid him^ Yiolenoe of the Nobles increases — Courageous Enterprise of Lullin and Yandel — A Grenevan crucified — The Night of Holy Thursday— The Day of the Ladders 371

CHAPTER IX.

fHB BBFOBMATION BEGINS TO FEBMENT IN GENEVA, AND THE

OPPOSITION WITHOUT.

(Apbel^ 1529, TO Januaby, 1530.)

Disorders and Superstitions in Geneva — Speech on the Saints* Bodies at St G^rvais — ^The Souls fix>m Purgatory in the Ceme- tery— ^Protest at St Gervais — ^Negative Reform — Representa- tions of the Bishop— Genevans trust in God — The Cantons cool towards €reneva — The Swiss propose to revoke the Alliance — Energetic Refusal of the Genevans — ^They incline towards the Reform — Gazzini asks an Audience of the Pope — ^His Speech about Geneva and Savoy — The Pope's Answer — Letter of Charles Y. to the Genevans — Emperor and Pope unite against (Geneva 384

ZTl CONTBinB OF THS

CHAPTER X.

VARIOUS MOVEMENTS IN QEKEVA AND SECOND IMFBISONMENT

OF BONIVABD.

(Maboh To Mat, 1530.)

TAam

rhe Procurator-Fiscal's Complaints to the Council — Penalty de- nounced against the Lutherans, and against impure Priests — Building the Wall of St Grervais — Discourse of the Evangelical Swiss — ^Vandel wishes for a Preacher at St Victor's — ^Bonivard claims his Revenues — His difficult Position — ^The Duke covets St Victor's — Bonivard visits his sick Mother — Bonivard's Ene- mies at Greneva — He goes to Friburg — ^Determines to g^ve up his Priory — ^Bellegarde welcomes Bonivard — ^Bonivard and his Guide in the Jorat — ^He is treacherously arrested — ^Bonward at Chillon— His Future ,396

CHAPTER XL the attack of 1530,

(August, Sbptembeb, Ootobeb.)

Arrest of the Fiscal MandoUa — The Bishop takes his part— Hastens his Plans against Qeneva — Bishop's Appeal to the Eiiights — ^He gives them their Instructions for the War — Cru- sade to maintain the Holy Faith — Prisoners in the Castles — Projects at Augsburg and Grez — ^De la Sarraz at the head of the Knights — ^Troops march against Geneva — Plans of the Enemy— A Friburg Herald maltreated — The Savoyard Army occupies the Suburbs — Preparations for the Assault — ^The Emperor receives lutelligence of the "War — The Army retires — What is the Cause?— The Mercy of God— 15,000 Swiss arrive— Soldierly Controversy — ^Burning of the Convent of Belle Rive— Good Catholics quartered at St Clair&— Mass at St Claire ; Preach- ings at St Pierre— Castles taken and burnt— Devotedness of the tfuna of St Claire— Truce of St Julian 409

8E00in> VOLUMB. XVll

CHAPTER XII.

eiirxVA BBCLADfED BT THE BISHOP, AlTD AWAXBNXD BT THB

OOBPSL.

(NOVXHBEB, 1530, TO OCTOBKB, 1531.)

FAGS

Emperor's Letter to the Geneyan&— Their Answer— Fresh Arma- ments of the Duke— Decision of the Diet of Payeme— Pardon and Pilgrimage to St Claire— Pilgrims sent back — Fresh Pardon; Beligious Liberty — ^Repasts of the Pilgrims and Sarcasms of the Genevans— Angels protect St Claire— The Pardon followed by an Awakening — Dt Ghristo medUari — ^Farel watches Geneva — Comprehends its Wants — ^Desires to send Tonseaint to Geneva^ He shrinks from the Struggle— Zwingle^s Prayer; Fean of the Genevans — Examination of the Suspected — ^Friborg and Berne — ^Allies of the two Parties at Cappel , t • • .429

CHAPTER Xm.

DANGEBS TO WHICH THB DEFEAT AT CAFPBL BZPOSBS OBVBYA. (OOTOBES, 1531, TO JaHUABT, 1632.)

Geneva attadced because elected of God — ^Defeat of Cappel — Triumph of the Romanists — Berne turns her back on Geneva — The Duke and his Army approach — ^Reply of Geneva to Benie — Seven Black Knights without Heads — God prepares Geneva by Trials— Effects produced within by Evils from without — ^The Swiss Patricians desire to rescind the Treaty — Geneva appeals to the People of Berne— The Great Councils are for Geneva — Retirement and Death of Hugues 442

CHAPTER XIV.

Air BMPBBOB AND A SCHOOLMASTER, (SPBINa, 1532.)

The Emperor desires to give Geneva to the Duke's Son — ^Zeal of the Duke, Firmness of the Genevans— The two Spheres of Chris- tianity—Insuffidency of Negative Protestantism — Oliv^tan at

XVIU CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Ohaotemps' House — His Viety, Zealj and Courage — Conversa- tions and Sermons — ^Oliv^tan's Disoourse— The Judge-— Carnal Men — Intellectual Men — Bedemption by Blood — The Spirit of Jesus Christ — ^The Pioneer — 01iy^tan*s Work .... 461

CBLAJPTER XV.

THE PARDON OF ROME AND THE FABDON OF HEAVEN.

(June and July, 1532.)

Boman Jubilees — ^Fermentation at Geneva — ^A Power which de- vours everything that is given to it — Grospel Pardon of all Sins — Tumnlt around the Placards— Fight in the City — Catholic Inter- vention of Friburgh — The Council strives to give Satis&ction — Beaction of the Evangelicals — Order to preach without Fables — The Nuncio and the Archbishop at Chambery — Joy of the Evangelicals out of the City — ^The little Flock of Payeme— Letter of the Lovers ^of the Holy Gk)spel — The Standard-bearers of the Gospel of Christ — The Standard raised in Geneva — Geneva attacked by both Parties — ^Which will iwrevail ? — The Struggle grows fiercer every day — ^The Strong Things of this World de- stroyed by the Weak . . • • . • • 460

HISTORY

OF THX

REFORMATION IN EUROPE

IN THE TIME OF CALVIN.

BOOK II.

7BAKCB. FAYORABLE TIKEa

CHAPTER XIII.

JOBH OALVrS A BTUDKNT AT THB UNiyBBSITT OI* OKLKABS.

(1527-1528.)

CALvm, whom his father's wishes and his own convictions urged to abandon the priestly career, for which he was pre- paring, had left Paris in the autumn of 1627, in order to go to Orleans and study jurisprudence under Pierre de FEtoiley who was teaching there with great credit ' Reuchlin, Alean- der, and even Erasmus, have professed in this city,' said his pupils ; ' but the Star (Etoile) eclipses all these suns.' He was regarded as the prince of French jurists.*

When Calvin arrived in that ancient city to which the Emperor Aurelian had given his name, he kept himself apart, being naturally timid, and repelled by the noisy vivacity of the students. Yet his loving disposition sighed after a friend ; and such he found in a young scholar, Nicholas Duchemiuv who was preparing himself for a professorship in the faculty of letters.! Calvin fixed on him an observing eye, and found

^ ' Jurisconsultoram Gallorum prinoeps.* — Bezsb Vita OaJvinL f 'Jam dedisti nomen inter rei litterariae professores.— Oalvinus Che* miDfl^ Berne MSS. This letter will be found in the Letkn of John

2 THE RErORMATION IS EUROPE. BOOK IL

him modest, temperate, not at all susceptible, adopting no opinion without examination,* of equitable judgment, ex- treme prudence, and great mildness, but also a little slow in his movements. Dachemin's character formed a striking contrast with the vivacity, ardor, severity, activity, and, we will add, the susceptibility of Calvin. Yet he felt himself attracted towards the gentle nature of the young professor, and the very difference of their temperaments shed an inex- pressible charm over all their intercourse. As Duchemin had but moderate means, he received students in his house, as many of the citizens did. Calvin begged to be admitted also, and thus became one of the members of his household. He soon loved Duchemin with all the energy of a heart of twenty, and rejoiced in finding in him a Mommor, an Oli- vetan, and even more. He wanted to share everything with Nicholas, to converse with him perpetually ; and they had hardly parted, when he began to long to be with him again. *Dear Duchemin!' he said to him, *my friend, you are dearer to me than life.'f Ardent as was this friendship, it was not blind. Calvin, true to his character, discovered the weak point of his friend, who was deficient, he thought, in energy ; and he reproved him for it. * Take care,' he said, * lest your great modesty should degenerate into indolence.'J The scholar of Noyon, consoled by this noble friendship, began to examine more closely the university population around him. He was surprised to see crowds of students filling the streets, caring nothing for learning, so far as he could tell. At one time he would meet a young lord, in tight hose, with a richly embroidered doublet, small Spanish cloak, velvet cap, and showy dagger. This young gentle- man, followed by his servant, would take the wall, toss his head haughtily, cast impertinent looks on each side of him, and want every one to give way to him. Farther on came

CcUviUj published in English at Philadelphia, by the learned Dr. Jules Bonnet, to whom I am indebted for the communication of the Latin manuscripts.

* 'In ea notus es dexteritate, qu» nihil impradenter prsBJudicaro floleat' — Oalvinus Ghemino.

f *Mi Oheminel amice mil mea vita charior!* — Calvinus Chemina

X ' Vide ne desidem te &ciat tuus pudor 1* — Ibid.

^iLhP.XEDL PISRBB DS l'sTOILX. 3

a noisy band composed of the sons of wealthy tradesmen, who appeared to have no more taste for study than the sons of the nobility, and who went singing and ' larking ' to one of the numeroas tennis-courts, of which there were not less than forty in the city. Ten nationSy afterwards reduced to four, composed the university. The German nation com- bined with the ' living and charming beauty of the body ' that of a mind polished by continual study. Its library was called ' the abode of the Muses.'*

Calvin made a singular figure in the midst of the world around him. His small person and sallow &ce formed a strong contrast with the ruddy features and imposing stature of Luther's fellow-couatrymen. One thing, however, de- lighted him : ' The university,' he said, ' is quite a republican oasis in the midst of enslaved France.' The democratic spirit was felt even by the young aristocrats who were at the head of each nation, and the only undisputed authority in Orleans was that of Pierre de I'Etoile.

This • morning-star 'f (as the registers of the Picard nation call him) had risen above the fogs and was shining like the sun in the schools. The great doctor combined an eminently judicial mind with an afifectionate heart ; he was inflexible as a judge, and tender as a mother. His manner of teach- ing possessed an inexpressible charm. As member of the council of 1528, he had advocated the repression of heresy; but he bad no sooner met Calvin at Orleans than, attracted by the beauty of his genius and the charms of his character, he loved him tenderly. Although opposed to the young man's religious opinions, he was proud of having him as his pupil, and was his friend to the last : thus giving a touching example in the sixteenth century of that noble christian equity which loves men while disapproving of their opinions.;^

Calvin, sitting on one of the benches in the school, listened attentively to the great doctor, and imbibed certain prin<

* Le Maire, AnHquiUs d^OrUans, I p. 388. — Theod, Bezo. von Baum, Lp.27.

f ' Ole quasi Stella matatina in medio nebnlffi et qnasi sol refulgens emiciiit'— Bimbenet, Bistoiire de VUniveniU dea Laia d^ Orleans, p. 357.

% Una, pp. 364-367.

4 THB REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK II.

ciples whose justice no one at that time in all Christendom thought of disputing. *The prosperity of nations,' said Pierre de I'Etoile, * depends upon obedience to the laws. If they punish outrages against the rights of man, much more ought they to punish outrages again&t the rights of God. What ! shall the law protect a man in his body and goods, and not in his soul and his most precious and eternal inher- itance ? . . . A thief shall not be able to rob us of our purses, but a heretic may deprive us of heaven!' Jurists and students, nobles and people, were all convinced that the law ought equally to guarantee temporal and spiritual goods. 'Those insensate and furious men,' said the code which Pierre de I'Etoile was expounding to his pupils, * who pro- claim heretical and infamous opinions, and reject the apos- tolic and evangelical doctrine of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one only Godhead and one Holy Trinity, ought first to be delivered up to divine vengeance, and afterwards visited with corporal punishment* Is not that a public offence P added the code ; * and although committed against the religion of God, is it not to the prejudice of all man- kind ?'t

Pierre de I'Etoile's youthful hearers received from these words those deep impressions which, being made while the character is forming, are calculated to last through life. The mind of man required time to throw off these legal prejudices, which had been the universal law of the under- standing for more than a thousand years.f Could it be expected that a young disciple, rising up against the most venerable teachers, should draw a distinction between the temporal and the spiritual sphere, between the old and the new economy, and insist that, inasmuch as grace had been proclaimed by virtue of the great sacrifice offered to eternal

* ' Hseretici divina primum vindicta^ post etiam . . . ultione plec- tendl' — Justiniani Codicis lib. i tit i. : De summa IHnitatej et tU nemo de ea publice corUradicere avdeat,

f * Piibllcum crimen, quia quod in religionem divinam committitur in omamm fertur injuriaai.' — ^Ibid. tit v. : De HoBretida.

X The Justinian code dates from 529 a. d., just a thousand years before the time of Calvin's studies ; but the greater part of the laws oontained in it were of older date.

OHAP. XnL OALYIH HXAD OF THB PICABB HATIOH. 5

jastice, it was repagnant to the Gospel of Christ for man to avenge the law of God by severe panishments? No : during the sixteenth, and even the seventeenth centnry, almost all eD lightened minds remained, in this respect, sank in lamenta- ble error.

Calvin, bashfbl and timid at first, gradnally came round : his society was conrted, and he conversed readily with alL He was received into the Picard nalaon. ^ I swear/ he said, * to guard the honor of the university and of my nation.'* Tet he did not suffer himself to be bound by the university spirit : he had a larger mind than his fellow-students, and we find him in relation with men of all nations, towards whom he was drawn by a community of affection and study. Etoile gave his lessons in the monastery of Bonne Nouvelle. Calvin listened silently to the master's words, but between the lessons he talked with his companions, went in and out, or paced up and down the hall like the rest. One day, going up to one of the pillars, he took out his knife and carved a C, then an A, and at last there stood the word Calyin, as the historian of the university informs us. It was Cauvin perhaps, his father's name, or else CalvintUy for the students were fond of latinising their names. It was not until some time after, when the Latin word had been retranslated into French, that the Reformer bore the more £imiliar name. This Calvin long remained on the pillar where the hand of the young Picard had cut it — a name of quarrels and discussions, insulted by the devout^ but respected by many. ^ This precious autograph has disappeared,' says the historian, ^ with the last vestiges of the building.'f

The Picards, proud of such a colleague, raised him to the highest post in the nation — ^that of proctor. Calvin was thus in the front rank in the public processions and assem- blies of the university. He had to convene meetings, exam- ine, order, decide, execute, and sign diplomas. Instead of assembling his nationals at a jovial banquet, Calvin, who had been struck by the disorders which had crept into these con-

* Bimbenet, Hist de Wniv. dea Lois d' Orleans, p. 30. t Bimbenet, MsL de VUhiv. eP Orleans, p, 358. The prefecture now ooci^ies tiie site of Bonne Kouvelle.

6 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK II.

vivial meetings, paid over to the treasarer the sum \7hich he would have expended, and made a present of books to the University library.* Erelong his oflSce compelled him to dis- play that firmness of character \i^hich distinguished him all his life. This hitherto unknown incident is worthy of being recorded.

Every year, on the anniversary of the Finding of the Body of St. Firmin, the inhabitants of the little town of Beaugency* near Orleans, appeared in the church of St. Pierre, and, after the epistle had been chanted, handed to the proctor of the Picard nation a piece of gold called maille de Florence^ of two crowns' weight.f ' The origin of this ancient cus- tom,' they told Calvin, * was this. On the 13th of January, 68*7, the body of St. Firmin the martyr having been solemnly exhumed, a marvellous change took place in nature. The trees put forth fresh leaves and blossoms, and at the same time a supernatural odor filled the air. Simon, lord of Beaugency, who suffered from leprosy, having gone to the window of his castle to witness the ceremony, was restored to health by the sweet savor. In token of his gratitude he settled an annual offering of a gold maille^ payable at first to the chapter of Amiens, and afterwards to the Picard stu- dents embodied in their nation at Orleans.'^

Calvin, who blames * the old follies and nonsense which men substitute for the glory of Jesus Christ,' did not place great faith in this miracle. However, as the tribute was not paid in 152'7, he resolved to go with his * nation ' and demand it. He assembled his fellow-students, and placing a band of music and the beadles in front, he led the procession ; all his 'nationals' followed after him in a line, and in due course the joyous troop arrived at Beaugency, where the maille was placed in his hand. It bore in front an image of

* Bimbenet, Eiat de VUniv, (F Orleans, pp. 40, 41, 51, 52, 358. f This Tna^ was probably the gold florin of Florence. The giglM florerUino is the badge of this city, and John the Baptist its patron.

* La lega suggellata del Batista,'

says Dante in the Inferno, xxx. "74.

t M. Bimbenet, chief greffler to the Imperial Court of Orleans, gives this tradition in his Bisi de TUniv, ^OrUana, pp. 161, 162, 17d-358.

CHAP. xm. Calvin's studiks and fbibnds. 7

John the Baptist, and on the reverse a fleur-de-]js with the word Florentia, The Picard students were satisfied, and, with their illustrioas chief at their head, resumed the road to Orleans, bringing back the golden maille in triumph, as Jason and the Argonauts had in days of yore returned from Colchis with the golden fleece. The procession reentered the city amid the shouts of the university. Calvin was one day to rob the dragon of a more magnificent treasure, and nations more numerous were to show their joy by louder shouts of gladness.*

Although Calvin would not separate from his fellow-stu- dents, he often suffered in the midst of this noisy and disso- lute multitude, and turned with disgust from the duels, intrigues, and excesses which filled so large a space in the student life. He preferred study, and had applied to the law with his whole heart.f The vivacity of his wit^ the strength of his memory, the remarkable style in which he clothed the lessons of his masters, the facility with which he caught up certain expressions, certain sentences, which fell from their lips, Hhe starts and flashes of a bright mind, which he displayed at intervals,' — all this, says a Roman- catholic historian, soon made him distinguished by the pro- fessors.^

But he was destined to find something better on the banks of the Loire : the work begun at Paris was to be strength- ened and developed at Orleans. Calvin, always beloved by those who knew him, made numerous friends, especially among certain men attacked by the priests, and whose faith was full of christian meekness. Every day he had a serious conversation with Duchemin.§ In order to lessen his ex- penses, he had shared his room with a pions German, for- merly a grey friar, who having learnt, as Luther said, that it is not the cowl of St. Francis which saves, but the blood

♦ HisL de VUniv. tPOrUans, pp. ITS, 176, 119.

f ' Ut patris voluntati obaequerer, fldelem operam impendere conatna Boun.' — Calv. in Psalm.

X *Singularem ingenii alacritatem,' Ac. — Flor. R6mond, EisL cfe VHer^sie, liv. vii. ch. ix.

§ * Longa oonsnetadine diatomoque usu.' — Bezse Vita CaMnL

8 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK EL

of Jesus Christ, had thrown off his filthy frock* and come to France. The Picard student talked with him of Germany and of the Reformation ; and some persons have thought that this was what first * perverted Calvin from the true

faith/f

Next to the house of Duchemin where the wind of the new doctrine was blowing ; next to the library, whose cura* tor, Philip Laurent, became his friend ; Calvin loved par- ticularly to visit the family of an advocate where three amiable, educated, and pious ladies afforded him the charms of agreeable conversation. It was that of Francis Daniel, ' a person,' says Beza, ' who, like Duchemin, had a knowledge of the truth.' He was a grave and influential man, possess- ing inward Christianity, and (perhaps his profession of lawyer had something to do with it) of a very conservative mind, holding both to the forms and ordinances of the Church. Calvin, on leaving the schools, the library, and his study, used to seek relaxation in this house. The company of educated and pious women may have exercised a happy influence over his mind, which he would have sought in vain in the society of the learned. And accordingly, whenever he was away, he did not fail to remember his friend's mother, wife, and sister Frances.J

In the company of these ladies he sometimes met a young man for whom he felt but little sympathy : he was a stu- dent from Paris, Coiffard by name, lively, active, intelligent, but selfish .§ How much he preferred Daniel, in whom he found a mind so firm, a soul so elevated, and with whom he held such profitable conversations ! The two friends were agreed on one point — the necessity of a Reformation of the Church ; but they soon came to another point which at a later day occasioned a wide divergence between them.

* 'Lausige Kappe.' *

t Bemarqties swrla VUde Calvin^ JSSreaiarquej by J. Desmay, vicar- general, p. 43.

X * Saluta matrem, uzorem, sororem Franciacam.'^-0alvinu8 Danieli, Berne MSa

§ ' De Ooiflartio quid aliud dicam, nisi hominem esse sibi natum?'-^ Calvinus Danieli, GrenevaMSS.

CHAP. Xm. DUCHSMIN, DANIEL, WOLMAB, 9

* The refonnation,' said the advocate, ' mast he accomplished in the Church ; we must not separate from the Church.' The intercourse between Calvin and Ducbemin gradually became less frequent ; the latter, being naturally rather negligent, did not reply to his friend^s letters.* But Cal- vin's attachment for Daniel grew stronger so long as the reformer remained in France, and to him almost all the let- ters are addressed which he wrote between 1529 and 1536.

But all these friendships did not satisfy Calvin ; at Daniel's, at Duchemin's, at the library, and wherever he went, he beard talk of a man whom he soon burned to know, and who exercised over him more influence than all the rest A poor young German of Rotweil, named Melchior Wolmar, had come to Paris, and, being forced to work for a living, had served for some time as corrector for the press.f Greedy of knowledge, the youthful reader quitted his proofe from time to time, and slipped among the students who crowded round the illustrious John Lascaris, BudiBus, and Lefevre. In the school of the latter he became a sincere christian ; in the school of the former, a great hellenist. When he took bis degree of M. A. along with a hundred others, he occupied the first place. Having one day (when in Germany) to make a speech in his mother-tongue, Wolmar asked per- mission to speak in Greek, because, he said, that language was more familiar to him. He had been invited to Orleans to teach Greek ; and being poor, notwithstanding his learn- ing, he took into his house a small number of young chil- dren of good family. ' He was my faithful instructor,' says one of them, Theodore Beza ; ' with what marvellous skill he gave his lessons, not only in the liberal arts, but also in piety !'| His pupils did not call him Melchior ^ but Melior (better).

Calvin, whose exalted soul was attracted by all that is beautiful, became attached to this distinguished professor. His father had sent him to study civil law ; but Wolmar ^solicited him to devote himself to a knowledge of the

* Chlvin's Letters, Philadelphia, I p. 32. f Wolmar, Oommentaire sur Vlhade,

X Beza, VU de Cabnn et Histoire des JSgUstt R^fonrUei^ I p. 67.

1*

10 THE BBFOBMATION IN BUROPB. BOOK H

Greek classics.' At first Calvin hesitated, but yielded at last. ' I will study Greek,' he said, ' but as it is you that urge me, you also must assist me.' Melchior answered that he was ready to devote to him abundantly, not only his instruction, but his person, his life, himself.* From that time Calvin made the most rapid progress in Greek litera- ture. The professor loved him above all his pupils.f In this way he was placed in a condition to become the most illustrious commentator of Scripture. * His knowledge of Greek,' adds Beza, ' was of great service to all the Church of God.' What Cordier had been to him for Latin, Wolmar was for Greek*

CHAPTEK XIV.

CALVIN TAUGHT AT ORLEANS OF OOD AND MAN ; BEGINS TO DEFEND AND PROPAGATE THE FAITH.

(1528.)

Calvin was to receive something more from Wolmar ; he was about to begin, under his guidance, the work of all his life — to learn and to teach Christ. The knowledge which he acquired at the university of Orleans, philosophy, law, and even Greek, could not suffice him. The moral faculty is the first in man, and ought to be the first in the aniversity also. The object of the Reformation was to found, not an intellectual, but a moral empire ; it was to restore holiness to the Church. This empire had begun in Calvin ; his conscience had been stirred ; he had sought salvation and found it ; but he had need of knowledge, of increase in

* ' Quam liberaliter paratus fueria te mihi officiaque tua impendere.' — Calv. in 2^"' Ep. ad Gor.

f * Prse cffiteris discipuUs diligere ac magni&cere earn ocspit*— Flor. Beinond, ffist, de VEeretM, liv. vu.ch.ix.

CHAP. Ziy. WOLMAR AND CALVIN 8TUDT THX KPI8TLX8. 11

grace, of practice ia life, and these he was aboat to striye after.

Melchoir, like Melancthon, had set himself to study the Holy Scnptures in the original languages, and in them had foand light and peace. Calvin, on his side, ' having acquired some taste for true piety,' as he informs us, ^ was burning with a great desire to advance.'* The most intimate confi- dence and the freest communication were established be- tween the professor and the scholar. Melchoir spoke to Calvin of Germany and the Reformation ; he read the Greek Testament with him, set before him the riches of Christ an- nounced therein, and, when studying the Epistles of St. Paul, explained to him the doctrine of imputed righteous- ness which forms the essence of their teaching. Calvin, seated in his master's study, listened in silence, and respect- fully embraced that mystery so strange and yet so profoundly in harmony with the righteousness of God ! . . . * By faith,' said Wolmar, ^ man is united to Christ and Christ to him, so that it is no longer man whom God sees in the sinner, but his dearly beloved Son himself; and the act by virtue of which God makes the sinner an inheritor of heaven, is not an arbitrary one. The doctrine of justification,' added Wolmar, ^ is in Luther's opinion the capital doctrine, articU' lus stantis vel cadentia Eccle8UE^\

But Calvin's chief teacher was God. At Orleans he had more of those struggles, which are often prolonged in strong natures. Some take him simply for a metaphysical thinker, a learned and subtle theologian ; on the contrary, no other doctor has had more experience of those tempests that stir up the heart to its lowest deeps. ' I feel myself pricked and stung to the quick by the judgment of God. I am in a con- tinual battle : I am assaulted and shaken, as when an armed man is forced by a violent blow to stagger a few steps back- wards.' The light which had rejoiced him so much when he was in college at Paris, seemed almost to have faded away.

* Calvin, Preface aux Paaumes,

\ (' The touch-BtODe of a Btanding or of a falling Church.) ' Wol- mams lutheranum virus Calvino instiUabat' — ^Flor. B^mond, EimL de VH&rStie^ liv.viLch.ix.

i2 THS BBFOBMATIOK IK BUBOPI. BOOK IL

^I am like a wretched man shut up in a deep dungeon, who receives the light of day obliquely and in part, only through a high and narrow loop-hole.' He persevered, however ; he fixed his eyes on Jesus, and was soon able to say : ' If I have not the full and free sight of the sun, I distinguish however his light afar, and enjoy its brightness.'*

People at Orleans soon found out that there was some- thing now and strange in this young man. It was in this city, in the year 1022, that the revival of modem times, if we may so speak, had begun among the heads of a school of theology at that time very celebrated. Priests and canons had told the people who listened to them, both in Orleans and in the neighboring towns, * that they ought to be filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit; that this Spirit would reveal to them all the depths and all the dignity of the Scriptures ;f that they would be fed with heavenly food and refreshed by an inward fulness.'| These heretics had been put to death at Orleans. Would they be seen rising again, after more than five centuries, in the - city and even in the university ? Many doctors and students opposed Calvin : ^ You are a schismatic,' they said : * you are separating from the Church !' Calvin, alarmed at these accusations, was a prey to fresh anguish.

Then, as he informs us, he began to meditate on the Psalms, and in the struggles of David he found an image of his own : ^ Ah !' he exclaimed, ^ the Holy Spirit has here painted to the life all the pains, sorrows, feara, doubts, hopes, anxieties, perplexities, and even the confused emotions with which my mind is wont to be agitated. . . This book is an anatomy of all the parts of the soul. . . . There is no affec- tion in man which is not here represented as in a glass.§ This man, whom the Romish and other legends describe as vain, proud, and insensible, desired to see himself as he was,

* Calvin, InsUhUion^ liv. iii. oh. it 1*7-19.

f * Sancti Spiritus dono repleberis, qui scripturarum omnium pro- fimditatem ac veram dignitatem te dooebit' — Mansi, C^ta Synodi Aur^ Uanensis, ziz. p. 376.

X * Deinde ooelesti cibo pastus, interna satietate recreatus.* — Ibid.

§ Calvin, Priface dee Chmmenimree eur le$ FiBawnee,

OELAP, ziT. Calvin's anouibh and bumilitt. 18

without BcreeniDg any of bis faults. > Of the many infirmi- ties to which we are sabjcct,' he said, ^ and of the many vices of which we are full, not one ought to be hidden. Ah I truly it is an excellent and singular gain, when all the hid- ing-places are laid open, and the heart is brought into the light and thoroughly cleansed of all hypocrisy and foul in- fection.'*

Such are the principles by which the Reformation has tri- umphed. Its great organs desired that men's hearts should be ^ cleansed of all foul infection.' It is a singular delusion of thosd writers who^ seeing things otherwise than they are, ascribe this divine work to vile interests and base passions; According to them, its causes were jealousy of the Augus- tine monks, the ambition of princes, the greed of nobles, and the carnal passions of priests, which, however, as we have seen, had but too free scope during the middle ages. A searching glance into the souls of the Reformers lays bare to ns the cause of the revival. If the writers of whom I have spoken were right, the Reformation ought not to have waited until Luther for its accomplishment; for there had existed for ages in Christendom ambitious princes, greedy nobles, jealous monks, and impure priests. But what was really a new thing was to find men who, like the reformers^ opened their hearts to the light of the Holy Spirit, believed in the Word of God, found Jesus Christ, esteemed everything in comparison with, him as loss, lived the life of God, and de- sired that * all hiding-places should be laid open,' and men's hearts cleansed of all hypocrisy. Such were the true sources of the Reformation.

The adversaries of the Gospel understood the danger in^ cnrred by the Church of Rome from the principles professed by Calvin ; and hence they called him wicked and profane, and, as he says, ' heaped upon his head -a world of abase.' They said that he ought to be expelled from the Church. Then the student, * cast down but not destroyed,' retiring to his chamber, would exclaim : * If I am at war with such masters, I am not, however, at war with thy Church, O God I

* Calvin, PrS/act du Comnuntair^ wr lea Psaiume$,

14 THE REFORMATION IK JSUROPB. BOOK Ih

Why should I hesitate to separate from these false teachers ■whom the apostles call thy enemies ?* . . . When cursed by the unrighteous priests of their day, did not thy prophets re- main in the true unity of thy children ? Encouraged by their example^ I will resist those who oppress us, and neither their threats nor their denunciations shall shake me.'f

The conversion of Calvin, begun at Paris, was completed at Orleans. There are, as we have said, several phases in this work. The first is that of the conscience, where the soul is aroused ; the second is that of the understanding, where the mind is enlightened ; then comes the last, where the new man is built up, where he strikes deeper root in Christ, and bears fruit to God. At Paris, Calvin had heard in his heart the divine voice calling him to eternal life; at Orleans, he constantly studied the Holy Scriptures,^ and be- came ' learned in the knowledge of salvation,' as Theodore Beza tells us. The Church herself has gone through similar phases : the first epoch of her history, that of the apostolic fathers,§ was that of simple piety without the scientific ele- ment ; the second, the age of the apologists, was that of a christian understanding seeking to justify its faith in the eyes of reason. Calvin had followed this road ; but he did not givQ way to an intellectualism which would have brought back death into his heart On the contrary, the third phase began immediately, and from day to day the christian life became in him more spiritual and more active.

The conversion of Calvin and of the other reformers — we must insist upon this point — was not simply a change wrought by study in their thoughts and in their system. Calvin did not set himself the task of inventing a new theology, as his adversaries have asserted. We do not find him coldly medi- tating on the Church, curiously examining the Scriptures, and seeking in them a means of separating a portion of

* * Quos pronuDtiabant apostoll esse habendos pro hostibus, ab lis cur dubitaasem me sejungere?' — Opusc. Lot. p. 124; Franf, p. 169.

f Opiiscules.

f * Interea tamen ille sacramm litterarum studium simul diligenter ezcolere in quo taDtum etiam promoverat' — ^Bezse Vita Calvinu

g ^^m 70 to 130 A.i».

CHAP. XIV. . Calvin's convxrsiok. 15

clxristendoin from Borne. The Beformation vrss not the fruit of abstract reasoning ; it proceeded from an inward labor, a spiritaal combat, a victory which the reformers won by the sweat of their brow, or rather ... of their heart. Instead of composing his doctrine chapter after chapter, Calvin, thirsting for righteousness and peace found it in Christ ' Placed as in the furnace of God (they are his own words), the scum and filth of his faith were thus purified.' Calvin was put into the crucible, and the new truth came forth, burning and shining like gold, from the travail of his melted soul. In order to comprehend the productions of nature or of art, we must study closely the secrets of their formation. We have on a former occasion sought to dis- cover the generative principle of the Reformation in the heart of Luther ; we are now striving to discern it in Calvin also. Convictions, affections, intelligence, activity — ^all these were now in process of formation in that admirable genius under the life-giving rays of truth.

There came a moment when Calvin, desirous of possessing God alone, renounced the world, which, from that time, has never ceased to hate him : ' I have not sued thee by my love, O Christ,' he said ; ' thou hast loved me of thy free will. Thou hast shone into my soul, and then everything that dazzled my eyes by a false splendor immediately disap- peared, or at least I take no count of it. As those who travel by sea, when they find their ship in danger, throw everything overboard, in order that, having lightened the vessel, they may arrive safely in port ; in like manner I pre- fer being stripped of all that I have, rather than be deprived of thee. I would rather live poor and miserable than be drowned with my riches. Having cast my goods into the waves, I begin to have hope of escape since the vessel is lightened. . . I come to thee naked and empty. . . And what I find in thee is not a trifling vulgar gain : I find every- thing there.'* Thus lifting up his hands to God, Calvin offered the sacrifice of a heart burning with love. He made this grand thought the charter of his nobility, his blazon,

* Calvin, in Ep, Johan. ; PauU ad PhiUp. ius.

16 THX REFORMATION IN KUROPK. BOOK IL

and engraving this design on his seal, a hand presenting a Aeart in sacrifice, he wrote roand it : Cor meum velut mac- latum Domino in sacrificium offero-^*' O Lord, I offer nnto thee as a sacrifice my heart immolated to thee.' Such was his device — such was his life.

The eyes of many began already to be tnmed upon him with admiration. The surprising clearness of his mind, the powerful convictions of his heart, the energy of his regener- ated will, the strength of his reasoning, the luminous flashes of his genius, and theBevere beauties of his eloquence — all betokened in him one of the great men of the age. ' A wonderful mind !' says Florimdnd de H6mond, one of his chief adversaries, ' a mind keen and subtle to the highest degree, prompt and sudden in its imaginations ! What a praiseworthy man he would have been, if, sifting away the vices (heresy), the virtues alone could have been retained T* There was doubtless something wanting in Calvin : he may not have had that smiling imagination which, at the age he had now reached, generally gilds life with the most brilliant colors ; the world appeared to him one wide shipwreck. But, possessing the glance of the eagle, he discovered a de- liverance in the future, and his powerful hand, strengthened by God, was about to prepare the great transformations of fhe Church and of the world.

He was indefatigable in labor. When the day was ended, and his companions indulged in dissipation or in sleep, Cal- vin, restricting himself to a slight repast for fear of oppress- ing his head, withdrew to his room and sat down to study the Scriptures. At midnight he extinguished his lamp,f and early in the morning, when he awoke and before he left bis bed, he ' ruminated,' says Beza, on what he had read and learnt the night before. J * We were his friends, we shared his room with him,' said Theodore Beza's informants. * We only tell you what we have seen.' — •* Alas !' adds the re- former, these long vigils which so wonderfully developed his &culties and enriched his memory, weakened his healthy

♦ Kor. Esmond, Hist, de Vfferesie, liv. vii. eh. x.

f *Ad mediam usque noctem lucubrare.' — Bezas Vita Chlvini,

X ' Mane vero^ qu8» legisset, in lecto veluti coneoqiiere/ — ^Ibid>

CHAP. nv. CALYDT BOUOHT AS A TXACHEB. 17

and laid the foundation of those sufferings and frequent ill- nesses which shortened his days.'*

His taste for Holy Scripture did not divert Calvin from the study of law. He was unwilling that the labors of his profession should suffer in any degree from the labors of piely. He made such remarkable progress in jurisprudence that he was soon looked upon, by both students and profes- sors, as a master and not as a scholar.f One day, Pierre de TEtoile begged him to give a lesson in his place ; and the young man of nineteen or twenty discharged his duty with so much skill and clearness, that he tiras considered as destined to become the greatest jurist in France. The professors often employed him as their substitute.^

To knowledge he joined communion^ While still con- tinuing to follow the lessons of Etoile, Calvin ' sought the company of the faithful servants of God/ as he tell us. All the children of God (he thought) should be united t<^ther by a bond of brotherly union. He mixed also with every- body, even with the gainsay ers, and if they attacked the great doctrines of Gospel truth, he defended them. But he did not put himself forward. He could discern when, how far, and to whom it was expedient to speak, and never ex- posed the doctrine of Christ to the jeers of the unbeliever by imprudence or by the fears of the flesh. When he opened his mouth, every one of his words struck home. * Nobody can withstand him,' they said, ' when he has the Bible in his hand.'

Students who felt a difSculty in believing, townspeople who could not understand^ went and begged him to teach them.§ He was abashed. ' I am but a poor recruit^' he said, ' and you address me as if I were a general.'] As these requests were constantly renewed, Calvin tried to find

* *Et tandem etiam intempestivam mortem attulit' — Bezad Vita CdknniL

f * Doctor potiusquam auditor faaberetur.'— Ibid.

^ ' Qomn ssepissime obiret ipsoram doctormn vices.'— Ibid.

§ 'Omnes parioris doctrinsd cnpidi ad me, disoendi causa, ventita* Mot' — Prc^. in Psakn,

' Novitium adhuc et tTTooem.' — ^Ibid.

18 THB REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

some hiding-place where he could read, meditate, and pray, secure from interruption.* At one time it was the room of a friend, a nook in the university library, or some shady re- treat on the banks of the river. But he was hardly absorbed in meditation or in the study of Scripture, before he found himself surrounded by persons eager to hear him, and who refused to withdraw. ' Alas !' he exclaimed, * all my hiding- places are turned into public schools.' f

Accordingly he sought still more private retreats ; for he wished to understand before he taught. The French love to see clearly into things ; but their defect in this respect is that they often do not go deep enough, or fail to observe that by going deep they arrive at truths in whose presence the most eminent minds ought to confess their insufficiency and believe in the revelation from God. In the middle ages there had been men who wished to bring the mysteries of the catholic faith to the test of reason ;| Abelard was at the head of that phalanx. Calvin was not a new Abelard. He did not presume to £ithom impenetrable mysteries, but sought in Scripture the light and the life of his soul.

His admirera returned to him. Several citizens of Orleans opened their houses to him, saying : ' Come and teach openly the salvation of man.' Calvin shrank back. * Let no one disturb my repose,' he said ; * leave me in peace.' His repose, that is to say his studies, were his only thought. But these souls, thirsting for truth, did not yield so easily. * A repose of darkness !' replied the most ardent ; * an igno- ble peace !§ Come and preach I' Calvin remembered the saying ofl St. Chrysostom : * Though a thousand persons should call you, think of your own weakness, and obey only under constraint.'] * Well, then, we constrain you,' an- swered his friends. * O God ! what desirest thou of me ?' Calvin would exclaim at such moments. * Why dost thoa

* * Tunc latebraa captare.' — Pr(Rf. in Psalm, f * Ut mihi secessus omnes instar publicse scbolse essent.*-- Ibid. X * Catholicse fidei mysteria ratione investiganda.' — Abelard, IntrocL ad Theol p. 1059.

§ * Ignobile otium colere/ — Praef, in Psalm. I OhryBostomus, De SacerdoUo, Ub. iy.

CHAP. XIT. HB TB ACHES IN PRIYATX rAMILIKS. 10

pursue mc ? Why dost thou turn and disturb me, and never leave me at rest ? Why, despite my disposition, dost thou iead me to the light and bring me into play V* Calvin gave way, however, and understood that it was his duty to publish the Gospel. He went to the houses of his friends. A few men, women, and young people gathered round him, and he began to explain the Scriptures. It was quite a new order of teaching : there were none of those distinctions and deductions of scholastic science, at that time so familiar to the preachers. The language of the young man possessed an admirable simplicity, a piercing vitality, and a holy majesty which captivated the heart. ' lie teaches the trutli,' said his hearers as they withdrew, ' not in affected language, but with such depth, solidity, and weight, that every one who hears him is struck with admiration.' These are the words of a contemporary of Calvin, who lived on the spot, and in the very circle in which the Reformer then moved. * While at Orleans,' adds this friend, Theodore Beza, * Cal- vin, chosen from that time to be an instrument of election in the Lord's work, wonderfully advanced the kingdom of God in many families.'f

It was at Orleans, therefore, that Calvin began his evan- gelist work and manifested himself to the world as a chris- tian. Calvin's activity in this city is a proof that he was then converted to the Gospel, and that he had been so for some time ; for his was not one of those expansive natures which immediately display externally what is within them. This first ministry of the reformer negatives the hypotheses which place Calvin's conversion at Orleans, or at Bourges, somewhat later, or, even later still, during his second resi- dence at Paris.

Thus the young doctor, growing in knowledge ana acting in love, refuted the objections of the gainsayers, and led to Christ the humble souls who thirsted for salvation. A do- mestic event suddenly withdrew him from this pious activity.

* Calv. Prcef. in Psdbn, p. 3.

f Th^od. do Bdze^ Btsioire des Eglises B^formSes, p. 9.

20 THE BXFOBMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

CHAPTER XV.

OALVIN CALLED AT BOURGBS TO THE EVANGELICAL WORK.

(1528-1629.)

One day, probably at the beginning of April, 1528, about the Easter holidays, Calvin received a letter from Noyon. He opened it : it contained sad news I his father was seri- ously ill. He went at orco to Duchemin in great agitation : 'I must depart,' he said. This friend, and many others, would have wished to keep him in a place where he had be- come so useful ; but he did not hesitate. He must go to his father ; he would, however, only stay as long as it was necessary ; as soon as the sick man was better, he would come back. * I promise you to return shortly,' he said to Duchemin.* Calvin, therefore, bade farewell to his cherished studies, to his beloved friends, and those pious families in which he was advancing the kingdom of God, and returned to Picardy.

We have but few particulars of his sojourn at Noyon. Assuredly his filial piety indulged at his father's bedside in what has been termed with reason the sweetest form of grati- tude. Yet the weak condition of the episcopal secretary was prolonged, without any. appearance of imminent danger. A question began to rise up in the young man's heart : shall he go, or shall he stay ?f Sometimes, when seated by the sick man's pillow during the watches of the night, his thoughts would transport him to Orleaus, into the midst ot his studies and the society of his friends ; he felt himself impelled, as by a vigorous hand, towards the places that were

* *Quod tibi promiseram discedens me brevi adfUturam»'-^alyinua Chemino, May 14, 1528, Berne MSS. f * £a me expectatio diutiua suspensum habuit'— Galvinos Chemina

GHAF.Z7. CALVnr's FIRST LETTSB. 21

80 dear to him, and he made in his mind all the arrange- ments necessary for his return.* . . . Suddenly his father's disease grew worse, and the son did not qait the sufferer's bedside. The old secretary, ' a man of sound understanding and good counsel,' says Beza, was much respected by those around him, and love for the author of his days was pro- foundly engraven in the young man's soul. 'The title of father belongs to God,' he said; *when God gives it to a man, he communicates to him some sparks of his own bright- ne88.'f

Erelong a crisis appeared to take place ; the doctors held out hopes : the patient might recover his health, they said.J Calvin's thoughts and desires were turned once more towards Orleans ; he would have wished to go there instantly ,§ but duty was still the strongest, and he resolved to wait until his lather's convalescence was complete. Thus one day after another glided away.| Alas ! the doctors were deceived.

* There is no longer any hope of a cure,' they soon told him ;

* your father's death cannot be far off.'^ Calvin, therefore, determined (14th of May, 1528) to write to Ducbemin, which he had not yet done since his departure. It is the first of the reformer's letters that has been handed down to \a. * You know,' he says, 'that I am very exact in my cor- respondence, and that I carry it even to importunity.** You will be astonished, perhaps, that I have been wanting in my extreme punctuality ; but when you know the cause, you will restore to me your friendship, should I perchance have forfeited it.' He then tells Ducbemin of his father's con- dition, and adds : * Happen what may, I will sefe you again.'f f "What did happen rs not very clear. Calvin was at Noyon,

* 'Nam dam reditmn ad yos meditor.' — Oalyinus Chemino.

t Calvini Opera.

X ' Sed cum medid spem £EM»rent posse redire in prosperam valota- dinem.' — Oalvinus Chemino.

§ * Nihil aliud visam est qnam toi desideriam.' — ^Ibid.

I 'Interim dies de die trahitur.' — Ibid.

^ ' Certum mortis pericolom.' — Oalvinus Chemino.

** ' In litteris wii«mtrftnHiff plus satis officioeum, ne dicam importa* nmn.' — ^Ibid.

W 'Utconque ree cecideret^ ad vos reviaam.* — Ibid.

22 THE BBFOBMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK U,

as we have seen, on the 14th of May, 1528 ; perhaps he re- mained all the sammer with the sick man. It has been con- cluded from this letter to Duchemin that Gerard Canvin died shortly after the 14th of May ; at that time the approach of death was certain, according to the doctors ; but doctors may be mistaken. According to Theodore Beza, he died during his son's residence at Bourges, nine or ten months later, and a passage from Calvin, which we shall quote further on, con- firms Beza's testimony, of itself so decisive.

One circumstance, which has some interest, seems to show that Calvin was not at Orleans during the latter part of this year. On the 5th of December, 1528,* eight months after his sudden departure, a boy eight or nine years old arrived at Melchior Woimar's house in that city. He had a sickly look, but was a well-made child, playful and well-bred, with a keen glance, and lively wit. This boy, who was one day to be Calvin's best friend, belonged to a Burgundian family. His father, Pierre de Beza, was bailli of Vezelay, a very old town, where the child was born on the 24th of June, 1519,f and received the name of Theodore. One of his uncles, named Nicholas, seignior of Cette and of Chalonne, and councillor of parliament, having paid the bailli a visit a few months after the child's birth, adopted him, being an unmar* ried man, and took him to Paris, although he had not been weaned.| Nine years later (1528), at the recommendation of an Orleanese, who was connected with the Bezas and a member of the royal council, the uncle sent his nephew to Wolmar, who was described to him as very learned in Greek and of great experience in education. Nothing in Calvin's biography written by Beza indicates that the latter met Calvin at that time at Orleans. When Margaret of Valois, who was Duchess of Berry, endeavored about this time to gather together a number of pious and learned men in her

* ' Factum est ut ad te pervenirem anno Domini 1528, nonis De- cembris.' — Letter of Theodore Beza to "Wolmar, Preface to the Con- fessio JP^dei ChristiaruB,

f 'Anno Domini 1519 die 24 junii, placult Deo 0. M. ut mundi lucem aspicerem.' — ^Ibid.

^ * Ut me quamvis adbuc a nutricis uberibus pendentem/ — ^Ibid.

CHAP. XT. CALXJX GOBS TO BOUBOU. 29

miiversitf of Boorgesi she invited Wdmar there ^ and it was here that young Ben saw Calvin iar the fint time.

The scholar, set at liberty hj the apparent restoration of his fiither^s health, had once more tomed his thooghts towards his stodies. He desired to take advantage of the instmction of a doctor whose reputation sorpassed even that of Pierre de TEloile. All the learned world was at that time talking of Alciati of Milan, whom the king had invited to Bourges^ and to attend whose brilliant lessons the aca- demic youth flocked from every quarter. Calvin had other motives besides this for going to that city. Under Marga- ret's influence, Berry had become a centre of evangelixation. Betoming, therefore, to Orieans, he made known his inten- tion of going to Bonrges^ and the professors ci the university where he had studied, and even taught with credit, unani- mously offered him the d^ree of doctor. It would appear tliat his modesty did not permit him to accept iLf

There were fewer resources at Bourges than at Orleans. ' As we cannot live as we wish,' said the students^ * we live as we can.' Everything was dear : board alone cost one hundred francs a year.J * France is truly a golden country,' bitterly remaiiced a poor scholar, *" for without gold you can get nothing.' But the Noyon student cared little for the comforts of life; intellectual and spiritual wealth satisfied him. He was anxious to hear Alciati, and was surprised to find him a tall corpulent man, with no very thoughtful look. ' He is a great eater,' said one of his neighbors, *■ and very covetoos.'§ Intelligence and imagination, rather than senti- ment, were his cliaracteristics : he was a great jurist and also a great poet. Mingliog literature with his explanation of the laws, and substituting an el^ant style for barbarism.

* ' AureliflB primmn, deinde Bitorigibtis, qtram in earn orbem regina Kavanrae te evocasset' — ^Letter of Theodore Beza to Wdlmar, Prefiioe to the Oonfessio Fidei Ckrigtiaitta.

f ' Eique disoedenti doctoiatos inrignia abaqae olio pretio offemn- tur.'— Bez» VUa CaJMnL

X Gonrad Gessner voa Hanhiu^ p. 22. TKBodor. Beza von Banm, p. 12.

§ ' Yir fuit corpoleDtiu^ prooem statnraBL Ann avidns habitus est et dbi avidiflr.'— Paozhrole^ De daria Legrnn ^UerpreL lib. iL

24 THE REFORMATION IN SUROPE. BOOK II.

of language, he gave quite a new eclat to the study of the law. Calvin listened with admiration. Five years later Alciati returned to Italy, allured by greater emoluments and greater honors.

Erelong Calvin gave himself up entirely to other thoughts. Bourges had become, under Margaret's government, the cen- tre of the new doctrine in France ; and he was accordingly struck by the movement of the minds around him. There was discussing, and speaking, and assembling, wherever the sound of the Gospel could be heard. On Sunday students and citizens crowded the two churches where Chapohneau and Michel preached. Calvin went with the rest, and found the christian truth pretty fairly set forth ' considering the time.'* During the week, evangelical truth was taught in the university by Gamaire, a learned priest, and by Bour- nonville, prior of St. Ambrose.

But nothing attracted Calvin like Wolmar's house. It would appear that this scholar had arrived at Bourges before him.f It was there that Calvin met young Beza, and then began in Theodore's heart that filial piety which con- tinued all his life, and that admiration which he professed afterwards in one of his Latin poems, where he calls Calvin.

BomiB mentis terror iUe mazimus.]:

And truly Calvin was training for this. If Wolmar at Orleans had confirmed the christian faith in him, Wolmar at Bourges was the first who invited him distinctly to enter upon the career of a reformer. The German doctor com- municated to the young man the books which he received from beyond the Rhine — the writings of Luther, Melanc- tbon, and other evangelical men.§ Wolmar, modest, gentle, and a foreigner, did not think himself called to do in France what these illustrious servants of God were doing in Ger- many : but he asked himself whether there was not some

* Th^d. de B^ze, Hist, des EgUsea ReformSeSj p. 6. t Ibid.

X ' Of Rome in its decline the greatest dread.' — Bezse Iconea. % *Libros quoe e Germania acceperat, mittebat' — Flor. Esmond, msL VHerisie, iL Uv. viL

CHAP. XT. WOLMAR'S APPEAL TO CALVUr. 25

Frenchman called by God to reform France; whether Lefevre's yonng fellow-coantryman, who nniWi a great understanding with a soul so full of energy, might not be the man for whom this work was reserved.

Wolmar seems to have been to Calvin what Stanpitz was to Lnther ; both these doctors felt the need of minds of a strong temper for the great things that were about to take place in the world. One day, therefore, the professor invited the student to take a walk with him, and the two friends, leaving behind them that old city, burnt down by Caesar and Chilperic, rebuilt by Charlemagne, and enlai^ed by Philip Augustus, drew near the banks of the Auron, at its confluence with the Tevre, and strolled here and there among the fertile plains of Berry.* At last Wolmar said to Calvin, ' What do you propose doing, my friend ? Shall the Institutes, the Novels, the Pandects absorb your life ! Is not theology the queen of all sciences, and does not God call you to explain his Holy Scriptnres ?'f What new ideas then started up before Calvin ! At Paris he had renounced the priesthood, and at Bourges Wolmar urged him to the ministry. . . . What should he do ?

This was quite another calling. In the theocratic and legal Church, the priest is the means by which man is restored to communion with God. The special priesthood, with which he is invested, is the condition on which depends the virtue of the sacraments and of all the means of grace. Possessed of a magical power, he works the greatest of mira- cles at the altar, and whoever does not partake in the minis-

* ' Die qaodam cum disdpnlo magister, animi gratia, deambulana.'— Flor. Bemond, Hist, de VHerisie.

f 'Ut posito Justiniani oodice ad Theologiffi omnium scientiaram reginiB studium, animum applicaret' — Flor. Bemond, Hiai. de PBerenCf liv.vilch.ix. Florimond Bemond was so hostile to the Befonnation which he had abjured, that he cannot be trusted when his prejudioes are concerned ; but he ought to be believed when his predilections do not mislead him. I cannot see what object he could have had in invent- ing this conversation. ' The Calvinists, in order to be avengdd of this writer/ says Moreri, ' have endeavored to traduce his memory.' The most sensible course is to hold a just mean between the Bomish apoto* gists and the protestant detractors.

2

26 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK U,

tratioDs of this priesthood can have no share in redemption. The Reformation of the sixteenth century, hy setting aside the formal and theocratic Church of Rome, which was shaped in the image of the Jewish theocracy, and by substi- tuting for it the Evangelical Church, conformably to the principles of Chiist and his apostles, transformed the ministry also. The service of the Word became its centre — ^the means by which, with the aid of the Holy Ghost, all its func- tions were discharged. This evangelical ministry was to work its miracles also ; but whilst those of the legal minis- try proceed fi'om a mysterious virtue in the priesthood, and are accomplished upon earthly elements, those of the evan- gelical ministry are wrought freely by the divine Word, and by a heartfelt faith in the great love of God, which that ministry proclaims, — strange spiritual miracles, effected within the soul, transforming the man and not the bread, and making him a new creature, destined to dwell eternally with God.

Did Calvin at this time see clearly the difference between the Roman priesthood and the Gospel ministry ? We doubt it. It was not until later that his ideas became clear upon this important point. The notion, however, of abandoning not only the priesthood, but also the study of the law for the Gospel, was not new to him. More than once in his retire- ment, he had already asked himself : * Shall I not preach Chnst to the world?' But he had always shrunk away humble and timid from this ministry. 'AH men are not suited for it,' he said ; ' a special vocation is necessary, and no one ought to take it upon himself rashly.'* Calvin, like St Augustin, the ancient doctor whom he most resembled (the irregularities excepted which mark the youth of the bishop of Hippona), feared to undertake a charge beyond his strength. He thought also that his father would never con- sent to his abandoning the law and joining the heretics. And yet he felt himself daily more inclined to entertain the great questions of conscience and christian liberty, of divine sovereignty and self-renunciation. * So great a desire of

* ' Non omnes esse Yerbi ministerio idoneos . . . requiritar specialUi vocatio.' — Oalv. Opera,

0HAP.X7. CALVIK*S LABORS AT BOUOES. 27

advancing in the knowledge of Christ consumed me at that time,' he said, * that I pursued my other studies very coldly.'* A domestic event was soon to give him liberty to enter upon the new career to which God and Wolmar were call- ing him.f

Nor was this the only call he received at Bourges. Wol- mar had spoken of him, and several families invited him to their houses to edify them. This took the young man by surprise, as it had done at Orleans ; he remained silent, lost in the multitude of his thoughts. ' I am quite amazed,' he said, * at seeing those who have a desire for pure doctrine gather round me to learn, although I have only just begun to learn myself!' 'He resolved, however, to continue at Bourges the evangelical work which he had timidly com- menced on the banks of the -Loire ; and he brought more time and more decision to the task.

Calvin accordingly entered into relations with students and townspeople, nobles and lawyers, priests and professors. The family of the Colladons held at that time a considerable station in Berry. Two brothers, Leo and Germain, and two sisters, Mary and Anne, were the first to embrace the Gos- pel in Berry. Leo and Germain were advocates, and one of their cousins, styled Germain IL in the genealogies, now eighteen years old, afterwards became Calvin's intimate friend at Geneva. These ties of friendship had probably begun at Bourges.];

The evangelist soon extended his christian activity beyond the walls of the city. Many natives of Berry, who had heard him at Bourges, had been charmed with his addresses. ' Come and preach these beautiful words to us,' they said.

* *Tanto profidendi studio exarei, ut reliqua studia quamvis non abjicerem, frig^dius tamen sectarer.' — Calv. iVa/. in Psalm.

f * Acriter exhortans ut de reformanda atque illustranda Dei eoclesia cogitationem ac\!uram serio indperet' — Flor. Remond, Histoire de VHeriaie.

X Leo CoUadon died at Geneva on the Slst of Au^st, 1552. His son Nicholas took refuge there in 1553, and in 1556 succeeded Calviq in the chair of divinity. Genndn IT., made free of the city in 1555, was the compiler of the Gtenevese code. Galiflfe, Oeneaiogie dee FomUka Genevoises. Haag, I^rance Protestamite, article CoUadon,

28 THE REFORMATION IN EITROPB. BOOK Q.

Calvin gradaally laid aside his natural timidity, and being cheerful and foud of walking, he visited the castles and vil- lages.* He introduced himself affectionately into all the houses at which he stopped. 'A graceful salutation,' he said in after years, * serves as an introduction to converse with people.^! He delivered several sermons in these ham- lets and country-seats.

On the banks of the Amon, ten leagues from Bourges, there stands a little town named Lignieres, at that time the seat of a considerable lordship.]; Every year certain monks came to preach in the parish church, and were bountifully received at the ch&teau, where they complained of thdr wretchedness in the most pitiable tone. ' This offended the lord of Lignieres, who was not of a superstitious character. ' If I am not mistaken,' he said, ^ it is with a view to their own gain that these monks pretend to be such drudges.'§ Disgusted with their hypocrisy, M. de Lignieres begged Cal- vin to come and preach in their stead. The law-student spoke to an immense crowd with such clearness, freedom, depth and vitality, that every one was moved.| * Upon my word,' said the lord to his wife, ' Master John Calvin seems to me to preach better than the monks, and he goes heartily to work too.'^

When the priests saw the young evangelist so well re- ceived, they cried out and intrigued against him, and did all in their power to get him put into prison.** It was at Bourges that Calvin began to see that ' everything among men is full of vexation.' He said ; ' By the assaults made against them, Christ sounds the trumpet to his followers, in order that they may prepare themselves more cheerfully for

battlc'tt

* Th^od. de Bdze, Skt, dee EgUset Reformies, p. 7.

f Calvin, Oommeniaire stir Mathieiij cb. x.

X In the reign of Louis XIY. this lordship belonged to Colbert

§ Contrefont les marmitons.

I * Nonnullas interdum oonciones in agro Biturigum, in oppidulo quod Zdnerias vocant.' — Bezae Vita Calvinu

% B^ze, Sist. des Egliaes Reformees, p. 7.

** * Nisi me ab ipsas prope carceribus mora patris revocasset-* — Cal- vinus Volmario, in 2*^ Ep, ad CorirUh.

f f Oommentaire sur Mathdeu, ch. z.

CHAP. XT. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT AT BOUBOES. 29

In this way Calvin labored in the town, in the villages^ and in the chateaux, conversing tenderly with the childi^en, preaching to adults, and training heroes and maityrs. But the same circumstance which had taken him away from Or- leans, suddenly occurred at Bourges. One day he received a letter from Noyon, written probably by his brother An- thony. Alas ! his father was dead ! and he was far from him, unable to lavish upon him the attentions of his filial piety. ' While he was at Bourges his father died,' says Theodore Beza, * and he was obliged to return to Noyon.'* The death was very sudden.f Calvin did not hesitate ; he bade farewell to Berry, to those pious famiUes which he had edified, to his studies, and to his friends. ^You held out your hand to me,' he said to Wolmar, * and were ready to support me from one end to the other of my course ; but my &tber's death takes me away from our conversations and our lessons.'];

Bourges did not fall back into darkness after Calvin's de- parture. A venerable doctor named Michel Simon, perhaps that Michel whom we have already mentioned, displayed a holy boldness notwithstanding his age. One day a Pelagian cordelier (as all the doctors of that order are) had effrontery enough to maintain that man can be saved by his natural strength alone. Simon confronted him, and succeeded in getting it laid down that in the public disputations every proposition must be established by the text of Scripture. This gave a new impulse to theological studies.

The priests came to an understanding with one another, and made their preparations without saying a word. On the following Sunday, Michel Simon, having entered the pulpit, was about to begin his sermon, when the cure, with his vicars and choristers, entered the choir, and began to

* Theod. de B^ze. Vie de Calvin (French text), p. 11. In agro Bi- tarigam . . . mors patris nuntiata in patriam vocavit' — Ibid, in Latin text

f * Bepentina mors patris,' says Beza. This sudden death proves that Calvin's £ither did not die, as some assert, of the long illness de- scribed in the letter to Duchemin.

X Dedicace dela2* aua Corinihiens.

30 THE BXFORMATION IN EUROPK. BOOK IL

chant the office for the dead. It was impossible either to preach or to hear. The exasperated students rushed into the choir, threw the books about, upset the lecterns, and drove out the priests, who ran off *" in great disorder.' Simon, who remained master of the field, delivered his sermon, and, to the surprise of his hearers, ended by repeating the Lord's prayer in French^ without adding the Ave Maria ! Where- upon a man, sitting in one of the upper stalls (he was the king's proctor), stood up, and with a sonorous voice began : Av€ Maria^ gratia. . . He could not complete the sentence. A universal shout interrupted him ; the women, who were easily excited, caught up their little stools, crowded round the proctor, and shook them over his head. These people were catholics, disgusted with the priests, not with the dis- ciples of the Saviour.

While the student of Noyon was devoting himself to the preaching of the Gospel, extreme danger threatened him who had been his forerunner in this work

CHAPTER XVI

BEBQUIN, THE MOST LEARNED OF THE NOBIUTT, A MABTTB

FOR THE GOSPEL.

(1629.)

When Calvin passed through the capital on his way from Bourges to Noyon, on the occasion of his father's death, he might have remarked a certain agitation among his acquaint- ances. In fact, the Sorbonne was increasing its exertions to destroy Berquin, who, forsaken by almost everybody, had no one to support him but God and the Queen of Navarre.

Margaret, who was at St. Gerraain-en-Laye, enjoyed but little repose. The brilliant court of Francis I. filled the noble palace with their pastimes. Early in the morning

CHAP. xvL Margaret's sorrows. 81

every one was afoot ; the horns soanded, and the king set off, accompanied by the King of Navarre, a crowd of nobles, the Duchess of Etampes, and many other ladies, and joined one of those great hunting parties of which he was so fond. Margaret, remaining alone, recalled her sorrows, and sought the one thing needful. Her husband sometimes indulged in gaming, and the queen entreated Montmorency to give him good advice. Henry, who thought his wife rather too pious, complained of this with all the impetuosity of his charac- ter. It was not Margaret's only vexation. At first her mother had appeared to take part with the Reformation. One day, in December, 1522, Louisa of Savoy had said to her daughter, who was delighted to hear it : By the grace of the Holy Ghost, my son and I are beginning to know these hypocrites, white, black, grey, and all colors. . . May God, by his mercy and infinite goodness, defend us from them ; for, if Jesus Christ is not a liar, there is no such dangerous brood in all human nature.'* But this princess, whose morality was more than doubtful, had now become reconciled, and even leagued with these * hypocrites black, white, and grey,' and the king was beginning to give them his support. Thus Margaret saw the three objects of her tenderest affection alienating themselves from God ; and re- maining at the palace while Francis with his lords and ladies and his hounds was chasing the wild animals, she walked sadly in the park, saying to herself :

Father and mother I have none ; Brother and sister—all are gone, Save Grod, ui whom I trust alone, Who rules the earth from his high throne.

All these loved ones I would forget;

Parents and friends, the world, its joys^ Honor and wealth however great^ I hold my deepest enemies 1 Hence, ye delights I Whose vanity Jesus the Christ has shown to me !

* Journal de Louise de Savoie,

82 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK XL

But Grod, God only is my hope ;

I know that he is all in all, Dearer than husband to the wife — My fitther, mother, friend, my all I He is my hope. My resting-place. My strength, my being, and my trast^ For he hath saved me by his grace.

Father and mother I have none ;

Brother and sister — all are gone,

Save God, in whom I trust alone,

Who rules the earth irom his high throme.*

Whilst Margaret was seeking consolation in God, there came a support which she had not expected. Erasmus was growing uneasy ; the letters which he received were full of alarming news ; he saw that Francis I., on whom he had so much relied, was stumbling and ready to fall. This would give the victory to the Sorbonne. Having a presentiment that the ultramontanists were daring revolutionists, prepared not only to sacrifice literature and the Gospel, but royalty itself, he laid aside his usual prudence, and resolved to tear the veil from the king's eyes, which concealed the perverted designs of the Roman party, and to show him conspirators in those who called themselves the supporters of the throne. * These men,' he wrote, * under the cloak of the interests of the faith, creep into all sorts of dark ways. Their only thought is of bringing the august heads of monarchs under their yoke and of suspending their power. Wait a little. If a prince resists them, they call him a favorer of heresy, and say that it is the duty of the Church (that is to say of a few apocryphal monks and false doctors) to dethrone him. What ! shall they be permitted to scatter their poisons everywhere, and we be forbidden to apply the antidote V\

This epistle from the prince of letters, who with so much discernment placed his finger on the sore, soon became known ; and when it reached the Sorbonne, the doctors, dis- mayed that a man so moderate and respected should reveal

♦ Marguerites de la Marguerite^ i. p. 502.

f * lUis licere venena sua spargero, nobis non licere admovere anti" dota.' — Erasmi Epp. p. 1109.

CHAP. ZVL BSRQUin's TBIAL. 83

their secrets so boldly, saw do other means of saving their ^'^kuse than by striking their enemies with terror. They dared do nothing against the sage of Rotterdam, who was besides ont of reach ; but they swore that his fnend Ber- qu'm should pay for his master. The tlicolc^ans of the Sorbonne demanded that this gentleman should be brought to trial ; Dnprat, Louisa of Savoy, and Montmorency supported their petition. There was no means of evading it, and twelve judges were nominated by the pope and by the king.* These men were greatly embarrassed, for Ber- qnin's irreproachable life, amiable character, inexhaustible charity, and regular attendance at public worship, had won universal esteem. However; as the first president De Selva, the fourth president Pailot, and some others, were either weak or fanatical persons, the Sorbonne did not lose all hope. One alone of the twelve caused any fear : this was William Budseus, called by Erasmus ' the prodigy of France ;' an enlightened man, who, while professing a great respect for the Catholic Church, had more than once betrayed cer- tain evangelical tendencies to his wife and children. The twelve judges proceeded with their investigation, without rer quiring the accused man to be shut up in prison. Berqnin went and came as he pleased ; he spoke to the judges and parliament, and convinced them of his innocence. But ter- ror began to paralyse the weak minds among them ; they were afraid of the righteous man ; they would have nothing to do with ^ that sort of people,' and turned their backs upon him.

Berqnin now resolved to address the king and to get Margaret to support him. ' It was generally reported,' says one of the enemies of the Reform, ' that the Queen of Na- varre took wondrous pains to save those who were in danger, and that she alone prevented the Reformation from being stifled in the cradle.'f Berqnin went to the palace, and made his danger known to the queen. He found in Marga- ret the compassion which failed him elsewhere. She knew that we ought not ' to stand aside from those who suffei

* JowmoSL (fun Bourgeois de Paris sous Franfois /, pi 380. f Flor. B6mond, Hist de VSeresie, ^ 348.

34 THE BBFORMATION IN EUBOPB. BOOK IL

persecution for the name of Christ, and would not be ashamed of those in whom there was nothing shameful.'* Margaret immediately took up her pen, and sitting down at that table where she had so often pleaded both in prose and verse the cause of Chiist and of Christians, she wrote the king the following letter : —

^ Monseigneur, — The unhappy Berquin, who maintains that God, through your goodness, has twice saved his life, presents himself before you, to make manifest his innocence to you, having no one else to whom he can apply. Know- ing, Monseigneur, the esteem in which you hold him, and the desire which he has now and always has had to serve you, I fear not to entreat that you will be pleased to have pity upon him. He will convince yon that these heretic- finders are more slanderous and disobedient towards yon than zealous for the faith. He knows, Monseigneur, that you desire to maintain the rights of every one, and that this just man needs no advocate in the eyes of your compassion* For this cause I shall say no more. Entreating Him who has given you such graces and virtues to grant you a long and happy life, in order that he may long be glorified by you in this world and everlastingly in the world to come.

^ Your most obedient and most humble subject and sister^

' MABOABBT.'f

Having finished, the queen rose and gave the letter to Berquin, who immediately sought an audience of the king. We know not how he was received, or what effect Marga- ret's intercession had upon Francis. It would seem, how- ever, that the king addressed a few kind words to him. We know at least that Beda and the Sorbonne were uneasy, and that, fearing to see their victim once more escape them, they increased their exertions, and brought one charge after an- other against him. At last the authorities gave way ; the police received orders to avoid every demonstration calcu- lated to alarm him, lest he should escape to Ek*asmus at Basle. All their measures were arranged, and at the mo

* Calvin.

f Lettres de la Reim de Nauarre, iL p. 96.

CHAP. XVL BBRQUIN's LSTTEB DIBOOVBRBD. 30'

luent when he least expected it, ahout three weeks before Easter (in March, 1529), Berquin was arrested and taken to the Conciergerie.

Thas then was Hhe most learned of the nobles,' as he was termed, thrown into prison in despite of the qneen. He paced sadly np and down his cell, and one thonght haunted him. Having been seized very unexpectedly, he had left in his room at Paris certain books which were condemned at Rome, and which consequently might ruin him. ^ Alas 1' he exclaimed, Hbey will cost me serious trouble!'* Berquin resolved to apply to a christian friend whom he could trusty to prevent the evil which he foresaw ; and the next day after his incarceration, when the domestic, who had free access to him, and passed in and out on business, came for orders, the prisoner gave him, with an anxious and mysterious air, a letter which he said was of the greatest importance. The servant immediately hid it under his dress. ' My life is at stake,' repeated Berquin. In that letter, addressed to a &- miliar friend, the prisoner be^ed him without delay to re- move the books pointed out to him and to burn them.

The servant, who did not possess the courage of a hero, departed trembling His emotion increased as he proceeded, his strength failed him, and as he was crossing the Pont au Change, and found himself in front of the image of Our Lady, known as la belle tfmage, the poor fellow, who was rather superstitious, although in Berqnin's service, lost his presence of mind and fainted. ^A sinking of the heart came over him, and he fell to the ground as if in a swoon,' says the catholic chronicler.f The neighbors and the passers-by gathered round him, and lifted him up. One of these kind citizens, eager to assist him, unbuttoned his coat to give him room to breathe, and found the letter which had been so carefully hidden. The man opened and read it ; he was frightened, and told the surrounding crowd what were its contents. The people declared it to be a miracle : ^ He is a heretic,' they said. ' If he has fallen like a dead man, it IS the penalty of his crime ; it was Our Lady who did

* Journal dPtm Bourgwia do Faris, p. SSL t Ibid.

86 THS REFOSMATIOK Uf BUBOPB. BOOK IL

it.' — *' Give me the letter,' said one of the spectators ; * the famous Jacobin doctor who is preaching the Lent sermons at St. Bartholomew's dines with me to-day. I will show it to him.' When the dinner-hour came, the company invited by this citizen arrived, and among them was the celebrated preacher of the Rue St. Jacques in his white robe and scapu- lary and pointed hood. This Jacobin monk was no holiday inquisitor. He understood the great importance of the letter, and, quitting the table, hastened with it to Beda, who, quite overjoyed at the discovery, eagerly laid it before the court. The christian gentleman was ruined. The judges found the letter very compromising. * Let the said Berquin, they or- dered, * be closely confined in a strong tower.' This was done. Beda, on his side, displayed fresh activity ; for time pressed, and it was necessary to strike a decisive blow. "With some the impetuous syndic spoke gently, with others he spoke loudly ; he employed threats and promises, and nothing seemed to tire him.

From that hour Berquin's case appeared desperate. Most of his friends abandoned him ; they were afraid lest Marga^ ret's intervention, always so powerful, should now prove un- availing. The captive alone did not give way to despair. Although shut up in a strong tower, he possessed liberty and joy, and uplifting his soul to God, he hoped even against hope.

On Friday, the 16th of April, 1529, the inquiry was fin- ished, and at noon Berquin was brought into court. The countenance of Budsaus was sorrowful and kind; but the other judges bore the stamp of severity on their features. The prisoner's heart was free from rancour, his hands pure from revenge, and the calm of innocence was on his face. * Louis erquin,' said the president, * you are convicted of belonging to the sect of Luther, and of having written wicked books against the majesty of God and of his glorious mother. Wherefore we condemn you to do public penance, bare- headed and with a lighted taper in your hand, in the great court of our palace, asking pardon of God, of the king, and of justice, for the offence you have committed. You shall then be taken, bareheaded and on foot, to the Greve, where

OHIP^XYL BERQTN'S SEKTBKOB. 87

yoa fihall see your books bnnit. Next yon shall be led to the front of the Church of Notre Dame, where you shall do penance to God and the glorious Virgin, his mother. After- wards you shall have your tongue pierced — that instrument of unrighteousness by which you have so grievously sinned.* Lastly, you shall be taken to the prison of Monsieur de Paris (the bishop), and be shut up there all your life between four walls of stone ; and we forbid you to be supplied either with books to read, or pen and ink to write.'

Berquin, startled at hearing such a sentence, which Eras- mus terms * atrocious,' and which the pious nobleman was Sat from expecting,! at first remained silent, but soon regain- ing his usual courage, and looking firmly at his judges,^ he said : ' J appeal to the king.' — * Take care,' answered his judges ; ^ if you do not acquiesce in our sentence, we will find means to prevent you from ever appealing again.' This was clear. Berquin was sent back to prison.

Margaret began to fear that her brother would withdraw his support from the evangelicals. If the Reformation had been a courtly religion, Francis would have protected it ; but the independent air that it seemed to take, and, above all, its inflexible holiness, made it distasteful to him. The Qaeen of Navarre saw that the unhappy prisoner had none but the Lord on his side. She prayed :

Thou, God, alone canst say : Touch not mj son, take not his life away. Thou only canst thy sovereign hand oatstretch To ward the blow.§

Everything indicated that the blow would be struck. On the afternoon of the very day when the sentence had been delivered, Maillard, the lieutenant-criminal, with the archers, bowmen, and arquebusiers of the city, surrounded the Con- ciergerie. It was thought that Berquin's last hour had come, and an immense crowd hurried to the spot. *' More than

* ' Lingua illi ferro perfoderetur.' — ^Eraanii J^. p. 1277. Jowmai cf un Bourgeois de PariSj p. 382. f * Audita prseter expectationem atroci sententia.'— Eiltisnii Ijjp* J * Ck>nstanti vultu.* — Ibid, g Margueriiea cU la Jiargvarite, I p. 444.

38 THK BIFORMATION IK SUBOPK. BOOK IL

twenty tbousaod people came to see the execntion/ says a manuscript.* * They are going to take one of the king^s officers to the Greve/ said the spectators. Maillard, leaving his troops under arms, entered the prison, ordered the mar- tyr's cell to be opened, and told him that he had coma to execute the sentence. * I have appealed to the king,' re- plied the prisoner. The lieutenant-criminal withdrew. Every- body expected to see him followed by Berquin, and all eyes were fixed upon the gate ; but no one appeared. The com- mander of the troops ordered them to retire ; the archers marched back, and * the great throng of people that was round the court-house and in the city separated.' The first president immediately called the court together, to take the necessary measures. ' We must lose no time,' said some, ' for the king has twice already rescued him from our hands.' Was there no hope left f

There were in France at that time two men of the noblest character, both friends of learning, whose whole lives had been consecrated to doing what was right : they were Bu- dteus on the bench, and Berquin in his cell. The first was united to the second by the purest fnendship, and his only thought was how to save him. But what could he do singly against the parliament and the Sorbonne ? Budieus shud- dered when he heard of his friend's appeal ; he knew the danger to which this step exposed him, and hastened to the prison. ' Pray do not appeal !' said he ; * a second sentence is all ready, and it orders ycu to be put to death. If you accept the first, we shall be able to save you eventually. Pray do not ruin yourself !' Berquin, a more decided man than BudsBus, would rather die than make any concession to error. His friend, however, did not slacken his exertions ; he desired at whatever risk to save one of the most distin- guished men of France. Three whole days were spent by him in the most energetic efforts.f He had hardly quitted his friend before he returned and sat down by his side or walked with him sorrowfully up and down the prison. He entreated him for his own safety, for the good of the Church,

♦ Ohronique du Roi From^ois IJ p. T6, note.

f Budsdum tridao privatim egisse cum Berquino.*— -Erasmi Epp,

CHAP. ZYL BERQUIN's FALL AlTD RECOYXBT. 89

and for the welfare of France. Berqnin made no reply ; only, after a long appeal from Budseus, he gave a nod of dis- sent. Berquin, says the historian of the University of Farisi ^ sustained the encounter with indonSitable obstinacy.'*

Would he continue firm ? Many evangelicals were anx- iously watching the struggle. Remembering the fa\\ of the apostle Peter at the voice of a serving-maid, they said one to another that a trifling opposition was sufficient to make the strongest stumble. ^ Ah !'- said Calvin, ^ if we cease but for an instant to lean upon the hand of Qod, a pu£f of wind, or the rustling of a falling leaf, is enough . . . and straight- way we fall!' It was not a puff of wind, but a tempest rather, by which Berquin was assailed. While the thread ening voices of his enemies were roaring around him, the gentle voice of Budaeus, fall of the tenderest affection, pene- trated the prisoner's heart and shook his firmest resolutions. * O my dear friend,' said BudsBus, * there are better times coming, for which you ought to presepve yourself.' Then he stopped, and added in a more serious tone : ' You are guilty towards God and man if by your own act you give yourself up to death.'f

Berquin was touched at last by the perseverance of this great man ; . he began to waver ; his sight became troubled. Turning his face away from God, he bent it to the ground. The power of the Holy Spirit was extinguished in him for a moment (to use the language of a reformer), and he thought he might be more useful to the kingdom of God by pre- serving himself for the future, than by yielding himself up to present death. ^All that we ask of you is to beg for pardon. Do we not all need pardon?' Berquin consented to ask pardon of God and the king in the great court of the palace of justice.

Budffius ran off with delight and emotion to inform his colleagues of the prisoner's concession. But at the very moment when ho thought he had saved his friend, he felt a sudden sadness come over him. He knew at what a price Berquin would have to purchase his life ; besides, had ha

* Crevier, v. p. 206.

t Crespin, J£artyrologu«f p. 103, veno.

40 THE REFORM ATIOK IK EUROPE. BOOK IL

not seen that it was only after a struggle of nearly sixty hours that the prisoner had given way ? Budseus was uneasy. * I know the man's mind/ he said. * His ingenu- ousness, and the confidence he has in the goodness of his cause, will be his ruin.'*

During this interval there was a fierce struggle in Ber- quin's soul. All peace had forsaken him ; his conscience spoke tumultuously. * No I' he said to himself, ' no sophis- try ! Truth before all things ! We must fear neither man nor torture, but render all obedience to^ God. I will perse- vere to the end ; I will not pray the leader of this good war for my discharge. Christ will not have his soldiers take their ease until they have conquered over death.'

Budaeus returned to the prison shortly afterwards. *I will retract nothing,' said his friend ; ^ I would rather die than by my silence countenance the condemnation of truth. 'f He vi^as lost ! Budseus withdrew, pale and frightened, and communicated the terrible news to his colleagues. Beda and his friends were filled with joy, being convinced that to remove Berquin from the number of the living was to remove the Reformation from France. The judges, by an unprecedented exercise of power, revised their sentence, and condemned the nobleman to be strangled and then burnt on the Greve.

Margaret, who was at St. Germain, was heartbroken when she heard of this unexpected severity. Alas ! the king was

at Blois with Madame . . . Would there be time to

reach him ? She would try. She wrote to him again, apologising for the very humble recommendations she was continually laying before him, and adding : * Be pleased. Sire, to have pity on poor Berquin, who is suffering only because he loves the Word of God and obeys you. This is the reason why those who did the contrary during your cap- tivity hate him so ; and their malicious hypocrisy has ena- bled them to find advocates about you to make you forget bis sincere faith in God and his love for you.'J After

* Orespin, Martyrohgue^ p. 103, verso.

f ' At ego mortem subire, quam veritatis damnationem, vel tadtua i|yprobare velim.* — Bezsd locmes. X Letira de la Seine de Na/varrej U. p. 99.

OHAP. rvx THE EXECUTION HURBIED 09. 41

having uttered this cry of angnish, the Qaeen of Navarre waited.

Bat Francis gave no signs of life. In his excnse it has been urged that if he had at that time been victorious abroad and honored at home, he would have saved Berquin once more ; but the troubles in Italy and the intrigues mixed up with the treaty of Cambray, signed three months later, occupied all his thoughts. These are strange reasons. The fact is, that if the king (as is probable) had desired to save Berquin, he had not the opportunity ; the enemies of this faithful christian had provided against that. They had scarcely got the sentence in their hands, when they called for its immediate execution. They fancied they could already hear the gallop of the horse arriving from Blois, and see the messenger bringing the pardon. Beda fanned the flame. Not a week's delay, not even a day or an hour ! ^ But,' said some, ' this prevents the king from exercising the right of pardon, and is an encroachment upon his royal authority.' — * It matters not ! put him to death !' — The judges determined to have the sentence carried out the very day it was delivered, ' in order that he might not he helped by the kingj*

In the morning of the 22d of April, 1629,f the officers of parliament entered the gloomy cell where Berquin was con- fined. The pious disciple, on the point of offering up his life voluntarily for the name of Jesus Christ, was absorbed in prayer ; he had long sought for God and had found him ; the Lord was near him and peace filled his soul. Having God for his father, he knew that nothing would be wanting to him in that last hour when everything else was to fail him : he saw a triumph in reproach, a deliverance in death. At the sight of the officers of the court, some of whom appeared embarrassed, Berquin understood what they wanted. He was ready ; he rose calm and firm, and followed them. The officers handed him over to the lieu-

* JaumcU (Ttm Bourgeois de Paris^ p. 383.

f Orespin and Theodore Beza speak of the month of November ; the Bourgeois de Paris mentions the iTth of April, but most of the^authori- ties give the 22nd.

42 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

tenant-criminal and his sergeants, who were to cany out the sentence.

Meanwhile several companies of archers and bowmen were drawn up in front of the Conciergerie. These armed men were not alone around the prison. The news had spread far and wide that a gentleman of the court, a friend of Erasmus and of the Queen of Navarre, was about to be put to death ; and accordingly there was a great commotion in the capital. A crowd of common people, citizens, priests and monks, with a few gentlemen and friends of the con- demned noble, waited, some with anger, others with curiosity, and others with anguish, for the moment when he would appear. Budseus was not there ; he had not the courage to be present at the punishment. Margaret, who was at St. Germain, could almost see the flames of the burning pile from the terrace of the chateau.

When the clock struck twelve, the escort began to more* At its head was the grand penitentiary Merlin ; then followed the archers and bowmen, and after them the officers of jus- tice and more armed men. In the middle of the escort was the prisoner. A wretched tumbrel was bearing him slowly to punishment. He wore a cloak of velvet, a doublet of satin and damask, and golden hose, says the Bourgeois of Paris, who probably saw him pass.*^ The king of heaven having invited him to the wedding, Berquin had joyfully put on his finest clothes. *• Alas !' said many as they saw him, * he is of noble lineage, a very great scholar, expert and quick in learning . . . and yet he has gone out of his mind T There was nothing in the looks and gestures of the reformer which indicated the least confusion or pride. He neither braved nor feared death : he approached it with tranquillity, meekness, and hope, as if entering the gates of heaven. Men saw peace unchangeable written on his face. Montius, a friend of Erasmus, who had desired to accompany this pious man even to the stake, said in the highest admiration ; ^ There was in him none of that boldness, of that hardened air which men led to death often assume ; the calmness of a

* ' Des chausses d^or.' — Journal d^un Bourgeois de PaHs^ p. 384.

CHAP. XYL BBRQUIN's HABrtBDOM. 48

good conscience was visible in every feature.' — * He looks,' said other spectators, * as if he "were in God's house medi- tating upon heavenly things.'*

At last the tumbrel had reached the place of punishment, and the escort halted. The chief executioner approached and desired Berquin to alight. He did so, and the crowd pressed more closely round the ill-omened spot. The prin- cipal officer of the court, having beckoned for silence with his hand, unrolled a parchment and read the sentence ' with a husky voice,' says the chronicler. But Berquin was about to die for the Son of God who had died for him ; his heart did not flinch one jot ; he felt no confusion, and wishing to make the Saviour who supported him in that hour of trial known to the poor people around him, he uttered a few christian words. But the doctors of the Sorbonne were watching all his movements, and had even posted about a certain number of their creatures in order to make a noise if they thought it was necessary. Alarmed at hearing the soft voice of the evangelist, and fearing lest the people should be touched by his words, these ' sycophants ' hastily gave the signal. Their agents immediately began to shout, the soldiers clashed their arms, * and so great was the uproar that the voice of the holy martyr was not heard in the ex- tremity of death.' When Berquin found that these clamors drowned his voice, he held his peace. A Franciscan friar, who had accompanied him from the prison, eager to extort from him one word of recantation, redoubled his importu- nities at this last moment ; but the martyr remained firm. At length the monk was silent, and the executioner drew near. Berquin meekly stretched out his head ; the hang- man passed the cord round his neck and strangled him.

There was a pause of solemn silence . . . but not for long. It was broken by the doctors of the Sorbonne and the monks, who hastily went up and contemplated the life- less body of their victim. No one cried * Jesus ! Jesus !' — a cry of mercy heard even at the execution of a parricide. The most virtuous man in France was treated worse than a

* ' Dbdsses ilium in templo de rebos ocsldetibuB cogitare/ — Erasmi JSpp, p. 1277.

44 THE REFOBMATIOK IN EUROPE. BOOK H.

marderer. One person, however, standing near the stake, showed some emotion, and, strange to say, it was the grand penitentiary Merlin. * Truly,' he said, ' so good a Christian has not died these hundred years and more.' The dead body was thrown into the flames, which mounted up and devoured those limbs once so vigorous and now so pale and lifeless. A few men, led away by passion, looked on with joy at the progress of the fire, which soon consumed the precious remains of him who should have been the reformer of France. They imagined they saw heresy burnt out, and when the body was entirely destroyed, they thought that the Reformation was destroyed with it, and that not a frag- ment of it remained. But all the spectators were not so cruel. They gazed upon the burning pile with sorrow and with love. The christians who had looked upon Berquin as the future reformer of France, were overwhelmed with an- guish when they saw the hero in whom they had hoped reduced to a handful of dust. The temper of the people seemed changed, and tears were seen to flow down many a face. In order to calm this emotion, certain rumors were set afloat. A man stepped out of the crowd, and going up to the Franciscan confessor, asked him : * Did Berquin ac- knowledge his error V — * Yes, certainly,' answered the monk, * and I doubt not that his soul departed in peace.' This man was Montius ; he wrote and told the anecdote to Eras- inns. * I do not believe a word of it,' answered the latter. It is the usual story which those people invent after the death of their victims, in order to appease the anger of the people.'

Some such stratagems were necessary, for the general agitation was increasing. Berquin's innocence, stamped on his features and on all his words, struck those who saw him die, and they were beginning to murmur. The monks no- ticed this, and had prepared themselves beforehand in case the indignation of the people should break out. They pene- trated into the thickest of the crowd, making presents to the children and to the common people ; and having worked them up, they sent them off in every direction. The im- pressionable crowd spread over the Greve and through the

CHAP. ZVL ZFVECT OK THX SP1CTAT0B8. 45

#

neigbboring streets, shoating out that Berquin was a heretic. Yet here and there men gathered in little groups, talking of the excellent man who had been sacrificed to the passion of the theological faculty. 'AlasT said some with tears in their eyes, * there never was a more virtuous man.'* Many were astonished that a nobleman who held a high place in the king's affections should be strangled like a criminal. ' Alas !' rejoined others indignantly, * what caused his ruin was the liberty which animated him, which is always the faithful companion of a good conscience.'! Others of more spirit exclaimed : * Condemn, quarter, crucify, burn, behead . . . that is what pirates and tyrants can do ; but God is the only just judge, and blessed is the man whom he par- doneth.' The more pious looked for consolation to the fu- ture. * It is only through the cross,' they said, * that Christ will triumph in this kingdom.'J The crowd dispersed.

The news of this tragedy soon spread through France, everywhere causing the deepest sorrow. Berquin was not the only person struck down ; other christians also suffered the last punishment. Philip Huaut was burnt alive, after having his tongue cut out ; and Francis Desus had both hand and head cut off. The story of these deaths, especially that of Berquin, was told in the shops of the workmen and in the cottages of the peasants. Many were terrified at it ; but more than one evangelical christian, when he heard the tale at his own fireside, raised his head and cast a look to- wards heaven, expressive of his joy at having a Redeemer and a Fathei^s house beyond the sky. * We too are ready,' said these men and women of the Reformation to one an- other, * we are ready to meet death cheerfully setting our eyes on the life that is to come.' One of these christian souls, who had known Berquin best, and who shed most tears over him, was the Queen of Navarre. Distressed and alarmed by his death and by the deaths of the christians sacrificed in other places for the Gospel, she prayed fervently to God to come to the help of his people. She called to

♦ * Praedicant eo nihil fuisse integrius.' — Erasmi Epp, p. 1313.

\ ^Libertaa, bones oonscientisB comes, perdidit virum.' — Ibid. p. 113.

X ' Christo. nonoisi sub crude, in Oallis triumphaturo.' — ^Bezse Icoms.

46 THS RBFOSMATION IN KUBOP<. BOOK Z.

mind these words of the Gospel : Shall not Ood avenge Im own elect, which cry day and night unto him ?* A stranger to all hatred, free from every evil desire of revenge, she called to the Lord's remembrance how dear the safety of his children is to him, and implored his protection for them :

0 Lord r^ax GkKl, arise^ Chastise thy enemies

Thy saints who slay. Death, which to heathen men Is full of grief and pain, To an who in heaven shall leiga

With thee is dear.

They through the gloomy vale Walk firm, and do not quail,

To rest with thee. Such death is happiness, Leading to that glad place Where in eternal bliss

Thy sons abide.

Stretch out thy hand, O Lord, Help those who trust thy Word, And give for sole reward

This death of joy. O Lord our God, arise. Chastise thy enemies

Thy saints who slay.f

This little poem by the Queen of Navarre, which contains several other verses, was the martyr's hymn in the sixteenth century. Nothing shows more clearly that she was heart and soul with the evangelicals.

Terror reigned among the reformed christians for some time after Berquin's martyrdom. They endured reproach, without putting themselves forward ; they did not wish to

* Luke xviiL *l.

f * Reveille-toi, Seigneur Dieu, Fais ton eflfcrt, £t viens venger en tout lieu Bes tiens la mort'

Lea Marguerites de Ui Marguerite, i. p. 608.

OHAP. XTIL CALYIir BXYISTrS KOTOIT. 47

irritate their eneroiesy and many of them retired to the d€9ert^ that y&j to some unknown hiding-place. It was daring this period of sorrow and alarm, when the adversaries imagined that bj getting rid of Berqoin they bad got rid of the Refor- mation as well, and when the remains of the noble martyr were hardly scattered to the winds of heaven, that Calvin once more took np his abode in Paris, not fiir from the spot where his friend had been bamt. Rome thought she had pat the reformer to death ; bnt he was about to rise again firom his ashes, more spiritual, more clear, and more power- ful, to labor at the renovation of society and the salvation of mankind

CHAPTER XVII.

raUST LABOBS OF CALVIN AT PABIS.

(1629.)

Calyik, having bid &rewell to the towns and ch&teanx of Berry, had arrived in the midst of those hills and plains^ those green pastures and noble forests, which stretch along both sides of the Oise. He approached that little city of Noyon, which had been one time the capital of the empire of Charlemagne, and where Hugues Capet, the head of the third race, had been elected king. But his thoughts were not on these things : he was thinking of his father. As soon as he caught a glimpse of that beautiful Gothic cathedral, beneath whose shadow he had been brought up, he said to himself that its pavement would never more be trodden by his Other's feet He had never before returned to Noyon in such deep emotion. The death of Berquin, the death of his father, the future of the Church and of himself — all oppressed him. He found consolation in the affection of his family, and especially in llie devoted attachment of his

48 THB RBFORMATIOK IK EUROPE. BOOK IL

brother Anthony and of his sister Mary, who were one day to share his exile. Bowed down by so many afflictions, he would have sunk under the burden, ' like a man half dead, if God had not revived his courage while comforting him by his Word.'*

His father — that old man with mind so positive, with hand so firm, and whose authority he had venerated — was not there to guide him : he was free. Gerard had decided that his son should devote himself to the law, by which he might lise to a high position in the world. Calvin aspired, indeed, to another future, but from obedience he had renounced his most ardent desires ; and now, finding himself at liberty, he turned toward that christian career in which he was to be, along with Luther, the greatest champion of modern times. * Eaithly fathers,' he said on one occasion, * must not prevent the supreme and only Father of all from enjoying his rights. 'f

As yet, however, Calvin did not meditate becoming a re- former in the same sense as Luther. At that time he would have liked to see all the Church transformed, rather than set himself apart and build up a new one. The faitb which lie desired to preach was that old christian truth which Paul had preached at Rome. The scribes had substituted for it the false traditions of man, but this was only one reason the more for proclaiming in the Church the doctrine which had founded the Church, After the first phase of christian life, in which man thinks only of Christ, there usually comes a second, where the christian does not voluntarily worship with assemblies opposed to his convictions. Calvin was now in the first of these phases. He thought only of preaching the Gospel. Did he not possess a pulpit in this very neigh- borhood, and was it not his duty to glorify God from it ? Had it been in his power, he would have done so in St. Peter's at Rome ; why, then, should he refrain in his own church ?

Calvin had friends in Picardy, even among the dignitaries of the clergy. Early attached to their young fellow-tow ns-

* Calvini Opuse.

f 'XJnico omnium patri suum jus integram maneat' — Calvin in MaWueum,

\

OH^. ZYIL CALVIN'S PBOMOTION AND PBBACHINO. 49

Tnan, these men had received him with joy ; they had found bill) more advanced in piety and learning, and had observed nothing in him opposed to their opinions. They thought that he might become one of the pillars of the Church. The circumstance that he had studied the law did not check them ; it rendered him, in their eyes, fitter still to maintain the interests of the faith . . . and of the clergy. Far from repelling him, his former patrons endeavored to bind him still closer to them. That noble friend of his boyhood, Claude de Hangest of Momor, now abbot of St. Eloy, offered to give him the living of Pont I'Eveque in exchange for that of St. Martin of Marteville. Calvin, seeing in this offer the opportunity of preaching in the very place where his ances- tors had lived, accepted ; and then resigned, in favor of his brother Anthony, the chapel of La Gesine, of which he had been titulary for eight years. The aet is dated the 3 0th of April, 1629.*

The same persons who presided over these several changes encouraged Calvin to preach. When a young man who has gone through his studies for the ministry of the Word returns to his native place, every one is anxious to hear him. Curiosity was still more keenly aroused in Calvin's case, for his reputation had preceded him, and some little charge of heresy, put forward from time to time, served but to increase the general eagerness. Everybody wanted to hear the son of the episcopal secretary, the cooper's grandson. The men and women who knew him hastened to the church ; people even came from Noyon. The holy place was soon filled. At last a young man, of middle height, with thin pale face, whose eyes indicated firm conviction and lively zeal, went up into the pulpit and explained the Holy Scriptures to his fellow-tow nsmen.f The effects of Calvin's preaching were various. Many persons rejoiced to hear, at last, a living word beneath that roof which had reechoed with so much vain and useless babbling. Of this number were, no doubt,

♦ Desmay, Vie de Calvin, pp. 4.0-42, Drelincourt, Defense de Cal- vm, pp. 167, 168.

f * Qao k)oo constat Calvinom ... ad popplum oonciones habuiasa' — BezB VUa CalvinL

60 TBI BBFORICATION IN BUBOPK. BOUIl CL

certain notable men who were seen pressing round ute preacher : Laurent of Normandy, who enjoyed great con< sideration in that district ; Christopher Lefevre, Lancelot of Montigny, Jacques Bernardy, Corneille de Viliette, Nicholas Neret, Labba surnamed Baiafre, Claude Dupre, and Nicho^ las Picot, Anthony Calvin's brother-in*law. All were after^ wards accused of having embraced the new doctrine, and were condemned by the Parliament of Paris to be drawn on hurdles and burnt in the great square of Noyon ; but they had already quitted the kingdom.*

The words of the young speaker did not merely commu- nicate fresh knowledge — they worked a tn£nsformation of the heart and life. But there were men present quite ready to receive certain evangelical ideas, who yet did not mean to change either their life or their heart. The same word thus produced faith in some and opposition in others: it divided the light from the darkness,\ Certain bigots and priests, in particular, inveighed against the preaching of that serious-looking, earnest young man, and exclaimed : ^ They are setting wolves to guard the sheep !'|

Calvin stayed only two or three months at Noyon. Per- haps a growing opposition forced him to depart He desired also to continue his Greek studies ; but instead of returning to Orleans or Bourges, he resolved to go to Paris. The moment was favorable. Classical studies were at that time making great progress in the capital. Francis I., at the request of Budseus and Du Bellay, had just founded (1529) several professorships for teaching Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. It was a complete revolution, and Paris was fiill of anima- tion when Calvin arrived. The fantastical framework which the scholastics, theologians, jurists, and philosophers had erected during the middle ages, fell to the ground in the midst of jeering and laughter, and the modern learning arose amid the unanimous applause of the rising generation.

* Archives G^n^ralefl^ x. 8946. I^ance Protestcmte^ article Nor- mandie,

t Genesis t 5.

i Deamay, Vie de Cdhm^ p. 41» Drelinooart^ Defense de Cdbrin^ pw 198.

CHIP. XVTL CALVUr's VISITOB8. 51

Pierre Danes, a pupil of BudaDus and Lascaris, and after- wards a bishop, taught Greek ;* Francis Vatable introduced Toung scholars to the knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, although he failed himself to find the counsel of God therein ;f other illustrious professors completed this precious course of instruction. Paris was a centre whence light emanated ; and this was the reason which induced Calvin to forsake Noyon, Bourges, and even Orleans, and hasten his steps thither.

The journey was a painful one ; Calvin (whether on horse- back or on foot is unknown) arrived in Pai-is about the end of June, quite worn out with fatigue. ' It is impossible,' he said next morning, ^ for me to go out of doors ;'| indeed, he did not leave his room for four days. But the news of his arrival soon spread ; his friends and admirers hastened to his inn, and during these four days his room was never empty .§ All the agitation of the schools seemed to be trans- ported thither.

They talked of Budseus, Yatable, and Danes, of Greek and Hebrew, and of the sun of learning then shining over the old Lutetia. . . . Calvin listened and learnt the state of men's minds. One of the first who hurried to him was Coiffard, his fellow-collegian at Orleans, who brought his father with him. People contended for the student of Noyon, who had already become celebrated. ^Come and stay with us,' said the young Parisian ; and when Calvin declined, * I entreat you,' said Coififard in the most affection- ate manner, Ho grant me this favor.'] The father still insisted, for the worthy citizen knew what a steady friend his rather frivolous son would find in the Picardin stndent. ' There is nothing in the world I desire so much,' he said, ^ as to see you associate with my son.'^ — * Come, do come,'

♦ CWvier, JERsi. de V UnwersUe de Paris, v. p. 246. f * Quo alios introdaxisti, nnsquam ipse ingressus.' — ^BezsB Iconet, X ' Laasus de itinere pedem extrahere domo non potui' — CSalvinua Daoieli, Berne MSa § ' Proximos quatuor dies, cum me segre adhuc sustinerem.' — ^Ibid I ' Mnltis precibos, iiaque non fHgidis, ssBpe institit.' — ^Ibid. T * Nihil magis appetere quam me a<^angi &Iio/ — ^Ibid.

52 rHE REFORMATION IS EUROPE. BOOK II

urged tho son, *and be my companion.' Calvin was touched by this affection ; but be feared the interruptions of the family, its distance from college, and he had but one object — study. *I would accept your offer with both hands,' he said, ^ but that I intend to follow Danes' Greek course, and his school is too far from your house.'* The father and son went away greatly disappointed.

Not long after this a more important personage entered the room. It was Nicholas Cop, professor at St. Barbe, whose father, a native of Basle, had just been appointed physician to the king. Both father and son were strongly suspected of belonging to the ' new opinions ;' but at that time Francis cared little about them. The elder Cop had translated Galen and Hippocrates, and the king had confided to him the care of his health. A strict friendship erelong united Calvin and the son. The latter, although a professor in the university, listened to the student of Noyon as a dis- ciple listens to his master ; it is one of those marks of Cal- vin's superiority, which every one recognised instantly. He showed his friend ' how Christ discharges the ofiice of phy- sician, since he is sent by the Father to quicken the dead.'

The conversations which these two young men then held together resulted in after years in an event which exercised a certain influence over the destiny of the reformer and of the Reform itself.

An object of less importance occupied them now : it was Calvin's first business in Paris, and the account he gives of it throws a new. light on the future legislator. The custom of shutting up in convents the young persons who had any tendency towards the Gospel had already begun. 'Our fnend Daniel, .the advocate,' said Calvin to Cop, 'has a sister in a nunnery at Paris ; she is about to take the veil, and Daniel wishes to know if it is with her full consent.' — 'I will accompany you,' said the professor, and on the following Sunday, Calvin having recovered from his fatigue, the two friends set out for the convent The future reformer, wlio was already opposed to monastic vows, especially when taken

* * KibU UDquam magis ambabus ulnis complexus sum, quam hano amid voluntatem.' — CJalvinus Danieli, Berne MSS.

CHAP. ZYn. VISIT TO A CONVXHT. 63

under constraint, cleverly devised a plan for learning whether any restriction was placed upon the young lady's liberty. * Converse with the abbess,' he said to Cop, as they were going to the nunnei-y, ' and contrive that I may be able to talk privately with our friend's sister.' The abbess, followed by the girl, entered the parlor. * We have granted her,' said the former, ' the privilege of taking the solemn vows.'* Ac- cording to his instructions Cop began to talk with the supe- rior on different subjects which had no connection with the matter in hand. During this time, Calvin, who believed he saw a victim before him, took advantage of the opportunity, and said to Daniel's sister : ' Are you taking this yoke upon you willingly, or is it placed on your neck by force ?f Do not fear to trust me with the thoughts that disturb you.' The girl looked at Calvin with a thoughtless air, and answered him with much volubility : * The veil is what I most desire, and the day when I shall make my vow can never come too soon.' The future reformer was astonished : he had before him a giddy young person, who had been led to believe that she would find great amusement in the clois- ter. * Every time she spoke of her vows,' said Calvin, *you might have fancied she was playing with her doll.' J He desired, however, to address one serious word to her; ' Mademoiselle,' he said to her, ^ I beg of you not to trust too much to your own strength : I conjure you to promise noth- ing as if you could accomplish it yourself. Lean rather on the strength of God, in whom we live and have our being.'g Perhaps Calvin thought that by speaking so seriously to the young girl, she would renounce her rash undertaking; but he was mistaken.

He returned to his inn, and two days after (the 25th of June) he wrote to Daniel an account of his visit to the con- vent Having finished, he was beginning another letter to

* ' Earn obtinuisse ex solenni more voti Duncupandi potestatem.*^ Cdlvioas Danieli, Berne MSS.

f 'Nam jugum illud molliter exciperet? sum fracta potius quam inflexa cervix ?' — Ibid.

J * Diceres earn ludere cum pnppis, quoties audivit voti nomeiL*—

Ibid. § * Omnia reponeret in Dei virtute in quo sumus et vivimus.' — ^IWd.

54 TBI BSFOBMATION IN SUBOPB. BOOK II.

a canon of Orleans,* when one of his friends arrived, vho Lad come to take him for a ride. We might suppress this incident as being of no importance ; but it is perhaps also an unexpected feature in Calvin's habits. lie is generally rep- resented as absorbed in his books or reprimanding the dis- orderly. And yet he was no stranger to the decent relax- ations of life : he could ride on horseback and took pleasure in the exercise. He accepted his friend Yienney's offer. *• I shall finish tlio letter on my return,' he said,f and the two students set off on their excursion in the neighborhood of Paris. A few days later Calvin hired a room in the college of Fortret, where he was near the professors, and resumed his study of languages, law, and philosophy.^ Ho desired to learn. Having received the knowledge of divine things, he wished to acquire a true understanding of the world.

But erelong the summons from on high sounded louder than ever in bis heart. When he was in his room, sur- rounded by his law books, the voice of his conscience cried to him that he ought to study the Bible. When he went out, all his ftiends who felt a love for pure religion begged of him to devote himself to the Gospcl.§ Calvin was one of those fortresses that are not to bo taken at the first assault. As he looked upon the books scattered about his study, he could not make up his mind to forsake them. But when- ever in the course of his life God spoke clearly to him, he repressed his fondest desires. Thus urged from within and from without, he yielded at last. ' I renounce all other scien- ces,' he said, ' and give myself up entirely to theology and to God.'|| This news spread among the secret assemblies of the faithful, and all were filled with great satisfaction.

A mighty movement had taken place in Calvin's soul ;

* 'Habeo litteras inchoatas ad canonicatn.' — Calvinus Danieli, Berne MSB.

f Viermaeus cum quo equum ascendo.' — Ibid.

j *In collegio Forterestano domicilium babuit.' — ^Flor. Eemond, mat de VHeresie, ii. p. 246.

§ Theodore Beza, Vie de Calvin^ in French text, p. 12. 'Omnibus purioris religionis studiosis.' — ^Ibid. Latin text.

I ' Ab eo tempore sese Calvinus, abjectis reliquis studiis, Deo totum Donsecravit.' — Ibid.

CHAP. XYIL SPEAKS AT PUBUC MltETINOS, 5d

bnt it must be understood that there was no plan laid down in bis mind. He had no ambition, no art, no rdle ; but he did with a strong will whatever God set before him. The time he now spent in Paris was his apprenticeship. Having given himself to God, he set to work with the decision of an energetic character and the firmness of a persevering, mind. He studied theology with enthusiasm. * The science of God is the mistress-science,' he said ; ' the others are only her servants.' He gave consistency to that little chosen band who, in the midst of the crowd of scholars, turned lovingly towards the Holy Scriptures. He excited young and noble minds; he studied with them and endeavored to explain their difficulties.

He did more. Berquin's death had struck all his friends with terror. * If they have burnt this green wood,' said some, * they will not spare the dry.' Calvin, not permitting himself to be checked by these alarms, began to explore that city which had become so dangerous. He joined the secret assemblies which met under the shadow of night in remote quarters,^ where he explained the Scriptures with a clearness and energy of which none had over heard the like. These meetings were held more particularly on the left bank of the Seine, in that part of the city which the catholics afterwards termed Little Geneva^ and which, on the other hand, is now the seat of Parisian Catholicism. One day the evangelicals would repair mysteriously to a house on the property of the abbey of St. Germain des Pres ; another day they would meet in the precincts of the university, the quartier latin of our times. In the room would be a few wooden benches, on which the poor people, a few students, and sometimes one or two men of learning, took their seats. They loved that simple-hearted young man who so effectu- ally introduced into their minds and hearts the truths he found in the Scriptures. * The Word of Christ is always a fire,' they said ; * but when he explains it, this fire shines out with unusual brilliancy.'

Young men formed themselves on his model ; but there were many who rushed into controversy, instead of seeking * ' Qui tuna Lutotise occultos coetus babebant' — ^Bezse Yita CaMtii,

56 THE fiBFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK H.

edification as Calviu did. lu the university quarter the pnpila of Daniel and Vatabie might be seen, with the Hebrew or Greek Testaments in their hands, disputing with everybody.

* It is thus in the Hebrew text,' they said ; ' and the Greek text reads so and so.' Calvin did not, however, disdain polemics ; following the natural bent of his mind, he attacked error and reprimanded the guilty. Some who were aston- ished at his language asked ; ' Is not this the cur6 of Pont I'Eveque, the friend of Monseigneur de St. Eloy ?' But, not

.allowing himself to be checked by these words, he con- founded alike the superstitious papists and the incredulous innovators. * He was wholly given up to divinity and to God, to the great delight of all believers.'*

It was already possible to distinguish in him, in some features at least, the character of chief of the Reform. As he possessed great facility of correspondence, he kept him- self informed, and others also, of all that was passing in the christian world. He made about this time a collection of papers and documents relating to the most recent facts of the Reformation, and sent them to Duchemin, but not for him to keep.f * I send them to you on this condition,' wrote Calvin, * that, in accordance with your good faith and duty, they may pass through your hands to our friends. 'J To this packet he added an epitome,§ some commentaries, and a collection of notes made probably by Roussel during his resi- dence at Strasburg. He purposed adding an appendix :[

* But I had no time,' he said.^ Calvin desired that all the friends of the Gospel should profit by the light which he himself possessed. He brought the new ideas and new writings into circulation. A close student, an indefatigable

* Beza, Vie de Caivin^ French text, p. 12. 'Summa piorum om- nium voluptate. — Bea» Vita CcUvini, Latin text.

f *Mitto ad te rerum novarum collectanea.* — Oalvinus Chemino, Berne MS3.

{ 'Hac tamen lege, nt pro tua fide officioque per manus tuas ad amicos transeant. ' — Ibid.

§ ' Mitto Epitomem alteram G. nostri.' — Ibid.

I * Cui velut appendicem assuere decreveram.' — ^Ibid.

T[ ' Nisi me tempus defecisset.' — Ibid.

OEAP.JYIL Calvin's first lstteb. 57

eraDgclisty this young man of twenty was, by his far seeing glance, almost a reformer.

He did not confine his labors to Paris, Orleans, Bourges, or Noyon : the city of Mcaux occupied his attention. Meaux, which had welcomed Lefevre and Farcl, which had heard Leclerc, the first martyr, still possessed Briqonnet This for- mer protector of the evangelicals would indeed no longer see them, and appeared absorbed in the honors and seduc- tions of the prelacy. But some men thought that at the bottom of his heart he still loved the Gospel. What a tri- umph if the grace of God should once more blossom in his soul ! Daniel had friends at Meaux ; Calvin begged of him to open the door (or, to use his own expression, the window) of this city for him. In the number of these friends was a certain Moecenas, The young doctor, writing from Meaux, gives a portrait of this individual which exactly fits the bishop. He does not name Briqonnet ; but as he often sup- presses names, or employs either initials or pseudonyms, we might almost say that the name was not necessary here. Daniel accordingly wrote to Msecenas, who returned a very cold answer.* ' I cannot walk with those people,' he said ; ' I cannot conform my manners to theirs.'f Daniel insisted ; but it was all of no use : the timid Maecenas would on no account have anything to do with Calvin. Bri^onnet^ we learn, was surrounded by friends who were continually re- peating to him : ' A bishop ought to have no commerce with persons suspected of innovation.'! Calvin, animated by the noblest ambition, that of bringing back to God a soul that was going astray, finding himself denied every time he knocked at the gate of this great personage, at last gave up his generous enterprise, and, shaking the dust from his feet, he said with severity : * Since he will not be with us, let him take pleasure in himself, and with a heart full, or

* ' Supinum illam Maecenatem/ — Calvinos Daniell Aureliano, Idibas Septembris 1529. Geneva MSS. Calvin borrows this expression from Juvenal, L 65 ;

< Moltam referens de Msecenate 8up*no.' f * Non potest mores suos nobis acoommodare.' — ^Ibld. X Maimbonrg, Histoire du (kiMmam^ liv. it

3*

58 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

rather inflated by Lis own importance, let him pamper his ambition.'*

Calvin did not, however, fail completely at Meaax : * You have given me prompt and effectual aid,' he wrote to Daniel ; ^ yon have opened me a window, and have thus given me the privilege of being in future an indiscreet petitioner.'! lie took advantage of this opening to propagate the Gospel. ' I will do it,' he said, ' without imprudence or precipitation.' And, calling to mind that * the doctrine of Christ is like old wine, which has ceased working, but which nevertheless g^'ves nourishment to the body,'| he busied himself in filling vessels with this precious drink : * I will take care,' he wrote to Daniel, * that the inside shall be well filled with wine.'§ He ended his letter by saying : * I want the Odyssey of Homer which I lent Sucquet : pray tell him so.'J Luther took Plautus and Terence into the convent with him ; Cal- vin asked for Homer.

He soon returned to Paris, which opened a wider field of labor to him. On the 15th of January, 1530, he wrote Daniel a letter which he dated from the Acropolis^ as if Paris were to him the citadel of Catholicism or the Parthe- non of France.^ He was always tiying to save some lost sheep, and such a desire filled his mind on the 15th of January. On that day he expected two friends to dinner. One of them, Robert Daniel, brother to the advocate of Orleans, an enthusiastic young man, was burning with desire to see the world. Calvin, who had already done all in his power to win him over, flattered himself that he would

* ' Sifc assentator suus, et pleno, seu veriiis turgido pectore, foveat ambitionem.' — Calvinus Danieli, Geneva MSS.

f * Apertam esse fenestram, ne post haec simus verecundi petitores.' — Ibid. An expression imitated from Suetonius, lib. xxviii.

X Calvin, in Lucam, ch. v. 39.

§ 'Interim tamen penum vino instruendum curabo.' — Calvinua Banieli, Geneva MSS. This passage presents some difficulty. * Penus * in Persius means a safe where meat is kept ; in Festus and Lampri dius, the sanctuary of the temple.

I ' Odysseam Homeri quam Sucqueto commodaveram, finges a me • desiderarL' — ^Ibid.

^ CalvMs Letters^ i. p. 30. Philadelphia, edit. J. Bonnet

CHAP. ZYIL BBDA ATTACKS THE PROFE8SOB8. 59

succeed that day ; *but the giddy young fellow, saspecting perhaps what awaited him, did not come. Calvin sent a messenger to Robert's lodging. ^ He has decamped,' said the landlord ; * he has left for Italy.' At Meaux Calvin had desired to win over a great personage; at Paris he had hoped to win over a young adventurer : in both cases he &iled. ' Alas !' he said, ^ I am but a dry and useless log I' And once more he sought fresh strength in Christ.

Meanwhile the Sorbonne, proud of the victory it had gained in bringing Berquin to the stake, decided to pursue its triumphs. The war was about to begin again. It was Beda who renewed the combat — ^that Beda of whom Eraft- inus said : ' There are three thousand priests in that man alone !' He did not attack Calvin, disdaining, or rather ignoring him. He aimed at higher game, and having tri- umphed over one of the king^s gentlemen, he attacked the doctors whom Francis had invited to Paris for the propagar tion of learning. Danes, Vatable, and others having been cited before the parliament, the fiery syndic rose and said : *The king's doctors neglect Aristotle, and study the Holy Scriptures only. ... If people continue to occupy them- selves with Greek and Hebrew, it is all over with faith. These folks desire to explain the Bible, and they are not even theologians 1 . . . The Greek and Hebrew books of the Holy Scriptures come mostly from Germany, where they may have been altered. Many of the persons who print Hebrew books are Jews. ... It is not, therefore, a sufficient argument to say : It is so and so in the Hebrew.* These doctors ought to be forbidden to interfere with Holy Scrip- ture in their courses ; or at least they should be ordered first to undergo an examination at the university.' The king's professors did not hold back in the cause of knowledge. They boldly assumed the offensive. ' If the university of Paris is now in small esteem among foreign nations,' they said to the parliament, Mt is because instead of applying themselves to the study of the Holy Gospels and of the ancient fiithers — Cyprian, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augus-

* ' Ita babent Hebnaa' — Acte$ du ParlemmL

60 THE BEFOBMAnON IN SUBOPB. BOOK D

tin — ^its theologians substitute for tbis true knowledge u science teaching nothing but craft and sophistry. It is not thus that God wills to enlighten his people. We must study sacred literature, and drink freely of all the treasures of the human mind.'* Beda had gone too far. At court, and even in parliament, numerous voices were raised in behalf of learning and learned men. Parliament dismissed the charges of the syndic of the Sorbonnc.

The exasperated Beda now employed all his eloquence to get the professors condemned by the Sorbonne, ' The new doctors,' he exclaimed, *• horrible to say ! pretend that Holy Scripture cannot be understood without Greek, Hebrew, and other such languages.' On the 30th of April, 1630, the Sorbonne did actually condemn as rash and scandalous the proposition of the professors which Beda had denounced.f

Calvin anxiously observed in all its phases this struggle between his teachers and the doctors of the Sorbonne. All the students were on the watch, as was Calvin also in his college ; and when the decision of the parliament became known there, it was received with loud acclamations. While the Sorbonne placed itself on the side of tradition, Calvin placed himself still more decidedly on the side of Scripture. He thought that as the oral teaching of the apostles had ceased, their written teaching had become its indispensable substitute. The writings of Matthew and John, of Peter and Paul, were, in his opinion, the living word of these great doctors, their teaching for those ages which could neither see nor hear them. It appeared to Calvin as impos- sible to reform the Church without the writings of the apostles, as it would have been to form it in the first cen- tury without their preaching. He saw clearly that if the Church was to be renewed, it must be done by faith and by Scripture — a twofold principle which at bottom is but one.

But the hour had not yet come when Calvin was to pro- claim these great truths with the authority of a reformer.

* Cr^vier, Etsi. de V Universite de Paris, v. p. 249. f * Hsec propo^tio temeraria est et scandiJosa.' — ^D'Argentre, CW- lectio Jtidiciorwn de novis Errorihus, ii. p. T8.

CHAP. XVin. SMALL BEGIimiNGS OF ▲ ORXAT WORK. 61

A modest and devout man, he was now performing a more humble work in the remotest streets and loneliest houses of the capital. One would have taken him for the most insig- nificant of men, and yet he was already a conqueror. The light of Scripture, with which his mind was saturated, was one day to shine like the lightning from east to west • and no man since St. Paul was to hold the Gospel torch so high and with so firm a hand. When that student, so thin, pale, and obscure, in appearance so mean, in manner so timid, passed down the street of St. Jacques or of the Sorbonne ; when he crept silently past the houses, and slipped unob- served into one of them, bearing with him the Word of life, there was not even an old woman that noticed him. And yet the time was to come when Francis L, with his policy, conquests, priests, court, and festivities, would only call up frivolous or disgusting recollections ; while the work which this poor scholar was by God's grace then beginning, would increase day by day for the salvation of souls and prosperity of nations, and would advance calmly bat sorely to the con- quest of the world.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HAROABSt's borrows AKn THE FSSTIVITIES OF THE OOURT.

(1530-1631.)

When was France to turn herself towards the Word of God { At the time of her brother's return from his Spanish captivity, Margaret had solicited him to grant liberty of preaching the Gospel, and the king, as will be remembered, had deferred the matter until his sons were restored to free- dom. That moment seemed to have arrived. In order to recover his children, Francis had sacrificed at Cambray (June, 1529), in the Ladie^ PeoLce^ the towns he had conquered, the

62 THB REFORMATION IK KUROPB. BOOK IL

allies who had been faithful to him, and two millions of crowns besides.

It was not, however, until ten months later that the chil* dren of France returned. All the royal family hurried to the Spanish frontier to receive them ; all, except Margaret. ^ As it would be difficult to take you further without danger,' said her mother, ^ the king and I have determined to leave you behind for your confinement.'* Margaret, uneasy and perhaps a little jealous, wrote to Montmorency : ^ When the King of Navarre is with you, I pray you to advise him ; but I much fear that you will not be able to prevent his falling in love with the Spanish ladies.'f At the beginning of July the king's children were restored to their father ; Margaret was transported with joy, and showed it by her enthusiastic letters to Francis I.| She loved these princes like a mother. More serious thoughts soon filled her mind : the epoch fixed by her brother had arrived, but would he keep his promise!

Margaret lost no time. Being left alone at Blois, she en. deavored to strengthen the good cause, and carried on an active correspondence with the leaders of the. Bdbrm. ' Alas I' said the priests, ^ while King Francis is laboring to protect his kingdom from the inundations of the Bhine (that is, the Beformation), his sister the Queen of Navarre is try- ing to break the dykes and throw down the embankments.'§ There was one work above all which Margaret had at heart ; she wished to put an end to the di vinous among the evan- gelicals. She entreated the Frenchmen who were at Stras- burg, ' waiting for the consolation of Israel,' to do all in their power to terminate the disunion; she even commanded Bu- cer to do so.|| Bucer's fine talents, benevolent character, and cultivated undei*standing, the eloquence of his language, the dignity of his carriage, the captivating tound of his voice, his discerning of spirits, his ardent zeal-^all seemed

* Leitrea de la Heine de Navarre^ I p. 247. t Ibid, p. 246. X Ibid, ii. p. 105.

§ Flor. Remond, Bist. de VHeresie, p. 4S7.

I * Jussa reginse Navairee, ut hoc tandem disaidium t(^tar.'— Qpera AngUcana, ^ 693. Gerdesiua) ii. p. 33.

CHAP.zym. berquin's fall akd bbcovbrt. 63

to fit him for a peace-maker. He set to work without delay, and informed Luther of the princeee's injunctions. * If our opinions are compared with youi's,' he said, * it will be easily seen that they are radically the same, although expressed in different terms. Let us not furnish oar enemies with a wea- pon with which to attack truth.'*

If Margaret had confidence in Bucer, he too had confi- dence in her. He admired the sincerity of her &ith, the liveliness of her piety, the parity of her manners, the beauty of her understanding, the charms of her conversation, and the abundance of her good works. ' Never was this christian heroine found wanting in her duty,' he wrote to Luther.f The Strasbnrgers thought that if Luther and the Germans on one side, and Margaret and the French on the other, were united, the cause of the Reformation would be triumphant in Europe. Whenever any good news arrived from Franoe, Bucer thrilled with joy ; he ran to communicate it to Capitoi to Hedion, to Zell, and to Hohenlohe ; and then he wrote to Luther : * The brethren write to us from France, dear doctor, that the Gospel is spreading among them in a won- derful noanner. A great number of the nobility have already received the truth.{ There is a certain district in Normandy where the Gospel is spread so widely that the enemy call it Little Germany.^ The king is no stranger to the good doo- trine ;| and as his children are now at liberty, he will no longer pay such regard to what the pope and the emperor demand. Christ will soon be publicly confessed over the whole kingdom.'^

The Queen of Navarre was obliged to discontinue her correspondence with the reformers of Germany ; great joys and great anguish gave another direction to her thoughts. About a fortnight after the return of the children of France,

* 'Praebetor telam hostibus.* — Gerdesiris, iv. p. 33. f 'Nooquam sue officio deest christianissima ilia heroiha, regis soror. —Ibid.

X ' Prooerum magnus numems jam veritati accessit' — ^Ibid. § * Ut ccBperint earn vocare parvam AJkmanianL* — ^Ibid. I ' Bex a veritate aHenns non est' — Ibid.

IT * Bona spes est, brevi fore, ut Christos piabllcam apod ipeos ob* titieat— Ibid.

0.4 THB RXFOBMATION Uf SUROPX. BOOK H.

Margaiet became the mother of a fine boy at the castle of Blois. When the king passed through that place on his re- turn from the Pyrenees, he took his sister with him, after her churching, to Fontainebleau. But erelong bad tidings of her child summoned Margaret to Alen^on, where he was staying with his nurse; he died on Christmas day, 1530, at the age of five months and a half. The mother who had watched near him, who had felt his sweet breath upon her cheek, saw him now lying dead in his little cradle, and could not turn away her eyes from him. At one time she thought !

he would revive, but alas ! he was really dead. The queen felt as if her life had been torn from her ; her strength was exhausted ; her heart bled, but God consoled her. ^ I place him,' she said, *' in the arms of his Father ;' and as she felt the necessity of giving glory to God publicly, she sent for one of her principal oflScers, and, with a voice stifled by tears and sighs, ordered that the child's death should be posted up in the principal quarters of the city, and that these words should be at the foot of the notice :

Thb Lord gaye^ and ths Lord hath taken aw at. A sentiment of joy mingled, however, with her inexpres- sible sorrow ; and confident that the little child was in the presence of God, the pious mother ordered a Te Deum to be sung.* * I entreat you both,' she wrote to her brother and to her mother, * to rejoice at his glory j and not give way to any sadness. 'f Francis, who had not long before lost two daughters, was moved at this solemn circumstance, and- re- plied to his sister : * You have borne the grief of mine, as if they were your own lost children ; now I must bear yours, as if it were my own loss. It is the third of yours and the last of mine, whom God has called away to his blessed com- munion, acquired by them with little labor, and desired by us with such great travaii.'I There are afflictions from God which awaken deep feelings, even in the most frivolous hearts, and lips which are ordinarily dumb sometimes utter harmonious sounds in the presence of death. Other con-

* Charles de SaiDte-lfarthe, Oraison fimebre ck Margtterite. f Lettrea de la Berne de Nomarre^ i p. 269. 1 Ibid.

CHAP. XVHL MABRIAai OF FRANCIS AND BLKANOB. 05

solatioDs were Dot waDtiog to the queeo. Da Bellaj, at that time Bishop of BayoDDe, and afterwards of Paris, hasteoed to AlengoQ : * Ah T said Margaret, ' bat for oar Lord^s help, the harden would have been more than I coald bear.'* The bishop arged her, on the part of the king, to go to St. Ger- main, where preparations were making for the coronation of Queen Eleanor, the emperor's sister. Maigaret, who always obeyed her brother's orders, quitted Alen^on, thoagh with sorrow, in order to be present at his marriage.

The court had never been more brilliant. The less hap- piness there was in this marriage, the more pomp the king desired to display ; joy of the heart was replaced by the sound of the fife and dram and of the hautboy. The dresses were glittering, the festivities magnificent.

There were mysteries and gamea^ and the streets were gafly drest, Ajid the roads with flowers were strewn of the sweetest and the best ; On every side were galleries, and, if *t would pleasare yield, We^d have conjured up again for thee a new Elysian field.f

Princes, archbishops, bishops, barons, knights, gentlemen of parliament, and the magistrates of the city, were assem- bled for this illnstrioas marriage ; scholars and poets were not wanting. Francis L wonld often repeat the proverb addressed by Fouquet, Connt of Anjou, to Louis lY* :

Tin roi non lettr^ Est un ^e cooronn^^

Philolc^ers, painters, and architects had fiocked t«r Fraace from foreign countries. They had met in Paris men worthy to receive them. William Budaeus, the three brothers Du Bellay, William Petit, the king's confessor; William Cop, the friend of Lascaris and Erasmus ; Pierre du Chatel, who 80 gracefully described his travels in the East ; Pellicier, the learned commentator on Pliny, whose papers have not, how- ever, been printed ;§ Peter Danes, whose talents and knowl- edge Calvin esteemed so highly: all these scholars, who entertained sympathies, more or less secret, for the Beform,

*'Ltttre8 de la Beine de Navarre, I pp. 212, 273. t Marot, Ckronique de Franpois Z p. 90. t * Ad unlettered king is a crowned ass.' A.D. 936L § Teissier, Eloge des Eommes aaoanis, I p. 200.

66 THB REFORMATION IN BUROPB BOOK n.

were then at court These men of letters passed among the Roman party as belonging to Luther^s flock.* Somewhat later, indeed, when one of them, Danes, was at the Council of Trent, a French orator inveighed strongly against the lax morals of Rome. The Bishop of Orvieto said with con- tempt : * Gallus cantat P — ' Utinam^ sharply retorted Danes, then ambassador for France, * utinam ad galli cantam Petrus resipisceret P\ But the cock has often crowed, and Peter has shed no tears.

In the midst of all these men of letters was

Margaret, the fairest flower That ever grew on earth,

as Ronsard called her. But although her fine nnuerstand- ing enjoyed this select society, more serious thoughts occu- pied her mind. She could not forget, even in the midst of the court, the little angel that had flown away from her ; she was uneasy about the friends of the Gospel ; the worldly festivities around her left her heart depressed and unsatisfied. She endeavored to pierce the thick clouds that hung over her, and soaring in spirit to the ' heavenly kingdom,' she grasped the hand that Christ stretched out to her from on high. She returned to the well of Jacob, where she had drunk when she was so tired with her journey. She had been as a parched and weary land, having neither dew nor moisture, and the Lord had refreshed her with the clear springs of his Holy Spirit ' A continual sprinkling (to use her own words) kept up in her a heavenly eternity ;' and she would have desired all who gathered round her to come to that well where she had so effectually quenched her own thirst. Accordingly, in the midst of the worldly agitation of the court, and of all the honors lavished on her rank and her wit, the poor mother, whose heart was bruised but consoled, looked out in silence for some lamb which she could recall from its wandering, and said :

* Flor. R^mond, Risi. de VHeresie, p. 884.

f The Latin word gaUus signifies both Frenchman and cock * The Frenchman crows,* said the bishop. * "Would to God,* retorted Dan^s, *that Peter (the pope) would repent at the crowing of the cock!' Sismondi. MsL des FranQais^ zvl p. 369.

GHAP. XV m. THX FOUNTAIN PUBS AVD FRSK. 07

' Come to my fountain pare and fiee Drink of iUi stream abundantly.' Hasten, sinners, to the call Of your Gofl, who speaks to all:

Gome and drink — ^it gives relief To cveiy form of mortal grief; Come and drink the draught divine^ Out of this new fount of mine. Wash away each mortal stain In the blood of Jesu slain. Ko return I seek from thee Bat works of loye and charity.'

Hasten, sinners, to the brink Of this stream so pure, and drink I PiU your hearts^ so that ye may Serve Gk)d better eveiy day. Then, well washed of every stain That of earth might yet remain, By Jesu's love at last set free^ live in heaven etemaUy.

Come to my fountain pure and free, Drink of its stream abundantly 1' listen, ffinners, to the call .

Of your God, who speaks to aH'*'

These appeals were not unavailing. The Reformation was advancing in France by two different roads : one was on the mountains, the other in the plain. The Gospel gained hearts among the sons of labor and of trial : but it gained others also amoDg the learned and high-born, whose faculty of inquiry had been aroused, and who desired to substitute truth in the place of monastic superstitions. Margaret was the evangelist of the court and of the king. Her mother, with Duprat and Montmorency, ruled in the council-chamber, the Duchess of Etampes in the court festivities, but the gentle voice of the Queen of Navarre supported Francis in his fre» quent periods of uneasiness and dejection. Yet not to the king alone did Margaret devote at this time the attentions of her ardent charity. All the affections of her heart were just now concentrated on a single object.

* Les Marguenies de la MargueriU, I pp. 505-608.

68 THE RKFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK XL

Sho bad not recovered from the death of her child, when another blow fell upou the Queen of Navarre. The brilliant and gay festivities of the court were, succeeded by the sullen silence of the grave ; and the icy coldness, which had pre- sided over the marriage of Francis with his enemy's sister, was followed by the keen anguish and the bitter sorrows of the tenderest of daughters. About the end of the year 1531 the Isle of France was visited by an epidemic. Louisa of S ivoy was taken serioosly ill at Fontainebleau, where the children of the king were staying. Margaret hurried thither immediately. Louisa, that great enemy of the Reformation, weakened by her dissolute life, was suffering from a severe fever, and yet, imagining that she would not die, she con- tinued to attend to business of importance, and, between the paroxysms of the disease that was killing her, dictated her despatches to the king. Never had mother so depraved and daucrhter so virtuous felt such love for each other. As soon as she saw the Duchess of Angouleme, the Queen of Navarre anticipated * the greatest of misfortunes,' and never left her side. The king's children afforded their grandmother some diversioji. Charles, Duke of Angouleme, then nine years old, thought only of his father. * If I only meet him,' said the boy one day, * I will never let go his hand.' — * And if the king should go to hunt the boar?' said his aunt. — * Well i I shall not be afraid ; papa will be able to take care of me.' — ^ When Madame heard these words,' wrote Margaret to her brother, ^ she burst into tears, which has done her much good.'

In the midst of all these mournful occupations, Margaret kept watch over the friends of the Gospel. 'Dear nephew,' she wrote to the grand-master Montmorency, * that good man Lefevre writes to me that he is uncomfortable at Blois, be- cause the folks there are trying to annoy him. For change of air, he would willingly go and see a friend of his, if such were the king's good pleasure.' Margaret, finding that the enemies of the Reform were tormenting the old man, gave bim an asylum at Nerac in her own states. We shall meet with him there hereafter.

On the 20th of September, Louisa, feeling a little better,

CHAP. ZYII( LOUISA OF BAVOT DYING. 09

left Fontainebleaa for Bomorantin ; but she had hardlj reached Grez, near Nemours, when her failing voice, her la- boring breath, and her words so sad ' that no one could listen to them, gave her daughter a sorrow and vexation impossible to describe.'* ^ It is probable that she will die,' wrote Mar- garet to the king. Louisa, notwithstanding her weakness, still busied herself with affairs of state ; she wished to die governing. Deep sorrow filled her daughter's heart It was too much for her, this sight of a mother whom she loved with intense affection, trifling on the brink of the grave, strengthening herself against death by means of her power and her greatness, * as if they would serve her as a rampart and strong tower,' forgetting that there was another besides herself, who disposed of that life of which she fancied herself to be the mistress. Margaret did not rest content with only praying for her mother ; she sat by her and spoke to her of the Saviour. ' Madame,' she said, * I entreat you to fix your hopes elsewhere. Strive to make God propitious to you.'f This woman, so ambitious, clever, false, and dissolute, whose only virtue was maternal love, does not appear to have opened her heart to her daughter's voice. She breathed her last oa the 29th of September, 1531, in the arms of the Queen of Navarre.

Thoughts of a different order were soon to engross Mar- garet's attention. Hers was a sincere and, living piety, but she had an excessive fear of contests and divisions, and, like many eminent persons of that epoch, she desired at any cost, and even by employing diplomatic means, to achieve a re- form which should leave catholicity intact. To set before herself a universal transformation of the Church was cer- tainly a noble and a christian aim ; but Calvin, Luther, Fare!, and others saw that it could only be attained at the expense of truth. The Queen of Navarre's fault was her readinesi to sacrifice everything to the realisation of this beautiful dream ; and we shall see what was done in France (Francis lending himself to it from mere political motives) to attain the accomplishment of this magnificent but chimerical pro»

ject

* LeUre8 de la Reine de Navarre, i p. 280 ; ii. p. 120. t Ibid. L p. 269. •

70 TUX KKJrOKMATlON IS XUilOPX. BOOK &

CHAPTER XIX.

DIPLOMATISTS, BACKSLIDERS, MABTTBS.

(1631.)

Thb royal trio was now broken up. Margaret, knowing well that her mother had always influenced her brother in favor of popery, hoped to profit by an event that had cost her so many tears, and immediately attempted to incline her brother to the side of the Reform. But thero were other influences at work at court : the Sorbonne, the bishops, Montmorency, and even the emperor endeavored to set Francis against the evangelicals. Charles Y. especially de- sired to take advantage of the alliance which drew him closer to France, in order to turn its sovereign against Lu- ther. His envoy, Noircarmes, had very positive instructions on this point. One day, when this embassador had gone to present his homage to the king, they had a long conversation together, and Noircarmes gave utterance to all the usual calumnies against the Beforraation. Francis did sot know what answer to make, but fixed the diplomatist's accusations in his memory, with the intention of repeating them to his sister. He paid her a visit, while still in a state of excite- ment. * Madame,' said he angrily, ' do you know that your friends the protestants preach the community of goods, the nullity of the marriage tie, and the subversion of thrones f Noircarmes says that if I do not destroy Lutheran ism, my crown will be in danger.'* To justify the innocent was one of the tasks which the Queen of Navarre had imposed upon herself. * Sire,' she said to the king, * the reformers are righteous, learned, peaceful men, who have no other love than that of truth, no other aim than the glorv of God, and

♦ Seckendor^ pp. 1170, 1171.

OHAP. XIX REINBOLD AND THE COUBTIER8. 7l

no other thongbt than to banish superstition and to correct morals.' The Queen of Navarre was so gracious, so tme, so eloquent, that the king left her completely changed — ^at least for the day.* But it was not long before perfidious insinua- tions again roused his anger.

Margaret, either by ber own hand or through her agents, informed the protestants of Germany of the charges brought against them by Charles's ambassador, and called upon them to contradict Noircarmes. This they did immediately. One of them, Matthew Beinhold, a man devoted to the Gospel and a clever diplomatist, arrived in Paris about the middle of April, 1631, and having been received by the king, attended by his lords and his bishops, he handed in a letter from the Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, and their allies. Francis opened it and appeared to read it with interest. * Sire,' wrote the princes, ' a few monks (Tetzel and his friends) having through avarice hawked their in- dulgences about the country to the dishonor of Christ and the ruin of souls,f certain just and wise men have reproved them ; the sun has risen upon the Church, and has brought to light a world of scandals and errors. Help us, Sire, and use such means that these disputes may be settled, not by force of arms, but by a Uwful judgment, which shall do no violence to the consciences of christians.'^

While Francis was reading this letter, the lords and pre- lates of his court eyed the Lutheran from head to foot. They went up to him and asked the strangest questions. * Js it true,' said a bishop, * that the women in your country have several husbands ?' — * All nonsense !' replied the Ger- man envoy. To other questions he returned similar answers ; the eagerness of the speakers increased, and the conversa- tion was becoming animated, when the king, who had finished the letter, declared that he thought it very reasona- ble, and, to the great surprise of the court, smiled graciously upon Reinhold.'§ A few days later (21st April) he gave

* * Fratris iras pro viribus moderavit.* — Bezae Icones. f ' Propter qusBstum, cum oontumelia Christ! et cum periculo anima* rum.* — Corp. Bef. il p. 472. X Sleidan, ch. viiL § * Ihm eine gnadige Mine gemacht'— Seckendori; p. 118.

92 THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

the envoy an answer : * In order to heal the sores of the christian republic/ he said, ^ there must be a council ; pro- vided the Holy Ghost, who is the lord of truth, has the chief place in it' Then he added : * Do not fear the calumnies of your enemies.'* The first step was taken.

The grand idea of the counsellors of Francis I., and of the king himself, was, at this time, to substitute for the old policy of France a new and more independent policy, which would protect it against the encroachments of the papacy. Melancthon was charmed at the king's letter. ^ The French- man answered us in the most amiable manner,' he said.f A council guided by the Spirit of God was precisely what the German protestants demanded : they thought themselves on the point of coming to an understanding with the King of France. This hope took possession of Margaret also, and of the powerful party in the royal council who thought, like her, that the union of France, Germany, and England would lead to an internal and universal reform of Christen- dom. The king, urged to form an alliance with the German princes, resolved to send an ambassador on his part, and selected for this mission one Gervais Waim. The choice was an unlucky one : Waim, a German by birth, but long resident in Paris,J desired that everything in Germany should remain as he had left it. A blind partisan of the ancient state of things, he regarded any change as an out- rage towards the German nation, and was full of prejudices against the Reformation. Accordingly, he had hardly arrived at Wittcmberg (this was in the spring of 1531), when he sought every opportunity of gratifying his blind hatred. He met with a grand reception ; banquets and entertainments were given in his honor. One day there was a large party, at which Luther was present with his friends and many evangelical christians, who were desirous of meeting the envoy of the King of France. The latter, instead of conciliating their minds, grew warm, and ex- claimed ; * You have neither church nor magistrate nor

* Sleidan, eh. viii. p. 232.

f ' Grallns rescripsit humanissime.* — Corp, Ref, il p. 503.

j I)u Bellay, Memoires, iv. p. 16t.

CHAP-ZIX. IMPRUDENCE OF THE FEIENCH DSPUTT. 73

marriage ; every man does what he pleases, and all is con- fusion as among the brutes. The king my master knows it very well.'* On hearing this extravagant assertion, the company opened their eyes. Some got angry, others laughed, many despaired of ever coming to an understanding witli Francis I. Melancthon changed his opinion entirely. ' This man,' he said, * is a great enemy of our cause. . . . The kings of the earth think of nothing but their own interest ; and if Christ does not provide for the safety of the Church, all is lost'f He never said a truer thing. Waim soon fonnd that he had not been a good diplomatist, and that he ought not to have shocked the protestant sentiment ; he therefore confined himself to his duty, and his official com- muuications were of more value than his private conversa- tions.! W® shall see presently the important steps taken by France towards an alliance with evangelical Germany.

Margaret, believing that the triumph of the good cause was not far off, determined to move forward a little. She had struck out of her prayer-book all the prayers addressed to the Virgin and to the saints. This she laid before the king's confessor, William Petit, Bishop of Senlis, a courtier, and fkr from evangelical, though abounding in complaisance for the sister of his master. * Look here !' she said ; ' I have cut out all the most superstitious portions of this book.'§ — * Admirable I' exclaimed the courtier ; ' I should desire no other.' The queen took the prelate at his word ; ' Translate it into French, she said, ^ and I will have it printed with your name.' The courtier-bishop did not dare withdraw ; he translated the book, the queen approved of it, and it appeared under the title of Heures de la Royne de Mar- guerite (* Queen Margaret's Prayer-book '). The Faculty of Divinity was angry about it, but they restrained themselves, not BO much because it was the queen's prayer-book, as because the translator was a bishop and his Majesty's con- fessor.

♦ * Sondem gienge alles unter einander wie das Viehe.' — Schelhom, p. 289. t *Illi reges sua agunt negotia.' — Corp. Ref. il. p. 618. X Du Bellay, Mhn, p. 167. § Bdze, msL Jfcd I p. 8.

4

74 THB REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK H,

Nor did the Queen of Navarre stop here. There Was at that time in Paris a cure, name Lecoq, whose preaching drev«r great crowds to St. Eustache. Certain ladies of the coui*t, who affected piety, never missed one of his seimons. ^ What eloquence 1' said they, speaking of Lecoq, one day when there was a reception at St. Germain ; * what a striking voice ! what a flow of words ! what boldness of thought ! what fervent piety !' — * Your fine orator,' said the king, who was listening to them, *' is no doubt a Lutheran in disguise !' — * Not at all, sire,' said one of the ladies ; ' he often declaims against Lnther, and says that we must not separate from the Church.' Margaret asked her brother to judge for himself. * I will go,' said Francis. The cur4 was informed that on the following Sunday the king and all his court would come to hear his sermon. The priest was charmed at the information. He was a man of talent^ and had received evangelical impressions ; only they were not deep, and the breath of favor might easily turn him from the right way. As this breath was just now blowing in the direction of the Gospel, he entered with all his heart into this con- spiracy of the ladies, and began to prepare a discourse adapted, as he thought, to introduce the new light into the king's mind.

When Sunday came, all the carriages of the court drew np before the church of St. Eustache, which the king entered, followed by Du Bellay, Bishop of Pans, and his attendant lords and ladies. The crowd was immense. The preacher went up into the pulpit, and everybody prepared to listen. At first the king observed nothing remarkable ; but gradu- ally the sermon grew warmer, and words full of life were heard. ' llie end of all visible things,' said liccoq, * is to lead us to invisible things. The bread which refreshes our body tells us that Jesus Christ is the life of our soul. Seated at the right hand of God, Jesus lives by his Holy Spirit in the hearts of his disciples. Quob sursum sunt qucBrite, says St. Paul, ubi Ckristua est in dextera Dei sedens. Yes, seek those things which are above ! Do not confine yourselves during mass to what is npon the altar ; raise yourselves by &ith to heaven, there to find the Son of God. After he has

CSAP. ZIZ. UCCOQ'S BXRMON BEVORB THE KINO. 75

coDsecrated the elements, does not the priest cry ont to the people : Sursum corda ! lift up your hearts ! These woids signify : Here is the hread and here is the wine, hut Jesus is in heaven. For this reason, Sire,' continued Lecoq, holdly turning to the king, ^if yon wish to have Jesus Christ, do not look for him in the visible elements ; soar to heaven on the wings of faith. It is by believing in Jesus Christ that we eat his fleshy says St. Angustin. If it were true that Christ must be touched with the hands and devoured by the teeth,* we should not say sursum, upwards ! hut deorsuniy downwards I Sire, it is to heaven that I invite you. Hear the voice of the Lord : sursum corda, Sire, sursum corda /'f And the sonorous voice of the priest filled the whole church with these words, which he repeated with a tone of the sincerest conviction. All the congrega- tion was moved, and even Francis admired the eloquence of the preacher. * What do you think of it ?' he asked Du Bellay as they were leaving the church. — '' He may be right,' answered the bishop of Paris, who was not opposed to a moderate reform, and who was married. — * I have a great mind to see this priest again,' said the king. — * Nothing can be easier,' replied Du Bellay.

Precautions, however, were taken that this interview should be concealed from everybody. The cure disguised himself and was introduced secretly into the king's private cabinet.^ ^ Leave us to ourselves,' said Francis to the bishop. ^Monsieur le cur6,' continued he, ^have the goodness to explain what you said about the sacrament of the altar.' Lecoq showed that a spiritual union with Christ could alone be of use to the soul. ' Indeed I' said Francis ; * you laiso

* ' Corpus et sanguinem Domini, in veritate, manibus sacerdotum tractari, fraDgi, et fidelium dentibus atterl' (The formula which Pope Nicholas exacted of B^renger.) — Lanfrauc, De Euchar. cap. v.

f ' Speciebus illis nequaquam adhserendam, scd fidei alia ad coelos evolandum esse. lUud subinde repetens: Sursum corda! sursum corda /' — ^Flor. Remond, ffisi. de VEeresie^ ii. p. 225. See also Maim- boarg, Calvinisme, pp. 22-24.

X 'Bellaii opera, Gallos hie in secretiorem locum vocatus.^ — Flor. B^mond, ii p. 226^

76 THE RSFOBMAnON IN EUROPE. BOOK IL

strange scruples in my mind.'* This encouraged the priest, who, chanued with his success, brought forward other articles of faith.f His zeal spoilt everything; it was too much for the king, who began to think tliat the priest might be a heretic after all, and ordered him to be examined by a Romish doctor. * lie is an arch-heretic,' said the inquisitor, after the examination, ' With your Majesty's permission I will keep him locked up.' The king, who did not mean to go BO far, ordered Lecoq * to be set at liberty, and to be admitted to prove his assertions by the testimony of Holy Scripture.'

Upon this the Cardinals of Lorraine and Tournon, ' awak- ened by the crowing of the cock,'J arranged a conference. On one side was the suspected priest, on the other some of the most learned doctors, and the two cardinals presided as arbiters of the discussion. Tournon was one of the ablest men of this period, and a most implacable enemy of the Reformation ; in later years he was the persecutor of the Waldenscs, and the introducer of the Jesuits into France. The discussion began. * Whoever thought,' said the doc- tors of the Sorbonne to Lecoq, * that these words 9ursum corda mean that the bread remains bread ? No ; they sig- nify that your heail should soar to heaven in order that the Lord may descend upon the altar.' Lecoq showed that the Spirit alone gives life ; he spoke of Scripture ; but Tournon, who had been the means of making more than one pope, and had himself received votes for his own election to the papacy, exclaimed in a style that the popes are fond of using : *The Church has spoken; submit to her decrees. If you reject the authority of the Church, you sail without a com- pass, driven by the winds to your destruction. Delay not ! . . . Save yourself! Down with the yards and furl the sails, lest your vessel strike upon the rocks of error, and you suffer an eternal shipwreck.'§ The cardinals and doctors sur-

* *Regi ecrupulos non leves injecit.*— Flor. Remond, ii. p. 225.

f *Idem de aliis quoque fidei articulis.' — Ibid.

^ A play upon the priest's name, both in French and in Latin. 'Lotbaringus et Tumonius cardinales Galli hujus canta ezcitati.' — Ibid.

§ ' Antennas dimittite ac vela colligite, ne ad errorum scopulos illisa navi seternse salutis naufiragium &ciatis.' — ^Ibid.

CHIP.

XOL BBLIGION AT TOULOUSE. 77

rounded Lecoq and pressed bim on every side. Here a the- ologian fell upon him with his elaborate scholastic proofs ; there an abbe shouted in his ears ; and the cardinals threw the weight of their dignity into the scales. The cure of St. Eustache was tossed to and fro in indecision. He had some small taste for the Gospel, but he loved the world and its honors more. They frightened and soothed him by turns, and at last he retracted what he had preached. Lecoq had none of the qualities of a martyr : he was rather one of those weak minds who furnished backsliders to the primitive Church.

Happily there were in France firmer christians than he. TV bile, in the world of politics, diplomatists were crossing and recrossing the Rhine ; while, in the world of Boman- catholicism, the most eloquent men were becoming faithless to their convictions : there were christian men in the evan- gelical world, among those whose faith bad laid hold of re- demption, who sacrificed their lives that they might remain faithful to the Lord who had redeemed them. It was a season when the most contrary movements were going on.

Toulouse, in olden times the sanctuary of Gallic paganism, was- at this period filled with images, relics, and * other in- struments of Romish idolatry.' The religion of the people was a religion of the eye and of the ear, of the hands and of the knees — ^in short, a religion of externals ; wliile within, the conscience, the will, and the understanding slept a deep sleep. The parliament, surnamed ^ the bloody,' was the docile instrument of the fanaticism of the priests. They said to their officers : ' Keep an eye upon the heretics. If any man does not lift his cap before an image, he is a heretic. If any man, when he hears the Ave Maria bell, does not bend the knee, he is a heretic. If any man takes pleasure in the ancient languages and polite learning, he is a heretic. . . . Do not delay to inform against such persons. . . The parliament will condemn them, and the stake shall rid us of them.'*

A celebrated Italian had left his country and settled at

* Tb^od. de B^ze, ffisL EccL I p. 1.

78 THE BSFOBMATIOK IK EUROPE. BOOK H.

Agen. JaliuB Csesar della Scala, better known by the name of Scaliger, belonged to one of the oldest families of his native country, and on account of the universality of his knowledge, many persons considered him the greatest man that had ever appeared in the world. Scaliger did not em- brace the reformed faith, as his son did, but he imported a love of learning, particularly of Greek, to the banks of the Garonne,

The licentiate Jean do Catnrce, a professor of laws in the university, and a native of Limoux, having learnt Greek, procured a New Testament and studied it Being a man of largo understanding, of facile eloquence, and above all of thoughtful soul, he found Christ the Saviour, Christ the Lord, Christ the life eternal, and adored him. Erelong Christ transformed him, and he became a new man. llien the Pandects lost their charm, and he discovered in the Holy Scriptures a divine life and light which enraptured him. Ilo meditated on them day and night. He was consumed by an ardent desire to visit his birthplace and preach the Saviour^ whom he loved and who dwelt in his heart. Ac<^ordingly he set out for Limoux, which is not far from Toulouse, and on All Saints' day, 1531, delivered 'an exhortation' there. He resolved to return at the Epiphany, for every year on that day there was a great concourse of people for the fes- tival, and he wished to take advantage of it by openly pro- claiming Jesus Christ.

Everything had been prepared for the festival.* On the eve of Epiphany there was usually a grand supper, at which, according to custom, the king of the feast was proclaimed after which there was shouting and joking, singing and dancing. Caturce was determined to take part in the fes- tival, but in such a way that it should not pass off in the usual manner. When the services of the day in honor of the three kings of the East were over, the company sat down to table : they drank the wine of the south, and at last the cake was brought in. One of the guests found the bean, the gaiety increased, and they were about to celebrate the new

* This 30twr des Boia corresponds with our TwdfQ^da^

CHAP. ZIX. THE TWELFTH-NIOHT SUPPER. 79

royalty by the ordinary toast: the king drinks! when Catnrce stood up. * There is only one king,' he said, *and Jesus Christ is he. It is not enough for his name to flit throQgh our brains — he must dwell in our hearts. He who has Christ in him wants for nothing. Instead then of shout- ing ike king drinks^ let us say this night : May Christy the true king, reign in all our hearts /'*

The professor of Toulouse was much esteemed in his native town, and many of his acquaiutances already loved the Gospel. The lips that were ready to shout the king drinks were dumb, and many sympathised, at least by their silence, with the new * toast ' which he proposed to them, Caturce continued : * My friends, I propose that after supper, instead of loose talk, dances, and revelry, each of us shall bring forward in his turn one passage of Holy Scripture.' The proposal was accepted, and the noisy supper was changed into an oi-derly christian assembly. First one man repeated some passage that had struck him, then another did the same; but Caturce, says the chronicle, 'entered deeper into the noatter than the rest of the company,' contending that Jesus Christ ought to sit on the throne of our hearts. The professor returned to the university.

This Twelfth-night supper produced so great a sensation, that a report was made of it at Toulouse. The officers of justice apprehended the licentiate in the midst of his books and his lessons, and brought him before the court. *Your worships,' he said, ' I am willing to maintain what I have at heart, but let my opponents be learned men with their books, who will prove what they advance. I should wish each point to be decided without wandering talk.' The discussion began ; but the most learned theologians were opposed to him in vain, for the licentiate, who had the Divine Word with him, answered * promptly, pertinently, and with much power, quoting immediately the passages of Scripture which best served his purpose,' says the chronicle. The doctors were silenced, and the professor was taken back to prison.f

The judges were greatly embarrassed. One of them visited

* Tb^od. de B^ze, ffist. EceL I p. *l, Crespin, Mcvrtyrologue, foL 106. t IWd.

80 THE REFORMATION IK EUROPE. BOOK It

the heretic in his dangeon, to see if he coald not be shaken, ^ Master Caturce/ said he, * we offer to set you at fall liberty, on couditioQ that you will first retract only three points, in a lecture which you will give in the schools.' The chroni- cler does not tell us what these three points were. The licentiate's friends entreated him to consent, and for a moment he hesitated, only to regain his firmness immediately after. * It is a snare of the Evil one,' he replied. Notwith- standing this, his friends laid a form of recantation before him, and when he had rejected it, they brought him another still more skilfully drawn up. But ' the Lord strengthened him so that he thrust all these papers away from him.' His friends withdrew in dismay. He was declared a heretic, condemned to be burnt alive, and taken to the square of St. Etienne.

Here an immense crowd had assembled, especially of stu- dents of the university, who were anxious to witness the de- gradation of so esteemed a professor. The * mystery ' lasted three hours, and they were three hours of triumph for the Word of God. Never had Caturce spoken with greater free- dom. In answer to everything that was said, he brought some passage of Scripture 'very pertinent to reprove the stupidity of his judges before the scholars.' His academical robes were taken off, the costume of a merry-andrew was put on him, and then another scene began.

A Dominican monk, wearing a white robe and scapulary, with a black cloak and pointed cap, made his way through the crowd, and ascended a little wooden pulpit which had been set up in the middle of the square. This by no means learned individual assumed an important air, for he had been commissioned to deliver what was called * the sermon of the catholic faith.' In a voice that was heard all over the square, he read his text : * The Spirit speaketh expressly^ that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,^* The monks were delighted with a text which appeared so suit* able ; bat Caturce, who almost knew his Testament by hearty

♦ 1 Timothy, iv. 1.

CHAP. ZIZ. THB DOMINICAN SILENCED. 81

perceiving that, according to their custom of distorting Scrip- ture, he bad only taken a fragment {lopin) of the passage, cried out with a clear voice : ^ Read on.' The Dominican, who felt alarmed, stopped short, upon which Caturce him- self completed the passage : * Forbidding to marry^ and com- manding to abstain from meatSj which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe. The monks were confounded ; the students and other friends of the licentiate smiled. ^ We know them,' continned the ener- getic professor, ' these deceivers of the people, who, instead of the doctrine of faith, feed them with trash. In God's service there is no question of fish or of flesh, of black or of grey, of Wednesday or Friday. . . It is nothing but foolish superstition which requires celibacy and abstaining from meats. Such arc not the commandments of God.' The Dominican in his pulpit listened with astonishment; the prisoner was preaching in the midst of the officers of justice, and the students heard him * with great favor.' The poor Dominican, ashamed of his folly, left his sermon unpreached.

After this the martyr was led back to the court, where sentence of death was pronounced upon him. Caturce sur- veyed his judges with indignation, and, as he left the tribu- nal, exclaimed in Latin : * Thou seat of iniquity ! Thou court of injustice !' He was now led to- the scaffold, and at the stake continued exhorting the people to know Jesus Christ. * It is impossible to calculate the great fruit wrought by his death,' says the chronicle, * especially among the stu- dents then at the university of Toulouse,' that is to say, in the year 1532.*

Certain preachers, however, who had taught the new doctrine, backslided deplorably at this time, and checked the progress of the Word in the south ; among them were the prothonotary of Armagnac, the cordelier Dos Noces, as well as his companion the youthful Melchoir Flavin, ' a furious hypocrite,' as Beza calls him. One of those who had re- ceived in their hearts the fire that warmed the energetic Caturce, held firm to the truth, even in the presence of the

* Tb^od. d* BdsA, Sist. EtcL i. p. 7. CrMpin, Jiariyrologue, foL lOe.

4*

82 THB REFORMATION IN EUROPE. BOOK: H.

stake : he was a grey friar named Marcii. HaWng performed * wonders * by his preaching in Rouergue, he was taken to Toulouse, and there sealed with his blood the doctrines he had so faithfully proclaimed.*

We must soon